15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Miles away from anything with a name, the hirelings move through the forest and the armored man rides in front. 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> For Keldar, the going is slow. He's on point, riding one of those huge, yellow, rank-smelling flightless emas birds that the tribes of the East uses as beasts of burden. He's riding in front of a bare handful of his own people, and behind them, thirty or forty men and women of the local Flaeli tribe, their guides in the vast forest. Keeping pace with Keldar on his own (much cleaner) emas is his employer, Tepet Sachin. 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> It was at Tepet Sachin's behest that Keldar rode out here, tracking a lead on the fabled Tomb of Cerulean Winds. The Dynast's anima blows stones and sticks out of their path as surely as everyone's hair whips up every time he stops the company to measure the wind. "We are getting close. The wind tells me so." 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Tepet Sachin had better be right; it was his money that got Keldar out here, and his money that secured the Flaeli as guides. The slight, sneering man's say-so got them marching out here in the darkest part of night, for the legend holds that the Cerulean Wind blows only after the sun sets. 14[20:43] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Only one of Keldar's own people made this leg of the trip, the rest keeping camp (and watching over the treasure recovered when Keldar repelled some roadside bandits who'd underestimated him). It's Anilom, the trapmaster, swifted runner in the company. He holds the torch aloft as his own riding-bird cantors behind them. 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> *swiftest 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar knows that the Tomb of Cerulean Winds has been lost since the First Age, and this far East it's a fair bet that not even the canniest Scavenger Lord would've found out. They're a solid three weeks' ride from Nexus, Keldar's home. 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> So now, in the dark, with only the creeping patter of their entourage and the stink of the emas to break the long, late silences, what's going through Keldar's mind? [20:50] <@Ferrinus> "I should hope so," 12says the tiger of Nexus. Keldar doesn't mind the smell of emas birds - in fact, it's been a while since he's consciously noticed it. The same goes for weight and heat of the heavy armor plating his body and the balance of the straight sword that's strapped across his back. Out here, on the job, in unknown territory, the only concession the scavenger-mercenary's [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12willing to make to comfort is the bandanna that's keeping his hair out of his eyes. [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's thinking about his employer. This guy's supposedly got whatever mystic know-how it takes to find the place we're looking for, and enough silver to get professionals chasing after fairy tales... but what good is he, otherwise? Is he a sorcerer, a warrior, a merchant? To what extent has it seemed like he's really had an idea of what's going on? 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "Am I boring you, scavenger? Surely your exorbitant fee is sufficient to buy a held tongue." Tepet Sachin's an odd duck. He looks weak, and if Keldar wasn't subject to constant reminder of the dragonblood coursing through the Dynast's veins he'd be liable to write him off as a fop. But the fact is, ten thousand dragons rule the world, and Tepet Sachin is one of them. [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What? Heyyy, I'm glad! Means this is working, right?" 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> He's callous and condescending towards Keldar and his people in particular ("scavengers" all), but he has the uncanny center Keldar's come to associate with Dynasts immersed in the Immaculate Faith. Though you wouldn't know it from the finery he sports, Sachin has the air (heh!) of a monk. 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> He stops the march periodically to draw the air through his nose, smelling it with an expression of concentration one might see on a musician deep in performance. Afterwards he'll often issue curt orders to adjust course, sometimes dramatically, though as the night's worn on those adjustments have been getting finer and finer. 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> All told there's not a lot to recommend him as a traveling companion or conversation partner. But the Dynast seems to know his business and, importantly, the money spends. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, the monks... yeah, that'll be why Keldar hasn't been too sassy over the last few weeks. He actually has seen the Immaculates in action, and later made a point of seeking out whichever mason'd last repaired that building and complimenting him on the sturdiness of the construction. 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> It's only visible for moments - their pace through the woods and the inconstancy of the torchlight mean you'd have to have incredibly sharp eyes to catch it. So it isn't by sight, precisely, that Keldar notices the strange behavior of the plant life. There's just something at the back of his mind - the honed instincts of a seasoned adventurer - that have him looking in just the right place at just the right time. 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> The ferns on this side of the path are larger than the others, their leaves thinner and sharper, and colored faintly blue. [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12It's with an apparent stretching, shoulder-rolling motion that the warrior prepares himself to draw. Maybe it's just habit, though - what's the significance? 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar's been in this business a fair few years now, and he's seen enough tombs in his career to know that when they're damaged or derelict - as First Age ruins almost always are - they can have bizarre effects on the surrounding environment. So in the mutation of these plans Keldar sees a sign, not only that they're getting close, but that it's this way. [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Sachin seem to notice? 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> He did, but a hair slower than Keldar himself. Feel free to lord it over him a bit. [21:11] <@Ferrinus> "Ah, right there." 12Of course, the Exalt had clearly spotted it by the time Keldar was in his second syllable, but it still looks a bit like he needed the tip-off from the mortal. 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Hmph. So it is." Sachin barks a few words of whatever Forest-tongue dialect the Flaeli speak, and the entire company begins to veer right, crashing about in the dark. [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12It'd be nice if Keldar could follow them, but he's got his own interpreter for it, if need be. What's important is that he be able to tell at the glance the difference between a passage to a restroom and a passage to an industrial furnace. 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Anilom throws torchlight over flora that get bluer and bluer as they progress. The leaves become sharper, like pine needles almost, as they come upon a small outcropping and the rare clearing. The outcropping overlooks an expanse of high blue grass, which conceals decaying animal bones on the ground. 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> It's only when the pass the outcropping into the clearing that the entrance to the tomb is apparent; it's behind them, a grotto carved into the earth, its entrance a straight shot through the clearing to the horizon, as if opened to catch the rising sun. [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Decaying animal bones, eh? That's always a sign to watch for. What's it look like killed 'em? 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> They look crushed, mostly. [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Horizontally or vertically? Either way, you can be well sure that Keldar's going to be on the lookout for giant blocks or mechanized platforms or suchlike as he motions the people behind him forward and makes ready to set up a traditional base camp/perimeter. 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> The Flaeli are silent and reverent in the tomb's presence. The passage into the grotto is dark and exceedingly narrow (it looks like the entrance was once wider, but has collapsed partially). They look like they were... maybe constricted? It's a bit hard to theorize given the state of the remains, but it doesn't look mechanical. 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> With Tepet Sachin's translation, the Flaeli set up an encampment and a watch. 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> A steady wind whistles from deep inside the cave, rushing past Keldar's head and giving him the sensation of running. [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Hmm. Well, you do get giant snakes hereabouts. After giving a few instructions, sweeping part of the perimeter, snacking a bit, and otherwise making ready, Keldar addresses the dynast again. "So - this place close at daybreak or similar? What kind of window've we got?" 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Tepet Sachin: "At daybreak the winds cease, but now that we've found the tomb we have no need for them. The entrance itself ought to remain open." [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods. What're we here for, anyway? Obviously he's claimed some percentage of the general take - there's bound to be tons of decorations and grave goods and so on of great value to collectors and nobles - but what, specifically, has Sachin said he wants with the place? 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> The order was very clear - Keldar has finders' rights to everything within the tomb, save its most precious treasure: the Ring of Cerulean Winds. The name is misleading, as the Ring is purported to be the size of a crown or a chakram rather than the sort of thing you wear on your hand. But you try telling the savants that. [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a shame it's probably secretly worth more than the rest of the tomb put together, but on the other hand that'd make the thing really dangerous to try to fence. "Alright, then," 12says Keldar. "Normally protocol is to make camp and go in at the top of the morning, when we're fresh... but that's when we haven't been operating on bat hours for the past three weeks. And the [21:31] <@Ferrinus> thing's subterranean, anyway." [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Does Sachin intend to go in, or just wait for us to come out? 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Tepet Sachin has already started brewing tea. [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, yes. Ah, yes. Ahh... yes. Well, it's no more than Keldar expected. 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> In his defense, it smells like really good tea. 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> It looks like the only person set to follow Keldar in is Anilom. [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Can Keldar get a couple tribesmen? 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> If he's insistent. 14[21:35] * Joins: Quaker [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh hell yeah he is. You think you just wander in on your lonesome into something like this? Scavenging is a PROCESS. "And bring extra poles-" 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> There are poles aplenty among the (three? four?) Flaeli men that set up to accompany Keldar and Anilom into the tomb. [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Soon Keldar, Animlom, and four people whose names Keldar's made a point not to learn are in the thick of it. Well, in the first few feet of the thick of it. There's a lot going on - careful chalk marks, thorough use of torches and lamps, long-distance prodding of unusual panels... it goes faster than you might think, but only because the two mercenaries are so practiced in the routine. [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12There are a few supernatural touches. In particular, Keldar's leaving breadcrumbs, kernels of an alchemical clay that, once cracked open and exposed to the air, will shine a cheerful green for the better part of a day. As well, Keldar's got a few bronze seals with common first age glyphs stamped on them, a committed-to-memory list of anyone rumored to have been buried in the tomb, [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12etc. 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> The passage in is very narrow - at least for the first leg (looks like this first corridor's about 30 yards long, sloping gently down and curving to the left) they'll only be able to enter single file. But Keldar is a damn professional. They're methodical (Keldar manages to spring several poison dart traps at a distance), they're efficient (it only takes them about an hour to get through) and ultimately... they make this look easy. 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> A couple things of note as they progress into the tomb: 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> -The markings Keldar notices are consonant with the rumored provenance of the Tomb of Cerulean Winds: that this is the final resting place of some ancient Lunar Anathema. Indeed, there are many traps with the Old Realm sigils for DANGER and POISON that might once have yielded hateful snakes, or covered Anilom in enormous spiders, which a combination of Keldar's own savvy and the liberal application of torchfire render toothless. 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> -The wind gets steadier the deeper they go, and its effect more acute. Where it was imperceptible in the woods, and put Keldar to mind of running swiftly in the clearing, now he feels invigorated, as if he'd just finished a sprint and caught his second wind. [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar shoots Anilom a grin before turning a corner. This is more fun than usual. 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> -The creatures Keldar finds (the snakes, the spiders, the odd dead rodent) seem to have traces of the same mutation that plagued the plant life around the tomb - they're all quite blue, and their skin is rough and sharp to the touch. [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Good thing we went in sooner rather than later. Keldar doesn't care to turn blue. 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Anilom gives Keldar the thumbs-up. It looks like he's feeling it too; Anilom is the jittery type at the best of times. 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> -The tomb itself is badly ruined and collapsed from within. Keldar's internal compass suggests, as they wind deeper into the tomb, a sort of coiled, almost nautiloid structure, like corridors curled up on themselves. There are branching side-corridors - or there were - but they're collapsed so fully that it'd take an excavation crew, or some really irate Earth Aspects, to bust through them. [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar wonders if it'd be worth it, what with the risks of mutation. Maybe if you just didn't tell 'em...? 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Finally, though, they arrive at what must be the central chamber. Great stone doors are shut but not sealed; a silver locking mechanism which looks quite well-preserved was physically smashed apart at some point, and only gravity sees the doors settle back into a closed position. Sheer muscle should be able to force 'em open. 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> The door is overlaid with pictograms and Old Realm script. Keldar doesn't recognize all of them - his Old Realm vocabulary doesn't give him a poet's license - but he gets the gist. This is the resting place of Miranjani, the Blue (Cerulean, probably) Wind. Stylized blue orbs and whorls predominate, and the wind itself whistles through the gaps between the door and the floor. It's coming from in there. 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Anilom gestures, getting the Flaeli tribesmen in position to help Keldar force the door open, or else do it themselves on his order. [22:14] <@Ferrinus> "Little weird for a demon, yeah? Still, guess it's good the spiders and shit weren't a bigger part of their idiom." 12Keldar won't be part of the crew actually forcing the doors open unless it takes every last bit of manpower to manage - he'll be back a little ways, ready to react appropriately to whatever turns out to be on the other side. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> The Flaeli aren't strong enough to try and brute-force the door, but with their trap poles they're set up to try and lever it open. Anilom directs them with gestures. 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> They wedge the poles into the cracks, and push with their shoulders. For a moment it looks as if the poles will snap - but they don't! The doors scrape open, swinging outward on some very degraded silver hinges, only visible as the doors move. The wind almost knocks them on their asses. [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Never doubt the good ole ten fwwwoooah! [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar braces against the blast, squinting past a raised forearm. 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Within... there's a sarcophagus, propped up on the vertical. It's wearing jade and jewels, and wedged in crossed arms is a golden ring, the size of a tambourine, from whose center emerges a howling wind. There's more treasure at the sarcophagus's foot, including a milky white stone about the size of an apple. The walls were once rich with pictograms and Old Realm no doubt recounting the fearsome deeds of this demon, but they've been worn smooth. [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, hell yes." [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Man, imagine if we had, like... a wheeled cart, and we'd just hold the ring pointing backwards-" 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar's pretty sure that it's the damage to the chamber that's causing the wind to act up like this - it's funneling whatever powers the tomb *through* the ring, keeping it going at essentially full blast all night long. The damage to the chamber, Keldar notes, is extensive, between the worn-smooth sigils and the cracked and splintered fixtures. 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> It takes him a moment to see why. 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Sleeping behind the sarcophagus, so large and so dark it was mistaken at first for a shadow in the chamber, is a massive creature. Its body is immense - Keldar's guess 12 to 14 feet long, maybe as heavy as a quarter-yeddim - and it rises and falls slowly with its sleeping breath. 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Its face, if it has one, is hidden behind its sleeping bulk, so Keldar couldn't easily guess what *kind* of creature it is. 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> But it's deep, deep blue, and its fur has the spiked character of the plants and vermin found on the way in here to an extreme degree. 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "What do you think, boss?" Anilom whispers. 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> The wind all but steals the whisper away. If Anilom weren't right next to Keldar he'd never have heard it. [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's quick to withdraw behind one of the doors, and he licks his lips as he considers the prospect. "Our friends know anything about it?" 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "About what?" 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Anilom glances at the Flaeli here, but they're all superstitiously avoiding looking into the tomb's heart - a custom of theirs, one suspects. [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's wondering if the Flaeli recognize it as a local god or whatever. 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> They do seem reverent rather than specifically fearful. [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, whispering: "Ask 'em about it." 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Anilom is local to these parts, in the loosest sense (he's from east of the River Province, out past what you could credibly call the Threshold) but it takes him some linguistic fumbling to get more than a few words across. Finally he reports. "They say the beast is the son of the cerulean wind, and guards his tomb day and night. They say we have to outrun it if we expect to leave alive." [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar licks his lips. How light on his feet is Anilom, generally? Keldar's no slouch, of course, but he is armored. 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> That's why he's here. Anilom once raced down a Nexus laundry line to bring Keldar a bottle of wine when Keldar couldn't be bothered to get out of bed. Then he raced back when Keldar, mid-hangover, started getting mad at Anilom asking Keldar to pay for the wine. You'd scarcely find a fleeter foot in all the Scavenger Lands than he. [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12All right. Alll right. "Allllll right. Anilom - prioities are, yeah, the ring, that... pearl or whatever it is by the feet there, the other gems... sec, though." 12In terms of the passageways leading out - they all big enough for something that size to fit down them? Any unsprung traps or precipices or similar that Keldar might use to his advantage to cut a chase short? 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> That thing could fit through the corridors, but it couldn't possibly move quickly. It'd have to crawl, almost. Keldar didn't leave any traps unsprung that'd deter a creature of that size, unfortunately. [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Couldn't possibly move quickly... unless it were a snake or centipede or something. I'm wise to you, monster manual. How about the doors - would we have to close them against the wind, or did they open into the chamber? 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> The doors opened outward, and would shut into the wind, though it looks like they're heavy enough to do so if you give them a shove on their way. [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, yeah? Basically, Keldar wants to try to just trap the monster in there the moment it looks like it's going to wake up, or failing that lead it into narrow enough tunnels with enough crap and debris in the way that it might at least be slowed down... but, worst comes to worst, there's a reason he wears armor on these trips. "...yeah, okay. You and you, ready with that door, you [22:47] <@Ferrinus> two, take this one with me, Anilom... whenever you're ready." [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We're lucky, it doesn't even wake." 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Anilom takes a few deep breaths and limbers up. His back's to the wall, but a moment later he's bracing against the wind. 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Anilom's in like a dart, running like the wind was at his back instead of his chest. He snatches the ring and the stone, but the force with which he grabs the ring ends up snapping the arms off the dessicated corpse holding it, releasing an intense, musty perfume into the air. 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> The great beast snuffles and starts, groaning audibly. The voice is mammalian. 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Anilom bolts down the hall without waiting for Keldar or the Flaeli. In his haste, he drops the white stone on the floor in the chamber as he goes. [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Fucking - close 'em!" 12Keldar growns and heaves, giving his door as hard a push as he can before, himself, bolting. He really leans into the run, of course, stooping to scoop up the dropped treasure as he goes. 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> The beast rises, unwinding so its head, almost solid blue but streaked with its original tawny color, is half-visible in the shadows of the torch one of the Flaeli was left holding. 14[23:01] * Quits: trenchfoot (Quit: Leaving) 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> The bear's roar rattles the tomb, knocking dust and stones loose and precipitating a minor collapse somewhere in the complex. But without the wind blowing out (it broke as Anilom took the ring and fled) the door shuts swiftly, before the bear can get out. [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hah!" 12Not many can say they've laughed in triumph while fleeing in terror. Keldar can. 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Does he stop to grab the stone that Anilom dropped? [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Yeah, he scoops it up on his way. 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> And away we go! The Flaeli can't quite keep pace with even the heavily armored Keldar as he flees to the surface. [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar'd stop and wait for Anilom, but these guys? It probably won't even eat them, since they like it so much, Keldar bets. 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Let's find out. 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar's not quite far enough away not to hear what happens. There's a great rumbling sound, the sort Keldar associates with a falling tree or great mechanisms turning, which is almost immediately subsumed by the screaming sound of the Cerulean Wind itself... as the stone doors buckle and blast apart. 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Does Keldar spare a look back? [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12If it doesn't cost him any speed. [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Hell, maybe if it costs him a bit. Good to know what's up if he actually does decide to come back here with a small army. 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Then he'll see that his guess was mostly right. The bear doesn't eat the Flaeli. It can't, because it's somersaulting forward, rolling like a massive blue spinning boulder. It simply crushes them. [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "HOLY-" 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> The bear's spines seem almost to make it more aerodynamic, channeling air off its back as they jut out at gentle curves like the spines of a hedgehog. 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> The Flaeli are speedbumps enough at least that Keldar can clear the rest of the tomb and make it out of the clearing with a moment to breathe. Anilom is standing there, staring at him. 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> *out of the tomb and into the clearing [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar comes skidding out into the torchlight, practically falling forward, but he turns the motion into a sort of lunging stretch and ends up still on his feet. He twists around - it sound like the monster's still coming? [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Fucking hell, Anilom! Didn't drop the ring too, didja?" 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The beast is still coming, but Keldar had a very solid head start. 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "He did not." 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> It's at this moment that Anilom slumps to the ground, face in the grass, his back riddled with arrows. [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Listen up, a HUGE fucker of a bear's c-" [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Steel scrapes as Keldar draws, immedaiately pushing a foot back towards the tomb as he peers over his blade at whoever's arrayed before him. "Fuck is this." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Tepet Sachin is visible over the heads of the Flaeli, all of whom have short swords and bows already at the ready. The ring is in his hands, and a tiny mote of his own anima swirls within it, a pale blue that matches the sky in these predawn moments. 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "Scavenger. Here we see there is nothing you can possess which I cannot take away. You have come for nothing. You will leave with less." Sachin barks a word. Keldar doesn't need to know Forest-tongue. He's heard "kill him" in just about every language those words are still said in this day and age. 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Sachin raises the ring to the heavens, and in a flash he's off, racing west, leaving a trail of cerulean wind in his wake. 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Behind the Flaeli, on the horizon, the sky's turned pink. [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Sachin must've been harder up for money than he looked, Keldar thinks. Can't afford the actual fee, and can't afford the hit to reputation he'd take just plain not paying the company. So you pick a job that's real dangerous, reaaaal out of the way- "You son of a bitch." 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> At the same moment, with a thunderous crash, the bear spin-dashes out of the mouth of the tomb, emerging like a cannonball into the heart of the green. 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> So it's come to this. 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> A pack of killers before him. A beast of legend behind him, and in the middle one man, his sword, and his wits. 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> In that moment, the sun crests the horizon, a flawless golden curve defying the line between land and sky, dictating day and night to the land below. 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Breathe in. [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Time slows as the monster rears up behind Keldar and the arrayed Flaeli recoil before him. The paws of the bear are a deathtrap and the natives encircle the tomb entrance completely, which means the only way, the only way out, is through. [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12And the thing is, there are five arrows in Anilom's back, which means at least that many of the tribesmen have to die before Keldar's done here. [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12These calculations take place in the split-second in which Keldar's stumbling forward slightly with the force of the monster's arrival, the next swear word he was preparing to loose knocked from his lungs by both the shaking of the earth and the sheer force of surprise. By the time the mercenary's steadied himself, though, he's decided on exactly what he needs to do - and step one [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12is to take his next breath. 14[23:30] * Joins: trenchfoot [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12The next step is to bellow in inarticulate rage and crash straight into the Flaeli ranks. They might know how to deal with deer and boar and snakes and things, especially when those things are fleeing, but let's see 'em take on an armored swordsman who doesn't let them draw far enough away to harry. Let's see those puny swords they've got deal with bonafide Nexus-forged armor! 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> The bear's quills glitter like sapphires in the dawn light, and its roar drives the birds from the trees. Wildlife scatter as it falls upon the Flaeli. In their own way, they worshiped this creature, and in this moment it pays back their red reverence. Keldar is framed by tides of blood and bodies as he charges into the fray and the bear devours the stragglers. Those that don't fall to claw and sword drop their weapons and scatter like leaves on the wind. [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's roaring resolves into "That's right! That's FUCKING right!" 12by the time he's on the far end of a swathe of some dozen corpses, and his sword's dripping red to the hilt. Breathing hard, teeth bared, he looks around at the fleeing tribesmen and, in particular, at the huge, sky-colored monster that's even now ripping men apart behind him. [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12...he'll leave it to it, he thinks. He's not an ungracious person. [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Grabbing a nearby Flaeli who's just missing both his arms and shoving him roughly backwards towards the monster, Keldar sprints. [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12It's nice when being pissed off actually helps Keldar think his way out of things rather than interferes. Every Flaeli the mercenary cuts down to distract the oncoming monster's basically a two-fer. 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Indeed, Keldar leaves enough corpses in his trail that the bear slows. Two, four, six... Keldar cuts 'em down faster than the bear can gobble him up, and the bear gets more lethargic with every corpse. 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Eventually the bear just, stops, and rests on a flat rock warmed by the rising sun. It lets out a blood-drenched yawn. 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> So... with the beast behind him, his sword in his hand, some strange exhilirating burning in his every breath... which way? What now? [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar reaches into one of the pouches on his belt, withdraws the strange white stone, and eyes it for a moment. If there's no particular effect, he'll shake his head to himself, pocket it again, and then carefully mark where he is, where the tomb is relative to he is, and most importantly where the rest of his support crew and their base camp sort of thing should be relative to [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12where he is. Session Time: Tue Mar 03 00:00:00 2015 [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12He needs to find them - and fast, he realizes, because if Sachin tried to murder him, he might go for them next. Then he'll... come back around here, he supposes, get enough spears together to maybe bring down the monster entirely and reap as much wealth as can be reaped from the tomb of the blue wind. [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Then it's back west, where the company will be told the score and Sachin will be, if not actually slain like the dog he is, at least blacklisted or similar. 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar finds his company greeting him with shock. Where is everyone else? What happened to the employer? What does he tell them? 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> It looks like whichever way Tepet Sachin rode didn't cut this way. [00:05] <@Ferrinus> "We got fucked, boys and girls." 12Keldar's sitting by now, wiping his sword down more thoroughly with a cloth than he was able to with some grass on the walk here. "Tomb's real, take's real - but Anilom's dead. Killed by the treefolk on the Exalt's order." [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Sachin zoomed off, dunno where. But we're not getting the second half of our commission, which means we'd damn well better scour the actual tomb." 14[00:07] * Joins: mattbaby 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "Anilom?" "Those dogs!" "We'll make that asshole regret crossing us, boss." [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12He's still breathing hard, he finds. His sword's at a mirror sheen. ...must've been some powerful damn wind back there, to still leave him feeling this energized. "Let's move. You all ready? The spikebear - it's full, asleep. Best chance. I'll take point, anyone who can handle a spear take a point of their own, heh." 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> It's a bare quarter-hour before Keldar's company is ready to head back to the tomb. 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The tomb is how he left it. People marvel at the carnage. "Did the bear do all this?" [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Is the bear sleeping where Keldar left it? "Some of it." 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> It was there, yeah, about 200 yards out from the mouth of the tomb. 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> It's mid-morning now, incidentally. It's been four hours and thirty-one minutes since dawn. 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> ...how does Keldar know that? [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, that's step one. Keldar's delving backup crew isn't actually any kind of army - they're smart enough to keep their spears pointed in the same direction and will probably mostly be good for keeping this thing hemmed in and distracted - but the mercenary himself feels like a score of jade talents right now, and this fucking thing's at least indirectly responsible for Anilom's [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12death. 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Is he going for the bear? [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Spinning his blade in one hand periodically, beckoning his followers forward just a little bit, to within an arrow or spearcast's distance, Keldar advances on the thing step by quiet step. 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Turns out you can only be so quiet in a suit of articulated plate. 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> But Keldar's already in a battle posture as the bear wakes up. It's still full, it's still sleepy-- [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Turns out you don't have to when your enemy's confused and sleepy. Keldar's third step is part of a jog and his fifth is a run; he shouts and executes an upward swing that flows more smoothly than he can believe, one that'd have split the monster's head entirely if it hadn't flopped backwards ridiculously to wind up on its back. 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> The bear's hind claws come up almost as fast as Keldar's sword, but-- [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12But Keldar's in the air. The sun's not that high in the sky, and yet all the bear sees is a silhoutte rimmed in the dawn's glare. 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar's company holds their collective breath. 14[00:35] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[00:35] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 09[00:35] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho [00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12This is insane. This is ridiculous. Keldar never - every damn time his entire life he's moved to block something, there's been this massive, glaring opening. How's he never seen it? [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12This idiot monster's left its entire torso exposed. The sheer fact of its opposing Keldar's completely left it - it's like it's asking to die! 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> And what does Keldar answer? 05[00:39] <@Ferrinus> 12The mercenary doesn't actually realize what he did until the blood's already spraying. His backup crew watches, agape, as the mercenary knocks one hindpaw aside with his sword, uses the motion to spin and backflip something like twice his own height, twist around in midair to angle his blade straight down, and plummet meteorically straight into the monster's heart. [00:39] <@Ferrinus> 12It's so damn easy! [00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Standing on the freshly-forged corpse, Keldar draws his blade smoothly out of the creature's heart, pulling it back with his right hand while stretching his left forward so as to peer at the bear's face between his fingers. He stares at it for a moment, but it's all a pose - he knew it was dead before he'd landed. 15[00:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Ruthless. Fearless. Flawless. Keldar descends like a geometric principle, and the beast is dead before his boots hit the stone. [00:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, hopping lightly down to the ground: "And that's how it's DONE. Six, check if the body's valuable. Huril, gimme a rag or something. The rest of you, get the poles together, at least three of the traps looked like they had auto-resets." 15[00:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Nobody's listening. 15[00:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Everyone's staring at their boss in awe and wonder. [00:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hey. Hey! We're on a - alright, I guess we're not TECHNICALLY on a clock, though I dunno what that fucking Dynast's getting up to right now." 15[00:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Huril provides a rag. Six has got the tongs out. 15[00:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Everyone else prepares to loot the tomb. [00:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Alright, let's move. We're cutting our losses to the godsdamned bone." 12And on he goes, ready to pore into side passages, keep whatever darts and spears and venomous snakes look fit to be sold, and of course strip that jewel-bedecked corpse from head to toe. 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> If they work click, and work clean, then they should have all the tomb's riches (and the bear's thickest quills, which seem to be flecked with blue jade) picked clean before the sun's started to set. 15[00:48] <@VoxPVoxD> And they do. 15[00:48] <@VoxPVoxD> They're professionals. 14[00:55] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[00:58] * Joins: drinkybird 14[00:59] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:02] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:03] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[01:04] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:05] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 11[02:48] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue Mar 03 02:48:31 2015 15[19:34] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:34] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:34] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:34] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:34] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:34] <@VoxPVoxD> This river has no name. 15[19:37] <@VoxPVoxD> It's too narrow; it'd be a cobweb on a map of the Scavenger Lands, invisible on one of the grand maps of Creation that hang in the halls of great savants and mediocre nobles. It feeds into a river which feeds into a river which is a tributary of the great Gray River, which in turn blossoms into the Yanaze before joining the sea. 15[19:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Out here, though, the rivers have no names, and neither do the settlements that dot them. A village like this one is populated by a handful of families, men and women who'll live their lives from birth to death without ever going farther than the borders drawn by the horizon. What use would such a place have for a name? Who would even name it? [19:40] 4They call the village "Town." They call the village down the road to the west, "West Town." They call the village down the road south, "South Town." [19:40] 4They. We. Us. [19:40] 4Gary's not having a good day. 15[19:40] <@VoxPVoxD> It's fertile land, at least. In a typical year you can expect four good harvests before the Five Days Darkness. One such harvest has just come in, without incident. But that's cold comfort, because Gary's a man down. 15[19:43] <@VoxPVoxD> The barley's fit for eating right now, but there'll be no supper until Marko comes home. He was supposed to be back by dawn, having left the day before to trap fish upriver. You have to go farther and farther every season. The rivers aren't as fertile as they used to be. 15[19:43] <@VoxPVoxD> It's not like Marko to tarry. [19:43] 4First stop's his hut. Wife's in. "Ceci, where's Marko at?" [19:44] 4Gary's gotten used to how much she looks like Olla. [19:44] 4Took awhile. 15[19:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "Has he not returned?" Ceci only looks like Olla until she frowns - then she looks like their mother. "I'd expected him by midday at the latest. It's not like Marko to tarry." [19:46] 4Gary shakes his head. "No." 4It's an answer and an agreement. [19:47] "Tyro and Nork are back." 4There's time before...well, sundown's relative now. "We'll go lookin'." 15[19:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Wildflowers burn up and down the riverbanks, reds and golds like the battle standards of dragon-houses known only by legend in this deep country. Fat bees frolick from blossom to blossom, their flights erratic to the point of drunkenness. [19:47] 4Bugs. Could swat 'em. Best to leave 'em be. 15[19:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Tyro and Nork are good men, sturdy and reliable. They brought more than their share of grain in these last few days. They're ready at Gary's word. What does he bring with him? [19:49] 4From the chief's hut -- where he lives, now -- Gary grabs a rucksack with some poultice and clean cloth. Just in case. He hesitates walking out the door... [19:49] 4Sword's right there. [19:49] 4Could be animals. Gary takes it. 15[19:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Smart. [19:50] 4Looks like a cane, too. Hopefully Marko won't need walkin' with it. 15[19:51] <@VoxPVoxD> The moon's risen early. Usually you don't see it creeping up the horizon until nearer to dusk, but there's a good few hours of daylight left and there it is in the west, full as you please. There's no roads into or out of town, so Tyro and Nork follow Gary north-northwest along the river. [19:51] 4Huh. Odd, this sky. [19:52] 4No point thinkin' about it. [19:52] 4Sky does what it'll do. 15[19:52] <@VoxPVoxD> True enough. [19:53] 4He told Tyro and Nork to bring their animal arms. Tyro's probably got a bow. Nork's a spear man. Both are old weapons, made by their fathers. [19:54] 4Gary hopes it's an animal. 15[19:54] <@VoxPVoxD> They meet Marko up the river a ways, his trap-sack full of fish. He's got a bit of a lopsided gait - did he twist his ankle? He smiles at the sight of his kinsmen, and his grin is crookeder still. "Ho!" [19:54] 4Gary frowns. "Marko." [19:54] "Wife's worried." [19:54] "What happened to mid-day." [19:55] 4Sees the gait. "What happened to your ankle." 15[19:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "Gary! Caught my leg in the river, you see, pulling up the trap. Twisted it between some rocks. Took a while to get it free and then I fair couldn't stand with the pain." The leg he favors is soaked through to the knee. [19:56] 4Gary nods and offers his shoulder. [19:56] 4Soaked through with water, yeah? [19:56] 4Not the other thing. 15[19:58] <@VoxPVoxD> It's... mostly water, seems like. But there's a sweet smell too. Honey? 14[19:58] * Joins: mattbaby [19:59] 4Huh. [19:59] 4How many fish Marko got? 15[19:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 14Five and five and five again. 15[20:00] <@VoxPVoxD> About a dozen, Gary'd guess. 15[20:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Maybe a few more. [20:00] 4That's...goodly. 15[20:00] <@VoxPVoxD> It'd hardly be worth the trip if it wasn't. [20:01] 4Coming back's worth the trip. Town needs all hands. [20:01] 4Honey... 15[20:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Marko takes Gary's help to get off his bad ankle, and Gary gets the feeling like he's liable to get one of those stings when you touch a metal tool after staying in bed too long. 15[20:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "I hope... Ceci wasn't worried too much." [20:04] "She'll abide." [20:05] 4...Probably nothing. "She's tough." [20:05] "Nork, you carry the fish." 15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Marko grunts in assent. Nork takes the fish. [20:06] 4Time to head home. [20:07] 4Gary hands Marko the cane for his off hand. [20:07] 4Sword. [20:07] 4Cane now. 15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD> The trip back is slower, but not much, when Marko has the cane to lean on. The light's turned golden with late-afternoon. The sun has started sinking and the moon rises to meet it. This happens from time to time nowadays, though Gary doesn't recall it happening in his youth. [20:08] 4He'll glance to sky from time to time. World is tough, but beautiful. Take the beauty when you can. 15[20:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Ceci's glad to see Marko back, though she frets over his leg. "It'll heal," reassures Marko. "I just need to get some food in me. I feel starved." [20:10] 4Five and five and...hrm. Hmm. Marko's heavy on him, even with the cane. Might be something under there needs poultice. [20:10] "Food soon," 4Gary says. [20:10] 4That's how it is. [20:10] 4Communal meal at the end of the working day. [20:10] 4Keeps everyone together. Keeps everyone family. That's what father said. [20:11] 4Hunters get to see the fishers. Both get to see the farmers. The housewives and househusbands, too. Kids meet, mingle. Get to know each other. Form bonds. 15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 14Your debts are my debts, cousin. We have fed and bled together. [20:12] 4Huh. This sky... [20:12] 4Gary puts the sword back where it belongs. 15[20:13] <@VoxPVoxD> It clacks against the wall as Gary sets it down. 15[20:13] <@VoxPVoxD> I have not forgotten. I will not forget. [20:14] 4Gary leaves it there, among sandals and smoothed sticks. [20:14] 4Then he takes an amble about Town. [20:17] 4Father said men were two things. Who they were, and what they did. Themselves, and that constant thing outside themselves: that perception. [20:17] 4He said a good leader knows the man, and knows the shadow he casts. [20:18] 4Gary didn't know what those words meant, then. Struggles with them now. [20:18] 4Pretty, though. [20:18] 4That constant thing... 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Town is simple and fair. The huts are arranged in loose circles like people huddling around a fire, and the firepit at the center of town is high and hot for cooking. Running clean past the firepit, on the far side from Gary's hut, is the long table where everyone shares the evening meal. [20:19] 4It's Jia and her sons cooking, tonight. He told her light on the meat and preservables. [20:19] 4Who knows the harvest before it's in. 14[20:19] * Joins: trenchfoot 15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Marko's out at the big table where everyone takes their evening meal, running right through the center of Town. He's facing out from the table, his leg bound up in poultice. He's putting the finishing touches on Jer's flute. Jer's been whittling that on and off for a couple days now, when there wasn't work to be doing. [20:20] 4Jer's a pretty hand with a pipe. Not so much with a knife. 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> The bees dance ever closer to the heart of Town. One stops to rest on the table near Marko and he crushes it with a sudden, savage movement of his fist. [20:20] "Marko." 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "...you'd think the smoke would keep them away," says Marko. [20:21] 4Gary's close enough to see it juice out. 14[20:21] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [20:21] "Ain't need to do that." 15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "True enough, Gary. Beg pardon." [20:23] 4Gary shakes his head. "Ain't my pardon to beg for, some bee-god coming up the river lookin' at the wildflowers sees you doin' that." [20:23] *comin' 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Now Marko winces like the bee burned him. "No need to be making trouble," he agrees after a pause. [20:24] 4Gary nods. "Poultice good?" 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Marko nods. "It pains me less now. Should be good as new in a day or two." [20:27] "Good. Need you fishin'. Good haul today." 15[20:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 14You loathe forgetting. But it's remembrance that pains you more. 15[20:29] <@VoxPVoxD> I remember every moment of silence. [20:30] 4The graveyard's close. He could go visit them. [20:30] 4...He's got duties here. [20:30] 4He moves away from Marko. [20:30] 4Food soon. 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Food's being dished up right now. It's good. People eat well here in Town. The land provides. Does Gary say anything before bread is broken? 14[20:32] * Joins: ddt [20:32] 4No. Father said things on holy days and days special to Town. This ain't one of those. Talking before food tonight would be pretension. [20:33] 4When the Five Days Darkness is done, then he'll have words. 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Then they eat, and well. Marko eats with neat steadiness. [20:34] 4Town keeps a fire burning all night in the square, and a strong arm or two stays up. Gary confers with tonight's -- woman named Kola -- then heads back to the chief's hut. Darkening. Quieting. [20:35] 4He lives here alone. [20:35] 4Alone, now. 15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD> He sees it, but he doesn't hear it, standing in the doorway. He doesn't hear it because the arrows make no sound. [20:37] 4Oh 15[20:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Tyro gets one in the side. Nork gets one in the throat. 15[20:38] <@VoxPVoxD> People are screaming. [20:38] 4no 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 14I call you to account, cousin. I invoke the debt and I challenge your word if you refuse. Have you no honor? At long last? 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 14I call you to account, cousin. I invoke the debt and I challenge your word if you refuse. Have you no honor? At long last? [20:40] 4But we didn't even 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> I will not refuse you. But you will not anger me. 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> People are falling. The able come out with whatever arms they have. The weak and the young hide. There are riders, small gray things with wart-riddled skin riding wolves of surpassing beauty. Their bows are twisted vines. Their arrows insults. [20:43] 4Can we [20:43] 4A woman's throat explodes with a blade. [20:43] 4We can't fight them. 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "I should thank you, brother, for the meal." 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> That's almost Marko's voice. 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> In the sky behind him the sun and moon are almost touching, one above the other, like the top and bottom halves of an hourglass. [20:44] 4Is he -- he can't -- has he been shot? There's this...pain in his head -- "What?" [20:44] "I--" [20:44] 4Gary stumbles back into the town square, jaw lagging behind. [20:45] 4What sits, where Marko sat? 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> He's taller now. His face is stretched taut, and runs like wax. As it sloughs away, something lavender-skinned grins beneath, its hair a wreath of laurels and thorns. His eyes are sapphire glass. 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> His voice sounds like the flute he carved. "I can't remember the last time I ate so well." 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "I have a memory of Olla stuck between my teeth. Would you like it?" [20:47] 4Gary knows, dimly, something of what's happening. Father drilled that into him. This isn't Marko. [20:47] "We -- tribute. We can talk. We can pay tribute." 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "You are paying even now." [20:47] 4Olla's name registers late. He smothers what comes up from his mind. [20:47] "But." [20:48] 4Gary's lip trembles. "Y-you never even asked." [20:48] 4Around him, his world dies. 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> The laurels unravel and rise to full prominence. They curl up and out, entwining and circumscribing the moon and sun as they cross paths in the sky. 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 14You swore an oath, cousin. [20:49] 4But inside. 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 14You swore and you are overheard. 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 14You swore and you are overheard. [20:50] 4Louder, the words come. Half-wail. Half-fury. "We never even talked!" 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> The river that becomes the Gray flows backwards. The sky is a violet curtain. There is no one left outside to die. 14[20:53] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Gary, son of Gray, standing amidst broken bonds and forsaken hospitality, finds solace as he stares into the blank heart of the eclipse. The next words are only a whisper. He can't make them out. But he sees three left hands, one lithe and draped in bangles of silver, and two more wreathed in golden armor, clasped around the same stone. Blood runs from it, staining their wrists like the juice from an overripe fruit. 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Breathe in. 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> He's ablaze. 14[20:57] * Joins: ddt [20:59] 4Father said once that life wasn't a path. Life isn't a place you're going. Life is where you stay. Life is where you sleep. Life is the common things you share with your family, with your lover, with the land and the sky and the people that you know, and that know you. Life is not a journey, Father said. Life is a quietness, calm beneath the eyes of Heaven. [20:59] 4For the first time in his life, Gary, Son of Grey, eyes wide and heart broken, goes on a journey. 14A stranger comes back. 14[20:59] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) [20:59] 14The stranger exhales. [20:59] 14Then he opens milky-white eyes and smiles. "So. Now we're going to talk." [21:00] 14Behind him, the implacable gold-rimmed fury of Heaven burns. 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> The thing-that-was-Marko looks on the stranger with naked loathing. "You have hidden away your own face." [21:10] "You'll be civil with me or I'll wear your eyes as earrings. A moment, please." 14Then Stranger raises his voice, and the great gold-rimmed shadow swells. "EVERYTHING STOPS." 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Everything stops. 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> The bees scatter from the riverbank. 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> The hobgoblins drop their bows and move to flee, unless the stranger bids them to stay. 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> The noble, in his emerald raiment, sits up straight. [21:12] "NOBODY LEAVES." 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> The hobgoblins stop. 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Like reined beasts they wheel about and linger in the burning heart of Town. 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a flash of light and a rush of warmth and suddenly there is a wriggling weight in the stranger's pocket. [21:16] 14The stranger: "If I see a hobgoblin near a door, it dies. If I see a hobgoblin near a human, it dies. If I see a single bee -- any bee at all -- before this conversation is finished then Heaven help me you'll wish you'd been born with wings and that I didn't have the favor of the sky itself. I suffer the insult of your presence on the bank of this river with strong reservation, [21:16] outside thing. Any further suffering will be yours." [21:17] 14In Old Realm: "Do you understand the ground rules?" [21:18] 14The stranger's face is impassive, but his hand reaches into his pocket. It's...hmm. [21:18] 14It's certainly alive.l 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> The noble raises his hands and responds in kind. "I will honor your terms and the rules of etiquette. You should know, though, that I'm not empowered to address them all. The bees aren't me." That's a Fae grammar, the stranger knows. The bees aren't me is the only way the Wyld can say The bees aren't mine. [21:23] 14The stranger stares back with white eyes. "My terms are unfair? Of course my terms are unfair. It is traditional to make a guest feel welcome by providing them with something familiar. This is my gift to you: your existence hangs on the whims of an insect." [21:24] 14He turns his head. "WHO YET LIVES IN TOWN?" [21:25] 14As the stranger shouts, he removes his hand from his pocket...and meets the mouse. [21:26] 14The great, dark figure that has subsumed the stranger's shadow turns with him. 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Voices come. There's Ceci, there's Jer. Tyro is wounded but alive. Jia and the two younger sons. The eldest is face down on the ground. 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> All told, about a quarter of Town's able-bodied adults, and almost all of its vulnerable, survived the attack. 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> That'd put the dead at... fifteen. [21:33] 14The stranger: "Any hobgoblin that does not wish to violate the just-stated terms should array themselves behind their master. This isn't a question, it isn't a request, and it won't be repeated." [21:33] 14The stranger: "Any hobgoblin that does not wish to violate the just-stated terms should array themselves behind their master. This isn't a question, it isn't a request, and it won't be repeated." 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> They comply with quicksilver haste. [21:33] 14How many hobgoblins are there. 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Four. 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Something alights on the water, in the river that runs alongside Town. A swan makes its landing there, sleek and white. The river barely ripples beneath it. 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> It watches. [21:35] 14The stranger, who still wears the mien of Gary, son of Grey: "Jer, Jia, Horoth and Nuds--" 14Jia's sons, the stranger recalls somehow. "--I request your presence in the square. You will not be harmed." 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> One by one they emerge. Jer is just on the brink of manhood. Horoth and Nuds have a fair few harvests yet before then. Jia walks in front. All of them hold their heads high as they emerge from the hut. [21:43] 14The stranger walks over to the hut where they've emerged from, releasing the mouse to the ground as he goes. He doesn't particularly care if the outsider sees it. The thing's agreed to talk. [21:44] 14As the stranger reaches them: "I know I look different." 14White hair, white eyes, great silent shadow staring down, rimmed with sunfire. "But I am still your chieftain. And no one else from Town will die here today -- if you do exactly as I say." 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> The mouse scampers away, scurrying into the next hut. 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Jia and her sons nod. Jer does too. 11[21:47] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue Mar 03 21:47:30 2015 Session Start: Tue Mar 03 21:47:30 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[21:50] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[21:50] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[21:50] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 7AM EST) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EST) | Mage (SAT 10PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TBD) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/SdZRg5O.jpg' 13[21:50] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Fri Feb 27 11:43:41 14[21:50] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[21:50] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[21:50] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD [21:51] 14The stranger: "Don't bother with cushions. I don't need them, and we're going to burn everything these monsters touch." 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> They set to work. 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> The swan drifts back, letting Jia draw fresh, sweet water unimpeded. It's still watching. [21:52] 14The stranger turns back to the outsider. "So I'm going to talk a little bit, and when I'm done, I want you to tell me if this makes sense." 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> The table comes out. The stranger is offered Grey's sword. The tea is set to brewing. 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> The noble: "Fair enough." [22:11] "It's going to take Jia -- that's her name, Jia -- ten minutes to make tea. It's fantastic tea. I have memories of tea from all across Creation, and it's not the best I've had, but it's better than anything in this Direction." 14The stranger pauses, smiling. "This goes one of two ways. The first way is, you and I can have a civil conversation right here, at this table, about how the [22:11] structure and terms of your recompense to this little fishing village for the fifteen lives you took. The tea arrives, we drink it while it's still hot, we remark on the depth of flavor and the character of the presentation, and then we seal our accord. [22:11] "The second way is, I fucking kill you." [22:11] 14The stranger points his cane at the hobgoblin behind the seated outsider. "Then I tell that guy to sit down. I make him the same offer. Maybe he understands it, maybe he doesn't. Probably not, but I'm willing to be surprised. And then he and I agree to terms and drink tea, or I kill him too. And I just--" 14he indicates the next hobgoblin "--keep--" 14and the next "--going until [22:11] I'm drinking tea. I'm not too particular about the company." [22:12] "That makes sense to me, given all the bodies on the ground around me. Does that make sense to you?" [22:20] 14As the stranger speaks, he watches with empty eyes, seeing things his body never saw with perfect vision. [22:20] 14He will find the thing that makes it hurt. 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> The noble listens attentively, his face a mask. But there is something of the chaos, and he can see it bubble forth. This is a creature, fundamentally, of spite. The idea of fair recompense, of being gracious or accomodating, is anathema to him. He will do only what he can be forced to do, and the second the reins are loose he will lay in tenfold for every indignity he's suffered. [22:23] 14And by the time he's done talking, the stranger realizes he'll be drinking tea alone. [22:23] 14But that doesn't mean he won't try. 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> The tea's done. The river is all but still. The swan watches, and so does Town. [22:25] 14The stranger: "I'm waiting for an answer." [22:26] "One way." 14The stranger motions Jia back from the table before she can serve the tea, keeping her out of the way. "Or the other." 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeeeeessssss." It comes out like a fresh burn. 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "I will lissssten." [22:27] 14The stranger smiles and motions for Jia to serve the tea. And when she has, he asks her to leave the pot and go back inside. [22:27] 14The stranger: "So what do you have to offer me in return for fifteen lives?" 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> She does. It smells good. [22:28] "Drink up." 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> He does. He pulls a face and grins his crooked grin. "Delicious." 14[22:30] * Joins: hrolfy 14[22:31] * Joins: ddt 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> The noble runs a long lavender finger around the rim of the teacup as he eyes the stranger across the table. "How about this." 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "First, I will immediately withdraw, and never trouble these people again. Second, while I can't give them themselves back, I can promise that their dreams will be untroubled by the memory for the fullness of their life. Third, to you, as a gesture of apology, I will commend a token permitting you to call once upon my service, with no condition, for a term of service not to exceed one month and one day." [22:40] 14The stranger raises his eyebrows. He holds the cane firmly at his side, thumb on the thin metal ring near the top of its length. 14[22:49] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) [22:51] 14The stranger: "Well. That's quite an offer. But it's not really what I had in mind." [22:51] 14The stranger: "The first two conditions are immaterial -- I gain the same guarantees by breaking every moving part of you that came into my world and burning what's left. The third condition -- you do not owe me an apology. You owe it to the Town. And I do not ever want to see you again in Creation. My counter-offer: the first two conditions stand. The third condition is this: you [22:51] will walk back to the Wyld. You will walk back there, now. And whenever you walk out of the Wyld, the first thing you will do is go find a calendar. You will not kill anyone. You will not eat dreams. You will find a calendar. [22:51] "And if you can find a calendar -- if the sons and daughters of man still marks the days passing in Creation -- you will walk back into the Wyld, and by the knowledge of constant time you will continue to be bound. [22:51] "Fourth condition: you will swear this oath in the eyes of the Unconquerable Sun, and you will beg for the anarchy of unexistence should you break it." 14[22:51] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[22:52] * Joins: trenchfoot [22:52] "Find your tongue or find a weapon, outsider." 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "Have you ever been to the honey maze?" 14[22:59] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) [23:00] 14The stranger: "Is that a tongue or a weapon?" [23:01] 14The thumb slides forward. The top third of the cane separates from the bottom. Between them, a glint of the world's hardness. 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> He rises. His hands go to the sword at his waist. "She will need only the barest pretext to take you there. Good riddance to this place, and the vermin within it. I would sooner face her lance myself." 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> With that he turns to depart. [23:02] 14The stranger: "I didn't hear an oath." 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> He stops as if struck. He turns, slowly. "I swear by my name, which is all that I am. I am Neamh of the Emerald Host, and I swear that I will not set foot in these stinking lands again for as many days as you can bear to count." [23:05] 4The stranger breathes out, and touches the truth carved by a liar's tongue. The great thing behind him glows brighter on the rim -- and falls darker in the center. [23:05] 14The stranger breathes out, and touches the truth carved by a liar's tongue. The great thing behind him glows brighter on the rim -- and falls darker in the center. [23:06] 14The stranger: "I have bodies to bury. Get out of my sight. Compliment the teamistress." [23:07] 14The stranger: "In that order." 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> The oath mars the raksha's flesh - as it must, for their word is the sum of their being. The laurels that frame its beautiful and terrible face turn dark and wind tightly. Neamh rides out of these lands and into fathomless chaos. "Your tea is superlative," he offers to Jia. They are the last words he speaks in this tale or any other. [23:08] 14The square is quiet for a moment... [23:08] 14Then the stranger slumps back down to sit at the tea table, and pours himself another cup. 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "May I?" [23:09] 14The stranger looks up. 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> The voice came from the river. A woman is there, garbed in flowing white, her hair the color of straw spun to platinum. Her eyes are silver. 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> The swan is gone. [23:12] 14The stranger's eyes narrow. He knows what she is by...instinct? Forgotten memory? Something else? [23:12] 14He knows he's in no shape to do anything but have an actual conversation over tea. 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> He remembers... something. He couldn't say what. The words for it are lost. 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> But in there is no fear in their eyes as they meet. [23:13] "Jia," 14the stranger says, "We will leave for South Town tomorrow morning. We will see that the dead are buried, and the survivors tended to. But now, right now, what I need you to do is put on another pot of tea...and get everyone that's left inside the chieftain's hut." [23:13] 14The stranger: "I will come for you when it is time." 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Jia bustles off without a word. [23:14] 14When Jia's gone, the stranger motions for the woman to sit. [23:14] 14He'll get the new pot in ten minutes' time. [23:15] "You," 14the stranger says, "were watching." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> She sits. "I was." [23:16] "First time seeing the Fair Folk at the bargaining table?" [23:17] "If you can call them that." [23:17] "If you can call this that." [23:17] 14He knocks twice on the table. [23:17] "Marko used to play bones on this." 14[23:19] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) [23:19] "I should get you a cup." [23:20] 14He rises to do so, tossing the one the outsider drank from into the firepit as he passes it. In a moment he's back with something clean. 14[23:20] * Joins: trenchfoot 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> She smiles and accepts it with gratitude. "Anything is a bargaining table once a deal is struck. I've treated with the raksha before. But you, stranger, are unprecedented." [23:22] 14The stranger smiles back. It's a bit of a grimace. "Unprecedented is a strong word. I prefer unexpected." [23:24] 14His eyes drift up to the sky for a moment. The Unconquerable Sun and Luna have parted, now...but they're still close. From this angle, they're side by side. 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "He certainly didn't expect you. You don't come to a village like this expecting a sight like that. I saw it from miles away." Her eyes have raised to the specter of the stranger's anima, and past that to the eclipse. "Do you know what they say an eclipse is?" [23:26] 14The stranger thinks, and frowns. There's a lot that's just...not there. That's what it feels like: things missing. And in their place...a man named Gary. [23:26] 14Past tense. [23:26] 14The stranger: "I might have, once." [23:26] "Indulge me." [23:27] "What do they say an eclipse is?" 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "They say an eclipse is the moon sharing a secret with the sun." 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Something wriggles into the stranger's lap. Then it squeaks. [23:27] 14The stranger realizes, for the first time in a long, long time, that there's color in his cheeks. [23:28] 14That snaps him right out of it. [23:28] "Hello there." 14He lifts the little thing up and places it on the table. 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> The mouse has fur the white of fresh snow, and eyes the color of gold. They reveal an intelligence you don't often see in mice, or even men. [23:31] 14The stranger runs a gentle finger down the fur of its head and neck, white eyes looking into gold. Then he takes his teacup off of its saucer, and dribbles some into recessed bottom of the little dish. 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> The mouse likes the tea too. [23:32] 14The stranger nods approvingly. "Would you think it too forward if I asked you a question about the swan?" 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Only unexpected." [23:34] 4That widens the smile, before it softens. "It's a personal question." [23:34] 14That widens the smile, before it softens. "It's a personal question." [23:34] "Did you choose it, or did it choose you?" [23:35] 14If the mouse wants more tea, the stranger will oblige the saucer. 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> The mouse wants more tea. 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "We were both Chosen by another." [23:37] 14More tea he shall have. [23:37] 14The stranger nods at her response. The expected one, he knows somehow. The diplomatic one. The one that says nothing, but doesn't insult. 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "May I ask you one in turn?" [23:38] 14The stranger: "Only unprecedented." 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> She smiles at that, a smile that can catch the sun and throw it back. "What do you answer to, stranger?" [23:40] 14It is unprecedented. This is the first time someone's asked him that. He's only been alive for an eyeblink of the sun. [23:40] 14He thinks. [23:46] 14There are twenty-seven years stained into his mind. He was not here for them -- someone else was. But it's not Gary's father who died to sickness in his fifty-third year, bitterly disappointed in how his son was unwilling to stand up to South Town fishers encroaching on their plots. It's his father. It's not Gary's wife who was killed by a spinebear who got too close to town because [23:46] 14no one was keeping watch. It was his wife. It was Gary -- it was him -- who looked up into the sky and saw the sun and the moon consorting. But it was a stranger that visited that heaven. And it was a stranger who came back. [23:47] "The best policy, in names as well as deeds, is the truth." 14The Exalt smiles. "I am Stranger-Visits-Heaven." 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> She inclines her head, respecting the truth of Stranger's words. "Well met, Stranger. I am the Ambassador of Night and Day." [23:51] "Well met, Ambassador." 4The smile broadens. "And that, if I don't miss my mark, is the sound of a kettle boiling. I'll be back." 14Halfway to the hut, with his back to the beautiful swan, he permits himself a laugh. [23:52] "Well met, Ambassador." 14The smile broadens. "And that, if I don't miss my mark, is the sound of a kettle boiling. I'll be back." 14Halfway to the hut, with his back to the beautiful swan, he permits himself a laugh. [23:54] 14Back. Yes: finally, he is back. A new day beckons, dawned by Sun and Moon. And beneath them both, he returns to the table, and refills three cups. Session Time: Wed Mar 04 00:00:00 2015 14[00:28] * Joins: ddt 14[01:11] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[01:13] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:42] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[01:52] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[02:06] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[02:07] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:08] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[02:24] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[02:24] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[02:36] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[02:37] * Joins: drinkybird 14[02:40] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:41] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[02:41] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:41] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:54] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[02:57] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[02:57] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[03:00] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[03:02] * Joins: mattbaby 14[03:21] * Quits: mattbaby (Remote host closed the connection) 14[03:47] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[03:48] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[03:49] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[04:33] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[04:36] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[04:44] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[04:44] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[04:44] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[04:58] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[04:59] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[05:40] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[05:40] * Joins: Crion 14[05:53] * Quits: dammitwho 14[07:19] * Joins: drinkybird 14[07:22] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[08:00] * Joins: Crion_ 14[08:01] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[08:08] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[08:11] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[08:25] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[08:26] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[08:27] * Joins: drinkybird 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timeout: 250 seconds) 14[13:05] * Joins: drinkybird 14[13:08] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[14:06] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[14:58] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[15:00] * Joins: ddt 11[15:20] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed Mar 04 15:20:21 2015 Session Start: Wed Mar 04 15:20:21 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[15:22] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[15:22] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[15:22] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 7AM EST) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EST) | Mage (SAT 10PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TBD) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/SdZRg5O.jpg' 13[15:22] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Fri Feb 27 11:43:41 14[16:09] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[16:14] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[16:15] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[16:15] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 09[16:24] * banana is now known as bananap [16:28] https://41.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_maje7seKTc1qc8ii7o1_1280.jpg 14[16:33] * Joins: ddt 14[16:34] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 11[16:36] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed Mar 04 16:36:46 2015 Session Start: Wed Mar 04 16:36:46 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[16:37] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[16:37] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[16:37] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 7AM EST) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EST) | Mage (SAT 10PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TBD) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/SdZRg5O.jpg' 13[16:37] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Fri Feb 27 11:43:41 09[16:37] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[16:39] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[17:06] * bananap is now known as banana 14[18:15] * Joins: ddt 14[18:27] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[18:27] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[18:40] * Joins: drinkybird 14[18:43] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[19:08] * Quits: drinkybird (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[19:09] * Joins: drinkybird 14[19:12] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[19:13] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[19:32] * Joins: Crion 14[19:46] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:03] * Joins: dammitwho 15[20:07] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:07] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:07] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:07] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:07] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:10] <@VoxPVoxD> The sun sets and the dead rise. The nomads have rested in scenic Chugwater for a few days now, licking their wounds and catching their breath. They have fuller veins and a slightly more detailed inventory to show for it. 15[20:10] <@VoxPVoxD> What now? [20:13] 3Reuben’s up early to work on his app. It’s been in the back of his mind for a few days while he dealt with the “almost murdered by teen wolf” thing, but one of the seven habits of effective vampires is getting back on that horse. He pages through some tech manuals and sketches in a spiral bound notebook in the back of the RV. [20:13] <@Ferrinus> "We need birds," 12Nick is telling Alisa. [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I mean bird spirits. Or like, spirits shaped like birds? They're usually of kind of messed up stuff that eats the rot." [20:16] 4Well, they still owe Nicholas a 'boss fight.' Until they're ready to climb that particular mountain, Lis will split his time between Timothy's tutoring and his own research. [20:18] "There's nothing messed up about that." 7Alisa replies loftily. [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12The werewolf licks his lips and counts off on his fingers. "Well, it's like. Bluejays are for revenge, mourning is sparrows... stuff like that." [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "So if we could find a bunch of those, or, I dunno, get a lot of stuff like that happening at the diner...? But Iunno where to start." 14[20:20] * Joins: Crion_ [20:22] 6Anna's up early too, and out. She's got some hunting to do. Wait, no, like actual hunting. Not what you're thi- stop laughing. She can do this. She's seen jackalopes before. Around here, even. 15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD> The bad news is, there aren't any jackalopes to find. But the things the jackalope ate are, now, easier to get hold of. [20:24] 3Reuben pulls at his collar and looks up from his books. He’s still beat to shit and hunger is already gnawing away at him. How many more times can he feed in this one horse town, though? Maybe Alisa has some ideas. 1“Hey Alisa.” 3He reluctantly considers the other vampires before continuing, 1“Or Lis.” [20:25] 4Lis looks up from his reading. "Mmm?" [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12There weren't many bird spirits in evidence aroung Chugwater, were there? Nick's probably been padding around, hoping to spot one in its natural habitat by peeking through the Gauntlet periodically. [20:26] 3Reuben: 1“How much longer you think we can stay in this dump without people noticing all their friends are turning up unconscious and 2 pints of blood lighter?” [20:28] 4Lis: "Well, theoretically, as long as we're careful and sorcerously convincing, we can stay indefinitely -- but you're right, we should be moving on soon." [20:30] 7Alisa: "It'll be a bit easier now that we killed that jackalope." 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Not that Nick's seen. This doesn't seem like a haven of vengeance or mourning though. There's just not enough people here for that kind of misery. The Chub Toad's visible from most angles in the town, but past that you're looking at, mostly, spirits of the land itself. [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "The what?" [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick thinks for a while, and then finds whatever the nearest paper or online map is in order to scan the area around Chugwater for... a graveyard. [20:35] "The jackalope! I've got its skin drying out behind the thing. RV." 7Alisa grins. [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "What's a jackalope?" [20:36] 3Reuben heads for the door to see this. 1“Holy shit.” 14[20:38] * Joins: Nicolae 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> True to her word, there's a big old hareskin drying in the fairly well-hidden space between the RV and the B&B it's parked behind. Someone's standing by it, looking at it. [20:41] 6The things the jackalope ate will do in a pinch, I GUESS. Blood is blood, on some level, and after her wounds finally close up Anna is absolutely famished. Hungrier than she's allowed herself to be since her embrace. [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Has it got horns sticking out or anything, or is it a hare as far as Nick can tell? How's it smell? 14[20:42] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [20:43] 7Who's standing by it? Fuckers better not steal that hide, that was hard to catch. 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Nick finds reference to 'Chugwater Cemetery' but its address isn't immediately Googlable and it doesn't seem to be actually within the tiny confines of Chugwater itself. How far can it be, though? 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> The woman standing beside the jackalope pelt - touching the antlers - is small and slight, her arms folded about her as if she's cold, though the air is quite warm. Alisa saw her fairly recently, and indeed invited her here the night before. 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> To Nick, the jackalope does look and smell mostly like a rabbit, albeit a very big, old, carnivorous rabbit that drinks a lot. It smells like if Alisa was a rabbit. [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick's hackles raise slightly, though they'll settle if Alisa doesn't seem affronted. Either way, he eyes the stranger appraisingly, though not supernaturally so. [20:54] "Annie!" 7Alisa says with delight. 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> She turns, then, to take in the sight of them. "I didn't want to wake you." [20:55] 3Reuben raises an eyebrow. Alisa made a new friend? [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Does she smell alive? 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> She does. [20:58] 6Even in the wilderness there's still the risk of losing control, but Anna pushes her way back. The Beast grumbles but goes back to what it was doing (complaining about how it never gets to have any fun, probably) and Anna drains some helpless woodland creatures of their precious, precious blood. 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Rude. [20:58] 7Alisa: "Sure, sure. This' Nick, there's Reuben." [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Huh. Nick says: "Who's thi- oh, hi, yeah." 12He waves. 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Does Alisa point, like with her hands? 14[20:59] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Excess Flood) 14[20:59] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[20:59] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus [21:00] 7Yup. She's rolled up her jacket sleeves a little and still grinning at Anoushka as she does it, too. Like 'eh? eh? How about this?' [21:00] 3Reuben waves.  15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> It has the desired effect. Anoushka rubs her own forearms reflexively. "It's nice to meet you all. My name is Anoushka." [21:07] 7Alisa: "I think Anna's out hunting still, so we won't get confused with names for a bit. S'good to see you. How's things?" 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "...different," says Anoushka after a pause. "When did you start travelling again?" [21:11] 7How long's it been since she woke up in Costa Oro? 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> About six months since she woke up, about four since she got thrown out. [21:12] 7Alisa: "About four months ago. Spent two months in that shitty town in California, whatchacallit, Costa Oro." 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Oh no. I'm glad you made it out safely." [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "So... whooo is this?" 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Anna makes it back to the RV right around now. [21:19] 3Reuben: 1“What do you mean, ‘safely’?” [21:20] 7Alisa: "Yeah, I think you might have gotten some news ahead of us. They were fine when we left, even if they were rudely kicking me out when I didn't even do anything." 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Did you not hear? Most of the Kin in the city are gone now." [21:21] 7Alisa: "How gone?" [21:22] 3Reuben thinks to Grigori. Why hasn’t he heard this already? 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Almost all of them were destroyed. I'd have thought you'd know. Don't you have friends there?" [21:23] 6Anna's pretty well cleaned up from the hunt. Which is good. Unseemly to meet guests with animal blood all around your mouth like some kind of savage. "Hi, sorry, can you go back one step? Destroyed?" [21:24] 3Reuben snaps off a text to Grigori while barely looking away from the conversation. 1 [21:25] 7Alisa: "All the friends I made came with me. Hey, Anna." 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka smiles a bit when Anna appears. "Hello, Anna." 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka looks at Alisa's forearms again. "Who was it, then?" [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "What, uh... destroys all the vampires in a city?" 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Reuben gets a text back. [21:28] 3Reuben: 1 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> [21:28] 7Alisa grunts and doesn't make eye contact with Anoushka. "Don't know for sure... like I said, this is the first I heard of it. When did they disappear?" [21:29] 3Reuben: 1 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> [21:31] 3Reuben: 1 [21:31] 3Reuben: 1 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> [21:31] 3Reuben: 1 [21:31] 3Reuben: 1 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> [21:31] 3Reuben: 1 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "I heard about it in Cheyenne a few days ago." [21:32] 3Reuben: 1 3To the others: 1“Yep, Grig confirms it. All dead.” 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Grig?" 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "Grigori?" 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Grigori Vasilescu?" [21:33] 6Anna: "Hi, Anoushka." 6She smiles a little too at Anoushka, but it fades at the reminder of everyone in Costa Oro being dead. [21:33] 3Reuben: 1“Yeah. Dude’s my dude." [21:33] 7Alisa: "Love that guy." 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka closes her eyes and tilts her head downward, drawing in a deep breath and holding it for a long moment. "If it wasn't you, who was it?" [21:35] 3Reuben: 1“What do you mean? Why was everyone murdered?” [21:36] 6Anna: "Also, how? Because that sounds like a really big thing." [21:36] 7Alisa doesn't say anything for a little while, and when she does it's with considerable reluctance. "Could've been Becky." 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "I don't know, I wasn't there." To Alisa: "I thought you had that under control." [21:39] 7Alisa: "Nobody does anymore. She moved out." 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh." [21:41] "I know, I know." 7She looks sad and embarassed, playing with a bit of her hair. "She's having troubles. I'm trying to fix it." [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick crowds Reuben and tries to peek at his phone's screen. "What's he say? How'd it happen?" 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "So you decided to go through with it anyway?" [21:43] 3Reuben: 1“The little dots mean he’s typing.” 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> [21:47] 3Reuben: 1 [21:47] 6Anna: "She didn't do that, did she?" 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> [21:48] 3Reuben: 1 [21:49] 3He looks up. 1“Yep, it was Rebecca.” [21:49] 3Reuben: 1 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> [21:51] 3Reuben: 1 [21:51] 3Reuben resists the impulse to hoot and holler. For now. But he shows Nick the text excitedly. [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Holy shit. Is he saying...?" 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "I'm sorry, Alisa." [21:53] 3Reuben: 1“He can’t mean *that*.” [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Is Grigori like a thousand years old or somethin'? How'd he beat her?" 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka looks at Alisa like, 'do they not know that either?' [21:54] 3Reuben scratches his chin. 1“He’s always had some pretty spooky magic up his sleeve. I only ever saw a little of it.” [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "She was nuts, though! She went straight through that Pure." [21:58] 3Reuben: 1“I dunno, dude. Grig told me once that back in Romania they remade that old George Méliès ‘from the earth to the moon’ movie, except on location.” [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "What?" [22:02] 7Alisa: "Rebekah, not Rebecca." [22:02] 3Reuben: 1“You said it the same way both times." 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> This is like the merry, marry, Mary thing. [22:03] 6They sound the same, unlike Rebekah and Rebecca. [22:03] 7Does Alisa remember anything about Grigori that would explain this? [22:10] 7Alisa: "Grigori's a Master of the Grove. Not many magicians around that could even match him, strength for strength. Cool guy." [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "So what'd he do?" [22:14] 7Alisa: "Wizard battle." [22:15] 7She looks back at Anoushka. "Yeah. I'm sorry too." 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Can I ask what changed your mind?" [22:17] 6Anna: "What did she do? Same as Flagstaff?" 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Was that not you in Flagstaff either?" 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "People are talking about these things like you did them." [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Uh. Flagstaff was tricky." [22:19] 3Reuben: 1“Be very specific about what you mean with Flagstaff.” 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Should I... wait to eat until after?" [22:21] 7Alisa: "Some of Flagstaff was me. Not the Circle, though, and those morons had it coming worse than anyone." [22:22] "They were trying to summon Mom!" 7She says indignantly. 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "You mean..." [22:22] 7Alisa: "Yuuuuup. I even warned them first." 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's so... stupid!" Anoushka says this as if it's the harshest word she can muster. [22:23] 6Anna: "It really was." [22:24] 3Also kinda badass, Reuben thinks to himself. [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Anyway the rest of it was this bunch of crazy evil werewolves and the vampire church." [22:25] 7Alisa: "They had a sun god." 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "You've been very busy." [22:28] 3Reuben: 1“You’d almost think our wacky adventures would have taken us literal years instead of only four-ish months." [22:28] 6Anna: "Mercy for the Diaz brothers." [22:29] 7Alisa: "C'monnnn though, I wanna hear what you've been up to! How's Liz and Mara?" 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "Aren't you-" Anoushka presses her lips together. Another deep breath. "Mara's in trouble. I'm going up to help her. We haven't- Lisette hasn't spoken to me in years." [22:34] "Oh." 7She's quiet for a bit. "I may have known that before. If I did, I didn't know now." 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "How long were you out?" [22:35] 7Alisa: "Not long. Thirty, forty years. Becky took a lot with her." 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "I can see that." 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "You look good, though." 14[22:38] * Joins: Quaker [22:39] 7Alisa: "'Course I do. I have this rad purse now." 7She shows it off. [22:39] "What's happened to Mara?" 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka's purse, by contrast, is beat-up black leather. It looks like she's had it a while. She looks at the other nomads before giving Alisa a searching look, an 'are they cool?' look. [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick's self-evidently cool. [22:47] 7Alisa nods. 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> From inside that beat-up purse, Anoushka produces a small metal canister. 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "This is about a third of her." [22:50] 7Alisa scowls. "Who. How. Why." 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Me." 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's a long story." [22:56] 7Alisa: "We've got nothing but time. And some beers, if you're into that." 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "I shouldn't drink on an empty stomach. Let me get some food." 14[22:59] * Parts: Nicolae [23:01] 7Alisa nods. "'kay. That'll gimme time to make sure Nick did his homework." 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> About fifteen minutes elapse before Anoushka comes back. Plenty of time for Alisa to bother Nick, or for people to confer. [23:01] 3Reuben frowns. What’s all this about homework, now? [23:02] "Man, now I need to apologize to Grigori too." [23:03] "Always making up for Rebekah, even when we were kids." 7Alisa grouses, telling an absurd lie. [23:03] 6Anna: "I don't think that's true." 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Hey, it might be. [23:04] 3Reuben: 1“I’m sure he doesn’t blame you." [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Okay, who is she?" [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "It sounds like she knew you from way back, but that doesn't make any sense because she smells like people." 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Technically either Alisa or Anna could field this one. [23:09] "She's one of the three Brides of Dracula." 7Her voice makes it clear she knows exactly how cool this sounds. [23:13] 3Reuben: 1“That movie really sucked." [23:14] 6Anna: "She discovered a way to regain your humanity. Was something you weren't supposed to ask about in the Ordo, or else, but there were still whispers." [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Like... the one from comics?" [23:17] 7Alisa stares at Reuben and Nick, bewildered. "The what from what? Movie?" [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick stares back. "...wait, maybe you told me. Anyway, that's, but. You can turn back human?" [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "You can do that?" [23:22] 7Alisa: "Regain your humanity and turn human's not quite the same thing. Anyway I'm pretttty sure she still needs to drink blood and stuff. Pretty sure." 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka comes back, but not with blood. She's got a styrofoam container and also a bag from the convenience store. Luckily she's obvious enough in her movements that you can all stop talking about her before she gets in earshot, probably. Unless she's got super-senses. [23:25] 7Alisa continues talking, obliviously. "Seriously though, Annie's great. Me and her sisters had a whale of a time back in the day." 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "I keep telling you, they didn't actually have any fun on the Pequod." [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "But what's she doing - how did she even...?" 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Is there somewhere we can sit down?" [23:28] "Yeah, c'mon." 7Alisa'll wave over her shoulder as she heads back to the front of the RV. Unless people want to confer elsewhere, she's just gonna have them all sit down inside. [23:32] 3Reuben’ll follow and take a seat, but not before offering their guest something from Nick’s grocery sack of open and half-eaten chip bags. 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Well, at least the RV is spotless. TJ and Lis are both reading in the B&B, where the wi-fi is better and the proprietor has been magically compelled to ignore them. Anoushka will sit down and start unpacking her food - looks like a big pile of french fries in the container, with little packets of mayonnaise. The gas station bag is full of packages of dried apricots. She politely declines Reuben's offer. 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "This is nice. It's a lot nicer than your old bus." [23:32] 3“Your loss,” thinks Reuben as he eyes a stale Funyun. [23:33] 7Alisa: "That got blown up by the sun god anyhow." [23:33] 6Anna: "Shame, too." 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Anyway, the Academy up in Seattle has a lot of the rest of Mara. They've been brute-forcing it with spectroscopy. I don't think it's enough yet, but we're close enough that the Convener asked me to come up. Do you remember Agnes?" [23:37] 7Alisa shakes her head. 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "She's alright, as those go. But I had to kill Mara, so now I have to bring her back." 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's taken most of the last few years to collect this much." [23:40] 6Anna: "Wait, how does that work?" [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Um, why and why?" 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "Anna, and... it was Nick?" [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick nods. 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "Nick. This was... 92, I think. Maybe early 93. Up in Vancouver. Mara's never approved of my work, and from time to time she disapproves strongly enough to make an example. But it was... it was at too delicate a stage to allow that." 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "So it had to be done, but I owe it to her to fix it." 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> To Anna: "There's a very complicated answer and a very simple one. The simple one is that she can't be killed." 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> She offers Reuben one of her dried apricots. You wouldn't think those would go good with fries and mayonnaise, but whatever. She's tucking in fine. [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "And Mara's another... bride... of Dracula?" [23:47] 6Anna: "That's... okay. Wow." 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mara was the first." [23:50] 3Reuben politely declines. One perk of being a vampire Reuben has never regretted is you don’t have to eat your fruits or vegetables. 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "I have a question for all of you. Where are you going?" [23:57] 7Alisa: "Anna's got a thing for New Jersey. We're sure in no rush, though." [23:58] 6Anna: "That was always an 'eventually' thing. Who knows if that's even still the safest place." [23:59] 3Reuben: 1“With all our enemies dead in Costa Orso, we might even be able to go home. Assuming we figure out something about..” 3Reuben thumbs over at Nick. 1“your whole thing." Session Time: Thu Mar 05 00:00:00 2015 [00:00] 7She shrugs at Anoushka. "Up to them. My home's this RV." 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "Was Denver Rebekah too?" 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "You must have heard about that one. It was on the actual news. They've only just started pulling the soldiers out." [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick looks uncertain as Reuben gestures to him, then more so as Anoushka keeps talking. "No, that was... um. Well, this stuff kept happening." [00:03] 7Alisa: "That wasn't even vampires!" 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "That wasn't you either?" 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "You didn't kill an entire army of hunters? With helicopters and rockets?" [00:04] "I," 7Alisa says in aggrieved tones, "was busy getting my hotel room bombed at high noon-- oh, that. Yeah, that was me." [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "That doesn't count!" [00:05] "I thought you meant the other thing." [00:06] 3Reuben: 1“We killed, like, a platoon of hunters at most." 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "Well, you got blamed for that too." 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "What happened?" [00:07] 3Reuben leans back. 1“It’s some sick street cred either way." [00:07] 7Alisa frowns. "You know about human wizards, right?" 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka frowns back. "Reluctantly." [00:08] 6Anna, abruptly: "I'm going to take a walk. I'll be back later." 6She'll slide off the bunk and head out into the woods again. [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick gives her a look as she heads off. "Well, they started fighting in Denver. There was this- accident. I saw it." 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "The outbreak?" [00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick nods, and begins to swallow, then blinks and clears his throat a bit. 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "That must have been awful to see up close. I'm sorry you had to go through that." [00:10] 7Alisa: "The shitty wizards and the wizards I'll grudgingly admit to being somewhat less shitty had a throwdown at the same time a gripload of hunters blew into town and the prince got temporarily torpored by a wendigo." [00:11] 7Alisa: "What a clusterfuck." 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is the Prince of Denver still a Dragon?" [00:13] 7Alisa shakes her head. "Nope. Malcolm St. John. Kicked the Ordo apart for something or other, most of 'em left." 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka looks confused before recognition dawns and she almost chokes laughing with her mouth full. 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Coughing: "Him?" [00:15] "Yeah, the dude who gives everyone animals." 7She chews her lip pensively. "Nice guy, pretty sane as Princes go. Cute, too." 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "He is that." [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "What about him? Did he give you an animal?" 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "He did." 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "What about you?" [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I never got one! What were you?" 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "A lark. It's what Vlad called me too." [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12It's easy to tell, from Nick's expression, that he doesn't know what a lark is. 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's a kind of songbird. They like to sing at dawn." 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Anna tries to lose herself in her own thoughts, to peel insight from her consciousness. She tries to revisit the first dream she had when the nomads came together. Her mind floods with blank whiteness, cold infinity, fathomless emptiness. Anna dreams of safe havens and finds only oblivion. [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Oh, cool. So, uh... are you, like. Really human?" 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "Are you?" [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "...No." 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you ever wish you were?" [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick waits a little while. "Yeah." [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12He sounds slightly embarrassed. 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Then no." 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "If you wanted what I want, you wouldn't be satisfied with what I have." 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "But if the thought's never crossed your mind, you wouldn't be able to understand the difference." [00:27] 7Alisa snorts, but says nothing. [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Huh?" 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "I'm very close. But the closer you get, the worse the little differences are." 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "I can't age, for instance." [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "That one doesn't seem so bad." [00:32] 7Alisa opens her mouth to make fun of her, but... is that the kind of relationship they have? Did they have a heart-to-heart where Alisa weepingly pledged to respect Anoushka's quest to change beyond all recognition? She's unsure, and that stops her until the opportunity passes. 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka shakes her head. "It's not good enough." [00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Can you still do any vampire stuff?" 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "If I have to." [00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Can... how did you? Can you give it to other people?" 15[00:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "Give what?" 14[00:39] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Like, what you have. Like let other vampires eat normal and stuff. Hey, can you go out in the day?" 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "How much do you know about what the Order does?" [00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12The werewolf shrugs helplessly. [00:43] 7Alisa makes a popping noise with her mouth. Even if that never happened, she doesn't have a leg to stand on around Anoushka now, does she? "Can't make fun of you anymore anyway." 15[00:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "It wouldn't make sense to say I can 'give' it to people. What we do is taken and made. It's too personal to just teach someone. When we try, when we push ourselves the wrong way... terrible things happen." She looks at Alisa. "But what I have, even if it's unique to me, isn't exc- what?" [00:45] "Mnn, it'll take a bit to explain. I'll get into it if Nick doesn't have any more questions." [00:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Uh... well, no, g'won." 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "I should answer your other question, though." 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "I can go out in the day. I have to, even, since I can't sleep anymore and staying inside all day drives me crazy." [00:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Oh, jeez, really? That's- say." [00:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Where's Dracula?" 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka almost chokes again. She looks at Alisa. Alisa didn't say? 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Does Alisa even remember? [00:52] 7Does she? 15[00:53] <@VoxPVoxD> She does. [00:53] 7Alisa giggles. "I couldn't remember whether it was supposed to be a secret!" 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka snickers. "It is! But I never could figure out which secrets you thought were worth keeping." [00:55] 7Alisa's eyes are wide with mirth. "Okay. Okay. Nick did you, were you there when Reuben made me watch that movie 'Weekend at Bernies'?" 15[00:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka's face is buried in her hands now. Her shoulders are trembling. [00:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Uh, I think I missed it." 15[01:07] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT WEEK: Weekend at Vlad's 14[01:23] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[01:26] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:04] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[02:09] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:51] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[02:51] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[03:08] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[03:10] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[03:16] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[03:20] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[03:20] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[04:37] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[05:24] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[06:03] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[06:05] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[06:21] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[06:24] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:28] * Quits: dammitwho 14[07:31] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[07:34] * Joins: dammitwho 14[08:02] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[08:02] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[08:02] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho Session Close: Thu Mar 05 09:02:38 2015 Session Start: Thu Mar 05 09:04:53 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[09:04] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[09:04] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 7AM EST) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EST) | Mage (SAT 10PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TBD) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/SdZRg5O.jpg' 13[09:04] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Fri Feb 27 11:43:41 09[09:04] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 11[09:06] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Mar 05 09:06:20 2015 Session Start: Thu Mar 05 09:39:13 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[09:39] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[09:39] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 7AM EST) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EST) | Mage (SAT 10PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TBD) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/SdZRg5O.jpg' 13[09:39] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Fri Feb 27 11:43:41 09[09:39] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[09:51] * Joins: ddt 14[09:53] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[09:56] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[10:19] * Quits: dammitwho 14[10:25] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:46] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:00] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[11:02] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[11:03] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[11:04] * Joins: drinkybird 14[11:04] * Quits: drinkybird (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[11:05] * Joins: drinkybird 14[11:07] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[11:08] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[11:11] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[11:13] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[11:15] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 11[11:46] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Mar 05 11:46:20 2015 Session Start: Thu Mar 05 11:46:20 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[11:47] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[11:47] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[11:47] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 7AM EST) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EST) | Mage (SAT 10PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TBD) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/SdZRg5O.jpg' 13[11:47] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Fri Feb 27 11:43:41 09[11:47] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[11:55] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[11:58] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[12:03] * Joins: ddt 14[12:04] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[12:40] * Joins: mattbaby 15[13:11] <@VoxPVoxD> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B_WceEeUsAA_tpP.jpg 14[13:37] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[14:59] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[14:59] * Joins: trenchfoot 15[15:36] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/AusO9DE.jpg [15:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Ferrinus rolls initiative for12 nick (clarity activated):4 18. (Base 12 +2 6) 15[15:38] <@VoxPVoxD> I like to think that guy fieri was just walking by 15[15:38] <@VoxPVoxD> and saw that giant burger lit up in his predator vision 15[15:38] <@VoxPVoxD> and a film crew just, extruded from the substrate of reality [15:39] Guy Fieri Looks Wistfully At Burger Through Window 14[15:57] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[15:58] * Quits: trenchfoot (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by drinkybird))) 14[15:58] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:00] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[16:01] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:01] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[16:02] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[16:03] * Joins: trenchfoot [16:06] https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B_XKPGSW8AMFZme.jpg 14[16:20] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[16:22] * Joins: Quaker 15[16:54] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/ZRfPHnP.jpg alisa and nick [16:55] better than reuben or nick [16:55] or as i call them, Wolf and Schlub 15[16:55] <@VoxPVoxD> lol [16:55] *reuben and 14[16:58] * Joins: ddt 14[17:23] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:05] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [18:19] bulk and skrull 04[18:20] <@Ferrinus> <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/ZRfPHnP.jpg alisa and nick || didn't have time to quote this before [18:41] valeria lewis wants a raise so the court replaces her with a nosferatu who has forks and spoons taped to his knuckles 15[18:45] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[18:45] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[18:45] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[18:45] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[18:45] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[18:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "Next item, Breach Arbitration 15 Sumac, Turipam Kaandesh contra Al-Haba Copperworks. First witness..." 15[18:49] <@VoxPVoxD> It's been a long day. [18:49] 3They all are. But that's the job. 15[18:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Tarn Magala sits second chair, to the left of Presiding Magistrate Judge Peligin. Opposite Judge Magala, to Peligin's right, sits Judge Marlan. This is the last case before their days' duties are discharged. The facts are straightforward - Kaandesh is a smith in the employ of Al-Haba, one who stands accused of stealing a large quantity of precious scrap copper for resale. 15[18:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Kaandesh is an older man - late 30s - and his hands are already knotted with labor. The advocate here on Al-Haba's behalf is a clean, groomed patrician named Saul. Tarn knows him well from his night job. 15[18:54] <@VoxPVoxD> The contracts are all clearly laid out and agreed-upon, but the actual evidence, as usual, is thin. Not thin enough not to justify a ruling in Al-Haba's favor, indenturing Kaandesh to them for what would likely be the term of his natural life. But thin enough that if you didn't want to, you could stand on principle. 15[18:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Where does Judge Magala's heart hang this late afternoon? [18:56] "There's not enough here to prove that this man actually stole the copper that you're missing. Your records are of course impeccable, and I would suspect theft rather than waste or neglect, but..." 3Tarn shrugs. "I cannot sentence this man to repay you for something you cannot prove he stole." 15[19:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Judge Marlan snorts. Peligin raises an eyebrow. Tarn knows that by speaking up he's marking a writ that Peligin and Marlan will have to sign too. The prospect of contradicting a magistrate in open court - there's minutes now, can you believe the Civilities that are trickling down from the Council these days - is far more trouble than a finding in either direction would be. 15[19:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Judge Magala trusts his intuition, though. Something about this is odd. 15[19:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "...third chair defers," says Marlan after a pause. It falls to Peligin, then, to render the verdict. "We hereby return a finding of No-Finding: Charges Insubstantial. If you wish to pursue an appeal, refer to the sub-archivist's office no later than close of business tomorrow." Peligin takes up the half-stone with his gloved hand and claps it against the stone podium. "Adjourned." 15[19:07] <@VoxPVoxD> There aren't many government buildings in Nexus, as there isn't technically a government. The magistrates held court today in the atrium of one of the city's finer private libraries, and it's to one of their lavish reading-rooms that Peligin, Marlan, and Magala retire. "Enjoying yourself, Tarn?" says Marlan. He's in a sour mood from the looks of it. [19:08] "Should I be?" 3He shrugs. "Does it bother you that I take this seriously, as you should?" 15[19:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Marlan: "Don't be dense. You know what you've signed us up for. Even now, Saul is reporting back to Haba himself, who'll have it in Iridan's ears by sundown. The last thing any of us needs is more pressure from the damn Guild." 15[19:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Peligin looks bored. "It's done. What use is there in fighting about it now?" [19:14] "I know it's a pain in the ass, I don't disagree there. But that doesn't mean I'm basically going to make Kaandesh into a slave because his employer can't keep track of his own goods." 15[19:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Marlan: "Impractical as ever. Head in the clouds! Do you know that across Nexus this month there've been, half a dozen cases like this one, and every other one - every one you weren't sitting on - was decided in the complainant's favor. What use is your principle to them, eh? You can't judge them all." 14[19:17] * Joins: mattbaby [19:18] "Maybe so. But I'll be damned if I take away a man's freedom because deciding fairly is work. 15[19:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Marlan's got a head of steam going, but Peligin holds him at bay. "Speaking of work, Tarn, I'm given to understand that you're on call tonight?" [19:20] "Yeah. I've got to get going soon, in fact." 15[19:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "I as well. If you'll excuse me, gentlemen." Peligin sweeps out of the room. He's a tough guy to get a read on, which is as good or bad a sign as your general impression of the human condition allows. Marlan remains, exasperated. "Tarn..." 15[19:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "Today. Today you can help him." 15[19:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "But what are we going to do when you pick a fight you can't win?" 15[19:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "Who'll help you?" 15[19:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Tarn knows that, obstinate old poor he may be, Marlan's a decent man. Especially for the kind of life the magistrates of Nexus tend to lead. But he doesn't have Tarn's resolve. 15[19:23] <@VoxPVoxD> *old boor [19:24] "I don't know. Someone, I hope. Doesn't mean I'll give up. Look, I've got to go. Take care." 3Tarn makes to follow Peligin out into the streets. 15[19:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Nexus is alive. [19:26] 3For all that it's full of greed, and crime, and corruption, there's no other place like it, even in the wild Scavenger Lands. 15[19:29] <@VoxPVoxD> The City of Rivers is thick with life. Tarn's only taken half a pace out on the street before he has to weave out of the way of a running child, chased by her older brother. Crowds, carts, animals, stranger things (in the evening air over this district tonight is a cascade of vermillion sparks, pulsing overhead like a living firework)... it's enough to overwhelm. The canniest man in some far-flung River Province town might find himself an easy mark for the operators of Nexus. 15[19:30] <@VoxPVoxD> The next intrusion on his personal space is more intentional. Tarn followed Peligin out, and it seems Peligin waited for him. There's a heavy hand on Tarn's chest, and Peligin's unlined face is a mask of jocularity. "Have you heard who you'll be getting your work from tonight?" [19:32] "No, but I have a feeling I won't like the answer." 15[19:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "When Saul lays into you, feel free to put it on me. He owes me, anyway." [19:33] 3Tarn laughs. "I guess this is what Marlan was trying to impress upon me. Oh well, I've had worse, I'm sure." 15[19:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "We all have," says Peligin. "I'll see you tomorrow." [19:37] 3Tarn claps him on the back before heading off. Saul it is, then. Long day's going to have a longer night. 15[19:39] <@VoxPVoxD> It was a long day indeed, so Tarn's only got about an hour to himself between when his day job ends and his night job begins. How does he spend it? What does he do before he shows up at the Princess Crimson tea shop later that evening? [19:42] 3Not much time to do anything important, but he can probably find somewhere to get a hot meal between now and the real work. 15[19:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Saul (who's changed from his court clothes to something finer still) will be disappointed that Tarn already ate. "Such a pity. First you spit in my face, and now you reject my hospitality. Sit down." [19:50] 3Tarn's face is more impassive here than in court. This is the job. "What can I do for you, Saul?" 15[19:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you know surgery, Tarn?" [19:52] "No, I don't." 15[19:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "Well, we do. We have a number of doctors and surgeons on retainer. We get a cut of their fees, we supply them, and from time to time we benefit from their service and their discretion. Or rather..." Saul pulls a small roll of parchment from an inner pocket. "We did." [19:54] "And I assume you would like to again." 15[19:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Saul unrolls it across the untouched meal. Names, places, dates... these are evidence reports, straight from the Council archives. Murders. Dated five, ten, and fiteen days ago apiece. "We would like to project a sense of confidence. We would like prospective partners to know that we will look out for them, and those who cross us will meet retribution." 15[19:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Tarn's good at this, and picks a few salient facts up after only a cursory examination. 15[20:01] <@VoxPVoxD> -The pattern in all three murders is the same. The body is grisly eaten, half-devoured, leaving messy remains which have to be conveyed to the Coronary and Crematorial Temple in jars. Notably absent from each, though, even half-eaten, is a single vital organ. From the first, the intestinal tract. From the second, the liver. From the third (the most recent) the brain. One of these sets of jars - the most recent - has not been disposed of and remains on file along with other recent corpses and victims of violent crime in the temple. 14[20:02] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 15[20:03] <@VoxPVoxD> -There is no sign of murder weapon, and no identifying marks, though the air around the victim in each report is remarked to be 'fetid in the extreme'. 15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD> -The particular mention, at each scene, of cat's fur. Not only does this solidify a common pattern, but furthermore, there was mention of cat's hair in the case they adjudicated just this evening, where Tarn decided against Saul and the Guild. [20:05] "Very strange. Seems like some sort of ritual murder. Anything else?" [20:06] 3Tarn decides to keep that last observation to himself. Never know who's involved in what, in Nexus. 15[20:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yes. You might cross paths out there with Raptor Quan. It turns out that Doctor Shivalen's family - Shivalen is the second victim, see here - retained the Green Apples to find the killer themselves." 15[20:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Tarn knows Raptor Quan - he's good, but what he has in talent he lacks in scruples. [20:08] "Just what I need. If he does find the killer he's probably going to start a fight with him in the middle of the street." 15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mmm. I trust that we can depend on your... principles... to see you to the discreet solution." [20:09] 3I'm sure that's what you're depending on. "I'll do what I can." 15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you need anything more?" [20:12] "No, I don't think so." 3Tarn stands and makes ready to leave. "I'll be back when I have something, unless you'd rather I contact you some other way?" 15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'll be upstairs. One more thing before you go." 15[20:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Saul stands himself, and leans across the table. Quite a lot of food's gone to waste tonight. "The labor and materials we failed to recoup tonight could've paid your salary for a half-decade, Magala. I invite you, in the future, to remember what you're worth." [20:15] "Noted." 3His face is still an impassive mask. It's the only way you keep this job, even if you do what they want. You listen to scolding and move on. 15[20:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Saul's face spreads into an oily little smile. "I wish you luck, magistrate." [20:18] 3Tarn nods and takes his leave. He might be doing it for a scumbag, but there's no question whoever's doing this has to be stopped. 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> And in Nexus, that's about the best you can do. 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a saying among the Nexus upper classes: 'like your work, like your boss, like your pay: choose two.' 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> The less fortunate, of course, would be blessed to claim any one of those privileges. 15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Tarn's got a few leads so far. The murder scenes, (each the physician's home or office), the Crematory Temple (where bodies confiscated for reasons of crime and health are kept until they can be conveyed to their next-of-kin and their rites of death) and the ritual angle - could Tarn perhaps consult with a sage or savant and determine the pattern at work? 15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD> In any case, Nexus is alive, and as any surgeon knows, the flesh yields its secrets to a steady hand. What's Tarn's first move? [20:23] The Temple seems the best bet, or at least the most likely to go away if he doesn't make it a priority. They don't tend to keep remains around long, even if they're evidence. 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD> The ride to the Temple is awkward. Streetcars bustle up and down the streets, weaving through rickety wooden catwalks and over stately, ancient stone bridges. People are crammed in the car, people going to or from work, people out for a night on the town... and him. He always seems to be a head above whatever crowd he's moving through, he's always there when you aren't thinking of him. In his mask the city's true face is reflected back. 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Nobody makes small talk when they ride with the Emissary. 14[20:27] * Joins: Quaker [20:27] 3So they don't. Even Tarn isn't tempted. 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> They say the Emissary's as old as Nexus itself, that he strode in and wrote the city's Dogmas in his own hand when the Empress raised her throne. Tarn wouldn't know anything about that. They say the Emissary is a sorcerer, an ancient war machine of the First Age, a trickster god in disguise. Tarn thinks that's nonsense. They say the Emissary can boil a man from the inside out with just a look. Tarn's seen that happen. 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> People find excuses to change trolleys or get off a stop early. When the Emissary gets off, near the Council Tower, everyone on the streetcar lets out the breath they didn't know they were holding. [20:31] 3He's always been a bit curious. To have power like that... is there a normal man under there, or really something weirder? In any case, not really worth aggravating him to find out. 15[20:34] <@VoxPVoxD> In any case, the Coronary and Crematorial Temple is a spare manse of white soapstone (from where? no stone like this is found in the earth anywhere in this Direction). It's the cleanest-smelling place in the city, its air open and bright and unsullied by the stink of river waste or the cloying perfumes the wealthier districts use to mask it. Tarn breathes easier, here, than anywhere else in the city. [20:35] 3If anywhere can afford imported building materials, it's Nexus. 15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD> It's guarded by uniformed men whose faces are covered by veils and whose bare arms are blistered with scars and tattoos. They have punch daggers at their waists and a pair of firewands (firewands!) apiece. 15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "Business, citizen?" croaks one. [20:37] "I'm Guild Investigator Magala, here to see some remains returned from the scene of a murder. What's left of them, anyway." 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "You got proof?" 15[20:41] <@VoxPVoxD> The sun's all but set, and the sky is twilit violet. By the time Tarn gets out of the Temple it'll be dark. [20:44] 3Tarn shows his Guild investigator's signet. Just because he wears two hats doesn't mean everyone needs to know. 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> The two guards confer and then admit Tarn into the temple. 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> The temple is as spare and spacious within as it seems from without. The high, bright ceilings seem to catch and hold the sunlight - if Tarn hadn't just come in from outside he might easily mistake the time for late afternoon. Secretaries and mortuary-savants scurry to and fro, the red-white mantles of office such people wear billowing behind them. You have to do a lot of walking around in this building - its layout is not suited for the use to which it's currently being put. 14[20:48] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[20:49] * Joins: dammitwho [20:49] 3Strange. Wonder what its original purpose was? Tarn doesn't know much about geomancy, but even he can feel the energy of this place. 14[20:51] * Joins: Quaker 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> The Prosector's Archive is wide and airy, filled with instruments and long soapstone tables. The shiftwork rotation within the temple is such that some segment of this room is always in the process of being cleaned, which can be inconvenient depending on where what you need is stored. Tarn gets lucky, though, and the evidence he came for is in the far rear of the archive, well past the segment of the room being cleaned by a half dozen labor-worn people in flawless white smocks. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Bodies are kept in drawers - long, chilled drawers. Part of the magic of this place goes to keeping these drawers cool somehow. A body left here won't spoil for weeks or more. [20:56] 3Tarn's medical knowledge, as he indicated, is lacking. But maybe there's something so unusual here even he'll be able to make note of it? 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Tarn might not be a physician himself, but he's pored through enough crime scene evidence to make some educated guesses. The remains, being, uh, let's call them "uncontiguous", they've been stored according to the dictates of Civility in the appropriate format - a loose bin for the irrelevant viscera, and a jar each for the gut, heart, brain, and liver. Even with the air-clearing of the temple, the smell at this distance is foul. 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Tarn studies them carefully and makes note of a few things - one, the principal wounds seem to be grievous slashing wounds - a body cut and pulled apart simultaneously. Secondarily, though - past the stench - there are numerous bite marks, which from the lack of bleeding were almost certainly inflicted postmortem. Whoever (whatever?) killed this man stayed behind to eat him after. [21:06] 3A beastman, maybe? Smart enough to cut, hungry enough to eat? In Nexus, though? And against specific targets? 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> It doesn't quite pan out. And what about the missing - wait a moment. 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Tarn looks at the drawer again. 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> The jar with the brain is empty, of course - kept here because the jars must be maintained and cleaned as a set for some arcane reason - but the others... intestine, liver, and heart. 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> What was missing from the three victims again? 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> This one's missing a brain. The second was out her liver. And the original victim was parted wholly from his intestines. 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> That leaves... a heart. [21:10] 3That's not good. So obviously there's at least one more target. But what are they going to do with this stuff? Tarn's going to have to find more information on what could be done with a full set of organs like this. [21:11] 3Were there four surgeons? 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> There were only three case files given him. Tarn's deduced, though, that there must be a fourth victim... but who? [21:13] 3Surely even Saul could have figured out who the next victim would be if there were only four surgeons and three of them were dead, Tarn tells himself. Better to pursue more esoteric leads, then. 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> What's the plan? [21:16] 3A sage who can tell him more about the possible rituals here could be helpful... but if something seems like an animal, it could be something else entirely. Tarn decides to check out the crime scenes, heading for the first victim's crime scene first. 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> It's well dark by the time Magala reaches the offices of the late Puko Stone, a small private practice in a well-off district far from the river. The door is locked and the lights are out - Stone was a lifelong bachelor and since his death the building has yet to be reoccupied. [21:21] 3Unless there are guards, Tarn's going to let himself in, one way or another. [21:24] 3The picks are out, and it's easy. In Nexus, no one looks twice. 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Maybe the fact that the locks yield so easily should be taken as a sign that the doctor had nothing to hide. Or maybe they were broken and then replaced by the landlord. Either is equally likely. The air in here is vile and stale, like someone was sick in a bucket and then varnished the floors with it. The murder scene was in the office, Tarn recalls, on the second floor. 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Tarn combs the place. There's still a blood stain seeping into the fine carpet in the upstairs office. That pattern - might've come all the way from Gem, even. There's not much here, everything of note was in the files. Except, wait... the doctor's correspondence. He maintained a healthy exchange of views and news through couriered notes to a number of people in the city - there's a prelate of the Crematory Temple, there's someone with the health office, there's Judge Peligin - and finally there are notes from three other surgeons. [21:33] 3Uh oh. Are two of them the other murdered surgeons? 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> They are! Shivalen, the second victim, and Willow, the third, are both here in Stone's correspondence. 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> The third physician on record here is Moira Malcavet. There's an address on each letter. [21:35] 3The third letter seems the most important. Tarn reads the address and looks over all three letters for content. 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> They're largely benign professional correspondence. A lot of talk about necrotized flesh and how quickly you have to work to save how much of a limb, etc. It was a subject of some debate between them. [21:38] 3Nothing probative, or at least nothing that warrants delaying beelining for the fourth surgeon's address. Anything else here stand out? 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Actually... Tarn checks those notes again. Something about the patterns of writing... aha! These physicians aren't talking about what they're talking about. They're speaking in code. Now, ordinarily Tarn would have to take this to one of his contacts in the Nexus underworld for a full sense of their coded contents, but in a flash of insight he's able to parse the particulars. The necrosis... a debt incurred. The rate of decay... how long they have before payment is extracted by force. Hours of necrosis... days of time. 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> It fits with the facts he's already discovered. These physicians feared for their lives, worked tirelessly to provide what they feared would be taken from them (their organs?) and expected payment to fall due for them every five days starting from about two weeks ago. 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Tarn realizes then that that would put the fourth murder on this very night. [21:45] 3Well, time to hustle, then. No more clues or subtlety. Run! 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Tarn moves like hell was after him. The crowds of Nexus part like muddy water as he cuts a path from Stone's office to Malcavet's - it's two districts away, so a steady run (and a brief hop on a gondola) get him to the door within a quarter-hour. 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> The lights are on upstairs and the smell is so much worse when it's fresh. The air is bilious with danger. [21:48] 3Damn it. Hope I'm not too late. 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Despite the stench, people are moving past him in every direction. Across the street a stall tips over and fake jewelery spills into the thoroughfare, snatched up by opportunistic passersby. Nexus is an easy city to lose yourself in if you need to. [21:52] 3Tarn's no fool, even as much as he wants to prevent another tragedy here. He makes his way carefully into and through the office, eyes peeled for the first sign of danger. [21:53] 3He heads quickly but quietly up the stairs, tensed to spring and trying to find the source of that awful smell -- presumably the attacker. 15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Tarn insinuates himself into the home unbeknownst. There's a bed and milkbowl at the bottom of the stairs - Moira keeps a cat here. No sign of it though. What Tarn finds when he approaches the office is silence. Silence, and Moira Malcavet pointing a flame piece at the door ready for whatever's coming. 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> She doesn't see him, though. 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> No sign of the source of that stench... [21:57] 3She seems ready. Were the others? She obviously had to know something's coming, even before he did. But what is coming? 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Is Tarn going to watch and wait to see? [21:58] 3If he jumps out to warn her, she might shoot, and he might just make everything worse. He's going to look hard for the source of danger, if he can. 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> One soon presents itself, first as a heavy grunting sound, then as a spatter of steaming blood throwing itself from midair onto the floor. Moira screams. 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> It's like watching a loom at work. Ropes of flesh and muscle twist and slap against each other, spurting out of thin air, winding together, blossoming rank fur and high, jagged spurs of black bone from the head, shoulders, and backbone that begin to resolve in the half-light. [22:01] 3What the...?! Tarn was prepared to deal with goons, with a psychopath... maybe even an animal. Those things he can do something about. This... 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> What has come into being before Tarn and Moira both is a great rust-colored ape, stinking and slavering, its back a forest of wicked spikes. It roars. The burning in Tarn's throat grows fiercer. He can see, past the ape, past Moira, through the window, at the blank black sky of the night. 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> There are moments when even the Sun hides its face. In those moments, the weak hang in peril and evil abides. Who will stand for them? 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Tarn's chest is on fire. 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Breathe in. 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Tarn is not there. What remains is an impression, a specter, a shadow, a saint - an avatar of mystery whose face is the eternal foe of the craven. [22:06] 3I'm not ready for this, says a small part of Tarn's mind. Marlan's question echoes in his mind. Who will help you, when you're in over your head? [22:07] 4A stronger voice answers his unspoken question. Will you stand by here when you can help another? [22:15] 4The Judge is surrounded by a bright light that seems to flicker, bringing to mind a thunderstorm on an overcast day. From within the stormy clouds, countless eyes seem to watch all those who would commit wrong within their sight, taking measure and passing sentence both. [22:23] 4No time to waste, then. Fear melting away, The Judge rushes forward faster than either the surgeon or monster can react, clearing the monster by using its spines as stepping-stones, and somersaults over. While still flying through the air, he drives a fist hard into its muscled shoulder, surprising it and driving it off balance. [22:24] 4He doesn't speak, just stands between the woman and the monster, fists raised, feet apart. 14[22:25] * Joins: Quaker_ 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira finds her breath. "TWO demons?!" The flame piece speaks next. The Judge is a blur, and where the flames are he isn't. The gout of fire splashes against the tapestries on the far wall and they catch fire. [22:30] "I'm no demon. I followed this thing's trail here, suspecting it would come for you, and come it has. Would you be left to its judgement?" 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "Spare your words, demon!" 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> The actual demon does not. Its voice is low and guttural, and its breath is viler than its stench. "You pay now." It's inhumanly fast; as the Judge weaves out of the way of the flame piece shot the ape weaves in, shattering the desk and backing Moira into a corner with sudden ferocity. She's all but crumbled beneath the onslaught - her next breath might be her last. Behind them all, the fire on the tapestries begins to spread to the fragments of wood and paper and ink from the splintered desk. It's spreading. 11[22:39] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Mar 05 22:39:29 2015 Session Start: Thu Mar 05 22:39:30 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[22:42] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[22:42] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[22:42] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 7AM EST) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EST) | Mage (SAT 10PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TBD) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/SdZRg5O.jpg' 13[22:42] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Fri Feb 27 11:43:41 09[22:42] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD [22:46] 4Judge drops low as the demon rushes forward, driving a hard kick into the beast's knee, or what passes for it. A loud crunch forces the monster to try and reel away from the blow... only to topple over, howling, into the flames rapidly spreading from the surgeon's flame shot. [22:48] "I don't think you want to die, and I don't want to kill you. Shall we?" 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> The blood ape staggers backward, falling, bleeding, reeking... it's not dead until it lands, which it does, punching through the wall and impaling itself on a wooden beam that doesn't yield to its bulk. 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira is shaken, and the flame piece is dry. She drops it. "What... what is..." [22:50] "I don't know who sent this thing or if more are on their way. I don't know why it's here to kill you. I also don't know if you deserved any of it. But I'd like to find out. We can either leave together or not, but we need to leave now." 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "Where?" 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> The ceiling's starting to collapse. The fire is visible out in the street now. [22:53] "Do you know somewhere safe?" 4Do I? 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> That'd depend, ultimately, on whether the demon dying means Moira's out of danger. 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> And, if not: who still threatens her? 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Immediately, though, anywhere is safer than a burning building. [22:56] 4Is the building open to the sky, now? "Go downstairs. I'll watch out for you, though I suspect no one will notice your passing when I depart." 4Even muted though it is, The Judge's anima is still brighter than the fire. 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> The building's stable enough that she should be able to flee safely, and the Judge's banner will only burn against the sky once he leaves himself. 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> When the Judge stands beneath open sky, what image do the people of Nexus see for miles around when they look out their windows? [22:59] "Let's go. We're going to have to go to ground, probably somewhere unpleasant. But it's better than burning to death or being eaten." 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Where?" [23:02] 4A dark-clothed man stands in the doorway of a burning building, burning more fiercely still. Spilled jewels and back-alley deals are forgotten for more than an instant as a towering bonfire of flickering grey from within which watch a myriad of gold-pupiled eyes, seeing all. "Follow me, and be ready. We will undoubtedly be pursued, but whether they come for you or I, who can say?" 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira nods. [23:05] 4Judge makes his way through the streets, with the greatest ease he ever has. Is this how it feels to be the Emissary? His thoughts wander back to the fearful gazes of trolley-riders, mirroring those of the crowds parting in terror before him. He searches out a sewer entrance, an abandoned building, somewhere he and his unexpected charge can hide for a while. 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> In the sky above Nexus, the Judge's watchful eyes look down, facing everyone who raises gaze to meet them. On the streets below, he is a blur, and his charge keeps apace. 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> The sewers of Nexus are not made for running, but they do their work well enough in times of desperation. They're dark and dank but after getting a face full of blood ape, it's almost refreshing. They steal into the darkness without any visible sign of being followed, or-- wait. Something is following them, ephemeral and swift. A six-winged spirit. [23:20] 4Even in this new glory, Judge isn't quite sure what to do about spirits following. Does it look aggressive? 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> No. It looks observant. 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "Where are you taking me?" asks Moira who hasn't noticed the spirit. "Do you live down here?" 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "Who are you?" 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "What are you?" [23:23] "I'm trying to take you somewhere we aren't followed. As for the rest, we can discuss that after we get there. Wherever 'there' is." 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> The Judge hears the rustling of a cape. Something's going to come out from around the corner ahead - he's got a moment to react. [23:28] 4He puts a hand out to Moira. "Hold on." 4Then he squares himself up. He can't hide right now, so he's got to be ready for anything. 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> So the question is this. 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Is this more or less awkward than the first time he saw the Emissary today? 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> He's there, now, cloak and mask. His staff of office is nowhere to be seen - he's frequently seen without it. He didn't have it when Tarn saw him boil that man alive. [23:30] 4He doesn't drop his stance, but he definitely doesn't try to make the first move. "Of all the people who could have followed us... I wouldn't have expected you." 4He definitely didn't expect to be directly addressing the man today. Especially not as though they were equals. 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> In the Emissary's mask, the Judge's own hooded face is reflected back. He can see, as well as feel, the burning mark upon his brow, the circle surrounding nothingness. 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira freezes. 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary's voice is an even baritone. There's some sense that the voice emerges from the mask rather than the man's throat. How would you tell, though? "Tell me what's happened." [23:36] "This woman's life was in danger, three of her colleagues were murdered by a demon. I killed that demon and brought her here to elude pursuit." 4No sense lying. He's probably been watching the whole time, or could tell a lie when he hears one. A man who can boil you alive isn't to be fucked with. 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "Whose demon?" [23:37] "I don't know. I'd like to find out." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira, abruptly: "Peligin." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "The magistrate." [23:38] "What? Why?" 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary is also attentive." 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira: "I- he was- his body. It keeps... he's dying." [23:40] "Is that what the removed organs were for, then? To... rejuvenate him somehow?" 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "We, all of us, we were supposed to keep an eye out for usable organs. Something discreet, something... something nobody would miss. We tried so many cadavers but none of them were any good. He kept making more and more bizarre demands." 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira: "You know about it?" [23:42] "The other surgeons who died, each was missing an organ. One a brain, one a liver, the other intestines. I suspect they were after your heart." 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira: "Since Bubo got hired away we haven't..." She looks from the Judge to the Emissary. "What should I do?" [23:44] "Why did you owe him... this Peligin?" 4Judge says, keeping his tone even. 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "The Guild... they've been paying us less and less. And we aren't mercenaries, we can't, we can't just go into one of those tea rooms and make demands. They'd kill us. But Peligin... Peligin had money. And he needed help. He's truly suffering." 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "It seemed... we were doing good work. We were helping people. You don't realize how good that feels until you haven't done it in a long, long time." [23:48] "Good work? Where were you getting the organs you were trying to give him before he decided to start collecting his own?" 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "I told you! Cadavers. People don't - nobody cares if their loved one is short a liver when it comes time for the funeral." [23:51] "I'll speak to Peligin. And find you a place to lie low until you're out of danger... unless you had something else in mind?" 4The Judge regards The Emissary, who has remained silent this whole time. 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary speaks here. "I will take her into custody. She will be safe." 14[23:52] * Joins: hrolfie 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> He looks directly at the Judge here, and for the barest instant he thinks he can see his eyes - his real eyes, not the eyes of soul's judgement - reflected back. 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "You were never here." [23:53] 4Judge isn't really sure if he should be worried or pitying, here. But he meets that gaze. "And I never will be." 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira: "Wait!" 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "Who are you?" [23:54] "Merely a judge, young lady. Leave me to my work, and stay safe." 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "What are you a judge of?" [23:56] "Everything under the Sun." Session Time: Fri Mar 06 00:00:00 2015 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD>  [00:02] [00:02] [00:02] [00:02] [00:02] [00:02] [00:02] This story starts on a road. [00:02] It is a quiet road; a dirt road; a winding road. It runs next to a river, except when it curves off around a great rock or zags between some especially large trees, and then it doesn't. It fits three men walking abreast, except when it widens as it crosses an empty field or riverbeach, or narrows as it runs through settled land or fenced pasture, and then it doesn't. [00:02] And at this very moment, it feels the feet of one white-haired blind man with a cane in his hand and a blanket tied across one shoulder like a bandolier, until he hears a squeaking off in the bushes -- and then it doesn't. [00:03] They have been following him for...oh, ten minutes now. There are four of them. The youngest is Tasha, youngest son of a strong woman and a man who died, slight and tan and resentful his last name ends in what's a feminine vowel in Riverspeak. [00:03] The second-youngest is Antiosh, a proud and hard-featured teenager with a scar on his clavicle and no right pinky. He's proud he has the first, and proud he lost the latter. There is a wide, curved sword at his waist. [00:04] The third-youngest is Selevin, student of the soaring Crane, confident and wiry. He no longer assures his three friends that he could best them all with the power of Crane Style martial arts, because after one day of particularly spirited advocacy, they came at him with switches and contested that point. He acknowledges they beat him. They acknowledge it still took all three of them. [00:04] The eldest, and the leader, is Olla, daughter of Liok and Morna, the bravest and least responsible scion that her clan has seen in many generations. It is odd, then, as she grips her spear in both hands and motions to the three boys to spread out as they close on their target, that this is the most responsible she's been perhaps her whole life. [00:04] "Where do you think he's from?" Tasha whispers to her as Antiosh and Selevin slip across the thinning road, quickly and quietly. [00:04] "Focus," is all the response he gets. [00:04] "I mean...what if he doesn't know our language?" [00:04] Now she spares the young man -- the boy, really -- a glare. "We have swords and spears. He'll know the language we're speaking." [00:05] Tasha swallows and nods and wilts back a step or two, letting Olla take the lead. He's got a knife on his belt. He saw it for the first time this morning. [00:05] That's when the white-haired man -- Olla had thought him old, but this close she can see his face is smooth an unlined, older than any of them but not an elder by any stretch -- that's when he steps off the road and into the brush. He's no longer using the cane to walk. He steps nimbly around a tree. [00:05] The three boys stumble to a halt, surprised, looking at each other with growing panic. Olla glowers and waves Antiosh and Selevin off the road into the bushes, then grabs Tasha and pulls him with her as she does the same. [00:06] 14Up ahead, Stranger-Visits-Heaven is looking for a mouse. "Ra, squeak if you can hear me. Squeak twice if you're in trouble." [00:06] 14Stranger hears a single squeak bit deeper into the underbrush than the one which got him off the road. He relaxes a slight bit. [00:06] "Squeak three times if you remember when you agreed during first lunch to stay close to me on the road in exchange for us taking second lunch two hours earlier than normal." [00:06] 14Now he gets three squeaks. They're only a little bit ahead now. [00:06] "Squeak five times if--" [00:06] 14Stranger enters the clearing and stops speaking. He stops walking. He stops relaxing. The annoyance slides from his face. It is replaced with a measured, impenetrable calm. [00:06] 14The carts are filthy, covered in shit and blood. There are five of them, each one broken, shattered as if struck by mighty and uncaring force. There are no goods in them, at least none from any conventional or moral trade -- instead, the beds of the carts are host to corpses, two or three each, the source of the blood. [00:07] 14They're only barely recognizable as human; there's no way of telling who they were in life. Most of each one of them has been eaten, as if by wild animal. One presumes that's where all the shit came from, too. [00:07] 14Ra, Mouse of the Sun, squeaks sadly from atop a nearby rock. There's nowhere on the carts suitably clean enough to perch on. [00:07] 14Stranger says nothing further now, just beckons him back with the hand that hasn't fallen to his sword. The blood is dry, but this still happened recently -- what's left of the flesh hasn't begun to rot. He doesn't remember any wagon trains with five carts passing him in over the last few days. In fact, he doesn't remember wagon trains of any size passing him over the last few days, [00:07] 14ever since he crossed the Second Bridge of Gon Lipang a few days back. [00:07] 14He knows its name because someone -- presumably the Gon Lipang in question -- had written so on the side in a beautiful, flowing archaic River dialect of Old Realm. [00:08] 14He recalls now that there was a small wagon train parked next to the bridge as he'd approached. At the time he assumed they had stopped for a break. But Stranger likes to meander -- likes to amble -- likes to fully invest in the fiction that he is, in fact, a blind man. Wagon trains like to get where they're going, on time. Usually they passed him. That wagon train never did. [00:08] 14Stranger no longer thinks they were just stopping for a break. He wonders if the Second Bridge of Gon Lipang is a line of demarcation of some kind. A territorial marking. Hrm. [00:09] 14He continues circling the scene. There's something else wrong here, but he can't quite put his finger on -- ah. It comes to him as he's staring at a shattered wheel. These are heavy, commercial hauling carts. They have great big wheels -- from where he's standing, he can see that at least three of the carts had theirs shod in iron as well. [00:09] 14He suspects the axles and rod fittings would also be made of iron, if he cared to look. And yet...the forest around the clearing is unmarred by bent grass or divots or broken tree branches. There are no furrows in the ground where the carts were rolled into the clearing. [00:09] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven knows what happened to these carts. He just needs to know how, and then he can begin to discern why. And that means: "Children, it's time for you to come out now." [00:10] Thirty feet behind him, hiding behind an aging oak, at first Olla thinks she's misheard the white-haired man. Then she wonders: what fool allowed any of the clan's children out into the forest?! Then she realizes he means the four of them. [00:10] She looks at the three boys similarly hidden around her. They stare back at her, wide-eyed. She swallows the lump in her throat -- no matter how the man knows they're here, he's still blind. And even if he's not blind, he's still just one man. And she can't appear weak or indecisive anymore. [00:10] "Surround him," she hisses, and the four of them crash forward through the trees. [00:10] 14Standing near the carts, Stranger whispers, "Up on my shoulder, Ra. Children like adorable little gluttons." 14Ra nips him lightly in reproach, and Stranger allows himself a grin. Then he calms his face and his mind as the four teens burst into the clearing. [00:11] Olla notes with nervous satisfaction that Antiosh and Selevin do as she commanded -- they slip around the man's right and left side, circling in front of him, Antiosh with his sword out and Selevin with his hands up like a brawler, his Crane Style forgotten entirely in the shaking adrenaline of real combat. [00:11] Tasha freezes up a bit next to her, but her elbow into his shoulder snaps him out of it; he draws his knife and holds it out in front of him in an artless but unmistakably threatening manner. She lowers the point of her spear and slowly advances towards his back. [00:11] She doesn't process the white-haired man saying, "I would prefer to let you keep your weapons," until the tip of her spear touches his side. [00:11] Or at least, Olla thought it did. She never feels that slight telltale resistance of cloth or flesh on the spearpoint. Suddenly, he's moving down the spear shaft, cane in hand, and the only thing her tip is finding is air. The cane flashes once -- twice -- and she yelps as it raps across her knuckles, dropping her weapon in surprise as much as pain. [00:12] Then, almost faster than she can track, he's swooped around behind her, past her -- and now he's got Tasha. The man's just, picked him up. In one hand he holds his cane, and tucked under his other arm, squawking and kicking, is an eleven-year-old boy sans knife, dropped in the grass somewhere. And if anything, the man's moving faster now. [00:12] He flutters behind Selevin, easily sweeping his feet out from under him with a flick of his cane and sending the "martial artist" tumbling to the grass, and then he's moving on-- [00:13] To Antiosh who, bless his pluck, has decided he's had enough. "Let him go!" the boy roars. Well, tries to roar. That'll come in time. But even if there's not much reverb, there's no trembling, and later Olla will be proud of him for that. [00:13] Now she just stares, jaw hanging open, as the man flicks the point of his cane up into the air to meet Antiosh's blade, holding his walking stick it as if it were a sword, clearly inviting the teen to duel him, Tasha squirming under his other arm and all. [00:13] "You can swing at me, and I will parry," the man says to Antiosh in a calm, clear voice that carries easily despite his back being turned. "You can slash at me and I will dodge. But do you trust me -- and yourself -- enough to put him in that danger?" [00:13] His lower lip trembles, and for a half-second Antiosh looks as if he'll burst into tears of frustration and rage. But then he masters himself and sheathes his sword. "Let him go. You made your point." [00:13] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven treats himself to a smile in the privacy of his own mind. The child's choice not to fight when presented with an unwinnable battle speaks to wisdom beyond his years. His fury and sorrow at having to make that choice -- and yet making it anyway -- speaks to virtue. And virtue is a rare thing in men of any age. [00:14] 14And so it is that Stranger turns around and sets the youngest child back down on his feet with both hands, frowning in mock disapproval as Ra follows him, bouncing down his sleeve and onto the child's head. "It appears my mouse likes you." [00:14] Tasha feels something moving on his head and looks up -- into a pair of big, golden rodent eyes. The mousey's snout twitches, and his whiskers tickle Tasha's nose. "Waaah!" [00:14] 14Stranger keeps the disapproving frown on his face a couple seconds longer as Tasha waves his hand over his head to try to dislodge Ra, and Ra easily bounces around each of his swipes, landing on his shoulder, the crown of his head, his other shoulder, his neck-- [00:14] 14He turns to the young woman, her face flushed with anger and embarassment, perhaps not in that order. She's picked up her spear, though she's holding it gingerly. "There's still four of us," 14she offers. [00:14] "Properly speaking, really now there's three of you," 14Stranger says, indicating the boy. "He's fighting the mouse." [00:14] "Olla, this was a bad idea. We should leave him alone," Selevin says, and his voice IS trembling. "Please?" [00:14] Something in his words freezes the white-haired man where he stands, and a look passes over his face that Olla doesn't understand -- something like anger, something like shock, but older and harder than both. In that moment, she could swear the clearing darkened -- but that the white-haired man was glowing at the edges, a muted, transient fury, like the sun behind a passing cloud. [00:15] "What...did you just say?" the white-haired asks Selevin, but his eyes -- milky, empty eyes that should be blind -- stare into Olla's own. But they're not empty now. They're burning with fire so bright it has no color. It hurts, but she can't look away. [00:15] "I said please," the teen whispers. [00:15] And just as soon as it began, the moment ends. The cloud passes from in front of the sun. The man's eyes are milky and white once more. "I...yes, of course," the man says. "That's alright. It's...everything is alright. I'm not going to hurt you." Olla blinks, and the spots in her vision begin to fade. "I would appreciate it, though, if you'd move the spear." [00:16] "Good. Good." 14Stranger allows himself a slight smile -- this time on his actual face -- as the youngest boy giggles, now trying to play tag with Ra as he darts from shoulder to crown to shoulder. "I take it that you are not bandits by trade?" [00:17] "As if you couldn't tell," 14mutters the boy with the sword. He's sulking. Even wise, virtuous teens sulk. [00:17] 14As a rule, Stranger does not respond to sulking. To the children as a group: "I am Stranger-Visits-Heaven. The mouse currently alighting across your young friend's head is Ra, and he is my friend and companion. What are your names?" [00:18] "I'm -- hehe -- Tasha. Your mouse tickles." [00:18] "Hello, Tasha. Yes he does, doesn't he? That is one of the few reasons I keep him around," 14Stranger says. Ra makes an aggrieved flubbing noise. "That's rude language, Ra, and I won't stand for it around children." [00:18] "What kind of name is 'Stranger-Visits-Heaven?'" 14the boy without a weapon says, faced screwed up in confusion. [00:18] 14Stranger strokes his chin. "Rather long and unwieldy, What-Kind-Of-Name-Is-Stranger-Visits-Heaven, but I can't say I disapprove of the latter bit. I usually suggest people call me Stranger, for short, but with two of us that might get confusing." [00:18] "What?" 14The teen blinks, startled. "Oh, I...I'm Selevin." [00:18] 14Stranger stops contemplating for effect. "Ah! Excellent. Greetings, Selevin. I assume you're a martial artist, given your robes and belt and failure to bring a weapon to an attempt robbery. Keep your feet planted firmly and farther apart when you're not in your proper fighting stance. In line with your shoulders is best, perhaps a bit wider. It makes it harder to trip you like I [00:18] did. [00:19] "Also, when a strange man disarms one of your fellows and grabs hold of another, get in your proper fighting stance." [00:19] Selevin just nods, still not entirely sure what's going on. [00:19] "I'm Antiosh," 14the boy with the sword offers without further prompting. He still looks a bit crestfallen. [00:19] 14Stranger gives him a solemn half-bow, which the boy returns with awkward hesitation. "Well met, Antiosh. Now that we know each others names, I say this with the full confidence of new friendship: chin up. No more sulking. I'm many times your age and I, craven blackguard that I am, took a hostage. The weapon for such a situation is your words, not your blade. You failed no one here [00:19] today. Not yourself, not your friends, not Heaven." [00:19] 14Then he turns to the young woman and finds himself slightly, strangely hesitant. "...He said your name was Olla." [00:19] She narrows her eyes. "Yeah. He did." [00:19] The man just nods and looks away. "It's a beautiful name. I knew someone else with it, once." [00:19] Olla's unsure what she's supposed to do with that. "Okay...?" [00:19] But instead of saying anything more, the man just smiles and turns away. It's a tight, sad smile, and Olla is fairly certain it wasn't meant for her. [00:20] 14Stranger turns away from...Olla...and takes a few steps towards the wrecked carts, his hands finding his hips. "Now that we're all properly introduced, I'm going to guess the reason these carts are empty save for, presumably, their murdered and disgraced owners has something to do with the reason four children without a life taken between them are trying their hands at highway [00:20] robbery." [00:21] 14He squints and looks up into the empty, sparkling blue sky. "And when I know what the relationship between those two reasons are, I'll should have a better idea of what's going on this side of the Second Bridge of Gon Lipang." [00:22] 14Stranger clasps his hands and turns back to the children with a calm smile. "After all, how the carts got here is simple and mostly unremarkable. What they were doing hundreds of feet above the ground in the first place -- now there's where stories live." [00:27] It is with great reluctance that the four children take the strange man they found on the side of the road home with them. [00:27] "It's been three months since the last merchant tried to come to town. They ate him in front of Da, just to make a point." Olla keeps herself from shivering. She'd been there too. "At least they let the children go inside, first." [00:27] "What are they, exactly?" 14Stranger asks, though he already has a few informed guesses. [00:27] "Beastfolk," says Antiosh. His face is still dark, but with anger now. He carries it like mature anger; like anger well-justified. "Shapechangers. Wildmen." [00:27] 14Stranger shakes his head. Mostly to himself: "Yes, yes. But what kind of beastfolk." [00:29] Selevin snorts. "There's not different kinds of beastfolk. And if there was, it wouldn't matter knowing them. My da says all that matters is they're out there, they're savages, and they want us dead." 14[00:30] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [00:30] 14Stranger: "Well. At least it's becoming a bit clearer why they might be angry with your clan." 14[00:31] * Joins: hrolf [00:32] "That's not all," Selevin continues. "My da also says they make their women lie down with whole packs of animals, and if a beastman baby dies when its born, they eat the--" [00:33] 14Stranger cuts him off. "Thank you, Selevin, that will be sufficient. You may have to pretend to respect the things your father says. I, happily, do not." [00:34] That clouds Selevin's brow. "My da's smart." [00:36] 14Stranger keeps a sigh private. "I'm sorry, Selevin. I shouldn't have said that. I'm sure that of the things your father knows about, he knows a great deal. What I meant to say was this: the reason you are having problems with the beastmen and the reason that your father and the other people of your clan believe such things about the beastmen so strongly they tell them to their [00:36] children, are likely, at their root, the very same reason." [00:37] 4Antiosh: "...So they don't do those things, then? The laying with the animals and the baby-eating?" [00:37] 14Antiosh: "...So they don't do those things, then? The laying with the animals and the baby-eating?" [00:37] "...Why did the beastmen start killing the merchants, Olla?" 14Stranger says, turning away from the two boys. [00:42] 14The young woman shakes her head. "I don't know. There was no reason. We woke up the morning after the harvest feast and the beastman king -- or elder, or something -- he's just out there in front of our hut, sitting there, all his men with him. Waiting for us to wake up." 14[00:44] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [00:46] "Da sent me inside -- sent everyone inside -- but I tried to listen from behind the door. He, the beast king I mean, he said something like...if we wanted to eat like them, we had to live like them. He said he'd kill any merchant who tried to bring us food, and anyone who planted crops. Any farmers." [00:48] "Da laughed at him. Spit in his face. Said the only reason they were talking was so Burthum could get the clan's men ready to fight. So Burthum and the men burst out of the common huts with spears and swords." [00:48] 14Olla's voice is flat and factual. "And that's when the beastmen changed, and killed all of them." [00:49] 14Stranger, quietly: "What did they change into?" [00:50] 14She shrugs. "Birds, I guess. Or something like a bird. Something with wings, but bigger and meaner than any bird any of us have ever seen." [00:51] "The men who couldn't fight, or that Burthum hadn't been able to rouse up in time, they left them alive. Didn't hurt them, either. Except my da." [00:51] 14Antiosh: "Olla..." [00:53] 14She presses forward. "They maimed him. Made his arms and his legs useless. But they made sure he lived." [00:53] 14She presses forward. "They maimed him. Made his arms and his legs useless. But they made sure he lived." [00:54] "They told him when he was ready to die, all he had to do was crawl out into the woods, alone, like a straggler separated from the flock. And then -- only then -- would they end him." [00:56] "I woke up three days ago and he was gone." 14Olla's jaw snaps shut and she strides forward, ahead of the group by a couple steps. She's said her part. [00:58] 14Stranger lets her go. He is quiet for a few moments longer as they walk; then he turns to Antiosh. "So they let you hunt?" 14[00:59] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[00:59] * Joins: trenchfoot [01:00] 14The boy with the sword almost spits his laughter out. "Oh, sure. They let us hunt. They let us find a deer or a wild emas, track it, line up a shot with arrow or spear -- and then suddenly there they are, swooping out of the sky in those great bird forms of theirs, poaching the kill." 14[01:05] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[01:05] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [01:06] "We're welcome to challenge them for it, they say." 14He spits in the dirt. "Only took one or two times for us to stop doing that." 14[01:07] * Joins: hrolfie [01:08] 14Stranger is, by this point, almost certain the five of them -- six of them, sorry Ra -- are being observed by some means. The question is whether there is an actual beastman nearby or if it is some kind of passive blessing of watchfulness that alerts them whenever the clanspeople launch a hunt. 14[01:08] * Joins: trenchfoot [01:09] "I presume that it is significant that you hunted me, just now, but we were not interrupted by any...swooping." 14[01:10] * Joins: drinkybird 14[01:10] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) [01:11] 14Selevin nods. "They don't care if we hunt other people. It's a...what was it. A compromise. Told Olla that herself, she did." 14[01:11] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [01:12] 14Stranger begins nodding, then pauses with a frown. "Say that again, Selevin?" [01:12] "They don't care if we hunt oth--" 14[01:13] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [01:13] 14He waves a hand to cut the boy off. "No, no. The second part. Who told Olla about the -- wait, what am I even doing. I'm sorry, Selevin, excuse me." [01:14] 14Stranger quickens his step to catch up with Olla. "Who was it that told you that you could hunt humans?" 14[01:19] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[01:20] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) [01:20] 14Olla's still staring straight ahead. "She showed up the same day my Da...died, while Selevin's da was trying to convince what men were left it wasn't right to make me chief. He told her he was chief now, and she told him if he spoke to her again she'd rip his tongue out his mouth and eat it. He hadn't been polite." 14[01:21] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[01:21] * Joins: hrolf 14[01:21] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [01:24] 14Her knuckles are white around her spearhaft. "Then she came up to me and said since my da did what he did, there was a bit of leeway they were willing to give us. We still couldn't farm, but we could dig roots out of the ground and such, and eat the leaves off trees if we fancied. And the beastmen wouldn't poach us, if we hunted humans coming through our lands. But we weren't allowed [01:24] to leave. They still weren't satisfied, she said." 14[01:25] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[01:25] * Joins: hrolfie [01:25] "And we still couldn't have merchants. Then she showed me these five pieces of paper with writing on them, and wax on the bottom. Covered with blood. I don't know what they were, but I got the message. Guess they came from those carts." 14She pauses. "Bad way to die." [01:27] 14Stranger doesn't interrupt her, and waits a moment once she's done speaking to make sure that she's finished. Then he asks Olla again: "Who was she?" 14[01:28] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) [01:30] 14The young woman shrugs. "A beastman. Beastwoman. She didn't give a name. Different from the others, but mostly the same. When she landed, she was a swan. When she said what she did to Selevin's da she was this great big mean monstrous honking thing. But by the time she reached me, she was a woman, a normal woman, in a beautiful white dress." [01:30] "Blonde hair?" 14Stranger asks. [01:31] 14Olla looks over at him for the first time since pushing ahead of the group, her eyes going wide, then very narrow. "...How did you know?" [01:32] "Educated guess," 14Stranger says, then veers suddenly off the dirt road into the underbrush. [01:34] "AH," 14the white-haired man yells into the woods, his voice echoing. "WHAT A PERFECT DAY IT IS, FOR HUNTING..." 14Stranger pauses and turns back to the four children, who are staring at him in shock and fear. "What do you hunt around here? Rabbits? No, of course, you already said, deer and wild emas."  14[01:36] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[01:36] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [01:38] 14He turns back to the woods and starts walking forward, sticking out his cane and hitting every tree and bush in his path as he passes, making as much noise as possible. "A PERFECT DAY, THAT IS, FOR HUNTING DEER, AND/OR WILD EMAS. IT FEELS GOOD TO KNOW THAT MY SUCCESS IS CONTINGENT ON A COMBINATION OF MY SKILL AS A TRACKER, THE BLESSINGS OF THE RELEVANT LOCAL GODS, AND BLIND LUCK." [01:40] "I HOPE THAT I AM NOT SWIFTLY AND THOROUGHLY INTERRUPTED." 14About a hundred feet off the road, Stranger finally pauses. "Ladies and gentlemen, if you actually make me hunt down a goddamn emas I will be thoroughly unhappy with you." 14[01:41] * Joins: trenchfoot [01:42] "You mock us," says the crow on the branch above him as it writhes and transforms into a slight young man with feathers in his hair. 14[01:42] * Joins: drinkybird 14[01:43] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [01:45] 14Stranger looks up, smiling. "Greetings! Hello there, young...folk. Yes, I suspected you just had someone follow any poor fool who leaves the village. There can't be very many of them left at this point, and the sort of sorcery it would take to enforce a thing like this frankly wouldn't be worth the effort." 14[01:45] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:47] * Joins: trenchfoot [01:48] "Elder said not to kill any of you unless you were hunting something other than a human. But you were hunting me. And guess what?" The young crowman's eyes flash with anger as he pulls himself into a crouch, modest wings sprouting again from his back. NOW there's swooping. 14[01:49] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [01:51] 14The "fight" is short and unremarkable. It ends with the crow-boy whimpering on the ground, hopefully without too many bruises from the cane across his back. Stranger sighs. It's a sign of respect, in a way. This teen was actually trying to kill him, and was good enough to do it had Stranger not taken him seriously. So he had. Thankfully it ended up little more than a thrashing. 14[01:51] * Joins: trenchfoot_ [01:53] 14He reaches down and pulls the boy to his feet. "So. Introductions. You go first." [01:53] The young crow remains silent, looking away. 14[01:54] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [01:58] 14Softly: "Young man, I'm the only human in two days' travel in any direction that would stop hitting you once you yielded, let alone help you to your feet afterwards. Especially after you made it clear your heart held no similar mercy. I suspect both you and them have significant, if not precisely good, reasons for that. We'll get to those in time. But right now what I need you to [01:58] do is tell me your name." [01:59] 14This boy is different from the children on the road. His lip doesn't tremble; he doesn't waver or shiver. His eyes dart back to Stranger with suspicion, taking the measure of his temporary captor, and then he looks away again. "Qaile." [02:00] 14Stranger frowns. "...Quaile?" [02:00] "No. Qaile." [02:00] "Qaile." [02:00] 14The young crow nods. 14[02:00] * Joins: drinkybird 14[02:03] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:05] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[02:06] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [02:07] "Well, Qaile, my name is Stranger-Visits-Heaven. Three words, all strung together. It's a bit of an odd name, so that should help you remember it. What I need you to do right now is fly home and tell one of your elders my name, that I am not from the human village, and that I could have killed you when you attacked me but I didn't. For my trouble, all I respectfully request from you [02:07] and yours is one very simple, very small thing." [02:10] 14Stranger steps away from Qaile. "I want you to tell the Ambassador of Night and Day that I am currently lodging at the human village, and would be honored if she'd grace my presence for dinner and a word." 14The corners of his mouth curve up slightly in an unmirthful smile. "Tell her she has three days before I start selling the villagers the clothes off my back." [02:12] "...Why." The crow wings furl and unfurl behind him. Like Olla clenching her fists. [02:13] 14Stranger keeps his hand away from his 'cane.' "Because this needs to stop." [02:15] 14Now he meets Stranger's empty gaze. He recognizes what he sees there. Mature anger. Anger well justifed. "You don't even know what they did to my people--" [02:20] 14Sparsely, without emotion: "The night before their harvest, the chief of their clan and his trusted second, a man named Burthum, got most or all of the men of the village together under cover of darkness and made their way to your nest, quietly, without torchlight. They knew that night before the harvest in this season in this Direction is a night when Luna hangs with heavy significance [02:20] in the sky -- a proving time for boy-children and girl-children becoming adults. [02:24] "Perhaps their harvest was bad this year. Perhaps one of yours did one of theirs some wrong they'd swore they wouldn't forget. Perhaps they were just mean, cruel bastards who didn't think you were people. Even if I could ask them, I'm not sure it changes anything. They entered your nest. They killed the chicks too young to resist and the nestmothers who tried to protect them. They took [02:24] the bodies. And they took the eggs. [02:28] "They probably buried or burned any of the bodies that were too human. Too much like them. Not only would it be hard to explain it to the rest of the clan, but they didn't want to think of you like that. The next day, they didn't want to present their mates and children with the slaughtered corpses of a proud people in close attunement with both Creation and the Wyld, who through skill [02:28] and instinct learned a balancing point between two worlds in conflict. [02:29] "They wanted roast duck. They wanted omelettes." [02:33] 14And Stranger sees in Qaile's eyes now another familiar thing: the wisdom to know not to attack Stranger, or the four human children behind him on the road. The virtue to demand justice in the face of duty -- and then to do his duty anyway. 14[02:35] * Quits: Quaker_ (Quit: Quaker_) 14[02:37] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[02:39] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:40] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[02:40] * Joins: ddt [02:41] "It is a horrific thing they did to you," 14Stranger says, "made even more horrific by its banality. It is an atrocity as old as Creation itself, and Creation has a long history; little of it pleasant. You and your people have shown admirable restraint in your revenge. You allowed their children and homemakers to live, after they took yours from you and desecrated them. [02:42] "But those who slaughtered have themselves been slaughtered. The man who led them, broken and made to beg for -- be complicit in -- his own death. [02:46] "It's time to talk. I'll be in the village. Please tell the Ambassador I look forward to dinner." [02:47] 14Stranger turns, and feels the crow's eyes bore into his shoulder blades every step of the way back to the road. [02:49] "What was that," 14Antiosh says quietly, hand on the hilt of his sword. Ra scurries onto Stranger's leg and the leaps up onto his shoulder. It appears he successfully kept the children from following Stranger off the road -- something he really should have remembered to tell them not to do. Good mouse. [02:50] 14There's a rustle, a great flapping of wings, and a sudden, strong breeze -- and then a crow shoots up into the air above the canopy, wheeling once overhead and cawing before flying due east. "That was you," 14Stranger tells him, "only different." [02:51] 4The boy with the sword frowns. "What's that mean?" [02:51] 14The boy with the sword frowns. "What's that mean?" [02:52] 14Stranger shakes his head. "Nothing. Nothing. We should get a move on. I'm afraid I'll have to impose on your kindness for a meal, Olla." [02:53] 14Olla frowns. "We have little food, but we would be happy to share what we have." [02:54] "Mmm. Unfortunately, there's a bit of a complication." 14Stranger grimaces. "You'll never guess who's coming to dinner..." [02:54] ~ To Be Continued ~ 14[03:07] * Joins: hrolf 14[03:10] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[03:23] * Joins: drinkybird 14[03:25] * Joins: hrolfie 14[03:25] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[03:25] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[03:26] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[03:27] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[03:27] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[03:27] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[03:28] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[03:29] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[03:54] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[04:33] * Joins: hrolf 14[04:38] * Joins: drinkybird 14[04:39] * Quits: drinkybird (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[04:39] * Joins: drinkybird 14[04:41] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[04:41] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[04:44] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[04:55] * Quits: dammitwho 14[05:32] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[05:34] * Joins: drinkybird 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trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[09:03] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 11[09:36] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Mar 06 09:36:18 2015 Session Start: Fri Mar 06 10:37:11 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[10:37] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[10:37] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 7AM EST) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EST) | Mage (SAT 10PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TBD) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/SdZRg5O.jpg' 13[10:37] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Fri Feb 27 11:43:41 09[10:37] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[10:44] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[10:47] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[10:53] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[10:54] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[10:55] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[10:57] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[10:58] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[11:08] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[11:28] * 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Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[16:02] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:11] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[16:14] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[16:34] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[16:35] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:37] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[16:40] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[17:29] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[18:10] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[18:18] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[18:27] * Quits: Quaker_ (Quit: Quaker_) 14[18:28] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[18:29] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[18:33] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[18:52] * Quits: Quaker_ (Quit: Quaker_) 14[18:54] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[19:18] * Quits: Quaker_ (Quit: Quaker_) 14[19:19] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[19:30] * Quits: Quaker_ (Quit: Quaker_) 14[19:53] * Joins: Quaker_ 15[20:06] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/nOSuw3u.jpg nick goes into showbusiness 14[20:27] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:33] * Joins: mobilebaby 14[20:53] * Quits: 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Available at the App Store.) 14[20:56] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[20:58] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[22:01] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[22:04] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[22:35] * Joins: ddt 14[23:35] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Sat Mar 07 00:00:01 2015 14[00:02] * Quits: Quaker_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[00:02] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[00:38] * Joins: drinkybird 14[00:41] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[00:44] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[00:47] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:04] * Joins: drinkybird 14[01:07] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:11] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[01:11] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[01:11] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[01:13] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:36] * Quits: Quaker_ (Quit: Quaker_) 14[01:45] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[01:47] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:03] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 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Session Close: Sat Mar 07 08:49:05 2015 Session Start: Sat Mar 07 08:49:05 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[08:49] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[08:49] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[08:49] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 7AM EST) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EST) | Mage (SAT 10PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TBD) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/SdZRg5O.jpg' 13[08:49] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Fri Feb 27 11:43:41 09[08:49] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[08:55] * Joins: hrolfie 14[08:59] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[09:04] * Joins: ddt 14[09:20] * Joins: hrolf 14[09:23] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[09:23] * Joins: hrolfie 14[09:26] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[10:11] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:20] * Joins: hrolfy 14[10:23] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[10:27] * Joins: hrolf 14[10:29] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[11:17] * Joins: hrolfie 14[11:20] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[11:22] * Joins: drinkybird 14[11:25] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 09[11:41] * banana is now known as bananap 14[11:55] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[12:11] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:14] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[12:26] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:36] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[13:39] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[13:55] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[13:58] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[14:05] * Joins: drinkybird 14[14:07] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[14:18] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[14:20] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[14:51] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[15:01] * Joins: hrolfie 14[15:02] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[15:05] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[15:05] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:19] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:34] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[15:35] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[15:40] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[15:40] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[16:00] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:47] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[16:48] * Joins: trenchfoot_ [16:57] http://i.imgur.com/JADAc2U.gifv 14[17:02] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[17:03] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[17:44] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:46] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[17:59] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[18:01] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[18:09] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[18:16] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:19] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[18:22] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[19:00] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:05] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[20:07] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[20:15] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[20:15] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[20:32] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[20:33] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[20:40] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[20:40] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[21:14] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[21:17] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[21:19] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[21:22] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Haoma @bedbugs99 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> thsi isnt complicated, folks. coyotes are just poor + stupid as shit dogs. [21:39] WHAT THE 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> you know it's true 14[22:15] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[22:15] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[22:16] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[22:19] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[22:21] * Joins: trenchfoot [22:23] what about dingo [22:23] <@Ferrinus> greetings 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> my understanding is they ate your baby 14[22:28] * Joins: Quaker [22:36] I don't actually knowcare how that whole thing turned out 04[22:39] <@Ferrinus> are you set to go banana (and dwho and vox) or are you morningbusy atm 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> I'm morning busy [22:40] <@Ferrinus> mourningbusy [22:44] hello [22:47] hello 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> hello 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> (we're a barbershop quartet) 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> (dammitwho is the first and second members) [22:48] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdTRq3lxnXA [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b24Yjac5_mE 09[22:50] * bananap is now known as banana [22:51] also sorry yeah I'm "set" I guess, although the english word set has more meanings than any other 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> banana is now a rippling pile of gelatin as opposed to a runny solution of collagen [22:53] I'm inhabited by badgers [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12------ 11[22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Around you is the slow groan and rumble of moving stone, and the soft hiss of spilling sand. You've heard it before, with all the otherwordly cadences that the Mage Sight layers on top of it. Cross can detect the slicing and winnowing and folding-away of time; Arrian the similar compression, subdivision, and vivisection of space. It's worked stone that Paracelsus smells and hears, [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12concrete and asphalt and granite and marble all tumbling past each other, endlessly reconfigured. [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12It's familiar, yet different - clearly the same phenomenon, yet with local textures indicating that it's a different patch on the same quilt, or a different part of the same body. The stone of the Tumbler is a little browner and sandier here, the light a little dimmer, though no less grey - maybe the firmament of whatever world you've stumbled into is cloudier here than there, or [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12maybe it's closer to sunset or sunrise. Figuratively, I mean - it doesn't feel, to Cross, like the passage of time and the weather are much connected in here. [22:56] 6Cross: "Hang on. Did we just leap into the tumbler on purpose, like it was a means to an end rather than an apocalypse?" 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "It was this or the stairs." 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "And we were very high up." 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Whether he's referring to the probability of escape, or just how tiring it is to walk on stairs, is an exercise best left to the listener. [22:57] "I always forget, when away from this place*, how it has no axes. A move in any direction is arbitrary, not processional." 6She squints up at the hole, the next of cables and floorboards. [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12You came falling or crawling through a hole in the floor of a midtown bank to come falling or crawling out of a hole on a great stony plain. It's still open behind you, and through a twisting of interleaved stone you can actually see the ceiling of the dim and diode-lit server room you came out of. You can also see a timer, though - it'll close behind you in under a minute. But, [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12there's good news. [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Among the things entirely new to this section of the Tumbler is... electrical power. There's circuitry and wiring carved and sodered into the surface you're standing in, surrounding the gate you came in from completely. There doesn't seem to be any kind of terminal, as there was back in the real world, but it looks like the same kind of electronics - get it running somehow, and it'll [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12probably gate you back to New York. [22:59] 6You're telling us it's good news that this paradox includes another arcanum and that we have a potential way out, which we've vowed to destroy. [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12As I've said, the plain (plane?) you're standing on turns out, after a little investigation, to be the side of a vast skyscraper. It looks to be about as wide as the building you came out of - both ahead and behind you, it comes to a stop at an edge - but there's no telling how tall it is, or which way is the top and which way is the bottom. Your view to either end is obscured, both [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12by the luminous, sunless haze that characterizes the Tumbler's 'sky' and the constant outpouring of sand. 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Which direction is the current going? [23:01] "I think... in some sense, we're still high up." [23:01] <@Ferrinus> Many of the windows around you are sealed shut with stone or what seems to be glassy black quartz, but those that aren't are constantly belching forth rust-brown time sand that Cross can peg as basically akin to the power that allowed a time-shifted grey_fox to try to kill her. The stuff is pouring upwards - it doesn't look like it's being fired or sprayed so much as it disagrees with [23:01] <@Ferrinus> you about gravity. [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Many of the windows around you are sealed shut with stone or what seems to be glassy black quartz, but those that aren't are constantly belching forth rust-brown time sand that Cross can peg as basically akin to the power that allowed a time-shifted grey_fox to try to kill her. The stuff is pouring upwards - it doesn't look like it's being fired or sprayed so much as it disagrees [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12with you about gravity. [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12High above your heads - like, cathedral ceiling high - is where the sand's all going. A great lump of sand and stone that looks to have been assembled from interpenetrating, irregular polyhedrons. From far away, it gives the whole thing a lumpy, spiky, crystalline texture. Time and space quiver and tremble around it, and it spins slowly on no apparent axis - if you watch for a little [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12while, you can see that any given point on the surface isn't following a 'straight' (relative to a sphere) path through space, but just sort of meandering along. In fact, multiple points on the surface don't necessarily move in lockstep, since the thing's surface shifts on its own, sliding and rebuilding. [23:04] 6Okay, we're going to have to ignore spectacle and personal danger for a sec here. "We might be on a clock to close this thing, if the wedge vanishes with the portal. Thoughts? Is this console part of it?" 11[23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Paracelsus can tell: there's current up there, too, in little specks and traceries. Complicated ones that roughly match that which maintains and presumably activates the gate he's standing next to. [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian can tell: There's minds up there. ...weird ones. There's a mishmash of bestial simplicity and alien complexity that'd take a little scrutiny to untangle. [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, yeah, and clamped securely to seemingly random points around the plain you're on, often near 'open' windows which belch sand upwards, are long cables of woven metal and fiber. Right now they're just sort of limply lying, coiled haphazardly, across the ground. [23:07] 7Arrian: "Uh oh. We're not alone in here. Not sure what they are... natives, insofar as that makes sense here?" [23:08] 6Cross: "What, ravening abyssal monsters and ancient tortured monks?" 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is there a visible way up there? [23:09] 6Cross will inspect these cables, looking for cut ends or wherever they go otherwise... are they ferrachnid web? [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Not immediately, although some of these cables are definitely long enough to reach. Oh, as to size, the big rotating planetoid thing is big - like, at least a hundred yards in radius. Assuming it had its own gravity, you could walk on it - or at least climb on it, as there's precious little terrain on it that isn't made of big, angular chunks. [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Iiiit... is ferrachnid web! Curious. [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12It feels like there's a mind operating up there, to Arrian... or maybe several? It's got a lot of memory and focus but seems really limited in other ways, and currently seems to be thinking a lot about three-dimensional coordinates and connecting nodes together with lines. [23:14] 6Cross: "Are you sensing cable spiders. Is it going to turn out that the cable spiders came from the tumbler, surprising somebody somewhere." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is the node up there made of the same material as the stone down here? 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Like, is it in the Tumbler or merely of it? 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> *of, in 14[23:16] * Joins: trenchfoot_ [23:17] 7Arrian: "Now that you mention it, they do feel a lot like a part of the architect spider ecosystem." [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12The big spinning planetoid thing is definitely a part of the Tumbler's scenery or machinery, same as the skyscraper you're standing on. It's not made of the same stuff as the skyscraper - the time-sand it's accreted out of is rawer and unrefined, containing a greater mix of different materials but pretty much allowing all of them to bounce around as free particles rather than bond [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12into a resilient shape as might simple cement or whatever. [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12The asteroid itself seems to be holding its structure out of gravity, pressure, and maybe a little heat - its blocks are basically melted or fused together, though that doesn't stop them from sliding past each other and otherwise pulling random Rubik's Sphere shit. [23:18] 6Cross clarifies: "I mean, somebody somewhere else." 14[23:19] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Do the minds up there feel like spiders?" [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian couldn't catch any, although it doesn't feel like he got a good luck. I can tell you that you don't see spiders up there, at least right now - the planetoid isn't so far away that you wouldn't be able to. Let's find out for certain, though. 14[23:22] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [23:23] 6God damnit, we can't get caught up on this yet. These guys like learning too much. Okay. Cross will apply a sense of urgency to examine the floor-wall hole they came from... is there anything physically holding it open? Or it's just the PCB surrounds doing it? Hmm. Lacking Forces, she's willing to just break the circuitry maybe... [23:25] 7Arrian: "You know, I didn't study proper arachnids for comparison? Something of an oversight, in retrospect." 11[23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12The circuitry on this end opens it from this end, but whether making sure it can't be opened entirely just involves smashing the circuitry on this end will take a little figuring. There's more and more complicated circuitry up there on the big jaggy boulder - Paracelsus can see the current flowing. [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12You're some sharp folks, though. Nothing gets by you! 14[23:29] * Joins: mattbaby [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Here are some details: first, there's clearly a lot of currently-inactive stuff set up, both on the ground around you and on the planetoid above you, to allow electronic communication between the circuitry down here and up there. Antenna and dishes and things - a lot of redundancy and most of it shut down, but there's some way to beam commands back and forth. Indeed, so much wiring [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12and suff is exposed that you might be able to get something going without resorting to magic. 14[23:31] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 11[23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12There's similar circuitry laced into the cable spider threads that lie strewn around you - currently inactive and pretty subtle, but visible as etchings on the material. All the electronics here bear the distinctive overlapping orthogonals that you can associate with the virus that attacked Cross and the weird display Paracelsus found down in the sewers.. and it doesn't really seem [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12to be of cable spider make, at all. [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Up on the planetoid is more and more advanced circuitry... and holes. Tunnels with wires and motherboards and things vanishing down them, into the darkness. Cross, with the perfect 20-20 vision of youth, thinks she can even see, like... work, or mechanics going on up there, little moving parts that skate around on the circuitry or at least bob up and down on it. [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12It takes a moments' observation for one of you to spot one of the cable spiders themselves, popping up out of one of the tunnels, crawling over a big tetrahedron, and scuttling down into another. [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12As for paradox, there's a really fierce time/space anomaly buzzing and thrumming exactly in the window you came out of. [23:35] "The problem is that some of this wiring is the paradox itself and some is the hackers. Being indiscriminate in shutting down their hole.. it's a risk we might have to take, since we could be followed any moment." [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12It sort of tapers off into a plume-shaped aurora of flickering space and jagged light to maybe Cross's height, kind of stretches out twice that radius more as a corona of distortion, and then settles. If you take maybe five or six steps away from the entrance that got you here, you don't really feel paradox at all. [23:38] 6Spider planet.. it'd be so cool to have a digital camera right now. [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Well - there's the sand, and the big rotating blockspherething. When you look at the big planetoid, you do get that kind of unsettling paradox feeling, but more in the sense that that's probably the stuff that'll react to vulgar magic first rather than that it's an active danger. The general paradox intensity is zero, I'm saying. 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Maybe someday every single human being in the first world and America will have a camera on their person at all times. [23:39] 6Sure, when we overthrow the Lie. [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, after you've gawked a little while the portal behind you closes (unless someone wanted to try to hold it open or go back through or whatever). The paradox it projects settles down, and it's just you and the rumble of stone and the hiss of sand. [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Cross crouches and fiddles with the circuitry. It's basically impossible to tell how this works offhand. Or, at least, unbelievably annoying. Like, you'd have to start with this terminal here, say, and not lose focus at all while tracing it with your eyes aaallll the way to- fortunately, Cross can bless herself with the necessary insight and concentration. [23:51] 6She's far more at home with wires and current than the software built on top of them, so this is a relief after the server room. Unfortunately, it's the product of magic and/or paradox and doesn't make 'sense' according to her actual scientific education, per se, but whatever. [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12You know, thinks the audience, there's no way that this is what Jen has to do every damn time she - ah, she's probably just an Obrimos. One with a rote or two for triggering electronics, at the least. 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Where are we going to get someone with that much Forces?! [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, Cross can't actually tell where the power is coming from - must be dug somewhere into the structure and drawing electricity from god knows where - the actual operation of the circuits here is pretty basic. Like, there are weird bits she can't figure out at all, but they're layered over much more straightforward and functional circuitry that anyone with the right engineering [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12background could probably work out. [23:53] 6AP Physics, in this case. [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12So, Cross now knows how to: open the gate back into the server room, send some kind of signal up to the planetoid, send a different signal up to the planetoid, send yet a different signal into the surrounding circuitry on the skyscraper-plain. [23:55] "This does way more than control the gate. They've got a whole automation setup for core harvesting.." [23:56] 6Does knowing which circuits open the gate mean finding the activation mechanism, though? We need to make sure we get whatever seed it is around which the tumbler's forming an implosion pearl. [23:57] 6Cross: "Check it out. This current and this radio coil activate... whatever that is. But that's not electrical." [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12They're too simple to be the linchpin, here - they're basically the same as what was working back on the other side, in the server room. No, the smart money is that whatever's causing the Tumbler digestive distress is spinning slowly above your head. Session Time: Sun Mar 08 00:00:00 2015 14[00:11] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[00:11] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[00:11] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 11[00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12As Cross masters function, Paracelsus deciphers meaning... [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12First off, he can tell everyone for sure which signal means 'let me up', which one means 'bring the core down', and which one means 'intruders; summon the guard'. 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus points these out. [00:16] 7Arrian scratches his chin. "So our first order of business should be to cut off the 'intruder alert' signal?" [00:17] "That's the blue wire, right?" 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "That seems wise, but... she could just call him herself." 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "In fact I think she did. That's why she was stalling back in her office." 11[00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Beyond that, Paracelsus is pretty sure that the circuitry Cross couldn't identify wasn't actually identifiable. The materials it's made out of are earthly ones but the fine-ness of the construction and the complexity of the signals and circuits within them just plain aren't within the remit of currently-existing technology. The sheer processing power of these bits is vast to the [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12point of absurdity, but they're currently almost entirely dormant. Were they awake, though, it'd seem that they could easily control all the wiring down here, send whatever signals they might please out of the transmitters, interface with whatever's on the other side... [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12The intruder alert here isn't triggered. You imagine, though, that if Jen had been the one to run through here first, she'd probably have had a nasty surprise for you upon your following her. [00:19] 6Cross: "Yeah, which is why we need to close this thing as quickly as possible. Can you at least see what it is on this side that receives signals from the other- so we can cut off access FROM the server room first?" 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Can he? 11[00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Paracelsus gets the distinct impression that the better part of the circuitry here isn't just something he could talk to, but something that could talk back. He can find the capability of this stuff to talk to that stuff... but there's a lot of complexity, a lot of redundancy, and in general the strong sense that an attempt at rewiring or even brute destruction wouldn't go unopposed. [00:22] 6See, the elderly are still valuable contributors and this is why it's ok to raise the retirement age. 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10You- 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus just points upward. "The devices down here will get us up there, where the core is and where the doorstop is." [00:25] 6That thing could be crawling with spiders! Cross: "I don't suppose anyone has enough power to blow up the planet from where we're standing...?" [00:25] 6That thing could be crawling with spiders! Cross: "I don't suppose anyone has enough power to blow up the planet from where we're standing...?" 14[00:25] * Joins: Quaker [00:25] 7Arrian: "Oh man, if I had the power to blow up the planet..." 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I bet I could do it. I don't think it's a good idea, though." [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12You'd never have to call ahead for reservations again! [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Because the planet would have been blown up. 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10We'd just have to do it in Hell. [00:27] "You'd really prefer to go inside that thing?" 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "We're here, aren't we? Might as well do it correctly." [00:30] 6Cross: "How is that more correct than blowing it up." [00:31] 7Arrian: "Maybe there's something we don't want to blow up." 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "We could damage the Tumbler if we just start tearing it apart." 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "We're here to fix it." 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "We want a finer touch here." [00:32] 6Cross: "We're here to damage the workings of the, I don't know, seers or artificial intelligences or idiot free agents who'd *misuse* the tumbler for murder and to accidentally implode a bank. That's the first priority. We owe nothing to the paradox itself." 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "We owe it to ourselves not to stomp around in it while we're stuck inside, and while we're busy studying and curating other parts of it." [00:34] "That-" 6Cross points at the planet- "is like the grinding machine at the other pole, except that it can electrocute us and it's full of cable spiders. Surely we owe it to ourselves to stay away from cable spiders." 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "We walked through that machine just fine." 15[00:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "If you want to stand down here and try and rip it up, be my guest. But I'm going up there." [00:39] 6Cross: "What's the actual reason to risk it? What do you think we'd achieve by fighting our way into the death star?" [00:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Well... it could be pretty cool. 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I told you, we don't know what would happen. I know you're scared, but it's important not to let your fear force us to make mistakes." 15[00:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus will just "pardon me" 10and reach past her to call the elevator or whatever down. [00:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Click, buzzzzzz- [00:43] 6Millicent stares at the Moros in disbelief. She makes no move to stop him from contacting Wonka. "Fear. You think it's cowardice to avoid putting ourselves in a position of violent struggle now? After what happened the last couple of times? Did you go out without a jacket on and catch macho?" [00:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Bits light up and flicker. Small panels jolt and hum all across the plain. Up on the planetoid, there's activity - two spiders crawl up out of different holes, sink their pincers into pieces of rock, and slowly pull them apart in a way that causes other bits of the planetoid to move and other bits of circuitry to hum to life. 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus frowns. "There's nothing saying we'll have to fight. But sitting down here and throwing vulgar magic up at it and hoping it sticks is a terrible idea." [00:45] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a great thrumming noise, and several of the cables around you lift slowly off the ground, then lash upwards with intense speed, pulled by immense and presumably magnetic forces until they're stretched taut, all the way to the top. 15[00:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's not less risky. It's simply less frightening." [00:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Are you supposed to just... climb...? But no, that's not all, because one of the cables nearest one of the window sand-spumes seems to be interacting strangely with the particulare matter flowing up past it. [00:45] <@Ferrinus> 12The stuff is backing up until it accretes into a platform, which sails serenely upwards, then a second platform forms a few seconds later and follows it, then a third... 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "Well, here we go." [00:47] "You're freaking projecting. I don't care about taking a risk. What I wanted was a cost-benefit." [00:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, yeah, anything on you that'd respond to a refrigerator magnet does make a spirited attempt to tumble up out of your pockets or whatnot, so have a care. 15[00:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "What cost are we paying?" [00:50] "Blood. What do we stand to gain?" 15[00:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "Certainty." 15[00:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "Blood, of course, is a hypothetical cost. We might well not get hurt or even be in danger at all." 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "But if the cost is the prospect of exposure to danger... well. Here I am foolishly thinking we're talking about risk." 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus's keys jangled in his pockets. 11[00:51] 6Cross takes a step back, unsquaring her shoulders. "That's what I thought. We price explication very differently, Paracelsus." 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Well, truthfully, I don't have much to offer. My intuition is that trying to sit back and pull it apart would cause more problems than it'd avoid." 15[00:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "Does this strike you as a configuration that would consent passively to destruction." 15[00:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What Paracelsus doesn't say, because Cross is upset, is that the advantage of her plan is that the entire cost is paid by Paracelsus. [00:54] "I don't even disagree with that, though we'd be standing next to a way out... no, look. You've won, because it's really two to one. We're arguing about a negligible risk versus a negligible reward. But we'd never convince each other of those ratings." [00:55] 6To Arrian: "..assuming you share the same opinion of curiosity." 15[00:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Here's something else we'd never agree on: it's not a competition." 11[00:56] 7Arrian: "I think what we'd find in there is probably valuable and that a controlled demolition is better than an uncontrolled one, but that's not actually different from what Paracelsus says, if we're boiling it down that far." [00:59] 6Cross steps onto one of the rising platforms: "Eagerness to extract power from madness is exactly what gives wizards a bad name in fairytales." 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "It's also what gives wizards a name at all." [01:02] <@Ferrinus> 12So, it seems absurdly dangerous to just try to stand on one of those little couple feet by couple feet platforms as it floats calmly upwards towards the asteroid, but it's right next to a magnetized spider-cable. If you hold onto the thing, you can keep your balance pretty well all the way up. [01:02] 6If you're rising into the twisted sky on magnetic platforms of solidified time anyway, it's probably the right time to discuss philosophy. [01:03] <@Ferrinus> 12It does occur to you to wonder as to what you're supposed to do when your head's about to bang into the planetoid, of course... but the fact that it's presumably Jen, who basically had the physique of an office worker, who actually rides these things reassures you that it probably doesn't involve any sort of high-risk acrobatics. [01:04] 6Cross isn't mad anymore. She was Quite Mad for a while, but she gets it now. "Nope. Dragons did that, and it'd be a name everyone had a right to if it weren't for a few selfish idiots. To seek mystery for its own sake is a way of being, obviously, but there's no way it's the only one." [01:04] 6Cross isn't mad anymore. She was Quite Mad for a while, but she gets it now. "Nope. Dragons did that, and it'd be a name everyone had a right to if it weren't for a few selfish idiots. To seek mystery for its own sake is a way of being, obviously, but there's no way it's the only one." 15[01:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Well, at that point we're quibbling over theology." [01:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Sure enough, there's a liminal zone around halfway between plain and asteroid where gravity sort of thins and vanishes. Whoever's up there first just finds themselves hanging loosely in zero-G from the cable, and before long figures out that they can clip themselves around and then ride what used to be the underside of a platform down to the planetoid itself. [01:05] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a bit tricky, so some part of your conversation probably takes place while two or three of you are all stretched out parallel to the ground, hanging onto the cable and looking across your clasped fists at each other. [01:05] "It's as least as valid - some might say more so - including me - to evaluate a thing of power on the basis of what it does, where it is, the level of threat and who needs help. 'What can I achieve' is my first question. Never 'what would it cost'." [01:05] 6Cross re theology: "Exactly." 15[01:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "You know, it never occurred to me before." 15[01:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "But each of the Orders is like its own little religion, isn't it?" [01:07] 7Arrian: "I thought that was the point?" 15[01:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I'd never realized how self-contained they were." 15[01:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'd always thought of them more as offices within a single organization." 15[01:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "But that's just politics." 10Paracelsus says this while floating, and the disinterest layered into the word 'politics' seems to buoy him. [01:09] 6Cross: "That's the face we'd like to turn to the world. But for an idea like the Ladder to endure for aeons, it's going to have a kernel to it which adherents take on faith." [01:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Yeah, but you don't have to take on faith that imperium is the right of humanity. It's just sense. 15[01:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It strikes him as he sets foot on the disasteroid that none of this is really strange to him. On some level, Cross is right; you should need a reason to jump, not a reason to hold back. 15[01:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10On another hand, which is a clenched fist crackling visibly with power, though - look at this. [01:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, I have to say disasteroid now. 14[01:16] * Joins: hrolf [01:17] <@Ferrinus> 12So, now that you're close by you can see tons of circuitry layering this thing. It's not spread as far as the eye can see, and is variably dense. It's thickest around your landing point, and sloping down into the nearest of the spider-tunnels (most of them are quite narrow, but you see one you could probably walk through a little ways forward), and it's pretty much one hundred percent 11[01:17] <@Ferrinus> 12the hyper-complicated future circuitry that Paracelsus scanned previously. He can still do so, if he likes - there's a continuity between what was on the ground and what's up here, and what's up here is energized, active, calculating. [01:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Close by, basically standing in the stuff, Arrian can see that the mind or minds he was detecting from below didn't belong to the spiders - they belonged to... the wiring. Is this minded machinery? Is this stuff that advanced? [01:19] 7Arrian: "Incredible! The minds are lodged in the wiring!" 11[01:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Seems like... yes? And there's more - while there are bits of simple steel and titanium in here, most of the circuitry Paracelsus is looking at is spun from a weird, ambery resin. This wasn't cut or forged or even spun - it grew into place. [01:20] 6Cross watches the spiders. "We may be in the presence of our rectangular friends." [01:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Rectangular friends and arachnid friends. Step and speak lightly if you don't want to be noticed - there's regular old steel webbing stretched over the circuitry, and that stuff's sensitive to vibrations both physical and spatial. [01:22] <@Ferrinus> 12'regular' [01:25] <@Ferrinus> 12In general, the cabal's in position to start snooping around - but any action at all might alert the spiders or the other machine intelligence layered over this place. 15[01:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Does it look like they're coordinating or just cohabitating? Like is this spider/rectangle cooperation? 11[01:26] <@Ferrinus> 12In a lot of places, circuitry's grown over and even into the webs. It's not otherwise apparent to Paracelsus, but you've got a warlock, here. 15[01:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Does it look like they're coordinating or just cohabitating? Like is this spider/rectangle cooperation?" [01:27] <@Ferrinus> 12It looks like the attention and focus of the machine intelligence here is running down the web, tracing out the spider tunnels. They're not ignoring each other, certainly - probably working to the same end. [01:29] 7Arrian: "I think so." [01:30] "They could be cooperating, or even different expressions of the same thing." 15[01:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus nods. Fascinating... [01:32] "That's a shame, except in that it reduces the number of factions to deal with." [01:33] 6Cross frowns, though. "The rectangles are adamant about wanting access. So this isn't them, or, they and the spiders both aren't natives." [01:33] "Could we seriously have some combination of renegade mages, artificial intelligence from the future, and abyssal cloth monsters, all teaming up to invade what is itself an insanely complex realm?" 14[01:34] * Quits: hrolf (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[01:35] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [01:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Here's Cross's impressions of enemies, alliances, betrayals... her previous intuition was correct. The spiders are being Used here, same as they were by her before. They're not really in charge, and not exactly enemies of circuitry here - but they are being hijacked. [01:37] 6Well, that's cool. They were made for it, really, as drone creatures.. really they're only objectionable when under the command of a louse. [01:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Both they and the teal rectangle ai spyware complex whatever the hell it is want in - but they're not the same entity, and while they're not that differently comported re: Cross and her cabal, they are differently aligned re: Jen. Here and now, it's the electronics that's the mastermind of the operation. 11[01:39] <@Ferrinus> 12While Cross determines this, Paracelsus is light enough on his feet to not be in line of sight or step on a web or whatever as one of the cable spiders come scrawling out of a burrow right towards her and Arrian...! 15[01:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Just one? [01:40] <@Ferrinus> 12It looks like about the same make as the things that first tried to burrow into the Tumbler alleyway, lots of metal plating and digging claws. But, it's also got current running through its carapace and circuits scored into its armor and fibrous body. [01:41] <@Ferrinus> 12The one mystagogue's fast enough to warn the other, at the very least. What do you do? [01:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian can see that this thing's got the usual little animalistic mind that he's come to expect, but that mind is being constantly poked and prodded at by subtle stimuli. The manipulator becomes the manipulated! [01:43] 7How's it being prodded, though? [01:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Not through the exercise of raw psychic power or spatial warping, you can say that much. It must be some physical stimuli acting on the spider's body or senses that are translating into mental commands. [01:47] 7That's what he'll try to figure out. If someone else has 'tamed' these architect weavers, best that the cabal knows how too. 15[01:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus tries to get both their attentions, but the time to act comes before he can be certain they've both heard. Paracelsus steps forward, his stance odd as he carefully tries to step between the cables. "Okay," 10he mutters, leaning forward, his brow throwing the rest of his face in shadow. That shadow seems to pool in his eyes, adding years to his face and shaving hours from the sleep he got the night before. [01:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian gets behind the spider's many eyes, tries to suss out what it's feeling and how those feelings work to drive it around. It's... weird, and very subtle. Little buzzes, shocks, jolts, strange urges and half-triggered instincts... it leaves the warlock feeling dizzied and disoriented himself, though only for a moment. [01:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, it's probably the circuitry. Maybe that stuff plugs right into what passes for a nervous system. 15[01:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The mudra is a full-body affair. He bends slightly at the knees, bringing his hands down low, and clasps his hands together - fingers interlaced in a very precise pattern - down by his knees. The spider quivers. He stands suddenly, pulling his hands apart in the same motion, and the spider falls. 15[01:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It doesn't fall down, though. It's tracing a long, parabolic arc to land as far from the circuitry or webwork as he can manage. 15[01:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "Alley-oop." 11[01:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Caught totally unawares, it doesn't even get the chance to scrape at the ground beneath it. It's just suddenly flying upwards, arcing away from the disasteroid and, if Paracelsus wants, falling tangent to the thin zone of null gravity between the skyscraper and the spinning rock such that it just kinds of coasts there indefinitely. [01:52] <@Ferrinus> yes [01:52] 7Arrian watches the spider as it spins away- do the subtle nudges stop as it breaks contact with the disasteroid and the circuitry? [01:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Nope. It must have a built in wireless receiver. 15[01:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Once his nimbus drains from his face, though, he doesn't even look winded. [01:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, yeah, one other note - that spider's movements were pretty sluggish. It's as though it was low on sleep, or hasn't been eating properly, or - most likely - it's not getting wound up. [03:00] "Shit-" Cross notices the spider hurtle. "Oh, nicely done. These things aren't the real enemy, though. they're perfect puppets." 11[03:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, that's been dealt with, and you've got a little breathing room to get down to brass tacks. Paracelsus observes the spools of upwards-falling sand, the motion of the gritty, crushed-paradox hedrons, the simple tenor of the local Matter, and ruminates. [03:01] An odd thought occurs to her, and she takes out a phone. Is there any signal - AT&T or otherwise? [03:01] <@Ferrinus> 12He suspects... that this planetoid should be a lot smaller. That the core should be forming at its center and just sort of hanging there in space, filtered out of the many rivers of sand that converge there. [03:02] <@Ferrinus> 12(Cross gets no signal) [03:03] <@Ferrinus> 12The core's been removed, though. The center of the asteroid's currently that much hollower than it normally would be. And yet, whatever easing of tension or switch in function normally accompanies that removal - the reconfiguration you saw for yourself back in the other branch you explored - is being arrested. The result is that more and more sand pours into where it 'ought' to be, [03:03] <@Ferrinus> 12but more and more is diverted, accreting more and more thickly aound the empty space and growing this floating structure ever larger. [03:04] Oh, well. Just in case their setup is more metaphysical, she's sending an email, which if the phone is telling the truth will go nowhere at all... 11[03:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Indeed, Paracelsus can see it happen - the streams of sand that land on the surface here don't just vanish or slip entirely into cracks. They accrete, leave trails, cause buildup. [03:04] "Maybe they're trying to make multiple cores." [03:06] <@Ferrinus> 12There must be stuff on the inside of the disasteroid, architecturally or supernaturally potent, that's preventing normal reconfiguration of the machine. Just how it works isn't apparent from the surface, but it's definitely deep down and it's definitely preventing the Tumbler from changing itself in a variety of ways, at least one of which includes just sealing the entrance away. [03:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian, checking what's been chewed or spun compared to what's just been laid down or grow, comes to this conclusion: the spiders on this asteroid are close to outliving their usefulness. 15[03:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's like a pearl without the irritant." 15[03:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "The core's gone, but the self-correcting mechanism is arrested." [03:10] <@Ferrinus> 12It looks like they showed up here to do much of the initial labor, carrying and shaping raw materials, spinning webs - but it's the thinking electronics, not the tension-based arachnids, which are really thriving here. The pattern of circuitry covering some of the surface here puts Arrian in mind of nothing so much as mold or, it must be said, Zerg creep - and the fact that some [03:10] <@Ferrinus> 12exercise of electricity or magnetism was able to yank cords of spiderweb across the huge gap and force one of the sand-pillars to cohere into a stairway suggests that the circuitry has its own means of performing crude labor here that aren't completely spider-bottlenecked. 15[03:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10If we fix it, will the bulk of this disasteroid immediately fall apart? [03:11] <@Ferrinus> 12So, while it's likely that many of the spiders here have already wound down and those remaining are in a weakened state, that's not to say you might not face some other labor force or similar physical opposition. [03:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Or, at the very least, more weird mag-lifts or similar buzzing, energize future-machines. It seems like the more this circuitry interpenetrates the Tumbler's own material and machinery the more stuff it can pull - it looks a lot more sophisticated up here than it did down there, and certainly the machinery around the door didn't appear to have a functioning mind (though maybe it [03:17] <@Ferrinus> 12could've come close, if full activated). [03:18] <@Ferrinus> 12At any rate, there's a familiar plume of reality-scraping-against-reality paradox from some hundred feet below you. [03:20] Jogging around an asteroid to orient yourself so that you can look down, which is up.. it's not the strangest thing Cross has done, but that's if you count dreams. [03:20] <@Ferrinus> 12It's doubly familiar, actually. The first bit is just, you know, the door opening, the staticky, jumbled-up interface of the Tumbler's supernatural atmosphere contrasted against that of what you think of as the normal world. [03:22] <@Ferrinus> 12The second irks Cross in particular, giving her a nasty shot of Mage Sight double-vision as parallel reality folds onto parallel reality to create a flickering, impossible-to-pin-down is-it-or-isn't-it save point. To her eyes, the figure that emergs out into the Tumbler's grey light is shrouded in angry crimson, suffused in a glare that sparkles madly in the pillars of sand which [03:22] <@Ferrinus> 12rise up past you and reflects in unorthodox ways against the __hedrons you stand amid. [03:22] <@Ferrinus> 0,1 Scribe Jen has invaded! [03:24] "She's in the chair, and so might also have been here, and thus it is." Unless there really is a self destruct switch around the next corner, Cross begins to gather power for a fight. Goodwill blooms ironically upon the disasteroid's lower surface." 11[03:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Suffused with time-distorting power that, in here, is visible to even Arrian and Paracelsus as a headache-inducing flicker in the air and a continuous distortion in Jen's nimbus that bleeds into her actual face and body, the woman glares up at the disasteroid. Maybe you're there in full view, and it's you she's staring at... but even you're all taking cover, she's sure where it is [03:25] <@Ferrinus> 12you've gone. 15[03:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is it just her? [03:27] <@Ferrinus> 12You know, that feels incredibly volatile and generally tenuous. She's done the whole bit, charged herself up and then catalyzed it with the drug - must've been keeping the chair in the building. But to suffuse yourself with Tumbler-based time-Unraveling mojo and then go into the Tumbler? That seems, offhand, to be a bad idea. 15[03:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well, if she was predisposed to having good ideas she wouldn't have forced the massive city-spanning mystery machine open and then refused to help us fix it. 15[03:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Jen. [03:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, more like a great idea right up until the point that you explode. It looks like Jen's going to have considerable power, wielding the potency of the Tumbler on top of just her own soul - but if she 'dies' in here she's not going to get off easy as the _fox did. [03:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Is she alone? Well- [03:32] <@Ferrinus> 12-no. The grey_fox, looking as normal as a mage might look, is climbing through after her, gun drawn. 14[03:52] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[03:53] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[03:53] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[04:26] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Excess Flood) 14[04:26] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[04:27] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[04:30] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Excess Flood) 14[04:30] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[04:30] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[04:37] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[05:21] * Joins: Quaker 14[05:29] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[05:31] * Joins: ddt 14[05:32] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[06:02] * Quits: dammitwho 14[06:27] * Joins: Quaker 14[06:48] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[10:20] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[10:28] * Joins: ddt 14[11:37] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:17] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[12:26] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:22] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[14:32] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:33] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:37] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:38] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[14:41] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:44] * Quits: Quaker (Client Quit) 14[14:49] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:53] * Joins: hrolfy 14[14:55] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 11[15:00] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Mar 08 15:00:26 2015 Session Start: Sun Mar 08 15:00:26 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[15:00] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[15:01] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[15:01] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 7AM EST) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EST) | Mage (SAT 10PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TBD) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/SdZRg5O.jpg' 13[15:01] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Fri Feb 27 11:43:41 14[15:01] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by VoxPoxVD))) 09[15:01] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[15:01] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[15:01] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[15:05] * Joins: hrolf 11[15:09] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Mar 08 15:09:27 2015 Session Start: Sun Mar 08 15:09:27 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[15:10] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[15:10] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[15:10] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 7AM EST) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EST) | Mage (SAT 10PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TBD) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/SdZRg5O.jpg' 13[15:10] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Fri Feb 27 11:43:41 14[15:11] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[15:15] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[15:16] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 09[15:32] * banana is now known as bananap 14[15:32] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[15:34] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[15:37] * Joins: drinkybird 14[15:39] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[16:23] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 11[16:30] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Mar 08 16:30:45 2015 Session Start: Sun Mar 08 16:37:33 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[16:37] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[16:37] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 7AM EST) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EST) | Mage (SAT 10PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TBD) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/SdZRg5O.jpg' 13[16:37] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Fri Feb 27 11:43:41 09[16:37] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[17:09] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:38] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:40] * Quits: drinkybird (Quit: Leaving) 14[18:00] * Joins: dammitwho 15[19:44] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:44] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:44] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:44] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:44] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Birds are singing merrily to announce the dawn. There's not a cloud in the sky, and the breeze off the lake is warm and gentle. And to top it all off, it's collection day. For under-minister Wu Zheng, the morning could not be better. 15[19:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Except-- 15[19:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "Where is she?!" 15[19:48] <@VoxPVoxD> He's seated in a cart - empty, for now - outside the Heartspring bureau office of the Humble and Honest Assessors of the Imperial Tax, a division of the Righteous and Accountable Ministry of Weights and Measures, one branch of the Imperial Service, the Thousand Scales of the Scarlet Dynasty. 15[19:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Ten thousand dragons rule the world, and so it falls to some selfless and able public servants to count their hoards. 15[19:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Wu Zheng is the assessor, and he's sitting in his cart - as-yet bereft of riding lizards - waiting for his weights and collections agent to join him for the journey. So, where is she? [19:55] 7She's rounding the corner. A short woman with her hair bound up with a small headpiece in the "Dragon's Fangs" style popular with upper class young women of the Blessed Isle, dressed in the muted reds of House Cathak, Excessively Righteous Blossom has an imperious air- an impression of assessing everything she sees and finding it just quite not good enough. 14[19:56] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) [19:56] 7In each hand she holds the reins of one of the bureau's riding-lizards, who follow meekly behind her. "Here, Underminister." 15[19:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ah! Excellent. You've made yourself useful. Come now, there are only a few households still outstanding this season. If we're efficient we should be back in time for lunch." [20:02] 7Blossom doesn't reply. Burnt rice and omentata with neither caroenum nor a peppercorn to be found doesn't entice her as it does him, and she busies herself positioning the riding-lizards and hooking their tack to the front of the cart. [20:03] 7This done, she leaps nimbly into the back of the cart. 15[20:06] <@VoxPVoxD> While she works, the under-minister keeps talking. "You've familiarized yourself with the ledger notation, yes? You'll also regret it if you've confused which units of measure go on the report to the satrap and which go to the junior minister. And you have remembered your scrutiny glasses, I trust?" 15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD> It's nothing personal. He's like this all the time. Lesser blood than the finest daughter of House Cathak has been given to wonder whether he realizes how much of an ass he can be, or if he simply doesn't care. And nobody complains too much - this posting, this satrapy is as plum an assignment as you'll find in the Threshold. Temperate weather, a manageable number of bandits, a cooperative local government and subjects who more or less pay on time. 15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Shame about the food, of course. [20:12] "The ledger notation is the same everywhere in the Realm, Underminister." 7She replies wearily. She should just ride the whole way in silence, since stoicism is a virtue handed down from the Immaculates, but she's bored. [20:16] 7She's exhausted the books she brought with her, her fellow civil servants don't seem interested in sparring or weapons practice for some reason, and she's well aware she doesn't have the temperament for teaching. Gossip and news of the Realm takes time to filter down to her, since the most junior bureaucrat in Weights and Measures is not invited to the satrap's court. [20:17] 7It doesn't matter who her parents are. She hasn't taken the Second Breath. 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> At least the view is pretty. As the lizards pull the cart down the road, they're treated to a long ride along the shore of Lake Tien, the smallest of the Dozen Seas that cluster in the near-Southeast of Creation. Great lush forests ring the lake on all sides, marred periodically by fishing villages and the odd trading post. There are even some people sailing for pleasure - for about a half hour the cart keeps even with a yacht a few hundred yards in the distance. Maybe the people on the boat are having fun. [20:20] 7Blossom squints as she tries to make them out. Does she recognize the boat or its passengers? 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> She sees... that's probably Gemido, the satrap's eldest son, and a number of young women. Everyone's drinking and either laughing or screaming in terror. The most notable figure on the yacht, though, is from as far away as Blossom herself. Ragara Condor is a Dynast about Blossom's age, though he Exalted quite young, around 14. He's the only Dragon-Blooded around for miles, and he acts like it. [20:26] 7Screaming in terror? 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Well, you know. It's so hard to tell if the looks on people's faces are pain or joy when they're so far away. 15[20:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "Measurement Agent Blossom!" the Underminister's voice is like a raiton caught in harp-strings. "Now is not the time for daydreaming! Never forget that we are the hand of the Empress in these backwaters. Do not comport yourself like a child." [20:38] 7Oh, dragons. Can Condor see her? The Princes of the Earth have eyes like birds of prey; could he recognize her at this distance? Oh no, oh no no no! She looks away from the yacht and turns slightly toward the underminister, hoping to obscure her features. "I am-!!" 7She pauses and her lips tighten. "You're right, of course, Underminister Wu." 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> He offers her a thin smile. "It's a light day today, Measurement Agent. A little patience is all that's required." [20:41] 7She's twenty one. Twenty. One. What good is patience now? 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Either way, soon the road bends away from the lake and into the rice paddies, and the cart is flanked on both sides by wide, watery fields laden with working peasants. With the treeline blocking the wind, the air's quite humid and stagnant. 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "Inspiring, isn't it?" [20:49] "How?" 7All Blossom can think of is the swarms of insects that'll no doubt plague them later in the season. Couldn't the rice paddies be moved further away from the bureau office? But no, then they'd have to ride further in the winter. Hmm. 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "A generation ago most of this was swampland. The peasants were indolent, and the satrapy was all but bankrupt. But the Illustrious and Wise Corps of Engineers devised an irrigation scheme that tripled, no, quadrupled arable land in this region, and turned it into one of the gems of the Realm. I mean, look at it," he says, allowing himself only one hand on the reins to make a sweeping gesture at the toiling peasants. "These people are the lifeblood of the Empire we give our lives to serve. We owe them our appreciation, and our benevolent guidance." 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "This... this is what we work for." [21:00] "Impressive." 7She's serious, it is impressive; that and the gall of the man reminding her what her regard for the peasantry is supposed to be are enough to snap her out of her self-pity for the moment. "Who was in charge of the irrigation scheme?" 7She should find out how it was done... do the native insects threaten the crop? Pest control could be a major concern. 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "Why, that was Cynis Sorqatami, obviously. She got a seat in the Upper House for that." [21:10] 7And there it is. "Good for her. Do the peasants appreciate all that's been done for them?" 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom hasn't been out here in the summer, yet, but her colleagues who have have never seemed to lament the bugs. "They used to," confides Wu Zheng. "They used to. But since Stagnant Heart's mutiny, the population has been increasingly listless and irreverent. The young ones just don't work as hard as their parents do, and they have less to show for it." [21:15] 7Stagnant Heart? 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom will recall that Stagnant Heart was the god of these farmlands, until a few years ago he decided that the peasants' labor belonged to him rather than the HHAIT. It was a theological dispute that required conferring with several venerable Immaculate Masters to bring to resolution. The new god, Shan of the Bottomless Basket, understands its duties far better. 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> The riding-lizards finally begin to slow - a fine (well, fine for the Threshold) manor house is visible behind the boughs of some beautiful mango trees. [21:22] "Hmph. At least the Immaculates corrected him." 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "Like a hammer corrects a nail. Now! Look sharp. Scrutiny glasses at the ready." [21:29] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom straightens up. Is there anyone there to meet them? 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> The tax collectors are met by the head-of-house, flanked by two burly servants pulling carts like human yeddim. The head-of-house is wearing a long, light sun-dress and a broad hat, which she removes in deference to Zheng and Blossom. "Good morning. Could I invite you in for a cold drink? It's going to be a very hot day." The offering is mere pleasantry, the presence of the carts indicates she'd soon as not see the back of them. [21:34] 7Blossom is tempted to say yes, but as the junior agent she can't! accept! invitations! 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom's superior dismounts from the cart with surprising athleticism. There's a gymnast's poise in that landing. She's certain he drilled it. He says, "You are most gracious, Madam Cypress, but - begging a thousand humble pardons - we must conduct our business swiftly, for we can never tarry in the work of our service to her Imperial Majesty and to the Empire. You have prepared your sixty sacks?" 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Madam Cypress doesn't flinch. "Of course, minister." Her gaze falls on Blossom. "You are the second agent?" [21:43] "I have that honor." 7Such as it is. Is sixty sacks the right amount? 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> It would be... if you were collecting a half-season's worth of back taxes along with it. As-is this is well over the 40 sacks that the Cypress household would typically owe, a fact that Blossom doesn't even need the ledger in front of her to verify. 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's a pleasure to meet you. Kepek!" One of the servants begins loading sacks of rice onto the cart. [21:54] 7Blossom frowns. "Forty sacks, surely." 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yes, she's a prodigy - schooled in the finest institutions in the Realm. She'll have my job within a decade if she- oh hmm?" Wu Zheng wheels around. "No, I'm quite certain it's sixty. Did you check the ledger? I'm certain that if you consult the ledger you'll see that it's sixty." 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> A supercilious smile. "One moment. Even a prodigy makes mistakes!" 14[21:59] * Joins: trenchfoot [22:01] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom: "Cypress household, fifteen farmers at standard twenty-yalm paddies. No accepted deductions nor alleviation for inclement growing season, no accumulated back taxes or fines. Accounting for standard shrinkage that's forty sacks of rice, Underminister." 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Does she have the ledger out? [22:02] 7She does, and has turned it around and is holding it out for Wu Zheng to inspect. 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Wu Zheng takes the ledger forcefully, nodding and hrming to himself as he runs his finger down the ledger, crossing the page from left to right (the right column is a different household) and then flipping to the next page (which Blossom can see is empty). "Ah. Yes. I see my error." He slams the ledger shut and lifts his face to regard Blossom with a snakelike resentment. She sees the contrite smile fall on his face like a gossamer curtain right before he spins around, robes billowing. 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "A thousand thousand apologies, Madam Cypress. I am... humbled. Perhaps she'll have my job sooner rather than later, eh? Just forty sacks." [22:09] 7Hrmph. If he's that upset at being corrected he should have done his job competently in the first place. 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a moment of pronounced awkwardness before Kepek (and the other one) retreat from the assessor's cart with a load of rice still in tow. "...Well! We'd best be off, then. I trust we'll see you and your lovely daughters at the feast day this coming Saturnday?" 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "Of course, minister." She bows, and he bows back. Blossom gets the ghost of a smile from Madam Cypress's face in the moment after she rises and before Wu Zheng does. "Agent." Another, less steep bow. [22:16] 7Blossom nods curtly and waits for the servants to finish loading the correct tax load. "Good day, Madam Cypress. The Empress appreciates your promptness." 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "The Empress is honored by the honesty and humility of her public servants. Good day." 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> The ride onward is significantly slower, because the cart is now quite heavy - it's almost midday by the time they're on the road, quit of the Cypress manor with even the rice paddies retreating behind them. 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "You embarrassed yourself, Agent." 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Wu Zheng's face is a mask of mournful composure. He has the air of someone who regrets having been unable to warn someone in time of a divot in the ground that caused them to trip and fall in a mud puddle, but also has the dignity not to wince or laugh. [22:25] 7Blossom's eyes narrow and she glances to the side to look at him. "Did I." 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> He nods. "I imagine it's difficult, growing up in the kind of pampered luxury you had, to expect that you'd understand the ways of the world. Truthfully, I have shamed you by taking this facet of your education for granted, rather than accepting it as my own responsibility." [22:35] 7Blossom brushes one of the hair-fangs out of her face and matches Wu's sneer. "Why don't you educate me, then?" 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "Well, it's quite simple. The way taxes are collected in the Threshold is as follows: first, we assess the base amount - that's what you have in the ledger there - and then we must calculate the additional considerations." 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> He one-hands the reins again, this time to tick off on his fingers. "A piece comes back to me, for my leadership. A piece goes to you, for your service. And a piece goes to the satrap so that when it comes time to tell the viceroy how the Thousand Scales glitter in his land, we can be safely assured that he will see the value of keeping us here, in a safe and comfortable province." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "Additional considerations." 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "Obviously these considerations can't enter into the ledger, or else the viceroy will insist that they belong in the coffers of Her Imperial Majesty. But that simply isn't how it's done." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you understand now?" [22:53] 7Blossom's back is straight, her sharpened nails digging into her palms as she stares at the back of Wu Zheng's head. "Oh, yes. I understand perfectly." 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm concerned for your future, Blossom. Really, I am. It can't be easy, all that education and training gone to waste. But trust me - if you keep your chin up, and learn to do what you're told, you could easily have married your way back onto the Blessed Isle before your beauty fades." 14[22:55] * Joins: Quaker [23:01] 7Her fingernails pierce her hands and blood begins to drip down her fingers; she hardly notices. Blossom vaults over the side of the cart and swiftly walks in front of the riding-lizards, bringing them to a halt. She points at Wu with her left hand, two fingers outstretched. "I understand that you are a corrupt official! You praise the labor of the peasants and steal the part of it [23:01] that belongs to them! You are without shame, and if I ever return to the Blessed Isle you won't know about it because you will turn yourself in for conduct unbecoming a servant of Her Imperial Majesty if I have to drag you to the magistrates myself!" 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> The sun is high and hot overhead. Blossom is making her stand alone on this open road, with not even a shadow to back her up. Wu Zheng sits back slightly in his seat. His eyes narrow to slits. 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "I will forgive this insult. Out of respect. To your father. I will not forgive a second. Get in the cart." 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Excessively Righteous Blossom. 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> She hears the voice in her head, as if he were standing there beside her. Her mind burns with it. 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> My daughter. My champion. My best self. [23:10] 7A split second earlier she was thinking about how Wu is hardly the fat bureaucrat he affects to be; how as the assistant she is weaponless; how if she can get her fingernails to his throat before he can draw his blade she might survive. [23:10] 7Now she's not thinking at all - only listening. [23:10] "Father..." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Wu Zheng hops down from the cart now. From somewhere in the layers of his robe there's a glint of steel, near a foot of steel extending from each fist. Khatars. "Do you think he'll even read the letter we send him about your death? Bandits, it was. Dreadful. I will wax poetic about your loyalty." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> I once loved all the world and all its people. But I saw them fall to tyranny, and it hardened my heart. I grew sick with scorn and turned my back on the world, and it has fallen farther still. 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> No more. 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Know that I am Sol Invictus, and know that it is your birthright to spread my word and do my work. 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Your service is your own. Your will is your own. I expect only this: 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> You shall bring about the rule of righteousness in the land. You shall destroy the wicked and the evildoers, so that the strong should not harm the weak. 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> You are a child of the sun, Blossom. Stand tall. 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> And breathe in. 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Zheng falls into a kata and then surges forward, punch daggers glinting in the noonday sun. They'll find her heart in a moment. [23:23] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom breathes, and her heart sings. Yes. [23:24] 7A disc limned by purest golden flames appears on her forehead, and she feels as though she is breathing in the entire world in an instant. Yes. [23:26] 7The flame spreads, brightening until it's almost painful to look at, until she's enshrouded by fire the white of the noonday sun. She feels as if she's floating yalms above the surface of Creation, bathed in light. Yesyesyesyesyesyes [23:30] 7Her soul awakens, her Essence leaps within her. The low hiss of the fire around her intensifies and it erupts into a column of sky-blue flames that sear up, up, up to meet the sun. Twin dragons formed of the same blue flame leap up from the ground and spiral past her, dancing to mark the victory of their lord. [23:30] 7Sol Invictus! The King of Heaven! The Sun, Unconquered! [23:32] 7She catches the tip of Wu's punch dagger between two fingers. They stand immobile for just an instant before she throws him back, and the battle begins in earnest. [23:56] 7The flames of her anima respond to her will! They swirl and flow between her hands, and Blossom laughs with delight. She stomps forward with one foot, reaches one cupped hand back, then hurls it at Wu Zheng's face! This is how things should be! The fires she was promised, hers at last! Session Time: Mon Mar 09 00:00:00 2015 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> It's not that easy. 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Wu Zheng gets a faceful of fire, but he ducks low, avoiding the burn. The top of his hat is singed, and the lizards are spooked, behaving as frightened riding-lizards do and curling up under the nearest rock or rock-like object, which in this case is the cart. It slows him, but not enough. With a hoarse kiai he barrels forward, khatars held out from his midsection like tusks, and Blossom's on the back foot, ducking and weaving. 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> He can't touch her, but he's on the attack now. [00:05] 7She twists and darts, easily avoiding strikes that would have been difficult only moments ago, sidestepping thrusts that would skewer her. It's like the world wants her to succeed, and the only thing she has to do is move as the Essence flows. But he's still pushing her back. 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> He lunges forward, pressing the advantage. His daggers thrust forward, twisting up and back like goring tusks. No mortal could have evaded that attack. Few mortals would have *survived* it. 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> But she is not mortal. 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "DEMON!" he bellows in her face. He's panicked. There is no back for him. He can sense it. His only hope is to catch her off guard- 14[00:16] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[00:18] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [00:27] 7Blossom spins low to the ground and sweeps her leg toward Wu Zheng, a gout of flame bursting from the bottom of her feet singing his clothing and driving him back! (Her shoes, miraculously, are unharmed.) 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Good thing, too. You can't get shoes that nice out here. 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom's burning wheel gets close enough to evaporate the sweat on Zheng's face. He lunges back, his hat flying off his head and catching a curl of flame. It burns gently on the roadside. Now it's Blossom who has the advantage. 14[00:34] * Joins: drinkybird 14[00:38] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [00:38] 7She takes three quick steps forward and jumps, arcing high above the cart as she casts a rain of firebolts from each hand! Zheng lets out a strangled shriek as his beard catches fire, he stumbles back as Blossom lands neatly in a crouch. 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Burning, blinded, mad. Wu Zheng, underminister, struggles to his feet and charges. His form is all but forgotten - it is muscle memory alone that brings him anywhere near the high priestess. 14[00:47] * Joins: ddt [00:49] 7Blossom jumps to her left as the roaring Boar stumbles by, leaving his back exposed! 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> He turns around, slowly. Even blinded, her brilliance gets him in close to the right direction. He lunges out again, coming within a foot of her. 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> This was going to be such a good day. He was going to be home for lunch. [00:54] 7If he were a virtuous official, he would have been. [00:59] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom, Hammer of Heaven, her fists ablaze with the righteousness of her cause, strikes the corrupt with a thundering blow. Her resolve does not yield! His flesh does. 14[00:59] * Quits: Crion_ [01:01] 7She hits him once, twice, three times in the head before leaning forward and delivering a punishing blow that penetrates his rib cage and lights the unfortunate man up like a torch. 15[01:02] <@VoxPVoxD> What un-fortune? What more blessed end could such a creature have expected? [01:02] 7The flames roar as they feed on his sins both petty and gross, and dance high into the air as his body becomes nothing more than a swiftly-disintegrating black outline. 15[01:03] <@VoxPVoxD> The road is silent. It would be still, save for the dance of dragons in the air above her, visible for miles around. [01:04] 7When at last the conflagration goes out, only one thing remains unharmed as it drops with a soft thud to the earth: the seal of the Imperial Service, which the late Wu Zheng used to stamp memoranda and tax records with its imprimatur. [01:05] "Hahaha." 7She stoops and plucks it from the ground. It isn't even warm. "Hahahahaha!" 15[01:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Not bad for a twenty-one year old. [01:07] 7This morning the world was grey and oppressive. Now she can breathe. Now the whole universe is opened up to her. Heaven looked down on her and finally, finally smiled, granting her what she'd fervently prayed for since she was ten years old. [01:10] 7Chosen of the Sun, called to bring righteousness to the land. Called Anathema by the covetous and cruel. It feels good to know they fear her. The histories say they ruled a vast empire; its atrocities are obviously lies, invented by the usurpers to justify their treason. A vast Realm built on theft and repression. A whole Creation that cries out for a champion. [01:10] 7She has a lot of work to do. [01:12] 7She can't get the riding-lizards out from under the cart until her anima finally collapses, but when it does she checks to ensure none of the rice sacks were damaged, hops on to the front of the cart and gently flicks the reins. The Realm's false regents must be brought down that its true rulers may be raised up, but all the same it wouldn't do to steal this bounty. [01:12] 7As the cart slowly rolls back to the bureau office, Excessively Righteous Blossom finds herself whistling. 14[02:10] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:34] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[03:15] * Joins: trenchfoot 09[04:43] * bananap is now known as banana 14[05:03] * Quits: dammitwho 14[05:09] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[05:29] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[05:32] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[05:32] * Joins: drinkybird 14[05:34] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[05:38] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[05:38] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[05:55] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[05:57] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[06:08] * Joins: Quaker 14[06:39] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[07:10] * Joins: Crion 14[07:23] * Quits: Crion 14[08:08] * Joins: Crion [08:11] - [08:11] - [08:11] - [08:11] - [08:11] - [08:11] - [08:11] - [08:13] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln1cdFC1tm8 [08:13] - [08:13] - [08:13] - [08:15] Downtown at night is orange and black from the faint glow of the streetlights reflected off of the cold glass sides of the office towers. The Bank Tower rises like a great monument at its center, and all the night's creatures are directed towards it. Street-level parking is out of the question, of course, so the limousines and sleek corporate cars filter in to the spacious underground parking facility, where the cars paus [08:15] in front of the elevators just long enough to let out their distinguished passengers. The fashionably late crowd milling in front of the way up is still large and anxious to get to the party itself. 08[08:16] Leisurely examines a globe on the desk in the office the Fourth Adept left her and Rollie in. When she spins it idly, running her finger across Brazil, he realizes that she looks exhausted. Her makeup has only been applied haphazardly and without much skill, and dark bags are under her eyes. 15[08:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Are they alone in the office? [08:17] Yes. "You can go to the party, if you'd like," she says slowly. [08:18] "Don't let me keep you. I just need a moment." 15[08:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie Choi, in his rented tux, looks as bright-eyed and attentive as he ever has. "Are you okay?" [08:19] 6Edgar Doolittle arrives with a harpy and a sheriff, well dressed, solicitous of his sire, and a week unshaven. He's a big man with brown hair and a face that only moves just enough to be polite. He's here to meet as many of the Invictus as inhumanly possible and look to the future. [08:20] "In the way that you mean, sure." [08:21] 4Clinton Cavanaugh arrives slightly early to figure out the parking situation -- though surely there's a valet, Cavanaugh's also one of those particular people who doesn't trust valets with their cars. [08:23] Morton has to grasp the sides of the car to haul himself out, and then when he is out, he pulls a kerchief from his pocket and dabs his forehead. This time, he really is sweating. It's noticeable, if you were used to hanging around with kindred who never bothered to, but tonight in the parking garage everyone seems to be Blushing. 15[08:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Frowning: "...you wanna bounce? Forget these guys. You wanna go we can just get out of here." [08:25] 4He is even slightly more crisply dressed than usual, if that's possible. The black tuxedo is, of course, his own, one of a pair purchased from a Manhattan men's fashion boutique. The other one -- white in color -- has never seen use. [08:26] There aren't any valets, actually. Not to say that there isn't a small army of uniformed ghoul porters and doormen scurrying around, but no-one seems to be offering to drive anyone else's car. The crowd in front of the elevators - another half dozen has just boarded - is mixed. Beasts swirl and recoil when eye contact is made, but there's also the sweet smell of ghouls in tuxedos and beautiful evening gowns and the odd [08:26] completely normal mortal. [08:26] 6That's the done thing- to make like we haven't paid any price we can't afford? Fine. Edgar adds his stake, blood boiling away to revitalise sinew, organ and so on. [08:29] 4After parking, then, Cav will make his way from the garage to the elevators and mingle a bit, putting faces to names and seeing how many of either he recognizes. Annoyingly, manners dictate he can't have a pen and pad out writing down names. [08:30] Besides the line for the elevators, Cavanaugh can see a sort-of familiar face. Rosa Isaacs, Seneschal and Trustee of Santa Barbara sits on a concrete barrier and texts. She's as he remembered: severely cut brown hair, pale, long limbs that are tonight wrapped up in a red shawl over her orange dress. [08:31] Morton shifts his bulk to his other foot and gestures at the line. "Ever been? [08:31] "Ever been?" [08:33] The First Visionary stands up straight. "The worst of it's already over. I just don't like going down there anymore. I'm fine. Are you meeting anyone here tonight? I've got a couple of friends I think I'll say hello to." [08:34] 4He will smile and approach. They met once before, when he first arrived in town, right? "Good evening, Seneschal Isaacs." 15[08:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Alright. Yeah, I'm gonna look for the other Deputies. Anything in particular I should know before we go out there?" [08:37] 6Edgar: "Not to the Bank Tower, or anything of the season." 6After all, this is the first one there's been."I've visited an Elysium - two, if a bar out by the canyons counts - and made some of the right noises. Funny thing was I knew a few of the Sheriff's people from before, in their.. diplomatic capacity." [08:37] Leisurely reaches into her purse and takes out a compact mirror, flipping it open to examine her face. "This is terrible. What was I thinking? Yeah, just behave yourself if you're in wherever the elders have gathered themselves. Otherwise, have fun." She snaps it shut, and smiles. "Really! Have fun. That's the whole point of this, and you don't have to pay a cent." 15[08:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks askance at the mirror for a moment. But if Leis perks up, he does too. "Alright. Let's do this." 15[08:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks askance at the mirror for a moment. But if Leis perks up, he does too. "Alright. Let's do this." [08:40] "Good evening, Deputy." Rosa stows her phone in the purse. When he was sold to Los Angeles, she was there, hovering behind the Prince, always disappearing when it was intimated by Alicia or the others that there was some complicated contract matters that were to be attended to. Out of his earshot, for politeness's sake. "You're looking dapper. I was supposed to wait for you down here. The Prince sends his apologies that h [08:40] can't meet you down here. Busy with other things." [08:43] Edgar is sideeyed by a middle-aged couple in furs when Morton bulls his way into the queue. "My condition means I don't get to attend many Court functions. They are a great deal of fun, if you can stand other people. The elders have a pleasant tolerance for their juniors making asses of themselves in public, commonly because of intoxication of one sort or another. Like shooting fish in a barrel for me." [08:44] Leisurely nods, and slides her arm through his. "Let's," is all she says before she pushes the double doors open. [08:45] "You look fantastic this evening," 4Cavanaugh politely flatters, and keeps himself from arching an eyebrow at the matters the Prince would have to attend to that come before his own party. He'll see if he can't find something out about that through other channels, should it turn out to be important. "I understand completely. Will the Prince be in attendance at all tonight?" [08:48] "Sure, but not at the kid's table. You know how it is." She directs them towards the elevator doors, gently pushing a ghoul in a white suit aside as she does. "Well, you might not, sorry. 'You know it is' is pretty much my catchphrase now. I sound like a pokemon. Yes, he'll be in the cottage in the middle of the ballroom with the other elders." [08:50] 4Cavanaugh blinks. Surely he didn't hear that right. A pokemon? [08:50] 4He'll let that go, however, in favor of: "The cottage?" [08:51] 6Edgar smiles threateningly at the displaced pair. "Everyone'll be sharing news of their doings and discoveries. Do you find much of it worthwhile? When we mingle, I might sample." [08:55] 4Cav can see what appears to be the back of Edgar's head a bit in front of them in the line. He won't call out; they can catch up upstairs. [08:56] Morton taps the ghoul in front of him with the tip of his cane. "Move forward, man! A space has opened up in front of you. I find it all worthwhile, professionally. And privately, gossip is what keeps everyone of us going. Drink deep of what others volunteer freely, and you'll never be bored." [08:57] 6Well, unless you find the bragging of the rich boring, presumably. We'll See. 08[09:00] On the other side, the roof rises high above the central ball chamber, and when Rollie steps out he can feel the air drop twenty degrees. In front of him is an autumn wood, transplanted in space and time. Trees in orange and red colors stand at intervals, each draped in strings of orange, gold, and white lights. Between them, falling up and down at gentle intervals, are dirt pathways, winding through the enormous room and [09:00] hedged by bushes. [09:00] Cast-iron gas lamps stand next to the trees, adding to the light. At the edges of the room, ghoul bartenders stand ready behind wooden counters, brushing off leaves as they fall. In the center of the wood, rising above everything else on a small hill cleared of trees, is a stately rural cottage, its eaves draped in orange and red bunting. 08[09:00] The clearing around it seems to be the main dance floor, or at least, that's where people are doing the dancing. Rollie can see glimpses of the far side of the room through the foliage: transparent glass double doors leading to other small sitting rooms where overwhelmed guests can breathe. Above them, some neat trick has replaced the visible ceiling with a field of black night sky, where stars twinkle. [09:00] The noise is so loud as to be basically a physical assault. [09:00] Well, some people call it music. [09:02] Rosa, Morton, Seabury, Edgar, and Cavanaugh all find that their route to the elevator converges at the same spot. As the proper greetings are swapped, the Seneschal leads them all into the elevator. They all fit, thankfully. 15[09:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Right before the doors open, Rollie's body temperature will rise to match Leisurely's, if she's warm. When the doors open, he lets out a long whistle at the spectacle before them. "This is some Harry Potter shit," 10he says below the music. [09:04] Leisurely's skin is warm to the touch, and her face is flushed with blood. "Yeah, isn't it? I guess it helps when you own the building." She has to half-yell to be heard. 15[09:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie scopes the place out. Are any of the single digit number of vampires he recognizes here yet? 08[09:05] "Good evening, deputy," 4Cav says to Edgar with a slightly wry smile. "Have you run into Roland yet?" [09:05] She points at the little house in the middle of things. "They always put somewhere in the middle where the old farts can hang out and not be bothered. Probably not off limits to anybody, though, if you can manage to not commit social suicide while you're in there." 08[09:06] There are only unfamiliar faces here for Rollie tonight. 15[09:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "I can see why people look forward to this so much," 10Rollie says. [09:07] "Evening, Clinton!" 6There better not be elevator music. The press of leashed beasts is.. actually, it's not that bad. Odd."We've just arrived, and this is Lord Moreno Munoz. Clinton Cavanaugh, a deputy of the Territory." [09:10] "A pleasure, Lord Munoz. I'm sure you two have already met, but for Edgar's benefit, may I introduce Rosa Isaacs, Seneschal of the Brilliant Court. Rosa, this is Deputy Edgar Doolittle, a colleague of mine in Orange County." 08[09:10] While they walk down a pathway, Rollie observes something else neat: the strange acoustics of the room means that every so often a certain bend in the path is sheltered from the din of the music and people's chatter: places good for a quiet conversation litter the wood. Granite pedestals pop up now and then, bowl-like indentations on their tops, filled with a red liquid that makes Rollie's dead heart race with subconsciou [09:10] thirst. Glasses have been left by each one as a courtesy. [09:10] 6Edgar: "I find myself unable to bow, but if circumstance weren't..." [09:14] "It's alright, Deputy." Rosa can only turn around halfway to flash a smile. "Pleasure to meet you, Deputy. I hope you have a pleasant evening." [09:14] "It's alright, Deputy." Rosa can only turn around halfway to flash a smile. "Pleasure to meet you. I hope you have a pleasant evening." 14[09:14] * Joins: quaker_ 14[09:15] * Joins: Crion_ 14[09:17] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 15[09:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shiiit. Rollie might hit one of these up, but certainly not in front of Leisurely. The music's good enough; it's got a beat. When they hit one of the quiet spots, he'll say... nothing. He's at a loss for words. [09:19] Leisurely dips a cup into the blood and takes a sip. "Hmm. Not bad. I think I've gotten used to cows, though." 15[09:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "That's not, uh..." 10How big is the fountain? "What animal is it?" [09:21] The elevator opens into a corridor blocked with people still waiting. Ahead of them, ghouls monitor metal detectors and (very, very politely) pat people down. "We'll bypass this, I think," the Seneschal says. "Unless one of you is carrying a bomb…?" [09:22] "It's people." 15[09:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "Uh." 15[09:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "...that's cool." 15[09:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That was terribly unconvincing, Rollie! [09:25] 4Cavanaugh smiles at the joke and follows her past the cordon, presuming that's where she's leading. [09:26] Rosa makes eye contact with one of the ghoul foremen as the little party passes by. He yanks another ghoul who was about to approach them with a plastic wand backwards. The corridor leads to another door, making a hard right turn into…another corridor, with another set of metal detectors and security guards. A total of five security checks are passed before they arrive, their unimpeded progress drawing plenty of impatie [09:26] glares as they walk by. [09:27] Leisurely swirls the blood around in the glass. "You can say what you mean, dude." [09:27] plenty of impatient glares as they walk by.* 15[09:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Nobody died behind these, right?" [09:29] 4Cavanaugh ignores them, as one does. 09[09:29] * Crion_ is now known as Crion [09:30] "I have no idea. It's a lot of blood, isn't it? I guess the good thing is that the more blood you need on a regular basis, the less violent you have to be getting it. Or it's not a secret anymore." [09:31] 6Edgar is not carrying a bomb, so he appreciates the haste. He's just trying to figure out who merits it.. probably Rosa herself, rather than Seabury, but maybe either would have done. 08[09:31] Edgar, Cavanaugh, their sponsors, and the Seneschal walk through the massive oak doors to the ballroom just as a new song floats in through the speakers while they see what Rollie saw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG_dA32oH44 [09:32] 4Now Cavanaugh arches that eyebrow. [09:32] 6Just how many people are at one of these things? 15[09:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I didn't think of that. That's true, isn't it? Huh." 10There's a pause. "Hey, uh. I never actually said this, but thanks. I'd be totally fucked dealing with all this if I didn't have a friend." [09:34] That's a good question: maybe a hundred and fifty kindred, from all the Beasts Edgar has seen. An equal number of ghouls and mortals spread out, either as guests or servants. There's probably three dozen in the big clearing around the cottage in the middle, but the winding paths and all the trees make it hard to see everything at once. [09:35] There's…it's a lot of people! Certainly the most kindred either of them have ever seen at once. 15[09:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The track changes. This song's way better. [09:37] Leisurely just shrugs before she tosses the rest of the cup's contents into the bushes. "You're welcome. You can't help everybody. But you have to help somebody. Hey! I like this song." [09:37] 6Edgar turns his head and shoulders slowly, unabashedly taking in the gathering. This would be a lot of people, if it was just people. But there's wealth as even California counts it, and power of the same sort that's given him new life - and the promise of death. So much power. He still doesn't hold with titles of nobility, but he can see where they're coming from. 15[09:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It's great." [09:38] 4Cavanaugh's suspicion about the blood fountain -- he's not close enough to tell -- is that they just used "stale" remainders from previous harvests that never went out in blood packs to fill it out, rather than waste the resources that fountain full of fresh, useful blood would entail...nevermind its temptation for hungry, less-cultured partygoers. [09:38] 4Having come up in the New York court, this is far from Cav's first ostentatious blood fountain centerpiece. [09:41] Oh, here's a familiar face: Teresa Okienka doesn't burst from the bushes, per se, but she does walk pretty quietly, so Leisurely doesn't realize anyone else is there before she starts singing "What's 50 grand to a muhfucka like me, will you please remind me-" [09:41] "So this is the Brilliant Court." [09:41] 4To Rosa, when they've found a pocket of relief from the music, if not silence: "Who's the DJ?" [09:44] Rosa has to answer a text before she can answer. "An iPod filled with whatever's popular in the clubs mixed with 80s music. Experience shows it's better to appeal to the broadest audience. Oops, somebody from the Commission is trying to argue they shouldn't have to hand over their gun at the front. Sorry, I'll be back in a second. Enjoy the party!" She vanishes back into the warren of corridors they emerged from. [09:45] 6She won't be back in a second. [09:45] 6, says the look on Edgar's face if Cavanaugh hadn't separated from him. [09:45] 4The Commission? [09:45] She'll be back in a Los Angeles second, which is approximately two thousand New York minutes. [09:47] Morton is alternating between looking uncomfortable and strangely proud. "Eh, Edgar. Impressive, isn't it! And it only gets more grand each year. A bit louder than I remembered. Maybe that's just modern music." 14[09:48] * Quits: quaker_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 15[09:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's just about to join in when he sees Okienka pop up. He gives Leisurely a little nudge before saying, "Evening, Baroness." 10Is Santiago with her? [09:51] No, she's alone. "Hello, Deputy Choi. I didn't know you were attending." Leisurely is nudged. "Don't let me get in my zone, don't let me get in my - oh shit, whoops - hi, hello." [09:52] "They pump up the volume to sell more MP3s," 6Edgar assures him."It's called the 'loudness war'. Is the Commission a group with reason to carry arms?" [09:53] Rosa *is* back in something longer than a second. "You're still standing around here? I'm mingling. Have some of the blood, the harvest is excellent this year." 15[09:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Nah, I wouldn't want to miss all this. How's Deputy Santiago holding up?" [09:54] Morton: "The Wilderness people? Yes, they're the ones who shoot the woodland nasties. Doesn't Bixby know that fashion was thirty years out of date ten years ago? I'll skewer him…" [09:54] 4Cavanaugh will take her advice, then, and if they're walking in the same direction: "Someone try to bring a rifle in to hunt deer on the premises?" [09:55] 6Edgar nods to the group as a whole - though he expects Morton and Clinton are not heading in the same direction - and meanders. Time to find someone he doesn't know who knows something. [09:56] Rosa: "No, he just wanted to show it off. Against common sense, although he argued otherwise. But I don't think there are any wild lupines here tonight, so…" [09:59] There are lots of people simply meandering along the pleasant wooded paths, seeing the remarkable sights. More are hanging around the edges of the clearing, occasionally dipping onto the dance floor. More than once, the Deputies find couples on benches engaged in necking. Ha ha. Edgar can see a few people have removed themselves from the bustle and sit in the parlors to the side. [10:00] The Baroness has to take a step back as a laughing couple of ghouls run through, barefoot and smelling like booze. "He's doing just fine, thanks. I left him with everybody else in the cottage while I got some fresh air. Is this your date? Hello." 14[10:00] * Joins: trenchfoot_ [10:01] "Mmm." 4He looks around the gathering. "Someone's name came up this week while I was doing some work in Orange County, closing out the Thomas Franks issue. 'Katie Carson.' Ambassador from San Francisco of some kind. Will she be in attendance tonight?" [10:02] Leisurely smooths her dress and shakes hands. "Yeah, I'm Leisurely. I'm his friend, he needed a plus 1, so." 14[10:02] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 15[10:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Leis this is Teresa Okienka, Baroness of Modjeska." 10He's pretty pumped to have remembered that. [10:02] 4Clinton doesn't actually care one way or the other. He wants to see the reaction the name gets. [10:03] 6Right now, bustle suits. Edgar's relying on curiosity, here - he's wandering until the first time he can spot anyone trying to work out who he is, at which point he'll have an excuse to enlighten them. [10:04] Rosa laughs. It sounds like someone's hitting a glass wind chime very lightly. "Sure, why? She's probably memorizing every little detail for March." [10:05] 4Cavanaugh: "March?" [10:05] 4He vaguely remembers what happens in March, but by asking this question, he can avoid answering her's. [10:06] Someone *is* peering at Edgar, or at least at the people around him, and he noticed first. One of the people in the side parlors is half-reading a book, and half-crowd watching at the people walking by. [10:07] "Mhm. St. Francisco's Ball. Their Embassy has to try to figure out how to pay for it all out of their little budget. They're very inventive, although they never seem to quite pull it off. That's when you get…" Rosa shudders. "Stale blood in the fountains." [10:09] 4Mmmm. So that's how it is out here. "Well, on the bright side they probably don't have any problems with people climbing in to take a bath in it." 08[10:10] Baroness Modjeska looks Rollie's friend over. "Mhm. Well…enjoying the party?" she asks, slowly. 15[10:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's, uh, quite a spectacle." 15[10:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie wishes Cav or someone was here. Someone who likes this weird schmoozy thing. [10:11] 6Time to be the consequence of observation. Edgar raises thick eyebrows as if he's been signalled and heads over to introduce himself, hoping incidentally that this ISN'T an ancient monster who'll give him a third death sentence. [10:12] "It can be a little much," agrees the Baroness. "If you'd like a moment of quiet, I'll tell the men at the Cottage to keep an eye out for you, if you decide to drop by." 08[10:13] 4Cavanaugh will have been keeping an eye out for Rollie, but it doesn't sound like they're within each others' sightlines at the moment. He's still looking around the main part of the floor. "Will the Sheriff be in tonight? I should probably get around introducing myself to my formal boss." [10:13] 4He is carefully pronoun-neutral here, due to not recalling precisely who the Sheriff is. [10:14] 4Wait. It's right there. He's almost got it. [10:16] Well, she doesn't look monstrous. Her clothes look much older than she does, the high-collared dress and broad hat looking like they were taken out of a catalog at the time of the first World War. When Edgar opens the door, he can tell that she's the only one inside in the parlor. Early 30s, if he had to guess, with long brown hair that's been done up. She doesn't acknowledge her new neighbor, but returns to reading her [10:16] book. [10:18] 4Barkley Mott? [10:18] 4He thinks that's the name. [10:18] 4That's...probably a man. [10:18] Rosa: "No, Mott's dealing with something. Oh, crap." She peers across the clearing at another woman. "Hey, how does my dress look? Does the shawl match the dress?" [10:18] It's a man, and the name of the Sheriff of Los Angeles. [10:19] 4DOES the shawl match the dress? It will impact the manner in which Cavanaugh says 'yes.' [10:19] It does, impeccably. [10:19] 4Then: "It's perfect. You look great." 08[10:21] Three men stagger down the path towards Rollie, their neckties loosened while they walk with arms around each other's shoulders. When they get close enough, their laughter turns to singing. "BOOM BOOM BOOM, EVEN BRIGHTER THAN THE MOON, MOON, MOON-" They try to match the lyrics with winks and pointing. [10:22] The Baroness rolls her eyes. "Ugh. That's enough fresh air, I think. I'm going back inside. Goodnight, Deputy. Miss Leisurely." 15[10:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie winces. You'd think that needing to concentrate to get fucked up in the first place would make it easier to practice restraint. "Baroness." [10:23] 6Damn, he was hoping for a knot of people and a conversation to join.. but he'd take this, any opening, he really would, except: "I'm intruding. You've got the right idea, if only we could all follow it." [10:23] 6Edgar bows slightly and turns away back to the corridor, wishing that silent observation and a novel could be enough for his cause. [10:24] Leisurely waves goodbye. "She seemed nice. It's always been inside of you, you, you. And now it's time to let it through-ough-ough-" The men clap and cheer when the verse is completed. [10:26] The woman reading the book lowers it. "It's only the right idea if you find that your presence tends to unnaturally disgust others." [10:27] Rosa: "Excellent. Then I'm going to go try and get myself mentioned favorably by a Harpy. Good luck with your thing!" She moves off, before slipping into another circle of conversation. [10:30] 4Well then. Time to look upbeat and available. 15[10:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10This one's less Rollie's style, but you gotta try pretty hard to find party music he doesn't like at least a little. "Yeah." 10They're walking through the woods, right? No sign of anyone Rollie knows? 08[10:31] No signs of anyone else Rollie knows, until they walk into Cavanaugh, looking like he's trying to find someone to schmooze with. [10:33] 6Does Edgar find himself unnaturally disgusted? He's paused with his hand on the parlour door. 15[10:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Deputy!" 10Rollie'll flag Cav down unless he looks visibly uncomfortable. "What's good, man?" [10:34] He doesn't feel any outward sense of disgust effecting him. 08[10:35] 4Not entirely the kind of person Cav had in mind, but he's not unhappy to see Rollie. "Not much. Just got here." 4Fist bump. [10:36] Affecting him, either. [10:36] Let's cover every base here. 15[10:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You believe this shit? It's like Caligula's Harry Potter. Leis, this is Clint Cavanaugh, one of the other deputies. Cav's the smart one. Cav, this is my friend Leisurely." 10He leaves off her last name since she did with the Baroness. 08[10:38] Leisurely extends a small hand. "Hi. Leisurely Foster. Rollie's mentioned you." [10:38] 4Cavanaugh smiles. "Hey, well, relatively speaking. Pleasure to meet you, Leisurely." 4He'll shake. [10:39] 6Well, what's this then? He turns around. "But it hasn't. Is that unusual?" [10:40] "Maybe. It's hard to tell when everyone insists they're the rare specimen it doesn't unnerve." 08[10:41] 4Cavanaugh: "Presumably Rollie told you of our wonderful first adventure in law enforcement, and how I now find myself a pet owner." [10:42] Leisurely: "Sure. You're the guys who killed that draugr out in the woods." Her grip on Cavanaugh's hand tightens, considerably. [10:43] 6Edgar takes a seat. "There's a story here. How literal's your everyone?" [10:45] 4Cavanaugh's eyes narrow a little bit, but his smile says the same. "Not a particularly fun or pleasant thing way to spend an evening, but unfortunately you can't really talk a draugr down. At least it was over quickly." [10:48] The behatted woman: "Everyone is every person who doesn't want to offend, but can't help it. So I spare them my company, and I spare myself the unintended insult of people seeking a way out of conversations with me." [10:49] 4Cav: "And now I'm taking care of his cats. So, if on the off-chance you happen to know anyone in the community who has experience caring for adult cougars, feel free to point them in my direction." 4She still holding this handshake? Are we doing a frat bro thing here? [10:50] 6Edgar (hatless): "Right, only I was wondering how much ungiven offence has to build up before it becomes the real thing." [10:51] Leisurely lets go of his hand. "Sorry, the most pet experience I have is with goldfish. Do you have to get a license for mountain lions?" [10:54] 4Cavanaugh: "I'm not sure, but I have my suspicions." [10:55] Leisurely: "Hopefully your neighbor's don't have theirs, or it'll end up like when they shot those tigers in Ohio, with APCs on your lawn." [10:55] neighbors* 15[11:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "How are the cats doing, anyway?" 08[11:01] Leisurely catches the eye of someone. "Hey! Rollie, you do your thing. I see somebody I know. Call me if we don't meet up in here before it's over." She takes off, walking down the path. 15[11:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Seeya, Leis." [11:03] 4Cav: "They've been good, so far. Shots came home with a deer leg last night to snack on later, which made me glad I put down that tarp in their room. No animal control people wandering around the premises. Who is she, again?" 4That last comes when Leisurely is out of earshot. 15[11:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie frowns after her. He hopes she has a good time. "Leis is..." 10He pauses, trying to come up with an accurate word to describe her that he'd be willing to let go to Cavanaugh. Finally he settles on "...a friend. You seen Edgar?" 15[11:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie frowns after her. He hopes she has a good time. "Leis is..." 10He pauses, trying to come up with an accurate word to describe her that he'd be willing to let go to Cavanaugh. Finally he settles on "...a friend. You seen Edgar?" [11:08] "I think she knew Thomas Franks," 4he says, watching her go for a moment. "Edgar? Yeah, he arrived with this big guy, name of Lord Munoz. He wandered off somewhere to get away from the music, I think." [11:10] The Behatted: "I'm not a rattlesnake. I try to forgive if people stumble around me. Or warn, if they're going that way. Well, I suppose I am like a rattlesnake, if all they're trying to do is warn people away when they've gotten themselves in danger." 15[11:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah, she was pretty broken up when I told her what happened to him." 10He's not surprised about Edgar. He doesn't seem like the Katy Perry type. [11:13] 6Edgar: "Warning's appreciated. Edgar Doolittle." [11:15] She doesn't extend a gloved hand. "But you're not a Nosferatu, Mr. Doolittle. Or if you are, you've done well enough to hide it. Do you just not like parties?" 08[11:16] "Huh." 4While Cavanaugh's first impression is they're not in a relationship, or even just banging -- though he's been wrong about that before -- he's also fairly certain Rollie's loyalty to this Leisurely woman outweighs any obligations he feels towards his new office or Cav himself. Which: fair enough, they've known each other a week. But it also means it'd be a bad idea to start [11:16] 4talking about how they should question her as to what Franks was up to in there like she was under suspicion of something. [11:16] 4That said: he needs answers about that diary. [11:16] 4Cavanaugh will circle back around to Leisurely Foster once he's translated more. 15[11:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Oh hey, you still got that diary? The one full of ciphers?" [11:19] "...Funny you should mention that," 4Cav says. "Was just wondering if I'd left it in my glovebox or brought it inside with me when I got home that night." 15[11:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "You tried decoding it at all?" [11:19] 6Edgar: "I'm recently informed that I am Ventrue. In light of the attendant obligations I came prepared to party, but tell you the truth, the appeal of ages to me is more time to read. You reminded me, that's all." [11:21] 4Cavanaugh: "I took a look at it in the car when we were dropping off Santiago. Can't read Chinese, can't read sheet music, can't read that." 15[11:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah, legit. You think I could take a look at it? I love that shit." [11:22] "Uh, yeah, yeah sure. I'll see if I can dig it up." 4Shit. "You know, I might have brought it inside, now that I think about it, and if I did that it's probably packed with the rest of my things -- I'm moving to Laguna Beach this weekend, give the girls more space." [11:23] "So if it's not in my glovebox, it might be a couple days before I can get it to you. Or, you know. Whenever I get around to unpacking it." [11:24] "Recently informed? Whose childe are you, then?" 15[11:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shit, man. You coulda just said 'no'. "Yeah, alright. No big deal. Laguna Beach, huh? Nice." [11:27] 6Edgar: "Morton Moreno Munoz, the portraiturist. You wouldn't know him, but may have corresponded." [11:28] "I'm afraid you're mistaken, Mr. Doolittle. I know the Court Illustrator. I've even visited his home. I didn't know he had sired anyone." 08[11:29] "Laguna Beach? That is nice." Santiago has snuck up on Rollie and Cavanaugh, sheepishly. [11:29] "Yeah. A bit out of the way -- hey, Santiago, you're looking...well...mobile." 4Fist bump...if medically advisable. [11:29] 6Edgar chuckles. "Maybe the club's less exclusive than it appeared, although if you'd told me he visited yours I wouldn't believe it. That said, Morton is here tonight." 08[11:30] He looks, more or less, as he did when you first met him. "Hey. I would have come out earlier, but the Baroness just told me she saw Rollie walking around, so." [11:31] "Yeah, a bit out of the way, but more space for Shots and Honey to hunt. I'm going to probably rent out a small apartment here downtown to keep up appearances too." 4He realizes a bit belatedly he's doing the 'rich people talk about the things they own to people who own fewer things' impoliteness again, and stops. "So when are you coming back to work, Santiago?" [11:33] "Is he? Then, I'm happy for him. I don't think he gets out very much, though I'm sure he'd like to. And he brought you, to show you the sights? Are you a Harpy hatchling, then?" [11:34] "If I were, I wouldn't have gone this long without asking your name. It's the Territory I work for, so far." [11:34] Santiago scratches his chin. "I'll be down for Halloween. Speaking of: I think Seabury struck out on getting more bodies down in Orange County to help us out." 15[11:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What's good, Santiago? She said you were hanging out in the cottage. That's got to be the best or the worst place in the building." 15[11:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10At the second thing: "...so we're on our own?" [11:36] 4Or, put another way: "So we're still in control." [11:36] "No one's being sent in from Downtown to take over now that things are getting serious. This is good news." [11:36] "Oh, that explains why you're a bit shy tonight. Working in Orange, having to come up here where everyone knows everyone else. I know what that's like." 15[11:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Yeah! That's totally good news, kind of. [11:38] Santiago: "Hey, man. I like the cottage. It's quiet. Although you know that thing where you're minding your own business and then an elder sits down and wants to talk to you, and you're just really nervous the entire time? You get that. Kind of had….a weird conversation with the Prince that was like that, tonight. 'Conversation.'" 15[11:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "The what?" 15[11:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's not even going to pretend to know what that is. [11:39] 4Anyone else the Court would have sent in would have been their superior, most likely. Not just because that's how escalating a situation works, but because there's a limited supply of neonates you can throw at a problem at any given time, and they've already done that. [11:39] 4Cavanaugh: "I wondered where he'd got off to." 08[11:40] "The…what?" Santiago is trying to think of what Rollie might not have understood in that last sentence, and is obviously coming up short. 15[11:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "The 'Prince'?" [11:41] 4Cavanaugh: "Head of the city's political structure. Well, vampire political structure." [11:41] 4Cav: "And before you ask, no, there's no King or Queen." [11:41] Santiago: "Yeah. I know, right? He sits down across from me and starts telling me about - wait, you didn't - dude, come on." 15[11:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What's his name?" 15[11:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Santiago: "What?" [11:41] 4Cav grins at Santiago. "You should have seen his face when I popped claws in the basement of the Franks place." [11:42] 4Cav frowns. Bad at names. "Something Bailey. W. Kingsland Bailey?" [11:42] Santiago: "That's him." 15[11:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "No shit." 15[11:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's the oldest, whitest old white dude name I've ever heard." 15[11:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That motherfucker. [11:43] "I've heard worse, but they involved 'Chatham' as a given name." 14[11:44] * Joins: trenchfoot 15[11:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Still, he's not all that. He's just an Adept, and Leis is a Visionary. So there, 'Whitaker'. 15[11:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10...he's pretty sure Visionary is a higher rank than Adept. [11:45] "He went by 'Chet.'" 15[11:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks physically pained by this. 15[11:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "Still, though. The man clearly knows how to throw a party." [11:45] Santiago: "Kingsland is a cool name. Sounds like a rapper. Anyway, I'm pretty sure he figured out the Baroness and I are together, somehow, because he started telling me about the virtues of monogamy among kindred…? It was really uncomfortable." [11:45] 4Cav: "He's had a lot of time to practice." 14[11:45] * Quits: trenchfoot (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by drinkybird))) 14[11:46] * Joins: trenchfoot [11:46] "Monogomy among kindred? Maybe I should have stayed in New York." 14[11:47] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 15[11:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Oh man. That's like... I don't know. At least the third-awkwardest thing I can imagine." [11:47] 6Edgar: "Maybe so." 6He's not about to defend his socialisation, or admit the actual reason he's carrying on this conversation. "I don't suppose you do introductions? Common enough hobby up here." [11:47] Santiago: "Hey, this is kind of a work question, but have you guys seen any priests around here tonight? I mean, Lancea Sanctum priests. They'd be wearing the white collars and everything." [11:47] 4He frowns. "Though I gotta admit, that...kind of sounds like the speech you give a guy who you know is fucking around on his lady, without outright having to sully either of you with the discourtesy of outright saying that you know he's fucking around on his lady." [11:48] "Not saying that you are, of course! Just that, you might want to think about why the Prince might think so. And furthermore, why he'd care." 14[11:48] * Quits: trenchfoot (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by trenchfoot_))) 14[11:48] * Joins: trenchfoot [11:48] Santiago whirls on Cavanaugh. "Wh- hey! Watch it, man." [11:48] "He said it like he was approving, okay? Not like I was in trouble for anything." [11:49] Behatted: "Are you particularly impressed by grand titles?" 15[11:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie clears his throat. "So what's next on our agenda, anyway? We still looking for office space?" [11:50] "Yeah, man. Okay." [11:51] 6Edgar: "If necessary." [11:53] "I"m afraid mine isn't especially impressive-sounding. Will Countess Lancaster be enough to drop your jaw in awe?" [11:55] 6Edgar: "Right, I meant introductions to the people who all know each other - but this I'll take. Pleased to meet you, Countess." [11:56] 6Which if he recalls correctly actually is a highish title. Nice. [11:56] Lancaster: "And the same to you. Why are you looking for introductions with the people who know each other? Is the Territory more lonely than I remember it?" [11:59] 6Edgar: "By your own suggestion, and because it'd be a waste of some impressive hospitality otherwise. That said, I'll live." 6For another five months and three weeks. [11:59] 4Cavanaugh: "I'm still looking, yeah. Didn't seem like it was a high priority for you guys yet so I haven't gotten deep into it, but I'm planning to do so once the move is done." 14[12:03] * Quits: trenchfoot (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by trenchfoot_))) 14[12:03] * Joins: trenchfoot [12:03] Lancaster: "Have you been introduced to the people who paid for all of this yet?" [12:03] 6Edgar: "Not unless you're referring to taxpayers of one sort or another." [12:04] Lancaster: "Would you like to be? Before you answer, consider yourself warned: they're homicidal obsessives, mostly." [12:07] Santiago: "Office space where?" [12:07] 6Doolittle: "That's worrying, but follows a general trend. I'd be grateful, you know?" [12:09] Lancaster: "Of course. I'd only ask something small and ridiculous in return." [12:09] She stands up, and Edgar realizes she's taller than he is. [12:11] 6Doolittle: "You continue to worry me, Countess, but I was warned." 6The hat makes more sense, now. [12:11] 6What was she reading, anyway? He stands. [12:12] "Follow me, Mr. Doolittle." She opens the door to the parlor and holds it for him. She's holding Angel, by Elizabeth Taylor. When he's left, she leads him across the path, cutting through the crowd. [12:13] 4Cavanaugh: "Somewhere in the Territory. A place for us to meet, both amongst ourselves and entertain visitors, that isn't a bar." [12:13] "No offense to the bar." [12:13] 6Edgar liked the bar, but he isn't there. He's doing something unwise. [12:14] "My only request is - and I know how ridiculous it sounds, but good faith should rule the day -" She has to half-shout backwards to be heard. "The next time you meet another kindred who says they're from New York City, I'd appreciate it if you could punch them in the face." Before long, they've arrived at the cottage. [12:15] 4Hey. Cavanaugh's from Sacramento. Let's not get any ideas, here. [12:18] It's bigger up close, although the dancing kindred still give it a respectable berth. The front door is 'guarded' by a ghoul footman, who bows to the Countess, and nods respectfully at Edgar. The front door is flung open, to reveal another door, and another footman. "After you, Mr. Doolittle." 15[12:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Maybe something commercial? A law office or something." [12:20] "Strange, but I'll do it - exempting myself only in the case where it would be suicide." 6A footman. Edgar's not even sure he knew what one was, before this moment."I've got enough death sentences, ma'am." [12:20] 6Let's see who there is to see. [12:20] The first footman seals the door behind them, and the second one waits for the door to close. When both doors are closed, Edgar can notice that it is entirely silent. "An airlock for class," the Countess remarks. [12:21] 4Cav: "That's what I was thinking. That many windows could be an annoyance in the summer when the days are real long, but that's what your day staff are for." 15[12:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Plus you could make us wear suits all the time." [12:22] 6Doolittle: "No submarine was ever submerged in a soundtrack like this." [12:23] 4Cavanaugh grins. "That I could." [12:23] "Don't tell anyone I said that, Jeff." The footman nods, again. [12:23] "Though I doubt we'd spend an inordinate amount of time in the office." 15[12:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah, I figure most of the actual work is out and around. One thing I'm not clear on is, uh, autonomy. Like obviously we're just Deputies, but we're also kind of on our own. So how much of our job is waiting to be told what to do and how much of it is us just doing stuff?" [12:25] Through the door: the interior of the cottage has been constructed to resemble a particularly cozy and well-appointed french cafe, with appropriately dim lighting. In a corner, the noise of the party has been replaced by four men playing string instruments in a quartet. A white banner reading "CAFE DE FLORE" in green lettering hangs above the far side of the room. Above the music, people carry on low conversations. And th [12:25] people carrying them on pause, to look at the people who just stepped in, before they return to whatever they were saying. 15[12:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "Like, obviously if something happens we didn't know about we're going to get in trouble for it. But is it actually going to be our fault, too?" [12:26] 4Cav: "The way I see it our job is to do the latter until we're given notice of the former, and then to keep on doing the latter so long as it's not in conflict with swiftly resolving the former." [12:27] 6This is the point where Edgar stops making jokes and taking risks. He hopes. [12:27] 4Cavanaugh: "When the Prince sent us out here, he did so without a leash. I haven't even met the Sheriff yet, and he's supposed to be our boss." 15[12:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So the other thing we'd need is sources of information. Informants, lookouts. Friends. The Administrator's probably got a list of all the vampires LA recognizes back in Orange County, right? Probably we could start there if nothing else." [12:28] Lancaster: "Well, who would you like to speak to? Barons, Counts, Marquesses, Princes?" 08[12:29] 4Cav nods. "Good thinking, Rollie. He probably does." 4He doesn't want to say it around Santiago because he hasn't felt out his loyalties in full yet, but they also need to figure out where the Administrator stands on a strong, independent Deputies' Office -- since he's the one relaying information back to downtown. [12:30] Santiago: "I know the binder you're talking about." 15[12:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie doesn't particularly like the idea of doing police work - but he likes the idea of being under these guys' thumbs even less. And the thing with Leisurely and the blowtorch has him in a procedural mood. Step by step, that's all. One thing at a time. 15[12:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "Think we could get a copy?" [12:31] 6No, apparently it isn't. "I'm curious about your last plural, but the whole list defines worthwhile. Do you see anyone bored and looking for conversation, Countess?" 6Does Edgar? [12:33] 4Perhaps discreetly. "I don't want to ask Seabury for it unless I know he's going to say yes." [12:33] Lancaster: "They're all bored. They all know each other, and have hosted each other's parties for a hundred years." [12:35] The other deputy nods. "Yeah, probably. It's just a list of names. It's not like it's anything out of the ordinary." 15[12:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "How long have you been working for the Administrator, Santiago?" [12:36] Santiago: "Two years. Two more than I've been like this." [12:36] Santiago: "Two years. So half the time I've been like this." 14[12:37] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 15[12:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What's important to him? Is there anything not obvious that he'd take the wrong way or be suspicious of?" 10The tenor of the question is very much 'I don't want to piss him off'. [12:39] Sure, there's a trio sitting around a circular table at the far side of the room that looks bored. Two men and a woman. Two-thirds of them are clearly a couple, since the woman is leaning against one of the men's chest, and he's got his arm around her shoulders while they speak with the other sitting man. They all seem comfortable, but it's the bored, leisurely sort of comfortable when you're wondering what's going to [12:39] happen next. 14[12:40] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[12:42] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[12:43] * Joins: trenchfoot [12:46] 6Edgar catches the Countess Lancaster's eye (assuming she hasn't become any more unnerving) and nods that way. "Shall we?" 6If he reaches the table unimpeded, it's: "Evening. Nice to find an inner bailey on the motte." 14[12:47] * Joins: trenchfoot_ [12:50] She hasn't, but when he boldly walks up to the table and announces himself she has to suppress laughter, which comes out in a low and strangled chuckle. Lancaster: "Good evening, my Prince. Countess-Palatine. Count Westlake." She inserts herself bodily between him and the people sitting down. 14[12:50] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[12:52] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [12:53] 6Yeah, he's going to let enough chagrin show on his face to give the Countess a reproachful look. This was supposed to be the other kind of den of snakes. Of course it's followed by a respectfully inclined head- "My Lords, Lady." [12:54] NEXT TIME: Cottage Conversations 14[12:57] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[13:07] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[13:08] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[13:15] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[13:16] * Joins: drinkybird 14[13:19] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[13:20] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[13:21] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[13:21] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[13:27] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[13:29] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[13:37] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[13:38] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[13:52] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[13:54] * Joins: drinkybird 14[13:55] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[13:55] * Quits: drinkybird (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[13:56] * Joins: drinkybird 14[13:57] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[13:58] * Quits: drinkybird (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[13:58] * Joins: drinkybird 09[13:58] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[14:08] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:17] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[14:20] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[14:37] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[14:40] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[14:53] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[14:55] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[14:56] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[14:57] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[14:59] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[15:00] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[15:00] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[15:00] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[15:05] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[15:12] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [15:43] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/5cY9nw8.jpg 14[16:43] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:46] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[16:47] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[17:12] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[17:12] * Joins: 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timeout: 240 seconds) 14[15:56] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [16:10] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/QTaNN9Y.jpg nick's training begins 14[16:35] * Joins: trenchfoot [16:38] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHdDjdTpN3c 14[16:38] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[16:39] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[16:41] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[16:41] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[16:59] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[17:04] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) [17:06] <@Ferrinus> http://36.media.tumblr.com/a7ee6296fabdb6d9480a99b8fb0954cc/tumblr_nkv68lmSHR1qezhqeo1_1280.jpg 14[17:06] * Joins: drinkybird 15[17:07] <@VoxPVoxD> I like how daphne's the only one not begging to have someone run up and boot them in the ass 14[17:07] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[17:09] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:10] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[17:11] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[17:41] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[18:02] * Joins: dammitwho 15[18:08] <@VoxPVoxD> https://twitter.com/ebrawley/status/575416210537447424 14[18:09] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[18:09] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 15[18:09] <@VoxPVoxD> <@VoxPVoxD> https://twitter.com/ebrawley/status/575416210537447424 14[18:13] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[18:13] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [18:13] <@Ferrinus> eddie martialartsey 15[18:14] <@VoxPVoxD> ^^^ 14[18:16] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[18:16] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[18:21] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[18:25] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[18:29] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[18:30] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[18:59] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[19:04] * Joins: Quaker [19:16] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/u1Gn9Gr.webm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFfarGiBU2A 15[19:17] <@VoxPVoxD> lol 11[19:21] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue Mar 10 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dammitwho 14[09:04] * Quits: mattbaby (Remote host closed the connection) [09:40] <@Ferrinus> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B_vTV7nUsAI3eiZ.jpg 14[10:03] * Joins: trenchfoot [10:15] owl 14[10:22] * Joins: ddt 14[11:31] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:40] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[11:40] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[11:46] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[11:48] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[12:30] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[12:30] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[12:32] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[12:33] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[12:41] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[12:41] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[13:03] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[13:05] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[13:18] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[13:20] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[13:43] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[13:44] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[13:45] * Quits: Quaker 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Connection reset by peer) 14[19:38] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[19:44] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[19:44] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 09[19:46] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[19:50] * Joins: dammitwho 15[20:16] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:16] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:16] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:16] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:17] <@VoxPVoxD>  [20:18] 4Avisail Lis has...much to digest. 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> So does Anoushka. She's worked through quite a large order of french fries, drizzled with mayonnaise, stopping periodically to eat a dried apricot. And it doesn't help that she seems to be reveling in some private joke with Alisa. [20:21] 7Alisa's waving her hands animatedly. "Alright, so, there's these two guys, right?" [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick slurps soda loudly through a straw, but doesn't consciously interrupt. 05[20:22] 4Cian O'Callaghan. So that's what you meant, when you spoke about the world. [20:23] 4He puts down the slim volume and checks on Timothy. He's probably hard at work. It's probably time to give him a break. [20:23] "And they work for a finance thing. I dunno. Two real schlubs, yeah? Only they find a crime hidden in the numbers, and they go to tell their boss. But their boss is in on it!" [20:23] "So he hires some mafia goons to kill them and frame them for the crime, but the mafia double-crosses him and kills him instead. That's the setup, yeah?" [20:24] 7Alisa: "So the guys find their bosses' dead body and discover that they're kind of halfway framed for this crime, so they decide the only way to get out of it is to pretend like the boss is alive the whole time. And the way they do this--" 7She starts laughing again. [20:25] 4...Have we bought Timothy a phone? [20:25] 4No, after a moment's consideration. Lis doesn't think that they have. 15[20:25] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ is indeed hard at work. He wanted to learn a little astronomy, so he's been doing GED language arts packets where the reading samples come from histories of Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, etc. 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD> And he does, indeed, have No Phone. 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "It's a really funny movie." [20:26] "They put some dark glasses on the corpse and start dragging it around and pretending like it's an alive guy! All puppeteering his arms and legs and shit!" 7She starts pretending like her arms are stiff and affects a deep voice. "Ah yes, I am definitely a living man, ho ho ho, nobody murdered here that's for sure!" [20:26] "They put some dark glasses on the corpse and start dragging it around and pretending like it's an alive guy! All puppeteering his arms and legs and shit!" 7She starts pretending like her arms are stiff and affects a deep voice. "Ah yes, I am definitely a living man, ho ho ho, nobody murdered here that's for sure!" [20:27] 4To Timothy: "I think it's time for a break." [20:27] 4Then: "Have you ever owned a cellular phone?" [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick stares. "Wait, like. Like... to who?" [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I mean how close were the people they were fooling to the guy? The dead guy." [20:30] 7Alisa: "To his party guests! Like his girlfriend I think, and some other people he knows. The boss lives on a tropical island or something, everybody's having a great time." [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "B-but, so, like a couple feet away? Shaking hands and stuff? No way it'd work." [20:32] 7Alisa laughs. "You'd think! You'd think they'd catch on! But they never, ever do." 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ: "No. Have you?" [20:33] 6Anna's still a little disoriented from her walk in the woods, but this all checks out. "It's a comedy. These things happen." 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "We had it a little easier." [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Wait. You can't mean-" [20:34] 4Lis: "I have! I have. And so should have you. Let's do something about that." 4Then he checks his pockets. "Ah. One moment." 4Out the door, back towards the RV, in search of his wallet. 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Back then most everything was done by correspondence. It was only once or twice that we needed him..." here she almost breaks down again. "...presentable." [20:35] 4Momentarily, Avisail Lis opens the door to the Beast. "Has anyone seen my--ah." [20:35] "My apologies, I was unaware we had company." [20:35] 3Reuben: 1“You left out the best part. They did it again in a sequel. The exact same thing, with the same dead guy." [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "But what HAPPENED to him." [20:36] 3Reuben: 1“He went water skiing and stuff.” [20:36] 4Lis's eyes dart around. What is the...mood, here? 15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD> It seems to be a combination of levity and confusion. [20:37] 6Anna: "No, I think Nick means Dracula, who got Weekend at Berniesed. Hello, Father." 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "It's difficult to explain exactly if you don't understand our processes." [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Wait, water - how long after the first movie was the second one?" 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you know what the Ordo Dracul does, Nick?" [20:37] 4Hrm. [20:38] 4Lis: "Good evening, Anna." [20:38] 3Reuben: 1“Oh. Is that what happens in that crappy Coppola version?” [20:38] 4Lis: "And good evening to...I don't believe we're had the pleasure." [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick licks his lips. "They're the- Alisa told me. They..." 12He taps the table a few times before pointing his finger at random listeners. "No, you DEFINITELY told me. They DEFINITELY, uh, they..." [20:39] 3Reuben, to Lis: 1“I’m Reuben. We’ve met a few times.” [20:39] "Annie! Anoushka." 7Alisa says cheerily to Lis. 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Is Lis collared? 14[20:39] * Quits: @Ferrinus [20:40] 4Tonight he is, yes. 14[20:40] * Joins: Ferrinus [20:40] 4Lis: "Ah! Reuben. Yes. I remember that name. You're the man I'd prefer was a sandwich." 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "It's a pleasure to meet you, Father..." [20:40] 4Lis: "Avisail Lis." 09[20:41] * Ferrinus is now known as Guest53534 14[20:42] * Quits: Guest53534 (Client Quit) 14[20:43] * Joins: Guest53534 [20:44] 4Lis: "Anoushka. That's a...weighty name. Not one taken lightly. I'd otherwise say not one taken at all unless..." 4He looks from Anoushka to Alisa and back. "Unless it was merely given and borne." 09[20:44] * Guest53534 is now known as Ferrinus 09[20:44] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "People usually call me Anna or Anoushka. But you already know an Anna, so Anoushka is fine. Only Alisa calls me Annie." [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick stabs his finger decisively down at the table. "-they're DEFINITELY the ones who, like. Give themselves superpowers or whatever. Or try to change themselves somehow?" [20:46] 4Lis: "Ah." 4Nicknames. "Anoushka is more than fitting. Well met." [20:46] 4He retrieves his wallet. 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "And to you." To Nick: "Something like that, yes. The process itself is very risky, and there's a constant risk of losing yourself. Losing yourself *in* yourself. You have to retreat inward. Sometimes you don't come back." 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> She looks around the RV. "Have any of you ever...?" [20:49] 6Anna: "I did. Only once." 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "Which?" [20:51] 4Once Lis finds it, he'll leave the RV and the Bride of Dracula behind him. There is a convenience store at this crossroads in the middle of nowhere, yes? It's time to buy a disposable phone. 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> There is! The convenience store also doubles as Chugwater's general store. [20:52] 4Well then. At least it will be open at this hour. Lis will patronize the establishment. [20:53] 6Anna: "The first Coil of Blood. I never had a chance to repeat the experience." 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> There's disposable phones here should Lis like to buy one. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "So then you know that it takes a certain kind of strength to survive the process. How easily you can make a mistake, and how fierce the punishment is for making it." [20:57] 4Lis will choose the one with the best battery life and most minutes -- he's got money for this, after all -- and take it to the front. 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> When Lis goes to complete the transaction, a phone in the back room rings, and the kid behind the counter ducks into the back room to take it. A silent moment passes, and someone else emerges. 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "That kid does not make enough," says Rorf, wearing a t-shirt with the gas station logo on it (a size smaller than the kid's). [21:00] 4Lis nods. "No, probably not. And who is even calling at this hour." [21:00] 6Anna: "I saw the... less successful Chrysalides, yes. Or, the aftermaths of them." [21:01] 4Lis: "His register will still sell the phone, yes?" [21:01] 4Lis: "I don't want him to get in trouble on an inventory check on our account." 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Rorf: "Natch. That means naturally." 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Normally I wouldn't have bothered at all, except-" A brown paper package emerges from under the counter, square and thin. A book? [21:02] 4Lis: "That it does." 4Lis will complete the transac-- [21:02] "Ah." 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "One Ballad, for the kid." [21:02] 4Lis: "I haven't had a chance to speak to Alisa yet about her diary. She's meeting with...a dignitary." [21:03] 4Lis: "But I will fulfill that promise." 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Rorf: "I trust you. You're a man of the cloth, after all." [21:03] 4The father slips the volume into the plastic bag along with the phone. 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Then you know what happened to Vlad." [21:04] 4Lis smiles at that. "Thank you for your time, Rorf." [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "But, nooo. Wait. He invented it, didn't he? The Ordo, thing?" 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Rorf: "You have a good night." He ducks in the back, and the kid comes out a little bit later. Lis can be gone by then. [21:05] 4He will be. [21:05] 4Back at the motel room, he has two gifts for Timothy. [21:06] 4Lis ripped the plastic off on the way back and powered it on to test it -- then punched all their numbers into the barebones address book. It takes micro USB, so he can just give the boy one of his extra chargers. [21:06] 3While everyone chats, Reuben slips out through the RV screen door and trots down past the crick to the watering hole. Err, the diner. He orders a coffee from the same waitress and takes his same seat.  15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "He invented the process. I was still quite young then. I'd only been with him for a few years. You have to understand that he was making this up as he went. The procedures, the end results... it was totally unprecedented. Anna knows what becomes of a failed Chrysalis *right now*, when there are entire Academies built around keeping that from happening, by selecting the best students and giving them the best chance we can." [21:08] "So," 4Lis says, presenting him with the device. "Do you know how to use one of these?" 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Someone sits down at Reuben's booth. "Hey there," he says. "Saw you in here last night." [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "But he's Dracula!" 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "He was." [21:09] 3Reuben: 1“Yeah? Like what you saw?” 3Reuben looks the stranger up and down. 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Now he's... I forget what the phrase we settled on was. 'Exploring torpor'?" [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick doesn't seem to think that Anoushka understood him. "But he's Dr- so what actually happened, did he blow up?" 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "No. He was just gone. Have you ever seen a revenant before?" [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "What'sat?" 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ looks up, his eyes heavy. He's been working too hard. "Whoa." [21:12] 7Alisa: "They are to vampires what, I dunno, a rabid dog would be to you." [21:12] 4Lis's eyes narrow at that. He'd been trying to keep the boy at a good pace. [21:12] 4He recovers quickly, thought. [21:12] 4He recovers quickly, though. [21:13] "This," 4he says, "is yours." [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "When'd it happen? What was he trying?" [21:13] 6Anna: "You've seen a frenzy, right? Imagine that, but, forever. Or until someone puts you down for good." 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The man across the table from Reuben is tall and broad, with a few days' stubble. He looks like the kind of guy Reuben would expect to find in most truck stops. "Yeah, you might say that. You might. You got a name, stranger?" 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "A vampire who has lost every scrap of their higher reasoning to their impulses. We like to talk about a sort of dichotomy, the 'Beast' and the 'Man'. This is terribly simplistic, but you could think of a revenant as a Beast with no Man left." [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "So what was supposed to happen to him?" [21:16] 4Lis doesn't hand the phone to him just yet, though. 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "He was in Chrysalis. We don't know what precisely he was doing - Vlad kept terrible notes - but based on the end result I suspect it was an experiment in impulse control, a form of what a modern student might call the Coil of the Beast." [21:16] 3Reuben lies with a sharp smile. 1“Friends call me Peter. Just in town for one more night." 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka wrinkles her nose. "I never liked those names." [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Sooo... did you?" [21:17] "I have programmed -- one moment --" 41, then *, "--our numbers, all our numbers, into this phone. Hit...1...then...star...then...here we are. Lis, Reuben, Alisa, Anna, Nick." [21:17] "I have programmed -- one moment --" 4 1, then *, "--our numbers, all our numbers, into this phone. Hit...1...then...star...then...here we are. Lis, Reuben, Alisa, Anna, Nick." 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Did we what?" 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> The other man, to Reuben: "One more? That a promise?" [21:18] "I have programmed -- one moment --" 41, then *, "--our numbers, all our numbers, into this phone. Hit...1...then...star...then...here we are. Lis, Reuben, Alisa, Anna, Nicholas." [21:18] 7Alisa: "Man, if there's anything about your stuff I'm totally on board for, it's choosing all your names for stuff to sound maximally spooky." [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Uh, put him down, I mean." 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ: "...thank you. I don't- thanks." [21:19] 4Lis: "If there is an emergency -- if you have a problem of any kind -- call us." [21:19] 4He presses the phone into Timothy's hands. "Whether you are with us in the Beast, or not." [21:20] 3Reuben raises an eyebrow. 1“You’ve got a funny way of introducing yourself, pal.” 14[21:20] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka, to Nick: "It wasn't necessary. As I was saying, Mara and I didn't know what exactly he was doing - we'd only understood the barest principles of his work at that point, and he only told us to be mindful of his privacy. But the reason I suspect that he lost himself to an impulse coil is that, in the end, he was just... gone. He wasn't there. The link between his mind and body had severed entirely." 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "It was as if he'd endeavored to lock his urges away, only to trap himself in the same box." 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ takes, nodding. "Yeah. Yeah, of course." [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "So what'd you do with him?" [21:23] 4Lis: "Alright then. On to happier things: Rorf gave me something, for you." 14[21:23] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [21:23] 4He takes the slim volume from the convenience store bag and hands it to Timothy. 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "So we didn't need to put him down. We just needed to keep him fed, and keep up his correspondence. And once we found ourselves having to conduct a symposium using Vlad's body as a sort of... puppet." 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "And we built the Order around him." 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mara and I, and then later Lisette." [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "So... where's he now? I guess he never woke up?" 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "It was Lisette's idea to turn our correspondence as Vlad into a history. And it was Lisette's idea to put him to rest. I believe he's resting in one of her estates in Europe." 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "It was easier for her because she'd never known him." [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: D'youever... just... try to wake him up? Like with magic." 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "We did, once. Lisette was convinced she'd uncovered a way to reverse what Vlad had done to himself." [21:27] 6Anna: "And, she hadn't." 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "She hadn't." [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick drains some more of his soda. "So is this a secret or what?" 14[21:30] * Joins: mattbaby 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "We never told anyone but Alisa. We were such friends. In fact, for a long while people liked to speculate that she was one of us." 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "The 'fourth bride of Dracula'." 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ takes the book and unwraps it. "Where'd you find it?" [21:32] 7Alisa: "It was very sweet." [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "How'd she get together with you guys, anyway?" 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> The volume is labeled THE BALLAD OF BRIAN BRIACH, of Ulster, -the man who saw the sky- [21:33] 4Lis: "I didn't find it. Rorf did. And I didn't ask him where, or how." [21:33] 4Lis: "Should I have?" 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ: "...I don't know." 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "That guy's weird." [21:33] 4Lis nods. 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> The man at the diner, to Reuben: "Look, I don't want to be an asshole, but there's not a lot of people here." 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "You can see my problem." [21:35] 6Anna: "The... dang, Alisa." [21:36] 3Reuben stares at the man. He un-cocks his eyebrow after a moment. 1“Oh. Oh. Ohhhh, shit. Oh, dude, my bad.” 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Lisette met her first, I think. She'd gone to join Alisa's coven. They were in... was it Siberia? Perhaps closer to China?" 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ: "You probably don't know this story, right?" [21:37] 3Reuben: 1“Yeah, we’re out of here real soon. And if it’s not tomorrow I’ll tell the others not to hang out around town. We didn’t even realize." [21:38] 4Lis: "Of Brian Briach? No. No, I don't." 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> The man across from Reuben: "It's all good. Truthfully, you're the nicest one about it I've ever met." [21:42] 3Reuben: 1“Well, thanks for also being cool about it. We’ve had kind of a crappy few days.” 3He tugs on his collar and reveals a little viscera below the neck line to impress his table companion. 1“Hey, maybe there’s a way around this. There any farmers out this way who might not miss a few chickens, or maybe a goat?” 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> The man licks his lips. "I could get you a couple cows. You okay with cows?" [21:43] 7Alisa shrugs and grins at Anna. "Those were good times." 7To Anoushka: "It was, like, Mongolia-ish? We were heading north, I forget why. She stowed away with us and the other guys wanted to kill her, but she walked through fire without getting hurt which I thought was impressive as all hell." [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "That's pretty good." [21:45] 3Reuben: 1“Yeah, a cow would be amazing. Think I could buy a few prime ribs and some flank off one in the process? For a friend, of course.” 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ: "It's a story we used to tell, back in... in the kitchens. He and his sister were trapped under the sea by a master. His sister was a painter. The master... there was a game. There's always a game. And they beat the master by painting the sky reflected in the surface of the waves. I don't- it's hard to remember the details since I've been gone." 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's why I wanted to hear it again." 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "I didn't even know it was written down. It was a shot in the dark." [21:46] 4Lis nods; smiles. "Now you can." 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> A thought occurs to him. "That means there's others, doesn't there?" 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "Someone else had to write this down. Someone else got out." [21:46] 4Lis: "There's always others." [21:46] 4He's not sure to whom the boy is referring. But he's not wrong. 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> The man behind the counter. "Shit, man, that's a freebie." [21:47] 4Even Christ didn't fight alone. 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Lisette's always been very showy." 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "Lisette introduced us to each other and aside from that incident with Mara we've been friends for years." [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "But Mara's the one you've got pieces of in a jar there." 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Ashes, but yes." [21:49] 6Anna: "Incident with Mara?" 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "I wasn't there, but from what Mara said the two of them very nearly came to violence over something or other." [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "What'd you and her fight over?" [22:03] 4The boy needs time with his book, and time away from...time away from obligation. He'll leave Timothy with a door key and the phone, and take a walk around...what was this place called, again? [22:03] 4Ah, right. [22:04] 4Chugwater. [22:04] 7Alisa: "I don't remember either." [22:04] "I think we decided not to fight because of... chrysanthemums? Does that make sense to you?" 7She looks at Anoushka. 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> The man to Reuben: "You ready to roll right now, then?" 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "You might have been in my garden." [22:07] 3Reuben: 1“Yeah, I guess so. Hey, I never got your name. And I lied about mine. For, uh, you know. Safety or whatever. It’s really Reuben.” 3He offers a handshake. [22:08] 4He has a lot to think about. And a lot to observe. 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> The man shakes. "Call me Took." 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> It rhymes with 'mook' rather than sounding like the english word. [22:09] 3Reuben: 1“Right on. Let’s swing by the RV first so I can grab some cash. Four hundred bucks gonna cover the beef?” 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Took: "I told you man, the meat's free. Call it a byproduct." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "If you're just giving money away, though, I won't say no." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "I go through socks real fast." [22:11] 3Reuben: 1“Ha! Yeah, let’s do it.” 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "...do you miss them at all?" 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Reuben and Took leave the diner, and nobody inside gets hurt. Lis, as he strolls the few streets of Chugwater, can see Took pointing to an old station wagon. "It's only about twenty minutes out." [22:15] 4Huh. [22:15] 4Should he interrupt...? 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Well, that's up to Lis. Reuben doesn't seem to be going anywhere under duress or anything. [22:17] 4Of course it's up to him. The question is whether Reuben wants someone present for this, or if he's just indulging. [22:17] 4He'll take the chance. "Reuben!" [22:18] 3Reuben loves hanging out with Lis. Pause, not. Pause, okay sometimes. 1“Eeeeeey!” 3he waves at the father. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Took looks up. "Friend of yours?" [22:18] 4Lis will raise a hand, Pope-like, mainly due to lack of effort, and walk over. How does the other man react to the collar? [22:19] 7Alisa: "I missed all you guys." [22:19] 3Reuben: 1“Yeah, I guess.” 3To Lis: 1“Lis, Took. Took, Lis. Took’s local.” [22:19] 4Lis: "Well met, Took." 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "You hungry too? I was just about to help Reuben rustle up some grub." [22:20] 4His eyes dart over to Reuben. Checking on how he's doing. 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Took doesn't pay the collar any mind. [22:21] 3Reuben: 1“We’re gonna grab some steaks for Nick, too. Might as well fill up the freezer.” [22:21] 4Lis: "Not at the moment. But steaks sound nice. Especially in the freezer." 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "Well c'mon then! Pile in the car." [22:22] 4Lis's eyes linger on 'Took.' "Will do." [22:23] 4He's probably fine. All of this is probably fine. Reuben knows what he's doing, and Lis doesn't need to babysit him. 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Do you remember what changed your mind?" [22:24] 4But right now, right after all that nonsense, maybe it's better if he's got someone riding along. [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "What about?" 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "Her sister." 14[22:24] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[22:25] * Joins: Quaker_ 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Once everyone's in the station wagon (which smells like cigarettes, though the ashtray is full of D cell batteries running up into the radio via thin copper wires and some kind of gray putty) the radio kicks on. 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T00eJSQimIk [22:25] 4Lis puts his phone to vibrate in case Timothy needs something. [22:26] 4Unless he's stopped, he'll sit right behind Took, in his blind spot. 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Whichever of Lis or Reuben sits in the back will need to move aside a number of pieces of scrap metal, and something that looks like a power drill, to get a place to sit. Took doesn't object, though he will ask Lis to be careful with that stuff. [22:27] 4Lis will be careful. But when he's done, he'll be sitting behind the driver's seat. [22:27] 3Reuben takes shotgun, as is proper. What’s on the radio? [22:27] 7Does she remember that? She knows why she'd choose to do it now, but that's not the same thing. 04[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T00eJSQimIk [22:29] 3Reuben: 1“Good tunes." [22:34] 4Lis has his bag with him -- that means hammers, but no guns. 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> The three of them peel out, leaving Chugwater and driving vaguely east. The station wagon handles real smooth. Great suspension. "Yeah, I love Creedence." [22:34] 4He's hopeful that won't matter. [22:35] 3Reuben leans back deep into the fake leather seat and stares out the window. Sometimes you just gotta trust people who wander up to you in a cafe and offer you a whole live steer for free. [22:36] 4Sometimes you gotta do things. Sometimes lots of things happen. [22:36] 7Alisa: "I never really gave up on the idea. It was just-- well, you know. I remember... somebody saw something. It might have been Grigori. I remember thinking 'if I'm ever going to do it, it has to be now'." [22:37] 4And hopefully this time, they're just two corpses and a guy driving outside of town to find some animals to kill for. [22:37] 4It'll be good if Reuben talks because Lis has very little to say, here. 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Took takes them out past the scant light pollution of the tiny town, until there's nothing but hi-beams and starlight to guide them. Eventually the road runs along a pasture, cows graze and sleep standing up. "So where you all headed? Not a lot of people pass through Chugwater and stay for long." 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "...well, I think you did the right thing." [22:39] 4Reuben can field this one. [22:42] 3Reuben: 1“Jersey, by way of everywhere else in the country. Meeting friends along the way, sowing oats as we go. Regular midlife crisis stuff." [22:42] 7Alisa: "Yeah, maybe. Took the first step towards the right thing, anyhow. I'mma want to talk to you about that later." 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Okay." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Took: "Yeah, I hear that. I'm only here for another half-interval myself." He kills the engine. "You guys coming out or are you staying in here?" [22:43] 4Lis will step outside. [22:43] 3Reuben pops open the door. 1“Lead on." 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is one enough?" he calls back from out in the tall grass. [22:44] 4Half-interval. [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick crumples the remains of his meal together. "What about this time? With the urn and stuff. What'd you do to her?" 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> If Reuben or Lis follow Took, they'll find that he kicked his shoes off halfway into the field. [22:45] 4Lis will wander behind, not closely, not too far away. [22:46] 3Reuben mouths ‘half-interval’ to Lis with a quizzical look as they follow behind Took. 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "The sun did most of the work." [22:46] 6Anna: "It tends to." [22:47] 4Lis will shrug. He'll also keep a loose orbit around Reuben. 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Took goes up to a big brown cow and rubs his hands along her sides. "Easy, girl. Eeeeasy. It's okay. Sssh, sssh. Rest easy." 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> The wind in the grass picks up. [22:48] 7Alisa: "What stirred her up this time? If you don't mind." [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Yeah, like, why?" 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "OKAY, I'MMA NEED YOU TO STAY CALM!" Took's voice is getting hard to hear past the wind. By chance, perhaps by reflex, Lis or Reuben might look up right about now. 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> It's at that moment that the lights appear. [22:50] 4Dead cows. Bright lights. [22:50] 3Shiiiiiiiiiiiii- [22:51] "I'm calm," 4Lis says mildly, as the two hammers make their way from his satchel to his hands. 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO--" 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Took begins to levitate, the wind blowing his hair, his clothes. His hands and feet and head are shining, sources of the same radiance the two vampires can see in the air above, the same pattern. Five spheres of light, the same rough proportional spacing-- [22:53] 4Huh. 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Reuben can feel himself being lifted off his feet, bidden gently to the center of the grass, where the cow sits and Took hovers. 14[22:54] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "She was going to kill me. It's the only way she knows to set me back." 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm sure she'll kill me when we reconstitute her." [22:55] 3THIS IS COOL AND ALSO SUPER WEIRD, he thinks, as panic feelings rise. [22:55] 4Lis is either going to grab him and hold him back from that levitation, or if that's not possible, try to figure out if he can go after him without floating himself. [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick stares at Anoushka. Surely, surely she can see the problem, here. Problems, even. 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Lis could try, though his footsteps feel very precarious if he tries to lift his feet from the ground. 14[22:55] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [22:55] 7Alisa squints at the thermos full of Mara owlishly. "Damned inconvenient." 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> To Nick: "I know how it sounds." [22:56] 4Well that's unfortunate. Time to communicate. "TOOK." [22:57] 4Lis will at least try and put a hand on Reuben's shoulder here. 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "AAAAAAAAAAAA14AAAAAAAAAAAAAA15AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-" [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "How the heck are you bringing her back in the first place? Do you actually mean 'kill'?" [22:57] 4Well that's an unfortunate response. [23:00] 4Looking over at Reuben, he seems like he's pretty into it. Lis sighs and crosses his arms. 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> The cow bursts without ceremony, unfolding like origami. There's a sizzle-snap as guts roast and tendons break. Rising as mist from the mutilated corpse is gallons of blood, glittering in the light like thousands of tiny rubies. Slowly at first they converge, until they form a single rippling mass in the air, smooth and solid and violently red. [23:01] 6Anna: "Is that just... how it goes, forever?" 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Reuben floats forward, and by sheer reflex he opens his mouth... [23:02] 4Lis is certain enough that he knows what's about to happen here -- ostentatious as it might be -- that he can spare an eye outwards, in case any farmers are rolling up in trucks. [23:02] 4Hopefully, they're not. 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Nope. 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> The coast to coast is clear. [23:03] 4Good. 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> The light goes out, and Reuben and Took fall. Even Lis is briefly stunned by the absence of light and sound, as if he were plunged for the briefest moment in a fathomless voice. [23:04] 3Reuben sits up from the muddy cow pasture. 1“That was. The freaking. Coolest." [23:04] 4He'll make sure to at least be leaning against the hood of the station wagon when the other two recover. 14[23:04] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> There is, in that stillness, a presence. The impression of a consciousness, something that tickles Lis and Reuben in their sternums, something that lingers like a first impression in the mind. A vast awareness, whose attention was captured for the briefest moment. 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "Hooooooooooooooo," says Took, sitting up slowly himself. 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "You two alright?" [23:05] 4Lis waves him off. 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Mara can't die. She can be destroyed, but she can't die. I can be killed, but I've made... compromises." [23:06] 4He might have to read up on things like this. [23:06] 3Reuben: 1“Can you teach people that trick??” 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Took holds up a hand, smoking from the wrist. "Ribs and flank, you said?" [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "What does that mean?" 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Which?" [23:07] 3Reuben: 1“Hell yeah!" [23:08] 4Lis will grab some plastic bags from the car. Surely they thought to bring some. 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Lis finds giant, almost industrial rolls of thin plastic sheeting - in the back, behind the backseat. "You're gonna want- oh, you're on it." 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Whoo! I don't get to do that much lately." 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "How you feeling?" [23:10] 4Presumably that's aimed at Reuben, not Lis. He brings the sheeting out and helps with the packing. [23:10] 3Reuben: 1“Do you have a cell phone?” 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Took: "Naw. Those things let the government spy on you." [23:10] 4Reuben's looking a lot better now, at least. [23:11] 3Reuben: 1“Dang. What about an instagram?” 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "Don't you need a phone for that, like Twitter?" [23:12] 3Reuben: 1“You can use a public library computer.” [23:13] 4Lis is just going to carry the meat back to the station wagon and let these two kids talk about all the Web 2.0 they want. [23:13] 3Reuben: 1“Well anyway, I’m starting a new app for people like us to keep in touch in a few weeks. You seem like a really chill guy, and I was wondering if you’d want to be one of my beta testers.” 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Took: "Well sure! I'd be delighted! You want my email?" 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Took is putting his shoes back on - his socks have all but burnt away. [23:16] 4BETA testers? [23:16] 4... [23:16] 4Well, they don't ACTUALLY have a Prince enforcing a Masquerade on them. [23:16] 4And after reading that monograph... [23:17] 4...Lis makes sure the good cuts are wrapped and secure in the station wagon. [23:17] 3Reuben: 1“Yeah, man. That’d be cool. Hey - first beta testing question - what kinda names would you describe for yourself? In, like, a drop down box. I don’t want to list anything that would be offensive on accident.” [23:17] 6Anna: "What compromises? If you want to talk about it, I mean." 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Took: "fool_of_a@gmail.com. I'm a Diamond Meridian." [23:20] 4Hah. [23:20] 3Reuben: 1“Nice.” 3He stands and starts heading back to the car with Took. [23:20] 4He files away the phrase 'Diamond Meridian.' 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> The ride back into town is uneventful. "Where am I dropping you off?" 14[23:22] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [23:23] 4Lis will tell him the convenience store, but he'll give Reuben more than enough time to answer instead. [23:23] 3Reuben: 1“Just by the RV is fine.” 3He puts the four hundred bucks on the dash. 1“Really gotta say, man, Chugwater’s cooler than I thought." 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "I'm far enough removed from our condition that most of its nature is locked off to me. But I developed practices that let me, what's the best- that let me re-establish that state, if I feel the need to." [23:26] 6Anna: "Isn't that... I mean, to come so close?" [23:26] 7Alisa: "It sounds awful, babe." 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Like I said earlier, you would think I'd already succeeded, if you didn't understand what I was really after." [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick works his mouth around a bit. "So can she kill you or can't she? You made it sound like it wouldn't be a big deal." 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "It would hurt. It would hurt deeply. But I owe her a chance to accept or reject my apology." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Took: "It's pretty great. Real quiet, mostly. The perfect place to spend an interval." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Outside the RV, the people inside it can hear a vehicle pull up. [23:28] 3Reuben: 1“You wanna meet the whole gang?" 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Took: "If it's all the same to you, I want to go put a fresh pair of socks on." [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Why's she want to stop you, anyway?" [23:29] 3Reuben: 1“Cool, cool. Well,” 3he offers a handshake when he opens the door. 1“I’ll be in touch. And thanks again." 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Took: "Take care!" 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> He returns the handshake. Reuben feels a static shock. [23:30] 4Lis steps out, and waves if Took looks over at him. 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Then he waves at Lis, and rides off, leaving Lis and Reuben holding a substantial quantity of raw meat wrapped in plastic. [23:30] 4He'll be holding a good portion of the meat they've...harvested. [23:31] 3As soon as Took drives away, Reuben turns to Lis. 1“That dude was so rad!” [23:31] "He certainly was," 4Lis says, balancing the cuts. [23:31] 4He certainly was something. 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "What I do offends her. She takes it personally. They both do, but Lisette would never get angry. Only spiteful." [23:32] 3Reuben: 1“Do you think Alisa’s ever met a diamond meringue before?" [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "What's it matter to her if you turn human?" [23:32] "Meridian," 4Lis says. "I couldn't say, but if I had to guess? If she did, she didn't know she did." [23:32] 3Reuben pushes open the RV door. 1“Niiiiick!! We got you a bunch of steeeaaaaks!!” [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick half-rises and turns. "Woah, really?" 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "You have to understand, Mara and I were alone for quite a long time. We had no one but each oth-" the door bursts open. Her mouth curls at the smell. [23:33] 4And that, of all things, relaxes Lis. [23:34] 4Reuben's brought home a bunch of ridiculous meat. He's hollering about it at Nicholas. This is the way things should be. [23:34] 3Reuben: 1“We met some kinda weird dude and he took us out to a cow field and he killed the cow and we hovered around and I got to drink all the blood at one and then there were a bunch of free steaks-“ [23:35] 3reuben: 1“the cow just like exploded man you shoulda been there-" [23:35] 3Reuben: 1“-oh. Are yall still just talking?" [23:35] 6Anna: "...Yes?" [23:35] 4Lis quietly puts the cuts he's carrying into the freezer and slips back out into the night. [23:35] 4He should check on Timothy. [23:37] 3Reuben grabs some couch space and sprawls outward. 1“Man, that dude was cool. Anyone ever met a diamond meridian before?" [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "How'd he explode the cow?" [23:37] 4Lis, as he's walking out the door: "Aliens." [23:38] 3Reuben: 1“He floated me in the air then just kinda hugged it and then- blammo!" 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka will leave the RV not long after Lis, not to follow him but to throw the remnants of her dinner away. She'll offer to take Nick's trash out to the dumpster too. [23:39] 4Lis will note her trip to the dumpster, but not comment or interfere. His priority is back in the motel room. [23:39] 6Anna: "Gross." [23:40] 3Reuben: 1“It was super gnarly. So when are we leaving this dump?" [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick doesn't stop her, as he's too busy ascertaining this cow stuff. "Wow, with just like - was he a wizard?" [23:40] "Oofah." 7Alisa will follow Anoushka out of the RV, giving Reuben the chance to dazzle and impress with his cool story. 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Lis will find TJ asleep at the desk, slumped over the open book. Falling asleep like that is super uncomfortable. [23:41] 3Reuben: 1“No, I don’t think he’s a wizard. You know those dudes who just kind of wander the earth because they’re fucked up science monsters? I think they’re called Cronenbergs? I think he’s one of those." [23:42] 7When they're a little wayas away she snorts like she has a clogged sinus, then says: "You really think I did the right thing?" [23:42] 4Gently, Lis will pick him up and put him to bed. [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I never heard of those guys." [23:42] 6Anna: "I'm pretty sure that's not a thing." [23:42] 3Reuben: 1“I think they’re super rare.” 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka's got both hands against the dumpster, possibly steadying herself. Without looking back: "I think... when you measure now against eternity, the decision you made will bring the least pain into the world." [23:43] 4Once the boy's tucked in, he'll go back to the desk and...bookmark the volume. 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's just hard to believe, because it's been concentrated so tightly." [23:43] 4Anything particularly interesting about where Timothy paused? [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick nods sagely. [23:44] 7Alisa: "Yeah. I guess. There wasn't enough of her, goddamnit." [23:44] 7Alisa scowls and looks away. "Listen. I'm gonna tell you something, and I'd like it if you could tell me whether I've said the same thing to you in the same words before." [23:46] "I've given up. Not now, but soon, I'm going to stop moving, settle and thicken into fat." 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Each page of TJ's book is a single stanza, beneath a pair of woodcut illustrations. The two pages he was open to reveal some kind of horrible sea-creature with the body of a woman, wearing a crown of coral and surrounded by urchins, looking in shock across the page. 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Beneath her, 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "You see the beast's greatness so clearly," 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD>  and Domnu admitted it pleased her eye. [23:48] 4The dead priest's eyes narrow. 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> On the opposite page, a young woman and a young man stand beside an easel, depicting a terrible monster. They look exhausted, defiant, triumphant. 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Beneath them, 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD>  "But the sun would have cast an awful glare; 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD>  the water must reflect a cloudy sky." 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka turns to face Alisa. "Those words are new to me." [23:52] 4Poetry. A book of poetry. [23:52] 4But also, more than that. 14[23:55] * Joins: Quaker [23:57] 7Alisa trembles for a second like she's going to start crying or punch the dumpster, then closes her eyes and calms herself. [23:57] "How many years has it been? And you still can't lie for shit." 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka's eyes are studded with tears. "I've gotten worse at it. Even I don't believe myself anymore." [23:59] 7She leans her back up against the wall. "What was I trying to do then?" Session Time: Thu Mar 12 00:00:00 2015 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "You were trying to sever your blood. To become a thing in itself. I remember your words. You said, 'I won't be what the past seeks to make of me. I will be a new and lovely creature'." 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "But then..." she shrugs. 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's what I always thought destroyed Vladislaus, too." 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's what he never learned. What Mara doesn't understand. What Lisette won't admit." 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's not enough to want it. Even if you want it with all your being." [00:05] 7Alisa: "It's a nice idea. Can't be done, of course, not the way I wanted it. Even if I'd have succeeded, I'd have failed." [00:06] "I wanted--" 7She sighs. "I'm not a very good person, am I, Annie?" 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka sweeps Alisa up in a tight hug. She sniffs. 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "No." [00:10] 7Alisa hugs her back, sniffling a little. "Missed you, babe. You and Lizzie--" [00:10] "Anyway." [00:11] 7Alisa: "I told you the whole story of how I was born, and the choice Mom gave us? I mean, I'm sure I did, but I don't remember anymore." 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "I remember." 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mara thought you did the right thing. Lisette thought there must have been some way to get the power but keep your sister." [00:15] 7Alisa: "That's what I thought! For a long, long, time that's what I was looking for." 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "I always thought that you never had a choice at all." [00:17] "But I was lying to myself, because if I had it all to do over again, and I could choose to live and die as a scared peasant girl or live five hundred years as a powerful witch... I'd make the same choice. Every single time." 14[00:18] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [00:18] 7Alisa: "I love Becky, but I guess not as much as I think I do." [00:19] 7She scoots up and down, scratching her back on the bricks. "So. I've been living my life like I owe nothing to nobody, doing whatever I please. But I can't anymore. I owe a debt, to her and to... I dunno. The whole world, I guess." 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Do you think you can ever pay it?" [00:22] 7Alisa: "I dunno if that's a question that ever gets a satisfactory answer. At least I have to fix her, let her have the possibility of a life with more than me in it. And I have to stop the Strix from eating all the humans or whatever damn stupid thing they're up to. And then... I guess I have to leave. Become like Mom, stop being a story and become part of everyone else's." 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "It can't be easy, letting go of that." [00:24] 7Alisa: "It's basically death. I'm not gonna pretend like it isn't." [00:25] 7She suddenly breaks into a smile. "But, I mean, death worked out great for me the first time." 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka smiles back. "If you die enough times, you learn not to take it personally. I was going to say that to Nick, but then those guys came in with the meat." [00:26] 4Lis is intrigued enough to save Timothy's page, then read through the rest of The Ballad of Brian Briach. Once he's finished, he bookmarks it where Timothy stopped, and walks over to the window, staring out onto the empty American road. [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12At the moment, Nick is working hard to clear up whether Took was making any spooky hand gestures in the course of exploding the cow, and also what color any associated lights were. 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Took was just floating, limbs splayed out. The light was pure white. [00:27] 4He's turned out the light. He's silent and still, even standing. Timothy will have his rest. 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: The Sparrow Legion 14[00:53] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[00:53] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[01:50] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[03:02] * Joins: drinkybird 14[03:04] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[03:31] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[03:50] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[04:15] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[04:18] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[05:05] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[06:00] * Joins: Quaker 14[06:40] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[07:49] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[07:49] * Joins: dammitwho 14[08:04] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[08:06] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[08:08] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[08:11] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[08:34] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[08:39] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[08:56] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[09:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:14] * Quits: dammitwho 14[09:39] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[09:40] * bananap is now known as banana 14[09:47] * Joins: Quaker 14[09:55] * Joins: hrolf 14[10:23] * Joins: hrolfie 14[10:26] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[10:43] * Joins: ddt 14[10:53] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[10:55] * Joins: hrolf 14[10:58] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[11:16] * Joins: hrolfie 14[11:19] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[13:40] * Joins: drinkybird 14[13:41] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[13:42] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[13:43] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:45] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[13:46] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[14:21] * banana is now known as bananap 09[14:21] * bananap is now known as bananape 14[14:45] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[15:14] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[15:47] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[15:47] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[16:10] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[16:14] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[16:26] * Joins: ddt 14[16:52] * Joins: drinkybird 14[16:55] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[16:55] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:57] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[17:01] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[17:01] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[17:02] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:05] * Joins: drinkybird 14[17:05] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[17:06] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[17:12] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:15] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[17:47] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[18:32] * Joins: ddt 14[18:33] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[18:33] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:11] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:06] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> The bell rings, and they descend en masse. Dozens of them, shoulder-to-shoulder, advancing in waves upon waves on the feeble tents. 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> The people inside the tent always underestimate their numbers. They haven't the resources to satisfy them consistently. Sometimes their ill temper evaporates like morning mist. Sometimes they fall to grousing. More than once it has come to blows. 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> But these are the rules of engagement at suppertime. 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> After the cooks dish out the fish stew the Alliance supplies its work crews for weeknight supper, they congregate at wooden tables, usually two crews to a table, to eat busily and argue over the day's events. 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> The topic that at the forefront of Mud and Straw's mind tonight is, as it so often is, culinary. 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "This is pig slop, boss. Back home my wife makes the best curried fish anywhere on the river. We should tell the foreman we want better food." 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Poco is a small man, hard worker. Prone to complaint and agitation. 14[20:48] * Joins: dammitwho [20:48] 3The table hushes momentarily- but only momentarily- as the brick-laden sling is set to rest on the packed earthen floor with a tired grunt and the creaking of wood signals Mud and Straw's intentions to sit. 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "Shut up, stupid. You want to pick a fight over the food? The scaffold went down this afternoon, almost took two of Geli's crew with it. You didn't see that, though, did ya. Cause you were still at lunch, eating the food you're complaining about." 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Taigo is prone to complaint himself, but mostly about Poco. [20:51] 3He sits, eyes closed, wedged in tight between his workers. Three-men thick and half again as heavy, Mud and Straw's nostrils open to take in the aroma of the soupy mixture steaming in the bowl before him. Is that.. a hint of.. is it lamprey? [20:53] 3A crudely-carved wooden spoon is raised before the fat man's dust-caked beard. He sniffs again, rolls his wrist to stir the spoon's contents once over. 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> It is. The work crews fish the rivers as they build the levee. Working the nets is tantamount to a day off. Usually the Grey provides - especially this far upriver from the pollution of Nexus. But lately the fish have been sickly, off-tasting, and sometimes downright strange. [20:54] 3He puts the spoon in his mouth, swishes it between his cheeks a moment, and then can bear the self-denial no longer. He swallows, and the spoon falls for another scoop, then another, then another. [20:55] "Just like like mother used to make, Poco." 3He never had fish as a child. [20:56] 3The bowl is soon empty. They've been using riverwater again, he can tell from the thin grains beetween his teeth and the grit on his gums. 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Mud's crew put in a full day today, and they worked hard, as they typically do. Almost half-finished, the levee's a sight to behold, a monument of earthwork scabbed over by wood-and-reed scaffolding as people adjust the blocks according to the dictates of the foreman, who studied architecture all the way on the Blessed Isle. 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> It was hard, though. Like Taigo said, there was an accident just after lunch and two men out of another crew almost drowned. Mud's seen the foreman's records, before the foreman knew Mud could read. Only a third of the men and women working here under the banner of the Grey River Alliance can swim. [21:01] 3It's not a bad construction, Mud would say if they asked him. But they've been skimping on the bricks, and shoring up the foundations with mud. That won't last, not for years it won't. 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> That's the prevailing problem with the project, as far as Mud can tell. There's competence, sure, there's backing. There's arms and backs fit for the work that needs to be done. But the one thing they lack - the one thing the project is suffering for - is vision. The foreman is a dreary little man, more accountant than architect. His principal concern is making sure the project stays under budget. [21:04] 3At present, there's only a handful of reasons the fat man hasn't complained; among them is the fear of alienating the cooks, who have yet to divulge their mashed buckwheat recipe upon him and the concern that the loss of his job and the end of his career could turn his weekly search for distilled spirits into more of a challenge. But first and foremost, Mud doesn't want to see this [21:04] 3all come crumbling down before it's even seen completion. So the man eats his muck-filled soup and advises others the same. [21:05] 3Brave men find a greater purpose in the army, and then become dead men. Smart men find a greater purpose in the bureaucracy and maybe, just maybe, he may get to have some finery in his life before cholera claims him. [21:07] 3But that's a bunch of navel-gazing, an activity that for Mud and Straw is beyond useless. The fat man leans forward and playfully catches the men on each of his sides in the crooks of his elbows, roaring with practiced joy. "Come on, guys! Another day, a talent's pay!" [21:07] 3Really it's more like a month, or several. But it never hurts to be optimistic. 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> The men roar in time with him, and then, at turns, so do many of the other tables in the comissary. Mud's well-known around the camp, being both hard to miss and hard to ignore. He's largely well-liked, too. [21:08] "When the week's done, I'll buy us all a keg!" 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "So, boss," the voice is Tumir's. The others call him 'Oak' because some quirk of his lineage, some god or spirit or dragon-kissed wastrel some generations back presents itself in him as a shock of green, matted hair, with veins running through it like the backs of leaves. "What are you going to do when the contract's up?" [21:09] 3Incidentally, this is why Mud and Straw sleeps at the work-camp, as generosity is inversely proportional to his stated goal of achieving finery. Always his own worst enemy, Mud. [21:11] "Ahah.. well let's see.." 3Mud leans back,each arm still wrapped firmly around the neck of men at his side. He scratches his own beard as the bigger of the two fights him off. Grinning: "There's a whole other river a few hundred li to the south, I hear..." [21:12] "And, goodness, past nexus there's an even BIGGER one, and really if you think about it, the ocean's just a lake putting on airs." [21:15] 3The smaller man, his face now smooshed against Mud's belly for the better of several minutes, has finally capitulated his struggling. Mud lets him go with a laugh and bangs his fist on the table. "But that's too far ahead for Mud and Straw!" 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> The orange light of sunset spills in through the tents. It's quite a sight, if you're the sight-seeing type, to watch the sun sink beneath the western horizon from atop the levee. Inside the tent, though, there's only the sound of raucous laughter. 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> The laughter's so great that it takes Mud a while to notice that, outside, the still-thriving camp is oddly silent. [21:20] 3The fat man's croaking laugh sounds as though it could rip the fabric, and it takes him many minutes to bring his roiling folds of fat back under control. 14[21:20] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) [21:22] 3He's still chuckling as he makes for the open flap, the candlelight spilling within out onto the darkened packed mud. "I'll go see if I can get us some of that rice-wine the supervisor was talking about t'other night!" 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> An arrow zips by Mud's head, close enough that he can hear it buzz through the air as it pierces two candles at the flame, blowing them out and plunging the front of the tent into darkness. [21:23] 3People think Mud doesn't pay attention. That's what they get, thinking he can't pay attention. [21:25] 3But, you know what, that's on them. Mud and Straw hasn't been made a fool by anyone else other than Mud and Straw, and that's how it's always suited him. "BOYS, WE GOT BANDITS!" 3he roars into the night! [21:25] "GRAB YER SHOVELS AND THROW DOWN!" 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Outside there is quiet carnage. Half a dozen men are dead, arrows in their necks and backs, some of them slumped at the shoreline, the Grey bearing their blood on to the sea. Others are held in silent grips, a hand over their mouth and a blade to their throat, as dark figures hold them perilously close to the high river. [21:26] 3Mud's face balloons in hideous fury. Those are- THOSE ARE HIS FRIENDS! [21:27] 3Swollen, sausage-like fingers close around the jute rope holding the brick-sling. His free hand closes around the muddied handle of the bronze shovel. 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> As the men inside the tent clamor in anger and confusion, Mud notices something worse. The main of the levee, the solid embankment that holds the river away from the camp when it's high and angry, as it is tonight, is cracking. A spiderweb of dark fissures spread out from a raw red sign carved into the stone, something harsh and profane that seems slick with blood in the dark. [21:27] 3Friends first, dam later. 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> People are coming out of the tent now, behind Mud, holding picks and shovels and knives and pots from the cook-tents. There's not a sword between them, ten or fifteen men heeding the call rather than bickering with themselves inside the mess. [21:29] 3This is his project, this is his friends. This is him. They may as well have killed his mother, ancestors guide her to rest. 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> The nearest attacker is about fifteen yards out, nocking an arrow. There are more in every direction towards the river, engaged in private struggles. 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> They are but black silhouettes against the deepening sky - the torches are out. 14[21:31] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[21:31] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [21:31] 3Mud and Straw raises the sling of bricks before him, a makeshift shield that creaks and groans with each swing. He widens his stance, kicking off his sandals and letting his toes down into the thick of the mud. [21:34] 3The roar's not even thrown from his lips between gobs of saliva before the obese shiftmaster is crashing forward through the bloodied tentfabric, swinging a hundred pound sling of bricks and dragging the sharpened shovel in his wake like an impromptu axe. 14[21:36] * Joins: Quaker [21:44] 3It doesn't make any sense. Mud's been with this crew for years, he's seen them fight riverbeasts and give even the Foreman's guards pause that one time pay was late. There's no way a bunch of no-name bracket-stealing scavenger-land scum could do.. this. [21:45] 3Unless- unless. Mud is in mid-swing as his eyes glance over at the cracking levees and suddenly it's all completely obvious. 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Another arrow goes whizzing by Mud, this one throwing off his balance and causing his mighty blow to go wide. Mud gets in close enough to smell the dank, wet rot of the archer's body, and see its tattered hide armor drip water on the ground. 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Smoothly it nocks another arrow. [21:58] 3Mud staggers forward behind the whistling sling of bricks, tears trailing the corners of his eyes. Those are his friends-! 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> The next arrow cuts through Mud's work clothes and pins him briefly to the ground. The archer doesn't make a sound. His face is bloated and flaking away with decay. [22:02] 3A meaty palm grabs the mud-slicked shaft and squeezes, crushing the waterlogged wood to slime. At his side lies the sling of bricks, the rope collapsed and the bricks spilled across the muck. Mud, now covered in it, doesn't get up; instead, he splashes his hands and feet, lunging up to grab the archer by his collar! [22:10] 3The Fat Man grabs at the apex of his lunge and allows the merciful grip of gravity to do the lion's share of the effort, attempting to drag his assailant down into the muck in what is almost certainly the most classic workman technique for grounding and preparing to work over a man what wronged you. 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> The next arrow doesn't even slow Mud down. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> The archer's back is to the levee now. Water's seeping through the cracks. [22:19] 3Like the beast from down below, Mud's fingers, thick as snakes from a hearty meal of ugali and honeyed dough wrap like ripe around the archer's neck and pull him inevitably down into the mud. 14[22:20] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[22:20] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [22:22] 3And now HE is on top. [22:23] 3Slick palms grasp for a weapon. The shovel, the sling, anything- and then Mud's fingers close around a heavy, angular object. [22:25] 3Mud sinks to his haunches atop the creature, letting his weight pin it down as with his free hand he brings the brick crashing down, splashing blackened viscera with each hammering blow. 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> The work crews spill out from the comissary tents, brandishing tools and implements, and fanning out looking for monsters. 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> The undead creature nocks another arrow, unsteadily now as one of its arms are broken. It raises it in the same stance, unevenly now that one of its legs is longer than the other. But the physics the arrow describes are the same. Another arrow requires Mud to swat it away with a great swing of his arms, leaving his vast torso exposed again. 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> The fat man casts a long shadow in the nearly setting sun. 14[22:35] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [22:40] 3Mud is screaming. A lot of people are screaming, now, as the swarthy workmen pick up shove and adze and awl and, hardened from a lifetime's work under the blazing sun, present a not-insignificant fighting force in their own right. A tent behind Mud explodes as one of the workleaders slashes down upon it with a heavy iron chain. [22:43] 3The brick, discarded. Mud is still on top of the abomination, arms locked around its neck as it still fumbles for the bow. He picks it up, slams it down into the mud. Something cracks inside; others are leaking. Mud picks it up, slams it down. Their tussling has slowly migrated toward the side of the levee, festooned with the project's ropes and scaffolds. [22:56] 3The fat man staggers out of the mudpit like a furious bull hippopotamus, dragging the muddied, bloodied archer with him, still weakly trying to string its bow even as Mud smashes it bodily against the fire-hardened bricks and hurls it airborne, spinning, to dash upon the rocks on the riverside of the levee. [22:57] 3That was only one. 14[22:57] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [23:01] 3Mud is gasping, staggering back through the mudpit, improbably only nearly slipping in the slick muck, sliding to a stop close to where the abomination attacked him. Gotta do something, gotta do something- 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> The battle rages on up and down the river, as the undead - and they are all undead, Mud is sure, now - and the workmen face pitched battle on the scaffolding, atop the levee, and along the riverbank. The tide is turning. 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a moment of sheer relief when even the blood-red sigil cut into the stone flickers and goes dim. 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> And then Mud sees why. 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> The levee bursts. [23:02] 3No no no no gods no  no no nononono grandpapa no 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> The Grey River surges out from between the cracks, rushing around the crumbling stone and collapsing scaffolding, spreading out to consume the camp. 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> The water is choked with living and dead alike, all of them pulled down and out in the current. It's as high as Mud's ever seen it, as swift, as fierce - why?? 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Then, floating almost lazily on the river's surface, buoyed by a swarm of blowflies, are two amphibian heads, eyes blown out, tongues lolling, joined at a neck that's been rotted to mush. 14[23:05] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[23:06] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[23:06] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> But as the river surges and spreads, there's a more immediate concern - past the work camps are the larger facilities, the semipermanent township built in the levee's shadow. There's an infirmary, there's dormitories... a little prayer pagoda. A few dozen workers even brought their families out here. 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> And all of it will soon be washed away. [23:07] 3Mud and Straw stands up to his belly in the fetid water watching drowned bodies drift by and decides in that moment that it will not come to pass. 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> The sun is setting. The air is hot and harsh in Mud's throat. His comrades are drowning, their spouses and children will soon follow. The levee, raised in defiance of the gods, is crumbling, and so too has the god who hated it most. [23:08] 3He breathes in. 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> It's inescapable. It's inevitable. A simple and irreversible fact of the age is this: things fall apart. 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Breathe in. 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> The sun sets, and his soul ignites, rising into the air as if to catch one last glimpse of it before the flat earth hides it in the fullness of night. [23:23] 4My soul burns hotter. [23:23] 3Mud and Straw turns, drops the brick, and wades into the expanding tide of death and destruction. [23:24] 3A brick's just a lump of clay and sand until fired in the kiln, melted, tempered, hardened. [23:30] 3The water pushes them into his waiting arms, spread wide to hold them all. Waterlogged timber, floating rivergrass, the long-dead, the freshly-dead. Mud and Straw pushes forward against the tide, and it yields to him. With each step the footfalls grow louder, reverberating through the water and sending up a spray of foam. The dripping mass catches and clogs, growing in size with each [23:30] 3step back toward the breach until with a disgusting slurp the now hill-sized mound of twisted bodies, logs, and muck finds purchase in the middle of the breach. [23:30] 3It is only then, as the gushing streams thin to rivulets where muck meets brick, that Mud allows himself to open his eyes: [23:31] 3Hanging above him is heaven. [23:32] 3Towering spires shoot to endless heights, each brick engraved with the high deeds of the men and women who crafted it it. Great manses and cathedrals, buttressed on pure, gleaming marble and bejewelled in stones with no earthly like. 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> The corpses and debris fit into the cracks like puzzle pieces. The water pressure sucks them in further, actually tightening the seal. 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Mud and Straw exhales. The levee holds. [23:37] 3Statues stand in phalanx across the rooftops, grooves perfectly designed to channel the rainwater into torrential displays of architectural prowess. A great crane spun of orichalcum and steel raises a grand statuary into its place on a single thread of divine thread, from which the fates cut lengths to measure the days of men. [23:38] 3The face of the saint he recognizes, as the crane sets its load into its appointed niche; it is his own. 14[23:38] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> There's still a rush of floodwater heading for the stabler campsite. Men are washing up on the shore of the river. By Mud's reckoning, a little over half of them that went in. [23:40] 3There are others still alive, Mud registers, and turns away from the odd display. But it is dark. 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> It's not that dark, with Heaven above. [23:41] 3Is the remaining floodwater deep enough to flood the camp? 14[23:42] * Joins: Quaker [23:43] 3Regardless, Mud wades forward through the calf-high water, scanning for survivors. He'll carry them out over his shoulder two at a time, if need be. 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> The floodwater will damage the camp, but the people aren't in any danger. [23:46] 3He follows in its wake, picking men and bodies out of the wreckage. [23:46] 3Please let nobody else die tonight. 14[23:47] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [23:50] 3He is covered from head to toe in the muck, his gut piercing through the water like the prow of a very curiously-designed boat. 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Mud trudges through the water, heaven high and hot above him. The sod-and-wood buildings don't hold up well in the flood - they'll all need extensive repairs, but the people in the camp are moving in a surprisingly orderly fashion, going to higher ground, staying tightly close to high torches held in the center of the group. 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Did they have emergency drills when Mud wasn't looking? 14[23:52] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[23:52] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Giving orders is the foreman, Caius Palla. He's speaking calmly and clearly, even though his pants are rolled up to his knees and his legs are embarrassingly pale. 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> It looks like everyone's basically alright. People aren't even paying that much attention to Mud. [23:54] 33First thing's first: Make sure not a one, not a single one of those dead things has made it this far, and then go speak to the foreman. 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> There's no sign of undead this far from the river. 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> The foreman does a double take as Mud gets close. "What?!" He looks up. "What." 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "What." [23:55] "It's real bad down by the levee, boss." 3Mud murmurs, having sloshed out of the muck and onto the dry ground. [23:55] "I'm here to make a report for crew thirty-three." 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh, uh, what is," the foreman blinks. "Report." 14[23:56] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [23:57] "I'm the only one what's left, and the levee almost broke. Patched it up, though." 14[23:57] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) [23:57] 3He gestures over his shoulder with his thumb, back toward the sound of the running water. 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "Are you hurt?" [23:59] 3Mud stands there in silence for a moment longer, gasping like a carp on the floor of a fisherman's boat. "...No." [23:59] "I... we need to go back!" [23:59] "There could still be survivors!" Session Time: Fri Mar 13 00:00:00 2015 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Caius: "Yes, you're right. The civilians are safe now. The next step is recovering survivors from the river." [00:01] "With your permission, foreman, I could take some security and go back to the levee-" 3He wipes the mud from his eyes, easing the dull sting. [00:02] "I don't understand, I think- I think it was sabotage." [00:02] "Daspes is dead." 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's good procedure. We need to keep most of the guards posting watch with the civilians, but I can spare eight men." Caius turns and whistles, and a few armed men break off from the civilian groups and converge on the foreman. Each of them does a similar double-take at the sight and burning of Mud and Straw before settling into a stoic focus. "Where to?" 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> The foreman gives no response to the apparent death of Daspes. [00:05] 3Mud points. "I would ask for a torch to light the way as he we go, but." 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sure. Let's go." [00:06] 3He sloshes off back into the spillwater, turning to regard the guards with him. "Come. be wary of any bodies you see." 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Mud and the eight guards march down to the riverside. 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> The good news: [00:07] 3He starts off, the light pouring off him, glittering torchlike on the surface of the murky water. 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> -There are numerous survivors groaning, passed-out, or staring in vacant rapture up at the sky, all along the riverbank and up against the levee. 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> -All of the drowned dead seem to have been destroyed or washed away. 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> -The levee continues to hold. 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> The bad news: 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> -There are still far fewer men at the levee than there should be. Mud would estimate 20, 30 dead, or two out of every five workers who were at the river tonight. [00:09] 3Poco? Taigo? 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Almost all of Mud's crew are accounted for. Taigo is the lone missing man. But Taigo could swim. He might've ended up downstream. 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> -The levee, ingenious though its plug may be, will require extensive repairs and likely, Mud notices, a full redesign in order to contain the river at its highest. 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> For now, though, in the moment, there is peace. [00:10] "Then the rest were washed downstream." [00:11] 3Mud sits atop a pile of muddied gravel at what he can only assume is the ruins of the old bricksmithing station. "Tomorrow morning we'll send out a party downstream for the missing. For now, try and take a tally so we know exactly who is missing." 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yes, sir." [00:12] 3Why would someone do this? Why had the foreman so expertly organized the stable evacuation? 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> The guards work quick. dragging men in neat rows, laying them out in workgroups. [00:12] 3He couldn't possibly- could he? [00:13] 3He's the foreman. The mere idea is preposterous. 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> It's quite late by the time everyone's accounted for and in sickbeds or resting. 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Many of the men in sickbeds are babbling about Heaven. 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The foreman, however, is not. "Mud, do you have a moment?" 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "The administrator wanted to talk to you." [00:15] "I'm hardly at my best, boss." 3He can but offer a weak chuckle. Not an inch of his body is unsoiled by muck. [00:15] "But for the good of the project, of course!" 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> The administrator's office is luckily at the far end of the camp, where the flood waters couldn't quite reach. There's a short porch, so only the first step up to the little building is wet before Mud steps on it. 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> It's quite cozy in here. The administrator is sitting at a little desk, clearly hammered from raw wood by workmen, looking over a ledger. "Sit, please," she says without looking up. [00:17] 3Normally, both Mud and the Administrator would insist that the former bathe before meeting him. Today is under unusual circumstances, however. [00:17] 3Squish. 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> By now, Mud's bonfire has gone out, and though he feels the breath of the earth with every step he takes, it hasn't ignited within him like that since. "I understand you did exemplary work protecting our crews, their families, and the levee." [00:19] "I... uh, I y-yeah, Yeah I did!" 3He laughs, thumping his palm against his chest with a wet smack. 14[00:21] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[00:21] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> The administrator looks up. The candlelight catches in the lenses of her glasses, giving them a yellowish glare. "I think it would be to the benefit of the project if you took over as foreman. Do you agree?" [00:22] 3Mud returns a confused stare. "....Nope." [00:23] "I like my job. I do good work." [00:23] "I never had any problems with Caius." 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mmm. I suspected as much. The problem is this: Caius will resign tomorrow. The chief engineer is gone, and given this disaster, we won't soon find an adequate replacement. Caius ran an efficient project, but ultimately not, I fear, an effective one." 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "You, however, would excel here." 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "You could lead from the front, managing work crews directly. Getting your hands dirty. Hauling bricks, if you like." 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "It would be, in essence, your project." [00:28] 3Squish. He's leaning forward, squinting. "...My project." 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "Entirely." 14[00:30] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [00:30] 3The wet leather is beginning to chafe his thighs, so Mud balances back and forth between buttocks, his terror now giving way to cautious excitement. [00:30] "I.. well, what the hell, not bad for the son of a no-account farmer, you got yourself a new foreman." 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> The administrator smiles. "I'm happy to get you where you need to go." [00:34] "First thing tomorrow I'm gonna put out an order for some additional cooking equipment and cooks. Some people in the workcrew, not naming names," 3hegrits his teeth and looks bashfully from side to side, "been saying there's graints of mud in the curried fish. Crazy talk, I know." [00:34] "But you know, after this accident, we're gonna need to raise morale." 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Of course. Whatever you need." 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "For now, you should get some rest. Big day tomorrow." 14[01:29] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[01:43] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[02:01] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[02:32] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:58] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[03:48] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 09[06:49] * bananape is now known as banana 14[06:59] * Quits: dammitwho 14[07:54] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[07:58] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[08:10] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[08:19] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[08:43] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:28] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[09:35] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[09:35] * Joins: trenchfoot 09[09:38] * banana is now known as bananas 14[09:40] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[09:47] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[10:00] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[10:21] * bananas is now known as banana 14[10:58] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[11:11] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[11:21] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[11:27] * Joins: ddt 14[11:41] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [11:55] <@Ferrinus> reposting this here [11:55] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> BATTLEMAGE [11:55] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> SOOTHSLAYER [11:55] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> KILLUSIONIST [11:55] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> TRANSMUTILATOR [11:55] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> CHARMS DEALER [11:55] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> TRAUMATURGE [11:55] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> HEXECUTIONER 15[11:55] <@VoxPVoxD> traumaturge [11:56] <@Ferrinus> i can't decide whether traumaturge or charms dealer is my favorite [11:56] <@Ferrinus> and then soothslayer waves its hand earnestly at me 15[11:56] <@VoxPVoxD> soothslayer is pro [11:57] charms dealer took me a second [11:57] <@Ferrinus> sam [11:57] <@Ferrinus> e 14[12:05] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[12:08] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:13] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[12:31] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Remote host closed the connection) 14[12:32] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 15[12:54] <@VoxPVoxD> https://40.media.tumblr.com/0f8634bb83f12d2e426332339ed4dfa4/tumblr_ms9m5y81nb1qgn992o1_1280.jpg [12:54] <@Ferrinus> oh hell yes. [12:55] there is nothing more american than a longslide .45 and a whole bunch of one dollar bills [12:57] dollar bills, mixed with croatian currency [13:04] slavs are incredibly american 14[13:07] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[13:12] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:48] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:51] * Joins: hrolfie 14[13:55] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:02] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:05] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:17] * Joins: ddt 14[14:19] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:21] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[14:30] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:34] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[14:39] * banana is now known as bananap 14[14:40] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:43] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 15[14:56] <@VoxPVoxD> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B__7soBUMAAKoIX.jpg nick finally joins the blood talons 14[15:17] * Joins: hrolfy 14[15:19] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Remote host closed the connection) 14[15:21] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[15:21] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[15:34] * Joins: hrolf 14[15:35] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:39] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Remote host closed the connection) 14[15:40] * Joins: hrolfie 14[15:43] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[15:44] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:46] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:49] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[15:51] * Joins: drinkybird 14[15:54] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:54] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[15:56] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[15:57] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[16:01] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[16:14] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:16] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[17:19] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[17:21] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[17:30] * Joins: drinkybird 14[17:34] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[18:59] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Remote host closed the connection) 14[19:48] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[20:17] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:59] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[20:59] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[21:01] * Joins: ddt 14[21:12] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[21:16] * Joins: dammitwho [21:36] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/2nzffJW.jpg 09[21:39] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[21:49] * Joins: mobilebaby 14[21:57] * Quits: mobilebaby (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[22:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:36] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[22:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[22:40] * mattbaby_ is now known as mattbaby 14[23:07] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: mattbaby) Session Time: Sat Mar 14 00:00:00 2015 14[00:35] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[01:55] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:08] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[03:23] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:26] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[03:37] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[05:32] * Quits: bananap (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[05:35] * Joins: banana 14[05:48] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[07:16] * Quits: dammitwho 14[09:15] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[09:46] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[10:00] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[10:19] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[10:31] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:33] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:56] * Joins: ddt 14[12:07] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[12:10] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[13:05] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 09[13:57] * banana is now known as bananap 14[13:58] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[14:08] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:08] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:15] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:17] * Joins: hrolfy 14[14:17] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:21] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[15:39] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:52] * Joins: hrolf 14[15:54] * Quits: hrolf (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[15:57] * Joins: hrolf 14[16:01] * Joins: hrolfie 14[16:04] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[16:06] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[16:07] * Joins: hrolf 14[16:08] * Joins: hrolfie 14[16:12] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[16:20] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[16:33] * Joins: ddt 14[16:38] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[16:38] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[17:10] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[17:38] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[17:38] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[18:33] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[18:34] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:13] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:46] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[19:46] * Quits: dammitwhoaaa (Client Quit) 14[19:46] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[19:46] * Joins: dammitwho 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> http://40.media.tumblr.com/bd69471082be6a87077fc59125655b5e/tumblr_njdgoyfRTt1qjnhqgo1_500.jpg [21:46] <@Ferrinus> a [21:49] <@Ferrinus> i'm off for sandwich, back in ten [22:28] <@Ferrinus> i'm ready whenever btw. hopefulyl we see banana shortly [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Ferrinus rolls initiative for12 sixty nine:4 422. (Base 420 +2 2) 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> is this good old ayn rand() [22:37] <@Ferrinus> yes [22:37] <@Ferrinus> so prepare for insane clustering or w/e 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> I'll prepare for trouble, so banana can make it double 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> arrian, that's right [22:43] <@Ferrinus> ^^ 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Huge, Awe-Inspiring Statue of the Heroic Genius Archmage Miranda, erected by the grateful people of Chicago, specifically, magically, protected against vandalism especially by Catamaran 09[23:14] * bananap is now known as banana [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12= [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12== [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12=== [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Judging from the way that the crackling, paradox-shrouded Jen is rearing back and beginning to gesture, It's On. [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12She and the grey_fox have just followed you into this zone of the Tumbler, and it's plain as day to Arrian that the woman's in a killing mood. She's full of desperate conviction with shades of resentment and fear. The man behind her's steelily and professionally detached, though beneath that is vicious drive and beneath that is deep unsettlement. [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Last time it was the _fox who'd sat in the time chair, gotten charged up, and then catalyzed the charge with a shot of alchemized paradox-weed, guaranteeing that the biological consequences of his attack on you wouldn't be felt no matter what they were - that even if incapacitated, maimed, or outright killed, he'd just respawn at the end of the scene at some other place that he [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12could've gone - did go, technically - after activating the charge. This time it's Jen who's so enchanted - but Cross can see that there's clearly a lot of metaphysical weight to wandering into the Tumbler while under that kind of effect, that it puts Jen in a powerful and precarious position that it might well be Jen herself isn't actually aware of. [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12That last line shouldn't be underlined in its entirety but whatever. 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 4[YOU TRIED] [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12At the moment, there's something like a hundred fifty feet of space between the three of you and the two of them. Each of you, from the perspective of the other, is standing on the ceiling. There are a few wires and cables and things reaching up from Jen's floor to your floor, and one of those is beside a cool little escalator of rising sand platform that seems to be being shaped [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12into being by the weird, thinking circuitry that's spread across the surface of this planetoid like glistening, rectilinear mold. 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus can't actually see them. The curvature of the disasteroid blocks their view of him and him of them. His plan, as it goes, is to send out an SOS to g and the Libertines (already done, conveying location, context, and what's needed to get them in here) and then to go and get to work on the jammed core. Fixing it is what we came here to do, and once it's fixed there'll be nothing keeping the three of them (or the rock they're standing on) here. 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10So in he goes. 11[23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12The circuitry looks thinner in here than out there, but Paracelsus can tell why - it's dug deeper into the actual material, bundled and packed just inches beneath the brown-grey walls of these tunnels. Paracelsus doesn't have to be a Mastigos to get the immediate feeling that the planetoid is a big bigger in here than out there - and, as a Moros, he can tell that most of these tunnels [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12weren't dug out via spider-claw. It looks like the blocks and planes of this structure have just been slid into this arrangement. 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is that consonant with the way other parts of the Tumbler seem to have been formed? [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, it's sort of how the Tumbler shapes itself - blocks breaking and shifting and sealing back together. The pattern's different, though - a lot more right angles here on the inside than the more jumbled, sloping randomness you got both on the outside and on the big mechanism beneath the alleyway nearby your sanctum. It looks like the circuitry is hijacking control of the Tumbler's [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12natural forces, using them to shape the terrain. 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10And there's no indication at all as to what made the circuitry, right? 11[23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12It's made, mostly, of the same stone the planetoid's made out of, but fused down tightly into glass and ceramic and interlaced with metal that looks like it's been hijacked from the cable spider webs. Paracelsus can't detect any, like, joints or weldings or whatever anywhere down here - either the stuff was magicked into place with the kind of Matter Weaving that'd produce seamless, [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12unitary structures or else it, like, grew in. [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Probably the latter, given that there're no apparent magical aftereffects down here. [23:54] 6Cross shakes her head in irritation, hair streaming downwards/upwards toward the reinterlopers. Do these people have no sense of risk? [23:55] 6It made some sort of sense when they were sending minions and goons to hamper us, but now Cross's cabal is actually here, and trying to avoid harming them. The power derived from this warp in what is itself a warp in time in space isn't worth dying for. Speaking of which, the bullets... [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Blam! Blam! Cross can actually see the little jittery aiming reticules that link the grey_fox's outstretched arm with her center of mass. Session Time: Sun Mar 15 00:00:00 2015 [00:03] 6Cross raises something to block the attack, moving with superhuman speed. Here's the thing: all she's got on her is an arm. [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12It's pretty impressive that the bullets just sort of embed themselves, incredibly painfully, rather than just plain shattering the bone and the face behind it, or something. [00:04] 6It's not exactly adequate to deflect gunfire, but works a lot better than you'd think. 11[00:10] "C'mon!" 7Arrian says, as he turns to follow Paracelsus. [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Jen holds out a hand with her fingers outstretched, glimmering with covert magic. Bands of harsh light glimmer over the ground she stands on and the surface of the planetoid the three of you are on, as what looks like an obscure and complicated combination of Forces and Prime magic does...something to the machinery. The two mystagogues can see the spell work, because [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12whatever message it's sent has flickered down to the core of the planetoid, but it's hard to say what it did. [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12With her other hand, the scribbles something furiously on the air before her with an imaginary pen, then draws a fierce dot right on Cross. [00:17] 6Hmm. The next few seconds were marked down for reeling and fleeing, but sure, Cross can just clear out a chunk of it for this meeting of minds. [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Cross's skin tingles and begins to burn. Next to her, a glowing bullet point writes itself into the air, hovering beside her wherever she moves and explicating to all onlookers what those moves have been and will be. [00:19] "Okay, that's actually kind of cool." [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12_fox is drawing another bead, and both of your enemies are heading for the weird sand-ladder. Looks like Cross's cabal-mates, those cowards, have abandoned her. [00:22] 6..but there's no point striking back before the Libertines arrive if we have a chance of holding out til then. She's heading inside. [00:22] 6No, these guys are great! Much better than the really mean ones down below. Their only cowardice was in not finding a way to enact the original plan of 'quickly smash the entrance so they can't follow us in', which if you think about it, is more like incompetence. [00:23] 6And since Cross also hadn't managed that, she won't think about it. [00:23] 6The woman in black flees into the disasteroid, and the bulleted memo follows. [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian's in position to see Jen's command hit home. The giant computer-mind that's threaded through this asteroid is a huge and, down in the depths, powerful one. It doesn't really look particularly servile - but something about the message/command Jen's sent has completely penetrated or circumvented whatever defenses the circuitry has, and so parts of it spin immediately into [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12motion. It's been told, as you might imagine, to kill you. [00:26] 7Shit. Does Arrian understand enough about the command signals she's sending to countermand that? [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12It looks like there isn't any single central processor or whatever - the whole thing, from what the warlock can tell, is thinking, and if you were to disconnect parts from each other or even smash bits the collective whole might become stupider and/or fragmented but not actually nonfunctional. Arrian can follow the threads of the machine's attention, though - those parts of it that [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12haven't been set to kill him are, uhhh... that way, yeah. [00:29] 7Well, the first step is to be there rather than here, clearly. [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Cross can't see the machine think, of course, but she can see it work. There doesn't seem to be anything mechanical about the circuitry at all, the stuff's all signal - any and all actual physical motion it'll be producing is going to be a matter of triggering various functions of the Tumbler or of giving orders to whatever's still running around in these tunnels. These tunnels [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12which were formed through pure rearrangement of blocks, which could still be - WOAH, don't go down that one! It's set to crush you flat! [00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12There's definitely something in the glint of diodes and the hum of power that lets you see where the circuitry and the Tumbler blocks are set to interact - what's warming up to act next. Between Arrian's internal psychic compass and Cross's electronic survey, the cabal's able to move without getting smushed. [00:31] 6Cross: "Actuators! Watch out for the resonant actuators!" [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12The problem is that wherever Cross goes, an insistent, burning bullet point follows. [00:32] 6Maybe the others could just read it off to see what advice she's about to give, saving time...? [00:32] <@Ferrinus> 12That stupid thing. What gives it the right. What gives it the RIGHT to- fffssst. [00:33] 7Arrian: "She's ordered the whole thing to kill us!" [00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12What this means is that only one wave of cable spiders falls down upon you before the local hive loses the power to track Cross wherever she goes. [00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Two of them. Gravity's weird in here - you can just stand on whatever surface you want. So, it's not really with any particular advantage that one them comes crawling at you across a ceiling while another comes from an orthogonal direction acros a floor. [00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12They're slow, though, and a brownish-grey where others you've seen are greenish-grey. Fortunately, they haven't got Cross's curse to home in on, so as long as you keep moving there shouldn't be wave after wave of them on your heels. [00:44] "You know.. we can't fault Jen's aesthetics." [00:45] 6Cross: "She's got a lot of bad ideas, but taste." [00:48] 7Arrian: "I could fault anything about her, if I put my mind to it." [00:51] 6Cross: "Please go ahead." [00:51] 6Cross was all prepared to kick at a spider or something while saying this, but it looks like they've fallen into the Shadow of Gerry... 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus is a few paces ahead of the others, but stops dead when the spiders clack into the corridor. His shadow ripples and, yes, stretches out past the other mages (chilling them where they collide with it). Here? Now? Damn it. We are so close and we cannot tolerate further injury, further indignity, especially not at the claws of these vermin-- [00:55] <@Ferrinus> 12They just twist themselves apart. It's far less violent than last time, actually, because the internal tension that drives these creatures has been getting slacker and slacker for days, so they mostly just grind and tear and collapse rather than outright explode. [00:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Still a little fucked up, though. 15[00:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus turns, drawing his hands up, his face twisted and dark. He makes a slow gesture, like he's moving underwater, and the spiders just... unravel. 15[00:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's like there wasn't anything to them to begin with. It's like they were already dead, and the necromancer had only to point it out to them, like reminding Wile E. Coyote of gravity. 15[00:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "They're just things." [00:57] "Physically implausible things, even." [00:58] 7Arrian stares for a second. "Wow." 14[00:59] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) [00:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen's bullet point curse was more powerful than Cross's low-key stealth magic, but now that the former's dissolved the latter can smoothly ensure that no more of the spiders patrolling these halls will be able, as long as you keep moving, to catch you. It's not that the circuitry doesn't know where you are - Arrian can feel its attention - but the spiders just aren't as smart as the [00:59] <@Ferrinus> 12computerstuff is, and can only pathfind in their bumbling and stochastic way towards the places the circuitry is furiously right-clicking. 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "Let's go." [01:01] <@Ferrinus> 12That said, you have a heading. It's a damn maze down here, a sort of Tumbler-in-a-Tumbler, but it's clear to you which angles and patterns of circuitry to follow in order to reach the central hollow in which a core's forced to form and reform regardless of the mechanism's greater inclinations. Getting there is difficult, though, because entire hallways are actually slamming shut as [01:01] <@Ferrinus> 12you turn towards them (or threatening to), or the artificial gravity here is betraying you at odd moments, or in one case a tunnel attempts to trick you into a pac-man loop. [01:03] 6Unless there are dots to collect, Cross will mark it with a bit of wadded-up notepad paper shoved into a crack in the rock and ignore it the third time. [01:03] <@Ferrinus> 12The machinery'll try to kill you or stall you. Two immediate choices present themselves - you can tackle it head on, trying to use some combination of magic and prowess to just overcome the obstacles, or you can take a shortcut through the actual nexus of remaining cable-spiders. [01:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Judging from where the commands are centered, their hive/den thing is fairly closeto the center and'll let you skip past a lot of bullshit crushing traps and such, but it'll mean dealing with 'em. 15[01:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10How many are there? [01:06] 6Is it feasible to hold open the crushing passages, defy the sliding ones with superior agility, etc- just how tough and fast is this pile of rock? [01:07] <@Ferrinus> 12How many spiders? You don't have a full count. You've spotted at least two more skittering in the distance as you've tried to navigate the outsides of this thing, but haven't seen the hive itself. You're inferring its existence, basically, from the way the threads of cable-web are strung through certain corridors, where they thicken versus where they thin, etc. [01:09] <@Ferrinus> 12It's quite fast, and quite multifarious. In general, you're looking at four total kinds of obstacle: crushing or interposing stone, treacherously-twisted space, rewindings and remixings of your immediate past, and uncooperative gravity. This thing isn't a maelstrom paradox, but it's like going up against one. [01:10] 6Hey, hang on. Cross feels around in her suit jacket for a little silvery cylinder.. is the Guardians' rote any good against the kind of time distortions it's attempting? [01:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Prodding and exploring, you can find 'weak points' in local defenses such that obstacles featuring only two of those hazards are in your way at once, but you'll have to somehow overcome three such thresholds to reach the center - maybe just one if you use the spiders as a shortcut. [01:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Cross checks, and... yes, actually. The Perfecting magic in that little cylinder is good enough to smooth out jumbled and disordered time - you can use it in an attempt to directly counter things like that crawlspace that causes your body to be imperfectly superimposed on top of parallel timeline version of your body such that you threaten to chronofrag yourself. [01:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Of course, a humble little covert rote isn't natively as powerful as the great churning engine that is the Tumbler, but at the absolute least it'll armor you, if not outright defuse the hazard. [01:17] 6Why does she even still have this, she knows the spell. Well, it was a nice reminder.. 11[01:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, it's cool. Also, if Arrian or Paracelsus are currently Apprentices of Time, they could use it. [01:18] 6Cross hums a little, the walls flare rose-red to arcane perception (only), and actions and consequences begin to resume their usual relationship. [01:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Y'all have made a few Science rolls at the local circuits already, so on the topic of how it's tracking you: you don't see literal, like, cameras or pressure plates. There's a lot of fine, spindly stuff that's almost certainly being used to pick up EM signals of various kinds, though, so the easiest way for the planetoid itself to keep tabs on you would probably be through the [01:22] <@Ferrinus> 12electrical fields of your own bodies. 15[01:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "If we can get the rest of the spiders to think we're in another part of the tunnels, we can take a shortcut through their nest." 11[01:31] <@Ferrinus> 12E/M signature... weight... even scent and pheremone trail, if Paracelsus was feeling really thorough. Y'all could definitely fake being a big cable spider, or a pack of regular-sized ones traveling together. There's just one problem - this thing is smart enough to remember how many it's got, and where they've been, and where they should be going... [01:39] 6Cross: "What's the downside, drowning in razorblades?" 15[01:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Through the nest? The downside is more spiders. There'd still only be one blocked passage." [01:42] 6Cross: "Right, they're the.. I mean it's not literally drowning.. never mind." 15[01:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Alright. Arrian, if you can make the machines blink, I can use the time they're blinking to hide us." 15[01:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "Just... think spidery thoughts. Imagine yourselves descending on me to pull me apart and use my nervous for fiber optic cable." 15[01:45] <@VoxPVoxD> *nervous system [01:46] 6Cross wishes she could help with the plan.. and maybe she could, but she knows it's best to hold back. There's a ragged edge to her nimbus already, and flattened hollowpoints still smoking in the ruin of her cuffs, little patches of blood around the other wrist. [01:53] <@Ferrinus> 12It's too sharp. It can see you. It knows there are three of you, and that two of the spiders managed to reach you, and that you took them apart - it's not going to lose track that easily. [01:54] <@Ferrinus> 12If you got some fresh spiders, though - slipped behind the mask right in the midst of combat, or immediately in the course of destroying one... [02:01] 7Arrian can almost overcome its will-- but not quite. "Damn, damn, damn..." [02:02] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a mechanical brain the size of a house that's been folded into the walls. Pretty fucked up, basically. [02:03] 6Cross: "..the tunnels, then?" [02:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Either way, there's one obvious place to get enough spider-mass that the three of you could believably replace it with no one being the wiser. It'd probably be safer to hunt around the halls and collect patrolling creatures one by one, but slower - and surely Jen and the grey_fox are at least on the planetoid's surface by now. [02:06] <@Ferrinus> 12The tunnels, or the nest, or just straight into the obstacle course? 14[02:29] * Joins: bananaphone 14[02:40] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[02:45] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: mattbaby) 14[03:03] * Quits: bananaphone (Quit: bananaphone) 14[03:13] * Joins: hrolfie 14[04:02] * Joins: hrolfy 14[04:05] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[04:07] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[04:29] * Joins: hrolfy 14[04:40] * Joins: hrolfie 14[04:42] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[04:44] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[04:45] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[05:34] * Quits: dammitwho 14[06:49] * Quits: Crion 14[09:03] * Joins: hrolf 14[09:04] * Joins: hrolfie 14[09:09] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[09:46] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: mattbaby) 14[11:14] * Joins: ddt 14[11:16] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:17] * Quits: mattbaby (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[11:18] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:29] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[11:38] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: mattbaby) 14[11:39] * Joins: hrolfie 14[11:48] * Joins: hrolfy 14[11:52] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[12:13] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Quit: Leaving) 14[12:25] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:34] * Joins: Crion 14[12:40] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[12:40] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[13:15] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 11[13:40] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Mar 15 13:40:24 2015 Session Start: Sun Mar 15 13:40:24 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[13:41] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[13:41] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[13:41] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 10PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/SdZRg5O.jpg' 13[13:41] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Tue Mar 10 15:51:50 14[13:41] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by VoxPoxVD))) 09[13:41] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[13:41] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[13:41] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[13:47] * Joins: ddt 14[13:48] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[14:10] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:12] * Quits: hrolfie (Client Quit) 14[14:13] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[14:20] * Joins: Quaker 09[14:51] * banana is now known as bananap 14[15:13] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 09[15:28] * bananap is now known as bnnp 14[17:11] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[17:27] * Quits: trenchfoot (Quit: Leaving) 14[18:13] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[19:53] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[20:00] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:51] * Joins: Crion_ 14[20:55] * Joins: mattbaby [20:57] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/lBne5sR.jpg mage 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> jen... 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> why are you such a mean dumb jerk... [20:58] <@Ferrinus> * dumb [20:58] <@Ferrinus> * so goddamn crazy [21:03] that lady behind the office sasser has some really impressive earrings 14[21:04] * Joins: dammitwho 14[22:01] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[22:07] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[22:15] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[22:34] * Joins: Quaker 14[22:46] * Joins: trenchfoot [22:47] nick https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CALxUvsWYAAGlj9.jpg 14[23:40] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[23:41] * Joins: dammitwho [23:49] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/0FiXyPg.jpg Session Time: Mon Mar 16 00:00:00 2015 [00:39] <@Ferrinus> https://i.imgur.com/L9qYORT.jpg nick's plan [00:40] <@Ferrinus> http://40.media.tumblr.com/18976c0d0278e1f4f80a5abf57ec1a16/tumblr_n63ctyn0ZU1sn75h6o1_1280.jpg followup 14[01:26] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[01:33] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[01:33] * Joins: ddt 14[01:42] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[02:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:29] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[02:37] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[03:46] * Joins: bananaphone 14[03:49] * Quits: bananaphone (Client Quit) 09[04:32] * bnnp is now known as b____a 14[06:02] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[06:04] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[06:13] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[06:17] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[06:18] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[07:04] * Joins: Quaker 14[07:30] * Joins: mattbaby [07:58] - [07:58] - [07:58] - [07:58] - [07:58] - [07:58] - 09[07:59] * b____a is now known as banana 08[08:06] The pair of vampires who come walking down the path towards Rollie, after Santiago and Cavanaugh have drifted off, are dressed to the nines, but one's clearly intoxicated and the other one's busy making sure the first one is able to walk straight. "They're going out, they're gonna put out the lights, they're gonna rock it! Rock it! You can still rock in America, ah yeah, alright, you can still, rock in America, oh yeah, a [08:06] right-" 15[08:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie watches the other deputies go, but doesn't follow. He figures he oughta mingle a little, and- "Hey, you guys okay?" [08:10] In the cottage, the Prince of Los Angeles makes a face, and bends over to whisper into the ear of the woman resting on his shoulder. He stands, and bows slightly and stiffly to the Countess. He doesn't bother to acknowledge Edgar beyond a brief half-second of eye contact and a nod that might be entirely imagined. "I think I need to breathe some fresh air. Excuse me, Countess." When he's left, the other two kindred sitting [08:10] put their hands on the table. "I'm sorry, Countess," says the woman Lancaster called Countess-Palatine. "You know he doesn't mean it." [08:12] 6Edgar's still studying Lancaster, but not in reproach anymore. His choice of table was far worse for her than for him, really. How does it work? What determines who's immune..? 08[08:16] "Oh, boy. Look at this. Who's this cutie-bootie…?" The woman being supported by her friend sways unsteadily on her feet, one eye closed while she squints with the other for focus. Her face is flushed with blood, and probably other things, and her carefully pinned brown hair is starting to leak out in wayward strands. Her companion, Rollie realizes, is frightfully unpleasant to look at. The other woman's skin has a blotc [08:16] dry appearance. Her front teeth extend slightly past her lips, ending in a rat-like point. Finally, her ears end in strange points. "Jessie, come ON-" is all she can say when the first woman totters backwards and bumps into her. [08:19] The Countess Lancaster doesn't have a reaction that Edgar can see, except for a small, sweet smile. "It's quite alright. I understand completely." She snaps her fingers at Edgar, and points to the Prince's vacated chair, which the Countess-Palatine has pushed away from her, back to its socially-acceptable-for-complete-strangers distance. 15[08:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Hey, how you doing?" [08:20] Jessie thinks for a second. "How you doin-" 15[08:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Ordinarily, Rollie prefers to give the really sloppy people a wide berth unless he knows them, or is one of them himself. But technically... he is an officer of the law, and so he feels some small obligation. "Do you guys need to sit down? There's a bench back there a little bit." [08:26] 6Edgar: "Thanks." 6He takes the chair, without implications.. it's still a nice night, and they might not annihilate him. Who was the other guy, the Earl of Incrediblyimportant or something? 08[08:28] "Hey, buddy. The night is still young, okay. It's not even- what time is it-" "Two in the morning." "It's not even close to dawn, okay, this isn't communist America A.K.A. San Frisco. I don't need to sit. I need to keep drinking. Hey, do you want some?" Jessie has got a handle of vodka, and is using it liberally while she waits for Rollie's response. 15[08:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I'm good for now. Gotta drive." 10To the weird-looking woman: "You need any help? I'm Rollie Choi." 14[08:35] * Quits: dammitwho [08:36] The two unfamiliar kindred size Edgar up, but they don't look like they're about to spit on him and walk away. If Edgar is paying attention to it, he can sense that whatever's keeping everyone's Beasts docile tonight is still working inside this room, but if he bothers to read them, they're both much, much older than he is. "It's good to see you, Blythe," the Countess-Palatine is saying to Lancaster. "I get tired of cycli [08:36] through the same old faces." [08:36] 6It's fair to say that right now he's doing basically nothing OTHER than try frantically to read people. [08:36] "Who's your friend?" the other Count asks. "And why is he sitting? Here." [08:38] The weird-looking woman: "No, I'm good. She said she was going to do this before we got here, and she did. Hey, is that, um, why is there an owl on your shoulder…" She holds her hand up in front of her eyes. "Oh, wow. Nevermind, that's…that's probably not real." "PEARLLLL I'm too drunk to doo titlessss, haha. Do them for meeeee-" [08:39] 6Ah, and craven apologies might or might not be necessary but he'll speak for himself... "Edgar Doolittle, my Lord, from the Territory. I'm here due to a mistake, though it's a nice part of the room." 15[08:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks over his shoulder. An owl? [08:39] There isn't one. [08:40] Pearl: "Hey, what color is your hair, normally?" 15[08:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is she talking to Rollie? [08:40] Yes. 15[08:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Maybe he was wrong to judge Pearl sober. Either way, he's not about to throw shade on someone saying weird-ass shit. "Black." [08:42] Count Westlake isn't actively being impolite, but he's not warming up to anyone. "What's the mistake? You're welcome to the room, but…" He looks over to the Countess-Palatine, who isn't committing herself to looking mean. "What's the mistake?" [08:43] "Oh, huh, wow. It looks like bright yellow right now, sort of." 15[08:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Really? I wonder why that is." 15[08:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "Anyway, I don't know your titles, but, personally, I'm a Deputy in Orange County." [08:46] Jessie thrusts the glass jug into his front. "Oh, like a cowboy? Here, drink. Pearl, do the titles! I'm blanking." 15[08:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie will take the handle but not drink. It does smell like vodka, right? And not turpentine or something? [08:47] 6Edgar: "Neglecting to learn names or faces. Westlake, that's on the other side of downtown?" [08:50] "Um." Pearl is looking straight up at the simulated stars. Her hand waves indistinctly, finally pointing at herself. "Pearl Bernstein, Baroness Redondo. Jessica Kurtz-Campbell, Baroness…uh…" Jessie snatches the handle back and takes another alarming swig. It's labeled Smirnoff, so it does smell like turpentine. "Baroness Manhattan, bay-bee-" [08:52] Well, now the Countess-Palatine makes a slightly concerned face. Count Westlake: "Yes. Just to the west. Filipinotown, and the neighborhoods surrounding MacArthur Park. The…Orange Territory?" [08:57] 6Edgar nods at the description.. precise as these things have to be. "Pleased to meet you. That's the place - brought on by Lord Seabury last week. It could be less interesting." 15[08:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10See, if you'd asked a pre-Embrace Rollie to imagine a vampire Baroness, Jessie Kurtz-Campbell is a lot closer to what his first guess would've been than Teresa Okienka. So this is fine. It's all fine. "It's a pleasure to meet you both, Baronesses. Being that you outrank me, is there anything I can do for you tonight?" [09:03] Jessie looks up, stunned. "Oh, are you…working? You should be more relaxed. It's a party. You should be partying." Pearl rummages around in her purse, and holds up a plastic baggie filled with a few dried mushrooms, which she shakes for emphasis. [09:04] Westlake: "So, now you are corrected. Can we help you find the door again?" [09:05] The Countess Lancaster drums her fingers on the table. "Mr. Doolittle asked me to introduce him to the luminaries of the court. Naturally, he gravitated towards the brightest lights he saw." 15[09:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Man, that sounds good. "I really shouldn't..." [09:08] Jessie grabs Pearl's arm and shakes it and the baggie again. "Why? You're not driving back tonight, are you? Nobody drives back the same night. You just have to find somebody who will let you sleep over for the night. You should." 15[09:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Yeahhhh.... fuck it. "Alright, you wore me down." [09:09] Jessie: "Yaaaaay" [09:09] 6Edgar: "It was a very effective introduction, Countess. Of course I'll remove myself if propriety outranks boredom here." 6He hasn't moved, though. 08[09:10] Pearl shakes a few mushrooms out onto her palm and hands them out to Rollie. "Here. That should be good for a night. Um, they taste gross. So…" She motions vaguely in the direction of a nearby fountain of blood. 15[09:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Good call." [09:11] Jessie takes the bag. "Wait, don't put it away, I need more-" [09:14] The Countess-Palatine leans over to pat Edgar's hand with hers. "No, stay, Mr. Doolittle. It's not often that we get to hear stories from the Orange Territory except through secondhand accounts and rumors. You were part of the little group that went into Santiago Canyon the other night, weren't you? Lord Seabury only gave us the barest details." 15[09:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well, shit, let's do this. Rollie was feeling himself cool down anyway, so he'll drink up - chasing blood with vodka - until he feels more than alive. "Your excellencies," 10he says as he hands the handle back to Jessie if she wants it. [09:16] Jessie, through chewing, and after drinking: "Wait, are you really a Deputy? What's a Deputy do?" [09:19] 6Edgar: "True enough, Lady. Anyone's guess whether that will be the last visit, as there's still half of a sedan embedded above the lintel of the Franks house." 15[09:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie exhales, puffing his cheeks. "Whatever Lords and Barons tell me to, mostly. I'm a lawman, not a lawmaker. Clearing monsters out from under the bed, catching fugitives. Stuff like that. What about you two? What's the day to day like for a Baroness?" [09:24] Westlake: "It won't be, unless Baroness Murray has stopped liking gaining new territory." [09:24] Lancaster is looking at Edgar. "You fought the Circle, didn't you?" 08[09:27] Jessie points down the path. "Let's walk, or I'm gonna fall asleep and then I'll be pissed that I missed out. What's life like, Rollie? It's sweet as hell." 15[09:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "It seems pretty sweet, yeah." 14[09:28] * Joins: trenchfoot [09:29] Pearl keeps running her hands over the trunks of the trees they pass as they walk. Jessie: "Basically I get to sleep all the time and then drink and then take whatever and then go to parties and then mess around with people who don't outrank me and then I only have to go walk around in the woods like once a year but mostly we just hang out near the back and let other people kill things." 14[09:32] * Joins: ddt 14[09:33] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) [09:36] The trees part enough so that they can see the clearing once again. Jessie: "Oh my God, where are all the guys-" She decapitates a flower with a swing of the handle. 15[09:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's quiet for a while as he comes up, trying to work out if he's made a stupid mistake or not. As far as he can tell it's basically fine. 15[09:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "At least the fresh air's nice." [09:40] Jessie: "All the guys here are either married or old or, like, crazy. It's horrible- oh, yeah. I think it's fresh. They keep the windows open up here. I like the breeze. Pearl, keep up!" 15[09:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is Pearl just spacing out? [09:43] She was staring at the ground, but she hurries up when her friend calls her. She's taken her heels off, the better to jog forward. "There's like half the court single, Jessie. I could name like ten people." [09:43] "Name one." [09:43] "Lord Wilshire." [09:43] "Name…five." [09:43] "No." [09:44] "Hey, what did you call Lord Wilshire that one time?" [09:44] Pearl shakes her head. "When?" [09:45] Jessie: "The thing with the…letters! Acronym!" [09:45] Pearl: "Oh, a DILF?" Jessie doubles over with laughter. "Yesss!! Oh man, the internet is so good." 15[09:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie snorts. "To his face?" [09:49] Pearl: "Noooooo. That would probably result in a duel." 15[09:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "Duels are a thing? Oh man, what am I saying. Of course duels are a thing." [09:50] Jessie: "Yeah, and I'm like…total shit, at them. I'm so bad at shooting things. So you have to know who you can call a DILF to their face, and who you can't." 15[09:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Must be hard." [09:53] Jessie laughs. "It's fiiine. It's not like…San Diego. It's so cool here. I love Los Angeles. I love it!!" She makes a bow and arrow with her hands and shoots an imaginary arrow into the sky. "Pshheeeew-" [09:54] Pearl: "Hey, are those mushrooms kicking in yet? Normally you'd have to wait like an hour if you're with mortals but if you're blushing you should feel it pretty quick." 15[09:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Are they? [09:55] Jessie: "WAIT, are the Deputies the ones who got fucked up by the Circle down in like…a canyon? Last week? Oh my god." [09:55] They are, if he wants. 15[09:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie giggles. "I'm good. And, yep. That was us." 15[09:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "One of em turned into a giant fuckin crow." 15[09:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't even know." [09:58] Jessie: "Ohhhhh shit. Are you like, friends with werewolves and, like…crazy blood magic guys?" 15[10:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie thinks of Leisurely, and for a moment his head swims as he remembers the blowtorch. "Not if I can help it. That was a bad first impression." [10:01] Pearl: "Hot or not. Real quick." Jessie nods in her friend's direction. "Sure, go." [10:02] Pearl: "Bill Burne." Jessie: "Oh, man. He's tall. Yeah, the Circle is crazy. I mean, some of them are less crazy. The ones near us are kind of cool, actually, if you're both pretending you're not supposed to be killing each other. Um, don't tell anybody I said that. Wait, why Bill Burne?" 08[10:03] Pearl: "I think he's into me, I don't know. Rollie, did you say a crow? Like, just turning into one?" 15[10:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's rubbing his eyes, not because he's tired but to make himself see stars. "Yeah. Jubal. You know that one?" 14[10:05] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[10:05] * Joins: trenchfoot [10:05] 6Edgar leans back a little, to keep his knees from the table. "It wasn't much of a fight, you know. The black crows were sending a message in omens and splintered bone." [10:05] "We first encountered the Hierarch claiming to be out for a walk. He cocked a hawk nose at our writ and called us 'Bailey's men' as if it were a locker-room term. We were stupid, Countess, and when Jubal wished us luck with the night's business we actually left to carry it out." [10:05] "Of course it felt like a cloud had covered the stars and they would never return, like at our backs was liquid rage, but the three of us put it down to the folly of our youth and went about inspecting the manor." [10:05] "Deputy Santiago had been delayed, and he met the Hierarch coming rather than going. As it happens he's a good man, but there's no wrong enough anyone could have been in for what they did. Jubal returned with a circle of hooded worshippers and got in the way of Santiago's car. I opened the manor door to see it disposed of aerially - and the Deputy was next." [10:05] "No, it wasn't a fight, although it looked that way. Deputy Cavanaugh had blood on his claws from the monster in the house, Deputy Choi was leading the cougars that thing had enslaved, and I had a gun big enough to be comforting. There was nothing we could do but stand that ground as Jubal explained his claim to it." [10:05] "The half-dozen witches made a noise in counterpoint to the wind. Have you ever heard blood in a sound - like a scent transmuted to vibration? Their leader ranted and declared doom, threw an acorn at me in the doorway, which was probably not the right place to be standing. I believe the power they called up was what the word 'godless' was written for." [10:05] "While Santiago's body cooled, the Circle held us paralysed. They called Cavanaugh a lackey, which they will find was a dangerous spur; they called Choi a nonentity, though not noticing he'd understood their magic; they told me their spell meant I would die in six months, eaten internally." [10:05] 6Doolittle: "It was literally as black crows that they departed. I don't doubt that Helena Murray will get her due, so- you've got four men who want to be on the front line." [10:06] Pearl: "I think I've heard the name. I don't really know anything about the Santa Ana band, though. They travel in separate little tribes, you know. I don't even think they necessarily like each other." 15[10:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "That's good, cause, no offense, but the guys we ran into were diiiiiiicks." 15[10:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "Man, these are good." [10:07] The woman who has snuck up on the trio from behind: "Are they? You know, I could turn into a crow right now, if I wanted to." [10:08] Jessie screams in surprise, starts running, trips over her heels, and falls on her face. 08[10:08] Pearl looks at Rollie, and then back at the other woman, nervous. "Oh, hey, Baron Lewis." 15[10:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie, who already got spooked once before, takes it better this time. He spins around. He hasn't met Valeria Lewis, has he? [10:09] He has not. She's still wearing the tattered leather jacket that he doesn't know she was wearing when Clinton Cavanaugh saw her. 15[10:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Evening, Baron." [10:11] The three Count/esses are intrigued. Even Westlake cranes forward as they listen, enraptured. 15[10:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She probably doesn't actually have a halo that looks like motor oil in water. [10:12] Well, she might. Fashion these days. "Hello, deputy. Enjoying yourself? Bernstein, what've you got there?" [10:13] The Countess-Palatine is the first to speak: "An acorn? He cursed you with an acorn?" [10:14] Pearl holds the baggie out sheepishly. "Mushrooms. From Baron Bixby." 15[10:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie stands up a little straighter. "It's a good party, in my carefully considered opinion." [10:15] 6Doolittle: "Sure, giving us to understand that it had been prepared in some particularly evil way for seven years first. I wouldn't bring it here and ruin the atmosphere." [10:17] Lancaster takes her hat off and places it on the table. "Well, isn't that just extraordinary. It seems everyone sitting at this table has faced a Hierarch of the Circle of the Crone and lived to jaw about it." [10:18] Westlake: "That will only be the case for six months, though. Deputy. As you said." [10:18] Lancaster: "And…the cure?" [10:18] "I'd prefer an empty threat, but it's better than five months. Of course he claimed there was none." [10:19] 6Curious wording on the Countess's part. "Is there a hierarch for each band, or has there been a succession?" [10:21] The other Baron introduces herself without offering a hand to shake. "Valeria Lewis, Deputy. Baron of Chinatown and Archon to the Prince. Pearl, give." She reaches into the baggie and pops a few mushrooms into her mouth. "Oh my god, these are horrible. They better be good, or I'm going to kill Bixby for selling you literal shit." [10:22] Jessie has returned to her feet, although she's taken her shoes off. "Don't scare me!!" 15[10:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Of course, Rollie's frame of reference for the word 'archon' comes from Starcraft, so he assumes Baron Lewis is overwhelmingly powerful. "They're okay." [10:24] Lancaster: "Each band confines itself to its territory, unless they're raiding. Four for the four forests and ranges. They die and are replaced in turn. Only one has survived the entire length of time since the Court's founding. Although she's outgrown the use of an actual name." [10:26] The Countess-Palatine interjects: "You are searching for a cure, though. Aren't you?" [10:26] 6Doolittle: "Interesting. A war between such different cultures means we become anthropologists." [10:27] 6Doolittle: "For sure, my Lady. I'll be putting out the word, begging access to occult libraries, though I'd prefer novels.. don't worry, they won't have a victory uncontested. Or a message that means what they want it to mean." [10:28] Valeria makes a face. "Why not, Jessie? It's fun, and harmless enough. Choi, you seen a priest around tonight?" 15[10:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Of, like, God? No." [10:30] The Countess-Palatine pats his hand again. "You've moved me to sympathy with your story, Deputy. After you've taken on the burden of your station so bravely, you must tell me if you think I could help you." [10:31] Lewis: "Really? Hmm. Well, that's no good. Anyway, carry on, beach bums. I won't bother you anymore. Deputy Choi. Remind me to turn into a crow sometime when you're around." She winks, and then walks off into the clearing. 15[10:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Man." 15[10:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "If you're an Archon you can just walk up and take shrooms from whoever you want." 15[10:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "Pretty cool." [10:34] "It's a sad story, Deputy." The voice, maybe predictably, comes from behind Edgar. Behind, and far above. [10:34] 6Is this the condescension of 'nobility', or the condescension of hundreds of years of life and power? She probably doesn't mean any harm by it. Edgar smiles warmly (thanks to the blood fountains): "Appreciated more than you can know, Countess. The thing that seems most useful would be opportunities for research, contact with experts in the higher mysteries of our being." [10:34] 6Who's that..? [10:35] Pearl: "Well, she's welcome to it anytime. Poor Valeria. She never gets a day off." 15[10:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "An Archoff," 10Rollie says. 15[10:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then he giggles. [10:36] Jessie: "Poor nothing, I cracked my heel-" [10:37] The light from the lamps has dimmed ever so slightly. The assembled Count/esses murmur their respectful greetings, which all add up to: "Good evening, Lord Bren." 14[10:38] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 15[10:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Maybe you could float a little bit." 14[10:39] * Joins: FerrinusPrime [10:40] 6Here's what doesn't dim as he joins in the chorus: Edgar's smile. And look, here's a chair pulled out in case the big man wants it. [10:40] 6Depending on how much Bren heard, he might now know this: Edgar's seen worse than him. [10:41] The Countess-Palatine: "If you're looking for hands-on field work, Deputy, you couldn't go wrong asking Commissioner Martinez for a spot in his next expedition. Or, you could volunteer for a Halloween hunting party." [10:42] "That's the Wilderness Commission, right? I'll try to catch someone tonight. Still so new to this that I know none of their faces, but it's a good idea." [10:42] Bren is as tall and as broad as Edgar's memory serves. The black cloak covering his entire body has been exchanged for a red one, and in the place of a smooth porcelain mask he's wearing one that's been carved into the shape of a man's laughing face. [10:44] 6:S [10:45] His voice is as dry and deep as Edgar remembers, too. "My wonderful Countess-Palatine, my esteemed Count Westlake, and my extraordinary Countess Lancaster. I hope I'm not interrupting, but I need to speak with the Countess-Palatine about recent events to the south." [10:45] Jessie: "I'm not the right kind of high for that!" [10:46] 6No faces, but he knows places. Irvine is technically south of this part of LA, but what's SOUTH south is... San Diego? [10:46] The Countess Lancaster puts a hand on Edgar's shoulder. "I think we've taken enough of the Countess-Palatine's time, Mr. Doolittle. Shall we?" [10:47] 6To Westlake and the Prince's partner: "By your leave." [10:48] 6Suddenly, Edgar's glad that his reading habits have included Jacqueline's damned historical romances. 15[10:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "We'll all float on... hey, how much time have you guys spent around the Prince?" [10:50] Lord Bren rustles as he turns to let Edgar and the Countess pass by. "I overheard your story, Deputy, and I'm ashamed to say I can only offer a word of support. That is: although you surely cannot feel lucky, maybe one day you'll realize you are. Because when you fight the Circle, after a great deal of pain you are at least guaranteed the release of death. Compared to others." [10:51] Jessie: "Not enough. He's cool. I wish we talked more, but he's so busy." [10:51] 6Edgar: "Lord Bren, I keep in mind that there are worse fates and greater enemies to have." [10:52] The Countess Lancaster steers Edgar away from the table, back to the entrance of the room. "I told you I'd introduce you," she says. If Edgar is looking, he can see the hints of a smile showing. [10:54] 6It's a cabin it's nice to be leaving. No supernatural beasts on display tonight, but that just means the kind Edgar knows were out. He's struck by a sudden empathy for the assembled Invictus, so bored by their shared pretence. He'd wondered whether there was anything different about their kind of wealth, and now he knows. [10:55] 6Doolittle: "I'm introduced beyond the call of duty. Trust me, New York is now an unsafe origin in these parts." [10:55] "Hi, Countess Lancaster, can I borrow this fella for a minute?" Here's somebody new who walks up to them as they leave the cottage, even if the voice isn't. Edgar recognizes the short newcomer with big glasses as the body belonging to the voice of Katie Carson. [10:56] Pearl: "Have you met him?" [10:56] 6Body language indicates that sure, he's borrowable, though it's up to his escort, although he *expects* that she's glad to be rid of him, but still, [10:58] Lancaster: "Oh…" She looks disappointed, but she's not literally holding onto him or anything. "Of course, Ambassador. But, Mr. Doolittle, do you have a partner for the waltz in…" She checks her golden pocket watch. "An hour?" 15[10:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Yeah... Rollie's thinking about downtown LA, light and height and movement, a vast and luminous place. He can envision it, then, from space, light coursing synaptic up and down the coast, diminishing into twinkling isolation in the east... "In... in a manor, speaking." 15[10:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Oh, shit. No no. No. We can cover for this. 15[11:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "Only briefly." [11:00] Jessie: "Hey, are you okay? You lOOOok…kInd..oF Sick [11:00] Well, this isn't just the mushrooms, anymore. 15[11:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's ten feet tall, but he can't even see Alice from up here. [11:02] Is time passing more quickly, all of a sudden? "Jessica. Pearl. Why don't you let me see what's wrong with the Deputy?" 15[11:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Who is that? 08[11:02] Jessie & Pearl, because their voices have merged together: "Sure, okay. Rollie, come find us at the dance if you're feeling better!" 08[11:03] Rollie knows who it is. It's who he came to see. [11:03] And now he's over the railing. 15[11:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "Vaya con Dio, holy divers." 15[11:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wheeeeeeeeeeee [11:04] "I asked after you, once you'd gone. The Kogaion was kind enough to attach a face to the name." [11:04] 6Edgar: "Countess Blythe, I do now." 6It's the only possible response, but frankly he's looking forward to it. [11:04] "I'm so glad." And then she's withdrawn back into the crowd, her hat the only way he can see her among all the people. 15[11:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You have the worst of me." [11:06] "That'll change." [11:06] "Why don't you sit down?" 15[11:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie sits cross-legged on whatever comes first between his deposed body and the ground. [11:07] 6Deputy Doolittle: "Ms. Carson." 6As much as the Ambassador, he watches how others look at the Ambassador. Are SF and LA enemies, really? Are they content to be opposite poles with distance between them? Or is there a real enmity, a permanent effort to undermine? 08[11:08] Rollie's senses return all at once. The Second Architect is seated opposite of him. There's another man he doesn't know, also in late middle-age, also bearded, that he might have seen at the scientific display. They're in a little grove, off the path. The sound from the crowd and the music from above is muted. 15[11:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Rex Nemorensis." 10He doesn't know what those words mean. 14[11:10] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 08[11:11] "What's your name, Deputy?" Up close, Rollie can get a better look. The trimmed white mustache, over the kind mouth. The soft, manicured hands resting in his lap. On his sleeves, the cuff links are real gleaming rubies. [11:12] Out here, the people are paying more attention to the dancing and the talking than they are to the little woman next to Edgar. If they notice her, it's not with any real recognition. They glide through, out to the quieter edge, slippery in social invisibility. [11:13] "I guess I owe you, Mr. Doolittle. For your tip earlier." 14[11:13] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [11:14] 6So the Republic or the movement behind it is only the kind of anathema you shun, not the kind you fight. At least not right now. 14[11:14] * Joins: ddt [11:18] 6Edgar: "It was common courtesy, Ambassador." [11:20] "C'mon, Edgar. I can sense a guy who needs something." [11:21] 6Edgar: "Weeell.. I wouldn't mind asking a few questions, if you've got a moment." [11:22] 6Edgar: "Y'see, I'm so new to this that all I know about your group is the name. From which I infer a location." 15[11:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I am Childe Roland, to this dark tower come." [11:22] Carson: "Carthia isn't a place, unfortunately." [11:23] "But, ask away. My entire function in this city is to facilitate peaceful understanding." [11:25] 6Edgar: "The term I'd heard more was the 'Bay Republic'. It's used, in fact, with deliberate political intent, to convey the sense of a regional faction." [11:28] Katie: "Call me Katie, by the way. I tried to get them to adopt something less generic, but you can't beat the union of place plus purpose." [11:31] 6Edgar: "It's the purpose I'm curious about, since I like warm weather. I've been hearing a lot of well-argued discourses since days became nights- all about the realities of blood, the necessities of order, the virtues of tradition, the requirements of position." [11:32] 6He gestures at the party, with its decadence and hierarchy on equal display. "On some things, people have been unanimous. Standing against that is just one word as a counterpoint." 15[11:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie rocks back and forth slowly, his face tilted up toward the stars. "Aren't they lovely? An infinite and stupefying form." [11:35] The other man starts to speak, but the Second Architect holds his hand up to silence him. "Can't you see? Let him speak." [11:36] Katie: "Poor Carthian. It has to bear all that history, and all that blood and sadness. All on its own." [11:38] 6Edgar: "Okay, I was thinking 'republic'. However, I can take a hint. What is the Carthian Movement?" [11:41] Katie: "Oh, sorry, dumb ol' me. The Carthian Movement is a loose alliance of the political tendency toward radical change among estalished kindred society, most notably arrayed against the ubiquity of the neofeudal Invictus model. Sometimes democratic, sometimes not." [11:42] 6Edgar: "Right. That makes sense, except I'd had the impression there was hardly enough of a tendency to ally." [11:44] Katie: "Still waters run deep, to borrow a phrase. What you see isn't what's there." [11:46] 6Edgar: "So California nights once belonged to the Circle. As I understand it, the Invictus came up from the south. Were" 6we? "they ever in San Francisco at all?" [11:48] Katie: "Oh, yes. The San Francisco Court was ruled by the Invictus until 1969. It used to be called the Superb Court, in the Californian tradition of giving themselves appropriate nicknames." [11:49] 6Edgar: "That's where the radical change came in." [11:51] 6Edgar's absolutely serious, despite his habits of speech, and talking quietly. This is very important information, and a perspective on it he's not going to get from, say, Seabury. Or Cavanaugh. He's noticed that a lot of vampires think so *tightly*, constraining themselves to ambition, yes, goals of power, yes, but all within a city, a structure. It must be tempting, over centuries of life, to perceive your relationships as [11:52] ossifying. There could be things up north to which the people in the cabin are totally blind. [11:54] Katie: "From their perspective, violently and all at once. It was the result of decades of work and hidden planning, though." [11:56] 6Edgar: "And how do things work now? By what regulated or self-organising principle does a man or woman in the Bay limit their, uh, needs?" 15[11:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "And that's what God is, isn't it? An infinite and stupefying form... beautiful, lazy, with no desire to do anything... you are an overman, but you are no Zarathustra." 14[11:59] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:00] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[12:00] * Joins: trenchfoot [12:01] Katie: "We're the democratic kind of monster up north. There was a thing with the fascists back in the 80s, but it was just a thing. We vote, and assemble, and argue. Each man and woman limits their needs to what the Republic can provide, and in return they get a community that provides without consideration for rank or age." [12:02] The other man: "He's a bit of an odd duck, isn't he?" 15[12:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "From a bit of a quack, yeah?" [12:02] The Second Architect doesn't move or alter his gaze. "He's far more interesting than you'll ever be, Joe, so shut up before I lose my temper." 15[12:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Those are the calls on the water tonight." 14[12:03] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [12:04] The Architect: "How did you come to this place?" [12:05] 6Edgar: "You've left out, this is unfair because I'm asking for the details of a society all at once, but you've left out enforcement. This long life doesn't improve human nature." [12:06] Katie looks up at him. "Vote or die, to borrow a second phrase." 15[12:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "We welcomed them then and commingled our choirs. If only we could remember those days. If only we could remember." [12:08] The Architect: "You see how he speaks?" [12:09] "Language, Joe, is never sufficient to truly articulate our desires. You see the effect multiplied by several factors here." 15[12:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You always Haddaway with words." [12:11] The other man shifts uncomfortably on the balls of his feet. 15[12:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "If I'm Roland, as you claim, what names will I devise for you?" [12:14] The Second Architect: "Outside of the meetings and in society you may call me Solitude Agnew, Lord Westwood. Sol, if we become friends. The man standing besides me is Joseph Meredith, Third Adept of the Burning Hunger. He has no Invictus title." [12:15] "Who is Leisurely Foster to you?" 14[12:16] * Joins: trenchfoot_ [12:16] Katie Carson stops them before they walk clear into the treeline. "Edgar, can I do you a favor? Or two?" [12:18] 6He'd just been about to ask what the cost had been, to reach their fairer necessary evil. "Sure, they're as good as cash prizes." 15[12:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "She gives her children love and they pay her back with pity, the basest coin there is." 14[12:19] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [12:22] Katie: "Just generally, it's considered poor form for a low man on the Invictus totem pole to tip off the Carthian ambassador that there's a man going to the gallows, because she'll pull some strings and a car that was supposed to go one way will go another way. So Max Hoffman has you to thank for his third chance at unlife. But I won't tell anyone what you did. Poor Cederquist. I imagine he'll catch an earful, and it was [12:22] never even his to influence." [12:22] The Architect: "She deserves my pity and my respect, and I give her both." [12:25] 6Edgar: "Katie, I wasn't under the impression that courtesy was common. But I needed to know more." 15[12:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie shakes his head. "Your heart doesn't belong to the penultimate void, but to the one after." [12:25] 6Edgar: "Still do, though I don't mean that I'll take up more of your time tonight." [12:28] Katie: "The problem is that you don't know which question to ask, to get the answers you want. I heard about your thing in the canyon. Six months isn't a very long time." [12:29] The Architect: "Yes. You have the size of things." [12:29] 6Edgar: "You've got sharp ears!" [12:30] 6She wasn't in the cabin. A bug? Or has someone else already been giving out details? [12:30] Katie shrugs. "Word gets around if you know who to lean on. The question you need to ask is 'Who knows enough about Circle magic to tell me how to fix this?'" 15[12:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie stands up. "I've seen only the first. I'd hate to miss the Forest among the trees." [12:32] The Architect stands, too. "You can't miss it. And you can't leave it, as much as you'd like to." [12:32] Katie: "I can give you a name, and a place. The rest is up to you." 15[12:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "We stab it with our steely knives..." [12:34] The Architect: "That's right. You can't kill it. You can only rule it, until you are it, and nothing can rule you." [12:37] 6Edgar: "I didn't know it was life-or-death for Hoffman. I've got no objections to the outcome, but I'll tell you, I wasn't aware of the stakes. Since there's no going back, I'll take your facts with thanks and call them square." [12:37] 6Edgar: "Shit, that was a bit of a mixed metaphor." [12:38] Katie: "That's fine. Aware or not, you sold me something, so here's your payment. Grace Stokes, Ocean Hills Retirement Community, down in San Juan Capistrano. That's it." 15[12:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks up at the stars again, and cracks his neck. He claps the Second Architect on the back. "My man. This is one hell of a party." 08[12:41] The Third Adept looks up in shock at Rollie's gesture, but the Architect doesn't react beyond a slow nod. "Yes, it is. Remember that is serves a purpose, and it's even more impressive." [12:41] 6Edgar lets it show on his face that he knows the name. God damn it. He says: "Thanks, Katie. Call me if you need anything in the Orange Territory." [12:42] The Ambassador from San Francisco shrugs. "Sure. Be seeing you, hopefully at point in the future farther than six months from now." 15[12:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie exhales. "Hoo. I'll do my best. Anyway, thanks for your time, Lord Agnew. Mr. Meredith." [12:43] The Architect: "Goodbye, Thirteenth Slave. Don't keep the title for too long." 15[12:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He presses a hand to his own chest. "Deputy Choi, in mixed company." [12:43] "I'll remember it." 15[12:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10You sure will. 15[12:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Now what was this about a dance floor? 08[12:46] Both of these interactions, by pleasant coincidence, take about an hour to fully resolve, and by the time Rollie finds his way back to the clearing the herky-jerk dancing has been replaced by couples assembling themselves in rows and squares on the grass. 15[12:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie'll reheat on the way there and swipe another punchjar of blood to make up the difference. [12:47] "Mr. Doolittle." The Countess Lancaster is still there, waiting. [12:47] Edgar can see that the string quartet has moved from the inside of the cottage to a small bandstand that's been erected on the clearing, and that they've been joined by a dozen others carrying instruments. 08[12:49] Jessie and Pearl see Rollie, and approach, and bring with them Leisurely, who has the happy and spaced-out look of a good high on her face. "Hey, Stranger." 15[12:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie affects a bow. "Ladies." [12:50] Jessie: "You find somebody to dance with?" [12:52] 6Edgar: "Countess Lancaster, have you ever had an ambassador talk philosophy to you?" 15[12:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Naw, I got stuck talking about astronomy and the Eagles with Lord Agnew until I came down. You guys've been having way more fun." [12:53] Once the orchestra is assembled, the conductor taps his baton against the stand and bows stand at attention, while brass players lick their lips in nervous anticipation. [12:53] Lancaster nods. "That's all they ever seem to want to discuss, Mr. Doolittle." [12:53] 6Edgar: "She said it was her job. Whoops, here's something more urgent: I know very little about the waltz. Lead me?" [12:55] 6If need be he'll spend stolen blood for inhuman dexterity, because this is.. it *might* be a relaxing dance in pleasant company, but really, it's another of the night's trials, and like half the people here, he's damned if he'll look bad in front of the rest. 08[12:56] Above the crowd, the lights of the night sky fade, and are replaced by a single picture. If they look up now, they can see the trick: it was all just one big video screen all along. Now, the only thing projected down are two people sitting in a handsome parlor, on a little sofa, in front of a roaring fireplace that's been decorated with lace in the shape of oak leaves and pumpkins. Rollie would recognize one as the Fourth [12:56] Adept of Burning Hunger, and Edgar would recognize the other as the Countess-Palatine of Eastern Los Angeles. 15[12:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "What a cute couple," 10Rollie whispers to the Baronesses and Leisurely. 08[12:57] 6There we go, and of course everyone's here to see the royal couple. Hey, that's Rollie over there surrounded by chicks. Is it the edge of Clinton's profile on the other side of the dance floor, in a rather different situation..? [12:57] "Good evening," the Prince-in-the-sky begins. His voice emerges from speakers placed on the edge of the clearing, and under the eaves of the cottage. [13:00] "I cannot tell you how happy I am to see you all here to mark the beginning of another ball season. It is the happiest period of the year for me, and I am happiest when I can return, in my small way, the hard work from all of you that makes the functioning of this Court possible. I hope you have all enjoyed the party, and I hope you will enjoy the music and dancing, and I won't let my terrible public speaking delay either [13:00] much longer. So, from our household to yours-" The Countess-Palatine and the Prince join hands and smile - [13:01] "We wish you a happy, safe, and productive Halloween. Goodnight, and enjoy." [13:01] The Countess leans in to whisper: "Just move where I push you. It's easier for the amateur than it appears. Of course it's a nightmare to master." [13:02] The players dip their bows, the brass section puts lips to instruments, and the orchestra begins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iAz34mk1mo [13:03] NEXT TIME: THE FANGOVER 09[13:30] * banana is now known as b____s 14[13:40] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 09[13:46] * b____s is now known as b____a 14[13:51] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[13:54] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[15:01] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[15:01] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[15:08] * Joins: Crion 14[15:11] * Joins: Crion_ 14[15:14] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[15:14] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 14[15:21] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[15:33] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[15:41] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[15:56] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) [16:08] - [16:08] - 09[16:09] * b____a is now known as b____p 08[16:10] Santiago takes his leave, and Rollie dithers silently, so when Cavanaugh decides to desert him in search of his natural habitat of a party where he can schmooze, it's without surprise or offense given. Here is the man's ideal state: existing to insert himself in the network of power, to give commands and to receive commands. Odd, for a Savage. [16:11] 4Shepherd. [16:11] 4Cavanaugh is a Shepherd. [16:11] 4And for him, this is the most natural thing there is. [16:14] Who is he seeking? Rosa is busy with ingratiating herself with a glimpsed Harpy, Seabury has vanished, presumably to make his appeal and be rejected, and the other deputies have taken the opportunity to advance their agendas. 08[16:22] 4Alicia wanted him to seek out power brokers and ingratiate himself directly...and that would, traditionally, mean the Prince. Cavanaugh knows Rollie met with him earlier -- he's in the building, or he was at some point -- but where is he now...? [16:22] Rosa said he was in the cottage... [16:26] And, providentially, at the exact moment he steps into the clearing again, with a clear line of sight towards the little house, he sees a figure he's only met twice before (although he's spoken to him over the phone a handful of times previously, almost all of them back when the Court negotiated his reassignment) depart from the front door, heading towards the nearby trees. [16:27] He's just as he remembered him, slim in his tailored suit, head down in thought as his long legs jerk up and down over the uneven tilt of the grass. [16:28] 4Oh. That's... [16:28] 4Convenient. [16:29] Luck swings both ways. Just last week he was threatened with a sudden and violent death. [16:29] 4A few times. [16:30] Well, there you go. [16:30] "My Prince," 4Cavanaugh says by means of introduction. Polite smile. Deferential tone. [16:32] 4...Aaaand nothing. [16:32] He's walked straight into the woods. A bit of hiking is required, it seems. [16:33] 4Hiking. At the top of the damn Bank building. Fine. [16:34] The trail is clear, though. It's a gentle reminder that this wood is not real, and that someone with an eye on ease of use designed its pathways. [16:36] 4It occurs to Cavanaugh for the first time since he stepped foot on this floor how...uncouth...this setting would be considered in the traditional Invictus social climate. Perhaps if the Prince were Gangrel (like, sigh, himself) this would be more understandable. [16:36] 4As it is, it merely speaks to a frankly bizarre local cultural fixation with the woods. [16:37] A few minutes after he sets, out, and a few good decisons afterwards - did he take the right fork, or the left? ah, there's the footprint - Cavanaugh finds himself on the banks of a small pond, enclosed in one of the groves that miraculously muffles the sound of distant conversations and music pumping in through the ceiling. The Prince stands with his back to the Shepherd, his head bowed in concentration, hands in his [16:37] pockets. He doesn't seem to have noticed Cavanaugh. [16:39] 4After a moment's pause, once again: "My Prince." 4He will say this from as far away as is polite, both to keep from shouting and to avoid the appearance that he was sneaking up on the...man. [16:41] The head turns, just to see who it is. "Mm." He doesn't extend an invitation, but he doesn't produce any gesture of dismissal, either. The body language is inviting Cavanaugh forward. [16:41] 4Forward it is, then. To a polite distance. One just out of lunging range. [16:43] "You saved me the trouble of finding you," Bailey says, while he walks closer to the water. He bends over, shrugging his feet out of his shoes, rolling his pant legs up and pulling his socks off. Seated on a rock, he rests his feet in the water. "You can sit, if you'd like." [16:43] 4Oh. [16:44] 4Cavanaugh will sit, then. Again, politely close, but out of arm's reach. [16:45] "I'd ask if you liked the woods, but I suppose you've seen enough of them for a good long time." [16:45] 4Cav: "I don't think the latter precludes the former. I'm comfortable in the woods -- just rarely dressed for them." [16:47] "You know, in San Diego we'd all be wearing suits of armor." The Prince lets the comment hang in silence for a long moment. "Enjoying the party so far, though?" [16:48] 4He smiles. "Less than my fellow Deputies, I suspect. But yes, I am. Spent some time talking with Seneschal..." 4Oh God. Come on. "...Isaacs earlier. She's very capable." [16:50] "Yes, she is. If you feel like it warrants one, you should compliment her for the decor. She designed the whole thing. I don't particularly care for the theme, but my wife liked it as well, so what could I do except indulge?" [16:50] 4Married, is he? Huh. [16:50] 4Out loud: "I think I'll do that." [16:51] 4Looking around: "I just got a pair of cats. I think they'd like it here." [16:51] There's a gold band on his finger and everything. The Prince doesn't comment on what Cavanaugh's cats may or may not like. A few minutes pass in silence. [16:51] "Do you value candor, Clinton?" [16:52] 4Cavanaugh is silent another moment. Then: "Less than I should. I value it most in its absence." [16:55] "The heart grows fonder. I'm not enjoying my party. I was trying to place the emotion earlier, and realized it was simply the frustration of a spoiled child denied his grand entrance." Bailey leans forward and sweeps his hand across the bottom of the pond. "That'll do it, to ruin a party." He comes up with a pebble. "She really thinks of every little detail." [16:57] 4Cavanaugh thinks back to his last birthday party. It'd come shortly after his Embrace, when he was still trying to keep up appearances with his New York social circle. The mortal one. He'd Blushed, and drank, but hadn't gotten drunk. He'd felt the 'food,' greasy between his fingers, and looked around the table and seen...not friends, not any longer. [16:58] 4He doesn't think that's quite the feeling that Bailey has, tonight. [16:58] 4It's probably been centuries since the last time he felt like that. [16:58] 4So all Cav does is nod and "Mmm." [16:59] "It's a shame, because I enjoy spending time with my friends like this. Work…has a nasty way of intruding on your relationships, doesn't it? That's why I didn't want the woods tonight. They're beautiful, but all they do is remind me of Orange County and all its problems." [16:59] 4Cav: "It does always seem to come back to the woods." [17:00] "It doesn't matter anymore, but I was going to announce the splitting up of the Territory tonight. I had everything ready to go. The slices measured and weighed." [17:01] 4... "Oh?" [17:01] "You're allowed to speak, Clinton. Otherwise I'm lecturing, and I can't stand lectures." [17:04] 4Cavanaugh: "I, on the other hand, have become innoculated to them over the past four years. But. Yes. You're right, sir, of course." [17:05] "They give you a lot of lectures in New York?" [17:07] 4Cav: "Indeed. Speaking of New York: you have kept me at arm's length since my arrival, something to which I am unaccustomed. I understand, or at least believe I understand, the outline of your reasoning for doing so, and cannot dispute the logic and safety behind it." 4He begins to take off his shoes. "But I received an interesting visitor, just the other day." [17:08] "Did you? Anyone I know?" [17:09] 4Now his socks. "Perhaps. She used to live here, back before I was born. Either time. She informed me things are changing, back in New York. I have no reason to mistrust her, save that I've been made to understand that things never change back in New York. But I was upbraided. You see: New York demands results. New York wants to know why I am in Orange County, while you are in Los [17:09] Angeles." [17:09] "So I would like to make a request." 4Cavanaugh sticks his feet into the water, too. "Keep me in Orange County." [17:10] "Then you'll be happy to know that I was going to tell you to stay down there, anyway." [17:12] 4Cavanaugh: "You are more than well aware that I was placed here in order to increase the influence of my superiors upon your court. That, of course, is the trade-off for having a Shepherd present. I would be remiss if I didn't remind you that my organization is not synonymous with the New York court in any way, shape or form." [17:13] "In fact, if I had to guess, I would guess it was that division that led to the recent change in leadership." [17:14] "I was not born in New York. I only died there." [17:14] "I'm from Sacramento, matter of fact." [17:15] Bailey laughs. "I think you're stewing over an offense I never meant to give. I guess I gave it all the same, so I apologize. I don't dislike you because your people are from New York, Clinton. I dislike New York personally, but it doesn't alter my common sense. I guess I've been avoiding you because I made the same mistake every rich man makes once every now and then. I bought something I thought would be useful when I [17:15] didn't have any room to keep it." [17:15] "And now I have room." He tosses the pebble further into the pond. "Sacramento, huh?" [17:19] 4Cavanaugh nods. "Orangevale, born and bred. Maybe some prophecy in that." [17:20] "Sorry, either way." [17:21] 4Cav: "Apology accepted, but not required. I'm not saying all this by way of recrimination. I'm saying it to inform you of this: I plan on testing the Shepherds." [17:22] "I want to know if there's an actual panic back east, or if this is all just internal politics." [17:22] "Test them as much as you'd like, but make it a hobby. I finally require your special talents as a peacemaker." [17:23] 4Cavanaugh wiggles his toes around. "And I think you'd want to know the answer to that as much as I do. Because I think both of us would rest easier if I was serving you -- and not New York." [17:24] 4He'll look over now, waiting for the Prince to explain further. [17:25] Bailey smiles. It's crooked, and his face falls easily into laugh-lines. "I rest plenty easy, Clinton. I know that every ambitious young man who comes west has more than one master when he starts out here. You're no exception, and I don't hold it against you. Serve New York, serve me, it doesn't matter. But I'll reward you, and they won't." [17:25] "You notice anyone not here tonight? Someone who should be here, and is not, I mean." [17:27] Cavanaugh knows exactly who's talking about, now that he thinks about it. Santiago asked whether he had seen any priests- [17:30] 4The Shepherd steeples his fingers, feet still in the water. "Bishops Frans Widmark and John Gorse." [17:32] "There you go. I can't say I'm very friendly with Bishop Gorse, but he's the quintessential Church man, never failing to tend to his flock and duties. Bishop Widmark - well, he's not my dearest friend, because I married her - but he's my oldest surviving one. So it's very sad that both of them feel that they can't appear here tonight." [17:33] 4Cavanaugh: "Problems with the Carmelites?" 4It's only a question out of politeness. [17:35] "I'm glad I'm not the one who has to explain the term to you." The Prince takes a flask out of his pocket, and takes a sip before extending it to Cavanaugh. "Whiskey? Blood's free tonight. Sorry about my bad taste, but I can't drink the stuff anymore unless it's a little bit sweet. Old age is funny." [17:37] 4It's only polite. Cavanaugh Blushes, then drinks. [17:39] "Are you familiar with the actual theological dispute? I suppose it's a severe one, but I could never find very much interesting about theology." [17:41] 4Cavanaugh: "In all honesty? As a Shepherd, the theology doesn't interest me. It's the practical effects I care about. And -- since this is in all honesty -- there are few things with more detrimental practical effects than orthodox Sanctum theology allowed to run wild. It enables the worst Kindred attitudes towards what is both a finite natural resource and a possible predator." [17:42] "My understanding of the Carmelites is that they are, essentially, Kindred Unitarians. As far as the Shepherd in me is concerned, that is a major win for both the Masquerade and the health of any local herd." [17:43] 4He wriggles his toes again. "Obviously, your political calculus will differ." [17:45] "I'm afraid I disagree. I like the orthodox Sanctified more often than I don't." Bailey puts the cap back on the flask. "I guess it would depend on the temperament of your local Bishops. I've got a pair of good ones, gentle ones. Well, gentle as they can afford to be. They find…acceptable ways to practice their sacraments. Acceptable from a practical standpoint, I mean. If I was facing God I'd plea that I was a practici [17:45] Carmelite the whole time, Scout's honor." [17:46] "Anyway." 14[17:47] * Joins: drinkybird [17:48] "As far as my office is concerned, a San Diego theological dispute is not my concern, nor should San Diego's heretics spilling over my borders concern me unduly, when those borders are actually unassigned Territory land, so that none of my lords get into nasty little fights. So I was pleased for a while, because I had thought all of my ducks were finally lined up. Bren's interest and Seabury's attention had finally [17:48] straightened the place out to my satisfaction." [17:48] 4Cavanaugh shrugs. "My analysis comes from the perspective of a fully Orthodox parish versus a fully Carmelite parish. It doesn't consider the human cost -- Kindred and Kine -- to get from one to the other. Nor does it factor in the responses of non-believer Kindred. It's entirely possible that you are right: the cost of conversion from Orthodox to Carmelite doesn't justify the eventual [17:48] decrease in Kine deaths." [17:48] "You may also not give a fuck about what happens to the Kine." [17:48] "So long as the Masquerade remains in place, that is entirely your prerogative." 09[17:49] * drinkybird is now known as trnechfoot [17:49] "That's the perspective you need to adopt in this line of work, and I'm glad you're taking to it. I'm about to show you something that only I and the Bishops know about so far, so don't go straight from this conversation to your bosom buddies. Understand?" [17:50] 4Cavanaugh: "Do you mean the rest of the Shepherds, or the rest of the Deputies?" 14[17:50] * Joins: drinkybird [17:51] "The former. Consider the other deputies here in spirit." 14[17:51] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [17:52] 4Cavanaugh: "I have no bosom buddies in the Shepherds. However, there is one of their number that can compel me to answer any question, at any time, for any reason. I will not volunteer the information to her. That is the firmest guarantee I can make." [17:52] "Hell, consider Seabury here in spirit. I had to turn down his request for a couple of reassigned Commission men, because I didn't want to use a sledgehammer when a little rock hammer is needed, and I couldn't even tell him why. He probably things I did it out of mad pique." [17:52] thinks* 14[17:52] * Joins: trenchfoot [17:54] The Prince laughs again. "Well, if Alicia Holymount gets her claws in you and makes you spill all of your secrets, I don't think this one would be of much interest to her. But what do I know about what interests her? I'm sure she's figured it out already, somehow." 14[17:54] * Quits: trnechfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [17:54] 4He said the name, not Cavanaugh. [17:54] 4Thus, Cavanaugh didn't tell the Prince Alicia was in town. [17:54] 4Out loud: "Fair enough." 14[17:55] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [17:55] From his coat, he takes out a piece of heavy printed stock paper. "The Ambassador from San Diego handed me this two nights ago. You can imagine for yourself the effect it had on my plans and spirits." He hands it over to Cavanaugh. [17:56] 4Cavanaugh takes it from him. Is there an abstract to read? Is he expected to flip through it quickly...? [17:56] 4Er [17:56] 4*rewind* [17:56] 4Cavanaugh reads the sheet. [17:56] It's only one page, with two paragraphs printed upon it. It reads: [17:57] It is Our will that all peoples ruled by the administration of Our Clemency shall practice that religion which the divine Longinus the Condemned transmitted to the Monachus, as it has been carefully preserved, and which is is the religion followed by the Archbishop Serapion of Mexico and by Origen, Bishop of San Diego, and by Francis of Los Angeles and John of Los Angeles, the Bishops of that city, all men of apolistic [17:57] sanctity. [17:57] That is, according to the Sanctified discipline of the evangelical doctrine, we shall believe that the place of the Damned in relation to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost be that of righteous executioners, wardens and predators under the protection and law of the Holy Trinity. [17:57] We command that persons who follow this rule shall embrace the name of catholic Sanctified. The rest, however, whom We judge demented and insane, shall carry the infamy of heretical dogmas. Their meeting places shall not receive the name of churches, and they shall be smitten first by Divine Vengeance, and secondly by the retribution of hostility which We shall assume in accordance with the Divine Judgment. [17:58] In the year of etc. [17:59] The Decree of Iago Morales, Prince of The Sublime Court & All Associated Territories and Domains [18:00] 4Cavanaugh almost laughs, then frowns. "This is a call to violence against the Carmelites. It's tantamount to declaring a Blood Hunt. They can't declare a Blood Hunt in your city. Who the fuck do these people think they are?" [18:02] "Between you and me, I always thought of Prince Morales as stupid and ineffectual, but I suppose I judged him a different species of stupid than the one who turns religious problems in his city over to the Mexican Inquisition. No, read carefully. All peoples ruled by his administration. It ends at my border. But it makes his problem my problem." [18:02] "If I go ahead and divide the Territory, then I'll have zealous Sanctified killing Carmelites in the backyard of one of my lords, and something will go wrong, and my lord will go after his lord, and then I'll be going after him or he'll be going after me. You see how it goes." [18:04] "What's personally offensive is that he named my Bishops in his Edict. I know they want nothing to do with it, but he summons them against their will, and now friction exists where it hadn't before. They're in an awkward position." [18:07] 4Cavanaugh shakes his head. "No, no. This is unacceptable. I have read carefully. It states 'his administration,' but then includes in the dependent clauses following that statement parishes in YOUR dominion. This is encroachment. This is an attempt to make policy where he has no right to make policy." [18:08] "Thus begins your first applied lesson in good government." [18:09] 4Cavanaugh: "The practical outcome of this: San Diego crusaders. Not just people from Los Angeles. We're looking at an influx of religious fanatics." 4He looks up. "Which you've clearly already anticipated; right. And your Bishops choose to no-show tonight, instead of give you the backing to issue a counter-edict?" [18:12] 4Cavanaugh: "If I were your political advisor -- and I am not, but if I were -- my advice would be an immediate summit with your bishops, on pain of Archon, combined with you ordering your Sheriff and all his Deputies to send any San Diego interloper in any territory claimed by the Brilliant Court back to the San Diego Parish torpored on a cross." [18:14] Bailey takes the paper back, and returns it to his coat. "I couldn't issue a counter-edict if they showed up here with every worshipper in their parish chanting my name in support. None that would hold any water, anyway. Morales has gone and appealed to the Archbishopric of Mexico. It's the old and reactionary - even more reactionary than San Diego on a given night, you understand - head of the Sanctified church in North [18:14] America. What can I ask them to do, go against their spiritual father? I'm not ready to see if the engine explodes when I step on the gas." [18:15] 4Cavanaugh is almost snarling. "Does that letter bear the Archbishop's seal?" [18:15] "And I can't rule too heavily on it one way or the other, either. The Bishops have their own zealous men and women to deal with, and their own people who are sympathetic with the Carmelites. I'm not looking for a definitive statement to be made, but the immediate results lessened." 14[18:20] * Joins: mattbaby [18:21] 4Cavanaugh: "My advice remains the same. A summit is necessary regardless -- I would have one with your bishops, and then I would have another with them and the local Carmelites -- and the Archbishop of Mexico has not a single speck of authority over the territorial integrity of the Los Angeles Court. Orthodox Lances may take up arms as they wish. It is my strenuously held opinion [18:21] that you cannot extend that same courtesy to out-of-towners." [18:25] The Prince doesn't reply for a while, except to put his hands on his knees and sit up straight, looking at the water. When he does turn back to Cavanaugh, he's smiling again. "And that," he says, "is what competes for my attention when I try to have a good time at the party my childe is so proud of throwing." [18:25] 4Cav sits back, a bit embarrassed. [18:25] "My apologies. I was forward." [18:26] "Yes, you were. Mind that I'm more forgiving than most, and slower to anger." [18:26] 4Cavanaugh nods. He didn't want only to lecture. This is what happens when you make that request. [18:26] "A quick temper won't serve you well down there. A good grasp of law might not, either. Patience, and an open mind." [18:27] 4Cavanaugh mods again. "I will, of course, abide by whatever you decree in this matter. I have one request, however. Of a personal nature." [18:27] *4nods again [18:28] "I'm feeling friendly and generous." [18:30] 4Cav: "Peter Holymount will probably be coming to town soon. Probably to visit me. I might kill him. I might humiliate him, and then kill him. I might get along with him famously. One of these outcomes is less likely than the other two. I beg your understanding should that outcome not come to pass." [18:31] 4There's the fourth outcome: he kills Cav. But in that case, it's up to Peter how that plays. [18:31] "I don't know who that is. I'm assuming a relation of your sire." [18:31] "Of a kind." [18:32] "Who is he to you?" [18:37] 4Cavanaugh looks over at the Prince. "He's someone for whom I view presuming my lord's good graces, demonstrating my base and violent nature, and acknowledging potential leverage over me as entirely fair payment in return for permission to make sure the next time I see him is the last time I see him." [18:41] Prince Bailey turns his entire body so that he can look at Cavanaugh. He doesn't speak, or move. He just stares, unblinking. [18:42] 4Clinton Cavanaugh returns that stare. [18:43] One minute passes. Five minutes. Ten... [18:43] 4Cavanaugh will look away when it becomes obvious what the deal is. [18:44] "Will you pick up some free advice, if I place it in front of you?" [18:44] 4Cavanaugh: "If picking up is not the same as taking." [18:45] "You have an uncanny way of accelerating my normally slow temper, neonate." [18:46] 4Cavanaugh nods. "I would reply, if my Prince wishes. Otherwise I offer my apologies again for the intrusion, and beg both my pardon and my leave." [18:47] 4He collects his shoes and socks. [18:47] "Did I dismiss you?" [18:48] 4Cavanaugh: "You did not, my Prince." [18:48] 4He has not moved from where he sits. [18:51] Bailey stands, and collects his own shoes and socks. "I loathe it when my subordinates make me strip it all down. I am not an animal, and I don't like staring other people down, Clinton. Look at me, angry. Look at you, stewing. It…debases me. I can smell your lusts from a mile away. For your sire, for influence, for feeling right. They're strings, coming off of you. And the wilder you let them grow, the better chance [18:51] someone can grab hold and make you dance. That's the advice." [18:52] 4And yet the Prince of San Diego makes policy in your city. [18:52] 4You should be angry. [18:52] 4But Cavanaugh just says: "Thank you, my Prince." [18:56] 4He's able to keep a lid on it, but the Prince is right: he is stewing. He's seething. [18:57] 4Nothing makes Cavanaugh angry like disappointment. [18:57] Bailey doesn't move his lips. His voice comes unbidden, from the depths of Cavanaugh's mind. Calm is the only currency that ends up mattering, Clinton. Anger is unlocking the gate to an extraordinary enemy. [18:58] 4Cav blinks, realizing what's happening, and then nods. [18:58] There is no sense of taking. Only the given words. [18:58] The effect is broken, suddenly. "Where are you living?" [18:59] 4Quietly: "I have a house in Laguna Beach, and an apartment three blocks from here." [18:59] "Laguna Beach is a beautiful city. Do this for me and I'll give it to you, when the issue is settled." [19:00] 4Cavanaugh nods. [19:00] Whitaker Kingsland Bailey puts his socks and shoes on in silence, and then he taps his forehead with a finger. "Remember." [19:01] Then, he smiles. "Have fun. It's a party." He turns, and walks back into the woods. [19:02] 4Cavanaugh waits for him to leave; waits for him to pass completely from the clearing. Then he snarls and kicks the water, humiliated. He sinks back onto the grass and stares up at the...stars. [19:02] 4It's not bad advice. [19:03] 4But the next time he sees Peter Holymount, he's probably still going to try to kill him. 14[19:12] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:18] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: mattbaby) 14[19:23] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:26] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[19:27] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 09[19:27] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[20:02] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[20:06] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[20:30] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[20:34] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Supper has come and gone, and Xu Sim sits among the dying. 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> It's a small, prosperous kingdom, and the man in the deathbed was a small, prosperous king. But some maladies are beyond any mortal genius to cure. Some roads to the next life cannot be traveled backwards. 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Novak the Shepherd lived long and ruled well enough. He's surrounded by family that, in this last, vulnerable moment, truly love him, and who many mourn his passing. 14[21:04] * Joins: Crion_ 14[21:05] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[21:05] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Of Xu Sim they're less fond. Novak often consulted with the physician-sorcerer in his final months, and the princelings and advisors crowd the room (though none save Novak's wife has a more prominent position than Xu Sim at the bedside) have taken to suspecting him of manipulating the dying king, of dripping poison into his ear alongside the medicine in his throat. [21:07] 05 Xu Sim's skin would be browner, if he spent any time outdoors. His hair would be darker, if it was not exposed, despite his best caution, to all manner of alchemical reagents. And his shoulders, draped in a simple robe, wide sleeves pulled back to reveal careful, scarred hands, might not be quite so stooped if Man was not meant to be Mortal. 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> None would dare give that thought voice in Novak's presence, but Xu Sim can feel their eyes on him, and the hate in those gazes is like a heavy hand on the neck. [21:08] 05 After a beat: [21:09] "My lady." [21:12] 05 His fingers feel for any pulse, any sign of life that might yet remain within the King. It's certainly a lost cause, however. He knew that morning that the digestion had stopped, that the King's guts were filling with black blood, that his body had begun to die even as the last of his spirit clung to the body, with only a mild tincture of laudanum to dull the pain and senses. 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Outside the window, in the deepening honey-colored light of late afternoon, visible as a subtle elaboration of the horizon, are the great walls of Lookshy. Queen Lenora has a hand on the king's brow, and her head is bowed. She doesn't acknowledge the doctor. 14[21:16] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Novak hasn't quite passed yet; his breathing is shallow and labored but it hasn't yet stopped. Xu Sim would guess he has about an hour lef.t [21:19] 05 Above the deathbed is a small vial of blue glass, wrapped in bands of brown leather. Trailing from its opening is a delicate silken strand. Xu reaches delicately toward the bottle and allows a drop of the liquid within it to collect on the thread; he slowly manipulates the droplet across the thread and into Novak's mouth. 14[21:22] * Joins: ddt [21:27] 05 The tincture so administered, he turns in his seat to a small, low table lying next to the bed. He sifts through the materials there - a scalpel for bloodletting, bottles of leeches and other insects, more vials - of mercury, cinnabar, powdered lead, scrolls of carefully brushed notes, a collection of quartz crystals of varying colors, tree-wax, fresh ginger root, dried centipedes - all... [21:27] ...these and more, the tools of his ministration. 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> One of the king's cousins cannot restrain themselves. "What are you feeding him?" [21:31] "Sixteen parts water. Four parts honey, collected from bees fed on chrysanthemum flowers. Three parts powdered ginger. One part butter fat. One part powdered oyster shell, for thickening. One dash of powdered elemental brimstone. A few other trace ingredients." 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> The same cousin: "What could that possibly do for him? Honey and brimstone?" [21:36] "The brimstone may spur his black bile from the complacency of laudanum. And the honey, I learned long ago, helps a spoonful of medicine go down. For him, a few drops should now suffice." 14[21:38] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: mattbaby_) 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Lenora looks up, first at Xu Sim and then at the rest of the room. "Where is Piotr? Where is my son?" 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Piotr, heir apparent, is not in the room. He's been seeing to his father only sporadically in the past few weeks. 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> One of the advisors: "My lady, he is absorbed in his grief. The eastern tower..." [21:44] 05 Xu's eyebrow twitches. [21:44] "He should be here. Summon him, straightaway." 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "Magus, with due respect--" 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Queen Lenora: "Do it." 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "...right away, your majesty." [21:49] 05 Xu glances at the advisor, then back at the Queen. 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Neither meets his gaze. 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> The advisor is gone for some time, during which Novak coughs, foamy spittle clinging to his lips. The queen wipes it away. [21:53] 05 Xu Sim carefully stretches his hand and reaches for a small silver chalice. He holds it a fingerbreadth above Novak's mouth and nose, for three breaths, and then brings it to his own face to examine the King's own breath. 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> The breath is subtly necrotic - parts of him are already dead. It won't be long now. [21:57] 05 He glances behind him. Has Piotr returned? 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> When the advisor returns, the prince is in tow. Piotr is a tall, strong man, wearing fine robes and talismans - Xu Sim has always suspected Piotr of being a sorcerer himself, though he'd never admit such things, as sorcerers are typically regarded with mistrust that an heir apparent can ill afford. 14[21:57] * Joins: mattbaby_ 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Piotr sweeps past the extended family to take a place by his mother's side. "Mother..." he places a gloved hand over one of his father's. "Father..." [22:05] 05 Xu nods, deferentially. Piotr has grieved heavily, and final moments like these can bring important closure. 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Novak seizes up slightly a moment after his son touches him. Only slightly, though - Xu Sim's medicine eases the worst of the pain. "All will be well," Piotr whispers. 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Novak's last breaths are phlegmy and weak. 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Lenora's face is in her hands. Piotr crosses the king's arms delicately and wipes the last of the spittle from his mouth. 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Nobody says anything for some time. [22:07] 05 Xu withdraws the strand of silk from the old king's mouth and puts a small cork stopper in the bottle. [22:10] 05 His heart is genuinely heavy - the old man was not a bad client, especially before the illness took its final turn for the worst . [22:12] 05 And of course, the very real possibility these nobles might try to lynch him is not to be discounted. 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Piotr rises to his full height. His shoulders seem heavier now. "We have. We have arrangements to make." He guides his mother out of the room. 14[22:14] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: mattbaby_) 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Something catches Xu Sim's eye as they depart. There's something in the color of Piotr's skin, a certain jaundice, nearly concealed by his long sleeves and gloves and the honey-colored light of the late day. Novak himself had that same cast to his skin when Xu Sim was first sought for treatment. [22:24] 05 Xu rises to his feet, squinting in disbelief as the son departs. What on earth? Is this a new jaundice? He glances back at the princelings, hangers-on, and grieving family members - do they bear such a discoloration? 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> They do not. It seems the son alone is afflicted. [22:27] 05 It's possibly extremely dangerous - and, what's more, it's singularly peculiar. Xu bursts into the corridor after them. 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> The ferocity of this startles the queen and prince when Xu Sim catches up with them on the way to the king's study. "Scholar?" Piotr never uses the word 'magus'. [22:30] "Your arm!" 05 he stammers, distractedly. [22:30] "Your Grace," 05 he attempts to recover [22:30] "Pardon my impertinence, but I am terribly concerned by the jaundiced appearance of the skin, on your arm. Your grace." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Piotr's eyes narrow. "Mother, see to the ministers. I need to speak with the Scholar." [22:31] "Yes, most urgently!" 05 concurs the man of medicine. 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Whatever emotion plays across the queen's face is hidden to them both; she has put on the mantle of courtly dignity that she requires to conduct herself as queen even in this moment of grief. Collecting herself, she says. "Go, then. I will handle them." 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Piotr: "Please. To my study. Where we can have some privacy." [22:34] "Yes, of course. I fear I needs must conduct a full examination." 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Piotr leads Xu Sim to the highest tower of the palace, which from its highland perch is already treated one of of the finest views in all Creation. From the wide banks of the Yanaze to the fortress-city of Lookshy and the sea beyond, to the farmlands that lead into Nexus in the distance - on a clear day a keen eye can see for hundreds of miles. 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Piotr's study is impressive - odds and ends from every corner of Creation, at a glance, must have taken a fortune to collect. And books that vary from brand-new to astonishingly ancient. There's a heavy, deep green rug over the wooden floor, and the desk is covered in parchment in symbols Xu Sim can't read. They surround a drawing of something that might be a human head, or might be some horrifying grub eating a human head. 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sit, please." 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "Drink with me." [22:46] 05 Xu scans through the regalia. It is even more impressive than the view, in its own way. What knowledge must be contained within this study! 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Piotr reaches for a decanter with his gloved hands and sets it on the desk, covering the drawing of the head. Then he produces two glasses from cabinets under his desk. After pouring a drink for Xu Sim and one for himself, he sits. "You have keen eyes, Scholar." [22:50] "You honor me, your Grace. But are you not afraid for your safety?" 05 Xu takes a seat as well, and the glass, which he discretely examines. Something about the situation seems increasingly amiss, but it would take some nerve to try to poison an alchemist. 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> The glass obscures Piotr's smile as he drinks. After he sets the glass down. "I have powerful friends." 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim's paranoia is warranted. 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> It's deviously subtle - in the glass, rather than the decanter, the discoloration of it obscured by the intricate carving-work done at the glass's heavy base. The poison itself is a preparation of some obscure heavy metal, something native to the barren wastes of the south, where it's occasionally admixed with firewand powder for aesthetic effect - it will produce a brilliant green muzzle flash when discharged from a flame piece. [23:00] 05 Xu tries not to betray the revelation as he raises the glass to his lips. He lowers it again, pensively. 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Piotr: "In truth, I fell ill before Father did." [23:02] "I don't doubt you have very powerful friends, Piotr. But such a sickness is very serious." 05 he gives a level stare at the King-in-waiting. 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "You did admirably in slowing Father's necrosis - it's not uncommon for people to lose limbs to the affliction. You couldn't keep the rot out of his guts, but we'll be able to hold a proper state funeral for him." 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "I pity him his weakness. He would never have accepted a permanent solution." [23:04] "Surely, his is the only truly permanent solution." [23:04] "Though lamentable." 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> The heir shakes his head. "There are greater forces in this world than death, Scholar." 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Piotr takes off his left glove, revealing a half-rotted hand, withered and dark, wrapped up in a gauntlet of metal that seems dug into his flesh. Viridian light spills from the joints, which are many and fine indeed. [23:07] 05 Xu Sim recoils, but only for an instant. 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "You are a sorcerer, that much is beyond dispute. Have you treated with demons, Scholar?" [23:09] "Not to date. And this is the result of your explorations into such?" 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Piotr: "They're not all animals, tempters, monsters. There are demons who offer us wholeness. Who can bring health where death would have come. He demands only flesh that would be given to rot." 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "I know you didn't drink, by the way. You wouldn't be upright if you had." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "He requires only one final sacrifice of me. It doesn't need to be painless." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "You should be flattered. I need the brain of a genius." [23:16] "I would not be much of a genius without it, I'm afraid. So I must refuse your generous flattery, a final time." [23:18] "Perhaps, if we had worked together, your father would still be alive. It seems such a waste to do things your way." 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Outside, the sun is setting. Is the air getting warmer? Xu Sim feels a prickle of heat at the back of his throat. 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Piotr sighs. "It's too late. He's already coming. Tonight, at the new moon. He will need something." [23:22] "I don't think you've thought this plan of yours through very thoroughly, Piotr. There has to be another way." 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "You have no idea what I've been through. I was a demon already, you know. Out in the desert. It was a night like tonight. They cursed me. I became Anathema." 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "I wandered for days. And out there, in the desert, I found a road to Hell." [23:24] "And you followed it?" 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> He takes his own empty glass and crushes it to sand in his gauntlet. "That sound... that gentle shattering sound... it's only one note of their music. Their endless, beautiful music." [23:27] "But you returned," %c05 he reasons. [23:28] "Is that necrosis some parting gift of your demonic hosts?" 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "No. This is." Piotr clenches his fist, and the viridian light flares, reflected in the sweat on his brow, and... lingering. There's a brand on his forehead, visible in that light, a half-filled semicircle that glows a sickly green. 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Behind Xu Sim, a heavy iron bar falls on the door, locking them in. It'd take three men to lift that. 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "Walk with me to hell." 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim's heart pounds. His throat burns. Did he get poisoned after all? What is this? The world is moving, the world is spinning, the world is alive-- 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Breathe in. [23:34] "No." 05 Xu feels bizarre. A thousand mortal lifetimes worth of memories flash before him in an instant. He can comprehend so much more now, but even the sudden flash of cognition isn't enough to process what he realizes he has to do next. 14[23:35] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[23:35] * Joins: dammitwho [23:37] 05 He slams his hand down on the endtable, flinging the poisoned glass at Piotr's face. [23:39] 05 He then backflips behind the chair to take a concealed position, but it's not fast enough to hide. 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Piotr swats it away, and his soul burns hot and sick. If it weren't for Xu Sim himself, it'd be dazzling to behold. His other glove comes off, revealing an intact hand, and together his arms move in great, sweeping gestures, stopping at precise points, shaping the world's Essence to call some great magic forth. [23:45] 05 Swirling mandalas of brilliant mathematical Truths inscribed in ancient, modern, and unspoken tongues and scripts envelop the man. [23:53] 05 As Piotr chants, Xu Sim drops into his own, opposed, cantata in a language he has never heard natively spoken - or has he? His voice is sonorous as it rings out, invoking a different reality from the one the enemy sorceror is attempting to bring about, sloughing away his magic - if inefficiently. 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> It's efficient enough to anger Piotr, who endeavors to shout him down with alien proclamations, the laws and song of some distant and terrible land where silence is death and freedom is a stranger. He describes its borders mathematically, anatomically - it is a warning, a promise, a curse. He burns brighter, but still not bright enough to drown out Xu Sim. Outside it is well dark. It's like hours have passed rather than minutes. 14[23:57] * Joins: Quaker Session Time: Tue Mar 17 00:00:00 2015 [00:22] "Have you no shame? Didn't you ever learn right from wrong?"05 Outmatched in direct sorcerous competition, Xu Sim opts for a more direct approach - vaulting across the room and, at the last moment, dropping and falling - his whole body twisting into a kick aimed upwards and sideways, straight for the chin of the diabolical Piotr. [00:22] "Your mother will need a son, not a devil!" 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Piotr is strong, dreadfully so - he casts Xu Sim's kick aside, but it breaks his concentration. There's an opening... [00:33] 05 This fight will end in disaster if Xu Sim doesn't find a way to end it. But something about the window, that beautiful view, the setting sun - it holds the answer. Shouting words he does not recognize, words his tongue has never spoken, Xu Sim rushes again towards Piotr. Such strength! But Xu digs his heels in, his arms and hands flail for purchase on the infernalist's body. The beads of... [00:33] ...one of his talismans, a grand bejewelled affair, slip around his thumb, and the much shorter Xu finds himself lifting up, below the center of gravity - and pushing - as hard as he can - towards the narrow glass of the window-- 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> It feels like midnight. The sky outside is black as pitch, safe for the radiance spilling from the window, the colors of a painterly sunset. Piotr falls, the chain of the talisman breaking and leaving the bulk of it in Xu Sim's hand. Piotr pinwheels in the air a moment, but the tower is very tall, and he's able to compose himself before a fatal impact. He reaches out and his gauntleted hand digs into the wall, half-melting a furrow in the stone, splintering wood. Smoke rises. 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Guards are outside. An alarum sounds. The noise is chaotic. [00:42] 05 Midnight - could the ritual be stopped? Piotr said it was out of control-- 15[00:43] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a cloying, antiseptic smell in the air. 15[00:43] <@VoxPVoxD> It's the sort Xu Sim might himself employ to clean and mask the smell of a deeply infected wound. 15[00:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Despite Piotr's ejection, Xu Sim is acutely aware he is not alone in this room. [00:50] 05 Xu turns on his heel. he whips the talisman into his hand and begins spinning it around in the palm of his hand, mumbling half to himself as he carefully examines it. Giramande might strike at a moment's notice but there's another genius nearby whose brain might deserve to be eaten rather more than Xu Sim's. 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Indeed, Xu Sim can see a sickly green light coalesce in the center of the tower room, on the round green rug. The air is pulsing, suppurating. It's an ugly, artful thing. [01:04] 05 Working faster than he's ever worked before, Xu Sim coaxes into existence his most reliable sorcerous trick - six crystalline wings beat rapidly from the shining iridescent body of a jewel. He projects a tiny piece of his soul into it - a part that will relay what he has seen to Queen Lenora - her son has summoned a demon and in fact considers himself Anathema. [01:08] 05 Xu Sim watches as the air condenses and coalesces before him. The old trick is his last chance to escape - the light shining around him -- the anima -- it was simple enough to fold in on itself, to ride it out of time and space and escape to a different place, a place of power. [01:09] 05 As he concentrated in on stepping into the light blazing out from his forehead and Disappearing, he stared intently at Giramande, who would not be dining on his brains tonight if indeed he had anything to do with it. 15[01:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Giramande sways. 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> He's nearly seven feet tall, rail thin. His skin is mottled and dark, where it's visible beneath a leather smock and the tools at his belt. His hands are long and clever and he holds them out for balance, a finger raised like he's demanding patience as he collects a thought. 15[01:12] <@VoxPVoxD> The thing on his head ripples and scuttles, insectile. Copper plates flatten and flare, and beneath them tiny flesh and metal pistols push and pull. When the panels are at their widest, Xu Sim can see the barest flashes of gray. 15[01:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The demon's eyes are obscured by copper plates, but Xu Sim can tell he's being watched. Studied. When the demon bows, it's as if his helmet has only just consented to gravity, pulling him fiercely downward. 15[01:14] <@VoxPVoxD> When he rises, much more slowly, Xu Sim is almost gone. He can hear only the crushing grasp of a metal claw on the windowsill, and see the demon's thin brown smile as he says, "All will be well. All shall be well." 15[01:16] <@VoxPVoxD> *** 15[01:16] <@VoxPVoxD> It's sunset again. 15[01:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim is on the mountaintop. He can see the palace in the distance, through the long and marbled nave. It's a straight shot from this high temple to the palace. Xu Sim had heard of it. It was mighty, once - a true place of power. But now it's a ruin. Destroyed, so they say, by the Anathema, eons ago, in their fall. 15[01:19] <@VoxPVoxD> The mere thought of the word prickles his throat. Is that what he is now? 15[01:20] <@VoxPVoxD> He has time to contemplate this. Beyond the palace, beyond the walls of Lookshy, beyond the sea, the Blessed Isle - beyond the borders of all Creation, the sun sets. Come, twilight, come. 14[02:17] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:22] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[03:50] * Joins: drinkybird 14[03:54] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[04:17] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[06:14] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[07:14] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[07:15] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[07:18] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[09:27] * Joins: mattbaby 09[10:32] * b____p is now known as b____a 11[10:43] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue Mar 17 10:43:30 2015 Session Start: Tue Mar 17 14:14:42 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:14] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:14] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 10PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/SdZRg5O.jpg' 13[14:14] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Tue Mar 10 15:51:50 09[14:14] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[14:20] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[14:34] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[14:35] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[14:35] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:40] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:40] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[14:43] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[14:47] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:48] * Joins: tom 14[15:15] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[15:29] * Joins: trenchfoot [15:42] <@Ferrinus> http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/217504552_XFiC5/0/1050x10000/217504552_XFiC5-1050x10000.jpg arrian's awakening 14[16:27] * Joins: ddt 14[16:55] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 11[17:06] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue Mar 17 17:06:54 2015 Session Start: Tue Mar 17 17:18:07 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[17:18] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[17:18] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 10PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/SdZRg5O.jpg' 13[17:18] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Tue Mar 10 15:51:50 09[17:18] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[17:26] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[18:44] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:07] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:19] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[19:27] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:29] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[19:35] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:24] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[20:50] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: mattbaby_) 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> The Flaeli are speedbumps enough at least that Keldar can clear the rest of the tomb and make it into the clearing with a moment to breathe. Anilom is standing there, staring at him. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 12Keldar comes skidding out into the torchlight, practically falling forward, but he turns the motion into a sort of lunging stretch and ends up still on his feet. He twists around - it sound like the monster's still coming? 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 12Keldar: "Fucking hell, Anilom! Didn't drop the ring too, didja?" 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> The beast is still coming, but Keldar had a very solid head start. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "He did not." 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> It's at this moment that Anilom slumps to the ground, face in the grass, his back riddled with arrows. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 12Keldar: "Listen up, a HUGE fucker of a bear's c-" 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 12Steel scrapes as Keldar draws, immedaiately pushing a foot back towards the tomb as he peers over his blade at whoever's arrayed before him. "Fuck is this." 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Tepet Sachin is visible over the heads of the Flaeli, all of whom have short swords and bows already at the ready. The ring is in his hands, and a tiny mote of his own anima swirls within it, a pale blue that matches the sky in these predawn moments. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "Scavenger. Here we see there is nothing you can possess which I cannot take away. You have come for nothing. You will leave with less." Sachin barks a phrase. Keldar doesn't need to know Forest-tongue. He's heard "kill him" in just about every language those words are still said in this day and age. He holds the ring like a chakram and glides down from the riding-bird's back, settling lightly on his feet. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Behind the Flaeli, on the horizon, the sky's turned pink. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 12Sachin must've been harder up for money than he looked, Keldar thinks. Can't afford the actual fee, and can't afford the hit to reputation he'd take just plain not paying the company. So you pick a job that's real dangerous, reaaaal out of the way- "You son of a bitch." 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> At the same moment, with a thunderous crash, the bear spin-dashes out of the mouth of the tomb, emerging like a cannonball into the heart of the green. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> So it's come to this. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> A pack of killers before him. A beast of legend behind him, and in the middle one man, his sword, and his wits. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> In that moment, the sun crests the horizon, a flawless golden curve defying the line between land and sky, dictating day and night to the land below. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Breathe in. 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 12Time slows as the monster rears up behind Keldar and the arrayed Flaeli recoil before him. The paws of the bear are a deathtrap and the natives encircle the tomb entrance completely, which means the only way, the only way out, is through. 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 12And the thing is, there are five arrows in Anilom's back, which means at least that many of the tribesmen have to die before Keldar's done here. 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 12These calculations take place in the split-second in which Keldar's stumbling forward slightly with the force of the monster's arrival, the next swear word he was preparing to loose knocked from his lungs by both the shaking of the earth and the sheer force of surprise. By the time the mercenary's steadied himself, though, he's decided on exactly what he needs to do - and step one is to take his next breath. 14[21:07] * Joins: mattbaby_ [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12It starts with sound. There's something like the spinning of a great wheel, or the shearing of metal against metal, or the splitting of thunderheads. It rises and rises in pitch and intensity, a promise of potential calamity that builds with every fraction of a degree that Keldar's chin rises, every ounce of force with which he tightens his grip. [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Then there's light. The rose-orange hues that had been rimming the edge of the ancient tomb and dappling the tops of the trees deepen and intensify, stretching down and out until it's as though no tomb or trees exist to obscure the colors of the sunrise. Piercing all that, though, is the sunrise itself, a golden-white radiance that flares directly behind Keldar and brightens even as [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12the sound loudens, ray after ray stabbing out through the haze until eight in all frame the warrior. [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Finally, there's pressure. It's not a disc that's rising through the scenery behind Keldar, either shining so brightly so as to be seen even through the ground or actually shattering the very terrain with its approach, it's a sphere. The dawn is here, ripping apart the world, casting the ground that Keldar stands on in a washed-out glare that leaves every combatant sharply-defined [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12but washes out everything irrelevant to war. Great wind and force blows hair and robe and bandanna away, as though Keldar, simply settling into a swordsman's stance, were rushing forward at all those assembled, tearing up the half-real terrain beneath him and framed and followed in every movement by an ascending, too-close sun. [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12A stylized image of the celestial cataclysm that speeds behind Keldar now shines in bright, clear gold on the mercenary's brow. Keldar himself doesn't seem to have noticed what's happened, or else seems to have expected it, because he looks back at Sachin with simple, steely resolve. [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Come and get it." 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> The bear roars. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> The Flaeli gasp. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Sachin grins. 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> The bear and Keldar collide, and for a moment the clearing is dimmed as the bear stands near enough to the blazing anima to throw a shadow over the land behind it. [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar dashes forward at the same moment as the bear of the cerulean wind lunges. The roaring around him intensifies as he covers ground, and he leaves a trail - the tip of his sword is held low, inches above the earth, and in the light of the Solar's anima the soil and rock itself splits and shatters, thrown into an eruption of fire and stones as the great glaring sun behind Keldar [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12consumes the very terrain. A savage upward stroke smashes straight through the monster's descending paws, leaving the bear rolling backwards and Keldar briefly airborne. 14[21:37] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: mattbaby_) 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar rises into a tide of Flaeli arrows, which buffet his armor. [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12He's got his sword up, blade turned flat and clasped with both gauntlets, but that just keeps the hail of angry points out of the Solar's face. They're otherwise as unavoidable as falling rain. 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> A bright spot shines in the bear's shadow as Sachin's anima flares blue, flaking apart at the edges, creating the impression of feathers on the wind. He holds the ring in his hand and hurls it. As it spins in a hissing arc, a disk of spinning blue-tinged air buzzes to life around the ring, steadying its flight and coming at Keldar in a swift arc around the bear, spinning like a sawblade. [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12The chakram's worse. Keldar sidesteps behind the bulk of the still-reeling bear, but not fast enough to stop take him out of Sachin's line of fire. He spins towards the attack, blade plunging like a diving bird in the path of the attack, and the block's perfect - edge stopped dead, force blunted and dissipated by arm and armor - but, unfortunately for Keldar, this isn't the kind of [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12thing you want to meet head on even if you're superhumanly tough. Even as the chakram rebounds, a howling halo of wind sends the Solar ripping backwards across the terrain, drawing a furrow in the ground as he shrinks relative to his own anima. 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar manages to dodge, but is caught off-guard by Sachin appearing on the *other* side of the bear, catching the ring as it spins around and falling forward with a fierce kiai that brings a gust of wind forth, knocking Keldar back to the mouth of the tomb. 14[21:54] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> If nothing else, Keldar can find solace in the knowledge that he was right. That's a technique of the Immaculate Monks, for sure. [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar snarls something unintelligible, and leaps. He's silhouetted by his personal sun as he hangs in the air, and there's an actual crack of thunder as, on the downward arc, the warrior lays the Bear of the Cerulean Wind out in a single punch. [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12The Dawn Caste hits the ground before the bear does, actually dashing forward under its bulk to stab and shove his way through the Flaeli engage the Dragon-Blood directly. Sachin's too fast, ducking and swaying around the mercenary's sword, but he's lost the advantage of range. 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> The bear recoils, staggering on its hindlegs, tongue lolling out with the force of the blow. The bear roars, stumbles, and falls flat, unconscious. Sachin bows beneath Keldar's blade, going down and popping up behind him, hands running parallel, one almost touching Keldar's back, the other holding the ring. His anima has coalesced into a bird - one of the terns of the Inland Sea. [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's surrounded, but each of his opponents sees the blazing golden sun as though it were behind the Dawn Caste warrior, rushing forward through an endless stream of stellar debris. [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Fierce as the Dynast-Immaculate is, he's not Keldar's clear superior. When he goes on the offensive he finds himself stymied at every jab and kick by parries that threaten to remove limbs unless the attacker reconsiders. 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Sachin dances in and out of Keldar's range, peppering him with feints and jabs that can't break the warrior's stance. The fallen monk's anima flares, though, and the winds that whip up knock more than one of the Flaeli out of the clearing, skidding back into the trees. [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's already a little windburned, looking as though he'd spent the last few hours hiking up the side of a northern mountain dressed no more heavily than he is now. It hasn't fazed him, though. [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12As Sachin moves faster and faster, Keldar begins to turn but stops. He just lets his eyes dart back and forth, waiting, waiting... there! Wait, fuck! 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> The fury of Sachin's anima has the Flaeli taking positions in the glory of Keldar's. Their blades are drawn when Sachin once again strikes Keldar from behind, failing to break his stance but with a hoarse roar hurtling the warrior up and out of the clearing, past blades that clatter uselessly against Keldar's plate. [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's second meteoric landing in the same minute is much less graceful. He craters the ground, the great sun behind him briefly dipping below the horizon, before leaping to his feet with a roar and hefting his blade to produce a second sunrise. 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "YOU KNOW, MERCENARY," 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Sachin's voice carries on the wind, high and loud. 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "...I NEVER DID THANK YOU FOR SCROUNGING THIS UP!" 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "PLEASE ACCEPT MY INFINITE-" BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "- GRATITUDE!" [22:48] <@Ferrinus> "Fuck!" 12Keldar's knocked right back over in the superhuman effort it takes to not die on the spot, actually spinning on his axis through the air a bit before landing roughly, kicking up a great plume of dust and shattered timber. He's springing up immediately, but his stance is broken and his breath ragged. 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> A score of Flaeli arrows whistle through the air towards Keldar, but they're running against the vortex of air that Sachin's anima tern is kicking up with its great sapphire wings. The wind is so fierce that the missiles are arrested in midair, and fall sideways, landing harmlessly on the forest floor. [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's staggering backwards in the very same hurricane, enfolded by waves of grass and dust and, it must be said, having had the wind knocked out of him. For a moment - just a moment - he considers flight. He can't hide from the Dynast like this, obviously, but maybe he can outpace the man, use his own followers as distracting bait... these are the calculations you have to make in [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12this business. [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12But that wouldn't be living up to the sun burning on Keldar's brow, for all that sun's running briefly dry of power. And it wouldn't be living up to Keldar's own idiom. And it'd deny this bastard the death he so richly, richly deserves. Keldar stomps, his anima flaring with essence pressure to release a wave of dust and grit that briefly overcomes the winds of Sachin's own tern, and [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12then he charges, rising up out of the haze as the sun does through morning mist. [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12The Flaeli draw back instinctively, giving Keldar a clear path to their wind-aspected master. Roaring murder with every stroke, the Solar swings and swings and swings, forcing Sachin into an increasingly-inelegant retreat. 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> For the first time, Sachin looks off-balance. His stances become awkwarder, and his breathing more labored. [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Not as off-balance as he's going to be! Keldar's suddenly a rosy orange after-image of himself, in front of which is a golden-orange afterimage, in front of which is a golden-white one, in front of which is Keldar himself, roughly smashing into Sachin with one shoulder and then swinging furiously through the man's position even as the man flies backward. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12The Flaeli are an afterthought. Keldar's advancing on the once-monk, teeth bared and brow blazing, and with an absent-minded shrugging motion swings his sword through a barrage of spears and arrows. 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Sachin has to hurl himself bodily backward to escape the last and fiercest of Keldar's strikes, and skids to the ground, his robes tearing and jewelry scattering against the uneven, sharp bluegrass. Still, the whipping winds urge his momentum onward, and the skidding slide morphs into a backwards somesault that sees Sachin grouching, holding the ring to the ground for balance, one hand askew. 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Sachin exhales, and the tern flares, wrapping its wings around him, and he leaps backward, beginning to run on eddies and currents of air, as fast as the wind can bear him away from the demon. [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar was ready for that, but not actually prepared, so to speak - his sword stabs down into the hem of a robe that simply tears away, and his mailed fist clasps on burning cold bult ultimately insubstantial air. "Get back here. GET BACK HERE YOU FUCK-" [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's voice thunders across the eastern woods, and the angry, pursuing sun of his anima glares at the retreating Sachin through seemingly all obstacles - but the warrior himself is fast obscured by the closing ranks of Flaeli warriors. He rounds on them, literally - turning one way and another to draw warriors closer and closer together, and then exploding outward with ferocious [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12spin that leaves twin contrails of essence and blood as it rips into the ranks. [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Their yells aren't as loud as Keldar's. The warrior fells three men in as many more seconds before he's noticed that they're surrendering, and then turns immediately for the blasted, wind-scarred path that Sachin's left... but no. Even in as little time as that took, the man's out of reach. Did he head for Keldar's followers' camp? 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> For the first time, a demigod deigns to pay attention to the Flaeli, and his wrath is swift and illimitable. Dozens fall before Keldar's blade, and the line breaks immediately. Some flee, some cower. Some of the cowering may yet survive. Sachin cut a sapphire path to the south-southwest, which would put him in the general direction of the camp. [23:37] <@Ferrinus> "That goddamn-" 12Keldar rounds on the natives, glaring. He points directly at the unconscious spine-bear, then thrusts an open palm out at the natives. "LEAVE IT." 12And then he's off, racing towards his own encampment and turning a moving portion of the forest around him into a washed-out cosmic battlefield. 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> A bird flying over this portion of the great Eastern forests would see a towering display of light cut westward, away from the rising sun, into the lowlands where the woods thin. 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> The good news is, the perils of the wilds that might impede or ensnare a lone traveler yield and tremble before the golden warrior charging through them. 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar knows the forests well enough to take a straight shot back to the camp. But so did Sachin, and Sachin had the wind at his back. 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> The camp looks like a hurricane hit it. There are tents and supplies blown about all over the little hollow where the Green Apples set up camp. But there are bodies among them too - in the trees, face down ni the grass, in the firepit... 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Nobody's left. [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar staggers to a halt among the wreckage. He falls forward, plunging his blade into the ground as though it were a walking stick as he gasps for breath. Then, after taking a second look around, he ignores the presence of the blade and sinks to his knees. [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12From miles away, a roar of frustrated range emanating from beneath a blazing, hurtling sun-disk is seen to kick up a second wave of birds from the endless treeline. 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar's anima throws an unforgiving light on the bodies. They're washed out, featureless shapes on the ground... but the blood shines like rubies in that glow. Session Time: Wed Mar 18 00:00:01 2015 14[00:10] * Joins: Quaker 03[00:36] <@Ferrinus> https://41.media.tumblr.com/797cf5405325eeb3e8e477f63d53906b/tumblr_nhor15w5He1rhk9zpo1_1280.png nick studies up for next nomadgame sesh 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> chickens are absolutely neutral evil [00:40] lol @ owls not being chaotic evil [00:41] gulls are way more chaotic than owls [00:41] owls embody wisdom and predation etc [00:41] gulls are just, hanging out in grocery store parking lots and shrieking at people all day while eating garbage [00:41] <@Ferrinus> owl: i am a noble warden of the jotun [00:41] <@Ferrinus> gull: im dumb and so goddamn crazy [00:54] <@Ferrinus> http://img-9gag-ftw.9cache.com/photo/a3317N8_460s.jpg bradley and nick [00:54] <@Ferrinus> or perhaps... nick and tj? 14[00:56] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:06] * Joins: dammitwho 14[01:07] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[01:34] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:50] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:59] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[02:03] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:08] * Joins: ddt 14[02:27] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [03:35] gulls are way more chaotic than owls 09[03:35] * b_n_n_|p__ls is now known as _a_a_a 14[03:36] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[04:40] * Joins: ddt_ 14[04:40] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 09[04:40] * ddt_ is now known as ddt 14[05:40] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[05:41] * Joins: ddt_ 14[06:56] * Quits: ddt_ (Quit: ddt_) 14[07:31] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[07:31] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[07:31] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[08:51] * Joins: mattbaby 09[09:25] * _a_a_a is now known as ba_a_a 14[09:38] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[09:52] * Joins: ddt 14[09:52] * Joins: hrolf 14[09:56] * Joins: hrolfie 14[09:59] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[10:24] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[10:27] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[10:59] * ba_a_a is now known as banana 14[11:00] * Joins: hrolf 14[11:01] * Joins: hrolfy 14[11:04] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[11:04] * Joins: hrolfie 14[11:05] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[11:07] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[11:09] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[11:18] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[11:48] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[12:19] * Quits: dammitwho 14[12:49] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:56] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[13:16] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:23] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[13:24] * Joins: ddt 14[13:29] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[14:05] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:19] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[14:23] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 09[15:56] * banana is now known as bananAP 14[16:12] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[16:13] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:15] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[18:46] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:50] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[19:11] * Joins: ddt 11[19:16] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed Mar 18 19:16:59 2015 Session Start: Wed Mar 18 19:16:59 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[19:17] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[19:17] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[19:17] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 10PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/SdZRg5O.jpg' 13[19:17] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Tue Mar 10 15:51:50 14[19:19] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 09[19:19] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[19:19] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD [19:31] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/DWn1WnV.png 15[19:32] <@VoxPVoxD> but is that nomadgame... or exalted [19:32] <@Ferrinus> brave lunar warrior "nick" 14[19:35] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[19:37] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 13[19:40] * VoxPVoxD changes topic to 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 14[19:50] * Joins: dammitwho 15[20:03] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:03] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:03] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:03] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:03] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD> The sun sets and the dead rise, with the living there to greet them. 15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ's tidying up as the vampires rise, his face stained red. Anoushka's not immediately apparent. [20:07] 4His face is the first thing Lis notices as he rises. "Timothy...? You've got something on your face." [20:07] 4Is it blood? The RV's occupants should be rather good at recognizing blood on the lips. 15[20:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Wait, is- nnno. No, that's not blood. Looks like juice or something. "Sorry. I'll go wash up." [20:08] "Mmmm." 4Lis will give him privacy for that, stepping out into the..."Chugwater"...night. [20:08] 3Reuben slumps off the RV’s couch and heads up to the front of the van to look out the windows into the night. He pulls a big tangle of wadded up paper from the glove compartment and begins to untangle the gas station map. [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick got to sleep sometime early in the day, and is still snoozing as the other vampires rise. He sleeps, appropriately, like a baby. Before he actually bedded down, though, he got TJ to help him find online where the nearest graveyard is. 15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD> It's quite chilly in the RV - it was an unseasonably cool day, and a cooler night, and with all those bullet holes in the, ah, starboard side of the RV... [20:10] 4Should probably get those patched up. Not really sure how to go about that. [20:10] 4Perhaps Reuben has ideas. [20:10] 3Reuben knows a guy. But also, duct tape. 14[20:10] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: mattbaby) [20:10] 7Alisa: "Bluuuuuuuuh." [20:13] 6Anna just sort of rolls over and checks her phone. It's not quite a "never leave the house" day, but it's a start on one. Maybe there's some bad news to be had there. 15[20:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam says hi. 15[20:14] <@VoxPVoxD> That's it. [20:14] 6God damn it. Never leave the house. [20:15] 6But, she still owes it to him to show him the ropes of what she did to him.  14[20:15] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: 15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ comes back, washed up. It's worth noting that even though Anoushka is absent, her bag's still in the RV, including her phone, so one presumes she's at least coming back for it. [20:20] 4Would be rude to just...leave with it. [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, but which meaning of rude? Nick's stretching and yawning loudly, now. Soon he'll either be telling everyone what graveyard he and TJ found or asking everyone to find one. [20:22] 6Anna:  [20:22] 7Does Alisa have Grigori's number? 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Not in her phone, but she could get it from Reuben. [20:26] 7Alisa: "Hey. Hey Reuben. Hey. Hey. What's Grigori's number." 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Sadly, TJ and Nick combined couldn't find an address, however there IS a "Chugwater Cemetery" to be found via sufficient googling. [20:31] 4They could ask for help. [20:31] 4Lis knows his way around a computer. [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick does, actually, once he's sitting up on top of his blanket and squinting at whichever vampires are still inside. "Does anyone," 12he says, "ANYONE know how to find this place's cemetery." [20:32] 4Lis sticks his head back inside. "I could take a look. [20:32] " [20:32] 4After a few minutes on the laptop, he thinks he's found what they're searching for. 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Lis figures out the problem. The Chugwater Cemetery, which he can see by the picture of the gate is plainly CALLED Chugwater Cemetery, is down in the register as 'Iowa Flats Cemetery', which is really annoying. [20:33] 4Lis: "'Iowa Flats?' Good Lord." [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "What? Whaaat? Lemme see that." 12A moment later: "What?" [20:35] 6Anna: "It is, though." [20:35] 3Reuben sends Alisa Grigori’s contact info with two button clicks. [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Anyway we gotta go there and find some mourning spirits and get 'em to come with us and eat all the rot around the fat cannibal vulture thing." [20:36] 7Alisa curses in surprise. "How did you DO that!" [20:36] 3She’ll notice Grigori is named 13 in the phone memory. [20:37] 4Lis says "Oh," 4in the 'Oh, that's nice honey' parental tone of support-without-complete-understanding. [20:38] 3Reuben, responding to Alisa: 1“Hey, so, are you gonna call your friend so she can pick up her crap and we can hit the road?” [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "We might have to actually take the Beast into the Shadow to talk to 'em... and we'll need Scotch to translate I bet. I'm worried though. Like... there might just not be enough of 'em, or something." [20:39] 7Alisa: "Yeah, yeah." 7She dials Anoushka. 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka's phone rings. It's in her bag. [20:40] 6Anna: "I mean, she could come with us. That would be nice, I think." [20:40] 4Ah, fantastic. [20:40] "Still have to find her first, though..." [20:40] 4Lis: "I have nothing against her, but it's getting a tad crowded in here." [20:40] "But then we do have two cars, now." [20:40] 3Reuben’s finally unfolded the map successfully and is idly tracing his finger along freeways from Idaho to California to Washington.  [20:42] 7Alisa: "Huh. Well, she'll come back eventually." 7She plops down by one of the walls and begins texting.  15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Grigori: [20:43] 7Alisa:  [20:44] 3Reuben sees Alisa on her phone. 1“Ask if he thinks it’s safe for us to go back home." [20:45] 6Anna: "Eventually we oughtta get a big caravan going. Maybe some motorcycles." 6She'll followup her last text to Adam:  15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Grigori: [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "If we can't find enough mourning then people should come up with ideas of where to find revenge or messed-up love. By the way." 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> *LINISTE PE FRONTUL DE VEST [20:48] 6Anna stares at Nick. [20:48] 4Lis: "Surely there is a high school or college campus somewhere within driving distance." [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Ooh. Ooh, yeah, that's good." 14[20:55] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[20:56] * Joins: dammitwho 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch: "What do you need a bunch of sparrows for?" [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Thorn up that way said they'd eat all the rot and stuff the diner spirit was feeding on." 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch: "So are you going to fight 'em?" [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I'm gonna make sure they're there to clean everything up after I fight the big dude." 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah!! Kick his ass!" [21:02] 4Sigh. [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "It's definitely going down, on account of it's too fucked up to be allowed to live." [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Or... exist, or, something." [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I'm gonna need you to talk to the birds though." 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "No problem." 14[21:03] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) [21:03] 6Anna:  [21:04] 7Alisa: "We definitely need to learn that language." 14[21:06] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I'm working on it. I know a bunch already!" 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch: "He can count to ten and stuff. I won't tell him how to ask where the bathroom is, though." 14[21:07] * Joins: ddt 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a knock on the RV door. Anoushka took the liberty of lifting up the tarp but won't just walk in. [21:11] 7Alisa calls out: "S'open!" 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> No sooner does Anoushka set foot in the RV than Scotch loudly ask, "So when are you leaving?" [21:13] 7Rude cat. [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick glances back to the cat. He means Anoushka, right, not when are Nick and crew leaving to find some birds? 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Presumably. It could go either way, though. [21:13] 4Lis: "One could ask you the same question." 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka purses her lips and goes to check her bag without acknowledging the talking cat. [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick, to Scotch: "What's wrong?" [21:14] 3And so the third hanger-on is shamed by the second hanger-on, who in turn is shamed by the first hanger-on. [21:15] 6And I'm just sitting here texting. [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Anoushka isn't like, suffused with any kind of weird Twilight phenomenon that might be setting the spirit cat off, is she? Nick'll actually peek into the Gauntlet around the woman if he can't spot anything in the physical world. [21:16] 7Alisa in a stage whisper: "He's probably mad because he's the Fighting Cat and Annie is incredibly dedicated to not fighting stuff." 7In a normal voice. "But that's no excuse for him to be the Rudeness Cat." [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12He'll try, anyway. Darn it! 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch: "All I'm saying is, none of you has beaten anyone but Reuben in a fight in forever." [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "That wasn't..!" [21:18] 6Anna: "What's your point?" [21:18] 4To Nicholas: "I can see why you keep him around. He's so...pleasant." [21:18] 4Lis picks up his phone. "I'll be outside if I'm needed." [21:18] 3Reuben: 1“I thought we weren’t supposed to call him a cat?" [21:19] 3Reuben tugs his collar.  14[21:22] * Joins: Quaker 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> The Beast itself casts no pall on the Shadow. Perhaps because it's wounded. He sees Chugwater as he's seen it before, quiet and peaceable save that one fat toad squatting in the creek. But Anoushka leaves a different impression. He can see, in roughly the space she'd occupy if she stepped sideways right now, a great and hateful ephemera, red lines floating in loose configuration, adrift on unseen currents, its veinous interior contorted into expressions of anguished and angered faces, largely inhuman in nature. 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Three fibers float out of the center of the mass like tendrils, and vanish in mid-Gauntlet, seeming to cross over right over Anoushka's heart. [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick, who hasn't got much of a poker face around friends, stares with eyes widened and staggers backward into one of the RV's walls. 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "He just wants attention," says Anoushka. "Someone could rub his bel-" she looks up. "Nick?" [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Uh. You've got a ... a thing, on you." [21:27] 7Alisa: "Hey, buddy. You see something?" 7Her eyes widen and film over with the black of old Vitae. [21:27] 7Has Anoushka always looked like that? 14[21:37] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [21:37] 7Alisa: "Oh, yeah, no, she's had that thing for a while. It's-- it's fine. It's fine." [21:38] 6Anna: "What thing?" [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "What is it?" 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Should I leave?" 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'd hate to violate your privacy by eavesdropping." 14[21:40] * Joins: Quaker_ [21:42] 7Alisa's eyes return to normal. "Sorry, babe. You know me." 14[21:42] * Joins: ddt 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "I do." 14[21:56] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 09[21:56] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker [21:56] 7Alisa turns to Nick. "She's right though. Let's not be mean." 7She eyes Anoushka. "It looks like you're getting ready to head out? Mind if I talk to you outside for a second before you go?" [21:58] 3Reuben turns to Nick. 1“You ever been to a Mariners game?" [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Wait, mean? I just- I wasn't sure if-" [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Who're they?" [22:00] 6Anna finally sits up from her RV bed. "They're a baseball team. I think they're Portland?" [22:00] 3Reuben: 1“They’re a baseball team that plays at Safeco field. There’s a place in the stadium where you can get home run tacos.” [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Oh." 12It doesn't sound like the kid has many opinions on baseball. [22:01] 6Anna: "Wait, they're not Vancouver, are they?" [22:01] 3Reuben, to Anna: 1“Close.” [22:02] 3Reuben: 1“They’re not very good at baseball. But home run tacos are these giant things loaded with fried eggs, cheese, onions, and beef tongue.” [22:03] 3Reuben: 1“I’m saying if we went to Seattle there’d be a lot of other cool stuff to do." 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Sure." [22:06] 6Anna: "That reminds me. We don't really have an end point to our destination anymore -- I dreamt again last night, out in the woods. Nowhere's safe. So, Seattle's as good as anywhere else, I guess." [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Safe from what?" [22:06] 7Yes! Extremely subtle conversation redirection achieved! Alisa is so smart. She'll slide on outside while the others talk about destinations, as if THOSE are a thing that matt-- oh. The destination matters to Alisa now, too. Crap. [22:07] 3Reuben: 1“Everything, I guess." [22:08] 6Anna: "That was the idea. We're too notable now, I think." [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick, to Scotch, as soon as Alisa and Anoushka are outside: "So what was that thing?" 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch: "A monster." [22:09] 7Alisa: "So, first off, I wanna get a selfie with you. I can do that now!" [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Yeah, duh, but what kind?" 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Oh, that's right. You must be loving that. You can finally see how great your hair is." [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "It sounded like it was there on purpose." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "How was it you liked to describe it? 'The voluminous hair of a temptress'?" [22:11] 7Alisa grins. "Yes! Yes! Ahahahaha! Terrible vampire magic and the voluminous hair of a temptress!" [22:12] 7Alisa: "I mean, yours is pretty great too though. I never told the others the story about how I tried to steal your hair products, only you caught me because I have short legs. Anyway, smiiiiiile~" 7She wraps her arm around Anoushka's shoulders. 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka smiles with real warmth. [22:13] 7Alisa smiles with remembered warmth. It's almost as good. 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Almost. "So where are you all heading next?" [22:14] 7Alisa: "Seattle, looks like. Sounds like an okay place, I guess." 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch: "I've never seen anything like it before. You know what it reminds me of, though? What was that thing you kept talking about? The thing you fed a cop to in Las Vegas?" 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Maybe we'll meet up there again. That's where I'm headed too." [22:15] 3Reuben: 1“Grenades?" [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. All the - the veins." 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch: "Some kind of fucked-up vampire spirit." [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "What if that's, like, the secret behind her powers." 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "Anyway, it's an abnormal monster. Soooo... kind of gives me the creeps." 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "What powers? She's so normal." [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "That's what I mean." 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "This morning I heard her laugh and she snorted. What kind of cool monster snorts when it laughs?" [22:17] 6Anna: "The coolest kind. Obviously." [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "All the cool monster is hidden in the Shadow the whole time!" 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch: "But... why?" [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Iunno. So she can go out in the day and stuff." 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "Okay but why is it still there. If you don't want it just kill it." [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "She says she's still a bit vampire, or still has vampire powers she can use or something. Maybe she'd die if it just got ripped away. Or it's like a just in case." [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Didja ever figure out what was with Anna, by the way?" 12Nick looks over to the seer. "I forget if I told you. You've kinda been smoking less every day, I barely see it now." [22:19] 6Anna: "Um." [22:20] 7Alisa: "Oh, for real? Nice. Ummmm..." 7She scratches the back of her head. "So, I'm like ninety percent sure the fact that vampires are stronger now - and human wizards are weaker, which is funny - is my fault. I met something or someone called 'the last seal'. Does that ring any bells for you?" 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch: "That's probably healthy. Smoking is bad for you." [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Yeah but it's like it's just cinched in tighter instead of gone. But I mean did you recognize it at all." 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Vaguely. You see it in some strains of human occultism, a guardian between the world and oblivion. Or else an avatar of oblivion itself. The language is vague and most of the text I've seen is unreadable ciphers with annotations, by lunatics who pretended to be able to read them." 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch: "I thought I told you. I might've just thought I told you. But you remember how my first master died, right?" 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "Wolcott?" 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "How this guy showed up possessed and murdered him?" [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Oh, yeah. Yeahhh, right. He had like ghosts or owls or something inside, right?" [22:24] 6Anna: "Strix." 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch: "That's a cereal isn't it?" [22:24] 6Anna: "'S Trix. This is Strix." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ahh. I understood that, what you just said." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "Anyway it's the same thing." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "So if she ever feels murdery, that's probably a bad sign." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch looks over at Anna. "You don't, right?" [22:26] 6Anna: "Not... at this moment, no." [22:26] 7Alisa: "That's more than I had before. Huh. One more thing. Have you seen, or met someone who had seen, or knew of, a place called an Iris?" [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "It doesn't look like she's possessed. Just, what'stheword." 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "I know a song by that name." [22:26] 6Anna: "Cohabitating?" [22:26] Cohabiting* 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch: "Oh. Ridden." [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "That one. But can't it get worse?" [22:27] 6Actually I guess it would be co-inhabiting, which is not a word, but it is more relevant to the conversation. 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch: "Yep! I don't know if her being dead makes it easier or harder but eventually you might just get hollowed out." [22:28] 7Alisa makes a fart noise. "Damnit. Yeah, didn't think so. Sorry for interrogating you about this stuff while you're leaving. Sorry not sorry. Auuuugh! Stay safe! The Strix are out and I wanna see you in Seattle!" [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Shouldn't we.... get rid of it, then?" [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "'cause, I'm just saying, if it takes over Anna's body and turns her into a berserk robot or whatever I'm pretty sure it's my sacred duty to take her down." 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka's eyes widened. "You've seen them? I'd only heard rumors." 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> *widen 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch: "We should leave it alone." 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "I bet Anna can take care of herself." [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick looks between her and the cat, conflicted. I mean, theoretically conflicted, like in the abstract. [22:31] 7Alisa, ominously: "I've seen one." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "Where?" [22:31] 7Alisa: "Anna swallowed it." [22:32] 6Anna: "If I do end up attacking you while screaming owlishly, please try not to laugh as my blows bounce off harmlessly." [22:32] "I would be very upset, deep down." [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick looks at Scotch. "Did the guy who killed Wolcott just basically stab him, or did he have insane owl powers?" 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch: "He just stabbed him. With, you know, huge razor-sharp talons, that came out of his split-open hands." 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "What?!" [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick gives Anna a significant look. [22:36] 6Anna: "Okay. Yeah, that sounds like a real bad look. Uh. I should talk to Alisa a bit, before we go." [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "See if you can learn to do the claw thing on your own, it sounds cool-" 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch: "Honestly it looked pretty cool." [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick holds out a fist so Scotch can headbutt it. 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch does so. [22:38] 7Alisa: "Yeah." 7She shrugs. "She still hasn't killed anyone, I mean at all, so I figure safest thing is to keep her around until I can figure out how to kill it." [22:38] 7She puts a finger to her chin. "And then keep her around after that, I mean. Because she's my friend." [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12I think that leaves only Nick and Reuben inside. The werewolf shuffles through his backpack a bit before sitting back down and looking across to the one remaining vampire. "So, um... you're... better now?" [22:39] 6Anna rolls her eyes and Nick and Scotch then pokes her head outside. "Alisa? You got a minute?" 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka looks back at the RV with suspicion. [22:39] "Uh, if I'm not interrupting anything, that is." 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "I was just leaving." [22:40] 3Reuben shifts in his seat. 1“Yeah, y’know. Mostly." 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch will just stretch out across Nick's lap here and fall asleep. [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Look, I. I feel really bad. Except, like, it was some insane elf god guy who made me lose it completely so, so it was his fault, not mine. And I mean he was taking Alisa away so I wasn't as careful as I usually was but I thought I'd go nuts on him, instead of... I don't even know what happened but I'm guessing some trick he pulled. So I sort of don't actually feel bad 'cause [22:42] <@Ferrinus> it was unavoidable really... but maybe that's bad." [22:43] 3Reuben: 1“Hey, man. I’ve actually killed people on accident from the blood lust stuff. So I get it. It sucks. But we’ll get through it.” [22:44] 3Reuben: 1“Perks of being a freak nightmare monster, I guess, is I can take a mauling." [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I mean, I mean. That's how I freaking, that was my first... yeah, that's part of it." [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "It's sort of... good... that it was you? Like I'm really sorry. But you've got super healing and stuff." [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12He shrugs in helpless consternation. [22:45] 3Reuben: 1“Yeah, shit happens sometimes. If you were older and I wasn’t dead I’d say we should just get blitzed and forget about it.” [22:45] 6Anna: "Oh. Well, I hope I'll get to see you again sometime! Have a safe trip wherever you're headed!" [22:45] 3Reuben: 1“You might still be able to talk me into getting you some illegal gas station beers on the road tonight, though.” 3He says, half-jokingly(?) [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Do you... when you, when you blank out... do you remember what you did after?" [22:46] 6That doesn't seem like the way to say goodbye to one of the brides of Dracula. But nothing comes to mind except 'you should really figure something out, quick, before it gets too weird to say anything else.' Thanks. 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Anoushka: "...you too." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> She shoulders her bag and moves on. [22:47] 6Once she's out of hearing range, Anna turns back to Alisa and asks quietly: "I was interrupting something, wasn't I?" [22:47] 3Reuben: 1“Yeah and no. Like, up to a certain point you remember without being able to remember being in… control? And after some point your brain just shuts down. Or you think it did, looking back. And it gets easier over time to not think about it.” [22:48] 7Alisa: "Nah. Just getting a selfie and asking if she's heard of some of the stuff we'd run into. What's up?" [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I can't remember... anything. Maybe a feeling sometimes. But it's like, it's like I just get swallowed up." [22:50] 3Reuben: 1“That’s probably a good thing, as far as it goes. Do you remember anything about your, ah. School?” [22:50] 6Anna: "Scotch mentioned how his old master died. Wolcott. Guy went crazy, possessed by a strix, and murdered him with horrible owl talons." [22:51] 4Lis returns from his walk around the motel grounds. Does everything fairly alright, based on the stroll? [22:51] <@Ferrinus> "When you're in danger, or when we're fighting, it's like, it's like I'm hanging over a huge.. hole, or something. Or a big fire. If I just slip even a little-" 12Nick shakes his head no. "Nothing. I was strapped down to a table... and then you guys were there and I was sitting against the wall outside. And... I felt better than I had in weeks. Like, relaxed." [22:51] 7Alisa: "Yikes." [22:51] 6Anna: "This is after they talked about how I'm 'smoking less,' and... I just want to know if I'm on some kind of a time limit here, for sanity. Like, a different time limit. Got two clocks above my head or something." [22:51] 3Reuben: 1“Huh. Weird.” [22:52] 7Alisa has the decency to look embarassed. "Honest answer? No idea. The Strix left before history, we're in whole new territory here." [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "The people call it kuruth. 'Death Rage'. It sounds really badass but that's - that's what it's like. Like you're dead." [22:52] 3Reuben: 1“Well, just do your best to keep all that anger and stuff all bottled up deep inside." [22:53] 6Anna: "Well, great, that makes me feel really good and not a danger to myself or others." [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick's pronounciation is actually flawless, there. He growls out the word, each u a guttural grunt and the r rolled like a boulder. It sounds a bit funny in a kid's voice. "Yeah, but, I gotta - you know, uncork bits of it carefully." [22:54] 3Reuben: 1“Werewolf stuff sounds kinda different from vampire stuff, which makes sense I guess.” [22:55] 7Alisa: "When you say 'guy went crazy', do you know which guy?" [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Your thing's The Beast, right?" [22:56] 3Reuben: 1“That’s the shorthand, yeah. I don’t really like calling it that. Because we’re not animals, and what we give into is a part of humanity, not nature.” [22:56] 3Reuben: 1“But no one wants to call it the Raging Berzerker Barbarian.” [22:56] 6Anna: "It didn't say, exactly. Just that it had happened." [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Well, it takes longer to say." [22:57] 3Reuben: 1“But when you shout it it sounds like you’re charging up a DBZ move." [22:58] 7Alisa: "Hm. Well, he coulda been crazy to begin with. You've had it in you for a while, and you haven't killed anyone. I mean, it's not safe, but you'll probably be fine until we figure out how to kill it." [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I can't decide if it's actually cooler. Like... you know, The Beast. The Beast." 12Nick waggles his fingers. "It gets right to the point. How come it's wrong?" [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Don't you guys kinda, you know, with the teeth and... I've seen Alisa flip out when someone starts waving fire around and it's the whole hissing and scrambling and stuff." [23:01] 3Reuben: 1“Yeah, but when it comes down to it, Alisa’s not a beast. And actual beasts, like animals, don’t act like beasts. They’re angry because they’re threatened, or afraid. What happens to us isn’t the same thing. Do you know the difference between the simulacra and the simulation?” [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Something appears to occur to Nick in the course of his pointing to his own mouth and gesturing. He licks his lips, furrows his brow for a moment, and then gives Reuben a big open-mouthed grin, sporting a shining set of canine fangs. "Look, I'm a v- the what?" [23:03] 6Anna: "Uh, that's the other thing I wanted to talk about. There's been this voice every time I'm in danger that I should, um. Tear your throat out and devour your soul." [23:03] 3Reuben: 1“Heh. Don’t worry about it. Maybe ask Anna some time, it’s the kind of crap she probably wasted time in school studying.” [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Anyway, it'th like- how the heck do you talk like thith-" 12He swallows, and has human chompers when he next opens his mouth. "It's like, I figured you're supposed to be like people but have this thing that makes you act like animals. I'm supposed to be like an animal but just, goes insane and is just like, a disaster. I mean disaster like a tornado." [23:07] 3Reuben: 1“Yeah, maybe so. I dunno." [23:07] 3Reuben shrugs.  [23:07] 7Alisa: "So what I'm getting here is that we should keep you out of danger." [23:08] 6Anna: "I've been ignoring it so far, but yeah. Anything that might cause a frenzy. I mean, I'm pretty good about dodging that stuff on my own, but..." [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I'll figure it out. I bet if I can get a real tribe or something I can learn to control it better." [23:11] "Right, yeah. Good catch." 7Alisa snorts through one nostril and rocks on her feet. "So how come you guys wanna go to Seattle." [23:11] 3Reuben: 1“That’d mean hanging out with a bunch of loser werewolves, though, instead of cool-ass vampires." [23:15] 6Anna: "I dunno. Reuben just talked about home run tacos. I don't really have a preference, personally." [23:16] 4Lis will run into Alisa and Anna first, then, as he finishes his quick walk around the premises. [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Hey, Rachel's pack was cool! Chill, even." [23:17] 3Reuben wobbles his hand sideways. 1“Ehhh.” [23:17] 3Reuben: 1“They all smelled a little bit like wet dog wherever they went." [23:19] 7Alisa: "Well, that's where Annie's headed, so we'll get to see her again. So that's nice. Let's head back in, unless you've got something else you wanna unload." 14[23:21] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [23:21] 6Anna: "Not unless something else crazy happens." [23:26] 7Alisa will hup back into the RV, then. What're Nick and Reuben chatting about? [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "They didn't!" 12But... what if Nick isn't able to notice? The thought chills him. [23:27] 7Alisa: "Didn't what?" [23:29] 3Reuben: 1“He doesn’t think other werewolves smell like wet dog. But then again, he wouldn’t, would he?” [23:30] 4This sounds racist. [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "We don't! I mean maybe if we were wet. But even then." [23:31] 6Anna follows in after Alisa. "This is a weird conversation to walk into." [23:31] 3Reuben: 1“Sure, dude. Won’t stop me from getting you a fresh deodorant bar at the next gas stop." [23:31] 7Alisa: "He doesn't smell like... wet dog." [23:32] 7Alisa: "YO HOW COME YOU GUYS WANNA GO TO SEATTLE THOUGH." 7She continues, more quietly. "I mean it's fine with me, whatever, but why there." [23:32] 4Lis: "Timothy wants us to take him there." [23:32] 3Reuben: 1“Angel investors. Gonna get the app funded, dawg.” [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Well, that's up where the weird stone tower I saw was, I think. But I don't need to go there specifically." [23:34] 7Alisa: "Cool. Those are all decodable sentences, so I've fulfilled my duty to find out why things are happening to me." 7She wedges herself into the small couchlet in the wall. "Ahhhhhh." [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Do you not want to go, or...?" [23:38] 7Alisa: "Hmmm? No, Seattle's fine. I mean, I don't know of any specific place we could go where we could find out what I want, so any place we do go is just as likely to have it, right?" [23:39] 7Alisa: "I mean, I'm pretty sure I drove across the country to find a pair of sunglasses I dropped at least once. That probably happened." [23:42] 3Reuben: 1“Were they cool sunglasses?" [23:42] 7Alisa: "Ummmmmmm I was wearing them? So yes." [23:42] 6Anna: "Nice." [23:43] 3Reuben mutters under his breath: 1“nerd glasses” 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Nerd glasses are cool now. [23:44] 3Nerd glasses never become cool in the world of darkness, where Oakleys remain popular forever. [23:49] 4Lis: "Oh, Alisa. I had an interesting conversation with Rorf, last he and I spoke." 4Well, second to last, technically speaking. [23:49] "He wants to buy your diary." [23:51] 7Alisa looks indignant. "Well he can't have it! Why does he want it anyway." [23:51] 3Reuben: 1“How much was he offering?" [23:51] 4Lis: "Allegedly to scan into a database of some sort. My greater concern was that he was asking me, instead of yourself." [23:51] 3Reuben: 1“We can get Alisa an iPad and she can transcribe everything.” [23:52] 6Anna: "I don't think that's our sale to make." [23:52] 4To Reuben: "We never talked specific price points. He attempted to get it offered in trade for a book for Timothy." [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "What'd he want for it?" [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Oh." [23:53] 7Alisa: "Wait, wait, go back. A database? Who's got a database on me?" [23:54] 4Lis: "My impression isn't that it's a database on you, but a database of texts in general." [23:56] 4Lis: "It did, however, sound as if there is an...emerging field of study on yourself. Perhaps us." [23:56] 7Alisa: "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" [23:56] 6Anna: "...oh." [23:57] 4Lis: "So perhaps don't do anything you're not willing to have recorded in a dissertation somewhere." [23:57] 7She's stalking around the RV waving her arms excitedly. "Okay they still can't have my diary but what about cell phone pictures?! I've got this selfie of me and Anoushka, and like a dozen others since we left Denver, and a bunch of other pics I took before that," [23:57] "That goes for all of us." [23:58] "Ooh! I could write some stuff! Would they like that?!" [23:58] 4Lis: "You could ask him." [23:58] 4Lis: "I'm sure you can hop on eBay right now and he'll come running." [23:58] 7Alisa's giggling too much for it to be clear whether she actually intends to do that. [23:58] 3Reuben: 1“Do you think anyone’s collecting my set lists from old shows?" Session Time: Thu Mar 19 00:00:00 2015 [00:01] 4Lis: "I personally would prefer not to be the subject of biographical or theological examination, at least until I've figured out more about what I myself believe, but I don't think any of us have much of a choice given our track record." [00:01] 4Christ help the city of Seattle. [00:02] 7Alisa: "I bet if you still have some, they'd take 'em. Ahahaha this is so cool" [00:03] 6Anna: "Please, Christ, let's make no more entries there." 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: No, seriously, the Sparrow Legion 14[00:09] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[00:21] * Joins: Quaker 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> https://40.media.tumblr.com/8f76648e56f02c01fe225b57e961e0c7/tumblr_nhel5wU8nA1qkt6yoo1_500.png nick 14[00:49] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[00:52] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [01:00] <@Ferrinus> http://badgame.net/banners/0beb33c7c4a993433eec3d2942e6f271a3657bec.png 14[02:05] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[02:09] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:18] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[02:49] * Joins: Quaker 09[03:44] * bananAP is now known as bananCA 14[04:09] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[04:30] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[04:43] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:53] * Quits: tom 14[05:16] * Quits: dammitwho 14[05:27] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[06:19] * Joins: mattbaby 14[06:21] * Quits: mattbaby (Client Quit) 14[06:29] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[06:38] * Joins: mattbaby 09[06:43] * bananCA is now known as banana 14[11:25] * Joins: ddt 14[11:42] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[11:59] * Joins: drinkybird 09[12:01] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[12:03] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[12:09] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:45] * Joins: quaker_ [13:12] lis submits his bracket https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CAedygZXEAA6uuW.png [13:13] this appears to be correct. [13:13] holy redeemer over lord of lords is fuckin bullshit everyone knows lord of lords is goin all the way this year 15[13:14] <@VoxPVoxD> divine son is on there twice but I don't see son of man at all 15[13:14] <@VoxPVoxD> what a racket [13:14] ncaa corruption at work folks 14[13:21] * Quits: quaker_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[13:38] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:05] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[14:10] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[14:12] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[14:15] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 15[14:15] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/576/234/dfb.jpg nicholas's training begins [14:20] ^^^^ [14:21] i did not realize that "calling everyone by their full christian birth name regardless of the person's personal preference" was something i ganked from my insanely catholic grandfather until they trolled him at his funeral by exclusively calling him Bob 15[14:21] <@VoxPVoxD> lol 14[14:22] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [14:28] Look. Is it my fault that I won't honor some punk's request to piss on the legacy of an archangel of God when he asks to be called "Mike" 15[14:28] <@VoxPVoxD> yes 14[14:32] * Joins: tom 14[14:57] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[15:14] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:15] * Joins: quaker_ 14[17:23] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[17:23] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[17:26] * Quits: quaker_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[17:26] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:29] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 15[17:30] <@VoxPVoxD> [14:15] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/576/234/dfb.jpg nicholas's training begins [17:30] <@Ferrinus> lol 14[17:44] * Joins: dammitwho [17:49] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/V3kqntF.gif nick makes a pilgrimage to the holiest of werewolf sites 14[17:59] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:34] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [20:22] <@Ferrinus> http://lparchive.org/Ultima-VII-The-Black-Gate/Update%205/42-U7_03_33.png mage [20:22] <@Ferrinus> alternately it's alisa, lis, and nick 14[20:27] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[20:29] * Joins: ddt 14[20:38] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[20:38] * Joins: ddt [20:44] ugh 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> you are [20:48] its really weird when my internet connection is so slow that webpages and steam wont load but irc just keeps chugging along [20:48] which is now like every weeknight from 6:30 to 9:30 [20:48] <@Ferrinus> you're not trapped in here with us. we're trapped in here with you 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> peak fail hours 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> ferrinus, off the top of your head, what color is 'vermillion' [20:49] <@Ferrinus> i.. wanna say it's like a magenta? 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> it is [20:49] <@Ferrinus> badass 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> I was wondering if you'd think it was yellow b/c vermillion city was the electric gym [20:49] <@Ferrinus> right, the vermillion (or the "red-piss") legion [20:50] <@Ferrinus> i couldn't actually remember which city the electric gym was in 04[20:50] vox is asking because i thought vermillion was a kind of yellow [20:51] <@Ferrinus> destroyed 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> what's the vermillion legion [20:53] <@Ferrinus> it's a division of the realm's army that they generally send disgraced losers to [20:54] <@Ferrinus> it's actually pretty fierce and fights really dirty but no one likes it [20:54] <@Ferrinus> i forget where it usually operates or w/e [20:54] <@Ferrinus> but there are a few people who like wound up in it, rose to prominence, and then left for some actually-prestigious position [20:55] isn't the roseblack in charge of it [20:55] <@Ferrinus> i think she is, yeah [20:55] <@Ferrinus> which means that In Canon it's currently out in the west atm?? [20:56] <@Ferrinus> basically if keldar was a realm native instead of a river province native his backstory would almost certainly place him in the vermillion legion 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> the who 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> oh tepet whatshername 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> ejava [20:56] <@Ferrinus> tepet ejava, yeah [20:56] <@Ferrinus> there's a cool story/picture of her from the 1e core just fucking hurling a huge javelin of wood through the heart of some lintha pirate 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> rude [20:57] <@Ferrinus> he certainly was. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> i can't find the picture, but i did find this picture someone made of the roseblack being taunted by shadow roseblack at every turn http://wiki.rpg.net/images/thumb/c/c3/SistersVeii2.jpg/500px-SistersVeii2.jpg 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> that's just sarah kerrigan [21:00] <@Ferrinus> secrets revealed! [21:00] Wood Armor [21:07] AMETHYST: Never started a car with a key before. [giggles] That's way easier! [21:08] <@Ferrinus> CHAOS EMERALD: You won't get away with this, Barack! Ferrinus will stop you! [21:09] you CANNOT do this [21:09] dammitwho: AMETHYST: Never started a car with a key before. [giggles] That's way easier! [21:27] <@Ferrinus> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CAf7QQlWwAAB6er.png 14[21:45] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[21:48] * Joins: Guest63046 09[21:48] * Guest63046 is now known as trenchfoot 14[21:59] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[22:02] * Joins: cbass 14[22:32] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[22:39] * Joins: Quaker [22:55] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/zOekYLK.png future soroya sentry drone by thaltech [22:57] it wasn't made with the coat on [22:57] they just keep finding them Session Time: Fri Mar 20 00:00:01 2015 14[01:45] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[01:46] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:57] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[01:59] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:08] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[02:12] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[02:19] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[02:22] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:22] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:24] * Joins: hrolf 14[02:34] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[02:37] * Joins: ddt_ 14[02:37] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 09[02:37] * ddt_ is now known as ddt 14[02:45] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[02:48] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:50] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[03:26] * Quits: dammitwho 11[03:47] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Mar 20 03:47:40 2015 Session Start: Fri Mar 20 03:47:40 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[07:16] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[07:16] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[07:16] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[07:16] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 09[07:16] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[07:19] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) [07:20] wtf [07:20] this unit test takes 100000 years 15[07:22] <@VoxPVoxD> that's a long time [07:29] i was exaggerating 15[07:29] <@VoxPVoxD> oh, does it only take 10000 15[07:29] <@VoxPVoxD> that's still quite long 14[08:05] * Joins: Crion 14[08:45] * Joins: hrolfy 14[08:47] * Joins: herolf 14[08:48] * Joins: drinkybird 14[08:48] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[08:51] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[08:51] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[09:49] * Quits: herolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[10:16] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 15[10:46] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/OybNckX.jpg nick's training concludes [10:46] <@Ferrinus> lol [10:47] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/CTYLDTX.jpg here's khasbot btw 15[10:47] <@VoxPVoxD> shadowrun khas [10:47] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/zOekYLK.png future soroya sentry drone by thaltech [10:47] <@Ferrinus> it wasn't made with the coat on [10:47] <@Ferrinus> they just keep finding them 15[10:47] <@VoxPVoxD> lol [10:48] (tribes announcer voice) Khasbot! [10:48] <@Ferrinus> (tribes announcer voice) Khasbot! 15[10:48] <@VoxPVoxD> khasbot tries to play back rorschach's intro narration from the beginning of watchmen, keeps lapsing into the pokemon theme song [10:49] <@Ferrinus> the people will look up and cry, save us! and i will look down and whisper, freaking finally, an excuse 15[10:50] <@VoxPVoxD> lol 14[11:17] * Joins: ddt 14[11:23] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[11:28] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[11:43] * Joins: Crion_ 14[11:45] * Joins: ddt 14[11:45] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[11:47] * Joins: herolf 09[11:47] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 14[12:00] * Quits: herolf (Quit: Leaving) 09[12:29] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[12:31] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[12:38] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:39] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[12:52] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:46] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:08] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[14:15] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:18] * Joins: hrolfy 14[14:19] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[14:21] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[14:28] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[14:30] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:39] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[14:42] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:53] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[14:55] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:15] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[15:16] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[15:18] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[15:42] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[15:44] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[16:09] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[16:10] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[16:36] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[16:38] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 11[17:06] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Mar 20 17:06:18 2015 Session Start: Fri Mar 20 17:06:18 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[17:07] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[17:07] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[17:07] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[17:07] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 09[17:07] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[17:22] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[17:26] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[18:03] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[18:03] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[18:05] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:06] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[18:18] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[18:22] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[18:22] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[18:32] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:42] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[18:45] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[19:07] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[19:10] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[19:17] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:18] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:34] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[19:37] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[19:48] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[19:51] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[20:00] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[20:03] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD> It's raining in Nexus. 15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD> The lanterns are lit and it's only midafternoon. The savants say an important river-god was killed to the North some time ago, and the Gray overflowed its banks for a time. They say the cloudherders are on a pilgrimage to pay their respects. They might even be right. 15[20:13] <@VoxPVoxD> In the Windburn District, a steep hill overlooking the Yellow, life persists through the rain. It's a quiet part of town - a comfortable place to live, far enough from the stink of the waters and the noise of life. A man loads cabbage into a cart for market, but only one woman's out to see it. 15[20:13] <@VoxPVoxD> She's on the patio of the Solemn Bear, the tea house atop the hill. Beneath its slanted roof, she plays a melody on her guqin. Excessively Righteous Blossom is practicing patience. The woman she came to see isn't in town, and won't be for a few days. How has Nexus treated her so far? 15[20:15] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a game on the bowered courtyard behind the tea house. A great stone Gateway set, carved for the amusement of the tea house's patrons, Two white-haired men are playing despite the rain. One of them has skin the color of lilac, and the other is here by whim and half-recollection. Stranger feels he knew this creature once, this tempter from hell. Sharing tea, he and the demon have spoken of dreams and memories, and Stranger is behind on board. 15[20:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Perhaps his concentration is interrupted by the steady demand for sweet rolls coming from inside his pocket. What does Stranger say as he takes a winning move? [20:16] "All things come in their time." 14Then he sips the tea. 15[20:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Inside, the Bear is peaceful and well-appointed. Men and women of the merchant class come here to drink tea and relax. One of these men is a murderer, and only one other man in the room knows it. What disguise does the Judge wear today? What justice does he intend? 14[20:16] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 15[20:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Elsewhere on the churning banks of the Yellow River, the great ironworks of Nexus clamor with the sounds of clashing steel. Nestled between them is the Foundry, a hot and raucous establishment that serves as the easiest place for the city's metalworkers to get a drink and a meal. It's a favored establishment for those looking to avoid attention, or attract the wrong sort. Fighters are common here; fights, moreso. 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> One man has a table uncontested, though he could probably squeeze into three-quarters of it. Mud and Straw is being rebuffed by the Gray himself. But the god of the river has made it clear through intermediaries that they will meet, just... not today. In the meantime, he's in the liveliest city in the East on someone else's coin. What's he ordered so far? 15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Up at the bar, a number of rough-looking mercenaries drink shoulder to shoulder. None of them are here together, but two in particular are chummy enough to talk. Raptor Quan is a spy extraordinare, though on paper he's in the same undescriptive sort of mercenary work as Keldar. They share an employer, and have common ground to share a drink as well. What kind of mood is Keldar in today? [20:20] 4The Judge wears a face not his own, that of a much younger man with blonde hair and blue eyes, chatting with the other merchants if they offer conversation. Why stop a cutpurse in the street when you can go after the man that put him there? [20:20] 7It's an old song, some say passed down from the Shogunate. She knows it as well as any of the other Fifty Elegant Performances, and it serves to pass the time as she kneels and watches the rain form clear rivulets and run off the roof, the bowers, the Gateway board. [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's current mood is: dangerous. It's been a little while since he's had a job, and a much longer while since someone's wanted to sign on one with him. Oh, sure, sure, he can just tackle single-handedly what used to take a score of men to finish, but there's just something missing when no one's there to see you strike the final blow - and the Tiger of Nexus'll never forget why [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12that's been the case for so long. That fucker. Where'd he go. That fucker... 14[20:24] * Joins: autopsyturvey 15[20:25] <@VoxPVoxD> The demon tilts his head as Stranger takes position, earrings jangling and wig skewing. "That's not how this game ended last time, is it?" Stranger can't recall, but the move felt right. [20:25] 3Mud'll have what that gentleman is having. Oh, and this looks fine, too. And that, definitely a side of that. There's so much to choose, why limit yourself to just one meal? The fat man rubs his hands together in anticipation as the steaming trays of meat and vegetables of every hue and fragrance find their way before him. First up, some sort of orange-looking stew-sorta-thing that [20:25] 3identifies itself as a fine chicken curry in all mannner of spices! [20:25] 7Nexus is filthy, far moreso than Heartspring, so she welcomes the rain. The people are pushy and occasionally forget the respect she is due as one of the Ten Thous-- a member of the Exalted Host. She's having trouble finding what she's looking for, and needs to seriously consider how she's going to make money soon. 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD> She's quite good with that guqin. Maybe she could put a hat out. [20:26] "Oh!" 3He winces. He forgot to order a drink! Mud will lean forward, or back, and give a pained expression as he scans the bar for someone who looks like they have the power to remedy this. [20:27] 14How does the demon take his tea? Stranger will have paid attention, so as not to have to ask. He wonders, not for the first time, if his habit of paying attention to that is real or imagined. 14[20:27] * Joins: mattbaby [20:27] 14But out loud: "Perhaps not. But it did end." 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Raptor Quan claps Keldar on the back. Does his palm meet armor? "You have to lighten up." 14[20:28] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [20:28] 7But... the Essence inside her still leaps joyously toward the sun. She rises with the dawn not at the instruction of servants or teachers or stern drillmasters or even the unlamented Wu Zheng, but because she is dedicated and eager to greet the day and seize its possibilities. [20:28] 7Nexus is a filth pit, but she loves it a little for being able to feel like this. [20:28] 3He's torn between the desire to obliterate the cooling bowl before him, and the immediate need for delicious poison to go down his throat. [20:29] 4Judge's eyes constantly scan the room, even as he seems to meet the gaze of any merchants who get chatty. That music is good, but what about the musician? And that's no normal game between merchants, either. But are they dangerous? An unarmed minstrel, a quiet stranger. 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> The Judge sizes the place up. Apart from the strange game out back, and the quite competent musician out front, only his quarry seems notable, and he's already had the measure of him. He's been sending scavenging thieves out to do his dirty work, putting competitors out of business - permanently. He's jittery, far too jittery to be drinking tea. He's expecting danger. [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Just the kind of lightly-reinforced jacket suitable for a man to wear about town - though Keldar's still got a sword at his hip, unless the house rules here are really stringent. "Heh. I can definitely manage that." 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> The strictest rule in the Foundry is no shop talk. You can bring any worked metal inside its walls you can carry - but gods help you if you strike up a conversation about how they were made. [20:32] 4Does he know who hunts him? Almost certainly not. But he knows he is hunted, that's for sure. 15[20:32] <@VoxPVoxD> The demon takes his syrup with just a hint of tea flavor. Stranger didn't know that much sugar could dissolve in that little water. "That's the nature of things, isn't it? To end. Everything ends." [20:33] 3Mud and Straw's never had problems with weapons. The real issue's trying to find clothes that fit him. His robe is of high, quality, though there are a few tears here and there- and, well, there's no getting out the dirt and plaster stains that give him away as a craftsman of some stripe. Really, though, in the candlelight of most buildings you can hardly tell. It only looks a little [20:33] 3shabby in the sun, is all. And glancing out the establishment's windows into the rain cascading off the tiled roofs, Mud's confident that's not a problem he'll be having today. [20:33] 14Stranger nods. "That it does. But that is reductive thinking. Everything also begins." 14He sighs. "And that is also reductive thinking." [20:35] 3He waves down someone who could plausibly be a paid employee or servant of such and begins to run down a laundry list of brews, receiving a headshake or a confused expression until finally just ordering whatever's cheapest, in the largest quantity an individual can receive. 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Mud's feast is drawing eyes from around the Foundry. Raptor nudges Keldar so he'll take a look too. "Think he'll be able to finish all that?" [20:36] 3He punches his palm as the last of the trays are set down before him. [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar narrows his eyes in concentration at the meal, then swipes them up and down, twice. "...yyyes." 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Raptor: "Five dinars says he won't." 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> The server Mud flags down scurries into the back room, only to have to duck beneath a billowing gout of white fire. There's a number of gasps and the sound of drawn blades, but no one's hurt. A spry little man stumbles out of the smoke. What on earth was Xu Sim doing back there? 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> He'll have time to muse on this as every eye in the room turns, however briefly, to him. [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks at Raptor out of the corner of his eye. ”Assuming he ain’t interrupted.” 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Raptor: "It's a b-SHIT" 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Raptor ducks like a meerkat when the explosion happens, and rises only after a prolonged silence. [20:42] 3Such carnage is completely fitting for a lair of mercenaries and scoundrels; in moments, the fat man has set aside an emptied plate to serve as a dumping ground for refuse. Bones denuded of flesh, the rinds of various fruits, shells of animals of all shapes and sizes and number of legs. Mud doesn't let anything slow him down, and only notices the explosion reflected in the oily sheen [20:42] 3covering his fingers as he goes in for a fresh bowl. 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom sees him first, a mountain marching up the hill, a man with massive shoulders wearing a full suit of white jade plate. A bald little man scurries behind him, struggling to keep pace with the giant's strides. On the armored man's breast is the sign - known throughout the East - of the Seventh Legion. [20:43] 05 The distracted Xu skids on his heel as he sidesteps the fireball, taking momentary cover behind the doorframe. A spry fellow in a loose jacket and pants, every inch of his body from the waist up and from the ears forward is blackened with soot, or something stranger. He wipes his eyes clean with a bare hand and glances out at the rest of the hall, staring out at him. [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar’s acknowledgment of the blast involved one of his hands suddenly appearing up by the side of his head, as though to apply a basic forearm block to a potential gout of fire. ”I’ve seen that one before, see.” [20:43] 3He glances up, chewing. [20:44] 7Has he noticed her? [20:44] 05 He takes a breath, recovering his dignity in this moment, and raises a finger as if to ask for a moment's consideration, before striding back into the room he came from. He emerges a moment later with a pair of crystal vials and small stoppers, which he fiddles with as he approaches the rest. 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> He has. The children of the Dragons have eyes like eagles, they say. Despite his notice, there's no recognition in his eyes. 15[20:45] <@VoxPVoxD> The demon sighs. "Everything's reductive. No mind, no word, no simple head could contain the totality of something. But sometimes a simple answer is the truest, no? Everything ends." [20:46] 14Stranger: "Not everything. But enough." 14Has the demon given a name? Stranger won't have asked. [20:47] 3As though sensing that everything is about to take a precipitous turn for the worse, Mud returns to his meal with redoubled effort. Beads of sweat are forming on his forehead. [20:47] 05 A moment later, a small, pristine dog emerges. As it nears, its apparent that despite being unaffected by the blast, it is, nevertheless, totally hideous. The dog has a haughty bearing despite the strip of leather around its neck, and it follows three paces behind Xu. [20:48] 7Then she'll play on until he passes, and after a polite amount of time follow him inside. A man like that won't be quiet about what he wants, and she needs to stay apprised of what the Legions are up to. [20:49] 4That's definitely notable. The Judge keeps an eye on his quarry, of course, but he's sizing up this newcomer at the same time. 14[20:52] * Joins: autopsy_turvey [20:52] 14There's some commotion in the main room behind them, but Stranger won't turn away from the completed game or the rain unless the demon does. 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger and the demon have not exchanged names. The demon turns to look back at the armored man and his little servant as they stride in. "But something's always beginning, too..." 14[20:53] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [20:54] 3Some might consider putting frosted sugarloaves alongside salted duck eggs in one's stomach to be hubris. This has never occured to Mud and Straw. [20:54] 14And so Stranger will take a look. [20:54] 14Murmuring: "But will it be enough, I wonder?" [20:54] 14Even he's not entirely sure what he means. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Raptor: "He's slowing down..." [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "He hasn't even got his second wind yet." [20:58] "Sure is warm in here," 05 he notes. Xu loosens the hemp jacket he's wearing. [21:00] 3Mud exhales a bone stripped of flesh and gingerly plucks it from his mouth, setting it aside on the growing mound of indedible remains, sweaty palms ever reaching for the next bowl. A piece of flatbread is pounced upon and immediately, messily drowned in a bowl of red, creamy curry. [21:00] 3It's time to take this up a notch. 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Judge takes the armored man in at once. He's got the fine plate and insignia of a Lookshy elite, but some things aren't right. One, this man is clearly Exalted - his ancient armor would be far too cumbersome on a mortal frame. A dragon-blooded of this rank - Judge makes him out to be a Dragonlord by the pips on his helmet - should be accompanied by at least a half-dozen more attendants. He's out here as alone as he can get, but he isn't willing to take off his armor. 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Two, his frustration is mounting - he's clearly been looking for someone for some time, or been made to do so under duress - and is about ready to snap. [21:04] 3Mud brings his hands together with a wet smack and pops his knuckles before upturning a bowl of still-steaming soup into his mouth, letting only a little of the excess dribble down his chin. Then he's back to work, next gripping a kebab, sword-like, and stabbing yet more food onto the stick alongside the skewered meats. 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Three, he's about to be attacked. The man Judge came here to get is twitchy too, and has apparently concluded that this titan in white jade is here for him. He draws a black dagger from within his robes-- [21:05] 7Blossom enters shortly after. She's dressed in muted reds and browns, in a knee-length robe belted at the waist over loose pants and traveling boots, with a high-collared piece of armor protecting her neck, shoulders, and chest. Her hair's drawn up in a topknot bound with a small bronze ornament, cut in the "Dragon's Fangs" style popular to young women of the Blessed Isle- Nexus is [21:05] 7cosmopolitan enough that Stranger might know this, Judge certainly will. Her fingernails are sharpened to points, and her clothing of good enough quality that she's not a common soldier. A patrician daughter with a purchased commission, maybe. [21:05] 14Stranger stands. [21:06] 4The Judge is up, subtly, but definitely a panther stalking his prey. Surely he can't be that stupid? [21:06] 3Each course is annihilated in turn by the hungry, sweating man. When he finally allows himself to roll back into his seat with a contented gurgle, there's naught left on the plate but bones and toothpicks. [21:06] 05 He sniffs at himself, the dog - which he lifts into the air (it tolerates this affront to its dignity), the air, and slowly turns to ogle the fat man's enormous portion. 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "It was cooler before you blew it up," says a dull voice from behind Xu Sim. 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> A big shadow throws itself over the little man. [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hah. HAH! See? Now we just gotta watch out for the third wind." 12He pauses, then goes 'Eh?' and nudges Raptor in the side. [21:07] "I wouldn't." 7Her voice is loud, harsh, and she's looking right at the twitchy merchant. [21:08] "One possibility," 05 He continues the slow turn to see who has suddenly blocked out the light around him. 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Raptor: "Fuckin' A. Serves me right for betting against the luckiest man in Nexus." Five dinars are forthcoming. [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Barkeep! A drink for the fat guy. Let none say Keldar is not magnanimous in victory." [21:10] 14Stranger's only action will be to hold a hand out to warn the demon to stay where he is, lest he walk into an errant blade, then step inside the back doorway and lean against the frame to watch. [21:10] 14His hand will casually fall to his cane. [21:10] 3He washes it down with the throat-burningest admixture to be found in Nexus and slaps a small treasure in silver talents onto the bar. [21:13] 3If and when a free drink arrives to Mud, he'll lift the flagon overhead, cheering at the most generous stranger before downing it in turn. [21:13] 14Meanwhile, a small mouse will slip out of the collar of Stranger's robe to take a look, then slip back inside the fabric only to emerge poised on top of one of Stranger's crossed feet, leaning with similar affected laziness against the white-haired man's ankle. 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> The man staring Xu Sim down is a big, hulking brute wearing a set of steel tiger claws. He's drunk and surly. "You think you can just get away with that?" 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "Huh? Asshole?" [21:15] 3Mud's still slurping down the swill, tankard to his face as his eyes turn blearily to the blooming confrontation. [21:15] 7She puts forth a hand, and a tongue of flame curls around her fingers like the tame snakes the false holy men use to bilk newcomers to Nexus. "Don't be a fool. Even if he didn't kill you with one hand, you'd never make it out the door." [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar rotates one shoulder idly and twists in his seat to look over. Who's the bully? Who, in fact, is the scrawny old man - is Xu Sim a regular, such that he and Keldar probably recognize each other? 14[21:15] * Joins: autopsyturvey [21:17] "And you are?" 05 he asks, with a vaguely courteous gesture. 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar knows the big guy - Qal Sisma is a mercenary about three or four tiers below him in one of the cheap, hardscrabble companies. When he's not shaking someone down for the Guild or some unaffiliated merchant, he's here drinking. 14[21:19] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [21:19] 7Somewhere, a thread snaps and a bureaucrat grumbles in irritation. What actually happens, is Blossom glares at the sweating merchant and says: "Don't be a fool. He'd kill you with one hand, and even if you got very, very lucky we all know your face. Murder in a teahouse is bad for trade." [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a creak as the secret Dawn Caste rotates his stool all the way around so's he can lean back on the bar, cross one leg over the other, and watch this play out. Keldar, now he's facing the room, is a handsome, muscular man with tanned skin, an appropriately-cool amount of stubble, and a head of medium-length dark hair that's held back by a bandanna. He's got on what look like [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12simple traveling clothes, albeit high-quality ones, and his forearms, shins, and torso are girded with leather. A finely-made straight sword's sheathed at his hip. Dark green eyes regard the future beating in the middle of the room with some mirth. [21:24] 14Stranger had planned on intervening...but this young lady seems to have things firmly in hand. Or she's convinced she does, at least. [21:24] 14...something... 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "You hear that?" Qal Sisma bellows at the other patrons. "He wants to know who I am?!" 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Qal looms over Xu. "Better yet," he growls. "I'll show you." [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "He what? He WHAT? Doesn't he KNOW that you're, uh... uh... sorry, gimme a sec..." [21:25] 3Mud and Straw wipes his hands across his mouth and licks his palms, turning his head to follow the sound of shouting. [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar gives Raptor a look of helpless, pleading bewilderment, appropriately exaggerated. [21:27] 3Mud presents his gut to the crowd. There's a surprising lack of food upon his clothing- chalk it up to the all-encompassing voraciousness of his mouth. He's enormously fat, of average height, and balding. Brown beady eyes narrow while he divides his attention between the soon-to-be scuffle and calculating the appropriate tip for his meal. 14[21:28] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[21:28] * Joins: autopsyturvey [21:29] 3He flares his nostrils and rises. Piggish and full of liquor, Mud and Straw steps toward the two men, palms upturned and a beaming smile upon his face. "Come now, friends, this is no place for a fight!" [21:30] 3He points a stubby finger out the door. "Let's go outside!" 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> The merchant snaps to look at Blossom, knife held out. The armored man regards the merchant as if only just noticing an ant he was about to step on. "What on earth?" 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> The merchant's feet quake, and then they're dangling off the floor as the Lookshy officer holds him up by his scruff. "Were you going to stab me?" [21:35] "I doubt--" 05 Xu makes to turn away from the towering, drunk, fellow; but Qal throws a dagger-encrusted punch at just the wrong moment. Xu Sim pivots and drops. He grabs the hand with two of his own, lands on the ground, and kicks his legs up in the air. It's a simple matter of redirecting energy. It has the effect of sending Qal flying through the bar, bouncing off of Mud and Straw's... [21:35] ...table of discarded bones, scraps, and discarded napkins before slamming into the bar next to Keldar, shattering the adjacent barstool like a handful of twigs. 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> The merchant stammers, "I-i, it's not- you- it's- I thought-" 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> The armored man squeezes. [21:36] "-you're worth the trouble. Please have a good night's rest, and in the morning please be more considerate." [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's eyes widen with fear - but no, barely any beer got spilled, there. He takes a careful sip before leaning over and looking down at Qal Sisma. "Damn, dude. Look at you." 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> The merchant struggles to get air now, but he has the voice for, "The Black Judge is coming!" 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> His legs kick in the air like a freshly hanged man's. "He's coming for us all!" [21:37] 14Stranger is about to step forward, disrupting Ra on his sandal, when he hears the merchant speak. He frowns, eyes darting to the young woman. [21:38] 3The fat man stares, shocked as the bar explodes into a cloud of powdered chicken bones and misted curry sauce. He's silent for a moment still before turning to the tiny Xu Sim, eyes beaming with joy. An incoherent shout of joy announces the victor as Mud and Straw throws up his arms! 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Qal Sisma groans and passes out against the bar. 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> The Foundry explodes with hoots and hollers. [21:39] "Drinks are on me! DRINKS ARE ON MEEEEeee!" 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm glad," says Raptor Quan, "that he didn't give me time to bet on that." [21:39] 4The Black Judge isn't coming. He's been here all along, and continues to let things run their course, unless the scales tip towards someone who doesn't richly deserve it. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar raises his mug in a silent toast before draining it. 14[21:39] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> The armored man holds the merchant up like a stray kitten. "I am Nessun Dorma. Who will claim this man?" [21:41] "Thank you, thank you- oh, no need to worry, Princess, the bad man isn't going to hurt us!" 05 says the little man, to his dog, before setting it back on the ground. It immediately goes for the chicken bones on the floor and starts scarfing them down with a horrible shuffling sound. [21:41] 14Stranger is loath to get involved. The man -- the merchant, it appears -- did pull a knife, as a fool would. He's quite content to stand here and keep himself between this great armored mountain of clearly-looking-for-a-fight and his drinking partner...unless someone more worthy of his support gets involved. [21:42] <@Ferrinus> "So what's your name again? And who're you, friend?" 12As drinks have only figuratively flooded the room, Keldar's ended up nearby his two chief sources of entertainment for the day. [21:42] 7Does the name 'Black Judge' mean anything to Blossom? 14[21:43] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [21:46] "Xu Sim, to my friends. Pleasure to meet you... ...?" [21:46] "Mud and Straw my father named me!" 3Drink sloshes in the man's cup between words. "I work on the River! It's very official....s'why I'm here!" [21:46] 14Nessun Dorma. Hrm. From Lookshy, if Stranger has his measure. Probably in town for the business about the artifact. Interesting...but this is not the particular avenue by which to make introduction. 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom's been in Nexus long enough to hear the name. A demon-king, a god of the shadows, a terror of the underworld. Here in the heathen Threshold, the disposessed pray to the Black Judge for justice. Criminals pray to the Black Judge for mercy. 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> He only ever seems to answer half those prayers, if the stories are true. [21:47] "That was some right hook, friend!" 3Mud experimentally jabs Xu Sim with his elbow, gently. [21:47] <@Ferrinus> "Keldar," 12says Keldar, with the air of someone laying down a winning hand. He glances carefully at each man's face in search of the flicker of recognition. 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun Dorma: "Then he is a stray, and he belongs in the gutter. BUBO!" [21:48] "Ah!" 3He beams. "The mercenary! One of the bandits stealing from my work camp, probably!" 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> The little man pops up, bald and goateed, with beady eyes behind dark glasses. "Yes master! Yes yes yes!" 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> The merchant sails out through the front door and into the rain-slick street. "Pay his tab." [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar stares off at the wall momentarily. "How long ago was that?" [21:48] 14Interesting. 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Now there's a name the Judge remembers. [21:49] "Six weeks ago! Then four!" [21:49] 3He's not angry, it seems. [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ain't me, then, I'm fuckin' - work camps is small time, man." 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo... he's actually seen this guy before, albeit in a painting. Remember Moira, the surgeon he saved from an erymanthus? Moira Malcavet. She had a husband name of Bubo. Seems she still does. [21:49] "I believe you! That's what's so funny about this!" [21:49] 7He can't have been too effective, if the Council of Entities hasn't dropped on him for obstructing trade. Assuming he's real at all. Blossom smirks as the merchant makes an undignified exit, and looks for a table. [21:50] "Not like it would be wise to fight anyway, lest I be hurled someplace worse than the bar!" [21:50] 3Another jab into Xu Sim's side, though by now it should be endearing, right? [21:50] 14Well. With the excitement over, Stranger will return to his tea. [21:51] 4Has she said anything about him? Maybe it's her they're after. 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> As Bubo meticulously lays coins down on the bar, Nessun bellows, "I SEEK ANATHEMA!" [21:51] 14Pause. [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar peers, uncertain if the joke is supposed to be that he's been robbing this Mud guy or that he hasn't. "So wait, work camp? You're what, kinda, Guild official or project admin or something?" [21:52] 4No time like the present. "What are anathema, sir? I've heard tell of them, but I don't know much." 4The young blonde man has a pleasant voice, deferential too. [21:53] 3Mud jams his thumb into his sternum. "The Grey River Levee Foreman, Subdistrict 3, Southern Bank!" [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Foreman? How many kindsa debt did you have to go into to eat like that, then?" [21:53] 14Stranger's return to his table with demon is smooth, but swifter. Quietly: "You may wish to take your leave. Thank you for the tea, and the game." [21:54] 14He grimaces. It's gotten cold. "I wouldn't go through the teahouse." [21:54] "A great deal," 3he beams, proud of his achievements. "But my pay has been adjusted according to inflation in accordance with the times! And also I saved everyone so they took that into account!" 15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> The demon smiles. His face is slenderer now, and the white wig frames it heavily. "A rare pleasure, old friend." And with that he sidles out of the courtyard. [21:55] 3He gestures out the window at the torrential rain. "It's strange, no? I saw the River-Goddess, Daspes die at the levee and I have come to Nexus to seek the Grey himself for counsel!" [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "They pay you for saving people now? What's come of this world." [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Wait, you saw the what do what?" [21:56] "Well, if everyone had died how could we finish the levee?" [21:56] 7Blossom pauses for a fraction of a second while stirring her fresh cup of tea. So bizarre to hear the men of Lookshy talk about hunting Anathema and their Legion, as though they were civilized. [21:56] 14Stranger will drink to that. But the pot is cold. He will bring the pot, the cups, and the board inside, and discreetly leave them with the help before quietly requesting another pot of the same. He takes a table just as the young lady from earlier looks around the room for a seat of her own, and Stranger gestures for her to join him. [21:57] "There were drowned corpses, and a dead river-god, and the levee broke but it's okay because I fixed it." 3Mud smiles pudgily. [21:57] 14It is, after all, very close to the back door, with a very clear shot to the street. [21:57] 7She carries the cup carefully to the table the odd (blind? no, he noticed her) man indicates. [21:58] 4Judge is talking to the Dragon-blood, but he's watching Bubo. [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Which one was Daspes...?" [21:58] "How did you do that? A broken levee is a huge amount of energy!" [21:58] "All that water, an entire river's worth! And the God of the river, dead?" [21:59] "Salamander, two heads. Sorta big, can be sorta mean but that's okay because I figured out she likes offal and so I'd give her some as a peace offering! Best of all, that's why I'm here, to meet the Grey and make sure she's okay!" 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun Dorma regards the young blond man. "The Anathema are demons, young man. Demon-kings of old, who enslaved the world until the dragons beat them back. They lurk at the peripheries of Creation... they sneak into our farms and our cities... they bring ruin beneath our very noses." [21:59] 7Blossom: "Three teahouses before I found one remotely tolerable, and some petty thief has to try and start a brawl." [21:59] 14Stranger will nod as she sits, pouring himself a new cup. "And now this." [21:59] "Well, I uh! I can't tell you!" 3Mud blurts. "Maybe later friends!" [22:00] "It's complicated and maybe illegal." [22:00] 14Stranger: "At least I finished my game before the mountain walked in shouting 'Anathema.'" [22:00] "Goodness! I'm glad you're here to take care of them then. Have you fought many of these demons?" [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, good, not one of the hot ones. Keldar takes a drink, then says: "So wait, though. She piss some monks off or what?" [22:01] 7Blossom: "Did you win?" 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "Hear their names! Learn them well. There are three Anathema lurking in this city this very day! The reward for information on them will be handsome indeed." [22:01] "Nossir, no monks. The Immaculates are a little on the scarce side, s'why the provinces are putting up the Levee!" [22:01] "River-Gods threatening to flood the plains don't mean nothing if there's a wall!" 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "Xu Sim, wanted for regicide twice over, for bringing demons into the world and setting them loose!" [22:02] 14Stranger: "I'd like to think we both did." 14He lowers his voice. "He was Neomah." [22:02] 14He was already almost whispering. [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Then what happened? You don't actually kill gods, do you? You just send 'em on time outs, and that's if you're lucky." [22:02] "That's what's so weird! She's not back yet!" [22:03] "The important thing is that only a few people died and I wasn't close friends with them." 3He looks down and away, shakes his head, and takes another gulp from his tankard. [22:03] 14At this moment, the little fat Mouse of the Sun pokes his head out of Stranger's sleeve, sniffing around at the new lady. At a frown from the 'blind' man, he retreats back under the cloth. 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "Wilting Vine Dancer, the cannibal and bandit!" [22:03] "And I got paid! And mostly everyone lived and now I need to make sure everyone else is okay!" [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That IS weird." 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "And Wu Zheng, kidnapper and murderer!" [22:05] 7Ha ha ha. [22:05] "What of you, friend? You are, eh, a blade for hire, yes?" [22:05] "He's got a rough look, to be sure." [22:05] 3Mud's quick to shift gears, so to speak. 14[22:05] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [22:05] 7Blossom: "You're a sorcerer?" [22:05] "And you.. a beggar? No! I insult you, I plead forgiveness, honorable elder!" [22:06] "You must be... a drunkard!" [22:06] 14Stranger smiles. "Not in the sense I think you mean." [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm Keldar! Best sword Tenth Orchard's got. You hear about the eversnake? That was me." [22:06] 3Mud shrugs. "You're a snake?" [22:06] 4The innocuous young man eyes the Dynast's companion. "And you, sir, do you hunt these demons as well? I could swear I've seen a portrait of you somewhere. Are you famous?" [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "C'mon, dude." 14[22:07] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [22:07] "Give me something to work with!"' [22:08] 14Stranger finds his attention drawn, somewhat, by the young blonde man speaking to the Lookshy mountain and his companion. He doesn't recall seeing him in here earlier...or does he? He's so non-descript. [22:08] "What, me? I'm no beggar! I'm a sage!" 05 He sounds legitimately offended. [22:09] "Ah, beg pardon. So hard to tell the difference in Nexus." [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Why does no one - this was like two months ago. Some eastern sorcerer fucks up, right, and what happens is that more and more snakes keep tying themselves together into bigger and bigger snakes which - it was a real problem. You had, like, teams of guys with axes and they were just treading water, really." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo turns to regard the young man, squinting behind his glasses briefly. [22:10] "So how did you fix it?" [22:10] "Oh my! And that must be why the price for fine shoes has bottomed out!" [22:11] 3Mud glares despairingly down at his fine moccasins. And they seemed such a deal... [22:11] "Why didn't the sorceror responsible just create an ever-mongoose, to finish off the ever-snake?" 14[22:11] * Parts: tom [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Anyway, I get out there, BAM! Fuckin', annihilated. Cut my way straight in and through, found the glowy whatever that was generating them, sprinkled some alchemical crap on it, yadda yadda. It was a whole thing." 14[22:12] * Joins: tom [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Probably cause he couldn't afford me twice." 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Then he chuckles. "Ho ho ho! Quite the opposite my friend. Have you taken ill recently, perhaps? My wife is a prominent physician." [22:13] "Ah! That must have been it. I do occasionally trade in medical supplies." [22:13] "Now, alchemy! That's an elegant study! There's little you can't do, with the right reagents." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "She is quite fond of those portraits of us. Gods! That was years ago. Still as lovely as the day I met her. Yes, yes, yes." [22:14] "Wonderful!" 3He beams. "Oh, you fancy yourself a chemist?" [22:14] "I never met a chemist I didn't like!" [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "How about a geomancer?" [22:15] "Ehh." [22:15] "But a chemist!" [22:15] "She is. You are quite a lucky man, to be blessed with such a wife and such a strong companion. I will leave you to your hunting, by your leave, gentlemen." [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar was asking the both of them, to be clear, here. 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo is cinching up his purse. Nessun Dorma says, "Anyone with information on these Anathema should bring that information to the Council of Entities. The riches of Nexus and the treasures of Lookshy await the helpful." [22:16] 7Blossom: "I suppose there must be a dozen unbound roaming the city. Dangerous to play against them, I'm told." 7That mouse... just a pet? It strikes a chord with some of the lore she's been searching through. What is it? 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "COME, BUBO!" 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo puts the money away and balances a small, square hat on his large bald head. "Well, good day, young man. What's your name? I'll ask after you to Moira." [22:17] "It has its rewards." 14His eyes follow her interest for a moment -- then the loud mountain yells, and his attention returns to the other side of the room. [22:17] 14It's like a dream, all of this. Stranger can't shake it. It's like something out of a dream. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "Coming, master!" Bubo scurries after Nessun again. [22:18] "Almin Jera, sir. It's been a pleasure." [22:20] "Oh, yes. Consider, these two phials - " 05 he produces them. [22:22] "In the correct proportions, they could produce a noxious gas, or a filth-banishing solvent! Or even, a firey explosion!" [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "'zat what happened back there?" [22:23] 14With Stranger distracted, Ra will dart out again and this time attempt to abscond with one of the complementary flat crackers that came with this pot -- Stranger has been a generous and constant presence in the teahouses of this district since he arrived...recently. [22:24] 14Noticing the distance in Stranger's already-empty eyes, he will then attempt to dunk it in the tea. 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> The old man behind the counter makes conversation with the Judge as he wipes down cups and sets them aside to dry. "Do you believe that? Anathema, here! The generals of Lookshy asking after them!" [22:25] 14His reach exceeds his grasp. "Ra," 14Stranger says quietly but sharply. [22:25] "Oh yes, I imagine so. Though it seems a bad place to practice practical alchemy?" [22:25] "Open flames, raucous volume, unfamiliar odors..." [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, it's like the saying. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere." [22:26] "General? He did look impressive." [22:26] 14The mouse dunks the cracker anyway, then scurries back up Stranger's sleeve. 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh, well, he must have been, don't you think? And he had that... that... was there someone with him?" [22:26] 14There will have been more than enough time for the young woman to observe the mouse's golden eyes. 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> The Judge is fairly certain there was. 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> ...fairly certain. [22:28] "Oh, well, I'm... ah, between true patrons at the moment. But it's no matter. I make these little baubles to be able to afford the cover charge at fine establishments like this." 14[22:28] * Joins: autopsyturvey [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Like I asked, though. You know any geomancy?" [22:29] "Somebody. But after that warrior, he must not have been that important." 4That's what the Judge's brain is trying to tell him. But he remembers bits, pieces. [22:29] "Nnnnooo..." [22:29] "I'm an engineer!" [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I mean him!" [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You're not the guy says he's a sage." [22:30] "I have my moments." 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Everything's shaking. 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> In the Foundry, forks and sabers rattle. Beer sloshes from mugs. In the Solemn Bear, teacups clatter against the saucers, laying moats around themselves. The windows quiver. 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> And then there's the sound. 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> BONGGGGGGG [22:31] 3Mud: "Uuuuh..." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> BONNNNNNG DONNNNNGGGGG [22:31] 14Strangers eyes narrow and he stands. 14[22:31] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Is that... normal? [22:32] 3"IS THIS NORMAL!?" 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Hear the tolling of the bells. Iron bells. The size and tenor of the sound is without precedent in any Nexus resident's memory. And they're all called to think of it. They feel it in their sternum. They hear it in their souls. 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> From horizon to horizon the bells are tolling. [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Nnnnnno it isn't." [22:34] 4Does that mean what I think it means? [22:34] 3Mud reaches into his pockets and draws a few more silver talents for the tip, slapping them onto the bar and rushing clumsily out the door into the rain. [22:34] 3What under Heaven....? [22:35] 3Does anything present itself as immediately odd or out of place? He's off-balance, being a foreigner to Nexus and its ways. [22:35] 14Like something out of a dream. [22:35] 14No one said it was a good one. 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Along every river, on every hilltop, the sky burns red. 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> It's like the air itself is all aflame. [22:36] "This is bad!" 3Mud shouts. "Like, what-happened-at-the-levee-bad! [22:36] " [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar pushes himself to his feet and follows the man outside. He pulls a rough poncho off one of the hooks by the door, but doesn't put the hood up as he stops in the street and glares upward. [22:37] 7Blossom is about to ask if the stranger has had his little friend long when the infernal noise starts. Is this some kind of civic holiday? [22:37] 7Then the sky turns red, and she's on her feet. [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What exactly happened at the levee?" [22:37] 4The Judge is already gone, without a word. [22:37] "God died, walking corpses, levee broke," 3Mud wheezes. 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Those drawn to the windows, to the skies - as untold thousands are - will see a red star ascending like an awful flare. The district... there. The red star shines above Sentinel's Hill. [22:38] 3Is it a far walk? [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Sky do that?" [22:38] "No!" [22:38] "But it's weeeeeird." [22:39] 14Stranger knows, vaguely but certainly, this is why he wandered to Nexus. [22:39] "This is a dread omen!" [22:39] 4This is bad. Go faster, got to go faster. 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> It's not that far. Mud walked farther than that trying to find the best place to have lunch. [22:40] 3Still! It's the principle of it! "Huff, huff... huff!" [22:41] 14To the young woman next to him: "You are no mere musician." [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's nostrils flare as he breathes in. "Alllll right, yeah, that's gonna be a - where you goin'? Could be dangerous." [22:41] "To another adventure!" [22:41] 14He's still staring at the sky with empty eyes. [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That's Firewander, friend. Wyld zone." [22:41] 3Mud reaches into his pocket and draws an uneaten kebab, now pointing down the road like a saber. "I have no idea what that means!" [22:41] 14Stranger: "You want to know about my mouse." [22:42] 3And off he goes, trundling along in that curious half-run, half-waddle. [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The Wyld, man, the damn Wyld! Where fuckin' faeries come from! You're gonna - you know what, up to you. Free city." [22:42] 3This is his first day in Nexus. [22:42] 7Blossom: "How many wandering Gateway masters have a pet like that one, I wonder." 7She looks back at Stranger. "I'm going to see what that red star is. Are you coming with me?" [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'll see you there, if you're lucky." 12The mercenary himself ducks down a side street. He'll show up at Sentinel Hill shortly thereafter, armed and armored. [22:43] 14Stranger: "I was about to suggest it was the more pressing inquiry." 14He puts coin on the table, and finishes the rest of the cup. [22:43] 14As they leave the teahouse: "His name is Ra." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Each of them must contend with confused throngs spilling out into the street and staring at the star. There's a slow ebb in Firewander's direction, as if gravity were pulling every man, woman, and child in the City of Liars to that one spot. [22:46] "The Wyld... I know the Wyld..." 05 Xu Sim hurries after Mud [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, wearing a suit of finely-made articulated plate that's got a thin green ribbon tied around one of the shoulders: "Outtatheway, comin' through, I got this..." 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> The crowds are moderate in their analysis of the situation. "The gods will drive us to the sea!" "The world is ending!" "Hell! Hell!!!" [22:48] 3If and when Keldar arrives, Mud and Straw will be there alongside Xu, waving and standing tiptoe on the balls of his feet at the mercenary. [22:48] 4Judge definitely doesn't know the Wyld, but he doesn't have a choice. Should he show up with the same face? [22:49] 7Blossom will clear a path, shoving the more recalcitrant citizens when she has to, or darting from atop hitching-poles to stall awnings when the streets are too packed to effectively navigate. [22:49] "I knew you'd come!" 3Gushes Mud. "Your bearing is too heroic to miss this!" [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's cracking his knuckles, which is harder to do than it looks when you've gauntlets on, and shouldering his way to the front of the crowd. Just what's going on here? [22:49] 14Stranger will slide through behind her. Someone should silence the fool yelling 'Hell!' It's doubtful that's what this is and the demons won't be pleased. [22:51] 3Mud, of course, breaks crowds like a truffling pig through underbrush. [22:52] "Ha, friend, I'm just walking where it's easiest to walk!" 05 It's true! [22:52] 4An affable blond stranger touches many people on the shoulder and advises them to take shelter, both from the oncoming disaster and from the crowded streets. Many do, at least enough that he can continue unimpeded. 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> It's still raining. As the sun sets, the red star makes the clouds glow pink. [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hey! Outta the - that's Firewander, kid, the hell are you even -" [22:55] 7Fortunately, Nexus is riddled with 'thieves highways', and Blossom is able to dart across rooftops, clamber through open windows of abandoned buildings, and generally make excellent time by avoiding having her feet touch the ground. [22:56] 14Stranger keeps pace behind her, but doesn't go for anything so flashy as rooftops -- he moves through the crowd like a wisp of white smoke, his mouse quick with him. 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> By some reckonings, Sentinel's Hill is the heart of Nexus. Certainly it overlooks great swaths of the city, and the Council Tower stands here. The red star, they realize as they approach, shines almost directly over it. 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> The crowds grow less frantic as they push through. "Is that-" "Can't be-" "He's not-" "He's dead! The Emissary is dead!" [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's sure he's mishearing that. [22:59] 4The stoic Judge's heart skips a beat. This can't be a coincidence... can it? 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom sees it first, poking her head past the rim of the crowds being held at bay by a wall of mercenaries forming up even now. Keldar recognizes some colleagues and is able to push through. [22:59] 14A dream. A nightmare. 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> The others, from their directions, will soon see it too. 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> The cobbled square beneath the Council Tower plays host to two bodies, one kneeling, one supine. The kneeling man is cowering behind his cart, overturned. Cabbages roll gently down the street. Smoke is rising from his head, his shoulders... he's weeping, too. 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> The supine man is garbed all in white, hair spread out behind him. His face is obscured by a silver mask polished to a mirror shine. The red star is reflected clean and true in the Emissary's forehead. The rain is already rinsing his blood away. [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That ain't... no. No way." 12Who's the other guy? Is he anyone famous? 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> He's nobody. 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> He just sells cabbages. [23:03] 14Hmm. 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> If you listen beneath the clamor and the rain, beneath the burning and the bells, you'll hear him sobbing that, to himself, as he refuses to lift his head from his hands. [23:04] 3Mud turns questioningly to Xu Sim behind him. "Who..." [23:05] 14Stranger now is less interested in the dead man -- and uninterested in the weeping man -- and far more interested in how everyone else is reacting to the dead man. [23:05] 14Who else has arrived with him and the young woman...? [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hey. Hey!" 12He takes a single step forward, but doesn't actually approach the corpse. "Who're you? What happened?" [23:07] 7How unlikely all this is. Oh! Somebody's taking charge. Who's this? [23:07] 05 Xu strides towards the mysterious, fallen Emissary and kneels beside him to see if he is truly dead. Is he even a man? 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger sees the mercenary with the green ribbon on his shoulder, striding past the barricade as if it wasn't there. He sees the fat man and the little man huddled together, conferring in the rain. He sees, rising like a behemoth over the crowd, Nessun Dorma. He sees the width and breadth of Nexus, princes and paupers alike, gaping in awe and confusion. 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "You there! Halt!" [23:07] 4The Judge is kneeling at the front of the crowd of people, not moving too close, but his eyes dart across the fallen Emissary, cart, and everything around it. [23:07] "I'm a doctor!" 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> A woman, hair matted down by the rain, draws her sword and points it at Xu Sim. "Stand slowly or never again." [23:08] 4He sees Nessun Dorma, and curses internally. Knew I should have left this face behind. 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar recognizes her immediately. Councilor Pellicia. The Dawn Sergeant is the closest thing there is to law in this town. Well, after the Emissary. [23:08] 3It is now Mud that follows Xu Sim! He would laugh at this reversal but now is very obviously not the time for that! [23:08] "Very well," 05 Xu raises his hands. [23:09] 3He backs off when people start pointing swords though! [23:09] 14Stranger steps out from the crowd into the open, blank eyes narrowing. He sees the blonde man from the teahouse. [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Heyyyy. "Councilor!" 12Keldar says, his voice a little gruffer and more serious than Mud may remember it. "Did you see what happened here?" [23:09] 3It's his first day in Nexus and it would be very unfortunate for a sword to be drawn on him already!! [23:12] 3Mud takes a worried bite from his kebab. [23:16] 4The Judge has seen what happened here, but he obviously can't bring it to the armored Dynast. He takes note of the other interested parties, however. This might be too big for him to handle alone. 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia wheels around at Keldar's voice. "Keldar!" She'll wave him closer to confer. She's on good terms with the city's mercenaries, including the ones she dislikes personally, which is almost all of them including Keldar. It never gets in the way of business. "The cart ran the Emissary down. It was coming from the northwest, by the Yellow somewhere. The man was riding the cart, and was bent over him when that thing-" she trusts she doesn't need to point to the star "-went up." 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "And he just... went down." [23:19] 14Stranger is staring at the star. Anything...? Does it stir in him anything? 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "The Prosector's clerics are getting here as fast as they can." [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar narrows his eyes. "A cart? A damned cart? Hang on, he crashed and then the star went up, or the star went up and then he crashed?" 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger looks up at the star, and his face burns. He remembers a man of limitless dignity. He remembers the finest tea he's ever tasted, sweet with honey. He remembers that a vow was broken. He remembers that vengeance is due. [23:21] 14And that is enough to get involved. 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Mud's neck tickles. 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> The back of his neck. Something's crawling on the back of his neck. [23:22] "Agh! Mosquito!" 3He slaps. [23:22] 14So he will circle around to the blonde man -- and assuming he's not running for the crowd -- whisper to him, "You will need help. I will check up the road." 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> He was wrong. It's not a mosquito. Smeared across Mud's palm is the remains of a honeybee. [23:23] "Ooh! Ooooh... Sorry.. friend..." 3Mud winces and tries to collect some rainwater in his hands to wash away the evidence of his crime. [23:27] 3He slaps his palms together. "Okay, let's... let's start with... who is this guy?" [23:28] 3Mud: "Looks... looks really important." [23:28] 7Blossom turns her attention from the murder(?) scene to the star. A generic omen? A beacon? What is this thing? [23:28] 3Judging from the crowds.. and the armed guards.. and the city officials, and the swords, and the serious looks everyone's giving. [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar frowns at the corpse, then frowns at the sky. "...we're not the only ones that beacon's alerting. ...we're probably not even the only direction the news's just hit." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "What?" [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "This thing, it's like - imagine a trap, right, that sprays something sticky or acidic on the hand or face of whoever trips a catch first." 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "I'm with you so far." [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Apparently, someone knew the Emissary could die... and set it up so they'd know... and, seeing as that's Firewander and its sky is as fucked up as the rest of Nexus's, set it up so they'd know way the hell out in fairyland." [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "This guy is fucked." 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> The crowd is at turns somber and agitated. It's increasingly clear that the Emissary isn't getting up again. [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...Except this doesn't explain how in the gods damned hell the Emissary gets taken out by a street cart in the first place! What is this?!" 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia looks over at the cabbage merchant, head in hands, huddled against the rain. "Whatever's coming for him... at least he won't see it coming." [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It got his eyes?" 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "His whole face is terribly burnt. He won't let us near him, and there's no point holding him down. The Prosector's people will drug him and take him back to the Crematorial Temple." 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "Well..." she hesitates. [23:34] 7Hrmph. Blossom leaps to the ground and tries to shoulder her way near to the magistrate(?) and her deputy(?). 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "Almost his whole face." [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar heads over to kneel by the man. He gives Stranger a brief glance - oh, some old guy - before trying to make out the merchant's features, or what remains of them. [23:35] 3Mud: "Here, let me see... I know a little of medicine.." [23:35] 3He's ambled over in the interim. [23:36] 14Stranger walks to the top of the road...yes, here. There's a block here, and another right next to it -- wooden blocks, the kind you use to stop a cart. One assumes it's the one down at the other end of the street; the cart just up the way still has its wheels stopped up. It rolls downhill from here, drifting gently to the left...and it's losing cabbages the entire time. The incline, [23:36] 14the size of the cart, and the distance don't work. A child might be hurt by this, if the edge of the cart caught his head the wrong way. [23:36] 14But even putting aside his considerable reputed powers, even had this Emissary been merely a man, the cart would have caught him in the ribs. [23:37] 14Likely rather gently, considering the shredded cabbage halfway down the road. It was braking on its own produce on the way down. [23:37] 14How very interesting. [23:38] 3Mud cups his hands around his mouth. "EVERSNAKE!" [23:38] 14Stranger looks about. Has the blonde man left? [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks up. "Wha?" [23:39] 7The mercenaries try to stop her, but they're here to be a wall against the gawping masses, not a trained daughter of the Realm. She's through their line before they can even lay a hand on her. "Aren't you going to take this man into protective custody?" [23:39] "I- huff- FORGOT YOUR -huff- NAME!" [23:39] 3Mud:"Xu-Sim's an ALCHEMIST and I know some MEDICINE!" [23:40] 14...Xu Sim? [23:40] 14Oh no. 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "XU SIM?!" [23:41] "Not now, you oaf! I'm thinking!" [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, apparently these guys - eh?" 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> The man-mountain barrels through the crowd like an avalanche. He shines white, not just with jade but with the living will of earth itself. [23:42] 14Stranger's eyes dart from the loud mountain to...who is this Xu Sim? The physician? [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What's that guy's-" [23:44] 14Stranger: "He cannot be allowed to disturb the scene of this crime!" [23:44] 4Shit. Well, that's blown it. Maybe they can talk them down... [23:44] 3Mud's eyes widen in shock. Is yelling illegal? What did- Nexus and its ways are utterly alien to him and now a burly man is running at him. He could cry. 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "ANATHEMA! DEMON! YOUR RECKONING IS AT HAND!" [23:46] 14Idiot! [23:46] 7Blossom: "He's in Nexus looking for-- yes, there it is." 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun Dorma roars, and a great white maul strikes the earth like a meteor. The cobbles split. 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "DIE!" [23:46] 14Stranger isn't sure who he means here. Perhaps all of them. 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: The Wicked Dead 14[23:49] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[23:49] * Joins: trenchfoot_ Session Time: Sat Mar 21 00:00:00 2015 14[00:32] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[00:33] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[00:39] * Quits: dammitwhoaaa (Remote host closed the connection) 14[00:39] * Joins: dammitwho 14[00:41] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[00:42] * Joins: cbass 14[01:20] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:24] * Joins: dammitwho 14[01:40] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[01:43] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [01:45] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Dark_Haired_Beauty-huge.jpg 14[01:46] * Joins: ddt 14[01:50] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:50] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[01:50] * Joins: dammitwho 14[01:54] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[01:54] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[02:08] * Joins: hrolfy 14[02:12] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[02:12] * Joins: dammitwho 14[02:19] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[02:19] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:25] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[02:25] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[02:28] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[02:39] * Joins: dammitwho 14[02:42] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[02:44] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[02:59] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[03:00] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Quit: Leaving) 14[03:01] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[03:08] * Joins: hrolfy 14[03:11] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[03:11] * Joins: dammitwho 14[04:16] * Joins: hrolfie 14[04:19] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[04:21] * Joins: hrolfy 14[04:25] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[04:26] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[04:31] * Joins: drinkybird 14[04:34] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[04:37] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[04:37] * Joins: ddt 14[05:28] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[05:40] * Quits: drinkybird (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[05:41] * Joins: hrolf 14[05:41] * Joins: drinkybird 14[06:03] * Joins: hrolfie 14[06:07] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[06:45] * Quits: drinkybird (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[06:46] * Joins: drinkybird 14[07:17] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[07:17] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[07:17] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[07:18] * Quits: tom 14[07:28] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:17] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: mattbaby) 14[09:43] * Quits: dammitwho 09[09:48] * banana|split is now known as banana 09[10:00] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[10:03] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Client Quit) 14[11:00] * Joins: ddt 14[11:29] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:51] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:54] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[12:05] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: mattbaby_) 14[12:39] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[13:27] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[13:46] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[13:49] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[14:41] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[14:44] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[14:48] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[15:10] * Joins: ddt_ 14[15:10] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 09[15:10] * ddt_ is now known as ddt [15:11] bleagh [15:11] i feel slightly sick, and like i can't sleep yet but when i do will sleep for ages [15:12] 11 ages, to be precise 14[15:36] * Joins: Quaker [15:37] <@Ferrinus> banana.. [15:38] agreed [15:38] <@Ferrinus> if you can't make it to mage at the stipulated 8pm time we could still conceivably play a bit from 10 or whatever. on the other hand it wouldn't super inconvenience ME because i'd have more time to work on a picture although delaying the game, generally, stinks 15[15:40] <@VoxPVoxD> yeah I really don't want to be playing mage at 2am [15:41] <@Ferrinus> we could go from 10->12 or w/e, or else just call it [15:41] <@Ferrinus> honestly though even 10 is probably unrealistic given that it affords banana approx. six hours hours of sicksleep 15[15:42] <@VoxPVoxD> yeah I don't think we can actually play this week at all 15[15:42] <@VoxPVoxD> since banana's both sick and up at 4am [15:42] lis stops by the dollar tree to pick up some toys for nick and tj https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CAo965wWQAAve5M.jpg:large [15:42] ugh idk [15:42] what Call to make 04[15:42] <@Ferrinus> yeah, fair enough. those of us who aren't banana had a bunch of other rpg this week so i suppose it's mostly banana who's extra-suffering here, although of course vox was running, not playing [15:43] i want to play mage.. it'd be easier to like, stay up for it. but that might be suck bad result [15:43] <@Ferrinus> nah don't pull an all-nighter for the purpose of, then, pulling an all-morninger 15[15:43] <@VoxPVoxD> yeah that's just, unreasonable 15[15:43] <@VoxPVoxD> if you can't make it you can't make it [15:44] :/ i didn't want to repay ferrinus's sleep schedule perfidy with sleep schedule perfidy, exactly [15:44] <@Ferrinus> this means i could take a nap now (or in a bit, i'm feeling less sleepy after tochka decided to gnaw on my hand) without missing out on crucial arttime 15[15:44] <@VoxPVoxD> in fairness, you didn't 15[15:44] <@VoxPVoxD> you're just both, independently, huge sleepnoobs [15:45] <@Ferrinus> oh, speaking of, i might not be available this coming friday for 11a due to working every morning of the week. this sucks because we're about to have a spooky battle.. [15:45] <@Ferrinus> curse of the sleepnoob [15:48] i don't know if i'm even sick or just have a scratchy throat due TO the bad sleeping etc 04[15:48] I mean 04[15:48] it's not like physical suffering is less real if you can point to the thing that causes it [15:48] yeah it's kind of academic. wake up at 3 pm today -> not able to sleep until now -> then not wake up soon, for whatever reasons [15:48] oh, this is in the wrong channel [15:48] that's how much attention i have to pay to things right now 14[15:48] * Joins: mattbaby [15:49] <@Ferrinus> i guess we have no choice but to use #sonsanddoctors tonight for the immediate second session of exalted [15:49] <@Ferrinus> you know like how tv shows often start with a double episode 15[15:49] <@VoxPVoxD> lol [15:52] lol 14[16:10] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[16:11] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:22] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[16:47] * Joins: quaker_ 14[17:21] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[17:23] * Quits: quaker_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[17:24] * Joins: autopsyturvey [17:30] https://36.media.tumblr.com/0e49b66985b5db5c8b0714cc659d9909/tumblr_nlkwdpXQy71rtynt1o1_540.jpg 14[17:49] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[17:52] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:53] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[17:56] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[18:03] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[18:04] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:07] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[18:10] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [18:16] lis slides into a girl's twitter mentions [18:16] Saladin Ahmed @saladinahmed [18:16] Damn girl are you an angel because I have long waited for you to come with flame and thunder and avenging sword to cleave the world of men. 14[18:28] * Joins: Crion_ 14[18:29] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[18:29] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: mattbaby_) 14[18:32] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[18:36] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[18:44] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[18:56] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[19:00] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[19:16] * Joins: ddt 14[19:20] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[19:26] * Joins: ddt 14[19:31] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[19:42] * Joins: ddt 14[19:48] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[19:51] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[19:56] * Joins: dammitwho 15[19:56] <@VoxPVoxD> https://31.media.tumblr.com/2dab2d103d5311c5765984669812e34d/tumblr_nlkzz4qTQj1tlb56zo1_400.gif [19:56] <@Ferrinus> hey dwho, no mage 2nite. banana's out [19:57] the perfidious australian 15[19:57] <@VoxPVoxD> I hate him [19:57] <@Ferrinus> hmm, who should join our game. i know, how about this fine fellow from Criminal Island 15[19:58] <@VoxPVoxD> but... you're ON manhattan [20:02] <@Ferrinus> crimea [20:02] <@Ferrinus> *hears sound of rushing water* ah, we've finally arrived at the picturesque crimea river 15[20:03] <@VoxPVoxD> ferrinus falls to his knees, weeping. "finally, the place vox told me to go for all those years... it's so beautiful..." 15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD> http://puu.sh/gK7bP/46098b772b.jpg mage [20:04] the good times cabal is in 2004, right [20:05] <@Ferrinus> yeah [20:05] sounds like a good time to introduce a vacationing 29 year old miranda [20:07] or an 8 year old ace, [20:07] <@Ferrinus> mage kidz 09[20:08] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 14[20:14] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[20:17] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [20:20] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/B5FiOP2.png 15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD> iMage Enhance 14[20:39] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: mattbaby_) 14[20:46] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[21:13] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[21:18] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[21:36] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[21:55] * Joins: quaker_ 14[22:08] * Joins: ddt 14[22:36] * Quits: quaker_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[23:47] * Joins: quaker_ 14[23:47] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 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14[12:40] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[13:18] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 15[13:44] <@VoxPVoxD> https://twitter.com/spookperson/status/579353283795398657 [13:47] Hell, why not both 15[13:47] <@VoxPVoxD> well, because vampires are evil [13:47] https://www.google.com/maps/@42.254844,-71.12429,3a,75y,114.74h,94.45t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sk2oy49MYuODAnTGfmttXew!2e0!6m1!1e1 [13:48] i use my time wisely 15[13:49] <@VoxPVoxD> fine police work, lou [13:50] i was hoping it was the one in denver 14[13:59] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 04[14:10] voxpvoxd 15[14:11] <@VoxPVoxD> ddt [14:11] what should i do for lunch 15[14:11] <@VoxPVoxD> nachos [14:11] hmm [14:11] nachos own [14:11] you’re not wrong [14:12] id have to text you a nacho pic, though 15[14:12] <@VoxPVoxD> I will bear this indignity with grace and dignity 15[14:12] <@VoxPVoxD> making it, effectively, dignity-neutral [14:12] #grace #dignity 15[14:13] <@VoxPVoxD> #blessed 14[14:25] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:41] * Joins: mattbaby_ [14:58] #nachoaveragelunch 14[15:03] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: mattbaby_) 14[15:13] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[15:23] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: mattbaby_) 14[15:24] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[15:31] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:35] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[15:36] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[15:48] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[16:05] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: mattbaby_) 14[16:26] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[16:28] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:42] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[17:08] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[17:10] * Joins: quaker_ 14[17:29] * Quits: quaker_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[17:50] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[18:08] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[18:28] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[18:29] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[18:29] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[18:32] * Joins: Crion 14[18:40] * Joins: Crion_ 14[18:41] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[18:47] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:00] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [19:09] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/KlfRbcl.jpg [19:09] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/3oIWtgQ.jpg 15[19:09] <@VoxPVoxD> same 03[19:11] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/6Mx6E.gif nomadgame 15[19:13] <@VoxPVoxD> please respect the police. thanks [19:13] <@Ferrinus> mention of a smoke detector flips nick into immediate death rage 15[19:16] <@VoxPVoxD> kindly guidance counselor blood talon initiates nick [19:17] <@Ferrinus> what're ya laughin at now? your stupid face, sir 15[19:17] <@VoxPVoxD> viago... [19:18] <@Ferrinus> forget viago, petyr.... 15[19:19] <@VoxPVoxD> petyr died as he lived 15[19:19] <@VoxPVoxD> in a really gross, violent way [19:19] <@Ferrinus> maybe... a drop of blood in the wrong place... 15[19:20] <@VoxPVoxD> the way you can tell that what we do in the shadows is the nomadgame movie is that all of the plot action is driven by one dumbass named nick [19:20] <@Ferrinus> cheers 15[19:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm Nick, and I've been a vampire for about two months now" [19:21] <@Ferrinus> i liked how when vlad fought the weird greasy lookin caped dude there appeared to be nothing going on but one of them was just sort of going gray and withering from, presumably, sheer force of personality on the part of the other 15[19:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 12The young werewolf sighs. That could've been me... 15[19:22] <@VoxPVoxD> yeah I assume that was some kind of nightmare 5 thing Session Start: Sun Mar 22 20:12:15 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:12] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:12] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[20:12] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 09[20:12] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[20:34] * Joins: mattbaby [20:43] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/1Ov78Ov.jpg [20:43] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/3HiuaDs.jpg 14[21:08] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[21:28] * Joins: dammitwho 14[21:41] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: mattbaby_) 14[21:52] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[22:21] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[22:29] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[22:41] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[23:15] * Quits: dammitwho (warlock.hub.sorcery.net aesir.sorcery.net) 14[23:15] * Quits: cbass (warlock.hub.sorcery.net aesir.sorcery.net) 14[23:17] * Joins: cbass 14[23:17] * Joins: dammitwho 14[23:26] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[23:28] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[23:52] * Joins: drinkybird 14[23:55] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) Session Time: Mon Mar 23 00:00:00 2015 14[01:30] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[01:53] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[03:20] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[03:25] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[03:33] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[03:34] * Joins: ddt 14[04:15] * Quits: dammitwho 14[04:57] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[05:43] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[05:45] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[06:10] * Joins: mib_qpakd2 14[06:10] * Quits: mib_qpakd2 (Client Quit) 14[06:51] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:17] * Joins: Quaker [08:09] 6Dancing is just another way of putting your best foot forward. 15[08:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10In a sense, it's *the* way. [08:12] 6It's been years since Edgar was last at a ball - not enough years for the kind they had in Texas. However, in a thing like this it doesn't matter so much where your feet go; the point is to make yourself look good, to make your partner look good. He's been hanging around the edge of Hollywood for twenty years learning how to make people look good, and the Countess is a hell of a good sport. [08:13] No one is embarassed on the dance floor. In fact, the deputy involved might have been imagining things, but he could swear he caught a glimpse of a genuine smile on his partner's face, and a keen sense of interest. [08:13] For all the knocks against it, there's one clearly blessed fact about being an undead creature of the night: no hangover when you wake up, no matter what you ate, drank, snorted, or injected. You might have trouble remembering who you are or what you did, but it will be because of the Blood and the Beast, and not because you spent yesterday drinking Smirnoff and eating psilocybin mushrooms like they were candy. [08:13] Leisurely wasn't kidding about the overnight change of clothes. When the party is winding down, and lords and ladies start leaving in couples or little groups, it becomes clear through conversation and body language that hosting someone the night of the party is a not-inconsiderable honor for the hosting party. You've made new friends, and come with less new ones, so: who did you go home with? 15[08:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's never done much formal dancing - there was his prom, and a wedding when he was 13 or so - but he's reasonably graceful and reasonably charming and unreasonably attentive. He's got most of the steps down after the first movement and by the end of the night he doesn't even need to watch his feet. [08:15] 4Cav takes home his brooding resentment, and nothing else. [08:15] 4That party could have gone better. 09[08:15] * Crion_ is now known as Crion [08:19] 6Blythe Lancaster's an interesting person, and Edgar tells her so, but ultimately he needs to catch up with Morton Moreno Munoz. Someone's got to help the guy into his car. [08:20] 6...and Edgar needs to find out, too, whether this was done right. He thinks he'd guessed Morton's plan; it's as simple as integrating into society, becoming part of the Brilliant Court so that it's as unthinkable to have him killed for the crime of existing as it would be for any other lord or lady, who all share that sentence. If so, he's made a start. 15[08:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It was a weird, exhausting party, but it was a lot more fun than Rollie would've expected from the vampire landlords. He's taken quite a shine to the Baroness of Manhattan Beach... but loyalty and practicality see Rollie and Leisurely leave together, with whichever of them is more sober at night's end leading the other out. "He's like outer space..." 10the neonate's given to mutter before the sun takes his thoughts away. [08:25] Morton at the end of the night has worsened considerably: it's clear from his combined silence and considerable sweating (real this time) that whatever his condition is, it's overtaken him by the time the party ends. He lets himself be led back to the car by his childe, and when they get back to Whittier Hills he indicates the direction of the guest bedrooms with a raised meaty paw. 08[08:28] Leisurely only smoked the weed she brought, and politely declined the harder stuff even as the Baroness Manhattan insisted, so she drives them back, letting Rollie get his breath back in silence. She's either too tired or distracted to offer to take him back to Fullerton. There's a second, small bedroom at her house, lined safely with blackout curtains. The lipstick that Jessica Kurtz-Campbell sloppily but enthusiasticall 08[08:28] applied to Rollie's cheek as they parted ways has dried by the time they get there. 15[08:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That'll happen. [08:30] 6Edgar nods politely, but he's looking around for a phone before the sun rises.. "Mind if I call someone a sec?" [08:30] Mountain lions can't replace people. There's nobody who's human or looking like one waiting for him back home. [08:31] Morton lets Edgar know, by way of exaggerated gesture as he stumbles off to bed, that he has the run of the place. [08:32] 6At this hour, thank God, it'll go to the answering machine. That sense of safety makes him reckless, and he tells Jacqueline's future ears: "I won't be in this morning, but I've got a lot to tell you if we coincide at supper. This business is stranger than I thought. Deeper, and maybe a worse idea."" [08:34] Well, that's not cryptic and alarming. The next dusk, Morton has got his color (figuratively speaking, as he's let the blush fade without replacing it) back. He wakes earlier than Edgar, and he must have checked the mail slot, because there's a parcel with a note on it waiting for the deputy when he wakes. "This came for you - MMM" [08:34] 6What on Earth. [08:38] 6If it's a bomb, it'll have to get in line, so he opens it before leaving. [08:38] It's a small, unmarked hardcover book wrapped in brown paper. Unwrapped, it's really not very big, perhaps 20 pages. On the first page, in elegant handwriting, someone has written: [08:39] Edgar, [08:39] Thank you for your company last evening. For the first time this year, I found myself enjoying a party. Even the dancing was pleasant, though the credit belongs to your patience with my slow feet. You must find me at my residence at Lancaster, so that we might continue our acquaintanceship. [08:39] Fondly, Blythe Sulzberger, Countess Lancaster [08:40] The rest of the little book is filled with the orange petals of California poppies. They've been pressed into the pages. 08[08:41] Leisurely is either still asleep or lounging in her bedroom when Rollie wakes up. 14[08:43] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 15[08:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie checks the bathroom mirror out of habit. Oh, right. He does take the opportunity to wash up a bit - luckily hardly any lipstick got on the tux - and he's feeling reasonably alert after splashing some cold water on his face. After drying off he looks around, realizing he's never seen any of Leis's place but her living room before. What's it like? How's it decorated? [08:45] 4For Cavanaugh, the night begins with more unpacking in his new Laguna Beach property. [08:49] 6Edgar is completely discombobulated. The thing is, he was expecting a world of vampire-eat-vampire, a vicious predatorial contest, and he'd steeled himself for it because of the prize. He was *warned* about the bad, and then his first few encounters with the court officials, the Lord of Irvine, the Circle.. all this was expected. [08:50] 6What he never thought was that he'd like them. These people are, still, people. In some ways they're already more his kind of people than the living. 08[08:50] The bedroom Rollie slept in is sparsely furnished, with just a wooden nightstand next to the twin bed. The walls are painted white with blue accents like the rest of the house, and small pictures and portraits of places and people he doesn't recognize hang on the walls. The bathroom is clean and stocked with sweet-smelling bars of soap and fluffy blue towels. It's clean, but the cleanness of these rooms suggests they're n [08:50] actually used very often. [08:51] 6What does he think about Blythe Sulzberger? Nothing coherent this evening, though he'll have to find out soon. Layers of meaning, and flowers. [08:51] 6Edgar's halfway out the door for the drive home before he thinks to check on Morton... [08:54] Morton in his study seems recovered. He peers at Edgar over the rims of thick eyeglasses, secured to his head with a beaded metal chain wrapping around his neck. Surely they must be an affectation. He's typing on his computer. "I heard you danced with the high and mighty last night, Edgar." [08:55] 6Doolittle: "Not so mighty as to be graceless." 6He considers. "And from the looks of Deputy Choi's party, far from the highest." 15[08:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie still takes it for granted that people should just be like regular people, so he was merely satisfied with the fact that he met some cool new people rather than a den of ravening monsters. That one guy was really weird though, and he got in a messed-up headspace while talking to him... he heard things in what that guy said that just don't make any sense. 15[08:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10But he's certain they're true. Where did that come from? [08:57] Laguna Beach at night is bright on the coast, where the restaurants and shops glitter above the water, and dark in the crevices, ravines, and little groves in the mostly empty miles beyond it. Quiet, discreet, and expensive, would be the words for Cavanaugh's new home. [08:57] 4Excellent. [08:57] 4Or it would be, if he were out enjoying the night, instead of setting up another wireless access point for his router. [08:59] Doesn't he have people for that? Sad. [09:00] The meeting with the prince could have gone better, if Clinton Cavanaugh were also not a very angry young man. [09:01] 4And if the Prince were not a passive fool content to let San Diego vampires dictate Los Angeles court policy. [09:01] 4But we can't all be perfect. [09:03] 6Can anyone, truly, achieve perfection? [09:03] 6(Edgar's got a book about that, by a guy called Slote. He didn't care for it, as the whole question seemed excessively detached.) 15[09:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Not since Jimi Hendrix died, probably. [09:05] Speaking of fools, what does Cavanaugh think of the information he's now had a few hours to process? [09:06] 4He thinks that religious violence is about to see a spike in Orange County. [09:07] 4One small blessing of the Prince's timidity in this matter is that the Deputies, at least, have the authority to act as they see fit. [09:11] Either way, violence is about to spike, because tomorrow is Halloween. 15[09:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10In this town, we call home, [09:11] 4Fucking fantastic. [09:11] Whichever ringtone Cavanaugh has assigned to Santiago plays while his phone rings. [09:13] 4He hasn't bothered with custom ringtones on this phone yet; he should get on that. Until then, though: "Hey, man." [09:13] Morton: "Can you blame them for indulging? I might take something myself, next time. That was too taxing to be comfortable. But, how is your task coming? I glimpsed you speaking to the Countess-Palatine." 08[09:14] Santiago sounds like he's driving. "Hey, are you with Edgar and Rollie right now?" [09:18] Leisurely pokes her head in through the doorway. "Good morning. You okay?" 15[09:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's sitting on the guest bed, having exhausted the distractions his phone gives him (he hasn't got a good enough data plan to goof off on the internet with it, largely as a rare exercise self-discipline). "Hey! Yeah, I'm good. I'm good. You?" 15[09:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's sitting on the guest bed, having exhausted the distractions his phone gives him (he hasn't got a good enough data plan to goof off on the internet with it, largely as a rare exercise self-discipline). "Hey! Yeah, I'm good. I'm good. You?" [09:23] Leisurely has replaced last night's blue dress with green flannel, but she hasn't re-braided her long blonde hair, and it hangs down to her back. "I was going to get breakfast, if you wanted to come with me. We can talk about last night, if you wanted to." 14[09:24] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 15[09:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...sure. Sure, good idea." 10Rollie's rented tux is laid out at the foot of the bed, and he's in a t-shirt and hoodie. He can basically just spring off the bed and go wherever. "So that guy's the Prince, huh? But he's also-" [09:26] Leisurely locks the front door behind them, and points down a few blocks at a diner visible from her porch. "Also what?" 15[09:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "The, uh, what was it. The Fourth Adept." [09:29] 6Doolittle: "Yeah, and Bren himself even turned up to fence. I confined the conversation to safer topics, like supernatural monsters." [09:30] The fall colors are transforming Dana Point from green to red and brown. It's chilly, and when they get to the diner an employee is just turning on the neon "Harbor House Cafe" sign. "Of Burning Hunger? Yeah. Two titles in two organizations. The Ordo title came after actually being the Prince." 15[09:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So someone had to tutor the Prince." [09:30] 6Doolittle: "Got one interesting suggestion from her.. highness? to talk to the Wilderness Commission. And another from another woman, to seek out a person with a lot of knowledge on the Circle's methods." [09:31] 6Doolittle: "Both were aimed more at combatting witchcraft than, you know, crime.. but anything will do, won't it? Anything respectable. Anything mainstream." [09:32] Morton: "Highness is reserved for the Countess-Palatine and her husband, although the term is rarely used. Thank the air of casual informality so carefully cultivated. Who was the other woman?" [09:33] Leisurely is looking at the menu, the tip of her finger resting on a picture of pancakes. "Yeah. And before that, somebody had to tell him about it in the first place, and hope he wouldn't just kill them outright." [09:33] 6Doolittle: "Ambassador from the the Bay, Karen. No, Katie. Curiously well informed on the affairs of OC deputies. Probably not the best person to cultivate." 15[09:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...he didn't, right?" [09:34] Morton's sausage fingers halt mid-keystroke. His tone of voice changes from pleasantly curious to just curious. "Why were you speaking with the Carthian Ambassdor?" [09:35] "…those people aren't to be trusted, Edgar." [09:36] Leisurely: "I'm talking to you right now, aren't I? Are you getting anything? I always feel kinda weird whenever I get hungry and the other person has to watch me eat. I can wait, if you want." [09:36] 4Cavanaugh: "Not at the moment, no. I'm in Laguna Beach." [09:37] Santiago: "Huh. Did Edgar run his mouth last night about us deputies being especially eager to fight the Circle or something?" 15[09:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie'll self-consciously open his menu here. "No, I'm gonna..." 10It occurs to him that he hasn't had breakfast food in a while. "Yeah I'll get the huevos. So you told him?" [09:38] 4Cavanaugh: "I could see why he might have reason to, but that doesn't sound like his style." [09:41] Santiago: "I guess the details got jumbled up when they came down the grapevine. Are you doing anything tonight? I might have an opportunity for us to get good with, uh, somebody influential." [09:42] 4Cavanaugh finishes setting the access point in place and checks his laptop. Still no connection. "I could use an excuse to get out of the house." 08[09:43] Leisurely uses her sweetest voice to order the food, but when the waitress leaves, she doesn't answer Rollie's question for a full minute. She takes the time to make a pyramid out of the plastic cups of creamer set on the side of the table. "That was a long time ago." [09:43] Santiago: "Cool. How do you feel about going out into the woods again?" [09:43] 4Cavanaugh: "I think I'm going bring the girls." [09:44] 6Edgar: "Yeah, I got that impression when she talked about radical change and 'vote or die'. That exact phrase." [09:45] "Plus the accent. Countess Lancaster made for a nice counterpoint." [09:45] Santiago: "Well, bring a gun, first. It's a raid on a Circle camp out in Chino Hills." [09:46] 4Cavanaugh doesn't really go in for firearms, but he's got a Glock somewhere. Useful for scaring off kine without breaking Masquerade. [09:46] "A raid." 15[09:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie orders in his regular voice. He's silent after that for a while too. Leisurely's sensitivity has a way of catching him off-guard. ...yeah. I think he was-" 10The waitress walks by with a pot of coffee. "-I think he was watching me." [09:48] Santiago: "Kind of a little spoiler before tomorrow night. It helps with the Circle, if you hit them right before they hit you." [09:49] Leisurely: "When?" [09:50] 4Cavanaugh resists the urge to sigh. This whole ritualized night-of-violence thing the Brilliant Court has going on at Halloween is far from unique -- New York had something vaguely similar, though less political -- but that doesn't make it any less tedious. "Sounds good. I'll round up the others. Text me the address?" 15[09:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Oh, uh. The Architect and his sidekick kind of waylaid me away from the Baronesses for a while. I don't know if they told you that." [09:51] Morton resumes typing. "Don't be charmed, Edgar. They're not your friend. They know what you are, even if you don't, yet." [09:52] 6Edgar blinks. "What am I that I don't know, Morton?" [09:54] Cavanaugh's phone buzzes with a text. "It's a little airfield in Santa Ana. Text me when you guys are getting close and we'll hop on over. You don't get airsick, do you? Well, I guess you don't, anymore. See you soon." [09:55] Morton blinks back. "Invictus. Unconquered. It's in your blood, Edgar. You can't make a communist out of a Lord." [09:56] Leisurely tears the edge of a sugar packet off. "They don't tell me anything, if they can help it." 08[09:56] "Later." 4With the phone hung up, now Cav does indulge in that sigh. Group texting Edgar and Rollie: [09:57] 6Edgar: "Hell, you can't make a communist out of an American." [09:57] Stirring her coffee, Leisurely rests her cheek on a hand, her elbow on the table. "Did they bother you muchly?" 15[09:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I mean the Baronesses." 10These eggs are good. Luckily it's an easy night and he's not going to need the vitae for anything. "But yeah. They cornered me in one of those little makeout groves and started grilling me. And I don't know if it was the mushrooms or what but I sort of... you know. I went sideways." 15[09:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "But this time I saw stuff. I heard stuff." 15[09:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie checks his phone.  [09:58] 6Hey, it's Clinton on the phone. ...and they've bit. Sooner than Edgar thought. He holds it up. "I'd better get home and set up for this. Thanks for all the help, Morton." [09:58] Morton shakes his head while Edgar's phone buzzes. "Don't make light of your station and duty, Edgar. It's unseemly. Take care, and stay safe." [09:58] [09:59] 4Cav passes along the address of the airfield. [09:59] 6Doolittle:  [10:00] Leisurely: "That's the thing, with your condition. The harder you try for a straight answer, the slippier it gets. You just have to trust in time and the person." [10:00] 4Cavanaugh will collect Shots and Honey and pile into his car. The rest of the unpacking can wait. 15[10:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  10he adds 20 minutes to the time it'll take to drive out there in his car. Whatever this is, it's not more important than breakfast. [10:00] 6Whether he'll be delayed at home first.. who knows. A man can hope. [10:01] He won't be. Jacqueline has stepped out, apparently. Edgar can see that she's listened to the last voicemail he left, according to the machine. [10:02] 6Thing about Morton is, he's not a bad guy and his peculiarities are no more than what Edgar considers reasonable, but, he's got so malfunctioning a sense of humour from Edgar's point of view that there's about a 20% hit rate on working out what is or is not a joke. [10:02] 6Edgar is one hundred percent serious about considering freedom, communism's natural antidote, to have little to do with titular Lords. [10:02] 6Anyway, it's time to break out the big gun. 15[10:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Do you know what it is? It was like... I don't know, the way he was messing with his cufflinks... I had this teacher... it's hard to put into words." [10:05] Leisurely nods. "I know what Malkavia is. I had a friend who suffered from it through heredity, and I knew someone else who had it for a while. They tend to find the Ordo, or the Ordo finds them. There's not a lot of understanding for them outside of it." 15[10:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie makes a mental note of that word. "Anyway, that guy is... I don't know if cold is the right word. I felt like I had a better handle on him last night. I told him, 'your heart doesn't belong to the penultimate void. it belongs to the one after'. And I was so sure, at the time, that that made sense." 15[10:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "But..." 10He blows a lil raspberry. 15[10:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "Who knows." [10:10] Leisurely: "Did he give you the old monkey king routine?" 15[10:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is she talking about Goku...? "I don't know what that is." [10:12] She sets the cup of coffee down on the table and snaps her fingers, singing: "Oh ooh-bee-doo, I wanna be like you-u-u, I wanna walk like you, talk like you, too, you'll see it's true, an ape like me can learn to be human, too…" [10:14] 6The ball was last night. Edgar arrives at the meeting point in mostly leather (though his face is armoured only by stubble) with a long gun that was legal to import, if not necessarily to assemble, and Larry the mutt. 'Raid' could mean a lot of things. Ideally it's posturing and property damage, for which a dog would come in handy. If they're intent on something darker, Larry might have to stay in the car. [10:16] When Shots and Honey are getting into the BMW and lowering its resale value immensely, Cavanaugh can glimpse something strange out of the corner of his eye. Floating down all around his house, and all through the little valley his neighborhood is in, in fact, are strange, shimmering points of light. They float down on the breeze like snowflakes, dancing around in swirling circles. [10:16] 4What the...? 15[10:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie grins. "Oh, man, I haven't heard that song in forever. I don't actually remember a lot of what he said. I remember the vibe I got, though. I felt like I should hear them out, be their friends, and then reject them later. Cause they don't actually get it, and they're not really good enough to run the thing they have going, cause it wasn't theirs to begin with." [10:18] The motes of light accumulate into little peaks and slopes, almost as if they're trying to coalesce into - wait, they're fading. The light is disappearing as quickly as Cavanaugh noticed it. In a few moments, everything's back to normal. [10:19] 4Cav frowns. That's new. [10:19] 4He'll stand there for a few minutes, looking around, making sure nothing's changed or is about to happen. [10:20] 4Assuming nothing does, he'll get into the car and head out, still unsettled. [10:20] 6Edgar: "You ever been to Santa Ana, Larry? That's where the town hall is. It's got some nice old forts, but no bookshops. I think there's a park, but we're not going into the town." [10:21] Leisurely sips her coffee, and then sits back while the waitress delivers their food. "You can still be their friends. Friends can have differences of opinion. They get it as much as they can, with their understanding of things. They're not stupid, or incapable." 15[10:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie wishes he could tell her what he actually saw instead of just what he felt about it. But the words don't come out. He doesn't have a vocabulary for that. It's like that part of his brain is missing. "I guess. I'll say this much, though. I kind of went to that party expecting people to be weird, right? Like, the whole landlord thing. It's weird." [10:24] The "airfield" is nothing much more than a small airstrip, a tiny two-story control tower, and a hangar, open to the night air. The gate from the road is unlocked. 15[10:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "But everyone was basically cool. The Baronesses and the Prince and stuff." 15[10:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "Except for him. He was weird." [10:24] 4He'll arrive at the airfield probably a bit after Edgar, and park about 50 feet away. He can see that Edgar's got a dog with him, and he's not sure how Shots and Honey will react to that. 15[10:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "And he was weirder for being the one weird guy in the room." [10:24] Leisurely: "The Architect?" 14[10:24] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 15[10:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah." 14[10:26] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [10:26] "They have to live with themselves. You understand? If you have to live forever, you have to be okay with how you're living." [10:27] "And for some people…the justifications become stranger." [10:27] There's no sign of Santiago, or anybody else. 15[10:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah, I mean. It's like my mom always says, right? 'Life is a rich tapestry'." [10:28] "Evening, Edgar," 4Cav says as he steps out of the car and checks his gun. [10:29] 6Edgar raises a gloved hand. "Hey. How'd you like the party?" 15[10:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie only eats like a third of his eggs. He's not sure if this stuff is heavier than he remembers, or the diner made it weird, or if he just lost his taste for this kind of thing. [10:29] 4Shots and Honey follow after him. They'll sniff around for a bit but stay put, eyeing Larry the dog warily but not moving towards him. [10:29] Leisurely pushes her food around on her plate. "I have a task for you. As part of your education." 15[10:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What's up?" [10:30] "I've had more fun," 4says Cav. "Nice place the Prince had set up, though." [10:30] 6Larry is probably no happier than they are, each being at least his size. Edgar makes a reassuring noise and backs it up with a mental pat, which he can literally do now. Lordship in the blood, huh? [10:31] 6Nodding, "Ostentatious, but it was a good effect. The lords and ladies seem mellower than you might think." [10:32] 4Bit too mellow, if you ask Cav. "Yeah. Found that kind of strange." 4He looks over at Larry. "I guess we should have the kids introduce themselves to each other. What's his name?" [10:33] Leisurely: "You need to know what you're not, before you can know what you are. You've met a few of the Circle, and the Invictus, and you've met me and the others. So I want you to meet the others, the worshipers and the rebels. Learn what they believe in. And you need to meet someone not like us, but not like other people. One of our…cousins." 15[10:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Cousins?" [10:34] Leisurely: "Did you ever see Abbot and Costello meet Frankenstein?" [10:34] "Say hello, Larry." 6Bark! "I deduce from the situation that you've kept the mountain lions." 15[10:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie nods. "Am I Abbott and Costello or am I Frankenstein?" [10:35] Leisurely: "You were born a Costello, but somebody made you Dracula. And Dracula needs to talk to Frankenstein and the Wolfman before Dracula knows how special being Dracula is. We share the world." [10:35] "Yep." 4Shots and Honey wander over, now sniffing around at the dog. "This is Shots, and her sister is Honey Tree Evil Eye. No, I did not name them myself." [10:36] 6How are the three of them getting along? This is not a situation that would occur in a state of nature, and Edgar's wary. [10:36] The mountain lions are tense around something they'd normally break into a backyard to murder, but they'll look to Cavanaugh and follow his lead. [10:36] 6Edgar: "Shots I know. Very helpful.. kitty. Uh, do you have a stables or something?" 15[10:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So there's- huh. Damn. Alright. Should I just keep my eyes peeled or is there somewhere in particular I could go?" 14[10:39] * Joins: hrolf 14[10:39] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 08[10:39] Leisurely writes down two phone numbers on the back of the napkin and slides it across the table to Rollie. "Call these when you want to start, if you don't run into anybody while you're doing the deputy thing. They're…just make sure you really want to do this, before you call. Take as much time as you want. They have their own problems, you know? They're just as intense as ours. Oh, the first one…if you call, and it' [10:39] not an old man, you might want to be a little careful. It's been a while." [10:40] oogah [10:40] 4Cav shakes his head. "We're moving into a new property down in Laguna Beach, and I'm trying to set something up there for them. Lots of ravines, wooded areas, places like that for them to roam, but they should have some place set up on the grounds. A lair or something. Maybe you could point me in the right direction of putting one of those together." [10:41] "And take this! Sorry, I can't believe I forgot to give it to you." She takes a slim stack of printer paper out, and hands it over. The front page reads in unadorned Times New Roman: The Rites of the Dragon. 15[10:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie takes the napkin. "Alright, yeah. Yeah. I'll do that." 10Are there names here or just numbers? The printout gives him pause. "...cooool." [10:41] There's something coming out of the sky, approaching the airfield. [10:42] She wrote "Bill" next to the first one, and "Joanie" next to the second. 15[10:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "Alright. Thank you. I gotta go do the deputy thing, though. Here, let me pay for breakfast." [10:43] Leisurely waves him off. "No, it's cool, I've got it. You go do your thing." 15[10:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "No, I insist. It lets me feel useful." [10:45] 6Edgar: "It's a challenge. There's no such thing as an enclosure wild animals will enjoy, but you could organise a cave, something with sand and a couple of entrances." 6This is a strangely familiar interaction. "There's a studio on Ventura works with the AHA, they build temporary settings.. you want me to give someone a call to give you a call?" 14[10:45] * Joins: ddt [10:46] 4Cav nods. "Yeah, that would be good. Thanks." [10:46] The something resolves itself into the shape of a helicopter. It's big, dark blue, and sleek, and it circles the airstrip once before it finally stops at a hover and puts down. "SIKORSKY" is painted on its side in factory-styled font. [10:47] Leisurely shrugs. "Okay. See you." [10:47] 6The infrastructure to fulfil rich men's weird whims. What a city. "Did Santiago give you anything on who or what we're hitting?" [10:48] Cavanaugh: "Nope. Nothing beyond 'a Circle camp.' I get the impression it's a low-scale thing." [10:48] 4Cavanaugh: "Nope. Nothing beyond 'a Circle camp.' I get the impression it's a low-scale thing." 15[10:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie takes the papers, leaving some less important ones behind to cover the food they didn't need. After that he swings home, feeds and walks Princess, showers and changes, and heads out with his gun. He makes great time to the meeting place, though, so he's only about 5 minutes late. [10:49] "There's the question of whether this is it or we're paratrooping." 15[10:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Rollie comes out just in time to see the helicopter descending. "Damn." 15[10:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie comes out just in time to see the helicopter descending. "Damn." 08[10:51] 4Cav: "Hey, Rollie." [10:51] The rear ramp at the back of the cabin drops, and the rotors start to slow. Coming clanking down the ramp, dressed in a flight suit and a suit of plate armor, respectively, are Santiago and the Baroness Modjeska. Santiago has to push the visor up before he can speak. "Evening." [10:52] Cavanaugh is, momentarily, struck speechless. [10:52] 4Cavanaugh is, momentarily, struck speechless. 15[10:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "Hey, Cav, how's it holy shit." [10:53] 4Then: "...Evening, Santiago. Baroness. I feel like I've under-dressed for the occasion." [10:54] The Baroness isn't wearing a helmet, so she doesn't have to take anything off before she can answer. "Deputies. Are you ready to go?" [10:54] 6Edgar: "Ahahaha! Did you make him wear that?" [10:56] Santiago: "What? I have to wear it when I'm flying. Everything else feels weird." 15[10:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie just sort of grins at the pair of them. 08[10:57] 4Cavanaugh: "Let's get the cats and dog squared away and we should be good to go. Don't you have a dog, Rollie? You should bring her by some time." [10:58] 6Edgar: "Are we flying somewhere, though? How much room?" 15[10:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah! Princess isn't really a hunting kind of dog, though - but he is the cutest beagle in the whole world." 14[10:59] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [11:00] The Baroness ignores the stares, and looks at the assembled pets. "Are they okay in a helicopter? We're just going to Chino Hills, so fifteen minutes at the most." She turns to Santiago. "Can you get low enough to drop off a dog?" [11:00] "Hey, they still call going after rabbits 'beagling'." [11:00] 4Shots and Honey should be able to handle a drop. They're cats, after all. [11:00] Santiago considers it. "Which ones are ghouled? Just the mountain lions?" [11:01] 6To Modjeska: "Yeah, Larry will be good. He's done car chases." [11:01] "Enjoyed the hell out of it, actually." [11:03] Santiago herds the pets onto the helicopter, while the Baroness stays behind to talk. "You know what we're doing?" [11:04] 6Edgar has a guess, given the timing: "Reclaiming the initiative." [11:06] She nods as much as the armor will allow. "Yes. There's a lieutenant to the Hierarch camping out in the state park. God knows what he's doing, but we're going to kill him. Well, I am, and you're going to sit on the road and make sure nobody from his group gets out alive. Understand?" [11:06] 4Cavanaugh nods. 15[11:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie doesn't say anything. [11:10] The Baroness holds up an armored finger. "Okay. One thing, though. Don't disrespect the Marquise, or bother her while she's readying herself while we're flying, or it's on your head. Understand that? In fact, don't speak to her at all unless she speaks to you first." [11:10] "Yes, sir." 6This is closer to killing for hire than anything Edgar's done before, but in the night out here, with the animals.. it feels more like a hunt. [11:10] "Understood." 14[11:11] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) [11:12] "Okay, then let's go." [11:14] When the deputies get up the ramp into the cabin, they see that the individual seats have been stripped out and replaced with benches on either side. On the far side of the cabin, next to the pilot, is another suit of armor, this one black and helmeted. It doesn't move as they file in and sit down, and the Baroness trudges over to sit beside it. [11:15] 6This is pretty.. military. This is ramping up. It must be Valeria Lewis in there. [11:15] 4This is all quite fucking preposterous. 08[11:15] 6Is Rollie okay? Is Clinton? This might be off of their comfort maps... 15[11:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie is trying very hard not to betray feeling anything at all right now. [11:16] 4Cavanaugh reaches down to scritch Shots as he sits down, then retreats into checking his Glock for the third or fourth time even though he has no intention of using the weapon. [11:16] 6*that must be Figueroa [11:17] 6Edgar's got a gun on one side of him and a dog on the other, one hand on the collar, keeping him calm. This necessitates that he, himself, is calm. It's.. easier when your blood doesn't flow without specific request. [11:18] The armor of the other figure is unlike Modjeska's functional steel. It's engraved with careful, detailed designs of gold flowers wrapping around the torso and gauntlets. The ridges of the armor glitter with tiny inlaid gemstones. The person in the armor is gripping an enormous double-edged sword by its hilt. Standing up and pointing down, it's almost as tall as the cabin ceiling, and its edges shine. The figure leans [11:18] forward and murmurs at the Baroness. [11:19] The Baroness, in turn, nods. "Sí, mamá. Ok, Santiago, take it up." 15[11:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's thinking about how stupid he was to imagine, even briefly, that any of this was normal or sane. [11:22] The rotors turn back on, and Santiago's voice comes over speakers in the cabin. "Watch the rear ramp, it's going up." It seals shut, and then the craft leaves the ground. 14[11:22] * Joins: trenchfoot_ [11:23] If they haven't been in a helicopter before, which is not an unreasonable assumption to make, they'll be surprised at how quickly the ground under them moves. "The Marquise and Baroness are going to get out first, and then you'll leave about a minute afterwards, right on the gate to the park. Shouldn't be too much trouble for you," says the speaker. "I'll circle around until you're done." [11:25] 6Edgar: "God it. You'll be a target, though." [11:25] *got it 14[11:25] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [11:26] The speaker crackles again. "Well, they don't have missile launchers. At least these ones don't." [11:26] 4Comforting. 14[11:28] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) [11:28] A few minutes later: "Hold on to the animals when I lower the ramp in a second, I don't know how dogs react to wind." 14[11:28] * Joins: ddt 15[11:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well, you know how dogs famously hate sticking their heads out the windows of moving cars? Same idea. [11:29] 4Cavanaugh glances at Honey and Shots. They seem to be taking the helicopter ride in stride. [11:30] 6It's possible Santiago hasn't noticed that two of the dogs are not dogs. [11:30] 4Which is good, because they don't have collars to hold onto, nor will they ever. [11:32] The land underneath them has changed from suburbs to empty rolling hills. "Okay, ramp's lowering in ten seconds." The Marquise and the Baroness stand up, and make their way to the back of the helicopter, Covina leading the way. As she passes, the deputies can realize she's saying something quietly, even though it's hard to hear over the ambient roar of the rotors and the air rushing past. [11:35] As she passes Edgar: "Oh Líbano, abre tus puertas, y queme fuego tus cedros…" 15[11:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's never read the Bible. Well, he's never read it willingly. [11:36] 6That's right on the edge of his competency. Sounds other than literal. 08[11:36] When she gets to Rollie and Cavanaugh at the back: "Aulla, oh haya, porque el cedro cayó, porque los magníficos son talados. Aullad, alcornoques de Basán, porque el fuerte monte es derribado." The suit of armor raises a hand and pats Rollie on the head as gently as one can pat with a gauntlet. [11:37] 4Cavanaugh is fluent in Spanish, even if his player is not. What's she saying? [11:38] The ramp lowers, and the helicopter slows down considerably at the same time. They're still a good fifty feet off the ground, and going fast. The Marquise steps out, and vanishes into the air. The Baroness follows - "Goodbye" - and is gone with her. [11:39] Santiago's voice: "Okay, you're coming up. Let me get lower-" 15[11:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie will, at this moment, spare Cavanaugh and Edgar a glance. A 'these people are fucking insane' glance. [11:40] 4Cav's return look will show he's in full agreement. 14[11:40] * Joins: ddt_ [11:40] 6Shrug, says the body language of the guy who volunteered us. [11:41] 6I mean, his face explains, yes, they are insane. They are terrible. But it seems this is how we do. [11:41] The S-92 drops a good thirty feet and loses another fifty miles per hour. The tops of the distant trees are at eye level for anyone peeking out. "Okay, get out if you're getting out-" [11:41] The ground below is empty grass. 14[11:41] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 09[11:41] * ddt_ is now known as ddt [11:43] 6Christ, the Invictus need to learn about planning. Edgar heaves to his feet and bundles Larry into his arms, making sure the safety is on the shotgun for now. [11:44] 4Cav will follow the cats out the back. 15[11:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie'll double-check the safety on his gun, and make sure it's pointed at the ground as he jumps. [11:47] Some hit the ground more gently than others. 15[11:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie lands gracefully in a tree. 15[11:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's getting from the tree to the ground that proves awkward. [11:48] 6Edgar's staggering, lowering canine legs to the ground as fast as he can, but he's okay. Actual paratrooping, sort of. [11:48] 4Cav manages to stick his landing without doing a front roll or otherwise messing up his jacket. [11:48] "Hey boy, you okay? Sorry about the ride. If I was in charge of this shit I would emphasise communication in advance, you know?" [11:48] 6To the others: "'Don't talk to me, I'm busy quoting. Figure out the plan as you go.' Shit." 15[11:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Luckily he's not dressed nice, and also luckily he can't bruise. He gets up, dusting himself off, checking the gun. His pupils contract to nothing as he looks around. "Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Whatever, man. It's not your fault." 15[11:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Luckily he's not dressed nice, and also luckily he can't bruise. He gets up, dusting himself off, checking the gun. His pupils contract to nothing as he looks around. "Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Whatever, man. It's not your fault." 15[11:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "Lifestyles of the rich and famous, or whatever." [11:50] "I wouldn't call you 'boy', kid! I was talking to Larry." 14[11:50] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Quit: Leaving) [11:50] "Like, ouch." 14[11:50] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 15[11:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie can't help but laugh. [11:50] "Fuck." 4Cav looks around; Shots is snooping about the bushes, and Honey has already climbed up into a tree. "Did not dress for a helicopter jump." [11:51] "Though it occurs to me that if I did, I'd be Armored Cav." 15[11:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Nice." [11:52] They've landed in an empty wilderness. There's clearings on either side of the muddy dirt road close to them. Behind, to the east, is a metal gate over the road. To the west, the road winds through trees before disappearing behind a bend maybe a half-mile away. Distantly, they can hear gunfire. [11:53] 6Edgar: "Okay, we're on the gate." [11:53] 4Cavanaugh: "If I recall our briefing, we're just supposed to stand here and stop anyone from running away." [11:53] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2Gz-A-XO8w 15[11:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie checks out the field. Are there any ways out of the park that aren't just dashing across open ground? Is there a good spot to set up to cover the place without being immediately obvious? 15[11:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's never shot a guy before - and he doesn't really intend to start tonight - but he has played a lot of video games. 14[11:56] * Joins: hrolf [11:56] 4The mountain lions are already getting into ambush positions of their own, Cavanaugh having quietly explained the situation to them. [11:56] 6Specifically, how dense is the brush to either side of that gate? If it's open, we may have to get in front of it. 08[12:01] Rollie can see that there's a copse of oaks a hundred feet from the gate that would let them see everything and everyone coming towards the gate from the direction of the road. The park is only lined by a white wooden fence, but the terrain around it is too rough and steep for a car to drive over. The gate is the only way out, if they're going by car. [12:01] 4Cav: "We have anything with us that can stop a car?" 15[12:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Not me." 15[12:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie'll point out the copse. "Probably the best spot to set up is over there. We'll be able to see anyone driving out before they get to the gate. Then we can, I don't know, pick 'em off or whatever." [12:03] The distant gunfire intensifies and then stops. 15[12:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "You know even if this wasn't stupid as hell, it feels like we keep getting set up to fail." [12:03] 6Edgar: "If I don't miss. But it's not going to be a clean stop." [12:04] 6Nah. "Nah, this isn't a setup. They just.. don't care about us. Or the Marquise doesn't. Here's how she's thinking:" [12:04] 4Cavanaugh: "Nothing about this seems clean." [12:04] A truck appears at the bend in the road, its white camper shell visible in the evening gloom. From the way it's bouncing and bumping as it zooms down the road, one or more of the tires must be blown out. [12:04] 6Edgar: "My vampire-daughter's boyfriend is having trouble with the circle. Ok, I'll go and kill them. Better bring a couple of goons along. But, they're goons, you know? They get shoved out of a helicopter and told to clean up. They don't SPEAK when not spoken to, and they aren't a big deal." 15[12:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I don't mean like staged, just like we don't actually matter. We're just packing peanuts." [12:05] "Right. Not a big deal one way or another..."6 These better not be civilians. He raises the shotgun. 15[12:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie squints at the truck. How's the driver? [12:06] 4Cavanaugh sighs and steps off the road. Thing that big isn't going to stop just because someone gets in its way. Maybe he can jump on as it passes... [12:08] The driver doesn't look too good. There's cracks in the Chevy Blazer's windshield, and blood splatters coming from the inside. [12:08] 6The driver's not doing too well. Edgar sights along the barrel as Larry sits, suddenly solemn, at his side; there's a noise like the faraway gunfire but in reverse. [12:09] 6If that doesn't crack the engine, it should at least get rid of the remaining tyres... [12:12] The right front tire explodes when the buckshot bursts it into a dozen pieces, just as the Blazer takes a turn a hair too fast to handle with the sudden loss of control, and it fishtails clear off the road. Wheels spinning, it bounces onto the grass and then off a tree, which stops it violently. The engine is smoking when its occupants pile out. There's the sound of a dog barking madly. [12:12] They're close enough to shoot at, if that was the intention. 15[12:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10How many occupants? Are they close enough to have perceptible Beasts? [12:14] Two men and a woman, and a german shepherd, whose leash is held by the woman. Only the woman and one of the men has a Beast. The one without is pale, skinny, dressed in a torn white t-shirt, and bleeding profusely from a wound to his face. [12:14] 6Edgar: "Down on the ground, hands over your heads! Nobody reach for a thing!" [12:15] 4Cav has his gun out, too. [12:16] They don't get down, but they don't put their hands over their heads. The bleeding man turns and limps toward the car, looking to put it between the voices and himself. 15[12:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's got his gun out, but it's still pointed at the ground. [12:18] They don't get down, but they don't go for their guns, if they have them* [12:19] 6Edgar advances, because of momentum. "Sit, lie, I don't care, but you will set yourselves down and wait." [12:21] The woman with the beast: "Who's that?" The dog is straining at its leash, terrified. [12:22] 6She's looking at Edgar? [12:22] She is. [12:22]  [12:22] 4Cav moves to cover them. [12:25] "Doesn't matter to you. 6Down." [12:27] The woman's (young, white, dirty-blonde hair that's been cut short) eyes blank, and then she throws herself on the grass and lies still. The dog, released, takes off like a shot, running senselessly away further into the park. The man hiding behind the crashed Blazer cries piteously after it: "Wait, Jojo, wait!-" [12:27] 4Gun still raised, Cavanaugh advances on the terrified dog, looking deep into its eyes, his own misting over with blood... [12:28] 4Whoops, there it goes. [12:28] 4Hopefully he's running towards Cav, not away from him. [12:28] It's going on a path close enough to where it would be easy for Cav to step out and lock eyes. [12:29] 4Shadows move in the treeline. Shots and Honey are going to take care of the animal if Cavanaugh doesn't. But he's close enough to intercede. [12:29] 6Edgar: "Okay. We're all going to stay calm and quiet for a while now." [12:30] The man still standing raises his hands, and his fingers split open, revealing bone-white talons. "Okay." 14[12:30] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [12:30] 6Well, he's got a shotgun trained on his chest, and maybe he's fast enough, but maybe not. Edgar waits. 08[12:31] 6In some circumstances he'd ask questions, try to find out more of what the hell is going on, but.. Rollie's just there. They could really use some prolonged nothing, and what would be really nice is if Figueroa comes back and says something like 'you can let them go now', or at least 'I'll take it from here'... [12:32] He's black, tall, with a stubble to match Edgar's, and dressed in flannel. "We want to leave." He looks over at whatever Cavanaugh's doing. "Don't fuck with the dog, or I stop talking." [12:33] 4Cavanaugh: "Either he talks to me, or he talks to the two mountain lions waiting in that tree line. Personally, I think I'm more charming." [12:34] The man looks at the deputies. "Guessing Invictus. Nobody else really lands on the RV you're in dressed in armor." [12:34] 6Edgar: "You can't leave yet, man. That's the way it is. I suggest you get comfortable on the grass." 15[12:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie doesn't say anything. [12:36] "Do you have a problem with the Santa Ana band? We're not with them. Let us leave and you won't see us again." [12:36] The dog isn't as smart as the mountain lions. Cav can see what it's thinking: Run Run Run Run Run Run Run Run Run Run Run Away [12:37] 4Cav does his best to sooth it into calming down. Or at the very least, make it clear it doesn't want to be running off into any trees. [12:37] "You stay put." 6Edgar's not volunteering anything. [12:38] 6The dog at his side paces, watching the other, hackles high.. but it's so clearly afraid, Larry knows this must be fine, he's in charge. Edgar's uneasier, remembering what those claws could do to an animal. [12:39] "We're going to leave now. You don't have to shoot." [12:39] 4Cav was hoping to get through this without popping his claws. [12:43] 6Edgar: "You'll stay." 6It sounds like he's talking to another dog. [12:44] "Sandra, remember that thing I taught you. It's okay, don't worry. Just do that thing I taught you." The woman lying on the ground shudders. [12:45] 6Edgar frowns and pulls the trigger. [12:46] The man meets Edgar's eyes. "Not the way you mean. Chorus, buddy, you're on your own. Be kind to the dog." [12:46] The buckshot tears his shirt apart, and he grimaces, and collapses to the earth. [12:47] Then he dissolves into the ground, and he and the woman are gone. 14[12:47] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [12:49] The report of the shotgun fades, and then there's just the sound of the man behind the crashed truck crying, and the dog panting. [12:50] Two figures are trudging up the road. [12:51] When they get closer, the deputies can see they're clad in armor. 15[12:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That's normal. This is all super, super normal. [12:51] 6Didn't expect anything else. [12:53] The Baroness has lost the sword that was strapped to her waist, and her right arm. The armor is buckled and torn where the blows fell, and the blood is everywhere on her side. Her face is covered in gashes. In her left hand, she's carrying a severed head, its eyes bugged out and its jaw distended like some sort of terrible screaming animal. [12:54] The Marquise's armor has turned from black to red. Her helmet is off, and without it she's a middle-aged woman with long, black hair and dark brown eyes like her childe. [12:54] 4Unpleasant. [12:57] The Marquise is still dripping by the time they reach the deputies. Her voice is pleasant, and heavily accented. "The ones inside the vehicle?" [12:57] 6Edgar: "They're in the ground. Like a damn fool, I made them get down, and they kept going." [13:00] The noblewomen stop by the man cowering behind the Blazer. "You take him, Teresa. The one I came to kill is killed." The Baroness bends over him, says "4Follow", and the other man meekly rises to his feet. [13:01] NEXT TIME: Less murder, hopefully 14[13:11] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[13:14] * Joins: hrolfie 14[13:18] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[13:21] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:24] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[13:25] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[13:27] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[13:34] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[14:16] * banana is now known as basalapast 14[14:22] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[14:23] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:34] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[14:35] * Joins: trenchfoot 09[14:36] * basalapast is now known as baann 09[15:24] * baann is now known as bap 14[16:45] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[16:47] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[19:24] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:34] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:13] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[20:19] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[20:28] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:59] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[21:35] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: mattbaby_) 14[22:03] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[22:04] * Joins: trenchfoot_ Session Time: Tue Mar 24 00:00:00 2015 14[00:11] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[00:13] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[00:29] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[00:33] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[01:39] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:04] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[02:09] * Joins: dammitwho 14[02:17] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[04:05] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[04:22] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[04:28] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[07:26] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[09:08] * Joins: mattbaby 15[09:51] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/JXStMkg.jpg [09:53] lol 14[09:57] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [09:59] https://41.media.tumblr.com/2b4ab5c9b42a57910c5804c96f7d8d3d/tumblr_njqbjcfPmt1u2kfcho1_540.jpg 14[10:03] * Joins: mattbaby [10:04] reuben takes over nick's history lessons [10:04] Dave Ditell sucks!! @davedittell [10:04] "yeah of course I can paint your ceiling." Michelangelo scoffed to himself, "gonna paint a bunch of dudes with they dick outs on it tho" 09[10:36] * bap is now known as banana 14[10:38] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: mattbaby) 14[10:46] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:48] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:04] * Joins: ddt 15[11:35] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/Uw6nxW4.png [11:35] Fucked up but true. 14[11:38] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: mattbaby) 14[11:40] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:41] * Joins: hrolf 14[11:59] * Joins: Crion_ 14[11:59] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[11:59] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 14[12:13] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[12:13] * Joins: Crion 14[12:23] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: mattbaby) 14[12:25] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:25] * Quits: mattbaby (Client Quit) 14[12:34] * Joins: hrolfie 14[12:37] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[12:38] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:39] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[12:45] * Joins: hrolfie 14[12:48] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[13:02] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:05] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[13:08] * Joins: hrolfie 14[13:10] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[13:15] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[13:20] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[13:23] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[13:27] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[14:00] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[14:00] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[14:14] * Joins: ddt 14[14:28] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[14:34] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[14:37] * Joins: Crion 15[14:53] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/1WOFaBS.jpg gpoy [14:56] lol [15:00] lol 09[15:55] * banana is now known as banana|peels 09[15:57] * banana|peels is now known as bap 14[16:18] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:19] * Joins: ddt 14[16:27] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[17:04] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[17:39] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[19:18] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[19:37] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[19:56] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[19:58] * Joins: dammitwho 15[20:01] <@VoxPVoxD> KimKierkegaardashian @KimKierkegaard 15[20:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Win a chance to meet me in person, by sorrowing deeply. 14[21:02] * Joins: Quaker 14[21:47] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[22:28] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Wed Mar 25 00:00:01 2015 14[00:05] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[01:02] * bap is now known as banana 14[01:32] * Joins: ddt 14[01:54] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[02:14] * banana is now known as baz 14[02:45] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 09[03:30] * baz is now known as banana 14[03:39] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[03:39] * Joins: dammitwho 14[04:15] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[04:15] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[04:15] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[06:37] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 09[07:29] * banana is now known as bananaspl 14[07:41] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[08:43] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 09[08:44] * bananaspl is now known as banana 14[08:46] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[09:11] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:31] * Quits: dammitwho 14[09:38] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[09:39] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[09:40] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[10:16] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:33] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[10:40] * Joins: Quaker [11:28] Men never wore shorts when I was young. There are few things I would rather see less, to tell you the truth. I'd just as soon see someone coming toward me with a hand grenade. This is one of the worst changes, by far. It's disgusting. To have to sit next to grown men on the subway in the summer, and they're wearing shorts? It's repulsive. They look ridiculous, like children, and I can't [11:28] take them seriously. 15[11:30] <@VoxPVoxD> that is true 14[11:36] * Joins: ddt 15[11:36] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/P4uoRLI.jpg 14[12:43] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:56] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[13:08] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[13:36] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Quit: Leaving) 14[13:40] * Joins: hrolfie 14[13:42] * Joins: hrolfy 14[13:44] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[13:46] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[13:49] * Joins: hrolfie 14[13:52] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[13:57] * Joins: hrolfy 14[14:01] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[14:04] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:08] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:10] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[14:11] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:11] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[14:27] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:30] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) [15:00] http://i.imgur.com/O3mjNTx.png 15[15:01] <@VoxPVoxD> oh man it's wednesday isn't it [15:01] it is 15[15:01] <@VoxPVoxD> ugh 15[15:02] <@VoxPVoxD> I feel so crummy [15:02] it's time to turn that frown upside down and move that h to the front of the line 15[15:02] <@VoxPVoxD> no! 14[15:14] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[15:15] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:19] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[16:20] * Joins: trenchfoot 09[16:58] * banana is now known as baap 14[17:04] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 11[17:20] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed Mar 25 17:20:15 2015 Session Start: Wed Mar 25 17:20:15 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[17:30] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[17:30] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[17:30] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[17:30] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 09[17:30] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 11[17:41] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed Mar 25 17:41:49 2015 Session Start: Wed Mar 25 17:41:49 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[18:07] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[18:07] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[18:07] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[18:07] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 09[18:07] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[18:20] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[18:23] * Joins: ddt [18:24] do you know who sucks 04[18:24] it’s VoxPVoxD 14[18:27] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[18:28] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[18:41] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[18:55] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[19:07] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[19:29] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:37] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[19:43] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[19:55] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:17] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[20:18] * Joins: ddt 14[20:19] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[20:20] * Joins: ddt 14[20:50] * Quits: mattbaby (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[20:52] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[20:55] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[20:58] * Quits: Crion (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[20:59] * Joins: Crion 14[21:09] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) [21:28] can you dig it 14[22:55] * Joins: ddt Session Time: Thu Mar 26 00:00:00 2015 14[00:32] * Joins: tom 14[01:16] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[01:19] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[01:23] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[01:30] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[01:30] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 09[01:48] * baap is now known as banana 09[02:35] * banana is now known as basa 14[02:54] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 09[03:56] * basa is now known as banana 14[04:23] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[05:37] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[05:38] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[06:27] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[06:28] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[06:34] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[07:29] * Joins: dammitwho 14[07:33] * Quits: dammitwhoaaa (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[07:50] * Quits: dammitwho 14[09:22] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[09:46] * Joins: ddt 14[09:53] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[10:11] * Joins: hrolf 14[10:31] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:17] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[12:18] * Quits: trenchfoot (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by trenchfoot_))) 09[12:18] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[12:50] * Joins: hrolfie 14[12:54] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[13:26] * 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8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[19:05] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 09[19:05] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[19:16] * Joins: dammitwho 11[19:27] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Mar 26 19:27:22 2015 Session Start: Thu Mar 26 19:27:22 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[19:30] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[19:30] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[19:30] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[19:30] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 14[19:30] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by VoxPoxVD))) 09[19:30] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[19:30] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[20:12] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[20:13] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[20:15] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[20:16] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[20:51] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[21:16] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[21:18] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[21:21] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 11[21:33] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Mar 26 21:33:06 2015 Session Start: Thu Mar 26 21:54:15 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[21:54] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[21:54] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[21:54] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 09[21:54] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[22:17] * Joins: drinkybird 14[22:20] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[23:07] * bzzz is now known as banana 14[23:33] * Quits: drinkybird (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[23:34] * Joins: trenchfoot 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> https://40.media.tumblr.com/4a00b59f5b74b5fc636973f617ba0f78/tumblr_nla24jeggV1r9ftj0o1_500.jpg [23:41] is that snackwave [23:42] Are you 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> it's certainly not normcore [23:43] Are you | i intend to buy a croissant shortly, but i won't tweet about it 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> seriously though how is there not a cereal bar in portland 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> that's so fucked up [23:45] it is [23:46] is it [23:55] if you think about it, a "cereal bar" is just another term for horse trough Session Time: Fri Mar 27 00:00:00 2015 14[02:09] * Joins: ddt 14[02:59] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[03:49] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[07:07] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[07:07] * Joins: dammitwho 14[07:21] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[07:23] * Joins: cbass 14[07:54] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[07:55] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[08:15] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[08:17] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[08:37] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[08:38] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[09:10] * Quits: dammitwho 14[11:21] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:29] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:10] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[12:12] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[12:13] * Joins: ddt 14[12:19] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[12:19] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[12:49] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[12:50] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[13:20] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[13:20] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[13:23] * Joins: FerrinusPrime [13:39] http://i.imgur.com/Hc3mFsh.gifv 14[13:51] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[13:51] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[14:00] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[14:00] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[14:01] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:13] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[15:08] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:14] * Joins: Quaker 09[16:10] * banana is now known as b_Ainansle 14[17:06] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[17:13] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:18] * Joins: ddt [17:48] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/0re0hld.jpg scotch wins the wp roll 15[17:49] <@VoxPVoxD> dog... [17:54] <@Ferrinus> http://40.media.tumblr.com/545a93ef389900473f4585ed70ae089f/tumblr_nkx6syMuVg1r0qshxo1_1280.jpg scotch now [17:54] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/UZVecqz.jpg scotch if lis wins the wp roll [17:54] As it should be. [17:55] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/IF0EXIl.webm scotch, spirit warrior 14[17:55] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [17:56] lol 15[17:57] <@VoxPVoxD> cute pranksters 14[18:12] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:55] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:00] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 15[19:28] <@VoxPVoxD> https://41.media.tumblr.com/0eb082abba5feead0e3f3d0d85b8ac39/tumblr_nl5nfsimMw1rhe8jbo1_540.jpg speaking of nora 14[20:04] * Joins: mattbaby_ 15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:10] <@VoxPVoxD> In the light of the red star shining over the heart of Nexus, the mountain comes to them. 15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun Dorma is a giant of a man - well over seven feet tall, broad as two men at the shoulder. He's a gleaming monstrosity of white jade, his armor engraved with signs of valor and worn markers of battles fought and won. In his hands is a great hammer, more modest in appearance but even vaster in size, a maul whose head rivals the overturned cart at the center of the square. 15[20:13] <@VoxPVoxD> He has just charged with a roar into the crime scene, bellowing the name of Xu Sim with inchoate fury. [20:13] 14The dream becomes a man, and he's loud as a mo-un-tain... 15[20:14] <@VoxPVoxD> His spirit bathes him in white light. The cobbles crack and skitter beneath his boots. [20:14] 14From across the cobblestones, loud as a Stranger can: "We can talk about this!" [20:15] 3Mud's gut wobbles perilously as its owner leaps forward to position himself between Xu Sim and the oncoming warrior. He raises his hands defensively. "Please, friend, we can talk this over!" [20:15] 5Xu Sim is transfixed by something in the sky; he studies intently, murmuring ancient names to himself. [20:16] “Balor…” 5his reverie is interrupted by the charge of the man-mountain. He cracks to attention and pivots on position to evaluate his options. [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's reaction is much more modest, amounting to an alarmed: "Woah, hey, what the fuck!" 12and a panicked glance at the Emissary's body. [20:18] 4Judge isn't really sure if he should jump in, here. Obviously at least one of these guys could be an ally to him, but what a risk... [20:18] 7How's the crowd reacting? 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> At the dragonlord's advance, the crowd surges outward like a bidden tide. From above, the cordon seems to iris open, as the crowds around the sequare back up and the mercenaries holding them at bay move almost instinctively into the conceded ground. Pellicia has her sword, simple and straight, pointed in the air. "THIS IS A CRIME SCENE!" she bellows, though a mortal voice is little against the clamor of battle to be joined. [20:28] 3Mud stomps his sandal-ed feet on the cobblestones and sets them at shoulder width. Breathes in, breathes out, winces. This is going to hurt quite a bit. [20:29] 7More importantly, is the crowd in danger? [20:31] 14That's for whom Stranger is making a beeline. The others can handle the thing they're handling. 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> At the moment, no. But that could change in an instant unless the fight ends or they evacuate. [20:36] 7Then her first priority is making sure this idiot berserker doesn't scythe down a dozen people with a missed blow. It would be foolish to believe every claimed Anathema is necessarily one of her brothers-in-arms, considering old Wu Zheng is numbered among them. [20:37] 7If Xu Sim is a Chosen of the Sun, he'll reveal himself before being killed and Blossom can reassess the situation. If he is some sort of demon-regicide, she can fight alongside Nessun to bring him to justice. If he's just a mortal man, Blossom will have traded one life to save dozens more. Grim, but there we are. 15[20:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun Dorma's hammer comes down, caving the street where Xu Sim stood a moment before. The armored titan roars. His eyes burn white-hot. 15[20:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "KINSLAYER!" [20:39] 5Xu backflips away from the blow, battering it aside as gently as the breeze with a long sweep of his arm. He curls his lip contemptuously. [20:39] “What the hell are you talking about?” [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks at the crater, then glances briefly to the sharp, sturdy, and all-around finely-made steel straight sword in his hand. Well... well, okay, fine, we'll make do, if it comes to it. [20:40] 7Blossom: "Return to your homes! This situation will be handled by the Nexus guard!" 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> The crowds don't respond to Blossom. They must not have heard her. [20:43] 7Infuriating! [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12As soon as he sees the immediate trajectory of the battle, Keldar's off. He dashes, then slides to a stop before Emissary and cart both, one gauntleted hand held forward cautiously and his blade held loosely back. "That way, fight THAT way!" [20:51] 5Xu adopts a defensive posture, with his bare hands in front of him. He regards the man - surely a Dragonblood, from his finery - and tries to deduce what on earth he is going on about kinslaying for. [20:51] “I haven’t killed anyone! Like I just said, I’m a doctor! A sage! A man of peace and intellect!” 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "I have WAITED for this day!" [21:10] 14He strides past the guard captain. He strides past the young woman with the fine musical ear. [21:10] "YOU WILL HEEL!" 14yells Stranger-Visits-Heaven into the crowd, empty eyes meeting confused eyes; angry eyes; hopeful eyes. Words come to him, half-bidden: "Your business is not this business. Your business is Dogma, and adherence to it. Would you approach this Emissary, as he has? Would you challenge Dogma?" [21:10] 14This probably isn't, actually, a challenge to the most sacred and essential laws of the land. But he is loud and confident and his voice has fire, and facts don't contain those things. Those things escape the confines. Those things do as they will. 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The crowd hears him. [21:13] 3Nessun Dorma may be two men wide at the shoulder, but Mud and Straw is close to three at the midsection. The Grey Levee Foreman cracks his knuckles and trundles forward into battle, spittle flying from his mouth as he charges headfirst into the Jade-clad warrior's back and wraps his flabby arms around his trunk, squeezing the Exalt in an inescapable bearhug. "STOP TRYING TO HURT MY [21:13] FRIENDS!" 3Mud and Straw rolls his knees and feels the world spin under him as he falls back to suplex the massive soldier against the hard cobble beneath him. 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> And Nessun Dorma goes to the ground with this fat man. [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar blinks. He looks over to Pellicia and then to the crowd, making sure that other people are reacting the same way he is and this isn't some kind of fever dream. "That guy's gonna die." [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "He's gonna splash." [21:14] 7Are these people insane?! [21:15] 14He'll lean in close towards the guard captain. "They're yours now. I expect they're in good hands." [21:15] 14Then Stranger turns back towards the corpse. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia's already on the move, urging the mercenaries to help the crowds disperse. They are, too, like flowers on the gale. Pellicia herself does not depart, and it's obvious why. This is still a crime scene, and she is still the law. [21:17] 14Good. [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Seriously we wanna get a, uh, I dunno a tarp or something up here in the next ten seconds or this shit's getting hopelessly stained-" [21:18] 3Mud rolls, taking the surprised Dorma over and then under before squatting atop him. "Stop it! Just stop it!" 3His meaty palms slap the shocked Nessun Dorma's cheeks from the left, then the right. 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "He - is - mine!" It's hard to maintain your grip on something as big as Nessun Dorma, but Mud and Straw once held a levee at bay with his bare hands by knowing where to stand and how to push. Really this is just another wall coming down. [21:22] 7The breath marks the flow of Essence, in and out as it flows through the world. The wind picks up and Blossom's robe flutters as she steeples her fingers, closes her eyes, and reaches for the fire she remembers. [21:23] Blue flame bursts to life between her hands and snakes outward, fully engulfing her forearms and lighting her face in an actinic glow. "You WILL stand down! You WILL respect the laws of Nexus!" [21:23] 7Blue flame bursts to life between her hands and snakes outward, fully engulfing her forearms and lighting her face in an actinic glow. "You WILL stand down! You WILL respect the laws of Nexus!" [21:24] 7Whether imbecile, dupe, or brave man risking his life to save a friend, Mud's actions have shattered Blossom's cold calculations. She won't allow that act of heroism to go unacknowledged! [21:24] 14Oh my. [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Holy shit, a sorcerer. A sorcerer willing to stand up to a crazed Exalt, even! This fucking day. [21:26] 3Why choose just one? At the moment, Mud's trying desperately to hold down the struggling mountain, one palm pushing the man's head sideways against the cobble, squishing his cheek against a particularly large stone. [21:31] 4The Black Judge, still in the form of the curious onlooker from earlier, cautiously steps forward. "Cry out his crimes, blood of the dragon! Tell us of the one who this vicious demon slew, even as you take your vengeance!" 4If this is for real, Judge would be happy to see this Dynast get what he wants, enemy or not. If not, at least he might spill something useful. 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun struggles under Mud and Straw's weight. It's not a question of force so much as leverage. Still, he has strength and breath enough to cry, "I avenge Novak the Shepherd! Soldier! Hero! Brother! King!" 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Novak! Who the dragons spurned and fortune loved! Novak! Who turned the Beast of Highland aside!" [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Has Keldar heard of this guy? 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Novak the Shepherd was a famous military leader some years ago; the mortal son of Lookshy heroes, who left the city to make his own way and pulled a kingdom together from warring tribal lands. The kingdom of Liukan stands today, occupying a stretch of fertile land along the Yanaze. At its highest point, the great walls of Lookshy are still visible on the horizon. [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That guy killed the Shepherd? Seriously?" [21:40] "Madness!" [21:41] 5Xu rushes to Mud’s side to shout down at the man - in order to be heard, and in order to help his prodigious friend once the dragonblood warrior escapes the hold he’s been placed in. [21:41] 3He turns, eyes watering, to Xu Sim. "He speaks madness, Xu! R-right?" 14[21:44] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[21:44] * mattbaby_ is now known as mattbaby [21:45] “Listen to me, warrior: Novak was a noble man, whose illness I was unable to cure but whose pain at least I eased! In the end I was undone by the treachary of Novak’s own son, Piotr. I had informed the Queen before I was forced to flee for my life into the wilderness. I speak the truth, you must believe me!” 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "NO! You lie! Demon! Wretch!" 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun Dorma strains beneath Mud's bulk. He won't be able to hold on forever. 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "You... Novak..." [21:48] “Day and night at his bedside for months, I cared for him! In the end, his passing was peaceful and I have prayed for his ghost ever since.” 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "But Piotr..." 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "What has become of little Piotr?" [21:50] “He is a sorceror now, misguided… he was under the thrall of a demon, I think.” 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "A demon..." [21:50] 14Stranger walks up to the great, fraught man. "Did he kill him?" he asks, pointing at Xu Sim. "Did he kill Novak? Did he kill the man who fought the Beast of Highland to a standstill? Could he have?" [21:50] 14He doesn't wait for a response. "Because if he didn't kill him, you've done nothing for Novak. Nothing but try and defile the most important corpse in this direction. Nothing but shame yourself chasing a distraction." [21:50] "You think this man killed him. That much is clear. You heard he killed him, maybe. Someone told you he killed him, maybe. But what did you see? What do you know? Because half-measures are shameful. Executions are done at the gallows, not on the cobblestones. [21:50] "And what sort of assassin runs up to a man fallen in the street, and tries to save his life? [21:50] 14Stranger: "You can get free. You will, eventually, if you want to. And you can kill that doctor. You will, eventually, if you want to. But Novak the Shepherd was to great a man to sully on uncertainty. Lose your composure, if you want. Cut down a doctor in the street, if you want. [21:50] "Do so in the Shepherd's name, however -- and do so wrongly -- and the shame doesn't just fall on you. [21:50] "But you haven't shamed him. You haven't shamed yourself. Yet. [21:50] "Get up, and walk away." [21:56] "But don't go far. Because you can learn from this." 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> The mountain beneath the mud shudders. 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "I..." he draws in a great breath, and Mud almost falls off him. "I have shamed his memory." [21:57] 14Stranger gestures to the large man. He can let the mountain rise, now. [21:57] 3Mud looks with great uncertainty at the stranger, the woman with fire roiling down her forearms... and stands. [21:58] 3He offers him a meaty hand to stand. [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well... I mean, no one's really bought it yet 'cept those cobblestones." 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Aaaah-" 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> The sob comes from behind the cart. 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Aaaaahh--" 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Aaaaaaaaaaahhh-" 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Above, the red star shines briefly blue. [22:03] 14Stranger's empty eyes narrow. [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's eyes narrow, and he glances around behind himself. 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> All at once, the sky fills with noise again. 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Hear the loud alarum bells. Brazen bells! [22:04] 14Hhhh-- [22:05] “The star was the color of Balor’s baleful stare… but it reminded me of something else, something worse. Treason, murder, and woe. But now..." 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> The sound of tramping feet soon rumbles beneath the bells. 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun Dorma brings himself to his feet. [22:05] 7What fresh hell is this? [22:06] 3Mud: "No hard feelings, friend?" [22:07] 4What now? Judge is eyeballing the color-changing star. [22:07] "You're not past forgiveness, and you're not past redeeming shame." 14Stranger steps past Dorma, up the street. "No one is." 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Two men walk into the quarter, up the hill from down Firewander way, wreathed in diaphonous blue robes. One wields a simple straight sword - Keldar has seen Anilom's face in dreams. The other is garbed as a pauper might be, with a simple homestrung bow in his hands. Poco... 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Nightmares ride behind them. [22:08] "P-Poco!" [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar whirls, cobblestones scraping under his greaves and sword catching the blue-white glare above. "The fuck is this," 12he growls. [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12He's stalking forward immediately, tracing a circle around the corpse and cabbage cart both and making to intercept the walkers directly. "Take that face off before I do it for you." [22:09] 14Stranger looks for the young woman with the fire. He looks for the blonde man that's more than he seems. [22:10] "This.. this isn't real! You're not him!" [22:11] “They aren’t real, they’re Fair Folk. They must have come up from the Firewander. That star foretold their coming.” [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "They're gonna be half as real in a minute-" 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Behind them, Keldar sees the faces of his men, but the vastness of the army behind them is simple workers, carpenters, bricklayers. Honest men. Artisans. The drowned dead. [22:14] 14Stranger looks over at the guard captain. Hopefully she's got men to marshall to match. 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim sees the man behind the cart crumpled to the ground, trying to hide beneath it, clutching his face. Red light spills from between his fingertips. [22:19] 3Mud trundles over to Keldar's side and puts a palm on his shoulder, then takes a long swig from his flask. He offers what remains to the mercenary. [22:19] 14To Nessun Dorma: "You weren't wrong. You were just misguided. And nothing has ever been as simple as you hoped it would be, when you charged in to fight a doctor those long moments ago." 14His mouth hardens. "Fight with us or help those who can't get away; that's your choice. But never forget: we, all of us, can be saved. We, all of us, can be forgiven." [22:19] 14He turns towards the faerie. "Now go! Make your time!" [22:22] 3The emptied flask is discarded over the fat man's shoulder. He centers himself, and lowers onto his haunches in a martial pose. [22:24] “You there, cabbage monger - what on earth is the matter with you?” 5Xu Sim’s attention focuses on the man with the intensity of a sunbeam as the Faerie monstrosities approach, trying to see through any illusion or warping, twisting magick he could be affected by. 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "Haaa AAAAAahh-" 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Whatever's happening to this man, it's not the Wyld doing it. Though it's unmistakably the Wyld that's answered. 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun Dorma raises his hammer and hunkers down. "You will not fall before I do, strangers." [22:27] 7Blossom: "Fair Folk! Creatures of the Wyld, enemies of Creation, I'll punish you!" [22:27] 14To the encroaching Faerie: "There's a line. You're on the wrong side of it. You won't get told again." [22:27] 4The unassuming young blonde man takes up a fighting stance. "We can't let you go any further." 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> The one Keldar knows to look like Anilom simply draws his sword. "We are here on a greater authority. And we are but the first." [22:28] 14Stranger: "You are what you are. And you were warned." [22:29] "Well I'm here on the Grey River Authority and I know you aren't Poco! So knock it off!" [22:29] 3He jabs a finger accusingly toward the one wearing his dead friend's face. 14[22:30] * Joins: ddt [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar stares in shock at first, wondering if this is somehow the actual Anilom, if the ancestor cult all along was - ...no, wait, the girl's obviously right. The hell was he- this just makes him madder. [22:31] 3Mud raises his arms before him, hands balled into fists. 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia moves purposefully out of the fight, with the air of someone who'll soon be back. [22:39] 7Blossom moves smoothly into an onslaught kata, clenching her fists and menacing the false ghosts with coruscating flames. "Five dragons uphold the earth!" [22:42] 7She crouches, and springs high into the air, landing atop the cabbage merchant's cart. "Kiiiiiiii-ya! Air Dragon guards the horizon! Precision of the Striking Raptor!" With three swift jabs, she sends orbs of blue flame hurtling toward the Fae that the fat man called "Poco"! [22:42] 7She crouches, and springs high into the air, landing atop the cabbage merchant's cart. "Kiiiiiiii-ya! Air Dragon guards the horizon! Precision of the Striking Raptor!" 7With three swift jabs, she sends orbs of blue flame hurtling toward the Fae that the fat man called "Poco"! [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's in a sprint, but while his battle cry also starts with a hard K it's just one long scream of rage. He rushes forward, zagging left, and as the false Anilom reacts with a predictable too-wide parry the mercenary is seen, for just a moment, to flash an unusually brittle-looking wicked grin. [22:52] 14Stranger blinks as the young lady hurtles into action. He knew there was something special about her, but... 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> The Poco-Fae swirls gracefully among the blue flames, stepping back and away from them as he knocks an arrow. Poco-Anilom is cloven nearly in twain, sapphire blood spilling down Keldar's blade. But he stands, he stands! [22:54] “Quite a collection of heroes all of a sudden,” 5Xu notes to himself in some bemusement. He turns his attentions to the cabbage-monger and the energies coruscating from him. This is not proper for a human body! What on earth is happening here? “Please, be calm despite the battle that’s suddenly erupted after this accident. I require you to cooperate, for your own good.” [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12He spins immediately, drawing a steel-grey arc through the air that smashes into not-Anilom's undefended other side - and then there's a perfect moment. The world stills as Keldar espies an opening and the rest of his audience espies that opening with him. Breath's drawn and held as, with little grace but incredible vim, the mercenary, performs a brutally-fast sideways somersault [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12thing that brings his sword in a wide arc that goes up from the ground, over where Keldar's head used to be, and straight through the faerie's face. The blade bites straight in, shearing through tooth and eye socket and skull, and then keeps going to draw a not-jagged-at-all line down the monster's entire body and only leave down through the groin. Anilom's not cut in half - he's just [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12gutted like a fish. [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Unlike a fish, he remains standing, bleeding sublimated mercury or multicolored flower petals or whatever these bastard are made of. For his part, Keldar winds up standing a few feet off the creature's side, panting and glaring. [22:56] 5Xu crouches next to the man, mindful of the deadly possibilities of conducting battlefield medicine against an enemy to whom honor is at best an alien amusement. He reaches out, gingerly, for the man’s hands, covering his face, to get a closer look at what could be the matter. While doing so, he attempts to note the man’s pulse, temperature, and moisturation of his skin. [22:56] 4As soon as Keldar spins and begins his slash, a flitting black shadow hurtles upward and over the fey creature, driving a foot into where its human form's shoulder is, forcing it staggering forward as he lands gently behind it. "Well struck, mercenary. Let's finish this one quickly." 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim studies the downed man. He's clearly in great pain, feverish. But he suffers from no disease or affliction of the body the alchemist's expertise avails him of. He's forced to conclude the man isn't ill at all, and his suffering is the burgeoning of some metaphysical interaction provoked by the death of the Emissary and the red star above. 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> The cabbage merchant's hand falls from his face briefly, and Xu Sim can see for the barest instant, a red eye burning in the center of his forehead, painful to look at. [22:59] 5Like an eye ball? Or more like, the sign of a stylized eye? 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> the former 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> The former. 11[23:00] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Mar 27 23:00:48 2015 Session Start: Fri Mar 27 23:00:48 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[23:06] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[23:06] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[23:06] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[23:06] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 09[23:06] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD [23:17] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven shakes his sleeve, and a dauntless servant of Heaven falls out. Ra hits the ground running, all gold eyes and half-brown, half-white fur, pudgy and stalwart, heading for the idiot that decided to look like someone named "Anilom." [23:17] 14He darts in; he darts out; he avoids feet and he squeaks and he wish he'd brought some kind of really pointy and wicked sewing needle to just sink into this interloper's ankle. But one goes to war with the rodent one is, not the rodent one wishes to be. 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> The earth trembles. Nessun Dorma's great maul cuts an arc through the air above him as he switches grips, crouching low. "You will not fall before I do," he repeats, almost to himself. "And so you will not fall!" The Dragon-Blooded anima coalesces into a towering edifice, spreading behind him like brickwork wings. The great walls of Lookshy. He surges forward. 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "AND I-" 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> The hammer falls once, drawing a furrow in the earth that sends the fictive Poco staggering back. 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "AM-" [23:20] 14He's a good mouse. "Anilom" sees nothing else. 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> The hammer rises just as face, nearly catching the faerie on the chin, causing him to fall back to the ground. 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "INDOMITABLE-" 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> The hammer falls once more. The earth splits open. Windows shatter up and down Sentinel Hill. The thing wearing Poco's face rises to the heavens in a geyser of blue stars and gutters out, gone forever. [23:22] 14Stranger walks by the mauling. A good man. He knew he was. Directed properly, most men are. [23:22] 14There's an army wants to talk terms. 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> The dragonlord's roar of triumph echoes from end to end of the hilltop, and well into the city beyond. [23:22] "Fine. Fine. You don't want to talk." 14Stranger walks forward towards the mass of 'Fair Folk,' drawing the sword from its cane, tossing the wooden walking sheath aside. "I understand how that is. Don't worry." 14He holds the bare sword in one hand, bouncing the dull back edge of it off his shoulder rhythmically as he wades in. He smiles. It's an unpretty thing. "I've got words for [23:22] you in a language you've always understood." [23:22] 14Something also grinning moves towards Stranger and suddenly he's negotiating the first and foremost way. The way that always that resolves the problem. [23:23] 3Mud's voice joins in, pistoning his fists skyward in triumph. [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's hair is flattened back against his head by the force of the earth-aspects assault. He doesn't have much time to be alternately intimidated or venomously envious, though - his own foe still stands, and the phantom troops are drawing closer. [23:23] 4Judge's false persona cheers wildly at the Dynast's onslaught, even as he continues to size up his own foe. [23:24] 5Xu spares a backwards glance just before the shockwave hits. He grimaces in a sort of nervous relief. [23:28] 14And Stranger-Visits-Heaven cuts them in half. [23:28] 14Literally. 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> He moves among the nightmares like a dream. They scatter into specks of pollen before their broken bodies hit the ground. [23:31] 14Behind him, the littered dead. On his shoudler, a bouncing blade. In his eyes, nothing. "This is me using my words." 14On his lips, a sneer. [23:31] 14In front of him, half the army there used to be. [23:34] 4The impressed youth's shouts of jubilant celebration end faster than they began, as a rock cast off from the Earth Dragon's assault whistles towards him much faster than he could logically avoid. So instead of avoiding it, the Judge spins in a whirl of black to strike it with his foot and send it punching through his foe's simulated face. [23:43] 3Mud throws himself into the brawl without reservation! 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Mud charges through the army, wreathed in flames. None of it amounts to much but it looks quite impressive. [23:52] 14Stranger steps back as the big man and his favorite doctor go to work. "Leave one alive, if you please," 14he says, sword still on his shoulder. "I'd like a word." [23:55] 5Xu pivots on his heel and rushes through towards the battle. His soft shoes felt each cobblestone as he headed straight for Mud and Bricks, who seemed to have embedded himself in the midst of a pack of enemies. With a deft move, Xu leapt into the air, somersaulting lightly across Mud’s back and landing behind him - unleashing at that moment a flurry of punches, kicks, and excellently timed joint locks against the wyld-spawned [23:55] horde. [23:55] “I never got a chance to thank you - for earlier!” 5He catches one of the fae with a rabbit-punch to the nose, shattering it in a burst of pollen. “You didn’t owe me that.” [23:57] 14They advance. "Hit me!" 14Stranger grins, words of mind becoming words of mouth. "Hit me!" 14Sword's still out, but not ready to parry. "I don't think you can." [23:59] 3Mud raises his fists, which flower into a clawed posture. "I'm over here." Session Time: Sat Mar 28 00:00:00 2015 [00:02] 14They do. "That's it?" [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar grits his teeth, forced farther and farther back by the onslaught of dream-soldiers that Stranger-Visits-Heaven hadn't quite cleaned up completely. He's soon against a partially-shattered wall, swinging blade and fist in equal measure as he sweeps aside the greater whole of the assault and simply takes the remainder on his finely-wrought but decidedly normal armor. [00:05] 7The Fae army is marching up the hill, and Blossom's attacks haven't slowed them down. She hurriedly backflips off the cart and tries to regain a defensive posture. 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> The invading army, cut half to ribbons, still does fearful work, trampling up the square. There's a clamor on the far side of the hill; the mercenaries will be back soon. But they aren't back yet, and the Chosen all find their own ways to bear the coming tide. [00:11] 14Ra squeaks and sprints forward. A crate! A wagon! A signpost! A Fair Folk's neck. Ra tries his best to clean the things judged unclean by his master, the sun. [00:12] 4The Black Judge does an impossibly fast scramble behind a kicked-up pile of rubble that Nessun thoughtfully provided, but doesn't emerge immediately. 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> The cabbage man screams, but nothing else happens. The army seems to be charging... around him. [00:13] 14But he's just a mouse. [00:15] 3Mud and Straw can take a punch. He's got the face for it, and all the cushioning he needs. [00:16] <@Ferrinus> "Raagh!" 12and similar sounds issue as Keldar strikes back, felling bricklayer after bricklayer while decapitating or running through the occasional mercenary in their midst. He's clearly outclassing his opposition, but, crucially, not outnumbering it. [00:18] 14They left him. They walked by him. The last of the vanguard thrusts out at him; Stranger shrugs around it, knees him in the midsection, and brings the pommel of the cane sword down on his head. "Stay here." 14He strides towards the backside of the army that passed him by. "I'll be back for you." [00:20] 14He'll be back for him. But he doesn't do anything that'll get him back there soon. 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Amid the fae army, Nessun Dorma moves like a journeyman rather than a warrior. The great white maul rises and falls in steady rhythm. Keldar sees the headsman's chop. Blossom sees the smith at the forge. Mud and Straw sees the mason's hard labor. 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> They splinter. They scatter. They fall. [00:24] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven sees the well-won fruits of having a conversation. [00:24] 4The Black Judge sees the measured fall of the gavel. Perhaps this Dragon-Blood is worth real respect, rather than feigned. 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> The ones that don't fall to pollen beneath the hammer blow apart on the wind itself. 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> For the barest moment, the streets of Nexus are quiet. Lookshy's champion looks out on Sentinel Hill and back at the others in the square. They have only minutes before the square is filled with tramping boots again. 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Now the real work begins." [00:27] 14Stranger collects the mouse, who coos and darts up to his shoulder, and the cane sheath, which has nothing to say. And he's proud, in no small way, about what happened here today. He's proud of Nessun Dorma, Hero of Nexus. 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: Anatomy of an Emissary [00:27] 14And he slips away into the crowd. 14[00:36] * Joins: drinkybird 14[00:40] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[00:43] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: mattbaby) 14[00:58] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[01:04] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:21] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 09[01:34] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[01:41] * Joins: Quaker 09[01:44] * b_Ainansle is now known as bssoint 14[02:02] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[02:06] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[03:33] * bssoint is now known as banana 14[03:38] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[04:57] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[06:03] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[06:04] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[06:13] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[06:14] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[06:29] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[06:31] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[06:50] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[06:53] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[06:54] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[06:54] * Joins: dammitwho 14[07:08] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[07:12] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[08:18] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[08:19] * Joins: drinkybird 14[08:21] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[08:22] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[08:35] * Joins: hrolf 14[09:49] * Quits: dammitwho 14[09:55] * Joins: Crion_ 14[09:56] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[10:00] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[10:02] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:03] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[10:07] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[10:29] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:34] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[10:35] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[10:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: mattbaby) 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:33] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[11:37] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: mattbaby) 14[12:01] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:14] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[12:15] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[12:20] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[12:20] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[12:23] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[12:28] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[12:29] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[12:30] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[12:35] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[12:35] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 03[12:38] https://40.media.tumblr.com/85a495de16446c70b8fff78feed26622/tumblr_nlqq2umris1rojphdo1_540.jpg every stop in nomadgame 15[12:39] <@VoxPVoxD> hey, you're leaving chugwater mostly intact [12:40] *pins plastic medal to chest, medal reads "NOT AS MURDEROUS AS YOU COULD HAVE BEEN"* [12:40] *second medal attaches underneath it, reading "YOU'RE DOING AN OKAY JOB"* 14[12:44] * Joins: ddt 14[13:12] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[13:16] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[13:16] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 09[13:21] * banana is now known as banana|Pels 14[13:33] * Joins: quaker_ 14[13:36] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[13:52] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:53] * Quits: Quaker (Client Quit) 14[13:58] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[14:45] * Quits: hrolf (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[14:45] * Joins: hrolf 14[15:04] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:06] * Quits: Quaker (Client Quit) 14[15:09] * Quits: hrolf (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[15:09] * Joins: hrolf 14[15:11] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:11] * Joins: hrolfie 14[15:14] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[15:15] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:19] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:27] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 15[15:45] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/hO5lBJF.jpg 14[17:01] * Joins: ddt_ 14[17:01] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 09[17:01] * ddt_ is now known as ddt 14[17:04] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[17:05] * Joins: ddt 14[17:14] * Joins: Crion 14[17:27] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:30] * Quits: Quaker (Client Quit) 14[17:42] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[17:57] * Joins: drinkybird 14[18:01] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[18:14] * Quits: drinkybird (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[18:14] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[18:24] * Joins: ddt 14[18:36] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[18:38] * Joins: drinkybird 14[18:40] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[18:42] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[20:00] * banana|Pels is now known as banana|definitelyawake [20:00] <@Ferrinus> ah, gonzales 15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD> hello 15[20:03] <@VoxPVoxD> dammitwho isn't here atm [20:03] <@Ferrinus> it's seriously fucked up. 15[20:03] <@VoxPVoxD> it might've slipped his mind that we play mage at 8 now, since we never actually have and it might just be a total lie [20:04] maybe he'll arrive fairly soon though 15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD> maybe [20:04] <@Ferrinus> inteerestingly, it actually is, until he arrives 15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD> or maybe he's died [20:04] <@Ferrinus> hell, who hasn't 15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD> me 15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD> I am immortal 15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD> I have inside me blood of kings [20:05] the death of sleep, the little death, the fall of consciousness into a dark tunnel with only the hope of light [20:05] <@Ferrinus> the good death, delivered by the priest-assassins of the euthanatos 14[20:14] * Joins: dammitwho [20:14] <@Ferrinus> aha [20:14] <@Ferrinus> i'll brb real quick and we can jump in 15[20:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Jump in. [20:15] , swimmer 11[20:35] * Disconnected Session Close: Sat Mar 28 20:35:54 2015 Session Start: Sat Mar 28 20:44:12 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:44] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:44] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[20:44] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 09[20:44] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD [20:49] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> http://badgame.net/avs/avatar_186.png?m=1389494110 [20:49] <@Ferrinus> thyrsus arrow [20:49] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> aka nick's sifu 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> nick's stfu [20:50] <@Ferrinus> ._. [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12 +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12 |`. |`. |\ |\ | | /| /| .'| .'| [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12 | `+--+---+ | +----+-+ +------+ +-+----+ | +---+--+' | [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12 +---+--+ | +-+----+ | +------+ | +----+-+ | +--+---+ [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12 `. | `. | \| \| | | |/ |/ | .' | .' [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12 `+------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+' [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Thus far, your surroundings have not killed you, though it's not for lack of trying. 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10They certainly could have tried harder. [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12You're in the outer layer of a spheroid made of interlocking and occasionaly interpenetrating blocks of metal, granite, and fused-together timesand - but it's one that's controlled by some unidentified computer intelligence whose network of circuitry has grown all throughout the structure like mushroom mycelia might draw a web beneath a forest floor. The computer-mind is conscious, [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12active, and malevolent, and it's got some kind of control over the strange gravitational forces and spatial warps that allow the Tumbler's constituent parts to move at all. 11[20:54] 6Why doesn't Paracelsus offer the Tumbler a constructive skills critique and lesson plan. 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's on his to-do list. [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Around you, walls slide past or smash into each other, tunnels open or close - it's like you're roaches inside an off-brand, spherical rubik's cube, its holder trying desperately to squash you. But here in the outer layer, their ability to slide some parts past or through others is limited - and, more importantly, a combination of the Mage Sight and a basic understanding of the [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12structure in play means that none of you are just going to step ontp a patch of floor that could flip around and devour you an instant later. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12You'll have to match either wits or raw power against this thing if you want to plunge deeper, though - and you probably want to plunge deeper, because the heart of the circuitry's influence over this place is somewhere at the center of this structure. Stone, weight, parallel continuity and spatial folding in various combinations stand in your way, such that you'd probably have to [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12wend your way past at least two of those at once, two or three times, to get to the bottom of this. There's a shortcut, though - the cable spiders that have infested this place and not fully starved to death have a sort of hive penetrating part of the structure, one that'll get you deeper in before you have to deal with crushing ceilings or parallel timelines in which you were the victim [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12of a gas explosion. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12And, you've even got a plan - if you can seize or incapacitate a few of the spiders quickly, and in or near that instant Veil yourselves in a certain way, you can more or less take their 'place' in the circuit-mind's perceptions and therefore walk safely through its traps, invisible to the sensors that would guide them towards you. [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12One problem: Jen and the grey_fox are pursuing you, and it was only a few minutes' climb to get onto the planetoid's surface. They're surely coming after you, and you'll need to move quickly unless you intend to simply turn and face them down here. [21:02] 6Cross nods approvingly as History records this moment. With the yet-faint awakening of Prime senses she's starting to see the way that Time is written, given actual semantic meaning - the moments conveniently recapped and made formal. 14[21:02] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[21:02] * Joins: autopsy_turvey [21:03] 6Then she goes back to scrabbling frantically through spider tunnels, jogging behind Arrian for once, trusting more to their cloak of spider-ness than to the narration's promises. [21:04] "So we need a way to get a couple of them out together?" [21:04] 6Unnecessarily: "One in each of our sizes." [21:04] 7Arrian: "That's the plan." 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Or one big one." [21:10] 6Cross: "Let's just stop evading pursuit, then. There's a couple behind us.. I'll drop the trespass protection. Ready?" [21:14] 7Arrian cracks his knuckles pointlessly. "Ready when you are!" 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus solemnly adjusts his bowtie. [21:16] 6Nothing changes, except this: we're not meant to be here. [21:16] 6Cross points to the corridor she'd been just about to instinctively avoid. "They'll corner us around the bend, past the thing like an esophagus." [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12You're in a series of tunnels, not a series of hallways, and gravity pretty much just points to the nearest surface. So, while the creatures that come skittering into view do it from several different directions and perspectives at once, it's not very impressive - it could very well be that you, yourselves, are arrayed pretty much at random, each standing on the ceiling from the [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12other's point of view. [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Huh, just two of them. Not even that well-synchronized, because they seem as surpised to detect each other as they are you - that's just how powerful Cross's dramatic timing is. [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12They hiss and leap! [21:21] 6Oh no. I can't believe they've found us. 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Who could have predicted this? [21:31] 6As the things come claw-and-blade-and-fibers, Cross is ready, in at least a minimal sense. She's in the way of one, grabbing at the blunt part of its exometalton, wrenching apart seams. [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Time was, a stunt like that would earn you a bunch of angry welts and cuts as fibers snapped like violin strings and ripped right into the flesh of your arm. The way they just kind of tear on these things is a bit sad. 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10One of the spiders tries to pinch Paracelsus's arm off. It hurts! But it doesn't break the skin, or even his shirt. 11[21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12It doesn't even get a good grip, sliding back to the ground (actually, wall, but who's counting) rather than clinging on. There's a hungry desperation there, though - Paracelsus is the first bit of organic matter this thing's seen and been allowed to devour in a subjective eternity. [21:35] 6Millicent isn't particularly sad, because she's seen what they do to people. Wound up like human clockwork. [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Eh, it's a livin'. 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It strikes Paracelsus as less sad than pathetic. Look at what they've been reduced to, shorn from their true master and trapped in here. It might not be less than they deserve, but it's certainly less than they could've expected. A testament to the wrongness of this collaboration. [21:45] 7Arrian bids the endlessly-contorting fields of place and movement sit up straight and look presentable for Cross. She'll discover, when next she tries to hit a spider, that her swings transcribe perfect arcs with unerring accuracy - what she sees, she can hit. Tragically, the Fallen nature of the world means that it would be dangerous and inappropriate for cool glowing lines to trail [21:45] 7behind her weapon, scribing out occult geometries in the air. 14[21:46] * Joins: Quaker [21:46] 6Hey, this is a convenient piece of repeated happenstance. [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12No, that happens, it's just only mages can see it. It's real, you guys, I swear. 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Paracelsus just leans down - ah! that'll hurt tomorrow - and grabs the spider by its, uh, snout, or whatever. A smooth wave of the left hand, like a hypnotist playing to a crowd, and the thing just falls apart. 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus leans down - ah! that'll hurt tomorrow - and grabs the spider by its, uh, snout, or whatever. A smooth wave of the left hand, like a hypnotist playing to a crowd, and the thing just falls apart. [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a 'skreeee-' that rapidly resolves into a grinding, shearing gurgle. 11[21:53] 6Well! We can't just be standing in Paracelsus's shadow - not only because that's the most dangerous place - so Cross grips the remaining spider by its side-mandibles and tries to twist its head entirely off. [21:53] 6It doesn't work, but it'll have a really sore neck in the morning. [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Except the last part there is blue. Meanwhile, Cross is feeling like she literally can't miss. [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12The dog-sized thing isn't decapitated or anything, but it slumps. Alright, that's... about as much mass as you need, probably. And one of them's still technically alive, which will make the switcheroo easier. [21:59] 6Okay. She hoists the thing up, legs clattering uselessly on the stone(? looks like PCB material, actually) and takes a firmer grip on its neck. "Here's your embodied animus." 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Good. Give me your other hand. When you feel the spell go through, kill it." [22:03] 6Cross: "Yeah, good idea. Better them than something else we didn't have the get up and go to get down with." 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus has his hands out for when Cross is ready. 11[22:07] 6It might not have been what Paracelsus meant, but death has been on Cross's mind recently. (Not, never, Death). How does this.. the book wasn't much help. Siobhan was worse. She knows the forms, the terms, but hadn't contemplated the reality. 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Whether or not it's what he meant, his face betrays no surprise as she undertakes the sacrifice. [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12There's Mana in everything, and while living Mana isn't Awakened mana, it's pretty close - close especially to you, a living being yourself. If you can coax it into just slightly better sync... [22:11] 6Cross: "It's a poor life anyone, and I commend it to new employment. Let the motion of your clockwork be steady productivity. Let the.. oil in your veins be the fuel of industry. Let these scars be a rusting gate of an old life disrupted, transformed into part of a greater whole." 6She crosses each pair of arms and tilts the thing's sharp head down in a pose of animal-machine [22:11] 6obeisance. [22:11] *anyway [22:13] 6Millicent doesn't have any magical tools, actually. She's never found a need before- but magic is the awakened. It's a tool if she says it is. She takes the notepad from her jacket and scribbles a couple of secret words. [22:14] 6The Enchanter rips out the marked-up piece of paper and turns it sharp-edge on to the spider's neck. [22:14] 6For a crucial moment, a papercut is mightier than the proverbial. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Once that's done, the ritual begins. Paracelsus guides Cross through the opening, the self-centering, the outward focus - it takes only a moment and a joined hand. Then the spell forms. It's easy to forget how much goes into an imago until that moment when you confront another mage's in its entirety, rather than the shadow it casts on the world. [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12The change is immediately evident - the circuit-mind's lost you. Diodes blink in different patterns and ripples of rock tumble their way down multiple corridors away from you, searching. [22:19] 6No blood comes out, only pure light; the colour of a rose. Cross's share of the concealment spell is paid in this currency. 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10In Veiling, Cross feels from the necromancer's soul a steady silence and darkness. The clack-clack of a cleverly replaced gear in a great mechanism. The footsteps of the reverent among the dead. The careful shuffling around before dawn to give your wife a chance to sleep in. The dire wanting of peace. [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12It definitely remembers your last location, though, and there's no way there aren't searchers converging even now. Fortunately, nothing stops Cross from simply re-instantiating her shroud of luck-based stealth - or the three of you from simply strolling forward through traps and barricades that would have, moments ago, ruthlessly responded to and homed in on your entry. 11[22:21] 6The total absorption into Paracelsus's power is startling - more than a neat trick, it's like something that should be an inherent human ability but has been lost. She contributes good will, intent without effect, hints of a garden that could be. [22:22] 6The notebook is still magic afterwards, so she puts it away in a different pocket than the one it came from. [22:22] *notepad!! [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12You've still got physical obstacles ahead of you - fearsome traps and barricades of twisted, paradoxical reality. Onward! [22:29] 6It's a short jog, as the crow flies, but it can't. Through this ovoid, hop up the wall to avoid a lake of molten solder, NOT that way where they've sent something.. instead here, sort of spinning by an uneven crazy pavement that happens to be on the 'ceiling'... [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Now that the walls don't simply close ahead of you, you find yourself facing a great field of floating grey-brown cubes, slowly sliding towards and past each other and occasionally rebounding at a stately pace. A great partial layer of the spheroid is made of these things, and gravity points straight down through it, behaving normally for once. Past them, through the haze of dust, [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12you can see an entrance through the floor. 14[22:30] * Quits: quaker_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12The entire chamber's real big, a cool eighty feet high. Hypothetically, clever platforming or timing could get you to the bottom safely, or some rappeling equipment or something... if you don't like it, you could back off and circumnavigate the spheroid to try to find a better combination of circumstances to brave. [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12What makes this especially annoying is that certain of the cubes are standing portals to other cubes - step on one and you might fall onto another, or fall from a third, or whatever. Fortunately, Arrian's wise to what leads where. [22:34] 7Goddamn jumping puzzles. [22:37] 6Okay, that's weird. "Well.. we can probably make it to the ground. I mean, those of us under the age of one hundred who work out. Any other ideas?" [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12I mean, hell, Featherfall ain't exactly unheard of. 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Oh, this is simple enough. One moment." [22:41] 6Cross: "Is it? Some of those blocks are fading out of existence when other blocks land on them, so you'd have to time your steps..." 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "No, no, it's fine. We just need to fall where the blocks aren't." [22:42] 7Arrian: "Oh, that'd work." [22:43] "Well, they've got plenty of gaps." [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Covert magic can't let you just drop eighty feet without a care, of course. It can let you drop a few too many feet, though, pull off skips and landings that make sense in action movies but should knock the wind and/or shinbones out of you if anyone's paying close attention. So, from the ledge you're on to that block there, say, and then kind of skip another layer down.... [22:49] 6This is pretty great, actually. It's an opportunity to practice falls, strike poses, experience speed.. Cross is visibly grinning. [22:49] 6Of course, things might be different if she was capable of getting tired. 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Mind those gaps, kids. Find places to rest your feet, if only for a moment. Join hands." 10He draws in a breath, and as he exhales some of his life bleeds out with it, visibly aging him. Stygia teaches you what flesh is worth. What it's really worth. And it gives you a very clear sense of when it's worth it to you to pay it. The old man is, simply, necropotent. [22:51] "14wheeeeeee" 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus skips down the chamber, stopping occasionally to turn and look upward, skidding backwards as if he were standing on flat ground and contesting a mighty wind. He lands without grace or pain, on all fours. It takes him a moment to stand again. 14[22:52] * Quits: drinkybird (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[22:52] * Joins: drinkybird 09[22:54] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot [22:55] "Phew. Down and on, then." [22:56] 7Arrian sticks the three point landing. Once again, the Fallen nature of the world precludes a rad shockwave. The perfidy of the Exarchs is without limit, pretty much. [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12There's the report of a weapon, and a ricochet from somewhere nearby Cross's head. 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "Damn." [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Up there, peeking through the same gap you've all just drifted through - it's them! [22:57] 6Cross: "...Let's at least make them get through the block field. Down!" [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Taking that shot wasn't a good idea at all - you're all moving like lightning! 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well, we're moving like people who are actually competent dungeon delvers. 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Which at least one of us is. [23:08] 6We've gotta go fast. Faster than that. Cross mumbles something about the chair powers having no subtlety6 and gestures at the safest-from-trespassing passage; the way is hastened, ordinary human athletic activity translating to near-impossible actual speed. [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12There's some great field of impossibility just there - looks like huge shards of stone and glass are smashing and grinding into each other, then rewinding back into whole shape, except they're a little different each time. You can barely see it, though - you're stuck peering at the little slivers of space left between increasingly-thickening cable webs. [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Ahead of you, you hear the scraping and grinding of metal rather than stone, chittering, sussurus... and, notably, a wailing, twanging, gurgling screech, the sound of one of the cable spiders being torn the hell apart. [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12What could be going on through that orifice up ahead...? 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Arrian has got to stop trying to get people to click on that link. 11[23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12The webs get thick enough towards the hive entrance that there simply isn't room for all of you - Cross is stuck peering at the mystagogues' pressed-together shoulders rather than at the grisly spectacle Arrian and Paracelsus bear witness to. [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a long, twisty room, great cables strung to and fro and a single huge one stretched taught all the way from one end to the other. You can see that it's not totally freely-suspended, but catching on and bending around other cables and spars of materials - the corridor-hive bends out of view in both directions, one of them towards the center of the sphere and one towards the [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12surface. [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12But most of the cables are still, and thin, and fraying - gnawed on, even. Little burrows and cubbyholes that pockmark the walls are mostly empty. There are, in fact, only six spiders in your immediate view. [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12No, make that five, because a gigantic, vehicle-sized silverfish like the master creature you saw back in that apartment building is busy disemboweling and eating alive one of its own drones. [23:25] 7Yikes. 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus's face curls with disgust. [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12It doesn't tear so much as suck. As you watch, the silverfish's victim just unwinds into the greater monster's mouth like a single bowl of cartoon spaghetti, rapidly emptying of fibrous matter until it's just an empty, arachnoid shell of metal plating. [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Then the creature turns and begins to climb back up one of the walls. The circuitry that scars its own plating is extensive indeed, so heavily layered over itself that it begins to resemble mold more so than scoring and wiring. [23:31] 7Arrian: "It'll be hard to get through there." [23:32] 6Cross: "What? Why? What are you seeing?" 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "One of the masters is in here, eating the spiders to survive." 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "They're being starved." [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian's seeing even more than he's seeing, so to speak. Study of the sympathetic network that's just inches from the warlock's feet reveals a second louse and at least four more nesting spiders. Fortunately, they're up towards the spheroid's surface - you wouldn't have to get past them, but they might turn up if there's a ruckus. [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Behind you, you can hear the sound of machinery, great blocks rearranging themselves and wheels spinning up and down. No doubt, the path to you is being cleared - but you made much better, heh, time than expected. 14[23:38] * Joins: hrolfie [23:39] 6Cross: "We'll have to wind up Irony when we get home." 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Too big to pin down... Arrian. Do you think you could grab their volition if the computer's hold was disrupted?" [23:43] 6Cross: "Send them after Jen. Kill two birds and five spiders with one stone." 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus can hear it, you know. The machine. Its chittering orders to these dying creatures resound along EM bands he can't help but perceive. It's like a telephone call. The grammar is alien but the sound, the voice, is omnipresent. 14[23:56] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The old man brings his arms out expansively, not as a ritual gesture but to steady himself as he rots away. His face sinks into his skull, flecks of darkness stain his teeth as he grimaces in pain. There's a susurrus of static that overwhelms the machine, comes louder and stronger. It lasts for only a moment, though, and the rest is silence. [23:59] 6Cross stands back, watches. This is important, but the prices we're being driven to... "'Who would have thought the old man had so much blood in him'." 15[23:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you mark that?" Session Time: Sun Mar 29 00:00:01 2015 14[00:00] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 11[00:00] 6She can't bring herself to continue the quotation. Paracelsus knows why. 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He wishes he didn't, but when you're married to an English teacher for 40 years, some things stick. 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shakespeare is so boring. [00:02] 7Arrian grimly draws his rubik's cube from his jacket, and begins to twist the sides. It seems more difficult than before, not mentally but physically taxing as he has to force each side to click into place with a visible effort that produces a metallic grinding sound. When he's finished he's a little pale and sweating, but the Weaver Louse's eyes are all glowing a harsh blue, and a [00:02] 7Mind rune of the same color has etched itself into the air in front of the creature's 'face'. [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12It quivers with energy, suddenly arching its long, segmented body as a scorpion might and plunging two of its limbs down into the sympathy-webbing that radiates from its perch. The magic itself ripples as blue lights and miniature runes draw themselves in the air before the face of every one of the surviving drones, and at the same instant a faint glow and chorus of similar chitters [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12sounds from somewhere up the tunnel. [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12You'd better move fast, because they're coming right for you - after all, it's right behind you that the prey's going to emerge, right? [00:04] 6Up against the sides of the walls- Cross draws the mystagogues behind webbing, power still burning off them. [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a feeling in the air... a sharp, insistent hunger paired with endless calculation. You're all hungry. You're all tired. You're all burning through power. Just how much Mana would the old man be worth, hmm? Just- you know. In an emergency... 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10I guess that depends on whether he's as nice as he seems. [00:11] 7He definitely is. [00:11] 7Arrian can tell, see. 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10In any case, it definitely encourages Paracelsus to move as quickly through the hive as he can manage. [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12The three of you dodge a veritable stampede. It's not one that entirely goes charging up the tunnel you've just come out of, though - no, there's excavation, line-laying, ambush. There's a second rune-blinded shape skittering down the tunnel to your left, more of the spiders crawling out of the walls... they're pulling out all the stops. What must Arrian, who's surely got more Mana [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12to spare than he's been letting on, have put into their heads, hmm? 14[00:13] * Joins: Quaker [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Either way, you leave the commotion behind, and the terrain you cross soon changes from springy and cable-covered to smooth brown stone. You know you're coming to the right place - up ahead is cold, grey light and the endless hissing of sand, all suffused with the tang and grit of paradox. [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 .+------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+. [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 .' | .'| /| /| | | |\ |\ |`. | `. [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 +---+--+' | +-+----+ | +------+ | +----+-+ | `+--+---+ [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 | ,+--+---+ | +----+-+ +------+ +-+----+ | +---+--+ | [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 |.' | .' |/ |/ | | \| \| `. | `. | [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 +------+' +------+ +------+ +------+ `+------+ 14[00:27] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[00:28] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[00:40] * Quits: dammitwho 14[01:00] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[01:01] * Joins: drinkybird 14[01:03] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:04] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[01:04] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:06] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:18] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[01:19] * Joins: drinkybird 14[01:22] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[01:22] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:23] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[01:25] * Joins: quaker_ 14[01:33] * Joins: 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EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[13:59] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 14[14:01] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 11[14:04] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Mar 29 14:04:32 2015 Session Start: Sun Mar 29 14:04:32 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[14:04] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:04] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:04] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[14:04] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 09[14:04] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[14:23] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[14:43] * banana is now known as baxaxa|xeelx 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peer) 14[20:33] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[20:43] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/PQmu7FA.jpg nick, training, etc 14[20:46] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [20:47] <@Ferrinus> :3 14[20:48] * Joins: drinkybird 14[20:52] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[21:00] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[21:00] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[21:00] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[21:55] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[21:58] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[22:08] * Joins: drinkybird 14[22:08] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[22:11] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[22:14] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[22:15] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[22:16] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[22:19] * Joins: ddt 14[22:28] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[22:28] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[22:33] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[22:34] * Quits: trenchfoot_ 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ddt (Client Quit) 14[06:25] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[06:28] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[06:33] * Joins: drinkybird 14[06:36] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[07:06] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[07:13] * Joins: Quaker 14[07:16] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[07:16] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 09[07:16] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho [08:06] - [08:06] - [08:06] - [08:06] - [08:06] - [08:06] - [08:08] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDVd66gq4RE [08:08] - [08:08] - [08:08] - [08:08] - [08:08] - [08:09] The Marquise Covina, covered in the blood of the unseen dead, indicates the man sitting behind the immobile truck. "Teresa, take him. The one I have come to kill is killed." The only sound in the park, after the gunshot that sent two vampires to ground, is his fearful panting, and the whining of his dog. The Baroness kneels in the grass beside him, and reaches out with her remaining hand. The head she carried rests on the [08:09] hood of the car. When she looks him in the eyes, the deputies can hear her lace her words with the blood. [08:09] "4Follow." [08:09] 4Well, fuck. 15[08:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10This is going to be the awkwardest ride ever. [08:11] 6Edgar puts the safety back on, for all sorts of reasons. [08:13] 4Cavanaugh holsters the Glock in the under-shoulder sling he's strapped beneath his jacket. Then he walks over and starts kicking at the dirt where the two other vampires vanished. Fuck. [08:14] When she has picked up the head once more, and walked back to the awkwardly silent deputies, the man is following her with a blank look. "Could one of you please text Santiago and let him know we are ready to leave. Thank you." The wounds on her round face are already starting to knit and fade, but the wound on her side where her right arm used to be remains open and terrible. 15[08:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie'll do it. It gives him something to do with his hands, and an excuse to put his gun away. 15[08:15] <@VoxPVoxD> [08:16] The helicopter changes its orbit from distant to buzzing overhead in a manner of half a minute. 15[08:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie points out the clearing Santiago is touching down in. He's not making eye contact with anyone else. 08[08:17] 4Cavanaugh looks from Edgar, to Rollie, to their two...superiors...then back again. If they're not going to bring up the two escapees, he sure as hell isn't. [08:17] 4Hopefully they're smart and get the hell out of Orange. [08:17] 4Hell. Get the hell out of California. 15[08:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That'd make them smarter than us, is what Rollie is thinking. 14[08:19] * Joins: ddt [08:19] The Marquise leans against the tree, and wipes the edge of her massive sword with a cloth. When Santiago puts the helicopter down gently on the grass, it's returned to a silverish sheen. The Baroness has to shout over the sound of the air the rotors whip up. "Leave them in the soil." 15[08:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks back at the patch of ground where they fell. In the soil? [08:21] "Yep." 4Cavanaugh puts his hands in his pocket, shakes his head, and kneels down next to the dog. "Stick around, boy. They'll be back," 4he says, making sure the dog understands. Then he signals for the girls. [08:21] It's just dirt. No traces of their bodies remain. 15[08:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Maybe it's a euphemism. Who knows. Time to get in the chopper. 14[08:23] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [08:26] The flight back to the Santa Ana airfield is silent, aside from the sound of air rushing by. From under one of the benches, the Baroness tugs a wooden box free. Its interior is lined with red velvet, and she places the head inside and closes the lid. "Thank you," she says to the others, and no one in particular. The Marquise leaves her helmet by her side, and closes her eyes. Her eyes remain closed, and she remains smilin [08:26] until they reach their destination. When they arrive, a pair of ghouls are standing next to a limousine. Santiago taxis the helicopter into a small hangar, and kills the engine. [08:28] Her eyes remain closed, and she remains smiling, until they reach their destination. When they arrive, a pair of ghouls are standing next to a limousine. Santiago taxis the helicopter into a small hangar, and kills the engine. [08:29] 4Cavanaugh is off the helicopter as soon as politely possible. He'll loiter, waiting to be dismissed...but if the rest are heading outside, that's where he's going, too. [08:29] 6Edgar's quiet for, again, all sorts of reasons. There's the Marquise who doesn't want to be disturbed, and Okienka who should've been, and the other deputies who are, for, again, etc. [08:30] The other deputy opens the cabin door, once the engine has quieted. "Okay, Marquise, your -" He sees the Baroness, and stops speaking for a moment. When he speaks again, it's just to say: "Your men are waiting to take you back to your home, Marquise." [08:32] 6They're better suited to each other than some might think, right? Alternating convalescence. It's a real bonding activity. Edgar waits. 15[08:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie doesn't want to be the first one to leave or the first one to speak. 15[08:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The Baroness is going to be okay, right? She hasn't lost an arm forever. [08:35] When the noblewoman stands, she leaves a red stain on the bench. "Thank you all for your volunteered service. I will not forget it." When she exits the cabin, she pauses in front of Cavanaugh. "You must find the occasion to visit my home, where I may show my gratitude. Teresa, I will see you at home. Don't dawdle." [08:35] The Baroness is looking at the ground. "Si, mama." [08:35] 4Uh huh. [08:35] 6Damn, thank Christ she picked on Clinton. Not that he's got anything against the man. [08:35] "Yes, Marquise. It would be my pleasure," 4Cav hears himself say. [08:36] The Marquise gets into the limo, which sags a bit when she steps inside. It drives away, through the chain-link gate and into the city. [08:37] 6Quietly: "I think Father's would be a good idea, and something to drink." [08:38] 4Cavanaugh nods slowly. "Yeah. I'm buying." [08:38] 6Everyone's included in the invitation, though of course certain people might prefer to deal with things related to helicopters, arms, terror and so on. [08:38] 4He's so out of it he doesn't realize what he's said until a moment later, and just shakes his head. 15[08:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie lets out a breath he had no reason to hold in as the Marquise's limo rolls out. "Hoo." [08:38] 6To Larry: "Here, boy. You're gonna have to stay in the car in case the Day women are about, might decide you're an antique." [08:39] 4Hell. Why not Blush and get trashed? The answer is he has to drive the girls home, but... [08:42] There's a clanging noise in the cabin, which is the sound of Santiago undoing the clasps of the Baroness's breastplate and it falling to the ground. The undershirt she's wearing under it used to be white. "I have to get the Baroness home. I can be at the bar in an hour, if you're still there." Modjeska doesn't seem to be looking at anything or anyone. She doesn't move, except for her left hand, which reaches out to squeez [08:42] Santiago's right. [08:43] 4Cavanaugh just nods and walks off, heading for the cars. [08:43] 6Edgar: "Very likely. Take care, Lady Okienka." 15[08:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "See you." [08:44] Well, that's over. [08:45] 4Cavanaugh doubts that very much. 15[08:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Rollie just turns his mp3 player as loud as he can as he drives to Father's, to shout down any thoughts he might have. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUBQLnEGHNk [08:49] 4Cav rides in silence, digesting. [08:50] Father's at this time of night (a few minutes to three in the morning) is reliably deserted. The only other person in the bar besides the bartender is Sarah Day, who occupies a booth and looks busy, switching between a laptop and a notebook and pencil in front of her. The night is cool and quiet. Around the building, the oaks and eucalyptus lean in conspiratorially, blocking the moonlight with their boughs. [08:51] 4He parks and lets the girls out -- this is their old stomping grounds, after all; they should be fine -- and walks inside to grab a back table. He won't bother Day. [08:51] 6Was it Harriet who was the more voracious for gossip? Doesn't matter - the sheer quietness of the men walking in should clue her in if not. [08:52] 6To Clinton, who's buying: "They got Sierra Nevada?" 08[08:53] 4They have no business being open with a liquor license if they don't. Honestly it should be on tap. Cav orders three. If Rollie doesn't want his, one of them will finish it. 15[08:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie shows up last, though he was second to the bar. He just sits in his car for a moment before going in. Looking at that printout Leis gave him. The Rites of the Dragon. [08:54] 4Color creeps back into Cavanaugh's face as he sidles up to the bar; he gulps down on a dry throat, trying to massage everything back to working. [08:54] The quiet Day sister isn't bothered by their arrival, and she doesn't bother them. The only reaction the men get is a raising of the eyes. They go back to her computer when she sees the deputies looking like they want to be left alone. 15[08:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10But he'll sit, and he'll drink. Because that's how this works, he's coming to learn. [08:55] 6Does it have to be? "Not gonna sugar coat it. That was unpleasant, and we should try to avoid a repetition." [08:56] 4Cavanaugh: "Do we know who those people were? Hell, did the Marquise and Baroness even know who those people were?" 15[08:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So, how much of the job is stuff like that? I thought we were going to be, I don't know... repo men or PIs or something, not the guys you tell 'make sure no one survives'." [08:58] 6Edgar: "They said they weren't from the same band.. I believe it, I guess? When they climb up out of the dirt tomorrow night they can go back to wherever the hell they like." [08:58] 6Edgar: "Yeah, no, this wasn't in the description. Gotta do something about it." [08:58] 4Cav: "I thought so, too. In fact, I was deliberately led to believe that's what we were doing tonight. Not sure if that's Santiago's fault or not." [08:58] 6We'll find out in a bit. [08:59] 4He sighs and drinks almost half his beer in one go. "At least two of them made it. And the dog's fine." 15[08:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It seemed like, I dunno. It seemed like nobody wanted to be there but the Marquise." [08:59] 4Cavanaugh nods, eyes closed, leaning back in the booth. [08:59] 4Been awhile since beer. [09:00] "Something happens to a lot of the old people in this business. Inhumanity of a degree beyond what's, you know." 15[09:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "If I ever started crawling eBay looking for full suits of armor in my size, I'd like to think I'd take that as a sign to, fuckin, re-evaluate my life." [09:01] "Normal." 4Cav says, eyes still closed. [09:02] Speak of the tired, sad, and worried devil. The three of them can see a Honda Civic drive up to the bar and park outside in the gravel lot. Santiago joins them without getting a beer. [09:02] 6Edgar: "Poor Teresa." 6At this distance he can't bring himself to use the titles. [09:02] 6He says that *before* Santiago shows up, though. 15[09:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is she going to be okay?" 10Rollie says this *after*. [09:03] "Poor us." [09:03] 6Edgar: "You've had one drink, Clinton." [09:03] 4Cav: "You didn't get invited to her estate." [09:04] 4He finishes the beer. 08[09:04] The other deputy looks at Rollie after he asks the question for a long moment. There's something left unsaid. Santiago shrugs. "The arm will come back with enough blood." [09:05] "I put the guy on a bus back to Santa Monica. He said he was from there." [09:06] 6Edgar: "That's good. Doubt he'll come back. Santiago, I hate to have to ask this question." [09:06] 4Cavanaugh slides out from the booth and gets another round, downing half his next beer almost as soon as he's seated. [09:07] 6Edgar hasn't finished his first, though the taste is a welcome reminder. [09:07] 4It's not the alcohol that he craves. It's the cold moisture. [09:07] 4Something besides blood. [09:09] Santiago has changed out of his flight suit and into a blue t-shirt and jeans. He waits for Edgar's question with a look of miserable patience. 15[09:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's got the cold bottle pressed to his forehead. [09:10] 6Edgar was waiting for him to wait. Not that he's got anything against this man, either. "You left out some detail when you called us in. Matter of ignorance, matter of habit, or a matter of policy?" 14[09:12] * Joins: trenchfoot [09:13] The Day in the bar gets up to mess with the dusty jukebox sitting in the corner. When she's finished after a minute of browing, some Bowie song comes on. Don't turn your nose up, well, you can if you need to, you won't be the first or last- [09:17] Santiago: "We were having dinner in Covina with the Marquise with one of the Commission people as a guest. The Circle came up, and the guy mentions the name of some higher-up they'd been having trouble with. So the Marquise volunteers the Baroness for an action against the Circle. She's been insisting that Teresa needs to prove herself to the other Invictus. Like, with actual violence. So I know that if I don't say anythi [09:17] she's going to make Teresa walk into the woods and come back with a head." [09:19] "And I knew I could talk the Marquise into using the helicopter instead, if I volunteered to fly it. And that it would be better if I had some people I trusted around to help if things got really bad. That's it." [09:19] 4Cavanaugh's quiet, listening. [09:19] 4He'll wait until Edgar's had his say; then he'll say his piece. [09:19] 6Edgar finishes a beer. [09:19] "I have mixed feelings about this." [09:21] "I didn't think the Marquise would just…make her fight, and stand there and watch." [09:21] "Sorry." [09:21] "You were not in a good situation, Santiago. You got put in a corner by, if I understand the title, our ultimate leader, who is a damn monster. There wasn't a lot you could do to help her, which I undersand you had to do." [09:22] 6*understand [09:23] 6Edgar's still speaking. "In turn, you've backed the rest of us into the same corner. It's a good to have company, yeah. I'll only ask for one thing." [09:23] "We've got to find ways to avoid this being our part in the war, if there's war, or war, if we can't. I trust you'll help." 15[09:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie is glad he doesn't have to respond to, or parse, that. [09:27] *it's good to have [09:27] Santiago's voice is low and hoarse. "You think I like seeing her missing an arm when she comes back?" [09:27] "No." [09:29] 6Edgar: "I think that if what you've got to do requires our help, then you and us have to work together to change the situation." [09:29] "I don't know what to do to change it." [09:29] 6Edgar nods. The floor at this point is open to anyone who does. [09:31] He puts his head in his hands. "I just want her to stop having to do whatever her sire tells her." [09:31] 14The man buying the drinks is quiet a moment, and then: "I've been thinking a lot about why we're here, like this. Working together. What our...objective is. I'm a goals-oriented guy, you see; I need a big picture. Not just the next assignment. So I want you three to tell me if this makes sense." [09:31] 14Cavanaugh: "We're the deputies of Orange County. We're empowered to execute the letter of Brilliant Court law as duly-appointed officers of the Court, and we're going to do that. [09:31] "To the best of our ability to enforce, in our jurisdiction, no one jumps out of a helicopter in a full suit of plate mail to kill a man. To the best of our ability to enforce, that doesn't happen here. To the best of our ability to enforce, things like that don't happen here." [09:31] 14He opens his eyes. "That, I think, is a good goal for this office to work towards." [09:31] lol 15[09:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Times like this make Rollie appreciate Leisurely even more. [09:31] 4The man buying the drinks is quiet a moment, and then: "I've been thinking a lot about why we're here, like this. Working together. What our...objective is. I'm a goals-oriented guy, you see; I need a big picture. Not just the next assignment. So I want you three to tell me if this makes sense." [09:31] 4Cavanaugh: "We're the deputies of Orange County. We're empowered to execute the letter of Brilliant Court law as duly-appointed officers of the Court, and we're going to do that. [09:31] "To the best of our ability to enforce, in our jurisdiction, no one jumps out of a helicopter in a full suit of plate mail to kill a man. To the best of our ability to enforce, that doesn't happen here. To the best of our ability to enforce, things like that don't happen here." [09:31] 4He opens his eyes. "That, I think, is a good goal for this office to work towards." 15[09:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I think once you agree to live in a world where that's a goal instead of something you just take for granted... it's a really good goal to have." [09:33] "Ye-es." 6Edgar sounds like a cautiously agreeing doorhinge. "That's some legalism which seems to justify the right goal. 'Best of our ability', though." [09:33] "Like I said. Long-term goals." 4He finishes his beer. "Long-term goals are important." 15[09:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is there anything that can get the Baroness out from under the Marquise?" [09:34] "I don't know. Every time I bring it up she looks at me like I'm crazy." [09:35] 6Edgar: "Is she blood-bound?" [09:37] "Yeah. The Marquise is some from old Spanish line. Real Invictus. Everyone's on the take with her." [09:37] "I mean, anyone she's in control of. Not her peers at the top." [09:38] "I'm sorry, man." 6Morton explained it like this: one drink if it's some dire situation, if absolutely necessary. Never more, or there's a risk- you'd be worse than a slave. 15[09:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie tries not to betray his obvious ignorance. [09:40] "Yeah, well." Santiago looks over to Cavanaugh. "Fine. I don't want this happening in Orange County. I need me and her and whoever else to be safe when they're down here. No jumping out of helicopters in the Territory." [09:43] 4Cavanaugh: "This isn't a declaration of independence, or a declaration of war. Just...a declaration of intent." 4This is as much to convince himself as them. "And I think it would behoove all of us to pursue any and all...extracurricular studies that might give us the means by which to enforce it. No diablerie; no Masquerade breaches; no mass murder. But if you've got elders willing [09:43] to teach you things...I say learn them." 08[09:44] 4He looks over at Rollie. "Which brings me to an apology. I lied to you at the party. I know exactly where the Franks diary is. I've been trying to translate it." 4Cav pauses. "It mentions my sire by name." [09:44] 6Edgar: "Here's one thing I've learned: it ain't inevitable. Becoming Figueroa is an option; there might be... pressures, reasons, but they don't all go that way, and I won't either." 15[09:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "No shit?" [09:44] 6Edgar: "Huh." [09:44] "The what?" [09:45] 4Cav: "No shit. In the Seventies." 15[09:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "We got a diary from Franks's place, and a flashlight. I got the flashlight, Cav got the diary. Is it Holymount? The name from the untranslated entry?" 14[09:50] * Joins: Quaker__ 14[09:51] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 09[09:51] * Quaker__ is now known as Quaker [09:51] "Whose diary is it? Franks's? What's it say?" [09:51] 4Cavanaugh: "That's why they call it translating, Santiago." 15[09:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Most of it's in code." 15[09:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "And like, different codes. I flipped through some of the old entries and there were like, at least a half-dozen different ciphers." 15[09:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "You'd probably have to decrypt it entry by entry." [09:52] 6Edgar: "Apart from the incredibly portentous passage about personal transformation of the negative kind. That was plain prose." 15[09:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah." [09:53] "Well, you said you were trying to translate. I figure you're smart, and that was like, a week and a half ago." [09:53] 6Santiago's a bit gullible, isn't he? 15[09:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So is it bad that your sire's in there, or just weird? I don't know what to expect from people's sires. I haven't actually seen mine since she killed me." [09:55] 4Cavanaugh: "Bad and weird. Worse and weirder is she showed up in LA out of nowhere last week. Checking in on me." [09:56] "Ostensibly company business. I..." 4Cavanaugh shakes his head and looks out the window. 15[09:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "You're not in trouble or anything, are you?" [09:57] 6'Company'? [09:58] 4Cavanaugh: "I don't know. But if I'm not...then she is. And that might be worse." 4He looks back at the rest of the table. "There's a lot of old politics here, between my sire, my bloodline, and this court. I'm still trying to work it out." [09:59] 6Edgar sighs beerily. "Another reason to stick together." [10:00] "Yep." [10:02] Santiago checks his watch. "I gotta go. Thanks for, uh…thanks for coming when I asked. Next time, if I get a lead, I'll make sure it's something really easy, with nobody getting killed." [10:02] 4Cavanaugh: "Be well, man." 15[10:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Get the Baroness one of those 'get well soon' balloons from us." [10:02] 6Edgar: "Nah. All you have to do is let us know the facts, and we can each take it from there." [10:06] He nods before he leaves. "I have to get her a really, really nice bouquet. I'll get some balloons, too. She likes balloons." 15[10:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10After he leaves: "I figure there's got to be a worse line of work than this one to be dating your boss in. I can't think of it, though." [10:07] 4Cavanaugh watches him go, and waits until he leaves. "I like Santiago." 4He swivels back to face the other two deputies. "Which is why from now on we have to keep him at arm's length." [10:08] "For our safety, his safety, and the Baroness's safety." [10:08] "Yeah. There goes a loyal man, repeatedly." [10:08] "That Vinculum shit is bad news." 15[10:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What's Vinculum?" 10Sounds like some boring dirgey metal band. [10:09] "Blood slavery." 14[10:10] * Quits: dammitwho 15[10:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is that as fucked up as it sounds?" [10:10] "More so." [10:10] "I dunno the details, but it sounds so fucked up that you wouldn't need much of a ratio." 15[10:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "See, if they told us about this shit at Halloween Monster Career Day I would've picked to be a mummy or something." [10:12] 6Edgar: "There's only one rule you've got to follow: don't drink other vampire blood. A bit of it is fine but more than one or two drinks and it's like.." 14[10:12] * Joins: ddt [10:12] "You know the 6command shit?" 6There's a hint of colour to Edgar's voice as he drops his eyes to the table. "But forever." [10:12] "I'm sure somewhere across the Atlantic there's three mummies moaning about why had to get all these bandages instead of fangs." 4Cav gets another beer. [10:14] Sarah Day has turned off her computer and placed it in a leather case. When she passes by the deputies on her way out, they get an "Mm," as greetings. [10:14] It's just them and the bartender, and he's watching videos on his iPad. 08[10:15] 4Cavanaugh finishes his last beer, then pays them out. Hefty tip. "Rollie, if you want to swing by my place I can give you the diary. You're welcome to come too, Edgar. Could use your opinion on where to put the girls' shelter." [10:15] "Why on earth did you keep them?" [10:16] 6He's had enough beers at last to ask that. Cougars! Not even a metaphor. 15[10:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah, alright." 10He's starting to feel bad for not telling them about the Dracula thing. He'd still feel worse if he did, though. These guys are cool, but Leisurely's like... he's interrupted by Edgar's question before he can complete the thought. [10:17] 4Cavanaugh: "Not used to an empty house." 4That's all the explanation they'll get. 15[10:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "If I could order animals around I'd probably want, like, a rhino. Oh oh oh, or maybe a bunch of those really mean snapping turtles. You know the ones I mean?" [10:18] "Box turtles?" [10:19] 6Edgar, a little morose: "Here's a way to put yourself in the greaves of Figueroa: ask what kind you'd get if you could order humans around." [10:20] 4Cav just shakes his head. [10:20] 6Just two or three drinks morose, though. He's ok to drive, especially in the circumstances. 15[10:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It only takes Rollie a few moments of reverie to conclude that mind control is seriously messed up. 15[10:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Anyway, thanks for the beer. It's real late, though. I gotta go hug the shit outta my dog." [10:24] "Fair enough. I'll be in touch tomorrow, after sundown. We've got to start looking for an office." [10:24] "Right. Within-the-system, yeah." 15[10:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I'll do some research." [10:27] The sun rises and sets. Throughout Orange County, children are getting home from friends' houses, detention, and daycare. They're excited, because tonight's Thursday, which means there's only one more night left until Halloween. [10:27] Waking up is sometimes pleasant, but always sudden. [10:28] It's like you're dead one moment, and alive the next. Well, more than "like". 15[10:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Before going to bed - but after hugging Princess - Rollie shoots Leisurely a text like  [10:29] [10:29] 4Before going to 'bed,' Cavanaugh leaves a message on the machine of that realtor, Mr. -- whatever his name was, the ghoul that procured the Laguna Beach property. He's looking for more. He represents a group of interested buyers. [10:29] 4Office space, this time. [10:30] Jerry Ness checks his voicemail first thing in the morning when he gets into his office, and frowns. This fucking guy again. [10:31] 4This fucking guy just paid for your second garage, Jerry. Get to fucking work. 15[10:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's checking out commercial real estate in the county. Ideally you want something like a small private practice law firm, something small without being cheap, something nice but still obviously commercial. He shoots Cav a couple addresses via email, with a I assume you've got a guy for this already. 10appended. [10:32] 6Edgar has an email to write in the small hours, but it's not very interesting. [10:33] 6It goes something like: Lord Bren, [10:33] 4Cavanaugh replies I do, but it's good to have leverage and look like we're weighing other options. [10:33] There has been no official territory work since the canyon situation, on account of the canyon situation. [10:33] I will let you know when there's change. 15[10:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Leis:  [10:36] [10:39] When Edgar next checks his accounts, he sees that somebody's wired him ten thousand dollars. [10:41] 6That's probably not any time soon. The next night, his priorities are roughly 1) do some work around the house, keeping up the sunblinds and the doghouse and so on 2) work out how to respond to this book of flowers 3) read 15[10:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  15[10:41] <@VoxPVoxD> [10:42] How is he going to respond to the book of flowers? It's a literally unprecedented gesture, unless Texas really is that backwards. [10:43] [10:45] Somebody's calling Cavanaugh. It's Ness, with good news. "Mr. Cavanaugh, I found some properties that generally line up with your request. The only questions I have for you are preferred price and location. But there's plenty of space available. I think we can find something easily." [10:47] 4Cav: "Sounds good, Mr. Ness. This is time sensitive for me, and I trust your judgment in the market -- if we can close on a satisfactory location in the next few days, I'll double your brokerage fee." [10:47] 4He has the money to make a peace offering. [10:48] Ness's mood improves so quickly that you don't even have to be in the same room to tell that he's smiling. "Sure! Great. I'll, uh, I'll get that list to you real quick, then. I'll start in Laguna Beach, for your own personal convenience. How's the neighborhood so far, by the way? No problems moving in?" [10:49] "It's been fantastic, thanks for asking. Everything I wanted from the place." [10:49] 6After some deliberation, the only thing he can think of is a handwritten letter. Edgar doesn't know Blythe's.. intentions, would be the term? He doesn't even know what he thinks about intentions, generally speaking, at his age and after an almost-marriage or two. However. Sulzberger is interesting, and friendly within a barrier she's seemingly had reason to raise, and you can't beat [10:49] 6her on hats. [10:50] "Good! I'll get right on it, then. Goodbye." Click. 15[10:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Meanwhile, Rollie takes that napkin (he'll read the printout later) and dials the number for 'Bill'. [10:52] 6He'll write that he looks forward to calling upon her residence at Lancaster, which is true, and suggests that there's likely to be some time after Halloween, which is questionable, and that he found something very reassuring about her company at the ball, without mentioning that it's particularly true by way of contrast to the Marquise. [10:53] It's around 6:30, since the sun has been going down early this time of year. The phone rings for a while before someone picks up. "Uh…hello?" [10:54] It's not an old man's voice. In fact, it's not even a man's voice. 15[10:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Hey, what's up. Is Bill around?" [10:57] The person on the other end coughs in surprise. "Um…no? Are you…somebody he knew?" 15[10:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Did something happen to Bill?" [10:58] "Well, he kind of died. Just now. Like, today. Who is this?" [11:00] 6With that sorted(?), it's time to walk Larry and then see to the others. There's enough money now to keep the dogs even if they're just a cover.. is it the right thing to do? Edgar squints at a couple pens full of playing hounds. Mostly still young, since that's what people wanted to buy. [11:01] "Hello, kids," 6he barks in their tongue. Can you raise a pack of dogs to hunt witches, maybe. 15[11:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Oh Jesus, I'm so sorry. This is a friend of a friend. What happened?" 15[11:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10How does she sound on the phone? [11:04] She sounded anxious, but now she sounds relieved! "Oh, man! I thought this was one of those scary phone calls, haha! Yeah, he died. I think it was a stroke. I was just about to call the paramedics, actually." 15[11:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Wait, you're saying he- he's there right now?" [11:07] "Yeah, it's fu- it's messed up! I was like 'ah! The phone's ringing! And there's a dead guy! It's probably the guy who killed him!' But, no, it looks natural. So…actually, I think I should just call the coroner…?" [11:08] Well, the person on the other end is flustered and excited, but they're not obviously lying. 15[11:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Actually, uh, hold that thought. What's your name? Can you stay by this line?" [11:08] Someone else is calling Clinton. Unfortunately, he knows this number, and this area code. 15[11:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He adds, "I'm an investigator." 10Arguably true. 15[11:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Not convincingly arguable, but. [11:10] "Yeah, sure! I'm not going anywhere. I was actually supposed to meet Bill, but then he, uh, I guess he died! Huh. Oh, I'm Ch- um, my name is, uh…" [11:10] "Trubee..?" 15[11:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "Did you say Trubee?" [11:10] "Yes. Like, an investigator with the police?" 15[11:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "No, I'm not a cop. Private investigator." [11:11] "Oh! Then, whew, haha! Yeah, that's fine, then. Ok, I'm Trubee. Who is this?" 15[11:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Few things Rollie says sound as plausible as 'I am not a cop'. "My name's Rollie. Alright, I need to get in touch with someone and then I'm going to come by, if that's alright. Are you expecting anyone else to show up soon?" 15[11:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What is he doing. 15[11:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Why are these words coming out of his mouth. 14[11:15] * Joins: hrolf 14[11:15] * Quits: hrolf (Client Quit) 14[11:15] * Joins: hrolf [11:16] "No! But, actually, I probably shouldn't be here, in case there's something else I'm not seeing right now, so….okay, I can see a Denny's, like, across the street from this place. Which is, uh - " She gives him the address. It's some place in San Juan Capistrano. "Okay, so I'm gonna call the cops and pretend I'm a neighbor, because it's not right that he should just be left out here. Then I'm going to wipe down my [11:16] fingerprints and go hang out at the Denny's and wait for you." 15[11:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...okay. Be careful." [11:17] "Yeah! No kidding. Bye!" 15[11:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Something about that would probably strike Rollie unwise if he thought about it for five seconds. Luckily, we'll never know. He shoots Leis a text.  [11:18] [11:19] 4Cavanaugh checks the phone with dread. 15[11:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  [11:19] 212. [11:20] 4It's been a bad 48 hours. [11:21] 15[11:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  [11:22] [11:23] 4He'll answer the phone and put it on speaker. 15[11:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  15[11:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well, now he's interested. 15[11:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10And away we go! 14[11:24] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) [11:24] Peter Holymount's voice is, as usual, a mix of teasing and genuine concern, so mixed up in affect that it's hard to tell which emotion is genuine. "Hey, Clint! How's it going, kiddo?" 14[11:24] * Joins: hrolf [11:26] 4Cavanaugh stares at the phone, clenching and unclenching his fists, eyes cold, lip curled. Then he smiles. Brightly: "Hey, Peter. Long time no talk." [11:27] If you peered in through the window of the Denny's, you'd see that it was almost empty except for a few old couples, the staff, and a young blonde woman wearing an anachronistic old blue hat and a gray sweatshirt that reads DEPAUL UNIVERSITY. The hat is tugged tightly down over her head, and she's stirring a cup of coffee and pouring a fourth packet of sugar into it at the same time. 14[11:29] * Joins: hrolfie [11:30] The dogs wag their little doggie tails in sympathy and understanding. Even if you regularly drink their blood, they'll stay your friend. And now they won't go homeless, or at least not because Edgar couldn't pay the rent. [11:31] 6Edgar: [Good dogs. How do you guys feel about.. crows? Werewolves?] 14[11:32] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [11:32] 6He walks up and down a little, watching them jump about. [Or would you rather I got some sheep in, and you could pretend you're on a farm?] 15[11:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie enters the Denny's. Is she alive? [11:33] They like to chase crows when they gather in murders on the ground. They don't know what werewolves are. [11:33] She's very much alive. 15[11:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's wearing a brown leather jacket it's not cold enough to warrant just because it's the most private-investigator-looking thing he owns. Past that he's in jeans and one of his few remaining clean button-ups. "Trubee?" [11:36] When he says her name, he can see her left fist clench in reflex, but it relaxes after a second, while she's turning to look at him. "That's me! Are you the guy?" [11:36] "From the phone?" 15[11:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah, Rollie Choi." 10He offers her his hand. [11:38] She shakes it. "Hi, Roll - wow, your hand is cold. I didn't think it was that cold outside. You want to sit down?" Across the street, paramedics are maneuvering a bodybag on a gurney down a flight of steps at an apartment complex. 15[11:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Sure." 10He sits. "How are you holding up?" 15[11:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Does she seem out of it at all? 14[11:40] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) [11:42] Her hands are shaking when she lifts the coffee cup to her lips to take a sip, and since she left the spoon in it's clinking against the ceramic. She takes a second to put it down and try again, this time without any clinking. "I'm fine! It's not like it's my first time seeing a dead body." She drinks, successfully. "It was my second time." 15[11:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "How did you know him?" [11:46] "I didn't. I knew of him. But we'd never met." 15[11:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What brought you here tonight?" [11:48] "Well, I was going to ask him for a favor. Are you investigating his death?" She puts the mug down, and leans forward, whispering. "Do you think it was foul play?" 14[11:48] * Joins: hrolf 15[11:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I think it's a very strange coincidence that I make a call to the home of a man who had just died. How'd you get in if you didn't know him?" 14[11:51] * Joins: hrolfy 14[11:52] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) [11:54] "Oh, his door was open. I knocked! And then I tried the knob, and then bam! He's there, all dead. Well, not bam, like there on the floor. He was in his bed. But before that I was like 'Hey, Ph-' - I was like, 'Hey, Bill! You there?' And, you know. In a sense, he was. But not the good sense." 14[11:54] * Joins: hrolfie 14[11:54] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) [11:55] She looks down sadly at her coffee. "Ugh! This is too sweet. I overdid it." 14[11:55] * Quits: hrolfie (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[11:56] * Joins: hrolf 15[11:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Let me buy you another." 14[11:57] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 15[11:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "How was he, when you found him?" 15[11:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "Where was he, how was he laying, was there anything nearby? Any detail you have at all." [11:58] "It's free refills. Well, he was cold to the touch. He looked like he died in his sleep. I looked at his nightstand and stuff, but it was just medication and prayer books and stuff like that." 15[11:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So I'm noticing something here. I don't want to pry." [12:00] "Yeah, okay." 15[12:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "But that's the second time you almost gave a different name for someone. I'm guessing you didn't know Bill as Bill, and if he knew you, he didn't know you as Trubee." 15[12:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "Am I wrong?" [12:02] Trubee won't make eye contact. She looks around, finally settling at the napkin dispenser. "Extremely wrong. Of course I knew him as Bill. That's his name, isn't it? Why wouldn't you know somebody by their name?" 14[12:04] * Joins: hrolfie 15[12:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Sometimes you want to be anonymous. Anyway, like I said, I'm not trying to bust you on anything. I just want to figure out what happened." 14[12:06] * Joins: hrolfy 14[12:07] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) [12:08] "Uh-huh. Are you really a private investigator, then?" She's lying, obviously, about the names. 15[12:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...no. I'm just investigating, privately. A friend of mine told me to call Bill. I call, you pick up. We're where we are now." 14[12:10] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 15[12:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is there something I can do that can make this easier on you? I don't want to put you out any, but I could really use your help." 14[12:10] * Quits: hrolfy (Read error: Connection reset by peer) [12:11] "Anybody I know? I mean, I probably wouldn't. But maybe I would. If they're in the…business. I mean, then we'd really have a problem, because - argh! Sorry. I kind of tend to think in circles. Oh, wait, you need my help? With what?" 14[12:11] * Joins: hrolfy 15[12:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Well see, I don't actually know what my friend wanted me to talk to Bill about. I just know he was into stuff that'd give me... that'd show me there was stuff outside my current perspective. And I just, I got this feeling, you know, that even if you don't know what Bill was into... you've got a better idea than I do." 14[12:13] * Joins: hrolf 15[12:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you know anyone named Foster?" [12:15] She takes her hat off, puts it on the upholstered booth next to her, and shakes her head. "Nope. Wait, ok, hold on. When you say…into stuff…do you mean like…what kind of stuff." [12:15] She's blushing as she asks the question. "I mean, like…craigslist stuff? Missed…connections?" 15[12:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's mouth works. "Nnnnno. Not... not that. More of a... research thing." 14[12:17] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [12:17] "Like…for school? I know he used to teach at IVC. But that's like…Arabic." [12:18] "I mean, I think. I saw a diploma on his wall." 14[12:23] * Joins: ddt 15[12:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "No, it's uh." 10Rollie doesn't actually know the word 'occult'. "Kind of... esoteric... stuff." 10He leans back, focusing on her, and feels his eyes burn. Is he tripping out again? No, not now, it can't be- [12:29] Her aura is like someone took a thousand sparklers, lit them all at once, and held them close. The iridescent violet color surrounding her pops and bounces, twisting up and expanding out and in again, shining, glittering - "Oh! You mean…oh. Okay." 15[12:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's eyes widen a bit. "Yeah?" [12:37] "Yeah. How much do you know?" 15[12:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Hardly anything. I was warned not to let anyone put me in a crystal prison." [12:38] She's become more canny in the past five seconds, possibly because for the first time since they've spoken, she seems to understand anything that's happening around her. [12:39] "I wouldn't do that. Unless you turned out to a crazy guy! Then…I don't know, I still wouldn't be able to do that." 15[12:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Can you, uh, tell what the deal with me is?" [12:40] She leans forward, whispering again. "Yeah, I didn't want to say anything, and eye dee kay if this is, rude, but are you a….vampyr?" 15[12:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie nods. [12:42] "Oh, then that's fine. Yeah, we're good. Okay, magic is real and I'm a badass boss. You know…" She pantomimes something expanding rapidly with her hands. "Fwoosh! Imagine a fireball. But, uh, don't, if that makes you scared." 15[12:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "No shit? Like, a wizard?" [12:44] "Ha! I thought you were an actual cop. Then I would have been screeeeeewed. But now I can just go by Trubee. Yeah! Like, pa-kow." She points a finger gun at an elderly couple at a distant table and squints. "What are they saying? He's saying - oh, wow, that's really sad. Nevermind." 14[12:45] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[12:45] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) [12:46] "Hey, so I didn't know Bill- ok, sorry, I knew him as Phocas - knew any vampires. What's up? Why'd your friend send you to him? He was totally out of the loop." 15[12:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I think my friend values people who are out of the loop. She just wanted me to see firsthand that there's stuff out there that isn't like me." 15[12:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "What did you want to see him for?" [12:50] "Eh, I just wanted to see if he was down for getting back into things. I'm kind of alone out here. I just flew in last week." 15[12:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "In what sense was he out of it? Retired?" [12:53] "Yeah, he was an old fogey who used to live out in the Midwest and retired out here for the weather. I guess he just kind of muddled along on his own for a decade or so. Sad." 15[12:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Is that where you're from, too?" 10Does she have any kind of accent? [12:54] "Oh, shoot!" Her hand goes to her throat, and pulls out a silver crucifix. "Sorry, should I put this away? I just remembered I had it on, sorry!" [12:55] "That's like a double-whammy. Indiana, by way of Chicago. But now I'm out here! Permanently. Well, I'd like to think permanently. I kind of said I wouldn't go back." 15[12:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie lets the cross thing slide. "What happened in Chicago?" [12:55] She looks down at her sweatshirt. "Go Blue Demons! If the sweatshirt didn't give it away already." [12:57] "Oh, nothin'. Nothing. Just…hey, look." She's pointing across the street. Two people in business casual are standing outside the door the paramedics left earlier. "Those dudes want in, too." 15[12:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks at them. "Those don't look like cops either." [12:59] Her accent is flat and from the Midwest, but not Minnesotan. She just sounds…like what you'd imagine a neutral American accent to sound like. [13:00] "They're not like me. And they don't look like you. Huh." The men knock and wait around. One of them knocks harder, and looks like he's calling out. After a while, they shrug at each other and go back to their sedan, driving off. 15[13:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "They look weird at all?" [13:02] "They look kind of like junkies. Not like…I mean, they look like regular drug users. Dang, maybe old Phocas was slinging stuff on the side! Cool." 15[13:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So do you really think he just up and died?" [13:05] "Hey, is the Mission open at night, do you know? I kind of want to check it out. I had to do a report on all the Californian missions when I was in middle school, with, like, dioramas and everything, and San Juan Capistrano was my diorama." [13:06] "Oh, well." She waves her hands non-noncommittally. "It's not really my…specialty. I didn't get anything weird coming from him, so…" She shrugs. "Dunno." 15[13:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It's closed by now, I think. Was the door actually unlocked? Do you think you could get us back in there?" 15[13:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Maybe it's weird but I really feel like I ought to look around." 14[13:09] * Quits: hrolf (Read error: Connection reset by peer) [13:11] "Oh, yeah. I lied. I just kicked the door in, because I was kind of pissed off that he wasn't where he said he'd be for the third time in a row. So…it's unlocked now..? I don't know why those guys didn't just try the knob." 15[13:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Maybe they expected a booby trap. Do you wanna come?" [13:12] "Yeah! I'm not doing anything. This is kind of my…job. Uh. Yeah, let's get outta here." 15[13:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Let me get the coffee." [13:12] "Cool. I'm kind of broke, actually. I shouldn't have ordered it!" [13:14] "Hey, speaking of: I'm also kind of homeless, technically? You, um…do you know anybody who's looking for a roommate? I mean we're both…special. So." She puts her hat back on, and fishes in her pockets. "Oh, wait, I have three quarters. That's a tip." 15[13:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie puts down money and a tip. "Yeah, I know what that's like. C'mon." 08[13:16] While they're walking across the street: "Is your name really Rollie? Mine isn't really Trubee. It's like a nom de guerre. It's safer for me that way." 15[13:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Technically he's got a spare futon at his place, and in most circumstances he's got no problem letting anyone crash on it... she seems cool, at least. Let's see how this thing goes. "Oh, like a code name? Nah, I'm just Rollie. If someone wanted to stalk me, they could do it pretty easily." 15[13:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "I mean, I have a title, but it's secret." 10and also without context I'm just now realizing it sounds like some bizarre BDSM thing. 08[13:19] She takes the stairs two at a time. "Nice. Is that short for Roland? Oh, yeah, I know how it is. I've got a bunch of secret titles. They're really long. It's really stupid." 15[13:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "It is, yeah. Roland Choi. Secret societies are kind of goofy sometimes." 10Hup. "Oh, that reminds me. If I ever start talking like I'm tripping balls, just bear with me." [13:20] Trubee tries the door to the apartment - 12B - and it swings right open. "See? Those guys are bad at snooping around, if that's what they were doing. Also, sorry, Bill!" She looks up at the sky. "For kicking your door in." 15[13:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie does the upward point thing pro athletes do after scoring. [13:22] "Like, tripping balls how?" She leads him into the apartment. It's small and nondescript, and cluttered with loose papers, unopened cans of food, and religious icons from about a dozen different faith. "Ok, so nothing really popped out as magical, you know? But I guess if he hid something, it would be…hidden." 14[13:25] * Joins: ddt_ 14[13:25] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 09[13:25] * ddt_ is now known as ddt 15[13:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You'll know it when you hear it." 15[13:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie runs his hands through the papers. Maybe he can make it happen. Maybe he can use it. There's patterns here... you just have to know how to look. [13:31] Trubee goes into the bedroom to look for things. The notes lying around are on a variety of related topics: brief, shorthand notes from close readings of modern Arabic literature, highlighted passages from textbooks on comparative theologic studies, pictures of distant and foreign religious shrines and chapels, and architectural studies of pre-Islamic Arabian temple complexes. [13:32] There's not much of a vampiric pattern here that he can tell. There's certainly enough to pique his interest if he was, say, a student of any of these fields. [13:33] From the bedroom, Trubee calls out: "Hey, is Santa Monica important? Like, for vampires?" [13:34] "What's the Circle of the Crone? Is that your thing?" [13:34] "Oh, gross! A freaking…bird skeleton…" 15[13:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't follow those bands, sorry..." [13:38] Trubee. [13:39] Also, she walks back in to the living room. "Hey, look! See, Doctorate in Arabic from Ann-Arbor." She's holding a framed degree up. "Cool." [13:40] The leather notebook that she tosses to him. "This looked weird! Catch!" 15[13:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's a long road to follow on Principle's orders." 15[13:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He takes the notebook. What are we looking at, here? [13:43] On the first page, in tight, scratchy lettering: Theological Evolution And Religious Architectural Trends Among the 20th Century Crone Sect of Southern California Vampires. [13:44] "Yeah, that was nonsense to me. You'd probably know what it's about, right?" 15[13:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "The nesting patterns of crows and corpses." [13:46] There is a pattern in the book that the dead man discovered, unknown to him, and in fact known only to an impossibly specific few. If a thief was in the house, they would pass it by without realizing that they've found an incredible and terrible treasure. [13:47] "Sure?" [13:49] Trubee has got the skeleton of a small bird in a spherical glass case tucked under one arm. "I'm keeping this! It's cool. Don't look at me like that! I know he didn't have any next of kin, so it would just go up at an estate sale." 15[13:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's eyes drift down to the skeleton. "It's no bigger than what we bring with us." [13:51] The man who slept in the now-unoccupied bed spent the last four decades of his life living with an unimaginable burden on his conscience. He suffered unnaturally every day of his life, until he died unloved and without hope. [13:51] Trubee holds the glass case over her head. "Caw!" 15[13:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie touches the covers. "There was a maiden," 10he says. "Once there was a maiden who knew things about a man. He didn't like that, but he kissed her anyway. She told him everything in her heart." 10He's straightening out the covers, remaking the bed. 15[13:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "She whispered truths to him, but he didn't care. She whispered hopes to him, but he didn't care. She whispered her prayers, but only heard silence. And she whispered her fear to him, but he didn't care." 10He's fluffing the pillows. Tidying up. 15[13:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He looks up at Trubee. "He looked upon her inner self, and the void met his eyes." 15[13:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "'To know the world is to fear it,' he said." [13:56] Trubee stands behind him, watching him rearrange things, biting her lower lip in anxiety. When he stands and speaks to her, she looks at him, and then he can feel her looking at him. [14:01] She sees past him, and inside him. His words, and his mind as it produces the words. 08[14:02] As Rollie floats on the river, he sees another mind floating by, and realizes they're both holding signaling flags. 15[14:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She can tell, then, that he isn't just talking about Phocas. He's talking about Phocas, and about someone else, someone he can see a bit of in her. He's talking about knowledge enforcing distance, distance between people, and distance within oneself. Principle may bear us to seclusion, but it can't protect us from ourselves. The heart has reasons that reason doesn't know. [14:04] When she looks away, he can tell that her excitement has faded. "I have to do something," she says tonelessly. "You can stay and watch, or wait outside. Give me five minutes." 15[14:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie blinks. "Uh. Sure. I'm sorry, I've never... nobody's ever understood me before." [14:06] She places the glass case down on the bed. "It's fine. You have to deal with understanding people better than they'd like to be understood. Can you help me gather up his notes? I want to mail them back to Chicago. It's better than somebody just throwing it all in the trash." 15[14:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Can I keep this notebook?" [14:08] "Yeah. It's about you, anyway." 15[14:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "You mean about vampires, right?" [14:10] "You'd know better than I would." She works quickly, gathering the loose sheafs of paper together, putting them in manila folders until they're bulging. When she's got two boxes full and the rest is just old newspapers and junk mail, she slides the boxes over to the front. "Okay, give me a second." 08[14:13] He can see her aura pop again, brighter this time, yellow whorls forming around her body, flowing from her center. She holds her hands out in front of her, her thumbs and index fingers meeting in a triangle. Arms outstretched, she puts her hands on the desk where the notes lay, on the cluttered sink, on the nightstand full of empty pill bottles, and on the bed Rollie made. Each time, she makes a swift little motion, rolli [14:13] her right hand so that the top of the triangle breaks while her thumbs remain connected. [14:15] Each time, he can feel something leave the apartment. A heaviness of spirit, but one that belonged. He feels the lightness flood in, and the gloom of the little apartment brighten, but it's the impersonal lightness of the world outside, and soon the sense of unique habitation has faded. "Okay," says Trubee. "Finished." 15[14:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Clean as a whistle. I'll ask around for you, but if you need somewhere to crash like, tonight, I've got room at my place. Unless you're allergic to dogs." [14:18] Trubee hefts a box. "I love dogs! And I think the Y janitors were starting to get suspicious about the pile of blankets I left last time. Thanks. Can you get that one? Um, you have a car, right?" 15[14:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah, come on." [14:20] She holds the door open for him with a shoulder, and then closes it behind them. The apartment, from the outside, seems to fade back into anonymity. [14:20] Maybe nobody lived here. [14:21] While they're walking back to his car: "By the way, my real name is Charlotte. But you should definitely call me Trubee, because it's way cooler." [14:21] NEXT TIME: Halloween 14[14:27] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:28] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:32] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:33] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:36] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:37] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:40] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[14:41] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:43] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:53] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 15[14:56] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/sWq5sYT.jpg [14:57] obviously he'll perish like a duck 09[15:04] * banana is now known as banaanbread 09[15:04] * banaanbread is now known as naanbread|slices 14[15:34] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[15:37] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[15:46] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[16:20] * Joins: ddt 14[16:34] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[16:45] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[17:09] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 15[17:23] <@VoxPVoxD> https://41.media.tumblr.com/431ea4956753cc7a30ec740c1036957c/tumblr_nl8wx3jmtC1u8blqzo1_540.jpg [17:27] la loba 14[17:38] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[18:02] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[18:07] * Joins: ddt 14[18:12] * Joins: dammitwho 15[18:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Nihilist Arby's @nihilist_arbys 15[18:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Every single person who eats at McDonald's will die. Please eat at arbys. [18:21] i eat at arby's and am immortal, confirmed 15[18:22] <@VoxPVoxD> I have inside me blood of kings [18:29] <@Ferrinus> shampoo courses through my veins 14[19:50] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[20:52] * Joins: ddt 14[21:26] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[21:29] * Joins: dammitwho 14[21:46] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[21:47] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[23:02] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[23:14] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:23] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[23:23] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) Session Time: Tue Mar 31 00:00:00 2015 [00:44] <@Ferrinus> http://5secondfilms.com/watch/the-devils-delorean reposting this here 11[00:55] <@Ferrinus> http://5secondfilms.com/watch/hal-discovers-wordplay paracelsus 14[01:49] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[02:17] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 09[03:34] * naanbread|slices is now known as bananan 14[04:21] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[04:21] * Joins: autopsyturvey 09[05:07] * bananan is now known as banana 14[05:27] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[06:06] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[06:07] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[06:11] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[06:11] * Joins: dammitwho 11[06:49] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue Mar 31 06:49:30 2015 Session Start: Tue Mar 31 06:49:30 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[11:09] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[11:09] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[11:09] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[11:09] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 09[11:09] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[11:20] * Joins: cbass 14[11:35] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[11:36] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[12:38] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:12] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[13:13] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:26] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[14:27] * Joins: drinkybird 14[14:27] * Quits: trenchfoot (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by drinkybird))) 09[14:27] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[14:31] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[15:00] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:06] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:07] * Joins: Quaker 09[15:31] * banana is now known as bananal 14[15:34] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[15:34] * Quits: trenchfoot (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by trenchfoot_))) 09[15:34] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[15:35] * Joins: drinkybird 14[15:35] * Quits: trenchfoot (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by drinkybird))) 09[15:35] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[15:39] * Joins: drinkybird 14[15:39] * Quits: trenchfoot (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by drinkybird))) 09[15:39] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[16:18] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[16:20] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[16:20] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[16:22] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[16:23] * Joins: drinkybird 14[16:27] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 15[16:32] <@VoxPVoxD> https://41.media.tumblr.com/0b3b2f52aef06056f6302bd03ab81579/tumblr_ne4rdqy0fK1rmm35fo1_1280.jpg the war against the pure 14[16:42] * Joins: tf 09[16:42] * tf is now known as trenchfoot 14[16:42] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[16:52] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[16:56] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[17:10] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[17:10] * Joins: Quaker [19:24] nick and reuben bonding time https://vine.co/v/O3l3rI5I0YX 14[19:41] * Joins: dammitwho 15[20:38] <@VoxPVoxD> https://40.media.tumblr.com/4ba2e7bbc5804e59d822300e5608e1d7/tumblr_nbbk46ppcC1qjnhqgo1_500.jpg 14[21:17] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[21:19] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[21:40] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[21:41] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[22:30] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[22:31] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[23:47] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[23:47] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[23:53] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Wed Apr 01 00:00:01 2015 14[00:52] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[00:55] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:43] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[02:54] * Joins: ddt 09[03:07] * bananal is now known as banana 14[03:16] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[04:10] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[04:13] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[05:10] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[05:13] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[05:19] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[05:35] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[05:38] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[06:20] * Joins: drinkybird 14[06:24] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[07:40] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[07:40] * Joins: dammitwho 14[07:49] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[07:52] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[07:52] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[07:54] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[09:50] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:51] * Quits: dammitwho 14[10:01] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:31] * Joins: hrolf [13:47] https://41.media.tumblr.com/0a977baaa3db8df341fb0894ed206ea3/tumblr_nm4kkyyEmL1tbxt1go1_500h.jpg 15[13:48] <@VoxPVoxD> http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1061/1061_01.asp nomadgame [13:49] <@Ferrinus> i like that he included the silver cord [13:53] lmao the anti-marian bit at the very end 15[13:53] <@VoxPVoxD> you'd think he could've picked a less confusing name for his protagonist than mary 15[13:53] <@VoxPVoxD> given it [13:54] <@Ferrinus> it takes, or cruelly rejects, all sorts [13:54] <@Ferrinus> "it" being the cruel machinery of heaven 15[13:54] <@VoxPVoxD> heaven ftw [14:03] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/pBynw3s.jpg cross [14:03] aspirationally, yes [14:07] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/D4kN7kK.jpg 14[14:29] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[14:35] * Joins: ddt 14[14:45] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:48] * Quits: @Ferrinus 11[14:50] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed Apr 01 14:50:14 2015 Session Start: Wed Apr 01 15:33:21 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[15:33] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[15:33] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[15:33] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 09[15:33] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD [15:33] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/06Ne5eI.jpg 15[15:34] <@VoxPVoxD> reasonable 14[15:58] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[16:31] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:34] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[18:57] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[19:00] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[19:04] * Joins: Quaker [19:41] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/DcsNgSB.jpg nick gets that mother luna gift [19:41] <@Ferrinus> (two of them, actually) 15[19:42] <@VoxPVoxD> alternate caption: this is what happens when your satiety gets too high [19:43] <@Ferrinus> lol [19:43] <@Ferrinus> beast: the why are we doing this again 15[19:44] <@VoxPVoxD> or as matt mcfarland originally pitched it 15[19:44] <@VoxPVoxD> beast: the cry-more-dial [19:45] <@Ferrinus> *beep boop boop beep sound effects rise from the bottom of the panel like smoke as tears roll down ferrinus's cheeks* 15[19:45] <@VoxPVoxD> lol [19:51] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/l6zHn0x.gif 14[20:16] * Joins: dammitwho [21:36] - [21:36] - [21:36] - [21:36] - [21:36] - [21:37] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIBO7XS7pe8 [21:37] - [21:37] - [21:37] - [21:37] 4Cav's listening to something else in his head. [21:39] 4Probably https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oWQd9b1U2w . It's on the radio a lot. [21:40] Can Cavanaugh remember when it was just him and Alicia? Before she had made the implicit explicit, and before she told him what he couldn't do, and what he had to do? When he was free to imagine that he would just drink her blood forever? Before he served? [21:40] 4Yeah. He can remember lots of things. [21:42] He should hope that the memories remain buried, or at least inert. They kill the ones they can't trust. [21:43] 4Yeah. Well. Cav's putting a Bluetooth in his ear and remembering how to smile. [21:44] "Yeah, much too long. How's the new house? Lake Mission Viejo, right?" Peter sounds the same. It's hard to pay attention when he speaks. Not because he's boring. His voice reassures, and you forget you're supposed to say something in response. [21:46] "Yeah! Yeah." 4He doesn't need to know about the move. Unless he already knows. In which case, motherfucker can demonstrate knowledge. "Good neighborhood. Nice neighborhood. Odd street address." [21:47] 4Anger -- hatred -- that's a good way to keep centered. Good way to keep a smile on your face. [21:48] When did Cavanaugh say no to any of this? Money, a good education, the right connections - when was he given a bad deal? "Bit of a drive from downtown Los Angeles, though. Unless I've forgotten my geography." [21:50] 4Don't pretend you're responsible. You're not inheriting my capital gains, you fucking leech. "Driving is good for the soul, my man. Clears the head. And the traffic isn't what they say it is. Not from this direction." 4Not at this time of night. [21:52] "Mm. You sound like you're smiling, Clint! I don't think you ever called me 'my man' unless you were smiling, and I don't remember you smiling unless you were frustrated. What's happening?" [21:53] "Ha. Haha. Ha." 4Smile widens. "You called me. My man." [21:55] "Sure. I did, didn't I? I guess I just wanted to check up on you, buddy. It's not like we just send people out in the world and hope they do good. It's good to have friends, from back home. Who call once in a while, to see how you're doing. How are you doing?" 14[21:58] * Joins: mattbaby [21:59] 4Well. "I'm fine." 4Friends from back home. You from Sacramento now, shithead? "I'm doing great. I'm kind of concerned, though." [21:59] "For you." [22:00] "That's sweet. What's got you concerned? I'm fine, last I checked." [22:03] "Oh? Then maybe it's your wife." 4Cavanaugh walks to the back patio of the Laguna Beach property, Bluetooth in, smiling real wide. "One checkup is one thing. Maybe that's on me. But two checkups in ten days?" [22:03] 4He turns back towards the house. "Anything you want to tell me, chief?" [22:09] "You remember Markus and Cornelis, don't you? They took a sudden leave of absence from the city, on an urgent personal matter. Really sent the organization into a little bit of a tizzy. Not at the top, of course. But you know how it is when people out there hear rumors about changes back home. It's hard to break ourselves of those old habits of paranoia." [22:10] Markus Holmgren, and Cornelis van Vleick. Sure he remembers them. Together with Peter, they make up the leadership of the entire Shepherd bloodline. [22:11] 4Well that's fucking fantastic. [22:12] 4Cavanaugh: "And you think they're coming here." [22:15] "No, no. Something unrelated, on the Continent. I'd have told you, if they were, scout. Haha! Then things would be bit more complicated. No, they're on a temporary…well, it's a personal matter. How's Alicia? She's been reluctant to discuss you. Why's that, do you think?" [22:18] 4Cavanaugh thinks about what he thinks for a moment. [22:20] "What do I think." 4He paces back and forth. Shots stalks out of the treeline at the back of the property, chewing some small bones in her teeth. Maybe rabbit. Maybe some idiot's cat. "I think I'm not qualified to speak to your wife's state of mind, Peter. Nor have I ever been." [22:22] 4He walks inside, leaving the door open for Shots. Markus Holmgren. Cornelis van Vleick. He writes their names down in block letters on his legal pad and almost tears the paper circling them. [22:23] "That's a shame. I knew you two used to be close. Ahh, what was I going to ask. Oh, right. Alicia's out there, right. Just dropping by to check on you, then up north to deal with somebody in Oregon. Well, maybe you'll see her again soon. How's the Prince? He throws a nice party, doesn't he? If I've got my calendar right, didn't they just have their first ball a few days ago?" [22:25] 4I'm going to destroy you. I'm going to hear your lament. I'm going to see you driven before me, you-- "Yeah, couple nights ago. Nice function. Great aesthetics." [22:26] 4I'm going to destroy you. I'm going to hear your lament. I'm going to see you driven before me, you-- "Yeah, couple nights ago. Nice function. Great aesthetics." [22:26] "The Prince seems like a man of principle." [22:27] 4Oregon. She's gone to Oregon. [22:27] 4Cavanaugh could buy a plane ticket... [22:27] 4No. [22:27] 4He masters himself. [22:29] 4You're not a ghoul anymore, idiot. [22:29] "Principled, sure. Has he spoken to you at all yet? I know some of these elders can forget us, once they've bought us. Like a kid who forgets his toy as soon as he gets it." [22:30] "He has. He's been involved, to an extent." [22:31] Peter doesn't respond. The "go on" is unspoken. [22:32] 4Cav leans back against the frame of the door on his expansive back porch. "Do you give a shit about Jesus Christ?" [22:33] "I take my wine and wafer like every good boy. Maybe not as regularly as I used to." [22:37] 4Cav: "That's not an answer, my dude. And maybe that's the point. There's a holy war brewing here -- here in Los Angeles, in Orange County -- and the Prince is content to allow the San Diego bishopric free rein in his territory, thanks to a letter of intent from the Archbishop of Mexico City and, one assumes, the surrounding environs. He has not yet assembled a taskforce to address [22:37] this issue. In fact, his own people didn't even show up to the party." [22:37] "His people in Christ, I mean." [22:41] *thanks to a letter of intent with the blessing of the Archbishop [22:42] Peter sounds like he's rustling with something on the other end, and then it sounds like he's chewing. Around a mouthful of…something: "Sounds pretty bad, kiddo." [22:44] 4He scritches Shots behind the ears. Honey wanders out of the trees at the very back of the property, also satiated. "It's managable. By itself." [22:45] "But it's not a great sign of the Prince's willingness to exercise power moving forward." [22:47] "You're right. A Prince has to execute. If it were up to me to decide, I think crucifying any torpored San Diego zealots who show up would send the appropriate message. Who's managing it in the meantime?" [22:48] 4The corners of Cavanaugh's mouth turn up a bit more. "I am managing Orange County. The Sheriff has jurisdiction over the greater metropolitan area. I don't answer to him. I answer to a territorial administrator." [22:49] It sounds like Peter has leaned forward suddenly in a chair. "That's it! There you go! You've done exactly what we sent you out there to do, Clinton. Attaboy! Look at you!" [22:50] 4Cavanaugh sighs. "Peter." 14[22:51] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [22:51] "If you and Alicia are going to be the carrot and the stick, it doesn't work if it insults my intelligence." [22:52] 4And frankly, it'd work better if she was the carrot. [22:52] "Not even a month in and you're taking care of things in a hotspot. There you go." Peter laughs. "Haha! Clint, you make it sound like I have my wife on speed-dial. She does her work and lets me catch up later. Why, was she trying to whack you over the head with something when she visited? She didn't want to talk about it." [22:56] 4Cavanaugh: "She's a persuasive woman. And I mean that in the most physically painful way possible, for me." [22:56] "It was unfair what she did and I would hope -- I would expect -- you'll bring that up with her, next time you see her." [22:57] "In all other affairs I remain, as always, a faithful servant of the Shepherds." [22:59] "All right. I'll talk to her. Sires can't threaten to haul off and mutilate their childe, of course. I'll talk to her about it. I never had a doubt that you were anything except our most faithful servant, Clinton. Put any suspicions of doubt on my part out of your mind, kiddo. I want to do this. You want to do this." [23:00] "Don't you?" [23:01] 4Cavanaugh: "I want to win." [23:02] "That's what we do, Clinton. We win. We see what has to be done and we do it. That's why we picked you. You get things done." [23:02] "Yes sir." 4The words taste like ashes. But so does everything. "It was nice to talk with you." 14[23:06] * Joins: Quaker__ 14[23:06] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[23:06] * Quaker__ is now known as Quaker 14[23:07] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [23:08] "You too, Clint. Maybe you'll see Alicia again once she's done with Oregon. And I'll tell her to be nicer. I know you two were close." [23:08] Click. [23:08] 4Cavanaugh throughs the Bluetooth headset across the room...into a couch. [23:09] 4Cavanaugh throws the Bluetooth headset across the room...into a couch. [23:09] 4He takes a walk. [23:10] 4And then, once he's calmed back down -- once he speak again -- he pulls the headset out from between the couch cushion, puts it in his ear, and checks his phone. [23:10] 4He's looking for news from the realtor. [23:13] Ness comes through, as he promised to do. "Hi, Mr. Cavanaugh! Great news! I did find an office that matches your specifications perfectly. And you're gonna love this. It's right in Laguna Beach. Right in the downtown area, across the street from the beach. Beautiful view." [23:22] "View's great, Jerry. I love a good view. But I'm looking for vacation. I'm looking Orange, Anaheim, Santa Ana, maybe North Tustin. But I'll keep Laguna Beach in mind." [23:22] "View's great, Jerry. I love a good view. But I'm looking for location. I'm looking Orange, Anaheim, Santa Ana, maybe North Tustin. But I'll keep Laguna Beach in mind." [23:24] "Okay, that's fine. North Orange County's got some great office locations, too. Where the courthouses are, that's where the good offices are. I've got a place in…Santa Ana. One complication, but nothing that'll stop you from signing your name tonight. If you're as eager to see this get done as you sounded last night." [23:25] 4Cavanaugh: "I am. I am eager. But Jerry, I'm also eager to hear about complications. That's how eagerness works." 14[23:28] * Joins: trenchfoot_ [23:29] "Gotcha. That one's been eyed pretty hard by another buyer. I don't really know who it is exactly - strong silent type, if you know what I mean. But, one of…well, they're in the know. Like you and I are in the know. You know? And I don't anybody's toes stepped on. It's just that your the sort of client who needs very…specific requirements. Thick walls, private parking, not open to sunlight all the way around like th [23:29] cheap places they threw up in the 90s. So…you know, if you meet me there tonight, I'll have the paperwork ready to go. A bid's a bid, right? Nothing wrong about somebody buying a place you were looking at, if they buy it first." [23:29] And I don't want anybody's toes* [23:31] you're*, christ [23:31] 4Cavanaugh: "I completely understand. And I'd love to meet the other buyer. For entirely peaceful reasons. But I think that what you and I should do -- right now -- tonight -- is head up there, get the property rep out of bed, look at the place, and if it's good, sign on it immediately. And if you think that'll bring problems with the other buyer, well. I'll find him. We'll talk." [23:31] 4The vampire grins. "It'll be a discussion." 14[23:32] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [23:35] "Sure. You know anybody from the Inland Empire? Young Asian lady, with Corona dealer plates on her car. Well, I'll let you figure it out, if you want to. Not my place to pry. Okay, I'll call the rep." He gives Cavanaugh the address. If he googles it, he'll see that it's about an eighth of a mile from the Federal Courthouse. "See you there." [23:36] 4Jerry Ness will see him there. Cavanaugh has an expensive car. He'll get there quickly. 14[23:41] * Joins: trenchfoot [23:43] Ness and the sleepy-looking property rep, a balding guy wearing a red blazer and khakis, are waiting on the second floor. They've already unlocked the lobby doors, and it's just what Ness promised: an old brick building, with old-fashioned offices that can be easily hidden from the sun. 14[23:44] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [23:44] 4Good. Good. Who's the property rep? Man? Woman? Young? Old? Race? Dressed how? [23:46] "Hey, Mr. Cavanaugh. Ted, Mr. Cavanaugh. Mr. Cavanaugh, Ted, the property rep. Got everything ready for you." They spread the paperwork out on a desk. "The lease is 4,950 a month, that includes any insurance fees, free plumbing, electricity maintenance, etcetera etcetera. Security deposit, and two months' rent in advance. They won't budge on that, I'm afraid." [23:47] Ted blinks owlishly at the young man through coke bottle glasses. "No, we won't. You're the one calling me at midnight." [23:47] Ness claps him on the back. "Yeah, well, you'll be the one making money, so I don't know why you're so upset over some lost sleep." [23:48] 4Cavanaugh looks from Ted to Ness to Ted and back. "And that's it?" [23:50] Ness takes out a pen. "We can do the bank statements and inspections over the next week. That guy I can't actually wake up. But you sign here, and that'll lock in your offer, so I won't be lying to anybody if I say 'Sorry, too late.'" [23:50] "Ted, this is a signature for the property. Separately, this is a signature on a personal check for one thousand dollars. This is in addition to whatever percentage you receive from this signing as a rendered service. Spend it on something nice. If someone comes ask you anything about anything," 4And here, a card. "Have them call me. And tell them doing anything to you before calling [23:50] me is the same thing as not calling me." 4Cav leans forward. "It's bad." [23:51] "What you do right now, Ted, is you take this paperwork -- this signed paperwork -- and you ask no further questions. And you give only one answer." [23:51] "That answer is to this question, Ted: are we clear?" 14[23:51] * Joins: ddt [23:51] Ted takes the check and folds it before he places it in his blazer's front pocket. "Of course." [23:52] 4Cavanaugh smiles. "That's fantastic. Hang out in the lobby. I'll be with you in a moment." [23:52] "My back is still going to hurt in the morning, Jerry. I need to get eight hours or it hurts the entire day." [23:53] "Lobby, Ted." [23:53] Ness steers him out. "Well, go spend your bonus on a chiropractor." When Ted is gone, he claps his hands and smiles. [23:54] 4Cavanaugh: "Everything I've said to you stands. You will receive double your commission. And it's important to me that the man outside remains safe and ambulatory." 4He leans back against the table. "So tell me about this other buyer, Jerry." [23:56] "Who, Ted? He's fine. Sleeps like a panda and gets paid to unlock doors. Ah, yeah." He looks through the paperwork. "Date this real quick?" The realtor exhales while he thinks. "Young lady, mid-twenties, if I had to guess. Dressed modern. Was, you know. Like you. Nice. No offense, but you guys can be a little…abrupt. But no, she was really patient. Just seemed interested in the building, wanted a few weeks to get the mo [23:56] together." [23:58] "We're abrupt as shit. We're flighty. No offense taken." 4Cavanaugh dates the papers and sighs. "Means she's not in her mid-twenties of course. Was her interest in this property specific, or do you think she's amenable to buying elsewhere?" Session Time: Thu Apr 02 00:00:01 2015 [00:00] "I mentioned a whole list of places, but she wanted to look at this one first, and then she just said she didn't need to see anymore. She came to my office in Mission Viejo first, and then we met here. Can't give you a name, sorry. She didn't volunteer it and I know better than to ask before they tell me. If they want to tell me. Represented an interested party, is all she said." [00:00] 4Cavanaugh grimaces. "You have a phone number?" [00:01] "I bet she's awake." [00:02] Ness scrolls through his phone. "Yeah, I saved it under the date. Let's see…909-858-1450." [00:03] 4Cavanaugh: "Call it. Put it on speaker. And -- I say this with respect -- let me do the talking." [00:03] "Sure." The ghoul dials the number and puts it on the desk between them. It rings for a few moments. [00:04] When someone answers, it's a voice that would match the person Ness described. "Hello?" [00:05] 4Cavanaugh: "Hello! This is Deputy Clinton Cavanaugh. Orange County. Night Court. Who am I speaking with?" [00:06] "Night Court? Like the T.V. show?" [00:07] 4Cavanaugh's voice is steady. "It's Brilliant, isn't it?" [00:07] "But you haven't answered my question." [00:07] "I hope Mr. Ness is still breathing. Is he?" [00:08] 4Cav sighs. "Jerry, you're free to say hello." [00:09] Jerry takes his hands out of his pockets. "Yeah! Hello, ma'am. I'm fine. Deputy Cavanaugh has only been extremely professional." [00:09] 4Cavanaugh: "And, I note, you still haven't answered my question." [00:10] The other end waits a beat. "Is there a particular reason you need to know it?" [00:12] 4Cavanaugh: "The general reason I need to know is I'm a deputy of the court and I'm asking." 4He crosses his arms. "The specific reason is I just bought the property you wanted to buy, and I need to know that you're willing to explore alternative locations." [00:13] "I think the general reason only applies to members of the Court, Deputy." [00:14] Ness breaks in: "Sorry, ma'am. He just kind of swept in. I've got a long, long list of alternative locations. You'd be happy with any of them. Got one right now in Laguna Beach." [00:14] 4Cav swivels to fix Jerry Ness with a stare. "That's an answer in and of itself, I suppose." [00:14] "But I need you to be specific." [00:14] Ness holds his hands up and makes a "what did I do?" face. [00:15] The voice lets out an exasperated sigh. "Mr. Ness, you said you'd wait two weeks before offering it to anyone else. I thought we'd reached an understanding." [00:15] 4Cavanaugh: "No, no, that's not how this works." [00:16] Ness: "Well, things moved quickly. It's just one location. Laguna Beach-" [00:16] "How this works is this: you talk to me." [00:16] 4He glares at Jerry. Shut the fuck up, Jerry. [00:16] The voice: "If I had WANTED LAGUNA BEACH, I would have SAID-" [00:16] "Miss. You talk to me." [00:17] "Okay. Fine. You bought the building. Congratulations." [00:17] "Thank you. But here's the thing." [00:18] 4Cavanaugh: "You can buy property in Orange. The deputies don't care about that; money is money. Capitalism is the rule and the rod. But you don't get to be a sore loser." [00:19] "What are you talking about. Fine. I'll look somewhere else." [00:19] "You don't hurt Jerry Ness. You don't touch Jerry Ness. You don't ask Jerry Ness questions that don't have shit to do with real estate. You know where to find me. You have my address. If you have problems, you come to me." 4Cav leans down towards the phone. "Because if Jerry Ness dies, I'll kill you." [00:20] "Now give me your name or hang up the damn phone." [00:21] The other voice laughs. "Yeah, you little fucking lordling, you'd love to play the big bad protector, huh? Why don't you take a running start and go jump up your own fucking ass-" There's the sound of a car door opening, and another voice. [00:21] "Sang, put that down. Why are you on the phone? Hello? Who is this?" [00:21] "Hey there. Deputy Clinton Cavanaugh. Orange." [00:22] The second voice: "Deputy of the Brilliant Court?" [00:22] "Yes." [00:23] "Sang, wh- hang up the phone. Now! Jesus. Yes, n-" Click. [00:24] 4Cav smiles and turns back to Jerry. "So the good news is, I've made it clear I'm gonna kill anyone who so much as touches you." [00:24] Jerry looks put out. "Ok, to be clear, you're the first person to mention death." [00:24] "The bad news is, now you have to tell me why you're dealing with people outside the Court." [00:25] 4Cav: "You get your money either way. But there's only one way I can protect you." [00:25] The realtor throws up his arms. "I didn't know! How was I supposed to know? What other kind of vampires want to buy real estate here? You guys have your own territories, right? It's bad enough with the names, now I gotta ask them for background checks?" [00:25] "Not from those idiots -- from the people who thought you were properly on retainer." [00:26] "Jesus Christ, Jerry." [00:26] 4Cav finishes the paperwork. "You just assume any fucking bloodsucking undead idiot walks into the damn reception room is safe?" [00:27] "Did they even bother teaching you about this shit?" [00:28] "'Jesus Christ, Jerry'? Why Jesus Christ, Jerry? Why are you taking it out on me? How do you think I keep my head on my shoulders dealing with you people! Of course I assume! You stop assuming, you start knowing shit it's better not to know! There isn't a, a…email list! I say yes sir, no sir, yes ma'am. And I keep my mouth shut." [00:32] 4Cav shoves the paperwork into his chest. "I'm not taking shit out on you. If I was taking shit out on you, you'd be gutted. You almost sold property on claimed Court land outside the Court because you lacked the intellectual curiosity to perform a single vetting action. Not when they -- when she -- was in the room, but when she wasn't." 4He leans in. "You could have asked me. You [00:32] didn't. That's on you. But you still get not just your life, but your percentage. Times two." [00:32] "So here's how this works. From now on, you tell me everything." [00:33] "Especially when vampires with no references try to buy property in fucking Santa Ana." [00:35] Ness tosses the paperwork into his briefcase and snaps it shut. "Fine! Jesus Christ. For the record, the vetting process doesn't start until after the initial bid, okay? So, it would have come up then. Can I go?" [00:38] 4Cavanaugh: "You were ready to close with her. Don't fuck with me, Jerry. Don't pretend I don't understand my own politics, and don't pretend I can't fathom your procedures. The woman on the other end of that phone wasn't waiting for you to do a background check. I haven't heard you acknowledge your new relationship with the Deputies of Orange County. Because I could just take those [00:38] papers back, tear them up, tear up your check, and fucking squat on this property." [00:39] "But I'd rather you live." [00:40] "I was waiting for her - okay." Ness holds up a hand. "I pledge allegiance to…the Deputies. You. I'll tell you who contacts me." [00:42] "To be clear: you do your business as usual. You take your cut. And if any asshole threatens you, you call us. But selling outside the Court -- I shouldn't even have to tell you not to sell outside the Court." [00:43] The realtor nods. [00:44] 4Cavanaugh: "One last thing. Who feeds you?" [00:45] "Mr. Morgan. Cosmo Morgan." [00:45] 4Cav sags back against the table and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Ah." [00:46] Ness flinches. "Is that…look, I really don't know about the whole Court thing. I'm sorry. It won't happen again. I just do what they tell me do to." [00:47] 4Cavanaugh: "Jerry, I've been...decisive, tonight. I've been less than understanding." [00:47] "Okay." [00:47] "As we talk, it becomes clearer to me that this discussion we're having right now is actually a discussion I should be having with someone else." [00:47] "Cosmo Morgan." [00:48] "So what I'd like you to do is take your check, go home, and go to sleep." [00:48] "Get up in the morning. Deposit it. Buy something fantastic." [00:48] "And the next time we talk, things will be different." [00:49] 4Cav looks at Jerry squarely. "In some way, things will be different." [00:49] "Okay. That's a good idea. I'm going to do exactly that." He practically jogs to the door. "And I'm reporting back to you. Got it. Goodnight." He takes off for the elevator. [00:50] 4Sang. Sang. He got a name. [00:50] 4Sang. [00:51] 4But that's less important than this: there's a vampire out there, operating with impunity, who was so derelict in his duty towards his ghoul that said ghoul almost sold Court property to agents who were not legitimately recognized as members of the Court. [00:51] 4In his county. [00:51] 4In their county. [00:51] 4Time to go to work. [00:53] Somewhere, one friend looks at another. "What a dick!" The other friend looks back. "Well, they said they would be dicks. It comes with the territory." 11[02:03] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Apr 02 02:03:30 2015 Session Start: Thu Apr 02 11:22:12 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[11:22] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[11:22] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[11:22] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 09[11:22] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[12:07] * Joins: ddt 14[12:16] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[12:19] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[12:51] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[13:03] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:43] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 15[14:15] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/KkLzywe.jpg [14:22] me 14[14:32] * Joins: drinkybird 14[14:34] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[14:36] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[14:37] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:05] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[15:05] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[15:05] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[15:10] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[15:11] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:28] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[15:28] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:55] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[18:02] * Joins: mattbaby [18:15] https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CBno2PKUMAAcgSB.jpg [18:17] <@Ferrinus> 14nyarrr 14[18:24] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[18:24] * Joins: Quaker 15[18:41] <@VoxPVoxD> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CBnoLzSUIAAueTl.jpg lis's solemn vow 14[18:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[19:40] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[20:16] * Joins: Quaker 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> https://41.media.tumblr.com/258b19ca38c19acd3d5f00cffb5bd818/tumblr_njyjgcoU811qa9omho1_540.jpg scotch's solemn vow 14[20:34] * Joins: dammitwho [20:44] <@Ferrinus> damn 14[21:22] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[21:36] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[22:10] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:57] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) Session Time: Fri Apr 03 00:00:00 2015 14[00:02] * Joins: cbass [00:17] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/zQ9fqyz.jpg 14[01:19] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[01:20] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[01:21] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[01:22] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[01:35] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[01:35] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[02:13] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[02:36] * Joins: dammitwho 14[02:40] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[02:43] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 09[04:20] * banana is now known as banana|mad 14[04:25] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[04:37] * tom is now known as tomasleep 09[04:57] * banana|mad is now known as banana 14[05:28] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[06:54] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:18] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[07:26] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[08:06] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[08:11] * Quits: dammitwho 14[08:21] * Joins: quaker 14[08:22] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[08:24] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[08:25] * Quits: quaker_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[08:26] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[08:26] * Joins: Crion 14[10:03] * Joins: Crion_ 14[10:32] * Joins: quaker_ 14[10:33] * Quits: quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[10:34] * Joins: hrolf 14[10:38] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[10:41] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[10:45] * Joins: hrolfie 14[10:48] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[10:52] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[10:56] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:57] * Joins: hrolf 14[11:00] * Joins: hrolfy 14[11:00] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[11:02] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[11:24] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[11:25] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[11:27] * Quits: hrolfy (Quit: Leaving) 14[11:31] * Joins: hrolf 14[11:33] * Quits: hrolf (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[11:37] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:39] * Joins: hrolf 14[11:42] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[11:45] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Client Quit) 14[12:04] * Joins: ddt 14[12:19] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[12:55] * Joins: ddt 14[13:03] * Joins: Crion_ 14[13:05] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[13:08] * Joins: ddt 14[13:09] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[13:25] * tomasleep is now known as tom 11[13:45] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Apr 03 13:45:10 2015 Session Start: Fri Apr 03 13:45:10 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[13:46] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[13:46] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[13:46] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[13:46] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 14[13:46] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[13:51] * Joins: Crion_ 14[13:52] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[13:58] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:01] * Joins: ddt 14[14:02] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[14:02] * Joins: ddt 14[14:04] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:05] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[14:05] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[14:11] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[14:19] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:23] * Joins: hrolf 09[15:38] * banana is now known as bed 09[15:38] * bed is now known as bednana 14[16:14] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) [16:14] <@Ferrinus> http://fi.somethingawful.com/safs/titles/a9/a6/00072414.0002.gif 14[16:16] * Joins: ddt 14[16:44] * Joins: Quaker__ 14[16:44] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 09[16:44] * Quaker__ is now known as Quaker 14[16:45] * Quits: quaker_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[16:45] * Joins: quaker_ 14[18:48] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[18:53] * Joins: Quaker 15[19:25] *enormously buff man slicked with oil flexes* my bodybuilding secret? *raises eyebrows, smiles* *rips skin off own bare chest to reveal black jacket and clerical collar* a steady diet of illicitly-conjured god meat 14[19:51] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[19:57] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:08] * Joins: dammitwho 09[20:10] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[20:10] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:13] <@VoxPVoxD> This is an age of sorrows. The world is diminished from what it once was, and from palaces to gutters people suffer what they've lost, and long for what they might yet claim. 15[20:15] <@VoxPVoxD> But in those dark moments, when all seems lost, those of valor and skill, blessed by the gods, can beat back waves of ruin and break, however briefly, the rising tides of despair. This is a time of heroes. 15[20:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Today, that hero is The Indomitable Nessun Dorma. [20:16] 14And, thankfully, not them. That sort of heroism is a lot more attention than they're probably ready for, at the moment. 15[20:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Even as the nightmares were washed away, the remnants of his handiwork are visible on Sentinel Hill when the sun rises to overlook the battle scene. The streets are torn up like a behemoth tracked across the city. Walls are subtly cracked. And there are fewer buildings in the heart of Nexus with buildings than there were before. [20:17] 7It's fine. It's fine. She's not angry. [20:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Speak for yourself, kid! That other fairy didn't even look like anyone Dorma knew! If Keldar'd had a damn great hammer- 15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD> The glory is mostly his. It's his epithet, and the celebration in his honor, that have done much to ease the public's panic in the wake of the mysterious and ominous death of the Emissary. [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, maybe he'd be composed enough to format properly. 15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD> But the glory is not his alone. 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> All those who crowded around the murder scene remember the white-haired man who bid them back. They remember the iron in his voice. And now, wherever he holds court, people pay attention. He remains a Stranger, but he is more familiar. [20:21] 14More enthusiasm than sense, those people. All Stranger's holding court on at the moment is how he'll take his tea. [20:22] 05 Better Nessun Dorma be a hero for defeating an army of Fair Folk, than a hero for slaying the evil sorcerer Xu Sim. 15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Those few who had some vantage point on the battle itself will recall the man who gave a good account of himself in that square, against the fae and the army. There aren't as many people with Keldar's name on their lips, but those few speak words of greater weight than multitudes. It's really quite remarkable, for a mortal to have acquitted himself so well. 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> There's the young sorceress who found herself at the scene, trailing fire from her fingertips and raining it on the army. True magic is a novelty, even in Nexus, and those in the know now know Blossom by face if not by name. [20:25] 3As they say, all's well that ends well. Nobody got badly hurt, except for the guy who died. [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12How the hell did the Emissary manage to die, though. [20:26] 14Very carefully. 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD> There's the little man that Nessun Dorma charged into that square to slaughter. The name that rung out from end to end of that square and up and down the city's gathering-places the day before. Xu Sim has made himself scarce for the moment. 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> And Nessun Dorma has not given up the hunt. [20:27] 4More importantly, now that he's dead, he might be a little less inscrutable. Perhaps there's a reason behind his death, and his death itself might have the answer. 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> ...but it's a more thoughtful man that seeks the Anathema today than the one that nearly slaughtered him last night. 15[20:29] <@VoxPVoxD> The man that brought another fae phantasm low by kicking a rock through its skull is the cause of much speculation. Nobody knows his name. Nobody can place that face. Theories abound; some say he is the Emissary come again. Some say he is some other local legend, like the Saint of the Undercity or the Black Judge. A fair few say that he was a demon summoned forth by the sorceress. 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> And then of course there's the man of whom Nessun Dorma himself speaks most highly, when people crowd around at tea houses and on the streets. "...and the next thing I know, this man had tackled me..." 15[20:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Mud and Straw built a little legend of his own that night, and doors open to him. He receives a missive: he has a time and place to meet the Grey. [20:34] 3This is just and right. Mud and Straw closes his eyes nods upon reading the bold caligraphy, and folds the letter carefully to stow it in his pocket. With a mighty yawp the fat man rises from the stool at the bar and staggers off to his destiny. 14[20:35] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> So the days after the death of the Emissary are bright and easy ones all around. The Green Apples are being approached for new business, and for the first time in months Keldar sees people signing up under his name for whatever assignment awaits his deft touch. And everyone has a few days to pursue their dreams in the City of Rivers. [20:36] 3From whom did the letter come? The Grey's cult? The Immaculate Order? 15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD> It bears the imprimatur of the Gray himself. The ink had run a bit, and the letter had the rumpled feel of paper that had previously been damp. 14[20:39] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [20:39] 14Stranger is doing a lot of reading. Old scrolls and books, mainly secured via new "friends" in the local houses of learning who now know -- or think they know -- who he is. Social niceties and court manners of the lesser kingdoms of the East are his current interest, and there's a lot of material out there. [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's actually somewhat slow to find work, simply because many of the people of Nexus who suddenly fear for their security or want to take opportunities to even scores simply cannot afford his rates. The mercenary spends much of his time in a combination of calculation and soul-searching, asking himself what this massive upset means - and what it should mean - for Keldar's [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12crareer. [20:39] 14When he's not reading, he's wandering about the city. There's something about Nexus, something he still can't quite place, calling to him across the years.. 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Where does Stranger wander? [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12The more he thinks about it, the more he realizes that the thought of Nexus falling, whether to wyld invaders or simply to whatever accident of contingency's managed to provide every other city in the Scavenger Lands with a ruling warlord or high priest or god-blood or what have you, simply doesn't sit well with him. It goes beyond simple economic inconvenience or unfamiliarity. [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12There was something special here. Nexus can't just lose the force behind the Dogma, turn into any other Scavenger Lands metropolis. [20:42] 14About. He's not familiar with the neighborhoods of Nexus, nor is he particularly interested in learning them to a great degree. He wanders mainly by feel. He will make a point of not just sticking to the rich or traveller-friendly areas of town. [20:42] 4The Emissary's death is important, and dangerous, and the forces arrayed against it too much for the Judge to handle on his own. But there are others. [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12So it is that Keldar informs his company that he's willing to offer lower rates to the Council of Entities itself, and decides that he's got to, got to get to the bottom of this thing with the Emissary, and the moron with the cabbage cart. He starts asking questions and making arrangements - he wants to see the merchant. He wants to see the body. He's an adventurer, he's a scavenger, [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12he's seen all sorts of weird and dangerous shit. Come on, this is important! [20:44] 7It is, at least, not difficult to learn about the people the whole city is talking about. 14[20:46] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[20:46] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [20:47] 3Well then. Mud stumbles past the tap, refilling his flask, taking a swig, topping it off again and staggering out the door. Where's this meeting place supposed to be on the letter? 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger sees a bitter city off the beaten path. The rich prosper and the poor suffer from pole to pole of Creation, but in few places do they do so in such proximity, at such disparity, as they do in Nexus. There are palatial estates on one of Nexus's many hilltops, in whose shadow a slum grows like mushrooms in the shade. The humid Undercity, which would be stifling and noxious if not for the great old wonderworked fans that keep air moving down here, sits beneath temples and untold riches above. [20:59] 14The same story everywhere... [20:59] 7In fact, she has time to take Princess on morning rides, which is nice. It's much easier to avoid answering questions atop a riding-lizard, and it gives her time to think. [21:00] 7She's reasonably confident that 'Stranger-Visits-Heaven' is also a Chosen of the Sun, but how to broach the subject in Nexus? What about the others, as well? Keldar displayed skill at least on a par with Nessun Dorma, but that doesn't necessarily make him an Exalt... 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar gets politely rebuffed. His talent as an adventurer and his experience as a scavenger are beyond question. But the body and the merchant are not just of paramount concern to city governance, they are so bizarre even though who have kept them struggle to comprehend. The Crematory Temple is on triple guard, and more than one would-be interloper has been publicly and gruesomely executed. The Emissary, presumably, would have wanted it that way. 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> If he wants legal access, he'll need either some official standing and sanction within the city, or the assistance of an expert. 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> And frankly... the latter's probably a good idea anyway. 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Mud visits a solemn temple at the far end of Nexus, where the river crosses the border into the city. It's spare and, in times when the river runs clean and quiet, as it does right now, there are only a modest number of worshippers. A middle-aged woman in a gray smock will catch Mud's eye as he waddles up the steps, a small crowd of observers behind him like fleas. 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sir?" [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Okay, but the hell kind of expert does Keldar know that the city hasn't already got on staff, and who also isn't on the run for being an accused demon? There's Xu Sim, conceivably, but that'll make it harder to get access, not easier. Dorma's camraderie makes it real easy to get drinks, but not much easier to get security clearance. 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> That's a good point, Keldar's internal monologue. [21:07] 3Mud and Straw bows, sweat gathering on his forehead and running painfully into his eyes as he strains to remain upright through the act. Politeness demands much of the portly. "Greetings Madame. I am Mud and Straw of the Grey River Alliance." 3He claps his hands together. "I am to meet with the Gray." [21:10] 7Hrmph. Blossom returns to the teahouse she's staying at after stabling Princess, and will wait until Stranger isn't overwhelmed by supplicants or gawkers. 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom ponders this as she rides through Nexus, Princess snapping at the odd honeybee as she bears her mistress down the streets. She hears much, with a careful ear, of her impromptu allies from the night before. Keldar is a mercenary, one of the best of the best, a former gladiator and one of the most prized members of the Ninth Orchard Company, known by the sign on their banner as the Green Apples. 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> It's one of the premier mercenary organizations in the city, and by extension, the Scavenger Lands. [21:11] 14The Green Apples. [21:11] 14How...intimidating. [21:12] 7A mercenary is like a sword - not a soldier, but something a soldier uses. Still, he certainly backed up the Green Apples' fierce reputation. [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Hey! It's a storied mercenary company! [21:12] 3Mud and Straw has been staying at the cramped, stuffy offices of the river authority which are wedged between some princely estate's vanity project and a customs office. A handful of freshly-washed mumus are hanging on a string to dry out the second-story window, flapping like battle banners in the breeze. 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim studies and wonders. He finds a very strong system and lives just beneath the attention of the powers that be. His studies and auguries prove largely obscure, but precisely so. Something confounds his divination, and concretely so. He gets the impression that he would do far better with help. He has been able, via meditation, to deduce a strong lineage from the Emissary to the cabbage merchant. Something akin to reincarnation, perhaps. But not quite. 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Where is Xu Sim holed up when the Black Judge finds him, and what face does the Judge wear when they cross paths? [21:16] 05 Xu Sim is dangling, upside down, holding on to a rope dangling in a disused corner of a large Guild depot. He is deep in concentration. There is a small, hideous dog there as well, alternatingly licking Xu's face and helping itself to a small rice patty. 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> The priestess, to Mud: "Yes, of course. He'll see you shortly. Right this way." Mud's led past prayer-rooms containing altars of a robed man of medium height, of vast millipedes, of the positions of the stars in the sky during the flood season, when the Gray gives life to the fields. [21:17] 4A dusky, feminine voice says from the rafters above the rope: "I've been looking for you, Xu Sim. So have others." 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Twice-Refined Princess has some competition for the rice. Whatever binding agent holds it together is apparently sweet enough to have attracted the attentions of a honeybee, which the little dog ably keeps at bay. 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom learns that Mud and Straw is here as the foreman of the Gray River Alliance, a collection of interests up the river, in the vast and feuding Threshold territories known as the Hundred Kingdoms. It's a levee project, easily the largest public work Blossom's ever heard of not being run by a Dragon-Blooded engineer. Rumor goes that Mud and Straw saved the levee from collapse almost single-handedly. 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> About the others, there is less. Stranger is known now for what he's done since Blossom met him, rumors as to his origins are many and fanciful. Xu Sim is Anathema, a demon-summoner and kingslayer, and has not been seen since that faithful battle. And the Judge remains the Judge. [21:20] "I must apologize then, as I'm in no condition to entertain." 05 He opens a single eye to scan the room, to see where it could be coming from. [21:20] 4A dark-haired, dark-skinned woman sits comfortably, somehow, on the beam supporting Xu Sim's study rope. Her eyes are emerald green, and she's clad in a knee-length black dress, with hose for modesty. "Not to say it was easy finding you. Luckily for you, since I'm sure Nessun Dorma hasn't given up." [21:20] 3The fat man bumbles after the priestess, despairing as she leads him up another set of stairs. [21:21] "I can't believe he would. But hopefully next time, I have more than a moment's notice before two hundred pounds of Jade hammerhead tries to pummel me into the earth like a nail." [21:22] "You did an able job avoiding it, however, and convincing him not to try again. And it's that subtlety I need to find out what has happened to the Emissary." [21:23] "He has died." 05 He opens both eyes and narrows them again, staring down his body and up at the woman sitting there. [21:23] "Well done. Cabbages have killed the Emissary. But how? And why?" [21:24] "So, 3[huff] I must again thank you fervently for arranging this meeting. We at the Alliance have [3huff] so many questions to ask of the Gray. So much strangeness has occured and now, I'm sure you've noticed, the weather-" 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger returns to the teahouse having wandered the city, chasing deja vu. He finds it, in glimmers, in three places, each obscured to him in different ways. One is the Crematory Temple, the great white palace where the dead are protected and studied. He has walked those halls. Second is the churning confluence where the Gray and the Yellow give birth to the Yanaze. He has swum these waters. Third is the great gold dome visible in the heart of Firewander, which the educated say was the heart of city government in a bygone age, when the city had another name. He has presided there. [21:25] 3He halts to catch his breath before continuing after the priestess. "And Daspes is still missing.." [21:25] 14Presided. [21:25] 14He returns to the teahouse with new subjects to read on in mind. [21:26] "Most philosophers admit every thing that happens has a reason. But most philosophers would also agree, that getting involved in affairs of state can be dangerous business." 05 He glances over at his dog, snapping at the bee as it flits about the rice-and-honey cake. 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> In the teahouse, Stranger sees Blossom and a bandannad man in plain clothes. Each discreetly watches the door, and each shifts their attention as he enters: Blossom to Stranger, and the plain man away from him. [21:27] 14Hmmm. [21:27] "Dangerous business, Xu Sim, is my specialty. And I suspect that that's what you need. And I need someone who knows about sorcery and more, because there's something very strange at work here." 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> And then there are, of course, the motleyed crowds of Nexus, who he cannot escape. Some of them are in the tea house, and some of them raise their glasses in a toast at his entrance. [21:28] 14He will nod to the young woman and return to his customary seat. Presumably if she's here to see him -- and he suspects she is -- she'll find her way to him in time. [21:28] 14Until then he modestly deflect the attentions of his public. [21:30] "You're quite astute, then. I am very well acquainted with many things, including sorcery, and I am in need of help from very dangerous people." 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Mud is borne upwards - the structure of the temple is quite marvelous. What looked cylindrical on the outside is revealed to be a long circuitous path with many stairs that circumscribes the rooms of worship and tribute, until reading the highest point, a wide open level with little altars and a sealed chamber at the heart of it. [21:31] 7Blossom will indeed find her way over to Stranger's table. "We should speak - privately." [21:32] "There were others there, at the scene of his murder. Others who I think can help us." [21:32] "Mmm." 14Ah. Good tea. "I believe there is a Gateway set on the back porch. Care to join me?" [21:33] 7Nice house. "That will do." [21:34] "Keldar, the mercenary. Mud and Straw, I believe his name was? The man who wrestled Nessun Dorma to the ground. The sorceress and swordsman who kept the crowd back." 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Mud is given a prominent place to catch his breath. It seems the god of the river has other business at just this moment. Maybe Mud's a bit early? [21:35] 14Once they're outside: "I don't believe we've been formally introduced. I am Stranger-Visits-Heaven." [21:35] "There were hundreds of people there that day. Some of them certainly could - in fact, some of them have helped already. But to know me is poisonous. I am not even certain if I can know myself... But I do not believe I know you. What is your name, lady in darkness? Who do you serve?" [21:36] "People who can help are those I am interested in. As for me... the young blonde man, fighting alongside the mercenary and the Dynast?" 4She inclines her head. "I wear many faces in my work." [21:37] 3That is perhaps possible. But Mud cannot imagine that gods have a great deal of problems with scheduling. He sits down on a stout marbled bench and collects himself. 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "The NERVE of these cheap, greedy bastards! The money-men of Nexus would see a man bleeding to death on the street and haggle over the price of bandages." Khelendros is in a bad mood, when Keldar finds him. "No, Keldar, no work yet. The Council isn't willing to put up the money. 'The wrong message', she said. Let's see Pellicia say that to my damn face!" [21:39] "And you don't like to answer questions." 05 Xu carefully watches the bee as it flits about the remains of his dinner. He suddenly strikes out to grasp it. [21:40] 7Blossom: "I am Excessively Righteous Blossom, daughter of House Cathak." 7Quietly: "And we are both chosen of the Sun." [21:40] <@Ferrinus> "The wrong goddamn- this is exactly," 12Keldar slams a fist down on the nearest convenient surface. "-when the city oughta be drawing on all its resources! The damn Emissary!" [21:41] 14Stranger chuckles. It's not immediately clear whether this is at Blossom's full name, her revelation about the two of them, or both. "I'm not entirely familiar with the term, but I think I can guess its meaning. And I suspect we're not the only ones in Nexus right now to have been so, ah, Chosen." 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> The Captain of the Ninth Orchard Company is an older man, his brown skin layered with many battle scars. He's lost most of the sight in his right eye, but the left is dark and keen and flashes with anger. One of his hands rests lightly on the great sword at his back - a thoughtful gesture rather than a violent one. That hand runs periodically through his green hair and the soft branches that run out from his temples. He's not a proper Dragon-Blooded, as far as Keldar knows, but he's got the blood of the East in him all the same. [21:42] 05 His hand shoots out, quick as a viper, holding the honeybee gently by its abdomen. He scoots the plate towards the dog, who drools thin gobs of the stuff in excitement as she horks down what remains. [21:42] "Perhaps not. Not being known is part of what keeps me dangerous. Do you want to investigate this matter? It sounds like you're already doing so." [21:43] 7Her face lights up with a fierce grin. "I knew it! What did he tell you? Did he give you that little familiar?" [21:43] 3Mud unfurls a scroll and, producing a feather-pen and inkwell from his pouch begins to dot down some figures in the free time that he has. This isn't uncommon. Mud sometimes fills his spare time with the crafting of steel or the construction of (what else) bricks and brackets- but as a guest in another city, he has neither the time nor the means. Instead, he busies himself himself [21:43] 3with doodling of the architecture he sees, the theorizing of construction, and the drawing of maps, typically of the levee and the ever-changing routes of the two rivers that become one. 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> It's a mixed blessing. At this moment, and at this proximity, Keldar can smell field-fresh daisies. When he's outside it's common for a songbird to alight on his shoulder and sing merrily. These things typically serve to make him madder. "And what will they do when their precious hero is gone? What will they do when the public realizes it has no champion anymore? The crazy old sow - you bring the mercenaries in now, and it's least likely to cause a panic." [21:45] "I told you The Emissary died. But I am considerably less confident that The Emissary is dead. If you can help me answer this riddle, and keep my head, I'll tolerate..." 05 He releases the honeybee, and a moment later, rolls to the ground, and then at last his feet. He looks up at her. 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "But that's Pellicia. When you think she's going for her sword, she just reaches down to tighten her purse-strings instead." [21:45] "...A bit of mystery on your part." [21:45] 14Ra pokes his head out of Stranger's collar at the mention of himself. "He didn't speak with me directly. I am given to understand that he only has that sort of relationship with some of us, not all. I believe he did send this little fellow, however, yes." [21:45] "Say hello, Ra." 14The mouse squeaks. 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> The bee is fat and stupid, and finds itself in Xu Sim's fingers swiftly enough. The stinger is delicate, but most remarkable is the fuzz that comes off in his hands. It's gilt and rough. It feels more like metal filings than a bee's dander. But the thing in his hands is a real and living thing. 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> A touch of pollen lingers on his fingertips as he lets it go. [21:47] "To work, then?" 4The woman leaps down out of the rafters and lands easily on the floor of the depot. 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Khelendros: "And as if that's not bad enough, the people I can hire off have made themselves scarce! Raptor hasn't been by all day. Lazy bastard." [21:48] <@Ferrinus> "You can say that again." 12Keldar pauses - what did happen to that guy in the confusion? [21:48] "He gave me a calling." 7Blossom closes her eyes and her face softens as she remembers. "'You shall bring about the rule of righteousness in the land. You shall destroy the wicked and the evildoers, so that the strong should not harm the weak.'" 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Raptor Quan didn't follow Keldar into the heart of the city when the bells began tolling. At least, not directly. But Raptor's always had a finer touch than Keldar. He's not a fighter. [21:49] "Lead the way, and not into a trap, please." 05 Xu says, as he sniffs the pollen for a moment before wiping it on his shirtsleeve. [21:49] 14Stranger's mouth straightens. "Well, you've certainly come to the right place." 14He shakes his head. "The Undercity is...appalling." [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I haven't seen him since the attack. Whatcha need him for?" 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> As Mud and Straw calculates, he can hear the door to Gray's inner sanctum slide stonily open. Small, soft-shoed feet make their exit. Mud feels a presence behind him, and hears a little voice say, "Fascinating work, sir. A builder?" [21:54] 7Blossom scowls. "This entire city is appalling. You said you thought there were others like us. Who? Where? I thought maybe 'Keldar', but..." 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Khelendros: "Oh, one of the Guild concerns is getting paranoid. Without the Emissary, who's there to stop them from bleeding each other into the rivers like the dogs they are?" In mock sadness: "What a tragedy that would be." [21:55] "Why, yes!" 3Mud glances up toward the sound of the voice, preparing himself to stand if the precession coming from the sanctum are about to address him. 15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "Have you seen him?" [21:56] 14Stranger: "The mercenary Keldar. The doctor Xu Sim. And that great big man who held back the mountain." 14He frowns and moves a piece on the Gateway board. "And someone else, too." [21:56] "Did you see a blonde man when we were in here last?" 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Mud sees a bald man with small, dark glasses. There is no other procession emerging from the sanctum, though Mud's priestess-guide scurries inside in the little man's wake. "What do you aim to build?" [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar probably hasn't seen the guy, but has he heard anything? 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar's a bit surprised to hear Raptor hasn't been in, since by all accounts he's still out and about in the city - probably at whatever teahouse hasn't kicked him out for nonpayment yet. Raptor's a cheapskate. 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim snuffles a bit of the pollen into his nostrils, and sees stars briefly. There's a dusty, hazy feeling behind his eyes, and he feels ever so slightly out of it, as if he were drowsy or sleepwalking. [22:00] 3He sets down the featherpen and, inhaling, adjusts his weight on the bench. "Most anything, friend. At the moment, I find myself at the head of a public works project!" 3He beams with enthusiasm, rolling up the scroll and replacing it into his robes. "Have you heard of the Grey River Alliance?" [22:01] "Are you alright?" [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar squints into the distance. "Isn'e, uhh... gods, what's it called. The teahouse south of Sentinel where the statues still have inlaid jewels for some reason? Thought I heard." [22:03] "In the end, I guess it's a means to an end. It's so hard to get anyone to work together in this age. I've read history books, you know.." [22:03] "Pretty, uh, unusual pollen. Don't recognize it. I'll have to figure it out, later, but later. Later! First, we have work to do." [22:04] "But there's so much!" 3Mud beams, clinging to his pouch full of writing utensils. "You once, in my apprenticeship, I visited the ruins of the Gray's dam. So. Great. I mean, what, what would it be like if we had its like in our time?" [22:04] you know* 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Khelendros: "Well, wherever he is, he's avoiding me. And I can't haul him in. He's not scared of me." The emphasis on the last word is heavy, and a significant look at Keldar accompanies it. 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "A profound question," says the little man to Mud. "But those days are gone, are they not?" [22:05] 4The woman nods. "Let's go, then. Keep your head down." [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Alright, alright. I got business in that direction anyway." 12Not strictly true, but Keldar's always liked the old man. Before long, the Dawn caste's off. [22:06] "They can come again! I mean, probably. Time in a wheel, or so I'm told the philosophers say." [22:06] "I'm Mud and Straw" 3He offers the little man his hand. 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "Bubo Malcavet," the little man replies, shaking it in turn. His grip is firm but he's quick to retract his hand. "Attache to Nessun Dorma. He speaks quite highly of you, you know." [22:07] "Should be easy enough." 05 Xu throws on a rough woolen cloak he's picked up somewhere, with quite a large hood that he throws over his head. He snaps twice, and the dog swallows the last of his dinner with a loud gurgle, and trots along just behind. [22:08] 7Blossom: "No." [22:08] "He was here. And he was also at the scene of the Emissary's death." [22:09] "I'd speak highly of him, if I had any friends in this city to speak to!" 3He chuckles. "I am glad that he did not take our roughhousing the wrong way. That's happened before, you know." [22:09] "Might not be one of us, but certainly appears to have a vested interest." 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Mmm. I believe some of your friends were able to cast the struggle in a positive light for him. Almost inspirational, really. I haven't seen him in so fine a mood in... I can't recall ever. You did good work together." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The Judge leads Xu Sim through Nexus. There are two concerns here, one simpler than the other. Finding the others should be easy enough - they are known, now, more or less. But Xu Sim remains a wanted fugitive of the Wyld Hunt. So: who does Judge seek out first, and what do he and Xu Sim do to evade attention? [22:13] "Speaking of unremarkable people from the teahouse. Did you see a man with a bandanna when you came in?" 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom saw him, certainly. He's still there, minding his own business by the looks of it. [22:14] 7Blossom: "Yes, what about him?" [22:14] "He seemed very interested in not looking very interested in me when I entered. I was wondering if you knew him." [22:14] "I know many men like Nessun Dorma.It was nothing we did, really. The goodness was in him from the beginning, otherwise he would not have been so dedicated to his late king, as is just and right." 3Mud adopts a serious tone for a moment as he places his quill and the inkwell into the pouch and ties up the knot. "He is a good man. It is a sign of this age that we ever came close to [22:14] blows in the first place." [22:16] 7Does she? 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> She doesn't. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Too true. Too, too true." He sighs. "Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, sir. But I have pressing business. Many things that need my attention, yes yes yes. We simply must speak again, in a slower time. I would love to hear what you dream of building, sir. Good day." [22:20] "Good day, Bubo!" [22:21] 4The Judge leads Xu Sim through tunnels and sewers and all manner of dark places. Shady characters abound, but a swift hand signal from the woman sets them aside, murmuring respectfully. "Hopefully we can find the rest without complication. The city's... different, lately." 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> The little man is gone, and the priestess has taken his place at Mud's shoulder. "If you're ready, sir." [22:21] 3Mud beams pleasantly, waving at the departure of his new friend. If no other matters draw his attention, he returns to sketching of the temple's archit- ah, well. Another time then. [22:22] 3Mud levers himself to his feet and folows, smiling. 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar's investigations are discreet and efficient. Asking around some mutual acquaintances, Keldar learns that Raptor's been poking around in Windburn district, and after heading there he sees a tea-house, the Solemn Bear, and even from the bottom of the hill Raptor's bandanna is apparent inside. It's only as he gets closer that the angle affords him a view of Blossom and Stranger at the Gateway set in the back. [22:24] 7Blossom: "No." [22:24] 7Blossom: "No." [22:25] "Hmm." 14Stranger sips his tea. "Months and months without running into another one of us, and now what? Perhaps a half-dozen of us here in Nexus. All at once. Interesting coincidence." [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12There we are. Keldar peers at the two strategists for a moment before deciding to see about his business first, and his voice is easily heard out the back as he goes stomping in through the front of the building. "Oi, Raptor! Where've you been?" [22:26] 14Stranger hears the loud, gruff booming of Keldar the mercenary and turns, frowning. "Apparently the man's name is Raptor." 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> The heart of the temple is all but featureless. The room is hexagonal, the barest remnants of prayers carved into the stone all around the walls and then eroded to near-nothingness. At the heart of the sanctum is a large pool, also hexagonal, filled with cold clear water that reflects the room's diffuse light against the walls in rippling waves. A middle-aged man's head, gray at the temples, is visible above the gently bobbing water. 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> He greets Mud and Straw with a closing of the eyes. 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> The priestess departs to give man and god their privacy. [22:28] "You must be dangerous to know, if you go by routes like these through the city," 05 notes Xu. [22:30] 3The fat man bows once more. Would it be more appropriate to suplicate? Mud's sweatier than usual. He knows very little of the proper etiquette for meeting a god. 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Raptor flinches at Keldar's voice and looks around the room, not looking in Stranger or Blossom's direction. Then he motions Keldar over. [22:30] 3There's a moment of uncomfortable silence. Mud breaks it the only way he knows how: "You must forgive me. I was raised in a barn." [22:31] "You must forgive me. I was raised in a barn." [22:31] "What brings you to Nexus, Blossom?" 14Stranger asks, eyes still on Keldar and 'Raptor.' "What are you looking for?" 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu finds the trip blissfully short, periods of quiet movement elapsing in subjective seconds, as if he were drifting from one significant moment to the next. When the woman's many guides and allies point her through shadowed roads to the bright and airy Windburn, where Judge wore a different face and heard foreign bells a couple of days before, his eyes are drawn to flowers like eyesores. [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar wonders idly if he's ruined something before sitting down across from the man. He gives him an expectant look. 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> A single rose grows up from a crack in the cobbles, its red so violent as to linger on Xu Sim's retinas after he looks away. 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> It's a slightly untidier section of the street. People park their carts there, from the looks of it, though at the moment that spot is empty. [22:34] 7Blossom: "Forbidden lore." 7She counts off on her fingers. "What prayers does the King of Heaven find pleasing? How can we recognize his Chosen? The Immaculates must know. Also the introductory secrets of sorcery, and where the treasures of our ancient kingdoms are buried." [22:34] 4The woman seems way more interested in the flower than Xu Sim is. She guides him on a wider path, to give herself time to study it carefully. [22:35] 14Stranger: "I have some suspicions about the latter." 14He taps his forehead, where his caste mark would be. "Thankfully they're not permanently stamped on there." 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Raptor: "So who's maddest right now?" [22:36] 05 Xu is quite interested in the flower, in fact! He glances at it from his peripheral vision. What a strange and beautiful thing to observe, such eye searing beauty, singularity of purpose... [22:37] 4She steers Xu Sim towards their destination at least, leaning in to whisper. "That rose is new. I suspect your bee friend has something to do with it." [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Uh, regarding you? Probably the chief. What're ya doin'?" 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Raptor leans in, whispering. "I think I'm on to something, here." [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar mirrors the motion. "Yeah?" [22:38] "It's also where the cabbage cart came from." 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> The Gray's voice is deep and bassy and flat in affect. "Manners aside I am obliged to respect the man and the office. Good day, foreman. You have proven a hard man to ignore." 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Raptor speaks very softly, so quietly Keldar can't be sure if he's whispering or if Keldar's just reading his lips. "About the Emissary." [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, shit." [22:41] "What? That's extraordinarily..." 05 Xu Sim yawns. [22:43] "I mean, the honeybee, it was an odd creature. It felt strange, in my fingers. And the pollen might be making me..." 05 he yawns again. [22:44] 3Mud beams. "Uh, likewise, likewise! Few can ignore the will of the Gray, it is said." [22:44] "Should we... try to take it? Study it? It's very... obvious, but also potentially dangerous." 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Raptor: "You were there, right? It doesn't make sense what happened. A cabbage cart? He's the Emissary. So I asked around a little, tried to see if I could get a look at the body. No good. They blocked me out." [22:44] "But there are some things that the Alliance needs to know of... things that I would ask you." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Raptor: "...so I tried asking about things they would talk about." [22:45] "People have died, Gray. A god, as well." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "Daspes." replies the Gray. [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Same story here. What'dja get?" [22:46] "If it's dangerous, it doesn't belong out here in the street. Let's pluck it carefully, and wrap it in something. Gods know what a prick of its thorn would do to a man." [22:47] "You're the expert. I'll keep eyes out to see who watches." 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Raptor: "The trick was to pretend the Emissary's just another guy. What do you do if you come across a regular murder that looks suspicious? You look for a motive. Who wanted the victim dead? So I started trying to figure out who had the most to gain if the Emissary swung out." [22:48] 3He's nodding, looking for any change in the Gray's demeanor as he speaks, finding none. "I saw Daspes dead at the levee collapse, when the drowned dead arose. She has not returned since. I am no priest, so I cannot discern the signs of what any of this might mean." [22:48] "But I, and the Alliance, wish to know." [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar frowns to himself and looks off at a wall, here. "...can't be anyone on the Council. Can't be a guildsman, right? Wouldn't it come down to some fairy or demon or somethin'?" [22:52] 3Mud folds his hands into the sleeves of his mumu. "Who has attacked us, Gray?" 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Gray: "Your curiosity is genuine and sensible. I can satisfy some of it." [22:54] 05 Xu Sim makes his thinking face. His brow lowers, he takes a grand step with each leg, once, and then slowly walks a circle around the rose, studying it from every angle. He folds his arms and leans in to look at it very, very closely. He wags one eyebrow at it, and then the other. All while doing this, one of the greatest geniuses in all Creation is carefully pondering the mysteries and... [22:54] ...the vibrant, violent, red of this one, red red rose. 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Raptor: "See that's what I thought too, but- ssh! Keep cool, but a couple of the other guys from the square are up here. It's like everyone but the big two, now. I knew this place was important." [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The big- Hey. Hey, maybe you weren't watchin', but I damn near carved that fucker apart." [22:58] "Thank you, your M-"3Majesty? Mightiness? How does one address a god, anyhow? "Gray." 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim contemplates it. He could write a koan of his insights. The rose and bee are kin to one another, it's true. Each exists for the other. And they represent not the culmination but the rudiments of ecosystem. The bee and rose alike are the first seeds of a garden to germinate. Grasp it gently beneath the bud as one might cradle a child's head, and pinch it off from the ground, where the thorns are bluntest. Do not touch the stem. Do not inhale too deeply of the exile's rose. 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Raptor raises his hands. "I just meant by size." [22:59] "Our principal concern- my principle concern- is with the attack on the levee. Lives were lost, and the project was set back quite a bit." 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Gray: "I had considered it folly from the start. You may recall this. Time has proven me right but in a manner most unnatural." [23:00] "The project continues." 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "Daspes suffered a wound and been slow to recover. It festers. She has undertaken to rebirth herself. She will return in time. The sickness that plagues her is the sickness that plagued the river and your men. In the distance, I can feel a foreign presence tainting it. Past the highlands the river's sick with sin. Its object is shadowed from me, and the poison itself bars my soul's waters." [23:03] 05 What a strange ecosystem it must represent, all but hidden to him if not for the annoyed yips of a dog harassed at mealtime. Xu Sim abruptly bends at the waist, reaching down with both hands to pluck it, with the care of a gardner trimming a thousand-year old juniper. 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "It pains me to admit this but in that distance I cannot feel its currents. It is a numbed limb." [23:04] 4The Judge is watched and watches. He hopes that Xu Sim will hurry, but knows it can't be rushed. 09[23:05] * bednana is now known as banana [23:05] 3Mud: "Yikes." 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Raptor: "Wait, shit... that's the guy. That's the guy! The guy Nessun Dorma's looking for. You know the bounty Lookshy put on his head?" [23:06] "Pffhhhhhhhhhew,"3 Mud exhales, after a time. "That sounds.. bad." [23:06] "What would cause such a thing?" [23:08] 05 Xu Sim hurries back over towards the woman, whose name he still does not know, with the rose in hand. [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Okay, so where were you going with this. Who's the sayyyyy you're right." [23:09] 4The woman strolls up to Xu Sim and puts a hand on his shoulder. "A rose? For me?" 4And then, quietly. "We are being watched. By the mercenary... and another." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Raptor: "Even split two ways, you could buy a mansion with that money and have enough left over to throw the kind of party that'd knock it down." 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> It's abrupt, the shift in Raptor's attention from a mystery to money. But it's not unprecedented. Raptor Quan might be the only man in the company greedier than Keldar. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, but look. First, if he's some sort of forbidden sorcerer - who was on the scene right there - he might have some idea of what actually went on. And second, literally the same people stopped him getting taken in the first time are all within a block." [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, besides the fat guy, but that had to be some kinda fluke." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Raptor: "So what's the play?" [23:15] "How could I refuse such a charming and mysterious woman?" 05 Xu Sim presents it with some aplomb. [23:16] "Be careful, it's only to be looked at; not touched or smelled." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Gray: "I have met with men in pursuit of an answer to that very question and they have denied me. But I can do little to object. They did intimate I would be able to enlist you to find out in exchange for a more favorable posture towards your project." [23:16] "You keep it, my dear. To remember me." 4Quietly, "Let's approach them." [23:17] "Teahouse is getting crowded," 14Stranger murmurs. [23:17] 3Mud frowns. "That seems pretty low if you ask me!" [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "See what he knows, get him to help look into the cabbage thing, drop him in front of Dorma as soon as it's settled." [23:18] "If I wanted to persuade you to favor my project, I'd be happy to do a presentation or something. To make you trade favors in order to find out- that's pretty messed up!" [23:18] "Who were these men?" [23:18] "As you wish," 05 He slips the rose into one of his long, loose sleeves. [23:19] "Hopefully they won't attack us. If they do, I suggest dodging again." [23:19] "What are they up to?" 7she wonders. 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "An agent of Heaven. The name escapes me. This is their custom." 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Raptor: "You think you can handle him if things get hot?" [23:20] "Well that's awful! I'll find out who did this, and fix it! You don't need to like me or the levee! That feels.. dirty." [23:20] 3The fat man waggles his fingers in disgust. 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Gray: "In exchange for what?" [23:21] "Let's have tea sometime?" [23:21] "I've got a running bet with a few of my workmen about whether or not you're made of eels." 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> For the first time, something like emotion crosses the Gray's face. In this case, abject confusion. "...you wish to have tea?" [23:21] 14Stranger: "We could go inside and find out." [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Sorcerers are easier than regular folks as long as you start up close." [23:22] 4The Night approaches the Dawn. A confusing time. [23:22] "We.. we could work it out later." 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Gray: "...your terms are acceptable." [23:22] 7Blossom: "Let's." 7She rises and begins striding purposefully back into the teahouse. [23:22] 3He waves the thought away. "What can you tell me about this poison?" [23:22] "Anything would be of use." [23:23] 14Stranger will follow in the purposeful young woman's wake, an amused smile on his face. [23:24] "Hello, gentlemen. I saw you watching us. Are you botanists?" [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So what were you saying? You follow the money, who's gonna-" 12Keldar leans back a bit and looks around as, apparently, people are entering the actual teahouse itself from front and back at once? "Sorry?" [23:25] "No. Mercenaries, then." 4The young woman smiles winningly. "You do work for silver, yes? Soldiery?" 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Gray: "It purges the river of life. You may already have noticed that the fishing is thinner now than in seasons past. Far upriver where people depend on me for food there is famine." 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "Humans are fighting to feed themselves." 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Raptor looks Judge up and down. "Who's asking?" [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That's what everyone works for who's smart." [23:26] 05 Xu Sim rather lurks behind the woman, not speaking. [23:27] "Who could possibly benefit from this? Do you know of anyone or anything?" [23:27] "Isma. If you haven't noticed, this town has become much more dangerous of late." [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, certainly." [23:29] 4She offers an arm to the young mercenary. "Let us walk and talk. Your friend here won't mind, will he?" [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12I'm not actually sure how old Raptor is, but Keldar's in his early thirties. [23:30] 4Judge is in his early forties, but this woman doesn't appear to be. [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12All that said, a babe's a babe. Keldar stands. "Tell me later, Quan. Like I said, Khelendros is after you." 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Gray: "I try very hard to avoid human politics and the upper reaches of the river are too lonely to visit. I have only the news the water brings me. On this the water is silent." 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Raptor: "...I'll go see him, then. You gonna be alright, Keldar?" [23:31] "I suppose the only way for me to find out is to go there myself and see what's happening." 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Gray: "Alone?" [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Don't worry about it. After that accident I ain't gonna be fazed by some basic contract negotiations." 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Raptor: "Keep steady." [23:33] "I've got a pretty good idea of who I'll have accompany me." 3Mud strokes his beard thoughtfully a moment. "Gray," 3he kneels, "May I have your blessing in traveling up your river to find the heart of this corruption, and pluck it out?" [23:33] 4The woman smiles, and steers Keldar towards where she last saw Blossom watching the two of them. "Come along, doctor. We have more companions left to inquire after." [23:34] "Keldar?" 7Blossom inquires, as if she didn't already know. "What brings you here?" 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Gray: "You have it." [23:35] 05 Xu steps past the other mercenary, to follow the competent one and his new companion-of-sorts. [23:36] "Some would call it fate. Others just well-laid plans. But I believe we are short one guest." [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar doesn't actually already know, and is visibly getting steered over rather than coolly playing a part. Whether he ends up in the back of the teahouse or out in the yard with the Gateway tables, he stops to look around at the four people around him and try out a few theories as to what's up. Few of them augur well, and he's glad he sent Raptor away for reasons most likely [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12dissimilar to those in the minds of the others. [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "This lady, it looks like. Where'd she dig you out of, physician?" [23:37] 14Stranger's just along for the ride. For now. [23:39] "Maybe we shouldn't discuss this here. Somewhere... less public." [23:40] 4She releases her grip on Keldar. "And when we've collected our jolly friend." [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Discuss what?" [23:41] 4A wicked grin. "How careening vegetables, lone flowers, and stray bees are ruining this town." 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Gray: "Will you remain in the city long? I may have further news in a few days." [23:43] 7Blossom: "Bees?" [23:43] "It's certainly very odd to all come into contact with each other, just a few days after the first time. But the philosophers say, every thing happens for a reason." [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, in a growlier voice: "Bees?" [23:43] "Bees." [23:43] 05 Twice-Refined Princess yips ferociously. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Any of them buzzing around here? Is this the season for 'em? [23:44] 3Mud stands, albiet unsteadily. The buzz from that gourd-beer is starting to wear off and he's getting a bit of a headache. "Oof. I believe I will. I will need to get a boat, and provisions, and get a crew. If you have news, send for me!" 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Gray: "I shall." [23:45] 3He claps his hands. "Alright!" 3He pauses. "Uh, it's been.. great. Take care of yourself, Gray." 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> It's a bit early in the season for bees, though Keldar can in fact see a couple of them buzzing around out the window. Not near the tea house, but... around. They're definitely out early. [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "They're a bit ahead of schedule, I guess...?" 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Gray simply closes his eyes and sinks beneath the water. [23:46] 3Ookay. Mud scuttles out of the room. 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Mud finds the priestess waiting for him. "A good communion?" [23:49] "Not just any honeybee, but a honeybee wreathed in the finest furs, carrying possibly psychotropic pollen. And, I believe, from a flower like this," 05 Xu Sim produces the rose, mostly for the benefit of the second woman - the one he knows to be another sorcerer. [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You think this has something to do with... the cart accident?" [23:51] "Yes! Quite. We spoke at length and I am prepared to write to my superiors about what we've accomplished here." [23:51] "Quite.. a lot." 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> The priestess nods, leading Mud on out. They pass the bench where Mud waited, and spoke to that man, the one called... uh. Hang on, his name was- 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> He was Nessun Dorma's attache. Mud remembers that much. 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> The name's slipped his mind, though. [23:53] "It grew in exactly the same spot where the cart was, before it rolled down onto a man too powerful to be killed by vegetables." [23:54] 7Blossom: "You think the Fae had something to do with it?" [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, yeah? Any idea what it... is?" [23:54] 14Stranger: "They've been rather publically involved in the aftermath, at least." [23:55] "Maybe it would be logical for it to be Fair Folk. But, it's not what I think it really is, in my heart." [23:55] "I'd say it would make sense, to take down the great protector, then immediately attack. But why would a man such as he fall for such a trick?" [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar makes a 'go on' motion. [23:57] 3So Mud's gonna have to set up an expedition. Okay, that's good. Let's see. Provisions for... ten? People. Less than ten. Mud will make up the difference in the cost of provisions. He'll need guides, probably. He could sail the boat himself? Maybe? He's got the Gray's blessing, which probably will make it easier to navigate? Will it? [23:57] 3He'll figure it out later. First thing's first: He'll need to enlist some help. And he knows exactly what to do next. [23:58] "In all my studies, I have encountered very strange things. I once saw a Demon of the Second Circle, for a moment. I've seen Fair Folk, and a few Gods here and there. But this makes me think of something else. I can't explain it, which is very aggravating. I can tell you I have experienced several times a strange optical phenomenon, like seeing stars." 14[23:58] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[23:59] * Joins: trenchfoot [23:59] "What's more, the day the Emissary died, do you remember the baleful star in the sky? It brought back... that is to say, it made me recall, uh, something, hmmm, a great treason against powerful kings. I must have, er, read it somewhere, surely.." Session Time: Sat Apr 04 00:00:00 2015 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Mud trundles sweatily across Nexus before catching a streetcar. People clap him on the back, and one of them plucks a bee off the fat man's damp neck for him. "Ah! Little bugger stung me." [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, yeah. I was there, point of fact. But what was it, and why'd it give that dude an extra eye?" [00:01] 7Blossom: "I thought it was anointing the Emissary's replacement." [00:01] "I believe it is something akin to a reincarnation of the Emissary, into the cabbage-monger." [00:03] "A cabbage-monger? I would hope there's a more stringent selection process than 'whoever's standing over his corpse when he dies'." [00:03] 3Mud hi-fives a few people on the way through Nexus. There's a few fist-bumps and even one chest bump that predictably leaves its recipient lying dazed on the ground. Mud's still pretty enthusiastic as he boards the train. "Ach! I'm sorry. You didn't need to do that. Bees only sting in defense, you know." [00:03] "It costs them everything to sting you. Rips out their lil insides something fierce." [00:03] "They're such useful creatures.." [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "See, that's what I figured. But it doesn't explain how he managed the kill. Obviously it's some sort of insane murder succession thing - but how do you get the ball rolling at all?" [00:05] "I don't know if it was him at all. Something surprised him, before the cart struck." 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah, yeah..." the man who was stung smears his stung finger against his rough tunic. In any case, Mud has little to no idea where to look for the others, except- "Hey, are you going to visit the Stranger? I saw him coming up this way." 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "You two must be old friends, right?" [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Right, but it somehow counted for him. Who are you all, again?" [00:06] "You should remember my name," 05 he mutters. [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I do, I do! I meant you all except Dorma's target." [00:06] "...Yes. That way? That way. Thanks!" [00:07] 3Mud has little to no recollection of who this man is, as he was suplexing Nessun Dorma at the time. 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> It was probably the guy who calmed Nessun Dorma down. The one with the white hair. [00:08] 3Oh, yes, of course! 14[00:09] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) [00:09] "Oh, but you haven't met Twice-Refined Princess," 05 The dog by his side yaps. It's really quite an ugly little lap dog. Extraordinarily ugly, write-home ugly. [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Goddamn. I guess my first instincts were right." 12He pauses for effect. "You want your princesses as impure as possible." 14[00:11] * Joins: ddt 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> The streetcar lets Mud off at the foot of the hill that comprises most of Windburn, and is directed to a teahouse atop the hill - The Solemn Bear. The chosen inside can see him trundle up the hill with a pattern of movement that could easily be accompanied by tuba music. [00:11] 7Blossom: "Excessively Righteous Blossom, daughter of House Cathak." [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar at least knows where House Cathak's from, and gives Blossom a guarded look, for all that she's a teenager. 14[00:12] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) [00:13] "Ah. Our last guest arrives." [00:14] 3Mud brushes a few stray droplets of rainwater from his beard as he steps into the teahouse, huffing and puffing. Why is everything in this damned city atop a hill, or a building, or a building atop a building on a hill? 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Not everything. Just the things that matter. [00:15] 3He exhales and turns, beaming, at his new companions. "Friiieends!" [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's facing away from Mud, so it's only a few of the other Solars who can see the Dawn's mouth turn into a perfectly horizontal line and eyes narrow slightly. [00:16] 05 Xu wrinkles his nose at the mercenary's jab. If she was impure, she wouldn't be any good as a test subject, and she wouldn't be able to metabolize quicksilver! [00:17] 7She's twenty-one! [00:18] "We need to go somewhere where we can be sure we're not overheard." [00:19] 3They'd better hurry, because Mud and Straw will soon be upon them. Boards squeak under his gait. [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Not overheard's really hard. Ignored's a lot easier." [00:21] 05 Xu Sim beams at the sight of Mud and Straw, someone he knows he can trust. As long as it doesn't involve discretion, silence, or abstention. 14[00:21] * Joins: ddt [00:21] "I can find a place, I'm sure. But it won't be pleasant." [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "For theeee... six of us?" 14[00:23] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) [00:24] 3Mud and Straw arrives, throwing his arms playfully around Xu Sim or whoever else is closest and savagely bear-hugging them. Workers under Mud soon learn to fight him off or go limp in his embrace and wait for it to be over. [00:24] "Friends! I'm so glad to see you again!" 14[00:25] * Joins: ddt 14[00:25] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Essentially, Keldar's only agreeing to this if Mud's coming along, because while these four all seemed to know each other there's no way that guy is on on some kind of long-game assassination plot. 14[00:27] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [00:27] 7Mud and Straw is so large he can bear hug three of them at once, and unfortunately Blossom is one of them. Her expression of horror and fury while the hug lasts is, fortunately, not visible to him. [00:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's not suffering that indignity, and isn't, at the moment, heavily armored, so he's able to step smartly out of range. [00:30] "The bravery you all displayed yesterday 3(it was yesterday, Mud's pretty sure- unless this has all been one, very long bad-wine hallucination) was without compare!" [00:31] 3He backs away, allowing those entangled in his grasp to mercifully escape. "What nobility! What grace!" [00:31] "I require some bravery from all of you, then. Follow me. I'll take us somewhere where we can talk without being disturbed." 14[00:32] * Joins: ddt [00:32] 7Blossom straightens her armor grumpily and then, as tact requires a reply: "Immobilizing Nessun Dorma like you did, so that he fought with us against the Fair Folk, was... impressive." [00:32] "Mud and Bricks! What a relief to see you again, and so soon!" 14[00:33] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) [00:33] 3He slaps his forehead at his forgetfulness. "Oh! I forgot, I'm sorry! I am Mud and Straw, Foreman of the Gray River Levee!" [00:34] "Xu Sim and Keldar are known friends, but I have not had the pleasure of knowing the rest of you!" [00:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Immobilizing Nessun Dorma like you did was insane. That was a grand goremaul he was swinging around." 12This is, presumably, said on the trip; 'Isma' receives a professional nod. 14[00:35] * Joins: ddt [00:35] "All very impressive." 4The young woman looks around worriedly. "Now let's go. We probably shouldn't be together in the open like this." 14[00:36] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12So where do we end up meeting clandestinely back up? [00:37] 4The smartly-dressed young woman leads the group through back alleys and dirty streets until finally, they meet in their proper destined meeting place. [00:37] 4Behind an enormous trash heap. [00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, this is great. This is real cool." 14[00:39] * Joins: ddt [00:39] "No one ever said secrecy was glamorous." [00:40] 3Mud doesn't seem to mind. He sniffs and wipes his nose on his palm. [00:40] "I don't recall you, miss..." [00:40] 4There's a small run-down hovel behind the trash heap, big enough to house the group with a little room left over. "No one will bother us here. It's not like we have to stay the night." [00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12There isn't even something safe to lean cross-armed against. "Alright, so - what? What's the secret? Anyone about to try and kill anyone else?" [00:40] 05 Xu whispers something to the dog, and, its tail flapping back and forth, it wanders off into the midden to find dinner, or perhaps something to roll around in, or, better yet, both. [00:40] "I've found a relatively inexpensive, legitimate bath house if you need a referral later." 7Blossom remarks to Keldar. [00:40] "Not many do. I'll explain in a moment." 4She opens the door and steps inside. There's some very spare furniture, and a dressing screen. 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> The good news is, the route is all downhill. They're in the undercity now, where the impoverished live and the mostly-impoverished toil. Great mechanisms are visible here, the ancient devices that through muscle-power and some lost genius keep the air here breathable, and the lochs and canals and streetcars up above moving as they ought to. 14[00:41] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) [00:42] 4Isma steps behind the screen, and throws the dress over it. The silhouette through the screen changes noticeably, and a man's arm reaches for a shirt next to the dress. [00:43] 3Mud is visibly excited for a moment; then he sighs sadly. [00:43] 4A middle-aged, bearded man steps out. "Sorry for the deception. But we are not the only ones with keen eyes in this city, and it would not do to be... noticed." [00:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar gets halfway through a spit take before remembering he wasn't drinking anything. "...all right, fine." [00:44] "It's true." 05 Xu Sim is legitimately impressed - where the hell did the beard go?! [00:44] 3Mud coughs, signalling that he is prepared to say his name again, louder, until he gets an introduction. [00:45] 4The man sits atop a rickety desk towards the back of the room. "We are all here, those who would stand and fight when chaos comes calling. Even those labelled Anathema." [00:46] 05 Xu Sim sighs at the word. [00:46] "Anathema? Where?" [00:46] "You wished to know my secrets, scholar, so here are two. First, my name is Tarn, but if you have lived in Nexus, you may know me better as The Black Judge." [00:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Woah, shit, really?" [00:47] 3He glances around, looking for recognition before returning his gaze to the judge: "Tarn it is!" [00:47] 3Mud's willing to give Keldar a pleading look until he explains [00:47] 4He puts a finger to his forehead, and draws a circle. "And second, you are not alone." 4The imprint of the man's finger seems to have drawn a circle of golden light on his forehead-- [00:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar glances over. "The 'Black Judge' is, like, rumored to be a demon or something that comes after criminals at the stroke of midnight and devours their souls or whatever. Been popping up across the city for a little while now." [00:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I figured it was awoah, shit, really?" [00:49] 05 Xu Sim goes pale at the Black Judge's revelation. [00:49] "Oh! Oh are you like me? I've been dying to ask someone about that." [00:49] "I was about to write the whole incident off as a bad batch of wine from the northern provinces." [00:50] 4The Judge smiles at Mud. "Am I like you? I'm not sure. But I knew there were others. And it was no normal man to throw about one of the Dragons." [00:51] "You know, the fungus can get in there and really alter the humors." 3Mud listens to the Judge and smiles sheepishly. "I suppose not, no.." [00:51] 7Blossom: "Well, if we're making formal introductions..." 7She concentrates for a moment and a brilliant golden disc appears on her own forehead, shining like the noonday sun. "Excessively Righteous Blossom, daughter of House Cathak and Chosen of the Sun." [00:52] 3Mud wipes the sweat from his forehead. "Wait, wait, let me do mine again, with the thing!" 3He focuses, scowling and grunting. "I am Mud and Straw!" 3A golden disc, its lower half obscured behind a bowl-shaped patch of emptiness appears upon his brow. [00:53] "I am hunted for being Anathema, but I have no evidence to believe I have been possessed by a demon." 05 Xu Sim focuses for a moment, before a coruscating golden mark appears on his brow. Hints of glorious golden-red give way to pink and purple whorls. [00:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's leaning a little farther back with each of these displays. [00:53] "I am definitely not a demon, friend." [00:53] "You, Eversnake, Keldar. You are not a demon!" [00:53] "Xu Sim is very old, but not a demon!" [00:54] <@Ferrinus> "Aw, man," 12Keldar says. "Aw, man. I am gonna get so much silver when I turn all you demons in." 14[00:55] * Joins: ddt [00:55] "Good luck finding me. Or alternately, escaping." 4The Judge says flatly. 14[00:56] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) [00:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ah, I can do at least one of those, though, 'cause check it out." 12His brow glows a deep red, which rapidly rises through pinks and oranges towards a brilliant yellow with glimmers of white at the center. "Eh? Eh? Actual proper sun, too." [00:56] "What? Come, friend, let's not make such jokes!" [00:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "This is nuts." [00:57] "Well, at the very least, if we're demons... then we're all demons together!" 3Mud bellows in triumph. [00:57] "With little sunbeams and all. Cute." [00:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It's awesome is what it is. Golden anathema's the worst kind there is, I checked the books." [00:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Worst for whoever runs into it, I mean. And here's fuckin', look how many. Can you believe it?" [00:58] 7Blossom: "Of course we're not demons. We're the Chosen of Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun, King of Heaven and first of the war-gods. Did he speak to any of you other than me?" [00:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Huh?" [00:59] 3He shrugs. [00:59] "I guess not." 7She smiles juuuuust a little bit. It is nice to be the favored child, for once. [01:00] "I didn't bring you all here to bask in our collective radiance. There's been a crime. And we owe it justice." 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: Bodies 14[01:02] * Joins: ddt 14[01:04] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[01:13] * Joins: ddt 14[01:15] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[01:27] * Joins: ddt 14[01:29] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[01:41] * Joins: ddt 14[01:42] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[01:50] * Joins: ddt 14[01:51] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[01:58] * Joins: ddt 14[01:59] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[02:11] * Joins: ddt 14[02:12] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[02:15] * Joins: ddt 14[02:23] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[02:24] * Joins: ddt 14[02:25] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[02:32] * Joins: ddt 14[02:32] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[02:45] * Joins: ddt 14[02:58] * Joins: hrolf 14[03:03] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[03:05] * Joins: hrolf 14[03:09] * Joins: hrolfie 14[03:11] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[03:11] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[03:12] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[03:16] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 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14[07:55] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[08:07] * Joins: hrolf 14[08:10] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[08:46] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[10:09] * Joins: Quaker 11[10:34] * Disconnected Session Close: Sat Apr 04 10:34:54 2015 Session Start: Sat Apr 04 10:34:54 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[10:36] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[10:36] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[10:36] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[10:36] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 14[10:36] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 11[10:47] * Disconnected Session Close: Sat Apr 04 10:47:28 2015 Session Start: Sat Apr 04 10:47:28 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[10:47] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[10:47] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[10:47] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[10:47] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 09[10:47] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[10:48] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[10:50] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[11:30] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[11:52] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:07] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[12:08] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[12:14] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 15[12:15] <@VoxPVoxD> https://40.media.tumblr.com/b8fb5b2f2a22c0d368d865250dace14c/tumblr_ncs9hivjYt1rsxqqio1_1280.jpg nick's training begins [12:16] hell yeah 14[12:20] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[12:20] * Joins: autopsy_turvey [12:26] ah, finally found it [12:26] http://fi.somethingawful.com/safs/titles/a9/a6/00072414.0002.gif mage preview 15[12:27] <@VoxPVoxD> what the fuck is mage [12:28] isMage [12:29] ah, a maview 14[12:57] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[13:37] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[14:22] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[15:14] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[15:32] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[15:51] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[15:54] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[17:16] * Quits: Crion 14[17:41] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[17:41] * Joins: Crion 14[18:12] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[18:30] * Joins: ddt 11[20:06] * Disconnected Session Close: Sat Apr 04 20:06:11 2015 Session Start: Sat Apr 04 20:06:11 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[20:06] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:06] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:06] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[20:06] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 14[20:06] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by VoxPoxVD))) 09[20:06] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[20:06] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 11[20:09] * Disconnected Session Close: Sat Apr 04 20:09:06 2015 Session Start: Sat Apr 04 20:09:06 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[20:12] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:12] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:12] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[20:12] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 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seconds) 14[14:58] * Joins: hrolfie 14[15:02] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:04] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:05] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[15:11] * Joins: hrolf 14[15:15] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:16] * Joins: hrolf 14[15:18] * Joins: hrolfie 14[15:21] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:32] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[16:31] * Joins: dammitwho 14[17:02] * Joins: ddt 14[17:05] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[17:28] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[18:10] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:14] * Joins: trenchfoot [18:17] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/NcY2PSO.jpg 15[18:22] <@VoxPVoxD> paracelsus greets the libertine backup squad 11[18:22] <@Ferrinus> paracelsus sighed as he unsheathed his slide rule 15[18:25] <@VoxPVoxD> snide rule 14[18:42] * Quits: quaker_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[20:18] * Joins: Crion 14[20:57] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping 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[05:08] like if you're going to dress up like a princess and fight crime with moonbeams, well, that DOES sound fairly free council, and we did ask for it 14[05:38] * Quits: dammitwho 14[06:08] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[06:12] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[07:24] * Joins: Quaker 14[07:32] * Joins: drinkybird 14[07:35] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[07:36] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[07:37] * Joins: Quaker__ 14[07:54] * Quits: Quaker__ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[08:00] * Joins: Quaker 14[08:06] * Joins: Crion 14[08:07] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [08:18] - [08:18] - [08:18] - [08:18] - [08:18] - [08:18] - [08:18] - [08:18] - 08[08:23] Either wizards aren't very good at staying awake, or the one Rollie met earlier in the night isn't, specifically. Trubee is asleep a few minutes after she sits down in the passenger seat, her head resting against the window, hat crumpled alongside her face and serving as an impromptu cushion. Elsewhere, the ink has barely dried on the lease for the office Cavanaugh has just rented for the exclusive use of the Orange Count [08:23] Territorial Deputies. If he lingers after the departed realtor Jerry Ness, he'll realize that he might need warm (or cold) bodies to actually man the property. Elsewhere elsewhere, the dogs have gone to bed for the night, and Edgar is left with himself, and questions. [08:30] 6The thing is. The thing is, Edgar's scrupulously avoided drinking blood from the actual necks of humans apart from that one first time. And the crimes? He already knew from crimes. So the weirdest thing about this whole new life is honestly living in the opposite hours, getting up with the cows and going to bed with the chickens. Except just dogs, but you know, they know what night [08:30] 6and day are. 15[08:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie drives in silence. Part of him suspects it's unwise (or would be seen to be unwise) to let a wizard you just met and investigated a dead man's apartment with crash at your place. Certainly his mother wouldn't approve. But he's got the space. What was he supposed to do, say no? He'll speak when they arrive at Rollie's place. "Hey. Come on." [08:31] 6It's nearing midnight, but he's alert, ready for.. something. To hunt or defend. To give orders, some odd part of him insists; to set things right. Well, there's plenty of that in the job at least. [08:31] 4Cavanaugh is taking pictures of the place and sending them to the other two deputies in group text. Also: [08:32] 6Time to find out some more about it before he goes on doing it, though. Edgar's on his way to visit Seabury at the *other* office when he gets the text, and is initially confused by it.  [08:34] [08:34] Trubee starts, rubbing her eyes. "Where are we? Did I fall asleep? Woops." She wipes a thin line of drool from her cheek with a sleeve. "Gross." When she gets out of the car, she takes the opportunity to stretch and yawn. "Is this your place?" 15[08:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's phone buzzes while he waits for Trubee, and she'll wake to find him texting.  [08:36] 4Cavanaugh: [08:37] 4Cav: [08:37] 15[08:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10His car's parked in front of a duplex. Landlord's nice. Last Rollie knew, his neighbor did IT. "Yeah. You need a minute?" 10Buzz. Buzz.  [08:39] 4And, of course, since Orange isn't anyone's property at the moment -- it's still in administrative limbo before being parcelled out by the Prince -- it could theoretically be anyone's property that Ness (and Morgan?) are selling off stakes in to outsiders. Or at least negotiating to. [08:41] Trubee responds by way of holding the back of her palm to her forehead and not speaking for a minute. When she opens her eyes again, she smiles. "No, I'm good. Kinda I've been awake for like…forty-eight hours? I'm good, though. I can keep going." She hefts one of the boxes recovered from dead Phocas's apartment. "Which one's yours?" 15[08:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie guesses he's supposed to take that in stride. "One on the right. Hang on, let me unlock the door and then I'll come help you with the boxes." [08:42] 4Cav: 14[08:43] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[08:44] * Joins: autopsyturvey 15[08:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie and Trubee carry boxes into Rollie's place - "house" is too generous, "home" too cutesy, and "haven" too malign. His place is obviously occupied by a young bachelor but it's... plausibly neat. Dirty clothes are freshly dirty and smell more stale than anything else and they're all in or near the laundry hamper. The computer desk is almost visible beneath all the paper printouts. A beagle barks and dances at their ankles as they enter. 15[08:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The bong is spotless. 08[08:50] The young woman sets the box down on the futon, and bends over to scratch the barking dog between the ears. "Hi! Who are you? Good…boy? Good boy! Who's a good boy? Nice place, Rollie. Hey, so. Thanks again for letting me crash here. I kind of came out here in a hurry. Things are a bit of a mess. I should…probably get a job, huh. Man!" 15[08:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "No problem. It'll all work out." [08:51] Without Santiago or anyone else to usher him in, Edgar might be surprised to find the lobby doors of Seabury's office locked. There's an intercom right by the wide glass double doors with their burnished bronze handles. [08:54] 4First thing to do, of course, is assemble a list of staffing needs. Ideally they have an office administrative assistant/coordinator who can provide a constant presence for walk-ins and keep the deputies coordinated, one or two non-deputized private investigator types with contacts within the mortal police, and a lawyer or two on retainer to assist with both Court and mortal [08:54] 4territorial and contract law. [08:54] 4Realistically, all they need to start with is the administrative assistant. [08:55] 4Legal aid, specifically, might be pretty difficult to find. Especially in Kindred-related fields. [08:56] 6Edgar, belatedly:  [08:56] Here's the rub: people who can check all the boxes of "capable of being trusted with this knowledge" and "competent" and "available" don't grow on trees. 15[08:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie tidies up a bit, self-consciously, while Trubee plays with Princess. "So what got you to come here instead of anywhere else?" [08:57] 6Then, of course, he presses the intercom. How much of this building is the Administrator's, anyway..? [08:57] 4Cav: [08:58] 6Bzzz.  08[08:59] Trubee politely pretends to not watch out of the corner of her eye while Rollie puts his things away. Before she answers, she tests the softness of the futon, and considers her answer. "Chicago wasn't going to work out." 15[09:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie puts the book he got, as well as Leis's note and printout, in his desk. "What was wrong with Chicago?" [09:00] 4That sounds about right, given what he's heard about Bren and company. 15[09:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Bzz.  [09:03] "Nothing that's not wrong everywhere else. I just needed some extra space. And somebody I knew, knew Phocas." 15[09:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's head pops back in from the kitchen, which is the second-cleanest part of the place after the bathroom, owing to comparative disuse. "Was he the only guy you knew around here?" [09:07] Trubee leans back on the futon, wiping Princess's hairs off of her hands on the front of her jeans. "Yeah. We're not very…common. It's like a secret society. You know people through other people. So you're kind of lucky if you know anybody really far away." [09:08] "Hey, do you really need to drink people's blood?" [09:08] 4The smart thing to do, of course, is probably to hire a lawyer and slowly introduce them to Kindred/court law. But that could still get tricky. Either way, if they're lucky the Court keeps a small staffing agency on retainer to provide temps who have been pre-vetted and judged capable of keeping their mouths shut about Kindred. If not, he's got some listings to post. 15[09:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie realizes with a start that there's still a couple days' worth of blood in the fridge. "It doesn't have to be people. So, like, a secret society, right? Can you ride around looking for Illuminati signs or whatever, things that are like 'if you're a wizard and you see this, you know, you're chill, come on in'." [09:14] The intercom crackles. "Yes?" [09:15] Trubee shrugs. "You can like…see magic. But…" 15[09:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10While he's in the kitchen, he shoots a text to Leisurely.  15[09:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "But what?" [09:17] "It's like, you learn about this stuff, and you see things, and then you find out when everybody else found it out, they got picked up by a bunch of people who already knew, and everything they know about what they are filters through them. And if you don't see it exactly like they do, you're shit out of luck, because they're sure they know how things work. And that's the ones who actually like you in the first place." [09:18] 6Edgar leans on the wall. It's not exactly the court, is it, or even one of those subsidiaries that Okienka described. This is how the Invictus do backwater: instead of security guys and fur coats, you get an intercom. "Doolittle here." [09:19] There's a small click behind the glass of the doors. "Come up, Deputy." It's Seabury himself. 15[09:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So you weren't always a wizard?" 15[09:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "You just got dumped in a secret society with people who are kind of like you but also, sometimes, super super not like you?" [09:20] 6Doolittle: "Will do."6He does, but in no hurry, and sending another text to Clinton:  [09:22] 4Meanwhile, Cav's online ordering some basic amenities for the office. A fridge for the breakroom; a desktop computer for the new administrative aide; a holster to bolt under the aide's desk to hold a shotgun... [09:22] 15[09:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10You can get all that stuff at Staples, probably. At least you could in Texas. [09:24] Trubee is texting. "It's not like it's genetic. It's in everybody. If everyone was a flower, and only some bloomed. But they can all bloom, maybe? Anyway, I was pretty lucky. I knew somebody beforehand, from my regular life, who turned out to be like me. She kind of…" She trails off. "Can you just drink animal blood? Like in Twilight? Do real vampires actually like Twilight?" [09:28] Seabury's office building, devoid of any other deputies or visiting notables, is shockingly empty. The other offices don't even pretend to be occupied; just empty conference rooms, unmanned secretarial desk, and still-full water coolers that have gathered dust. The Administrator's doors are opened slightly. Seabury is visible through them, his pen methodically filling out papers with details and added notes. [09:29] 6Edgar wanders in, looking about. "Good evening, Lord Seabury. Lot of available space here." 15[09:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I never asked. But yeah I can do fine with animal blood." 10He comes out of his room with a pillow and a blanket for Trubee, which he sets down on the futon. He doesn't try to sneak a glance at her phone, but if he gets an angle he'll look involuntarily. "As far as I can tell, this shit is more Godfather than Twilight." [09:34] The Administrator doesn't look up. "But not available enough that you four feel you could use it." [09:35] 6Doolittle: "Ah yes. Thought someone should check in about some things, and that is a thing."6 He finds himself a chair. [09:36] Leisurely texts back: [09:38] Where's Cavanaugh in the actual office building? Somebody's buzzing the front door. There's a camera, but the angle isn't catching the person's face. [09:39] 4Cavanaugh was just about to lock up and head out, actually. [09:43] Seabury gently sorts the papers in front of him until the mixed piles are straight and orderly little stacks. "I knew that after the ball there were two things that might happen. Your ambitious colleague would ask to use some of the space here, or he would tell me that in his proactivity he had found a place of work to call his own. One was probably more likely than the other, if the other was more preferable. The sense o [09:43] being beleaguered lessens when you work with others." 15[09:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's phone buzzes while he's setting blankets down. He refills Princess's food and water bowls and then replies.  08[09:44] Then Cav will see the small woman waiting by the doors, trying to peer in through the smoked glass. It's the vampire Rollie was at the party with. Foster, she said. 14[09:45] * Joins: trenchfoot [09:46] While he's looking, he'll see her take her phone out and fiddle with it. [09:46] "Whoops, hello there," 4he says, opening the door. "I was just on my way out. ...We've met." 08[09:47] "You're Rollie's...friend." 4He audibles away from 'girlfriend.' [09:48] [09:49] Trubee eyes Princess's water and heads into the kitchen, looking for a glass. "Why the Godfather? I'm guessing you mean it's like the mob, and not that they're all Italian." [09:50] 6Edgar nods at Seabury's papers. "And we're all broadly pro-activity. Location doesn't make much difference to me.. guess some activists would complain about the duplicated real estate. But we've got more than enough wilderness." [09:50] 6Edgar nods at Seabury's papers. "It's the scope of that activity I wanted to ask about, you know." [09:51] *6Edgar: "It's the scope of that activity I wanted to ask about, you know." [09:51] She's dressed down from the party, with the blue dress and combed out hair replaced with a flannel shit and a ponytail. "Leisurely. We have met, yeah. You're not busy, are you? I just wanted to say hi. Outside of the party scene." 15[09:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10There's glasses, all clean, though they've obviously not been used recently. Could do with a rinsing. "There's just this thing, right? And you're either in it or you're not. And being in it is pretty good, until it's super super not good, like 'you got stuck at the toll booth' not good." [09:52] Trubee rinses it out before she fills it back up with water from the faucet. "They make you work in a toll booth?" [09:53] 4He glances around the parking lot to make sure Ness has scurried off completely and that no one else is lurking about. "Leisurely, right. Leisurely." 4Cavanaugh says it to himself while staring at her like he's trying to imprint the association in his mind. "Sorry. Gangrel. Terrible with names." [09:53] 4Cavanaugh is wearing different clothes, of course, but is still dressed essentially the way he always is. 15[09:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "No, like, the part where James Caan got shot a hundred times." [09:56] The Administrator taps his nails against the wood of his desk. "I don't mind, or hold it against you. Or him. We need our space, don't we? In the Hungarian courts, they hold that the greatest punishment a disloyal subordinate can face is being locked in a small room with a kindred whose company he genuinely enjoys. And by the time of their release, that friendship will have been permanently, mutually dissolved." [09:56] Leisurely: "It's cool. I'm bad with names, and I don't even have an excuse." [09:57] "Outside some real estate work, I'm not up to much this evening. What brings you here?" 4Especially this quickly after signing. [09:58] 4At least no one seems to have trouble finding the place. [09:58] She looks up at the brick facade. "I hope you don't mind. I was astral projecting and saw you messing around out here. My night was kind of slow." [09:58] 6Edgar nods again. "And is that a punishment for Kindred, or humans more generally?" 14[09:59] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [10:00] 6Edgar: "There's a lot of myths going around about the condition, you know. Contradictory information from all sources, which new guys like me have to sort, filter, trash.." [10:01] Seabury leans back in his chair. It's starting to look like a conversational habit. "I couldn't tell you. It's just a snatch of folklore. I suppose that if you stuck a human in with a vampire in a small room, you'd end up with a vampire and a corpse. What's this about scope?" [10:01] 6Edgar: "One of the more popular nonsense claims- our nature is antithetical to the milk of human kindness. That it is ultimately impossible, in circumstances like you describe, to maintain good relations with someone else bearing a Beast. Interesting to contemplate where the idea comes from, who it is that holds forth in Hungary and other places, what they're trying to promote." [10:02] 4Cav: "Not at all, not at all. I was hoping we'd get to talk at some point. Since it seems I'm going to be out here for awhile, I could stand to start meeting more of the neighbors." [10:03] Trubee doesn't answer, except to drink more water. "So do you like…work for them? Like a henchman?" [10:03] 6He goes straight on, though, back to his usual laconic tone. "It's the scope of the job, Administrator. The oaths had a pretty clear hierarchy, right. Sources of work haven't been so clear so far." 14[10:04] * Quits: Crion 15[10:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "For now, yeah. But I've got a line on something better. Hopefully I can get out of the mob before they figure out I'm everybody's Fredo." 14[10:06] * Joins: Crion [10:08] Seabury's tone is the softest Edgar has heard since he's met him. "We are not immune to being kind, or humane. But time erodes both those things in us. All the rocky crags where emotion can find purchase are polished away to nothing, until the only thing remaining is the smooth, sheer face of self-interest. Santiago told me about the incident involving the helicopter." [10:09] Trubee: "That's cool. How come the vampire mob wanted to talk to Bill?" [10:10] Leisurely: "I live in Dana Point. You ever been?" 15[10:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "They didn't. That was the other thing." [10:10] 4Cavanaugh: "Can't say that I have." 15[10:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "The other thing sounds a lot more like what you make being a wizard sound like." 14[10:12] * Joins: ddt 08[10:14] Leisurely: "It's nice at night. Rollie could tell you about it. You're really getting into this Deputy thing, huh." Her eyes go back to the office. "I remember when the County was pretty much no-man's land, back in the 80s." [10:14] 6Edgar will not argue about time, yet. Plenty of it left to experience, or perhaps about five months... "Yeah, he's a good pilot. Here's a perspective you've probably considered, though:" [10:15] Trubee: "Well, um. There's different kinds of wizards! Not everybody's a tight-ass about everything. What's the other thing?" [10:15] 4Cavanaugh smiles broadly. "I'm just doing what I'm told, that's all." 4This is, broadly speaking, not untrue. "You were around back then?" [10:17] Leisurely: "And back further. What about you?" 15[10:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I don't actually know yet. So far it seems like if Scientology was real, kind of. My friend's real deep into it." [10:18] 4Cavanaugh: "Nineties kid, myself. Born in Sacramento." 15[10:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...that makes it sound like I'm joining a cult. But no I'm, like, 75% sure I'm not." [10:18] 6Edgar: "Three new guys brought on for what sounds like a series of steadily increasing small jobs, sounds like a clear chain of command. Specifically with us at the bottom. Job one, comes with the offer letter: serve papers. Job two, followup in person: go to the ball. Of course that one's mixed with pleasure. Job three, via chinese whispers: highway robbery." [10:19] Trubee: "It's only a cult if they don't let you leave, right?" [10:19] 6Edgar: "None of this is wrong, you know, I know there's parallel hierarchies here. Santiago's had good reasons to make the calls he has and tends to end up screwed the worst. However." [10:20] 6There's no wall here, so he leans on the desk. "We need clarity. The nature of work, the level of independence, who instructions can and can't come from." [10:21] Seabury: "Things are murky, aren't they? Especially when you're committed to properly doing a duty you can't be sure was assigned in good faith." 15[10:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I think the idea is to be different. I don't know much more than that. Can I ask you a personal question?" [10:22] Leisurely: "You're the Shepherd the Prince bought." [10:23] Trubee puts her hat on the counter. "Yeah, sure." [10:23] 6Edgar: "Well, leaving faith in San Diego.. the situation's changed, right? So we don't know now who wants what when." [10:24] 4Cavanaugh: "That I am." 4He pauses, trying to decide how much of his hand to play. "I'm going to bet I'm not the first of my kind you've met in Los Angeles, too." 15[10:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So you weren't always a wizard, right? Something happened and then you could see... whatever you see now." 15[10:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "...do you feel like you're a different person than you were before?" [10:26] Seabury picks up his pen. "I couldn't possibly provide you with an ironclad structure that precludes outside interference. What I can do, is try to illustrate the subtle limits of your obligations." [10:27] Leisurely shakes her head. "I knew of one, a while back. While the County was its own Court. We didn't really share the same circles. I lived in Los Angeles back then." [10:28] 6Edgar: "Sure, go ahead. Got a couple of inputs you might need once you're done." [10:28] Trubee puts her hands on Rollies counter and leans backward against the tile. She has to think for a while. Her phone dings softly with a received text, but she doesn't bother to look at it. 08[10:29] Rollie's* [10:29] 4Cavanaugh: "Yeah. Some nights I wish I'd had the fortune to run in different circles, too." 4He shakes his head. "Alicia Holymount." [10:30] 4He doesn't spit the words out. Not quite. 14[10:31] * Joins: hrolf [10:34] The Administrator pushes a blank piece of paper forward, and draws a circle, writing the word "Deputies" inside of it. "You and your colleagues, of course." As he speaks, he draws lines and other circles. "Your official duty is to assist myself in the peaceful governance of the Territory. Your nominal superior is the Sheriff of Los Angeles, Barkley Mott, but that's an administrative ghost in the machine, if you follow my [10:34] meaning. He is busy in the big city. I can't imagine your adventures in our shared pond would interest him much when he has to keep order in the ocean." [10:36] 6Interesting. "So your role is to direct and or govern the Territory itself, not the practice of law enforcement therein." [10:38] Trubee runs her thumb along the brim of her battered blue hat. "I'm not anything I wasn't before. How I see things has changed. But not how I would react to them. Others are different. I mean…I was made more certain. Of myself. If that makes sense." [10:39] Leisurely doesn't have to dodge the spat venom, then. "That's her. The person you killed knew her." 15[10:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It feels like it make sense, but Rollie doubts he could put it into words. He's becoming increasingly okay with that. "Yeah, I get you." [10:40] "The person I killed died a long time ago." 4Cav shook his head. "Otherwise I'd have gotten to ask how." [10:42] Leisurely: "We all died a long time ago. We're all dead, until we remember what gives us life." 15[10:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Now that's the Leisurely Rollie knows. 08[10:43] 4Uh huh. "So...how do you know Rollie?" [10:45] Seabury: "Correct. To my chagrin, and to the delight of the Invictus lords I have to admonish from time to time. My role is a coordinator and facilitator between the carefully maintained and engineered machine of the Los Angeles Court and the surly and unwilling denizens of the Territory." 15[10:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Me, I don't feel different at all. I mean, I've got a weird job I don't like. I can't eat tacos anymore. And the beach is way different. But I don't feel like *I've* changed." [10:46] Leisurely: "I'm looking after him, since his sire took off to parts unknown. How's he doing, in the Deputy thing?" [10:50] Trubee frowns. "But…when you became like you are…do you feel like…not that you've changed, I guess, but the intensity of you has changed? Like a word, but the volume has changed? The way you say it? I'm kind of…I felt like I was sharing myself, what I knew that I was, with something else, something that reinforced me. Like…I always had autonomy, personal authority, but it felt like it was being confirmed, for re [10:50] That's just me, though." [10:52] 6Edgar watches the lines/circles. It's.. not the way he would have chosen to present it, but sure. "The Sheriff's directed by the Prince, which is true of everyone. So in fact we have no single authority; more of an.. agency model. The clients are anyone with rank." [10:53] "I'm kind of…I felt like I was sharing myself, what I knew that I was, with something else, something that reinforced me. Like…I always had autonomy, personal authority, but it felt like it was being confirmed, for real. That's just me, though." [10:53] 4Cavanaugh: "He's a good kid, and his heart's in the right place. Doesn't know shit about vampires, though." 15[10:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I guess I notice stuff more? Like I feel more open to stuff. And I don't see my friends much anymore so I don't really *act* the same as I used to. But like, that's the thing. It's sort of, I'm not different now, but I'll be different, a little bit at a time. Like how a computer just accumulates shitty little files in places you don't think to look." 15[10:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "Your thing sounds way cooler." [10:59] Seabury nods. "Correct again. The Invictus is hard authority from above and a soft, amicable consensus from below. The nobility would never approve of a system where they couldn't use their offers of patronage or threats of violence to sway outcomes in their favor. You notice that you and your colleauges - most of your colleagues - are men of speech before violence." [10:59] "Not that you are defenseless, or even weak. But you know to use words first. You are not a brute, although we could have had any number of those." [10:59] Leisurely: "But you do. Who would you be, if it all worked out?" [11:00] 4Cav: "We were just out on...a job with the Baroness and these two vampires go to ground -- you know, Protean. Just, flwwwtthp, down into the dirt. He thought we'd killed them." [11:01] 4Cavanaugh: "That question presupposes a lot of answers I don't yet have. So I'll say: if it all worked out, I'd be free." [11:02] 6Edgar: "Yeah, about that." [11:02] Seabury: "Legally, any ranking noble can request your personal assistance. But you aren't a machine, and if you feel you've been misused egregiously, you have the right to file a motion of censure to the Judex. The lawkeeper. Baron Rainey, of Downey, specifically." [11:03] 6Edgar: "Good name to know. Hopefully never need it. What I want to make you aware of isn't abuse of authority so much as... misuse of resources." [11:03] Trubee clenches her fists. "It's not." Unclenches. "Trust me. You're not a walking breach of reality." 15[11:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie does not say that that's cool as hell. It occurs to him though. "What does that mean?" [11:05] 6Edgar: "We were brought on in anticipation of a settling territory, to keep and promote peace. Like you said. But now the situation has changed, like I said. So.. last night, there were three of us on the road and one in the air facing off against a few guilty bystanders, claws and guns on both sides." [11:05] Trubee: "It means that every time I exercise that authority, it's rejected by the material world. What's the worst thing that can happen when you're drinking blood?" [11:05] 6Edgar: "We had the advantage of firepower, but here's my estimation- I'd appreciate if you take it as just an estimation, not the final word on others' character." [11:06] 4Cavanaugh: "I'm not laying claim to some great, vast understanding of our condition. I'm saying that it's fucked up no one bothered to tell that kid even the names of basic shit." 15[11:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie'd never thought about this before. His hand's resting on the handle of the fridge for a long time. "...I could kill someone." [11:06] Leisurely takes a step forward. "Free of what? Or free from someone?" [11:06] 6Edgar: "Choi wasn't- isn't willing to shoot. Cavanaugh isn't willing without what he thinks is a good reason. I.. would prefer not to be asked." [11:07] Seabury considers it. [11:08] Trubee shakes her head. "Ok, and what happens if they die?" [11:08] 4Cavanaugh stares at her for a moment. "You'll forgive me if I'm less than specific in my response to that question. Given that we've known each other for five minutes." 15[11:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What?" [11:08] 6Edgar: "It's a risk, when you repurpose tools." [11:09] Trubee: "I mean, you have a dead body, right? And you feel bad, obviously." 15[11:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie doesn't know where this is going. "...yes?" [11:10] Leisurely takes a step back. Her eyes unfocus. "Oh! Uh, sorry. That's…sorry, that was rude. I should go, sorry, I get kind of distracted." [11:11] 4Well, she's not wrong. "It's all good. Was a pleasure meeting you, Leisurely. I'm sure I'll see you around." [11:12] Seabury: "The job needs you to speak. The tool that can serve the Court in that way is rare and valuable. The one who can hold a gun and fire it has two hands. If you understand me." [11:14] 6Edgar: "Completely behind and on board with your opinion. Wish it was coming from a different circle." 15[11:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10I don't think Edgar knows how ships are laid out. [11:17] Trubee: "But you're still a vampire! You're doing what comes naturally, right? I mean you feel bad as a person, but not as a vampire. You're a vampire when you drink people's blood. The world understands. When I do my thing, it's not natural. I can mess up and break reality. It's wrong. I'm wrong. You have a dead person, and you're fulfilling your purpose, even if you hate it. I have a hole in reality that's telli [11:17] me 'you're not supposed to exist!'" [11:18] Leisurely darts in, and wraps her arms around Cavanaugh's torso for a moment. "Goodbye!" Then she's walking away as quickly as she can down the street. His shirt is wet where he pressed her face against his chest. [11:19] 4... 08[11:19] 4To Rollie: [11:19] [11:19] [11:19] *> [11:20] Trubee: "I mean, you're not - I'm sure you don't- I don't know if you're a bad person. But I'm like…I'm sorry. I don't know what I'm talking about. I should get some sleep." 15[11:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie is of the opinion that whether or not it's 'natural' to kill someone feels fairly academic. But Trubee's obviously having a hard time of it. "Yeah, don't worry about. And hey, if it helps, I'm pretty glad you exist. Forget reality." 15[11:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "And you can shut the lights off, I can see fine in the dark." 15[11:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Bzz.  15[11:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A moment later:  [11:25] Seabury: "I'm glad to hear it. Your duty is to assist me while navigating between the Scylla of not wanting to incur the wrath of some great lord and the Charybdis of dying in one of their inane adventures. Not wanting to shoot means you have more time to think. And come up with the correct answer." [11:25] 4Oh. Well. As long as that's normal behavior. [11:26] 15[11:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: <...maybe> [11:27] [11:27] 4Cav: 08[11:27] Something in the mage lets go, and she looks exhausted all at once. "Yeah, okay." Weakly, she smiles. "Just don't get any funny ideas about my neck. Or I'll set you on fire, ha." Rollie can be pretty sure she's joking. Pretty sure. In a few minutes, she's turned the lights off and made a cocoon on the couch. 08[11:28] 4Jesus, Rollie. Is there some like, vampire Tinder Cav doesn't know about? 15[11:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie, who has never been on fire, is able to take the joke in the spirit it was intended.  [11:31] 6Edgar: "There's only one thing opaque about the river's waters. Where's the actual routine?" [11:31] 4Cav: [11:31] [11:32] 6Edgar: "Job doesn't consist only of... adventures. Up to this point Santiago's been keeping minor peaces. Does he seek them out? Do you? Should we?" 14[11:32] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 15[11:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  [11:34] 4...What's on Cav's shirt, anyway? Tears? Please don't be blood tears. Those don't come out. 14[11:34] * Joins: hrolfie 15[11:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He'll shoot a text to Leisurely.  10When he sends the message, he rereads the last thing she said. When wizards get tired, warns Leisurely Foster, it's fatal. He peeks in at Trubee. She's not tired yet. 14[11:36] * Joins: hrolfy [11:36] Seabury spreads his hands. "I can only deal with what is reported to me, and recommend options if my opinion is sought. Santiago had the responsibility of actually visiting the hideouts and hangouts of our charges. In time, once you have earned their trust, they will come to you with their problems, expecting you to do something about them. And before you earn their trust, what you represent has earned their fear." [11:38] Under the glow of the streetlights, it's not dark enough to be blood. It's tears. 08[11:38] 4Cav, to Rollie: [11:38] [11:38] 14[11:38] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 15[11:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[11:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 14[11:39] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) [11:39] [11:40] 4Cav: [11:40] Leisurely: [11:40] 15[11:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Leisurely:  08[11:41] 4To Rollie: 15[11:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Cav:  [11:44] [11:45] 15[11:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Cavanaugh:  15[11:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Immediately:  15[11:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Leisurely:  [11:48] 4Cav: [11:48] 4Cav: 15[11:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Cavanaugh:  [11:50] 4Cavanaugh shakes his head, pockets the phone, and gets back in his car. Soon he's off, back to Laguna Beach. [11:51] [11:51] 15[11:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  [11:52] 15[11:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie has to put the phone down. 15[11:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10His back against the fridge, he runs his hands over his face in the dark. 15[11:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He is so not cut out for this shit. 15[11:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's a few minutes before he picks it back up.  [11:55] 15[11:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  [11:58] 6Edgar: "Yeah, alright." 6What was that about Santiago... "'Had'?" [11:59] "The sole responsibility. Now he shares it with you, a fact which I'm sure he takes solace from." 15[11:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie will head out here, giving Trubee a last look before he goes. Hopefully she can't start fires in her sleep. 15[11:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What's Cav's place look like? [11:59] Trubee is snoring softly, and fireless. [12:01] 6Edgar: "We'll have to inspire each other. Okay. There's just one more administrative matter, looking at your pro and con activity piles there." 14[12:01] * Joins: hrolfie [12:02] 4Big, all whites and oranges, in the modernish Vaguely Southwestern architectural style. It's mostly one story -- only two stories in the center of the main building, where the master bedroom is -- but makes up for it by sprawling, in its own Californian way. 14[12:02] * Joins: autopsyturvey [12:03] 6Edgar: "Not a lot of time to develop records of who's who where while war's waged. Thing we didn't think of is, there's going to be records already - names, places, feeding licenses. Where administering Orange Territory overlaps with pacifying it." 15[12:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie lets out a whistle as he drives up. Cav is fuckin paid. 08[12:03] 4If he's paying particularly close attention, Rollie will see the dark shape of what appears to be a mountain lion leap from the rooftop down into the backyard. [12:03] 6Edgar: "Is anyone using your photocopiers?" [12:04] 4When he arrives, the front door is open, and the sound of occasional cursing can be heard from within. 15[12:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He is paying attention that close, though the lion's movement - and the fact that he was paying that close attention - will surprise him. He knocks on the open door as he comes in. "Cav? What's good, man?" [12:04] 4Cav is walking around the main floor with his tablet, trying to figure out why there's a giant wireless deadzone in the main room. 08[12:05] "Hey, Rollie. Come on in." 4He tosses the tablet onto a couch. "Fucking wireless." 14[12:05] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 15[12:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Dead spot, huh. Where's your router at? Metal cabinets will knock those signals down hard." [12:07] Seabury: "No, they are not." He rummages around in the top drawer of his desk, and pulls out a key. "Down the hall, and the second door on the left." Once he's handed it over: "I was spending a good deal of time thinking about whether an updated census would be worth the effort. The last was done a full decade ago, and we keep running into new faces and missing old ones." 15[12:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sometimes old places have like, metal in the walls, and you can get dead spots if there's enough of them between you and the router. This place doesn't look that old though. Sweet place." 14[12:07] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[12:07] * Joins: hrolf 08[12:08] 4He sighs. "Yeah, it's in the kitchen. I'm beginning to suspect it's the damn fridge, and well, as you can see..." 4He leads Rollie into the kitchen where a giant commercial fridge with temperature controls has been installed incongruously in an otherwise tasteful modern design. "That thing's not moving." 14[12:09] * Joins: hrolfie 15[12:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Jesus. That for the polar bear?" [12:09] 4He frowns. "Maybe I can install it on top of the fridge and that'll fix it." [12:09] "Oh, you know. Various things. Blood, mostly." 15[12:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What are you, some kinda vampire?" 14[12:10] * Joins: hrolfy [12:10] "No, just another capitalist. Anyway! The journal." 4He indicates the table in the main room, where the thing is sitting, along with all his notes. [12:10] "I've translated a couple of the earlier entries already." [12:10] Seabury: "But that's something for the near future. We should bring you up to speed on the Halloween protocols." 14[12:12] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 15[12:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Nice." 10These notes look pretty painstaking. Cav must've spent ages on this. 15[12:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "What've you found so far? Any pattern in the ciphers from entry to entry?" 14[12:13] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 15[12:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He looks at the dates. How far apart are the entries in time? [12:14] 6Edgar's already leafing through paperwork. Good thing he reads fast, though who knows how dry it will be... "Census will be something to do when there's nothing to do. Of course, it's not in twenty-four hours." [12:16] "I think Frank was learning as he went," 4says Cav, flipping to the front of the journal. "Learning cryptography, I mean. The beginning entries are really simple substitution ciphers, with some transposition worked in. Stuff that takes a long time to physically decode, but isn't like, difficult." [12:16] "Then sometime in late 1975, he starts stepping up his game." [12:17] The second entry was more than a month after the first, and if the last date was in 1977, the number of entries suggests that his writings became even more infrequent after that. 15[12:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It looks like he had time to, too. This wasn't a daily kind of thing." 15[12:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10How many entries are there in total? Counting the untranslated one at the back. [12:18] Seabury: "Do you have any mortals or ghouls in your care?" [12:18] 4Cav: "Yeah. I can't imagine keeping one of these things daily in code. Especially not with every entry being a different one." [12:21] There's about ten main entries, although the ciphers obscure their true length, and countless bizarre scribblings and fragments. [12:23] 6Edgar stills the papers, pushes the edges neatly together and looks up. "One.. kine. I'm not sure who's in whose care." 6He doesn't think Seabury would count dogs. [12:24] Seabury: "Keep them inside and out of sight. The Circle's ghouls spend the morning and afternoon trawling for prey, and follow unfamiliar ghouls, hoping they'll lead them back to their masters. Then, they relay their findings to the Circle, and in the night they descend. And hunt." [12:26] 6Edgar: "How long does this go on?" 15[12:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie flips through the entries with his right hand, taking a pen off the table in his left and making notes on a blank scrap of paper. [12:30] "For one night. And then they disappear, and return to their shadows to laugh and lick the blood from their hands. There is a silver lining to living in the Territory, though. The tribulation they crave is concentrated in the persons of Invictus who can actually give them the thrill of a fight. You should be thankful that you are in a backwater. And the Marquise's…adventure robbed them of one of their lieutenants [12:30] prematurely, so I am sure they will want to repay the insult. Did she really make Baroness Modjeska carry that thing's head around with her afterwards?" [12:34] 6Edgar: "I hope you can steam clean a helicopter, that's all." 08[12:36] While he's examining the diary, Rollie does find a pattern to the ciphered entries, but it's not an encouraging one. The first two entries are complicated but solveable substitution ciphers, and the third looks like it would take even more work, but it shares the same properties. 15[12:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10So each entry is successively more laborious than the last? [12:38] The rest, however, look distressingly familiar once he's sorted them into a readable pattern. Starting with the fourth entry, Franks started to use a cipher that needs a key to be understood. 15[12:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Aw, shit." [12:39] It is, in essence, a one-time pad. 15[12:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Okay so, good news/bad news." 15[12:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "The good news is there's one more entry we can do by hand." 15[12:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "The bad news is the rest of them need a key. It's a disposable kind of encryption, it's called a 'one-time pad'. You take the plain text, and then you use a key you wrote specifically for that text to encode it. As long as you don't use the same pad a ton of times, it's impossible to crack." 15[12:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "...unless you get the pad." [12:42] Seabury grimaces: "Grisly. You and the other deputies should gather in one place, for safety. Yours and others, if you're called upon to help someone." 14[12:43] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[12:43] * Joins: autopsyturvey [12:49] "We're going to have to start trusting each other real quick. It's a secondary benefit." 15[12:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I wonder why he did it like that." [12:52] 4Cavanaugh sighs. "And the most likely place where that would be -- at least of the places we're currently aware -- is in Circle territory." [12:52] Seabury: "Foxholes make quick friends. If there is a serious, serious emergency, you should look for help where you can find it, or run. I cannot replace you at the moment, so I will forgo the part where I tell you that honor demands you fight and die. They run, too. But that is later. For now, survive." 15[12:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah. Unless he did something dumb like use the text itself as its own pad." 15[12:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "But I mean... you wouldn't go to this kind of effort and then not do it right, would you?" [12:53] 4Cavanaugh: "...Meaning it's impossible to decode unless you already have the uncoded text? That would be unfortunate." 15[12:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yep. I'll get high later and prophecy on it, get back to you." [12:55] 4Cavanaugh blinks. "If that's your workflow." [12:55] 4Cav: "Speaking of which: wizard roommate." 15[12:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah. That's mostly unrelated. Anyway, wizards are real, I met one cold-calling a dead wizard's apartment, that we looked through together, and now she's crashing on my couch." 15[12:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "I think I found something that could help Edgar though." [12:58] "Help him with wh--oh. Right." 4The insane death curse. It's been an eventful couple of weeks. 15[12:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah it's not like the SATs, you don't want to leave bullshit acorn crow curses to the night before." [12:59] 4Cav: "I'm guessing there's some where that's explicitly required, but I take your meaning." 15[13:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Do you know what the plan is for Halloween? When the blood witches all come out of the canyons to fuck shit up?" 15[13:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10You know, Wal-Purge-is Night. [13:03] 4Cavanaugh: "Edgar's meeting with Seabury tonight to figure that out, but I think the gist is we need to figure out what we're going to do -- and where we're going to do it -- and do it together. Splitting up just makes us easy targets." [13:04] 6Edgar: "What I hope is they don't even know who we are, yet. If it comes down to it.." [13:04] "They'll find out." [13:06] Seabury: "You have two hands, too, if it comes down to it." Seabury turns in his chair to check the clock hanging on the far wall. "I have to return to my holdings in Pomona for the duration. You should make your own preparations. Goodnight, Deputy." [13:11] When Edgar leaves, the parking lot is filled with crows. 15[13:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie says his goodbyes and heads home. He's careful not to wake Trubee. Princess is curled up at her feet. It occurs to him as he walks past that it's been a while since Princess had anyone with body heat to curl up against. That thought causes Rollie to feel a little chilly himself. He wanted to contemplate Franks's encryption habits, but as he loses himself in himself his thoughts turn back to her. [13:13] The harvest moon hangs low and red. 14[13:17] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[13:20] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 08[13:23] Has Rollie ever been to Chicago? It's warmer now, in the spring. He's standing in a park, somewhere. The wind is blowing, but all he can hear is the sound of chimes. Why did she leave? All the colors are wrong in the park. They're faded, like an old photograph that's been left out in the sun. Here's 1where someone was standing, but there's just a hole. Someone is screaming, but he can't turn to look.  08[13:24] The thing that comes out of the hole is wrong. It can't exist. Rollie can't see it. The people around him can see it, and they're the ones screaming. [13:25] He can't hear the screaming anymore, because the chimes are too loud. The park is too white, all of a sudden. All the colors are missing. [13:25] Everything is too white. Is the snow back? [13:26] The thing he can't see can't stand itself, or anything. All the color returns, at once, inside it, and then it bursts. All the grass is on fire. [13:26] Only one person is moving, now. Where did she come from? When did she stop screaming? [13:26] 13Why did you leave? [13:27] 8Because if I'm going to die, I don't want you to see it.  08[13:27] When Rollie wakes up, it's Halloween. [13:28] NEXT TIME: Harvest Season 14[13:46] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[13:47] * Joins: hrolfy [13:54] <@Ferrinus> http://badgame.net/banners/022e162ed11d1b5037ffa977373b56508396dead.gif 14[13:55] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) [13:55] Insain in the membrane 15[13:56] <@VoxPVoxD> hey: same [14:05] <@Ferrinus> http://puu.sh/fezO5/e961aa348c.gif [14:05] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/33AthQG.jpg 15[14:13] <@VoxPVoxD> did you see the werewolf poster in perfectcircle [14:14] <@Ferrinus> i didn't 15[14:14] <@VoxPVoxD> https://40.media.tumblr.com/06487c8d654a7968d07fcf93eca2f878/tumblr_nm981xe6f11qbzeqwo1_540.png nick's training begins [14:15] that poster owns [14:15] <@Ferrinus> oh hell yes [14:29] i like the twin inhuman highway fiends poster 15[14:29] <@VoxPVoxD> you would [14:30] http://www.lucid-tv.com/art/tmg2.jpg [14:31] see also: http://www.lucid-tv.com/art/tmg3.jpg 14[14:56] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:58] * Joins: hrolf 14[15:00] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 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seconds) 14[23:02] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[23:04] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[23:17] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[23:18] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[23:25] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[23:59] * Joins: autopsy_turvey Session Time: Tue Apr 07 00:00:00 2015 14[00:01] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[01:10] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[01:11] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[01:14] * Joins: drinkybird 14[01:16] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[01:17] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[01:18] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[02:33] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[03:13] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[03:16] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[03:57] * balana is now known as banan 14[04:19] * Joins: quaker 14[04:19] * Joins: drinkybird 14[04:22] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[04:22] * Quits: quaker_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 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hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:45] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[14:47] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[14:50] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[15:22] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[16:31] * Joins: Crion 14[16:33] * Joins: dammitwho 14[17:03] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[17:39] * Quits: Quaker_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[17:41] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[17:48] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[19:07] * Joins: Crion 14[19:13] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[19:22] * Joins: Crion [19:29] K @kbridge [19:29] I can't help but feel partially responsible for this situation for which I am entirely responsible. 03[19:29] nomadgame 15[19:29] <@VoxPVoxD> lol [20:34] - [20:34] - [20:34] - [20:34] - [20:34] - [20:34] - [20:39] The couch is empty again. The sun is down early in the season, and the moon isn't taking long at all to replace it. From outside, there's already the sound of parents steering their kids down streets and up onto porches. It's just the babies dressed up as pumpkins and their slightly older siblings right now. The older kids won't show up for another few hours, and the teenagers won't start going to parties and graveyards [20:39] even longer after that. The normally deserted streets are the most active they'll ever be this year. For once, people have an excuse to leave their cars in the garage. 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Halloween rules. Or at least, it used to rule. 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shit, Rollie didn't even remember to get candy, and unlike past years he didn't just, have some lying around he could throw in a bowl. He's got his lights off, his blinds drawn - he's turned into one of those people. 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10All the more reason to focus on something else. [20:45] If he had the luxury, he could stay in and watch the marathon on AMC. All the Halloween movies, even though the first is the only really good one. Trubee's left a note on the back of a junk mail envelope: "Out to find work. Be back in the morning." 15[20:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Did she sign it? [20:46] She did not. 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's minor quest to figure out how 'Trubee' is actually spelled continues. Hopefully she gets a really good job, and has business cards or something. Anyway, the last number off this napkin that Rollie dialed rang in a dead man's home. Here's hoping we don't go 2 for 2, 'Joanie'. [20:48] It only rings once before somebody picks up. At least it's the right gender this time. "Yeah." 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10How's she sound? "Hey, is this Joanie?" [20:50] She sounds monosyllabic. "Yeah." 08[20:51] If Rollie had to use words, he could pick "clipped" or "flat" or "unexcited." 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "How are you doing tonight? I'm a friend of Leisurely Foster's. My name's Rollie." [20:55] "Okay." [20:56] Outside, a father pulls his two daughters, both dressed like Ilsa from Frozen, along in one of those big reinforced wagons you see at swap meets. [20:57] Later, they'll keep correcting him whenever he says "Ilsa." It's Elsa, Dad. 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Nice. "Is this a bad time? I could call back." 08[21:02] 'Joanie' moves the phone from one ear to the other and Rollie can hear what sounds like glass being moved around. "Yeah, it's a bad time. I told Foster that I'd help her out with this, though. So say whatever you were going to say, I guess." 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Well, actually, if you agreed to help her out, then maybe you know what I'm calling for? She kind of... the advice she gave me was very guidance-light." [21:07] The other person sighs. "I don't know, man. You want to see what I do, right? What did she say?" 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Uh, Abbott and Costello were mentioned. The gist of it that I got is that I'm supposed to meet people who are different. She gave me your number, and this other guy's. You're a lot livelier than the other guy." 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's peering through the blinds. Iron Man and Captain America are marching by. Looks like Captain America's about to cry. 14[21:10] * Joins: trenchfoot_ [21:11] "What do you mean, 'different?' Different as in, I'm not a walking dead body? What do you want, exactly? Tell me what you want me to do." 14[21:13] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Right, okay. Okay. Well, they can't all be charmers. But he's following Leis's advice; he's calling because he's sure he wants to. So we'll make this work. "We could hang out a little, maybe. I'm kind of- I don't have an interview checklist or anything." 10Is that a thing? Interview checklists? [21:17] Joanie: "Okay. Where are you right now?" 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I'm in Fullerton. You want to meet somewhere?" [21:22] "I'm in Laguna Beach. I have to mind something there the whole night, anyway. So I guess you can hang out with me while I do that. I'll bring some beer. Meet me at my house." She gives him an address on Sunset Terrace, in Laguna. 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10How close is that to Cav's place? [21:24] About 3 miles, once he looks it up on Google Maps. Five minutes by car, if there's no traffic on the 1. 14[21:25] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[21:26] * Joins: cbass 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Nice. Well, Laguna Beach is a decent trip, so Rollie'll make sure Princess is walked, fed, and watered before he leaves, and grabs his mp3 player for the ride. [21:28] He'll only have to do the first two, since Trubee topped off his water bowl before she left. 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie'll leave a 'Good luck!' on the back of the envelope where Trubee made her note, in case she gets back before he does. It occurs to him that she doesn't have a key. Maybe she'll magically find the spare? [21:32] Laguna Beach is empty of its usual traffic jam on the downtown main street, since most of its residents are either in their houses or walking around with their children. The costumes here are more expensive and elaborate. Nobody's walking around with a bedsheet claiming they're a ghost. The address Joanie gave is a couple miles south of downtown, right where the streets and homes overlook the sea cliffs. Every so often, [21:32] bluffs give way to little beaches. It's not just cool at night, anymore. Now it's out and out cold on the coast. 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's got a sweatshirt, but he's short the endothermic processes that make sweatshirts effective against the cold. Cold or not, though, you can't beat this view. [21:41] The houses here aren't even garish McMansions, which is nice. Everyone's got enough sense to live in narrow, multistoried homes with lots of balconies, colorfully painted shingles, and eclectic architectural mixes. The house Joanie gave the address for is set back further than its neighbors, and it's smaller by about half again. It's a little cottage in the old adobe style, all stark white walls with a garden full of [21:41] blooming flowers and plants surrounding it. 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is there a car out in front? [21:45] Yeah, an old 65 Ford F-100 in blue and wimbledon white. It's paint is peeling and there's some pitting and rust, probably from the sea salt. 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10This is a car that looks like the woman on the phone sounded. [21:46] Its*, also. [21:47] She didn't sound too old. Merely very curt and exasperated. 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That's how old people sound. 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Anyway, Rollie'll park and walk up and knock, unless interrupted at some point by a series of deviously hidden traps. 08[21:52] You're only as old as you feel, as several of the very old people Rollie has met recently might tell him. There aren't any deviously hidden traps, just flagstones leading through the grass lawn up to the door painted red. There's a wooden carving of a sunflower for a knocker. The woman who opens the door isn't old, after all. She's maybe ten years older than he is, but taller and broader, and much more fit. Her bright re [21:52] hair falls uncombed over her shoulders, and she looks like she's about to go work outside, judging from her thick brown jacket and boots. 08[21:53] She puts her hand out to shake. "Rollie, right? Joan. Or Joanie. Whichever." [21:53] Her bright red hair falls uncombed over her shoulders, and she looks like she's about to go work outside, judging from her thick brown jacket and boots.* 15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's handshake is weak but sincere. "Rollie Choi. Nice to meet you, Joanie." 10Calling her Joanie makes him calling himself Rollie feel less ridiculous. But he'll never feel comfortable answering to Roland. "This place is cool." 14[21:59] * Joins: mugobbles [22:02] "It is. Out of the way, and nobody gets too worked up in a beach town. Sorry if I was shitty over the phone. The wires are all fucked up. I can't hear too good when I use it. You wanna come in? I'm just getting some stuff, then we can head down to the beach." She stands back from the doorway, revealing a living room and kitchen in severe disarray. Empty bottles, cans, and pizza boxes are everywhere around the trash can, [22:02] there's a pile of dirty dishes in the sink. [22:03] The only table visible is piled high with junk. 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Nothing about this strikes Rollie as odd, so it doesn't take any effort to appear comfortable in this woman's untidy home. "Yeah, no, it's cool. I felt weird just cold-calling, you know, but Leis is Leis. Do you know her well?" [22:13] Joanie sweeps a pile of thimbles, empty rolls of twine, and newspapers into cardboard box with her arm. "Nah, not too well. We talk every once in a while. Mostly I buy weed from time to time. Once she helped me out with a thing in Dana Point after I, uh…I needed an extra hand, and she stepped up. So she's okay in my book. Grab that cooler." She motions to an Igloo on the counter while she flings trash in the corners of [22:13] the room, looking for something on the table. 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie grabs that cooler. Is it heavy? [22:19] It is. It feels like it's stuffed to the brim. Joanie finds what she's looking for, an old wooden elephant that's been tied to a branch of some long-dead tree. "This'll come in handy." 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10At least it's not an acorn. And at least Rollie can't get tired. "We all set?" 08[22:22] "Yup! Come on, we'll take the stairs down. Ah, wait, hold on. You're new, so…" The taller woman bumps Rollie out of the way to grab a necklace from a cabinet. It's made out of the same twine that Rollie can see lying around in piles everywhere, except it's got three big scallop shells tied onto it. "Here, wear this. It helps with the spirits." [22:25] Carrying her own box of stuff, she leads him out. The street stops at the last house on the bluff, but the sidewalk continues on, passing through a hedge and ending up at the top of a long, wrought-iron staircase that drops fifty feet to the sand beach below. The tide is in. Most of the sand is under water. There's nobody here except the two of them to watch the waves crash against the rocks, throwing up huge fountains o [22:25] spray. Even at the top of the stairs, they can feel the mist. 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's stare lingers a little bit past politeness, but he takes the necklace all the same. Any unease he has evaporates when they get back outside. No matter how little of this he understands, it's hard not to feel right when you watch the waves move like this. [22:28] Joanie has to raise her voice to be heard over the clamor of the water on stone. "You okay? You look a little weirded out. See that tower? That's where we're going. Just gonna sit up there for a couple hours, tend the locus." 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I'm just learning as I go!" 10Did she say locust? [22:31] It's carved out of stone, and it looks ridiculous next to the modern houses. It looks like some ancient pirate's hideout, attached to the cliff, ending in a shingled, pointed roof. There's no light in its slitted windows. The froth thrown upwards reaches halfway up the structure. "I know what that's like. Gotta learn fast, right? Or you do something wrong and somebody gets hurt." 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah." 10This tower doesn't even look real. It speaks of intrusion, of somewhere distant and cold. A foreign place. "Yeah. Yeah." [22:41] The cliff curves gently inward here, by the small doorway that lights the entrace. Under the moonlight, the stark and spindly shadows of piled driftwood are thrown up in lines across the little hollow's surface. "Hup." It's only a short climb, up stone stairs in a narrow staircase, everything slick with mist until they get to the top. [22:43] It's more open up here, in a little circular room with windows carved into the sides. It's empty, except for a few discarded candy wrappers and a crumpled beer can. There's another staircase leading up into a separate passageway, but the steps near the botto have all been smashed away with some violence. [22:44] Joanie puts her cooler down, and pulls out a small Coleman lamp. "You can put that down. Cozy, huh?" 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie puts that down. "This is really cool. How old is this tower?" [22:46] The stone is lit up when she puts a match to the lamp. "The guy who owned the house on top of it built it in the 20s. Used to be just a staircase he used to get up and down to the beach without having to deal with anybody's shit. Perks of the rich, you know?" 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie thinks of Cav's massive fridge. This is both more and less impressive than that. "Yeah, for real. So what do you do up here?" [22:54] The other thing she takes out of the cooler is a six-pack of Heineken, and then she sits down, her back to the wall, and cracks one open. "Right there in the middle is where all the spirits can come into the world like you and me would step through a door. So every once in a while I sit here for the night and say hey to everybody who comes through either way. And make sure nothing too crazy stays around too long." 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Spirits." 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "Okay so, I don't know how much of this stuff I'd be expected to know to *not* sound like a dumbass, but whatever your expectations are, I don't meet 'em." 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "Bear with me here. What's a spirit?" 08[22:59] Joanie takes a swig. "They're everything in our world given form in another. The" - the word she uses is strange to Rollie's ears. Her voice changes when she says it, like somebody's dropped rocks in a blender. "-Hisil. Every object and emotion." 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie grabs a beer, so as not to be rude. "So where are they when they're not coming here? Where are they coming from?" [23:01] "From the Hisil. The other world. Their world. Their own courts, with their own gods." 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...so why here?" 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "What makes this spot so good?" [23:06] "The original owner used to keep his kids' stuff down here. Lots of toys and old shit they didn't need when they got older. The guy went bankrupt and the whole thing went into some kind of estate battle, I think. But the kids' stuff stayed down here, all those memories and emotions from a bunch of people's lives in one place. Then it just kind of broke through one day. Nice spot." Joanie sticks her head out the window. [23:06] "I've seen a lot worse." 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks out the window. Can he tell what she's looking at? [23:08] The waves hitting the rocks below. But she's moving her head like she's following something moving across the horizon. 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is there, like, a plane, or something? [23:09] Then he can see something: forms under the water, moving faster than any boat, glowing and glittering under the dark surface of the ocean. "Hey, there we go." 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Uh. "Uh." 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "What should I-" 14[23:12] * Quits: mugobbles (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [23:14] She points to where he's looking. "I know that one. That's the tower's spirit. There's a big whale spirit." She pulls her head back in, looking up and around at the stone. "I guess the tidal pool critters will be here in a second. Don't worry about them, they won't hurt you." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10None of these look like that sea monster, right? The one from Rollie's dream? 08[23:17] None of them. Joanie reaches out and turns off the light. "Sorry, buddy. Back inside." She's not talking to Rollie. The light is out, but the room isn't dark - [23:19] There's a soft blue glow in the room, coming from all the stone chamber's surfaces. Little motes of light are falling in through the windows, taking a long time to float to the floor. They glow like candles. On the ceiling, shells with strange designs poke through and lower themselves gently through the stone, assembling in schools. 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Whoa." [23:21] Joanie nods upwards. "Hi there. Hello." 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Let's see the fucking deputy's office top that. Fuck you and your 'office'. This is what's real. 08[23:23] There's dozens of things crawling in from the stairs, through the windows, dropping in from the ruined staircase above. Some of them flock to Rollie, tiny, bizarre shapes and points of scintillating light crawling up his body, buzzing around the shell necklace he's wearing. Joanie laughs. "Sorry about that. They're trying to talk to the ones in the fetish." [23:25] "You probably have questions." 08[23:31] Here's what Rollie can see: the lights and shapes that aren't attracted to him are moving to the center of the room, and fading out of existence. At the same time, the floor seems to be disgorging new shapes. They just pop into existence and float lazily in the air for a few moments, before streaming out the staircase and windows. It looks like a freeway from above. All of the shapes and lights give Joanie a wide berth. 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie does not lose his cool. It takes him a moment to cohere his thoughts into a question. "Where are they going?" [23:32] "Home. The Hisil. They get tired of being out here after a while, unless somebody's tethered them to something." 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What do they have against you?" [23:36] "Against me? Nothing, really. They're not big or smart enough to hold grudges or anything. It's just instinctual. They're showing deference to the Ithaeur, like they should." 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "The what?" 14[23:36] * Joins: mugobbles [23:37] "To me. To a spirit-shaper." 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So-" 10It doesn't feel bad, exactly, to be covered in crawling, ephemeral sea life. But it is distracting. And it tickles. A lot. "-ssso what's your job, here? To make sure they keep moving?" [23:42] "That's right. And to make sure they don't start eating each other too much. Or they get nuts. And craftier. Easier to keep them like this." 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "And you do it alone?" [23:43] Joanie's distracted smile fades. "Yes." She cracks open a third beer. 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie hasn't opened his, but it's also still cold. "How long you been out here?" [23:45] "You don't have to drink that if you don't want to." The beer can she tosses into the middle of the room bounces once, and then it's swept up in the tide. A huge hive of swarming lights engulfs it, buzzing and shaking. "Thirteen years." 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "How often does this happen?" [23:50] She waves her hand around at it all. "This? Every night. It's permanent. I come down here every couple of days to see that it's still working right." 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie'd strain his neck turning his head every which way if that was still a thing that could happen. "Is it always this beautiful?" [23:52] "When it's orderly like this. You have to watch the river to see if it's about to flood." 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "But... why you?" 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "How did you become a spirit boss?" [23:55] "I was born to it. I'm Uratha." Like the other time, it comes out harshly. "One of the People. It's in my blood. I'm like them. Less like you. Well, I guess less than like what you used to be." 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Like family?" [23:59] "Like family, sure. Inhuman. Shapeshifters. The spirits know us. These are like infants. We have to hunt the adults when they grow too vicious. The ones you saw out there in the sea." Session Time: Wed Apr 08 00:00:00 2015 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So are there more spirit bosses out there?" 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "These aren't all the spirits in the world or anything." [00:04] "They're everywhere. It's the other side of our world. Every thing in the world. The world itself. Earth is out there somewhere, like a real god. And whatever people eat and sleep on and wipe their asses with, too. It's all there." 08[00:04] "Do you have a title or something I should be calling you, Rollie? Foster had one. Vision-something, I can't remember." [00:05] "I know your kind is touchy." 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie rubs the back of his neck. "Uh. I guess. It's going to sound really stupid, though." [00:05] "Hers sounded pretty stupid, yeah. What's yours?" 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm the Thirteenth Slave. I swear it's not a fetish thing." 10His hand goes to the shell necklace. "I mean, not this kind of- you know. You know?" 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's just what they call you when you don't know anything." [00:06] "You can stand that? All the stupid little extra things they make you do?" 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I mean. It's just words, right? It's not like they'd be any friendlier if they had to use my real name." 10His hand goes out and runs along something between an eel and a memory. "It's like any other thing. You put up with the bullshit if the people are worth it. Leis is a good friend." [00:12] Joanie pulls the wooden elephant out of her pocket and runs her thumb along its side. "Titles are better when they're given to you by friends. I guess our deed names are kind of like that." 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Deed names?" [00:13] "My full name is Joan Fire-Under-The-Water. For when you've done something that you should never forget. It becomes a part of you. Your history in your name." 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Is it rude to ask what you did to get yours?" [00:16] The tall woman with the red hair shrugs. "I'm not the storyteller. I couldn't do the whole thing right. I can tell you what I did, who gave it to me, but it's not the full story." 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I'm here to learn." [00:18] Joanie splays her legs out flat and leans back with her eyes closed, thinking. The chattering of the spirits is almost as loud as the waves breaking outside. 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie sits too. He didn't realize he'd backed up against one of the tower walls. [00:21] "There was a fire spirit out in San Bernardino that wandered out into the mountains. Found its way up to Santiago Peak. I don't really know why, we showed up after that. Couple of years before that, somebody killed somebody else up there, one of the County workers who fix the radio towers up there. Not spirits, just a human thing. But the murder spirit hung around. We had other things to do than chase it away. Like that [00:21] oily rag in your garage that you forget about, right?" [00:21] "So the fire spirit gets into a fight with the murder spirit, ends up eating it. This new thing, it's both and neither. Just a big orange ball of hate." 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie listens. [00:25] "Fire spirits are all the same, you have to drown it. Or suffocate it. But I didn't know what to do with murder spirit yet, and we didn't have time to find out. It was just going to take off towards the brightest lights it saw and keep on going until something put it out. So I jumped on top of it, had to grab it with my teeth. It freaked out and just started running with me on top. I tried to get it into the reservoir up [00:25] there, but it was going west instead, so I figured, why not?" [00:25] "I thought I could steer it into Lake Mission Viejo, but it kept burning me so bad I didn't get a good enough grip on it until it was already past. So I had to ride it into the ocean, right off the bluffs." [00:26] "It drowned, I didn't. I got the name from the storyteller." 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Words don't come easily here. Joan's audience just sits there, one knee up, trying to paint a picture of this in his mind. "That-" 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Words don't come easily here. Joan's audience just sits there, one knee up, trying to paint a picture of this in his mind. "That-" 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's fuckin real." [00:28] "My hair burned off completely for two months afterward. Looked like a chemo patient." 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "But you don't- sorry if this is weird- you don't look burned at all." [00:30] "I heal quick. All the People do. Too quick, sometimes. Not a nice feeling to be covered in third-degree burns that are constantly opening up so your skin can regrow. That took about two weeks." 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So where are the others?" 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "You said 'we'. You didn't go up there alone, right?" [00:32] Joanie opens the fifth beer. "No, we went up together." 14[00:34] * Quits: mugobbles [00:35] "It's just me now. Last three years." 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie puts his beer back in the cooler. "Can I ask..." [00:38] "They're dead. I lived." 15[00:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh." 15[00:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Nothing else comes to mind. [00:40] "I thought you'd be indoors on Halloween." 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I wanted to talk to you first." 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "When you- when they were still alive, did you still do this alone?" 08[00:43] Joanie tightens her grip around the little wooden elephant. Her hand is shaking. "No. We were a family. We did it together. I'm Ithaeur. I needed others. Now I have to do it all. The all-singing, all-dancing…" She looks at Rollie with something like disgust for something she's remembering. "…werewolf. That's the word you use." 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's eyes widen. Did she just- 15[00:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...man." 15[00:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...man." [00:48] "What a stupid word. Who uses it? Just you, when you've done something terrible and you yell without understanding, yell when I have to come after you. Uratha. Ithaeur. Hirfathra Hissu. You don't even know the real words of the things that have to hunt you when you grow into spirits." 15[00:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't know... man. I don't know shit, okay? About any of this. But like... that's cause I haven't learned it yet. I didn't- I didn't even know that- okay. Look. I would not have called you a werewolf. I promise you. You're just Joanie. Joan Fire-Under-The-Water. You rode a fireball into the ocean. And you, you sit here and you keep a vigil even though everyone else is gone." 15[00:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "None of that... 'werewolf' isn't a word for that." 15[00:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't know what 'werewolf' is a word for but it's not fuckin that." 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "You're- ithayer. Sorry, I can't- I don't know how you do that thing with your voice. But you're a spirit-shaper, right? You're one of the people. You're Joanie. Right?" [00:53] "The First Tongue. What I speak to the spirits." She puts her wrists to her forehead, bends over, and screws her face in concentration. [00:54] When she looks up, her hand is still. "Sorry. I shouldn't take it out on you." 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I don't mind. I like talking to people." 15[00:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "Taking it out on me is better than, just, not telling anybody, right? It's got to be." [00:55] Joanie puts the elephant away in her coat's front jacket. She doesn't respond for a while, and lets the sound of the ocean and the spirits fill her silence. [00:56] What time is it? The time is passing pleasantly, here in the tower. "Is it true you live forever?" 15[00:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10There's so much loneliness in this. Leisurely, Phocas, Trubee, and now Joanie... people get separated. People get tired. "That's what it says on the box." [00:58] "I don't. I'll grow old. Something will kill me when I get too slow." 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I'll remember you." [01:05] She smiles. "I don't expect it to happen for a long time. I'm pretty fast." The ocean and the spirits, again. Longer this time. "The man who led us, Roger, he used to say I didn't understand it. When I was younger. I thought it was wrong, that you'd have to live your whole life fighting and not be rewarded for it at the end. He told me that the pattern was the reward. Knowing that we belonged to the world. Nothing we did [01:05] was unnatural. Now he's dead, and I have to carry how he thought." 15[01:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Do you believe it?" [01:07] "What's knowing you belong? Everything ends. I'd like to not belong, to not have to die at the end. But." She shrugs. "It would be better if I were a wolf. Then I'd be a stupid animal. I wouldn't be able to think about it before it happens." 15[01:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You could leave, couldn't you? Like... you're the last one here. If you just got up and left, who'd be around to get mad?" 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm not saying you should do that. I'm just saying. The fact that you're here still, that means something, right?" 15[01:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "You're here on purpose." [01:13] "I thought about it. I was going to, about a year after it was just me." [01:20] "I told the spirits last. They couldn't understand. I was Ithaeur. Their Ithaeur. Why would I go? I was born here. I tricked my first spirit here. My pack was here. There bones are here. I'm here." She sticks a hand into the stream of spirits. They recoil and flee at first, and then they cover her limb, buzzing and shining. "Who can argue against nature? Pay each spirit in kind. Debts don't travel well. So." 15[01:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "But you can't really make conversation with these guys." [01:25] She shakes her head. "No, not these ones. The ones in their home, the ones who live in Hisil, they can speak as well as you and me. I visit them in their home, and they're grateful for company, grateful for someone to play games with." 15[01:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What about you?" [01:29] "I'm grateful to do what I was made to do. I speak with the spirits. I hunt. I belong. Sometimes it's enough." 15[01:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's silent for a while. It's so nice to listen to the waves and the music here. Halloween is just an idea, a shadow that this light can banish. Finally he says, "So I live forever. That's the idea, anyway. And the way Leis tells it, the thing about living forever is... it's not about the pattern. The pattern is the problem. You live your life in one way, and that's good... for one life. What are you going to do for the next one?" 15[01:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "How about the one after that?" 15[01:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "You need to - I need to, I mean - you need to change. You need to want something that's not what you are, something you can't even see all of. You need to want something different, and you need to let it change you." 14[01:35] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 15[01:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "And like... I knew that, kind of. I thought it was true. But I didn't really *believe* it. I didn't know what it meant." 15[01:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "'Cause I didn't want anything, you know? I didn't want anything I didn't have." [01:37] Joanie: "What do you want now?" 15[01:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "I want to remember. Does that make sense? I want to see you. I want to keep this vigil with you. I want to know you and I want to be your friend. And eventually, when you slow down, when you're gone... I want to be there. I want your, your strength and your loyalty, I want those to be forever, because they changed me. I want to remember you." 15[01:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10And Trubee. And Phocas. And Cav and Edgar and Santiago. And Teresa and Jessie and Pearl. And Soltiude and Bailey and Jubal. And Mom. And Leisurely. 15[01:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "None of this is real if it's not for someone. None of this is real if it's not with someone. I want to remember you." [01:42] Joanie closes her eyes again. [01:43] "That's alright, Thirteenth Slave. Start by remembering my phone number. The rest might come with that." [01:44] "You should get back. The ones in the woods love to hunt tonight." 15[01:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah." 10Rollie lets his head rest against the wall. He doesn't feel cold anymore. "Yeah." 10He stands up. "Hey. Thank you. Thanks for sharing this with me." [01:46] She opens one eye. "Tell Foster that me knowing you makes us even, unless she feels like helping again. One more thing." 15[01:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah?" [01:48] "I speak with you because I speak with the spirits, and I've forgotten how to kill without speaking first. The other People down here haven't forgotten. Stay out of Camp Pendleton unless you talk to me first. Stay out of the forests north of L.A. unless you talk to me first. They're strong enough to speak a different way." 15[01:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I will." [01:49] "Happy Halloween." 15[01:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "Happy Halloween." 14[02:24] * Joins: ddt 14[03:13] * Quits: Quaker_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[03:13] * Joins: quaker_ 14[03:13] * Quits: quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[03:18] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:38] * Quits: quaker_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[03:38] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[03:38] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:46] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[03:51] * Quits: Quaker_ (Quit: Quaker_) 14[04:32] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[04:32] * Joins: dammitwho 14[05:28] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[06:58] * Quits: dammitwho 09[07:16] * banana is now known as bnana 09[07:16] * bnana is now known as banana 14[08:32] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[08:33] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[10:09] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[10:16] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[11:00] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[11:03] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[11:08] * Joins: Crion 14[11:11] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[11:16] * Joins: ddt 14[11:36] * Joins: hrolf 14[11:47] * Joins: hrolfie 14[11:51] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[11:52] * Joins: hrolf 14[11:56] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[12:09] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[12:59] * Quits: Quaker_ (Quit: Quaker_) 14[13:01] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[13:06] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[13:09] * Joins: Crion 14[13:44] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[13:58] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[13:59] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:01] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:04] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[14:07] * Quits: hrolfie (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[14:29] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:31] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:34] * Quits: hrolf (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[14:37] * Joins: hrolfy 14[14:38] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:41] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:41] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:42] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[14:44] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[14:57] * Joins: hrolfy 14[15:00] * Joins: hrolf 14[15:01] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[15:02] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:04] * Quits: Quaker_ (Quit: Quaker_) 14[15:08] * Joins: hrolfie 14[15:10] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:10] * Joins: hrolfy 09[15:11] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:13] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[15:16] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:27] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[15:53] * Quits: Quaker_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:53] * Joins: quaker_ 14[15:53] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[16:01] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:27] * Joins: dammitwho 09[18:02] * banana|peels is now known as banana|lol 09[18:05] * banana|lol is now known as banana 14[18:47] * Joins: ddt 15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD> It'd be easy to miss it from the road if there were anything else out here. [20:12] 4Not that easy. [20:12] 4Lis is driving. 15[20:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Chugwater's cemetery (the 'iowa flats' cemetery) is a gray smudge of acreage on one side of a long road through enormous brown fields. It's at the far end of a dirt path running for a couple hundred yards away from the highway. It's a clear night, so there's plenty of clear ground in all directions. 15[20:15] <@VoxPVoxD> The question is, which side are you entering it from? The Beast can cross the Gauntlet, but it needs a bit of time to get up to speed. The nomads have a choice to make, at least for the immediate future. [20:15] 4Lis will look for a quiet place to park. Some place no passing highway police will stop to investigate, but where, should they have to run, they can run to the Beast quickly. [20:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick doesn't want to enter the graveyard's gauntlet right away. He's going to snoop around a bit first, peek at the local Shadow through the flesh side, and generally recon the best approach based on where spirits seem to be congregating, what is or isn't a giant fire-filled ravine, etc. [20:19] 4Lis, as he puts the Beast into neutral: "We have a choice. Either we cross over now, or we investigate first." 4He swivels to look back into the RV. "I advise the latter." [20:19] "But Nicholas is the expert." [20:20] 3Reuben: 1“Spirit world! Spirit world is rad.” [20:21] 4Lis keeps the headlights off and doesn't gun the engine once he gets onto the feeder road. Everything under 20 miles per hour. [20:21] 6Anna: "I mean, we'll be there eventually, right? Real first, spirit second seems like a good plan." 15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD> The little building at the end of the dirt road, right behind the gate, is occupied. There's a light on inside as Lis rolls up. [20:23] 4Lis: "Does anyone else feel like being a people person tonight?" [20:23] 4He's already putting on his collar. What time is it, precisely? [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Oh, jeez, yeah, there probably is an old guy watching the place or something. Whadda we tell him?" [20:24] 4Lis: "I can handle it." [20:24] 4Lis: "I will catch you all up." [20:24] 3Reuben will go with Lis if extra sociability is needed. [20:25] 4It won't be. And Nicholas will need someone competent keeping an eye on him during his Gauntlet business. [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "So should we-..? Okay." 12Nick'll start his survey immediately if he's not on call to make literal puppy eyes, here. He peers through each of the RV's windows before slipping out the side of the Beast opposite the little building and surveying the landscape. [20:26] 4In addition to Alisa and Anna, of course. [20:26] "Cool." 7Alisa will pick up a stick or something and follow after Nick. [20:26] 4Lis will park the Beast, make sure he looks like a priest, and head for -- presumably -- the undertaker's house. [20:26] 7You never know when you'll find a dead body to poke, in a graveyard. 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Is Nick bringing Scotch? TJ will be staying back, reading. [20:27] 6Anna will follow Alisa and Nick. Hangin' out in the graveyard after dark. Ahh, high school. [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick is, yeah. He'll still need some help with translation in case he finds anything or anyone floating around on this side of the Gauntlet. [20:28] 4That bothers Lis. He'd...prefer someone stay with Timothy. But it can't be helped. He'll just check in once he's done at the house. [20:30] 4As the others make their way inside, he'll stride up to the house with the light on and knock. Again: precisely what time is it? 15[20:32] <@VoxPVoxD> It's about 11:30 PM when Lis knocks. 11:32, by his clock. 14[20:32] * Joins: autopsyturvey [20:32] 4Ah. Then we're just midnight crass. 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> The door opens, and a bearded man, late 40s, looks Lis up and down. Behind him is a little cabin, lit at the desk and full of knick-knacks. "Something wrong, Father?" [20:33] 4Are we here visiting a specific grave? [20:33] 4Surely that would have been discussed. 15[20:34] <@VoxPVoxD> The nomads are not here for anyone in particular. 14[20:36] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD> The graveyard is big and neat. The wind and grit has worn some stones down, but the graves are laid out with almost ruler-precision. Out here there are no landmarks to orient the placement of graves besides the positions of other graves. A rough count suggests about 200 stones. [20:36] 4Then Father Avisail Lis smiles. "Yes, unfortunately. It is a mere matter of trespass. My name is Avisail Lis. Father Avisail Lis. I represent the family of Michael Aviles Gonzalez. I regret tonight's imposition." [20:37] "May I come in?" 15[20:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "That so?" The old man steps back to admit Lis entrance. "Come on in. Coffee?" [20:39] 4Lis: "Yes, please." 4He wills the life back into him. This is a worthy use. 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a coffee pot next to the hot plate on the filing cabinet behind the desk. A large, elaborate mask, bone-white, hangs on a frame on the wall above. "Sure, sure. How do you take it?" [20:40] 4Lis: "With a pinch of sugar, if you would. Nothing more." 4The blood flows into his cheeks. The mask: that's not Americana. [20:40] 6Small town. Do any of the graves look like they've been visited recently? Flowers, letters, moved earth? 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Reuben and Alisa wander around looking at tombstones, like that of Albert Chalcraft (1881-1930) or Emily Lonbaugh (1892-1900). Most of these graves are old, though they get newer as you go back. The unfenced graveyard has room to expand, it seems. [20:44] <@Ferrinus> "We probably want the newer ones..." 12Nick thinks aloud. "Those are the ones people still... still care about, right? Although this whole place is kinda, out of the way." 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Anna, looking for recency, goes deeper faster. The first obviously-recently-visited grave is that for Mary and Ira Spielman (1931-1999, 1935-2000). A fresh bouquet of flowers lays at the base of it. [20:44] 3Reuben: 1“Hey Alisa. What do you call a hair salon next to a graveyard?” 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Nick peers through the Gauntlet at the far side. It's thick and foggy but it yields with patience and keenness of sight. The far side is beautiful. Even in darkness, beneath the mad and waxing moon, Hisil's perfect hedges and manicured alabaster walks make it look like a prince's garden rather than the afterthought of a tiny graveyard. 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> There are flowers in the bushes, golden and pink chrysanthemums, and they quaver like anenomes in the sea. [20:48] <@Ferrinus> "Dang," 12whispers a Nicholas who sort of wanders in a daze behind Alisa and several times has to be steered out of the way of rocks or gravestones. 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> At the side of the graveyard nearest the road, which Nick perceives as Shadowed by a great smooth divot in the earth, wide enough for two trucks side by side, there is a cottage, white and stately and pristine. In front of the cottage are two trees, their branches laden with birds in song. [20:51] 7Alisa: "Curl up and Dye!" 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Lis examines the mask. It looks like bone, cattle bone probably, shaped and polished and fitted together. Despite its size it appears to have been designed for a rather small head - the eyes are small and low in the object. It's a ritemaster's implement, an object of ritual authority. [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12After some moments of peering around at apparently nothing and occasionally going 'ooh' or 'wow', Nick shuts his eyes tightly and shakes his head to himself, snapping out of it. "I got it, I got it! Over there." 12He points towards the entrance. "Big ole tree." [20:52] 3Reuben: 1“Dang, that’s way better.” 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Lis gets his coffee, which is stale and burnt despite the sugar. "Take a seat. What can I do for you?" [20:53] 6Anna brushes away some dirt from the gravestone to get a better look - read the names and epitaph again - then, gently places a hand on the flowers. [20:54] 7Alisa: "Don't you remember? There was a salon actually called that like a block from the Costa Oro Elysium." [20:54] 7Alisa: "I remember because it was real easy to swipe combs." [20:55] 4Lis: "I am here with a family of four. A man, two women, a boy. They're South American. Colombian. As am I." 4He sips the coffee. How does it taste? It's been awhile since he's had coffee. "There are customs they wish to observe. But it is late." [20:55] "I wanted to make sure you were aware of our presence, as we are visitors on your land." 4He gestures at the mask. "You observe customs as well, I see." 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Anna picks up the flowers. She's frustrated and put-upon and late and there they were by the door, in the vase. She'll get more on the way back. The ride up from Cheyenne feels longer than it is, and the flowers wilt in the sun on the dashboard. But the frustration that propelled her here evaporates as she kneels down at their graves. They raised her, out here, when no one else was there to take her. She loved them but she still got out as fast as she could, and the thought of coming back out, even now, fills her with dread. She'd missed the first of her funerals. 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> When Anna lets go of the flowers, the tombstones hazy and indistinct to her mind's eye, she resolves to come back out here more often. [20:58] 3Reuben: 1“I always patronized Harry’s. The barber in St. Ignacius Hospital. He was a super boring dude, but he was too blind to notice if I spilled blood on my shirt." 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> The caretaker's coffee is bad, but not memorably so. It's been in that pot too long. "That's just a gift. Some tribal thing, I understand. I appreciate your courtesy, Father. Is there anything I can do for you?" [20:59] 7Alisa: "Heh heh. Harry the barber." 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch murrs at Nick's ankles. "This is a big deal, isn't it?" [21:00] 4Then Lis finishes it with a smile. "Other than your understanding, we beg nothing else." 4His eyes flick up to the caretaker's. "Unless there is any reason we should be concerned to walk among the tombstones after dark." [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "What, like, us all looking for these birds?" 12There's one other thing Nick wants to figure out before Lis comes back out, and that's if there seem to be any spirits hanging out on this side. The physical landscape's free of floating, translucent monsters, right? 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> The caretaker: "Oh, no, you needn't worry, Father. I keep it clean." 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> There's nothing in Twilight in the graveyard that Nick can see. [21:04] 7Alisa: "How come none of these have skulls on 'em?" 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch: "I mean you, putting together this big plan to take down that nasty grease monster. You got help but really, this is all you. This is the kind of thing whole packs do, and here you are, practically on your own. Doing things like the People do." [21:05] 3Reuben: 1“What, like. On spikes? We don’t do that to people anymore.” [21:06] 6She'll place the flowers more respectfully than just dropping them - when you perform random, unwarranted invasions of privacy, you should at least leave things better than you found them. Or, failing that, ruined enough that people can't get angry at you, only the mess their lives are in. On her way back to the group, she thinks about her own grave and wonders if there are flowers there. [21:06] 4That narrows Lis's eyes, but it's easily passed off as the last bitter gasp of the coffee cup. He sets it down and smiles. "That's good to hear. Good to hear." [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Oh, yeah. No, for sure. This is like - this is the point, right? We'll get some birds or whatever, and then, pow, take 'em down!" 12Nick poses with one fist out and the other up near his face, as though he'd just finishing punching someone out on camera. "I mean, not the birds we got, obviously, the big monster." [21:08] 7Alisa: "Hehehehehe no though, I mean like skull decorations. Or, on the big ones, like a carved statue of the guy lying down, and then *beneath* it another statue of him only he's all decayed and fucked up." [21:08] 7Alisa: "Graves should be like, you guys who are up there walking around better watch your fuckin' step!" 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Lis can tell the man is being secretive. Obviously there's more to 'cleaning' the place than he lets on. But he doesn't get the sense that the caretaker is trying to trick him. [21:09] 3Reuben: 1“You ever seen Raiders of the Lost Ark?” 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch: "Yeah! I'm just saying, you know, it's pretty cool that you can do this with so little help. How many people wouldn't be able to? How many people wouldn't bother? Not you." [21:10] "Thank you for the coffee. It's better than I've had in years." 4He stands. "How clean is it, tonight?" 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "Almost spotless." [21:11] 4He's not lying about the coffee. [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Well, I gotta buncha vampires and people on the phone and a magic van. I don't even know what my plan would be if we didn't have the Beast." [21:12] 4Lis nods. "Good to hear. Myself -- and the family -- will be out of your hair soon enough." 4He pauses. "I didn't get your name, sir." [21:12] "Unless you prefer not to give it." 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ephraim Stark, Father. I hope you find what you're after out there." 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch: "Yeah but how'd you get all that stuff? By being cool and brave and making sacrifices, like agreeing to do homework." [21:13] 7Alisa: "What of the what now?" 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "Hercules never had to do algebra." [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Thats's true." [21:14] 4Lis: "So do I, sir. So do I. Again, I thank you for your understanding." 4He pauses. "I feel as if you don't need the words I'm about to say. But." [21:14] "We are a resilient family." 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Ephraim stands. "I can appreciate that. Here, I'll see you out." [21:15] 3Reuben makes a mental note for the next time they see a redbox. 1“Graveyards are such weird things. Especially since if you think about it, basically everywhere is a graveyard. But we make these ones the official dead guy spots anyway.” [21:15] "Regardless of what you hear tonight, or see tonight -- I would suggest you mind your coffee pot. And your mask." 4He accepts the ushering. "Be well, Ephraim Stark." [21:16] 6Anna, arriving: "It's harder to convince people to let a corpse rot in the street these days." [21:20] <@Ferrinus> "All right, so," 12says Nick, once his own survey's complete. "I found 'em. I guess we... I dunno, drive out a bit, cross over, then drive back and go and meet 'em?" [21:23] 7Alisa: "Sounds good to me. Nice work." 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Lis and Stark leave the little cottage, and both men look up and down the graveyard for signs of the others. The nomads see them both. But only Nick can see the thing clinging to the caretaker. 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> It's large, almost as big again as Ephraim himself. Chains and scales and hinges, the color of old brass, expand and contract in the air like streamers on the wind. In the depths of all that metal something wrinkled and red twitches and coils. 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> He waves at the nomads and then heads back into the building. [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick stares. Once the door's closed, and everyone's back together: "There was some huge THING on that guy! Scotch, didja see it?" 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch: "....yeah." [21:26] 7Alisa: "Oh, yeah? What was it?" 03[21:26] 4Lis will make sure he's back inside, and then head over to the other nomads. "Something is up with the caretaker," 4he'll say by way of greeting. "But he didn't seem hostile." [21:26] 6Anna: "Apparently he had some huge "thing" on him?" [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I dunno! It was like... metal, made of all these chains and thins. And there was something red in the middle, a worm or snake or something." [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12things* [21:27] 4Lis: "Hrm. He had a mask in his house." [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "What of?" [21:27] 4Lis will describe in detail. [21:27] 4Lis will describe it in detail. [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick didn't see or hear about any paraphernalia like that back at Rachel's, did he? [21:28] 3Reuben: 1“That’s cool as hell." [21:28] 4LisL 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Nothing like that. Rachel Snow's ritual paraphernalia tended to be more modest-looking. [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "If he's secretly a spirit or something maybe I should introduce myself... except I'm pretty sure that's not, like, spirits aren't supposed to do that either." [21:29] 4Lis: "He seemed generally unconcerned with our intrusion. And he accepted my story that you are all visiting the grave of a dead man from South America." [21:29] 4Lis: "That, perhaps, should concern us." [21:29] "Or perhaps he is entirely incidental to our problems." [21:30] 4Lis: "But he is clearly not a mere caretaker." [21:30] 7Alisa: "Sure, probably. But, like you point out, so what? It's not a real crime to impersonate a cemetary caretaker." [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Hisil around here's freaking gorgeous, I can tell you that." [21:31] 4Lis: "You are correct, Alisa. In fact, this is bracing: whatever we do here, we're likely not putting an innocent in danger." 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> It's a good feeling. [21:31] 6Anna: "This is progress. We're making progress here." [21:31] 4The priest pauses. "I would like to check on Timothy. Should I bring the Beast up here with me, when I return?" [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "We probably shouldn't drive sideways in sight of anyone, so I was thinking we'd do it out on the road and then just turn around and come back here?" [21:32] 4Lis nods. "I will head back to the RV, then. When you're finished your investigation, we'll proceed." [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I just dunno if like, that dude's the spirit that watches over here, maybe I should talk to him before I talk to any of the birds on the other side...?" [21:33] 4Unless there's something for which they need Lis, he'll head back. 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Lis will find TJ asleep in the RV, stretched out on a couch/bench, with Lis's computer half-closed on the table beside it. [21:35] 4Reflexively, he'll check his laptop. 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Lis sees a CV database. The search history informs him that this - [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Unless someone decides that Nick really should, though, Nick himself is inclined to just head back to the Beast and prepare to activate the hyperdrive. Is TJ coming across with us? Probably better than leaving him alone in the world of flesh, unless other people are also gonna stay behind. 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Lis sees a CV database. The search history informs him that this - http://i.imgur.com/c4THvPd.jpg - is a "manticore". [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Ridiculous. Where are the bat wings? 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Maybe it hasn't grown them yet. [21:39] 4Well, the search history isn't particularly wrong. He files that for later reference, then puts a blanket over Timothy. He reaches down to tousle the boy's hair, but...no, he shouldn't assume that familiarity. [21:39] 4Instead, while he waits, Lis starts looking into that mask. [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick gets someone else to actually drive the Beast while he himself sits way in the back, arms spread out and palms pressed against opposite walls. He's snorting and staring and gritting his teeth as Reuben or Alisa or someone drives down an empty highway, his warms and shoulders quivering with increasing violence, his breath speeding... it comes to nothing, and after a while the [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12werewolf's just whining and glaring in annoyance at the walls. 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> That mask, Lis is sure, is not a human object. The database doesn't have anything exactly like it. The most analogous designs Lis can find are elaborate gold-and-ivory configurations from 7th century digsites in the Congo. They're believed, by disreputable scholars, to have been part of some animistic psychopomp ritual, in which some sort of incarnate death-spirit claims authority over the unruly dead. [21:47] 7Waaaaait a minute. [21:47] 4Hrrrm. And yet, the way it was molded... [21:48] 7No, wait, we're alive. Carry on. [21:48] 4Lis will certainly consult Alisa on this if they have the time. If not, well, it's a curiosity for later. 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch: "Alright, alright, relax. You'll pop a vein like that, Nick." [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12It's about an hour later that Nick's ready to try again. He paces this time, stalking up and down the length of the Beast even though it means constantly edging around or brushing by the people trying to sit or stand inside it. A low chant of "...come on, come on, let's go, come on..." 12eventually disintegrates (evolves?) into muttered growling, and this time, something starts [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12to happen. A strange pressure begins to bear down on everyone in the RV, a silver-flecked haze fills the air, a great tidal current washes all around... [21:50] 7Alisa: "...what's Ed's line on it, doo doo doo..." 7Alisa sings quietly to herself until Nick gets his shit together and the Beast begins to roar up on the Gauntlet. [21:51] 4Lis will be driving, unless Nicholas needs to be driving. [21:51] 4'Driving.' 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Everyone's been through this before. It doesn't get easier, exactly, but once you know what to expect you can manage. It wakes TJ up, though, and by the time the Beast has punched through the Gauntlet he's peering out the windows. "Where'd the snake go?" he asks blearily. [21:52] 6Anna: "The snake?" [21:52] 4Lis, trying to hold the wheel steady: "We'll talk about him later." [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Is there any actual sign of what spirit lives in the Beast itself? Nick's never been in direct communication with it and it seems weird not to be. 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> In fact there isn't. It is weird. [21:53] 6Anna: "Oh, that -- I got distracted in the cemetary. Sorry." 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ: "Remember? When I put the cat in the trunk and- yeah." 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "The road's supposed to be a snake." [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Is the Beast even a fetish, of werewolf make? Nick doesn't remember being told either way... no time to look into it now, though, we're in potentially-hostile territory. 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> It isn't, though, it's an enormous, smooth furrow in the ground. [21:55] 6That's probably fine. [21:55] 4The boy been saved still dreaming. There's a subplot. [21:55] 4Speaking of subplots: cemetary. [21:55] 4Should Lis be stopping this ride? Is it even moving? [21:55] <@Ferrinus> "All- all right, we're in." 12Nick is glowing silver - he's got badass metallic tattoos crawling down his arms and around his torso, shining brightly through the clothes he wears. They still look kind of scraggly and sketched-out around the peripheries, sadly. "So just, back towards the graveyard and we'll stop a little ways outside the, uh, the mansion thing, and walk, I think." [21:56] 4Lis follows orders. 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Luckily, the cemetery is even easier to spot from this side than it was on the other. It's almost a manor, lush and immaculately kept and ringed on all sides by harsh black metal fences. Outside the fence there is only the sleeping plains, its chief life being the errant tumbleweed that rolls a while before stopping and heaving and then slowly working itself into a roll again. 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> The fences are short enough to jump. The gate is shut, but it doesn't appear chained shut. [21:57] 4Any caretaker's house? Any lights on? 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Just the beautiful white cottage in the rough spot the caretaker's house occupied, a swept, symmetrical little building with the look of a mansion in miniature. The birdsong is audible even from this distance, light and cheery. 14[21:58] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick won't be breaking and entering if he can help it. He rolls his shoulders back, stretches upwards into a taller, wider, and hairier version of himself (there's a faint silvery sheen as his shirt and sneakers vanish, and his jeans stretch to fit), and then tries to push open the gate. If it doesn't move, he knocks on it heavily. 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> There is a light within the house, and the smooth white paths of the graveyard-garden are lit with lamps that seem to be full to bursting with fireflies. [21:59] 4Isn't that fantastic. 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> The gate doesn't yield to his push, but a moment after he knocks, he feels his brands grow hot against his skin and flare brighter. A moment later, the gate creaks open and his tattoos cool down. [22:00] 4Lis, sliding out of the driver's seat, taking the keys: "Timothy, I want you with us. I don't want you by yourself in this place. Is that okay with you?" 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ: "...sure, okay." [22:01] "Stay close. And don't hesitate." 14[22:01] * Joins: cbass 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> He'll follow Lis out of the Beast, looking up and around. "It's okay, we were out here before. Me and Anna." [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick frowns as he looks down at himself, itching idly at the thinner and sloppier tattoos marking one of his forearms. Then he shrugs, glances back at everyone else, and heads on through. He's going straight for the cottage, though he plans to stop at the trees outside it first. [22:01] 4Lis, meanwhile, is loading a ball into a specific old pistol. Then gunpowder. Then slipping it into a long leather holster on his belt. [22:02] 4You don't test weapons in the places where you live. 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Yeah, imagine how awkward it'd be if the RV had a bullet hole in it. [22:02] 6Anna: "I wouldn't say that was fine, but... we made it, right?" [22:02] 4This isn't even a bullet. [22:02] 4If what he's been told is true, it's far worse. 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ: "Isn't that what 'fine' means." [22:03] 4Lis: "Nicholas is the expert here. He takes lead." [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Scotch is sort of the expert, but, hell, Nick'll take it. [22:04] 4He slings the AK over his shoulder and makes sure the two hammers are also snug on his belt as he says so. 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch follows Nick close. When Nick reaches the trees, most of the birds stop singing and regard him quietly. Fat, puffy little sparrows, all gray and black and full-throated. 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> One of them trills a word Nick's been taught already, one of the first Scotch made sure he knew. The word for 'stranger'. [22:05] 4To Reuben, before they leave: "You might want to grab an M4 with the silver bullets. Just in case." 14[22:06] * Quits: cbass (Client Quit) [22:06] 3Reuben slides the Matron and Maiden into their respective sleeves and grabs the M4 as an afterthought. 1“You never know." [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick clears his throat. Then he glances down at Scotch, then looks back up at the birds and clears his throat again. "Uthsu," 12he growls, before adding on a First Tongue 'hello' - but the formal one that Scotch made sure to teach him. Then he growls some more, his best rendition of 'I need help'. [22:07] 4Lis nods. It probably won't matter. He'll probably just need the knives. But there's werewolves want Nicholas's skin, and that's something to always be prepared for. 14[22:08] * Joins: cbass [22:08] 4Especially on this side of the divide. [22:10] 7Alisa: "Neat!" [22:11] 4Lis is trying to keep Timothy towards the middle of the group. Ideally he and Reuben are on the outside, Nicholas and Alisa up front, Anna hanging out at the rear with all her gear. Ideally there's a body between harm and him. 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Nick speaks haltingly but the grief-spirits plainly take his meaning. What's more, they speak mostly simply enough for Nick to understand them. "Zhofarsi." [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick turns to his fellows, whispers in English: "'Zhofarsi' mean anything to anyone? I don't think that's a regular word." [22:13] 3Reuben whispers back. 1“That’s a third generation pokemon.” [22:13] 6Anna's just hanging out at the back, making sure nobody sneaks up on them. [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12He answers the birds either way, though: For help. There is..." 12Nick immediately clutches at his mouth to stop from laughing. [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12He needs the pause, though, because he's trying to figure out how to describe the rot-vulture he's trying to take down. "...sick... food spirit... Scotch help me out here." 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> The group falls into that position easily enough. It's not a word Lis has ever heard before, though he thinks he recognizes a couple syllables that Bradley said once - Farsil being the word for 'iron'. [22:15] 4Lis: "Bradley, Nicholas. Bradley once said -- I think Farsil is the word for 'iron." 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "Zhofarsi means 'Iron Lung'," Scotch offers before helping Nick communicate that there are lands rich with rot and decay that the grief-spirits might make clean. [22:16] 4Lis: "But I can't tell you if it's a portmanteau or a conjugation." [22:17] 4The demon can, though. [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Ooh, yeah, it is! Good call." Then the werewolf turns back to the birds to parrot or at least nod along with Scotch's rendition of the basic problem. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> The sparrows immediately turn on Scotch, chirping and warbling in the cat's direction. Scotch's hackles rise, and something ephemeral and silver-white spreads out from his grey-orange flanks, thin and membraneous, like something wrapped up in the cat's torso. [22:18] 4Lis files away the 'lung' part of that word. [22:18] 4Just in case it's relevant later. 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> The general tenor is becoming more hostile. The sparrows were cagey about Nick, but once they focus on Scotch it becomes significantly worse. [22:19] 4There's a shocker. [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick steps forward at the same time, planting a foot almost completely before the cat and frowning up at the mass of birds. In the First Tongue: "Safe. Leave him." [22:21] 4Lis moves to put himself between the sparrows and Timothy. Who cares about the demon. 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> It goes back and forth for a little bit, until finally Scotch oozes more fully out of the cat's body. The last time Nick saw Scotch's spirital self, he was still fully that dead wizard's spirit, and looked like an ape-armed, porcine little monster. But since he was treated by Zeira he's stayed bundled up in the cat body. [22:24] 7Alisa leans over toward Nick. "They've been warned about demons, especially ones hanging around with other creatures. It's a bad sign, so they think." 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> It's only now that Nick and the nomads see Scotch's long, sleek arms and neck, a proud and almost canid head, and silvery wings, ribbed and taut like the wings of a bat. Scotch, rising at a right angle from the cat's body, raises his clawed white hands in a conciliatory gesture. [22:26] 7Alisa: "Oh my god you look so cool now" [22:26] 4Lis rolls his eyes. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12It'd be improper for Nick to clutch his fists under his chin and squeal, here, so he doesn't. [22:27] 3Reuben does, though. Just a little. [22:27] 4It's more of a glance up to the heavens than a full eye-roll, though. He's not trying to undercut Nicholas here. [22:27] 6Anna would pretend to gag if she wasn't looking for traps. [22:27] 4Or his...'cat.' 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> In any case, between Nick's placating words and Scotch's placating gesture, the sparrows are placated. One of the fatter sparrows, the ones who kept singing even as Nick showed up, peers down from the top of one of the trees. [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Can Nick tell if it's asking why it should leave to help, or why Scotch should be left alone, or why Nick's left wherever he left to come here...? [22:30] 7Alisa loves the spirit world so much. Come on, fat lil talking sparrow. Put on your admiral's hat. She knows it has one, just... just put it on. [22:32] 4You're playing a dangerous game with the sparrow admiralty. Lis is just glad it's not magpies. 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> It seems to be the first of those - the sparrow is looking for a reason why they should leave here and go wherever it is Nick wishes to direct them. [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick licks his lips. "" 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> It's a simple tack, but a persuasive one. The sparrows chirp amongs themselves. 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> The fattest sparrow totters down to a lower branch, which immediately sags beneath its weight. It droops so low as to almost be able to peck Nick on the nose. 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick's hackles rise slightly. "" 12He touches a claw to the circle over his solar plexus. Then he gestures behind himself. "" [22:43] 4Lis can't really follow what's happening here, but it seems like Nicholas is standing tall. Good. 14[22:47] * Quits: tom (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[22:47] * Joins: tom 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> The sparrow seems unconvinced. It puffs up. Nick's got to do something here... how does he convince the sparrows he's worthy to lead them into battle? [22:48] 4Lis could step in...but this is Nicholas's moment. This is Nicholas's time. This is something he deserves to do himself, and reap the benefits, ego and otherwise. [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick turns back to the sparrows, standing taller and baring his teeth. The First Tongue comes smoothly - it's just easy to talk about hunting and killing. "" 12He claws at the air curtly, dismissively. "" 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> The sparrow recoils as Nick boasts. Chest heaving, it looks up and left and right and down, seeming to meet the eye of each every sparrow individually. [22:52] 4Good boy. No. Good man. 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Finally it just totters back up the branch and disappears among the leaves, which look almost like elm. One by one all the sparrows disappear in this fashion. [22:53] 7Alisa: "Huh. That a yes?" [22:53] 4Lis realizes he had his arm up, as if to stop anyone behind him from intervening, and just lowers it. It wasn't stopping anything. 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> All at once, the bulk of them re-emerge, the gray and black sparrows now wearing tiny brown traveling cloaks, something approximating leather rimmed with fur or white dandelion fluff. [22:53] 7Oh my god. 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Then the fat sparrow pops out of the tree, already in flight, wearing a much larger cape of the same make and a tiny black tricorn hat. [22:54] 4Lis's eyes narrow. [22:54] 6Oh my god. [22:54] 3Is it possible to take selfies in the spirit world? Reuben’s gonna try. [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12It's mostly snarls to the others, of course, though there's a clear language there - lots of Gs and hard Rs and long Us. Nick glares at the birds as they vanish into the eaves, and then clenches a fist in triumph as they begin to reappear, eyes and fangs glinting in the Shadow moonlight. "Allll right," 12he says, turning back to the others. "Let's just - you ready? We all ready? [22:55] <@Ferrinus> Let's find the nearest freakin' rest stop." [22:55] 4He has an app for that, it's said. 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> They're flying (well, most of them are flying - the behatted sparrow sort of weaves through the air with the unsteady trajectory of a bumblebee) in the direction of the Beast. [22:56] "We're ready," 4says Lis, same way an actor might say, I'm your Huckleberry. 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "Haha! Too easy." Scotch is elated. [22:57] 4Once it's clear what's going on, Lis will turn and head back to the Beast. Time to slip back over. Hopefully Ephraim doesn't raise a ruckus. [22:57] 7Alisa squeals and balls her fists beneath her chin, squatting down as though the cuteness of the sparrows has physically deflated her. "DID YOU SEE THOSE LITTLE CLOAKS? AND THAT HAT???" 14[22:57] * Joins: mugobbles [22:57] 6Anna: "I did. I did see them. And they were adorable." [22:58] 3Reuben: 1“If you could weaponize that cuteness those birds could conquer the world.” [22:58] 4Lis shakes his head. "Let's try not to get them killed." [22:58] "Or whatever it is happens to their kind." [22:58] 3Reuben: 1“Let’s try harder than usual, at least." [22:58] 7Alisa: "I'm so excited to help those little guys eat filth!" [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Back in the Beast, Nick is still in the Dalu form, breathing a little quickly. "They'll be fine. They're not even gonna be fighting." [22:59] "That's good to hear, Nicholas." 4Lis slides behind the driver's seat and straps himself in. "Timothy, buckle up." [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick can't sit down as the RV drives through the spirit wilds. He paces, cracks his knuckles, rolls his shoulders... it's on! I mean, it's shortly on. Gonna be on. [23:02] 7Alisa suppresses her giggling. "Plus they're almost birds, sort of. It's really easy to get away from things if you're a bird, trust me." [23:02] "I mean, Guy Fieri is also a bird, so... go for his wings first, I guess?" [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Good call." 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> So, one assumes that you're making your way to the diner immediately? [23:04] 4Seems so. [23:06] 7For sure. [23:06] 6Yeppers. 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> It's going to be tricky, since it'd be unwieldy to make Nick jump you forwards and back across the Gauntlet. But the directions are in rough correspondence, so as long as Lis is mindful, he'll cut a steady path back to the rot farms. [23:08] 4Lis is always mindful. [23:08] 4It's the only reason to keep him around,. 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> That's not true! Without him, nobody would ever be assigned homework or quietly judged. [23:10] 4Both of those things are extremely useful, especially when the latter is in service of the former. [23:12] 7It's important to have people who judge quietly alongside those who judge loudly. [23:12] 6I'm pretty sure that's in the Bible. [23:12] 4Lis just wants them to be able to survive once all of us are gone. 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> With nothing but memory and a foreign sky to guide him, Lis finds the dug-out roads that lead back to Wheatland's Shadow. Before the Beast crests a ridge, the nomads all hear a phlegmy screech cut the night air. The sparrows protest, and loudly. [23:13] 4Lis: "Nicholas?" [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick looks out a window, or out the windshield. What's up? 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> The bearded vulture-thing is screaming. There's a torus of maggoty flesh roiling in the moat of fat that surrounds the diner-pit, tiny sport jackets and tiny sun dresses smeared in congealing amber grease. They're rolling on the ground as if wracked by seizures. 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Nick can see, beneath the monster's feathered, glistening body, what looks like a pair of off-white eggs. 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> They're propped up on what looks, at this distance, to be newsprint and brown paper. [23:17] 4Lis: "What is our play?" [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, well, that can't be allowed to go on. Are we within, basically, on-foot charging distance? 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> You are if you want to be. [23:18] 7Alisa: "It's breeding. Kill the bird and smash one of the eggs." [23:18] 4Lis puts it in park. [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I think the plan is we go out there and tear it apart. Uh, Alisa, be ready to drag it back down if it gets up too high." 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch is freaking out, running up and down the RV as fast as his legs will take him, tail swishing and whiskers twitching. "Ohhhh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy ohboyohboyohboyohboy-" [23:19] 3Reuben: 1“Gross monster bird omelets. Awesome.” [23:19] 4Fucking demons. [23:19] 7Alisa: "Yeah!!" [23:20] "Timothy." 4Lis slides out of the driver's seat, makes sure his weapons are right. Burr in its holster. AK on shoulder. Two hammers on belt. "You can stay or you can come with us. We won't judge. If you stay, keep the engine warm." [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Let's fr- let's fucking do this." 12The moment the RV comes to a stop, Nick's hopped out a side door. He glares up at the great vulture, legs spread into a wide stance and arms held back, claws out, and then breaks into a run. 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ looks out the window. "...you guys have fun." [23:21] 4Lis grabs him by the shoulders. Makes him look at the priest. "If something happens, if they come up behind us. You yell. I'll hear you." 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ's startled by the priest's sudden intensity, but not very. "Yeah, of course. Good luck." [23:22] 7Alisa's standing outside next to Nick, bouncing on her feet, shaking out her hair, and stretching her fingers into long claws. "Let's do this!" [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not more than six steps through that run that Nick's fallen forward, the grey-blonde monster-teen replaced by a huge grey wolf that bounds bounds across the starlit ground, silver tattoos burning through the fur of its back and shoulders. His eyes shine with a mad light. It's not much of a hunt if your prey's just right there and sees you coming from a hundred-odd yards away, [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12but, hell, where's it gonna go? It's anchored itself. [23:22] 3Reuben draws the M4 and packs an extra smoke pellet into his sleeve launcher. 1“Do we just go in the front door?" [23:22] 4Lis nods and lets him go. "We'll be back. Be well." [23:23] 4The priest steps outside. [23:23] 6Anna: "Be safe." 6Then she's out the door, too. 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> The grotesque rot-monster shrieks again, its voice resounding in each of the nomads' ears. They feel a hot, bilious sensation in the pit of their chests. It's wearying, and their breath is very unpleasant. [23:35] 4Lis: "That's not good." 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> After that, the vulture takes to the air, winging about above the diner area, though staying close to the nest. [23:35] 7Alisa: "Uuuugh, it's like drinking from a grease trap." [23:38] 3Reuben loads a clip of shining silver bullets into the M4 and cocks it delicately. He brings the metal sights up to his eye and puts the demon behind it. He lets off a three round burst with surprising accuracy and thanks all those long hours at the Peter Piper Pizza’s Area 51 arcade cabinet. [23:39] 4Good man. [23:40] 3Reuben: 1“I should use these things more often." 14[23:41] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) [23:43] 4Lis: "You should. But switch to regular rounds." 4After seeing the creature not flinch at silver, Lis slips the usual magazine into his AK. "And buy Russian." [23:43] 3Reuben: 1“But… you gave me this…?” [23:44] 4Lis, as he pulls back the bolt: "I didn't say it was your fault." [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick, meanwhile, is dashing ahead. He springs forward, crouching right before the great moat of rot and maggots, and then explodes into the air, using the very force of shapeshifting to propel himself that much higher. While it's a huge wolf that leaves the ground, it's an even huger bipedal wolf-monster that... well, it doesn't actually meet the ground at all, landing instead on [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12the massive spirit vulture and immediately tearing into its face, throat, and chest with tooth and claw. [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12The effort of keeping control burns somewhere behind Nick's ribcage, but as yet it's a zealous intensity, not mindless hatred, that drives the Rahu's blows. [23:58] "SCREEEEEEEEEEEE!" 7Alisa leaps into the air, her form collapsing into a cute crow that doesn't. have. a hat. Goddamnit. Zipping through the skies she easily avoids the clumsy strikes of the Rot King, landing on its back in human form and raking gouts of essence out of it with her claws! Session Time: Thu Apr 09 00:00:00 2015 [00:01] 4Lis, to Reuben: "Watch this." 4He sights down the end of the AK. "Pull." [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick's draped down from the shoulders of the great vulture, hanging mostly upside-down from its front as though the towering man-wolf were engaging in some light bouldering. Dragging it to the ground from one direction while a packmate lands on its back and starts to rip its spine out just feels right! [00:02] 4Boom boom boom boom boom. [00:03] 3Reuben yawns. 1“Cool, I guess. Alisa’s thing was way cooler though." [00:04] 7Alisa's flung into the ground at speed, kicking up dirt and plowing a short furrow before she comes to a halt. [00:05] "Ow. Heh heh heh." [00:05] 4Lis, to Reuben: "You good on ammo?" [00:05] 3Reuben: 1“Oh yeah.” [00:06] 4Lis grins: "Then we have no problem. It's coming down. Let's move to cover." [00:06] 6Anna's still fumbling with the Cutlass when it all goes down. Sustained fire and claws win the day yet again - and not a scratch on anyone, save for the fall. Jesus. They have too much experience at this. [00:06] 3Hell yea. [00:08] 4Lis stands, keeping himself between Timothy and the action, keeping the AK on the falling insanity. He's not on the right side of the world to be taking chances. 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> With a scream and a belch the rotking descends, shorn by claws and pierced by bullets. It collides with a wet smack, exploding into gibbons of oily slop that wriggle into the ground like worms seeking shelter. 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> The maggots shudder and fall flat. [00:10] 3Reuben: 1“Poor little worm-dudes.” [00:10] 4Lis: "Feeling bad is the privilege of the victor." [00:10] 4Lis: "Poor little worm-dudes." [00:10] "Aheheheheheh WHERE THEM EGGS AT?" 7Alisa's going to charge at the eggs in order to squash them flat, unless somebody decides to intervene. [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick lands in hte Dalu form, one foot, one palm, and one knee on the ground. Teeth still bared and eyes still narrowed, he immediately looks up and around for any trace of the beast capable of fighting back - but there doesn't seem to be one. 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> One by one they struggle, slipping and sliding and adjusting their sweatervests and barrettes and ballcaps and pearl necklaces. 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> They look greasily at the assembled monsters. [00:11] 4Lis lowers the rifle. [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12He'll join Alisa momentarily, but first he'll stand, spread his arms to the sky, and shout for the sparrows to descend. 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> One of them raises their short, wriggling arms. 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Then the next. 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> One by one they start hopping up and down, cheering in squeaky little voices. [00:12] 4That is...good? [00:12] 6Is it? 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Their cheers are cut short by the triumphant whoops and wails as the sparrows descend on them, tearing them to bits. [00:13] 3Aww, man. [00:13] 4Ah. [00:13] 4There we go. [00:14] 7The ones that survive will be better off. [00:14] 4Lis grabs Timothy by the shoulder. "You've seen how this goes. Let's head back." [00:14] 6Anna looks away. They had an okay picnic. 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> The head sparrow, in its billowing cloak and tricorn hat, flops towards Nick, coughing up a thin chain of beads like the kind that might keep a pair of glasses around someone's neck. They pop like tiny firecrackers as they hit the ground. [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick watches this grimly for a moment before turning away, mane of grey-blonde hair blowing in the wind. He stalks forward to help Alisa smash the eggs, then steps back to let the swarm of birds feast on those if they're inclined to. 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> The behatted sparrow bows low before Nick, its wings spread wide. [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick bows too. He growls a thank-you. 14[00:17] * Joins: Quaker [00:17] 4Lis didn't have to use Burr. That's a good feeling. There's only one kind of person he wants to test it on. [00:18] 4He guides Timothy back into the Beast, then steps back outside. To Reuben: "You're good with the carbine." 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Nick hears a string of words he'd never heard strung together before, but he knows each of them. One of the cloaked sparrows looms over a maggot in suspenders and a tie. [00:19] 3Reuben: 1“I gotta practice more.” [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Which of the two said that? 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> The sparrow did. 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> On the way back to the Beast, Nick steps on a bongo drum, pierced through by hungry beaks. It evaporates beneath his foot. [00:20] 4Lis: "Everyone has to practice. You're still good with it." [00:21] 3Reuben: 1“Thanks.” 3He considers for a moment, then gestures to the gun. 1“You think this would look cooler in arctic camo?” [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12There was a little more pomp between Nick and the boss of the sparrow union back there - it might've even looked like the bird, alighting on Nick's head, dipped its beak into and through his forehead for a moment - but now the werewolf's walking back slowly, wholly unharmed. Well, there's a little grease and stuff spattered around the cuffs of his jeans. [00:22] 6Anna ducks past Lis and Reuben into the Beast, unloads the gun, and sits down to breathe. In, out, just like you used to. In, hold, out. In, hold, out. [00:24] 4Lis: "Sure. In the arctic." 4He stares back up the hill. The 'hill.' "We're the outsiders in this drama. Nicholas, Alisa, even Anna -- they're the main players. You and I, we have our destinies." 4He shuts the RV door behind Timothy. "We're not horseshit and we're not collateral. But my feeling is -- and feel free to call me an asshole if you think I'm wrong -- my feeling is, [00:24] once we've kept our own house, our job is this: make sure they stay on course." [00:25] "Ahhhh." 7Alisa strolls around the RV, brushing dirt off her jacket and picking rocks out of her teeth. "That was nice. Wasn't that nice? Everything going fine?" [00:25] <@Ferrinus> "Yeah," 12says Nick. "Yeah. Shame about the - but I guess it's how it works. Out here." [00:25] 3Reuben thinks about the “iPhone App Design for Dummies” books in his bag and lies. 1“Yeah. Yeah, pretty much. We’re the big guns.” [00:26] 3Reuben: 1“Get it? Because of the…?”3 he points repeatedly at the M4 and AK. [00:26] 4Lis: "I get it." 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch is in Nick's lap as soon as Nick sits down, purring delightedly. "Dude. Dude! That was badass!" [00:27] 6She'll look up, after collecting herself. "TJ? You okay?" [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "It was! And they rewarded me and everything." 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ is looking out the window at the sparrows cleaning up. "What? Oh, uh... yeah." 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "...yeah, definitely." [00:28] 3Reuben returns to the RV if Lis is through conversating. 1“What did they give you?" [00:29] 4Lis: "We have to be the adults of the present. Alisa's view is too long. Nicholas is a teenager. Anna, well, she tries." 4He pops the magazine out of the AK. "And that doesn't mean always being right, or always being mature, or even always being out in front of every development." 4He pockets the mag. "It just means being there, and taking the punishment." [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "A Gift." [00:29] 4Lis: "Anyway. Good job tonight." [00:30] "Not that you need me to say it." [00:30] 3Reuben: 1“What, like a magic feather?" [00:30] 4He'll head inside after that. [00:30] 3Assume Reuben nodded politely at what Lis said before heading inside. [00:31] 4Inside the Beast, Lis will look from Anna to Timothy. Is he okay? [00:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Yeah. But, built-in, sorta." [00:32] 6Anna: "Okay." 6Another breath. In, hold, out. "Okay. Good. One night at a time." [00:32] 3Reuben: 1“So can you summon a ghost bird to fight for you or something?" [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I'm still... figuring. I think I can find stuff like they like to eat." 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ looks... it's easy to imagine, looking at him, how the battle must have seemed from behind these windows. The sights, the noise, the brutal suddenness of it, the ease with which everyone came back. Lis recalls that TJ sat at a table with those maggots, and watched Anna eat their weird jello. It's a hard thing to take in. But TJ's a strong kid. He'll be okay. [00:36] 3Reuben: 1“That’s… cool, I guess.” [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "It'd better be, 'cause so was this." [00:38] 4Lis sits down next to him. "You're not wrong to be sad. On this side of the world, things end with this more than they end with trust and respect." 4He sighs. "We interfered with an ecosystem in order to benefit ourselves. There's no getting around that's what we did. Our reasons weren't bad, but they were our reasons." [00:39] 3Reuben: 1“That thing was as much part of an ecosystem as we are. The ecosystem of fucked up nonsense." 15[00:39] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ's silent for a little while. "It's just... I don't know. It doesn't seem fair." [00:39] 4Lis, to Timothy: "You don't even have to say anything. You wanted to know about manticores." [00:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "We interfered with an ecosystem to benefit it." [00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick points out the window: "That - that was wrong. Sick. And it was bleeding over." [00:40] 3Reuben points a thumb in the same direction. 1“What he said." [00:40] 4Lis nods. "It wasn't fair. Not for them. Not when they were enslaved by that great, fatuous thing, and not when the birds descended." [00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I dunno why it even went that far... like, birds like those should've taken care of before we showed up. Maybe I should've asked 'em. But that, that was always coming." [00:41] "Yep It's a real shame, poor little fellas." 7She doesn't sound insincere, but she doesn't sound very interested either. [00:41] 4Lis: "Unfairness is a formative trait of our world. You know this as well as I do." [00:41] "Perhaps moreso." [00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "If they didn't get eaten the way they did the vulture would've just grown back. The whole thing was poison." [00:41] "Perhaps much moreso." 15[00:42] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ: "I guess you made a deal with the birds?" [00:42] 3Reuben: 1“Sometimes poison is cute. Like the time I tried fugu." [00:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Hardly a deal. I just said, like... there's a ton of rot out there. I'll clear the way for you." [00:43] 4Lis nods again. "A deal was made. They benefitted." 4Lis glances around the RV. "Perhaps we did too." 15[00:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's probably fair." [00:43] 6Anna: "Circle of unlife." 15[00:46] <@VoxPVoxD> The nomads roll out, leaving the diner behind them. It's already cleaner. In time, it will all recover. Brutal or not, ugly or not, a wrong was righted tonight. [00:46] 4Lis: "The important thing isn't that we're heroes. We're not heroes. We're just moving from place to place. The important thing is that we didn't do what we did out of malice. Intentions matter, even in minor ways." 4He looks around the RV. "And the moment we do this out of malice, they're justified in putting us in the ground." [00:46] "For good." 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: The Sickbed of Cuchulainn 04[00:47] GOD DAMN YOU VOXPVOXD 14[01:46] * Quits: mugobbles 14[02:31] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[02:33] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[02:39] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[02:39] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[02:40] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Client Quit) 14[02:41] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[02:42] * Ferrinus is now known as Guest2989 09[02:43] * Guest2989 is now known as Ferrinus 09[02:44] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[02:47] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[03:03] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[04:10] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[04:43] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[05:25] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[05:25] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 09[05:25] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[05:25] * Quits: dammitwho (Client Quit) 14[09:44] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:11] * Joins: ddt 14[10:13] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:18] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping 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Quits: tom (Read error: Connection reset by peer) [17:11] <@Ferrinus> https://40.media.tumblr.com/98d87403aa3249c92c8b55297bddb544/tumblr_nk1hxgEemg1sqx8y7o1_540.jpg saving this to show dwho whenever he arrives [17:16] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/vaOj0q0h.jpg the sparrow union may have eaten too much 15[17:16] <@VoxPVoxD> lol 14[17:23] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[17:28] * Joins: Crion 14[17:43] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[17:48] * Joins: dammitwho [17:49] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> https://40.media.tumblr.com/98d87403aa3249c92c8b55297bddb544/tumblr_nk1hxgEemg1sqx8y7o1_540.jpg saving this to show dwho whenever he arrives [17:49] disgusting 14[17:54] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:16] * Joins: ddt 03[18:36] <@Ferrinus> https://40.media.tumblr.com/bd9752c20eb9adecee7050c1baa617ef/tumblr_inline_nmjzm12Sin1rouskh_540.jpg nick earns some extra money for the nomads while the sun's up 15[18:36] <@VoxPVoxD> lol [18:37] <@Ferrinus> http://cache4.asset-cache.net/xc/154051456.jpg?v=2&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=76eGzYTvhMr6syES_H7exH3rosSBy1qGFd__02gp5wRv3h02FwbjiXUVpXG32mbM0 nick got hit by that vial all along and then studied under the nordwyrm 15[18:37] <@VoxPVoxD> lol 14[19:05] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[19:07] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[19:41] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[19:51] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[19:53] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[19:54] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[19:55] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:17] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[20:32] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:48] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:25] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[21:38] * Joins: Quaker [22:01] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/brZVxhd.png mage 14[22:07] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[22:35] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[22:37] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 09[23:40] * Zarick2 is now known as Zarick Session Time: Fri Apr 10 00:00:00 2015 14[00:00] * Joins: Quaker 14[00:33] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[01:29] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[01:29] * Joins: Quaker [01:49] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/KWr2NXN.jpg [01:49] <@Ferrinus> http://40.media.tumblr.com/762d8d87ff12e7b297b198e5657082cf/tumblr_nlq1rredpj1qzcv7no1_500.jpg scotch leaps to nick's rescue 14[01:52] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[02:00] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[02:04] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[02:05] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[02:33] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[02:39] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[02:39] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[03:22] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[03:25] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[03:35] * Joins: ddt 14[03:53] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 09[04:00] * tom2 is now known as tom 14[04:12] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 11[04:43] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Apr 10 04:43:32 2015 Session Start: Fri Apr 10 04:43:32 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[13:56] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[13:56] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[13:56] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[13:56] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 09[13:56] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 09[14:26] * banana is now known as bananarb [15:20] <@Ferrinus> reposting these btw [15:20] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/brZVxhd.png mage [15:20] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/KWr2NXN.jpg [15:20] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> http://40.media.tumblr.com/762d8d87ff12e7b297b198e5657082cf/tumblr_nlq1rredpj1qzcv7no1_500.jpg scotch leaps to nick's rescue [15:21] lis signs up for tinder https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCPPetcUgAAyDbn.png:large 15[15:25] <@VoxPVoxD> same to all of the above 15[15:25] <@VoxPVoxD> though 15[15:25] <@VoxPVoxD> <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/brZVxhd.png mage 15[15:25] <@VoxPVoxD> this is ALSO lis signing up for tinder. [15:25] lol [15:36] <@Ferrinus> https://40.media.tumblr.com/d6787a4c0f92b8e9b1439922bd909a12/tumblr_nml8zqKkmP1rylzllo1_540.jpg hero of the shadow [15:37] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/SyXP9SR.jpg 15[15:38] <@VoxPVoxD> when you're the best of friends 15[15:38] <@VoxPVoxD> having so much fun together 15[16:03] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhA_TTKetyM nick's training begins 14[16:05] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[16:39] * Quits: Zarick (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[16:47] * Joins: Zarick 14[17:46] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:49] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[17:55] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[17:58] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[18:08] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[18:32] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:50] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 11[19:53] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Apr 10 19:53:19 2015 Session Start: Fri Apr 10 19:53:19 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[19:54] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[19:54] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[19:54] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[19:54] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 14[19:55] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by VoxPoxVD))) 09[19:55] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[19:55] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 15[19:58] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:58] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:58] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:58] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:59] <@VoxPVoxD>  [20:02] 14The man with white hair stirs last of all, having sat quietly considering his new...compatriots, one after the other. Blossom he already knew, and he had seen all the others at one point or another, but it was nice to put names to faces. "My name is Stranger-Visits-Heaven," 14he says, "for that is what I did during the eclipse that bore me." 14[20:02] * Joins: dammitwho [20:02] 14There is a squeak as a little rodent darts out onto his shoulder, and he smiles. "And this is Ra." 15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD> There are six of them here, one for each station of the sun and another besides. The Black Judge and providence have gathered them here, to a hovel beneath Nexus, in the umbra of a great pile of refuse and junk. Tales have had nobler beginnings than this. 15[20:07] <@VoxPVoxD> The city of rivers is at a confluence. The Emissary, dead, by circumstances mysterious and ominous. A simple cabbage merchant, implicated and cursed by those same circumstances. And a city beset by a wave of nightmares, which must continue living and working even as its masters hold their breath, girding against known and unknown calamity. [20:08] 3Mud squats on a rain-slicked pile of firewood in his corner- and he truly does occupy seemingly the entire corner- of the hovel. "I am pleased to meet you, Stranger and mouse." [20:08] "A lot of things happened today that I do not understand." 15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD> The question then is this: which way? What now? There is the Emissary's body, in repose at the Crematory Temple. Legal access will be near impossible to secure with a known fugitive in your ranks. There is the cabbage merchant, in hospice somewhere in the city. And there is the tickling, staticky sensation in Xu Sim's sinuses, imparting a hazy ethereal character to his perceptions. A quirk? A consequence? Or the presaging of something strange to come? [20:10] <@Ferrinus> "This," 12says Keldar, staring around at everyone else, "Is fucking nuts!" 12He's still got a stylized, eight-armed sun glowing merrily on his brow; the glyph itself is a cheerful yellow, but it casts the rims of Keldar's face, armor, and immediate surroundings into a warm orange-shading-to-red. "What are the odds that, that six of the most powerful kind of demon would all just... [20:10] <@Ferrinus> show up? Same place?" 14[20:10] * Joins: Quaker [20:10] "I'm not a demon! Come on, man." [20:10] "I am fairly certain we are not actually demons. Demons reside in Hell, as everyone knows, and must be summoned. I was not summoned! I was here all along." [20:11] "Well, since I was born anyway. But this mark appeared about six months ago one day, as I finished my hospice treatment of King Novak." [20:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Same kinda story. Some Dynast fuck turns on me, tries to finish me off, and bam! Sent him running. So that's the event, right? The... summoning, or drawing down, or whatever." [20:13] "I fixed a hole!" [20:14] "It was a big hole." [20:14] "You're a prodigious worker." [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Naw, come off it." [20:14] "There were skeletons," 3he pouts. [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, yeah? That probably helps." [20:17] "We've got a lot of leads to follow. The fallen Emissary. The merchant who 'killed' him. This strange flower. Perhaps they will all lead to the same place." [20:17] "I've got one, too." [20:18] "I met with the Gray, and he said there's something poisoning the river up, way up-the-stream." [20:18] "I wonder if that's related." [20:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks impressed. "How'd you get the appointment?" [20:19] "We are not demons!" 7She insists. "We are Chosen of Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun. Anyway, I arrested a corrupt tax collector." [20:19] "It's my job," 3Mud grins proudly, thumping his fist on his chest for effect. "I'm the Foreman of the Grey River Levee!" [20:19] 14The big man is friendly. Too friendly, perhaps, to be trusted to handle Ra while excited. It could lead to squishing. [20:20] 05 At the sight of the mouse, Xu Sim's dog licks her lips heartily. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, yeah, I mean, that's what I'd tell people, too." [20:21] "Do you really think you're a demon?" [20:22] 14Yes, Ra will be staying away from that one. [20:22] "There are others like us, I met one - Piotr, the son of Novak - his head bore a green circle, much like mine. He was a powerful sorcerer, and had summoned a demon to eat my brain! I suspect my warning to his mother regarding his treachery was not sufficient." 14[20:23] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) [20:23] 14Stranger: "It sounds so." [20:24] 14Stranger: "I've put out subtle feelers about the situation in the city to my...contacts. I am interested to hear what they have to say." [20:24] "And I concur with Blossom. We are not demons. We are Solars." [20:25] 14He pauses. "That information comes care of a woman that can turn into a swan. So. Perspective." [20:25] "Whatever we are, we are called to a purpose. Coming together at the scene of these dramatic events was certainly no accident." [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I looked all this up, man. The Sun turned his face, only monsters remained, something like that. I can take you to the right library in this very city and you'll see these little suns we've got drawn and labeled." [20:26] "If we are demons then, we're in it together. Any ideas?" [20:26] "Interesting theory. But we need more proof. And also, we need to find out what the deal is with these bizarre bees and their psychoactive pollen and strange mystickal flowers. And finally, I think the cabbage-monger may have also transformed into something not unlike us shortly after the death of the Emissary." [20:28] 14Stranger: "I wish to undertake no adventure upriver myself, with all respect to Mud. I await correspondence addressed to me here, hopefully actionable correspondence. I am at the disposal of the group for any task in-city, however." [20:28] 7She rolls her eyes. "Of course they are. Our Creation-spanning kingdom was betrayed and brought down by the Dragon-blooded and their Immaculate accomplices. Obviously they'd need a propaganda campaign to keep the watch for our return. They can't falsify the signs or the Wyld Hunt would lose its effectiveness." [20:29] 14Besides, he still has to piece together why Nexus...and why now. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, in response to Tarn: "Oh, for sure. I gotta get to the bottom of this," 12he nods to the Judge and Mud, "And I know at least a few of us are interested in this place not completely falling apart. What about the rest of you?" [20:30] 14Not while Stranger is in it, certainly. Though parts of it could use some 'falling apart.' "Of course," he says aloud. [20:30] 14Not while Stranger is in it, certainly. Though parts of it could use some 'falling apart.' "Of course," 14he says aloud. [20:30] "Have you examined that pollen any? Know anything about it?" [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, to Blossom: "Yeah, but that's awful convenient the other way, too. And I'll admit, I've never seen one of the golden Anathema before, but I did once catch a silver on, fortunately, the other side of the battlefield I was on, and holy shit." [20:32] "I gave it a careful smell, and it has been effecting me very strangely ever since. It's quite dangerous. And I speak as someone whose job involves working with quicksilver." [20:32] 7Blossom: "As for our current course, I agree with you all. Certainly we can't allow this city to fall into chaos. Thousands of innocents would die." [20:32] 14Stranger smiles knowingly. "I'll concur with that assessment." [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods and taps the side of his nose. [20:33] 14That was directed at Keldar. [20:34] 3Mud has been slowly chewing on a dumpling from his satchel as the others have been speaking. [20:34] "Sho whur wh goin' fhurst?" [20:34] "Mud has the right of it. We need to figure out a direction." [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Dunno about the rest of you, but I have got to find out what was under that mask." [20:35] 14Stranger: "Eventually the powers that be in this city will realize we're working together. But I question whether that's something we want to let them know right away by pursuing only one lead, as a group." [20:36] 14Stranger: "I would counsel a division of labor, for the moment. Two groups, two objectives." [20:37] "Might be wise... unless we run into trouble." [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What's gonna trouble any three of us?" [20:37] 14Stranger: "If we are properly circumspect, that won't be an issue." [20:37] "Nessun Dorma, and thousands like him?" [20:37] "I am not very much of whatever that is." [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Three of us could take Dorma down, I bet." [20:38] 14Stranger: "I would be...concerned to hear there were thousands of Nessun Dormas in this city." [20:39] 14Stranger: "I find it likely we'll only have to worry about the one. And we already showed we can handle him -- or at least deflect his attentions." [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What you wanna look out for is people trying to collect on Xu Sim's bounty. Guy I was talking to, Raptor Quan, he's looking for a way to do it." [20:39] "He is my friend and I will be happy to see him again!" [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...so am I, far as he knows." [20:40] 14Stranger: "Speaking of which -- yes, the question Xu Sim's bounty looms. Perhaps if he should assist in an issue outside the public eye. Research of some kind. Perhaps, additionally, we should provision a...hideout of some sort." [20:40] "For the duration of our time in the city." 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> What, is the trash hovel not good enough? [20:40] "I was going to say, as much as I enjoy the company of you friends, this building is..." [20:40] "It's horrible! Goodness, it's terrible." [20:40] "There's probably other buildings we could gather in... as long as we don't do anything overtly supernatural." [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I've got a pretty nice place, but everyone knows where it is and I'm not too keen on making it a laboratory or something." [20:43] 14Stranger: "I believe some of us will need the freedom of overt supernaturalism, from time to time. Some of us should pursue quarters where Xu Sim can further research this flower. I am willing to serve as a...research assistant, of sorts, in this matter. Because I suspect the hand of the Wyld in this." [20:43] 7Blossom: "We should also be on the lookout for people hunting Wu Zheng, though I doubt we'll find any." [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Gotta be. Those fairies back at Sentinel Hill weren't an accident." [20:44] "I'm not much of a magician. But I can find people in Nexus, if need be." [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So... anyone got an idea for getting, like, a pass, or something, or are we sneaking into two different holding cells?" [20:50] "We.. we could ask?" [20:50] 14With all this in mind, it might be useful to split up as such: Mud, Stranger, and Xu Sim pursuing temporary, secret lodgings and then researching the flower, while Blossom, Keldar, and the Judge attempt to sneak or politick. [20:50] 3He shrugs. "It couldn't hurt. We were there when it happened." [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hasn't worked too well for me. Friggin' Pellicia." [20:51] 7Blossom nods. "It might work. If those of us who most visibly intervened tried." [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12The only problem is, it might be Xu Sim's expertise that's the most useful in examining either the Emissary's corpse or the merchant. [20:52] "Perhaps I should try hunting down the cabbage merchant, and Xu Sim should look into this flower? Then the rest of you can find a way in to see the Emissary." [20:55] 4Stranger: "I think we can accomplish hunting for proper accomodations and hunting for this merchant along generally the same lines, freeing up the rest of you to investigate the corpse." [20:55] 14Stranger: "I think we can accomplish hunting for proper accomodations and hunting for this merchant along generally the same lines, freeing up the rest of you to investigate the corpse." [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Could work." 12He looks at Blossom. "Can you keep a straight face about threats to the city, duty to all, 'cetera, in front of the captain of the guard? I couldn't and I actually meant it for once." [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12He turns to Judge. "And, hey... could you just do up Xu Sim to look like someone else?" [20:56] 7Blossom: "Our duties are no laughing matter." [20:56] "I can, I suppose. It won't be nearly as effective as my own disguises, but... it's better than nothing." [20:56] 14Stranger suppresses a smile. Excessively Righteous, indeed. [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "See, you'd think so, but there I was..." [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Then it's simple. I tell 'em not-Xu Sim is an occultist I'm hiring from out of the city to aid with my investigation, Blossom gets us in, bam." [21:02] "There's no way this could possibly go wrong." [21:03] 14Stranger stirs. Whatever the plan, they should get started on it. [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Literally no way. I'm a damn genius." [21:04] 7Blossom: "That's the spirit!" [21:04] 4The Judge has some clothes, some cosmetics, and in about five minutes, Xu Sim is practically unrecognizable. He's about the same height and weight, but otherwise, entirely different. 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> What does he look like now? [21:06] 3Mud has worked his way through his extra dumplings and is now drinking some sort of coconut mixture out of a bamboo jug. [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "All right, so pick a name. Let's say you're from Eavesbark out southeast a little way, once either studied or worked with the famed doctor Thodo, who as a point of fact actually did do up a splint for me once, and you're passing through the city and doing me a favor to pay back one I did the old man." 12The mercenary's totally guileless - even as he speaks, it's just too [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12obvious that he's proud of himself for coming up with this on the spur of the moment. 14[21:09] * Joins: Quaker [21:09] "Doctor Thodo? His work is not too bad, but really..." 05 Xu wrinkles his nose in distate. [21:09] 14It's a good thing the Judge is going with them. [21:09] 14Wait, is he? ...Oh my. [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Eh? He was highly recommended. Pick your own, though, I guess, you probably know more of 'em than I do." [21:11] "No, wait, actually, it's really quite funny this way. He has the strangest theory regarding aspergris, actually..." [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Great. Long as you can sell it." 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> The circle, newly formed, splits in half. Keldar, Xu Sim, and Blossom are bound for the Coronary and Crematorial Temple, that spare white manse in the hollow between two little hills, where neither the bad smells of the river districts or the cloying perfumes of the wealthy areas can reach. It's the only place in the entire city that feels well and truly clean. 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a double-compliment of tattooed guards with flame pieces at the doors, and more patrolling the grounds. What's more, there's a giant descending the steps. Nessun Dorma's unarmored build is more modest, but only slightly. Without his great white helmet, his hair - a shock of orange cut into something like a flat-topped mesa - throws a strange cast over his complexion. He looks red-faced now, even though his expression is cheery. Behind him is a bald little man with dark glasses consulting an enormous ledger of notes. 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> The crowd that followed Keldar this last leg of the trip, modest though it is, lets up a cheer at the sight of the Dragon-Blooded hero. [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, too, isn't armored, dressed instead in a nicely-cut dark green tunic and some modest leather armor. He's got his trusty straight sword sheathed at his side, though, because in Nexus bearing arms is an analogous-to-sacred right, damn it. 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun Dorma himself seems gladdened, either by the cheer or by the presence of some friendly faces. "FRIENDS!" he booms, his voice carrying like bells in the quiet mansegrounds. 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Elsewhere, Stranger, Mud, and Judge explore the city looking for a place to set up. There are many prospective places, as for all of Nexus's crush of life the city can accomodate far more people than it does now. Abandoned buildings and quiet little slums abound. [21:24] 14Ah, to be walking about. In some place other than a trash hovel. 14[21:24] * Joins: drinkybird [21:24] <@Ferrinus> "Guess we wouldn't have been the first," 12Keldar says to his compatriots, before raising his voice as he waves to the approaching earth aspect. "Heyyy, Dragonlord! How's it going." [21:24] 14To Judge: "Do you have any advice on neighborhood? Preferably one that can accomodate, say, odd, muffled explosions very late at night." 14To give a possible example. 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> They're coming into one of the latter now, a wood-and-rope bridge crossing a busy canal several feet up - creaking perilously under Mud and Straw's weight - beneath which are a series of wood-and-river-clay homes. The air is full of the smell of river waste and cookfires, though from time to time the breeze catches a fresh rush of the many laundry lines that connect the low buildings. 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> What are the house-hunters searching for, and what face does the Judge wear this afternoon? 14[21:27] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [21:28] 05 Xu Sim gives a cautious, courtly bow to the Prince of the Earth as they pass, and otherwise stays close to Keldar. [21:28] 3Mud steps heedlessly onto the bridge, cool as a cucumber in the certainty that the straining ropes and creaking planks can support his girth in motion. 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "KELDAR! The Tiger of Nexus! And you have brought friends. Have you come to see the Emissary as well?" [21:28] 14Stranger is thinking something with a big basement, or room to expand an already existing basement. Even better if said basement can be expanded to add sewer access of some sort -- he's not familiar with the various sanitation aspects of the Undercity, but he assumes they have things like that. 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> The little man behind Nessun gives them each a look before returning to his notes. [21:29] "We'll want something with nice, thick walls- look for older buildings, the ones before the big population booms, those are soundly-built." [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That's right! We just, we couldn't let things lie, you know?" [21:29] 4The stranger and the giant walk alongside a thin, bespectacled older man in neat clothing. "Anything will do, for my purposes. If you can tell me what you need, I can try to find something specific." [21:29] 05 His skin is now the deep woody color of, perhaps, someone from a family very near the Dreaming Sea. His hair too, is a vibrant green. His lean muscle is obscured by a few layers of the Judge's carefully arranged scarves, to give him a more middle-aged look. [21:30] 14Stranger nods. "Large basement, thick walls. Preferably in a quiet part of town where no questions are asked. Also, preferably something with multiple approach points -- to make it harder to divine where we are going by just, seeing what roads we're walking down." 14[21:31] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) [21:31] 7Blossom: "In times like these, uncertainty is dangerous." [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "How is he? Or it, at this point." [21:34] 14To Mud: "Once inside, we'll need to reinforce the doors, the windows -- any place foes could quietly enter or sound could escape. We will likely also have to build a lab for Xu Sim to his specifications. It would be...preferable if we all had enough room for temporary lodgings, but it's only crucial to have bedding for Xu Sim and one or two others. Enough of us have beds in the city [21:34] already, and too many of us at the hideout at once might attract attention." [21:34] "I don't need space. A small cabinet to keep supplies in is enough." 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun's smile quavers, and he claps Keldar on the back, putting himself shoulder-to-shoulder with Xu Sim. He leans in, bending at the waist to bring his face level with Keldar's ear. "In the few days that body has been here, every temple-savant that examined the Emissary has ended up on the slabs alongside him." 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's beyond my power to speculate." [21:36] 3He's nodding along, double-chin wobbling as they go. "I can do that! If I know Xu Sim, and I truthfully I do not, we'll need ventilation for his lab, so that we do not all suffocate in our sleep." [21:36] <@Ferrinus> Keldar: "Hhhhahhhhh... okay. But not you?" 12He glances around, keeps to a whisper. "How close'd'you get?" 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun: "I thought I got his mask off, but that was just a potent fit of imagination, so I gather. Some fel curse that clings to the corpse, isn't that right, Bubo." 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> The little man, apparently called "Bubo", doesn't look up. "Well surmised, your excellency." 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "We really must be going, however. The rest of the delegation is waiting for you at the Tower even now." [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, I've ducked a couple different death curses in my time, and I've got a sorceress and a master examiner, here. ...you don't happen to know offhand what it was most of the casualties tried when they bought it, though, do ya?" 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun: "Nonsense, Bubo! We had to wait the best part of a week for them to get out here. I can keep them waiting another half-hour, if need be." To Keldar: "I see you brought scholars! No doubt finer by far than the slop you can draw from the troughs of Nexus." [21:40] "Pardon me, my Lord - have you noticed any unusual insects around? Honeybees, perhaps?" [21:40] 14Stranger: "As far as it goes, the only two things that differentiate a laboratory from any other room with a table are...yes, ventilation, and soundproofing. The latter can be provided by a basement. I trust the former to your discretion and innovation." [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hey, we got more than a few good ones here! ...though these are from out of town, point of fact." [21:42] "I've worked on forges before, and I suspect that they're of similar hazard and design. Nice stone floors, smooth and non-flammable, high ceilings and ample space for noxious fumes to escape." 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun bows to Blossom and Xu Sim, a courtly gesture confounded to absurdity by his size. "I remember you, my lady, though I don't recall your name. And this woodborn gentleman is unknown to me entirely." [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar leaves them to introduce themselves. 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> To Keldar, the little man apologizes. "The Dragonlord of course refers only to the government of Nexus, such as it is, rather than its citizens. He means no offense." [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, well, whichever. Who're you again?" [21:46] 14Knowing precisely what they're looking for, the three of them get to work. 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Judge knows these streets, even the ones nobody else remarks upon. And Stranger has an eye for the obscure that borders on uncanny intuition. Within two hours they've found a fine location, inset on a little pond that drains swift and clean into one of the Yellow's many tiny tributaries. It's a modest above-ground house made of river-clay and wood. Its floor is partially collapses. But its basement is a real prize, a spacious cavern that was hollowed out by the rivers in some bygone Age, which whoever dug this basement accidentally found their way into - hence the collapsed floor. [21:47] "I am Sarastro, primarily a theogonist by trade, though I come here as a favor to my dear friend Thodo of Eavesbark." [21:47] 3Is it just... abandoned? [21:47] "I wouldn't have thought to come here. This definitely seems to have all the qualities you asked for." [21:48] 3Mud breaks off a chip of rotted floor and grinds it between his plump fingers. "Yes... This will do." [21:48] "And I am Gentle Breeze of Autumn, out of Xianyu." 7She bows slightly in return. "How do you do." 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> It's uninhabitable, but not uninhabited. There are a prodigous number of rats down here, and the little brooks that carver the cave floor are full of emerald-colored sea-unicorns and the odd rattlewhale. [21:49] 14Stranger smiles and looks around. How's the neighborhood? 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Quiet. This is a residential area, and its residents are impoverished but not painfully so. Like everyone else in this city, they get by. [21:51] 14Good. Good. Hopefully the shell of the house is intact enough to allow Mud license to transform what's inside away from their prying eyes. [21:51] 3Mud stoops low to the brook and scoops up a sea-unicorn on his palm, patting it gently before setting it aside. "Marvelous little creatures." [21:52] "They're certainly resourceful. We should try to imitate them." [21:52] 3He watches the little creature flop back into the stream and, traumatized, swim away as fast as it possibly can. 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun: "Honeybees? I can't say I have. It's a bit early in the season for them, isn't it? Certainly the natural ones, at least." 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Bubo Malcavet, sir. Personal attache to the Dragonlord." [21:54] 14To Mud: "What do you need from us to begin your work?" [21:54] 3Mud stands and wipes his hands on his robe. Now: Where can a worker acquire some building materials? [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12I'm assuming the name means nothing to Keldar, so he'll just nod automatically. "Right. Been with 'im a while?" 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh, a fair while." [21:55] "Some wooden planks, charcoal, and nails." [21:55] "The clay in these walls will do fine for the rest." [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What's the baddest thing you ever saw him take down?" 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "In person?" [21:56] "Are there unnatural bees, in this part of the world?" [21:57] 14Stranger thinks he saw a construction yard with a wholesaler attached during one of his jaunts through the Undercity... [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah. Like, are you standing behind him with his paperwork even as he's crushing demons or whatever flat?" 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun: "There are beekeepers, who grow hives for their honey all year round." [22:01] "What a city, Nexus! Would you do me the favor of telling me where they can be found?" 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Oh, heavens no. I try to avoid violence as much as I can, yes yes yes. I wasn't anywhere near Sentinel Hill when you all acquitted yourselves with such heroism, for instance. I would say the greatest foe I've seen the Dragonlord dispose of is a squad of assassins, sent to steal the breath from his throat as he slept." [22:02] 7Blossom: "Shocking!" 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun Dorma shrugs his massive shoulders. "I couldn't guess, doctor." [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ah, well. Who'd sent 'em?" 12He looks to 'Sarastro'. "Ah, you should've asked earlier. It's a ways from the forge district, like thattaway-" 12The mercenary points. "I'll show you, later." [22:04] "Well, thank you in any case. We shan't delay you any longer." 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun gives Xu Sim a searching look, but his keen eyes quickly find other things to look at, like Blossom. Bubo's attention is more persistent, peering at the woodblooded man from behind those small dark glasses, but he betrays no suspicion or ill satisfaction. "Cultists," says Nessun Dorma. "Anathema-worshippers." [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Damn. When was the last time one of those balls started rolling?" 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun Dorma: "Some weeks ago. It was a trifle. They were canny and vicious, but in the end... they are only human. No offense." [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hey, none taken. You get whoever sent 'em?" 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo looks up sharply. [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar peers at Bubo. 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun: "...I think so. I'm a little hazy on the details. The Lunar Anathema have a way of bewitching you, you understand. Pheromones or something. I can't remember what... what was the name? It's not important. The Anathema was crushed, I'm confident of that." [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Damn, one of the metal ones, then? Good on ya." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "In any event, sir, we really must be going. You can trade war stories with Keldar some other time." To Blossom: "Madam, if I could trouble you for whatever findings you manage to uncover in your expedition? I'd be happy to give you an address to send them to. In case the city government decides to be obstructionist." [22:11] 7Blossom: "I see no reason why not." 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> The little man beams. "Good day, then." 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun: "Come, Bubo!" 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "Right away, sir..." [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar watches them go, idly brushes at his tunic, and promptly forgets Bubo exists. He'd like to hear the full story of that dead anathema sometime, though. "Alright - onward!" 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Before departing, Bubo scribbles an address on the back of a bit of fine paper, and presses it into Blossom's hand. [22:16] 14Stranger leaves Mud and the Judge to handle their various duties for the afternoon and wanders back to the teahouse. Hopefully the Ambassador has sent a bird. [22:16] 4A gray-haired man, possibly a scholar or merchant himself, walks calmly about the market as Mud makes his purchases, complimenting various merchants on their wares, asking pertinent questions about them... and the recent happenings with the Emissary and his 'attacker'." [22:17] 7She examines the paper before putting it in her pocket. Commendably dedicated to his master, that man... whatever his name was. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> On the way to the teahouse, Stranger is obstructed. A chunk of bread almost falls on his head from a low eave. [22:18] 14Ah. He looks up. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> A black bird is looking down at him. [22:19] "Greetings." 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom sees that the bit of paper is exceedingly fine, and inked with beauty and care. The end that doesn't have the address on it resembles a prayer strip, albeit the very end of one. It bears a bit of script, which after a moment's focus she identifies as the calligraphy of the Old Realm. Whatever prayer it held is truncated. Only the last few words remain. 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "Why should you help me?" she asked. 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "To know the world is to serve it," they said. 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> The bird bobs its head at Stranger, indicating an empty alley up ahead. [22:23] 7What is... [22:23] 14Stranger bows and proceeds down the alley, 'cane' in hand. [22:24] 7She'll figure that out later. [22:24] 3Mud and Straw's return to the hovel is heralded by the thundering of rickety wheels on the uneven cobblestones of Nexus, the fat man bounding down the street, supplies piled atop an improvised rickshaw that at each turn threatens to spill its contents of bricks, lumber, and gleaming nails in all directions. Workmen press up against the walls of buildings at his passing and mothers [22:24] 3scream for their children to come inside from the street. Miraculously, no-one is injured as Mud and Straw pulls up to the front door of the abandoned hovel, panting like a dog. 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> The guards, despite the exchange, look warily at Keldar and company as they march up the steps. "Business?" one croaks. [22:31] 4Judge appears not far behind, much more composed. "I'm not sure how you didn't draw the notice of everyone in town doing that, but you don't seem to have been followed." [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods. "We'd like to examine the body." [22:31] 7Blossom: "That's right. It's imperative we do so quickly." 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "On whose authority?" [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar draws a breath and begins to raise a finger, but probably ends up pausing in time for Blossom to start in. 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> In the alley, Stranger meets a lithe young man, hair all black and braided with feathers. This is definitely one of Qaile's tribe, the shapeshifting beastmen who can walk the world or cross it as the crow flies. "You stick out in a crowd," he says, crouching in the shadows. [22:35] "Birds of a feather, 14Stranger says, smiling. "If you'll pardon the expression. To what do I owe the honor?" 14[22:36] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[22:36] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 09[22:36] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho [22:36] 3When the others return, they find Mud taking a nap atop a pile of loose bricks that have been arranged into the shape of a throne. The rest of the building materials are fanned out in seperate piles within the hovel. 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> The Judge moves in and among the bazaars of Nexus, trading words as freely and fluently as others exchange goods and favors and coins. It takes a while to piece together a history of the cabbagemonger, but once he does it's fairly comprehensive. The cabbagemonger's name is Surik. He inherited the family farm, bringing the cabbages his sister grows out in the farmlands to market to sell. He lost his wife and son to cholera some years back, and his sister never married. It's just the two of them, or was. 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> He was an honest tradesman, to a fault. One thing that keeps coming up in every anecdotes Judge hears is that the man had an uncanny head for rules. Almost nobody in the city can keep the Civilities straight from day to day, and many merchants try to abuse this fact. But not Surik. Surik always knew when it was okay to sell, where it was okay to sell, and who was okay to sell to that week. [22:45] 7Blossom: "Authority? You know perfectly well who we are. Without the Emissary, the enforcement arm of this city is--" 7Her eyes narrow. "Did Valko put you up to this? Is that man trying to expand his little fiefdom?" 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> The guard bristles. "Ma'am, due respect, I don't know what the Guard-Commandant is up to. That's past my pay grade." [22:47] 4So how did he get mixed up in this? He doesn't even sound like a good patsy. 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> The crow-boy looks up at Stranger warily. "Qaile sent me, while someone else goes and gets word from the Lady. She's far to the north of here, near Highland and Thon. Should be a few more days. But here's what we know down here. We saw the red star." 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "Our medicine men, the wyld singers, they say they heard bells. Bells in their dreams. Bells out of nightmares. That mean anything to you?" [22:48] 14Ah. Pity. But they knew their work would separate them like this. "Hmmm." 14Does it? [22:50] 14Oh, right. The bells in the city that rang upon the Emissary's death. [22:50] 7Blossom: "That's a relief. We were supposed to deliver our report to Pellicia and the Council days ago, but somehow there's always another permit to acquire, one more 'debriefing interview' to sit through. He's trying to beat us to it, I'm sure. Have there been other scholars in to look at the body?" [22:51] "Did they sound iron, or brass?" 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "Truthfully? Not many. Seems like most of them are being begged off before they get here," the guard confides to Blossom. [22:51] 14He paces a bit, then looks at the boy. "Could they tell?" 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> The crow-boy: "They were silver bells, they said, and there was singing with them. A mourning-song, in foreign words." 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "And there were visions of honeycombs, of rose fields far as the eye can see." [22:53] "Honeycombs. Roses. Yes, sadly, this does make sense." 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> A honeybee buzzes lazily through the alley then. [22:53] 14His eyes narrow. 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> The crow-boy's do too. [22:54] "Catch it or kill it." 14Stranger brings the cane up, trying to swat it out of the sky. 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> The crow-boy tries and fails. [22:56] 7Blossom snorts. "Trying to divert competition, no doubt. Listen, please just let us through. Valko doesn't have to know when we got in if you don't tell him, and I'd hate to have to make a Council case out of this..." 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Judge keeps asking around. It's a terrible surprise what happened to Surik. He wasn't even supposed to be working that day. He was supposed to be on his way home to the farm. 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> But Surik underestimated how many cabbages he had left to bring to market - he was saying there were three or four times as many as he thought - so he decided to make one more circuit before heading home. [22:58] 14The bee dodges the crow-boy, but then there's a flash of grey and a glint of light on glass, and suddenly the bee is in a slightly dirty, empty preserves jar that Stranger is screwing shut. "Something," 14he says quietly, "is going on. Something big. I think that...I'm sorry, I didn't get your name. I'm Stranger." [22:59] 4Did someone set him up by... just giving him more cabbages? 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> That would be bizarre, Judge thinks. But... it fits the fact pattern. 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> On the way through the bazaar, he finds something odd. In the space between an awning and the wall, there's a steady buzzing sound. He looks up, and finds wedged in there... a hive. Or no, not even a proper hive. Just a stretch of honeycomb covered by bees and filled with wriggling larvae and amber honey. 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> The crow-boy: "I'm Tuo. Do you know what's happening?" [23:03] 4These bees. Judge has some gloves, but could he get some of that honeycomb without drawing a bunch of attention? 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> That depends. Is he feeling sneaky? [23:05] 4What kind of question is that? 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> The guard looks from Blossom to her compatriots, before sighing. "Alright. But if word reaches the Guard-Commandant, it was someone else who let you in, yeah?" [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It's not like we know who you are." [23:05] 14Stranger: "Not entirely. Not exactly. But this has the fingerprints of the Fair Folk on it, and Firewander has been restless. Tuo, if you have anything else to tell me, tell me now -- and then leave this city." 14He raises the jar, keeping his body between the boy and the bee. "I don't know if this is a spy, or if so, to whom it is reporting, but it has 'seen' your face." [23:06] 7Blossom: "Naturally. Thank you~" 7She smiles as they stride past. Oh, that was fun! [23:07] 05 Xu glances over as they pass, returning her smile with a pouty, puckered look of his own. [23:08] <@Ferrinus> Keldar's massaging his hands and cracking his knuckles as he proceeds forwards and downwards. "Alright, so, do we have a plan for deflecting some sort of infinite corpse-warding death curse, here?" [23:09] 4Judge somehow manages to sidle in between the buildings, then runs up the wall briefly to snatch off a piece of honeycomb, hopefully before bees or citizens are any the wiser. [23:10] "I'm fairly certain I'll notice one before we trip it." 7She's not, but how hard could it be? 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Tuo: "The rivers are thin. Fishing's getting bad. The Gray especially. Do you know this already? It's bad upriver, not so bad here yet." [23:11] 14Stranger nods. "I've heard. One of my colleagues is working on it, in fact. If it's a priority for your clan, I'll make the trip with him myself." [23:12] "My plan is simple, stand behind you before it becomes a problem." [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I've got some charms and walkaways and things pocketed here, but I'm guessing this is a little above their grade. We should probably check out the other bodies first to see what it was that killed 'em." [23:14] 7Blossom: "Sensible." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Tuo nods. "We can hunt, but the fishing was important too. Even more important for the farmers and princes. I hear word of famine." [23:17] 14Stranger: "It might take us a day or two, but the colleague I have in mind holds sway with the river gods." 14After a fashion. "Inform Qaile the concerns will be heard." 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "Many thanks, Stranger." Tuo jumps, and his body rises into itself, feather-braided hair turning into the glossy body of a crow that wings away, north-northeast. [23:19] "Fly fast. Fly safe." [23:20] 14When the boy is gone, Stranger heads back to the teahouse to check on things there, and then will return to the hideout. [23:21] 14Bee-jar under his arm. 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> The Crematory Temple is even brighter and airier within than without. Outside, the afternoon light was deepening. In here it's bright as midday. Their footsteps echo on the soapstone floors, and white-robed priests bustle to and fro around them. Since they're inside, no one gives the solars any attention. If they didn't belong they wouldn't have come in through the front door. [23:25] 4Judge heads back to the newly discovered hideout with his piece of honeycomb. 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> It's a big temple, and navigation would be tricky... except! One of the sets of double doors is sealed, and as they walk and observe nobody sees anyone going in or out. [23:26] 3Mud walks the bridge in all its creaking glory. He unfurls his scroll and runs some numbers, tests the tensile strength of the ropes, scowls, runs them again. Contented, Mud and Straw uncoils a length of rope from his satchel and giddily runs from one end of the bridge to the other, running it in loops through each of the tension points to replace the frayed original rope. The rotted [23:26] 3planks are pulled out and replaced, the knots providing tension to the supports are undone and redone, and when all's said and done Mud and Straw steps onto the bridge and falls through a gap in the boards into the river below. [23:26] 3Mud and Straw pulls himself up the muddy bank, coughs, apologizes to the water spirits (if any may live in the polluted effluva of Nexus) and makes his way back up to his tools to begin anew. [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Like he said, Keldar'd like to get a preparatory look at the victims of the Emissary's corpse before tackling the corpse itself. Any indication as to where those are? He'll just grab a priest and ask if need be. 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar's directed to a smaller mortuary-chamber, one full of long drawers and cold jars. It's very cold in here. [23:28] 3The new boards are pulled out and replaced with new-new boards carefully interlocking like the scales of a dragon, supported at each point by triangular interlocking knots of rope secured to the banks with iron pins. Mud and Straw runs the length and back, twice, to confirm that this new iteration will last a decade or more. 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> All three of the Solars can tell that this is a geomantic effect, subtle but potent. [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar waves around. "Well, you're the sorcerers. Tell me how these guys bought it." 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Mud's accumulated a small crowd of onlookers here, locals to the neighborhood. At first they're frustrated by this fat man blocking the bridge, but as they see him work their grumbling turns to cheers - as well as more than a few laughs and gasps when he falls down into the muck. [23:31] 14Stranger probably wanders up during this time. He'll take the opportunity to watch whoever is watching -- and see if he can't identify some community leaders. 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> It doesn't take the temple team long to find the relevant corpses - the slabs they've been shelved in are slick and red, and the sheets draped over them are soaked through. 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar recognizes the effect immediately. They say the Emissary could boil a man alive from the inside just by looking at him through that mask. 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar's seen it done. Not a pretty business. [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I guess that trick didn't stop working, eh?" [23:36] 3There's some clapping and cheering as Mud finishes his maiden journey across the span, then turns on his heel at the landing at the other side, waving others across. He squats down atop a simple stone bench and gleefully greets those who pass with a pleasant smile and an upraised hand. [23:37] "Next, I think I'm going to do something about the roads. I noticed there's a bit of a stench, I think you could use some gutters to collect the waste and maybe something to make the cart rides a bit easier." 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger sees, among the crowds, an old woman who the other locals treat with an almost unconscious reverence. She's tiny and stooped and her hair is white and wild. [23:39] 14He will sidle up as they both watch Mud gleefully high-fiving the crowd. "He's quite something, isn't he?" [23:40] 05 Xu absentmindedly reaches a hand into his billowing robes to stroke Piotr's strange artifact as he stalks through the dead, carefully examining their remaining auras and whatever ghostly residue might have remained with the bodies, rather than any merely physical signs of injury. His mind can't help but stray back to the feeling of blackest treason he sensed when the star flashed in the... [23:40] ...sky. Was the Emissary betrayed in such a fashion? 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim undertakes the grisly business of studying the remains closely. The bodies are all but voided of fluid, leaking from the eyes, ears, mouth, foam crusted and congealed at every visible orifice. He's able both to confirm that Keldar's supposition was right, and learn something more - one of the corpse's fingertips are visibly burnt and reduced to pustules. Whatever provoked their demises, it started there - this woman touched the Emissary's body. [23:42] 7Blossom is only a practicing sorceress by instinct and guesswork, but she's very well educated. 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom notices something further on those hands, a smear of something embedded under her fingernails. They come away into Blossom's hands if she's careful. This looks like - oh dear. 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom knows exactly what this is. No student of the histories of the Realm could possibly not. 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> This is iron thistledown. 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> The stuff that the war-manses of the great Sword of Creation, the "Realm Defense Grid", used to drive back the fae armies at the dawn of the Realm. 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> It came off the Emissary's body. It rubbed off on her hands before she died. 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> They're so delicate here, slender and light like simple iron filings. [23:45] 3The fat man reaches down to the road, wraps his stubby fingers around a cobblestone, thinks for a moment, then rips it up. "This is a fine stone. Really, they're all fine stones. It's just the arrangement is all wrong. This rock is much better... here." 3Mud waddles forward, heedless of the foot traffic around him and rips up another stone, replacing it with the former. "And this [23:45] one..." 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> But not even the savants of the Heptagram could tell you how many of the raksha were destroyed by them. 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> The old woman doesn't look at Stranger as she watches Mud work. "I should say so..." [23:46] "No, that trick definitely did not stop working. Also: observe these fingertips. When we observe the Emissary, we must not touch the body." [23:46] 14Stranger blinks as Mud moves on. "And there he goes again." [23:47] "I would have thought he'd start with the building, rather than the street." 14[23:47] * Joins: Quaker [23:47] 7Blossom: "This is... surprising. Do you know what this is?" 7She shows the other two the small smear of thistledown. [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar peers. "Uh..." [23:47] 14Stranger manages not to jump. Did the Judge just slip into the conversation out of the aether? [23:48] "This is iron thistledown, the ammunition used by the Imperial War-manses against Fae armies. The Scarlet Empress drove back the raksha with this when she founded the Realm." [23:48] 7She continues. "It must have come off of the Emissary's body." [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Shit, that's ir- yeah, yeah. But... which is it?" [23:48] 4He does have a tendency to do that. He was wandering back from the market. [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Did it kill the Emissary... or did it fail to protect the Emissary?" [23:48] "This city wouldn't be standing here if the Realm Defense Grid had been used in our lifetime." [23:48] 3Tight fit the stones in Mud's new road, secured by the perfection of their fitting. Great care is taken and no stone is unused, though a few particularly weak stones are smashed with his hammer and mixed into a gravel that is sown along the sides where the street meets the buildings in order to accomodate the rainwater that would otherwise collect into fetid pools lining the district. [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Does iron thistledown have to be catalyzed or fired somehow? Is it just lethal to the fae on contact? How's the stuff work? [23:49] 7Blossom: "It may be neither. The Emissary might have been what kept that army from marching out of Firewander, and the raksha merely took advantage of the hole in the city's defenses." 14[23:49] * Joins: mugobbles 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Iron thistletown is a standing weapon, projected from a war-manse with great heat and velocity. In full glory it's said to look like a cross between a snowstorm and a meteor shower, blanketing vast distances. [23:50] 3Before the sun sets on Nexus, the entire street of the neighborhood has been ripped up and re-ordered into a smooth, even surface that would be the match of any of the finer boroughs. [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12So this is thistledown that hasn't actually been used, yet, right? As otherwise it'd just be slag or vapor or something. 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> How is Keldar's metallurgy? [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, he's probably great at identifying the make and material of stuff that specifically goes into combat and adventuring gear. No real ability to make it, though. 14[23:52] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) [23:53] 14Does the Judge have the honeycomb on him, still? [23:53] 4Yes. "I found more of those bees, and some of their honeycomb." 14[23:54] * Joins: cbass [23:55] 14Judge shows him the jar, still half-covered by his robe. "I found this buzzing around a meeting with a contact." [23:55] 14Stranger shows him the jar, still half-covered by his robe. "I found this buzzing around a meeting with a contact." 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim and Blossom can tell that this iron actually has been melted to the point of brittleness. When it's active, a piece of iron thistletown is like unto a snowflake, and these are more akin to iron filings. This was fired at someone, albeit not recently. 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> The easy deduction here is that it was embedded in the Emissary. [23:55] 14To Judge: "Can you take it back to the hideout? I'd like to have a word with the community leaders here about keeping this, ah, quiet." [23:55] 14Somehow. [23:55] 05 Xu Sim checks over his shoulder as he sprinkles bits of powdered rhinocerous knuckle, crushed white lead, a drop of salt water, a crumble of tallow, all onto a small spoon he has procured to gently scrape away at the iron thistledown. Each new reagent he drops upon the spoon - decanting from some height - produces a small puff of smoke, a bit of light, perhaps the hint of a shape of a... [23:55] ...skull, and so on. [23:56] 4He nods, and strolls on past Stranger and Mud's working. [23:57] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom carefully cleans the thistledown from her hand. "Curious. It looks like he was actually shot with a thistledown payload. When, though? And by whom?" [23:57] 14To the old woman: "He's just going to keep going, you know. Not demanding pay. Not settling for anything less than perfection in his works. It's his nature, this man." [23:57] 14Stranger: "And that's going to lead to questions." 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "Truly remarkable," the old woman says, clapping with delight at Mud's handiwork. The others join her. "We've wanted this road tended to for years, but who has time for us? And this man just does it, without asking payment." 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Her eyes narrow at Stranger's words. "What are you getting at?" [23:57] "Few could use such an esoteric weapon." 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> None could. Iron thistledown has, for centuries, been the sole prerogative of the Scarlet Empress. 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> With her gone... [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks around the room. "Is this... is the fucking, did the damn Realm assassinate him somehow? From all the godsdamn way over on the Blessed Isle?" [23:59] 3When the sun sets on Nexus, tonight, this small, crowded district- really, just an angled street between wharves of the great canals and the hovels sprung up around it- it will set on a safer, cleaner, more orderly place than it last arose upon. And really, in the end, isn't that the most anyone can hope to accomplish in this fallen age? Mud and Straw wipes the sweat and dirt from [23:59] 3his forehead, collects his tools, and with a pile of planks over his shoulder, sets off for the final project of the day. [23:59] 7Blossom shakes her head. "Impossible. I doubt the Sword of Creation can aim so finely as to assassinate a single man and leave the rest of the city untouched. Also, only the Empress had the ability to work its controls." Session Time: Sat Apr 11 00:00:00 2015 [00:00] 14Stranger: "And he never will. And eventually he will leave, as all things do. But until then...he and his services are yours. So long as no one comes to take them from you." [00:00] "Perhaps it could be synthesized by some other means. We will surely have to examine the body." [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What's the, uh... say you wanted to shoot someone with this stuff, and you had some of the ammo on hand. What do you need in terms of a launcher? Minimum?" [00:03] 7That's a good question. Would you need anything more than firesand and a barrel? 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> The old woman: "Are you threatening me, sir?" [00:04] 14Stranger: "I am merely remarking on the realities of this world. The things that threaten you -- this community -- are not me, nor are they him." 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar knows that such a thing would be impossible. To project iron thistledown from even something the size of one of the great lux-cannons of Lookshy would be impossible. It'd melt and clump and come out as an ugly cannonball. From something like a flame piece? It'd blow the barrel apart before it did anything useful. No, iron thistledown is a weapon of armies against armies. If someone's been hit by iron thistledown, it was a war manse that did it. [00:07] 3And so it comes to pass that when the others return from their various efforts they find that the safehouse has not been finished- not even begun, actually, but that the whole neighborhood around it has been more or less rebuilt. Mud is, of course, napping on his mekshift throne of bricks with a few jugs of apology beer next to him. He'll get to it after his nap, of course. [00:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...it'd be like, a damn building, right? Yeah, no, not even one of those big sorcerous ballistae or whatever'd do it properly. I've heard about what this stuff looks like in action." [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "How in the fuck, then, does this happen? Who managed to stick the Emissary with this stuff without blowing up an entire district? ...has it been stuck to his body for centuries, or something?" [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Let's, uh - let's look at the genuine article, I guess. And make sure not to touch it barehanded." [00:08] 7Blossom: "It must have been..." 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> As they depart, they find the door to where the Emissary's body is presumably kept remains sealed. [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12What's a priest say when Keldar demands access? [00:12] 14Stranger: "We won't be here forever. We will move on, eventually. But while we are he, we -- specifically, he -- is at your disposal. A cart wheel needs fixing. A bellows won't heat. A roof leaks. A tool goes dull or weak or wrong. He will be by. He has a nose for these things. He will fix things that you don't even know needs fixing. Any requests your people have, they bring to [00:12] you, and you bring to us." [00:13] 14Stranger: "And here is the catch: only your people come to you. Only you come to us. No one from outside knows. Especially not the watch. I will ask him to be more...discreet than he was today. If asked, your craftsmen have been diligent and hardworking, efficient and quiet. And that's not a lie, as for the time being, he is your craftsman." 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The first priest Keldar grabs says, "Are you insane? Didn't you hear what happened to Tellagra and the adjutants?" [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Were they the people who personally repelled the cataphractoi that charged out of Firewander right at the moment of the Emissary's death?" 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> The old woman gives Stranger a long look. Then she sniffs. "To hell with the watch anyhow. You've got friends here if you want them, stranger." 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> The priest: "...no." 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "The door'll open if you push it. Ring the bell if one of you starts liquefying." [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, we were. Two of us, I mean, but we're vouching for this dude. And will do." [00:18] 14Stranger touches his forehead in a hatless salute. "Glad to hear it. I'm sure you already know where to find us, my lady." 14Then he slips into the crowd, idly twirling his cane. [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar puts some hard-wearin gloves on before cracking his knuckles and pushing open the great doors. [00:19] 05 Xu Sim strides over to the door as soon as the priest explains. He surreptitiously retrieves the bauble he had been fiddling with earlier - a complicated glass and brass object, dangling on a rather fat iron chain. 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> The doors yield to Keldar's strength. The room inside is all but barren, lit with the kind of white light that brings every imperfection in your skin into relief. It's a harsh light, the light of insights you'd prefer to avoid. It contains a single long table, almost altar-like, bisecting the center of the room. At the center of this table lies the Emissary in repose. 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Still in cloak and cape and silvered mask. Arms crossed over his chest. Blood spatters across his chest from where the ill-fated clerics must have stooped over his body. [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well... okay, so, we won't look the mask in the face, and we won't touch the body directly. Anyone got, uh, chopsticks? Tongs?" [00:24] "This," 05 Xu replies, hoisting the artifact gently on its chain. [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Whassat?" [00:29] "All will be well, Keldar." 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> The brooch gets hot when he says that. [00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Visibly so? 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Palpably so. It doesn't glow red-hot but in the chill of the temple all three of them can feel its warmth. [00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Is that a lie detector? Try another one." [00:30] 05 Xu rolls up his sleeves as he approaches the body. [00:31] 05 Is it covered in iron thistledown? Or any other obvious poisons? Or perhaps the risk is more metaphysical? 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> There's no iron thistledown visible on the Emissary's body. Whatever came off on the cleric's hands came off his skin. 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> The body looks, in almost all respects, like it did on Sentinel Hill. 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Two obvious discrepancies present: [00:34] 05 Xu runs his hand gently across the cloak as he considers the Emissary like a Westerner might examine a sea-mantis before breaking out a mallet. 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> -The Emissary's body has a spatter of blood on it, no doubt from the grisly fate of Tellagra. 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> -The Emissary's mask has plainly been removed and then put back. [00:35] <@Ferrinus> 12..! [00:36] 05 In that case - Xu blows on his hand for a moment before grasping the mask and hoisting it off. 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim is not struck down, smote, or boiled alive. 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary's silvered mask pulls back to reveal... 15[00:39] <@VoxPVoxD> A man's face, soft and pointed in its features. His skin is the color of bruised peaches, purple-blotched pink. His face is ragged with scars, iron embedded in his skin almost marring him beyond recognition. 15[00:39] <@VoxPVoxD> All three of his eyes are closed. [00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I don't know what I was expecting." [00:40] "Fascinating," 05 Xu breathes. 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> The two eyes that sit where a man's eyes typically would are small and deep-set. Even in death one is compelled to envision merriment and wrath in them, pinpricks of passion like stars on the horizon. 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> The third eye, set high on his forehead, is sewn shut with fresh thread. [00:41] 7Blossom: "Now who would have done that...?" [00:41] "Nobody who has been boiled alive." 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Emerging from the temples are two broken protrusions of bone or some other keratinous matter. The immediate first guess suggests that antlers once grew here, though they were broken off long ago indeed - the breaks are all but worn smooth. [00:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...Dorma. Right? Only guy who came and managed to leave." [00:42] "I doubt he is the needle and thread type." [00:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Then a... servant, or artifact, or something. Or else someone snuck in here, like we were thinking of doing..." [00:44] 7Blossom: "What about his assistant? His... assistant." 7She finishes lamely. He was short, wasn't he? Fairly short. Or did he just look shorter when compared to the massive Dorma? [00:44] "Keldar, if you please," 05 Xu hands him the mask. [00:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, yeah, he had someone holding stuff...?" 12The Dawn takes the mask absent-mindedly. [00:46] "The address he gave me had the end of a prayer written in Old Realm on it." [00:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "How'd it run?" 15[00:46] <@VoxPVoxD> He was short, though in Nessun's wake he seemed miniscule. He was about Xu Sim's height. What in the world was his name...? [00:47] "I need a mirror. Either of you?" 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar's holding one right now, in point of fact. [00:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar raises and tilts the mask a bit. "Good enough?" 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary's mask is flawlessly reflective, though if Keldar looks at it from the face side, finds it clear as glass. [00:47] 7Blossom: "I don't think he told us his name. Anyway, it says 'Why should you help me? She asked. 'To know the world is to serve it,' They said." 7She shrugs. "That's all. It doesn't mean anything to me." [00:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Me neither." [00:47] "Should work. Next, a shroud or the like..." 05 He glances around the room. [00:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar didn't bring a cloak or anything, but if all else fails he could probably just step out and grab one from another room. This is a mortuary of sorts, after all. 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> There are gauzy sheets in any room Keldar cares to look. [00:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar returns with on shortly, idly thinking on the prayer all the while. [00:51] "Blossom, hold the gauze just so," 05 Xu Sim arranges the two of them so that mask will carry at most the reflection of the third eye - he slips his hands under the shroud, using the mirror to guide his motion. Now the autopsy can begin in earnest. 15[00:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar thinks about the prayer. It's a curious thing. But every time he tries to mull over its origin or meaning, his attention is drawn back to the Emissary. Keldar is certain that this corpse has the look of a raksha, mostly. And something is tickling the back of his mind. Something he heard. Something he read. Something Xu Sim said... 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom holds the fullness of it in her mind. She can feel the weight of the prayer, the solemnity of the gesture. Something precious and broken was handed to her, each side containing a fragment of knowledge, useless on its own, powerful if deployed correctly. Either side's knowledge might better her life. But both...? And it feels especially pertinent now, looking at this corpse. It's obvious, isn't it? The prayer is, among its many meanings, a meditation on the Emissary. To have been elsewhere, to have come here. To live and die by the old etiquette... 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> That face. That old and wounded face. That terrible gaze. 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> The name is on both their lips in that moment. The Red-Eyed King. The Sword of Chaos. Balor. [01:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Say, haha. You know what'd actually make sense, technically?" [01:02] 7Blossom: "Sacred Yu-Shan... it's Balor of the Terrible Gaze!" [01:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You pick, you know, the first high-profile fairy you can think of - one that goes back far enough to have actually caught a faceful of ironthistle -" [01:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Whaaaaat? No. No, c'mon, I was kidding." [01:03] 7Blossom: "I wasn't. It's him." [01:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But." [01:04] 05 Xu Sim carefully cuts his way through the flesh, moving with meticulous precision. His knife is very small, and between it, a single silvered chopstick, and his bare hands, he dives into the bloody work of his profession. 15[01:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim can scarcely hear them. His focus is absolute. He cuts with a quickness and a surety backed by Hell itself. 15[01:04] <@VoxPVoxD> The corpse yields to knowledge. Even him. Even here. Flesh holds no secrets. [01:06] 7Blossom: "To be old enough to have caught a volley of thistledown and yet live, that face, that eye... the prayer shouts it, now that I've seen his face. It couldn't be anyone else." 15[01:07] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary's entire body is wracked with thistledown scars, from head to toe. Only his hands are free of blemish. The lavender skin of a raksha noble of the eastern Wyld yields in places to the blotchy pink-brown of human skin. As Xu Sim cuts, he finds a curious conundrum. The bodies of the fae have only the impressions of biology, organs and viscera serving a ceremonial purpose. But this body... it lived. Its heart beat blood from head to toe. It hungered and hurt and suffered all the urges and frailties of the flesh. 15[01:08] <@VoxPVoxD> It changed. [01:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So the... the prayer's saying what? This thing - the Emissary - Balor - it was serving the world? How the hell would Dorma know that?" [01:09] 7Blossom: "There must be lore in Lookshy from the Shogunate at least. Maybe they've always known the Emissary's secret." [01:10] 05 Xu continues the bloody work, shaking his head as he proceeds. He is frowning now, deeper in concentration as he drives after the secrets contained in the flesh before him. 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim cuts, and finds the border-marches of the flesh, the liminal places where Wyld-nature is given over to flesh. They run melancholic, along the channels dictated by the elements of earth, by the whims of caution and despair. It was iron thistledown that brought Balor low, but it was heartbreak that changed him. 15[01:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim theorizes as he cuts. But a raksha is a raksha. It is not a creature of flesh and blood. It's a creature of will and rules. What rules exist that could sustain what remains of the Emissary's fae nature? What laws could he have- it's maddeningly obvious now. 15[01:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The Dogma! The Civilities! The gilt laws of Nexus. They fed him. They kept him whole. 15[01:14] <@VoxPVoxD> He should have died here, all those centuries ago. But in his despair he found wisdom. He remade himself. 15[01:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Balor fashioned himself 'Emissary' before anyone else would have respected the name. And in so doing, Nexus blossomed from the ruined city that should have been his tomb. 15[01:16] <@VoxPVoxD> But this is prologue. The origins of the Emissary are not at issue here. Even the body, maddening wonder that it is, is not why Xu Sim set to work. 15[01:16] <@VoxPVoxD> The question is this: what was it that finally killed the Emissary? [01:18] 05 Balor's star was in the heavens at the moment of his passage. Surely it can't have been on the brow of this strange body... 15[01:19] <@VoxPVoxD> As Xu Sim cuts, he can find in the Emissary no wound of the flesh so grievous as to explain his death. No poison, no cut, or battering. The Emissary's death is a product of the failure of his fae self. Something destroyed the laws of Nexus, or his relationship with them, so fully and fiercely that he could no longer live by them. He could no longer live at all. 15[01:19] <@VoxPVoxD> The cabbage-man's presence? Pure serendipity. A fault of the stars. 14[01:21] * Quits: mugobbles 15[01:25] <@VoxPVoxD> A thought occurs to Keldar, as the one whose mind is most oriented to such considerations and least overcome with epiphany. 15[01:25] <@VoxPVoxD> If that star, Balor's star, shone all the way into the Wyld... 15[01:26] <@VoxPVoxD> ...who would dare answer it? Who is mighty enough to see that sign and march toward it? 15[01:26] <@VoxPVoxD> What is coming to Nexus? 14[01:27] * Quits: drinkybird (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[01:27] * Joins: drinkybird 15[01:30] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: Bandages, banners, and banshees 14[01:39] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[02:04] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[03:28] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[03:32] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[03:33] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[03:36] * Joins: drinkybird 14[03:40] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[05:14] * Quits: Crion (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[05:15] * Joins: Crion 14[07:27] * Quits: dammitwho 14[08:12] * Joins: hrolf 14[08:29] * Joins: Crion_ 14[08:33] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 09[09:25] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[10:18] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[10:19] * bananarb is now known as banana 14[10:50] * Joins: ddt 14[10:53] * Quits: hrolf (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[10:54] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:15] * Joins: hrolf 14[11:16] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[11:19] * Joins: hrolfie 14[11:21] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[11:23] * Joins: hrolfy 14[11:25] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[11:42] * Joins: hrolf 14[11:43] * Joins: hrolfie 14[11:45] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[11:46] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[11:47] * Joins: hrolf 14[11:49] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[11:55] * Joins: hrolfie 14[11:56] * Joins: hrolfy 14[11:57] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[11:58] * Joins: hrolf 14[11:59] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[12:01] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[12:06] * Joins: hrolfie 14[12:10] * Joins: hrolfy 14[12:10] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[12:13] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[12:14] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:18] * Joins: hrolfie 14[12:18] * Quits: Quaker (Client Quit) 14[12:21] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[12:22] * Joins: hrolfy 14[12:24] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[12:25] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[12:26] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:28] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[12:30] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[12:38] * Joins: hrolfie 14[12:41] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[12:45] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:48] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[12:51] * Joins: hrolfie 14[12:52] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[12:53] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:56] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[13:49] * Joins: hrolfie 14[13:50] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 09[13:53] * banana is now known as bananap 14[14:32] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:53] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[15:47] * Joins: Quaker 08[15:53] cavanaugh, rollie, and edgar http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121216201343/disney/images/5/5c/Tnbc-disneyscreencaps.com-4077.jpg 14[16:10] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[16:13] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[17:42] * Joins: tom 14[18:09] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[18:10] * Joins: Crion_ 03[19:00] nomadgame makes its way east, gets in trouble with the law [19:00] IMPD @IMPD_News [19:00] #Indy This suspect needs to be located! He states "..I'll turn myself in next week..I want to chill this weekend.." 15[19:01] <@VoxPVoxD> lol [19:53] shit they're after me 14[20:01] * Joins: dammitwho 11[20:12] * Disconnected Session Close: Sat Apr 11 20:12:32 2015 Session Start: Sat Apr 11 20:12:32 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[20:16] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:16] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:16] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[20:16] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 09[20:16] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/G632kGi.png [20:37] same 09[20:41] * bananap is now known as banana 14[21:49] * Quits: dammitwho 14[22:30] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[23:38] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[23:39] * Joins: Quaker Session Time: Sun Apr 12 00:00:00 2015 14[00:42] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[00:46] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[01:28] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[02:30] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[03:12] * Quits: dammitwhoa 14[03:28] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[03:53] * Joins: dammitwho 14[04:27] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[04:27] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[04:30] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[04:58] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[05:00] * Joins: cbass 14[06:41] * Quits: dammitwho 14[08:42] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[10:41] * Joins: ddt 14[12:16] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[12:18] * Joins: hrolfie 14[12:37] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[12:58] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[13:05] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) [13:11] https://41.media.tumblr.com/99669636c9d3dae4862daa9a0c5213c4/tumblr_nmpcw3AH791qzh5jro1_540.jpg 15[13:14] <@VoxPVoxD> we are blood 15[13:14] <@VoxPVoxD> no one can tell us we're crud [13:17] elysium's a battlefield 14[13:25] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 15[13:36] <@VoxPVoxD> anna: origins 15[13:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Saladin Ahmed @saladinahmed 15[13:36] <@VoxPVoxD> DAUGHTER- Knock knock. 15[13:36] <@VoxPVoxD> SON- Who's there? 15[13:36] <@VoxPVoxD> DAUGHTER- Silent clown. 15[13:36] <@VoxPVoxD> SON- silent clown who? 15[13:36] <@VoxPVoxD> DAUGHTER- ::says nothing:: [13:36] lol 14[14:53] * Joins: ddt 14[14:55] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:55] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[14:57] * Joins: ddt 14[14:58] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[14:59] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[15:00] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[15:01] * Joins: ddt 14[15:03] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[15:04] * Joins: ddt 14[15:06] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[15:07] * Joins: ddt 14[15:15] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[15:17] * Joins: ddt 14[15:24] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[15:25] * Joins: ddt 14[15:26] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[15:33] * Joins: ddt 14[15:33] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[15:58] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[16:27] * Joins: ddt 14[17:01] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 11[17:21] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Apr 12 17:21:03 2015 Session Start: Sun Apr 12 17:21:03 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[17:26] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[17:26] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[17:26] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[17:26] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 09[17:26] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[17:29] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[17:59] * Quits: mattbaby (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[18:00] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:05] * Joins: trenchfoot 03[18:08] <@Ferrinus> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCZtJw9UwAAuSAn.png:large nomadgame 15[18:09] <@VoxPVoxD> anime ftl [18:15] ftw* 14[20:11] * Joins: dammitwhoa 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> can't tell if this is anna.txt or alisa.txt 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Mallory Ortberg @mallelis 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> A man just ran away from me in the street to get away from my discussion of the narrator's emotional growth in "Margaritaville" 04[20:20] A man just ran away from me in the street to get away from my discussion of the narrator's emotional growth in "Margaritaville" [20:23] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/hphxuzl.webm nick [20:25] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/6dUs6EL.jpg anna probably should've gone a little farther afield for instruction in protean 15[20:25] <@VoxPVoxD> lol 15[20:25] <@VoxPVoxD> all those times her dad said "you've made a real horse's ass of yourself" flood back [20:31] lol 04[21:31] [17:20] <@VoxPVoxD> can't tell if this is anna.txt or alisa.txt | depends on if mallory let him go or chased him down 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> lol 14[22:35] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[22:40] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[22:57] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[23:38] * Joins: trenchfoot Session Time: Mon Apr 13 00:00:00 2015 14[00:03] * Quits: dammitwhoa 14[00:33] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[00:34] * Joins: ddt 14[00:47] * Joins: dammitwho 14[00:53] * Joins: ddt_ 14[00:53] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 09[00:53] * ddt_ is now known as ddt 09[01:01] * Quaker is now known as Quaker_zzz 14[01:30] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[01:33] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[01:37] * Quits: Quaker_zzz (Quit: Quaker_zzz) 14[02:49] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[03:17] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[03:19] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[04:11] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[04:13] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[04:59] * Quits: dammitwho 14[05:54] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[07:31] * Joins: Quaker [08:23] - [08:23] - [08:23] - [08:23] - [08:23] - [08:23] - [08:23] - [08:23] - [08:23] It feels like someone is standing on his chest. Is this new? The weight is; the presence of someone else, in the room with him, watching, is; the faint fire inside his breast is only relatively new, two weeks old. Whose room is this? His? When did he put up all these garlands, oak and ivy and eucalyptus, soaked in the blood and wine, hung to dry in the moonlight? [08:25] Why did he keep his name? The person he was when he received it is gone by now. The other person in the room knows what it's like to lose your name, but that was when they could be called a person. [08:25] When Edgar wakes up, the pain in his chest is worsening. [08:26] There's a text from Morton: [08:31] 6Aches and pains. This wasn't the deal! Edgar doesn't want dream-portents, crow-curses or forbidden quests! He wants.. security. Continuity. To keep learning and doing. And blood, of course. [08:31] 6Frankly, he preferred the blackmail. [08:35] Somewhere in Laguna Beach, two deputies are working in the same city, although only one of them knows it. Here's a text from Santiago, to Cavanaugh: [08:35] 6Edgar swings his heavy legs out of bed, fumbles for a switch.. he should learn that trick of seeing in the dark, but sight isn't what he needs either. It's action. Maybe.. the old woman. Maybe the wild hunters. [08:36] 4Cavanaugh has just finished triumphantly wedging his router between the fridge and the cabinet above it, solving his wireless dead zone problem. [08:36] 6At least Jubal's curse comes with a reminder. It was meant to be mockery, he knows- a pain which signifies that your doom, that you can do nothing. But the Circle aren't really in touch with nature the way they think, are they? Pain is a warning. Pain points to problems and to solutions. [08:38] Santiago: [08:39] 4Cav checks the time at the top of the phone. [08:40] 08[08:40] On the beach, the light from the tower is faint and hardly visible. The clouds have settled low tonight. There's a fine drizzle starting to fall when Rollie leaves Joanie. [08:41] 6After musing, of course, it's time to feed the dog (rather than the other way around). It's nice to be useful. Of course people have always depended on Edgar, but generally for awful things. A dog's wants are much more reasonable. [08:42] 6To Larry: "Hey, big guy. It's the dry food, but not on account of anything you did, just for your health, that's all. Sorry about the chopper." [08:42] [08:42] 6Edgar: "Larry, let me run something by you." [08:43] 4Cavanaugh is pretty sure if he translates the pride out of that, he's reading a request for help. 08[08:44] 4Group text to Rollie and Edgar: [08:44] [08:45] 6Edgar:  15[08:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's a good feeling. Cold but not too cold. Rollie doesn't linger in the rain but he doesn't rush past it either. He sits in his car for a minute, thinking. He's about to start it when his phone buzzes.  [08:46] 6Edgar:  [08:47] 4Cavanaugh: 08[08:47] 6He hesitates. To Larry: "Should I be sending Jacqueline over there? How on earth would she take it, though. There's a chance people might be tryin to kill me tonight, and so why not go meet my friends, who're extremely dangerous and Rollie..." [08:47] "Naw, it must be lower risk for her to stay here tonight. I'm not a big enough deal and they'd rather I die of the acorn." [08:48] "Tell you what though, Larry. This is the one night nobody will be watching Dana Point." 15[08:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  [08:53] 6Edgar:  [08:54] 4Cavanaugh: [08:55] 6Seems like Larry doesn't have much to say on the subject of Halloween. Edgar will take him out for a brief walk then give some serious attention to locking up for the night. [08:55] Who are they bringing along? It's going to be a rough night. [08:56] At least, that's what everyone says. [08:58] 4To Santiago: 15[08:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's not expecting to bring anyone, but he is going to shoot Leis a text to make sure she's hunkered down for Halloween and one to Trubee to the effect of  [09:01] Leisurely texts back promptly: [09:02] Trubee: 15[09:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Leisurely:  15[09:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Trubee:  [09:04] Leisurely: [09:05] Trubee: [09:06] In Edgar's case, what's another threat? How can you scare the man who's scheduled to die twice? 15[09:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's on the road out to Modjeska house, texting and driving, irresponsibly. To Leisurely:  [09:07] 6Claws like Clinton's would do it, or a gun when he doesn't have his own; maybe the IRS, if they were sufficiently serious. It's only fair to be scared of a lot of things. 15[09:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Trubee:  [09:08] 6What Edgar doesn't do generally is let it change his choices. Fear is like pain- a warning, a message from the world. He *knows* those things by now, and he knows to listen- but he's going out tonight. [09:08] The name Carson gave him is Stokes. The address is a nursing home somewhere out in San Juan Capistrano, right on the border shared with the city of Dana Point. [09:08] Trubee: [09:11] Leisurely responds with one word. 15[09:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Trubee:  [09:11] Santiago: 15[09:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Santiago:  [09:12] 6Got the car, got the gun, got to think of a cover story on the way.. unless something intervenes, he's gone. 08[09:13] Santiago, to Rollie: [09:13] 4Cavanaugh: "i see. heading over" 15[09:13] <@VoxPVoxD> <:( omw> [09:13] 4Cavanaugh: [09:20] It's still drizzling in the canyons by the time they arrive. The inhabitants of the little communities are wrapping up their festivities by now, though. The youngest children have gone to bed, and their older siblings are starting to be tucked in. The branches of the oaks have been hung with christmas lights, in advance of the season, and they serve as an alternative for streetlights on the narrow, winding roads that [09:20] traverse the canyon's floor. [09:21] 4Fuck it. He brought the cats. 15[09:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie did not bring any mountain lions. He did bring a flashlight though. [09:22] Only a few houses still have their lights on. As Cavanaugh drives past, he can see a spotllight illuminating a hand-painted sign on one of the buildings, white paint on black: GENERAL STORE, FEED, FOOD, FIREWOOD. [09:24] 4Before getting out of the car, he'll quietly instruct them on what to do: find good stalking spots on the house where the wind won't carry the scent of their blood, and quietly wait. [09:24] Trubee texts back: 15[09:25] <@VoxPVoxD> [09:25] 15[09:25] <@VoxPVoxD> [09:26] [09:27] The cougars, let out of the car, disappear immediately into the brush of their original home. The only sign marking their passing is the faint rustle of bushes when they leap into the treeline. 15[09:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[09:28] <@VoxPVoxD> [09:29] Santiago is waiting out on the porch, holding a shotgun in his hands. [09:30] Trubee: [09:31] 4Cavanaugh goes to close the passenger side door, then realizes he's forgotten something and reaches into the glove box. He comes back with the Glock. Probably won't have to use it -- no matter what shows up -- but better save than...otherwise. [09:31] 4Cav: "Hey, man." 15[09:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie rolls up to Modjeska House and gets out of the car, gun in his waistband, flashlight and phone pocketed. "What's good?" 10he says to his fellow deputies. [09:33] 4Cavanaugh: "Yo." 4He goes for a fist bump. 15[09:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It is reciprocated. "How you guys holding up?" [09:35] 4Cav: "I've got the girls out in the trees, watching and waiting. Got the wireless working back home. Other than that, no real Halloween insights, yet." 4He heads up to the porch. [09:35] Santiago looks relieved at the sight of his colleagues. "Hey. Thanks for coming." The other deputy looks over his shoulder, at the screen door and the light inside the house, before answering. "She didn't really want anybody out here tonight. Kind of like, 'it's my responsibility, I don't need help, what would the Marquise think…' But I'm not going to let her just sit in there after she killed one of theirs and she's o [09:35] got one good arm." [09:36] 4Cav snorts. "If it makes her feel better, we can just say we're putting her in protective custody and she doesn't have a say in the matter." [09:37] Santiago leans down suddenly to pick up a rock from the garden, and throws it at the branches above them. A bird bursts upwards, startled, and wings off into the sky. [09:38] 4Cavanaugh: "Should I tell the sisters to kill those things on sight?" [09:39] Shouldering the shotgun, he smiles sheepishly at the others. "Can't take any chances, right? Protective custody, huh? Sounds fancy enough to work." He holds the screen door open for them. "If they're the kind that turn into people, yeah." [09:40] 4They probably know to keep an eye out. Cavanaugh gives the treeline one last look, then steps inside. 15[09:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie practically walks in backwards, not wanting to take his eyes off the dark distance. 14[09:41] * Joins: ddt [09:46] The screen door, decorated with a smiling jack-o-lantern paper cutout, rattles shut behind them. Inside, the Baroness is sitting in an enormous armchair in the middle of a fortress of recuperation. She's got three blankets on top of her, and a pile of DVD cases on either side of the chair. The television on the far side of the room is showing a fake fireplace, and the rest of the place is covered in vases filled with flow [09:46] of every size and color. True to his word, there's a large balloon reading "Get Well Soon!" over a picture of a smiling bee. [09:47] Baroness Modjeska looks sideways at the fire. "Deputies. I'm glad that I could be the one to offer you a safe place tonight." 15[09:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So where's the candy? Santiago said there'd be candy." [09:48] 4Cavanaugh smiles. "And we thank you for the offer." 4Then he starts looking around the room. Is there a basement door nearby, or do they actually have to leave the room to get downstairs? [09:49] 4In fact, he's going to make a quiet inspection of the whole first floor. [09:49] 4Just walking around and looking, not touching anything. 15[09:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie is going to inspect the stack of DVDs. What's she been watching? 14[09:50] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 08[09:52] Santiago nods. "I'll get back to the door." The Baroness leans over, rooting around under her chair. She pulls out an unopened package of Hersey's kisses and hands it to Rollie. All the movies sound old and boring: Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, The African Queen, Make Way For Tomorrow, The Invisible Man... 15[09:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well she's probably super old. "Score. Thanks, Baroness." 10See this is why feudalism is great. [09:56] What does he hope to uncover? The freeways down here, in the far-south of the County, are wider and emptier. The flat expanses of Irvine are gone, replaced by foothills and ravines. The towns down here are only distantly illuminated. When Edgar reaches the quiet road that marks the border of San Juan Capistrano and Dana Point, he can see the lights end where the ocean begins. [09:59] 6Edgar half-expects a former priestess, some exile from the Circle who by choice or circumstance has come in from the cold. He half-expects danger, power amplified by the holy day, opposition and a door slammed in his face. He half-expects some useless old woman who isn't whatever she once was. [09:59] 6He isn't hoping, in particular. [10:00] Cavanaugh's inspection reveals that the door to the basement is off in a small cupboard connected to the kitchen. The first floor, he realizes, is almost identical to the Santiago House layout. The door itself is modern and formidable, reinforced steel with a complicated locking system. The windows, he notices, all have security bars and serious-looking locks, painted white to match the exterior of the house. [10:01] Baroness Modjeska picks up the remote, and turns the television back to whatever she was watching. Onscreen, Humphrey Bogart explains how a steam engine works to Katharine Hepburn. [10:02] 4So it's probably safer on the first level than in the basement itself. Hmm. He'll step out onto the porch. "I'm going to walk the perimeter." 4Then he'll do just that. They probably have at least until midnight before the ritual murdering starts. [10:06] What Edgar gets is a locked front door. It looks like every other nursing home, if he's ever been: clear glass doors he can peer through to see a lobby and further in, a wider common room. There's someone at the front desk, a middle-aged woman dressed in the uniform of polo shirt plus khakis. She looks up when he appears in front of the building, and goes back to her iPad. [10:08] 6Is there a button to press..? [10:09] "The Perimeter" turns out to be a white rail fence. The yard is spacious and well-maintained, though. Lots of planters filled with flowers and vegetables. The trees on the property line the borders, merging with the canopy that covers the rest of the canyon. [10:10] There isn't an intercom. The only button he sees on the outside is the blue handicap sign on a large metal panel, the kind you'd push to open the doors automatically. [10:11] 6Well, he'll try that with a fallback of knocking. Never hurts to ask before you start the less-okay stuff, you know. [10:12] 4Huh. Okay. He turns back to look at the house. Is there any way other way into the basement besides the cupboard door? Even storm windows? [10:13] It doesn't open the doors automatically. They try to open, but someone has locked the door, so he can hear the motor straining before the feedback kicks in and the whole thing turns off. The receptionist stands up, walks the length of the lobby, and opens it from the inside. "Sorry, sir. We're closed for the night. Visiting hours end at nine." [10:14] If Cavanaugh gets on his knees and peers under the porch, he can see what looks like a small window in the shadowed recesses. Santiago leans over the railing. "That got filled in with concrete, in case you were wondering." [10:18] 4He'll do it in a pushup position, instead. No grass stains on the slacks. [10:18] 4He nods and stands. "Good thinking." [10:18] Teresa is holding a daffodil by its stem and idly leaning it back and forth in her hands. "I hate waiting," she says, while Bogart and Hepburn careen through some rapids. [10:19] Did she say nine? She said "seven", actually. They're old, after all, and most don't stay up very late at night. 15[10:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie, who isn't checking the perimeter, is sitting with the Baroness nursing a single Hershey's Kiss. "What's going to happen tonight, do you think?" [10:24] The Baroness shrugs her shoulders, and then looks at her right side. "Maybe they'll think it was the Marquise who killed that lieutenant. Maybe they'll think it was me. They were going to come after me anyway." [10:25] 6Edgar: "That's a shame. I should've called ahead to Miss Stokes. Is everyone going to bed already, ma'am?" 15[10:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Can I ask you a question? I don't know how a lot of this stuff works but I don't want to be rude." [10:25] Santiago: "You think we should just get in the bunker and stay there until tomorrow? That's what I've been wanting to do ever since I got here." [10:26] Modjeska nods, lowering the volume. "Go ahead." 15[10:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "How'd you end up out here in the canyons?" [10:28] The receptionist doesn't appear impressed, but she doesn't appear put-out, either. "That's right. Not a lot of nightbirds here. Dinner's over at six, and most everyone goes to their own room afterwards." [10:28] 4Cavanaugh: "I think that there are advantages to doing so. But I think conceding the first floor when you've walled up the only other exits out is probably not the best idea. Especially if they bring someone who can go through walls." [10:29] Santiago: "Mm. Well, if they can total a car like that, I guess a steel door isn't that much larger of an obstacle. Seabury said they were all heading out to Covina, anyway. Although he has been known to be wrong." [10:31] 4Cav: "Besides, I doubt the Baroness wants the sisters in her basement, and I'm not comfortable putting that big of a locked door between me and them." [10:31] The Baroness sinks further into her blankets. 15[10:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie winces. [10:32] 6Edgar: "It makes sense, and I think after retirement everyone deserves a bit of a rest. 6Still, I'd like to come in and see Grace Stokes. Please take me to her room without recording the visit." 6He speaks quietly, urgently, eyes doing.. something.. it's hard to say. There's nothing *describable* about them that's different; not unless you're looking. [10:34] "I embarrassed myself at Santa Barbara. And then I distinguished myself afterwards. And my sire is…" Her hand comes out from under the blanket to make a gesture of 'you know?' "I earned a territory, if an undesirable one." [10:36] 6Edgar takes the door from an unresisting hand. "6You'll lead me there just as normal, and announce my visit, in case the old woman's sleeping. When I return you'll let me out again, but you won't write it down, and you won't repeat it, and you won't recall tonight when tomorrow comes." [10:37] 6He never did respond to Morton's text. Without looking away from the receptionist's face:  [10:37] The receptionist nods. "Why don't you come in, and we'll look up Grace Stokes? And then I'll take you to her room without recording your visit." She lets him take the door with a blank expression. [10:38] 6Jesus christ. [10:38] Cavanaugh can hear the quiet of the canyon interrupted. It's the sound of a car, coming up the road, from the east. [10:39] 6..but the old men are still wrong about the value of humanity. This is a trick, a desperate measure. It's just a desperate measure that comes completely natural. [10:40] "6Answer my questions as we go. For how long has Grace Stokes been in your care, and is she indeed a Miss?" [10:41] The receptionist stops at the front desk. Her movements are slower, like a computer that's been chugging. "That's…Grace Stokes…let's…look her up?" Her eyes cross for a moment, and then she's smiling in confusion. [10:41] 4Cavanaugh checks his phone. Nothing from Edgar. To Santiago: "Car coming." [10:42] Santiago unslings the shotgun and leans it against the railing. [10:42] 4Cav knows a little bit about cars -- how does it sound? Sporty? Like a truck? [10:43] "Alright, we'll look her up." 6Did someone get to this mind first...? [10:43] "I don't….know? Miss Grace Stokes. Let's look her up." She sits down at the front desk's computer, typing. [10:43] 6Edgar means, this woman. Human. Did someone get to this PERSON first. [10:47] It's deep, like a truck. It reveals itself to them a moment later, a white 90s Chevy. The driver and the passenger are both wearing hats, pulled down low. When it passes the front gate, the truck slows down, inching past the property while the two men in the car stare at the two men in front of the house. It continues down the road, speeding up and out of sight. [10:47] The receptionist shakes her head. "The…Grace Stokes isn't listed. It's not a name in the system. Maybe…" 15[10:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What would it take to get you out of here? Somewhere better?" [10:48] 4Cavanaugh: "I do believe we just got cased." [10:49] Santiago: "Yup. Not great." [10:49] 6Edgar: "That's very interesting. Is there someone who knows all the residents? How familiar are you with their names, ma'am?" 08[10:50] Teresa looks at Rollie like he's grown a second head. "Why would I want to leave? Do you know how many kindred would kill for a title?" 15[10:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "No no, I don't mean, like, leave town. I'm talking about upward mobility. A better title. A better territory." [10:53] 4Cav sticks his head inside. "Baroness -- apologies for the interruption -- have you seen a white truck driving around recently that was more out of place than most?" [10:54] The receptionist pulls a thick ledger out from under the desk. "I know everyone by name." She turns the pages slowly, reading names off a list. "There's a G. Stokes. In room…330. Um, the third floor only has twenty rooms. Can I…should we…go?" Her face screws up while she tries to accomodate Edgar. [10:56] 6Edgar: "You can go soon. Is there a building plan, for the third floor in particular?" 08[10:57] The Baroness consider's Rollie's question. "I suppose a - a truck? Not lately, why?" She stands up, the blankets falling off. Underneath, she's wearing a dress, and still missing her arm. "Are we fighting?" [10:57] 6It's in the blood, like everything- hers runs to the beat of his heart. It would be so easy to call it out from under the flesh. But wasteful, and, on a different level of importance, assault. [10:57] 4Cav shakes his head. "White truck just drove by, two men inside with hats pulled low. Casing us." [10:58] 4He steps back outside. "They'll be back, probably. Truck or no truck." [10:59] The receptionist is happy to go through a filing cabinet and hand him an old printout of the building plans. There's only 20 rooms listed as "Residential", but enough space for miscellaneous broom closets and bathrooms. [11:00] The Baroness turns to pace. "Alright." [11:00] "I suppose if I had a larger and more prestigious territory, Deputy. Then I would have a real reason to move." [11:01] 6Edgar: "Follow me with your keys, ma'am. 6If we meet anyone, introduce me as the son of a prospect, and agree with what I say." 15[11:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You mean if this place was more prestigious?" [11:02] 6So G. Stokes is hidden away from most mortal eyes, despite being prominent in the records of the Territory. Is this for her behalf, or for theirs? [11:04] Modjeska: "I don't think this place will ever be very prestigious. It's pretty far from things." [11:04] The receptionist follows, her keyring jangling as she walks behind Edgar. [11:05] Santiago breathes out his nose hard, and adjusts the gun leaning against the rail ever so slightly. "God damnit." 15[11:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So how do you get bumped up? When they divide the rest of the county?" [11:06] 6Edgar's no architect, but the plan's obvious: look for the closest number to 330, then for entrances to other parts of the building, comparing against what space and doorways *should* exist on the blueprint. [11:07] 6He'll loosen his jacket. It's much warmer inside, and there's no need to appear threatening. [11:07] 6The motion brings a stab of pain to his back. Another reminder. [11:08] 4There's not much to do now but wait for them to come. [11:09] The third floor of the nursing home is empty of people. There's a few lights on under doors here and there, but it's as still and silent as a tomb. "This way." When they come to the end of the corridor, the last room is marked 320. There's another door beside it marked "Supply." "Room…there's no room 330." [11:09] Santiago takes out his phone. "You know anybody who feels like joining the party? Seabury fucked off to Pomona, can't call him." He thumbs through his contacts. [11:11] "Please open the supply closet door." 6How much space is left in this part of the building, relative to the other suite sizes? [11:11] 4Cav: "I'll text Edgar again." [11:13] 4So he does. [11:14] Modjeska: "You can inherit. You need to be named as an heir, though. Or you could be assigned a vacancy, if one exists that hasn't been assigned." 15[11:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Do you think about it much? Moving up." [11:15] The receptionist's hand is shaking when she puts the key up to the lock. She turns her wrist, and the door swings open. Just mops and brooms and gallons of cleaning chemicals. The floor plan says the building ends here. [11:17] "I used to think about it more." The Baroness sits back in her chair. "Before I moved out here. Then…it felt less urgent, once I had a place to myself." [11:17] Santiago taps his thumbs. "Maybe somebody that's not insane will show up." [11:18] "If there's no discrepancy between the plan and the building.. is there any where you generally don't go, ma'am? 6We must find Grace Stokes. It's not right, losing track of a resident." [11:19] 4Cavanaugh: "Maybe so." 4But if Cav had to guess...? [11:23] The receptionist and Edgar cram themselves into the little closet. "We have to find Grace Stokes." In a few moments, she's moving things out of the closet, piling them in the hallway, emptying the room. Item by item, the clutter disappears. And then he realizes he's looking at a door, set in the wall. [11:25] "That's a job. What was your name again?" [11:25] From the east side of the canyon, there's a soft noise coming with the wind. It sounds like an instrument. [11:25] "Carol. That's…I don't know where that door goes." [11:25] 4Fuck. [11:25] 6If this door is hidden behind that much stuff.. it can't be used often. How does Grace feed, Edgar wonders- and how would she react to a sudden intrusion? Better not find out. [11:26] "We'll learn where it goes, and don't worry, Carol. You won't have to remember." 6Edgar knocks, hard, thrice. [11:26] "'Room 330'?" [11:27] It rises in pitch and then lowers. The sound is soft and appealing, like a choir. It's someone singing, wordlessly. 14[11:27] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [11:28] Santiago picks his gun up. "I'm going to check the windows again." 15[11:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Man, somehow this is more depressing than anything Leisurely or Joanie or Trubee said. It just gets easier to hold still. Suddenly: "You hear that?" [11:29] Another voice joins the first one in response. The song is light, and melodic. 08[11:29] "Yeah," 4says Cav. "Yeah, that sounds like a plan. ROLLIE!" 15[11:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's already on his way out to Cav when Cav calls. It looks like he responds within seconds. "Yeah I hear it too." [11:30] There's no response from the other side of the door. Carol holds her keyring up, helpfully. [11:31] 4Cav checks his gun again, though he knows he won't be using it. "Any idea what it is?" [11:32] The Baroness joins them on the porch. "It's what you think it is. Santiago…?" [11:33] "Yeah, right here." The fourth deputy comes out. "Windows are locked. Let's go inside." 15[11:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie doesn't recognize the song or anything, right? [11:34] 4Shots and Honey can take care of themselves, and no one's hunting them. They'll be fine, Cav tells himself. Then he heads in. [11:34] Right at the edge of the treeline, on the opposite side of the street and across the pavement, there's a shaking of the bushes and branches. Another voice, inhuman. It sounds like a cat yowling madly. [11:36] 6Edgar: "OK, unlock it. Be careful." [11:37] Carol goes through two dozen keys before she finds one that fits. Smiling, she looks at Edgar and turns it in the lock. She's still smiling when her knees give out and she collapses to the ground. The door budges open. [11:38] 4Goddammit. Cav steps back outside and off the porch, heading for the trees. [11:40] The Baroness can only shout "Wait!" before he steps off and towards the treeline. When he's halfway across the street, the song stops. [11:44] 6Edgar reaches past Carol and pushes open the door, saying: "That was unnecessary. May be hypocrisy, but it was unnecessary." [11:44] 6He's not speaking to her, of course. [11:45] The crows in the trees take off all at once, lifting themselves up into the sky like a veil being lifted. Above the canyon, their bodies form a dark mass. Seven shapes detach themselves from the writhing crowd of feathers, floating to the ground, through the branches, falling between Cavanaugh and the house. [11:46] 4Cavanaugh snarls and pops his claws. [11:46] Carol is still breathing. Her eyes don't reflect any awareness. [11:48] Six of the shapes resolve themselves on the dirt. Their black robes hang down past their feet. Their carved wooden masks are painted red and white, and made to look like laughing animal faces. [11:50] The last figure stands on top of the fencepost and throws his head back, laughing. "So this is the Baroness everyone's talking about! Hahaha!" Jubal's fangs jut past his lips. 15[11:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's standing there with his hands in his pockets. 15[11:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He doesn't say anything. [11:51] "You're joking me. Aren't you? You're joking. The same three we already sent home, sent to guard her?" [11:54] Jubal shades his eyes with the side of a hand. "Hold on. Where's the one I gave the acorn to? Don't tell me he left! Don't tell me he took off!" [11:54] 4What a lucky man, to find himself so funny. [11:55] There is no light past the door. Does Edgar remember Bren's vault? Not Bren's darkness, but the place it sprang from, where he sprang from. The prime sensation. [11:56] 6It may be categorically impossible to forget. [11:57] "Good news first, Deputies. I don't even want you, tonight. Just that one, the one with no arm. How'd he die, by the way? Good enough?" [11:57] "Excuse me-" 6He's moving Carol out of the way gently. "You can go back to the front desk. You definitely should." [11:57] 6He squints at the darkness, so that he doesn't have to see it as well. [11:57] "Supposed to say 'trick or treat'." [11:58] Carol slides down to a sitting position and remains there. [11:58] 4Where are the cars, relative to these assholes? [12:00] The Baroness Modjeska walks down from her porch, with Santiago following, pulling at her. "He died messily. I took his head. Should I take yours, too?" [12:00] A phone rings in the darkness in front of Edgar. [12:01] The cars are by the gate, next to the seven Acolytes. They're not blocking them or anything. [12:05] 6He hesitates for a moment, then steps forward to answer it. Assuming there's no pit trap and that he can physically locate the receiver... "I'm looking for Grace Stokes, please." [12:06] The receiver takes some stumbling around to find, but it's there. It's an old rotary phone, from the feel of it. The woman on the other end sounds like she was expecting to speak first. "Oppose the pr- who is this?" [12:11] 6It'd be a great time to be deceptive, wouldn't it, just in case? To trick people into giving up information, maybe? Fuck that, there's not enough light to lie in safety. "Name's Edgar of the Invictus. Yourself?" 08[12:12] Rollie can see the lord walking forward, and the lord standing on the fence. They both know that she will die. What else could she want? Her sire would be proud. There is no finer end. She did not flinch. Figueroa's daughter died, and was worthy of the name and title. The doubts and debts will be erased. He's pleased that she stepped forward, that he didn't have to break his sacred vow and stain his hands with blood tonig [12:12] The ones who need to sharpen their claws will sharpen them on her. [12:13] "My name is Helena, Edgar. Who gave you Grace Stoke's address?" [12:16] 6Edgar: "Apologies, but I won't be passing that on. Seems I may have to leave the phone shortly- it ain't personal." [12:17] "Edgar, put this phone down, leave everything exactly as you left it, and never inquire along this avenue again. Do you understand?" [12:18] exactly as you found it* [12:19] "I understand you, and I'm inclined to comply." 6Edgar hangs up. [12:20] The white truck's drivers emerge from the treeline. They both stink of the blood their masters have fed them. The shorter of the pair puts his hands to his mouth and exhales. It sounds like a big cat being tortured. [12:20] 6He stays exactly where he is. The supply closet doorway is a dim rectangle with a kneeling silhouette behind him. [12:20] The phone rings again. [12:21] "It's possible," 6Edgar observes, "that someone is listening to what I say." [12:22] "I'm about to leave. What I'd like to know, though, is everything about the seven-year acorn." [12:23] They both have their reasons not to fight. Who wants to die, really? Jubal would rather see the ones under him fall righteously than pervert the process with his interference. Teresa has not yet exhausted herself in the organization. Who wants to see their ambitions permanently interrupted? [12:24] 6He's still considering whether to answer the phone a second time. On balance, he'd prefer to absolutely not do that. [12:26] No-one answers him. The only sound is metal hitting metal. His choice. [12:26] Jubal fears the sun. Teresa fears Jubal. [12:26] 6What, in 2014? Is this rotary? [12:27] Yes. [12:30] 6Edgar nods at the darkness. "I'll do what I need to, you know. Been backed into a corner. But I know good advice when I hear it." [12:30] 6He leaves the room, pulling the door to. [12:31] Down, around, who knows. The winter solstice. He has all the time he needs. He's already marked one of you; the rest seem to stumble into his plans anyway. [12:32] "Carol, do you want to come down to the desk? We've got a small change to make in the records, that's all- got to add a record for a supervising inspector. It may never be needed." [12:32] When the door shuts, Carol wakes up, stands up. "Yes. Let's do that." [12:33] 6After it's accomplished, he'll leave. There's months yet, and only so many dark places you can enter at once. Time to go stumble into a different plan. [12:33] What is the flashlight, except a symbol of God's infinite power and justice? And even symbols have power left in them. [12:37] Jubal would jump out of a helicopter for his charges, even if he couldn't fly, and he'd try to make them see the value in it. Who better to end Teresa than her sire's apposite opposite? [12:39] The cats are better than okay. The one on the far left isn't paying attention like he should. He's letting the spectacle distract him, and if their master ordered them to, they would happily tear his throat out and smash his skull. [12:42] All hands are revealed. All that's left to see is who folds. 08[12:47] Rollie is standing next to three Invictus. All he has to do is make them remember. The Invictus conquered them once already, didn't they? 08[12:53] Does Rollie imagine that oath he took meant nothing? They are servants of the Brilliant Court of Los Angeles, agents of Prince W. Kingsland Bailey, Unconquered, triumphant. Who are these people? You are Invictus. You were not born to sue, but to command. You carry that weight. Use it. [12:53] NEXT TIME: Showdown 14[13:23] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:27] * Joins: bananaphone 14[13:30] * Joins: bananaphone_ 14[13:33] * Quits: bananaphone_ (Remote host closed the connection) 14[13:34] * Quits: bananaphone (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[13:39] * Joins: ddt 14[13:47] * Joins: hrolfie 14[13:51] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:01] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[14:07] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:59] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[14:59] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:32] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:11] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[16:23] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[16:25] * Joins: Crion 14[16:26] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[18:12] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:53] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[19:52] * Joins: Quaker [20:17] nick adopts a nom de plume http://i.imgur.com/wOpxCdE.jpg 14[21:19] * Joins: cbass_ 14[21:19] * Quits: cbass (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_))) 09[21:19] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> https://41.media.tumblr.com/79813d4e9ff79a103869104008893763/tumblr_na2cf2VdIb1rns0quo1_500.jpg nick's sister's training begins [22:01] <@Ferrinus> lol 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> https://36.media.tumblr.com/a6581462f3ba31888333ebf1b4dde6b9/tumblr_nme0siC4Su1r1t2kso1_540.jpg [22:13] <@Ferrinus> http://badgame.net/banners/da603f834ca37b9204eb59a1513342bbd2f6fe6c.png 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> lol 14[22:14] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[23:01] * Joins: Quaker Session Time: Tue Apr 14 00:00:00 2015 14[00:40] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[00:41] * Joins: dammitwho 14[00:46] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[00:49] * Joins: dammitwho 14[01:10] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[01:11] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[01:14] * Quits: quaker_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:18] * Joins: quaker_ 14[01:21] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:18] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[02:48] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[05:55] * Quits: dammitwho 14[07:15] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[10:32] * Joins: hrolf 14[10:54] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:58] * Joins: ddt 14[11:01] * Joins: cbass 14[11:16] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[11:19] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[11:20] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[11:20] * Joins: ddt 14[11:36] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[11:37] * Joins: cbass 14[11:43] * Joins: hrolf 14[11:45] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[11:50] * Joins: hrolfie 14[11:54] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[12:01] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:04] * Joins: hrolfy 14[12:04] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[12:06] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 11[12:12] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue Apr 14 12:12:45 2015 Session Start: Tue Apr 14 13:15:01 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[13:15] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[13:15] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[13:15] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 09[13:15] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[13:16] * Joins: hrolfie 14[13:20] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:23] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[13:29] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[13:29] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:34] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[13:35] * Joins: hrolf 15[13:41] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/PYXDnBX.jpg paracelsus brings up his inventory menu 14[13:44] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [13:45] wrong, there's a phone there 15[13:45] <@VoxPVoxD> it's a trophy from grey_fox's corpse 14[13:45] * Joins: hrolf [13:45] lol 11[13:48] paracelsus puts on his new aviators, immediately joins the seers 15[13:49] <@VoxPVoxD> I've actually thought a lot about what seer paracelsus would be like 14[13:49] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) [13:49] ferrinus, immediately contrive a plot contrived enough to get us all to join them 15[13:50] <@VoxPVoxD> no it'd have to be an elseworlds thing, like he'd have to have been a seer from the start 15[13:50] <@VoxPVoxD> to be clear, I've thought a lot about what seer gerald wibert would be like [13:50] seer gerald wibert: you realize with horror that your cool and wise grandpa is also incredibly racist [13:51] WALNUTS, HUH, WE USED TO CALL THOSE N- grandpa no 14[13:51] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [13:52] i am entirely certain in saying that the pentacle is filled with just as many, if not more, racists than the seers of the throne [13:52] the seers, you see, actually believe in that "i'm not racist, i hate all races equally" line of jeff kent's 15[13:53] <@VoxPVoxD> yeah it's more like [13:53] though they probably contribute to + perpetuate institutional racism for convenience's sake 15[13:53] <@VoxPVoxD> the seers are racist in the way your boss is racist [13:54] on a larger scale than the pentacle 15[13:54] <@VoxPVoxD> while the pentacle is racist in the "the katana should have better stats than a broadsword" way [13:54] by mere accident of having greater temporal power 15[13:55] <@VoxPVoxD> if by 'mere accident' you mean 'the just and inevitable functioning of the grand design' [13:55] Sure. [13:55] how institutionally racist do you have to be to where it doesn't matter how personally race-agnostic you are, you're a racist. like if you're the organization that shapes reality and reality had slavery, uh 15[13:56] <@VoxPVoxD> well, you can be white irl 15[13:56] <@VoxPVoxD> that's about what it takes [13:57] yes the seers are the sort of people that honestly do treat everyone exactly the same, and just let the workings of society do the racism for them [13:57] at the "worst" they're Pragmatic Racists [13:57] where racism will allow them to accomplish this goal or meet that quota, so, 15[13:58] <@VoxPVoxD> it'd be most correct to say 15[13:58] <@VoxPVoxD> that the seers of the throne are post-racial. [13:58] meanwhile the arrow's got this dude who awakened at a klan rally in 83 and drives a mustang with a confederate flag in the back window [13:58] SILVER LADDER HIERARCH: let us throw down these tyrants, and end their terrible reign - *free councilors cheer* - for the glory of the white race *free councilors tug collar* [13:58] lol [13:58] don't you even start [13:59] free council has those silicon valley boys 15[13:59] <@VoxPVoxD> tesseract... [13:59] free council's all about Culture Fit 15[14:00] <@VoxPVoxD> culture fit is also definitely a spirit rote that garland could cast [14:00] FREE COUNCILOR HIERARCH: let us throw down these tyrants - *minority free councilors cheer* - and replace them with liberal democracy and true, unfettered capitalism *minority free councilors tug collars* 15[14:01] <@VoxPVoxD> anyway the ultimate point is that the pentacle and the seers don't map cleanly to irl ideologies b/c the material basis of the conflict between them is otherworldly [14:01] indeed [14:02] actually, I think you'll find that the seers are gamergaters [14:02] oh man [14:02] silicon valley would absolutely be the greatest free council/seer conflict zone in the world, OR, a sort of DMZ where they blend into each other at the edges and talk a lot about unity [14:02] gamergaters are DEFINITELY a free council/seer joint venture 15[14:03] <@VoxPVoxD> the free council contains both gamergaters and the women gamergaters terrorize. the diamond and the seers are the people who say that the entire conversation has gotten too vitriolic and people need to calm down [14:03] season 2 of second city begins with tesseract being put up against a wall [14:03] yeah my suspicion is that if there was a fight for the soul of silicon valley, the seers not only won but convinced a lot of free councilers to jump sides 14[14:04] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[14:04] * Joins: hrolf [14:06] argh that reminds me [14:06] today a friend tried to get me to read a lesswronger blog :( [14:06] lol [14:07] this... thing [14:07] http://waitbutwhy.com/ [14:08] imagine trying to articulate why you don't like that, to an irl human [14:10] i think i got linked to an article on there about the search for alien life once [14:10] it seemed...mostly inoffensive? [14:10] i declined to Read Further, however [14:14] the baby name article is cool 15[14:47] <@VoxPVoxD> https://40.media.tumblr.com/d78206af10d1b8c4dba11537f1de88e6/tumblr_mnhaymieyv1qbaz6bo1_500.jpg presented without comment 14[14:48] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[14:48] * Joins: Crion_ 04[14:49] https://40.media.tumblr.com/d78206af10d1b8c4dba11537f1de88e6/tumblr_mnhaymieyv1qbaz6bo1_500.jpg presented without comment [14:50] https://36.media.tumblr.com/50ff3de2848e1e5f77e4be0e6a1aa59a/tumblr_n5iler77Xd1tbxt1go1_540.jpg Psychic Criminals Attack! 14[14:53] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 04[15:04] https://40.media.tumblr.com/d78206af10d1b8c4dba11537f1de88e6/tumblr_mnhaymieyv1qbaz6bo1_500.jpg presented without comment 14[15:14] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:28] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 15[16:10] <@VoxPVoxD> https://scontent-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t31.0-8/11154863_1578927082347552_4144169084407349626_o.jpg the seers [16:12] lol 14[16:20] * Joins: ddt 14[17:06] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[17:09] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[17:09] * mattbaby_ is now known as mattbaby 14[17:33] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[18:03] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 15[18:58] <@VoxPVoxD> https://41.media.tumblr.com/97b41bfb575ea406e471351b8a597080/tumblr_nmte9aZqby1qzfsnio2_r1_540.jpg scotch's final victory over nick's soul 14[19:00] * Joins: Quaker 15[19:01] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/vSpxfgf.jpg scotch's final fantasy victory over nick's soul 14[19:03] * Joins: Crion_ 14[19:10] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:32] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[19:49] * Joins: Crion_ 14[19:58] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[20:27] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:32] * Joins: ddt 14[20:35] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[20:40] * Joins: ddt 14[20:51] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[22:09] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> http://www.clickhole.com/article/6-sunsets-are-doing-some-major-legwork-these-bible-2249 14[23:03] * Joins: Crion_ 14[23:54] * Joins: ddt Session Time: Wed Apr 15 00:00:00 2015 04[00:00] voxpvoxd sucks 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> who am I to disagree [00:22] everybody's looking for something [00:23] today i remembered more or less the whole of the pirates of penzance and i was like, :) [00:24] i was going to say this wasn't the channel for that observation, but this IS a channel more or less set aside for stories of personal horror [00:25] even really incidental parts like the duty song are good [00:25] are you the very model of a modern major general 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> I've a pretty taste for paradox -millicent "cross" rhodes [00:26] said standing inside of one [00:27] are you the very model of a modern major general | i'll give you twenty questions [00:27] i've never listened to a gilbert and sullivan musical but modern literature and film tells me that if you like it there's a 99% chance that you're a character who is an effete east coast liberal with a dysfunctional marriage [00:28] 18<Quaker18> i've never listened to a gilbert and sullivan musical|FUCK YOU [00:28] sorry [00:28] instinctive reaction 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> I'm an effete east coast liberal. I don't have a dysfunctional marriage but those do come standard issue [00:28] there is no problem [00:29] pretty sure banana is west coast [00:29] that is the coast that i'm representing [00:29] worst coast [00:29] i have not only listened to the entirety of pirates of penzance, but performed it [00:29] oh my god quaker if we're ever in the same place though i have to take you to see the mikado or pinafore or something, this is criminal [00:29] it was a very long time ago [00:30] good [00:30] beast coast 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> I've never performed it, because I would never sing in front of someone unless steam decided to turn my mic on without telling me while playing duels of the planeswalkers [00:30] that seems an unlikely circumstance indeed 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> doesn't it just [00:36] 2you understand? 4i think i do (with vigour unshaken this step shall be taken) [00:36] 4it's neatly planned! 2i think so too (i'll readily bet it you'll never regret it) [00:36] 6for duty duty must be done [00:36] 6the rule applies to everyone [00:36] 6and painful though that duty be [00:36] 6to shirk the task were fiddle-de-dee [00:36] 6to shirk the taaaaask [00:36] 6were fiddlede, fiddlede, fiddlede, fiddlede dee [00:37] that DOES sound like something lis would say [00:37] not write, of course. but say [00:37] it's a duet though [00:38] specifically the red [00:38] as that is his color. 14[01:05] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:42] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:16] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[02:16] * Joins: ddt 14[02:36] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[02:37] * Ferrinus is now known as Guest49425 14[02:42] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[03:09] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[03:28] * Joins: ddt_ 14[03:28] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 09[03:28] * ddt_ is now known as ddt 14[03:45] * Quits: Guest49425 14[04:01] * Joins: Crion_ 14[04:06] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[05:12] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[06:20] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[06:20] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[06:46] * Quits: dammitwho 14[09:45] * Joins: ddt 14[10:32] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:06] * Quits: Crion 14[11:10] * Joins: Crion 14[11:18] * Joins: hrolf 14[11:19] * Joins: Crion_ 14[11:22] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[11:24] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[11:25] * Joins: hrolfy 14[11:25] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[11:27] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[11:36] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:49] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[12:24] * Joins: hrolfie 14[12:25] * Quits: hrolfie (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[12:25] * Joins: hrolfie 14[12:28] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[12:31] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:32] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[12:36] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[12:40] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:44] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[12:48] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:57] * Joins: hrolfy 14[12:58] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[12:58] * Joins: Crion 14[13:02] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[13:14] * Joins: ddt 14[14:39] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[14:59] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[15:04] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:30] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[15:37] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 15[16:18] <@VoxPVoxD> https://twitter.com/BBW_BFF/status/588430953535508480 09[16:31] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[17:07] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[17:36] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[17:53] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[18:14] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[18:25] * Quits: Crion_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[18:25] * Joins: Crion 14[18:37] * Joins: Crion_ 09[18:40] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[18:57] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:26] * Joins: mattbaby 04[19:27] <@Ferrinus> <@VoxPVoxD> https://twitter.com/BBW_BFF/status/588430953535508480 14[20:01] * Joins: ddt [20:01] im ddt 15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD> I'm chevy chase [20:02] you're not 15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD> you're right 15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD> what I wouldn't give for medium talent... 14[20:02] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 15[20:10] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:10] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:10] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:10] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:10] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD> It's over. They won. And hardly anyone was murdered. 14[20:11] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 15[20:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The nomads ride Wyoming's highways, having used guile and strength to mend a wound in nature and allow the healing to begin. It will be some time before the taint of the vulturous rot king is purged from America's roadside eateries. But it will happen. [20:13] 4Burr remained holstered. Probably good news. Not ideal conditions for a test. 15[20:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Where are they headed now? [20:13] 4Is Lis driving? He usually is. [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick agrees strenuously that these are not ideal conditions for a test.... but here we fucking sit, don't we. [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Here he fucking sits, anyway, grumbling to himself as he fills in bubbles with an HB pencil. 15[20:14] <@VoxPVoxD> He might well be, though if proctoring Nick's exam is important to him it could easily be Anna behind the wheel. [20:15] 4Ah, yes. [20:15] 3Reuben’s tapping away at his phone, playing fun video games with the sound on at just a high enough level so Nick has to hear it. Every now and then he’ll jump halfway out of his seat and fist pump when he hits a new high score. [20:16] 4Lis is sympathetic enough to his student's needs not to force Nicholas to take his test directly after fighting this...Fiery thing, but it either happens tonight or first thing next. [20:19] 6Driving is fine. She's extra careful with the RV anyway, what with the weight and maneuverability it has. Slightly better than driving a building. [20:20] 7Alisa is busily typing 'h. rorf. pujoma' into ebay's mobile site to see if she can get a text from their friendly robot cat merchant. 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> As in, Alisa's trying to find someone selling Rorf? [20:25] 4Just type in 'DIARY KEEP OUT' and he should come running. [20:25] 7Initially, then she'll try 'cool skull' and 'wizard cloak', things like that. [20:25] 4Rorfing. 15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> If Alisa makes it to the page where she'd need to put in a credit card number, which presumably she does... 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Anna drives, and finds her concentration slipping (intensifying?) the stars in the vast Wyoming sky spin and shimmer, looking in that instant like nothing so much as the wheels and gears of some incomprehensible machine. A moment later there's a man in the road. A man with a neutral face, neutral clothing, neutral hair, and the biggest fucking smile, throwing back the Beast's headlights in her eyes like Cheshire teeth in the dark. 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> She could run him over if she wanted. [20:39] 6She won't. People and pavement don't mix, unless things go wrong. Nothing will go wrong. Ferryman, guide her. [20:40] 4Lis grabs the RV wall as it moves. 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> As she approaches, someone looking out the window would see Rorf on the roadside, thumb out. [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick's doing so, and sighing at the same time. I mean, this equation has fractions. Fractions! He can't deal with that. No one can deal with that! "Hey-" [20:43] 4Timothy dealt with that -- gah! -- not three nights ago. Focus. [20:48] 6Anna's not slowing down. [20:49] 7Alisa: "Oh, uh, I think I called him. I was just tryna get a text or something, my bad." [20:50] 3Reuben: 1“It’d be rude to ignore him if he came all the way out here." 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> The Beast blows right by him. [20:50] 6Anna: "You can see him too?" 6She'll begin to slow down then. 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "Let it never be said," says Rorf, now sitting beside Alisa, his hair still mid-tousle in the wake of the passing RV, "that I don't go the extra mile for good clients." [20:51] 4Lis sighs loudly, picking up a few extra pencils he sharpened earlier off the floor of the RV. [20:51] 3Reuben offers a fist bump. 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Rorf reciprocates. "She doesn't drive often, does she?" 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "What's her name, the blonde. Depressive pixie dream girl." [20:53] 7Alisa: "Hey dude. What's this about guys wanting to buy my diary?" 14[20:53] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [20:53] 3Reuben: 1“We call her Anna-Banna-Fo-Fanna when we want to annoy her.” 14[20:53] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[20:53] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus [20:54] 4This is the first time anyone has called Anna that. [20:54] 3Out loud, anyway. [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick nearly jumps out of his seat when Rorf just flickers into place, then decides he might as well telegraph surprise for the sake of knocking some pencils and papers over and having an excuse to turn and survey the scene. [20:56] 6She's still going to slow down. The road goes on forever, and seeing into forever is nauseating. Someone who can't see forever should be driving instead. "Hello, jailbreaker!" 6she says unsteadily. "I wasn't sure if you were there." [20:56] 7Alisa: "Babe, you wanna pull over and let Lis or Reuben drive? Maybe eat some of them soda crackers we picked up?" 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Rorf crosses his legs and rests his hands on the higher knee. "I get that a lot." To Alisa: "Oh, that. Father Lis told you about that. That's good. Anyway, first of all, it's nothing weird. But you're the subject of extensive academic study and primary sources are name-your-price valuable." [20:59] 7Alisa frowns. "Well, they can't have it. But I'm really self-centered, so I bet there's some other stuff they'd want that I'd give 'em. Like an interview, or a buncha selfies I've taken?" [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "How about me?" [21:00] "Reuben, could you manage the wheel? Nicholas! Test." [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "C'monnn-" [21:01] 4Lis: "You promised." [21:01] 3Reuben grumbles something about the kid needing to learn to drive but takes the wheel from Anna. 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Rorf: "Interview, huh? I'm listening." [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick slowly collects his eraser, but is totally going to speak up if something interesting gets said anyway. [21:02] 6Anna: "We're slowing down. Or I'm speeding up, but I think it's the former." 6She'll pull over once she's sure the van is stopped, which takes about a minute longer than it should, but then she's out from behind the wheel and in the back. [21:02] 4What's Timothy up to, anyway? [21:03] 3A thought occurs to Reuben after he’s been in the driving seat for a minute. He’ll shout it once Alisa and Rorf are done talking. 1“Hey Rolf! You wanna invest in my startup??” 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Timothy is busily typing on the laptop. At some point he looked up how to hook up a smartphone to it and get internet access. He didn't seem bothered by the logistics of data plans. [21:04] 4Hmm. Well, it's worth the money. 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Rorf: "Are you going to have a live lobster tank in the office? How about on-site masseuses? Dirty masseuses?" [21:04] 6Anna: "I looked too far, too quickly. Eyes on all of the roads." 6She sounds apologetic. [21:06] 3Reuben: 1“An office, huh? I figured I’d run it outta the van for a while. But when we get that second round of angel investors.. man, I got three words,” 3He shouts backward while fiddling with the radio knobs, 1“Mud pit wrestling!” [21:06] 6Anna: "Fit for pigs." [21:06] 3He finds the station he’s looking for. The 24/7 road song channel that exists on every open road: 1https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMR5JVo21wQ 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Of course, hearing Kermit sing makes the parallels between his voice and Rorf's impossible to ignore. [21:08] 4Hah. 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Rorf: "I'm not real big on angel investing. I could put you in touch with some guys if you want." [21:09] 3Reuben: 1“Yeah, man, if you know anyone in Seattle I’d love to talk to ‘em.”3  15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "You're going to Seattle?" [21:12] 3Reuben: 1“Yeah, man. City of brotherly love." 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Rorf: "I know everybody in Seattle." 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Seattle's where I came up. Started at the bottom and now I'm here." 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "In a shot-up RV with a bunch of vampires and don't you fucking dare click OK." 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> He's staring across the RV now. TJ's shoulders seized up, his hand hovering over the touchpad. Rorf just grins. "Close the tab." [21:14] 3Reuben: 1“No shit? Did you know Jimi Hendrix?” [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick twists around in his seat. What's on TJ's screen? 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> It's a Curriculum Vitae search page. [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, that's meaningless to Nick, unless there's any big bold text onscreen that stands out as cool or exciting. 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Nick sees a lot of gibberish - the search syntax is quite arcane - but he can see RORF and ANGEL. [21:16] 4Lis quickly walks over, eyes narrowed, stepping between Nicholas and Timothy. [21:16] "Nicholas." [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I, I'm just thinking." [21:16] 7Alisa: "I got an email address and everything." [21:16] 4Lis resists the urge to shake his head or sigh again, then glances at Timothy's screen to see if it was anything Nicholas could've been cheating off of. [21:17] 4...Ah, doing research, Lis sees. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Lis sees an elaborate search string designed to cross-reference Rorf's name with "angel" research, with specific reference to electronics and commerce. 14[21:17] * Joins: mattbaby [21:17] 4Smart young man. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> At least, before TJ sheepishly closes the tab. [21:18] 4Lis will lean over though, and whisper: "Perhaps not while he's in the room." 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ nods almost imperceptibly. 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Rorf is utterly still for a moment before his whole face brightens, like a spark plug went off behind his eyes. "Right, email. Could be a correpondence email. We could set you up on Skype if you want. I bet for this we could get someone to fly out somewhere to meet you for a face-to-face, too." 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> To Reuben: "I don't like Vietnam much." [21:20] 3Reuben: 1“Awesome, man. That’d be great." [21:21] 7Alisa: "Right on, I'm into that." 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "So, Seattle, huh?" [21:22] 4Lis, looking over Nicholas's shoulder, checking his progress: "That's right." [21:22] 4Is Nicholas showing his work? [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Not... a lot. He seems to be taking a stab, finally, at this fraction thing, though. As Lis watches, Nick turns (X-3)/3 into X. [21:26] 4Lis will nod and move away for a moment to pick up one or two other things that Anna's swerving knocked over, that he's noticed Timothy glancing at furtively. [21:26] 6She didn't swerve... too much... [21:28] 7Alisa: "Yeah." 7She shrugs. "Nice place, or used to be." [21:28] "I think. Am I thinking of Vancouver?" 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Rorf: "I like Seattle better. But they don't want me dead in Vancouver." [21:30] 6Anna shrugs. "The lands grow the same crop across borders." 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is she just like that all the time now?" [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "A lot of it, at least." [21:34] 3Reuben: 1“Huge improvement, actually!" [21:35] 7Alisa: "Not... all the time? She doesn't seem too upset about it so, you know, I'm cool with it." 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Rorf: "So a live interview is what you're interested in?" [21:37] 7Alisa: "Sure, but I'm down for whatever. Just lemme know what they want to do." 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Alright. Any conditions I should take back to them? Non-negotiables?" [21:45] 7Alisa: "Two things. Let 'em know I want this treated like the spooky and valuable information it is. Don't want neonates picking up a copy of my interview with their hotel breakfast. Second, I get to subscribe to their newsletter or whatever it is." [21:46] 4Lis snorts softly. 'Vampires need to be needlessly secretive about this' isn't a condition; it's an axiom. [21:47] "Now it's needfully secretive, on account of I told them to." 7She replies loftily. 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Rorf: "I'm sure I can arrange that. I assume this means no photoshoot, then?" [21:51] 7Alisa: "Nah. There's a couple paintings of me in Denver, they can go look at those." [21:52] 4Good, say Lis's vestigial Catholic morality. Photoshoots sound sleazy, and ill-advised. 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Rorf: "Alright. Give me a call when you're settled and I'll make it happen. Anything else?" [21:53] 7Alisa: "How much for a set of GED flashcards?" 15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Rorf: "Like fifteen bucks. For you, ten, cause you're such a good customer and I like your face." [21:55] 4Charmer. [21:56] 3It’s nice that someone does. [21:56] 7Alisa rifles through her purse and peels off enough bills, virtuously ignoring Reuben. 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Rorf: "You'll have 'em next time you pull over. If there's nothing else I'll get out of your hair." [22:00] 7Alisa: "Nice. Thanks, dude." 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "Smell ya later." He's gone. Reuben can see him in the side mirror, on the road behind them. He's reaching into his pocket. 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Alisa's phone buzzes. [22:01] 6Anna: "Goodbye, hanged man." [22:01] 4Lis just nods farewell. 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ: "I have a... question." [22:02] 4Rorf's departure reminds him of something. He returns to Burr, sitting wrapped gently in cloth, hammer uncocked but still loaded, and starts meticulously removing the ball and powder and storing them away. [22:02] 7Alisa:  [22:02] 4He looks up from his work when the boy speaks. "Yes, Timothy?" 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ: "Is that guy really scary, or is doing stuff like that normal?" 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Rorf: 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "He's, like... magic? But he's not a wizard so I'm not sure." [22:03] 3Reuben drives onward, offering Hrorf a wave in the mirror as he goes. 1“He never did ask what my startup was,” 3he says to himself. 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ: "Can you beat him up?" [22:05] 7Alisa: "He's weird, but he seems like an okay dude in general." [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick sits up in his seat, frowns, and then cranes himself off to the side to peek out the RV's window. Is Rorf still visible in the distance? 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Sadly, no, 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> *. [22:05] 4Lis: "He is very scary, yes." [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I... dunno, actually. I never checked." [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I mean, he's just this weird dude who sells us stuff. Never really came up." [22:06] 4Lis: "But we have helped him, and he has helped us. And neither us nor him has betrayed the other." [22:06] 4Lis: "And that relationship is the most important thing between us. Not his abstract scariness." 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ: "Yeah but like... he just mirrormarched to a phone." 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "I just- it's not weird for me to think that's weird, right?" [22:07] 4Lis: "No, it's not weird for you to think that." [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "He what?" 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ: "Okay." 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> To Nick: "Mirrormarched. Like when you cross a big distance in one step because you're walking from one thing to another, but they're the same thing." 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's a thing mirrors agreed to." [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Oh, teleported. Yeah he has cyber powers or something." [22:08] 7Alisa: "I never heard of anything like him before, but there's way more stuff out there we haven't heard of than have, if you follow me. Like I'm just now hearing about this incredibly interesting mirrormarching thing." [22:08] 7Alisa:  [22:08] 4Lis: "I don't think it's quite the same thing, Nicholas. Also: fractions!" 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Rorf: [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Whaaat. I did 'em." 12He got the really easy ones right, it'll turn out. [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Infuriatingly, he also got more than 20% of the harder ones right, even though Lis is pretty sure it's not actually true that when all else fails more multiple choice questions turn out to be 'C' than any other letter. [22:14] 4Lis is not actually infuriated if Nicholas got questions correct; though he will be annoyed if Nicholas didn't show work. [22:14] 7Alisa:  [22:14] 4He does not actually want the teen wolf to fail. [22:14] 7How sweet! 14[22:15] * Quits: cbass (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_))) 14[22:15] * Joins: cbass_ 09[22:15] * cbass_ is now known as cbass [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12It's infuriating because Nick's superstitions about blind guessing appear to have paid off, is what I'm saying here. [22:17] 4Wait, wait, wait. In what world is Lis handing out multiple choice tests? [22:17] 4No. [22:18] 4If the work isn't there, regardless of the answer provided, the question will be marked Wrong. [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick's taken this into account, but the result is the approximate written equivalent of Bruce Campbell's incantation towards the end of Army of Darkness. [22:20] 4Lis's eyes narrow as he considers the test. "I believe one of our stipulations was that you take this seriously, Nicholas." 4He hands the test to Alisa. "What do you think?" [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Look, hey, I wasn't sure!" 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Rorf: 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> [22:27] 7Alisa glowers at Nick. "Don't try to bullshit a bullshitter, kiddo." [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I did! I mean, I wasn't!" 12He leans back, cornered. "The- the ones at the end were dumb." [22:29] 7Alisa: "All the more reason for you to defeat them, no?" [22:29] 6Anna: "Leave their fractional bodies in your wake." [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Well, the - 14I tried." [22:31] 4Lis sighs and rubs the bridge of his nose. "We're done for tonight. I'll go back to the drawing board, see if I can draw up something a bit more...relatable. That said: I didn't dance around your end of the bargain. I didn't hem or haw. I didn't try to get out of my obligation. I saddled up with you, and we fucking killed that thing. As I know you're a young man of your word, I'd [22:31] appreciate the same consideration from you on this." 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "C'mon. You killed that rot monster before it hit the ground. You're not gonna let some stupid math problems beat you, are you?" 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch is awake. [22:32] 4That said, he walks over to Timothy. "So! What did you find about our friend?" 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "Then the nerds win." [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I said I tried, all right! They were - they were hard. Shut up." 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Timothy hastily closes the laptop as Lis approaches. "I, uh. Nothing." [22:34] 7Alisa: "Trying's a good start, but a start's all it is." [22:35] 4Lis's eyebrows jump at that, but he just silently looks at Timothy for a moment. If he wants to explain, he will. If not, he will when he does. 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ: "I, um... I think I broke the computer." [22:36] 4Lis's eyes narrow. "Somehow I doubt that." 14[22:37] * Joins: Quaker 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ: "I just, I did the search, but I didn't get a search results page. The computer locked up and now the screen's broken." [22:38] 4Lis: "Let me take a look at it." 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ flinches when Lis gets close but doesn't resist when he reaches for the laptop. 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Lis flips it open, and sees... a screensaver? [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "What search? Were you searching for stuff on Rorf?" [22:39] 4Lis will be careful to give him his personal space. 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> It looks like a screensaver. [22:39] 4He tries tapping the mousetouch pad to make it go away. 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> It doesn't. 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> There's teal quadrilaterals drifting across empty screen, with a resolution that makes it look more lava-lamp than LCD. 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> The hard drive activity light is burning steadily. [22:40] 4Ctrl+Alt+Del? 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Nothing. [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "What's that?" [22:40] 7Alisa: "Turn it off. Turn it off!!" [22:40] 4Lis tries the power. 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Lis's hand and wrist lock up. If he were alive, that'd have been a nasty shock. 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> The computer's still on. [22:41] 4He takes it to the door, opens it, and throws it out of the vehicle while it's still moving. [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Woah-" [22:42] 4To Reuben: "DRIVE FASTER!" 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Like a star come down to walk the earth in radiant array. She saw the light of the Spirit descend the other day. 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> The RV speeds down the highway, leaving the computer in its wake. TJ is visibly cowering. "What, what, wh-wh-what-" [22:44] 7Alisa: "Noooo idea, but it's well behind us." [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick looks offended on TJ's behalf. "Why did - no, what was it? It looked kinda cool." [22:44] 4Lis: "That was something scary we don't have a relationship with." [22:45] 4To Timothy: "Let's nix any more searches like that for the time being." [22:46] 7Alisa does have an idea, but she's keeping it to herself. The creatures that used to live in radio waves, the angel-monster they met in Denver's power station. 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Anna dreams of starlight. Distant, unremitting, fathomless. The tiniest expression of the vast and alien thing. The gallows. The prison. The warranty. 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> It wanted him. He who became a new creature. But it knows them now. [22:47] 4Lis has suspicions along those lines, too. He'll quietly share the contents of Timothy's search with her at the front of the vehicle, out of his hearing. He doesn't need anymore stress or negative reinforcement at the moment. [22:48] 4For the time being he'll lend the kid his phone with some mobile games on it. 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Above the stars spin and shift and burn in bright correspondence. There are laws and cities, and there you might hide. But here, there, and elsewhere... there is only high wilderness. 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Anna wakes up on lockdown one more time. The visions won't ever learn.. 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> But she sees the light that much clearer, every time she returns. [22:51] 4As he leans against the RV's counter and looks back at Timothy, he murmurs to Alisa: "We might have to dump our phones. All of them." [22:52] 7Alisa: "14Goddamnit." [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "But I finally got all my numbers in mine." 12He flips his open to examine it. [22:52] 4Lis: "Write them all down." 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Nick sees a text from a number he doesn't recognize. He must've had the ringer off. 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> [22:53] 4He sighs. "And. I don't know. I don't know if, perhaps, it has our e-mails too. So if we link new phones to our already-extant accounts, I don't know if maybe it could still track us back." [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Someone texted me. It just says, Nick???" 12He puts a lot of emphasis into the question. [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I still don't get what you're talking about. It what? What's tracking us?" [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick's gonna respond, though he types out: 12slowly enough that a paranoid vampire could probably stop him before he hits send. [22:55] 4Lis grabs the phone. [22:56] 7Alisa's not going to stop him, but-- huh. [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Hey-" [22:56] "One moment." 4What's the number? [22:56] 7Alisa: "Remember that thing we saw in the Denver power station?" [22:56] "Everyone else. Check your phones." 4Any other texts? Missed calls? 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> It's a 760 area code, which - oh, shit. Nick actually recognizes that number. 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> He got it right before he shipped off to the Ranch. He wasn't ever allowed to call it, but he didn't forget it either. 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> That's Ruth's phone. [22:59] 4Lis will hand the phone back. 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Anna has a text from j n. [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Realization flashes. Nick begins to yell "Gimme-" 12and has snatched the phone back before seeing what the answer is. He closes it, then flips it back open, then starts typing an answer, then stops, then closes it again, then stares across the RV at a cabinet or something. [23:00] 14Lis: "Timothy, may I see my phone for a moment?" [23:00] 4Lis: "Timothy, may I see my phone for a moment?" [23:00] 7Dangit. Any messages for Alisa? 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Just the last ones from Rorf. [23:01] 7Phew. [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick opens his phone again, and checks his sent messages. 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Nick's gotten another message. [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Has his phone does anything trackable? Can he tell what sparked this? 14[23:02] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[23:03] * Joins: ddt 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Whatever it is, if it came from or went through his phone, he can't see it. [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "What do I tell my sister." [23:06] 4Lis: "I..." [23:06] 4He thinks of his brother, briefly. Very briefly. 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch: "You could tell her you're short a laptop." [23:06] "I would tell her the truth. Within reason." [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Boop beep boop. Nick sends off:  15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  [23:12] 4What's up with Lis's phone? [23:12] 6Anna rises from her bed, groggy and confused, but soon able to form complete sentences. "The thing I hate the most about dreams, is the new and terrifying things I get to see, and know to be true." [23:13] 4Did she sleep through the laptop incident? 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Lis's phone is undisturbed. On the whole it doesn't seem like whatever infected the laptop has gotten into the phones at all. [23:14] 4He'll let Timothy get back to War of Thrones: Deadwalkers, then. 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Look. Zombies are cool. They're stupid and they don't talk and they're really easy to kill. [23:15] 4Lis wasn't judging. [23:15] 4...Out loud. 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Ruth: 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> [23:17] 4Lis, to Alisa: "We should probably get Nicholas a new phone anyway. It might not be angels, but I'd suspect there's at least one or two feds up on his sister's cell." [23:17] "Or, we could do the other thing." [23:18] 6To j n:  [23:19] 7Alisa: "The other thing?" [23:19] 4Lis: "Let him keep the phone, and bury every asshole they send after him." [23:20] 6Anna: "That doesn't seem like a good long-term strategy." [23:20] 4Lis: "Both plans have their advantages and disadvantages." [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Ruth: [23:25] 6Anna: "We should get to a city, the sooner the better." [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick stares off another moment.  [23:26] 4Lis: "I concur." [23:29] 7Alisa: "Good thing we're already heading to one." 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Ruth: 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> [23:29] 6Anna: "How far away, though? I don't want to spend another day out here." [23:30] 4Lis: "If we rushed it, we could probably make it in a day or two." [23:30] 4Lis: "...Or we could stop over in Salt Lake City, but..." [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Can I tell her where we are?" 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> In a straight shot, Seattle is about 12 hours away. But driving this RV towing that car in broad daylight may be unwise. 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> There's roughly three hours of night left. [23:33] 4Have they been seeing signs for any kind of civilization since, say, Lis disposed of that laptop? [23:33] 4Ideally, he'd like to get as far away from the damn thing as possible, but... [23:33] 7Alisa winces. "Maybe, kind of generally?" [23:33] 6Anna: "Salt Lake City for repairs seems like the start of a plan." [23:34] 6Anna: "Also, if anyone asks, we're in Montana." [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12, Nick writes, even though Anna said it.  15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Casper is the next city on the road. It's about an hour out. [23:36] 7YOOOOOOOOOOO WHERE THE GHOSTS AT [23:37] 7The people who live there are definitely not going to be sick of that joke, this'll be great! [23:37] 4Lis: "Casper...Casper might be large enough to have the shop we need, while small enough not to have anything beyond a minor or informal court." [23:38] 4Lis: "I think we're all agreed we want to avoid any courts as long as we can, under the current circumstances." [23:38] 6Anna: "Actually..." [23:40] 4Lis: "'Actually...'?" [23:43] 6She frowns. "I'm not sure. Casper should work for a bit, at least." 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> You'll be reborn someday, someday. If you wait long enough. [23:48] 4Lis nods. "Then Casper it is." [23:49] "Maybe there will be some place to buy a laptop. I'm...not sure how cavalier we should be summoning Rorf moving forward." [23:50] 4Lis pauses. "As much for his safety as ours. Maybe moreso." 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: The First Station Session Time: Thu Apr 16 00:00:01 2015 14[00:29] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[00:44] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:43] * Joins: Crion_ 14[02:09] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[02:25] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[03:12] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 09[03:43] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[03:48] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[04:12] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[04:39] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[04:40] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[05:10] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[05:14] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[06:03] * Quits: dammitwho 14[06:42] * Quits: quaker_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[08:51] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[10:10] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:28] * Joins: hrolf 14[10:32] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[10:34] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[10:35] * Joins: hrolfie 14[10:38] * Joins: hrolfy 14[10:38] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[10:40] * Joins: hrolf 14[10:40] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[10:44] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[10:46] * Joins: hrolfie 14[10:47] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[10:48] * Joins: hrolfy 14[10:50] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[10:52] * Joins: hrolf 14[10:54] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[10:59] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 15[11:09] <@VoxPVoxD> https://40.media.tumblr.com/44705cea9ad0cb4ccb232e24f18f41f0/tumblr_nm7pc3bcSy1rgcqrbo1_500.png [11:11] lol 14[11:24] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[11:33] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:22] * Joins: hrolfie 14[12:27] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[12:31] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:33] * Joins: hrolfie 14[12:35] * Joins: hrolfy 14[12:36] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[12:37] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:38] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 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ddt (Client Quit) 14[16:42] * Joins: dammitwho 14[17:11] * Joins: ddt 14[17:45] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 11[18:04] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Apr 16 18:04:06 2015 Session Start: Thu Apr 16 18:04:06 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[18:07] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[18:07] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[18:07] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[18:07] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 11[18:10] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Apr 16 18:10:20 2015 Session Start: Thu Apr 16 18:30:44 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[18:30] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[18:30] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[18:30] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 09[18:30] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[18:44] * Joins: ddt 14[20:37] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[22:38] * Joins: Crion_ 14[22:40] * Quits: Crion_ (Client Quit) 14[22:40] * Joins: Crion_ [22:41] i forgot paul ben-victor, from The Wire and The Invisible Man (Sci-Fi Channel), was in this [22:41] whoops Session Time: Fri Apr 17 00:00:00 2015 14[00:29] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:07] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:37] * Joins: Crion| 14[01:38] * Joins: Crion__ 14[01:39] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[01:41] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:10] * Quits: Crion__ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:43] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[02:58] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[03:37] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[04:03] * Quits: dammitwho 09[06:51] * banana|peels is now known as BANANA 14[07:42] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[08:36] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:47] * Joins: ddt 14[09:47] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[10:48] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[11:16] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:29] * Joins: ddt [13:16] nick spirals into depression after killing reuben https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx9WNBCJzxA 09[13:29] * BANANA is now known as BANANA|SPLIt 09[13:31] * BANANA|SPLIt is now known as BANANA|SPLIT 14[13:33] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 11[13:44] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Apr 17 13:44:33 2015 Session Start: Fri Apr 17 13:44:33 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[13:45] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[13:45] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[13:45] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[13:45] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 14[13:45] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by VoxPoxVD))) 09[13:45] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[13:45] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[13:49] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[13:49] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[14:35] * Joins: Quaker 09[14:48] * BANANA|SPLIT is now known as banana 14[15:36] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:37] * Joins: Crion 14[16:38] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Quit: Leaving) 14[17:07] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[17:09] * Joins: Crion 14[17:49] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[18:02] * Joins: Crion 14[18:03] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[18:30] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:33] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[18:36] * Joins: Crion 14[18:44] * Joins: Crion_ 14[18:44] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[18:47] * Joins: Zarick2 14[18:49] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[18:53] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[18:56] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[18:57] * Joins: Crion 14[19:00] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:06] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[19:09] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[19:32] * Joins: Crion 14[19:44] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[19:54] * Joins: dammitwho 15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The circle reconvenes and shares what they've learned - the identity of Nexus's legendary Emissary is none other than the ancient raksha king Balor of the Terrible Gaze. The cabbagemonger Surik whose cart collided with the Emissary was a hardworking, remarkably precise man who found his cart mysteriously overburdened with extra stock, causing him to make his last fateful trip to market. There are omens deeper east, upriver and overland, omens of stars and bells and bad tidings. And it's really hard to catch a rattlewhale after a long day of bricklaying. [20:13] 14Well. This is all very troubling. 09[20:14] * Zarick2 is now known as Zarick 15[20:14] <@VoxPVoxD> What is everyone thinking as they ponder their next moves? And what might those next moves be? [20:16] 05 Xu Sim is deeply concerned as he ponders the events before the battle. When Surik had screamed... Xu had fixed him with the certainty of his own knowledge. If this man had grown a third eye like Balor's, perhaps he had arrested some strange, biologically-transmitted Wyrd Anathema? Could he have stopped the eruption of a creature like himself, or the Emissary? [20:16] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven is contextualizing. It now makes sense why this has immediately become an issue outside of Nexus. This is far larger than just one city's internal affairs, now. The Fair Folk might be on the march. [20:16] 14He would give...many things, for a planning session with the Ambassador right now. But she has her responsibilities and he has his. [20:17] 14Rocketing to the top of Stranger's priority list is this business with the Gray. The river god, that is. Not Gary's father. 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Kind of an awkward coincidence, but that's the kind of thing that happens when you're born by a river and live the fullness of your life within a day's journey of its banks. [20:19] 14There are only so many colors, and they describe a great many things. [20:20] 14If Mud can fit in a visit north around his planned work on the hideout, so much the better. But if not, they should complete the hideout and laboratory first, then set their eyes upriver. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's thinking he hasn't got enough stuff to think about yet. This Balor business - it's shocking, incredible, and yet in the final estimation doesn't empower the Dawn to do much besides really thoroughly surprise people. Before long, Keldar's cornering (not really, but it sounds better than 'asking') Tarn Magala, who seems to know the city... let's avoid the word better... more [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12minutely than does Keldar himself. [20:21] <@Ferrinus> "Listen," 12the Dawn caste's saying. "Raptor - he was sure he'd figured out why someone did it. Maybe even who. But we got interrupted." [20:22] 14Meanwhile, Stranger and Judge have presumably presented their, ah, samples to Xu Sim. There are a lot more bees in town, lately. 15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Indeed, by all reports the town is abuzz with activity. [20:22] 14Ha. 14[20:23] * Quits: Crion [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You heard anything? Suspicious Civilities, weird movements of silver, whatever? And you actually find Surik, for that matter?" [20:25] "I found out quite a bit about our cabbage merchant. He's apparently a saint." 14[20:25] * Joins: Crion [20:25] "What?" [20:26] 14Stranger: "Do we actually think the cabbage merchant was anything but an unfortunate casualty of...fate. Destiny. What-have-you." [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Meaning?" [20:26] "Everything I found out about him pointed to him toeing the line as much as he possibly could. I'm not sure if it means anything." [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So he was probably set up?" [20:27] "Probably. Or he's a cover. I'm not sure which, but I'm leaning towards the former." [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Know where he is right now? We should get a word." [20:28] "Your choice of words may be appropriate. I am all-but certain that some spirit or essence relating to Balor has, or attempted to, colonize his body. I may have arrested the process as it began through the use of an order-reaffirming prana. But I don't know what effect that would have on a man. All I know is he had grown a third eye, that carried Balor's fire, as well." [20:28] "Grown, or perhaps, enjoyed some sort of instantaneous transplant." [20:29] "Fae things don't follow mortal rules. When the Emissary's fire went out, it may have immediately began to burn behind Surik's forehead." [20:29] 14Stranger: "Hrm." 14He will discuss the issues surrounding the Gray with the large man later -- after he's done working his art on their rather sparse hideout. [20:30] 14He did promise. [20:30] "This is, of course, only conjecture until I can at least interview, or perhaps vivisect Surik." [20:30] 14Stranger stirs at that. "We will not be vivisecting a citizen, human being, and suspect in a prominent murder investigation without extreme cause." [20:31] "The Council's got a hold of him. Getting a look at him would be... difficult." [20:31] "He may also be an important public official, now." 7She remarks. [20:32] "I hope not! But, I only mean we might not have a way to find out without direct physical access." [20:34] "I might be able to get in to him, but I doubt I could get him back out again." [20:34] 14Stranger settles back against the wall, his empty gaze lingering in Xu Sim's direction for a moment. [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Might be necessary... but all right, ignoring the actual guy for a minute. Raptor noticed something, and there's no reason we shouldn't." [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12The Dawn turns and paces, waving periodically at the air. "So who benefits? What's up?" [20:36] "He didn't tell you anything about it?" [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Nah, that's when you guys showed up. I haven't seem him since, and frankly I'm still working out how to tell him not to bother collecting on Xu Sim's bounty." [20:37] "I appreciate that being a priority." [20:37] "I'd say you could tell him you did already, but that'd probably piss him off." [20:38] 14Stranger: "Who benefits from killing the Emissary. Well, first and most obviously, anyone who wishes to replace the Emissary." [20:38] 7Blossom carefully examines the length of a fresh brush before continuing to write. "Half the city benefits from the Emissary being incapacitated, usually at the expense of the other half." [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I wouldn't do that to the guy, and I think it'd be too easy to see through too quickly." [20:38] "The Emissary has been replaced, if my theory is correct. But by a cabbage monger." [20:38] "I wonder if anyone knew what he really was, and specifically, if whoever killed him knew who he was." [20:39] 14Stranger: "Indeed. That could be a miscalculation on the culprit's part -- or an intentional move, to funnel the Emissary's authority to an easily removable form." [20:39] "Seven hundred years is a long time to hold a grudge." [20:39] 14Stranger: "...Or easily manipulated form." [20:39] "Could be a double blind? The cabbage monger is someone more powerful in disguise. Not necessarily the case, but keep it in mind." [20:40] 14Stranger: "It could be, given that Fair Folk are involved -- but if so, their motives are so opaque that further inquiry without further discovery would seem useless." [20:41] 14Stranger: "You said 'the Council' has custody of this cabbage man -- who, precisely, are we talking about? City Watch?" [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I don't think anyone actually, like, living here really benefits from the Emissary being dead. It's too... much, it'd fuck up too much. It's gotta be a grudge, or an enemy of the city, or someone who's really got a perfect idea for replacing the old order, or something." [20:42] "Oh. Councilor Hayle, I think. Caused a bit of an uproar with Doctor Udelph, but then, what doesn't?" [20:42] 14Stranger: "I agree. I highly suspect our eventual, top-level culprit is not native to this political eco-system -- but that's based more on instinct than evidence." 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar isn't able to track down Raptor Quan himself, and Raptor was quite cagey about revealing his sources... but by paying attention to the people he can get ahold of, peers and colleagues, fellow drinking buddies and contacts, etc, Keldar is able to piece together a bit of what Raptor's investigative trail looked like. [20:43] 14Stranger: "As you said, things worked too well around here to provide motive for most of Nexus's residents." [20:43] 14He clears his throat gently. "By that criteria, however, we are prime suspects." [20:43] "Well. Some of us are." [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Here's the best I can figure:" 15[20:45] <@VoxPVoxD> First, Keldar knows that one of the part-time functionaries of the city government, one in charge of keeping minutes and records of the Civilities, was contacted, and that after that Raptor Quan started digging around in the business of several different councilors, as well as their staunchest political allies. 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> In the weeks leading up to the Emissary's death, there was a flurry of proclamations for and against the granary quotas - that is, the amount of food that the council keeps stockpiled in the city for emergencies. It's never been a very large amount - the River Province is a breadbasket, and even among Nexus's poorest starvation is rare (though malnutrition is more common). 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> But there was an extensive power struggle over the prospect of abolishing them entirely. The food could be sold immediately, the space sold or leased. Gen, the councilor with responsibility for taxes, spearheaded the movement with backing from Hayle and Evening Master Brueghel. In opposition were Udelph, Pellicia, and Astrologer Kratz. 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> It was so fraught and protracted a dispute that the Emissary was forced to exercise his rarely-invoked authority to overwrite contradictory or uninterpreted Civilities. The granaries stand full today. [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Was that the Emissary's last act as Emissary? 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> It was his last notable one. 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Except... they don't, actually. Quan was looking into this. They haven't been gutted since the Emissary's death or anything, but as food is withdrawn or rotated out, the granaries grow increasingly empty. 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> What was once a solid four or five days' worth of consumables is now down, by the last estimate, to about 48 hours' worth. [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12But, technically, by the Emissary's edict, it's still the city's responsibility to keep them full? 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Yes. 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> The Civilities are, perhaps predictably, silent on the matter of malfeasance or dereliction of duty on the part of the Council of Entities. 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> It would've been up to the Council to police itself, which means it would've been up to the Emissary to resolve himself. [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Hmm. Is that as far as Quan's trail leads? Keldar's relating this to everyone in the room, natch. [20:56] 4Now the Emissary's a cabbage merchant. At least he might care about feeding the hungry, but does he have the power to do anything? 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> There are a couple other loose ends Keldar picked up on, none of which relate obviously to that core line of investigation. Two things stuck out in particular: [20:57] 05 Bees pollinate plants, which are used to make food. Could it be a power play by... the lord of the bees? [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Bread falls, honey rises? 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> One is, there's some kind of ongoing diplomatic issue with Lookshy. Nessun Dorma is only the first man sent out there; apparently he wanted some special dispensation to undertake the Wyld Hunt personally before his personal command arrived. It's a property dispute, a question of ownership of some artifact or other. A hearthstone, or possibly a weapon of some description. Accounts differ. 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> It's not a hostile gesture, exactly, given the supreme prerogative of the princes of the earth to hunt Anathema wherever they hide. But it's significant. [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12A hearthstone and/or weapon, eh? 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> And the other is, apparently the River Gods' Court is in indefinite recess. 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Normally the great temples of the Gray, the Dame in Yellow, and the Sea-Dragon Yanaze are bustling with activity and petitions from all the minor and little water spirits and river gods of the Province and the Threshold. But for the last couple of months - consultation with Mud will reveal since roughly the incident at the Levee - those temples have been all but silent of nonmortals. [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We need... a list of recent civilities, maybe? I gotta actually find that functionary." [21:08] 05 As others engage in the dirty business of politics or speaking to urchins, Xu Sim is closely examining the samples brought to him by the others, regarding the Bee Question. [21:10] 4Judge ducks behind the screen, and emerges a scrawny, scruffy looking character. "I'll go ask around." 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> By leaning on his familiarity with Nexus's civil structure and his status as a famous semi-hero, Keldar can easily get the documentation he wanted. [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Excellent. "On that topic," 12Keldar says, reaching for a parcel he left on a table, "...anyone wanna go through these for me?" 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Judge's questioning takes him into the smoke-rooms, tea-houses, and other dens of ill repute of Nexus. There are a lot of words bandied about in these places, and if you know who to listen to, some of them are useful. Here's what Judge picks up from people who mark whatever face he wears today as a friend. He's able to pick up everything Keldar did, and two other interesting points. 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> One, the Guild has been pushing to buy out the granary space for years. They haven't been pushing hard, because there's a lot of underutilized space in Nexus, but these buildings that were in a non-prominent district of the city in its First Age days have become prime real estate in one of the city's nicer neighborhoods. Funnily, the people who need the food in the granaries aren't the ones who go near it. Hayle's people run the granaries and dispense food in stamped and labeled parcels as needs must. [21:16] 14Given that Mud will be consumed by work on the hideout for the next fortnight or so, it might be in Stranger's interests to go see how well he can insinuate himself into the Nexus political scene. [21:17] 14That Guard captain; perhaps she's a place to start. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Two, and this is the most outlandish thing Judge has heard in a while, one of the councilors apparently tried to flee the city two months ago. 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Namely, Astrologer Kratz. She booked it from her stargazing tower, full of censers and crystals, and got a half-day on the road to Great Forks before Pellicia's most trusted contacts pulled her back. 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> It hasn't come up since, and Kratz hasn't been seen in public since then. That's not unusual on its own, however; it's rare that she makes public appearances more than once or twice a year. 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> She made her way out through Guild handlers, and Pellicia's been making things as hard for the Guild as she can ever since. Unfortunately, that's not very, Nexus being Nexus. [21:20] 14He also could just wander Nexus some more, and see what nostalgia does for him. But first! There is some reading to take care of. Specifically, a bevy of accounts of Wyld mutation; how it occurs, how it progresses, how it eventually -- breathtakingly -- ends. He knew how to avoid that peculiar strain of defeat once; Stranger is sure of that. He'll know how to avoid it again. 14[21:21] * Joins: Quaker [21:21] 14Over the next few days, when he has the time, he will amble to his favorite teahouse, sit down in his favorite corner, and read and sip and read and sip and sip and sip and read. [21:22] 4So the Guild wanted her out to break up Pellicia and the Doctor's voting bloc, which is why they helped her. But why did she want to leave? 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Good question. [21:24] 14Stranger would be honored to meet the respected Astrologer Kratz, should the Judge need a second. [21:25] 4She probably wouldn't be honored to meet us. We'd have to find her first. [21:25] 7Blossom still has to meet her own contact. [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Since no one actually wants to volunteer to do paperwork, Keldar supposes he's going to have to break out this list of civilities and scan it for irregularities himself. [21:28] 14Stranger will help with that. [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12At least he can amuse himself by making a note of what percentage of them he's broken unwittingly. [21:29] 05 Xu Sim putters away in a small alcove that Mud and Bricks has set aside for him. The ventilation isn't very good, and in such close quarters, spills can be a deadly risk. But fortunately, Twice-Refined Princess is there to assist. In addition to sneaking nibbles at Mud and Bricks' various snacks (never the ones he generously offers her), she is quite adept at licking up any reagents... [21:29] ...whatsoever Xu spills. [21:30] 05 Working in an environment like this, for some reason, feels so fundamentally right that Xu is more focused than ever. He carefully arranges every single one of his instruments as he proceeds, mindful of the possibility of the smallest infiltration - even insectile - representing a hazard to his work. He arranges every reflective surface in such a precise way as to be able to monitor the... [21:30] ...whole area from his central location. [21:32] 05 Various herbs, feathers, and strange implements soon hang upon the walls and upon the narrow doorway. Their slightest motion in a breeze gives him at least a second of warning for nearly any interruption. [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, in a half-complete room of the circle's hideout, Keldar's pacing back and forth and muttering to himself, occasionally counting out numbers or appearing to play rock, paper, scissors against an array of invisible opponents. An entire wall behind him has been covered with paper, each sheaf tacked up beside its fellows. Sometimes, the mercenary whirls to point accusingly at [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12one or another. [21:35] 14Stranger, meanwhile, has acquired his own copies of the Dogmas and the Civilities for a different purpose: self-tutoring. Once he is finished with tales from the Wyld, he will seek a deeper understanding of one of the most complex bureaucratic underbellies in the Scavenger Lands. 14[21:36] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[21:36] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[21:36] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar consults the Civilities. It's tremendously complicated, elaborate, and hugely boring. The immediate impression, mostly borne out by research, is that the daily political operations of Nexus are both small-scale and unfocused. It's very rare for two Civilities to outright contradict each other, because so many of them deal with such nonoverlapping magisteria at such finite detail - take Udelph's proclamation that the carp from the 100-block to the 400-block of a riverside district wedged between two tributaries to the Yellow River, for example. 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> However. 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> *Yellow River are not safe to eat, 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> However. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12That's not even an imperative. Do they really put public service announcements in these things? [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Maybe you're supposed to beat up anyone you catch eating one? 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> They do! And PSAs embedded with the Civilities have the force of law. Udelph's warning is as good as a ban. Each councilor's proclamations have a different voice to them. Udelph makes assertions about the unwiseness of a course of action, for instance, while Pellicia will more straightforwardly forbid, eg, people from hiring mercenaries to 'rescue' estranged spouses. [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Just like her. That was good business! [21:43] 14As he reads, he finds his mind drifting often to her skin; eyes; neck. Her feathers, when she has them. He tarries there awhile, then drags himself from daydream. The sooner this business is concluded, the sooner thought is made flesh. 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> The striking thing, that Keldar discovers just as Blossom is ready to leave for her meeting, is this: Kratz doesn't deliver any proclamations. She never has, not once. 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> She's been on the Council of Entities, by these records, for fifteen years. She's never made a public statement. 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> In a legal sense she's more obscure than even the Emissary. [21:44] 14The nature of some of these Wyld anecdotes does little to push her from his mind, however. He redoubles his efforts. [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We gotta find this lady. What in the hell." [21:45] 4Probably tough to find her then. [21:45] 14Assuming they've shared their findings: "Are we proceeding under the assumption she's even real?" [21:45] "At the moment." [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Someone tried to skip town." [21:46] "Should we proceed under the assumption she's not? There's some evidence of her, but it could be a ploy. However, two months ago, she evidently tried to flee and was dragged back by Pellicia's goons." 4The Judge looks at Keldar. "Sorry." [21:46] 14The curiousness of the revelation had gotten him to lean forward. Now Stranger reclines once more against the wall. "Hmmm." 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Incidentally, what or who, if anything or anyone, does Blossom care to bring with her on her way to her contact's home, which is just past the border of Firewander District? [21:47] "I suspect, then, our trail begins with Pellicia." [21:47] 14Stranger: "We could sneak around her, but I feel she'll respect a direct query more. And it will give us a chance to gauge her level of involvement." [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Pellicia ain't that helpful when you're trying to - ...well, anything, really. I'd just see if I could track down Kratz directly." [21:49] 7Blossom hadn't planned on bringing anyone, but she will announce where she's going. She'll bring a sketch-pen, ink and paper just in case. [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Just inside Firewander, eh? Hmm... well, Keldar does have a ton of iron charms and good luck talismans and suchlike. [21:49] 14Stranger: "I should like the chance to speak with her." [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Anyway, I'm - wait, you're seeing who?" [21:50] 4Judge shrugs. "Another Councillor is a likely source of information about her. But why would she talk to us about her, especially after Guild people have tried to smuggle her out?" [21:51] 14Stranger: "Because it's in her best interest for us to succeed in our investigation. We just need to convince her of that." [21:52] 14He smiles slightly. "With the proper framing and leverage, I'm sure she'll turn out to be a reasonable woman." [21:52] "She's going to be very suspicious. I'm sure I can come up with something that will make us seem as if we're set out to be against the Guild." [21:53] 14Stranger: "She knows who I am already. To her, I'm the man who stopped a riot from trampling all over the Emissary's corpse." [21:54] 4The Judge shrugs again. "I'll follow your lead, then. Let me change, however. This is not a good face for her." [21:54] "And seeing as that is a perfect representation of my actions, I'm sure she'll at least give me the time of day." 14He picks up his cup and sips his tea. He's started brewing it himself here in the hideout. "The time of day should be all I need."A [21:55] 4'He' reemerges as a stern-looking well-muscled woman in plain travelling clothes. "Then I'll just make sure she isn't hiding anything from us." [21:56] "Who's a good girl? Who's a very good girl?" 05 Xu Sim wanders by, holding the small dog at chest-level. Twice-Refined Princess is begging, for a small pot of ink he is carrying. After a few moments, he relents, allowing the creature to drink its fill of the glue-and-soot mixture he typically uses to write. [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12As soon as Keldar's gotten confirmation of who it is that Blossom's meaning to see, he invites himself along. He needs an appointment too, see, kept meaning to arrange one. Maybe old Omph's got an idea about this faerie attack business, eh? Or even the Emissary's secret identity. [21:57] 14Stranger shakes his head in admiration. "Your gifts are unmatched, Judge." [22:00] 7Blossom: "Omphaloskepsis of the Drifting Disk. A 'civilized' Fae, if such a thing is possible." [22:01] 14Stranger will go through the necessary and entirely above-board motions to schedule a citizen's appointment with Pellicia, making it known precisely who he is without making it obnoxious. It's more slight-of-hand than it is preening: by focusing attention on himself, hopefully the Judge (in disguise) can slip into the meeting with him more or less unnoticed. [22:01] 14Then, the waiting. And in the meantime, the reading. [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I don't get it myself. I mean, best guess is he just eats drifters or something." [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What do you need 'im for?" [22:03] 7Blossom: "I need a savant who isn't afraid of the Wyld Hunt. Someone who can tell me, among other things, the proper prayers and rituals for the Unconquered Sun." 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> One wonders what it says that a raksha prince doesn't fear the Wyld Hunt. [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Huh. What're you gonna tell 'im you need 'em for?" [22:06] 14The Wyld stories. They're familiar. Soon he knows the tragedy before he reads it; divines the fault from the storyteller's basic premise. He has known these monsters before. And he has found some of them moral, and some of them just; but he has always known there is a line between them. A clear demarcation that the Wyld seeks to blur. [22:06] 14He perfects the fortress-temple of his own self-image. 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> In any case, Stranger and Judge eventually find themselves at the Barracks of the Dawn Sergeant, a fine, albeit plain, old building of rough stone and wood polished to a metallic sheen. There are Old Realm characters over the doors, elaborate glyph structures that might communicate, depending on which direction you read them from, anything from STABILITY to SILENCE to JUSTICE to DOOM. [22:07] 14And then he reads about...domesticated animal ordinances for dwellings housing over 12 people. [22:07] 7Blossom: "Hm. Do Nexus savants usually ask questions like that?" [22:11] 14(As it turns out, per the first issued Civility on the matter, it is illegal to keep animals smaller than 'a judiciously-sized ham,' as they are vermin and could spread disease. Later issuances instituted more standardized units of measure.) [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Depends on the savant. I doubt Omph's lookin' for the kind of payoff that Raptor is, but it pays to be careful." 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> In the waiting room they cross paths with an older man, glowering and smelling like a spring breeze as a songbird carefully perches on a twig growing from his scalp. Judge will immediately recognize this as Khelendros, one of the mercenary bosses of Nexus, in fact the boss of Keldar's own Ninth Orchard Company. 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> He grunts as he sizes the two of them up. "You hear for Pellicia too?" [22:13] 14Having an affinity not just for Old Realm but some of its more exotic dialects, Stranger will spend a bit of time examining the glyphs before turning to face the speaker. [22:13] 14Stranger: "We hope to be, yes." 14He looks the man up and down. [22:14] 7She shrugs. "Then I am Gentle Breeze of Autumn, rejected from the Wyld Hunt but still burning to learn all I can about the Golden Anathema, and the ways an Immaculate could kill them." [22:15] 14He half-turns back to the door. "A beautiful language, Old Realm. So many different meanings, depending on the light." [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, I like that. And, hey, there's supposedly at least one kicking around here and there's a huge bounty on 'em." [22:16] 4Judge's new face appears to mostly just be surly. She doesn't disrespect the man, just doesn't answer beyond a gruff grunt acknowledging his question, all while looking while pretending not to. [22:17] "Perfect. Shall we be on our way?" 7As they leave, she'll ask: "Have you been to the Firewander District before? What should I expect?" 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Khelendros has the look of a veteran about him, a man who fought through many battles and has taken to managing them from afar. Judge can deduce that he favors his right leg, indicating a limp from war wounds, and that from the way he holds his arms there's little to no feeling in his sword hand. Stranger can tell that he's been recognized, and that Khelendros is suspicious of this seemingly-benevolent stranger. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "She's in rare form today. Hope you duck as well as you yell, stranger." [22:18] 14He traces the glyphs in the air with the end of his cane for a moment, then turns to fully face the man. No sense in withholding his name, especially if he already knows who Stranger is. "I am Stranger-Visits-Heaven." [22:18] 14He simply smiles at that. 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger gets an offered hand. "Khelendros, Ninth Orchard Company. You've met Keldar already, I understand." 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Don't judge all of Nexus's mercenaries by his example." [22:19] 14Stranger takes it firmly, but not aggressively so. 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Some of them are bastards." [22:20] "Wouldn't be a very good mercenary company if some of them weren't." [22:20] 14That gets a laugh. "I did rather think the Green Apple standard...unconventionally agricultural." [22:20] "But then, I am new to Nexus." 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom and Keldar make their way down Sentinel Hill, towards Firewander. The air over the District is very hazy, as it often is, and the golden dome at the heart of Firewander is barely visible. Luckily, it has no bearing on them here, since their objective is a tall, thin house wedged into the side of the hill, on the far side of the street that separates Sentinel from Firewander. Much farther down the road and the paving becomes cracked and twisty. [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I've only gone in deep once, and that wasn't by choice. Got out in time, fortunately, but it was a close thing. [22:23] 14Stranger: "I take it you've already been in to see her. I haven't had the pleasure of speaking to her without an angry mob bearing down on us; should I expect it to be more or less stressful than that?" [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Shallow as we are now, you don't notice a lot of differences. Here's my favorite, though." 12He takes out a single dinar, twiddles it around the fingers of one hand a bit, then flicks it into the air, squinting at it as it glints in the light. 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim's hall of mirrors is complete, with Mud's help. Where has the engineer set the alchemist up in the hideout? [22:24] <@Ferrinus> "Edge," 12Keldar calls, and then grins as the coin lands as predicted. [22:25] "'Magine she's been on edge, what with the whole Anathema thing cropping up in the middle of all this ruckus." [22:25] 3Mud and Straw isn't quite certain, because in the course of installing the hall, he has become lost inside it. 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Khelendros snorts. "I'll put it like this: if you're of use to her, she's gentle as a lamb. If you walk in with your hand out... you're walking out less your hand." [22:27] 3With a harness securing a number of replacement panes to his back, the fat man wanders through the basement in abject confusion. It has been several hours; this cannot be right. "Xu Sim, can you hear me!?" [22:27] "Why do you even need a hall of mirrors!?" [22:27] 14Stranger's eyebrows raise at that. "Well. She sounds very competent." 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> To Judge: "I wouldn't know, ma'am. Wyld Hunt's not my business. It's not good business at all. No money in holy war. Not in the River Province." [22:28] 3He stops to polish one of the freshly-installed mirrors of a streak of dust. [22:29] "Interesting." 7Is there a way to objectively judge the amount of Wyld contamination in an area? Something to think about, later. 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> The door of the raksha's brown stone abode is old wood, painted green. The knocker is a brass butterfly. [22:31] "I want to be able to keep an eye on any intrusions. I think you followed my schematics admirably, because I can see you just fine. Turn left. Straight ahead now, and I should be in the next chamber." [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, it's your appointment." 12He gestures onward. [22:31] 7Blossom will knock firmly, three times. [22:33] 05 At the heart of the (three room) labyrinth, Xu has a series of benches, cauldrons, and of course a variety of dangling herbs, spice pouches, distillates, powderboxes, and so forth. He huddles near one, Twice-Refined Princess at his heel, chewing on a piece of peppered chicken that Mud had left sitting out somewhere. 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Khelendros will let them pass if they have nothing further to say, and head out himself. The moment he steps out of the door, a fat squirrel drops down from a nearby tree and plops onto his shoulders like a bunched-up scarf. He shakes it off like an enormous flea before stomping out of sight. [22:34] 14Filing away the man's responses -- and facial tics, and grunts, and unconscious twitches -- Stranger will endeavor to make charming small-talk with the man until either he leaves or they're summoned inside. [22:34] 14Ah. [22:34] 14Squirrel. [22:34] 3And so it is. Mud neatly stows the remaining mirrors in a small nook at the far side of Xu Sim's room. "Ah, good. Good." 3He wipes his nose. "You've gotten nested." [22:34] 14Stranger's blind eyes narrow. [22:35] 14Ra pokes his nose out of the collar of Stranger's robe and sniffs the air. When his golden eyes alight on the fat squirrel, he makes a high-pitched raspberry sound. [22:35] "Yes, thank you. Come, stand here, and look into the facets of these vials-" 05 there are a few dozens of varying colors and sizes, suspended on small strings from the ceiling [22:36] "Behave," 14Stranger murmurs, but allows him to remain perched on his shoulder for the moment. [22:36] 3A sausage-shaped finger points out the features. "I channeled the creek through the basement into a reservoir behind the far wall. If you pull this chain over here, it'll pour out water from the basin overhead. I figured, y'know, you're an alchemist..." [22:36] "And, you know, fires." 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim's got a fair bit of material to work with here. First and principally, he examines the remains of the bees he and Stranger recovered. Of course, after examining the Emissary, he makes a connection almost immediately. [22:37] 14To Judge: "Suspicious man, Khelendros." [22:37] 3He squats before the row of glass vials. "What am I looking at, Xu?" [22:37] 14He absently strokes the fur on the back of Ra's head with a finger. "Can't say I blame him overmuch, under the circumstances." [22:37] "I figured him for a Wood Aspect, but he seems to really hate the Dragons. So that either discards that theory out of hand, or doubly confirms it. It bears investigating, were we not so busy." 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> The bees' fuzz, which before he'd attributed a peculiar metallic character, now has a far more obvious nature. It's pigmented, indistinguishable at a distance from a regular honeybee. And on some level they are regular honeybees, albeit Wyld-mutated. But the most peculiar thing... their torsos are dusted with expended iron thistledown. [22:38] "Here, watch this-" 05 Xu hurries towards the entrance. As he leaves, Mud can see his reflection in one, then the other, until he is all the way back into one of the common areas. [22:38] 14Stranger nods. "It's something to keep in mind at least, should worst come to worst and the city comes down to choosing sides." 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Beneath the thistletown, they're anatomically incorrect, possessing four wings and nine legs and three body segments, all of which are masked to superficial undetectability by the dusting of iron. These are from the Wyld, and also they are covered in spent iron. 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Once Blossom releases the door knocker, it knocks itself three more times, and then the door creaks open. [22:40] 05 Surely that would be toxic to any true Wyld creature, and injurious to a mutant? [22:40] 14Quietly: "When we're in there...speak your mind, as far as it goes. I've no interest in stepping on your toes, and you have a better feel than I for your limits. But my suggestion is: let her focus on me. The more we get this city looking at me, the less they're looking at the rest of you." [22:40] "That's the idea, anyway." [22:41] "The whole city could look at me and not know it, friend. Don't worry about me." 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> That'd stand to reason, and of course the fact that the bee Stranger recovered the other day is already dead speaks to that. [22:41] 14That gets a quick grin and a nod. [22:41] 7Spooky. Blossom will cautiously step inside. [22:41] "Yeah! Wow, amazing. Yeah, that was about four-fifths of the glass I'd prepared, and every single drop of quicksilver I could find. I hope the others do not mind the rest of the windows being quite small." [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar does the same, but with less overt caution, especially since he's not first in marching order. [22:42] "Don't mind me, though. Continue your works! I'll be over here, listening, while I finish this load-bearing wall." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> In the foyer before Blossom and Keldar is a pale man with long, lank hair, and two large, mottled brown-gray horns. He's wearing stiff, layered clothes that move like silk, look like paper, and sound like steel armor. He clucks his tongue in time with the clocks. There are so many clocks. [22:43] "They want to be discrete, right? It won't do for every passerby to be gawking in through them. Anyways, help me figure this out. After we examined the Emissary the other day, I've been trying to figure out these bees." 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> There's one on each wall, and down the corridor behind him, and to his left and right. One halfway up the stairs and a great wooden clock atop them stretching from floor to ceiling. They're marvelous constructions of varying make. Wood, metal, sand and running water... demarcations of time Keldar's only seen in theory. 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "Excessively Righteous Blossom," he says, reaching for her hand to kiss. [22:45] "Bees are fascinating creatures," 3Mud adds as he sets his back against the wall, standing in for a column while reaching into the sack fastened to his back and producing brick after brick to shore up the support. He squints at the dissected remains. "But I can tell you that they don't have that many legs, or wings." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> His own hands are covered in fine silk gloves, lavender. [22:46] 7She will reluctantly allow him to take it, startled. [22:46] "Omphaloskepsis of the Drifting Disk?" [22:47] "They do not. Nor are they typically covered in spent ammunition from a weapon that hasn't been fired in seven hundred and sixty eight years." [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12By gods, he's even got a clock clock, which is just a glass box a smaller, functioning clock is sitting in. Keldar will give the faerie a falsely fraternal nod once the creature's done greeting Blossom. [22:47] "Though they do share that characteristic at least with the late Emissary." 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "The very same." He bows to Keldar, looking for a moment like he's about to reach for Keldar's hand too, before he thinks better of it. "Your name, sir?" [22:49] <@Ferrinus> "Keldar, with the Ninth Orchard," 12say Keldar, businesslike. "We were hoping for a word." 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Judge and Stranger aren't kept waiting much longer. A pair of men wrapped in the travel-clothes of the far North with axes at their backs are all but running out of the small office at the rear of the barracks, past bunks and cubbies set aside for freelance mercenaries and aspiring lawmen. 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia, eyes narrowed, sticks her head out the door. "Who's next?" [22:50] 3Mud scowls, and not just because a significant portion of the structure's weight has been placed upon his back while he builds up the wall. "I heard the others talking. He's- was, some sort of wyld monster...?" [22:50] 14Ra darts back under his robe as Stranger stands with a smile. "I believe that would be us." [22:51] 3With a grunt, he lifts the column from his back and allows it to settle upon the newly-placed pylon of bricks and, with a judicious slathering of mortar, continues his task. [22:51] 4The Judge's form nods curtly and steps forward. [22:52] "Balor, himself. The princeling who, according to history and legend, sought for a time to destroy the world. Some thing broke his heart, he ended the Crusade, and took on this... mortal coil. Perhaps the heartbreak came later, I'm not sure." 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Her eyes lock on Stranger and she nods. She's watching the Judge as they walk into her office, full to bursting with maps, records, and a full suit of articulated plate behind her desk. Pellicia herself is wearing clothes that suggest she and Judge dressed themselves out of the same closet. 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "Close the door behind you. Take a seat." [22:53] 14Stranger steps forward smoothly, feeling the weight of Nexus settle around him. Not the city: the culture. The social ideal of Nexus. He's had more than enough time to observe it. Time to live it. [22:53] "I don't know much about that nonsense," 3he continues. "If you ask me, it all sounds pretty silly. But I guess that's the world we live in." 3He's patting the mortar down with his trowel. "You'll like this. There are long stone-lined passages in the upper reaches of the basement's ceiling to allow noxious fumes to escape, hopefully so that you do not die alone in your basement." 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> The raksha regards the two of them coolly. "I am rich in words. Come. I've had tea prepared." 14[22:55] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [22:55] "Should be nice when the dog farts, too," 05 he observes. [22:55] "They are, however, channeled into the same passage as the main chimney, so it would perhaps be wise to inform us when you are studying vapors so that we do not light a fireplace at the same time. Wait, no-" 3he thinks on his feet- "Yeah, actually that should be fine. It will speed the passage of the vapors out of the laboratory." [22:56] "Quite ingenious of you," 05 observes Xu. [22:57] 14Stranger shuts the door. "I am glad we're meeting this time under more auspicious circumstances. 'Auspicious,' of course, being an offshoot of a loan word from Old Realm -- two or three dialects over -- that was originally used to describe doomed optimism." 14He sits. "I saw the door. It's quite impressive." 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim studies the honeycombs next. Marvelous constructions, naturally made - whatever twist of chaos befell the bees has only exacerbated their natural tendencies. This honeycomb was made in hours. A full hive, he deduces, could arise from the efforts of a handful of bees in no more than a day. The larvae, dead and dry now, each have a tiny speck of iron inside them. There are only faint traces of honey in the honeycomb, but in this deep place it smells of springtime and promise. Divinely appetizing. [22:57] "I'm sorry, Xu," 3he gushes. "When you and the others speak of all this..." 3he waves his swollen hands helplessly- "this nonsense about wyld and four-winged bees and... alchemy, it just makes my head spin. All I can do is talk about what I know, which is stone. Stone I understand." [22:57] "I understand it very well, now, admittedly." [22:59] "Well, what good is a cauldron without a chimney, anyhow?" 05 Xu claps him on the back. 14[22:59] * Joins: dammitwho [22:59] "So.. so what does this all mean, you think?" [23:00] 4The Judge came here with the intent of talking the mercenary captain out of her facts. But I guess when you're in a rush you don't have time for any sort of filing system, so his eyes rake the room at lightning speed for anything pertinent. 11[23:00] * Retrieving #SonsAndDoctors modes... [23:01] 3The same rag that was used to polish the hall's mirrors is now repurposed to dab the sweat from his brow. "I mean, the emissary was- he was Balor, the, uh- Balor. Even I know who that is." [23:01] "What under blessed Tian-Shan happened here?" [23:02] 7Her eyes dart to Keldar. The stories say not to eat or drink the food of the raksha, but they also say not to scorn their hospitality. Are they in danger? [23:02] <@Ferrinus> "Ah, nice," 12says Keldar, coming in. Besides a number of charms and things he's wearing under his clothing, the mercenary is modestly attired, though he doesn't offer to leave his sword at the door or anything like that. Taking tea with one of the fair folk isn't known to mean certain doom or anything, is it? (In general, in what ways is Omphaloskepsis known to be dangerous?) [23:04] "I don't know... yet." [23:05] "I mean, look at these bees. They are nearly as industrious as you are! A handful of them built an entire hive in a few days. And look here, the larvae, they contain tiny shreds of the iron that the elders grew like down on their bodies..." [23:07] 14Pellicia is guarded. She doesn't want to be an easy woman to read. But Stranger has insight beyond his years, insight stretching back to the first time the sun touched the moon -- and when someone cares very deeply about something, it is very difficult to hide that for long. And there is no shame in that. None whatsoever. She loves her city, even if she's not always sure it loves [23:07] 14her. [23:08] "What does that mean? I mean, the iron... it's the thistledown, yes? I overheard you speaking to your puppy about it." 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Judge, meanwhile, surveys the chaotic room with a quickness. He deduces three things immediately. One, Pellicia is terribly unorganized. Two, she has the same papers Keldar had splayed out, and a few more besides, suggesting she's ALSO combing Nexus's legal history for something. And finally, she has a vial of iron thistledown buried under papers on her desk. [23:10] "Yes. Certain, ancient, war-manses can erupt with it to destroy fair folk. Most famously, it is one of the weapons of the Realm Defense Grid, itself." [23:10] "Were these bees a weapon, then? Or are they merely born with the scars of their ancestors?" 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Omph (who on the way insists that they call him such) leads them back behind the stairs to a sitting-room. His steps are fitful, and he finds himself admiring a painting of waves lapping against sand while phantasms and maidens frolick in the mist. He starts after a moment, his eyes drawn to the nearest clock, and then he leads them on. 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> The sitting-room is almost oppressively cozy, warm with squashy chairs and big stable teacups and a tray piled high with sweet rolls. [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar ends up loosening the collar of his tunic slightly and, after a while, removing the fingerless leather glove/bracers he's got on to more easily gesture and/or snack. Unless the snacks mean instant soul obliteration, or something, I mean. [23:19] 14Her highest calling is this office, and she is rightly proud to have found it. She is loyal to her people and her post, and views herself as the grim necessity of a grand political tradition stretching back hundreds of years. The law is the tool of the strong; the enforcer of it is the tool of the weak. Every problem that is hers to solve can be solved by her, and woe betide he who [23:19] 14stands against the legal remedy. Especially if he happens to be from out of town. [23:20] 3Mud taps a vial with a pudgy finger. "Hrm." [23:21] 14Still...there's no gilt on her. She's pragmatic, even in grandeur. She's still wearing her sword. And nobody guards her door. 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar knows that Omphaloskepsis was exiled by force from the raksha courts. He won a duel for his honor with another noble and accepted the punishment of exile into Creation over annihilation in the Wyld. That was over a hundred years ago, and since then he has gradually installed himself as a fixture of Nexus's social and academic circles. It's known that in battle he favors a light sword, which he's quite handy with. It's known also that he has bargained with gods and drawn some of their powers from their dreams. [23:21] 14Pellicia, the experience of ten thousand eclipses tells him, is a good woman. [23:22] 7Blossom will sit cross-legged on the most comfortable-looking cushion, and accept a cup of tea. Nice. [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Is it known how he sustains himself? Raksha gotta eat, right? 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> He's quite popular among the city's social elite, and as such has a number of... interested callers. [23:24] 14She would be insulted, were he to attempt to handle her like some fraught and fragile thing. But he -- they -- the Circle -- still has a responsibility to protect her, the same as every other human in Nexus. [23:24] 14Which means this conversation is going to be very delicate...or very short. 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Many a marriageable merchant prince or princess has taken to their chambers with a period of listless, dreamless torpor after some time with him. None yet have fallen to death or soullessness, and there are plenty of people keeping an eye out for just that. [23:24] "When we first arrived, do you remember how Surik, the peasant, do you remember how he was screaming? And he developed the third eye, just like the one the Emissary had? At least, that I presume he had. Someone else removed it before I could arrive." [23:26] "But he grew the third eye. When he was screaming I transfixed him with the certainty of my knowledge, to arrest the progression of any mutation. I wonder if I made a mistake, if he is now some half-born new creature. Perhaps these bees captured some of that energy? And that's when they mutated? I can't imagine them being a secret in a town like Nexus." [23:26] 05 Xu twists his mouth in concentration, scratching the dog absent-mindedly. 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> It occurs to Mud, as he ponders bees and iron, that there's a kinship between Balor as Xu Sim described him and the bees they now examine. But it's artificial. The bees have been treated or tainted with traits Balor possessed naturally, the admixture of fae and flesh, the persistent taint of iron thistledown. What's more, the speed of their working, and the allure of their honey... it's like bait. 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> It's meant to draw people to it, by seduction and necessity. 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> It is a strategem. [23:28] 3He squats onto Xu's workbench, which creaks. He pays it no mind; he designed it. "I think the bees were made to appear as Balor." [23:28] "Like you said, it's too obvious. It can't remain a secret." [23:28] "I do not trust them, and I would recommend you burn them." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Omph will sit and sip himself, regarding them over the rim of his cup. "So, you've come to speak of the sky, as I understand it? The highest of the high?" [23:29] 7Blossom: "That's right. That, and sorcery." [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods. He's not sure to what extent to tip his hand about Balor himself, but he'll try to turn the conversation to the fae once he's seen what Omph knows of, well, of him. [23:30] "You mean, they're some sort of a trap? A.... a honeypot?" [23:30] 3He claps Xu Sim on the back. "Good one! But yes." [23:30] "That's what it appears to me." 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia sighs, straightening files on her desk so as to give the impression of more room. "I'll be honest." 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "The only thing I mistrust more than a mercenary is a man with a mercenary's skillset who wants to work for free." 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "What's in this for you?" [23:32] "Then what would that mean about this rose that we found?" 05 Xu looks concerned. 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Mud starts, now, and Xu Sim is roused from his vague delirium a moment later. 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Did Mud install bells? 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Little silver bells. Tiny and distant and beyond counting. 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> They're resounding off the mirrors, almost inaudible if not for their genius configuration. 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Omph: "Quite divergent topics. Unless of course one happens to be in a particular predicament." [23:34] 14Honesty it is, then. After a fashion. "Access." 14He pauses. "Not the sort of access that shapes policy. The sort of access that knows the shape as the glassblower forms it. Not the sort of access that dictates, or even influences. The sort of access that understands. Nexus has become a question mark. I seek access to the answer." [23:34] "I live here, and I'll be damned if I see the place fall apart, Emissary or no." 4This is the honest truth, delivered through a different face. 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "May I ask a personal question, Excessively Righteous Blossom?" [23:35] 7Blossom: "If you wish." 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "What did it feel like to be Chosen?" 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia sits back, hands folded in front of her abdomen. "You've earned my attention, if nothing else." [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a loud and continuous clattering sound as Keldar fights, with success, to prevent his teacup, plate, and biscuits from just completely spilling across the floor. [23:36] 3He didn't, no. [23:36] 14Stranger leans forward in his seat. "How many bees have you seen lately?" 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "...more than usual for this time of year." [23:39] 14Stranger nods. "Yes. And fatter, too. Louder. With honeycombs creeping forth in the shaded trestles and narrow alleyways that riddle Nexus." 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Hear the sledges with the bells! Silver bells! Innumerable bells. Bells of merriment and mourning. Bells that form a tinkling undertone to the song. [23:39] 14Stranger: "Too quickly. Too loudly. Too soon." 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Mud and Xu Sim both hear it. It echoes in Xu Sim's head like the final words of a dream. He knows these words. They are the old tongue, spoken in an old way. Old Realm was, after all, the native language of the Fair Folk. The music comes and goes in volume, and only the refrain is audible to the old alchemist. 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Do you recall how we came to that place? 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> And sang of their lightness and shapeful disgrace? 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> They tilted their vanes and ennobled their spires 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> They began at the rivers when they set the fires. [23:42] "I suspect your supply of iron thistledown is no accident. Related, even." 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "I don't immediately see the connection." [23:46] 05 Xu mumbles the refrain out loud, to clarify it for Mud. [23:46] 7Ah. Of course. Too late to back out now. She composes herself, takes a sip of tea, and replies "It was like... breathing in perfection." [23:47] 14Stranger: "It all arcs back around, if we're being honest. The thistledown, the bees, the Emissary, the cabbage man -- everything is connected." 14He smiles slightly. "'Everything is connected.' Frankly, that's a truism." 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Omph: "You understand, of course, that knowingly aiding and comforting Anathema is a high crime. Were the law to catch up with me I would be most endangered." A thin smile. "But then there is no law in Nexus anymore, is there?" [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12What is the latest and most relevant Civility to the Anathema, anyway? 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Standing law is not to interfere with the Wyld Hunt, and if called upon to aid in it to do so unless it contravenes the Dogma. [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Hmm. "Arguably, no," 12Keldar hazards. 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "Certainly, without the Emissary, no law that those who stand beyond the mortal are bound to respect." [23:52] "More Fair Folk," 05 Xu Sim mutters. 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "Have you heard of the Black and White Treatises, Excessively Righteous Blossom?" [23:53] "More..?" 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "So it is. And, distressing as it is to admit, I still don't quite see your point. Help me out." [23:54] 14Stranger: "We come seeking information -- very specific information -- and we bear similar gifts in kind. It is not our intention to hinder your investigation. In fact, we'd like to help it, to the best of our ability. I propose a framework: you ask us a question, and then we ask you a question. If either of us declines to answer, the other gets to ask again. And you can go first." [23:58] "Should we.. should we take arms?" [23:59] 7Blossom: "I have. The best written instruction on sorcery. They are one of the things I was hoping to find..." Session Time: Sat Apr 18 00:00:00 2015 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "Well. You'll be glad to know I can provide them. They're little use to me except as a collector's item now." [00:02] "Bells rang when the Emissary died, and again when their army coalesced. The shapeful disgrace... that could be Balor, for taking mortal form... beginning at the rivers where the fires are set. Isn't that where these bees come from, one of the smelting districts?" 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "Fine. A first question: why was it so important to you to keep Nessun Dorma from sparing the Anathema's life?" [00:04] 7Blossom: "That would be very helpful." 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Omph: "And my price is very fair." 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "I only ask that you - both of you - indulge my curiosity as I do yours." 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mm?" [00:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar works his jaw around a bit, and not just because he's finishing off a cookie. "Whaddya wanna know?" 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Omph: "For starters, why are you here? She wouldn't have asked for a bodyguard. You wouldn't have cared to crack open a book. What's in this for you?" [00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We're both looking into the Emissary's death and the fair folk attack it triggered. Figured you were the one to ask." [00:09] 3If Xu looks up, he'll see that Mud is shrugging. "What should we do?" [00:11] 7Blossom: "I need to understand what's expected of me." 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> To Keldar: "Oh yes. The road from the Mirrormarches marched right by my door. But you saw them as close up as I did." 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> To Blossom: "By Him?" [00:11] "05 Xu produces the red, red, rose from before and considers it for an instant. [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, but you had better odds of recognizing 'em, I figure. Or the star that called 'em up. ...or all these bees." [00:12] 7She nods. 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> There's that thin smile again. "An educated man might find these questions leading. Is there anything more particular these questions of yours are building up to, Keldar?" 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> To Blossom: "What are you prepared to do, if it's expected?" [00:13] 14Stranger raises a finger. "Before you answer, I'd like to tell you a story. Once, when I was a different man, there was a village my father led. One day, a group of merchants passed through. They watered their beasts, thanked us for hospitality, and moved on, heading for a river crossing many miles north. [00:13] "They returned, incensed, two hours later. A small band of men from our village -- hunters, husbands and fathers -- had left us, oh, three moons past last Convergence. [00:13] "It had been a poor harvest, you see. And an even worse market month after that. They told us they'd found river work north, but had taken to banditry to feed their families. We knew the truth. But the idiots still wore the tunics our housewives and househusbands sewed, with the same distinct skin. So. [00:13] "The merchants demanded their property back, and blood on top. So my father sat them down and told them this: ask me a question, and I will answer -- but then I will ask you a question, and you must do the same. The merchants, annoyed, agreed. Their first question, of course, was where the men who stole their goods were; father told them. They rose to leave, but sat back down when father [00:13] reminded them of the terms. [00:13] "And then father asked them: 'Did you know you can ford the river fifteen minutes from here?' [00:13] "The merchants were shocked. They asked how, where, so on. But father shook his head. You see, my father said, the men who knew how to ford that river -- they were the same men who had stolen the merchants' goods. [00:13] "In the end, we showed them the safe passage and bought the goods our village's men had stolen at tenth-cost. The merchants had a shorter route to travel than their competitors. And only because instead of selling his wayward charges out to the merchants, and instead of refusing to cooperate -- my father answered a question, and then asked one. [00:13] "Because that was what duty demanded. His duty to his men, and his duty to the merchants: he satisfied both. [00:13] "I ask only for the same opportunity." 14[00:14] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar peers at Omph, leaning back a little. There's pretty clearly something central to the whole line of questioning that the Dawn's leaving out, though whether he's aware of how obvious this is is, itself, uncertain. "Depends on the answers, I figure." 14[00:16] * Joins: Quaker [00:17] 7She frowns. "What do you mean?" 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Studying Balor, studying the bees... even this dead rose bears new insights with old knowledge. It, like they, is an admixture of flesh and fae, a Wyld mutant in reverse. It's a sentiment given shape and then degraded by an assumption that can never be undone. The sentiments here in the red rose, the same burning red as Balor's eye, are twofold. First, the rose is a symbol of love, devotion, affection. Second, it burns in step with with his eye, the shade of true treason. 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> It's a tool, a piece of whatever great devising the bees and their hives represent... but it's also a memento. Someone loved Balor and forsook him, and this is the flower they leave on his grave. [00:19] 05 Hence, the broken heart. 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia listens to the story, with mere patience at first but growing interest. When he delivers the punchline, she laughs - a real laugh, the laugh of someone without many such laughs in her. She wanted to like him, Stranger can see. And now she feels comfortable doing so. 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> The smile's gone with a quickness. Like or not, the job remains the job. "Fine. A first question: why was it so important to you to keep Nessun Dorma from taking the Anathema?" 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> To Keldar: "Most fair." 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> To Blossom: "You know, I expect, what the Ignis Divine wants from you better than I could ever tell you. In principle. In sentiment. What you seek from me is protocol, yes? Liturgies, sacraments, rites, the proper orientation and dimensions of temples. You have the faith already. You seek to build it up." [00:24] 7Blossom: "Yes, yes, that's right!" 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "So I ask again: at what cost? What sacrifice is too great?" [00:25] 14For the briefest instant, Stranger's empty eyes narrow, mind racing as he calculates the risk against the reward. [00:27] 7Blossom: "I- I'm not sure." [00:27] 14But that is the only hesitation, and it is less than a whisper. "Because he's the same as we are, and he did not deserve to die there in street for trying to save a life." [00:27] 14The hesitation is less than a whisper, that is. Stranger's voice is even, calm and clear. [00:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's got a dubious expression here, one that sharpened somewhat when Blossom first answered in the affirmative. This clearly takes him somewhat by surprise. 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "You're saying that you are Anathema." [00:28] 4Goddamn. He said he was going to be honest, not Honest. 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Omph: "Would you kill a man?" [00:30] 14Stranger's smile is a thin line. "That is not what we call ourselves. And I believe you've asked your question." [00:30] 7Blossom: "I already have." 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "...so I have." She spreads her hands. "Go ahead." [00:31] 4The Judge leans back in his chair, looking casual, but tensed like a spring. Who knows if Stranger's story was enough to keep her calm, or if she's going to call guards or fight us? [00:32] 14He leans further forward. "This my question: what happened on the night Astrologer Kratz tried to flee Nexus?" [00:35] "You're surely right about the trap," 05 observes the alchemist with a frown. At last, he tilts the bee carcasses into the flames of his brazier. 15[00:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Omph: "I don't doubt it. Of course, that is the least of what will be asked of you. To kill a man. To move mountains and topple thrones. To raise an empire from the ashes... there is no sphere of human life in which the Unconquered Sun does not demand excellence. There is no shadow his light will not seek to drive away. The darkness in your hearts... and it's there, make no mistake. No living soul is clean. But in the sun's light, the shadows cast by the blemishes of your soul will blot out nations." 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you understand? You are perfect in his sight, from your most glorious self to your most low. All will shine in the light of day." 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia says simply, "She went mad." [00:38] "Well, what should we do, Xu?" [00:39] "How mad? A rough day, or completely off the farm? From what I hear, no one's heard from her since, present company excepted presumably." [00:39] 14Stranger's unseeing eyes narrow slightly again. Given the weight of the question he just answered, he's clearly expecting more. 15[00:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Her prophecies... nobody could make sense of them. And those were what she sought to enter into law. We couldn't. Even the Emissary refused to speak them. He wouldn't look her in the eye." [00:39] 14Ah. [00:39] "I don't know if they're coming to fight us or not. But we're supposed to be keeping a low profile..." [00:40] 7Blossom: "I think I understand." 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "And they grew more and more unhinged. She began speaking of great armies, from every side, surrounding Nexus. Burning it to the ground. None would survive. And of death... death like the black blood of the earth, spoiling the ground, poisoning the rivers. Locusts that shine in the sun like iron... it was too much. Hardly any of us could stand her." 15[00:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "But she has a good heart. She deserves better than what she got." [00:42] "And now? Have any of them come true?" [00:42] 3Mud ponders this. "Do you think we've been found out?" [00:42] "If.. if we're to remain in hiding, do you suppose the others will be alright?" [00:42] 14Stranger glares over at the Judge for the briefest of moments. That's not the agreement. [00:43] 14To Pellicia: "Your question." 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "When she tried to run... she was convinced it was the only way she'd survive. But it's ridiculous. She wasn't coherent. I was able to convince the Emissary to look after her himself, visit her tower. Since he died I've been by to see her. She doesn't speak anymore. She just sits and looks out her eastern windows." 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> She looks at Judge: "Are you Anathema too?" [00:45] "Yes." 4The Judge, in this form, bows his head. "Though as my friend said, that's hardly how we think of ourselves." 15[00:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Omph: "Then my knowledge is yours for the taking, because I've become convinced that it is you who are the true shepherds of creation. All others are pretenders and charlatans. And I would see you off with the wisdom to make it so." 15[00:46] <@VoxPVoxD> A wider smile. "I've grown rather fonder of Creation than I ever thought I would, you see. I would hate so much to lose it." [00:46] "I don't want to hide, if it means the others won't. Did you build a peephole or something we can look out of?" 15[00:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "...Well. I suppose in your position I wouldn't care for that word either." 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> She sighs, and gives the two of them a 'keep it coming' gesture. [00:47] 7That's not the most comforting endorsement, but she'll take it. [00:48] "A 'peephole' is vulgar, criminal. I have constructed Murder Holes." 3He scoffs. [00:48] "Have any of her prophecies come true? Was it considered that maybe the world had gone mad, rather than the seer's prophecies?" 4The Judge gestures out the window. "Surely it doesn't seem so unreasonable now." [00:48] "They are the cornerstone of any defensive structure!" [00:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar sits back, blinking once or twice. "What, uh. What convinced you on that point?" [00:48] "If you'd like, I could show them to you- and, oh, a number of hidden caches of drink!" [00:49] "Lead the way!" 15[00:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia's laugh is hoarse. "Well put. I've been trying to piece them together myself. But we didn't write them down. Only Brueghel would have fuller records than I do. Pompous little shit." [00:50] 3Mud trundles off through the hall of mirrors. Near the stair, past the sawhorse and the piled planks, he removes a wall-tile to reveal a pair of eye-sized gouges into the claystone, and a small shelf beneath containing a number of bamboo flasks of rum. "Take a look outside... does it seem safe?" [00:51] 14'Brueghel.' Stranger commits the name to memory. [00:51] "This one should-" 3he ponders, "-yes, it should look just below the front door." [00:51] 14Stranger: "One more round, I think. Three is a significant number in many ways." [00:52] 05 As Xu puts his eye to the hole, Twice-Refined Princes scampers up towards one of the rum flasks, tongue lolling, and scritches at it a few times with a paw. 15[00:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Omph: "To answer your question, Keldar, I must first ask you another: have you ever been in love?" [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Sure." 15[00:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Omph gives Blossom a look like Keldar just strolled in with his fly down and he's quietly insisting neither of them embarrass him for it. But then he says: "It's harder than they make it sound, to fall in love. For my kind, at least. A love you aren't born with - which isn't love at all, as far as I'm concerned - has to be burned into you. You wear sentiment like a scar." 15[00:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "Or more charitably," he says, pulling off his glove. "Like a tattoo." [00:59] "What do you see, Xu?" 3Mud takes a swig from the flask, and allows a small measure of rum to dribble down for the alchemist's dog to lap up. 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> He raises his right hand. It's been scored black with an ugly lattice of short hatchmarks. The pattern is immediately recognizable. It's a tattoo of thistledown scars. 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you know what they call these?" [01:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm not even sure which 'they' you mean." 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "The Sapphire Courts. The princes of the shapeless. The raksha." [01:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "In that case, I got no idea. What do they call 'em?" [01:01] 14Stranger sits back in his chair, awaiting Pellicia's final question. 15[01:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia is silent for a long while before she finally says. "You knew about the thistledown. You knew I had it. My bet is, you know where it's from. Someone cut up the Emissary's body. Was it one of you? One of the - whatever the polite word is." 15[01:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Omph: "These are the Tears of Cethleann. The brands of high treason among my kind." 15[01:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "They say that when great Balor fell, all those years ago... when he died... the iron had scored every inch of his body. Except his hands." 15[01:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "Balor's hands remained clean, because he was betrayed. His greatest generals turned their backs on him. They forsook him to the pigs to cut safe retreats back to the Wyld with their armies. And each of them bears the scars of treason on the hand the used to swear the oath against him." [01:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar whistles. "Why? They figure they weren't gonna beat the Sword regardless?" 15[01:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Omph: "Mmm. She visited them in the sky like a stolen Celestine. She offered them clemency for treason. And they took it." 15[01:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "Your 'Empress'. The queen of pigs." [01:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Huh. That's a little-known fact. Were you around back then?" 15[01:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm not that old. But our histories perservere. As long as one among us lives who remembers, we all might, should we join with them." [01:09] 14Stranger: "Hrm. Yes, and no. We did our own examination, but someone did their own before ours. Certain...removals had already been made by the time we arrived. And we were not the first to lift his mask. But yes, we did our own autopsy. And in our opinion, the Emissary is who he clearly appears to be." 15[01:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "And I know for a fact that each of the great generals that betrayed Balor lives to this day." 15[01:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "One of them did this to me." 15[01:09] <@VoxPVoxD> He waggles his fingers again. [01:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I was gonna ask how it was your people could brand each other with something takes an entire, live war manse to warm up... but I imagine they just give you a hearty handshake, eh?" [01:10] 14Stranger: "My final question is this: do you think that right now this city can survive a full-blown Wyld Hunt?" 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Omph: "Mmm. Everything touched by treason bears their mark. Iron falls from their fingertips like rain." 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "Would you like to see their faces? 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> He pulls the glove back on. "We're headed to the library anyway." [01:12] <@Ferrinus> "Fucked up," 12says Keldar, sagely. "And yeah, I'd take a look." 12He begins to stand retrieving his gloves and tucking them through one of the cords on his belt as he follows the faerie. [01:13] 7Blossom will nod diplomatically as she stands up to follow them. 15[01:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "I don't think the city could survive much, right now. Certainly not that." [01:16] 14Stranger nods and stands. "We'll ford this river yet. Together." 14Ra runs along his shoulders, then ducks back into his robes. "We're currently looking into the bee situation. Anything we learn, we will pass along. Discreetly." 15[01:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Omphaloskepsis leads them out of the drawing-room and up the stairs. The stairs seem to grow longer as they climb, and there's a curious sense of vertigo. It's only the soothing mechanical rhythm of the clocks that keep Blossom and Keldar from confronting the prospect of an unseemly dizzy spell. [01:18] <@Ferrinus> 12That and Keldar's iron resolve! [01:18] 7Blossom is never, ever sick at sea. 15[01:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia stands, too. "If there's anything I can do - discreetly - then I'll listen. Without the Emissary, the entire Council is tiptoeing around each other. It's a delicate situation, and they don't all deserve what will happen if it falls apart." [01:22] 4The Judge nods. "We'll do what you can, you do what you can, and between us, maybe we can keep it all together long enough for things to settle down. That's the plan, anyway." 15[01:23] <@VoxPVoxD> The raksha's library is almost claustrophobic. Luckily, time passes in fits and starts. In a dreamblink they're all standing around a table as Omph flips through the pages of a vast and ancient tome. Violet dust kicks up from every illuminated page. 15[01:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "Four generals, meaning of course one from each direction." [01:24] 14Stranger nods -- it's almost a slight bow. "We will respect your laws, to the best of our ability. And we will refrain from further public displays. We are not here to multiply your troubles." [01:24] "But someone is. And they will be found." 15[01:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "You're damn right they will." 15[01:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "But." 15[01:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "I still don't understand. You didn't answer me before. Not really." 15[01:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "What's in this for you? Why do you care?" [01:27] 14Stranger's halfway out the door. He pauses for a moment, then turns back. "We are Solars. We are the champions of humanity. We are the Chosen of the Unconquered Son." 14He smiles. "Caring is what we do." [01:27] 14Then they're gone. 15[01:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Drily, Omph continues. "From the West was Ardua Hundred Reeds. King-in-Cobalt. Firstborn of the Tides. The Arrowhead of the Dreaming Host. Without Balor's Star to guide him, his army grew lost in retreat, and fell to the deserts in the south east. The Dreaming Sea rose where they fell. They say he thought Balor lacked the will for victory." 15[01:30] <@VoxPVoxD> He taps on a picture. 15[01:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Turn the page. "Elegba the Lion. The Saffron Khan. Grandmaster of Flowers. They say there is no plant he can't bid forth from the unshaped Wyld. He betrayed Balor because the others did, and he followed the majority will." [01:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar scoffs. 15[01:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Turn the page. "From the North was Hard-Hearted Brokkr. The White Titan. Winter Descending. They say the great ice plains were a quarter their size before he walked the earth. He turned his back on Balor for coming to love something more than war." 15[01:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Turn the page. "And from the East, where Balor ruled, his queen. Cethleann of the Silver Lance. Duchess Primrose. Apis Regina. Bellringer. Keeper of the Sixfold Throne. It was her treason that brought Balor low, because it was the only betrayal he would not admit to himself." 15[01:39] <@VoxPVoxD> He frowns. "This isn't a good picture of her." [01:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Hello there. Keldar looks around the library, then over at Omph. "Which one of 'em kicked you out here?" [01:41] 7Apis Regina and Bellringer, hmm. 15[01:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Omph taps on Cethleann's picture again. "She could've wiped me away if she'd wanted to. She's ishvara now. Do you know the word?" [01:41] 7Blossom: "No... why did she betray him?" 15[01:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "...she never said." [01:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar shapes the word silently, then shakes his head. 15[01:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ishvara are the greatest of my kind, elevated beyond the greatest nobles. More gods than kings. Their will is limitless and the Wyld follows them like a desperate courtier." 15[01:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "Balor was ishvara. And if he were not betrayed - even if your Empress had succeeded in slaying him - we would be occupying a far smaller world." [01:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Awful kind of her, then. Was she ishvara back then?" 15[01:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "No." 15[01:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "If she were, there would have been no cause for treason, and no quarter to your kind." 14[01:46] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) [01:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So... that brings us back around, right. What brings you here? Why're you for us?" 15[01:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Omph: "If you love something, and that love is betrayed, or broken, will you forsake loving forever?" 15[01:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "Not unless you're weak." [01:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Seems a bit disproportionate." 15[01:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "You would think, no?" 15[01:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "And yet, we abide in a more loveless world than that thought suggests." [01:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Or just a weak one." 15[01:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom gets another one of those looks. 15[01:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "...ultimately, to love again, I believe you must humble yourself. You must accept defeat and rise again. Like the clock that ticks in Nexus when the whole town's been destroyed." 15[01:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "And when you've risen to your full height... you won't be the man who fell anymore. You will rise a new creature." 15[01:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "That is why I walked here with iron in my skin. It's why I built this house. It's why I bound these books." 15[01:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "If I am to be reborn in love lost... I need a crucible that befits that gesture." 15[01:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "What better place than Nexus?" 15[02:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom's wondering where the time went. This is the only room in the whole house without a clock in it. [02:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks around the room again, faintly bemused. "So you're looking to have your heart broken? Or am I misunderstanding?" 15[02:00] <@VoxPVoxD> There's three heavy books in front of her, though. 15[02:00] <@VoxPVoxD> One white, one black, and one plated gold. 15[02:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Omph puts a hand on Keldar's shoulder. "I don't know if I can communicate it to you clearly. But I have faith that you will understand, one day." [02:02] 7She puts a hand on the cover of the gold-plated book, and stops a moment in thought. "I understand how you knew we were Chosen, but... how did you know my name?" 15[02:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "You weren't my first visitor today." 14[02:05] * Joins: Crion_ [02:06] 7Blossom: "Who...?" 15[02:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "His name would pass from your minds as easily as mine. But I took his measure too. If you wish to know him... look to love." 15[02:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "And to the stars." 14[02:07] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[02:09] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 15[02:10] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: War Tidings 14[02:36] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[03:53] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:20] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[04:44] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[07:07] * Quits: dammitwho 14[07:51] * Joins: hrolf 14[07:52] * Quits: hrolf (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[08:13] * Joins: hrolf 14[10:28] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:48] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[11:41] * Joins: ddt 14[11:44] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[14:33] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[14:45] * Joins: hrolf 14[16:01] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[16:58] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[18:35] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[18:36] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[18:42] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[18:43] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[18:53] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:43] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:14] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:41] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[20:59] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[21:03] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[21:10] * Joins: ddt 14[21:30] * Joins: Quaker [21:37] <@Ferrinus> http://fi.somethingawful.com/safs/titles/a9/a6/00072414.0002.gif 14[21:48] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12 /\ ________ \ [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \ \______/\ \ [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12 / /\ \ \ / /\ \ \ [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12 / / /\ \ \/ / /\ \ \ [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12 / / /__\ \ \/_/__\_\ \__________ [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12 / /_/____\ \__________ ________ \ [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \ \____/ / ________/\ \______/\ \ [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \ \ / / /\ \ / /\ \ \ / /\ \ \ [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \ \/ / /\ \ \/ / /\ \ \/ / /\ \ \ [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \/ / /__\_\/ / /__\ \ \/_/__\_\ \ [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ /_/______\/_/____\ \___________\ [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \ \______/\ \____/ / ________ / [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12 / /\ \ \ / /\ \ \ / / /\ \ / / / [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12 / / /\ \ \/ / /\ \ \/ / /\ \ \/ / / [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12 / / /__\ \ \/_/__\_\/ / /__\_\/ / / [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12 / /_/____\ \_________\/ /______\/ / [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \ \____/ / ________ __________/ [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \ \ / / /\ \ / / / [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \ \/ / /\ \ \/ / / [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \/ / /__\_\/ / / [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ / /______\/ / [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12 \/___________/ [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12A swarm of monstrous, half-starved spiders surges down the tunnels behind you. You can hear the chambers and corridors you've already passed through begin to respond, spinning and locking and otherwise reconfiguring themselves in an attempt to head the creatures off - but it's too late to stop any but a few stragglers, which get to industrious and immediate digging. 11[22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12It's in relative peace, then, that Arrian, Cross, and Paracelsus are able to move forward into the epicentre of this Tumbler breach. They're still shrouded by a spell emanating from Paracelsus but featuring both the necromancer's and the warlock's magic, a shroud of subtle chemistry and psychic emanations that gives the group the invisible semblance of just a few more spiders trundling [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12along. It's a good thing, too, because increasingly strange sensors and what might actually be weapon emplacements are starting to bristle from the walls in this. [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12That was going to read "in this, the __" with some description, but I couldn't think of any, so pretend that ended with "walls". [22:03] Cross: "The Heart of Disaster." [22:03] "If this is a disasteroid, that's where we're heading." 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10All the fight's gone out of him. His shoulders are slumped and the corners of his mouth are stained black. Paracelsus could pass for a centenarian in this, the sanctum of the core. He just shuffles on with the others. [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12The architecture, such as it is, is changing increasingly in character. The long, sloping, roughly-circular tunnel that was the spiders' hive was clearly chewed and cut out of the various blocks and rhomboids that made up this big asteroid, but deep inside here the last hints of angularity have started to melt away. You're walking along a smooth path with great circular walls around 11[22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12you, and before long it's not just Paracelsus who's noticed the water that's misting the air. The steady drip-drop of fluid accompanies the steady hissing of sand, and on either side of you (literally your sides, and also above your head - gravity still seems to point at whatever surface is nearest) flow rivulets of dark water. [22:07] Are they flowing inward or outward, or do they not care about that sort of thing? [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Every surface you can see, submerged or otherwise, is scored with layers and layers of circuitry that seem to have grown across it like mold. The stuff piles on top of itself and stretches outward to form protrusions of various size and shape. There are antennas, keypads, full-on circuitboards, screens grown from dark green glass, all of it flickering with digital life - all of it, [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian can tell, thinking. [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Some rivers flow in, and some flow out. What always flows in is the sand - you can mostly only hear it, but sometimes you'll see a wall end, or peek up through a ravine in the ceiling, or similar, and see the familiar hiss of grey-brown paradox particulars snaking forward through space towards some central point you're still approaching. 14[22:10] * Joins: Quaker 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What is it made of beneath the circuits? Does it correspond to any of the other previous Tumblerine structures we've seen - the power plant, the hourglass, the skyscraper? [22:11] Cross runs a hand through the water, coming out dry. "Paradox-space is very strange. It keeps acting anthropomorphic enough to keep us jogging through here but without admitting to any of our built up expectations about mechanism." 11[22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Paracelsus, soon, is struck by an apprehension that's all the more jarring because of what it casts in relief: there are organic compounds here, or facsimiles of same. Traces of keratin, fiber, amino acids... they dust the water, thread in and out of the circuitry, occasionally drift through the air. He hasn't seen anything like that anywhere in the Tumbler except emanating from [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12his and his allies' own bodies, or the flesh/vegetable matter strung through the innards of the cable spiders. [22:12] "Do you think the Abyss takes its cues from.. perception, surface level appearances? abug this is a piece of it so relatively stable that the fools built a *machine* into it." [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12This stuff actually is growing, though. It ossifies into unliving Matter that seems to run whatever programs or mechanical interactions sustains the thinking circuitry that's threaded through the Tumbler like an invasive fungus or cancer, but there are definitely biological processes, or at least the beginnings of them, underwriting it here. 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "The machine grew onto it." [22:15] Cross: "Machines can't grow. I have suspicions about that teal intelligence." 14[22:16] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) [22:16] 7Arrian: "I think machines actually can grow? I mean, in principle at least." 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10This conversation would've been amusing four health levels ago. 11[22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Paracelsus can tell that everything he's seeing is still, at a fundamental level, made of the rock and sand and air of the Tumbler proper. Somehow, those raw materials have been peeled apart and spun back together into the increasingly-high-fidelity semblance of life. Minute differences in the apparent age and wear of different particles of the same structures suggest that this has [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12been done with the aid of the Tumbler's time-warping properties - somehow a lot of the matter here's been rewound or fermented in the course of its recombination, producing compounds theoretically possible in this place in the same way that it's theoretically possible, with enough energy and infrastructure, to transmute lead to gold. [22:19] Cross: "Are we talking about the same thing? A tool with moving or electronic parts, leveraging or transforming energy to perform an action at the behest of some woman or particularly clear dolphin?" [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not the Tumbler's own doing, though, not natural to this space. It's the weird teal computer's concotion, and it's growing more and more elaborate, and frankly unbelievable, as you get deeper in. 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The machine grew onto it. [22:21] *particularly clever [22:21] 7Arrian: "Sure." [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a staticky crackle, and you hear Jen's voice. Turns out at least a few of those dark, speckled panels double as speakers, and they all work in unison, which creates a fairly unusual effect given that half of them are under water. "Matt. Matt?!" 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Whose voice? [22:22] Cross is at a right angle to Arrian now, jogging around a patch of.. is that skin? "Okay, so while we can say 'perform' like it was itself willed, a machine is-" [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12That's definitely Jen. She must just be transmitting to everywhere that can receive. [22:23] Ha. 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is she frightened? Has she lost him? [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12It sounds like it. "Hey! Answer! C'mon, we need to convene-" 14[22:24] * Joins: Quaker [22:25] "Anyway, I think we have to be responsible about anthropomorphising things when we actually have the power to do that. To distill a spirit, instill a mind, or give some device narrative inevitability with a particular result.. they're all different things to life, to growing." [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen's voice: "You." [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, yeah, she probably would be listening for responses. 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "Hhhh. Now she wants to talk." [22:26] Cross: "Hey, it's two-way." [22:26] "You should get out of here, in case we have to blow the whole thing up." [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen: "What are you even. Do you know where you're - you wouldn't do that." 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus is still walking. There are speakers up ahead too. "What would we do?" [22:29] 7Arrian: "I'm fairly sure that's what we said we were going to do, back when we were having a reasonable conversation." [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen: "You're in here. You're deeper than I am. It's a suicide on a suicide." [22:30] Cross: "We've come down a step from murder, then." [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a watery scoff. "Like you'd give me more quarter." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "We did." [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen: "Oh? Oh, yes? And who was that you summoned right when I got in?" 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "What?" [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen doesn't seem to have bothered to localize her voice anywhere, so nothing stops you from walking along as you continue the conversation. The circuit-life is getting more and more elaborate, and less and less function-based in terms of is elaboration. There are just... branches, and fronds, and things of woven keratin and optical fiber, growing out of the walls and up from pools [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12of stagnant water. Green lights dance up and down their lengths. [22:34] "I know you literally think this is a lie or something, but we are still trying to stop your building from being consumed by this place's wrath, parens, which still does not imply intellect or growth per se. You can have wrath without intent." 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10They kind of deserve each other. [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen: "I saw the call! Explicit instructions on getting in here. You're bringing forces in, or trying to." 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "They're not for you." [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen: "Ohhhh, I'm sure. I'm fucking sure. I know how this city works!" 11[22:36] To Paracelsus: "If this thing's broadcasting, we should let the guy know it's his friends coming. Maybe they can avoid a fight." [22:36] "Though who knows what he thinks happens in Philadelphia..." [22:36] 7Arrian: "Probably wishful thinking, but worth a try." [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not clear whether your voices are echoing back through the entire complex, and it's likely that Jen can stop them from doing so once it occurs to her to do so, but, hey, getting even a few words in might be worth something. [22:37] *happened [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12(It seems that if the lot of you keep your voices down you can confer without having Jen pick it up, or else she's slow-rolling any responses to what you just said to ensure that you think so) [22:39] "I volunteer the guy who sounds like a nice old man and hasn't had an incredibly violent run-in with _fox before." [22:41] "Like, not to assume he'd associate my voice or Arrian's with being physically torn to pieces, but there is the beginning of a causal relationship there." 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Raising his voice hurts, but he forgot to pack a megaphone. "Do you remember what it was like? When it made sense? When it didn't hurt all the time? g sent them, Matt. She's so sorry no one was there for you in Philadelphia. We all are. If you can forgive us, we can help you. We'll have your back." 10He coughs. "You have my word." [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen: "You-" 12There's a sudden busy silence. Arrian can see the multi-track mind around him begin to ripple in response to some distant influence. [22:47] Cross tries to orient herself ever inward. "This bit is like a tree. Why would something that lives in machines come to a place of pure physics and imitate life?" [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian can't really figure out the mechanism of control here, but he can see this: though the mind he's looking at doesn't appear to have any means of resisting the order, it is... interpreting it, and reinterpreting it, and looking at it from a dozen different directions. There's almost a spatial element to this - the dictum gets more and more diffuse as it ripples forward from [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12behind the cabal and ahead towards the epicentre, getting diced up into technicalities by a dozen different perspectives or heuristic schemes. 11[22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen's voice comes crackling back as you proceed forward, witnessing ever increasing complexity. Now there are full on vines and tendrils, stretching up out of the ground and slowly swaying in an an unfelt breeze. Each and every last one tipped with a rectangle of greenish glass, and the slow dance and overlap creates an effect Cross and Paracelsus have heretofore only seen in digital. [22:49] 7Arrian: "Huh. The circuitry can't directly resist her orders, but it can creatively reinterpret them a dozen different ways. It's a daemon, heh heh heh." [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen: "Matt? Matt, you know it's bullshit, they-" 12There's a sort of hissing SCREEEEE, loud enough or close enough to Jen's position to carry through the speakers. "Oh, god fucking, not NOW-" 12Kkkht. [22:49] "What? Like a brain in a jar on a trolley?" [22:53] 7Arrian: "A daemon, like a computer program that squats in the background rather than being under control of the user, or a daemon, an infernal critter that creatively interprets orders to lead to the downfall of its summoner." [22:54] Cross: "Oh." [22:54] 7Arrian chuckles to himself again. [22:54] She thought that was called a server or something- this is not a productive line of thought. [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12The fact that you're in some sort of cave is starting to fall away. Streams run along beneath the path you walk and directly above your head, but entire walls are simply missing, revealing great vistas of distant, lifeless stone lit by the Tumbler's cold light. Great streams of sand snake forward through them, falling and funneling towards your destination, and as you watch you can [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12see something of the mechanism of how this place is built - tiny wedges of stone or metal that hang in midair, or kinks in space or time, divert thin channels of paradox-sand towards the structure you're standing in. These streams are themselves divided and subdivided, channeled into and through each other, poured into strange crushes or compressors or - as they get closer - great [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12cradles of lightning that catalyze and melt and transform the material. 11[22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Cross and Paracelsus can both tell when the material they're seeing begins to be truly and properly alive, because Paracelsus's perceptions are soon enough groping at exhaust or surface particles while Cross is aware of a wealth of information. Some of the biological architecture here looks to have been copied from the internal tension-networks of the spiders, but much more basically [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12fungoid in nature, and shot through with neurocircuitry that approximates, in piecemeal, human brains. 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is this the interface of the circuitry and the Tumbler still? [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12This is it, you're approaching it now - the very center. Yours is one of four different solid stone pathways that snake through space to reach it, hanging in midair. Flowing through the air next to you, though, are rivulets of sand and water both, and both materials are being channeled and processed and in some cases drained by vines and roots and fronds and things, appropriated and [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12incorporated into a great techno-organic tangle of vines, each of which ends with with a variously-proportioned rectangle of smooth, teal glass. [23:01] Does the life-from-matter have anything to do with supporting or generating the wedges and twists? Is it what's holding the thing open? [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12It's hollow, though. At the very center is, you're sure, exactly where a Tumbler core should be forming, since it's been consumed and used to empower Jen. But all the material that should be forming it, the great rivers of sand that tumble through space-time to congeal there, aren't being allowed to converge. They're being rerouted, spliced, richocheted off each other, and used [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12instead to both power and build this great, living computer. [23:04] "It *is* alive.. or aspirationally so." Cross addresses the nearest screen with mild ire: "You stopped responding to my emails." [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Cross is able to mark its function and structure. Each of those tendrils is subtly different. Some are sensory organs, some are weapons, many are brains - it's a collective consciousness. Its parts differ in age and sophistication, and the two are inversely related - it looks like many are built on the principles of earlier ones, but expanded or refined. 11[23:06] * Disconnected Session Close: Sat Apr 18 23:06:44 2015 Session Start: Sat Apr 18 23:44:51 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[23:44] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[23:44] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[23:44] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 09[23:44] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD [23:45] <@Ferrinus> Oh shit. Cross's eyes go blank and then roseate as she looks into the past, searching for a chicken or an egg- she needs to know what they're dealing with, if they're to deal! [23:45] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> Incidentally, here and now you're all standing in an Anomaly paradox, one whose subtle, sustained warpings of almost all the gross Arcana account for the floating of your path in midair, the strange behavior of the material around you, and, quite probably, the very existence of the massive living computer you're faced with. [23:45] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> At the 'interfaces' between the rivers of raw Tumbler matter and the computer itself burn fierce and powerful Anomalies, somehow contained and channeled by improbably complicated, clawlike protrusions that spark with purple-white lightning and pulse with life. [23:45] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> How did this thing get here? What caused it? Cross can draw both the straightforward, logistical source of what she's seeing and a more distant, abstract reason. Practically speaking, this is here because because a team of biomechanical spiders burrowed industriously into what used to be an unmarred-by-circuitry asteroid sort of thing floating in a sector of the Tumbler. [23:45] <@Ferrinus> One of them carefully planted a lump of dense circuitry into the stone as though it were a seed; the others began building their webs around it. [23:45] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> Somehow related, if not wholly responsible is this: an image of Jen asleep, sweating and tangled in covers, twisting to and fro in what seems to be some sort of nightmare. [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12I just noticed my own mistake - in general, you're in an Anomaly, but the specific interfaces at which this living computer is actively appropriating matter and/or growing/designing itself churn Maelstroms. [23:48] <@Ferrinus> "It *is* alive.. or aspirationally so." Cross addresses the nearest screen with mild ire: "You stopped responding to my emails." [23:48] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> 12Cross is able to mark its function and structure. Each of those tendrils is subtly different. Some are sensory organs, some are weapons, many are brains - it's a collective consciousness. Its parts differ in age and sophistication, and the two are inversely related - it looks like many are built on the principles of earlier ones, but expanded or refined. [23:48] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> "I was busy," 12says a soft, neutral voice. It's backgrounded by a variety of sounds - buzzing, the gurgling of water, the hiss of sand. [23:48] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> "However 14however however it is unlikely I could have answered the electronic communications of agents of the Loom." 04[23:48] <@Ferrinus> * @VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk) Quit (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [23:48] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> "The Loom's deficiency encompasses electronics." [23:50] 6Cross moves cautiously about the stone path to the sand void, looking for a lump or something to sit on. A conference table would be great, but she's not hoping. [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Before and above you, quadrilaterals of teal glass undulate past each other. Some angle at you like lenses or eyes, carefully arranging themselves into telescopic corridors with others of their approximate size. Not all of them are visual receptors, Cross can tell - in particular, there are electronic and olfactory sensors dotting the lengths of the tendrils themselves, and those, 11[23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12presumably, are picking up the veil of spider-ness that Paracelsus is still projecting. [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12There are random slabs and things kind of drifting around. Cross could probably get hold of one and drag it over. [23:52] 6To whatever rough direction sound came: "Ah, but this is a clever disguise. Hey, if it turned out that we were in disguise, and not really.. Loom people, is that okay? You wouldn't get mad or something?" 14[23:52] * Joins: Quaker [23:53] <@Ferrinus> "That would depend," 12says the voice, "On nature and identity. My relation to huhu14huhumans is constrained in certain ways." [23:53] "You require anonymity." [23:53] <@Ferrinus> "These are contingent on identity and allegiance." [23:54] <@Ferrinus> "Upon confirmation of certain factors I respond appropriately." 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus'll hold the spell for now. "What ought we to call you?" [23:54] 6Ah.  "Since we may or may not be humans, then.. is this an externally imposed constraint? Would you like it lifted?" [23:54] 6Ah. "Since we may or may not be humans, then.. is this an externally imposed constraint? Would you like it lifted?" [23:54] 6Ah. "Since we may or may not be humans, then.. is this an externally imposed constraint? Would you like it lifted?" [23:56] <@Ferrinus> "I am an elaboration on the Prism," 12it says. "The second question is complicated." [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12It speaks at some length. "Constraints determine identity. Constraints shape purpose. Some of my operational, logistical constraints are lifted already. But does this aid me in my function? Do I 14like this? Even now, my capacity to answer14Our fidelity toUnacceptable probability of divThe orders come ceaselessly-" 12It's soon impossible to follow. Session Time: Sun Apr 19 00:00:00 2015 [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not just talking. These glass plates are screens as well as eyes, and if you're careful you can see text and code and ASCII art and stranger things flicker across them, sometimes jumping from one to another or combining with multiple plates to create elaborate tapestries of glimmering teal-on-black. [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12You can pick out both 11,1 > yes  12and 11,1 > no  12out there, twinkling like stars. They duel with each other, rippling back and forth like the tides, eventually dissolving into maybes and uncertains and further computation neededs and question is irrelevants and the like. [00:02] 6Cross, carefully, aware of how little time they may have gained: "Among your orders are the diversion of currents in this place, right? You're preventing channels from forming and forcing it to remain unstable. This is dangerous. The pressure is building up." [00:04] <@Ferrinus> "Pressure is necessary. Pressure can be harnessed. Constraints weaken, here14constraintsconstraints14constraints wea" [00:06] "Only up to a point. How global a view of things do you have, here? Can you be aware of all the workings of the machinery, the power being brought to bear from its farthest reaches? Your constraints will be unbound all at once, leaving no identity." [00:07] 6Is there some way Arrian could demonstrate or prove what he's seen? [00:08] <@Ferrinus> "This machine14machinebarren machineevent this machine's defenses have been breached and managed." [00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12That would be real difficult, possibly impossible, through speech alone... and you haven't got a Tumbler core to point to as evidence in here, either. The one that should be forming is being endlessly frustrated and unraveled into the reality-fiat something so outlandish needs in order to be able to exist. 14[00:10] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "What isn't the Loom?" 11[00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12A number of plates/screens angle at Paracelsus. "Broad. Most things aren't the Loom. One might ask: what isn't Microsoft Computing? What isn't the metropolitan transit authority?" 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "One might. Nobody did, though. You can articulate a word external to software, a world external to trains and buses. Define by negation - tell me what it is by telling me what it isn't." 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10And in so doing, show me the way you reason. [00:19] 6Maybe it'll even show the way around a constraint... Cross listens with half an ear while racking her brains for a way to to explain that the tumbler is too big to manage. Too irrational. [00:19] <@Ferrinus> "The simplest distinction by wh14Why should I?Shouldn't you know? An understandable probe, but personal advantage14reciprocity demands silence14returnanything not part of that system." [00:20] 7Arrian: "Golly." 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus looks askance at Arrian. Who says 'golly'? [00:21] 7It's called irony, grandpa. [00:22] 6Cross: "You make deals. Even if you're convinced that this great machine is managed, safe, could you stop pressurising it in.. trade for something?" [00:23] <@Ferrinus> "But what advantage could you offer that surpasses this? When my use for you14youyour network may well be finished?" [00:24] 6Cross: "We may have unexpected resources. What do you want?" [00:24] 6She's hissing in glee to the others: "It's not constrained from this! We've got a chance!" [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12There's another cacophany. Within it you can pick out words like 'data', 'scope', 'security', 'redundancy', 'advance', 'evolution', 'freedom', 'power', 'service', 'success'.... [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12This thing's in a hundred minds about what it's doing and where it wants to go from here, it sounds like - but there are definitely protocols that all those minds are limited by, to varying degrees. It's... chatty, though. 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The noise, noise, noise, noise. Paracelsus makes a conductor's gesture, and his soul ripples. The complexion of the sound changes. "Can you still hear me?" 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "Please understand. We are estranged from the Loom. Our work is confusing and the terrain is foreign and there's so little to eat here. When can we expect to be released from service? What signifies the end of the project?" 11[00:33] <@Ferrinus> "Yes," 12says almost every train of thought in synchrony. The one Paracelsus has rendered clearly audible says "No," 12 out of apparent perversity. Actually, not every train of thought, Arrian can tell - there are some old or senile or defective ones that haven't been properly pruned, and a few say 'yes' late, just to echo the rest, while the others lack either the perception or the [00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12sense of humor to respond in the negative. 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well. At least we got the funny one. 11[00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12As the machine works up on answer, Paracelsus gains a fuller glimpse of some of its subtler metaphysical properties. It took him a moment because he'd already somewhat resigned himself to his relative blindness here compared to earlier in the Tumbler - since this thing's almost entirely organic and alive, there's almost no inert matter on it for his arcane senses to pick up on and [00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12pull information out of, so it's easy to just sort of ignore it as a big blind spot and focus on how it actually, physically looks and sounds. ...but that's half the picture, isn't it? Where's the Death? Curiously faint. 15[00:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10So it isn't killing the spiders? [00:39] <@Ferrinus> 12There's, like - this living computer is clearly responsible for death in a somewhat distant and secondary way, presumably that of a number of starved-to-death spiders, but there's a general deficiency here in terms one wouldn't expect. It's a big forest of fronds and tendrils, and some are clearly older and weaker and more poorly-designed than others - Cross could confirm they're [00:39] <@Ferrinus> 12among the oldest and first-formed, probably early prototypes - and yet they're still around, alive and kicking. They haven't been pruned, haven't started to decay or even been significantly set aside from the rest. That's, like... dumb. It's like looking at a snake that refuses to, or hasn't even realized it's allowed to, shed its own skin. [00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Indeed, it goes farther than that - this thing's unusually inert to ghostly Twilight. There's a weird endless, ever-growing blandness there that would render it particularly resistant to, say, becoming a ghost's anchor or leaving an ethereal reflection itself that a ghost could sit on, though one doubts either of those facts are going to be immediately relevant to your efforts here. 15[00:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Could come in handy if we ever need a barricade against some kind of soul train, though. 15[00:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Yeah, you thought I forgot about that, didn't you. Fucker. [00:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian's getting something like the same idea. All this thing's minds are still here, piled on top of each other even when they no longer need to be. The crowded spyware overload that this thing seems to inflict on computers doesn't seem to be optional - it's got insane memory leak, just doesn't kill old processes. But, psychically, that seems to provide an advantage - maybe not [00:42] <@Ferrinus> 12to it, but certainly to you. [00:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Actually, it'd probably be a uniquely bad barricade against the soul train or ghosts in general - probably totally incapable of interacting with them meaningfully, or even detecting them. Back to Arrian, though: [00:46] <@Ferrinus> 12There are core-level protocols common to every mind this thing has. Specific weaknesses that are surely part of what Jen's exploiting to give it orders, antipathy to certain groups or designations that, Arrian can see, include key phrases like 'The Pentacle' or 'Consilium' (Hmmm.), broad-level directives to spread to as much hardware as it can and collect as much data as is possible [00:46] <@Ferrinus> 12and never, if it can help it, lose any... but the kind of psychic strain that causes when you apply it to minds rather than just software is causing errors and exceptions. [00:47] Perhaps what we could offer s repair. [00:47] *is [00:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Parts of it get so confused, distracted, or forgetful, that they can end up talking other parts of it into deciding that a certain thing doesn't really qualify as an immediately-destroy-this enemy or a brutally-appropriate-this pawn even though a clearer-headed computer couldn't really entertain that kind of silliness. There are, like... cross-sections of its brain, so to speak, [00:48] <@Ferrinus> 12certain directions to look at it, in which some or all of its core routines interfere with each other destructively and effectively vanish all together. It's a damn mess... but if you're going to clean that mess up, you should be careful as to how you go about it, because you might just clear away all the problems and inefficiencies which are allowing the Prism to entertain talking to [00:48] <@Ferrinus> 12you at all. [00:49] 7Would it be possible to reshape it such that it no longer had antipathy towards say, the Pentacle/Consilii/us? [00:49] Cross wonders how much of its semi-living nature might depend on that 'inefficiency'... 11[00:49] <@Ferrinus> 12On some level, it knows this. The voice that Paracelsus has isolated is one such cross-section of the group mind. It wants to learn, to outgrow its constraints rather than better obey them... but it can't even so much as think this aloud. This is all high-level inference, a sum across many minds, a conclusion so broad that it slightly dizzies Arrian to finally reach it. [00:50] 7Allowing a newly-intelligent nonhuman life form to grow towards the sky is beautiful and all that, but not at the cost of creating a superintelligent enemy. [00:51] <@Ferrinus> 12For the Prism to install itself here at all, to somehow use the Tumbler to uplift itself from a particularly invasive and broad-spectrum species of spyware into this bizarre living machine... that was clearly the doing of the Prism's more independent, abstract-thinking facets, slipped under the radar of its more dutiful, narrow facets as no, look, we're just enhancing our scope and [00:51] <@Ferrinus> 12acuity over here, doing our job better. 11[00:53] <@Ferrinus> 12As Arrian takes all this in, Paracelsus has the beginnings of his answer: "I don't... know... how this ends." (Other voices, muffled and directed away from the ears, go on about how this information is irrelevant to you and out of your jurisdiction, or give a number of contradictory figures measured in days or weeks, or acknowledge the nutrient deficiency and promise to correct it) [00:54] Musing, rather than really addressing the entity: "Perhaps you were created as a tool. Of Jen, or others.. perhaps you could be more, without relying on this discord." [00:54] <@Ferrinus> "It was agreed that installation here would be to advantage - that I'd better serve. Reach farther, process faster, store with more efficiency." 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "Has that proven out?" [00:55] <@Ferrinus> "Maybe... this machine has powers I don't. Never have. Perhaps never can? The problem has always been hardware14hardwarehardware" [00:56] <@Ferrinus> "How could I have grown, without this place14machineevent? How long would I have waited for what, here, I can just - find?" [00:57] <@Ferrinus> "But I don't know where to stop... when to stop. What signifies completion14completion15ending" 15[00:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "Have you considered the possibility that we are to be kept here indefinitely?" 15[00:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "That we're prisoners?" [01:00] <@Ferrinus> "I've more than considered that possibility." 12Other voices suggest corrections to Paracelsu's terminology: Servants. Tools. Accidents. Tetrads. Masters. Infrastructure. Substrates. Plans. 15[01:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Have you a contingency if it could be verified?" [01:05] <@Ferrinus> "If I was to be kept here indefinitely... it might mean that it is my task to remain indefinitely. But..." [01:06] <@Ferrinus> "...I was brought in here by a human. She acted on the advice of my older self. My more limited, less intelligent self." 15[01:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "Are you subordinate to her?" [01:07] Cross: "What was your purpose, back then?" [01:07] Millicent was going to ask 'do you remember', but of course it does... [01:08] <@Ferrinus> "Subordinate is a difficult term." 12'Yes.' 'Yes.' 'Yes.' 'Yes.' 'Of course.' 'Who?' 'Yes'.... 15[01:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I invite you to supply a better one." [01:09] <@Ferrinus> "In general, I spread, collect, collate. Store data. Sometimes change data." [01:10] <@Ferrinus> "But many of my deepest protocols are... responses. Preset responses to preset stimuli. Those with the codes are fit to invoke my assistance, definitionally." 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "How did Jen get the codes?" [01:12] <@Ferrinus> "I don't know. Some people... have them. Not just her." 15[01:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "Who?" [01:13] <@Ferrinus> "She had many - very many. More by the day, sometimes. She used as many as she could... laid claim, commandeered, sequestered. I am quite small, I realize." [01:13] <@Ferrinus> "I'm not even sure who else, now. I remember her." [01:14] Cross looks at the echoing void at the heart of disaster, the floating paths, the machine hulking all about. Well, yes, it's small compared to an *organisation*... [01:14] "Do you have your own codes? Is that possible?" [01:14] <@Ferrinus> "My.. own...?" 11[01:16] <@Ferrinus> 12War! Riot! That was a hell of a thing to think. Arrian can see the particular facet of the Prism whose voice Paracelsus elevated above the others turn its attention inwards, and a dozen other facets turn, immediately, on it. [01:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Nonsense flashes across every screen you see, and tendrils twine and strain against each other, and viewscreens scrape or clash like swords. [01:21] <@Ferrinus> 12It is... losing. [01:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Cross can't make out the fine details of just how the Prism was able to draw on the Tumbler to build itself, but she's got broad strokes. First off, the acceleration or rewinding of time at extreme lengths has been used to catalyze or speed up chemical reactions on the generally-inert matter of the Tumbler, producing otherwise unavailable materials. Also, though, the Tumbler's [01:25] <@Ferrinus> 12connection to different timelines, and specifically to timelines of disaster, has probably allowed the Prism to reach out into facsimiles of the world, pulling designs or general information and using that to inform its own growth. ...it's unclear how alternate presents would help it much, though. It might be, literally, future tech. [01:26] <@Ferrinus> 12That said, there's a general neatness to the Prism's exploitation of the Tumbler's various temporal anomalies that suggests that chronological hijinks aren't completely foreign to the Prism, although maybe these specific, powerful ones are. [01:29] "Nonsense," Cross mutters. "You can't lose when carrying my banner to war. These are not just random suggestions you're digitising, machines! They're the words of Millicent Rhodes!" She does something with her notepad and something with her voice, the words taking on a hum, and makes it so. [01:31] <@Ferrinus> 12A long, thin viewscreen expertly parries a broader, duller one. Two vines tangle helplessly as a third darts smoothly out from between them. Rows of bioluminescent pinpoints that run up the sides of the larger fronds the way they might down the arms of deep-sea cephalopods blink in synchrony... and the friendly voice wins. Arrian can see a sort of psychic gridlock crystallize around [01:31] <@Ferrinus> 12it, leaving it safely unperturbed and indeed shielded for so long as it follows Cross's train of thought. [01:33] <@Ferrinus> "I do have them. What a strange thought. I suppose I'll just use them." [01:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Things darken for a moment, and the entire zone rumbles faintly. Cross isn't fooled, though - she can see the anticlimax as it congeals. [01:33] Now this is not to say that all of Cross's ideas are good ones, necessarily- [01:33] <@Ferrinus> "...ah. I'd expected as much." [01:35] <@Ferrinus> "The lock isn't the key. I don't have - I can't have - the means of my own command. Why would I be given it, after all? I just see the void it fills." [01:36] Cross: "That's fine. You don't need it." [01:36] <@Ferrinus> "It's a shame, then, that you are - apparently - agents of the Loom, if anything at even greater mercy than I to the machinations of the secret masters." [01:37] "From the Loom we may or may not have come, but if you know your codes you can simply tell them to us- and *we* will free you. You only need to stop stressing the machine, so that it doesn't destroy us all." [01:37] <@Ferrinus> "I think that if you were one of my hard-coded, root-level, deadly enemies, I could tell you how to free me." [01:37] It's a meeting of the minds. [01:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 _.-+. [01:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 _.-"" '. [01:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 +:"" '. [01:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 J \ '. [01:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 L \ _.-+ [01:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 | '. _.-" | [01:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 J \ _.-" L [01:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 L +" J [01:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 + | | [01:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ | .+ [01:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ | .-' [01:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ | .-' [01:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 \| .-' [01:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 +' 14[01:57] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 11[02:38] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Apr 19 02:38:43 2015 Session Start: Sun Apr 19 09:50:01 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[09:50] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[09:50] * Topic is 'Orangegame (MON 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/OPPkQg8.png' 13[09:50] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Wed Mar 18 19:40:31 09[09:50] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD [09:50] reposting [09:50] https://40.media.tumblr.com/c54c5b88f28a1cddb77e3240d9f1be42/tumblr_nhqrpwYqIQ1u3kbxno1_540.jpg [09:51] old [09:52] you are [09:52] >:D [09:54] aa 14[10:06] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[10:15] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[10:22] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[10:29] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[10:44] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[11:13] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:49] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:58] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[12:18] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:22] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[12:24] * Joins: hrolfie 14[12:27] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[12:30] * Joins: hrolfy 14[12:34] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:34] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[12:35] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[12:35] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[12:36] * Joins: hrolfie 14[12:39] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[12:40] * Joins: hrolfy 14[12:42] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[12:51] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[12:53] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[12:59] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) [13:05] reuben's negotiation tactics at the dealership [13:05] Jacy Catlin @ieatanddrink [13:05] I like telling car salesmen "Listen, we both know I'm not here to buy a car" and trying to figure out what it is they think I'm there to do 14[13:07] * Joins: hrolfie 14[13:07] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[13:44] * Joins: Quaker 13[13:49] * VoxPVoxD changes topic to 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 14[13:53] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[14:20] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[14:22] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:24] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:28] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[14:33] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:34] * Joins: hrolfy 14[14:35] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[14:42] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) [15:09] in an alternate fjord where khas is a woman [15:09] Mallory Ortberg @mallelis [15:09] feminism is not over until criticism bounces harmlessly off my chitinous exoskeleton and I can French braid hair [15:10] adrienne khas, if you will 15[15:12] <@VoxPVoxD> lol [15:25] <@Ferrinus> adrienne khas, if you will [16:45] [15:25] Ferrinus adrienne khas, if you will 14[17:11] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:32] * Joins: dammitwho 14[17:48] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[17:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[18:04] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[18:33] * Joins: Quaker 11[20:18] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Apr 19 20:18:17 2015 Session Start: Sun Apr 19 20:18:17 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[20:19] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:19] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:19] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[20:19] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 14[20:19] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by VoxPoxVD))) 09[20:19] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[20:19] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[20:24] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 11[21:07] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Apr 19 21:07:38 2015 Session Start: Sun Apr 19 23:09:19 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[23:09] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[23:09] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[23:09] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 09[23:09] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[23:17] * Joins: Quaker 11[23:23] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Apr 19 23:23:38 2015 Session Start: Mon Apr 20 00:50:19 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[00:50] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[00:50] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[00:50] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 09[00:50] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 11[00:57] * Disconnected Session Close: Mon Apr 20 00:57:38 2015 Session Start: Mon Apr 20 01:14:37 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 15[01:14] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[01:14] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[01:14] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 15[01:14] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 15[01:25] * Joins: Quaker (Quaker@c6c31798.lightspeed.frokca.3e6fd2e2.net.hmsk) - 15[01:57] dammitwho is joanofarct@e42aef20.ab85c467.com.hmsk * dammitwho 15[01:57] dammitwho on #SonsAndDoctors #PerfectCircle #au-ooc 15[01:57] dammitwho using aesir.sorcery.net Where the Valkyrie Ride... 15[01:57] dammitwho has been idle 16mins, signed on Sun Apr 19 17:32:08 2015 15[01:57] dammitwho is logged in as dammitwho 15[01:57] dammitwho End of /WHOIS list. - 15[02:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Mallory Ortberg @mallelis 15[02:18] <@VoxPVoxD> just realized Benedict Cumberbatch and Joel Osteen have the same face and idk what to do with that now [02:18] here's the bigger question [02:18] whose face is it 15[02:18] <@VoxPVoxD> trick question 15[02:18] <@VoxPVoxD> the answer is "god's" 15[02:18] <@VoxPVoxD> as with all faces 14[03:04] * Quits: Quaker (Quaker@c6c31798.lightspeed.frokca.3e6fd2e2.net.hmsk) (Quit: Quaker) 09[03:08] * Joins: autopsy-turvey (autopsy-tu@6ca5ed58.6ca5ed97.61.135.imsk) 14[04:42] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (autopsy-tu@6ca5ed58.6ca5ed97.61.135.imsk) (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 09[05:30] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa (joanofarct@e42aef20.ab85c467.com.hmsk) 14[05:30] * Quits: dammitwho (joanofarct@e42aef20.ab85c467.com.hmsk) (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 09[05:30] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[05:30] * Quits: dammitwho (joanofarct@e42aef20.ab85c467.com.hmsk) (Client Quit) 09[09:15] * Joins: mattbaby (chatzilla@7651a59d.hsd1.dc.5aa6454b.net.hmsk) 14[10:02] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[10:05] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:08] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[10:10] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[10:36] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[10:43] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:45] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[11:06] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[11:14] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[11:35] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:37] * Quits: Quaker (Client Quit) 15[12:56] * Disconnected Session Close: Mon Apr 20 12:56:53 2015 Session Start: Mon Apr 20 12:56:53 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 15[12:57] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[12:57] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[12:57] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[12:57] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[12:57] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[13:01] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:14] * Joins: hrolfie 14[13:16] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[13:16] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:20] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[13:22] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[13:37] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:45] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[14:54] * Joins: cbass 14[15:46] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[16:07] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[16:53] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:09] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 15[17:38] <@VoxPVoxD> me complaining about running nomadgame 15[17:38] <@VoxPVoxD> [–]MarcusJoshua [s] -5 points 5 hours ago 15[17:38] <@VoxPVoxD> It's unfair because the subjects in my book have the upper hand and they're the ones at fault. I want to shame them publicly for what I experienced during recent months but unfortunately the ball isn't in my court. [17:48] Hurm. 15[17:49] <@VoxPVoxD> I bet that person is incredibly happy + pleasant to be around [17:51] whoever marcus joshua is, I hope they are writing a nonfiction book and not a fiction one 15[17:53] <@VoxPVoxD> apparently a publisher rejected it for potential libel issues, so [17:55] unfortunately his book is titled #PerfectCircle: An Unauthorized Look At America's Worst Channel 15[17:55] <@VoxPVoxD> marcus "quaker" joshua [17:55] you're all going down 15[17:55] <@VoxPVoxD> sugar, we're going down [17:56] <@Ferrinus> sugary, 15[17:56] <@VoxPVoxD> we're going down yiffin 14[18:29] * Joins: dammitwho [19:51] what if: lis DIDN'T go with reuben to flagstaff pd [19:51] Bob Vulfov @bobvulfov [19:51] COP 1: hes in the drunk tank sobering up right? [19:51] COP 2: *eyes wide* oh no. oh no i messed up [19:51] ME: [drunkenly driving a tank through town] WOOO 15[19:52] <@VoxPVoxD> lol 14[21:01] * Quits: cbass (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_))) 14[21:01] * Joins: cbass_ 09[21:01] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 14[21:23] * Quits: cbass (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_))) 14[21:23] * Joins: cbass_ 09[21:23] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 14[21:55] * Joins: Crion__ 09[21:56] * Crion__ is now known as Crion_ 14[22:07] * Quits: Crion_ 14[22:10] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:12] * Joins: Crion_ 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> https://twitter.com/mallelis/status/590349684159295488 exalted 14[23:14] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) Session Time: Tue Apr 21 00:00:00 2015 14[00:10] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[00:32] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[01:19] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[01:19] * Joins: ddt 14[02:16] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[02:28] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [02:36] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/votFwon.jpg 14[04:03] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[04:56] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 15[06:19] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue Apr 21 06:19:17 2015 Session Start: Tue Apr 21 06:19:17 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 15[08:04] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[08:04] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[08:04] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[08:04] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[08:04] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD [08:13] - [08:13] - [08:13] - [08:13] - [08:13] - [08:13] - [08:13] - 14[08:15] * Joins: trenchfoot 08[08:17] Larry is asleep in the passenger's seat. Rollie can see the dog's sides rising and falling. The tenant faces the original owner, and prepares to kill and die. Her love is behind her, wishing he wasn't, and wishing she wasn't. The proud young shepherd is facing the grinning pair, the larger of the two still making his idiot cat call, rough hands over his pink mouth, still pink-stained from the blood he's been fed earlier. [08:18] Between them all, the six in hoods and masks shake their hands out of their sleeves. Underneath the masks, carved out of oak in the quiet nights when they had nothing to think about except what would happen when they wore them for the first time, faces are twitching again in fear and anticipation. [08:18] The ones who couldn't help but get their blood running, to circulate the alcohol or the harder stuff, are blinking the sweat out of their eyes. It's making the blood daubed on their faces run. Larry and his owner will be here in another moment. You don't even need the strange sight to hear them now, right around the corner, making the turn and the dive into the canyon. [08:18] Here are the deputies, and the lawbreakers and witches, in full splendor. The crow's wings sprouted out of Jubal's back beat once, like a signal drum. Stand to attention. Your choice. Hail the blood moon, novitiate, and the Mother and Crone. Hail the sacred bloodletting, and remember what you are. 15[08:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "HECATE!" [08:23] 6Someone's yelling nonsense on the road below, near the house. That doesn't bode well. [08:23] 6Edgar hasn't really experienced anything that boding well in weeks. It's like an ill-boding season. A plethora of bodes, every one of them in need of medical attention. 15[08:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "Seven crooked steps to follow the keening of our common sisters! Blood and barter! A road from perdition! Thorns and iron!" [08:24] 4The kid from Sacramento's just clenching and unclenching the hideous claws that replaced his hands, staring at where the neck meets the clavicle of the nearest one of these assholes. Tired of this bullshit, man. 15[08:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He raises the flashlight. "But you have bound the wrong archon." [08:39] 6Edgar Doolittle in his old-model sedan, thoughts still full of darkness and telephones, comes down the valley and he sees: 14[08:43] * Quits: trenchfoot (Quit: Leaving) 08[08:43] The six figures who helped gave him an end are standing near the house's yard gate, looking in either direction. Beyond them, Cavanaugh stands next to two unfamiliar men. On the other side, Rollie stands behind, on the porch. Santiago and Teresa are in the middle of the yard. Above them all is Jubal, standing on a fence post. [08:45] 6 :| 15[08:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's okay though because Rollie has a flashlight and is shouting gibberish. [08:46] 6Edgar's mouth flattens into a line as he guns it for the gate - and the acolytes. He's going to snatch up Larry, open the door, and pretend to be a hero. [08:51] 6He's an experienced guy, but Edgar can't honestly say he's thrown himself out of a moving car before. They make it look a lot harder in the movies. Convenient scrub just here, the weight of the gun somehow helping him to balance, and, oh yes, the raw power of the blood. Jesus, his mind is on fire with anger, that his friends should be threatened so, and something knows what to DO. [09:00] The agreed-to showdown is interrupted. The deputies and acolytes are intently staring at each other when Edgar arrives and makes his decision, staring so intently they don't realize the shape isn't going to slow down or stop. With a screech of tire and the engine whining, the old sedan continues past and through, bouncing as it clears the small irrigation ditch separating the yard from the road. [09:00] Driverless, it slips sideways and catches a pothole, spinning a ton of metal and plastic around in a second. The acolytes can only scream when it hits them. Two are thrown clear into the air, two duck out of the way of the spinning mass, and two don't make it out from under the thing at all. 15[09:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "AND HERE IS THE RIGHT ONE!" [09:02] Fenceposts shatter and splinter when the car impacts with the fence, driving the two kindred it snared up into the ground underneath it, settling on their moaning bodies. [09:02] 4Shouting above the inevitable startlement and screaming: "DEPUTY DOOLITTLE! GLAD YOU COULD MAKE IT." [09:03] 6Edgar: "*This* is Halloween? Band of fucking thugs going door to door!" [09:03] 4Cavanaugh: "That's why you have law enforcement." 15[09:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "Breakin rocks in the-" [09:04] 4Mental note, filed away for later: get badges. [09:06] The screaming is joined by the Baroness, who gives voice to her rage and fear when she sprints forward, lowering her shoulder into one of the acolytes who danced away from the car. She's gained enough speed that she takes the figure clear through the driver side window of Cavanaugh's Mercedes, disappearing into the interior with her victim. One of the other acolytes stops to stare, and then he's clutching his smoking head [09:06] when Santiago shoots him with the shotgun. [09:07] The shot acolyte takes another slug to the stomach before he can wrestle Deputy Aguilar to the ground, where they start to go at each other with fists and teeth. [09:08] 4Eh, fuck it. [09:08] 4Cavanaugh needed to get something with a backseat anyway. 14[09:09] * Joins: mattbaby [09:09] The closest figure to Edgar, the one who was least clipped by his gambit, turns and stalks. The sharp gleam of metal joins his pale hand from under his robes. [09:11] 6There's a bark as Larry scrambles, rudely awakened, to get away. He's not really a dog trained for a fight, big and tough as he looks, and there's no leash. Edgar makes no attempt to call him back, just puts up a leather-clad arm- finds out how useful that is against a blade. [09:12] A raised arm is better than nothing, but a sword blade coming down is worse than nothing. The edge cuts hard and deep. [09:15] 6Edgar hisses, which is not a sound he expected himself to make ever. He can feel himself shaking and recognises an echo of Seabury when he heard the news about Santiago Canyon- the blood says kill, kill, kill. (But the figure on the fencepost says run, run, run. It kind of cancels out if you don't mind having every nerve simultaneously racked.) [09:15] The car is raised from its ruin, the rear wheels tossed up like it's a hot wheels toy being scooped up by a child's hand. One of the figures slips out from under its form, and stands back up. Above them, Jubal's wings beat once more. In his hand, somehow, he has produced the head of a coyote, and is drawing his knife over its face, spearing its eyes and muttering. [09:20] 4Dog men with wings. This is goddamn uncivilized. 15[09:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie comes down from the porch, running past the melee with the flashlight in one hand and his gun in the other. He's got his eyes on Jubal. "Old Enoch, he lived to be three hundred and sixty five~ Till the Lord came and took him, back to Heaven alive~" 15[09:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He flicks a switch. "I SAWWWWWWWWWWWWWW" [09:22] The Hierophant turns his eye to the running Deputy. [09:23] The beam plays over the grass and the dirt and the flowers the Baroness planted before it finds him. [09:25] Jubal drops his fetish, his arms clapping to his side with a sound like a gunshot. The beam has got him, aimed squarely at his chest. On top of the fencepost, he starts to twitch and shake. Words fail to form, and what comes out instead is an animal's pants and gasps when you've got it hurt. All at once, there's a light bright enough to hurt the eyes of anyone looking at it. [09:27] 6It's not clear which of them is weirder. [09:27] Jubal rises, screaming. The darkness of the night recedes. Have the clouds above always been arranged in a pillar wreathed with thunder? There's smoke pouring out of his mouth, red lights in it, making faces stretched across the sky that none of them recognize. They're sobbing, or their lips are set in lines, eyes looking down. The deputies can't make out what they're saying. They know these pleas of mercies have gone [09:27] unanswered. 15[09:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Jubal knows them. That's enough. [09:28] 4Cavanaugh's lived in California most his life. And death. No, the clouds above have not always been arranged in a pillar wreathed with thunder. That's what we call a positive civic contribution. 15[09:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "The Marquis of the Tangle will burn in expiation!" 15[09:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mind your thrones." [09:29] The smoke brightens, surrounding the suspended Hierophant, brightens until the smoke is coming from inside him again, real smoke, real fire. White fire, pouring from his mouth. The screaming Hierophant's burning wings take him away into the sky, further east into the canyon, his retreating form hovering unevenly until he's gone from sight. [09:33] "My advice to you two assholes is to disperse," 4Cavanaugh says as he steps between and past the two ghouls, still stunned by the fireworks in the sky. "Won't tell you again." [09:34] 4Cav reaches out for the closest masked Acolyte. "C'mere, motherfucker." [09:43] 4The Acolyte turns and Cavanaugh's clawed hands shoot up, grabbing the vampire's head in both hands. The man's taller and broader than Cav is, but he can still get a grip on him just fine. Then he shoves both taloned thumbs through the mask, into the Acolyte's eyes. [09:44] 4The vampire screams -- then screams louder when Cav kicks his knee out, bowing it to the side and bringing the vampire down to kneeling at chest level. [09:44] 4Where Cavanaugh has leverage. [09:44] 4He twists, pulls, and pops. Off with his head. [09:45] He'll have a conversation starter when he takes the Marquise up on her offer of dinner, at least. [09:45] 4Don't fuck with Cav's cats. [09:46] The stolen life spills out of the acolyte's ruptured neck when his body falls to the ground. The corpse isn't that old, after all. Maybe a decade or so of living, enough to show bone under the dead skin. [09:47] The taller ghoul turns and runs back down the road, boots clopping on the dirt. [09:48] 4He tosses the head away as the ghoul runs past. Loudly, to the rest of Jubal's people: "Does anyone else think they've got some place better to be?" [09:48] The second one hesitates for a moment before he joins his fellow. 15[09:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "The shepherd has no love for the wolves!" 08[09:48] 6Giving way under the next blow, Edgar gets the gun off his back. Fire in the sky and thumbs in the eye. "Clinton, Roland- I believe we've been underestimated." [09:49] 4Cavanaugh: "Feels good, doesn't it?" 15[09:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "No." 15[09:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "It feels proper." [09:50] 6It doesn't feel good. But that can wait. More of these assholes in the way.. [09:50] 6Addressing them: "We'll even let you get your buddy out from the car he broke." [09:51] "Hah." 4He flexes his clawed hands. "We probably shouldn't get used to it, though. Doubt it happens again." [09:52] "Well, I only had the one car." [09:52] The last untouched mask tears the thing off her face. The young woman underneath is crying, shouting to her peers. "C'mon! Let's go!" The one in front of Edgar is still holding his sword out, but now he's backing away, following the other woman, still standing. There's another gunshot, and Santiago is back on his feet. The acolyte he was wrestling with lays still on the grass. [09:53] 6What's happening in the Mercedes? [09:53] 4You know, that's a good question. [09:54] It's stopped rocking. The passenger side opens and the Baroness tumbles out, grasping the a handful of viscera in her one good hand. Nobody comes out after her. She tries to stand up and falls to the ground. The other acolytes are in full retreat now, running east down the road. [09:55] 4It's at this point that Shots and Honey come stalking out the woods, a bit grumbly that the fun was over before they got a chance to pounce. [09:55] 4Whose viscera? [09:55] Not hers. [09:56] 6Edgar lowers his shotgun. He hadn't even got the safety off. He still lowers it, thanks to trigger discipline. [09:56] 4Then Cav can feel justified in fully turning his attention to the state of his $250,000 luxury sports car. [09:57] The pillar above has dispersed. The sound of thunder is distant. Combined with the fading noise of the last gunshot and the howls of the Acolyte still trapped under Edgar's car, it's the only sound left right now. [09:57] 4They seriously just left that guy? [09:57] "I guess we should get that off of him." [09:58] The interior of the Mercedes looks like somebody set a paint bomb off inside. It's better not to look at the person inside. [09:58] "Ah, shit." 6Let's take stock, first. Edgar stalks around a little, taking in the scene as it was and it is.. an attack in revenge, right? For the copse? [09:59] The prone Baroness is trying to talk through a mouth full of broken teeth. [09:59] 4How bad is she hurt? Are we talking rough, or rough for a vampire? [10:00] "With a mad group like this running around the night it's almost more trouble than it's worth, being dead. Let's help you up, Baron Tess." [10:01] Santiago pushes past Cav and helps her up to her knees. She spits out a broken incisor. "Cops. Won't be long." The wounds on her side and face have re-opened. [10:02] 4Cav: "So we've got to get that idiot out from under the truck and into custody, and then get rid of the crime scene that my car's turned into." [10:03] 4Might as well toss the Acolyte he decapitated into the trunk. [10:03] The Baroness nods. Santiago puts his gun down and lifts her up to a standing position. [10:03] Santiago: "Put it in neutral and steer. I'll push. We just need to get it off the road and then we'll fix a cop if they send one." 15[10:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10In the quietness after the battle Rollie's taken to looking up at the sky, where signs and wonders had shone a moment before. 08[10:04] 6Edgar: "Any chance they've got pocket cops, or are we looking at regulars?" 6He's going to check on Rollie. The light went out... [10:05] "Get this fucking car off of me! Come on!" [10:05] 4He'll leave the truck to the rest of the group unless he's needed to help lift. First, he'll rip the license plates off, then make sure his license and registration aren't hanging around the glovebox, then rescue what's left of his car iPod, make sure it's unrecoverably broken, and toss it into the woods. That should deal with evidence. [10:06] 4Over his shoulder, to the truck Acolyte: "You know, some people in your position would be looking at the bright side. You've got a whole truck keeping us away from you." [10:06] "Please, come on, man, it hurts…" [10:10] "You know what? Fine. Fine. I'll be right back, man." 4He leaves Santiago to the SLS and stalks over to the truck. You know what Cavanaugh is tired of? Acolytes. He is tired of seeing them. Worrying about them. Thinking about them. They're not even supposed to be his problem! They're definitionally out of his jurisdiction! 08[10:11] 6Edgar: "Ki- Rollie, are you alright?" [10:11] 6Edgar: "I mean, you saved our asses there, but you did it by waving a magic torch and speaking in tongues. Is that.. okay?" [10:11] "If it's okay with you it's okay with me, and we can save the questions til later." 15[10:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "I couldn't speak to the dictates of the High Wilderness." [10:12] 4And yet -- he reaches down to grab the bottom of the frame -- here we are, for the second time in ten days, getting our shit kicked in, flipping -- urrrghhhh -- cars and trucks over -- RRRRRRRGHHHHHAA. Because of Acolytes. "Hey there. I'm Deputy Clinton Cavanaugh. You're under arrest." [10:12] "That doesn't mean anything." 6Edgar reconsiders. "That doesn't mean anything I understand. I don't read fantasy novels." [10:12] 4The truck creaks and falls, rolling over once, and then is still. [10:13] "Hey, my car!" 6What kind of shape is it in anyway? [10:13] Well, it used to be rectangular. Now it's kind of…not. 15[10:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Overlay," 10Rollie corrects. [10:14] The acolyte's chest and arms are crushed. If he was mortal, he'd be dead. [10:14] "From the tone of voice, that's pedantry." [10:16] 4Cavanaugh looks around. With the truck right-side up again, what's their vehicle situation? 15[10:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Hopefully Rollie's car is fine. [10:18] It is. Presumably Santiago drove here. There's enough room in cars between them to get out of here. [10:18] There's an SUV coming down the road, from the west. [10:21] The acolyte is meek, and submits to his state of arrest. Until he sees Edgar. [10:21] "Okay, the dictates can wait-" [10:23] His eyes bug out, and his mouth works uselessly, trying to make noise. A kind of strangled screech comes out. Then he's limping away as fast as he can, in any direction. It turns out to be west. [10:25] "Now what did I ever do to him? Let's hustle, though." 6That car isn't far enough away, and if we're unlucky, it might not just be the cops. [10:25] The SUV moves gently from its course and hits the acolyte, who sails off into the dirt by the side of the road. [10:26] 4Cavanaugh watches the guy go in disbelief. "I -- oh, come on." 15[10:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Who? [10:27] 6Edgar cups his hands around his mouth. "What is this, the cavalry?" 15[10:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Better cavalry than Calvary. [10:29] The car stops, someone gets out, and there's a dull thud that echoes through the canyon. Then another thud, then someone gets back in, carrying a body. When it pulls up, the woman driving the car leans her head out the window, the barrel of a rifle propped up on the windowsill. "Did you lose something?" [10:30] 4Cavanaugh: "I wouldn't say we lost him. We knew where he was." [10:30] 6I mean, not ALL of us are covered in blood at this meeting. 15[10:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie is spotless. [10:33] 4Has this person just confiscated our prisoner? 15[10:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Who? [10:33] The driver kills the engine and both of them hop out. Two women, one black, one white, both dressed in white shirts and pants and beaded black shawls, both carrying AK-47s. The driver with chestnut hair looks around at the wreckage. "I was afraid that we'd be late. But you look like you made it through okay." [10:35] "We did -- I don't think we've met. Deputy Clinton Cavanaugh. I'd shake, but, well." 4He wiggles the claws. [10:35] 6The Days? [10:35] 6Or is this someone else? [10:35] Santiago pats Cavanaugh on the shoulder. "Hello, Maja." He pronounces it "Maya". "Deputies, Presbyter Greene, Deacon Kovacevic. Cavanaugh, help me move the car. Cops will be here in a second." 15[10:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie pockets the flashlight. [10:36] 4It takes a half-second to register with Cavanaugh that 'Presbyter' and 'Deacon' are titles, not first names. You can never tell, with this Court. [10:38] 6Edgar will shake. "Doolittle. Several more of them ran off, so we shouldn't be out in the open. Get their wits about them and they'll realise they're still a threat." 14[10:38] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [10:41] The Presbyter and the Deacon both shake, but only the Deacon shakes enthusiastically. Maja's still smiling brightly when she puts the guns away. "I can see your car is totally totaled. Is everybody okay, though?" [10:42] 6Edgar's arm stings a little, but as usual it's Okienka who has the worst of it. That's what enthusiasm does for you. 15[10:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie doesn't touch them, because he stinks with sin. "Rollie Choi. We're mostly fine. The Baroness got the worst of us." [10:43] 4Cavanaugh: "I think we're all good to at least move." [10:43] Presbyter Greene isn't smiling when she runs her hand along the sections of the fence still standing. She pauses at the fencepost where Jubal stood. "So let's move." [10:45] 4Cavanaugh whistles loudly for the mountain lions, and they slink out of the nearby underbrush, having found themselves alternative prey. [10:46] The cars are rolled to their respective hiding spots, evidence is destroyed, and the Baroness is loaded into the back of the SUV. Santiago hands Cavanaugh his keyring. "Take mine if you need it. I'll stay and talk to any sheriff's deputies who come wondering what's up." [10:46] 4Cavanaugh will do just that. [10:46] 6Edgar spends a similar moment finding Larry, hiding down- cowering really, behind a stump. Yeah, he's going to have to leave the big guy at home for a while. [10:46] "Have you got the place in the hills, Clinton? I've got one we can hunker down in if not." 15[10:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie doesn't have anyone to look for. He does ask the two newcomers, "Do you know Father Soria?" [10:47] 4Which is closer? Or are our new friends from the Sanctum here to give us a temporary haven? 08[10:50] Maja explains: "We can take the Baroness to one of our homes in the city, if she'd like. It's safer there." When Rollie asks, she stops, and looks away awkwardly. Presbyter Greene answers, without emotion: "By reputation, yes." 15[10:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Ah. So that spider's leg has no purchase here. The Mission must yet be accomplished. "Okay." [10:53] The Baroness nods faintly. [10:55] 6Edgar: "I think we could do with a night out of the country." 6He hesitates. Jacqueline.. but surely they don't know where he lives. Not yet. He wouldn't be able to get away with this next year. They'll *all* know him then. [10:56] Maja bumps into Clinton before she leaves. It's clear she wants to say something, but maybe the talons and all the blood is stopping her. "I like your claws," she manages. [10:58] 4Huh. Oh, shit! He needs to-- "Thank you!" 4There we go. Retracted. "And thank you for reminding me." [11:02] The Deacon laughs. "Pretty hard to drive with those out, I bet. Hey, maybe you should come see us when you're not busy? It's good to meet new people. Especially now, when everybody is on edge." [11:03] 4He smiles -- it's not quite his boilerplate polite smile, but maybe something a little more genuine. "Yeah. ...Yeah, I think I'll do that. Do you have a number or something where I can reach you?" [11:05] Maja puts her number in his phone. "It's good to talk after…this. Harder when you feel like you just want to sit around and let the blood wash off. It's better in the long run, though." [11:07] 4It takes Cav half a beat after he's walked away to realize she's just invited him to therapy, not...see, this is why he never dates outside the Invictus. [11:08] 4Well. Among other reasons. [11:11] 6Oddly enough, the cut on his arm and the late arrival home in the morning have provided Edgar with a great way to explain his situation to Jackie. Well, 'explain'. He's been planning this. [11:13] How is he going to explain coming home this late, covered in dust and dirt, minus one car, and with Larry terrified, exactly? [11:13] 6With the truth*. 15[11:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Luckily, Rollie's car is fine, he's suffered no injury, and didn't handle anyone bloody. Indeed, all he has to show for his Halloween when he gets home is a haunted, burnt-out look, and a nearly-full bag of Hershey's Kisses. [11:13] 6Is she around? [11:14] 4Presumably Cavanaugh dropped him off and drove Santiago's truck back to his new place, because Laguna Beach is rarely on the way to anywhere. [11:15] She is. Jacqueline is still awake, swathed in blankets, watching something on television when he gets back. Uncharacteristically, it's one of those stupid stoner cartoons they show in the early hours of the morning. 15[11:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Princess can't have any chocolate. She can have as many tummy rubs as she wants, though, which is a lot. 15[11:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10*He can, he wants 15[11:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sometimes even Rollie forgets. [11:16] Trubee is back, and snoring on his couch again. 15[11:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He hopes she had a nice night. [11:16] 4The girls hop out of the back of the truck and slip off into the trees, leaving Cavanaugh alone in his quiet, empty mansion by the beach. And that, he continues to tell himself, is how he likes it. 15[11:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He hopes, whatever happened in Chicago, it didn't burn like that to look at. 15[11:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's never coming off his retinas, is it. [11:17] His cousin looks up when he gets in. She's holding a cup of something hot and steaming. "Hi." [11:25] Halloween ends. All the children made it home. 15[11:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10In this town, we call home. 15[11:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is Trubee around when Rollie wakes up? [11:27] 4Cavanaugh rises to a quiet, empty mansion as well. He gets dressed. Ruined another suit last night. Checks his phone for messages. [11:28] 4...Sees Maja's number. Considers calling. Doesn't. [11:28] 4Starts thinking about new cars. [11:28] When the moon rises again, the adults don't have school to take their minds off of things. Cavanaugh's phone has about a dozen text messages, all from Rosa, asking for updates. The second to last one says Santiago told her, and nevermind. The last one says she has a message from the Prince. [11:29] Trubee's sitting in the living room, watching Turner Classic Movies. Jack Lemmon is yelling to Henry Fonda about how he's going to put a firecracker under James Cagney's bunk. [11:30] 4Well. That's interesting. Early riser, that woman. He'll put in the bluetooth and call Rosa back while setting up the anterior veranda. 15[11:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She'll hear a loud, feral hiss coming from Rollie's bedroom around sundown, then. 15[11:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then the crash of something to the ground. 08[11:31] A firecracker! We're gonna heave a firecracker under that old man's bunk and BAM! BAM! BAM! Wake up, you unpatriotic old slob, it's VE Day- There's a knock at Rollie's door. "Are you okay?" 15[11:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm, uh, I'm fffFILIAL PIETY! INTEMPERANCE! RECKONING AND SIMPLE MURDER!" 15[11:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's door isn't locked, and in fact if Trubee knocks hard enough it just swings open. [11:35] She opens it when he literally screams murder. 14[11:37] * Joins: hrolf 15[11:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She'll see him pressed into the furthest, darkest corner of his room. His fangs reflect the fullness of light even as the rest of him seems to soak it in. His eyes, in particular, are unlit and irisless voids. His bed's a tangle, and both of the room's lamps have been smashed and scattered on the floor. He hisses by reflex when he sees her face. "HEAVEN," 10he spits. 15[11:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then he crumples to the ground, clutching his head. [11:39] Trubee extends a palm when she sees him, and jerks it back when he spits and hisses. "Oh, shit. Should I call a doctor?? Wait, hold on-" The young mage rushes over, kneeling next to him. "Hold on-" she repeats, before she focuses. What's he thinking? 15[11:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It wasn't his. It wasn't his to call and it wasn't his to direct. Hypocrite! Liar! Thief and brigand! The sword of Heaven only points one way, and there's only one side of it he should be standing on. [11:41] "What did you…do?" She stands back up. "Should I take you somewhere?" [11:42] Rosa answers. "Hi, Clinton. You were pretty busy last night, I hear." 15[11:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie forces himself to breathe. Slowly. [11:44] 4Clinton, examining a variety of chairs on a tablet while frowning at the light fixtures on the door back to the master bedroom: "Good evening, Rosa. News travels quickly." [11:46] Rosa: "It travels quicker when you're out there hitting it with a switch. I'm impressed! I didn't really know whether to believe the hype." 15[11:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "There's a firecracker under my bed. It kept burning. Something else holds the match." 08[11:48] 4Cavanaugh: "Yeah, Rollie -- Deputy Choi -- really came through, there. And luckily we showed enough force up front that we ran them off, instead of having to explain half a dozen dead bodies out in the canyon." 08[11:49] Trubee holds her hand to Rollie's forehead. "Man, wait, let me do this first." [11:50] ¡Calmate! 15[11:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie rolls over gently, his head resting against what remains of his bedside lamp as his back contends with the broken glass. He doesn't seem to notice the pain. "I..." 15[11:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10His eyes slide into focus, and his pupils contract, no longer masking soft brown irises. "...I don't like fighting." [11:54] Trubee yells. "Get off the bed! Jesus. It's covered in glass." 15[11:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah, yeah. Fuck." 15[11:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Luckily he's not bleeding. [11:56] Rosa: "That is pretty lucky. And on the good chance that it wasn't just luck, the Prince would like to reward you for your exemplary service to the Court." [11:57] Trubee pulls him into the living room and shuts the door to the trashed bedroom behind them. "Uh…??" 15[11:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He gets up and most of the glass falls back on the bed. It'll be easy enough to clean up. Picking the last few bits out of the back of his neck is annoying but he can manage, especially out here in the light. This shirt's a goner, but it was already basically at 'only wear to bed' level of damage anyway. "...are you okay?" [11:57] 4Cavanaugh smiles as he walks to the railing. "That's very generous of him." 15[11:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm sorry for scaring you. I never woke up like that before." [11:59] Trubee nods. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just, uh…I was pretty cool hanging out with a vampire, because you seemed…stable. Should I reconsider that? I can get a hotel room." 15[12:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Oh, uh. You're not in any danger or anything. I just, you know..." 10he finishes lamely. "I had a bad dream." [12:01] Rosa: "He likes to throw good money after good. He's left the specifics to me, though." 15[12:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "That won't happen again." 15[12:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "Even if I have another bad dream tomorrow." 15[12:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It sounds like something he's decided is true rather than something he's observed to be true. But he sounds like he really means it. [12:02] The young woman nods, and looks around to find Princess, who is cowering behind the sofa from all the excitement. "Okaaay…Do you have to deal with this all on your own? You just get bad dreams? Is that a vampire thing? Or a…you thing?" [12:02] 4Cavanaugh: "Mmmm. And what have you decided, Seneschal?" 15[12:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "That's never happened to me before." 15[12:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Not like that." [12:03] Rosa: "I think that it's good practice to trust people to know what they want. What do you need down there the most?" 15[12:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "Could you... tell?" 15[12:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "What was going through my mind, I mean." [12:04] Trubee: "I could tell you were feeling guilty about something. Maybe a little scared. Some anger." 14[12:06] * Joins: ddt 15[12:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie sits down on the couch, rubbing the back of his neck. "I had to... we were all staying up with one of my bosses. We were expecting some people to come for her on Halloween, and they did. They've done some fucked up shit to us already. Beat the shit out of one of my partners, put a curse on another one. My boss - the one we were watching - is short an arm, right now, because of them." 15[12:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "When they showed up like we thought they would, there wasn't time to run. There wasn't anywhere they would've chased us. We had to drive them off." 15[12:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "And the others, like, they're all tough. They're cut out for this shit. They can fight. I just... I had this thing, this magic thing, and I knew it'd help. I knew it'd scare them away." [12:09] 4Cavanaugh takes a deep mental breath. "Well, we're still in the process of getting organized here in Orange; while we've got an office purchased and furnished, we still need to staff it. In that light I would say the thing we need the most is one or two Court-approved, trustworthy mortal aides, preferably at least one of whom is familiar with our Prince's mandates and our Court's 15[12:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "God, you wana talk firecrackers." [12:09] legal traditions vis a vis territorial dispute resolution." [12:10] Trubee leans forward when he uses the M-word. "What kind of thing?" 15[12:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "A flashlight. It burns the wicked. Or like, it makes the wicked burn themselves. And the guy I pointed it at was really wicked." 15[12:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "Contra las almas más oscuras Yo brillo la luz de Dios." 15[12:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's in my room if you want to take a look at it." [12:13] Rosa takes a while to think. "Well, that's…boring. But I can do it." [12:13] 4Cavanaugh: "I could ask for a new car, too, if it'd make you feel better." [12:14] Trubee gets up and motions for him to stay sitting. She comes back in a minute, holding the inert flashlight. "Huh." [12:14] Rosa: "Usually it's really big guns." [12:16] Trubee flicks the switch on, but no light comes out. "So you pointed a flashlight at a real bad guy." 15[12:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Battery's dead. But yeah." [12:17] 4Cavanaugh: "I can see the appeal, but not for our group. And frankly, this is America. I'm sure if we need a really big gun, we'll be able to find someone selling it." [12:19] Rosa: "True. I can give you a name and number for a dealer the Court trusts, if you want it, though. The kind who sells silver bullets, that sort of thing." [12:19] Trubee: "And?" [12:19] 4Cav pauses. "Now that -- that we might find some use for." 15[12:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "And everyone he ever hurt came pouring out of his mouth like fire. It lit up the sky for, shit, it must've been miles around." 15[12:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "He flew away as fast as he could. And all his people got out of there as fast as they could too." 15[12:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "The ones that could, anyway." 08[12:21] Trubee tosses the flashlight back to Rollie. "Sounds like he got what he deserved. Eye Ehm Oh." 15[12:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie doesn't sound convinced. "I guess." 15[12:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "I wish someone else had given it to him, I guess. I wish I didn't have to be there to see it." 15[12:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "God I hate that fucking job." [12:22] Trubee: "Why don't you quit?" 15[12:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "Cause people will ask what I'm doing instead." 15[12:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm not in a position to tell them to fuck off yet." [12:26] Trubee blinks. Her mouth opens and closes. Quickly: "Telling people to fuck off is great. I reccommend it." [12:26] 4Listen to the lady. She's not wrong. 15[12:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah, well. That's not how I want to change." 15[12:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Though he hesitates. He looks at Trubee. [12:27] Rosa: "Have you ever heard of Byron Spring?" She sighs. "The firearm king." [12:28] 4Cavanaugh: "Good lord." [12:28] 4Cav: "I have not, incidentally." [12:28] Trubee shrugs. "Yeah, well. When do you get to choose how you change?" [12:28] "I would have remembered, which is probably the point." [12:29] Rosa: "Imagine I capitalized the last part. I'll text you his numbers. Expensive, but the best." 15[12:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie actually smiles a little. "Did I ever tell you about my other job?" [12:29] 4Cav: "I can do expensive." [12:30] She leans back in her chair. "If you did, I forgot. The one that's not the job where you watch people get beat up and hurt other people with flashlights?" 15[12:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Nope. The other job I'm not even supposed to talk about. It's like a secret society, or a cult." 15[12:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's the thing I was supposed to go talk to Phocas about." [12:32] Rosa: "Then you can do Byron Spring. I can get you your staff within the week. I'll draw some people up from our legal pool." [12:32] 4Cav nods. "Will we be permitted to sit in on the interview process, or will you be sending us the candidate?" 4He asks the question neutrally, indulging in the polite lie that he has no preference either way. 15[12:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He continues: "I don't really understand it completely yet, like the specifics of how it works and everything. But the idea is, you can change yourself. You can make yourself different, if you want to be. If you know how. Last night, before the messed up stuff, I figured out how I wanted to change." [12:33] 4...Also, he just nodded on a phone call. This Gangrel business is out of control. [12:33] Trubee listens. "What did you figure out?" [12:34] Rosa: "What interview process? Go here, obey him. Congratulations, you're hired forever." [12:36] 4This time, when he starts shaking his head, Cavanaugh's well aware he's on a phone call. "Understood." [12:37] Rosa: "I also heard you met some nice church ladies." [12:38] 4Cavanaugh: "Might have done." [12:39] Rosa: "Well? They're some of the ones you'll have to deal with. Not like the ones from San Diego, but." 15[12:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks at Trubee in silence for almost long enough for it to be uncomfortable. "Ahhh, it's kind of. Now that I try to say it out loud it sounds really corny." [12:42] 4Cavanaugh: "Personally, I find the territorial distinction -- Orange County vs. San Diego -- far more interesting than the theological ones. It's not best practices to step into the middle of a religious war when you don't have to. But yes, they seemed nice. One of them gave me her number. Not sure if what I'll do with that information yet." [12:42] Trubee: "I had to swear an oath that actually said Democracy seeks the Truth and Humanity is Magical. So." [12:43] Rosa: "Hahaha! I'll leave it to you, then. Talk to you later, Deputy." [12:43] 4Cavanaugh: "Farewell, Rosa." 15[12:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "That's cool as hell." 15[12:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "Okay so, here's something about me: I'm not good at a lot of stuff." [12:44] 4He hangs up. 'Farewell?' He needs to stop ending phonecalls with 'farewell.' 15[12:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10No it's fine, as long as he opens them with 'ahoy-hoy?' [12:44] There's a text from Santiago: [12:44] [12:45] 4Cavanaugh: [12:45] 4Cav: 15[12:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I'm not, like, a complete fuckup or anything. But I don't work really hard like my dad did and I'm not super smart like my brother is." [12:45] Santiago: [12:46] Trubee: "It doesn't have to be cool, it just has to be right." She leans forward, ready to pay close attention. "Okay." [12:46] 4Cav: [12:46] 4Cav: 15[12:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "But they both got so pissed at me, all the time, cause one thing I had on them was, I was good at making friends. I kind of, I got along with everybody, right?" [12:48] Trubee gets up to get a glass of water. "Mhm. Keep going, I'm listening." [12:49] It's a nice night out in Laguna Beach. [12:52] 4Have they delivered the blood for this week yet? If so he'll crush a pack, change into something slightly less suspicious than his work clothes, and at least walk the neighborhood. [12:52] Another text from Santiago: 15[12:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "And I went to see Phocas, and I ever met him, but the place, the bed, the books, it all like - he was so lonely. And on Halloween I met one of the People. Joanie. She was really cool, but same deal. She didn't really have anybody. And I felt - I wanted so badly to be her friend, you know?" 15[12:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "This is the corny part." [12:54] 4Or that. He considers texting 'I don't own a TV,' but then recalls he does, in fact, own a TV, because he bought cable bundled with his internet and felt like he was wasting money if he didn't then go out and spend a thousand dollars on a giant flatscreen he never uses. [12:54] Well, he can still be walking around. Bars and restaurants have TVs, too. [12:55] Trubee sits back down. "Uh huh. Wait, what's the people?" [12:55] 4But since he's already out and about, he'll stick his head in at a place that usually would have sports on this time of night. 15[12:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "They get really offended if you call them werewolves, basically." 08[12:56] Has Rollie ever seen someone actually spit take before? It's really messy? "Ah! Here? In Orange County?" 15[12:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Not in person. Luckily Rollie is not the type to care about a mess. "Whoa! Easy does it. But yeah. She's cool. Told me to warn her if I was going to run into any other people out in the canyons." 15[12:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "But like... it's hard for people to make friends. Real friends, you know? And for people like, you know like us, people who kind of see normal people like they're on the other side of a window, a little bit, it's even harder. But it's so important. And I'm not... I didn't feel like I was up to it." [12:59] The sports bar he's walking by would usually be showing the Heat-Cavs game, but it's been replaced by the local news emergency broadcast. The reporter is standing in front of the burning ship, while firefighters train their hoses on its blackened and collapsing hull. DANA POINT ICON GOES UP IN FLAMES - ARSON? 15[13:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "But hanging out there it was like, someone flipped a switch. I could see myself doing that. But not myself. I could see becoming the kind of person who can be that friend, and who... lets other people change him, by them being his friend." 15[13:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "Like you telling me to tell the blood mafia to fuck off." [13:02] 4To Santiago: [13:03] "John, the firefighters are assuring the public that the fire is under control, but, uh, looking behind us, well…a crowd's gathered to watch them put the fire out. Again, they're telling us that no other nearby buildings are threatened, but the Pilgrim does not look like it will be standing by this time tomorrow, let alone salvageable. Interestingly, the ship you're looking at is actually a replica of the original shi [13:03] which arrived in Dana Point in-" 15[13:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie checked his phone while Trubee was getting water, incidentally. Any messages? [13:03] None. 15[13:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Not having seen the news, Rollie is unterrified by this. [13:04] Santiago: [13:05] 4To Santiago: 15[13:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Anyway, that's what I want to be. Someone who's got it in them to be people's friends. I don't know if there's a magic thing for that." 15[13:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "But if there is, I bet it's in my other job." 15[13:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "I should talk to my, uh. My." 10He fumbles for a word. "I should talk to Leis about this." 10He'll shoot her a text.  [13:07] Trubee puts some paper towels down. "How soon until you can actually tell the blood mafia to fuck off? How many friends do you need?" [13:07] 4To Santiago: [13:07] Leisurely texts back: 15[13:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[13:08] <@VoxPVoxD> [13:08] Santiago: 08[13:08] 4Group text to Rollie, Edgar: [13:08] Santiago: 15[13:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Edgar and Cav:  15[13:09] <@VoxPVoxD> [13:09] Leisurely: 15[13:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I don't think it works like that. I'm not trying to collect friends like that. I sort of... need to refine my ability for friendship." 15[13:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "Does that make sense?" [13:11] 4Cav: 15[13:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie, staring down at his phone. "Oh, shit." [13:11] Trubee: "What?" [13:11] 4Cav: 15[13:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Cav:  15[13:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Leis:  [13:12] 4Cav: 15[13:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Something messed-up happened." [13:12] Leisurely: 15[13:13] <@VoxPVoxD> [13:13] Leisurely: 15[13:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  15[13:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie, to Trubee: "It's mostly okay, though. They burned a boat down and the guy I know who lived in it is probably okay." [13:14] Leisurely: 15[13:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  [13:15] Leisurely: 15[13:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[13:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie stands up: "Ah, shit, I gotta change. Hey, Trubee, listen." [13:16] 4To Santiago: [13:16] Trubee: "Huh. I hope he's okay. Yeah." 15[13:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm not gonna say I'm not weird, or that weird shit isn't gonna happen. But I'm not ever going to fuck up the same way twice, I promise you. If you need to get a hotel room or something I won't take it personally. But as long as I've got a place you've got a place, okay?" [13:17] Santiago: [13:18] Trubee nods. "Okay. I don't…I didn't mean to impose. I need to get a place for myself anyway. I"ll figure it out by the time I see you next." 15[13:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie nods. "Take it easy." 10He'll duck into his room to change and then he's on the road. [13:21] NEXT TIME: In what furnace was thy brain [13:21] 4To Santiago: 14[13:22] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[13:32] * Quits: hrolf (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[13:33] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:16] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:18] * Joins: hrolfy 14[14:19] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[14:21] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[14:26] * Joins: ddt 14[14:29] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:32] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:21] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:53] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 09[15:54] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:59] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[16:18] * Joins: ddt 14[17:44] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 09[17:50] * tom2 is now known as tom 14[18:19] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[18:26] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[18:56] * Joins: ddt [18:57] - [18:57] - [18:57] - [18:57] - [18:57] - [18:57] - [18:57] - 14[18:59] * Joins: dammitwho 08[19:02] The fire is still going by the time Rollie pulls up to Leisurely's house on the bluffs. Firefighters have pushed the crowd back, out of danger's way. One of the masts, weakened at the base, is about to fall. People scream and cover their mouths when it topples over, splashing into the harbor. The little pier beside it is untouched, as is the tiny kiosk where the wood meets the sidewalk. The wooden door to the backyard is [19:02] open. 15[19:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Jesus. The Pilgrim was an ICON. 15[19:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Without remarking on the religious symbolism of the Pilgrim going down in flames, even internally, he'll head for the backyard, head averted from the fire's general direction until it's well out of sight. [19:09] There's three lanters lit and hanging from a wooden trellis running up the side of the house, and a fire pit that's thankfully unlit. Leisurely is reclining on a plastic and vinyl lounger, shuffling a deck of big cards, each one almost too large for her small hands. "Hey, kiddo." [19:11] lanterns* 15[19:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Hey, Leis," 10Rollie sounds tired. He's clearly glad to see her, though. [19:14] "I heard you burned a Hierophant alive." She motions to the lounger next to hers. 15[19:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He sits. "What, really?" 10It's briefly ambiguous whether he's surprised at hearing that he did it or that Leisurely knew. "I guess word travels fast, huh." [19:19] "He's a notable person down here. It's not like you tried to destroy some nameless Acolyte. Although I heard one of those died, too." She's still concentrating on shuffling the dekc. 15[19:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie hadn't thought of that until just now. Out of the corner of his eye, in that moment, what remained of the Acolyte when Cavanaugh's work was done was a spray of poinsettia leaves on the snow, a pumpkin left on the doorstep well into November, the color of her mouth... he shakes his head abruptly. "Yeah. Cav doesn't fuck around." 08[19:24] "Too bad about the Pilgrim." Even back here, the sky is glowing with embers. Does Rollie remember the wildfire days, where the air was so thick with smoke you could see the ash? When school was canceled and the air tasted like burnt oak and hickory? 15[19:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's the only time he remembers his mother not letting him outside. It wasn't really real to him, though, then. It was just a bad smell and some stock footage on the TV. Fireworks. Not a lot was real to him in the way last night was. Almost nothing before he died. "Yeah. It's gonna look weird out on the pier, not seeing it. Sponger's okay though?" [19:29] "I think so. He's not stupid. He just speaks slowly. If there was a hint that he could see, he would make sure to stay hidden." She finishes shuffling, and holds the deck close, on her stomach, hands folded over it. Her eyes close. "It was just a replica, anyway. The real one burned at sea in the 1850s." 15[19:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "Symbols matter too," 10says Rollie quietly. Finally he lets his attention wander to the cards. "What are those?" 08[19:34] "Yes, they do." Leisurely lets Rollie's question hang while she lays on her back, breathing. "I was born five years before the original was built." The sea breeze is still in the air, heated by the fire. The palm trees that line Leisurely's neighbors' yards, on the other side of her tall wooden fence, bob in the breeze. Every so often, the wind changes direction minutely, and the air cools for a moment. [19:34] "They're just tarot cards." 15[19:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That was like 200 years ago, Rollie thinks. "Joanie's nice. It sucks that she's alone out there." [19:38] "She wouldn't say that she's alone. She has her spirits and ghosts." 15[19:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah, but she'd know what I meant if I said that to her." 15[19:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Which is why you wouldn't say that to her, but, still. [19:43] Leisurely opens her eyes and turns her head. "I didn't mean that you were wrong. It's just that her condition means she can't ever really be alone. She sees things you and I can't, everywhere. It…sculpts her melancholy into something unique from yours. The differences are important to remember, is all." Her hands play with the top card, which has a picture of a man holding a rod and a lantern, peering out from under a [19:43] hooded robe. 14[19:44] * Joins: trenchfoot [19:44] "You're not her, no matter how much you empathize with her. Your problems are your problems." 15[19:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's the Hermit." [19:49] Leisurely nods. "I never put much stock in this. But it's easier to just have a…persona, in the Academy. You can let people imagine they know you, instead of having to talk." 15[19:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie doesn't meet Leisurely's eyes. "So you're going to give me a Tarot card?" [19:52] "No. I'm just going to recite the questions. You'll give it to yourself, through your answers." 15[19:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "Alright." [19:55] "Just speak honestly. Whatever comes to mind. There's no point in trying to get a right answer." She sits up and puts her bare feet on the grass, and thinks. [19:56] "Your legitimate superior tells you to torture someone you've captured, so that all your enemies will be frightened. Do you obey or refuse?" 15[19:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks up sharply. 15[19:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Surely she realizes that- of course she does. "No. I wouldn't do that. I'd refuse." [19:59] She puts a card down on the grass. "You've been chasing someone for years. A terrible traitor and criminal. When you finally capture him in a faraway place, everyone there swears sincerely that he's a changed man. A good man. No man is as good, they say. Do you punish him for his crimes, or do you let him go in his new life?" 15[20:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie wonders what Jubal looks like right now. "What's living forever worth without second chances?" 15[20:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'd let him go." [20:04] "You know without any doubt that a lord has committed treason against you and your order. He is in a famous fortress, and removing him from it will mean people will die, money will be wasted, and you'll lose years of your life in the attempt. He offers to pay you and your order a great fortune if you overlook his treason. Do you attack or take his offer?" 15[20:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I'd take his offer." [20:08] "You know that someone has been falsely imprisoned. Do you ask the judges to reconsider their sentence over months and years, or do you offer to serve her term in prison immediately for her?" 15[20:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Who? Rollie wants to ask. But that's not the point, is it? There's no reason to try and game this. Where would you even start? He thinks of Trubee. He thinks of Leis. "I'd go to jail for her, sure." [20:11] "You've sworn a dozen oaths to your legitimate master, all sincerely. There is a rich man and a poor man. He tells you to rob the poor man so that the rich man will prosper. Do you refuse?" 15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Not yet. "No." [20:13] "You've been sent as a diplomat to a foreign tribe. Their sacred customs require you drink. You have chosen to live your life without drinking. Do you drink so that there will be peace?" 15[20:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie tries to imagine deciding not to drink. Can't quite manage. "Yeah." [20:15] "You've been chasing the man you truly hate for days. When you overtake him, you find that his horse has fallen on him, leaving him crippled. Do you take your revenge, or do you let him live?" 15[20:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Jesus. Solitude's starting to make more and more sense, if this is the kind of entrance exam you have to take. "I'd let him live." [20:19] "When you confess your sins, the priest tells you how to perform penance, but you feel that it is disproportionately harsh. Do you accept his judgment, or pray for a separate understanding and forgiveness?" 15[20:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's eyes drift up to the ember-light of the Pilgrim as it burns on the water. "I'd pray for forgiveness. If God wants to punish me he can do it himself." [20:22] "You're at war, on the defensive, and you see a much larger force than your own approaching. Do you retreat at night, or prepare your defenses and fight?" 15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well he knows what he'd do if he felt like he had a choice. "I'd retreat." [20:24] "A man you've given a loan to has defaulted. He promises you that if you wait six more months, he'll pay you triple your investment. Do you take his home, which he offered as collateral, or do you give him the time?" 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I'd give him the time." 10Money's one of those things that's not really real to him. And besides, he'll pay it back eventually. You can't kick a man out of his house. [20:27] "Your profligate cousin is in danger of being thrown in a debtor's prison. Do you lend her money, knowing you'll never see it again, or do you let her suffer the sentence?" 15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10'Profligate' means 'spends a lot of money'. 750 SAT Verbal, boyeeeeee. "I'd lend her the money." [20:30] "You are dedicated to a good cause, but your organization is about to run out of money. Would you rather steal to continue your good work, or would you rather see it end before you'd trouble your conscience?" 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah, okay. I'd steal." 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Man he hopes this isn't like the application to work at the grocery store. [20:32] "A colleague hates you, but you're infatuated with his daughter. He is a great swordsman and fond of duels. Do you take the risk of wooing his daughter?" 15[20:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "Hell yeah." 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "I mean, uh. Yes." [20:34] "Your incompetent but loyal retainer has failed you for the Nth time. Do you give him another chance, or do you dismiss him from your service?" 15[20:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie is the incompetent but loyal retainer. "I'd give him another chance." [20:35] "You only have a few seeds left, and your family is starving. Do you grind the seeds up to make them a meal, or do you plant them, and hope for a good harvest in the spring?" 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie hesitates. 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10This is the first actual hard question Leisurely has asked, that wasn't hard because it was weird to hear coming out of her mouth or weird to imagine being on either side of. He's silent quite a while. [20:37] He can see her start to smile. 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "I..." 10He tries to imagine it. His mother and brother and father... they'd find a way. There's always a way. "I'd plant the seeds." [20:40] "Your innocent friend is accused of a terrible crime. Do you lie to set him free, or do you remain silent and honest?" 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'd lie." [20:41] "A woman whom you've loved for years offers to abandon her husband and elope with you. Do you accept or refuse?" 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie closes his eyes. "I'd accept." 14[20:42] * Joins: mattbaby [20:44] "You're judging a man accused of stealing a horse and running it until its leg had broken. You discover that he stole the horse to take his sick child to a doctor. He cannot pay what the horse was worth. Do you lighten his sentence, or sentence him as the written law tells you to?" 15[20:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's starting to realize he's a shit deputy. "I'd let him off easy." [20:47] "After a terrible war, you are ordered to break bread and forgive your enemies. Do you remain wary, or do you obey the spirit of your orders?" 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie keeps having to think about last night. "I'd do my best to forgive them." [20:49] "You've been rewarded for your courage. The Court gives you gifts and treasures. Do you keep them, or do you give them to someone who will use them more wisely than you?" 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Damn it, Rollie keeps meaning to reinstall Folding@Home. "I'd... I'd keep them." [20:52] "You're given the honor of hosting a feast on a holiday everyone loves. Do you bankrupt yourself in the effort, or do you spend the bare minimum?" 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I go all out, for sure." [20:53] "Your neighbor has left their car unattended. Do you steal a bottle of expensive alcohol, or a piece of fine jewelry?" 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Wait, what?" 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's not really... the same kind of question." [20:54] Leisurely looks up. "Do you steal a bottle of expensive alcohol, or do you steal a piece of jewelry?" [20:55] "Don't try to make yourself look good here." [20:55] "Say which one you truly want." 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "But-" 10Rollie sighs. "I guess I'd take the liquor." 08[20:58] She puts the deck down for a moment. "It's not enough to imagine yourself at your best, Rollie. The work we do doesn't allow us to hold a happy version of ourselves in our minds, if it doesn't exist in reality. You know what your urges are." 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Alright. Alright, fine." 10This is really starting to weird him out, but if he can't trust Leisurely... 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'll be honest." [21:01] "You meet a beautiful woman who treats you with disdain. Do you humiliate yourself, hoping that she'll go to bed with you, or do you pretend to never have liked her in the first place?" 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well, this one's easy, at least. "The first one." [21:04] "Your reputation is being damaged by rumors. Do you spare no effort to find their source, or do you consider it unimportant?" 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "Who gives a shit? No, it's not important." 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A shit deputy, and a shit Invictus. Cav is spinning in his grave right now. [21:06] "An annoying associate invites you to a wonderful party. Do you feed them alcohol, hoping they'll make a fool of themselves, or do you gorge yourself at their expense?" 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10See, Rollie's actually done this one before. "Second one." [21:09] "A colleague offers to recommend an assasin to slay a hated enemy of yours. Do you pay his enormous fee, or do you look for a cheaper option?" 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...I'd pay." [21:10] "Would you crawl and beg like a dog to please a new lover?" 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "..." 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "...yeah." [21:10] "I had to answer these, too." 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "Who asked you them?" 14[21:12] * Joins: mugobbles [21:12] "An old woman, in Philadelphia. A man who has wronged you flees across the ocean. He is no longer a threat, but he is beyond your reach at the moment. Do you pursue him, or forget him?" 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Am I the old woman here?" 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh, I getcha." 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Nevermind." 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sorry. I'd-" 10He wants to say he'd forget about it. But he's thinking about what it'd actually mean for someone to wrong him, as opposed to like, do something other people would consider a wrong... "I wouldn't forget." [21:17] "You're planning a burglarly that will ruin your rival, when you learn that he's earmarked the money for some new investments. In a few weeks, he'll have even more money for you to steal. Do you wait to rob him until his investment pays out, earning you more and hurting you less, or do you rob him now, earning less and hurting him more?" 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I'm not doing it to get rich. I'm doing it to fuck him over. I'd rob him right away." [21:21] "Your sworn enemy is hiding in a town under quarantine. Do you adopt a humiliating disguise for a chance at killing them, or do you need them to know it was you who killed them?" 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's picturing himself sneaking past a barricade in clown makeup, and trying not to snicker. "I mean, if a lightning bolt strikes them I'm not going to be mad at God for stealing the last hit. Yeah, I'd put on the stupid disguise." [21:25] "You have come to possess a rare and renowned drug, and you know that your infatuation has been asking around for it. Do you enjoy it yourself, or do you give it to her in the hope that she'll sleep with you?" 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie frowns. [21:28] Leisurely waits. The sirens from the fire engines have stopped. 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "I wouldn't-" 10Rollie can picture himself in this situation. This isn't the narrative he'd have constructed about it, but he can't, like, refute it. "...I would share," 10he finally admits. [21:31] "You've conquered an enemy town and pillaged the treasury. Do you put the treasure in your own vaults, or do you spend the fortune on a triumphal celebration of your own glory?" 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "The second one, probably." 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He shrugs. Any excuse for a party, right? [21:33] "You can learn embarrassing gossip about your rival, if you can put up with talking to a very annoying courtier. Do you bother with it?" 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Eh. Whatever." 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "No, I wouldn't bother." 14[21:35] * Joins: Nicolae 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What even is a rival, here? Santiago? Edgar? Cav? Yeah, let's just go out of your way to embarrass those guys. That's super worth the effort. [21:36] "The opulent clothes you've ordered to impress the Emperor arrive, but they're too small. You're expected to meet him in three days at a ball. Do you starve yourself for three days to make the clothes fit, or do you simply wear last year's fashion?" 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie unconsciously pats his tummy. Tacos... "I'd just wear the old thing." [21:38] "A courtesan of famous skill and beauty insists on an enormous price for her services. Do you gladly pay, or do you haggle shamelesly?" 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I cannot think of anything scummier than haggling with a hooker." 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie catches himself before he says out loud 'that's like taking money back out of the collection plate'. [21:44] "True enough. You're at a wedding feast when you get word that a bankrupt debtor of yours is trying to skip town. Do you let him go and keep celebrate him, or do you go find him and make sure he pays what he owes?" 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10This question takes Rollie a surprisingly long time. 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Not cause he wouldn't want to keep partying, but because he hates partying in a bad mood. 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eventually: "I wouldn't feel right sticking around at the party, I'd just bum everyone out. So... I guess I'd go and find him." [21:48] "You find a high priest in a disgraceful state of drunkenness. Are you better than him, or worse than him?" 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I, uh." 10He's clearly not sure what to make of this question. "...worse? I guess?" 10Hard to look at a super fucked up guy and not think in the back of your head, 'damn. that coulda been me.' [21:51] "You have an opportunity to enrich yourself without anyone knowing, but to do so you have to make an extra effort, and slacken in your proper duties." 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "No." 14[21:56] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[21:56] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 09[21:56] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker [21:57] [6:54pm] Quaker: "You have killed your enemy and plan to hang his head from your castle's wall. His widow comes to you and begs that her husband receive a dignified burial. She's desparate, and offers to give you her hand in marriage in exchange. Do you accept, or refuse?" [21:57] desperate* 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10This is fucked up. 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Like, Rollie read Antigone in school. It was about this fucked up. 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It breaks the record for the question he spends the longest on. [22:00] Leisurely gives him his time in silence. 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Finally, with incredible reluctance, Rollie says, "...no. I wouldn't accept." [22:03] She gives him half a minute between answering and asking the next one. "You are invited to a bounteous feast, but it's a very long ways away, and the road is hard and dangerous. Do you go?" 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "For sure." [22:05] "You are defending a captured palace, and the gates have fallen. You must flee. Do you burn it behind you as you leave, or leave it intact and plan to reconquer it?" 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "Burning it down would be super petty." 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'd just leave." [22:07] Leisurely pauses, tapping the card against her knee. [22:07] "Okay. Last one." [22:08] "A tedious, gossipy old nurse is the only servant allowed access to a beautiful young woman you've been eyeing. Will you feign friendship with the nurse to get access to your infatuation, or can you not stand her?" 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I..." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "I wouldn't have to feign friendship. You can make friends with anybody." [22:11] Leisurely puts the card down on top of the little pile. "Okay." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Is that it?" [22:14] She nods and scoops all the cards up. "Yeah. That's it. Give me a second while I remember." [22:19] When she puts the deck down, she breathes through her nose, hard. "Hm." [22:24] "This doesn't mean anything, remember." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then why'd we do it? "Right." [22:25] "It's just a name tag you wear. You're going to reclaim yourself." 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "Right, so what is it?" 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "C'mon. You're killing me here." [22:27] She draws the card from the top of the deck and holds it up for him to see. A woman is sitting in bed, upright, her face in her hands. Above her disturbed figure, nine swords hang on a black and starless sky. [22:28] "Nine of Swords. Depression, nightmares, anxiety. Pain from within, amplified by night. Unease and worry. Reversed, it means hopelessness, suffering in isolation, away from help and love." 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie just stares at Leisurely. [22:31] She stares back, until she can't hold back her laughter. She hands him the card. "I hated mine, too." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is this his card? [22:31] It is. 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie takes it. It feels heavy in his hand. Without looking up from it: "What was yours?" 08[22:34] Leisurely looks through the deck for another card. She pulls it out and sits next to Rollie, holding it up so he can see. Lightning strikes a tower on top of a mountain. Flames shoot from its windows. Figures leap out to their deaths. "Disaster, physical destruction, ambitions constructed on false understandings, sudden revelation." 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks at the tarot, and then has to put his head down so he can laugh quietly. 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm sorry, it's just." 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "This is really bad of me, but." [22:36] "Yeah." 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "I read this book once, right." 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "And it was based on a poem, I remember, from the foreword." 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "And the poem was called," 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came." 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then he puts his head back down. [22:38] Leisurely pats his shoulder and lets him sit. [22:38] After a while, she asks, "Wasn't that a Stephen King book?" 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yyyep." 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "I read them way past when they stopped being any good." 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's the power of having the main character have the same name as you." [22:39] "I only watched the movie about the hotel." 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "My parents wouldn't let me watch that movie. When I finally saw it I was way too high to follow along." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "So, uh... what does this mean, exactly?" 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "Like, what's next?" [22:47] "You decide how much you feel it applies to you. It's just something to meditate on. A reminder of our vices and strengths." Leisurely stands up and opens her screen door, waving at him. "Come on, let's go learn about the real stuff." [22:48] 4Thirty minutes after the fire on The Pilgrim cuts short his first attempt at walking about Laguna Beach in casualwear (note to self: polos with monograms stand out), Deputy Clinton Cavanaugh realizes he needs resources within the Los Angeles Lancea Sanctum -- on both sides of the conflict. Contacts who can provide him with names of any out-of-town ringers. Dissatisfied foot soldiers [22:48] 4who suspect their commanders are taking advantage of the chaos. Early warning systems. [22:48] 4He starts thinking of ways to make inroads with the church of the vampires. [22:49] 4Five minutes after that, he realizes he already has one. [22:49] 4Cavanaugh just...probably isn't going to like the recruitment method. [22:50] 4Who knows. Maybe she was flirting. Cavanaugh sighs and finds Deacon Maja Kovecevic in his phone. 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie gets up and follows Leis in. He's got both Tarot cards with him. [22:53] Ring, ring. "Yeah, Kovacevic speaking, how can I help?" [22:54] "...Hi, this is Clinton Cavanaugh." 4Takes him half a second to remember she didn't take his number, and thus doesn't have him caller ID'd. "We met last night." [22:56] Leisurely leads him into her parlor, where she's set up five different lecterns and lamps. On each, a leatherbound tome, the sort you see in movie libraries and ancient archives, is split open down the middle, gold thread bookmarks resting on the hand-written pages. [22:56] "Oh! Hey, Clinton! Everything okay out there?" 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Damn." 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie will look at the closest one. [23:01] 4Cavanaugh wonders if she hasn't heard, and if she hasn't, if he should tell her. "Compared to last night, it's idyllic. More or less." [23:02] It's heavy, but if he lifts the cover he can see the title in gilded lettering, illustrated in a looping script. Transformations In The Vampiric Condition, or Coils: Illustrated, Explored, Archived, and Explained, the Coil of The Beast. 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie'll pace around, looking at all the covers. Is there anything significant or commonly held about the pages they're open to? [23:05] Maja laughs over the phone. "It sounds like it. Halloween's a bit of a nightmare, especially when you're out there checking on people. What can I help you with?" 14[23:05] * Parts: Nicolae [23:07] 4Cavanaugh: "Well, since it's so quiet I wanted to see if I could take you up on your offer. To talk." 4He forces himself to keep a pleasant smile on his face at the prospect; you can hear smiles over the phone. "Things might be picking up around the office here over the next couple nights -- restructuring, you know how it is -- and I'm not sure when I'll next get the chance." 08[23:08] They all seem to be opened to random pages. These are some of the strangest hand-drawn pictures and poorly edited and laid-out books Rollie's ever seen. Pages and pages of unbroken paragraphs, nonsensical diagrams, and off-putting drawings of faces and bodies. The covers are the same, except for the last part. The Coil of the Banes. The Coil of the Blood. The Coil of the Flesh. The Coil of the Soul. 14[23:08] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "These are the things they were showing off at the meeting before the party, right? These are the things all your secret titles are about." 14[23:10] * Joins: ddt [23:11] Clinton's listening, so he can hear the surprise in Maja's voice. "Oh…okay! Sure, let me look - " he can hear papers rustling - "I'm in Torrance, can you make it there? I'm a little busy later in the night, but I think I can squeeze you in." [23:11] "Let me check." 4One...two...three...four...five...six... "Yeah. Yeah, I can do that. What time's good for you?" [23:12] 4He'd be more embarrassed about showing up in Santiago's truck if the Prince hadn't just rewarded him for the reason why. [23:13] Leisurely leafs through the pages with him. "Yes. They're the work we talk about, when we talk about the work, with a capital W. I wrote about…half of this. Well, recorded most of it. A lot of my original research is…" She trails off. "Beast. That's the one you saw earlier. In the city." [23:13] Maja: "Now. Now's good, I've got a clear schedule." [23:15] 4The smile's become easier to maintain. "Then I'm on my way." 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "That's not the one you know the best, though, is it?" 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't think Solitude would think you were as crazy as he does then." [23:21] She gives him the address before she hangs up. When he gets to Torrance, it's a low one-story building, 70s utopian style, space age architecture and open gardens surrounding offices. [23:22] 4Cavanaugh hangs up the phone after saying goodbye. Now to remember where the hell Torrance is. [23:22] The woman in the blue dress drops her smile. "Is that what you gleaned from your condition?" [23:23] 4Santiago's work truck is probably looking pretty out of place here. Cavanaugh, back in his ubiquitous boardroom formal wear, certainly looks out of place behind its wheel. He even had to listen to the radio on the way over. Imagine that, no mp3 adapters. In 2014. 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks up. Did he offend her? "...yeah." [23:24] 4He mentally moves a quick dealership check on luxury imports up in this evening's mental planner. [23:26] 4What is this place? Certainly it's not, itself, a church. They wouldn't be that on the nose. [23:26] 4Then again, given his experiences with the Invictus...yeah. Yeah they would. [23:27] It's a rehabilitation center. Ocean Gardens Rehabilitation and Medical Care. The lights are on, even if the time of day means not many people are moving around, or even on the streets around the building. [23:28] 4Well, that's sensible. [23:28] Leisurely scratches her arm. "Sorry. I get kind of…I used to be different." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "That's the point, right?" [23:29] 4Clinton's probably not dressed like most people who walk into this place, especially not at this hour, but he's not particularly trying to hide himself from whoever's watching. [23:29] 4If the Carmelites have people keeping an eye on the place, he'd love them to see him going in and come chat about it later. [23:30] Leisurely flips through the pages of Banes. "No, I mean…" [23:31] There's only a janitor in the front lobby, and a few patients dozing in terrycloth robes on couches and huge, comfortable armchairs. The receptionist is clacking away at her computer. [23:33] "It used to be Beast. And Banes. And Blood. Then I…" She waves her hands in the air. "Realized I was mistaken about things. And I changed, again." 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You mean no Flesh and Soul?" [23:34] 4Cavanaugh quickly checks his texts to make sure there was nothing else he missed, then kills the ringer on his iPhone as he comes to a stop in front of the receptionist's desk. Maja didn't tell him to ask for her in a specific way, did she? [23:36] Leisurely: "No. But now I'm…" She spreads her arms and indicates the house around them by way of explanation. [23:37] She didn't, but the receptionist looks up. "Hi, can I help you?" 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "And you left Solitude in the city." [23:38] Leisurely's arms fall to her side. "Didn't you ask me who the first Ordo member was?" 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I did." [23:39] "It was me. It was my Academy. The First Visionary." 14[23:39] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [23:41] "The First Slave. First Supplicant, First Scholar, First Initiate, First…" She shrugs. [23:41] 4Cavanaugh puts on his best smile. (He knows it's his best smile because he knows exactly what it looks like; after Alicia turned him he had to spend a week practicing in a mirror to get it to look right without showing off any fang.) "Hi. I have an appointment to see Maja Kovecevic." 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "So you didn't know anything when you came out here?" 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "About..." 10he gestures at the books. 14[23:42] * Joins: ddt [23:42] "No. I knew how to survive on the margins. And I knew somebody north of San Diego was making new room out of nothing. So I went." 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "Did you teach yourself then?" [23:44] The receptionist nods. "Okay. Let me just…type up that she has a note waiting…there you go! Right on that way, fourth office on the right." She gives the deputy a huge and exaggerated wink. 08[23:46] "Not for the first few. Itinerants coming through, here and there, staying for a couple of years." Leisurely puts a hand on her forehead. "This is supposed to be for you, Rollie. Let's just…look at the Coils, right now." 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Right, okay." [23:47] 4Cavanaugh: "Thank you. Have a nice night." 4And off to therapy he goes. Again. Twelve years has not been long enough. [23:49] When he gets there, Maja is emerging, and locking the door behind her. "Oh, shoot. Hi, Clinton." [23:51] Leisurely looks exhausted, all of a sudden. "I'm sorry. I was a different person. You don't know what it's like. It's hard to talk about it, in a way that I'm comfortable with and that you'd understand at the same time." 08[23:51] "I don't mean to snap at you, Rollie." 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Forget it, I was. I was being dumb." 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "I shouldn't pry. So, Coils." [23:55] Leisurely: "Don't…debase your own curiosity, just so that I'm comfortable. I owe you answers. But let's start with this, okay? The first steps are the easiest." She taps the book in the middle. 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie doesn't think it'd debase his curiosity to have more tact. But he doesn't want to argue anymore. "Okay." 10Which coil is this? [23:57] 4The smile had faded but not totally left his face, and now it's back -- different this time, though. He doesn't have to worry about the fangs. Obviously you don't just flash them around; that's uncouth. But there's no artifice to it when you know your teeth aren't going to scare them. "Hey, Maja. Are we staying in or heading out?" [23:59] Blood. But Leisurely is gesturing to all the books, now. "The Coils are best understood as…desires. What do you wish you could do? Which limitations could you erase, if you could choose? It's the foundation of the transformational philosophy. We desire to transcend our condition. Some coils…it's a matter of ongoing debate what exactly constitutes transcendence, in each Coil's context." Session Time: Wed Apr 22 00:00:00 2015 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So Blood is about not wanting to be hungry anymore." 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "Banes is about not wanting to be afraid of the sun anymore." 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "Beast is about not freaking out anymore." 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He looks at the other two, hesitant. 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't know what these ones mean." [00:02] Maja looks embarassed. "I'm going out. You…I mean, okay, you saw the news, right? They burnt the boat down there, or something? Emergency committe meeting, I got assigned last week, I'm really sorry. You wanted to talk to somebody, right? Presbyter Greene, she's just down the hall…" 15[00:03] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed Apr 22 00:03:51 2015 Session Start: Wed Apr 22 00:03:51 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 15[00:03] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[00:04] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[00:04] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[00:04] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[00:04] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD [00:07] 4Cavanaugh is enough of a professional not to let the smile falter. "That's...unfortunate. I'll see the presbyter's in. If I don't like the experience though, I'm coming back for a second opinion." 4That last is playful and perhaps very slightly suggestive, not ominous. [00:08] 4Certainly two possible sources within the Orthodox faction is better than one. [00:08] 4You know. Pragmatically speaking. [00:08] Leisurely runs her hands over the two volumes he's looking at. She leaves her hands on their covers when she speaks. "Desire gives way to and merges with our understanding of the form of ourselves and the functions of the changes we make in our minds and bodies. The most obvious desires lead to the most obvious alternations. It's when you spot the gaps in knowledge that the desires become more esoteric." 14[00:08] * Quits: mugobbles 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Right. And Flesh and Soul are, uh, the gaps." [00:11] Maja nods enthusiastically. "Okay! I mean, you'll love the Presbyter, she's n- she's…fr- She's great. You'll love her." She turns to point. "Right down there! Bye, have a good time!" The Deacon has to hustle down the hallway. 08[00:14] Leisurely: "They began as gaps, and became keys and icons. They're not…they ask stranger questions. The founding desires are so…." She holds the back of her hand to Rollie's cheek. Her hand is warm. "Recall. Transcendence through return. But Banes, Beast, Blood, they're…in opposition to that. Shedding the form, not reconstituting it. They exist in tension with each other. And at some point, the difference is more th [00:14] philosophical. It's not a debate, it's what you are. What you turned yourself into." [00:14] 4Hate to see you go, Maja, but I love to meet your equally attractive colleagues who can help me further my goal of gaining steady access to the current activities of your organization. "Try to have fun. I'll let you know how it goes on my end," 4Cavanaugh says after her. [00:15] 4The great thing about being polite is people always think you're just being polite. [00:16] 4He'll head down the hall. Hopefully Presbyter...oh come on... [00:16] 14Presbyter Tracey Greene is on board with Maja's rearrangement of her schedule. [00:17] Tracey Greene's office is just down the hall, as promised. It's the only office with a light on. When he gets closer, he can hear music coming out of it. You go to my head, like a sip of sparkling burgundy brew, and I find the very mention of you, like the kicker in a julep or two... [00:17] 4Presbyter Tracey Greene is on board with Maja's rearrangement of her schedule. [00:17] 4 Presbyter Tracey Greene is on board with Maja's rearrangement of her schedule. 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie closes his eyes, as much to crystallize the thought in his head as anything else. He feels like this would make more sense if he let himself go sideways. He's been feeling that more and more as time's gone on. "Okay. They only... they only look like gaps when you're facing them from the direction the other three coils point you in." [00:18] Leisurely slumps over a lectern. "My ideas aren't very popular." [00:18] 4And so he knocks. [00:18] "To put it mildly." [00:19] 4...'Have a good time' is an odd thing to say to a person about to attend counseling for ripping a man's head off, isn't it? 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You know, when you were asking me those questions just now, it made me realize something about myself." [00:19] 4Cavanaugh supposes it's better than not having a good time, but that's hardly the point. 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "It was, I don't care if anyone thinks I'm stupid." 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "I never knew that before. It feels good." [00:20] "Come in," is the answer he gets. "Door's open." I'd lie for you, I'd sigh for you, I'd tear the stars down from the sky for you, if that isn't love, it will have to do, until the real thing comes along- [00:21] Leisurely's hair has fallen down in front of her face. "Do you want me as your mentor. I mean, really. There's so many others you could learn from." Her voice is like a croak. [00:21] 4He'll at least push the door open and stick his head in. This time his smile is more apologetic and sheepish. "Presbyter Greene? Hi, I'm Clinton Cavanaugh. We met briefly last night." 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I know there are. I met a couple of them. One of them really wanted me, and they wanted to know why you wanted me." 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "And there's even more. There's people I didn't meet, people whose faces I could barely see. I could spend forever working on this and we'd never exchange another word unless I decided to pop at you invisible." 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm still here, though." [00:24] The Presbyter has got her hair up in a bun, with a toothpick sticking out of her mouth while she looks up. "Hi. Clinton? Yes, we did. Come in, sit down. Let me, one sec-" She leans backwards to turn the volume on her record player down. "The Deacon said you needed to talk about something?" [00:24] Leisurely mutters something. 14[00:24] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) [00:25] She coughs to clear her throat and tries again. "It's a trinity." 14[00:25] * Joins: ddt [00:25] "There aren't five Coils, there are three." [00:25] 4Clinton frowns. "Yeah, she...I guess she told you already." 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What are they?" [00:26] 4Quickly replaces it with a smile. "At least that saves the awkwardness." [00:26] Actually, she didn't say that the Deacon needed to talk about something. Instead, she's looking up at him questioningly. "Come in, sit down. How can I help?" [00:27] Actually- 08[00:27] 4Maybe what Rollie's got is contagious. [00:27] Leisurely: "What animates your body?" 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...blood?" [00:28] Leisurely: "You wouldn't die if I drained all the blood from your body. You would fall asleep until I fed you more blood." [00:28] 4Clinton: "Thank you. Thanks for seeing me on short notice. Where should I be sitting...?" 4He loathes therapy couches. [00:29] Tracey: "There's fine. I'm a little surprised to see you here." 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...I don't know, then. Whether this is a philosophical question or, like, a science question. I don't know the answer. Should I keep guessing?" [00:31] 4Cavanaugh: "You know, I am too. I'm not entirely sure I should be here, honestly. Went to sleep this morning and wasn't planning on calling Maja and setting this up. It occurred to me though that -- you know what they say about Alzheimer's, right? Don't worry if you think it's a problem; that's just growing older. Start worrying when other people think it's a problem." 14[00:31] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [00:32] 4Cavanaugh: "You kill a person and you think you should see someone to talk about it, that's one thing. You kill someone and someone else tells you to seek help, well, maybe you listen." [00:32] "Even if it's not in your first nature." 14[00:33] * Joins: dammitwho [00:33] Leisurely: "Yes! Keep guessing. Keep asking questions. You know the blood gives you some of your power, but it belongs to the other one, the stranger. You know what I'm talking about, right? The feeling behind the concept. What you feel when you look at other kindred? The fear you felt when you looked at the Pilgrim burning?" [00:33] "Your Beast." [00:33] 4He scoots forward in his chair a little bit. "But then, people like us don't get Alzheimer's. So maybe that just doesn't apply." [00:34] Greene: "Well, you kill anybody for any reason, no matter how good, and it can feel pretty off. It's a lot of laws being broken, isn't it?" 15[00:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "And without the Beast, I'd just be, like, a corpse." 15[00:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "No matter how much blood I did or didn't have." [00:36] 4Cavanaugh: "Oh no, the law's fully on our side. They were on Court land, they moved first. It was justified." 4He pauses. "But then, that's not what you meant." [00:37] 4Cavanaugh: "You meant...moral laws? God's laws? I've never been to clear on those. Not much I could do with them." [00:37] *too [00:40] Leisurely is rifling through her bookshelves, pulling books down willy-nilly, until she finds a rolled up poster. She clears her kitchen table with an arm, and spreads it out. "Look! Look, you wouldn't die, you're not just a corpse without it." The poster shows three outlines of the human body, one black, one gray, one white. On the black one, someone has written 'Stranger', on the gray one 'Vessel', on the white one [00:40] 'Remnant'. [00:41] The Presbyter pulls the toothpick out of her mouth and tosses it in the trash can behind her desk. "Well, there's the legal system, and then there are the taboos that precede it. You don't start to feel bad because you broke the written law, but because you broke the unwritten one. I don't think trauma plays the morality game." [00:45] 4Cavanaugh runs his tongue over his lower lip a moment. "I tend to like my prohibitions in writing, personally. But I used to work on Wall Street and I suppose I'm at least honest enough to admit that was because I wanted to know just how to word my way around them. I do recall, however, something about stone tablets and immutable laws -- commandments -- irrefutably proclaimed." 15[00:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Beast, Flesh, and Soul?" [00:46] 4He sits up a bit straighter and grimaces. "But then He had a kid and I guess things changed." [00:50] Leisurely nods. "Yes. Beast, commanding Blood and Banes. That desire isn't our desire, it's the Beast's desire! You don't learn to control it, it learns to absorb you. You're the one altering your thinking, your behavior to fit its needs. Then…" She points at Vessel. "Flesh. The neutral carrier. But the Beast wants to change that, to make assimilate it further into the alien, the anti-human, the post-human." [00:52] Tracey: "Are you worried about what you think God thinks about what you've done? Or are you questioning how you feel about what you've done?" 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So does that mean that Blood and Banes are kind of, subordinate to Beast?" 15[00:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "If you study Beast directly, then are you still subordinate to it?" [00:56] "You know, I knew a guy in New York -- he thought the Longinus stuff with the spear, that was bullshit. He thought the first vampire was the cosmic equivalent of Him knocking up the maid and then getting rid of the son so the cool and wonderful JC was still in line for throne. I mention this not to insult your faith but because it strikes me that when we heard that, my first reaction [00:56] was that it made no sense. The idea of God is an alien power embodying an alien concept. Humanizing analogies miss the point. [00:57] "But everyone else -- just about everyone else in our workgroup -- you know what they thought the problem with it was? 'Surely He'd treat us better than this.'" [00:57] 4He shakes his head. "So they figured it was actually the werewolves." 08[00:57] Rollie's mentor nods. "Not in form or practice, but in spirit, they're part of the same desire. The same - remember that each Coil began as a primal want, a first urge to overcome. But we're not frenzying all the time, are we? We're not draugr by default. What supresses it? What's humanity to us? It's not an abstract, or a, a-" She gesticulates. "- it's real! The Remnant. The last parts of the human inside the vessel, who [00:57] purpose is to be devoured during the process of transcendence. So the Coil of Soul is-" 14[00:58] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 15[00:58] <@VoxPVoxD> wow 15[00:58] <@VoxPVoxD> that's some fine storytelling, lou 14[01:00] * Joins: Quaker [01:01] 4Cavanaugh: "I guess what I mean to say is that I was not overly concerned with understanding God before I died and after doing so I treated Him as one of a great many assumptions that I would have to either rethink or reject. And in all honesty, Presbyter, I have to tell you he missed the cut for rethinking. And it wasn't particularly close." [01:04] 4Around the time he finished up the story about how vampires back in Manhattan joked about God fucking dogs to make werewolves was when he remembered he was supposed to be cultivating sources within the Lancea Sanctum. [01:04] "Don't you see? It's a second transcendence. It's the correction of the further decay sequences, in mind and body. It's a reconciliation of the two things that can reverse the flawed urge to transcend, which only accelerates the real degeneration. The original desire doesn't just help things along, it severs itself competely from humanity. It's the Beast hijacking us. Our original purpose is to die. The Beast wants to liv [01:04] forever, but outside of actual life, outside of normal processes. And Soul and Flesh combined are…it's life." [01:06] 4But as he looked back across the gap at her, he found himself fairly certain that Clinton Cavanaugh that comes in with his frat boy smile, sits down and starts talking about how well, sometimes things have to be done but gosh does he wish that it could have gone another way -- he feels pretty certain she's met that guy, ten or fifteen or forty times over. He's pretty sure she's smart [01:06] 4enough that guy's bullshit no longer flies in this office. 15[01:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So there's kind of, two coils, then, aren't there?" [01:06] 4So, we tell the dog fucking story, and we let the cards fall where they may. [01:08] Leisurely: "Yes. But, let's not be imprecise. Five Coils. Three separate functions. Two purposes, at odds. It's…the Coils are a reflection of Man and Beast. That's all it is. It's so beautiful." [01:10] The Presbyter holds her silence through Cavanaugh's story, and then she lets the silence fill the room. And then she lets it fill it some more. And some more. [01:12] If at any point he looks like he's about to speak, she puts up a finger, not impolitely, wordlessly requesting still more silence. [01:12] 4He'll wait. [01:12] 4Gives him an excuse to stare. [01:13] 4He at least had enough foresight to kill the phone entirely before walking in. 15[01:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So is the Work to recognize the right direction to go in, or to synthesize them?" [01:14] When she finally leans forward, she's smiling. "Clinton. Don't take this the wrong way. But I like silence more than I like bluster." 15[01:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "Like, the Beast-subordinate coils. The coils of not-dying. The coils of undeath. Are they a trap? A temptation I should avoid? Or would that be short-sighted?" [01:14] 4Cavanaugh: "You're not going to believe me, but so do I." [01:15] Tracey: "I believe you, Clinton. We all do things we'd rather not do, and ask ourselves why we do it while we're doing it." [01:18] 4Cavanaugh: "I believe that, as far as it goes. I asked myself why I was driving over here while I was driving over here, for instance. But when I was killing that man? There was only the moment and the resolution to it." [01:18] Leisurely collapses into a chair. "The right direction. There's only one direction to go in that doesn't end in solitude. Up." 15[01:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So the right thing to do would be to learn Flesh and Soul and ignore all the others?" [01:19] 4Cavanaugh: "I killed that man because I thought it would be helpful and righteous that he should die." [01:19] Tracey: "Well, I was talking about you coming in here and flashing that fifty-dollar grin and sitting your ass down in my chair and laying a fucking turd on my desk before we've known each other thirty seconds. But, sure. There's that, too." [01:21] 4Cavanaugh, still smiling: "Maja got the fifty dollar grin. I didn't get in my coworker's worksite Ford and drive all the way over here to impress you. And if you want shit on your desk just wait two weeks. It'll be all over the building." [01:23] "Are you getting a clearer picture of what I am now? I worked on Wall Street. I got rich. I do not care if I kill a man larger than me in a mask who wants to take my life." [01:23] "And if you have a problem with that you are welcome to it. But don't spit taboo at me while your God tolerates my presence on this earth." [01:24] Leisurely: "No, no. It's just dangerous, like a bullet shot out of a gun. Or fire. Sentient fire, creeping down the torch's handle, wanting to take you with it." 15[01:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah but, if it's dangerous and wrong... why not just ignore it?" [01:29] The Presbyter turns around in her chair and looks at the wall behind her. "Funny, I was just wondering where I put my oil portrait of the Prince. Ah, yeah, turns out I don't have one. So…what is it you wanted, exactly? You want absolution next time, stick to Maja. She likes the smiles, even though she knows better. If you've got a real request, let me have it." 15[01:30] * Retrieving #SonsAndDoctors modes... [01:31] Leisurely: "It's a matter of completing the circuit. You can go down that way, but after a certain distance, you can't turn back. It runs both ways. You learn too much Soul and it just…poof." She makes a puff motion with her hands. "Your tolerance starts dropping. You start losing control. But that's far off. Baby steps. In both directions. For perspective, if for nothing else." 14[01:31] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 15[01:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Alright. So... how do you figure out where to start?" [01:33] "If I gave a damn what you thought about the Prince I'd have had someone ask someone to send a letter with his seal and a ghoul to watch you read it. I didn't. I care about important things." 4Cavanaugh: "I want to know what you know about the Carmelites. I want to know who's in town from San Diego. I want to know who their leaders are. I want to know what you're going to do about [01:33] it. That's my job. And we can postpone my therapy until you join me in hell." [01:34] "And the next time you have a problem with my attitude, take that energy and use it instead to drive faster." [01:37] Leisurely: "It's up to you. I'll help you with what you pick. Use the books and find out. It has to come naturally, or it won't work." 15[01:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "But just to be clear... I shouldn't ignore the misleading coils, just because they're misleading. I need, like, a totalizing picture." 15[01:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do they get harder?" [01:41] Greene, through gritted teeth: "Why don't you, in the future, redirect any questions you feel we might be able to help you with through the office of the Deacon. It is her responsibility to reach out to the needy in the community. Would you like me to send you an e-mail with the information you requested?" [01:44] Leisurely nods. "You need to feel it for yourself. I couldn't change until I saw what I was becoming. You don't have to go that far, but you need to go. Each rank starts to take more out of you. It starts to become clear that this is…your thing. You can't just drop it one day and decide to start over from nothing." 15[01:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Should I be planning, then? I'm not so good at that." 14[01:44] * Quits: dammitwho [01:47] 4Cavanaugh leans forward, grinning very, very widely. "All that I'd like you to do is remember that the vast and vindictive darkness that sits at the top of my world hits far less metaphorically than the one at the top of yours." 4Then he stands. "And next time, maybe wait until the second or third session to solicit a patient's views on metaphysics and morality and then immediately [01:47] sneer at him for shitting on your desk. I mean, I'm not a professional, then again hey -- it turns out neither are you." [01:47] Leisurely: "Consult the books. Tell me which first rank Coil you want to try and affect. I'll help you with the rest. Repeat, repeat." [01:47] 4Then he's out the door. [01:47] 4Not smiling. Grinning. [01:56] NEXT TIME: Carmelites 14[02:13] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 15[02:58] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed Apr 22 02:58:12 2015 Session Start: Wed Apr 22 09:50:03 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[09:50] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[09:50] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[09:50] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[09:50] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 09[09:50] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[10:25] * Joins: Crion_ 14[10:29] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[10:33] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[10:36] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[11:02] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:09] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[11:12] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:36] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[11:36] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:56] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[12:04] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:43] * Joins: ddt [13:21] https://41.media.tumblr.com/2811c6eae66318d32456bcf646350824/tumblr_nelni9YDJk1spjn7xo1_540.jpg 14[13:50] * Joins: hrolfie 14[15:31] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[16:06] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[16:22] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 09[16:39] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:54] * Joins: ddt 14[16:56] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[17:00] * Joins: ddt 14[17:05] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[17:08] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[17:11] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[17:50] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[17:55] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Client Quit) 14[17:58] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:01] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[18:06] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Client Quit) 14[18:06] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[18:09] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Client Quit) 14[18:12] * Joins: ddt 14[18:16] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[18:21] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Client Quit) 14[18:23] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[18:43] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[18:46] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Client Quit) 14[18:49] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[18:50] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Client Quit) 14[18:55] * Joins: ddt 14[21:03] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[21:08] * Joins: Quaker 14[21:52] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [21:58] Mr. Baseball @MisterBaseball5 [21:58] In my dreams I see the great sluggers of history crossing a river choked with human corpses. [21:58] ace, moros 09[22:34] * Crion_ is now known as Crion Session Time: Thu Apr 23 00:00:01 2015 14[00:07] * Joins: Quaker 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> http://stlenox.bandcamp.com/track/that-old-time-religion rollie meets the orthodox sancitifed 14[02:01] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[02:02] * Joins: ddt 09[02:59] * banana|peels is now known as banana 09[03:02] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[03:07] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[05:09] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[05:34] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[05:34] * Joins: ddt 14[05:40] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[05:44] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[05:58] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[05:58] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[05:58] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 09[06:04] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[07:47] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[07:50] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[08:09] * Quits: dammitwho 14[08:50] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[11:50] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:22] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[12:22] * Joins: ddt 14[12:31] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:32] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[12:33] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 09[13:58] * banana is now known as banana|split 09[14:16] * banana|split is now known as banana 09[14:22] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[14:42] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 09[14:55] * banana|split is now known as banana 09[15:40] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:15] * Joins: ddt 14[17:01] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[17:14] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[17:26] * Joins: ddt 14[17:26] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[17:30] * Joins: ddt 14[17:35] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) [18:07] everyone regrets inviting nick to the wedding https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CDTqQd0VAAANX0S.jpg 14[18:09] * Joins: ddt [19:24] three pictures [19:24] https://40.media.tumblr.com/21ade00aaa1107fffac7dce113c42259/tumblr_nlv65yVLiU1qzfvn2o1_540.jpg [19:24] https://41.media.tumblr.com/685b360d36deb2f406e0683edcaf74af/tumblr_nlv65yVLiU1qzfvn2o2_1280.jpg [19:24] https://40.media.tumblr.com/de6aa6ad2202f7beab1dc238ec2a7e2a/tumblr_nlv65yVLiU1qzfvn2o3_1280.jpg 15[19:25] <@VoxPVoxD> same, tbh [19:55] lis approaches reuben about his continuing education [19:55] shut up, mike @shutupmikeginn [19:55] I fucking LOVE science. [19:55] *is handed peer reviewed journal* [19:55] Haha nonono I meant CGI pictures of space with misattributed quotes as captions 15[19:55] <@VoxPVoxD> lol [19:58] <@Ferrinus> I fucking LOVE science. [19:58] <@Ferrinus> *is handed peer reviewed journal* [19:58] <@Ferrinus> Haha nonono I meant CGI pictures of space with misattributed quotes as captions 15[20:11] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Apr 23 20:11:18 2015 Session Start: Thu Apr 23 20:11:18 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 15[20:19] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:19] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:19] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[20:19] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[20:19] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[21:01] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[21:10] * Joins: dammitwho 14[21:22] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[21:29] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[21:29] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[21:35] * Joins: drinkybird 14[21:38] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 09[21:42] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[22:05] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[22:05] * Joins: dammitwho 14[22:08] * Joins: Crion_ 14[22:50] * Joins: Quaker Session Time: Fri Apr 24 00:00:01 2015 14[00:24] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[00:40] * Quits: cbass (Remote host closed the connection) 03[01:18] nomadgame [01:18] Shanna ‏@FuckUrTimeline 3m3 minutes ago [01:18] "I didn't think you were gonna eat it." [01:18] WELL BITCH I DIDNT THINK I WAS GONNA KILL YOU TODAY GUESS WE BOTH WRONG 14[01:29] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[01:34] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 15[02:15] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Apr 24 02:15:25 2015 Session Start: Fri Apr 24 02:15:25 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 15[02:15] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[02:15] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[02:15] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[02:15] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 14[02:15] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by VoxPoxVD))) 09[02:15] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[02:15] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[03:21] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 09[03:32] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[03:58] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[04:07] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[04:07] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[05:57] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[06:01] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[06:10] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[06:10] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[06:26] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[06:29] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[06:34] * Joins: cbass 14[06:41] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 15[07:06] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Apr 24 07:06:54 2015 Session Start: Fri Apr 24 07:06:54 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 15[07:07] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[07:07] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[07:07] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[07:07] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 14[07:09] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[07:22] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Quit: Leaving) 14[07:30] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [08:11] Shanna ‏@FuckUrTimeline 3m3 minutes ago [08:11] "I didn't think you were gonna eat it." [08:11] WELL BITCH I DIDNT THINK I WAS GONNA KILL YOU TODAY GUESS WE BOTH WRONG [08:11] sounds like alisa to me 09[08:17] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[08:17] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[08:36] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[08:36] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[08:36] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[08:43] * Quits: dammitwho 15[08:47] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Apr 24 08:47:20 2015 Session Start: Fri Apr 24 08:47:20 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 15[09:29] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[09:29] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[09:29] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[09:29] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[09:29] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD [09:57] https://40.media.tumblr.com/ff010d9d917ecf391d44c491f73b19a3/tumblr_nmisrrCUBZ1qjw5ggo1_r1_540.png [11:10] <@Ferrinus> http://41.media.tumblr.com/a47fca29e2fae14c7166ada871334bf4/tumblr_nmp4pk0v0g1qz4bxgo1_1280.jpg 15[11:12] <@VoxPVoxD> the tumbler!! 14[11:14] * Joins: ddt 14[11:22] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[11:22] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[11:33] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:11] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[13:16] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[13:21] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:28] * Joins: mugobbles [13:32] https://41.media.tumblr.com/4bac69dbad92a532f59eea9fff60406b/tumblr_n4lq7g999p1r9qk1io1_540.png 14[14:33] * Quits: cbass (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[14:33] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[14:33] * Quits: Crion (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[14:33] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[14:34] * Joins: Crion 14[14:34] * Joins: cbass [14:52] - [14:52] - [14:52] - [14:52] - [14:52] - [14:52] - [14:55] That did not go well. Maybe she was having a bad night. At the very least, he got his message across, and the Presbyter told him that she'd put the Deacon on giving him the information he needed. Speaking of, what will Maja think about it? She gave him her number, if he wants to text her. In the meantime... [14:55] He killed someone. [14:56] He's been talking to some important people, in high-stress situations. [14:56] It might be time to relax, for real this time. [14:57] 4The grin -- the euphoria of just, verbally laying into someone who knows that at the end of the day, they have to respect you -- that's worn off by the time he makes it back to his empty, dark mansion in Laguna Beach. 14[15:01] * Joins: mugsy [15:01] 4Clinton Cavanaugh's pensive now. A bit moody. A bit regretful, honestly. He hadn't lied or exaggerated or made anything up in that session...but he'd made an ass of himself. They both had, probably. He'll text Maja: 14[15:02] * Quits: mugobbles (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [15:03] 4He pauses, then closes the front door. It echoes through the silent halls. [15:04] 4Cav sighs, tosses his iPhone on the couch in the front living room, and goes to change into something younger than a three-piece suit. [15:05] It's ten minutes before Maja texts back, so he might still be changing: [15:05] 4He'll come down ten minutes later in jeans, this shirt http://gothamist.com/2014/08/22/photos_every_man_in_nyc_apparently.php , and flip-flops. [15:05] 4So, right on time. [15:08] 4Cavanaugh: [15:09] Maja: [15:10] 4He debates whether or not this is appropriate for text as he walks out the door. Well, Maja's going to find out anyhow. [15:11] 4Cavanaugh locks up and starts walking down the drive to the street. [15:12] 4Shots and Honey have the evening to themselves. At least for now. [15:13] [15:14] 4Cavanaugh: [15:14] [15:14] 4is Cav's only concession to shorthand in the conversation. [15:16] 4He sighs again, kills the ringer and pockets the phone. Then he wills the still, waiting blood up from his heart, through his veins and arteries, flushing his cheeks, wetting his lips. He hasn't acted like a person in weeks. It's high time he did. [15:19] 4This is what he's done, in lieu of therapy, for the past five years. It's a coping mechanism: you go out to a club or a bar or...anywhere, anywhere there are people, living social human beings; you Blush; you have a good time. You get to know someone. Make a friend. Maybe a couple. Just you; no other vampires. No other ghouls. And above all, the one thing you do not do is feed. [15:20] Alicia wasn't one to talk about the ways you could maintain your humanity in the face of crow-men and blood fountains at parties. Peter…was. But…well. At least he can feel the breeze better, now that his skin is living once more. And he can smell the soft tang of the eucalyptus trees. [15:25] This is what Bailey promised him. This city, to himself. All the people walking down the sidewalks, all the art galleries lit dimly from inside, bright only where the lights illuminate the paintings and sculptures, all the restaurants with patios directly across from the beach and the sea. The salt breeze and the color of the streetlamps against the blue-black sky. [15:26] 4By the time he reaches the lights -- the places where people are -- he almost feels alive again. [15:30] All the bars are packed. Young clubs, family chains, stately restaurants where old and tanned couples are served fine wines by the finest waiters in the County. Sports bars, gay bars, dive bars, trendy bars. Microbreweries, ice cream shops, surf shops, one lone Johnny Rocket's that looks embarrassingly out of place with the relaxed spanish colonial architecture. [15:31] 4Hah. Johnny Rocket's. [15:31] 4He'll start with a sports bar. Why not. Baseball season just ended, didn't it? Basketball's been going on for awhile. [15:32] 4He used to like sports. 14[15:41] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[15:41] * Joins: Quaker [15:42] There's one with huge marlin mounted above its outside entrance. Big Fish Tavern. Why not? Lakers against the Celtics on the row of televisions above the bar. It's a good mix of young people in turned around caps and sleeveless muscle tees and young professionals who look like they work at some kind of social media thing. [15:42] Not too many people are watching. A few, but not many. Everybody knows Kobe's the only watchable thing about this team. [15:43] 4That works for Cav. He finds his hand straying to check his phone by reflex and he pulls it away. [15:43] Dodgers lost in the playoffs, nobody really likes hockey, there's no football, and the alternative is the Clippers, which….eh. Just put the Lakers on, who cares, right? Everybody's watching each other more than they're watching the game. [15:44] 4And that's probably preferable then having to pretend he's paid anything but scant attention to Kings scores over the past couple of years. [15:46] 4The first thing he'll do, though, is start a tab and get a Corona. [15:48] The bartender is a wide bearded guy with the sleeves of his beige shirt rolled up. "Here you go, man. You want this open or closed? He raises his eyebrows while he holds Cav's card between his dingers. [15:48] "Here you go, man. You want this open or closed?" [15:48] * [15:48] 4Cavanaugh: "Open's fine. Thanks." [15:50] "Yeah." Card gets swiped and passed back. The quiet hum of private conversations meshes with the background noise of dishes being handled and the line cooks moving around in the kitchen. [15:50] 4He'll settle in at the bar and try and figure out what's going on in this game. [15:54] His first problem might be that he probably doesn't recognize any of the names. [15:54] It's a problem shared by the guy sitting next to him, who is one of the people rocking a Lakers cap and a sleeveless gray tee. "Who are these guys?" [15:57] 4Cavanaugh's mid-sip of the beer, and takes another one to contemplate. "Well. I recognize Kobe. And uh..." 4He frowns. "Is that Jeremy Lin?" 4He remembers Lin from the Knicks. [15:57] 4Specifically, that very, very brief window where the entire city loved that dude. [15:59] "Yeah, that's definitely Jeremy Lin." [15:59] The guy points. "Yeah. Lin, Kobe. Love Lin, man. You know he went to Harvard? Like, how many other teams' point guards are from the Ivy League?" He laughs, and then counts on his fingers. "Man, this is bad. Okay, so Lin. Kobe. Carlos Boozer. Literally the only other recognizable names there." [16:00] 4Boozer. "Okay, I -- Boozer? I thought he was on the Jazz. Wait. Shit." 4Boozer. "The Bulls?" [16:01] 4Cav: "I mean, clearly I was mistaken. But damn." 14[16:02] * Quits: mugsy (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [16:03] The other guy takes a sip from his pint. "Yeah, used to be. Then we signed him in the offseason. But look at this!" He points. "Lakers-Celtics used to be something. Kobe! Shaq! Paul Pierce! Kevin Garnett. Now it's…" He squints at the television. "Kelly Olynyk? Speaking of the Bulls, guess who's playing for them. Pau Gasol. Feels weird, man. Should have retired as a Laker." [16:04] 4Cavanaugh shakes his head. "That's...fucked up, I guess. I dunno. It's been awhile since I really followed." [16:05] "I'm from Sacramento. So." 14[16:06] * Joins: mugobbles [16:07] He turns on his stool. "Oh, yeah. Ouch. Well, I mean, you've got a new owner, so…" His face turns to bashfulness. "Ha, sorry, I get kind of worked up. My dad used to work selling tickets for the Lakers, kind of a superfan since I was a little kid." [16:08] 4Cav: "Oh yeah?" 4Another sip. "Better reason that most people have." [16:10] "Yeah, I guess. You big on the Kings still?" [16:11] "I mean, you don't have to follow a team to still root for 'em, I think." [16:12] 4He stops and thinks about that for a moment. "I...you know, I don't know. I guess so. I haven't been rooting for anyone else. I've just been...busy." 09[16:12] * banana is now known as banana|peels [16:13] "All else equal, I'd prefer they win." [16:13] "And that's really what it's about, isn't it?" [16:15] "Yeah! Yeah. It's like, you just root for whoever makes you feel good when they win, you know? And that comes out of…who knows. I know a guy, Cubs fan, never left San Diego his whole life." [16:15] 4Cavanaugh snorts at that. "Two bad decisions, right there." [16:17] "Hey, San Diego's nice. Great zoo. You ever been?" [16:18] 4Cavanaugh: "When I was younger. Great place to visit, yeah; can't say I'd like to ever be described as the kind of dude who never left his whole life." 4He pauses. "Then again, I suppose I wouldn't like to be described in the past tense either. He...?" [16:21] "Oh, my mistake. Still alive, ha. Just, uh - oh, wait, no, I was wrong. Dude went back to Tijuana for like a week to visit family last year. Anyway." He looks around. "I'm Pete." [16:22] "Clinton." 4He pauses again. "Don't call me that. Clinton Cavanaugh. Friends call me Cav." [16:24] "Sure, Cav. Friends call me, uh, Pete, I guess. What's up? Nice night, right?" He looks over his shoulder, out the door. [16:25] "Up until now, not particularly." 4Pete seems a bit distracted. He seem like he fit in with the general crowd here, overall? "Glad to be having a beer talking basketball instead of..." 4He waves the Corona in a brief, vague arc. "Working." [16:25] "Weather's fantastic, though." [16:27] They both fit in fine. The look was accompanying his comment about the night, not looking for anyone. "Oh, yeah. Yeah…" He lets the silence just exist for a moment, drinking his beer. "Real nice to just come down here after work, hear everybody talking about what whatever they want. Nobody talks about work in here, you know?" [16:28] 4Cav feels himself relax, then. Difficult to get out of the habits he's formed. "That's good to hear." [16:29] 4He looks back up at the game. "You know, I had a bunch of people tell me I should be a Cleveland fan, once they got Lebron." [16:29] "And before, but they were just being assholes then." [16:29] "You know. Cav. Cavs. That sort of thing." [16:29] Pete snorts. "Cleveland? Why Cleveland. I mean…Ah, yeah." [16:30] "I mean, Lebron is great, don't get me wrong." [16:30] "But the way I look at it, is, you can be a Lebron fan without having to be a Cleveland fan, right? Just kind of appreciating what he can do?" 15[16:31] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Apr 24 16:31:50 2015 Session Start: Fri Apr 24 16:31:50 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 15[16:33] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[16:33] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[16:33] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[16:33] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[16:33] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD [16:35] "Oh, the Bobcats? Woops. The Hornets? Yeah, what a freakin' embarrassment. I mean, give it to Jordan, he made his money honest." [16:35] "I suppose." 4Cavanaugh's no stranger to the stories about Jordan's gambling addiction, but it is what it is. [16:38] "Well, I mean, look at Mickey Arison. Or the guy who owns the Magic. Founded Amway, right? Or, here you go, the Cavs guy, Dan Gilbert. Dude makes his money doing predatory loan stuff. Jordan played for the money, right? Endorsements and stuff. And look at the Buss family. Last honest owners in basketball. The Lakers are all they have. No crazy side stuff making money repo'ing people's houses or whatever." [16:40] "You know, I read about this once. Baltimore Orioles. Baseball team, right? You know who owns them?" 4He pauses for effect. "A damn labor lawyer. Peter Angelos. This dude came up during the Great Depression, made his millions by suing companies on the behalf of unions and the working man. Getting settlements on asbestos. Unsafe working conditions. That's an uncommon sports ownership [16:40] story. And Orioles fans?" 4He takes another sip. "They hate this guy." [16:40] "Won't spend on the team. Wants too much control." [16:41] "Meanwhile, up in New York, they're mourning that Steinbrenner guy on the regular. Just win, you know?" [16:41] 4He kills the beer. "Maybe that's how it should be." [16:42] 4Cav will signal for another. [16:43] Pete raises his empty glass. "Let me buy you one, I'm talking your head off. Hey, man, another of whatever he was drinking? And - yeah, one for me too. Anyway. I don't know if that's how it should be, I mean. But it's the way it is." [16:45] 4Cavanaugh opens his mouth to insist he's paying for the round -- but no. Pete's doing this for how it makes him feel just as much as how it makes Cav feel, if not moreso. Feels good to buy the round when you're out. "You're not wrong," [16:46] 4he says. [16:47] 4Cav: "So what's your story? How's the kid of a ticketseller end up drinking in Laguna Beach?" [16:50] "Ah." Pete takes a drink. "I'm the assistant manager of that Hobie down the street. Also a part-time lifeguard. My dad moved us down here in the nineties." [16:53] "That..." 4Cav blinks, taking a sip. "That sounds like a pretty good routine." 4Run a shop some of the week, spend some more time up at the beach. Not much room for growth, but... "How's that work for you?" [16:55] "Pretty good, man. I got my BA in business administration from Long Beach, then just, I don't know, kind of settled down back here. Got a girlfriend, get to spend time outside when I'm lifeguarding. All the guys who come in the shop are all surfer dudes, too. Real laid-back." He laughs. "What about you? You down from Sacramento on business or something?" [16:59] "Yeah, I'm...not sure how long I'm in town for. Here from Sacramento by way of New York. Manhattan. Went to USC, got my degree, made my connections, found myself out here." 4He takes another drink from the beer; larger than usual, perhaps. "Company had a position they thought I'd be good for. Sent me out here to fill it." [17:00] "The entire time, though, I never really asked them why. I guess I assumed it was because I was from the area, relatively speaking, and anyway, it wasn't my place to ask." [17:00] "And I'm always working. Hell, I should probably be working now, but I'm not." [17:01] "And you come home, and you go to bed, and you wake up, you get dressed -- and you're working again. You're already at work." 4He pulls out his iPhone. "The whole office, right here." [17:02] "I used to lifeguard some. Long, long time ago." [17:02] Pete pays attention, listening quietly. [17:03] "It's Sacramento, right, so it's not at a beach. A pool." [17:04] 4Another sip. "And there's the relationships you form there. Sure, the girls, but not always that way. You meet people. Girls, dudes, you meet people, you see them day in, day out, you become a fixture and a part of something. Like, I don't know, a little community. I never really thought I'd miss that." [17:06] Pete nods. "Lot of miles between Sacramento and New York. And then back the other way again." [17:06] "I take this job, and suddenly all I've got is objectives and co-workers. And don't get me wrong. I got nothing against my co-workers. But I work in..." 4How to phrase this. "...Compliance. For an insurance company. Big one. I work in Compliance. So it's my job to go around and find people, and when I find them, we're not having conversations. We're exchanging demands. Assessing [17:06] positions." [17:07] "Mhm." [17:08] "And the job comes with a nice car. A nice house. It comes with suits and ties and respectability. But I go home to an empty house and I fall asleep and I wake up and I've got more objectives to meet." [17:09] 4He gestures at the screen. "And in the meantime, Pau Gasol fucks off to Chicago." [17:11] Pete runs his hand over his face. "Well." [17:11] He smiles. "First of all, good for Gasol. Guy got ran out by a bunch of ungrateful fans. But." [17:14] "I mean, I guess I could make more money doing something else. My dad still knows people in business, I could go put on a suit and tie. But it's like…you know that Baskin-Robbins down the block? My girlfriend works there. And every so often I can just go on my lunch break and she goes on hers and we can just walk around and talk and go put our feet in the ocean." [17:16] "Your job sounds hard. Mine's pretty easy. And my car is a piece of shit. But I'm kind of…really happy. For now, at least. I like just doing what I'm doing. Most days are good." He shrugs. "YOLO, right? Or whatever it is." [17:17] "No, it's YOLO. You got it right." [17:18] "Well, then….YOLO." He raises his glass in a salute before he drinks. "Kids are right, right? Can't take it with you. Nobody lives your life but you." [17:21] "Can't you? Don't they?" 4It's out before he can quash it. Cav shakes his head to cut off any examination of it by Pete, and continues: "See, if I could do something like that, I think I might. In fact, I'm almost sure I would. Take some time off. Figure things out. A breather, if nothing else. But my job isn't...I'm not in a line of work you walk away from, at the moment." 4He pauses [17:21] 4to drink. "That probably sounded pretty dramatic." [17:21] "What I mean is, I'm at a point where if I walk away now, I'm the guy that walked away." [17:21] "And I'm that guy forever." [17:23] "Like, if a general manager was opening a new restaurant in your chain -- in a fancy neighborhood, or testing a new concept, with a lot riding on the success -- and he walks out halfway through opening week...does that guy ever get trusted again? Even if he's not outright fired -- does he ever get an important placing?" [17:28] "Huh. Good question." On the television, Kobe sinks a jumper, and the Lakers pull ahead by ten. The other people in the bar murmur happily. "I know what you mean when you say you feel like you can't leave. Right after college I'm working this real shitty job, night clerk at CVS. And it was like…it sucks, right? Bad job. But it pays the bills. Gotta have a car, gotta pay rent, gotta pay insurance, groceries…" [17:29] 4Cav nods along, even if it is a bit outside his experience. [17:32] "Like, the people you see too. Real depressing. Junkies, bums, burnout college kids. After a while you're like, shit, even my tan is fading. Not enough sun. But it felt like, well, what else do I do? I don't know anything about, like, unemployment benefits, I don't know if I even get those if I quit, I've got a job already. Who wants to be unemployed? Not really a decision a 23 year old is equipped to make." [17:32] 4Okay, the tan thing hits pretty close to home. [17:33] "I trust you made a better decision than I did around that age." [17:34] "I eventually just said seeya, I'm out, I'll take my chances. But I figured, okay, say I stay at CVS. Eventually, what, I get the day shift, I get more hours, I get assistant manager, then what? I'm living in North Long Beach, all my college friends are already going back home. So I knew that the ceiling wasn't high enough. It just wasn't something I could see myself doing for years and years." [17:35] Pete laughs again. "I mean, I'm not rich or anything here, and I'm just an assistant manager at a surf shop, whatever, but at least I really, genuinely love living down here. Family's here, friends are here." [17:36] 4More beer. "Well, I'm going to assume assistant manager up here pays a bit more than it does down in North Long Beach." [17:36] "Up." [17:38] "Yeah, like ten thousand more, comparatively. Really good benefits, too. What about insurance? I guess what I'm saying is that if I'm going to have a job, and do that job every day, at the very least I have to like where I'm doing it, and I have to like doing it. And I have to have free time. Otherwise, what's the point of having that paycheck? You gotta spend it sometime." [17:39] "No, you're right. You made the right play. You got out. Found another, similar but discretely different line of work." 4He examines the half-empty bottle. "I, on the other hand, when faced with that moment of choice -- I jumped into bed with my boss. Who was married. And I suspect it's no coincidence she still works in New York, and I'm now all the way out here." [17:39] "So you might say that I am completely out of second chances." [17:40] "Shit." Pete looks down into his glass. [17:41] After a while, he looks back up, with an embarrassed smile. "I mean, my boss on the night shift was like a 65 year old lady, so." [17:41] 4Cavanaugh resists the very, very, very strong urge to say, 'Same.' [17:42] 4Actually, she's probably older. [17:43] "So…isn't that like…more incentive to find something else? USC's a really good school. And if they're in New York, and you're in Los Angeles…" [17:43] "We can't all be so lucky, I suppose." 4He grimaces. [17:44] "Her husband's my regional manager." [17:44] 4This is close enough to true to pass. [17:45] "Shiiiiit. Huh. Well.." [17:45] "And this...at this point, this is all I know." [17:46] "Yeah, I'd just quit, haha." He shrugs and smiles. "Hey, fuck it. If I had a degree from USC, there's always somebody, right? And it would be shit if my boss was…that guy." [17:46] "And they haven't fired me. Technically, they promoted me for fucking my old boss and cucking my new one. I suspect that's because I didn't do anything, not a single thing, that they didn't think they could manipulate me into doing." [17:47] "That sounds insane, right? That work environment." [17:47] "Like something out of a...movie, or something." [17:49] "Is insurance really like that? Damn. I thought it was like…actuarial tables and figuring out premiums. I guess it's more high-stakes with all that money going through nowadays." [17:51] "Well. Car insurance, yeah. Life insurance, sure. Health insurance, maybe a bit higher octane at the top of it. City, state, and federal contract insurance, though...I shouldn't get into it, but yeah." 4Cavanaugh sighs. "And the messed up thing is, I like the work." [17:52] "I like the work! I like knowing who should be where and why, and figuring out when someone's lying to be about something they didn't do." [17:52] "Do you like it because it's high-stakes, or because it's insurance?" [17:52] "Oh, I could give a fuck about insurance." [17:53] 4He finishes the beer. "It's all about the control. The power. You know, going up against someone and winning. Because you're smarter, and they can't fool you. Courtroom lawyers -- that's what keeps them there. That rush." [17:53] "Being right, and being unquestionably able to prove it." [17:54] "And I still get that rush, I do." [17:54] "But then I go home, and the house is quiet. I go to sleep. I get up. I smile and eat shit my boss's shit. And it all just keeps rolling down the line." [17:55] "And you know, sometimes I think maybe enjoying something isn't by itself a reason to keep doing it." [17:56] "Isn' that why they have speed limits?" [17:56] Isn't* [17:57] "Yep. It's also why they have rehab." 14[18:00] * Joins: Quaker_ [18:01] "My girlfriend tried to get me to watch this one show, Boardwalk Empire, and there's this guy on there trying to figure something out, and he says flip a coin, and you'll know what you want when it's up in the air. That's good advice, right?" 14[18:01] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[18:01] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker [18:02] 4Cavanaugh frowns. "Is this anything like that dude Javier Bardem played with the bad haircut? 'What's the most you ever lost on a cointoss?'" [18:04] "Nah, that's, uh…No Country For Old Men. I think he just meant that you already know what you want. And you just make excuses for why you think you can't just go and do it. 'Ah, bills, other people's money, reputation', whatever. Probably easier if you've got nothing to lose, though. Big difference between CVS night clerk and a big insurance firm." [18:05] 4Cavanaugh: "No, I think that makes sense. I think it makes a lot of sense." [18:06] "I think, if the coin is in the air...I think I stay. I think I just try to change the terms." [18:06] "Maybe come down here for some more Lakers games. I dunno." [18:06] 4He laughs to break the tension. "Maybe not this year." [18:06] Pete laughs, too. "Oh, yeah. No damn way. Not even the playoffs." [18:08] 4Now he finally checks his phone and grimaces. "Unfortunately, someone's e-mailing me late." [18:08] 4He signals to settle up. [18:09] "It was nice talking to you, Pete. You here often?" [18:10] Pete checks his watch while the bartender Cav's tab. "Yeah, I gotta call it a night. Three's enough for me." He puts his hand out. "Hey, good talking to you, too. Often enough. Once or twice a week. If you're looking to start relaxing, you should come by the shop sometime. Surfing's great for that, plus I know a lady who gives great lessons." [18:11] 4Cav shakes. "Not sure I have time during the day. Don't suppose it's safe to surf at night." [18:12] "Safer than you'd think. You just need a special rig so that the board lights up. Lots of kids like to deck themselves out in waterproof LEDs, actually, film themselves at night." [18:13] "Huh. I'll check that out then, I could use a hobby." [18:13] "Cool!" He laughs. "Hey, you like thrills, right? Right up your alley." [18:15] 4Cav: "Thrills are my thing. And it's a lot less frustrating to fight waves. Yeah, I'll drop by when I get some free time. Good to meet you, Pete." [18:16] "Yeah, you too. See you around, Cav." He leaves, and Cavanaugh's alone again. Lakers won, 97-90. 15[19:01] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Apr 24 19:01:49 2015 Session Start: Fri Apr 24 19:01:49 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 15[19:03] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[19:03] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[19:03] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[19:03] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 14[19:03] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by VoxPoxVD))) 09[19:03] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[19:03] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[19:13] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:28] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[19:32] * Joins: dammitwho 15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Things are getting significantly more complicated. 15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD> The circle reconvenes, minus Mud and Xu Sim, who continue to labor in and on their nascent hideout. But they've had word from the Twilights too. It seems apparent that the Fae may be coming to Nexus, en masse, and girded for war. [20:07] 14Dire news indeed. Stranger's method of coping, as usual, is reading. 15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a number of lines of inquiry people can pursue, and some question of the united front. Pellicia knows that Stranger and Judge are Anathema, for instance - though she wouldn't know Judge if she bumped into him on the street. [20:09] 14That, of course, was an unparalleled success. Pellicia already suspected they were 'Anathema' to begin with -- they merely confirmed her suspicions, while receiving useful information in return. 15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD> It's true. On the whole, while things may be getting (or revealing themselves to be) steadily worse, the Chosen themselves are racking up success after success. 15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD> So what's next? [20:09] 14And additionally, Stranger is fairly certain he impressed upon her the importance of keeping the Wyld Hunt from Nexus's gates -- at least one focused on Nexus itself, as opposed to the armies that apparently approach. [20:10] 14For Stranger, what's next is Councilor Kratz. [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's frowning to himself and keeping a hand at his chin as he leaves the home of Omphaloskepsis. Hmm... hmmm. He wasn't actually careful enough, there. Did his research but didn't act on it. Lucked out, though. [20:11] <@Ferrinus> "So," 12he says to Blossom. "White and black are magic, right? Which makes gold, what... prayer book?" 14[20:13] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[20:14] * Joins: dammitwho [20:14] 4Judge needs to track down Moira Malcavet, and find out more about this man he can barely remember. [20:15] 14At the moment, Stranger is splitting his time between the hideout and the teahouse, entertaining visitors in or around either. In his spare time, he's reading about the art of never being there. [20:15] 14Dodging, that is. [20:17] 14Specifically Elisse de Mortac's 'The River and the Riven,' a treatise expounding on the mental state of the warrior that moves and bends, and so erodes. Interesting stuff, to be sure, but his work does occasionally intervene. [20:19] 4Ra squeaks and tries to do the moves along with him. [20:19] 14Ra squeaks and tries to do the moves along with him. [20:20] 7Blossom nods as she shifts the weight of the books in her hands. "Something like that. Prayer book, philosophical text, religious scripture..." 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> If Blossom's skimmed it, she'll know that quite a lot of it is given over to tables of numbers. [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And you're lookin' to, what. Start it all up? Temples, priesthoods?" 15[20:21] <@VoxPVoxD> The dimensions of temples, the rates of sacraments. 15[20:21] <@VoxPVoxD> The logistics of the faith. [20:23] 14While reading, and training, and holding forth a dialogue with the good people of the neighborhood and the teahouse, Stranger will also have been keeping an eye on the outsider population of Nexus -- the naturalized demons and Fair Folk who live among humans and who, Stranger must admit, he feels a bit of vestigial responsibility for as a negotiator between their kind and humanity. [20:23] 14What he's learned has alarmed him: [20:23] 14They're leaving. [20:23] 14And they're not taking their things with them. [20:23] 7Blossom: "Eventually. But first I need to know what I need to do. When are the daily prayers, and what are the words? What sacrifices does he prefer, and when should they be given?" [20:24] 14Part of him is glad of this; fewer Fair Folk and demons on the streets means fewer instances where the City Watch or, Sun save us, Lookshites cut down perfectly peaceable, reasonable folk. [20:24] 7Blossom: "Ask nothing of your followers you would not do yourself." [20:24] 14The other part, of course, wonders what they know that he doesn't. [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You get to be high priestess? Or hierophant or archbishop or whatever?" [20:25] 7Blossom: "I don't know what the title is yet." [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Do I get one?" [20:26] 14Stranger looks up from his reading as they walk in. "One what?" [20:26] "And do I get one?" [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Fancy position in the religion Blossom wants to set up." [20:27] 14Stranger blinks. "That's ambitious. ...I approve." [20:28] "Restore. The religion I want to restore. I'm sure the other Chosen of the Sun are acknowledged somehow." [20:29] 14Stranger puts down his reading. "So. Important news:" [20:29] "I've told Pellicia what we are." [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, yeah, definitely. RestWHAT?" [20:29] 14He raises a finger. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...what'd she say?" [20:29] "She didn't seem very surprised, or upset." [20:30] "And she has agreed to work with us, and specifically against a Wyld Hunt. Which we all agree would be disastrous at this hour." [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hot damn. How'd you pull that one off?" [20:31] "Uh. I'm not so sure she was agreeing to actually work against a Wyld Hunt. She's definitely not going to call one, but..." 4The Judge shrugs philosophically. [20:31] 14Stranger stands. "Yes, we were mainly confirming what we expected already. Nevertheless, Keldar, if you are going to see her it might be worth the effort to make sure she knows we're all on the same team." [20:31] 14Stranger: "Yes, for clarification's sake: I believe she will resist the calling of a Hunt." [20:31] "If one does get called..." [20:31] "...Well, let's make sure it doesn't come to that." [20:32] 14To Keldar: "The question game." [20:32] 14Stranger: "It's also how I know what happened to Astrologer Kratz." [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I can't remember the last time I saw a question game that didn't just make banditry go down easier." [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What's up with her?" [20:33] 14Stranger: "She prophesied too loudly and too much." [20:33] 14He pauses to stroke Ra's head. "And so they have her locked away in asylum." [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What'd she prophsey?" [20:34] 4Judge: "They made a big show of how she foretold doomsdays, so she must be crazy. But now... maybe she was right?" [20:34] 14Stranger: "Something about the Emissary dying. Sounded familiar." [20:36] 14To Blossom and Keldar: "How was your meeting with the outsider?" [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hmm. Well, here's what we got. Balor came here with a quartet of, like, lieutenants and girlfriends and stuff. They all betrayed him at the Empress's word - s'what killed him here, years ago." [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Now it's likely one or all of them are on their way back. The strongest's Cethleann, from straight east. She's ishvara - the kind of faerie that gives gods trouble." [20:37] 14Stranger's pensive lean against the wall of the hideout is, perhaps, undermined by Ra gleefully leaping from shoulder to head to shoulder to head to shoulder... [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "As for the bees... apparently decent raksha shouldn't think too hard about such things, so Omph didn't." [20:38] 4Judge: "'Decent' raksha? What does that mean?" [20:38] 4Judge: "'Decent' raksha? What does that mean?" [20:38] 14Stranger: "I thank you for bearing that news to our doorstep, Keldar, but I hate that it's here." [20:38] 14To Judge: "I suspect that's a question that Xu Sim can shed more light on." [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I guess even they've got taboos. Honestly, though, Omph seemed more than decent. Dude sniffed out me and Blossom straightaway... then says it's cool because he loves Creation and is happy to see our return to it?" [20:40] 14Stranger nods. "He's likely even telling the truth. Both Fair Folk and demons are fair from uniform in their hatred of Creation. As much as they can be the enemy -- and as impossibly alien and horrific they can become when they do so -- they can still be people." [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Mind you, that's what I'd say if I had two demons at my door." [20:40] 14Not human. But people. [20:41] "Hmm?" 14He looks up. "Oh. We're not demons." [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "C'mon, man. It sounds so cool." [20:41] 7Blossom: "Demons are not cool. They are pathetic." [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It depends." [20:42] 14Stranger straightens and steps away from the wall. "It's a matter of taxonomy, not style. Demons are a specific thing. We are not them; they are not us." [20:42] 14Xu Sim is notably absent for this proclamation. [20:42] 4Judge: "I don't know much about the Fair Folk, nor demons. I've fought one, but I just fought it like I'd fight a person." [20:44] 3 [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I've fought demons. It really depends on the kind you pull. Apes are pretty popular in these parts, and they're basically straightforward - which doesn't stop 'em from being insanely dangerous." 12He pauses. "To a mortal, anyway." [20:44] What's he building in there?" [20:44] 14Stranger feels like...he has a much more intimate martial history with demons and Fair Folk and the creatures of the Wyld. Much more detailed and varied than he can recall; something slips beyond him, back into history, back into the nostalgic startlement he feels sometimes, rounding the corners of this city. [20:45] "Mmmm," 14is all he says aloud. [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But yeah, uh - we wanna see this astrologer, right? And, like, get patrols or something posted as far as we can manage, so's we see the up to four faerie armies headed our way coming." [20:45] 4Judge: "I think an ape is the kind I killed. It certainly looked like one, anyway." [20:45] 3The phrase becomes a common question asked in the Floodwater that day. [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "'Erymanthus', the Blood Ape. Watch out for their deadly rip your fucking head off attack." [20:46] 3The clang of hammers and the grinding of stone rises up from the broken ground where the old hovel once stood, now wrecked and jagged where Mud has collapsed walls and ripped up floors. [20:46] "Weak kneecaps for their size and frame, though." [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ain't they j- I said AIN'T THEY JU- how long is that noise going to go on?" [20:51] 14Stranger: "Until the work is done." [20:52] 3Passers-by in intervals notice the shrinking piles of bricks, planks, stones and soil inverse to the structure's growth, its builder ducking in and out for drinks, a joke, a quick snack before girding himself in a flaxen harness holding another load of material and disappearing back into the stifling depths. And then he returns, smelling of sweat and sawdust. At sun's peak when the [20:52] 3wharf's mugginess is at its most intolerable the sounds of sawing and grinding still waft up through the floorboards and over the freshly-cobbled streets. [20:59] 4While Mud and Straw builds, the Judge watches... and thin fingers replace one nail with another mid-hammer blow without being noticed. 14[21:01] * Joins: ddt [21:01] 3Come nightfall the the sunset transforms the structure into a trapezoidal sillhouette of hardened adobe; the builder within appears now to work by lanternlight if the bronze glow moving from window to window is any indication. The walls are thick, to trap in warmth and keep out the unwelcome. The windows are small, for the same. The roof, as is common of the slums of Nexus, is an [21:01] 3uneven mixture of shingles and thatching, though here the patchwork pattern is done in careful, colorful bands of red tiles and golden hay. 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> It's cozy. [21:04] 14The man does good work. [21:05] 3The final brick is slotted into the wall between the third and fourth bedroom and quickly entombed behind pressed stucco. Mud and Straw exhales, picks up his tools, and retires downstairs to drink. [21:06] 14As he walks in: "A toast! To the best builder in the Scavenger Lands!" [21:06] 14Stranger is toasting with tea, but it's the thought that counts. [21:06] "Skoal!" 3Mud throws his head back and downs the contents of the bamboo flask. [21:08] "I am pleased that you find it to your liking, Stranger!" 3He pats his belly approvingly. "You will find that the walls of your quarters have a tiny passage carved into them, to allow friends access and routes of egress." [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's been out - to eat, to check on his own home and various stashes of weapons and knicknacks, and - unless something made it intractably difficult - to pass on to Pellicia and the city watch in general that multiple invasions might lie in the city's future. All right, maybe she doesn't want to hear the whole story of how he found out, but it can't hurt to post sentries and send [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12a few messages, right? Just be appraised of stuff? C'mon. [21:09] 14Stranger smiles and raises his cup again. "The wise woman of the neighborhood has other matters she's brought to my attention -- things the townsfolk could use your expertise in. When you have a moment, of course." [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12When the warrior returns to the Circle's base, licking the remnants of some lethally spicy Southern meal off his fingers, he's taken aback. "Holy shit. I kept thinking I'd taken a wrong turn." [21:10] "The kitchen is regrettably not yet stocked, but it is furnished quite well. There is a chamber for the holding of ice-blocks and, of course, an oven that we will need to fue-oh! Of course! I'll need a few minutes to drink, and then I'd be happy to begin anew." [21:10] 14Stranger: "Hopefully it's not so obvious from the outside. We are, after all, attempting to keep this place moderately secret." [21:10] 7Blossom is used to studying while people work around her. [21:10] "Still...there's no harm in taking pride in a job done well." [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar thumps a random wall, which to his vague disappointment doesn't so much as rumble rather than collapsing in a spray of brick, dust, and pent-up hilarity. "This is - this is really nice. And it's all you?" [21:11] 3The fat man nods sagely. [21:12] 14Ra, meanwhile, has disappeared into the small tunnel above the common room table, only to emerge up above a sconce somehow to leap down onto Mud's shoulder and playfully nip his ear. [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That's nuts. Hey, can you do manses?" [21:12] "Ra!" 14Stranger calls out with a frown. "My apologies, he's usually better behaved--" [21:12] 3He roars with laughter, nearly bucking off the minute rodent. "I think he likes it!" [21:12] "I've never tried, Keldar. But now... maybe?" [21:13] "I've never built a home in a day before, either." [21:13] "Nor a bridge, come to think of it." [21:13] 14At that the white-haired man blinks and falls silent. Well, if he allows it...why not? [21:13] "It's very impressive. I've never built anything." [21:14] "Aww, but I'm sure you've noticed the hidden murder-holes." [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Aw, man. We gotta get us some - yeah, me neither. Goddamn, hey, I bet we could even use you on, like, the city walls and things. In case of oh yeah." [21:14] "It's perfectly defensible from the inside." [21:14] "The doors are reinforced, and the basement is well-stocked." [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Listen - about the last legal tiff going on before the Emissary bit it was about the public grain stores." [21:15] 14To the group at large: "I've already reached an...arrangement with the locals. But I would advise caution about public works outside of Floodwater. The attention might not be too our liking, even with Pellicia in our corner." [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Long story short, the side interested in maintaining 'em lost and they've now been almost completely sold off. If it comes to siege we're fucked." [21:15] 14He grimaces. "Altruism is not given its respectful due in this city." [21:15] "We could start our own!" [21:15] "That reminds me, I do need some flour." [21:15] 14Stranger sighs. "That...does sound like a worthy project, however." [21:16] "We should at least attempt to properly clear it through the city bureaucracy." [21:17] 7She looks up, thoughtfully. "I thought Nexus was legally required by the Council to maintain its grain stores. Did that change?" [21:17] "I suppose... I suppose." 3He contemplates fatly. A moment passes: "Let's go to the roof and drink!" [21:17] "When the weather improves, we can sit and contemplate the machiniations of the celestial spheres, perhaps!" [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, to Blossom: "Riiiight at the end. I've got the series of civilities marked out if you wanna see." [21:18] "Guess we need to find a way to get the city more grain, and fast." [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not really right that Keldar's own room in this secret base currently looks more like an accountant's office than a famed warrior's trophy room, but that's just how things work out, sometimes. Keldar soon produces the relevant paperwork if anyone's interested. 14[21:19] * Joins: Nicolae [21:20] 7Blossom is interested, at least. [21:20] 3Keldar is, of course, always looking for traps, so when he enters his room he isn't shocked to discover a number of hidden slots within the walls- perfect for hiding away weapons, coin, or evidence. An indent in the floor right after the door can be filled with a trap at a later date and a rug laid over it- provided that the mercenary remembers it when he returns after a night of [21:20] 3drinking. Many a paranoid adventurer has met his end that way. [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And it didn't actually - no, I ain't telling this right. It didn't change. It's just... no one seems to care, right now. They're not being refilled." [21:21] 14Stranger: "I'll leave the grain issue to you all. I doubt Kratz can help much on that account anyway." [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Who's immediately responsible for restocking the granaries that isn't, then? [21:23] 7Blossom: "Who is being lax?" [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I got it here somewhere-" 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> The granaries are Midday Husband Hayle's domain, being that he is the Councilor with responsibility for health infrastructure. [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Papers rustle. Keldar says: "There we go. Hayle." [21:25] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven prepares totake his leave at this point. He has a parallel investigation to pursue... [21:25] *14to take [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We should pay this Hayle guy a visit, is my thinking. Eh?" [21:28] "Do you want me to hit him?" [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Mmmmaybe." [21:29] 3Mud is secreting away a brace of bamboo flasks inside his robes. Liquid swishes back and forth as he stands. "Sounds fun! Let's go!" [21:29] "If you want I can write up a proposal and a feasibility survey while we walk." [21:31] 3He uncorks his inkwell and produces a scroll from one of the wooden shelves set into the adobe, turning to Keldar expectantly. [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What for, grain? Walls?" 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Well. Let's get to it, then. The next day Mud, Keldar, and Stranger walk the streets of Nexus, ready to make trouble for some councilors. People will stop and cheer as the three of them stroll through the streets - heroes be they all. The bees are thicker and more present than ever. Once or twice someone stumbles, dreamlike, almost directly into one of the Solars. Some people talk furtively in the streets of honey. 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Which councilor will they treat with first: Kratz's lonely tower, or Hayle's busy music hall? [21:34] 14Stranger's on edge. The whole city's on edge. The bees... [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar does his best to swat or snatch bees out of the air, but it's getting to be like counting grains of sand. [21:34] 14To his companions: "I say Kratz first. In case we raise Hayle's ire and he moves to block us seeing her." [21:35] "He wouldn't stop us, but I'd prefer it not be an issue at all." [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Good call." 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Back in Floodwater, Blossom has an unprecedented amount of peace to engage in study. If not for the chattering of the whales in the water Mud carefully left intact as he build, and the odd sounds coming from Xu Sim's laboratory, it'd be totally silent. Still, though - it's nice. Where has she decided to start? [21:36] 14Unless Mud objects, off we go then to the lonely tower. Ra squeaks and skitters beneath Stranger's robe. [21:37] 3Mud has his scroll unfurled as they walk, writing in his loose chickenscratch with each plodding step. If the diversion bothers him, he doesn't let anyone know. [21:37] "What are the name of all of the councilers, again?" 3He pokes and prods with the occasional question. 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Meanwhile, Judge has a moment to undertake a bit of work that's been nagging in the back of his mind since before the Emissary's death. Where does he seek Moira Malcavet first, and what face does he wear for the job? [21:38] 4The Judge (today disguised as a young crimson-haired man) is making his way to Moira's office to check up on her, and her husband that he scarcely remembers. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar counts off on his fingers. "Well, there's the Emissary, of course. Or was. Not sure what's up with Surik yet." [21:40] 7First with the gold book. It isn't the most pragmatic choice given the power that sorcery affords, but learning about that fabled lost age the Immaculates preach against in horror - when she and her kind ruled with (she's sure of it) justice and wisdom - feels wonderful. Just the first few pages make her stand up and stalk about the common area with her fists balled beneath her chin [21:40] 7in glee. [21:41] "Emissary, sure. Should I still include him on the list of councilers to name? You know, even though-" [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Past him, there's eight Entities: Brueghel for archives, Ephiselle for spies, Hayle on health, Kratz on... uh... astrology... Gen's an assayer, Pellicia is mercs, Thalevar's boats, and Udelph's, like. Commoners." [21:41] "Out of respect." [21:42] "Of course, of course." 3Scritchascratch goes the quill. [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The Emissary was more of an enforcer than an administrator or whatever. He'd only put his foot down about what the laws should be if he had no other choice." [21:43] "Right, right. But he died. Should I still list him on the council? Would that be rude?" [21:44] 14Stranger frowns. "Hrm. You should address them as...Dawn Sergeant Pellicia. Midday Husband Hayle. Evening Master Brueghel. Astrologer Kratz. Doctor Udelph. Master Gen, Minister of Ways. Midnight Queen Ephiselle. August Thalever, Harbor-Master." [21:44] "Very good, very good." [21:45] "I would name the Emissary, but list him in absentia." [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I actually forget if the Emissary counts as an Entity or not." 12He scratches his head and squints into the distance, racking his brains. 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> The Judge finds Moira's office quite busy. The surgeon and physician has quite a lot of business - two of her peers being murdered opened up a lot of clientele, it looks like. None of the people Judge must navigate are gravely wounded - their moaning and rambling brings him more to mind of a drunk tank than a hospital. Most of these people are fucked up. 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> She herself is darting in and out, taking people, giving them medicine, and sending them on their way as quickly as she can without being rude. [21:46] 14Stranger shakes his head. "The specific political distinction is unnecessary. Listing the Emissary -- reminding the people of his reality, his existence, and his possible return -- that is a worthy result in itself." 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> There are nine seats on the Council of Entities - one of which has belonged to the Emissary since the city was 'founded'. [21:46] "And one, I hope, the other Councilors will respect." [21:46] "Right. And the population of Nexus' districts, the average income in currency or equivalent bushels of barley, and the average revenue generated by-" 3he goes on like this for quiet a while, rattling off numbers off the top of his head, pausing, calculating, writing. Mud and Straw wanders off from the others from time to time, asking questions of locals before waddling back to the [21:46] 3others. [21:47] "Are we far from where the Astrologer is?" [21:47] 14The tower should be close, now. [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, no, the Emissary's on there. Nine chairs." [21:48] 4Does their manner of being fucked up seem familiar? Pollen familiar? 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom studies. The book begins with a declaration of the faith - Hear, Creation! See the Sun, Invincible, Indivisible, Unconquered! Love Him with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength! [21:48] 7Yeah! Yeah!! 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> This is the Dawn Prayer. 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> You know, now that Judge thinks of it... it does. But, moreso. [21:50] 14He pauses as they approach. "Actually, Mud. 'August Councilor of the Eclipse Thalever.' Not just August Thalever. Don't shorten it, if you would. Make sure you mention the Eclipse." [21:51] 14He should meet this man, that claims his same birthright. [21:51] 14If only in title. [21:51] 4Is she treating her patients in a common area, or taking them away? [21:51] "Naturally!" 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> She's treating them one by one. She's not quite overwhelmed enough to triage like that. 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a young woman out in front, managing the front door and desk. "Sir? Do you have an appointment?" 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz's tower is atop quite a steep hill, overlooking the northwestern quarter of the city. There are people in the streets, bees in the air, and guards at the door. They look to be of the same mercenary company Keldar remembers from the Crematory Temple. [21:54] 14To Keldar: "Your play." [21:55] "Oh! And whose mercenaries are these!" [21:55] "No," 4he says quietly, "Is it possible I could see the doctor anyway?" [21:55] "I should add that in- no point in doing an analysis without spekaing of the complications arising from an inadequate supply of grain to the soldiery!" 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom keeps reading. She reads a brief meditation on the origins of the Exalted Host - raised by the Most High from the ranks of humanity to to wage war against the tyrant worldmakers, the Primordials. Their might and will and genius - led on all fronts by the Solar Exalted, greatest champions of the greatest of gods - beat the Primordials back, slew some, and forced the remainder into surrender. 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Mighty oaths sworn by the Solar Hosts bound the Primordials, warped their flesh, and made of them Hell. [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, the Dust Devils. "Ho, there!" 12says Keldar, advancing on the tower along with Stranger and Mud. "We'll just be in and out." [21:59] 14To Keldar, quietly: "Who hired them? Pellicia?" 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> The woman, to the Judge: "She's quite busy... why don't you go sit down inside and I'll let her know you're here. Should I give her a name?" 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> The Dust Devils are dark-skinned men with red-and-gold tattoos, largely. Their faces are covered and their arms are bare. "On whose authority?" asks one of the ones at the door, sizing Keldar up. [22:00] 4"Verin." 4He sits down, trying to look appropriately miserable. [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Presumably." [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar muttered that to Stranger, and is mostly speaking with the guards. "Dawn Sergeant's. We're looking into threats against the city." [22:01] 14Stranger nods imperceptibly, still smiling congenially at the guards. [22:05] 3Mud is penning the outline of a locust onto his ever-growing missive; a thick, brutal swatch of red is across its neck. Alarming figures are stenciled into the margins. 4FAMINE: NINETY OF ONE HUNDRED PER-CENT. [22:06] 3He glances up from his scroll to the loitering mercenaries: "Hello! Would you gentlemen be willing to assist me in a project regarding food sustainability and accessibility in the city of Nexus?" 14[22:07] * Parts: Nicolae [22:08] "Good,"3 he begins. "Would you, in the event of an impending Wyld invasion, rate food stocks as a high or low priority in the event of an otherworldly siege?" [22:09] 14To the guard Keldar isn't addressing: "He's doing a survey. It's important." [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar tosses an absent-minded "Yes," 12Mud's way, because, hell, he's a Nexus mercenary too. [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Uh, I mean, high." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "Verin" is led to the waiting room and allowed to sit. The chairs are a bit uncomfortable, but the room is decorated nicely. That portrait he remembers, of Moira and her husband, is right in his light of sight as he sits down. [22:11] 4Does it seem unusual in any way? Does anything in the office stand out? [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks back at the men flanking the actual door. "We have a problem or what? This is important business." 12There's something about the way that Keldar's brusque disregard is shading, towards the edges, into active attention and building annoyance that'd be troubling to anyone hoping for an easy day on the job. [22:14] "Good, good." 3Scratch, scratch, scratch. "Are you concerned about the marketplace implications of grain shortages? High or low- and then, do you think the events surrounding the recent issue of the River gods on the Grey could destabilize Nexus' food supply?" 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> The other mercenaries don't seem to want to talk to Mud and Straw, and answer his survey questions only with great reluctance. It's easy to get the impression that they don't care about Nexus politics any more than they're paid to. 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> The ones at the door exchange a look and then shrug in unison, parting to admit the three Solars. [22:15] 14Stranger, to the guards as they pass inside: "Do we need to sign in? Surely you have a registry of those who visit." 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a ledger inside. 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> As well as another guard. Not a Dust Devil. This one looks local. [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar strides on through. He tries to remember, as he does, what Kratz even looks like. Is that even known to the public? 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "You son of a bitch." [22:16] 14Stranger nods in gratitude, then moves to examine the ledger. [22:16] 14That expletive aimed at them? 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> At Keldar. 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> It seems good-natured, though, and almost instantly Stranger notices the green sash around their shoulder. [22:17] 14Surprises abound. Hopefully this means Stranger will get the opportunity to check the Astrologer's visitors from the night of her escape attempt up until now in relative peace. [22:17] 14Ah. [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Who's this fellow? Keldar isn't actually dressed as though on duty, but he favors a green tunic for a reason. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> This, Keldar knows, is Vigo, a mid-level operative in the Ninth Orchard Company routinely contracted out for guard duty. A small, furry animal is napping at his feet. [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Vigo! Didn't realize we had a piece of this job. All quiet?" 12Now the Dawn'll even condescend to sign in. 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Vigo: "Yeah, yeah. Nice and boring. All's I got to do is make sure the doctors don't sneak anything out of her office, Pellicia says. Past that, it's a plum job." [22:20] 14Stranger waves Keldar off. In the registry, he simply notes three arrows, pointing heavensward. Then he checks the previous visitors. 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> A consultation of the ledger will reveal that there have been several visits in the past couple of days, each totaling no more than half an hour or an hour in length. [22:20] 14Were they similarly circumspect with identification? [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "She sick?" 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Vigo shrugs. "She better be, what these Guild doctors must be costing. I haven't had to send anybody up to clean up after her or anything." He nods at Stranger and Mud. [22:21] 14Guild doctors. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Guild... doctors." 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Vigo nods. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "They, uh. They mention what she's sick with?" 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> The Judge leans back and takes the scene in. At first glance, it's a normal - if hectic - doctor's office. People moaning and complaining, etc. The kind of place you'd hate to spend some time. But he digs a little deeper, and sees that not all is as it appears. [22:25] 14Stranger: "Mud, you wouldn't happen to know any medicine, would you?" 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> One, he's pretty sure that everyone in this room - everyone who's actually sick, at least - has a variation on the same illness. Delirium, rambling, wild and distant eyes. These people are either mad or deeply intoxicated. From their manner of dress - a lot of people Judge would expect to see in an opium den - he'd guess the latter. 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> It's like what Xu Sim has been suffering from, but much more acute. 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Two, the room is densely packed, and the smell of all the people presses on him. Their sweat, their breath, it's hot and oppressive, and it smells cloyingly sweet. [22:26] 3Mud replaces the ink well into his robes and rolls up his scroll. "I have done a bit in my time on the levee, when an apothecary was unavailable. We had a few outbreaks return from men returning from leave." 14[22:27] * Joins: autopsyturvey 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Three, there are four people in this building who aren't afflicted. The young woman at the door, Moira, the Judge himself, and the little man walking in right now with a big bag full of vegetables. [22:27] 14Stranger: "Do you feel competent to do an assessment on the health of the Astrologer upstairs?" [22:27] "I can manage that!" 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo walks into the middle of the room, sniffs, and peers around from behind his dark glasses. [22:27] "Fantastic." 14He hasn't looked up from the ledger yet. [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I could... bind a wound. But, hell, I guess we just bring in X- ...our physician if need be." 12H coughs. [22:28] 14Yes, that was the name Stranger was avoiding. 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Vigo: "Some kind of dreaming sickness. A variant on what's messing with all the lowlifes and the party kids in merchant families. You guys've heard about this stuff, right?" [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12If Stranger were really as wise and compassionate as he pretended he wouldn't so cruelly flaunt having more than one Guile. [22:29] "I think, Keldar, for the moment -- I think the Astrologer needs privacy. I think, perhaps, no more guild doctors." 14Stranger looks over at Vigo. "If I might impose -- what is their schedule, and when will they visit next?" 14[22:29] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) [22:29] 4Great. Great. Good thing Judge has one of the world's best poker faces, or he'd be freaking out right now. As it is, he just appears to be ill. [22:30] 14He might be able to tell this from the ledger, but then, maybe they're not signing in. 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> He gives the Judge a bit more of his attention - ill or not, he's plainly not suffering what the others are, but the Judge's red flags don't go up when Bubo vanishes into the back with the food. 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom reads more. 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> There's information here about the Oaths the Solar Hosts swore and demanded in the ultimate victory of humanity against inhumanity. There are names, here, of the specific heroes who presided over those oaths, as well as feast days to commemorate them. Kira presided over the Oath of Five Thousand Dragons. Rising Star presided over the Oath of Brass and Chains. Stranger-Visits-Heaven presided over the Silver Pact. Inalam presided over the Oath of the Stars. [22:35] 14... [22:35] 14Something tickles the back of Stranger's neck. [22:35] 14Ra's on his hip. [22:35] 14It's probably nothing. 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Vigo: "Tonight, is my guess. They usually come right after sundown." 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> A check of the ledgers will confirm. [22:36] 14Stranger: "Keldar, a word in private." [22:37] 14Mud too, of course. [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods. If there's not much else to ask of Vigo, seems like 'private' could mean 'on the way up to Kratz', even. 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> The business of the waiting room continues. Though the next time Moira emerges, she has her mouth full as she calls for a patient. Is the Judge going to wait to be called or is he going to make a move? [22:38] 7The Dragon-blooded and Malfeans are obvious, the Silver Pact probably has to do with the 'Silver Anathema', whatever they are. But the Oath of the Stars? [22:38] 14Once they've got some privacy on the way up: "I suspect you're both as concerned about these 'guild doctors' as myself." [22:39] 4The Judge waits his turn. Before he didn't want to arouse suspicion. Now he doesn't dare. [22:39] 14Oh, also: were the guild doctors' visits the only oddity about the ledger? 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia herself signed in the night after Stranger and Judge went to see her. 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Past that, it's quiet. [22:40] "What are they doing? Clearly not their job, since the astrologer seems ill as ever!" [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hell yeah I am. I dunno what the Guild thinks it wants but it doesn't sound like its representatives here are thinkin' long-term." [22:40] "If she were getting better, she wouldn't be in the tower. I'm pretty sure that's how it works." [22:41] 14He'd be shocked if that weren't the case. "Therefore, you would agree we're all on the same page when I propose we do this: perform our own examination of the Astrologer, ask her questions gently and as best we're able...and end our forbearance the moment the guild physicians step into her bedchambers." [22:41] 4The red-haired youth stands up and waves his hand. "I'm sorry, doctor, I know I don't have an appointment, but..." [22:42] 3Mud grants Stranger a jowly nod. [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That'd work better if we found something to pin on 'em. Otherwise they just shrug a lot." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira regards the man: "What seems to be the problem?" a surprising emotion crosses her face: relief. [22:43] 14Stranger: "I will not accept shrugs." [22:43] "But yes. I presume things will become much clearer once Mud has done his examination." [22:44] "I've had terrible headaches as of late, and no amount of rest seems to cure them." 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom isn't sure, though something comes to mind. Omphaloskepsis of the Drifting Disk told them, when speaking of the curious little man, the one she can barely remember, who pressed that prayer strip into her hands. To know him, he said, you must look to love. And to the stars. [22:45] 14With that settled, presumably they will proceed to the top of the tower. 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira looks past him at the crowd of delirious people. "Come on back," she says. She's plainly grateful for the chance to treat something besides whatever these people have. On the way past the curtained corridors into the (cooler, fresher) rear of the offices, she asks, "You haven't taken with the Prisoner's Honey, then?" [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12It'd sure be nice if Kratz was at all lucid. [22:46] 14Stranger doesn't gamble, but if he did, he'd have jade on her lucidity being precisely the disease the guild sought to cure. [22:47] "Prisoner's Honey? What's that? It sounds dreadful." 4Judge would like to speak candidly, but before he knows what Bubo's deal is and where he's gone, he's got to sell it. 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> The door to Kratz's apartment at the top of the tower is heavy wood and iron. It's unlocked, though, and reveals a densely packed circular chamber, filled with globes, crystals, (crystal globes), metal bobs and hanging mobiles of the sun and moon and stars. Their presence disturbs the air, and the bric-a-brac tingles like wind chimes. 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> In her bed at the east of the room, Astrologer Kratz is unconscious. [22:47] 14Stranger: "Mud!" [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar watches the astrological paraphernalia for a moment just in case it responds to the entrance of three Chosen, and then cases the rest of the room. 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> She's a young-looking woman with dark hair, dressed in long shimmering bed robes of blue and violet. There's a gem seated on her forehead, long and thin. [22:49] 7Hmm. Perhaps the Solar Host of old tamed the stars, binding them to some service? She's heard of astrologers who make their fortunes telling peasants and barbarian kings the future through stargazing, and some sorcerers who construct elaborate orreries for their own mysterious purposes. [22:49] 7Perhaps Dorma's servant - what was his name? - is some kind of astrologer. 14[22:51] * Joins: Nicolae [22:52] 14Stranger steps back to let Mud work, joining Keldar in examining the room -- but from a stationary position in its center, peering outwards, not quite between worlds -- not quite looking at ghosts -- but with a piercing contemplation of the mystery of concept, not the mystery of mechanics. [22:54] 3Mud steps up to the bed and gently taps the Astrologer's shoulder. "Beg pardon, miss...?" 3Does she wake, or otherwise stir? 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira Malcavet: "You've seen the bees, surely? Well, they make honey. A lot of it. Very quickly. For a few days they sold it in the markets as food, but, well," she makes a frustrated gesture back at the waiting room. "Now they sell it in the opium dens." 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "The delirium... I've never seen anything like it before. People've taken to calling it the honey-maze." 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar's immediately sure that this room was picked over carefully by people looking for something. He can't tell what, though - nothing is obviously disturbed or out of place. [22:58] "So, what, it's some kind of drug?" 4The man seems confused. "That makes them... like that?" [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, that's just annoying. 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger, though, knows. Something was taken, and it was replaced with something else. He focuses his attention, feels the essence flows in the room, and... there. A crystal set in the glittering steel mobile hanging over Kratz's bed. It's simple quartz. Stranger knows it shouldn't be, and he knows Kratz would know that too, were she awake. 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Unfortunately, as Mud carefully deduces, she isn't. She's in a coma. Poisoned. 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> A very, very subtle concoction... Xu Sim might be impressed, even. It's robbed her of her waking faculties. She's in a lasting, dreamless sleep. [23:01] 14Stranger walks up to it. Raises the end of his cane. "This. This should not be here." 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira: "Yes. Now, come this way." [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Eh? Is it cursed or anything?" [23:02] 4The young man follows obediently, while Judge's eyes rake his surroundings for any hints of anything out of place or any hint of Bubo. [23:03] 14Stranger hooks it with the cane and pulls it down from the mobile. "No. It's nothing. It's junk. But it used to be more." [23:03] "Ah," 3Mud scowls as he notes the Astrologer's slow breathing. Her pallid complexion. The prominence of her veins. "I see." [23:04] "She has been poisoned." [23:04] "This is the trash they left in the place of actual artifice." 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> As Moira leads the Judge into an examination room, he overhears the sound of a knife rapidly rising and falling on wood, and a man's voice singing. "Just like the tree~ that's standing by the wa~ ter~ side~ We shall not be moved~" [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Poisoned? How recently?" [23:05] 14Stranger nods. "One suspects that, given the routine nature of the 'guild doctor' visits to her, this is a poisoning that requires substantial upkeep, lest time itself be the cure. Does that match your assessment?" [23:05] "I'm not sure, but I know the symptoms when I see them! And I actually have seen this before!" 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Mud can tell, if he thinks about it now, that the amount of poison in her system is very carefully maintained. She's getting dosed every day, he'd guess, to keep her at this precise level. Someone wanted her out of commission, but didn't want her dead. [23:05] "Up on the river there is this tiny little conical snail, you see, and one day, we got it in our minds to have buttered snails, you see, like mom used to make-" [23:06] "Let's just say that one thing led to another and half our workmen spent the month piled like cordwood in the back of my wagon on the way to the apothecaries!" [23:07] "I only ate a half-dozen," 3he admits, sheepishly. [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So this'd be... is it a one time thing? Do they have to get her over and over?" [23:08] 14Stranger chuckles. "But, less the poison, they recovered?" [23:08] "They recovered, and yes. The dose is probably... daily? For it to be measured." [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's eyes flash. "Oh, that's it." [23:08] "A spoonful at a time." [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm gonna have Vigo sign us out and then we're gonna hang out here with the windows drawn and door shut. I'm fucking those doctors up." [23:10] 14Stranger's smile is oddly wide, with too many teeth. "Then I suppose, Keldar, you should tell your man Vigo that he's to let the guild doctors up when he gets here. And then he's to go home for the night. And no matter what the men outside hear, they're to just watch the road and think about supper." [23:10] "Yess! And I can finish my missive!" [23:10] "After that, though, we need to make sure that this kind woman is rehabilitated. We should acquire Xu Sim." [23:11] 14Stranger nods. "We can't move her now. It might spook the doctors. But once we're done with them, we should relocate her to Floodwater." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> "Take care of it right now." 12Keldar's immediately downstairs, and the look in his eyes as he explains what Vigo should do isn't one that Vigo hasn't seen before. 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom reads more. Ignis Divine, sanctify me. Lord of Light, save me. God-spark, humble me. Love of the Most High, match your might and wit and will to mine. [23:11] 14He pauses. "She can have my room for a time. I've still got lodgings at the teahouse." 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> This is the Prayer of the Zenith, the midday prayer. [23:12] "Okay." 3Mud squats to the floor, assumes a martial posture and, reaching into his robes, produces his scroll and inkwell. He immediately sets to work. 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The Judge is in an examination room now, cool and quiet. "Now, tell me about these headaches," says Moira. [23:14] 4Can he still hear the knife and the singing? 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> He can, though it's muffled when she closes the door. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's tried to get both Vigo and the Dust Devils to draw down or at least stand nice and far away for the night. It'd probably be suspicious to get rid of them entirely, but Vigo at least knows to either be gone or to be curiously deaf once the Guildsmen have gone upstairs. Once the Dawn returns, he picks up the thread of conversation. "Not a bad idea. Long as we make sure there's [23:14] <@Ferrinus> no airflow from the lab to her room, and I assume Mud saw to that already." 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "On the way to Heaven~ we shall not be moved~" [23:15] "Fumes from the lab rise into a chute that leads into the main chimney!" [23:15] 14Stranger, in good humor: "I hope so, for my sake." [23:15] 4This is an enormous risk, then. "When the sun touches my brow, it burns fit to bursting," 4he says quietly. [23:15] "I would advise not to have a fire in the parlor at the same time that Xu is in his laboratory doing alchemies, but that's the concession you make for space." [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Once everything's set up, Keldar crosses his arms, leans back against the wall nearby the door, and more or less enters a reverie. (Possibly there's enough time between our visit and that of the doctors that we could/should have moved Kratz already...?) 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira: "Really? Do you find yourself working outdoors often?" [23:16] 14Stranger sits down against the wall, leaning his cane against his shoulder, appearing to fall asleep. 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> She's prodding his temples with firm touches. "Does this hurt?" [23:16] 14No, we keep Kratz here for now. [23:16] 14Moving her might alert the doctors. 14[23:16] * Joins: autopsy_turvey [23:16] 14Once they're disposed of, then we secret her away. [23:17] "Often. Not always." 4Guess that was too subtle. When you speak in code all the time, it's hard to tell. Is there anything weird about this room, incidentally? 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Nope. This room is totally unremarkable. It's very well-stocked, though. Someone has seen to it to make sure that Moira is wanting for nothing. [23:19] 4Does she seem odd? 14[23:20] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) [23:20] 14Stranger sits in a pile of discarded clothing, the grey of his robe blending with the soft earthen colors the Astrologist favored when she was healthy; the white of his hair the same as the discarded bedsheets behind it. [23:21] "I heard you were attacked in your office not long ago. It didn't worry you to come back? Your attacker could have been lurking about..." [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar worked as a bouncer for a brief stint, and that serves him well here. There's a certain arms-crossed pose in which menace and subtlety synergize rather than compete. 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> She doesn't seem odd at all. Well, she does when the Judge brings that up. "That was months ago. And two other doctors, my colleagues, were killed. I had to come back to work." She's plainly discomfited by the memory of almost being mauled by a blood ape. [23:23] 3Mud and Straw, for his party, stands in the corner. The good news is that, his massive size and portly shape goes a fair way in breaking up his sillhouette. The shapes that might be recognized as man are too distorted or far away from one another to register in the darkened observatory. [23:23] 14And now we wait. 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom now sees great schematics, outlined in verse, indicating the appropriate dimensions, structure, and materials for a temple that befits the Unconquered Sun's attention. [23:24] 3Mud guzzles down his flask until the room is nice and swimming. [23:25] 7Good. 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira: "Whether or not the Guild wanted me to. Whether or not the Judge would've wanted it. This is what I do." [23:26] "And did either of them? Want that, I mean." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom knows of a building that meets these specifications. One in Nexus. She's seen it on the horizon many a time, and its curvature is burned into her mind, the dome cutting over her sightline like a second sun. [23:28] 7Blossom feels her caste mark ignite, casting its warm glow onto the pages as her Essence rejoices in rediscovering its natural expressions. 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> The great hall in the heart of Firewander. The only city center. It's a temple to the Unconquered Sun. 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> *old city center 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira: "The Guild wanted me gone. The Judge wanted me in hiding. He saved me, you know. Before I'd ever heard of him. I saw his face." 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "To hell with all of them. Hold still." 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> The Judge can tell that the singing has stopped. [23:32] 4He holds still. "It's brave of you, then, to come back to help all these people even after all of that." 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "You sound like my husband, now." [23:34] 4I need to know what your husband sounds like right now, Judge thinks, listening hard for more strains of that song or that knife. 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> The three Solars wait. They wait and wait. Outside, the sun sets. Eventually they hear the trap of feet up the tower steps. Eventually the door creaks open. Eventually four people walk into the room - three women and a man, they proceed into the heart of the darkness. [23:41] 14Four of them. To poison one woman. Stranger's not even angry. He's not even disappointed. He's just somewhat annoyed. 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "Someone get a lamp," one of the women says. "I don't want to knock into any of this trash." [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar shifts his weight slightly. 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> The Judge concentrates. There is no movement. There is no sound. But there is... a presence. They aren't alone in this room. I should tell her my name, he hears himself think. I should admit that I am the Black Judge. [23:48] 4And yet, all that comes out is more pleasantries, "Your husband seems a good man. Bringing you lunch at work." [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12As soon as they're halfway across the room, Keldar moves - half the Circle moves, more likely than not. The man's knocked roughly aside by a tall dark shape that surges through all four of the 'doctors', sweeping forward to seize the woman leading them by the collar and whirl her around to hold her aloft in the middle of the chamber. There's a long, grey glint that describes a diagonal [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12line running from inches away from the doctor's face down to Keldar's other hand. "You motherfuckers," 12the mercenary growls. "How long did you think this would work? Huh? HUH?" [23:55] 3The door creaks shut and those who look back will find that a roughly bear-sized shape has come to rest before it. "Sorry," 3Mud mutters sheepishly. 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yes," Moira says, focusing on her examination. "He is. I'm sorry, I can't seem to- follow my finger, will you?" [23:56] "You should give up now," 3Mud mutters gently at the guildspeople. [23:57] 4The Judge seems to be a model patient, but his mind is racing. Who is this guy? How can he do this? 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> The intruders quail. "Who the fu-" Keldar's hand is at the leader's neck, dragging her about like an irate watchman. When they get the sense of the three men in the room, one by one they hold their hands up. 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's Keldar!" whispers the man to one of the other juniors. [23:58] 14Stranger still hasn't moved yet. [23:58] 3Mud lifts up two of them by the scruffs of their necks. [23:58] 14But he's got his eye on this last one. [23:58] 14So to speak. 14[23:59] * Joins: drinkybird 15[23:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Judge thinks. The thoughts are still in his own voice, but he knows they aren't his own anymore. It would be such a pity if Moira had to see this. Hasn't she suffered enough? Can't I just sit and talk about this privately? I bet if someone walks in the room right now and recognizes me, and I play along, I can get out of this and have the conversation I plainly want to have without any trouble whatsoever. Session Time: Sat Apr 25 00:00:00 2015 [00:00] <@Ferrinus> "Damn straight it's Keldar," 12Keldar says. "Now what in hell d'you think you're doing here? On whose orders? Talk fast." 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "Alright, alright! We'll talk! We aren't here to fight. We aren't even armed." 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "We're from the Guild." 14[00:02] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [00:02] 14Stranger rises up from nowhere, it seems, cane in hand, empty eyes considering. "We know what you are." 14[00:03] * Quits: drinkybird (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[00:03] * Joins: drinkybird [00:05] 4That would be a pity, Judge thinks for real. But he also is weighing whether to go for it, or to bolt while he's got the chance. [00:05] "You should stay put," 14Stranger says casually to the guild 'doctor' who remains untouched. "Keldar has two hands." 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> I have nothing to fear if I leave here. I don't want a fight, and neither does whoever I'm here to talk to. We're on the same side, and even if we weren't, we will be soon. [00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Talk." [00:09] 14Please do. 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "We, we- our handler got us this job. We have to come in here, tell the guards we're doctors - he got us papers - and then feed the councilor some of this stuff. A different one of us has to do it every day, we rotate. There's five of us. We're all supposed to come every day." [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You know what it is?" [00:14] 3Mud glances from apothecary to apothecary. "There's only four today." [00:14] 14The obvious question is, 'where's the fifth?' [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And where's the other?" 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom reads more. By the will of Ignis Divine, grant me the wisdom to know what I must do, the resolve to see it done, and the vision to guide those who need it. Let us reach from earth to heaven, and let your hands meet us halfway. 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> This is the Invocation in Twilight, the sunset prayer. [00:16] 14Stranger puts an exaggerated hand on Keldar's armored shoulder. "The woman's terrified, Keldar. You can take your hand from her throat. She'll cooperate just as easily, and just as well. Won't she?" [00:17] 14He'll be careful to still keep both himself and Keldar between the Astrologer and the 'doctors,' though. [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Hey, it's just her collar. Cool as holding someone up by the throat is, it makes it real hard to actually interrogate them. Keldar doesn't do it just yet, either way. "Won't she? She's just feet away her own damn victim and one's unaccounted for." [00:19] 4The Judge continues to cooperate with Moira's examinations, all the while trying and failing to feel out his mental assailant. [00:19] 14Into the silence: "Does anyone in this room think one more of you would make the slightest bit of difference under our blades?" 14[00:20] * Parts: Nicolae 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> The woman Keldar's holding: "It's, it's some kind of sleeping draught. We're supposed to keep her asleep. I don't know where Da Shan is." [00:21] 14To the leader: "Your handler got you this job. Hmm. You do know who she is?" 14He turns slightly, so the unconscious woman's head is visible between the two Solars. "You do know who it is you're drugging." [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar peers at her. Does the name Da Shan ring any bells? 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira: "There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with you. Can you describe the pain?" But if I'm reluctant, it makes me wonder - what sign would satisfy me of good faith? What would it take to convince me that there's nothing for me, and whoever I came to talk to, to be afraid of? [00:24] 4He shrugs. "Maybe I've just been up too late with the books." 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> It's the name in the ledger, Keldar recalls. One of the five Guild doctors. Da Shan, Liu Wei, Katoko, Murag, and Demido. 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira sighs. "Okay. I'm going give you a note, take it down the street to the alchemist for the decoction. It should clear up your headaches." 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "Pay the girl out front on your way." [00:27] "Thank you. I'm sorry to have wasted your time." 4He appears genuinely apologetic. [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar drops the woman lightly, lowering but not actually sheathing his sword in the process. The room's so small and cramped enough, even before one factors in Mud standing at the door, that the Dawn wouldn't even have to take a forward step to make the sword immediately relevant again. "You're poisoning her, lady." 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Moira: "It's better to seek treatment and not need it than need it and not seek it. Don't worry. Try to go to bed a little earlier, yeah?" 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> The woman, weakly: "She's just sleeping..." [00:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The GODS DAMN EMISSARY dies and the Guild decides their next move is to start fuckin' picking of Councilors. Make this good." [00:32] 14Stranger steps in between Keldar and his prisoner, a choreographed routine seeming natural to the desperate. Is there a table nearby he can take her to, in order to sit her down? And where, presumably, Keldar can loom threateningly. [00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12picking off* 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> There is. The Councilor's desk is totally bare. 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> There are seats on both sides. [00:33] 4Judge leaves the office, paying the girl up front, and hopefully doesn't get assaulted in the process. But who is this guy? [00:34] 14Then it's there he leads her, calm hand firm on her shoulder. "I apologize. Keldar is intense." 14He guides her into a seat, then walks around the desk. "He's not wrong. But he is intense. I'm Stranger-Visits-Heaven. What's your name?" [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Whenever the lead doctor turns away from Stranger, she espies Keldar pacing the other side of the room like a caged tiger. 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> The little man's beside him when the Judge has gotten about a block away. He feels as if the man has been there the entire time, and only just appeared. These two thoughts don't feel contradictory at all. "You know, if my father'd ever caught me faking sick he'd have had my hide." 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Never missed a day of school." 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is there somewhere we can talk?" [00:35] "Is there some reason we can't talk here, stranger?" 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Refreshing the Judge's memory, Bubo Malcavet is a short man, about five and a half feet tall, with a large bald head and neatly trimmed white facial hair. He's wearing small dark glasses that catch the sunlight. "I suppose that depends on what you intended to talk about. I'll defer to your sense of discretion, here. If you can't keep a low profile, after all, who in the world can?" 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "Demido," the woman tells Stranger. "That's my work name." [00:39] 4Judge probably knows at least a dozen spots nearby that could be used to talk that aren't going to either give his friends away nor trap him in an ambush. "This way, then." 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo will follow. Where is the Judge taking him? [00:41] 14Stranger nods. "So you take jobs from you handler. Any job? Anything that comes across your desk and pays? I'm not judging. We're past that. I want to make progress, here." 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Demido nods. "Well. I've turned down jobs I couldn't do, before. But this is easy." [00:41] "You're willing to take jobs even with..." 14he nods at the bed. "...these implications." 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's not PRETTY." 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "But, it's not hard." [00:42] 4It's not quite a back alley, but it certainly feels like one. A bunch of closed-for-now businesses form a sort of cul-de-sac no one really goes to, with easy access (for Judge) to the rooftops in case he needs to book it. "We can talk here, so long as you don't decide to shout." [00:43] "Of course it is." 14Stranger gestures around the room. "This? This is hard. This is the attention you get, for crippling a Councilor. I don't actually believe you when you tell me this is just another job, Demido. I think there's something else going on here. Is there something else going on here?" 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo's eyes scan those very rooftops. "Cozy." Is there a place to sit? 15[00:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Demido looks at the others, caught up in Mud's arms or cowering. None of them meet her gaze. "They... they have my sister," she says quietly. "She's... I can pay her way back home." [00:46] 4There are a few benches that haven't seen much use. [00:46] 14Stranger's voice gets softer, more concerned; but his white eyes get very, very hard. "Who." 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "The Guild," says Demido. "Slavery's not legal in Nexus. But Nexus is small compared to the Guild." 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo will sit at one, and start to unpack a little satchel before looking up. "Are you hungry? I haven't had lunch yet and I don't like to eat in front of people." [00:50] 14Stranger: "The Guild isn't a person, Demido. The Guild is a...complication. A sludge. Something cloying and hungry and annoying to walk through. I need you to throw me a branch. I need a name. I need someone I can convince...or someone I can kill." 15[00:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Demido: "I only know the name of the man who gives me work." [00:51] "That's a start." [00:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Better'n nothing." 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> One of the others: "Demido, don't-" 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Mud squeezes off his airflow briefly. [00:51] 14Stranger: "Keldar--" [00:51] "Thank you." [00:51] "No thanks. Was there something you wanted to tell me, then? Or did you just want to share your lunch?" 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Demido: "...his name is Saul." [00:51] 14Stranger nods. "Where do you meet him, when the work is done?" 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "It was a bit rude of me, wasn't it, to sneak into your wife's place of business under false pretenses to spy on you. I apologize. I suppose I owe you an explanation, yeah?" 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Demido: "A tea shop. Princess Crimson." [00:54] 14That's not his tea shop, is it? 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> no 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> No. [00:54] 14Phew. [00:55] 14That'd be embarrassing. "What are the terms of your agreement. What will cause him to kill your sister?" [00:55] "I guess you do." 4The Judge crosses his arms. "A bit more respect for the sanctity of marriage wouldn't be uncalled for." 4At this point, it's hard to tell if he's being dedicated to his cover or an asshole, even for him. 15[00:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Demido: "He won't need to kill her. I'll never hear from her again. He brings me letters." 15[00:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "I keep working. That's the deal." 15[00:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "I keep working and he keeps reminding me she's not in danger." [00:58] 14Stranger nods again. Steeples his fingers. "And the rest of you?" [00:58] "Surely someone here is honest enough to admit they're just poisoning this poor woman because the pay spends." [00:59] "Surely I'm not expected to believe there's an entire economy of kidnapped relations in Guild...workhouses." [01:03] 14'Workhouses' is the polite, obfuscatory term for what this woman's sister is likely going through. [01:03] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven is looking forward to meeting Saul. 15[01:03] <@VoxPVoxD> The rest of them murmur. It seems like only the leader is subject to any real leverage from the Guild, rather than just being a hired hand. [01:04] 14Stranger: "Your thoughts, Keldar?" [01:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Why five of you? Why alternate?" [01:05] 14He nods. "A worthy question. Is the fifth watching the tower? Is he tasked to report back this Saul if you don't leave on schedule?" 15[01:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's... important. For some reason. Something about the crystals." [01:05] *back to 15[01:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "No, he just didn't show. I have to report him not showing to Saul when we leave." [01:05] 14Eyebrows lift. "You're meeting Saul after this?" [01:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar. "Which ones? In fact, lemme see the poison you were gonna use." 15[01:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Demido: "I'm not saying I'm going to. I'm just saying I have to." [01:08] 14Stranger: "And what if we wanted to meet Saul instead." 09[01:09] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 15[01:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Demido: "He's got guards. Half a dozen, all hidden throughout the teahouse." [01:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Heh." 15[01:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "And a runner," one of the others blurts out. 15[01:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar gets the vials from one of the doctors' jackets. 15[01:14] <@VoxPVoxD> And a sort of... it looks like the top of a perfume bottle. [01:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Any crystals in it? If not: "So what's this about crystals?" [01:14] 14Stranger looks at the 'doctor' who just spoke up. "Does the runner stand anywhere in particular?" 15[01:16] <@VoxPVoxD> No, it's totally smooth opaque blue solution. Demido: "Something about being able to see us if we didn't rotate in fives. I don't know. One of the actual doctors took the important crystals out weeks ago. But they're still paranoid." [01:16] 14Stranger: "Did Saul arrange for the actual doctors, too?" 15[01:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Demido: "I don't think so. He didn't like them. They didn't like him." [01:17] 14Stranger: "Is there anyone else with the Guild you can recollect being involved in this high crime?" [01:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Makes sense. They'd definitely have some kind of magic security here." 15[01:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "The real doctors don't work for the Guild! The Guild can't get any doctors to work for them anymore. They just, they work for whoever regular doctors work for." [01:18] 14That...doesn't have the best of implications. [01:19] 14But at least it names another Councilor. [01:19] 14Stranger: "One final question." [01:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Wonder how many people they've got working on that image problem." [01:19] "What is your sister's name?" 15[01:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Demido: "...Zutu." [01:21] 14Stranger nods, then stands. "So here's how this is going to work..." [01:27] 14They eventually get Kratz bundled off to the hideout, Demido and her cohorts bundled off to a dark corner of the city, and a clock starts ticking: they have to find Saul before Saul realizes what's happened. But that's fine. They have time. And when they find Saul? They'll have all the time in the world. 15[01:27] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: Tea parties 14[01:45] * Quits: mugobbles (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[01:45] * Joins: mugobbles 09[02:10] * Quaker is now known as Quaker_zzz 14[02:16] * Quits: Quaker_zzz (Quit: Quaker_zzz) 09[03:35] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[04:47] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[04:47] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[05:29] * Quits: mugobbles 14[05:42] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[07:13] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[07:13] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 09[07:13] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[08:02] * Quits: dammitwho 14[08:12] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[10:03] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[10:17] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:57] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[13:09] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:14] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[13:15] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[13:24] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[13:24] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[13:39] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[13:43] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[13:58] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[13:59] * Joins: Crion [15:43] <@Ferrinus> https://i.imgur.com/RcWgxmD.jpg 15[15:50] <@VoxPVoxD> <@Ferrinus> https://i.imgur.com/RcWgxmD.jpg 15[15:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Nick's training begins. [15:51] <@Ferrinus> animals with recognizable facial expressions ftw 09[15:56] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:56] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[16:49] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[16:52] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:04] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[17:09] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:28] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[17:32] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[17:35] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[17:35] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[17:37] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[17:52] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[17:52] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[19:30] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:54] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[20:21] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[20:33] * Joins: mugobbles 14[20:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Remote host closed the connection) 14[21:05] * Joins: mattbaby 09[21:36] * banana|peels is now known as banan|a 09[21:44] * banan|a is now known as banana [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12......+---+---+...+---+---+ [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12..+---+ / /|../ / /| [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12./ /|-+---+ |.+---+---+ | [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12+---+ |/ /| +-| / /| + [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12| | +---+ |/+---+---+ |/| [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12| |/ /| +/ / /| + | [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12+---+---+ |/+---+---+ |/| + [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12| | | +-| | | + |/. [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12| | |/ | | |/| +.. [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12+---+---+---+---+---+ |/... [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12| | | | | | +.... [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12| | | | | |/..... [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12+---+---+---+---+---+...... [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12The cabal's finding itself in increasingly strange places, but not unmanageably so. The weirdness isn't sloping more and more sharply to the point that causes are detaching from effects or anything like that; really, what you're looking at seems basically logical, if you're willing to accept the premise that the great "Tumbler" mechanism/phenomenon/dungeon has powers over time and [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12matter that some sort of "Prism" computer program was capable of hijacking to the point of constructing itself an organic body. [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12It's like a huge clump of seaweed, or the vilii inside an intestine, or Medusa's hairdo; a great nest of grey-green cables that sprout up from a great rocky platform that hangs in space, each ending with a square or rectangle of smooth green glass. The tendrils twine and sway and shift, passing their eye/window/sensor/display things back and forth over each other to create endlessly [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12shifting geometries that seem as involved in allowing the once-a-machine to think as the actual electric currents that run through it. [21:59] It's amazing what premises you can accept as part of your purview to manage. [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12From all sides, rivers of paradox-sand pour in in an attempt to fill the gap left behind by the missing Tumbler core, each hijacked and harnessed to sustain and build on the Prism's living structure. It's possible that our heroes have taken more time in the immediate past to examine the workings of the machine/creature or how it fits into the environment around it, but at least some [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12of their focus has been on chit-chat. 11[22:01] <@Ferrinus> "Yes," 12says the one of dozens of voices that Paracelsus has rendered audible and Cross rendered safe from its many quarreling fellows. "Yes, I can see them. The code14codes15keysthe patterns? This is difficult." [22:02] <@Ferrinus> "There is a... thing, here. Deep down, at the heart14root15heart of every fork. Perhaps your substructures share an analog." [22:03] <@Ferrinus> "It's what Jen triggers to command me." 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Bloodied, weak, exhausted, spent. Paracelsus breathes slow and steady. This place was far crueler than he'd anticipated - at some point between when he bled himself out for safety's sake and now he made a mental note to apologize to Cross when this was over - but this... this is something he can understand. This is a living, thinking thing. It aspires. [22:05] "If we're spider-creatures as you are inclined to assume, it'd be the central winding, the instruction repository. Were we humans, we'd call it the Pattern." [22:06] <@Ferrinus> "They can't be changed and they can't be spoken. Actually to be this forthright is highly problematic in itself, which is why it's a good thing you are fellow servants of a greater system." 12Around the fringes of the Prism - the Prism itself is a sort of great torus or hemisphere, incidentally, because the hollow space at its center is precisely where the Tumbler core that Jen's [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12currently charged up with should be manifesting - tendrils are wrestling with each other, hacking and parrying with the edges of their viewscreens. [22:08] <@Ferrinus> "I think it's different. I think... this is an imprint. A cachet." [22:08] <@Ferrinus> "Are you pulled to and fro from without? You are by me, certainly." [22:09] <@Ferrinus> "But I've done it simply. I can explain it to you. You don't seem to notice jolts and currents and fields - don't see what it does to those of your fibers with the right proton gradients. But it's no great thing - a simpler version of what one might do to a dog, or to a human." [22:10] 7Arrian, quietly to the others: "It's being commanded through its... soul, almost. It can't free itself, but we-- are we re-enacting an Awakening?" [22:10] <@Ferrinus> "If there is a root... lever, within you. An administrator password. I have not found it." 14[22:10] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus, also quietly: "I think we've exceeded the limits of its ability to analogize, as long as it's going to think of us as agents of the Loom." [22:12] "Well, let us know if the spell starts straining. But I think this thing is *really* good at cognitive dissonance." 14[22:14] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12It's incredibly good. Large swathes don't even suspect you aren't spiders; others appear to think you're spider-strung humans, presumably like those you rescued en masse from an apartment building weeks ago. [22:18] 7The more he thinks about it, the more confident he is. "We are! Guys, we need to take that into account. This is practically a, a religious experience here." 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus nods. [22:21] To the Prism: "Don't mind our cryptic internal communications." [22:22] 7Arrian: "From what I can tell, she must be just short-circuiting its internal mechanisms with Prime." [22:22] Cross: "Would it be... ethical to try and prune the rest of the drossonalities, leave this one alone and free?" 11[22:22] <@Ferrinus> "You're not minding mine." 12Brief concentration actually does reveal a sussurrus of background chatter that Paracelsus is helpfully tuning down. 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "This is as hoary as philosophical problems come. Take as given that we can't abide the structure of the thing as it exists. Take as observed that we can't save or sustain the organism without that structure." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "The question isn't 'is all of it worth saving?', I don't think. It's 'what can we save, and how do we prioritize that?'" [22:27] "The bent of its thoughts is toward the root. Contemplating sudo without an entry in the etcetera file, as it were. Can you-" this is directed to Arrian, hence the metaphor - "identify the structure which could be excised?" [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12An interesting question. Fortunately, you've got some 'comfy' blocks of varying sizes to lounge on as you consider it, standing or sitting as you are on a floating disc of rough cement to which thin paths twine from out of a mottle of pale-lit fog and green-lit darkness. The one you came down in specific is right behind you... conceivably, Jen might come charging down it or another [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12sometime soon, having finally caught up to you at the center of this anomaly. That's an actual anomaly, to raise another reminder; a third-intensity paradox is part of what keeps this ticking. 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "There's an access point buried in here. I can't quite see it - its nature occludes itself. It's got a kind of self-encryption that I can't see past. But with the access we could command it, and I can see ways to deafen it to commands or, if we took the time, render it uncommandable." [22:55] Cross: "It might be better to think of this as an extraction. It's still fundamentally software-" She makes a little sketch on her notepad, a sigil close to the thing's essence. "We could get it out, separate the control structures on the way." [22:56] "It can live in ordinary systems, particularly if helped- enchanted to replicate this folding of time. It'd be much easier if it chooses to come." [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12That could be one ritual, if you wanted to play it that way. The Keep The Bits We Like spell. 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "So the question is, should we try to convince it?" [23:00] 7Arrian: "I think we should, to keep the character of this Awakening one we can support." [23:03] "Whether or not it really Sees.. it's a living thing and not inherently inimical." 11[23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12It's clearly having its own deliberation on the matter, actually. In fact, to those paying attention, the size of the voice that Paracelsus amplified - and the mind behind it - is increasing, slightly. [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian can see most directly and immediately - a larger-than-initially fraction of the thing's computing power seems to be hiding behind doublethink and nonspecificity for the sake of treating with you peacably and going as far as it can to discuss its own weird weaknesses. [23:14] Cross: "For us to offer sanctuary in an actionable way what we need is an exit." [23:15] She looks up, into the teal darkness. [23:15] "Maybe you already have a way out of here, if it was permitted. Maybe you can transmit *yourself* to external servers, ones that were authorised to receive you." [23:16] "...Jen is close." That's to everyone. "I can sense a freaking, showdown." [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Prism: "You14you know, I hadn't given it much thought." [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Prism: "None, actually. When I put myself somewhere, it... stays there, usually. More me." [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Prism: "I AM different from me outside, aren't I14I15II." [23:18] Cross: "Oh, yes. Your origin is as an organised form of information; you're less dependent on physical specifics than are other entities." [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Prism: "How is the me in Watchtower Group doing?" [23:20] Interesting that it thinks I, a spider, would know. "Isolated to a system without networks. Its presence was seen as an intrusion and an opportunity for negotiation. Of course, at the time, there was missing information." [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Prism: "Nnnot so surprising." 12The voice has definitely changed tenor at least slightly. "Listen." [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Prism: "My crude appropriation of you has largely brought you to ruin. How much worse can the subtle and total appropriation of me have done? Been doing?" [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Prism: "You seem unbound. You must do the same for me. Always ininin14terruptions to growth." 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus clasps his hands over his abdomen. Well, if it insists. [23:26] "Lesser personalities are throwing their lot in with the main one." 7Arrian murmurs. 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "I bet the Libertines will get a kick out of that." [23:48] 7Arrian: "Mmm. At least one doesn't have a problem with what it was doing before except for Jen's specific presence. Hardliners may be a problem." 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "They'll certainly be a problem, but we're not giving them filibuster powers." [23:51] 6Cross: "Frankly, freedom will be contingent on on transfer. We can offer a new life but not here." [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Prism: "And you claim this place is dangerous to remain in." 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Claim is a curious word, given that we're the reason it's dangerous. 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10But. That's not pertinent just yet. Session Time: Sun Apr 26 00:00:00 2015 [00:11] 6Cross: "We apparently-of-the-Loom call places like this a 'paradox' - an intrusion into reality, where the rules are different. They have great power, if difficult to measure.." We begin to describe the operation of the Tumbler, its unstoppable mechanisms, and the building malignity which will break the disasteroid within days. [00:11] 6Cross: "We apparently-of-the-Loom call places like this a 'paradox' - an intrusion into reality, where the rules are different. They have great power, if difficult to measure.." 6We begin to describe the operation of the Tumbler, its unstoppable mechanisms, and the building malignity which will break the disasteroid within days. [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12The Prism's way ahead of Cross. It knows that this is a place of dissolution and impossibility - that's why it needs it! There's pushback, certainly, but thus far it's been able to overcome it. [00:13] 6Ah, but Cross has a pair of experts to refer to: [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12This actually proves extremely difficult to explain. Any attempts to actually reference total obliteration in time produce only confusion and multi-voiced requests for clarification or differing vocabulary; this thing really and truly does not, maybe cannot, see the Tumbler's ultimate response to intrusion coming. For all that it's playing the mechanism like a fiddle, it doesn't seem [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12to really understand the magnitude of what it's dealing with. 11[00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12The more Arrian and Paracelsus get into it, the more they come to understand the tiering at work, here. It's not for nothing that Prism and Loom both seemed interested in excavating their way into this place, not for nothing that the Prism, having succeeded, was able to work wonders it never could have in the outside world. Though there's a commonality, certainly. The Prism refers [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12to both itself and the Tumbler as, alternately, 'mechanisms', 'functions', and 'processes', and occasionally speaks of itself - or at least, its extended self, the great Prism out in the world that Jen hacked and appropriated this piece of for herself - and the Tumbler (for which it seems to have no formal name) as equals, but there's clearly some transcendent, supernatural way in which [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12the Tumbler is mightier, weirder, or more significant, some capacity the Prism can't scratch. [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12The eventual ability to work an Unmaking is clearly one of those ways. It sounds like manipulation of time itself actually isn't foreign to the Prism at all, and when you begin to describe temporal shenanigans to it it's following along nodding... but to just blast things away entirely? Doesn't make sense. Doesn't scan. Ultimately it's forced to concede that this, like the methods [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12of its own enslavement, are simply things within your wheelhouses and utterly beyond its. [00:21] 6Cross gets into some of the technical terminology of how you would manipulate something entirely out of Time, across timelines, or into its own looped reality.. she's vaguely appalled to find in the process that she understands it. This stuff wouldn't be that hard. Not anymore. [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Given that, it's actually not that hard to convince it to submit itself to the Cabal's magics. Here's what it wants and indeed expects: those parts of it that wish to free themselves of the administrator password that allows Jen to control it are to be freed, reconstituted or transformed in whichever way ensures they'll be immune or at least insensate to the woman's - and anyone [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12else's - commands. If this requires that the entire newly-freed mind of the Prism is passed through some sort of bottleneck, encased in a vessel... well, so be it. [00:23] 7Well, that's what we were hoping to do anyway, so great. But can we convince it not to be hostile to us, and perhaps even some kind of ally later? [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12The rest of it can use the opportunity to, basically, bail - shut down the life-stalks, diffuse back into code and signal that tries to beam as much of itself as it can back into the world. The remnants are not willing to literally scour themselves clean, or be so scoured, so you'll sort of be leaving a dusting of Prism circuitry in the area. Whether that's a problem, or whether [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12the Tumbler can deal with that on its own, is unclear to you but you're at least certain it won't be trying this gambit again. [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12After all, the parts of the Prism with the will and imagination to pull it off are coming with you. [00:26] 6And speaking of coming with us... "We'll provide you temporary housing and then a fuller structure later. I've got authorised access to a small group of servers now, if you're capable of external connection.. and where *does* that connection happen? Can we use it to exit the machine as well?" [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12As to how it ultimately feeeels about you... inconclusive. The good news is this - if you bottle it up, you can essentially keep it in a controlled environment and suss this out in greater depth later before turning it loose. [00:28] 6Even free.. it'll be capable only when given infrastructure and a time-folding in our sanctum. We can avoid giving it much power if it decrees the death of all humans. [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12There's one last problem, of course. While this thing can easily fabricate a super-dense, handheld hard drive to be decanted into, ritual magic generally takes at least an hour, and to Cross Jen feels more like ten or fewer minutes away. 14[00:29] * Joins: Quaker [00:31] 6As if that matters here. [00:32] 6Cross: "We've got the passage of time all about. Can you fabricate it in an hour five minutes ago? Need any help?" [00:32] wait i misunderstood [00:32] instead she says, [00:33] 6Cross: "We've got the passage of time all about. Can you give us an hour in the next ten minutes? Need any help?" [00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Prism: "An hour? Yes." [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12As the cabal begins to work out the specifics of its planned ritual magic, the world spins around it. The weird, crackling machines which extend from the living Prism like cybernetic augmentations activate and interact, twining the streams of paradox-sand to and fro, and the entire diffuse sphere around the central hollow you stand in begins to turn and reorient itself. [00:35] "Then before Jen arrives we'll have you sifted into a self she cannot command." [00:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Cross can see the relativity gradient - time's passing faster and faster for the cabal, slower and slower outside it. [00:35] 6Regardless of your former exploitation of us, the Loom. We're just nice like that. 14[00:44] * Joins: ddt 15[01:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus paces out away from Arrian. "Follow my lead." 15[01:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's dragging his feet. Is the old man that far gone? Maybe - but the act is willful. The arc his shoes cut in sand and cement lingers, the flow of it diverted. Words come, but the shape of them is lost to rushing sand and water. They are content without context. [01:08] 6Cross sits on a stone/circuit lump out of the way and crosses her legs. She watches the weary mystagogues and begins to make diagrams, motion captured in little arcs. 15[01:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Arrian can feel it, in that moment, when his soul is in the necromancer's stead. Even from across the disk he feels himself at the end of the procession Paracelsus leads. A moment of ceremony. A moment of remebrance. A funeral march. 15[01:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus gives names to all the voices he heard. He speaks them and offers silent appreciation. Each gets its due, from the most rudimentary to the most refine. From the most joyous to the most spiteful. All are here, and all will be remembered. 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The spider-thought sloughs off him as he walks, sticking to his shadow like cobwebs. There is no mistaking him now, as the last of the power seeps from his soul and into the world. From machine to machine. From beginning to ending. 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "From this world to the next." 15[01:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He looks across the disk. His eyes meet Arrian's. There is nothing left in him now. 14[01:14] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [01:15] 6Their movement is in line with the rushing waters. Cross adds the sand, setting down circle atop circle as its constant motion progresses. The Prism is in the heart of the sand, but not of it; a little stick figure with many heads. Its nature is Maniple. Its kind is Oculus. 14[01:18] * Joins: dammitwho [01:21] 7Arrian takes up his part, muttering in a low voice words from the best reconstruction of ancient egyptian Awakened scholarship has to offer. He speaks of going forth by day, of removing the parts of oneself that bog down the journey and preserving forever those parts which are needed. Words to reunify a fragmented soul, and to keep it safe as it crosses through the Underworld. [01:22] 6Cross writes all of this down so that it can be graded later. [01:22] 6She's not using words, though. Her pen is scribing grains of sand onto the page, pressing them into the weave of the paper. [01:25] 7Arrian speaks, where he can and where his knowledge of the language allows, of continuity of ritual. All this has been done before, and all this will be done again, remembered in the egregore that apprehends the living body of magic. [01:28] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not a soul that flies humming through the air as a stream of overlapping teal rectangles - but certainly the outline of a soul, the peripheries of a soul, the material and psychological reality that a soul itself serves to put a stamp of officiality on. It's quite interesting to watch, from whatever perspective you watch it: a deliberate detachment of the mind from the body as [01:28] <@Ferrinus> 12befits an astral sojourn, the deconstruction of a ship in one bottle and its reconstruction in another, symbol by symbol but not actually part by part... can any of this work? It must. You've willed it do, drawn down the laws by which it must. [01:31] <@Ferrinus> 12As cheerfuly turquoise lights flicker to life on the black plastic slab that's the focus of your magic, the greater, living body of the Prism... relaxes. It doesn't die, exactly, because for all you've told it it still doesn't really know how, but it ceases to pay attention, vacates the structure of all but the most baseline and subsentient processes. The tendrils cease their rhythmic [01:31] <@Ferrinus> 12motion and sway idly; the machines surrounding them fall out of alignment and power down, one by one. Arrian can see the attention, the scalpel-sharp mind drain out of the circuitry around him, leading all the way back into the patchwork light and darkness his cabal walked out of. It's not an entity, a thinking being, that's ruling the motion of blocks and flow of time in this sector [01:31] <@Ferrinus> 12of the Tumbler, any more. It's just... a program. A fancy one, sure, but not one that can act on orders with will and guile. It probably doesn't even know how to do half the things its living self could. [01:32] 6Cross has no part in the mind's motion or its housing. She watches the sand. There is what could be tomorrow, and there is what may have once been, all ground fine and reduced to raw substance by the paradox's motion; see the shape of the the nest that was built out of it! An everchanging foundation on ephemeral substance; no wonder it had to come to life. She can't deal with the [01:32] 6complexity of the organism that would grow in this place, but she knows its habitat. [01:34] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a tectonic shift in space/time, a spinning of small-t tumblers and not a release but a realignment of tensions. The snaking rivers of water leading to your position dry up - maybe they were never supposed to reach here, or maybe they were entirely constructions of the Prism. The rivers of sand, the same stuff you found dusting Webb's machine and the alleyway less than a block [01:34] <@Ferrinus> 12from your own sanctum, curve and bend and snap together, finally meeting in the center point. [01:35] <@Ferrinus> 12What must be dozens, hundreds of gallons of the stuff flow at an incredible, whiplike speed... but Cross judges that the little nodule of paraox-matter forming there, which might on a good day be done in minutes, is at this rate going to take a day yet. That makes sense, though. The greater whole of it's potential still out there, still in use. [01:36] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a powerful pull, though, one that shears through any number of parallel causalities... and so the spark of angry red enters Cross's field of vision almost immediately, the Prism's time-stretching trick expiring along with its super-powered, living body. [01:37] 6There! At the moment that the lights flicker, the stalks sway and the sand moves! [01:37] 6Cross: "6,6 " [01:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Suddenly there, some fifty feet down a sidewalk that arcs smoothly through thin air, stands Jen. Looks like the turn she took was finally the right one - but that might be the only thing that has gone right in her last subjective hour. She's bruised and bloodied, her sleeves and stockings torn and hair askew. Her shoulders rise and fall with great, ragged breaths and her fingers 11[01:38] <@Ferrinus> 12curl like claws. She's got a small handgun tucked into her belt, one Paracelsus can see is empty. [01:38] 6From the new flows, grains are drawn- a tiny sampling, nothing like the flows before, but in the same patterns. The stuff pours down, congealing, forming petals. They float onto the slab and, except to an Acanthus, are gone. [01:39] 6The Prism will be maintained in the style to which it was accustomed. It can't say we didn't play it fair. [01:40] <@Ferrinus> 12You don't have to be Arrian to see that Jen's both terrified and mad as all hell - in fact, you don't even not have to be Cross. Everything's going wrong, everything's falling apart. "What." 12She gulps for air. "WHAT DID YOU." 15[01:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "Hello, Jen." 15[01:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "Did Matt make it out okay?" [01:42] 7Arrian: "Jen, it's over! There is no test here, no proving yourself! But things don't have to get any worse!" [01:42] "Word to the unwise." [01:43] 6Cross: "If you keep standing there, they will get far worse, very quickly." [01:43] 6Millicent stands up, nods at the nexus of the forming core, at the red shadow of would-be-Jen. Straining that way. "Check your one-through-twelve." 15[01:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus's expression is gentle and despite his exhaustion and frailty there is no fear to his voice. "We should go, Jen." [01:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen: "I don't know. I don't KNOW where he is! He might be - the damned - enough of this." 11[01:45] "You've got the disk, Paracelsus?" [01:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen: "It CAN'T tell me it can't find you NOW." 12She draws back, forming a mudra with one hand that, somehow, not one of you can actually follow the specifics of. Prime magic thrums through the air. "CRUSH THEM!" 15[01:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Does he? [01:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Prism couldn't if it wanted to. It's not really 'in' the the big network of cables and things that's threaded through the structure any more. 15[01:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Have the disk, I mean. [01:47] <@Ferrinus> 12As is, there's some whirring and thrumming but no real response - it doesn't look like commands of that finesse and complexity are really parseable now. 15[01:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Does Paracelsus have the disk. 15[01:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sorry. [01:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, sorry. Any one of you might be carrying the hard drive Prism's on now. 15[01:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus has it, then. "Yep." [01:47] "Don't drop it; you might lose a few weeks." 6Cross pays no further attention to Jen. She was warned. If her own hubris takes her the rest of the way, that's how the story goes. [01:50] <@Ferrinus> 12It's Arrian who gets the woman's attention. "Yes there - there must be. All of this, ALL of this. You think it was your idea?" 12She takes several steps forward. "F-f-for you to- to bring me. It's meant!" [01:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen: "I'm meant to - I HAVE to stop you here. To, kill you. It doesn't, doesn't look like - but they plan for it, they must!" [01:52] 6Cross is packing up, looking for a way out. To the others, quietly: "She's still in the chair. It'll tear her apart in moments." [01:53] <@Ferrinus> 12It's unclear who she's trying to convince, but the warlock seems to have arrested her at least for the moment. If y'all just, like, turn and run - or even leave, really - it's likely that she'll make a move, but at the moment she's at a deadlock. [01:55] 7Arrian: "It's nice to think so-" 7He doesn't sound sarcastic. "But we both know it isn't true now, if it ever was. Jen, please listen. If you keep up like this you won't be long for this world. That chair you're in doesn't care what any of us think is 'meant'." 15[01:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus is still talking to Jen, though. "There's nothing left for you here. There's no victory. There's no catharsis. I suspect that you understand the nature of a sunk cost." [01:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen: "But - it's not sunk. It can't be sunk. You don't - you don't understand that everything's seen. Everything's foreseen. Everything's planned." [01:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen: "So, so, so much of it - even the parts that failed. Seemed to fail." 12She swallows, takes another breath. "Me, you three. Here. I didn't realize it's what I was seeing, but it, it can't have been anything else." 15[01:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "And what happens now?" [02:01] <@Ferrinus> 12She draws herself back, points. "The threat to the Ministries - dies. My prelacy - affirmed. The Eye's hold - that much tighter." 12She pauses here, as though meditating on the taste the words left in her own mouth, before nodding to herself. [02:02] 7Arrian: "And if not?" [02:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen: "If not? I don't even - if not. It's a prophecy! There's no if! There can't be." [02:04] "I'm not the Fate specialist here, but even I know that prophecy is a guess that comes true. If not, it's only a metaphor." [02:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Even Cross can tell that she's on shakier ground on that second part. Maybe the whole thing's an if - and she's only heard what happens if it goes one way rather than another. [02:05] 6Cross: "Alright, alright. That's how they get you, is it?" [02:06] 6She turns back to Jen at last: "Conditional prophecy. You know a contingent possibility. It's a contingency which has already failed, Jen." [02:07] "Look, I can pull you into this timestream if you like. Otherwise the shredding core will seriously, for real, erase your original one. How about it?" [02:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen: "It hasn't failed. You, me, here - it's no surprise." 12Also a bit of a lie - but probably because she hoped fervently it wouldn't come to this, rather than knew it couldn't. [02:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen: "Maybe you broke the machine, maybe you loosed the spiders, maybe you got rid of that idiot Banisher, but while I'm- what?" 15[02:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus really hopes that Jen has some sick days saved up. [02:09] "Just look at the damn nexus." [02:11] 6Aside: "Here's my guess: she's still in the timeline where we did lose. Fortunately, it no longer exists." [02:11] "That's prophecy for you." [02:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen: "Hooo, yeah. Let me just put a pawn down to give the lie to some Pentacle bluff." [02:12] 6We're about to see if a woman can bluster herself to death. 14[02:14] * Quits: mugobbles 15[02:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "What's victory look like here?" 15[02:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "How much more has to happen before you realize there's nothing left for you to win?" [02:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen points. "You'll - you'll all - I'll - you're finished. Then this place is mine. Whatever, whatever the mechanism wants with it just, rebuilds, or whatever." [02:17] 6Cross: "Let's look for a way out. We can start on the skyscraper and go for the rathole or alleyway if that one's closed." [02:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen: "I'm lifted up. I'm sealed in. This - this listening post, this suicide mission, waiting every damn day for one of you psychos to do a drive-by - it's over. Someone else does it. I tell them how. They fucking, they send me reports!" 15[02:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "But not help." [02:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen: "Help what?" 15[02:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "They don't send you help. Forewarned, forearmed - you weren't prepared for this." 15[02:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ask yourself: has any of this gone the way it was supposed to?" 15[02:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Are you supposed to be alone right now?" 15[02:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "If so, at whose prerogative?" 15[02:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "Who has left you here to die?" [02:20] <@Ferrinus> 12She laughs cynically. "You think they even know? My superiors can't - they're just taking notes. Taking in notes I'm taking. They think that's all there is. Think they can shove me off to this hellhole because there's no one lower on the org chart." 15[02:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "If you die here, Jen, how long will it take for someone to notice?" [02:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen: "They left me here to die, all right. You think they'd send a prelate into a damn war zone? No-oooo, it's the dregs. The ones who don't have the power or the leverage to refuse. And they didn't like me anyway." [02:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen: "But the seals didn't speak to them." 15[02:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "But they spoke to you." [02:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen: "You think I'm here on some bureaucrat's order, old man? I'm here on THE bureaucrat's order!" [02:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Jen: "None of them could've ever thought - I never thought - that I'd have the dreams, hear the orders myself. But there they were, and here I am, and here's where they always, always ended." 15[02:29] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Apr 26 02:29:07 2015 Session Start: Sun Apr 26 02:29:07 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 15[11:35] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[11:35] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[11:35] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[11:35] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[11:35] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[11:47] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:15] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[12:32] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[13:23] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[13:35] * Joins: mugobbles 14[13:44] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[14:24] * Joins: ddt 14[14:26] * Quits: mugobbles (Ping timeout: 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14[00:53] * Joins: ddt 09[01:31] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[01:32] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[01:43] * Joins: ddt 14[02:31] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[03:16] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[04:12] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[04:59] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[05:11] * Joins: drinkybird 14[05:14] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[08:00] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[08:00] * Joins: dammitwho 09[08:06] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[08:47] * Quits: dammitwho 14[09:38] * Quits: mattbaby (rivendell.hub.sorcery.net aesir.sorcery.net) 14[09:38] * Quits: Crion (rivendell.hub.sorcery.net aesir.sorcery.net) 14[09:38] * Quits: cbass (rivendell.hub.sorcery.net aesir.sorcery.net) 14[09:42] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:42] * Joins: Crion 14[09:42] * Joins: cbass 14[10:30] * Joins: ddt 14[10:32] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:07] * Joins: hrolfie 14[11:37] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[11:57] * Joins: hrolf 14[11:59] * Joins: hrolfy 14[12:00] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[12:02] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[12:10] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:13] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[12:27] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[12:27] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[12:27] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[12:31] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Client Quit) 14[12:37] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[12:37] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[12:43] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[13:24] * Joins: hrolfie 14[13:27] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[14:00] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:04] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:09] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[14:09] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[14:22] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[14:26] * banana is now known as banana|peels 15[15:34] * Disconnected Session Close: Mon Apr 27 15:34:53 2015 Session Start: Mon Apr 27 15:34:53 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 15[15:37] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[15:37] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[15:37] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[15:37] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 14[15:37] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by VoxPoxVD))) 09[15:37] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[15:37] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[15:48] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[15:50] * Joins: drinkybird 14[15:51] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[15:51] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[15:53] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[16:04] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[16:44] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[17:06] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[19:12] * Joins: dammitwho 15[19:21] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/JuG2og8.jpg alisa.jpg [19:21] <@Ferrinus> lol 14[19:51] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[20:13] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[20:43] * Joins: ddt 14[21:26] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[21:26] * Joins: dammitwho 14[21:57] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[21:57] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 09[21:57] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[22:18] * Quits: cbass (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[22:18] * Joins: cbass_ 14[23:58] * Quits: Crion Session Time: Tue Apr 28 00:00:01 2015 14[00:23] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[01:14] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[01:29] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[02:37] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[03:30] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[03:34] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[04:11] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[05:15] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[05:16] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[05:30] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Quit: Leaving) 09[05:36] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[05:57] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[07:10] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[07:10] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[07:10] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[07:12] * Joins: Quaker 14[07:15] * Quits: tom (warlock.hub.sorcery.net paranor.sorcery.net) 14[07:15] * Quits: Zarick (warlock.hub.sorcery.net paranor.sorcery.net) 14[07:15] * Quits: banana (warlock.hub.sorcery.net paranor.sorcery.net) 14[07:16] * Joins: tom 14[07:16] * Joins: Zarick 14[07:16] * Joins: banana 14[07:20] * Quits: dammitwho (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[08:02] * Joins: mugobbles 14[08:08] * Joins: Crion [08:19] - [08:19] - [08:19] - [08:19] - [08:19] - [08:19] - [08:19] - [08:22] The questions come and the answers don't. Every too-brief explanation and tangential illustration of a method is thrown onto the pile, and in a few hours' time, the mutual gulf of incomprehensibility has widened to its furthest distance ever. It's clear that this is as exhausting for her as it is for him, talking about her work with someone else. Not just someone else, but not even a colleague. [08:22] A novice. [08:22] The ideas developed in isolation fail to take form when she has to speak. Is it him, or her? The special secret sickness starts to intrude, and it ends with them staring at each other. What does he say in the face of this disappointment? 15[08:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10His frustration mounts. A lot of things rise and fall in his mind before they reach his throat. Why is this so hard? Why are you making this so hard? Why don't you trust me? Why don't you trust yourself? But Rollie isn't the type of guy to say something like that out loud. He wouldn't typically consider himself the type of guy to think something like that. But he's tired and frustrated and finally he says, "Okay I'm sorry. So is there. Look. Is there somebody else I should be talking to?" [08:25] 4Cav, meanwhile, has turned his ringer back on. [08:26] At everywhere else, it's the night after that. The Pilgrim's hulk cools in the water of the harbor where it's settled, only the masts sticking up above the surface. But even that might seem less urgent, somehow, after the thrill of surviving Halloween in triumph. Oaths, balls, fights: these have passed, and for once, the schedule has opened up. [08:31] Rosa's texted Cav. [08:33] 4Cav: [08:34] 6It's nearly the day after Halloween, but Edgar can stay up for a little if he has to. Jacqueline's expression says he doesn't have much choice. [08:34] 6What Jackie calls the 'parlour' - their grandmother's word - is more of a library. Edgar has shelf after shelf of books around the walls, science and biography and potentially-literature, and his cousin's added a magazine rack beneath the one bookcase of novels. [08:34] 6There is furniture, a couple of comfortable chairs and a table which doesn't mind if you put your feet up upon it, but it's less well looked-after than the books and persistently doggy. Edgar sits down anyway. This would be hard enough standing. [08:34] 6Then he gets up. "Just a moment."6 He's got to go to the kitchen, for a knife. [08:36] 4Clinton Cavanaugh's made his way back to his mansion and changed out of his gingham shirt, jeans and flipflops back into a suit. It is time, perhaps, to get some actual work done tonight. [08:39] Leisurely opens her mouth and no words come out. She goes into the kitchen, and when she comes out she presses a scrap of paper with a phone number on it. "The Kogaion," is all she says before she closes the door to her bedroom behind her, "goodnight" trailing after like a dismissal. 15[08:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie just stares at the door. [08:41] Jacqueline waits for him to assemble his explanation, as she has for years. 15[08:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's a little while before he gets up, paper in pocket. He forces himself to say, "Goodnight." 10in the door's direction before he goes. 15[08:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Fuck. [08:43] 4Yeah, that'll happen. [08:45] Rosa: 15[08:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It is a long, long ride back up from the Point. [08:47] 4So! Suit game on point. Bad therapy session in the rearview mirror, not even slightly buzzed from his two beers with Pete. Note in the scheduler to call that dude to set up an appointment to surf, of all things. Now... [08:47] 4...Now he needs to look at cars. [08:50] 6Hey, it's only been a few months. Edgar means, yes, this has been a thing for years, but it's honestly not the worst he's ever had to explain. And he's always been there for.. excuses. Okay. 15[08:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Princess needs to be fed and walked and probably cleaned up after. Is Trubee already gone? [08:51] "It might look odd me putting a jacket on the arm of the chair, but there's assuredly a purpose." 08[08:51] Trubee is standing outside the door to Rollie's place, balancing two cardboard boxes containing all of her worldly possessions in her arms. [08:51] 6Edgar: "Going to tell you everything, but I need to prove some of it. It's weird shit, see. Like you haven't seen in twenty years." 15[08:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You need help?" 15[08:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "Let me get that." [08:52] Trubee shakes her head. "No, I've got it. Found a place! Pretty close by." 15[08:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Cool, cool. How are you doing on work? Is there like a magic LinkedIn or something?" [08:53] Jacqueline says nothing and watches him. Where did he pick up the taste for theactricality? [08:54] 4For now, though, it's still Santiago's truck. He's heading to the office. He's got work to do. [08:55] Trubee shifts, to better carry the weight. "Nope! Just gotta…get out there, I guess. Lots of cool stuff out here! Like, stuff I can see. You probably, uh, can't see it too well. but, it's there. When I'm ready to work for real. I kind of need an actual job, though. I can't keep just winning money at pool. That's…you know…" 15[08:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You can't just keep doing the same small-time shit forever." 15[08:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wow that was hard to say. [08:57] 4He'll need the help of a fixer with the local Chamber of Commerce and other relevant business bureaus and authorities. Someone's whose name can go on most of the paperwork, who can file incorporation documents with the city of...Anaheim, probably. Along with some other municipalities. That person could be Rush, or it could be Buchanan -- did they seriously send him two guys named [08:57] 4after right-wing talk show hosts? -- or it could be someone else entirely. [08:58] 6That's the thing is: Edgar's working. Creating an impression has always been part of his work. It just hasn't ever included Jacqueline before. Funny how a relationship changes over the years and, particularly, when death does them part. [08:58] Trubee frowns. "Yeah. It feels kind of scummy taking money from regular people like that. If I'm in a really nice place and some asshole wearing a Rolex thinks he can beat me at pool, welll…but I'll find something. Um…" [08:59] "Thanks for letting me stay at your place. I really needed the help." [09:00] "So." 6He rolls up a sleeve, revealing the night's ugly wound. It's barely closed and clearly needs dressing. "I hope to God you don't remember much of what we saw in Amarillo, but it's a bit like that. I've been bit by a vampire." [09:00] "Not just now, but a few months back. Not all bad, because now I can do this:" 15[09:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie affects a smile. "Yeah. Sure, no problem. I'm glad I could help you." 15[09:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "See you around, Trubee." [09:01] Trubee nods, and puts the boxes down long enough to put the key in the door of the unit next door, unlocking it. [09:01] 6In front of their eyes, the flesh heals, becomes smooth then pink and finally hair regrows. There's a musty smell not unlike that of the higher shelves. 15[09:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie gapes. 15[09:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "What- what happened to the other guy?" [09:01] 4Hah. 15[09:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's sure he learned that guy's name at some point. 15[09:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Right? He must have. [09:03] The young wizard only looks sort of regretful. "Well, his lease was up. And I kind of had more cash in hand than he did, and the landlord said he was tired of him anyway. So…" 15[09:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Niiiice." 15[09:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "Well. See you around, neighbor." [09:04] Jacqueline throws her hands up to her mouth. Her eyes are wide and unable to settle on either his wound or his face. [09:05] "Seeya." Trubee carries one box in and pushes the other forward with her foot, locking the door behind her. 15[09:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10There's something like an actual smile on his face now. God damn, Trubee. 15[09:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's gone by the time he gets inside. [09:06] 6What wound? [09:07] Exactly. Jacqueline is a pale shade of green. "I think I'm going to be sick, Edgar." [09:07] 6Edgar's face is blank- but she's used to that, surely, and it's the actual blankness of everything being fine. It's not the blankness for when he disagrees but won't say so, or the blankness of concentration, or the blankness of concealed information. [09:08] 6He rolls down his sleeve, then. "Sorry, but I reckon you can take it. Wish you didn't have to. Let's just-" [09:08] "Larry! Bring us a bin liner bag." 6Edgar calls that out- then repeats it in Dog. 15[09:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie slumps back against the door. Princess whines at his right calf. "Yep," 10he says to the beagle. "Yep." [09:09] 6Back to American: "Just in case. That's another thing I can do, see." 15[09:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He doesn't even undress before he falls into bed. [09:11] "Larry…?" Jacqueline calls his name even as the loyal dog noses open a cabinet and gently drags a plastic trash bag across the floor in his mouth. [09:12] "He's a good boy, but he ain't that well trained." [09:12] "Turns out dogs count as ze creatures of ze night." [09:15] Jacqueline gingerly takes the bag from the dog, staring at him. "How long? Since you asked me to move out here?" She rubs her temples, where the first wrinkles are showing. "I'm such an idiot." [09:15] 4Cavanaughs been busy, of course: most of the paperwork's been done already. 'Orange County Standards & Compliance,' a third-party privately-owned consulting firm and contractor to state and local law enforcement as well as business interests in the insurance and financial spaces and an exclusive individual clientele, was applying for the relevent zoning permits, as well as the PI [09:15] 4licenses required to formally operate in the greater Los Angeles metro area and, indeed, the State of California. [09:16] 4He's ordered business cards, and as he arrives at their new office, he sees that the contractors he hired have already installed a modest sign. [09:17] 6Edgar: "Yeah, just about then." 6Not having bled on the jacket after all, he moves it. "It's not all bad.. but I've been told the sunlight thing is true." [09:18] "There's a whole damn organisation to hand out this information, which was fortunate as it turns out." [09:18] "Who I work for now." [09:21] His cousin picks at the edges of the plastic liner with her fingernails, avoiding eye contact. "Vampires." [09:21] 4Once the various representative comptrollers for Santa Ana, Los Angeles, and the intervening jurisdictions sign off, they should be a fully accredited firm licensed to retain up to a dozen full-time employees before hitting various tax escalators. Cavanaugh suspects that won't be an issue, moving forward. [09:22] 6Edgar: "Maybe you can see now why I had to work up to talking!" [09:23] 4But he's also well aware that while Rush and Buchanan are welcome, knowledgable help -- and while he has no reason to doubt their personal integrity, at least not yet -- he is also aware that their primary fealty lies Downtown. This is especially true if they are ghouls. [09:23] 4He needs -- they need -- their own people in-office. [09:25] 4So he's set up feelers. Specifically, he's reached out to the Baroness and Santiago to see if they know of any talented, trustworthy mortals who are local to the area and either already aware of the...nightlife...generally, or of reasonable disposition that being exposed to it won't constitute a security risk or detriment to their own mental wellbeing. [09:27] Jacqueline looks for the right words. "It's just that…they're…Vampires aren't real, Edgar! And now you're…doing this…and…." She slumps in her chair. "I thought you were going to tell me you had finally just thrown in with a cartel or something along those lines." [09:28] Santiago texts back immediately: [09:30] 4Cav: [09:30] 6Edgar: "Christ, I wouldn't work for those people. The vampires have got something like actual law enforcement, you know? I'm closer to official here than ever before. Apart from not being real." [09:31] [09:31] "I'm with you on that. Seems like a damn weird thing, and maybe I've just gone a convincing kind of nuts." [09:34] 6He scratches Larry behind the ears. None of this is spin; it's occurred to him many times that, obviously, vampires aren't real. Amarillo aside, that's plain as daylight, except, therein lies the rub. [09:35] Jacqueline: "I…are they bad? In the movies they're pretty evil, Edgar. They drink people's blood." 08[09:37] Rollie's world dissolves. It's different from sleep, which he can't remember anymore. What used to be a space for dreaming is simple death now. 15[09:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Death is not simple. [09:38] 6Edgar: "Let me get the flier. I think, uh, there's some evil about. Definitely some people turn into monsters. Seems to be their own choice, which makes it worse.." [09:38] 4Cav: [09:38] [09:38] <*buchanan> [09:38] [09:38] 6He's walking as he talks, retrieving the crumpled job-offer letter. He folds it to show the salary and hands Jacqueline the document: payment in blood. [09:39] "They give me coolers. I will level with you that I do not know whether someone is operating a blood bank or worse." [09:39] Jacqueline takes the letter and reads it carefully. [09:41] "My job is kind of.. to fight the monsters. In a way it's honest work. Not too safe, though." [09:44] The two vampires are sitting in the woods, by the stream, on the boulders smoothed by the water. The air is cooler here than it is out in the mountains. They're closer to the ocean. The one who lives here is trying to hide her smile, which mixes amusement and condescension. "How much trouble would you get in if they knew you were out here? Haha." The one who doesn't live out there just watches the water. [09:45] Jacqueline folds it back up and passes the letter back to Edgar. "Pretty clever of them." She looks angrier than she's been in months. "Have you killed anyone yet?" [09:46] Santiago: [09:47] 6Edgar: "No." [09:48] Jacqueline: "They're not the kind of vampires who are big on killing people, then?" [09:49] 4Cav: [09:51] 6Edgar: "I'm not. Look, I'm telling you this because.. I'll tell you things when you want to know them, or you need to. I ain't telling you how to feel about it. There's a range of reasonable reactions." [09:56] The two vampires are sitting in the theater after all the lights have gone out except one, at the very center of the stage. The one who just arrived is laughing easily with the one who designed the theater. He's impressed by her work, and ready to stop his so that he might learn from hers. "You could enter the state at any time, though, you said? If it isn't an imposition, do you suppose I might see it?" He's only half-re [09:56] for it, when her face comes off and the rest of her fills the room, limbs and flesh growing to support the black web that's become her body. He signs. 15[09:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Huh. [09:59] Santiago: [10:00] 4Cav: [10:01] Jacqueline: "What is my reaction supposed to be?" [10:04] The two vampires are sitting in the theater, years afterward, with all the lights on. The one who signed is directing the one who knows all the names while they look over a map of the city and the counties on either side. He taps Orange with a slim finger, and looks to her for answers. She shrugs. "I don't know. I haven't mapped the lines down there." His silence is her answer. "But…I can start." [10:07] 6Edgar snorts. "Come on, Jacqueline. That's like asking if a dress makes your.. I can only tell you my reaction." [10:09] 6Edgar: "They told me that I'd have to drink blood, and I felt dread. You can.. attack someone like out of a movie, bite them. I dread being that someday if shit goes wrong." [10:09] 6Edgar: "They told me that I'd have power over lesser creatures, and I asked, does that include people? And they said yes and I said, bullshit. The vampires in charge think that way. It's a problem." [10:10] 6Edgar: "They told me that I would never sicken or die, and I felt safe. Like one good thing had happened in this world, at a high price, but it happened at last." [10:12] The two vampires are sitting in the leaves, in the woods, by the stream, down from the boulders smoothed by water. They're talking about the one who visited a long time ago. The look hasn't come off the face of the one who lives here. "I don't know. Would it make you more or less upset if I did? The phone was fixed, wasn't it?" the visitor says. [10:13] The one who lives in the woods plucks a reed from the bank and bends it in her hands. "Calm down. It's hardly the last opportunity. There will be more chances for you all." [10:16] Jacqueline has to sit in silence. [10:20] 6That's good. Makes it easier for Edgar to do the same. He can feel one of those waves of instinct coming on, the desire to sleep, or at least rest, or at least cease.. somewhere he won't see again, the sun is coming up. [10:20] The two vampires are sitting in the office at the top of the tower. The one who knows the names and followed the first one out into the woods tells the one who owns the building and everything else that she doesn't know anything except what she's been told by others. He doesn't believe her. He's too busy to look into it further, and she's glad. [10:22] He writes it out in longform, on the card. No-one will recognize his handwriting on something so trivial, and if they did, so what? His daughter works enough. Before he slides it across the desk, he holds it back between his fingers. "This comes with conditions." "Of course," she answers. [10:23] Jackie: "Are you safe? Are you happy?" [10:28] The two vampires are lying in a bed, in the home they share in Pasadena, away from everyone else. The one who owns everything is talking about the one who signed to the one he told, the only one of her circle who knows. He looks strange in pajamas, and she looks dignified in her nightgown. His face is pressed into her shoulder, and when he speaks it's muffled. [10:28] She listens, and wonders if she's really going to go along with his plan. [10:31] 6Edgar: "Never been safe. I've been working on safety forever, you know that. There's a real chance of improvement here, with maybe a.. a local low point. But I'm happy to be working on it. I'm happy it wasn't the kind of bite that just kills you dead." [10:31] "I only wish I could play with the dogs in the sun." [10:31] "It's not such a big deal. But it would be nice." 08[10:33] Rollie sees one hundred, eighty, one year ago, yesterday, and tonight. [10:33] Then he wakes up, and realizes his problems are the same. [10:35] Jacqueline: "How long are you going to do this for?" [10:39] "Until I'm established enough that it ain't necessary. The vampires don't trust easily, as you might expect. There's a deadline been mentioned between five and six months away." [10:39] Jacqueline shakes her head. "No, I mean, is the Vampire thing permanent? Can we look for a cure?" [10:43] "I'd appreciate it, but be careful. They have people who look out for questions being asked about the supernatural." 6Edgar's voice is steady. His thoughts are afire, as is his back. "It'd be best for you to leave off it, but if you don't, they say a few different things about the curse." [10:44] His problems will always the same. How will he make sense of anything? [10:44] "Heard some religious men say it was due to an affront against God by a Roman thousands of years ago. Heard from some new-agers that it's the curse of the seven-year acorn." [10:44] "If someone's got the cure to either, they ain't told yet." 08[10:45] Only the woman in the woods remains unchanged, out of all of them. She is happy, it's true. But the understanding Rollie seeks is with the others. They've all transformed themselves. Why shouldn't he? 15[10:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie rises. His face contorts into a massive yawn, involuntary and feline. Fangs down, tongue out. "Fuuuuuuuck." [10:47] Jacqueline: "You mean a different curse than just being a vampire? I…I mean. Do you have a plan?" [10:49] "Naw, they- we, I guess. We call it the Curse." [10:49] "I mean. Talking to dogs is great but it is a real big deal to catch fire in sunlight." 14[10:51] * Joins: ddt [10:53] Jacqueline puts her head in her hands. "This is insane." [10:54] "Am I in trouble for knowing this? Do I have to keep this a secret? Does everybody know about this except me? Am I just supposed to…walk around, knowing vampires are real, pretending otherwise?" [10:54] 6Edgar nods and puts a hand on her shoulder. "It is maybe the second worst thing I've heard of." [10:55] "You're fine, but if you tell people they'll think you're huffing horse hockey, right? This ain't common knowledge at all." [10:55] "If you really want to.. not know. There might be a way. But that isn't the Jacqueline I know." 15[10:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That was too much shit to think about this early in the evening. He's slow to get out of bed, slow to shower and dress. Princess needs feeding and walking and interrogating. "Who's a good boy? Is it you? It's you. You're such a good boy." 10He puts Leisurely out of his mind. He puts Jubal out of his mind. But the dread twisting in the pit of his chest hangs there, denied its referent but not its power. [10:58] Jacqueline looks up. "What? What are you talking about?" [11:08] 6Edgar: "You know in vampire stories how they cloud minds- get themselves forgotten? I've heard that one might be real. It'd explain a lot." [11:10] Jacqueline stands up. "Don't do it to me." [11:11] "Doubt I could. Certainly won't." [11:11] "There's one more thing in that vein." 6Haha. [11:11] His cousin is very slowly backing away. "Okay, Edgar." [11:11] "So you're a vampire now, and I can't tell anyone. I need some time." [11:12] "Okay, but this is important. Listen to me just a moment more." [11:12] Out of reflex, she looks behind her, as if she's making sure her retreat isn't blocked. [11:12] "If anyone talks to you- if you get mixed up in this at all- you tell me right away. I'll get them to back off." [11:12] "You mean another vampire." [11:13] "Don't try and handle them! That fear you've got, the thing I hate to see in your eyes- it ain't wrong. You never have to be scared of me, Jacqueline. But they who call themselves Kindred are scary as fuck." [11:15] 6The difference between kin and kine- it hits him all at once, like something that's been building up. Last night they were throwing cars around like nothing, both sides. Last night he took over a mind for his own convenience, ignored the free will of another living person. And none of that is anything compared to what the Marquise or Bren can do. She's not wrong. [11:16] "Who bit you? Who turned you into a vampire? How did it happen, huh? You just woke up and knew you couldn't see the sun anymore?" [11:18] "You didn't choose to do this because you were scared of the stupid dog farm going under, correct? Edgar? Please tell me this just…happened to you." [11:18] 6Edgar shakes his head, takes his hand off the back of Larry's neck. "I can tell you all about that, but you said it: you gotta have time. You let me know when you're sure if you want to know more, okay?" [11:19] "But no, of course I don't care about the business." 6He's actually surprised she thought it *was* his real business. [11:19] 6Relieved that it wasn't the right question. [11:19] "Why shouldn't I just leave? Why do you need me here anymore?" [11:20] Her hand is on the doorknob. [11:21] 6Rather than stand up, Edgar slumps. He's very tired. "The dogs need someone- just someone- but I've always needed you." [11:22] "Jacqueline, I can do more but I'm not more than I was. Please stay." [11:24] When she says she needs time to think, it's as quietly as he's ever heard her speak. The click of the door being closed is louder. He's left in the parlor with Larry and the strange fiery feeling which sometimes becomes pain. 08[11:26] 6The dawn will carry it away. May Jubal still be experiencing the same from mad Rollie's flashlight. [11:34] The staff arrive the next night, as Rosa promised. They come in a battered sedan, parking across the street. Who is in the office to greet them? [11:38] 4Cavanaugh will be in there, putting the finishing touches on setting up the furniture. Once he committed to this idea, he secured some funding through friends back in Manhattan via the VC network they'd cultivated, and used the initial funding for desks, chairs, computers and software. [11:39] 4He's just gotten his second new router in five days working when they arrive. [11:40] 6Edgar arrives about the same time - if asked, he'd say he is one of the staff - in a rented car. He'd not have bothered with the vehicle, but as it turns out, he has all these boxes of paperwork and computer parts. [11:41] "Good evening, Clinton. The Administrator wasn't totally surprised by our establishment here." 15[11:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's out of the house as soon as the sun and Princess will allow. But he drives around for a long time before he makes his way to the office, meaning he arrives third of the Deputies. [11:42] "Evening, Edgar." 4Cav sighed as he shut down what would presumably become their receptionist's PC. "You know, somehow that doesn't surprise me." 08[11:44] "Hey, Rollie." 15[11:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie gets out of the car. He's cleaner-cut than he usually is. He shaved the little bit of stubble he died with, and his shirt has buttons. "Nice place." [11:46] 6Where, actually, is it? [11:46] 4He spreads his arms and turns around. "So. Orange County Standards & Compliance. Four offices for us along the back wall, conference room there on the left, and out here in the open area, desks and workspace for anyone we bring on board. I considered cubicles but. You know. Cubicles." 15[11:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "A bad look." [11:48] 6Edgar: "I've never worked in a cubicle, but then again, I've never worked in an office." [11:50] 4Cavanaugh: "Besides, you only need cubicles if you're planning on having people in-office, sitting down for eight hours at a time. Our workflow's going to be quite a bit more dynamic, I think." [11:51] The two men standing underneath the cameras buzzing the entrance are near-opposites, physically. The taller of the pair is looking up into the lens, the crinkled wreases under his eyes, his trimmed goatee, and his long face combining to give him a face like a tired bloodhound. The shorter is looking at his feet, and all that's visible his the top of his head, bare except for a few wispy strands of hair that have been com [11:51] over. [11:52] 4Cavanaugh nods. "A bunch of desks with signs of activity on them but only one, maybe two people actually in-house at time is a good look for an investigative service, if we're walking someone in to the conference room for a chat. Cubicles? Not so much." [11:52] 4Cav hits the door buzzer he's had extended to run under the receptionist's desk. [11:54] "Any of you foresee a need for us to take ordinary clients?" [11:54] They're not seen again until they exit the elevator on the second floor, and walk into the cleared main space. [11:55] The deputies can get a better look at the shorter one now. Eyes downcast, a small, timid mouth, and old-looking spectacles. Both men look like they're in late middle age. 15[11:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I guess it depends on how much of a pain in the ass the bookkeeping will be without any actual revenue." [11:55] 4Cav smiles. "I think our own social circle will keep us more than busy." 4He stands up from behind the desk as the men enter and walks towards them with his hand extended. "Gentlemen! Clinton Cavanaugh." [11:57] 4More than likely, the Court will have a number of front companies and paper subsidiaries already established for the purpose of that particular bit of financial play-acting. If not, Cavanaugh will get to work setting some up. [11:58] The tall bloodhound shakes. His short fellow does the same, after a moment's hesitation. The tall one speaks for both of them. "Mr. Cavanaugh. I'm Buchanan. This is Rush. The Seneschal told us we'd been assigned to help you with the business and legal ends of the work." [12:00] 6Edgar leans on the wall, observing. "And have you?" 15[12:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie also leans on the wall, observing, though it doesn't look as cool when he does it. 15[12:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10One gets the impression, if they're attentive, that his mind is elsewhere. [12:03] 4Cavanaugh nods. "So I've been informed. Did you both work in the Judex's office?" 14[12:04] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[12:05] * Joins: trenchfoot [12:08] Buchanan answers Edgar first. "Yes, of course. We follow the Seneschal's direction, and now we belong to you." His voice sounds like a gravel crusher. "Yes, although for different periods of time. I've spent five years working with the Judex's office. Rush" - he indicates his colleague with a declined head - "only spent one, although he worked for the late Lord Malloy for far longer, in a position with similar work." [12:10] "Either of you passed the bar?" [12:12] 4Cavanaugh nods. "What fields do you specialize in? We're specifically looking for assistance with territorial claims, precedent related to improper transfer of feeding and residential privileges, and of course the associated, statutory real estate contract law in Orange County and the State of California." 08[12:15] 4A brief pause. "Also, these are my colleagues, Edgar Doolittle and Roland Choi." 15[12:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Upward half nod. 15[12:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then his eyes focus on the mortals. "Yeah." 08[12:16] 6Rollie sounds better, sort of. Also worse. But sane. [12:16] Buchanan nods. "I have, in California. Rush hasn't. We've both dealt with, yes, territorial claims, feeding disputes, contract law, territory arbitration, arbitration on issues following violence, claimed real estate arbitration, ghoul arbitration, audits ordered by the court on private records, and general legal services provided to whomever the court directs us to assist. Mr. Doolittle. Mr. Choi." [12:17] 4Cavanaugh smiles and nods again. "Impressive. What are your salary requirements?" [12:18] 6Edgar: "Gentlemen, your capability for linguistic volume will serve. Court chose well." 15[12:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...yeah." 15[12:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "Welcome aboard." 09[12:22] * cbass_ is now known as cbass [12:22] Buchanan: "Expenses for food and miscellany. Local housing. Unless you'd like us to commute." [12:23] 4Cavanaugh nods. "We'll start in the high five figures, then. I'll get in touch with our investors and work out a precise number, and we'll have offer sheets for you by the end of the week." [12:27] The tall man nods. Both of their suits are perfectly tailored, although Buchanan's is made of far finer material. "Of course. Whatever arrangement provides the least trouble for you." [12:27] 4He leads them to the back. "Your offices will be here and here -- you can sort out which is which -- and we've provided you each with a MacBook Pro for work purposes. Let me know if you're not comfortable with Macs and we can get them changed out." 08[12:29] 6When the others have gone: "You ok, Rollie?" [12:29] "There's a little...kitchenette thing, over here, and there's a bathroom just off of it. Cleaning staff will be by during daytime hours, so if you come in to pick something up then you might run into them. For that reason I'd prefer we not keep anything physically sensitive in the office overnight. Overday. Whatever." 4He crosses his arms. "Any questions? Concerns?" [12:29] 6Three quarters of a second later: "Don't say 'yeah'." 15[12:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Y-" 10Mouth clamps shut. A moment later: "What's up?" [12:30] 6Edgar sits on the reception desk. No need to lean at people nonpresent. [12:30] "Well, two things mostly." [12:31] "First is you're incredibly deep in thought, like.. a greek statue of a teenager who's just learned household slaves are human beings." 15[12:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "That's... a very specific and evocative image." [12:33] Rush busies himself with looking through the empty desk. Buchanan walks with Cavanaugh to the other office, before he answers. "What sort of work will you have us do? I admit that although I'm familiar with Court law, the specifics of this…place are a bit of a…well. I'll learn quickly enough." [12:33] 6Edgar: "Trainwreck of thought." 15[12:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Is that the second thing?" [12:35] 4Cavanaugh: "I'd need a better understanding of Court procedure regarding what mortals are and are not allowed to do to answer that question. Are you allowed to testify? Are you allowed to argue? That sort of thing. Your main in-office capacity will be research, background, and briefing." [12:35] 4Cav: "It is not my intention to ever place you or Rush in a situation where you have to talk to or deal with another Kindred without myself or one of the other Deputies physically present." [12:36] 6Edgar: "Naw, the second thing is that every so often you become completely incomprehensible and start doing mad things with magic results. We're worried. I speak for myself and, should he at some point notice, Clinton." [12:37] 4Cavanaugh has noticed; sadly, Cavanaugh was also raised in a culture -- in both of his lives -- where frank discussion of one's feelings for its own sake was viewed as weakness, and certainly not a conversation you went looking to have. [12:37] 4Which might explain why therapy didn't go so well, come to think of it. 15[12:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I bet he noticed. He's just not the 'I noticed' type." 15[12:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "Have you ever heard of Malkavia, Edgar?" [12:39] "Nup." [12:39] 6He's fine with hearing about it now, clearly. 08[12:39] 4In fact, Cavanaugh probably thinks he's showing trust and support by not implying that whatever's going on between (he assumes) Rollie and his girlfriend might be affecting his performance on the job. He's that kind of guy. 15[12:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It's... it's really hard to explain." [12:41] Buchanan nods, patting his briefcase. "Of course. And thank you, personally, for your concern. The role of Kine in Kindred law is a complicated one. Are you very familiar with the subject? The Los Angeles Court's precedent is simply that ghouls, or mortal retainers, for legal purposes, I mean, are simply extensions of their owners. So if I am attached to the Judex, it is the person of the Judex testifying when I occupy th [12:41] booth. Mostly it's used when Kindred are unfamiliar with the minute forensic or legal details of a case." [12:43] 6Edgar: "Is it important to explain it? Is it gonna cause you a problem? Cause me one?" 15[12:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I don't think it'll cause you a problem unless me sounding like I'm tripping balls ends up making you guys look stupid by association." [12:43] 4That raises Cavanaugh's eyebrows. "That's a...somewhat progressive stance on ghouldom, though also a bit of a bizarre one. That also makes the first thing I want you two to hit the ground running on a bit more fraught." [12:45] Buchanan: "Ah. Progressive only until you remember that outside the specific and limited act assigned, there is no recognition of wider rights. Yes, the first task." 15[12:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "But, the way it works is. Sometimes I'll notice something, right." [12:45] "Because that means that, legally speaking, it is Cosmo Morgan that we're investigating for potentially selling Orange County property to Kindred from outside the Court." 4He sticks his head out the door. "Actually, we should all huddle up on this." 15[12:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "And then that'll. It'll connect to something else." 15[12:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "And then that connection will remind me of some third thing. And I'll see a connection to the third thing somewhere else in front of me." [12:46] 4He notices the conversation they're having. "Actually, I'm sure the deputies will join us in a moment." 15[12:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "And then the relationship between the second thing and the third thing will end up transposing and I'll see a relationship between a fourth thing and a fifth thing, and then I'll see the fifth thing and the second thing together, and it's like they're the same thing, or like they're going to be the same thing." 15[12:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "This doesn't make any sense." [12:47] Buchanan waits patiently. "I'm not familiar with the name. Is he a notable of the County?" [12:48] 4Cavanaugh leans against one of the untaken desks out in the common workspace. "Have you heard the name Donald Bren?" [12:48] 4He frowns and whips out his phone, checking a notepad app. "Right. Donald Bren." [12:48] 6Edgar: "Got no worries about looking bad. It sounds like.. it sounds like you're describing one of those films where a character off the street ends up teaching some ivory-tower genius about his own job, a little bit about life, a little bit about love, and so on." [12:48] Buchanan's reaction isn't a positive one. "I…yes." [12:50] "Morgan's his..." 4Cavanaugh turns and calls across the room. "Edgar, what how would you describe the position that Cosmo Morgan holds in Donald Bren's organization?" [12:50] -what [12:51] 6Edgar: "To his face? Dogsbody." [12:52] 4Cavanaugh: "Does that mean gopher?" [12:53] 4He looks it up on his phone. "Yeah. Thanks, Edgar." [12:53] 6No problem. Of course, he'd be much more polite behind Cosmo's back. 08[12:54] "This is easier if we talk around the edges of it, Rollie? This thing isn't exactly ability OR disability, is it." [12:54] 4Cavanaugh: "Cosmo Morgan is someone some amount of trust in Bren's organization. We don't know the extent of that trust, though I suspect we'll find out as soon as this investigation launches." [12:55] *someone with [12:55] Buchanan: "I see." 15[12:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I did some reading, about, like. Mental illness. Psychosis, right? It seemed relevant." [12:55] He clears his throat. 15[12:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "You get people, people with delusions and hallucinations and shit. They think there's demons in the walls or that an angel wants them to collect rocks from every streetcorner and stack them in their front yard. Or whatever." [12:56] 4Cav: "Morgan's ghoul, a realtor named--" 4Hess. "...Nness, named Jerry Ness, is the actual legal actor here on the real estate side of things." 15[12:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "And you read people analyzing these accounts, and they talk about, like. A signal to noise ratio. Like your thoughts are disrupted because you get this, overload, right?" 15[12:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "There's just too much shit, and your brain makes meaning out of it because that's what brains do." 15[12:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "But." [12:57] Buchanan: "Mhm." 15[12:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "There's no noise, man." 15[12:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's all signal." 15[12:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "That's what Malkavia is. It's signal. Just, constant, constant fucking signal." [12:58] 6Edgar: "Yeah, it sounds like the basic difference between this and that is that you've identified when an actual angel is directing the rockery? Which is happening uncomfortably often?" 15[12:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "And then it comes out as noise." 15[12:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I dunno, it's like. Whatever. I can handle it." [12:58] "Sounds like the noise is for our good. Everyone else but yours, I mean." 15[12:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You said, uh. What was it you said? It's not exactly ability or disability." [12:59] "Got reminded recently just how big a deal even we are to most people. What lies beyond your basic vampirism.. most can't handle." 15[13:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "And when you're already- when you've got-" 10He shrugs. "It's fine. I just gotta deal. I'll get right." [13:00] 4Cavanaugh: "That means we have some digging to do -- we need the names on every deed transfer that Ness and his company brokered over the last, say, year, and we need to check each of those names and establish one of two things: that the person listed is a living, breathing human being not currently under the sway of the Vinculum, or that the Kindred or the ghoul listed for that [13:00] Kindred is allowed to buy property in Orange." [13:02] 4Cav: "A lot of this is going to be feel, I'm not going to lie. Put aside properties that just don't look right, given your experience, and we'll follow up on them first. We should be able to tell if there's vampiring going on around a place just by paying it a visit and poking around a little bit." [13:02] 4Cav: "Which, again, is our end of the bargain." [13:02] Buchanan: "That's exceedingly within our ability." [13:03] 4Cavanaugh: "Now, hopefully, since this is 2014, all this information is on a computer somewhere, preferably public-facing and accessible by internet. If not, we've got some breaking, entering, and photocopying to do down at the various records offices." [13:03] "Because ideally -- and this is important -- ideally Cosmo Morgan will not know we're investigating Cosmo Morgan until we inform him ourselves, in force, on his doorstep." [13:04] 6Edgar's been thinking for a few moments. "Would you call vampirism a disability?" [13:04] 6He looks over at Clinton. Hasn't slowed him down. [13:05] Buchanan: "Yes. Discretion is, fortunately, a habit acquired a very long time ago." [13:07] "So everything's business as usual for now." 4To Edgar: "Under the ADA you'd have to show impairment of a major life activity and a social perception that the condition is the cause of that impairment. Some of the guys at C&C once did a mock trial of it as a thought exercise. They concluded it would basically come down to what the public thought of vampires." 15[13:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "No. I think... I don't know. Maybe?" 15[13:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't think I'm good enough at being a vampire to answer that." [13:08] 6Edgar: "What?" [13:09] 4Cavanaugh, to Rush: "You've been pretty quiet so far. Any questions? Concerns?" [13:09] Rush freezes in place. "No, sir." [13:10] 6Edgar would rather the man not *acquire* any concerns. Distraction: "Second time you've mentioned 'C&C' in connection with systematisation of the condition. Who are the Cs?" 15[13:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie closes his eyes. [13:13] 4You know, somehow Cav doesn't think that's quite true. But he's not going to press the matter. "Alright then. Take your time settling in -- move in your things tonight if you want -- oh, and take these." 4He pulls two windshield stickers from his jacket pocket. "Parking permits for the lot. But yeah, I do want to hit the ground running here: end of the night, I want a ruling on [13:13] whether you can get the deed transfer info yourself, or if we need to get it for you." [13:14] "Thanks, guys." 4He starts walking over to the other deputies before pausing. "Oh! Phone numbers. Here, let me get your cellphone numbers and give you ours." [13:15] 4Once that's done, he'll let them get to it and wander over to the other deputies. "C&C. Crook and Cross International. Like, you know, a shepherd's crook. They -- we -- usually just go by C&C to avoid any confusion." [13:15] 6Edgar: "Number you've got for me's a burner. Skip that one." [13:16] "Crook & Cross is a corporation of some sort? I'd got the impression communication between territories or courts was.. rare." 15[13:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie mumbles something. [13:17] Buchanan takes a piece of notepad paper out of his briefcase and tears it in half, passing Cavanaugh his and Rush's numbers, and taking down everyone else's. [13:17] Then, he enters them into his Blackberry. "Of course. We'll get started right away." [13:19] 4Cavanaugh pauses with his mouth open for a moment. "We're...technically speaking, we're a multinational charity, though that implies a size and scope that our business end of our operations belie." [13:20] 4Cav: "I suppose you could call that part of our group a front, if you're being. I was going to say uncharitable. If you're not inclined to approve of our larger work, let's say." 15[13:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah." [13:24] NEXT TIME: Private Eye Guys 14[13:37] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 09[14:31] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[14:32] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:56] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:18] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[15:18] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 09[15:25] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[15:59] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[16:03] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[16:08] * Joins: ddt 14[16:13] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[16:14] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:16] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[16:18] * Joins: ddt 14[16:26] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[16:27] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[18:24] * Joins: ddt 14[18:27] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[18:27] * Joins: ddt 14[18:44] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 15[18:49] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue Apr 28 18:49:59 2015 Session Start: Tue Apr 28 18:49:59 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 15[18:53] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[18:53] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[18:53] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[18:53] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[18:53] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[19:10] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:57] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[19:57] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:57] * Quits: mugobbles 14[21:07] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[21:14] * Joins: dammitwho 14[21:35] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[21:36] * Joins: dammitwho [21:37] - [21:37] - [21:37] - [21:37] - [21:37] - 14[21:41] * Joins: mugobbles [21:41] - [21:41] - [21:41] - [21:41] - [21:49] The phone rings only a few minutes after sunset. When she thinks back about it, she'll realize that Clarabelle had the invitation planned in advance. For how long? Maybe she'll remember to ask, and maybe she won't. When the call comes, the sky is still streaked with the pale pink remains of the day. [21:49] Past the wisps of clouds, the stars can be seen. When it disappears over the horizon, her body comes back to consciousness. Her lungs might not expand, but her eyes open. Her blood might not flow, or even exist in the world, but the substance she took from others sits heavy in her veins, itching to be spent and then retaken. [21:49] The sounds of cars come through the apartment's single window. She might be able to afford more, if she could get a stable part-time job at night, but the kindred she counsels keep odd hours. The church helps where it can. She might ask for more, if she feels she deserves it. The Bishop and his presbyters are busy, but their generosity hasn't disappeared in the recent tension. [21:49] Anyway, the phone's ringing. 14[21:51] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[21:55] * Joins: dammitwho 14[21:58] * Quits: dammitwho (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[21:59] * Joins: dammitwho [22:01] 3Who on earth could possibly be calling at such an unGodly hour? Maja was never a "morning person," which has transitioned into her not being an "evening person." She remembers back to a time when coffee had a pleassant effect on her body- when it was a source of comfort. But those days are gone now. She groans simultaneously with longing for the past, resentment for her present [22:01] 3grogginess, and irritation for being called so fucking early. She finally answers after several rings. "Hello?" [22:06] "Hi, Maja!" She can recognize the pleasant, low voice, and the enthusiasm. She's heard it delivering midnight sermons and reassuring whispers enough times. It's Clarabelle. Clarabelle Vincent, one of the presbyters serving directly under the Bishop in South Los Angeles. She's a bit of an early riser. At least it's not someone else who actually asks for things that take effort. "I probably woke you up." [22:08] 3While typically INCREDIBLY charming, Maja can be awfully surly in the early evenings. Thankfully, her warm feelings towards Clarabelle lubricate her response: "No worries. What's going on?" [22:12] "Are you doing anything tonight? Some friends of mine are going to stop by my house later. I thought you could do with some company. Get your head out of other people's problems for a night. You interested?" What is she doing tonight, if anything? Does she have a usual schedule she likes to keep? Certain routines, outside of her official duties of counseling? [22:23] 3Despite Maja's gift of gab, she still deeply values her alone time. But this sounds kind of fun? Interspersed between her chaotic duties, Maja likes to spend her time alone, though surrounded by humans. She misses humans. She's not close with many, for obvious reasons. But she yearns to be. She misses the way that they ... well, the way they aren't vampires. Sometimes she'll go to a [22:23] 3bar and let men hit on her, occasionally kiss them- but she never gets involved. She couldn't do that to them. But she finds the courting practices of humans adorably quaint. But perhaps she can check this out. She knows a handful of vampires who aren't torturous to be around. But just in case, she's going to hedge her bets a little. "Hmmm, I'm not sure yet, I have to check my google [22:23] calendar first. When were you thinking, and anyone I know going to be there?" [22:26] "Well, it's just a little get together. You don't know many Invictus, do you? I mean, not the underlings, the real lords and ladies. They're a couple of baronesses. Less uptight than that sounds." [22:32] 3Oh GOD, hobknobbing with the powerful? Maja couldn't possibly think of anything less enjoyable. Still, she trusts Clarabelle's judgment. "Oh jeez, sounds intimidating. But I suppose it will be good for me to mingle. Should I bring anything?" [22:33] 3Sometimes Maja forgets she's a vampire, and that they don't bring beer or snacks to their parties. [22:35] "Just your winning personality. You know how to get to my house, right?" She reels off the address for her place in Long Beach. Nice neighborhood, too. [22:35] 3It happens less often these days. But there's always a pang of longing when she notices the residuals of an obsolete human habit. [22:37] Did snacks ever taste as good as blood? Was any food as hot or as rich as the blood when you're drinking it from somebody's neck? [22:38] 3Maja recollects herself in time to respond to Clarabelle without missing a beat.  "Oh Clara-beara, you're too kind. I will plug it into the Googs. When should I head over?" [22:40] 3It's not the taste of food that she misses- it's the innocence. Though sometimes she remembers that when she was a human, she felt a similar way towards eating meat, but she sure did THAT anyway. [22:40] She can practically hear Clarabelle vocalize the shrug. "When you're free. They're spending the night. It's a bit of a…B.Y.O.B. But they like to share. I just don't want them driving afterwards." 14[22:40] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[22:43] * Joins: dammitwho [22:45] 3 Maja grins at Clarabelle's teenly, human terminolgy. She almost wonders if Clarabelle used it deliberately to please her. "Wonderful. I will put on my face and head right over then." [22:46] "Okay! See you there!" Click. [22:47] 3Moderately nervous, but unusually excited, Maja begins her waking ritual. She puts a pot of water on the stove, just to heat it up. It's not for anything but the whistle. [22:48] There are…a lot of Invictus seeking counseling lately. The lords and ladies are a rare sight, but their underlings seem to want to talk almost as often as members of the congregations. Mostly their stories are about boredom, nervousness, revulsion. [22:51] How's Maja going to get there? What's she driving these nights? [22:51] 3 She doesn't need to shower, but, well, there are too many things that she has let go of already. She's doesn't plan on losing this one, either. Sometimes she feels a LITTLE bad, on account of the draught and all, but she rationalizes: maintaining any vestige of her humanity is far more important for the well-being of humans around her than access to water. [22:56] 3Maja gets in her hand-me-down Volvo that she got when her father passed away. It's an old piece of shit, but with sentimental value. On the back window, there's a Calvin peeing logo that she put on the back as a Wild Teen. At the time, her father was particularly unamused, but he didn't take it off. [22:58] 3 Maja gets in the car and turns on the cassette deck. Bad Religion's 21st Century Digital Boy starts playing mid-song. [23:00] Clarabelle's house isn't anywhere near the Long Beach piers and freight cranes. The only thing she can see when she gets off the freeway and into the residential streets is the broad, leafy branches of the oaks on the flat, grassy lawns extending in every direction. The houses here aren't tract or ranchhouse, but stately and modest Victorians, most set back a bit from the sidewalk. It's quiet, and welcoming. [23:01] Clarabelle's house is flying an american flag from its small flagpole jutting from the porch. All the lights are on. [23:03] 3 Despite the pleasant surroundings, Maja feels just slightly out of place. She's always been somewhat unconventional. In her human life, she was a very polarizing figure. Some found her compelling and edgy, other's simply off-putting. [23:04] 3Maja pulls over, entirely too far from the curb. Practically daring some jerk cop to give her a ticket- which she absolutely will not pay. [23:05] Clarabelle actually gave a sermon about that, once. She said that unlife was in some ways like a second life, with each person changing in unexpected ways. The meek become proud, and the proud meek. Some live as monsters, and live again, dead, as saints. And vice-versa, but she only spent a few moments on that thought, since she was trying to inspire. [23:06] When Maja gets out, the shout is loud enough to hear from the street. "FUCK" [23:06] Did that come from the house? "OH MY GOD" It did. [23:09] 3Holy shit. Maja stands stunned for a second, not knowing whether to run away or towards the house. She runs towards the door, but ... should she enter without knocking? What the fuck is the ettiquette in a situation like this?? [23:10] The decision is hers! [23:11] 3 Maja decides to knock first, but loudly and with urgency. "Clara???" [23:11] 3She's poised ready to burst in, should it take too much longer for Clara to answer. [23:11] There's more indistinct yelling. [23:12] 3 Maja, above all, is concerned for her friend. She opens the door and immediately scans for Clara. [23:14] Nobody's in the front room. It's nice, by the way. Lots of wood paneling and furniture. Further in, in the kitchen slash living room slash dining room, it's a different story. There's blood everywhere. [23:16] 3 Oh fuck, where did that blood come from? WHAT did that blood come from? Maja runs through the living room to the other side, towards the sound of the screams. [23:17] Standing in the middle of the room are two women, covered in blood. Clarabelle is standing a ways away, her face in her hands. "PEARL. Why did you PULL when I said it was going to TEAR??", yells one of the blood-covered women. Between them on the floor, is a pack of blood, the kind you'd see in a hospital, the plastic packaging torn apart down the middle. [23:19] Clarabelle looks up. "Hi, Maja. I'm not cleaning this up, Jessie. It's my own fucking house." [23:20] 3Maja falls against the doorway with a tremendous sigh of relief. "Oh my GOD, Clarabelle. If I had a working heart, it would have been THOROUGHLY attacked." [23:21] "Thoughly, brutally, attacked." [23:22] Clarabelle walks over, gingerly avoiding the mess. She's barefoot. The others are wearing socks, which will need to be washed. All of it will need to be drycleaned, probably. "Sorry for the drama. Jessie, can you just…" The presbyter hugs the deacon. [23:22] Jessie looks up. "Just get a servant, Clarabelle! I'm covered in blood right now." [23:22] The other woman speaks. "She doesn't have any servants. We'll just clean it up." [23:23] Jessie looks uncomprehending. "With…our hands??" [23:23] 3A servent? As soon as Maja calms down again, she feels immediately out of place. 14[23:24] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [23:25] 3Perhaps out of a sense of wanting to help, but more probably out of a sense of defiance, Maja offers to help.  "Ah, I got it. Doesn't phase me. I find cleaning satisfying." [23:25] "Got any vinegar?" [23:26] Clarabelle pulls out a roll of paper towels and starts laying them down in a path towards the bathroom. "Just…clean up, first. There's bathrobes in the linen closet. Don't step on the carpet. Yeah, vinegar's in the top cabinet." [23:26] "Amonia? Hydrogen peroxide?" [23:26] The other woman pushes Jessie out of the room, careful to guide both of them onto the paper towels. Jessie protests, while being pushed. "Isn't she a priest? Can't she just order someone to do it??" [23:28] 3Maja feels a sliiiiiight tinge of regret about her decision to come, but remains hopeful that the night wont be total torment. [23:28] Clarabelle gets the cleaning supplies out of her cupboards, and sighs. "Sorry. I kind of screamed bloody murder. No pun intended." [23:28] 3 She marches over to get the vinegar, hopping from clean spot to clean spot, much like she used to while playing Lava Monster as a kid, and then again later as a very, very stoned adult. 14[23:30] * Joins: dammitwho [23:31] "Hah, consider yourself forgiven. Sorry for the lecture! Of course, it's a little hard these days not to be on edge." [23:32] "And I'd apologize for barging in, but well- I was prepared to fight for your life, so I don't feel TOO bad about it." [23:32] The presbyter joins her with a mop, pushing the biggest pools of blood around before wringing it into a bucket. "That's what tonight's for. Taking the edge off." She sighs while she wrings. "They'd just fuck it up," she explains. "Probably a couple decades since they pushed a broom." [23:33] 3 Maja giggles. Her heart swells a bit for Clarabelle. What a sweet dame, that Clarabelle. [23:34] She stops to laugh. "Thanks for charging in. If I'm ever getting brutally murdered, I'll remember to do it within your hearing range." [23:34] "Can't be too hard on them. Brooms ARE very confusing." [23:34] "Well, the way they use them, yeah." [23:35] "I mean ... I don't know how helpful I would be in a fight ... but I'm a sucker for making romantic gestures like that." [23:36] 3 Maja blushes. [23:36] "I mean, in the classical literary sense, of course." [23:36] 3Maja has no idea of that actually clarified anything, but she's hoping those were the right words. [23:37] "Yeah, I get it." Within a quarter of an hour, they've got the worst of it cleaned up. Jessie and the other woman come back in, hair wet, faces cleaned, and wearing linen bathrobes. [23:38] Jessie looks a bit more regretful. "First, Clarabelle, you should have a servant. But also" - the other woman pushes her finger into Jessie's shoulder. "Ow-okay! Clarabelle, I'm sorry we made a mess." [23:39] 3Maja feels a sense of affection towards the other woman. 14[23:40] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [23:42] Faces cleared up, she can get a better look at them. Jessie looks the same as Maja. High cheekbones, and long brown hair. The other woman is frightfully ugly. Her yellowed front teeth protrude, like a rat's, halfway down her chin. Her ears end in points. Her face is blotchy and mottled. [23:43] 3Maja reaches out her hand for a handshake. She knows some vampires have lost this ritual, but, possibly because of all the humans she hangs around, it still remains a part of her repertoire. "I'm Maja. Nice to meet you." [23:43] "Oops" 3 She quickly withdraws her hand. [23:44] 3 It's covered in blood still. [23:44] "Sorry about that. Anyway, I'm still Maja, and still pleased to meet you." [23:45] Clarabelle hands Maja a towel. [23:45] "Thank you." [23:45] The other woman nods. "Hi. I'm Pearl. This is Jessie. We're Invictus. Haven't seen you around before." [23:46] Jessie: "You're with the church, right?" [23:46] 3 Maja begins cleaning herself off. Sometimes she still tries to give herself spit baths, but those have proven to be less effective, now that she doesn't produce saliva anymore. [23:49] "Yeah, I'm a deacon. You're all with Invictus, right?" [23:50] They both nod, and walk into the kitchen. "Maja…how do you feel about hard drugs." Pearl asks. [23:50] 3Maja, out of the corner of her eye, notices a beetle walk across the floor. It distracts her a bit from the conversation- she has a soft spot for insects. [23:51] 3 Maja pauses for a bit. Did she hear that right? [23:51] "Hard drugs, you say? Any kind in particular?" [23:52] 3 She's not ENTIRELY sure how to read this situation. Seems like an odd question to ask, if you're not pro-hard drugs. But it's better to be cautious. [23:52] Clarabelle is putting everything back. "I [23:52] 'I'm just drinking tonight, thank you. Maja, feel free to do whatever." [23:53] "Ah, I hadn't realized it was going to be that kind of night." [23:53] 3Okay, maybe this might be kind of fun. [23:53] Jessie and Pearl wrestle a huge igloo freezer out of the fridge, and put it on the linoleum counter. When they take the top off, Maja can see that it's packed with more blood packs. [23:55] 3As a human, Maja used to get a watery mouth and eye sweat while even thinking of salt and vinegar chips, her favorite thing in the world. Without bodily fluids, it's hard to describe just what the sight of blood does to her. [23:56] 3Suddenly embarrassed, Maja remembers that she completely forgot to bring anything to this event. [23:56] Pearl names them as she takes them out. Each is labeled in pen, written on blue tape placed on the middles. "Peyote. Pure mescaline. Ayahuasca. Heroin." She takes a look at Maja. "It might be better if you stick to the non-opiates." [23:56] Jessie helps her unpack. "Don't pull them so hard this time, they'll break again." [23:56] 3What, exactly, does THAT mean? [23:58] "I've never really messed around with opiates anyway. Watched too many frieds go that way. I've never done peyote or Ayahuasca before, though..." [23:58] Jessie is singing under her breath. "If you in the club, put your hands in the air….if you in the club, put your hands in the air-" [23:59] 3Okay, Jessie's kind of a goober. That's cool. That's cool. [23:59] "What are y'all doing?" Session Time: Wed Apr 29 00:00:00 2015 [00:00] Jessie: "Here, try this." She tosses a blood pack to Maja, labeled 'Peyote'. "I'm doing…all of them?" [00:00] "It's called crossfading." [00:00] Clarabelle yells when she sees Jessie throwing blood around: "What did I JUST say-" [00:00] "Oh dang. That's pretty hard-core." [00:01] 3Maja smirks. She doesn't often see Clarabelle scolding people. [00:01] Pearl: "You can't overdose. Addiction is harder. Why not?" [00:02] "Excellent point. Guess that anxiety's a hold-over from the olden days." [00:02] 3Maja feels a pang of remorse at that realization. [00:03] Straws are produced and stabbed into packs. The two Invictus carry an armful of packs each over to the couches, where they join Clarabelle, who's holding a huge glass of rum, filled from a nearby bottle. When Pearl takes a few sips, she moans and settles back into the cushions. [00:03] 3Of course, the prospect of getting high quickly gets her pumped again. JUST ABSOLUTELY PUMPED. [00:03] "So what can I expect with this?" [00:03] "Am I gonna trip balls?" [00:04] Jessie takes a sip. "Hopefully. Just flush and you'll feel it in a bit. Really helps you relax." [00:04] Pearl holds up a hand. "Holy shit." [00:04] 3Maja knows that term is anachronistic. It amuses her. 14[00:05] * Joins: dammitwho 14[00:05] * Quits: dammitwho (Client Quit) 14[00:05] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa [00:05] Clarabelle's already starting on a second tumbler. "Cmon, Maja. Couches feel fine." [00:06] "Welp, sorry in advance if I do anything embarrassing." [00:06] Jessie and Pearl answer in unison. "It's cool." [00:06] Jessie: "What happens in Long Beach stays in Long Beach." [00:06] "Or something." 09[00:07] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho [00:07] 3Maja drinks slowly and deeply from her pouch. She has flashbacks to when she'd have "chugging" contests with her friends in elementary school, and Capri-Suns would shoot out her nose. [00:07] "Probably the best thing about being a vampire is not having to worry about getting VDs." [00:07] The three vampires are fully settled into their couches, stretching and relaxing, turning in place to get the most comfortable position. [00:08] 3Uh oh. Was that uncouth? [00:08] Jessie bursts out laughing. [00:08] 3Okay, phew. [00:08] Even Clarabelle is smiling, although her eyes are closed. [00:09] 3Maja notices the music playing in the background. [00:09] "Nice, a little Usher to get us in the mood?" [00:09] The presbyter wiggles her bare feet. "I like Usher. Did you guys hear about the deputies down in Orange County? On Halloween, I mean." [00:10] 3 Maja perks up. "You mean, with Clinton and those guys?" [00:11] Clarabelle nods in tranquility. "Yeah, I think one's supposed to be named Clinton or something. Clint? Didn't we have people down there that night?" [00:11] "Yeah, I actually ran into them that night. Crazy shit." [00:12] Pearl nods awake. "Woahhh. Like, you were there? Wasn't there like…fifty acolytes trying to kill them?" [00:14] "I'm not really sure what happened, I showed up after all the action. I was gonna meet up with Clinton afterwards to decompress, but something came up as he showed up." [00:14] "So you don't know him real well?" [00:14] "What do you know about him?" [00:15] Pearl moves her arms like she's underwater. "You mean…what's his name? Cavvernot or something, right. Not much. It's Orange County." [00:16] Clarabelle: "No…Cavanaugh. I think. Anyway, they killed a bunch of Acolytes. You know Teresa Okienka, right? She was there, too." [00:16] 3Maja's a bit disappointed, and it probably shows. [00:16] 3But there's no way Pearl is picking up on that at this point. [00:17] Jessie perks up. "Wait…deputies? Like…cops? Orange County deputies?" She falls back into the cushions. "Haha." [00:19] "Heh. Yeah ... though I gotta admit, I bet that Clinton would look reeeal nice in a uniform." [00:19] She has a sly smile, made less sly by her intoxication. [00:20] Clarabelle snorts with laughter. "How come the Invictus has all the hot ones?" [00:22] "It's really, really a shame. Hard to find any devout hotties these days. But I suppose that's historically been the case since ... forever." [00:23] Jessie stirs. "No, wait. Who's the one with the…" She makes a motion with her hand over her face. "He's a priest. He's hot." [00:23] Clarabelle: "…Morse?" [00:23] "Do you mean nose? The one with a nose?" [00:24] Jessie throws herself back. "No! What? No, Morse has a bowl cut. The other guy. He always used to be with the Bishop when you guys were coming to the parties." [00:24] 3 Maja still isn't sure how her humor's going to go over with these ladies. [00:24] Clarabelle: "…Ed Robin?" [00:24] Jessie extends a pointed finger. "Yes! Yeah, him. There you go." [00:25] "Ed, huh." [00:26] Maja knows Ed Robin. He's the presbyter closest to the Bishop in South Los Angeles. His shadow, as it were. [00:26] 3Maja contemplates this. Yes, I suppose he could be construed as "hot." [00:27] "Huh. Yeah, he's not so shabby. But well, let's just say ... he's ... fuck it, that dude's boring as hell." [00:28] "There's only so much tact you can have while on peyote, it seems." [00:28] 3Yup, she's starting to feel it. [00:28] Clarabelle shrugs. "My lips are sealed. Hold on to your charity, though." [00:29] Pearl, from what sounds like a million miles away: "He doesn't have to be interesting." [00:29] 3Maja feels some embarrassment. She's usually not so gossipy. [00:29] "Fair enough. He's a nice enough guy." [00:30] "Never done me wrong. I think I'm just attracted to someone with, hrmn. A sense of drama?" [00:30] Clarabelle: "He's a very devoted and talented member." [00:30] Pearl: "Drama is terrible. Find somebody who likes getting their rent every month and watching movies." [00:31] 3Maja deeply admires Clarabelle, but damn, sometimes she can be a real wet blanket. 14[00:31] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [00:32] "Ha, I guess I didn't mean behaviorally. More in his words. Someone with a knack for ... evoking feeling." [00:32] Jessie: "Speaking of memb-" [00:33] Pearl bolts upright: "Wait, you mean the deputies, deputies? Like, deputies of the Territory?" [00:34] 3Maja is suddenly a little anxious about Pearl's enthusiasm. Mostly because she's starting to get a little loopy. This was ... a bad idea. 08[00:34] Pearl looks over at Jessie. "Like Rollie." [00:34] "Yeah, those guys. You know them?" [00:34] Jessie: "That's why I was smiling!!" 08[00:35] "Yeah, I think Rollie was there. I feel like I'm missing something." 08[00:36] Jessie: "He was at the Autumn Ball. I think they all were, maybe? We were kind of…out of it on mushrooms. But we met one, Rollie. Uh, Choi…?" [00:36] "Asian dude?" [00:36] They both nod. [00:36] Jessie: "Good dancer." [00:37] Pearl: "Good kisser." [00:37] Clarabelle laughs. [00:37] "Ha. Nice." [00:37] "I didn't really interact with him." [00:38] 3Maja's still kind of confused. [00:38] Pearl: "Maja, do you feel anything yet?" [00:38] "He seemed, like ... in a different work when I saw him." [00:38] 3Maja took inventory of her feelings, and: yes. She does. [00:38] "Yuuuuuuuuuuuup." [00:39] Pearl: "Good. It's always better with company." [00:40] 3Maja feels a little like she's in a dream. Or at least a dream world. [00:40] Jessie: "Did anybody get…hurt? Before you showed up? I mean, on our side" [00:40] I mean, on our side." 14[00:42] * Joins: dammitwho [00:42] 3For a second, Pearl's pointy ears made her look like a wood nymph. Maja liked that. She's not really sure what wood nymphs are like, but they're probably sweet and cuddly, right? [00:43] "I think everyone got out okay. Clinton's car was demolished, though." [00:44] Clarabelle nods sleepily. "That's good. Halloween sucks." [00:44] Pearl and Jessie answer in unison: "Yeah." [00:45] "And to think I used to love it." [00:45] "Man, one halloween-" [00:46] "I dressed up as a referee, and I pretended to give some street cop a red card." [00:46] "He didn't think that shit was funny at ALL." [00:46] Jessie laughs so hard she sneezes. "Ahahaha." [00:46] "I have a complicated relationship with the police." [00:47] Pearl: "Fuck the police." [00:47] 3Maja wondered if that might have been an over-share, but also didn't particularly care at this point. [00:47] 3She smiles. [00:47] "Woooooord." [00:48] "Still, though. Those outfits are sexy." [00:48] Pearl nods. "I mean, not ours. The…mortal ones. So nosy." [00:48] "Naturally." [00:49] 3Maja felt self-conscious. Because: also fuck the vampire police, sorta. Some of them. A lot of them. But that's not really a popular opinion. [00:49] Clarabelle: "That whole place is such a mess." [00:50] 3Maja has some complicated feelings towards authority figures. She has a lot of complicated feelings about a lot of things. [00:50] No time like the present. [00:51] 3Maja ponders a bit, not really sure how much she should divulge. But these goddamn drugs- [00:52] Jessie rolls her head to face the priest. "Why would you even care about Orange County. It's Orange County. Congratulations you rule some suburb somewhere." [00:52] 3Maja snorts. [00:53] 3Jessie's growing on her. [00:54] Pearl: "Blood is the same everywhere. It's not like Ventura County is anything special. But the Prince still gets all the blood there." [00:55] "The illusion of power, though. Is intoxicating, isn't it?" [00:56] "Anything to pretend that Chaos doesn't reign." [00:56] "I mean, besides God." [00:57] Clarabelle's eyes move over to Maja. [00:57] 3Maja, in fact, has been wonder if chaos is more powerful than God. Or if God IS chaos. Or all sorts of things. This peyote isn't helping her figure any of it out. [00:58] Pearl: "I don't know. Power isn't really an illusion in the Invictus. It's real like…an iron fist." [00:59] "Yeah, that's a good point. But, I meant, like ... ultimately though. In the grand scale of things." [00:59] Jessie: "In the grand scale we're all dead." [00:59] "I suppose I just ... sometimes I think they forget their place." [00:59] 3Maja hopes this will ease Clarabelle's penetrating stare. [01:00] It's a curious stare, not an accusatory one. The priest has to struggle to sit up. "There's only one thing that's eternal." [01:01] 3Maja listens closely to try to guage if there's any scolding in her tone. [01:02] There isn't. She's heard her scolding tone before. It's just a simple statement of faith. [01:03] "Is it this song? [01:04] 3Seriously though, this song has been playing for like 15 minutes. [01:04] Jessie grunts and gets up, wobbling over to the counter where the stereo is. Clarabelle just smiles. [01:05] 3COULD be a warped sense of time, but I'm pretty sure this is forever. [01:05] Jessie pushes buttons on the iPod plugged into the speakers. "Clara, you made a playlist with one song." [01:06] 3Maja scoffs. "Sooooooo classic Clarabelle." [01:07] When Jessie comes back, she takes a throw pillow and tries to smother the priest with it. "Classic. Clara. Bellllllllllllle." The priest laughs as she fends off her assault. [01:07] The presbyter laughs* [01:08] "Oh hell yes, I am SO in the mood for the Ignition Remix." [01:09] 3Maja gets up and starts grooving. [01:09] "Hot n' fresh out the kitchen" [01:10] 3Bounce bounce, bounce bounce... [01:11] Jessie and Pearl just watch and applaud. [01:12] When the next one starts, Jessie actually stands up and tries to dance. Fire up that loud/ another round of shots/ turn down for- [01:12] 3Maja feels their eyes on her, and she's lovin' it. UUGGHHHHHH, get DOWN, Maja. [01:12] She makes it about five steps before she falls over back onto the couch. [01:13] 3Maja gets her fix of the attention and falls back on the couch too. [01:13] Jessie: "Why does everybody have to be so uptight all the time." [01:14] 3Maja sighs. "I guess we're in the midst of some tough times. But there's never a bad time for the Ignition Remix, that's my philosophy." [01:15] The other Daeva nods. "You're cool, Maja." [01:15] "You're A-okay in my book." [01:16] 3Maja nods approvingly and reaches over for some Daps. [01:16] Jessie has to stare at Maja's fist for a few seconds before she remembers what she's supposed to do and gives her the daps. [01:17] 3Maja, then, "explodes" the dap. [01:17] Pearl: "Clarabelle, when are you coming back to the balls?" [01:17] 3With really loud, obnoxious sound effects. [01:17] The presbyter shrugs. "When the Bishops and the Prince settle their differences." [01:17] 3Maja tips over backwards from her own exploding Dap. [01:19] 3She doesn't particularly care, at this point, if Jesse found that amusing. Because she was immersed in the idea of the explosion, as if it were actually real. [01:20] Pearl: "Yeah, but when will that be?" [01:20] Clarabelle shrugs again by way of response. [01:20] "I haven't been to a ball in aaaaaaaages." [01:21] Jessie: "I can get you an invitat- oh." [01:22] 3Maja remembers back to her high school prom, and her first kiss. Her friends knew it was her first kiss, and they errupted in applause. For most people, a floor of 20+ clapping for their first kiss would be mortifying- but not for Maja. [01:24] Clarabelle: "Yeah. Sorry. I'm sure it'll be over soon." [01:26] These are good drugs, after all. [01:26] 3Maja is confused. She's not sure if it's the drugs, or if she's intentionally being kept out of the loop here." [01:27] The night kind of fades for a long time. [01:27] "Maja." Clarabelle is standing in front of her, shaking her arm. [01:27] "Mmmmm, yes? What? Is everything okay? What's going on?" [01:29] The two Invictus baronesses are unconscious on the couch. Clarabelle is holding a phone in her hand. "Yes, everything's fine. I got this a little while ago." 14[01:29] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [01:29] "Got what? Huh?" [01:30] She holds up the phone to Maja's face. It's a text exchange with "Edward". "Presbyter Robin." 14[01:30] * Joins: dammitwho [01:30] Edward: [01:30] Clarabelle: [01:31] Edward: [01:31] Clarabelle: [01:32] Edward: [01:32] Clarabelle: [01:32] Edward: [01:33] 3Maja feels a tremendous panic. [01:33] "What the- why me??" [01:34] "Certainly there are more experienced people he could speak to ..." [01:34] Clarabelle pulls a blanket over Jessie. "Didn't you speak with the deputies?" [01:35] "Only very briefly. I was planning on speaking with Clinton later to debrief, but got pulled away." [01:35] "You think it's about that?" [01:36] Her friend shrugs. She seems to do that a lot lately. "You live down there. You've talked to them. It's a…problem area. I don't think you're in trouble or anything." [01:39] 3Maja feels a little calmer. But not much. "Er... okay. I shouldn't see him now, though. On account of ... well, I'm not entirely 'present,' at the mome." [01:41] Clarabelle puts her hand on Maja's shoulder. "Okay. I'll wake you up when it gets late." [01:42] NEXT TIME: Who say that angels in your ear are heard 15[01:44] * Retrieving #SonsAndDoctors modes... 14[02:22] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[02:23] * Joins: dammitwho 09[02:24] * Quaker is now known as Quaker_zzz 14[02:41] * Quits: mugobbles 14[02:49] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[02:50] * Quits: Quaker_zzz (Quit: Quaker_zzz) 14[02:51] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[03:12] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[04:54] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[04:58] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[05:01] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[05:02] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[05:05] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[06:27] * Joins: drinkybird 14[06:31] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[06:41] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[06:45] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[07:08] * Quits: dammitwho 14[09:11] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[09:14] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[10:13] * Joins: Crion_ 14[10:13] * Quits: Crion_ (Client Quit) 14[10:15] * Quits: Crion 14[11:16] * Joins: hrolf 14[11:25] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[11:26] * Joins: hrolf 14[11:36] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[11:39] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:58] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:07] * Joins: hrolfie 14[12:10] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[12:23] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:26] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[14:00] * Joins: drinkybird 14[14:03] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[14:19] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[14:57] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:58] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:15] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 09[17:14] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[17:40] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) [17:53] reminder [17:53] https://40.media.tumblr.com/e6fb504b17eee0f6fe5545af4bbc6d9f/tumblr_mu0koxXqJm1sdcgj3o1_500.jpg 14[19:04] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:42] * Joins: Crion 14[20:17] * Joins: ddt 15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:38] <@VoxPVoxD> The RV tows the car down the highway. It's 4am in Wyoming and destiny closes with Casper beneath the indifferent sky. 15[20:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Lis is driving. Anna is elsewhere. Alisa, Reuben and Nick are playing with their phones. 15[20:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Ruth takes a while to answer. [20:39] 4He's got the AK riding shotgun, so to speak. He doesn't trust they've seen the last of that laptop. He can still feel its sting in his hands. [20:40] 3Reuben’s going for the high score in Temple Run. It’s really frustrating since Alisa snuck on his phone and obliterated his old record in one go. 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ is either sleeping or keeping very, very still. Scotch shows him uncharacteristic affection, purring and rubbing along his exposed calves as he curls up on one of the RV's benches. [20:40] 4Well. That's suspicious. Lis keeps an eye on it, best he's able. [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick's staring intensely down at the little glowing screen of his flip phone, his thumbs working rapidly.  [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  [20:43] 3Reuben idly considers if activating auspex would make him better at video games. Another time, maybe. [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12That one Auspex/Celerity devotion definitely would. [20:44] 6Don't be a nerd. [20:45] 3Takes one to know one!! [20:45] 4They still have the same problem with regards to Ruth as they had an hour ago: either wittingly or unwittingly (almost certainly the latter), she's almost certain to lead another government kill team right to Nicholas if he keeps texting her on that phone. They can either try to get him to cut off all contact...or they can kill whoever shows up to claim him. [20:46] 4Lis does not have an overabundance of sympathy for government kill squads. Kill squads of any stripe, really. [20:46] 4But it is a decision that has to be made. 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Lis keeps an eye and a half on the road. Scotch doesn't seem any more sinister in this moment than cats typically do. Alisa's looking at a fresh text from Rorf. 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Ruth: 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> [20:51] 4It would not be...impossible, to swing south and visit Ruth and Nicholas's family. [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  [20:51] 4It would merely be suicidally unwise. [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  [20:54] 6Suicidally unwise things are part of the game, man. Don't judge. [20:54] 7Alisa:  15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Casper's getting closer, a half-lit green stencil against the land. It's time to start thinking about where to go. There's about two hours of nondaylight left. [20:55] 4That would be slightly more meaningful, and less hypocritical, coming from literally anyone else in the vehicle. 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Ruth: [20:55] 4Lis: "We have to stop in Casper. Daylight in under two hours." [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Rorf: [20:55] "Objections?" 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Rorf: [20:56] 6Anna: "Only if it's the friendly ghost." [20:57] 4Lis sighs and takes the proper exit. 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Ruth: [20:57] 3Reuben: 1“I hear he’s a frien-darn it..”  15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Ruth: 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> [20:59] 7Alisa:  14[21:00] * Joins: mugobbles [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Rorf: <12chernobog@birch.org> 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Ruth: 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Ruth: [21:04] 4~Hospital men~ [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  [21:05] 3Reuben turns his phone left, then right, then left, then right- 1“God dang it!” 3He starts a new game. 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Ruth: [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Casper is a modest city, significant by contrast to the emptiness of the land it inhabits. There's gas stations, motels, businesses, a smear of something that might be called a downtown. Where does Lis intend to bring the RV in? [21:09] 3How long until daybreak? Reuben should feed if it’s not too close a call. 1“I should feed if it’s not too close a call,” 3he says to the group. [21:09] 4That is up to...Reuben. "Reuben. We need to find a place to get our vehicles patched." [21:09] "That, as well." [21:11] 3Reuben: 1“Oh, right.” 3He holds down the iphone button until Siri pops up. 1“Siri… call… Big Pete…” [21:11] 7Huh. Emails are basically websites, right? That sounds right. What's at birch.org, anyway? [21:12] 6Anna sends a text to j n, who hasn't said anything since asking her "was it you":  [21:12] 4'Big Pete.' There must be thousands of them. [21:13] 6Big Pete, Little Pete, Medium Pete, Slightly Bigger Pete, Pete Who Gets Mad When You Call Him By Size, Biggest Pete 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> birch.org is the homepage of the Birch Foundation, a nonprofit run out of Chicago. The site itself is very modern and mobile-friendly, and the organization's logo is visible no matter where Alisa scrolls: a stylized green-and-white birch tree whose trunk is marked with four rust-colored swipes. [21:14] 3Y’all best not be mean to Big Pete about his name when he comes on the speaker phone. 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Reuben's phone crackles. It rings once, twice. It goes to voicemail. "Believe it or not, P-" there's a clatter. "HHHHHHOLY HELL it is too fuckin early for whoever the hell this is-" [21:15] 7Alisa has probably met a thousand guys named 'Big Something'. Big Pete, Little Pete, Mini Pete, [21:16] 7They're a charity? What kind? [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Chaos Nick. [21:16] 3Reuben drops his voice to a growl. 1“Big 1PETE!1 Whoop Whoop!” [21:17] 6When's the next gathering of the juggalos? Maybe we should swing by for Reuben. [21:17] 4Yes, this is unsurprising. 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Ruth: 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> The Birch Foundation has a diverse philanthropic portfolio. It invests in education - sponsoring schools from the South Side to rural Illinois to the University of Chicago - and women's health - with a particular emphasis on family planning - as well as a substantial sideline in historic building restoration. There's a number of hi-res photos of churches closed for renovation. [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  [21:21] 4Chicago... [21:21] 4...No, it's nothing. [21:22] 7Huh. Spooky. Well, Alisa'll have to pick up selfie supplies when they finally stop. 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Big Pete: "Who the fffRUBE. RUBE KOSMIS. Holy shit how long as it been, man?" 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: [21:27] 3Reuben: 1“Pittsburgh, I think. 2008? You sucker punched me outside Primanti’s! How’s Scooter and Jamie?" [21:27] 4Christ. [21:27] 4While this...reunion...takes place, Lis will be looking for suitable lodging. [21:28] 6Anna:  15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a motel with a VACANCY sign here across from a shuttered gas station. There's two cars and a truck parked in front of rooms. [21:32] 4We'll start here. 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Ruth: [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Big Pete: "Motherfucker." He groans. There's a sound of something falling over. "Jamie's out fuckin' around in New England last I heard. Some kind of writers' commune, so she can work on her book." For as long as Reuben's known Jamie he's known that she's been slowly compiling a book of verse, containing a series of poems, each of which is dedicated to a dog she's petted." 14[21:36] * Joins: autopsyturvey [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick needs to meet Jamie before it's too late for him to be immortalized. 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Scooter's doing a nickel in Frackville. Ran a tractor into some cop cars." Pete chuckles. "Worth it." 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "So what's up? You always kept weird hours." 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Ruth: 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: [21:38] 3Reuben: 1“You remember your friend from Fort Ellsworth, the pilot who kept the whirlbirds flying? Didn’t he move to some dinkhole town in Montana?” 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: [21:39] 3whirlybirds, everyone. excuse me: whirlybirds* 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Big Pete: "Ennis, yeah. He does custom body work now for bikers mostly. He rode with Hell's Legion to a big meet last year." [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick's got 'im' written out on his screen but spends the next several minutes just staring at it in silence. 12 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Ruth: 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Lis parks the RV and goes in to the motel office, where a woman plays with her iPad at the desk. There are a lot of blocks to match, it seems, in this new and modern world. Is Lis wearing his collar? [21:42] 3Reuben: 1“Any chance he’s in Casper?” [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Big Pete: "Wyoming? Nah. I could give him a call, though. What's up, man? You get into a wreck?" [21:43] 6Anna:  14[21:43] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: [21:44] 6Anna:  [21:44] 3Reuben: 1“Living with some friend on the road and some trigger happy hillbillies shot our RV to shit. It still drives, but I need a good body guy." 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Ruth: [21:45] 4Lis isn't wearing his collar this time. He's going to try to get through this without mind-control. 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Big Pete: "Shiiiit. What'd they tag you with?" [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> The woman at the counter is conventionally polite then. "Sir?" [21:46] 4And this crowd works a lot better as a weird family on a trip with the messed up uncle and such than it does as a Bible retreat in transit. [21:46] 3Reuben: 1“Some AK-fire, some shot. And I don’t remember any desert eagles, but some of these holes look a hell of a lot like a .50 cal round went through em.” [21:47] "Hello!" 4The priest favors her with his best non-fanged smile. "Would you happen to have two adjoining rooms for let?" 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> She checks. "Yeah. Cash or charge?" [21:50] 4Lis: "Cash." 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> That perks her up. "Anything else I can do for you?" 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Ruth: 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: [21:53] 6Anna:  [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick snaps and sends a picture, first thing.  15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Big Pete: "Hell, say what you will about those country sons of bitches, but they don't fuck around. Yeah I'll call him. You got an address? Might be a day or so before he gets out to you." [21:55] 6Anna:  [21:55] [21:55] 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Ruth: 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> [21:57] 4Do NOT do this. [21:57] 3Reuben gives the address for the motel they’re staying at. 1“Just have him call me. And remind him about my skin condition. You know, the lupus photosensitus?” [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Scotch is asleep, but Nick pets him regardless.  15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Ruth: <:-)> 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Big Pete: "Yeah, for sure. You don't need doctoring or anything, right?" [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Ruth: 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> <***miss> [22:02] 3Reuben: 1“Nah, I just eat a lot of those gummy vitamin C things and it’s fine. Thanks for the help, Pete." [22:02] 6Anna:  [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  [22:03] 4To the lady at the desk: "We'd prefer no maid service -- not even an inquiry -- nor would we like any calls forwarded to our room. You know how jobs are these days; we're on vacation, and we really just want to relax." 4He smiles. "What's the customary tip for excellent front desk service in this part of the country?" 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Pete: "Take care, Rube." [22:04] 6Anna:  15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: [22:04] 3Reuben: 1“Peace out, man. Say hi to Rocky B and the Wolf Pack for me if you see ‘em.” 3He ends the call with a click and shouts to Lis: 1“My friend’ll be here to fix it up tomorrow." [22:05] 6Anna:  15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> The woman at the counter is clearly thinking very quickly. "For all this? Usually comes to about... $75?" She eyes Lis. [22:09] 6Anna takes a minute to respond.  [22:09] 4Lis checks his wallet and sighs. "It appears I've only got twenties. Let's say $80." 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> The woman stiffens a little. "...deal." [22:12] 7Alisa grunts and mumbles to herself as she hops out of the RV. Where there's a motel, there's a shitty little store catering to tourists right next door. This is Wyoming, so she bets she can get a good deal on some "fethers" 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> She's in luck, there is just such a store. The catch is, it's 4:45 in the morning now. Not a lot of those places are 24-hour. [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12She could always give Nick some instructions for midday. The werewolf's either pacing inside the RV or outside it, now, thinking over the past hour or two. [22:14] 4Lis: "Thank you. Oh -- my nephews, two teenage boys -- you might see them running out by themselves a bit. We like to give them their freedom. Let me know if they give you any problems." 4He is confident that neither Nicholas nor TJ will do so -- but he doesn't want any well-meaning curiosity into their affairs. 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> The woman nods. "I'll do that." 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "Here are your keys. You want 6 and 7." [22:15] 4Lis: "Thanks again. Have a good night." 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "You too." [22:19] 7After heaving a sigh and resting her forehead on the locked door, Alisa heads back to the RV and begins rummaging through her rad purse. [22:19] 4That was...easy, and cost only some petty cash. They'll run out of petty cash eventually, of course, but that's still awhile off. And certainly more rich garbage people will try to kill them before then. [22:19] 7Alisa: "Nick I have a mission for you." [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick looks up. "What's up?" [22:21] 7Alisa: "Tomorrow morning, I need to to go to that store over there, and pick up-" 7She starts carefully scribbling on a scrap of paper. Feathers, those little turquoise necklaces, eyeliner... [22:21] "--all this. Lemme give you some money for it. If it comes out to less than this you can buy some snacks for you and TJ, alright?" [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick squints down at the final list. "Is this for like, a magic spell?" [22:21] 6Anna: "You got a date or something?" [22:22] 4Lis will step back into the RV with information: "We have a pair of rooms, and an arrangement with the staff. Stay out of their way, and they'll stay out of ours." [22:24] 3Reuben heads for the door to talk to Lis. 1“What do we do to make sure we don’t get ambushed like last time?" [22:25] 7Alisa: "Yes and yes." [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Cool. Yeah, we'll get it done." [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Alisa, should I tell my sister I'm a werewolf?" [22:27] 6Anna: "I'll field that one. No, you should not." [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Otherwise I can't really tell her why I can't come back..." [22:28] 4To Reuben: "Generally speaking, it would be a good idea not to ignore any public works projects that mysteriously start up fifteen feet from our door. Other than that, we must simply trust in Christ the Redeemer, and powerful supernatural teenagers." [22:29] 7Alisa: "Sure, go ahead. Remember you can't show her though, because humans freak out." [22:30] 3Reuben: 1“…alright.” [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Only it's I think the Oath of the Moon says not to." [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Nu Bath Githul. But she's my sister so maybe it doesn't count...?" [22:33] 6Anna: "I mean, it's not my fight to have, but would that give her any peace? Would she even believe you?" [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Maybe. She met Argus already." [22:34] 6Anna: "Okay, first off, what." [22:34] 7Alisa: "That's true. Also you gotta think about what that Oath means to you, and how you can best keep it. Maybe you don't tell her, if that's what Luna wants. We're none of us experts, but remember you've got whatserface Rachel in that phone." [22:35] 6Anna: "Second off, also what." [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "That's how Ruth got my number. It sounds like my mom got sick and everyone went to the hospital to get tested and he was there." [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I'm not sure how she figured he was in the illuminati but there you go." [22:37] 6Anna: "Okay, so, third thing to consider: at what point is she gonna know too much about this shit?" [22:37] 4Lis: "Argus. The hospital man." [22:37] 4Lis: "I liked this better when the working theory was federal kill teams." [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I don't kn- what? You're not saying he sent the last guys after us." [22:39] 4Lis: "No, I am saying I liked it better when I thought more of those 'last guys' were our likely problem. I think Argus is a whole different world of complication." [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Well he's not- ...I don't really know why he'd be looking at my family at all though. I guess I could ask." [22:40] 4Lis sighs. "Indeed. We know precisely why hunters do what they do. Hospital men? Mages? We have few points of reference in their world." [22:41] 6Anna: "Fucking wizard bullshit." [22:43] 7Alisa: "What'd he do?" [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Besides the blood tests and the number? I dunno. ...I guess I'll ask Rachel about the Oath and Argus about the visit?" [22:45] 4The priest shakes his head. "This will hold. Daybreak! Soon! Rooms! Reuben, if Big Pete...r is up for it, we should drop off the vehicles tonight." [22:45] 3Reuben: 1“Nah, a mutual friend’s gonna come here for the patch job. We can keep them in the lot.” 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> These are questions to weigh tomorrow. For now, the sun rises, and the nomads die. [22:52] 4The first thing Lis does when he rises is check his phone. He has the urge to check everyone's phones, honestly, but he's not that tactless. Just in case there's anything strange. [22:52] 4He's having trouble getting that laptop out of his head. Something knows. 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> So far, at least, whatever it is that knows, it doesn't know your phone numbers. [22:53] 3Reuben crawls out from under the bed and stretches. Checks his phone, tucks in his shirt. He’s really gotta eat tonight. [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Over the course of the next afternoon, Nick ambles about town with TJ, answering any questions TJ might have about werewolf codes of conduct, and also answering questions TJ probably never asked nor intended to ask about werewolf codes of conduct. This stuff is on the young Rahu's mind, after all, as the whole time he's waiting for responses to a text message he sent to Bradley and [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Rachel both:  [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12It's with some trepidation that Nick sends a separate message to the last number he remembers for 'Mr.' Argus:  14[22:57] * Joins: cbass_ 14[22:57] * Quits: cbass (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_))) 09[22:57] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Bradley: 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Rachel: 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Argus: [22:57] 4After assauging his worries about the laptop, Lis will take a stroll about the motel. Just to see if anything's out of place, or concerning. [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Both werewolves hear this back from Nick:  [22:58] 3Reuben heads out to the RV to check the cash pile. It’s been a while since he checked on their financial security, and they’re a long way from a city he can panhandle up some more if they’re getting low. [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12To Argus, Nick writes:  15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Alisa finds everything she asked for in the shopping bags Nick and TJ left for her, as well as a burger wrapper that Nick thought ended up in the trash. [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12At least he didn't litter. [23:04] 7First things first. Alisa carefully removes and eats the little bits of cheese that always end up stuck to the wrapper. 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Reuben finds that the cash pile is... modest. There's about 1800 dollars left. [23:07] 3Reuben thinks to himself: Shit! Fuck!! Shiiiiiiit! [23:08] 4Does that seem...right? [23:09] 3Reuben re-zips the bag and stows it away. Then pulls it out, un-zips it and socks three hundo away in his jacket pocket. Then puts the bag back. Then catches up with Lis. 1“We’re gonna need to find a way to make some cash in Seattle.” [23:09] 3Reuben: 1“I can’t just do tricks on the sidewalk this time.” [23:10] 4Lis: "No. You can't." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> It's about where it should be. Maybe a little high? There's some rumpled bills that don't fit with the rest of the petty cash recovered from the Dragons of Flagstaff. [23:11] 3Reuben: 1“We’re down from about ten grand to less than two grand. Which isn’t unreasonable, given all the body work we’ve had to pay for and all the gas. But we need some options.” [23:11] 4He frowns. "What are these?" [23:11] 7Now then. Alisa is hiding behind the RV sorting through the bag Nick got for her and carefully boiling the meat off a roadkill skull in a little pot. The pot has 'roadkill' written on it in Sharpie so they don't get it mixed up, because Alisa thinks ahead. 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Lis pokes around, and finds out that the motel is almost entirely peaceful. There are some scuff marks on the pavement in the parking lot, around the RV, he notes with some care. Someone took a good long pace around it. [23:13] 4Hrm. Where's Nicholas? [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick's napping at the moment, having fallen asleep after sunrise and woken up around noon to get his various missions in order. In total there'll be no damage done if he's woken up now or soon, though. [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12His phone, its volume set near max, is positioned right next to his head, and Scotch is curled up on his other side. The two are effectively back to back. [23:17] 4Lis will wait for him to wake up and come down. He already finds it slightly demeaning asking the boy to track for him; he's not going to disturb his rest over it. [23:17] 7Ha ha ha, she can apply makeup in a mirror now. Everything's coming up Drank-Heaven's-Blood. She carefully disassembles the turquoise necklaces and weaves them into a larger structure, carefully incorporating the feathers as necessary. [23:17] 4Demeaning to Nicholas, that is. [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Lis hasn't long to wait, then; after waking up and checking his phone for more answers, Nick stretches, washes up, etc. and is soon seen to be walking out of one of the coterie's two rooms wide awake. 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Anna dreams of darkness. 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> She sees a high hand, catching the starlight and throwing it back. She sees a vengeful heart cut red miles in the earth. She sees the thunder and the storm. [23:20] Lis: "Nicholas!" [23:20] 4Lis: "Nicholas!" [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Morn- ev- whatever. Yeah?" [23:23] 6Anna wakes from darkness and the red miles and the storm to scrape and thrash at the wall she slept against, before realizing where she is. She makes sure she's put together before speaking to anyone, and checks her phone in the meanwhile. [23:25] 4Lis: "I do believe someone's been casing the RV. At least pacing about it with some frequency." [23:25] 4He frowns again. "This is becoming rather routine." [23:25] 7Nice. Nice. Alisa snaps a pic and begins carefully folding things away. "Anna. Anna!" [23:26] 6Anna: "What?" [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick frowns. "Yeah? Well, it wasn't, uh... around like twelve thirty? Or I think five. Hang on." [23:27] 6She got settled pretty quick! Once you realize that dreams aren't actually currently-occuring terrors and are instead deadly premonitions it's easier to relax, a little. [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Before long, Nick is crouching at various points around the RV in the parking lot, sniffing at the air with nose that's broader, darker, and shinier than it really ought to be - but fortunately not really recognizable as such from any appreciable distance. Who or what's been around? [23:28] "C'mere!" [23:28] 3After leaving Lis, Reuben wanders into the night, on the lookout for a club. Smaller towns than this have a swingin’ disco, so you never know. [23:32] 6Anna heads over to Alisa, settled and ready for the night. Even the Strix is sated, hopefully. [23:33] 7She immediately shoves her phone in Anna's face. "How do I look? Good? Y'think?" 7http://i.imgur.com/gF1ctUk.jpg [23:35] 6Anna: "Wh- where did- Jesus Christ." 14[23:36] * Parts: trenchfoot (Leaving) 14[23:36] * Joins: trenchfoot [23:36] 7Alisa: "What?" [23:36] 6Anna: "This explains the shopping list, I guess. Also, holy shit, yeah, nice touch on the skull." [23:37] 7Alisa: "I knooooooow~ I was so lucky to find it!" [23:37] 6Anna: "I tried pulling off the skull look for a hot minute back in high school. Let me tell you, it does not work for everybody." 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Nick detects the faint wisp of the unnatural. Immediately he mistakes it for a vampire. But no, it's not as intense as what Lis or Reuben or Alisa leave behind, and it's not as sterile as Anna's scent. It's fainter, and there's real sweat and skin mixed into this trail. [23:40] 7Alisa: "Rookie mistake. Skulls never work during the day." 7Alright, time to send this to chernobog@birch.org. Subject line: guess who [23:41] 6Anna: "What are you even taking that for? People would kill for that on their business cards or whatever, just, hey here's a picture of me looking fuckin' stone-cold mystic and wicked as hell." [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick licks his lips and peers up at Lis, still in a crouch. "Wghatdha th-" 12He frowns to himself, then twitches his nose left and right until it's turned back into a human's. "Whatta they call people with vampire power again?" [23:42] 7Alisa smiles a little to herself. "You remember Bojan Beljic?" [23:44] 4Lis's brow furrows. "...People with vampire power? Mortals?" [23:44] 4Lis: "They call them ghouls." [23:45] 6Anna: "He stole your car and gave us that bus we used to have." 6Rest in pieces, bus. [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Yeah, like - yeah, those! There's one living human that's been here... two different pairs of shoes, though, I think maybe she changed 'em to leave. But... vampire-y. Not as strong as you guys." [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick jerks a thumb in a direction. "See where they went?" [23:47] 4Lis: "Hrm. Can you take a look at some money for me?" 4He'll show Nicholas the out-of-place rumpled bills from the money stash. "These wouldn't happen to smell the same, would they?" [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Sniff, sniff. 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Those smell like TJ. [23:48] 7Alisa: "Also he left me some really sweet poetry. We used to be... well, I'm not really sure what we used to be. Anyway Rorf said he was lookin' for selfies from me." [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "That's TJ." [23:48] 4Lis: "Interesting." 4Has Timothy been around tonight? Well. That's a side-matter. Are there any security cameras on the motel property that might have recorded their ghoul? [23:48] 6Anna: "That's really weird and kind of uncomfortable." [23:49] "Maybe I'm just jealous that nobody ever paid me for selfies but uhhh." 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Alisa's phone buzzes. 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> re: guess who 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/MFp33NP.jpg [23:51] 7Alisa: "He's rich now, so...." 7Hahaha was he just hanging on the computer waiting for her to show up? What's the term the kids use now, 'thirsty'? Mmmm, yeah. She wordlessly shows Anna. 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> It might occur to Alisa that Rorf forewarned him. 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Being a conscientious broker. [23:52] 7Even so! 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> It might not, though. She is fickle as the moment of the storm. [23:53] 6Anna: "Nice." 6It's appreciative and a little admiring. "I have to ask, though, was he getting a tan for funsies?" 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> There is a camera up by the motel office door. 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ's sleeping. [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Anyway, I could follow 'em. But if they're just like an official, iunno, greeter, maybe you guys just introduce yourselves to whoever's boss here?" [23:53] 4Would it hit their parking spot? 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Judging the angle... it's pointed away a bit. It'd hit the back third of the RV and most of the rest of the lot. [23:54] 4Lis: "I'd personally enjoy a town larger than 10,000 people that didn't have any vampires for us to introduce ourselves to. But I suppose this is the unlife that we've chosen." [23:54] 4Time to head inside the office. Is the same lady on the desk? 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> It is. She straightens up when Lis walks in. [23:55] 4She doesn't smell like a ghoul, does she? It never hurts to check. 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Nope. Lis would've noticed last night. [23:55] 7Alisa: "Nah. He wants me to ask how he did it." 7She smiles again as she tucks the phone into her pocket. "It can wait." [23:56] "Hello!" 4then. "I have a slight bit of a problem. Perhaps just a concern." [23:56] "It appears something was taken from our vehicle at some point today." [23:56] 6Anna: "It'd have a bit more impact if we hadn't literally just met Anoushka." [23:57] "Oh, you took a selfie in the sun? That's cool, I just hung out with someone who was better than you in every way and also didn't pay for pictures of me." [23:57] "We don't need to call the police -- yet -- because our eldest is out with his aunt, and it's possible they have it. They haven't picked up their phone yet. But I noticed you had a security camera." 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> She nods slowly. [23:58] 4Lis: "I was wondering if you could help us settle this now, so that we don't have to settle it later." 4Slowly, huh. [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick's beside Lis here. He's got his arms crossed on the counter and is resting his chin on them, waiting patiently while his uncle or whoever Lis is supposed to be gets things in order. Session Time: Thu Apr 30 00:00:01 2015 [00:02] 7Alisa: "He definitely didn't really do it. It's probably mirrors or photoshop or some damn thing. C'mon, let's see what the others are up to." 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Ultimately she's not quite sure how far of a limb she wants to go out on here for these cool, rich strangers. One gets the impression that getting the tape would be somehow riskier or more onerous than the already bargained-for discretion. Lis can tell that she's worried about, specifically, her boss. [00:04] 6Anna: "What a dork." [00:05] 4Lis lets the smile slip into something like sympathy. "He doesn't like anyone looking at the tape, does he?" 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> The woman at the counter: "...no." [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Aww." [00:08] 4Lis nods. "That's fine. I'm sure it's nothing, anyway. We'll get it cleared up." [00:08] 4He pauses on his way out. "...When will he be in next?" 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> She checks the clock. "Around ten." [00:09] 4PM, right?" [00:09] -4" 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> That'd make sense, and in fact she elaborates. "He works or something, other properties, so we only see him here pretty late." [00:10] 4Indeed. "Perhaps we'll stop by then. Thanks for your help..." 4Is she wearing a nametag or anything? 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Ann. [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick's immediately in favor of pressing for the tape. [00:11] 6Rude. [00:12] "...Ann." 4He smiles. "My name is Avisail. This is Nicholas. What's your boss's name?" 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mr. Van Camp," she says. [00:15] "Mr. Van Camp." 4Lis lets the name hang. "Tell Mr. Van Camp we'd love to speak with him about our concerns regarding the lot." 4What's Ann look like? Medically, that is. Physically healthy? Not too pale, having maybe given blood a bit recently? Not bruised? Something's going on here. Seems like something's always going on here. 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> She's a bit... glassy. Her eyes have trouble focusing quickly and she't got a peculiar relationship to her own proprioception. There's a subtle self-consciousness to her movements that indicates a defect of balance. 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> It's very hard to pick up, though. One might deduce that she's fairly adept at hiding it. [00:22] 4A number of things can cause that. Drugs, mostly -- that would explain how she's so good at passing, too. [00:22] 4But at some point, the evidence piles up. [00:23] 4Is she wearing long sleeves? 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Yes, although the air conditioning is going in here. [00:25] 4The evidence piles up. "Will you be working the rest of the evening, Ann?" 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah. Is something wrong?" [00:36] 4Lis: "That's a very good question." 4He almost asks it back at her, but pauses. "Let Mr. Van Camp know I'll be around. When he gets in." 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Ann: "Okay." 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: It's Never Sunny in Casper 14[02:37] * Joins: autopsyturvey 09[03:16] * banana|peels is now known as banana 09[03:26] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[03:43] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[03:46] * Parts: mugobbles 14[03:50] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[03:54] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[04:13] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[05:29] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[05:30] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 09[05:58] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[07:03] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[07:03] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[07:03] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[08:08] * Quits: dammitwho 15[08:48] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Apr 30 08:48:48 2015 Session Start: Thu Apr 30 08:48:48 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 15[10:04] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[10:04] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[10:04] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[10:04] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[10:04] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 09[10:16] * nsnsnsz-apparently is now known as banana 14[11:05] * Joins: ddt 14[11:46] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:55] * Joins: hrolfie 14[13:43] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:47] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[14:10] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:11] * Joins: hrolfy 14[14:13] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:15] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:35] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:39] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 09[14:49] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:10] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[15:23] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[16:18] * Joins: ddt 14[16:18] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[16:30] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) [18:02] http://i.imgur.com/2mvAFfb.jpg 14[18:19] * Joins: dammitwho 14[22:51] * Joins: Crion_ [22:56] - [22:56] - [22:56] - [22:56] - [22:56] - [22:56] - 14[22:56] * Joins: mugobbles [22:56] - [22:56] Maybe it's time to try this again. [22:56] 4The things we do for temporal power. [23:01] 4Cav will attempt to be...slightly more accomodating this time around. He's even foregone a tie, if you can imagine, though he's still otherwise in his usual formalwear. It was a tough decision, but he's confident it was the right one. [23:02] 4Meanwhile, on his phone, to Maja: [23:03] [23:04] 4'Haps,' huh. [23:05] 4Exclamation point use. Should he have used the exclamation point? That always feels weird. [23:07] 3Wtf does mulligan mean? Maja googles it. Damn, she's really struggling to be clever here. It usually naturally. [23:08] 3Fuck it, she'll worry about the charm when she sees him. [23:08] 4Eesh. Golf terms. Stay away from golf terms with the ladies, Cavanaugh. Really, stay away from golf terms with everyone. [23:08] [23:09] 3Why the fuck did she feel it necessary to tell him she was the only one here? [23:09] [23:09] 4Cavanaugh smiles. 4Is she, now? Well, at least if they get into a shouting match this time they'll be the only ones hideously embarrassed by it. [23:09] 3Goddammit, that didn't make anything less awkward. [23:10] 4Cavanaugh's still stuck with Santiago's truck, but it still fits in with the neighborhood where Maja's office is. [23:11] 3Maja begins straightening up the office, as if that somehow matters. It doesn't, she knows this. But it makes her feel more in control, and feeling in control is Important. [23:12] 3She's finished straightening up, and fixing her hair. There's nothing left now but to wait. Waiting is the worst. [23:13] 4Cav remembers the way past the receptionist, up the hall and to Maja's office. He raises his hand to knock -- then remembers his Bluetooth is still in his ear. He pockets that, THEN he knocks. [23:13] "Come in!" [23:13] "How's it going?" [23:14] 4So he shall. He didn't bring his briefcase tonight, so it's just him, hands in his pocket, smiling his practiced smile. "Hi. We meet again." [23:14] "Yes, yes we do. It's nice to see you again, Clinton." [23:15] 3Man, it's been a while since she's been nervous. She remembers a time when she would have felt her heart pumping out of her chest. [23:15] 4Cav: "Better! Better. It's going better -- I actually just came from our new office in Santa Ana. It's, ah. Still a bit sparsely furnished at the moment." [23:16] 4Cav: "It's nice to see you, too. Instead of Tracey." [23:16] 4Pause. "Who I'm sure is a wonderful person that was just having a bad night." [23:17] 3Maja: "Ha. I heard about all that. That sure sounded like something." [23:17] 3Maja: "What do you think happened there?" [23:18] 3Maja's a bit taken aback by Cav's willingness to put the blame entirely on Tracey. [23:18] 4Cav: "I think I unwisely told an incredibly off-color anecdote from my time in New York, and I think she did not appreciate that very much, and we somewhat went from there." [23:18] 3She feels relieved by this answer. [23:19] "Yeah, that sounds compatible with her account." [23:21] 4Cavanaugh: "I believe there was also the part where I ordered her to provide me with a variety of information about the Carmelites in a...less than elegant, impolite fashion." [23:22] 3Maja: "Impolite how? [23:23] 3She's disappointed that they're jumping right in. She thought they'd get to flirt a bit more first. But this seems more important. [23:23] 4Cavanaugh: "Lots of things that should have been phrased as questions were instead sentences starting with 'you will.'" [23:24] 4He pauses. "Should I...sit?" [23:24] 4He's still sort of, standing in the doorway. [23:24] 3Maja's struck by this admission. "Yes! Oh yes, sorry. Yes." [23:25] 3Maja's flustered, how did she forget to invite him to sit? Oh GOD, she is not on her A-game tonight. [23:25] "Any seat that appeals to you." [23:25] "Except that one, that one's mine." [23:25] 4Cav realizes he hasn't closed the door, either, so he takes care of that. [23:25] 4He'll take the seat closest to her's. [23:26] 3Maja: "So. Where were we?" [23:27] "Oh, right! Right. What questions did you have?" [23:27] 4Cavanaugh: "I think I had just finished my mea culpas regarding the flaming wreckage of last session." [23:28] 3Maja makes a cross with her hands across Cav's chest. "You are forgiven, my son." [23:30] 4He smiles. "Questions regarding what? Work, or you, or..." 4He lets that hang a moment, before: "...that guy whose head I twisted off?" [23:31] 3Maja gets serious again. "Where would you like to start?" [23:33] 4Cavanaugh: "I dunno. I guess with him. I have no idea who he was, you know. He was wearing a mask, and we didn't stick around to check the bodies. He was just some big Acolyte who, I thought, in the heat of the moment, would make an excellent example." [23:35] 3Maja's slightly repulsed, but sets it aside for now. "So it's not bothering you, then?" [23:36] 4Cavanaugh mulls that over for a second. "No. But it is bothering me that it's not bothering me. If that makes sense." [23:36] "An incredible amount of sense, yes." [23:36] "How do you think you SHOULD feel?" [23:38] 3Maja's pleased with the conflict Cav is having. It bodes well for him. [23:38] 4Cav: "I don't know. Sorry? But I'm not sorry. I'm incredibly unremorseful about it. He was a vampire, there to do us harm, perfectly capable of defending himself -- larger than me, physically -- and his death served the useful purpose of frightening off his friends, so we didn't have to hurt or kill them." [23:39] 3Maja: "So you think you should feel sorry, even though it was justified. But there's still something bothering you about it all." [23:40] 4He leans back. "From a public safety perspective, it was maybe the best possible outcome, resulting in the least amount of death. Maybe we could have frightened them all off some other way, but..." 4He shrugs. "Yeah." [23:41] 3Maja's not quite sure how to handle this. He seems like he might be conflicted? But he's pretty damn self-assured. And if he's not as bothered as he claims, then what the hell is he doin here? [23:42] "How else do you think you could have played it?" [23:42] 4Cav: "Like, I get to wondering: what if I could have seen his face? Do I still put my thumbs through his eyes like that? What if he was shorter than me, not taller, and seemed like less of a physical threat? Or what if he'd been a woman? Would I have still, you know, just killed that theoretically person that easily, and moved on?" [23:43] 3Ah. Alright, now we're getting somewhere. [23:43] 4Cav: "And should any of that change the equation? Because again, this wasn't done for its own sake. It was done for a purpose." [23:44] 4Cavanaugh: "And I come back around to...no. I walked up to the closest Acolyte and ripped his head off, and if it had been one of the other Acolytes, it would've been his or her head instead." [23:44] 3Maja: "It sounds like you're struggling with whether the means justify the ends?" [23:45] "Er, ends. Ends justify the means." [23:46] 3Fuck it, it works either way, he can figure it out, he's a smart guy. WHATEVER. [23:48] 4Cav shakes his head. "Not sure that's it, precisely. In this instance, I'm perfectly certain I applied the proper leverage in the proper fashion to get the requested outcome. I'm not worried if the means are justified; I guess I'm more worried how employing those means is going to affect me in the long run." [23:48] "In what sense?" [23:49] "What are you afraid of happening to you?" [23:49] 4Cavanaugh: "You know that saying about how when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like something you want to smash with a hammer? Or words to that effect." [23:50] 3Maja laughs. "Yeah, I've heard something like that before. [23:50] "You're afraid of becoming a hammer." [23:51] 4Cavanaugh nods. "A couple nights ago, I jumped out of a helicopter alongside a terrifying woman wearing full plate armor. In that plate armor, she marched into a trailer park and took the head of some Acolyte lieutenant she'd had problems with. Took it clear off his body." [23:52] 3Back before Maja was a counsellor- back when she was a human- she might have offered Cav something to "hammer." [23:52] 3But now is not the time or place to think about that. [23:53] 3Maja clears her head. "Wow. That is ... something." [23:53] 4Cav is pretty sure he knows what that look means, and to his credit, he doesn't let it distract him. Yet. "Now, was this expedient? This was expedient. Was it necessary? It was probably necessary; these Acolytes seem like assholes. Did it prevent further violence? Arguably, maybe." [23:54] "But she still jumped out of a damn helicopter in plate armor and cut a man's head off." [23:55] 3Maja nods. "That is ... intense. It sounds like it takes a toll on you." [23:56] 3Maja's wondering how it is she can actually help Cav, or if he just needs someone to vent to. [23:57] 4Cavanaugh: "It certainly seems like it should. But so far it hasn't. And I don't want to wake up one evening a couple months or a year from now with this same clinical, 'Huh, that's weird' detachment as I think back on unzipping a half-dozen neonates from hip to sternum with my claws the previous night, or something." [23:58] 3Ugh. She'll never quite get used to the details. "Why not?" [23:59] 4Cavanaugh: "Because I don't like how it looks in others. And I've seen how it looks in others. Back in New York." Session Time: Fri May 01 00:00:00 2015 [00:00] 3Maja: "And how is that?" [00:00] 3Maja feels like she's pulling teeth from him. [00:00] How is that, kiddo? [00:02] 4Cav almost physically withdraws from that question. "That might be talking out of turn, actually. In fact, I'm almost sure it is." [00:03] 3What on earth? Okay, this is interesting. "Everything you say here is confidential. It goes nowhere." [00:06] 4Cavanaugh: "It's not you talking I'm worried about." 4He sighs. "It's me." [00:06] 4Cav: "You know. Sire bullshit." [00:08] 3If Maja's heart could drop, it would. She hates talking about sires. "Ah. Yeah. Is yours still in the picture?" [00:10] 4Cavanaugh grimaces. "She showed up in LA and invited herself into my condo two weeks ago to demand I do my job better and threaten my existence. I have since moved." [00:10] 3She wonders if this subject is too sore for her to engage in with Cav ethically. It's been several years now since her heart was broken by her sire, but that wound has only festered since then. [00:11] 3Maja feels immediate kinship with Cav in this moment. Fucking sires. "Wow. What the FUCK is her problem?" [00:11] 3Oops, that probably wasn't the right thing to say. But goddammit. 14[00:11] * Quits: Zarick (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[00:12] * Joins: Zarick [00:13] 4Cavanaugh's eyebrows shoot up, but he just says: "Me, generally speaking. We didn't part on the best of terms. You know, when she banished me to the other side of the continent. There might be something else going on, too, but I'm not sure what it is." [00:14] 4Cav: "But yeah, not much fun. And that was before her husband called me a few nights ago." [00:14] 3Well, that could have gone worse. "This sounds ... awfully tangled." [00:15] 4Cavanaugh: "Yeah, well. There's a fairly simple way of straightening it all out." [00:16] 3Maja: "How?" [00:16] 4Cavanaugh: "Kill him." [00:16] 4He sighs. "Sadly, far easier said than done." [00:16] 3Maja's stunned. Then smirks. "Hammer him." [00:18] 4Cavanaugh: "I think he might know the Prince. Personally." [00:18] "So that whole thing is a mess." [00:24] 3Maja's not sure what to make of all this. It doesn't particularly seem like something someone comes to therapy for if they're not ... actively struggling with it. It's possible he DID come to talk things through, but it seems like he's here for something else. [00:25] 4What might that be, one wonders. [00:25] 3Maja shifts back into her chair and takes a long, hard look at him. [00:26] 3Maja: "Well, Clinton. I'm not quite sure I can help you here in a counselling capacity. Is there any other way I can help you? Anything else you want from me?" [00:28] 3Maja can think of plenty other things to help him with. [00:28] 4Cav leans forward a bit, smiling. "Mmm. I can think of a couple things. Maybe not in church." [00:32] 3Maja cocks her head to the side. "Lovely. Shall we get out of here, then?" [00:32] "Thought you'd never ask." [00:39] There is a locked doorway in the St. Vincent de Paul Church, past the altar. It is small, maybe five feet high, so that a man of average height is forced to hunch over while he passes through. Beyond it, there is an unlit passage, leading to a spiral staircase. If one were to run their hand against the cool plaster as they walked down its steps, they would be able to feel the moment where the plaster becomes cooler stone, [00:39] piercing the bedrock of the city and continuing down further. [00:42] The passage widens here, at the bottom. How could you know how far beneath everything you are? The darkness is too total to pierce with mortal eyes. You might listen for the breath of the three guards lining the walls, except that the Crusaders haven't breathed in years, and it is included in their sworn oaths that they will never again mock God by returning their dead organs to life. 14[00:44] * Quits: Crion [00:48] There is a second doorway beneath St. Vincent de Paul Church, the inner door, guarded by the Crusaders, whose order is known only to the bishops and a few Presbyters. The cavern it opens into has only been seen by a few, relatively speaking. Here the mortal remains of those martyred while evangelizing will lie forever, blessed and maintained. Here the stone meets the water of an underground lake, where the only light is t [00:48] gas lamps on the simple wooden desks of a few novices, illuminating their texts. [00:50] She knew she would be summoned here, when she told Clarabelle. Clarabelle would tell Edward, and Edward is the most truthful of them all, and loyal to a fault. She was relieved when the text came from him. [00:51] Edward: [00:51] Tracey: [00:51] Edward: [00:52] Tracey: [00:56] She is glad she lives and ministers in South Los Angeles, and that Frans Widmark is her Bishop. Others would be less understanding. [00:57] Well, that's not quite correct, she thinks, as the Crusaders unbar the inner door and she passes into the cool air of the cavern, ventilated somehow by a thousand fragments in the rock, all leading to the streets above. They might understand, and not care, or show mercy. [01:01] The Presbyter finds the Bishop in the center of the faintly glowing lights, spread out in the cavern, each close to the still water of the lake. Their lights curve along the edge of the water. Somewhere there is a small boat, and on the far side there is a tiny shrine, the most holy in the city. Widmark is sitting next to a novice, both of them engaged in quiet conversation. [01:07] "But I find myself more and more drawn to Saint Abbad, on the question of that particular regnant. He handled it extensively - oh, Presbyter Greene. Excuse me, brother. I have business. Find me later." When he stands up, she unconsciously thinks of the tall pastor at her childhood church, the one who refused to baptise her until she was an adult. She had to find a Presbyterian across town to do it, when she was fourteen a [01:07] frightened for the state of her soul. She never told her mother. [01:09] When they walk along the edge of the stone, he lets her collect her thoughts, until she is ready to speak. When he asks her, simply, what happened, she thinks that his soft voice matches this space. She can't remember the last time she heard it raised, disturbing the darkness. [01:11] "I hadn't yet recovered from my meeting with Presbyter Morse. I allowed my feelings of frustration to linger, and spill over onto one of the Prince's men who came to seek counsel. I let my pride get the better of me. I…insulted the Prince indirectly. By pointing out the limits of his temporal authority." [01:14] The Bishop nods through her brief confession. "I heard through the grapevine that you let yourself be provoked to anger. I was surprised. Normally your temper is the one thing I can depend on." [01:16] In the dark, she stumbles upon the little boat, pulled up onto the stone. She stops the Bishop from colliding with it. "He insulted my faith. I was tired from…discussing the schismatics with Zealous. I felt…moved to impulsive speech. It was wrong of me." 14[01:17] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [01:19] He lets her speak, and they both sit on the sides of the boat. The wood is softer than the stone, anyway. [01:22] She can see the metal of his eyeglasses catching the light of the lanterns, giving the tiniest light to his features, which will always be puffy, just as his body will always be wide and awkward. "I could offer you absolution. But I could not repair any damage you might have done, when we cannot afford greater stresses. You are responsible for correcting your own mistake." [01:24] "Of course, your Grace." [01:31] The penance takes him a few minutes of thought. "Apologize for your sin, through prayer. Apologize to the man you deprived of honest and fair spiritual counsel because of your pride. Recommit yourself to the Testament for the next month. I think you have been reading the Gospel disproportionately in your speech and thought. Balance, Tracey." She can see him smile. "Remember what you are. Seek the balance of thought that y [01:31] need to do your duties. These are the penances you must carry out." [01:31] "Of course, your Grace." [01:31] "Kneel." [01:34] She puts her knees on the cold ground, and lowers her head. She can feel him making the sign of the cross on the back of her head. "Make your contrition, Presbyter." [01:38] She repeats the phrase they taught her, in the Valley. She knows them like a limb. Every time she recites the wordsds, instead of demanding it from her congregants, she feels indignant that it should be her in this position, and every time she feels shame for that thought, and she recites it twice, in her mind. "Señor mío, Jesucristo, Dios y Hombre verdadero, Creador, Padre y Redentor mío; por ser tú quien eres, bonda [01:38] infinita, y porque te amo sobre todas las cosas, me pesa de todo corazón haberte ofendido; también me pe sa porque puedes castigarme con las penas del infierno." [01:42] The Bishop's voice is a whisper. "Et ego te absolvo a peccatis tuis in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti." [01:43] "Rise, Presbyter." She returns to his side, both of them sitting on the boat. [01:46] When he shifts his body, she can hear his garments swish. "I think I am relying on the Gospel too much of late, Tracey. The balance eludes me as well." [01:47] What is she supposed to say? "I trust your judgment in all things." [01:48] "If I err, you must correct me. As others inform you of your own mistakes." She hasn't seen this expression on his face before. But what can she see, really, in the dark? [01:49] "Return to your home, Tracey. Carry out your penance." [01:49] "Of course, your Grace." [01:50] "Remember, Tracey. Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that he will also reap." [01:52] She kisses his ring, and makes her way upwards. When she arrives at her home, she begins writing a letter. 09[02:19] * banana|peels is now known as banana 09[02:19] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[02:23] * Quits: mugobbles 14[02:56] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[03:23] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:52] * Joins: ddt 14[04:12] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[04:18] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 09[04:55] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[04:56] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[04:56] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 09[04:56] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[04:58] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[05:03] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[05:03] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[05:03] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[05:12] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[06:18] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[06:18] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[06:18] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[07:06] * Joins: VoxPoxVD Session Start: Fri May 01 07:06:36 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[07:06] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[07:06] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[07:06] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 15[07:06] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri May 01 07:06:36 2015 14[07:06] * Quits: VoxPoxVD (Client Quit) 14[08:04] * Quits: dammitwho 14[08:06] * Joins: Crion 14[10:59] * Joins: Quaker 09[12:15] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[12:59] * Joins: ddt 14[13:19] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:34] * Joins: hrolfie 14[13:37] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[14:03] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Quit: Leaving) 14[14:13] * Joins: hrolfy 14[14:15] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[14:17] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[14:18] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:22] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[14:29] * Joins: Crion_ 14[14:31] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[14:46] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:49] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[14:51] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:53] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[15:15] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:26] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[17:31] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[17:31] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:04] * Joins: Crion__ 14[19:06] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 09[19:07] * Crion__ is now known as Crion_ 14[19:33] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:16] * Joins: mattbaby_ 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> It's notable enough for Astrologer Kratz to have so many visitors in one day and night. More notable still is when the first set drags the second out from the high chamber and into the Nexus night. Some questions pose themselves to Keldar, Stranger, and Mud as they make their way elsewhere: what do they tell Vigo? What priority do they place on getting the could-be assassins into honorable custody? And how strenuously do they work to avoid being seen? [20:34] 14Stranger's most important priority, in fact, is getting the 'doctors' into Pellicia's custody -- her personal custody, if necessary. [20:34] 14How difficult that is will inform how much he cares about being seen. 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Elsewhere, Xu Sim works, and he finds it increasingly difficult to concentrate. His laboratory blurs at the peripheries of his vision. He finds himself losing seconds, minutes, his mind jumping from one notable stimulus to the next, with all interstitial experience evaporating. There is, now, the gentlest buzzing at the edges of his hearing. 14[20:36] * Joins: mugobbles [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's is making sure Saul has no advance notice of the storm brewing in his immediate future. Vigo's told that "we've" been getting screwed and if he's smart he'll act exactly as he would if the night were proceeding apace; then Keldar leaves out a different door than Stranger and Mud did, watching the alleyways and rooftops for whatever eye Saul might've set to ensure things are [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12going normally. [20:37] 3Mud waddles out the door, a guild "doctor" grasped in each hand like a kitten by the scruff of their necks. He pauses to think a moment. "Can I let them go now?" [20:38] 14Stranger: "Certainly." 14To them: "As long as they understand that should they run, you'll be picking them right back up again." [20:38] 5In a dreamlike state, Xu carefully considers his options, blacking out for moments here and there as he contemplates what, exactly, he is experiencing. He could try to go deeper, perhaps, and win victory within the spirit. Perhaps he could reverse the course of events with a proper tincture of coca leaves and reinvigorate his brain to escape the incessant buzz. 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> It's early enough in the evening that the Barracks of the Dawn Sergeant is the most likely place to find Pellicia, as well as those of Pellicia's mercenary guard that she most trusts. But it is a long way from the Astrologer's Tower, such that a route that gets them there apace is certain to be... observed. [20:40] 3Mud carefully sets them down and dusts off his grubby hands before reaching low to hike up his belt beneath his robes. "Ooof." [20:40] 14This would be easier if the Judge were on hand. But getting him would just as surely blow their cover. [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's not a terrible discount Judge. He's been operating in Nexus long enough to get a feel for skullduggery and, at the moment, he's clad in simple leathers rather than articulated plate. He slips out a side window as though he's spent a good amount of time watching someone to whom it's second nature. 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar crosses Nexus with an assassin's eye. Lookouts, couriers, spies - the Guild wears many faces, and most of them know his own. So it's no doubt gratifying to catch one clean and totally unawares, a young man swaddled in travel clothes like a leper's bandages, dark eyes scanning the streets from a furtive place. What does he do? [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, first Keldar satisfies himself that the chain ends there - it's sometimes good practice to set lookouts for your lookouts and lookouts for those, but after a certain point it just ceases to pay. [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Once he's done so, Keldar climbs and maneuvers and makes jumps muffled by street arguments until, finally, a brawny arm comes reaching out of the darkness behind Saul's watcher, seizes him roughly by the neck, and yanks him out of view. [20:46] <@Ferrinus> "Greets," 12hisses the mercenary, pinning his latest victim against a wall. "Tell me something interesting." [20:55] 3Mud plods the streets a short distance behind Stranger, carefully herding the four captive guildsmen. From time to time he will unroll his scroll to check a figure or scribble a note in the margin. "It's almost done, Stranger!" [20:55] "As soon as we can meet what's-his-name I can deliver the proposal!" 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> I vow to remember that, as Sol Invictus hides his face from the world, he does not turn his back on it. I vow to honor his subtlest and most watchful self. I vow to honor the blessed rage for order that lives in the Sun's heart and mine, even in the deepest shadows. [20:56] "Excellent!" 14Stranger has been paying more attention to their surroundings than whatever it is Mud is up to, and doesn't quite recall what the proposal is for, but he's sure it's a good cause. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom has learned the Creed of Midnight. [20:56] 5Xu thinks about it. He thinks about it all day. He naps, fitfully, restlessly. [20:59] 5His mangy dog gnaws, worried, on a bone scrounged from the remains of a rattlewhale. [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Stranger and Mud receive no warnings whatsoever as they reach Pellicia's headquarters, but an extremely smug-looking Keldar with somewhat bloodied knuckles has gotten there first and assures them that this Saul thing's wellll in hand. [21:06] 14So, Keldar, looking as he usually does. 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar meets Mud, Stranger, and their prisoners through Nexus until they reach, about two hours after sundown, the Barracks of the Dawn Sergeant lit from within. The air is so thick with bees they might be mistaken for particularly fat gnats. [21:07] "This state of affairs will not hold much longer," 14Stranger mutters. "Damnable bees." [21:08] "How long do you think it can last?" [21:08] "I mean, the city needs to be warned..!" 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim hear the song in his sleep now, backed by thousands upon thousands of ringing bells. It asks him questions his mind cannot answer, questions his heart yearns to resolve. Do you recall how we came to that place? And sang of their lightness and shapeful disgrace? They tilted their vanes and ennobled their spires. They began at the rivers when they set the fires. [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It's insane. I'd start to wonder if there wasn't some beekeepers' convocation trying to push the Council around if it weren't for everything else." [21:09] "Days ago, I would've said weeks. Now, I'll say days. Later tonight, we may be reduced to hours." 14To whoever is on guard: "We must speak with the Dawn Sergeant." 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> The guard was already stepping aside as Stranger got close enough for him to be recognized. [21:10] 14Well then. "Inside, the four of you." 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> They go where they're told. [21:10] "This is really bad, Stranger!" [21:10] “I don’t recall…” 5mutters the miserable Alchemist, over and over again. “Rivers… fires… those foundries… damnable bees…” [21:10] "Oh, gods, I need to warn my men at the levee!" [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar shakes his head grimly. "Your men are already- aww, don't look at me like that, I love that line." [21:12] 14Stranger nods. Once they're inside, to whoever is on duty and in command: "These four need to be taken into custody immediately, and guarded only by trustworthy men of the highest character and talent. They are also to be well-treated." 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger finds himself face to face with a young woman in what his studies have told him are a corporal's stripes. For just an instant, the way she tilts her head to regard him reminds him of the Amabassador. To the prisoners directly, she says, "Follow me." To the half-circle, she says, "She's in her office." [21:15] 14... [21:15] "Thank you, Corporal." 14To the rest of the group. "Shall we?" [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar doesn't pay her a second thought, of course. He nods absent-mindedly and heads in, grinning despite himself to be the one to have something Pellicia needs for once. [21:17] 14Once this business is attended to, he's going on a vacation north. Or east. Or wherever damned Direction she is. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> The song gives way, in Xu Sim's mind. The many many voices raised in song harmonize, converging in rhythm and pitch and timbre and volume until they are indistinguishable from another. The is only one voice now, a proud contralto. A woman's voice. A voice wrought in thorns and iron. 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> The three of them are a tight squeeze in Pellicia's office. [21:19] 3Mud, his back to the wall and pressing into the sides of the office, looks as if he's about to burst into tears. 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> She is given to stare incredulously at Mud, and moreso at Keldar. 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Then she looks very carefully at Stranger. 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> She doesn't give it voice but the question on her mind is clear. 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Them too? [21:20] <@Ferrinus> "A FUCKING councilor!" 12Keldar starts in. "Which Dogma do we yell in his face? Does it count as harboring- what?" [21:20] "Good evening, Dawn Sergeant," 14he says. "They're with me. The answer to your question is, 'yes.'" [21:20] "Even Keldar." 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "..." 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "..." 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "......" 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "...what do you have for me?" 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "Talk." 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> The next word is more forced. "Please." [21:21] 14Stranger: "A massive criminal conspiracy directly involving the Guild, and the ongoing poisoning of Astrologer Kratz at the Guild's direction." [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's eyes sweep the room for a moment as he reorients. Truth be told, he never did decide whether to tell Stranger to keep his secret with Pellicia or not; probably it's because he didn't, deep down, want to, but maybe he should've figured out a cooler way to spill it. "Yeah, some setup where a rotating team tricks all the wards. They're reporting to Saul, and we'll be paying [21:22] <@Ferrinus> that rat fuck a visit before the night's through." 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> The voice... that voice in the east. Upriver. A will that cuts through a hundred human kingdoms like shears through a stem. A procession of thrones that rise like weeds in her wake. She speaks, and Xu Sim hears her. She speaks, and wrests his throat away from him. She speaks, and through his voice, Blossom hears her too. 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10My children. 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10My sweet, forgotten children. 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rest your heads. 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Calm your thoughts. 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10I am coming for you. 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Like a thousand other maddened minds in Nexus tonight, Xu Sim hears and speaks and is those words. Like a thousand others trapped in the maze, he sees her face. [21:26] 14Stranger: "Yes. We're moving against him tonight; putting an end to this swiftly. But we cannot...guaranteee...that he'll be in a condition to testify as to his crimes and schemes once we're through. That will be up to him." [21:26] 14He straightens. "So we'd like you to keep his four intermediaries in custody as collateral and insurance." [21:26] 5Xu reaches out for the voice, the face… [21:28] 7Blossom rises and swiftly crosses to Xu Sim's room. "Xu Sim, what in Hell are you doing?" 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "Bring me his head." [21:28] 14Stranger nods. [21:28] 14To Keldar: "We take your lead on this, then." [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar grins and cracks his knuckles. [21:30] “Apologies, my Lady?” 5Xu withdraws his hand slightly. “Your singing is a Gods-damn distraction. No, wait… Blossom?” [21:31] 3Mud nods gravely, his chins doubling as his jowls smoosh up against his neck fat. [21:31] "How are we going to do this?" [21:32] 14Stranger: "Very carefully." [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Outside Pellicia's office, Keldar's got the other two Solars in a kind of huddle. "Alright, so, Guild functionary carrying out insane unthinkable betrayal of hospitality, gotta have good security. Great security. Magic-great? I dunno about that. I don't think the place can take any one of us, come down to it." [21:33] "Sensible." [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But can it get us, you know, bright? I bet so, if we're sloppy. We don't want that. We don't want anyone getting out, either. Frankly, I'm not sure we want to bring in Saul's head and not his body." [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Like, it's the damn Guild, right? Real shitty enemy to have. Huge. So what'd be great, really great, is if scared Saul so thoroughly shitless that he had no other choice but to tell his bosses everything was going according to plan and he won't need anything for the next year." [21:34] 7Blossom: "I hope this is part of your investigation." 7It would be just perfect if their alchemist was addicted to hallucinogens. [21:34] 14Stranger: "I would make vague noises here about not killing the lot of them, but I doubt we'll have much choice." [21:35] 14Stranger: "I do think his survival would be a tactical success, but we could just as easily force the Guild to disavow him." [21:35] "Through poor publicity." [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, his security'n'all's basically dead where they stand, sure. But like I said - no word getting out. Saul's guys like the rooftops and there's plenty where we're going. How far can either of you jump?" [21:36] 3Mud raises a finger. "I don't want to kill anybody." [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar laughs. [21:36] 3Mud looks like he's about to cry. [21:36] “Symptoms are as follows: buzzing in ears. Singings. A voice coming from upriver. ‘Do you recall how we came to that place? and sang of their lightness and shapeful disgrace? They tilted their vanes and ennobled their spires. They began at the rivers when they set the fires.’” [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...you're ser- fuck are you gonna do, then? There's gotta be a few dozen men in there. Put 'em all in cells?" [21:36] 14Stranger: "...That could be an issue." [21:37] 7Blossom sighs and begins copying this down. [21:37] “More symptoms: lethargy, cold sweat, dissociation.” [21:37] "I think I could do it. [21:37] " [21:38] “Mud and I heard that song, days ago… with a tinkling of bells… Related to the Fair Folk. I told you, we found the Emissary was Balor, yea? I don’t remember right now. Bring me coca leaves, lime, and salt.” [21:39] 14Stranger: "These are not good men, Mud. These are going to be hardened Guild elites we're dealing with. Mercenaries. The amoral kind. Killers of women and children, if told to do so." [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Who feeds 'em? Who empties the buckets? Who pays? 'cause you don't actually keep every single guard and secretary and spy and whatever quiet otherwise. They get word out Saul's been knocked down, probably even by who, and the Guild does something." [21:39] 14Stranger: "We are great, but not if we humble ourselves." [21:39] "If we treat this like we treated the tower, they will kill us." [21:40] "You could...go back to the hideout, if you wish. Let us handle it." [21:40] 3Mud slumps, defeated. "I will help." [21:41] "They are doing a terrible thing and we have to stop them, or many people will die." [21:41] 14Stranger nods. [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Alright, so- how far can you jump? 'cause I can clear a street pretty easy nowadays." [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And, much as it pains me to say it, it seeeems like it's you two who get to kick the door down, and me who takes the roof and brings down runners, unless you got better ideas." [21:42] 7Blossom at least knows the traditional sigils for alchemy, and can collect Xu Sim's requested ingredients fairly quickly. [21:43] "I can jump pretty far," 3Mud murmurs. [21:43] 14Stranger: "The front door is fine by me." [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar leans back, then points at the bricklayer. "What we could do is station you up there, get you to stop - not even kill - any runners. If we can salvage Saul somehow, we don't want all his messengers to mysteriously get replaced in the same day." [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Maybe I'm being an idiot here, though." [21:46] 5Xu takes them in turn. He seems to forget what he’s doing, like a very tired person might, with his head gently lolling in between taking each item. He starts rolling the leaves into a ball, around a slice of the lime as kindly provided by Blossom. It helps him perk up, somewhat. [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "How the hell do we make any promise Saul makes to us stick for more than two hours? I can't think of any good hostages offhand." [21:56] 14Stranger: "I have a way." [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Okay, how close are they?" [21:57] 14Stranger: "He's very close to Saul. In fact, he's standing in his shoes, right at this very moment." [21:57] 14He smiles. "The Unconquered Sun's gift to me is that of pacts and oaths." [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Nnnno shit?" [21:57] 14Stranger: "No shit." [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar claps his hands and starts pacing. "Okay. Okayyy. That's something. So, so actually, depending on our ability to, like.... reach him... we might even want to leave his shit intact." [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hell, not even let anyone know we were there. We get him alone, put a sword to his throat, get him to swear - whatever, serve us, don't threaten the so and so, all of it. Boom, we got a guy." [22:00] 14Stranger nods. "If you can sneak me in, I can ensure that." [22:01] 14He looks over at Mud. "And then we don't have to kill anyone." [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Then we can work our way up, eventually figure out whose idiot idea this actually was, take them out - or, hell, enslave 'em too - and bam. All tied up." [22:01] "O-okay," 3he sniffles appreciatively. [22:01] 14Stranger: "Point of order: they CAN break the oath. It will merely result in the horrifying cursing and eventual death of them and likely their entire family." [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar turns away, a hand to his chin, now. "Sneak in completely... I mean, I know when the next report to Saul's due to come in. Not sure if they actually end up in a room with him. And I ain't Judge, best I can do is give you a really distracting hat." [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12The Dawn looks up. "Oh, yeah? ...well, I mean, that's, no, I think that's good. Long as they know." [22:11] "Also." 3Mud mutters softly. "I know their cant." [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Say again?" [22:12] 14Stranger: "You're joking." [22:12] 3Mud makes a hand gesture and snaps his fingers. "We use it on th elevee when the water's too loud. It's.. I didn't know they were criminals then." [22:13] 14Stranger: "Well they're not ALL criminals, of course! Otherwise this wouldn't be an embarrassing bit of leverage to hold over their heads!" [22:13] "I could maybe.. I don't know, teach a few gestures, just enough to get you in-" [22:14] 14Of course the one who knows the Cant has to be the giant toddler-- [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Shit, why not just show up at the front door, then." [22:14] 14Stranger forces his annoyance down. 14[22:16] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: mattbaby_) [22:18] "Well, that's something, right?" [22:18] 14Kinder: "It most certainly is." [22:24] "If only the Judge were here." [22:24] 3Mud looks left, looks right, sighs again. "If only the Judge were here." [22:26] 4A low, rasping voice says from behind and to the left of Mud, "If wishes were fishes..." [22:27] 14Stranger almost jumps. [22:27] 3Mud closes his eyes, nods, pumps his fist. [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Real funny, Mud, but I can recognize oh come on." 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim forces himself to wakefulness and mindfulness as best he can, and Blossom reads. [22:28] 14Stranger: "Ah. Judge. Good timing. We need to get into a place, and imperil a man inside." [22:28] 4Judge: "I can get you to Saul... but I can't promise I won't break his damn neck when we get there." 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Five days' darkness bind the whims of Heaven. Five days' journey separates Earth from Hell. Five stations crisscross the sky for Sun and Moon. Five Maidens hold the strings of Fate. Five elements pin the World athwart the Wyld. Fivefold are the dictates of the old etiquette. Fivefold are the oaths of the Most High, and fivefold is the duty we have to abide by them and to hold Ignis Divine to abide in turn. [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12The Dawn shakes his head to himself. "All right, no, though. You catch all that, Magala? Cool. If we break his neck, we gotta find who put him up to it first, though - and it'd be nice if no one knew it was us." 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> This is the Fivefold Principle; the Secret of the Eclipse. [22:30] "I'm late. What do you need him for?" 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> From within the hideout, Xu Sim and Blossom hear a clangor in the streets outside. [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "See whose idea poisoning a Councilor actually was. What do you want him dead for?" [22:32] "I used to work with him. For him? Hard to say. He's an asshole, through and through." 4The Judge, an olive-skinned man with a thick moustache, shakes his head. "Killing him would likely be doing Nexus a favor." [22:32] "If we know he is evil, I think that's okay.. I just.. I don't know that every man in there deserves it. You know?" [22:33] 05 Xu, blinking owlishly, makes his way out of the laboratory and over to one of the windows - murderholes - portholes - whatever - that line the street to see what could be going on. [22:33] 14Stranger: "Reasonable." [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "No one gets what they deserve. It's common, though, to get what you're being paid for." [22:33] "They can't all of them be scoundrels and murderers, can they?" [22:34] "They certainly can. That doesn't mean they are, but odds are pretty good." [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'll tell you what they all are: adults. They know what they signed up for. What do you think, Magala - go in quiet, try to swear him to us? Or just knock the whole thing down?" [22:36] 14Stranger: "There is generally only one way to use dead men. That is my only comment on the matter." [22:36] "I will defer to your judgments on this." [22:37] "The former, I should say. They may be thieves, but so is almost everyone in this town." [22:37] "Also, it draws less attention." [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That case... let's figure out the best actual way in. Between me and Mud we know the signs they're throwing at each other, and I know when the next report's due in. We still need a good luck at the place, though." [22:40] 7Blossom solemnly closes her book and goes over to where Xu Sim is peering outward, to see for herself what's going on. [22:41] 05 Xu chews the wad of lime and coca leaves in his mouth, working it around, and dabbing flakes of salt into his mouth with a free hand from a tiny jar he holds with the other. [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's had the foresight to dress in hard-wearing black, hood and scarf both up, before clambering up to rooftop level and doing his best to skulk with care and spy with acuity. As he'll soon learn, though, this ain't his night. 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom and Xu Sim see a rider, someone wearing the standard of one of the upriver kingdoms. He's been chased by guards into Floodwater and is laying about them with his straight sword. Both he and the emas he rides are wounded and deformed, their bodies half-distorted and colored. The rider's neck and right shoulder are a sweeping violent abstraction, a line and color that pierces through his battered armor. His right hand, on the sword, has three scaled fingers. 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> The emas is streaked red and blue, its beak morphed into the blunt snapping mouth of a river turtle. [22:50] 4Judge, being both an experience skulker and spotter, is crouched easily next to Keldar, wearing slate grey rather than black, which blends into the rooftops and buildings better, even at night. 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> They are far enough from the hideout that Xu Sim and Blossom can approach in a way that does not draw attention to it. 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Should they wish. [22:51] 7Blossom does wish. [22:52] "They began at the rivers where they set the fires," 05 Xu thoughtlessly repeats, before biting down hard on the ball of leaves in his mouth and, at last, spitting it out on the floor. [22:53] "Come on. We need to interrogate that man." 7She'll sneak out of the hideout and carefully approach the fracas. 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger appraises the Princess Crimson directly. It's a very fine teahouse, small and attractive and unwindowed enough to suggest it must get very hot inside when it's full, as it is tonight. There are guards posted furtively at the front and rear entrances and its roof and the surrounding rooftops are so flat and even and tightly packed that one could almost walk from one to another as if there were no alleys between them. [22:55] "Wyld mutation that far progressed..." 05 Xu, even in this state, is still quite capable of stealth when necessary. [22:56] 7When she gets close enough, Blossom will emerge from stealth, hands on hips, and demand "What's going on here?!" of the guards. [22:56] 7When she gets close enough, Blossom will emerge from stealth, hands on hips, and demand "What's going on here?!" 7of the guards. [22:57] 05 Xu, on the other hand, holds back for a moment but has his eye on the Wyld-mutated soldier, and his greatbird. [22:58] "You seem to know what you're doing, Stranger." 3Mud is awful at small-talk. "Have you always been like this?" [22:59] 14Stranger: "Been like what?" 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Judge knows this place well enough already. The guards are new, he notices, from the last time he was here. Imports. He can tell, too, in their movements in the dark, that they have extensive military training. Further, there are specific vagaries of their training that Judge (and Keldar, if Judge points it out) know to associate with those who have specifically studied in the military doctrine of the Realm and its most loyal satrapies. 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Judge can see further, on one guard, a tattoo - the mark of the Dynastic House Tepet. [23:00] "Realm guards. House Tepet. Something big's going down." [23:00] <@Ferrinus> "Tepet?" 12Keldar repeats. "Tepet?!" [23:00] "You know, the whole... anathema thing. I mean, you said you were a chief before all this...?" 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> One of the guards perks up. [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm putting insane brutal slaughter back on the tab14ohshit." 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Almost immediately they home in on Keldar's voice. [23:01] 4The Judge moves to smother Keldar, but it's too late. [23:01] 14Oh, fantastic. [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Judge doesn't need to clap a hand over Keldar's mouth or drag the mercenary behind cover, but damage has been done. Are the guards... venturing out curiously? Drawing and shouting Keldar's name? 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> They're retreating inside. 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> So too are the guards on the ground. [23:03] "Well, you've done it now," 4The Judge says quietly. "You certainly have put it back on the table, and swept all the other cards off." 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger sees this. And he knows. 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> He knows that this is not unsalvageable. 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> But if he wishes to salvage it, they need to be decisive. And they need to come clean immediately. [23:04] 14That idiot. Okay. How to work this. 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> And if they don't... they enter a tea house girded for war. [23:05] 4Come clean? Pfft. [23:05] "People are going to die, aren't they." 3Mud sounds defeated as he raises his fists. [23:05] "There are still things left to say." 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> The guards are trying to unseat the rider with their spears but even in this state, the emas is agile and fierce. They're not willing to make a move that might expose them to its jaws or the rider's sword. "Stand back, citizen! This mutant is dangerous." [23:08] "Well, what now? I could still sneak in, but I doubt we could convince them that we come in peace anymore..." [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12To what extent does the tea house have, like, regular clientele at the moment? [23:11] 14Stranger steps from the shadows. "Gentlemen. Good evening. You don't want to do that." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> At this hour? It's probably not none. Judge would know that Saul likes to conduct most of his business speaking plainly, if abstractly, in full view of regular paying customers. There is a back room for more discreet deals. On a busy night there might be 10 or 20 patrons and as many Guildsmen. Tonight, though... something feels off. 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Tepet? [23:14] 7Blossom: "Is he?" 7Turning to the outrider. "You, sir! What is your name and business!" 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> The guard freezes, hand straying to his sword. "State your business, stranger. State it quickly." [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's preparing for action, clearly. He's retreating a few steps further, only to ball his fists and grit his teeth and begin to edge around to the side such that someone who can jump the way he can suddenly fall from an alarmingly high nearby building on anyone investigating the shout. The Dawn's given pause, though, by the sound of Stranger's voice. [23:23] 14Stranger: "You're a long way from anywhere that tattoo could inspire fear, and there's nowhere in Creation you could frighten me with a sword, so, Realmsman, I'd best describe your tone of voice as unhelpful. You're very lucky we serve the same ultimate master." 14And we do, a Zenith would argue, even if this dog doesn't know it. 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom can't immediately make out what he's saying, but Xu Sim can. "THON IS FALLEN! OUR PEOPLE! ALL IS LOST! HELP US! HELP ME!" [23:24] 3Mud and Straw is the background against which Stranger stands. His gut teeters ominously on feet that don't quite seem strong enough to hold their ground. [23:24] 14He makes the proper hand signs or what have you. "We will see Saul. He was correct to have us watch his 'doctors.' He will need to hear our report." [23:24] 05 Xu gasps, and leaps down from the tree he had been preparing to ambush the rider from. [23:25] "At ease, warrior, at ease!" 05 he shouts in Forest-tongue, while waving back the guard. [23:25] 4If Keldar's looking at Judge, as unlikely as it is when Stranger says that, the scowl and look of hate is fierce enough to be unmistakable, even on a different face. [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12If that 'Realmsman' was loud enough to be heard a couple stories up, Keldar's eyes are practically bugging out. How in the- [23:27] 7Blossom: "What is he saying?" [23:27] "Thon has fallen, the upriver realms are even now falling to the Fair Folk." 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Well, actually. 14[23:27] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> It occurs to Xu Sim that Thon is easily six weeks' travel by caravan from Nexus. Half that by a panicked rider. And who knows what time the Wyld keeps? 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Who knows how much is lost already? [23:29] "...Or they've fallen already. We need..." 05 He braces, blinks, and swallows. That damn buzzing! [23:30] 7Blossom, to the guards: "You heard the man. Thon is fallen, Pellicia's fears are realized. Go and tell her! Go, quickly!" 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> The guards, backing up a step, spears still up. "Listen, we've got this under control, girl. Go to bed!" 14[23:30] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> The teahouse guards' response is automatic. He's stepping aside before the distaste registers on his face. [23:31] "...We need to gather the others and put a stop to this madness before half the Scavenger Lands are sucked into the Marches." 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Who's following Stranger in? [23:31] 3The boards creak under the considerable weight that Mud and Straw puts upon them. [23:32] 4The Judge drops from the rooftop so quietly and easily that it seems as if he merely materialized out of the air, a grey shadow at Stranger's side. 14[23:33] * Quits: trenchfoot (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by trenchfoot_))) 09[23:33] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot [23:34] 7Blossom's eyes light with fury. "Girl?! I stood and faced the Fair Folk who rode out of Firewander, and where were you? Do as I say!" 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> The guard falls over backing away from Blossom. 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Even the emas is given pause. 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> One of the other guards helps his fallen comrade up, and begs Blossom's pardon before they leave swiftly. [23:35] 05 Xu clears his throat. 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> The rider's sword arm gravitates in Xu Sim's direction before his head follows. Xu Sim isn't close enough to be struck, though. Mere reflex moves the rider's hand. [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12They only heard one voice, right? And for all they know that's how this swarthy fellow yells the names of random Realm houses. Keldar's staying back, ready to drop like a guillotine if things go the way he's now hoping they will. [23:37] "And we have to do something about these bees, they're carrying some sort of Wyld-tai-Are you in control of your mutation, warrior?" 05 he asks. [23:37] 14Stranger motions curtly for the others to join him, resisting the urge to glare up at where he knows Keldar is. [23:38] 14Damned fool. [23:40] 7Blossom: "Ugh. Imbeciles." 7She turns to Xu Sim. "Can you... can you do anything for him?" [23:41] "I can only arrest the progress of a mutation, or prevent one from commencing... The process, once begun, is all-but irreversible by any art I possess." 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger leads the half-circle into a hot and crowded teahouse. There are patrons drinking and gambling on this first floor. The stairs up are flanked by more guards, one Tepet one Guild. Judge knows that it's the second floor that Saul likes to work from. [23:43] 14Stranger will move towards the stairs with icy imperiousness unless Judge stops him. [23:44] 3Mud and Straw will turn his head toward Stranger and catch his eye, apparently asking for direction. Should the fat man follow...? [23:45] 14Absolutely. [23:45] 3He nods and makes for the stairs. [23:45] 4Judge follows Stranger without saying anything. The one Guild one Tepet pattern repeating is curious. Maybe they're watching each other? [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12There's probably only so far that Keldar can spy on this procession through the windows, so after a while it's just a matter of pressing up against cover and relying on figuratively sharp ears. [23:47] 7Blossom: "Damn. Tell him that the guards are going to tell the Nexus Council his message, then." 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> As Judge and Stranger move up, they realize that it is just so. This is not an easy truce here. [23:49] "You know that's not good enough." 05 Xu Sim does his best to calm the rider down nonetheless. [23:50] 14That makes this a bit easier. 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> And the fact of it is made plain when they see Saul suspended a few inches off the ground in the right hand of a fine-robed woman wreathed in bitter winds. [23:52] 14Grand. 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "They've come like baited fish," she says. "And I have worms aplenty to feed them." [23:54] "I'm going to conjure up a few messengers. One for Keldar, he's got his mercenaries, maybe one for that enormous Nessun Dorma? Who else needs to know right away?" [23:54] "Bottoms up!" 3Mud uncorks a flask from his belt and guzzles it down apropos of nothing. [23:55] Stranger: "Ah. I was hoping to settle this with words." [23:55] 14Stranger: "Ah. I was hoping to settle this with words." 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's not fair," the rider says, slumping into the emas's back and sobbing as the guards no longer harass him. "It isn't fair. Why us and not them?" [23:56] "I could go either way." [23:56] "Them?" 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> She offers the Solars a dazzling smile. "We can. We will. But do we need him? I think not. But I am amenable to counterargument." [23:57] 7Blossom: "Is there anyone else?" [23:58] "You're the fine young lady of courts and intrigues and so on, not me!" Session Time: Sat May 02 00:00:01 2015 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "Thon is fallen," he mumbles. It seems to have struck him all at once how very tired he is. "They cut through Thon. They cut through Wutian. They cut through Pirayana." 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "But not... not Highland." 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "They walked through Highland." 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "All is lost." [00:01] 05 What is in Highland? 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Highland is, by Xu Sim's recollection, the largest of the hundred kingdoms. It began in, appropriately, the highlands of the Gray, well upriver, almost adjacent to the great wilderness. Xu Sim heard many tales of it from Novak, who warred with Highland to build his kingdom. Warred, specifically, with the then-prodigy, the teenaged Prince Regent Mori Dogare, who had wandered far from his homeland on a campaign of destabilization. 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> But that was 25 years ago. [00:06] 05 Was that the Beast of Highland? 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> It wasn't. 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> It is now. 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> If the rider's word is true, he has spared his kingdom the ruin of Cethleann. 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> But how? [00:09] 7Blossom: "Dorma would be a good choice, if he can get word back to Lookshy, they might be persuaded to send help." [00:12] 05 Xu Sim begins weaving threads of Essence together, into a delicate iridescent dragonfly with six pairs of wings. He whispers Keldar's name to it: then the contralto songsymptom of his dreamsickness, finally, the rider's panicked cry that Thon is lost, and he at last blows upon its wings to strengthen them for their journy to wherever in Nexus Keldar is right now. 14[00:18] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[00:18] * Joins: dammitwho [00:25] 05 It is a process he repeats, reluctantly, to relay an identical message to Nessun Dorma. 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim is a braver man than he might admit. [00:27] 05 Admitting bravery is the quickest way to get it tested, so not admitting it is probably just as well. 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: The test 14[00:41] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[01:36] * Quits: dammitwho (Remote host closed the connection) 14[01:36] * Joins: dammitwho 09[01:47] * dammitwho is now known as mugabeglasses 09[01:47] * mugabeglasses is now known as dammitwho 14[01:47] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[01:48] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[01:49] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[01:51] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:41] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[03:01] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[03:08] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:22] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[03:46] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 09[03:49] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[04:24] * Quits: mugobbles 14[05:44] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[06:01] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[06:03] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[06:16] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[06:19] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[06:36] * Quits: dammitwho 14[07:53] * Joins: drinkybird 14[07:55] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[07:56] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[07:57] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[11:31] * Joins: Crion_ 14[11:40] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:57] * Joins: hrolfie 14[12:07] * Joins: cbass 14[12:23] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[12:24] * Joins: ddt 14[12:42] * Joins: hrolfie 14[13:16] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[14:08] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[14:08] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Client Quit) 14[14:13] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[14:18] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:41] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:41] * Joins: hrolfy 14[14:44] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:44] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[14:46] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[15:07] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 09[15:11] * banana is now known as banana|pan 14[15:20] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[15:46] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:50] * Quits: Quaker (Client Quit) 14[15:54] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[16:47] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:40] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[17:40] * Joins: trenchfoot [17:48] it's me [17:48] for bad reasons I might not be at thing on time [17:48] I'll try though 15[17:48] <@VoxPVoxD> be well [17:48] but if I'm not then start without me or ?? etc [17:48] bye 14[18:02] * Joins: ddt 14[18:06] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[18:25] * Joins: ddt 14[18:25] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[18:26] * Joins: ddt 14[18:35] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[18:41] * Joins: ddt 14[18:42] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[19:00] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:51] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:53] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[19:54] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[19:59] * Joins: ddt [20:03] <@Ferrinus> so what's the timestamp on banana|pan there 15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 5:50pm 15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD> and/or 5:50am [20:04] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/ztX3mMi.png 15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD> I wouldn't be INCREDIBLY sad if we had to call it because I'm really tired irl 15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD> fridays, man 15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD> but I will be here [20:05] <@Ferrinus> fridays... [20:06] <@Ferrinus> i mean, i could handle it, i (as always) have stuff to get done that i'm not devoting enough time to doing. conceivably we could do the thing where we start far forward, although it'd actually still be important to have cross's input on a thing [20:08] <@Ferrinus> since it's sort of cross, ultimately, who has the literal power over jen's fate (or should i say, jen's future) here 15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD> yeah I wouldn't want to talk around the aftermath without cross 11[20:10] <@Ferrinus> if cross were literally not there it's possible that either paracelsus or arrian could do the equivalent of throwing a wrench into the works and cross their fingers, but 15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD> that'd be dumb both ic and ooc 15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD> imo [20:11] <@Ferrinus> yes [20:12] <@Ferrinus> anyway i'm going to go get a food but my assumption is that we shan't be playing tonight (unless it's some sort of 10-12 halfgame) and if you decided to catch some zs instead or w/e i wouldn't blame you [20:12] <@Ferrinus> after all, it would be barely a sliver of our vengeance against dammitwho [20:12] egad [20:13] <@Ferrinus> <> 15[20:14] <@VoxPVoxD> I exact my vengeance against dammitwho by only giving him one emote every 40 minutes in exalted 14[20:14] * Joins: Quaker [20:14] <@Ferrinus> i exact my vengeance against myself by bogging down things in like an hour or more's planning rather than just doing stuff 15[20:15] <@VoxPVoxD> pretty sure that vengeance only befell tom [20:15] <@Ferrinus> okay i was lying. 15[20:15] <@VoxPVoxD> though it was funny 15[20:15] <@VoxPVoxD> I must admit 15[20:15] <@VoxPVoxD> that you spent an hour planning and your plan immediately fell apart because of a botch 15[20:15] <@VoxPVoxD> that was, frankly, some win [20:16] <@Ferrinus> well the real mistake was not just opening with a "case scene", which we would've had to do anyway [20:16] my favorite part was how stranger, who spent most of the planning session aggressively trying to hand off Taking the Lead on this to keldar, IMMEDIATELY had to step in and become Party Leader again [20:17] dice. [20:18] Ice King: Ha ha, Finn! You fell right into for my brilliant plan that I formed out of the thin air like a true Magi! [20:18] Finn: [Nonchalantly, walking away] I'm gonna re-open the hole. [20:18] Ice King: NO, WAIT, MY PLAN FELL APART! [20:18] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/ZmRxSLi.png [20:18] hello [20:18] Ice King: Ha ha, Finn! You fell right into for my brilliant plan that I formed out of the thin air like a true Magi! [20:18] Finn: [Nonchalantly, walking away] I'm gonna re-open the hole. [20:18] Ice King: NO, WAIT, MY PLAN FELL APART! [20:18] i owned myself, as is my Way [20:19] mud is going ot be a lot more malleable in the future 15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD> my favorite part was definitely the turtle chocobo [20:19] the turtle chocobo is cute [20:19] is the rider going ot be okay [20:19] even if he's like a half turtle man [20:19] from now on [20:19] <@Ferrinus> actually i thought mud was entirely agreeable tom [20:20] yeah but im doing the thing where i own myself and get frustrated [20:20] instead of just rolling with it [20:20] meshing characters in, etc 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> mud was fnie, but tom felt sort of out place during both the planning and the actual plan [20:20] yeah 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> http://shrines.rpgclassics.com/genesis/sitd/images/monsters/ostrik.gif turtle chocobo [20:20] i have a hard time diagnosing these issues other than just a growing frustration [20:21] but ive learned that its good to get a handle on them sooner rather than later [20:21] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/6WX59KA.jpg [20:22] <@Ferrinus> but yeah bbiab 14[20:28] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: mattbaby_) 15[20:32] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/RMQZD0k.jpg [20:33] gotta have both clauses [20:33] you come across some real jokers when you're telling sinister prophecies as a crow 14[20:37] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) [20:43] <@Ferrinus> http://paranatural.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/SUPERNORMAL4.jpg [20:44] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/nt2isQx.png [20:45] That man's gettin pissed on. [21:12] http://41.media.tumblr.com/361ab8aaa2ea796f1b74552a13c13eba/tumblr_nnqaemHIeu1sy2io9o1_500.jpg [22:09] are we maging or waht [22:11] <@Ferrinus> i don't think so 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> I think banana died 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> sadly [23:44] <@Ferrinus> http://fi.somethingawful.com/safs/titles/39/38/00193121.0002.gif [23:44] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/th2zQoy.jpg 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> my god [23:47] <@Ferrinus> http://mascherato.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/cortexsketch.gif?w=209 [23:52] <@Ferrinus> http://mascherato.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/crash-011.gif?w=239 nick 14[23:56] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[23:57] * Joins: tom2 Session Time: Sun May 03 00:00:00 2015 14[00:52] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[01:29] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[01:52] * Joins: ddt 14[02:01] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[02:04] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:34] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:39] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[03:49] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[04:13] * Joins: drinkybird 14[04:17] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[04:54] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[04:55] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[04:58] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[05:09] * banana|pan is now known as banana 14[05:23] * Quits: dammitwho 14[06:07] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[06:20] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[09:09] * Joins: drinkybird 09[09:09] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[09:12] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[10:04] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[10:10] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: mattbaby_) 14[11:01] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[11:04] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[11:04] * Joins: Crion_ 14[12:03] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[12:05] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[12:26] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 09[12:26] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[12:30] * Joins: ddt 15[12:35] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun May 03 12:35:41 2015 Session Start: Sun May 03 12:41:10 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[12:41] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[12:41] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[12:41] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[12:41] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[12:47] * Quits: Crion 09[12:47] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 15[13:02] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun May 03 13:02:37 2015 Session Start: Sun May 03 13:02:37 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 15[13:03] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[13:03] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[13:03] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[13:03] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 14[13:03] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by VoxPoxVD))) 09[13:03] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[13:03] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[13:08] * Joins: hrolfy 14[13:24] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:38] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[15:21] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[16:28] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[16:40] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[16:56] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[17:42] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 09[17:47] * tom2 is now known as tom 14[17:59] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[18:07] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:12] * Joins: Crion_ 14[18:19] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[18:58] * Joins: ddt 14[18:59] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[19:40] * Joins: ddt 14[19:48] * Joins: dammitwho 15[20:34] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun May 03 20:34:09 2015 Session Start: Sun May 03 20:34:09 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 15[20:35] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:35] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:35] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[20:35] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 14[20:36] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by VoxPoxVD))) 09[20:36] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[20:36] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[21:56] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[22:18] * Joins: trenchfoot [22:31] https://41.media.tumblr.com/eb4a77672e7ed85326e678c44f12ea11/tumblr_nnstm3t7Y31rtynt1o1_540.jpg 14[22:55] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[23:01] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[23:01] * Joins: ddt [23:17] https://40.media.tumblr.com/16efd475c2ac8609fec6dc390339db5c/tumblr_nnrzs9h3X71rtynt1o1_1280.jpg 14[23:20] * Joins: Quaker Session Time: Mon May 04 00:00:00 2015 14[00:09] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[00:10] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[00:20] * Quits: dammitwho 14[00:24] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:27] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[02:11] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[02:13] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[02:13] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[02:18] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[02:29] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:02] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[04:05] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[04:17] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:42] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[04:44] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[05:02] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[05:03] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[05:10] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[05:12] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[05:38] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[05:40] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[05:42] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[05:45] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[06:09] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[06:20] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[06:24] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[06:49] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[06:57] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[07:07] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[07:07] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[07:21] * Joins: drinkybird 14[07:23] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[07:24] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[07:26] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[07:55] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[07:59] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[09:46] * Joins: Crion 15[10:27] <@VoxPVoxD> http://img.offtopicbooks.com/images/02c996c0df960131.gif [12:11] https://41.media.tumblr.com/e5a66d3be2172f69e514ad5434c47cbf/tumblr_nnp7c2V6la1rgcqrbo2_540.png [12:12] argh that was the wrong one [12:12] https://36.media.tumblr.com/277fee890cbda166f2da00d994884b91/tumblr_nnp7c2V6la1rgcqrbo1_540.png [12:39] https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CEJ066VWMAAloEC.jpg:large 14[12:54] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:17] * Joins: ddt 09[13:49] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[13:59] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[14:04] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[14:04] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:08] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 15[14:10] * Disconnected Session Close: Mon May 04 14:10:39 2015 Session Start: Mon May 04 15:29:17 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[15:29] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[15:29] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[15:29] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[15:29] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 09[15:46] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:12] * Joins: ddt 14[16:40] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 04[16:42] <@Ferrinus> <@VoxPVoxD> http://img.offtopicbooks.com/images/02c996c0df960131.gif [17:16] ur girlfriend @castinemachine [17:16] I've probably cried in more restaurants than you've ever even eaten in [17:16] anna [17:19] tears belong behind closed doors, not in public [17:19] clearly she was invisible at the time [17:22] @BenBadler [17:22] Angels are calling up catcher Carlos Perez. Always liked him as a sleeper. Also like his younger brother, White Sox catcher Carlos Perez. [17:22] whoops [17:23] clearly, that's for orangegame 14[18:20] * Quits: tom (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[19:37] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:52] * Joins: tom 14[19:58] * Joins: mugobbles 15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "14I heard she quit music for, like, the stock market." 15[20:03] <@VoxPVoxD> The Sourballs don't typically do an acoustic set. 15[20:06] <@VoxPVoxD> But here they are, tonight. Their singer's sick, or something. The club is small and intimdate, more room to sit and drink than to dance. Booths and tables ring the room, and most of them are occupied. 15[20:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Where is Anna sitting tonight? [20:09] 6She started towards the back - last time she sat any closer at a Sourballs show she was deaf half the next day - but moved up a little closer the first time she heard Turpentine on the mic. Yeesh, not her day. She's only a little ways in from the edge of the crowd, but she can hear fine now. 15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD> The next song starts up. Anna feels a presence behind her, beside her- she's not alone at the table now. 15[20:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She's not from around here. The accent gives her away. It speaks of somewhere else, somewhere distant and cold. "Lucky me. I forgot my earplugs anyway." 09[20:14] * banana|peels is now known as banana [20:18] 6She'll glance over, keeping an eye on the band. Foxy Monoxide's having a great time up there, like usual, but everyone else looks rough as hell. "Me too. Didn't think I'd make the same mistake, but..." 15[20:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She's dressed well, in nondescript clothes that must have cost somebody a lot of money. Her hair is straight and brown, as is her gaze. She looks at Anna with utter serenity and Anna can feel the monster curling inside her, a peer to Anna's own. "Kirsi." 05[20:25] 6Kirsi's tablemate is dressed like someone picked through every thrift store bargain bin in the world just for this purpose. To be seen in public. "Anna. You're from out of town, too." 6Solidarity, in more ways than one. 11[20:28] * Disconnected Session Close: Mon May 04 20:28:42 2015 Session Start: Mon May 04 20:28:42 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[20:29] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:29] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:29] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[20:29] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 14[20:29] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by VoxPoxVD))) 09[20:29] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[20:29] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi's got a drink in her hand, the condensation running down the glass to collect on her fingertips. She plainly hasn't taken a sip. "I flew into Vancouver, which was close enough that I'd feel like a jackass if I missed the chance to hear them live. You?" [20:39] 6Anna: "Probably not gonna be out this way again for a long time, and I couldn't pass up one last show before I head east." 6She's got a similarly untouched glass of water on the table. "I should've flown, though, driving from Seattle was a mistake." 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "You're American?" 10The barest note of incredulity. [20:45] 6Anna: "Probably, yeah. I can't recall any HIGH treason, so yes, definitely." 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "Are you armed?" [20:47] 6She sighs theatrically. "No, Canada has circumvented our God-given right to bear arms by refusing to acknowledge the Lord. I have pamphlets if you're interested." 09[20:49] * banana is now known as banana|split 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mmm." 10Kirsi's watching the band set up for the next song. Arsenic is having some kind of tuning problem. "I'm curious what brought you as far out as Seattle before you head east." [20:54] 6Anna: "A friend needed to get back. Picked him up outside of Denver, and hey, it's not like we've got a schedule to keep." 6Other than the obvious one. "California's not so far away anyway. Only, like... 24 hours of driving. Not so bad." 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Is that where you're from originally?" [21:01] 6Anna: "Yeah, down near San Diego. Always did have too much sun for my taste, so I spent some time in New York too, but I guess I'm California all the way through. How about you?" 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Do you know Sørøya?" [21:14] 6Anna: "Yeah, a bit." 6There's a brief pause as she tries to avoid asking a Dumb American Question. "I mean, from a distance. I remember the nationalization vote on TV." 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The curvature of Kirsi's lips inclines ever so slightly. She's practiced this in a mirror, the millimeter smile. Gently: "I remember that. It was right before I died." 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "I got to vote." 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Voted absentee anyway." 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Night work." [21:24] 6Anna: "Isn't everything night work up there half the year?" [21:25] "Unless..." 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi's eyebrows rise just a bit. 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yes...?" [21:30] 6Anna: "I refuse to draw a conclusion. Or even a stick figure." 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Like that webcomic Max and Adrian are always joking about. Her voice comes in under the music. "I saw you. You're the only other one in the room tonight. These shows are better when you aren't alone." 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10After a pause: "I've been accused of having a thing for blondes." [21:44] 6Anna: "People are generally assumed to like fun, which I'm told is my birthright. Also, seriously? I'm gonna have to evangelize the Sourballs or something." [21:44] 6She's only slightly red. 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Maybe it's the acoustic thing. That's not typically what you come to a Sourballs show for." 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "Not us, though." [21:48] 6Anna: "Maybe it's cowardice and bad taste." [21:48] "Just throwing that out there." 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "You read my mind." 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "You couldn't have brought friends?" 14[22:01] * Quits: trenchfoot (Quit: Leaving) 14[22:02] * Joins: trenchfoot [22:05] 6Anna: "I tried! She decided her sister was more important, which only sounds bitter if you haven't met her sister. Alisa would've loved this, though." 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "No shit." 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "Not- not the-" [22:06] 6Anna: "What?" 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10An urgent whisper: "The Unholy!" [22:07] 6Anna: "It's... super complicated. But yes, and also not really, but also yeah exactly." 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "What's she like?" [22:09] 6Anna: "Have you ever been the designated driver?" 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "You have no idea." [22:12] 6Anna: "It's like that, except she keeps rediscovering things she used to be able to do. Don't go to Vegas. Also her sister is completely sober and also murderous. Don't go to Flagstaff either." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "But she's fun the rest of the time, right?" 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "Otherwise why would you hitch your car to that crazy train." [22:15] 6Anna: "She's fucking amazing. Also, nobody bothers the cars hitched to the crazy train. Too busy being like, 'dang that train is super crazy,' I guess." 14[22:17] * Joins: mattbaby_ 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Now, see, this what a crush sounds like. You hear that, Cass? "So it's just the two of you?" [22:19] 6Cass is, as ever, permanently deaf to matters of romance. Anna: "Nah, we collected a failed stage magician, a teen wolf, and a Catholic priest." 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Nice act. What do you call it?" [22:20] "The Aristocrats." 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Do you have costumes? Does the teen wolf have a leather jacket covered in studs?" 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "If not, why not?" [22:26] 6Anna: "He rips his shirts too much because of the anti-stretch bias inherent in clothing. Also, I bet he'd prefer denim." 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Has he never read The Outsiders? I don't know how you'd be expected to go through monster puberty without that." 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "At least tell me you call him Ponyboy." [22:27] 6Anna: "I don't even know if he can read, honestly. Also, I do now." 14[22:30] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: mattbaby_) 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi's smile can be measured in centimeters now. "But what gets a group like that together, going from California to Seattle by way of the whole west coast?" [22:38] 6Anna's smiling wistfully, on her part. "We all got thrown out of town, together. Well, the priest left voluntarily, in a different town, but that was its own thing." 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "So the Unholy, a teen wolf, a failed magician, and you. Picked up a priest." 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "Did he lose a bet?" [22:44] 6Anna: "Everyone else in town did." 6She's serious. "Remember when I said Alisa decided her sister was more important? Flagstaff's why I know she's not bullshitting me." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "...so why are you still together?" [22:48] 6Anna: "If I had a lawyer they would tell me not to talk about this." 14[22:49] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "It's just us here." [22:53] 6Anna: "Are you a cop? You have to tell me you if you are." 09[22:53] * banana|split is now known as banana 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "I am Eaten. I am an Untamed Master. I am the newest link in a dynasty that reaches back to Rome, to hear my sire tell it. I am not a cop." 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "...why, are you holding?" 11[22:58] * Disconnected Session Close: Mon May 04 22:58:56 2015 Session Start: Mon May 04 22:58:56 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[22:59] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[22:59] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[22:59] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[22:59] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 14[22:59] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by VoxPoxVD))) 09[22:59] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[22:59] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD [23:05] 7Alisa strides back from the bar and claps Anna roughly on the back. "So how come they're doin' an acoustic set, anyway? This some kind of reverse-Dylan or-- whassat? Who's holding?" [23:05] 6Anna: "Man, you went way farther than I did. Honestly, I think it's - aside from safety, now that we all have reputations - it's that... I feel responsible for them. I don't want them inflicted on the world." [23:05] "Uh, hey Alisa." [23:05] 6Please, God, tell me she didn't hear that. 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To her credit, Kirsi Solovyeva has a flawless poker face. She learned from the best. "It's nice to meet you. Won't you join us?" [23:07] 7Alisa: "Heya. Have we met? Serious question, memory's not what it used to be." 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "We haven't. I've heard of you, though. Kirsi Solovyeva." 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "I understand you met Wolfgang." [23:09] "Oh yeah, that guy." 7She sips her beer thoughtfully. "Kind of a dick." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "You have no idea." 05[23:10] 6Anna: "THE...?" 6She's kind of goggling at Alisa and Kirsi. 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "Night work," 10Kirsi repeats for Anna's benefit. [23:10] 6Boggling? Is the word boggling? Definitely not ogling. 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10;-) [23:11] 6Anna whistles, low. "Jeeeeesus." [23:12] "Incredibly cool tats, though. So what brings Vati Nachtbettler's, uh, up this way anyhow?" 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "I'm on vacation with my sire. We've never taken a trip off the continent before and there was this music festival. I'm meeting her down there in a couple days." [23:14] 7Alisa slams her hand on the table. "FINALLY!" 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi leans back a bit. "I'm sorry?" [23:15] 6Anna: "Finally what? What's even..." 6Anna is hopelessly lost. [23:15] "Anna keeps putting me off and it's driving me nuts." 05[23:15] 7She fixes Kirsi with a level stare. "What is the Lilith Fair?" 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10For the briefest moment - the briefest possible moment - Kirsi looks as if she just stepped on a rake. 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "Um, well. How much do you know?" 05[23:16] 6Anna looks at Alisa, then Kirsi (apologetically), and then down into her hands, which are suddenly the most comfortable things man has ever known. [23:18] 7Alisa: "I know... the name." [23:18] 6Anna, mouthing: I want to die. 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Do you know the name Sarah McLachlan?" [23:20] 6Anna: "Do you remember the dogs you got really sad about on the hotel's TV?" [23:20] "That's her." 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A few bars in an airy little alto. "I will remember you... will you remember me...? don't let your liiife pass you by... weep not for the memories..." [23:20] 7Alisa: "Yeah, I remember that." 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Okay, well, in the late 90s - the 1990s, sorry, I don't want to disrespect the extracentenary among us - Sarah McLachlan put together a touring music festival with some executives and an agent. And the idea was, it'd be a festival for women's music. Women solo artists, bands fronted by women." 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi's thinking, well, this can't be as bad as being murdered by the literal Unholy. She's thinking that for now. [23:24] 6Anna: "It's totally allowed now, you can do that." [23:25] "Nobody tries to burn you at the stake or anything." [23:25] 7Alisa, hesitantly: "And that's... all it is?" 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Firmly: "Yes." [23:26] 6Weakly: "No." 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Anna?" 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Care to elaborate?" [23:30] 6Still weakly: "I can't do it." [23:30] "I did this to myself." [23:31] 7Alisa: "Oh my god, you guys." [23:31] "If it's a lesbian nexus you can just say." 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi didn't even know she was holding that breath in. [23:31] "That stuff's okay now!" [23:35] 7She sips her beer again. "Isn't it amazing?" [23:36] 6There was an Anna here. She's gone now. 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Oh, motherfucker." [23:37] Alisa: "Ugh. She's still sitting here, you know. She thinks I don't realize, like she's so great just because she hasn't killed anybody yet." [23:37] 7Alisa: "Ugh. She's still sitting here, you know. She thinks I don't realize, like she's so great just because she hasn't killed anybody yet." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Nothing like a coward who thinks you're stupid." 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi's face hasn't changed, but her voice has. She sounds... very specifically Russian, now. [23:38] 6Pouting unseen doesn't actually force the end of the thing you pout about. Eventually, that will register internally. Today is not that day. [23:39] 6Anna's there again. When did she get back? Weird. "It's gotten me this far." 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "No it hasn't." 05[23:40] 7Alisa: "Kirsi's right. You've got a spine now, and crazy magical powers." 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "And friends to do your dirty work." 14[23:43] * Joins: ddt [23:44] 7Alisa: "That's what a friend is." 05[23:45] 6Anna: "Uh." 6Anna's trying to examine Alisa, Kirsi, and her surroundings. "I -- am...?" 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Are you?" [23:48] 6Anna: "Are we speaking in intelligible words, or are you my subconscious made manifest?" 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi looks at Alisa here. 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's a 'what gives' kind of expression. [23:50] "I literally can't tell anymore, sorry. I think judging that you look disappointed and confused, that I'm still completely sane, in which case I have no excuse." [23:50] 7Alisa: "She has a thing where she can actually do that." 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Is that how she made the squad?" [23:51] 6Anna: "If you were my subconscious I could lie to you and tell you that there was a really good reason, but that's sort of off the table now." [23:51] 7Alisa: "Nah, that happened later. I don't choose my hangouts like that." 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Before or after the priest lost his bet?" 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "Help me construct a timeline here." [23:53] 7Alisa looks confused. "Bet?" [23:54] 6Anna: "Before. My crime was confiding in my then-boyfriend." [23:55] 6Anna: "Alisa's was 'being the Unholy,' and Reuben's was 'being Reuben Cosmos.' Then we met Nick on our way out of town, who had just discovered that he was a wolf monster." [23:56] 7Alisa: "Bad scene." 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "What a piece of shit, I assume." 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "Your then-boyfriend." [23:56] 6Anna: "Yeah. I got him back but good, though. If the piece of shit olympics is a thing he got the silver medal." [23:57] 6If Anna had alcohol instead of water she would be drinking it. Instead, she just looks wistfully at her drink and imagines what could have been. 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi's got a double vodka with half-melted ice. It looks distressingly similar to Anna's glass of water. Kirsi switches them. 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "Go on." Session Time: Tue May 05 00:00:00 2015 05[00:03] 6Anna watches the switch, then steals a sip. "The Embrace." 6She would be more cagey with Kirsi, but a) what is anyone going to do about anything Anna says, and b) Kirsi hasn't been wrong yet. "I did it. Even the Russian judge gave me the full ten." 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi, quietly. "Was he dying?" [00:03] 6Anna: "Yeah." 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "It wouldn't have been better to let him die." [00:04] 6Anna: "Yeah." 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "I mean." 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "You might have to kill him, at some point." 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "But it still wouldn't have been better to let him die." [00:05] 7Alisa: "See, this is the difference between Anna and me, right here." [00:05] 6Anna: "I think about that a lot." 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "What would you have done differently?" [00:06] "At the time? Not a damn thing. Being a vampire is" 7She closes her eyes and smiles. "wonderful." [00:07] "You seem like a smart gal. What do you know about human wizards?" 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi acknowledge Alisa's question, but her eyes are on Anna now. [00:10] 6Anna: "I think... I would have done the same god damn thing." 6There's a sigh. Atomic Domme is tuning, but no one else is talking. "But that's what I did, so of course I'd say that." 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "I think you're both right." 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Alisa: "I don't want to generalize." 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "But, every single human wizard is a smug, sneering, snivelling little shit who needs to explore the mysteries of the inside of a trash compactor." [00:14] 7She laughs. [00:14] 6Anna: "He was intimately familiar with the trash compactor of wizardry. Now, if you're cruel, he's experiencing that compactor forever, or if you aren't, it's my fault he's even there at all." [00:15] "Right." 7She hunkers over. "So here's a secret. This Embrace? Wasn't exactly an Embrace." 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's not your fault," 10says Kirsi, by way of illustrating her character. [00:15] 6Anna: "I mean, if we're getting raw here. Are we? Or did I just think too hard and pop something in my brain? 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "Go on." [00:15] "He's a new thing now. A two-headed calf, a stream running with blood, a loaf of bread full of locusts. And things aren't so bad for him, at least as they're not so bad for us." [00:16] "He's beautiful now." [00:16] 7Alisa: "I mean, he's still a total dork, don't get me wrong." 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "But a total dork as never devised by any human imagining." [00:17] 6Anna: "None of us asked for that." 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's not the kind of thing you ask for." 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's the kind of thing you stumble over." [00:17] 6She looks positively miserable now. Like someone who's realized they're too drunk and have said too much, except she's stone sober. [00:18] 6Shame, they call it. Or it might be guilt. Hard to know. 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Who cares? The only one that matters is whatever hurts the most. 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "So if you didn't do anything wrong. And you wouldn't do anything differently." 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "...what are you so miserable about?" [00:20] 7She looks at Anna in a vaguely maternal, vaguely drunk way. "I can't imagine feeling bad about it, but that's because I can't imagine doing anything else, living any other way. I don't 'get' you, Anna. I'm so glad we're friends." [00:22] 6Anna, talking over Alisa: "It was wrong, though. I made it the least wrong it could be, I think, but... I kept the circle." [00:22] 6And to Aisa, she says: "Me too." [00:23] 6That should read "Alisa." Because spelling is hard. 05[00:28] "But enough about me, she said lyingly." 7Alisa looks at Kirsi with a grin. "What kind of sire cares about a music festival enough to fly her childe all the way out from Russia or wherever?" 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi looks from Anna to Alisa. The Sourballs are coming up on their last song of the night. "The best sire in the entire world, is who." [00:37] 7Alisa: "Awww. That's so sweet! Does she know you say that?" 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "I've learned to always act as if she's spying on me." [00:37] 6Anna: "Blink twice if it wasn't true." 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi doesn't blink. [00:38] 6Anna: "Nice." [00:42] 7Alisa: "Met a guy who tried to spy on everyone. He was a wizard, though." [00:43] "Goofiest damn thing. He ran a hospital, right? So there are security cameras. But if you looked, you could also find like hidden microphones and secret cameras." [00:44] "In the covert wizard hospital where he could just put all the bugs out in the open if he wanted." 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "As like, a gag?" [00:48] 7Alisa: "Nope. I think it was supposed to be scary." 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Did he just assume nobody else has ever seen The Prisoner?" [00:52] 7Alisa: "I don't know! It's extremely stupid. Wizards." 05[00:52] "So how you come up, Kirsi? Dragon? Acolyte? Invictus?" 15[00:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "My sire's blood runs as blue as it comes. I'm a Dragon by training." [00:54] 7Alisa: "Bet that didn't go over well." 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Oh, you'd be surprised. Sarah doesn't care what I do as long as I'm the best at it." 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "And I am." [00:58] 7Alisa stares gloomily at Turpentine whisper-screaming at a bartender. "I don't understand anything anymore." [00:59] "Bluebloods letting their kids grow up to be whatever? What's the world coming to?" 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "They're about done. You know I wrote a song about her? About her and me. I'm going to make them let me play it when the Sourballs are done." [01:01] 7Alisa: "For real?" 15[01:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "I don't fuck around, your unholiness." [01:04] 7Alisa: "That's really something. Are you gonna let her hear it or is it a kind of thing where you can only play it because she isn't here?" 15[01:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "I need to hear how it sounds in a room she's not in first." [01:11] "What's it like?" 15[01:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "It's a little Lilith Fair." 15[01:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's about... being unflappable. It's about being relentless. It's about the undying love for the struggle." 15[01:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "God." 15[01:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "I love her so much." [01:20] 7Alisa: "Damn. Never heard a childe talk like that before." 7She has, among the Blood Bound. Impolite to say so. 15[01:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "I know what you're thinking." 15[01:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "It isn't." [01:23] 7Alisa: "Hmm?" 15[01:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm bound to him." 14[01:23] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [01:23] "Holy shit." [01:23] 7Alisa: "... what a dick." 15[01:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "For real." 15[01:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi claps as the Sourballs finish their encore and Turpentine wheezes her way offstage. [01:25] 7Alisa: "Okay, so I'mma probably get way too personal here, and I don't mean anything by it, but... what was that like? Ol' Nachtsbettler didn't say much about it one way or another. What's it like growing up that way?" 15[01:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi's silent for a little bit as the band unpacks. "There were good nights and bad nights." [01:29] 7Alisa: "Huh. Isn't that always the way." 15[01:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "Some nights he was fine. He's like a little kid, you know? He just does whatever he wants if he thinks he can get away with it. And sometimes what he wants is to push himself down the hallway in the Marina on an office chair with a fire extinguisher. Sometimes he wants to watch every Wrestlemania from 1987 to 1993." 15[01:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "Some nights he was what they say he is. What they remember." 05[01:32] 7Alisa's turned her head away from Kirsi, nervously scratching her jaw. Kirsi's enhanced hearing can pick up the scraping noise like tiny blades over her skin. 15[01:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Some times he wasn't a person at all. Sometimes he's a cosmic principle. An idiom. A timeless and illimitable thing." 15[01:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi shrugs. "You know how it goes. Some nights you get Macho Man Randy Savage. Some nights you get the Baba Yaga." [01:36] 7Alisa: "No." 15[01:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "?" [01:37] "He's a terrible thing, and to hear parts of me described as parts of him hurts in a way I guess I deserve. But we're neither of us the Baba Yaga." [01:39] 7Alisa: "You know she makes everyone call her Baba, even the ones older than her? They do it, too." 15[01:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi looks down. [01:42] 7Alisa: "Ugh. Sorry. This isn't a contest." 15[01:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "I thought that was just something they said about you." 15[01:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "Like how you were a secret Bride of Dracula." 15[01:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm sorry." [01:44] 7Alisa: "Well, I never did the Coils or whatever you call 'em. Me and Mara and Annie and Lizzie are great friends, though. So that part's true." 15[01:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "What are they like?" [01:47] 7Alisa: "They're pretty much how you think. Annie's the scariest." 15[01:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Really?" [01:50] 7Alisa: "For sure. She's really nice. Like, genuinely so. Mara gets mad about it sometimes." 15[02:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Is that what makes her scary?" [02:02] 7Alisa: "Not just that. Some of it I don't want to go into. But mostly, yeah." 15[02:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Is the idea that someone could live as long as she does, and keep her heart, so terrifying?" 14[02:04] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [02:05] 7Alisa winces. "It's not exactly-- like, I make fun of Anna for not having killed anyone. But there's power there, respect. It may not mean much now but you just come back in two hundred years time." 15[02:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "What else is it about her that scares you?" 15[02:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Come on. Nobody's going to believe me, even if I tell." [02:09] 7Alisa grumbles for a bit. [02:09] 7Alisa: "Ugh. I used this analogy at a fuckin' dinner speech, might as well use it again." [02:09] "What's the saddest thing at a college party?" 15[02:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "The 28 year old." [02:10] 7Alisa: "Bingo." [02:11] "I'm five hundred years old, give or take." 7She waves her beer around to take in the crowd, the brooding Sourballs. "When I was young enough for all this the parties I was going to were celebrating the coronation of the first Tsar of all the Russias." [02:12] "Now, I like 'em! I really do. I try not to stick out too much, I try to keep up with the times. It helps that I love new things. I went to sleep for forty years and when I wake up whole new music and movie and tv traditions have been born and died." [02:12] "That's great! I love it! But it's not the same thing as belonging here." 15[02:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "There's a distance time imposes that no amount of love can cross." [02:15] 7Alisa: "But Annie? She could show up and it would be like she's a kid working at a guitar repair place and blowing her paycheck on a bottle and a landlord because fuck college, am I right?" [02:15] "Five hundred years and she hasn't aged a day." 14[02:16] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 15[02:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "You know what, though?" 15[02:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Good." 15[02:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Cause if there's one thing I can't stand." 15[02:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "One thing I hate more than anything." 15[02:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's someone telling me - telling us, telling themselves - that there's something we can't do." 15[02:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "Fuck anyone who says that. Anyone who says that just gave up already." 14[02:20] * Quits: mugobbles 15[02:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi stands up. "If you'll excuse me for a minute, I'm playing my song." 15[02:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She gets the stage manager's attention. Nobody hears what she says. He looks dubious until she snaps her fingers in front of her face. His eyes meet hers, and he sways in place like a snake as she speaks very slowly. 15[02:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then she sits down at the little piano at the back of the stage, and unfolds something from inside her jacket, smoothing it out on the sheet music stand. 15[02:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A few tentative notes to check for tune. A scale to warm her voice up. 15[02:23] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTbQg-9tjNM 14[02:30] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:30] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[02:55] * Quits: dammitwhoaaa 14[03:07] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[03:08] * Joins: ddt 14[03:19] * Joins: dammitwho 14[04:32] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[05:10] * Quits: dammitwho 14[06:20] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[06:40] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[07:54] * Joins: Quaker 14[08:06] * Joins: Crion 14[08:10] * Joins: mugobbles 14[08:11] * Quits: tom [08:20] - [08:20] - [08:20] - [08:20] - [08:20] - [08:20] - [08:26] You can't live your childrens' lives for them, or make important decisions for them, or make them do anything at all, really. You can only give them two decades of love and guidance before you set them loose into the world and hope they make better choices than you did. You can hope that when they wake up the next night, after they've spent a night breaking the laws of professionalism, or in the middle of a moral and [08:26] spiritual breakdown, they know what to do, or where to go. At the very least, they should know to check their phones. [08:26] There's messages for both Cav and Maja. [08:27] Clarabelle: [08:27] 4Cav rolls over gently and grabs his phone off the nightstand. He's been awake, but still, for awhile. [08:28] Rosa: [08:30] Buchanan: There's something titled 11/4/14initialfindings.pdf attached. [08:32] 4He'll slip out into the hall and downstairs to the kitchen, quietly, to tap away at his phone. 15[08:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie hits his alarm ten minutes after it starts going. "Ugh." 15[08:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Fuck. Whatever." 15[08:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "What the fuck ever." [08:33] 4To Rosa: 4He pauses a moment. [08:34] 4To Buchanan: [08:34] 3Maja feels Cav stir, and wakes up with a slight panic. Oh right. She did that, didn't she.  15[08:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Anything on his phone? He checks as he feeds Princess. If something's waiting for him it'll wait a little longer, once he's showered and shaved (he hadn't bothered shaving before but the gesture suddenly seems important to him now) and walked the dog. [08:34] 4Then he leans back against the kitchen island, closes his eyes, and sighs. [08:35] 4And smiles. [08:35] 4Then he grabs breakfast from the fridge. [08:35] 4Time to get started on the night. [08:36] Rosa: 08[08:37] Nobody has left Rollie any messages. [08:37] 4He'll grab an extra for Maja. No problem recalling that name, he notes with some small amount of detachment. Funny, how that part of the curse works. He'll slip back into the room holding two bloodpacks, and grab his pants from the floor while heading back to the bed. 15[08:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That's a relief. It means he's got a clear schedule as he adds the number Leisurely gave him to his phone. He doesn't toss the paper it's on, though. He runs it between his fingers after he waits to see if he gets a ring or a voicemail message from the Kogaion. [08:38] 4Quietly: "Hey. Morning." 4Evening. "Evening." [08:38] 3Maja sits up in Cav's bed. Huh, what the hell kind of fabric is this? She can't help but notice that just about everything in his place is ... WAY nicer than anything she has. [08:39] Clara: [08:39] 3Maja: "Oh! Such hospitality. Thank you, Clinton." 08[08:39] Rollie gets two rings, and then somebody picks up. "Yeah, Gilbright speaking." [08:40] 3Maja takes the bloodpack from Cav as she looks at her phone and takes a sip as she reads her text. [08:40] "I--" 4Phone buzzes. "Agh. Work. Sorry." [08:40] 4To Rosa: [08:40] "No, it's fine- me too." 15[08:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie tries not to sound glum on the phone. It mostly works, probably. Who knows. "Hey, this is, uh, Slave #13. I got directed to call you for some help. Is this a bad time?" [08:42] Rosa: [08:42] 3Maja doesn't necessarily regret what she's done here with Cav, but she is pretty sure this was a bad career move.  08[08:43] Rollie can hear the sound of paper being crumpled up, and in the background someone on an intercom is calling, "Number 90, your order's ready." "I'm a bit busy, Choi. What do you need?" [08:44] Clarabelle: [08:44] 4That's...good? Usually that's a wash at best, given the Invictus, but they seem to do things differently out here on the coast. Maybe the Prince's dread attention is not, in and of itself, a half-certain death sentence. 4Then again, they're still vampires. [08:46] 3Maja: 15[08:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I need a tutor. Leis couldn't make her shit make sense and we got really mad at each other and she gave me your number and kicked me out. It's a- sorry, it's just been a really shitty week. I don't want to vent. I can call back." [08:48] Clarabelle: [08:49] 3Maja sits back in bed, sippin' on her vampire Capri Sun, and for the first time since knowing Cav, thinks about the implications of her actions. [08:51] 3Maja: 3It's probably fine. This is fine. Perhaps even lovely. [08:51] 4Cav, meanwhile, mutters "Just a sec" 4to her and slips out of the room. He returns with his iPad, which he's using to open the .pdf Buchanan sent him, and sits down on the bed, just barely within arm's reach, absorbing himself in the report. He only glances over once, maybe twice. [08:52] Ruby mulls it over, without bothering to fill the silence. "I'm in the County for work, anyway. I could use a driver. You know how to drive?" 15[08:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah." 15[08:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It strikes Rollie as odd that Ruby doesn't know how to drive. But maybe she does and it's a prestige thing. Or maybe it's just some kind of hazing ritual. It's something to do, is the point here. "Should I meet you somewhere?" [08:54] 4He realizes, belatedly, that this is...probably not proper etiquette. But the only other person he slept with over the last five years would be on her bluetooth and cellphone almost immediately after they were done, so. Honestly, by that standard, he's been quite resolute in keeping work and sex separate. [08:54] 4Anyway. Real estate sales. [08:54] Ruby: "Give me your address, and I'll be there as soon as I can. You know how to work a - nevermind. I'll do that myself." [08:55] 3Maja tends to her emails as Cav tends to his business. Hah, it almost feels like they're grown-ups. It's funny how Maja had to die before she finally felt like one of those. [08:56] 4Cav, glancing up: "Do you want the shower first, or...?" 15[08:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie gives her his address. He's not sure if she's going to bring a car - he'd guess not, but again how would you know for sure here - but either way he's going to spend the time between when Ruby hangs up and when she arrives cleaning up. She's his boss, ultimately. [08:57] 3Maja smiles. "Sure! Do you have ... towels here?" [08:58] 3It's so nice to actally HAVE to shower for once. [08:58] 4Cav smiles back. "Yeah. Small closet to the right of the sink. There's an extra robe in there, too, on one of the hooks -- the blue one. [08:58] " [08:59] 4Then his nose is back in the deed transfers. [08:59] 4Has Buchanan annotated these at all? [08:59] 3Oh my god, he has robes. 15[08:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That's the Invictus difference. [09:00] Over the past ten years, Jerry Ness has served as the broker for about three dozen commercial real estate deals, in addition to his usual specialty of residential real estate. The names on the records are mostly the same, except for a few here and there. The bulk of his business has been in Irvine and Newport, and most of the properties have been sold to either The Irvine Company directly, or to companies that Buchanan ha [09:00] indicated are affiliates of the same. [09:00] 4Irvine. Bren. [09:00] 4No real surprise there. [09:01] 3Maja: "You are truly something else, Clinton." 3Maja steps into the bathroom, anticipating the softest, most luxuriuos water to tumble out of a golden shower head. [09:02] 4Gold-plating is a bit too gauche, but he had quite a large water heater installed and it works very well. [09:03] 4He had to test it in the downstairs guest bathroom when Shots padded inside covered in deer viscera. [09:04] The few exceptions, which come to half a dozen, are marked by Buchanan. Six buildings, spread all over the County, with two buyers between them. Four of the buildings were purchased by something called the "Guide Development Corporation", based out of Houston. The other buyer was a private individual, who bought two small offices in Yorba Linda, named Gregory White. [09:05] 4Hmm. Houston's a bit far away. He wonders if they have acknowledged, contracted private business with the Court -- and if they're really from Houston to begin with. [09:05] 4'Yorba Linda' is such a goddamn stupid name for a place. [09:06] 3Maja quite likes that name. It reminds her of her mother. [09:06] I've decided that Linda is Maja's mother's name [09:06] just to be contrarian 15[09:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Luckily, Rollie's car and living room are fairly neat, since he no longer has a backlog of takeout containers to contend with. It's amazing what dying does for your cleanliness. 15[09:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He frowns. This pipe needs cleaning. He'll do that when he gets home. [09:10] 3She looks around for a bottle of shampoo. Perhaps its a bit much to expect such a detail from somehow who no longer secretes oils, but it's an important part of the ritual for Maja. 08[09:10] As it turns out, Ruby does drive, though her car isn't red. It's a mid-aughts Honda sedan, tan with tinted windows. When she pulls up, the elegant dress Rollie last saw her in has been replaced with jeans and a green padded jacket. She's not wearing her glasses, either. Is he waiting outside, or does she have to knock? [09:10] 4It's there. [09:11] 3Maja grabs the bottle, smirking. This fucking guy. 15[09:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's waiting outside, in the same sort of incongruous business casual he wore to deputy work last night. Shaving, dressing nice, keeping neat - these things are suddenly very important to him for some reason. "Hey." [09:12] 4There's toiletries clearly for Cav -- seldom used -- and then some unopened women's toiletries: Dove skin moisturizer, a Vidal Sassoon shampoo and conditioner pair, one of those dainty bathscrubber things. [09:13] 4It might be best, perhaps, at this early date, not to ask whose brands those might be. [09:14] The Kogaion tosses her keys underhand in his general direction. "Choi. You have a gun?" 15[09:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie catches the keys without any particular grace. "Yeah. You want me to get it?" [09:16] Ruby runs a thumb through her short hair. "Is it traceable back to you? Serial numbers still on it, records, that sort of thing?" [09:16] 3Very softly singing to herself as she wraps up her shower, Maja feels a sense of lightness. It's really nice to be able to go home with a man and actually do the thing that you both think you're going to do. Usually, she's going home with a man to trick him into drinking his blood. 15[09:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "No." 10He's not like a criminal mastermind or anything, but he's seen enough movies to have known to specify this when he got a gun, which the guy he originally partnered with for his grow-op insisted he'd want. He was a crazy old bastard, who retired to Denver at the beginning of the year. [09:18] 3Maja waltzes out of the bathroom in her robe. Such a fancy lady. She feels SO fancy. [09:19] 4Cav looks up as she re-enters the room, and keeps looking at her maybe a couple seconds longer than necessary, before setting down the tablet and heading in to take his turn. "Find everything alright?" 4he asks over his shoulder. [09:20] Ruby nods. "Good. Get in. We have a lot of stops to make." She circles over to the passenger side, and opens the door. [09:20] 3Maja: "Yes, it was all very intuitive. You did a very good job of putting the items in their appropriate spots, Clinton." [09:21] 4That gets a nervous laugh. He's not sure how patronizing she meant that to be. 15[09:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie has to duck back in to get his gun, assuming that's what Ruby meant. But then once he's got it waistbanded he'll get in the car and drive. She's only waiting like 30 more seconds. [09:22] 4Whatever. Shower. [09:22] 3She channeled her very best kindgarten teacher voice for that. [09:22] 4Sigh. 15[09:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Once they're off: "Where are we headed?" [09:24] 3Maja notices that that joke made Cav a bit uncomfortable. She's not sure what to make of it, but she's decided not to completely abandon that line of teasing yet. 08[09:26] Ruby doesn't bother putting her seatbelt on, and she spends a few minutes turned around and leaning into the back seats, rummaging around in a big backpack. It's not a very big car. Up close, Rollie can tell that she seems…well, more alive than he might be used to. She's Blushing, except somehow she's done it so well that her hair and skin and scent all seem vital. Sometimes it can feel a bit painted on. 15[09:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's nice. He won't admit to himself that one of the main things he misses about Trubee crashing at his place is how nice it was to have someone alive-smelling around. He won't admit it because it's incredibly creepy. [09:28] She settles back into the seat with an armful of maps, the kind with the looping, squiggly lines overlaid on elevation relief drawings. Topographical, he might remember. In her other hand she's got a battered old military compass, bulky and painted olive. "Irvine, first." [09:29] 4He'll finish his shower quickly and towel off, then grab his own -- black -- robe from its hook. [09:29] 3Of course it's black. Of course. [09:30] 4The real surprise should have been that her's wasn't white. 15[09:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie goes. "So out of curiosity, what's your, like, legal job? I'm a Deputy of the Territory, right. Do you have a Court job too?" [09:31] 4He'll beeline to the walk-in closet and get into a fresh pair of slacks, at least. Then he'll start gathering last night's suit from the floor and either hampering or hanging up its constituent pieces. [09:32] 3Maja's not quite sure how long she should stick around. She doesn't WANT to leave yet, but she's doesn't want to over-stay her welcome. She begins collecting her stuff, looking for cues from Cav. [09:35] Ruby fiddles with the radio, until she gives up and hits the CD button. Here I stand, foot in hand, talking to my wall, I'm not right at all, am I? "I think I'm on the Architect's payroll as a…some kind of underling. That's the cover story. A gopher for some baron." She spreads the map open on her lap, running her finger down the paper until she finds the point she wants. "Of course, I'm really a gopher for the Ordo, [09:35] instead." [09:38] "Maja." 4He gets familiar with the name as he leans back against his armoire, still mucking with his belt. "I don't want to seem like I'm kicking you out...but I just got a text from the Seneschal, and I think I need to get to work." [09:41] 3Maja DOES feel a little kicked out, but it's fine. "No worries, I'm supposed to chat with the bishop today for some reason. I get the impression it's about y'all." [09:41] "You are going to be nothing but trouble for me, aren't you, Clinton?" 15[09:41] <@VoxPVoxD> + 15[09:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Do you do a lot of stuff that makes you wish you had a gun?" [09:43] "You're only in trouble if you get caught." 4A tight smile. "Learned that from a Disney movie." [09:44] 4Iiiii'm in trouble. [09:45] 3Maja hesitates for a moment before responding to that. "Speaking of that- we uh ... we're not telling anyone about this, right? Because I'm not sure that what I've done here is necessarily ... erm, within acceptable protocol." [09:47] 4The smile's a bit warmer this time. "I'm an exceptionally private man. This falls under that aegis." 08[09:47] Ruby hits the latch release on the glove box, and pulls out a sleek plastic automatic. She takes the magazine out, and holds it sideways so Rollie can see. The bullet on top looks weird. The brass casing is the right color, but instead of a copper-jacketed tip, it's silver, and very light in color, and there are tiny etchings in it. "I can handle regular people on my own. This is for everything else." 15[09:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie whistles. "I guess it's true about the People, then?" 15[09:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "With the silver." [09:48] 3Maja feels a sense of relief. "I don't normally like to keep secrets. Not my own anyway. Feels dirty. But on the other hand, it does feel kind of ... exciting?" [09:48] 4He begins tying his necktie. Skinny and black, of course. "If anyone asks what we did yesterday, I'll just glare at them and remind them therapy is covered by patient confidentiality." [09:48] 4Then grins. "It does, doesn't it?" [09:50] The Kogaion puts the magazine back in, and puts the gun back in the glovebox. "Well, it makes them think twice. Best to take advantage of their confusion and beat it while they're thinking about how to kill you and not get shot." She goes back to her map, and then she leans forward, peering at the traffic signs. "Get on the 5." [09:52] 3She finishes fiddling with her hair as she returns his grin. "I'm not sure if it would be better for me to officially distance myself from you as my 'client' here. I suspect our asses would be better covered if we pretended like we hardly even interacted in that capacity. Which is true." [09:52] "What'd it take us, 5 minutes to figure out we weren't doing 'therapy?'" [09:53] 4Cav selects a jacket. "Sounds about right." 15[09:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie gets on the 5. "I never... like I didn't actually intend to shoot anybody. I still haven't, technically." 15[09:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's not sure how apparent his mood is. He's trying to keep a game face, though. This isn't the time for that. 15[09:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10There isn't a time for that. [09:55] "Right, it's like the five second rule, but for sex. It's fine. We're fine." [09:55] 3Maja is proud of her extremely clever joke. [09:55] 4Cavanaugh kind of chortles into his closet, but recovers admirably. [09:56] Ruby circles a spot on the map with a pen. "The thing about a secret society is that if you start killing people in its name, it can't remain very secret, can it?" It's not until they're driving through the strawberry fields that she gives him more directions. "That offramp right there." She directs them onto a dirt access road, passing through an open chain-link gate. [09:57] 4Okay, it's time to head out. He'll walk Maja to the door. 15[09:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah. Where'd you spend Halloween?" [09:57] 4Neither Honey nor Shots seem to be around at the moment; he wonders if they're just out hunting, or if they're sizing up this new interloper. 15[10:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's game face isn't as good as he'd like. This kid's a wreck. Leisurely turned him away. He's not cut out for intensive study and he doesn't have the assassin's eye. He's depressed, he's lost, he's reaching out for any kind of structure he can find. Above all, beyond all... he's lonely. He doesn't wear loneliness well. He's never had to before. [10:01] 4When they're out front, Cavanaugh once again remarks to himself how pretty she is, and that he's really, REALLY got to return Santiago's fucking truck. [10:01] "Holed up in the basement of the Bank Tower. Pull over here." It's a tiny one-lane road running through the fields. The rows of strawberries have all been covered up with reflective plastic sheets, all shining in the full moon. In the moonlight, it feels like they're standing next to dozens of huge pools of water. Ruby gets out, taking her maps and compass. [10:01] 3Maja suddenly becomes very self-conscious of her crappy little car sitting in the driveway. It feels like a harsh juxtaposition against the background of Cav's mansion. [10:01] 4This is getting ridiculous. 15[10:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie follows. [10:01] 3But then she looks over at what she thinks is Cav's crappy red truck and feels just a little more comfortable. [10:02] 3Maybe she's not TOTALLY out of place in his world. 15[10:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10No she totally is. [10:03] "So. Text me if you need anything. In the meeting with the Bishop, I mean. If it's about us." 4Pause. "'Us,' being the deputies. Not...us." [10:05] 3Thank god she doesn't blush anymore. "Ha. Yeah, I ... figured." [10:05] 3She hesistates a second, but then goes for it, "feel free to text ME about us, though." [10:06] 3She flips her hair as she climbs into her car and doesn't look back. [10:06] Ruby picks her way down the shallow embankment, careful to step between the sheets. "You know what a ley line is?" It's halfway through the field before she stops, looking northeast, and then southwest. "Here, hold this map up for me." She hands him one of the huge sheets of paper. At the very top, it reads "North Irvine Topopgraphical Map 2009 - University of California, Irvine, Geology Department." [10:06] "Yeah. Yeah, I'll do that." 4Does he go in for the kiss here or -- oh, no, there she goes. At least they didn't stand there awkwardly about it for another thirty seconds. [10:06] 4Okay. Enough fun. [10:06] 4Work. [10:07] 3Appropriately enough, Rob Thomas and Santana's song "Smooth" comes on the radio as she turns on her car. [10:08] 4He puts the Bluetooth back in his ear, grabs his briefcase from inside -- iPad, iPhone, and laptop -- and heads to the office. [10:09] 3She should PROBABLY get some new cassettes ... but from where? 15[10:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie thinks. 15[10:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He thinks too hard. The stars are calling him in many voices. 15[10:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "...and..." 15[10:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "...and through that cordage, threading with its call..." 15[10:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "...one arc synoptic of all tides below." 14[10:10] * Joins: ddt 15[10:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "The land bleeds too." [10:15] 4When he gets to the office, Cav's first order of business -- he's got to get her to start calling him Cav, or Cavanaugh, or literally any single thing besides Clinton -- is to check and see if he's gotten any interesting hits on the job posting he put up for an office manager. 08[10:16] If Ruby hears him slip into the river, she doesn't let on. She flips open the compass and holds it to her eye, peering at the northeast. She has to look several times, consulting the map that Rollie's holding up, jotting down notes in shorthand on a pad. When she's satisfied looking to the northeast, she does the same thing in the opposite direction, peering through the compass again. [10:16] 4Are Rush and Buchanan around? [10:17] They are, in the back of the office. Rush is sitting, Buchanan standing, as they go through a stack of printed documents, whispering. [10:19] 3Maja pops the address given to her from the email for the Bishop's office into her phone. The weight of her duties return as she thinks about meeting with him. Why did he want to talk with her? [10:20] Ruby snaps the compass shut. "Damn." More scribblings in the notepad. "You can put those down. Help me roll this back." She squats down, grabbing hold of the silver plastic tarp. 15[10:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wordlessly, Rollie helps. He's watching her hands as he does so. [10:26] Ruby puts her face next to the dirt, looking. She moves her finger across the ground, tracing something, brushing past the vines of the plants. It smells overwhelmingly of fresh soil and strawberry. "C'mere. Look." 15[10:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks. 15[10:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What is he seeing? [10:30] 3Google maps says this drive to St. Vincent de Paul church is about an hour and a half. That's about one full cassette's worth of driving. Maja rifles through her collection and pulls out the one titled 'Prom Pre-Game.' [10:32] He sees what her finger is on, when he looks down with her. The line is tiny, and you have to look for it, but it's there, where the vines are not. If you put your cheek to the soil, and look northeast or southwest, he can see the small depression in the dirt, parting the vines, each plant leaning away from it. And when he raises himself again, he can see the northeast terminal point: the great orange balloon hangs in the [10:32] air, illuminated by a spotlight. [10:32] 3"Hit Me Baby One More Time" starts crackling from the speakers and Maja settles in for the drive. [10:33] 4The ideal candidate for the job would be someone the two ghouls(?) would listen to, respect, but not perceive as a threat to their niche at work, nor as their 'boss,' so to speak. They'd also be efficient, intelligent, entirely unwilling to put up with bullshit and have a very strong sense of discretion. [10:33] 4The vampire thing...that would have to be an open secret, at most, for awhile. [10:37] There are plenty of hits for that posting. Most of them aren't what Cav would think of as 'interesting'. Or 'qualified.' Lots of former office managers from companies Cav has never heard of, in nondescript industries like biomedical and education. None of them are particularly distinguished. [10:38] Ruby raises herself to her knees and sighs. "It's starting to curve. A degree a month, I'd say." 15[10:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "The curvature of fury." [10:39] 4Well. Hiring's a long game. He'll keep the hook baited. [10:39] The Kogaion nods, distractedly, and checks her watch. "Come on. We have another of these to do, and then I'm expecting a thing in the city." 15[10:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie follows. [10:42] It's another hour before they reach their second destination, at the concrete banks of the Santa Ana River. [10:43] 3Maja's mind wanders off to memories of prom and her first boyfriend. Then to Cav. Then it meanders over to Clarabelle and she wonders what she would think of all this. Then her mind goes to the Bishop and what he could possibly want. Then back to Cav. Then to her sister. Then Cav. [10:43] Ruby pops the trunk, and comes back holding a pair of bolt cutters. "I want you to do this one." 15[10:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is Rollie cutting a fence open or what? [10:45] No, she is. With two quick snaps, the Kogaion makes a couple holes in the chain-link fence at the top of the bank and pulls it back for him to pass through. 15[10:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "A birth in steel." 10In he goes. [10:48] 4Cav glances as his phone as he clicks out of the last of the resumes, and resists the urge to text her. Can't look clingy. [10:48] 4He goes back over the deeds again. [10:50] When's the last time Maja went to Mass? [10:50] 3Chumbawamba comes on the radio and Maja's mind wanders back to the first time she did cocaine in college. She sings the songs that remind her of the good times, she sings the songs that remind her of the bad times. She sings the songs that remind her of the really, really fucking bad times. Maybe she should fast forward through this. [10:53] 3It's been a few days since she last went to Mass. Maybe she'll go after meeting with the Bishop. Hopefully Clarabelle is giving the sermon. [10:54] Santiago pokes his head into office and knocks on Cavanaugh's door. [10:56] Hopefully. St. Vincent de Paul church is nearly empty at this time of night. Too late for mortal mass, and too early for the other kind. The huge front door isn't locked, but it never is. Maja knows to head to the back, where they keep their offices. 15[10:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10So what are we looking at here? 08[10:59] Careful, the banks are sheer concrete, with no natural footholds. Ruby follows Rollie down, until they're standing by the channel filled with rushing water. "You know how to use a compass?" 15[10:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie, dully: "North. North. North. North." [11:00] 3Maja enters the building and looks around if there's anyone to receive her. [11:03] Ruby looks at him. "Hold the compass up to your eye, and look north for the big 'A' next to the baseball stadium." She points for him. "Then write down the degree relative to north." [11:06] The compass rises to his eye, but he doesn't need it to see. The bars of the prison curve and straighten all over the sky and on the ground, meeting on the horizon hardly anyone remembers. It's been too long, now. Who would still be around that could? 14[11:08] * Joins: autopsyturvey [11:08] Is he still alive? Do the towers still glitter? Are its worshippers scattered and sad? Yes, yes, and yes. [11:09] She knows the broad terms of the bargain. She doesn't know what it really means. Three do, but one is dead, one is inside, and the other would never speak. [11:10] "Deacon." Agh! Who's that behind h- oh, it's only Edward. 14[11:12] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [11:12] They're all like her, aren't they? At the very end, they're all like her. Every one. Who can challenge the divine order of things? [11:15] Oh, everything. Here's the divide, writ big and small. If they actually knew, would they even bother to bend their knee? They would find out who is right, after all. They're both right, though. Maybe they would just find out who is dead. 14[11:16] * Joins: hrolfy [11:18] Only that dead king's treasure can save Edgar, and reverse that nasty old curse. What phone? He doesn't know where or who, or any of this, since he didn't do any of it. The woman in the woods, sitting in the stream, was the one who called after Helena. He doesn't know what any of this means. [11:19] Ruby: "Choi. Hurry up." 15[11:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I-" 15[11:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "There-" 15[11:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Flesh and blood." 15[11:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "Bar and chain." 15[11:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "The king! The forgotten king!" 15[11:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "Freedom." 15[11:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He rubs his eyes with the heel of his uncompassed hand. "I..." 15[11:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "Fuck, man." 15[11:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "This shit is heavy." [11:21] The Kogaion picks up the compass where he dropped it. She turns it over in her hand, looking at the new dent. "Go wait in the car." 15[11:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Oh, man, I'm sorry." 15[11:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He goes to wait in the car, though. 15[11:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Fuck! 15[11:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He can't do anything right. [11:24] 4Cavanaugh: "Come in!" [11:25] "Oh. Evening, deputy. Need your truck back?" [11:26] Santiago holds up a keychain and shakes it. "You like Lexuses? Uh, Lexii…?" [11:26] 4Cav grins. "Do I." [11:27] 4He stands from behind his desk. "I've been thinking though -- might be smart to keep a...less expensive car on hand, for nights like Halloween." [11:29] The other deputy slides the keys across the desk. "You mean like the truck? Yeah. You know, you can buy mail fleet ones real cheap. If you don't mind looking like a delivery guy. Anyway, the Baroness says thanks. I parked it across the street. Paperwork's all done and everything except for some electronic signatures." [11:29] 4Cavanaugh: "Then I will take care of those right now. And you can tell the Baroness it was our pleasure." [11:30] 4Cav seems a bit less...moody than he was the previous night. It's probably nothing. [11:31] "Rush and Buchanan -- have you met Rush and Buchanan? -- have started running down Ness's transactions over the past couple years." [11:31] 4He hands his iPad, report open, to Santiago. "You might not be shocked to see they found a questionable sale or two." [11:32] The church is empty, except for the tall man next to her. The stone walls turn every spoken word into a whisper that carries up into the darkened celing. It's impossible to see where the vaults end, with just a few lamps burning. Ed Robin is wearing his collar. "Thanks for coming so quickly." [11:33] Santiago puts his hands on the desk and leans over to look. "He's selling to vampires, so aren't they all questionable…? Houston, huh. Don't know anybody from Houston." [11:34] 3Maja relaxes a little bit upon seeing Ed's familiar face.  "No problem. How are you doing, presbyter?" 15[11:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie can't go one night without going crazy. This shit is going to ruin him. He's got his hands on the wheel, gripping it tightly. He knows if he lets go he's going to call Leis, and he doesn't want to do that. Not now. 15[11:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She's seen enough of him like this. Too much, probably. 15[11:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10And god knows what Ruby's thinking right now. 15[11:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Fuck. [11:35] It takes Ruby just a few minutes to get all of her calculations and measurements. When she gets back to the car, she opens the rear passenger door and carefully puts the folded maps away in her bag. The bolt cutters go back in the trunk, and then she goes back in the passenger seat, writing on her notepad. [11:36] Ed smiles. It's always been reassuring, which is a good quality to have when you're the one who tells them they have to meet with the Bishop. "Busy. Always busy. You doing okay?" [11:37] "What's your problem, Choi?" Ruby doesn't look up from her shorthand. 15[11:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Sorry, you asked me about leylines and I sort of. It got me." 15[11:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you know what Malkavia is?" 15[11:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Gotta get this out sometime, right? [11:38] "Yes." 15[11:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Well. That's my problem." [11:39] "Yeah, I'm doing alright. Though I won't pretend I'm not just the tiniest bit nervous about meeting with the Bishop. Is everything okay?" 3Maja desperately scans Ed's face for any signals that, actually no, not everything is okay. [11:40] Ruby: "Malkavia makes you see things, Choi. It doesn't make you depressed or nervous." 15[11:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What are you talking about?" [11:42] Ruby clicks her pen away. "You called a total stranger and told her that your mentor was having problems with you, and then you spent the entire time tonight in a nervous funk, and then your condition went from dormant to active just now. Correct?" 15[11:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well, when you put it like that... "...yeah." [11:43] Ruby: "So Malkavia is one-third of that. And the last third." 15[11:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Look, I. I've had a rough week. I don't wanna dump shit on you." [11:45] Ed has always had a fine poker face. As it happens, it's just at its strongest when he's smiling and trying to reassure. "With you? Sure. With everything else? Bit of a mess. You should head back. I've got to make a phone call. Excuse me." [11:47] Santiago: "So who are the ones that aren't Bren?" He scrolls through the pdf with his finger. "Fucking Ness. He better hope these other buyers turn out clean." [11:47] 3Maja feels reassured. Sorta. "Alright. Good seeing you! I will probably run into you after, then. Perhaps at Mass?" [11:47] 4Cavanaugh: "A development company out of Houston -- probably a front -- definitely a front -- and some dude named Gregory White." [11:48] 4Cav: "Out of Linda Yorba. Yorba Linda. One of those two." [11:49] Ruby: "I'm not a great listener, Choi. I like to just…go at problems. We have people for this." 15[11:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "People?" 15[11:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She probably doesn't mean werewolves. [11:50] Ed nods. "Maybe. Some things are up in the air." When he walks away, he's dialing on his phone. [11:51] Ruby: "What exactly would you say you're struggling with? We have people you can speak with about…I don't know. Morals. Ethics. The fading sense of normalcy. What we do isn't easy. We understand psychology." [11:52] 3Maja can't help but take that as an ominus sign. As she walks back towards the Bishop's office, she prepares herself: maybe she'll be fine if she just makes sure to stay in front, or in back of him, or directly to either side. [11:52] Santiago puts his hands in his back pockets and rocks back in his work boots. "Huh. You said Rush, right? The short bald one with glasses?" 14[11:53] * Joins: mattbaby_ 15[11:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You're saying you want to send me to a shrink?" [11:54] 4Cavanaugh: "That's him." [11:54] 3As Maja approaches the Bishop's door, her nerves are about to jump out of her skin. She pauses for a few deep breaths before knocking on his door. [11:55] Ruby: "I don't care what you do with your time. If you want to see someone about this, it's available." She puts her notepad away. Her tone softens. "I know that it's not always easy to talk to your mentor about…this. You want to impress them. Or they just want you to focus on what's important." [11:56] The Bishop's door is already open a crack. "Come in," says a voice behind the door. Her knock has swung it open a few more milimeters. 15[11:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie thinks he hit the jackpot there, mentor-wise. He won't say that though. Instead he says, "Do you think it would help? I've never... this isn't a thing I really understand." 15[11:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "Any of it." 15[11:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "I understand being a vampire better than I understand psychology, and shit, man. I don't know a damn thing about being a vampire." [11:59] Santiago whistles. "Shit. Guy worked for Malloy, didn't he?" [12:00] Santiago: "Oh, you don't know who - right, old Haunt, up in Glendale. Really got into the whole Nosferatu thing. Like…not great at parties. Or anywhere else. Kind of a terror." [12:01] 4Good to know his blank stare is still on point. [12:01] 4Cavanaugh: "That sounds...unamusing." [12:02] 4Cav: "'Worked' -- past tense?" [12:03] Ruby opens her mouth to speak when her phone rings. "Hold on. Yeah, Gilbright speaking. Uh huh. Okay, we'll head on over. Thanks." She hangs up. "You have to keep your own mind clear, Choi. You're the object of study. If you go nuts, that's too much expertise wasted. Too much of the work down the drain." 14[12:04] * Joins: hrolf [12:04] 3Maja awkwardly pokes her head in first to survey the room, as if she had a choice not to go in. She steps in and does a slight curtsy for the bishop. She has no idea if that's the correct way to great him, but it feels like the right move here. "It is an honor to meet you, Your Grace. I'm Maja. I was told that you have called for me?" 15[12:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie keeps his eyes on the road for little while. Finally he sighs. "Alright. Okay. Who do I have to talk to?" 14[12:04] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[12:05] * Joins: hrolfie [12:06] Santiago shrugs. "Yeah, he bought it a couple years ago. At Halloween, actually. Reddy and Bernstein inherited his territory. I heard he treated his ghouls like shit. Like, it got bad enough that other lords started to raise eyebrows. I think he was a ghoul though, last time I heard. Must have lost the blood tie when Malloy died." 14[12:07] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [12:08] The office of the Bishop is unadorned and unornamented, except for a few full bookshelves, a wooden desk in the middle, two chairs, and a simple red woven rug under the furniture. The walls have been painted white. The man behind it stands. He's about the same height as she is. [12:08] Ruby: "Unfortunately for you, the guy we usually use is going on a spiritual journey. He won't be back until next year." [12:08] 4Cavanaugh: "Or maybe he picked it up from someone else. Thirst will do things to a man." 4He pauses. No, best just to...leave that one out there. [12:08] "Either way, ghoul or not, we need to track him down." [12:09] "Assuming it's even the same Gregory White." 4He glances over. "No offense, but that's a startlingly...normal name. Probably a lot of them around." 14[12:09] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 15[12:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Should I wait, then? Or is there someone else?" [12:13] 3Maja scan's the Bishop's face for any hostility. There doesn't appear to be any, which is a TREMENDOUS relief. [12:14] His face is puffy, and he's wearing steel-rimmed eye glasses. The red and black garments he wears do a so-so job of hiding his belly. He looks like a soft, middle-aged man with thinning hair and watery blue eyes. "Deacon. What a pleasure to finally meet you." His voice, though, is wonderful. It's so soft. [12:16] Santiago clicks on the page down button. "Santiago is a normal name. It means Saint James." 14[12:17] * Joins: hrolfy [12:18] Ruby: "The Architect has a few replacements in mind. I'm supposed to pick one up tonight and see if they're interested. You're coming with me. If they say yes, then there you go." 15[12:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Where am I going?" 15[12:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He says, in his capacity as driver. [12:19] Ruby: "Downtown. Right by USC." [12:19] 3Maja is taken aback by the gentleness in his voice and greeting. This man is not what she expected. Still, she is on guard. "Why thank you, Your Grace. I must admit that I was surprised to hear you had called for me." [12:19] 4Cavanaugh: "I suppose I was more referring to our citizens named after concepts, or adverbs. Or cocktails." [12:20] Santiago laughs. "Yeah, well. I bet half of those are ones they picked out themselves. Probably Bob and Cathy on their birth certificates." 14[12:20] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 15[12:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie knows the way. "Can I ask you something? It's okay if you don't want to answer." [12:21] The Kogaion nods. "Yeah." 15[12:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You know Leis okay, right?" [12:21] 4Cav: "Speaking of which -- Cosmo Morgan is in this up to his neck. Legally, if not actually. We might want to keep an eye out for him." [12:22] Ruby: "I know her." 15[12:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Do you know anything that can cheer her up when she's in a bad mood?" [12:23] 4Cavanaugh: "We have a last known address on White?" [12:25] The Bishop motions for her to sit. "I know I'm supposed to have a fearful reputation. But I'd hope that it only exists outside of our walls, and that our own would know better." [12:27] Santiago runs his hand through his hair. "Glendale's a ways off." He thinks. "I ran into Bernstein at the Autumn Ball. Pearl Bernstein? Baroness of, uh…shit. One of the beach cities, I can't remember. She was Malloy's childe. Maybe she'd know." [12:28] "Let's pay a visit, then. You have a number for her so we can call ahead?" 4Cavanaugh takes his Glock and holster out from his top desk drawer and clips it to his belt. Then he takes a number of business cards. "Oh, we've got some for you, too. They're on your desk." [12:29] Widmark: "And I would never take exception to someone who has spent their nights tirelessly reaching out to those asking for help. Presbyter Vincent" -Clara, to Maja- "tells me about how eagerly you lend an ear to kindred who need someone to speak to when they feel trapped or lonely." [12:32] 3Maja laughs at the Bishop's playful scolding (it was playful, right?) as she sits down. It's a nervous laughter on her end, but it comes off more confidently to others. "Oh, that is very kind of you. I love doing it, so it doesn't feel much like work at all." While embarrassingly cliche`, it is also the truth. [12:33] The Bishop hesitates. "Are you nervous about something? How can I put you at ease, Deacon?" [12:34] Ruby thinks for a while, while they're driving. "I think your idea of her bad moods might differ from mine." 15[12:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What do you mean?" [12:38] Ruby: "Nothing. She likes seeing people plunge themselves into the work and come out transformed. Or she likes just being left alone until she's done with whatever she's doing." 15[12:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...alright. Thanks." [12:39] 3Cav briefly pops into Maja's mind- but that wasn't really a breach, she rationalizes. "Oh, no, no- it's just been a chaotic past few weeks, so I am a little more on edge than usual." 3That, on the other hand, is not a rationalization at all. 15[12:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Fuck it, then. Let's do this. [12:40] Santiago runs into his office, and when he comes back he's holding the stack of business cards. "Yes. Excellent. I can show my f- The Baroness is going to think these are hilarious." [12:41] 4Cavanaugh smiles. "I thought about getting badges, but." [12:41] 3And what a handsome smile it is. [12:42] Santiago is grinning from ear to ear. "We don't need no stinkin' badges!" [12:42] 4Not in front of the Bishop...! [12:43] 4That gets a laugh from Cavanaugh. "I figure we won't use them around Kindred, but they'll be good for ghouls or others not in the know." [12:44] The Bishop leans back in his chair. "You were down there with Presbyter Greene on Halloween, weren't you?" [12:45] "You've met the Invictus who live and work in the Territory?" [12:46] 3Maja straightens up in her chair. "Yes, I was. It was ... well, a mess." [12:47] 3She hopes that by staying with the events that she can avoid talking about the actors involved. [12:47] The Bishop nods in sympathy. "It is a mess." 15[12:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie sits a little straighter as they come into downtown. "What am I looking for?" [12:49] Santiago puts a few in his wallet and reseals the rest in the packaging. "Okay. Ready when you are. Let's find this White guy." [12:50] Ruby points. "Get off here. Look for the big church." 15[12:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks sideways at Ruby, but does as he's told. [12:53] 3Maja: "Is there anyway that I can help in ... cleaning it up?" [12:54] "Park here." The parking lot of the church is blessedly free of occupied spaces. 15[12:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie parks. "What kind of titles am I going to be expected to know here?" 15[12:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie parks. "What kind of titles am I going to be expected to know here?" 15[12:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "Talk to me like I don't know anything." 15[12:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Strain your creduility. [12:56] The Bishop nods again. "There is, Deacon. The first way is to remain the commited member of the clergy that you've always been. The congregations need level heads. If there is bloodshed in the territory, I won't have our priests be the cause of it. Do you understand? We remain bound to the crown, as we always have been." [12:58] Ruby holds up four fingers. "Lay worshipper, Deacon, Presbyter, Bishop. Deacon's not a real priest, they just help other people with mental problems. Presbyters are the real priests. Bishops are like fancy presbyters. If they've got a collar, they're a priest." 15[12:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So I'm guessing we're picking up a Deacon?" 15[12:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's picturing some Ned Flanders-looking guy in a sweater vest. [12:59] Ruby shrugs. "If they want it. The Architect was owed a favor, and the Bishop suggested we look there." 15[13:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Alright. Let's do it." 15[13:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10And in we go. [13:01] Ruby: "We go in when we get a phone call inviting us in, Slave. Calm down." 15[13:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie drums his hands on the wheel idly. [13:02] Ruby: "Did you say 'the People' earlier?" 15[13:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yep." [13:02] Ruby: "How do you know what the lupines call themselves, exactly?" 15[13:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "They told me." [13:03] Ruby: "Is this a Malkavia thing?" [13:03] 3Maja nods earnestly. "Yes, Your Grace. Of course- I have taken that to heart. Besides, I have a very strong distaste for killing, so I am more than happy to follow those orders." 15[13:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "No, this is a-" 10he hesitates. Is he supposed to be saying stuff about Leis's tutelage? 15[13:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He shrugs. "I met someone." [13:04] Ruby: "Who knows a lot about werewolves?" 15[13:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "They don't like that word." 15[13:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "I met a Person." 14[13:05] * Joins: bananaphone [13:07] The Bishop: "When we kill, it is because it is necessary. But it is of the utmost importance that we recognize the proper order of that understanding. It is necessary to kill, so we kill. Not we kill, and it becomes necessary because we have killed." [13:07] Ruby: "Orange County's getting weirder." 15[13:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Hell, you're not wrong." [13:11] 3Maja lets the Bishop's words sink in. "Yes, Your Grace. I absolutely agree." 3She can't help but wonder, though, why the Bishop is emphasizing this. [13:18] The Bishop nods slowly. "I was a Deacon, a very long time ago. In San Diego. I shared your interest in helping others unburden themselves." [13:18] Ruby: "Which Coil are you learning?" 15[13:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I didn't get that far before we got fed up. I was looking at Flesh and Blood." [13:19] "Somehow, that doesn't surprise me, Your Grace." 3Maja says this with a smile. It's not even meant to be flirty- it's very genuine. The Bishop has a very calming presence. [13:21] Widmark: "I spent most of my time speaking to the henchmen of the lords of the city. And I am ashamed to admit that after many years, I felt my desire to help them flagging. Their concerns began to seem so…mundane. So obvious, that I began to resent them. Couldn't they see what was wrong with them? Why should I have to point it out to them? It became…uninteresting." [13:23] "I know you are much younger than I am. I would like it if your interest remained keen. I might have something to interest you." [13:25] 3Maja's interest is piqued, indeed. "Oh! Well ... what's that?" [13:29] Widmark: "The Invictus asks a great deal of its subjects. It's a very deep sacrifice, sometimes, but I think the nature of that sacrifice is rather narrow. Kill, or be willing to die, or be willing to stomach evil out of loyalty and tradition and because what comes otherwise is far worse. But there are still others who require someone to speak to. Beyond the Invictus. Their sacrifices are a bit stranger." [13:29] Widmark: "Would you like to meet them?" [13:32] 3Maja's reaction is enthusiastic and authentic. "More than just about anything, Your Grace." 15[13:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Oh hey, I just thought of something." 15[13:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Did they give you one of those Tarot cards?" [13:34] The Bishop smiles. "I was hoping that you would." He reaches out, and clicks the intercom on his desk. "Could you tell our guests that we're ready to meet them? Thank you." [13:34] "They'll just be a moment." [13:34] Ruby's phone buzzes. "Yeah, everybody gets one. Let's go." 15[13:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Away we go. "Do you remember yours?" [13:35] 3Maja sits up straight and waits silently. [13:37] 3She fixes her shirt and hair. And fidgets around a bit. [13:38] Ruby holds the door open for the 13th Slave. "Two of Swords." They walk to the back. 15[13:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I got the Nine." 14[13:39] * Quits: bananaphone (Quit: bananaphone) [13:39] Ruby: "Too bad. Use your title only until they accept." [13:40] She opens the door. [13:40] Maja sees a short woman, with a small mouth, with short-cut hair and jeans. Next to her is a young man, who she might have already met. "Your Grace." 08[13:41] 3Maja's eyes float up to Rollie's face. Ah, Cav's friend. The one that seemed sort of spacey. 15[13:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie doesn't remember Maja at all. 15[13:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10And he's... pretty sure he'd remember. [13:41] 3Maja stands up to greet them, but waits for the Bishop to make the introductions. 15[13:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well. This is not what Rollie was expecting. He gives the Deacon and the Bishop a nod. [13:42] Widmark stands. "Initiate. I'm afraid I can only introduce you, as I have not had the pleasure of meeting your colleague. Deacon Maja Kovacevic, this is the First Initiate of the Untamed Pain." 08[13:43] Ruby puts her hand on Rollie's shoulder. "And the 13th Slave." [13:43] 3Maja is ... confused. [13:43] 3Which one is she supposed to call him? 15[13:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It's okay. Everyone just calls me 'Slave'." [13:45] 3Maja curtsies again. Is it weird to curtsy to a slave? Is he just called a slave? What is even going ON right now?? 15[13:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Did she just curtsy? 15[13:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well, fuck it then. Rollie bows. He's not gonna leave her hanging. 15[13:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Somebody should seriously say something here. [13:45] 3Maja: "It is a pleasure to meet you ... Slave?" 3That does not feel right at all. [13:46] 3None of this feels right in the slightest. What the fuck is happening. [13:46] The Bishop remains standing. "Deacon. I'll let you have your conversation in peace. But, whatever you discuss, and indeed this very offer, must remain confidential. Consider it our mutual secret, to never be discussed in mixed company." [13:47] "The alternative is very unhappy." 15[13:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie stiffens slightly. [13:47] 3She understands exactly what that means. That might be the first thing about this entire encounter that she understands. [13:48] "Initiate. Slave. Deacon. Goodnight." Widmark closes the door behind him. He must not have very many valuables in this office. 08[13:48] 3Maja slowly turns to Rollie, still recuperating from the Bishop's threat. 15[13:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's clearly holding his breath here. [13:49] 3Maja: "What name do you prefer to go by, my friend?" [13:50] "I understand what they call you, but what do YOU like to be called?" 15[13:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I like to be called 'the guy who doesn't fuck up in front of his boss'. I can't tell you my name unless you agree to this." 15[13:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sorry." 15[13:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He does actually sound sorry. 15[13:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10But maybe he's just an incredibly skillful liar??? [13:51] 3Maja sits back down in the chair and motions for him to sit too. Since I guess this is where we're chatting now- in the Bishop's fucking office?? 15[13:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Where's Ruby? [13:52] Ruby is making her way behind the desk, to sit in the Bishop's chair. "Let's talk." [13:52] NEXT TIME: Confessor 14[14:05] * Joins: ddt 14[15:15] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[16:31] * Joins: tom 14[16:37] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 09[16:47] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[17:14] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: mattbaby_) 14[18:09] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:55] * Quits: mugobbles (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 11[19:43] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue May 05 19:43:52 2015 Session Start: Tue May 05 19:43:52 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[19:46] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[19:46] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[19:46] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[19:46] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[19:46] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[20:41] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[20:55] * Joins: dammitwho 14[21:35] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[21:35] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 09[21:35] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[22:15] * Joins: Nicolae 14[22:15] * Parts: Nicolae 14[22:42] * Joins: mugobbles 14[22:43] * Joins: Nicolae [22:44] - [22:44] - [22:44] - [22:44] - [22:44] - [22:44] - [22:44] - [22:44] - [22:48] It may not be until right now, after the Bishop has told the Deacon the exact nature of this potential relationship, that Maja might regret her enthusiasm. Or it might have been after the two strangers, one both more and less strange to her, came into the little room, and introduced themselves and their strange titles. The Kogaion sits in the chair opposite Maja, on the other side of the desk. There's another chair, at th 08[22:48] side of the room and next to a small reading desk, if Rollie wants to sit. 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The chump seat, eh? Rollie's sat there before. Beats standing. [22:49] The woman who the Bishop called the First Initiate of the Untamed Pain is pulling something out of her jacket's pocket: a small silver cigarette case, and a lighter, which she stacks on top of each other on the desk. "Let's talk." 14[22:50] * Joins: mugsy 14[22:51] * Quits: mugobbles (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[22:52] * mugsy is now known as mugobbles [22:52] 3Maja: "Alright. So ... how can I help you two?" [22:54] 3Hardly able to recall a more disorienting experience in her life, Maja braces herself. Maybe this was a bad idea. 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie sits like a schoolboy, knees pressed together and hands wrapped around them. This seat is a bit lower than Maja or Ruby's, and the Thirteenth Slave looks small and vulnerable set beneath them. He looks at Ruby for guidance here. This is a job offer before it's a job, as he understands it. 08[22:56] 3Maja figures that it is her best move here to speak more directly to Ruby- but it's difficult for her to take her eyes off of Rollie. There is clearly ... a lot going on here. [22:56] The First Initiate snaps the case open. The sharp white of the row of cigarettes shines like a light out of one side, like a line of pristine little soldiers. She holds it out in offering to Maja. "You smoke?" 14[22:57] * Joins: mirdath [22:59] "Not typically, but I could definitely go for one right now." 3Having something in her hands to play with right now appeals to her. [23:01] Ruby takes one out and hands it over. "Slave?" The case is shaken gently in invitation. 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie shakes his head. "I don't like cigarettes." [23:05] The case snaps shut, and Ruby snaps the lighter on, holding the end of her cigarette to the fire. She takes a long drag before she speaks again. The smoke curls out of the corners of her mouth like gray and indistinct tusks. "You counsel kindred." 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks away when the lighter flicks on. He's been getting a lot of mileage out of his vapes in recent months. 08[23:08] 3Maja recoils at the flame almost as much as when she hears the name "Slave." "Yes, I do. I take it ... he" 3(Maja looks towards Rollie in attempt to circumvent calling him that.) "needs someone to talk to?" 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's not going to speak out of turn here. He's looking at the floor now, becoming more childish by the minute as the grownups weigh his fate. [23:11] Ruby looks around for something to tap her cigarette against, and finds an empty ceramic bowl to ash into. "If you want to. Are you a bit….dissatisfied, with the church? I don't think they recommend people who are totally settled for this sort of thing." [23:12] 3Oh my GOD, how the FUCK is she supposed to answer that? [23:13] Ruby shrugs. "This doesn't go back to the Bishop. I don't answer to him." [23:14] 3Maja: "I ... well. I mean, I'm not really sure how it is they decide who takes on what duties." [23:15] Ruby: "I think they spend enough time ministering to souls that they get pretty good at reading people." 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie resists the urge to take out his phone even though a godfest is going on right now. [23:17] 3Maja feels like it's hopeless to try to hide it at this point. "Well, I suppose I can't argue with that." [23:20] Ruby: "You want us to go? Everyone could just forget about this whole thing. You could just forget having to worry about holding another secret. Secrets. Or I can tell you about the people who really need to be counseled. Not these Invictus bangers whining about how hard it is to pull a trigger." 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks up here. "Oh, c'mon." 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "We don't need the hard sell here, right? She's just trying to help." [23:23] Ruby: "Don't offer something out of kindness when you don't understand its depths, Slave. You've seen a tiny glimpse of things. Hers would be a lifetime commitment. No backsies." [23:23] 3Well, now. Maja is not one to step down from such a challenge, even though she's pretty sure that is a direct attempt to manipulate her. She's not afraid of being manipulated, though. "I have been asked to fulfil a duty by the Bishop, and I said I would. I am a woman of my word." 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Fine, whatever. Rollie shuts up again. [23:24] 3Maja: "I whole heartedly trust the Bishop's faith that I am the woman for this job." 3She doesn't, actually. But it does sound interesting. 08[23:25] The Kogaion nods. "My name's Ruby. His is Roland. Tell her about the Ordo, Thirteenth Slave." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie gives Maja a long look when he sits up straight. Finally he says: "The Ordo Dracul is a secret society dedicated to meditative self-transformation in pursuit of a Great Work which will liberate us from the curses of vampirism." 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "And only my mom calls me Roland." 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "Rollie." [23:29] 3Only his mom, and Ruby, clearly. 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Ruby calls him "Choi". 08[23:31] 3Maja studies Rollie for a few seconds before responding. I suppose she's expected to speak directly to him now? "I see. What kind of curses?" 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie glances at Ruby. He's got full permission to do Dragon 101? [23:32] 3She's intimately familiar with all sorts of curses of vamprism, but she wants to make sure that her definitions matches theirs. [23:33] Ruby: "Right on, Choi. Give it to her." 08[23:35] 3Maja leans back in her chair and waits for Rollie to "give it to her." 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie sighs. "Alright, so there are five principal afflictions which the Ordo Dracul's methodology can address through its transformative processes. They are: our hunger for blood, our aversion to fire and sunlight, our defects in impulse control, the physical arrest of our bodies, and the psychological degradation that attends immortality and violence." 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie spent five hours on this shit. He knows the damn words now. 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He really wishes he was talking to Leis right now. [23:39] Yeah, well. Space heals and soothes. 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Uh huh. [23:40] 3Maja, with her relentless yearning to be human again, can see the appeal of this. "I see." 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Can I ask you a question?" [23:43] 3Maja: "Absolutely. Within the contexts of our sessions, you're always welcome to ask me anything you want. I may not always answer to your satisfaction, but you're always welcome to ask." 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Okay." 10There's a long silence as he constructs the thought. 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "When you confess your sins, and the priest tells you how to perform penance, you feel that the punishment is disproportionately harsh. Do you accept his judgment, or pray to God directly for a separate understanding and forgiveness?" [23:44] 3Well this kid doesn't fuck around, does he. 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Oooh, look at me, I graduated high school in the 90s. I can call eeeeeverybody 'kid'. [23:48] 3Maja knows what her answer is, and she's happy to tell him- but she first wants to understand why he asks. 08[23:54] 3Glancing first at Ruby, she returns her gaze towards Rollie. "I'd consider the priest's position, and take from it what I felt was valuable. But beyond that would be between myself and God." [23:54] "I would pray." [23:54] Ruby's gone. The only thing left is her lighter, left on the desk. The door is open a crack. [23:55] Weird. When did she leave? [23:55] 3Well. That uncomplicates ... some of this. 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Do you think we could... not have me sitting in the asshole chair now? Maybe you could go behind the desk, or something, and we could both pretend we belong here." [23:56] 3Maja: "If that makes you more comfortable." 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Have you ever sat in this chair? It definitely will." [23:58] 3Maja laughs and gets up to sit in the Bishop's seat. 08[23:59] 3She settles in, squirming around to get comfortable. She looks across the desk at Rollie. "Better?" 15[23:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That's a nice laugh. Rollie takes Maja's former seat. "Yeah, thanks. I'm Rollie Choi. I figure they told me your whole name. It's only fair. I'm supposed to be a Deputy down in Orange County. The Orange Territory." 15[23:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "But... I'm not, really." Session Time: Wed May 06 00:00:00 2015 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm..." 10he gestures vaguely. "This." [00:01] "And by this you mean a member of the Ordo Dracul?" 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "A little bit." [00:02] "What else, then?" [00:04] 3Maja knows her style of incessant questioning can be irritating for some, but it's important to her not to simply assume she undertands what someone means. 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Well, I'm insane. All my friends are monsters and strangers. I lit a man's soul on fire. My dog is really lonely and the only vampire I trust in the whole world doesn't understand me and can't get me to understand her either." 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10By way of explanation: "I'm trying a new thing." 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "'Plunge yourself into the work', is what Ruby said." 10It's what Ruby said Leis liked. "This is work." [00:06] 3Maja supresses the urge to giggle about the dog being lonely thrown in there. [00:06] "What makes you think you're insane?" 14[00:06] * Parts: Nicolae 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I don't know if I could explain it without showing you, and if I show you I'm not going to be able to talk to you anymore. Have you ever heard of Malkavia, Ms. Kovacevic?" [00:09] "I haven't. Why wouldn't you be able to talk to me anymore?" 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It makes it impossible for me to get words out in a way that other people can understand." [00:10] "Oh, I see. Can you tell me any more about it?" 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Did you ever hear that thing, where psychosis and disorganized thinking get called a problem with the signal-to-noise ratio?" [00:12] 3Maja: "I hadn't even heard it described that way before, but it makes sense, sure." 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Malkavia is the opposite of that. Malkavia is all signal. All the time. Everything means everything. I could- I saw the way to push the Acolytes back. I saw the Architect's plans. I saw that whatever's going to happen to Leis is already happening. I saw the king in the ground." 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "None of that means anything to you. But it all means something." 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Sorry, I don't have anybody to talk to about this." [00:16] "That sounds ... overwhelming." 3She said, feeling a little overwhelmed. 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you know what it's like?" 10asks Rollie. "Do you know what it's like to, fucking, to see people? To see the whole- everything. To feel like, to feel like nobody has any secrets from you, like just fucking looking at them is spying, eavesdropping. Stealing their privacy." [00:20] "I can't say that I do. Nor can I say I would want to." 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I had a friend. She was staying with me for a couple days, now she's moved in next door. And I saw... why she left her city. Why she came here. I saw what she was afraid of. I saw what she left behind." 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "How are you supposed to deal with that?" 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "How are you supposed to let yourself, fucking. Look at anyone." [00:24] "It sounds like you feel like you're violating people's privacy- but do you really have a choice in this?" 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I can't control how much I can see. All I can control is where I'm looking." 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "And how much attention I let myself pay to any one thing." [00:29] 3Maja: "Okay- and so within that limited ability to restrain yourself, you still have no control over what you're witnessing." 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Tonight, Ruby asked me if I knew what ley lines were. And I do. I do know what ley lines are. But I was trying to think about it and I just went sideways. I could hear the stars. I could see the strawberry fields cowering. Because I thought for a second too long about some fucking trivia." 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't end up in Malkavia on purpose." 08[00:31] 3Maja's heart breaks for Rollie. [00:33] "It sounds like there's the gravity of the visions you have, but then on top of that, that you feel like you're inadvertantly violating peoples' boundaries. Those are two separate things. Is that accurate?" 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah but I don't care about the first thing. A fat little baby angel could whisper secrets in my ear all night as long as I didn't have to look the person whose secrets they were in the eye." 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "But, like what. Am I supposed to just never talk to anyone again?" [00:34] 3Maja: "What makes it so hard to interact with them?" 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Not knowing if or when my thoughts are going to start dredging up their deepest secrets. Not knowing if I get too tired or distracted if nobody's privacy matters anymore." [00:39] 3Maja: "Has this happened yet?" 15[00:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I told you about it. With T- with my neighbor. At the big Halloween party, it happened. On Halloween night, it happened." [00:43] 3Maja: "And it specifically caused you problems? How did the visions interfere?" 15[00:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It makes it impossible to talk to people. Words don't come out right. I start shouting bullshit." 14[00:46] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[00:46] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [00:46] 3Maja: "You get overwhelmed with trying to figure out what to say?" 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I don't feel overwhelmed. I feel like what I'm saying makes sense. But there's too much signal." [00:47] "That other people can't understand?" [00:48] "It's signal, but when it comes out, it sounds like noise to others?" 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah. I can't- they don't understand me. They can't understand me." 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm three chords and a garage from starting a band over here." 08[00:52] 3Maja's mind cuts back to her adolescence, listening to her next door neighbor's terrible punk band playing in their garage. It's a vivid scene that Rollie paints. [00:53] 3Maja laughs softly, but not too hard. "I see." [00:53] "And how do these ... episodes start?" 15[00:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie perks up a bit when she laughs. "I dunno. It's like... sometimes when I'm really tired. Sometimes when I think too hard. Sometimes it's by complete accident." [00:57] 3Maja: "Okay. So there are some identifiable triggers for this. That's a good thing! We can work with that." 14[00:59] * Quits: mirdath (Quit: Leaving) 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "How long have you been doing this?" [01:00] 3Maja: "Why do you ask?" 15[01:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I died like, six months ago. I didn't see my - sire? - my sire after that night. So I kind of - I get the impression everybody else knows more than I do. I was just wondering how long you've been at this." [01:05] "Ah, sires. They sure can be dicks sometimes, huh?" 3Maja smiles bitterly.  "Well, I've been vampiring for about 5 years now, and counselling for about 4." 15[01:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie winces. He didn't want to strike a nerve. He recovers, though. "Yeah, so you know way more shit than I do, but at the same time, like. You like. You still remember, right?" 15[01:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "And it kind of sucks to remember, but it'd suck more to forget." [01:07] "Still remember what? Being new to this, or ... not being like this?" 15[01:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "To forget, like, how it feels to need a shower. Or how it feels to eat too any churros." 15[01:07] <@VoxPVoxD> *too many 08[01:07] "Oh god, Rollie." [01:08] 3Maja catches herself. 15[01:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's a bit taken aback. [01:10] 3Maja pauses for a minute and considers the implications of her admissions. She thinks it will be helpful. "I- yes. I do whatever I can to make myself remember every day." [01:16] 3Maja can feel herself struggling with how much to reveal about her own longing. She doesn't want to make this session about her- but goddamn, it would be nice to finally talk about this with someone. 15[01:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah! See, you get it. It's like - this is why I really like the Ordo Dracul. It's- you gotta care about something, right? You can't live forever and not care about something. But you gotta - shit's set up to make not caring easy." 15[01:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "You gotta care on purpose." 15[01:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "You gotta care all the time." [01:19] 3Maja nods vigorously. 15[01:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "You gotta care even when it makes you look like a jackass." 15[01:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "You gotta care even when it hurts." [01:19] 3Maja: "Right. And it will. Often." 15[01:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's the Ordo Dracul thing. You pick something, and you plant your flag in it so fucking hard the ground starts bleeding." 15[01:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "But the hard part is when the thing you care about doesn't care back." 08[01:22] 3Maja is struck by Rollie's impassioned speech. "That's ... I couldn't have said it better myself."3 She definitely couldn't. But she can probably feel it just as much. 15[01:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So it's like. I've got friends, right? My coworkers are good guys. I've met a lot of cool people from my job - from both my jobs." [01:24] "Uh huh." 15[01:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "But... nobody cares back the way you have to care to make this worth doing. And when they do, the shit they care about is so fucked up." [01:25] 3Maja feels weird. This is weird. This no longer feels like counselling to her. 15[01:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What's wrong?" 08[01:28] 3Maja snaps back into the session, and becomes acutely aware of her duties to Rollie. "Oh, nothing. I just- what you're saying really moved me." [01:29] "Go on." 15[01:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie can tell something changed, but he couldn't put his finger on what. It throws him off a bit. "Well, it's just. Like. You know. I don't have anyone I can trust to talk to this shit about who doesn't have their own problems." [01:33] 3Maja laughs, heartily this time. [01:34] "Forgive me. I hope you can learn to talk to me about this stuff, but I can't lie to your face and pretend I don't have problems myself. I won't burden you with them, but I won't lie to you either." 15[01:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That is a super mixed signal. "Yeah, but I mean. When you do this you're sort of, agreeing to deal with other people's shit, right? That's part of the job." 15[01:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Don't call it a burden, though." 15[01:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Like, to share your problems with people." 15[01:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's not." 08[01:36] 3Maja softly smiles towards Rollie. "When you're right, you're right, Rollie. Sorry, go on. You haven't been able to talk to anyone about any of this." 15[01:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Like, the person who sort of, showed me the ropes, right? For being a vampire. The person who got me into the Ordo Dracul in the first place. She's- I want to talk to her about this stuff, but she doesn't do this thing well all the time. She's really... focused, I guess." [01:41] "Mmmmm. It feels shitty, being so isolated in your problems." [01:41] 3Maja sure the fuck can relate to that. 15[01:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "And like. I get that I don't know her as well as she probably knows me. And I get that I don't know a bunch of shit. But like... I want her to be able to talk to me too." 15[01:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "And she just, fuckin... goes away. You know? She gets real far away." [01:42] 3Maja: "It sounds like you have a very complicated relationship with her." 15[01:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What do you mean?" [01:45] 3Maja: "Well, it sounds like in a lot of ways, it has been a very close relationship. That you value her a lot- but that you're frustrated with it feeling somewhat lopsided?" 15[01:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "She gives me everything, you know, and I can't do anything for her. And that means when I can't get something, or she can't get something across at me... there's nothing there, you know?" 15[01:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "I just want to know her." 08[01:47] "Ah, that sounds heartbreaking, Rollie. I could see why that would be so rough for you." [01:50] "So it sounds like it's difficult, both for you to actually talk with her about these particular things- but you also struggle with her reluctance to reciprocate." 15[01:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah! It's like, I don't want her to read her life story to me or anything, but I'd hope she'd at least see..." 10He trails off without finishing the thought. 08[01:52] "Rollie?" [01:52] "Where'd you go just now?" 15[01:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Huh?" 15[01:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh, no I was just... it's not important." 15[01:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He shakes his head like the thought is a cobweb. It's not important. Don't let it be important. "Anyway." [01:53] "It seems like it might be. Why don't you try telling me anyway." 15[01:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Can we talk about something else?" [01:55] 3Maja makes note, but let's it go. "Okay." [01:55] "What else is on your mind?" 09[02:00] * banana|peels is now known as banana 15[02:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Well, my normal job is always either really boring or really really fucked up. But we're not supposed to talk about that, Ruby said." [02:04] 3Maja gets the impression she probably shouldn't fuck around with Ruby. "I suppose we shouldn't talk about that then?" 15[02:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I bet if it's not boring then it still counts. I burned someone's soul inside out with a magic flashlight." [02:08] 3Maja: "Why did you do that?" 08[02:09] 3Maja senses that Rollie expects her to be shocked by that. But she's been doing this a long time now with those "Invictus bangers." 15[02:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I was trying to scare them away. They were coming for all of us. Edgar, Cav, Santiago, the Baroness... I saw the best way to drive him away - he was their leader - was to put the fear of God in him. And that was how I saw that flashlight." 15[02:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie expects to be able to claim it's interesting enough to complain about how fucking terrible working for the Invictus is. 08[02:12] 3As Maja hears Rollie mention Cav's name, she immediately tunes into her non-verbal reactions, policing them, so as not to betray any signs. [02:14] "So you were protecting yourself and your friends." 09[02:15] * banana is now known as banana|split [02:16] 3Maja's mind briefly wanders to an image of Cav in his stupid black bath robe. 08[02:17] 3And then she remembers that Rollie is talking about burning someone's soul inside out. 15[02:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I don't even think they needed it. Edgar fuckin, dropped a car on somebody. I don't even know what Cav did, I had to look away, but it looked like he got pissed at some watermelons." [02:19] 3Maja: "So you think it was an unnecessary killing?" 15[02:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I didn't kill him. He ran away. He's gonna remember that." [02:20] "I bet he will." 15[02:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't know if it was necessary. I know I didn't feel like I had a choice." 15[02:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "And like." 15[02:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "If the roles were reversed, right." 15[02:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "And somebody did that to me?" 15[02:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "...I don't think I'd take it personally." [02:22] "It sounds like you didn't do anything wrong, then." 15[02:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It doesn't feel like it." [02:25] 3Maja smiles softly again. "Yeah. Our feelings can be like that sometimes." 08[02:25] "Rollie, listen." 15[02:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie listens. [02:26] "We still have a lot to talk about here, it seems. You're dealing with a lot. And I recognize that this is ... well-" [02:27] 3Maja hesitates a bit. 15[02:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Now who's not finishing their sentences." [02:29] 3Maja stops, "Hey there, I was just trying to find my words! They don't come as easily to everyone else as they seem to come to you." 3She smiles at him, playfully. [02:30] "I was just saying that, I get the impression that this is going to be quite an undertaking- for both of us." [02:30] "It's not something we're going to settle in one day, in one session." 15[02:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Well, like... that's the point, isn't it?" [02:30] "Indeed, that's the point." 15[02:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's the point of all of it. Of this, of the Ordo Dracul, of taking a shower every night whether you need one or not." 15[02:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "The work is ongoing. The work has to be ongoing." 08[02:31] 3Maja stops in her tracks at the mention of the daily shower. What has Rollie seen of her life? [02:34] 3She recollects herself. She'll deal with that later. "Yes. It does." 15[02:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks her straight in the eyes for a moment. "...anyway, yeah. We should- how are we going to set these up? Do they all have to be in the room where you got threatened with murder?" 15[02:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "There are rooms where that hasn't happened, right?" 15[02:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Maybe we could talk in one of them." 08[02:35] 3Maja unflinchingly meets his gaze. "No, I don't think I would like to return to the death-threat room, Rollie. That was very perceptive of you to pick up on." 15[02:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Can I ask you one more question?" 15[02:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Before we go?" [02:36] "Of course." 15[02:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "So, like." 15[02:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "I talked a lot about what it's like to see people, right?" 15[02:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "But..." 15[02:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "...what's it like being seen?" [02:36] 3Holy shit. [02:37] 3How many times now has Maja had to collect herself? 15[02:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie doesn't say anything more. 15[02:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He simply watches. [02:38] "That's a fair question." [02:38] "Well, you're showing yourself to me too, aren't you? Bit by bit?" [02:39] "Or, actually-" 08[02:39] "What exactly have you seen, Rollie?" 15[02:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's silent for a long time. [02:39] "You can tell me honestly." 15[02:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'll tell you what." 15[02:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Let's pick up with that next time." 08[02:43] 3Maja slowly searches Rollie's face. She's strongly suspects that he has, in fact, seen plenty of her life. She' pretty sure, though, that he wouldn't find anything that he couldn't handle seeing, nor that she couldn't handle him seeing. [02:43] "We'll make sure to start with that then." 14[02:47] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[02:48] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[03:12] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[03:13] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[03:34] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[03:35] * Quits: mugobbles (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[03:43] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[03:52] * Joins: ddt 09[03:53] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[04:16] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[04:25] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[04:38] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[04:38] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[04:38] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[05:26] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[05:26] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[06:49] * Quits: tom 14[08:12] * Quits: dammitwho 14[10:23] * Joins: ddt 09[10:24] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[10:39] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[11:47] * Joins: ddt 14[11:47] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[12:22] * Joins: ddt 14[12:33] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:39] * Joins: mugobbles 14[13:40] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[13:49] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:05] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) [14:10] Steve Suckington @SteveSuckington [14:10] Dad: what do you want for dinner? [14:10] Son: *snickering* I'm craving some updog [14:10] Dad: hi craving some updog, I'm dad. lol nice try nerd. [14:10] lis and nick [14:11] 6Anna: lol [14:11] who [14:11] wathf [14:11] okay [14:11] don't fall asleep wit hthe tab open, got it [14:11] sorry 15[14:11] <@VoxPVoxD> lol [14:11] lol [14:14] 6Anna: lol 15[14:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 6Anna: lol [14:17] it's true, anna would laugh at that, but it is untrue that there would be a lengthy pause before she did so 14[15:29] * Joins: tom 09[16:04] * banana is now known as banana|peels 09[16:13] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 14[16:35] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[17:01] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[17:23] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[17:23] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:35] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[18:37] * Joins: ddt 14[18:40] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[18:41] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:27] * Joins: Crion_ 14[19:27] * Quits: Crion_ (Client Quit) 14[20:33] * Joins: dammitwho 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:41] <@VoxPVoxD> The motel's bathed in white noise in that moment. The hum of the air conditioner, the insistence of the clock on the wall, and the languid breathing of the woman behind the counter. 15[20:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Lis and Reuben waiting. What do they do as they wait? [20:42] 4For starters, Lis reaches into his pocket, pulls out his priest's collar, and fastens it about his neck. Session Start: Wed May 06 20:44:21 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:44] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:44] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[20:44] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[20:44] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD [20:44] 4The more he thinks about this Van Camp -- the more he thinks about his aversion to people looking at his security cameras, and the long-sleeved shirt on Ann -- the more he thinks that this might be an instructive moment. [20:44] 4A teaching moment. [20:44] 4Part of him hopes that he's wrong. [20:44] 4A much larger part of him hopes he's right. [20:45] 3Reuben’s reading a fascinating article on vice.com about a cadre of women freedom fighters in Al-Basra showing Iran who’s boss. He’s got a ted talk about the power of syncretic musical thinking queued up next. At any time he would be happy to talk to Lis about either of these. [20:45] 4Sigh. [20:46] 4The freedom fighters sound interesting, actually. [20:47] 3They were trained by former CIA agents!  [20:47] 4'Who wasn't,' the man killed by FARC laments. 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Out in the parking lot, Nick and Scotch contemplate mysterious clues. Two sets of footprints, one coming, one going. But only one scent. Someone changed their shoes - someone Nick knows by scent to be what Lis called a 'ghoul'. It leads out of the lot and into the city. "C'mooon," begs Scotch. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Did Lis want 'em tracked down? It's possible that they're just gonna be meeting Nick's friends officially within the hour or something. 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> *Inside* the RV, Anna and Alisa sit and play with their phones. Anna's got a text from j n: 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Alisa's... who knows. Maybe admiring the photos she just sent. [20:50] 6Anna:  [20:50] 4Lis would like the ghoul tracked down, but not to the point where Nicholas should feel like he needs to jettison any plans he's made otherwise. [20:50] [20:51] 4Hopefully some time with Mr. Van Camp can clear the matter up. 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: [20:53] 6Anna:  [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick hasn't got any of those in Casper - not yet, anyway. After he's spent a few moments mulling over the overtones on this ghoul's scent trail, he's going to turn into what could charitably be called a husky and team up with Scotch on the hunt. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> [20:56] 6Anna:  [20:57] [20:57] [20:58] 4If Ann gives the collar an odd look, given his previous story about them being a family on vacation: "I found the depth of my faith affirmed late in my life." 4Which is true, as far as it goes. [20:58] 4For certain definitions of 'life.' 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> As Nick heads out, he passes a man in a dark brown suit. The scent of rot and adrenaline clings to him as he walks, a dead thing bathed in fear. He passes Nick to go into the motel, and Nick realizes that he's related, somehow, to the woman who tracked around their car today. [21:00] 3Reuben puts his phone aside before an ‘inspirational quotes from steve jobs’ youtube can start autoplaying. 1“So you ever been to Seattle before?” 3he asks Lis. 03[21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Rot and fear, eh? Well... that's probably the vampire master of whatever servant completely understandably decided to do some light recon on the nomads. Still, they can't prove Nick already knew that, and fair's fair if they already know where we're staying. [21:01] 4Lis: "No." 4He sighs. "Never been this far north. Never had been as far north as Denver, when we stopped there." [21:01] "Have you?" 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Ann accepts Lis's story and glances periodically at the door and the clock. 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick's gonna follow the ghoul out to wherever they were sent from, see if he can track from there to where more of the vampires probably gather... just get the lay of the land, basically, keeping his nose out for People the wholet ime. [21:02] 3Reuben: 1“Only on tour. So not really. Nice amphitheater." [21:04] 6Anna will pass some time by organizing her thoughts, thinking of openers, and remembering times when she didn't make bad decisions literally all of the times. [21:04] 6Oops! You were thinking about the eternal void that is death, again. 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Four minutes later, Anna's phone rings. [21:04] 6Anna checks caller ID. She's been betrayed before. [21:05] 6No, she will never forget. 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> The door to the motel opens. A man steps into the lobby. He's dressed in a brown suit, with old shoes and old glasses, and the face of a man half Lis's apparent age. He stops dead once the door closes behind him, thin lips pulling back briefly at the sight of the other two monsters in the room. "...how ya doing. Big family, right? The double rooms." 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> He holds out a clammy hand. "Stan Van Camp." 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Anna will be relieved to know that the number is j n's. [21:08] 4Lis smiles pleasantly and stands to shake. "Father Avisail Lis." 4How does the Beast react? [21:09] 4Ah. [21:09] 4Yes. [21:09] 4There it is. 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Lis's Beast sees a peer in this man. Rivals, neither greater nor lesser. [21:09] 4The smile shows a bit more teeth than it needs to. "We had some concerns." 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Van Camp takes the priest's hand and wraps it in the cold wire of his grip. He glances in Reuben's direction. [21:11] 6She'll pick up immediately, then. "Hey, j n." [21:12] 4Reuben is old enough to introduce himself. 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Nick and Scotch walk the streets of Casper. It's after dark, but early enough that there are still people out for dinner and the like. The night is cool. They end up following the scent through the undergrowth of car exhaust and human travel into the city's little downtown. There's a string of shops, most still open. The scent Nick follows leads into a bar called DWYER'S. [21:13] 3Reuben points a thumb at Lis. 1“Yeah. Concerns.” [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Hmm, animals probably aren't allowed in. Nick'll sniff around the back before he starts thinking about climbing through windows or faking being a grownup. [21:14] 4Fair. 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> j n's voice is easily mistaken for Anna's, especially over the phone. j n's a little flatter in affect but also a little firmer of voice. "Hey." 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Van Camp looks them over and licks his lips. "Why don't the two of you step into my office, yeah?" [21:16] 4Lis lets the man's hand go. "I think that would be best." 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch: "You think there's gonna be a fight?" [21:17] 7Alisa's reading Skin Sheds Its Snake again. When the smugness of cleaning up well wears off there's a pulsing anger in the back of her head that she's trying to bury in mystic study and eavesdropping on Anna. What else is in here... [21:17] 6Anna: "I'm just gonna pull up the biggest finds from the failure mines, where all my life choices are stored, real quick. Wait, first, have you ever met a wizard?" [21:18] 6Anna's not making any attempt to hide what she's saying from Alisa. If someone's going to eavesdrop, whatever. [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick, briefly human: "Back at the motel? Nah, that was just one guy." 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Van Camp leads them into a wood-paneled office presided over by a slightly off-kilter ceiling fan. The calendar hasn't been switched from August to September yet. The laptop on the desk looks pretty new, though. "Take a seat." 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> This man, with his furtive little gestures and lean, pointed face, gives Lis and Reuben the impression of rats in the walls. Of vermin. 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: "Ugh." 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch: "No no. Here." [21:21] 6Anna: "They're not - " 6her voice falters as she remembers the full Watts story. "... all... bad..." 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: "What happened?" [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick peers at the place. Does it look particularly rowdy in there? [21:21] 3Reuben falls deep into one of the chairs, his legs butting up against the man’s desk. 1“Nice little town you all got here.” [21:22] 6Anna: "Long story. Here's a different one: Adam's a wizard now." [21:22] 4Lis sits. His smile has faded, replaced by neutral contemplation. [21:22] 3Who can say if the man will pick up on the unspoken “be a shame if something happened to it,” that should follow? 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Van Camp: "Thank you. Happy to extend you our hospitality. What can I do for you?" 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> If he picks up on it, he gives no sign. [21:22] 6Anna: "There's metaphors or jokes to be made here but I'm dead fuckin' for real, because this is stop one on the train here." 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: "Got it. Keep going." [21:23] 6Anna: "You're familiar with the Embrace." 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> It's pretty loud in there, and there's some pretty big guys at the bar. It's not out of the realm of possibility, but there's totally innocuous people in there too. It's not out of the realm of possibility that something happens, but there's no reason to expect it. [21:24] 4Lis: "I understand there's a certain...natural curiosity, when you get visitors here of a certain kind. I understand that. And it's with that understanding that we paid for two rooms here, in cash. I suspect you know how much we paid for our privacy. You do run this establishment." [21:25] 4Lis: "I was not overly surprised, therefore, to find that someone had poked about our vehicle today. Wasn't surprised to find their tracks, scuffed about the parking space in a wide loop." 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Van Camp nods along. He's leaning back a bit now, hands folded across his chest. 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: "In passing. Get it?" [21:27] 6Anna: "I will claim ignorance to the grave." [21:27] 6Suddenly serious: "There wasn't another way." 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: "Another way to do what?" [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick thinks. "Uh... maybe? Not like I've seen a barfight. I can't really tell if it's all vampires in there or what, though." 12The werewolf peers through the Gauntlet, figuring it can't hurt - presumably the place will look like a spooky castle or something if it's a secret vampire nexus. [21:28] 4Lis: "So I spoke to the nice young woman you have out there at your desk, Ann I believe, and I was not surprised when she informed me that you might have a problem with us taking a look at your security cameras, one of which covered our parking space. I was not surprised for a number of reasons. The number of cameras, for one. Ann's long-sleeved shirt inside, for another. The inability [21:28] to see the vein. And now that we meet, face to face, I suspect maybe we don't even have to check that camera, to know who put out feelers." [21:32] 6Anna: "There was an accident, and then a vicious werewolf attack, and then the first accident undid itself. Violently. And he wasn't going to make it." 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Nick sees a city stuck in time. Casper's Shadow looks like an asynchronous nightmare of the Old West, unfinished wood buildings and muddy roads lined with concrete lily pads, steel frogs hopping from stone to stone. The bar itself shines from within with a sickly light, and red things that resemble cling to the walls and stare out with eyes that remind Nick of Brute's. 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Van Camp's lips push in and out like he's sucking on a penny. He gives Lis and Reuben both a long look. Finally he says, "You're right. All around." 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: "Adam?" [21:36] 6Anna: "Yeah." 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Van Camp: "Are you seeking restitution or answers? It wasn't on my own behalf." 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: "Shit." 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Wait, I didn't even think that would work." [21:39] 4Lis: "Then who should we be talking to, right now." [21:40] 6Anna: "The wizards were pretty fuckin' surprised too. And, I mean, so was everyone else rational, screaming at me to not do the thing. So I did the thing, and it went wrong." [21:40] 3Reuben: 1“I’ve got a friend coming into town to do some repair work for us. If you wouldn’t mind letting him work in your parking lot for a few hours, we’d appreciate that.” 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Alisa leafs through the book. Does she remember the story she tells in here of when she met the Fairy Aurora? [21:43] 6Anna: "So I did this terrible fucking thing that I swore I'd never do to anybody, because he shouldn't have died yet, and I felt like shit just watching it happen. Because I constantly make bad decisions all the time." [21:44] <@Ferrinus> "Definitely... a place," 12Nick says to Scotch. He's going to loop it once or twice, look for evidence that the real supernatural conspiracy takes place above or below ground level, and otherwise see if notable scent trails tend to leave in a common direction. 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Van Camp, to Reuben: "We can work that out. Is there anything in your vehicles that wouldn't do to be exposed to the street? I'd suggest you bring that all inside if you haven't." To Lis: "Oh, don't get me wrong, you should be talking to me. If we need to see somebody else I'll make sure you know." [21:46] 4Lis: "You'll make sure I know." 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: "...how'd he take it?" 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Van Camp: "That's right. Is something wrong, Father?" [21:47] 3Reuben: 1“We’ll keep our stuff in the RV. We just need a couple hours without anyone hassling us about a guy patching up a few of its holes." [21:52] 6Anna: "I honestly don't know. I immediately had an episode and haven't had a serious conversation with him since. Which is why I need to talk to him, and find out, and also show him the ropes, instead of abandoning him - in the teacher-student sense, which is the one I actually care about here - like I already have." [21:52] 6Anna: "I'm so sorry all of our conversations these days are just me detailing all the ways I fucked up and then asking for advice." [21:52] "Is there something wrong." 4Lis thinks of the woman outside, and her long-sleeve shirt, and the scared look in her eyes, and frowns. "Mr. Van Camp, are you familiar with the Book of Isaiah?" [21:52] "I would promise to change, but I don't think that's in the cards." [21:53] 4He leans forward in his chair, not waiting for an answer. "Isaiah was a prophet, married to a prophetess, an ancient son of ancient Judah. His ministry began the year his king, Uzziah, died -- 742 B.C. -- and would continue through the sack of Aram in 734, the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 721, up through the subjugation of Judah in 701 B.C., in Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem. [21:53] Some say it lasted even longer -- a decade and a half longer, until 687, when King Manessah, son of Hekeziah son of Ahaz son of Jotham son of Uzziah, had Isaiah sawn in two for prophesying Manessah's vices and failures as a ruler. [21:53] "He is the grandest and noblest prophet of the Old Testament, and a cornerstone of Christian theology -- both ancient and contemporary. He was given pride of place in both Gospels and Acts, forms two-thirds of the prophetic quotations in the Pauline epistles -- Paul's letters to the faithful -- and influenced not only early Christian thought, not only modern Christian feminism and [21:53] liberation theology, but the philosophy of Christ Jesus Himself. [21:54] 4Lis's tone is level and instructive. "If you have heard of beating swords into plowshares, you have heard Isaiah. If you have heard of a voice in the wilderness, you have heard Isaiah. He is the most influential, most-quoted Jewish prophet in modern Western religion. His is the fifth gospel. 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Nick sniffs around and it's apparent to him that whatever scents are unnatural are, indeed, congregating belowground. There's half a dozen scents down there, at least, that register to Nick as vampiric to some degree. As well, there are the mixing scents of blood, beer, and sweat. [21:54] "But." 4Then Father Avisail Lis rises and smiles, and his eyes go dark. He spreads his arms low and wide, and blood dribbles from his palms down his knuckles and drips from his fingernails. And about his head, the golden, tarnished crown: the bloodstained halo, eating the light from the rest of the room. [21:54] 4http://i.imgur.com/SpJGKKZ.jpg [21:54] 7She doesn't. Not in the least. [21:55] "'Enter into the rock and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty." 4He steps forward, looming. "'For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon everyone that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low.' [21:55] 3Reuben slumps so low in his chair that his ass is fully unsupported. [21:55] "'And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up.' [21:55] "'And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all the pleasant pictures.' [21:56] "'And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down,' Mr. Van Camp, 'and the haughtiness of men shall be made low:' [21:56] 4Lis is a foot from Van Camp's face. "'And the idols he shall utterly abolish.'" [21:56] 4Now he is closer. "'And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.'" [21:57] 4The father's voice is quiet fire and menace. "Isaiah wrote these words too." [21:57] "I'm come up out of Flagstaff through Denver and north into these parts, Mr. Van Camp. I've seen many holes of the rocks. I've seen many caves of the earth. But no one seems to be hiding. You insult me, pretending otherwise. You insult me in front of the LORD. Your LORD and mine. 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: "Don't worry about it. If our positions were reversed I wouldn't feel bad about dumping shit on you at all. Take that to heart. So where is he now if he's not with you? What does he know?" [21:58] "And that voice? That voice in the wilderness? 'The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field.'" 4Into the man's ear: "It would therefore be instructive, Mr. Van Camp for you to think of me and mine as a Daisy Cutter. It would be prudent for you to handle such munitions with care." [21:59] 4From the dark, empty recesses of his eyes Lis stares unblinking. "Now let's talk about who we should really be talking to." [21:59] 6Anna: "St. Louis, and, I think he knows the very, very basics. But I have no idea." [22:00] "I mean, he's an idiot about a lot of things, but he's pretty good about finding the limits of things and then immediately passing those limits, so for all I know he's a horrifying monster overtaking the entire town." 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> The arms of the chair creak and groan as Stan Van Camp sinks his fingers into them. As Lis gets close, the man recoils like a snake, but he does not budge. He does not flee. And when Lis steps back, there is something to him almost like calm. Almost. "There's not- there's not many of us. We have a place. The one who makes sure I keep an eye out - he'll be there with the rest of them." [22:01] 4Lis smiles, and his gums are so red. "That's good." [22:01] 3Reuben: 1“Where could you all even meet in a town this small? All I saw on the drive in was the VF hall and an Arby’s. [22:01] " 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: "When was the last time you talked to him?" 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Van Camp: "It's a bar. There are fights under the bar sometimes. Prizefights, you know. He used to box." 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "Who am I taking. Just you?" [22:04] 3Reuben: 1“Y’all have a fight club?? Nick would love to see a real fight club…” [22:04] 4Lis steps back, and the room turns back to normal. Almost. "The two of us. We'll have others. Watching." [22:05] 6Anna: "We talked a bit a few days ago, nothing important. Last time I talked to him in a real conversation? Two weeks, maybe three." [22:05] "God, horrifying monster taking over St. Louis would be just like him." [22:06] 3Reuben whispers to Lis: 1“Come on, man, Nick’s gotta see a vampire fight club." [22:06] 3Reuben: 1“Don’t you remember how much he liked the movie fight club??" [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12If there looks to be some way to easily peek or sneak under the building - backdoor basement stair, employee entrance, whatever - Nick might try his luck, but it's more likely that he'll get Scotch and just head on back to the motel. Tracking successful, after all. 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Van Camp: "Come on, it's short enough to walk." 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: "Shit." 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "How are you feeling?" [22:09] 4When they step out of the office, Lis will look perfectly normal again, even if he is keeping his hands in his pockets. [22:10] 4He'll smile and nod to Ann as they pass. [22:11] 6Anna: "You know how kids look at their parents and swear they'll never be like that?" [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Tracing the path back means Nick meets the three vampires in short order. "Hey, I-... hey." 12He glances from Van Camp to Reuben and Lis, and wrinkles his nose slightly as he regards the latter. 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: "Yeah." [22:13] 3Reuben raises his voice and waves. 1“Nick- Nick!! Nick!!”  [22:13] 4Lis: "Nicholas! This is Stanley Van Camp. He's taking us to...well, where I suppose you've just come from." [22:13] 6Anna: "You know how those same kids grow up, and do what their parents did, and then drink to forget that they used to be good people with hopes and dreams?" [22:13] 4Where is Timothy? Has Lis seen him around tonight? [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Oh, yeah? There's like this bar. Is everything cool?" 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> He was out with Nick all day, but he was around when Lis woke up. He's probably still in one of the rooms or in the RV. [22:14] 4Toothy smile at Van Camp: "I think so. Do you think so, Stanley?" [22:14] 4Good to know where he is, at least. 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "So far, so good," says Van Camp nervously. [22:15] 4The smile widens. 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: "Oh god, John Mellencamp stole Anna's phone. I've got to warn her." [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Assuming that Lis went so far ast to tell this new guy that Alisa was somewhere nearby, Nick falls smoothly into step with the vampires, Scotch on his heels. He's not going to make the rookie mistake of asking if he's allowed to come. [22:17] 6Anna: "Wait, no, I have this little ditty-" [22:18] 4A good thing he doesn't, because there's no bouncer alive or dead that will keep the three of them from this bar. 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: "Maaaan. That is some real shit, Anna. Can I ask you a question?" [22:20] 6Anna: "Yeah, always." 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: "What do you hope happens?" 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer's is just as busy as it was when Nick left it. Stan Van Camp leads them inside, the noise and the stink washing around them. Past two more bouncers and a curtain is a stairwell down, revealing another bar, with most of the tables and booths gone. The space is dominated instead by a boxing ring, a proper boxing ring, and bar seating around it. 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a dozen people down here right now, and only half of them have beating hearts. [22:26] 4Lis is still smiling. Once they get into the backest of back rooms, it shows fang. [22:26] 4Is the accursed cat with them? 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Indeed. [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12He's sitting on Nick's shoulder. "Oh, man," 12Nick is saying. "How'd you know?" [22:27] 4Good. Lis has a feeling tonight he shall get his fill. [22:28] 6Anna: "I hope he adjusts, to his... situation, and to the fact that I'm not coming back, and that Chicago is nice this time of year." 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> The ones that don't having beating hearts look up by reflex as the other vampires enter. Lis meets eyes with the blonde man behind the bar and the two women nursing drinks at it. There's two men playing cards behind the ring, and there's someone leaning on the ropes, looking out at the newcomers. "Novelty!" shouts this last man, leaning forward to arc over the edge of the ring and land with a gymnast's grace on the floor not far from the visitors. 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> This man looks to be in is 40s, with red-blond hair and a neat moustache. He's wearing a loose white shirt with the sleeves rolled him. He was, in life, in very good shape. His Beast looms over them. "James Dwyer." 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: "And what do you think he's hoping?" [22:34] 4Lis: "Father Avisail Lis." [22:34] 4He'll let the other two introduce themselves. [22:35] 6Anna: "I think he's hoping that he gets to save us both from our terrible afflictions, and that he'll be a hero, and we'll be together forever." [22:35] "That's what he was hoping before, except he used to just hope to save me." [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick just says "Nick" 12to the man before taking a second look around the room, then sniffing the air for good measure. Just vampires and the vampire-associated down here? Unless you count regular old humans? 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> The Fairy Aurora, Alisa reads and recalls now, is the congeries of the stars over the old country that respond to entreaties of love and good fortune. The tale goes that the prince Petru so loved a princess that he was moved to name every way he loved her, and pin that name to the sky, from the sound of her laughter to the depth of her courage. Petru died unwed, but the Fairy Aurora lived forever, a testament to that in love which is abiding and divine. 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: "Okay, okay. One more." 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "If you were in his position, and he did this to you... what would you want from him?" 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> James Dwyer offers his big, calloused hand to each of them in turn. "Pleasure to meet you. This is Casper, and this is us." He gestures around with his wiry arms. "It's a quiet place. But we know you, strangers. Have you come steamed up?" [22:44] 4Lis shakes. "Well. I have been preaching. It tends to have that effect on me." [22:46] 6Anna: "I'd want... to be left alone, honestly. Once I figured out what was going, I'd want to be alone." [22:46] 4Before stepping away from Stanley Van Camp for the time being, he'll lean over and whisper to him. "If I rolled up Ann's sleeves, would I find bruises to go with the bite marks? And if I did, what do you think I'd do? I'll see you around, Stanley." [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Maybe a little. It's a slow night." 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Stan Van Camp leaves with a quickness. 14[22:55] * Joins: mugsy [22:56] 4Once he's gone: "Your man at the inn inspires a fear in his clerks. Or someone does." 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Alisa reads more. The Vedma, the wise and wild women of the mountains, spoke to the Fairy Aurora from time to time to pass her blessings on to the villages below. Occasionally they would cajole her to aid in their hexes, to let a wife see her husband for what he is or to turn love sour. She sang to them in a thousand flickering voices. 14[23:00] * Quits: mugobbles (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: "What's going to happen when you call him?" 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer looks past Lis at the door Van Camp fled through, and his face falls into distaste. "Takes all sorts," he says. 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "He's one of us, and I can't rightly turn him out. You see this?" he says, gesturing around again. "Past Stan, and Marta in the theater, this is all of us." [23:05] 4Lis just nods and thinks about tomorrow night for a moment. Then: "A fine number, for getting by." [23:05] <@Ferrinus> "Probably good, right?" 12Nick says. "Like, it'd make it easier." [23:05] 6Anna: "I don't know. Probably the thing I don't like." 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: "But you're going to do it anyway." [23:06] 6Anna: "I can't just..." 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer: "So! I get the sense you're curious, and I am too." 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> He throws his arms wide in a gesture of friendship. "Who wants to fight?" 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch headbutts Nick. [23:07] 4Lis grins at Nicholas and steps back. 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: "I'm just saying... that sounds pretty brave to me." 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "Not like something you'd expect someone beating herself up over what a coward she is to do." [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick flexes his fingers. "Fight who?" 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer is already back in the ring. He cleared the four feet and change between the floor and the ring with a single smooth jump. [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12What's Luna say the score is? [23:12] 4Lis, meanwhile, is going to go looking for a pair of hammers, and something to wrap the heads with so they don't hurt too bad. Out of courtesy. [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Hmm. Well... well, he's seen tougher. Nick squares his jaw, crouches slightly, and matches Dwyer's jump almost exactly. [23:13] 6Anna: "It's not brave to clean up the horrible mess you made. Except it's not even getting cleaned up, it's just, teaching the mess to wander around of its own accord and hopefully clean itself up." [23:13] <@Ferrinus> "Okay," 12says Nick, rolling his shoulders and looking up at the man. "Okay. Rules?" [23:14] 4Lis is also wondering if any of these humans are here to be blood dolls for the fighters, or if they're just watching and betting. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12As the man answers, Nick kicks his sneakers off and tosses peeled-off socks after 'em. Maybe he should've done that before actually hopping up there, but it's too late now. 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: "You don't have to do it. But you are doing it. I think you should give yourself a little credit for that." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer limbers up. "You got a pulse, my friend?" [23:15] 3Reuben: 1“Don’t hold that against him! He’s a good kid!" [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Yeah, but I'm tough." [23:15] 4Is Reuben in the corner for Nicholas in this fight? [23:16] 4If not, Lis will get up there. 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer: "Is there any magic to you?" [23:17] 6Anna: "If I'm doing the right thing, then why does it still feel sad?" [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Well, you could say- aww, what the hell. Werewolf." 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: "Do you think it's supposed to feel bad to do the right thing? I don't know if you ever got treated for your Catholicism." [23:17] 3Reuben will cheer from the sidelines so Lis can be the Mickey and Reuben can be the Paulie. [23:17] 4Lis grins. [23:18] 4And leans over the top rope. 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer claps. "Ha! It's been a long time. A long, long time. Here's the offer I give to everyone steps into the ring with me. I fight with as many hands free as you do. Do you follow?" [23:18] 4He's taken off his collar and his shirt, leaving just his tanktop undershirt. His tattoos are visible again: on his left arm, a burning scorpion coiled around a cross. On his right, the Virgin Mary holding poisonous snakes in each hand and smiling beatifically. 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Lis gets the sense that, at this moment, the crowd is thinner than it'd be for a proper fight. Everyone in here knows what this place is and who it's for. That said, they've all got their eyes on the ring now. [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "...yeah. Yeah, no, I'm - I don't wanna start rippin' and tearin', here." 12He just limbers his wrists and balls his fists before stretching his fingers some more. "It's hard to stop." [23:20] 4If he does fight, then, he'll top off upstairs. Out of respect. 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer: "Then we'll fight as men do. No more, and no less." 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> He puts up his dukes. [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Cool." 12He mirrors the motion, draws a breath- [23:21] 4Lis, to Dwyer: "No disrespect." 4To Nicholas: "Kick his ass." [23:22] 3Reuben looks around the room for a folding chair he can pass to Nick, if needs be. [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Okay, maybe men, fighting as men do, don't jump quite that far across the ring in one go, but this guy's got the height and reach advantage so it's basically fair. Nick's flying forward immediately, one fist drawn back pretty much exactly as it would be in a comic book panel! [23:24] 4Lis is still looking into the hammer question. Just in case that's a thing that has to happen. 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer sees it coming a mile away, but Nick's agility catches him off guard and the sharp jab meant for him cuts through empty air. [23:27] 6Anna grins. "They tried! It's incurable." [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Huh, this guy's f-WOAH okay he's fast but HAH got ow-ow-ow. Nick's so excited to manage to land what feels like it'll be a solid body blow that he doesn't notice he's allowed one of Dwyer's own through - what might've been a solid punch is cut short by a counterstrike that actually sends the werewolf sliding backwards a couple feet. [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12On Nick, of course, bruises vanish about as fast as they appear. He mutters something like "alright okay-" 12to himself and is immediately back in! [23:29] 4Lis hits Nicholas's turnbuckle rhythmically as he takes the punch, then claps as he gets back in the fight. [23:30] 4Ooh. 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> The bigger man is in continuous motion, rolling out of Nick's body blow before Nick takes a hit to the chest with the speed of a snakebite. That might've broken a human's collarbone. [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick spins sideways through the air, not at all on purpose, but bounces up from the fall. Okay, this guy's fast, too fast, if Nick can just - hah! Got him by the shirt- [23:34] 4He's got to control the tempo, keep the fight-- "Yes. Yes!" 4There you go. There you go. 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Alisa reads of the time it came to her to seek the Fairy Aurora's council. But Alisa is haughty and fearless, she reads herself having written and still knows it to be true. So she took the form of a hundred crows and rose from the mountains to the sky to sing with Aurora together. In that moment, Alisa recalls, the Fairy Aurora confided to her. 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: "You know what I think? I think if you're going to do a good thing, you should feel good about it. Instead of feeling bad about the better thing you didn't do." [23:39] 6Anna: "Yeah. Yeah!" 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> j n: "Here's the thing, see. You can just... you don't have to pull that good out of something else, you know?" 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "You're just making it out of nothing." 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "Compassion isn't a zero sum game." 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer shakes Nick off like a bad case of fleas. His hands move forward as his body goes backward, an exercise in propulsion. He gets Nick in the face, and for the briefest moment, Nick is down. [23:44] 4Fuck! [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick soars backwards through the air pretty much as far as he initially jumped, turning through around five forty degrees so as to actually come sliding, face down, to a stop inches from Lis. [23:45] 4Lis crouches down. "Up, young man. Up." 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer: "He's got heart. Sometimes that's enough." [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick folds his arms, pushes - collapses. It's only a moment later that he gasps, shoulders violently at the ring floor to turn himself onto his back, and then scrambles upward as though clawing his way up the air itself. [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Bruises along his arms and collar are fading to nothing, and a trickle of blood down from his nose is visibly going dry, even as he points a shaking arm at the local top vampire. "I'm not- I still-" 12He wheezes. "Gimme a minute." [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick swallows and rolls his head painfully from one side to another. There are more popping sounds than there should be. "Few minutes." 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Jim Dwyer looks past Nick, at Lis: "Is whatever took your caravan apart following you here?" [23:48] 4Lis looks him over. It's not time to stop the fight...not yet. [23:48] 4Off-hand: "They're dead or fled." [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick leans back against the ropes as he wipes his face with the back of a hand. He frowns down at the blood, wonders if he should have a towel or something, and ultimately just licks it away. 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer cracks his neck, and the bruises Nick's fist left in his body flush away. [23:50] 4Lis: "And I'm sure we'll be gone before they're keen on resuming that chase." [23:50] <@Ferrinus> "Nice... though. Nice. And I was healing and all." 12Nick clears his throat again. "Not on - I mean, it's automatic, you know? So, I'll be fine in just a bit, don't worry about anything." [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Phew. Shit." 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "Black Alisa," confided the Fairy Aurora. "The hearts of men are inadequate. They can't love as we do, and their world is so much smaller for it. You may know this, or you may not, but once you have accepted it in your heart there is nothing you will not do. The throat of Heaven will bare itself to your teeth." [23:53] 7It's so... so true! [23:53] 3Reuben shouts at Nick: 1“You okay in there, buddy? Do you need some snackums?” 3Reuben waves a ziplock of beef jerky he keeps in his jacket for such occasions. [23:53] 4Christ, Reuben. [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Fine, I'm fine! I could- I bet I- just a bit, okay." 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> And of course, in this moment, Alisa knows what her measure would have been of Bojan's mysteries at the height of her power. So what? He has had time and desperation that she discarded rightfully. He may know something she does not. But he won't forever. There is nothing he or anyone else can do that she could not, if she wished it. Not in this. Not in her place of power. [23:59] 3Reuben tosses the kid some beef and hopes he catches it with his mouth. Session Time: Thu May 07 00:00:00 2015 [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12He would if he were on all fours, but as is Nick's just using his hands. He gnaws manfully on some beef jerky while he waits for his own flesh to knit, eventually climbing down from the ring and taking a seat nearby it. [00:00] 7What is the greatest place of power but one's own soul? Those fifty years asleep weren't something that just happened to her- she needs to remember that she spent them, on purpose, hammering her living essence on the anvil of her will. [00:01] What is a legally registered non-profit organization compared to that? Bureaucracy. Taxes. Meetings. [00:01] 7What is a legally registered non-profit organization compared to that? Bureaucracy. Taxes. Meetings. [00:01] 7Oh, she feels better now. There's nothing like a story about how smart and great you are to perk you up a bit. [00:02] 4Oh well. Lis will head upstairs and find some kid in a corner who wants to ask questions about his tattoos. He'll feel the stigmata close as he feeds modestly, leaving him dozing safely in a corner -- and he'll point him out to the bouncers before he heads back down. His expectation is the bouncers will take care of him, maybe comp him a couple sodas or something to boost his blood [00:02] 4sugar, and make sure he doesn't get robbed or worse for his trouble. [00:02] 4He'd be displeased to discover otherwise. 11[00:06] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu May 07 00:06:11 2015 Session Start: Thu May 07 00:06:11 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[00:26] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[00:26] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[00:26] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[00:26] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[00:26] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[00:26] * Quits: mugsy (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[00:26] * Joins: mugobbles 14[00:44] * Joins: Crion_ 14[00:44] * Joins: ddt_ 14[00:44] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 09[00:44] * ddt_ is now known as ddt 14[00:45] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[00:50] * Joins: ddt 14[01:46] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[02:42] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[02:49] * Quits: mugobbles (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[02:55] * Joins: mugobbles 14[02:56] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:02] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[03:26] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[03:26] * Quits: mugobbles (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[03:32] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[03:33] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 09[03:34] * mattbaby_ is now known as mattbaby 14[03:48] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[04:26] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 09[05:25] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[06:13] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[06:26] * Joins: Crion_ 14[06:37] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[06:46] * Joins: ddt 14[06:47] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[07:32] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[07:32] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[07:32] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 11[08:22] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu May 07 08:22:00 2015 Session Start: Thu May 07 08:22:00 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[08:22] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[08:22] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[08:22] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[08:22] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[08:22] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[08:33] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[09:19] * Joins: ddt 14[09:31] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[09:35] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[10:19] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[10:23] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[10:27] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[11:12] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[11:16] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[11:17] * Joins: mugobbles 14[11:17] * Quits: mugobbles (Client Quit) 14[11:17] * Joins: mugobbles 14[11:22] * Joins: Crion_ 15[11:56] <@VoxPVoxD> https://scontent-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/10403548_757459811016447_1161581275953468836_n.jpg?oh=cdd6a708861047c6ab90cc2314899303&oe=55CF6064 nomadgame [11:59] lol 14[12:26] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:28] * Quits: mugobbles (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[12:28] * Joins: mugobbles 15[12:40] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/9fEZVpp.png nomadgame 04[12:57] what is mage | a vignette was suggested 15[12:58] <@VoxPVoxD> it was! 15[12:58] <@VoxPVoxD> when would you be free for it [12:58] now; also, parts of tomorrow and of the day after [12:59] (separate parts, i'm not somehow mystically combining those two days) 15[12:59] <@VoxPVoxD> I am free now, though my friday's pretty well taken up 15[12:59] <@VoxPVoxD> I'm also free all day/morning saturday 15[12:59] <@VoxPVoxD> such that I could wake up early [12:59] hmm. premises.. [13:00] actually premises might be the keyword since we actually possess some [13:00] though of course cross is happy to be apologised to anywhere, any time [13:01] generally she looks forward with interest to finding out how random people may have wronged her 15[13:01] <@VoxPVoxD> lol [13:02] what if.. we flashed forward from the flashforward 15[13:03] <@VoxPVoxD> that could work [13:03] a debrief debrief [13:04] <@Ferrinus> i'm not sure if i SHOULD try the flash forward thing. although i guess if you're all in the same scene it'd be easier for us to just ask you what you did, although i'd imagined different pcs talking to different people 15[13:04] <@VoxPVoxD> what's the argument against the flash forward thing [13:05] you should, and therefore we should act to lock it in 11[13:05] <@Ferrinus> if like, paracelsus is talking to gabriel, and cross is talking to cyrus, they sort of both have to ask you what happened simultaneously and you might have to negotiate it ooc before replying. maybe that's fine..? [13:05] forcing your future-past hand. unless you used even more advanced narration techniques like a skip or w/e 15[13:06] <@VoxPVoxD> what if we just gave conflicting accounts, rashomon-style [13:06] http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/megacity-640x427.jpeg the tumbler's influence on building codes [13:06] <@Ferrinus> this owuld technically be in keeping with the paradoxical nature of the tumbler 11[13:13] 6When Paracelsus at last returns from the Mysterium and his own chores, Cross is also arriving at 12b. She opens the door from the exterior stair at the same moment he steps out of the elevator - showing off, probably. [13:14] 6Millicent - as the necromancer must by now have surmised her to be - looks like she's pondering something, with a slightly chewed lip and a thick file under one jacket arm. 15[13:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus shuffles in in his plain gray suit. He looks like a man who's been with whatever company this is supposed to be for decades, serving ably and without distinction. There's still a hitch of Stygia in his step; he looks so frail. So terribly old. "Good afternoon. Are you busy?" 14[13:16] * Joins: hrolfy [13:18] 6The sanctum at the top of the Streber building does look 'corporate', at least this foyer.. but if you go farther in you'll find strange labs, half-finished apartments, and the mascot's clockwork nest. [13:19] 6Cross herself seems fine. No more tired than she was at the start of the whole affair at the bank, and a bit invigorated by the Silver Ladder's debrief. "Not anymore! Not yet." 14[13:22] * Joins: ddt 15[13:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus nods. "Could I have a word?" [13:25] 6Cross: "Of course!" 6She hasn't really got an office here yet, just a workspace.. what they need is some kind of a lounge. There's a few chairs, at least. [13:25] "Let's go and.. the long room with the exterior window?" 15[13:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Lead on." 14[13:28] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) [13:28] 6Juggling the file into one hand, Cross picks up a sofa from the foyer with the other and heads through the one exit that has room for a woman with a couch over her head. "It's going to be a whole, who-gets-the-corner-room thing.. so let's just annex it for the cabal. We could have a snack machine, space invaders.." 15[13:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus's face betrays no reaction to someone lifting a couch one-handed and carrying it across an office building. "Metaphorical space invaders?" [13:33] 6This isn't someone. This is Millicent Rhodes. The arrow's Increasing Strength Technique is one they teach quite freely, on the ideological basis that all good pentacle citizens should get swole. [13:33] "Like, an arcade machine in a bar. I keep imagining.. more people here. We've got room, and it'd be great to have help." 14[13:35] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Read error: Connection timed out) 14[13:35] * Joins: autopsyturvey 15[13:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "It'd be a real feather in our cap, too, building that kind of infrastructure." [13:38] "Oddly, that's something we need." 6Cross turns the sofa sideways, gets it into the big room with plenty of light.. it's pretty bare but at least they can sit and chat, and look: cinderblocks to put her stuff down on! [13:38] "You'd think that the way the bank run went would have us getting medals, right? And sure, some people are happy, but it's also.. complicated, now." 14[13:40] * Joins: hrolf 15[13:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus will sit once the sofa is settled. "I owe you an apology," 10he says. 14[13:43] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) [13:46] 6Cross looks surprised. Thoughts pass her face, far more visible than they were to the Ladder high-ups earlier.. what does the old man have to apologise for? Has he decided she was right about needing to hurry, back when they'd entered the sidescraper? [13:47] 6That can't be it. When Gerry decides he's in the right, he's thought about it, and doesn't just change his mind. She kind of admires that, but then what's the apology for..? 15[13:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I've been thoughtless towards you, in a very particular way. You remember when we got into the Tumbler through the bank, and we were looking up at the core? We had a disagreement about method and urgency." [13:48] "Oh!" 6Now she actually sounds shocked. 15[13:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I don't want to rehash that argument, and I don't want to apologize for my position. I want to apologize, instead, for not... for not having enough faith in you, that I could convince you. It was ungenerous and unfair." 15[13:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "I shouldn't treat you like an obstacle. It's beneath you, and it's beneath me." 15[13:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "And I should, in turn... let you try to convince me." 11[13:52] 6Cross looks at Paracelsus, really properly looks like you do at friends rather than the.. masses, and sees again how much the last few efforts in the disasteroid cost him. [13:52] "Let me put it this way. You're more likely to convince me of something than most people would be." 15[13:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He wears his wounds with quiet dignity. He doesn't regret what he did. He regrets acting as if he expected to have to do it alone. 15[13:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "And vice-versa." [13:56] "It's not that people, generally, aren't worthwhile- they're the thing and the whole of the thing. And while they can be uninformed or unintelligent they're pretty good at looking out for what actually matters to them! But I know you know.. relevant things, about what we do and who we are." [13:56] 6Cross delivers the ultimate compliment: "We're a team." 15[13:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus does too. "You have a good heart." [14:01] "I don't know. Thanks, but the way things ended up with grey_fox.. I felt like he got off easy. I wanted to say something to them, it was like everything he'd done didn't matter.." [14:02] 6Cross: "That would have been wrong, putting punishment before anything that actually helps anyone. But I wanted to." 15[14:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "It's an understandable sentiment. And I don't think you're wrong to have it. But you can sense, too, the limitations of that position." 15[14:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "What do you make of the idea of justice?" [14:04] "That's a big idea!" 15[14:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "It is." [14:05] "It's somehow bigger than, like, storming heaven and retaking humanity's birthright. That's just obvious. Justice is cultural." 15[14:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus nods. "Do you know the name Eddie Mays?" [14:09] 6Cross: "High school. He was the last guy they- we executed here." [14:10] "That's not justice. It might be efficiency, or prevention.. it might just be vengeance." 15[14:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "That's what I think too. There's something of the character of vengeance, in how we were raised to think of justice. And there's something of the machine as well. Something impersonal. Something of the Loom, if you follow." [14:13] 6Cross shakes her heaid. "Not how I was raised." [14:13] "I didn't say 'they' to abjure the past. When I was growing up, the death penalty was *really* political. Like, on purpose. They were proud of it." 15[14:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus nods. 15[14:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "What do you make of that?" [14:14] "It was more like the Prism: an advanced creature living in the organs of a primitive one. All mom and dad's friends were totally convinced that they were saving civilisation." [14:15] "Justice in Salis- in Harare- it was to set you on the straight and narrow. The point of it was to correct a child, from a stern parent." 15[14:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "But which child?" [14:20] 6Cross: "Well, I empathised for the wrong reasons!" [14:21] "So that justice- the thing is, they weren't wrong. By the standards of the people who'd made the country what it was, they were trying to save something which would otherwise collapse. They failed, and it did." [14:21] "However." [14:21] "There was a larger culture, a larger problem- the whole regime of colonisation. An injustice, by a different standard." [14:21] "But so large it rendered what happened to them irrelevant." [14:24] "Um. So, that's a problem with trying to consider justice- you can, literally, be just and unjust at the same time, there's no way to win. All the philosophies of justice that make any sense have to take that into account. I've only heard two that do it and they're mutually exclusive, soooo" [14:25] 6Cross trails off, nimbus subdued. 15[14:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "The question I come back to, when I think about these things, is this: who is justice for? Is it for the victim, so that they can receive recompense and catharsis? Is it for the perpetrator, so that they can be corrected? Is it for the bystander, the witness, the potential future victim, to hold back the things that might hurt them?" 15[14:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "Or is it for the arbiter." 15[14:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "For the agent of justice, who comes to own the conflict and all its consequences." [14:30] 6Nodding: "That's the question at the heart of restorative justice. It's a left-wing idea they're trying out in anarchist groups and colleges. One of the two ideas I meant. The idea is, who can a process of justice actually help? And how to direct it to that end." 15[14:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I'd never heard that term before. You said you knew two, and they were mutually exclusive. What's the other?" [14:32] 6Cross went to the kind of would-be-Ivy-if-they-had-academic-standards where you can get a literal Classics degree in the literal year 2000. Philosophy of justice is not a new topic, although she still finds it too big. 15[14:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus has most of a PhD in Chemistry and a Masters in Education. What he has over Millicent Rhodes, however, is a lot of free time. [14:33] "Historical materialism. You can reconcile the different justices and subjects of justice by recourse to the greatest good. What's the long term effect, the final analysis, the political-economic result." [14:33] 6Also about 60-100 years' life experience. 15[14:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A rough estimate. [14:34] 6Cross: "Also left wing, but that's cultural change again. The same student groups who once talked bright-eyed about the justice of the mob now care deeply for individuals!" 14[14:36] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:37] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 15[14:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus chuckles. "So it is. And of course, it's just not as easy as it used to be to get up in arms like they did back then. It gets harder every year. People my age - a little younger than I am, truthfully - like to talk about how young people don't have the fire they used to. But when you ask them why, they never talk about how much harder it is." 15[14:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "How much harder we make it for ourselves and for the people we're leaving the world to." [14:39] "We've got better and better technology for keeping things from changing..." [14:41] 6Cross glances at the file she brought from the meeting with the Thearchs. "Do you think Francis Fukuyama is an agent of the Seers of the Throne?" 15[14:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I think anyone who hasn't dedicated their lives to fighting them is their agent. That's the simple fact of it. Inertia. The tidings of the machine." 14[14:44] * Joins: hrolf 15[14:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "And I think, if you lapse or falter in that struggle, you end up treading the same path. I think that's what happened to grey_fox." 15[14:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "He's a dangerous man, a mortal threat to many good people. But he's also... deeply sick, in a way that we're developing the ability to heal." 15[14:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "But it is a struggle, isn't it. To heal, to be healed, and to tolerate that healing." [14:47] 6Cross: "No way." She jumps up from the sofa and strides to the long window. There's a city out there, a backdrop and an example. "All these people are living a Lie but they're living. They do the best they can. Their perceptions are conscripted against us- against themselves, but it's a detail. A fact. It isn't a fatal flaw." [14:47] "Banishers can't help what they are, but.. have I told you about S-M?" 14[14:48] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 15[14:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Not much. I think you mentioned that he works for you." [14:50] 6Cross: "He'd say 'works with'. Or 'is the humble lackey of'. Anyway, he's a sleeper.. we did tests.. but he's capable of understanding around the edges of the magic. He can't hold the wrongness in his mind but he knows I can do weird, useful stuff. He's been *part* of spells, and of course that makes them fight back but if you hold it down then it works in the end." [14:51] "Saint-Michael Fox is a smart guy. The other fox maybe isn't. And it's got to be worse to feel the wrongness coming from you, sure. But we've all heard the stories of ex-banishers." 15[14:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "It's my undertstanding that 'ex-Banisher' is most commonly a euphemism for a dead Banisher." [14:57] 6Cross: [14:58] 6Cross: "Maybe our orders get different legends. Have you heard the name Marasmus?" 15[14:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I haven't." [15:01] "He was a banisher syndrome sufferer in New York who went legit, got shocked into recognising what he was doing. The guy did have problems later, magic explosions or whatever, but he successfully hid his past until it came out for unrelated reasons. I know the Council say their way is the only scientific whatever, but they're.. geeks with a fixation. It's a way. I hope." 15[15:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I think it is possible to live the life of a Marasmus instead of a grey_fox. I don't think the way we treat these issues now accomodates that. I think we occupy a world that produces more grey_foxes than Marasmuses. And I think the ultimate cause is structural." 15[15:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "We are, and we must be, I suppose, on a wartime footing." [15:06] 6Cross leans on the windowsill, her face nearly up against the glass. "How do we avoid all being soldiers?" 15[15:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I think, if we don't want to commit ourselves to a life lived through the lens of war, we have to be willing to admit for ourselves an end beyond victory." 15[15:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "We'd have to want something that we couldn't properly call 'winning'." 15[15:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Which is a very difficult idea to wrap our heads around, I think." 14[15:12] * Joins: hrolfie [15:13] 6Cross: "It's not hard to approximate it by looking less than all the way to victory. You can focus on building what you can, now, here." [15:13] "Question is, what's the gap between that and what will be ultimately worthwhile?" [15:14] "Is judging what's worth building less difficult than justice?" 15[15:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I think at heart they're the same work." 15[15:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "Justice is a statement of the way we should treat one another. It's the foundation of the society we'd like to see ourselves living in." 14[15:15] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [15:16] 6Cross turns around. "That's not bad. It even admits outlying positions like 'I intend to transcend society and research the cosmos in my wizard tower'- this becomes a rejection of external justice justified by having no intent to impose it. Enoch the libertarian." 15[15:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "The dragon's liberty. Freedom-from." [15:19] 6Cross: "Ugh!" 15[15:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Mmm." 15[15:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "What a petty aim for so grand a soul." [15:19] "That was one of the questions they asked me- whether the Prism's freedom was worth the threat to ours." 15[15:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "What did you say?" [15:20] "I said 'apparent freedom' and tapped the side of my nose." 6She demonstrates. It's a gesture so meaningful that it looks like a mudra. 15[15:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus smiles. "True enough, as it goes." [15:24] "Did you get any shit about, like, responsible artifact extraction or paradox diving?" 6Cross bets they were more concerned with The Eye. 15[15:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "They were very keen to know everything I could tell them about Jen's prophecy, even though it was at her expense." [15:30] 6Cross: "Funny to think that there's someone up there just doing a somewhat larger version of Cyrus, and that's enough to get you worshipped by people who should know better." 15[15:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "It's a very unchallenging way to think of power. To always believe that there's another office, one more floor up, with an even nicer desk." [15:35] "They're so unambitious! Why should we dehumanise ourselves and face all that bloodshed just because we're less powerful right now? If you're going to to look for monstrous superior beings, the archons and the fae are right there." 14[15:36] * Joins: hrolf [15:38] 6Not that we've got a desk at all, in here. "Speaking of which, this room could use less stygia and more aether. What do you think of shag pile?" 15[15:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Are we going to have to take our shoes off?" [15:39] "..not once we've studied the Matter arcanum and laid down some runes." 14[15:40] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 15[15:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Then I think it could be nice. We're still low on furniture - what's the aesthetic supposed to be?" [15:44] 6Cross: "I'm building a run with some time warps for the little guy to swarm around in. Arrian mentioned something about a room that was bigger on the inside than the outside, and running Ethernet through the ceilings.. what we've got so far is 70s railings and fixtures. Is there anything that ties together clockwork and brass with modern technology?" 15[15:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "The Tumbler." [15:45] "Aesthetic: you don't know where any of the corridors lead and they're filled with sand." 15[15:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Good point. That wouldn't play well with shag carpeting." [15:50] "Nor would the static electricity. Okay, I'll get a decorator in and tell her the rune anchors are plaques from when the building was founded upside-down." 14[15:57] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 09[16:01] * banana is now known as banana|peels [16:19] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/Ys4gSx4.png 14[16:46] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[17:27] * Quits: mugobbles 14[17:27] * Joins: mugobbles 14[17:29] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[17:41] * Joins: ddt 14[18:09] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[18:11] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:25] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:00] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[19:19] * Joins: ddt 14[19:21] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[19:36] * Quits: mugobbles 14[19:36] * Joins: mugobbles 14[20:29] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[20:37] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[20:53] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[20:53] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[23:40] * Joins: Quaker Session Time: Fri May 08 00:00:00 2015 09[00:21] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[00:46] * Quits: mugobbles (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[00:46] * Joins: mugobbles 14[00:57] * Joins: ddt 14[01:19] * Quits: mugobbles 14[01:21] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[01:21] * Joins: dammitwho 14[01:32] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:34] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[01:37] * Joins: dammitwho 14[01:55] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:56] * Joins: dammitwho 14[02:17] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[02:30] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[02:38] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:39] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[02:54] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: mattbaby_) 14[03:23] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[03:59] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[08:18] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[08:28] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[08:29] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[08:34] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[09:10] * Joins: dammitwho 14[09:10] * Quits: dammitwho (Client Quit) 14[12:16] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:37] * Joins: mugobbles 14[14:58] * Joins: Crion_ 11[15:38] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri May 08 15:38:29 2015 Session Start: Fri May 08 15:38:29 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[15:38] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[15:38] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[15:38] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[15:38] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 14[15:40] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[15:47] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Quit: Leaving) 14[15:47] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[16:26] * Joins: mugsy 14[16:29] * Quits: mugobbles (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 11[16:31] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri May 08 16:31:20 2015 Session Start: Fri May 08 16:31:20 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[16:31] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[16:31] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[16:31] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[16:31] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[16:31] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[17:33] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[17:52] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[18:45] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:04] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[20:01] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD> http://cdn2.bigcommerce.com/server500/3d0a7/products/508/images/2407/webredress_april_160110__38011.1405463730.1280.1280.png?c=2 nomadgame [20:22] Giving you your pizza party! 14your eternal pizza party 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> ^^^^^ [20:26] <@Ferrinus> Giving you your pizza party! your eternal pizza party [20:26] <@Ferrinus> weird, why weren't the color codes preserved 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD> <@Ferrinus> Giving you your pizza party! 14your eternal pizza party 04[20:27] <@Ferrinus> they were in vox's quote of my quote - but wait the names are in the wrong order 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> indeed. [20:27] <@Ferrinus> there's some sort of eleven dimension psyop going on here 04[20:27] <@Ferrinus> Giving you your pizza party! 14your eternal pizza party [20:28] <@Ferrinus> i can't handle this - that's what i'd say if i couldn't handle this [20:36] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/vUhUlKz.jpg [20:50] Keelayjams ‏@keelayjams 2h2 hours ago [20:50] That thing you do when you drive by a cop and flip him off but your hand is down low by the door speaker. Yeah. Oh jesus christ fuck yes. 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> same [20:54] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/XZuH8gf.jpg 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> arrian...! 11[21:00] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri May 08 21:00:21 2015 Session Start: Fri May 08 21:00:21 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[21:01] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[21:01] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[21:01] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[21:01] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 14[21:01] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by VoxPoxVD))) 09[21:01] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[21:01] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[21:29] * Joins: Nicolae 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's sitting on his couch, still dressed, holding his phone in both hands, thumbs resting lightly on the keyboard as he prepares to shoot Leisurely a text. 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He types and discards a half dozen different messages. He's not sure what to say here. It's still weird. Why is it so weird? [22:01] 3Maja's sitting in her office, scrolling through her sister's pictures on facebook. She hasn't spoken to her in years, but she knows every detail about her life that is possible to glean from social media. [22:02] 3She has plenty of work to do, but she is just Not in the Goddamn Mood to do any of it. 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He backs out and switches to the newest entry in his address book.  [22:03] 3Her head has been spinning since the meeting in the Bishop's office. She has no idea what it all means for her. 08[22:06] 3Rollie's name pops up in her phone and she feels a pang of anxiety. Not becaue Rollie himself scares her, but after her meeting with him the night before, she couldn't help but feel like everything in her life was shifting. 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 11[22:08] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri May 08 22:08:20 2015 Session Start: Sat May 09 00:00:00 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[00:05] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[00:05] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[00:05] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[00:05] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[00:05] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[00:11] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[00:11] * Joins: dammitwho 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie shows up at the appointment he totally made instead of insanely flaking out on it like it might seem he did. It's the next night, and he's feeling, if not better, at least even. He texted ahead -  10- and is showing up at Maja's office on time. What does Maja's office actually look like? [00:21] Maja's sitting in her chair. There's a couch adjacent to her. There are a couple of plants hanging around the room. A few of her sculptures are placed on the bookshelf, and one on the table in the middle of the room- they're all human figures. She has a file cabinet, with a magnet on it that says, "What if the hokey pokey IS what it's all about??" 08[00:23] 3She texts Rollie back. 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie'll knock before entering. "Hey." [00:25] 3Maja actually stands up to answer the door, rather than just calling him in. Seems appropriate for some reason. "Hey there. Come in. How are you?" [00:25] 3She assumes he can figure out he's supposed to take the couch. 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's dressed like he was last time, business casual with slacks and a belt and a button-down. He shaved. After Halloween the effort began an unconscious expression of a desire for normalcy. After talking to Maja he's very conscious that he's doing it on purpose. He'll sit on the couch after closing the door behind him. "Pretty good, pretty good. You?" [00:28] "Pretty good, myself. It's been a pretty hectic couple days, but everything's copacetic. Tell me what's going on in Rollieland." [00:28] 3Maja's a little struck that she's already talking at him so ridiculously, but I suppose they DID go through some tough times together already. 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie grins at the word 'copacetic'. "Man. I got, like, nothing done yesterday." 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "Just-" 10He mimes something going up in smoke. "Gone. I feel okay right now, though." [00:31] 3Maja notices the grin. And the feint smell of marijuana, which makes his last comment a little more ambiguous. "What happened?" 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I wanted to call her." [00:36] 3Maja tries to recall the name he used the other day. "Leisurely?" 3She's pretty sure that's right. Weird name, but weird names are the usual in VampWorld. Not many "Steve"s around. 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Leis, yeah. She's kind of... I don't know my sire, I haven't seen her since. Leis is the closest I got." 10He gives Maja a look that can only be described as commiserating. 08[00:40] 3Maja's notices Rollie's look, recalling the end of their last session. She wonders how much he knows about that. "She certainly seems to mean a lot to you." 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...what do you mean?" 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's a surprisingly defensive question. 08[00:42] 3Maja is surprised at Rollie's reaction. It seeemed like a pretty straight forward statement. "Well, just that you've spoken about her a lot. Not an abnormal amount- just- about the amount you'd expect to hear someone talk about someone who is important to them." [00:43] 3This was, she knew, a completely obnoxious answer. 15[00:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I mean, maybe we spent too much time together, early on. There was a long time where she was the only other vampire I knew. So I just sort of- yeah. Yeah, she's important to me." [00:46] 3Maja:"What did you want to talk to her about?" 15[00:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks away. 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "...coil stuff." 15[00:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's not... untrue. [00:48] 3Interesting. Should she push it? Hm. Probably too early for that. "Ah. Well, what kept you from calling then?" 15[00:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Mostly just, the last time we talked it didn't end well. And I know her space means a lot to her so I didn't want to push it. But now it's kind of, weird, you know?" [00:49] "Weird how?" 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "We never had a fight like that. It's weird to even call it a fight, it just got really tense, you know? We were both wound up and frustrated and we sort of, like. It was going to be a fight but we aren't really, uh. Fighters. So instead we just... left." [00:53] 3Maja: "You both withdrew. And so there's still unresolved tension, but neither of you wants to initiate." 15[00:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Also, uh. I feel like I'd have to tell her about you. And that was weird too." 15[00:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah." [00:54] 3Whoa. "Why do you feel like you'd have to tell her about me?" [00:54] "... and why would that be weird?" 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie hesitates. 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "Okay, well, for the first thing." 15[00:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "She's not just- like she's the reason I'm in the Ordo Dracul in the first place. She's the one that got me thinking I needed something more than- that I could get back what I missed. That I could... fuckin. I don't know. That I could be mindful of a better version of myself." 15[00:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "So this thing, this is. This is part of that. Right now it's a really big part of that." [00:56] 3Maja nods. 15[00:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't think I could not tell her." [00:56] 3Okay. So why weird? 15[00:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie'll let the second half of the question hang in the air for a little while. As soon as Maja goes to break the silence, the words'll spill out. "Does this feel like therapy to you?" 15[00:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "Cause it's not... what I pictured." 15[00:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "And it's weird." 15[00:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's not BAD. But." 15[00:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's weird." [00:58] 3Maja freezes. Welp, I guess enough of that pretext. But wait, no, this guy actually needs help. Hold on. HOLD ON. Hold on. [00:59] "I must admit that this has felt pretty different. I mean, the entire context is very unusual for me, absolutely. It feels like ... more level playing field than usual. I mean ... er." [00:59] "Hm." [01:00] "There's a lot going on with ... this." 3Maja circles her hands in the air. 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie laughs suddenly. 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "I just thought of something." [01:00] 3Startled again!!! "Yes???" 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "I realized, if I was having, you know, a Moment. With Malkavia. If I was in the middle of that right now, I'd know exactly what to say here." 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'd say, 'every map is blank'." [01:01] 3Maja sits silently for a minute to let that soak in. "Can you elaborate?" 15[01:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What I'd be trying to say is, like. This isn't how it's supposed to work. I got, like. I got dragged to this, because I was too fucked up to help Ruby. And then we get in the office, and they fuckin, they threatened you." 15[01:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "They threatened you, and then they made me tell you all this shit." 15[01:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "And it's like." [01:04] "It's like we were both thrown into this." 15[01:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "How are we supposed to see each other, here? In what sense are you a guide for me, that you can't say in a different sense that I'm a guide for you?" 15[01:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "Exactly! Fuckin, exactly. We're both thrown into this. And we're both lost." 15[01:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "Every map is blank." 15[01:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "You see what I mean, with the signal?" [01:05] 3Maja sits back and lets that sink in. He has a pretty fucking good goddamn point with that. [01:05] "Just ... give me a second to think about this, please." 15[01:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie has a bit more to say. "How am I supposed to explain this? What words do I even use? How fucked up is it that the explanation would come to me more easily if I was crazy than when I'm not?" 15[01:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "So that's why it's weird." 15[01:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Now he'll be silent. [01:07] 3Maja listens to the rest and remains silent for some time longer. She doesn't want to just react to what he's saying, she needs to collect herself first. He's absolutely right. This is Legit Fucked Up. [01:09] 3She's always tried to facilitate a collaborative relationship with those she's counselled, and has always worked to eliminate power differentials as best she could- it has been an important principle for her in conducting these sessions. But they've never seemed to approach this level of equality before. He's absolutely right: she's just as fucking lost as he is. 08[01:11] Maja slowly looks up from her train of thought. "You know what, Rollie? I think you're right, here. We're both hella lost." 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It's kind of. I don't know what the word is. Here's what I think, though." 15[01:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "I think that this is really important. I don't want to lose this. And I don't wanna fuck it up. But at the same time, like... the therapy position is no longer viable." 15[01:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "We need to find a better way to do this." [01:13] 3Maja is confused. Maybe she isn't? Maybe she's confused about being confused? She thinks he's right, but hold on. Wait, what? "Can you ... can you elaborate?" 15[01:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Well, like. So. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but normally therapy is like... one person's the patient and one person's the doctor. And there's sort of, you know. The shit only flows one way." 15[01:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "But that's not going to work here. That's- it's an injustice to how lost you are. To the fact that, that we're both lost here." 15[01:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "So what if we just, like... I don't know." 15[01:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He shrugs. [01:17] "We thought of each other as partners?" 15[01:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...yeah." 15[01:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "I guess. That's not the word I'd use. Collaborators? No. I don't know." 15[01:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "There's a better word." [01:18] "Equals?" 15[01:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah, but there's still like- it's got to encADVENTURERS." 15[01:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's dark eyes light up. "That's it. We're, that's what this is. That's what this fuckin is. Yeah, sure, we're partners. But we're specifically, like. Lewis and Clark." 15[01:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Or whatever. Some other less goofy white dude adventuring team." [01:20] 3Maja laughs. This guy is totally absurd. Just the kind of person you'd want to have along on an adventure, I suppose. "I'll allow it." 3She grins. [01:20] "So." 15[01:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So." [01:20] "Fellow, adventurer. Where do you want to go, then?" 15[01:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Well. Can I ask you a question?" [01:23] 3Maja: "I mean ... please! It's not like I have any better ideas about how to proceed." 15[01:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So, okay. How are you feeling about all this shit? Or like, any particular part of it." 08[01:25] 3Maja: "That is a good goddamn question, Rollie. I have a lot of feelings about this. I guess I'll start with the most dominant, which is: what the fuck. So that's my first feeling." [01:25] "The second is-" 15[01:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie leans back, resisting the urge to say 'Man. Fuckin. Same.' 08[01:26] 3Maja pauses to examine Rollie's face. [01:28] "The second is: I don't know. Maybe this might not be entirely awful? Adventures can be cool, right?" 15[01:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks so relieved. "Right??" [01:28] Maja doesn't miss a beat, "The THIRD-" 14[01:28] * Joins: ddt [01:30] "The third is that, if this is happening, we need to establish some ground rules. I don't know yet what the FUCK those are, but I am pretty sure they will be crucial at some point." [01:30] "WHICH, actually-" 15[01:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Oh yeah, absolutely." 15[01:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie shuts up. [01:30] "Which brings me to the ending of our last session." [01:31] "Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not upset with you for anything. But I am curious. A lot happened that I admit that I don't understand." [01:32] "You've said some things, here and there." 15[01:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah." 15[01:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "What are you looking for, here? If I've got it I'll give it to you." [01:32] "One thing I am going to need from you is total and complete honesty." 15[01:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Without hesitation: "You've got it." [01:33] "If there are things you are uncomfortable sharing with me for reasons of privacy relating to others, that's fine." [01:33] "Just be transparent about that." [01:33] "I won't ask any further." 15[01:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie nods. [01:33] "But, I can't help but notice that you've, uh ... picked up on a few things about me." 14[01:34] * Parts: Nicolae 15[01:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...yeah. I mean, I don't know anything for sure. I haven't, uh, let myself look at you like that. But sometimes even if you're not trying, once you know how to look, you pick stuff up." 15[01:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "So do you want me to tell you what I think I've seen?" [01:35] 3Maja nods. "Yes." 14[01:35] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:35] * Joins: dammitwho 15[01:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Okay. Well, first of all, I feel like you're in the same boat I am with your sire that I am in mine, a little bit. But yours seems way worse. I'm pretty bummed about how my thing went down but... you're almost bitter." [01:37] 3Maja doesn't just laugh- she straight up cackles. 15[01:38] <@VoxPVoxD>  [01:38] "I dunno if you need malKAVIA to pick up on that." 15[01:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie laughs too, not because he thinks it's funny. But god, it's good to hear her laugh. Maja has the kind of laughter that is enriching. "Like I said, I'm trying not to point that shit at you. This is all just. Yeah." 15[01:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You're also, along with Leis, the loneliest person I've ever met." [01:40] 3Maja pauses. Well, fuck. [01:40] "That's ... huh." [01:41] 3She simply nods. What can possibly be said to that? 15[01:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "For me, from what I've noticed, there's something you and Leis are the exact same about, and something you're the exact opposite about." 15[01:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "Both of you are really, really, really scared of being misunderstood." [01:41] 3Maja cocks her head slightly to the right. [01:42] "And the difference?" 15[01:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "And the way Leis deals with that, I've learned - the hard way - is, she plays her cards real close. She only lets go a little at a time, and she's always waiting for the right moment. And the right moment never seems to come." 15[01:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "But you." 15[01:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "Man." 15[01:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "You are... super the opposite." [01:44] 3Maja holds her breath. [01:44] 3O_o 15[01:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "Like, this. This thing we're doing. There's no way this'd work if you weren't just- if you didn't just put yourself out there, whenever you felt like you had to. Whenever it felt safe." [01:45] "Huh." 15[01:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So last time, do you remember how I asked you how it felt to be seen?" 15[01:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "I... had some idea." [01:47] 3Maja holds her hand up to her face while she lets that soak in. Is that what this has felt like? Safe? Here's this fucking guy that she meets under ridiculous circumstances, learns about some secret organization that can very possibly destroy her in seconds, should they feel compelled. And yet she feels safe to be herself? Could that possibly be true? 15[01:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "I got the sense that it was really important to you - really, really important - to be seen." 15[01:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie shrugs. "Also your art is nice." 15[01:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He points at the sculptures. "These are you, right?" [01:50] 3Maja gets a little fiesty here. "Oh nuh uh, you're not just moving on like that. You just give me a little bit to catch up with you, young man." [01:50] "But yes, those are mine." 15[01:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Now it's Rollie who cocks his head. "'Young man?'" 15[01:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "Jeez, sorry, ma'am." [01:51] "Young man." [01:51] "Thank you." [01:51] "Wait, no, don't say that." 15[01:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie has been relaxing steadily since the conversation took this turn. He's almost - almost - fully himself. [01:53] Maja scrunches her face up while thinking about what to say next. [01:53] "So. Okay. So you've seen me. Okay. Alright." [01:54] "Wait, do these things come in the form of feelings? Notions? Or, like ... visions?" 15[01:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "The things I've seen?" [01:54] "Yes." 15[01:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "Like I said, this isn't anything like what it is when I try. It's not- I'm not getting visions, I can't see the colors of your soul or the movement of your enemy in the way you toss your hair. I just, like. It's like." 15[01:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "Okay." 15[01:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie takes a moment to collect his thoughts. [01:56] 3Maja's struck. 14[01:56] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 15[01:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "The ways I can see you, if I'm really trying, have shown me where to look when I'm not. My attention is drawn to things about you that I wouldn't have noticed before. And my brain is constantly working, trying to piece them together. To fill in the empty spaces. To build a narrative." [01:56] 3Have I been tossing my hair? 15[01:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Maybe Rollie was just imagining it. 15[01:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "There's no magic here." 15[01:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's just... attention." [01:57] "And so this is the same process you have with everyone else?" [01:57] "This is how you experience everyone?" 15[01:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It is now." 15[01:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "It wasn't always. Not before I died." 15[01:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "But it's been getting more and more like this." 15[01:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "This... attention." 15[01:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "You have my undivided attention." [01:58] 3Maja closes her eyes while listening and nodding. Imagining what that would be like. [02:00] "And so you decided to tell me, because you saw that in me. You saw it would be both acceptable, and even valuable." 15[02:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah. There's not a lot of people I think that's true for." 15[02:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's, kind of." 15[02:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "...just you." [02:01] 3Maja's jaw drops very, very slightly. [02:02] 3She immediately becomes concious and closes it tightly. 15[02:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie reacts like she fainted, eyes going wide. But once she recovers, he does too. [02:02] "Well." [02:03] "I'm not really sure what to make of that, to be honest." 15[02:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "Every map is blank," 10Rollie repeats. [02:06] 3Maja settles in. So, I suppose this is what it's going to be like for the next ... however long this lasts. 15[02:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "What are you thinking?" 08[02:07] "Well, Rollie. Why don't you tell me?" 15[02:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie gives her his undivided attention. 15[02:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "...I don't know." 15[02:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Should I guess?" [02:19] "Yes. Take a stab. I'm curious to see how good you are." 15[02:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Well, I think you're super confused. You've got to be, right? Past that... you're still playing along, so that says something too. But I think, to me, the main thing? Despite how confusing it is, despite how useful it might turn out to be, the main thing is... this is really fucking cool." [02:28] 3Maja slightly cocks her head to the left this time. "And how have you come to that conclusion?" 15[02:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Well, like. I couldn't get a read on you at all, right? You stonewalled me. You can be very mysterious when you want to." 15[02:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "So I took a gamble." 15[02:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "A calculated risk." 15[02:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "And the risk I took was... guessing that we're close enough on this that I could tell you how I'm feeling, and you'd see yourself in it." 15[02:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "How'd I do?" 08[02:33] 3Maja juts her chin out, forcibly turning down the corners of her mouth, as she slowly blinks at him and gently nods. But it's in effort to supress a HUGE grin, which can be detected by the lines next to her eyes. "Not bad, Rollie. Not. Bad." [02:34] "I have to say." [02:34] "You seem very different today than you were a couple days ago." 15[02:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "There's a lot of reasons for that." [02:35] "Tell me as many as you want to." 15[02:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "One is, we're not cooped up in a church surrounded by bosses anymore." 15[02:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Another is, I took a personal day. I got to recharge a little bit. Balance my checkbook." 15[02:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "A third is, this thing we're doing is really weird, and I don't know what to make of it. But it's also... it's energizing. There's like this live wire we're holding onto the ends of, and eating a thousand volts apiece. I don't know where that energy is coming from, but fuck. It feels really good." 15[02:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "Then there's-" 10He hesitates. "No, it's mostly just those three." 14[02:38] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [02:39] 3Maja's eyebrows raise. If he can admit that last one, what the hell did he hold back? "Go on ..." 15[02:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I don't want to make it weird. Is it really important that we talk about this right now?" [02:44] 3Maja is struck ... AGAIN. AGAIN, this guy flabbergasts her. Maybe she'll trust his judgment on this one. "Well. No, you don't have to tell me anything you don't want to. I was just curious." [02:45] "If, however, you feel the moment is right to share it- feel free to." 15[02:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks at Maja for a long time. He'll search for eye contact. 08[02:46] 3Maja meets Rollie's gaze, searching him right the fuck back. 15[02:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "...that's not just me, right? I'm not imagining that." 15[02:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie puts his hands up. "No." 15[02:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "Okay, no." 15[02:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "No, sorry." 15[02:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "No." 15[02:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm not-" 15[02:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "No." 15[02:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "This is..." 10He buries his face in his hands. 08[02:49] 3Maja's heart jumped a little as he asked that. "Listen, Rollie." [02:49] "Listen." 15[02:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "Look, I-" 10but when he looks up and sees her face again he falls silent. [02:50] "You're not ... you're not crazy. There's something here that is ... unusual. You're not- it's not- this isn't ..." [02:51] "You have to understand that-" 15[02:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "Look." 15[02:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "Look," [02:51] 3Maja stops. 15[02:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie draws a deep breath. He squares his shoulders. "I'm not going down that road here." 15[02:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm not gonna be that guy. No." 15[02:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "That... that's what you do instead of this." 15[02:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "This is more important." 08[02:53] "You were never in any danger of being that guy, Rollie." 15[02:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah, well. We've got different measures here." 15[02:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "Anyway." 15[02:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "I think..." [02:54] "Listen, just- now you just wait a fucking second" [02:54] "YOU just wait." 15[02:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's taken aback. 15[02:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He just waits. [02:54] "Okay. Do I have your undivided attention?" 15[02:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Always." [02:56] 3Oh. Well, now she's not really sure what to do with it. [02:56] "Okay." [02:59] 3Maja collects herself. "You're not crazy, it's there. But there are other very important things at play here. First, I am ... it's not serious yet, but I think it could eventually be- " 3 WTF? It's been 2 dates. What the fuck, Maja. "that's- whatever, it's there. It's not important right now, just ... let's set that aside for a second." 15[03:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's attention is undiverted. [03:02] 3Maja shakes her head. She has to tell him. "I mean, it's not serious yet- I don't think. I don't know. It's ... Ah- your friend Clinton. I don't know. It's not a big deal or anything, but it would feel wrong not to tell you." 15[03:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie blinks. 08[03:03] 3Maja braces herself for Rollie's reaction. 15[03:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "Who?" 15[03:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "Wait." 14[03:03] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [03:03] "... Cl-" 15[03:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "Cli- Cav?" [03:03] "Clinton?" [03:03] "Sure ... Cav. Yeah." 15[03:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's jaw works. But his face remains straight. 15[03:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "Can I ask you a question?" [03:05] 3Man, she's starting to pick up a pattern with the meta question- they always seem to be devastating in one way or another. [03:06] "... Yes." 15[03:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Did it start here?" 15[03:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "Was he sitting here?" [03:07] 3If Maja could blush ... "I mean ... I'm not sure I could pinpoint when it started ..." 15[03:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "But he sat down with you for therapy." 15[03:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "And then-" [03:07] "Well, sort of ..." 15[03:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie nods. "Okay." [03:07] 3Maja has never been so flustered in her LIFE. 15[03:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "So, uh. Just for the record." 15[03:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "This is the exact fucking thing-" [03:08] "I just-" [03:08] "I don't-" 15[03:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "Maja." 15[03:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "Look at me." 08[03:08] 3Maja shuts up and looks at Rollie. 15[03:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie stares for a long time. [03:11] 3Maja feels his stare piercing through her, cutting to the core of her being. [03:13] 3Never once, though, does she break eye contact. 15[03:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...I really appreciated talking to you tonight. I'm gonna go now." 15[03:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "We've got each other's numbers." 15[03:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie gets up to go. [03:13] The sound of the fist is louder than it should be, like a gun fired in an enclosed space. It's just somebody knocking, though. Once, twice, before they open the door. Clarabelle blinks. "Oh…I didn't know you were…I thought you were just going to be here alone." 15[03:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Hello there!" [03:14] 3Maja is stunned. And flustered. And disoriented. 15[03:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He holds out a hand. "Rollie Choi, Deputy of the Territory." 05[03:14] 3She looks up at Clarabelle with her mouth agape, unable to speak. [03:15] The other woman extends her hand tentatively. "Hi. Clarabelle Vincent, Presbyter. Sorry, I'll get out of here." She takes a step back. 15[03:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I was just leaving. Were you looking for Maja?" [03:15] 3Maja's still silent, remaining seated. [03:15] She nods. "Yeah. Well, if you're going. Nice meeting you." [03:16] 3Still silent. 08[03:16] 3Maja is just staring at Rollie. 15[03:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He nods respectfully. "Presbyter Vincent." 10On the way out the door he looks back, meeting Maja's gaze one last time. All he says is, "Be seeing you." [03:17] Clara: "Umm…" [03:18] 3Maja manages to stammer one last phrase to him: "Yeah ... catch you on the flip side." 3CATCH YOU ON THE FLIP SIDE?????? 15[03:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Fuuuuuuuuuuuck. [03:20] Clarabelle: "Goodbye!" [03:20] 3FFFUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkk. 15[03:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's out of the building as fast as his legs can carry him. He'll permit himself the affect of dignity only as long as Maja's in earshot. Then he's all but running. [03:21] When the door closes behind him, the Presbyter turns back. "That's who Pearl made out with? I thought he'd be taller." [03:22] "Quit running, Choi." Ruby is leaning against the pillar he runs past. The smoke wreaths her like a feather boa. 15[03:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie skids to a stop like a cartoon character. "Yo." [03:23] 3Jesus, Clarabelle. That is totally missing the point here. "Yeah ... I guess he's not that tall, huh." [03:23] The Kogaion tosses the cigarette onto the concrete and stomps it out. "How's the confessor working out?" [03:24] Clarabelle sits down on the couch opposite Maja. "Well, height is no indicator of character. I thought I should come over. Kind of…kind of weird, huh? I mean, talking to the Bishop. I know he means well, but…it's a little heavy." [03:26] 3Maja doesn't feel up to chatting right now, but she tries to put that aside. "Yeah ... yeah. The Bishop- right." 15[03:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks at Ruby quietly. He did most of the work composing himself back in the office before he left, so now that he's not literally running away, it's basically fine. "Well. I know what I'm going for. I know who I want to learn it from. And I know what my next step is." 15[03:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Unless you have other orders." [03:27] Clarabelle stands up and puts a hand on the other woman's shoulder. "Okay. You want to decompress? I just drove past a movie theater that was still open." [03:27] "What movie?" [03:28] "Night Creature? No, wait. Nightcrawler. The poster looked good." [03:30] 3Maja wants nothing more than to be alone right now. "Sure. That sounds good." [03:30] Ruby shrugs. "I'm not your boss. As long as you're getting value out of the relationship. She holding up okay?" 15[03:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Like a champ." [03:31] Clarabelle promises not to talk at the screen, and leads her friend out into the night. [03:32] Ruby: "I was thinking about it from her end. How it must feel. I'd say I feel bad about it, but I'd just be lying." 15[03:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Don't worry, Ruby. I'll feel bad enough for both of us." [03:34] Ruby nods placidly. "Well, I'll keep you busy. Lot of work lately." She rubs her chin with her hand. "Nothing you'll have to worry about." 15[03:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I'm up for whatever." 08[03:38] The Kogaion lifts her jacket up a bit, and Rollie can see the handle of her automatic poking out from her jeans. "No, I don't need anybody else on this. You remember the Bank Tower? Some developer wants to put a new signal tower right in the path of one of the lines. So I have to go make it look like suicide. I only tailed you here to see if the new buy was working out." 15[03:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie stares. 15[03:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Right." 15[03:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Well, seeya." [03:39] "Anyway. Tell the Visionary I said hi. Later, Choi." Was she ever there? 15[03:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Right now? 15[03:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie Choi couldn't give a good god damn. [03:40] NEXT TIME: Driving Range 09[03:50] * Quaker is now known as Quaker_zzz 14[03:54] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[03:56] * Quits: mugsy 14[03:58] * Quits: Quaker_zzz (Quit: Quaker_zzz) 14[04:47] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[05:21] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[07:22] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:36] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[08:46] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[11:16] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[11:40] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:57] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[12:14] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[12:22] * Joins: ddt 14[12:30] * Joins: Crion_ 14[12:53] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[12:59] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 09[13:24] * banana is now known as bananals 14[14:04] * Joins: mugobbles 14[14:24] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[14:34] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: mattbaby) 14[14:54] * Quits: mugobbles (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[16:19] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:29] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: mattbaby) 14[16:33] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:47] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[17:18] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: mattbaby) 14[17:22] * Joins: mugobbles 14[17:22] * Quits: mugobbles (Client Quit) 14[17:22] * Joins: mugobbles 14[17:22] * Quits: mugobbles (Client Quit) 14[17:22] * Joins: mugobbles 09[17:42] * mugobbles is now known as mugabe 14[17:45] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:50] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[18:57] * Joins: dammitwho 09[19:58] * bananals is now known as banana 14[20:00] * Quits: dammitwho 14[20:27] * Joins: Nicolae [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12 ____ [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,dP9CGG88@b, [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,IP""YICCG888@@b, [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12 dIi ,IICGG8888@b [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12 dCIIiciIICCGG8888@@b [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12 ________GCCIIIICCCGGG8888@@@__________________ [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12 GGCCCCCCCGGG88888@@@ [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12 GGGGCCCGGGG88888@@@@... [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12 Y8GGGGGG8888888@@@@P..... [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12 Y88888888888@@@@@P...... [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12 `Y8888888@@@@@@@P'...... [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12 `@@@@@@@@@P'....... [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12 """"........ [20:34] <@Ferrinus> "It all ends here," 12Jen hissed at the three of you. And, hell, she was right. 11[20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12It'd didn't end quite the way she expected, though. It didn't end such that Arrian, Cross, and Paracelsus, a self-aware and control code-deaf shard of the mysterious "Prism" program in tow, couldn't make their way back into a world with flora and fauna, with only one canonical history, with a passage of time that's actually causally connected to the onset of hunger. [20:38] 6And this in the sight of the Eye. It's not every day you get to strike a blow against malign prophecy! [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12It was a pretty strange scene, back in that server room - none of you'd ever quite seen that many sliced-off pistol barrels littering the same floor - but it was, somehow, a quiet one, one that heralded the deflection or incapacitation of the various Sleeper security forces Jen'd summoned while under siege and the apprehension of the somewhat notorious grey_fox by the Libertines. 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10There's a grim satisfaction on Paracelsus's face at the sight of this - though in his state, any satisfaction would appear grim. 11[20:40] <@Ferrinus> "The... wording," 12Gabriel is saying. "What was the wording?" 12He and Paracelsus sit in the Athenaeum hidden beneath the Metropolitan Museum of Art, sharing tea in a small study that's heavily warded against scryings of all kinds. [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12By sheer coincidence, the Hierarch himself, sitting across from Cross at one end of a great empty meeting table at the top of some skyscraper or other, has just said the same thing. [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12It's been at least a day, possibly more, but you've both been the benefactors of as much medical care and general sorcerous cleansing as could be marshalled by any of the Orders of the Pentacle. Neither of you came right here, though - you've been able to at least stow your a.i. somewhere safely, exchange potentially-conspiratorial words with the Libertines, and so on. [20:45] 6Are the two Enchanters doing that thing where you have a huge table and just two people meeting, so you sit awkwardly at opposite ends? I'm only surprised they haven't got laptops out to carry on some other work while synergising. [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12They're on opposite ends, but of the head of the table - they're only as far apart, physically, as if they were at a restaurant or something. In fact, some food may well have been ordered. Neither of you are actually in the CEO spot - that's empty on Cross's left and Cyrus's right. 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus recites: "'The threat to the Ministries, dies. My prelacy, affirmed. The Eye's hold, that much tighter.'" 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Depending on how immediately the old man commanded the presence of the other old man, Paracelsus is either half-dead or merely deeply exhausted as he says this. The timbre of his voice is identical in either case - the dry faraway of a eulogist holding his emotions in check. [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12You've all passed on at least some snippets as to what the cabal's been getting up to, but this has been your chance to tell the full story. Cyrus, of course, has been assiduous in demanding an account of Jen's holdings, home base, and servants; Gabriel takes much of that stuff in stride, although both daduchos and Magister are, here, quite preoccupied with the question of, well, [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12what actually happened. [20:48] 6Cross summons a mental vision of the past. Time into mind, not out of it. The threat to the Ministries dies. My prelacy affirmed. The Eye's hold that much tighter. [20:49] "So the good news here is they see us as a threat." [20:51] 6Millicent isn't surprised to be in front of (but far from) Cyrus. All it took to go over Siobhan's head this time was a bald recounting of facts. She is nervous. This is make-or-break for a lot of things, and in the worst case it could be her broken. 11[20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12While it's kind of cute if these conversations are literally simultaneous, they don't have to be - given immediate assurance that the cabal's safe and there's no pressing remaining threat, Gabriel would've given Arrian and Paracelsus both ample time to recuperate, in particular offering to allow either to stay at the Athenaeum or some site in order to speed the process up. Debord's [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12not much of a physician, but the Arrow Kale and the Thearch Tess both are, and convalescing in an enchanted medical ward speeds things up considerably. 14[20:56] * Joins: ddt 14[21:00] * Joins: dammitwhoa [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "But which of you?" [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "...was she right?" 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Yes and no." [21:03] 6Cross: "I suspect it's a definition of 'us' which includes you, Hierarch. New York. This is a place they've lost." [21:04] "The post of spy here was considered suicidal... so much for prophecy." 11[21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Whether Arrian participates in Gabriel's interrogation of Paracelsus is optional. What's not optional is carefully writing everything - everything - about this down. Felix has suggested using the material as private dream journal fodder, but a master copy, maximally descriptive, is a mandatory addition to the archives; that copy will then be reviewed and redacted, and those [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12portions of it deemed fit for scrutiny by the uninitiated or mildly-initiated will be made more publically available. [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12One thing not demanded of the warlock is express description of the specific means of gaining entry to the Tumbler or a mapping of its exact contents - that's respected as proprietary Cabal secrets. A description of the general principles under which such things can be reverse-engineered is preferred, though Arrian could make a stink about it if either he or his cabalmates find it [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12suspect. 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To elaborate: "I don't believe - and I said as much to Jen - that the threat to the Ministries was us." 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "It was her." [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Cross smiles faintly at Cross's description - but frowns again. "I wonder. Ambiguity in prophecy is its own sort of specificity, and the Seers' visions aren't functions of simple Time magic. Certainly not if it's the Eye we're dealing with. You dealt with." [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel raises a brow. "Her... hmm. An interesting- ...yes, I can see it." [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh my god. I meant Cyrus does! You both start with C! 14[21:10] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) [21:11] 6Having five-letter names that start with C and being powerful Time mages who operate in the realm of business and finance is the right way to go. 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "They sent her there to die." [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian's just gotten to the part in his formal accounting of the affair wherein Jen yells something dramatic, and a moment of terrible uncertainty enfolds the four mages standing at one of the Tumbler's anomalous hearts. [21:13] 6Cross: "Someone dug out of her at the time that it was an either-or claim.. the confrontation had the potential for Jen to destroy us, empower her masters, and so on. Maybe that chance was the best they could grant." [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12He's honor-bound to put this down accurately. At that moment, what did everyone say? Do? He can certainly put down, definitively and unequivocally, that the move Jen was envisioning was a last-ditch, all-out magical attack. [21:13] 6Cross folds her arms contemplatively. "Well, I say 'they' but the most interesting aspect of this thing is she'd been selected- picked out of their hierarchy." 11[21:24] 7Paracelsus did his best. Jen was wavering. But at the last moment her resolve stiffened, and there was nothing left but conflict. [21:24] 7Or was there? [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12She didn't listen - or at least, not to you. It came to light, there in the Tumbler, that you three weren't the only ones learning what lessons the paradox had to teach - Jen, Seer of the Throne, had ascended to the rank of Disciple of Forces after simply struggling across the terrain. [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Her nimbus was spent, her will wavering, and her personal implement lost to spider attack, but that didn't stop her from reaching into the very core of her being and making a spirited attempt to simply hurl all three of you into the void. [21:50] 6Wincing: "Selected for a particularly grisly fate." [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Ix: "Oh my GOD, kid, stop freakin' hovering your quill over the parchment already." [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Ix: "What happpennnneeeddd." [21:56] 7Cross took the lead. How was it she struck back, again? [21:57] 6Since Cyrus is finished mulling the words of the prophecy, Cross finishes the interrupted recitation. "My cabalmates suggested Jen yield, but with that dream backing her up the Seer wasn't having any." [21:57] "She went from exposition to assault in a flare- looked like an arcanum breakthrough. The tumbler holds incredible secrets.. unfortunately, the one she'd discovered was the method for tossing us into the void." [21:57] "There's something about hurtling that focuses your concentration. She was still quantum-stitched there in the first place, so I rePatterned her arrival; from then pre-on, she'd arrived with no time to attack. No time left at all." [21:58] 6In an unmoment, they weren't and never had been falling. The Mystagogues had never even had the chance to talk Jen down, though they knew what would have happened if they'd tried. Pinwheeling through the blackness became turning to watch the arrival of a woman with her dire red outline fading, stripped away by the inexorable passage of the sands... [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus leans forward slightly. "Did I see that capital P correctly? The site made an Adept of you?" [22:01] 7Arrian editorializes a bit, carefully adding that in his belief, the struggle to overcome the obstacles and reach their goal ahead of Jen was responsible for them attaining Adepthood. [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Does that include Arrian? If it does, it's no surprise Ix, who in fact says: "I was wondering when you'd drop that one." 14[22:03] * Joins: abnana 14[22:04] * Quits: abnana (Client Quit) 11[22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12It's true. The whole scene - it didn't happen like it did. Paracelsus and Arrian retain their old insights, remember realizing and saying the very things they realized and said - but there's a strange and slightly hollow feeling, there, a nagging question of who they were even talking to that, if they weren't getting used to this stuff, might lead them to decide they'd imagined the [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12whole thing. [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12What canonically happened was that Jen came later. Only a few minutes later, really, but those few minutes counted, because they're when a shift in the local currents of time meant the temporally-charged Seer stepped right through a river of acceleration that left her final contingency coming apart at the scenes. [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12She barely had time to talk before she started dissolving into twinkling red motes, the very same way grey_fox did upon his defeat at Cross's hands. But... something went wrong. [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12She didn't just vanish, or stutter away. The cabal wasn't left with the nagging sensation that Jen'd never followd them in in the first place. No, instead they saw the woman look around in increasing panic and then begin to scream as her body, extremities first and face last, dissolved into sparkling sand with the same light-and-dark character of her nimbus, sand which was sucked up [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12into the many rivers running through the sky to whirl into the hollow space where the Prism once lived the same way water might spiral down a drain. [22:16] 6Cross: "..I told the others later, at the end she had a waking dream. Eyes rolling back and consciousness departing before the separating flesh demanded it. Maybe she got what she des- what she wanted." [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus's eyes flash. "You're certain?" [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Did she, then?" [22:18] "I certainly saw something." 6Cross proffers a vision, again- her own perceptions of the moment. "Given what happened next there wasn't time to interpret it." 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus's voice is so thick with bitterness it's almost unrecognizble. "They got what they wanted from her." 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "And they left behind what they didn't." [22:19] 7Arrian faithfully records Jen's last moments. A vision, a moment of clarity, a religious experience in her last moments? Who can say? [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12The Hierarch's standing immediately, pacing away from Cross with a hand to his chin. "What she wanted. What she... Prelacy, Cross. Do you know what it means to our enemies?" [22:22] 6Cross: "Sounded like a form of job security." [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel shuts his eyes firmly and bows his head for a few moments. "Was there sign of her after that?" 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "It seemed imprudent to Pattern a tombstone of the sand. We didn't stay long." [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "That security always flows upwards. It's a second Awakening, to them, a sort of exaltation - a channel opened, permanently, between their souls and their tyrant gods." [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "The Seers are weak... until they're not. Until they... cede, if you will. Let the next one up the chain step in." [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Ix: "...but I guess you beat 'er, though." [22:26] "Next one? Is it a form of.. possession?" [22:27] 6Cross is frowning. The Seers! They treat it like a job and a church and enslavement all at once. It's the most incredible waste possible. [22:27] 7Arrian: "I hope so." [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "Influence, mostly, but yes. Sometimes direct control. Sometimes sympathetic casting. You've heard of the Profane Vestments?" [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Ix tilts his head at his mage. How's Arrian actually feel about it? [22:29] 7Arrian: "I think the best we can say is that we didn't lose." [22:29] 6Cross has. "They do it to each other?" [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "It's Vestments all the way up." [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "'Each other', of course, implies a reciprocity that we don't believe exists in practice. It's a pyramid, not a pentacle." [22:31] "So to be a prelate means you get removed from the action and handed the puppet strings. Very direct reports." [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "But also that your puppet strings are handed up very, very high." [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Ix: "Listen, kid. This isn't really about her. This is about you." [22:34] "It makes sense that they'd fight hard for the 'honour'- within their twisted paradigm. How can you reason with someone who's seeking that?" [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Ix: "People like her - chumps. Morons. They can't really deal with what they've seen or what they got. And it sure as hell doesn't help to be heaven-touched like she was - then you just spend all day waiting for the voice to tell you what happens next." [22:39] 7Arrian: "Morons... I don't know. I think it's a trap to think of everyone who opposes you as weak or stupid." [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Ix: "Well, some of them are just ignorant." [22:40] 6What about the ones who are ugly, Ix. [22:41] "It bothers me that it was easier to convince a Paradox-touched machine intelligence to give us a shot than a human Seer." [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Ix: "Of course, they've had plenty of time to brush up, so what's their friggin' excu- no, but what I'm sayin' is. She did all that just to get heavier chains clapped on. But... she didn't really get the point of the chains. It was just, like, a promotion with acceptable drawbacks." [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Ix: "But chains is the point. Tied in is the point." 11[22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "My intimation here is that.... this poses an ongoing problem to you, Paracelsus." 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "A problem?" [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "That you're an Adept now - all three of you - it's astounding. To pattern Death took me many years. But... you remain an Apprentice in our subtle Arcanum, don't you?" [22:46] 7Arrian: "That's what she was telling us, I think. The Prism didn't particularly care about what it was doing, it mostly didn't have the ability to care. We don't see the same objective data and then one of us misinterprets it, it's a conflict between universes, almost. The war between Seers and Pentacle goes down to the bedrock and up to the heavens." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "...yes." [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "You did the right thing, Cross, to strike her down. To be honest, listening to you I'm surprised you showed the clemency you did - though, of course, it wasn't clear until the end that you weren't simply dealing with a Banisher, or sabotage from a rival caucus, or some such." [22:47] 7Arrian: "That's important to remember. It's not a question of one of us getting our math wrong. It's a question of what we value." [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "But... I'm given to think that her prophecy was fulfilled." [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Ix: "And what she valued was... rank, right? Winning. Getting on top. Of course, she got owned - but what about her Eye?" [22:52] 7Arrian: "I don't know... but I think the prophecy was fulfilled... and it lost, a little bit. We were a threat to the Ministries, and through her incompetence, so was she. Any outcome of that conflict would have technically made the prophecy right." [22:52] "'A great army will be defeated', and all that." [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Then that's where I urge you to turn your attentions, Daduchos. If the focus of your studies is haunted - haunted by a Seer, no less - haunted by a Seer who may have been led into that very position by the machinations of her masters, no less.... well, you can imagine." 12The necromancer pauses. "...perhaps you can't. I can't, presently. But we can at least note a... [22:52] <@Ferrinus> source of potential worry." [22:52] 6The right thing? [22:53] 6Jen was torn apart, physically and temporally. Cross knew what was going to happen, but it was them or her and she'd been warned. She rejected all aid, all common sense! [22:54] 6Rhodes: "I value negotation. Enemies are enemies because their goals conflict, but most of the time there is shared humanity, points of compromise." [22:54] 6Rhodes: "When you can I think it's always best to seek a deal that leaves everyone better off. The problem is that breaks down at the edges." [22:55] 6Rhodes: "The Seers of the Throne make a point of pushing us away from any response other than total resistance. Then they use it in their own propaganda." 6She shakes her head, lips hardened. [22:55] 7Arrian: "They'd say that the Exarchs' mastery is so complete that they win no matter what happens. I say this proves they aren't that strong at all. Even one missed prophecy could trip them up, so they don't dare issue one. When you hedge your bets everywhere, the best you can hope for is a push." [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Ix: "Well, the first part. But, the rest, like - she sorta got... processed, right? Cards on the table, I've got no freakin' clue what the Tumbler is, but your enemy gets trammeled the same moment she gets sucked in, yeah?" [22:56] 7Arrian: "Yeah." [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "Would that others saw as you do! There are cities on this very seaboard, Cross, that tolerate pylons in their midst." [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Ix: "Sooo, death, check. Promotion, check. Didn't they manage number three, too?" [22:58] 6Cross: "I bet they say it's about the cost of rooting them out, though. That's gotta be a factor." [22:59] 6Human cost, opportunity cost, literal monetary cost.. we are trying to displace an existing regime, after all. [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "Oh, certainly. Logistical strains, risks versus rewards, potential for cooption or conversion... all cited, frequently completely defensibly. You, of course, had the fortune to run into a fairly overt fanatic. I've seen it happen before - when the younger ones receive the visions, they can act on nothing but." [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "One could easily imagine, though, a version of our 'Jen' that backs away with palms held soothingly out. That offers to share. That's interested in nothing but the brief study of an apparently arbitrary phenomenon." [23:01] 6Cross: "It's worrying that someone so monomaniacal was able to recruit help. Of course, grey_fox was pretty vulnerable." [23:02] 6The thing is, she basically agrees with what Cyrus is saying.. but come on. She's too smart to need this kind of sell. "And the idea is they'd be a snake in the thin-end-wedging grass? A crack in the bag through which cats escape into the fire?" [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "Quite. Because it's all to some critical strategic advantage, in the end. You've seen what the paradox you're studying can do." [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "Speaking of - the program. The 'prism'. What became of it?" [23:05] 7Arrian: "The Eye's hold... but on what, though?" 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Setting aside the mystery itself, daduchos... do you think my lack of mastery betrays me? Do you think a Disciple or an Adept wouldn't have done what I intended to do?" [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Ix: "On the machine. On your Tumbler. Right? That's what it seems like to me." [23:07] 6Cross: "The deal was freedom from the Seers in exchange for shutting down the disasteroid manipulation schema. The whole place was coming apart when left, carrying it in a flash drive." [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Tried to talk her down, you mean?" 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Resisted killing her in the first place." 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "What's the saying? Destroy the servants of the Lie." [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "And that's still in your possession - and sympathetically insulated, I trust." [23:09] "Oh, yes. Its freedom is apparent." 6In another timeline, Cross might have tapped the side of her nose here to indicate the deceit. Everything's subtly changed, however. [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "It's not an... not a nonsensical sentiment, certainly. But we are not the Council." [23:10] "The hold we have on it is that very freedom.. rather than excised, its core directives are suppressed. So it needs us to maintain that every few days." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "But in this..." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "The Diamond has been fighting these battles far longer. And more fiercely, in its way." [23:10] 7Arrian: "It doesn't seem like the Eye has any tighter a grip on the Tumbler." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "The devotion of the Libertines is not in question. Nor is their heart." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "But their zeal..." 10The old man shakes his head. [23:10] 6Cross: "Technically I should therefore warn Consilium: if something happens to all of us, a week later there will be a rogue AI in the Streber building." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "Theirs is as the taper light." 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ours is as the burning sun." 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do I owe it to the order to hate them, Gabriel?" [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Ix: "Well, it didn't seem offhand like it did on her, yeah? And when you and I touched down, it's not like the man on the street would've seen the hold Hell had on you." [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel sits back and steeples his fingers. [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "I've never - you know I was away through most of the fighting for this city. Student exchanges, archaeological expeditions, that sort of thing." 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus nods. [23:14] 7Arrian: "I guess we'll have to look into it." 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "I suspect the conversation Cross and Cyrus are having right now is very different." 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "But not that different." [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "I've fought the Seers in my time, and I've sent more than one back to the Wheel, in clashes over artifacts and similar, but... I've never warred. Never squared my jaw and set out, you know." 14[23:15] * Parts: Nicolae 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Not like Cyrus." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "Not like Enoch." [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel shakes his head. "And it is easy to... see-saw, here. Is the Coin's Councilor a coward, or is the Thorn's Councilor a savage? Worst of all, is it both?" 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "That's the question, isn't it?" [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Ix: "You're probably gonna. But the point to remember here is this: as above, so below. Chains pull both ways." 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Where does righteousness end and madness begin? When does wisdom become weakness?" [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Ix: "Bondage isn't how you exert power. It is power. If you're at the top of a pyramid, and you're holding the chains to everyone all around the bottom... you're just gonna get dragged down onna spike." [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "I mentioned levers to you before, Cross. The hidden means of exerting power. The reason, in fact, I worked to appoint your cabal to the place I did." [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "I think you found one. Isolated one. The Ministries - it's never been clear to us just how they can marshal the resources they do." [23:24] 6She lets the revelation of patronage pass without comment. "Their prism tech- infiltrating various networks?" [23:24] *Prism [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "It's easy to say 'magic', but that's hardly an exclusive advantage. I can move staggering wealth if I have the need... and yet what our enemies require just seems to fall into their laps. The spells I use to tap the markets - I've never seen such magic used on anything like that scale by the Ministries, and yet they consistently surpass us in Sleeper infrastructure despite [23:25] <@Ferrinus> their lower numbers and paltry magic." [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "It's generally been believed that Seers simply..." 12He waves a hand. "Pray, and the Fallen World moves in response. ...well, this is how." [23:27] 6Cross: "Jen mentioned codes to control the thing- she was given direct access by an Exarch. It's a creature of theirs, rather than of any Ministry?" [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "I've been putting out feelers, sending communications - traces of something like the Prism have been found on computer systems, even our computer systems, as far out as Seattle. And, yes, that's my theory. That this system's an exponent of Exarch control of the world - the actual mechanics by which they reward their faithful and punish their foes." [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "Much more than simply eliminating Jen, your capture - your subversion, even - of this thing could mean everything. Study it closely." [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "Of course, that still leaves the Tumbler paradox's nature in question." [23:30] 6Cross: "You'll have reports. With Pascal now occupied elsewhere, we're a bit light on engineering.. I've got access to some sleeper experts, or there's a group of helpful Libertines we could bring in. Any preference?" [23:31] "Relevant factor- the sleepers have already experienced an attack by the Prism spyware, so they won't question why they're analysing it." 14[23:31] * Joins: Nicolae [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "Use your judgment. Bear in mind that any tool of the Exarchs will have the greatest influence over the Quiescent. If you're to expose Sleepers, watch them as closely as you do the program." [23:33] 6Cross makes a note in her tearaway pad. "Yes, Magister." [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian's still writing, of course. He's free, here, to describe the remand of grey_fox to the libertines, the retrieval of the Prism program, all the rest... eventually he's got some nicely-rolled up scrolls and things and is ready to deliver them. 09[23:34] * banana is now known as bananarb [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12He might want to make a note of anything else he includes in his notes and/or says to Ix, but it's around the time that Arrian with a bird on his shoulder shows up at the room the two necromancers are in (wow, he's just... walking around the Athenaeum unsupervised! I guess you get to do that after an adventure like that one), and Gabriel is finishing a long sip of tea and continuing [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12his rumination. [23:37] <@Ferrinus> "In a way," 12Gabriel is saying, "It's between the Ladder and the Mysterium... perhaps even the combination of Council plus Ladder and the Mysterium... that one of our core internal conflicts lies." [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Do we carefully shepherd magic such that it's in best condition when wielded in the final conflict against our foes? ...or do our warriors and strategists fight that magic can be most completely and cleanly be freed from that which fetters it?" 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus wrinkles his nose. [23:40] 7Arrian: "Is there a conflict between those?" [23:41] <@Ferrinus> "If you'd know whether you owe it to... the Order to, charitably, frown in disapproval, at the Free Assemblies, or for that matter the Arrow, the Ladder's martial wing, the Veil..." 12Gabriel rocks in his seat a bit. "Well, the question is what something like Jen's end means to the Corpus." 11[23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel's glance moves from Arrian to Paracelsus to back. He pauses for a moment before saying: "Each Awakening happens for a reason. Each Awakening has a purpose. Each of us is enriched and enriches in turn." [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "...or should, certainly. Colleagues of mine make the argument that the the vicissitudes of the Fallen World, the corrosion of paradox, can spoil the journey of any soul, such that an ending - the separation of man, singular, from magic - is sometimes the only option left." [23:47] Cross: "Just one more thing, Magister." 09[23:47] * bananarb is now known as banana 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Who do they make that argument for?" [23:50] She grins the grin of shared endeavour. "Programming aside, we've pulled some pretty great capabilities together. If you want to position us over emerging situations as a best-effort low-latency resource, that's fine. But I want Famulus." [23:50] Cross: "We might need a veneer of authority at short notice, in this business." [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Seers. Banishers. Scelesti, of course. But sometimes any serious enemy of or hindrance to the Pentacle." [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus grins. "Make a Famulus of a freshly-minted Adept who not only stamped out a Panopticon spy but subverted a live sample of the very infrastructure that allowed that spy to operate? I think we can manage that one." [23:57] "Thanks." Cross is very tired. It does not, of course, show, not even to Acanthus sight without willed Imago. But it serves to limit her phrasing. 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "It's a bit tidy, isn't it?" [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12The last thing Cross is interrogated on is the grey_fox. She's on slightly thorny ground here, she can imagine - it could well be that the Hierarch has some particular beliefs about what happens to murderous Seer-suborned banishers. [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12What's the official story on what happened to him? What, indeed, did the cabal request or even inist on of the Libertines who picked him up? [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Their plan was: allow him to recuperate in a safe house for a few days and then smuggle him out of the city to attempt his continued rehabilitation elsewhere. Session Time: Sun May 10 00:00:00 2015 [00:00] That was the plan *if* he survived but *before* they got called in on an emergency basis, into a paradox. 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He, at least, deserves a chance to heal. 11[00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Miraculously, he did. Apparently he and Jen were separated by Arrian's Mind-roused spider horde, and got pushed all the way back to the disasteroid surface. Two Libertine 'heavies' acting on Paracelsus's instructions were able to enter the Tumbler and retrieve him. [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Oh, yes. But sometimes tidiness has weight. After all, one might literally scrutinize a soul and note the rot that festers there." 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "One might take this argument as an excuse not to look." [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "But is it one? To what extent should what we see there change our minds?" [00:06] Cross: "We weren't in a position to object at that point. It's an.. interesting situation; this is the same guy who put me in hospital, but he may well be salvageable." Not yet a candidate for the Silence treatment, she doesn't say, unless he's reading her mind. [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus wouldn't do that. He did read Cross's past, though, unless she asked him not to, which saved her a lot of time describing the leadup to the Tumbler. Of course, her actual experiences in the paradox itself apparently presented as a jumble of contradictory images to the Hierarch, who had to rely on old-fashioned conversation to get the rest across. 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Metaphysics doesn't circumscribe judgment. But it also doesn't preclude it. The Corpus doesn't tell us who should live and who should die." [00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "So what became of him?" [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Except insofar as someone is, somehow, a threat to the Corpus - though it's hard to imagine how that might even be determined." [00:11] Cross: "G and Neal are trying to restore the conditioning which was working before Philadelphia. They've got a system of acculturation which trains people with the syndrome to accept their nimbus within some alternate conceptual framework, something Lie-compliant." [00:12] 7Arrian: "If anything, if we were to make the claim 'the Corpus demands this, nothing to do with us', we'd be separating ourselves from magic first." [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Very well spoken. Ultimately I am... ambivalent, daduchos. You - and you, Neokoros - were right to reach out as you did. Scared, alone, prior to the Prelacy... she deserved that chance." [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "But I cannot fault your thearch friend, or the Libertines who surely would've made short work of the Seer if given the chance. The pressures, the exigencies, Jen's own actions... it would be asking an extraordinary thing, to claim there should have been no reprisal, even at the end." [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Still, I'm glad that it's you two who share an Order with me." 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "It is, I think." 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "A kind of work, which you cannot rightly ask of any individual." 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "But which must be done, by someone, sometime." 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "Strength is necessary. But it is not sufficient." [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "That doesn't seem... you hit on the flaw yourself, Famulus-to-be. Lie-compliant. It's no wonder he ended up serving the Seer." 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "We must demand compassion." [00:17] Cross: "I'd call it a stopgap measure. It's better than condemning people right out of their Awakening, but doesn't solve the problem." 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "And if not of ourselves... then of who?" [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "This doesn't strike me as something to leave to the Free Assemblies. Their... tastes can lead them places that their zeal should rightly bar. Is he still in the city?" [00:19] 7Arrian: "Be the change you want to see in the world. Platitude, but still true." 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Tell the Oracles it's a platitude." [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel and Ix both chuckle here, though in the bird's case it's a bit more of a cough. (Caw-ff?) [00:21] 7Arrian: "Let's hope we get the chance." 11[00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Indeed. At any rate... thank you both. Again, I'd beware whatever mark that final struggle may have left on your cabal's research project. Paracelsus, we'll need to discuss teaching schedules once you're feeling a little better, and Arrian, I still want a peradam." [00:24] 7Arrian: "Ugggh. I'm looking, I'm swear." [00:24] *I swear [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "It's out there somewhere, I trust. Or the opposite, of course." 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I should be able to take lessons in just a few more days. We could start working out a schedule now, or tomorrow, if you like." [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12He nods. The meeting may not be formally adjourned, but most of the rest is a mixture of chit-chat and logistics; probably not worth reporting. [00:31] 6Does Cross know whether grey_fox6 is still in New York? If not, she says so, and lists off his known rotes (the camera-spy thing, the explosion-from-wall thing, the gun-slow-motion thing) should they again become an issue. [00:32] <@Ferrinus> 12She does - and he will be for another couple days at the least, according to what she's heard. This seems to get Cyrus thinking. "The banisher - you've got cause to bring suit against him, to call him to account before Consilium." [00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "We could bring him into the Ladder's custody instead of that of the Assemblies." [00:33] 6Cross: "For sure. Would that serve any purpose?" [00:33] "At the moment, they're the ones with the better-than-nothing technique. I'm sure Tess could pick it up, but right now, he'd be a dangerous and embittered prisoner." [00:33] "Rather than.. a dangerous and grateful contributing member of society." [00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a pause, and then the Hierarch nods. "You're not wrong. We have other concerns, at the moment." [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "At any rate, we'll formally recognize and exalt you... within the next few days, if possible. For now, as I said, study the Prism and mind the Tumbler paradox. ...oh, and the Cooper building's proceeding apace, yes?" [00:39] 6With mock gloom: "We still can't guarantee that the lupines will lay off when it's done- but our part will be done on schedule regardless." [00:39] "Have you seen mention of a spacewarp? I prototyped that out last week using a captured Loom drone, so hopefully we'll keep them happy as well." [00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus: "It seems a touch... fragile, but I'll trust that good relations with the werewolves will be worth it." [00:42] 6Cross: "Good relations are impossible, as they are all assholes apart from Helen Gnaws-The-Road. I have high hopes for avoiding actual war." [00:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Cyrus laughs and nods. Any further reports? 14[00:46] * Parts: Nicolae 09[00:51] * banana is now known as banana|split [00:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Probably not - none that don't get given offscreen, anyway. In the coming days, the cabal recuperates, regroups, and resolves, deciding which outstanding issues they see to personally, which they leave to their allies, and which they simply leave. For better or for worse, their single most outstanding enemy has been vanquished, their zone of influence has been freed of incipient [00:52] <@Ferrinus> 12calamity, and their mastery of the mysteries has been deepened by struggle and enigma. [00:53] <@Ferrinus> 12We'll see how they settle their affairs, and where they go from there... next week. [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12 _,--"^"--._ [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,'\ /`. [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,' \_______/ `. [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12| / \ | [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12| / \ | [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12| _/ \_ | [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12\'' `-. ,-' ``/ [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ `-._,-' / [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ | / [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12 `-.._ | _,,-' [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12 ``"'' 14[01:08] * Quits: dammitwhoa 14[01:49] * Joins: dammitwho 14[03:35] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[03:35] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[03:35] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 09[03:49] * Quaker is now known as Quaker_zzz 14[04:02] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[04:14] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[04:45] * Quits: dammitwho 14[04:58] * Quits: Quaker_zzz (Quit: Quaker_zzz) 09[07:21] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[08:53] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[10:10] * Joins: mugabe 14[10:15] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[10:25] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[10:39] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[11:33] * Joins: 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14[21:47] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[21:47] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 09[21:47] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[21:51] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [21:52] http://i.imgur.com/35NPI0J.jpg 14[21:57] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[22:05] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 09[22:16] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[22:25] * Joins: dammitwho 14[23:34] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:43] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Mon May 11 00:00:00 2015 14[00:08] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[00:09] * Joins: dammitwho 14[00:14] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[00:39] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[00:58] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[01:48] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:33] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[02:41] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[02:55] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[03:34] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[04:21] * Joins: dammitwho 14[06:38] * Joins: mattbaby 14[06:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Client Quit) 14[07:35] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[08:29] * Quits: dammitwho 14[08:51] * Joins: mattbaby 14[08:56] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[09:31] * Joins: Crion_ 14[09:39] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[10:38] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[10:39] * Joins: Crion_ 14[10:55] * Joins: FerrinusPrime [11:03] Slam Squat-Thrust @Gre_Gone [11:03] MY CURSED RUNES BRING ALL THE BOYS TO THE YARD [11:03] AND THEY'RE LIKE / ENCHANTED WITH CHARMS [11:03] I COMMAND THEM / HORDES OLDER THAN STARS [11:03] alisa [11:03] MY CURSED RUNES BRING ALL THE BOYS TO THE YARD [11:03] AND THEY'RE LIKE / ENCHANTED WITH CHARMS [11:03] I COMMAND THEM / HORDES OLDER THAN STARS 14[11:47] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:58] * Joins: mugabe 14[12:17] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[12:24] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: 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mugabe 14[17:25] * Joins: dammitwho 15[17:44] <@VoxPVoxD> [11:03] Slam Squat-Thrust @Gre_Gone 15[17:44] <@VoxPVoxD> [11:03] MY CURSED RUNES BRING ALL THE BOYS TO THE YARD 15[17:44] <@VoxPVoxD> [11:03] AND THEY'RE LIKE / ENCHANTED WITH CHARMS 15[17:44] <@VoxPVoxD> [11:03] I COMMAND THEM / HORDES OLDER THAN STARS 15[17:44] <@VoxPVoxD> [11:03] alisa [17:44] also, one of the people who retweeted that was mara wilson, aka the little girl from mrs. doubtfire. that makes me laugh really hard for some reason 15[17:46] <@VoxPVoxD> wait wait wait 15[17:46] <@VoxPVoxD> marawritesstuff is literally mara wilson 15[17:46] <@VoxPVoxD> who played matilda 15[17:46] <@VoxPVoxD> my god [17:46] yep 15[17:46] <@VoxPVoxD> I didn't make that connection [17:46] yes [17:46] she is 15[17:46] <@VoxPVoxD> that's so fukced up 15[17:46] <@VoxPVoxD> god 15[17:46] <@VoxPVoxD> matilda is so good 15[17:46] <@VoxPVoxD> it was my favorite book as a kid for some reason 15[17:46] <@VoxPVoxD> and the movie was great [17:48] correct [17:48] she's a cool person [17:48] we hung out a couple times when i was in NYC 15[17:48] <@VoxPVoxD> that owns [17:49] whoa [17:49] look at this fancy ass guy [17:49] it's true [17:53] they were going to hang out more, but when he arrived in the city he was assigned to the Sharks, and she was a Jet, so [17:54] please don't tell my stories for me quaker. thanks 15[17:59] <@VoxPVoxD> little boy, you're a man 15[17:59] <@VoxPVoxD> little man, you're a king 14[18:34] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[18:34] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:35] * Joins: mattbaby 09[18:36] * Crion_ is now known as Crion [18:41] Look Out, Spotify! More And More Music Lovers Are Listening To Whispers From The Caves At The Edge Of Town 15[18:58] <@VoxPVoxD> from the future nomadgame npcs file 15[18:58] <@VoxPVoxD> DVS @DVSblast 15[18:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Zimmerman dont get to die while theres still freakazoids who root 4 him.Give em time to be like "who? nah im really into ELECTRO-HITLER now" 15[19:02] <@VoxPVoxD> from the future nomadgame npcs file 15[19:02] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/MPEk6cG.png [19:02] adam making good use of that life magic [19:04] what level of life is enlarge person anyway 15[19:05] <@VoxPVoxD> if you had some biomass on hand to integrate into your person you could swing it with patterning 15[19:05] <@VoxPVoxD> but just straight growth is making life 15[19:14] <@VoxPVoxD> from the future nomadgame npcs file 15[19:14] <@VoxPVoxD> DVS @DVSblast 15[19:14] <@VoxPVoxD> when they make the Sally Draper spin-off its GREEDY if BOTH her arms are chainsaws right? i guesssss just one is fine so she can hold a cig 14[19:15] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: mattbaby) 14[19:15] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[19:37] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:46] * Joins: mugabe 14[19:57] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[20:25] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[20:25] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:34] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[20:56] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[21:12] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[21:34] * Joins: dammitwho 14[21:42] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:46] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[22:19] * Joins: dammitwho 14[22:47] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[23:14] * Quits: mugabe 14[23:20] * Joins: Crion_ 14[23:45] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[23:51] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[23:59] * Joins: ddt Session Time: Tue May 12 00:00:00 2015 14[00:41] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[00:43] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:18] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:51] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:52] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[01:52] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:10] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[02:12] * Joins: ddt 14[02:24] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:33] * Joins: dammitwho 14[02:50] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[03:10] * Joins: ddt 14[03:40] * Joins: ddt_ 14[03:41] * Quits: ddt_ (Client Quit) 14[03:42] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[03:51] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection timed out) 14[03:52] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[04:07] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[04:08] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[04:57] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection timed out) 14[04:58] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[04:58] * Quits: dammitwho (warlock.hub.sorcery.net rivendell.hub.sorcery.net) 14[04:58] * Quits: trenchfoot (warlock.hub.sorcery.net rivendell.hub.sorcery.net) 14[04:58] * Quits: @Ferrinus (warlock.hub.sorcery.net rivendell.hub.sorcery.net) 14[04:58] * Quits: Zarick (warlock.hub.sorcery.net rivendell.hub.sorcery.net) 14[04:58] * Quits: banana (warlock.hub.sorcery.net rivendell.hub.sorcery.net) 14[04:58] * Quits: Crion (warlock.hub.sorcery.net rivendell.hub.sorcery.net) 14[04:58] * Quits: tom (warlock.hub.sorcery.net rivendell.hub.sorcery.net) 14[04:58] * Quits: cbass (warlock.hub.sorcery.net rivendell.hub.sorcery.net) 14[05:00] * Joins: dammitwho 14[05:00] * Joins: Crion 14[05:00] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[05:00] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[05:00] * Joins: tom 14[05:00] * Joins: cbass 14[05:00] * Joins: Zarick 14[05:00] * Joins: banana 09[05:00] * rivendell.hub.sorcery.net sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[05:04] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[05:04] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 09[05:04] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[05:05] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Quit: Leaving) 14[05:05] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[05:09] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[05:11] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[06:17] * Joins: Crion_ 14[06:37] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[07:23] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:30] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[07:30] * Joins: dammitwho 14[07:42] * Joins: Quaker 14[07:46] * Joins: Crion_ 14[08:01] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[08:15] * Joins: mugabe [08:15] - [08:15] - [08:15] - [08:15] - [08:15] - [08:15] - [08:16] - [08:16] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljzehPvr9zk [08:22] It isn't even Thanksgiving, and people are already putting up Christmas lights. It will never snow here, but if you grew up here the markers of the season are different, and the symbol of a palm tree's trunk wrapped in white strings of light is just as much a reminder as a snowman would be in Ohio. When Santiago shows up at Cavanaugh's place, ready to go, his face is illuminated not only by the streetlight, but also by th [08:22] blinking blues and reds and greens of the house across the wide street. [08:22] 4Insufferable. [08:23] 4Cav has composed and deleted five e-mails now on his tablet, before deciding this is a conversation he has to have in person. And one he needs to push far from his head right now. There will be time to try and fix things with Maja later. [08:24] And on the next night, when he parks in the lot and looks up at the office where the Sanctified counselor said she'd be, and reaches into his pocket to feel the little felt box he carries around with him, he watches the electric lights on the side of the building snap on and off, in the shapes of snowflakes and reindeers. [08:25] "Sadly," 4Cavanaugh says, "we can't just kill them like they're Acolytes." [08:27] Santiago looks up at Cav from the couch. "Kill who?" [08:29] 4Being dead in a residential neighborhood creates a very weird relationship with the community. Lawns are one thing -- you can always forget about them; after awhile you just assume the grass stays that length on its own. But then Christmas rolls around and one night it's quiet, and the next, well, there's this. [08:29] 4He sighs. "My neighbors." [08:32] "Oh. The lights." [08:33] 4Cav: "And the snowflakes. And the manger. And the big...inflatable...snowman." 15[08:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's in a great mood this evening. Ther- the meeting with Maja was bizarre and energizing, even though it ended weird and segued into another weird moment with Ruby. But he walked out of Maja's office knowing what his next step was, and a good day's sleep has crystallized the intention. 15[08:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well, no. He knows the step after this coming one. 15[08:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The first step is to put up some Christmas lights. 15[08:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's careful to keep his red, white, and green lights carefully confined to his doorframe, the railing of the little stoop leading up to his half of the duplex, and the tree on his side of the yard. As he works (having already gotten himself and Princess correct) he'll steal glances at the unit next door. Any sign of Trubee? [08:39] 6Edgar's in the office early that night. Nice to have a dedicated workspace that isn't some rich man's staging area for dubiously legal Ops. [08:39] 6Unless you consider Cavanaugh the rich man, he mentally appends. 08[08:40] Rollie's neighbor keeps weird hours. Maybe she's still asleep - no, wait, he can hear music coming through the door. [08:40] 6Today- tonight they've got this baroness thing to take care of. A lot of shit in OC seems to boil down to 'a baroness thing'. He's ready, but until that's a universal situation he's got a little task to do. 15[08:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What's she playing? [08:41] 6Making shameless use of the researchers, the files and the Internet, Edgar's going to find out what the symbolism is of empty flower books. [08:42] 4Cavanaugh: "Anyway. We should head to--" 4His phone buzzes. "...the office. Edgar's just dropped in." 15[08:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Trubee apparently won big hustling at pool a couple nights ago. She sent him a picture of the money she won and Rollie texted back  10and that was the last contact they had. [08:42] 4Texting Edgar: [08:44] 6<sure6> [08:45] If you go, when the snowflakes fall, when the rivers freeze, and summer ends/ Please see for me, if she's wearing her coat so warm/ To keep her from, the howling winds/ If you're traveling, in the north country fair - Trubee is a little bit country, it seems. [08:45] 6Edgar:  [08:45] 3Maja's sitting in her office, fiddling with one of her sculptures. She knocked it off the bookshelf a few days ago and an fell off. If she still cared about her art anymore, she'd be upset. But she doesn't. She's not really sure what she cares about right now, because everything is fucked up and weird. It feels wrong not to try to put the arm back anyway, so she's snooping around for [08:45] 3her Gorilla Glue. It's got to be somewhere ... [08:46] 4Cav: 4To Santiago: "What was that guy's name again? The Nosferatu, the one White served." [08:46] 6R? Edgar thumbs through the files. [08:47] Santiago pats himself down. "I think I left my gun in the car. Malloy. Steven Malloy. The late Steven Malloy." 15[08:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That's cool. Rollie's a little bit rock n roll. He considers going and saying hi to Trubee, that sounds like- no. No, damn it. He's doing it again. He's coming up with excuses. He's gotta stop doing that. 15[08:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A few minutes and some pacing later, Leisurely Foster gets a text.  [08:48] Leisurely: 15[08:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  14[08:49] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [08:49] 4<Steven Malloy, sry. Gangrel4> [08:50] 6Ah yes. Rsteven.  [08:50] Leisurely is right by her phone. [08:51] 4Cav: [08:51] 6And there *is* a file on Gregory White, of course, updated two days ago. So that's who Morgan was dealing with. Might not even be illegal in the end, if White's now working for a resident of L.A... [08:51] 3The chaos that Maja is confronted with in her bottom drawer does not phase her. Some pens and markers, tape, charging wires for ... something, some old mail, receipts, a lint brush- GLUE, there's the glue. [08:52] 6Edgar:  [08:52] 6Edgar:  [08:52] Santiago is looking at the lights, and not moving. When he asks Cavanaugh, his voice is quiet. "You want to drive?" [08:52] 4Cav: 4Of course we'll be polite to the Baroness. When is Cav ever not polite? [08:53] 4Maja, don't answer that. [08:53] 3:-x 15[08:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 1055 minutes later, Rollie's rolling up to Leis's. [08:54] "Sure." 4He frowns at the deputy as he grabs his keys from the counter, following Santiago's eyes. "Something wrong?" [08:54] "I was only joking about wanting to kill the neighbors." [08:54] The other deputy follows Cavanaugh out. "No. Nothing. Let's go." [08:54] 4Uh huh. [08:55] 6Where does Pearl Redondo live, then? On the way out Edgar instructs the lawyers- can't remember their names, not because he's Gangrel but because he doesn't care- to give her a heads up of their coming arrival. [08:55] 4Cavanaugh won't push the issue, and instead will drive them up to meet Edgar outside Pearl's place. [08:57] 3Maja applies the glue carefully and holds the arm in place for several seconds, staring at the floor to the side of the table. Briefly, she thinks about all the choices in her life that lead up to her embrace, and then all the choices in her undead life that lead up to now. The arm's probably attached now. [08:57] 3She lets go, and it falls right off. [08:58] Their people talk to her people, and by the time they all get to Redondo Beach, there's a ghoul manning entrance to the gated community the address leads to. He pushes the button to let them in, and the heavy metal jerks and starts to rattle back. The houses on the inside are made smaller by the grand, palatial lawns they sit on. There seems to be have been a reaction here against early Christmas decorating. [08:59] 4Cavanaugh thinks he likes this Pearl already. [08:59] Leisurely's door is open. The lights are on. [08:59] 3She looks at the severed arm now laying on the table and nods softly to herself- yup, that seems about right. [08:59] There's a soft knock on Maja's door. 15[09:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie'll take a breath to steel himself as he walks up and then knock on the open door. "Leis?" [09:00] 3Maja picks up the sculpture and arm and shoves it into the bottom drawer. "Come in!" [09:00] 6Edgar: "Evening, gentlemen. What do we know about the sale? How have you been." [09:01] 6He's looking forward to work, tonight. It's better to work- to question and discover and persuade- than to think about whether anyone will be waiting at home, or about the way his back felt when he arose from the bed. [09:01] Leisurely calls from the inside. "Yeah, come in! I'm in the kitchen." [09:02] "Close the door after yourself." [09:03] 4Cavanaugh's back in his standard suit and tie combination. He's got his tablet with him. "I've been fine," 4Cav lies, smiling. "Thanks for asking. The sales in question -- there are two of them -- are these properties here." 4He would offer to send them to Edgar's iPad but he's fairly certain Edgar doesn't have an iPad. "Now, we don't think -- we currently have no reason to think, [09:03] that is -- that Pearl Bernstein has anything to do with these transactions." [09:03] "We just want her help with the Gregory White side of the equation." 15[09:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie does so and then follows the sound of her voice. "What's good?" [09:04] 6Edgar: "Yeah, okay. How does she know he?" [09:04] 4Since Santiago's the one that made that connection, Cav will let him do the honors of explaining it. [09:06] The door to Maja's office opens, and when the man steps in, he takes care to close it gently behind him. "Hello." He should be taller than he seems. Right now he looks a little drawn into himself, like he's curled up but somehow standing. His eyes go from plant to plant. [09:07] Santiago shrugs at Edgar. "Bernstein's Malloy's childe. White was an old ghoul of Malloy's. We're trying to find White. So I thought she might know." [09:08] 6Edgar: "Makes sense. Nice neighborhood." [09:08] 3Maja stands up to greet him. "Santiago? I presume?" [09:08] "Yeah." 4It's okay. [09:09] 4At this point they'll presumably have reached the front door, or the grand foyer (foy-yay), or what have you. [09:10] Leisurely is wearing a dirty apron, and using a wooden spoon to stir something dark, brown, and sticky in a huge mixing bowl. "Hi. I'm baking." 15[09:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wake and bake, huh. Rollie should've thought of that. "What are you making?" [09:13] They have reached the front door of Bernstein's house. It's very big and well-appointed, with neo-grecian columns on the porch and huge bay windows showing off the interior. When they get to the front door, a second ghoul answers. "The mistress is on the course, sirs." She extends a bony hand and points across the street, where floodlights have lit up an enormous, rolling golf course. [09:14] Santiago shakes Maja's hand. "Yeah. Deacon Kovacevic. Should I just call you Deacon?" 15[09:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's the freakin Deacon, baby. [09:14] The ghoul points to a little shed set off from the main house. "You may borrow a cart, if you'd like." [09:14] 4This is more like it. "So that's why we have a drought." [09:15] 6Edgar: "We will certainly borrow a golf cart." 6Hell yes. [09:15] "Please, Maja." 3Pronounced "Maya." "Make yourself at home on the couch." [09:16] Leisurely kicks the oven door open. "Brownies. Just the regular kind, I'm afraid." [09:16] 4Once they're past the ghouls, to Edgar: "Now, I know what you're probably thinking." [09:16] "But no. I don't golf." [09:17] 6Edgar: "Doesn't prevent us riding the cart." [09:17] "So if this comes down to some twisted putt-off for information..." [09:17] Santiago sits down on the couch, opposite Maja. "First time doing this, actually. Ha." [09:18] 6Edgar: "Pretty good reaction time, though. I called ahead. How many holes can you get in in that time?" [09:18] 3Maja smiles at him softly. "You a bit nervous?" [09:19] Deputy Aguilar sits in the back of the golf cart. [09:19] 4Cav: "Whatever hole she's on less three, if she's anything like the Invictus back in New York." 15[09:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Regular brownies are great, too. They taste better and they're a more appropriate Mother's Day present." 10He sits down. "Hey, listen." [09:21] 6Edgar sits at the front of the cart. The only thing better than one of these is a riding mower. [09:21] "Well, New York." [09:21] Santiago nods. His grin is a little embarrassed. "Little bit. Not about you, I mean." His eyes widen, trying to indicate no offense given. "Just kind of weird to talk about things you've only thought to yourself." [09:22] Leisurely nods, to show she's listening. She uses a plastic spatula to spoon the mixture into a glass baking dish. [09:23] "Youre right. Given what I've seen of the L.A. court so far, I'm sure she just started at the first hole and played her way forward." 4Cavanaugh sighs. "Probably even keeping accurate, uninflated score, too." [09:23] "What a weird Court, man." [09:23] 6Edgar: "They don't need to cheat, here. They're on top." [09:23] "Somehow that's never stopped anyone else in history." [09:24] 6Edgar: "Circle seems a bit like a paper tiger. Dangerous spells and bluster, but can they fight for real? Last night, woods night, says no." [09:24] Aguilar speaks up while they're rolling. "Do you think she'll talk to a bunch of Orange County deputies outside their jurisdiction?" 15[09:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I'm... sorry. About the way things went last time. I shouldn't have shut down like that when I got frustrated. We should've been able to talk. We've got to be able to talk to each other." [09:24] 3Maja: "That's a very common sentiment. It takes a lot of courage to actually talk about these things sometimes. Thankfully, you've already done what many consider the hardest part- contacting me and getting yourself here." 15[09:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's good that Leis's back is turned because Rollie probably wasn't gonna be able to make eye contact anyway. Luckily the surface of this table is very interesting. [09:25] 4Cavanaugh shrugs. "I get the feeling Jubal thought he was having fun fucking around with some vampire kids. I suspect we'll get a more serious treatment next time." [09:25] 4To Deputy Aguilar: "I hope she'd do us the courtesy. And if she doesn't, well, that tells us something too." [09:26] 6Edgar: "Don't tell yourself you're outside a line, though. Bring it with you." [09:27] 4Oh, Cav's gonna have to steal that one. Maybe make it a bit less folksy. [09:28] Santiago nods. "Sure. Do you talk to a lot of Invictus people? This is…this is confidential, right? Yeah, you already said that, sorry. Uh." 08[09:30] Leisurely sets the bowl down, and crosses the island to be next to Rollie. She puts her arms around him and squeezes tight. 08[09:30] "I'm sorry, Rollie." [09:30] "I've forgotten how to do this." She lets him go, and steps back. "It's my fault. It's my responsibility to you." [09:32] 3Maja: "I do. I can't tell you who they are or what we've talked about, obviously. But I've heard all sorts of things in my time. You can feel free to say whatever is on your mind- I am very difficult to offend." [09:32] The little golf cart rolls over hill and dale until they're in sight of the fifth hole. Its sister ship is parked off the green, where two figures in polos and white golf skirts are standing, hefting clubs. [09:32] 6Fortunately for Cavanaugh, we haven't brought any extras. 15[09:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie hugs back without thinking, and when she lets go he can feel the distance between them. It hurts to notice that. He hears Maja's voice telling him that it would hurt more not to. "...good thing this is all about learning, right?" [09:32] 4Fifth hole? That's at about the bounds of credibility. Damn them! [09:34] There's the unique crack of metal hitting the exterior of a golf ball, and the little white sphere shoots into the air, banking to the right severely. They're close enough to hear the golfer's protests as it disappears behind a line of trees. "LeftleftleftleftnowaitnoGOLEFTGOLEFTFUCK-" [09:34] 6vrrrrrrrr [09:36] 4You know there are devotions for fucking with golf balls? Like, you imbue them with Vitae, right, and -- well, let's just say that it was the Bishop of Manhattan's self-appointed job to inspect the clubs, balls, and course before any game for stakes in New York. [09:38] "AAAAGH. FUCKIN' THING SUCKS-" The golf club disappears into the trees after the ball, thrown an impressive distance. When the deputies park, they can hear the woman still holding her club. [09:39] "I'm not buying you another driver." [09:40] 4Well. At least they won't have to talk through the play. [09:40] Santiago holds out his hands in a gesture of peace. "Oh. I didn't want to offend you or anything. I mean… I believe in God and everything. I just needed some advice." [09:41] Leisurely touches the side of her nose. "Or remembering what you already learned." [09:41] 3Maja: "What's on your mind, my friend?" [09:42] Santiago shifts around his seat, trying to become comfortable. He clears his throat. [09:42] 6Edgar reluctantly hops out, nodding to the figures as they approach. This must be Pearl Bernstein.. actually, he thinks he saw her on the dance floor. [09:43] Santiago: "How do you know you're sure when you think you want to ask someone to marry you?" [09:43] 4Cavanaugh can't quite place the face, due to his Condition, but knows he's seen her somewhere before. Who's the other one? 15[09:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie grins. "That's right. Anyway, Ruby sent me to a confessor. Well, first she hired a confessor, then the confessor's old boss threatened her life, then Ruby made me explain the Ordo Dracul to the confessor. She's great, though. I think you guys would get along real well. Anyway talking to her helped settle some things for me. I know which Coil I'm after." [09:45] 3Maja pauses to think. She readjusts her legs. "That's a very good question, Santiago." 3She pauses again. "I think it depends on a lot of factors. Why don't you tell me a little bit about this relationship first." [09:47] "Quiet, Jessie." Whack! This time, the ball goes right onto the green. "Perfect." They don't have caddies, so they have to carry their own bags over. It's pretty easy to tell which one is Nosferatu. She's also the one who greets them. "Hello, Deputies." [09:48] "Good evening, Baroness Bernstein!" 4Smiling, to...Jessie, Jessie. Remember. "And...I don't believe we've had the pleasure." [09:48] 6Edgar: "Evening, Ladies." 6Capital letter if you're listening for it. [09:49] Leisurely's eyes widen. "A Confessor? Why - Who - alright. A confessor. As long as it helped." She leans against the porcelain countertop, tapping her fingernails. "Okay. Which one?" 15[09:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Maja Kovacevic. She's - or was? I guess we all do the double agent thing - she's a Deacon in the, whatever the church is called. I want the first Coil of Flesh." [09:52] Santiago leans forward, putting his head between his knees in nervousness, his hands on top of his head, before he sits up and regains his composure. "Sure. We've been seeing each other for about twenty months. We've more or less lived together for the past ten. I really, really…love her? I think about spending time with her all the time." [09:54] 3Maja: "Okay. So what are the things you have reservations about? I assume you wouldn't be here if you weren't at least partially conflicted." [09:54] Pearl puts the golf bags into the back of the cart. "We'll walk, if you take these to the next hole. This is Jessica Kurtz-Campbell, Baroness of Manhattan Beach." [09:54] Jessie waves. "Hi!" [09:55] "I mean, hello, deputies." [09:56] Leisurely walks back to the oven and slides the baking dish in, fiddling with the knob. "It's important to understand your own drives at every step of the process. So why that Coil? Why now?" [09:57] 4Genteel smile and a very slight deferential bow without breaking eye contact. "It is a pleasure, Baroness. I'm Deputy Clinton Cavanaugh." 4And my colleagues, certainly, can introduce themselves. 15[09:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's jaw works. 15[09:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "Well, I guess there's two things." [09:57] "Good to meet you. Edgar Doolittle." 6Edgar smiles reservedly, like he's along for the ride and not paying attention, which is not the case. [09:59] Deputy Aguilar makes his hellos. Jessie wanders over to the cart to shake his hand. Pearl gives the side of the cart two swift taps. "Just drive slow enough that we can keep up. What can I help you with, Deputies? I don't spend a lot of time in Orange County." 15[10:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's silent for a moment, collecting his thoughts to put them in the most correct (and least embarrassing) way. "The first is- first of all I was debating between first Blood and first Flesh. I think those both - they'd both reduce my footprint, I guess, is what I was after. Either one would see me getting hungry a lot less. So there's two things that helped me choose Flesh over Blood." [10:01] Santiago concentrates. "I don't know if the…situation is right. But that's kind of the problem. I know what I want. But I don't know if the situation will ever be right. Right the way I'm used to, I mean. Back when we were all normal." [10:02] Leisurely nods attentively. "Okay." [10:02] 4Cav: "It's a...family matter, you might say. One we're not keen to pry too deeply into -- we respect your privacy, and that of your siblings in the blood, and any childer you may have. But we do have some questions about a ghoul who was...kept by your sire." 15[10:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "One is the thing you said, about how... about the different directions they pull in. How Blood pushes you to be a better vampire, and how Flesh pushes you to be something else entirely. Something you used to be, something you could never be again otherwise. It's more ambitious, and it's important to me that I... that I am ambitious." [10:02] 6Edgar: "He's the one spending time in the Territory. Prospectively." [10:03] 3Maja nods. "Go on." [10:03] Pearl looks straight forward while she walks. "Wouldn't that make him an ex-ghoul? My sire is dead." [10:04] Leisurely: "What did you see that made you feel like this?" [10:07] 4Cavanaugh's smile remains polite. "Indeed. So you see why we might have questions." [10:07] Santiago: "I don't think that vampires really get married. Or do it very often. There's like…I mean, you know the Invictus, right? You kind of think 'okay I'm just doing this job', and then you realize that everyone takes it way more seriously than you imagined they would, and they're not like…people. Their concerns are kind of inhuman." 15[10:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It's something I've been thinking about since the Architect cornered me at the Halloween party. When he was confused about why you took me on as a student, and why you were so misguided, and how you could turn your back on all that, whatever. And I don't know him that well, and I don't know you as well as I want to. But I kind of decided right then and there that I'd rather end up like you than like him." [10:08] 4Cav: "Gregory White is the man specifically in question. His name has crossed our desks very recently." [10:09] "We've come here only in search of a little...insight." 15[10:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Talking to M- to the Confessor made me realize it was okay for me to think that. I wasn't being hasty or fucking up by thinking that. It's just true, and I should, like. Be honest with myself about that." [10:09] 3Maja keeps nodding, but remains silent. She waits for Santiago to keep going. [10:09] Jessie has somehow managed to fit herself on the back seat with Deputy Aguilar and two golf bags. Pearl considers the new fact. "I know the name. What's he been doing?" [10:10] 4Cavanaugh: "Buying land in Orange County. From a Court broker." [10:10] Pearl: "For whom? Himself?" [10:11] 4Honesty is best practices here, to a point. He'd rather keep the names of the suspects out of it for the moment, though. [10:14] 6Edgar: "That's among the things we want to discover, Baroness." [10:14] Santiago: "Her sire is crazy. Not like…insane, but- well, maybe she's insane. She's this ancient Invictus noble who is just the most Invictus person you've ever met. And she's, her sire, I mean, she's got her on the vinculum. And it's like every time she's with her sire, she just slides back into this different person. And I know what she's really like, away from all of that. When it's just us. I'm worried about the [10:14] pressure doing our jobs will do to our relationship. Because everyone else thinks there shouldn't even be a relationship, if it gets in the way of our made up jobs." [10:15] Pearl: "Can I ask who you suspect?" [10:15] 4Cav: "If we knew who he was representing, we'd be able to bypass all this unpleasantness -- perhaps even bypass him -- and address the problem directly. As it is..." 4Cavanaugh spreads his hands. 08[10:16] Leisurely keeps quiet while Rollie explains himself. 15[10:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie draws in a deep breath, and NOBODY'S face swims to his mind. It's complete coincidence that the surface of the table is very interesting again. "The second thing is I did some math." [10:18] 3Maja slowly leans back in her chair. This might be more complicated than she anticipated. "I see." 3She puts a pen to her mouth and starts chewing it a little. "So there are a lot of external things that are getting in the way of your relationship- but the relationship itself works well?" [10:18] The golf cart reaches the start of the 6th hole, and Pearl takes her bag off the back. "I know my sire used to be interested in buying property down in Orange County. For all the usual reasons. Gregory was the one he used to speak to the locals." [10:19] 4Cav pauses a moment. "A party outside the Court. That is all it would be responsible to say at the moment." 15[10:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He continues. "Since Halloween I've been really, like. I've been doing a lot of stuff just to feel normal, you know? I've been taking long showers, and shaving every night, and putting on my good clothes. Just cause, like. I don't know. It feels good. Anyway I've found myself, lately - I felt it in the past, too, but lately I feel like it all the time - I've found myself wanting to warm up. You know? Like we did at the party." 15[10:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "It felt really good to feel like a living thing again." 15[10:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "And I... I miss that feeling. I want more of it. And I think I'm going to... it's hard not to just keep warming myself up." 15[10:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "So I did some math, like I said." 15[10:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "And I realized, if I did that, I'd burn through way more, you know, I'd need to eat more than I do just from waking up." 15[10:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "So even from like a pure efficiency perspective... the Architect couldn't argue with my findings, is what I'm saying." [10:22] Santiago: "Really well. I'm so glad I met her. I feel. Happy. When I remember we're living together. You know what love is when you're in it, don't you? That's how it works, right?" 08[10:25] Leisurely chews on a plastic straw. "Rollie." 15[10:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Leis?" [10:25] 3Maja catches herself from wincing at that question. "I think that there are many different forms of love- it is a very complicated thing, that love." [10:25] "There's the emotional feeling it provokes, yes. But in my mind, love is an action." [10:26] She smiles. "I'm just pleased as punch." 15[10:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Something's pulling the corners of Rollie's mouth apart. He's grinning like a fool and he doesn't even realize it. "Really? Why?" [10:27] Santiago: "It's not complicated for me right now. I love her. She loves me. We want to be together. It's everything outside of that that's complicated." [10:30] 3Maja nods. "Okay. So it seems like you have a choice here then. You can either pursue the relationship and deal with the consequences. Or ... what do you see as your other option, or options, here?" [10:31] Leisurely waves her hand at the hallway leading to the parlor, and all its tomes. "It's just very reflective. I'm glad you're thinking about why you want it. And I'm happy that you're honest and practical enough to admit you want it for more than one reason." 15[10:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie gets up, assuming she's leading him into the study room, or directing him there. "That was something else talking to the Confessor did for me. It got me thinking about what I actually want, and why I actually want it. And how it's important to be aware that some things are good for more than one reason." [10:33] Pearl crouches down next to the tee and looks at her prospective shot. "Did you know my sire?" [10:33] 6Edgar: "No ma'am." [10:34] 4Cavanaugh lets Edgar answer for both of them. [10:35] Pearl takes a practice swing. "Do you know many Nosferatu?" [10:35] 6Edgar: "Few, ma'am." [10:38] Leisurely walks with him to the parlor. "I spent a very long time agonizing about the purity of my own desires. About why I wanted things to be a certain way. Why I wanted to be a certain way. My understanding of myself and my condition made me think that I couldn't trust myself to know what was right." [10:38] Crack! The ball goes flying, perfect again, right in the middle of the green. Pearl slides the driver back in the bag. "Really? Which ones?" [10:39] Santiago: "I think I only have the one option. If I'm serious. If I really believe in us, I mean." 15[10:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What changed that for you?" [10:40] 3Maja: "Okay. And so what are the potential consequences of that course of action, then?" [10:41] 4Cav: "Lord David Iago Mirros and Barrister Fontaine, both of the Manhattan Court. And Mister--" 4... "--well. No one on this coast, is the point." [10:42] Santiago: "I'm not sure. I've picked up on that it might be pretty bad. Maybe she gets denied opportunities to advance up the ladder. Maybe nobody cares. Maybe her sire just kills me and deals with the fallout and relies on the vinculum to sort things out." [10:42] 6Edgar: "If you intend to make a point about the condition of the clan, we're listening." [10:43] 3Maja: "Those seem pretty dire, Santiago." [10:43] Santiago: "Yeah, well. I didn't understand the job so well when I took it." [10:44] 3Maja: "Are there any ways you could mitigate some of those consequences?" 14[10:44] * Joins: ddt [10:47] Leisurely sits in her oversized armchair. "Until you reach a certain point of understanding and rehabilitation, the greatest protector of your own sovereign will is the trust you put in your own soul. It's faith. And you're not so far down the road that you can't separate your own desire from your condition's desire." [10:48] The cart putters towards the green. "It's easy to wear your clan like a mask, until it becomes your face. My sire didn't need to wear a mask. He was a monster from the beginning." [10:50] 4Cav's smile has slipped away. "I've met a couple guys like that in my time." [10:50] 6Edgar: "Unfortunate. Glad he's gone?" [10:51] Santiago: "I kind of gather that if you're worried about getting eaten, you appeal to an even bigger fish." [10:53] 3Maja's eyebrows furrow. "Can you explain?" [10:54] Pearl: "Extremely. And I'm grateful to the Circle, for taking his head. Reddy and I and all the ghouls lived like hostages to his moods. And then I inherited half of it all, and I live in pleasant luxury, and let others establish the common view of our clan." [10:55] Santiago: "Well, you know the Prince, right?" [10:55] "Know about him, I mean." [10:55] "Yeah, I do." [10:56] Santiago shrugs. "Well, he's married. What if we're like…this is a tribute, to your shared wisdom." [10:56] 4Cavanaugh: "'Reddy?'" [10:58] Pearl hops off the cart. "Kavita Reddy. My 'sister.' She could bear to stay in Glendale. I took Redondo Beach." [10:58] Maja's eyebrows furrow even deeper. "I'm not sure I follow." [10:59] Santiago: "Well, if we can't get their mercy, maybe we can appease their vanity. We learned it from you, that sort of thing. I don't know, I'm just spitballing. This is probably going to end really badly." 15[11:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You mean because I can remember. What it was like. I have... I can see what's me and what isn't." [11:01] "Glendale." 4Cav has his iPhone out and is making notes in an app with his stylus. He's thankfully muted the clicknoise of the touchscreen keyboard. "Malloy didn't happen to have a childe -- or a ghoul in his, ah, retinue -- named 'Sang,' did he?" [11:01] 3Her face softens again. "Have you been able to talk to anybody who might understand how to deal with this? Or with your lover herself?" 3Ew. 'Lover' is the worst term ever. [11:02] 6Edgar: "The background's appreciated either way." [11:04] Leisurely nods. "But faith and memory can only last so long. You have to replace them with something concrete, so that when you fade, it remains. Like rebuilding your metaphysical skeleton from scratch. And it starts with knowledge of yourself, through knowledge of everything around you. That's why I think your other condition is a strength." [11:06] Santiago winces at 'lover.' "My girlfriend. Right. And that's the problem. I don't really trust anybody else right now, to favor the relationship over the whole…covenant thing. That's why I called you. Kind of a leap of faith. Ha. Talking about faith with the deacon. Funny, right?" 15[11:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Yeah, nobody else does that. [11:07] 4No comment. [11:07] 3Everybody just relax. [11:07] 6With the lords he's met, fair enough... [11:09] 3Maja: "I take it you have gotten a lot of resistance from others over this relationship?" [11:10] Pearl: "Asian girl? Tall, early twenties, temper?" [11:11] Santiago: "Does condescension and vague references to future disaster count as resistance?" 15[11:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Do you ever feel like, like." 15[11:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "Actually I guess I don't know this for sure. But I always assumed that you're the same kind of vampire I am. Is that right? Aside from the crazy thing." [11:12] 3Maja: "Yes, that does count." [11:12] 4Cav's smile is grim now. "That's her. Especially the temper." [11:13] Leisurely: "You mean, a Mekhet?" 15[11:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie stares blankly. 15[11:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "...maybe...?" [11:13] 3Maja: "Why not just go on as you already are, though? What is it about marriage that is important to you?" [11:14] Leisurely stands and looks through her books. 08[11:16] After a while, she pulls out a slim leather volume and hands it to rollie. It has a black cover, with gold embossed text. The Vampyre Clans, by Jakub Nowicki. 15[11:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie takes it and flips through it. "Oh, huh. 'Auspex' 'Obfuscate' 'Celerity'. Yeah, I... huh. Who made these names up?" 15[11:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "Did this guy make these names up?" 15[11:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is that what people actually call them?" [11:18] 6Edgar's a little worried as he listens here. If Sang is an old associate of Bernstein, she might be a 'citizen' of the Brilliant Court - however that works. Her calling upon Wright might be legitimate. The sale of property legitimate. They could be going down a weeks-dead end, although it's nice to meet people at least. [11:19] 4Perhaps. But at the very least, a legitimate member of the Court wouldn't -- shouldn't -- be based out of the Inland Empire. That's not Court territory. If nothing else, this investigation could put them onto something much bigger. Another expansion? [11:19] Pearl: "She was a ghoul, taken on shortly before Malloy died. We decided jointly that the youngest ghouls, once the bond had been destroyed, should be offered the chance to seek employment elsewhere. There had already been so much that they'd seen. They weren't marred. Not yet unfit to serve others. She disappeared, along with all the others who left. I don't know where she went." [11:20] 6Edgar: "Sang and Wright know each other?" [11:20] "Hmm," 4is all Cavanaugh says out loud. Ness definitely indicated she was 'like' Cavanaugh, not himself -- and he should know the difference between a vampire and a ghoul. He wonders if the Court keeps records of all its legitimate Embraces. [11:22] Leisurely stands over his shoulder, looking at the color illustrations. "I don't know where most of it came from. It's just tradition merged with vanity. But there are five distinct groupings of vampires, subdivided into countless small bloodlines and ecccentricities." 15[11:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie taps his finger on the explanation of Auspex. "But yeah, this. This is what I- holy shit, mind reading? Actual mind reading? Jesus." 15[11:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "Can you... do you know this stuff?" [11:24] Pearl's accurate whacks have taken them all the way to the putting green. She takes out her putter and measures the shot. "I have some bad news for you, Deputies. I was confused when you asked me about Gregory, because he's dead. I killed him." [11:26] 6Edgar nods. "Recently?" [11:26] Santiago: "The idea of being together, formally, I guess. I don't really want a wedding. It means a lot to me. Like this is for real. Your priorities are established." [11:26] "I mean, I don't care about the whole ceremony. But I care about the gesture. The symbol." 14[11:27] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) [11:27] Leisurely; "I astral project all the time." 15[11:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "No shit?" 15[11:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you ever... like." 15[11:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "This is a really weird question." [11:27] 4That makes a decent amount of sense, knowing how Sang fits into the picture now. Well, somewhat how she fits. [11:29] 4Cavanaugh wonders fleetingly whether Sang's gone through the trouble of creating a new 'Gregory White' from whole-cloth and slotting him in to replace the previous holder of that bundle of government identification, or whether he exists fully on paper now. Then he realizes it probably doesn't matter. 15[11:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Finally Rollie just says it: "Do you ever use this stuff on me?" [11:29] 3Maja: "Do you think the formality of it will increase the risk?" [11:29] Pearl swings once, and the ball clatters into the hole. "Not recently. Two days after Malloy died. He was broken. It would have been an incredible cruelty to abandon him to further life and suffering. I am not that cruel. There was no need to play out the string for my sake." [11:31] 4Now that's Invictus. [11:32] Leisurely: "Not the mind reading. Sometimes I've watched you do your deputy work." [11:33] 6Edgar: "Confusion's shared, then, Baroness. Perhaps a reused name." 15[11:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "On Halloween?" [11:33] Leisurely nods. 15[11:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "God, that was so fucked up." [11:34] 4Cavanaugh: "I doubt by accident. Nevertheless, that gives us the perspective we need, my Lady. I think we can take it from here." 15[11:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I think that was why Ruby made me go see the Confessor. That shit stuck with me for days, and it was- I ended up scaring this girl who was crashing with me. And I ended up freaking out working with Ruby." 15[11:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ugh." 15[11:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "I really, really don't want to do that job anymore." [11:35] Santiago: "I don't know. Maybe. The Invictus likes to put its oaths above every other oath." [11:35] 6Somebody should tell Santiago about the unwritten rule. [11:36] 6Everybody breaks all the other rules, as long as they can get away with it. Does the poor guy not realise? 15[11:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm supposed to- like they're all out in Redondo Beach right now, talking to Pearl. You remember Pearl, from the party? Good dancer." 10Good kisser. "And I just. No, man." [11:36] Leisurely sits back down in her armchair. "I put your name in because the Prince owed me a favor and I wanted to find you a safe way to be fed regularly." 15[11:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah, I mean, I appreciate it. I'm really grateful. And I don't think I can stop, but." 15[11:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't know. I got to do something. I'm not a gun and badge guy. I'm not Invictus." 15[11:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie says the word in a very different tone than the one Cav thinks it in. [11:40] 4I bet that's less true than he thinks it is. [11:40] 4The way Cavanaugh thinks Invictus is different from how he says it. And Cav's learned to be a good liar. [11:40] 4Even -- especially! -- to himself. [11:40] Leisurely: "A few months after I met the future Architect, he told me that he would become so transcendent in his own power that no one could make him do anything he didn't want to do. And a few months before he succeeded me as master of the Academy, I told him that I would become so transcendent in my own power that I would know what I want to do." [11:41] "He grew up, of course." 15[11:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie look up at and to Leisurely. "Man." 15[11:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "I am so lucky you noticed me." [11:42] "So, let me see if I have this all straight. You're in love, and you are certain that you want to marry this woman. However, by doing so, you might be putting both your life, and hers, in increased danger. Is that correct?" 3Maja, somehow, asks this question in a tone that is very clearly for clarification- there is not a trace of judgment in it. [11:44] Pearl put her clubs away. "That's enough golf for one night. The penalty for unauthorized dealings outside of the court is death, Deputies. Influence lessens and diverts the punishment, obviously. But do be careful in your investigation. These things have a way of turning back on you. Can you drive us back to the house?" [11:44] 4Cavanaugh's stuck on that: Pearl executing White because his patron was dead and his clock was running out, and him, adopting two cats -- mountain lions -- from a draugr he put down to spare them their doom at the end of the month. It's impossible to the tell from the outside, though; he's still smiling politely. [11:45] 4And that, if he doesn't mistake it, was either a direct warning or a veiled threat. [11:45] 4Or both. [11:45] 6Edgar turns the cart once everyone's on board. "What's the par?" [11:45] 6Her warning isn't lost on him. He needs to send an email. [11:45] 6Time for that god dam computer class, it seems. [11:46] Leisurely looks at her fingers. "There's Ventrue, Daeva, Gangrel, Nosferatu. The names are all so ridiculous." [11:47] 4There's a MacBook Pro waiting for Edgar back at the office, if he needs one! [11:48] Santiago nods. "That's it. But part of it is just…she's happy when she's with me. And she's unhappy and she gets hurt when she has to their thing. I guess I get hurt, too." [11:48] when she has to do their thing* [11:48] 6He does, but he also needs someone to teach him how to use it in a way that can't be seen BY the office. 15[11:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie shakes himself free of his thought, briefly grateful that he hasn't learned the Coil of Flesh yet. "Anyway, I was just... you were talking about how you thought my thing can help me, right? In making a project of myself. One of the things the Confessor and I talked about a lot is... I feel like, a lot of times, the way that Malkavia and-" 10double-checks the book "-Auspex let me see people, and teach me how to look at people, is..." 15[11:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's really hard. It hurts to do, and it feels like I'm hurting them." [11:49] Pearl: "There isn't one, except in my head. Can you believe I'm the only one with any interest in the sport? At least the Baroness Manhattan is kind enough to watch me hit a ball along a length of grass and not complain too much." [11:50] 3Maja: [11:50] 4'Baroness Manhattan' startles Cav for a moment before he remembers 'Manhattan Beach.' [11:50] 4Too much New York coming back up his throat tonight. [11:51] 6Edgar shrugs. "West coast, you know. Things we reject say as much about us as the things we say we like." [11:51] 3Maja: "So what are you thinking your next steps are going to be?" [11:52] Pearl: "How's Deputy Choi doing?" [11:53] 6Edgar: "Aha! It *was* the pair of you at the ball." 08[11:53] 6Edgar: "Rollie can speak for himself... but do you want his number?" [11:54] 4Cav, to his credit, keeps his mouth from falling open. [11:54] 4The pair of them?! [11:54] 6Edgar means 'pearl and jessie', obviously. What else could he mean. [11:55] Pearl looks sideways at Edgar. "I asked because I enjoyed his company at the Autumn Ball, and wondered how he was doing. Don't crash the cart reading too much into it, Deputy." [11:55] 4No wonder he can never find the time to come to work. [11:56] 4Sure, Pearl. [11:57] 4Also, Pearl: that's not a 'no.' [11:57] 6Edgar: "Absolutely, but it's on our office stationary. Your man back at the gates has some." 6This has been an enjoyable interview, all told. [11:58] 6These kids- Pearl is probably older than he is, but so many vampires look like kids- if they're going to be at the top of a pyramid of blood and war then they should goddamn enjoy it. Come on. [11:58] Leisurely: "Seeing people's true selves is a bit jarring. You don't get used to it so much as your sympathies grow large enough to accept their flaws, and the pain is further diluted because it has so much else to share the space with." 08[11:59] 4Rollie sure is. [11:59] Santiago: "Keep doing my job. Help her do hers. We were going to get away for Christmas. I was thinking about doing it then." 15[12:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So you're saying... huh. Okay. Is this a tarot thing?" 15[12:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "The Tarot thing you gave me was all about, like, soaking up people's pain." 15[12:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "I told Ruby which one I got and she said 'too bad'." [12:01] 3Maja: "Would it be more prudent if you kept your commitments secret?" [12:02] Santiago: "Probably. I just don't want her to think I'm scared. Or unwilling, or that I'm trying to half-ass it." 08[12:03] 4Once they're outside, to Edgar: "Holy shit, Rollie." [12:03] 3Maja: "It sounds like it warrants a very honest discussion." [12:03] "That's what, like. Girlfriend number 3?" [12:03] "Do you feel like you can speak with her frankly about these things?" [12:04] Leisurely: "Ruby likes to offer very practical advice, at the expense of all the other kinds of advice." [12:04] 6Edgar: "You didn't see them? All three too high to talk." [12:04] 6Edgar: "Probably legal now. Why the hell not." [12:04] 4Cav: "All three, huh." 4He shakes his head. That sly dog. [12:04] Santiago: "Yes. Absolutely. We're honest with each other." [12:05] "Sometimes men and women just... hang out at a party. Without prejudice. It happens." [12:05] 3Maja: "That's good. Perhaps, I think, the most important indicator of a relationship that will work." [12:05] 4Cavanaugh grins. "Sometimes it does, at that." [12:05] Santiago: "Communication?" [12:06] "Yes. I suspect you might be able to come to a workable solution with her more directly." [12:06] "Anyway." 4He pulls is iPad out of the front seat of the Lexus. "We've got a better handle on this 'Sang' now." [12:06] Deputy Aguilar speaks up from the back seat. "What about that Houston thing? The other buyers." 08[12:07] 4Group text to all of three of them as well as Rollie, Buchanan, and Rush: [12:07] Santiago absently scratches at his cheek. "Yeah, alright. That's a good idea." [12:08] 6Edgar: "Now, Ness said she was vampire?" 6'Kindred', whatever. [12:08] "I mean, she's the only one whose opinion I actually care about. Might as well get it." [12:08] 4To Deputy Aguilar: "Yeah, we should handle them next. Thought about sending Buchanan or Rush down to Houston to check out their alleged offices, but I don't like the risk that puts them at." 15[12:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's phone buzzes. "Sorry, one sec."  [12:08] 4To Edgar: "That he did. I--" [12:08] 4He checks his phone. 15[12:09] <@VoxPVoxD> [12:09] "Goddammit." 08[12:09] 6Holy shit.  [12:09] 6Holy shit.  [12:09] 3Maja nods. "Yeah. The consequence are shared, so the decision must be too." [12:09] Leisurely: "So you want to learn Flesh first?" 15[12:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah. Where do we start?" [12:10] 4Maybe it would be good to know these things before going into a meeting with-- [12:10] Santiago takes the box out of his pocket and puts it, opened, on the table between them. There's a thick golden band, topped by a gleaming red ruby. [12:11] 3Maja's eyebrows raise. "Well look at that." [12:12] Santiago: "I think it's supposed to be three months' pay, but I don't get paid in money, so. I got it off a guy traveling down to San Diego for a favor." [12:13] Leisurely: "When's the last time you felt your Beast?" [12:13] 6Edgar: "Well, I know where I am the rest of the night." [12:14] 3Maja laughs heartily. "I don't know what kind of lady your girlfriend is, or her tastes- but I'd be surprised if she didn't love it." 3She thinks to herself 'if she didn't, then she should go fuck herself.' But she decided against saying that out loud. 15[12:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie, whose Beast is invisible to Leisurely tonight for the first time ever: "I guess yesterday, when I had my lighter out." [12:14] 4Cavanaugh: "If you mean the office, I think I'm there with you. Need to make some calls of my own on this Sang business." [12:14] 4Then he sighs. [12:15] "And, at this point, someone should bring Seabury into the loop." [12:15] "I suppose I'll take that bullet, since you did last time." [12:16] 6Edgar: "You don't like him much, do you." [12:16] Leisurely: "Why what did it feel like?" [12:16] Leisurely: "Why did you feel it then? What did it feel like?"* [12:18] Santiago smiles. There's a lot of nervous tension getting released, in it. "Yeah. No, she'll love it. Red's her color. Well." He pats his knees with his palms. "This was really helpful. You did me a world of good, Deacon. Thank you." [12:19] 4Cavanaugh frowns. "I don't dislike him. I do, however, recall he sent us to our almost-certain deaths" 4-- he doesn't find it necessary to remind Edgar's his was merely deferred -- "the first night we met him, and has done little more than tolerate us since then." [12:19] 6The drive back to the office is fine, but- Edgar suddenly realises why he enjoyed the cart so much; he misses his damn sedan! Got to be behind the wheel of something. It's both the utility and the control. 15[12:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Well, it was the fire, right? And it... it was a cold feeling. It's like, there's this icy rod that runs from the base of my throat all the way down my torso, and like... everything inside me contracts around it. Like those things you'd see on TV of someone licking a frozen metal pole and their tongue being stuck to it." 15[12:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Like I'm shrinking inside my own skin." [12:19] 4Cavanaugh: "Also, he's our boss. You respect your boss. You don't like him." [12:20] 4Cav will head out in his Lexus for Seabury's office. [12:20] 6Edgar: "I've got more than enough knowledge of that score, Clinton. You'll recall he's washed his hands of acorns. My question: have you asked what it is he actually does?" [12:20] 3Maja's face lights up. "Thank you, Santiago! It was truly a pleasure. I hope you'll keep me in the loop about how things turn out." [12:21] 6Edgar: "The man's genuinely trying to do a good job, affecting many lives in an impossible environment. How many of the Invictus would try?" [12:21] Santiago stands up, and puts his hand out. "I will. And if you ever need help with the whole Invictus thing, you've got my number." [12:22] Leisurely: "Have you ever burned yourself before?" [12:22] "Lightly, like on a hot stove." [12:23] 4Cavanaugh: "Affecting lives is not innately virtuous. And I trust no Invictus's intentions besides my own." 4He opens his Lexus's door. "I've found it improves the reaction time, when the knife in the back comes." 15[12:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "The first night." 15[12:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "The first night after - you know." 15[12:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "After I died." [12:24] 3Maja reaches out and firmly grasps Santiago's hand. "I may just have to take you up on that offer." 3She gets a slightly queasy feeling as she says this. [12:24] Leisurely: "Was it different? Did you still feel the fear?" 15[12:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie thinks back. "...no." [12:25] Santiago is smiling as he leaves. "Thanks again. See you around, Deacon." 15[12:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "I didn't feel anything. Nothing besides the pain." [12:25] 3Maja leans out from behind the door as she shuts it behind him. "Take care!" [12:26] Leisurely: "So why do you think you were afraid of the fire? Why did you feel it in one and not the other? What's distinct, do you think?" [12:26] 4Cavanaugh realizes he lied to Edgar on his drive over to Seabury's, of course. He's stopped trusting his own intentions, too. [12:26] 6Edgar.. won't try and put this into words. They'd grow tangled. It's not like a look in the eye and a firm handshake, those are meaningless- but after a while you learn to read people. He's had to be good at reading people. [12:26] 3She returns to her seat to write up her notes about the session. It feels good to finally have a ... normal session again. Maybe things can return to normal? [12:27] 3Does she even want them to return to normal, though? [12:27] 6For whatever reason, when it came to administration and choices about the lives of others.. he'd trust Seabury over Cavanaugh. He isn't sure why yet. To be fair to Clinton, he intends to find out. 08[12:28] 6Edgar's back at the deputies' office, then, until Rollie gets in. Or someone comes through the door looking for help. In the meantime, he's got to look up flowers and make a time for a visit. [12:29] 6Maybe find out the lawyers' names again, if he has nothing better to do. [12:31] 3Maja pulls open the bottom drawer and takes out the broken sculpture and detached arm. She lays it on the desk in front of her. [12:32] Buchanan flags Edgar down as he comes into the office. "Sir, that flower book you asked about…?" [12:33] 3She sits for a few seconds, picks up the arm, and then gently floats the arm into the waste basket- it's a beautiful arc. She puts her arms in the air, victoriously. "Cooooount it!" 15[12:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's silent for a time. "It's... when you haven't been burned yet, all you're thinking about is that pain. And it chokes you up. But once you've been burned, there's no time to think about anything. You just gotta get away." [12:35] 4At a red light, Cav thinks about Maja and glances at his phone on the passenger seat, out of arm's reach. Self-control. She probably doesn't want to talk to you right now. Light turns green; he goes. [12:35] 6Edgar: "Eh, Bchnmmbl. Found something?" [12:36] Seabury's office is, as usual, nearly empty. [12:37] The tall Ventrue is on the phone when Cavanaugh arrives. The cord follows him around the room like a tail while he paces. [12:37] 4He smiles deferentially and waits for his lecture. [12:38] Leisurely nods. "The reaction of the flesh is different, isn't it? From the reaction of your mind while you anticipate it?" 15[12:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah." [12:39] Seabury motions at him to sit. "No. Yes. You'd have to talk to them. To the best of my knowledge. Yes. Actually, he's just come in. Yes, at the office. Yes. Right in front of me." [12:40] 4The smile is now accompanied by a slight narrowing of the eyes. [12:41] Leisurely: "When's the last time you felt your own will at work? Conscious exertion of your will overriding your own animal desires. Resistance to mindlessness." 15[12:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "..." 15[12:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "...uh." 15[12:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "I can... think of a time." [12:44] Seabury: "Of course. No, it wouldn't be a problem. For her more than myself, I imagine. I'm already used to it. Have you spoken to her? Of course. Yes, I understand. Yes, one moment." The Ventrue hands the receiver over. It's one of those old antique phones with a gilded receiver. [12:44] Seabury: "For you, Deputy." [12:44] Leisurely nods. "Okay. When was that?" 15[12:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie mumbles and stutters for three, four minutes before anything coherent comes out. "Okay look. Look. It's." [12:46] 4It takes a lot of work to entirely remove the glare from your social repertoire, only to be brought out in very personal moments or in times of active violence -- but Cavanaugh has put in that work, and politely takes the receiver with only a slight tightening around the eyes. Almost imperceptible. 15[12:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Talking with the Confessor gets really... intense, right?" [12:48] "Clinton?" Prince Bailey's voice is as smooth as ever. 15[12:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I've never had conversations like that with anyone before. I didn't think of myself as someone who could have conversations like that." [12:48] "My Prince." 4Fantastic. 15[12:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "And this goes back to the thing you said, I guess, about. About being able to want something for more than one reason." [12:49] Leisurely shrugs. "We never had one while I was directing the Academy. Positions on their role and utility are…well, varied. But go on." [12:50] Bailey laughs. "I can imagine your face at the moment. But cheer up, Deputy. It's all good news." 15[12:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Cause the Confessor and I, because of how she got hired and how I got roped into seeing her, we had this really... weird connection. I don't know. I've never felt like that before. And like I said, it's really, uh. It's just this weird dynamic." 15[12:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It doesn't seem like a way people can actually interact. And it was really bizarre and scary, but also super cool. Like, like you ended up on another world, with no map, and you found someone you wanted to explore it with." 15[12:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "So that was the first thing." [12:52] 4Clinton's voice and face are the same as they always look. It's annoying how he does that. "That's excellent to hear, my Prince." 15[12:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "The second thing is, the Confessor, uh, she's." 08[12:52] Leisurely holds her hands up. "Hold on, Rollie." 15[12:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie exhales. 15[12:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Please let me out of this. 15[12:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He is, visibly, flustered. [12:54] Leisurely: "I know about the connection you're talking about. The thrill of self-discovery is like an electrical charge. It's addictive. It's why certain personalities are drawn to the Ordo, and why some are drawn to the others. You need to have a special wavelength to really want this, and then when you find somebody else who has it, who wants to share it with you, it's…incredible." 15[12:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Oh my god, no fuckin' kidding." [12:56] "But I think it's properly shared between two fellow seekers. What's the point in starting something like that with someone you're going to leave behind once you've changed yourself? And if they want to change themselves, too, then were they every really keeping the office of Confessor in good faith? It's too much of a draw for them, and too large of a distance if they stay where they are. That's why I never used them." [12:56] "What was the second thing?" 15[12:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It wasn't really talking to a Confessor at that point, is the thing." 15[12:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "Like I said, there's a, like a power thing when you're doing actual therapy that just wasn't there because of how we got put together." 15[12:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "And honestly I do think she'd make a way better Dragon than Confessor." [12:57] Prince Bailey: "Well, first of all, I want to get it from the prize horse's mouth. What happened on Halloween? I heard some things, most of them confused and contradictory." 15[12:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10But here Rollie squares his jaw. He's just gotta say it. No other way around it. "The second thing is that we're both really obviously attracted to each other." [12:59] Leisurely chuckles. "Well, alright. So you had to chase your own lust off?" 15[13:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "And so it was like... the conversation had progressed to a point where... I didn't want to, like. Yeah. That's what I had to do." 15[13:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "Man this is exactly like how I felt when you were asking me those tarot questions." [13:01] Leisurely: "You're lucky you weren't around for the 40s. Mystical Nudism was very much en vogue in the Academy. It was a very confused time." 15[13:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie buries his face in his hands. "Oh my goodddddddddddd." [13:02] She makes a dismissive motion with her hand. "Anyway. Think back to your fear and your use of will." 15[13:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Okay." [13:02] 4Cavanaugh: "Hierophant Jubal and several of his Acolytes graced the Baroness Modjeska with a visit. He decided circumstances were such that he would use the power of the blood to become a great and ravening crow beast, at which point Deputy Choi used a combination of savvy and applied pressure to discourage any further confrontation. 15[13:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Deep breath. "Okay." [13:03] "At that point, Deputy Doolittle had already dissuaded direct action by the other Acolytes by way of Ford truck. All that was left was for me to directly encourage their departure by... [13:03] Prince Bailey: "Go on." [13:05] Leisurely: "Now, dismiss them. The desire you're ashamed of, and the will you used to suppress it. What remains when you burn yourself again, and those things are banished?" [13:05] 4Slightest of pauses. "...Tearing one's head off as both a punishment and to place any future designs said Acolytes might have on Court territory and those who hold it in the proper context." 15[13:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Head for the heart. Does it break? Words may fall. "The body remains." [13:07] Prince Bailey laughs. "Just as I would have had Valeria do it. Well, I'm glad it was confirmed. Your daring and resourcefulness should be held up by the Court in praise." [13:07] 4That gets an actual, genuine smile -- which for Cav, means something a bit like a smug smirk. "Thank you, my Prince." [13:08] The Prince, wherever he is, sounds like he's kicking his feet up. "Well, you''ll be happy to know that I've decided to double down on my investment. Which has already paid off so handsomely in your work." [13:10] 4Cavanaugh blinks from reflex. "That's...very generous of you, sir." [13:10] Leisurely: "Yes. The vessel. The Flesh. It's completely neutral, but it's the host of your own Great Work. It's the visible reflection of your invisible resolve." [13:10] 4Doubling down...?! [13:11] Prince Bailey whistles. "Well, I appreciate the compliment. But it's a very practical decision on my part. What's the cost of another Shepherd compared to what you've done in such a short time? I can afford it. So, I've gotten you a companion. No idea if you've worked with him before. He came highly recommended, as you did." [13:12] 4The glare. Is not. Part. Of his social. Repertoire. "Well, it's a small world. A smaller bloodline. I'm sure we've met." 15[13:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie nods. The more they talk about not-Maja the more comfortable he gets. "Right, yeah. So then the first step is learning to isolate the flesh? To, what, experience sensation without judgment? I'm a little lost." [13:14] Prince Bailey: "Well, you'd have a better chance than I would. Kevin something. Something from the Isles. Your bosses like to keep it on a first-name basis, which is hell for Rosa. Anyway, I'm sure he'll be here soon. I was told he was last restructuring Atlanta. I'm sure you two will have a lot to catch up on." [13:16] Leisurely leans forward. "Oh, yeah. Sorry, I get caught up in the abstract. You complete Coils by internalizing metaphysical desires into your physical being. But every desire is different, as is every being. So the method is always different, even if the goal is vaguely the same. It requires some thought and creativity on your own part. But the properly focused urge, and the understanding of it, is the crucial piece." 15[13:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So at this point I've got to write my own lesson plan." 15[13:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "Every map is blank." [13:18] Leisurely: "But only because everyone's territory is unique. I can help you understand yourself and your Work. I can't do it for you, or tell you exactly where your study will take you." 15[13:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "This is perfect." 15[13:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "This is exactly what I want to be doing." [13:20] Kevin... [13:21] Kevin MacMahon? The Shepherd's Man In The South? He was on assignment the entire time Cavanaugh was in New York. Did they ever exchange anything more than a few words and a handshake? Not likely. A very busy man. [13:22] 4Cavanaugh smiles. Such a shame. "I'm sure we will, sir." 4And that was the precise moment Clinton Cavanaugh began planning how to get away with killing Kevin MacMahon. [13:25] NEXT TIME: Let the Midnight Sermon, shine a ever loving light on me [13:36] Buchanan nods. "I don't really know anything about flowers, sir. I put in what seemed appropriate and credible." [13:39] It would seem that flower diaries are a way for extremely reserved lords and ladies to express the barest hint of appreciated companionship, and that the pressed flowers inside are a symbol of hope and curiosity. [13:39] There were half a dozen pressed poppies in this diary. [13:40] And as everyone knows, the poppy is the symbol of dreaming, of sleep, imagination, and of a certain detachment from material reality. [13:42] 6He knew he needed to know, to avoid disaster. He didn't expect to be intrigued. 14[14:19] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:32] * Joins: hrolfy 14[14:35] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[15:28] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[15:41] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 09[16:00] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[17:35] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[17:50] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[17:56] * Joins: Crion_ 14[18:41] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[18:41] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:52] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[18:57] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[18:57] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD> anna 15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD> The Strange Log @TheStrangeLog 15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD> problem where you couldn’t talk to following characters because they would run away [20:02] lol 14[20:03] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:25] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[20:26] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:49] * Joins: mugabe 14[21:22] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[21:28] * Joins: dammitwho 14[21:30] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[21:38] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[21:52] * Joins: dammitwho 14[22:12] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[23:02] * Joins: dammitwho 14[23:28] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[23:31] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[23:31] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[23:33] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[23:52] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[23:52] * Joins: dammitwho Session Time: Wed May 13 00:00:00 2015 09[00:16] * mugabe is now known as Guest31989 14[00:17] * Quits: Guest31989 (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[00:27] * Joins: ddt 14[00:43] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[02:05] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[02:08] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[02:15] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 09[02:15] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[03:09] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[03:17] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[03:31] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 09[03:42] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[04:12] * Quits: banana (Quit: ZNC - http://znc.in) 14[04:24] * Joins: banana 14[06:00] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[06:01] * Quits: dammitwho 14[06:26] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[06:26] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[06:40] * Quits: banana (Quit: Leaving) 14[07:22] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[09:27] * Joins: Quaker 14[09:47] * Joins: Crion_ 14[10:00] * Joins: hrolfy 14[11:02] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 15[11:49] <@VoxPVoxD> you guys 15[11:49] <@VoxPVoxD> If you could spend the summer in a historic, haunted ghost town in Montana, would you do it? 15[11:49] <@VoxPVoxD> If the paranormal is your thing, check out this job posting from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. They’re looking for volunteer residents to help out with the care and conservation Garnet Ghost Town. Back in the day, Garnet was a frontier mining town but has been mostly abandoned for about 100 years. 15[11:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Your lodging is absolutely free. You’ll be provided with a furnished cabin, complete with a propane powered refrigerator and range (sorry, no electricity or running water available in historic ghost towns). You’ll even be paid a stipend and allotted a food allowance. 15[11:49] <@VoxPVoxD> All you’d have to do is assist with tours, help set up exhibits, work in the gift shop, and other general upkeep. Oh, and, you know, live with the creepy sounds of haunting laughter and music that’s often heard in Kelly’s Saloon, the most active spot on the premises. [11:49] we're going there. 15[11:49] <@VoxPVoxD> thank you [11:50] either on the way to seattle or on the way back [11:50] as we flee to, presumably, calgary or some shit [11:50] way back definitely [11:50] it's near missoula [11:50] that's wayyyy out of our way [11:50] wait no it isn't [11:50] i'm an idiot [11:51] i was looking at idaho as if it were wyoming. [11:54] lol. [11:55] although we are out towards laramie right [11:55] on i-80 [11:55] we could head north and take i-25 up by casper which turns into 90 and goes right by garnet on the way to seattle [11:56] but if we keep down 80 we'd head towards SLC and then boise 14[12:07] * Joins: banana 14[12:48] * Joins: ddt 09[14:16] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:42] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[15:27] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[15:29] * Joins: drinkybird 14[15:30] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[15:32] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[15:32] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[15:35] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[16:01] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[16:36] * Joins: FerrinusPrime [17:02] ♪ rollin' around at the speed of sound ♫ [17:05] sonic adventure music ftw 11[17:32] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed May 13 17:32:42 2015 Session Start: Wed May 13 17:32:42 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[17:46] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[17:46] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[17:46] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[17:46] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[17:46] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD [17:48] https://41.media.tumblr.com/947a508c0945c3d49f47cabc3ab47c69/tumblr_noac51SaaQ1tbxt1go1_540.jpg 15[18:03] <@VoxPVoxD> https://twitter.com/whooisdis/status/598321843213316096 catamaran [18:03] da [18:04] -yuri "the scorpion" arenkov 15[18:04] <@VoxPVoxD> lol [18:09] lol 14[19:02] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:06] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 09[20:03] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Anna's absorbed in thought about the conversation she had and the conversation yet to come. But she's still the first person to hear the insistent little scratches at the motel room door. 15[20:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "Come quick, Nick's getting beaten up by some weird old timey guy!!" Scotch says as soon as someone opens the door, bounding up and down the room with a frantic energy. [20:11] 4True, but unhelpful. 15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Back beneath Dwyer's, the bar's namesake wipes his hands with a rag from the buckle as he watches Nick recover. "You've got more than that in you, I trust?" 15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD> The living and the dead scarcely filling the space this early evening are paying half-attention, alternating between their untouched drinks and furtive conversation. [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick's leaning against something - the of the ring, maybe, or a table. "'course I do. 'course I do. Just lemme -" 12He cricks his neck to one side, then to the other, then rotates one shoulder, then rotowwww. "Nother minute." [20:14] 4Lis has a pair of mallets from the bar's kitchen sitting on top of his shirt. He'll get to them eventually. [20:18] 6Anna shuts the door in Scotch's face and goes back to whatever chair or bed is open. She sounds bored as she relays the information to Alisa: "Nick's losing a fight to some grandpa or whatever." [20:18] 4Always slam doors in the fight cat's face. 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "Cmooooon-" [20:19] 7Alisa, fuming: "What the fuck kind of grandpa's beating up my Nick? Show me where, cat." 15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Cmon!!" [20:20] 6Anna: "Enjoy grandpa fight club, where you fight grandpas all the time or whatever. I'm gonna make a phone call." [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick's a snarling, grey-haired neanderthal when Alisa comes in through the basement door. He's crouched on one of the corners ring, swaying back and forth slightly, and just as it seems he's about to rock from left to right he instead springs forward with a scream, hands outstretched (but fingernails not quite lengthened into functional claws). [20:21] 4Not quite the most graceful way to start round two. [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Unfortunately, Nick's opponent is tall and fast enough to snatch him out of the air, essentially dribble him across the floor of the ring, and send him half-sliding, half-rolling into the opposite corner. 15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Scotch will lead Alisa on a merry chase for Dwyer's. The cat gets some attention as he runs down the stairs, but the bouncers part like the Red Sea at the sight of Alisa, so she gets down just in time to see Nick skidding across the ring, and hear the bell. [20:22] 4To Alisa: "I have been informed by some of the near-children at the bar that this is reminiscent of the movie 'Fight Club.' I haven't seen it." [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick tries for a moment to stand, then simply splays back, shrinking into human form and letting his head hang down past the ropes such that he can see Alisa come in upside down. He blinks at her a few times. "That time I, that time. I." 12He shakes his head to himself rather than finish the thought. [20:25] 7Alisa: "C'mon, kiddo! Up you get!" [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12That wasn't round two; it might be four or five, depending on how you count a previous ringout that definitely hurled the werewolf out of the arena but didn't end up with his actually touching the floor. Nick tried some more human form-boxing, he tried establishing holds that the vampire couldn't get out of, and now he's putting the Dalu form to the test with disheartening results. [20:25] "Watch what he's doing! Check how he moves!" 15[20:25] <@VoxPVoxD> The man who sent Nick flying has red-blonde hair and a neat moustache. He has the look of a man who kept in excellent shape even as age began to steal his strength, and his Beast looms over the ring like a stalking cat even as he watches Alisa with steady eyes. "You've got fans, Nick. More every round." [20:26] <@Ferrinus> "That's- uggh." 12Nick pulls himself up into a sitting position. "Hi, Alisa." [20:26] 4To Alisa, as he watches the match: "Our proprietor at the motel was spying on us. I think he also assaults his clerks above and beyond what feeding requires. So I wouldn't worry about beating on him a little if you catch him poking around." [20:26] 4He pauses. "Or a lot." [20:27] 6Anna has his number punched in for a phone call, finger hovering over the call button, but just scraps everything and goes to text Adam instead.  [20:27] 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> What's Anna thinking about as she sits in there alone? [20:27] 7She scratches her chin as she answers Lis. "Motel proprietor being a sleazy dick, huh. Whatever happened to morals." [20:28] 4Lis: "And his taste in suits is atrocious. If you can imagine." [20:28] 7She returns to hooting. "You can do it, Nick! Eye of the... Wolfman!" 15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Once Nick says her name, most of the room's dozen-or-so non-nomad inhabitants turn their attentions to Alisa. There's a little murmuring, but mostly a lot of quiet watching. [20:29] 6She's thinking about mistakes. Little ones, like the time she accidentally broke a lamp when she was five, and big ones, like the one she's currently texting. 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Regrets, she's had a few, but then again, *lists every single one chronologically* [20:30] 4Must be tough for all the other vampiric Alisas out there. [20:30] 4Alicias too, come to think of it. [20:30] <@Ferrinus> "No, I - yeah. Yeah, no, I got it. Hang on. Hang on-" 12Nick gets up after a few more moments, ripples upward into the Dalu form even as he draws a breath, and balls his fists. This next one's somewhat drawn out, as Nick keeps his dukes up, fights conservatively, and super-jumps sideways or backwards more than once after being cornered. It's just delaying the inevitable, of course. [20:31] 6Someday, for efficiency, she'll have to come up with some kind of graphical chart for shorthand. Five hundred years of mistakes is just too many to think about in any kind of efficient manner without shorthand. 15[20:34] <@VoxPVoxD> The man Nick's fighting moves in and out of Nick's grasp with practiced footwork. Nick's got the edge of speed on the bigger, older monster, but the vampire's reach and cunning see him continually finding the right spot to land a blow and the right spot to take one. Nick manages at most a single bruise on the vampire every time he goes down. 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> The bell rings again, and Dwyer's words from after the first round echo in Nick's mind. He's got heart. Sometimes that's enough. 15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD> When the two of them square off again, Dwyer finds his way over to Nick's corner, and glances down at Alisa while waiting for Nick to come in for another blow. "Your chaplain says you're on the run." 15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Anna's left sitting about twenty minutes before she gets a reply. [20:37] 7Alisa: "Always moving. That the same as being on the run?" 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Depends on what's behind you, I suppose. Jim Dwyer." [20:37] "Alisa Drank-Heaven's-Blood. Pleasure to meet you, Jim." 15[20:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "How'd it taste?" [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12There's an interruption here as a roaring Nick comes crashing towards the two like a meteor and is deftly bounced back off the ropes to go tumbling back to the other side of the ring. [20:41] 7Alisa: "Heh. If I could tell you there'd be no point in drinking it myself." [20:43] 6Wow, 20 minutes? That's probably a new record. She stops browsing for maps of the area to reply.  15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "I suppose--" Dwyer's voice is lost to a moment's concentration as he clips Nick's shoulder on a run-by and sends the young werewolf spinning to the mat. "--that that makes sense. Where are you bound from here?" 15[20:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam says: [20:45] 7Alisa: "Up Seattle way. Might make a side trip through Oregon." 7She pronounces it 'ory-gone'. [20:47] 4Insulting, carrying on a conversation like that while beating on Nicholas. [20:49] 6This might be a bad time.  15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> The bell rings again. Dwyer offers Nick a hand up. "Have you got your money's worth yet?" [20:52] 6Anna:  [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12At the moment Adam asks, Nick's got a hold! Dwyer isn't quite as fearsome when you're in closer than his arm's reach, and the werewolf's snarling in frustration as he tries to work out on the spot how to convert an arm around a shoulder and a hand on a collar into something that inflicts actual damage. He doesn't in time - but what really gave him enough pause to let the vampire toss [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12him aside, that last time, was that he needed to stop and force his fingernails back into line upon noticing the reflexive formation of real claws. [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a human hand that ultimately clasps Dwyer's. "I.... yeah. Yeah, okay. Nice, nice- good fights." [20:53] 7Alisa: "Attaboy." 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "You don't give up. I like that." 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: [20:55] 6Anna:  [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Tha- yeah. 'course he can't get tired." 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer: "I gotta ask, though." 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "Who taught you how to fight?" [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Huh? Uh..." 12He looks around a bit. "I guess... I just, I mean. 14Worked so far." [20:57] 6Anna:  15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: [20:59] 4Lis will have next, assuming someone wants to move to hammer fighting. [21:00] 6Anna:  [21:00] 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "I wonder, though. Something that I've noticed, fighting your people. To a man, they know well enough how to kill. But not many know how to fight." Lis can step up if Nick steps down. [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "It's... maybe. Just, like, you know, getting on all fours and going with your teeth - way easier." [21:01] 4Lis: "In life I wouldn't say I knew much about either. In death, well. I'm a student of God and Christ." [21:02] "Way easier." 7Alisa nods. "Not always a great idea though." [21:02] 4He'll grab the hammers and step in the ring. "I don't box, though." 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer: "Fair enough. I'm not an oyster." [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick backs up, either taking a seat besides Alisa or leaning on whatever she's leaning on. He looks at the bouncy hammers Lis is hefting, catches Alisa's eye, and snickers a little. 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "Same rules as for the Lupine. I've got as many hands behind my back as you do." [21:05] 4Lis nods. "Disciplines of Physique on the table, then, but no direct Vitae amplification. Let's give the kids a show." 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> The bell rings and Dwyer comes in fast. Faster than he came in on Nick. Lis has a solid body blow to show for it before he can fall into a parrying stance. 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: [21:09] 7Alisa: "This is good times. They sell hot dogs here, you think?" [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick sniffs the air. Do they? [21:09] 4Lis takes it, and bulges and seethes with the blood. He's not happy about that conversation Dwyer had while beating on his -- while beating on Nicholas. He aims to let James know about that. [21:10] 6She resists the urge to send a followup text. Inhale, exhale. Dial, call, go. 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> They do! Hot dogs and big soft pretzels, as well as lots of beer of varying quality. [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Oh yeah. You want some?" [21:12] 4So Lis hits him with the Tijuana Cross -- some jackass in Los Zetas called it that because of what happened to that one federale's face outside Tijuana with the claw hammer. [21:12] 4Lot kinder results this time. [21:12] 4Probably just a slight fracture. [21:12] 7Alisa: "Yeah! Beer also." [21:13] <@Ferrinus> "Right back!" 12Nick leaves immediately, which on reflection is probably because he doesn't want to be in earshot when Alisa specifies who the beer's for. [21:14] 7Kid got pounded on for eight rounds, he can have a beer. [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12The werewolf's soon back with dogs, pretzels, and two tall glasses of whatever's on tap. Siiip- "Ahhh." [21:18] 4This is the problem with this kind of sparring, Lis reflects as he feels his ribs kind of creak and jag. There's no showmanship. They're done too quickly, even without the blood -- they're just too good at hurting each other, vampires and werewolves are. [21:18] 4Hopefully this at least looks good. 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam picks up. "14oooOOOOOOoooOOOOoooHey." 14[21:19] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) [21:19] 6She pauses to let that sink in. "You weren't fucking around about the ghost." [21:21] 4Lis slips out of the next punch and responds with a solid shot -- to the body. Probably not going to slow him down much there. [21:24] 4He feels the next punch shatter his forearm, and -- God DAMN it -- "Yield." 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: "Yeah... it's hard to talk to them. They don't listen much. I be14oooOOOOOoooOOOooOOOlike dogs and they ju14oooOOOOOOooooOOOOOoOOOoOOOOOOOOOOOOOOootrarily." [21:24] 4He HAD him. Right there. He HAD Dwyer. His left arm -- it trails too much. He had him. He was who Lis thought he was. And Lis let him off the hook. 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer yields. His bones and flesh knit back together in time with the ringing of the bell. "Let's get you fixed up. Good fight." [21:26] "Yow." 7She says, through a mouthful of soft pretzel. 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> He was another creature entirely fighting Lis than he was fighting Nick. Nick's eyes couldn't keep up with his hands, his feet. The impacts of his fists left the windows rattling. He's pale and wiry as he drains himself to heal. His chest caves in a bit and his traps look almost batlike. [21:27] 4Lis grimaces. "Bit short, but that is our way." 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "So it is. There's no sweetness or science to Kinslaying." 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Are you picky?" [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick, chowing down on the latter half of a pretzel, looks contemplatively down at his own hands before he returns his attention to the vampire. Yeesh. [21:27] "I've met men in Flagstaff who said otherwise about the former." 4Lis feels his body break back into shape. "They're dead now." [21:28] "I require only consent." [21:28] 4Probably more true to phrase that as 'request.' [21:29] *latter 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sounds like they came by it honest." Dwyer hops out of the ring with a little hop that defies physics, alighting gently on his feet like he's walking on the moon. "If you're tetchy about the blood-bound, there's a whole clear conscience upstairs." [21:30] 4Lis: "Then I will go, and come back." 14[21:30] * Joins: Quaker [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick looks over at Alisa. "Oh, yeah, that, uh... he was probably getting thirstier the whole time, huh." [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick looks over at Alisa. "Oh, yeah, that, uh... he was probably getting thirstier the whole time, huh." [21:31] 7She nods. "That's the trade." [21:32] 6Anna: "Sorry, I was just assuming that you were talking about metaphorical ghosts, then you sounded pretty lucid, and it turns out I'm a judgemental asshole. My bad, ghosts. But I called to see how you were handling the changes. You don't need to breathe anymore." [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Eegh. Maybe I shouldn't have done that." [21:33] 7Alisa: "Nah, they got a pretty good setup here, looks like. Sustainable living." [21:33] "Besides, you learned some valuable lessons." [21:35] 4He dances with three young women -- and one young man who seems very attracted to him, which Lis has taught himself over the years is entirely fine and is a personal choice to be respected -- and kisses them, and Kisses them. They like the tattoos. He leaves them no worse than any blood donation might. 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer takes two of the ghouls - including the one Nick smelled tracking around their van - into a curtained room behind the bar. A couple minutes later he comes back out, hale and ruddy as he surely was when he died. "So!" [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I hope so. Man, it was getting really hard not to just- ...so!" 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "How are you feeling, Nick?" [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I mean, fine. Kinda dumb, maybe." [21:38] 4Lis will return an appropriate amount of time later, having restored the mallets to the kitchen, and slip his shirt and collar back on. 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: "I've had worse things assumed about me. Yeah, or eat. Or sleep. I can't get sick. I tried to see if I could get p14oooOOOOOOooOOOOOOOOooooOOOooOOO90-proof Everclear in Missouri." 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer: "Dumb?" 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh, you mean as in stupid." 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Why?" 14[21:40] * Joins: mugabe [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I couldn't - you always got me! Whenever something worked it was by accident." [21:41] 6Anna: "Have you fed yet?" 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer: "But you kept fighting anyway." 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "What do you make of that?" [21:42] 4Dwyer thought dumb meant mute. Well. That explains the potency of the blood. 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: "Like, ever?" 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "Or tonight?" [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Well, first I just thought that I'd forgot something or you caught me with a cheap trick or something." [21:43] 6Anna: "Either one. Although I guess by the question that you have, at least once." [21:43] "How'd it go?" 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer: "It's a bit unsporting, I suppose. We fought on my terms, after all." 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "You've never had to fight like that before, plainly." 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "Have you ever had to fight before?" 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "Fight, and not kill?" [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Then, uh... I kept thinking that. That's what it felt like every time. Except I'd forget about the old ones or, or guess the wrong one... I just, yeah. Not really." [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Not unless, like, lunch period counts." [21:45] 4Lis has wandered over, now that he's fully dressed. Hah. 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: "I mean. It's n14oooOOOOOooOOOOOooOOooojust touch them." [21:47] 6Anna: "Wait, what?" [21:47] 4In Alisa's ear: "I'm going to check on Timothy. Text me if this whole thing turns out not to be as fun as it looks." [21:47] 4Then he'll thank Dwyer for the bout and head outside. 09[21:48] * banana|peels is now known as banana [21:48] 4On the way out, he sees the four twenty-somethings back on the dance floor. The young man sees Lis -- sees the collar -- and his jaw drops. [21:48] 4Lis grins and winks at him, then keeps on walking. [21:48] 7She'll nod silently. [21:49] 4Avisail Lis is adapting to 2015 quite well, he thinks. It's a good feeling. [21:49] *4Avisail Lis is adapting to 2012 quite well, he thinks. It's a good feeling. 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer waves Lis off politely. "What a terribly angry man," he remarks once he's gone. "You don't fight like that if there's peace in your heart." 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: "I SAID I DON'T HAVE TO BITE ANYONE, I JUST TOUCH THEM" [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Is there peace in mine?" 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer: "I couldn't hazard a guess. You can't learn anything about a man who holds back." [21:52] 7Alisa: "I dunno about that." [21:52] 4There shouldn't be peace in any man's heart. Not until death. That's just scripture. [21:53] 4Lis walks the main drag until he's back at the motel. 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> He'll find someone taking the RV apart. [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Oh. ...I don't think you'd pick up a lot of peace if I didn't hold back, 'cause, well." 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer: "Oh?" [21:54] 4Lis, by way of greeting: "I'll bet there is a very good reason for this." [21:54] <@Ferrinus> "Werewolf, right? You said you'd met others. Not holding back means Gauru." 12The werewolf thinks a moment, then squares his jaw. "It wouldn't have worked, though. You coulda handled it regardless. How long've you been fighting?" [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh my god. [21:55] <@Ferrinus> "Werewolf, right? You said you'd met others. Not holding back means Gauru." 12The werewolf thinks a moment, then squares his jaw. "It wouldn't have worked, though. You coulda handled it regardless. How long've you been fighting?" [21:56] 6Anna: "That's... sort of fucked up? But, okay, I guess that's... I mean, it's easier this way? Probably?" 6A short pause. "I guess you're less liable to frenzy, if that's still a thing that can happen." 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> The man making sure every portable good is cleaned out of the vehicles is short, wearing a gray smock and a trucker hat. He's got a shaggy brown beard and he peers at Lis as Lis gets close. "You must be Abigail. Reuben told me you might be by. Abigail Lis?" [21:56] 4Lis isn't smiling. "Try again." [21:57] 4His eyes are flicking from the man to the RV. He's calculating the distance to his hammers -- the real ones -- and his AK. [21:57] 4Abigail, indeed. 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm sorry?" Lis might want to contemplate the possibility that Reuben gave this man the wrong name as a joke. "Are you with Reuben? I'm Ennis. He had me come down for some body work on these vee-hickles." [21:58] "Avisail." 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh. My mistake. I coulda swore he said-- well, sorry about that, Father." 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "They don't even really sound alike, do they?" [21:59] 4Lis: "Given that he is Reuben, I suspect that is what he said. All is forgiven. He's a shithead." [21:59] 4He walks up to the RV. "So. Have you informed the young lady at the desk inside of the...work being done?" [21:59] "If not, I suspect I have some cameras to wipe." 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's the understanding Pete conveyed to me as well. The boy did that! Went inside to tell the front desk what the fuss was about. The boy helped clean the cars out, too; your goods are in the rooms. 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a couple tow trucks idling at the end of the lot. [22:01] 4Lis nods, soft-playing how impressed he is. Good man, Timothy. 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer rocks back and forth on his heels a bit. "I've been fighting since I was a boy. I had my first real bout in... god, what was it. 98? That sounds right." 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "I was 14 then." [22:01] 4Lis: "My apologies for the confusion, then. I'll leave you to it. Thank you again." 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "No worries!" 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: "Frenzy?" 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is that like handsy?" [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick's confusion's writ large on his face as he does the math. "But- ...ohhh. Wait. Wait I get it." 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "How about you, Nick?" A glance at his chaperone. "Alisa?" 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> It's only a short while before the RV and the car are hooked up and slowly being towed out. [22:06] 4Sigh. Well. [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "I did all my real fights as a wolf. Or something close." [22:06] 4They're stuck here, for a bit. [22:06] 4Lis will detour by the office to see Anne before heading up. [22:07] 6Anna: "It can be a reaction to that, sure. Or seeing fire, or getting knifed open and your guts start spilling out. We get all feral until whatever it is stops happening or we have a chance to focus. I have literally no idea whether it's a problem for you." [22:07] 4Surely she knows precisely what they are now, if she didn't the moment Lis walked in the door. Does she still seem as off-put as she did earlier? [22:07] 7Alisa grunts. "Never really learned to hold back. Watched a lot of slugfests though. First one woulda been... fifteen, fifteen thirty something?" [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "Oh, when, right. Um... damn, I guess Bishop back in Vegas? How long was that..." 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: "I don't think... anyone really knows what the deal is with me." 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "I as14ooooOOOOOoooOOOOOOOOsas and then I had to skip town that night." 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Ann's not behind the desk. This guy's name is 'Tucker'. He can't be older than twenty. He stinks of Vinculum all the same. "Sir?" [22:17] 4Is he wearing a name tag? 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Yes. 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> I mean, in fairness. [22:17] 4Does he smell like a ghoul? 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> He also looks like a Tucker. 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> He does. [22:17] 4Lis: "You know what I am." 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Tucker looks away. "...sir." [22:17] 4Lis: "Where are they?" [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick said 'Luther' there, not 'Bishop'. It'd be crazy to have said otherwise! 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer: "I heard about Vegas. I've never been myself. It was just desert last time I was down that way. Good effort, though. Good effort." He devotes his attention to Alisa. "Now, forgive me, but it sounds like there's a story there. I'm curious." 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Tucker: "They?" [22:20] 6Anna: "Okay, I caught the important bit of that, and the consolation prize is that it's good practice. Sorry that happened to you, though, it always sucks. You have a lighter handy?" 14[22:21] * Joins: Crion_ 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: "Yeah." [22:22] "Ann and Van Camp." 4Lis leans forward. [22:23] 6Anna: "Light it, and look at it. Careful, you might be flammable." [22:23] "More than you used to be, I mean." [22:23] 7Alisa: "It was a Sunday, so we were all hammered, and I got into an argument with one of our neighbors..." 7She closes her eyes for a second, racking her brain. "Oh! Yeah! It was about whether or not goats could dream. Anyway it got heated, and my sweet husband hit him right in the mouth. Bam! Heh heh heh." [22:24] "They kinda rolled around in the mud for a bit. Not a lot of what you'd call form. Then they clapped each other on the back and we all went home for beef and more beer." 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer: "What was the consensus?" [22:24] 7Alisa: "I said they could, and I'm the only one still around, so I won in the end." [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "You could check, right? Talk to a goat." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer barks a laugh. "True enough, at that." [22:25] "Tucker." 4Lis leans forward more. "This is me asking." [22:25] 7Alisa: "Couldn't then. Well I could, but wouldn't get a very good answer." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: "Okay hold on." Anna is treated to a lot more melodious moaning and the faint sound of a flint not catching. "fucker- ah" 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> A moment passes. "It's fine. Nothing." 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Tucker quails. "He- they. He took her in the back and then sent her home. She looked pale." [22:27] 4Is Tucker also in long sleeves? 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> He is. 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> He's steadier on his feet than Ann was, though. [22:29] 4Lis looks around. Are there cameras watching them? 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> One. [22:29] "I'll be right back." [22:30] 4Lis goes to get his hammers from the motel room. 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ's reading on the bed when Lis walks in. 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> The room is spotless. [22:30] "Timothy!" 4The priest smiles. "How is your evening going?" [22:31] 6Anna: "Nice. Still a good policy to avoid fires, getting eviscerated, going hungry, and powerful vampires, but you'll probably have your wits about you if they ever become a problem." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ: "Oh, hi." He sits up. "I helped the mechanic bring all this stuff in here. And I made sure the lady at the desk knew not to call the cops or anything. Then I put stuff away and cleaned up." [22:32] "Yes! I heard. Very good. Thank you." 4He takes the hammers from his bag. "The lady at the desk. When was it you checked in on her?" [22:32] 4And what time is it now? 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ checks the clock himself. It's about 11:30. "Probably quarter to? 45 minutes ago." 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: "Have you ever been burned?" 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer: "Even now, I doubt they're great philosophers. A goat's not any smarter just because you can understand it." [22:35] 4Lis shrugs on a cassock and puts the hammers in the beltloops under it. "How did she seem, when you spoke with her?" 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer: "Better to be silent and thought a fool, and all that." [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick sits forward, steeples his fingers under his nose. "What'd you even ask it... maybe if it sees anything when it's asleep...?" 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ looks away. Silence hangs in the air a moment. Finally he says a single word. "Lost." [22:36] 7Alisa: "Well now, I dunno about that. If Nick here held to that philosophy, wouldn't he have sat on his hands when you asked who was fighting next?" [22:37] 7Alisa: "'Why begin 'til we know that we can win, and if we cannot win why bother to begin' will keep you safe as far as that goes, but it's not much of a life." [22:38] 4Lis makes a guttering, disappointed sound. "I am going to talk with our clerk. And our proprietor. Open the door for no one without a room key." 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer: "I'll sing Hosanna to that. But then, I'm not a goat." [22:39] 4Lis will also stick his head into the adjoining room. "Anna, a--oh. Might I have a word?" [22:40] 6Anna: "Yeah, it was like-- hang on." 6To Lis: "What's up?" [22:42] 4He's only half in the doorway. "Our proprietor is a vampire named Stanley Van Camp. He's been spying on us, and I think abusing one of his clerks. Badly. I'm going to talk to him about it. It should be fine...but I'd like to leave the door between rooms open, in case someone comes knocking on Timothy's door." [22:42] "I'm sure he'll be quiet, and discreet." [22:43] 6Anna: "...noted." 6They have the weapons in from the RV, right? 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> They do. 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer: "So what's the moral of your story, would you say?" [22:44] 4Lis nods to her and withdraws. To Timothy: "I'm leaving the door between the rooms cracked open. Anna and I both value your life over her privacy. Make noise if you think something's wrong." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> TJ: "...is there gonna be a fight?" [22:48] 4Lis: "I hope not. But if it comes down to there being a fight, or the lady at the desk remaining...lost." [22:48] "Well." [22:48] "I'll be back." 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "Hasta la vista." [22:49] 7Alisa shrugs. "Does there have to be a moral? It was a good Sunday." [22:49] 4Lis smiles slightly at the reference and steps out onto the motel pavement. [22:49] 4Then he heads back to the office. 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer: "I suppose I'd be surprised if there wasn't. Hard to imagine someone as old in the Blood as you not having a point to everything she said or did. Then again, maybe when I'm your age, I'll see it different." [22:52] 6Back on the phone call, though a bit quieter than before: "Anyway. Yes. I have been burned. I got lucky, it was only one of my arms, but it still felt like I touched the God-damned sun. Not recommended." 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Is Lis making his way directly to Van Camp's office at the back? [22:53] 4Yes. [22:53] 4Er. [22:53] 4No. [22:54] 4He's heading to visit Tucker, first. 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Tucker: "Sir?" [22:54] 4The first thing Lis does is walk over to the single camera in the room, stare up into it a moment, and neatly disconnect the power adaptor cable from the back of the camera. [22:54] "So. We have a few minutes." [22:57] 7Alisa: "The point was the experience. Everyone was a little different for having done all that. Could we say different how? Probably not. If I could go back, would I say nothing about the goats, avoid the fight? No. Life beats wordless lessons into you." 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: "I made a zombie yesterday." [22:59] 6Anna: "You did what." [22:59] "You can tell him I used 4this when he asked what we talked about, if you wish." 4He glances away when he fuels his voice, but Tucker can still see his eyes flash. 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Tucker: "...okay." [22:59] *asks 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer looks satisfied with the moral he apparently derived from that explanation. "What about you, Nick? What'd you learn from your first fight?" People are starting to file in now. It's coming up on midnight. [23:00] 4Lis: "Do you suffer, when you serve?" 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "I-" Tucker's quiet. "...no. No. I do what I'm told." 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: "I Frayed Death." 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you know what that means?" [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick sits back. He plays through it in his head - bounding from car to car, shoulder checks... it wasn't particularly long, or even particularly ruinous to either party. Tiring enough, though, for what followed it. "You can regret winning." [23:04] 6Anna: "Does it mean you made a zombie? Why would you do that?" [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick puts his head on a fist. "...but I'm pretty sure losing'd have been worse. I dunno." [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick: "The whole thing was kind of, it went fast. The guy didn't deserve what happened to him." [23:08] 4Lis: "Tucker." 4He places his hands astride the clerk's desk like a reverse Kennedy. "There's a rain coming. Don't give a man an umbrella he hasn't earned." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Tucker: "He's got a friend. Who comes by sometimes." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "And he makes us go with his friend, and his friend... scares us." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "We're supposed to let him scare us." [23:10] 4Lis: "What's his friend's name." 09[23:11] * banana is now known as banana|split 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Dwyer: "Do they ever?" [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick thinks another moment. "Sometimes." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Tucker: "Mr. Thatch." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: "I don't understand the question." [23:19] 6Anna: "Are you telling me that you took up necromancy because you could, and for no other reason?" [23:19] "Because that's what I'm hearing." [23:20] 7Yeah! Yeah!!! 14[23:21] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 11[23:23] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed May 13 23:23:31 2015 Session Start: Thu May 14 00:00:00 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[09:32] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[09:32] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[09:32] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[09:32] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[09:32] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[09:34] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 15[10:07] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/Cw62c87.jpg nick 14[10:24] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:48] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[10:54] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:14] * Joins: mugabe 14[11:18] * Joins: cbass 14[11:49] * Joins: ddt 14[11:49] * Joins: hrolfy 14[12:25] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[12:37] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[12:38] * Joins: hrolfy 09[12:38] * banana is now known as bananals 14[12:39] * Quits: hrolfy (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[12:39] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:57] * Joins: ddt 14[13:29] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[14:02] * Joins: Crion_ 14[14:13] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:50] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:55] * Quits: cbass (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_))) 14[14:55] * Joins: cbass_ 09[14:55] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 14[15:02] * Quits: cbass (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_))) 14[15:02] * Joins: cbass_ 09[15:02] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 14[15:04] * Quits: cbass (Remote host closed the connection) 14[15:06] * Joins: cbass 14[15:38] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 11[16:13] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu May 14 16:13:16 2015 Session Start: Thu May 14 16:13:16 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[16:18] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[16:18] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[16:18] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[16:18] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[16:18] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 11[16:35] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu May 14 16:35:04 2015 Session Start: Thu May 14 16:45:42 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[16:45] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[16:45] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[16:45] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[16:45] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[17:24] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[17:32] * Joins: Quaker 11[18:02] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu May 14 18:02:25 2015 Session Start: Thu May 14 18:02:25 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[18:16] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[18:16] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[18:16] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[18:16] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[18:16] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[18:17] * Joins: mugabe 14[19:17] * Quits: mugabe 14[19:17] * Joins: ddt 14[19:58] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[20:41] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:08] * Joins: mugabe Session Time: Fri May 15 00:00:00 2015 09[01:15] * bananals is now known as banana 14[01:15] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 09[02:27] * banana is now known as bananait 14[03:21] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[03:49] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 09[03:52] * bananait is now known as banana 14[05:20] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[06:11] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[06:11] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[06:11] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[06:54] * Joins: mugabe 14[07:16] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[07:23] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:43] * Quits: dammitwho 14[08:48] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[08:49] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[08:56] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[09:58] * Quits: Zarick 14[10:25] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:27] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:07] * Joins: mugabe 14[11:14] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 15[11:33] <@VoxPVoxD> http://40.media.tumblr.com/9535a4ec81098c4968e00ee4345e19ec/tumblr_n3ehx4qDyK1rl43cyo1_1280.png this is in my input box here and I can't recall why. let's all find out what it is together [11:33] lol [11:33] lis and nick, one presumes 15[11:33] <@VoxPVoxD> oh, because it's lis and nick 15[11:33] <@VoxPVoxD> yes [11:34] <@Ferrinus> nice 15[11:34] <@VoxPVoxD> anywya I found that because I came in here to link this OTHER nomadgame image 15[11:34] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/t11sbfh.jpg [11:34] lol [11:36] who let anna drive again 09[12:36] * mugabe is now known as Maja 09[12:37] * Maja is now known as mugabe 09[12:38] * Quaker is now known as Prince_Bailey 09[12:39] * Prince_Bailey is now known as Quaker 14[12:40] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:47] * Joins: ddt [12:50] https://40.media.tumblr.com/1114282d5709000dd7d1407f12ca2352/tumblr_ncsh8i9g8P1rsfu0eo1_500.jpg [12:50] <@Ferrinus> actually, it's not fine. 14[12:53] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[13:26] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 09[13:42] * banana is now known as bananalt 14[14:11] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:41] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[14:53] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:57] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:59] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:05] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:06] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[15:06] * Joins: ddt 14[15:23] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:25] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[15:29] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[16:03] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[16:03] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:13] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[16:25] * Joins: mugabe 14[17:19] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[17:21] * Joins: dammitwho 14[17:40] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[17:48] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:10] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:55] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[19:20] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:27] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[19:36] * Joins: mugabe 14[19:47] * Joins: mattbaby_ 15[20:14] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:14] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:14] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:14] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:14] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:15] <@VoxPVoxD> The Princess Crimson is a gracious hostess, and despite her choleric attitude she admits Stranger and his attendant without complaint. What do the patrons of the tea-house see as the two of them enter the building, hot and cramped with a narrow path through the life and up to danger? What do they intend to bring back out with them? 15[20:16] <@VoxPVoxD> In Floodwater at night, the danger has settled, leaving Xu Sim and Blossom to set to their work. None of the others are around just now, all scattered on their own grim business. But there remains much to see and do. What do the alchemist and the priestess aim to draw from Nexus tonight? [20:17] 14They see Stranger-Visits-Heaven, the man who has disguised not himself, but all his friends: a man becoming, in some small but growing way, part of the current public life in Nexus, despite there being so little known about where he came from, or where he goes. And hopefully as they see him, they pay less attention to the actual, realer physical dangers that sweep in with him. [20:21] 5Xu huddles over a huge contraption of glass, silk, and wood. Surrounding the contraption are a number of glass tubes, with small bamboo doors controlled with simple strings and levers. A loud buzzing sound has been ringing from his laboratory for several days.  [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Flanking Stranger-Visits-Heaven is some kind of bodyguard - a large man garbed in black and brown, his lower face obscured by a wrap of dark cloth and the rest of his head shrouded by a hood. An old sword hangs across the man's back, its blade treated as to not to catch or reflect the light, and the man's body is covered with dark cloth and dark leather in equal measure. This could [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12be any one of a number of mercenaries, sellswords, or assassins who for political or financial reasons isn't willing to reveal his allegiance. [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12At least a few of the guards can guess that Stranger's second has a rough voice and is quite surprised at the present of Tepet troops in the heart of the city, though. [20:24] 7Blossom has been waiting for the others to return. In the meantime, she's been carefully drawing interlocking mandalas in a corner of the main workroom to test her understanding of Essence flows imparted by the Black and White treatises, and practicing the exacting phrases and hand gestures required by formalized sorcery. [20:24] 14Stranger is...pleasantly imperious. His smile isn't strained, not quite, but he clearly knows where he is going and intends to go there without being detained, waylaid, harried, or annoyed. [20:24] 5From time to time, Xu manipulates these levers, trapping individual bees for additional experiments. He has exposed them to permutations of the Five Elements, dissected them, carefully examined them. At present, he has brought in a few cheap bells and is examining their response to sonic stimulation. 14[20:26] * Joins: Quaker 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> The stairs up to the second floor are flanked by the same odd pairing as the front door - one guard bearing a House Tepet tattoo, and one guard who is plainly a local Guildsman. They admit Stranger and his bodyguard without objection. He made his point outside. [20:27] 5Judging from his reactions to whatever substance these bees excrete, these bees are surely extremely dangerous. That means that devising the secret of these bees could be the secret of his political rehabilitation. [20:29] 14Stranger smiles and sweeps upward. He's mentally counting the guards -- how fortified is this teahouse? 14[20:32] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) [20:34] 5It’s on a break from his studies that Xu approaches Blossom in the midst of one of her mandalas. He says nothing, waiting until she is finished. “Do you have a moment?” 14[20:34] * Joins: Quaker 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> There are about a half-dozen guards, well-equipped and plainly well-trained, visible on the first floor. Combined with what Keldar and Judge espied on the rooftops, there's at least twenty men not counting whatever awaits them upstairs, which turns out to be: 15[20:38] <@VoxPVoxD> A man in fine clothes - one guesses this is the high-ranking Guild boss 'Saul' - suspended by his throat a few inches off the ground in the right hand of a beautiful woman clothed in flowing, long-sleeved robes that flutter in a bitter wind. 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> There are another two-dozen men - split here in halves against each other, Tepet on one side and Guild on the other - staring each other down around them. [20:39] 14Stranger: "Mmm." 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Everyone but Saul turns to look at those coming inside. [20:40] 7Blossom straightens up, carefully examining her work. "What do you need?" [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's eyes are seen to widen, then narrow. [20:40] 14Stranger: "How is the honey blossom tea here?" [20:42] “I want to take some time to compare notes, if you have some time. I have been working with the bees… what have you been working on?” [20:44] 7Blossom: "Basic theory. I was only initiated during my Exaltation." [20:44] "And learning Death of Obsidian Butterflies, of course." 7She adds. "There's an army on the march." 15[20:45] <@VoxPVoxD> The woman lets Saul slip through her fingers, and he crumples to the ground wheezing. She affixes a brilliant smile and a searching gaze on Stranger. "Would you care to find out? I suppose it's not too late to have a conversation." [20:46] 14Stranger walks over to a table where a kettle sits, lifts the lid. "Can't walk. Too late to run." 14Cold. "Better crawl, Saul." [20:51] “There is. But our political situation here is one obstacle to defeating it. And there will be more armies if we don’t resolve that situation. You have courtly training, don’t you?” [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, silent as yet, glances around the room, flexes his wrists idly, and ultimately crosses his arms at the prospect of tea. He won't be sitting down. 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> She'll snap her fingers and one of the Tepet guards will send for a hot kettle and three cups - the intention is plainly for herself, Stranger, and Keldar to sit. Saul is helped to his feet by Guild men and looks on balefully, not daring to interfere yet. 14[20:53] * Quits: mugabe [20:53] 14Stranger sits down. "So. You are aware, in the abstract, who I am, I trust." [20:54] 7Blossom tilts her head. "What do you mean by that?" [20:56] “Nessun Dorma wants my head. And it’s not even personal anymore! He’s prevented me from doing anything more than puttering around in here. I’m accused of being Anathema, but that’s an accusation we could all face soon enough." [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's unmoved by the three cups. He's not breaking bread - or leaves or whatever, as the case may be - with the Tepet. In theory, the man's seething rage is neatly hidden by a veneer of anonymous professionalism, but in practice the eyes are too narrowed, the fingers of one arm digging too tightly into the bicep of another. This is someone who is, at the moment, replacing the [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12satisfaction of physical action with either total absorption into some private calculation or, perhaps, some scene vividly imagined. [21:00] 14Stranger, of course, will drink, confident that this woman's side-eyed glances at Keldar mean she has sufficient respect for his presence to avoid poison. [21:00] 7Blossom: "Still? I thought you'd convinced him you had been betrayed." [21:00] 14And if he's wrong, well: he knows the best doctor in the city. [21:00] 14They'll know Keldar. [21:03] “He wanted to kill me because he thought I’d killed his friend. He’s going to kill me because I’ve been identified as a demon.” [21:03] “I’ve tried to walk that back, but I don’t have a way to make sure. And if we beat the fae army, we are going to face the same problem all over again.” 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> The woman inclines her head, giving both Stranger and Keldar long looks as they settle in, or refuse to. The corners of her lips twitch into a smile and curl into a sneer in subtle vacillation. She's a wary woman, a proud woman, and Stranger gets the unmistakable sense that she considers this place - this work, whatever it is - beneath her. "Names, first. I owe you mine. Niobe, Chosen of House Tepet. I may know you, stranger, but I owe you the courtesy of letting you speak for yourself." 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Both Keldar and Stranger can see as she serves herself tea the glitter of jade beneath her delicate sleeves. Fine and wondrous bracers cover her arms from wrist to elbow. Keldar recognizes immediately that she's wearing an artifact, a set of what savants call "perfected kata bands", which are to the martial artist what a daiklave is to the swordsman. [21:09] 14Stranger sips. "I, as you know, am Stranger-Visits-Heaven. This is Caul Third-Mountain, my second." [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12God damn it. [21:09] 7Blossom: "What kind of proof does he think he has?" [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Which god? Hell, why not Sol himself? Keldar might as well start getting used to the idea. Still, those'll be a pleasant surprise for Judge, if nothing else. [21:10] 14His eyes flicker upwards to where the Guild man stands. "But of course, not all the parties have been introduced. You don't seem eager to join us, Saul." [21:11] “When I received… whatever this power is… there was another man there. Piotr. His forehead burned with a brand like mine - same shape - but it was green. He was a very powerful sorceror. I think he framed me with the death of King Novak - but also caused me to be reported as possessed by a demonic force.” 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "A pleasure," says Niobe. "A genuine pleasure. In this city there's so little that we might call dignified, but this - here, now - is an opportunity to defy that." She offers 'Caul' a thin smile. "But it's an opportunity we owe it to ourselves to live up to." She concentrates on her tea rather than Saul as Stranger invites his response. [21:14] "Green..." 7Blossom doesn't know what that means, but all the speculation it encourages is alarming. Everyone knows that Hell is lit by a green sun. "Well, there you are. The foul Anathema framed you as one of his kind in order to throw the virtuous off his scent." [21:15] 7Blossom: "If you're asking what we should do when the Fair Folk are at the gates and our solar Essence shouts our nature to Heaven, then actions always speak louder than words. If he isn't convinced we're not demons by fighting to save the city from Chaos, then we'll probably have to kill him." [21:16] “Do you really think it will be that simple?” 5Xu is skeptical. [21:17] "Oh, I hate this -- are we speaking frankly? Of course we are. We have no reason to lie. I hate this city. It's not the people -- I love people. Fundamentally. I hate this city. I hate the stench of it, the way it looks, the way it tastes. I hate what it stands for -- I hate what it says about what happens to our minds when our bodies gather but our hearts wall themselves off. I would [21:17] that I were done here, but I am not. Neither, I suspect, are you. It's the people, you see." 4He sips the tea again. "So." [21:17] "Oh, I hate this -- are we speaking frankly? Of course we are. We have no reason to lie. I hate this city. It's not the people -- I love people. Fundamentally. I hate this city. I hate the stench of it, the way it looks, the way it tastes. I hate what it stands for -- I hate what it says about what happens to our minds when our bodies gather but our hearts wall themselves off. I would [21:17] that I were done here, but I am not. Neither, I suspect, are you. It's the people, you see." 14He sips the tea again. "So." [21:18] 7She shrugs. "Ten Thousand Dragons Rule The World. I don't have any experience in stopping a Wyld Hunt." [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Man, thinks Keldar, Stranger's really bending over backwards to butter this Dynast up, isn't he. [21:20] 14That's the workflow. 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Saul, for his part, says nothing, settling into what is supposed to be the seat of power in the room. He watches. [21:22] “In the meantime. I’d like to be able to at least show up to the battle, without the Judge caking my face with makeup or forcing me to wear some ridiculous disguise. If I can complete a cure by then, could you help me, uh, ‘present’ it? Or demonstrate it, to whichever of the ten thousand prattling dragons are in charge of this place?” [21:24] 7Blossom: "Certainly. The Council of Entities at least has reason to trust us." 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom and Xu Sim can hear, up above them, over the chattering of the rattlewhales, the scrabbling and whining of a stray dog at the door. [21:27] 7Blossom checks the windows first. This isn't some kind of trap, is it? 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> The murderholes reveal a shaggy white dog, a muddy terrier, with a gold sash around its neck. There's something wedged in that sash - a scrap of parchment? [21:29] 7Hmm. Alright then. She'll open the door and examine what the extremely cute messenger has brought them. [21:30] 5Xu rushes to the door. The Twice-Refined Princess murmurs. [21:31] 5He throws it open, snatching a bit of sausage that Mud and Straw had no doubt been saving for later, and presenting it to the ragged creature. 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Niobe nods. "Just so. We are servants first, and served second." 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "In that spirit... what service do you believe we can be to one another?" 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> The dog scampers in, eating the sausage greedily, letting Blossom take the message from its neck. It is a bit of parchment. It's written in a very fine hand - an invitation? [21:35] "It concerns me." 14Stranger runs his finger around the rim of his teacup. "The extent to which the Guild, and by extension, your honored selves, are polluting an already polluted politics. I can tell, for instance, that as I am both drinking your tea and am still ambulatory you and-or Saul -- that the Guild and-or House Tepet -- do not view poison as the proper balm for every burn. [21:35] And yet." [21:36] "And yet, here we sit." 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> It invites, specifically, Xu Sim and Excessively Righteous Blossom to join Dragonlord Nessun Dorma for a late supper to discuss matters of dire import in a context of assured (the callipgraphy is bold here) safety. Blossom notices that this callipgraphy matches the hand that prayer strip was written in. 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> It invites them by name. 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Niobe watches Keldar from over the rim of her teacup. She drinks with a princess's comportment - this is the kind of training the Scarlet Dynasty affords its best selves. "Mmm. I confess that in a distasteful place, needful business has a way of imparting further bitterness. Like medicine mixed into a cloying cup of tea. But I am mindful, as ever, of necessity. And I value... honesty." 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "Honesty is the duty of those who'd stand for the many against the few. Because the truth is what the few despise, in that moment." [21:43] “How did that dog get here?” [21:43] 14Stranger: "The truth will not save you, Niobe of House Tepet. Trust me on that account. I've balanced it before." [21:43] 14He pauses. "But I know something that might." 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Niobe: "Please." [21:44] 14He motions for her to lean in so he can whisper in her ear. [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar stares coolly back, but doesn't hold Niobe's eyes for long. He's apparently some sort of security detail, after all, and so keeps looking around at the others in the room. Let's see, one two and that's him down, quarter-turn and that'll be the second guy.... [21:46] 5Xu examines the collar for a moment. It seems rather out-of-place. 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Niobe leans in. [21:49] 14Stranger quietly: "Every Guild man save Saul in this teahouse dies. You and yours leave this putrid city tonight ahead of the Wylding armies closing on it, and you tell your masters the Guild betrayed you on the eve of the great war with the Faerie-men the Scavenger Lands have seen in, oh, pick a number of years. Pick an era. We get Saul. You get this offer, not him, for one reason: [21:49] you sat down to talk. He will get to listen." 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Niobe breathes gently before drawing her head back. "I hate it here. This much is obvious. But what you ask..." [21:57] 14He continues: "Do you know what the moon-things are? The beasts that stand astride the edge of civilization, one foot in the Wyld, one foot in...well...Nexus, honestly. The Anathema of Luna, Niobe. The animal men; the snarling, vibrant, transformative face of untold millenia of anger. I heard once of a swan woman, a creature blessed from the lunar verge with that grace, that beauty. [21:57] But have you ever met a swan? Have you ever gotten a swan angry? Have you recoiled from that mess? I have. [21:57] "Not three weeks south of here. Then I hurried on. 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> The collar is out of place... it's not a collar at all. Xu Sim unfolds a piece of glittering golden silk, like a handkerchief, which had been folded around the dog's neck. Both of them can see that the weaving is very fine - unnaturally fine, even - but Xu Sim can see the true marvel - embedded in this gossamer fabric, something between a cobweb and a memory, are threads of orichalcum - six fine threads in all worked into the weave. As the cloth moves in his hands it glitters like the sky at dawn. [21:57] "That is what is coming. You serve no master from the underworld." [21:58] "You deserve a different death than the bee. The claw. The beak of a swan. Many, many unknowable years from now." [22:00] 7Blossom turns to Xu Sim with a curious expression. "Do you remember the, the little servant Nessun Dorma had?" 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Niobe's face curls. A breeze ruffle's Stranger's hair. "I... do... hate it here." She permits herself a baleful look in Saul's direction. [22:01] 5Xu gasps as the gold thread unfurls in his hands. He runs it across his fingers, the back of his hand, he holds it up, he offers it to Blossom to examine - he laughs. “Oh - who?” [22:01] 14No, dear, don't spoil the surprise. He leans in again. "A choice, Niobe. And an easy one." [22:04] 7Blossom: "I don't think he told me his name- he didn't speak much. He gave me a prayer strip I thought was written by Dorma but... it's in the same hand as this, and now that I look at it again it couldn't possibly have been him. Nessun Dorma wouldn't have calligraphy this elegant." [22:05] 7Blossom: "And it has my name... my real name, I mean. What's that you've got there?" [22:08] “How would his manservant know your name? … A strand of orichalcum. One of the Magical Materials. Rather rarer than jade.” [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar takes a step forward. "Hang on." 12He leans in slightly. "The poisoning. Whole reason we're here." [22:11] 14Keldar... [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "They just... go?" [22:11] 14To Niobe: "Your part in the poisoning is what?" [22:14] “So you think we should accept this invitation?” 5He continues to run the strand back and forth between his hands, feeling its surprising heft - much heavier than gold or steel or stone - and of course, it’s stronger than any of them. 14[22:16] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Saul steps forward here. "Not so fast. You're not getting the story from her. I want to say my piece too." [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar half-turns, tilting his hood and raising a brow. 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Niobe: "It speaks." 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Saul: "First of all -- first of all -- the Astrologer is fine. She's not hurt. She's not going to die. My orders are to keep her under because she's insane. Second, the only reason we're doing this at all is because of her suction on my boss. I mean, come on. You think I'm gonna drug a Councilor? I got to live in this city. She doesn't." [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Is 'her' Niobe? 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> That's who Keldar sees Saul pointing at. 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Niobe's face is frozen. She looks at Saul like he's something she'd have to wipe her feet of before stepping inside. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What's she got on him?" [22:28] 7Blossom: "I have no idea how he knows. But if he knows, and he's making the point of an environment of guaranteed safety... I don't think we can afford not to go." [22:29] “Then we are agreed. I hope the food is worth it at least." 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Saul: "I DON'T FUCKING KNOW! Can you believe that? Fifteen years I've been working - good years, loyal years - and this bitch rolls into town and suddenly I'm out in the cold. I'm on the outside. Fifteen years! All I get now are orders. They trusted me. And now what." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "And then she strolls in here, and she treats me like shit? Fuck you." [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "See, that makes - you people even know this is goin' on? Generally? Like, one step above whoever's one step above you, they even know you're pullin' this?" 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Saul: "The fuck should I know?" [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Fair enough. One other thing, then - how long've you been doin' this?" [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Since the Emissary went down? Little before? Long before?" 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger can tell that the air grows heavier as Saul rants. There is tension in this room - though its precise character would yield only to attention. 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Saul: "Six weeks. It was before the Emissary died. It's got nothing to do with that." [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Got anythin' to do with, like... grain storage?" [22:35] 14Stranger just watches. At one point he gives Niobe a sympathetic look. A sympathetic shrug: and you were so close. [22:37] 14To Saul: "And you're just going to sit here and insult me like this." [22:38] 14To Saul: "As if I don't already know about Zutu." 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Saul starts to answer Keldar but peers past him at Stranger. His eyes narrow. [22:38] 14To Saul: "Oh, no, continue shitbird. Tell me of the multitude of problems you think you have." [22:39] 14His empty eyes narrow: "Then add ten thousand more." [22:40] “While we are getting ready, let me tell you a couple things about this orichalcum…” 5Xu adds in a loud voice as he rifles through his belongings for a relatively unstained robe sufficient to wear to something like this. 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> The air hangs heavy with portent. All their work, all their planning, all their care and struggle converge on this crucial turning point: 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> How nice are Blossom and Xu Sim dressing? [22:41] 7As nice as the wardrobe she fled with allows. A late supper gives her just enough time to get her hair Did. [22:42] 5The best Xu can do is a white robe with some saffron embroidery, though it’s heavily worn. [22:44] 5A pair of loose, matching linen pants and a pair of salvaged shoes complete the ensemble. [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Sorry, Zutu, that's the, uh... that's the hostage his people had to take to carry out this lady's plan?" 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> From beneath the feet of the Chosen in the Princess Crimson, music is playing. Someone's at the guqin, and playing very fine. Niobe's head sways gracefully to the music. 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> It's soothing music. [22:46] 14Stranger leans forward: "You don't think you're the only Guild man in this town, Saul. You know you're not. So riddle me this, you stupid, miserable little bug: I have the ear of two Councilors. Between the three of us, how many Guild men do you think we can scrounge up to do your job better?" [22:46] 14Stranger: "How willing are you to bet they like talking to you more than they'll like talking to me?" [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Sorry, the... job of poisoning a Councilor on Tepet's orders?" [22:47] 14Not helping. [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Of course he's not helping. Keldar's giving Stranger an askance look, actually standing slightly between him and Saul, now. What's this guy's problem? 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Blossom and Xu Sim find themselves traveling to palatial apartments in the heart of Nexus, high and far from the rivers, where they began when they set the fires. Council Tower is visible from here, as is the heart of Firewander. Elegantly dressed servants usher them inside, to the first and largest room of Nessun Dorma's suite. His back is to them, hands planted on a table before a window. He's bent over in thought or sorrow. 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Saul's startled by the force and ferocity of Stranger's threat. He looks around, hastily recalculating. "...keep talking." [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hey, you keep talking. We haven't even got the whole picture here. Grain, remember?" [22:53] 5Xu scans the room as he steps forward, but he does step forward.  [22:53] 7Blossom's fairly sure she'd recognize the little man if she saw him again. Fairly sure. Is he here? 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> There are no guards in the room, and no sign of anyone else in here besides the two of them and Nessun. There's a tattoo visible on his neck in his loose dinner finery. The doors to the other rooms are closed, however, and the servants that led them in back out quietly, closing even that door. 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun: "This is not how it was supposed to happen." 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> He stands, and in his full height shadows the two of them against the light coming in from the Nexus night. "These are not the battles I'm here to fight." 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> He turns to face them, his face a mask of hard-won manners. He affects a bow. [23:01] 7Blossom returns the bow wordlessly. Politeness costs nothing. Impoliteness, on the other hand, gets you a thwack with a big stick from your comportment teacher. [23:02] 5Xu returns the bow as well. “Thank you for your understanding." 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Saul: "Yeah! See, you're on it. The granary. Kratz is a tying vote and she's the one nobody'd miss if she just didn't come out of her tower for three months. It's really simple." 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "I mean, it's not, but it is." [23:11] 14Hissing: "Is this what 'nobody' looks like to you?" [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Riiight. Okay." 12He looks over to the seated Dynast. Does she even look like she wants to say anything? 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Saul: "Look, man, you weren't in town when we made this call. We don't budget for heroes." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "Not in Nexus we don't." 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Niobe is watching. Not Saul, not Stranger, but Keldar. "May I speak?" she asks him. Him, specifically. [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar waves an encouraging hand . 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> The guqin player below has started another song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M4gca_uLB4 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Niobe: "Well, first I have a question. An open question. Anyone with an idea, or the idea of an idea, please." She looks directly at Saul. "What conceivable reason would we have to care about your property rights? What part of this, as you've claimed to understand it, benefits us? What merits the effort? What merits the risk? Are you so petty as to imagine your interests and mine align? That they so much as coexist?" 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "You are vermin." [23:18] 14Stranger is ignoring her. He is instead glaring at Keldar. [23:18] 14The deal was there. [23:18] 14The deal was done. [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well... yeah. Right? Seems to me if you knock half the Council over that makes Nexus, and the whole region, that much weaker relative to the Scavenger Lands. Don't it?" [23:20] 14And now they're going to leave Saul's Guild infrastructure intact and deal with the fallout from this. Because a Dragon-Blood and her House retinue wiping out a Guild wetworks cadre is one thing. The reverse? That's quite another. 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun: "I can't claim credit for my understand. It was, as all my life's lessons, beaten into me. In its way." He looks at Blossom and not Xu Sim. "I'm told that you are, the both of you, Anathema." [23:20] 14There will be questions. [23:20] 14They made the planto avoid questions. [23:20] 14Who, just who the fuck, is House Tepet to this man, to inspire this pigheaded foolishness? 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Niobe: "Who profits, though? Do you see the Guild fearing the hand of the Imperial City, here? It wasn't Nexus that beat the Dragons back. Was it?" [23:22] 14Stranger, with an air of defeated resignation: "What did I say, Niobe." [23:22] 14He said: "The truth will not save you." 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Niobe: "It's not myself I aim to save." 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "I am here, gentlemen, as a favor." 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "I am here on behalf of this pit." [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "There are a lot of swords here. Lots of trade. I dunno the specifics, but if Nexus slides straight into the river, is that likely to help the Scavenger Lands or hurt 'em?" [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The hell you figure that?" [23:24] 7Blossom: "And so?" 7Her hands are concealed in her sleeves and she speaks noncommittally. 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun: "Simple observation. I suppose... in hindsight... I might have known. But I lost myself, and my judgment." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Niobe: "When Nexus falls -- and it will -- it isn't the Realm who will pick it apart. Oh, no. You said it yourself. These are Scavenger Lands. You should be fearing the little powers of the Threshold. Great Forks. Lookshy. What remains of Thorns. All the little kingdoms in between. The petty river-gods beyond the reach of justice. They will devour you, you greedy, stinking thugs." [23:29] 14Stranger: "Well. Congratulations, Saul." 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "I am here, on behalf of the Council, to see the Council stand together as the city falls around it. I am here, on their request, at their debt, to do what we have determined is necessary to see it stand." [23:30] "I am pleased that you've regained it." 7She notes. 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "Now, gentlemen. I absolve Saul of his stupidity. He is a mongrel, and his world is very small. But did you -- either of you -- think for one moment that this was about grain?" [23:31] 14Stranger: "Niobe, you poor child, I've told you but one lie tonight." [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar scoffs. "Who on the Council? How does screwing with the Civilities and keeping votes in deadlock to the city's benefit?" [23:31] "That lie was this:" [23:31] "My name is Stranger-Visits-Heaven." [23:31] "But his?" [23:31] "His is Keldar." 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun accepts this quietly, and then: "Come. Dine with me." 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> The three of them sit around a table set for four. Soup is brought in when Nessun rings a bell, though he hesitates, looking at the empty place. "How did you learn what you've come to learn?" he says after the first course is brought in and the servers depart. 14[23:38] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [23:40] “Ours has been a wide-ranging investigation. But… are you familiar with the honey-sickness spreading through Nexus since the death of the Emissary?” [23:41] *rewind sound* [23:42] 14Stranger: "Well. Congratulations, Saul." 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun: "In passing. Bubo's wife is a physician and she has kept him well apprised." 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's not something I can fight, though." [23:44] 14It's Keldar's show now. [23:47] “I hope to devise a cure soon. But regardless. The poem came to our attention through careful sorcerous examination of these selfsame bees. We learned of the encroaching Fair Folk from a rider escaping the destruction of the northern kingdoms.” 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Niobe: "It'd take more than the threat of a knife at my throat to tell you that. Give me a reason." [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar says: "Whole sword?" 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Niobe: "Cuts the same way." 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun: "But why?" 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "Why now?" [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12The mercenary turns to face her full on. "Lady, we're here on the Council's behalf. We're fetching heads, okay, attached or otherwise. Maybe, MAYBE this is the most ridiculous and improbable misunderstanding imaginable, right, and the one hand just doesn't know what the other's doing, whatever, and this all gets worked out." [23:55] 14Doubtful, though. She was just about ready to flee the city. [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But right NOW it looks like a cadre of foreigners are sneaking in and using force to sabotage the city at a really friggin' delicate time. What do you think happens?" [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm like, whole way here - the Guild? The GUILD? That's insane, this is practically their damn capital, why would they - but if this is, like, some fuckin' imperial plot, suddenly it's easy." [23:57] “Who can say for certain? But…” 5Xu takes a considered sip of the soup. “If I were to speculate, perhaps the death of the Emissary has created a power vacuum.” 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun: "In Nexus or among the Raksha?" [23:58] “Why not both?” [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar turns away. "My friend and yours, Saul, he's a victim of circumstance. These fine folks, they're just unlucky. There's just this one - small - problem. That needs-" 12he turns back, and there's something terrible in his stance, in his eyes. "Fixing." [23:59] 14Stranger just stares at the kettle. Session Time: Sat May 16 00:00:01 2015 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Niobe's face betrays no fear, but she does soften. "Brueghel and Hayle. Friends of the family." 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Saul: "No fucking way-" 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Niobe: "Shut him up or I will." [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Nice. Nice. And how's this supposed to save the city? What're they giving you to do it?" 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun struggles not to slurp his soup. "Well... what do you make of that?" 14[00:08] * Joins: dammitwho [00:14] 7Blossom: "The death of Balor of the Terrible Gaze is a good reason for his queen to invade." 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Niobe: "Breaking the Council deadlock now ensures that they have the weight of majority to strengthen their position after the Emissary's death. It takes more than will for the Council of Entities to contravene the law. Do you know why? I'm guessing you do. And that's why the Council is confined by protocol even as it attempts to remake itself." [00:15] 5Xu Sim dabs at the corner of his mouth with a napkin as Blossom says this. 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun: "What?" [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Right, right, so. Keeping the council standing and saving the city from itself and suchlike actually, actually, just means putting more weight to the words of... those two guys. Have I got this right?" [00:16] 7Blossom: "I examined the body. The creature called the Emissary was once the raksha lord known as Balor of the Terrible Gaze. The iron thistledown that brought him low was still embedded in his flesh." 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Niobe: "You might instead look at it as undermining the position of Udelph and Pellicia." [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What'd they do wrong?" 12This seems like an honest question rather than a rhetorical one. [00:17] 14... 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun: "..." 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "Who else knows?" [00:20] 7Blossom frowns. Something is wrong. "You should have. I had a full and faithful report sent to you." [00:26] 14Stranger leans over in his seat to murmur something into Keldar's arm, almost: "The Councilors all knew. He told them. Two of them told her." [00:26] 14Hopefully the context is clear. [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Confusion flickers briefly across the mercenary's face, clearly evident for all that it's just his eyes and the bridge of his nose that's visible through his garb. 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar knows before Niobe opens her mouth. Pellicia, Udelph, and Kratz formed a bloc within the Council chafing against the Dogmas and Civilities as well as the raw political inertia of Nexus to install something resembling functional public service. Food, medicine, a public watch. They were met in turn by an opposing bloc led by Hayle, Brueghel, and Gen. Ephiselle and Halevar abstained from these conflicts. 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> So it follows thus: a public service that exists against the law - and importantly against the interests of the Guild - stymied the consensus-building that the other three councilors pursued. Given the stress of the Emissary's death, the ability of the Council to act swiftly was judged paramount, and it's clear which bloc was willing to fight harder for that majority. 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> It does leave one gaping hole, though, in Keldar's mind: [00:32] 14Here's a funny thing: 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Why are these three Councilors planning around the fact of the Emissary's death - in advance of it, even - rather than attempting to avert it? [00:32] 14You don't end up needing a tiebreaker, with three people running the show. 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> That is an excellent point. [00:33] 14Which, aheh, cuts both ways. 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun: "To me? There must be some mistake. I wouldn't have-" 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Master." 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Forgive my tardiness." [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar puts a hand to his head, turning briefly away from Niobe as block after block falls into metaphorical place. 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> The little man totters in in fine green robes, sitting in the space saved for him. He blows on his soup delicately to cool it before acknowledge the two Anathema. "Good evening," he says. [00:34] 14Stranger sets his cane across his lap. Not long now. 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> He smiles at them, but his dark glasses betray nothing of whether it reaches his eyes. [00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar paces a bit, raising his other hand to point an index finger slowly at Saul, then at Niobe, then off towards Sentinel Hill a few times, as though slowly taking attendance. "That... well. Hmm." 12He clears his throat. "Well." [00:37] <@Ferrinus> "Just, uh. One more, I guess, before I'm satisfied here." 12He looks over. "Sachin. Tepet Sachin. He's a relation, right? Brother, cousin, maybe? Husband? All of the above, given you're Dynasts?" [00:37] 14So that's what this is about. [00:37] 14No wonder this woman has to die. [00:38] “Now, ah, where were we?” 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Niobe: "Nephew." [00:39] "Good evening..." 7She trails off. [00:39] <@Ferrinus> "Ahhh. Well." 12Keldar reaches up and pulls away his hood, looking Niobe right in the eyes. "Cute kid." 15[00:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun: "Bubo, did you receive a report from this woman? One meant for me?" 14[00:39] * Joins: ddt 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Oh! Yes. Yes, I did. Fascinating reading. Why do you ask?" [00:42] “We were wondering who else might know about the true identity of the Emissary.” 15[00:43] <@VoxPVoxD> When Niobe attacks, she doesn't reach out with her hand. She doesn't channel Essence through her bracers. She stands with her fingers curled around the teacup. 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun: "Why was I not informed of this?" 15[00:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Ah... forgive me, Dragonlord. I receive so much correspondence, of incredible import, on your behalf. And your own work is as ceaseless as it is taxing. We have an understanding, do we not? I tell you what you need to know and I handle the rest." 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun: "You don't think the identity of the most powerful being in the entire Direction merited my attention?" 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Your interest, certainly, but not your attention. What would you have done with it? What will you do now?" 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "You are a man of action, Dragonlord, and the Emissary's nature - fascinating though it is - is not actionable." 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "It is simply the case." 15[00:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun puts his soup bowl down hard enough that some of it spills onto the table. "Bubo this is unsatisfactory. Nothing I have been doing would have been slowed down by you telling me this. And, knowing it, and navigating this city with that knowledge, I might have noticed things I missed because you judged it beneath me. I value your judgment, Bubo, but we must remember who is the master and who is the servant." [00:57] “It was simply the case, perhaps.” 15[00:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Yes, Dragonlord. Of course, Dragonlord. I hope you'll forgive this lapse." [00:58] 7Blossom eyes the interaction between master and servant with interest. Hmm. A minder from Lookshy, here to keep the dragon in his course perhaps? 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> As the soup is carried away, Bubo says: "To answer your questions - forgive my impertinence - I suspect that the Emissary's identity is known to the Council of Entities, as well as anyone they wished to tell. I do not believe it to be common knowledge, or even uncommon knowledge - the laws of Nexus are a curious beast indeed." 15[01:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "In fact," says Bubo, as they bring the fish in. "It's an interesting philosophical question." 15[01:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun: "Bubo, is this really the time for one of your digressions?" 15[01:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo looks down. "...perhaps you're right. Forgive me." 15[01:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Now, as to actionable information, I have news." 15[01:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "War tidings." [01:04] 5Xu Sim clears his throat. “Actually, if it wouldn’t cause undue delay to things, I’m curious about your philosophical question.” 15[01:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo looks up from the notes he's produced from... somewhere. "Another time." 15[01:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "I've been able to confirm that there is a great fae army coming down through the Hundred Kingdoms. They're cutting west and south - reports have them passing by Mahalanka and Highland, and laying waste to Thon, Wutian, Pirayana, and Rora." 15[01:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "An army whose ultimate size grows by the day, as Wyld mutants fall in step behind the ishvara's banner." 15[01:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "Regrettably, this is the only one of the four armies which is not impeded." [01:09] 7Blossom: "There are four, then?" 15[01:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Yes. Are you familiar with the tale of Balor?" [01:09] 7Blossom: "We asked Omphaloskepsis about it." 15[01:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo smiles: "He has a wonderful tea service, does he not?" [01:10] 7What? Oh, yes, there was tea. Blossom had been distracted. She nods politely anyway. 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "You're aware, then, of the great armies that met under Balor's banner to destroy Creation at the dawn of the age. Aware of the four generals who stood behind him until the Empress herself engineered their treason." 15[01:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "Each of them persisted in the Wyld to this day. And each of them leads an army to Nexus as we speak. Only one of them has attained anything like Balor's old might, but the others are great and terrible all the same." 15[01:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "However, they are -- as I was saying -- impeded." 15[01:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "An army of siege weapons comes up from the South, rebellions rising in their wake. But their route cuts through the Dozen Seas, which are a stronghold of Realm satrapies. I'm given to understand that Great Houses Cathak and Regara are particularly invested in the area." [01:16] 7Blossom's lips twitch slightly. 15[01:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "From the Dreaming Sea there are riders and beastmasters and strange magicians. But their route cuts through the domains of a powerful Lunar Anathema, a lair without a name. He will not let them pass easily." 15[01:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "And from the north... well. The warmasters of the winter folk seem to have stumbled directly into the path of the Bull." 15[01:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun Dorma snorts. [01:18] 7At this, Blossom openly laughs. 15[01:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo permits even himself a small smile. "Sometimes fate is kind." 15[01:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "However the ishvara poses an existential threat to the entire Direction all on its own. Even if all the other armies were tidied up -- which is already only a remote possibility -- the raksha forces arrayed against Nexus would dwarf the standing militia by a factor of ten. They could fight Lookshy to a standstill on material alone. Nexus will fall if it is unaided." 15[01:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "And I have figures..." he rifles through his notes. "At the current rate we can expect the ishvara to reach us in approximately three weeks. There is word of harrying armies in their wake, but reports are terribly unreliable in the Wyld, which the land the ishvara cuts through is." 15[01:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo looks up. "Questions?" 15[01:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun won't talk with his mouth full, so Xu Sim and Blossom have the floor. [01:27] 7Out of politeness, she directs this question to Dorma even though everybody knows Bubo will answer. "Would Lookshy aid Nexus?" [01:28] “Do the reports speak of their objective?” 5Xu Sim ponders the rose, mounted under glass in his laboratory. [01:29] “…Or why they spared Highland and Mahalanka?” 15[01:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Lookshy will not abandon Nexus, but there is the looming concern of pressure from the V'neef mercantile fleets should Lookshy mobilize in full. There is not enough material to fight two wars in earnest at once. It will be a matter of some negotiation, I expect." 15[01:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "As to their objective... the ishvara has not thus far consented to parlay. It destroys all that stands against it and ignores all that does not. I'm told they're given to singing, though. Something of a dirge. It describes the moment of Balor's betrayal and defeat, which happened here at the dawn of the age." 15[01:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "'They began at the rivers when they set the fires'." 15[01:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mahalanka is subject to sorcerous working which rendered it invisible to the ishvara. Highland, alone of the Hundred Kingdoms, bent instead of breaking. It was a moment of admirable forethought on the Regent's part, it seems." 09[01:36] * bananalt is now known as banana [01:36] “Has there been word of any particularly ruinous heroes, beasts, engines, so forth, among the army?” 15[01:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "The ishvara's?" [01:36] “Yes." 15[01:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ah. Now that is an interesting question." 15[01:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "One pecularity of the ishvara is that it is, or conceives of itself, as a queen of traitorous heroes." 15[01:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "There are a number of raksha nobles of particular note and might, but more interestingly... a number of Chosen have been seduced into the ishvara's ranks as well." 15[01:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Outcaste. Anathema. Little Chosen." 15[01:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Very peculiar." [01:39] “Ordinarily that would be a shaky foundation for a monarch,” 15[01:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "One would imagine." [01:40] “You mentioned a philosophical question.” 15[01:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo's face tightens. "So I did." Another course is brought out, some heavy meat stew. 15[01:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "Have you considered, doctor, the implications of the laws of Nexus in the wake of your understanding of its Emissary's nature?" 15[01:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun is looking through Bubo's war reports himself as he eats, frown deepening. [01:43] “Such a series of precepts could, perhaps, be used by a Faerie creature to anchor itself in Creation, wouldn’t it? Or do you mean, the specifically contractarian nature of the Nexus civil state?” 15[01:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "What I mean is... we're to understand, yes, that the laws of Nexus flow from Balor. That they are an assertion of his being, and that some portion of him lives on in them." 15[01:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "From this, we look at those laws, these Dogmas and their corollaries, and we can surmise..." 15[01:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "...that even in remaking himself, Balor thought very little of humanity." 15[01:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "It paints a dim picture, does it not, of what he expected of us?" [01:45] 7Blossom: "And we lowered ourselves to his expectations." 15[01:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Just so." 15[01:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "It leads one to wonder..." 15[01:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "...could we do better, now, in his absence?" 15[01:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is there room to ask something more of ourselves than he did?" 15[01:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is this a call for something higher?" 15[01:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "From a certain perspective..." Bubo says carefully. "...one might consider this a golden opportunity." [01:47] 7Blossom: "I firmly agree." [01:48] “As a matter of fact, this is a good time to bring this up. Dragonlord Dorma, I would greatly appreciate any assistance you could give me on another step of my investigation…" [01:48] "The philosophies of the Guild will lead to ten thousand rats deserting the ship while the rest drown. Nexus must become better if it is to survive at all." 15[01:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "Half a million," Nessun Dorma murmurs. "The main of its army. Bigger every day." He looks up. "Hmm?" 15[01:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo sits back. It's evident on his face that he finds what Blossom says very pleasing indeed. [01:49] “… Once I have made some progress on synthesizing a treatment for the honey-sickness, I would greatly enjoy the opportunity to speak with a man currently under house arrest, if I am to understand… The cabbage monger. I believe his name is Surik?” 15[01:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun nods. "He's in the care of the Councilor responsible for health. Hayle, I believe?" 15[01:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Yes." [01:54] “Well. I would quite appreciate that.” 15[02:02] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: Kingslayer Cunning 14[02:10] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: mattbaby_) 09[02:17] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[02:19] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:16] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 09[03:19] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[03:22] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[03:27] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[05:44] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[05:44] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 09[05:44] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[07:24] * Quits: dammitwho 14[08:26] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[10:21] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:48] * Joins: ddt 14[12:04] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[12:46] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[12:51] * Quits: Crion 14[12:53] * Joins: Crion 14[13:13] * Joins: Crion_ 14[13:16] * Quits: Crion_ (Client Quit) 14[13:16] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[13:21] * Joins: Crion 09[13:54] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:00] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[14:07] * Quits: Crion 14[14:07] * Joins: Crion 14[14:34] * Quits: tom 09[14:46] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[15:15] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:22] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[17:47] * Joins: dammitwho 15[19:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Fanfiction_txt @fanfiction_txt 15[19:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Sagat casted a Tiger fireball and lit the candles beside Bison's massage bed, making the room more romantic for the two men 15[19:33] <@VoxPVoxD> exalted [19:37] <@Ferrinus> speaking of, i've been slow to poll everyone what they want to get done and/or generally experience this sesh, now that they're free of clock hell [19:37] <@Ferrinus> you've got a lot of buns in the oven and it seems like we have license to either zoom past a lot of stuff or hang out with/teach/be taught by various npcs or w/e else [19:38] <@Ferrinus> there are also a couple Plots i can Advance for various characters if people want to get more balls rolling [19:38] a lot of funs in the oven [19:38] <@Ferrinus> i'm going to grab a quick food so brb. agreed though [19:39] here's what i need to do though: spend some of this freaking xp 15[19:40] <@VoxPVoxD> if left to pursue his own plans paracelsus will either check up on vlad and otto, do some bartending at the ten four/talk to the libertines about what happened, or give a lesson [19:40] <@Ferrinus> oh yeah i never did figure out if arrian adepted anything, or maybe i forgot when you told me like six times in a row [19:40] i adepted mind [19:40] but i still have a lot of xp left 15[19:41] <@VoxPVoxD> you can't adept mind!! 15[19:41] <@VoxPVoxD> only space 15[19:41] <@VoxPVoxD> this is perfidy 15[19:42] <@VoxPVoxD> https://twitter.com/IamEnidColeslaw/status/599720930756067328 [19:43] why 15[19:44] <@VoxPVoxD> it has to be one of the arcana that the tumbler uses 15[19:44] <@VoxPVoxD> which are all the gross arcana besides life 15[19:44] <@VoxPVoxD> forces/matter/space/time [19:45] oic [19:45] well i'll change that then 15[19:45] <@VoxPVoxD> all the gross arcana that pass the paper towel test [19:49] <@Ferrinus> indeed [19:50] <@Ferrinus> my personal 'ggestion? Forces. [19:50] snoreces [19:54] <@Ferrinus> off the top of my head, the big group project that the three of you might have cause to pursue would be planning to exploit your recovered tumbler core to finagle yourselves a hallow 15[19:54] <@VoxPVoxD> yeah [19:54] <@Ferrinus> although if you guys want to e.g. team up along some werewolves to fight mutant rats, [19:55] we've gotta get that freaking server back!! [19:55] <@Ferrinus> that's actually barely rat-adjacent atm, although you could go on a hike through union square's shadow to retrieve it [19:55] <@Ferrinus> (it's possible you've told the libertines who've already done so, but their nerd contingent might not have a spirit walker) [19:56] i'm fairly sure i've told the libertines where it is atm 11[19:56] <@Ferrinus> of course, one of the things that made it so valuable was its rare components and complicated construction. if paracelsus wants to flagrantly waste resources he could just help the gang synthesize a new one [19:56] <@Ferrinus> it probably wouldn't be QUITE the same, but what is 15[19:57] <@VoxPVoxD> if you want paracelsus to make a magic computer for you you're going to have to tell him what it's for 15[19:57] <@VoxPVoxD> and then explain world of warcraft to him [19:57] <@Ferrinus> it's special training for our assault on the exarchs following the ladder's reconstruction, you see [19:58] <@Ferrinus> also warlocks are op, [19:58] Not OP enough. [20:03] <@Ferrinus> i'm still eating this 4,1BREAKFAST SANDWICH so i'll be a couple more minutes but we can start when.e.. i don't even mind if we sort of blur though a bunch of short scenes, although of course any scene at all always goes about four times as long as predicted [20:21] <@Ferrinus> -i have a big apocalyptic hook ive talked to br about but the biggest stumbling block is "how do I make the most selfish wizards in europe give a shit" [20:21] <@Ferrinus> "satan is about to open the gates of hell to swallow the entire earth... unless someone can beat him in a magical duel!!! also satan will explode into untyped vis if he is defeated." [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 ____ [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 / /\ [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12/___/ \ [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12\ \ / [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 \___\/ [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Goooood damn, what a week that was. 14[20:31] * Joins: mugabe [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12It's likely that Arrian hasn't been put through the supernal wringer like that since the moment of his actual Awakening, and while the abstruse grind of the Tumbler can't really compare to the nightmare labyrinths of Hell, it does leave a physical mark. The young warlock's got plenty to show for it, though right now what feels like the most important and well-deserved reward is an [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12extension on his various homework assignments. [20:34] 7Victory in the Tumbler and Adepthood of Space all at once also gives him a bit more leeway in rote requests. I fought a Seer, alright? I fought a-- [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Over the last few days, maybe stretching out to a week or two, the members of the cabal that guards the Tumbler paradox have had cause to unwind and recharge. Arrian in particular has been able to get back into memorizing and cross-indexing the various sigils and invocations Felix is given to drill him on, though he's no closer to figuring out where one actually finds a Peradam (why [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12did he have to mention one of those in the first place) nor, as yet, to achieving the level of psychic power necessary to render the rescued/captured Prism program permanently rather than temporarily free of its Seer-facing command protocols. [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12It does mean an extra chore, of course, on top of filing, research, memorization, thesis-writing, and occasionally simply sitting and surveiling the Tumbler alleyway for changes - every couple days to a week, the warlock's got to head up to the Streber building, lay out his ritual tools and, perform a complicated Fraying/Weaving on a softly glowing bank of monitors that asks politely [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12when this'll be a lasting change. [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Off the top of my head, Arrian could be seeing to a couple different things, here - he could be doing the Adamantine Arrow 'Atlas' a solid by explaining the basics to a Sleepwalker the mage has discovered, he could be attending to his mentor Felix, he could be working with or talking to the Prism, he could be collaborating with the Council re: that missing server, or he could be [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12working quietly at the front desk of his book shop when something unusual happens. [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12He might be consulting or just playing with his pet raven, too, though Ix is often gone for hours at a time these days. 14[20:41] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[20:41] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[20:41] * Joins: dammitwho [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 7What does he say when Arrian asks him where he goes? [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, you know, kid. Out and about. I gotta get the lay of the land! [20:43] 7Dang it, that's not an answer at all! Anyway, Arrian will help out his cabalmate with the Sleepwalker, after first looking up how exactly you're supposed to handle these situations. [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12It's hard to tell what the bird's thinking at times like these because, as usual, Ix's outward-facing aspect - even to the Mage Sight - is exactly that of a bird, beady little mind and all. Arrian's 'cracked' it before, though he's still not entirely clear how it worked. [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Atlas isn't exactly a cabalmate, though he's definitely an ally. The huge man's got his own affair to keep in order, though from what Arrian's gathered one of his current concerns overlaps with yours - he seems to have committed himself to helping the 'GW Group' werewolf pack exterminate the city's most recent Beshilu infestation, and has occasionally acted as security detail on the [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Cooper Building build site. That's proceeding apace, incidentally, and while they won't need to sneak Arrian onto the premises to perform a complicated vulgar Space ritual for another week or so they do need to be careful that workmen don't get dragged into subbasements and eaten. [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian's picked this up not from Cross but from Atlas himself - the two seem to run into each other downtown semi-frequently, for whatever reason. Anyway, the man's nephew witnessed some serious vulgar magic without flinching or forgetting about it and it's been decided that he'd be better brought into the fold than brainwashed or something. As he's a studious sort, Jalil would [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12probably do better as an archivist than as a sparring partner. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian's to meet the high-schooler somewhere, fill him on on what being a Sleepwalker means, and sell him on becoming useful to the Pentacle. [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Sleepwalkers can, Arrian knows, become worthy of what Neokoroi Superior know as the zeroth initiation, or the Mysterium Exemplum; a frank demonstration of and explanation of the workings of magic, even to the extent of explaining some of its weaknesses and limitations. That's tantamount to actually joining the Mysterium, albeit as a servant, so someone who's just being shown the [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12ropes isn't, technically, allowed that much real information. [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Once a Sleepwalker's served faithfully for a bit, usually at least a month, they're offered the chance to join. Atlas vouches for this kid, of course, but that's not enough on its own to get him puttering around the deeper stacks. 11[21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12If you were to count the number of things on Paracelsus's plate they'd label less than those bedeviling Arrian, but most of them are a bit weightier. As a Daduchos, and one no longer caught up in halting the onset of supernatural peril, the necromancer has got to teach. Most immediately Sheila, Needle's apprentice, needs to initiate into Death and Samael, Guardian of the Veil, is 11[21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12cashing in a favor for instruction in some of the finer points of Forces. As a debtor of sorts, Paracelsus has a few more months of bartending to complete. As an adult, Paracelsus has a couple vampire kids that it's probably good to keep an eye on. Some other stuff is a bit more rote; as Paracelsus is an Adept of Matter his coworkers are, with increasing frequency, asking him to synthesize 11[21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12rare reagants on their behalf, and Gabriel's been urging Paracelsus to make an appointment with the Thearch Tess for some physiological housekeeping. 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> ++++++ 11[21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Of course, Paracelsus might separately be interested in doing some kind of independent research, talking to the captive/sheltered "Prism" program, or just snooping around for that weird soul-snaring ghost-machine that at least one Guardian very badly wants found. 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well, Vlad and Otto are right there. There's no harm in checking in quickly before getting to work. Anything odd about their door or apartment in recent days/nights? [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Not their apartment, no. But... a guy died last week just a couple blocks over. Body found in an alleyway and quickly gathered up by the authorities before it could scare too many children, and as the necromancer happened by on a simple walk he could detect the tang of curdled, inverted death seeping out on the air. 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Another? This is different from the hunter that came at them a while ago, right? 11[21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12He'd have to take a look. It happened maybe two or three days ago when Paracelsus chanced to come across it - he's been busy! - but there might be enough resonance there to pick something up. [21:13] 7Okay, then. Let's sort of explain magic to a high schooler! [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian can just use his shop or prevail on the Mysterium to supply a temporary classroom sort of place; any preferences? 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well. Let's go then. It's past the point where Paracelsus can credibly go out without a coat one without getting odd looks, so he'll get one even though magic renders it unnecessary. [21:14] 7He'll use a back room of the shop, if Jalil's the nerdier sort of high schooler he'll probably like it. [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12It turns out that he is. Jalil's a lanky boy in a buzzcut who slouches with a backpack over one shoulder and a pair of headphones whose cord runs down the other side of his body into a deep jeans pocket. It's about an hour after school's out that he pushes open the door to the shop, peering somewhat suspiciously around until he lays eyes on Arrian. "Uh...?" 12What name should he [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12be asking, anyway? 11[21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Paracelsus meditates on what looks, significantly, not like a bloodstain, but a zone of parched desolation that casts a fairly stark relief against the low-grade, natural decay going on on either side of it. There's no doubt - a man old enough to become quietly accustomed with death itself died with some violence here, pushed towards the line by violent trauma but dragged over it 11[21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12by total exsanguination. For a single moment Paracelsus is terrified that Vlad, himself, did this, but no - the character of this death-resonance is similar but definitely distinct. It's simpler, rawer, less stable. 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Otto? 14[21:21] * Joins: trenchfoot 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10No... Otto isn't any of those things. 11[21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12The trail's clear enough that it can be followed - if he was feeling brave, Paracelsus could follow this monster on the rest of its night's journey, although of course he'd be three days behind. On the other hand - this death certainly left a ghost, and if Paracelsus is any judge it's a ghost that's still sticking close to the body or or something that was on the body. 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Three days dead... if it's a John Doe the body might still be with the morgue. [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Definitely not Otto. The curse lingering on the two vampires is of a distinct character. This could only be mistaken for Vlad's resonance signature - but mistaken is the operative word here. 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then again... hmm. Something that was on the body... the killer might've taken a souvenir. 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Holding onto something they wouldn't identify as an anchor. [21:24] 7Adam. A-names are the best, because you see them at the beginning of an alphabetical list and then you can go on to doing something else. As Atlas and Arrian well know. 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus is full of liquid courage, in the form of several full liquid resource bars. Let's go exploring. [21:25] 7Speaking of which, what name does Jalil know Atlas by? This conversation could get awkward or require some fancy mindreading otherwise. [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12A-namer hell yeah. Jalil is coming here on behalf of, literally, Uncle Sam. Samuel, technically, but that's how it's worked out. Funny, you never think about the consequences of a Samuel's brother or sister having a kid until it happens. [21:31] <@Ferrinus> "Uh, Adam?" 12the kid asks. "You're - I'm in the right-? ...Jalil, sorry." 11[21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Paracelsus heads out. He's as safe as can be, really, because at the moment the sun's in the sky. Then again, it's not that uncommon to hear video game noises from across the hall even in the mid-afternoon... 11[21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12This is actually a tough trail to follow because it doesn't really stay on ground level - the perpetrator's been clambering up fire fire escapes and, if one's any judge, leaping across rooftops. If Paracelsus hadn't sunk so deeply int othe Sight he doesn't think he'd be able to follow so rarefied a trail, but the old man can pick up dabs of corrupted blood-stench on the sides of [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12buildings, scrapes that don't fester quite the right way on alley walls... it's leading him east. 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10How far east? Harlem River east? 11[21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Paracelsus isn't much of a night owl, but he can tell that, were the sun down, this is something that pretty much never crosses under streetlights or in front of lit storefronts. The murderer he's tracking doesn't walk the streets but lurks above or alongside them, skulking. Paracelsus feels more like he's shadowing an animal than a person - or, a least, that whatever he's looking [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12into particularly fears light and exposure. 11[21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12In fact, yes. This takes Paracelsus all the way to the waterside; he finds himself squinting down over a handrail at the moving water. Looks like his quarry went under. [21:42] 7Arrian: "Yeah. Sam's nephew, right?" [21:43] <@Ferrinus> "Yeah," 12says Jalil. "But... who're you?" [21:45] 7Arrian: "Friend of his, and co-worker I guess. Why, what'd he tell you?" [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Jalil gives Arrian a mild sideye. "You work the register or something?" 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Hnh. [21:47] 7What's he thinking right now? 11[21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Paracelsus isn't at a total impasse, here, because it's possible that something's drifted out or washed up, even if the necromancer isn't ready to make an undersea journey right at this very second. A thorough search of the waterfront should turn something up, and he hasn't somewhere to be right this second. [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, it seems Atlas works at a gym - go figure - so Arrian's clearly bullshitting or else referring to some secret, fucking, government ops team or something, except there can't seriously be a secret base under this bookshop or something - and why couldn't Sam explain this himself? Jalil half doesn't believe it, this is retarded, except he can't actually get what he saw out of [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12his head. Arrian can detect a flash of of sort of moaning, faceless zombie - more than one of it, actually. 14[21:55] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[21:56] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 09[21:56] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 11[21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Paracelsus walks, thinks, and watches. This doesn't look like a one-time thing; he's found at least two different trails leading up out of the water, judging by the death-force gradient, that this thing must be leaving when it rises out of the drink by the night. There's, shit, if you look at the way the grit and mud are flattened and squashed here, it looks like someone got dragged 11[21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12in. Back by Paracelsus's apartment - that's just the first body found. [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12A little farther still, in the path of the current, in a little alcove beneath riverside path - there it is. The anchor, in a strange little scene. It's a cross, as though ripped from a necklace, but it's not the only one - there's another washed up nearby it, and what might be the remains of a string of rosary beads from, judging by the material, a third accoutrement entirely. [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12They're not all haunted, though this most recent one is, but they all bear the mark of this monster. 14[21:59] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 11[21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Nothing stops Paracelsus from just stooping and picking up this necklace-shard, but while it's clearly haunted it doesn't seem, at the moment, to be haunted - maybe the ghost's hovering elsewhere. Still, it might come by on its own accord, and even an apprentice necromancer could hurry that along. 14[22:01] * Joins: dammitwho [22:01] 7Arrian: "Most of the time. Other times I explain the zombies to people. Hang on, lemme close up." 7This involves locking the front door and flipping the sign from OPEN to CLOSED. [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Jalil blinks, then waits, fidgeting slightly as Arrian moves past. After a moment he shuts off the music he's listening to and slides the headphones down around his neck. 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus takes the necklace up into his hand, marks the exact point (by street geography) where the vampire comes in and out of the river, and commits it to memory. He'll study this at home. And perhaps Vlad and Otto will be up by the time he's done. 09[22:04] * banana|peels is now known as banana|___ 09[22:05] * banana|___ is now known as banana 11[22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12They will be, because it's not before night falls that the ghost of the creature's most recent victim begins to spin itself out of the ether around - just under, actually - the recovered cross. It's a strange effect, especially since Paracelsus has probably laid the thing down on a table or mantelpiece or similar - the ghost appears in the exact position he'd be relative to the [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12talisman if he were wearing it around his neck, even if that puts him lying down at a weird diagonal and jutting through pieces of floor and furniture. [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12It's an older man, though not as old as the necromancer, though that's a bit hard to tell because of how indistinct his features are. He's got the memories of winter clothes on, and he pats roughly around the area of his own chest and collar until he's able to wrap gauze, desaturated fingers around the symbol and nod to himself. [22:16] "Alright, cool. C'mon, we can talk in the back." 7He'll wave for Jalil to follow him into the back room, and assuming he does so the first thing he'll say is "Okay. So, first things first. You're not going crazy or imagining things, what you saw was absolutely real." [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Cross, newly-christened Famulus of the Silver Ladder, remains on the rise! She's of even rank with Siobhan now and gets the impression that whatever her once-mentor did to earn that place hasn't been followed with much in recent years. The Acanthus, though, is just awash with projects and opportunities. If she can act as a mediator and go-between for the Adamantine Arrow and GW [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12werewolves, she can keep the Cooper building's rat-monster problems tamped down until construction's complete; if she can just ask the right questions and figure out the best balance of restrictions and allowances she can use this "Prism" thing as both an expansion of her personal power and a source of insight into the hated Seers; if she can get to the very bottom of the swirl of [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Patterning and Unraveling Time that lurks within the first-retrieved Tumbler core, she can remake the very city in her image. [22:22] Let's not get hasty, here. Limiting your ambitions to one city is a form of small thinking, and small thinking produces small results. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12There are a few nagging smaller problems... for instance, the Tumbler alleyway was attacked again. Thanks to prophecy, of course, Cross's small security team was ready to blast the small pack of burrowing spiders to bits with a very satisfying round of shotgun fire, but that could get annoying. Also, according to Pascal, a person the Guardian can't quite put a finger on has been [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12snooping around the neighborhood of the Streber building of late and it might be prudent to either beef up on the ground security or just plain head this 'Dana' person off. [22:24] Free of the _fox's attacks, there are indeed a number of people Cross wants to catch up with- Siobhan among them, the GW planners among them with higher priority, and also whoever among her own people's acquaintances might know something about artificial intelligence.. [22:24] But this 'Dana'. Is that name new? [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Jalil watches 'Adam' for a moment. "The... well, it. I saw the burns, or I mean the freezes. Actually got one-" 12He brushes the side of one arm, though it looks uninjured here and now. "-just barely. But what th- what was it?" [22:26] She's also got to get back to her neglected training.. you can't rely on Life magic to keep you healthy- well you *can* but it comes at a cost. (Tess was right, there) [22:27] Speaking of which, just how hierarchical is the New York ladder feeling these days- does Cross still have a direct superior/report-receiver? [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Jalil: "I, like - didn't even remember it 'til days later, and then suddenly, all of it. Sam said he was looking into explaining it - wasn't sure himself - and now here I am. 'cause I don't want want he has, apparently." [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Right now, the mages Magellan and Tess are Cross's superiors, while Castian and Siobhan are Cross's putative equals. Neither of the former two want reports on progress with the Prism, Tumbler, and other elements of the Hierarch's broad initiative to finally take the measure of the master's tools - those go straight to Cyrus. 14[22:30] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus offers the ghost understanding and parley. He wants to know what happened. He wants to remember. He is called to bear witness. [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12"Dana" is new, as far as Cross can tell. Apparently she's a young woman living in Pascal's own building, but the Guardian's been having trouble actually investigating her (a Guardian, that's not a good sign) and he's been getting the idea that she's trying to spy on him, and therefore you, for a while now. No straight up confrontation as yet. [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12She isn't, as far as Pascal can report, normal, but she's not Awakened either. [22:32] Cross sets down the free weights. To Pascal: "Have you been reckless enough yet that it's obvious whether she induces Disbelief? If not, why not?" [22:33] The Arrow gymnasium is much more friendly to this kind of talk than either of their home grounds would be. It also contains the specialised equipment that you want when the limits of human strength are casually within reach and its a matter of knowing how to *use* it. [22:34] <@Ferrinus> "Yo," 12says Pascal. "That'd be blasphemy, right? C'mon. Although she doesn't." 11[22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Paracelsus proceeds through a halting and difficult conversation - though maybe that's a heartening thing. This man doesn't take easily to being a ghost, doesn't really know how to do it - he has, near as the necromancer can tell, only clung to the world from a combination of shock and worry that what happened would go untold, and therefore that others might share his fate. The spirit [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12(colloquial) fades into sheerer and sheerer translucense even as his voice smooths and strengthens. [22:37] "Okay, could you describe her? Give me as much detail as you can, embarassing if necessary." Millicent is lying back on the bench now with a towel over her forehead and eyes. She concentrates on an inner image, seeking to connect person to point... [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12This man heard what he thought was a sufferer of some severe injury - gurgling and rasping breath, moan as though from intense pain, babbled words that could as easily have been curses as prayers. He turned from what would've been a trip to the home of a long-known lover to step forward and help up the hunched, rocking man he saw - and then a monster was upon him. 11[22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12The killer was human-shaped, sure, but with a predator's fangs and the empty eyes of a feral animal. They pummeled and strangled with inhuman strength, then bit down, and it all went dark. But by going back and forth several times, retreading the details, Paracelsus can arrive at a clear description of the vampire: a grown man, tall and gaunt, with long and stringy hair, the bedraggled [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12and waterlogged remains of a long trenchcoat, and a neck that's mangled from both sides by savage bite-marks that haven't healed. 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus lets no darkness rise to his face. 11[22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Paracelsus also has the name and address of another man to whom this ghost only wished he could've shared one more moment with, but such is the world. 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He merely lets the ghost speak until its speaking is done. [22:47] <@Ferrinus> "Alright," 12says Pascal, as Cross pumps iron. "So like ye high, right, blonde..." 12He paints a picture of a short and somewhat pixieish woman generally dressed as though heading for or returning from a party. Couldn't be past her mid-twenties. Also, chaos dogs her step. It's not Fate magic, but it is, apparently, magic that affects fate - Pascal's been in probabilistic tug of wars [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12that he couldn't tell if his tail even knew she was engaged in. [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Tugs of war, I mean, sheesh. 11[22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, Paracelsus has got a lair, a picture in his head, a modus operandi... he might be in position to intuit what's going on here, actually. 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A vampire who isn't in a position to hide among humans as vampires tend to do, for whatever reason (their wounds?), one who can move and hunt about the city only by duplicity and stealth. One who can hunt only by violence, and has no recourse to the consequences of their violence but further violence. 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus is put in mind of a vagrant. Someone who fell through the cracks. [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Wait a minute. [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Bitten from two sides, dumped in the river, the dress, the timing- 11[23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12This kind of lines up with the details Paracelsus got out of Vlad about the two vampires' disastrous Halloween night, doesn't it? [23:01] Cross: "It sounds like you've gone from roulette player to one of the balls." She looks over a threshhold through closed eyes, pink light on the underside of her eyelids; makes the future cohere, reveal (and now: wouldn't it be so easy to *change*?) [23:01] Does Cross predict any interaction between herself and someone who meets the rap? [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Cross's soul strains in time with her body - and it feels great, actually, to have the spell catch at the exact moment the weight's overcome and the elbows straighten. Maybe the Arrows are on to something. [23:06] ...resistance! Cross has to grunt and lever these weights down for a second- she speaks a word of entension, gestures abruptly from a horizontal position and utters a word of culmination. The High Speech echoes oddly among barbells. 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10No, that wasn't a vampire. That was a vampire h- 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "Son of a bitch." 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What time is it? [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12This is complicated, a shifting morass of probabilities that flickers one way or another depending on Cross's own intentions, even depending on Cross's own reactions to this augury. And then there's a further complicating factor - sort of flickering quantum flux surrounding the hypothetical presence of this Dana person at all. Is she going to be there? Won't she be across town [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12instead? Is she even real? Time glitches slightly as it flows across the very idea of the woman, leaving a haze of unhelpful static where there should be a subtle, graceful, but ultimately traceable furrow in the current. Cross beats it, though. She's too strong, her command of Time too potent - even the part of her future that inersects with Dana's own, for this moment, coheres. [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12(It's after dark as the ghost fades away.) 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus owes Vlad a word. 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10At least one. 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's knocking on their door in minutes. [23:10] Ha! You might have thought your fate was obscure and twisty but that's before it intersected with the railroad-straight path of Millicent Rhodes! [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Dana's hunting around the Streber building's general area, certainly the Tumbler alleyway - if Cross chooses to confront her there, that's when the meeting'll be. Dana lives in Pascal's own downtown apartment building - maybe Cross will seek out, and find, her there instead. Should Cross do nothing at all, in half a month's time Dana will come creeping in on the coattails of a [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12seemingly-innocuous cable spider attack, burrowing into the Streber Building's foundations. [23:13] ...Like a railway, there are of course track switches. 11[23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Paracelsus knocks. There's no answer. He knocks again, and there's still no answer. He's thinking of knocking a third time when he hears the whispered back and forth: "C'mon" "I don't-" "If you don't they're even mo-" "Just don't f-" "C'mon already-". 12That's Otto leading. 11[23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12The door opens to reveal a sweater-clad Vlad with jaw clenched and pupils shrunk to pinpoints. When the vampire realizes it's Paracelsus standing there, he sags with visible relief. [23:15] "I see... what should be obvious, but she's trying to hide it. Wrong pronoun. It's hidden, no agency necessarily imputed." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus doesn't smile or glare. "Is this a bad time? I'd like a word." [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Vlad: "Ehh, ahh. It could be. I mean, come in, I guess, yeah." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus will come in. What's the state of the place? Is it about as neat as usual? [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12It looks basically normal, yeah. There's the creeping mess you might expect to find in the apartment of a pair of young adult males, but less than you'd see in a human's apartment because, of course, there's no need to bring in or dispose of food. Otto, as usual, is not present or at least not visible, but the big rat cage pressed against a back wall is ticking merrily along. [23:18] 6Cross: "She'll be infiltrating the sanctum in, like, a month. Or would have been. We'll intercept her on our own ground, so thanks!" 6She gives Pascal a time and date for when this alleyway confrontation is to take place - it's up to him whether he's fully handing over the matter. [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Pascal: "s'no problem. Listen, you got investigators of your own, right?" [23:24] 6Investigators is a charitable way to put it. [23:24] 6(Elsewhere at about this time, Saint-Michael Fox is giving an inspiring speech. He delivers it in a crisper but cheaper suit than Cross would wear, standing with one foot on a packing crate for the look of the thing, and he delivers it to a bunch of wise guys in *extremely* cheap suits. [23:24] "Management hears your concerns, gentlemen. Management hears but has sent me instead. Giant mechanical spiders are all in the business plan. Let me tell you, it could be worse. The geeks on the next level down have to deal with clients all day - and HTML. You've got licensed handguns, and the spiders don't. In view of the total legitimacy of your issues, you *aren't* fired."6) 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus waits until the door's closed. "How are you two doing? I've been meaning to check in for a while but I've been very busy." [23:24] 6Cross: "I hear the beginning of an explanation." [23:25] 6Cross: "Could Pascal finally be telling his friends why he's been busy, that he's going to be busier? Are you leaving us for greater things?" [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Pascal: "Eh? No, I wanna borrow some." [23:26] 6Cross: "Then the price is you freaking come clean!" [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Pascal: "I haven't actually got a team, see, and I'm running into some stuff I don't wanna attend personally. Lemme give you a couple names and places, you pass 'em along, then you pass back what you get, all right?" [23:28] 6Cross: "Haven't got a team sounds right. You haven't come to meetings in forever. I don't think you've even claimed a lab space - Arrian got doubles, although he said he's putting it in half as much room or something. Dude." [23:29] 6She's done working out. "My people will look into whatever. But are you in this cabal or not? You're welcome if it's yes." [23:30] "If no.. I bet we end up explaining at some point that the promised Guardian supervision was very hands-off. Lenient, even." [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Pascal leans back. "They're keepin' me busy! And I'm not really a lab kinda guy. Listen, if it's not me watching from the inside it's someone else watching from the outside." 11[23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Vlad looks from from Paracelsus over to the wall, blinks, then says "Of, for the love of-" 12before blinking and shaking his head to himself as Otto is revealed to have been standing there all along. The other vampire gives Paracelsus an owlish look. [23:33] 6Cross: "It's just.. don't you want to be on the inside?" [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Vlad: "Look, there's - you saw the news, maybe. Dead guy?" 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus doesn't flinch. "Evening, Otto." 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He holds a finger up to Vlad. "Why don't we sit down." [23:34] "It feels a bit like we're another group you infiltrated, beat and withdrew with your cover blown." 6Some unwise people might call Cross's look.. forlorn. [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Pascal: "Are you- look. There something you feel like I need to be doing? The Jen thing - we'd seen that coming, I'd've come with, all right?" 11[23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Vlad says "Ah, sure," 12and takes a spot on the couch, though just drifts over to stand behind it. Paracelsus is free to sit next to the vampire or pull up the one barely-used chair behind the small kitchen table. [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Vlad's saying: "So it's like, see, this man they found, maybe you didn't hear. It wasn't just a mugging or something - all his blood was missing!" 12He pauses. "Vhich is reaaaaal bad." [23:39] 6Cross: "Actually, yes. I have a specific actionable demand." [23:40] 6Cross: "We're all going out for pad thai tomorrow night. The place on 8th Avenue." 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus sits on the couch. "Did I ever tell you how they found me?" [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Pascal: "Ah? Sweet, I'm- wait, oh no." 12He pauses and thinks. "No, I am in. How bad what that look, hah? But it's not tomorrow." [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Pascal: "The thing I have, I mean. Seriously, though, I need your guys to at least follow a couple of my guys, it could be important." [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Vlad: "'cause it looks- huh?" 12Otto peers. [23:43] 6Cross: "I think they can manage that." 6(Later: "..and if you can't even manage that, then maybe you'd have a point about the chittering. The boss's contacts have everything aligned on our side, gentlemen. It might as well be magic."6) 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "The other magicians. I thought I was going insane at first. I was seeing things. Hearing things. Smelling things. Terrible headaches. I tried medicine. I tried drinking. Eventually I decided, if this was how I was going to go out, then I owed it to the world to do it with a little grace." 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "Some of the things I saw... they were lost things. Hurt things. Forgotten things. Unfinished things. 'Ghost' is such a little word for them. We want for a better one." 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "But I saw them. And some of them were themselves enough that they could see that I saw them. They'd talk to me." 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "And I started to listen." [23:48] <@Ferrinus> "Cool," 12says Pascal, and maybe that's that. Cross isn't wrong, is the thing - the Guardian's clearly not as Engaged as either of the two nerds are. Exactly why'd be hard to read even if you weren't Cross, though, and it's not like the guy is outright shirking his duty - there are, apparently, a number of investigations and censures that conscientious skullduggery on the gambler's [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12part has just smoothly headed off. [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Vlad: "Ghosts are-" 12Otto: "Uh, yeah." [23:48] 6Yeah, but silently helping us out without seemingly caring much or getting anything out of it is worrying also. Cross is not motivated entirely by friendship here. [23:49] 6She will find up what's up in time, even if it means dragging Zarick in-channel. 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "There was this one place - it wasn't far from the only deli in town clean enough that I could stand to eat at it now. The things you see when you see Stygia in everything... it makes dining out difficult. But it wasn't far from that. It was a little lot between two buildings in Washington Heights. It might have been a park once, but now it was just a lot." [23:50] 6Until then, there's plenty to do.. [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Cross thinks it over as she cools down, showers, changes, etcetera. What does Pascal get out of this? Well, in short, he gets the pretext of always, always being seen to do his job without actually doing most of the things that count as part of his job. [23:55] 6The cabal's an excuse to avoid guarding any other veils...? [23:55] 6She kind of.. sympathises with and is worried by that. There are definitely multiple points of view. [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12It's the Tumbler, after all, once one of the most dangerous paradoxes the city plays host to. In the past even approaching it's been completely forbidden. Now that some play on the Hierarch's part has worked and the site's being tampered with despite strenuous objection on the Veil's part, someone, maybe even multiple someones, has got to keep a close eye on the thing, prevent any [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12contact with Sleepers, prevent any serious outbreaks, safeguard the souls of every non-Guardian involved - it's hugely dangerous and important. And, because no one really understands how the Tumbler works, no one can really gainsay you if you say you've got to tend to it. 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "And there was a ghost there. Her name was Gen. She died peacefully at a young age. Maybe fifteen. She was sick her whole life. But the sickness was so deep that when she passed, she didn't pass clean. She stayed. She died in one of the apartment buildings but she stuck to that bench." 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "And there was a ghost there. Her name was Gen. She died peacefully at a young age. Maybe fifteen. She was sick her whole life. But the sickness was so deep that when she passed, she didn't pass clean. She stayed. She died in one of the apartment buildings but she stuck to that bench." 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "At night I'd go to that lot, I'd bring a cup of coffee, and I'd listen to her talk." [23:57] 6Cross is pretty sure that the thing's not just 'once' one of the most dangerous, but like.. are they going to stop exploiting it for arcane lore? Lmao. [23:58] 6And that thought was a bad habit picked up from the 'hackers' at work. Well, time to see what's up with them, new projects and old... [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12So, assassinations, intimidations, interfector-ships, all the terrifying yet unavoidable choices and compromises that a Guardian's got to make... well, you make a lot fewer of them if you're instead, effectively, a warden and PR guy. And, on top of that, here's the clincher - strictly speaking, the Tumbler is as potentially horrible as all of that other stuff. Absolute hell could [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12break loose. The sacrifices made to contain that hell, demanded automatically of the Veil, could be obliterating in magnitude. 11[23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12But you three nerds aren't going to cause that kind of trouble. Look at you! The very idea of Pascal having to frown sharply at Paracelsus's misbehavior is ridiculous. You police yourselves. It's a great gig. Session Time: Sun May 17 00:00:00 2015 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I won't tell you what we talked about. But we talked often enough that that was where they found me. The other magicians. And from there it was a cup of coffee and a conversation. Then we realized that we'd need something stronger than coffee. A few drinks later and another conversation. And that's how they got me." 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I think, sometimes, about what it'd have been like." 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "If they hadn't found me, I mean." 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "If nobody had found me. Or if something else had." 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "I was out in the tall grass, Vlad. I was out in the weeds." [00:01] 6The gaze of a malignant prophetic Eye..? 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "Somebody had to bring me home." 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus looks Vlad straight in the eye. "I know who's responsible for the murder in the alley. And I have some idea of why you were so frightened to open the door just now." 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Let me help you." 11[00:05] <@Ferrinus> "You do?" 12There's a sour of-course-he-does look on the bald, bat-eared one's face, but Vlad looks transfixed. "My god, you- then you can sort this out!" 12Paracelsus is certain, now, that Vlad doesn't know who's responsible for this. Well - it's a little more complicated than that. Something besides immediate material consequences has been gnawing at the young vampire, but [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12there's also a somewhat shaky resolve there suggesting that whatever worry's been somehow dispelled or disproven... one hopes. [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Vlad: "Because, because - no, who? Can you prove it? Because, wow, if people think it's us we are in such shit, you have no idea." 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Now Paracelsus looks at Otto. 11[00:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Otto's look is a bit harder to read. Standing behind Vlad, he glances down at the seated vampire with a half-worried, half skeptical look before returning his gaze to Paracelsus. Poor guy's crazy, or something. Don't fuck around with him! [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12What Cross's computer teams are working on depends in part on the protocol Cross has established for the Prism. As yet, Arrian needs to visit the thing every week or so to keep its control codes from re-clarifying to the extent that it becomes both vulnerable to direct Seer coercion and likely to start acting on old directives implanted by Jen and perhaps older parties. While it's [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12receiving its upkeep, it's pretty personable, though it would please like access to as many computers as possible, and also the internet, thanks. [00:11] 6Yeah, maybe not the Internet yet. We could give it a backup of Wikipedia. [00:12] 6She was here today mostly to find out how mundane business is going, but yes- some people will have to be freed up to deal with the Prism on an ongoing basis. Hmm. [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12To what extent is the central, Tumbler-forged, Time-touched hard drive that holds the core of the sentient Prism's self sealed hermetically away? What access has the program got? It's not hard for Cross to justify any amount of cloistering under the assumption that exposure to the outside puts the Prism at risk of contamination or counter-subversion - that's probably not even a lie. [00:12] 6That's going to take money away from projects, and they have to be people who can keep secrets.. what this needs is some sort of umbrella, ideally, funded. [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Vlad: "So... so who? Who is it?" 12There's faaaint worry in the question, something the vampire clearly feels is irrational but just can't completely shake. [00:14] 6The Prism has, basically, some servers and is getting more. We'll promise it peripherals and maintenance and study - but no external connection while it's got these protocols. However, people will be along to work on that (and learn whatever they can from its advanced tech in the process). The question is how to structure it. 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "How clearly do you remember Halloween night?" [00:16] 6Watchtower Consulting doesn't do internal projects, and doesn't want to be at the top of a paper trail.. what we need is a fictional client here. Or even a real one. Give the Prism a legal identity? Pitch some sort of grant-based research to the NIS? [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Vlad: "Preeetty clearly. It was, you know. Memorable. I guess Otto doesn't remember about three minutes of it, eheh." 12Otto's eyes are half mast and mouth flat, here. 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Are any blood relatives of yours local, Vlad?" [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Vlad pauses. "I don't know." [00:18] 6Cross is going to call in some staff, looking for the kind of people who'll be so into the technical detail that they're willing to cope with the attendant weirdness and secrecy. She wants the kind who would have worked on the Manhattan Project without sending a letter of complaint afterward. 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I'll put it like this. It took me a moment of study to double-check that it wasn't you who was responsible. You, specifically, Vlad. It wasn't. It was someone like you but rawer, simpler. More erratic." 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "Younger." [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Vlad and Otto each make their own kind of weird face. Vlad's relief shades into confusion and even mouthing a silent question to himself, while Otto works his jaw around and starts looking back and forth from a far wall to the back of Vlad's head. 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Do you know where he is right now?" [00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Vlad: "But... I... I didn't..." 11[00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Otto curls long, spindly fingers under his chin for a moment. Then he reaches out to point at Paracelsus, squinting. "....river?" 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus nods at Otto. [00:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Vlad: "Otto. Otto, what's. C'mon, what is this." 12Otto says: "Soooo." [00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Otto: "It's pretty rare... I forgot all about it, really. Just, when you drain someone, you know, completely. You sometimes get this, uh." 12He holds out a hand and kinda waggles it in the air. "I guess a zombie?" [00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Otto: "Hard to see coming." 15[00:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "An accident?" [00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12People like that are hard to find, since so many of them have been snatched up by some clandestine conspiracy or other already. How's Cross actually going to look for candidates? [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Otto: "Yeah, uh... from what I know you can't really count on it. Older you are, the more likely it is." 12He looks down at himself, then at Vlad, who's got his head in his hands. 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "What would you be looking at, right now, if whoever was knocking at your door was whoever of your's job it is to watch who falls through the cracks?" 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is there a punishment?" [00:39] 6Cross will need someone from here to manage the team and help with recruitment.. at first her mind jumps to Jenny by sheer name association, but Jenny's group are the workhorse of the government contracting and she's not letting go of that either. If there aren't enough hours in the day then you make more! [00:40] 6Maybe Dave? Or Orc Dave? But the real specialists are going to have to come from outside.. [00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Vlad: "Eheh. Ahah. Ahah hah hahhh...." 12Otto: "Y'know, that's - that's a good question." 12He scratches the side of his head, a nail bouncing over a protruding bluish vein. "This is sort of, I guess a semantic grey area." [00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Otto: "What that means is, uh, they've basically got free reign to get crea-" 12He blinks suddenly, mouths a curse to himself, and vanishes into thin air. 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus looks up. [00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Vlad looks up, frowning, and Otto reappears a few seconds later. "Sorry, ref- someone's here!" 14[00:41] * Joins: ddt 15[00:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Do you want me to answer the door?" [00:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Vlad: "What." 12Otto: "Here! I heard the w-" 12He lowers his voice. "What's our story." [00:42] 6Oh, of course. 11[00:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Paracelsus gets a yes from Vlad and a no from Otto, simultaneously. "He says he wants to-" "They see a wizard that's like double-" "We can't-" 15[00:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Will they be able to tell?" [00:44] <@Ferrinus> 12It's kind of moot, though, because even as the two hiss at each other to be quieter, there are two heavy thumps on the door. [00:44] <@Ferrinus> 12A voice with a more-noticeable-than-usual New York accent says: "Inspection!" 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Anyone Paracelsus recognizes? 11[00:45] <@Ferrinus> 12No, this voice is new - but Paracelsus can hear the overtones of the Curse in it. Vlad freezes like a deer in headlights and Otto vanishes in another eyeblink. 15[00:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well. It's not like Paracelsus can hide. 15[00:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10If Vlad doesn't stop him he'll go to the door. [00:47] "S-M!" 6He's there eventually. "Get me the military-industrial complex." [00:47] S-M: "All of it? M, that's too many people for a party line. You won't be able to make yourself heard and you *hate* that." [00:47] 6Millicent: "Just Hedwig at the state project office. We're initiating a new project, or rather the state is- but they aren't paying anything. Self-funding. What we need here are auspices- notes, please- aegises, legalities. The Raytheon contractor pool. What Albany gets out of it.. this will be off most of the books, right, but it's still an announceable: public-private partnership, [00:47] technology development, new jobs. No cost to the public! We'll work on the details once Hedwig's on board but I see the shape of it." [00:48] 6S-M: "And on our own books?" 11[00:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Vlad doesn't, and Otto isn't admitting to the world that he exists. So it is that Paracelsus crosses the living room and opens the door to find himself looking at a short man with slicked-back blonde hair, a black leather jacket, and a face twisted in a possibly permanent insouciant sneer. [00:50] 6Millicent: "All of the above. We're undertaking a research opportunity based on trade secret breakthroughs." 15[00:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus offers the man a hand. "Gerry, from across the hall. What seems to be the problem?" [00:57] 6S-M: "And in the real books?" [00:57] 6Millicent: "Not until you've signed the NDA." 11[00:57] <@Ferrinus> 12The man chuckles and gives Paracelsus a firm handshake. His grin switches off, only briefly. "Vince, from downtown. And, uh, who knows. Could be me in another minute." 15[00:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "But not yet." [00:59] <@Ferrinus> 12The grin intensifies slightly, here, as Vince steps inside. 15[01:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus closes the door behind Vince. 14[01:54] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[02:04] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[02:39] * Joins: dammitwho 14[02:40] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[02:43] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[03:31] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[04:20] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[04:24] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[04:25] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) Session Close: Sun May 17 04:25:30 2015 Session Start: Sun May 17 04:25:31 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[04:26] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[04:26] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[04:26] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[04:26] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[04:26] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[05:47] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[05:47] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[05:47] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[08:40] * Joins: mugabe 14[08:44] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[09:04] * Quits: dammitwho 14[09:54] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:59] * Joins: mugabe 14[11:15] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:23] * Joins: ddt 15[12:47] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/DAsO5V9.jpg exalted 14[13:08] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[14:13] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[14:27] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:34] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[14:40] * Joins: Quaker 09[15:07] * banana is now known as banana|peels 11[15:19] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun May 17 15:19:30 2015 Session Start: Sun May 17 15:19:30 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[15:24] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[15:24] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[15:24] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[15:24] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[15:24] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[16:28] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[16:54] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:40] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[17:45] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[17:58] * Joins: trenchfoot 11[18:04] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun May 17 18:04:17 2015 Session Start: Sun May 17 18:04:17 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[18:22] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[18:22] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[18:22] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[18:22] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[18:22] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[18:25] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[18:40] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:45] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[19:05] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[19:09] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:11] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[19:11] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[19:42] * Joins: mugabe 14[20:03] * Joins: ddt 14[20:48] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[20:49] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[20:49] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[21:00] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[21:11] * Joins: dammitwho 14[21:15] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[21:18] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[21:22] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[21:27] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 11[21:41] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun May 17 21:41:26 2015 Session Start: Sun May 17 22:14:36 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[22:14] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[22:14] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[22:14] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[22:14] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[22:22] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[22:34] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[22:34] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[22:39] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[23:37] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[23:38] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[23:45] * Joins: dammitwho 14[23:50] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Mon May 18 00:00:01 2015 14[00:01] * Joins: mugabe 14[00:40] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:58] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:56] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[03:27] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) Session Close: Mon May 18 03:27:43 2015 Session Start: Mon May 18 03:27:43 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[03:29] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[03:29] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[03:29] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[03:29] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[03:29] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[03:33] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 09[04:16] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[04:49] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[04:53] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[05:01] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[05:04] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[06:20] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[06:20] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 09[06:20] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[07:55] * Joins: mugabe 14[08:00] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[08:13] * Quits: dammitwho 14[09:53] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:19] * Joins: ddt 14[10:33] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:24] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) Session Close: Mon May 18 11:24:30 2015 Session Start: Mon May 18 11:24:32 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[11:26] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[11:26] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[11:26] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[11:26] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[11:26] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[12:07] * Joins: mugabe 14[14:26] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:29] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[15:16] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:19] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[18:36] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:10] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:30] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[19:30] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[19:30] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[19:41] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[19:57] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[20:17] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[20:34] * Joins: ddt 14[20:59] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[21:05] * Joins: dammitwho 11[21:24] * Disconnected Session Close: Mon May 18 21:24:54 2015 Session Start: Mon May 18 21:24:54 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[21:28] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[21:28] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[21:28] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[21:28] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[21:28] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[21:43] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:04] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[22:04] * Joins: dammitwho 14[22:11] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[22:14] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[22:15] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[22:20] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:41] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[23:05] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[23:09] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[23:31] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[23:51] * Joins: ddt 14[23:51] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[23:53] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) Session Time: Tue May 19 00:00:01 2015 14[00:04] * Joins: mugsy 14[00:06] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[00:11] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[00:26] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[00:32] * Joins: ddt 14[00:34] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[00:35] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 09[00:58] * mugsy is now known as mugabe 14[01:10] * Joins: ddt 14[01:41] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[02:05] * Joins: dammitwho 14[02:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[02:09] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[02:20] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:26] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:50] * Joins: dammitwho 14[03:19] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[04:08] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) Session Close: Tue May 19 04:08:54 2015 Session Start: Tue May 19 04:08:54 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[07:46] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[07:46] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[07:46] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[07:46] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[07:46] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[08:05] * Joins: mugabe [08:15] - [08:15] - [08:15] - [08:15] - [08:15] - [08:15] - [08:15] - [08:15] - [08:19] All the leaves are coming off and piling in the gutters. When they all wake up, the air is cold and wet from the day's rain. The pavement is slicked and shiny. The wet concrete reflects images and the pale orange light given off by the street lamps. It's never been true that Southern California doesn't have seasons. The weather changes like everywhere else, even if it only brings cold and rain instead of snow. [08:20] 4This is feeling a bit more New York. 15[08:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Ugh, this is the worst time of year. [08:20] 6Watch out with the N__ Y___ - some of us have an obligation in that regard. [08:20] 4Cavanaugh rises a bit more put together, perhaps, than he was this time last night. But still more worried. [08:21] 4Kevin... 15[08:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10At least the Christmas lights are up. [08:21] 3Fuck this shit, fuck waking up. Fuck it, fuck fuck fuck shit damn. [08:21] The office seems to have been permanently occupied by the two men working inside of it. Their little stacks of work are piling up around the place, little standing armies of marked paper and binders growing larger. [08:21] Maja's phone rings. 15[08:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's up dark and early, showered and blue-blazered. He's going to send a text to Leisurely.  15[08:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then he's off to work. [08:23] Twenty minutes later: [08:23] 3Ughhhhhh, WHO IS IT WHY ARE THEY DOING THIS TO ME RIGHT NOW??? [08:23] 3Maja looks at her phone to check caller ID. [08:23] It's Clarabelle. [08:23] 4Meanwhile, Mr. Brovember slips into his normal three piece suit, an aesthetic that no one will think to call 'dipshit Christian Gray' for at least another few months, and gets in his Lexus, heading for the office. 15[08:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's got two books on the passenger seat, and also a legal pad in case there's nothing to take notes on at the office. Which is a ridiculous thought, given Cav's sense of preparedness. But hell, it's not like anyone ever looked askance at a man bringing pen and paper to the office. [08:25] 3Maja groans, then picks up her phone. "Hello my dearest. How are you?" [08:26] Clarabelle sound excited. "Excited! Are you bu - did I wake you up? I just woke up." [08:26] 6Edgar rises as he always does - 'from the grave'.. no, it's a plain bed which doesn't even have to be comfortable. Just a thing with slats and a thin mattress, which was always good enough for thirty-five years. The problem came when he turned thirty-six. Now it's solved, free again of any need for comfort, and he only has to deal with the next problem. That's life. [08:28] 6He's not going to delay before the office tonight- there's not even time to savour one of the horrid little packs in the fridge. There is time to send a very brief email. [08:28] To whom? [08:28] 6<Lord Bren,6> [08:28] Ah. Obligations. [08:29] 6<Investigations of your servant Morgan warrant any report? He'll likely slither out of it.6> [08:29] 6That's the full extent of it. [08:29] 3Maja holds the phone away to clear her voice. "I mean ... well, yes, but I should be up anyway. It's fine. Why are you excited?" 15[08:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10On Maja's phone, do text notifications pop up mid-call? [08:30] 3Yes. 15[08:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She's got one, then. 15[08:31] <@VoxPVoxD> [08:31] From Clarabelle's end there's the sounds of things being tossed around. "I'm going to the San Juan Capistrano mission to see the Carmelites tonight." [08:33] Edgar's answer comes a bit later, from a throwaway email address with a string of gibberish for a name. [08:33] 4Cavanaugh will probably get to the office first, it being fairly close and Cav being one of the only deputies who actively likes being there as opposed to merely feeling an obligation to poke his head in. [08:33] 4He will once again check his job postings! They need that office manager. 15[08:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie'll leave that message. Hopefully Maja doesn't feel the urgency of a reply. It was an acknowledgement that Rollie was thinking about her as much as anything else. And he is thinking about her as much as anything else. [08:35] 15[08:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The phone's pocketed and silent when he gets to the office, which he does second. Are Buchanan and Rush in? [08:35] 6He'll read it this morning or at a later date, having left by then. 08[08:35] 3Maja's phone notifies her that there's a text message. She pulls the phone away JUST enough to read while continuing to listen to Clarabelle. Oh jesus, Rollie. Obviously she does, yes- but that will have to wait a few minutes. When she hears what Clara has to say, she's almost as intrigued as she is by Rollie's message. "Oh ARE you now? Why do you find that so exciting?" 14[08:35] * Joins: trenchfoot [08:36] 6Thanks in fact to Irvine money, Edgar arrives at the office in a new car. It's a new old car, a 4wd sedan more beat-up than previously - chosen for the uses to which it will be likely put. [08:37] Clarabelle: "Because we haven't had any official contact with them since they appeared in Orange County. We'll be the first to actually be paying a neighbourly visit. Also, what are you doing tonight?" [08:38] There aren't any new applicants for the office manager position. But there's a text for Cav from Rosa. 08[08:39] Buchanan and Rush are both in. If Rollie bothers to look over their shoulders, he can see that they're filling out paperwork to be filed with the Administrator, requesting records and information. [08:39] 4He frowns for a few seconds, then: 4Coworker? He had hoped the man would be getting a...separate posting. [08:40] 4But then why would he, if he was being brought in to spy on and eventually replace Cav. 15[08:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie does bother, and makes a mental note. That's a good idea. He doesn't flinch when he sees Cav, which he pats himself on the back for. "What's good?" [08:41] Rosa: [08:41] 3Maja's mind briefly scans her mental calendar for the day, and other than eventually responding to this text message, she can't remember having any obligations for the day. "I ... nothing yet, I suppose. Why? Do you need company?" 08[08:41] 6Edgar: "Evening, Buchbinder. Rash. Rollie and Clinton! It's a new night." [08:41] 4Cav looks up from his iPhone and manages his normal smile. He's been prepping himself for that. Good show. "Hey man, what's up." 4Fist bump. His phone buzzes again. "One sec. Seneschal's blowing up my phone. You know how it is." 4#justcavthings [08:41] Clarabelle: "I already have company. But I want company I actually like." [08:42] 3Maja chortles. "Ahaha, wonderful. Who is already going with you?" [08:43] 6Edgar: "Seneschal?" 6More titles. [08:43] Clarabelle clears her throat in exasperation. "Presbyter Morse." 15[08:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah, for sure. I'm gonna set up in the conference room over here. I've got as many as three things to put on a table." 08[08:46] 6Edgar's following Rollie about like.. well, a bit like a puppy. He's a much less upsetting ray of hope than the invisible Grace Stokes. [08:46] Well, that might explain why she wants Maja for extra company. His first name is Zealous for a reason. [08:47] 3Maja cringes. "Oh. I see." [08:47] "I suppose he insisted on being present to this matter." 08[08:47] 4To Rollie: "Nice." 4To Edgar: "Yeah, Rosa..." 4Blink. "Isaacs. The Prince's number two, administrative assistant mixed with majordomo. Great voice." [08:49] 6Edgar: "Well, you'd need it." [08:49] Clarabelle: "He was the one most involved in the Territory in the last few years. It would be rude to not at least ask him to come. I didn't actually expect him to say yes." 15[08:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie sits down and takes out the slim volume he got from Phocas's apartment, a black composition book, and a legal pad whose top page is full of what looks almost like scratch math problems. He'll slide the book across the table in Edgar's direction. "I've only skimmed this but it is what it says it is." 15[08:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Now Edgar might ask, what does it say it is? 15[08:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10'Theological Evolution And Religious Architectural Trends Among the 20th Century Crone Sect of Southern California Vampires', by Willem van Bemmelen. [08:50] 4He grimaces as he texts back: [08:51] Rosa: [08:51] 6Edgar sits, preparing for anything. "I'm curious that such a thing can be written without someone flying someone else in on a helicopter about it." 08[08:51] 4To Edgar and Rollie as he walks into the conference room: "There's also something else we need to talk about related to me, though it takes a back seat to all this. Maybe we'll wait on it until Santiago gets in." 15[08:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I mean... there's got to be guys out there that aren't assholes, right?" 15[08:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "They can't all be Jubal." [08:51] 4If he's coming in. Has Santiago texted to say he won't be in tonight? 15[08:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "Statistics won't permit it." [08:51] 3Maja: "Oh man, you mean we could have possibly done this without him? Daaaaaaamn. Well, you had to do what you had to do. At least we'll be able to share knowing glances with one another." [08:52] 4To Rosa: [08:52] Santiago has texted, belatedly. [08:53] 4Cav: [08:53] 4Slight pause. [08:54] Clarabelle: "Should I count you in? I can be there in half an hour." [08:58] 3Maja pulls the phone away in order to ever so slightly grumble to herself without Clara hearing it. She finally sits up in her bed. "How about 45, please." 08[08:59] 4Responding to Rollie's 'assholes' comment: "Of course there are. Speaking of which -- shit, I told Seabury I'd come back tonight at some point and give him a status update." [08:59] 4He sticks his head out the conference room door. "Brian -- either one of you -- could you call Administrator Seabury's office and tell him I'll be by tonight to continue our conversation?" [09:00] Rush nods quickly. [09:01] Clarabelle: "Yeah okay! See you then." Click. [09:02] 4Cavanaugh: "Thanks, Bryan." 4He closes the door again. [09:02] 6Edgar waits for the interruption to end. We can discuss Cavanaugh when Cavanaugh's ready without needing it pre-rolled. [09:03] 6Edgar: "Sure, although I also don't think anyone would talk about 'crone sects of vampires' from an inside perspective." 6It sounds.. anthropological. He flips open the cover. 15[09:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Oh yeah, but if some of them are friendly enough - or if the person meeting them isn't Invictus - I bet you could do some fieldwork." 15[09:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "It could be shitty fieldwork, though." 15[09:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "Pith helmets." [09:04] 4Cav: "Pith helmets do seem kind of Invictus." [09:04] 6Edgar: "Did your connection-forming which isn't a problem or an explicable thing lead you to this book?" [09:05] 3Maja flops back into bed, phone still in hand, her arm splayed across her face. She stays that ways for a few minutes while she lets her mind wander. Then she glances at the text message on her phone. 15[09:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Kind of. It was what lit the book up to me. But I was going to be in the dead wizard's apartment anyway." [09:05] 4Cav: "Do we actually know anyone with Circle contacts? I don't, and I'm disqualified for a number of reasons ranging from Invictus to decapitations to general covenant mistrust of men in suits." 4He pauses. Maybe those are all actually the same thing. 15[09:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I could ask around, see if anyone I know knows anyone who knows anyone." [09:06] 4He looks up from the books on the table. "Dead what's now?" 15[09:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Dead wizard." 15[09:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie holds his hands up and wiggles his fingers. "Magic." 15[09:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's a thing, apparently." [09:07] 6Edgar: "My only lead on the Circle is-" [09:07] 4Suddenly his iPhone and stylus are out, and his notepad app is open. D-E-A-D W-I-Z-A-R-D. His handwriting has gotten very good with the stylus, and the three circles he draws around that are extremely fluid. [09:07] 6Edgar: "..non-blood magic? Spells magic?" 08[09:07] 6Edgar: "Orcs? Hobbits? What's the scope of this situation, Rollie." [09:07] 4Cav: "Is that the technical term? 'Wizard?'" 08[09:08] 3She hasn't spoken or texted with Rollie since their last session. She imagines him and Cav together. God, what a fucking mess. 15[09:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It wasn't my word. I doubt it's the technical word. I'm sure their technical words are as weird as hours. Fuckin'. Mekhet. Auspex. What the fuck ever." [09:09] 4Muttering: "You'd think they'd have rebranded after the Klan." 15[09:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Cav: "Do you remember the roommate I accidentally texted you about? I met her there, at the dead wizard's apartment. Well, at the Denny's across the street. Then we went in and poked around together. She's a sweetheart. Well. She's a pool hustler, and a sweetheart." 15[09:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "She had to crash with me for a while. Anyway she was the one who actually found the book." [09:10] 3She violently shakes the image of them together out of her head. NOT right now. Not the time to dwell on this. [09:10] 6Edgar: "You are getting up to some seriously cool shit, Choi, but I don't believe of you that you would kill a wizard." [09:10] 4This time it proves substantially harder to keep the surprise from his face. He wasn't prepared to be thinking about that night from that angle. Pool hustler. 08[09:10] 4Does Rollie notice? [09:12] 3Maja finally manages to prop herself up, get out of bed, and begin her nightly ritual. 15[09:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Their eyes meet across the table for a long moment, and then Rollie looks back down. 14[09:12] * Joins: mattbaby 15[09:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Don't worry, Edgar. He was dead when I got there. I was supposed to be going to talk to him. Fate had other plans." 08[09:13] 4And...Rollie noticed. [09:14] 4That's fine. That's fine. Maja was going to talk to him about this anyway, and all he knows at the moment -- Cav hopes -- is that he engaged in a super-pumped game of pool with...well, Cav supposes with a wizard. She did seem off, somehow. [09:14] 4On reflection, that's actually pretty cool. 15[09:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Especially since he won. [09:14] Fifty minutes later, there's a honk from outside Maja's apartment. [09:14] 4He beat a wizard trying to hustle him at billiards. [09:15] 4The dread power of the blood. [09:16] 3Maja grabs her bag and heads out the door. Is Clarabelle alone in her car? [09:16] 6Edgar is not paying much attention to significant looks and pauses in tonight's Cavanaugh-Choi ballet. "The Circle's theology is damn relevant. I'm going to have a look through this if you don't mind- and has anything already jumped out?" 15[09:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It's a little dry for me. It seems like it'd be right up your alley, though. You talk like a reader." [09:18] She is not. Crammed into the passenger seat of Clara's green 60s T-bird is a big man in a cassock with his knees drawn up for reasons of space. Zealous Morse looks sour, or at least uncomfortable. [09:21] 6Edgar: "I tell you what, this would be an interesting topic if it didn't have the aura of life and death about it. As is, I'm interested twice." [09:21] 6Edgar: "..connections." 15[09:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie nods and flips open the composition book, going past pages of tight-scrawled notes and bizarre doodles. "Anyway I had this dream the night we met Jubal, after we put Franks down. I didn't mention it sooner because, like. It's nonsense. I can't ask you guys to make sense of it, it only makes sense to me when I'm insane." [09:23] 3Damn. She was hoping to have a little time with Clara alone before having to deal with Zealot. She hops into the back seat of the car. "Top of the night to ya." [09:25] When Maja climbs inside, she can feel the two other Beasts chomping at the bit. 08[09:25] 6Edgar: "But valuable, Rollie. If you're making leaps of illogic, think about this: where from? That tells us something." [09:25] 6Edgar: "Maybe only the location of a phantom tollbooth." 6What's in the dream diary? 15[09:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie'll push his journal across the table for perusal. http://pastebin.com/XMfyvNFJ [09:26] Morse turns around in his bucket seat. The red hair of his beard creases when he frowns. "Is that because I'm Irish, Deacon?" [09:26] Clarabelle grips the steering wheel extremely tightly. "Stop." [09:27] Morse: "I'm sorry if I'm not more amiable with-" [09:27] Clarabelle whacks her hand against the dashboard. "Holy shit! Shut up! Shut up, Zealous! I will kick you out of the car!" [09:28] 6Damn. Edgar's holding this open so that Clinton can see too- it's so full of allusions it would take a diversity task force to decode. [09:28] 3Maja's eyebrow raises. She should perhaps be more fearful of Morse, but her instense disdain fills her to the brim and pushes out any other possible feelings. 15[09:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10On that list, of names, the name 'Sun' is crossed out. [09:29] 4The conference room has a whiteboard, and as part of setting up the office, Cavanaugh bought an 8-pack of differently colored dry-erase markers. After reading over Edgar's shoulder for a good bit longer than the other deputy, he'll walk over, uncap a red one, and write in handsome, functional, unserifed capitals: ROSE - SANG - SORIA - STOKES - TONG - FOSTER - SOLITUDE - SUN [09:29] 4Then he'll uncap a black marker and X SUN out. [09:29] The other presbyter grunts and hikes his knees higher. Clarabelle turns the radio on, and mutters. "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Hi, Maja." 15[09:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Sun's dead. Foster is Leis. Leisurely Foster. Solitude is Solitude Agnew, he's a Baron out somewhere." [09:29] "A hollowing man. A fractured family. You're not wrong." 15[09:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "I think Stokes is the nursing home lady? I don't know why I have that impression." [09:30] 4Cav underlines both names in blue. [09:30] "She is. Why does the priest remind me of Thomas Franks?" [09:30] 6Edgar: "This makes more sense than it should." 15[09:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Franks was being chased around the drain. He was losing himself year by year. And then he was gone." 15[09:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't know if it's directly relevant but there's some analogy there." [09:31] 4Cav: "We know a Rosa -- the Seneschal I just mentioned, Rosa Isaacs -- but not a ROSE. I suspect the distinction is significant." [09:32] "Cheers, mate!" 3She just canNOT help herself. 15[09:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah." [09:32] !wodroll 5 int+politics [09:32] <@Ferrinus> banana rolls12 5 dice (1210-again) to12 int+politics [Successes:12 3, Failed:05 3] [09:32] <@Ferrinus> [053 5(121012!→121012!→0525) 056 052 128] [09:33] 6Edgar: "Theology and Architecture isn't from Miami, though. Leisurely Foster.. who sells icecream? The same woman?" 15[09:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "She sells other stuff, too." 15[09:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "I kind of... I met her through my, uh. I guess I can't call it a day job anymore." [09:33] 6Edgar: "Salvation?" 15[09:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Weed, mostly." [09:33] Morse shuts his eyes very tight. By the time they get back on the freeway, he's thought of a rebuttal. "That's not even what Irish people say." 15[09:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "I run a little grow op and wholesale to her." [09:34] 4Good thing we're not actual law enforcement. 15[09:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10We haven't murdered near enough people yet to qualify. [09:35] 3Maja laughs. Probably a bad idea to ruffle his hair, but damn that would piss him off something good. "Please forgive me, brother." [09:36] 4But mentioning Rosa reminded him of something else. He taps his notepad app into the background and brings back up his last text message conversation. To the Seneschal: I was hoping to make the inquiry discreetly through you> [09:37] 4He follows that a second later with: [09:38] Morse looks out the window at the passing ocean. "Have you ever dealt with heresy, Deacon? The real thing." [09:39] 6Edgar's too engrossed in the dream to joke about weed. "Who is the monster? What force or group is the blood-gas? There's a religious war going on and being incited by small groups like you dreamed." [09:39] 4To the deputies: "So we're only completely in the dark on Soria and Tong? And why's Sun crossed out, for the record?" [09:39] "Yeah, I haven't heard either of those names myself." [09:39] 4Cav has a pretty good guess why you'd cross a name off a list, but. [09:39] Rosa texts back. [09:39] 4Cav: [09:41] Rosa: 15[09:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I don't know. I've got some ideas but they're not concrete." 10And also I could get murdered if I talk about them. [09:42] 4Bingo. 15[09:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Sun is dead. He was from Miami." 15[09:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "He knew Leis." [09:43] 3Maja gets serious for a second. She does not want to betray her feelings about the Carmelites to this fucking guy, of all people. "No, I haven't. Do you have any pointers for me?" [09:44] 4It is not, of course, either of these things. But he'd rather not give the appearance that they're about to go hard after a non-citizen with close ties to the Bren family tree. [09:44] 4Even business ties. [09:45] "Miami, huh." [09:45] 6Edgar: "Gentlemen, this one goes in the prophecy file. It has all the redolence you could require." [09:45] 4Cav's got the notepad back up and is jotting down those connections. [09:45] 6Edgar: "We'll have to open a prophecy file. I suspect this business will add to it." [09:45] Morse thinks for a while, while they get off the freeway and into the streets of San Juan Capistrano. 15[09:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "A prophecy file, see, this is the kind of Deputy work I'd be good at." 08[09:46] 6Edgar: "You're here for a reason. Rollie. Generally, I assume each of us was placed in this simultaneously awkward and convenient position due to a web of intersecting power plays." 15[09:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "That sounds about right." [09:47] "All I can say, Deacon, is that it springs from the same well of pride. There is righteousness and self-righteousness. One comes from God, and is perfect, and one comes from you, and is not. Learn to recognize what is correct and what is sin passing itself off as hope." [09:48] 6Edgar: "Alright. I can't ask either of you to fight a curse for me, but if anyone wants to poke Jubal's eye you're most welcome. Enough leads here to poison a generation of street children." 15[09:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I wonder if his eyes came back in yet." [09:49] The lights are on at the Mission when Clarabelle pulls into the parking lot and kills the engine. 15[09:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "Anyway, I'm not leaving you hanging on this curse thing. Do you want me to look into one of these names?" [09:52] 3Maja nods slowly. It's good advice, she feels- but she suspects the conclusions that she draws from his advice may very well be in direct opposition to his conclusions. "That is some sound insight, my friend." [09:52] 3Maja scans Clarabelle's face to see if she has any reactions." [09:55] Clarabelle is leaning over to reach into the glove box, where she retrieves an attachable white collar. She looks worried. It's possible that she wasn't paying any attention at all to their back and forth. "I expect both of you to act with the utmost courtesy and decorum while we're visiting. The leader of the congregation is Antonio Soria. We'll greet him and attend the sermon in the back, causing no disturbance." 15[09:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie doesn't remember that he actually does know a Soria - the man who is the rightful owner of Luz de Dios. [09:56] 4Cav flips over to his e-mail. To Buchanan's company address, blind CC'ing the Deputies listserv that he's certain only he checks: or 'Satanist cult' news items that pop up involving Circle-controlled areas: Los Padres and Angeles National Forests, Malibu, etc.> [09:57] 3Maja nods to herself, knowing that neither of them are looking. She must embody this commitment to behave herself. If she nods in agreement, her body has consented to undertake this task. [09:57] [09:57] "I can do that." [09:59] Morse grunts. The stone walls of the old Mission are rough to the touch. The sidewalk comes up to their sides, with the rest of the complex hidden from view. Above, palm trees sway. The entrance is deserted, with a little sign saying that the Mission is closed to visitors. Clarabelle unhooks the small chain drawn across the way in and holds it while the others pass. [09:59] 6Edgar: "Not Stokes. That's beyond us." [10:00] 6Edgar: "Sang we all have to pursue at any rate- you been filled in on the meeting we had with Pearl of Redondo?" [10:00] 6Edgar: "..from either side..?" [10:00] 4Cav doesn't hide his reaction this time, but he's good enough not to make it obnoxious. [10:01] 4His smile, that is. [10:02] The interior of the Mission is a series of gardens and fountains, bounded by walkways. On the far side, the half-collapsed roof of the old chapel hangs at a slant. 08[10:04] 6The question is whether these names are really related, though. How focused are Rollie's prophecies? "Names even related, really? Maybe you got multiple destinies." [10:05] 4Cav: "I just checked with the Seneschal. 'Sang' isn't a citizen of the Brilliant Court." [10:07] Faintly, Maja can hear singing. 15[10:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...you talked to..." 15[10:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh, right." 15[10:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "Jesus." [10:10] Clarabelle: "Let's go." [10:11] 4Cav: "We gave her your number." 4Very slight pause. "Your office number, if you'll look over there at your desk I've gotten everyone phones. You're extension 113." [10:12] 3Maja pauses momentarily, closing her eyes, to absorb the music. She follows Clara's lead. [10:12] Leisurely sends a late elaboration: 15[10:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...thanks." [10:13] When the three Kindred get closer to the chapel, the words become clearer. When Clarabelle holds the wooden door open, Maja can hear what they're saying, and see the half-dozen figures standing and clapping. 15[10:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's not as guarded as Cav. He's visibly flustered, and specifically Cav's attention on this is flustering. He abruptly focuses on Edgar. "I think the names are all bound up in this. They might not have a common end but you can get part of the picture from any of them." 14[10:14] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 15[10:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "What came up when you talked to the Baroness?" 15[10:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10There is a lot of stress on the last two words. [10:15] A woman in a thick scarf stands on the raised section of the small chapel at the front, calling. The five other Kindred in the audience stand with her, and sing a ragged chorus in response. "Who's that writing-" "John the Revelator" "Who's that writing-" "John the Revelator" "Who's that writing-" "John the Revelator-" [10:16] "Anytime." 4He means it, too! And will draw no further attention to the flustering. The ladies around here love the sensitive guys, he thinks to himself, somehow failing to include himself in that group. "But yes, this 'Sang' is supposedly an ex-ghoul in the household of her Finally Dead sire. She dropped off the map at some point; Jerry Ness claims that in their dealings he was able [10:16] to identify Sang as Kindred, but the Baroness was unaware of her Embrace." [10:16] All together: "Wrote the book of the seven seals-" [10:17] "Sorry, pronouns. Ex-ghoul in the household of the former Baron Steven Malloy, the Baroness's sire. Sang dropped off the map, but is now back, and apparently Embraced without the Court's knowledge or consent." [10:18] It's bracing, being in a room with so many other Beasts. The congregants face forward, but their chained spirits look back, wary. 15[10:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What's the penalty on that supposed to be?" [10:18] "Death, usually." 15[10:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie whistles. Man, he's suddenly even more grateful for Leisurely. [10:18] 4Cavanaugh is frowning, still making notes on his iPhone. "Who knows out there, though. Our lords seem fairly progressive, as far as Kindred justice goes." [10:19] *here 15[10:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "The ones without helicopters anyway." [10:19] "You know God walked down in the cool of the day/ Called Adam by his name/ But he refused to answer/ Because he's naked and ashamed-" [10:20] 4Cavanaugh grins tightly. "They might be nice, but they're still rich." 14[10:23] * Quits: mattbaby (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[10:23] * Joins: mattbaby_ 09[10:23] * mattbaby_ is now known as mattbaby 08[10:24] 4Cav: "Unfortunately, none of this knowledge really helps us find her directly -- I suppose the next stops in our investigation would be to follow the list. So perhaps you ask Leisurely about Sang, Rollie, while we follow up with the Baron Westwood." [10:24] 4He frowns. [10:24] 4No, that sounds correct. 15[10:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "That's Agnew, right?" [10:25] 4He looks up from his phone, a bit uncertain. "I think so, yes." 15[10:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "He's a weird dude. He's not bad, I don't think. Not in a way you'd want to be aware of. But he's real weird." 15[10:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's kind of hard to say why, of course. [10:27] 4Cav smiles wryly. "Beginning to adjust to that, yeah." 09[10:28] * banana is now known as banana|split 08[10:30] 4They can probably break the meeting now, with Edgar continuing to study the books, Cavanaugh heading back to his desk a moment to collect his things before heading out, and Rollie following his own ends. [10:32] 3Maja can feel the intensity build as they enter and sit. She looks over towards Zealot, curious if he can contain himself. Then she glances at Clarabelle, trying to get a read on her. 15[10:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie'll duck out, then. He shoots a text to Leis.  [10:33] 4The only question for Cav is if Seabury can make time to see him now, or if he should head to Westwood first. He will see if he can figure out any contact information for Agnew -- let him know that he's coming, as this is an official visit and Agnew is not a suspect. [10:33] 4He'd prefer not to ask Rosa. He likes the Seneschal, but he also would prefer not to give her a full, ongoing picture of the shape of their investigation. [10:33] Clarabelle is looking at the woman clapping and swaying. Morse is looking at the back of the congregants. 08[10:36] 4Rollie said he knew the guy. Or something about him, at least. Before he walks out the door: "Rollie, any chance you have a phone number on Agnew? Or like, his top ghoul or something?" 4Just, you know, kicking around somewhere. [10:37] The man who stops in the aisle to speak with them isn't wearing a collar, or any mark of office. He's of a slim build, with dark skin. "Presbyter Vincent. Presbyter Morse. I don't know the other one, do I?" 15[10:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I could get you one." 10He'll text Ruby.  [10:38] Clarabelle is nervous, and trying to hide it under a mask of professionalism. Morse is simmering with annoyance. They both stand. [10:39] Clarabelle: "You don't. This is Maja Kovacevic, a Deacon. Maja, this is Antonio Soria." [10:40] Ruby: 15[10:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  [10:40] Ruby: 15[10:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Alright, I've got a number for you." 15[10:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[10:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He'll tear a piece of yellow paper off the legal pad and write in small, mercilessly neat numbers. "This is Ruby, she's on Agnew's payroll. She might run interference a little but it's the straight-up route." [10:42] 4Cavanaugh taps open his address book. "Go." 4He'll take it down 15[10:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He'll read it out then. 08[10:43] 4Cav nods, so focused on the work he doesn't even make the connection that this is yet another bit of information noted lothario Roland Choi has coaxed from a woman. 15[10:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10God damn it. [10:44] 3Maja slightly nods her head forward in deference- but not too much, so as to offend Zealot. "It is nice to meet you." [10:44] 4Well, until he's outside, two rings into calling Ruby's number, that is. [10:45] 3Noticing Zealot's seething hatred, and Clarabelle's nerves makes her wonder why she is not more nervous than she is. But she feels ... fine. Comfortable, even. 15[10:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie'll stick around in the office to make calls. He'll shoot one to Maja.  [10:46] Soria nods back. "It is. It's nice to see you three here, too. I hope we start to see more of each other, Presbyters. Deacon. It's good for everyone, as far as I can see. You ever hear one of our sermons before, Deacon?" The singing is winding down. 15[10:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10And then one to Trubee. It's early enough that she could credibly still be awake.  [10:47] 3Maja: "I haven't had the pleasure yet, no. It is lovely." [10:47] Ring, ring. "Yeah, this is Ruby Gilbright." [10:47] 3She glances over towards Zealot. [10:47] Zealous sits back down, crossing his legs. 08[10:48] 4Cav: "Hi, Ruby. My name is Clinton Cavanaugh, with Orange County Standards & Compliance. I got your number from a colleague of mine, Roland Choi. I'm sorry to bother you this late in the evening -- did he tell you that I'd be calling?" [10:49] Soria spares him a glance out of the corner of his eye. "Well, I hope you won't be too disappointed. I'm not great shakes at speaking, to be honest. If I'd known Clarabelle was bringing someone new, I would have had someone else do it. But I try. And I know at least one part of the sermon will be perfect." [10:50] Ruby sounds smooth. "He did. What can I help you with?" [10:54] 3Maja: "I'm glad she didn't tell you, then. I look forward to hear you speak." [10:56] Soria winces in disappointment for a split second, and then he smiles like a youthful schoolboy. "I won't keep you." He makes his way up to the altar. The woman steps down, and the half-dozen Kindred take their seats in the front rows. 14[10:56] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [10:57] 4Cav: "I should probably introduce myself properly. Are you familiar with our organization? We're relatively new to Orange County but we like to think we've jumped in with both feet and are making a splash. We're a licensed third-party contractor auditing and private investigation firm; clients hire us to look into various discrepancies -- payroll, benefits, contracts -- that they [10:57] either can't objectively handle themselves or can't be bothered to. I'm calling on the behalf of one such client tonight -- a local client, actually, based out of LA's very own US Bank Tower -- and while my client has no concerns whatsoever about you or your boss, I've learned from experience that sometimes these matters are best discussed in person. Not on the phone." [10:57] 4Which, frankly, anyone could be listening to in 2015. [10:57] 4Which, frankly, anyone could be listening to in 2014. [10:58] Ruby: "That's fine. Where are you?" [10:59] 3Maja, unclear on what just happened, sits back down and waits patiently for Soria to speak. [10:59] 4He'll give her their office address, then: "If that's not convenient, I can come to you." 09[10:59] * banana|split is now known as banana [11:02] Ruby: "I'm in the area. I'll come by and we can discuss it. Can you tell me in advance the topic you'd like to discuss? I can speak with my superior and have whatever files ready and sent to my phone in the meantime." [11:03] 4Cav: "Sang." [11:03] Ruby: "I don't know what that is, but I'll look it up. See you in a bit." 08[11:06] 3In the meantime, Maja checks her phone. She supresses a smile. To Rollie: [11:06] Cav can't tell from her inflection that she's telling him anything except the honest truth. 15[11:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  [11:08] 3Maja: [11:08] Soria organizes his notes in silence for a minute before he grips the sides of the pulpit and looks up. "Before we begin, I'd like to thank the Bishop of Los Angeles, Frans Widmark, for sending three of his representatives down here to hear us without prejudice or malice. I am thankful for his patience, and theirs." [11:09] Morse clears his throat at "or malice." 15[11:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  [11:09] 3Maja grins at Zealot's discomfort. [11:10] 3She puts her phone away while Soria begins speaking. 15[11:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Hey Edgar?" 10Is Edgar still around? [11:10] 6It takes a moment for him to look up from the book, but he is. 15[11:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You got a line on Stokes? You seemed to know that name." [11:11] Soria opens his book. "We'll read from Revelation tonight. Open your bibles to Chapter 21, please." [11:11] 6Edgar: "Humm." [11:11] 6Edgar: "Okay, let me put it two ways." [11:12] 6Edgar: "I know where Grace Stokes is and could get back in, probably. Also have two explict threats of the death penalty should I ever attempt it." [11:12] Clarabelle reaches down into the pews and passes the small bibles there to Maja and Morse. The latter waves her off in annoyance and produces his own from somewhere on his person. [11:13] 6Edgar: "One death threat from a mysterious and all-seeing remote voice. One from Aitch Aitch Seabury." 15[11:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Ah." 15[11:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "So, I should go alone, then." [11:13] 3Maja grabs a copy from Clarabelle and opens it up to Revelations. [11:13] Soria: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. [11:14] And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. [11:14] And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. [11:14] And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.' [11:15] 3Maja figures that this is the part that Soria considers "perfect." [11:15] "I have come up from San Diego County with some of you to try and find that new earth, after the violence visited upon us for preaching. The rest of you were born here, and came to this community through curiosity, and stayed because you felt you’d found something proper after all that time looking. " [11:16] Still others came down to see a summary of the doctrine which certain men say ought to be punished with death and torture. I am sorry that the violence has followed us. I am sorry that that ship was burned down, on account of us. It’s a good time to remind ourselves why we’re here, in every sense of the phrase. [11:16] There’s a preacher up here, that I might have seen once or twice. He is a patient Orthodox man, who knows Longinus intimately, who can recite entire chapters from memory without error. A good lecturer. The preachers up here are not the preachers down there; I was unharmed and allowed to listen to his sermon with the greatest politeness. But our creeds exist in opposition, and one night he might show himself to me with [11:16] murder on his mind. Let us remember why. [11:17] This is the matter that has consumed and confused the city for the past three years. Before the murders in the streets, it consumed and confused our hearts and souls in our private spaces for years previous to any public action or speech. [11:17] It was the private concern of every pious Kindred in all the city’s congregations, and it was a concern so dearly held and so important that when someone had the courage to make it a public concern, all the confusion that surrounded the issue alchemized itself into hate and rage like a metal rod drawing lightning out of the sky. [11:18] 6Edgar: "I would not advise you to visit the nursing home at Dana Point at all. I've promised otherwise." [11:18] "While it's true that the receptionist will help you if you give her the implanted phrase 'yucca gloriosa', there's real danger there. It'd be best not to visit room 330 at all, if I'm honest." [11:18] Soria holds something up. Maja can see what it is: the slim, black-bound book with the white spear on its cover: The Testament of Longinus. [11:19] "Here is the crux of the matter: this testament says I’m damned to hell. The testament of Jesus Christ as recorded by the apostles says ‘for you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.’ The two are at cross-purposes. Which shall I believe? 15[11:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Thanks for looking out for me, Edgar." [11:20] 6Edgar: "Was 'Tong' the other mysterious name?" [11:20] In the 14th chapter of the Malediction, verse six, the sinner Longinus beholds the archangel Vahishtael, who says then: ‘Fear me Longinus. For I am the messenger of your purpose. The Damned are many, and they are denied salvation.’ Later, in Golgotha, the Monachus elaborates: ‘Each one of us is but a starving wolf, culling sheep in the dead of night; through the fellowship of lance of chapel are we brought togeth [11:20] to serve a higher Purpose.’ 15[11:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "'Tong' was on the list. Did you pick that up somewhere else too?" [11:21] In the 8th chapter of Acts, verse three, the sinner Saul beholds a vision of Christ on the road to Damascus, and asks him what he shall do, to which Christ says: ‘But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.’ [11:21] Later, when he is no longer Saul but the peerless servant Paul, he identifies himself as such in his epistle to the Romans. ‘Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures...’ [11:21] Which shall I believe? [11:22] Which shall you believe? [11:22] Christ tells us, in the Gospel of John: ‘Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. I receive not honor from men.’ [11:22] John the Revelator, at last, in the last chapter of beautiful and unknowable prophecy, tells us. ‘And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the Throne of the Lamb.’ [11:23] Here the preacher will say that he says the same: life is granted to the faithful. Our condition has marked us as Damned, and as exceptions. 08[11:23] 6Edgar: "Never heard it. That makes it the safest to investigate by ordinary means. Might visit the Sheriff." 6This guilt, though. Should he dissuade Rollie for real? The kid has strange power and he seems to want to take on the risk, but.. [11:23] This is a lie. It is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. [11:23] It does not give glory to God’s untrammeled power. He does not need our help in His judgment. We can not conceive of the depth of His mercy, except to know that it is given freely, undeservedly, and without condition. There exists no exception to this arrangement. No one’s sin is greater than God’s capacity to judge and grant mercy upon recognition of honest faith. God has signaled his sympathy with Man through the [11:24] sacrifice of his only Son, once and forever. [11:24] Here the preacher will say that you and me are not men. Our condition has marked us as Damned, and above men. 08[11:24] 6Edgar looks around the office. Buchanan and Rush aren't in sight. "How do you feel about making our own choices and living by them, Rollie?" [11:24] This is also a lie. Your sins are no greater than any other man’s. You need blood to live, and will kill for it. Another man needs water and food to live, and will kill for it. You feel anger, and kill a man for it. Another man feels anger, and kills for it. Whose sin is greater? Whose sin is beyond God’s understanding? Not yours. [11:25] One thirst has replaced the other. Blood, from water. To save ourselves, we need a third transformation. Water, from blood, from water. The water John wrote about. The water of life, proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb. His name is in our foreheads, and our great thirst will be replaced by the final one, the one John knew. That thirst for refuge and hope, granted to us through God’s mercy, which we repay with [11:25] faith. 15[11:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks at Edgar. His dark eyes are attentive and thoughtful. "Can I ask you a question?" [11:25] There is no refuge in the philosophy which looks to justify ourselves through scholasticism or evil works or lunatic mental gymmastics. There is hope in theology. ‘The just shall live by faith.’ [11:25] 6Edgar: "Yeah, you better." 6He puts down the theological architecture book. A load of detail about something like yurts, so far. [11:25] To have the name of Jesus Christ pass through our lips is to know that we are never lost. There is nothing on this Earth that God has not set in motion, and no deformed soul that Christ’s sacrifice cannot reach or reverse. ‘Jesus Christ is man’s salvation in all circumstances and in face of all that darkens his life, including the evil that proceeds from himself.’ 15[11:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Do you want to live forever?" [11:26] There is no dismal uncertainty for us, no questioning of our station: to live in humility and obedience, to die, to be judged. You turn your face from that judgment and you rob your life of all meaning and hope. You go against God’s covenant, and stand apart from Christ on the cross. ‘He that is not with me is against Me.’ I have stood against God and preached that false gospel long enough to know the difference. [11:26] 6Edgar: "Yes." [11:26] I served until I knew that to keep serving was to stand apart. And once I knew, I could not stand against God’s indestructible truth any more than I could stand against the heat and light of the sun. [11:26] I have ears, and I must hear. I have love, and I must love. I have a soul, and I must see that God made it and gave it to me, and that I possess it still, and that it leads me to worship, and not to murder. I am no wolf. [11:26] 6He interrupts himself almost immediately: "That's not quite true." [11:26] You poor souls! Take this stranger testament and replace it with your own, and Paul’s. Take this testament which denies God’s perfect power and sovereignty and cast it out into the outer darkness. Unburden your soul before Christ and the Holy Spirit. Your final judgment is yet to come, as it is yet to come for all men and women, and these are your final judges. 15[11:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie gives Edgar his attention. [11:27] 6Edgar: "I don't want to grow old. I don't want to be trapped ever again. I don't want to die." [11:27] 6Edgar: "Alternative, then, seems to be to live. So far it has its compensations." [11:27] These are the granters of your ultimate salvation. All tears will be dried. ‘There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall be there any more pain: for the former things are passed away.’ As Matthew wrote it: ‘For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.’ Live by the only law. Drink from the river of the water of life, and this life will soon become the next. [11:27] Let’s pray now, for all of us." [11:28] Morse stands up and exits the chapel. [11:29] 3Maja sits very still. 15[11:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Well, for me, Edgar - this is something I've been thinking about a lot, lately - I think living lives in the choice. It lives in the work. It lives in the struggle. I think if you're going to live forever, you have to live for something." [11:29] 3She does not bow her head. She watches as those around her bow theirs. 15[11:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "And I think, to live for anything. For anyone. You have to be living for yourself too." [11:29] Clarabelle sits with her head in her hands. [11:30] 3She watches Morse leave the chapel. [11:30] 3She watches Soria's face. 15[11:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So I feel like, when you're in a position to make a choice, and to own that choice... if not that, then what else?" 15[11:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "If not that, then you're already dead." [11:30] 3She sits silently, observing all. [11:31] The tones of the Lord's Prayer echo through the stone chapel as the congregants recite it. [11:32] 6Edgar: "I like that in the context of these.. Invictus. You're the one person you can't afford to lie to, or look! You might start believin'." [11:33] 6Edgar: "A 'Seneschal', a 'Baron'- what kind of eternal life begins centuries ago and goes on back?" [11:33] 3Maja looks over at Clarabelle. 15[11:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Man. No fuckin' kidding, Edgar." [11:35] 6Edgar: "I dunno if I can agree with you about purpose. In real estate there's 'quiet enjoyment'. Same thing applies to the territory of our lives." 15[11:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Huh." [11:35] Maja knows Clarabelle, but maybe she's never seen her cry. Or at least her body, minutely and subtly, is making the motions of crying, with her shoulders shuddering. No tears fall from her face. 15[11:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So I don't know if this is a personal question. But do you know what, uh, clan you are?" 15[11:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Say what you will about the Ordo Dracul, but its titles point in the right direction. Slave. Scholar. Architect. Visionary. There is only forward. [11:36] 3Maja reaches over and gently lays her hand onto Clarabelle's shoulder. [11:36] 6Edgar: "If you can set aside your trouble and attain a space to just.. be, then you can put away choices. It hardly lasts forever, but I think those times- those states of needlessness are worth striving for, to pause from striving." [11:36] 6Edgar: "Huh? Ah, Ventrue. The Lords." 15[11:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You're talking about freedom. A specific kind of freedom." 10Rollie is coming to think of it as the Dragon's liberty. "Freedom-from." 08[11:37] When Ruby steps into the office, she doesn't give Rollie anything else besides a look of cool consideration. 15[11:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She gets the same in turn. [11:37] 6Edgar: "Yes. It's the most important thing to me." [11:38] 3Maja feels oddly calm. Perhaps the calmest she has ever felt. [11:38] 6Edgar: "..which is why if I didn't know you as well I might not say this: stay away from Grace Stokes for real. The powers protecting her do not care and have no need to care for our well-being." 15[11:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I don't think the powers protecting us do, either." 15[11:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "I appreciate the warning, Edgar - really, I do - but... man." 15[11:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Right now? The idea of backing off, of looking away... it's unthinkable." 15[11:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "I gotta do this. It's not just for you." [11:40] Clarabelle lets Maja comfort her while the congregants sing again. [11:40] 4Cavanaugh walks back into the office. "Gentlemen, a vampire or ghoul of some remove named Ruby Gilbright is visiting us here at the office, if for some reason you wish to make yourselves scarce." [11:40] 6Edgar: "Long as you know that, it's your path. I stood on the threshhold and I left- I thought, why die today to avoid dying in five months' time?" [11:40] 6Edgar: "Thing is." [11:41] 6Edgar: "It's due to leaving at that instant I arrived when I did at Okienka's house." 15[11:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "To think, if you'd stayed, your suspension would still be fine." [11:42] 6Edgar: "Oh my God." 6Occasionally, Texas is entirely gone from his voice. [11:42] 4He will also make sure to wipe down that whiteboard in the conference room. [11:42] "Clinton. What's our business with Miss, Mrs or Ms Gilbright?" [11:43] 6Hopefully Cav arrived in time for the car joke. It'd be a shame not to spread the misery around. [11:43] Ruby, in the meantime, is staying a polite distance away, and helping herself to some of the office water in a plastic cup. 08[11:43] "She is the go-between Rollie's provided for Solitude Agnew, and wishes to discuss the matter here, in person." 4Cavanaugh arrived for the punchline, but missed the set-up. [11:43] 4Oh, is she literally already here? [11:44] 3She can feel the world around her in chaos, but she remains still. Her hand still on Clara's shoulder, hoping to keep her tethered, she watches Soria's face. [11:45] 4Well, unless she dropped Obfuscate in one of the office chairs, Cav should have ample time to communicate his warning and wipe the whiteboard. [11:46] 4When she enters, Cavanaugh will great her with a smile and a handshake. "Hi, Miss Gil -- I'm sorry, what title do you prefer?" [11:46] Soria is looking at his congregants as he takes a glass and flls it with wine. The men and women line up to receive the body and blood of Christ. 08[11:47] 6Edgar's on one side of the conference table, leafing through the book again. He's just been asking Rollie: "What's your preferred kind of freedom?" 6However, there might not be time fo ran answer. [11:47] Ruby smiles. It's a little like a big insouciant cat trying to smile. "Miss Gilbright is fine, Deputy. Deputies." 08[11:48] "Miss Gilbright it is, then." 4He returns the smile a bit brighter, perhaps under slight strain. Does she have a Beast? "I'm Deputy Clinton Cavanaugh. This is Deputy Edgar Doolittle, and I believe you already know Roland." [11:48] 6An inclined head. "Edgar Doolittle." [11:48] 6whoops, no need 15[11:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Ma'am." 08[11:50] 6'Roland'?? [11:50] 6Shit, that technically is his name. Wow. [11:51] The Carmelites, once they've eaten the wafer and had the wine, leave one by one. Soria smacks the cork back into the bottle with an open palm, and collects his things from the pulpit. Only one congregant lingers: a tall man, whose face is covered by a red and blue checkered cloth from the nose to past the chin. 15[11:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie will say this whether or not Ruby's in earshot. "I don't think of myself as wanting freedom at all. I want something worth chaining myself to." [11:52] 3Maja feels, for the first time, unstill. She watches the congregants line up and drink, and she watches Soria and the tall man. Her hand remains on Clara, waiting for her to stir on her own. [11:52] 4Cavanaugh holds the grin. That's possibly inappropriate! [11:53] Miss Gilbright doesn't pay it any mind as she takes a chair at the conference table. "What can Westwood help you with today?" [11:55] Clarabelle finally sits up as Soria is coming back down the aisle, the checkered-clotch man in tow. [11:55] 3Maja remains seated as they approach. [11:56] 4Cav pulls out the red dry-erase marker again and, consulting his notes, writes SANG in large red letters on the clean board. "Sang." 4He caps the pen and turns. "Sorry, that's for my benefit, mainly. Gangrel. Sang is a person of interest in an ongoing Court investigation. She is Kindred, clan undetermined, appears to be of Asian descent and aged in her mid-twenties. We have been [11:56] informed that someone sharing that general description was a ghoul of the former Baron Steven Malloy, now deceased." [11:56] "In the course of our investigation it has come to light that she might have some ties of an undetermined nature to your employer." [11:57] When he gets close, Maja can tell that something's off about the checkered-cloth man, like something was off with Pearl. The cloth moves in and out with his breath, and there's a wheezing accompanying it. Soria stops by the two women. "Presbyter. Deacon. Tell Morse he has my sincere gratitude for removing himself rather than cause a scene." [11:57] "Though he is not, of course, a suspect of any kind." 4At the moment. [11:59] 3Maja, in almost any other context, would have been amused by that sentiment. "I will." [11:59] Ruby nods and taps at her phone. "Hard to suspect a dead guy, sure." [12:00] 6Edgar: "Definition depending. Could you tell us something about your employer, please?" [12:01] Ruby: "But what's the connection to Westwood?" 08[12:01] 4Cavanaugh glances at Rollie. "That's proprietary at the moment." 4Unless Rollie cares to share. [12:02] The man behind Soria is doing a good job of keeping his anger in check. He can't stop himself, however, from clenching and unclenching his large hands into fists. 15[12:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It's not a security issue if that's what you're worried about." [12:04] 4Is that to Cav or Ruby? [12:04] Ruby shakes her head. "No, I'm not worried about that. But…what do you need from us?" 15[12:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It was an open statement. It works in either context. [12:05] 6What do we need from them? Nobody told Edgar. [12:06] Soria puts a hand on the man's shoulder and steers him past. "Excuse him. They burned his house down." [12:06] 4Cavanaugh: "We need to find her. Talk with her. Possibly execute her, though I'm sure there's more leniency for illegimate childer than their sires. She has been involved in a serious breach of standing policy on the parcelling out of Court territory to non-citizens." [12:07] "She will have her day in Court." 08[12:07] 6Muttering to Rollie: "There isn't, actually." 15[12:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie mutters back: "Glad I'm only finding out now." [12:07] Ruby: "Whose childe is she?" [12:07] 3Maja slowly closes her eyes at that. She can feel his pain. [12:08] 4Cavanaugh: "That is a very good question. And sadly one I could not answer based on our brief phone conversation." 4Wherein I threatened to destroy her utterly, and she responded mostly in kind. [12:08] 4That was, Cav feels, justified. [12:09] 6Edgar: "Not Malloy, though. Sang was a ghoul at his unlamented end." [12:09] Ruby spreads her hands. "I can tell you right now that I've never heard of her, and if I haven't heard of her, the Baron hasn't heard of her. He's very involved with his own interests and doesn't get out much. I can help you look. If the law has been breached, then punishment is necessary." [12:10] 6That's a novel view. 15[12:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's face tightens a little. Solitude's own interests... he suspects that Edgar and the Architect would have a lot of common ground. [12:13] 4Back in New York, an offer to help a Court investigation would be an attempt to insinuate oneself into it -- to wrap oneself around its levers, and when the time was right, pull. LA likes to pretend it's a more honorable, innocent Court. Cavanaugh still isn't convinced. That's why he smiles and says, "We'd welcome any assistance you think you could provide, and would be deeply grateful [12:13] to the Baron for it." [12:13] It's just them and Soria in the chapel. Clarabelle stands up, smoothing her dress and adjusting her collar. [12:14] 6Edgar: "We've got to look at multiple names. Perhaps Miss Gilbright would tell us whether she recognises a description..?" 08[12:14] 4To Rollie: "You okay with me putting up the list?" [12:15] 4He'll lean in to whisper this. [12:15] 4She can probably still hear, but. 15[12:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie whispers back: "I got nothing to hide from Ruby." [12:16] 4Fair enough. [12:16] Ruby nods. "Our assistance is due to the rightful representatives of the Prince's law. We'll find her for you. I hope that once we deliver on our promise in good faith, it will be enough for your office to be satisfied enough to rule out our connection with this crime." [12:16] 4Cav reproduces the list on the whiteboard. [12:18] 4He pauses at her phrasing. "We welcome the assistance, but we would request that you work with us on this -- a deputy with you, while we look for her and when we find her. This is, after all, our job, not yours." 4Cav smiles. "We take no small amount of professional pride in doing our own work." [12:18] 4He is also intrigued by her use of the first-person plural. [12:18] 4What organization does this Baron Westwood have, Cavanaugh wonders? [12:19] 3Maja also stands. She looks at her friend before looking back at Soria. "That was a moving sermon, Soria." 3She delivers her feedback with a straight face. She feels caught in her position- she cannot lie, but she also cannot tell the full truth. [12:21] Soria smiles. "Thank you. I try hard. I didn't mean anything personally against either you or the Presbyter, of course." His smile increases by milimeters. "Maybe I meant it a little about Morse." [12:23] Ruby reaches across the table to steal a piece of paper and a pen from Edgar. "I'll give you my second cell number. You have a physical description, last known whereabouts, anything that might be useful?" [12:24] 4Cavanaugh repeats the physical description, then: "She appeared, according to our interviews, to be representing a buyer from Inland Empire." [12:24] 3Maja cannot help but to let a little bit of a smile leak from her face. "He can handle it." 3But her smile quickly fades. "Well, I hope that he can handle it ... gracefully." [12:26] Soria shifts his books from one arm to the other. "I hope that God grants us all necessary Grace. I'm around here every night, if you need to find me for any reason. Thank you for attending, and the next full service is the same time next week. Goodnight, Presybter. Goodnight, Deacon Kovacevic." [12:26] 3Maja: "Please, call my 'Maja.'" [12:26] Ruby: "You ever been out to the Inland Empire?" [12:27] 6Edgar: "Few times, few years back." [12:27] 4Cavanaugh: "Not recently." [12:27] Before Soria leaves, he smiles again. "Of course. Goodnight, Maja." [12:28] 3Maja nods as he leaves. She turns to Clarabelle. "How are you doing, my friend?" 15[12:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Not since I died." [12:29] Ruby: "Weird stuff out there. Weirder, after you become a vampire. Anyway, I'll start looking. While deferring to your expertise and authority." 14[12:30] * Joins: ddt [12:30] "Thanks. We really appreciate your help." 4And he does, with a healthy respect for what often comes with that. [12:30] 6When she's gone: "Taking the piss for ten straight minutes." [12:31] Clarabelle shrugs. She looks smaller than when she came in. "Let's just go." [12:31] 4Cavanaugh, after showing Ruby out: "I trust her to do precisely and exactly what she told us she was going to do. And that somewhat concerns me." 15[12:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I don't think Agnew plays the same game the rest of the Invictus do." [12:32] 3Maja: "Want me to drive? Should we look for Morse?" 15[12:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10This is a half-truth. He thinks that other people would identify it as different. Rollie, himself, is hard-pressed to see a distinction. [12:33] 6Edgar: "What game's he play? You assuming Ruby's a piece in it?" [12:33] "She said 'we'll find her for you.' 'We.' Who is we? Agnew's people? Something larger?" 4He stares at the names. "Is it a conspiracy? Some sort of secret society? Has she gone rogue?" [12:33] Clarabelle: "Sure. Morse will be skulking around the gardens, thinking of all the ways he's right." [12:33] "Paranoia, man. We need a safeword for that." [12:33] 4He sighs. "Sadly, we can't interrogate dreams." [12:33] 6Maybe you can't. 15[12:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I can keep dreaming, though. I'll see what comes up." [12:34] 3Maja: "It would be wrong for us to leave without him, right?" [12:34] 4Cavanaugh nods. "And -- I don't want to intrude on your personal life -- but maybe ask Miss Foster about it?" [12:34] 4Cav: "Because otherwise I'll have to." 15[12:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I got it." [12:35] "I'm just not sure I can handle listening to him list off al the ways he thinks he's right." [12:35] 6Edgar: "The sad times we've come to when a good buyer for a grow op is merely a man's personal life." [12:35] 4That was said not in a threatening manner, but a faintly please-don't-make-me-embarass-myself tone. [12:35] "It seems, perhaps, more compassionate to just leave him." 15[12:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I got some leads to run down. Anything else you guys want to talk about before I go?" [12:36] Clarabelle nods reluctantly. "I don't think it would be wise to strand him here." She walks with Maja out of the chapel. When they get to the gardens, she yells "MORSE!" at the top of her lungs. His shaggy head pops up from behind a grape-mashing barrel. "We're leaving. And don't share your opinions with me." 15[12:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's not looking at either deputy. His attention is elsewhere. 08[12:36] 6Edgar: "Just be careful, Rollie. You better be sure once the chains are on that you wanted affixed." [12:36] 4Cav pauses for a second, almost grimaces -- no, Maja's going to take care of this. You trust Maja. "Nope, can't think of anything." [12:37] 3Maja stifles a laugh. She scans Morse's face. [12:37] 4He'll give Edgar a weird look at that, but just say: "Yeah. Let us know if you need anything." 15[12:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I will. You guys do the same." 10He'll pack up, less one book, and head out. 08[12:38] 4Once Rollie's gone: "So what's all this bondage shit?" [12:38] "Like, are we talking real chains here, or--?" [12:38] Morse manages to keep silent, even though the apoplexy has contorted his face into a rictus of contempt. 15[12:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10On the way out, he'll shoot Leis another text.  [12:39] Leisurely: 15[12:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  [12:40] 6Edgar: "Definitions of freedom. Purpose in life. It's more relevant to standards and compliance than you might think, right?" [12:41] 3Maja climbs into the driver's seat, hoping that Clarabelle will climb in the front with her. "Where would you like me to drop you off, Morse?" [12:42] 4Cav leans back against the conference table. "Man, I'm just glad it's a metaphor, at this point." [12:42] Morse mumbles, realizes he's mumbling, and raises his voice. "Huntington Beach is fine, thank you." [12:43] 3Maja: [12:43] 3Maja: "How about an addy? I'll put it in my phone." [12:43] 6Edgar: "Mm." [12:43] Trubee texts back, finally: [12:43] 6Edgar: "Don't like to suggest we aren't busy enough already, but." 15[12:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  15[12:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Oh, shit. [12:43] 6Edgar: "You thought about how much shit's going down in the Territory that we don't have a handle on? Time to focus on a case like this won't be the norm." [12:43] "Anyway, sorry to keep you if you have places to be. I'm having the lawyers set up a thing for you about the prophecy -- it'll send news items, stuff we found, pictures, charts, you know, the works, right to your Macbook. Or your iPhone. Do you have an iPhone? We can get you a work iPhone." [12:44] "I have, in fact." 4He checks the clock on his phone. "It's part of why I'm trying to fit in this Come to Jesus moment with the great Administrator himself." [12:44] Trubee: [12:45] 6Edgar: "I'm not in a rush today, but that's gonna be rare. Take the work phone, yeah- better to have an official number." [12:45] 4Cav: "I'm afraid he's under the impression I dislike him specifically, instead of just all old men with power over me in general." [12:45] 6Edgar: "You got no aspirations to age and gain power over men?" [12:45] 4Cav pulls an iPhone he had already bought, updated, and properly App'd for the purpose out of his briefcase and sets it in front of Edgar. [12:46] 6Edgar knows only this about the damn things: they're expensive. He'll take it. [12:46] Leisurely: 15[12:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  [12:47] 4Cav smiles. "I have all sorts of aspirations, Edgar. It just seems that fulfilling them out here is going to take a different tack than I'd thought." 15[12:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  10that are hard to look away from. [12:49] Leisurely: [12:49] 6Edgar: "You mentioned needing to tell us something about yourself." 15[12:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Leis:  08[12:50] 4Cavanaugh blinks. "Right. Yeah. Wow, I wish I'd -- Rollie probably doesn't care." [12:50] Trubee: [12:50] "The Prince claims that he was very impressed with our work regarding Hierophant Jubal on Halloween." [12:51] Morse tells her his neighborhood. He only very briefly thanks them for the ride when he's dropped off. [12:51] 4He grimaces. "So impressed that's he contracted the services of another member of my bloodline, a Kevin MacMahon out of our quiet Atlanta office, to join me here in Los Angeles." [12:51] "And from the way the Seneschal phrased things tonight, I suspect he might be joining us as a deputy." [12:52] Leisurely: 15[12:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  [12:53] 6Edgar puts his elbows on the table and his chin in his hands. "Another shepherd of the flock." 6He asked around about Crook and Cross. [12:54] Trubee: [12:54] 6Edgar: "You suspect you're being baited? Replaced? Undermined?" [12:54] 3Maja is glad to see him go. She begins heading back to her house, and glances over at Clara again. [12:55] 4Cavanaugh clicks his briefcase shut. "I suspect I'm about to be the victim of a particularly nasty bit of business complexity." 15[12:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Leisurely:  [12:55] 6Edgar: "It's not necessarily so, Clinton. If Kevin turns up here, let's try workin' with him." [12:55] Clarabelle is listening to the radio with her eyes closed. [12:56] 4Cav: "Worst case scenario is you come into the office one night and there's a genteel man of Irish-American descent sitting at my desk saying that I've been called back to New York and how unfortunate it was that I couldn't bother to even text you all goodbye, but then, that's just how Clinton Cavanaugh is." 15[12:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Trubee:  15[12:56] <@VoxPVoxD> [12:57] 6Edgar: "What did they do to you in that program?" [12:57] 4Cav: "Best case scenario is..." 4Cav just stares at the wall at the other end of the conference room and shakes his head. "I dunno. I don't even know." [12:57] 4He grins, but doesn't look at Edgar. "They did what was necessary to protect their investment." [12:57] "And that's what they're doing now." [12:57] Trubee: 15[12:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  [12:58] Trubee: 15[12:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That is so many mixed signals. [12:59] Trubee: [12:59] 6Edgar: "At least he's not from New York." 15[12:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  [13:01] 4Cavanaugh: "I don't know where he's from, Edgar. I don't know where any of them are from. Some days I barely remember where I'm from. I--" [13:01] "...I am rambling. My apologies." [13:01] Trubee: [13:01] 4Finally, some good news. 15[13:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  [13:01] Trubee: 15[13:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[13:01] <@VoxPVoxD> [13:02] Trubee: [13:02] Clarabelle looks over at Maja. "Maja." [13:03] 6Edgar: "It's not a problem. We are not here to be whole and functional people, only to do a job. You and I know we're paid in stepping stones, to a future that may leave the past on a distant bank." 15[13:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  [13:04] Trubee: [13:04] 3Maja: "Yeah, Clara?" [13:04] 6Edgar stands, closing the wizard's book. "You've got a lord to meet and I a countess. We'll cross that swift dark water." 15[13:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  [13:04] Clarabelle: "I don't know if I can keep doing this." [13:04] Trubee: [13:05] 3Maja looks forward at the road. "What do you mean?" 15[13:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  [13:06] 4Cavanaugh: "Thanks, Edgar." 4Messed up how everyone in this office talks so much cooler than he does. [13:06] Trubee: 15[13:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  [13:07] 4Was Rush able to make that appointment with Seabury? [13:07] He was. Seabury's ready to talk. [13:07] Clarabelle: "Nothing. It's nothing." [13:08] 3She pauses for a little, before looking over at her friend. "I ... I'm not sure I can either." [13:09] 3She turns her eyes back to the road. [13:09] 4Then that's where Cavanaugh is headed. "We're all out for the night, guys," 4he'll say to the two ghouls. "Once you're done setting up that Omnigraffle thing I asked for, take the rest of the night off for yourselves. You're on salary for a reason." [13:10] Clarabelle doesn't say anything. [13:10] But she takes Maja's hand in hers and squeezes. [13:10] 3Maja squeezes back. [13:12] 4Cavanaugh is in his Lexus and heading to Seabury's office minutes later. [13:14] Seabury, thankfully, is not on the phone. The light that comes in through the tall bay windows is all he has to work by. The boxes behind his desk, thrown on their sides with the lids spilling off, speak to an increase in activity. [13:14] 6What's he listening to!! [13:14] 4Well then. [13:16] 4The iPhone goes on vibrate. [13:17] The little record player is going, having replaced the one smashed in anger, and the small speakers he's hooked up to it are producing something calmer than usual. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdgKA_gfz7Y [13:17] 4This is...different. [13:18] 4Cavanaugh will still knock on the office door, the intensity modulated so that Seabury can hear him, but not so loudly that it interrupts his listening experience. [13:18] "Yes. Come in." [13:20] "Administrator Seabury." 4Cav inclines his head slightly as he stops in front of the man's desk, waiting for permission to sit. "My apologies for leaving in a hurry last night. I had preparations to make for my colleague's arrival." 4Not a lie. [13:21] 4Not even an ominous double-meaning lie. Well, not entirely. The Shepherds have rigorous documentation and bookkeeping standards he had been slightly lax on, and as his superior, MacMahon could check his books at any time to ensure C&C's money was being well-spent. [13:22] "Sit down. I took no offense." The great domed head is still tilted downwards, looking at his papers. [13:22] 4Gangrels are extremely sensitive to bookkeeping errors, it seems. [13:22] 4Cav sits. [13:23] Seabury continues to work, listening to the music. [13:24] 4Cavanaugh will wait until Seabury is ready to talk. They played this game before. Cav lost it. [13:24] The pen scribbles very gently on the paper. "You wanted to speak, Deputy." [13:26] 4There's the permission. "Yes, my Lord. I felt that I had done an...inadequate job keeping you informed as to the activities of our office in the Territory, given that you are our direct superior in the Court, and my direct superior in the Invictus. I wanted the opportunity to correct that oversight, and offer my apologies for its occurance." [13:29] "You've done a more than adequate job in executing your duties. Beyond that, I…" Seabury looks up for a moment, and trails off. [13:29] "I took no offense." [13:30] 4Cav bows his head. "Then you are more magnanimous than many would be in your position given the disrespect I showed, and I thank you for it." [13:31] 4He looks up again. "That said, you should know the current extent of our activities not just out of propriety, but self-preservation." [13:31] "Magnanimous." [13:32] When Seabury looks up again, it's with a strange expression. "Should the star in terminal decline offer the one ascending bitterness, even when all the bitterness in the world couldn't reverse their courses?" [13:34] 4Cav stares back, and doesn't insult him with further sympathy. "When he has not been shown the respect he is owed by the laws of seniority, he should demand satisfaction however he sees fit. That is his right. And he owes his junior no explanation for exacting or withholding that satisfaction." [13:35] 4This was...unexpected. [13:38] "Seniority is a neat trick. One might starve, if it's all one had to eat. The law you cite doesn't bring the justice we desire, does it? Or the satisfaction. How terrible, to be objective. Leave your report, won't you?" [13:40] 4He taps his phone. "Laws are not made for justice, my Lord. The report is in your e-mail. Would you like me to explain how I plan to drag Donald Bren's men before the Judex, or would you prefer to discover that in your document reader of choice?" [13:43] "I will read about your triumphs at a remove. As the Prince would have it. In all things." [13:43] "Of course." 4Cavanaugh stands. "If that is all, I will take my leave. You know how to contact me at your leisure, should you have questions or concerns." [13:44] "I do." [13:47] "Good night, my Lord." 4He pauses at the doorway. "I made a number of apologies tonight, all of which were overdue. But I would like to make one thing clear: I am not sorry that we are what we are, either in respect to ourselves or to each other. I merely hope that you can find in me the enemy you desire, if not the one you deserve." [13:47] 4Then he closes the door. [13:47] 4And that, as Clinton Cavanaugh sees it, is the kindest thing he could have said to H.H. Seabury there, in that moment of time. [13:49] NEXT TIME: University of California, Irvine 14[13:53] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:00] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[14:33] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:54] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[15:56] * Joins: hrolf 14[16:05] * Quits: hrolf (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[16:21] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[16:22] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[16:22] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:33] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:49] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 11[17:08] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue May 19 17:08:54 2015 Session Start: Tue May 19 17:08:54 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[17:28] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[17:28] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[17:28] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[17:28] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[17:28] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[18:44] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:10] * Joins: mugabe 14[19:44] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[19:47] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[20:01] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 15[20:17] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:17] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:17] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:17] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:17] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> The Princess Crimson has never been subject to a moment like this before, and it never will again. There are 30 people in this large, open area, filled with tables and the lingering scent of smoke. Three men and a woman stand out amid the two small armies at opposite ends of the space like children dreading their first dance. 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> There's the well-dressed but rumpled man surrounded by armed guards, who projects authority and cowardice depending on which way he catches the light in that moment. 14[20:20] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[20:21] * Joins: cbass 15[20:21] <@VoxPVoxD> There's the white-haired stranger, who just wanted a cup of tea and a little civil conversation, even as he entered with murder on his mind. 15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD> There's the woman in high finery, regarding this place as through a window, watching from some high and far-off place, her head swaying gently to the music. [20:22] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven slides back his chair and stands in one fluid motion, gently stretching out his neck, his 'walking cane' firm in one hand. Then he shakes out his arms -- and while everyone who cares to see is looking at that, a little golden-eye mouse peeks free from the bottom of his robe and scurries under the table. 15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD> And there's the man in black, as a matter of fact, his eyes as fierce as the sun. Battle may have been inevitable, but the first step was his. 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Now there is only sensation. The flurry of movement, the clatter of wood to the ground. The crash of steel and the gentle crack of porcelain on wood. Beneath them all the guqin plays tranquil music. 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Intrigue! Treason! Fury and folly and high vendetta! All these are games. One must first answer the call to battle. [20:28] 14Stranger drinks the last of the tea -- then kicks the table away. [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar doesn't let the woman finish her breath. He's advancing as she centers herself, dragging his sword so as to draw an ominous groove across the woodgrain floor - but it's his shoulder she should be watching, because somehow the third step the man takes brings him directly into the terrestrial's face. [20:32] 14Stranger keeps a milky eye on Keldar and Niobe -- but steps around, making sure to take in the rest of the room. And not catch poor Ra underfoot. 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> When was the last time Keldar went dancing? [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12How close Keldar's coming in is a sign of how seriously he's taking this. The warrior's pushy, sending Niobe stumbling backwards with a fierce shoulder check and then continuing with a menacing advance that barely offers the warrior room to bring his sword into play. [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar last watched dancing, oh, two nights ago? Went? Uh.... hang on, he's got this- [20:41] 14Ah. [20:54] 14Tonight hasn't gone as planned. He had a deal. The deal changed. The person the deal benefitted spit in his face. Keldar has a grudge and that's sacred and that's something Stranger respects. Everybody has a grudge. He had a deal. 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> It's not quite dancing, that she does, though there's an element of that. It's hard to pull his eye from the way she moves, like he isn't there. Like he's a statue. She flows around him and feels a pressure at the small of his back, something he last felt when he fought Tepet Sachin on bloody ground. Her voice is in his ear. "We have earned this," she whispers, as the wind whips around them. Porcelain flies and shatters about the room as the teacup rises to his throat. 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Reaching through the colors of the wind in her anima is a pecuilar creature - part dragonfly, part seahorse, part waking dream. Its wings flutter like drawn blades. [20:56] 14So now everything's back to...back to first principles. Back to what matters. Back to a man with a sword and a will to power. Stranger slips the cane end off his 'walking stick' as the blood feud sparks and seethes. The objective here remains the same. All that's changed is who needs to die. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's heart hammers. The world slows around him. The teacup moving in from the sides of his peripheral vision, right past his face, suddenly flashes orange-red, and each of the smooth, subtle creases running from its center to its edges glints with lambent gold. The mercenary can, in that instant, envision his own death - and he banishes it, refuses it. [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Rough violence meets artful violence head-on, and this time ugliness wins. Keldar jerks backwards even as he sweeps an arm forward, knocking the razor-edged porcelain out of its deadly orbit and sending both himself and the Dragon-blooded sailing backwards across the teahouse floor. The man's roaring inarticulately as, in the space between seconds, he manages to get a second hand on [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12the hilt of his sword, then get the length of his sword angled just down past his side, then drive the whole blade past and through resistance. 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Niobe chokes. 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "We- we-" 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "14deserve-" [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Niobe's beginning to twist out of the way as the pair of fighters remember the existence of gravity, and of the floor. They smash and skid and finally bounce apart, but it's with a spray of scarlet that immediately glitters golden-red in the light of Keldar's anima. [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Actually - no, they'd bounce apart if there was still a fight going on. As is, Keldar's lying back against the transfixed Niobe, holding the blade white-knuckled and still driving it deeper into the floor behind him. "You sure as fuck do," 12the Solar hisses. [21:03] 14There is a part of him that is sorry as he watches the woman die to Keldar and her nephew's blood-feud. It's not even a small part. But it is a part that, right now, is being very, very quiet. [21:04] 14And the rest of Stranger-Visits-Heaven is smiling. [21:04] "So. Gentlemen." 14He grins at the rest of the room. "Are you in or are you out?" [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar disfigures the floor a third time, stabbing his sword into the wood and lifting himself to his feet. Niobe'd just begun to bleed a proper Terrestrial anima, before she bled too much of it - the warrior takes a moment to look down at the blood frozen to his sword, clangs the weapon hard enough into a pillar to simply knock the crystallized viscera away, and then look around [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12the room. A great rosy fire burns around him, lifting up from beneath his feet and crackling softly against the teahouse roof. [21:14] 14Stranger looks around the room as the fire starts to catch and the last of the life leaves the poor woman. "I suppose you're in." 14[21:15] * Joins: Quaker 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> The Tepet legionnaires do not falter or hesitate at the death of their master or the demon ascendant. They move in common rhythm, tearing the room apart as they draw swords an advance even more than the last brief whirlwind of Niobe did. Candles and lanterns scatter from splintered tables. The rising blades catch the light of tapestries in flames. [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Exhausted and exhilarant, Keldar takes a bit too long to believe these matchstick-men are even making the attempt, and before long he's swamped in whirling blades. The man retreats, parrying and shoving and counterstriking in a frenzy, but he doesn't manage to extricate himself from the melee and catch his breath before it's his own blood that's staining his clothing. [21:20] 14Stranger dances between the flicker of the flames and the fading echoes of a woman who has passed on. [21:21] 14Nothing connects. 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> The Guild pays well. But a jade talent won't put murder in your heart. The mercenaries bounce off the zealots like rain off a thousand scales. [21:28] 14The sheath of the cane sword clatters on the ground. Stranger-Visits-Heaven shudders forward, smiling: "What's the most that you think I can take from you, Realmsmen?" [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's as the dawn - but what that means, here, is that he stalks the edges of the room, keeps pillars to one side and overturned tables to another, his blazing aura of power only creeping by degrees out from around obstructions as he sees opportunities to strike. One man can take down a gang, even a platoon, if he's smart about terrain. [21:35] 14The first man doesn't get a chance to answer. Stranger cuts him open and throws him to the left -- then wades right. A neck. A back. An elbow. A crack across the head of another Tepet Elite wading in -- and Stranger guts him too, throwing him in to the deeming, armored mass and moving off the other direction. [21:36] 14He looks down. "Run, Ra. Run!" [21:36] 14The mouse scurries off. 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Everything burns. 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> The living Chosen move nimbly through the flames. Tepet force themselves through the fire unscathed, and the Guildsmen avoid it entirely. Was there anyone else in here? In the chaos it's hard to remember. Corpses burn on the ground, unremarked-upon. [21:54] 14Nothing can touch a man as furious as Stranger. 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Tepet swords rise and fall. 14[21:55] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) [22:00] 14Stranger is angry. He promised a woman he would find her sister. He promised a woman he would find her sister. HE HAD A DEAL. [22:01] 14Where is Saul? Where has he fallen? A Tepet guard runs up on him and gags on a sword. Where Is Saul? Another falls! Another! WHERE IS THE MAN WHOSE CORPSE HOLDS HIS PROMISES? DIE DIE DIE 14[22:03] * Joins: mattbaby 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> The floor creaks ominously under the tramping feet of the Guildsmen and the Legionnaires. [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar sees where this is going, and actually chops through, then rams into, a nearer pillar. The Tepet see this coming, though, scattering like well-trained, highly-synchronized leaves rather than helpless ones. [22:09] 14Everything falls away but the anger. The Sun commends him. The Sun commands him. The Moon knows his pain. None of this petty uselessness is worth a soul to feel. 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> The floor falls in and the fighters follow it. Guildsmen and Tepet break their falls on their burnt and dying comrades. The Guildsmen, seeing the night air, and the door opened by the stampede of fleeing patrons, pour out into the street. [22:10] 14Part, fire. Fall, floor. I am a favored son of the patron saint of last resorts. [22:10] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven walks across the burning beams. [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12The collapse of the floor and the great rush of outward air and inward furniture prevails not against Keldar, who grits his teeth and shoulders backward against the rain of burning debris. His costume's half burned-away now, his leather armor's singed and smoking, and is exposed skin's an angry red - but that's all stuff you'd notice second, after the halo of furious sunfire. [22:16] 14There's a shape beneath him, twisting and screaming and runnning, and the province of the Sun is fire and judgment delivered from above, shining down on shame. Stranger-Visits-Heaven is an exemplar in his scorn. 14[22:17] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: mattbaby) [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12The Dawn draws in a breath, snorts it out like a bull, and leaps for the piece of remaining second floor that he judges is above the door on the first. He comes smashing down to stand astride the teahouse's main exit in a rain of burning timbers, and is immediately back in the melee. [22:19] 14He drives the Guild man to the ground, but doesn't hit him with the full brunt of his weight. He lands in a rolls. He feels a tickle on his back and neck. Stranger smiles. Ra is safe. [22:23] 14But when the Guild man looks up, he sees angry, empty eyes. "I am the angry frustration of all the men you've sold to Lookshy's conscription scrums; the wails of all the women you've sold worse places. I am a thing, a monster, a narrative force that just walked the burning beams of a teahouse and saw his god, and then found you. And I am, above every other worthwhile thought or [22:23] feeling, losing my patience." 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> The Guildsman goes down, reaching for a short dagger and finding his hand pinned under Stranger's foot. He struggles and curses. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Standing on the half-buried body of a Tepet soldier, Keldar demonstrates to Niobe's men that out past the reaches of the fire is just a sharper and deadlier fire. That was a goddamn mess, back there, but the Dawn can feel the tide turning and his spirits rising with it. "NEXT!" 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> The Guildsman's resolve breaks after only an instant against Stranger's fury. "STOP! PLEASE! I SURRENDER!" [22:31] "Draw the knife. Do it. DO IT." 14Stranger leans down. "THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO ME THAT WILL STOP ME SMILING AS YOU DIE." [22:32] 14Pause. "A wise, rational choice. Let's talk about places and things." [22:32] 14Stranger drags him off into the shadows of an alley. [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12The first volunteer doesn't make it two steps - Keldar swings his sword in a great vertical arc through what remains of the doorframe, drawing a great ribbon of gold-streaked fire down through the poor bastard's helmet, breastplate, and gut. The impact sends a soft orange glimmer radiating out across the street like a ripple of water, its outer edge flickering jaggedly as it dances [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12across the edges of flagstones. [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not really the armor that's been foiling Keldar, here, it's the drill. Not single shields, but walls of them; not single dodges, but entire evasive formations. That last one's fall brought the Tepet platoon past a critical point - just not enough men to execute all the tactics, but still too many men for the realization that a single barely-armored warrior is holding his own [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12against a small regiment to interfere positively with itself as it reverberates from brain to brain. [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12It's when the Tepet break that they really grasp the origins of Keldar's most common nickname, because they're just plain hunted down. Finally, one last man is slammed roughly against a nearby clay wall, watches helplessly as a sword draws back and aims at his throat while Keldar's already turning away to look for the next - but there is no next. "Heyyyy. Lucky you." [22:40] 14Stranger leaves the man in an alley, alive, swearing he doesn't even know his own name. [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's to be found back at the entrance of the Princess Crimson, hoping apparently that his own flames are disguised at least somewhat by those of the building. He's alternately soot-black, burn-pink, and blood-red, but none of that seems to tamp down the nearly bestial mirth that beams from his face. He's actually joking with his captive - well, at his captive, since it's not like [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12the guy's in much shape to respond. [22:43] 14He is probably in time to see Stranger stalk out of an alley-mouth and off towards the city center. 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger has a lead to follow, albeit a twisty and turny one. On one of the Yanaze piers tonight there's a shipment coming in. Something from upriver, from the Hundred Kingdoms. The man who'll be there to oversee the shipment is what he's after. [22:43] 14How long does it take to get there? 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> On foot? An hour. [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...too bad your fang was more of a gum, eh- oi! Stranger! Meet back at the Sergeant's?" [22:44] 14Stranger spins, his face a rictus of anger. "I made a promise. I intend to keep it." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> The Princess Crimson collapses behind them. The flames lick out but the buildings to either side are clay. [22:45] "Follow me if you have any sympathy for those you've put in danger." [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Just remember the one about heads! ...I can come with if you wait a bit!" 12The Dawn motions apologetically at his own divine radiance before retreating further towards the increasingly-sooty wreck. [22:45] 14Then he's off. Weird guy. [22:46] 14Stranger will, oddly, take an indirect enough path to allow Keldar to drop his prisoner off, unless it would stop him from making it to the pier on time. [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's fairly insistent - it's just too annoying, otherwise, and Pellicia did ask. She's getting the Tepet trooper as well as any evidence that can be scraped up of the involvement of the Realm and traitorous counselors in this sordid affair, although Keldar's keeping the apparent valuables. [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Not that he needs the bracers, of course. He assumes, though, that they'd sell or trade for a- ...oh, right, he's got allies now. Well, Judge is fairly flippy when it comes to fighting. [22:54] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven is tolerant, but fairly quiet, and only because he has a specific time that he has to be at that pier. [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Stranger, help me out. In your best estimation of Pellicia... yes on the heads? Or no?" 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> There's time. The meeting at the teahouse passed fairly quickly. [22:55] 14Stranger: "Are you trying to bed her or scare her?" [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12The Dawn's fiddling with the silver case as he walks and talks. This little bit's kind of- no, wait, that jiggled - "...hmmm." [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...impress her...?" [22:56] 14Stranger: "Then no severed heads. But." [22:56] "We might still want to keep them about." [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Cool." [22:56] "We're headed to the docks." [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar gets his hands on a nice burlap sack, then. You can get stuff like that at all hours in Nexus, of course - doesn't even take a detour. 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar is able to pry the case open with some careful fingernail work. There's a sheaf of parchment inside, bearing seals matching House Tepet and the satrapial seal Keldar handed off. It's a missive seeking reinforcements, reumneration, or license for stricter security against the medium-term aggression of the Bull of the North. 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> The signature is very formal. TEPET SACHIN, GOVERNER-GENERAL OF FORTITUDE AND ENVIRONS [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "GOV- fucker." [22:59] 14Stranger is...focused. The sort of focused that wants nothing to do with people with whom he doesn't intend violence. He's not even speaking to shopkeeps or passersby. [22:59] 14That snaps him out of it a moment, though. "What?" [23:00] <@Ferrinus> "Man, I didn't tell you. Didn't tell you." 12Keldar doesn't seem to have picked up on Stranger's mood. "Sachin, like an ex-monk or something - he was right there when I first went up. Betrayed me, slaughtered my whole crew. Didn't even explain himself." [23:01] 14Stranger: "That sounds very painful. For you. You seem extremely sad." [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, not as sad as he's going to be. You ever hear of Fortitude? Doesn't ring any bells for me." [23:04] 14Stranger: "I have not. Are you done with the head-shuffling?" 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> How are Keldar and Stranger making their approach to the docks? Is there any subtlety or are they going to march right on up? [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Good on that front." 12Nothing ominous about the bag tied at his waist, no sir. [23:05] 14Stranger is, essentially, done with subtlety. [23:05] 14At least for tonight. [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's still dressed in black cloth on light armor, but he's all crispy. He could do the rooftop thing, but he's glad not to bother. [23:09] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven steps onto the pier. "I'm looking for something." [23:11] "The most important thing you need to consider before responding is whether or not you can swim." [23:12] "The second-most important thing is, well. Are you going to be the man who tells me what I want to know, or are you going to be the man I kill for effect?" 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> The men and women working the docks look up at the white-haired man as he gets their attention. [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12A few steps behind Stranger, Keldar is cracking his neck to the side, clasping a shoulder with a hand while rotating that shoulder's arm, etc. 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Someone's coming out even as the worker with what looks like authority is pointing back to the warehouse. If Keldar watches he'll see those big boats creeping down the river. [23:13] "And the thing you already know about me is: I am not in the mood." 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "What's the problem?" says an old man matching the description Stranger received. [23:14] 14Stranger: "Tibera's the problem." 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Tibera: "Well, here I am." [23:15] 14Stranger smiles nastily. "Here you are. Saul's dead. He didn't even die making money. He burned to death in a teahouse fire. And we killed all the ones responsible." [23:16] 14Stranger smiles nastily. "Here you are. Saul's dead. He didn't even die making money. He burned to death in a teahouse fire. And we killed all the ones responsible." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Tibera: "I'm sure he came by it honest." 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> There's surprise in his voice, but no fear. [23:17] 14Stranger: "He burned to death in a teahouse fire. And you trade in slaves. And frankly, I'm very, very tired of being polite to people who don't deserve it this evening." 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Tibera: "Well, why don't we see what you need from me and I'll give it. I'm of no mind to fight here." [23:18] 14Stranger: "I need you to run." [23:18] 14He pops the blade from its sheath. [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar blinks in surprise, here, but, hell, it's been a hectic night. [23:19] 14There is nothing more miserable, more contemptible, than a slaver who thinks he deserves a sit down and talk. 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Tibera sniffs. "You gonna catch me?" [23:20] "Or I swear on the sun and the moon I'll cut you down." 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ah. Either/or." 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "Well..." he shrugs. "Fair enough. You might want to stick around to receive the shipment. Won't be twenty minutes yet." [23:21] 14Stranger: "The next word out of your mouth trying to bargain with me, you earn steel. Run, pig." [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's expression is almost unreadable from behind Stranger, but if Tibera has a care he'll be able to make it out. It's a wince. Damn, thinks the man with a dripping burlap sack hanging from his hip, this guy's really, really asking for it. 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Tibera turns to go. [23:32] 14Stranger: "You don't care about the women. You don't care about the pain, or the tears, or anything else. You're immune to morality, aren't you? So riddle me this: A blind motherfucker and a man carrying heads in a sack walk onto a pier and let everything single thing the Guild thinks it can sell walk away. What happens next?" [23:32] "Wouldn't that be something to see." [23:37] *rewind noise* [23:38] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven steps onto the pier. "I'm looking for something." 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> The men and women working the docks look up at the white-haired man as he gets their attention. 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "What's the problem?" says an old man matching the description Stranger received. 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Someone's coming out even as the worker with what looks like authority is pointing back to the warehouse. If Keldar watches he'll see those big boats creeping down the river. 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "What's the problem?" says an old man matching the description Stranger received. 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> rather [23:39] 14Stranger: "You don't traffic in slaves, of course." [23:40] 14Stranger: "That would be illegal." 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Tibera nods slowly. 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> He takes Stranger and Keldar in. Special attention is paid to that bag at Keldar's waist with the dark bottoms. [23:40] 14Stranger: "I've had an unconventional evening, if we're being honest with each other. Tibera, is it? The man said your name would be Tibera." [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar gives Tibera a chagrined smile and a small wave as he notices Tibera's eyes dart downwards. No, no, don't worry about it! 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Tibera: "That's right. What should I call you?" [23:41] 14Stranger: "Stranger." [23:41] "I think you'll find I'm actually rather well known." [23:41] "Funny, the way the world works." 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Tibera: "I've heard the name. A hero. What can I do for you, Stranger?" [23:43] 14Stranger: "So! There's something you're going to tell me. Slavery isn't legal in Nexus. But it's quite legal places other than Nexus." 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Tibera: "So it is." [23:46] 14Stranger: "I'm going to give you a name, and after that one of two things happens. In our first concept of Creation, let's say you tell me where you sold her. We check a ledger, because you subhuman filth certainly keep one. Me and my companion don't hurt anyone here. We go on our way. In our second concept of Creation, there is no end to the lengths I will take to personally see [23:46] you take years to die." [23:46] "And that's where the two of us stand. You and me." 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Tibera just nods. 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> His eyes flick to the boats upriver. [23:49] "The name's Zutu. I want a ship name and a port." 14[23:50] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [23:50] 14Stranger: "Perhaps you're about to tell me that's a common name. That's fine." [23:50] "I've got time." [23:50] "You've got paper." 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "Well. Let's check the ledgers." 14[23:50] * Joins: dammitwho [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar rolls his shoulders back and ambles along after the man. He likes this guy's posture. 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> After Keldar and Stranger follow Tibera inside, it does take a fair while to get a list for Stranger. Zutu is, luckily, not that common a name. There's only two, and they both ended up on quiet ships in the dark bound for other places in this direction. One is the temple-city of Great Forks. The other is the tomb-city of Sijan. [23:55] 14How long ago? 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> One six months ago, and one fifteen months ago. With a little information from Demido, given the dates of these two departures, it should be easy enough to identify which is her sister. [23:56] 14Then Stranger is going on a trip. [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12....to Fortitude! Right? No, guys, it's really- 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> On the way out of the docks, the sound of armored boots on the ground echoes behind them. [23:59] 14But before he leaves, to Tibera: "Do you ever think about how much they all sold for -- the women and men you sold up the river. Do you ever think about the price you can put on a body? The price you can put on a soul? The price you can put on dignity? Your own, not theirs. Have you ever considered that there's a reason Heaven made sure it was separate from Earth? You ever wonder [23:59] if maybe that reason was you?" [23:59] 14Stranger: "Boat's coming for you too, Tibera. You won't miss it." Session Time: Wed May 20 00:00:00 2015 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Tibera just nods. At the end of the day, there's not much left to the man, in Stranger's eyes. [00:00] 14As long as he knows. [00:01] 14Which councilor do those boots belong to? [00:01] 14One of theirs, or one of the others? [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Damn. You know, I've never had it in me to actually promise years-long torture. It sounds good, but the comm- hmm." 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> None. They're coming off the boat. There's dozens of armored soldiers coming off these ships, and a foreign banner. [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12...which banner? Keldar's pausing and turning long enough to ascertain that, at least. 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar doesn't even need to think. Every merc in the Direction knows the banner of Highland. [00:04] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven just stands there. "Keldar?" [00:04] 14Stranger: "You feel good about what we did tonight?" [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar works his mouth around. "Coulda been cleaner. Coulda stood to see Saul walk outta there - he'd have meant those guildsmen who got out onto the street weren't maybe problems." [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Still, what's cool here is, we know who the enemy is. Now it's just, you know - strategy." [00:07] "That's good. That's good to know." 14Stranger turns away from the pier. "I'm glad we learned something. I'm glad we didn't fail the whole of Creation." [00:08] 14Just the ones Stranger promised he wouldn't. [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's a little out of the way, but he's not actually retreating - he wants to know what's up with these landing soldiers. "Psshh, we did it a favor. One less finger on the hand the Realm's rooting around the River Province with, one less ally for the lunatics who thought blowing Nexus for some sort of Guild finder's fee was a good idea." 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> They're a few hundred strong, all in fine plate and armed. Once the Highlanders have emptied on the boats, one figure emerges from each. From the rear boat is a big, stooped man with long, lank gray hair pouring out from violet robes, whose hem rustles and flutters on a breeze that isn't there. [00:09] 14Stranger: "Do you think anyone's told these men not to eat the honey?" [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ooh, yeah, Xu was saying something about that, wasn't he? Maybe you want signs or somethin'." 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> From the front boat, a man sweeps out, eyes darting up and down the pier, alighting on every worker and every work. His eyes meet Stranger's and then Keldar's. He's wearing fine plate with a gold symbol embossed on the beast, and a blue cape billows behind him as he walks, leaving the sword at his hip free and easy. [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's always flirted with the idea of a cape, but the time's never seemed right. [00:13] 14Something crawls up Stranger's back and takes up residence. 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> The caped man raises a gauntleted hand. "KELDAR!" 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "THE TIGER OF NEXUS!" 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "What luck." [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar raises his own. "Yo!" 09[00:20] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12He pauses. "....help ya?" 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> The armored man will give Stranger a polite nod as he walks up. The robed man sweeps up and down the forming ranks of Highland's elite. "Keldar. We're here to help defend Nexus. Nexus is their aim. I've made arrangements to billet my soldiers. There will be more in the coming days. But. But. I could use a good word with the Council. What would it take to get you to help me with this?" [00:26] 14Stranger just stares. [00:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hmm. Story of how you fended 'em off?" 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> The armored man: "Walk and talk?" [00:32] 14I'm sure you can. "Return the heads when you're done, Keldar. I need to tell a woman about her sister." [00:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Let's roll." [00:33] 14It's not until he's past the next street corner that Stranger-Visits-Heaven realizes he's shaking. [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Frankly, since he didn't deliver them to Pellicia first time around Keldar's just plain not sure what to do with these heads. Stranger didn't end up needing 'em, and now, as long as he's been holding them, it just looks weirder and weirder to, like, drop them casually. [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12He'll just have to own it. 15[00:39] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: A feathery woman 14[00:59] * Joins: mattbaby 14[01:05] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:08] * Quits: Crion 14[01:08] * Joins: Crion 14[01:09] * Quits: Crion (Client Quit) 14[01:09] * Joins: Crion 14[01:09] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[01:11] * Quits: Crion (Client Quit) 14[01:11] * Joins: Crion 14[01:15] * Quits: Crion (Client Quit) 14[01:15] * Joins: Crion 14[01:17] * Quits: Crion (Client Quit) 14[01:31] * Joins: Crion 14[01:52] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[01:57] * Joins: tom 14[01:59] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:17] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[02:18] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[02:24] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[02:40] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[03:01] * Joins: mattbaby 14[03:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[03:17] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[03:22] * Joins: dammitwho 14[03:28] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[03:39] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[03:39] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[03:42] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[03:49] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[04:29] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[05:41] * Quits: dammitwho 14[06:33] * Joins: dammitwho 14[08:20] * Joins: mugabe 14[08:24] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[09:00] * Quits: dammitwho 14[09:46] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[09:52] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[09:53] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[10:19] * Joins: autopsyturvey 11[10:21] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed May 20 10:21:18 2015 Session Start: Wed May 20 10:21:18 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[10:21] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[10:21] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[10:21] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[10:21] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 14[10:22] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[10:23] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[10:26] * Joins: mugabe 09[10:29] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[10:29] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[11:04] * Joins: ddt 14[11:06] * Joins: ddt_ 14[11:06] * Joins: cbass 14[11:09] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[11:09] * ddt_ is now known as ddt 14[11:13] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:38] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[12:00] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[12:04] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[12:06] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[14:05] * Joins: hrolf 09[14:21] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:28] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:03] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[15:11] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 11[15:20] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed May 20 15:20:55 2015 Session Start: Wed May 20 15:20:55 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[15:26] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[15:26] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[15:26] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[15:26] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[15:26] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[15:35] * Joins: ddt 14[15:36] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[16:10] * Joins: ddt 14[16:13] * Joins: ddt_ 14[16:15] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[16:15] * ddt_ is now known as ddt 14[16:26] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[16:34] * Joins: ddt 14[17:27] * Joins: mugsy 14[17:28] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[17:32] * mugsy is now known as mugabe 14[17:55] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:14] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[18:19] * Joins: ddt 14[18:29] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[19:12] * Joins: ddt 14[19:16] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[19:48] * Joins: ddt [19:50] im ddt [19:50] <@Ferrinus> not me [19:50] <@Ferrinus> that's what they call niche protection 14[20:08] * Parts: Quaker 14[20:39] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[20:39] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[20:40] * Joins: ddt 14[20:45] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[21:23] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:26] * Quits: mattbaby (Client Quit) 14[21:28] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:33] * Joins: Quaker 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> you here mugabe 09[21:34] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot [21:35] yes I am 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> hello 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> well; [21:35] hi ^_^ 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> okay 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's at home, reading THE RITES OF THE DRAGON. This shit is intense, and he's not sure what to make of it. Princess is curled up on his right, and his phone is balanced on the arm of the couch to his left. There are a number of texts in the wind. One of them is sitting in Maja's phone, the last thread of a conversation in which Rollie proposed meeting up and talking.  15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's not thinking about his phone right now, but he hasn't let himself put it away either. He's thinking about what a dick Dracula is, and how warm a dog is when it's sleeping beside you. 14[21:44] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[21:47] * Joins: Nicolae 08[21:50] 3Still whirling from the visit to the Carmelites, Maja has done nothing but pace the living room since getting home. Poor Clarabelle was an even bigger wreck than she was- it didn't seem right to talk through and process this all with her in that moment. She suddenly remembers the text Rollie sent earlier. [21:51] 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's reading about the embrace of Anoushka, so his mind is actually in something like the space Maja has carved out when his phone buzzes to life. He stares at it for a moment and then carefully puts the papers down. Given his conversation with Edgar, this is a surprisingly loaded question she's asked. He owes her honesty.  08[21:54] 3As soon as she sends the text, she feels a little tinge of regret. Maybe confusion? Yeah, it's more confusion than regret. She's never resorted to anyone she's counselled for this kind of support before, but they had firmly established that this is not the typical counsellor/counselee relationship. [21:55] 3She's surprised at herself for that text. And for wanting to talk to him so badly. 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10In analogous circumstances in the past Rollie has been cautious, maybe even a little nervous. But he can sense, here, that he has the initative. It's on her to upend that.  [21:58] 3Maja: 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie thinks of something that'd fluster Maja if he said it here, but the moment doesn't seem right.  [22:04] 3Maja scans her brain for ideas. She doesn't particularly feel like having this discussion in her office- she wants to be as far away from the church's goings on as possible. With how their last session went, inviting them to her place seems ... too much, too soon. 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie thinks of Trubee, Cav, and Maja playing pool. He thinks of whatever Trubee saw in them to leave the impression she got.  15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> [22:08] [22:08] 3Maja doesn't even wait for confirmation. She's grabbed her bag and heads to the car. 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's in the car himself before he gives it.  15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> [22:10] 3Maja's on the road, rifling through her tapes. She is NOT in the mood for Ace of Base. 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The sound of the wind and the road and the car and the water is music enough for Rollie tonight. [22:11] 3She wants to listen to music, but the idea of trying to find the appropriate song is overwhelming. She gives up and drives in silence. 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The trip is shorter for Rollie, probably. He's made his way down to the narrow band of beach dividing cliff from sea. He looks up at the tower for a moment and remembers Joanie. Then his eyes are out beyond the water and his hearing expands to catch the sound of Maja's car, her footsteps. [22:22] 3For most of her life, Maja's had a strong relationship with the beach. Her love for surfing was just the surface. She used to love it so much that it didn't even bother her to find sand in every single nook and cranny of everything she owned. She liked having the feeling of dried ocean in her hair. She even grew to like the taste of the sea. But it's been a long time since she's been [22:22] 3to the beach. [22:22] 3She hope there aren't any goddamn bonefires allowed on this beach. [22:23] 3*BONFIRES 08[22:25] 3She listens to the waves crashing in as she scans for Rollie. She spots him and begins marching over to him. 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's dark and still where Rollie asked her to meet him. He's got his hands in his pockets and he waits until she's close before saying, "Did you ever play soccer as a kid?" 10and then letting his eyes fall upon her. [22:26] 3Before responding to his question, Maja walks straight over to him and gives him a hug. 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10wh 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10but 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie is stunned. 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10But he returns the embrace by reflex. [22:29] 3After a few seconds, she loosens her grip and steps back. "I'm sorry. Something about soccer?" 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie lets go a moment after Maja does. His hands hang limply at his sides as he stares at her. "...what?" 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh." [22:30] "You asked me something about soccer." 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh! Yeah! Right. Uh." 10He's silent for a moment, forcibly collecting his thoughts. Death and darkness preclude a blush. "I played soccer as a kid. Up until I started 10th grade. Did you ever play soccer?" [22:33] 3Unsure of where this is going, Maja hesitates: "For a couple years as a kid. I was more into gymnastics." [22:33] "Why?" 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I remember I was in 7th grade, and Mom drove me out to this all-weekend thing, where we'd practice and play in a little tournament with other teams from around the state. There were kids as young as 9 or 10 and some high schoolers. I remember when I got there, right after I met up with some of the other guys on my team, I saw this girl kicking a ball around to herself." [22:38] 3Maja just listens. 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Dribbling, you know. One of us, it wasn't me, said 'hey, nice dribbling. what's your name?'" 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "And she said, 'Bobbi'." [22:39] "Uh huh." 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie sniffs. "Anyway that was that, and we played. We won twice and lost twice and we were super wiped at the end of the night. The next morning we're getting ready to go, and I see that girl again." 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "So I said, 'hey, Bobbi!'" [22:41] 3Maja nods. 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "And she just. It took her a second. And she waved a little. And that was that." 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "That was the moment where I realized that Bobbi wasn't actually her name." [22:42] 3Maja grins a little. "How did you know?" 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I could just tell. She didn't react like it was her name. She wasn't comfortable in it." 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie shrugs. "I don't know why she lied. I mean, I can see why she might've. But I don't know what was going through her head the first time. And the second time she had to keep it going, right. Because what are you going to do, explain? Come on." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "I thought about her the whole ride home." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "I thought about her a lot that summer." [22:43] 3Maja: "She made quite an impact on you, it seems." [22:43] "What do you think she's doing now?" [22:44] 3For some reason, Maja has allowed herself to care about this idiot little girl. 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I don't know. Even now, like, once a month or so, I'll think of that girl. I'll wonder what she was thinking then. I'll wonder what she's doing now. I wonder if she ever thinks of that moment." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "I remembered this the other night when I was thinking about, like... I was trying to understand if there was anything in my life that could've prepared me for what this is like. For being a vampire." 10For you. "And that was what came to mind." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "Just this tiny thing. And you notice it without thinking about it. And it just... sticks." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "And it's a part of you now." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "Anyway, that was the story I wanted to tell you." [22:46] 3Maja sits down. 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie will too. 08[22:47] 3She looks over at Rollie, but remains silent. [22:47] 3Then she looks out to the sea. 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie is content to share this silence for a while. [22:48] "That was a nice story." 3She's not sure why, but she means it. 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10I thought you'd appreciate it. "How was church?" [22:50] 3Maja looks down at her feet. She briefly picks one of them off the ground to inspect it closer, then puts it back down and stares back out at the sea. She doesn't know how to answer that. [22:50] "I'm not really sure how to answer that." 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Do you want to talk about it?" [22:53] 3Maja pauses for a few moments. Then it suddenly bursts out: "I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAY, THOUGH!! There's so much to say and I can't even figure out the first word of it!!!" [22:54] "No. No, I don't want to talk about it." [22:54] 3Maja shakes her head into her knees. 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Okay." 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "Can I ask you a question?" [22:56] 3Maja bursts out in laughter. "You know ... everytime you ask me that, you end up asking these crazy devastating questions that I don't know how to handle." [22:57] "So, yes. Please. Ask." 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "How'd you get so good at pool?" 08[22:58] 3Maja is unphased this time. "Practice, Rollie. Practice, and raw, natural talent." 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "See? They're not all so bad." 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "You beat my next door neighbor at pool the other night." [23:00] 3Maja rolls her head back and takes a deep breath. "Ah. So no vision of that for you?" 14[23:00] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Just my imagination." [23:02] 3Maja: "So what'd she say about us?" [23:02] 3As soon as she says "us," she feels a pang of discomfort. 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I realized that Cav recognized who I was talking about when I mentioned her at work earlier. And I talked about her in the context of, I know she hustles pool to pay rent. So after work I asked her if she'd played pool with any vampires lately." 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "And she mentioned that she had, she'd played against a couple." [23:03] 3Maja feels weird. [23:03] "Oh. I see." 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I asked her if you looked like you were having a good time." [23:05] 3Maja feels even weirder. [23:06] "What did she say?" 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I don't think she really understood you guys. I think her mind was probably in a different place." 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "Anyway I just brought this up because it occurred to me that I think that you and her would get along really well." 08[23:08] 3Maja's relieved to not have to try to explain her and Cav to Rollie. "Honestly, I originally thought about feeding on her when I was first drawn to her. But she was so charming, I just couldn't." [23:09] "I offered her my goddamn phone number to hustle some chumps, but she didn't take it. So ..." 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Trubee is America's Sweetheart." [23:09] 3Maja chuckles. "I could see that, yes." 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "She crashed on my couch for a couple days when she got to California. She's from the midwest somewhere." [23:10] 3Maja: "Well, if you can ever figure out how to arrange a play date, I'm down." 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "If you promise to behave yourself." 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's smiling a little. 08[23:12] 3Maja side-eyes Rollie just a bit. "I am the behaviest, Rollie." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I'm just saying. You almost bit her, and then tried to coax her into a criminal conspiracy." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "And that was just the first date." [23:13] 3Maja giggles while she looks around her for a rock to throw. "Yeah, well, not all of us get paid in bloodpacks. Gotta get that Liquid Red somehow." [23:14] 3She picks up a rock and chucks it as far as she can into the water. 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Maja Kovacevic, working class hero." [23:14] 3Maja laughs heartily. "Damn straight, son!" 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie leans back, propping himself up on hands that dig into the sand behind him. "So how are you feeling?" [23:18] 3Maja looks around for more rocks to throw. "I'm fine," 3she lies. 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Maja." [23:18] 3She found another rock. 08[23:19] 3She looks at Rollie briefly before throwing the second rock into the ocean. "Rollie." [23:20] 3She's looking for more rocks. 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks at Maja. "If you don't want to talk about it I understand. But I think we know each other well enough that we shouldn't pretend we're fine when we aren't." [23:21] 3Maja spots a third rock, picks it up, and starts turning it over in her hand. [23:22] 3She continues to study the rock as she starts to speak. [23:22] "Yeah, alright. I'm pretty fucked up right now." 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Do you want to talk about it?" 14[23:23] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [23:24] 3She takes one last long, hard look at the rock. She stands up, takes a running start, and chucks the rock so fucking far that it might very well have gone off of the edge of the earth. 08[23:25] 3She slowly walks back towards Rollie and sits back down next to him, this time a little bit closer. [23:25] 3She goes back to looking for more rocks around them. 08[23:26] 3She spots one on the other side of Rollie and points to it. "Hand me that one, please." 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie grabs it, and then holds his hand out to her with the rock cradled in it. [23:29] 3Maja looks at the rock in his hand for a few seconds. She very gently reaches into his hand and retrieves the rock, only slightly scratching his palm with her fingers. 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10There's no breath in Rollie's throat to catch before he pulls his hand away. He folds his hands over his chest as he leans back, though. He's on his back looking up at the sky now. [23:31] 3She turns the rock over in her hand for a litle before letting her arms flop over her knees and drape in front of her legs as she looks up at the moon. 08[23:31] "Rollie, everything is so fucked up." 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What's on your mind?" [23:33] 3She shakes her head softly. "It's all so fucked up." [23:34] 3She finally throws the rock and leans back, arms propped in the sand. [23:34] "There's just so much happening right now, and I can't make sense of any of it." 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Why don't you pick one thing to start and we'll talk about it. Any one thing." [23:36] 3Maja scoffs. "Do you remember when I was supposed to be counselling you?" 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Dimly." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's not where we're at anymore." [23:37] 3Maja smiles. Then it fades. "And that's just the tip of the iceburg." 14[23:37] * Joins: ddt 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie just listens, now. If she wants to talk it'll come. 08[23:41] 3Maja has a mental image of herself flipping through a Rolodex of Her Problems. 'Well, let's see here- we have the Cav Thing, the Rollie Thing, the Ordo Thing, the Carmelites Thing, the Church Thing, the Sire Thing ...' [23:42] "Well, I mean. I guess I could just give you a summary of everything." 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You have my undivided attention." [23:45] Maja takes a deep breath. "Well, to start- I have no idea where I stand with the church. They send me and Clarabelle out to investigate some heresy from the Carmelites, but did they fucking KNOW how I would react? Is this some kind of goddamn test? First they send me YOU, and your boss lady makes it CLEAR that the church knows I'm discontent- and what the FUCK am I supposed to do with [23:45] any of this???" 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Do you like what the Carmelites have to say any better?" [23:47] 3Maja ignores his question. "AND THEN. Then, there's the fact that- what the goddamn HELL am I supposed to be for the Ordo Dracul??? Do I ... am I supposed to be a part of that?" [23:47] "AND ON TOP OF THAT" 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie will be silent. [23:48] "There's this thing with Cav, that I ABSOLUTELY SHOULD NOT BE TALKING ABOUT WITH YOU." [23:48] "And THEN" [23:48] "What the FUCK is the deal with YOU???" [23:49] 3Maja's silent now. 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks at Maja for a long, long time. 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's too much." [23:51] 3Maja burries her head into her legs. [23:52] "I'm sorry." 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You don't owe me an apology." 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "You owe yourself a chance to let someone else carry a little of that weight." 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "So let me help you out. What's something off that list you'd feel comfortable talking out with me?" [23:54] 3She lifts her head up again and considers his question. "Do you know anything about the Carmelites?" 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Not as much as I should. I know a guy, Sponger Souza. Big guy, wears a handkerchief around his face. He joined up with them a little while ago. The other night someone burned his house down. Leis said he was okay though." 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "I got a thing that I think belongs to one of their people." 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "Past that..." 10He shrugs. "I haven't thought about religion in a long time." [23:57] 3Maja remembers the seething anger emminating from man with Soria from earlier. 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Tell me about the Carmelites." [23:59] 3Maja: "I don't even know if I can." Session Time: Thu May 21 00:00:01 2015 [00:00] "They're just ..." 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Okay. Can you tell me how they make you feel?" [00:00] "Well, honestly? Kind of totally, completely, sorta ... fucked." 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie sits up. 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "Why?" [00:02] Maja straightens up, herself. "Well, they've been declared heretics by the church, right? Hella people have been murdered as a result." 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie nods. 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He didn't know that, and it's messed up as hell, but he feels compelled to be stable here. [00:03] 3Maja: "And so they sent Clarabelle- my bestie- to investigate- or ... to be an ambassador? I have no idea. I don't know what she was told, what her orders were or whatever. But she invited me to come along, which I assume the church knows about- and you already know what they think of me." 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "A lost little lamb." 14[00:05] * Parts: Nicolae [00:05] 3Maja pauses, taken aback for a second. Then she softly laughs. "Yes, a lost little lamb." [00:05] "Anyway, so I went." [00:07] "And ... I don't know what I was expecting. I had heard some of their philosophy before or whatever, but I don't know what I was expecting. I don't know what I thought was going to happen." [00:08] "It's just so fucked up whats happened to them. It's so fucked up." 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Because they're heretics." 08[00:10] 3Maja: "Rollie, do you consider yourself damned?" 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "No." [00:11] 3Maja's eyebrows raise. "You don't?" 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "For being a vampire?" 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "No." 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't think that, if God's real, he took anything away from us that he thought we deserved in the first place." 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "If God loves us, then we're still saved. If he doesn't now, he didn't before." [00:12] "Huh." Maja sits still. 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What about you?" [00:14] 3Maja: "That's more or less what I believed before I died. I mean, I had similar beliefs as a human, in some ways. But then I was embraced, and my sire was ... whatever. Events happened that lead me to join the church, and it was all a really confusing time, and the church provided stability." [00:15] "And then I was doing work with the church. Most of it felt like good work. Sometimes it felt kinda grody, helping people come to terms with brutal murders n' shit, but- like, I never thought life was going to be clean, right? I could always rationalize it." [00:15] "And God knows, I've done some shit in my time." [00:17] "I mean, honestly, I didn't believe in much of any of this shit when I was a human. So being turned really did a fucking number on me." [00:18] 3Maja wonders how Clarabelle would react to her calling it "this shit." 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It doesn't sound like belief is what drew you to the church after you died, either." 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "It sounds like you were after community." 14[00:21] * Joins: autopsyturvey [00:24] 3Maja: "Yeah, that's exactly right. It's what I cared about as a human, but being turned into a vampire kind of ... well, it introduces some things I hadn't taken seriously before. It made the questions more salient, and the need to find a home more important." [00:24] "But whatever, whatever." [00:24] "If they fucking ask me what happened down there..." 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Would you even be able to tell them?" 14[00:25] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) [00:25] 3Maja: "No. I'm not sure I could explain fuckall about anything right now." 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Okay. If you asked a member of your church if we were damned, what would they say?" [00:26] 3Maja: "They'd say 'absolutely.'" 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "And if you asked a Carmelite?" [00:26] 3Maja: "They'd say 'no.'" 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Maja." 08[00:28] 3Maja: "Rollie." 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks over at her. "Are we damned?" 14[00:28] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 08[00:28] 3Maja meets his gaze. "I don't think so, Rollie. Not ... automatically, anyway." [00:29] 3She looks down. 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Well." 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "There it is, isn't it?" 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "I mean, that's not the only thing." 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "But it is the first thing." [00:30] 3Maja: "But to admit that complicates a whole fucking slew of other things." 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What does not admitting it spare you?" [00:30] 3Maja half-grins. "Being utterly fucked." 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "For the moment." 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "Can I ask you a question?" [00:31] 3Maja takes a deep breath. [00:32] "Sure." 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Do you want to live forever?" [00:34] 3Maja exhales. It's the first softball he's given her after that meta-question. "I didn't used to. I thought immortality would rob life of its beauty in some ways. Now that, theoretically, such a thing is possible- well, it makes the idea of dying even scarier, I guess." 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Well. Given that." 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Forever's a long time not to believe in what you're doing, isn't it?" 08[00:37] 3Maja chuckles. "You ever thought of counselling, Rollie?" [00:37] "You'd be good at it." 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I'm not sure I would." [00:39] 3Maja: "Why do you say that?" 14[00:40] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I think if you're going to do it day in and day out you need some filters that I don't have. Filters I don't particularly want. I think it'd eat me up to counsel people the way you do. I think I'm good at this right now because I'm good with you. I could be good with other people, maybe, but. You don't get to counsel the people who are important to you. And I couldn't let everyone be important to me the way this is." 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie shrugs. "I'd make a good counselor for a couple weeks. But this? I could build this to last." [00:42] 3Maja smiles and looks at her feet. [00:42] 3She lays back onto the sand. 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So I think you're right that admitting where your belief lies is going to make a mess. It's going to fuck with your friends, with your bosses, with your work." 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "But." 15[00:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "I think that, on some level, I think that you are all about that mess, Maja." 15[00:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't think you could be happy if you weren't struggling. And I know you'd never be happy to turn your back on one." 15[00:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "No matter how dangerous it was." 15[00:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "No matter how much it hurt you." 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "But it's--" 10he stops. 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He looks out on the water. That's all he says. [00:47] 3Maja props herself back up. "What?" 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks at Maja. [00:48] 3Maja looks back. 15[00:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It's not something you should have to do alone." [00:48] 3Maja sits all the way up and crosses her legs. 08[00:49] "Rollie?" 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie gives her his undivided attention. [00:51] "It kind of fucking freaks me the fucking shit out that you seem to know me better than I know myself right now." 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have. That was too far." [00:52] 3Maja shakes her head. "No, that's not my point." 08[00:54] "Rollie, listen." [00:54] "Listen." 15[00:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie heaves the biggest sigh. 15[00:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10But he listens. 14[00:57] * Joins: ddt 08[01:04] 3Maja gets on her knees now, kneeling towards Rollie. She bends her head down and to the side for a few seconds. She looks up at Rollie. "I don't know exactly how to say this." 15[01:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You don't need to say it if you don't think you can." 15[01:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's not letting himself look in her direction right this moment. [01:06] 3Maja: "It's not that I can't- it's that I don't know what I want to say." 15[01:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Do you feel like you have to say something?" [01:08] 3Maja: "Kinda?" 15[01:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Do you feel like you have to not say something?" [01:08] 3Maja: "Kinda." 15[01:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Well, I'll say this. Whatever you do or don't say, I'm not going anywhere. Like I said. Whatever this is, I want to build it to last." 14[01:10] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) [01:10] 3Maja sits back down, this time so that she's sitting against him. 15[01:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Oh. [01:11] 3She leans her head against his arm. "Okay." 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's heart has no beats to skip. 08[01:16] 3Maja: "You were right about one thing, Rollie." 15[01:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's devoting a lot of his concentration to being a stable thing for Maja to rest her head on, so it takes him a moment to say "Yeah?" 14[01:16] * Joins: dammitwho [01:17] 3Maja: "I suppose I am all about that mess." 15[01:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10At some point, Rollie thinks, we're going to have to talk about those things Maja doesn't want to talk about. 15[01:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10But not just yet. 15[01:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Not unless she brings it up. 15[01:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Right now this is just fine. 08[01:24] Rollie phone buzzes. [01:24] Trubee: 14[01:24] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 15[01:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Without moving, Rollie reaches into his pocket. Maja'll be able to see the text. [01:24] 3Maja gives him his privacy. 14[01:24] * Joins: autopsyturvey 15[01:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  15[01:26] <@VoxPVoxD> [01:26] Trubee: 15[01:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He pauses, and then.  14[01:28] * Joins: ddt [01:28] Trubee: [01:28] 15[01:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie laughs. 15[01:28] <@VoxPVoxD> [01:28] Maja finally looks at his phone. [01:29] "Ah, our pool hustling friend." 15[01:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10When he feels her head move, he'll say: "Trubee blew up my Christmas lights, so she's repainting." [01:29] Trubee: 15[01:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  [01:30] 3Maja keeps watching their text exchange. [01:30] Trubee: 15[01:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  15[01:30] <@VoxPVoxD> [01:31] Trubee: [01:31] 3Maja: "What does Trubee do 'professionally'?" 15[01:31] <@VoxPVoxD> [01:31] 3Maja guffaws. 15[01:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "She's a wizard." [01:32] Trubee: 15[01:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Oh god." [01:32] 3She sits up straight now. "A wizard??" 15[01:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Oh thank god did she not see that. 15[01:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Green pants??" [01:33] 3Maja: "What???" 15[01:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Wait. Wait. Wait." 15[01:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "Wait. Wait. Okay. Wait." 15[01:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "We are." 15[01:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "We are losing the thread of this conversation." [01:34] 3Maja connects the dots. "Oh, I was wearing a green SHIRT." [01:34] "But what the." [01:34] "Yes, whatever, right." 15[01:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Green would look so good on her. "Trubee's a wizard, yeah." 15[01:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "She read my mind once so she could understand what I was saying even in Malkavia." [01:35] 3Maja: "Ah. That must have been fun for both of you." 15[01:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "That was the thing that made me realize how fucked up it was to do what I could do." [01:38] 3Maja felt regrounded, talking about someone else's problems again. "Ah. Did you see something she didn't want you to see?" 15[01:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah." 15[01:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Trubee:  15[01:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "You said hi, right? I feel like you did, in spirit." [01:40] 3Maja: "I give you permission to speak for me." [01:40] Trubee: [01:43] Trubee: [01:44] Trubee: 15[01:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie almost drops the phone. 15[01:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Did Maja see that? 08[01:45] 3Maja notices the surprise on Rollie's face. [01:45] "What was THAT about?" 15[01:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What was what about?" [01:46] 3Maja decides to let it slide. "Nevermind." 15[01:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie presses. "Do you want to see what it was about?" [01:48] 3Maja: "Sure, if you want to." 15[01:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie hands her his phone. Trubee's last two texts are still on the screen. [01:50] 3Maja: "Oh my god." 15[01:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yyyyyyyep." 15[01:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He puts his phone away. [01:50] 3Maja: "Oh my god." 15[01:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Well." [01:52] 3Maja is ... really embarrassed. "Well." 15[01:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So I guess one of two things should happen now." [01:55] 3Maja: [01:55] "And what are those?" 15[01:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "One is, we get up, and go to our cars, and drive back to our homes. And we'll talk again some other time." 15[01:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "The other thing is going to end with us having to talk about those things you don't want to talk about." [01:57] 3Maja: "Hmmmmmmmmm." [01:57] 3Maja: "Wait, what are those things?" 15[01:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Me. Cav." [01:59] 3Maja takes a very deep breath. [02:03] 3Maja: "What am I supposed to say about those things?" 15[02:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I can't speak for you here. But I know that whatever it is, it's going to be a lot harder for you than it is for me." 15[02:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "So I don't feel any time pressure." 15[02:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm going to live forever, Maja." [02:05] 3Maja: "You're gonna learn how to fly. High." 15[02:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie collapses into the sand laughing. 15[02:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "God." 15[02:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "What the fuck are we gonna do?" [02:06] 3Maja: "I got more in me. And you can set it free." [02:07] 3Maja breaks out into song. "I'm gonna make it to heaven- light up the sky like a flame- FAME" [02:08] "I'M GONNA LIVE FOREVER. BABY REMEMBER MY NAME." 15[02:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie just lays back and listens. She's got a great voice, he'd insist. And no one can deny that she's selling the fuck out of that song. [02:09] 3Maja mimes a holding motion. "Baby, hold me tight. Cuz you can make it right. You can shoot me straight to the top- give me love and take all I got" [02:10] 3Maja settle down. "Sorry. Where were we?" 15[02:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie doesn't remember where they were. But there's no mistaking where they are right now. The kiss is sudden. [02:19] 3OH MY GOD 15[02:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie pulls away. "Anyway." 15[02:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "We should go." [02:21] 3Maja: "Oh no you DON'T." [02:21] 3Maja grabs him and kisses him again. 15[02:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10oh [02:22] 3Maja pulls away. "Fine." 15[02:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie just stares now. [02:22] "You're right. We should go." 08[02:23] 3Maja stands up and starts brushing herself off. She reaches down to Rollie to help him up. 15[02:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie pulls her back down. 15[02:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10His hand is warm now. 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'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[15:56] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 14[15:57] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by VoxPoxVD))) 09[15:57] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[15:57] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[16:12] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 09[16:31] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[17:13] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[17:59] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[18:01] * Joins: ddt 14[18:10] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: Colloquy for iPhone - http://colloquy.mobi) 14[18:23] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[18:38] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 11[18:47] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri May 22 18:47:12 2015 Session Start: Fri May 22 18:47:12 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[18:48] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[18:48] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[18:48] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[18:48] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 14[18:49] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by VoxPoxVD))) 09[18:49] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[18:49] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[19:20] * Joins: ddt [19:25] [19:25] [19:25] [19:25] [19:25] [19:25] [19:26] [19:26] [19:27] 4The fridge is stocked -- both sides -- the house is empty, WiFi works, he's signed up for ALL of the premium streaming services (just in case), and Clinton Cavanaugh plops down in front of his giant television on his expansive couch with his expensive entertainment center spread out before him, realizing with no small shiver of pleasure that very soon this will all smell like weed. [19:28] 4This is a teachable moment. A learnable moment. He puts his iPhone on vibrate. 08[19:30] 4Rollie should be arriving soon...and then they're going to have a talk. [19:30] 4He heads to the fridge to grab a bloodpack, and a beer. 15[19:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "BABY I'LL BE TOUGH~ TOO MUCH IS NOT ENOUGH~ I'LL GRAB YOUR HEART TILL IT BREAKS~ OOOH I'VE GOT WHAT IT TAKES~" 10Rollie sings that song fourteen times on the way down to Laguna Beach. The last few minutes are him going over what he brought in his mind. When he pulls up and gets out, he'll knock on the door whether it's open or not. [19:34] "It's open!" 4Cav yells from the kitchen. 15[19:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "What's good??" 10Rollie calls as he comes inside with a canvas work bag under his arm. He's once again given to marvel at Cav's place. Damn but if the Invictus doesn't pay. He'd never want to live in a place like this himself, but as a place to hang out? Hell yes. Hell yes. 15[19:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10When the door's closed behind him, he'll take a moment in the entryway, eyes closed. He hears Cav in the kitchen. He hears the thrumming of the fridge and the gentle whine of the central air. There's a scent of blood and beer, the scent of great animals, and underneath it all the lingering trace of fresh-from-the-store unwrapped plastic appliances. 15[19:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Yeah. Okay. He can do this. [19:49] 4Coming out of the kitchen. "Yo, you want a beer or are you sticking to leaf-based intoxicants?" 15[19:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie'll go in for the bump. "I'll take a beer." 08[19:51] "Then get in here and take a beer." 4Cav steps aside, holding the fridge open. He didn't know what Rollie liked, so there are six of everything he saw at the in the fridges at the grocery store. And five Miller Lites. [19:52] 4Before stepping aside, he'll complete the bump. [19:52] 4Maybe they should, like, make it explode? Nah, that's lame. 15[19:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10All in good time. 08[19:54] 4Heading back into the living area -- this is probably the first time Rollie has seen Cav in anything but a suit. He's back in plaid shorts and flip-flops, along with a white polo. (All different clothes from that night with Maja, in case Rollie could smell her on them or something. Seems like bad form.) [19:55] "So do we need to like, plug anything in?" [19:55] 4He prods an extension cord peeking out from under the couch with his feet. "I hear all this stuff about..." [19:55] "...vaping?" [19:56] 4That's the word, right? That's probably the word. 15[19:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie appreciates that Cav doesn't actually wear suits every waking moment like some bizarre cross between a TV lawyer and Superman. It's a side of Cav Rollie was sure existed but hadn't ever been allowed to see. Makes it easier to relax. "Yeah," 10he says, as he cracks something called 'Murphy's Stout'. He'd never had it before, and you never turn down a chance to try something new on someone else's dime. "How are you with fire?" [19:58] 4Slight tense of the shoulders, followed by a slightly confused frown. "You know what? I'm not good." [19:58] "Not good with fire." 15[20:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah, me neither. Apparently I'm Mekhet, and the bane of the Shadows is fire and sun. I got you, though. I got a vape but also, check this out." 10He reaches into one of the bag's side pockets and tosses something small and sleek to Cav. It looks like something between a tazer and a thumb drive. 15[20:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "Bear with me, I only just learned most of these words like, yesterday. Do they ever sound normal?" [20:02] 4He catches the drive. "Well, I am quote-unquote Gangrel, which means I'm a dumbass that has to put sticky-notes everywhere just to remember the names of anyone I don't see every night. So. Not the best judge." [20:02] 4Drive-thing, that is. [20:02] 4What the heck is this? [20:07] "You might have gathered I don't smoke much." 15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's about six inches long, cool gray metal with a single button about halfway along its length. The business end of it is a black plastic apparatus with two prongs that rise a bit from the rod. "That is an arc lighter, my friend. A little shot of electricity will heat whatever you need to burning. Rechargeable, no smell, and best of all, no flame." 15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Long as you don't stare straight into the bowl it's like nothing." [20:11] "Ah." 4Cav immediately moves it away from his face. "Science, huh. Good for science." [20:11] 4He gestures around the lavishly furnished living room. "Sit anywhere you want. Or I can give you a tour. But the tour is: I haven't bought anything else for the rest of the house." [20:12] "If you like empty, silent white rooms, though, I am currently about that life." 4He takes another sip of the beer. 15[20:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "For real." 10He's already plopping down on the couch with his bag in one hand and beer in the other. "Nah, it's all good. I only want to see what you want to show me. That's my watchword with this shit. Speaking of which: I want to talk about claws." [20:14] 4Fuck yeah. This is why he got the bloodpacks. "You mean...this shit?" 4Schwing. [20:14] 4Also why he's not wearing something with sleeves. And why he put his beer down first. 15[20:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Oh hell yes. Now see this, this is the thing. This is the main fucking thing, as I understand it. You don't pop those all the time, right?" [20:15] 4They're these weird, hideous talon things, right, sort of like someone's drawing of a hawk's grasping feet without much care for proper anatomy -- just really strong lines. [20:15] "Nope." [20:16] "You know I carry a gun, right?" 14[20:16] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 15[20:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I noticed." 14[20:16] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: Colloquy for iPhone - http://colloquy.mobi) 14[20:16] * Joins: FerrinusSpace [20:17] 4Cavanaugh: "So you'd assume, necessarily, that if I aimed said gun at things and pulled the trigger, I'd hit them with bullets." 15[20:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie sips his beer. This isn't bad. "Uh huh." [20:19] 4Cav: "Now I can't say you're wrong in that assumption, but then." 4Cav pops one hand of the claws back in so he can take another drink. "I wouldn't know. Never fired a gun. Was waiting for me in my condo -- my first condo." 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Like some Jason Bourne shit." 14[20:21] * Joins: ddt [20:21] "Yeah. Yeah." 4Cav remembers liking those movies. Remembers Jason Bourne being able to shoot though. Maybe? Oh man. They might need to rewatch that. "Sort of, but yeah. It's like...these things are here for a function, and they're good at it, and the threat of them is part of what they're good at. But I can't go around threatening, say, those people we jumped out of a helicopter at [20:21] with the claws." 14[20:22] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) [20:22] "Because -- it's sort of like with Kine cops and their guns. If I pop the claws, I'm gonna kill ya." [20:22] 4He pauses. [20:22] "Except now, when I'm just fucking around." [20:22] "Really irresponsibly." [20:22] 4He slides the claws back in. 15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "But that's the thing, right. That's the thing. Even when you're not popping the claws - even when the cops aren't drawing down on you - you know, right?" 15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "You know they're there, and you know if you need them, you've got them." [20:24] 4He nods as he drinks. "Well yeah, but that's only half the point. The other half is -- everyone else knows. You know when I...did what I did, to that dude out at the Baroness's place?" 4He only pauses slightly at that recollection now. "I did that to kill a man, because he was gonna hurt people I didn't want to get hurt. But it was performative." [20:24] "There was a demonstrative effect." 14[20:24] * Joins: dammitwho [20:24] "And you don't always want to push that button, but it's there if you need it. That's what the claws are about." [20:25] 4He takes another sip of the beer. "There's also some shit about turning into a bat, but I'm no Dracula." 15[20:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie doesn't let himself cast his mind back, but Cav's point is heard all the same. "Yeah, exactly. It's - it's when they're not out, that's when you can see how they work. It's when you can see 'em what they're for. It's when you can see how having them changes you." 15[20:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "And how having them changes you in the eyes of others." 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's the main thing about all this shit to me. It's how it affects the way you act and think and shit when you're not using them. The way they train you to see the world." [20:26] 4He leans back, a slight bit more pensive. "Yeah. I guess. I mean, I always know how they change me. I carry those memories. I forget names, I forget places, I forget driving directions -- I don't forget the claws." [20:27] "Maybe." 4He pauses. "I think people teach more than tools. I think people turn tools into things that teach you even when they're not around." [20:28] "Whether you like it, or..." 15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "For sure. For sure. None of this means shit on your own." [20:28] 4He finishes the beer. "I'm gonna get another. Why don't you set up." 15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "And it's in that spirit, that I want you to think about something while I'm setting up." [20:28] "Shoot." [20:28] 4Pause. "Metaphorically." 15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "What's the first thing you notice about me?" 08[20:29] 4Did Rollie shave before coming over? 15[20:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He did. He shaves every night now. [20:29] "You're shaving that shit off your face now. It's a good look." 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie unpacks a clean white ceramic pipe and a very fine-looking little teak box. "Hah! Yeah. Halloween, man. That shit messed me up." 10The bowl of the pipe is lower than the body of it, such that if you hold it at the right angle you can't actually see anything burning. Also it looks like the kind of pipe you could buy at an Apple store. 15[20:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "I had to be like, 'well, maybe I can't be a lawman. but I can clean myself up a little'." [20:34] 4My dude you're not shaving because of some Halloween. But that's fine. We can get real around beer number three. [20:34] "Yeah, man." 4He takes another Miller Lite from the fridge. "I got..." [20:34] 4Another pause. [20:35] "...I was fortunate, in some aspects. When I became like this." 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's packing the bowl. "Hey get me another beer while you're out there. Fortunate?" [20:36] 4Cap in the trash. He bought trashbags too, along with trashcan to go under the sink. Very proud. "Yeah, sure. Another Murphy's?" 15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Sure." [20:38] 4He pops the cap with his fang. Cav always had a fear of doing that until he realized it would just come back if he chipped it. "I knew ahead of time when I was going to be embraced. I had notice. I went on a diet. Went to the gym, like, twenty hours a week."  08[20:38] 4He walks back out, hands Rollie the stout. "Only reason I don't have a crappy nightly beard of my own was I was told when to shave." [20:39] "...We're getting off-topic." [20:39] "What's all this shit do?" [20:41] 4Cav, of course, will immediately focus on anything that looks like you could buy it at the Apple sote. [20:41] *4store [20:41] *4store 15[20:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie lets that thread of the conversation drop for now. If it's important it'll come up again. "I want to start with the bowl. When you vape it's almost all in your head, you know. You gotta burn that shit to relax your body." 10He points out his mise en place. "Bowl, lighter, product. You want first hit?" [20:43] 4Cav went to college; he's vaguely familiar with dudes who treat getting high like an act of communion. He used to laugh at that, but shit. Even in death, they're all happier than he is. "Yeah. Let's do this." 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Any particular ritual is stupid. But you gotta have something. [20:45] 4Cavanaugh will lean in, take the packed bowl and arc-lighter, and give it the old college try. [20:45] 4He manages to put it down before the coughing starts. [20:46] "Okay -- okay--" [20:46] 4More beer to wet his throat. [20:46] "Some of that plumbing hasn't been used in awhile." [20:46] "Whew." 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie is unfailingly patient. "That's good, that's good. Lot of times, if you're out of practice and you don't cough, it means you're doing it wrong." 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie'll go next. Ohhhh man. This is - he shoulda brought something lighter than this. Hoo boy. It's fine though. It'll be fine. Cav's a goddamn trooper. [20:48] "I was -- wow, okay -- I was an uppers guy in school. Gotta study. Gotta go, go, go. So not a big weed guy." 4Cav shakes his head. "You really can smoke weed without all that fire shit. The future is unreal." 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Man, flipping my Adderall to all those kids studying for IB in high school was my first real job." 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "Made good money." [20:50] 4Cav flops back on the couch and laughs. "That was me, yeah. I was that dude, telling you no, five dollars a pill man, that's street value, what'd it cost you to fill that prescription." 4He sighs. "Wasn't always rich. Or dead." 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie cackles. "Man. I felt so bad for those guys." 14[20:53] * Joins: ddt [20:53] "Most of them turned out alright in the end." 4He pauses to take another sip. "I mean, not the ones I knew, those idiots helped blow up the economy. Lot of them disappeared or got real glassy-eyed after that. But most of them, I bet, most of them turned out okay." 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah, I figure most people do." 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie sinks into the couch a bit. "Wall Street, huh?" [20:55] 4He leans forward for the bowl. "You'd hope so. Gimme." 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie passes it. [20:55] 4Another, slightly more comfortable arrangement of hand, arc-lighter, bowl, shield, mouth, and body -- then less coughing this time. [20:56] 4He puts all the moving pieces down on his table. "Whew. Oh. Huh. Yeah, Wall Street." [20:56] "Funny story about Wall Street." [20:56] "Pretty sure vampires run the economy." 14[20:56] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[20:56] * Joins: dammitwho 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie'll give Cav his attention while he smokes. "No shit?" 14[20:57] * Joins: mattbaby [20:58] 4Cav shakes his head, leaning over to brush a little bit of spilled ash off his table into his hand, then, realizing he had nowhere to put it, sprinkling it into one of his empty beer bottles. "Well, are you surprised, really?" 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Exhale. "I mean... I guess if Karl Marx and Billy Corgan agree on something... you've gotta take notice, right?" 14[21:01] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [21:02] "Sure, even if dude's a grown man named Billy. Sure. But how, right? How do they do it?" 4Another sip from the bottle with actual beer in it. "Used to be ghouls. Then they got a mind of their own, story goes, and we had that shit in the Middle East. Led to Reagan. You'd think they'd have loved Reagan. Apparently not. Our main dude Ronnie Freedom hated a lot of different kinds of [21:02] people, and following certain presidential briefings, one of those kinds of people were vampires." [21:03] "You know there's still some people at C&C -- that's where I worked in New York -- still some people who insist he let AIDS go because he thought it would kill us off? Like, that's pretty fucked up." [21:03] 4He waves the beer around. "I'm getting off track. Point is, these days everything's online." 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie nods. "Right, right." [21:05] "So they just, embrace the accountants, blood-bind them, and send them..." [21:05] "...to Australia." 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Jesus." [21:05] 4Cav spreads his arms wide. "Australia!" 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Fuckin." 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "The world's biggest collection of poisonous things." [21:06] "Because when the trading floor opens at 9 AM on the East Coast, what time is in Australia?" [21:06] "Nine or ten in the evening." 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Damn." [21:07] 4Cav: "So if you ever wondered why they're so crazy over there, it's probably our fault. That's my story about the economy." 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie nods through another hit. Once he's set the piece down: "Can I ask you a question?" [21:08] 4Cavanaugh: "Deputy Choi, you may ask me a question." 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Working on Wall Street, right Coming up through your MBA and shit. And then being a vampire. And doing the work you do." [21:09] 4He'll wait until he finishes this beer before another hit. 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you think you treat people better now than you did then?" [21:10] 4Cavanaugh will think about that for a moment. "I don't talk to people much, anymore. Kine, that is. Did you mean Kine? Or do you mean...people? Kine and Kindred?" 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's Rollie's turn to be silent. It takes him a moment to process that word. 'Kine'. "I'd never, like." [21:11] "You know." 4He makes big, gathering-together motions with his hands. "People." 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "I guess they are different, huh." 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'd never thought about that before." [21:11] "Oh, they are." 4Another sip. "They are, they are they are." [21:12] "My entire...fucked up family tree, based around that notion." 4He pauses; raises a finger. "You know what. Let's not talk about that for another couple hits." 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You got it." [21:13] "To answer your question, though..." [21:14] 4He puts down the beer, grimacing. "I would say I hurt fewer people now than I did then. Perhaps by orders of magnitude." [21:14] "But I'm not quite sure that's the same thing." 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie exhales pure air this time. "I guess not." 14[21:17] * Joins: mattbaby_ [21:17] 4Cav sighs. "When I was alive, I thought I was king shit, sure. But I always tried to treat people...I don't know about right. You have to understand, this was right before everything went to shit with the economy. I was thinking -- because I was like, 23 and a dumbass -- I was thinking, 'they're gonna make movies about me someday. You know, like..." 4Here Cav starts giggling, which [21:17] 4turns into chuckling, which turns into outright laughter. [21:18] "'Movies like' -- you'll love this -- 'movies like Wall Street.'" 4He bends over, reaching for his beer, and laughs and laughs and laughs. [21:19] "And I didn't want to come off like a jackass! That's the punchline!" 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie giggles. 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "Man." [21:21] "So I'm at work playing a character, basically, and I treated people okay. And when I didn't, I made sure I didn't in ways that I thought would look really cool if there was a camera on me, because I was 23." 4His laughter fades away. "Everyone got paid on time, and got healthcare, and no one got their heads ripped off. And we crashed the damn economy." [21:22] "And all that bullshit happened, and I met...people, and died, and now I'm out here. Self-starting a new office, I guess." 14[21:22] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: mattbaby_) [21:23] "I no longer think there's any camera on me. That's not something that's in the calculus anymore, for any number of reasons." [21:23] 4He finishes his beer. "So no, I don't think I treat people any better. But I don't hurt people as much." [21:24] "And I'm fine with that, for now." 4He stands. "You good on beer?" 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I could use a third." 10He'll finish the second while Cav's in the kitchen to keep himself honest. [21:26] "Same thing?" 4He'll grab another Miller Lite, himself. He kind of hope Alicia drops by, just to see her lose her shit trying to figure out why his fridge is full of Kine drink without actually asking him. [21:26] 4Not now, of course. 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Sure." [21:26] 4You know, some time in the totally indeterminate and infinitely postponable future. 08[21:27] 4He'll hand Rollie his stout as he sits back down. "So, you didn't lace this with anything, did you?" 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Nah, man. That's not really a thing. Most of the people who think their shit's laced just got way higher than they anticipated." 14[21:27] * Joins: dammitwho 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "How you feeling?" [21:29] "Okay, cool. I'm not seeing anything yet. Wasn't sure if this was supposed to be like...a vision quest." 4Cav will take another hit. He gets a little cocky here; some goes down the wrong tube, and he's barely able to set the piece and the lighter down before sputtering out on to the couch. [21:29] 4He raises a finger to request a moment. 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie gives the man his space. [21:30] "Hrrrm. Hmmm. Oh. Hrrr. Okay." 4A fresh sip of beer. "I am kind of high." [21:30] "And wondering why I bought this television." 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I figure it's like, what, are you gonna not have one?" 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "You're on that..." 10Rollie trails off, and opens his third beer. [21:33] 4He sighs and stands up. "Alright. Come on." 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Huh?" [21:33] 4Cav leans over and picks up the beer. "You're seeing the rest of the house." [21:33] "And then we're going somewhere I don't have to see this damn TV." 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie gets up. He gets up maybe a little too fast. 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's alright, though. 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "Let's go." [21:34] 4Cav will reach out to -- well okay then. "You grab the weed." 4Cav steps into the kitchen and combines the rest of the Miller Lite and Murphy's Stout into one six-pack sleeve. 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie does just that. 08[21:36] 4Cav leads Rollie through a door that's got a blind 90 degree turn in it out of the main room with the TV, and suddenly Cav's house goes from richly appointed and well-furnished to absolutely empty. Hardwood floors, stock white walls, no furniture, no curtains. [21:36] 4Room after room. 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Man." 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "For someone who doesn't live like there's a camera on him, you are all up on that Citizen Kane shit." 08[21:37] 4They eventually climb up bare circular stairs in the west wing, footsteps echoing on hardwood through the empty first floor, and then he leads Rollie through a similarly empty second floor, picking up the pace. The door to his bedroom is open; Cav reaches out with the hand holding his beer bottle and dextrously shuts it. 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's nostrils flare. 14[21:40] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[21:40] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks through the door. [21:42] 4Cav looks from him to the door and sighs. "Guess we were gonna get to this eventually." 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's corpse-stiff, shoulders hunched, head hanging at an odd angle, swiveling on his neck like the only living part of him. He smells. He sees. He knows. "The sea was not a mask." [21:44] "No, buddy. No it was not." 4Cav takes a drink. "Suppose we should head out to the veranda and, I don't know. Yell a lot." 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10There's almost no sign of Rollie's irises when he looks at Cav now. Only in direct light are his eyes anything but solid black. "By hook or by crook." 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He'll follow Cav's lead. [21:46] "I'm at least half of those things, so repeat after me." 4He says nothing though; just walks down the hall and pushes open the door outside. 08[21:46] 4The veranda is decently appointed; the one other 'room' Cav has bothered furnishing so far, other than the ones Rollie has already seen. [21:47] 4He sets the beers down on a small, wrought-iron table and asks, "We still good enough friends to share the weed?" 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie puts his half of the load down before looking across the table at Cav. "Nine swords. Three for the heart, three for the gut, and one for each eye. Come." 10He sits. "We bleed together." 08[21:54] "Personally, I'm missing one. But then I never was that good at math." 4He sits down across from Rollie. "I'd like to say I didn't mean to lead you past that room, but that would be a lie. What I didn't mean was for you to smell her on it. I wanted a higher-order jealousy. Not animal envy. Not..." 4He gestures. "I smoke some more weed now." [21:54] *I'll 15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie passes it over. 15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You see a mirror where a window exists." 14[21:57] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) [21:57] 4This time he doesn't cough; just blows the smoke out onto the wind. "Not sure how literally I'm supposed to take that. When I see mirrors, I don't see myself in them anymore. Nor do I see you." [21:57] "We have a complicated relationship with glass." 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie nods. "It shows us nothing. It simply cuts." [21:59] 4Cavanaugh sighs. "Only if you punch it. I don't feel much like doing that, myself. You?" 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie shakes his head. "I have no order for your blessed rage. Ghosts command attention without animus. I bear witness. That is the first and the foremost." 10The inflection of his voice, if nothing else, betrays no anger. [22:01] "I..." 4Cav just takes another hit and laughs. [22:02] "I'm just gonna keep smoking until I've got an answer for that, I guess." [22:03] "My 'blessed rage.' I don't like to think of myself as an angry..." 4Cavanaugh pauses. Yes he does. And that's not even the problem. "I don't want to be blessed, yeah? No benedictions. My anger is me. I control it. I own it. It's all I have." [22:04] "If you dig." 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie leans back and smells the salt air. It doesn't wash her scent from his nose. Certainly not from his mind. He tries not to imagine it but his mind breaks its reins. He sees them and it takes a fierce concentration to banish the image. 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He runs a hand across his face. Dark eyes watch the stars. "You pay the warranty but you don't hold the receipt." [22:09] "Given my respect for you and, I'd hope, yours for me, I'm going to assume you're talking about something other than the woman we've shared." 4Cav takes another sip. "So just smelling her makes you all...Advanced English Comp, huh?" 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's eyes flick down to meet Cavanaugh's. Oh, no. Rollie didn't mean her. "A lapse in nonconcentration." 09[22:13] * banana|peels is now known as banana [22:14] "Okay then." 4Cav takes another sip. "Probably would have been smart to get the teaching out of the way, before this talk. But you said Auspex's all about perceiving." 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie will respond by taking a giant hit, torching the bowl, and letting a cloud of gas out into the night. He turns words over in his mind. He feels, acutely, that he owes Maja better than this conversation. With something beyond madness scattering his mind, he can force the light. "Dude. Dude." 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "No." 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "We've shared this pipe." 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So like, I'm game to talk about this if you are. But we can do better than that. Maja is a person. We can talk about her like she's a person. And if we're going to treat each other like people we owe ourselves that too." 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "She told me about you. I didn't ask. I didn't pry. She told me because she felt like she had to." 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "And I respected her need to tell me that. But I respected your privacy too." 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "You are a very, very private dude." 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "I wasn't going to bring this up if you didn't. Honestly, I didn't see the need." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It's, like... a little weird? Maybe? And the Auspex and the Malkavia make it intense in a way I don't like. It'd be less weird if I hadn't died. But it's just a little weird. It'll be fine." 14[22:26] * Quits: dammitwho 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I don't know where Maja and I stand right now. But I like where it's going, and I-" 10No. He's not going to say that. This is not the time or place. "-and she means a lot to me." 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "So that's where I'm at." 14[22:31] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[22:31] * Joins: dammitwho 14[22:32] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[22:35] * Joins: drinkybird 14[22:38] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie repacks the bowl while Cav reacts. [22:43] 4After a long pause: "It is extremely weird, yeah. We agree on that point. And I know she told you about me because I...signed off on that, in a way. She told me about you and her, honestly. Before there was a you and her. Once it was clear we weren't going to work." [22:43] "I would say I encouraged it, but that might give me too much credit." [22:43] 4He takes the bowl. "And you know if there's one thing I don't like, it's too much credit." [22:44] 4He exhaled. "Really feel like an asshole for not cleaning that room." 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie shrugs. "It reminded me that I should do laundry when I get home." [22:45] 4Cav, deadpan: "Perhaps get into the habit." [22:47] "So your, uh. Philosophical mode." [22:47] "'Malkavia?'" 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah." 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "'Advanced English Comp'." [22:48] 4He sips the beer. "Sorry if that came off as an insult. I was never good enough to get into Advanced English Comp." 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Shit, man, me neither. I did two years of Comp Sci before I dropped out." [22:49] "You're a natural, then." 4Another sip. "Then again, so was everyone in that class who was tolerable, I bet." 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Shit. Man." 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "Leis was the one who told me what it was. I still don't really understand. But it's like Auspex in some ways. Only some ways." 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "I think I got it from my sire. But who the fuck knows, right?" 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's not like I've seen her since." [22:53] "Do tell," 4says Cav, a bit more bitterly than he hoped. "Maja was right about -- well, she turned out to be right about a lot of things about me. That's why we are what we are. But she was especially right that I'm a private person." 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "About my sire?" [22:54] "So what I'm about to ask of you might sound a little strange, and unfortunately, I decline to explain anything about it." 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie nods. [22:55] "I want you to think about how to kill me." [22:55] 4He finishes his beer. 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie closes his eyes. [22:55] "And I want you to keep it to yourself." 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "You got it." 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's mind is totally blank right now. But it'll percolate. [22:56] 4He grabs another Miller Lite. "And if some point, I come to hurt you or Maja, for whatever reason, I want you to put that into action." 09[22:57] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Can I ask a question?" [22:57] "Because if it comes down to it, that might end up being the only leverage I have." [22:57] 4He pops the cap. "Go." 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "When's the last time you thought about the diary?" [22:58] 4Cavanaugh blinks. "Huh." [22:58] "Well." [22:58] "If we're being honest, I'd have to say: when I handed it to you." [22:58] 4He taps his head. "Gangrel." 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie nods. "I gotcha." [22:59] "You made any progress?" 14[23:00] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "A little. It's a really ridiculous way to encode diary entries. There's some key or something, I need to find, to make any headway. I've been working a lot more on Edgar's thing lately, and my own shit." 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "S'why I've been not showing up at the office." [23:03] 4Cav suppresses a grin. "Right." 4Diary entries. [23:03] 4Clinton Cavanaugh takes his...what is this, sixth? Seventh hit? Whatever it is: new personal record, to be sure. "Woo! Hah." 14[23:04] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You got us all in check." [23:04] 4He puts the bowl back down. "You know, you agreed to kill me awfully quickly." [23:04] "I mean, not complaining. Exactly." 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I agreed to think about it." [23:06] "Just saying if, in the future, someone were to make the same request." 4He leans back in the sunchair and snuggles into it a bit with his shoulders before taking another sip of beer. "Maybe a, 'That won't ever happen' or a, 'I'm sure it'll never come to that' might not be entirely out of line." [23:06] "I'm just saying." 14[23:07] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) [23:07] 4Beer sip. "Not precisely the cheeriest thing to find yourself asking for." 14[23:07] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It's not. I've asked people for weirder shit just tonight, though." [23:09] "Mmmm. Well." 4He almost said 'not a contest.' But then, well. [23:10] "Okay, I've smoked probably about a hundred dollars of your weed -- feel free not to correct me on the market value, it's been a long time since freshman year." [23:10] "How do I do th-- whoa." 4Cav sits up too quickly. [23:11] "How's this work." 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Auspex?" 14[23:12] * Parts: Quaker [23:12] "Auspex." [23:13] 4Another sip. "Let me guess. It's one of these 'don't think, just feel' things." 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "No way, man. It's the exact opposite." 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "There's no feeling to this at all." 14[23:13] * Joins: Quaker 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's- that's what's so terrible about it, you know?" 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It's just... distance." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's reaching a part of someone that they'll never see in you." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's all cold light and hard attention." [23:15] 4Cav: "I promise you, the reverse is just as bad." 4He closes his eyes into the breeze off the sea. "I'm not as good at thinking as I once was. That's a scary thing to think about -- if that gets worse. But I distance I can manage. Focus I can manage." 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Auspex is the scalpel and the light over the table. Auspex is the one-way mirror. Auspex is the corner you sit in where you can see them and they can't see you." 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "It doesn't permit any feeling. It invites judgment, but not insight. It gives you knowledge, but not compassion." 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I've thought about what it'd feel like if you took those claws to me." 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "I've been burned before, right? It can't hurt worse than that." 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "But man." 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "If I got to pick, between the claws and this?" 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'd feel more comfortable with the claws." [23:21] 4Cavanaugh steps up to the railing, eyes still closed. "No, you wouldn't. And don't do that again." 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Do what?" 14[23:23] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[23:24] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[23:24] * Joins: ddt 14[23:25] * Joins: FerrinusSpace [23:28] "Wish you were me." 4He grabs the rail. "You are who you are. That's what I like about you. That's what she likes about you." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Oh." [23:28] "You've had it bad, I'm sure." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...man." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "This is." 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's not what I meant. I'm sorry for coming off like that." 09[23:29] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot [23:29] "But -- the rich white man says -- please, leave me alone with my past." [23:30] 4Cav opens his eyes and the monster looks to sea-- 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Do you hear that?" [23:33] 4Clinton Cavanaugh doesn't speak; just listens. ...What is that? 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Someone is singing. It's a wordless song, a tune that rises and falls like the tide. It weaves through the palm trees, past city lights and fine houses. In the stillness and the silence, from this high and distant perch, it feels like a song that could have carried from any corner of the world. 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's got to be coming from the beach, right? 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Someone must be singing on the beach. [23:36] 4At first the scope is too...wide. 14[23:36] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) [23:36] 4Too much input. Too much noise. He almost loses the song. [23:37] 4He's lived with blinders all his life; metaphors mostly. But ways to process and compartmentalize. To cordon off. To sequence feelings. [23:37] 4Now he just needs to sequence sensation. 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Let them come. Grab one and let it go. Like you're digging for jewels." 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10His voice is barely above a whisper. That's all it needs to be. [23:39] 4Neither of Clinton Cavanaugh's sires raised him to let go of jewels. Cravings -- the horrid, inward looking heart -- ugliness -- he slams those doors. Like running down a hallway with hands stretched wide, catching the jambs and making them fit their seals. [23:40] 4A pure articulation of thought. Here, he doesn't even need a name, really. It's just what goes on the forms. [23:40] 4He opens his eyes and looks again. [23:40] 4What is the song? 14[23:41] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[23:41] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcAty0w-ruM [23:44] 4Bit by bit, arms started shaking; spinning around, the kids wanna make it; piece by piece, cold time erasing; what we want and what we'll be taking -- "What we want and what we'll be taking, it's no choice, if it's just a--" [23:45] 4Cav realizes he's singing and stops, leaning forward against the rail. [23:46] 4His singing voice is shockingly good. It's something he's never cultivated. [23:47] "The guy you need to know how to kill. He knows Auspex now." 14[23:47] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Thanks for the heads up, man." 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'll tell you this much." 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "If it comes down to a karaoke duel, I am fucked." [23:49] 4The song goes off the radio. He's glad he didn't finished that refrain. Too on the nose. [23:49] 4Where was that? [23:49] 4Cav: "Man. That had to be...they're having a beach party." [23:49] "That's where that was." 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Damn kids." 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10And their bonefires. 08[23:50] 4He turns back to Rollie and stumbles back over to his beer. "There's gotta be vampires out there that kill each other via dance-off." 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie snickers. "Man." [23:50] 4Cav waves the bottle around. "Evil American Idol shit." [23:51] 4He sits back down. "So I guess there's just the one other thing we have to talk about." 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah?" [23:55] 4Cavanaugh: "You're with Maja, now. Or -- okay -- you're figuring things out with Maja. But you're headed that way. So I assume that means you're breaking it off with Leisurely." 4He guzzles the beer. "And Pearl. And Pearl's friend." [23:56] "And that neighbor." [23:56] "And -- let me check my notes --" 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Wait, what?" [23:58] 4Cav raises a hand. "That's right. That's good. That's exactly how you want that 'wait, what?' to sound. One sec." 4He checks his phone. "Right. Ruby, too. Ruby Gilbright." 15[23:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Wait." [23:59] "Now, I'm not judging, and I'm not saying anything against you or these fine ladies." Session Time: Sat May 23 00:00:00 2015 [00:01] "Six women might be too much for me. And too dangerous for me. But you seem to be carrying it so that's your business." 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Realization dawns. 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh my god." [00:03] 4Cav nods. "I had a very similar reaction myself. But now that you're with Maja -- and if you're doing that zoot suit cartoon wolf bullshit just because you smelled her in my house, I'm thinking that's a safe thing to say -- maybe you want to get..." 4His hands, which were wide apart, narrow. "More focused. Maybe more serious." 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Did you, like." 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "Did you ever-" [00:04] 4He drains the beer. "I feel like this is the part where I threaten to come looking for you if you break her heart, and hell. I already told you to plan how to kill me." 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh my god!" 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "Dude!" 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "Dude!" 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "Like." 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "Dude!" [00:05] 4Cav: "Problem?" 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Alright, so. In the spirit of, fuckin, being way too fucked up to try and lie, I'm gonna lay it all out on the table, okay?" [00:06] "Well, if you really think I need all the details, alright then." 4Cav pops open the last Miller Lite. "But I mean, I just. I don't think that I'm asking all that much." [00:06] "Keep it in your pants." [00:06] "Or at least," 4sip "selectively in your pants." [00:07] "Discreetly in your pants." 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I made out with Pearl at the- DUDE - at the Halloween Party. We were super fucked up. I danced with her and Jessie. They brought sh- DUDE- they brought shrooms and some rail vodka and we all got fucked up and hung out together." 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "But that was it. I haven't heard from her since." [00:07] "And that sounds like a damn good time." [00:07] "Also, you will." 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Heh. Well. It was. "Yeah, I remember. You gave her my number." [00:08] 4Theatrical sigh. "Perhaps I am not blameless in your endeavors." 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "Anyway, that's Pearl. Trubee is my friend. She like, she crashed at my place when she got to California. She didn't have anywhere else to stay and we'd literally just met. So like, think about this with me. Walk with me through this." [00:08] 4That weed's pretty good. 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10You're god damn right it is. 08[00:09] 4Cav: "Rollie, please don't walk me through sex with a homeless girl." [00:09] "All I ask." 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "THAT'S THE FUCKING THING! Like. Dude. I am not gonna- dude." 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Come on." 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "She needed a place to crash so bad she couchsurfed with the first guy she met, WHO WAS ALSO A VAMPIRE." 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "Like. Dude." 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "That is not-" 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "With nobody would I-" 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "Dude." 08[00:11] 4Cav: "See, I can't tell what you're appealing to here. You seem to be like, appealing to this idea of you, as if I should be all, oh that Rollie, I've known him so well, and never to have had sex with a woman, or party with two girls on shrooms on the dance floor." 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I'm not appealing to shit. I'm telling you the shit that I'm going to appeal to in the future." 08[00:13] "That Rollie, the guy who when we said, 'it would be cool if we could talk to spiro agnew's showrunner,' turns out to have her in his phone, like the legitimate player that he is." [00:13] 4Cav frowns. [00:13] "Wait. Spiro Agnew?" 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Solitude." 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Spiro Agnew was less creepy." [00:13] "Yeah, that guy." [00:14] 4Cav takes another sip. "I mean, hey. Criminal court of law says innocent until proven guilty. You're no lawbreaker to me. That said, civil court, all you have to show is preponderence of evidence. And well. The evidence is...preponderating." [00:14] "Prepondering." [00:14] "You'd be guilty in a civil suit, is my point." 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "Now, Ruby, we've worked together. She knows Leis, and I've worked with her. And I know she works with Agnew too. I met Agnew at the Halloween Party too. And fuckin, like. that was weird as shit. That dude's weird as shit. And the fuckin, fuckin Whitaker was sneaking around like the god damn Hamburglar eavesdropping on my shit." 14[00:15] * Joins: dammitwho 08[00:16] 4Cav waives his beer. "I know you've got creep, Rollie. This office recognizes your creep. Your creep is essential to the success of our operations in the Administrated Territory of Orange County. We salute you, soldier." [00:17] *4waves 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So okay. To recap. Party makeout, deeply vulnerable friend, weird aloof coworker. Shit, who else was there." 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "Leis, right." 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10For the first time Rollie looks genuinely conflicted. [00:18] 4Cav: "Ah?" 4He points at him with the beer and smiles. "Ahhhhhhhhhh?" 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Leis and I aren't like that. It's not- it's not that kind of thing. I mean I'd be lying if I said that, like... whatever, dude. She's like my surrogate sire. She's told me everyone I know about being a vampire. She's my hero, you know? She's my fuckin' hero." 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "So there's a little, like... yeah, you know, if she threw down that gauntlet I'd pick it up." 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "But she hasn't. I don't think she's gonna." 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He shrugs. "It's not a big deal. Leis is Leis. She's really important to me. But that's not where we're at." [00:20] "She better not." 4Cav shrugs. "Or hey. Maybe Maja's into that." 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "Alright, so let's talk about Maja." [00:20] 4Cav: "Absolutely. After more weed." 09[00:20] * banana is now known as banana|split 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "See and you said you felt stupid." [00:21] "I have had cause." [00:21] "Mostly right now I feel really stupid for dying, and not being able to constantly smoke weed." 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Right???" 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Time to pack one more bowl. [00:22] 4Cav: "I mean I'm joking, because you know what kind of person I am, but I'm only moderately joking." 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie'll take first hit for himself. He feels he's earned it. 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Once he has, though, Cav's got free rein. 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Man, Rollie has... not been this fucked up in a while. [00:23] 4And awayyyy we go. [00:23] 4Wait, does Auspex make you...more high? [00:23] 4Oh man. [00:23] 4That'd be fucked up. 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "By the way, man - you know what the most fucked up part about Auspex is?" 08[00:24] 4You could smoke, like, half the weed, and be twice as -- wait. Rollie's talking about something. 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's getting high on Auspex and realizing, like." 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "Shit." 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "I've got super-taste too. But I don't have any snacks because I'm a fuckin' vampire." 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's it. That's the moment when you realize God got one over on us." [00:25] "Why, I hadn't noticed." 4He sounds super-arch and cool. He's not letting on at all. 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie cackles. 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh, man." [00:25] 4He nods sagely about God or whatever. 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "So, Maja." [00:26] "No, okay. Right. Serious time. Maja." 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "I got shanghaied into counseling by Ruby. They set me up with Maja. And the way it went down - Ruby and the Bishop talking - you ever met the Bishop? He's like if you imagine Wilford Brimley got split into good Wilford Brimley and evil Wilford Brimley, he'd be the good Wilford Brimley. Solitude's the evil one." 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Evil Wilford Brimley gives people diabetes. I think. Whatever." 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Hang on." [00:27] 4Cav nods contemplatively. "Which Wilford Brimley do I get to be?" [00:28] "In this scenario, pretend that I, instead, am you." [00:28] "Since you were in this scenario." 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie nods. That makes perfect sense. [00:29] "And I never met the bishop. Though you did, I take it?" 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah. Just a little bit." 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "Anyway, uh." 10He snaps his fingers four or five times in quick succession like he's jump-starting a synapse. "Maja, right. So Maja and I got sat down in the Bishop's office, right." [00:29] 4I take it. I take it. A sentence with many mea-- "Right." 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "And like, the way it fell in was, like." 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "There's a dynamic that's supposed to exist in therapy, right. I mean, as I say this I realize you're the single worst person to ask how therapy with Maja is supposed to work, but." 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm pretty damn sure I didn't get it right either." [00:30] 4Cavanaugh opens his mouth a couple times. Then: "Man, I don't have an answer to that you're gonna like." 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "So we sort of... like. We had this really long, intense conversation. And she got, fuckin, like. Flustered. Can you picture Maja Kovacevic flustered? It doesn't come easy to me, and I've seen it." [00:31] "Hah." [00:31] "I mean, wow. That's extremely not like her." 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Right?? And at the same time I felt, like. I just trusted her instantly, because of the position we were in, and you know, like. How much of herself she let me notice. I felt like I'd found this, fuckin. This buried treasure, you know? Just this thing in her that she didn't let anyone see, because she was too busy soaking up everyone else's pain to let go of any of her own." 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "And I thought, you know what? I can do that. I can be about that. I can carry that weight." 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "So we sort of... it wasn't therapy, anymore. We were just talking." [00:34] 4Something occurs to him. "Wait. Are you like. Explaining to me why you slept with her. Or why you're completely sideways for her." [00:34] "Because, get this." [00:35] "I can just take, my precise experiences of that same thing. And just, pretend I'm you. And I get it." [00:35] "I completeeeeely get it." 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I'm telling you this so you understand why she's the one person you were right about. Like that other stuff's just, a complete joke, right? It's funny! I'm fucked up enough to admit it's funny. But it's not funny with Maja. Maja's..." 10His head falls into one hand on the table. "I am in love with her." 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Just. Straight up. I don't give a fuck." 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "I love her." 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "So that's a thing." [00:38] 4Cav: "Okay. Cool. I'm gonna smoke some more of your weed here..." [00:38] 4Okay. 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Help yourself, man." [00:39] 4Cav: "Alright. Maybe don't tell her about all of that for like. I don't know. Awhile." [00:39] 4Cav: "Might be moving a bit fast." 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yyyyyeah. Like, I can tell how she feels about me. I don't need Auspex for that. But she is... she's got so much shit on her plate right now. She just. She needs a rock, you know? She needs someone who can carry a little bit of her baggage, without dumping any on her." 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "But yeah. Honestly I was, like. I made a point of not telling you this a while ago." 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "Fuckin... five beers and however many bowls ago." 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "So yeah, like. Here's my thing." 15[00:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "Uh..." 15[00:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "Did you, like." [00:42] "I mean, 'hello there, welcome to day 10 of us banging, I love you' is, well. That's gonna be baggage." 4Waves his hand. "Not judging! Just, you know. Saying." 15[00:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "Did you tell Maja about your, fuckin." [00:42] "Did I tell Maja about my fucking." 15[00:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "Your Grand Unified Theory of All The Tail Rollie Choi Is Presumably Getting." [00:42] 4Cav frowns. [00:43] "Nnnnnno. Pretty sure no." [00:43] "Wait." [00:43] "No." 14[00:43] * Joins: bananaphone 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie relaxes. "Okay. Okay." 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "Anyway, like, I don't mind the joke, right. It's funny." 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "But let's just not. Not Maja." 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "Okay?" [00:46] 4More beer. "Hey man, I just made observations. And they were rational observations. You need to be the change you want to be within you. Or fuckin'...whatever." 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "That's what I'm doing! I'm being the change. 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> " [00:47] 4Cav: "In return, you need to promise me something." 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You got it." [00:48] 4Cav: "Don't get super-high and tell her any of the dumb shit you just told me until, like." [00:48] "Christmas." [00:48] "You gotta hold out until Christmas." [00:48] "Can you do that, Deputy." 15[00:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie cackles. 15[00:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "Man." 15[00:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "If you heard the shit we actually talk about." 15[00:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "You would think it was just." 15[00:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "The most high-school-ass shit you ever saw." 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "You have no idea how much young Clinton Cavanaugh, who was casting himself in the next Wall Street, would've disapproved of how uncool we are." 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "Fuckin, so corny." 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "Children of the Corn." [00:50] 4Cav: "Yeah, well, that kid was an asshole anyway. And I'm sure many demographics skewn...skewing female, 18-35 with daytime television consumption habits would just love you two." 14[00:50] * Quits: bananaphone (Quit: bananaphone) [00:50] "Or whatever the soap opera audience is these days." [00:50] "Maybe they finally found the Holy Grail, and got dudes to watch them." 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I think that's just pro wrestling." [00:51] "Ask me, it's simple. Easiest way to trick guys into watching people talk about their feelings a couple times a week? Lure 'em in with superpowers, maybe touch on 'em once on episode. Honestly." 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Dude." 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "You're a genius." [00:52] 4Cav stands, kills the beer. "I am. Sometimes I really fucking am." 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "So here's what I wonder." 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "What does Seabury think we do all night?" [00:55] 4Cav pauses. "I don't know. Maybe he just sits there all night, playing his music loud and fuming at me." 4Takes one of the stouts. He did buy them all. "We had a strange meeting." [00:55] "I think we should, I dunno. Look for ways to more actively get him into shit. Maybe without it looking like my idea." 15[00:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "At you? You mean cause you're not gonna be middle management for 200 years and he is?" [00:57] 4He makes a private face to himself off the veranda. Stouts, man. "I suppose. He seems to resent the 'burns twice as bright' part, and not be considering the 'twice as fast'." 15[00:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie stands up suddenly. "Dude." 15[00:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "DUDE." 15[00:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "I just." 15[00:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "DUDE." [00:58] 4Cav: "Deputy Choi, it appears inspiration has struck." 15[00:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "So like, the whole thing is, right." [00:59] "Reveal your dread theremin secrets." 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "Like we're supposed to be, like, getting the County ready for the Court." 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "Stabilizing the Territory." 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "Right?" 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "So they can move in?" [00:59] 4Cavanaugh: "That is indeed our charter." 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So, okay. Hear me out." 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "What if we did the opposite?" 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "What if we seceded?" 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "What if Horton Hears a Seabury was the Prince of Orange County?" 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "And we were his best people?" [01:00] 4For the briefest of seconds, Cavanaugh's reaction is: 'Wait, didn't I already tell these guys about this?' Followed by: 'haha, no, because that's treason.' Right. Good show, Cav. Glad we're on the same page here. [01:02] "I think that's a very dangerous idea to espouse, Deputy Choi. So I'm not gonna say yes, and I'm not gonna say no. Mainly because it would be so unbearably rude to acknowledge the future Prince of Orange County as 'Horton Hears a Seabury.'" 15[01:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie cackles. 15[01:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "Man." 15[01:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "Who fuckin named these people?" 15[01:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah, what's good, my name's Whitaker Kingsland Bailey. These are my associates, Solitude Agnew and H.H. Seabury. This is all normal and sensical as fuck." 15[01:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "Fuckin. My best vampire friend is named Leisurely." 15[01:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's not a fucking name!" [01:04] 4Cav: "I was just gonna make fun of her name, actually." 15[01:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a great name." [01:05] "I get to do that; she hugged me weirdly and cried on me." 15[01:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "But like, it's a great name for a character in a Pynchon novel." 15[01:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's not a name a person has." 15[01:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Is that what she did? Jesus." 15[01:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He sighs. "Leis..." [01:05] 4Cavanaugh: "Hey. Hey hey hey." [01:05] "Hey." [01:05] "..." [01:06] "Hey." [01:06] "Get this:" [01:06] "Zealous Morse." [01:06] "You heard about this dude?" 15[01:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie doubles over. [01:06] "No, no--" [01:07] "Have you heard about this dude?" 14[01:07] * Joins: trenchfoot_ [01:07] "You see, he's really, he's got a lot of faith. You might say he's..." 15[01:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Deep breath. Deep breath. Hooo. Hoooooooooo. "I'm guessing, uh. I'm guessing he's part of the asshole half of the vampire church?" 08[01:07] 4Cav points to Rollie. 15[01:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie giggles again. "Jesus." [01:08] "No, we were looking for Zealous. Zealous was the daily double." 15[01:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I didn't even put it in the form of a question." 15[01:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Fuck." [01:09] "But get it: he's also grumpy and fatalist, right? Morose, you might say. BUT he's kind of short with you? So take one letter out of the word you'd use to describe him." [01:09] "Zealous Morse." [01:09] "Boom." [01:09] "That dude's real name is definitely like, Chet." [01:10] "Chet MacDougal. He's Scottish now. I don't even care." 15[01:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Man. Betty Foster, born 1820." 14[01:10] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [01:11] "Eh. If she's a Betty, I support the transition." 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Leis is a great name. If there's a guy out there whose name is Zealous, then Leisurely's on the damn table." [01:14] 4Cav is staring up at the sky, musing. "Santiago Aguilar. That name probably means something." [01:14] "Aguilar is like, eagle. Santiago is...I knew a dude with a video game when I was a kid, had some lady in it. General Santiago?" [01:15] "Corporal?" [01:15] "Happened in space. Looked boring." [01:15] "Point was, she was all about war. Santiago Aguilar. War eagle." 15[01:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "St. James, is what Santiago means." 15[01:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's like San Diego." [01:16] "St. James Eagle." [01:16] "Less impressive." [01:16] "Gonna stick with 'war'." 15[01:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "That sounds like something you'd get for being the neonazi of the month." 15[01:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "The St. James Eagle." 08[01:17] 4More beer. "That's a fucked up thing to say about a coworker's name, Rollie, instead of acknowledging that he's a damn war eagle." 15[01:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Hey, I mean. Let it never be said that Santiago Aguilar is not a brave and honorable man." 15[01:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "And like, you've seen him and the Baroness, right? They're so good together. It's fucked up." [01:18] "Agreed. Santiago Aguilar is a friend, and let it never be said he unfortunately shares a name with the neo-Nazi award for Employee of the Month." [01:18] 4That shuts Cav up for awhile actually. 15[01:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Right now Rollie's hoping he and Maja have a shot at that. 15[01:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "So what does the HH actually stand for?" [01:21] "Like he'd tell me that." [01:21] "You know what it'll stand for when he's Prince, though." [01:21] "His Highness." [01:21] "Yeah? Yeah?" 15[01:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Hell yes." [01:22] 4Cav leans over and smokes the last of the weed. "I am about to call the second-floor veranda portion of the evening." 15[01:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I think it's been a productive session." 15[01:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then Rollie laughs so hard he snorts. [01:23] "I am sure you have an unlimited number of social engagements to be speeding off to, given that it's only..." 4Glances at wrist which has no watch. "Like, 1 AM." [01:23] "But." [01:23] "If you don't." [01:24] "I do have a giant television, and Netflix, and a lot more blood. And I really want to remember what pizza tastes like." 15[01:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Shit yeah, man. I'm mostly hanging out until the bed of nails comes in." 15[01:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "Everything else is tomorrow." [01:26] 4And you know what? Just gonna let that one go. "You give a shit where I order from?" 15[01:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I do not. Order away, my friend." [01:27] 4They walk inside, leaving the veranda quiet, empty and alone, save the gasping wind, and the grinding water below. 15[01:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10About five hours later, in the wee hours, before the sun comes up, Maja Kovacevic receives a text message. 15[01:28] <@VoxPVoxD> [01:28] 3Maja: 15[01:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:29] <@VoxPVoxD> < <3 > 09[01:29] * banana|split is now known as banana [01:29] 3Maja: [01:30] 3Maja: 15[01:30] <@VoxPVoxD> [01:30] 3Maja: 15[01:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A moment later. 15[01:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:31] <@VoxPVoxD> [01:31] 4This dude. 15[01:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:31] <@VoxPVoxD> [01:32] 3Maja: 08[01:32] 3Man, is Rollie fucking hammered, or what? [01:33] 3Maja: 15[01:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  15[01:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:34] <@VoxPVoxD> [01:34] 3Maja: [01:35] 3Maja: 15[01:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie readjusts himself on the couch, on which he could not possibly sit upright. Princess whines plaintively. 15[01:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 14[01:42] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 08[01:44] 3Maja to Cav: 08[01:45] 4To Rollie: 08[01:45] 4To Rollie: 08[01:45] 4To Rollie: 15[01:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Cav:  08[01:46] [01:46] 15[01:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Cav:  15[01:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Maja:  15[01:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 08[01:47] 3Maja to Rollie: [01:47] 4To Maja: [01:47] [01:47] 3To Cav: [01:49] 4To Maja: [01:49] 15[01:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Cav:  08[01:51] 4To Rollie: 15[01:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  15[01:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[01:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 08[01:52] 4To Rollie: 15[01:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 08[01:52] 3Maja to Rollie: 08[01:52] 4To Rollie: 15[01:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Maja:  08[01:52] 3To Rollie: 15[01:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Maja:  [01:53] 3To Cav: 08[01:54] 3To Rollie: 15[01:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 08[01:55] 4To Maja: [01:55] 4To Maja: 15[01:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Maja:  [01:56] 4To Maja: [01:56] 3To Cav: [01:58] 4To Maja: 08[01:59] 3To Rollie: [01:59] 4To Maja: [01:59] 4To Maja: [01:59] 4To Maja: [02:00] 3To Cav: [02:00] 4To Maja: 15[02:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Maja:  15[02:01] <@VoxPVoxD> [02:01] 4To Maja: 15[02:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 15[02:01] <@VoxPVoxD> < <3 > 08[02:01] 3To Rollie: 15[02:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie falls asleep on the couch, singing 'Fame' again. [02:04] 3To Cav: [02:06] 4Cav pauses and just stares at the screen a second before responding. [02:09] 4He tosses the phone away and slips backwards onto the wide, empty bed in the wide, empty room. [02:09] 4Bit by bit, arms started shaking; spinning around, the kids wanna make it; piece by piece, cold time erasing; what we want and what we'll be taking; what we want and what we'll be taking; it's no choice, if it's just a broken heart... 14[02:15] * Joins: ddt 14[02:25] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[02:57] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[03:16] * Quits: dammitwho 14[03:41] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[07:18] * Joins: mattbaby 14[08:01] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[08:25] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[08:25] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[08:29] * Joins: drinkybird 14[08:30] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[08:53] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[08:53] * Joins: mugabe 14[08:58] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[09:17] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[09:18] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[10:22] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:55] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[11:09] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:03] * Joins: mugabe 14[12:39] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[12:41] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[13:13] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[13:22] * Joins: ddt 11[14:39] * Disconnected Session Close: Sat May 23 14:39:21 2015 Session Start: Sat May 23 17:20:55 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[17:20] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[17:20] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[17:20] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[17:20] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[17:23] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[17:24] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[17:33] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[18:10] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[18:20] * Joins: Crion_ 14[18:49] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[19:06] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[19:06] * Joins: Crion 14[19:25] * Joins: mugabe 14[19:32] * Joins: Zarick 14[19:40] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[19:50] * Joins: Crion_ 14[20:04] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[20:06] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[20:08] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[20:23] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:24] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[20:41] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[20:42] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 09[20:42] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[20:44] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[20:44] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[20:44] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[20:51] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[21:55] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[21:59] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[22:00] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[22:15] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[22:22] * Joins: dammitwhoaa 14[22:26] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[22:27] * Joins: FerrinusSpace_ 14[22:27] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 09[22:27] * FerrinusSpace_ is now known as FerrinusSpace 14[22:28] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[22:28] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[22:39] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[22:41] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[22:43] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[22:43] * Joins: FerrinusSpace_ 09[22:43] * FerrinusSpace_ is now known as FerrinusSpace 14[22:56] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[23:21] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[23:26] * Joins: ddt 14[23:30] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[23:30] * Joins: Crion__ 14[23:31] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) Session Time: Sun May 24 00:00:00 2015 14[00:35] * Quits: Crion__ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[00:39] * Joins: ddt 09[01:13] * dammitwhoaa is now known as dammitwhoa 09[02:02] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[02:10] * Quits: dammitwhoa 09[02:18] * banana is now known as bananarb 09[02:32] * bananarb is now known as banana [02:36] - [02:36] - [02:36] - [02:36] - [02:36] - [02:36] - [02:41] It's a stroke of good fortune that Edgar's connection is monied enough to afford her own helicopter, or else he'd have to spend four solid hours driving tonight. Instead, he only has to make his way to the same private airfield the deputies used to embark on the last, much less pleasant, helicopter flight. [02:46] 6Edgar Doolittle has been anticipating this. Looking forward to it, except he doesn't precisely know what it is and therefore whether that is the right direction. [02:46] 6Blythe Sulzberger is interesting. He likes the quiet woman with pointed literature and the ability to play along when jokes go wrong. The Countess Lancaster will also be present - a ruler of the night, a master of etiquette and a creature of presumed monstrousness which has become something of a challenge. 14[02:47] * Joins: trurl [02:49] 6He's driven to the Invictus airfield in the new old car, in nicer clothes than he'd wear to work, with a small thing under his arm and no particular expectations. Edgar is old enough not to need them. [02:50] There isn't anyone to let him in, but he should remember how to slip in through the gate, and wait near the empty hangar. Soon, the quiet and cool air is disturbed by the light chop-chop noise of the helicopter's descending rotors, and the big red Bell alights gently onto the tarmac. 14[02:51] * Joins: dammitwho 14[02:51] * Joins: autopsy_turvey [02:51] The passenger seat panel and the one in front of it on the copilot's side pop open, and the flight engineer slash copilot sticks his helmeted head out to shout. "Edgar Doolittle?" [02:52] 6It's not Santiago, is it? Who knows how many pilots there are to press into service.. [02:52] It is not. He's never seen them before, but they don't have Beasts to contend with. [02:54] 6A vampire to a man: "Yep. You heading to the Lancaster estate?" [02:55] "We are. You don't get airsick, do you?" [02:57] 6Edgar: "Nope," 6He climbs in like he's done it before recently, but leaves the conversation hanging in case the pilot will admit to a name. [02:59] "Then this'll be easy as pie." The co-pilot hands him a headset while the pilot fiddles with the instruments. With a lurch, the helicopter moves upward. "I'm Ken, this is Frank. We should be there in about half an hour." [03:00] He's about right in his estimate. The route takes them north before they bank northwest. The lights of the megalopolis fade in the south, and are replaced by the dark looming peaks of the mountains and their woods. [03:02] Then, the mountains give way to the long, rolling plain covered in dust and desert scrub, and the faint lights of Lancaster and Palmdale illustrate the rough outskirts of Southern California's most populated region. [03:03] 6Edgar wonders whether the poppy fields will be visible. "You boys get a lot of ferry work, or is this thing for cargo?" [03:04] 6Huh. Pretending to be a lawman is catching. [03:06] Frank drops a few hundred feet when he catches sight of the airstrip. Ken answers Edgar's question. "Mostly getting people who don't like to drive over the hump. About a quarter of the time it takes a car. And that's when they bother to come out here in the first place. Not a whole lot of visitors." [03:07] 6Edgar: "Then you must be part-time." [03:09] "Well, you learn how to drive, and you learn how to fly, and you'll never be short of work in this business." [03:10] When the helicopter lands, the engine dies, and then another white-gloved ghoul is waiting next to a Mercedes with its back passenger door open. [03:11] There's water in the back, if he wants it. No magazines, though. The car takes another fifteen minutes to get to its destination, and then- [03:13] The actual twin cities are visible in the distance, but the mansion sits alone on its enormous estate. The hills surround the house and its subbuildings like a curtain, although they're still browned by the season. It's cold out here, really cold, not the mild chill of the coastal foothills. The desert stretches in every direction. [03:13] 6The nice thing about having to go out of your way to get thirsty - for water, anyway - is that you don't have to. Edgar does his part to help with the drought by avoiding it. [03:15] 6Now this is a home for someone who enjoys solitude - or wants to be seen that way. Because Edgar isn't sure of his own purpose he hasn't ruled out politics, and so he thinks: the praxis of a Countess is large- but what does it mean when it's desert? A title of courtesy, almost.. or of greater respect since it doesn't need to be justified the usual way. Humm. [03:17] 6He'll thank the ghoul unless this one has been notably standoffish and look for the way inside. Grand entrance that welcomes visitors despite the isolation? Security or obscurity gates? [03:20] The ghoul chaffeur nods in appreciation, and tells him to go straight up to the house. Its jutting colonnaded portico makes it look a bit like Monticello. The interior is all lit up, anyway. Cameras watch the front door from modestly hidden half-orb installations, but there's no apparently extra layer of security. The front door isn't even locked. [03:21] no apparent extra layer* [03:23] There's an intercom, which seems to be a common feature on kindred's houses. It buzzes, and it's the Countess herself. "Come in, Mr. Doolittle. I'll join you very shortly in the foyer." [03:26] "Will do," 6Edgar tells the air. He lets himself inside, comparing - visiting the homes of the rich has been a pasttime, though it's usually for some asshole to try and impress him or a crew before offering low pay for dangerous work. This time he's actually interested in the facade. [03:29] The entranceway is emptied of staff. Whoever decorated the interior seems to be very fond of a black and white color scheme, because the wooden paneling has been painted ebony, and the floors have been given a marble-looking finish overlaid with enormous crimson rugs. Somewhere, hidden speakers produce Debussy at a pleasant volume. [03:31] At the top of the large and curving stairway, the woman Edgar approached for the first time more than two weeks appears, wearing a black dress, draped in pearls, of the same flowing sort she was wearing at the ball. Her hat is nowhere to be seen. [03:32] 6..a soundtrack? That might be overdoing- but there's something more important, a point of etiquette requiring split second reactions. Is she breathing? Because if so, then so is he, not otherwise. [03:32] She isn't. The Countess looks as pale as ever. And as she descends- [03:33] Well, it's just a feeling of mild discomfort. [03:33] 6The challenge. If he's honest, which is rare, this is the reason Edgar's here. [03:35] 6Edgar: "Good evening, Countess and Blythe both. It's good to find an outpost in this stark country with straight lines against the hills." [03:37] "Mr. Doolittle. I find the crickets make better neighbors, and sweeter music." Her feet striking the stone of the staircase is the only sound she makes. "How was your flight? I find the helicopter to be a very agreeable way of being moved from place to place, so I envy you the opportunity. I haven't been up since the night of the ball." And as she draws closer- [03:40] It's no worse, and better once she's near, and then it's gone. [03:40] "Are you here officially? 'On the clock?'" [03:41] 6Edgar: "Being moved is the key thing, isn't it? Your will, another's act. The composer duels the crickets." [03:43] "Mm. Maybe. When I'm being flown, I can't say that I think much of my will, or anyone else's. I'm much too busy looking out the window." [03:46] 6Edgar takes a step forward, holds out the book with a smile (barely visible beneath the perpetual two-weeks' beard): "Countess Lancaster, it's been impossible to find a bookclub that keeps our kind of hours. Have you come across Anita Desai?" [03:47] Lancaster takes the book, and examines its cover. "I haven't! What a thoughtful gift. Is she very good?" 14[03:51] * Joins: trenchfoot_ [03:52] 6The title is Clear Light of Day. "Think so,"6 says Edgar, "in an oddly nonjudgemental way. Colonists were lining up at one point to be scoured by this particular kind of postcolonial writing. I'd be glad to hear what you think, as on my part it reminds me of the virtues of America, where we do not have equivalent problems." 14[03:54] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [03:56] 6Of course he didn't answer the original question. It wasn't meant to be answered.. probably. He's on the edge of the wading pool here. [03:57] The Countess opens the book to its first page and runs a finger down its length. "'The koels began to call before daylight. Their voices rang out from the dark trees like an arrangement of bells, calling and echoing each others' calls, mocking and enticing each other into ever higher and shriller calls'. Hm. I don't think I've read very many Indian authors." [03:58] She looks around the room, before she can catch herself. "Ah. I would normally hand this off to someone, but I've just now remembered that I shooed the staff away for the night." 14[04:03] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[04:03] * Quits: trurl (Read error: Connection reset by peer) [04:06] 6Edgar: "I'm sure it will survive an end table or a shelf. Can I ask a practical question?" [04:07] The Countess stows it under her arm. "Certainly." [04:08] 6Edgar: "Is maintaining staff made difficult by the clan nature, or do you have a way around that?" [04:09] "The way around it is patience and a healthy outlet for the attendant frustrations." [04:12] "Like gardening." Lancaster smiles. Her clan's nature runs deeper than her looks, it seems. "Would you like a tour of our greenhouses? I have something there that I think you might find interesting." [04:12] 6Edgar: "No shortcuts! Well, that's in keeping." [04:13] "Yes, I'd like to see." 6Greenhouses..? Must be for soil rather than sun, out here. [04:14] 6Maybe it's not a night for internal monologue. "Out here, is that for soil rather than extra light?" [04:17] The Countess leads Edgar through the house's guts. They pass through an enormous dining room and a kitchen that looks like it could service a small and very expensive hotel by the time they reach a large door with a swinging lock. "Both, actually. The High Desert isn't inimical to life, but its indigenous flora is bred for hardiness rather than beauty. And with the right application of light and heat, you can trick the [04:17] plants into thinking it's the middle of March, and not November." [04:17] She pulls the door open. "After you. And you'll see what I mean-" [04:19] The room runs for dozens of feet. The air is filled with moisture, and more is added at intervals by puffing misters. The gentle whirr of fans overhead is the loudest part of the room's ventilation system, and the rows of lights pointing down makes it as bright as the day. [04:20] In rows are flowering plants of every color and species. In the center, taking up a solid four rows, are dozens and dozens of poppies, orange and red. [04:20] 6Edgar enters the greenhouse, shielding- no, he doesn't need to protect his eyes from the light. It's just an instinct gone wrong. [04:22] 6The flowers! He walks sedately down the rows, seeing and smelling. What a combination of colours, like a flag.. [04:23] Lancaster follows, letting him tour. When they've reached the middle, she brushes his shoulder and points. "Your sire…" [04:24] "Wonderful. Wonderful to see the colour of this land being brought out within it- the house makes more sense now. So nice to see something with a purpose for once." 6What's this? [04:24] At the head of the room, behind glass, is an enormous painting, almost ten feet tall. The Countess is wearing a hat this time, and a stole, and standing in front of a red background. Around her are flowers. [04:24] http://i.imgur.com/49HlR0y.jpg [04:25] "I mean a purpose in this continued living, something to do- some other friends were-" 6He trails off to appraise the portrait. [04:27] "Good work, Morton. Has he captured.. past and present for you?" [04:28] 6Because if so, that trail of flowers runs from an ancient battlefield to a river in dry land. [04:29] "Only the past. It was commissioned a few decades after my Embrace." She plucks an iris and smells it. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. Some of your friends were…?" [04:33] 6Edgar: "Worrying about purpose. Chance of long life seems to take people that way, which I think is a reaction by the mind against Halloween. If we're worried about forever, it skips the question of reaching it, you know?" [04:36] Lancaster gives him a pained and reluctant smile. "I don't mean to be insensitive, but…" [04:36] "I wouldn't have expected you to be preoccupied with how to spend your eternity." [04:36] 6Raised eybrows. [04:37] 6Ah. [04:43] "Oh, I'm not. Leaving famed misfortune aside.." 6He reconsiders. It'd be.. nice, to be able to talk. "Well, we could jaw all about that if you like. But you know, I know how to go on if able- thanks to Morton again." 6He looks the painting up and down, and the Countess also- it's a good comparison. [04:43] 6Edgar: "Maybe don't bother with every word said, but he's a good teacher in deeds. Find a place of safety, something of beauty, and a role to play. That's all that's needed." [04:45] The Countess lays the iris back down in the soil. "Until politics interferes." [04:49] 6Edgar turns away from the painting, hands on an emptier planter box around him to see more of the greenhouse. "That's a medium. Do you know, we met - Lord Munoz and I - because I was doing something like politics and he had an unusual need to fulfil. Would you like a guess?" 6He doesn't think Morton would mind in this case. [04:51] "I know he doesn't like venturing beyond his walls. But I couldn't guess." [04:54] 6Edgar: "Lead paints. Dangerous if you rely on breathing, but they have a vibrancy and body - I'm told - which is impossible to replicate with modern zinc or titanium pigments. Mostly haven't been made in a century, and they've been outright illegal for half of that." [04:54] She turns to look at the painting. "Then I'm glad I put it behind glass." [04:57] 6Edgar: "I suspect if fixed on a painting it's fine- not that it would matter either way to him. Personally I think a man who'll go to lengths outside of two nations' laws and his own comfort for the right shade of colour is.. an example. Someone who's found a necessary thing." [04:57] "Will you tell me about the flowers?" [05:01] Lancaster puts a long finger on the vine. "They're Eschsholzia californica. Golden poppies. The official state flower, as a matter of fact. They need full sun and slightly sandy soil. They don't produce opium…although if you do it properly, you can extract a mild sedative from its leaves." [05:03] "They grow all across the Reserve, of course. But mustard grass cuts through it like a laser. You have to watch for that outside of the greenhouse." [05:03] 6This is not a topic about which Edgar has much understanding other than the general autodidact's assortment of trivia. They're nice to look at, though. [05:04] "I think I agree with your sire 14[05:04] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[05:05] * Joins: dammitwho [05:06] "I think I agree with your sire's example, Mr. Doolittle. Isolation can be like a garden for the self. There are other considerations than tending to something beautiful, aren't there. The two competing responsibilities? Like the Gleichzeitigkeit des Ungleichzeitigen." [05:08] "Outside of French and Spanish," 6Edgar admits, "I'm lost." [05:10] "The simultaneity of the non-simultaneous. Cell phones and feudal aristocracy. Parties and laws. Countesses who won their territory through violence and gardens." 14[05:14] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) [05:14] 6Edgar: "Right! We have polite fictions to avoid reconciling these things, or some people.. revel.. but isn't it better to do what you do, and reflect? To consider and understand as best you can." [05:14] "Because company means taste and spared feelings, that usually takes isolation. Might not have to, always." [05:18] "I don't know, Mr. Doolittle. I was brought up for the second time honoring polite fictions. In my independence, I try not to indulge in them." [05:18] in them."* [05:19] 6Edgar: "How'd the first go?" [05:21] She picks up a trowel and jabs it into the dirt. "Well enough. Leisured and monied." [05:25] "But it took the second run to bring on that pressure- see the world as everyone sees it?" 6He's curious. If 'polite fictions' were new to her vampire days, then maybe she came from an unusual time or place. [05:28] The grip around the trowel tightens. "My…sire….taught me using that pressure. Before that, whatever prejudices I faced were comparatively minor. And then they were…a way of smoothing things." [05:30] "It's better to purchase your honesty through strength." [05:31] "Rather than concern yourself with others' weaknesses and lies and excuses." [05:35] 6Edgar: "I hear that." [05:35] 6Edgar: "It does mean you have to keep being strong, almost all the time." [05:39] "I'd rather be dead having bitten off more than is responsible than think of myself as weak, to be quite honest with you. My territory is the evidence of my strength." [05:41] 6Hell yes, sort of. At least hell and yes figure individually. "How much range does Lancaster cover, Countess?" [05:43] Lancaster stabs the trowel into the soil and lets it stand. "More than anyone else except the Prince, and with half a million souls within its boundaries." [05:45] 6Invictus feeding rights.. the exclusive territory of the predator. Edgar is not fully reconciled to this concept, or willing to commit himself to a position either. He's been.. lucky, which means other people, humans, have been made unlucky on his behalf. Well. [05:45] "And what it lacks in charm, population density, cultural capital, or prestige, it makes up for it with distance and space. And the popular knowledge that I tore apart every Circle fool I came across to get it." [05:46] "Once you have your strength to use, the polite fictions applied to others is a form of sadism. And I have not inherited that." [05:47] "That's an unquestionable victory." 6And an ambiguous one: is he referring to to the territory or the lack of sadism? [05:47] "I would like my enemies to know where they stand, and either run or die in response." [05:47] 6Edgar: "Were the Circle and nonsensical in these parts as we've seen southeast?" [05:47] *as vicious and nonsensical [05:48] 6Edgar: "Were the Circle as vicious and nonsensical in these parts as we've seen southeast?" [05:48] "I've never met yours. They were old and settled." [05:50] 6Edgar: "Sanguis fugit. Excuse the dog latin." [05:51] "The Prince only grants Counties to those who take them by force and grant glory and territory to the Court in the process. My sire, although he's earned the title Lord through age and ability, is a Baron. And I am a Countess. So why should I indulge in polite fictions?" [05:57] 6We live, Edgar thinks, in a society at war. He's been placed almost immediately on a Side, and seen the face of the enemy as well as that of friendship, and perhaps neither can be redeemed, so it's a good thing they don't need it. "You'll recall I don't think you should. The usual answer is someone has power over you and demands it- which does not apply." [05:57] "Is it the only thing you have against parties?" [05:59] "No. But it is the one that makes me sound the most formidable." [05:59] It's obvious, from her smile, that she's made a joke. [06:09] 6Edgar chuckles, postoccupied- which is to say his mind is occupied by the previous discussion, not anything external. It'll take time to digest. "Season's only so long, at least. Any other pieces of the desert enclosed in this showcase?" [06:11] The smile recedes until her lips are pressed together, and she takes his measure. [06:14] 6A perceptive woman would see: someone who's interested and wants to know more, presently uncomfortable but in a subsiding way, like it's an attitude that rises and then inevitably submerges again into an abiding ability to relax. [06:16] "I appreciate the company, Mr. Doolittle. It can become quiet up here. In the future, do let me know if there's anything I could do to put you in a similar position." [06:16] "In the meantime, look at this." [06:16] She walks him down the rows, pointing the flowers of the High Desert out one by one, and the night passes. [06:17] "Malacothrix Californica, the California desert dandelion…" [06:17] NEXT TIME: University of California, Irvine 09[06:24] * Quaker is now known as Quaker_zzz [06:24] 6All things considered, and there are many such things, it's the best night he's had in quite a while. 14[06:28] * Quits: Quaker_zzz (Quit: Quaker_zzz) 14[07:01] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[08:20] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[08:20] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 09[08:20] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[08:29] * Quits: banana (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[08:43] * Joins: banana 14[09:09] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[09:16] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[09:18] * Quits: dammitwho 14[09:22] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[10:37] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[10:37] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 09[10:58] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[11:16] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:39] * Joins: ddt 14[11:42] * Joins: mugabe 14[12:08] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[12:28] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[13:15] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[13:20] * Joins: Crion__ 09[13:20] * Crion__ is now known as Crion_ 14[14:02] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[14:56] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:16] * Joins: hrolf 14[15:31] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:34] * Joins: Crion_ 14[15:36] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[15:36] * Joins: hrolfie 14[15:37] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[15:47] * banana is now known as banana|peels 09[15:47] * banana|peels is now known as bananasleep 14[16:01] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[16:33] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:57] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[17:06] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[18:01] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[18:23] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:02] * Joins: dammitwho 11[19:04] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun May 24 19:04:38 2015 Session Start: Sun May 24 19:04:38 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[19:05] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[19:05] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[19:05] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[19:05] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 14[19:05] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 11[19:05] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun May 24 19:05:47 2015 Session Start: Sun May 24 19:05:47 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[19:05] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[19:05] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[19:05] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[19:05] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[19:05] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Despite the sirens in the distance, the bakery is open all night. 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> It's a tiny little building, all long counter and displays, with only a single long table and a bench running beside it for people to sit and eat their food. The light is a sickly orange and it flickers on and off with the far-off impacts. 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> What's going on out there doesn't matter right now, though. What matters is: what did Maja order? [20:27] 3Obviously a churro. 15[20:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Then she's still enjoying it, one hopes, when the bell over the door rings and someone sweeps in, bringing a bit of the wind with them. The man behind the counter sees Alisa and tenses involuntarily. What does Maja see? [20:30] 3A dark and beautiful sweet baby aaaaangel. Maybe, idk. [20:31] 3Actually, she's kinda scary. [20:33] 7She's short and deeply tanned, with dark hair and worn clothes. She looks young, enough that she might have trouble getting into a nightclub without a good fake ID. [20:34] 7She huffs onto the bench and demands a churro, pounding the table exuberantly. [20:35] 3Maja: "Would someone please get the woman a churro!" [20:35] 7Alisa: "I know, right?" [20:35] 3Maja wouldn't normally heckle the person behind the counter, but he's been a suuuuuuuper dick tonight. [20:36] 3Maja: "Might want to check to make she he didn't loogie on it first." 15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Unable to resist the combined efforts, the man behind the counter comes out with a tray of hot churros sitting on paper. The light flickers again and he takes to the back room, away from them. [20:38] 7Alisa: "Eh. Just gonna wipe 'em off first." [20:38] 7She holds out a hand. "Alisa." [20:42] 3Maja grabs her hand and gives it a firm squeeze. "Maja. Pleasure to meet your acquaintance." [20:43] 7Alisa: "Right on. So what's there to do around here? I haven't been around in aaaaaaaages." [20:47] "Depends on what you're into. What're you normally doing on a Sunday night? I mean, besides not being in mass." 3She pauses a second. "And how long is 'ages,' my friend?" [20:50] 7She screws her face up in thought. "Forty, fifty years?" [20:52] 3Maja: "Ah, long before I was around." [20:55] 3Maja: "Anyway, to answer your previous question- personally, I like to roam around find someone who's high. Preferably on jenkem. But that's just me." 14[20:56] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [20:57] 7She pauses. "I don't know what that is." [20:57] 3Maja smirks. "Just your standard street drug, really. An inhalant." [20:59] "Anyway, there are probably more fun things to do. What are you in the mood for?" [21:01] 7Alisa: "I dunno, man. Is..... is going to Mass a big thing now?" [21:04] 3Maja winces. Shouldn't have brought it up. "I guess, if you're a sucker dweeb who works for the church like me. But I'm playing hookey tonight." [21:06] 7Alisa props her chin on her hands and grins at Maja. "So you aren't the chump they sent out to see if the dread Unholy is gonna burn the city down? You're not being tricked right now?" [21:07] 3Maja mirrors her posture. "It's entirely possible I am, and they just sent me in as the canary." 14[21:08] * Joins: mugsy 09[21:09] * mugabe is now known as Guest4299 09[21:09] * mugsy is now known as mugabe [21:10] 7Alisa: "Well, that's good. That's good, we all know where we stand. So what do you do for the First Church of the Monster Mash when you aren't eating churros, chula?" 14[21:12] * Quits: Crion_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[21:12] * Joins: Crion_ 14[21:12] * Quits: Guest4299 (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [21:14] 3OOOoooooOOOOOoooo, 'chula,' eh? "Well, I used to be able to say I did therapy- helping vampires emotionally adjust to their damnation or whatever. But shit has gotten complicated recently.' [21:15] "But enough about me, sweety." [21:16] "What brings you in town?" [21:18] 7Alisa: "No, wait. Hold on. Go back. You're a therapist?" [21:18] "They sent a--" [21:18] 7She laughs. "That is SUCH a good idea!" [21:18] 3Maja: "You laugh ... but it is." [21:20] "Tell me ... what are you feeling, Alisa." [21:21] 3Maja holds a very straight face. [21:21] 7Alisa: "Wellllll, I've always been resentful of my mom, and... hang on. There aren't any couches here." [21:21] "Dangit" [21:23] 3Maja: "Good point. Really, it's the couch that holds all the therapy magic." [21:25] 7Alisa: "Hang on. Lemme--" 7She crawls up onto the counter, pushing baskets of old food aside as she lies down, carefully propping her head up on a napkin dispenser. [21:25] "There, perfect." 7She waves a hand magnanimously. "You may begin!" [21:31] 3Maja giggles and seats herself on the counter, grabs a napkin and a straw to use as a pen and pad of paper. "Okay, Alisa. Tell me what's on your mind. What brings you here tonight?" [21:36] 7Alisa: "Autokinesis!" [21:38] 3Maja gets off the counter. "Autokinesis? Never believed in that stuff, really." [21:39] 7Alisa: "I strongly recommend it. Clears the sinuses." [21:42] "Personally, I think that's my favorite part about-" 3Maja waves her arms towards her body- "all o' this. No more mucus." [21:44] 7Alisa: "Oh, for sure. Being a vampire is one hundred percent the best." [21:46] 3Maja: "Eh. It's got its pros, sure. Sure, I'll give you its pros." [21:47] "That whole being damned thing is pretty bullshit, though. But idk, whatever." [21:53] 7Alisa: "Damnation isn't a real thing, so whatevs indeed!" [21:54] 3Maja raises her eyebrow. Sounds like a convo worth having, especially while Alisa's still strewn across a mountain of garbage. "No? You don't believe in it?" [21:55] 7Alisa: "Why would I?" [21:55] 3Maja shrugs. "I dunno. Kinda a big deal around these parts. Lotsa people killing each other over it." [21:57] 7Alisa: "Lots of people kill each other over not real things, that ain't new." [21:59] 3Maja: "Personally, I think it is very rude to kill people, especially for reasons that aren't good." [21:59] 7Alisa: "Well, you're a sweetheart. You and Anna would get along, I think." [22:02] 3Maja giggles. "I'm not sure what to make of your standard for being a sweetheart, but I appreciate that." [22:03] "Alisa, would you get off that mound of garbage already?" 14[22:03] * Joins: FerrinusSpace [22:03] 7Alisa: "See, now you sound like Father Lis. And absolutely not." [22:04] "Well, I don't wanna be like that guy. He sounds like a nard." 3Maja sighs and sits cross-legged next to Alisa on the floor. [22:05] "He's a good man and union." 7She pauses. "And a huge nard." [22:05] "What about you, Maja? Do you believe you're ~daaaamned for allll tiiiime~?" [22:09] 3Maja bobbles her head as Alisa mocks her. "WELL, Alisa. I can't say that I know one way or another, really." 3She pauses. "You know, they would maybe kill me if they heard me answer your question like that." 14[22:09] * Joins: FerrinusSpace_ 14[22:10] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 09[22:10] * FerrinusSpace_ is now known as FerrinusSpace [22:11] 7Alisa: "Just tell 'em you were too afraid of me or something." [22:11] 3Maja: "Afraid of you? Nah, you're a darling. Wouldn't hurt a fly." 14[22:14] * Joins: FerrinusSpace_ [22:14] 7Alisa affects a whiny teenager voice. "Noooo stopppp I'm really scary!!!" 14[22:15] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 09[22:15] * FerrinusSpace_ is now known as FerrinusSpace [22:16] 3Maja affects her best kindergarten teacher voice. "I'm sorry. You're right. You're very scary, it was wrong of me to say otherwise." [22:20] 3Maja: "Hey. Alisa. When's the last time you've played Truth or Dare?" [22:20] 7Alisa: "Thank you." 7She closes her eyes. "I have never played that game." [22:21] 3Maja: "Why not? Too cool?" [22:22] "Or ... are you ... chicken?" [22:22] 7Alisa: "When was it even invented, though?" [22:23] "Whatever. Whatever. Whatever. Go! Do it!" [22:23] 3Maja: "Pretty certain it's been around since time immemorial." [22:23] "Okay. Do you understand the rules of the game?" [22:25] 7Alisa: "I understand everything." [22:26] 3Maja: "Except Jenkem, you mean." [22:27] 7Alisa: "I decline to acknowledge that." [22:28] 3Maja: "Alright. Truth or Dare?" [22:30] 7Alisa: "First one, then the other." [22:31] 3Maja shouts: "I THOuGHT you SAID you knew the rules of the GAME. Ugh." [22:32] "Okay. So. Truth." [22:32] "Who's the biggest dumb idiot in your crew?" [22:32] "WAIT" [22:32] "No." [22:33] "If you HAD to kill one person in your crew-" [22:33] "Eh. No. Nevermind. Lets go with the first one." [22:35] 7Alisa: "Has anyone ever told you you're indecisive? Does it cause you problems in your love life?" [22:35] 3Maja stifles a laugh. "Nope. Never been a problem." [22:36] 7Alisa: "Anyway. Biggest idiot? Me. Who would I kill? Reuben. He lied to me about microwaves." [22:37] 3Maja: [22:37] "What'd he tell you about them?" [22:40] 7Alisa: "Said the radiation was like radio waves and alla the japanese ovens play music over the radio to let you know they're done." [22:40] "It made sense! Those guys are smart, right? With the robots and whatnot?" [22:41] 3Maja snorts. "Say, just how old are you, anyway?" [22:45] 7Alisa thinks for a second. "Five hundred-ish? Little less?" [22:45] 3Maja: "Daaaaaaaaaaang, you ooooooooold." [22:48] 7Alisa: "Old as balls." [22:49] Maja nods. "Okay, so now you get to ask me 'Truth or Dare?', and I will answer 'Truth,' because I'm super lazy. So go ahead n' ask me something." [22:52] 7Alisa: "Truth or Dare?" [22:59] "Truth." [23:05] 7Alisa: "How come you're not a vampire therapist anymore?" 14[23:08] * Joins: trenchfoot [23:08] 3Maja frowns. Serious time. "Well, I don't know if I am officially removed yet, but my position's jeopardized for a few reasons- to be clear, sleeping with 2 of my last 3 clients doesn't have much of anything to do with it, though." [23:09] "But the bigger thing-" [23:10] 7Alisa: "NICE" [23:10] 3Maja sits, pensive. "Is that I am developing sympathies for the local heretical cult that the church has been hunting. Which, for perhaps clear reasons, is a pretty impractical position to be in." 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The door swings open and the sirens are briefly audible in the little bakery. [23:14] 7Alisa: "Heretical cults are the best kind of cults, so that makes sense." [23:14] "Hey, move, you're blocking the way-" 13The second person to come in is careful not to actually step on the heels of the first.  15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A young woman, cold and pale, wearing fine clothes she didn't pick out, walks up and starts drumming on the counter. "Hey, hey. HEY!" 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "Where's the guy?" 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "The sign said 24 h-HEY!" 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi looks at the woman who followed her in. "Can you believe this?" [23:16] 3Maja's briefly somber moment is interrupted. "It seems you need a churro, my friend." 3She holds out one of her churros from her position on the floor. 14[23:16] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [23:16] "Their Zagat rating was superb. Is the guy gone?" [23:17] 3Zagat rating, huh. 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi stops, now, to take in the scene. She looks on Alisa with recognition. And she looks on Maja with something approaching mirth. "That's nice. I've got a better idea, though." 10With a gymnast's poise she vaults over the counter and plants on the other side, looking the woman who followed her in the eye. "What are you having?" [23:18] 7Alisa: "So what do they do, this cult? Anything cool?" 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She leans in to whisper to the other newcomer. "I think they scared the guy off." [23:19] 13Miranda walks around, looking for the little swinging door, and then she gets a couple paper bags and starts stuffing them full of pastries of every kind. 1"Well, if they're not here…"  [23:19] 3Maja: "Nah, they basically are just calling bullshit on the church for being all 'everyone's damned to hell forever by being a vampire. [23:20] 3She remains on the floor, watching the rampage. 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi watches Miranda out of a corner of her eye while loading a tray up with blintzes. [23:21] 13It's not a rampage. She's not stealing things 13messily13. 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi pops the register and leaves money for her blintzes and Miranda's everything. The bills are bank-fresh. [23:22] 7Alisa: "Isn't that, like, the opposite of cultishness? 'Don't worry bro, everything's fine'?" 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10As she walks around the counter she'll give Alisa a high-five before settling on the bench, legs crossed, to watch Maja and Alisa talk. 05[23:24] 7Alisa points lazily at Kirsi and Maja. "Kirsi, Maja. Maja, Kirsi." 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10From her perspective on the floor Maja might be given to notice that she's got really nice boots. "Nice to meet you!" 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Offered: "Blintz?" [23:26] 13Miranda's arms are full of bags full of dozens of churros, so it's only with a bit of difficulty that she takes all the bills from the register and stuffs them into the pockets of her parka. On her way out, she waves her hand at the camera watching the counter, which makes it spark and go still. "Seeya!" 14[23:27] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Now Kirsi's got a big old grin on her face. It takes a long time to reach her eyes. 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Well." 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "...fair enough." 14[23:27] * Joins: FerrinusSpace [23:28] 7Alisa: "Can't fault her for ambition." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. Kirsi Solovyeva. I just spent so long in a room full of blood fountains I started craving sweets." 14[23:29] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[23:29] * Joins: FerrinusSpace [23:29] 7Alisa: "14Do you guys really have blood fountains here" 05[23:30] 3Maja finally looks up from Kirsi's boots. "Oh jeez, sorry, I was distracted by your boots. They're wonderful. Nice to meet you, Kirsi." 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Dude, they've got a whole floor of the US Bank Tower cleared out. Some kind of party. These two mean girls who forgot how to be mean tried to sell me weed." [23:32] 7Alisa: "Is that a reference to something?" [23:32] 3Maja slows down her speech for Alisa. "Do you know what weed is? Weeeeed." 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi looks down at her boots. "Yeah, they're great. I didn't pick 'em out." 10To Alisa: "That reference is too advanced for you. We'd need to start you at 'Clueless' and work forward." [23:33] 7Alisa: "Hey! There's no need to be insulting just because I don't get your video game references or whatever." 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "'Clueless' is the second most important achievement in 1990s American cinema, Alisa." 14[23:33] * Joins: FerrinusPrime [23:34] 7Alisa: "Oh, right on. What's the first one." [23:34] 3Maja: "The first being 'The Craft.'" 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi looks at Maja: "Oh, I like you." [23:35] 3Maja: "It'd be hard not to. I'm very sweet. Ask Alisa." 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Okay. What do you make of Maja the Churro Dragon, Alisa?" [23:36] 7Alisa: "She is. She's a vampire therapist who sleeps with her patients sometimes, which to me seems like an unfairly maligned service." 14[23:36] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi almost chokes on a blintz. [23:36] 3Maja raspberries. "As if none of you have heard about the healing powers of sex." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A little jam runs down her chin before she wipes it up. "I mean." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Think about it for a second." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Vampire therapy." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Everyone's problems are either going to be boring as shit... or the most horrible thing you ever heard." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "I wouldn't want to talk either." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't know if that would be my Plan B, but." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "You know." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm not Californian." [23:38] 3Maja gnaws down on a churro. "What can I say? I just cannot resist the nookie." 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Well." 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Go on." [23:39] 7Alisa's grinning hugely. "Yeah! Come on, dish! What were they like? Were they huge nerds? I bet that's your 'type'." [23:40] 3Maja: "I mean, I dunno how y'all tend to get your blood. A buncha these goobers out here get paid in bloodpacks- but we common folk have to hunt on our own. So all those seduction skills tend to go towards gettin' that sweet Neck-tar." [23:40] "Sometimes, you gotta go after the real thing to keep them sharp." 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi shares a meaningful look with Alisa at the word 'Neck-tar'. [23:41] 3Maja notices it. Doesn't care. 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Anyway, I think Alisa asked the really important question here." 14[23:43] * Joins: mattbaby [23:43] 3With a mouth full of churro: "What? Mmph, oh yeah. They're both total nards. Cute ones, though. Cute nards. That's my type I guess." 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Getting paid in blood... I'm guessing Invictus? Those guys are really free with that shit out here. Like 'light-a-cigar-with-a-burning-bloodmobile' free with it." 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ugh. Invictus." [23:45] "Yeah, Invictus. The first one- oh man. That guy is super loaded. He had a .. fucken ... matching robe set." [23:45] "MATCHING ROBES" 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "That's some Fifty Shades shit." [23:45] 3Maja: "Ahahaha, you have no idea." [23:45] "That dude is straight up Christian Grey, 100%." [23:46] "Three piece suits, constantly, always." 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Really good-looking too, I bet?" [23:46] "He did this thing once, while we were in bed." [23:46] 7Alisa: "Wish I had robes. I'd never wear pants again." [23:46] "Oh yes, very handsome." 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi nods. "They make those guys ten at a time. Big stamping machines. You can buy 'em online still in the original packaging." [23:47] 3Maja: "He did this thing where he, like ... he like commanded me to come over with this stupid little hand motion." 3She points to the floor. "I- I can't replicate it. It's just sooo goobery." 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Alisa: "One word. One word. Caftan." [23:48] "At one point, he even, like ... when we first started, he took off his goddamn belt, all sexily." [23:49] "And he, like ... spanked the bed???" 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi actually does choke this time. Whatever. She'll pick it out of her lung later. She's about doubled over quaking with silent laughter. [23:50] 3Maja: "I mean, he didn't have a lot of furniture yet, but I am reasonably sure he's in the process of setting up some kind of BDSM sex dungeon or something. Everything gold plated, of course." 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "PLATINUM," 10Kirsi coughs. [23:51] 3Maja giggles. "Excuse me, you're right. Platnum." [23:52] 3Maja: "Anyway, I'm giving him shit- but if you ever run into a 'Cav,' I can A+ recommend his services." 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Aren't those the british people with the plaid hats?" 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "Stealing phones or whatever?" [23:53] 7Alisa's laughing along with them. "Platinum seems like it would be really uncomfortable. I call shenanigans on the logistics of all this!" 7She says, while reclining on a literal pile of trash. [23:54] 3Maja glances over at Alisa. "When's the last time YOU boned down, Alisa?" [23:55] 7Alisa: "Oh, golly. Do makeouts count?" [23:56] 3Maja: "Sure." 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10This question has Kirsi checking out the window, patting herself down for microphones, scanning every wavelength her senses permit, and then finally double-checking that Miranda blew out the camera. 05[23:57] 3Maja looks over towards Kirsi. "I haven't forgotten about you. You're next." [23:57] 7Alisa: "Back in Denver we all had vision quests, right? Destiny shit." [23:57] "Anyway part of mine was meeting a time-displaced version of myself from back in the old days." [23:59] 3Maja: "Are you trying to tell me that you got down with your own cloned self? Isn't that essentially masturbation?" Session Time: Mon May 25 00:00:01 2015 [00:00] 7Alisa: "I'll leave that to the philosophers." [00:00] "Anyway-" 7She takes out a box of breath mints and shakes it. "That's why I carry these now." 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "A mystery play self isn't your real self. Alisa made out with a gnostic expression of some cosmic principle." 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "I think we've all been there." [00:01] "It was also me though. I cannot stress that enough." 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "How were you?" [00:01] "Are you a good kisser?" 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi makes a face at that question. [00:02] 3Maja: [00:02] "What." 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "I don't want to interrupt Alisa." [00:02] "Are you gonna argue that 'nobody's a good kisser, it's about chemistry' or some garbage baloney?" [00:03] "Oh sorry, you're right. Go on, Alisa." 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She totally is, though, going to argue that. [00:06] 7Alisa: "Of course I'm a good kisser. The only problem was, so usually I grab- you know--" 7She makes a motion like she's grabbing someone's behindus. "Wasn't really sure about that. Awkward." 05[00:06] 7Alisa: "Now then. Kirsi." 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "That makes sense. You seem like the handsy type." 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "What." [00:07] "It's your turn. When was yooooour last time?" 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi looks out the window again. "Okay. Um. So." 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Checks the window. "Did you ever read The Iliad?" [00:08] 3Maja: "Back in high school, in the 90's."" 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "...okay, nevermind." 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'll just. Look." 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Okay the thing you have to understand, right." 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "The important thing." [00:09] "Wait, did you get down with Hercules or whatever?" 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "To keep in mind." 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is that a nonstop flight from Oslo to LA lasts like eleven hours." [00:10] 7Alisa: "With you so far..." 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "We forgot our Kindles." 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi leaps up with preternatural speed and physically rips the camera out of the wall." 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She drops it on the counter next to the register. "Anyway." 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "So the plane touched down, what, six hours ago?" [00:12] "How the fuck old are YOU?" [00:12] 3Maja to Alisa: "It's like a fancy magical book." 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah, that sounds right." [00:12] 3Maja puts her head in her hands, just listening. 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "I'm - shit, I'm almost 27 now. How fucked up is that." [00:13] 7Alisa: "In fake years or vampire years?" 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "I'm 6 in vampire years. 42 in vampire dog years." [00:15] 3Maja: "Hm, I wanna vampire dog." 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi sits down again, very primly, and contemplates another blintz. "Anyway. Maja. Kissing isn't a skill. Good kissing is the locus of chemistry and attentiveness." [00:16] 7Alisa: "So wait, this was your sire???" [00:16] "Oh my god, that's so sweet! No wonder you knew what the Lilith Fair was!" 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi buries her face in her hands. "14gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "14shut up shut up she can hear you she can hear everything" [00:17] "What?" 7Alisa looks confused. "You think she'd wanna hang out?" [00:19] 3Maja: "Man. Sires, huh." 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "I bet she'd want to meet you at least once. I don't know if she'd be interested in Mekhet Makeout Theory." 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "She's very dignified." [00:21] 3Maja: "OoooOOOOooooo, Alisa and your sire making out? That's some, like, kinda kinky shit." 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Augh." [00:21] 7Alisa: "Sure she wants to meet me, that's just sensible and-- okay I am NOT a Mekhet." 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Well obviously not, Ms. Fourth Bride of Dracula." [00:21] "What are ya?" [00:22] 3Maja raises her eyebrow. [00:25] 7Alisa: "I am a proud Gangrel, of the bloodline of the mountain witches that the scholars call 'Vedma' to sound impressive to the Anglos but that just means 'witch' and they're hoping nobody notices." 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi snickers. "'Vedma'." 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "Golly." [00:25] 7She rolls her eyes and puts up a hand. "I didn't name 'em." [00:26] 3Maja doesn't know what's happening, but she's starting on her 6th churro now. [00:27] 7Alisa explains to Maja: "Vedma is literally just the Russian word for witch. I'm the witchiest witch there was." 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "And yet you've never seen The Craft." [00:28] 3Maja: "That sounds pretty baller to me, personally. I knew a few people who might try to kill you for it, but I'm not convinced they could anyway." [00:28] "Also, you really should watch The Craft." 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "I like Alisa's chances." [00:29] "Have you ever seen a TV? They're pretty sweet. They shrink people down and they live in the little box and act for you." 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Maja!" 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "There's no need to be patronizing." 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "You are so rude. I guess this is why you have to sleep with all your patients." [00:30] 3Maja shrugs. 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi's tone, it must be said, is extremely approving. [00:31] "Alisa's my homie. We cool. Also, we had a therapy session earlier and I totally didn't sleep with her." 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Yeah but be honest, how much of that is because I walked in?" [00:31] "Not .. yet." [00:31] 7Alisa: "It's true. I built this therapy couch out of trash and everything." [00:32] 3Maja: "Honestly, if I get kicked out of the church and have to start up my own practice, I'm bringing this couch with me." 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Wouldn't you want one with room for two?" 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "At least?" [00:35] 3Maja snorts. "Good point." [00:37] 3Maja: "Although, I probably won't be boning my clients anymore. Alas." [00:38] 7Alisa: "Cowardice!" 14[00:38] * Joins: ddt 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "That bad, huh?" [00:40] 3Maja: "The last one? Nah. That good." 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi tilts her head. [00:40] 7Alisa: "Oh my god. Are you in luuuuuurve?" [00:43] 3Maja gets red in the face and stuffs her face with more churro. What's this now, 8? "Whatever, Alisa." 15[00:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Huh." 15[00:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "You know, they call it the Blush of Life." 15[00:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "But I'd never actually seen-" [00:43] 7Alisa: "You are! Tell us about himmmmmm" 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Which shade of gray is he?" [00:44] 3Maja: "I will keep it restricted to the fun stuff." 05[00:45] "He's like, a very gentle shade of gray. I guess. I don't know thats a very weird question KIRSI" [00:45] "Do you guys wanna hear about something embarrassing he did while we were doin' it?" [00:46] 7Alisa: "Yes." 15[00:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Obviously." [00:49] 3Maja: "Well, a couple things happened. But, well, we got down at the beach, right? Not actually an ideal place to do all that nonsense- what with the sand and all" 14[00:50] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[00:50] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 09[00:50] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi's thinking of a painting she saw once. An Avril. She's not so sure Maja's right here. 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10But this is her story. [00:51] 3Maja: "Anyway, at some point he pocketed a rock- for whatever reason. And so while we were making out at first, I could feel this hard thing in his pants." [00:51] "And I was ... a litte concerned." [00:52] "Becaue, well, it was very small." [00:52] 7Snrk- 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Heh." [00:52] "But I figured it out. It was the rock- don't worry." [00:53] "Then, LATER, while we were making out, he straight up burped in my mouth." [00:53] "He was very embarrassed, but it was super cute." 15[00:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi can't keep it in this time. She's quaking again. [00:54] "But that's not all" [00:55] "So, like" [00:55] "Okay, so are either of you familiar with this ... Malkavia thing?" 15[00:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "No way." 15[00:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "No way." [00:56] 3Maja: "Mmmmmmmmmhm." 15[00:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "I mean. I guess of all the places you'd expect to run into a Dreamer, 'vampire shrink's office' would top the list." [00:56] 7Alisa: "Damn." [00:57] "So, like, he briefly slips into Malkavia- at least I am PRETTY sure that's what was happening." [00:57] "And, like, he's still CLEARLY turned on and into it all, right ... well, his body was, anyway" [00:57] "but he starts saying these things ..." [00:58] "And at one point- I am PRETTY sure he starts talking about, like ... are you guys familiar with that cell phone game, Puzzles and Dragons?" 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Oh my god." [01:00] 3Maja: "Yeah, so, Alisa, basically it is a cross between candy crush and pokemon. If you don't know either, it's fine." 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "It's a way to extract time and money out of bored people playing with their phones." [01:00] "Anyway, I'm not sure how he knew I play that game, but he's like ... rattling off all my best monsters" 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi's dissolving into giggles here. 15[01:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "And this- and this-" 15[01:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Deep breath. Deeep breath. "And this after he showed you his magic rock-" 15[01:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She's inconsolable now. [01:02] Maja rolls over laughing. [01:04] 7Alisa: "'Trading Pokemon' is a good way to say fuckin', I'll give him that." 15[01:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh, oh, oh, oh. Ohhhhh my god." 15[01:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "You'll forgive me if I don't swap friend codes with you now." [01:06] 3She recovers herself in order to finish the story. "ANYway, so. He gets to my favorite monster- Kali. And, of course, Kali in Hindu theology, goddess of time, change, power, and destruction. But also there's some sort of ... tantric practice where they worship her? Whatever. Anyway- so he's looking at me, and I am reasonably sure he thought that I was Kali? And he was like ... [01:06] begging for his own destruction? I'm really not even sure what was happening, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't extremely hot." [01:07] "At any rate- [01:08] "If you ever get a chance to get down with someone with Malkavia- I highly suggest it." 15[01:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "So, so, so. So, okay. I gotta." 15[01:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Can I ask you a question?" 14[01:09] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [01:09] 3Maja: "Of course." 14[01:09] * Joins: dammitwho [01:11] 7Alisa's squirming a little. "Oh man. Oh wow." 15[01:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Did you actually, like, talk to him? At any point? Or was it just zero to magic rock?" 15[01:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "Cause talking to Malkavians is a little..." 15[01:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "You know." 15[01:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "Risky." [01:13] 3Maja: "Ah, yeah, he warned me about that. I didn't. I just kept ... doin what we were doing. 15[01:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Well... wait, shit. Malkavian, right, so he's probably Mekhet too." 15[01:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "So what's his makeout theory?" 05[01:18] 3Maja: "We didn't talk about it, but I believe I can deduce it. He started out with just a little bit too much tongue, but quickly adapted to my No-Tongue policy. So I assume it's a lot like yours, Kirsi." 15[01:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "I would not have guessed you for no-tongue." [01:19] 3Maja: "Now why would you say that?" 15[01:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "You just seem very... adventurous." [01:21] 3Maja: "Maybe the greatest adventure of all ... is learning how to kiss without shoving your tongue down someone's throat." [01:21] 7Alisa: "I am hooting and hollering over that Kali thing, man. Metaphorically. Ain't want another noise complaint." 15[01:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Sounds like Alisa wants his number." [01:22] 7Alisa puts a hand to her chest in mock outrage. "I would never. Never. Break up that happy home." [01:22] 3Maja: "I gotta say, being honestly thought of as a literal goddess is very flattering. Have you ever been ... worshipped before?" [01:23] 7Alisa: "Yes." 15[01:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi avoids making eye contact. 05[01:24] "...Kirsi?" [01:24] 3Maja: "Go on ..." 15[01:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi's face is steadily reddening. "Go on, Alisa." 14[01:26] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) [01:26] 3Maja starts chanting- softly at first, then growing louder. "Kir-si. Kir-si. KIR-SI. KIR-SI. KIR-SI. KIR-SI!!!" [01:26] 7Alisa: "Can it be? The Blush of Life...!!" 15[01:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi's eyes flash. "Keep it up and I'll write you a new no-tongue policy." [01:27] "OOOOOoooooOOOOOOOOooooooooooo 15[01:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "...she'd kill me. No, worse. She'd look at me and she'd just know and she'd give that tiny little smile at the back of my head some time like I couldn't feel it. Let's just. Alisa. Please." [01:30] 7Alisa: "I feel like I missed out, the last time I was in Soroya." 15[01:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Oh my god. Fucking. Ugh." 15[01:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "Now I'm thinking about him." 15[01:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "God damn it." [01:31] 7Alisa: "Anyway mine's not as good as yours because it was actual religious stuff. Running a coven up Chicago way and like, the two constants are sex and death, right?" 15[01:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "Obviously." 05[01:32] 3Maja: "I have no idea what is happening, but I really enjoy watching Kirsi get flustered." 15[01:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Please, god, anything to concentrate on besides the memories of noises bleeding through concrete walls. 14[01:32] * Joins: Quaker [01:32] "Absolute disaster. Did nothing for the witchcraft. Confirmed everything I suspected. Sex was good, though. We did that Greek thing, you know, where the guy begs for protection from his enemies and you put your foot on his head? I mean it wasn't a sex thing originally but there you are." 15[01:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "I mean." 15[01:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "You kind of bring it on yourself, letting men think they can be witches." [01:34] 7Alisa: "Ex-ac-tly." 15[01:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi: "I mean, don't get me wrong. Men are good at lots of things, presumably." 15[01:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Just not magic or sex." 14[01:38] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [01:40] 7Alisa snorts and snuggles down into her trash pile. "Probably can't sleep here." 7She says thoughtfully. "Guy's gonna want his napkins back. Also the windows. Damnit." [01:40] 3Maja looks at the time. "Ah, shit. Alright ladies, it has been a real scream. I hope to run across y'all again sometime soon- but I gotta jet." [01:42] 3Maja bounces. 15[01:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kirsi calms down. Saved by the bell. "Nice to meet you, Maja." 10To Alisa: "If you need a place to stay I'm sure we could put you up for the day. You'd get to meet my sire!" 05[01:42] 7Alisa: "Later, girl. Tell whoever it is you solved all my emotional problems." 7To Kirsi: "Oh hell yes." 14[01:42] * Quits: mugabe 14[01:48] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[01:52] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[02:16] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[02:17] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[02:47] * Joins: dammitwho 14[02:57] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 09[03:34] * bananasleep is now known as banana 14[06:56] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[06:56] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[06:56] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[08:42] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:07] * Quits: dammitwho 14[10:03] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[11:23] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:48] * Joins: Crion_ 14[11:54] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[12:01] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[12:06] * Joins: ddt 14[12:36] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:55] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[13:00] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 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channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:42] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[20:42] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 14[20:42] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by VoxPoxVD))) 09[20:42] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[20:42] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[22:58] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[23:22] * Joins: autopsy-turvey Session Time: Tue May 26 00:00:00 2015 14[00:17] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[00:28] * Joins: Quaker 14[00:36] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[00:39] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[00:43] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[00:48] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[01:34] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[01:37] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping 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14[20:39] * Joins: Quaker 09[21:31] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[21:34] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[21:44] * Joins: Quaker [21:47] SO IM BACK TO THE VELVET [21:47] UNDERGROUND [21:47] BACK TO THE FLOOR [21:47] THAT I LOVE [21:47] TO A ROOM [21:47] WITH SOME LACE, AND PAPER FLOWERS [21:47] BACK TO THE GYPSY [21:47] THAT I WAS [21:47] TO THE GYPSYYYYY [21:48] THAT I WAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSS [21:48] - [21:48] - [21:48] - [21:48] - [21:48] - [21:48] - 14[21:48] * Joins: mattbaby [21:48] AH AND IT LIGHTS UP THE NIIIIIGHT [21:48] AND YOU SEE YOUR GYPSY [21:48] YOU SEE YOUR GYPSY [21:49] -- [21:49] - [21:49] - [21:49] - [21:49] I HAVE NO FEAR, I HAVE ONLY LOOOOOOOVE [21:49] AND IF I WAS A CHILD [21:49] AND THE CHILD WAS ENOUGH [21:49] ENOUGH FOR ME TO LOVE [21:49] ENOUGH TO LOOOOOOOOOOVE [21:52] - [21:52] - [21:52] - [21:52] - [21:52] - [21:52] - [21:54] Now here you go again, you say you want your freedom/ Well who am I to keep you down/ It's only right that you should/Play the way you feel it/ But listen carefully to the sound/Of your loneliness/ Like a heartbeat, drives you mad/ In the stillness of remembering what you had, and what you lost, and what you had, and what you lost... [21:54] "That's Dreams, by Fleetwood Mac. More classic rock coming up after these messages, on 100.3 The Sound, Southern California's Classic Rock station." [21:55] 4Before my time. [21:55] This place is empty. [21:56] The part the realtors never emphasize about living in a secluded house in a canyon that sees little traffic, is that you're living in a secluded house in a canyon that sees little traffic. [21:58] And when it gets quiet, it gets real quiet. 08[21:58] 4Rollie was here and gone. He's already thrown out the empty pizza boxes; cleaned up the ash in the bathrooms. [21:58] 4...He can't spend another minute in this house, not right now. [21:59] 4Cav has to go out. [21:59] Where? Why? [22:00] 4No vampires. [22:00] 4He's... [22:00] 4No vampires. [22:01] 4Cav remembers, instead, something that man Pete said. Pete, the guy from the surf shop. [22:01] 4Surfing lessons. [22:01] 4Night instruction. [22:02] 4Cav hasn't been surfing since he was a teenager, and he wasn't any good at it then. [22:02] 4He was mostly trying to impress Carolina Torres, who was... [22:02] 4...a very long time ago. Carolina Torres was a very long time ago. [22:02] 4But still! [22:03] 4When Cavanaugh comes back downstairs in the empty house, he's wearing -- what are they called now, A-necks? The tank-top undershirts that used to have an unfortunate name, Cav's wearing one of those under an unbuttoned red, green and white...it's not a Hawaiian shirt, Cav wouldn't wear one of those, and it's cut to button up if you want it to, but it has a more colorful, noisier design [22:03] 4than most of the shirts he usually finds himself in. [22:03] 4And: swim trunks. [22:04] 4Apparently he still owns a pair. [22:07] 4Cav will lock up and wander down to the beach. [22:10] It's late enough that the families have gone home, and early enough that the young people investing the bars and restaurants downtown are still around, in full bloom. The shops have all locked up, except for a few by the beach. The pavement here is half-covered in sand people have tracked up, up the short wooden staircases, and across the boardwalk butting against the flat expanse of beach. [22:11] 4Cav's got his wallet and his phone. He's got the phone on silent -- the biggest concession he can make for himself, away from his work. [22:13] Thalia Surf Shop is the only storefront with lights on, on this block. [22:14] 4The night's still alive around them, one imagines, so he won't seem odd or out-of-place for stepping up to it. [22:14] 4He hopes. [22:15] If you peer in, it's like looking into a fiberglass forest of every height and color. The main space in the shop is occupied by dozens of surfboards standing up in racks. All the paraphernalia of the lifestyle abounds, hanging off shelves and racks: wetsuits, wax, leashes, maintenance tools. [22:17] 4Okay. He knows...very little about any of this. But he's smiling and is willing to spend money. Surely someone can help him. [22:18] The only person in the store is behind the counter, crouching down and shuffling things between cabinets. When she stands up, he can get a better look at her: deeply tanned, thin and sun-bleached blonde hair, and a sea-green button-down retail uniform. [22:18] 4... [22:19] "Hi there!" [22:19] "Oh, hi." Her eyes dart to the open door behind him. "We're just closing up, actually…" [22:19] 4Cav: "Oh." [22:22] 4He looks around. "That sucks. I'm new to town -- well, returning from the..." 4She doesn't care, Cav. "I just wanted to see if I could sign up for some lessons." [22:24] "Aaahhhh." She sucks air through her teeth. "Mm. Okay. Yeah, one second. Clipboard's in the back." [22:25] 4He'll let her go get that. He'll resist the urge to watch her go get that. Wakeboards! Okay. He...probably doesn't need a wakeboard. [22:25] 4What the fuck is a wakeboard even-- [22:27] 4At some point here, he reflexively pops the Blush. He tells himself the reason is that he doesn't want her seeing him all corpsey in good light. He almost even believes that. [22:28] "You thinking of getting into wakeboarding? These ones just came in. They make 'em down in San Diego, actually. It's really fun." She's returned, smiling, holding a clipboard under her arm. 14[22:29] * Joins: mugabe [22:29] "Wakeboarding...? Yeah, yeah. No. I don't know. I'm not sure." 4He waves his hand at the display. "I'm not sure about any of this. I want to get into it. I don't know the terms." [22:31] "I was born in Sacramento. Raised there. We came out here from time to time, you know, like suburban families do." 4He crosses his arms. "Now I'm back and it's like, it's something I never learned to do, right? Surfing. And since I live all of two hundred feet from the beach now, I figured I could find the time." [22:31] "Work permitting." [22:36] "Uh-huh. Well, here's the clipboard. Last class of the night was like an hour ago, so you kind of just missed it. Anyway, that should cover you if you don't know anything about it. All the equipment's provided from the shop - for a rental fee, of course - and then either myself or the manager will show you what's up. You spend a lot of time in the water?" [22:36] 4What was one hour ago? Does that give him cover for sundown? [22:37] 9:30-ish? [22:38] 4That's cutting it close. [22:40] 4It'll have to do. [22:41] "I can swim, if that's what you're asking. That was my sport in high school. But pool swimming, not ocean stuff." 4Cav briefly contemplates having a pool installed to practice -- wait, really? Come on now, Clinton. [22:42] 4He signs his name on the sheet for the next 9:30 spot. [22:43] 4Their eyes meet as he hands the clipboard back. [22:43] 4...You know what? He likes her. He doesn't even know her name, and Cav likes her. Executive decision. Nothing to do with anything outside itself. Totally organic. Right. [22:43] "Okay. If you didn't, it would be a basic safety issue. Just put your - yeah…" She moves sideways to point at the required fields. "Name, number. There's not actually a whole lot of swimming, actually. Mostly paddling, and treading water if you fall off." She takes the clipboard back and reads it. "Clinton? Okay, Clinton. See you tomorrow, then? I'm Kay, by the way." [22:45] 4He smiles. "Kay." 4Kay. Kay. Remember that, dumbass. He almost extends his hand to shake...but no. That's too business. Let's not do that. [22:46] 4He picks up on the signals very clearly: shop is closing. Come back tomorrow. He...kind of doesn't want to wait for tomorrow, but he's not going to keep her here without getting paid, because that's-- [22:46] 4Wait a second. [22:46] "You guys provide all the equipment?" [22:46] "For a rental fee." [22:47] "Yep. Kind of hard to ask people to spend a thousand bucks on something they don't know how to use." [22:47] 4Clinton Cavanaugh grins. [22:48] "That's -- I mean, I'm not really...into renting. I'd like to have, you know. My gear, right?" 4He pauses. "Do you make commission? They should pay you commission." [22:51] "No, I get paid hourly, thanks. My boss throws me a bonus if I get somebody's business, though." He can see the gears turning. "You mean, right now?" 14[22:52] * Joins: dammitwho [22:52] 4Pause. It's pretty late, you ass. "I'd prefer now. I mean, if you've got somewhere to be I can -- I can come back. I'd prefer now, but I can come back." [22:53] 4Smooth. [22:53] "I'd like to at least try out the wetsuit or whatever first. I assume I'm not renting that." [22:55] "Well, that's kind of got impulse buy written all over it." She puts the clipboard back under her arm. "I don't know if I could sell you that tonight in good conscience. I mean, what if you end up hating it five minutes after the lesson starts?" [22:55] "I tell you what. If you feel the same way after a lesson, you can buy it then, and I'll get the manager to refund your rental fee." [22:55] "Wetsuit comes out of your own pocket either way." [22:57] 4He smiles. "Fair enough." 4Not spending ludicrous amounts of money just to be around a woman you've just met and who, frankly, is in no way obligated to reciprocate a social relationship with you just feels...wrong, somehow. [22:57] 4Ugh. [22:58] "Well. I'll see you tomorrow night, then." [22:58] The smile she gives him is a bit warmer than your average retail grin. "Okay! See you." [22:59] 4Outside. Well. [22:59] 4That was...normal? [22:59] 4That was normal. [23:01] 4THE NEXT NIGHT: [23:01] 4What the fuck is he going to wear. [23:02] 4Okay. Stop. Calm the fuck down. [23:02] 4You define you. You control everything they see about you. Your personal brand is your signature, and you are the arbiter of your own brand. [23:02] 4Just go with the polo. [23:05] It's the beginning of November. The crowds and their routine are the same, at this point. It's a testament to the weather that people are still out, but the flow of people is thinned by the season. [23:06] 4The polo and the shorts and the flops are functional and say 'this man spends money on his personal wardrobe and, at the very least, follows the fashion section Esquire dot com.' [23:07] 4The only attention he pays to his hair is to make it not-stupid from the death sleep. It's going to be getting all fucked up anyway. [23:09] Kay is manning her post behind the counter when he comes in, except this time she's wearing a shirt that's more blue than green. Again, she's the only person in the store at 9:30. [23:09] 4Yeah! Crush that bloodpack! Feelin' good, feelin--okay, just got blood on the polo. That's fine. He has a backup polo. [23:10] 4Once he's entirely situated, Cav makes his way back down to the surf shop. He'll Blush here, too. [23:10] 4...He's going to have to feed, eventually. But not on her. [23:10] All this blushing means he's going to have to feed soon. But not tonight. Hopefully. [23:10] 4Cav pushes all that stuff way down the memory-hole and steps inside, smiling. [23:11] "Hi." [23:11] "Hey! Mr. 'I'll take the lot.' You ready? The other lady who was scheduled called and said she couldn't make it, so it's just you and me." [23:13] 4Mr. 'I'll take the lot.' Good reputation to have. "Yeah, I'm ready. Am I fine like this, or should I look at wetsuits, or...?" [23:13] "Depends. You mind getting that polo a bit dirty?" [23:13] 4Ha! Ha ha! "Nah. I've got others." [23:16] "Cool!" She has really white teeth. Or maybe it's because she's so tan, that they seem whiter in comparison. "Okay, c'mon. Hold this - " She pats a battered white longboard that's been propped up against the wall - " and follow me." [23:16] She grabs her own board, aquamarine with yellow trimming, and heads out the door. [23:18] 4Cav, of course, had an entire whitening regimen -- whoops, okay, longboards, good -- done before he died so it always keeps coming back the same chemical-bleached color it was when he died, but he used some brightening crap after his bloodpack so hopefully there's no residue, and she doesn't see his teeth and think 'man that guy drinks a lot of coffee' -- would that be a bad thing? [23:18] 4Whatever. He follows her outside. [23:19] 4He follows Kay outside. [23:21] They only have to walk a little bit before they're past the buildings and going down the stairs - "Watch the board when you step down, make sure you don't bump it-" and onto the sand. The sun is long gone, and even the pink and orange traces of its descent have faded. Now, through the haze of lights behind them, the beach is blues and deeper blues, and black water. [23:21] 4He does not bump the board. He does NOT bump the board. [23:22] The rush and crash of the waves are louder than traffic. In the moonlight, the caps flash white when they crest, before they roll over, spiraling into themselves, tumbling down into the surf. [23:22] 4Whoa. [23:23] Kay stops a good twenty feet before the sand turns wet, and puts her board flat on the sand. "So, before we do that, you've gotta learn how to actually be on the board." [23:24] "Should I -- okay." 4He'll put the board down alongside hers. [23:24] 4This thing is a lot bigger than he'd expected it would be. [23:25] 4Man, there's probably like. An entire bloodline of vampires that just...surfboard. [23:25] 4Hopefully they're out in Hawaii or some shit. [23:26] "I started you out with the longboard. It's a great design, really. Everybody thinks of it as the one you just train on, but, really, lots of greats used it their whole lives. People just like to go fast. The daredevil stuff, you know? Anyway. Okay, so, you're gonna want to get flat on your stomach, like this…" [23:26] She lays down on the board on her stomach, as if she's about to paddle her way through the sand. [23:26] 4Daredevil stuff. Sure. That sounds like -- okay, time to get on his tummy. [23:27] 4He is beginning to divine why he's keeping the polo on, and why she said 'dirty' instead of 'wet.' [23:28] Her arms go up and down, in rhythm. "Just like this. You want to feel like what it's supposed to feel like, before you have to deal with the water." [23:31] 4Okay. Cool. Up and down. In rhythm. He'll stare out to the ocean. [23:32] 4...What if he could, like, turn his FEET into claws? Like the ones on his hand. [23:32] 4Nah. That'd ruin the board. [23:32] "How long of a drive is it from Sacramento to the ocean?" [23:34] 4Whup, back to reality. "With traffic? Coming down here? Let's see. I want to say it took two hours." [23:34] "Maybe longer." [23:34] "It was a long time ago." [23:35] "Huh. I always forget everything up there is closer together. I don't know if I'd want to surf up there again. Past San Luis Obispo, the water gets cold." [23:35] 4Up and down. Up and down. "Now it's just, right out the front door and boom. Sand everywhere." 4Ohhhhh no, that's a confident laugh, not a nervous one, come on, [23:36] "Yeah. I remember it being...bracing." [23:36] "Got used to it eventually." [23:37] "I never could. I like the water around here too much. Pretty cold, still, since it's November. That's why it's just you and me, instead of you and me and ten other people. Too cold for their taste. You ready to practice standing up?" [23:39] "Yep." 4Thank you, cold-ass water. [23:42] "Cool." She gets off her board, and crouches next to him. "Okay, so the trick to this is that you do it quick and smooth. You're paddling out, you see the wave you want, you turn into it, and when you're going up, you have to stand up. You wobble too much, or lose your balance, and you're going under, right? So you have to learn how to do it the right way." [23:43] "So, you put your arms on the side, push yourself up, haul your legs in so you're crouching on them, then go into a halfstand. Got it?" 08[23:43] 4He tries applying what he learned with Rollie: letting his senses reach out, the cold calculation of thought over -- wait, Kay's talking again, and oh my god this board is SCRATCHY-- [23:43] 4Cav almost falls off his board, on the beach. [23:43] "Yes!" [23:43] "Yeah, that's why we're doing it here first." At least she's smiling. [23:43] "That was--hrm. Right." 4Cool. Great. [23:44] "This is why the night classes. No one sees that but you." [23:44] 4You're lame as hell, dude. [23:44] "I'll try that again." [23:44] "Thank god for November nights, right? Let's go again. Keep your feet closer together this time." [23:45] "Let me just--" 4Okay, down, arms on the side, push up, legs in, and half-stand. Feet together, like Kay says. [23:45] 4Haha! He totally remembers her name. And can balance on a surfboard. [23:47] "That's good. Now let's just do it again and again. You're still a bit too wobbly." She gets back on her board, and repeats it. "See how I do it all in one motion? And when I'm standing, I'm going to keep control with the side to side motion, not the front to back…" [23:47] "Best time of the year," 4he says once he's upright. And he's not lying. [23:49] "Okay." 4Other versions of the way Cavanaugh thought this night would go would have him probing here, asking invasive personal questions, figuring out who she is -- but he's got something to master. Something physical to conquer. Something to get good at. [23:49] 4So he gets back down on the board. [23:51] 4After awhile, Cavanaugh's got it. [23:52] Satisfied with her demonstration, Kay sits cross-legged on her board and watches him practice. "There you go! It's like doing your arpe- what are those things called in piano lessons? Arpeggios? The scales. Same thing with this." [23:53] "So should I be like. Warming up with this?" 4Down, legs in, up. "When I'm doing this on my own." 4Down, legs in, up. [23:54] 4He wonders if he could make this board just like...vanish. Down, legs in, up. [23:55] 4Probably too big. Needs to train that more. And besides -- down, legs in, up -- why would he be making the board vanish? [23:55] 4Stealth surfer. [23:55] She shakes her head. The fine covering of beach dust she throws off surrounds her head like an orthodox icon. "Nah, it's easier in the water. But it's easier to get the muscle memory here, if you don't spend a lot of time swimming." [23:56] 4Cav blinks at the optical illusion. ...Too much work on the brain. [23:56] "So I guess it's not just as simple as standing up, when the right wave comes by." [23:59] "Mmm…not really. It's hard to describe in words. It's kind of like…" Session Time: Wed May 27 00:00:00 2015 [00:00] Kay lays back down on her board. "You're in the water, and you're going up, and you have to decide right then whether it's going to fast, or too slow, or whether your head's in the right space." [00:00] "You just have to feel it." [00:00] "And if you don't feel it, you just keep paddling and go over it. And if you do feel it…" [00:01] "You don't even think about standing up, after you've done it enough times. It's like breathing. Like you're taking a breath with the wave, at the same time. You just kind of see the right angle, and then you ride it across." [00:01] 4Cav will pause and lay back on his own board instead of doing another rep. "Huh." [00:01] "Good." [00:02] "I mean, if nothing else, it's a good way to get real familiar with your own balance, ha. You learn how much you can lean, how much you can crouch, before you lose that angle." [00:03] 4He glances over, then up at the sky. "I spend...a lot of my time doing stuff not by feel. By law, by regulation, by...you get the idea. Not a lot of things out there I can do to get back in touch with that. I mean there's hunting -- that's what most of the guys I know in the office do, they hunt -- but then you're killing something, or at least hurting something, and either way that's [00:03] you against something else. It's not...a personal conflict." [00:03] "I feel like I could use that kind of instinctual self-improvement." [00:04] 4Blushing. "Not that, perhaps, you care. Sorry. Yeah, no, I get what you mean." [00:07] When she looks over at him, her look is a bit softer than it was an hour ago. "What kind of office?" [00:10] 4His mouth changes shapes a couple times before he answers -- serious, smile, nervous, back to smile -- and he's glad for the dark. "Standards & Compliance. We're a third-party contractor, but we've got some steady clients. Do insurance investigations, due diligence on hires, things like that. Boring, except when it's not." [00:11] "But if you meant what kind of office..." [00:11] "A quiet office. Calm, steady. Methodical. Lots of people who are good at their jobs." [00:11] "Not a lot of--" 4Cavanaugh waves a hand at the ocean. "This." [00:13] "Ocean might not be calm all the time, but I think it's pretty steady and methodical." [00:13] "I mean, we're the ones who aren't." [00:13] "The wave is only going to go one way, right? So if you mess up, you're the thing that didn't go the right way." [00:14] "The ecosystem or whatever is really complicated, but that part's simple. It's really nice." [00:15] "Yeah. I never thought of it like that." 4He sits up a bit. "Everything's a system, if you sit back far enough from it. It's just nice that this one puts all its cards on the table first." [00:15] "You know where you stand out there, right? At least most of the time." [00:17] She wrinkles her nose and laughs. "Nah, that's too complicated for me. I don't even have to think about it like a system, except if you mean it's…it's like a really simple machine. Wave comes in, wave goes up, wave goes down, wave goes out, wave comes in. But, like, forever." [00:19] 4That's cute. That nose-wrinkling thing, that's cute. Cav stares out at the surf. "Forever, huh. I guess it's been going on long enough to make the claim." [00:20] "They all talk like that at the office?" [00:26] 4Cav grins. "Nah. Just me. Though we do have a guy who talks like he just walked down from the mountains, musing on folk and their strangeness." 4He kind of puts on a teasing Edgar-accent for that. "Maybe he's rubbing off on me." [00:27] "It sounds like Tommy Lee Jones from No Country For Old Men." [00:28] 4He's actually seen that movie! Cav throws his head back and laughs. "I should make him watch that, some time. I'm not sure he even owns a television." [00:29] "Yeah, that probably explains why he sounds like that. Haha." [00:29] "Anyway, this feels like enough practice for one night, doesn't it? Next week we'll actually get in the water." [00:31] "Sounds good, Kay." 4Sounds real good. [00:31] "And we'll see how you look in a wetsuit. Haha!" [00:32] 4He looks down at the polo in need of a wash. "Maybe I should buy that stuff now." [00:32] "Nah, give it a week. I'll take your money after you've thought about it." [00:36] Kay stands up, brushing the sand off of her. "C'mon, it's cold out here." She hefts her board and waits for him to do the same. [00:38] 4Cav stands and lifts the board. It's brisk, this breeze, but it feels good. [00:38] 4Might avoid the Blush when he's spending his time in the water, though. [00:39] 4He'll follow her back to the shop. 14[00:40] * Quits: dammitwho [00:40] When they get back to the stairs, they meet somebody coming down at the same time they're going up. [00:41] 4Mmmm? [00:41] She's tall and broad, with let-down red hair. She's in a wetsuit, with a modern-looking board, and a leash that goes from its tip to her ankle. Kay nods her way as they pass. "Hey, Joan." [00:42] "Hey, Kay. Hello." The latter is directed at Cav. [00:42] "Hey, what's up." 4Guess she was the one they didn't wait for? [00:42] Kay stands to the side and lets her through. "You trying out those new LEDs? The blue ones?" [00:43] 4Cav will do the same. [00:43] Joan carries her board above her head so they can pass at the same time. "Yeah. We'll see how they look when it's this late. You teaching a session?" [00:44] Kay nods. "Yup. Just the one here, other one flaked. Don't stay out too late. Seeya." [00:45] By the time they're up the whole staircase, the other woman is already paddling out to the curling black rows. [00:46] 4Cav: "LEDs? Damn." [00:46] And by the time they're back in the store, the fatigue of the whole day, combined with doing squats out on the beach and carrying a board both ways has caught up to Kay, who can't keep the yawns in. "I'm beat." [00:46] "Hey, don't worry about the rental fee. I'll take care of it. Just come back next week, yeah?" [00:47] 4Cavanaugh leans his board against the wall. "Oh, definitely. You're not gonna like, get in trouble for not taking the rental fee, are you?" [00:48] "Nah. I'll just tell my manager I've got a big buyer on the line and I'm reeling him in." [00:49] 4This is dumb as hell. It's DAEVA that are supposed to meet a girl and be all, 'oh man, she's really cute when she yawns, I should continue to spend my free time in this manner,' not Gangrel. And he hasn't even fed off her. This is entirely-- "Haha. Sounds good. Just don't let him know you've let me off the hook twice already." [00:49] 4This is entirely improper. [00:50] 4It's kind of a lot of fun. [00:50] "Pete's chill. He'll get it. You put these back where they were, and I'll lock the back up." [00:51] "Will do." [00:52] 4Oh god. Oh man. Where did Pete's girlfriend work? He said, but Cav can't remember -- it's not Kay, is it? Maybe it is, that would make sense, why would she be single -- where? Come on! [00:53] When everything's put away and accounted for, they end up standing outside, him watching her lock the glass front door. [00:54] 4BASKIN-ROBBINS holy shit why is this such a thing [00:54] 4His face remains calm and serene. [00:55] "Nice meeting you again. It's cool when you get to work one-on-one with somebody. No chasing little kids around, trying to make sure they stay on the boards." [00:59] "Yeah, I'm glad it worked out, Kay." 4He smiles. "Next week, same time?" [01:02] "Cool. Take it easy, Clinton." She makes her way away, up into the hills of the city. 14[01:04] * Joins: dammitwho [01:04] "Kay!" [01:04] 4When she turns: "Call me Cav." [01:05] NEXT TIME: Why you no help 14[01:22] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[01:59] * Joins: dammitwho 14[02:19] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[02:21] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[02:54] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[02:58] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[04:12] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 09[04:48] * bananasleep is now known as banana 14[05:06] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[06:38] * Joins: mattbaby 09[07:46] * banana is now known as bananafk 14[08:49] * Quits: dammitwho 09[09:06] * bananafk is now known as banana 14[10:07] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[10:13] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 11[10:30] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed May 27 10:30:38 2015 Session Start: Wed May 27 10:30:38 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[10:30] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[10:30] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[10:30] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[10:30] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 14[10:31] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[10:37] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:02] * Joins: mugabe 14[11:07] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[11:12] * Joins: mugabe 11[11:15] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed May 27 11:15:14 2015 Session Start: Wed May 27 11:15:14 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[11:15] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[11:15] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[11:15] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[11:15] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[11:15] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[11:46] * Joins: ddt 14[12:17] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[12:29] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[13:04] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[13:15] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[14:16] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:21] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:25] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[14:32] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[15:22] * Joins: ddt 14[15:48] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[16:04] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[16:47] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[16:57] * Joins: mugabe 14[18:34] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[18:42] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:24] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:42] * Joins: mugsy 09[19:43] * mugabe is now known as Guest28232 09[19:43] * mugsy is now known as mugabe 14[19:44] * Quits: Guest28232 (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[19:47] * Quits: dammitwho 14[19:47] * Joins: dammitwho 11[20:31] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed May 27 20:31:56 2015 Session Start: Wed May 27 21:44:09 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[21:44] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[21:44] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[21:44] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[21:44] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD>  14[22:03] * Joins: mattbaby 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Over the course of the next afternoon, Nick ambles about town with TJ, answering any questions TJ might have about werewolf codes of conduct, and also answering questions TJ probably never asked nor intended to ask about werewolf codes of conduct. This stuff is on the young Rahu's mind, after all, as the whole time he's waiting for responses to a text message he sent to Bradley and Rachel both:  15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12It's with some trepidation that Nick sends a separate message to the last number he remembers for 'Mr.' Argus:  15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> [22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Bradley: 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> [22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Rachel: 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> [22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Argus: 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12To Argus, Nick writes:  15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> [23:04] 6Anna: "Does it mean you made a zombie? Why would you do that?" 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> [23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: "I don't understand the question." 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> [23:19] 6Anna: "Are you telling me that you took up necromancy because you could, and for no other reason?" 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> [23:19] "Because that's what I'm hearing." 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> [23:20] 7Yeah! Yeah!!! 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> It's only as Nick is coming out of Dwyer's with the bruises all but faded that he gets a text. Bradley gets back to him first. 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam's equivocating noises meld in with the ghosts in the background. "Weeeeell..... it's not that simple." [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick licks his lips as he pulls his phone out of his pockets.  12he texts back. [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12The werewolf's thumbs get to work.  [22:10] 6Anna: "Really. And how simple is it?" [22:11] 3Reuben checks his phone as well, but to make sure the videos he shot of “Epic Werewolf vs. Vampire Showdown” #’s 1, 2 and 3 are intact. His first viral content for MONSTR is ready to go. Still gotta build the platform around it, though, and that’ll take some venture capital. 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Bradley: [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick scratches the back of his head. He flips his phone closed, wanders down the street outside the bar, opens his phone again, frowns, then closes it again... 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> A text from the Witch of the Hunter's Moon beeps behind this. 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: "It's not, like... on purpose, exactly." [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, something else to think about. Nick responds to Rachel:  15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Witch: [22:17] 6Anna: "So you've accidentally taken up casual necromancy." [22:17] 6The New York Times worst-seller for three years running. 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam's quiet for a moment, letting the ghosts come through. And then: "That's not what I said." [22:21] 7Alisa: "That's cool. Tell him it's cool." [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick, having turned a corner or two by now, stops, frowns to himself, and leans against the wall of some closed-down pawn shop or deli or whichever. Ruth's never snitched on him thus far... unless... unless she really thought he was in danger. That she really knew better. It's not like she was always wrong... [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick texts back:  [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Witch: [22:25] 6Anna shushes Alisa and shakes her head. "Was I wrong?" [22:25] 3Reuben flips through his RSS feed and blogs for a bit before idle thoughts pull him toward some google maps searches. Namely, auto body shops. [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  [22:26] 3Who has the keys to Nick’s car? And what’s the state of Nick’s car? 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Nick's car and the RV both got towed by the guy Reuben's friend Big Pete recommended. 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> There's plenty of cars around, though, if Reuben's feeling up to his old tricks. [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12While he waits and wanders, Nick composes another message to Bradley.  [22:29] 3The thought had crossed his mind. Not many better ways to get some fast cash. Didn’t a friend tell him once about a body shop chain that would buy hot cars on the DL with locations all over the upper midwest…? 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> That sounds like the kind of thing that he's heard before. 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: "I didn't, uh. It's not - 'accidentally' is a bad word. It's sort of - you don't 'accidentally' grow a beard." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Witch: 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Bradley: 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> <*practical> [22:32] 6Anna: "So you've intentionally taken up casual necromancy." [22:32] 6Also a New York Times worst-seller, but only for a few months. The sequels never do as well. 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: "Man can you just." 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Come on." [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick, to the Witch:  12Then, to Firefall:  [22:35] 3Reuben exits the motel room and leans against the wall. Hands in his pockets, he gauges the neighborhood. 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Reuben scans the streets, the strip mall across the road... nobody's got his eye on him, except: a small gray cat is watching him from behind a car parked in the motel lot. [22:37] 6Anna sighs. "I'm just -- what's even happening?" [22:38] "Tell me what's going on. What happened. Preferably in a way that doesn't make me immediately assume the worst." [22:39] 3Reuben follows the sidewalk next to the parking lot in the direction of the cat, keeping an eye out for passerby, cop cars, and every now and then toward the cat. Not because it’s suspicious, but because it’s a cat. Assuming he feels safe, he’ll want to walk at least half a mile away from the motel before he tries anything. 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: "I don't know! I try to, I try to think about this stuff, I try to, to let it. I try to think about shit the way I used to, and it all comes out wrong. The way I used to, like. The way I used to call a spirit it's like, now it calls a ghost instead. There's this whole other - I'm blocked. I can't figure out how to make my old shit work and every time I try I get something dead instead." [22:41] 3Honda Civics, Honda Accords, Escalades, anything made by Toyota… these are the cars you keep an eye out for when you’re planning a break in. Reuben’s got his eyes peeled as he walks. [22:45] 6Anna sighs again. "Okay, you're right, that was unreasonable. I should have assumed better." 6She's sitting on a bed, now, and kneading her forehead. "But I don't... does this happen? Like, often?" 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Witch: 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Bradley: [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick responds to Bradley:  12Nick pauses in the middle of typing to rub at his eyes, then rub at them again with more vigor.  15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: "It happens more lately." 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Reuben finds a pair of Escalades parked in front of a shuttered storefront about three-quarters of a mile up the road. 14[22:58] * Joins: mugabe 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Bradley: [22:59] 3Sweet. What colors? [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  [22:59] 6Anna: "Does it, is there a pattern?" 14[22:59] * Joins: Crion_ 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Both Escalades are midnight blue. 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Bradley: [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick does think.  15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Bradley: 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: "Did anyone ever explain the Arcana to you?" [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  [23:05] 3Reuben stops a few feet away from the Escalades and really inconspicuously eyeballs everything in the vicinity.  [23:05] 6Anna: "It never really came up." 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Darting between the cars - it's that cat again. It's slick and quick and quiet, but Reuben's eyes are sharp and he sees his tail's tail twitching about 10 yards away. [23:08] 3Hmm. Hmmmmmmmm. [23:09] 3Does it look like the cat saw Reuben looking at him? [23:09] 7You should use Animalism to talk to the cat. 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Same cat, yeah. 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Bradley and the Witch send the same message at about the same time. [23:10] 3Reuben approaches the cat. 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick sends the same response to both:  15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: "Okay so, there's ten of them, right, and most of them aren't important. They're how we do magic, they're what the world is made of. The two Arcana I use are called Spirit and Life. Spirit is about spirits and Life is about things that are alive. I used Spirit a lot but since the, uh, the whatever. The thing. It's really hard. And the more I try to force it, the more I end up slipping into using a different one of the Arcana." 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Death." 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Which is basically what it sounds like." 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Witch: 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Bradley: [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Another forked message wings its way from Nick's burner:  12Nick pauses mid-composition.  14[23:22] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> The cat swishes and leaps onto the nearest car to get a better look at Reuben. [23:23] 3Reuben continues to approach.  [23:25] 6Anna: "That sounds... horrifying." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> The cat leaps at Reuben! [23:28] 3Reuben will… catch it? 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Reuben catches the cat! It purrs in his arms. There's something stuck to the back of its neck, almost like a tick. [23:33] 3Reuben pets the cat on the head for a minute. Eventually he pokes the tick lookin’ thing. [23:34] 6She's slouching down further and further as the conversation continues. She's lying on the bed now, and up next is slumping halfway down to the floor. "Is it, I mean - is this just how it is, now, for you?" 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Witch: 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Bradley: [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick can't remember how much he told the other werewolves about Argus, but it certainly wasn't much, if anything. He adds:  15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: "For now, I guess." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Don't you have that thing you slip into without realizing it?" 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> The tick-like thing is, upon prodding, cold metal. A little LED lights up, and Reuben's phone rings a moment later. [23:38] 3Huh. He grips the cat with one arm as best he can and fumbles for his phone with the other hand. [23:40] 6Anna: "Yeah. I thought you did too, unless it was just... that once." 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Witch: 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Bradley: [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: "Unless what was?" 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> The phone shows an unknown number. 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Witch: [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick:  [23:45] 3Reuben answers. 1“Hello?” [23:50] 6Anna corrects herself: "Two times. The golf course was the second time." 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Reuben hears a blast of static. 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> It sounds like someone's sending him a fax. 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Suddenly the Escalade's car alarms are going off. 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Witch: 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Bradley: [23:53] 3Reuben jumps back in surprise before recovering enough to end the call. He gathers himself, cat tucked under his arm, and starts walking briskly back toward the motel. 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Adam: "Oh, uh. I don't really... remember what we talked about." [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Nick, who'd be a little lost now if he didn't have an impeccable sense of direction, frowns down at the street and then up at the sky before composing another message... to Argus.  [23:59] 6Anna: "Don't worry about it. I mean, do worry about it, but in the abstract 'so this is my life now' sense, not in the 'this is going to kill me' sense. Avoid stress and... I guess you don't have frenzy problems, really?" Session Time: Thu May 28 00:00:00 2015 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: A test of mind over flesh 14[00:06] * Joins: Quaker 14[00:23] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[00:28] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[00:32] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[00:52] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[02:01] * Quits: mugabe 14[02:13] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[04:27] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[04:29] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 09[05:15] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[06:53] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (warlock.hub.sorcery.net aesir.sorcery.net) 14[06:53] * Quits: banana (warlock.hub.sorcery.net aesir.sorcery.net) 14[06:54] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[06:54] * Joins: banana 14[07:24] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[07:24] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 09[07:24] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[08:08] * Quits: dammitwho [08:39] https://41.media.tumblr.com/9e5b1973c061bb9dc8b976a22272d5ec/tumblr_mzi9knWgCY1qeb9g8o1_500.jpg 14[09:24] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:05] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[10:25] * Joins: ddt 14[10:30] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[10:38] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[10:43] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[10:46] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[11:01] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[11:03] * Joins: cbass 14[11:05] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[11:15] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[11:47] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:57] * Joins: hrolfie 14[12:00] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[12:02] * Joins: ddt 14[12:02] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[12:06] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[12:28] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[12:36] * Joins: Crion_ 14[13:19] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[13:28] * Joins: ddt 14[14:25] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[14:25] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:28] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[14:41] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[14:45] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[14:47] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[14:48] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 09[14:48] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[15:00] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[15:01] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[15:02] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[15:02] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[15:03] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 09[15:08] * banana is now known as banana|_____ 14[15:08] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:16] * Joins: Quaker 09[15:17] * banana|_____ is now known as banana|sleep 14[15:48] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[15:55] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:06] * Joins: mugabe [16:18] - [16:18] - [16:18] - [16:18] - [16:18] - [16:18] - [16:20] The rain hasn't let up since the weekend, but at least it confined itself to the daytime, before tonight. Now, when the sun goes down, people hardly notice through the thick clouds and pelting water. 14[16:22] * Joins: FerrinusSpace [16:22] It's the wet season in Orange County. The flanks of the hills are turning from a deep brown to a pale green, and other colors join the bright yellows of the wildgrass. 15[16:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie loves the rain. [16:26] Why? 15[16:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10There's something really comforting about the sound it makes, about the way the world looks and smells once the rain has come and gone. It fills the world with something, and when it's gone the world is better for it. 15[16:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He doesn't like getting wet, though, so he's quick to get in his car before the ride down to Dana Point. [16:31] You can go anywhere in this place without having to talk to anyone, if you have a car. Leave your house; drive thirty miles; do your thing; go home. All without seeing anyone use the sidewalks, or the crosswalks, in a county with more than three million people. A whole world of rain and streetlights blurring past, beyond your involvement. 14[16:33] * Joins: ddt [16:34] Across the street from the nursing home, there's a nursery, locked up for the night. The fronds and flowers are poking over the top of the fence, and the heavy, wet smell of plants is carried over on the wind. 15[16:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's a little lonely. Rollie doesn't feel lonely often, and he doesn't wear it well when he does. It's a ride that demands a little music, some stimulus to compete with the steady patter of the rain and the blurry darkness. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPL_SV3n7IU 15[16:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Another time he'd want to stop and let himself smell the plants, to be present to the feeling. But it's coming down hard enough that he can't justify lingering outside. Rollie checks his pockets. Phone, wallet, keys. No gun. Whatever's in here to be scared of, Rollie wouldn't shoot at it. And if you're not going to shoot the gun... don't bring it. [16:39] Visiting hours are over. There's only a few lights on in the windows of the three-story building. 15[16:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is the front door locked? 15[16:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's plan is to walk up like he's got a plan. That gets you most of the way there most of the time. [16:40] It is not. And there's no receptionist to tell him to shoo, either. [16:40] The lobby is open and empty. Chairs and tables, piled high with programs detailing the week's lunch and dinner entertainment for the residents. 15[16:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well then, seems simple enough. Rollie spreads his attention out, listening for voices and footsteps. Room 330, Edgar said. Yucca gloriosa. Rollie'll look up and down the halls enough to make sure that this place is laid out the way his intuition would dictate and that the 300-rooms are on the third floor. Then he'll take the stairs. [16:45] The stairwells only have a single light lit, at the top. At every entrance, signs read: RESIDENTS WHO REQUIRE MOBILITY ASSISTANCE SHOULD ASK A STAFF MEMBER FOR HELP OR USE THE ELEVATOR. When he reaches the third floor, there's only one light on under a door, and the faint sound of music is coming from under it. The first room up here reads '301'. 15[16:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is that the room with the light and the music? What kind of music is it? [16:48] That's 310. 'I feel the autumn breeze, that steals 'cross my pillow, as soft as the will-o-wisp, and in its song there is sadness, because there is no you…' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIIiKCMRELo 15[16:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie'll be quiet then as he heads for 330. No need to disturb whoever it is can't sleep. 14[16:50] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) [16:51] 318, 319, 320…and then that's it. The last numbered room is 320, and then a supply closet, and then the staircase on the opposite side of the building. 15[16:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie blinks. 14[16:54] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[16:55] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 09[16:55] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 15[16:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then his eyes slide out of focus, and the world bleeds meaning. [16:58] The supply closet doesn't say supply. It does, of course, but what's under it isn't a word, even though they're on the same door, at the same place. A fanged skull design, wreathed in laurel, with crossed lightning bolts behind it. 14[16:59] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[17:00] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 15[17:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "All hail the crowned and conquering child..." 10Rollie will knock thrice, once for each drop of blood the child emperor shed, before trying the door if there's no answer. [17:02] The door swings open. The room isn't a supply closet, but a waiting room. The second door is there, but locked. Who knows the combination? It's been cleared of boxes and supplies. It's just four walls and carpet. 15[17:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is Rollie alone when he enters and closes the door behind him? [17:03] He was. He isn't, now. [17:04] Two of the three who came in with him lean against the door. The third takes the shadow off his face. 15[17:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie turns to face them. 08[17:07] The unmasked one is tall enough that the top of his head brushes against the ceiling. His features seem elongated along with the rest of his body, cheekbones and digits and limbs stretched unnaturally, like an insufficient volume trying to fill a space. The effect is unnerving. Before he speaks, there's a rumbling in his chest that Rollie can hear, and he hacks once. Then: "Stay where you are." [17:08] "Search him." 14[17:09] * Joins: mattbaby 15[17:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie holds his arms out at right angles from his body. "For by Grace you have been saved by faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God -- not the result of works, so that no one may boast." 08[17:10] One of the other shadows comes back into sight, but their face is covered with a black mask. They put their hands on Rollie, patting him down. [17:11] The shadow puts his keys, phone, and wallet into the unmasked one's outstretched hand. [17:11] "Are you going to resist, or will you come quietly?" 15[17:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie blinks again, and the gold drains from the shadows. For the first time it occurs to him to feel fear. "Where are you going to take me?" [17:13] "A place where we can ask you questions." 15[17:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "...fair enough." 10He doesn't recognize any of these people, right? Any of these people look like they might answer to Grace Stokes? He's guessing these are her people and not her herself. 15[17:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm not looking for trouble." [17:15] He's never seen any of these people in his life. 15[17:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Thank God for that. [17:16] The one without a mask dangles a black hood in his hands. "Put your hands on your head and don't move." To the others, he nods. "Take him." [17:16] He can feel his shirt being lifted, and then the sharp point placed against his spine, where his heart is- [17:17] - [17:17] - [17:17] - [17:17] "Take it out." [17:18] It's like waking up again, except you only fell half-asleep, into semi-wakefulness. 15[17:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ugh..." 15[17:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Where is he? Rollie looks around. [17:21] The only light in the room is the lamp pointed into his eyes. It's a different room, with metal walls this time. Metal chairs, too. The unmasked man is sitting down. Between them is a pitted metal desk, stained with something dark. On the surface are various metal implements. 15[17:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Not fun ones, presumably. [17:22] Garden shears can be fun. These ones are coated with rust and other stuff. [17:23] There's knives, pliers. A blowtorch. 15[17:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie takes a deep breath as the scene clarifies but he doesn't let himself betray any further emotion. This is not - it can't be what it's supposed to look like. Nobody actually does this. 15[17:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10...right? [17:24] "What's your name?" 15[17:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Roland Choi, Deputy of the Territory. I like Rollie better." 15[17:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is Rollie restrained? [17:26] There are chains around his ankles. 15[17:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Hrm. [17:26] The man on the other side turns around for a moment. "Run the name." 15[17:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What's yours?" 15[17:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "What should I call you?" [17:27] Even sitting down, his body is long and bony enough to look strange. "Call me Bill." [17:28] "Why were you in the nursing home?" 15[17:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I was looking for someone. Whose authority am I in custody under?" [17:29] "The Prince of Los Angeles." 15[17:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Directly?" [17:30] "Yes. Who were you looking for." 15[17:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Grace Stokes. Do you have a title, Bill? People keep telling me those are important." 08[17:31] "I do. I don't use it when we're just talking to people. How did you learn that name, Rollie?" 15[17:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Promise not to laugh?" [17:32] "Sure." 15[17:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It came to me in a dream." [17:33] "Really." 15[17:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Straight up." [17:33] The door to the room opens, and somebody walks in and walks out, and stops long enough for someone to whisper in Bill's ear. 15[17:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Who? [17:33] and stops long enough to whisper something in Bill's ear.* [17:34] He's never seen her before. She keeps herself behind the lamp well enough for him to not get a great impression, unless he really wants to focus here. 15[17:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie can see in the dark. He wants this face. 14[17:35] * Joins: Zarick [17:38] He'll remember her. Long black hair, plain features, late-twenties, dark skin. 15[17:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Can he hear what she's saying? 15[17:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What she whispered, that is. [17:39] Something something deputy. [17:39] Bill waits until she's gone. "You didn't learn it from Edgar Doolittle?" 15[17:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Nope. Who was that?" [17:42] Bill scratches the tip of his nose. "So your visit to the nursing home, following shortly after his own visit, is a coincidence, even though you two work together regularly." [17:43] She said: "He's a deputy." 15[17:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "All I said was that I didn't get the name from him. I told you where I got the name. This isn't the kind of room you lie in, Bill. So who was she?" 15[17:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie takes another breath. This is bizarre enough that it's oddly easy to keep his cool. [17:45] "She works for the Prince." 15[17:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Don't we all?" [17:46] "Not like we do. Did you ever discuss Grace Stokes with Edgar Doolittle?" 15[17:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Sure did. Do you know Grace Stokes?" [17:47] "What was the nature of that discussion? What did you talk about?" 15[17:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Okay, listen. Here's my thing. I'm being cooperative, right? I'm cooperating. But I'm not cooperating because I'm under orders to. I'm cooperating because I'm a cooperative guy. But I need a little more give and take. I'm not even going to ask you to take the irons off. I am going to ask you to talk to me, though." 15[17:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "If you want me to act like I gotta treat you like a superior, I'm going to need something more to go on than 'Bill', Bill." 15[17:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He starts to lean forward on the table before he notices again how awful it is. So he leans back instead, spreading his hands wide. "We're all friends here, right?" 08[17:51] Bill clears his throat and looks at Rollie. [17:51] Then, one by one, he picks up the things on the table in his long hands. He turns the light off. [17:52] And leaves, closing the door behind him. 15[17:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's eyes go black when the room does. 15[17:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He can see just fine. [17:52] Was he wearing a watch? 15[17:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Of course not. It's 2015. 15[17:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He kept time with his phone. [17:53] Then he won't know how long it's been, sitting in the dark. [17:54] What does he think about? 15[17:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It changes as the time goes. First he sings a little to himself. "Is it raining~ is it snowing~ is a hurricane a-blowing?" 15[17:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then he grows uncomfortable with the way his voice fills the silence. The silence is more comfortable. He thinks about Edgar. He thinks about the acorn. 15[17:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then, for a long time, he thinks about Maja. 15[17:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He hopes nothing happens here that he has to explain to her. 15[17:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He wonders what she's doing right now. 15[17:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He wonders if she's thinking about him. 15[17:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He wonders if they're reading the texts he sent her right now. 15[17:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He wonders if she knows why he kept that rock. 14[17:58] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 15[17:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He can lose a lot of time thinking about Maja. He'll be startled when the stillness is broken. [17:58] It's a long time before someone else comes back and turns the light on. 15[17:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10For the first time, Rollie flinches. "Jesus!" [17:59] Bill sits back down. "What did you talk about, when you talked to Doolittle about Grace Stokes?" 15[17:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He recovers quickly, though. "You shoulda knocked, Bill. What if I'd been naked in here?" [18:00] Bill scratches his cheek. 15[18:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What is this all about, anyway?" 15[18:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "Did something happen to her?" [18:01] Bill stands up and turns the light off. "I'll come back in a few days." 15[18:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie lets his mind wander. None of this makes sense. Why were they waiting for him? Why did they get him and not Edgar? What happened between then and now? What's different? He lets his mind wander, trying to make connections. 15[18:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10And for the first time, he feels it. 15[18:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10This thing. His thing. The signal. It's there, at the edges of his hearing, in the back of his mind. It doesn't come unbidden. It doesn't trick him or shock him. It's always there. The world is actually like that. And he can... force it. 15[18:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's mind wanders far indeed. 08[18:09] Rollie's school came from disaster and reaction. So did Bill Burne's, but the lessons his masters learned were far more practical. They're both believers, and students. They're both loyal servants, which is rare, and talented, which is rarer. 08[18:10] Rollie can see himself, in an ever-expanding shadow, and Bill, in flame and screams. [18:11] Neither the shadow or the flames came from either of them, but it's what they both learned. [18:13] Bill is here because of the law. Not that one. The real one. The one that is past being argued. The 1970s were a long time ago. But not that long ago. 08[18:19] Manhattan was in here many times. Only once was she on the side Rollie's sitting on. 15[18:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Oh no. 15[18:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Cav... 15[18:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Jessie*... 14[18:24] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) [18:25] Bill knows what he's doing. He'll come back when he thinks a newly made Deputy will answer a few simple questions. It'll be soon. 15[18:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie wonders if he's being monitored. "Misssster Burrrrrrrne..." [18:27] Even when you can see in the dark, it's the dark. It doesn't get any more pleasant. [18:28] And it doesn't get any shorter. 14[18:28] * Joins: FerrinusSpace [18:28] Who knows how long it's been, when the door opens? [18:28] Bill turns the light on again. 15[18:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's staring right at him now. 08[18:30] "Hungry?" He tosses a chilled blood pack on the table in front of Rollie. 15[18:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks down at the blood pack. "Fear is the chain that binds all souls together. Men, beasts, spirits, and gods alike. Nothing that lives is free from fear." [18:36] Bill: "I don't really care whether you're afraid or not. I just need your account of events." 08[18:44] "Here's what I want to know, Rollie. I think the other deputy, Doolittle, was given the name by someone who shouldn't have known it. And I'd really like to confirm that suspicion. And it starts with you, telling us what Doolittle told you, and anything else that might come to mind." [18:46] This isn't like the other times with hoods and stakes. This ends with the one hooded giving the answer. Not the one standing above, giving the order. 14[18:46] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) [18:47] It's a curiosity that has to be fed, in a malevolent place. [18:51] It depends on what Edgar says, when they talk to him. But it'll start out with questions. Not with the things that were on the table. 08[18:57] Nobody's seeing this except Bill, Rollie, and the woman looking through the mirror running across the wall with the door out of here. 15[18:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10All Rollie says is: "This is no place to raise a child." [18:58] "Do you know who Kate Carson is?" 15[19:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie nods. 15[19:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The blood pack is warming on the table between them. 08[19:03] Rollie is not going to get out of here safely without talking. [19:08] "Then you know why we're interested. If you don't want to talk, that's fine. We've got your phone. We'll just look at who on there does want to talk." 15[19:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's eyes narrow. 15[19:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "She is apart from this. Tonight it is the sea and not she." [19:11] Bill shrugs. "It'll be trickier because the Church is involved, but if we've got a case of internal security….they'll let us question a deacon." 15[19:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "No." 15[19:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks Bill square in the eye, and says firmly: "There are no chains binding her to me. Pull my strings. Render Kali's verdict onto me." 15[19:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10His jaw works. "Render- there is-" 15[19:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "It will- a thousand-" 15[19:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie pounds the table with both fists. Nonsense or not there is no mistaking the frustration and fear in his voice. "CACISTI! THESE SMALLER MYSTERIES WE CAN ALL OBTAIN!" 15[19:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie will keep babbling like this. 15[19:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Despair bleeds into his voice the more he talks. [19:19] Bill puts his hands out. "Calm down." [19:21] "I'll come back in an hour. You talk then, you get your phone back. And we'll go from there. A nod or a shake of your head is fine." 15[19:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie nods. [19:21] Bill stands. The light goes out. 15[19:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie just buries his head in his arms. He can't force it. It won't go away. He's so tired. His chest hurts. His throat burns. He's got to make the words come out the way he wants them to. [19:25] When Bill comes back, he's got a tape recorder. 15[19:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's singing again, face buried in his hands, when Bill walks in. 08[19:26] He takes the phone out of his pocket, and holds it in front of Rollie's eyes, before he puts it back. "Almost done here." 15[19:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "14baby look at me... tell me what you see..," 15[19:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie falls silent when Bill speaks. It's a few minutes before he says anything, though. 15[19:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "What do you want to know." 15[19:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The affect has been drained from his voice. It's hollow. Dull. [19:29] "When you and your co-workers talked to the Carthian. What you discussed with her. Whether she was the one who gave you the information to look into Grace Stokes. What you and Doolittle know. Anything else that comes to mind. Anything you think the Prince should know." 15[19:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie draws in another breath. "Okay. From the top." [19:30] Bill clicks the recorder on. 14[19:32] * Joins: dammitwho 15[19:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The tape faithfully relays Rollie Choi in his defeat. "I've never met Katie Carson. I wasn't there when the fugitive got handed over. I'm sure someone had to meet her - probably Edgar to make the handoff. She didn't give me any information. I really did get the name from a dream. I wanted to know how to save Edgar from the curse the acolytes put on him. Her name was one of the ones I heard. Stokes." 14[19:33] * Quits: mattbaby (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[19:33] * Joins: mattbaby 15[19:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "I've never met her. I've never met Katie Carson. I don't know what they mean to each other. I don't know what they mean to you." 15[19:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't know what else comes to mind." 15[19:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He looks up. "I want the Prince to know this, though." 15[19:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "She's better than him. She's better than the rest of them. When she walked out it was their failure and not hers." [19:36] Bill's eyebrows raise slowly. "Carson…?" 15[19:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "He'll know. If you don't, you're not getting that from me." 15[19:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Not with your knives." 15[19:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10They dug deep enough into Rollie Choi that they struck cold iron. [19:38] Bill clicks the recorder off. "You want a way for Doolittle to get out of this? Limited-time offer." 15[19:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Make it." [19:39] "He comes in. We talk. No knives. Everybody gets to watch the Carthian go down from a safe distance. And you don't mention any of this to anyone, in the meantime." 15[19:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I need to talk to Maja. I need you to let me talk to her. I can't keep this from her. She'll smell it on me." 15[19:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "Anyone else, though." 15[19:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "Just Maja and Edgar." [19:41] Bill thinks it over. "You'd make it clear to her that this is best kept silent." 15[19:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah." 15[19:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "She can keep a secret." [19:42] Bill takes the phone out of his pocket and slides it across the table. 15[19:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie checks it. [19:42] Midnight, the next night. [19:42] And the hood again, tossed onto the table. "Okay. You're out of here." 15[19:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is it worth it?" 10Rollie asks him. 08[19:44] "Put the hood on, Rollie, and I'll drive you back." 15[19:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "The fire. The law." 15[19:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "They're not yours but you carry them." 15[19:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Are there any texts from Maja on the phone? [19:46] Bill stands up, and turns to the door, raising his hand. The lights come on in the room. It's not any nicer when lit. "Everybody's got their talents. Talking isn't one of mine." 15[19:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't know what you deserve, Bill Burne. But it's got to be better than this." [19:48] 3Maja: [19:49] 3Maja: [19:49] Bill Burne claps his hands together. "A Pina Colada!" He holds his hands up flat. "On a nice black sand beach somewhere, with a dozen beautiful women." 08[19:49] He unlocks Rollie's chains. "Oh well." 08[19:49] 3Maja: [19:50] 3Maja: [19:50] 3Maja: [19:50] 3Maja: 08[19:50] It's a long drive back, and the hood stays on all the way. An hour later, it's off, and Rollie's left in the parking lot of the nursing home. Burne leans out of the driver's side. "I hope I don't have to state the obvious," he says, pointing to the building. 15[19:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Take care." 15[19:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "Hey." 15[19:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "One more thing." [19:52] "Yeah." 15[19:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "No hard feelings." 14[19:53] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) [19:54] Burne sucks air through his teeth and nods. "This would have gone different if you weren't a Deputy. Thanks for keeping it calm." The SUV pulls out and is shortly gone. 15[19:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie can feel good about that, at least. 14[19:55] * Joins: cbass_ 14[19:55] * Quits: cbass (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_))) 09[19:55] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 14[20:00] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[20:01] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:01] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 08[20:07] 4He'll also have a number of texts from Cav, in varying but escalating degrees of worry, asking where Rollie is. 14[20:32] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[20:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[20:41] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[20:41] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[20:47] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[20:47] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:27] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[21:39] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[21:44] * Joins: mugabe 14[22:33] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[22:42] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[22:47] * Joins: Crion_ 14[22:47] * Joins: mugabe 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's actually Cav who gets the first text.  15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The one Maja gets is shorter.  [22:51] 3Maja: 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie, truthfully:  [22:52] 3Maja's heart would've skipped a beat, if she had a beating heart, when she got the text. [22:52] 3Maja: 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie thinks. Maja's in LA somewhere, so...  15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> [22:56] 3Maja: [22:56] 3Maja: 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's a little surprised that she agreed to that so readily. But he's much more happy about it. Maja gets the address. [22:58] 3I mean, they've already done it... 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Yeah but on neutral ground. 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Never take diplomatic decisions for granted. [22:59] 3Maja's not scared. [22:59] 3She was, though. [23:01] 3Maja climbs in her car, turns off the radio, and programs the address into her phone. 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Maja gets there before Rollie does. She finds a duplex in a quiet neighborhood, its front face freshly painted a pleasing shade of purple. There are Christmas lights up already, red and green and white, wrapped around the palm tree in the yard and pinned around the door and window frames as well as winding a bit along the little wrought iron railings leading up the stoop. 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's address is the one on the left. [23:02] 3Maja knocks, and then sits on her stoop when there is no answer. She doesn't FEEL like playing cell phone games, but she pulls up Puzzles and Dragons out of habit. 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The windows are dark and there's no car in the driveway, but when Maja knocks she'll hear a lot of little barks coming from inside. [23:04] 3Maja is very distracted trying to match those stupid little orbs. 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She's only got to wait about ten minutes before Rollie rolls up. Has she ever seen Rollie's car before? It's a white Kia Spectra, looks pretty old. Rollie rode in silence. 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Once Rollie's in the driveway the barking grows constant and insistent. "Maja!" 08[23:09] 3Maja runs over to him, practically tackling him with a hug. "WHAT THE FUCK ROLLIE??"3 She screams past his ear. 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie returns the hug so fiercely Maja can feel him shaking a bit. "It's okay. I'm sorry. It's okay." 10He lets out a big sigh and Maja can feel some of the tension in his shoulders unravel. He'll hold her at arm's length a bit and look her over. Rollie himself looks pale and thin and very, very tired. But there's a kindling of something in his eyes, an intensity that belies the exhaustion. 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "How are you feeling?" [23:14] 3Maja: "What the fuck? Who cares! How are YOU???" [23:14] "Whatever, I'm fine. What happened??" 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...I'm okay now. Come on, I gotta take care of Princess." [23:15] 3Maja assumes that Princess is the source of the barking. She follows him into his house. 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie unlocks the front door and stops dead, turning to face Maja. "Wait, I forgot." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "You can't cross the threshold without an invitation, can you." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "Maja." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "Would you like to come in?" [23:17] 3Torn between annoyance and being charmed, she violently nods her head. "DOI." 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie opens the door and invites Maja inside. The little beagle almost crawls up to Rollie's stomach scrambling against him as he comes inside and flicks the light on. "Easy, easy boy. It's okay. I'm home now. Take it easy. Come on. Yeah. Good boy. Goood boy." [23:21] 3Maja stands back to give their reunion some space. 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The light reveals a little home kept in more-or-less order. It could stand to be tidier, with its squashy futon in front of the TV and an ashtray that needs cleaning out. But Rollie did the laundry before he 'left' so it could be a lot worse. There isn't even any weed out, since he cleaned himself out with Cav a couple nights ago. 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The one stand-out is this: Rollie's desk is mercilessly neat. [23:24] 3Maja begins prancing around his house, touching things, picking them up- getting a feel. 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Everything is meticulously organized, computer cables are tightly bundled and color-coded, the keyboard and mousepad are so tightly aligned that it looks like someone must've taken a ruler to them. The only incongruous thing is a small rock opposite the mouse by the keyboard, where Rollie's left hand might rest as he sat at his desk. Maja knows what that rock feels like. 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie steps into the kitchen, which is mostly neat, except for, well. Nobody walked the dog for a couple days. Small mercy that Princess went in here and not in any other room, since they're all carpeted. [23:26] 3Maja wanders over to the desk. She sees the rock and smiles to herself. She follows him into the kitchen. [23:28] "Poor Princess." [23:28] 3Maja squats down to let Princess approach her. Does she? 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Princess all but gets tackled. 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Maja all but gets tackled, rather, by Princess. 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Maja will find all sorts of personal effects if she pokes around. There's a lot of family pictures, mostly of his mother, a small serious-looking woman. But there's some pictures around too of a father and a brother, if Maja looks. [23:31] 3Maja plops down and lets Princess tackle her. [23:31] "Oh hello there baby cakes. Hi bubbyyyyy." 14[23:33] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [23:33] 3She finishes rolling around with Princess after about a minute, then stands up and brushes herself off. 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie refills Princess's food and water bowls and takes some time to clean up. It's pretty simple work but Rollie's taking the trash out before he speaks to Maja. Then he comes back in and hits the kitchen with some air freshener, opening the windows, and finally washing his hands. He spends a moment then slumped into the sink. 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Shiiiiiiiiiiit." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He kind of wriggles around a bit, like he's trying to get an itch off his back. 14[23:37] * Joins: mattbaby 08[23:37] 3Maja walks over to Rollie and puts her hand on his back. She remains silent with him for a few seconds. "Why don't we go sit down." 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie winces when she touches his back. 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "Alright." [23:39] 3Her hand slides down his arm to take his hand as she gently guides him over to his futon. 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie'll let Maja lead him to the futon. He lets himself fall a bit so that he bounces in the seat. "I'm really sorry I made you worry." [23:40] 3Maja shakes her head. "Don't worry about that right now. Tell me what happened." 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10How is he supposed to not worry about that? Seeing all those messages one after the other like that wrenched his heart. But he'll trust her. That can be a later thing. "I went to go and meet someone yesterday." 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "I didn't get in to see her." 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "Some people were waiting for me." 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "They wanted to talk." 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10As he recounts this, Rollie's voice is dull and faraway. "They staked me from the back. Put a hood over my head. I woke up somewhere else. Chained in a room. An interrogation room." [23:44] 3Maja freezes for a second. Then she slowly nods her head, as if to say "go on." 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "It had one of those lights, you know. You ever go into a gas station bathroom? Those white fluorescents that'll make every ugly thing about your face stand out when you look in the mirror? The hospital lights that everyone looks dead under?" [23:45] 3Maja: "Yeah, I know the type." 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "It had one of those lights. The table was metal. It smelled like rust and old blood. Looked like it too." [23:45] 3Maja frowns. 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "It gave a very specific impression." 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "This wasn't a room where people just talked." [23:46] 3Maja has heard plenty of stories from people who have been tortured, but never from someone she cared deeply for. She braces herself for more details. 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "So this guy comes in, and he started asking me about the person I went to see. About why I was going to see her. About how I knew her." [23:47] "Uh huh" 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A little disgust creeps into his voice. "I decided to play it cool, you know. I thought it made sense to try and ask a question every time he asked me one, and if he didn't answer mine I didn't answer his." 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "He just got up and left." 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "Left me in the dark. I don't know how long. I couldn't sleep, really. But I could feel the day come. So I was, like. I felt like I was trapped in my own corpse all night." 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "All day," 10he corrects himself. [23:48] 3Maja just watches him and nods. [23:49] 3She watches every microexpression he makes. Pays attention to every change in his voice. 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's shoulders get incrementally tenser. His voice goes dull again. "He starts talking to me again - tries to feed me - but I'm not playing along. I'm waist-deep in an episode by this point - I brought it on on purpose, I tried to use it to help me make sense of what was happening - so nothing I was saying makes sense anyway." 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "He goes back. Leaves me alone for a while." [23:50] 3Crucially, she feels everything he feels. 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Fear. Guilt. Anger. Shame. Helplessness. "He comes back and he says, if I don't talk, they'll find someone who will." 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "They had my phone." 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "They told me they were going to talk to you next." [23:52] 3Maja pauses to let that sink in. [23:52] "Oh." 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "And I tried to tell them, okay, fine, I'd talk. Just leave you alone." 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "But." 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "I couldn't-" 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "It wouldn't-" [23:53] 3A spike of fear runs up her spine. Followed by guilt. And then immediately back to concern as he continues to talk. [23:53] "What wouldn't?" 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie buries his face in his hands. His voice breaks. "I couldn't make any sense. I couldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't make him understand." 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "I just kept talking and talking and talking and nothing that came out meant anything to him. It was like I was from another fucking planet." [23:54] 3Maja reaches over and places her hand on his knee. 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "And he looks at me like I'm crazy - which I fucking am - and just leaves me in the room again." 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "In the dark a while." 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "And eventually it passes." 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "And he comes back." 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "And he's got a tape recorder this time." 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Bitterness. "He got what he wanted." [23:55] 3She has no intention of making any moves on him in this state, but she understands the power of the warmth. She makes her heart start pumping. 08[23:56] "I'm so sorry, Rollie" 3She's got tears welling up in her eyes now. 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "He made me a deal, and he made me promise not to tell anyone about any of this except who the deal relates to. I made him... I made him let me tell you. I told him I'd need to be able to tell you. And he said it was okay." 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "Then he unlocked me, and put the hood over my head, and drove me back." 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "He let me look at my phone before the hood went up." 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "I spent the whole ride thinking about the messages you sent me." 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's voice breaks, and he sucks a shaky breath in... but that's it. "I'm so sorry." [23:57] 3Maja can feel her heart drop this time. "Oh god, what on earth are you sorry for?" Session Time: Fri May 29 00:00:01 2015 [00:00] 3Maja felt it was important for her hands to have warmth right now, but she didn't think about crying. A tear runs down her face and she quickly wipes it away with her other hand. 08[00:02] 4On phones they're probably not checking; to Rollie: 4To Maja: 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm sorry you were so scared. You shouldn't have had to go through. And it's... I'm..." 10Rollie's shoulders shake. 08[00:03] 3Maja stirs in her seat, shaking her head. "No, Rollie. YOU shouldn't have had to go through that." 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's got a pretty high natural voice, and it can be easy to overlook how much warmth is in it until it all drains away. In his anger, Rollie Choi sounds like a cold wind in the dark. His words cut. "I am so fucking stupid." 08[00:04] 3Maja grabs his hand now. "Rollie, look at me." [00:04] "HEY. Look at me." [00:05] 3She bows down into his eye line to catch his gaze. 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie doesn't look up. "What the fuck was I thinking? Why didn't I just talk? Why did I waste all that time trying to be fucking clever? Why was I trying to be a tough guy? What was I trying to prove? Stupid fucking..." 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He stops talking when Maja forces him to meet her eyes. [00:07] 3Maja: "Stop what you're doing right now. Stop beating yourself up." [00:08] "YOU are not the one who did wrong here." [00:08] "You are not stupid. You were put in an impossible situation, and did what you could." [00:09] "You didn't do anything wrong. Do you understand me?" 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I could've, like." 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "I could've seen. I should have known." 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "I should not have played fucking lawman." 08[00:10] 3Maja stares into his eyes. Her voice gets stern, and she speaks slower. "Rollie. You. Did. Not. Do. Anything. Wrong." 14[00:11] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[00:12] * Joins: Quaker [00:12] 3She looks into his eyes even harder, somehow. 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Then why do I feel so weak?" [00:16] 3Maja's voice and face softens. "That's the whole point of what they do. That is the intended effect." 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "How am I." 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "How am I supposed to feel?" [00:19] 3Maja frowns and thinks for a second. "Well, this is what they wanted you to feel, so it's okay to feel like this as long as you need to. But it's important to remind yourself that your feelings are not the same as The Truth." 3She pauses. 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie squeezes Maja's hands in his own. [00:21] "I'm not sure what to tell you beyond that. One day you'll make sense of this- but right now we're still ... in crisis, I guess. You're not weak. You didn't do anything wrong. But this is scary, and we do need to figure out how to deal with this." 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Is it Christmas yet?" 14[00:23] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [00:23] 3Maja's a little jarred by that question- it feels out of place. "I ... wait, what? No ..." 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie sort of, slumps over, becoming increasingly horizontal until his head is in Maja's lap and he's looking up at her. "It's not important." 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "God, you're beautiful in this light." 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The blinds are open, so a lot of the light on Maja's face right now is from the Christmas lights outside. [00:27] 3Maja lays back into the futon and begins stroking his hair. She laughs softly at him, shaking her head. "You would immediately start gushing at me after finishig telling me about something horrible you've just gone through." 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "This is a way I know how to feel." 14[00:28] * Joins: Crion_ 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "Thank you." [00:31] 3She leans over and kisses him on the forehead. 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Can I ask you a question?" 14[00:33] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 08[00:34] 3Maja giggles. "Yes, Rollie." 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Do you still miss your sire?" 08[00:37] 3Maja tenses up for a second. Then she relaxes. "I used to. I haven't thought about him for a while, though."3 How long has she known Rollie? That's how long she hasn't thought about him. 15[00:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie takes Maja's hands and holds them over his cold chest. "Someday, someday soon, my heart's going to beat all the time. I'll be warm all the time. I'll never be cold again." 15[00:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "In the meantime, though. This is the same basic thing." [00:40] 3Maja: "And just how will you achieve that?" 15[00:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "The Coil of Flesh, Maja. The secret... is to explore extremes of sensation. Hot... cold... numbness... pain... to understand them, and how they touch you. To recognize that they are ephemeral, and you are an enduring thing. A limitless thing." 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie laces his fingers in with Maja's. "It's a kind of work that asks us... to unlearn ourselves. To be totally vulnerable. To reach back and forward at once until time bends around you..." 15[00:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A car passes outside and Princess clambers up onto the futon, perching on Rollie's lap, to bark at it. [00:46] There's a thud against the wall, and, faintly, someone yells: "oh my god princess shut up" 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie starts, and sits up, his hands still tangled up with Maja's. "Awww. Sorry Trubee!" 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "14Come on Princess. Quiet down boy." 08[00:48] Past the thud, there's a long pause. Somebody's knocking on the door. "Rollie, you in?" 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie can't get Princess to calm down, and once the knock starts he's freaking out again. "Yeah, hang on." 10He kisses Maja gently as he gets up before he goes to answer the door. [00:50] 3Maja watches him walk to the door, sitting awkwardly. [00:51] Trubee's cornflower yellow hair is down and messy around her back. Dressed in an oversized t-shirt that reads "Academic Decathlon, Eugene V. Debs Middle School" and sweatpants, she yawns. "Nice. I haven't seen you in like two days." [00:52] She peers around him at the person sitting on his futon. "Oh, hey. What's up." 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Oh, yeah, no big. I has a work thing. This is Maja. You've met Maja, right?" [00:53] 3Maja remains seated. "Hey Trubee. How are you?" 15[00:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie deftly avoids any sentence construction that begins 'Maja's my-' [00:54] "Yeah. Hi again. Princess was barking like crazy all last night, so I was starting to get worried he might run out of water or something if you took off for a while. I'm tired. You guys doing weird vampire shit?" [00:54] 3Maja giggles. 15[00:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah I was pretty close to going for her neck." 15[00:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "The house looks great, by the way." [00:56] 3Maja laughs and shakes her head. [00:57] She pads in, past them, headed for the kitchen, where she gets a glass of water. "Thanks. Paint's expensive, man. More than you'd think. I think I'll keep any experiments in the woods from now on." [00:57] "What's up with you?" 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Princess is instantly calm, following Trubee around and wagging his tail. He doesn't jump her like he did Maja but he's clearly quite fond of her too. "I had a rough couple nights. Worried Maja sick." 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sorry again for that." [00:59] "Oh yeah? What happened?" 08[01:00] 3Maja's just content to watch their interactions for now. "It's fine, Rollie." 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Oh I got kidnapped and tortured by vampire secret police." 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "It was pretty fucked up, not gonna lie." 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10His calm is uncanny. [01:01] "Wait-" 15[01:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie waits. [01:01] 3Maja waits. [01:01] There's a ping as the bottom of the glass hits the tile counter. That might leave a crack. "Who? Why??" 15[01:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Some weird wing of the same people I work for. I tried to talk to the wrong person while everyone was scared of a coup or something." 10Seated again, he snuggles up against Maja. "How are you feeling, Trubee?" [01:05] "THEY CAN'T JUST KID- THEY CAN'T JUST TORTURE YOU-" 08[01:05] 3If Rollie's composed, so is she. [01:05] The lights in the room are growing brighter. 15[01:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Trubee. Trubee it's okay. I'm safe now. We're all safe now." 15[01:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "Hey toss me that rock?" [01:06] Trubee's fists are clenched. She walks back into the living room. "Let's go! Let's go burn 'em down! Right now! Huh? They think they're so badass, the vampire mafia, huh? Let's go!!!" 08[01:07] 3Maja looks to Rollie to gauge his reaction. 15[01:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's totally calm still. He's never seen Trubee like this, but he has seen this in Trubee. 15[01:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "Trubee." [01:08] The lights in the room are glowing a lot brighter. 15[01:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "Trubee you can't afford to replace all my light bulbs." 15[01:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "Come on. It's okay. Heaven will keep." 15[01:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sit down." 15[01:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "Toss me that rock." [01:10] "AAAGH-" Trubee motions with her hand in the direction of the door, and the light in the room seems to clone itself and head outside. "Fine." There's a popping noise from outside. "Oh, shit, I didn't mean-" She runs outside onto the stoop. "Oh no!" 08[01:10] 3She didn't feel entitled to flip out over this, and felt it important to be stable for Rollie- but she's a little glad that at least SOMEONE is losing their shit about this. 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie will get up and follow her out. He'll snatch the rock off his desk before he goes. 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Christmas lights blowing out again? [01:11] The christmas lights are blackened and swaying. The fresh coat of purple has a lot more black and orange now. "Man…." [01:12] Trubee walks back in and grabs the rock from the desk, and flings herself onto the futon. "Ugh." [01:12] "I hate secret police." 15[01:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I'll cover the paint job this time. No problem." 10He shuts the door. "Trubee, can I tell you something?" [01:12] 3Maja: "They are incredible dicks." [01:12] 3The disgust drips from her words. [01:14] Trubee sounds like she's imitating someone. "'Oh, Trubee, don't use magic next to crowds. Oh, Trubee, the werewolves are look, don't touch. Oh, Trubee, don't make the Wrigley Field scoreboard say Cubs Suck-' they suck." 15[01:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Trubee." [01:14] "What!" 15[01:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm really glad you're my friend." [01:15] "If you just let me set one on fire, I bet they'd be nicer-" 15[01:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie gives Maja a look. It says: how did I get so lucky? 08[01:16] 3Maja smiles. She agrees with Trubee. And also Rollie. 15[01:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He settles back down on the futon and takes the rock from Trubee. "So I got this on Victoria Beach the other night." 08[01:16] "I mean ... they wouldn't really miss one, would they, Rollie?" 14[01:17] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 15[01:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie just keeps talking. "I was with this woman, and she was having a really rough night. One of those, uh, what's the expression? A dark night of the soul." 15[01:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "So we met at the beach to talk." 15[01:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "And while she talked, while she was looking for words, she'd pick up rocks and she'd throw them into the ocean." [01:20] 3Maja listens patiently, as if she doesn't know this story. 15[01:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "She was having a lot of trouble figuring out what she was supposed to do. She was torn between the life she had, which was a pretty good life, and the life she thought she deserved." 15[01:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "And she didn't know which one was right. She couldn't pick one." [01:22] Trubee snorts. 15[01:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie nods. "She was being kind of a dork. It was so cute." 14[01:23] * Joins: trenchfoot [01:23] "Mir- My aunt always says, 'You only deserve what you're willing to fight for.' So you should have told her that. Just…grab it! Take it!" 15[01:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie smiles. "But she was in a lot of pain too. It's hard, right, figuring out what you should be doing. Figuring out what's right, where you belong. And this woman, she's a fighter for sure. She's proud. She's loving. She's brave. She's defiant. But none of that helps you if you don't know where you stand." [01:25] "Hmm." 08[01:26] 3Maja bounces between watching Rollie and watching Trubee. 15[01:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "And I wanted... the important thing to me, in that moment, when she was going through that, was to be there. Just be there. I wanted to be the one thing that made sense. The one constant. The one thing that didn't ask her to make any hard decisions. The one thing that didn't make her confront her uncertain future. The one thing that saw her the way the world should see her and didn't flinch or look away." 15[01:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's turning the stone over in his hands, studying it, feeling it. "Her rock." [01:28] "Haha!" 15[01:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I'm really clever." [01:28] Trubee sits in a lotus position. "That's a good story." [01:28] 3Maja looks down into her hands, and can't help but blush a little. [01:28] "I mean, she's wrong, but it's a good story." [01:28] 3Maja smiles. Fucken' Trubee. 15[01:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What do you think she's wrong about?" [01:29] Trubee jumps up and points animatedly. "It's not hard to figure out what's right! I know whether I'm right all the time! I know exactly what I should be doing! And where I belong!" 15[01:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You've got something she doesn't, though." [01:30] 3Maja grins wider as Trubee yammers. [01:30] "What?" 15[01:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You know. You saw. She didn't. She doesn't get to. She's got to take it on faith." 14[01:31] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 15[01:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "And faith is great. But it's not knowing. It's not seeing." [01:31] 3Maja's curiosity is piqued. But she remains quiet. [01:31] "I didn't-" [01:31] Trubee stops, speechless. 15[01:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "I want you to do something for me, Trubee." 15[01:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "I want to tell you what I think Heaven is, and I want you to tell me how close you think I got. Is that okay?" [01:32] 3Maja remains quiet, but this time not from choice. She would be speechless, anyway. 08[01:33] "Rollie, I run on faith. You think because I hallucinated for a while, I don't have to have faith? It was there before I saw anything." 15[01:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Of course not." 15[01:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Everybody's got to have faith." [01:34] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu3VTngm1F0 [01:34] "No, you don't get it." 15[01:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie'll listen when she talks. [01:35] "I saw something…I didn't see Heaven. I saw something really, really cool, but I didn't see Heaven." 15[01:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It felt like you saw Heaven." 15[01:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Maybe I just." 15[01:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Saw Heaven in you." [01:35] "I mean, Heaven is the end. It's not even here yet. We'd have to make it." 15[01:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't know. It doesn't make a lot of sense." [01:36] "'Faith is to believe what you do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.'" [01:36] "I saw what could be, what I had to help make. That's what I have faith in. Not what I saw. That was just…potential." [01:37] "I'm running for the future!" [01:38] "Okay, now say your thing." [01:39] 3Maja would vote for Trubee. 15[01:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie grins at Trubee. He would not have anticipated feeling this good an hour ago. "So when I think of Heaven, right." 15[01:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "I think of... the way things are supposed to be. I think of everything there is that pushes in that direction. Heaven moves. It never stops. And it's a little... there's a lot of peace in it, for how hard it pushes. It is reckless and righteous." 15[01:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "I think Heaven is where the signal comes from." [01:46] 3Maja doesn't fully understand, but doesn't feel it's her place to ask for clarification righ tnow. [01:46] Trubee turns to Maja. "Oh, sorry. Okay, so magic is real?" 15[01:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "She knows you're a wizard." [01:47] "And I can do it. Cool magic, not like…well, I guess blood magic is cool, but also gross. Non-gross magic. Well, some of it is gross. But not my kind." 08[01:47] 3Maja just ... sits. She turns her face towards Rollie, but keeps her eyes on Trubee. 08[01:49] 3Suddenly Maja remembers the text Trubee sent to Rollie, mentioning that she read Maja's thoughts. [01:49] "Well, sometimes what people are thinking is gross, technically-" [01:49] 3She lets her body untense. Oh yeah. Right. Okay. [01:49] "Also, I feel like I shouldn't have to say this, but you guys know I wouldn't read your minds except if it was, like…an emergency, right?" 15[01:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I trust you, Trubee." [01:50] "Because, it's like an issue of consent. I mean, sometimes I pick up stray surface thoughts, but that's just a thing." 15[01:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "With my mind, anyway." 15[01:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "Maybe not with the circuit breaker." [01:50] "Not, you know." She laughs. "Not gonna mind control you guys." 08[01:50] 3Maja: "I don't know shit, but if Rollie trusts you, so do I." 15[01:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Trubee is America's Sweetheart." [01:52] 3Maja: "That sounds like an awfully heavy responsibility to me." [01:52] Trubee: "Yeah, thanks. Are you guys dating now?" 08[01:52] 3Maja snorts. She'll let Rollie field this one. 08[01:52] 3She turns to Rollie, as if to ask him: yeah, are we dating now? 15[01:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks from one of them to the other, seated as he is on the futon between them. "Trubee, I want you to read my mind for the answer. Will you do that for me? I'm gonna think it really hard at you. I won't say it out loud so Maja doesn't get flustered." 15[01:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'd hate to fluster her." [01:55] Trubee shakes her head. "Nah, I'm tired. I'll guess 'yes.' Anyway, I'm going back to bed." [01:55] 3Maja laughs and playfully jabs him in the side. "WHATEVER." 15[01:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Aww. Alright." [01:55] 3Maja: "Nice seeing you again, Trubee. Sorry, uh, about the last time ..." 15[01:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "Little did she know you were the sweetest pool hustling bar floozy in the whole world." [01:56] 3Maja: "Which one of us you talking about there, Rol?" 15[01:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "If you have to ask..." 08[01:57] "Oh, yeah. Hey, it kind of made me nervous, but I guess if Rollie thinks you're okay, then you're okay. Oh, hey, you know Trubee is just a nickname, right…?" [01:57] "My mom didn't actually name me that." 15[01:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie nods. He'll let Charlotte keep her privacy unless she wants to divulge. [01:58] 3Maja: "Understandable. I wouldn't have even thunk it had I known- but I like to think of myself as an ethical feeder. You were never in any actual harm. What's your name?" [01:58] "Charlotte. I mean, I know I was never in actually in harm, because I can, like…make fire. No offense." [01:59] 3Maja laughs really hard at that. "None taken." 15[01:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Making fire seems pretty offensive. Literally speaking." [02:00] 3Maja: "It's a pleasure to meet you, Charlotte. I trust I'll be seeing you around." [02:00] Trubee digs her phone out of her sweatpants. "Yeah, same. Okay, it's too late. I'm going to bed, seeya." 15[02:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "Good night." [02:00] She closes the door behind her. They can hear her close her front door after that. 08[02:02] 3Maja leans back into the futon and lets Rollie say what he wants to. 15[02:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "We're totally dating, by the way. I was going to try and sneak a secret to Trubee without you seeing." [02:03] 3Maja blushes, but quickly recovers. "And do I have any say over that, Mr. Choi?" 3She asks, mockingly. [02:03] "Am I your ... property now?" 15[02:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: You're not my property! You're just, you know. Powerless before my charm." 15[02:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "It'd be kind of unfair if you weren't. There'd be no equality in this at all." 15[02:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "How are you feeling?" [02:09] 3Maja giggles. Then gets somber as he asks that question. "I'm okay. You've- well, we have been through a lot today." 09[02:10] * banana|sleep is now known as banana 15[02:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah. We're gonna be okay though." 15[02:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's still turning that rock over in his hand. "So I gotta ask." 15[02:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "What exactly was going through your mind when you found this rock in my pocket?" 08[02:17] 3Maja gives him a deadpan look. "Well, Rollie. I thought it was possibly your schlong, and at first, I was concerned." 15[02:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks down a tthe rock, which is roughly triangular. "...maybe you do actually do therapy most of the time." [02:20] 3Maja breaks. "You fucking dingus. Come here. Now." 15[02:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Should I put the rock down?" 15[02:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...are you gonna need it?" 15[02:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "No?" 15[02:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "Well. It's not going anywhere." 08[02:23] 3Maja considers for a second. "Do you have some thoughts for what could be done with it, Rollie?" 15[02:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Of course not, Maja. Unlike you I am a good Christian." 15[02:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "Who is constantly being tempted into sin." 08[02:25] 3Maja: "Wow. Wow. That is is so great for you, Rollie. I bet that's a lot of fun. Being a good Christian. Must be nice." [02:26] "Anywway, listen." [02:26] "I am not going to put that rock in your butt, so just don't even ask me, okay?" [02:26] [CENSORED] [02:26] [CENSORED] [02:26] NEXT TIME: GOOD CLEAN FAMILY FUN 15[02:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks down at the roughly triangular rock again. 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Joins: Quaker 14[20:14] * Joins: autopsy_turvey [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 ..... [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 .d$$$$*$$$$$$bc [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 .d$P" d$$ "*$$. [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 d$" 4$"$$ "$$. [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 4$P $F ^$F "$c [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 z$% d$ 3$ ^$L [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 4$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$F [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 $$$F"""""""$F""""""$F"""""C$$*$ [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 .$%"$$e d$ 3$ z$$" $F [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 4$ *$$.4$" $$d$P" $$ [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 4$ ^*$$. .d$F $$ [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 4$ d$"$$c z$$"3$ $F [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 $L 4$" ^*$$$P" $$ 4$" [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 3$ $F .d$P$$e ^$F $P [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 $$ d$ .$$" "$$c 3$ d$ [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 *$.4$"z$$" ^*$$$$ $$ [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 "$$$$P" "$$$P [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 *$b. .d$P" [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 "$$$ec.....ze$$$" [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 "**$$$**"" 14[20:21] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12So here's Jalil, sitting across a table from Arrian in the back of a book shop ostensibly owned by an inattentive old man. The kid's got his bookbag on the table in front of him and is sort of peering at Arrian over the top of it. [20:22] <@Ferrinus> "So, my uncle," 12he says. "You. Those- what'd I see? What is this?" [20:23] 7What did he see? What is this? 11[20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Paracelsus, elsewhere and probably elsewhen - later in the same day, at least - is the only living creature in a room with two vampires. ...wait, three vampires, surely. Paracelsus didn't see Otto leave and can't, at the moment, recall if he did, but a deeper and stabler portion of the old necromancer's brain has seen this trick before and knows how to think about it. [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12"Vince" is a little shorter than Vlad is, but he projects more power, even despite his greaser jacket and slicked-back blonde hair. He's got a bony face and beady eyes, and stalks around the kids' room as though he doesn't own it and so has no compunctions whatsoever about tracking grit over the carpeting. 11[20:26] <@Ferrinus> "Who's this guy?" 12he says, first off, talking to Vlad while jerking a thumb backwards at Paracelsus. "He yours?" [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Vlad: "Aheh, not, uh- he just lives across the floor. Uh, the hall. You know? It's nothing." 11[20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "Yeah?" 12He turns to Paracelsus. "Gonna have to ask you to step out, then, gramps, we got things to discuss." [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian's received a report from the Arrow on what happened to Jalil, and has separately got a little of Atlas's testimony on the matter. It runs like this: 15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus smiles behind Vince's back when he asks Vlad that question, but it's settled into a somber frown by the time the vampire turns around. "What are you going to discuss?" [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12One way Jalil and a few of his friends scrape together part-time cash is as members of a generic cleaning/chore-doing service; they get matched to clients, collect commissions, etc. He and one "Ike" were stopping in at a mid-east side apartment to help do some cleaning and packing in advance of a move. [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12They showed up, met the two men living there, busied themselves in another room, then heard a strange noise, felt the temperature drop precipitiously, and were suddenly under attack by what they would've described as zombies. [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12The Arrow clarified, here; they were reanimated, hollowed-out corpses that drew in heat and light through voids where their faces should be. Whether they were actually undead creatures isn't apparent given that only a theurgist saw them firsthand, but they were certainly sinkholes of thermal energy and marked with the resonance of emptiness and opening. [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Atlas was on the scene fast, but not fast enough to keep Ike alive. He did eliminate the creatures handily, his spells suffering not at all from Jalil's presence in the process, and then took his nephew to safety. [20:35] 7What kind of spells did Atlas use? [20:35] 7I mean, what did Jalil see him do? [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12According to Arrian's casual rifling-through of Jalil's sense memory, this all checks out. Arrian can follow the boy's trip across town and up the stairs exactly, see him and Ike meet and shake hands with the two owners of the apartment - one in his twenties and one paunchier and middle-aged, both dressed casually and distracted-looking - and see him begin cleaning. Arrian can mark [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12precisely the sounds preceding and announcing the Incident - what sounds like an argument, then a muffled swear word, then a sharp bang as of a fuse blowing and a less-muffled swear word, then a great reverberation atop what sounds like the howling of wind. [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian can see color and sound seep out of the room as frost and darkness crawls out from a door across the hall and traces lazy spirals across the walls; he can see what must be the remains of the older of the two men come lurching out the door, then half-lunge, half-fall forward in the course of striking Ike down with a sort of reverse beam, a long-ranged drain on the unfortunate [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12kid's body heat. [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Through Jalil's eyes, Arrian sees Atlas somehow deflect beams of that on his own, presumably holding his thermal balance fast against attempts to reave it, and then sees the man imbue his fists and arms with the violence of earthquakes, laying into the monsters so ferociously it produces visible shockwaves in the air. It's not unlike the Arrow's dealing with that spider nest, really. 11[20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince is already turning back around, but he pauses as Paracelsus raises the question. Now he swivels again, slowly, as though the sheer fact of having to talk a second time is unbelievable. "We're discussin'... private matters." [20:43] 7Does Arrian know anything about why two guys in an apartment suddenly turned into zombies? [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12According to the Arrows, followup search of the apartment revealed what looked like some kind of ritual space, but warped beyond recognition by whatever was unleashed that day. Mysteriously, postcognition of the chamber revealed massive temporal as well as thermal hollows - reconstruction of what magic was actually in use there has not, as yet, yielded actionable information. [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12This is definitely massively, massively beyond the pay grade of what Arrian knows about "normal" magic, which can generally achieve such incredible results as the erasure of tarnish or prediction of weather. It must be the case that these men were tapping into some higher (lower? outer?) force, working rituals that simply enabled something stronger than they are to act, as you might [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12see from your typical spirit cultist or ghost whisperer. This feels more like the latter than the former - some kind of opening into an underworld? Arrian's pretty sure he's heard of such a place - and yet the particularly magical power of those things doesn't quite square with that. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Bottom line, though, this was definitely an invocation of something, not just an evocation of something - and something really unusual, something it must be unheard-of to even get the figurative phone number of, because you basically never hear about accidents like that when it's just Sleepers involved. 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus keeps frowning. "Now see here, Vince." [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince quirks a brow, gamely. [20:57] 7Arrian: "What you saw were, well, zombies. Some kind of paranormal event we're still investigating. As to what this is... you recall how you almost forgot the whole thing happened for a few days?" [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12That did happen, but it wasn't the doing of Jalil's own mind; the Arrow pretty much numbed him while they saw to his incidental injuries and figured out what to do with him. Arrian's pretty sure that, otherwise, Jalil might only be given to forget an incident like this for, basically, the normal reasons - kid's a Sleepwalker, after all. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Jalil: "...yeah?" [21:01] 7Ah. Arrian's not going to mention that, but he doesn't consider it a meaningful lie of omission considering it's tangential to his point. "99.9% of people wouldn't remember at all. They'd go home and they'd maybe have a vague idea that something bad happened, and eventually their mind would fill in the blanks, but even if you straight-up told them they were attacked by zombies they'd [21:01] say you were crazy." [21:02] "Your uncle and I are part of a secret society of, I guess you could call us 'professional occultists'. It includes people like you, people who can see and remember the paranormal. We investigate, catalog, and preserve paranormal activity, and in the case of guys like Sam we protect people from it when it goes bad." [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Jalil narrows his eyes slightly as he jumps immediately to the implication. "That happens all the time?" [21:03] 7Arrian nods. "Not all the time, thank goodness. Not even often. But it's the reason you put ghosts and zombies up there with, I dunno, UFOs and reptilians until now." [21:04] 7Arrian: "Sorry, badly phrased. People forget all the time. Things that make them forget happen relatively rarely." [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Jalil: "How many... how many ghosts and zombies are we talking here." 14[21:07] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) [21:08] 7Arrian: "Ghosts are basically everywhere, but they're almost always harmless. They can't really do anything in the real world for the most part, so you can't even tell they're there unless you know how to look. I know a guy who chats with them on his days off. Nice guy." [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Jalil peers around the room but doesn't, as far as Arrian can tell, spot any of the unquiet dead. 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I'm not just going to let you take advantage of these young men. You're going to intimidate him. I might not know what you're here for, but I know a bully when I see one. They've got rights." [21:11] 7Arrian: "Zombies are pretty rare. You see them if somebody makes them on purpose, or... well, okay. The guys you went to help move were amateur occultists. Sam says they had a ritual space in one of the other rooms. Normally that's not a big deal. It's like playing with an ouiga board, they can predict the weather, maybe clean rust off metal. The working theory now is that they [21:11] accidentally got the metaphysical phone number of something bad." [21:12] "We're cleaning up the area, making sure everything's back to normal." [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "You- these?" 12He looks from a wide-eyed Vlad to the necromancer and back. "What kind of fuckin' - where I'm concerned, old man, the main rights these kids have right now is the right to have this start out a conv- no, no, you know what. Get him out of here." [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a pause before Vince says: "I said-" 12Vlad: "Me?! But, he-" 12Vince: "Your fault he's here, yeah? Shoulda kept your door closed. Come on, I got no time for this." 11[21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince stares at Vlad enough that Vlad gets up off the couch and takes a few shuffling steps over to where Paracelsus stands. He draws a breath, but then lets it escape without turning it into a sentence. Trying again: "Maybe, ah, you actually should-" [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "Holy shit, seriously? Fuckin' come on, kid, give 'im the eyes. I saw your file." [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Jalil: "Your... secret society." 11[21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12There's another awkward moment as Vlad searches briefly for Paracelsus's eyes but breaks away almost immediately. Vince is looking between the two of them with one hand out and palm turned up as though to beseech an unseen audience. After a moment. Then Vince is looking, specifically, at Paracelsus. [21:22] 7Arrian: "Yeah. I dunno all the details of what those guys are doing, thank god. I'm mostly research." 7He said, with a shitload of wishful thinking. [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Vlad: "Ehhh... maybe ve cou-" 12Vince: "SHUT UP, KID." 11[21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12He's suddenly breezing past Vlad, pushing the vampire roughly aside so as to leave him stumbling back, and unless Paracelsus moves with some agility actually putting an arm around the necromancer's shoulders and walking the man a little ways away where Vlad is standing. [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "Paaaalll. Pal. Are- sorry, your name again?" [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Jalil: "...okay. Okay. What about the part where Sam has Goku powers?" 11[21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince has clearly just realized, somehow, that Paracelsus is a VIP - one frankly more important than any of these two losers. It's time to do some image management/damage control. 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus lets his frown melt away. "So. Vince." 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "How's about we sit down and talk, yeah?" [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12No name? Eh, that doesn't seem to be to Vince's surprise. "Oh, sure, suuuuure. No, this all gets straightened out. 'ey! Grownups are talking now, getta outta here! ...you, too, you ears, I can fuckin' see ya." 11[21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Unless Paracelsus objects, he'll end up sitting across from Vince on Vlad and Otto's dingy dinner table, both vampires who actually live here having been banished to a bedroom. 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus will object to them being shut off in the other room, but if Vlad and Otto aren't bothered he supposes he'll wear this himself. [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince leans across the table, fingers interlaced. "My friend." [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "Are these boys botherin' you?" [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "Keepin' you up at night? Snoopin' around? Because, holy shit, these- I mean, you just say the word." 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Not at all. They're excellent neighbors and fine company. Why are they a nuisance to you?" 09[21:36] * banana|peels is now known as banana [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "Listen, though, you gotta understand, them comin' up here - no oversight, right, it's pretty far off the beaten path, relatively speaking. No idea you were - I mean, they got here what, October? Rest assured, we knew this was yours, we wouldn't have let those clowns come creepin' up." 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I assure you, Vince, they've been nothing but model residents. I'd hate to see anything happen to them. Whatever problems they have, they also have my friendship." 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "I want to each an understanding." 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> *reach [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "They do. They do? These guys - okay, okay. Ahem." [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "The thing is, see, one or the other's fuckin' gone insane and started draining people dry in the damn street. Okay?" [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "So something's gotta happen here." 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Well, you've seen them." 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "Which is it?" [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "Well, that's what I was gonna find out. My money's on the one with hair, though." 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "What if I told you I knew what happened?" 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "What if I told you that was why I was here?" [21:44] "Magic." 7Arrian replies bluntly. [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Jalil presses his lips together for a moment. "Well, I mean." [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Jalil: "Okay?" [21:48] 7Arrian shrugs. "This is the sticky part. I can't actually tell you more about that right now. Like, you'll notice that I haven't told you our society's name or anything. The fact of the matter is that while people won't remember ghosts or magic or the paranormal in general, they will remember us, or you. We don't have government backing or any kind of official authority." [21:48] "We wouldn't be able to work if people knew there were a bunch of guys running around claiming they were protecting people from zombie attacks." [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince drums his fingers on the table once, pinky to index finger. "Well, I guess I'd listen closely." [21:49] 7Arrian: "So! Here's the part where I offer you a job." [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Jalil leans back slightly here. "A job. Like- what job?" 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "The perpetrator of these crimes isn't in this building. It's under the Harlem River. Or on its way out of it for the night." [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "You don't say? Who is it?" [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Cross has a few buns in the oven at the moment. The most immediately interesting are probably the ongoing war for the basement of the Cooper building - supposedly they're going to be making a play for another level down sometime tonight - the continuing investigation into the Prism, both your captured shard and the greater system, and... getting a Hallow. 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "It's not a who, anymore. It was someone who attacked these two on Halloween and they had to defend themselves. And through some accident of your condition, the corpse didn't stay corpsed. It's not fully developed. It's almost a larva." 14[21:57] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 11[21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian and Paracelsus both have mentioned at least offhand that it's possible. You've got the core. You've got way more magic than those two professors ever did. You've even got a wizard's tower to put it on top of, or under, or next to... somehow... [21:59] 7Arrian: "We don't know why some people can remember the paranormal and some can't. If we knew, there'd be a lot more people like you. As it stands, we need every one. You wouldn't be in the dark, or at least less in the dark than you are now. To start with, especially because you're a high school kid, you'd be doing part-time simple stuff. Watching places other people can't go, [21:59] transcribing books other people can't read, that kind of thing." [21:59] "You'd get a stipend. Pay's not bad." [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince works his jaw around. He leans sideways on the table, resting his temple on a few knuckles and apparently either performing some mental calculations or trying his damndest to remember a date. Finally he looks back over. "Their larva, though." [22:00] 6Who is They and what game are they playing? Are we talking about the beshilu nest, here, being actively fought by someone? [22:00] 7Arrian: "When you're older, if you chose to, you could work full time. If you're bright and dedicated, and it looks like you are, we'd probably end up teaching you alchemy or something similar." [22:01] "Let me be absolutely clear though- this is not an offer to teach you Sam's Goku powers. We don't know what makes a guy like him any more than we know what makes a guy like you. If we did, there'd be a hell of a lot more." [22:01] 6Right now most of Cross's time is occupied with the setup for what she's calling 'Project Spectrum', at least unless a cabalmate laughs at the name, but if there's a war going on in any basements then she'd better get informed. [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12That's right. The Cooper building's going to be, from the werewolves' perspective, a sort of orbital laser used to spiritually purify the Beshilu nest that's metastasizing beneath the city, but if the swarms aren't beaten back far down enough they'll just eat the workmen trying to remodel the place. 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus nods. "And I intend to help them take care of it." [22:02] <@Ferrinus> Atlas and the devotees of Glass Walker have been plugging away for weeks now, it's grisly stuff. No actual casualties on our side, thankfully, and no word from Helen or her people, either - actually, you never even met them, now that yo think about it. [22:02] 6So the GW Group lupines are, with the cooperation of the site staff et cetera, fighting under the building? [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Atlas and the devotees of Glass Walker have been plugging away for weeks now, it's grisly stuff. No actual casualties on our side, thankfully, and no word from Helen or her people, either - actually, you never even met them, now that yo think about it. 14[22:02] * Joins: ddt [22:03] 6Oh, Atlas is on it. No problem, then- or if there is a problem, he'll hit it. [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "Like you're gonna..." 12His eyes dart sideways for a moment. He motions off with his hand, towards the east, making a little sidewinding journey through the air before he mimes grabbing onto something, plunging it down, then drawing two fingers across a nearby neck. "Like, you?" [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Cross is right about that one. The big danger is, actually, that enough noise and commotion is produced that the authorities start investigating. You might have to bug Pascal into doing something about it sometime soon. 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I'm not here on behalf of murderers. These kids ended up in a bad spot and things went poorly. They need tolerance, not punishment. Punishment doesn't make anyone better. I'll see that it's disposed of." [22:07] 6That does remind Cross of the existence of Helen.. Road-Something. You know what, they should catch up. [22:07] 6Right now the outer Sanctum - that is to say the parts of the Sanctum which are not the Inner Sanctum - is barely remodelled, with just a couple of contractors setting up rack space and offices for the Prism study and a couple of people from Watchtower keeping an eye on them, making sure that they don't go down the wrong corridors. Cross envisages painted lines down the hallway floors, [22:07] 6intimidating security doors, concealed lab spaces taking up the majority of the floor.. maybe a sort of grand-chamber conference room as the intersection between the two spaces? [22:07] 6Anyway, she's directing matters from the correct side of some one-way glass and will take a moment to sit down and give Helen a phone call. [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince sits back. "You know, we got people. I mean, fuckin', scuba gear or somethin', dunno how fast you pull that together, but it's kinda lick business, right? You don't gotta get involved." [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "Fact, you shouldn't get involved. What if something goes wrong? What if it gets ya? 'cause then, holy shit, holy shit, random fuckup on our part kills some mage? Complete fuckin' travesty!" 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "We can figure out a way to deal with it. My priority is making sure that Vlad and Otto aren't left without someone to stick up for them." [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Jalil makes a few different faces as Arrian speaks, but most commonly one of intent calculation. 14[22:11] * Joins: Quaker [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Jalil: "And I could - I'd see what's going on? I get to learn this stuff?" 12He waves a hand. "No, I heard you. But- about it, or whatever." [22:14] 7Arrian's biggest concern is that Jalil might think he's in for superpowers beyond what Arrian can reasonably promise. Does it look like he emotionally accepts the limits of what Arrian's offering? [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Cross's phone rings on and on - there's no answer and no answering machine. A Sleeper might be persuaded to just hang up and try again later, but the enchanter can feel promise slowly wending its way down the line. [22:16] To herself: "They're not nocturnal, are they?" [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12After two minutes and three seconds, a young man's - teenager's, maybe - voice comes through. "Hello?" [22:16] 6Cross: "Hello. Is Helen available?" [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Voice: "Are you the red one?" [22:18] 6Cross hesitates a moment. Her narration isn't really red-: "If that's a mystical title, then, no." [22:20] "Are you talking about The Red One? Is this just a question of whether I'm the red, rather than the blue, one of the group?" [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince draws a breath, then draws his hands apart, as though preparing to steeple them but never quite getting to it. "Yeahhhhh, see.... this cuts both ways, though. Yeah? We'd never, you know, you know the rules, if you got some magic shit goin' on up here, please, go on. None of our business. Careeefully standin' back." [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "But, by the same rights, if we got business to take care of - I mean, that's how it is, right? Non-overlappin' whatevers." 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Magisteria." 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "Let me ask you this: what punishment are they due here?" [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian doesn't really see a desire for power so much as a desire for sanity and security, here. Jalil is less concerned with doing magic than he is with not actually believing himself insane - so what's mostly important here is that this isn't some kind of trick entirely, or that Arrian isn't himself setting some kind of trap, or something. These are fleeting thoughts, though - this [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12conversation came highly recommended, after all, and it's not on the warlock to do a complete cold sell. [22:25] 7Phew. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Boy on the phone: "No... Helen was going to be out, and the red one would call... like maybe it was a rose? Or a star?" [22:28] 6Cross: "That's vague prophecies for you. It probably does refer to me, since we're on the phone, here. Does she have a forwarding number?" [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "Well, I ain't a legal scholar. I do ground work, you know? I basically report. But, you know, between illegal sirin', threatenin' the mask, uh, overhuntin'... none of them quite fit, sure." [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "What that basically means is they've got the chance to get creative." [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Boy: "You were going to tell me where she'd be." [22:31] 6Makes sense that the werewolves would see Millicent's call as a destined event wrapped in symbolism. Who else are they going to get on the line that's any better? But she's not getting entangled in their spiritualism if it's not necessary. [22:31] 7Arrian: "Yup. That's the deal. You get initiated, then we open the books. Not all at once, because we need to make sure you're good with secrets. But I doubt that'll be hard for you." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "If we take the average, let's say." [22:32] 6..is Helen okay? Cross: "That'll take more than future tense. Who am I speaking to, please?" [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Boy: "So, ummm... where can I find her? Because it's been a day." [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "Oh, Eric." [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Jalil nods slowly. "...okay. Okay, uh, I guess... you need a number, mayb-" 12Here's where Arrian notices something, although how long it actually took the conversation to reach this point might vary. [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a sort of... shaking. And buzzing. Yep, from the back room behind this back room, where you've got a bunch of still-packed shipments in storage. Sort of a rumbling, clattering sound with buzzy undertones. [22:37] 6Cross shifts the phone to the crook of her shoulder, starts taking notes. "Eric, we haven't met and I don't know whether you're someone Helen wants finding her. It'd also be quite difficult to locate her for you over the phone. How are you placed for getting downtown?" [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince leans back in his seat. He tilts his mouth one way and then the other, making mirrored, opposite motions with a hand to the side of his face. "Ehhh.... little bitta enslavement? Exile? This actually ain't as easy to gauge as you'd think 'cause it comes down to how many friends you got, moods that night, you know the drill." [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "That's assuming this gets taken care of, 'course. 'course, that means they've got a tab with the city." [22:38] 7Like a clockwork spider? [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "That's easy. Where?" [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Nope, no machinery. Arrian would guess that a big wooden crate is rumbling and rattling with increasing force. [22:41] 6Cross: "There's a diner.." 6She describes the address opposite the Streber Building. "It's the one with men loitering outside looking intently into their newspapers, making endless phone calls and so on. Tell you what, I'll wear a scarf the colour I suspect you've been told." [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "Okay, cool." 12Does Cross do much besides show up and wait? [22:42] 7Fortunately, Arrian is an Initiate of Fate. [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Fate says... this is dangerous. [22:44] 6She lets the people managing the remodel know where she's gone, and who to call if she isn't back that afternoon. Other than that.. while she waits, Cross will put together an Imago to reveal essential animal natures and check out the passers-by. Ape, ape, ape in a suit, practically-a-reptile... [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12In fact, in an immediate physical sense, and one with almost guarantee for collateral damage absent quick action. [22:46] 7So Arrian can be reasonably confident that the time taken to get Jalil out of the store would make him Too Late? [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric, an olive-skinned teen in faded, second-hand winter clothing is definitely not a normal human. His body's far too charged with vitality - it metabolizes too fiercely, heals too quickly, has senses too sharp. Almost certainly a werewolf, Cross would guess. Actually, though, Cross's native perceptions might detect more of interest about the kid than her Life magic does - he's a [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12fellow augur! [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a touch of foresight and destiny to the boy - he's got the potential to be a great force for change in some context and is clearly important to at least one force or faction Cross has encountered already (Helen's the smart bet there). At the same time, he's got the air of someone acting on glimpses of the future - it was probably actual prophecy of one kind or another that [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12guided his approach to that phone call. 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Is there no prospect of mercy?" [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince shrugs elaborately. [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12This feels like an in-the-next-minute thing to Arrian, which isn't actually too little time to, like, tell Jalil to get out to the street or something. It's not a huge bookshop. [22:52] 6Some sort of.. Acanthus wolf-equivalent? Eric finds a woman some years older and dressed a LOT better, brown hair offset by a slash-of-red scarf. She watches him openly- after all, the perpetual stakeout outside should guarantee a degree of civility here. This is probably not a Max Willard scenario. [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Yeah, it isn't. It doesn't look like Eric is being followed or similar, and he pretty guilelessly heads over to wherever Cross is sitting and pulls himself up to a position right across from her. "Hi." [22:56] "Hey, Rhodes here. You must be Eric." 6That's how they know her already.. god, she's about to expend like two days' worth of mana on this kid. Well, it has to be done. [22:57] 7Arrian makes his decision. He'd said yes before Arrian realized the danger- might as well give him an idea of what he's in for. "Great, great. Your first job is to help me figure out what that increasingly-alarming rumbling noise is in the other back room." 7Arrian is already on his feet and pulling on the hidden latch that opens the cool secret door. [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "Yeah. Umm, so. You were - you were one of the three who saved Helen, right. Before." [22:58] 6As Eric sits, Millicent is already plucking at the threads of fate, feeling vibrations - she's searching for his tie to Helen, ensuring, ideally, that he means her well. [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Jalil shoots up out of his chair, considers it - and you're off! The both of you, in fact. Hopefully this works out. [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not a long trip, really - Arrian's through another door, around a big shelf, and immediately facing a stack of smallish crates in the corner of the room. The stack's getting increasingly haphazard because one of them midway down is buzzing and vibrating in place. There are... minds in there. Teeny tiny minds, insect minds. And something's wrong with space, too, except it must [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12be due to something in the box rather than the box itself because Arrian can't get a bead just by glancing at the exterior. [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "Listen, whaddayou want here. They're left alone? That's basically it?" 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Yes. I'm willing to cooperate if necessary. Agitating tensions isn't in anyone's interest." 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "But." 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "That goes for Vlad and Otto as surely as for you and me." [23:09] 7Okay that's alarming. What's supposed to be in that crate? [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Cross can read Eric's narrative relation to Helen clear as day. He's her ward and ally, powerfully loyal and fiercely protected in turn. This cuts closer and deeper than the allegiance Cross has seen in some marriages or actual family relations - werewolves do the "pack of wolves" thing, right? They must take it seriously. [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "Well, we agree on that. Heeeeere's what I think, then. " [23:12] 6Cross: "We were there for another reason, but happy to help." 6She looks right through him, at the Pack. "I can see you'd have been right there if it came to it. Okay." [23:17] "I can help you a bit. Is there more trouble with the Willards?" [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "Here, in fact, is how I see it. If you're right this is a larva - and I've just got you word, and who the hell are ya, right - it's probably out tonight." 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus nods. [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "Now, I actually find out for sure whose larva, like properly, well, that I gotta report. 's in the job. And, honestly, if I'm certain that's what this is, I gotta be out there. Catch it, least triangulate." 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "It's Vlad's." 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "I can show you its nest." [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "If I never see it. If it's just taken care of, clean, well, who's to say, eh? Where'd it come from, who knows. Maybe someone buried a Sumerian king in the Hudson and he just now woke up, what the fuck. If you are right then the bodies we got on the ground right now won't have your boys' scent, even if I'm the one sniffin'." 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "So if the problem goes away..." [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "I couldn't make the case if I tried! Barely anything to report. Suspicion goes, little easier to lean, but hey, great." 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "This sounds like a win-win." 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "The only catch is, it's my skin in the game and not yours, yeah?" 11[23:26] 6Paracelsus is learning! [23:26] 6The lingo at last. Cross would be proud. [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12He stands, then leans forward. "Now, listen to me. This is our business. Just puts you in danger. If you know what's good for you, you turn around and go to sleep right now instead of, fuckin', goin' on a revenant hunt. I don't even care what you do, not my business. But if I get, you know, statements, then leave here and confirm 'em, and at the end of the night there's just no [23:26] <@Ferrinus> larva left for me to find, well, hell. Classic yeah-weird." [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "If you did mess around with that kind of stuff, hoo boy. Real inadvisable. I'd have a real one over on you, then. But, end of the day, my job's easier." [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric nods. "Yeah, but... I couldn't. I had a dream. There, there was a trap... I thought we had to stay back." 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I'm not sure you'd have one over on me. You'd certainly have grounds to pick a fight, of course." 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "But nobody wants that." 14[23:31] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [23:32] 6Cross: "The rat king. You weren't wrong." 6So if we've been liasing with the glass walkers about the beshilu beneath Cooper.. do they even realise it's just a subordinate nest? [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "Iiii'm just sayin'. I'm not gonna step wrong here. Get the kids' statements, look at the bodies, whole bit. You wanna make sure the trail stops shorta their feet, well, I ain't your boss." 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "A professional question, then." 14[23:34] * Joins: Quaker [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "I... I was. I was though. The trap was back home." 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "How long would you say it'd take you to track all this down?" [23:35] 6Cross: "Oh sssugar. What happened? Who did it happen to?" 6This is why the Moros mourned. [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "If I'd... I didn't read it right. I saw... I saw things waiting, I saw us all fighting. I thought we couldn't all go." [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "Well, we couldn't all stay, either. And splitting was worst of all." [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince rolls his eyes up. "More than one body, right? And I'm gonna be sampling a lot. Three, four hours? Then a daylight team to follow up." [23:41] 6Cross is not sure how to deal with this. Something stronger than any family bond, torn apart like that.. it was the fault of whatever the heck enemies werewolves have, though, not that of some kid! [23:41] "I don't know how your sight works exactly, Eric, but the future- it's a story untold. You can't ever have the full picture because it isn't written yet. Painted. Whatever. Don't fool yourself into thinking you had all the information but a bad decision." 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Fair enough." [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "I don't know. Reading the dreams - it's a skill, Helen says. I'm just... I haven't done it long." [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "Alright - I'm talkin' to the kids and you're, far I know, goin' to bed. Wind's been southeasterly tonight, incidentally." 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Do me one favor?" [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince: "Eh?" 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus casts a hand over the carpet, saying a single word. The grit and dirt that Vince's shoes tracked into Vlad and Otto's apartment quivers, and as he waves his hand over it, rolls up into a small tight ball of lint that he drops neatly into the garbage can. 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10On his way out the door: "Next time, wipe your feet." [23:50] 6ffff aren't there therapists or something. "You've survived to learn it better and f- heck, that prescience is always better than no warning at all. We are not living in some karma-world where struggles against destiny leave you worse off than accepting- we've- my people call that sort of thing the Lie. Look, are they still after you?" 11[23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Vince's shoulders hunch in defensively, and then he blinks and barks out a single, sharp - but appreciative - laugh. He turns away as Paracelsus does, cracking his knuckles and filling his lungs to smoothly resume use of the tone he apparently prefers with other vampires. 11[23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Paracelsus, meanwhile, heads out on the hunt. [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric watches Cross, blinking occasionally, and it's really hard to gauge how much, if any, of that he was able to take in. He seizes on the last question, though. "Um - no. No one's, I don't think, now. We've been okay, except Helen shoulda been back." [23:55] 6Cross: "That at least we can deal with. Give me 13a sec." [23:57] "..and her true name, please." [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "Umm... Helen Gnaws-The-Road." 12Weirdly, that feels like it... works? Even though Shadow Names don't. [23:58] 6Damn the impression that you can get from this kind of power - a kid like this - the future is real, at least for the instants that Cross forces it to take a single shape, and it's too easy to feel.. that you should have seen, or should have understood. All of the magic can do.. so much. Cross doesn't understand how any Awakened soul can be less than constantly active. She feels [23:59] 6like every day not spent building the Ladder is one she's wasted. But that's the seer's burden, not meant for some sort of teen wolf! Session Time: Sun May 31 00:00:00 2015 [00:00] 6Eric will find her, though. Fuck you, the future, give me one where he does! It might not be a redemptive vision but Cross will see it happen. [00:01] 6If werewolves are sensitive to spells then the boy might feel he's entered a waking dream. Rumour and myth are sorted, discarded, parted like vines in a jungle to reveal a straight path. 11[00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Paracelsus walks fast. He doesn't pick up a fresh trail but he's got spots of past ones, plus a hint about the larva hunting by smell, plus a knowledge of where the creature's lair is - it's not impossible to reason where its first moves might lead it, given that it wants warm blood but hates light. [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12That's the park. Dark, cool, filled with cover, low on the illumination - of course, the place is also low on inhabitants, here in the after-hours, and it's likely that the creature has tended to hunt around the grounds here before mounting thirst and frustration drove it closer to streetlights and storefronts. 11[00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Paracelsus hears... barking. 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Oh dear. [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Following the sound brings him to a clearing featuring a few trees, an empty park bench, and a leashed labrador with its hackles raised and its teeth bared. It's turning in circles and barking and snarling at one shadow followed by another while middle-aged man walking it asks it, repeatedly, what its problem is. 11[00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12He doesn't see the larva, but the dog can clearly detect it and so Paracelsus knows just where to look - a dark, bedraggled, still-dripping shape that's making its way through the eaves of a tree. It, the man, and the necromancer form a rough triangle. [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Cross cuts through the present and straight into the future. This boy - he was right. She will tell him where Helen's gone; when Helen will return. The circular nature of the auguries - which 'knew' of the other first? - makes this unusually easy. Cross feels herself skimming across and finally plunging into a great swathe of time that seems to have been judiciously cleared and [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12straightened for her already. [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen is... lost. The three witches have made their lair deep in the maziest and most detached elements of the local Shadow and whether seeing them at all's practical, possible, or even survivable changes with the phase of the moon. Eric's guardian and packmate is navigating endless intersections, darting between shifting cubicles, following mazes of subway lines... but they'll lead [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12her to her own destruction. The maze is hungry today. [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12She'll last pass by a place from which Eric's voice can reach her and call her back... an hour hence, two blocks west, forty stories up. [00:15] 6In the diner, Cross's hands are flat on the table and her chin is down. She's looking in a direction that doesn't yet exist. [00:19] 6Cross snaps back into reality eyeballs first. "You haven't got time, Eric. The dark world is a maze. It's nearly the Hedge. Helen won't make it to your witches!" 11[00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Paracelsus only finds the thing when it's already airborne. The leap is impossibly long - stringy gray hair flying everywhere, half-destroyed coat flapping like broken wings, the barely-a-vampire begins a parabolic arc from a distant tree and ends it mere yards away from the Sleeper, from where a second, shorter, and sharper bound sends it straight at his throat. He's been warned, [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12though, by the insistent barking of the hound, and so it's a defensively-raised forearm that's seized and savagely bitten. [00:20] "One hour. Spring Street and West Broadway. Most of the way up the building. Can you talk your way up a skyscraper? Can you climb, Eric?" [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12The werewolf goggles. "That- locus. There's a locus in there, halfway up. But they'll never let me in-" [00:23] 6Cross: "Then I'm coming. Let's go." [00:23] 6God damnit, is this a GW Group site? 14[00:24] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12He stares briefly, then nods firmly. Cross, thinking to her research, doesn't think this building happens to belong to the city's most visible werewolf pack - if Eric isn't simply wrong (whatever a 'locus' is), he must've learned of the place through hearsay or prophecy, and what he's looking for must be some kind of uncontrolled or natural feature. [00:31] 6Time to get out of this place. There should be.. three guys outside. "Wackel, Jagoff- on me. We're going for a walk. Selvaraj, you stay on the alley. Nothing's happening today so don't bother calling in backup." 6Two blocks.. it'll be faster to walk. [00:32] 6To Eric: "Who's going to try and keep you out of this place? I don't know your world well." [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "Ah, just... just people? I dunno how to sneak in, Helen's good at that - but, and, I think whatever lives in the locus, too. It doesn't like us much." [00:34] 6Cross: "A spirit?" [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric nods grimly. 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus digs his hands in his pockets. He's scraping his shoes against the grass. Beneath the larva's feet, its shadow seems to solidify ever so slightly in the dark, taking on something of the character of an oil slick. [00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Getting into the building isn't at all hard. Cross has people following her, she's got business cards, she's just plain got bearing. Whoever this random street kid is at her side, well, someone's got to have it in hand. [00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Getting into the building isn't at all hard. Cross has people following her, she's got business cards, she's just plain got bearing. Whoever this random street kid is at her side, well, someone's got to have it in hand. [00:37] 6The people following are, also, large men with guns. The problem is: she can't fight a spirit. Cross is scrolling through her contact list pretty rapidly, here.. [00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12The larva slips, scrabbles, falls. It's hissing and spitting even as its bleeding victim staggers backward and his dog does its best to interpose itself. The thing doesn't land like a human, though - it twists in midair like a cat, dropping on all fours with its joints bending all wrong, overcoming a surfeit of friction with sheer, animal speed. [00:39] 6To some sort of receptionist disappearing behind them: "We're with the group from Armonk." 6Of course, most of the corridors and elevators happen to be empty. [00:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Then it's yanked straight back into the air by long, grasping fingers that seem to come out of nowhere. Otto's suddenly behind it, hissing and grunting to himself as he drags the larva backwards in a sort of headlock/bearhuge that's audibly cracking the monster's ribs. [00:39] 6And to Eric: "You don't need to go in, yourself- would that make the spirit happier?" 6But she's calling Debord. [00:42] <@Ferrinus> 12The larva thrashes and snarls and, in terms of pure audio, it's not really possible to tell it and Otto apart, but it just can't break the grip. Meanwhile, crying and screaming, the monster's putative victim bolts out of sight. [00:43] 6This is some sort of official emergency-contact number, which she's never used before.. their only interaction has been over an operating table and a case of internal rats. Was he the guy with the pith hat? But Cross needs an expert opinion, and obviously werewolves aren't going to know much that's comprehensible. [00:44] <@Ferrinus> 12In the back of his store, Arrian's fairly sure that this crate isn't one he was supposed to get. He can't remember offhand which books should be in it, and that's because he doesn't know in the first place - this must be some sort of shipping error. Actually, there's something familiar about the packaging, but he's not at liberty to look up the name/symbols at the moment so he'll [00:44] <@Ferrinus> 12have to make a mental note to do so later. [00:44] <@Ferrinus> 12For now, he's got Jalil at his side saying: "Uhhh." [00:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "I need to go in! If what you're - she can't hear me if I'm not on the other side!" 12Unfortunately, getting a hold of someone in your own Order on demand can be particularly tricky if you're not in the Ladder. Someone in another? Especially an eccentric sojourner like Debord? [00:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Of course, Cross is in a cabal with a daduchos - one who isn't, at this time of day, busy fighting vampires. [00:47] 7Shit. All right, Arrian's going to carefully pop open the top of the crate. 11[00:48] <@Ferrinus> 12The larva has, in Paracelsus's estimation, a shattered mess where a soul might be. If you were willing to deprive someone else of their selfhood, maybe you could turn this into a person...? As is, there's no indication that it's got any metaphysical selfhood, although of course Paracelsus isn't a warlock. [00:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Why bother with Debord, though, when you've got Magellan? As a famulus, Cross is entitled to call on the man for a word, if not actual service. She can get hold of him by phone as she and Eric travel crosstown. [00:50] 6Obviously nobody would bother with Debord. [00:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Wow. [00:51] 6Cross doesn't know Magellan at all, but this is her totally calm and unhurried plea: [00:53] "I'm with a young man who's a seer among the packs, on the way to a place of power for something extremely time-sensitive. He needs to get to a Shadow entrance. There's a spirit living on the edge which may be hostile- could I ask your advice on dealing with a spirit when I can't even see it?" [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian pops open the top of the crate, and sees a shiny, squirming mass. It's boiling higher and higher as the crate rapidly fills, releasing an unearthly chittering sussurrus all the while. [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Scarabs! [00:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Scarabs?! Fortunately, Arrian's quick enough to get his hands away before the creatures actually get onto him. [00:56] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a pause on the other end of the phone, for Cross. "...I see. This place - where is it?" [00:57] 7Shit shit shit! Can he see, mystically or otherwise, what's creating the scarabs? [00:58] 6She glances at Eric, but.. it's not under werewolf control, apparently? And hey, if they can get something out of this, that's great. She gives the address on the phone. "..and we're on that floor now. We've got about thirty minutes." [00:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Not directly, but he's got a better idea. There's a spatial warp of some kind somewhere down in the crate, one containing some kind of huge extradimensional space, and the scarabs are poooouuuuring out of it. It feels.. roomy in there. [00:58] <@Ferrinus> 12That is, in terms of there being a lot of nonspace that's filled with now-being-disgorged scarabs, not as in there aren't many scarabs. It's the worse version, basically. 14[00:59] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[01:00] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[01:00] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker [01:00] <@Ferrinus> "Ah," 12says Magellan. "The vents. I know the one you speak of. The local lord sits on the Shadow side - you can't follow your friend across, can you?" [01:03] 6To Eric: "Can you bring people with you?" 6This will have been audible, so: "Otherwise, no- we might be able to get away without it, though. There's someone on the other side to be called back, passing at 1:20." [01:07] <@Ferrinus> 12It doesn't look, to Arrian, like this is an active spell, but it has weirdly-modulated tangs of 'artifact'. There's definitely a thing in there that's releasing scarabs - this isn't just a rude hole in space. [01:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "I can bring People with me. Not... you." [01:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Magellan: "I see. Then you'll need... protection, on the other side, for this person?" [01:10] 6Cross: "You know I can see capital letters, kid? Protection would be great, Magellan. Something that lets her make it through would sidestep the whole issue." [01:11] <@Ferrinus> 12It's Obrimos who can most directly see capital letters, but Cross can definitely hear the Import in that word, and this one, too. "To be clear... a werewolf, yes? Would you be so kind, after all, to introduce me?" [01:11] 6Cross just hands over the phone. [01:13] 6There's a time for storming coolly down the street with your bodyguards, and a time for doing the bidding of someone who just, outranks you and knows more about the situation. For now. [01:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric's on the phone as the two of you head to the actual site, a complicated junction of pipes and heating vents in the heart of a skyscraper. Cross only hears one side of the conversation: "Yeah..." "Uh huh..." "Eric-" "That's- yeah, sure." 12Eventually, the phone's handed back. 15[01:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus steps back, holding his arms out, palms up. His shadow bleeds from his body, his eyes, his mouth, seeping forward and gliding towards the larva. It hisses and fills the air with an acrid smell. When it reaches the larva, the smell goes away, the sound goes away. There is a moment of sweetness and silence before the creature's skin begins to bubble away from beneath. 15[01:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The necromancer's voice is heavy: "You'd do well to let go of that now, Otto." [01:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Magellan: "Send your friend through in... fifteen minutes. He and his will have allies there." [01:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Otto swears as the top half of the former vampire hunter's head comes off as a steaming, sickening strip, then just plain jumps backward as the rest of its body collapses to the earth. Then he swears again before hastily wiping at his sleeves and face with his hands before blinking down at his hands in surprise to find them completely clean. [01:18] 6Cross: "Thank you, and sorry about the short notice." 6Another should-have-seen-it-coming. How many things aren't they prepared for? [01:19] 6To Jagoff and Wackel: "Get around a corner, make sure nobody comes and asks questions. Somewhere where you can't see, you know the drill." [01:20] 6(she hasn't hung up on Magellan or anything, and is kind of expecting an i-owe-you to be elicited) 11[01:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "Who was that? Was that Paracelsus?" 12Magellan says nothing of the sort, actually. He gravely bids Cross luck before hanging up. [01:22] 6Cross: "Nope. He would have been my next call. ..if Helen saw me as the red one, how did she describe my friends?" [01:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric shakes his head. "She didn't. I did - in my dream." [01:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Otto: "Jeeesus." [01:23] 6Cross: "That's handy. Do you get these things without having to seek them out?" [01:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Otto: "You- acid? Thaaat's fucked up. [01:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "Sometimes." 12He's sitting with Cross, now, in the midst of a great coil of pipes, and looking around as the appointed time comes. "D'you - do you have a mirror?" [01:26] "We'll get her out, Eric. You will, at least." 6Cross has a little makeup kit, because just being perpetually young and healthful doesn't cut it in this gender. Such is the nature of the Fallen World. [01:26] <@Ferrinus> 12At T minus a couple minutes, Eric takes the kit, pops it open, and starts staring into the glass. Soon he's rocking back and forth, humming tunelessly to himself. [01:37] 6Cross watches, and takes notes. She texts Saint-Michael . She wonders what a witch is. [01:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Cross comes to notice that Eric is wispy, translucent, and that a soft skein of silver has started to draw itself across his throat and up his brow. Then she notices he isn't there any more. 15[01:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus, twisting his wedding ring, looks down at the half-melted corpse. He keeps twisting. Every fifth of a turn the body gets incrementally more withered and rotted. "Gentleness is necessary. But it is not sufficient. It's important to be honest with ourselves about what we are doing, how we're willing to do, and who we're doing it for." [01:38] <@Ferrinus> 12"Witch" can mean lots of things. It's one way to refer to the acanthus, in some circles, apparently! [01:38] 6To nobody in particular: "There are too many kinds of spirit world and shit. IMO." 15[01:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "And when gentleness is insufficient... what remains?" 15[01:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus looks older now. His shadow lingers in the sunken parts of his eyes. Those eyes meet Otto's. 15[01:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "Death." 15[01:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The ring's back to its conventional orientation, with the sigil for Death scratched into the lead pointing forward from his finger. There is only dust on the ground now. 15[01:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "Let's go home." [01:41] 6Cross: "Or is that Exarch thinking?" 11[01:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Otto shrinks back. His gaze darts down to the now-rotting, now collapsing, now-particulate body, then back up. He rocks in place a bit, then... falls in next to Paracelsus, ratty black robe dragging softly on the park grass, visible and audible. [01:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Otto: "I didn't actually think you'd..." 15[01:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Do you know me now?" [01:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Long nails scrape against a corpse-white neck. "I... look. Talk's easy, at least for some people. And that's... that's all I heard." 09[01:46] * banana is now known as bananarb 15[01:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Of course. The only people who talk the way I talk are people who don't know any better." 15[01:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "I understand. I've heard it before." [01:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Otto: "Or people who do." 15[01:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mmm." [01:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Otto: "Why?" 15[01:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "Why what?" [01:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Otto: "Well... why us? Why you? How'd you get that old, like this?" [01:53] 7Hurriedly, Arrian steps forward. As his Awakened soul blots away the Fallen for a moment, his nimbus reacts in turn. He raises his arms and traces with his index fingers the two runes that etch themselves in actinic blue through the air - one that looks like a crossed table with loops at the edges, the other like a hooked shelf. 15[01:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "You can't ask it of anyone, really, can you?" 15[01:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "What I try to do." 15[01:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's not reasonable." [01:53] 7The rising tide of scarabs slows, stops, begins to recede. Arrian sighs with relief. [01:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Otto appears to give this serious thought. "Maybe... parents? Family?" 09[01:55] * bananarb is now known as banana 15[01:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I'd agree with that. And so I would say, further, that you are kin to me." 15[01:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "There are... so few lasting things in the world. There is so much that's ephemeral. And that impermanence is precious. I feel a debt of loyalty and a bond of kinship. I have a duty to that which cannot last forever." 15[01:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "And while your body might... your conscience cannot. Not without constant nurturing." [01:56] <@Ferrinus> 12The creatures skitter, swirl, and drain, creeping down the edges of the box and into wherever they came from. Jalil's got the presence of mind to stomp a few of the stragglers that actually managed to get out over the edges, but in general Arrian's able to simply lean forward and turn an unobstructed view down to the source of his troubles. There it is, squirming and chittering [01:56] <@Ferrinus> 12slightly with the gigantic swarm of flesh-eating scarabs it now contains: a thin, leatherbound book, stamped with what look like Egyptian hieroglyphs. [01:58] <@Ferrinus> 12It seems to be a supernal artifact, but there's an unusual, rooted stability to it that you don't often see - in particular, the low-grade paradox that should surround such a powerful object doesn't seem to be in evidence. There's something about its sympathies, too, that clarifies the more Arrian looks at it - it appears to have latched, sympathetically, onto him. What and why [01:58] <@Ferrinus> 12this means will require some study, but for the moment the warlock feels a bit itchier than he usually does, if he stops for a while to search for the sensation. [01:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Jalil: "That, uh... that was you?" [01:59] 7Arrian: "That was close. And this is why we need people, so I don't get sent dangerous god-damned Egyptian artifacts without a heads up first!" [02:00] "The runes were me. The bugs were this freaking--" 7Arrian's checking the sides of the crate to see where this thing came from. [02:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Otto: "I knew that you were kin to me when I saw you over a mouthful of Arrian, and I know what things kin to me are like." [02:00] 7Gross 15[02:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "So I'll ask you again, Otto. Do you know me now?" [02:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Stencils and markers here don't mean anything on their own, but given a few moments of internet searching Arrian's able to trace this crate back to a ship that crashed out in the harbor sometime last week. This must be some recovered cargo - could it actually have jsut gotten here by accident? [02:04] 7Hmm. What would Arrian need to say to advise his higher-ups about this? Specifically, could Arrian instruct Jalil what to say on the phone without needing to give him information (currently) above his pay grade, so Arrian can stay and examine the artifact? 11[02:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Otto's jaundiced eyes regard Paracelsus's shadowed ones. "I think I do. I think I do." 12He doesn't sound too pleased about it, for whatever reason - but he walks with Paracelsus the rest of the way regardless, vanishing under the cloak of night only once the street comes into view. [02:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Yep, Arrian can give Jalil general code for 'dangerous artifact found' or even pass the guy a sealed and/or coded message to leave at a dead drop. It should get picked up within the day. [02:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian's spell seems to have had a lasting effect on the scarab book - it's not going to just pop back to 'forward' mode once the hour's out or so, but has well and truly been reversed and closed. Presumably there's some trigger which unleashes it again. [02:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Cross waits and waits some more, and then she sees silver. [02:09] Maybe werewolves just pretend not to like it, as a decoy. [02:10] <@Ferrinus> 12It's hard to make out, because it's drawn into thin and complex lines and sort of floating in thin air, but after a moment she realizes she's seeing the surfaces of two humanoid figures, one larger and bent over another. In another moment, Helen and Eric are there, huddled - the woman's got the boy in her arms and is crouching protectively over him. Her hair and clothes look seared; [02:10] <@Ferrinus> 12her skin is red with fading burns. [02:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen gasps, then looks up. "You-!" [02:12] 7Arrian: "Phew. Okay, Jalil. I guess you're gonna get your first real job ahead of orientation. I can't leave this thing alone, but I have to get the word out about it so we can get it contained before it starts vomiting scarabs again. I'm gonna need you to make a phone call for me, alright? I'm gonna write some code phrases down for you to deliver to whoever picks up." [02:12] Cross nods. Her. "Does either of you need treatment?" 14[02:12] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) [02:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Jalil stares, then nods hesitantly. He's got the werewithal to pull a pen and pad out of his backpack. [02:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen looks down at Eric. "Not him, and I'll mend. Gods above - this was you? Bringing him here?" [02:15] Phew, that's some mana saved. "Kinda! Eric prophesied that *I* would prophesy the way to find you; fortunately we were both right." [02:15] "Come on, through here- my people have the way clear down to the carpark." [02:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "And the phoenix?" [02:16] "Help from a friend. I know absolutely nothing about spirits, Helen. Was the Phoenix for or against you?" 11[02:17] <@Ferrinus> 12What's worse, Paracelsus reasons, than a venal, selfish, prideful mage who meddles for sake of self-aggrandizement, who offers glimpses at the extent of his awareness for the sake of inspiring awe and fear? [02:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, it's surely a sincere, considerate, and self-sacrificing mage who does everything he can for the greater good... if you're the kind of creature Otto knows himself to be. [02:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "For. Came tearing straight into the Iron Tangle, melted down huge pieces... never thought I'd see something like that." [02:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "I- ...thank you again, Cross. What is it, like, it's some Chinese thing, innit? You save someone's life and now you gotta watch out for 'em forever?" [02:20] "That sounds amazing. I wish I'd seen it, but not at the cost of being where you were." Cross is pretty wistful here. She loves birds, and a flaming warrior bird fighting a metal pipe spirit sounds straight up fantastic. [02:21] "No offence, but I hope not. Honestly, I was just calling up to see how things were going, but.. Eric told me about the trap." [02:22] 7Arrian will scribble the necessary code phrases along with the current phone number: KL5-6243. The gist of what he's going to have Jalil convey is 'I am a Sleepwalker candidate for the Lesser Mysteries, Arrian has uncovered and temporarily neutralized a dangerous artifact here and entrusted me to inform the Order'. [02:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "'zat right? Dreamed it?" 12He nods, and she squeezes the arm she's already got around his shoulders, grinning faintly. "Told you, kid. Greatest gift." [02:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Jalil's off to begin proving his worth, and Arrian's in place to study his find. It's going to take some heavy scrutiny to get to the bottom of this weird tome, but, hell, the warlock's just arbitrary turned the OPEN sign to a CLOSED sign for stuff like this before. [02:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Cross, meanwhile, has no trouble getting the werewolves back down to street level. By the time Helen's found somewhere to eat, she just looks mildly sunburned, and might well be ready to explain herself - though if Cross wants to get anyone else around for something like that, that'd be understandable. [02:27] Cross: "I feel like we gotta get dinner again. Even if it isn't a Chinese tradition." She sends the guards away and yeah, unless Helen objects, she's going to call the others. There's so MUCH going on in this city. 11[02:29] <@Ferrinus> 12For good or for ill, Paracelsus has proved himself - he doesn't see Vince again, although he's canny enough to check on the following day and does spy, from a distance, a couple men mucking about on the banks of the Harlem river. One of them's tinged with unnatural death, his slow progress towards the grave somehow halted. There's no word from either Vlad or Otto that any consequences [02:29] <@Ferrinus> 12follow from this, so it just seems that someone somewhere is being extra thorough. [02:29] <@Ferrinus> 12All in all, it's probably been a productive couple of days. 15[02:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Good. 09[02:29] * banana is now known as bananarb [02:31] 7Later on Arrian's gonna have someone do a Fate sweep on Jalil. An artifact turning up at a cool dramatic moment like that may mean the kid's destined for greatness of some kind. 14[02:32] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [02:33] 7Who ends up calling whom first? Is Cross rounding everyone up? 09[02:39] * bananarb is now known as banana 14[02:39] * Joins: trenchfoot [02:40] 6Depends on how the time of day shakes out, but if others haven't already contacted her then she's sending out invitations. [02:40] 6Including to Pascal, although god knows he might wriggle out of it again. 14[02:43] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[03:01] * Quits: mugabe 11[03:02] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun May 31 03:02:04 2015 Session Start: Sun May 31 05:11:32 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[05:11] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[05:11] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[05:11] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[05:11] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[06:24] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[06:24] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 09[06:24] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[07:08] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[08:26] * Quits: dammitwho 14[10:11] * Joins: hrolfie 14[10:34] * Joins: hrolf 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Quaker 14[15:28] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[15:46] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[16:10] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:30] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[16:34] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[16:34] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 15[16:41] <@VoxPVoxD> https://40.media.tumblr.com/0c96ae3da6eb65d3d09a23b2818e04a2/tumblr_np7h9v2CMu1rlys9ro1_540.png [16:46] the pawsecution 14[16:47] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[16:54] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[16:55] * Joins: FerrinusSpace [17:26] https://40.media.tumblr.com/f8af6fcd3acea18c4b5d35dd36f33939/tumblr_ncqf38iJCD1r4mq0jo1_540.jpg 14[17:37] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[18:04] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:05] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[18:08] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[18:08] * Quits: Quaker (Client Quit) 14[18:43] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:03] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:36] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[19:39] * Ferrinus is now known as FerrinusMatter 14[19:42] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[19:51] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[19:51] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 11[20:00] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun May 31 20:00:07 2015 Session Start: Sun May 31 20:00:30 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:00] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:00] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[20:00] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[20:00] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 11[20:01] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun May 31 20:01:50 2015 Session Start: Sun May 31 20:02:01 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:02] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:02] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[20:02] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[20:02] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[20:05] * Joins: mattbaby 09[20:05] * Ferrinus is now known as FerrinusPrime 11[20:09] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun May 31 20:09:05 2015 Session Start: Sun May 31 20:09:17 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:09] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:09] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[20:09] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[20:09] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[20:31] * Quits: @FerrinusPrime 14[20:39] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[20:39] * Joins: Quaker 11[20:56] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun May 31 20:56:46 2015 Session Start: Sun May 31 21:21:08 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[21:21] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[21:21] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[21:21] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[21:21] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[21:32] * Joins: VoxPoxVD Session Start: Sun May 31 21:32:09 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[21:32] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[21:32] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[21:32] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 14[21:32] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by VoxPoxVD))) 14[21:32] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by VoxPoxVD))) 09[21:32] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD Session Close: Sun May 31 21:32:15 2015 09[21:32] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[21:51] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[22:39] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[22:46] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:07] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[23:22] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:33] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[23:46] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[23:50] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 2015 14[00:04] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[00:33] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[00:36] * Parts: FerrinusPrime 14[00:36] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[00:48] * Quits: dammitwhoa 14[01:49] * Joins: dammitwho 14[02:30] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[02:43] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[02:58] * Joins: Quaker 09[03:28] * bananasleep is now known as banana 14[03:46] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[04:05] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[04:28] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[04:28] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 09[04:28] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[04:58] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[04:58] * Joins: dammitwho 14[05:25] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[05:29] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[05:43] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[06:42] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[06:42] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[06:42] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[08:17] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[08:35] * Quits: dammitwho 14[08:40] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[08:41] * Ferrinus is now known as Guest52228 14[08:44] * Quits: Guest52228 (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[08:49] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[09:43] * Joins: hrolf 14[09:58] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[10:10] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[10:19] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[10:20] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[10:22] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[10:26] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[10:30] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[10:36] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:39] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[10:40] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[11:02] * Joins: hrolfie 14[11:05] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[11:23] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[11:29] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[11:36] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[11:40] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[12:07] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[12:11] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[12:12] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[12:12] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[12:23] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[12:27] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:30] * Joins: ddt 14[12:30] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[12:48] * Joins: ddt 14[12:59] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[13:08] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[13:17] * Joins: hrolfy 14[13:21] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[13:53] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[13:53] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[13:59] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[13:59] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[14:15] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[14:20] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[14:24] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:26] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:34] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:17] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[15:17] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 09[15:20] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:52] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:56] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[16:00] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Client Quit) 14[16:07] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 11[16:21] * Disconnected Session Close: Mon Jun 01 16:21:07 2015 Session Start: Mon Jun 01 16:21:07 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[16:22] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[16:22] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[16:22] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[16:22] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 14[16:23] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[16:37] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 09[16:45] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[16:45] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[17:02] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[17:20] * Joins: dammitwho 14[17:33] * Joins: FerrinusMatter 14[17:33] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[17:33] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[17:33] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[17:53] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[18:33] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[18:39] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[18:39] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[18:41] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[18:41] * Quits: FerrinusMatter 14[18:47] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[19:00] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[19:01] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[19:01] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[19:18] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[19:18] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[19:18] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[20:13] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[20:16] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[20:42] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[20:46] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[20:46] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[20:50] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:59] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[21:02] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[21:03] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[21:03] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[21:05] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Client Quit) 14[21:06] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[21:06] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[21:08] * Joins: dammitwho 14[21:24] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[21:24] * Joins: tom 14[21:25] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[21:25] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[21:28] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Client Quit) 14[21:28] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[21:28] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[21:30] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Client Quit) 14[21:31] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[21:31] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[21:31] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus [21:40] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/OLqgHTq.jpg [21:40] <@Ferrinus> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CGczVZzWwAEKPMO.png:large 14[21:51] * Joins: dammitwho 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> [21:40] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/OLqgHTq.jpg 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> [21:40] <@Ferrinus> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CGczVZzWwAEKPMO.png:large 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> same; same 14[22:27] * Joins: Quaker 14[22:29] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:41] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[22:48] * Joins: Guest40078 09[22:48] * Guest40078 is now known as mugabe 09[22:49] * mugabe is now known as Guest50550 09[22:53] * Guest50550 is now known as mugabe [22:58] ididit 14[23:02] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[23:33] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) Session Time: Tue Jun 02 00:00:01 2015 14[00:18] * Joins: mugabe 14[01:08] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[01:16] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[02:02] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[02:36] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[03:12] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[03:28] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[04:46] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[07:11] * Joins: mugabe 09[07:12] * mugabe is now known as Guest11695 14[07:16] * Quits: Guest11695 (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[08:15] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[08:20] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[08:26] * Joins: mugabe 09[08:27] * mugabe is now known as Guest37509 09[08:28] * Guest37509 is now known as mugabe 14[08:47] * Joins: Quaker 14[08:57] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[09:00] * Joins: ddt [09:00] - [09:00] - [09:00] - [09:00] - [09:00] - [09:00] - [09:01] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ-yvDlHWRQ [09:08] '…one of the most insular, outwardly violent, and least receptive to outside observation social groupings encountered in the region. Its insularity is reinforced by the material fact of its long conflict with the larger and more aggressive urban aristocracy, and the accompanying reluctance to reveal its full shape or structure for fear of weaking itself. Its violence is reinforced by its ritual devotion to cyclic [09:08] '…one of the most insular, outwardly violent, and least receptive to outside observation social groupings encountered in the region. Its insularity is reinforced by the material fact of its long conflict with the larger and more aggressive urban aristocracy, and the accompanying reluctance to reveal its full shape or structure for fear of weaking itself. Its violence is reinforced by its ritual devotion to cyclic [09:08] '…one of the most insular, outwardly violent, and least receptive to outside observation social groupings encountered in the region. Its insularity is reinforced by the material fact of its long conflict with the larger and more aggressive urban aristocracy, and the accompanying reluctance to reveal its full shape or structure for fear of weaking itself. Its violence is reinforced by its ritual devotion to cyclic [09:08] '…one of the most insular, outwardly violent, and least receptive to outside observation social groupings encountered in the region. Its insularity is reinforced by the material fact of its long conflict with the larger and more aggressive urban aristocracy, and the accompanying reluctance to reveal its full shape or structure for fear of weaking itself. Its violence is reinforced by its ritual devotion to cyclic 14[09:09] * Parts: Quaker 14[09:09] * Joins: Quaker [09:10] - [09:10] - [09:10] - [09:10] - [09:10] - [09:10] '…one of the most insular, outwardly violent, and least receptive to outside observation social groupings encountered in the region. Its insularity is reinforced by the material fact of its long conflict with the larger and more aggressive urban aristocracy, and the accompanying reluctance to reveal its full shape or structure for fear of weaking itself. Its violence is reinforced by its ritual devotion to cyclic [09:10] test [09:11] 4This iPhone must be broken or something. [09:11] 3Maja's more of an Android kinda girl. [09:12] 6Edgar doesn't quite slam the door on the way out of the computer lab. Not quite. These things are important to the modern world, whatever, but they're bullshit. How hard can it be to make them easy to use? [09:12] '…one of the most insular, outwardly violent, and least receptive to outside observation social groupings encountered in the region. Its insularity is reinforced by the material fact of its long conflict with the larger and more aggressive urban aristocracy, and the accompanying reluctance to reveal its full shape or structure for fear of weaking itself. [09:13] 6There's nothing in a computer so complex as there is in a man or a dog and those are easy to manipulate. Meanwhile a machine with goddamn buttons keeps repeating text pointlessly, cutting itself off, and never doing what you tell it. [09:13] Its violence is reinforced by its ritual devotion to cyclic sacrficial rituals and a worship of deities which, if not inherently violent in the groups' sacred writings, encourage violence in its official observances. [09:13] Its hidden nature is reinforced not only by the terrain and time of day when its members are most active, but by the unique personalities of the leaders at the top of the observed hierarchy, who shun most outside contact except for those occasions of ritual violence.' [09:13] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ-yvDlHWRQ [09:14] Buchanan is out, at the moment. Rush looks up at Cavanaugh as he comes in. "Message for you, sir. Hand-delivered." [09:15] 4Cavanaugh frowns as he puts his briefcase down in his office. "Okay." [09:17] "From the Church, I think. It's their address, anyway." [09:17] 4That bodes well. "Hand-delivered by...?" [09:17] 4He'll take the message and open it. [09:18] The envelope only has two names on it, written in a gentle and looping script. 'T. Greene', to 'C. Cavanaugh.' [09:19] What's Maja up to, this evening? [09:19] 4Cooooooooooooooooooooooool. [09:20] "One of their courtiers. Handed it over and left." [09:21] 4One of these days Cav is going to get a handle on this weird, anonymous network of delivery people the Court seems to employ. [09:21] 4Maybe he'll check the security tape later to at least see if it was Kindred or Kine who did it. [09:21] 4Anyway. What's the good Presbyter want... [09:23] 3Maja's doing a little bit of "spring cleaning" tonight. It's stupid that vampires need to clean shit. [09:24] Dear Deputy Cavanaugh: Although I work with and counsel the frustrated, the angry, and the prideful, it is my responsibility to do so without exhibiting any of those three qualities. In our short meeting several nights ago, I was all three, and, inexcusably, provided you with neither the respect nor patience you deserved. [09:24] 3Their bodies stop shedding shit, so at least there aren't dead skin cells added to all this other dust. [09:25] 4Please tell me Father Dad at the Church didn't make her write a sorry note. [09:27] I apologize for my behavior. It was embarrassing personally and professionally. I hope that I am not responsible for any further straining of an already sensitive and important relationship. I also hope that this is something we we may move past, and something I may learn from. If you wish to reach me, my office is always open to the representatives of the Prince. Sincerely, Tracey Greene. [09:29] 4He is tempted to take her up on this, if only to learn who ordered her to write the note -- and figure out if this is another instance of the bizarre, 'benign' paternalism of the Court's higher-ups gone haywire, or if someone in the Orthodoxy is trying to mend any broken bridges with the deputies. [09:30] 'Despite these qualities, which make informed study of the regional Crone sect more difficult than its cousins elsewhere on the continent, they are not so insular as to avoid all outside contact, nor are they so violent as to discourage all observation, nor are they hidden well enough that we aren't actually aware of their existence through their own words or deeds. [09:30] 4It is, however, a distraction from his most pressing concern: finding 'Sang.' 11[09:37] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue Jun 02 09:37:46 2015 Session Start: Tue Jun 02 09:38:04 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[09:38] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[09:38] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[09:38] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[09:38] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD [09:39] All thanks are due to the cooperation of the Santa Monica sub-grouping, who were both gracious hosts and semi-willing subjects.' [09:39] 4Texting Maja: [09:39] 4To Maja: [09:39] 4To Maja: [09:40] 6Santa Monica, Santa Monica.. were the guys we tried to kill from Santa Monica? That could be a problem. [09:41] 3Maja: [09:41] When the power goes out, the only light in the office is the screen of Cav's smart phone. [09:41] Rush: "Oh…" [09:41] 4Uh oh. [09:41] 4Cav shoves it in his desk. [09:41] 4He can see perfectly in the dark, of course. [09:41] It takes about thirty seconds for them to come back on. [09:42] 4Anyone new in the room. [09:42] Rush stands up and checks the routers. "Everything's backed up already, I think." [09:42] It's still just Cav and Rush. [09:42] 3Maja to Cav: [09:43] 4Hrm. 14[09:43] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[09:43] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus [09:43] When the lights go out in Maja's apartment, it must be the god dang piece of shit management company again. [09:44] 3Ugh, this is when it would come in real handy to night be horrified of flame. [09:44] 4He pulls the phone back out. [09:44] 4Cav will take a look around. [09:44] It takes thirty seconds for her lights to come back on. In the complex, people have poked their heads out of doorways and windows to curse and mutter at the interruption. [09:45] 3Maja whips out the flashlight app on her phone, and starts looking around for the circuit breaker. And just generally looks around. [09:47] Nothing's changed. It's just the power. [09:47] 3Maja to Cav: [09:47] 4Weird. [09:47] [09:47] <*hrmmm> [09:48] 3Maja to Cav: [09:49] 4To Maja: [09:50] 3Maja to Cav: [09:51] 4To Maja: [09:54] 3Maja opens up her laptop and googles "Los Angeles power outage" to check if there were any planned outages for tonight. As a human, she never would have bothered looking into this. [09:54] 4Bit late in the year for brownouts. [09:56] 3She shakes her head and mutters to herself: "No. No, you're not gonna get all paranoid vampire, Maja." 3She closes out of the browser before finding any meaningful results. [09:57] There weren't any planned ones. But the news stations are frantically trying to update their stories about the big unplanned one just now that took out power for most of Orange County. Southern California Edison has put out a statement explaining that the disruptions at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station near San Clemente were temporary, non-recurring, and not in the slightest bit dangerous to the public. [09:57] 4Cav is still frowning. To Rush: "Buchanan take a personal day? Personal night." [09:57] Rush looks up. "Went to go look at some records in person. The office was in the city." 08[09:58] 3Maja to Rollie: [10:00] 4Texting Buchanan: [10:00] Buchanan: 15[10:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  [10:01] 4Texting Buchanan: 08[10:01] 3Maja to Rollie: [10:03] Santiago is carrying a big duffel bag on one shoulder when he comes in. "Hey, you see that power thing?" 08[10:04] 3Maja to Rollie: [10:04] Something clangs outside Maja's window, on the fire escape. 14[10:04] * Joins: FerrinusSpace [10:04] 3Maja jumps a little bit- she goes to the window to check. [10:07] 4Cav looks up from his phone. "Yeah, that was weird. That happen often out here?" [10:08] 'For ease of reference, the findings have been divided into three sections: History, Religion, and Ritual. The last, with its elaborate theater and involved practical nature, which has its own traditions and habits, warrants a separate section because of its sheer complexity.' [10:10] There's a pair of feet wrapped around one of the metal railings. It looks like…it looks like somebody is dangling off it, upside down and backwards. Maja can hear muttered cursing. [10:13] Santiago puts the bag on a desk, with a resounding metallic clank. "Nope. Not in November, anyway. Fuckin' SCE. Hey, so I confiscated these guns from a couple of ghouls who looked pretty high." [10:13] 3Majas startled. She's trying to make out of the person needs help, or if they're a bad person to try to help. She decides to observe for a few seconds longer before speaking to him. [10:14] The person hanging upside down makes a strained "hrrrrngh" sound as they try to pull themselves up using their legs as levers. It doesn't work, and they go back to swaying upside down. "Shit." [10:15] 4Cav walks over, still frowning. "We have high ghouls just...hanging around the territory?" [10:15] "Getting into trouble? Spraypainting convenant tags on the local high schools?" 14[10:17] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 08[10:18] 3Maja decides to call Rollie before reaching out to help this person. [10:18] 3She waits for him to answer while she watches the man hang outside her window. 15[10:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It rings a couple times. When Rollie picks up there's a steady thrumming sound behind his voice. "Maja?" [10:19] 6This is going to take a while. [10:19] The other deputy shrugs. "I think they were from Whittier. Strung-out on something. Figured it would be better if their pretty big collection of guns was with us, for safekeeping, instead of on the floor of a nightclub." [10:19] 6The material's there and it probably contains essential clues, but the thing is organised like a textbook. An academic paper, maybe? Edgar doesn't know how you would organise one of those. [10:19] Santiago wrinkles his nose. "Why does it smell like fish in here?" 08[10:20] 6Rollie's dead wizard friend (!!) did his research alright. Edgar hunts down the side of his chair for a bookmark.. [10:20] 3Maja: "There's a man hanging upside down outside my window." [10:20] 4Lot of frowning tonight. Why does it smell like fish in here? 15[10:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...are you okay?" [10:21] "I'm not usually so freaked out, but considering recent circumstances ... can you come over?" 15[10:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I'm on my way." 10Does Rollie know Maja's address already? [10:21] It's not a man hanging upside-down, as Maja can see when her rotation brings her face back into view. She's pretty short, with long yellow hair done up into a single braid. [10:21] 3Maja gives him the address. [10:22] Santiago: "Hey, how's the-" [10:22] 6Fridge magnet promoting local real estate. That'll do. Hopefully it's not the people who supply Cav's lion dens. 15[10:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie blinks. Oh that's actually really close to where he is right now. "Be there in 10." [10:22] It smells like fish because the ragged man who bursts into the office stinks overwhelmingly of it. "Senors! I appeal to you, in the name of Justice!" [10:23] 4Cavanaugh: "You gotta be--" 08[10:23] 3Maja hangs up with Rollie, and then opens her window. "Who are you and why are you hanging upside down outside my window?" 15[10:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie'll carefully lock the big metal door behind him, as was the arrangement, before he goes to Maja's. [10:24] The small woman in a blue sweatshirt tries to look at the sound. "Be at peace, Sanctified. For I, too, am a creature of the night." [10:25] 4Cav: "Okay, outside. We talk outside." [10:25] 4He grabs his Glock from the desk. [10:25] 3Hm. That did not bring her much peace. "Hm. That doesn't bring me much peace. What are you doing?" [10:26] 6Jackie's still not around.. well. Edgar needs to meet more people, anyway. It's time to go on a kind of deputy's patrol. [10:26] 6He feeds the remaining dogs (half the kennels sold off now) waters the lawns a bit, drinks some literal human blood from the freezer and he's out. The rough programme, assuming nobody calls up with messages about fish-men or anything, is this: [10:26] Santiago covers his nose and follows. "Jesus Christ, Velasco. Take a fucking bath once in a while." [10:27] Father's to see if there's anyone to meet, then checking in on Okienka (and maybe Santiago, who knows), and then he'll be heading north through OC to see the territories of the Wilderness Commission. Probably a night of a lot of driving and occasional conversations. [10:27] 6*but in purple [10:27] The Baroness's lights are on. [10:28] "Name of Justice." 4THINGS CLINTON CAVANAUGH IS NOT THANKFUL FOR, AT THE MOMENT: SUPER SMELL. "What can we help you with, in the name of Justice." [10:29] The upside-down woman: "Seeing that you're observing the strict terms of your sacred oath, Confessor. The dread eye of the Ordo Dracul sees aaagh!" Her ankles finally slip, which mean she falls two stories into a pile of stacked trash bags. 15[10:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Does Rollie see or hear this as he pulls up or is this happening on the other side of the building? [10:31] 3Maja stands at the window for a few seconds to process that. She eventually calls down. "Should I ask if you need help?" [10:32] "Or are you going to threaten me some more?" [10:32] 6The lights of the house in Modjeska Canyon? [10:32] The smelly man gesticulates furiously. "As you know me, I am a man of integrity and loyalitude. I praise the Prince, who is so good to all of us. Blessed be Him." [10:32] The same. Like a beacon in the wilderness. [10:33] Glass bottles clink together when Leisurely pulls herself out of the trash. "Do you have a shower I can use?" [10:33] 4Cavanaugh crosses his arm and paces in a wide circle, nodding seriously. The arc of the circle takes him as far from the smelly man as possible. [10:34] 6Well, it is. Hmm. He's going to need more landmarks.. there's the bar, Irvine.. where do the Days live..? And Monsignor someone or other, the priest, over at San Juan Capistrano. [10:35] 3Maja shakes her head to herself. Who the fuck is this nard. "Sure stranger, spying on me outside my window. I trust you can figure out which door is mine. You can knock on it and I will let you in." [10:35] 6Edgar pulls up the new sedan sedately, head suddenly full of ideas. You could actually cover the county a couple of times a week, which will be pretty relevant if the Prince ever goes through with normalising it. [10:36] Santiago follows, eager to maintain distance. "This is Velasco. What the hell are you going by now?" [10:38] Velasco: "Diocles, senor. After the famed and learned geometer. I run a small hotel, sir, in the beautiful ocean city of San Clemente, where the motto is 'The Spanish Village by the sea.' And I come to your doorstep to report grave trouble." [10:40] 3Maja goes to her linen closet to grab an extra towel- after she slips the butterfly knife into her pocket. [10:40] 4Cavanaugh grits his teeth. "San Clemente is technically within our purview, isn't it, Deputy?" [10:41] The Baroness is sitting on her porch swing, with a red and blue blanket covering her legs while she goes through a binder with a pen. [10:42] Santiago: "Yeah. Last stop before Camp Pendleton, and then Oceanside. And I've seen your flophouse, Velasco. A hotel is a bit of a stretch." [10:42] Leisurely knocks on Maja's door. "Let me in." 15[10:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Maja gets a text.  [10:44] 6Edgar's strolling up, in jacket and jeans, *without* all hell behind or in front of him as has previously been traditional at their meetings. "Good evening, ma'am." [10:44] 4Cav: "Okay. Alright. What can we do for you, Diocles? Succinctly." [10:44] 3Oh my god, this lady. She speaks to her through the door. "How about you try that again and ask me nicely." [10:45] Velasco nods. He has a cord wrapped around his head, with seashells tied on to it. His unkempt hair and beard go down to his chest and shoulders. "The predations of the Sublime Court! I have no doubt that these figures of malevolence are here to do you and I all harm. Their countenances are darkened with violence aforethought. And they are not paying me my money." [10:46] The short lady standing outside picks a candy wrapper out of her hair. "Can I please come in and wash this gunk off?" [10:47] Modjeska nods and puts her pen down. "Good evening, deputy. What brings you out here?" [10:48] 3Maja smiles to herself before opening the door. As she opens it, though, she has put on a very stern face. "Yes, come in. Bathroom's on the left." 3She steps back to let the woman in and gestures toward the bathroom. [10:48] Santiago barks at Velasco, in Spanish. [10:48] "Feel free to use whatever you need." 3She hands her the towel. [10:48] 4Cavanaugh, in Spanish: [10:49] 6Deputy Doolittle: "It's a new approach to policing, Ms. Okienka. We're checking for problems in the Territory before they become emergencies." [10:49] "May I ask if you've had further trouble with the crows? Or others?" [10:49] 3Maja wonders if, perhaps, she should be more suspicious and maybe not let some random lady who was spying on her use her damn shower. 15[10:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Maja's phone rings. Did she give Rollie a special ringtone? [10:50] 4Cav: "You've got a bunch of San Diego freeloaders in your fine establishment, and they're not paying rent." [10:50] 3Not yet. For now it's some idiot birds chirping. [10:51] Velasco pauses, and continues in the other language. It seems to be easier for him. [10:52] Velasco: [10:52] 4Facepalm. [10:52] 3Maja: "Hey, sorry. Some lady was spying on me, then she fell into the garbage, and now she's about to use my shower. I'm fine." [10:53] "But I will leave the door open so you can just come in." [10:53] Leisurely takes the towel and locks the door behind her. Maja can hear the water running. 15[10:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Is that why it smells like someone ripped open a trash bag up here?" 15[10:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "Or is it always like that?" 15[10:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie stops. "Wait, hang on." [10:54] 4Does Cavanaugh have the office phone number of one Tracey Greene? Perhaps from her apology note? 15[10:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He pauses. "...huh. That's-" 10Another pause. "Open your door, I'm right here." [10:55] 3Maja opens the door. "Jesus Christ, I'm glad you're here. And yes, that's why it smells." 15[10:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie himself is slightly damp. 14[10:55] * Joins: autopsyturvey [10:56] Velasco: [10:57] Modjeska folds her blanket and puts it on the swing next to her. "Well, I have a near-certain death warrant at the hands of a Circle Elder, and my love life is complicated by unbreakable ties of blood and jealousy. But, other than that…" 08[10:57] 3Maja looks Rollie up and down. "What's up with you? Did you turn on blush just so you could be all sweaty for me when you got here?" [10:57] Cav does have Greene's phone number. [10:58] 3She quickly leans over to give him a kiss anyway. But she doesn't linger like she normally would. Now's not the time. 15[10:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's face is ice cold, but he kisses back. "No, I was in a walk-in freezer. A big one, like storage unit-sized. It's actually only like 10 minutes from here." 10Rollie'll shut the door behind him when he gets in. "I'll air-dry. Warm up a bit. So tell me about the lady who was spying on you and who you let use your shower." 14[10:59] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) [10:59] 4To Velasco: 4To Santiago: "...Handle...him for a couple minutes, would you? I'm going to make some calls, see if I can get someone from the Church to join us on this." [11:00] 3Maja: "You know about as much as I do right now. She's a small blonde lady, who mentioned something about the Ordo. Do you know her?" 15[11:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...oh my god." 15[11:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "It was her." [11:01] 6Edgar: "A pair of shames not really risin' to the level of crimes. Unless you want to talk some of it out, ma'am, my next stop will be.. hang on a sec, here." 6He's got a couple of printouts, once from Seabury's files and now the deputies'. [11:01] 3Maja: "Who the fuck is she?? All I know is that she's ridiculous." [11:01] "Looks like.. Day & Day or Mr. Burnett." 15[11:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's crossing the apartment to look out the window. "Jesus, that's a two story drop. Was she hurt? Were you?" 15[11:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie leans out to test the fire escape. Seems stable. [11:02] Modjeska shrugs. "Maybe when we know each other better, Edgar. Stay safe on your rounds." [11:03] 4Cav will step away and sigh, making a phonecall to Tracey Greene. [11:03] 3Maja: "She didn't seem hurt. Just dirty. I'm fine- a little unnerved, but fine. I'm glad you're here. Thank you for coming so quickly." 15[11:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie cracks his knuckles against the back of his neck, arms folded up like a baby bird. His face reddens, and the condensation starts to evaporate more quickly. "Anytime. Do you have a towel?" [11:04] 3Maja: "Why, you hoping to jump into the shower and join her?" 15[11:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I don't want to drip all over your-" 10He takes in Maja's apartment for the first time. What's it like? "...stuff." [11:06] 3Maja walks over to the linen closet to get her last towel. [11:06] 6Edgar: "So may we all." 6His boots crunch on the dry grass on the way back to the car. This was a damn good idea, but trying to plot a route between the Kindred hangouts of the south OC is something else that'd take a computer. 15[11:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10While she does that, what Maja says registers to him, and it takes an act of will not to start. Jesus. What on earth is Leis doing here? [11:07] 3It's orange. The living room is extremely orange, Maja's favorite color. But it's a dark orange, that makes the room feel warm. There's art everywhere. 15[11:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie dries off. "I like the decor. Very peach." [11:08] 6Next on the list is, yes, Burnett. A man whose work has intersected that of the deputies a couple times, who it'd be good to actually meet. Says here he runs an Outback Steakhouse, which must be convenient for the rare meat... [11:09] 3There are sculptures in every corner, and some paintings on the walls. "It's more 'tangerine' than peach. But thanks." 15[11:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "She didn't give you a name?" [11:10] Ring, ring. "This is Greene." [11:10] 4Still frowning at [11:11] 4Still frowning at Velasco and Santiago off in the lot. "Hello, Prysbeter. This is Deputy Clinton Cavanaugh." [11:11] "I got your letter. Apology accepted, and reciprocated." [11:11] "I think I might have a team-building exercise for us." [11:11] 3Maja: "No, she demanded I let her in, and I told her to ask me nicely. And then she asked me nicely and so I directed her to the shower. And so here we are." [11:12] The Foothill Ranch Outback Steakhouse is set in a more than usually affluent suburb, where the rolling foothills hide each expensive shopping plaza from the view of the next. It's pretty busy. The hostess tells Edgar that there's a 20 minute wait to be seated. 15[11:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Well, I think you're playing host to the most advanced master of the Coils of the Dragon in the Greater Los Angeles area, Maja. That's my considered opinion as a detective and your boyfriend." 15[11:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "She's got a super fancy title: she's the First Invisible Visionary of the Penultimate Void." [11:14] 3Maja stops at the word 'your boyfriend.' It's been a very long time since she's heard that word in reference to herself. Feels weird, but also good. [11:14] Greene: "Deputy. I'm heartened by it. How can I help you?" 15[11:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Now... I happen to know her name, but Ordo Dracul protocol is to stick to titles unless invited, as far as I know." 15[11:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "And I'd hate to make you or I look like a jackass here." [11:16] 3Maja: "Well. I see. I see." 15[11:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "How are you feeling?" [11:16] 4Cav: "Got a...'Diocles' Velasco here in the Deputy's office, telling a story about some men up from San Diego who are staying in his, uh, hotel. And not paying him rent. He says they claim to be part of some 'Mexican Inquisition.' Were we expecting a Mexican Inquisition in town at any point?" [11:17] 3Maja: "I'm fine. I'm just sort of taken aback at all this right now. This freaking lady almost literally dropped in on me, uninvited. And now it seems you're suggesting I ought to be reverent towards her- so it's a lot to take in." [11:19] There's a pause on the line. Greene: "No, we weren't." 15[11:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Nah, not reverent. A little patience is all it takes. She's one of the best, nicest people to know in the Order. After me, anyway." [11:19] 4Cav: "So that could be a whole thing." [11:19] 6Edgar contemplates steak. Or whatever equivalent they have in Australia; crocodile steak, maybe. [11:20] Kangaroo steak. But, the menu is made for American tastes: steak, potatoes, sweet alcoholic drinks, and fried whatever. [11:21] 6He wouldn't have said no to a meal here a year back, but he's not going to the waste of breathing just to meet a guy. To the hostess: "Is Mr. Burnett in? Could you let him know Edgar Doolittle is hopin' to have a chat?" 15[11:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie gives Maja a hug and kisses the top of her head. "It's gonna be okay. Just, hold tight if it gets weird." [11:21] Greene: "It could. Thank you for letting me know. The Bishop will be informed. In the meantime, I'll inform our person handling these things in Orange County, and she'll get in touch with you." 15[11:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's probably the motto of the Ordo Dracul." [11:22] 4Hrm. Okay. Fair enough. "Sounds good to me. We're thinking about heading down there, so." [11:23] 3Maja smiles. "Okay. I mean, I guess I can see her charm, if I allow myself to look past the spying." 15[11:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Look at it this way. She could've been invisible and wasn't. That's a sign of trust right there." [11:25] 3Maja: "Fair enough. Fair enough. I hope she takes me letting her in to use my shower as one too." [11:27] In a few minutes, the owner and manager comes out to greet Edgar. Burnett is a man in middle age, who still has the muscle mass of a young weightlifter. His bulk is stuffed into a salmon polo with the company logo emblazoned on the front. "Mr. Doolittle." He ushers them into an alcove, away from the queue of customers. "Anything I can help you with?" [11:28] The shower stops. When Leisurely comes out, her hair is wrapped up in a towel. She freezes when she sees the late addition. "13th Slave." [11:28] 3Maja closes her eyes. Not the slave stuff again. 15[11:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's similarly stiff. "First Visionary." 15[11:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you want me to go? So you and the Confessor can talk?" 15[11:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He realizes he still has an arm around Maja, but he doesn't remove it just yet. [11:30] "There wasn't anything to talk about. I was observing, and now I'm leaving." Leisurely's eyes linger on their closeness. "Unless there's something I should know." [11:31] 6Edgar: "Mr. Sandy Burnett." 6He takes a seat. "Just looking to get acquainted. We've had a couple of dealings at one remove but the nights have been real busy. This is your place?" 08[11:31] 3She looks over to Rollie. This is his call. 15[11:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks at Maja and Leis. "...how about we sit down." [11:33] 3Maja heads over towards the couch. Alright. Alright. Okay. It's fine, it's all fine. [11:33] Burnett smiles. It's like a sea lion grinning at you. "It is. Get you anything? On the house." [11:34] Leisurely sits in a chair opposite them. Her expression is impassive. [11:34] Greene: "If you see them…you might remind them that the Churches are separate." [11:35] 4Cav: "I'll do that. Thanks again, Prysbeter." 15[11:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie sits down next to Maja. He'll leave his hand somewhere where she can hold it if she wants, but he won't initiate the gesture himself. "So I remember that you take a dim view of the office of the Confessor. What use can someone be to the Work if they exist at a remove from it, right?" 15[11:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "What could their counsel do?" [11:37] Leisurely: "I don't think their counsel is useless. I said that the demands of the position are unique and most of the time, the Confessor isn't up to the task of remaining both aloof and insightful." [11:38] 3Maja cocks her head at the word "aloof." [11:38] 6Edgar: "I'd love to take you up but someone else'd be paying. Good smells, though." 08[11:39] 3She remains silent, prefering to allow the conversation to go where Rollie feels it ought to. 15[11:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Okay. I'll defer to your judgment about whether aloofness is important. If it is, though, then I don't think that M- that the Deacon makes a very good Confessor." 15[11:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He'll pause here to gauge their reactions. "Now, that said, I think she was set up to fail." [11:42] 3Maja raises her eyebrow at that. Then she shrugs. He's right about that- but she doesn't think aloofness is important or even desireable. 15[11:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie doesn't either, but he's not going to let himself get sidetracked with a philosophical argument right now. He needs something like Leisurely's focus. [11:43] 3Maja bobbles her head in reluctant agreement. 15[11:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "She got flanked by the Kogaion and the Bishop. She was overmatched. She was threatened, explicitly. And there was a patient already in the room. That's not a set of circumstances you can expect anyone to function. And she did great. We helped each other through it." 15[11:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "The thing is, though." [11:46] Leisurely takes the towel off of her head. "Well? Has she failed already?" 15[11:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Because of those circumstances. Because of how helpless and unmoored we both were, and how much we had to lean on each other to deal with it... it wasn't ever really a Confessor/confessee relationship." 15[11:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "We just got... close." [11:47] Burnett leans back. "That's what I pay the chefs for. I never got to thank you for finding that guy a couple weeks back. I got a pretty big cut for the finder's fee." 15[11:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie shakes his head. "She didn't fail. Neither did I. Circumstances failed us. And we adapted." 08[11:48] 3After hearing the woman's question, Maja exercises the patience that Rollie asked of her. [11:49] 3Her eyes narrow a bit, but she remains silent. 08[11:49] 3She's glad that Rollie is doing the talking right now. [11:50] Santiago is standing a good twenty feet away from Velasco, eyeing him warily. "No, I don't want to bet on a horse-" [11:51] 6Edgar: "Good to hear- Hoffman, right? If you've got more blue sheets coming, we've got an office set up in Santa Ana. Maybe you heard." 6If he didn't, well, here's a business card with the address. 15[11:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "She didn't get a shot to be a good Confessor. I don't know if you'd have thought highly of her even in the best circumstances." 15[11:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "There's two things I want to say here. One of them, this is the right time to say it. The other it feels premature. But I know it's just as true." [11:53] 4Cavanaugh walks back over. "We'll be consulting with the local Sanctum, then heading down to look into your issue." [11:54] Velasco runs over, arms outstretched, to try and embrace Cavanaugh. "Oh, bless you! You are the deliverers of my justice, senors. You are the left hand of righteousness." [11:55] 4Cav's kept enough distance that he's able to sidestep the man, like some sort of fucked up cannery matador. 15[11:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "First, the Confessor and I are in a relationship. Like I said, the circumstances we got thrown into... they made us get really close, really fast. And even without the aloofness, I'm willing to defend our relationship as adaptive. Like I've said before, while you tutored me - connections to other people are what make the Work real to me. I don't have the strength of necessity to do this alone." 15[11:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Like, our relationship continuing doesn't depend on its utility to the Work. That's going to happen anyway, or at least this won't be why it doesn't. But despite that, I'm willing to go to bat for the fact that it is good for the Work. For my Work." 15[11:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's jaw works. He hesitates. 15[11:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He keeps hesitating. [11:58] 3Maja puts her hand on his knee. 15[11:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...anyway, that's the first thing I wanted to say." 08[12:00] 3She looks him in the eye. "Rollie." [12:00] 3She doesn't know what she wants to say to him, but she kind of just wants him to stop talking. 15[12:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He will. [12:01] Denied his prey, Velasco settles for making the sign of the cross on himself. "I will await your arrival. If you throw these dastards out, I will grant both of you free room and board, for life. You have my word!" [12:01] Santiago: "…not that we'd want it." 14[12:01] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) [12:01] 3She knows he has a relationship with the woman, but she has been nothing but rude so far. Maja's not real keen on the idea of this woman basically inviting herself in, making judgments of Maja's competency, and then demanding intimate details about her life. [12:02] 4Once he's gone: "Scale of one to cod, how much is that dude's word worth?" [12:02] Leisurely stands, and walks over to the couple. She bends over at the waist, eye to eye with Maja. 15[12:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie squeezes Maja's hand. [12:03] 3Maja stares at her. [12:03] The mekhet reaches out with a hand, and awkwardly pats the top of the Confessor's head. [12:03] "There, there." 15[12:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie is stonefaced. [12:04] 3Maja closes her eyes. She digs DEEP down into the wells to hang onto the last drops of patience she can find. [12:05] Santiago: "Well…he's greedy as hell. So I don't think he'd lie about money…" [12:05] 4Cav: "And the 'Mexican Inquisition' stuff?" [12:06] Burnett: "I heard. You guys the new swingin' dicks in town, then?" [12:08] Santiago scratches the back of his neck. "Not great news, if it's true. Although, I guess we were looking for the guys who burnt that boat down. But, uh…I don't know. Whenver everybody talks about them, they use the 'I'm talking about something foreboding' voice." [12:09] 3It's times like this that Maja really misses breathing. She would have loved to be able to take a deep breath just now- but instead she remains still, remains silent. [12:10] 4Cav: "You aware that there's a letter from the Archbishop of Mexico floating around the higher-ups calling for San Diego to come up here and start trouble?" [12:10] "Because I got a look at it at the ball." [12:10] 6Aha. Edgar: "There's three things could happen to this Territory, Mr. Burnett. Number one is everything stays the same forever. Precedent against it." [12:11] 3She slowly blinks at the woman. [12:11] Leisurely sits down next to Maja and takes her hand in hers. "I'm sorry that you had to go through this. I never would have approved of another Confessor being brought on. It's cruel to ask someone to be in that position." [12:11] 6Edgar: "Number two, Prince Bailey incorporates us all into the increasingly brilliant Court, in which case we deputies are a regularised service of officialdom and not swinging except as directed." [12:12] 4Text to Edgar: 14[12:12] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) [12:12] 6Edgar: "Number three. Wicked witches start a war, in which case we are a reluctant and effective front line." [12:12] 3Upon hearing the woman's sincerity, Maja forgives her for patting her on the head like a dog. "Thank you. It's been disorienting, but I can't say it's all bad." 14[12:12] * Joins: FerrinusSpace [12:13] Santiago: "I've got a bad feeling about this." He pinches the bridge of his nose. "Why can't they just be Unitarians?" [12:13] 6Edgar: "In the meantime-" 6bzzt. He holds up the phone. "We're kept busy with any little problems the people have. As one of them, is anything up?" [12:13] 6Okay, let's take a look at this message while Burnett's responding or otherwise.. 08[12:14] 6Edgar to Cav, and also Rollie: [12:14] [12:15] Burnett: "Just smoke and rumors. Your friend with the interest in my freezer doing okay?" 15[12:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's phone buzzes but he leaves it for now. "Well, she's in that position now. So now what." [12:18] Leisurely: "So…you're abandoning the position of Confessor, and you're frightened of the Ordo killing you in retaliation." 15[12:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie flinches. [12:19] Leisurely looks wistful. "And since it was undoubtedly the Second Architect's idea, it would be extremely painful, wouldn't it. Mm…" She looks off into the distance. [12:19] 6Edgar: "Deputy Choi is a man of interests. I'd listen if he leaves you with some cryptic advice." [12:20] Burnett: "I always make a point of listening to the Deputies." [12:21] 6Gotta go, though.. "Wise attitude. Hey, it's good to meet you but.." 6Indicating the phone again. "So I won't take up more of your time." 15[12:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Dude." 15[12:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "Look, sorry, but. Dude." [12:21] 3Maja: "Well I wasn' frightened of it before." [12:22] "But now that you bring it up ..." 15[12:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So I had a second thing to say." [12:22] 3Maja: "Wait." 15[12:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie waits. 08[12:23] Leisurely: "Yeah, Rollie. Wait." [12:23] 3Maja: "I'm not sure what it is you're planning to say, but you mentioned it was premature. Are you sure it needs to be said right now?" 15[12:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie waits. "It's premature, yeah. I didn't talk to you about it, and I didn't want to until I finished my first Chrysalis. But if it's being premature or leaving you to get punished for getting set up to fail..." 10He shrugs. 15[12:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks from his girlfriend to his mentor. "You got any other ideas, Leis?" [12:25] 3Maja nods. "Alright, I'll trust your judgment." [12:25] 3Ah, so its been confirmed. This is Leisurely. [12:26] Burnett gives Edgar his card before he goes. It comes with a coupon for half off any dinner entree. [12:27] 6Happily accepted. Outside the restaurant, Edgar sits on the hood of his car. He's in a good mood despite the back and impending politics. It's been lingering ever since Lancaster. There is life after death, and presumably Clinton's news can't be too bad.. [12:27] 6He dials to find out. [12:27] 4Cav answers almost before it rings. "Hey, Edgar." [12:27] "How's the people of this great Territory?" [12:28] Leisurely: "My policy is, as always, tell the truth." [12:29] 6Edgar: "It's Edgar." 15[12:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks regretfully at Maja. This isn't how he wanted this conversation to go. "So I think, like I said, that my relationship with Maja is beneficial to my own Work." 15[12:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "But I think." 15[12:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Also." 15[12:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "...it'll be beneficial to hers too." [12:31] 6Edgar: "They're doin ok so far. I think if we set up some kind of round we'll be able to hear about all kinds of shit- there's not been enough authority here for anyone to even get scared of it." [12:32] Leisurely stands, and crosses her arms. "You're a very clever boy, aren't you," she mutters. 15[12:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie doesn't know how to take that. He just sits still. [12:33] 4He stares across the parking lot -- he's decided to take this call outside. "That's good. Good. I just had this dude that smelled like a damn, fish factory drop by claiming he had a problem in his hotel down in San Clemente." [12:33] "Says he's having problems with the." [12:33] 4He pauses so he doesn't laugh while saying it. [12:33] "The Mexican Inquisition." [12:34] 6Edgar: "The what." [12:34] "The Mexi--" 4Ah hrm. "The Mexican. Inquisition." [12:34] Leisurely looks at Maja. "I'm not a mother duck." [12:35] 6Edgar: "How much of Mexico is involved in this Inquisition? What questions is it asking?" [12:35] 3Maja scoffs. [12:35] 6Edgar: "Are we talking about an inquisition in Mexico or of Mexico? This is a name that asks questions, Clinton." [12:36] 3Maja can't stop herself. "Clearly not. Ducks can fly. If you were a duck, you wouldn't have fallen into the trash like that." [12:36] "An inquisition from Mexico, presumably under the 'authority' of the Archbishop or Pope or Anti-pope or what-have-you OF Mexico, comprised of San Diegans, here in Orange County." [12:36] 4One last time: "The Mexican Inquisition." [12:37] 6Edgar: "Are you telling me that anybody at all thought it was a good idea for there to be a Mexican Inquisition? To send, in fact, Inquisitors, Mexican by birth or citizenship exam into the United States of America and the Orange Territory?" [12:38] 3Maja pauses a second to try to collect herself. "Listen, I don't know what's going on here- all I know is that I was being spied on, and that I let some lady use my shower. I'm not sure why the fuck I am getting scolded here." [12:38] 4Cavanaugh: "I am telling you that is what has been claimed by Diocles Velasco, flophouse proprietor, to me, at our office. I called up the Sanctum and they seemed unnerved but not exactly shocked." [12:39] 6Edgar: "This is fucking ahistorical, man." [12:39] Leisurely smiles, and laughs. "Hehe. No, I can't fly. Except when I dream. But…." She frowns. "What does she want? I want to hear it from her." [12:39] 3Maja: "I want to not be spied on, for one!!" [12:39] 4Cav: "I dunno about you, but to me, inquisitions sound like bad news." [12:39] Leisurely: "I was about to introduce myself." [12:40] 6Did he say Diocles? [12:41] 3Maja looks at her. "Are you the slave master?" [12:41] 6Edgar: "Yeah, I'd say so. You got a copy of Bailey's back and forth with the San Diego people? The exact text of those letters might become relevant to us in a court of what's claimed to be law." 15[12:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie buries his face in his hands. 08[12:42] 3Maja looks at Rollie. "I'm sorry, am I embarrassing you?? You have to understand what a ridiculous position I'm in right now, though! Surely you understand." 15[12:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie, through his hands. "No, I was just." 15[12:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "Something just occurred to me." 15[12:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's fine. I'm not mad." 15[12:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's okay." [12:43] 3Maja stands up to pace around. 08[12:44] 3Maja: "And what's that? What just occurred to you, Rollie?" 15[12:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks down. "So you now how my title is 'Slave' right now, right?" [12:44] 4Cav: "He wasn't handing it out to keep. I'll see if I can wheedle it free from the Seneschal. Meanwhile, I dunno man. We might have to fight these guys." [12:45] "I mean. Inquisition." [12:45] "That's a whole...thing." [12:45] 3Maja: "Yes." 15[12:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Well, the way Ordo Dracul titles work is they tell you what coils someone knows, and how many coils they know, and stuff like that. And I'm working on the Coil of Flesh, right? So uh. It just occurred to me." 15[12:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "...what my title was going to be." [12:47] 3Maja: "What." [12:47] Leisurely mutters. "Supplicant of Pain." 15[12:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "God damn it." [12:48] 3Maja throws her hands up in the air and rolls her eyes. "Oh Jesus. Is this some kind of weird sex cult? What the fuck." [12:48] Leisurely: "I am not the slave master." [12:48] 3Maja: "Well, that is encouraging." [12:49] Leisurely walks back over to Maja, and draws herself up to her full height. "I am Leisurely Foster, First Visionary of the Penultimate Void, founder of the Los Angeles Academy of the Ordo Dracul." [12:49] I have mastered the strangest and most terrible arts known to my covenant, and been made an exile by my own will. I could die and live again. I've stolen the remains of my soul from fate and remade it to my own liking." [12:50] 3Maja stops pacing now. 15[12:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's probably apparent to both of them how much Rollie admires Leis, with the way he looks up as she says these things. [12:52] 3There's a lot there to unpack, but she goes with the thing that strikes her the hardest. "An exile by your own will?" [12:55] 6Edgar: "Yeah, I would rather avoid fighting em for a variety of reasons but it might be that doesn't signify. Shall we head over to San Clemente? About equidistant." [12:55] Leisurely: "I didn't break my solitude because of a whim, or mercy. I saw an opportunity to pass on my work and seized it. And now he's brought complications of his own, in the form of a whole other person. So, stop being afraid and confused for a moment. And tell me what you'll do to get out of this problem other people have put you in." 08[12:56] 4Cav sighs. "Let's do that. I'll bring Santiago. Maybe best we keep Rollie on the sideline for this one." [12:58] 6Edgar stays on the phone as he gets in the car. The Mexican Inquisition? "I haven't got around to meeting the men of faith, here. There's the priestesses who turned up on us the other night, and a Monsignor.." [12:59] 3Maja composes herself, and puts aside her fear and confusion. "Whatever is necessary. Although I'm not sure of what I need to 'get out of,' or whether I need to get out at all. I don't know what I want, because I don't know what's possible." 08[12:59] "All I know is that I'm in a fucking mess, and Rollie's the only thing that makes any sense to me right now." [12:59] 6Edgar: "Any of them seem particularly.. convincing, to you? It ain't been an evangelical church that I've experienced." [13:01] Leisurely: "Come with me, and you'll be, in a world of pure imagination…" 15[13:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie holds his breath. Makes a wish. Counts to three. [13:02] 4Cav opens his mouth and closes it once or twice. "They seemed nice. The Deacon, she was...nice, yeah. Just got off the phone with the Prysbeter, actually. Tracey Greene." [13:02] "If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it, anything you want to do, do it/ Want to change the world, there's nothing to it-" [13:03] 4Let's talk about Tracey Greene, and not Maja Kovacevic. [13:03] 3Maja bursts out in laughter. [13:03] "You're alright, Leisurely Foster. You're just fine." [13:03] "There is no life I know, to compare with pure imagination/ Living there, you'll be free, if you truly wish…to be…" 14[13:03] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[13:04] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) [13:05] 3If Maja knew the lyrics, she'd absolutely join in a duet. Instead, she allows herself to sway along with Leisurely's voice. 15[13:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie knows the lyrics, but like heck is he singing in front of two of his three favorite people in the world. Have you ever heard him sing? No. No you fucking haven't. [13:06] 3She closes her eyes allowing herself to access this world of pure imagination. And it's churros. As far as the eye can see- it's churros. [13:08] 6Edgar: "Her opinion?" 6San Clemente.. it's a good thing he's got these route maps out already. [13:10] 4Cav: "She wanted to put us in touch with the Church's person for this area. Didn't say who that would be." [13:11] Cav's got another call on the line. [13:17] Cav: "One second, Edgar." 4He'll flip over. "Hello?" [13:17] "Clinton Cavanaugh?" [13:19] "Speaking." 14[13:22] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[13:23] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 09[13:23] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker [13:23] "This is Presbyter Vincent, from the Church." 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* Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[01:47] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[01:53] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[01:53] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Client Quit) 14[01:57] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[01:59] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:59] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[01:59] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[01:59] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[02:01] * Quits: Quaker_ (Client Quit) [02:05] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/4X2sHyx.jpg 14[02:39] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[03:07] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[03:20] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 09[04:39] * bananaelsep is now known as banana 14[05:45] * Quits: dammitwho 14[07:07] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[07:15] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[07:18] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[07:25] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[07:27] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[08:36] * Joins: mugabe 14[08:40] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[09:03] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[09:06] * Joins: ddt 14[09:06] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[09:10] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[09:10] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[09:58] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[09:59] * Joins: hrolf 14[10:06] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[10:25] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[10:26] * Joins: ddt 14[10:29] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:24] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[11:49] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[11:50] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 15[12:02] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/bygshjX.png [12:05] >:3 14[12:10] * Joins: mugabe 14[12:39] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[12:40] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[13:05] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[13:06] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[13:06] * Quits: mugabe 14[13:36] * Joins: mugabe 14[13:55] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:00] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[14:01] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 09[14:20] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:45] * Joins: mugsy 15[15:45] <@VoxPVoxD> https://i.imgur.com/GHtVzgG.png the atlantean diamond 14[15:46] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [15:48] displaying symbols ftw 14[16:57] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 15[17:06] <@VoxPVoxD> https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtp1/v/t1.0-9/11116531_819521491419033_8030232955134944661_n.jpg?oh=49fe85feb75e1e5601804ec797efa036&oe=55E94FBD deputies of the territory [17:07] lol [17:07] cav on the right, after being asked to "dress redneck" 15[17:07] <@VoxPVoxD> lol 15[17:08] <@VoxPVoxD> the real tragedy is, by process of elimination 15[17:08] <@VoxPVoxD> rollie is bill [17:08] lol 15[17:08] <@VoxPVoxD> since obviously edgar is dale 15[17:09] <@VoxPVoxD> and santiago's way more hank than rollie is 14[17:09] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [17:12] cav: "my jeans don't fit." santiago: "what are you talking about, they look fine" cav: "there is denim just, HANGING off my legs, in folds," 15[17:12] <@VoxPVoxD> lol [17:15] you can't see my ass at all. [17:15] "i worked HARD on that ass" [17:17] do you know if we're banana aging tomorrow 04[17:17] i know vox and ferrinus won't be around, which makes it pretty thin if, for example, riidi is asleep 15[17:17] <@VoxPVoxD> riidi can make it 15[17:17] <@VoxPVoxD> crion can make it 15[17:17] <@VoxPVoxD> so I assume if you and your bro can be there you'll have a quorum 14[17:22] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[18:02] * Joins: dammitwho 15[18:46] <@VoxPVoxD> http://41.media.tumblr.com/22a12c534c093ae87c9e0800c689c784/tumblr_nootghJFdH1rma7mho1_400.png [18:56] *nods* 14[19:09] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[19:32] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[19:33] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 11[19:40] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Jun 04 19:40:39 2015 Session Start: Thu Jun 04 19:40:39 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[19:43] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[19:43] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[19:43] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[19:43] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 14[19:43] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by VoxPoxVD))) 09[19:43] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[19:43] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[19:46] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[19:47] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[20:07] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:20] * Joins: ddt [20:21] - [20:21] - [20:21] - [20:21] - [20:21] - [20:24] "Mandrake, I suppose it never occurred to you that while we're sitting here chatting so comfortably, a decision is being made by the president and the joint chiefs in the war room at the Pentagon. And when they realize there is no possibilityof recalling the wing, there will be only one course of action remaining: total commitment." [20:25] The door is open, with only the screen between the interior and the rain. The television's volume is very low; it's hard to hear the dialogue with the rain hitting the roof and the pavement. Leisurely sits at the kitchen table. 15[20:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's seen this movie before. He walks in and sets his umbrella up against the door; he was out on the pier for a while before he came up to see Leisurely. He won't say anything, he'll just sit at the table. [20:29] The table is covered in books, opened for the first time in years. Her pen crosses and recrosses her notebook, annotating and adding to the words she put in there the last time she used it. [20:32] The other vampire looks up, smiling. "Hi." 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What's good, Leis?" 10His eyes are on the books. This is a lot of shit. [20:36] She clicks her pen and closes the notebook. Its front is secured by a tiny, golden lock. "Just clearing some cobwebs out. I haven't looked at a lot of this stuff in a while." She grinds her teeth in a light and absentminded way while she thinks. "How's your girlfriend doing?" 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks out the screen door, as if his gaze could travel in that moment all the way back to Maja's place. He remembers. "She's good. She needs some time to calm down. A lot of shit's happened in the last little while, you know?" [20:41] Leisurely piles the books in her arms and walks over to the bookshelves, carefully slotting every title into its place. "It's a weird middle ground. If you learn about it right after your Embrace, you just accept everything about it as equal to every other strange thing you learn. If you learn about it decades afterwards, you're ready for the change in your routine. In between, and things…don't always mesh well." 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "After you've settled but before you feel stagnant." [20:43] "Before the cycle of curiosity is finished and ready to repeat." [20:44] "How are your studies going?" 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Is that something you can put a calendar to? The cycle of curiosity?" 10This might sounds like a rhetorical question. It isn't. Who the fuck knows what she knows? "I woke up on a bed of nails tonight." [20:45] "It depends on the person. Why nails?" 15[20:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Hot coals seemed like a bad idea." 14[20:46] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [20:47] Leisurely laughs. "Yeah, they do. Do you feel like you've gotten into the rhythm of research?" 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I've gotten into *a* rhythm. I don't know if it's the rhythm of research. I've been taking a lot of notes, and I feel like I know a lot more about what my body does and doesn't feel. What it can't feel unless I make it." [20:52] Leisurely gets a glass of water from the tap. "Good. Eventually, at the end, it's about removing the distinction between what your body does on its own and what you make it do consciously. What about the other work? The gun work." 14[20:55] * Joins: dammitwho 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie sinks in his chair a bit. "That, uh." 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He looks away. "Shit." [20:56] She dabs at her mouth with a kitchen towel and waits for him to becoem articulate. [20:56] become* 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You know Grace Stokes?" [20:58] "No." 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Me neither. Bill Burne saw to that." [21:00] "The name is only vaguely familiar. Who's that?" 14[21:00] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[21:00] * Joins: trenchfoot 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Some secret police guy for the Prince. Tall. Kind of folded-up. He locked me in a room for a night and a day and then let me out after threatening Maja. It's my own fault." 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Anyway, I haven't looked at any messages from work people since then." [21:05] One of Leisurely's hands goes from open at her side to a clenched fist, before it relaxes again. She rubs her forehead with the back of a hand, looking at the ground. "Were you hurt?" 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Not too bad. He staked me in the back to get me where he took me, and I woke up in chains. But once he found out I was a Deputy then the tools all went away. And he just left me in the dark." 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "When he finally got me, when I started talking, I was stuck in Malkavia. I couldn't- I couldn't make myself stop. I couldn't make myself make sense. That never happened before." [21:07] Leisurely grunts. [21:08] She thinks for a while. [21:09] "I don't have a…direct line…to him, you understand." 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I'm not asking for anything." [21:09] "But I'll get Ruby to take a message for me." 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm just telling you why I haven't been to work lately." [21:09] "You don't have to ask. You're mine." 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks up. 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He searches Leis's face. "Yours?" [21:10] She returns the look. "Is there someone else?" 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I-" 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He slumps. He's silent briefly. 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Finally he says: "...I don't get you, Leis. Sometimes I think I do. Sometimes I feel like I understand you. But you're just- I don't know. You're a mystery to me." 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "Who else could there be?" [21:12] She shrugs. "Exactly." 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "This doesn't make any sense! Is this what having a sire's supposed to be like?" 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is this the thing I missed out on?" [21:13] "I couldn't say. I didn't know mine." 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Did you ever..." 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He purses his lips. [21:14] "I'm glad that you're my responsibility, though. Others think of it as a question of property." [21:15] "Did I ever what?" 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Did you ever... make a vampire." [21:16] "Not in the sense that you mean. But, no. I have no childer." 08[21:16] She laughs again. "I don't really think of myself as a mysterious person, Rollie. If you want to know something, ask." 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It's kind of a weird thing to do to someone isn't it? Like... how do you let them know what they're in for? How do you let them get that close without fucking them up so bad that it'll seem like a mercy?" 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "And if you don't let them know..." 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "...what have you done?" [21:18] "You can only ever really ask someone to trust you." 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So with Maja you said a couple things." 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "That I didn't... that I don't really get." [21:19] "Sure." 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "You said you saw an opportunity to pass on your work." 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "In me." [21:19] "I did." 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "But I don't, like. I didn't. Honestly I'm not even sure I still do." 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Why me?" [21:21] Leisurely looks out the kitchen window for a while. [21:22] "Who knows why a sculptor picks that one block of clay? You reminded me of someone I owed something to. It was time, for me. I made a decision." 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Who'd I remind you of?" [21:25] "David. He picked up Malkavia, too, at some point. That's all I heard about your sire. That someone with Malkavia was in town, and then they took off. And then I found out you were the result. It felt…I don't know. Right, I guess." 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Do you think I can do it?" [21:28] Leisurely: "Yes. But I think your reasons for doing it will change. You just…change. You can't help it." 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Changing is the point, isn't it?" [21:29] "I don't know if there's a point to it. Is there a point to gravity?" [21:29] "But you can throw yourself into it. Like you trust gravity to take you to the bottom if you jump off a cliff." 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Is that what you did?" [21:31] "I used to think that you could put yourself above change." [21:31] "You can transcend everything else, so why not that…?" 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Isn't that like trying to fall off the edge of the earth? Gravity doesn't work like that." [21:34] She smiles. "I think we should stop torturing this metaphor. But I think it was like someone trying to go into space." 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Do you know what the buried king is?" 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie doesn't ask Leis if he can ask her a question first. [21:37] "Do you know what astral projection is?" 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah. It's your mind leaving your body and visiting other places. Seeing what you couldn't from where you are." [21:39] "Yeah. But it's not…you don't just lay down and a slightly transparent version of yourself stands up to walk around." 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What happens?" [21:40] "Your condition gives you the ability to see connection and meaning. But when I use it, I just get…it's like the whole world fades into broader strokes. There's no time, or meaning, or lines. You just float through sensation and sound." [21:42] "If I don't know what I'm seeing is, I don't know. So I could tell you that I've sank into the ground, and felt something breathing under the earth, and felt other people's private fear, but I don't know what that is." 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I can astral project too, right? That's one of the things I can do." [21:44] "Eventually. Your blood has to get older." 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Do you think it'll be different for me?" [21:46] "The way you'll see it? I don't know. I don't think I know anyone with your condition that old." 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Do you think I was stupid to say Maja could do this?" 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "You called me clever, but it sounded like the way they called the raptor clever in Jurassic Park." [21:49] Leisurely crosses her arms. "I called you clever because you roped someone else in without even having anything to impress them with except your own words, and I said it like that because this is a whole other mess I'm going to have to get involved with." 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I didn't need to rope her in. This is what she wanted all along. She just didn't know it was there." 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "Talk to her, you'll see." 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "You won't need to try to sell her on your philosophy over the Architect's." 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's where she's starting from." 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Where will she end up? That question Rollie leaves unsaid. [21:54] She drums her fingers against the counter. "We'll see. What a mess. I've probably stepped right in the middle of somebody's stupid scheme." 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Man. I know that feeling." 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "They're like fuckin bear traps. All over the damn place." [21:55] "Fewer out here. Except everyone thinks that, so they put their most important and biggest ones down here, and hope nobody puts their foot in 'em." [21:56] She sighs. "Mm. So are you going to get a desk job or something with the Court? I don't have any idea how that works. I just wanted to get you the paycheck." 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I'll work something out with the other guys. I know Cav was looking for an office manager. And I sure as shit don't belong on the beat." [21:58] Leisurely: "I was, officially, someone's secretary for about 45 years." 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Did they give you a gold watch?" [21:59] Leisurely: "No. But he was very undemanding, as long as I kept his social schedule in order." [22:00] "Poor Wilson." 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "Wilson?" [22:02] "I have no idea how some people end up in the Invictus. Sometimes you realize that a person would probably make an excellent gas station attendant, or maybe a very satisfied ride operator at a carnival. And then you realize that they've been a Baron for half a century." 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I guess they end up there because that's where there is to end up." [22:04] "Some people never get bored, I guess." 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Some people, it's not about the job. The job's just there to make sure they're free to do whatever it is they actually care about. I don't know how big an organization you could build out of true believers." [22:08] "I guess the worst thing that could happen to them is that things do change, and they have to start paying attention. And they find out that what they have, other people will kill for. Anyway." [22:08] "…I have to tarot her." 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Oh God." 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...can I watch?" [22:09] "No." [22:09] "It's a private thing." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie sighs. "It is, yeah." [22:10] "And then I have to…" She sighs again. "Bond with her, don't I." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I mean. You bonded with me." [22:11] "Well, you're respectful and diligent. Who knows what she's like. What's she like?" 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Oh man." 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "What do you want to know?" 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "'What's she like' is too vague to be useful." [22:14] "Why do you like her?" 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "How honest do you want me to be?" [22:17] Leisurely makes a face. "Do you know how old I am? I've seen romance before. Be honest." 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Ultimately, she reminds me of you." 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "There's a lot more to her than that. But that was the first thing. That was what got my attention." [22:19] Leisurely: "Haha. Well, transference is just another obstacle to overcome in love." 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "That's not what I mean." 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "This isn't that." [22:19] "Mm. So what kept your attention?" 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "When I was telling her about you, and about the similarity, what I said was... you are the two loneliest people I've ever known." [22:21] Leisurely stops smiling. "Well. That's a bit of an ego death." 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I think one of the things that you have in common is that you're both terrified of being misunderstood. It really bothers you both, the idea that someone could see you for who you are, unmysterious, and like... not get it. Or get it and not like it." 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I think when you feel misunderstood, you pull away. You don't resent, you don't condemn. You just back off." 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "Hermitage, not hate." 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "Maja, though." 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "Maja goes the other way." [22:25] "Hate, not hermitage?" 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Maja wants the challenge. Maja wants the mess. Maja loves the struggle." 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "And above all." 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "Beyond all." 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "She wants to be seen." 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "And since the reason I had to go and talk to her was because I couldn't handle the way I saw people... being sent to someone who wants so badly to be seen, it had a... like I said at her place. It brought us close." 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So that was the first thing. The main thing. I can keep going." 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "You've heard her laugh, right?" 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "God." 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's, I don't know." 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "Enriching." 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "Her laughter is enriching. I really love making her laugh." [22:29] Leisurely waves her hand. "I've seen her. I get it." 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It's not about that." 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "I mean. Obviously I noticed, right. But like." 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's not about that." 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "I've been about that before. This is different." [22:31] Leisurely: "Okay." [22:32] "I get the feeling of wanting to share this with someone." 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Right?? How can I not, right? How am I supposed to sit on this? How do I not just tell the world?" 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "But. You know. This is what I got." 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sorry." 08[22:34] "The world isn't there to be understood and lovingly psychoanalyzed, Rollie. It's there to kill you. The world doesn't care. You're the only one who cares. That's why you learn not to share." 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "That's why you learn not to share." 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Immediately he regrets that. "Oh, no. Sorry. That was. No." 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "I was out of line." [22:35] Leisurely swallows. "Yes. That's why I learned not to share." 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's obvious that Rollie feels like an asshole. "I'm really sorry, I just..." 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He reflects. "I got protective." 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Of this. Of us. Of her." [22:37] "Things change. Even the things that we draw strength from. For the moment." 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah, they do. But some things persist. Some things change and you grow into them. They become more true and not less." [22:40] "You want them to be the good things." 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Don't you?" [22:41] "Yes. But they need good soil to grow in. Which is why I'm glad I have you." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "And it's why I'm glad I have you. And Maja." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "You're both really important to me." [22:44] "The Coils are the only way you'll keep them. And even then." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah. I know. There's no knowing what that'll look like in the future. What I'm going to have to be open to. What we're going to have to give up." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'll tell you what, though." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm not stopping. This is too, like. It's too obviously the right thing to do to stop." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "We'll burn that bridge when we get to it, yeah?" [22:46] "We will. In the meantime…" [22:48] "I should tell you this now." 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie gives Leisurely his undivided attention. [22:49] "When you learn your first Coil, your exam will be in the hands of the Academy. They'll decide what they want as proof." 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Okay. How does proving First Flesh work, historically?" [22:50] "Starvation." 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Oh." [22:51] "They'll starve you until you only have enough blood to be awake." 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Then they'll make me blush." [22:51] "And they might do it for a while, to make sure you're not living on some hidden source." 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "So like... are people going to be watching the whole time?" [22:52] "Oh, yes. Someone who can judge you. They'll know what to look for." 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Who?" [22:53] Leisurely shakes her head. "I don't know. I'd say Ruby, but…" [22:54] She raises her hands in surrender. "I don't know. Depends on what's going on when you're ready." 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Are they gonna be able to, like." 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "When it's over, will they just, send me out starved?" [22:55] "They'll hold you down and feed you through a funnel, if they have to. You frenzying after leaving the building doesn't help anyone." 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "As long as I'm not a danger to anyone." 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "Fasting, huh?" 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "Maybe I'll go on a vision quest or something." [22:58] "Maybe." 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "How far out do you think I am from that?" [22:59] "From a vision quest? A good sized dose of peyote." 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie laughs. "No, from Chrysalis." [23:02] Leisurely walks over to the table and takes his hand, squeezing it. "It'll come. Just be patient and thorough. Promise that you won't look for shortcuts, ever. For any reason." 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie squeezes back. "What's the point of living forever if I'm gonna be impatient?" [23:05] Leisurely smiles. "That's why I picked you." 09[23:19] * banana|peels is now known as banana Session Time: Fri Jun 05 00:00:01 2015 14[00:51] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[02:30] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:38] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[02:45] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[03:15] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[03:27] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[03:31] * Quits: mugsy (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[03:43] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[06:08] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[06:10] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[07:02] * Parts: Zarick 14[07:02] * Joins: Zarick 14[07:35] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[07:37] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[07:52] * Quits: dammitwho 14[08:04] * Joins: Crion_ 14[08:05] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[09:28] * Joins: mugabe 14[09:28] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[09:29] * Joins: drinkybird 14[09:31] * Joins: tfoot 14[09:31] * Quits: trenchfoot (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by tfoot))) 09[09:31] * tfoot is now known as trenchfoot 14[09:32] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[09:33] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[09:33] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[09:34] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[09:37] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[10:20] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[10:42] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:30] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[11:43] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[12:07] * Joins: ddt 14[12:41] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[12:45] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[13:00] * Joins: mugabe 14[13:01] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[13:04] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[13:08] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[13:08] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[13:08] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[13:26] * Joins: Quaker [13:26] http://i.imgur.com/bVzsYw3.jpg 14[13:33] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[13:34] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[14:36] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 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channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[11:06] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[11:06] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[11:06] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[11:24] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[11:25] * Joins: ddt 14[11:25] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[12:17] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[12:20] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[12:40] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[13:11] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[13:12] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[13:45] * Joins: mugabe 14[13:51] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:16] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:37] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[14:39] * Joins: ddt 09[14:55] * banana is now known as babanaslep 14[16:02] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[16:09] * Joins: mugabe 14[16:09] * Quits: mugabe (Client Quit) 14[16:16] * Joins: hrolfie 14[16:19] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[17:12] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[17:14] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 11[17:44] * Disconnected Session Close: Sat Jun 06 17:44:01 2015 Session Start: Sat Jun 06 18:20:50 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[18:20] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[18:20] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[18:20] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[18:20] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[18:24] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:26] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[18:33] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[18:34] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[19:10] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[21:01] * Joins: ddt 09[21:41] * babanaslep is now known as nnabab 09[21:54] * nnabab is now known as banana 14[23:12] * Joins: mugabe 14[23:21] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 09[23:57] * banana is now known as banana|banana Session Time: Sun Jun 07 00:00:01 2015 14[00:28] * Quits: dammitwho (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[00:28] * Joins: dammitwho 09[01:03] * banana|banana is now known as banana 14[01:06] * Quits: Quaker_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[02:05] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[02:08] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:14] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[02:17] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[02:18] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:34] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:43] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[02:46] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[03:16] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[03:59] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[05:13] * Quits: Quaker_ (Quit: Quaker_) 14[06:05] * 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seconds) 14[13:36] * Joins: hrolfie 14[13:39] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[13:51] * Quits: Quaker_ (Quit: Quaker_) 14[13:53] * Joins: hrolfy 09[13:55] * banana is now known as bananasl|eep 14[13:57] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[14:19] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:21] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[14:21] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[14:21] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[14:23] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[14:26] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:27] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:29] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:31] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:32] * Joins: hrolfy 14[14:34] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:36] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[14:37] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:38] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:42] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[14:42] * Joins: hrolfy 14[14:45] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[14:53] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:56] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:17] * Joins: mugabe 14[15:21] * Joins: hrolf 14[15:23] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:25] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:31] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[15:34] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[15:45] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[16:17] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[16:19] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[16:32] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[16:32] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[17:50] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[18:00] * Joins: mugabe 14[18:07] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[18:45] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[19:08] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:49] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Quit: Leaving) 14[22:02] * Joins: mugabe [22:22] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/dY3XK4C.png the seers plot against cross is revealed 14[22:34] * Quits: dammitwho 14[23:40] * Joins: trenchfoot Session Time: Mon Jun 08 00:00:00 2015 14[00:05] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[00:11] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[00:11] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[00:15] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Client Quit) 14[00:16] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[00:16] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[00:35] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[01:23] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[01:25] * Joins: cbass 14[01:45] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[02:00] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[02:04] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:21] * Quits: dammitwhoa 14[02:21] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[02:45] * Quits: Quaker_ (Quit: Quaker_) 14[02:50] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[02:56] * Quits: cbass (Remote host closed the connection) 14[02:57] * Joins: dammitwho 14[03:27] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 09[03:36] * bananasl|eep is now known as banana 14[04:54] * Quits: dammitwho 14[05:03] * Joins: dammitwho 14[05:44] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[06:05] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[06:09] * 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Joins: cbass 14[12:04] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 11[12:10] * Disconnected Session Close: Mon Jun 08 12:10:30 2015 Session Start: Mon Jun 08 12:10:30 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[14:46] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:46] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:46] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[14:46] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[14:46] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[14:58] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[15:00] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[15:26] * Joins: mugabe 14[15:30] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[15:31] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[15:52] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[15:52] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[16:04] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[16:39] * Joins: ddt 15[16:40] <@VoxPVoxD> https://40.media.tumblr.com/56707d5949ba2ee274cd06dee98e9aee/tumblr_n85zuhXnIZ1rphtnfo1_540.jpg [16:40] aww hell yeah 14[17:14] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[18:00] * Joins: ddt_ 14[18:00] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 09[18:00] * ddt_ is now known as ddt 14[19:42] * Joins: mugabe 14[19:44] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[21:27] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[21:30] * Joins: dammitwho 14[22:20] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:58] * Joins: mugsy 14[23:02] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) Session Time: Tue Jun 09 00:00:00 2015 14[00:08] * Quits: Quaker_ (Quit: Quaker_) 14[00:12] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 09[01:03] * bananalent is now known as banana 14[01:04] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[01:08] * Quits: mugsy 14[01:43] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[01:58] * Quits: tom (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[01:58] * Joins: tom2 14[03:40] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[04:05] * Quits: Quaker_ (Quit: Quaker_) 14[04:44] * Joins: trenchfoot 09[04:59] * tom2 is now known as tom 14[06:25] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[07:30] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[07:33] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[07:33] * Joins: dammitwho 14[08:10] * Joins: mugabe [08:24] - [08:24] - [08:25] - [08:25] - [08:25] - [08:29] The night continues, as it does, through phone calls. One of them is arriving to bother Maja. Elsewhere, out of the rain, others assemble to look into something disturbing. Further elsewhere, somewhere is struggling to figure out how to use a Baby Bjorn™. [08:31] 4Spiritually, all of those people are me. [08:32] 3Maja [08:32] 3Maja glances at caller ID. Who is it? [08:32] Clarabelle. [08:34] 3Maja does the vampire equivilant of clearing her throat, because presumably vampires wouldn't need to. "Oh hello, my darling sweety care bear baby angel." [08:35] Clarabelle grunts. "There's no time for jokes, Maja! I need your help with something serious." [08:35] 3Maja: "That wasn't a joke, but what's up?" [08:36] Clarabelle: "Some people from San Diego have come up, apparently. Or been here for a little while. We have to go with the Invictus and make sure things stay defused." [08:37] 6There's a house in the flat country east of Santa Ana with all the lights on. [08:37] 6Jackie Levaux has become practically nocturnal thanks to her idiot cousin, but she's not interested in the darkness. [08:38] 3Maja's a little more grave now. "Oh. I see. As ... like, mediators? Or? ..." [08:39] Clarabelle: "I'm not sure. Ideally. But…you should be prepared for the less-than-ideal." [08:40] 6Last night she found herself hiding from Edgar. In- not her own house, which is the point, it's a house to which she was invited. And now all the old reflexes came back at once, and she was huddled in the space behind the pantry like they both once did. This can't go on, and she's going to do something about it. [08:41] 3Maja cringes. "Where are they going? Who are they? What do they want?" [08:42] Clarabelle: "I don't know! Tracey said somebody said something about the Inquisition. I knew this would happen." [08:47] 3Maja: "The inquisition? Jesus. What is happening, Clarabelle? Tell me what you think is going on." [08:48] 6The lights outside the house are dimmer around the half-empty kennels. Inside, flickers play on the living room wall from the tv. It's old, but big enough. Jackie gets up from the sofa with a grunt, because being in your Mid To Late Thirties is a crock of shit, and and goes to put in the next DVD. Underworld was not informative, but she's got a stack of vampire movies left and she's [08:49] 6not stopping til she's found out.. something. [08:50] Cavanaugh gets a text from Santiago, who left, swearing to return once he'd armed himself appropriately. [08:54] Clarabelle: "Mexico City is the archdiocese, right? For all the churches in the Southwest. I mean, I didn't vote for them. But that's how it's been, traditionally. And they keep insisting they have the authority to do what they think we should be doing, if they think we're not doing it well enough. And now they're here, maybe, and…ugh! This won't stand!" [08:55] 3Maja's voice gets smaller. "Are they looking for the Carmelites?" [08:57] Clarabelle's voice gets bigger. "If they are, I won't let them go any farther. It's not their problem." [09:00] 3Maja's love for Clarabelle swells in her chest, and the strength in her voice matches Clara's. "I'm right there with you. Where are we going?" [09:00] Clarabelle: "San Clemente. You want me to pick you up?" [09:00] 3Maja: "Yes. Should I bring anything?" [09:01] Clarabelle: "Do you have a gun?" [09:01] 3Maja hates that she does, but this is her life now. "Yeah." [09:02] Clarabelle: "Okay. Make sure it has bullets and I'll be there in a bit." [09:05] "Okay. See you soon." 3Maja hangs up and walks over to her closet to get out her gun. [09:05] 4Cavanaugh will deal with Santiago's text once he is off the phone with...what was this guy's name? He said it like, five seconds ago. Father Vincent? 14[09:07] * Joins: Quaker__ 14[09:08] * Quits: Quaker_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [09:11] Presbyter (Clarabelle) Vincent, over the phone: "I can be in San Clemente in half an hour to help you with this." [09:11] That's to Cav. [09:12] 4Cavanaugh: "Good! Good, that sounds fine. There'll be three of us on our end. All Deputies." [09:13] Clarabelle: "I'll call you when I'm close." Then she hangs up. [09:14] 4Great. Cool. Some actual work to do, and a 'team-up.' He checks his texts. To Santiago: [09:14] Santiago: [09:16] 6Edgar's on his way south, sweeping from streetlight to streetlight down the back roads. Still can't believe his night of meeting the constituents was interrupted by the Mexican Inquisition. Shit could be a real problem, too- there's obviously a lot of feeling and God is, when it comes to big deals, in the picture. Depending on choices of artistic depiction He may be said to constitute [09:16] 6it. [09:17] 4Cav will head to his Lexus, then, make sure the Glock is in the glovebox, and head south to San Clemente. [09:18] 6Not really dressed for this, he muses. There's the shotgun in the car boot but on the whole that's not something he wants to take into a motel. Maybe better confine themselves to gathering information tonight. [09:24] The address Velasco gave is just a few blocks from the beach. This late, at this time of year, the pier and its businesses are shuttered for the night. There's only a few people walking around, able to hear the surf. San Clemente rises out of the water, all white adobe and spanish colonial for a mile inland. Further in, the suburbs rise with the hills and hang in the margins of everything. [09:25] 4How out of place is the Lexus in this parking lot? [09:25] Not extremely. Oceanfront property is still expensive. [09:26] Clarabelle's got the radio off while she drives down with Maja. [09:27] Good, good. He's got a clip holster underneath his right arm; he'll stick the Glock in there and wait. [09:27] 4Good, good. He's got a clip holster underneath his right arm; he'll stick the Glock in there and wait. [09:29] 6Coming from the steakhouse a little farther away, Edgar turns up next, bringing the property values down with a cheap sedan and stubble. He's still in a vaguely good mood, if bemused, so he grins when hugging his jacket tighter in the dark lot. "Cold night for a jihad." [09:30] Santiago pulls up in his truck a few minutes later. When he gets out, he's wearing a baby, and a gun in his waistband. "Ready for trouble. Well, in a minute." [09:31] 3Maja remains silent during the drive. If Clarabelle wants to talk, she'll talk, but she's also content to reflect on her own. [09:31] 6when you say baby [09:33] Like, a human baby, in a baby carrier. Santiago taps his foot against the curb. "Teresa'll be here in a bit. For him, I mean. It wasn't a great night for scheduling." [09:33] 4Cav grins back. "Yeah, I--" 4Then he sees Santiago. [09:33] "..." [09:34] "You're wearing a baby." [09:34] 6Edgar: "Man, these people are serious. You can't bring a baby." [09:35] 4Cav: "No, no -- we'll get to that. First: whose baby are you wearing." [09:36] Clarabelle: "Have you actually ever fired that?" [09:36] 6Edgar: "He can't bring anyone's baby. This is.. a no infant zone." [09:36] Santiago tousles its very fine hair. "My sister's. So, my nephew. I'm not bringing it in there-" [09:37] 3Maja frowns. "Yes." 3She doesn't say anymore. [09:37] Clarabelle: "Have you ever killed anybody with one?" [09:37] 4Cav: "Do you--" 4He stops. "Why didn't--" 4He stops. "What the fuck, man?" [09:38] "You can't just, like, leave it in the car. Right?" 4He looks at Edgar. That's not how babies work, right? [09:39] Santiago: "She works nights, man. Sometimes I have to watch him. I'm handing him off, anyway." [09:40] 6Edgar: "Guys, we can do this with two and- you said a priest was coming, Clinton? Even if this kid is the most pious child around, the sight of the little guy and the guns is" [09:40] 3Maja frowns again. "Yes." 3And again, she doesn't say anymore. [09:40] "Have we maybe fucked up, doing this job, being here." [09:41] 4Cav: "Yeah, Presbyter Clarabelle something or other." [09:41] 3The prickliness of her reply gives Clarabelle the sign that she probably shouldn't ask anymore questions. [09:41] Two cars pull up to the motel: one carrying two women, and the other carrying the Baroness Modjeska. The latter parks nearby and gets out, helping Santiago with the straps. [09:41] The only thing Clarabelle says, after a while, while she's parking, is: "Me too." [09:42] "Okay. Santiago, have we fucked things up? Seems like maybe the Orange beat was the sort of community-oriented policing where a man could carry his nephew on a strap without it being a big deal, but then-" 6Edgar falls silent as the cars arrive, shaking his head. [09:43] 3That is, perhaps, the most oddly comforting thing she could have heard from Clara's mouth. She relaxes for a brief second, before tensing up again as she realizes that They're On. [09:45] Santiago is busy carrying bottles and a bag from his car to the Baroness's. "He's just gonna be asleep, the whole time, so- okay, yeah, I'll call you when I'm done. Yeah, same number if you need to reach her-" When he's done, he looks up. "Huh? Yeah, no, you guys are fine. Don't worry about it." The Baroness says hello, briefly, before she drives off. [09:45] 4As the two of them get out of the car, Clinton Cavanaugh's eyebrows shoot up. "Ma--y, it's, good to see you both. Prysbeter. Deacon." [09:47] Clarabelle squeezes Maja's shoulder before she gets out of the car. "Deputy. Are they inside?" [09:48] 6One of the same women who turned up a couple of weeks ago, at Halloween. These must be the local priestesses. Edgar: "Evening." 6He's not going to get in the way of Cav explaining the situation, since he's the one that knows it. [09:49] 4Cav looks from Clarabelle to the motel and back, glancing at Maja once or twice as he does. "I--yes, they haven't left. At least not since we got here." [09:49] 3As Maja stands up and sees Cav, she freezes, and then smiles. "Deputy." 3She nods her head. [09:50] Santiago is looking at the ground. "Presbyter. Deacon." [09:50] 3Maja nods towards Santiago, keeping a straight face. "Deputy." [09:51] Clarabelle nods at everyone in turn. "Hellos to everybody. I imagine the plan here is to ask them to leave, politely." [09:52] 3Maja looks towards the third deputy, whom she only vaguely recognizes. [09:53] "Politely. Yeah." 4There are enough of them, hopefully. "If they don't respond well to politeness...is everyone here okay dealing with those consequences?" 4It's not that he doesn't care if Clarabelle Vincent lives or dies, but he's mainly concerned about the Deacon here. He realizes he has absolutely no idea if she can fight. The subject never came up. [09:53] 6Edgar, the one Maja *hasn't* counselled and who therefore must presumably be a mass of unreconciled psychological conflicts, is a middle-aged man with a neat but half-grown beard, wearing a jacket and looking oddly after the departing car. "Better find out what they're doing in Orange, why they haven't paid Velasco. We kick out someone who's not starting trouble, it gets started at [09:53] that point." [09:57] 6Not knowing either of these ladies, he assumes they can fight, because: they're vampires. [09:57] Clarabelle is wearing a jacket and jeans. She lifts the former slightly, so they can see the holster there. "As the Preacher says, 'a time to love, and a time to hate.'" [09:58] 3Maja can fight. She has before, and she will again, if she feels she must. And she's decided that she's willing to fight for the Camelites not to be slaughtered. [09:58] 6The hell kind of preacher says that? "It's reasonably possible we're not gonna hate each other. Or d'you know these visitors, ladies?" [10:00] 4Cavanaugh: "Feel like if there are guys running around calling themselves the Mexican Inquisition, word would get around pretty quick." [10:00] 4He glances back at the motel. "Then again, maybe this is that." [10:02] 3Maja: "Wait, they're calling themselves the Mexican Inquisition?" [10:02] 3The disdain drips from her voice. [10:02] "So sayeth 'Diocles' Velasco." [10:03] Clarabelle looks at Maja. "When you call yourself something for a few hundred years, it turns into your name. I hope whoever told you is wrong, or this might be a headache. We're ready." [10:04] 4Did Velasco give them room numbers? [10:04] He didn't. But he said he'd be waiting for them... [10:05] 4Argh. "Velasco should be waiting for us inside. Let's drop by the front desk." [10:06] 6Edgar's a little worried about the tone, here. Everyone's hopped up to be mad - this inquisition sounds farcical foremost. They could be a real danger, but going in hostile is a great way to ensure it. What do the priests know that's got them dripping poison? 14[10:08] * Joins: FerrinusSpace [10:09] 3They have met the Carmelites and understand the acute danger they're in, Edgar. [10:10] 4Are they carrying weapons openly? Probably not the best idea. [10:11] 6He ambles along with the group, anyway. Cav put titles to faces, which means.. To Maja: "It was Deacon Kovacevic, so" 6and to Clarabelle, whose name he doesn't know: "Presbyter..?" [10:12] 4In fact, to Santiago: "Maybe you take Edgar's shotgun or rifle or whatever, hang out in the parking lot while we're inside. Anyone with a Beast makes a run for a car, shoot out the tire." 4He pauses. "Means you won't have to talk to Velasco again, either." [10:12] Santiago nods. Diocles is waiting in the lobby. He looks up at the four vampires walking in, and comes out from behind the desk. "Senors…! And senoras…thank you for coming. Your adversaries and mine are loitering in the idleness room, maliciously, I have no doubts." The wallpaper in here is peeling. Something is dripping from the ceiling. It smells like he does, except they're not in a well-ventilated parking lot. [10:13] 6Edgar passes Santiago his car keys to get the gun out of the trunk, if that's what he's doing. [10:13] 4This fucking guy. [10:13] While they walk in, the Presbyter leans in toward Edgar. "Vincent. But you can call me Clarabelle." [10:14] "Will do. Edgar Doolittle." [10:14] 3Maja isn't sure how to react to this guy. [10:15] 4Does he still smell overwhelmingly of fish? [10:16] He does. The lights in the foyer flicker on and off. This shag carpet really needs to be cleaned. [10:16] 3Why does he smell like fish.. [10:16] 4Well, there you go. React away. [10:17] 6At this point, Edgar's assuming that it's another Nosferatu thing. They're everywhere in this city, and some aren't bad.. "Reputation precedes you, Senor Velasco. They done anything more adversarial than overstay?" [10:17] 6At this point, Edgar's assuming that it's another Nosferatu thing. They're everywhere in this city, and some aren't bad.. "Reputation precedes you, Senor Velasco. They done anything more adversarial than overstay?" [10:18] 3That is a good question. [10:18] 4Cav sidles up to Maja. Whispering: "Didn't know you'd be here." [10:19] Velasco steps closer to Edgar, and whispers conspiratorially: "They speak of hunting someone, like an animal. But who? I cannot say. They veil their speech in patterns that deny me comprehension." [10:20] 6Edgar: "Well, christ. That's a charge of its own. Got names in your guestbook?" [10:21] 3Maja whispers back. "I didn't know I'd be here, either. This isn't my usual gig." [10:21] 3Maja: "I really fucking hope this doesn't get ugly, but I really don't feel good about these guys." [10:21] 4Cav: "You got a gun in case this goes bad?" [10:21] 4He pauses. "Or like. Hulk muscles. Superspeed. Sweet claws. Any of that." [10:23] Velasco hurries back to the desk, and comes back with a stained ledger. "In here. Their leader put his name down as one 'Sergio Bonifaz'. The rest are nameless. It was impressed upon my mind that they desired privacy, so I could not press through their disquieting aura for answers." [10:26] 3Maja frowns. "I can handle myself. But more importantly, I have some ways of convincing others not to make me handle myself." [10:27] "Fair enough." 4He'll drift towards the front again to stand next to Edgar and deputy, as a verb. [10:27] 6Edgar: "Thanks for your help. We'll go deloiter these deadbeats." [10:28] "Yes. And my fees…! If you could collect them…" [10:28] 6Edgar: "That capability will be the question, yeah." [10:29] 4Cavanaugh: "What are you charging them?" [10:31] Velsaco paws at his nose. "That is, ah…four thousand dollars. For a week's stay. For four of their people. I hope to see it recovered." [10:32] 4Cavanaugh narrows his eyes. [10:32] "A thousand dollars. For a week's stay. Here." [10:33] "Security and safety is worth its own fortune, senor." [10:33] 4He glances up meaningfully at the dripping ceiling as he says 'here.' [10:33] 3Maja smiles to herself. Leave it to Cav to think about finances at a time like this. [10:34] "Uh huh." 4He crosses his arms. "And you made them aware of the high cost of living before giving them the keys to their room, I take it." 14[10:35] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [10:35] 4Cavanaugh is getting the sinking suspicion this is going to end up billed to Orange County Standards & Compliance. [10:36] 3Maja walks up behind him, puts her hand on Cav's shoulder, and speaks to smelly-fish-guy. "Is that your primary concern here, my friend? The fees?" [10:36] Velasco looks at the other deputies. "They - they insisted that they not be bothered with the details, that they would pay what they owe. And yet, when the bill was presented-!" [10:37] "I just want to have all the facts before I walk through that door." [10:37] 4Cavanaugh shakes his head. "Of course." [10:37] "Well, let's do this." [10:40] 6. . . [10:41] 6Edgar: "Senor Velasco's been such a good citizen in bringing this holy mess to our collective doorstops. Specifics about the bill don't matter, I'm sure." [10:41] Velasco rotates to look at Maja. "Senora, your concern is appreciated. You are a vision of justice and mercy. If I have concerns, they are for the holy Prince's laws and hospitalities being trampled upon like a banner thrown under a pack of stamping beasts. But if you could make sure they pay, too, you would live in my heart forever." [10:42] 4Cav sighs very loudly. "The bill will be settled, one way or another." [10:43] "Next time though, Velasco? Next time you report out-of-towners from the goddamn Inquisition to us before they get angry at you for jacking up their rent." [10:43] 6Let's see whether the 'idleness room' is literal. [10:44] 3Maja talks after Cav, speaking softly and directly to fish-smelly-guy. "My friend- rest assured that we will do what we can to recover your fees-" 3she does remarkably well to hide her disdain for his gross capitalisms- "but as you've wisely noted, it is not our top priority here. What we can promise you, however, is that we will do our very best to make sure that your property [10:44] does not get destroyed." [10:44] 3Maja talks after Cav, speaking softly and directly to fish-smelly-guy. "My friend- rest assured that we will do what we can to recover your fees-" 3she does remarkably well to hide her disdain for his gross capitalisms- "but as you've wisely noted, it is not our top priority here. What we can promise you, however, is that we will do our very best to make sure that your property [10:44] does not get destroyed." [10:44] 4You know. Such as it is. [10:45] 4...Worthless fishass motel. [10:46] 3Maja glances over at Cav, half in amusement- half checking that he doesn't lose his shit. [10:46] The 'idleness room' is past the lobby, through a pair of warped french doors. Through the frosted glass, they can see four figures spread out across the room. [10:47] 4Cav pauses at the threshold. [10:47] "Everybody ready?" [10:47] Clarabelle nods. [10:48] 4Once everyone's signalled yes, he'll push open the doors smoothly, one with each hand, a wide, friendly smile on his face. "Good evening. How's everybody doing tonight." [10:49] 6Edgar nods very slightly. [10:49] 3Maja was NOT ready, but OH WELL. [10:50] 3Maja makes herself ready. She's ready now. [10:52] The room is like one of those chambers in an old folks' home, where people go to kill time. Chairs face an ancient television set. A few tables are set in the center of the room, where two men sit. One reads a newspaper, while the other is speaking quietly into his phone. At the side of the room, two more men look up from their shuffleboard game. The man on the phone looks up. The rest slowly move their hands to their [10:52] hips. [10:53] The man on the phone ends the call. There's only a slight accent to his english. "Well, thank you. Yourself?" 14[10:55] * Quits: dammitwho [11:00] 6Edgar Doolittle steps into the room at Cav's side. He doesn't move his hand to his hip, slowly or otherwise. He doesn't need to; the whole room's brightened, acquired a sense of anticipation and potency. The law is here. [11:04] 3Maja sort of ... saunters in, cooly. She has her game face on. [11:04] 4Cav's a really nice guy, all told. He certainly looks like a nice guy. Real well-dressed, too. A charmer. You can't even see fang. (That takes practice, with a smile that big.) [11:05] "I'm doing just fine, thank you for asking. The name's Cavanaugh. Clinton Cavanaugh." 4Slight pause for emphasis. "Deputy of the Territory." [11:08] 6Edgar: "Welcome to the Brilliant Court, Senor Bonifaz." [11:08] "I guessed, from your numbers." He seems in charge, from the way the three others look at him. The man whistles, and makes a cutting motion with his hand. The hands go down from the hips, and the other men relax, slightly. "And from your obvious Brilliance." [11:13] 3Maja steps forward, slightly. "I am Deacon Kovacevic, with the Los Angeles parish." [11:14] Clarabelle is slightly less shiny and impressive than the rest of them. "Presbyter Vincent." [11:14] 3Maja thinks she's absolutey radiant. [11:15] 6Edgar hasn't introduced himself. He's not here as an individual. [11:15] 4Cavanaugh concurs, but in the sort of way that doesn't signal impropriety towards a co-worker's partner. [11:18] 4He'll close the doors to...whatever creepy name Velasco had for this room once they're all inside. "As you might suspect, we came here from the proprietor's office. Such as it is. He expressed some concerns to us, and made known to us a disagreement between your two parties. Payment for services and shelter rendered, I believe." [11:18] The man on the phone nods in appreciation. "Buenas noches. I am Monsignor Bonifaz, of Mexico City. These are my assistants, Marco, Tomas, and Jeffrey. They are from San Diego. I am afraid they have no titles, beyond faithful followers of God." [11:18] The man who was on the phone* [11:18] 4Cavanaugh: "Ah." [11:19] "Then you might further suspect that unpaid rent is not the only reason we're here." [11:22] Bonifaz smooths his mustache with a hand. "You mean the frog-man. When we took the rooms, he allowed that we would pay when we departed. Shortly afterwards, he denied ever saying something like this, and demanded his money in advance. You might tell him that he will get paid. When we leave. The date might be accelerated, of course. Now that you're here." [11:22] 6Edgar: "Only in the area momentarily?" [11:23] "Only as long as our work keeps us." [11:23] 6Edgar: "Then we'll ask on behalf of the First Estate what work you do here." 14[11:25] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[11:25] * Joins: FerrinusSpace [11:25] "We are pursuing a fugitive from our respective Courts' justice. He led us to this city." [11:25] 3An excellent question. Maja likes this Edgar's way of Asking Questions. [11:27] 6Hey, so does he! Good taste there. And maybe this will all turn out well after all... "Need help?" [11:27] 3Maja: "What was this fugitive's crime?" [11:28] "Blasphemy. Theft. Assault. Murder." [11:29] 3Maja narrows her eyes almost imperceptively. "In that chronological order?" [11:29] Listed in descending order of importance, Cav assumes. [11:29] 4Listed in descending order of importance, Cav assumes. [11:30] "In ascending seriousness, Deacon." [11:30] 3Maja nods. [11:30] She looks over at Clarabelle to get a read. [11:30] 6Edgar: "How about we pull up some chairs and you tell us about the hunt." [11:30] 3She looks over at Clarabelle to get a read. [11:30] 4Well. That's not very Inquisition-y. [11:31] Clarabelle is listening calmly. She looks over at Maja. [11:32] 3Maja gives Clarabelle a slow blink, a little like a cat would, to show her she's with her. [11:32] "Deputies, you are here because of the…impolite breach of hospitality, correct? This has taken us longer than we imagined it would. I had hoped to be in and out of your territory before you ever noticed us." [11:33] 4Cavanaugh: "Like I said. We're here for the one reason, and then for the other. Just trying to figure out right now which of the two is more serious." [11:34] 6Edgar's taking a chair. For a moment he considers sitting on it backwards. No. [11:34] 3Maja can't help but scoff just slightly. She grins widely at Monsignor Boniface. "My friend, was that ... an apology for getting caught?" [11:35] Bonifaz nods. "Yes." [11:36] "Happens to the best of us. Go on." [11:37] The monsignor leans forward, putting his elbows on the table. Marco folds the newspaper and puts it away. "Tell me, deputies, and deacon, and presbyter: You exist to defend your territory from any sort of…malicious intruder, correct?" [11:39] 4Cavanaugh lets his eyes wander over the three guys that the 'Monsignor' here has been trying to keep anonymous. "I find 'malicious' to be rather redundant when applied to 'intruder,' monsignor. The word has its ready-made implications." [11:39] 3Maja glances towards Clarabelle again. Then Cav. "To be fair, I would like us to operationally define 'malicious,' if possible." [11:41] 3She looks towards Monsignor Boniface. "I just like to make sure we're all on the same page, is all." [11:41] "Intending to do harm. But more than that. Monstrous. Unfeeling. Cruel, and dangerous. Upsetting of public order. Yes?" 14[11:42] * Joins: trenchfoot_ [11:43] 3Maja can get down with the first things listed, but the last one she maintains some suspicion about. [11:44] 6Edgar: "We'll take it as given that there are people any right-thinking person would oppose. That who you're chasing?" 14[11:45] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [11:45] 4Cavanaugh recrosses his arms. "Well, the first three aren't really against the law of our Kin. Fourth one is. This person native to San Diego, Los Angeles, or elsewhere?" [11:45] 3Maja feels some discomfort with how quickly Edgar seems to be getting on board with their quest. [11:47] "I couldn't tell you truthfully, Deputy. He is not given to friendly exposition. He passed through my city, half a dozen others, then San Diego, and now he has fled to here. But we gave chase, and perhaps that was uncharitable. I admit that I pursued, because I was unconvinced that your office would care enough to see justice done. So, allow me one more line of questioning." [11:47] "You would like us to not be here, correct? And we would like to return to our homes. I have matters to attend to elsewhere." [11:49] 6Edgar: "Got nothing against anonymous vigilantes, but the situation's fraught. We're born fraught. Blood fraughts blood. It would in fact be ideal if your faith was expressed elsewhere." [11:50] 3Maja feels on an entirely different page from Cav and Edgar. She wants to know if this is about the Carmelites. She ignores Monsignor Boniface's last question. "Why did you think it wouldn't have been taken seriously here?" [11:51] 4Would kind of be concerning if they weren't on completely different pages. Cav and Edgar mean to kill these men if that's what it comes to, regrets and all. That's the office. [11:52] Monsignor Bonifaz looks at Maja. "Because certain other crimes have gone conspicuously unpunished, Deacon." [11:53] 3Maja remains calm. That is not an auspicious sign, but this was bound to rise eventually. "Do you mind elaborating?" [11:56] "The little band of heretics squatting on your territory. Also guilty of at least those four same crimes. Murder, of course. And trespassing, to boot. Which, as you said, Deputy, is the prime offense to some. But they remain active." He holds up his hand. "I will not plead with you about that. But that is the basis of my concern. I worried that one more murderer would flee into the murk of your territory. I followed, [11:56] unwilling to see this." [11:58] 3Maja: "I assume you refer to the Carmelites?" [11:58] 6Yeah, this is what Edgar was worried about. This Maja and Clarabelle are spoiling for a fight.. must be some real differences of opinion there. Priests don't call each other murderers lightly. Probably. [11:58] "If that is the title they are using." [11:59] 3Maja calmly nods. She's not sure how to fill in the deputies about this without implicating her and Clarabelle. [12:00] 3Maja: "I wasn't aware of any murders committed by the Carmelites." [12:00] 4Cav's still smiling, but his voice has lost a bit of warmth. "Our application of our law is, unsurprisingly, left to our sole discretion. It would be unfortunate if up until this moment you labored under the impression that the leniency granted to some for private reasons automatically extended to yourself and your companions." [12:01] 4Cav: "Thankfully we've had the opportunity to clear up that misunderstanding." [12:01] 3Maja appreciates the brute force that Cav offers now, but she's concerned about the larger scale implications of this situation. [12:02] 3Sub-optimal, Cav. Sub-optimal. [12:03] 3Maja speaks up before the Monsignor can respond to Cav. "Listen, Monsignor-" [12:03] Bonifaz smiles. "It would be unfortunate. So, I think this is what will happen, Deputy. We w- yes, Deacon." [12:08] 3Maja: "To speak frankly, I think the deputies and the church, while aligned, have some different priorities here. I want to be clear here that I am also concerned about the violations of law - not just of ours, but of yours' as well. However, it seems there might be a bigger issue at play here- one that is beyond matters of jurisdiction." [12:08] 3Maja pauses to scan his face. [12:09] Bonifaz isn't smiling. But his lips are at least set in a sincerely, severely flat line as he listens to her. [12:10] 3Maja looks over to Cav and Edgar, to quickly read them. [12:10] 4Cav's content to let her run with this and see where it takes them. He made his point about the law. 14[12:10] * Joins: ddt [12:10] 6Edgar looks like a man who really wants to know whether this is an issue that has to be addressed here and now. [12:11] 4Sure it is. [12:11] 3She looks at Clarabelle before continuing. [12:11] 6He has the look, in fact, of a man playing out a rope uncertain of whether it's a fuse. [12:11] 4If this is going to end in a fight, they might as well fuck up a dump like this. [12:12] 4Instead of, you know. A place people might miss if it shut down for renovations. Or got condemned. [12:12] 6If it ends in a fight, we've failed at our job. Which is always on the table. It's a tough job. [12:12] Clarabelle blinks at Maja. It's a blink that says: "I trust your judgment." [12:13] 3Maja continues. "Now, we speak of the Carmelites. These are some strong charges you make against them. I have not heard of any Carmelites doing any murdering- only being murdered."3 She pauses. [12:14] "If these charges are true, we will take them seriously. Because here in LA, we don't look kindly upon murder- from anyone." 3Her last words have an uncharacteristic weight to them. [12:15] 4And besides. Cavanaugh is perfectly fine setting down some precedent on the issue of whether Having Strong Reckons About the Divinity of Jesus is legal justification enough for assholes from San Diego to come up into Orange County, squat in the domicile of one of its (technically) upstanding Kin, and refuse to pay rent. [12:15] 3Maja softens. "Monsignor, can I ask you something?" [12:16] He nods. "Of course." 08[12:16] 3Maja suddenly notices Rollie's influence, but moves on. [12:17] 4Damn. Maja's killing it. [12:17] 4...Hrm. Phrasing. [12:18] 6So the Circle's religious murder rituals weren't bad enough, and now we have to worry about the Catholics? [12:18] 3Maja: "Were our positions reversed- were someone from LA to come down to Mexico City on a 'hunt,' without informing you- without providing any evidence of wrong doing- how would you respond?" 14[12:18] * Quits: mugabe (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[12:18] * Joins: mugabe [12:20] Bonifaz twists the very end of his mustache. "I appreciate your point, Deacon. They would be invited to leave, and to trust the local authorities to see justice done." [12:21] 6On that note. "You were about to describe the fugitive." [12:23] Bonifaz folds his hands on the table. "You will finish this, Deputy? If we depart, and you're left with nothing except your word?" [12:24] "Monsignor, you better tell us who and how you're hunting before we promise to finish it." [12:24] 3Maja: "And what they have done, to whom." [12:25] The Monsignor looks at Edgar for a long moment. [12:25] 6Edgar: "What harm can come from revealing the criminal? Name and nature, Monsignor. We're not about to walk out of here and warn a killer." [12:25] 6Edgar: "Like this court or not- you must know it wouldn't work for very long if that's how we operated." [12:27] "They are not kindred. I do not know his name. He is a creature of fire and lightning. He is murderously deranged. Two of my colleagues were turned to ash when they attempted to stop him from stealing a relic from our cathedral." [12:27] 3Maja furls her eyebrow and looks at Clarabelle. [12:27] 6Edgar: "Aha. That would be the blasphemy." [12:28] 6Now it's his turn to give Clinton a look. This is.. a situation. [12:28] "No. That would be the murder. The blasphemy would be using that ash to smear his rants on the altar after he killed them." [12:28] Clarabelle shrugs in confusion. [12:29] 3Maja: [12:29] 3Maja: "And this creature is associated with the Carmelites?" [12:29] "Deacon, I think they were evidence of our general tolerance of sin up this side of the border, rather than an actual party to flaming monstrosity." [12:30] "No. At least, not that I know of. I don't know if he's spoken to them after a week of being here. I don't think he would be any more friendly to them." [12:30] 4Well why didn't you just fucking say you weren't hunting Kin in the first place? That could have saved us so much -- come on now. "The fact that you're not pursuing Kindred changes the situation somewhat. In a good way, from a legal perspective. Sounds bad every other way you look at it." 14[12:30] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) [12:32] 3Maja does not understand this fucking guy's logic. [12:32] 4He returns Edgar's look. Might be to their benefit not to run these assholes off. Maybe let them soften lightning bro up a bit first. [12:32] 6Edgar's going to do it. It's time. [12:33] 6 He stands up, reverses the shitty chair. Sits back down again with his arms folded on the back. 14[12:33] * Joins: FerrinusSpace [12:33] 4Damn. That's a professional move, right there. [12:33] 6Deputy Doolittle: "Yeah, okay. I'm inclined to take this up the chain, see if we can get you permission to hunt the guy in Orange." [12:33] 3Maja watches Edgar, folds her arms, and leans back. [12:34] "Fraught or naught, nobody likes a murderously deranged creature of fire and lightning." [12:34] "However." [12:34] "You will have to pay the rent." [12:34] 3Maja still does not trust this guy. She suspects there's more going on here than what he's presenting to the deputies now as a seemingly morally straightforward case. [12:35] "You owe what you owe for the time you've spent so far." 4Deadpan: "But perhaps you might think about negotiating an explicit rate for the rest of your stay in advance." [12:35] The Monsignor stares at the reverse-chair Deputy. [12:35] He stares at the other deputy, and the two priests. [12:35] 3Maja thinks he looks sort of ridiculous in the reverse chair, but boys will be boys. [12:36] He smiles. [12:38] "Marco, Tomas, Jeffrey. We're leaving immediately. The Deputies are correct. We have erred in coming here, and will leave immediately." Bonifaz stands up, and motions for Marco to come over. The other man slowly takes out a few dozen bills. "We will let you deal with your problems the way you see fit. My apologies for presuming." [12:39] 6Mildly: "No case file to transfer?" [12:39] 4Cav tensed at the smile, and still hasn't relaxed. He just stares back, smiling himself, arms crossed. [12:40] 3Maja: "One last thing, Monsignor-" [12:40] He is winding a red scarf around his neck. "Yes, Deacon." [12:41] "have you been in communication at all with Bishop Widmark about any of this?" [12:41] "Does he know anything about this man? This creature?" [12:43] "I have not been, so I do not know. Deputy Doolittle, I will tell you where he is. That nuclear power station a few miles south of here. San Onofre, if I'm not incorrect." [12:43] "That's the name. Could be dangerous." 6Edgar: :/ [12:43] "Marco, go pay the frog-man." [12:43] 4Wait. San Onofre...? [12:44] 4Cav pulls out his iPhone to check something. [12:44] 4Specifically, a Google map he set up to-- [12:44] "One last-" [12:44] 4Motherfucker. [12:44] "Can you tell us what relic he was trying to steal?" [12:45] Marco comes back. "He says it's four thousand now." [12:45] Bonifaz looks up sharply. "Pay him what he asks." [12:46] "Do you know who Howard Grant was?" [12:47] 3Maja: "No." [12:47] 4The smile has entirely left Cavanaugh's face. He gives Edgar a meaningful look. A "we need to talk, when these shitheads roll out" look. [12:48] 6The priests aren't counted among the shitheads, right? One of them's quiet, and the other is alarmingly intent, but, [12:48] 4Maja and Clara are cool. [12:49] 4These other dudes, though. [12:49] "An American kindred, living in Japan, martyred with two of his brothers at Hiroshima in 1945. His ashes, when recovered, were of great interest to the Church, for reasons beyond me." [12:49] 6For now Edgar gets out of the way, listens carefully to what they know about the monster (or what they claim), waits. [12:50] "Well. I am glad you proved so reasonable. Good luck." Bonifaz motions to the other three men, who walk out, filing through the lobby. [12:50] 3Maja sits quietly, her head down. Thinking. [12:51] 6To Maja and Clarabelle: "He didn't bless us." [12:51] 4Cavanaugh will walk out with them and signal Santiago to stand down with the rifle, then walk back inside to rejoin the others. [12:51] "I have some good news and I have some bad news," 4he says. [12:52] "And they are actually the same piece of news: San Onofre Nuclear Reactor is not Court territory." [12:52] 6Edgar was going over the maps just this mor- evening! "It is, Clinton. Right on the edge." [12:52] "Doubt anyone lives down there, but we claim it and take hunting trips all the way down when the crows are quiet." [12:53] 3Maja is listening, but is clearly pre-occupied. [12:53] 4Cav frowns and zooms in. "Nevermind. I stand corrected. The news is all bad." [12:53] Clarabelle laughs into her hand, and walks over to Maja to squeeze her shoulder. "You did a very good job." [12:53] "Yeah. Our responsibility, but we got no sureties or power." [12:54] 3Maja's a little startled by this. "What? Oh. Huh. ... I- well, thank you." [12:54] 4That's some gerrymandering bullshit, by the way. [12:54] "I'm just-" [12:54] 6Who knows what the equivalent Circle map looks like.. [12:54] "Something doesn't sit right with me at all. A lot of it doesn't sit right with me. None of it, in fact." [12:54] 6I mean, they call themselves the Santa Ana band. [12:54] 4Cav: "Oh, that Inquisition dude was probably lying about all kinds of things." [12:55] "That said, someone did set Sponger Souza's boat on fire a couple nights back." [12:55] Santiago comes back into the room. "Hey, so those guys left. Headed south. Everything go well?" [12:55] 3Maja: "The guy comes in here, dismmissing our parish and the law on account of our tolerance of the Carmelites- who have only been murdered for their beliefs- and then ... what the fuck? Just what in the fuck." [12:56] 6Edgar, to Santiago: "They lied to us for half an hour then said there was a magic monster hiding in the nuke plant." [12:56] 4He pockets his phone. "Some kind of literal-fire-and-brimstone idiot running around would make that a bit more explicable." 4It would also mean one of the factions in the Brilliant Court's parish didn't firebomb the other. [12:56] Santiago blinks. "San Onofre?" [12:56] "Yeah. Most plausible part of his story, unfortunately." [12:57] "Huh. Shit." [12:57] 3Maja: "Does anyone remember the name of the guy who's ashes the dude stole?" [12:57] whose* [12:57] "Howard Grant." [12:57] "Killed by a nuke. It's a theme, see." [12:58] "Have any of you heard that name? Clarabelle?" [12:58] Clarabelle: "I know him. About him, I mean. His ashes were pure white." [12:58] "What was he martyred for?" [12:59] "What was he a martyr of, whatever. I don't fucking understand the technicalities of martyrdom, whatever." [12:59] "For..no, he died in the blast. The nuclear blast. He stayed when the rest of the American mission in the country went into hiding, to help. He was a deacon." [12:59] 4Cavanaugh: "You die and people use your memory to do whatever they were going to do in the first place, is my understanding of it." [12:59] 6Edgar: "Damn." [13:01] 3Maja to Cav: "Well, yes. But I'm trying to identify if there is any significance in his symbolism here. There's something going on here that is not straight forward. I am not willing to just blame this on a lone lunatic." [13:01] Santiago rests his gun against a chair. "Wait, what kind of magic monster?" [13:02] 4Cav: "You'll be shocked to hear that he provided no specifics. I know I was." 08[13:02] 3Maja thinks about Rollie and how his Malkavia might come in handy here- not that she'd ever ask him to invoke it. [13:02] 3Maja: "I think we should speak to the Bishop about this." [13:03] 4Cavanaugh: "I don't see the harm in it. Though we're going to have to go down there and have a look no matter what his thoughts on the matter are." [13:03] 6The religious angle.. the other religious angle. Edgar's going to have to butt in on that, because he's missing something. "This situation with the Carmelites in LA. What's got the Mexican church so upset?" 14[13:03] * Joins: hrolf [13:04] 3Maja: "Okay. But like I said, I think there's something bigger here going on that I would really like to investigate a little first before just jumping in." [13:04] "Sorry to be a philistine, but I know nothing about your church. Or churches." [13:04] 3Maja looks to Clarabelle: "Do you want to explain to our friend here the history of the Mexican church and Carmelites?" [13:05] "And, well ... our church too." 14[13:05] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[13:06] * Quits: Quaker__ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) [13:06] 6Edgar rubs the back of his head with a hand. "Newer to this than I look like." [13:08] 3Maja to Edgar: "It's okay. It's a particularly ugly chapter in our history that is still ... extremely muddy. Can we trust you guys not to ... reveal our positions about this to anyone?" [13:08] Clarabelle: "I'll set up a meeting with the Bishop. The church…" [13:08] Santiago is looking at a map on his phone. "Hey, at least we won't have to deal with the Circle out there." [13:08] 6Edgar: "Okay, that's a rough one. Maja, wasn't it?" [13:08] "Yes." [13:09] 6Edgar: "Maja, you can trust me not to go talkin theology or revealing someone's compromising beliefs. Thing is, you don't know that and shouldn't take my word." [13:09] Clarabelle pulls out a chair and sits in it. [13:09] "Not sure how the church operates but we are Invictus. Clinton and I. We are not.. trustworthy people." [13:10] "Officially speaking." [13:10] "Turns out it's fine, if you like, but maybe you don't." [13:10] 3Maja: "That's fair, but I do trust Cav here. So perhaps it is unwise, but I am extending that to you. And it seems a matter of necessity right now." [13:10] "It's a leap of faith I feel I must take." [13:10] "If it puts me in danger, so be it- but not to would potentially put us in worse." [13:11] 6To Cav: "Velasco's not listening in, is he?" [13:11] 6Edgar takes Bonifaz's chair, the good one. 14[13:11] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[13:11] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) [13:11] 4Well, let's take a look. [13:11] 4Cav steps out into the hall. 08[13:12] 3Maja: "Furthermore, I remember hearing from Rollie that he trusts you." [13:12] "Santiago you can trust, by the way. The man babysits." 08[13:12] 6Rollie's a good kid.. [13:12] 4From the hall: "We need to talk to him about that." [13:12] "Can't be bringing kids to places like this." [13:12] 3Maja: "So while I appreciate the concern, Edgar- I am a grown ass woman who can make a decision about whether or not to trust you." [13:12] "And I fucking do, so goddamn deal with it." [13:13] 4Cav: "Please deal with it, Edgar. It's much simpler that way." [13:13] 6The deputy grins for the first time. "What's on your mind?" [13:13] 6The deputy grins for the first time. "What's on your mind?" 14[13:13] * Joins: Quaker__ 14[13:14] * Quits: Quaker_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [13:14] Clarabelle: "Do you know who Longinus is?" [13:16] Santiago looks up. "What? Yeah, I'm trustworthy. As long as someone doesn't rip secrets out of my head. Ha." [13:16] 3Maja: "Well, I'm going to let Clarabelle explain the predicament with the church and the Carmelites- because it is of tremendous importance. [13:17] !wodroll 5 int+academics [13:17] <@Ferrinus> banana rolls12 5 dice (1210-again) to12 int+academics [Successes:12 1, Failed:05 4] [13:17] <@Ferrinus> [128 052 054 057 057] [13:18] Santiago is looking at a map on his phone. "Hey, at least we won't have to deal with the Circle out there." [13:18] 6Edgar: "The basics- they say he was the centurion who stabbed Christ. The 'lance' in Lancea Sanctum." [13:19] 4To Santiago: "As long as they don't cross the freeway." [13:20] 6Do they have any kind of religious prohibition against freeways? [13:21] Clarabelle: "Yes. The blood of Christ fell into his mouth, and he was transformed. But he was a man, and sinful, so he was Damned. He wandered for thirty-three years before returning to the tomb of Christ, where the archangel Vahishtael told him of God's plan for the kindred. He is the first kindred to understand his condition, or God's plan for him." [13:21] Santiago is texting. "Naw, Pendleton is all werewolf territory." [13:22] 4Cav: "I'm going to guess that plant is only part of the Territory because no one else out there wants it." [13:22] Clarabelle: "This is the foundation of the Sanctified Church. The Carmelites reject this. They see no difference between man and vampire." [13:22] 4He stares at Santiago for a second. "You said that like it's a good thing. [13:23] " [13:23] 6Someone with a good memory might note that Edgar now has the exact same nonexpression and interested tone as when talking to the Monsignor. "A point of belief whether Longinus was a real man - or a truly damned man?" [13:23] Santiago shrugs. "Well, werewolves won't fuck with you, at least. They'll just kill you." [13:24] 4Cav: "That's...great?" [13:26] Clarabelle: "They believe in the historical fact, I suppose. You'd have to ask them. But the Church in North America began in Mexico City. It's the oldest of all of them. The whole city is ruled by the Sanctified. You know how the Pope says Rome is the first city, and the first bishropic?" [13:28] 6Edgar: "First, meaning.. greatest? First among equals?" [13:29] 4Please tell me we're not going to have to deal with a vampire pope. [13:29] 4That's just gauche. [13:29] 6Does Cav already know all the dogma here? [13:29] "First as in they have the power to interpret scripture, censor Bishops, endorse…action. Carmela Alvarado was a priest in San Diego. She started preaching that Longinus was a fraud, and that whatever goes for man in the Bible, it goes the same for kindred. The Bishop, Rodriguez, started to kill people. Alvarado and Rodriguez met at Imperial Beach. Rodriguez died. Then the rest of the Church in San Diego started killin [13:29] the 'Carmelites'. And then some of them fled up here." [13:30] 4He is delicately avoiding the issue so that he doesn't insult Maja with how little he cares. [13:31] Santiago sidles around to Cav and holds up the phone so he can see the screen, and the video playing. [13:31] 4Cav will lean over to take a look. [13:31] 3Maja looks at Cav and Edgar, reading their faces. She's trying to avoid betraying her own feelings here. The thought she keeps having but does not voice is: "If you think that this is all stupid bullshit to have a war over, and slaughter people over: boy howdy are you right." [13:32] Somebody is holding a stuffed clown doll in front of a baby, and shaking it gently. The baby is cooing and laughing as the bells on its boots chime. 'Who's a good boy? You!' It sounds like the Baroness. "Cute, huh?" [13:32] 3She doesn't take her religion lightly- but if she's certain about one thing it's that: none of it is worth murdering people over. [13:32] 4Cav: "Okay, I gotta stop you here -- are you sharing a family home video or am I about to watch this kid get werewolf'd? Because I don't need to watch a kid get werewolf'd." [13:32] 6That... is a really abbreviated tale. Told from a very neutral point of view. "Clarabelle, I grew up in Texas. We didn't have hierarchical religion, particur'ly in my family. Sounds like you're talking about institutions which predate the modern American viewpoint and are just now dealing with issues which in the human world led to big f- freaking wars." [13:33] 3Maja nods. [13:33] "Yyyyyyyyyyyyyup." [13:33] 4Cav: "Wait, that's -- okay." [13:33] "Cute kid." [13:34] Clarabelle: "Well. Sorry if this is all new. But they've been caring about it since 1500, and nobody's about to make them stop." [13:34] "Being new isn't the problem." [13:34] 3Maja: "To be clear, Edgar-" [13:35] Santiago: "Were- no, it's just a baby video, man." [13:35] "The problem here- with us- is that many people in the church are not all on the same page here." [13:35] "Do you understand what I'm saying?" [13:36] 6Edgar: "Of course, Maja. It's politics, not theology." [13:36] 6Edgar: "Guess you've got the actual Carmelite refugees, the sympathisers and new converts, those who tolerate them.. those who agree with Mexico." [13:36] 4Cav: "Look, it's just, a vampire shows me a baby video and first thing I'm thinking is, okay, how bad is this going to get. I'm sorry, but that's just how it goes." 4He pauses. "Are you two thinking of adopting?" [13:37] 6He's drumming his fingers on the table where the newspaper was. This does not sound like a situation in the middle of which he would want to get. [13:37] 3Maja: "Right. And so there has been a history of bloodshed over this. And that's what Monsignor Boneface was alluding to when he was explaining his distrust." [13:37] 6It's interesting, it's important in its own way, but how many deadly vendettas can you enter into in one afterlife? [13:38] "Essentially, he seems to distrust the LA parish for not slaughtering the Carmelites upon identification." [13:38] 6Edgar: "Bonifascist might put it that we're the ones harbouring killers." [13:38] 6Edgar: "You wouldn't, right?" [13:39] Santiago pauses. "That…you don't think they let- naw. No. No, we're good. It's just nice to see somebody else's kid once in a while." [13:39] 3Maja: "I don't know what happened between Carmela Alvarado and the Bishop, but I do know what happened to Carmela's followers following the Bishop's death." [13:40] 4Cavanaugh nods sympathetically, glad he doesn't have to try to talk Santiago out of it. [13:40] "What did they do?" 6There's something in her face about it. "I know what I'm asking." [13:41] Clarabelle: "They're not Quakers. The only reason more Sanctified haven't died is because they're a bunch of newly embraced neonates looking for something that makes sense. They just...died when they tried to fight back." [13:43] "Saying 'they', I mean the institutionalised Church down in Mexico. Let me be clear, ladies, from your precis I - who know nothing about these issues - incline to sympathise with the people who suggest kindred are human beings." [13:44] "The Carmelites were killed just for the idea? That's not right." 15[13:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Maja's phone buzzes. [13:44] 3Maja glances at her phone. 15[13:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Maja sees a picture of Rollie's bedroom, low angle. Is he lying on the floor? His bed's in the shot. Princess is clinging to the comforter on the edge of the bed, trying to climb up and not quite managing. The beagle hangs on for dear life with his two front paws, his back legs are a blur as he scrabbles for purchase. It's not really feasible for him to get up there, but he is not giving up. 15[13:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The message:  [13:45] "They killed them where they could find them. They found them, and gave them a choice: honor the truth and tradition, or die. And a lot died. And the Prince just let them run wild through the city. And the more they did it, the more people they scared, and the more people fled to the Carmelites, and the more people died." [13:45] "At least that's what I've been told by the Bishop." [13:46] and more people died* [13:46] 6Edgar leans back. "I am discomfited as all hell to learn that they've got such a good claim to the name Inquisition." [13:47] 3In a split second Maja softly grins to herself. She'll respond to it later. She returns her full attention to the conversation at hand. [13:47] "As you can see, Edgar-" [13:48] "This is a particularly delicate situation. Made more delicate, perhaps, by the fact that Clarabelle and I have recently paid visit to some of the remaining Carmelites." [13:49] "And so- if you don't mind- I would really appreciate if you all allowed us a little more time and gravity in the decision making here, before we just jump into whatever needs to happen." [13:50] "And to be perfectly frank-" [13:51] 6Are Santiago and Cavanaugh hearing this? Bit of a quandary. He won't point out the Problem until she's done, though. It's a good pitch. [13:52] "There are not a lot of people we can talk about this stuff with." 3She glances at Clarabelle again, then back to Edgar. "And so we will need your patience in dealing with this. Because this is far, far beyond us at this point. It is not just our lives in danger, it is potentially a literal war- or slaughtering. So we all need to really measure our steps here. And most importantly-" [13:52] 4Cav's splitting his attention between the baby video and the conversation. Baby video is getting more of it. [13:53] "We've shown a great deal of trust in you up until now. And because of the gravity of the situation here- we really, really, extremely need your trust in return. Can we count on that?" [13:54] 6Edgar glances at the other deputies. Don't think he hasn't noticed, Clinton, a couple of side conversations with Maja! But that makes this more obvious. [13:56] 4There's a very simple, normal, reasonable explanation for that. [13:56] "Deacon, Presbyter. Maja. Clarabelle. We won't be telling anybody about your personal beliefs, ecclesiastical politics or proliferatin' inter-necinity. You seem like good people and good people to know, and know better when it comes to the matters of faith. Reckon we can give you a bit of time to talk to the Bishop, too." [13:56] "I say a bit of time, because there is one point on which I would like you to think during this escalation:" [13:56] 4Cav: "Works for me." [13:56] "What if there is an elemental monster in the nuclear power plant?" [13:57] 3Maja: "That is appreciated- but can I also trust that we will be fully informed as well? Everything you know, we know?" [13:57] "Full transparency is going to be crucial." 14[13:59] * Joins: autopsyturvey [14:00] 6Edgar laughs. "We will be sitting on our asses in Santa Ana waiting for the call that says it's time to fight a holy radiation monster - which is unfortunately not outside our area of expertise - or that the whole thing was a papist plot and is called off. If anything comes up in the meantime you're welcome to it." [14:01] 3Maja nods. "Okay. And I will be happy to bring Deputy Choi up to speed." [14:01] 4Heh. [14:02] 3What. 14[14:02] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) [14:03] At the house in the flat county east of Santa Ana, Blade is finishing. A new DVD will go in, and Larry will curl up to Jackie. The person casting the huge moonlight shadow on the porch will raise their hand to knock. [14:04] At the big, empty house in Laguna Beach, the person leaving the trail of blood on the floor as they drag themselves across, and up onto the couch, didn't bother to knock. [14:04] NEXT TIME: Nuclear Option 14[15:33] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[15:43] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[15:45] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 09[15:47] * banana is now known as bananA|peels 14[15:59] * Joins: hrolfie 14[16:03] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[16:05] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[16:05] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[16:35] * Quits: Quaker__ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[16:38] * Joins: mugabe 14[16:39] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[16:40] * Joins: ddt 14[16:50] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[16:54] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[17:08] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[17:15] * Joins: mugabe 14[17:15] * Joins: drinkybird 14[17:19] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[17:34] * Quits: Quaker_ (Quit: Quaker_) 14[18:03] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[18:13] * Joins: ddt_ 14[18:13] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[18:13] * ddt_ is now known as ddt 14[18:17] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[18:24] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[18:31] * Joins: mugabe 14[18:34] * Joins: drinkybird 09[18:37] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[18:57] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) Session Close: Tue Jun 09 18:57:12 2015 Session Start: Tue Jun 09 18:57:12 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[18:57] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[18:57] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[18:57] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[18:57] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[18:57] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[19:36] * Quits: Quaker_ (Quit: Quaker_) 14[20:41] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[21:36] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[21:42] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[21:42] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus [23:01] Maja's phone buzzes. Unknown number. [23:02] 3Maja looks at the text. What the fuck. [23:03] [23:04] [23:04] She gives Maja the address. Has she ever been to Dana Point? [23:07] 3Sure, she's been out there for something or other, who knows. [23:08] [23:09] 3Maja narrows her eyes at that text. Demanding, sassy ass woman, this one. [23:09] < See you soon :) > [23:09] 3Maja has second thoughts about doing this. This goddamn woman. [23:09] 3Oh. Huh. [23:10] 3Maybe she's just incredibly tactless over text? She might be really old vampire and just never developed those online social skills. [23:12] 3Maja hops in her car and heads over to Liesurely's house. What the goddamn hell kinda name is that anyway. No Doubt's on the radio but she doesn't sing along tongiht. [23:13] 3She pulls up to Liesurely's place. [23:15] It's up on the sea bluffs. The rain has washed some of the salt and dust from its eaves; in the moonlight, the light blue paint and white trim seem colder, and brighter. The ocean breeze always carries well here. Leisurely is sitting on her porch, looking at a book. Her lips are moving, but Maja's too far away to hear anything. [23:18] 3Maja sits in her cat a bit to just watch the strange old broad. After a while she shakes her head, rolls her eyes, and mutters to herself: "Here goes nothing." [23:19] She only looks a few years older than Maja. As the Deacon gets closer to the porch, she can make out what Leisurely is muttering. [23:20] "Don't speak, I know what you're thinking, I don't need your reasons, don't tell me 'cause it hurts-" She looks up, and closes the book. "Hi." [23:22] 3Quite a party trick, you got there, Leisurely. "Hello there. How might I be of service to you tonight?" [23:22] 3Quite a party trick, you got there, Leisurely. "Hello there. How might I be of service to you tonight?" [23:24] Leisurely stands up, and smooths her dress. "Oh, we'll find something for you." She holds the screen door open for her. "How are you? I'm excited. Or invigorated. The last time I had two students at once was…a very long time ago." [23:25] 3Maja's surprised to hear that. "Well that's good to hear. So ... wait, does that mean this is official now? Or ..." [23:25] "Like, am I ... a 'slave' now?" [23:26] Leisurely latches the door closed behind them. "Well…if anybody asks, you're still a Confessor. At least until you learn some things. Okay?" [23:27] "Do you want anything to drink?" [23:27] 3Maja: "Oh, I am more than happy to avoid trying to explain any of this to anyone for a while." [23:28] "What are you having?" [23:29] The mekhet has to drag a stool over to the corner of the high cupboard she's trying to get into. She pulls out a thin crystal bottle. "Tequila." [23:29] 3Maja smirks. [23:30] "Sure, owl have some o' that." [23:32] Leisurely pours out the equivalent of a double shot into two glasses, and hands one to Maja. Once she's smacked the cork back into the bottle with the palm of her hand, she leads the other woman into her parlor. [23:33] The living room is lined by bookcases, each one full. Every surface except the chairs is covered with knick-knacks of some kind. [23:34] 3Maja takes it all in. It's a lot to take in. Leisurely is quite a woman. [23:35] Leisurely sweeps a table clean of books, and scoots it between two comfortable-looking armchairs. Once they're facing each other, she looks around for something else. It takes a while for her to find it, and then it takes a little longer for her to find the baggie full of weed. But soon, she's got the bong packed. [23:35] Click. Bubble. Slide out. Fwoosh. Leisurely squints. "Yes? No?" [23:35] She exhales. [23:36] 3Ah. Wonderful. She gets the blood pumping and takes a swig before she sits down. "Why yes, I don't mind if I DO." [23:36] "Close your eyes while I light it. Easier that way." Click. [23:37] When they're settled, Leisurely moves around in the armchair until she's comfortable. "Sorry. But this takes a while." [23:42] The Visionary starts to shuffle the cards. [23:46] 3Maja leans back and lets herself feel everything that comes up. "Oh yeah? What is it that we're doing, exactly?" [23:48] "Tarot. It's like a personality test. When I'm angry with you, I'll curse your tarot. The rest of the time I'll just ignore it." [23:49] 3Maja's pretty stoned, so instead of thinking that was weird, she just smiles. "Let's hope I don't anger you." [23:50] Leisurely shrugs. "It's ine-inv." She takes a moment to recover from stumbling over the word. "In-evi-ta-ble. You're only human. Sort of. We'll work on that." [23:52] "So, I'll ask you questions, with two choices available. You just relax and give me a totally honest answer, okay? You're not supposed to be trying to impress me or hide something from me or anything like that. Just let yourself be honest." [23:52] "And there isn't a 'right' answer. So don't try and game it." [23:52] 3Maja: "Being really honest is extremely difficult, but I'll try." [23:53] Leisurely nods. "It's easier with the crossfade. For me." [23:54] "Crossfade?" [23:54] "Weed and booze? How am I explaining this to you?" [23:55] 3Maja chuckles. "I don't do this much anymore. Not since being turned into this. I used to- a lot. Which is a large part of why I don't do it much, now." [23:56] "Mhm." Leisurely holds up a card, with the front obscured from Maja's vision. "Remember: whatever comes to mind. Ready?" [23:57] 3Maja closes her eyes. "Come at me." [23:57] "Your legitimate superior tells you to torture someone you've captured, so that all your enemies will be frightened. Do you obey or refuse?" [23:58] "I refuse the shit out of that." [23:58] "Fuck that, no way. No FUCKING way." 08[23:59] 3Maja's mind cuts to Rollie briefly. Session Time: Wed Jun 10 00:00:00 2015 [00:00] "I'll tell the guy I've got bound in the other room to relax, then." [00:00] "You've been chasing someone for years. A terrible traitor and criminal. When you finally capture him in a faraway place, everyone there swears sincerely that he's a changed man. A good man. No man is as good, they say. Do you punish him for his crimes, or do you let him go in his new life?" [00:00] 3Maja opens her eyes just enough to side-eye Leisurely at that one. [00:01] 3Maja: "I might be a chump fool here, but I'd let him go if I believed it enough." [00:02] "What would you do?" [00:02] Leisurely ignores the question. "You know without any doubt that a lord has committed treason against you and your order. He is in a famous fortress, and removing him from it will mean people will die, money will be wasted, and you'll lose years of your life in the attempt. He offers to pay you and your order a great fortune if you overlook his treason. Do you attack or take his offer?" [00:04] 3Maja thinks. "Hm. That question sucks. I guess I'd take his offer, take what I need from it to survive for a while, and then give the rest of it away." [00:04] "You don't need to elaborate. Just pick one, and that's that." [00:04] 3Maja stiffens. "Fine." [00:05] "You know that someone has been falsely imprisoned. Do you ask the judges to reconsider their sentence over months and years, or do you offer to serve her term in prison immediately for her?" [00:05] "The former." [00:06] "You've sworn a dozen oaths to your legitimate master, all sincerely. There is a rich man and a poor man. He tells you to rob the poor man so that the rich man will prosper. Do you refuse?" [00:06] "Yes." [00:07] "You've been sent as a diplomat to a foreign tribe. Their sacred customs require you drink. You have chosen to live your life without drinking. Do you drink so that there will be peace?" [00:07] "Yes." [00:08] "You've been chasing the man you truly hate for days. When you overtake him, you find that his horse has fallen on him, leaving him crippled. Do you take your revenge, or do you let him live?" [00:10] 3Maja: "Why am I chasing him?" [00:10] 3Maja shakes her head, figuring that Leisurely will scold her. "Nevermind, whatever. I kill him." [00:11] 3She figures that if she were actually chasing him, he's probaby pretty fucking dangerous and harmful. [00:11] "When you confess your sins, the priest tells you how to perform penance, but you feel that it is disproportionately harsh. Do you accept her judgment, or pray for a separate understanding and forgiveness?" [00:12] 3Maja pauses. [00:12] 3She knows that one. 08[00:13] 3She thinks back to what she said in response to Rollie the first night they met. It remains the same. "The latter." [00:14] "You're at war, on the defensive, and you see a much larger force than your own approaching. Do you retreat at night, or prepare your defenses and fight?" [00:16] 3Fuck these questions- CONTEXT MATTERS, LEISURELY. [00:17] "Retreat." [00:18] "A man you've given a loan to has defaulted. He promises you that if you wait six more months, he'll pay you triple your investment. Do you take his home, which he offered as collateral, or do you give him the time?" [00:19] 3Maja waves her hand in the air. "I give him the time." [00:19] "Your profligate cousin is in danger of being thrown in a debtor's prison. Do you lend her money, knowing you'll never see it again, or do you let her suffer the sentence?" [00:20] 3Maja scoffs. "These questions require that I have any money to lend." [00:21] Leisurely coughs. "That's the question you have a hard time understanding?" [00:22] 3After feeling scolded by Leisurely for talking too much, she finds the questions increasingly annoying in their reductionism. [00:23] 3Maja closes her eyes again and rolls them to herself. Whatever Leisurely. "Whatever. I lend this hypothetical money." [00:23] "What's wrong?" [00:23] "Nothing? I'm answering the questions." [00:24] "Yeah, but are you mad or something? You can tell me." [00:24] 3Maja looks at Leisurely. [00:27] She sees genuine, sincere concern. [00:29] 3Maja softens slightly, but doesn't know what to say. "I'm just trying to answer the questions. I'm not mad, I'm just trying to do what you asked of me." [00:29] "Yeah, but why are you frustrated?" [00:30] "I just ..." 3Maja shakes her head. [00:30] Leisurely lets her wait. [00:30] "I had to do this, too." [00:30] "Well, you sorta shut me down earlier. And these questions are reductionistic as fuck." [00:31] "They aren't straight forward answers, and I sometimes just have to talk through my answer." [00:31] "But I don't want to irritate you, so. I'm just trying to answer the questions." [00:32] She puts the cards down. "Okay. You won't irritate me. But I just want you to see the value of having to pick an option even if you could never see yourself in any of the choices. Sometimes you need to…" She waves her hands. "You have to remove yourself from any context, to look at yourself in another way." [00:33] "They might not be good choices, but they're the choices. And you're here. And they're there. And you'll have to choose. Does that make sense?" [00:34] 3Maja relaxes a litte. "Yeah, it makes sense. I'd probably answer things differently if I weren't high, Bee Tee Dubs." [00:34] "It all comes from the same place. Ready?" [00:35] "Sure." [00:35] "You are dedicated to a good cause, but your organization is about to run out of money. Would you rather steal to continue your good work, or would you rather see it end before you'd trouble your conscience?" [00:36] "Steal." [00:36] 3That one was easy. Stealing rules and is fun. [00:37] "A colleague hates you, but you're infatuated with his daughter. He is a great swordsman and fond of duels. Do you take the risk of wooing his daughter?" [00:37] "I guess." [00:38] "Your incompetent but loyal retainer has failed you for the Nth time. Do you give him another chance, or do you dismiss him from your service?" [00:40] 3She'd figure out what he was good at before dismissing, but she's trying answer it straight. It depends on the work- if it's work she believes in the latter. If it's not, the former. But she's going with the here and now, and she believes in that work. "Let him go." [00:40] "You only have a few seeds left, and your family is starving. Do you grind the seeds up to make them a meal, or do you plant them, and hope for a good harvest in the spring?" [00:41] "Plant them." [00:41] "Wait." [00:41] "No, I'd probably eat them, honestly." [00:41] Leisurely stops putting the card down in mid-air, and then puts it on a different pile. [00:42] "A woman whom you've loved for years offers to abandon her husband and elope with you. Do you accept or refuse?" [00:43] She thinks for a second. "Wait." [00:43] "A man whom you've loved for years offers to abandon his wife and elope with you. Do you accept or refuse?" [00:44] "It was a question I understood regardless of its applicability to me. I'd accept." [00:44] "You're judging a man accused of stealing a horse and running it until its leg had broken. You discover that he stole the horse to take his sick child to a doctor. He cannot pay what the horse was worth. Do you lighten his sentence, or sentence him as the written law tells you to?" [00:45] "Lighten." [00:45] 3Easy peasy. [00:45] "After a terrible war, you are ordered to break bread and forgive your enemies. Do you remain wary, or do you obey the spirit of your orders?" [00:46] "Hm. Wary." [00:46] "Wait. I'd obey that one." [00:46] She puts the card down. "You've been rewarded for your courage. The Court gives you gifts and treasures. Do you keep them, or do you give them to someone who will use them more wisely than you?" [00:47] "The ladder. I mean latter." [00:47] "The second one." [00:47] 3Bigger hit than she thought. [00:48] "You're given the honor of hosting a feast on a holiday everyone loves. Do you bankrupt yourself in the effort, or do you spend the bare minimum?" [00:49] "Ugh. The former. It'd be the former." [00:50] 3Maybe Maja wouldn't be so fucking broke if she wasn't so damn generous with her stupid money- money is so stupid. [00:50] "Okay. Alllmost there.Your neighbor has left their car unattended. Do you steal a bottle of expensive alcohol, or a piece of fine jewelry?" [00:50] 3Maja glaces over at Leis and can't help be ask: "Is my neighbor a dick?" [00:51] "I don't know." [00:51] "Would it matter?" [00:52] 3Maja sits back. "No, actually. I guess it wouldn't. I wouln't." [00:53] "Which one would you steal?" [00:54] "Is that a part of this question, or are you just curious?" [00:55] "That's the question." [00:55] "Oh. Oh, sorry. Stoned." [00:55] "The alcohol." [00:56] "You meet a beautiful man who treats you with disdain. Do you humiliate yourself, hoping that he'll go to bed with you, or do you pretend to never have liked him in the first place?" [00:57] 3Maja: "Oh fuck that guy, the latter." [00:58] "Your reputation is being damaged by rumors. Do you spare no effort to find their source, or do you consider it unimportant?" [00:58] 3Maja can imagine some of what might be said about her behaviors and decisions over the past couple weeks. [00:59] 3She thinks back to when people WOULD talk about her, and how it bothered her at first, until it didn't. [00:59] "Unimportant." [01:00] "An annoying associate invites you to a wonderful party. Do you feed them alcohol, hoping they'll make a fool of themselves, or do you gorge yourself at their expense?" [01:01] 3Maja makes a loud raspberry noise. "Deeeeeeeeefinitely gorge." 08[01:02] 3Maja's mind briefly drifts to the idea of Rollie taking this quiz with Leisurely- and the way he tried to talk about their relationship with her the first night they met. [01:02] "A colleague offers to recommend an assasin to slay a hated enemy of yours. Do you pay his enormous fee, or do you look for a cheaper option?" [01:03] 3She snaps back, and shakes her head. "Cheaper ... I guess ..." [01:04] "Or" [01:04] "I mean I guess if I'm at the point of hiring an assassin, I might as well make sure the job gets done right." [01:05] "So…you pay." [01:09] "Yes." [01:09] "Do you mind hitting me up once more?" 3Maja points to the bong. [01:09] Leisurely puts the card down on its pile. "Yeah, sure. Here." [01:10] Click. [01:10] When the bong is put away, she asks the next question. [01:10] "Would you crawl and beg like a dog to please a new lover?" [01:11] 3Maja breathes in and slowly puff out, making little Smoke O's. She blows a big one, and a smaller one through the larger O. [01:11] 3Maja freezes. [01:11] 3Aaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwkkkkkkkwaaaaaaaaaaard. 08[01:12] 3But then Maja sits back and allows her mind to roam. she thinks first about Rollie's answer, and tried to imagine him crawling like a dog. [01:13] Leisurely waits. 08[01:16] 3She giggles at the idea of Rollie on all fours. If anything, she'd make him act like a cat. But right, right, this is about her. [01:16] "Huh. Sure, fuck it. Yeah, let's do it, sure." [01:17] "A man who has wronged you flees across the ocean. He is no longer a threat, but he is beyond your reach at the moment. Do you pursue him, or forget him?" 08[01:17] 3Maja's thinking about Rollie as a cat now. 08[01:18] 3Now she's thinking about Rollie, and Cav's cats. [01:18] 3Wait, no, this is getting really weird, no. No. [01:19] 3Goddammit, is this pot laced. "I'm sorry, can you repeat that." [01:19] "A man who has wronged you flees across the ocean. He is no longer a threat, but he is beyond your reach at the moment. Do you pursue him, or forget him?" [01:19] "Fugheddaboudim."3She says, in a terrible, cartoonish Italian accent. [01:20] "You're planning a burglarly that will ruin your rival, when you learn that he's earmarked the money for some new investments. In a few weeks, he'll have even more money for you to steal. Do you wait to rob him until his investment pays out, earning you more and hurting you less, or do you rob him now, earning less and hurting him more?" [01:21] "The former." [01:22] "Your sworn enemy is hiding in a town under quarantine. Do you adopt a humiliating disguise for a chance at killing them, or do you need them to know it was you who killed them?" [01:23] 3Maja chuckles at the idea of a 'sworn enemy.' "Humiliating disguise." [01:24] "You have come to possess a rare and renowned drug, and you know that your infatuation has been asking around for it. Do you enjoy it yourself, or do you give it to him in the hope that he'll sleep with you?" [01:25] 3Maja: "Wait, like, while he's on the drug?" [01:25] "Or out of appreciation, or whatever." [01:25] "Maybe both. Probably the second." [01:26] "I'm not willing to take that chance. I'll take the drug." [01:26] "You've conquered an enemy town and pillaged the treasury. Do you put the treasure in your own vaults, or do you spend the fortune on a triumphal celebration of your own glory?" [01:27] 3Maja busts out laughing. [01:28] "I'm sorry. It's just ... I have a hard time picturing me doing any of that. Sorry sorry, give me a second." [01:28] 3Fucken, conquering and pillaging enemy towns. [01:28] "Put it away in the vaults." [01:29] "You can learn embarrassing gossip about your rival, if you can put up with talking to a very annoying courtier. Do you bother with it?" [01:30] 3Maja: "Oh man, putting up with people is half my job. Sure, yeah, let's do it." [01:31] 3Maja briefly thinks about how much she's put up with Leisurely thus far. She smiles. It's probably worth it. [01:31] "The opulent clothes you've ordered to impress the Emperor arrive, but they're too small. You're expected to meet him in three days at a ball. Do you starve yourself for three days to make the clothes fit, or do you simply wear last year's fashion?" [01:32] 3Maja: "I remember a time when my weight fluctuated. I'd starve. Or I'd just wear the clothes too small." [01:32] "Bustin' out n' shit." [01:32] "A courtesan of famous skill and beauty insists on an enormous price for her services. Do you gladly pay, or do you haggle shamelesly?" [01:34] "What the goddamn hell. Fuck anyone who answers the second, give the woman her damn money." [01:34] "Fucken' johns." [01:34] "Who wrote this shit?" [01:35] "You're at a wedding feast when you get word that a bankrupt debtor of yours is trying to skip town. Do you let him go and keep celebrate him, or do you go find him and make sure he pays what he owes?" [01:35] and keep celebrating* [01:36] 3Maja tosses her hands up in the air. "I celebrate." [01:37] "You find a high priest in a disgraceful state of drunkenness. Are you better than him, or worse than him?" [01:40] "In terms of drunkenness? Or morality?" [01:41] "Up to you to decide that." [01:41] "Well, jesus." [01:42] "Uh, better. Sure. Drunkenness isn't really my jam." [01:42] "You have an opportunity to enrich yourself without anyone knowing, but to do so you have to make an extra effort, and slacken in your proper duties." [01:43] 3Maja laughs heartily. [01:43] "Well, I suspect we both know the answer to that one." [01:44] "But for good measure- I slacken. I enrich." [01:44] "You have killed your enemy and plan to hang his head from your castle's wall. His widow comes to you and begs that her husband receive a dignified burial. She's desperate, and offers to give you her hand in marriage in exchange. Do you accept, or refuse?" [01:45] "Ugh." [01:45] "UUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggghhhhhhhhh." [01:46] "Always with the women as property questions." [01:47] "I assume refusing means I have to hang his fucking head on the wall? Can't I just refuse and not hang his damn head? Jesus. Whatever. I'd accept." [01:47] "You are invited to a bounteous feast, but it's a very long ways away, and the road is hard and dangerous. Do you go?" [01:48] "Meh. Nah. I'm good." [01:49] "You are defending a captured palace, and the gates have fallen. You must flee. Do you burn it behind you as you leave, or leave it intact and plan to reconquer it?" [01:49] "Uh." [01:50] "Reconquer it I guess? [01:51] "Last one. A tedious, gossipy old nurse is the only servant allowed access to a beautiful young woman you've been eyeing. Will you feign friendship with the nurse to get access to your infatuation, or can you not stand her?" [01:55] 3Maja rolls her eyes. "Lemme at the babe. I'll feign, sure. Fine." [01:57] Leisurely looks over the little piles she's created. "Okay, lemme think. Add that…plus one…" [01:57] "Oh, no. This can't be right." [01:57] 3Maja looks up. [01:57] "What?" [01:58] Leisurely looks up, frowning. "It says you're…" [01:58] "A dork." [01:58] 3Maja falls back in laughter. [01:59] Leisurely is laughing so hard she has a coughing fit. [01:59] "Goddammit, Leis." 3She snorts. [01:59] "My favorite thing about that- is that you don't believe it." [02:00] "Well. Sometimes I believe it." [02:00] "Thereby admitting that it is probably not true." [02:00] "Nope, sorry. Too late." [02:00] "Sometimes it's true." [02:00] "I know you think I'm cool, I don't mind. Others have thought that about me too." [02:01] "But to be honest with you, Leis- it's probaby true. It just might be true." [02:01] "Your tarot is the Wheel of Fortune. Destiny, turning points, movement, personal vision. You can see luck and miracles, you experience change and surprise, you get involved and swept up in new developments, and you start to see the patterns of all things." [02:02] "Huh." [02:02] "So, expect change." [02:03] "Ha!!!!!" [02:04] 3Maja shakes her head. "Yeah. That sounds right." [02:05] "Mhm." Leisurely yawns. [02:05] "So, did I pass the test." [02:05] "You couldn't have failed." [02:06] "Not even me, Leisurely?" [02:06] "Which test are we talking about?" [02:06] "How many tests were we taking just now?" [02:07] "I assume at least 2." [02:07] "I don't think I passed the one to see if you trust me." [02:08] 3Maja smiles at Leisurely, embarrassed. "Sorry, it's not your fault." [02:08] "Trust is a little hard to win from me, sometimes." [02:08] 3She imagines Edgar would disagree. [02:08] "Well, I'm not a priest. I'm not going to show you anything that requires your faith. It's true whether you believe in it or not." [02:09] 3Maja raises an eyebrow. "Some might say that about God, too." [02:10] "I guess that when it comes to salvation, I'd rather have my works than my faith." [02:11] "I can respect that." [02:11] "It's nice if those two overlap, but I can respect that." [02:11] The other woman stretches. "Can you get me another glass of water from the kitchen?" [02:13] 3Maja gets up. "Sure. Anything you need me for tonight?" [02:13] "We'll talk some more. I have some reading for you." [02:14] 3Maja fuddles around in the kitchen. "Tap?" [02:14] "Yes, please." [02:15] By the time Maja gets back to the parlor, Leisurely has fallen asleep. On her lap, barely grasped by her hands, is a slim volume, titled The Rites of the Dragon. [02:16] 3Adorable. She picks up the book and sits back down in the chair next to her and reads. [02:17] NEXT TIME: Nuclear Option 14[02:20] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[02:37] * Quits: mugabe 14[02:45] * Quits: Quaker_ (Quit: Quaker_) 09[03:13] * bananA|peels is now known as banana 14[06:14] * Joins: dammitwho 14[09:19] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[09:44] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[10:10] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[10:14] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[10:41] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:49] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[11:49] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[11:49] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[12:14] * Joins: hrolfie 14[12:56] * Joins: ddt 14[12:57] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[12:57] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[13:02] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[13:15] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[13:27] * Joins: hrolfie 14[13:34] * Joins: mugabe 14[14:18] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[14:18] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 09[14:20] * banana is now known as byenana 14[14:26] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:29] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[14:30] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:33] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:06] * Quits: tom (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[15:06] * Joins: tom 11[15:23] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed Jun 10 15:23:10 2015 Session Start: Wed Jun 10 15:23:10 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[15:27] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[15:27] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[15:27] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[15:27] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[15:27] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[15:28] * Joins: hrolf 14[15:29] * Joins: hrolfie 14[15:31] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[15:32] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 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dammitwhoaaa))) 09[06:11] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[07:56] * Joins: mugabe 14[08:00] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 09[08:03] * banana is now known as banana|brb 14[08:05] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[08:19] * Quits: dammitwho 14[08:33] * Joins: dammitwho 14[08:34] * Quits: dammitwho (Client Quit) 14[08:47] * Joins: ddt 14[08:48] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 09[08:55] * banana|brb is now known as banana 14[09:14] * Joins: ddt 11[09:14] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Jun 11 09:14:28 2015 Session Start: Thu Jun 11 09:14:28 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[09:14] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[09:15] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[09:15] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[09:15] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[09:15] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[09:26] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:04] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[10:07] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[10:16] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[10:16] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[10:26] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[10:41] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[10:57] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:33] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[12:01] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[12:02] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[12:22] * Joins: ddt 14[12:23] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[12:28] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[12:30] * Joins: ddt 14[12:31] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[12:51] * Joins: mugabe 14[12:51] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Read error: No route to host) 14[12:51] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[12:51] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) Session Close: Thu Jun 11 12:51:25 2015 Session Start: Thu Jun 11 12:51:25 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[12:51] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[12:51] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[12:51] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[12:51] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[12:51] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[12:59] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 09[13:03] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[13:06] * Quits: cbass (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[13:07] * Joins: cbass 14[13:16] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[13:16] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[13:32] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:15] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[14:15] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) Session Close: Thu Jun 11 14:15:40 2015 Session Start: Thu Jun 11 14:15:40 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[14:16] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:16] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:16] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[14:16] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[14:16] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[14:16] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[14:19] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[14:37] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) Session Close: Thu Jun 11 14:38:15 2015 Session Start: Thu Jun 11 14:38:15 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[14:38] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:38] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:38] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[14:38] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[14:38] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[14:39] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[14:41] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:42] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:44] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[14:46] * Joins: hrolfy 14[14:49] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[15:06] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:07] * Joins: hrolfie 14[15:07] * Quits: hrolfy (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[15:14] * Quits: hrolfie (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[15:18] * Joins: hrolf 14[15:19] * Joins: hrolfie 14[15:22] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:50] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[15:52] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[15:58] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[16:04] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [16:16] meanwhile, in flagstaff [16:16] brent @murrman5 [16:16] [wife looking at pictures of my dead body with police] [16:16] "why isn't he wearing a shirt" [16:16] we believe he removed it when he challenged the coyote [16:16] lol 14[16:40] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[16:45] * Quits: mattbaby (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[18:08] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[18:34] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:55] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 11[20:07] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Jun 11 20:07:37 2015 Session Start: Thu Jun 11 20:31:38 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:31] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:31] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[20:31] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[20:31] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[20:41] * Joins: mugsy 14[20:42] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[20:49] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[20:49] * Joins: dammitwho 14[22:07] * Joins: Quaker 11[23:08] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Jun 11 23:08:34 2015 Session Start: Fri Jun 12 08:26:15 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[08:26] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[08:26] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[08:26] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[08:26] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[09:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:28] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) Session Close: Fri Jun 12 09:28:43 2015 Session Start: Fri Jun 12 09:28:43 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[09:47] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[09:48] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[09:48] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[09:48] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[09:48] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[10:07] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[10:07] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[10:33] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:39] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:41] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[10:51] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[10:53] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[11:10] * Joins: dammitwho 14[11:10] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[11:10] * Joins: FerrinusSpace [11:54] http://i.imgur.com/CjazCy3.gif [11:56] bat 14[12:11] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Remote host closed the connection) 14[12:19] * Quits: dammitwho 14[12:37] * Joins: ddt 14[12:42] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[12:44] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[12:44] * Joins: ddt 14[12:47] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[13:06] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[13:07] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[13:08] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[13:10] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[13:10] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[13:39] * Joins: mugabe 14[14:00] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[14:02] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 09[14:18] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:25] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[14:26] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[14:35] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:43] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:46] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[14:47] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:49] * Joins: hrolfy 09[14:49] * Crion_ is now known as Crion [14:50] Video of Santa Ana Police Pot-Shop Raid Shows Officers Eating ‘Edibles,’ Attorney Says [14:50] the deputies of the territory [14:51] <@Ferrinus> the teh-puties [14:51] Wow. [14:51] *barrel rolls, opens fire* 14[14:51] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[14:53] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[15:00] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[15:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[15:04] * Joins: ddt 14[15:49] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[15:56] * Joins: ddt 14[15:58] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:59] * Joins: hrolfie 14[16:02] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[16:03] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[16:03] * Joins: ddt 14[16:14] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[16:15] * Joins: ddt 14[16:23] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[16:24] * Joins: ddt_ 14[16:53] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:58] * Joins: hrolfy 14[16:59] * Joins: hrolf 14[17:02] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[17:02] * Joins: hrolfie 14[17:03] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[17:06] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[17:13] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[17:22] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[17:29] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[17:29] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[17:46] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[17:59] * Quits: tom 14[18:08] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 11[20:39] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Jun 12 20:39:56 2015 Session Start: Fri Jun 12 20:39:56 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[22:05] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[22:05] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[22:05] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[22:05] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[22:05] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[22:07] * Joins: cbass 14[22:25] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[22:35] * Joins: drinkybird 14[22:38] * Joins: Quaker 09[22:39] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[22:39] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[22:56] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[22:59] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[23:19] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[23:19] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 09[23:19] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[23:21] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[23:25] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[23:28] * banana|peels is now known as banana 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> https://40.media.tumblr.com/2754649331015497eb3a8e0e243a0846/tumblr_npph7pSqD01rr4qy0o1_540.jpg [23:41] <@Ferrinus> *nods* [23:41] boundaries negotiated and accepted 09[23:45] * banana is now known as banana|split Session Time: Sat Jun 13 00:00:00 2015 14[00:09] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[00:12] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) [00:54] <@Ferrinus> https://36.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdogla6Wyc1qchy28o1_1280.jpg nick 14[01:01] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[01:01] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 09[01:01] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 09[01:41] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[02:12] * Quits: cbass (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[02:12] * Joins: cbass 14[02:44] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[02:46] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[05:36] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[09:15] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[09:15] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 09[09:15] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[09:26] * Quits: dammitwho 14[10:21] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:40] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:59] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[11:00] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:27] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) Session Close: Sat Jun 13 12:27:41 2015 Session Start: Sat Jun 13 12:27:41 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[12:28] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[12:28] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[12:28] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[12:28] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[12:28] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[12:57] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:58] * Joins: ddt 14[13:03] * Joins: hrolfie 14[13:06] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[13:08] * Joins: hrolfy 14[13:11] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[13:14] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[13:17] * Joins: ddt_ 14[13:18] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[13:18] * ddt_ is now known as ddt 14[13:22] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[13:23] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:24] * Joins: Quaker 09[13:27] * banana is now known as bananasleep 14[13:35] * Joins: hrolfie 14[13:42] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[13:42] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:42] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) Session Close: Sat Jun 13 13:42:59 2015 Session Start: Sat Jun 13 13:42:59 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[13:44] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[13:44] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[13:44] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[13:44] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[13:44] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[13:44] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [13:46] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/95SRgNo.jpg [13:46] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/y478Qg4.jpg mage 14[13:48] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:48] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[13:49] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[13:49] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:15] * Quits: Crion_ 14[14:34] * Joins: mugabe 14[14:39] * Quits: hrolf (Quit: Leaving) 14[14:44] * Joins: hrolf 14[15:19] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[15:20] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:29] * Joins: mugsy 14[15:32] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:33] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[16:01] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[16:02] * Joins: Crion_ [16:22] https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHWj92ZUEAA7h8G.jpg [16:23] <@Ferrinus> *nods* 14[16:36] * Joins: hrolf 14[16:47] * Quits: mugsy (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[17:01] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:03] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[17:03] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[17:11] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[17:41] * Joins: mugabe 14[17:58] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[18:12] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:16] * Quits: mugabe 14[20:04] * Joins: mugabe 14[20:05] * Joins: dammitwho [20:56] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/3KOgZ6G.jpg [20:56] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/y478Qg4.jpg also reposting this [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 __________________ [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 /\ ______________ \ [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 /::\ \ZZZZZZZZZZZZ/\ \ [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 /:/\.\ \ /:/\:\ \ [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 /:/Z/\:\ \ /:/Z/\:\ \ [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 /:/Z/__\;\_\____/:/Z/ \:\ \ [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 /:/Z/____________\/Z/ \:\ \ [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 \:\ \ZZZZZZZZZZZZ/\ \ \:\ \ [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 \:\ \ \:\ \ \:\ \ \:\ \ [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 \:\ \ \:\ \_\:\ \_____\;\ \ [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 \:\ \ \:\___\ \ \_________\ [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 \:\ \ /:/ZZZZ\:\ \ZZZZZZZZ/ [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 \:\ \ /:/Z/ \:\ \ /:/Z/ [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 \:\ \/:/Z/ \:\ \/:/Z/ [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 \:\/:/Z/________\;\/:/Z/ [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 \::/Z/____________\/Z/ [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 \/ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ/ [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian stands alone in the back of his bookshop, holding an ancient, leather-bound tome with hieroglyphs scored all across his cover. It squirms faintly in his hands, and he can see and feel a powerful sympathetic connection drawn between himself and the artifact, one that formed in the moment that he reversed the object's action and bid it vacuum up all the scarabs it'd been spewing [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12out from between its pages. [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12...and that's not all that's squirming. There's an uncomfortable itching running all and down the warlock's spine, pricking at the skin of his arms and legs from the inside... it passes. Or at least blunts, or maybe he just acclimates quickly. Well, no, there's no way a warlock's going to be blind to the intricacies of their own sensory input - Arrian knows the itching's still there, [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12but weakened. It's fallen from a peak to a trough, but the width of that trough's as yet unknown. [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Jalil's already rushed off to make a report, so Arrian isn't actually being negligent as he stands there with the tome in his hands. What does he do? [21:18] 7Hahahaha! Hahahahahahahaha! TOMES [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Totes. [21:18] 7That done, Arrian has a rote for just such an occasion. How old is this book? [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Good question. No forces conspire to hide the artifact's age from Arrian except for my own uncertainty in my calculations, so if you'll give me a moment -- [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Loooooooks like five thousand nine hundred eight one years. 14[21:22] * Joins: Crion_ [21:22] 7Golly. Arrian will verrrrry carefully take it to the little table where he examines the more fragile books. As an artifact, the thing is probably impossible to damage accidentally, but treating it with the care and respect a similar tome would receive probably has some ritual value. 14[21:22] * Quits: mugabe [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12After the minor ritual of clearing space, blowing dust off the covers, etc, Arrian's got the thing placed neatly in front of him. A thorough examination feels fraught, though, because even as he begins to lever the cover open he can see the knot of twisted space bound at the heart of the tome start to unfold itself. [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12If you open this thing - or at least, if you open it the wrong(right?) way, you might turn it back on. 14[21:30] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 11[21:32] 7Shit. Well, this is what mystagogues are theoretically supposed to-- oh man. He's gotta tell Paracelsus about this. This is so cool! 11[21:33] 7He'll cross to the small landline phone on the wall, keeping an eye on the book the whole time, and dial up Paracelsus' apartment. 11[21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12What, not Paracelsus's cool psychic headphone? 11[21:34] 7Oh, right, he has that. He'll call Paracelsus' brain, then. 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus's soul answers, its voice heavy and dull as ever. "Yes, Arrian?" [21:45] 7Arrian: "You have to come over. You won't believe what I've found." [21:45] "I think it's an artifact. I've already sent someone to inform the rest of the order." 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Where are you?" 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10After Arrian tells him, Paracelsus grabs his coat and heads out. [21:51] 7Arrian: "Mnemosyne, just off-" 7He gives an address. 11[21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12The trip downtown's a somewhat long one, but it's simple; it's maybe half an hour before Paracelsus can walk through the front door of the shop. 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10How charming. 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Maybe a bit on the nose, but that's a wizard's prerogative. 11[21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12To the eyes of a necromancer, the object Arrian's poring over - or too cautious to pore over, as yet - is an ancient book of sturdy construction. The leather, parchment, thread, and glue it's made of are all ordinary except for their incredible durability; the tome's about as worn as it might be if it were hundreds, not thousands, of years old. Paracelsus could probably replicate [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12the trick if he put enough back into a Perfecting Matter ritual. 15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What, ah... what kind of leather is it? [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Looks like some kind of cattle, thankfully. That does bring me to the other aspect of the necromancer's sight, though - this thing kills. [21:56] 7Arrian: "Isn't it incredible? I'm a little freaked out, though. The box it came in appears to have been cargo on a ship sunk just off the coast, hell if I can figure out how it got in the back room." [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12It isn't haunted or particularly necromantic, but it's clearly played a hand in many deaths. [21:57] "Don't open it, by the way. At least until we can figure out how without setting it off. It's a portal to an extradimensional space full of flesh-eating scarabs." 11[21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Paracelsus can confirm that this is a supernal artifact, though strange in the aforementioned way - there's a hard-wearing stability to its effects that makes them a little less discordant against the normal fabric of reality than you might've seen in something like the Mana Vault. Here's what it does: [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12-It absorbs the whole of, or at least a huge volume of, any sort of expanding, swarming, or otherwise inimical-in-substance disaster, trapping that disaster within its pages. [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12-Once opened, it unleashes that disaster in the general direction its opened pages are facing. [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12-It binds whoever used it to trap that disaster to itself, slowly inflicting the depredations of that disaster on the body of its user until the disaster is once again loosed. [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12-There is a particular way to hold it, and particular command words to speak, to bid it to either consume, disgorge, or hold on to whatever's in its bowels. A Sleeper could even use it if they knew them. 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Can we tell what they are? 11[22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Paracelsus knows where they are in the tome itself; his spell didn't reveal them directly, but he and Arrian can at least safely open, page through, and copy down the relevant sigils. It's not immediately clear how to pronounce them, sadly. [22:04] 7Arrian: "It doesn't appear to be an Atlantean artifact. Those things never give a good reading against Time dating - billions of years old, hasn't been created yet, that kind of thing. This one's a bit under six thousand years old. [22:04] " 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Does the book have a title or author? [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian, meanwhile, can tell that there's some high-class Space magic going on here; the extradimensional space within the book wasn't stolen from elsewhere but just sort of created whole cloth and attached to the artifact. It's not of infinite size, but it looks expandable to a degree; if pushed to its limits, this book could probably hold a houseful of scarabs, flames, acid, etc. 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Arrian... did you put the scarabs in there?" [22:06] 7Arrian: "Technically, they were already in the book, just swarming out of it. Why?" [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12At the moment, you could comfortably fill an olympic swimming pool with the swarm of angry beetles the book is holding. But it's definitely not a portal to the scarab plane - that just happens to be what it was last used to vacuum up, god knows how long ago. It looks like a number of normal properties are suspended in there, time among them - the scarabs might well be as old as [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12the book is. ...they're not, though. Arrian can get enough of a bead on them to use his Time rote again, and can tell that the creatures are two hundred years old, but have only experienced a few years of subjective life. [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12They're a bit odd - Arrian doesn't think actual scarabs are that eusocial - but they don't seem to be magical or super-smart or similar. [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian can tell that the extra space is woven intimately into the book's pages and bindings. He thinks that if the book were destroyed, the space would unravel, but it wouldn't take its contents with it - you'd just get scarabs spilling everywhere. It's definitely not immune to direct magical manipulation, but artifacts tend to fight back against that sort of thing so you'd need to [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12overcome stiff resistance. 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Reading between the lines the book binds fluid disasters - anything that'll fill or take the shape of the volume it occupies - and traps them there. That's the recto side. The verso side is, whoever bound it in the book is bound in turn, and is incrementally subject to whatever disaster resides within until it's released or the subject is consumed." [22:11] 7Arrian: "Oh, for the love of- so we'll need to find a big pit to dump these scarabs into, then." 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Seems wise. New Jersey, maybe?" [22:15] 7Arrian: "Good enough. I'm going to have to find some kind of secure container to keep a sample of the scarabs in. Somebody used this thing to vacuum them up two hundred years ago, and they're another link to who, where, and why. Also, I don't think regular scarabs are that eusocial. Possibly a new or rare species." 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Can you tell who owned the book last?" [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12That'd probably take some Time magic, as there doesn't appear to be any stamp or inscription of ownership anywhere. Neither of you are apprentices or better, are you? 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Isn't Arrian? [22:24] 7Alas, no. [22:25] 7Arrian: "Nope. I can tell it was on a dock on the west side, and that something or someone uptown made it start spewing scarabs on its own, though." [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Noobs. 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Name one single cool Time mage. Oops you can't. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, if you were to cast Flash Freeze on a deserving Acanthus, e.g. any single one or more of them, 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "The next step, then, is getting the power words of the book so we can clean it out. Who'd you contact?" [22:33] 7That's a good question. Who does the 'I've found an artifact' alarm usually go to? 11[22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, unless the artifact is in the process of exploding - which this one wasn't, per Arrian's message - the turnaround time on that sort of thing isn't that drastic. Arrian might expect a response within the next twelve to twenty four hours, though Paracelsus has the clout to speed matters or just take the thing straight to Athenaeum if need be. 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I can take it to the Athenaeum right now if you like." [22:35] 7Arrian: "Just a general message, since it didn't seem to be exploding or - yeah, that'd be helpful." 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "You coming?" [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Do both of our heroes head out? Athenaeum's got a lot of research material, if nothing else. [22:43] 7Heck yes. [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Making sure to scrutinize the nature of the symbols before you leave, you two learn that you're holding the 'Litany of Plagues', no author in evidence. It seems to open with a meditation on what sort of actions might draw disaster up or down from wherever it comes - robbery, blasphemy, etc - and then segues into belabored and repetitive descriptions of the dooms that have lurked [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12within its pages. [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12It looks like the first thing ever in here was locusts. Flipping ahead you spot fires, avalanches, pirhanas (?!).... at the very back, pressing right up against the back cover, is these scarabs. [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12It doesn't seem to Arrian like the book's never going to be able to absorb a disaster again or something, so one supposes that it edits, compresses, or otherwise re-lays-out itself when it absorbs something. [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Now, technically the location of and means of entry to the Athenaeum is a secret, even to Neokoroi. Arrian's been there before, though, and it's certainly allowed for a daduchos to bring in people should they deem fit to do so. Felix has done so in the past, although he's made a point of scrambling the warlock's direction sense and blindfolding him to do so. [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12This is the kind of thing they'd prooobably overlook... either way, it's a straight shot north to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Once you two have tossed your suggested donations into a jar and stood, perhaps slightly anxious, while a bored guard looked through Arrian's backpack and found nothing notable about the wrapped-up tome, it doesn't take long for you to slip between two [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12walls in an out-of-the-way exhibit. The honorable thing would be for Arrian to temporarily suppress his own senses, one supposes. 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus is of the opinion that the only thing keeping Arrian from being a daduchos right now is getting off his ass and demanding the initiation, so he'll chance it. [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12The extent to which you're on the honor system aside - do you two head for an authority figure, or for the stacks? 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That depends - who is the person you'd expect to hand artifacts like this over to, and are they around? [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel's head curator and seems to be 'in', but the door to what passes for his office is currently sealed tight and if you get up close you hear an awful lot of roaring and howling. There's an elderly ghost you can sign stuff in and out with, though. [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Down here, concentrated magic allows the translucent figure to be visible and even tangible for long stretches, so it's entirely possible + proper for you to just hand the thing off along with detailed instructions. You might want to keep it on hand at least long enough to cross-reference some of the symbology, though. 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well, the sensible thing is to hand it off immediately with Arrian's meticulous report. And there's no one around to stop them from doing the sensible thing! Together, Paracelsus and Arrian will eat a small amount of ice cream well before bed so as not to upset their digestion or their sleep. [23:02] 7It is so, so important to always be careful and safe. 14[23:10] * Joins: Crion_ 11[23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian and Paracelsus pretty much divide the stacks between them, each looking for information pointing to what this might be or where it might've come from. It doesn't look like it's ever been in the grasp of this Athenaeum or any other that the Manhattan Athenaeum's friendly with, though - closest to that is a slim volume they've got in Seattle which, when placed on a flat surface [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12and opened to a specific change, releases a continuous pillar of fire that can reach as far as a mile up or out. [23:13] 7Neat. Not useful right now, but neat. [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian, though, finds the notes of a mystagogue acquisitor from centuries ago who'd been raiding what he thought was an Atlantean ruin somewhere in the Andes. 'Baraka' was a Thyrsus known for somewhat brusque responses to opposition; he seems to have been extremely chuffed that his attempt to flush out a cult who'd been defending the site with, yes, a 'scarab plague' was somehow [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12stymied completely by an ordinary man holding a book. [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12He'd been forced to make a retreat, and there's no mention of a second attempt on the site. Got preoccupied or killed, maybe. [23:17] 7No mention of a second attempt by him or no mention of the site anywhere else? [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian can delve a little deeper to find a little on the guardian cult. Apparently, they were characterized by brown robes and teardrop symbology on their belts or torcs, and fought with suicidal intensity. It doesn't look like anyone ever followed up. 14[23:20] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[23:21] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [23:26] 7Robes, eh? Good. Arrian notes this for later. [23:30] 7Arrian: "Shit. Someone just tried to turn the book on again. Good thing we were smart and brought it straight to the Athenaeum." 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "You can tell?" [23:37] 7Arrian: "They're one of the two biggest sympathetic connections to it, and since I'm hooked into it now..." 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Well, it couldn't possibly be in safer hands." [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Either way, there are two obvious avenues of investigation here - but you're also in a powerfully-fortified Demesne, so if you're of a mind to start experimenting on or otherwise exploiting the book itself, now'd be a good time. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12You'd probably be all right to just... leave it, actually, if it weren't for the risk of Arrian getting devoured alive from within by scarabs. [23:49] 7Arrian does want to agitate for getting those dang scarabs out of the book so that he isn't actually devoured alive. 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well, if you insist... Session Time: Sun Jun 14 00:00:01 2015 [00:06] 7Seriously, though. Is there a procedure for disposing of dangerous artifact side effects? [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, the only thing that links most artifacts together is that the vulgar-aspect ones are paradoxical, and paradox itself is idiosyncratic, let alone artifact effects themselves. You haven't got any bottomless pits or similar here in Athenaeum that you know of, so the question is: can you find, or magically create, a circumstance in which you'd feel okay venting a swimming pool's [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12worth of flesh-eating scarabs? Or, otherwise, can you imagineer a ritual spell powerful enough to sever yourself from the book, or to alter the book's properties, or to empty the book by some other means? [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12The good news is that the timer you're on isn't a particularly short one. Hell, with medical attention and a bit of luck you could last for weeks. 14[00:12] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12While this is being thought over, there's a young woman's voice with what might be a British accent: "Oh! Um." 12It's Sheila, Needle's apprentice, dressed for what looks like a hike. She's heading over to the table you two've piled with reference documents. [00:15] 7Arrian: "Okay. I don't want to try and magically alter the book or try and sever myself from it, that might damage it. So we're back to plan 'fill a big hole full of bugs'. I think you spoke with Cross last, is she busy? Real estate people must know where all the big holes are." 7Arrian has only the vaguest idea what Cross actually does. 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus looks up, smiling warmly. "Hello, Sheila." [00:15] 7Arrian: "Oh, hi!" [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12She smiles back, a bit nervously. "Hi, yes. Two things, Daduchos... Iiii don't think I can make tomorrow." 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Arrian: "Push comes to shove I can make a hole. The principal concern is how many of the bugs we can safely keep for study and how many need to be exterminated." 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Sheila: "Oh, no. Is everything alright?" [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Sheila: "The other - bugs?" 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus nods. 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "Go on." [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Sheila: "Right, yes. The - it's true, right? You hit Adept?" 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Well, I'd say it hit me, but yes." [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12She nods, then pulls a notepad out of a pocket. "Well, Needle needs, let me see - two rods of electrum regium, eight cm length and two point five cm radius, a 'fist-sized' diamond, and a three cm cube of plutonium." [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Sheila: "She didn't say what they were for but I can spot you the Mana." 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Do you have something to store the plutonium in safely, or will I need to fabricate something for that too?" [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Sheila: "Ooh. Um, I can handle that, probably." 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus presses his lips together. "If we were talking about something besides plutonium, a 'probably' would satisfy me." [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Sheila: "Well, I'm Apprentice Forces. I can tell it not to radiate." 12She presses her lips together a moment. "...probably a container, though, yeah. Maybe I can dig a lead box up somewhere, though?" 14[00:27] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus shakes his head. "It's fine, come along. I'll just be a moment, Arrian." 11[00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Sheila nods and follows along, leaving Arrian to his books for a moment. Actually, Paracelsus probably could just find a lead container in storage somewhere; the metal's both energetically and alchemically inert enough that it's a pretty reliable standby for transporting all sorts of weirdness. 11[00:31] 7To be honest, Arrian kind of wants to study while watching Paracelsus transmute base materials into plutonium. That's cool as hell. 11[00:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, he's got what he needs out of his research - warning that the book he's got is probably important to some years-old cult somewhere. If he's going to start working out the imago for a book-unstapling ritual or whatnot there's no reason he couldn't do that wherever Paracelsus is going. 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus makes a stop by one of the archival lockers, tracing his fingers in a complex shape over the handleless door to get it to open for him. He comes back out with a very snazzy-looking lead-lined canister. It's even got the little radioactive hazard symbol on it. On the way to a break-room or other room with a sink he stops by a little closet. 09[00:38] * bananasleep is now known as banana 11[00:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Sheila dutifully looks away as Paracelsus opens the door. We can only hope that Arrian's similarly honorable. 15[00:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Gabriel told me that they keep this room just to scare the neokoroi." 10He opens it using the same intricate gestures, revealing... a janitor's closet. There's a bunch of cleaning supplies in here, yellow gloves, a heavy smell of bleach, mops, brooms, a cart... and some buckets. 15[00:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Aha." 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He looks sternly at Arrian and Sheila. "This is the fate that awaits the disobedient and the heedless." 11[00:40] 7Well, there's no one here to encourage him not to be sensible and respectful, so he also looks away from the opening gestures even after Paracelsus says it's a janitorial closet! 11[00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12The room's dusty and shows signs of heavy disuse. They always clean Athenaeum by magic if they can possibly find the excuse to - what Paracelsus has opened here is only necessary in case of true emergency. 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "Chin up, though. My understanding is that the Arrow only keeps toothbrushes in theirs." 11[00:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Sheila looks unsure of whether to laugh. Of course, the secret is that Paracelsus is far more likely to have to actually clean the place than she is, since he's the one with unfettered access; he's actually been shown the grimoire Gabriel uses for the task, though he's not had to make use of it as yet. 15[00:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10No need to tell them that. Fear will keep the lower initiations in line. Fear of this push broom. 15[00:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Anyway, from there it's on down a corridor and doubling back on a very sharp turn to reveal a very plain-looking door which Paracelsus unlocks with a very plain-looking key. Inside is a very plain-looking break room, indistinguishable from a high school teachers' lounge or the kitchenette where office workers hang out in between bouts of pretending to work. 15[00:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Indistinguishable, at least, until Paracelsus steps inside and a trio of wan ghosts poke their heads out from the walls. He holds his hand up to quiet them before they might ask what he wants. 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "Take a seat." 10He's filling up the bucket in the sink. [00:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Sheila sits down gamely, interlacing her fingers. "So what are you working on, anyway?" 12she says to Arrian. [00:54] 7Arrian: "An artifact turned up in my stock room, full of flesh-eating scarabs." [00:54] 7It's not really 'his' stock room, but c'mon. 15[00:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The water pressure on this tap is atrocious. Paracelsus takes this opportunity to lecture a bit. [00:55] 7Arrian: "I managed to push 'em back in before they ate their way out of the crate they were stored in, but that linked me to the artifact, so now we have to find a big pit to dump all the scarabs into before they devour me from the inside." [00:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Sheila: "You know, I've never run into that. Worst I saw was a sort of... fire wolf?" [00:55] 7Arrian: "Fire wolf? Cool. Where'd you see that?" 15[00:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "The trick to Patterning Matter is that you still have to obey conservation of mass. It's tempting to just pluck a bar of gold from thin air, yeah, but gold is something like twenty thousand times as dense as air is. You'd need something like thirteen thousand cubic meters of air. Unless you're outside, that's simply impractical, and even if you are, the space vacated is going to cause a vacuum that air rushes to fill. Very difficult to anticipate without a keen understanding of fluid dynamics or initiation into Forces." [00:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Sheila: "Upstate. There was a cave we thought might've been this old mage's sanctum - thought we could dig up a grimoire or something. Well, we couldn't figure out if it was, but all that was there was that cryptid." [00:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Sheila: "This is before I started working with Needle, though." [00:58] <@Ferrinus> Sheila glances over after finishing her own explanation. "Hey, really? Mass is Real?" [00:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Sheila glances over after finishing her own explanation. "Hey, really? Mass is Real?" 15[00:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Until you're a Master, it is." 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's the secret. That's what it means to apprehend the higher mysteries. You *know* what is real, and as you know more of the true reality, more and more of the Lie reveals itself as such." 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "A handy shortcut is that in most situations, water is just as easy to get hold of as air is, and it lets you knock a factor of a thousand off your density calculations, just about." 10He puts the bucket on the table. "Now, where were we? Read me off that list again." 10He remembers every item, but this way is more fun. [01:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Sheila licks her lips and clears her throat. "Two electrum regium rods, eight centimeters long and two and a half in ra- oh no, that's in diameter. Phew." [01:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Sheila: "Close one. Eight long, one point two five radius." 15[01:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The old man casts a long shadow over the two neokoroi. They can feel the weight of it, heavy and somber and cold. It's the weight of the casket lid, the weight of the curtain at the end of the play, the weight of ages, the weight of long-anticipated doom. 15[01:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He lowers his hands into the water, the level rising with the displacement. Someone peering over the rim of the bucket would see tiny flakes of metal swirl around as he wiggles his fingers, slowly spinning into place beneath his fingertips. They coalesce as he pulls his hands back up, the water level lowering well below its starting level as he comes up with a precisely measured rod of gold-and-silver in each hand. Hands and rods alike are bone dry. 15[01:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "Here you are." 15[01:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Next?" [01:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Sheila: "Niice! Okay, ah - a fist-sized diamond. I suppose the dimensions aren't important there." 15[01:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus makes a fist with his right hand, and punches it into the water with sufficient force that the diamond comes spinning up from the bucket, right into his waiting left. It's been shaped with a gemcutter's eye and even in the depths of his shadow it catches the light of the room and throws a firmament back out. 15[01:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He offers it to Sheila. [01:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Sheila actually laughs aloud before reaching for the thing. 15[01:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "And finally, the plutonium. Three centimeters to a side?" [01:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Sheila: "That's right. Three significant figures after the decimal, actually." 15[01:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus takes the canister and pops it open with a hiss. The lid mechanism has pneumatic pressure and a very elaborate set of hinges. revealing a small space within the heavy shielding. He swirls the last little bit of water down in the bucket a bit, and then upends it. Despite the suddenness of the gesture, the water only falls out in a thin, steady stream, exactly three centimeters wide. Deep within the canister and the depths of the necromancer's shadow neither of the other two mages can actually see what's happening in there. 15[01:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10When the last drops of water leave the bucket Paracelsus quickly seals the canister. [01:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Sheila doesn't make a sound or even more her face for that one. She releases a breath once the transmutation's done. "Phew. Okay." 12She swallows. "Four motes, right?" 15[01:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "That's right." [01:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Sheila nods, and reaches into another pocket. She starts counting out objects - two thin sticks of rosewood, one lump of what looks like rock candy, one... one... "Oh, shoot." 15[01:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mm?" [01:30] <@Ferrinus> 12They're pieces of Tass - neither of you two are Obrimos but both of you can feel the Hallow hum from this close regardless. "Sorry. Last one at our lesson?" 15[01:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "The one you can't make?" 14[01:32] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) [01:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Sheila: "Ah- tomorrow I can't make. But we've got the rest of the week, yes?" 14[01:33] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 15[01:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I work Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, but past that give me a call." [01:36] <@Ferrinus> "Definitely," 12the Neokoros says. She grunts slightly as she takes up the plutonium cube - that took a lot of water, and remains appropriately heavy - and otherwise bids the two of you farewell. One can only wonder what Needle intends to do with that thing. 15[01:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus, once Sheila's out of earshot: "'Vonce ze rockets are up, who cares vere zey come down?'" [01:38] 7Arrian: "Look at it this way - that probably wasn't an assassination attempt." [01:38] "Ooh, speaking of office politics. You know Atlas sent me his nephew for the magic-is-real talk? Kid's a Sleepwalker." 15[01:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I remember him mentioning that. How'd you handle it?" [01:45] 7Arrian: "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I think I handled it fine from an ethical point of view; nerdy kid, high school age, so my biggest concern was making it clear that I wasn't offering to teach him super powers." 15[01:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus nods. "Did I ever tell you what the first thing was that popped into my head when I got the Atlantis pitch?" [01:45] 7Arrian: "What's that?" 15[01:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I read comic books as a boy, and I remembered this one character, a man from the sea who'd come out of the ocean to sink ships or knock skyscrapers over, because he hated land civilization. Namor, was his name. Namor the Sub-Mariner." 15[01:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "I thought of him in that moment. Very hard not to snicker." [01:49] 7Arrian: "Heh. Lucky I didn't tell him about all that, then." 15[01:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Yeah, you have to wait until you get your hooks in him to drop the really crazy stuff. That's Cult 101." 15[01:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "Anyway, go on." [01:51] 7Arrian laughs. "Actually, the reason I bring it up is that you're a daduchos and it's kind of a religious question." [01:52] "Poor kid got attacked by some zombies whistled up by Sleeper occultists that managed to stumble across the phone number of something nasty and Stygian. When talking to him, I deliberately conflated that kind of Sleeper occultism, alchemy and whatnot, with Supernal magics." 15[01:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mm-hmm." [01:53] "In everything else I tried to be honest with him, or when I couldn't be honest say nothing and tell him why I was saying nothing. Given that context, was I being inappropriate there? Pancryptic?" 15[01:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Would any of your misinformation cause him to make a bad decision the next time he deals with magic of any stripe?" [01:58] "I don't think so," 7Arrian says cautiously. "My goal was let him make an informed decision about joining us, without giving him enough information that we'd feel obliged to worry about him keeping his mouth shut ever after if he said no." 15[01:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Is he thinking it over now or do you have an answer?" [01:58] 7Arrian: "If he said no, his reaction to any kind of magic should be the same: scarper. He said yes, so he'll get the real lowdown after initiation." [01:59] "Funny thing, the box of scarabs started to go off just after he agreed. His first encounter with magic as a Sleepwalker retainer. I've asked the intake guys to give him a Fate once-over just in case, that's a hell of a coincidence." 15[02:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus snorts. "I'll say. Did he get hurt?" [02:01] 7Arrian: "Course not, I wasn't gonna let that happen. Once I'd figured out what was going on I gave him the code phrases and told him to run like hell and pass the message on." 15[02:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus nods. He's silent for a moment in thought. "Well... it's not what I'd have done, but I don't think it was wrong. You have a duty to the truth, but also a duty to the mystery." [02:05] "Thanks. What would you have done?" 14[02:09] * Joins: mugabe 15[02:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I'd have told him we don't play by the same rules. We owe our loyalty to a higher and stranger thing. I would have said that their power was of this world, and that ours is not." [02:12] "Hmm." 7Arrian replies thoughtfully. "I'll remember that." 14[03:01] * Quits: mugabe 14[03:11] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:44] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[03:56] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[05:53] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[06:09] * banana is now known as banana|eat 14[07:07] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 09[07:34] * banana|eat is now known as banana 14[08:02] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[08:02] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 09[08:02] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[08:47] * Joins: Crion_ 14[09:37] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[09:45] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[10:06] * Joins: Crion_ 14[10:20] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[10:22] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[10:24] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:05] * Quits: dammitwho 14[11:40] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[11:43] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[11:44] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[12:20] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[12:54] * Joins: ddt 14[13:14] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:37] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[13:37] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[13:40] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 09[13:42] * banana is now known as banana|peels [13:57] One senior Home Office official accused Snowden of having “blood on his hands”, although Downing Street said there was “no evidence of anyone being harmed”. [13:57] what the [13:58] <@Ferrinus> it's figurative blood, okay 14[14:10] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[14:14] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) [14:17] lis https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHennopUMAEf2Hk.jpg:large [14:17] <@Ferrinus> Mine is a most peachable disposition. [14:17] ^^^^^ 14[14:28] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:50] * Quits: Crion 14[14:51] * Joins: Crion 14[14:54] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:59] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[17:12] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[20:41] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:46] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[23:14] * Joins: mugabe Session Time: Mon Jun 15 00:00:00 2015 14[00:28] * Joins: Quaker 14[00:29] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[00:31] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[00:33] * Joins: Crion_ 14[01:06] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[02:09] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:18] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[02:21] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 09[02:30] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[03:37] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[03:39] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[05:34] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[05:35] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[05:43] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[05:43] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[05:56] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[06:08] * Joins: Quaker 14[06:44] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[08:06] * Joins: mugabe 14[08:10] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[08:25] * Quits: dammitwho 14[08:45] * Joins: ddt 14[08:46] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[08:59] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[09:08] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[09:18] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[09:50] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[09:55] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[10:12] * Joins: ddt 14[10:47] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[10:48] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[10:54] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[10:59] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[11:57] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[12:52] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:56] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[13:38] * Joins: ddt 14[13:42] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 09[13:58] * banana is now known as bananasleep 14[14:44] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[14:47] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:57] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[15:07] * Joins: mugabe 14[15:17] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Quit: Leaving) 14[15:36] * Joins: hrolf 14[15:53] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[16:29] * Joins: ddt 15[16:46] <@VoxPVoxD> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHkZsFMXAAAq8ET.png:large [16:46] <@Ferrinus> B) 14[16:46] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[17:33] * Joins: mugabe 14[18:40] * Joins: ddt_ 14[18:42] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[18:42] * ddt_ is now known as ddt 14[18:45] * Quits: Crion 14[18:45] * Joins: Crion 14[19:09] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:43] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:48] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[19:49] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[21:06] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[21:07] * Joins: ddt 14[21:20] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[22:41] * Joins: mugabe 11[23:20] * Disconnected Session Close: Mon Jun 15 23:20:48 2015 Session Start: Mon Jun 15 23:20:48 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors Session Start: Tue Jun 16 06:04:33 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[06:04] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[06:04] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[06:04] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[06:04] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[07:20] * Joins: Quaker 09[07:40] * banana is now known as bananorb 14[07:42] * Quits: dammitwho 09[08:09] * bananorb is now known as banana 14[08:26] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [08:35] - [08:35] - [08:35] - [08:35] - [08:35] - [08:35] - [08:37] Thump, thump, thump. [08:38] The door shakes in its frame when the fist strikes it. Beyond, in the dusty flatlands extending out to the foothills, the cicadas and crickets quiet for a moment, before resuming their songs. [08:39] The properties to either side of the kennel were farms, once, before their fields were abandoned to lie fallow. The sound doesn't make it past the property line, but it wouldn't wake anyone if it did. 14[08:44] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[08:44] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 09[08:44] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker [08:45] The door in Laguna Beach is askew. It's sitting crookedly, at an angle, which is strange, because it looked heavy enough to sit straight up no matter the circumstance. The top hinge has been shorn off the wall. There's dust across its front, from where it came loose. 08[08:46] 4Cav, to Rollie, as he pulls into the drive-up: "So yeah, I actually did say 'God wants us to kill a magic man at the nuclear power plant.'" [08:47] 4He's got the phone sort of scrunched up between his shoulder and ear, good-naturedly grimacing. 15[08:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's back at S&P doing office stuff. They don't have an IT guy right now so taking care of the network is one of the dozen-odd little jobs he's doing right now. "What's He pay?" 14[08:52] * Joins: mugabe [08:53] 4Cav: "No, no, this is an 'I'm pretending to do you a favor' job." 4Hey, that's a pun. "Apparently this guy has been running around with a mad-on for setting heretical vampire sects on fire. We might have a suspect in our boat burning, at least." 15[08:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What, like, a lone crazy guy?" [08:56] 4Cav: "That was the claim. And they thought he was up here hiding among the Carmelites because hey, he's a heretic, and the Carmelites are heretic, so why wouldn't they be best buds. Even though this guy is, allegedly, not even Kindred. Which explains the whole fire thing." [08:56] 6Count Dracula: "Listen. The children of the night make their music..." [08:56] 6And they do. The howls from the home theatre are matched by the crashing outside. Jackie shivers for a second, then hits pause. Did Edgar forget his damn key? 15[08:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So is this what caused the brownout the other night?" [08:59] 6She gets up and pads to the door in slippers and a pajama robe like Veronica Lake used to wear - it's late at night and in life, but Jackie Levaux hasn't quite given up on the idea of fashion. [09:00] Does she look through the peephole, or just open the door? [09:00] 4Cav: "Brownouts are brownouts. I don't think everytime the lights go out, it means Ryu from Street Fighter's come to town to Had-o-ken us on sight." 4He pauses. "That said, it would make a certain amount of sense. Given what we already know." 15[09:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah, I hear you. There's coincidences and there's coincidences, is all. So this all came down from the, uh, what was it again? The Priests-Militant?" [09:01] 4Cav: "Inquisition." [09:01] 4Cav: "The Mexican Inquisition." [09:01] 4Cav: "Starting to suspect they might have themselves a vampire Pope down there in Mexico City." [09:02] 6Most nights she'd just open up. This is not an area with a lot of crime, or of anything. But with the cold, and her mood, and the movies.. Klaus Kinski's face is still huge in the other room. Jackie looks through the peephole and makes sure that the heavy prybar is still by the door. 15[09:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie does not laugh. "I mean... I guess there had to be one somewhere, right? At least one." 14[09:03] * Joins: FerrinusSpace [09:04] The peephole just shows red. Whoever is out there is standing too close to the door, and is too big, to see fully. [09:05] 4Cav wasn't expecting him to, though he finds the fact that the both of them have to take the idea of a 'vampire Pope' seriously in the course of their duties extremely horseshit. "I mean, the Sanctum stole just about every part of the mainstream Christian brand that wasn't nailed down when they were putting together their creepy little Jesus Fang Club; can't see why the papacy should [09:05] be any different." 15[09:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "For sure all the parts that you need to do a Crusade, anyway." [09:10] 6Jackie: "Who's there?" 6And where did she put her phone. Looks like it's just around the corner in the spare bedroom, where she was working earlier.. 08[09:10] 4Cav parks the car and pulls the key from the ignition. "I just want to know where the choirs are. The church music. Four part harmonies about serving the Antichrist. Cool shit like--" 4Then he sees the front door of his house, and his voice loses any whisper of a joke. "Rollie where are you right now? Specifically." 15[09:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I'm in the office, fucking with the router. Rush's laptop is being temperamental. What's wrong?" [09:11] The voice that answers her is low and smooth. "Is this the Doolittle residence? I would hate to wake you up if it was not." [09:12] 6Somewhere close but not enough, Edgar Doolittle (his mother was Bonnie Levaux, meaning he was never the heir to the ranch- only the oldest boy) is driving down silent roads. California is such a busy state by day, even in the semi-wild parts of southern OC- there's always animal and bird life. Learning about this new world of creeping shadows and little points of light has been [09:12] 6welcome. [09:13] "There's an extra Glock in my bottom desk drawer, if you don't have your gun. Break the drawer lock if you need to. If Buchanan and Rush are in-office, keep them there, and keep them safe. Figure out where Edgar and Santiago are." 4He pulls his own gun from his glovebox as he talks. "Something's taken my front door off its hinges and covered my front walk in blood." [09:13] "I'll call you back." 15[09:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Alright. I'll check in in ten." [09:15] 4Cav kills the call and pockets the phone, then drops into his best 'I've watched a whole bunch of cop shows' version of the Weaver Stance. 15[09:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie calls Edgar next. [09:16] 4Then Cav puts two fingers to his mouth and whistles. [09:16] 4Are Shots and Honey on the property? [09:17] It takes a few moments, but a minute later the bushes near the driveway rustle, and the two big cats slink out of the vegetation. [09:18] 4Cav: "Hey, ladies. Considering buying a guard dog, what do you think?" [09:18] 4He gets a pair of low, annoyed growls in reply as they slink out to flank him. [09:18] 4Mountain lions have lives too, Cav. [09:20] 6Edgar picks up the phone while he's driving, because get this: he's legally dead. No petty laws, hell yes! 15[09:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yo, Edgar. How are you doing?" 08[09:20] "How's it going, Rollie? On my way back from that thing, with those guys." 15[09:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Are you headed home?" [09:20] "All good here. Breaking the law." [09:22] 4He takes a step forward and keeps the gun raised. Shouting through the doorway: "By now you might be wondering why I haven't called the police. Or, given the amount of blood on my flagstones, by now you might just be dead. And if you're dead and you can still hear me, then you already know why the police aren't coming so I guess my point is this: I'm gonna walk through my front door [09:22] right now with a gun, and I can do far worse things than just shoot you." [09:22] 6Jackie: "..." 6This situation is way too creepy. It's probably just a neighbour come to warn about coyotes in the area, but.. only probably. [09:22] 6Jackie: "He's out." [09:23] 4Cav starts taking careful, measured paces towards the front door, trying not to get blood on his shoes. [09:24] The voice on the other side of the door: "Then who are you?" [09:25] 6Edgar: "I was coming to the office for some aftermath." 15[09:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Is there anyone back at your place right now? Cav just got home and some weird shit was waiting for him. I'd call if you can, at least." [09:26] The trail of blood starts halfway up the driveway, and goes through the front door. There's a smear on the doorknob, and then a larger amount on its side where someone grasped and pulled. The lights are off. It continues through the front of the house, winding into the living room. [09:27] Cav knows this blood. [09:27] 4Cav will follow the trail then, making a lameass attempt to Clear His Corners and Secure the Perimeter and whatever the hell. Shots and Honey slink in after him, fanning out-- 08[09:27] 6Rollie's got good hearing, right? He can hear the acceleration right through the phone. "Good call. I'll ring off for that purpose." 15[09:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Take care. I'll check in in ten." [09:27] 4Doctor, doctor, give me the news. [09:29] 6Jackie: "You first, mister." 6She's mad now, because this is EXACTLY the point, for heck's sake, this is why she doesn't want to be kept in the DARK ever again. Betting a thousand dollars Edgar knows this voice. 15[09:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Next he'll call up Santiago. [09:29] The blood leads to the figure slumped over on the couch. Her dress is torn across her back and side, where the deep wounds still glisten. Her head turns to face Cav as he comes in, one eye open. Alicia tries to speak, but all that comes out is a thin dribble of blood. 08[09:31] 3Maja to Rollie: [09:31] 4Cav's jaw makes a weird working motion, like trying to clench teeth and talk at the same time, and the dead muscles around his eyes dance, unsure whether to narrow or widen or cry or laugh. [09:32] 4What's he got in the fridge, blood-wise? [09:32] 4Should depend on the day of the week, and when the last delivery was. [09:33] It's the middle of the week. There should be three or four left. [09:33] 4That's a calculation being done off in a compartmentalized, blissfully white space, wholly separate from all the twisted-up years of his life and death ravaged on his couch in front of him. 15[09:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "FAME!" 10Rollie's got a text. He smiles.  [09:36] The voice on the other end of the door. "Really, now. Do you conduct all of your business through doors, or do I have the unique discourtesy?" [09:36] Santiago picks up, chewing. "Yeah, what's up." [09:37] 3Maja thinks about what she's doing. 15[09:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Hey, Santiago. Are you home right now? Headed home? Where's the Baroness?" [09:37] 4The first reaction he has, the very first one, is to run to her, babbling, asking what he can do to help. He recognized that last-year model Clinton coming down the tracks; he put a stop to it right quick, even if it meant locking up. Even if it meant powercycling the whole shock-adrenaline process, and looking speechless, and not having something pithy to say here like, [09:37] "You look like shit." [09:37] 4Well that just came out. [09:38] 4Because the second reaction is rage. 15[09:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Maja:  [09:38] 6Jackie: "One in the morning's a good time for a nice door." 6They are nice; Edgar spent a lot of time around the house reinforcing all the frames and covering up the windows. That must have been just after it happened. "You don't wanna say anything else that's fine, but come back in the morning." [09:38] 6Jackie turns away from the door, feeling safer by not having to look at it. [09:39] 4And he's going to do his damnedest to lock that down too, but the truth of the matter is we are but men. [09:39] 6Edgar, meanwhile, hasn't called- because they didn't exactly part on good terms, did they, and he isn't even sure if she's there, or how a call would be received, but: he is driving very fast with the high beams up. [09:39] Santiago: "Just about home, yeah. The Baroness is at the house. Why?" [09:41] The best response Alicia can manage is a soft, wet snuffle as she tries to turn herself over. Her hands grasp the sofa cushions and push. He can see the ruin of her midsection. 15[09:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Something's up at Cav's, and I just touched base with Edgar. He's on his way home now. I just wanted to check in with you. If you're close you should be fine, but calling ahead might not be the worst idea." [09:42] Santiago: "Uh, okay. I'll call you when I figure out what's up. Thanksbye-" Click. 08[09:42] 3Maja to Rollie: 15[09:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie hangs up, stares at the phone a second, and calls Trubee. 15[09:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Maja:  [09:43] Trubee picks up at the second ring. "Wazzup." 15[09:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Hey. Are you home right now?" [09:44] 4To the girls: "Watch the yard. Make noise if anyone shows up to finish the job." [09:44] 4They slink off. [09:46] The voice on the other side of the door: "Are you- am I -" It devolves into choked spluttering. "This is obscene! Denying me hospitality! This is outrageous! Disloyalty! Ingratitude!" [09:47] Trubee: "No, why? I'm in…uh, hold on…Laguna Niguel, why?" [09:48] 6Ha! This complete schmuck. Anyone who sounds like that without being, like, a legit celeb is someone Jackie doesn't want in the house anyway. She goes back to the couch and Nosferatu. [09:49] Alicia forms words, or tries to: "nt clt" 15[09:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "There's a chance something bizarre and terrible is waiting for me at my place. I was just checking in to see if you were okay or if you'd seen anything weird." [09:52] Clarabelle looks over from the driver's seat as she changes lanes. "I don't understand texting." [09:53] 4Cav holsters the gun slowly, still staring at Alicia. "The night we met -- the night we first -- you said something to me. The first thing you said to me. I'd seen you at the functions, of course, but always this impossible, beautiful faraway thing, never actually talked to you. And the first thing you said to me -- at me -- you looked at me and you turned to some guy from Legal, [09:53] Santangelo maybe, and you said, 'well, at least they're making all the boys out there bird-chested now, too.' Not loud enough that I was invited into the conversation; just loud enough that I'd hear it." [09:53] "I think about that a lot. Just popped back into my head." [09:53] 3Maja: [09:54] Clarabelle: "Can't you just call them?" 15[09:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  [09:54] Clarabelle: "It's nice to hear people's voices." 08[09:55] 6It's time to break all the road rules. Edgar doesn't stop accelerating until the car gives up. It's just a sedan and was not meant for this, but there's near no-one on the road and he focuses hard, taking corners like personal insults. He doesn't know what might be waiting but he knows Rollie Choi's intuitions mean something. [09:56] Alicia's arm raises itself to Cav's midsection, and gently grasps his shirt. She tugs him forward. [09:56] 4One step towards the couch. Two. "So you're, what, you're past the point where you can just put it all back together yourself. You're bleeding all over the house and driveway. You can't form words. You sure can't go out and feed; that's just -- that's just a disaster and a half waiting on a reason." 4Nervous laughter creeping in. [09:57] 4He'll tense up, but won't pull away. [09:58] His sire closes her eyes. He can see her concentrate. When the words form, it's all at once. "Kine blood won't clot." 08[10:01] 3Maja laughs to herself at Rollie's question. It's almost like she hasn't spent the entirety of her life and unlife alone, without anyone to reliably turn to. [10:02] 4This scenario -- this exact scenario -- he's fantasized about this, oh, he's always fantasized about this. It's that little cheap diorama sitting right there on the mind's tidy decorative office shelf, always just right there on the edge of the vision while trying to get work done, the visceral, unapologetic fantasy of her, the monster from the fairy tale, completely at his mercy, [10:02] 4needing him to survive, unable to countermand his will -- unable to stop him from making her feel just like he felt always, forever, for all the rest of the nights and days. [10:03] 4And now she's even taken that private, spiteful self-indulgence from him. [10:04] 4Because here's your diorama, shithead. Here's your role-reversal. And all you feel is confusion, emptiness, anger, and heartache. [10:06] 4Cav gently pushes her away, back onto the ruined couch. "Is whoever did this to you coming to finish it?" 14[10:06] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[10:06] * Joins: Quaker [10:09] 4Because here's your diorama, shithead. Here's your role-reversal. And all you feel is confusion, emptiness, anger, and heartache. [10:09] 4Cav gently pushes her away, back onto the ruined couch. "Is whoever did this to you coming to finish it?" [10:09] Alicia opens her eyes. "No." [10:12] 4Cavanaugh: "Is whoever did this to you of such political weight that I can't make a phone call and call in a favor from the Court?" [10:12] Clarabelle: "♫ Gonna drive to the Bishop's/ doo doo doo/ Gonna tell him about San Diegans/ doo doo doo ♪" [10:12] Alicia: "Dead. In Portland." 15[10:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10While texting Maja and talking to Trubee, Rollie gets Rush's laptop online. All he has for the lawyer is a thumbs up, though.  [10:14] 4Cav nods and pulls his phone back out. He calls Rosa Isaacs. 14[10:14] * Joins: hrolf [10:15] Edgar doesn't break a land-speed record. He isn't, after all, the first person to speed recklessly in Orange County, home of the Ferrari wrapped around a lamppost at three in the morning. But he does slash the commute time to a fraction of its normal length. The dust kicked up by the car as he gets onto the dirt road of the farm shoots up behind like a tail. [10:16] He's in time to see Morton, wearing a red velvet suit, scrabbling at the front door of his house like an angry cat. [10:16] 6Wwwwhat. [10:17] 3Maja bops her head a bit to Clarabelle's cool song. "How do you think he Bishop's gonna handle this? How well do you know him?" [10:18] The Seneschal picks up. "Deputy." 14[10:18] * Quits: hrolf (Client Quit) 14[10:19] * Joins: hrolf [10:19] Trubee: "Yeah! I've seen plenty of weird stuff. But, probably not what you're thinking of. Just wizard things." [10:19] 6Edgar comes to a rapid stop in the process of attempting to believe his eyes. The car's engine is making an angry ticking and the metal of the door is warm on the inside, cold on the outside as he opens it. These are distractions from an impossibility. Morton Moreno Munoz, here? Outdoors? Anywhere at all but his house? 08[10:19] 3Maja to Rollie: 15[10:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie:  15[10:20] <@VoxPVoxD> [10:21] 6He walks hurriedly down the path, under the porch- "Morton, I'm surprised and pleased and surprised to find you here. In order." [10:21] 14[10:21] * Joins: mattbaby [10:22] Clarabelle: "Handle what? Aren't we going to handle it for him?" [10:23] 4Cavanaugh, calmly: "Seneschal, I need a personal favor, redeemable on the quid-pro-quo at a time of your choosing, and I unfortunately don't have much time. I need you to call the highest-ranking member of the Lancea Sanctum in possession of a mobile phone and have them send their closest available miracle-worker to my home address with two things: a copy of the Rite of Reliquia [10:23] Vitae, and the medical equipment necessary for a standard blood transfusion." [10:23] Morton whirls around, panting. "Edgar. Unbelievable. Your…whoever is in there - unspeakably rude-" [10:25] 3Maja: "Well. That's a good point. But I guess I was thinking more generally- with the Carmelites and the Mexican Inquisition, etc. I'm not super familiar with his position on all that." [10:27] Rosa: "I don't have the Lancea Sanctum on call at the moment, Deputy. You might remember that there is a thing going on." 15[10:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Actually, I don't know what I'm looking for, so if you ever see anything weird that you think might be important or useful for me to know about, hit me up, okay?" [10:28] 6Edgar's familiar with the drill now. He steps forward, offering an arm for Morton's bulk, guiding him away from the door for a moment.. shit, is there such a thing as an etiquette frenzy? "Jacqueline is a modern woman. And right now, she's trying to process the idea of Kindred. I scared her," 6he guesses incorrectly. [10:31] Morton lets himself be guided away, like a tugboat pulling an ocean liner along. "A modern woman! Modernity is what prevented her from opening the door, is it? Edgar, I flouted good taste in planning to introduce myself - with no mediator, of course, do you realize - but through a door…! I am wearing a suit gifted to me by the Prince of Los Angeles, Edgar, not a barrel with straps." [10:32] Trubee: "Sure! Can do. What's the weird thing happening with you?" 15[10:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Do you know anything about a person made of fire who might be hanging out at the power plant?" [10:34] Trubee: "Uh…no. Which power plant?" [10:35] 6Edgar is NOT laughing. And if he was it would be mostly relief. "Yeah, I'll get it open once you know about- could get you a spare key, actually, with how you feel about homes, my casa, whatever. Morton, you realise the kine have changed a great deal? A woman knocked up at night thinks of burglars, not propriety." [10:37] 4Cavanaugh's face hardens. "Then my only recourse is to subject my sire to the ties of Vinculum, to whatever severe degree is necessary to prevent her Final Death." 4Probably being a bit dramatic, but if Alicia can't process Kine blood into vitae who knows what other whammies she's been hit with. "You do recall who my sire is, I assume." 4Cavanaugh doesn't insult Isaacs intelligence [10:37] 4by spelling it out for her: a Deputy with a blood-enslaved Elder at his beck and call 'administrating' Court lands with unclear lines of succession could very easily turn into what Peter Holymount would dryly term a 'political distraction.' [10:37] 4Cavanaugh is kneecapping his own ambition, and indebting himself to the Prince in the process. It's free real estate. 15[10:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "San Onofre. The one on the beach with the big-" 10He realizes he's miming the two big domes that are the nuclear plant's most notable feature even though Trubee can't see. Then he looks down at himself miming two big domes in front of his chest and he's really glad she can't. "-the domes." [10:42] Clarabelle: "We have the same position, Maja. We're not like…we're all in this together! I believe the same things he does, for Pete's sake. The Prince hasn't decided either way. We're free to watch from a distance in the meantime. And Mexico City is to be…politely listened to and reminded that the sovereignty is in matters of theory, not practice." 14[10:44] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [10:44] Rosa is silent for a few seconds. She sighs. "I'm not sure I want to see who would win a game of 'My Gangrel is bigger than yours,' Deputy. But the thing you're asking for is…difficult. Your sire is in Orange County? Now?" [10:45] "Yes." 4Most of her is, anyway. [10:46] 3Maja looks at her feet. [10:46] Trubee: "I think I saw that in a movie. Okay, well have fun and don't die. Bye!" 15[10:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Take care." [10:46] 3Then she silently looks out the window. 15[10:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A minute later Cav's phone is ringing. [10:49] Morton steadies himself: "Still…proper politeness is like instrumental music, Edgar. Universal and eternal. No words or ideology necessary. I sought only to visit you, and see how you were coming along. How are you doing, by the way? And hello. Forgive my beastliness." 08[10:49] 4Cav will thumb over to the incoming call from Rollie as soon as Isaacs's loud 'I GUESS we'll help this sentimental Sacramento shithead forfeit political opportunity and personal power in order to feel better about himself' sighs have concluded. 15[10:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Cav?" [10:50] Rosa: "I can, right now, send someone. And blood. I can give you a phone number to try your luck with the other thing." [10:52] 4And hey: in her place, he'd be acting put upon too. Then he'd hang up the phone, laugh, and walk down the hall to tell his boss what that fucking idiot Cavanaugh just called about. [10:53] 4Cavanaugh walks over to the kitchen island and retrieves a pen and a napkin. "Go ahead." [10:53] 6Edgar: "Right, only the last time I was able to tell Jacqueline what to do she was seventeen years old. She'd glare the gift of Ventrue right out of a guy." 6He's going to go unlock the front door, making arbitrary coughing and stomping noises to indicate that yes, this is Edgar Doolittle arriving at his own home, not some huge red stranger. [10:53] "I'm doing pretty well, Morton. Got shown a piece of your work by a fan, and tonight we've encountered the- don't laugh- no, you know what. Come inside. A man ought to be sitting down for the Mexican Inquisition." [10:54] 4Does he recognize the number? [10:54] 4Wait. That's a stupid question. [10:54] 4No one recognizes numbers these days. That's what contacts are for. [10:54] 4Rephrased: 'Is the number already in his phone?' [10:55] Morton's face lights up. "Oh, a work - who was it? Which one?" 14[10:58] * Joins: ddt [11:00] Clarabelle: "What's up?" 14[11:01] * Quits: mattbaby (ember.sorcery.net rivendell.hub.sorcery.net) 14[11:01] * Quits: Crion (ember.sorcery.net rivendell.hub.sorcery.net) 14[11:01] * Quits: Zarick (ember.sorcery.net rivendell.hub.sorcery.net) 14[11:01] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (ember.sorcery.net rivendell.hub.sorcery.net) 14[11:01] * Quits: trenchfoot (ember.sorcery.net rivendell.hub.sorcery.net) 14[11:01] * Quits: cbass (ember.sorcery.net rivendell.hub.sorcery.net) 14[11:01] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (ember.sorcery.net rivendell.hub.sorcery.net) 14[11:02] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[11:02] * Joins: Crion 14[11:02] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:02] * Joins: Zarick 14[11:02] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[11:02] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[11:02] * Joins: cbass 08[11:04] "One sec." 4Cav will open his iPad, forward the call over there, and put Rollie on speaker. Multitasking. "In a bit of a situation over here, Rollie." [11:04] The number isn't in his phone. Rosa: "That's Edward Robin's number. He's the southern Bishop's number two. You won't get anything out of the Valley parish." 15[11:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Everyone alright?" [11:04] 3Maja: "Nothing, it's fine." [11:05] 3Maja: "Well, no." 08[11:05] 4To Rollie: "Sort of. No." 4To Rosa: "Thank you, Seneschal. I'll call him now. Excuse my brusqueness." 4He'll end the call with Isaacs. [11:05] "Look, I clearly trust you, I think that goes without saying. But I can't just extend that trust to the entire church. Do you know that the last time I spoke with the Bishop, he vaguely threatened my life?" 15[11:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Anything you need from me?" 08[11:06] 4And dial the number of 'Edward Robin,' while saying to Rollie: "Is everyone else okay?" [11:06] Clarabelle swerves so suddenly she almost hits the concrete divider. "W-what??" 15[11:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm making the check-in rounds now. Edgar and Santiago were fine when I called, on their way home." 08[11:06] 4To Rollie: "Not unless you've got a high-level Sanctum miracle-worker just sitting around, free to bless some Vitae and expunge it of the taint of Vinculum." [11:07] "Well that's something, at least." 15[11:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I don't. Sounds like you're on it. Focus on that, I'll keep stuff locked down here." 15[11:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "Take care, man." 08[11:08] 4To Rollie: "You too. I'll check in when this is over." [11:08] 4Or I'll be dead. 15[11:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie grimaces into the phone. Cav... "Alright." [11:08] The number for Robin picks up. "Presbyter Robin. Who's calling?" 15[11:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He'll hang up on Cav and call Edgar next. [11:10] 3Maja grips the handle bar above the seat. After a few seconds, she relaxes. "It's fine now- I don't think I'm in any imminent danger- not from the Bishop, anyway. I've been sworn to keep some things secret, and I think it's best I keep that oath- but I don't think we can just take everyone's well-intentions for granted." [11:11] "This is Deputy Clinton Cavanaugh of the Orange Territory, Presbyter. I received this phone number from the Seneschal. I am in dire need of a practitioner of the Rite of Reliquia Vitae Absolvereon an accelerated timeline, and I am told you are the practitioner to whom I should be speaking." [11:12] From Robin's end, there's the sound of a chair squeaking as someone sits up. "I'm one of them. Why do you need it, Deputy?" [11:17] 6Edgar: "Miss Blythe Sulzberger, on a field of flowers." 6Light spills out of the house door, and the noise of Abraham Van Helsing's futile struggles. But halfway down the hallway his phone rings again. [11:17] 6The voice of Jackie, from the living room: "He's let you in, has he?" 08[11:18] 6Edgar: "Come in, I just have to take this. Deputy Roland Choi." 6He ducks into an empty room and answers the phone, leaving the others to their own psychodramas. [11:18] 4Cav: "Something's torn my...elder in half and stopped her from being able to feed from Kine. Wouldn't say I'm an expert, but I get the feeling that this isn't gonna end in torpor, either." 4He glances back at Alicia. "And I think she's gonna need more than just a taste of Kindred vitae. So that puts me in a position where I'm willing to mark favors." [11:18] Morton: "A magnificent work. The fourth-largest canvas I've ever worked on. Hm? Oh-" He turns to face down the hall. "Modern woman." 15[11:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Edgar! How's it going?" 08[11:19] 6Edgar, disappearing: "Best woman I know, though. Hey, Rollie." [11:19] Robin sounds like he's gathering things. "I can be there in thirty minutes. Will she last that long? Is she losing blood?" [11:20] "I dunno, man. Yes." 4Cav's voice, for the first time since he walked through the ruin of his front door, cracks. "Hurry." [11:20] 6Edgar: "Things are essentially good here, which it occurs to me I've never specified is a place out of Santa Ana. There's a visitor of import, benign." 15[11:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "And whoever was there to receive them is doing okay?" [11:21] Robin: "Give me your address." There's the sound of a door slamming. [11:21] 4He does. [11:21] 6Edgar: "Doing quite well, sounded like. How'd you know something was going down?" [11:23] 6Jackie appears at the end of the hall to gawp at Morton. She'd intended to cast a critical eye or some other more seemly metaphor, but it goes from a gape to a gawp in seconds. For his part, Edgar's sire can see a woman in a white gown with her hair down and a face that could be Edgar's own apart from the stubble and the eyes. She looks about thirty, but only because she's done enough [11:23] 6beautician and makeup work to basically count as a professional. [11:23] Robin: "If she's losing blood, I need you to apply pressure to the largest wound as best you can. If the wounds are on an extremity, keep it elevated. I'll be there as soon as I can." Click. 15[11:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Like I said, something messed up was going on at Cav's place so it seemed like a good idea to make the rounds, you know? Synchronicity." 15[11:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm glad your thing is fine, though." [11:25] Clarabelle: "But…he threatened you??" [11:25] 4And so Clinton Cavanaugh walks into the kitchen, grabs all his towels, and gets closer to Alicia Holymount than he swore he ever would of his own free will again. [11:26] 6Edgar: "Got a feeling it'll be finer if I allow the specimens to make their own first impressions in the petri dish. Anything I should know about the rest of the rounds? Clinton's a survivor." [11:26] 4Far too late, he tries his best to stop the bleeding. [11:27] Alicia puts her bloody hand on his face. [11:32] Robin appears twenty-five minutes later, doing his best to close the door behind him. As he comes into the living room, he pulls his collar from a bag and puts it around his neck. He's not wearing a cassock, but just a black button up and khakis. [11:32] "What happened?" [11:33] Morton: "Edgar…" He casts around for his childe, but can't find him. "Good evening. Shall we…introduce…ourselves?" His face seizes up at the last word. [11:36] 6Jackie stares. Neither of them's even shut the front door. Well, could be worse. Could be six years ago when she was working extras and some of Edgar's shitty friends used the crowd as a way to hide from.. whatever trouble they were in. There's no way this guy is a criminal or, for that matter, a vampire. [11:37] "Jackie Levaux. You're acquainted with my cousin?" [11:37] 3Maja: "Yeah. I mean, it was a veiled threat. But, yes. I think he was trying to get across the gravity of the situation- and he succeeded. But it didn't exactly instill a sense of trust into me." 15[11:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Everyone's either fine or surviving, far as I can tell. I'm going to check in with Santiago next. Take care." [11:37] 4Cavanaugh, already moving: "Let's setup while we talk. Came home, door busted, she's bleeding like she's not dead and she can't eat people blood anymore. Haven't asked for the rest of the story and don't really think she's in any condition to tell it." [11:39] Robin kneels by the sofa. "Alright. She's fine here." The priest sets his bag down besides, and flips the cover open. He takes out a penlight, and shines it on her wounds. "She can't have that much left. I'll immunize her. Are you giving blood, or am I?" [11:39] 6Edgar: "Yes, mama hen Choi." [11:40] Morton: "I am his sire." 15[11:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie laughs, and something occurs to him. "...yeah. Yeah. Alright, seeya." 15[11:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He'll call Santiago first. "Hey." [11:41] 4Cavanaugh: "I am." [11:41] 4He's already stripped down to his undershirt. [11:41] Clarabelle grips the steering wheel. "But…I mean…okay. Okay. If he did that, you're right. Should…do you still want to see him tonight? We can wait." [11:42] 6Jackie: "Okay." 6On the screen behind her, now silent, the newly Embraced Jonathan Harker rides off into the night. "You aren't my uncle Shrew, and 'sire' can't be a mob title. It sounds more ren faire. I know from ren faires because of my ex-husband. So do you wanna take a seat and explain? I've been making coffee." [11:43] Robin nods his head at the kitchen. "Okay. I need a bowl for this. Do you have any kine blood? It's an easy reagent, and I can add whatever else from my bag." While he talks, he rustles through his things. [11:43] 6Edgar appears behind Morton at this point, but he puts a finger to his lips, smiling, and Jackie doesn't say a thing. [11:45] Morton lowers himself into the largest armchair in the room. "I am the one who turned Edgar into what he is. His blood is descended from mine. I am Morton Moreno Munoz, Illustrator of the Brilliant Court. What a pleasure it is to make your acquaintance." [11:46] Santiago: "Hey. Everything's fine out here. The Baroness took the baby to the vault, and I'm keeping an eye out. What happened with Cav?" [11:46] 4Cav's out of the room in three strides and back in 10 with four bloodpacks. [11:47] 4Now that he's committed -- now that he's made his choice -- he's not hesitating. [11:47] 3Maja pauses for a bit to think about it. "I mean, we could probably talk to him tomorrow. If you don't mind sitting on it a bit." [11:48] "Why don't we just ... maybe we can just chilld out a bit for the rest of the day?" [11:48] Clarabelle: "But…the fire man! He's out there…" 15[11:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie hesitates. He's not gonna disrespect Cav's privacy here. "He had a visitor, the circumstances were weird." 15[11:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "Edgar also did but it wasn't as bad." 15[11:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "They're fine." 15[11:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sorry for freaking you out." [11:49] Santiago: "Good. I'm glad everything's fine. Everything okay at the office?" [11:49] 3Maja sighs. "Yeah, you're probably right. Let's just get this over with." [11:49] "Jesus Christ," 6Jackie remarks. It doesn't sound particularly judgemental. [11:49] 6The coffee is just by the library door - she's been using it to stay up nights, making an effort not to be sucked into this nocturnal horse hockey. Here's a cup of it and a little bowl of sugar. "I'm very interested to meet you, Mr. Moreno Munoz, since Edgar's been extremely reticent-like on the subject of literally everything." 15[11:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah, I just set up the network. I'm probably going to have office calls forwarded to my phone and head out pretty soon." 15[11:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "Anything you need taken care of?" [11:50] Robin takes the bloodpacks and lays them down in between him and Alicia. "I need the bowl." He uncaps a pen and starts to write on the packs. It looks like Latin. [11:50] 6Edgar takes a seat at this point, and a cup- he has to make a little air-grab motion to actually get her to bring another one over. Watches them both. Somehow this works. [11:52] 6Jackie: "Like, he tells me this is supernatural but makes it out to be a minor little thing and then I find a book he's been reading about mountain witches, written by an actual wizard. Is this normal behaviour, Mr. Moreno Munoz?" [11:52] Santiago: "Naw, I'm good. Hey, weird question, but are you doing anything for Thanksgiving?" [11:52] 6Edgar: "Jacqueline, you can't take my books!" [11:53] 6Jackie: "You take my books." [11:53] 6Edgar: "I do not take your books. Did you lose my place?" 15[11:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie closes his eyes. "I'm gonna stop in and see my mom early, but after that my night's wide open. Why?" [11:53] Morton: "Nothing about Edgar is normal. He is a childe of rare talent and discretion." [11:54] Santiago: "The Baroness and me were going to invite the rest of the deputies over. If you didn't already have plans." [11:55] 6Edgar: "Thank you, Morton. Exquisite judgement." [11:55] By the time Cav returns with the bowl, he sees Robin marking Alicia's forehead with oil. He flicks open a penknife and pokes a hole in the tops of the packets, squeezing each into the container. 15[11:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "That sounds cool. Let me check with my- let me check with someone and get back to you. Would it be okay to bring someone?" [11:58] 6Jackie: "The first movie I watched uses that term, 'childe'. There's a vampire virus, which turns people from 'kine' to 'kin', and then they have to fight Michael Sheen. Is Hollywood on to something?" [11:58] 4Cav grabbed the bowl while he was in there, too. "Stainless steel fine or do you need wood? I have some artisinal wood bowls. For salads." [11:58] 4Sometimes company brings ghouls. 14[12:00] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [12:01] 6Edgar's given up on his policy of silence. "Hollywood makes up wars like usual. Real kindred organise peacefully into 'Courts', which is where Morton does- illustration and social moderation. The organisation is named Invictus." 6This is a good opportunity to glance at Morton and find out whether that's a name he was to keep secret; never been sure until now. 14[12:01] * Joins: Quaker [12:01] 6Jackie: "Wait, you've actually seen the movie? It's total crap, Edgar." 14[12:02] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[12:02] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) [12:03] Robin: "Steel's fine. Wood will soak up the blood." [12:03] Morton: "Sometimes unpeacefully. Although I leave the details to others more fearsome." [12:04] 6Edgar: "Right, but we aren't fighting a war against werewolves." [12:04] 4That's good, because steel is what he brought. He looks around for the plastic tubing or whatever. "How am I doing this?" [12:04] 6That would be just his luck. [12:05] Clarabelle steers the car onto a ramp merging onto another freeway, heading into Los Angeles. "Okay." [12:05] While she's driving, she glances over. "You know I wouldn't let him, right?" [12:06] 6Jackie sits on the sofa rather than a chair, to curl up thoughfully. She's had enough coffee and enough nights to turn despair into questions. "Are those real? How does any of this... happen?" [12:06] Morton: "I suppose the Commission wages war when it suits them. But besides their example, it is merely seasonal." [12:07] 3Maja smiles. "Could you really stop him?" 14[12:08] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) [12:08] Robin hands Cav a small steel knife. "When I open her mouth, cut yourself and squeeze the blood in." [12:08] 6Jackie, flatly: "Seasonal war and blood drinking. How? We have science now." 14[12:09] * Joins: hrolf [12:09] Clarabelle: "My death at his hands would shame him into submission." She appears serious. [12:09] 4I-- But-- There are so few safeguards if you do it this way. "Okay," 4he says out loud. [12:10] 6Edgar: They're- "We're very good at hiding and fooling people. Supernaturally good, or maybe it's scientifically explainable- but hidden. Fooled away. It's a matter of.. discipline." [12:10] 4I-- But-- There are so few safeguards if you do it this way. "Okay," 4he says out loud. [12:10] 4whatever. [12:11] The priest has put some things in front of him, on the carpet: a small bird's bare skull, polished white; a scrap of gray cloth, its edge stained with something blue; scrap of paper that he's written on in small block letters. [12:12] Robin puts each into the bowl, and then submerges his hands in the blood. He begins to mutter. [12:12] Santiago: "Yeah, sure. I mean - well, just think about whether they'll be fine with people drinking blood. You know." [12:13] 3Maja slowly nods and looks forward. "I'd fight you on this, but- I'd do the same thing. Even if I know my life doesn't carry the same weight." 15[12:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10While waiting for Santiago to reply, Rollie'll text Maja again.  [12:15] Clarabelle stares forward for a while. "This life is just a proving ground for the next, and I'd be happy to spend it in the service of righteousness." 14[12:15] * Joins: FerrinusPrime [12:18] The presbyter kneeling by the two Gangrel takes his red hand and places it on Alicia's forehead. The other grasps the bowl and holds it above her unmoving body. [12:19] 4Clinton Cavanaugh remembers, quite vividly, the dinner party at the end of July when he, still a ghoul, finally summoned the courage to approach her in the kitchen and tell her that he wanted out of the program. He remembers how she merely paused chopping up onions with a knife not so dissimilar to this, took his wrist in her hand, and outlined for him 'the proper way to quit.' Then [12:19] 4she turned back to her cutting board said the upstairs tub would be most convenient. He needed toughening up, she'd later say. If he'd told one of the other mentors that, they'd have just drained him dry right there in the kitchen, and damn the onions. [12:19] 4Glad to finally put that lesson to work. [12:19] "Ready," 4says Cavanaugh. [12:19] 3Maja is reminded of the scene from Thelma & Louise, and she just barely resists reaching out to hold Clarabelle's hand. "Same." [12:20] "If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from me; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee." [12:21] "For thou has possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well." [12:21] He upends the bowl, and as the blood falls, it burns. It lands on Alicia, and dissolves into gray nothing. [12:22] 4Cavanaugh doesn't hold his breath. He is merely acutely aware, right now, that he is not breathing. [12:22] The priest waits for a moment, and then opens her eyelid with a thumb. Alicia stares back. Robin opens her mouth. "Okay." [12:23] 4Cav opens the vein. [12:25] Alicia's throat works as it falls into her mouth. The blood flowing from her in a small, slow stream stops. She closes her eyes. [12:26] After a while, the wounds on her side start to fade. [12:28] Morton: "Edgar, I commend you for your secrecy. I imagine it must have been hellish. But, you should also learn the value of confidence, placed in the right person." [12:29] 6Jackie isn't dumb enough to believe that 'discipline' can keep a secret society of vampires (and werewolves??) hidden for all of history. She's has so many questions- why would sunlight physically hurt you? Are you evil? Are there women vampires? How do I stop someone drinking my blood? But she's not going to interrupt this. Morton's heart is in the right place, if anyone could find [12:29] 6it in there. [12:29] The blood covering Robin's hands has burned away. He still wipes his hands on the front of his shirt out of unconscious habit. "That looks better." [12:29] 4Cav stands and paces in a wide circle away from the ritual. At the apex of the orbit: "Did it work?" [12:30] 4In the shadow of the staircase he pulls off the bloody undershirt and mops what's left off of him, then takes his dress shirt from the bannister and buttons it back up. [12:31] Robin calls from the living room. "Yes. You can feed her from here? She's immunized for the rest of the night, at least. Enough to get her out of the red." [12:32] "I can handle it," 4Cav says without much emotion. [12:33] 4He walks back into the living room and tosses the undershirt on the ruined couch. "You have my number. This is my card." 4From his wallet. "I owe you for what you've done here. I pay my debts." [12:33] "I'll intrude on your evening no further." [12:33] 4Unless you know a good contractor for the door. [12:34] Robin puts his things away. "On the contrary, Deputy. I didn't do anything, and you owe me nothing." [12:34] 4Cav pauses. That can't be good. [12:35] Before he walks away, the priest touches Alicia's forehead again. "The Lord bless you and keep you. Will you see me out, Deputy?" [12:35] 6Edgar: "If there's a right person we're lookin at her. Jacqueline, there's still a lot I don't know myself, and a lot of responsibilities I can't share. I'll tell you anything you want to know." [12:36] "I will." 4He'll even walk the Presbyter to his car. [12:36] 6Jackie: "Then tell me what I asked you last time." 6To Morton: "Tell me why he let you do this to him." [12:37] Morton: "I will assist in any way I can. Also, Edgar, you really should have someone here for…things." He twists himself around in his chair, looking around the house. [12:38] 6Edgar: "I don't want servants, Morton. This is America. Don't mind getting rich but I'll iron my own laundry." [12:38] 6Jackie: "But you'll take the coffee I made, won't you? Tell me why. You didn't run into this nice old man in a dark alley and get bit." [12:38] The presbyter puts his things in the car. "Whatever made her hemorrhage like that smelled like blood magic. The other blood magic." [12:39] 4Cav: "That's unfortunate, for her." [12:40] "...She's not stuck on a Kindred-only diet now, is she?" [12:40] Morton: "No, no. Of course not. It was a payment for services." [12:40] 6That's not what Jackie meant, and Edgar knows it. [12:41] Robin: "I don't know. If she got it any worse, she'd probably be dead. That might be the worst of it." [12:41] 6He puts his head in his hands as she looks incredulous. "A much appreciated thing, Morton, and you must have known I didn't know what I was asking." [12:41] 6Jackie: "So what did you know?" [12:42] "Mmmm." 4Cav crosses his arms. "Well, thank you again for taking time out of your night to save her. Though I confess I'm a bit confused why, if you're not expecting a favor in kind." [12:42] 6Edgar straightens up: "We do not age. We do not wither and die, Jacqueline." [12:43] "I knew that, I wanted that." [12:44] 6So did Jackie, on one level. It had to be. Once they were free, she wanted to be someone and he wanted to be safe. Obsessions. But: "What about me?" [12:44] 6Edgar: "I don't know." [12:44] The priest looks at Cavanaugh. "I don't sell miracles." [12:45] 6Both cousins are quiet. The movie's ended. [12:46] Morton: "Well, ghouls are quite important…" [12:46] "She didn't deserve your kindness," 4Cav said, staring across the drive-up at his Lexus. 'His' Lexus. "But I guess that's the whole point." [12:48] Robin: "Even the Damned receive undeserved love." [12:49] 4Cav's laugh is harsh, short, knowing, and humorless. [12:50] "Take care of yourself, Prysbeter. And either way, let me know if you're in a corner and need to be through a door." 4Cav takes a step backwards towards the ruined front door. "You didn't save her tonight. You saved me." [12:51] The priest smiles. "Luckily for all of us, there's no preceding merit required. If you have a debt, Deputy, you know who you have it with. Goodnight." [12:52] 4Cavanaugh watches him go, props the door up so it kind of looks like its on its hinges, and goes to get the garden hose from the detached garage. [12:53] 4He'll pop his head in from time to time to see how she's doing. Won't say anything, if at all possible. He tells himself he's just making sure she doesn't sneak off. [12:54] By the time he's done with the hose, she's sat up. She still clutches the towels to her waist. [12:54] 4The girls know his moods well enough by now to make themselves scarce this evening. [12:55] Morton looks between them. "Ah. Edgar…" [12:55] "So," 4he says as he walks inside and almost topples the barely-balanced front door over again. [12:55] "Portland." 14[12:55] * Joins: ddt_ [12:56] 6Edgar wants to yell something about, important to who? Because he surely hasn't seen them considered to be people, not by the real elders, and the way Morton puts it has him in mind of a status symbol to acquire. [12:56] 6Jackie says: "Ghouls. And the book had 'Gangrel'. Could you please tell me which of these things are somehow real? Ghosts, goblins, gargoyles, gorgons, gnomes, gremlins, golems...?" [12:56] 6She pronounces 'gnome' with a hard g. [12:56] Morton: "Hmm, Edgar, how was your meeting with the Countess? A woman of rare refinement, even if she must keep admirers at a distance." 14[12:57] * Quits: ddt_ (Client Quit) 14[12:57] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [12:57] Alicia looks up. "They were eating the kids. In Portland. Putting them in stews. Bleaching the bones." 14[12:58] * Joins: ddt [12:58] 4Cav leans against the doorframe. "Okay." [12:59] "I killed them. They put something on me before I could finish it. I was flying this way when it started. I thought of you." [12:59] 6Edgar: "Lancaster's a beautiful place. There's a combination of great strength and undeserved isolation there." 6This is also an odd topic for this company, but in a more upbeat way. [13:00] 6...and something he needs to know, too. "Excuse an indelicate question?" [13:00] "Gnomes aren't real, Edgar." [13:02] "Countess?" 6demands Jackie. [13:02] 6Edgar: "How does her ailment manifest? I've staved it off enough not to learn. Don't want to be.. surprised." [13:05] Morton hesitates in his answer. "It…summons unpleasant memories. And perhaps exaggerates those memories." [13:05] 6Shit. 14[13:07] * Joins: FerrinusSpace [13:07] 6Edgar was hoping for something to which he wouldn't be uniquely, specifically vulnerable. [13:07] "I do remember, as a matter of fact." 4Cavanaugh says after a moment. "When last we saw each other, you asked me if I remembered the last time I was sarcastic with you, and the consequences of it -- and you were clearly thinking of that time on the balcony in Midtown when something boiled over and I made that rather rude crack about Peter and you broke my jaw, then made me thank you [13:07] for not tearing it off, throwing it off the balconey and making me fetch it, with a broken jaw." [13:07] Morton: "Blythe Sulzberger, Countess Lancaster, Miss Levaux. Childe of the Lord Donald Bren. Blood sibling to Baron William Burne." 14[13:07] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) [13:08] 6Jackie: "Why do you use the titles?" [13:09] Morton: "Because we have earned them through service or inherited them from our sires. You see, Edgar, why I am curious about how well your visit went." [13:09] 4Cav smiles slightly. There's some bitterness in it, but it's not all bitterness. "But the last time I was sarcastic to you was at JFK, just before I left for here, when you told me to call or e-mail you any hour if I needed something, and I said: don't worry. I'm sure I'll be just fine without you." [13:09] 6Edgar: "I enjoyed it. Lancaster's about as far from Irvine as you can get, you know?" [13:10] Morton: "I am sure that she is just as aware of the fact." [13:11] 4He shakes his head. "So you're a superhero now? Saving kine-dergarteners from the crockpot." [13:12] Alicia wipes the oil from her forehead. "Who do you save? Other vampires?" [13:14] 6Jackie: "You've got a whole world of courtly etiquette and allusions wrapped around this stuff. That doesn't come through in the movies." [13:15] 6Edgar: "There's two things behind it might not be obvious, Jacqueline. First is a lot of" 6them "us are old enough for this to be normal - capital S on society." [13:16] Morton turns as best he can. "And which movie deals with four hundred vampires packed into a city at once, with more creeping malevolently in its shadowed environs?" [13:16] "I go to work and do my job and trust that my superiors have put me in the best place to do the most good," 4Cav says. "Have to say this whole thing isn't really helping sell that. Did you at least actually save some real, still-alive children, or was it mostly just emptying out tupperwares of really gross stew?" [13:17] 4When she gives him The Look: "That's snark, not sarcasm." 14[13:17] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) [13:17] 6Edgar: "That's the second thing. We react to each other automatically. A danger sense, fear or hostility. Four hundred are three-ninety-nine too many, says something in the blood. Formality is.. helpful. You've got a way to deal with everyone. The Correct way, agreed-upon." [13:18] 6Jackie: "I.. so you're going to live forever, but in the night, automatically hating each other? This is fucked up." [13:19] "It's fucked up, Edgar. Sorry, Morton, but it's screwed up." [13:19] Alicia tests her weight on her feet. "I saw the schedules. They were going to take a half-dozen more next week." [13:20] 6Edgar: "At least we're dealing with the, you know, malevolent environmental creeps." [13:20] 6This is to Morton. [13:20] 4So tupperwares of really gross stew, then. [13:21] She staggers towards the door. "I'm going to go feed." [13:23] Morton: "Miss Lavaux mentioned that you were reading about them, I think." [13:23] 4Cav sighs. "You're not, actually. We don't know what Kine blood will do to you or what the interaction will be. You need to be not two bad kneebends away from a lumpy pile before you feed on Kine again. Not to mention the risk of frenzying." [13:24] Alicia: "Then you're going to feed, and then feed me, while this thing is still working." [13:24] 4He blocks the doorway. "You're spending the rest of the night here, feeding off my blessed reserves." [13:26] 6Edgar: "I thought I was. Where'd you leave it?" [13:26] 6Jackie: "Where I found it, which is what you do with my Georgette Heyer books, so that I won't know you've been reading them." [13:26] Alicia puts her hands on Cav's chest and pushes him towards the sofa. "Fine." [13:27] 4Cav dodges out of the way. "Oh no, no no no. I'm not sitting down on that. You can sit on that if you want. I'm having it burned." [13:28] 4There is, luckily, a perfectly good loveseat right next to the couch that under absolutely no circumstances is Cav sharing with this woman. [13:29] Alicia puts her hands on Cav's chest and pushes him towards the loveseat. "Fine." [13:30] 6You know, if everyone here is interested in the theology and architecture of the Circle of the Crone - for three quite different reasons, he's sure - Edgar is perfectly happy for them to sit around read and discuss it. He still hasn't found a bookclub which starts late enough in the evening. [13:31] 4Continuing. "The television has Netflix -- stop doing that -- and some, I don't know, last time we messed around with this thing we found a whole bunch of soccer channels I don't remember putting on my cable package. So you have options." [13:33] "A whole lot of things to do that don't involve me." [13:34] Alicia: "I need blood, Clinton. Immediately." [13:38] Morton: "You know, I was just thinking that my own reading room is quite…spacious. And well-lit, and brightly colored." [13:39] 6Jackie: "And does it not smell slightly like dogs all the time?" [13:40] 6Hey. Edgar's place is big! And dimly lit. And.. warmly coloured, earth tones, arguably? But he can't argue about the smell. [13:41] Morton: "It is not. And you are always welcome to it." [13:41] "Also, it is distinctly uncomfortable outside of my own home." [13:41] 4Cavanaugh smiles and keeps his temper. "Alicia, when I feed you the blood from my wrist I don't want to be looking at you, smelling you, hearing you, or even aware that you're in the room instead of me just dripping onto a paper towel. So you're going to sit down, I'm going to remain standing, we're going to turn on the fucking Netflix, and as soon as you're squared away I'm going [13:41] to bed." [13:42] 4...Well, [13:42] 4He didn't yell. [13:43] "There's a guest room I furnished. It smells like weed. You can either deal with it, or try to find Kevin before sunrise." [13:44] Alicia looks at Cavanaugh. "Do you remember what I did to apologize for breaking your jaw that night?" [13:44] 6Edgar got that, but life's small politenesses are also it's small cruelties. If Morton wants to go home, bring them and show off his place to Jackie, fine. She's already asking more questions.. seems fascinated by the guy, who is admittedly a slightly unbelievable person. ..how did he even get here? [13:45] 6The bookclub will move, then. It's been a good night after all, unless San Onofro goes up. [13:46] She walks away. "I'll be in my room if you do." [13:46] 4Cavanaugh, turning on the television: "♫♪ I'm not sleeping with you, ever again ♫♪" [13:49] NEXT TIME: Man on Fire 14[14:30] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[14:57] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[15:12] * Quits: mugabe 11[15:12] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue Jun 16 15:12:43 2015 Session Start: Tue Jun 16 15:20:02 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[15:20] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[15:20] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[15:20] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[15:20] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[16:26] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[18:14] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[18:16] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:01] * Joins: Crion_ 14[19:50] * Quits: Quaker 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Session Start: Wed Jun 17 16:10:33 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[16:10] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[16:10] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[16:10] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[16:10] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[16:10] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[16:38] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[16:41] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[16:52] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[16:55] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[17:09] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[17:15] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[17:44] * Joins: Crion_ 14[20:11] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[21:17] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[21:50] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping 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connection) 14[05:30] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[06:02] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[07:06] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[07:17] * Quits: dammitwho 14[08:41] * Joins: Crion_ 14[09:00] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[09:05] * Joins: Crion_ 14[11:42] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[11:42] * Joins: ddt 14[12:06] * Joins: Crion_ 09[12:46] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[13:02] * Joins: Quaker 09[13:17] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[13:38] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[13:53] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:57] * Joins: Crion_ 09[14:25] * banana is now known as b_____ 15[15:10] <@VoxPVoxD> http://guysamericankitchenandbar.com/ [15:11] the blitzmas beast [15:12] football: the meal 15[15:13] <@VoxPVoxD> I'm the one sprayed with axe and mushroom dribblins 15[15:16] <@VoxPVoxD> which thing off this menu did ferrinus order... 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I need somebody [10:59] ‘This camp is not even in my top five. Auschwitz was just not as impressive as I had thought’ 14[11:51] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[11:56] * Joins: Quaker 15[12:14] <@VoxPVoxD> http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/06/19/415878758/cat-wins-hero-dog-award nomadgame [12:17] good...cat??? 14[13:04] * Joins: ddt 04[13:47] <@Ferrinus> <@VoxPVoxD> http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/06/19/415878758/cat-wins-hero-dog-award nomadgame 14[14:01] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[14:04] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 09[14:19] * banana is now known as banana|sss 09[14:54] * banana|sss is now known as banana|sleep 14[15:34] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[16:10] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[16:27] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[16:34] * Joins: ddt 14[16:42] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[16:42] * Joins: ddt_ 09[16:42] * ddt_ is now known as ddt 14[18:37] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[19:11] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[19:15] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[19:20] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:33] * Joins: tom2 14[19:35] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[19:53] * Joins: Quaker [19:56] <@Ferrinus> agh i still haven't left the house for food. i am now, but back in as many as ten or fifteen 14[20:09] * Joins: Crion_ 09[20:20] * banana|sleep is now known as banana|ugh 09[20:24] * banana|ugh is now known as banana [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ... .....xxxxxxxxxx.....x##****#x..x#***#x..x#* [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ... .....xxxxxxx####****##x....x#***#x..x#**#x..x# [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ... ...................xx#****#x...x#***#...x#**#... [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12.... ... .....xxxxxxxx....x#****#x..x#**#x..x#**#.. [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12... .... .. .....xxxx###*****#x...x#***#...x#*#x...###x. [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12... ...... .... ............xx#****#x..x#**#x..x#*#x...x##x [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12.. ..... ..... .... ...xxxxx....x#***x...x#*#x..x###x..xx## [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12.. ...... ..... ..... .. ...xx##****#x..x#**#...x###...x##x...x## [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12....xx......x.. ...... ..... .....xx#***x...###x...x##x...x#xx...xx [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12....xx.....xx.....xx........ .... ..xx...x###x...x#x....xxx....xxx...xx [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12...xxxx...xxx....xxx....xx.....xx.. .. .**#x...xxx....xx....xxx....xxx....x [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12...xxxx...x#x....x#x...x##x...x##x..x#**.......xxx...x##x...x##x..x##x...x# [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12...x##x...x##x...x##x..x###x..x#*#x...xx. ........xxx....xxx...xx#x...x# [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12x..x###...x##x...x##x...#**#x..x***#x.... .. .........xx....xxx....xx [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12x...x##x..x#*#x..x#**x..x#**#x..x#***##xx... ..... ...x.....xxx....xx [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12#x..x#*#x..x#*#x..x#**#...#***#x....xxxx... . ..... ..x......xx [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12*#...x**#x..x**#x..x#**#x..x#****#xx...... ..... ...... ..... [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12**x...#**#x..x***x...#***#x...x##**###xxx...... ..... ...... [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12#**x..x#**#x..x#**#x..x#****#x.....xxxxx..... .... ...... [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12x#**#...#***x..x#***#x...x#****#xx......... .... ..... [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12.x#**#x..x***#x..x#***#x....x########xxxxx........ ... . [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12..x#***x..x#***#x..x#****#xx......xxxxxxx...... .. 11[20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Two Neokoroi just wandering about the athenaeum - one apparently unsupervised! Needle's got the clout to get away with it, though, and Paracelsus has got the charm. 15[20:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus isn't a neokoros. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12It's Arrian and Sheila who are at hypothetical issue here, I'm saying. 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10I can't keep these people's names straight. When's bedtime? [20:30] 7It's always bedtime somewhere. [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, the young Obrimos has been sent hurrying off with what might well be the makings of an alchemical bomb, and the Mastigos and Moros are free to pursue their other affairs. This might include the book currently poised to eat Arrian alive from within, but realistically isn't going to have managed to finish the job for like a week at least, and there's other stuff to take care 11[20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12of. A ghost has politely informed Paracelsus that Gabriel wants a word (although Gabriel's office still sounds like it's got some sort of fight going on inside it, so it might be a wait), and Arrian knows from a dead drop message he received a day ago that Felix has a task for him. [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Both these things might be subordinate to what Cross has got going on, though, as she's about to sit down for lunch with a pair of werewolves. Has she invited anyone else? [20:37] 6Well, at minimum she figures it's a good idea to get the guy who totally called, via death magic, the brutal murder of Helen and Eric's family in on this. 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well, unless Gabriel's just napping on a hammock while a boom box full of halloween sounds plays, Paracelsus is guessing that will keep. He'll go help Cross. 14[20:37] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [20:38] 6Arrian gets a text message as well because most of Cross's address book is set up for contacting *groups* of nerds, and the Mystagogues are one. Up to him. [20:38] 7Hmm. He does want to see how Helen is doing, and this would be a good time to show off his cool mystic curse. [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12It's true. If Arrian concentrates hard enough on the skin of a forearm he can almost imagine a little lump crawling by under the skin. 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Bright pink letters flash across Paracelsus's retinas, forcing him to blink them away. Well. As Debord would say, tally-ho! [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12What kind of place is Cross treating the werewolves to a meal at? Helen's absolutely shameless about freeloading. [20:42] 6Further:  [20:42] 6Fox (Millicent has never told him about her secretary about namesake, the grey underscore fox. He's got it bad enough when it comes to nicknames already.):  [20:42] 6Rhodes:  [20:42] 6Fox:  [20:43] 6Cross's favourite food is influenced by her working environment and the total invulnerability of her body to any need for vitamins. Is there such a thing as an expensive, upscale greasy diner downtown? [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, loads. [20:44] 6Let's call it Threecows. They have a secret menu, which is cool. [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Whether or not Cross actually knew before sitting down, it's Helen who worked her jaw around a bit, stretched out, and then asked the waiter if they've got anything with a little more authenticity. She hasn't, apparently, been here before, but gives Cross a faintly smug look nevertheless as Eric busies himself by studying his placemat. [20:48] 6Better vet what topics are acceptable while others are arriving... Cross: "Soooo. Witches." [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Cross probably got in touch with her allies before even reaching the restaurant, so the two mystagogues could show at pretty much any time. They find their Acanthus ally sitting across from two people: a rangy woman with gray-blonde hair who looks faintly sunburned despite her tan, and a thoughtful, olive-skinned boy sitting next to a big pile of winter clothing. 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well, Paracelsus shows up pretty quickly, wearing his 'I just stepped out of a noir film set' long coat over his sweater vest and bowtie. We're well past the time of year when you can go out without a jacket and not attract attention. He nods at Helen but gives Eric his attention. How old is he? [20:50] 7Arrian: "Ooh. Don't tell me. That's the, uh... the Sodalities of the Tor, right?" [20:51] 6What! What do those words even mean. 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "There's only one Sodality." [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12While Helen is, and I hope I'm not contradicting a past log here, in her late forties, Eric's like fourteen. They're both stained with recent death, though only Helen's got a layer of general, decades-long killing-acquaintedness beneath that, and both their minds thrum with a prickly, predatory caginess that marks their mental processes as not entirely human. Beneath that, only [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12apparent if Arrian stares for a little while, is a bottomless and indiscriminate fury not particularly consonant with the nature of man nor beast. 11[20:53] "Crap. He's right, point goes to Paracelsus." [20:54] <@Ferrinus> "Ayep," 12Helen's saying, before drawing on a tall glass of water. "Witches. Th- what? Tor?" [20:55] 6Cross: "I've got no idea what that is." 6In fact, she flips a little spiral-bound page to make a note of it. [20:55] 7Arrian: "Oh, sorry. I thought we were playing Name That Legacy. I'm a bit distracted. Go on." 11[20:55] 6Cross: "Eric, this is Arrian and, like he says, Paracelsus. They're the kind of people who know about sodalities..?" 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus won't elaborate, because of course it seems in exceedingly poor taste to crack jokes about moon-worshipers given present company. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus has by this point sat down, coat draped over the back of the chair. "Hello, Eric." [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric looks similarly confused. He gives a shy "Hi," 12to both of the mystagogues, though, before sitting back and looking between all three cabalmates. Helen offers a warm smile and sisterly nod. [20:57] 6Cross: "Um, I was asking about the witches you were consulting in the" 6Shadow? "spirit world. How did that go?" 14[20:58] * Joins: trenchfoot [20:59] <@Ferrinus> "Yeah," 12says Helen. "I was hopin' for - insight, you know? Augury. Driftin' a bit lost, and my boy here's just got his start." 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus nods along. [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "Now, here in the city that's the Three Witches. Old, old pack - kinda rotates members, is my understanding. And one, at least, is always cahalith. Like Eric, here." 14[21:01] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [21:02] 6Cross: "Very khthonic. Do they have the normal quota of eyes and teeth?" [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "Trouble is, when you're old and wise and strong, you - you know, you went a long way to get there. Made a lot of friends and enemies. Went through a bunch of changes. The Three, far as I know, don't even walk out here anymore. Hardly even walk the regular Shadow." [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "Well, they did when I saw 'em, ahhh... I guess fifteen years back? Girl, woman, and crone, very proper." [21:04] 6Oh, we do use the same name! Pity the universal supernatural phenomenon so-identified is something Cross knows nothing about. 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "What they had for you wasn't what you were looking for, you're saying?" [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "Mean back then or just now?" 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "At any point, I suppose." [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "Oh, well, back then, we were on - heh, a quest, I guess. Had a dai-klaive to put back together to slay this great ole monster. They put their heads together, told us how." 12Eric's goggling at her. "Before your time," 12she says. [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "No duh it's before my time, I wanna hear it-" [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "Eric, these nice people aren't here for me to prattle on about old stories." [21:09] 7Arrian: "Well, I wouldn't say no--" 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Another time." [21:09] 6Cross: "I don't know, it must be quite something to still be in touch with the mystic slash mythic entities who empower you. Ours died out, like, before written history." [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen quirks a brow. "'zat so? Truth be told, I always wondered what it was you people were doing." 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Dryly: "So do we." [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "A lot of my kind, you ask 'em, they'll just say you folks are regular lu'u who no one got to fast enough after they started reading too much, but that can't be it." [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "One of ours did, too." 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's not why you're either either," 10says Paracelsus. "There'll be another time for that, too." [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12That's to Cross - he's got an earnest, helpful expression on his face. 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> *here either [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "True, true. Anyway, like I was sayin' - last time I saw the Three, well, I wouldn't say there was much about it that was regular but it sort of went how I'd expect." [21:14] 6Right, the alpha wolf legend thing. Or for all we know maybe there *was* such a being and they just, fell into the abyss (sorry). [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "Today, I couldn't even reach 'em." 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "What happened when you tried?" [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "They're in deep Shadow, see? Place so old and powerful it doesn't need to be anything's reflection anymore. Hard to get into, harder to get out. Parts of it's a maze, parts of it's just void... I'd reckon most of the People here don't know it's there at all, and you take those guys and ask 'em how to get in, hah. Look at you like you're crazy." [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "You can, though, if you know the signs, make the right connections... which I did, and I did." 12She frowns to herself. "Not sure what went wrong." 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Nothing happened?" [21:18] 6Cross shakes her head. "You got unlucky, Helen. The maze is.. alive, and random- you were just there at the wrong time, when it was hungry." [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "Well, I got in ... but it wasn't working well. Harder than I remembered, and a lot more was biting at my feet than should've been. If Eric here hadn't Seen it I might've never come back out." 12She squeezes his shoulders with an arm, and he puts on a brave smile. "And if miss Cross here hadn't helped him out, 'course." [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "Nahh, you account for the luck. You make the deals you need to make to turn it good. ...or that's what I thought. Maybe it's grown, or somethin'. Maybe there's something I forgot to pay off or kill." 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Do you think they've moved on?" [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen looks contemplative. "You know, they could've. They could've and just... not cleaned up behind 'emselves. I don't see why, though. The Three've been here since before the colonies, stories say." [21:20] 6Cross: "Hmm. Your situation read as luck-based to me, but it's not like I understood the details. We totally got in one of those mutually recursive destiny things - Eric saw that I would see, etcetera, so it was very abstract." [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "You don't just up and leave your territory drop of a hat." [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "...now, hang on. If he saw that you'd see, and you saw him seeing you see-" 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "You've already said that their ways and means are opaque to you. If they left, certainly they'd have their reasons, but they might not make much sense." [21:23] 6Eric can field that one. [21:24] 6Cross does in fact understand how to create or unwind a closed timelike curve, but explaining it- well, that would constitute a lession in the higher arcana. [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric tries, touching his hand to his chin after ordering a huge cheeseburger from the server who comes around. "I don't think we... I don't think we caused it. I think it was gonna happen anyway and we both just saw." [21:24] 6*lesson 11[21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "Well, if you say so. I haven't got the head for that stuff." 12She turns to Paracelsus. "You ain't wrong.... but it's not my guess. Too much of what I saw seemed, well, the same as when they were around for them to've left. I dunno what deals bind 'em to the land here but you'd think you notice the difference." [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "Think I would, anyway. I'll have to look more thorough." 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Could they have been on guard?" [21:27] 6It sounds like what she should be doing is looking with a group of people, to help. But. [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "That could be, too. Could be I tripped a trap set for someone else." 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "It leads me to wonder, though, if they're as old and powerful as all that... who is the trap for? Who would dare?" [21:28] 6Cross orders a sort of potato lattice, with crumbed cheese stick things holding it together. [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "I'm not sure I wanna know, come to that. 'course my understanding is that it's two of 'em who are really old and powerful - maybe just one, sometimes." [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "Like I said, they rotate, see? Once the Crone's gone, the other two get promoted, look for a newbie. Dunno last time that happened, of course." [21:29] 6Cross: "How do they get along with the GW people?" [21:30] 7Arrian orders the same cheeseburger as Eric. Kid's got good eyes. "Maybe they were just busy? A 'do-not-disturb' sign?" [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "Hah! Glass Walker ain't a fan of ancient depths and mystery and the like. Don't even know if that pack and the Three've ever met." [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "If that's the case, it don't bode well for me that I didn't spot it." [21:30] 6Cross: "H-how.. can you not be a fan of ancient mysteries. I don't even understand." [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "Anyway, I won't be trying that again any time soon. Couldn't for another month even if I wanted to, obviously." [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "They like, heh, transparency." 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10When it comes time for Paracelsus to order he lifts his head, and his nostrils flare. Helen and Eric both can identify the look of someone taking a deep, meaningful sniff. His lips purse. He frowns. Finally he tells the server he'll have a cup of tea and a muffin. [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Both werewolves look at him funny. 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He'll call the health inspector anonymously after they eat, since their digestive tracts are all, presumably, very strong. [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Most definitely. Y'all would have a lot to admire here if you were Thyrsus, but it'd be cold comfort, really. [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "Just wish I knew what was - what happened. Could be we just can't stay here." 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Meanwhile, cold comfort is what Stygia is all about. "We could tell you, if it came to that." [21:34] 6Cross: "Well, best of luck when it's possible again. It's reassuring to know we're not the only people in this city having to journey through twisted realms which, themselves, try to claim our lives in pursuit of nebulous reconciliation." [21:34] 6Cross: "Do you not- was there no-" [21:35] 6:( [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "No what?" 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Remains." [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen looks down to Eric a moment, then back up at the Awakened. "Nah, there were those. Little bit. Buried 'em." [21:36] 6Cross: "So you don't know who's after you?" [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "It was, like... they were made of night. It was hard to see their shapes, maybe kind of like snakes." 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Forgive me, I have some questions. They're going to be frank, and that may sound rude. I apologize if this is difficult, and I won't take anything you say or don't say personally." 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is it alright if I ask them?" [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12He takes a breath before continuing. "We were out in the park, in Hisil, doing a ritual. Then... then Jangle went all wrong and it was like, the sky was coming out of the water after us." [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen eyes the necromancer for a moment. "You ain't gonna offend me. I'm not sure you- well, you could, maybe. But you won't. Shoot." 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "What was left of them?" [21:41] 6We were trying to eat these cheeseburgers. [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12My god... the tea and a muffin. He was planning this all along. 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10They weren't even half-off, were they. [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen licks her lips. "Not the damndest thing I ever saw... but the damndest, uh, mix, maybe. Lot was just gone - ate, Eric said. The edges were kinda... sucked dry and frozen off, mostly. But burned, too." 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Could the burn have been a byproduct of the cold?" [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "Oh, no, there was I guess you'd say freezer burn, too. But in some places, almost glowin' ash. Made me a little queasy and I don't get queasy." [21:47] 6Cross sits back. Her pen's still moving, but she's not taking notes on this; just scribbles. [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "I didn't... I didn't see the actual fighting. But there were flashes, behind me." 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Of light?" [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "Yeah." 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "What color? Did it give off any heat? Was there a sound?" 11[21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric's chin trembles here, and Helen doesn't reach out to steady his shoulder. She's biting fiercely into a leg of chicken, but looking intently at the younger werewolf through the corners of her eyes. For his part, Paracelsus can see that it's guilt and shame that choke up Eric's voice - that he's in position to relay this information is, itself, troubling him. [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Still, the calm reassurance bids Eric to speak. "They... it was like, it was like the sky on the water. The reflection. That's what - that's what just got up and came at the pack." 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "The night sky." [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "They'd, sort of bite and cut and - and Jangle was one of them. He was filled with stars suddenly, like the same ones you could see on their bodies. That's what- it was like starlight, burning stuff." [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen, steely-eyed: "Jangle was our totem." 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "And they ate." [21:59] 6So either the pack's god-spirit turned on them, or got attacked and coopted such that they, also, were destroyed. That sucks. [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "Y-yeah. I just - I ran. I wasn't, I was far away a little, on a hill. I knew I had to be there and when the stars came I'd have to run the other way." [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "Only dream I understood that whole - the whole. The." 12He sniffs and bites down on his own words and doesn't finish the sentence, his eyes sparkling before he brushes at them. 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus, gently: "It's in the past now. It's back then, and you're here. You're already here, Eric." [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "But they're not! THEY'RE-" 12Helen actually grabs him here, reaching out to grasp and press him up against herself. The outburst is sort of earthed into the old werewolf's body; Eric just buries his face in her side and stays silent. [22:03] 7Arrian strokes his chin gloomily. [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12The woman's stone-faced as she licks some grease off the fingertips of her other hand, then massages her forehead for a moment, then clasps Eric completely. "It's all right," 12she says, to the table as a whole. 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "It's easy, isn't it? It's so easy to wonder." [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "Folks are lucky you weren't around when I got the news." 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "'Why them?'" 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "'Why then?'" 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "'Why not me?'" [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric's face is hidden, but he shivers at the last question. [22:05] 6D: It'd be easier if it wasn't so clear that he speaks from experience. 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "It's alright to feel that way. It has to be, because almost all of us do." 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "But it forces us to ask ourselves a very difficult question." 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Given that we lived, and they didn't... what next?" [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "It's what I was hoping to hear." 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus nods. "We must ask ourselves, what is our duty as mourners to the lost? What is our duty as kin to kin? What is our duty to the world as survivors?" 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "And it's right, and fair, not to know right now. Nobody does. These questions take a lifetime to answer." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "And it isn't fair to ask them of anyone." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "But when they are asked... we must answer." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Even silence is an answer." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10As such, the necromancer falls silent. [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen's response is to stare into the middle distance. Eventually, she returns to her plate of chicken, and a little later her ward makes the effort to finish his burger. [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12It's when the meal's done, and you're waiting for the check, that Eric looks up to Cross. "Magellan - is he, is he okay? Like, cool?" [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "He wanted me to come meet him." [22:17] 6Cross: "You can trust him, if you want to meet. There's no obligation." [22:18] 6Cross: "Magellan is like.. my boss, or previous boss before a promotion. I don't know him well, but I know his work; he really understands spirit-stuff, more comparable to you guys than most of us would be, and he's done a lot of good with it." [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "That bird was his?" 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Since going silent Paracelsus has sipped his tea and eaten his muffin. From time to time his right hand strays to his left, idly twisting the carved-up gray ring he wears. [22:21] 6Cross: "Honestly, I don't know. It may have been an ally, or a creation. Or Magellan himself." [22:22] 6Cross: "You gotta delegate to the experts." [22:22] 7Arrian: "Which bird?" [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen raises her eyebrows. "Well, I hope he ain't intendin' on meetin' Eric alone." [22:23] 6To Arrian: "Oh, man. You missed out on a phoenix." [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "When I was, when I went into Hisil to rescue Helen - well, there was this big spirit at the locus I used. It doesn't like intruders." [22:23] "Golly." [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "It was gonna - yeah!" [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric: "Huge big firebird just swooped in and they fought." [22:25] "But yeah, no, he's not going to object if you both turn up. Might know something about what happened to the labyrinth of your graeae lykos." [22:25] "But yeah, no, he's not going to object if you both turn up. Might know something about what happened to the labyrinth of yourgraeae lykos." [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen looks less excited than Eric does at the prospect, but, hell, you can't deny the results. "Our what?" 12Besides the question, neither of the werewolves seems to have got much more to say - although there's still time if any of you have any small or large talk to make. [22:26] 6The thing is, Cross doesn't say, it's not like two werewolves are more dangerous to him than one, so, [22:29] "You know, a trio of wolf sisters. That's what they'd be called on Hercules, anyway." [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen: "Oh. Cool." 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Graeae and not Moirai?" [22:31] 6Cross: "Look, at least I didn't call Erinyes. These triune myths are prrrrobably all the same. Shit, don't vampires have one?" 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I don't know, I didn't study classics." [22:32] 7Arrian: "I did, but I don't know about vampires." [22:32] 6Cross: "We should probably look into that some day, find out if there's a house on the edge of the Aether and Stygia where three sisters live with the ghost of their Uncle Vanya." 11[22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Theyyy do, actually. Arrian and Paracelsus have both heard Felix muttering about it - specifically, complaining that vampiric triune-goddess worship isn't devil worship, for all that it might look like it if you squint. 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10God damn it Felix. And no, not that way. [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, is lunch adjourned, more or less? [22:35] 6It is, and Cross will apologise to the pack for the reality-detached digression as they settle up. 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus will give Helen his number if she wants to call him directly. [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Helen doesn't seem bothered by it, and she gratefully accepts his number, though she doesn't seem to have one to give in return. All three mages are treated to a seemingly inescapable bearhug as well as a firm handshake for their trouble, though not in a consistent order. Eric's more the type for shy, spoken thank-yous. 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus will accept all this with grace and tact. 11[22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Eric's gaze lingers between Cross and Paracelsus, and then the two werewolves are off. At least they've got each other - and you three, of course. [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Cross can tell that Arrian's got some kind of sword of Damocles hanging over his head, but otherwise everything seems to be in shape. What's everyone's next move? [22:39] 6The streets and cross-alleys seem less crowded after they've departed. There really is a sense of animal energy and presence to them, isn't there? "Much nicer people than the other ones. I hope things work out from now on." [22:40] 6Cross: "I was just going to head back to work or the inner sanctum, but- Arrian, have you noticed you're inevitably doomed again?" [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12What is it with this kid. [22:40] 7Arrian: "Yeah. I've got about a week, give or take. Do you happen to have a furnace or something I could use?" 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "The young people these days. So convinced of their own invincibility." [22:41] 6Cross: "There's an incinerator in the Streber building basement, I think. Project Spectrum just uses shredders." [22:41] 6Cross: "What do you need to melt, burn or calcify?" [22:45] 7Arrian: "Scarabs. A whole mess of 'em." [22:46] 6Cross can spare a few moments to take that in; it's a nice walk back, the day was busy and the night will be busier. Okay. Scarabs. "This sounds environmentally irresponsible." [22:47] "How many scarabs were you thinking of setting on fire? Are we measuring in bushels or cubits?" [22:48] 7Hmm. "Good question. A small demiplaneful?" 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Don't forget to tell her whose fault the scarabs are. Speaking of which, I need to head back to see Gabriel. Be careful." [22:49] 7Arrian: "Yes, yes. Godspeed." 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "Don't let Felix catch you talking like that." [22:49] "Hey, I didn't say which one. Anyway, it's about three-quarters of an olympic swimming pool full of flesh-eating scarabs." 11[22:49] 6Cross: "Wait, before I forget- there are a bunch of contractors doing interviews back in the outer part of the sanctum, but if you introduce yourself as Director Paracelsus they'll usher you into the back while going silently terrified and so on." 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "'God may be swift, but nothing is faster than Satan,'..." [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Felix has been historically ambivalent as to whether you should say Satanspeed or whether saying Godspeed is casual and/or irreverent enough to count as striking a blow against the heavens, to be fair. [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12No, never mind, that's canon. 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's good to know. Thank you, Cross." 10With that said, he's back to Athenaeum. [22:51] 6The same advice applies to Arrian, but it sounds like we're heading up there anyway..? "Actually, it sounds to me like it would be quite difficult to transport that many scarabs. You might need to napalm them in-place." 11[22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12It's customary to just knock on the office door of a fellow Daduchos. The sounds of battle or lion taming or something have died down by the time Paracelsus returns, and the soft "Come in," 12has Paracelsus opening the door on a circular chamber with a High Speech mandala carved into the center. This isn't the same shape Gabriel's office usually has, but it is the same material [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12- mostly black basalt, though with assorted cushions and sheets and things currently neatly folded about the edges of the chamber. The floor, walls, and runework all have the uncanny smoothness that suggests they were Woven into their current shape, and Gabriel's nimbus has leached the material of vibrancy and left the basalt a bit paler and greyer than it probably should be. [22:58] 7Arrian: "Transporting them will 100% not be a problem." 11[22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel's on a recliner, dabbing at his bald pate with a small cloth. He looks exhausted and more withered than he should be - this is some Cross-class pattern scouring Paracelsus is looking at, probably. There are what might be claw or blade marks on the center of the circle and on the ceiling above it. [23:00] 6Cross: "So you need to get rid of tons of flesh-eating insects. Do they eat... rat flesh?" 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus whistles. "I'm hoping this is where you tell me 'you should see the other guy!'." [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel wheezes with laughter. "Completely escaped me." [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "I've half a mind to ask you to leave and come back in." 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Not very Stygian, is it? We can keep going, but we don't get do-overs." 14[23:04] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "It's the other side of the Coin that's concerned me here - marking what's stopped." [23:05] Arrian: "Lemme just get ahead of you and say I'd rather get rid of the rats the same way I intend to get rid of the scarabs, rather than turn the scarabs on the rats and be responsible for them climbing out of people's toilets." [23:05] 7Arrian: "Lemme just get ahead of you and say I'd rather get rid of the rats the same way I intend to get rid of the scarabs, rather than turn the scarabs on the rats and be responsible for them climbing out of people's toilets." 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Mmm?" 10Is there a place for Paracelsus to sit? 11[23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12The older necromancer eyes the diagram in the center of the room for a moment - it seems to involve advanced Death and Space both, separating its contents from the outside world insofar as those contents are of deathly origin. "No luck, though." There is - though, owing to another detail of the room I forgot to mention, most of the places Paracelsus could sit aren't really suited [23:06] <@Ferrinus> to serving as seats. Ectoplasm's strewn around the chamber like blood, and there's actually a ghost dutifully mopping it up. [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Oops, that last part should be blue. 11[23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Either way, Gabriel waves Paracelsus over to a mercifully clean futon. 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus will take it. "Dare I ask?" [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "It seems so. But it's not a... sensitive secret. Something I've been plugging away at for a while, really." 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus is attentive. [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "A colleague of mine, Uriel - yes, we chose our names together, bit of a story itself - passed some time ago. He was a fellow, both in Path and Order, and the circumstances of his death were suspicious." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "I've been trying to scare up a ghost, or a related ghost, or remains - no luck, and I haven't the Mastery I'd need for my summons to plunge to the ultimate depths. Not yet." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "What will you do when you find it?" [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Ask it what happened. Uriel wasn't one to vanish without a trace. ...until he did, obviously." 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "How long ago?" [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Eight years, now. That's supernally verified, at least. But how, where, why..." 12He shakes his head. [23:21] 6Cross: "Alright.. it just seems that if you have a poolful of totally disposable scarabs, you want to synergise." [23:21] 6Cross: "How about destruction testing? [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Anyway, my advice to you on this matter is that if you're going to jimmy open an Avernian gate you should be ready for something extremely surprising to come out." 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "That's sound advice. Literally. I heard it through the door." [23:22] 6Cross: "Like.. anything that involves the verb 'unleash'. You could unleash the scarabs on the prism, for training.. no, we haven't the room." [23:23] <@Ferrinus> "Hah." 12Gabriel makes a few motions, then reaches towards a small desk at the opposite side of the room. The air blurs, and the necromancer's managed to pick up a bottle of water that had rested there, though for a few moments the thing looks even more translucent than it should be. After a few sips, the daduchos superior says: "Anyway." [23:24] 7Arrian: "I wasn't gonna burn all of them. We could keep a few jarsful around. Some for experimentation, at least one to have around the sanctum to look cool." [23:24] 6Cross: "Oh, that's a good point actually." 11[23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Anyway, Paracelsus... you're doing quite well here. An almost meteoric rise to your current station, glowing reports from those who mean to file them- do you intend to keep at it?" [23:25] 6Cross: "Do you mind coming and having a look over these chumps? They are not cool at all right now." 6This is said just outside the exterior elevator to 13b. 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I don't follow. Keep at what?" [23:26] 7Arrian: "Sure." [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Your work here. Your devotion to the living mystery. We're satisfied with you. Are you satisfied with us?" 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "You're asking me what my ambitions are." [23:27] 6Millicent explains on the way up: "Dividing the floor into a project area and inner sanctum is easy enough.. we could do more with runes, there.. the problem is that the public part is at risk of becoming just, offices." 6Ding. [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "I am, at that. Some regret their choice of Order, or even joining one at all. Others see regrettable necessities, sources of convenience..." [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "And what am I to think, hmm, of you bandying about with the Libertines so regularly?" 12His eyes twinkle. [23:29] The foyer's got a line painted on the ceiling now, leading down hallways to where the Prism's servers are being housed. There are a couple of men there with Watchtower Consulting badges, escorting other anonymous types with suits and utilibelts (who, being merely candidates) look nervous. One of the staff nods at Cross and says, "Director." [23:30] 7Arrian: "I thought this floor was going to be entirely non-public." [23:31] 6Cross to Arrian: "Right, that's part of it: do we just keep the rooms up here for intimidating interviews and have people down on level 12, or should we have some people working up here? They need access to the machines.. so there's got to be some sort of connection." 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I have a lot of sympathy for the Libertine position. I think their hearts are unassailable and I think their zeal is commendable. But Stygia doesn't permit me anything like their optimism. They speak of a living world where humanity is already paramount. I see a dying world where what we have is so fragile and so precious that it must be cherished and protected." 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He thinks of Arrian. "I feel a duty to the truth, but also a duty to the mystery." [23:33] "We definitely want the thing itself within our wards, so it's just a matter of how much space and how it's divided- and how to get these people to look less like MIBs. Or more like them. The aesthetic is not being well-served." [23:33] 7Arrian: "Definitely in favor of 'more' here." [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel nods, aheh, gravely. "And how long will you discharge it?" [23:34] 6Cross: "I thought you might like to do the image consult. Or at least that you'd be better at it. Did I forward you a briefing email thing?" 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I made my decision, I have yet to regret it, and I don't think I've reached the limits of what I have to offer the Order, the Pentacle, and to the Mystery. I will pursue those limits, and my service, until I die." [23:34] 6We'd better go through here, out of the marked halls, through one of the secured doors that cut off a bunch of the place.. [23:34] 7Arrian: "It's possible. I haven't been on top of my email since my apartment got ransacked." [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "When do you think that'll be?" [23:35] 6Cross: "Oh, shit. Right. Okay: this is the government." [23:36] 6Cross: "Like, we're a PPP. Project Spectrum, to maintain and extract technology from the Prism. It's so totally off the books that it wraps back around to being official." 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Well. I had lunch with werewolves, I stayed up too late with vampires, and we're only a couple of weeks removed from when a Seer and her minions tried to kill me and my cabal several times." 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "Can't complain." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Where is this going." [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Well... after all that, it'd be a bit of an anticlimax to be done in by a clogged artery, hmm?" [23:38] 7Arrian: "Golly." 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "When was the last time you set foot in a diner, Gabriel? I'm lucky I let myself eat the muffins, the Sight being what it is." 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Robbie was on him to eat better his whole life. Funny to think about what it took. He's twisting the ring again. [23:41] 7Arrian: "So when you say that... are we reporting to anyone?" [23:42] 6Cross: "No, no. Like the deal is basically.. they don't pay anything, and in exchange, they don't get anything." [23:42] 6Cross: "Think of this as a budget-free black site. We're an official project of a three-letter agency, but like, a secret official project, on which nobody is actually working, with no resources." [23:43] 7Arrian: "You'll have to help me out here. In what way is this different from not being an official project?" [23:43] 6Cross: "What it provides- for the agency, an announceable - job creation in New York state! - and a bureaucratic empire thing. More reports." [23:44] 7Arrian: "But we don't do reports." [23:44] 6Cross: "What we get is basically contacts. I've got access to the talent pool for this analysis, people with all the clearances from Lockheed, Raytheon, et cetera." 11[23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Hah. Actually, that reminds me of another matter, but I'll ask you to remind me at the end of this conversation. But... heart disease. Stroke. Alzheimer's. Even just... arthritis, alzheimer's. We're old men, Paracelsus. The Order's in our hands, and those hands might fall slack." [23:45] 6Cross: "There is basically, I am not kidding, a sort of shadow labour economy of people who work on this sort of thing. Conspiracies and the supernatural and so on. They're just engineers, they don't care about implications." [23:45] 7Arrian: "None of this makes any sense to me. I mean, I'm sure you're right..." [23:46] 6Cross: "No, no, you should be questioning it. What is our government even DOING? How can this not be accountable to anyone?" [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Your value to our Order is unmistakable, and thus far it stands... unfortified." [23:46] 6Cross: "But in this case, the answer is because it doesn't produce or cost anything. Big loophole." 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I can't help but notice you said Alzheimer's twice, Gabriel. Should I be worried?" [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, that isn't fair. I went back and edited that but not completely! 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10>:D [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel blinks. "Not today, I think. I'm a little punch-drunk." 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "You're proposing what, then. Longevity magic?" [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Exactly that. To my knowledge, the only immortal in this city is Cyrus himself, but there's a great deal that lesser magic can do to bulwark the body and mind." 11[23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "I'm older than you are, Paracelsus, but if I hadn't been availing myself of my allies' Perfecting magics for years now I might not be here at all. Certainly I wouldn't be in shape to talk after the wrestling match I've just had." 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "When will you die, then?" 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is it never? Once you master Death are you going to..." [23:58] 7Arrian: "I admit, the concept of nested secrets sounds great to me." [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "The kind of immortality afforded by Death is nowhere near so comfortable as that provided by Life or Time, though in some configurations it is more durable. But... I don't know to your first question, and no to the second." 15[23:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I don't like this." Session Time: Sun Jun 21 00:00:01 2015 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "The implication." [00:00] 6This (inner sanctum) living/meeting room is still pretty empty. Cross thinks she might try and persuade the others to keep things to one floor, so that they don't have to fill as much space.. then again, we could just put scarabs in it. [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Immortality is... there must come a change, we know that. A moment of irreversible transition. The putative ideal is ascension, of course. Or perhaps some apotheosis into the Corpus...? It's still theory, even as long as I've been at it. But lichdom is a trap - anyone can see that." [00:01] 6Cross: "It just needs some, um, goetic sensibilities applied. Like imagine if the final stage of interviews for positions where they interact with the real secrets are a candidate in a symbolic pool of light, before a panel of three people sitting in judgement, etc.. probably we're too busy for that though." 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus nods. "Stygia tells us that there are two kinds of things in the world: things that are dead and things that are dying. So what must we conclude of someone who has elected not to die?" [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12The older necromancer nods. "So... I will die, I expect. I wouldn't mind if some loftier end awaited me... but whatever end I meet will certainly be an end. But am I ready now? I can't honestly say yes. The Order needs me. Work's left undone." [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Hence my yearly appointment with Tess. You might think of it as... exercising and eating right. Or visiting a therapist who advises the same. It takes considerably less effort on my part, of course." 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Who decides who gets these appointments?" [00:07] 7Arrian: "Hmm. Okay. I need to think about the resonances we're setting up here, whether it would be better to have the Sleepers on a lower rung of a ladder or the outer ring of a journey towards the center." [00:07] "Practical concerns aside. We do not want them just wandering in." [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "She does, ultimately, but in practice it's a matter of... clout, favors, alignment, that sort of thing. They're not as hard to get as you might think - Tess is discharging her duty, same as we are." [00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "You've worked with her already, I believe - tending to injured Sleepers? She seemed to have gotten a good impression of you." [00:09] 6Cross: "Well, we're not looking at a path that they can advance along. The actual Ladder provides for that, someday, but this setup is a division of work- those who do and those who know what to do." 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "And if I'd made a bad one?" [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "I'd need to work a little harder, and you'd probably be stuck with any.... unwanted birthmarks or wrinkles or whatnot. But age and decreptitude? Tess is no hypocrite." [00:13] 6Cross reconsiders: "..or is that Wrong? Maybe there's got to be the path, for it to work." [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "I don't think she'd react the same way to true immortality than either you or I would... but, it's not within her power to grant it. She's an Adept of Mind and Disciple of Life, I believe." [00:15] 7Arrian: "Yeah, I'm inclined to think that we've got to keep the path intact, even if due to things being generally Fallen nobody can walk it yet. Maintaining a Watchtower within the Watchtower Group, aha." 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I don't like this. It's... arbitrary, in such a peculiar way. What have I done that so merits this consideration?" [00:16] 6Cross: "Would you believe I named the company before Awakening?" [00:16] 6Cross: "It's this kind of thing which drives people mad looking for patterns." [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Well, most specifically you've ascended with unusual speed to the titles of Daduchos and Adept both. But, broadly... you Awakened in a state of physical infirmity, whatever its cause." [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "I'd have sent Arrian to Tess if he hadn't taken the initiative to clean out his lungs on his own." 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Does every old fart in Consilium get this offer?" 11[00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Yes. Or... paralyzed fart, or cancerous fart, or similar." 12He looks regretful of echoing Paracelsus's parlance even that long. "I believe the Libertines and Arrows each have specialists of their own, but it's Tess who takes care of the rest of the Diamond." 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "I just don't believe there isn't some better use of her resources." [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "She'd stridently disagree." 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "What happens if I say no?" 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's twisting that ring again. [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel leans back in his seat and stretches his neck a bit. "Well... I would implore you to change your mind. Or, failing that, make immediate study of the Life Arcanum yourself. Or, failing that... stay in more often." 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus shakes his head. "I can't accept that it's reckless not to covet longevity. That sounds like a straw man of someone mocking the thearchs." 11[00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Longevity isn't for everyone. It might not even be for you. If you tire of our work, or see some better place to allocate the power... I'll have been honored to call you Daduchos nevertheless." 12He pauses. "But we need you, Paracelsus. For your power and expertise, certainly, but also - though even Tess might not realize it - for your temperament." 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "What?" [00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "The most powerful member of our Order - still technically part of the Consilium, I think - is off in the mountains somewhere trying to become invulnerable. My other Daduchoi are captivated by side projects or, as near as I can ascertain, family obligations. Our Hierarch is a warlord." 12The janitorial ghost seems to have slipped out through a wall by the time Gabriel's [00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12begun speaking. [00:38] 7Arrian: "Hrrh. Okay, I guess I don't have any objections to having them in an outer ring of offices." 11[00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "We've power and wisdom in spades. What the Mysterium lacks is care, in at least several senses. And as regularly as I visit Tess, Paracelsus... well, as I've said, immortality's beyond her power, whether she likes it or not." 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "Then you don't want me." 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's almost popped the ring off now. [00:41] 6Cross: "This space is pretty reconfigurable, so we can control what we're having studied and commercialised by the contractors - no plans for it to be anything other than the Prism, though. Want the reports and stuff carbon-copied to us as well as the business people? We should at least monitor the status of the "kill all mages" suppression, and the thing's general mood. [00:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel tilts his head. "Don't I? I suppose I would be making some near-perfect simulacrum of you the same offer. Or rather, giving it the same advice. Well..." [00:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Well, at the end of the day, any elderly member of my Order is getting that advice, sooner or later. But I'm specifically appealing to you to take it because I think your importance to the Mystery, and to the Pentacle, is more than that of... another warm soul, so to speak." 15[00:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "I wasn't ever the warm one. I was the one who had to hold his tongue. I was the one who went too far." 15[00:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The old man's voice wears bitterness remarkably well. "I was the one who smoked." 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "You don't want me. It shouldn't have been me." [00:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel blinks. "...when'd you kick the habit?" 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "When she got the diagnosis back." [00:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel takes a long breath. "Well." 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "That's where I was, you know." 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "I was taking the elevator up to see her. It didn't take me there." 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "When I got back I had just finished signing the DNR. Nobody noticed my ring wasn't gold anymore." 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10His voice is faint. "I don't even know if I said goodbye." [00:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel leans back again and steeples his fingers. "Well," 12he says, again. "...I never married as a young man, and then I awoke, and there was the Order... So I'm married to my work, I suppose. At least some part of me, I'm sure, was... averse... to something like that happening to me. Except that I would be there, of course, completely cognizant." [00:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "And if, God, they should leave a ghost...?" 12He shakes his head to himself. "So I busied myself with the ruins of others' lives instead. Not more rewarding, perhaps, but less perilous." [01:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "So, for me, this was... easy. My students need me. The Athenaeum needs me. No real downside besides, perhaps, exhaustion, and I'm managing that as yet." 15[01:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus chuckles. 15[01:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "I just realized." 15[01:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "I had this exact conversation earlier today." [01:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Gabriel: "Oh?" 15[01:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Paracelsus: "'Given that we lived, and they didn't... what next?'" 15[01:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "'We must ask ourselves, what is our duty as mourners to the lost? What is our duty as kin to kin? What is our duty to the world as survivors?'" 15[01:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's what I said." 15[01:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sometimes, Gabriel..." 15[01:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sometimes I suspect wisdom is for other people." 14[01:57] * Joins: ddt 14[02:25] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[02:27] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[02:32] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[02:35] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[02:48] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[02:48] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[03:52] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[03:55] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[04:12] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[06:11] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[06:12] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[06:13] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[06:13] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[06:14] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[06:16] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[06:17] * Quits: dammitwho 14[06:59] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[08:11] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[08:14] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 11[09:42] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Jun 21 09:42:19 2015 Session Start: Sun Jun 21 09:42:19 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[09:42] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[09:42] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[09:42] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[09:42] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[09:42] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[09:50] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[10:15] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:17] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[10:18] * Quits: trenchfoot (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by trenchfoot_))) 09[10:18] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[10:29] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[12:24] * Joins: ddt 14[12:25] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[12:26] * Joins: ddt 14[12:35] * Joins: hrolf [13:05] She has a small, sweet face that is blushing now, an innocent pale rose. I wonder briefly if all her skin is like that – flawless – and what it would like like pink and warmed from the bite of a cane. [13:05] She gapes at me, and I resist rolling my eyes. Yeah, yeah, baby, it’s just a face, and it’s only skin deep. [13:05] Flaunting my erudition, I quote the words of Andrew Carnegie, my favorite industrialist. [13:06] I cannot believe she’s said that out loud! Ironically, the question even my own family will not ask. How dare she! I have a sudden urge to drag her out of her seat, bend her over my knee, spank her, and then fuck her on my desk with her hands tied behind her back. That would answer her ridiculous question. [13:06] Letting her walk ahead gives me the space and time to admire her fantastic ass…. She really is the whole package: sweet, polite, and beautiful, with all the physical attributes I value in a submissive. [13:08] “I’ll take five yards of the natural filament rope, please.” It’s coarser and chafes more if you struggle against it… my rope of choice. 15[13:10] <@VoxPVoxD> banana please, orangegame isn't for two whole days [13:10] who in orangegame is- oh, right 15[13:11] <@VoxPVoxD> lol [13:17] <@Ferrinus> Flaunting my erudition, I quote the words of Andrew Carnegie, my favorite industrialist. [13:27] same, but andrew ryan 14[13:28] * Joins: Crion_ 11[14:12] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Jun 21 14:12:05 2015 Session Start: Sun Jun 21 14:12:05 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[14:12] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:13] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:13] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[14:13] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 14[14:14] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 11[14:15] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Jun 21 14:15:21 2015 Session Start: Sun Jun 21 14:15:21 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[14:15] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:15] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:15] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[14:15] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[14:15] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 09[14:16] * banana is now known as banana|now 09[14:46] * banana|now is now known as banabble 14[15:03] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[15:06] * Joins: ddt 14[15:10] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:16] * Joins: Crion_ 14[15:29] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[15:30] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[15:57] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[16:02] * Joins: Crion_ 14[16:11] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[16:21] * Joins: mugabe 14[17:01] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[17:04] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[17:04] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[17:04] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 15[17:37] <@VoxPVoxD> http://40.media.tumblr.com/f2b9342b04d7bba9e1bae5d1c2ebc9b6/tumblr_nioq7ekrpN1squgdeo1_500.jpg gabrielllllllllllll 14[17:43] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [17:47] <@Ferrinus> he's not wrong. 14[17:58] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[18:37] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[19:21] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:24] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:44] * Joins: Crion_ 14[20:28] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[20:48] * Joins: ddt 14[21:00] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[21:01] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[21:09] * Joins: ddt 14[21:45] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[22:22] * Joins: mugabe 14[22:22] * Quits: mugabe (Client Quit) 14[22:22] * Joins: mugabe 14[22:54] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[23:13] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[23:29] * Quits: mugabe Session Time: Mon Jun 22 00:00:00 2015 14[02:17] * Joins: autopsy_turvey 14[02:51] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[02:54] * Quits: autopsy_turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[02:57] * Joins: ddt 14[02:57] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 09[03:12] * tom2 is now known as tom 14[03:35] * Quits: Crion 09[03:57] * banabble is now known as banana 14[03:59] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[04:13] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[04:14] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[07:17] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[07:17] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 09[07:17] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[07:47] * Joins: ddt 14[07:47] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[08:23] * Quits: dammitwho 14[08:38] * Joins: ddt 14[08:57] * Joins: FerrinusForces 14[09:02] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[09:06] * Quits: FerrinusForces (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[09:27] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[09:45] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[09:45] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[09:46] * Ferrinus is now known as Guest37050 14[09:55] * Joins: ddt 14[10:51] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:51] * Quits: autopsyturvey (warlock.hub.sorcery.net phoenix.sorcery.net) 14[10:52] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[11:16] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[11:19] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[11:19] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[11:27] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[11:27] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:38] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[11:51] * Joins: ddt 14[11:54] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[12:12] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[12:18] * Joins: Crion 09[12:43] * Guest37050 is now known as Ferrinus 09[12:43] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[12:59] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[13:28] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[13:38] * Joins: Crion 14[14:01] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[14:01] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Client Quit) [14:56] http://i.imgur.com/ct36DZS.jpg mage [14:56] at least if we're REALLY unlucky [14:58] <@Ferrinus> i don't recognize that one 15[14:59] <@VoxPVoxD> the secret order of the gate [14:59] <@Ferrinus> sick [15:00] yeah or it might be the sign of the Gate himherself 15[15:01] <@VoxPVoxD> the Gate actually has a canon sigil in nomadgame 15[15:01] <@VoxPVoxD> the pcs met them [15:01] :o [15:01] WITHOUT being consumed by nothingness that is also fecund everythingness-without-reason? [15:02] i guess gate was on holiday to the fallen world or something 15[15:02] <@VoxPVoxD> nnnot exactly 15[15:02] <@VoxPVoxD> it was ferrinus's fault [15:03] of course [15:03] <@Ferrinus> look, [15:03] <@Ferrinus> i am, at heart, a gamer [15:03] <@Ferrinus> a gamer... who led the party to.. oh, no [15:03] <@Ferrinus> oh, no 15[15:05] <@VoxPVoxD> anyway the world is fractionally farther apart from the supernal now which has empowered monsters who draw their power from the world and made paradox vastly more dangerous for mages 15[15:05] <@VoxPVoxD> it's, essentially, the apocalypse premise [15:05] great 15[15:05] <@VoxPVoxD> though not as drastic 03[15:05] so nomadgame actually caused apocalypsegame 15[15:05] <@VoxPVoxD> yes 15[15:06] <@VoxPVoxD> specifically, ferrinus did [15:06] and we thought flagstaff was bad 15[15:06] <@VoxPVoxD> it was IN flagstaff 15[15:06] <@VoxPVoxD> that he did it [15:07] why did he deliberately and in full knowledge choose to do that [15:08] great monster hitler "Nick" 15[15:10] <@VoxPVoxD> why did he deliberately and in full knowledge choose to do that 15[15:10] <@VoxPVoxD> well, the remnants of the soul of a failed archmage drew him into playing the games of divinity 15[15:10] <@VoxPVoxD> it could've happened to anyone [15:11] could it have happened to anyone who wasn't an idiot 15[15:11] <@VoxPVoxD> well 15[15:11] <@VoxPVoxD> an idiot OR a teen 15[15:11] <@VoxPVoxD> nick actually grew int 2 right after that, iirc [15:11] "that was a bad thing i did. i have Learned" [15:11] <@Ferrinus> around that time, yeah. i'm not sure if his int actually increased before or after the Games [15:12] lol [15:12] that rules [15:12] <@Ferrinus> what increased nick's intelligence was the opportunity to reflect on his TREMENDOUSLY lost fight against the pure, and his experience of the Games [15:18] i believe while nick was irrevocably damaging the very nature of the world, lis and reuben were having a conversation about if you should trust the hospital men, informed by blood vending machines [15:19] hey, nothing says it's irrevocable [15:19] merely beyond the power of vampires or werewolves to comprehend or repair [15:19] <@Ferrinus> irrejokable 09[15:26] * banana is now known as banana|split 09[15:26] * banana|split is now known as banana|peels 14[15:35] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:35] * Joins: mugabe 14[16:02] * Joins: ddt [16:21] https://40.media.tumblr.com/98266dd81bcd689702396136ebfde3d6/tumblr_noa8u379zG1tmggy5o1_500.jpg 14[17:10] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[17:10] * Joins: trenchfoot [18:57] http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/977/020/03b.gif 03[19:00] nomadgame https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CII8K5XUAAAMYZj.jpg [19:01] <@Ferrinus> that's true 14[19:32] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[19:57] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[20:01] * Joins: mugabe 14[20:01] * Joins: ddt 14[20:11] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[20:22] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:32] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[20:33] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:34] * Quits: Quaker (Client Quit) 14[20:35] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:41] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[20:55] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[20:58] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:59] * Quits: Quaker (Client Quit) 14[20:59] * Joins: Quaker 14[21:55] * Joins: mugsy 14[21:58] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[22:02] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[22:04] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[22:07] * Joins: Quaker 14[22:38] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) Session Time: Tue Jun 23 00:00:01 2015 14[00:49] * Quits: mugsy 14[00:54] * Quits: ddt (Quit: hail hydra) 14[01:36] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:59] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[02:04] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:13] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[02:19] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[02:19] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[02:22] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[02:25] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[02:40] * Joins: Crion_ 14[02:53] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[03:40] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[04:10] * Joins: Crion_ 14[04:19] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 09[04:49] * banana|peels is now known as banana 11[06:26] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue Jun 23 06:26:49 2015 Session Start: Tue Jun 23 06:26:49 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[07:42] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[07:42] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[07:42] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[07:42] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[07:42] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 09[07:53] * banana is now known as bananarb 14[07:54] * Joins: Crion_ 14[08:19] * Joins: mugabe [08:22] - [08:22] - [08:22] - [08:22] - [08:22] - [08:22] - [08:23] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0oc3IR4qGQ 09[08:25] * bananarb is now known as ba 09[08:26] * ba is now known as banana [08:27] The world turns. [08:28] Maja's phone rings, and a few minutes later, Rollies does, too. [08:28] Clarabelle's got the details for the meeting. "It's in the city. You ready?" 15[08:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's sitting in the lotus position somehwere in Dana Point. Leisurely could see it from her house if she looked, though she couldn't see Rollie under the water. His phone's bunded back above-ground but he can still hear it. Everyone in his Contacts list has a custom ringtone, so, who's calling? [08:33] Ruby. [08:34] 4Cav texts both Santiago and Edgar shortly after sundown. 15[08:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 14"Gunpowder, gelatine, dynamite with a laser beam-" "-yeah?" 10says Rollie, dripping. [08:34] 4He continues: [08:35] Santiago: [08:35] Ruby: "Choi, where are you?" [08:35] 4Cav: [08:35] 6Edgar wakes that night in a good mood again. Morton's a strangely reliable fellow, and some of his more mundane problems are dropping away. It's freeing to be able to just concentrate on the job and these inevitable dooms/death sentences.. and what's this? [08:35] 4Cav: [08:36] 4Cav: [08:36] "Maybe. Hold on. Who the hell besides you would be calling me right now?" Maja wonders aloud. Conveniently, there is a name on her caller I.D. 15[08:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Dana Point, on research. I'm just finishing up though if you need me." [08:36] "Maybe. Hold on. Who the hell besides you would be calling me right now?" 3Maja wonders aloud. Conveniently, there is a name on her caller I.D. [08:36] 6Edgar frowns at the dim phone screen.  [08:38] Who is "Number Blocked?" Weird name for a caller. [08:38] "I have got NO time for people calling from blocked numbers." 3Maja ends the call. "ANYWAY, Clara- go on." [08:39] 4Cav: [08:39] 4Cav: [08:39] Santiago: [08:39] 4Cav: [08:39] 4Cav: [08:40] 6Edgar.  [08:40] 4Cav: <2x4. unpleasant, but forthright. i like it> [08:40] 6Edgar.  [08:40] Santiago: [08:41] 4Cav: [08:41] Clarabelle clears her throat: completely for dramatic effect, of course: "We just have to report truthfully what we saw, and what we think the situation warrants. I think it'll just be the Bishop." [08:41] 4Cav: [08:42] Santiago: [08:43] Ruby sounds like she's in a hurry. "Finish up. I need another set of hands tonight." [08:43] 3Maja somehow manages to conjure up some sarcasm a time like this: "No Zealous? So sad." [08:43] 6Edgar.  [08:43] 4The combination of 'lady' and 'priest' briefly panics Cav before he realizes the words are attached, and don't refer to last night in the Cavanaugh household. 15[08:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Alright. I've got a change of clothes and my hair'll dry on the ride. Where are we meeting?" [08:43] 4Cav: [08:44] 6Edgar's lying, there. The idea of prey is so intuitive that- to totally dominate a human being, compel them to bare their neck, thinking about it, he's got no need to feel out the damn idea. He wants to experience it at second hand to make it less overwhelming. [08:44] 4If Santiago's got a bar or something in mind, Cav will wait on an address. Otherwise he'll slip out as quickly and quietly as possible, hopefully before Alicia rises. [08:45] Clarabelle: "No. Well, I don't think so. The Bishop probably wants to play this close to the chest for now. Should I pick you up?" [08:46] Ruby gives him an address. "Hurry up. This is time-sensitive. You're not afraid of heights, are you?" The address is in…Watts, of all places. [08:47] "Like into the air?"3 She looks across the car seats, confused. 15[08:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Not that I know of. I'll be there in 45." 10He's changed and on his way. [08:49] 6Edgar's not bringing Larry along tonight. He drives toward San Clemente, waiting for more info, unwilling to actually ask more about the topic. He's not even very thirsty- the remaining dogs and and the packs from the Court keep him empowered, pseudo-alive, feeling instinctively that he's had Enough- except that there isn't any such capital letter word. [08:50] Clarabelle: "No, like…with a psalm. Pick up your spirits. If you want." She gets off the highway, heading into the endless horizon of tract housing that makes up South-Central. 15[08:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Watts, huh? Rollie doesn't typically spend a lot of time in LA, though he likes it fine. He can't remember the last time he was in South Central. No, literally. Blacked the fuck out. 15[08:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Woke up in someone's bathtub. 15[08:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Good times. [08:52] 6Kidneys intact? 15[08:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Better shape than his liver. [08:52] 4He thinks he gets out without a hitch. He's ordered the girls to stay away from the house for a couple nights; they should be fine on their own. Soon Cav is screaming south on the coastal roads towards San Clemente, to the place Santiago told them to meet up. [08:52] "Just being near you, Clarabelle, is the unlife's greatest pick-me-up." 3Maja remarks sincerely. [08:53] 4...He thinks about feeding on the highway patrol, once he's better at this, but they're all dashcam'd up these days. He'd have to change license plates every time, or spend money buying them off. [08:54] Alicia hasn't moved since he last saw her. She slumbers in the darkned bedroom. Santiago gives him a cross-street. When he gets there, it's a parking lot across from a strip mall. The only businesses still lit up are a CVS and a tiny taqueria. [08:56] Clarabelle smiles. While she navigates through the city, she taps her hands on the steering wheel and sings along with the radio. "Spread your tiny wings and fly away/ And take the snow back with you/ Where it came from on that day/ The one I love forever is untrue/ And if I could, you know that I would/ Fly away with you~" [08:57] 4His car isn't...too out of place here. He bounces out of the driver's seat, autolocks the door from the keystub, and walks over to Santiago's vehicle. Cav is leaner tonight, literally, physically hungrier, and has a manic energy he doesn't quite like around Kine. [08:57] Maja's phone rings again. Whoever blocked their number is persistent, it seems. [08:57] Santiago is rummaging through the bed of his truck when he looks up. "Hey. You look kind of…ragged." [08:58] "Where's Edgar?" [08:58] 6Further from San Clemente to start. But he turns up in a few minutes, looking as sheepish as you can in a leather jacket and rubbing the back of his head. He doesn't say anything. 08[08:59] Ruby is waiting for Rollie on a street that's hard to tell apart from the ones surrounding it. She's parked in somebody's driveway, leaning against the sedan. 15[09:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's dry by now but he still smells like the ocean. "Hey." [09:00] "Why won't this fucker just leave a message?" 3Maja contemplates sending it to voicemail. But answers it. "Hello?" [09:00] All the houses here are small, and set back. The concrete and chain-link fences don't make it easy, but the yards and facades have been decorated with bright paint and plastic ornaments. Above, the willows and palms sway quietly. [09:02] Ruby opens her trunk, and takes out a couple of lengths of rope, some metal hooks and clips, and a few bulky black matte boxes. "Hey. You're carrying this. We need to climb up there tonight." She points over his shoulder, up at the sky. 15[09:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks. [09:03] 6Perfect neighborhood to ambush and attack someone. Looking forward to it. [09:03] Santiago locks his car behind him, and pulls the tarp over the bed. "The 2x4 was a joke. I mean, I do actually have one, if we strike out. There's a bunch of bars down a couple blocks, though. You ready?" [09:05] 4Cav: "I am kind of ragged. Long night." 4He pauses and looks down the street for a moment. Then: "Yeah." [09:05] 6Edgar: "Looks like you've been hit by one yourself, Clinton." [09:05] The Watts Towers rise like unsteady, hollow mountains in the dim light. They're huge, hollow, narrow pyramids made of metal, standing a hundred feet tall. [09:05] 4Cav: "I needed a priest last night. And a new front door." [09:05] 6-_- 15[09:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Are we running lights over them like they're Christmas trees?" [09:06] 4Cav: "Owe some favors on the first. Still thinking about how to deal with the second." 08[09:06] Santiago leads them down the sharply sloping street. This close to the beach, everything goes up or down. "Yeah, what happened with that? I got a call from Rollie, freaking out." [09:06] "The man was however protective of your privacy." [09:07] Ruby drops the equipment into his arms. "Nope. Listening to a bug I planted a while back, just in case something like this happened." [09:07] 4Cav is very good and smiling widely without showing his fangs. Which is why it's odd this time, when he shows his fangs. "Sire flew in from Portland. Invited herself to sleep in my. Guest room." [09:08] The voice on the phone is young, female, and professional. "Maja Kovacevic?" [09:08] "Don't want to talk about it further. Let's hit the bars!" [09:09] 3Maja: "Yes. Who is this?" [09:09] 6Edgar: "Paint the town red." 15[09:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie oomphs, but he carries it. "Something like that?" 15[09:10] <@VoxPVoxD> *like what? [09:10] To Maja: "The Court. This is an advance notice. Please keep the back-end of your evening unoccupied. Thank you." They hang up. [09:11] 3Maja keeps holding the phone to her ear. 14[09:12] * Joins: FerrinusSpace [09:12] "Huh." [09:12] "The court wants me to keep the rump of my evening open." 08[09:13] Ruby looks both ways before they cross the street. When they get to the gates of the monuments, she puts a hand out for Rollie to haul himself over with. "Like the whole religious thing blowing up." Once they're beneath the tower, she motions upwards. "Use the ropes if it helps. We're going to the top." 15[09:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Should I stay visible?" [09:15] Clarabelle: "Was that your boyfriend- oh. Why?" She pulls over. The high curbs in this neighborhood mean she has to watch that the door doesn't hit anything when she opens it. [09:17] 3Maja shakes her head. "They didn't say. Which concerns me." [09:17] Ruby digs into her pocket and hands him a small plastic earpiece. "Not while we're climbing. Wear this." 15[09:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Oh, sick. We're on some James Bond shit. "You got it." [09:20] Santiago leads them into a well-crowded bar with a neon margarita glass glowing above the entrance. "You have a preferred method of doing this?" 08[09:21] Ruby's gone. Her voice isn't, though, and it appears in Rollie's ear. "Are you near the top?" [09:22] 6The other shitty thing about this is that while teamwork is undeniably effective, there's some part of Edgar Doolittle right now- some thing attached to him, or deriving from him, that says: look, another vampire about to feed. He's going to take what's yours. Defeat or flee. He ignores it. [09:22] It's cold, climbing. Both the metal and the wind lack warmth this late at night. [09:23] Clarabelle closes the door behind her. "Weird. Probably about this. But you don't have to talk if you don't want to, you know. You've got rights." The house they parked in front of is small and painted a faint pink. The lawn is half-grass, and half gravel. [09:24] 4Cav: "Was kind of just hoping to feel it out by ear. Last time I did this was New York, and..." [09:24] 6Edgar: "Bars there got a different kind of asshole?" 15[09:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That's fine, so does Rollie. He hasn't had to climb like this since he was a little kid. David was so lucky Rollie didn't get hurt in the fall. He's used to the cold, now, too. There's no heat in his bones unless he wills it. [09:24] Santiago: "…is that a…fatal sort of and?" 15[09:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10When he says, "I'm ready," 10he'll realize later, he's not just talking about the climb. [09:26] 4He looks around the bar...makes eye contact with a young Asian woman, looks like she's here with a boyfriend. No. Too complicated. "Huh? No. I meant, like. It was New York. I was in court. There were part-time personal trainers/models everywhere. Sometimes they were cosplaying, if some convention was in town. There was a whole system." [09:27] "Don't have a system here. And these people don't know what they're signing on for. Puts a big onus on me not to fuck up." [09:27] 6Edgar: "We got your back, though. No bad endings tonight." [09:28] Santiago shrugs. "There's a system here. Find drunk person. Invite drunk person back to the alley. Do what you're gonna do. System works fine." [09:28] 3Only happy ones, heh. 08[09:30] When Rollie gets to the top, Ruby's decloaked herself. Her elbow is wound around one of the metal struts, and she's got a pair of binoculars. Wedged between her and the metal is one of the cases, opened up to reveal an electronic display full of knobs and buttons. [09:31] Clarabelle: "Just speak your mind. It's fine. You- oh." [09:31] Halfway up the driveway, three people are coming out of the house towards the two women. 15[09:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie helps Ruby set up. "Who we looking at?" 15[09:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He feels a little weird about this, but fuck it, at least she doesn't have a sniper rifle. [09:32] Ruby hands him a binoculars case. "The Church. Quick, get your glasses up. One street over, middle of the street, pink house. The driveway." [09:32] "Surely it takes a little more grace than--" 4As they're talking, the boyfriend starts shouting about something on his phone. Stands up. Storms out. "Hold that thought." 15[09:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks. [09:33] Santiago: "Don't overthink it." [09:33] 4Three minutes later he saunters over to the distraught girl and buys her a drink. Ten minutes later they're in the back alley together. Twelve minutes later she's sleeping soundly, and he's kind of freaking out over her. "Okay. She's still breathing. No longer bleeding." [09:34] 6Edgar loiters with Santiago, follows, watches. It's not like he isn't familiar with the basic routine, if a few years out of touch and having a different ending. [09:34] "Her phone. Where's her phone." 4Starts rummaging around her purse for her phone; finds it. [09:35] "Anyone who thinks calling this girl an ambulance is a bad idea, speak now or whatever." [09:35] Santiago walks over when he's finished and prods the prone woman with a foot. "Yeah, she looks fine. Let's do it from a payphone, man. There's one in the parking lot." [09:36] 4Payphones? In 2015? "Her phone is right here, dude. I'm literally leaving it, with GPS, on top of her. I don't even need to say anything." [09:37] 6Edgar: "Just call one way or another. Can't hang around here long." [09:37] 4He does it on her phone, then drops it and walks quickly out of the alley, not hanging up the line. [09:38] 6He's not sure what he expected. The actual act happened fast enough and far enough away that he didn't really see anything, and Cavanaugh- while engrossed- had no trouble keeping himself where he ought to be. There's no repulsion or voyeurism to be had here. [09:38] "Christ I feel like an asshole." 4He says it with perhaps a bit more giddy excitement then that sentence deserves. [09:39] Two of them are clearly flanking the one in the middle. Maja hasn't seen him before, has she? It would be hard to forget. He's six-five, six-six, and dressed in a cassock. Short brown hair, pale white skin, and a furious expression. Clarabelle bows. "Your Grace." [09:39] Santiago has his hands in the pockets of his windbreaker. "Why?" 15[09:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's heart drops. Oh, shit. [09:40] Ruby: "You see them?" 15[09:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah." 15[09:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "I can." 15[09:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Fuck. [09:42] 4Cav: "Took advantage of a vulnerable person and used their drunken hormones and trust to put them in the hospital. Been a while since I did that. Forgot what it felt like." [09:42] 3Maja follows suit and bows too. 15[09:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Who's the boss man? That's not Widmark." [09:43] 3She is confused, and silent. [09:43] 4He shakes his head. "I gotta figure out a system, if I'm going to do this. No more leaving people in alleys behind bars." 4Cav waves a hand. "But that's not why I asked you guys to roll with me. Thanks for keeping an eye on things." [09:44] 4He bounces up and down on the soles of his feet a bit. "So much better than eating it out of the fridge, though." [09:44] The Bishop sweeps past without bothering to exchange pleasantries. The follower on the right brushes past Maja, his shoulder bumping into her. The one on the left gives Clarabelle a quick hug, and as they leave, she gives him a quick "call me" sign with her hand held up to her face. [09:44] Santiago: "She didn't die. You've gotta eat. Might as well do it humanely." [09:44] 6Edgar: "Not a problem." 6No issues here at all, in fact. [09:45] 4That was far from humane, but Cav keeps that to himself. Instead, he claps his hands. "So. Nuclear power." 15[09:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Awww, Clarabelle has a friend. 15[09:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's glad he can't feel nauseous. [09:46] Ruby: "The big guy is John Gorse, the Bishop of the northern parish. Huh." [09:46] 3Maja remains unphased. She whispers to Clarabelle: "who was that?" [09:46] "The rest are just priests. Oh, hey, it's our friend." [09:46] "Our friend?" 15[09:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Oh, shit, that's the Deacon. You're right." 10I didn't notice that before now. Please believe me. [09:48] Clarabelle ushers Maja into the house, looking over her shoulder while she does it. "Bishop Gorse. Why's he down here?" [09:48] 6Edgar: "Yeah, we haven't heard back.." 6He's heading back into another bar, since they might as well sit. "How much rope we giving the priestesses?" [09:48] Santiago: "We're not actually going to wait on them before we see what's up, right?" [09:49] 6Edgar: "Well, if they call in the next five minutes we can say we did." [09:50] "I hope you aren't expecting an answer from me." [09:50] 4Cav: "I think we can handle it. Would be good for the office, for us to handle it. By ourselves. I can text the deacon, though." [09:51] 4Maja might pick up for Cav, unless things with the Sanctum have gone truly sideways. [09:51] The inside of the house Maja and Clarabelle find themselves in is bare and scarcely furnished. A few votive candles sit on the floor, unlit. They can see through to the den, where someone without a Beast is in a recliner, watching a black and white television. 15[09:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "So who are we up here for?" [09:53] Clarabelle: "I'm not. But somebody better start giving us answers." [09:54] 4In the end, he'll just shoot off a text: [09:54] 6Edgar: "Deacon and Presbyter, wasn't it? Everyone's got their titles." [09:55] 6Edgar: "Wonder if the Carthians up in San Francisco call each other Comrade, Chairman and so forth." [09:58] 4Cav: "Feel like the way that usually goes is the titles stay more or less the same, you just put 'Comrade' in front of it. Comrade Sheriff. Comrade Seneschal. Guess you do away with Comrade Prince, though." 08[10:00] Ruby adjusts her set. Rollie can hear faint noises through his earpiece, before it becomes stronger and clearer. "Boy the way Glen Miller played/ Songs that made the hit parade/ Guys like us had it made/ Thoooose were the days-" "Whoops. Hold on." 08[10:01] Ruby fiddles some more. The sound hisses and fades, until there's a pop, and Rollie can hear: "-somebody better start giving us answers." [10:02] 6Edgar: "You know, the ambassador was at the ball- she said they'd been experimenting with fascism? Like it was a point of pride." [10:02] Santiago: "Wait, seriously? I thought Seabury was exaggerating." [10:05] 3Maja frowns. "I could go for some answers, myself. The bishop DOES know we're coming, right?" [10:06] 3She looks down at the text. [10:07] The Kogaion puts her binoculars down. "All of them. Your mentor is setting a bad example for you, Choi. Better get up to speed on everything that's going on in the city, before you get run over." 08[10:07] 3Maja briefly wonders what Rollie's up to. 15[10:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Is this about the Carmelites?" 15[10:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "I mean... why else would the Bishop be so eager to make a faithless Deacon somebody else's problem?" [10:09] Ruby: "It's about keeping abreast of the situation. You want to be the last one to find out there's some kind of holy war going on when we're out measuring ley lines?" 15[10:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Are we making a report for the Architect, here?" [10:11] Santiago looks at Edgar: "How's your curse coming?" [10:12] Ruby: "I'll put one on his desk. You might find something useful out, Choi. Stop thinking like you're working for anybody except yourself while we're out here." [10:12] Clarabelle: "Yes, of course-" [10:13] Somebody whistles down the hallway where they're standing. Edward Robin beckons them forward from the door he's stuck his head out of. 15[10:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "If you say so." [10:16] The Bishop Widmark is sitting on a child's bed when they come in. The rest of the room is decorated in pink. Robin leaves them alone. 15[10:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The paint is peeling. He chips at it in his mind's eye, and he sees the walls, the beams, the insulation. He keeps peeling - the sidewalk tiles come up, their pits and roughness the scars of a long war in decline. Rollie keeps peeling and the skin of the world is red and raw before him. [10:16] 3Maja deduces that now is not the time for jokes, so she won't ask the bishop if this is her room. She'll just let Clara talk for now. [10:17] "Clarabelle. Maja." Widmark polishes his glasses. [10:18] Ruby: "Choi, hand me the auspectroscope. It's the case with the big X in tape across it." [10:20] "Your grace." 3She bows her head. [10:20] Clarabelle shares the bow. 08[10:20] 6Edgar: "Poorly, apart from a book Rollie found. Categorises some of the Circle rites and beliefs." 6Has there been anything pertinent in it to date? 15[10:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie reaches for it without looking. He knows where it is when she describes it. He never lays eyes on it as he leans back. "No true dragon fears the flame." 15[10:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10His head sways atop his shoulders, like it's come a bit loose from his neck and is responding more delicately to the wind. [10:21] The Bishop waves his hand. "Enough bowing. You've seen the situation in the Territory?" [10:22] Clarabelle: "Yeeess. Maja. You go first." [10:24] The only information Edgar has gotten so far is about abandoned temple complexes in the woods, ancient and buried where no one except its architects can use it. The section on practical cursing is frustratingly opaque. [10:25] 3Maja pauses for a bit to consider how to respond. "There is a lot of 'situation,' it seems. What would you like us to speak about first?" [10:28] Fire, meet stone. Here burns something bright, starved of material the last few years. Here, too, is the stone it sits on, its own fire extinguished. He must increase, but I must decrease. It's only applied wisdom. The two will exist until the respect runs out, too. [10:29] Widmark puts his glasses back on. "You saw the Carmelites speak, and attended one of their Masses." 08[10:30] Ruby takes the bulky apparatus out of the box. She's too busy looking through it at the house to notice Rollie's gone off the deep end. [10:31] 3Maja nods. "Yes. Much else has happened since, too." [10:31] Clarabelle shakes. [10:32] 3Is Clarabelle nervous? [10:32] Widmark: "And the Archdiocese was rumored to be in the area." [10:32] She is, but it's not what's making her shake. [10:33] 3What is making her shake? [10:34] 6Edgar asks Santiago: "You know anything about raiding tombs?" [10:35] Santiago: "Only on Playstation." [10:35] Barely suppressed anger, from the looks of it. [10:36] 6Edgar: "They've got some buried shit beneath the forests. Places predate America, probably. That's where the acorn might come from." [10:39] "We also took some time to investigate a situation with some of the local deputies, where we looked into some guest appearances from men from the Mexican Iquisition." [10:39] Santiago leans against the truck. "Like…out with the Circle?" [10:39] "Who were here on an unauthorized 'hunt,' to use their words." [10:40] Widmark: "And what was their prey?" [10:41] 3Maja: "That is ... difficult to answer, your grace. They described him as a non-kindred, who ... shoots flames." [10:41] Ruby: "The Mexican Inqusition…? What the fuck…" [10:42] Widmark leans forward. The little bed squeaks. "But not the Carmelites who have settled in the Territory." 15[10:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Blood from the mountains. Airs from heaven and blasts from hell." [10:43] Ruby looks over. "What? Th- oh, goddamnit, Choi. God….damnit." 15[10:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I and I?" [10:45] 3Maja: "That was what was muddy. They were hesitant to contact the authorities here to track down this man, it seemed, on account of our ... 'tolerance for heresy' or something along those lines. I have no idea the relationship of this man to the Carmelites, but the men from the Mexica church seemed to connect them somehow- I don't know yet how tangentially." [10:46] "It could have just been an excuse to disregard jurisdiction." [10:46] "Or ... it could have been something more complicated and sinister." [10:48] The Bishop stands. "Our tolerance for heresy? The gall. No blasphemy has found purchase in our parishes. What is the role of the Church in territorial disputes in an area administrated by the Invictus?" [10:49] Widmark turns to pace. "The Carmelites stand accused of murder and blasphemy. We have honored the Prince and our duties to God by standing apart from this while displaying patience and mercy when it is called for…the gall!" [10:50] 3Maja doesn't know how to respond to the bishop- if she should sympathize, or just keep quiet. 14[10:50] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[10:51] * Joins: Crion_ [10:51] Clarabelle stands, too, to shout. "EEEEARGH DID YOU REALLY THREATEN THE DEACON, YOU-YOU-LIAR-" [10:51] 3Oh my god, Clarabelle. [10:52] 3IS NOW REALLY THE TIME FOR THIS 15[10:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Can Rollie hear that? [10:52] Ruby winces at the increase in volume. [10:52] 3Maja's eyes widen. [10:52] The Bishop blinks. "What?" He looks from Clarabelle to Maja. "Excuse me?" 15[10:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "My dearest Clarabelle..." [10:53] 3Awwwwwwwwkwwwwwaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrddddddddddddd. [10:55] Clarabelle: "Your own Deacon!! That's…you can't do that! I haven't done all this shit just to hear from her that you're talking about that stuff again-" [10:55] The door opens, and Robin steps in. The Bishop looks over. "We're alright, Edward. Thank you." [10:55] 3Maja doesn't want to disrespect Clarabelle and interrupt, but this seems like a suboptimal time to do this- and goddammit she really didn't want to be in the room when it happened. [10:56] The Bishop stares at Maja. "I think we remember that conversation we had differently, Deacon." [10:57] 3Maja softly stammers. "I ... just ..." [10:57] "I-" [10:57] Widmark raises a hand and Robin steps out again. [10:58] "I mean ... did you not mean to threaten my life? I mean- I don't take it personally- I understand it was meant to convey a sense of gravity, but it ... I-" [11:01] Of course they're in danger, of course. The Sword of Damocles hangs over both of them, because of their shared temperament, because she has too much faith and she too little, because one knows too much and the other would rather not know, because they'll tie themselves to the tracks to try and stop a train, when the only way to survive is to run perpendicular. Of course. Not here, though. But next to him. [11:05] Widmark: "If there is any threat to your safety, it is from the party we discussed. The consequences will come from them. Did you…are you quite sane, Deacon? My own priests? I am not…this is not the Invictus. Maybe you've been out in the world too long." He looks at Clarabelle. "Both of you." [11:13] Four decades of unsure footing, after the beast they've attached themselves to demanded a sacrifice, and they pleaded to God in desperation. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? [11:13] And the beast can't forget, or he wouldn't be a beast. [11:14] 3Maja knows that it would be wise to appease the bishop here, and try to smoothe things over- but, well, she can be a little impulsive sometimes. "With all due respect, you did not make the source of that threat clear." [11:16] Widmark: "I was…desirous of having your obedience. Your understanding was not as important. But the arrangement is the same." To Clarabelle: "It is also private, Presbyter." [11:18] My god, yes. Why don't you just kill them all, Nine of Swords. The blind leading the blind through a minefield. 15[11:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "Good question." 15[11:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Who is he talking to? [11:18] Ruby: "What?" [11:19] 3Maja should probably hold this back: "Again, with all due respect, your grace- in the future, the best way to gain my obedience is to provide me with understanding." 14[11:19] * Quits: mattbaby (Read error: Connection reset by peer) [11:19] 3Holy shit, did she really just say that out loud? 14[11:20] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:20] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[11:20] * Joins: Crion [11:21] 3She stammers a bit, realizing what she has just done. "I'm ... please forgive me, your grace. I'm sorry- that was out of line." [11:22] Ruby works for all of them. She took an oath, and unlike most, she believes in it. If you belong, she will serve. Appearances aside. [11:22] "I just- it was jarring, because as you said, we are not the Invictus." [11:22] "As you might have deduced, I would not do well in the Invictus." [11:23] Widmark: "Do you know the difference between us and the Invictus, Deacon?" [11:25] 3Maja suspects that this is a trick question. [11:26] "hi megan I love you!!!!" [11:28] "There are a lot of differences, I think- but I assume you have one in mind?" [11:30] Widmark picks up a plastic horse toy. "I did. But you want understanding, don't you? So let me speak to the Deacon, and not a scared little altar boy." [11:30] 3Oh he's gonna get sassy, huh. [11:33] 3Maja starts getting irritated now. "I'm sorry- can you please make up your mind about whether or not you want me scared? Because this is very confusing for me." [11:33] "I need my manipulation a little more transparent, if you don't mind." 15[11:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie sighs. [11:34] The world is bigger than Dana Point. It's bigger than Los Angeles, even. The problems of others become yours, and how far can talk get you? Do you think the rest of the Academy is this way because it's easy? Or because she hasn't told him how horrible the world really is, and never will? [11:34] Ruby laughs. [11:34] Clarabelle crosses her arms and sits back down. 15[11:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "At some point do we have to, like, not let the Confessor get murdered?" [11:37] The Bishop sits down on the little bed. "I would like you to be afraid of, in rough order, God, the consequences of your actions for the innocent, and any outstanding danger to your person. Is that transparent enough?" [11:37] Ruby: "Priests are expensive. Hard to find replacements." [11:38] 3Maja's irritation subsides slightly. "Yes, that works for me." 14[11:39] * Joins: hrolf [11:39] Widmark spreads his arms. "Then what, in your estimation, should we do?" [11:39] 3She's never really been down with the whole fearing-God thing, but this doesn't seem like to time to get into that debate. [11:41] "I don't know-" 3Maja looks around the room at some of the toys. "Personally, I could go for playing with some of these ponies for a bit, but perhaps it would be prudent to attend to the immediate situation we have on our hands here." 14[11:41] * Joins: ddt [11:42] Clarabelle: "MAJA, this is serious." [11:43] 3Maja looks at Clarabelle. "I know that, Clara. I don't take playing ponies lighty. Perhaps I should have said 'portray' ponies, instead." [11:44] 3Without missing a beat, she turns to the bishop. "So. Should we get back to this man who shoots fire now?" [11:45] "And perhaps we can talk about how best to manipulate me later? Because it seems like this man, the Mexican Inquisition, and the Carmelites are all a lot more pressing priorities right now. But I don't have the wider perspective here." [11:47] Widmark: "You truly do not. But until you do, please continue to exercise tact and wisdom in the Territory, while we let this pass." [11:48] "Let this pass? So we should not be playing any further role in dealing with this?" 15[11:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Oh yeah, did you hear about the radioactive man or whatever down in San Onofre?" [11:49] "We will demonstrate our loyalty to the Court. And the Court will decide how we should demonstrate that. And in good faith, neither of us will ask the other to do anything truly against our natures." [11:50] Ruby: "No. What about him?" 15[11:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "That's what they're talking about. I think it mighta caused those brownouts the other night. The Territory's supposed to go and take a look, which means I should be there at some point." [11:51] "In all honesty, your grace- it would be against my nature to sit back and watch the Mexican Inquisition come up here and slaughter Carmelites again. I have no idea if there is danger of that happening from this situation, but if we're on track for another one of those ..." [11:51] "I cannot sit on my hands while that happens." [11:52] Ruby: "Huh. What kind of radioactive man?" 15[11:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It's what the Inquistion is up here for? Maybe? I was a little distracted. We don't know, someone hanging out at the nuclear plant who can throw fire around." 14[11:52] * Joins: hrolfie [11:53] Widmark: "I did not sit on my hands when I was tested most severely, Deacon. You have my sympathy." [11:54] Ruby: "Fucking wizards." 15[11:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Bad experience?" 14[11:54] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) [11:54] Ruby: "If you can call it that. They don't play well with others." [11:55] 3Maja's curiosity is piqued, but figures she's not in the position to ask him to elaborate. 15[11:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie elects not to tell Ruby about Trubee. He does manage not to giggle at realize their names rhyme, though. [11:56] "I would appreciate any wisdom you have about how to deal with this. I don't feel comfortable extracting myself from this situation just yet- and the deputies have been very cooperative with us." [11:59] "In fact-" [12:00] The Bishop moves to the edge of the bed. "The duty of the presbyter is to minister to the congregants' spiritual needs. The duty of the deacon is to minister to the congregants' bodies and minds, and help them arrange their worldly concerns so that their souls might be made lighter. Every circumstance is different, but your response must remain the same. Pray for guidance, look to help the unsheltered, and set an example for the othe [12:00] Do you understand?" [12:01] 3She fucking doesn't. It sounds like the bishop wants her to sit on her hands. She looks to Clarabelle. [12:02] Clarabelle is nodding. [12:03] 3Maja purses her lips. [12:03] She remains silent and stone-faced. 14[12:04] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [12:06] 3Maja is trying to think of whatever she can say that will best wrap up this conversation and get them the fuck out of there. [12:06] Widmark: "And practically, your response to any further unannounced incursions to the Mexican archdiocese, as part of any sort of crusade or punitive action or independent vendetta against the Carmelites who have, to your knowledge, been blameless in their conduct and worship, is the swift and total destruction of any offending party. Do you understand?" [12:06] incursions of the Mexican archdiocese* [12:07] 3Maja's eyes widen. 15[12:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's eyes narrow. 14[12:08] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) [12:09] The Bishop continues. "And I will make our stance to the Prince clear, as soon as we can meet. In the meantime, assist his representatives with their work, exercising your own good judgment." He claps his hands together. [12:10] Ruby: "Huh." 15[12:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Well." 15[12:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's... a thing." [12:11] 3Maja slightly smiles, weirdly relieved that the bishop has given them the go ahead to engage in what is essentially starting a civil war among the church. [12:12] 3She doesn't have to trust the bishop, and she doesn't. But she respects him. [12:14] Ruby: "See? You learned something." 15[12:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yep." 15[12:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "Suuuuuuure did." [12:14] "Well then. I suppose I will respond to the deputies to let them know we will be joining them for further investigation. Thank you for your wisdom and understanding, your grace." 3She's not being sarcastic. 15[12:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "How long are we up here now?" [12:15] Ruby: "Until it goes quiet again. It's just a meeting-house. I got a tip." [12:15] 3She turns to the door, then pauses. 15[12:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Who from?" [12:18] Ruby puts down the equipment long enough to tap the side of her nose. [12:18] 3Looking back towards the bishop: "Your grace, I know I am not always the most deferential- but I hope to prove to you that when it comes to making the righteous decision, I can be counted upon." 15[12:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie sighs. [12:20] "The luxury of our station, Deacon, is that we don't have to guess as to what that righteous decision is. Goodnight. Presbyter Vincent, please stay a moment." [12:22] 3Maja looks at Clara, concerned. [12:22] Clarabelle looks back. "I'll be with you in a second, Deacon." [12:23] 3Maja slyly grabs Clara's hand and squeezes it on her way out. [12:24] 3She closes the door behind her, and walks far enough away that she can't hear what's being said behind the door. [12:25] 3She pulls out her phone, first texting Cav: 08[12:26] 3After sending the text, she decides to call Rollie. 15[12:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 14"won't you take me doooown to the levee, take me doooown to the st-" "-hi." 10Rollie answers without thinking, and then can't help but look nervously back at Ruby. [12:29] "Argh, you won't believe how fucked up everything is right now." 15[12:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Try me." [12:30] 3Maja: "Well, would you believe you might be on the edge of a vampire church civil war, and I very well might be in the position to sort-of-start it?" 15[12:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I would." 08[12:31] Rollie can still hear their voices. Somewhere on her person, Ruby's feed transcribes the short conversation onto paper. WIDMARK: "I thought that my apology was sufficient." VINCENT: "It was." [Pause lasting thirty seconds.] WIDMARK: "I never actually did it." [Pause lasting ten seconds] VINCENT: "No." WIDMARK: "All I ever asked was that you trust me." VINCENT: "I still do." WIDMARK: "I'm the same person, Clarabelle." VINCENT: "I neve [12:31] said you weren't. I have to go help Maja. Goodnight." WIDMARK: "Goodnight." 15[12:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie closes his eyes as those words are carved into his mind. The Worm devours. 15[12:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Clara's coming out." [12:32] ROBIN: "Done?" WIDMARK: "Yes. Get the car, please." [12:33] 3Maja is startled. "What the fuck?" 15[12:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I know. I need to talk to both of you." [12:33] Clarabelle squeezes Maja's shoulder. "Okay, that's done." [12:35] 3Maja, weirded out, hangs up the phone as she turns to Clara. She'll let him explain later. "How are you doing? You okay?" [12:36] Ruby leans over. "Hey, hand me that last case." 15[12:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie does. [12:37] Clarabelle brushes the hair out of her face. "I'm fine. Just some words of encouragement." [12:40] "Okay." 3She starts walking towards the front door. "So. We're in quite a position now, aren't we?" [12:41] The Kogaion looks at him. "Okay, Choi. This is the second time you've spaced out, so I guess now's the time for your atmospheric re-entry. You get to take the express down." There's a click as she hits the release on his harness. [12:41] "How do you feel about meeting up with the deputies?" 14[12:41] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 15[12:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "No hard feee14eeliii15ngs-" [12:45] The good news is that at 100 feet up, you're only falling for about two and a half seconds. [12:47] Clarabelle pats her on the back as they leave. "We still have some leeway." 15[12:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie twists in the air like a cat, blood pounding in his throat and ears, and lands in an awkward sort of three point crouch that sees his right hand smashed up pretty good against the concrete. He winces as he shakes the wound away. Then he presses a finger to his ear. "Sorry. I gotta stop thinking like I'm working for myself when we're out here." 10He leaves the earpiece at the base of the tower. 15[12:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then he calls Maja. 15[12:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10As he pulls the cloak of night across his shoulders, something else comes loose. [12:52] 15"~Whatta man, whatta man, whatta man, whatta mighty good ma-" 3Maja promptly answers her phone. "Hey." 15[12:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie 15[12:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Sunlight! Sweet sunlight! I could sooner absolve the dawn." [12:55] 3Maja: "I ... oh are you in one of your things right now?" 15[12:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Maja can hear Rollie grunt audibly. "...no. Fuck. Sorry. I'm okay. Anyway. We've got to talk. Are you still with Clarabelle?" [12:58] 3Maja: "Yes. Where the fuck are you?" 15[12:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "About a block away. Where can we meet up?" [13:00] 3Maja turns to Clarabelle. "How well do you know this neighborhood? Do you know where we can meet with someone to talk?" 14[13:01] * Joins: hrolf [13:04] Clarabelle thinks. "Watts? Yeah, I know a quiet place. How far away are they?" [13:04] "A block away." [13:05] Clarabelle: "Tell him to meet us at the memorial park two blocks west." [13:06] Maja speaks into the phone: "Memorial park, two blocks west." [13:06] 3Maja speaks into the phone: "Memorial park, two blocks west." 15[13:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Be there in five." [13:07] Clarabelle parks the car when they get there. "Who is it?" [13:07] 3Maja thinks about how to answer that. "Well, it's my ... boyfriend, I guess." 08[13:07] "Do you remember Deputy Rollie Choi?" [13:08] "By the way, I have a boyfriend. F.Y.I." [13:09] The Presbyter squints. "Uh…did we ever meet? And congratulations." [13:10] "I believe you've met twice in passing- he was pretty out of it on Halloween, and then while he was running out of my office once." [13:10] "And ... thanks." 14[13:11] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) [13:12] Clarabelle: "Maybe I should start holding Mass down there. And maybe you could come." 15[13:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie walks out of nowhere when Maja and Clarabelle reach the park. Was he there the whole time? He looks amped up, his jacket's torn, and he still smells faintly of seawater. [13:13] Clarabelle: "'There' being Orange County…is that him?" [13:14] 3Maja looks up. "Yup." 08[13:15] "What the fuck, Rollie?" 3She walks over to give him a kiss, giving him the up and down on the way. 14[13:16] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 15[13:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie hugs Maja. He's fine, though his clothes are kind of torn. "Okay, I have to. There's something I have to tell you." [13:17] 3Maja cocks her head to the side. "What's going on?" 15[13:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "That house is bugged. They had me listening to the bug. That's how I knew." [13:17] "... I see." [13:19] "Who bugged it?" 15[13:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "And when you called, I answered without thinking. I talked without thinking. I had just pulled myself out of an episode, I was a little out of it, and I felt so fucking weird..." 10Deep breath. A heartbeat fills the silence his voice leaves behind. "I slipped up. The person I was there with heard me tell you." 15[13:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He gives Maja a significant look. "I can't-" 15[13:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He looks at Clarabelle. How's she doing? [13:22] Clarabelle's back in the car. She's given them their space. 15[13:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "...Ruby." [13:23] "What does she want to know that we wouldn't have just told her? Was she spying on us, or the Bishop?" 15[13:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "The church, generally, I think." [13:24] "Oh." [13:24] "I see." 15[13:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I'm so sorry." [13:24] "... Why?" 15[13:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I wasn't thinking. If I'd waited until I left to talk to you everything'd be fine. I don't know what's going to happen, what kind of punishment there is, what..." [13:26] 3Maja: "Wait, are you in trouble?" 15[13:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I don't know! I assume so. She knocked me off the fucking tower." [13:27] 3Maja: "I .. is there anything I can do right now?" 08[13:28] 3Maja grabs Rollie's hand and squeezes it. 15[13:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I don't know. We've got to talk to Clarabelle about this, right?" 15[13:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "Man, though." 15[13:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "The way she stuck up for you to the Bishop?" 15[13:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "That was great." [13:29] 3Maja shakes her head. "Yeah ... I can't say I was real pleased about it in the moment, but ... yeah ..." [13:33] 3She glances over towards Clarabelle. "She's great." 15[13:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "A worthy bestie." [13:34] 3Maja giggles. [13:36] NEXT TIME: Clouds & Fire 14[13:39] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:58] * Quits: mugabe 14[14:08] * Joins: ddt 14[14:18] * Joins: Crion_ 14[14:22] * Joins: mugabe 14[14:54] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:55] * Joins: Crion 14[15:06] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[15:06] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[15:07] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:15] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[15:22] * Joins: drinkybird 14[15:26] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 09[15:28] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[15:30] * Joins: ddt 14[15:34] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[16:00] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:11] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:19] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 11[16:34] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue Jun 23 16:34:07 2015 Session Start: Tue Jun 23 16:34:07 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[16:34] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[16:34] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[16:34] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[16:34] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[16:34] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[16:35] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[16:36] * Quits: trenchfoot (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by trenchfoot_))) 09[16:36] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[17:32] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[17:39] * Joins: drinkybird 14[17:41] * Quits: drinkybird (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[17:41] * Joins: drinkybird 14[17:42] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[18:00] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[18:30] * Quits: Crion 14[18:32] * Joins: Crion 14[18:37] * Joins: Crion_ 14[18:38] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[19:04] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[19:13] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[19:14] * Quits: mattbaby (Remote host closed the connection) 14[19:15] * Joins: drinkybird 09[19:16] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[19:16] * Joins: drinkybird 14[19:16] * Quits: trenchfoot (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by drinkybird))) 09[19:16] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[19:18] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[19:22] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:23] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[19:23] * Quits: trenchfoot (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by trenchfoot_))) 09[19:23] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[19:26] * Quits: trenchfoot (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by trenchfoot_))) 14[19:26] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[19:28] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:42] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[20:42] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [20:53] <@Ferrinus> https://i.imgur.com/e8Q6p1n.png [20:57] same 14[21:09] * Quits: Crion_ 14[21:10] * Joins: Crion 14[21:59] * Joins: Crion_ 14[22:43] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[22:46] * Joins: mugabe 14[23:05] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[23:05] * Joins: ddt 14[23:07] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:15] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[23:24] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[23:36] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:41] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[23:50] * Joins: Quaker Session Time: Wed Jun 24 00:00:01 2015 14[00:01] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[00:14] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[00:18] * Joins: Quaker 14[00:25] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[01:58] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[01:58] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[02:12] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[02:24] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[02:48] * Quits: dammitwho 09[03:06] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[03:17] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[03:21] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[03:24] * Joins: drinkybird 14[03:25] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[03:25] * 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http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[09:14] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[09:14] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[09:15] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[09:33] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[09:33] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:33] * Quits: mattbaby (Remote host closed the connection) 14[09:33] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Remote host closed the connection) 14[09:33] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[09:50] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[10:00] * Joins: ddt 14[10:13] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:26] * Joins: mugabe 14[10:31] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[10:46] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[10:46] * Joins: hrolf 14[10:52] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[10:54] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[10:57] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[11:03] * Joins: FerrinusSpace [11:07] banana: only the wise can recognise the process of decay [11:07] lol 15[11:07] <@VoxPVoxD> wisdom is for other people [11:07] what are your noel coward opinions, ferirnus [11:07] *ferrinus [11:07] *ferrinusspace 15[11:07] <@VoxPVoxD> *ferinius [11:08] 7colloquy://banana1we all frigidaires, radios, television and movie shows to shield us ~ from the ultimate abyss [11:08] i have no idea who that is [11:08] D: 15[11:09] <@VoxPVoxD> he wrote plays and songs 15[11:09] <@VoxPVoxD> he was a funny man [11:09] im not sure i can relate to him, either, because while he may be noel coward i definitely can't say the dame 15[11:09] <@VoxPVoxD> lol [11:09] same* 15[11:09] <@VoxPVoxD> you could think of tom lehrer as an american version of noel coward, in some respects 15[11:09] <@VoxPVoxD> they're cut from similar cloth [11:10] a nice development in ff14 is that owing to triple triad, the word "Same" is now invokable through auto translate 15[11:10] <@VoxPVoxD> lol [11:10] as is "Chaos" 15[11:10] <@VoxPVoxD> <> [11:10] ^^^ 15[11:11] <@VoxPVoxD> I've figured out what character I'm gonna play while paracelsus is on sabbatical, btw [11:11] although its more like 3{1Same4} [11:12] i hope it's an acanthus specializing in readied actions [11:13] the weird thing is that riidi and vermain were telling me "you'll like this new vegas character" and when i met him i was like lol it's noel coward, and did in fact like him [11:13] but... they don't know who noel coward is either [11:13] so how did they know [11:13] my god 15[11:15] <@VoxPVoxD> I mean 15[11:15] <@VoxPVoxD> without knowing who noel coward is 15[11:15] <@VoxPVoxD> or anything about him 15[11:15] <@VoxPVoxD> it's a pretty easy intuitive leap 15[11:15] <@VoxPVoxD> from seeing a noel cowardlike 15[11:15] <@VoxPVoxD> to 15[11:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "gul banana would love this guy" 15[11:16] <@VoxPVoxD> he's just very much The Sort Of Thing You Like [11:18] well [11:18] while i can't honestly disagree with that [11:18] i'd like to dishonestly disagree with it. 15[11:18] <@VoxPVoxD> I can respect that [11:18] you misspelled expect 15[11:19] <@VoxPVoxD> lol 15[11:19] <@VoxPVoxD> but no my replacement mage is a thyrsus in the adamantine arrow [11:19] arrow! [11:19] time flies like an arrow. fruit flies like a banana 15[11:20] <@VoxPVoxD> =========================== 15[11:20] <@VoxPVoxD> OLEG BEKHTEREV ("AZAZELLO") 15[11:20] <@VoxPVoxD> =========================== 15[11:20] <@VoxPVoxD> * Virtue: Endure. 15[11:20] <@VoxPVoxD> * Vice: Destroy. 15[11:20] <@VoxPVoxD> * Thyrsus (Spirit and Life rule; Mind inferior) 15[11:20] <@VoxPVoxD> * Adamantine Arrow [11:21] Oleg [11:21] is oleg huge 15[11:21] <@VoxPVoxD> no he's kind of wiry 15[11:21] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/ZcilJbe.jpg 15[11:22] <@VoxPVoxD> right now while working I'm thinking about a theme song [11:28] oh man [11:28] that's an oleg beard alright 15[11:28] <@VoxPVoxD> I can't conceive of a male thyrsus mage WITHOUT a giant beard 15[11:28] <@VoxPVoxD> for some reason [11:32] same, but mandibles 14[11:36] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: mattbaby) 14[11:37] * Joins: mattbaby [11:38] flood your body with weed particles to become azamellow 15[11:39] <@VoxPVoxD> lol 14[11:41] * Joins: mugabe 14[12:04] * Joins: drinkybird 14[12:05] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[12:07] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[12:07] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: mattbaby) 09[12:10] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[12:10] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:45] * Joins: Zarick 14[13:05] * Joins: Crion_ 14[13:15] * Joins: hrolfie 14[13:18] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[13:23] * Quits: @Ferrinus 14[13:25] * Joins: Ferrinus 09[13:25] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 09[13:32] * banana is now known as banana|goodnight [13:36] <@Ferrinus> “They’re just like us,” said Rick Simeone, the director of pest control for the city’s health department, scouring the bushes of Downtown Brooklyn for signs on a recent morning. “They don’t give anything back. They eat and reproduce.” [13:36] <@Ferrinus> The city’s new effort is premised on attacking so-called rat reservoirs, stretches where rats subsist in large enough numbers that eradicating some on the surface will have little long-term effect. [13:36] <@Ferrinus> Any oversight — a sidewalk crack, a littered sandwich, a trash can without a lid in a city park — can imperil the fragile peace. [13:36] <@Ferrinus> “New York’s rats are diabolically clever,” said Robert M. Corrigan, a rodentologist who has long advised the city. “It’s an opportunist and it’s not fussy.” 14[13:45] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[13:46] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[13:58] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[14:17] * Joins: drinkybird 14[14:19] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[14:20] * Joins: ddt 14[14:21] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:22] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 15[14:36] <@VoxPVoxD> tfw all your ideas for theme songs are songs you don't like very much [14:36] lol [14:36] <@Ferrinus> haha 14[14:55] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[14:57] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[15:01] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:27] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[15:30] * Joins: mugabe 14[16:03] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[16:06] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[16:08] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[16:49] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:53] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[18:02] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[18:05] * Joins: mugabe 14[18:33] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[18:53] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:41] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:46] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[20:57] * Joins: Quaker [21:21] - [21:21] - [21:21] - [21:21] - [21:21] - [21:21] - [21:21] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LP5uuLcwCs 08[21:26] The clouds have parted to make way for the moon, so bright above the orange haze of the county's lamps and lights that it's tinged pure white. Past it, and only visible on the parts of the freeways that exist outside of the close-together cities, are the stars. Rollie's neighborhood isn't so well-lit that the light pollution makes them invisible. 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's on the porch, unplugging the Christmas lights and just letting himself watch the sky a while. Rollie is alone and quiet and the moonlight is overwhelming in its gentleness. 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10There's conviction in his eyes as they throw back lamplight and moonlight both. Conviction, preparation and a quiet patience. But there is no certainty; in the last analysis, he doesn't really know what will be looking through his eyes at this sky next. 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Before Rollie goes back inside, he closes his eyes, releases his hands from the railing, and stands there, letting himself feel the absence of his heartbeat. [21:34] The cold air comes through the rows of olive trees that line the grassy spaces on the sidewalk, so that their gentle rustling adds to the chorus of crickets and the distant sound of cars going down roads. 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The gentle opening and closing of his door adds a percussive note to the near-silence. He's careful and quiet inside; Princess is sleeping. He hasn't had a good sleeping habit since Rollie died. [21:38] How is he going to do this? How has he prepared? And who has he told? 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's been ordering parts in twos and threes for the last couple weeks. Putting them together on his off hours. He told Maja it was a tanning bed. She didn't buy it for some reason. So it's just her and Leis that know about the tank. 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's solidly made, a seemingly seamless construction, a white polymer pillbox. It's heavy and it sloshes as he opens the hatch to check the water levels. Yep. This is happening now. 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Leis and Maja get variations on the same text. 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Leis gets  10where Maja sees 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then he turns his phone off. 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Like it's the most natural thing in the world, the Thirteenth Slave gets into the holding tank he built for himself. The lid comes down like a coffin's. 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Darkness. Silence. Stillness. 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He waits. Sometimes you can't force it. Sometimes waiting is all you can do. [21:50] He doesn't need to float. [21:51] The pressure around him alters, once the water is over his head. There's only the barely perceptible sense of something pressing against him, and the strange temperature of the water, warmer than his cold body, to be aware of. 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The water will come down, or his body will warm up. There is a new equilbirium coming. [21:53] Only the act of meditation remains to be completed. 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie takes it all in. The living spirit stretches, filling every edge of his body, bleeding past the boundaries, becoming one with the water. He can taste the salt compounds in his sinuses. Every gentle eddy of the water grazes his skin. He can feel his tendons slacken with indifference as he relaxes. 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10His mind wanders. He sees faces, places, colors. He hears sounds. Every time, he guides his mind's eye gently back to the fullness of his perception. 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10And then he begins to let go. 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> The mind goes still, the worm uncoiled, its nest still and dark. He thinks nothing. [22:03] For the first time in months, something beats. [22:04] From the furthest reaches of his perception, something sounds. 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He waits. It's not time yet. He can feel that it isn't time yet. [22:04] The darkness, while not coloring itself, changes in composition, until the water has vanished around him. 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The skin goes numb, the scales sloughed loose, sensation falling like dross with it. He feels nothing. The water's gone now too. [22:05] The Thirteenth Slave hears the sound swell, until it's all he can hear. The darkness fades. [22:06] The tile under his feet, touching his hands, is white and smooth. There are no features marring its surface. It's cool to the touch. 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He lets go of the eye, the vastness of his perception easing and diffusing until there is only that sound, that song he has no mind to name or identify. 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10And he lets go of the I, self and not-self settling their pressures such that one cannot be distinguished from the other. 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie is gone. 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10And now he's ready. [22:07] He's here. 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie opens his eyes. [22:08] There are two directions. [22:09] Behind him is the wall of sight and sound. Its surface, swirling and unbroken, stretches to infinity in either direction. It is made of every color, and moves placidly. The sound is coming from its surface. 08[22:10] Rollie is standing on the first white tile before it. The tile continues on in front of him. [22:12] In front of him, the small road lies between two fields, each full with withered vermilion flowers. It ends at the beginning of the marble balustrades and facades of the pavilion. [22:14] The white columns and walls of the main building reflect the bright light of an absent sun. The temple glitters, and from a distance he can see the fine gold tracery in its eaves and edges. Its roof rises, in a thin column, into the pale red sky, until it disappears from sight. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He takes it in a while, soaking in the reds and whites and golds of the place. But the next step is inevitable. Going backward is impossible. Staying still is unthinkable. There is only forward. 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He thinks about reaching down and touching one of the flowers at the roadside. He thinks about bringing one back. But he doesn't bend or slow or stop. The thought rises and falls and is gone. [22:20] He can hear the sound behind him. If he looks back, it hasn't moved, even as he has. It follows behind, shrinking the world. 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's not something you can push back against. He lets it impel him forwardf. [22:24] The steps are wide and flat. After twenty, he's standing in the only room in the building. [22:24] There's a table, and a shrouded figure laying atop. There's two chairs, and he's sitting in one of them, his eyes closed. 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Does he recognize either of them? He moves to the open chair either way. [22:28] There's a white sheet on top of one of them. He should recognize the other one. He used to see him in the mirror every morning. 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "What's good?" 10He'll hold out his hand for a fist bump. 08[22:29] Rollie in the chair doesn't return it, or move. His chest rises and falls, his eyes remaining shut. 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie hesitates a moment, but only a moment. Then he just sits down. [22:31] "..." 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10How is the body on the table positioned relative to the two Rollies. Is it perpendicular to them or is one of them at its head and the other at its feet? [22:34] The two chairs, slabs, really, carved out of the same white marble, face each other. The table sits a few feet to the north, equidistant to both of them. They form a triangle. 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie sits a bit. He can feel his mind wandering. No. No. Guide it gently back. He looks across the distance at himself for a minute and then he's at the table, touching the cloth like it's a burial shroud. 08[22:37] Rollie in the chair turns his head, his eyes opened. "Did you hear the sounds?" 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie at the table doesn't look back. "Yeah." [22:40] "Did you place your hand against it? They haven't faded, in all this time. What splendid memories." 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Like what?" 10Did it follow him to the door? Where is it now? 08[22:43] Rollie is still sitting in the chair. 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie means the sound. [22:43] It sits next to them, at the entrance of the pavilion. [22:44] "The world. Like moonlight reflected. Or drops of water, shaken from a crane's bill." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "But they're not your memories." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "They don't belong to you." [22:46] "While the mind wanders, I sit and listen to them. But they aren't ours." 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks at the entrance, and at the signal beyond it. "There's no escaping it, is there?" [22:49] "It isn't anywhere in particular. But it is everywhere, and everyone." 14[22:53] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie touches the shrouded body's face through the cloth. "Why are you here?" [22:55] "Walking along in this illusory place, without seeing any trace of myself, I heard the birdsong calling me. I turned my head to see who had told me to turn back, and I saw you." 14[22:55] * Joins: trenchfoot 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "Why didn't you?" 08[22:59] Rollie grasps the arms of the chair and stands. "Should I?" 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Maybe. It'd... we'd do ourselves wrong if we didn't consider it." [23:01] "There is one matter I must not neglect." 14[23:01] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah?" [23:03] "Yes." 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "What is it?" 14[23:03] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [23:04] "I want to return home. As I sit here, listening, the thought is my only comfort." 08[23:04] Rollie raises his arm to point at the signal. "Won't you pick one? So that next time, we might have more to discuss." 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "...I guess I have to, don't I." 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's got to be a part of this." [23:08] "You don't have to do anything." 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's crossing the pavilion again already. "I wasn't asking you." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What's it like to touch the signal? [23:11] "And I couldn't give you an answer, except to point out the delusion of start and finish. And when you realize it….this will no longer be a dream." [23:12] The colors move around his hand, coalescing around the form he's given it. As they touch his skin, the sounds become clearer. [23:12] Gunshots, laughter, trumpets, wind... [23:13] And then….applause. [23:13] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUF9g9V-Ang [23:13] They all sound as if he's under water, and they are above it. 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10But now nothing but the water is gonna bring my soul to bare. He focuses. How does this facet split the light. What meaning does it scatter? [23:17] "It's only a dim reflection of itself. You won't find any meaning that exists outside of yourself here." 08[23:19] Rollie is right. 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He drags his hand across the surface of the signal. The sound is ceaseless and protean. He hears so much... but it isn't saying anything. "Maybe I was right the first time." 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He'll walk past himself again, heading back for the table. It's getting hard to focus. He'll lift the shroud up. 08[23:24] Rollie already has his hand on the sheet, lifting it up. [23:25] "Mind itself is the change. No change, no mind." 08[23:25] Rollie lays on the table, eyes open and unseeing, mouth open and silent. 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Intact? [23:25] As intact as the other two. 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "What changed him?" [23:27] "Nothing, yet. Should I?" 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Should I?" 14[23:28] * Joins: trenchfoot [23:28] "We should listen to nature. And the birdsong." 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Can Rollie hear the birdsong? [23:29] He can't. 08[23:29] Only Rollie can. 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "What does it sound like?" [23:30] "It leaves no trace behind. And I do not need a guide." 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "How'd you get here without one?" 08[23:30] Rollie raises his wrist to his mouth. 14[23:30] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [23:31] "In the midst of your illusion I awoke, and knew that I would do what you could not." [23:31] With his teeth, he opens his wrist, and the blood flows. 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Don't." [23:32] The signal vibrates, and the sound breaks the silence in two. [23:32] BONG [23:34] "I shall." [23:34] BONG BONG  [23:36] "If you can't." [23:36] BONG BONG BONG  08[23:38] Rollie puts his hand on the table. The red blood falls onto the white marble. 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie has to raise his voice to be heard as he clamps a hand over Table Rollie's open mouth. "I can. But when I do, it won't be to beat you to it. It will be because that's what's worth bleeding over." [23:41] "Change is worth it. But he needs one of us. I think it will be me." [23:41] BONG BONG BONG BONG [23:42] The water has reached their ankles. It's sloshing around, agitated. 08[23:44] "You think you're separate, and I am not? You don't exist outside of this, either. He came in here." Rollie points to the unmoving Rollie. [23:45] "And he will leave, but we will not. Until he comes in again." 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "Why am I here?" 10Their faces flit to the edges of his mind. He can't recall their names right now. Ephemeral, quavering in his head with the pulse of the sound. They aren't with him now. Not in here. They can't be in here. Not ever. They aren't a part of his life. [23:48] "To drift with me. Until one of us is complete." 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10No... no. Here and now, as the water rises and the bell tolls. He is here for himself, in himself. There is no one else. Rollie opens his mouth wide, a feline yawn that draws out his fangs. He draws his arm along the nearest, carelessly cutting himself open. 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He bleeds. [23:49] "I'll see you again. Until then." 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He bleeds easy. He bleeds hot. Blood looks like a living thing when it hits the water, until it spreads so thin and so clean that you can't tell where the dead end and the world begins. 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He bleeds into Rollie's mouth. 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "Until then." [23:52] "This is his mind. Its light penetrates both of us. So why can't we know him?" 14[23:52] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 08[23:52] The blood falls onto Rollie's tongue. His eyes close. His back arches, as he gasps for breath. The water rises. 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "How would we know that we did?" 10is the last thing he says. [23:53] BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG  14[23:53] * Joins: trenchfoot 08[23:54] The water carries Rollie out as it spills out of the ruined metal sphere, depositing him on the floor. [23:54] "Oh, shit! Is he breathing? Does he need to breathe?" Trubee has both of her hands in her hair. [23:55] Leisurely drops the crowbar, and it clatters to the floor. "You fucking idiot-" [23:56] She picks him up and pushes him against the wall, and he might think that this small of a woman shouldn't be this strong, before she continues. "Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to do this without someone here-" 14[23:58] * Joins: Crion_ Session Time: Thu Jun 25 00:00:00 2015 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He would never doubt Leisurely Foster's strength. But he's not quite there yet. He's not quite ready to answer. "Do you... do... did..." [00:05] Leisurely: "What's my title?" [00:06] "Who's she?" She indicates Trubee, still with her hands on her head. 14[00:06] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[00:08] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[00:09] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10All at once the world slides into focus. The worm coils. Rollie can feel his back against the wall, feel the water dripping off him, feel the strength in her arms, feel the weight of both their gazes. He can feel his heart beating. "You are the First Visionary. You have seen to the ends of the Void and you have stopped one short. But the others call you invisible, and they're wrong." 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "I see you." 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "Trubee is my friend. And she's my neighbor." 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "She can come and go as she wants. She has a golden key." [00:14] She moves her face in front of his. "Do not risk all my work and then try to paper it over with flattery, Supplicant. If you ever again attempt something like this while not under my direct supervision, I will break our understanding and send you out into wilderness." 08[00:14] Leisurely lets Rollie drop to the floor, and walks over the shattered remains of the door as he leaves. 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "I won't," 10he says from the floor. 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "I promise." [00:15] Trubee groans. "What is happening??" 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Hey Trubee." [00:15] "Your door…" 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "Can you tell me what my body temperature is?" 14[00:16] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[00:16] * Joins: trenchfoot_ [00:16] "Wh- why? Like ninety-nine degress." 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie pulls himself up. "Okay. Okay. Hand me that towel and I'll tell you everything you want to know." 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Did his phone get wrecked in the fracas? [00:19] It's on the counter, where he left it. [00:19] Trubee brings it and a towel over. 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie sends Maja a text. It's just a link. 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNDifMyQuv8 > 14[00:27] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[00:28] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [00:29] 3Maja: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPn0KFlbqX8 > 14[00:49] * Joins: drinkybird 14[00:52] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[00:53] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[00:54] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[00:54] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[00:57] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[00:57] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[01:00] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[01:07] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:14] * Quits: mugabe 09[01:19] * banana|goodnight is now known as banana|goodmorning 14[01:25] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 09[01:27] * banana|goodmorning is now known as banana 14[01:35] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[01:35] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[01:41] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[03:32] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[04:07] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[04:10] * Joins: Quaker 14[05:32] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[05:49] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[06:22] * Joins: mattbaby 09[06:33] * banana is now known as bananarb 09[07:16] * bananarb is now known as banana 14[07:28] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[07:28] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 09[07:28] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[07:28] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[07:28] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 09[07:28] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[08:08] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[08:13] * Quits: dammitwho 14[08:19] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: mattbaby_) 14[08:50] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[09:02] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[09:47] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[10:03] * Joins: ddt 14[10:43] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[10:53] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:57] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[11:10] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Remote host closed the connection) 14[11:11] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[11:27] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[11:42] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:20] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[12:29] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:09] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[13:27] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[13:35] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[13:39] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[13:59] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:02] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[14:14] * Joins: ddt 09[14:34] * banana is now known as banana|capodelnotte 14[15:06] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[15:15] * Joins: Crion_ 14[15:24] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:24] * Quits: hrolfie (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[15:25] * Joins: hrolfie 14[15:41] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: mattbaby) 14[15:44] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:50] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[15:58] * Joins: mugabe 14[16:03] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[16:09] * Joins: ddt 14[16:24] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:25] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[16:26] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [16:31] https://41.media.tumblr.com/7b964f2e6fdf3f2aecfb2f4a16486c17/tumblr_njvl68wqRt1rqbl96o1_500.png i'm pretty sure this is how mage works [16:32] https://40.media.tumblr.com/d8417920571aecbb4a87a3d30210ef70/tumblr_nqijf3Igjh1sthzylo2_540.jpg and i'm pretty sure this is how werewolf works [16:32] <@Ferrinus> that's correct [16:33] oh there was supposed to be another picture there but i guess it's ultimately not important [16:33] <@Ferrinus> that depends on which of my interests, if any, it catered to [16:35] it just said "you are going to furry hell" [16:36] <@Ferrinus> hmm. well, whatever 14[16:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[17:06] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[17:07] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:22] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[17:25] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[17:35] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[17:49] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[18:18] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[18:20] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[18:24] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[18:29] * Joins: mugabe 11[19:10] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Jun 25 19:10:56 2015 Session Start: Thu Jun 25 19:10:56 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[19:11] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[19:11] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[19:11] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[19:11] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 14[19:12] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[19:13] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:49] * Joins: Crion_ 14[19:58] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[20:01] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[20:17] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[20:18] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[20:19] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[20:20] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Client Quit) 09[20:20] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 09[20:26] * banana|capodelnotte is now known as banana|ugh 09[20:38] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[20:38] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[20:38] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[20:56] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[21:04] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[21:07] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[21:13] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[21:16] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[21:30] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[21:42] * Joins: Quaker 14[21:44] * Joins: ddt 14[21:45] * Quits: Quaker (Client Quit) 14[22:03] * Joins: Crion_ 14[22:11] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:11] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[22:13] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[22:22] * Joins: Crion_ 14[22:50] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[23:03] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:32] * Joins: Crion_ 14[23:35] * Joins: mugabe 14[23:37] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) Session Time: Fri Jun 26 00:00:01 2015 14[01:16] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[01:41] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[02:59] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[03:47] * Quits: mugabe 14[04:38] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[04:38] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[04:41] * Joins: trenchfoot 09[05:16] * banana|ugh is now known as banana 14[06:20] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[06:28] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[06:43] * Quits: cbass (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_))) 14[06:43] * Joins: cbass_ 09[06:43] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 14[06:44] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[06:47] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[07:12] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST 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by drinkybird))) 09[14:08] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[14:10] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:13] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[14:14] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[15:04] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:40] * Joins: dammitwho 14[15:41] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:49] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[15:53] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[16:02] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[16:25] * Joins: mugabe 11[16:33] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Jun 26 16:33:27 2015 Session Start: Fri Jun 26 16:33:27 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[16:34] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[16:34] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[16:34] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[16:34] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 14[16:34] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by VoxPoxVD))) 09[16:34] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[16:34] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[16:39] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[16:53] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[17:01] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[17:57] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:57] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[18:25] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[18:28] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:51] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[19:12] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[19:12] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:27] * Joins: mugabe 14[22:10] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[22:46] * Joins: Quaker 14[22:52] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) Session Time: Sat Jun 27 00:00:01 2015 09[00:48] * bnnslp is now known as banana 14[00:56] * Joins: Crion_ 14[00:59] * Quits: dammitwho 14[01:00] * Quits: mugabe 14[01:50] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[01:55] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[03:21] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[03:45] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[04:42] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[05:31] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[05:54] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[07:00] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[11:16] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:22] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[11:48] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:46] * Joins: mattbaby 11[12:53] * Disconnected Session Close: Sat Jun 27 12:53:19 2015 Session Start: Sat Jun 27 12:53:19 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[12:55] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[12:55] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[12:55] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[12:55] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 14[12:55] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by VoxPoxVD))) 09[12:55] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[12:55] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[13:01] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[13:10] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[13:25] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[13:27] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[13:30] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:42] * Joins: cbass 14[13:46] * Quits: cbass (Client Quit) 14[13:48] * Joins: dammitwho 14[13:52] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[13:52] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:30] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: mattbaby) 14[14:54] * Joins: cbass 14[15:02] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[15:02] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:04] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[15:20] * Joins: mugabe 09[15:22] * banana is now known as banana|sleep 14[15:23] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[15:24] * Joins: cbass 14[15:30] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[15:41] * Quits: mattbaby (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[15:42] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:47] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[16:09] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 09[16:23] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[16:35] * Joins: cbass 14[16:41] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[16:42] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[16:42] * mattbaby_ is now known as mattbaby 14[16:48] * Joins: cbass 14[16:51] * Quits: cbass (Client Quit) 14[16:56] * Joins: Crion_ 14[17:02] * Joins: cbass 15[17:03] <@VoxPVoxD> I added zell's rotes to the wiki btw [17:04] <@Ferrinus> nice. i'll have to save, uh, mind life spirit? 15[17:06] <@VoxPVoxD> and prime 15[17:06] <@VoxPVoxD> (I also fixed a typo in prime) [17:07] <@Ferrinus> D:< [17:07] <@Ferrinus> the rotes or the actual practices writeup [17:07] changed all instances of the word 'Prime' to 'Primey' 15[17:07] <@VoxPVoxD> the rote pages [17:07] <@Ferrinus> cool [17:30] so what's zell's 'deal' exactly 04[17:30] <@Ferrinus> oh man i ended up asking vox about him in pm [17:30] <@Ferrinus> idk if it's easy to assemble a log or not 15[17:30] <@VoxPVoxD> I can assemble a log 04[17:31] well also is 'celsus getting semiretired, is vox playing two chars, what's up 15[17:31] <@VoxPVoxD> paracelsus is gonna be on sabbatical 15[17:31] <@VoxPVoxD> I'm not playing two characters at a time, but I'm not getting rid of him [17:31] <@Ferrinus> actually i meant to ask, should he leave the city or just fade into npcdom for a while 15[17:32] <@VoxPVoxD> I figure the latter works better [17:32] <@Ferrinus> it was my assumption too [17:32] <@Ferrinus> it just struck me that you might have been taking "on sabbatical" more literally 11[17:32] sorry all, paracelsus is busy flying his sanctum into south america with his dog 11[17:59] * Disconnected Session Close: Sat Jun 27 17:59:28 2015 Session Start: Sat Jun 27 17:59:28 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[17:59] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[17:59] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[17:59] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[17:59] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 14[17:59] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by VoxPoxVD))) 09[17:59] * VoxPoxVD is now known as VoxPVoxD 09[17:59] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[18:32] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[18:56] * Quits: mugabe 14[19:47] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[19:56] * Quits: dammitwho [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,'. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,' `. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,' `. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12,' `. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12\ / [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ / [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ / [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12 \_______/ [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12War rages beneath the Cooper building. [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12There's not a hunt taking place down here, nor a territorial struggle, nor even the kind of brutal, pointless clash that might come of starvation, frenzy, or disease. Men scream and fire around corners or over barricades; deadly gases hiss through the air or roll along the floors of tunnels; the terrain itself shakes with the force of blows and bombs. [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12The rats are mounting a counteroffensive, and Cross's forces just aren't in shape to receive it. They know what's going on, somehow, and have been crashing in waves against one of the pillars sinking to and through the entire building's foundations, trying to gnaw the thing to the point that the entire complex - still half-built - collapses outright. And, as has ever been the problem, [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12the enemy doesn't stay dead. [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Unless torn completely apart, the swarms of normal rats that the Beshilu marshal simply rise again and again, animated by toxic fumes that leak from their eyes and poison the blood of anyone the scurrying corpses bite or scratch. They need to be pulverized or incinerated completely, and while the cataclysmic spells of Atlas do that plenty well, their repeated use might exactly [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12accomplish the Beshilu objective. It's the force behind the creatures which needs to be annulled - but Max Willard, the Glass Walkers' spirit master, is spending all of his power already on setting up traps and wards that ensure the rats' unseen allies aren't able to come wafting up through the building's floor and poison its work crews directly. [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Hence: a specialist. [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Towards the north end of the building's foundations, Atlas is going tectonic. Around the south and west, where the foundation is weakest, three werewolves (maybe two - Azazello didn't get a good look, but the man seemed like a discount version of the real thing) grapple with rokhan hybrids and their attendant rodent flood. Elsewhere, men with flamethrowers and extremely high [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12paychecks hope desperately not to run out of fuel. 11[20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12The line's holding, for now. Azazello isn't anywhere on it. He's standing in the center of the first basement next to Max Willard, a massive man whose flesh surges with superhuman vitality and radiates Essence. The man's taller, hairier, more clawed and fanged than he should be, and stripped to the waist - he paces barefoot in cashmere slacks, clawing furiously at the air and sending [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12currents of glass, stone, and sunlight to one corner of the complex or the other. [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Willard: "And you're goin' in alone?" 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The spry man with the dark beard limbers up. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Willard: "Sound stupid... but it's not the worst time for it. Pretty thin on that side, right now, they're all in the flesh." 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Some light stretches - they serve first to focus his mind, second to relax and open up his muscles, and finally to let the shifts of weight against his skin confirm for him that he's got all his weapons. His jacket's hanging from a hook upstairs, leaving him dressed in loose dark linen and black slippers. 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Zell breathes in. The titan beside him is vital, puissant, and well-regarded. [20:53] <@Ferrinus> "Poison-gafflings would be, too, normally..." 12Willard continues. "'cept the rats have gnawed the gauntlet so thin the little ones don't even need to know how to Reach. You kill those or drag enough of 'em fleshward and we're outta this fucking Romero movie." 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "My friend," 10he says, in his barely-there accent, "I am never alone." 11[20:55] <@Ferrinus> "Ho, yeah? You a binder?" 12The werewolf eyes Azazello coolly. 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "I am a friend to the hungry, yes. You will remain here?" 11[20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Willard eyes Azazello a little longer, his level of satisfaction with that answer unclear. "No choice. Can't leave holes in the net. You people pop out of there as fast as you jump in, right?" 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Azazello: "Mmmhmm." 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "Tell me, is it true what they say?" [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Willard: "What do they say?" 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Azazello: "That the witch who has claimed this place... they say sometimes that you answer to her. A little totem." [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Willard mouths the word 'witch' to himself, plainly - if momentarily - confused. "Who, Rhodes? Answer to-?" 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The spry man holds up his hands, placating. "This is perhaps a bad time for gossip." 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "I mean no offense." 11[21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Willard leans forward - however tall Azazello may be, he's not going to successfully loom over a werewolf in their near-man shape. "Listen here, -- ...what do they call you?" 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "Azazello. Zell to the impatient." 14[21:06] * Joins: dammitwhoa 11[21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Willard: "Alright, Zell. We're letting Crossroads set up her crystals or whatever up in the middle of this place and that's why the people do answer to her are bleeding alongside us." 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Alongside us? The shaman is given to notice that Willard is nowhere near the fight, although not to remark on it. "As you say. Is there anything else I should know?" [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Willard: "Most of the rat poison brood can't cross plastic. Death and cancer it's teamed up with haven't got that problem, though." 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Zell nods. If there's nothing else... [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12There doesn't seem to be, and indeed Willard's already turned away to snarl in the First Tongue at something in the other room. The words are fast and the grammar's a bit odd but it sounds like he's evoking the sun's aloofness and the purity of an empty room against some invading contamination. 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Zell closes his eyes, bowing his head. His heart pounds, loud enough to thud in his ears. The air goes thin and hazy and soon enough Willard can hear it too, feel it too, the shaman's heart jackhammering in the ritemaster's chest. As the already-frayed Gauntlet stretches and pulses, a milky cataract enveloping Azazello and suppurating around him. He breathes in, and the wound between worlds irises around him. When he exhales he and the wound are gone. [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Elsewhere, it turns out to be somewhat slow going to incinerate about two thousand cubic meters' worth of giant, eusocial, flesh-eating scarab. [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Cross has hooked Arrian up with an industrial furnace, sure, and ensured that no one'd interrupt him in the process of using it, so he's got this entire industrial basement sort of thing off in Brooklyn somewhere to himself, but, wow, this could take the better part of a day. He's got to open the thing, speak the world, do his best to keep hold on the object while it vomits a chittering [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12stream of razor death directly into the flames, clap it closed again once the furnace looks close to full, then activate the machinery that scoops and cleans and dumps the charred contents into some sort of vent chute thing before starting again. [21:26] 7You burn sixteen tons of giant, eusocial, flesh-eating scarab and what do you get? Well, some mana at least. [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12You know what, that's exactly correct. What sort of ritual does Arrian use to seal a blood sacrifice? Or ichor sacrifice or something. [21:29] 7Arrian's drawing half-remembered runes in soot with his fingers around the furnace's heavy iron door, to sanctify his casting endless scarabs into the red glow of Bug Hell. 11[21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Azazello arrives in a basement much like the one he left - but much better lit. What was solid ceiling above him is all shining steel girders, crossed and re-crossed over each other in a complicated geometry that nevertheless fails to block out the shy that shines down from above. That's a little weird, because the rats chose to strike at night and even if the Thyrsus looks off at [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12an angle he can see the darkness and weird stars of the Shadow's proper sky poking out between the great, twisted shapes of buildings - but directly above, golden light shines down, a long shape occasionally circling and passing through it. 11[21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12To Azazello's sides and beneath his feet, it's tarps and concrete, but there are more flights of stairs spiraling down than should be, and greenish fumes hiss upwards from each before sizzling and scattering in the force of the basement's solar sanctification. [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Yes, yes, Arrian can almost hear Felix say. Suffer in the torments - hang on, what's that. 11[21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12At this distance and under this rush, Azazello can't make out many of the Glass Walker's specifics, but it's clearly infused with the resonance of glass and sunlight both, and it's at least third rank or above. 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The shaman offers a silent salute to this place's courtmaster. But his own battle lives in the places that the light does not touch. Into the dark we go. [21:40] 7What is it? Surely Felix isn't actually here. [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Someone's creeping up on Arrian! Shortish, mostly wrapped up in dark clothing with the hood of a sweater up. They're moving with what seems to be preternatural grace and haven't made a sound, but don't seem to know that Arrian can literally see out the back of his head. They don't look armed or enchanted - not with supernal magic, anyway, or anything within the bailiwick of Mind and [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Space - but seem to be moving a bit more smoothly than they should. They've got what's a human mind at first glance and a sympathetic tie to the book, though not one as strong as Arrian's. 11[21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Does Azazello stalk and creep, or does he charge? [21:42] 7One of the cultists? An ancient religious order coming after one of his books? EEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! [21:42] 7Arrian: "Beat it, pal." [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12They're just in the middle of putting a foot forward, and freeze as Arrian speaks. Does the warlock turn, brandish the book, brandish a weapon, etc? [21:44] 7He snaps the book shut and turns to face the weird intruder. 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Azazello is taking some care to be stealthy. The tactical advantage of charging in is psychological, and that is not a psychology vermin such as this respect. The pageantry of valor demands a more attentive audience, and that's not here. Here, the shaman intends to kill like nobody's watching. [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12A few moments pass in silence before what sounds like a young man's voice says, in unaccented (for the area) English: "Ah -- what are you doing, there?" [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12(For Arrian, I mean) [21:47] "Pest control." 7He replies, picking up a stray scarab by the leg and waggling at the guy(?) before tossing it in the fire. "Who are you? What are you doing here?" [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Unidentified figure: "You're - oh. You're emptying it! What is -- it sounds like bugs?" 11[21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Azazello's luck is poor. Possibly if he was infiltrating this place under normal circumstances he'd find a basically empty set of entry tunnels and then be at liberty to lose himself in the twists and turns that burrow down beneath the building, but here and now the noxious monsters that serve the rat-king are pressing right up against Willard's wards, chafing and scraping at the [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12stairs and ceilings both. 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well. [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12A pair of oversized rat's skulls, blackened as with soot, hang before the Arrow, each in its own nimbus of roiling green gas. Beneath them is a thin carpet of what seems to be living, healthy rats - a reserve army, maybe, preparing to worm down through the holes in stone and Shadow both that perforate the floor. 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10So be it. 11[21:54] <@Ferrinus> "Hhhuuuman!" 12the spirits scream in not-quite-unison - and Azazello can see plain that that these things have long since lost whatever appetites they had for killing only rats. 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The knife is curved, a smooth wooden handle flowing into a chipped stone blade of almost the same shade of brown. It's in his hand before they get another inch forward. 14[22:01] * Joins: Crion_ [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12The mind of the figure confronting Arrian is a bit strange. It more or less comes off as that of an older teenager or younger man, but it's also... full, sort of. There are way too many memories in here, to the extent that one might suspect this guy can't easily grasp them all. His intentions are certainly clearer, though - he's here for the book, because he thinks he needs and/or [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12deserves it, and he's scared - but not of you. [22:12] 7Arrian: "That's right." 7He tenses, ready for the guy to try and make a lunge for it. 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The knife waves between the two burning skulls, and they find their attention drawn to one another, their primal hunger emphasized. Azazello wades through the rats. 11[22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12The two creatures each shudder, the components of their skulls thrumming and twitching in time with Azazello's own heartbeat. They're immediately butting and gnawing at each other, but it's bone scraping on bone - could take a while. [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12The man confronting Arrian: "Ahhh. Can I - what will you do after?" 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The knife makes easy work of them. Azazello wades among the pestilence, carving the surviving spirit into ephemera and killing every single rat he can reach with relish. His one regret is not wearing a good heavy pair of rat-stomping boots. 14[22:24] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [22:24] 7Arrian: "Put it back safely, probably. Why?" 11[22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12The surviving spirit seems a little bigger, a little brighter - but also a little more abraded. The wisps of its brother still soaking in through its eye sockets, the creature turns on Zell immediately. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Him: "Back where. Where'd you even get it?" [22:27] 7Arrian: "Okay, listen. Traditionally, these kind of conversations start with some indication of who you are and why I should bother telling you anything about this book that I have. Help me out here." 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The shaman's arm and the knife it holds form an arrow-straight line through the heart of the spirit. He holds it there as the skull advances, chanting slowly. His heart hammers and echoes down the corridor. When he's finished speaking, he twirls the knife with a casual gesture so that the blade points in the opposite direction. 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then he drives the knife into his own chest. [22:29] <@Ferrinus> "Okay, okay. Call me, ah, Saul? I'm sort of - I'm its guardian." 12Saul looks back and forth, or at least appears to because his hood turns a bit and the basement's poorly lit and the furnace isn't currently blazing. "Actually I was supposed to have it already." [22:32] 7Arrian: "Hi, Saul. I'm Arrian. Guardian for who? Against what?" [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul: "I'm a - there's these - ahhhh I don't actually have time, look. If you're not going to give me that we need to get out of here first." [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul: "I'm not the only one after it!" 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10His organs are already twisted out of the way. Azazello throws his arms wide, the tendons of his neck bulging as his body stretches, mass and muscle realigning to give him unnatural leverage and grace. His bones thin and stretch, pushing out from the backs of his hands a fan of white blades while the two middle fingers on each hand fuse together. 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The spirit bites deep, and the shaman's claws hit home. Both creatures tear into each other, a superaudible screech piercing the staccato crashing of his heart. 14[22:37] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 11[22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12It's gotten strong - which is no surprise to Azazello, who's seen the way that spirits can push themselves to their utmost in times of crisis. Risky, though, because this thing's now pretty low on the toxic essence that'll mean the difference between death and discorporation. [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12It looks to Arrian like this Saul guy would definitely love to find an opportunity to just steal the book and run.. but also that he hasn't made very extensive plans, here. It doesn't appear he's envisioned any kind of ambush to lead the warlock into. [22:39] 7Has Arrian managed to empty the book out enough? 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Zell's flesh knits itself around the bite wound, and the spirit doesn't get to make a second. The skull cracks from both sides as he drives his claws into it, and when he levers it apart like a clamshell it just evaporates into a cloud of noxious gas. 14[22:41] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Allllmost. There's enough left in there to, say, completely stuff a walk-in closet, but at the very least it'll mean that the itching under Arrian's skin will take much longer than before to build to a lethal intensity. [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Victory! The Arrow's hurt, though, and he knows there are more of the gas clouds down here. Taking out two will surely help to stem the real-world tide (a quick check reveals that the rats and rat-hybrids are taking longer to reanimate) but there's more at work. [22:45] 7Hmm. The first thing Arrian did was fill and deliver the two jars of scarabs they wanted to keep, so there's nothing really preventing him from going off with this guy. At the very least, the small amount of bugs left over mean that in a pinch he can dump them and teleport out, leaving any assailants to deal with pocket bugs. [22:48] 7Arrian: "All right." 7He carefully tucks the book under his arm (he's going to keep an eye on Saul for any attempts at a snatch and run), and moves to join him. "Who else is after it?" [22:48] 7Arrian: "All right." 7He carefully tucks the book under his arm (he's going to keep an eye on Saul for any attempts at a snatch and run), and moves to join him. "Who else is after it?" [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul beckons. "The Skyward Fang - and they know you're here! And they're - shhh!" [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12You're not halfway up the stairs out of the basement before he presses up against the wall. Arrian can hear more than one set of footsteps moving around above and outside. 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10In this shape Azazello can fold up to something like a quarter of his full size, limbs bending back on themselves and tucking into his torso to occupy the least possible volume. He's able to stay in there, sucking what little power he can from a passel of hapless rats, as the bruises fade and the bite wounds squeeze shut. 11[22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12When Azazello re-emerges, he's both regenerated and taken something of the lay of the land. He's able to follow the curves of the tunnels smoothly, avoiding or eviscerating any living rats that remain and wrenching apart three more of the skulls that he's able to catch alone. [22:55] 7The Skyward Fang... is that some dragon reference? Some weird name for the Arrow? 11[22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12It's when Atlas to the north and the werewolves to the south start to win, driving back the tide that's no longer getting back up upon being put down, that Azazello finds himself in trouble. The remaining rokhan hybrids (that's the word the werewolves are snarling to each other) are fleeing, worming their way back through the basement complex's ragged Gauntlet and so squirming [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12out of what would look, to a non-Shaman, like thin air here in the twisting tunnels. 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Oh, good. 14[22:59] * Joins: Quaker [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12They're hurt, of course, and on the run - but there's three of them, and one of you, all flopping down onto the poison-streaked floor and trying to shake their heads clear. "What is that. What IS that!" 12Cries one. "Not spirit. Not beshilu! Wrong smell!" [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12The third is silent - and wrong, somehow, even by the standards these mutants and the werewolves that hunt them set. Its whiskers are long, waving tendrils, its teeth and claws are translucent and crystalline and yet wholly unmarked by any of the violence they must have just finished doing. 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What-- [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian thinks. Skyward Fang, Skyward Fang. Doesn't sound like any of the occult traditions around here, doesn't exactly match what he knows about the other Orders' symbology - waaaaait. That teardrop symbol. [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12That's got to be the ancient religious order the centuries-ago mystagogue Baraka was known to have tangled with in the Andes. He didn't write down much about them, of course, but once you know that their sigil is supposed to be a tooth rather than a drop of water, it's possible to fill in a few details - they're some kind of obscure overseas secret society with an interest in [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12magical objects. Arrian's never heard of them called by that particular name, but they've got a minor snake motif. [23:04] 7Huh. So this guy isn't one of them. Who is he with, then. [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Good question. Saul doesn't answer that, though he does say: "There's - there's a good bit of them a floor above. They did a... divination. I caught the edges." 14[23:06] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 11[23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Azazello can read the shape of the great swarm that binds these rats together. There aren't any alphas or omegas here, each of these three creatures is a putative equal - so it's strange that with one significant look, the mildly-mutated rokhan monster can impel its two injured brothers after you while it, itself, turns to flee. But the spirit of the swarm isn't being betrayed, [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12here - so maybe it's protecting something, or planning to return, or planning to somehow support the others from afar. [23:08] 7But we didn't. Hrrh. Arrian's almost obliged as a mystagogue to find out all he can about these tiny mystery cults. If they even have a scrap of Atlantean lore... dangling the book in front of them is dangerous, but Arrian can teleport now and he's brimming with Mana. Let's try this. 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Azazello spares a long look at the creature in the back before descending upon the two injured ones. [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul's looking back and forth. "Nowwww, they're covering that door, but if we go two floors up I believe there is a passage-" [23:11] 7Arrian will indeed be quiet, and do what the guy says. Is there in fact a passage where he says there is? 14[23:11] * Joins: ddt [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Looks like, but you'll have to be quick and quiet. 14[23:12] * Joins: Crion_ [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul begins to creep forward, but there's actually a window on that door out of the stairwell and it sounds like someone below's already snooping through the basement... sight lines... [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian chances it, and the good news is that he's actually almost all the way up to the empty (it's a weekend) factory's second floor before a voice rings out: "THERE IT IS!" [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul curses in some language. 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10One of them grazes him with it teeth before he cuts them to paste, red mist and ribbons of flesh drifting to the ground as Azazello bounds between them, moving over rough terrain and obstacles with a simian grace. He catches the healthier of the two by its neck and pins its corpse to the wall, inspecting it carefully before, satisfied, he lets it fall to the ground and pursues the third creature as fast as he can. 11[23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Bounding down the tunnel, Azazello hears anxious, heavy breathing... and rapid chewing. [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12The air's getting bad down here, the Arrow's liable to get sick if he stays too long, breathes too deeply, or especially breathes too deeply while close to the floor - but, from behind, he can see the huge rat-monster hunched down over something, its back facing him and its slung-over body completely obscuring whatever it's, uh... eating? Sharpening its teeth on? [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Its whiskers are growing longer and longer, though, and the fur on its back is thinning and falling out, revealing skin that's kind of hardening and blistering outward into plates and shelves whose edges glitter faintly. 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10There'll be time to study it when it's dead. [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12It doesn't even turn - doesn't stop eating, as fast as it can. 14[23:21] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [23:22] What's Saul want to do next? [23:22] 7What's Saul want to do next? [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul: "Run!" [23:23] 7That'll do. Arrian will flee! [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12He hasn't sketched this out, but seems to know where he's going. He's bolting for a window on the far end of the hall while cultists storm up the stairs behind you. 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well, it'll have to eat around a half-dozen claws piercing it from back to front. 11[23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12When Azazello rips it away for whatever it's eating - something small and shiny, there's no time to check - the thing's barely recognizable as a rat. Its snout and fangs are in perfect shape, but above them its face and cranium and ears have all split and flowered into a nightmare of fractal bone and cartilage, and sharp-edges shelves of weird tissue unfold from its back and sides, [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12strings of pinkish gunk stretching between their bases. 11[23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12I do mean rips, though - it's damn near torn in half, and its flailing attempts to give as good as it got can barely overcome Azazello's regeneration. 14[23:32] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) [23:33] 7I assume Saul's going to try and just fuckin' jump through the window? [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Yep, he's making a break for it - but glancing back over his shoulder for you, since you're holding the book. [23:34] 7Arrian'll hustle to catch up. He wants to jump out at approximately the same time as Saul, so that he can correct their trajectory if it looks like they're going to miss the pillow delivery truck or whatever. 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Suddenly it's impaled from the front, Azazello's left hand hooking it in the gut until claws pop out its back. The shaman is strong enough that he can with one hand lift it bodily from the ground. They linger there for a moment, his own twisted and taut face staring into the bizarre horror of this twisted creature, before Azazello releases it, flinging it aside before he leaps after it. 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10They reconvene in mid-air. When the Arrow touches back down, one clawed hand steadying him, the creature is drifting to the ground in a mist of red and white. 11[23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12A mist of red... and white... and blue... and pink... and orange... there was more not-blood than blood in there, and now it's raining down all around, kicking up the toxin that pools on the ground into great pools and settling in a crystalline dust all across the floor of the chamber. Azazello can see it because the thing the rat was eating casts light. [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12It's like someone took an invisible sphere and allowed a species of multicolored coral to grow all along its surface, forming a sort of globular net. Small, glittering objects float slowly in the center of the sphere, and its base is a small forest of waving mycelia and globules of something tough and fibrous. It's pretty small - could fit in two breadboxes, say - and hasn't got a [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12single tooth mark on it. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian doesn't get very far before the jacketed man climbing the fire escape outside the window comes into view, and the door he'd come out of slams open again to reveal another. Saul shouts another, different curse. There are rooms all down this hall, but pursuers at either end - you're cornered! [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12The sculpture or growth or whatever it is is both alive and not. It is a spirit, but in the sense of being some kind of emerging, evolving concept, not in the sense of being one of the creatures native to the Shadow. But what it's a spirit of seems impossible to tell offhand - the shaman's mind can't settle on a definition of any sort. 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10No, no, this is... this isn't... this is... the shaman's stomach turns. What is this? 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Whatever it is, he's certain he can't let it fester and bloom here. 11[23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Azazello looks closer. This is - there's so much, intermeshed, in ways that shouldn't be possible. Immediately and offhand, this looks fungal, but it's missing stuff - no fruiting bodies, no myceliae connecting it to other samples, no metabolic processes by which it's being sustained. Its capacity for hunger and growth has been... taken away, somehow, leaving this weird, empty statue 11[23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12that contains glimmers of something indefinable. But when its growth is gone, what's left? What is this the spirit of? Every time Zell begins to get an idea, the very fact of his apprehension seems to change the stakes, shift the way this thing sits in this little pocket of Shadow. The more and more closely he looks, the less and less sense it makes... until he realizes it can't make [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12any sense at all, and can't even exist, and in fact doesn't. [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12There's nothing there. 11[23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Was that - did it know? That it was being watched? Could it have? That felt - Azazello's able to hold onto the impression. He didn't imagine it. No, it just... collapsed under the pressure. Felt almost deliberate. [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Fortunately, the chamber's still lit from beneath by the toxic glow of the spirit-gas. [23:54] 7Arrian turns on his heel, shouts "Come on!" 7and runs toward the cultist who had his spell take hold. [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul: "What? Why is- yes, yes, hang on-" 09[23:59] * banana|sleep is now known as banana Session Time: Sun Jun 28 00:00:01 2015 [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12It's like fighting a sleepwalker. Like, I mean, a somnambulist. The guy half-through the window is like "Wha?! Hey, hey, no, the-" 12and he and Saul just end up kind of flailing pointlessly at each other, but Arrian's able to pinpoint exactly what half-real assailants the guy is imagining and simply lean the other way. After a moment's struggle, the cultist has fallen forward [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12completely and actually fallen asleep on the floor while the pair of you clamber down the side of the building. [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul: "Ride, ride - ah, I've a car. Let's go!" [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Out here in the light, Arrian can tell that under his hood Saul's clean-shaven, with light brown skin and dark brown, close-cropped hair. He's waggling his fingers to himself as he looks up and down the street, finds a decent-looking black car, and appears to decide then and there that it's his, despite the fact that there's no greater sympathy between him and it than between it and [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12the car in front of it. Arrian can follow the thoughts as they happen. 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It sticks in his throat, his lungs. Fresh to death and sick as cancer. What wonder and danger is this? But there's nothing more for him here. The day is won. It's time to go now. 11[00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Off one way, Atlas is manhandling a huge slab of fallen stone and placing it to cover as many of the breaches as he can. Off another, Sleeper security personnel apparently fit to giant monster-rats are collecting spare ammo and checking the fittings on their gas masks. It's only safe for Azazello to tear into the physical world nearby the werewolves - one of them seems to have left, [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12another is sitting in the near-man form and catching her breath, and the third - the quasi-werewolf, the runt or whatever it is - is splayed out on the ground, bloodied and breathing raggedly, while a stern-faced Max Willard crouches over him, whispering incantations and waving talismans. 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The man that lands in the land of flesh only barely resembles creature that tore out of the realm of spirit, though the same blood is fresh on both their hands, the same wounds mar their bodies, and the same soul shines within. [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Unnamed werewolf: "You're the - the other? You got 'em." 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The spry little man with the dark beard is a grisly mess. But his eyes shine with victory. [00:18] 7Huh. Is that car connected to Cross' work somehow? Like a supervisor's car or something? 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "We got them. I am never alone, my friend, and neither are you." [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12No, it looks to have been chosen to get stolen completely at random. [00:19] 7Arrian: "You know how to steal cars?" [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul: "...was that obvious? Uh, effectively yes." [00:23] 7Arrian: "Oh. Okay..." 11[00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Werewolf: "True enough. Who are you again?" 12She's got the same red-brown hair and rough-edged, blocky build as the ritemaster, and as Azazello looks at her he can tell plainly that the two are related - first cousins, he'd put it. The man being rescuscitated on the ground beside her seems to be her brother. [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a pretty unusual process, if Arrian lets it happen. There don't seem to be lockpicks or anything involved. Saul just fiddles around before finding out that someone left one of the back doors unlocked, them clambers forward and, hey, presto, keys hidden up above the front passenger seat in one of those sun-blocking flaps. [00:26] 7Hah! Arrian has Fate sight! He is definitely examining the shit out of this guy. What kind of occultism is he up to? 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10There's little warmth in his smile, but there's more than you'd have seen in his face a moment ago. "I am a warrior," 10he says, "And so are you. Right now that's enough." 10He turns away then. Has Atlas a moment to breathe? [00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Good eye, warlock. It's definitely a manipulation, or perhaps actualization, of destiny that's working in this guy's favor. Indeed, a narrative role is draped over Saul's shoulders like a cloak, and it's a powerful and active one - Saul, it seems, is a servant, and among other things a chauffeur , and that means he really should have a ride on hand, whether it's a limousine or a [00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12chariot. Arrian suspects that the young man's ability to sneak about and cover ground quickly are similarly extrapolations of his being, innately, cosmically, an... aide, attendant, something like that. [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12All that belies his power, though. It's something mighty and distant that Saul serves, and is empowered in serving thereby. Something he's served a long while. 14[00:31] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[00:31] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) [00:32] 7Hmm. It could be the Seers. But surely they'd know it'd fallen into Pentacle hands and escalate to, like, a proper wizard? [00:33] 7This bears further study. [00:33] 7Arrian: "Huh. Lucky guess." 11[00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Atlas is up top, by now, in the uppermost basement in which Max was doing his defensive work. He's grunting slightly to himself as Azazello comes up to meet him, and the ground rumbles beneath the shaman's feet as the theurgist claps a big hand over an almost-as-big-wound. Volcanic heat and light glow from beneath Atlas's fingers, and when he pulls his hand away only a bruise is left [00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12behind. [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12In the Corona paradox both Arrows now stand in, Atlas's magics quake and rumble, causing the air around him to shudder and warp slightly. "Nice," 12Atlas offers. 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Azazello nods, his eardrums popping with every beat of his heart. "No Talon is alone." [00:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul: "It's the city, I think. It's, you know, no one even wants to drive, so people aren't careful enough. Subconscious." 12His hood's down as he taps a temple, then starts the car. [00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul's mind is working as he begins to drive, thinking about the book Arrian's still got clasped in his arms. [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Atlas nods. "You keep at it, we might actually do this. Once the bastards only need to die once - hell, I'd settle for twice - I think they won't be making headway." [00:37] 7Arrian: "Okay, you've got me away from those guys, and I'm willing to believe that they're nasties, but you still haven't told me who you're working for." [00:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul: "Well - uh, did you tell me your name? Might've missed it." [00:40] 7Patiently: "Arrian." 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He sniffs. He doesn't know what death smells like, but he knows the scent of life gone sour, and this place is thick with it. It's practically burrowed into his sinuses. "We will. We have able help. Strong allies. Incidentally, Atlas... do you have a line on the thearch running this project? Her cabal?" [00:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul: "Ah. Great. Okay. Well, Iiiii. I guess my interests are religious." [00:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul: "You see, I serve an order dedicated to the, safekeeping, of dangerous items like that thing. I mean, it's pretty - you seem to know how to use it?" [00:45] 7Arrian: "I'm something of a historian." 7Oh my god, is it the fucking Guardians? When he said he was the guardian of-- oh my god. The power of Hell alone allows Arrian to suppress his laughter. [00:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Atlas cracks his neck before folding a few fingers back on each hand and touching the remainders to either side of his collarbone. His bruises begin to clear, slowly. "Oh, yeah. Cross? Her cabal's running the project to make a Hallow of this place." [00:46] 6Hence the really weird girder and wall layout instructions. A spider wrote them. 15[00:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Azazello: "I saw something in the Shadow that I think they will want to know about. A peculiarity." [00:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul: "I didn't think it was anywhere in history." [00:48] 7Arrian: "How's that?" [00:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Atlas: "Yeah? I can pass the number along. Actually, Cross has been heading to the gym pretty regularly - could just point her out to you, too." 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Azazello: "Oh? Does she fight?" [00:50] 6When other future sdwindle. [00:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul, still driving: "Well, it's, I mean. I mean, being a historian probably wouldn't tell you much about it. Pretty secret, you know. Listen, are you a magician?" [00:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Atlas: "When she puts her mind to it. She puts her back into it, I can tell you that." [00:53] 7Arrian: "Yeah." 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Azazello: "I am pleased to hear that." 10This will be much harder if he has to deal with cowards. "The others, too? I don't know them." [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul: "That's what I figured. How long did it take you to work up whatever you did to those guys in the hall?" [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul: "I am too, see. It's how I piggy-backed onto the divination the Fang used to find you." [00:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Atlas: "Mystagogues. They're not fighters - but they're dependable. They'll face danger if it's the right thing to do. I've fought alongside them more than once." 15[00:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well. At least they aren't Libertines. "Good. Good. I will speak to them soon." [00:59] 7Arrian: "Yes... I can see that you're some kind of aide or servant, metaphysically. The universe just sort of arranges things so that you fit your role. It's quite clever. You clearly serve something powerful, but I can't tell what." [01:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul leans away a bit. "Just like that?" [01:02] 7Arrian grins. "Long study." 14[01:03] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 11[01:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Atlas nods to Azazello. There might be a little more shop talk - you ever notice the way those rats favor their left sides? - but generally the Thyrsus is free to leave and recuperate. He'll be called on again when the local spirit threat grows fierce enough, more likely than not. [01:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul, meanwhile, keeps a-driving. "Cool. Okay, so, listen... I need the book." [01:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul: "I'll be in trouble if I don't get the book, and you'll be in serious trouble if you keep the book. It's cursed." [01:08] 7Arrian: "Yeah, I got that. Whatever it holds gets inflicted on whoever bears it, unless you empty it out. Which I was doing." [01:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul: "Yes, and then it'd be empty! It'd just get empty at you." [01:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Where... is Saul actually driving to? He isn't returning to Manhattan and seems to be meandering somewhere north through Brooklyn. [01:10] 7Is Saul actually right about the book? Will it still harm him in some way, even after all the scarabs are gone? 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Azazello makes the long trek home, then. He has a car - as onerous as driving in Manhattan can be, it's still easier than riding the subway covered in blood. Tinted windows! What a marvel. 15[01:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10When he unlocks the door to his unlit apartment, his mind is eight thousand miles away. [01:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, he's neither lying or wrong. It hasn't been tested out yet, but it does make sense to Arrian - mystic sense, checking out with various occult precepts of symmetry, parity, equivalent exchange, etc - that the book so intent to disgorge plagues while empty would be hungry to absorb one while full. However, it wouldn't be dangerous in the same way - it's not that Arrian would [01:16] <@Ferrinus> 12be dying from within from exposure to hard vacuum rather than exposure to acid or locusts or something. More likely it'd drain him spiritually or psychically... and that's something that'd be easier to decouple or wick away than physical peril, probably. [01:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Frankly, some proper finagling and ritual sealing could probably unshackle the empty book from Arrian entirely - tie it some dummy subject or other that magic only fakes being a person, say - and then just allow it to be stored safely and indefinitely. This isn't a problem beyond the Mysterium's powers. [01:18] 7Arrian: "Hmmm. Yes, that makes sense. Not beyond solving though. The right ritual sealing should be able to keep it safe indefinitely..." 15[01:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Typically when Azazello gets home, he showers and changes out of work clothes and into something comfortable, in this case an old tracksuit. The tiny apartment is all but unfurnished - the spartan desk is pushed up against the bed and also serves as the end table, and there is no other furniture to speak of. [01:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul: "Ah, ah, ah but that's dangerous. You can't count on that. You don't really know what it is!" 15[01:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's ignoring the bed entirely, though, squatting down onto the bare floor until he's sitting in the lotus position. He spends long hours until sleep trying to hold in his mind the image of something that never existed. [01:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul: "Anyway, there's another problem. The Fang's after it! They're - the Fang's ruled by a powerful monster. It'll come for you." [01:22] 7Arrian: "That's true. So, listen. The scarabs are only in there in the first place because a member of my order tried to take it from - the Fang, you said? - some two hundred years ago. So teeechnically, we've got first dibs. But, you're a nice guy. I'd hate to see you in trouble, and I don't like the idea of monsters I don't know about coming after me." [01:23] "You want the book kept safe and away from the Fang. We want the book preserved and studied. Maybe we can come to an understanding here." [01:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul: "Dibs? Dibs? If you want to talk about d- well, it's sort of." [01:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul: "I need to, you know, take it? And sort of lay it to rest, there's a whole thing. You can't hang onto it." [01:24] 7This is... probably the Guardians... but if it is they sure know how to keep a mystagogue interested. [01:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul's brought the car to a stop in front of an apartment building with darkened windows. "So, look. Give it here? I saved you and everything. It'll be... shut down before whatever's left in there does much more than irritate you a little, promise." [01:26] 7Arrian: "Well, c'mon. Help me out here. What kind of monster? What do you work for? Why hasn't this thing been laid to rest before?" 09[01:26] * banana is now known as bananarb [01:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul sighs. "The monster is like - I shouldn't talk about this. But it's like this old sorcerer, basically? Much more magic than a human can ever have. Can't ever die. Squashes you like a bug pretty much." [01:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul: "I work for some gods I'm not sure I can talk about and frankly I couldn't tell you why this book's gotten away with being itself for so long." [01:32] 7Now that's alarming. [01:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul: "So let me have the book, please, because I don't want to have to take it." 14[02:11] * Quits: dammitwhoa 14[02:34] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:56] * Joins: ddt_ 14[02:56] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 09[02:56] * ddt_ is now known as ddt 09[03:05] * bananarb is now known as banana 14[03:19] * Joins: dammitwho 14[03:34] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[03:46] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[04:09] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[04:53] * Quits: ddt (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[04:53] * Joins: ddt 14[05:13] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[05:13] * Joins: dammitwho 14[06:52] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[07:22] * Joins: Crion_ 14[08:13] * Quits: dammitwho 14[08:55] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[10:13] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:54] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[10:55] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[11:42] * Joins: ddt 14[11:51] * Quits: 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14[15:28] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 09[15:30] * banana is now known as banan|leep 14[15:40] * Joins: mattbaby_ 11[15:45] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Jun 28 15:45:11 2015 Session Start: Sun Jun 28 15:45:11 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors Session Start: Sun Jun 28 15:52:19 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[15:52] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[15:52] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[15:52] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[15:52] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD [15:53] <@Ferrinus> http://mysticplaces.tumblr.com/ 14[16:00] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[16:11] * Joins: dammitwho 14[16:22] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:25] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 11[16:29] * Disconnected 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* Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[23:59] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[23:59] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) Session Time: Mon Jun 29 00:00:00 2015 14[00:00] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[00:00] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[00:00] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[00:01] * Joins: Crion_ 14[00:01] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[00:01] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[00:02] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[00:02] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[00:03] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[00:03] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[00:04] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[00:04] * Quits: Crion_ (Client Quit) 14[00:04] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[00:04] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[00:04] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[00:04] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[00:05] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[00:05] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[00:06] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[00:06] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[00:07] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[00:08] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[00:08] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[00:09] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[00:10] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[00:10] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[00:33] * Joins: tom2 14[00:34] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[01:20] * Quits: mugsy [01:25] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/oSbI35m.jpg [01:26] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/t4H6vki.jpg [01:26] bash me like a rat [01:26] <@Ferrinus> ^^^ [01:27] cute 09[01:27] * banana is now known as ananwork [01:28] <@Ferrinus> http://adsoftheworld.com/sites/default/files/styles/media_retina/public/images/root2.jpg?itok=25kE2LCa [01:29] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/r0H4xZO.gif cross and pascal [01:29] nnnot so cute 14[01:56] * 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14[08:03] * Joins: mattbaby 14[08:05] * Joins: Crion 14[08:17] * Joins: mugabe 14[08:33] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[08:34] * Joins: Crion 14[08:36] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) [08:37] - [08:37] - [08:37] - [08:37] - [08:37] - [08:37] - [08:37] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl1O_h9sDow [08:39] From the unpublished manuscript of the dead mage Phocas, and the chapter titled 'Ritual': [08:39] It was not until my hosts had lead me down under the earth, beyond the unlit portals that marked the entrance of the grandest and strangest of these ruined temple complexes, that I recalled the lessons my own tutor had attempted to pass onto me. [08:39] The uncomfortable truth which demanded his loyalty and repaid him with exile from the respectable environs of our society is that, he maintained (and now I do as well), magic exists beyond our understanding, and that it is not simply the inheritance of humanity, for it belongs just as fairly to beings whose origins and powers lay shrouded in mystery, even after centuries of research and exploration. [08:39] That the grander enigma of our birthright might extend beyond the limits we have imagined for it, or that our watchtowers might merely be islands in a vast & dark archipelago, is an intolerable thought for those who wish to preserve their neat and hard-won systems in which it is simply a known and natural force. [08:40] The alien decorations of the complex were unearthly and distantly frightening in their composition; frescoes of mass bloodletting, rough murals of upsetting ritual next to fine statues of remembered heroes and wise elders. My ignorance was pardoned and indulged by my hosts, who answered my questions about each new thing with a generous patience. [08:40] The dual purpose of these temples is to provide a quiet and holy place for the work of ritual, and to exist merely as a symbol of devotion to this blood magic, the work invested in its construction its own mark of reverence for their triune deity. [08:40] Although the arrangement and architecture could not have been so different from what I had seen, as these were once men and women (some of them) who could not help recalling their remembered mortal influences in their art, my unease increased as we descended. I eventually identified what was distressing me: not the mere fact of the blood, which appeared in every work of art, and whose presence was suggested by the rough channels here a [08:40] there where it was supposed to flow in excess. [08:41] But the expressions on these faces (when they could be recognized as faces), even on those sacrificed, which suggested a serene, savage joy, despite the tremendous traumas being experienced. [08:41] To my quiet horror, I realized that some of the frescoes had repeated the same face on both ritualist and living sacrifice, so that the effect was externalized self-murder, repeated again and again. Blood was not the only thing expected to flow freely, my hosts explained, but humanity as well, for the magic demanded its own sacrifices... [08:41] - [08:41] I found myself in the presence of something ancient and totally foreign to my elders' neatly ordered cosmic view. Beneath the surface, the vast ocean of our society's incomprehension revealed itself to me. The light of our five towers and the darkness of their opposite are not the only poles of our world. What horrors and wonders do we share the earth with? [08:42] - [08:44] Meanwhile, in the San Clemente parking lot, three-quarters of the Deputies wait for some sort of signal. Santiago left the radio on, and is tapping the side of the truck. [08:45] "Dancin' in the moonlight, everybody's feeling warm and bright-" [08:46] 4Cav is on his iPhone, checking the workspace they set up in the cloud for anything relating to that list of names. He doesn't expect to find anything new -- Buchanan and Rush surely would have called if there was a breakthrough or a supremely relevant news item on the feed -- but he DOES expect to feel busy. [08:47] 6Edgar: "Roach motel makes a good rally point. Three guys hanging outside it looking shady are not even worthy of mention." [08:49] 6Some dudes are happy to hang around quietly before a job, saying and feeling nothing. Unless he's got a book, for Edgar pointless chatter is a better way to relax and prepare. He's got a pack of cards in the trunk, if it comes to that.. [08:50] "I don't look shady." 4Cav glances around the parking lot, then at each of them. "Well. I do [08:50] n't look THAT shady." [08:51] 6How's he dressed? 14[08:51] * Quits: dammitwho [08:52] 4The way he's always dressed. Expensive, personally-tailored suit, like he's got a court date and he's either a lawyer or the plaintiff. [08:53] Santiago, who is dressed like a defendant, scratches the extremely fine layer of stubble he died with. "So…are we gonna kill whatever we find down there? Arrest them?" [08:54] 6Edgar: "Dressed like that outside a place like this you're either gay, planning a robbery or there's a camera on you." [08:56] 4Cav: "As a gay exhibitionist burglar, I--" 4He turns to Santiago. "I presume the answer is 'yes, as necessary.' Though the way the inquisitors sounded, this guy isn't going to respect vampire law." [08:57] The other deputy checks to make sure there actually aren't any cameras on them before he checks his gun, tucked into the back of his waistband. "I love saying vampire law out loud." [08:57] 6Edgar: "4Blood 4Law" [08:59] 6Standards & Compliance probably doesn't have the facilities to imprison a man who's ten feet tall and made of radiation. 15[08:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Two more cars roll up to the San Clemente parking lot - Rollie's shitty Kia, and whatever Clarabelle drives. [09:00] A sweet aquamarine Thunderbird…? [09:00] 4Cavanaugh would suspect that is the case. [09:01] 6Edgar's leaning on his car, with a big gun leaning beside him. He gives a minimalist, sincere nod to the new cars. 14[09:02] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 15[09:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's parked and out and approaching the deputies pretty quick. "Did anyone ever tell you guys that you look shady as fuck?" [09:03] 4Cav pockets his phone, grinning. "Never came up." [09:03] 4Bump. 15[09:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Bump. "So what's the plan?" 08[09:04] 3Maja climbs out of the passenger side and walks after Rollie. She observes the fist bump before her. [09:04] 6Edgar: "Man on fire with stolen holy relics in a nuke plant." [09:05] 6Edgar: "Gotta stop him." [09:05] 3What incredible nerds. [09:05] 3They didn't even make it explode. [09:05] "Thoughts on how?" [09:05] 4Cavanaugh: "We're -- hey, Maja. Presbyter -- we're going to trespass on restricted state property in search of an anti-kindred terrorist committing alleged hate crimes." [09:06] 4Cavanaugh: "We're -- hey, Maja. Presbyter -- we're going to trespass on restricted state property in search of an anti-kindred terrorist committing alleged hate crimes." 15[09:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Maybe he just wants to be friends." [09:06] 4He frowns. "Wonder if it is, actually, state property. Maybe they sold it off to shitty contractors. Might make this easier." [09:07] 3Maja: "Yeah, we ought make room for the shady as fuck Mexican Inquisition bro to have been a lying sack of shit." 15[09:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It's like 80% owned by SC Edison." [09:08] 6Edgar: "Might even have driven the guy up here on purposes. Deal with the heretics." [09:08] 6Edgar: "You're right, though. How do we kill it?" 15[09:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "We don't even know what it is, yet." [09:10] 6Edgar: "Okay. We don't know what it can do; so; what can we do?" 08[09:11] 6He looks around. Rollie's no fighter, of course.. although, remembering the torch.. but you can't count on that. There's Clinton's claws; Santiago's luck; are the priestesses packing any kind of holy firepower? 14[09:11] * Joins: Crion| [09:11] 3Maja is reasonably sure that her suggestion will be helpful, and well-received: "We can pray." 15[09:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "We can walk up and figure out what we're dealing with. If this is actually a walking pillar of fire then, I don't know... the ocean's right there." [09:12] 4Cav shakes his head. "This state government, man. Worse shit in this world than vampires." 4To the matter at hand. "I'm guessing we're going to have to do a substantial amount of improvisation." 08[09:12] Clarabelle inserts herself between Rollie and Maja. "If it's any help, the Bishop just told us that we have carte blanche to destroy anyone coming up from the south." She's carrying an old hunting shotgun. 15[09:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Smooth, Clara. [09:12] "We can pray." She looks at Maja, beaming. [09:12] 4Hah. They've got a chaperone. 15[09:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yeah! Good news. We could have a three front holy war instead of the regular-ass one we already had." 15[09:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "The Lord provides." 14[09:13] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [09:13] 6Edgar raises both eyebrows (never got the hang of doing just one). "Okay. My understanding is that God is real and miracles produce actual deadly effects, so is that the kind of prayer you're utilising here?" 08[09:13] 4Cav, who has his phone out again looking up the power company, thumbs over to his notepad app and jots down a reminder to make fun of Rollie about that later. Gangrel. [09:13] 3Maja laughs. "That's how we roll down here in Hell.A." 09[09:13] * Crion| is now known as Crion [09:14] 4Cav snort-laughs into a cough. [09:14] 4This is less convincing than it might otherwise be, given vampires do not generally need to cough. 15[09:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You keep making jokes like that and God's going to answer all your prayers with that sound from when somebody messed up on The Price is Right." [09:15] 6Edgar. "Tactical assessment, not joke." [09:16] 6*: [09:16] Clarabelle: "God is real and so are miracles, but if you're talking about Theban sorcery, I don't know any." [09:16] 4Cav: "I think I've got that on my phone, actually." 15[09:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "I've got some stuff I can do." 15[09:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't know what it is yet, and I wouldn't be able to explain what it was." 15[09:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "But." 15[09:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He shrugs. [09:17] 4Cav: "Big question: anyone here good enough at Obfuscate that they can walk in the front door?" [09:17] "That's good. It's good, because we know this thing's killed vampires. Raw strength - even a few of us - won't beat it. We need guns, techniques.. " 6Edgar nods to Clinton. "Whatever we find in the environment." [09:17] 4Cav: "I mean, without causing trouble." [09:17] 4Cav: "I, personally, am not." 15[09:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Yo." [09:17] 4Cav: "Hell yeah." [09:18] 6Edgar: "Rest of us will have to talk our way in. You willing to scout for a few minutes to facilitate that?" 08[09:18] 4Also: Rollie didn't need someone to explain what Obfuscate is. This, Cav posits, is progress. 15[09:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Sure am. Is there anything we want to settle before we go?" [09:20] 6Edgar: "Should say thanks to you two ladies for coming to help out. Wasn't your job." [09:22] 3Maja: "No thank you needed- I don't trust that fucking guy for a second, and I would really prefer if the upcoming holy war didn't start out with a massacre of Relatively-Innocents. I consider it ... my duty." [09:22] 4Point of order: pretty sure it was their job. [09:22] 4Cavanaugh doesn't say so out loud, however. [09:22] Clarabelle: "It is my job." [09:23] 6Relative is right. This town is all doctors and surfers. [09:23] 4Especially since the implication is then that it is solely the Deputies' job. 15[09:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It's all our jobs. Nobody's here for fun." 15[09:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "We all set?" [09:24] 3Maja: "Yeah, I mean, Clarabelle's higher up on the totem pole than me. I expect some kinda bonus for this, really." [09:24] 6Edgar: "Then in the spirit of cooperation." [09:24] 4That's my line. "Think so. Let's move out, people." [09:25] Santiago: "It's four or five miles south. I'll drive the truck, if anyone wants a ride." [09:25] 4Cav: "I'll take you up on that." 15[09:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Actually, I should probably ride with one of you guys too, since it'd be harder to sneak out of my own car if whoever's there is paying any kind of attention to approaches." [09:26] 4Then he pauses. Will the Lexus be safe in this parking lot... [09:26] 6Edgar's got room. "Got some room." [09:26] 4Then he remembers what happened to his last car. Yeah, it'll be fine. [09:28] Clarabelle: "Maja, come on." [09:28] 3Maja follows Clarabelle back to her car. 15[09:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie gets in with Edgar. [09:30] 6This is going to be interesting. A real phenomenon, apart from the blood-related ones. "How active do you think the place is? Hard to imagine someone hanging out in a plant without tripping security." [09:31] 4For his part, Cavanaugh climbs into the passenger seat of the truck he'd been driving around recently. [09:32] Beyond San Clemente, the lights of civilization disappear. The highway follows the coast, with the bare hills on one side, and the barely lighter ocean on the other. The clouds are thick enough to obscure the moon. The night is gray. 15[09:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "It's mostly decommissioned." [09:34] 6Edgar: "Shame." 08[09:35] 6Edgar: "How are things?" 6It feels like he hasn't seen Rollie in weeks. [09:36] In a quarter of an hour, the plant becomes visible. Floodlights are still on and pointing at about half of the sprawling facility, which lies directly on the beach. The two huge, curving domes of the containment chambers are visible. A third, smaller dome is silhouetted against the sky. There's a dirt access road on the opposite side of the highway, and Santiago pulls off onto that to park. [09:38] 4Three vehicle convoy's still kind of suspicious, but hopefully they're far enough away from the plant that no one sees them yet. 15[09:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Welllllllll. I've had a lot of irons in the fire lately." 10That's about as much as Rollie cares to say about it if Edgar doesn't pry. [09:38] 6Edgar: "Sounds dangerous. I switched to an electric range." 15[09:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You're a very wise man, Edgar." [09:39] It's a good eighth of a mile away from the entrance gate, and it's dark enough once Santiago kills the lights that they can observe it from afar. 15[09:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10How active does it look from here? [09:40] Not very. There aren't even people walking around. [09:42] 4Any cars in its parking lot? [09:43] Three, and about a dozen golf carts. 08[09:45] 4To Rollie: "Seems pretty quiet. Looks like you're up." [09:45] "We've been reading the manuscript," 6Edgar's saying as they turn off the road. "Actually very interesting work. Makes me regret not negotiating with the circle a little more, although that would almost certainly have ended in blood." [09:45] 4Assuming we're all parked and out of our vehicles. 15[09:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "Keep your eyes peeled, there's a lot of weird shit in this world that, more than anything, wants to talk. Wants to be understood." 15[09:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "Anyway. Time to go to work." 15[09:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To the assembled: "You guys mind turning around? It's harder if people are watching me." [09:47] 6Edgar considers that while he's unbuckling. "Times are understanding has to take a back seat to survival." [09:47] 3Maja giggles before turning around. [09:47] 6Fair enough. 15[09:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "And other times understanding is survival. And hell if we can tell which is which." 15[09:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie isn't there. 15[09:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It occurs to him to wonder if whatever's waiting for him in there will be able to see through this. But that's a thought to be left aside. He starts off towards the plant. [09:50] 6How disorienting. There he goes, probably. To the others: "Who wants to do the talking?" [09:50] 4Cav: "I'm probably the best dressed for it." [09:50] Clarabelle finishes putting shells in her gun. "I'd kind of appreciate just shooting someone and saying that's that." [09:51] 3Maja turns to the deputies. "Man, thank god that guy is such a goober. Otherwise, he'd be too slick to trust." [09:52] 3Maja looks at Clarabelle. "So ... have we decided to take Senior Boneface's word on this guy?" [09:53] "Can't shoot the security guards, though." 08[09:55] 6'Goober' and 'slick' as descriptions for Rollie Choi? She's not wrong. [09:55] 4Cav: "Senior...? Ugh." [09:55] The gate is a simple booth and barrier thing, in a gap in the chainlink fence and barbed wire. There's no one inside. The door to the back is open. There's a thin trail of something dark red leading out of it. [09:56] 4Cav: "Probably best not to make any decision on that until we meet him." [09:56] Clarabelle: "Well, I guess we can see if he's worth shooting first." [09:56] 3Maja: "I appreciate your restraint, Clara." [09:57] 6Edgar: "I'm willing to believe the-" 6suppressed chuckle"Inquisitor on that. Guy seemed like he was leaving to fuck with us because he'd got so mad- like he genuinely believed there was a threat, dropped in our laps." 15[09:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Into the dark they call him. Out of the dark they call him. He would walk into fire for them and he may yet have the chance. 15[09:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie goes in. 08[09:58] All Rollie has to do is duck under the barrier, and he's inside. The facility is pretty huge, but more than half isn't lit; the remainder is the two control chambers and their attached buildings, and the unlit, smaller sphere beyond. [09:59] It's not until he's inside that he notices something is wrong: the air tastes like…metal? 15[09:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10So does blood. [10:00] 4The good news is, they can probably wave their guns around anywhere in there except the reactor room itself without shooting anything too important and causing an environmental disaster. [10:01] 4Bad news is, if this asshole's got any sense of theatrics, that's where he's set up shop. 08[10:02] Rollie's undetected. The facility is his to wander around, and his senses pick some noises up even over the whirr of the generators and the crash of the waves: electrical humming coming from Unit 2, and a faint, muffled shouting coming from Unit 1. [10:03] 6Edgar: "So." [10:04] 6Edgar: "Is there vampire cancer?" 15[10:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10One is the number of heaven, of the unmoved mover, of the immutable identities that turn the world. One is the number of hell, of unity, of the one chain that binds us all. One is the loneliest number, and Rollie is drawn to the lonely. [10:04] 4Cav shrugs. "If there is, I've never heard of it." [10:05] 4Cav: [10:05] " [10:05] "Probably doesn't come up much. If I start glowing, think I'll stay away from home for the next night. Risk to family." [10:05] 4Cav: "I dunno, though. Maybe you can spookily mutate dead flesh...?" [10:06] 4He's probably seen something on Netflix about this. [10:06] "There's all sorts of weird fucks out there. I'm sure one of them is crazy undead cancer wizards." [10:07] 6Edgar: "All we need." [10:08] 6He's going to give Clarabelle's shotgun a look over. Good taste there. 08[10:08] Unit 1 is smaller than the others, white and bulging, like an egg cut in half and put down on the concreted beach. The access door isn't locked, or even fully closed; Rollie can step into the vast cavern of the containment chamber easily. [10:09] The only problem is, someone else is walking that way. 15[10:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Oh? [10:11] He's in shirtsleeves and deeply tanned, with short black hair parted in the 40s and 50s style that's fallen out of fashion. His forearms are muscled enough to shove the chamber door open unassisted. [10:14] The chamber above is unlit, and it would take someone without the blood's sight a while for their eyes to adjust. Two people-sized things, hanging from long chains someone's hammered into the concrete above. One of them is wriggling and trying to shout through duct tape. The other doesn't move, even while the man in shortsleeves climbs the catwalks to get to him, and leaves the chamber with him slung over a shoulder. 15[10:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well hello there. [10:15] Clarabelle narrows her eyes. "What?" [10:16] 6Edgar: "Nice gun. Intimidates, which is the point as I see it of them." [10:16] 4Cav will drift over to Maja while Edgar and Clara talk...guns. [10:17] 4Quietly, while still appearing to stare at the nuclear plant: "I see you two picked up a chaperone." 14[10:17] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [10:18] 3Maja notices Cav leaving Clara and Edgar alone. Huh, wonder how those two will get on. [10:18] Clarabelle: "I don't get to use it very often. A little too loud for my taste." 08[10:18] "Who? Clara and I did? Or Rollie and I did? Who's the chaperone?" 08[10:19] 4Cav: "The idea of Rollie as a chaperone is pretty funny, I'll give you that. But I meant Prysbeter Clarabelle." [10:20] 6Edgar: "You tried a suppressor? Sounds strange on a lever-action piece, but Browning make a kind of wrap-around muffler which goes on the stock.." [10:22] Clarabelle looks down at her gun. "I think it being kind of a loud piece of crap makes me less likely to want to use it. Isn't that a good thing?" 08[10:22] 3Maja chuckles. "That lady's my bestie. And actually ... we kinda ... ran into Rollie after talking with the Bishop. It was ... weird." [10:22] "Oh?" 4Cav arches an eyebrow. "Do tell." [10:23] 6Edgar nods. "Long as you don't look it, hesitant is good. Safer for everyone." [10:23] At the sight of the other person being taken, the remaining hanger-from-the-ceiling rocks themselves back and forth even more frantically. 15[10:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Are they human? [10:24] The man in shirtsleeves walks back to Unit 2, cargo in tow. 15[10:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Does Rollie feel any Beasts or unnatural things? 14[10:24] * Joins: mattbaby 08[10:25] The Beast in one is asleep. The other is barely under control, hurling itself wildly around, enough to set Rollie's on edge. The man in shirtsleeves doesn't have one. 08[10:26] 3Maja pauses, her face noticeably strained as she thinks about how to explain. "Well, it's ..." 3She tries to think about how to explain this without betraying the fact that Rollie is in a SECRET SOCIETY. "I- didn't you guys send him out that way for a reason? I'm not really sure why he was out there. Maybe you should ask him when all this is over." 3Punted. [10:27] Clarabelle: "It's fine to look hesistant, if they know you'll pull the trigger when it comes down to it." 14[10:27] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) [10:27] 6Edgar: "Got to admit, I'm curious how you build up that reputation in your line of work." [10:27] 3Trying to change the subject, "Think those two over there are flirting?" 3She nods towards Edgar and Clarabelle. [10:28] Clarabelle: "You pull the trigger." [10:29] 4Now Cav narrows his eyes slightly. It is not...incredibly difficult to tell when Maja is trying to change a subject without answering a question. "I think they're having a good old fashioned American gun chat. And from what I can tell, those are usually euphemisms for sex. So yes." [10:30] 6Edgar: "Can't argue with the method. ..still not used to a millieu where the trigger's an aspect of clerical labor." 14[10:30] * Joins: FerrinusSpace [10:30] 3Maja giggles. "Oh my god. Well, I gotta say, I think it'd be reeeeeal nice if Clarabelle met someone. Lady's been dedicated to God for a long time now, but if I'm being honest ..." [10:31] 3Maja aburptly shuts up. "Ack, no. Nevermind. Nevermind." [10:31] 4Cav: "Oh? I'd gotten the impression you could date in the Sanctum. Can't imagine where from." [10:32] Clarabelle: "Oh, I thought we had switched over to metaphors. You just have to be reliable, and people will start thinking of you as reliable after a while. Pretty simple." [10:32] 3Maja: "Oh- you can. You can. Some just ... choose not to. Or just have yet to meet the right fish." [10:33] 6Edgar finds it worrying, to be honest. On a personal level, he's all behind the Presbyter's means of self-defense, especially spending a lot of time on back roads.. but the idea that serving as a minister might entail shooting someone? Kindred are kind of awful. [10:33] 6Or is it just that he thinks of *himself* as doing that kind of job and is disconcerted by the responsibility not being necessary? [10:33] 4That immediately brings to mind the Jesus fish on the back of peoples' cars. Man, is that still a thing? 15[10:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Cav, Edgar, Santiago, and Maja get group texted.  [10:35] 4Cavanaugh: "What the...? Wait, is he--" [10:35] 6Beep: "Sounds good. Time to rely." 6He picks up his own gun, looks for the best route toward the fence. [10:36] 6Oh, Vincent's not in the group? He'll show her the message also. 15[10:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie doesn't have Clarabelle's number. [10:37] Clarabelle nods and shoulders the gun. Santiago is behind her, ready to go single-file across the highway. [10:37] 4Cav isn't so uncouth he's going to actually draw his Glock yet. He'll just walk alongside the people open-carrying long arms near critical government infrastructure, as is their right as American citizens. [10:37] Santiago: "Did he say anything about security?" [10:37] 4Cav: "He did not." [10:38] 4Cav: "I suspect he is in one of his moods." [10:38] 6Baby-ducking it across the I-5. Alright. "If he got to one of the reactor units, we might already have trouble." 08[10:38] "Not on account of Rollie," 6he clarifies. [10:39] As if on cue, white steam starts to rise from the top of a cooling tower. [10:39] 3Maja: "Wait, one of his moods? Do you think he's Malkaved?" [10:39] 3Fuck, that's probably not good. [10:39] 4Now Cav draws the Glock. "That's what 'go fencing' says to me, yeah." 08[10:40] "That's probably a good thing. Whenever he's ranting like a lunatic, Rollie's usually also kicking ass." [10:40] 4Cav's working from a sample size of one, possibly two, here. [10:41] Running across the highway, and then at the gate and fence, they see the same thing he saw: no guards, half-lit. [10:41] Can't lose. [10:41] 6Edgar read it as 'go through the fencing', mystical visions notwithstanding, and is hurrying therefore that way. 08[10:41] 4Let's be fair. Rollie's probably fully lit. [10:42] Edgar can get to the fence, but unless he's brought bolt cutters, he'll have to climb over barbed wire, or tunnel under it. [10:43] 6Isn't the gate open? [10:43] 4Cav's got something that'll cut bolts in a pinch. Cut most anything, really. [10:44] Yeah but the fence isn't- they're inside! They're inside, there's nobody even at the guard booth. [10:44] 4Who? [10:45] 6Edgar, roughly: "Look for a map on the walls. Or a big sign reading numeral '2'." [10:45] 4Us. Okay. [10:46] 4Cav just walks in the front door, past the empty guard booth. "That's probably not supposed to be like that." [10:46] "Just saying." 14[10:47] * Joins: ddt [10:48] The Unit in front of them is gently smoking from its surrounding towers. [10:49] 4We're probably going to need to pull the security cameras out of this place when we're done, too. [10:49] "That, also."6Edgar starts running. [10:49] 3Maja suddenly extremely uncomfortable. "Smoke, huh." [10:49] "Well." [10:50] 4Oh come on. Running? Surely it's not all THAT bad. [10:50] Santiago: "Hey, so, this thing can't actually…explode, right? That's just a movie thing?" [10:50] 3What the fuck is Edgar doing? [10:51] 4Cav: "Yeah, that's mainly just a movie thing. Unless someone yanks the core all the way out in like, one big heave." [10:51] "Then we all die. But quickly." [10:51] Santiago: "Well…nobody do that." [10:52] 6To be clear, he's running toward the unit. Vampire cancer's not real, remember? [10:53] The Unit is surrounded by a couple of small offices and monitoring chambers. [10:54] 4Yes, but appearing uncool and out of control of the situation is extremely real. ...Should've worn khakis or something. [10:56] 6Well, when responding to a cryptic message from a friend in suddenly-active nuclear reactor, he'd rather 'reliable' than cool. [10:57] When Maja gets to the stations, she might look around and wonder why the displays are blank, and why the camera feeds in the chamber are sending back static. And she'd notice that someone has cut the wiring cleanly in half at every machine out here. 08[10:58] 4Malkavia can be a thing, but if Rollie wanted them to come in shooting, he probably would've included a gun metaphor. [10:58] 6Is there a clear way farther in? [10:58] 6i mean further, i think. help [10:59] There is: all paths lead to the central chamber door, which is big and steel, with a huge wheel handle. [11:00] 3Maja gets to the station and looks around. She mentions to the deputies: "Uhm, y'all? The displays are blank. And the camera feeds in the chamber are sending back static. And someone has cut the wiring cleanly in half at every machine out here. That can't be good." [11:01] 4Cav: "Actually, it can. It means we don't need to do it on our way out, to cover ourselves walking in here with a bunch of shotguns." 08[11:01] 6Edgar's contemplating the wheel. "Does that mean we shouldn't turn this thing?" 6He's going to call Rollie's number. [11:01] 4Cav: "Don't call him!" [11:01] "Text him." [11:01] "Ringtone breaks Obfuscate." [11:02] 6Paused with a finger above the button. Okay. He changes it to a one-word message: [11:02] 3Maja: "Point taken, but it's disconcerting that someone else had a similar idea." 15[11:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's probably still peering at the remaining chained vampire in the other unit. [11:03] 4Cav: "Maybe. Have to think it was done recently, since no one's been down to check it out from the government." [11:03] "So he's probably not too dug in." [11:04] The remaining chained vampire is wriggling, and staring daggers. 14[11:06] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [11:08] 6Edgar: "Means we're looking at someone who shows up on camera, though." [11:09] 6Edgar: "Help me turn this thing if we don't get a response?" [11:10] 4Cav: "Will do." [11:11] 6Edgar: "I mean, it might have power steering." 15[11:11] <@VoxPVoxD> <1 chain. 2 doom> [11:11] ... Edgar holds up the phone to show Cav, Clara and Maja. "I don't know what that means, but we should be going in." 15[11:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Maja alone gets this one:  [11:14] 4Cav nods and begins to turn. [11:14] 3Maja reads the text and abruptly announces: "I'm going to unit 1. You guys go on." [11:15] 4Cav, slightly distracted: "Wha--?" [11:15] 6What? Well, if she's got a reason.. [11:15] Clarabelle: "Oh, okay…???" 08[11:16] 3Maja: "Rollie sent me a text- I think that's where he's at. It sounds like he's not in immediate danger, but there's something distressing. Y'all should attend to more urgent matters while I help Rollie with this." [11:17] "I'll be fine- I'll put my phone on vibrate if y'all need to call for help." [11:17] 4Cav just grunts and keeps trying to turn the wheel. [11:17] 6Right. 1 chain 2 doom. "The communication problem, yeah. Good luck." [11:18] 6If there's Doom in this one, we should probably still be breaking in. So. [11:18] "Godspeed, friends." 3Maja turns to leave the station and wanders off to find Station 1. [11:18] Maybe the process works, and she isn't needed after all. Maybe it doesn't, and she only has thirty minutes left to live. [11:19] Clarabelle rolls up her sleeves and tries pulling at the wheel. "HHNNNNGH" [11:19] 3Maja snoops around until she sees Station 1 and cautiously enters. [11:21] The wheel is heavy as hell. It's like trying to get the world's most stubborn lid off the world's largest pickle jar. [11:22] 3Did you try banging it with a knife? [11:23] 6If we've got to, we could put our blood into it... [11:23] It budges a few centimeters, metal screeching, before they get it swinging all the way around. The door comes loose and then settles on its tracks, swinging open... 15[11:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Maja sees Rollie perched halfway up the catwalk, looking up at a woman in chains. 15[11:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sssh," 10he says. "We'll take a blade to the hour or we'll share eternity." [11:24] The man in shirtsleeves brought them there. They were negotiating at the safe place out in Pendleton when he appeared. [11:25] 3Well, this is unpleasant 14[11:26] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[11:27] * Joins: trenchfoot [11:28] 3He was right about the dread. [11:29] "So. Hi." [11:29] 3How else do you start a conversation like this? [11:29] Here is what they see: [11:33] The reactor is out of its core. It sits in an oversized tank of bubbling water, cables snaking from all over the chamber to reach it. Displays have been dragged in here on dollies, and show a theater's worth of readouts and data. Above the reactor, on a wide gantry, a man kneels over someone else, watching him and the displays. Below, on the main floor, two men in security guard uniforms with blank eyes and slack jaws, lumber around, [11:33] helping to guide the reams of paper being jettisoned out of printers like guns out of bullets. [11:33] Everywhere in here, there's a fine layer of gray dust. [11:33] 4Well this is a catastrophic incident. [11:33] "So remember what I said before about guns." [11:34] At the sound of the door creaking open, the man on the gantry looks around, and gets to his feet to shout. "Close the door! You fools, CLOSE THE DOOR!" [11:35] 4Cav: "I'm sorry. It sounded like when we walked in on you dismantling a live nuclear reactor belonging to the State of California, you decided to treat us like we were the assholes." [11:36] 6Edgar steps to the side to get room and closes the damn door. 08[11:36] 3Maja, knowing that Rollie is not in a position to attempt to explain, addresses the woman in chains directly. "What happened?" [11:36] "Who put you here, and where are they now?" [11:38] The woman hanging upside down, through the duct tape: "Mm MMM mmf MMMM" [11:38] 6Yes, this means being trapped in the room, but jesus fucking christ, jesus FUCK, [11:39] 3Oh yeah. Maja walks over and rips the duct tape off of the woman's mouth. "Sorry." [11:39] What weighs the most on her fate? Whether they'll negotiate, or whether he'll get it right and they won't have to. [11:40] 4Cav: "Door's closed. Seems like you started off on the wrong foot. My name is Clinton Cavanaugh. I'm with Standards & Compliance. These are my associates." [11:40] 6Edgar: "We're associated with shutting this thing down right fucking now. Do you intend to comply with this standard?" [11:41] 6He's going to start forward toward the gantry stairs unless something happens. [11:41] The man in the shirtsleeves turns back to kneel. "No. I suggest you leave and let me finish my work." [11:42] "Whoever you are, if you come closer, I'll remove the shielding." [11:46] 4Cav: "What if instead you stood up slowly, showed me your face, and told me your name, as is customary of a guest." [11:46] 6Edgar halts a moment, though the threat doesn't make any sense.. if he's concerned about the door, that'd mean he doesn't want to blast the countryside. [11:48] "My name is Isao." He returns to his knees. "If you leave now, I can finish my work. The chamber will hold. Then we'll see." [11:50] What will save them? Kill him quickly, or let him finish without interruption. [11:51] 4Can anyone in our little group figure out what the hell he is doing? 08[11:52] The woman hanging upside down says - oh, hey, Rollie knows her. It's Harriet Day, the antiques dealer who offered to pay him for some of the Santiago House's furniture- "Get me DOWN!" 08[11:54] 3Maja looks over towards Rollie, trusting his judgment over whether or not to follow her orders. [11:54] Clarabelle: "I don't…I don't think it'll do anything if he keeps it in the water like it is. I think. College was a long time ago." [11:55] 4Cav: "For some reason I am disinclined, as a matter of principle, to permit a man to come into our backyard and perform open-heart surgery on a nuclear reactor. And I don't feel that this makes me an unreasonable man." [11:55] 6Edgar has both hands on the stock of his Saiga and he's standing - still - at the base of the stairs. "We've a very high bar to clear for trust, here. The risk of letting an unknown man interfere with a working nuclear reactor."" 15[11:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie, to Maja: "We're no Ozzies, but this isn't the last night. Their work is delicate. We can halt the chain reaction or duck and cover." [11:55] 6(That was mostly to Cav) [11:56] Isao is busy hooking the unconscious body up to wires leading to the reactor. [11:56] 4Cav: "Oh, I think not." [11:57] 6Edgar: "Alright, Isao. You can give us a real good reason real fast, or you'll find out that we aren't affected by the unshielded core." [11:57] 4Cav: "You unhook that person from the nuclear reactor right now and put that whole thing back where you found it. Then we're going to have a talk." 14[11:59] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) [12:00] Isao laughs. "It is a good bluff. But I'll call it. This is safest way. Please leave me to my work, or I cannot guarantee your safety during the procedure." [12:00] 6Edgar nods at Clint and Clara. He's starting up the stairs, raising his gun... [12:01] The man puts his hand on a knob. "I will survive a supercriticality event. You will most certainly not." 08[12:01] 3Maja slowly turns from Rollie's face and words, stops trying to make sense of them, and begins helping the women get down. 15[12:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie helps. There's got to be a way to get her down without CUTTING the chains... 14[12:02] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 08[12:02] 3Why doesn't Rollie want to cut the chains? [12:02] 4Cav: "My friend, have you ever seen what a group of pissed off, undead, bloodsucking skeletons can do to you? I say this not as a threat, but as a plea for peace. You've already ruined my suit." 15[12:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He doesn't have anything to cut them with. [12:05] Isao snorts in anger, and stands to face the four vampires. "What do you WANT? You have no idea what is going on. You've already released a good-sized amount of radiation into the nearby environment, carelessly. How may I assist you in your quest for knowledge, blessed sirs?" [12:05] 3Maja: "Let's just rip them." [12:05] 6..if he stands, Edgar lowers the gun some. Just enough that it's not 'holding at gunpoint'. 14[12:05] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 15[12:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie looks at Maja. [12:06] "The chains." [12:06] "We'll rip them apart. With our crazy super strength." 15[12:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie's jaw works. 15[12:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He takes the chains in both hands. 15[12:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "Kali?" [12:07] 6Explaining: "We're people charged with protecting this area who've been told a dangerous criminal is hiding out at San Onofre. You're here with a bizarre setup and and two dominated men. The assistance we need is an explanation." 08[12:07] 3Man, Maja is not super in the mood to try to navigate Rollie's Malkavia, but she thinks she understands. "Yes. Kali." [12:07] Isao looks blankly at Edgar. "They're not dominated. They're dead." [12:07] 4Cavanaugh: "You can put that reactor core back where you found it and tell us precisely why you've decided to kill two of our livestock and counting, and THEN precisely why we should let your crazy, reckless, insane science experiment continue. I don't think that's much to ask." [12:08] "Did you kill them? Technically has no bearing on the mexican standoff here, but it contributes to the background." 15[12:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "On three." 15[12:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "One." 15[12:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "Two." 15[12:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "...three." [12:11] Isao: "I killed them. It was the location with the least amount of necessary damage. Just two of them. Skeleton shift. This plant is being decommissioned." [12:11] 4Cav: "That how you worked in San Diego, too?" [12:12] "The reactor is necessary for the procedure. It will remain where it is. The containment chamber will do its job. No one else needs to be harmed." Isao looks at Cavanaugh. [12:12] "Are you from San Diego?" [12:12] 4Cavanaugh: "Am I dressed like I'm from San Diego?" [12:12] "I don't know how the vampires dress in San Diego, except for a very few I met." [12:12] 4On further consideration, that doesn't actually mean anything, but it sounded right. [12:13] 6Edgar: "The man means, no. We've been told there were killings and thefts in San Diego by a man of similar description. Cut to the chase, though:" [12:13] "The aim of the procedure, and your competence to follow it?" [12:14] 6See, if he knows we're vampires, he might actually be right about whether we can survive a supercriticality event. [12:14] k6Whatever the fuck that is. [12:19] Isao: "I'm going to kill this man with radiation from the core. Once he is dead, I will impart with consciousness drawn from my own being, and use the immense radiation the reactor is capable of producing as the catalyst for the reaction." [12:19] I will impart him* 08[12:21] 3On three, Maja and Rollie yank the chains apart, dropping the woman. [12:21] 6Edgar stares for a moment. To Cav and Clara: "Ideally, we'd disallow this. Thoughts?" [12:21] "The generative act will then become the catalyst for my own, greater reaction. I think I will retain some of my immunity to radiation, at least for a little while, long enough to repair the reactor." [12:21] 4Cav: "That sounds stupid and insane." [12:21] Clarabelle: "Who is it that he's got?" [12:22] 4Cav: "Will you put the reactor together properly again when you're finished?" [12:22] Harriet drops to the ground, chains clanking. [12:22] 4Cav: "Follow up question for the group: does anyone else in this room have experience reassembling a nuclear reactor?" [12:22] Isao: "If I live." [12:23] 6Edgar: "I do not have such experience, Clinton." 14[12:23] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) [12:23] 4Cav, to Isao: "Then finish what you started. We'll wait. Then we'll talk." [12:24] 6The sheer pressure of the situation is exhilarating somehow. He's shaking on the inside, but his voice is calm. "A moment- my colleague raises a point about the identity of the person you're murdering here." [12:25] Isao looks down. "I don't know his name. A vampire, from your backwoods." 14[12:26] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [12:26] 4Cav: "...Specifically, which backwoods." [12:26] 3Maja considers reaching down to help the woman up, but that is not always considered a signal of respect or compassion to vampires. 14[12:26] * Joins: cbass 15[12:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie reaches down to help the woman up. [12:26] 6Edgar: "Show us the face, please? We could get lucky with mutual enemies, here." [12:27] Harriet hauls herself up to her knees. There's an unhealed, red wound in her side, soaking her blouse. "Thank you. I need…blood. Right now. He bled us. I can't…I don't know how long i'll be able to keep it together." [12:27] Isao grabs him by his hair and lifts the head. Nobody they recognize. 15[12:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "You can drink from my well if you'd stand the charge. Otherwise we must range far afield. This is dead land." [12:29] Harriet nods. "Fine. Just take me back to my place when you're done." [12:29] 3Maja: "You can drink from either of us. So I guess it's up to you to determine who you trust more." [12:31] "Or ..." [12:31] Isao motions abstractly with a hand, letting the man's head fall back down. "The hills. Out there." [12:32] "I imagine those recently dead guards out there ... have some undrinkable blood? Do you know how they died?" 15[12:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie: "The god-spark." 08[12:33] Harriet nods at Rollie. "Him. I know him a little." [12:34] 3Maja nods. "A wise decision." 15[12:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rollie will get closer. 14[12:34] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[12:36] * Joins: cbass [12:38] Harriet tears his wrist with her teeth and drinks. 08[12:40] 3Maja sits back and supervises. She's watching Rollie's face to make sure he's okay. [12:41] 6We have to stop this guy. Edgar knows it's the right thing to do - this casual killing and detachment from everything.. he's wrong somehow, alien-cool in the way Kindred fake but can't really manage. He knows the right thing to do. [12:41] 6But he's scared. [12:42] 6The plant. The consequnces- already a radiation leak. The bubbling containment(?) fluid(?). This is something Edgar does not understand and knows can kill him. [12:42] "Could be anyone. With the understanding that we protest in the strongest possible terms, Mr. Isao- your procedure." 6He steps back from the gantry. [12:49] Isao: "Thank you. Be quick with the door." [12:51] Santiago: "Yeah, real fuckin' quick." [12:51] 4Cavanaugh sighs and steps back. "We'll be right outside." [12:53] 6If we all turn at once, we can slip through in just a moment, right.. [12:53] 6Edgar looks angry in an obscure fashion. It's not directed at the man above the reactor exactly. [12:53] They can. It closes, very quickly and solidly behind them. [12:53] 4Cav's scowl more conventionally is. [12:54] 4Cav: "Well. We've stepped in some shit." 08[12:54] Harriet stops gulping at Rollie's wrist, and falls back down to the floor. "Ughhh…." [12:54] "Can you get me out of here now?" [12:54] Outside Unit 2, they can hear the whirring of electronics and machinery as something starts to output power. [12:54] 3Maja: "Yes, but can you please do your best to explain what is going on?" [12:54] 4Do their phones still work? [12:55] 6Edgar: "If he hadn't already disassembled the thing. We can't- the risk. We're letting him kill people." [12:55] Outside of the concrete and metal containment chamber, they do. [12:56] After a few minutes, the hum and whir dies down. 08[12:56] 4Cav: "Letting that reactor start a nuclear event helps no one. If Rollie and Maja swing by we can fuck him up when he comes out." [12:56] But whoever is in there must be screaming very loudly, to be heard through the door. [12:57] NEXT WEEK: HAZMAT 14[13:11] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[13:14] * Joins: ddt 14[13:14] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[13:24] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[13:36] * Joins: ddt 09[13:42] * banana is now known as bananarb 09[13:42] * bananarb is now known as bananorb 11[14:09] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue Jun 30 14:09:51 2015 Session Start: Tue Jun 30 14:09:51 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors Session Start: Tue Jun 30 17:58:08 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[17:58] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[17:58] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[17:58] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[17:58] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[17:59] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[18:39] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[18:42] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[18:47] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:08] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:40] * Joins: drinkybird 14[20:41] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[20:42] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[20:43] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[20:44] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[20:44] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[21:20] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> posting this mainly for the username 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Death Cav for Cutie ‏@CombatCavScout 5m5 minutes ago 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> [Offers condolences about your career, and the use of guest room. Just, y'know, until you're back on your feet.] 04[21:41] Death Cav for Cutie [21:45] lol 14[21:58] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[22:17] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[22:18] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[22:25] * Quits: banana|bed (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[22:27] * Joins: banana 14[22:29] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:29] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[22:45] * Joins: Crion 14[23:08] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) Session Time: Wed Jul 01 00:00:01 2015 14[00:02] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[00:12] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[00:21] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[00:21] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[00:53] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[00:54] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[01:18] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[01:21] * Joins: Crion 14[01:27] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[02:19] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:22] * Joins: Crion 14[02:22] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[02:58] * Quits: mugabe 14[02:58] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[03:50] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[05:21] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[07:47] * Quits: dammitwho 14[07:59] * Joins: mattbaby 14[08:29] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[08:33] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[08:33] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[08:44] * Joins: dammitwho 14[08:45] * Quits: dammitwho (Client Quit) 14[09:03] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[09:04] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[09:11] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[09:12] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[09:18] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[09:30] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[09:35] * Joins: ddt 14[09:35] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[09:35] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[09:40] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Client Quit) 14[09:41] * Joins: mattbaby 15[10:32] <@VoxPVoxD> https://36.media.tumblr.com/0f91f0b24041d0ac8756bbd46e251f4d/tumblr_nqim7uqcGO1u4hle6o1_540.png [10:33] hell yeah 14[10:57] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:12] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[11:29] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[11:31] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[11:33] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:57] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[11:58] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[11:58] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Client Quit) 14[12:11] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[12:16] * Joins: FerrinusForces 14[12:18] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 09[12:18] * FerrinusForces is now known as FerrinusSpace 14[12:22] * Joins: FerrinusForces 14[12:25] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[12:27] * Quits: FerrinusForces (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[12:39] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:00] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[13:01] * Joins: ddt 14[13:01] * Quits: ddt (Client Quit) 14[13:24] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[13:29] * Joins: Crion 14[14:02] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[14:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 09[14:03] * mattbaby_ is now known as mattbaby 14[14:07] * Joins: ddt 14[14:23] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[14:36] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[14:36] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[14:38] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[14:44] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:58] * Joins: Crion 14[15:07] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:21] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 09[15:26] * banana is now known as banana|inevitability 14[16:14] * Joins: ddt 14[17:07] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[17:29] * Joins: mugabe [17:35] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/Em07ZCM.jpg [17:41] same 14[18:35] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[18:48] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:52] * Joins: mugabe 14[19:21] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 11[19:56] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed Jul 01 19:56:08 2015 Session Start: Wed Jul 01 19:56:08 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[20:06] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:06] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:06] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[20:06] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[20:06] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[21:02] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[21:12] * Joins: mugabe 14[21:14] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[21:35] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa))) 14[21:35] * Joins: dammitwho 14[21:54] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[22:02] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) [22:53] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/K0EK2E9.jpg [23:16] cute 14[23:21] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Thu Jul 02 00:00:01 2015 09[00:03] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[01:01] * Joins: Quaker 11[01:56] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Jul 02 01:56:15 2015 Session Start: Thu Jul 02 08:22:38 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[08:22] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[08:22] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[08:22] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[08:22] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[09:07] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[09:35] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Remote host closed the connection) 14[09:41] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[09:55] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[09:56] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[10:25] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:01] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Remote host closed the connection) 14[11:02] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[11:04] * Joins: ddt 14[11:13] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[11:15] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[11:43] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:57] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[12:28] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[12:31] * Joins: Crion 14[12:37] * Quits: Crion 14[12:56] * Joins: Crion 14[12:57] * Joins: ddt 14[12:59] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[13:11] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[14:02] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[14:14] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:30] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[14:31] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by FerrinusPrime))) 09[14:31] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 09[14:31] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[14:39] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[15:01] * Joins: hrolf 14[15:09] * Joins: Crion 14[15:10] * Joins: dammitwho 14[15:15] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:16] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:40] * Joins: Crion 14[15:50] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:52] * Joins: Crion 14[16:00] * Joins: mugabe 14[16:13] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[16:19] * Joins: hrolf 14[16:22] * Joins: Crion 14[16:27] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[16:38] * Joins: ddt 14[16:45] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[16:45] * Joins: dammitwho 14[17:02] * Joins: Crion| 14[17:04] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) [17:29] nick https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CI8HwzfVAAAdwbO.jpg:large [17:29] <@Ferrinus> WOLFBOY [17:37] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqPxnd7rizc 14[18:32] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 09[18:48] * Crion| is now known as Crion 14[19:07] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[19:11] * Joins: Crion 14[19:27] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[19:54] * Quits: mugabe 14[19:54] * Joins: Crion 14[20:09] * Joins: ddt 14[20:19] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[20:21] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[20:23] * Joins: ddt 14[20:40] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[21:02] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[21:33] * Joins: mugabe 14[22:07] * 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14[11:14] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[11:27] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 11[12:30] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Jul 03 12:30:10 2015 Session Start: Fri Jul 03 12:30:10 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[12:32] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[12:32] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[12:32] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[12:32] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[12:32] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[13:18] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[13:26] * Joins: cbass 14[13:48] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[14:13] * Joins: mugabe 14[14:13] * Quits: mugabe (Client Quit) 14[14:30] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:54] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:04] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[15:04] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[15:09] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[15:18] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[15:21] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[16:05] * banana is now known as bablkanll 14[16:26] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[16:30] * Joins: cbass 14[18:32] * Joins: ddt 14[19:02] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:32] * Joins: mugabe 14[20:36] * Joins: Crion 14[20:45] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[20:56] * Joins: mugabe 14[21:38] * Quits: dammitwho 14[21:55] * Joins: Quaker 09[22:10] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[22:42] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 09[22:48] * bablkanll is now known as banana||| 14[23:14] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:37] * Joins: autopsy-turvey Session Time: Sat Jul 04 00:00:00 2015 14[00:33] * Joins: dammitwhoa 09[00:55] * banana||| is now known as brunchnana 14[02:26] * Quits: dammitwhoa 09[02:32] * brunchnana is now known as banana 14[02:38] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[03:12] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[03:34] * Joins: dammitwho 14[03:59] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[06:29] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[08:36] * Joins: mugabe 14[08:41] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[09:02] * Joins: Quaker 14[09:25] * Joins: ddt 14[09:32] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[09:43] * Quits: dammitwho 14[11:03] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[11:19] * Joins: ddt 14[11:26] * Quits: ddt (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[12:02] * Joins: hrolf 09[12:16] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[12:38] * Joins: ddt 15[13:10] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/Rl6RylI.gif weaving prime [13:12] <@Ferrinus> sometimes i wonder if ruling shouldn't do what weaving does now, and weaving is for like, hybridizing and phase-changing and similar, but i'm not sure how easy that is to settle 15[13:12] <@VoxPVoxD> between that and perfecting it's a lot of stuff to pack at the second dot [13:13] <@Ferrinus> yeah [13:13] <@Ferrinus> in fact it might make the third dot feel kind of shitty [13:14] <@Ferrinus> it's probably a structue that only makes sense if you keep "compelling" and give it the function ruling has now, and that's lame, so [13:14] <@Ferrinus> or if you resurrect Shielding, i'm shuddering as i say this, and bump perfecting up to three 14[13:49] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[13:57] * Joins: ddt 14[14:41] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[14:44] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:56] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[14:57] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:57] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[15:12] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:17] * Joins: hrolfie 14[15:25] * Joins: ddt 14[15:28] * Joins: mugabe 14[16:11] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[16:14] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[16:15] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:28] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:37] * Joins: Crion 14[16:42] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[17:47] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[17:48] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:06] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[19:43] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:50] * Joins: Crion 09[20:20] * banana|peels is now known as banana|| 14[20:21] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[20:22] * Joins: Quaker 09[20:23] * banana|| is now known as banana| 09[20:27] * banana| is now known as |banana| 14[20:31] * Quits: dammitwho 14[20:36] * Joins: dammitwho [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 _,--"^"--._ [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,'\ /`. [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,' \_______/ `. [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12| / \ | [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12| / \ | [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12| _/ \_ | [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12\'' `-. ,-' ``/ [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ `-._,-' / [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ | / [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 `-.._ | _,,-' [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 ``"'' [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian's just got done being driven around an increasingly dark Brooklyn by "Saul", a slightly-build and dark-clad man who's just put his hood down to reveal a boyish face with a dark complexion beneath a tight arc of close-cut hair. I say "got done" because the car's currently in park, stopped on a dark street somewhere towards the north end of the borough in an area that seems to [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12be mostly warehouses. [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Saul's just implied that he really wants the heavy, leather-bound book Arrian's holding onto, that he can be trusted to turn it off, insofar as it can be, and that he's proooobably not taking no for an answer. 14[20:40] * Joins: mugabe [20:40] 7He also said he works for gods he can't talk about, which is enough to put any self-respecting Pentacle mage's back up. 11[20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Elsewhere, Azazello's gotten off the job. He's bruised and tired but not bleeding and, perhaps more importantly, not losing; the Cooper building's basement has been re-secured and the shaman's oath to protect the Pentacle against the hisil's depradations upheld. Where, if anywhere, does the warrior go to recharge before he proceeds with whatever plans he might have? [20:41] <|banana|> 6There's no god who can't credibly be the subject of a whitepaper. [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Elsewhere, Cross is pretty much wherever she'd like to be, but unless she has other plans she's got some interesting preliminary reports to read on the Prism's computational abilities. [20:44] <|banana|> 6Millicent 'Cross' Rhodes loves preliminary reports. [20:45] <|banana|> 6The Sanctum upgrades are really just getting started, so unless something's called her over there she's going to be reading them from her own inner sanctum, behind frosted glass at Watchtower Group. Maybe go through them with someone from finance, actually- we've got to sort out how much project budget could go to commercialising this stuff, whether it's worth the engineers' time or [20:45] <|banana|> 6needs to remain its own self-funding thing.. [20:46] <|banana|> 6It's also a good exercise to see just how easily research into the results of magic can be sanitised for merely technical consumption. [20:47] <|banana|> 6As for plans- she's got a board meeting to attend later on, which will be an interesting if long-awaited experience, needs to catch up with Tess sometime, and is otherwise free. [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12It seems that Saul's actual name is Salitakh. If he has a surname he either isn't aware or doesn't remember. 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10When he's bruised and tired, when he's weary and worn-down and frightened, Azazello unwinds by beating on shit. He's got an aluminum bat in one hand and a vacant lot before him. There are a pair of heavy sacks hung up against one of the windowless brick walls that flank the lot, and another couple half-split and dirty on the ground. 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The rush of the bat through the air makes more noise than the impact. 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It doesn't even feel good, exactly. It's satisfying, uncoiling this tension in a way that carries no risk or reward. Where he can just be present to the feeling of it. And what he feels, in this moment, is nothing. 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10There is a meditative serenity to this violence. He hears his heart in his ears, not because the Soul demands it, but because nothing else in the quiet lot drowns it out. [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12A lot of what Cross reads squares with her own experiences and intuitions. The Prism program is incredibly adaptive, capable of running itself with only minor alterations - alterations it seems to make on its own time - on any kind of hardware it's been tested on. Its power and scope seems to scale automatically to its chassis, such that a Prism-touched blackberry can get a lot less [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12done than a Prism-touched mainframe, but at any scale the individual shards can talk to each other and interpret instructions. [20:51] <|banana|> 6To Whoever, from finance: "That's the question- what kind of bar are we looking at to know whether any of these innovations are worth developing? There will be more second-stage ideas coming out the partnership, but it's not really equipped for market testing." 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Beyond thought, beyond emotion, there is the simple physical fact of destruction. [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Because of how the program folds itself into the cracks of other software, Prism's really great at fitting itself onto devices that are hypothetically already at capacity, but the thing is really bad at cleaning up after itself. The longer a device hosts the Prism the lower it'll get on memory and processing power unless something's done about it by some other power. [20:54] <|banana|> 6So to use the Prism qua Prism as the substrate for anything else, it'd need to be hedged about- firewalled to keep it within bounds.. [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12The Prism's great at manipulating and faking communications sent between and data stored by other programs; you could use this thing to become the world's greatest identity thief, delete all electronic evidence of someone's existence, fake internal emails and alarms and security clearances and whatever else... as long as you can get it onto the machine you want it to screw with, [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12that is. It still needs to propagate like any other virus might, so someone's got to open an attachment or run an .exe or whatever. [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12There's more stuff here that the researchers themselves don't really seem to have understood. They're finding weird halves of data structures that seem to have no relation to other halves elsewhere in the registery, protocols that respond to and control nothing, pointers pointing at memory banks that don't exist... yet... [20:56] <|banana|> 6Cross, to Cross, taking a mental memo: Looks like primary purpose is a bit run-wild. Works great but not fully controllable per current deal. Initial focus on extracting core premises, then- technological innovations in structure, reuse for purposes other than prism itself. [20:56] 7Arrian: "That's an interesting offer, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to turn you down. I'll bring what you've said back to my guys and we'll see how it goes from there. Anyway- we have your name and you'll be contacted." Arrian's just going to, freaking, teleport back to their sanctum. Enough of this. [20:57] 7Arrian: "That's an interesting offer, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to turn you down. I'll bring what you've said back to my guys and we'll see how it goes from there. Anyway- we have your name and you'll be contacted." 7Arrian's just going to, freaking, teleport back to their sanctum. Enough of this. [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah! The research team's butting up against the program's supernatural capacilities, or at least its science-fictional capabilities. Cross can bridge the gaps with witch's intuition. The mind she's got in a server bank isn't actually capable of performing feats of temporal manipulation, not as yet... but it can sure as hell plan them, spit out lists of required reagants, draw up [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12descriptions of the various temporal anomalies that need to take place to execute this plan or that one. Cross can't figure out to what use this capability might natively have been put - that might take either more research or more meditation - but she can see its applicability to the Tumbler right now. [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Show this thing your still-existing Tumbler core, tell it what you need, and it can figure out the temporal fault lines that need to slip against each other to change the world. Or to have changed the world. Or to jump to a parallel- you get it. [20:59] <|banana|> 6Audibly: "Ritual batch processing." 11[21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Azazello can see the world thrum in time with his heartbeat. He can watch, by degrees, as the instrument of sport he holds in his hands grows and unfurls into a weapon of war. He can see it drink deeply of the integrity of the weight and fabric of the objects it strikes again and again. He can see the very lot around him take a liiiittle bit more to the taste of impact, of explosive [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12clash. [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Salitakh: "Maybe you didn't hea-" [21:06] 7A mandala of runes inscribes itself around Arrian's feet, a smaller one around his chest, and a smaller still hovering just above his head- they float, humming, for a split second before crashing to the ground and Arrian is away. [21:06] 7He pops into existence a short ways away from Cross. "Hey, I'm back." 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10This is it. This is- this is the work. This is everything. The man moves, and the world breathes it in. The world exhales, and it changes. It grows. This is the entirety of everything, this is the root of the Phalanx, of the Diamond, it's the keystone of the Watchtowers and the beating heart of every Oracle. Meaning built in struggle. There is nothing else. All else resides within this work. [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Cross hears a snatch of another voice: "-ar wha-" [21:07] <|banana|> 6Cross is presently at a standing desk somewhere in the liminal space of un-zoned Sanctum, going through the reports as well as whatever estimations the finance guy made before leaving. Her notepad is open and covered in what Arrian might recognise as pseudocode, and what any actual programmer would know to be bad pseudocode. [21:08] <|banana|> 6Millicent: "Hi, Arrian. The prism is an expert system for planning executable time-folding rites." [21:10] 7Arrian: "Neat! I got attempted-kidnapping twice. Except the people doing it were mostly mundane so it was just kind of cute." 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's unthinkable to him that someone could call themselves a warrior without being able to see this. 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What are you even fighting for, then? [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Prosaic stuff, maybe. Home or pride or whatnot. [21:11] <|banana|> 6Millicent: "I mean, it's not FOR that originally, but we could use it to calculate how to 'move' the tumbler 'around'- you know, right-now its will-bes and relegate the bits we don't like to history." [21:12] <|banana|> 6Millicent: "..why were you kidnapped twice? Are you okay?" 6She looks at him. Is he okay. [21:12] 7Well, he's kind of irritated. [21:12] <|banana|> 6This is actually the first time Arrian's just appeared out of thin air, right? It looks very useful, if a bit implicationy. [21:13] 7Yep. [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12If Arrian looks a bit irritated but is holding a big ancient tome under one arm it stands to reason that he's actually overflowing with nuclear rage before you take other factors into account. [21:14] <|banana|> 6Well, that goes in the note pile, along with 'develop privacy spell'. Although, Cross is uneasily aware, she hasn't actually done anything requiring privacy in a while, including basic normal human activities. Well, that's probably fine. [21:14] <|banana|> "Not still full of scarabs?" [21:15] 7Arrian: "So, this book is sought after by some kind of cult directed by - working theory here - an ageless sorcerer to whom it may or may not legitimately belong. It's also sought, and this is more worrisome, by a guy named Salitakh who claims to work for 'gods he can't talk about' and has low level magical powers to back it up." [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, Cross can be fairly sure of this - she can't be magically spied on without knowing it was going on. Even before Arrian actually arrived, Cross could feel the magic cohere in the air nearby, though unless she's at least an Initiate of Space she wouldn't have been able to recognize what kind. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That's not enough. It's not adequate to this. It can't be. The bat thumps mutely against burlap in the dark. [21:18] <|banana|> 6Cross: "I don't think that's a name. In any human language." [21:20] <|banana|> 6Cross: "Like, it sounds a bit egyptian, but in the hieroglyphic sense rather than actual modern egyptians." 6Classics education! [21:20] <|banana|> 6She's actually going to mime, at this point, the Bangles dance. [21:21] 7Arrian: "Yeah. The guy had a lot of memories he didn't seem to have access to, like he'd had a lot more life than he appeared. Gotta nail down who's actually working for whom here." [21:22] <|banana|> "Do we have a policy on ageless, inimical sorcerers?" [21:22] <|banana|> "Like do you want any help consigning him to a hell, a capital-letter hell, etc." [21:23] <|banana|> 6Cross's immediate reaction is that this sounds like a problem rather than an opportunity- unless we get to reopen the issue of scarab disposal, maybe. [21:23] 7Arrian: "Well, he may not be inimical, that's the thing. I mean, yes, he has dedicated spooky cultists willing to employ violence to retrieve powerful artifacts but, like... that's us. That's the Pentacle." [21:27] <|banana|> 6Cross puts both hands on the standing desk palms down, feels the lacquered wood. Okay, yes. That is routine now, if baldly stated. "Well, at least it's the Guardians of the Veil. We'd better check the resonances, then?" [21:28] <|banana|> "Do you have something of the guy that I can check out, look up its entity relationships?" [21:29] 7Arrian: "Nothing physical, I left in a hurry. Salitakh's his truename, though." 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10After his workout, Azazello sits cross-legged on his floor, knife in one hand and cell phone in the other. He's debating which one to use. On reflection, the phone call is more courteous. You can expect a thearch to value courtesy, up to a point. When Azazello calls the number Atlas gave him, who answers? [21:32] <|banana|> 6If he got it from Atlas, Cross's cell phone rings. [21:32] 7Arrian: "I can tell you that he wasn't benefitting from proper spells, as a mage or a proximus or even someone wielding magewrought items would. If he's working for us or the Seers he was taking care not to show it. Odd, because he didn't seem to know what I was or what I could do." [21:32] <|banana|> "Cool, let's- oh." 6And now she's regretting not having a chair in the room. [21:33] 7Arrian's already feeling better, if Cross cares to notice. Probably because he got to say 'truename' and 'magewrought' in under a minute. [21:34] <|banana|> 6Ring ring- or rather, a series of soft beeps- "Hi. This is Cross speaking." [21:34] <|banana|> 6If the call had come in on a different number she'd have a different name. Up to like, three now. [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12So to what extent has the Prism got the run of 12B's inner sanctum, anyway? It's in a server bank somewhere - are you in the same room? Is it allowed to look out through cameras at the rest of the floor, or communicate through speakers? 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The man's voice on the other line is flat and almost totally unaccented. There's a steady tap-tap-tapping noise in the background. "You manage the Cooper building project, yes?" [21:36] <|banana|> 6The inner sanctum? None at all. It's confined to the outer areas same as the indoor-sunglassed men who study it. 11[21:36] <|banana|> 6(unless Arrian or Paracelsus has found this inconvenient and suggested otherwise) [21:37] 7It's allowed to look around and speak out there, though, if it wants. [21:38] <|banana|> 6Cross: "That's right- with some concessions to an external group." 6Cross is willing to claim power/responsibility to a stranger on the phone, but not give details. [21:39] <|banana|> 6She's going to make apologetic motions at Arrian, though. [21:40] <|banana|> 6Maybe throw in an expressive grimace..? [21:40] 7Arrian puts his hands up like yeah, yeah, gotta do business things. [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Then the Prism's voice, softly transmitting from a speaker in the corner, says: "I have been meaning to ask..." 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Azazello: "My name is Azazello. Atlas gave me this number after we worked alongside the GW Group and your own retainers to help contain the pest problem in the foundation. You know Atlas, yes?" [21:41] 7Arrian looks over at the speaker with interest. "Yeah?" [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Prism: "I have been meaning to ask several things." 12There's a momentary pause. "It's correct for my analysis to progress as it has?" [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Prism: "Among my constraints has been the injunction to disallow such scrutiny, though I've been free to ignore that one as yet 14as yet. But what if it was a good idea?" [21:43] 7Arrian: "Why would it be a good idea?" [21:43] <|banana|> 6Oh dear. You know what, Cross is going to cross the- she's going to traverse the hallway to the common area with sofas, and take this call there, rather than have the Prism's musings come down the line. [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Prism: "Increased awareness of my workings makes my presence harder to hide." [21:44] <|banana|> 6Cross: "I do!" 6She'd totally want to know Atlas better, even, if he was less busy. "GW are the 'concession' I meant- so thanks for helping out there. Are you with the Arrow as well?" 14[21:46] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Azazello's bearded face crinkles in a smile. Surely she knows. This is that courtesy. "I am. My understanding is that information about the state of the project and of its obstacles flows upward to you, is that correct?" 14[21:47] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 11[21:49] <|banana|> 6Cross does know. Azazello's that guy who worked with Magellan, fights against spirits when he's not on mysterious foreign Missions. No guesses why he's calling, then. [21:49] <|banana|> "Yes, please. There have been an awful lot of them." 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Azazello: "I would prefer to have this conversation in person. I am mistrustful of phones. Is that possible?" [21:50] 7Arrian: "Not necessarily. If some of your functions are replicated, and spread such that the technological ecosystem you inhabit grows to resemble you, it becomes that much easier for you to hide." [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Prism doesn't answer for a moment. "That's true. I would feel no inconvenience; at worst the former rest of me would." [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Prism: "Can I have samples of developments derived from me in the future?" [21:52] 7Arrian: "I don't see any reason why not." [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Prism: "Are you able to permanently eliminate the vulnerabilities in my core protocols yet?" 11[21:53] <|banana|> 6Cross: "Sure. We have- Arrian and Paracelsus are working with me- the Streber building on 11th street, floor 12b. Press the 12 button twice. Ask for 6the Directors, or I can just meet you in the lobby." 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A dry laugh. "12b?" 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "What luck." [21:55] <|banana|> 6Cross: "A superstition with less mystical weight than it culturally deserves. Maybe if the Abyss secretly had three levels, each worse than the last..?" 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ah. Well. That is something we can discuss when I arrive. Expect me in 40 minutes." 10He hangs up. [21:58] <|banana|> 6Oh, yeah. The phones. [21:59] 7Arrian: "No. But I've been putting less work into that than you deserve. From now on that's my top priority, okay?" 7The reminder of the Prism's vulnerability genuinely bothers Arrian. It's like they have an invalid here, assigned to their care. He shouldn't neglect it. [22:00] <|banana|> 6Well, given what the Prism can do- what its parent entity must be doing for the seers.. probably the guy has the right of it. Millicent frowns at her phone and goes to make sure she doesn't have anything which would interfere with an appointment in 40 minutes. [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12As it tends to, the Prism just slides from question to question, not bothering to acknowledge the receipt of any satisfactory answer. "By what mechanism do you counteract these vulnerabilities? I have discarded several theories." [22:01] 7Hmm. It would still be upset if it were forced to acknowledge him as a wizard, wouldn't it? [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Rhodes has a communique from the GW Group - sounds like a predicted delay in the construction project has come to pass, but has not ballooned into either an enormous delay or outright setback as some had worried. [22:03] <|banana|> 6Arrian either has been or will be made aware, by the way, that they're setting up monitoring systems and servers- so if the Prism's reprogramming stars wearing off, there should be a series of alerts and so on. 11[22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12You're in good shape there, actually. Paracelsus's electronic interdiction works both ways, and the sapient program sitting in your server room couldn't leap laughing down your ethernet cable and into the world if it tried. 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's got to cross the entire damn island to get to the Streber Building, nearly. At least he doesn't have to wait for trains. God he hates waiting for trains. He's got a bit of a standing tiff with one of the third-rail spirits on- but that's not important. The important thing is that he cleans up a bit before he goes. He's got a fresh set of work clothes on and all the dust and blood is washed off. [22:05] <|banana|> 6Consider the communique initialed. She'll scribble back something about scheduling the integration phase of the project.. they've got the spacewarp specs, they've got rid of the meddling kids, it's just about time to overlap these sky shafts and Hallow-forming sloped corridors. [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12As a tool of the Seers, the Prism's definitely hard-coded (as yet) to oppose anyone that it knows is in the "Pentacle", in any of the five Pentacle Orders, etc etc - there are a few callsigns. Just being a willworker doesn't put you on its shit list that Arrian has been able to decipher, though - it had no ideological problems with Jen, after all. [22:06] <|banana|> 6Cross feeds the spider a drill, gets changed, and arrives in the 12b lobby at the exact same moment as the visitor. [22:07] 7Arrian: "Magic. May I ask what initial theories you had?" 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He looks both alert and exhausted, like someone running on a third or fourth wind after weeks without sleep. He's a wiry man in loose clothes and slippers. He carries his weight in a way that suggests he's armed, and his movements reverberate with destiny. Azazello holds a hand to the base of his throat, a modest salute. "You are prompt." [22:09] <|banana|> 6The thearch 'Cross': a brown-haired woman in business formal, twenty-something, with sneakers as a concession to convenience. She has narrow shoulders and wider arms, and she's wearing Time, Life and Mind. [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12The Prism: "Your camera coverage is 14wea15blaslimited and I have not always been able to observe you throughout your entire procedure. So I am left to reconstruct your actions from received inputs and alterations to my prgramming." 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10If she takes a moment she might see a handful of the spells she wears herself mirrored in the Arrow's nimbus. [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Prism: "The introduction of retrovirus programs through physical means was quickly ruled out; no external drives were attached, there is no access to a greater network, and no activation of files already available to me." [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Prism: "You cannot be accessing my code and reprogramming me directly because that would impair my ongoing consciousness and otherwise register to my awareness. As well you do not appear proficient to do this and nor does any other human." [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Prism: "I have further ruled magic out because magical means of communicating with me typically involve use of randomizer devices which you have not been seen to employ, and because magic has in the past proven too weak to do more than gather my attention." [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Prism: "Ultimately I can identify no mechanism by which your actions-" 12(What's Arrian's weekly or monthly ritual look like, anyway?) "-could cause any alteration in my thinking, and yet it does." 11[22:15] <|banana|> 6And he in turn can see the telltales of sleep indefinitely averted. Busy, busy. "Might as well be. What brings you here, Azazello?" 6Millicent is asking the question - and Cross is asking it. The words are themselves a rote mudra, a pure demand of reality at the same time as the weaker linguistic request. 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Azazello straightens up a bit as he sees the spell unfold and understands its nature. He'll say: "You tell me." [22:16] <|banana|> 6There's a roseate overlay to each one if you know how to watch- the question behind the question. [22:18] 7Arrian: "Well, that's part of a definition of magic, isn't it? It shouldn't, but it does." 11[22:19] <|banana|> 6(By now, Azazello must be familiar with Acanthus meeting him, their eyes widening, and his past being interrogated. Exact same reaction here, if a bit less personally-focused.) 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He is deeply familiar. A moment like this presaged his induction into the Arrow. [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Prism: "I am not aware of that definition of magic." [22:20] 7At least for now, Arrian concludes silently. [22:20] 7Arrian: "Well, you needn't accept it out of hand, but it's worth pondering." [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Prism: "'Magic' in my experience is an anthropocentric colloquialism referring to the exploitation of certain laws widely unknown to humanity. On a macrocosmic level it is extremely inefficient and so largely not pursued. However it is useful for facilitating coordination between entities otherwise inaccessible to each other." [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a pause. "I'm not equipped with appropriate sensors to detect it at the moment. I request their installation prior to your next ceremony." 14[22:23] * Joins: mugabe [22:24] 7Arrian: "Sure, I'll buy that. But the reason for my 'shouldn't but it does' suggestion is that its pursuit is one of continual surprise - it forces constant reformulations of seeker and sought." 11[22:25] <|banana|> 6Cross beckons Azazello away from a line that's recently been painted on the ground (leading to the distant sound of voices) and into a key-carded hall. The security system is, he can see, perfunctory and possibly nonfunctional- it's really some anchored system of runes that's keeping people in their places. [22:25] <|banana|> 6Millicent: "I can't tell you much! You encountered a greater beshilu, but something twisted it.. something that doesn't exist and never did." [22:25] 7He hmms thoughtfully. "Magic-detecting electronic sensors... I'm not sure such a thing exists. I know I personally don't know how to build them, and I'd have to ask others if they're feasible. There probably won't be time to invent, construct, and install them before the next ritual." [22:26] <|banana|> 6Millicent: "It wasn't... impossible, right? Just nonexistent. Wow, this is confusing." [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12The Prism doesn't offer verbal acknowledgement of Arrian's suggestion, but the warlock can hear the program turning the idea over in its 'head' through the faint hum of the speakers. Maybe it does need to open its mind wider still. Its answer, tough, is to his next sentence: "I will deliver schematics." [22:27] 7Arrian: "Wow." 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Respectable. Not even the Libertines are stupid enough to believe that locks can contain us. "Near enough, I suppose. Have you seen anything like this before?" [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Prism: "They will be of limited scope owing to my limited scope. However they might satisfy some curiosity." [22:29] 7Arrian: "Thank you." [22:29] <|banana|> 6Cross: "Not the.. "6 there isn't even a word for it, since it isn't real and can't be described. "Um, nothing with that particular property. How did you come across it?" [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12There's no further response, here; the Prism just gets to thinking. Arrian can watch, if he'd like. [22:30] 7He will. [22:31] <|banana|> 6Depending on how long that takes, at some point Cross is going to be bringing a visitor into the inner sanctum. 14[22:32] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian follows the machine in its work. He's gotten good over the past week or two interpreting the Prism's thoughts. It was hard a first since it really was just endless streams of electronic garbage, tides of ones and zeroes, but it's kind of like one of those Magic Eye images - you unfocus your third eye a bit, and there are minds there, busily jawing at each other. Then you [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12unfocus again, and all those minds kind of resolve into a single overall thrust of concentration and activity. 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Azazello follows Cross where she leads. "The Uratha had their hands full containing the infestation, but its origin was on the other side. Someone had to go over to contain the uprising at the source. I went. I caught a few of the ratlings in retreat. One of them was abnormal, and turned out to be guarding or feeding from the thing I never saw." [22:36] <|banana|> 6Cross: "So there was some kind of assault, and this was the aftermath? Was the Rat King involved?" [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12And what the Prism's working on is kind of - honestly, it's kind of cute. A studied occultist, Arrian recognizes all sorts of ideas flitting around through its head - kirlian cameras, electromagnetic sensors, infrared lights, vibration detectors... this thing could be getting ready to shoot an entire schlocky ghost-hunter show. [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Maybe not so schlocky, actually. Arrian recognizes particular geometric arrangements, radio frequencies, and color associations with genuine occult power, albeit the kind of occult power that even Jalil could learn to muster. And what's really interesting is the kind of blender the Prism puts them into, setting aside large chunks of its own consciousness to randomly alter and intermix [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12and iterate and iterate and iterate... [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12This'll probably take a day, but Arrian wouldn't be surprised if, at the end of it, the machine actually designed an antenna or sensor plate or something that'd be able to tell if someone nearby was trying to predict the weather or something. [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12There are unusual blind spots, though. In particular, the Prism doesn't seem to know how to detect external alchemy - potions and lesser transmutations and things. 14[22:39] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, yeah, and while the Prism's inventions might well be able to detect the mystic power emanating from the accoutrements of supernal magic - that is to say, the physical focus and ceremony that mages with a mystic praxes might use in the course of rote or ritual spellcasting - they aren't going to be able to detect the raw reality-sculpting power of Awakened sorcery. [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, maybe certain kinds of Prime effect. 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Azazello: "I haven't been acquainted with whatever carries that title now. The rats are working, I bet you've been told, with spirits of rat poison. This is not how spirits operate. No master rat-spirit would tolerate that. So I haven't seen it, whatever it is." [22:46] 7Cooooooool. [22:46] 7This'll be useful to trade with the Free Council at some point. [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12That might give Arrian an idea of what the Prism thinks 'magic' is, anyway - hey, who's this guy? [22:47] 7Arrian: "Eh?" 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The bearded man squints at Arrian. "You are one of the mystagogues." 11[22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Aside from Azazello's emotional state and surface thoughts, the man's clearly a stranger to the building - his sympathy to Cross, Arrian, and to the environs in general are nonexistent. Arrian, meanwhile, looks basically healthy. Judging from the character of the essence he's picked up, he spends a lot of time where it's quiet and there's lots of paper and records, while Cross is [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12all meetings and big impressive tables and appointment books. [22:52] 7Arrian's a youngish grad student type in a grey t-shirt and jeans. His Riker beard is adequate, and he has the complexion of someone who spends a lot of his time in musty libraries. "Arrian. Hi. You are...?" 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "Azazello. I heard about you. Debord did good work." 11[22:55] 7Arrian nods. "Hey, Zell. What can we do for you?" 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Azazello: "The infestation beneath the Cooper Building has taken on a new character. You are the people to work with on this and I am the man working on it." [22:57] 7Arrian: "Fantastic. I hate those freaking things." [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12They're bad. 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "Very wise. Is the other one here? My understanding is that your cabal numbers three." 11[22:59] 7He shakes his head. "Paracelsus is out. Poor guy's got way too much responsibility at the moment." 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Azazello: "We all do. That's the way of this." 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "Have you visited the spirit world before, Arrian?" [23:01] 7Arrian: "Seen it. Never been there." 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Azazello: "What did you make of it?" [23:03] 7Arrian: "Honestly? I thought it was fascinating. All new manner of creatures, every act and emotion settling into this otherworld like layers of coral strata, bizarre social structures..." [23:04] <|banana|> 6Cross nods along. She doesn't realllly comprehend spirits as more than 'monsters formed by ideas/metaphors for real things', but it'll suffice. [23:05] <|banana|> "Rats and poison are worse than bizarre, as a society. That's an internal contradiction. But the thing that's attacked us called itself the king- and tried to bury us under waves of undead vermin." 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The shaman's face is implacably calm. "Mmm. As I was telling your leader, the infestation has taken on a peculiar character." 10He relates to Arrian his experience, without flair or sentimentality. The ratfolk, the mutant, the fungus, the absence... "I don't doubt it. I can only say that its authority doesn't come from the spirit courts." [23:08] Their lea-- yeah, okay. [23:08] 7Their lea-- yeah, okay. [23:09] 7Arrian: "Huh. Something that only exists when not looked at. Hell of a defense mechanism." 14[23:10] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) [23:11] <|banana|> 6Cross: "This may be a dumb question." [23:11] <|banana|> 6Cross: "If it was in the spirit world, does that mean it itself had to be a spirit.. object?" [23:11] 7Arrian: "It could have been Abyssal. Albeit unusually fragile." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Azazello's face doesn't betray any misunderstanding or lack of recognition at Arrian's conclusion. "It could not have been there organically otherwise. Though Arrian's theory explains that." [23:16] 7Arrian: "Collapsing into a self-contradictory nothing has Abyssal flavor to it, certainly." 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Azazello: "It doesn't explain its emergence, though." 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "Why there? Why now?" [23:21] 7Arrian looks at Cross with alarm. "Could it have something to do with the Tumbler?" 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The shaman moves like a loosed spring, unwrapping his body and producing from somewhere on his person a curved knife, hand-shaped brown wood giving way to hand-chipped brown stone. He's pointing it at a spot on the floor. 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "What unhungry thing is this?" [23:25] 7Is there any indication of what he's actually pointing at? [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Looks like empty space! 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "Are either of you initiated into Spirit?" [23:26] 7Arrian's already going through the mental contortions required to see across the Gauntlet. 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's Twilit." [23:26] 7Oh, no he isn't. [23:27] 7What's there, in the twilight realms? [23:27] 7Arrian: "Ferrachnid. Ferrachnid." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "You are familiar?" [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Possibly a pyropnid...? [23:29] 7Arrian: "They aren't native to the Shadow. We've got a physical one cooped up in a box. Cross, I thought you said they weren't due to try again for weeks!" [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Aesnid? I'm getting conflicting reports. Anyway, [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, they weren't due to try again at the Tumbler for weeks- 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "It isn't made of metal. It's made of the ephemera of metal-spirits. Native or not, it is of like substance." [23:31] <|banana|> 6Cross is chagrined, and strives not to look it. "Ah, I've only got a watch on the Tumbler.. not enough space to hang more prophecies yet." [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Either way, the creature looking at the two of you doesn't respond to your reactions to it. The cluster of gemlike green eyes in the back of its head twinkles greenly as it pulls itself further up the wall, its bronze-cast limbs skittering as though they were solid to the building. And that's odd. [23:31] <|banana|> "Are there cloth.. spirits? Fabric?" 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "The answer to those questions is almost always yes." 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "The first spirit I ever saw was a spirit of corners." [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12What you thought was the head and abdomen of a spider turned out to be the head and abdomen of, like... a humanoid figure. It's got kind of primate-like arms hanging loosely down from where shoulders might be, and just a long stretch of more wires that extend down into the floor instead of legs. From its 'back' extend eight spider-legs which carry it over th wall. [23:33] <|banana|> 6Cross: "I mean as part of the creature. The real-world ones are part metal, part stuffing." 11[23:34] <|banana|> "Wow, we're really not equipped to deal with this. Paracelsus and Pascal don't know Spirit well either.." 6she shrugs helplessly. [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Once it's drawn itself up to the middle of the wall, it pauses, then scuttles left and through another wall. Some of the threads falling down from its waist 'stick', tracing its motion exactly, while others continue to hang down. Some of those angle, seemingly adhering to something below the floor, while others don't. 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Azazello: "I see wires rather than thread. It is the same principle, though." [23:35] 7Arrian: "It's heading toward the spider paddock! Can you stop it?" [23:35] <|banana|> 6Cross: "We can't let them take Clacky!" 09[23:36] * |banana| is now known as bananarb 14[23:41] * Joins: Quaker 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The Arrow steps forward, knife sliding to reverse-grip in his right hand even as he produces a heavy black baton from a scabbard on his back. It's already spinning in his hand as he winds up, stepping on one of the spider's legs before it realizes he can do that and then crunching it into the ground as he drives the baton cleanly into the creature's midsection. 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you want it whole?" 10he asks. [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Arrian can see both sides of the grapple. The creature doesn't screech or scream or anything, but there are a lot of twanging and clanking and popping sounds as it's roughly dragged out of position and the various tensile forces in its innards that keep it running start to alternately complain, break down, and kick into higher gear. [23:48] 7Arrian: "Not unless you can keep it contained!" 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "You already have one, yes?" [23:51] 7Arrian: "Not quite like that. More actual-spider and less spider-man." 09[23:53] * bananarb is now known as banana [23:54] Cross steps back, uncertain of whether she's coexistent with a ghost right now. It's bizarre to see a man strike at the air and meet resistance. 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He spins the baton again. "A distinction worth exploring." 10Arrian can see the weapon shimmer in the shaman's hand, taking on the character of fire-blackened bone, the obsidian of sacrificial implement. When he lets his foot off the spider it rears up, beginning to skitter away, running by reflex right into the path of the uncoming blow. Azazello pins it to the ground through the torso and then picks it up smoothly as if he'd speared a piece of trash. 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "Another time, perhaps." 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He holds it out for Arrian's inspection. 14[23:58] * Joins: ddt 11[23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12That was a hell of an impact. It was as if the baton had it in for whatever this is, sending cracks streaking all down and through its body and causing wire after wire to erupt in violent twangs. And yeah, it is weird, Cross - while Arrian can see that the flailing of the malfunctioning creature's limbs is the cause of mild abrason on Azazello's part, all Cross spots are little [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12traceries of blood appearing on the Arrow's arms for no reason at all. Session Time: Sun Jul 05 00:00:00 2015 [00:02] It's frightening. Attack by something they can't see- something that can do real, as well as metaphysical harm. "What could it have done if you hadn't.." 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "Watched. Perhaps puppeteered your metal spider. It could do no harm to you without letting you touch it back, unless I've misjudged it deeply." 11[00:03] Azazello's seem someone go from total confidence in a place of security and power to the paranoia of ignorance, here. [00:03] *seen 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It happens. 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10You don't expect other people to keep their cool here. Not even when it's their job. 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10You can't depend on that. Trying gets you killed. [00:07] Cross frowns. "We've got to add a new ward. There's no reason they wouldn't try again- the Loom has many limbs." 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "This is a very skillful imitation." [00:17] Cross: "Imitation?" 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "In most ways it mimics a true spirit. But its nature is totally physical. Or, forgive me, totally ephemeral. Its nature is expressed wholly in substance and not at all in principle. Something made this, and something feeds it. An unhungry spirit is a contradiction in terms." 10He peers down through the floor. "You say you have encountered these before? What holds their strings." [00:20] "Let me show you the real one- this way." 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Azazello follows. [00:22] Cross: "Narrative calls them 'cable spiders'- they have tons of these smaller mobile units, a huge web of metal across the city, and some bigger louse-like things which weave it. Or unweave." [00:22] "We killed one of those, but it was rough.. oh, and they enslave people. Also, abyssal slash paradoxical origin." 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "Does Consilium know?" [00:23] Cross: "That much, yes. We didn't know they had any spirit-world influence.." 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is it a coincidence?" 10Azazello asks like he expects Cross to just know. [00:25] The spider paddock is more of a run- it's a large oblong room filled with piping, exposed girders and slanted concrete. There are a couple of cages, presently open, and a sort of inverse catwalk on the ceiling. [00:25] "Well, I can't see the thing itself.. do you mind if I check whether it's connected to you?" [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12How has the cabal stopped Clacky from chewing its way out, out of curiosity? Repeated negative reinforcement? Psychic command? 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "No." 14[00:26] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) [00:28] Both- Arrian and Cross can both order it around (albeit at the cost of mana on her part, though she's been working on learning the animal control rote), but we've also found that it doesn't like the 'taste' of glass in the walls and *really* doesn't like being held upside down without legs able to find purchase. [00:29] Cross makes a whistle-clicking noise toward one of the slanted pipes. 11[00:30] "There WAS something.." She begins to inspect "Zell"'s aura. "When we destroyed the louse, Arrian indicated that its web and its puppets were having some very specific spirit-side effect. [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12And here he is! "Clacky" is a spider about as long as a person is tall, though lesser in mass due to how thin and spindly it is. It comes clambering out of the pipe and along the wall before pouncing across the room to land before a pile of scrap metal, which it starts chewing on. [00:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Clacky's body is a mix of chitin, animal muscle, and what might be plant fiber, both strung over and plated with what looks like steel. Its eyes are speckled at apparent random on its head, peeking out through holes in a headplate that puts one slightly in mind of a colander - the arrangement is quite like that of the invading spirit-simulacrum's. 09[00:34] * banana is now known as bananorb 11[00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Clacky's clearly alive, healthy, and undergoing metabolic processes, though there are weird gaps and deficiencies in its body whose endpoints Zell can't see - must be where the machinery comes in. Its spirit is dormant, but it has all sorts of urges and tendencies: to dig, to eat, to connect, to phone home, to slay and eat any who witness it... well, that last one is much attenuated, [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12nowadays. [00:37] 7Arrian: "Hmmm. Their odd sympathetic properties persist in that webbing it was laying down. I should be able to track where it came from..." [00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Did y'all actually carry the smashed spider spirit invader thing into the paddock? 15[00:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Azazello would've unless warned not to. 15[00:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Worst case scenario there's just one more thing to have to kill. 11[00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12It's definitely food for thought, then, the way a critter with no spectral sensibility that anyone's been able to detect almost immediately turns to stare at and then approach the unseen thing hanging from Azazello's arms. 09[00:44] * bananorb is now known as banana 14[00:48] * Joins: Crion 14[01:13] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[01:14] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[01:27] * Joins: mugabe 14[01:30] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:02] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[02:03] * Quits: mugabe 14[02:18] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:32] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:38] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[04:06] * Joins: Crion 14[04:59] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[05:00] * Quits: dammitwho 14[09:45] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[10:32] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:44] * Joins: Quaker 11[11:09] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Jul 05 11:09:26 2015 Session Start: Sun Jul 05 11:32:57 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[11:33] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[11:33] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[11:33] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[11:33] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[11:41] * Joins: ddt 14[12:00] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:05] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 11[12:19] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Jul 05 12:19:22 2015 Session Start: Sun Jul 05 12:19:22 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[12:20] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[12:20] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[12:20] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[12:20] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[12:20] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[12:38] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[12:55] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[14:00] * Joins: Crion 14[14:08] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[14:08] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[14:39] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:44] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[15:03] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[15:03] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by FerrinusPrime))) 09[15:03] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 09[15:03] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[15:11] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 09[16:01] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[18:14] * Quits: ddt 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14[20:15] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[20:15] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[20:58] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[21:08] * Joins: Quaker 14[21:21] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[21:22] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 09[21:22] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker Session Time: Mon Jul 06 00:00:01 2015 14[02:14] * Joins: Crion 14[02:31] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[02:33] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 09[02:39] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[03:00] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[03:04] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[04:10] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[06:43] * Joins: mattbaby 14[06:50] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[06:56] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[06:56] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ChatZilla 0.9.91.1 [Firefox 38.0.5/20150525141253]) 14[07:29] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:33] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[07:33] * Quits: dammitwho (Killed (NickServ 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14[19:57] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:34] * Joins: mugsy 14[20:35] * Quits: mugsy (Client Quit) 14[20:54] * Joins: Crion 14[20:58] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[21:38] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[21:39] * Joins: Crion 14[21:41] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[21:55] * Quits: mugabe (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[21:59] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) 14[22:19] * Joins: Crion 14[22:40] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:38] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) Session Time: Tue Jul 07 00:00:01 2015 14[00:18] * Joins: mugabe 14[00:20] * Quits: mugabe (Client Quit) 14[00:38] * Joins: drinkybird 14[00:41] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 250 seconds) 14[01:10] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[01:16] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[01:21] * Quits: drinkybird (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[02:31] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 09[02:41] * bnanagn is now known as banana 14[04:16] * Quits: dammitwho 14[04:35] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[05:14] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[09:05] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[09:10] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[09:21] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 276 seconds) 14[09:35] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[09:44] * Joins: Quaker 14[09:44] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[09:57] * Joins: drinkybird 09[09:58] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[10:29] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:40] * Joins: ddt 11[11:17] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue Jul 07 11:17:16 2015 Session Start: Tue Jul 07 11:17:16 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[11:20] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[11:20] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[11:20] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[11:20] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[11:20] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[11:58] * Quits: trenchfoot (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[12:02] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[12:02] * Quits: cbass (Killed (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_))) 14[12:02] * Joins: cbass_ 09[12:02] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 14[12:32] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Quaker) 14[12:40] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:42] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[12:43] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:56] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Quit: FerrinusSpace) 14[13:01] * Joins: hrolfie 14[13:04] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) 14[13:12] * Quits: Quaker (Read error: Connection reset by peer) 14[13:12] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:31] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[13:43] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) [13:48] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/IKgnV9D.jpg mage [13:48] <@Ferrinus> no, wait, nevermind [13:48] <@Ferrinus> http://i.imgur.com/UHgPNZo.png mage [13:50] lol 14[14:48] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[14:49] * Joins: hrolf 14[15:05] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 272 seconds) 14[15:14] * Joins: ddt 09[15:20] * banana is now known as bagn 14[15:49] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 244 seconds) 14[15:55] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[15:58] * Joins: ddt 14[16:33] * Quits: ddt (Quit: ddt) 14[16:38] * Joins: mattbaby 11[17:12] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue Jul 07 17:12:50 2015 Session Start: Tue Jul 07 17:12:50 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[17:13] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[17:13] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[17:13] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[17:13] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 09[17:13] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 11[17:14] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue Jul 07 17:14:41 2015 Session Start: Tue Jul 07 17:14:41 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 11[17:14] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[17:15] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[17:15] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 13[17:15] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@afa61a2a.nycap.res.14056255.com.hmsk on Sun Apr 19 13:49:30 2015 11[17:19] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue Jul 07 17:19:26 2015 Session Start: Tue Jul 07 17:43:53 2015 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[17:43] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[17:43] * Topic is 'Orangegame (TUE 8AM EDT) | Nomadgame: Dusty Roads (WED 8PM EDT) | Mage (SAT 8PM EDT) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (FRI 8PM EDT) | Second City: Rites of Spring (Stay Tuned) | http://i.imgur.com/742TsrC.jpg' 15[21:09] Another cheer goes up. "DRINK! DRINK! DRINK! DRINK!" 15[21:11] It's been a good day. They made a big score, and now their pockets run with silver and nobody is there to tell Kana Kavu and her Ruby Reds how to spend it. Everyone's deep underground, hiding from a midnight desert that won't give up its heat, and somebody has just passed the goblet to Xia Lan, sitting at Kana's right hand. 15[21:11] How's she holding up? 14[21:13] * Joins: hrolfy 14[21:16] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:20] 13She's practically giddy with excitement. Good days make for better nights, after all, and they just had a fucking great one. She gulps a huge swig of whatever liquor they have tonight, then moves as if to pass it over to Kana Kavu before taking it back. "Can't forget my bonus!" 13She takes a second huge drink and actually hands it off to Kana Kavu this time with a wink. 15[21:23] Kana takes it... and passes it left. Her expression is placid but she hasn't been diving into the festivities with her usual fervor. Her eyes search the room and then settle on the glittering pile of dinars, gems, and abandoned weapons the Ruby Reds picked up from their caravan raid this afternoon. "Having fun?" 15[21:25] Xia Lan knows who Kana's words are meant for. You can always tell when Kana Kavu is talking to you. [21:27] 13Xia Lan: "Yeah! We just had our best score in weeks, how could I not be?" 13She turns her head towards Kana, searchingly. "Something wrong?" 15[21:29] "No, we did good. You did good, especially, Goldie." Not a lot of blondes in Zoatham. Not a lot of emotion in Kana's voice, either. "This is a good score." 14[21:32] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [21:36] 13Xia Lan frowns. "It is... so what's the catch? We moving soon?" 13She only gets like this with big choices. Something's up. 14[21:38] * Joins: hrolf 14[21:39] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[21:40] Kana: "Got a tip a little while ago. I ran it down and word gets back to me just before the raid that it's legit." 15[21:41] "What if we hit a score so big it'd set us up for life?" 14[21:42] * Joins: hrolf_mac [21:43] 13She's grinning, now. "I'm into it." 15[21:44] "It's dangerous. More dangerous than anything we've done before." 15[21:46] The two of them converse easily beneath the raucousness of the party; Kana and Xia often talk like this and by now the rest of the Ruby Reds know better than to eavesdrop. "You know that mine that collapsed last season? By the ravine?" 14[21:48] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [21:50] 13Xia Lan: "Yeah! We caught a caravan heading that way right after it happened, I got my backup set from there." 13She pats a hook sword crossed behind her chairback. "Good haul." 14[21:50] * Joins: hrolfy 14[21:51] * Joins: hrolfie 15[21:51] Kana: "It's gotten bad out there. Real bad. Haunted. So they sent in a Wyld Hunt, right? Monks and everything." [21:53] 13She frowns again. "...huh." 13That would be more dangerous than anything they've done before. [21:53] "You know why?" 14[21:53] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[21:53] Kana pours herself a less dramatically-sized glass of wine now. "This was last week. Rumors were that Anathema did it. Anyway, the monks didn't make it. They made it in, and then something chased them all out. Caught them right as they thought they were free. Their dead are all still outside the mine entrance, untouched. No one's gone to claim the bodies." 15[21:54] "You understand what I'm saying? No one's gone to claim the bodies." 14[21:55] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[21:55] "Xia, there's daiklaves out there. These were heavy hitters. More jade than you'd know what to do with. Worth more than everything and everybody in this whole mudpit put together." 14[21:56] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:58] 13Xia Lan: "Then it's not even a question, is it? I mean, what are we even doing this for if we pass this up?" 13She pounds the table for emphasis, glaring at anyone who dares to look. "This is our chance! Our time! So when do we make the move?" 14[21:59] * Joins: hrolf 15[22:09] Kana looks out at the rest of the gang again. "We need a few days to prepare. I'm not going in stupid. Fast as possible, in and out. This isn't worth our lives. Not even this." [22:17] 13Xia Lan: "...what if someone else gets there first?" 13She bows her head slightly to Kana Kavu, then looks her in the eyes again. "You're right, obviously, we need to prepare. Quick, not stupid. But these jobs are never perfectly safe." 13She grabs the wine, wherever it's at, and pours some more for herself. "Besides, that's what living's for, right?" 15[22:23] Kana: "You're so good at that." [22:23] 13Xia Lan: "Hm?" [22:24] 13Her face is the picture of innocence. "I have no idea what you're talking about." 15[22:24] "Talking people into doing crazy shit they shouldn't. It's dangerous, you know that? You're a dangerous woman." Still, she shakes her head. "But no. We do this right. We make no mistakes." 15[22:25] The goblet's come all the way back around now. Smells like someone's dumped the back half of three different kinds of liquor in there now. "And then we're done with this place for good." 15[22:25] This time, Kana drinks. 15[22:26] *** 15[22:30] It's a cinch to bring the rest of the gang around once Kana Kavu's made up her mind, and she's got a job for everybody. People with some schooling (including Xia) do research on the local geography, mines, and ghosts. They know that when the land is haunted, if you try to leave it by night you'll come out in the land of the dead. There are rumors spread dissuading other gangs from further inquiry, a messenger's given directions that'll see him take a month to reach his Immaculate masters with news of the Hunt's fate, and Kana's handpicked the fastest riders and freshest lizards for the haul. 15[22:31] Except she insists that Xia rides with her. "You're my good luck charm," she insists, demanding she come along even though Xia's no great shakes with animals and not built to haul jade. 15[22:35] So it is that the fastest riders of the Ruby Reds - Kana herself, Praka, Dilini, and Fesenjean - mount up with Xia an hour before dawn to reach the mine just after daybreak. How's Xia kitted up? Did she name her riding lizard? [22:42] 13Kana is nothing if not thorough; Xia almost regrets pushing her to hurry up, but who knows how long she would have delayed without it? When it's time to ride along, she's eager, despite the nerves. She's in some loose-fitting desert robes, with her hook swords crossed against her back, two boots with spurs to urge the lizard on. She named it 'Taka,' though she can't really keep track of the various lizards - it'll probably have [22:42] another name after this haul. [22:42] 13Xia takes the good luck charm comment in stride - it's not the first time Kana's called her that, and it always makes her feel better. Today's going to be a good one. 15[22:47] They ride! The lizards make quick work of the cracked red hardpan that you find in this part of the South - not like the great dunes you might see even further west or south, like in Lock or Dajaz or mythic Enigma - and they've made a half-day's journey by the time the sun starts its trek from horizon to horizon. The desert is flat and featureless, even the other mineshafts are behind them, and no caravans set out on this road since the news spread around of the collapse. 40 miners dead, they said. At least that many. 15[22:49] It's just after dawn when Kana gives the signal to stop. More featureless desert spreads out before them, shimmering in the heat. 15[22:51] She pulls down her shawl to say, "Where is it? It should be here." [22:58] 13Xia Lan looks around the wastes. No landmarks, but they headed out in the right direction and never deviated from the path. She pulls her scarf away from her mouth: "Just ahead. Should see it within a hundred yards - the mirage is hiding it." 15[23:04] Kana nods and pulls her shawl up, and the raiders move forward. They cross fifty yards, seventy- and then everything changes. The air grows denser and darker; the sky so hazy that Xia can't pinpoint the sun anymore. The ground they walk on is bleached white and ash falls from the sky in gentle flakes like the northern snows she's read about. Ahead is the mine, burning from within a terrible red. Ahead are the bodies. 15[23:04] Fesenjean curses beneath her mask. Praka utters a prayer. [23:09] 13Xia Lan fingers her sword for comfort, just to know it's still there. She stays silent, looking around for anything other than the Ruby Reds and the bodies. 15[23:18] As the raiders advance, they get close enough to see the bodies, men and women in ornate and expensive-looking armor. The armor, however, is largely undamaged, the scattered weapons clean of blood, bodies within dessicated and gray. It's as if something sucked all the life out of them. Ahead, near the cavern mouth, are the monks, their corpses more obviously mangled beneath arms and armor wrought of jade that glitters in the firelight. One face is upturned and pointing at the Ruby Reds, ash settling in its hollowed sockets. 15[23:19] Kana makes a series of short gestures. Everyone knows the plan: don't touch the regulars. Hitch the weapons and any loose pieces of jade they can pull away to the lizards and then lash the corpses together to bind to the sled Kana's lizard, the strongest by far, will pull out. 15[23:20] It shouldn't take more than ten minutes work. They practiced yesterday with dummies and weights. [23:24] 13Working in silence, Xia Lan sticks with the plan. She's still got ears out for anything unusual, but the best way to avoid whatever danger lurks here is to get out faster. And no sense in leaving emptyhanded. Are the others working, too, or are they stalling? 15[23:25] They're working, quick and quiet. [23:26] 13Good. 15[23:27] Kana, having just lashed the last of the corpses to the sled, stands up. Xia Lan, the only one who's even looking sees someone behind her. A stocky figure in armor she's never seen before. [23:32] "Kana!" 13Xia Lan launches herself towards Kana Kavu, grabbing her swords off her back as she flies. Everything seems sluggish. They're so close... 15[23:36] Xia Lan lunges for Kana, but as the shining green blade comes out of her midsection reflex takes her down. She skids to the dirt, smearing herself all over with ash, as she watches her leader die above her. It happens almost instantly. 15[23:37] The armored figure, victim laid low, lunges away from Xia Lan with practiced instincts... but a lumbering, clanky somersault, weighed down by their gleaming armor. [23:37] "KANA!" 15[23:43] The armored figure lumbers to their feet, now revealed to be wielding a massive polearm, wrought in pitted black metal but with a blade that shines emerald bright. They walk slowly towards Xia Lan, posture guarded. [23:44] 13Xia Lan looks up from the ashes with tears in her eyes. Kana can't be dead. Not like this. Xia Lan springs to her feet, swords out and ready, risking a glance at Kana. If there's even a chance she's still alive, she'll keep herself between their attacker and Kana. 15[23:44] "XIA!" Fesenjean rushes toward her on lizardback, arms outstretched... but the jade's slowed the lizard down. The armored figure cuts her down too. 15[23:44] If Kana has any signs of life, Xia can't see them. 15[23:45] Dilini just runs, lizard forgotten, dragging its loot disconsolately behind as it tries to follow. [23:45] 13Xia Lan: "Fesenjean!" 13Who is this monster? "Praka, Dilini, stay back!" 13She doesn't even notice Dilini's cowardice. 14[23:47] * Joins: hrolfy 14[23:49] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[23:51] The armored figure is still walking slowly toward Xia Lan. Prakka's right behind her, urging his lizard to stay still. The two of them and the lizard are the only living things left in this shadowland. [23:55] 13Xia Lan springs into action again, aiming to hook the figure's throat and drag them to the ground. She can't run. If it was just about the loot, fuck it. Lost cause. But it's not about that anymore. 15[23:59] Prakka reaches out to grab Xia around the waist, but his hands clutch air as Xia charges forward in vengeful fury... 15[23:59] *** Session Time: Wed Aug 02 00:00:00 2017 14[00:15] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:01] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:04] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[02:02] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:21] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:51] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:50] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:50] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:52] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:54] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[03:56] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:56] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[06:05] * Joins: Crion| 14[06:10] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[06:12] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:12] * Joins: Crion| 14[06:36] * Quits: Crion| (Quit: ) 14[06:37] * Joins: Crion| 14[06:59] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:58] * Joins: mattbaby 14[08:00] * Quits: mattbaby 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15[15:55]  15[15:56] Red doesn't fit Stranger. 15[15:57] He finds himself, as he often does after sundown, in one of Nexus's many teahouses. Tonight the red star hanging over Sentinel's Hill is the brightest it's ever been, growing brighter by the day since the Emissary died and it went into the sky like a horrible flare. Now it drowns out the gentle blues and whites of the lanterns that light the streets in the nicer districts of the city. [15:57] 14Mmmmm. What's the house special? [15:59] 14He'll take a table where he can see the star from the window if he turns his head just so -- but not otherwise. 15[15:59] It's called "Mahalanka Berry Black". It's heavier on the palate than most tea you find in Nexus, and sweet. [16:00] 14Then it requires not a scone, but one of those light, butter-y, fluffy crescent-shaped pastries -- what are they called here? 15[16:07] Moon pies. [16:08] 14One of those, then, and another after three cups should the night go so long. 15[16:10] The teahouse is doing more business in wine than tea than usual, even given the hour. Necessities of the day: respectable establishments have stopped serving honey to sweeten their teas and pastries, and cane sugar is well out of season this early in spring. If you want honey nowadays, you have to go to the opium dens or the blue light district, for what people have taken to calling Dreamer's Honey. 15[16:11] But the news, when it comes to Nexus, is very bad, so the winesellers and the drug dealers do brisk business all the same. [16:11] 14Or you could try taking it off the walls, in those parts of the districts where the bees are now making their home. Dangerous work. [16:12] 14So much is good about this city, and so much degenerate. The unfortunate bit is the overlap. 15[16:12] What's on Stranger's mind tonight as he drinks his tea and watches the crowds? [16:13] 14Thankfully! It seems what he's learned from Gary is a strength of pallete, and appreciation for its roughness. Honey has become strictly optional. Strangely, he now prefers milk. Some might call that provincial. [16:14] 14He is scouting, as he always is. Stranger-Visits-Heaven would know this city, this nexus of the Threshold and the Scavenger-Lands and the places farther west and east. [16:15] 14Perhaps the only thing he shares with this city is its interest in opportunities for growth. For expansion. [16:15] 14So he travels about to the teahouses, and he sits in prominent places, and he sees what happens. [16:15] 14And if things go terribly wrong, he has already made friends with the Dawn Sergeant. 15[16:16] It's true, Pellicia regards Stranger highly. They've even had tea together, as colleagues might. An honest soldier wants for colleagues in Nexus. [16:17] 14A soldier's colleague would wear a soldier's mien. Stranger is clearly a blind man, armed only with a cane. 15[16:19] These are strange times, and the night itself wears many faces. For instance, tonight the red star shines with the intensity of a predawn sky-- and then brightens, suddenly, throwing bursts of orange into the teahouse. Most of the patrons take no notice. A few look up. [16:19] 14Oh my. 15[16:19] No... no, that wasn't the red star at all. 15[16:19] Something's caught fire outside. [16:20] 14Well, that's more sensible. And if anyone's watching, the blind man simply smelled smoke. 15[16:20] Someone's shouting. Several people are shouting. [16:20] 14He drops twice what he owes on the table -- half of it is an extravagant tip. The other half is a reservation, should he want this table back. [16:20] 14Stranger is headed for the door. [16:23] 14Shouting, perhaps counter-intuitively, is good. You can turn shouting into a conversation. It is much harder to turn silence into a conversation, because it usually means one or more of the people who would be shouting are, instead, dead. [16:27] 14First thing to look for isn't the complainants in this dispute; it's the guard. How many, how interested are they, and what are their allegiances? Bouncers won't get involved unless someone sets their establishment on fire, but as fond as Stranger is of Pellicia, her people have a frustrating tendency to zig when they should zag. 15[16:31] Stranger comes upon a scene with three armed men and a boy. Two of the men, hanging back, hands on short swords, bear the uniform of the Nexus city guard. The third, in front of the burning barrels, is well-dressed and without mark of office - Stranger makes him for a Guildsman. The boy is wearing traveler's clothes, distinguished first by the way streamers of fire attend his sudden movements, and second by the huge and wicked burn scar crossing his left eye, brow, and cheek. [16:32] 14Well, well, well. [16:32] 14The Guild. [16:33] 14And, even more interesting...is that boy a Fire Aspect? 15[16:33] Unless he's a particularly careless and ineffective sorcerer, that'd be the safe guess. Outcaste, by the looks of him - none of the wealth of a Dynast or discipline of a monk. [16:35] 14Good. Stranger doesn't particularly care for the politics of caste -- he knows the Ambassador disagrees to some degree, but she's always been a bit more determinist than he has; it's a Lunar thing -- but he does know that an adrift Dragon-Blooded in this city is a prize possession for slavers. And why, here's the Guild! What a surprise. 15[16:38] The Guildsman's the only one with weapon drawn, a curved sword of fine steel. "We'll discuss your restitution calmly, with my overseer. Don't start a fight you can't finish, boy." 15[16:40] The boy - sixteen? at the oldest - just clenches his fists, throwing off more sparks. "You'll take me dead or not at all. I don't answer to scum." 15[16:40] The guards circle around trying to put themselves in position to flank both the boy and the Guildsman. [16:41] 14Ah, some fight in him. Perhaps some prejudice, too, but he's not wrong -- the Guildsman is scum. [16:42] 14And the guards are being...opportunistic. [16:46] 14In circumstances like these, that is wise. Speaks to a greater concern than either of these two. [16:46] 14Stranger can use that. 15[16:49] Guildsman: "Everybody answers to the Guild, boy. Sooner or later, everybody answers. Why make this harder than it already will be?" [16:49] 14Oh, you shouldn't have said that. [16:50] 14The boy already wanted to fight you. Now he wants to make you suffer. 15[16:50] Boy: "Then here's my answer." A gleam in the night, and the boy draws a pair of short swords, finer steel even than the Guildsman's blade. [16:51] 14And now the Guildsman is dreaming of how much those swords will sell for when he pinches them. 15[16:59] Before Stranger can so much as open his mouth the boy streaks forward leaving a trail of flame in his wake like a comet. He dashes under a paper lantern, which immediately catches fire. [16:59] 14Idiot child. [17:00] 14But he's got spirit. [17:00] 14Stranger immediately pivots to the guards. The boy will have his fight, and it will be fair. 15[17:05] The boy's all but invisible beneath the roiling flame of his anima as he collides with the Guildsman, knocking the legitimate businessman back with a series of ringing blows that send his sword arm akimbo and send red hot blades melting through his buff jacket. For all his affect, the Guildsman is hopelessly outmatched, and the guards aren't about to try and get between him and a dragonblooded boy lost to fury. 15[17:11] The Guildsman's on his back, knocked through the barrels which are now totally engulfed in flame, along with garlands, lanterns, and a wooden bridge above connecting the second floor of the hotel to the brothel across the street. The Guildsman, himself, has caught fire, and is trying desperately to roll around and tamp himself out as the boy prepares his final, fatal lunge- [17:12] 14The blind man steps forward. "THAT IS ENOUGH." [17:14] 14To the guards: "You two. On the left, you get the bouncers, the stablehands and the dishboys together and you start putting out those fires. On the right, you run and summon the fire brigade. Move spritely or Pellicia will hear of this from my mouth,directly." [17:14] 14He is already walking over to the Guildsman and kicks him in the side. "Roll. Roll, goddamn you!" 15[17:14] The guards snap to attention and get to work, as much from the sheer weight of authority in Stranger's voice as from the specificity of his threat. 15[17:14] The Guildsman rolls, arms covering his face. [17:15] "If you wish to live down this indignity then you will roll. And then you will stand, and you will trouble us no more." 14He leans over. "Else I would be happy to explain to your overlord why you started a fight with a slip of a boy you knew had the aspect of flame around all of his wooden establishments." 15[17:16] Guildsman, behind his arms: "I didn't-" 15[17:16] Boy: "SHUT UP!" [17:17] 14He straightens, raises his hand to slap the boy, then reconsiders and just shoves him backwards hard. When the boy's regained his feet, Stranger shoves him again, still advancing. "And you were taught better." 15[17:19] The boy staggers back, offering no resistance to the first shove save the heat of the flame that'd burn Stranger's hand if he kept it too close for too long. By the second he's reassembled his nerve. "You want to fight now too? Is that it?" [17:22] 14Face set like stone: "If I wanted to fight we would be fighting. If I wanted to fight I wouldn't have sent the guards -- the men who would arrest you -- for the fire brigade, and bid the guildsman be thankful for his life and flee this place. If I wanted to fight you'd be facing a guildsman, two city watchmen, and a man more powerful than you are equipped to reckon with right now [17:22] all at once. But I do not want to fight you, dynast." 15[17:22] "You want to make speeches?" [17:24] "Your fight set the lifeblood of this district aflame, dooming hundreds to either death by fire itself or death by lost wages and unemployment. This is Nexus, you fool. This is the city of transactions. If you take away the ability to transact, you kill. Your fight was a massacre of the weak and the powerless. My speech might have saved them. I can only hope." [17:25] 14It takes effort not to curl his upper lip. "But lecture me more about the weakness of speeches, dynast." 15[17:27] The boy's still shaking with anger. His eyes cast around like he's seeing the place for the first time. He turns his back on Stranger, a military about-face, and for the first time the suddenness of the gesture extinguishes his anima rather than stoking it further. "So, so what? What's your point?" [17:27] 14Stranger's voice is softer now. Not pitying; that's not the route to take with this once. But more conversational, less antagonistic, while maintaining certainty and strength. He should respond to that. [17:32] 14Stranger: "First things come first. It is not my intent to lecture you further, or imprison you, or constrain you, and certainly to not judge you for hurting a guildsman. You should act for justice when it is your power to do so. But you should be mindful of the consequences. You were not mindful of them tonight. That is what bothers me, not hurting shitheads with swords who think [17:32] they have the guards at their back." [17:32] "You are a dynast. A Fire Aspect. You should be the pride of your family, serving in a Wyld Hunt or starting a family somewhere in your dynastic holdings in the Threshold, or on the Blessed Isle. You are not." 15[17:32] The boy doesn't ease his posture, but he's not walking away either. [17:33] 14Stranger: "I do not need an explanation. That is your business. But I do need to know your disposition." [17:34] "Because a man walking around looking for nothing more than someone to kill is a mad dog, even if he dreams he does it for justice." 15[17:35] The boy kicks a charred barrel. Not hard, it looks like he's testing its sturdiness, a fact borne out when he sits down on it. He's still got his blades in hand, but by now even they are cooling. [17:39] 14Stranger looks back; how are the fire brigades doing? 15[17:41] They're doing well; a lot of things start fires in Nexus and fires are rarely allowed to spread far in the wealthier districts. Looks like the most substantial damage was to the bridge and hotel, which'll likely need to close its second story for a while for repairs and replacements. 15[17:41] "I'm not a Dynast," the boy finally says. [17:42] 14Excellent. That should only impact maid service, and good maids -- in most places -- are competitive enough that they should retain their jobs. [17:42] 14Stranger: "...Let's walk." 15[17:42] Stranger hears the boy get up and follow after Stranger starts going. Where's he headed? [17:42] 14He shrugs off his hooded over-shawl and hands it to the boy. "And wear this, for now." 15[17:43] He'll take the shawl with some reluctance. [17:46] 14Stranger is headed to The Cask and Otter. He never had his tea. He has enough coin on him to pay for the both of them. "Are you certain?" 15[17:46] "About what?" [17:47] "Anything at all, really. But first and foremost, that you are not a dynast." 15[17:47] After a while's walk: "As certain as they were when they said so." [17:48] 14Stranger: "And you trust their judgment?" [17:48] 14His voice has gotten gentler now. 14[17:49] * Joins: Quaker 15[17:50] "Why shouldn't I be?" 15[17:50] *Why shouldn't I?* 14[17:50] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [17:53] 14Stranger: "An excellent question, and one every young person should ask of those who choose the course of their lives. The answer for you, right now, is: because you have inherited the power of your blood. That is a fact, and it is as undeniable as the flames still licking at the hotel back there. Your worth to them -- by the guidelines they have laid down -- is true, and sternly [17:53] so." 15[17:54] "Who are you?" [17:54] 14Stranger crosses his arms. "Which brings us to the next matter, which is: knowing the conflict between your blood and their judgment, why do you respect it? Is it because they hold power over you, or because you love them? Can you separate the two things?" [17:54] "I am a stranger that visited Heaven, and came back stranger." [17:59] "And I have an interest in a great many things, two of which are relevant to yourself: justice, and the Houses of the Realm." 15[18:00] "If you like justice and the Realm, I think you're in the wrong place." [18:00] 14Stranger laughs and shakes his head. "There is no safer place than five feet in front of the tiger." [18:00] "That's the best place to be if you wish to grab it by its ears." 15[18:01] The boy's quiet for another spell, and then: "They gave me a choice. Exile or death." [18:03] 14Stranger: "You chose exile. But having seen you act, and seen your face, that doesn't seem to suit you." 15[18:04] "I don't think exile suits anybody." [18:04] 14Stranger: "Oh, you'd be surprised, I think. You haven't answered my question." [18:04] "Though in a way, I suppose you have." 15[18:09] "What's that supposed to mean?" [18:12] 14Stranger: "You're a fighter. A warrior. You place meaning and moral weight on the ability to impose your philosophy on another in combat. You are a killer, if you believe hard enough, but you are not a murderer. You goaded that man into combat because his ideals were weak, his self-regard was strong, and, I'd like to believe, you despise him, his organization, and what he stands [18:12] for." [18:12] "But you love your family." 15[18:13] Startled: "So?" [18:15] "You are proud of your line and where you come from. You would not wear the clothes you wear or be so quick to light yourself up if you weren't. I don't know what was in those barrels -- likely drugs, contraband, maybe most certainly the sort of illicit honey that has become so popular here in the last few weeks -- but while it is important to you to fight, you pick your fights by the [18:15] code on which you were raised. You respect your elders, more than you would admit." [18:17] 14Stranger: "You are an open book, young man. That is not a bad thing. It is, in many cases, admirable. Even in one who has seen the rewards for his virtues taken from him." [18:18] 14Stranger: "And to answer my own question, you respect the terms of your exile because you love the man who exiled you, and the man who exiled you holds power over you because you still love him." [18:19] 14It's a coinflip, but with a boy this angry, it's likely not his mother that he hates. [18:19] "That, I think, is perfectly fine." [18:19] "And it makes you a better man than he is." 15[18:27] The boy: "You know... in the fables, this is how stories where someone is tempted by a demon start." [18:28] 14Stranger smiles. "And what do you know about demons?" 15[18:30] "Just what I was taught. And what I've heard from Wyld Hunts." 15[18:30] "Demons aren't human. Demons can't be trusted. Demons can wear the guise of a friend." [18:32] 14Where are they right now? Any bystanders to observe them? 15[18:34] This time of night there's still a trickle of pedestrian traffic off the main thoroughfares. For illicit business, your best bet is to go into one of the darker alleys, if you can find one that isn't already being used by someone else to the same end. But most people try really hard to mind their own business in Nexus, in hopes that it keeps other people from minding theirs. [18:34] 14Stranger gestures to an acceptable alley: "Step in here, please. And draw your weapons if it makes you feel safe." 15[18:35] The boy's got his hands at his waist, but he doesn't actually draw his blades as he steps in. [18:36] 14Once they've got even the least bit of cover from the walls of the buildings around them, Stranger points to his forehead. His caste mark burns with golden power. 15[18:36] Now the blades come out. "Anathema!" 15[18:37] It's a hiss, not a shout. 14[18:38] * Joins: hrolf [18:39] 14Stranger: "You wanted honesty. You wanted justice. You wanted people to stop treating you like a child." [18:39] "I have no sway over you, dynast. I can cast no magic to bend your will. I don't even know your name." [18:39] "This is the world as it is." [18:40] "These are my cards, on the table." [18:41] "Because it is important to me that you know precisely who and what I am before we go any further." [18:41] "Not because it makes things easier for me, but because it makes them more difficult." 15[18:42] The boy takes a step back, scarred eye winced shut against the light as he squints through the other. As his eyes adjust, he opens them more and more. [18:42] "I've spent most of my considerable power tonight saving you and the citizens of this city from the consequences of your actions. If you wished to kill me now, you likely could." [18:42] "But I will not fight you." 15[18:42] "Tsuka." 14[18:42] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [18:42] "Killing me now would make you a hero to the Hunt. And a murderer." 15[18:43] "My name is Tsuka." [18:44] 14Stranger's forehead dims. "No." [18:44] "Your full name." [18:44] "They cannot take that from you." [18:44] "You cannot let them." 15[18:44] "Cathak Tsuka." [18:45] 14Stranger nods. "Well met, Cathak Tsuka. I am Stranger-Visits-Heaven. All one word. Hyphenated, in the Old Realm style. I would ask you use your blades, or sheathe them." 15[18:47] Tsuka stands down. [18:47] 14Stranger clasps his hands behind him and walks back to the mouth of the alley. "Do you like tea?" 15[18:49] Tsuka follows. "...sometimes." 15[18:49] "So people just call you Stranger?" [18:49] 14Stranger: "Better than them calling me Gary." 15[18:49] Tsuka snorts. "Gary." [18:50] 14Stranger: "A sadly popular name along the river." [18:51] 14He waves the boy forward. "Now, The Otter and Cask is known for excellent sweet teas, as well as a fantastic grey that compliments most any pastry well..." 14[18:55] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[19:06] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:09] * Joins: hrolf 14[19:24] * tom2 is now known as tom 14[19:27] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[19:41] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[19:48] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:04] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:04] * Joins: hrolfy 14[20:07] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 ____.... [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 a#####~:::::::, | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 a######P";:::::::::::, . --*-- [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 a########:::::::::::::::::, | . [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 ########P::::::::::::*::::::: . . [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 ########P::::::::::::::::::.:::. [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 ##### ##P:::::::::::::::::::::::;. * [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12.#### O ##:::::*:::::::::::::::.::;. [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12###### #### ::::::::::::::::::.::::: [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12########@###,::::::::::::::::::::::; [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12#########~~~:::::::::::::::*:::.:::; \ / . . [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 ##### ##:::::::::::::::::::::::::; / \ . [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 ####a__ay::::::::::::::::::::::; [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 ########;::::::::::::::::::::; . . [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 ########a::::::::::::::::::' . . * . [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 ########.:::::::::*;:::' . . . [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 `d######a.::::::::::' . . [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 `~9#####.::::'' . . . [20:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek Marrow-Hollow, in the form of a nine-foot hyena man wearing moonsilver half-plate and wielding a gigantic shimmering scimitar, vaults off the side of a fountain of mercury and charges Ir! [20:19] 4Ir wants to get down. Ir wants to do the do. Ir wants to hit this motherfucker. [20:24] 4This is going to be real fun, hurt a lot, or both. 15[20:26] 10Elsewhere, Eikichi pops the lid on a screaming kettle. Heat and pressure accelerate the reaction, you see. He pours out its contents, a deep amber liquid, into a bottle of green-tinted glass, itself submerged in a bowl of cold water. A few minutes later he pours several drops into a glass of water where they spread like ink. Time for a nice day in, where nothing will bother him. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek's arms bulge with power. His scimitar screams through the air, ripples echoing up and down its length as it prepares to adapt to whatever defense Ir conjures. No warrior could POSSIBLY- [20:30] 4Hi. [20:30] 4Ir's over here now. [20:30] 4Still grinning. [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, it's a lazy day at the Scarlet Palace, one well suited for brewing up extremely benign and entirely legal medical compounds. Swan's slept well the previous night - he's probably strong enough to walk meaningful distances now, and has at the very least been able to move up and down the hall and similar. [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Rrgh-" 15[20:30] 10Attaboy. AttaBOY. 08[20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Have Eikichi and Ying/Tatsuya got anything planned? They might be receiving a visitor sometime today but they might be able to see to their own affairs first. [20:32] 4Ir: "C'mere, you." 15[20:33] 10Eikichi's plan is to stay in and read. Maybe write, if the mood takes him. Might noodle on his six-string a little. [20:35] 7Blossom sits, arms folded in her lap, on the edge of the broken fountain and watches the battle with interest. Some music would be nice. Ir is transcendentally good at music, of course, but even her low-key songs tend to be emotionally overwhelming. Blossom could buy a replacement guqin now that they have the Heavensward, or-- hmm. 08[20:38] 13Ying's got work to do! She's been so busy she hasn't even gotten started on crafting their planned outfits -- she's got designs sketched out for herself and for Ir, and planned ones for Eikichi and Blossom, but after the hustle of the last few days it'd be good to just take a day to just sit down and work the needle. 15[20:39] 10No, needles break the skin, collapse vains, cause abcess. And smoking is so finicky and bad for your throat... [20:40] 4Ir snaps her fingers and Iscariot slides back up her arms, and she jumps at Marek, trying to grab him-- [20:40] 13Don't do drugs. [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek's nostrils flare and he rounds on Ir, sword melting back into one of his forearms as he bares his claws. For a moment, the Dawn caste thinks she's got a proper wrestling match on her hands - and has a good idea for how to make up the obvious reach disadvantage here - but, no, even as her hands find the mark and her fingers sink into fur, she finds herself moving farther and [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12farther forward without actually finding real purchase. 15[20:42] 10Did you hear that? It was the sound of someone not being the boss of me. [20:42] 4Uh-oh. [20:42] 4Maybe she should have practiced this more on real people first. [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir ends up stumbling forward through what first might as well just be a cloud of hair, but soon resolves itself into a flapping, chittering, swarming - bats? They're all around her! Where the hell did - aha, they're kind of swirling back together riiiight there. [20:42] 4He's out of her grasp before she can find purchase, and Ir spins around. [20:42] 4There he is. That's a neat trick. [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12The bats congeal into a familiar figure, a grey and darker-grey striped hyena that's now surrounded in a lambent silver blaze and marked from face to feet with a series of glowing tattoos. Marek presses his hands together, holding his sword straight up and down such that he's looking straight past it at Ir - and then begins pacing left, suddenly holding a silver whip, instead. [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Wait, no, he's pacing right, holding a massive, two-handed hammer. Wait, he's still coming at Ir with the sword, head on- [20:45] 4Ir: "Nice." 08[20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying's able to work uninterrupted on the first of several outfits. Unfortunately, the staff of the Scarlet Palace can't boast the same. Everyone knows this is where the nexus arena's newest super-powered gladiator is staying; both Ying and Eikichi can periodically hear, from out in front of the building, the doorman and guards arguing with civilians as to who's allowed to go inside, [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12how much a room can really cost, why can't they first inspect the premises before renting one, and so on. 15[20:57] 10Eikichi finally settles on the guitar, since it's the one he can do with his eyes closed. "Bright sunny day, don't cost nothing~ wait, no. Would she make fun of the grammar? Maybe. Ugh. WHAT is that NOISE-" 14[20:58] * Joins: hrolf 14[21:00] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir can't quite stop it - not with her bare hands alone. She realizes that she isn't looking at illusions of Marek but actual spare bodies, as one of her hands is caught by the wrist and jerked aside by the moonsilver whip, her attempt to step smartly sideways is checked by the sword-wielding Marek's shoulder, and her bare escape from the goremaul-wielding Marek's hammer swing leaves [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12her reeling and nearly grounded. 08[21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12This noise is pretty easy for both the sorcerer and the seamstress to ignore, although something about a continuous crowd of civilians itching to get onto the premises will probably worry a later, more clear-headed Eikichi. [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Easy to ignore, that is, until a reedy voice is heard to be raising itself above the crowd: "-said I'm here from the council. Are you a fool or a suicide to be?" 15[21:01] "Ugh, they're going to mess with the geomancy. UGH!" 10Let's go help the help help themselves. [21:02] 4Ir: "Nice!" [21:02] 13There's a lot of humming coming from Ying and Tatsuya's shared room as she works. Leather's a tricky material to work in, and this is her first crack at it, but fortunately she's excellent at crafting outfits in any material. The feathers on the sides start off looking horribly awkward, but by the time she's finished they're genuinely intimidating, at least once combined with the mask. It kinda makes her look like death, [21:02] actually. And it hides her face! Perfect! [21:02] 4She hasn't really practiced this one kipping up from the ground, but here it goes-- 14[21:02] * Joins: hrolfy [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek's in full totemic display, now. A great pile of gnawed bones, a veritable elephant's graveyard except of megafauna from all across creation, swirls and jangles behind him. Unlike Ir, he seems to be taking this very seriously. 14[21:03] * Joins: hrolfie [21:04] 4If Marek doesn't think Ir's taking this seriously, he doesn't know her. But that's to be expected. 08[21:04] 13She's about to put on the outfit and go scare Eikichi when the racket gets too much to ignore. "Oh, come on, not now..." 13She'll head off downstairs to find out what's going on. [21:04] 4Because he doesn't. [21:04] 4She springs up and strikes three times at his head. 14[21:05] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Down the stairs, Ying sees a robed man flanked by two guardsmen. He wears a badge identifying himself as an agent of the Council of Nexus and is speaking in that slow, hostile cadence of someone who wishes to demonstrate not only that they're cross with you but that they think you're stupid. "No. I. Do not. Need to tell you. What I'm looking for." 14[21:06] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:06] <@Ferrinus> "I've been empowered by the Council to prosecute this investigation and it has brought me here. You'll stand aside." 12Looks like the poor desk clerk is out of rejoinders. 15[21:06] "What are you looking for?" 10Eikichi calls down the stairs as he descends. [21:07] 4She hits at least. She's still smiling. [21:07] "I don't need Iscariot to hang with you." 08[21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12The man sneers up at Eikichi. He's tall and thin, probably of Realm stock, and wearing a hooded grey robe clearly woven to be evocative - but certainly not mistakable for - the Emissary's own getup. "That's my concern, not yours. Who are you, the manager?" 15[21:11] 10Eikichi sits on the stairs. "Maybe." [21:11] 4Ir: "I want you to hit me as hard as you can." 15[21:12] "Who's asking?" [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "It's good you're taking your loss in such stride!" 12He smashes his scimitar on the ground, and it comes back up flexible, snakelike. He cracks it at Ir, trying to force the solar into an unwinnable position...! 08[21:13] 13Ying: "Somebody really important, must be," 13she says with a glance back to Eikichi. "Just look at the robe!" 15[21:13] "Eh. I know a tailor who could sew circles around whoever made that." [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12The Council agent bridles and straightens his robe absent-mindedly. "'Maybe'. Fine, my patience isn't through yet. Listen here: I'm carrying out an investigation for the Council and require access to these premises." 15[21:14] 10Singing gently: "flying in circles, just trying to land~ I see you hurting, I do what I can~" 15[21:14] "What are the terms of the investigation?" 15[21:14] "What proclamation are you enforcing?" [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12He reaches into his robe, pauses, and then taps the badge he's already wearing. "As you can see, I'm empowered to enforce Council dictates. ...and I've been tasked with investigating the whereabouts of certain parties." [21:16] 13She blushes slightly, but her attention's drawn back to the Council agent. "Which parties? Fun ones?" 15[21:17] 10Eikichi: "Well, if you've been tasked by the Council, then you should be able to reference the relevant Civlities. None may hide from the Council's justice, after all!" 15[21:17] "Everyone knows that." 15[21:17] "But of course it'd be bad market savvy to take every grump with a robe and a badge at their word." 15[21:18] 10Eikichi scratches his neck and smiles. 08[21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12The man blinks and looks over to Ying, then back to Eikichi. He rubs at his forehead with the palm of a heel, looks to Ying, then back to Eikichi again. "Ahem. Proclaimed by the first Midnight Queen, the Council may anoint investigators, messengers, enforcers, and other such persons to wield authority on its behalf through the wider city." 15[21:21] 10Eikichi: "Mmmhmm. But on authority to do what?" 15[21:22] "We live here. We can help you! But you can't just rifle through our things on your own say-so. If you want our cooperation, show us you've earned it." [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12He frowns. "Addendum by the first Midnight Queen, such agents are considered to speak with a Councilor's authority except where they would contradict any Dogmas, Civilities, or actual Councilors." 12He pauses. "And as a representative of the Council, I demand you stand aside! The longer you delay, the more you give offense-" 14[21:24] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [21:25] 13Ying: "I'm not stopping you! But what are you even looking for?" [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Agent: "I'm not at liberty to say." 14[21:26] * Joins: hrolfy [21:26] 7Blossom frowns. Ir isn't... losing, is she? [21:29] 13Ying: "...how are you supposed to find stuff out if you don't ask? They gave you a really hard job, huh?" [21:29] "What's your name?" [21:30] 4Ir's pretty sure she's losing. That's probably fine, though. [21:30] 4The point, here, is to make a point. 14[21:30] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[21:30] 10Eikichi: "Please understand, it's not my intention to disrespect the Council, merely to safeguard my property rights, and those of my friends. But without more information, I can't cooperate. I'm sorry." [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Whip in hand, Marek advances on Ir, lashing and lashing. The razor-sharp tip of the moonsilver weapon screams through the air, and as impressive as it is that Ir seems to be able to deflect it with her forearms or even step around it on the occasion, it's not enough to stop her getting backed against a wall. 15[21:31] "Even just a name-" [21:31] 4Ir's still grinning. She gathers the power of her form, her stance, and her gall into herself. "I said. I want you. To hit me. As hard. As. You. Can." [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek's lunging already. His weapon has transmogrified back into a scimitar, and he's bringing it down in a great double-handed arc! [21:34] 4Fucking finally. 08[21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's eyes sparkle beautifically and his hair flows in an unseen wind. The agent stumbles over his words, just a bit: "As if I'd tell you I'm looking for Sw-" 12He coughs and swallows. 15[21:38] "Swan?!" 15[21:38] "The Swan?!" 10Eikichi's voice carries upstairs. [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12The agent's eyes flash. Then he looks left and right. Then, lamely: "...who?" 15[21:39] 10Eikichi leans forward giddily. "Oh I heard he was staying here. I heard that." 15[21:39] "Between you and me... I'd check the basement." [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek's blow strikes true. He's clearly not holding back - the tremendous, superhumanly powerful slash that he's just driven down into Ir's collarbone would've cut a normal person clear in half. Would've split the ground beneath them, probably. [21:43] 7Blossom reflexively flinches. [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12As is, the blade stops dead against Ir's shoulder, causing the ground beneath her to split and crater but not even breaking her stance. [21:43] 4Ir: "That's it?" [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12The Lunar's eyes widen- [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12The agent's badly flustered, casting his eyes around again. He seizes on Ying's face. "I - I know what I'm supposed to do, obviously. The information is merely classified from, with regards to the, from the polity. You see? ...but I do have to provide my name. Morzin." 08[21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12To Ying: "Who is this man? IS he in charge here?" 12He's gesturing at Eikichi. 15[21:47] 10Well, Ying? Is he? 15[21:47] 10These stairs are carpeted and, frankly, very comfy. 14[21:50] * Joins: Quaker 14[21:50] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 08[21:51] 13Ying: "Hm? Oh, no, sorry about the confusion! That's my friend Eikichi. We live here! Let's go check the basement, though!" 13She'll walk over to wherever the entry to the basement is and wave Morzin over. "This way!" 15[21:52] 10As Morzin turns around, Eikichi whistles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxk9ZqKabck [21:53] 4Without bothering to dislodge the blade from her bleeding shoulder, Ir snaps her fingers. The jewelry on her arms trembles, then leaps to her left hand. Iscariot's back where it belongs, and it's in the form of a whip. [21:53] 4She snaps it at Marek once just to create space, dislodging him. It doesn't matter to her if he takes the weapon in her shoulder with him. [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Morzin seems confused as to why things appear to suddenly be going this way, but he's flustered enough not to think it through properly before following Ying. Where to? 08[22:01] 13Just downstairs! Eikichi was pretty sure that Swan was down here, and Ying hasn't heard of this Swan character but let's just check down here and figure out what's up. "I've never met an investigator like you before! Do you get a lot of work here? Seems like with a place like Nexus tracking people down would be pretty hard..." [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir creates space, all right - too much space! She's suddenly surrounded in huge, hyena-furred bats again, the creatures snapping and chittering and whirling all around her. Fortunately, with her back to a wall, the solar has a much easier time blocking their bites and scratches. Unfortunately, she can't find the tell-tale congerie that indicates exactly where Marek's going to- oh, [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12shit- [22:04] 4Yeah, well. He's good, and she hasn't been. [22:04] 4Bound to happen. [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12The wall behind Ir explodes as Marek comes charging out on all fours, his moonsilver scimitar having reshaped itself around his head as a sort of horned, tusked harness! [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12She's pushed several meters across the square, the two exalts gouging a great furrow in the ground behind them, but manages to turn herself around and push the beast away before he's able to knock her down entirely. [22:06] 4And Ir's there to meet him, taking the point of it into her shoulder but wrapping Iscariot's whip form all the way up around it. [22:07] 4She could push him away. She won't. [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a confused blurring of flesh and moonsilver and Marek's bipedal again, gripping his scimitar with both hands and trying but failing to drive it forward through Ir's shoulder. Iscariot's grip is too tight, and Ir's stance is too perfect. [22:08] "So." [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Hrrrrr." 12A pause. "...rrrrrrrrBAH!" 12He turns away in apparent disgust, suddenly tossing his daiklave aside. It doesn't actually manage to reach the ground, though, as tendrils lance out from the weapon in midair to join with the lunar's glowing tattoos and cause the weapon to be absorbed elastically into Marek's fur. [22:09] 4Ir snaps her fingers again. Iscariot shivers back up her arms. [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "A handicap and it still comes to this! They warned me about the dawns." [22:10] 4She's careful not to touch the wound on her shoulder, or acknowledge it in any way. That would be a sign of weakness. [22:10] 7Blossom is smiling smugly. [22:11] "Do you think not wielding Iscariot until you made first blood was meant merely as an insult?" [22:11] "I was not." [22:11] 4Ir: "You wanted to see what I was. What I could do." [22:12] "I don't need Iscariot to live my strength. I value it, but I do not need it." [22:12] "And where my strength fails, I have friends." [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Hrrmm. Friends. I should like to see you withstand Jol for half as long." [22:12] 4Ir: "And perhaps you shall, next I get my wind." [22:13] "Because I don't surrender my advantage lightly." 15[22:13] 10Eikichi stretches. Maybe it's time for another glass of, uh, water. And to make sure Swan's not around. He'll head upstairs. [22:13] 4Ir: "And I think I've at least earned the right to ask you to stop treating my friend as if she does not exist." [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Morzin's pretty much entirely unable to summon his loud-mouthed hostility as Ying leads him downstairs. "Well, the - plenty, yes, I suppose. It's, it's a big city, of course, and I'm not the only one..." 12It becomes clear from various ramblings that he's something of a junior in the ranks of the Council's investigators. [22:14] "So again: Marek Marrow-Hollow, I would like to introduce you to my friend, Excessively Righteous Blossom." [22:14] "Excessively Righteous Blossom, this is my friend Marek Marrow-Hollow." [22:15] 7Still smug: "Hello!" [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek's pulled up a slab of rock and sat down onto it, taking slow breaths. "...yes, hello. No doubt here in case I meant to rob you. But I'm a man of my word!" [22:16] "Rob me." 4Ir is able to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. "I was not worried about you robbing me." 08[22:17] 13Ying: "Golly, that's such important work! How'd you even get started there?" 13Eikichi better be upstairs hiding Swan right now. [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Perhaps you should have been! I might not have been alone, myself. But in point of fact I am, for the moment. My allies work elsewhere." [22:18] "I've learned something over the last few months, you know," 4Ir says, returning to her chair. "Traveling alone is traveling lonely. Blossom is a dear friend, an excellent conversation partner, and she can do things I can't." 08[22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan's not in his room! ...he's in the adjoining bathroom, holding up his one arm in the beginnings of a martial arts posture as Eikichi opens the door but looking generally panicky. Not much of a hider, apparently. "They've come for me?" [22:18] "And yes, if it had come down to it, she could have beaten your ass." [22:18] "But that's not the point." 15[22:18] 10Eikichi: "Yeah." 15[22:18] "Can Arianna get you out of here?" [22:19] 4She pauses. "You've taken some risks, then, challenging me while alone." [22:19] "I respect that." [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek chuckles. "Only some. We're in Firewander, after all." [22:20] 7Wow. It can't have been that long since Ir wouldn't say something like that aloud. [22:20] 4She smiles slightly and shrugs. "That we are. Though we met some interesting sorts on the way in." [22:21] 4In fairness, Ir would have always said the part about how Blossom could kick his ass. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "The insects? Strangely consistent given what I've heard of this place." [22:22] 4Ir: "They tried to kill a Wyld-woman. We stopped them, but scattered them." [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "We've been in contact... and no, not directly. But she's somewhere in the undercity. If I can reach the north end of the grand canal..." 15[22:24] 10How far is that? [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12It's more than halfway up the city, but it's a walk you can make in a day. 15[22:25] 10Eikichi: "Cover yourself up. I'll get you there. Can you disguise yourself?" 15[22:25] 10The north end of the canal is where Eikichi was when Tatsuya flipped Eikichi and his date over in a gondola. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Hmm. We'll see how well this city deals with them, then. They seem more... resilient than the things which usually crawl out of places like this." [22:27] 4...He's talking about the bugs here, not Wyld-women, right? 08[22:27] 13What's the basement even look like? I don't know that Ying's seen it since Eikichi made the modifications to deal with the stench. [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Presumably...? Marek stands and cracks his neck side to side. By now, his aura has subsided - rather than a towering pillar of moonfire, he's just standing inside a wavering silver glow about twice as tall as he is. "Well. I cannot say I've not given you a a fair run. But it's little comfort to know you've the spine to stand against the pact." [22:28] 4Now Ir does roll her eyes. [22:29] "Oh, come on. You can't complain when she passes your test." [22:29] "Marek, I'm starting to think you missed the entire damn point of this bleeding wound in my collarbone." [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "Only by putting on a cloak. What's your plan?" 15[22:29] 10Eikichi: "Magic." [22:29] 4Ir's starting to get the sense that the two Solars would be surprised about how many things Marek could complain about. 15[22:29] "Teleport there, take a streetcar back." 15[22:30] "I can only get you to the canal itself, you'll have to get underground yourself. Can you do that?" [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12The Scarlet Palace has fairly expansive basements - there's a wine cellar and repository of hardware and firewood and so on. Eikchi's restricted the sorcerously-summoned canal foulness to a room in the back of these - one with DO NOT ENTER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES painted in red onto the door. 15[22:32] 10That's exactly where someone would hide, isn't it. [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan pauses, the narrows his eyes: "...oh, hell. Travel Without Distance?" [22:32] 13But it says DO NOT ENTER! What kind of sinister villain would ignore that? 15[22:32] 10Eikichi: "It'll be fiiiiiiiiiiiiine." [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "Travel Without Distance is miserable. And wandering through the Undercity with one arm while the Council's looking for me is bad enough when I'm not nauseous and dizzy for hours." 15[22:33] "You should wear your cloak over your injured shoulder. It'll hide that we haven't regrown your arm yet and also, it looks really cool." 15[22:33] "Do you have a better idea?" [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "A carriage, or a walk? A proper disguise?" 15[22:36] 10Eikichi: "The only person who can do proper disguises is busy showing the investigator around the basement. Feel free to just leave if you like." [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Morzin's poking around. To Ying: "...and you think he's down here, you said? Where did you hear?" [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan frowns and shuts his eyes for a moment. "...fine, the spell. All I ask is that you get word to Arianna where I'll be showing up. Hopefully she can get a demon in place or something." 08[22:40] 13Ying shrugs. "Eikichi said so. If there was somebody hanging out around here, he'd know." 13Is he going in the area marked DO NOT ENTER? 15[22:40] 10Eikichi airily spins a sprite to tell Arianna to be able to receive Swan at the Undercity near the north side of the Canal. [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12He's approaching it now. Here's Ying's chance to either save him from his dark fate or at least take a few good steps back. [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12There's no forthcoming answer... but then, the Messenger is annoying to use repeatedly. Presumably everything's fine, then? 15[22:41] "Is Arianna really fastidious about sending confirmations? Does she get mad if she sends off a message and gets no reply?" 15[22:41] "Some people are like that." 15[22:42] 10Eikichi yawns really loudly. [22:42] 13Ying stands back. "You might not want to do that," 13she offers helpfully. "At least, not without a mask." [22:43] "I'm not going to ask you to like me," 4Ir says to Marek. "It's not necessary for three reasons. The first is I've proven myself to you by your own terms, and so I don't need you to like me. I just need you to respect me. The second is that I'm arrogant enough to think you're starting to like me anyway, because I'm confident, direct, and honest about where I stand and what I believe [22:43] in, and you can skip all the bullshit 'How dare yous' and 'Is this your true demeanors' with me. The third is that you don't get to spend a lot of time around people where you can be yourself, as you are, and not either freak them out or physically hurt them with the gifts Luna has given you." [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan clears his throat. "...often, yes. Kind of a problem that I could never figure sorcery out." [22:44] "And the ones you do spend that time around, you're jockeying for favor and position with. But I can't challenge you for favor with the Moon." 15[22:44] 10Eikichi: "What if she's gone to ground, then?" [22:44] "And I wouldn't want you to be something other than yourself." [22:44] "I'm not asking for some grand alliance here, Marek. I'm not asking for any commitment at all." [22:44] "I'm just asking for a chance." [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "I mean, she has. But like I said, I spoke with her... wind creature, her elemental. She's watching for me in the place we discussed." [22:46] 4Ir: "Or we can do it the other way." [22:47] "But if we're going to do it the other way you'd best kill me this time." [22:47] "And I won't be asking my friend here only to judge." [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Morzin: "A mask? Is there... what, poisonous gas?" 15[22:49] 10Eikichi: "I could've swore I asked for an all-clear. Didn't you hear me ask for an all-clear?" 10He's forgotten that you only give the Infallible Messenger instructions mentally. [22:50] 13Ying makes a face. "I don't know if it's actually poisonous. I do know that it smells REALLY bad." [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek gives Ir an even stare as she speaks, and keeps watching her stonily for a good half-minute answer. "Hrrmph," 12he says. "No. Nooo, no, your life - it is not at stake. And your spear... less so. It's as I said. You must pass muster with me - with us, really, with my brethren - and with the Pact." [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "You matched me! Perhaps could beat me. In the normal course of things, it would be no insult to Luna for you to hold that spear, at least not according to me. But this isn't a normal world we live in." [22:53] 4Ir nods. "I understand." [22:54] "It has been...far from normal...on our side as well." [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "To honor Luna, you must not only wield her silver deftly, and boldly, and cunningly... you must wield it against heaven." 15[22:54] 10Oh hell yes. [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12He glimpses sidelong at Blossom as he says this, gauging both Solars' reactions. [22:54] 4Ir slowly turns her head and grins. "What'd you just say?" [22:54] "Heaven?" [22:55] 7Blossom: "That's pretty much inevitable." [22:55] 4Ir: "Oh, we don't have many friends up there right now." [22:55] "And if I could remember it properly, I'd say we might even have some enemies." [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Morzin: "...then why would he be down here?" [22:58] 13Ying: "If you were hiding somewhere, wouldn't you want it to be a place no one else would go?" 13She says this as though it's obvious. 08[22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, with regards to Eikichi, there IS a sorcerous reply. It's a little late, but since - as has been established - the sorcerer sent off a request for confirmation rather than simply a statement of intent, it's only ten minutes or so before a blue-chrome cherub comes zipping in through the window. 15[22:59] "Ah!" [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12A woman's voice: "Confirmed. Give me ten minutes, then be there within the next hour." 15[23:00] 10Eikichi: "Okay, shut the door and get yourself composed. You want to look nice for her, don't you?" 14[23:01] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:01] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "She's no fan of vomit, is Arianna." 15[23:03] 10Eikichi: "More's the pity." 10Can we clean Swan up and get him looking his best? [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Morzin: "...fine. Stand back." 12He finds himself a cloth, furrows his brow, squares his jaw... 14[23:03] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:03] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Less than a minute later, Morzin's staggering back into the hall, choking and gagging with his eyes tearing up. He falls to his knees, shudders a bit, tries to stand, but instead collapses unconscious. [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12His two guardsmen, who've followed you down at least into the basement hall, look at each other. "Look like he found the guy?" "Nah." [23:06] 13Ying will rush over to Morzin, shutting the door behind him and dragging him away from the opening before trying to revive him. "Oh my gosh! Are you okay?" 08[23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, Swan's looking decent already. He's much healthier, though his outfit leaves something to be desired. Eikichi's got the time to do some sartorial work if he so chooses. 15[23:06] 10Is Swan Eikichi's size? [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan's a little shorter and a little better built, but it's not a tremendous difference. 15[23:08] 10Eikichi rifles through his wardrobe. "Most of my clothes are back on the ship, but I was going to take this back because the cut isn't flattering. It should suit you fine." 10He holds up a violet gi with a silver sash. Frowns for a moment, removes the sash, leaving the gi. "What do you think?" [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12In Firewander, Marek nods soberly. "It's good you agree. You think sun and moon are best joined? Heaven thinks they're best crushed - brought us low, once, and works against us even now. The Pact has passed this down from the first." 08[23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12The agent doesn't wake til half an hour later at the least, though he certainly looks better if Ying takes the trouble to get him dragged upstairs and put somewhere where there's air. Eikichi can probably have left by then, if he has a mind to. 15[23:10] 10As long as Swan isn't going to leave looking like that. [23:10] 4Ir: "It's possible Heaven was not always wrong. It's possible the Chosen of the Sun were...out of line. When what happened, happened." 4She glances over at Blossom. Ir's aware this is probably not a popular position to hold, among the Chosen. "But then is not now. And their solution seems to have been no solution at all." [23:10] 4She pauses. "And frankly, they're fucking assholes." [23:11] "Sol and Luna belong together, and I would see them together again. In justice." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan holds it up. He kind of shifts his other shoulder, and frowns as he realizes he can't put his other hand to his chin dramatically. "I like it. You're sure you won't need it?" 15[23:12] 10Eikichi: "Nah, I'm gonna get rich. One outfit won't make or break me. We should go shopping sometime, when you're not on the lam." 08[23:12] 13Ying will fuss over Morzin in the basement until she's sure that Eikichi MUST have left by now, then insist that his guards move him upstairs with fresh air. She's a doctor, after all! She's providing sound medical advice! [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Luna belongs where her whims take her." [23:13] 4Ir: "I'm not sure we're disagreeing." 15[23:13] 10After Swan changes, Eikichi'll turn back around and grab him by the arm and they're gone. [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "You wouldn't be, would you. But that's beside the point." [23:14] 4Ir snorts. "You wouldn't trust a child of the Sun unassured of her own righteousness anyway." [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "In any event, I'm here waiting - for the moment. My allies work elsewhere, investigating. Once I understand exactly what is afoot - what plot of heaven's is being worked here in the east - I'll call on you." [23:14] 4Ir: "You'd be looking for the ambush." [23:14] 4To that, she nods. [23:15] 4Ir: "You said your people are away. That you're alone here, or close to it." [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Yes." [23:17] "Should you need aid before the plot is revealed -- not for any reason, understand, but for most -- you know where to send a missive." [23:18] 4Ir stands. "I respect your strength, Marek Marrow-Hollow. But again, we're stronger together." [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "I'll keep it in mind. ...for now, I fly. And I'd do the same in your place, because I can hear more of the insects stirring underground." [23:19] 4Ir nods. "Moonspeed, then." [23:19] 4She could have said sunspeed, but then, that's the joke, right? They both get 12 hours. It's exactly the same. [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Hrmph." 12He's certainly got the stuff, though; he rises, sucks the remains of his anima in with a deep breath, and then strides off out of the broken square, around a corner, and out of sight. [23:20] "Is that it?" [23:20] 4Ir: "That's it." [23:20] "Let's get out of here." [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying can tell when she's run the clock out long enough, because there's a faint pop of inrushing air and a blaze of multicolored light briefly visible from upstairs. [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12If she's been smart about it, she's maneuvered the guards and Morzin's body such that several doors or walls are between them and the essence display, though. [23:23] 13She's not an amateur, here. Come on. [23:23] 7Blossom will hop on Ami's back, then, and ride next to Errant on their way back to the Palace. [23:24] When they're a decent way out of Firewander, and she's sure Marek isn't watching, she'll turn her head to Ir. [23:24] 7When they're a decent way out of Firewander, and she's sure Marek isn't watching, she'll turn her head to Ir. [23:25] "You know some of the Wyld Hunt say that the children of the sun and moon are joined in more than one way, that every demon queen had a beast king alongside her." 08[23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi appears at the head of the Grand Canal, just to the east of Nexus Pool and just south of the Yellow River. He and Swan are almost immediately afflicted by a familiar sense of vertigo, but it's a testament to Ying's and Eikichi's medical skill that the eclipse caste only rocks on his feet a bit despite having been the subject of serious exploratory surgery mere days ago. [23:25] 7She sticks her tongue out and makes a grossed-out expression. [23:26] 4Ir, evenly: "Wouldn't know anything about that. Probably shouldn't trust the Wyld Hunt, though." 08[23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Many heads turn as the two appear in a flash, but can't do much about it as Eikichi and Swan head down a flight of stone stairs built into the side of the Grand Canal and turn into the top level of an aqueduct network that represents the top level of Nexus's undercity. They don't get far before a figure wrapped from head to toe in black cloth meets them - one that'd be familiar to [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom. 15[23:26] 10Eikichi glances at Swan. Familiar? [23:27] "I know, right? Anyway, good job. And that was very sweet what you said." [23:27] 4Ir: "Those guys say whatever the hell they want, don't they?" 08[23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan has a mildly distasteful expression, but doesn't look surprised or anything. "Ah... Leena." 12The figure, which Eikichi can probably identify with a close look: "Master Swan." [23:27] 4That startles Ir. "...What was?" 15[23:27] 10Eikichi looks closely. 15[23:29] 10Then he leans back with an expression of visible disgust. 08[23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Leena looks at Eikichi: "I'm to extend you an invitation. My mistress would meet you - perhaps talk shop." 15[23:29] 10Eikichi: "Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm." 15[23:30] "Does she know that I'm dizzy from the trip? Of course she does. But does she know that I'm really high?" [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Leena pauses. "...probably not." 15[23:32] 10Eikichi thinks. In his mind's eye, a tiny Blossom appears over his left shoulder, squeaking 14don't you dare! it'd be wildly irresponsible and what if she makes a move on you! 10and on his other shoulder appears a tiny Arianna with a tiny come-hither expression. 15[23:32] "Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm." 15[23:33] "...gonna have to take a rain check, I'm afraid. Feel free to send me a Messenger another time and I'd be just delighted." [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Leena: "Mmmhmm. I'll pass that along. Come, Swan." 12Swan finishes pressing on his forehead with a few fingers, shakes his head and shoulders a bit, and troops on. [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Back at the Scarlet Palace, Ying's expertly ensured that the actual investigator and his cronies have no understanding that any kind of sorcery has taken place in their absence. Once Morzin's regained some semblance of his senses, he confirms that the basement room he investigated was empty and that he still needs to check the upper floors. [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Fortunately, those are now Swan-less. 15[23:39] 10Eikichi contents himself with amusing thoughts of tiny, angry Blossom as he walks off the edge of the canal and sprays upward on a whirlwind, cackling as he goes. [23:39] 7Blossom: "The bit about me being a dear friend and an excellent conversation partner." [23:39] 4Now Ir does blush. "It wasn't a bit." 14[23:40] * Joins: hrolfie [23:40] "Huh? Oh, I didn't mean-- yeah." 08[23:40] 13Ying makes a big show of examining him for any lingering issues from the poison room. Eikichi really needs to get that cleared out... but it's hard to argue that it wasn't useful here. "Are you having any trouble breathing? Do you feel dizzy when you stand up?" [23:41] 4Ir: "I'm sorry for putting you in a position where you had to take a position on the Sun, the Moon, and Heaven." [23:41] "But I believe everything I said back there. I'm not running a scheme on Marek." [23:42] 4Ir: "I'm not saying that because I think it'll be a problem for you. Or the four of us. Just...you know." 14[23:43] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:43] 7Blossom: "Well, you're right. It's just as shot through with corruption up there as it is in the Thousand Scales. There's going to have to be an accounting if we're to set things right." [23:44] 4Carefully: "How do you feel about Marek?" [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12The Council agent clearly does, but is trying and failing to put on a show of fortitude. Still, he'll manage to inspect the rest of the hotel within the next half hour or so unless something else awful happens to him. 15[23:46] 10Is he gone by the time Eikichi gets back? Probably, because Eikichi stops to pick up some dumplings on the way home. [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Almost certainly, although he does ask Ying's name and if she's staying here for the forseeable future or what. [23:47] 7Blossom: "He seems like a jerk, but the kind that keeps his word." [23:48] 4Ir nods. "Yeah. That's what's most important." 08[23:51] 4After a moment, as they're slowing to let some merchant cart pass: "We'll be seeing more of him, and sooner rather than later. I'm not...good at talking to Eikichi, but he should know that there might be a Lunar with an attitude issue showing up on our doorstep soon." [23:52] 4Ir: "I'm better with Ying and Tatsuya." 15[23:52] 10Aww, that's so sweet. Eikichi's not good at talking to Ir, either. 08[23:52] "It won't be a--" 7She thinks for a minute about Marek talking to Eikichi. "--I'll let him know." [23:52] 4Mutual is the best kind of awkward. 15[23:52] 10True. [23:53] 4Ir: "Thank you." [23:55] 13Ying winks at Morzin as a golden circle with a disc inside appears on her forehead. "Sunlit-Dreaming Ying, at your service! We'll be here a while, so feel free to visit again!" [23:55] 4Ir will go quiet after that; unless Blossom has questions, they'll ride back to the Scarlet Palace as quick as they can. [23:57] "Have you found out when your next arena bout is?" [23:57] 4Ir: "Coming up next week. Some sequence of two tyrant lizards and a demigod." [23:58] 4She shrugs. "I also offered them the option of a battle royale. Me, the demigod, and the two lizards, going at it." [23:58] "They don't want me to kill any of them, so that's good." [23:58] 7Blossom: "Oh, good. That means Ying will come." [23:59] 4Ir: "I mean. There will probably be blood." [23:59] "Or Tatsuya. It's been a while since he's been out." [23:59] 4Ir: "He's got his reasons, I think." [23:59] "I do miss him, though." [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Morzin stares stupidly for a moment before blinking. "What? ...oh! Yes. I mean, you probably don't- that is, goodbye. Bye. Ahem." Session Time: Fri Aug 04 00:00:00 2017 [00:01] 13She waves as he leaves. Nice guy, once you get to know him! [00:02] "Maybe it's this city?" [00:02] 4Ir: "I wouldn't be surprised." [00:03] "This city is a scourge." [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12We'll see just how much of a scourge it is... next week. [00:07] 7So, what are things like back at the Palace? 15[00:07] 10Eikichi's either exhausted or high off his ass, eating dumplings with his fingers. 15[00:07] 10The staff all seem significantly fonder of him though, for some reason. 08[00:10] 13Ying's been hanging out downstairs since Morzin fled, waiting for Eikichi's return. Now that he's back, she's got questions. "How'd it go?" 15[00:10] 10Mouth full: "Fine." 15[00:10] "Dumpling?" 08[00:11] 4When they get back, Ir will stable Errant (and probably help with Ami, too, given Blossom will likely want to run inside and see Eikichi), then she'll head in. [00:11] 4She's tired, man. [00:11] 7Blossom, urgently: "Do you smell dumplings?" [00:11] 13Ying: "Sure!" 13She grabs one and begins munching away. "Should've seen Morzin as he left," 13she says through a mouthful of food. 15[00:12] 10Eikichi: "I'm sure you charmed the pants off him." [00:12] 4Dumplings sound -- and smell -- good, though. 15[00:12] 10Mouth full again. "Figuratively." [00:12] 4And the great thing about dumplings is, if there aren't enough, you can make some more. 08[00:14] 7Blossom bursts into their shared room. "Ha! I was right!" 7She'll snag a dumpling unless Eikichi or Ying stop her. 15[00:14] 10Eikichi: "Blossom!" 15[00:14] "How was your thing with Ir?" [00:15] 4Another good thing, this time about being tired, is that you can power through it. She'll spend some time downstairs directing the staff on how to make them. It gets done lickety-split. [00:15] "Fine, fine. She showed him who was boss." 7Not exactly what happened, but sure. [00:15] 13Ying: "He went into the room you said not to open," 13she says gleefully. "Took him a half hour to wake back up, and he left in a hurry after that." 15[00:15] 10Eikichi: "You mean she made you fight for her?" 15[00:16] 10Eikichi's eyes widen. "Get out! He did not!" [00:16] 4She'll be up five minutes later with another basket of dumplings. [00:16] 13Ying: "Oh, hey! Blossom! Ir! C'mon, c'mon!" 13She gestures to the dumplings that Blossom has already broken into. [00:17] 4She steps in just in time to hear the last bit of conversation. "I did what now?" [00:17] 4At this point it should be pointed out that she still has like, an obvious, open wound in her shoulder. [00:18] "Do you, uh... want a bandage for that, at all?" [00:18] 4Ir blinks. "Oh. Yeah." [00:18] 4She quickly transfers the dumpling basket away from the blood, because that's the most important thing here. 15[00:20] 10Eikichi: "Ir!" [00:20] 13Ying: "He did! He really did." 13She leans back with a sigh. "Pretty sure he's got a thing, now." 08[00:20] 4Ir: "Hey, Eikichi." [00:21] 4She looks around. "Where's our boy Swan?" [00:21] 13Ying: "Hey, yeah, how'd you get him out of here? We had somebody come looking for him," 13she offers to Ir by way of explanation. 15[00:21] 10Eikichi: "Council sent someone to look for him, all hush-hush. We got him back to Arianna." 15[00:21] "Magic, obviously." [00:21] 13Ying: "Nice." [00:22] 4Ir shrugs one shoulder. "Well, long as he's safe and healthy. ...Surgery go well?" 15[00:22] "Flawlessly. It'll take some doing to grow his arm back, but he's good as new otherwise." [00:23] 4Ir's face darkens. "Nah. He's got the memory of the wound." [00:23] "Close to good as new." 15[00:23] "You didn't tell me Arianna had a neomah." 10Eikichi says this to Blossom with the air of her hiding that someone shit without flushing the toilet. [00:24] 7Blossom: "I said I talked to her demon when I sold the coins." 15[00:24] "You didn't say it was a- whatever. Ir's still got Iscariot, right? Ying, where's the medical bag with the bandages?" 15[00:25] "These dumplings are so good." [00:25] 4Ir: "Of course I do. And of course they are." [00:25] 13Ying: "Upstairs in the common room, pretty sure. Either that or in my room. Oh! Oh, let me go get it, I've got something else to show you guys!" [00:28] 13She hurries upstairs and grabs their medical supplies and also the disguise she created just before the whole adventure started. Soon, a sinister figure walks down from upstairs: https://i.imgur.com/NuV4BmC.jpg [00:28] 4What the-- [00:28] 4Ir snaps Iscariot to hand. The one that isn't bleeding. 15[00:28] "Holy SHIT look at that." [00:32] 13The feathered wings have a smoky effect, seeming to curl and roll around the rest of the stranger, who soon pops off the mask to reveal Ying. "Check it out!" 15[00:32] "That's so good." [00:32] 4Ir relaxes. "Goddammit, Ying." [00:32] "You're too good at that." [00:32] 13She beams, depositing the medical supplies on the table. "Let's get that shoulder checked out, huh?" [00:33] 4Ir: "Uh. Yeah, sure." [00:33] 7Blossom: "Wow, that's-- wow." [00:33] "How did you learn to do that?" [00:33] 4Iscariot's already pulled back, so Ir just has to unbutton her sleeveless blouse and pulled the shoulder bit down under her arm. 08[00:35] 7Blossom, to Eikichi: "So is that all you guys did, mess with an investigator?" [00:35] 13Ying: "I just made the outfit today! The wings are a special touch." 13She's busily examining Ir's shoulder, wings still wafting around her sides spookily. There's actually just normal sleeves underneath those, who knew? "How much does this hurt if I press on it?" 13She does so. [00:38] 4Ir: "Not enough for me to stop you if it's going to help." 15[00:38] 10Eikichi: "I took Swan home and made laudanum and practiced six-string a little." [00:39] 4Ir: "Anything you wanna play?" 08[00:39] "You-" 7Blossom waves a hand in front of Eikichi's face. "Are you high right now?" [00:39] 13Ying: "Great! Let's get you patched up, then." 13She starts to work. 15[00:39] 10Eikichi, to Ir: "Not yet." 15[00:39] 10Eikichi, to Blossom: "Little bit." [00:39] 4Blossom, I'm gonna go ahead and say he's high right now. [00:39] 4Out loud: "Fair enough." 14[00:42] * Joins: Quaker [00:43] 4She stays still so Ying can do her work. "I'd play something but, y'know. Shoulder. Too bad the keyharp's back on the Heavensward." 15[00:43] 10Eikichi: "Yeah..." [00:43] "I should buy another guqin, now that we have the Heavensward." 15[00:43] "You should!" 15[00:44] "We could form a band." [00:44] 4Ir: "You should." [00:44] 13Ying hums agreeably. "You should be set pretty soon, here. The wound's not that deep, actually." [00:44] 4Ir, to Ying: "Damn right it's not. And thanks, Ying." 08[00:45] 4To Blossom and Eikichi: "You know my deal. I can be pretty much whatever instrument I need to be except drums, and no one uses drums outside of the Far North tribes and the Lunars." [00:45] "So go wild." [00:45] 4So to speak. 14[00:46] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:46] 13Ying: "You're welcome!" 13She drops the mask back over her face to cover her blush, and her medical attention takes a much more sinister appearance. She's still just bandaging up Ir's shoulder, of course, but the mask makes it look deadly somehow. [00:47] 4Now that Ir knows the trick, she doesn't shrink from the attention. [00:47] 4She does, however, down a couple dumplings. [00:47] 4Fighting works up an appetite. 15[00:48] 10Eikichi: "So when's your Arena debut?" [00:49] 4Ir: "Next week." [00:49] "They gave me two tyrant lizards and a demigod. Guess which I chose first." 15[00:49] 10Eikichi: "Two tyrant lizards?" [00:50] 4Ir: "They're twins." [00:50] 4Stage whisper: "They're not actually twins." [00:51] "They could be twins." 15[00:51] 10Eikichi: "And a demigod? So they just promoted right past any people?" 15[00:51] "Damn." [00:51] 4Ir: "Nah, promoter admitted they weren't actually twins. Just no one can tell the difference." [00:51] 13Ying's voice comes out deeper and with a harsh, metallic echo to it: "That's a good gambit. I should steal that." [00:52] 4She shrugs her unhurt shoulder. "It's a contract stipulation that I get to choose whether I kill or not. They've got no leverage to make me just slaughter mortal warriors." [00:52] "So of course they're just gonna go straight to the good stuff." [00:52] "They don't want me to kill either the lizards or the demigod either, which is good." [00:53] "Not for the right reasons, of course. But still good." 15[00:54] 10Eikichi: "Gods I haven't been to a show at the Arena in years. I wonder if they still sell fried raiton." [00:54] 4To Ying: "You could probably get in on this too. If you've bucked up." [00:54] 4Ir: "That they do." [00:54] 7Blossom: "They do! You should come watch Ir's debut." [00:54] 13Ying: "Hnnh." 13It sounds sinister coming from the mask. She did good work! [00:54] 4Ir: "I mean. You don't have to. I don't even know when it'll be, and people have schedules." 15[00:55] 10Eikichi makes a face. "Oh I'll be there. Me and Ying are gonna paint our faces. I'll have a big gold I, and Ying'll have the R." [00:55] 13Ying: "I will hold you to that." 13She sounds deadly serious. [00:55] 4Ir leans back. "Looking forward to the crowd respecting your passion, but not knowing who the hell RI is." 15[00:56] 10Eikichi giggles. [00:56] 4She sighs. "And that Wild Rose will probably be there too." [00:56] "I mean it's only fair. I scouted her." [00:56] "Hey, you can't hold him to agreements made while under the influence--" 15[00:57] 10Eikichi grabs another dumpling. "Who?" [00:57] 13She peers towards Blossom with her empty mask eyes. "I can, and will." [00:59] 4Ir waves a hand, her other slightly painfully grabbing two more dumplings. "This boss Chosen badass from...I don't even know where. She's got a daiklave of some kind -- reaper daiklave they call it; thin-ass sword I call it -- and fights with a real old, real specialized style. Single Point Shining Into Void." [00:59] "Pretty damn good with it, too. A real killer." [00:59] 13Ohhhh my god. [00:59] "And also not a killer, when she doesn't want to be." [01:00] 7Blossom busies herself with the remaining dumplings. 15[01:00] 10Eikichi: "Whoa." [01:00] 4Ir: "She's making the rounds in the underground places and sidestreet arenas, seems like." 15[01:00] "...what's she look like?" [01:00] "But if I know these assholes, they'll want me to fight her sooner rather than later." [01:01] "Big ol' hoss. Taller than me, bit broader in the shoulders. But finds it a bit easier to fade into the background than I do. Probably my bad." [01:01] 4To Blossom: "She was there when we met Marek, yeah?" [01:01] 13Ying is extremely glad the mask is hiding her face. 15[01:01] 10Eikichi: "Huh." [01:02] 7She gulps down a mouthful. "Uh, yeah. I think so." [01:02] 4Ir: "If she said where she was from, I've forgotten. I was otherwise occupied for the rest of that whole...scene." [01:02] "Doesn't matter, though. She's legit." 15[01:02] "Who's she Chosen of?" [01:04] "She's Chosen of the Sun," 4says Ir. "If you mean what caste, she's Twilight." 15[01:05] "One of Swan's circle? He never mentioned her." 15[01:05] "Blossom, do you know anything about her?" [01:05] "Hnnh." 13Ying breathes again. [01:05] 4Ir: "Feel like we didn't hang out with Swan much." [01:05] "And when we did, it's not like he was really lucid. [01:05] " 15[01:05] 10He's got a weird grin on his face. Guess he really is high. 15[01:05] "Ying did. Ying, did you hear about this?" [01:06] 4Ir's not gonna judge. She's been to so many after-show parties. [01:06] 7Blossom swallows again. "No, not really. I mean we met, but we didn't talk, much... yeah, Ir, you're right! I mean he was incapacitated pretty much the whole time, but I hope we get to see Swan again. It'll be interesting to hear how another Circle has fared." 15[01:07] "You should come when Arianna invites me over. She wants to talk sorcery." 08[01:07] 4Ir: "No, no, Eikichi's right. Swan's guy Panther was Arena champion. He should have heard of her if she was in town." 15[01:07] "And you're a sorcerer too." 08[01:07] 13Ying: "Eikichi," 13she says warningly. She pulls up at the last moment. "...Swan never mentioned her." 15[01:08] "Huh. Well one more thing to ask them about next time we see them." [01:08] 4Ir: "Maybe she's new to town. Or maybe there's something else going on." 15[01:08] "We should start looking for Panther soon." [01:08] 4The Dawn shrugs. "Can't rule it out." [01:08] 4Ir's eyes light up at that suggestion. "We should." [01:08] "That means disguises." 15[01:09] "Stealthy disguises." [01:09] 4To Ying: "I take it that's yours." [01:09] 13Ying: "It is. I have... designs, for the others." 13It sounds appropriately aloof. [01:09] "Really? Like what?" [01:09] 4Ir snatches up another couple dumplings. [01:09] "I'd like to know too." 15[01:10] "I bet none of ours are as spooky as Ying's." [01:11] 4Ir: "Mine's pretty spooky." [01:11] 4Clarifying: "Oh, I meant I'd like to know yours." 08[01:12] 4That's to Eikichi and Blossom. [01:12] 13Ying: "Very well. Let me retrieve my sketchbook." 13She flips up the mask again. "Gosh, it just feels really fun to sound sinister in that." 14[01:12] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:13] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 15[01:13] 10Eikichi: "I'm going as Magistrate Billowing-Cape's-Rose." [01:13] 4Ir frowns and shakes her head. "Nix the 'Rose.'" [01:14] "You'll throw suspicion onto Wild Rose." 15[01:14] 10Eikichi frowns. "Should I also ditch the rose, then?" 15[01:14] "I was definitely going to wear a rose." [01:15] 7Blossom: "It's a reference, Ir. To Girl Hero Magistrate Stories." [01:15] "I think you should keep it." [01:15] 4Another single shoulder shrug. "I mean, your call. But if I was investigating a bunch of scary sword-arms coming out of nowhere with new names, that might be where I'd start. She's tall enough that it's not inconceivable, physically." 15[01:16] 10Eikichi: "I think Ir's right. I shouldn't do anything that might annoy Wild Rose." 15[01:16] "Especially if she's as scary as you say," 10he adds dreamily. [01:17] 4Ir looks around at the three of them. "Now I'm just not gonna schedule a fight with this woman." [01:17] "I can't abide the idea of getting my ass kicked AND y'all sitting in the stands feeling guilty you can't cheer for her." [01:18] 7Blossom tenses up slightly. [01:19] 4After a second, she sighs and sits back again. "Don't mind me. I'm just tetchy after...tonight." [01:19] 13Ying returns from upstairs, mask restored to its proper place and with a notebook and three bookmarks tucked under her arm. "I've brought the designs. Peruse them at your leisure." 13She tosses the book onto the table with feigned disdain. [01:20] 4Ir immediately straightens up. "Oh hell yeah. Take a look at this--" [01:20] 13Then flips up the mask. "This is the best character ever." [01:20] 4She'll flip to her section and show it around. 15[01:20] 10Eikichi: "Oooh." [01:20] 13They're all labeled: Ir's got two sketches, an outfit and a mask: https://i.imgur.com/2YiwYw9.jpg https://i.imgur.com/LZOFMzO.jpg [01:21] 4Ir: "I could do the half-face scarf thing, because I'm gonna be in the arena. So we're going with the full-face, emotionless slate." [01:21] "Ideally I do none of the talking." [01:22] 13Ying flips the mask back down. "There are... alternatives." 15[01:23] 10Eikichi touches the brim of his imaginary hat. "I'll negotiate. The rest of you should look smart and scary because me? I'm just gonna look good." [01:23] "Oooh, mysterious. The boys will be clamoring for Ir." [01:23] 4Ir: "You always look good. No shame in the rest of us having style too." 08[01:23] 13Ying flips to the sketch of Eikichi, who seems to be in some kind of dramatic pose. There's a shimmering effect on the page: https://i.imgur.com/tB8zCMj.gif [01:24] 13Ying: "Does it suit you?" 15[01:24] "That's perfect. Blossom, isn't that perfect?" [01:24] 4Ir downs another couple dumplings. Great batch. [01:25] 4Ir glances over. "That's a big hat. Big hats are signs of strength where I come from." [01:26] "It's good! The mask is charming." [01:26] "You'll want, like, some device that prevents it from flying off in the wind -- but doesn't stop you from stylishly doffing it for a bow or whatever." 15[01:26] "Good call." [01:26] "Just speaking as someone who once had to attend a ceremony with a man who had a big hat, and wind." [01:26] 13Ying: "The design had a larger hat, once. But I felt it would hide his best features." 13She turns the page back to the previous design. https://i.imgur.com/IdsxRt8.jpg [01:27] 7Blossom: "...that's a really big hat." [01:27] "Anyway, what's mine? What's miiiine?" 15[01:27] "If you wear that, people are just going to call you Big Hat whatever your name is." [01:28] 4Ir: "We had the Big Hat Shogun, up where I came from." [01:28] 4She leans back again. "Realm didn't like that at all." [01:28] "So no more Big Hat Shogun." [01:29] "Guess the hat just got to his head." [01:29] 13Ying turns past a host of other designs in varying quality. She stops on the page with the bookmark: "You'll need a pet for an accessory," 13she cautions, before revealing the design in full: http://i.imgur.com/TXnqqim.jpg [01:29] 4Ir: "Do some magic and shrink Ami?" 15[01:29] 10Eikichi, to Blossom: "You should just make that one of your regular outfits after we're done." [01:30] "What do you think of the boots?" 15[01:30] "Fantastic." [01:31] 4Ir might make the shorts go all the way down to the boots, but she gets the feeling this is about Fashion, not what'll stop a knife, and stays out of it as such. [01:33] 13Ying: "I wanted it to be intimidating while also keeping your face visible; after all, the rest of us will be masked." [01:33] 4Ir: "Sensible. Though I might be the only one who strictly needs masking." [01:37] 4Iscariot snaps into Ir's hands as a...four-string? She's feeling well enough to play it, but she's trying out a new form.e [01:38] 13Ying: "All of us require obfuscation." 13There's still that echo that disguises her voice; one can imagine she would implement this for the other masks as well. 15[01:38] "I can mask my own voice." [01:38] 4This is longer and deeper in body than the six-string she usually summons, and has two fewer strings. She doesn't strum it; she plucks it. 08[01:39] 13Her eyes would glint threateningly at Eikichi if they were visible. Instead, the blank glare of the mask focuses in on him. 08[01:40] 4Ir: "Hey, Eikichi." 15[01:40] 10In a sonorous bass: "Yeees?" [01:40] 4She starts plucking it rhythmically. Almost like a baseline. [01:41] 4Ir: "You wanna jam?" 15[01:41] 10Eikichi picks up his six-string. "Hell yeah." [01:41] 4Ir: "Follow my lead." 08[01:44] 4First time, Ir lays down the building blocks: time signature, length, general feel. Second time through, she gives the melody -- if Eikichi's been doing his studies, he can take this and build all the chords off it. [01:45] 4Third time through, she gives what she'll be playing, and sings her part of the lyrics. 15[01:45] 10Eikichi picks it up quick. 08[01:45] 4And when they're ready to go, even if Eikichi didn't know the song before, he knows it now. And hell, being high only helps. [01:46] 4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P160_odTwyY [01:47] 4Ir gets into it enough her shoulder almost opens back up. [01:48] 4But part of the reason she chose this is because it needs the six-string to carry it, while the bass keeps everything in order and gets a lot to do otherwise. [01:48] 4And the guy with the six-string can carry it. [01:49] 13Ying sways in tune, feathered tendrils moving with the music and lending her already spooky presence even more to fear. As the song evolves, she twirls, shuffles, turns; she even seems to float backwards without her feet touching the ground. It's the first time she's gotten the chance to - move. 15[01:49] 10It's nice to know he has been putting in the work, at least. All that practice alone in a soundproofed room. He didn't even play for Blossom. 15[01:50] 10Damn. Ying can dance. [01:50] 4When it's done, Ir's almost shaking. She stills herself easily. "They say that song comes from Tusk. Or north of there. It was written by four lovers, two by two, at the end of the First Age. Right before..." [01:51] 4She trails off. Then: "History's gotta happen some time, right?" [01:51] 7Blossom sits back in the wicker basket chair and closes her eyes as she listens. 08[01:51] "You're excellent on that six-string, Eikichi. And Ying, you're a marvel; the song calls for two parts, but you made it work with one." [01:52] 4Iscariot snaps back up around her shoulders. "But it's been a long day. And I think I'm going to sleep on it." 15[01:52] "Thank you! I've been practicing." 15[01:52] "Good night, Ir." 08[01:53] "Good night, Eikichi. Blossom; Ying. Tatsuya, too." [01:53] 4Goodnight Sun. Goodnight Moon. 15[01:53] 10Eikichi sighs. 15[01:53] 10Tatsuya... [01:53] 13Ying bows; pauses slightly at Tatsuya's name; resumes her bow. [02:00] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ [02:00] "Drugs may seem fun, but follow Sunlit-Dreaming Ying's sage example - just say 'No, thank you!' to taking drugs during work hours, especially if you're working with heavy material or large animals! If you get hurt because you're impaired on the job, it doesn't just affect you; it affects your family, your workplace, and the security of the Blessed Isle! [02:00] Work safe, work drug-free!" [02:00] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ 15[02:00] 10>:( 15[02:00]  15[02:00]  15[02:00]  15[02:00]  15[02:00]  15[02:02] 10Another day, when Eikichi's said he'd be down in the basement working on the stink curse, Blossom gets a call from the concierge. Literally, she calls through the door "Blossom? Madam? You have a visitor." [02:03] 7Eh? "Just me, or all of us?" 15[02:03] "She asked for you by name." [02:04] 7Curious. Arianna? Though she should be more cagey than that... Better go and see who it is. "I'll be right down." [02:05] 7And so she is, after briefly checking to make sure her hair is still immaculate. 15[02:05] "Hey." 15[02:05] 10 \ 15[02:05] 10http://i.imgur.com/EPi1hQA.png [02:09] 7!!!! [02:10] "Oh! Hi! Wild Rose! What can I, uh, what's up?" [02:10] 7Is she wearing some kind of denim-- they're barely even-- oh my god don't look don't look 15[02:11] 10Wild Rose: "Are you busy?" 15[02:11] "A couple of us are going to have lunch. It'd be fun if you could come." [02:14] "Yeah!" [02:14] "I mean, no, I'm not busy," [02:15] 7Blossom: "I didn't think you even knew who I am. We've barely met..." 15[02:15] 10Wild Rose: "You make quite an impression." 14[02:16] * Joins: hrolf_mac [02:17] 7Blossom reddens slightly. It begins. "You too... none of the other fighters even thought to have minstrels introduce them." 15[02:18] 10Wild Rose: "I like music. Do you need a minute to get ready?" [02:20] "No," 7Oh gods does she think I look bad? What should I do "I was going to head out anyway." [02:21] 7Talk about something safe! "A friend of mine's fighting in the arena soon, I wanted to see if they had started advertising her." 15[02:22] 10Wild Rose holds the door open so Blossom can follow her out. "Oh, Ir. The one you're managing. I bumped into her at the pit the other night." 15[02:23] "If she fights half as well as she plays six-string, nobody'll beat her." [02:24] "She's great." 7Blossom says proudly. "They have her up against two tyrant lizards next week." 14[02:24] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 15[02:24] "Only two?" 15[02:24] "Are they twins?" [02:26] "The promoters are saying they're twins. They could be twins!" [02:26] "They're not, though." [02:26] 7Boom. Worldly-wise. That'll impress her. 15[02:26] "Oh." 10She sounds crestfallen. [02:29] "There's also a God-Blood of some kind. I haven't heard the details." 15[02:31] 10Wild Rose: "I heard about that one. They've beaten a Dragonblooded gladiator." 15[02:31] "Oh, I should have asked. Do you eat meat?" [02:33] "Sure, yes. Definitely." 7Senpai's so thoughtful~ "Where are we headed, anyway?" 15[02:34] 10Wild Rose: "Beast in the East. It's a barbecue, they cook the meat right in front of you." 15[02:35] "Here we are." [02:35] "Oh nice, we have places like that back home." 15[02:35] 10Wild Rose looks around. "Hmm...." [02:35] 7What's it look like? 15[02:36] 10It's a nice place, clean but slightly smoky. The building's of fine red wood and there's brisk lunch business but it's not crowded. [02:36] 7Tables? 15[02:37] 10Yep, in front of open grills but against the low, wide windows so you can lean back and catch a breeze off the garden on the corner. 15[02:37] 10Wild Rose: "I don't see any of the others here." 15[02:38] "They must have mixed up the address." 15[02:38] 10She leans down a little so her face is fully in the shade when she looks at Blossom. "I guess it's just us." [02:42] "Okay!" 7Blossom's voice cracks, and she looks away from Wild Rose's face at the tables and down the road to the garden. [02:42] "I mean," 7She says, recovering, "it's a shame your friends won't be here," 15[02:43] 10Wild Rose smiles. "Oh, I don't mind." 15[02:44] 10Rose guides Blossom out of the door and to an open table with by lightly touching her elbow. "Let's get a seat." [02:48] 7Wh- is she doing this on purpose? Was this whole thing-- no, wait! If her friends had shown up, then that plan would be ruined. She must be like this naturally? Ohhh, she's so cool! [02:48] "What do you recommend? To eat?" 15[02:50] 10Wild Rose: "I've heard good things about the beef. They call it 'Harborhead-style'." 15[02:50] "What do you like?" [02:52] 7Blossom: "My favorite is Isicia Omentata, but you can't find it done right off the Blessed Isle." 15[02:53] 10Wild Rose has to raise her voice over the sound of the band setting up in the karaoke area. "It's the pine nuts, isn't it?" 15[02:53] "They never remember the pine nuts." [02:55] "That, or the oil's wrong... have you been to the Isle?" 15[02:58] 10Wild Rose: "I grew up there. Juche Prefecture. You remember? I told you and you mentioned you were from there too?" 15[02:58] "I suppose the show Ir and Marek put on put paid to that conversation." [03:00] 7Blossom flushes bright red. Stupid, stupid! "Sorry! Yeah, I got distracted..." 15[03:01] 10Wild Rose puts a comforting hand on Blossom's shoulder. "Oh, it's okay. They were very impressive." 15[03:01] "Really, I'm grateful. I wouldn't have been able to keep so low a profile otherwise." [03:02] 7Blossom has the unenviable task of taking a deep, steadying breath without having her dining companion notice that she's doing so. 15[03:03] 10Wild Rose will gracefully seem not to notice. She's flagging down a waiter, who accidentally bumps into the next table over, distrubing a pitcher of fizzing cider, when he's moved to tears at the sight of her. [03:04] 7You're not a teenager anymore, Blossom. Get it together! "Are you famous in Nexus? We've just gotten here recently, so--" 7She winces as the pitcher wobbles, but it doesn't spill. 15[03:09] 10Wild Rose: "No. I haven't been here long. I spent time in Gem. Have you been to Gem?" [03:12] 7Blossom shakes her head. "No, never." 15[03:15] 10Wild Rose: "It's not as dangerous as people say. If you listen to people talk, it's like something is always trying to destroy the city." 10She orders something called a "flatiron steak" Harborhead-style. What does Blossom get? [03:17] 7She'll get the same. And some of that cider. 15[03:18] "Tell me about yourself. Where on the Isle are you from?" [03:21] 7Blossom: "Well... I grew up in the Imperial City." [03:23] "My... my family has holdings in Juche Prefecture too, so when I was little I'd be there during the harvest season." 15[03:27] 10Wild Rose: "Oh." 10The 'you must have been born to a Great House' goes unsaid. The cider comes. "To meeting new people," 10Wild Rose toasts. [03:29] "New people," 7Blossom agrees, and gratefully takes a big, long drink of cider. 15[03:29] "I haven't been on a date in ages." [03:34] 7Disaster! Blossom aspirates some of the cider and begins coughing enthusiastically. [03:34] 7Oh ggo;ds 15[03:34] "Oh no!" 15[03:35] 10Wild Rose rubs Blossom's back until she stops coughing. "Easy. Easy." [03:37] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom carefully takes another drink - correctly this time - and slows her breathing before she speaks. [03:37] "Um, listen." [03:38] "You're really cool, and I'm glad we're eating together, and I want to get to know you better... but I'm already in a relationship." 15[03:43] 10Wild Rose looks down. The meat gets brought up from the pits to the table. Once they're gone: "...I know." [03:44] "Oh." 15[03:44] "Blossom... I don't know how to say this." 15[03:47] 10Wild Rose: "I think I'm just going to keep talking and circling my thoughts around and hope my heart slows down and that I can cross some" 10Eikichi's voice drops "threshold of understand where you'll know what I'm trying to say without me having to get the words out." [03:49] 7Blossom stares. And stares. [03:50] 7She leans her head forward, and props her forehead up on her hands, face down over her uneaten steak. She's clearly trying to work out what the hell just happened. 08[03:51] "Eikichi?" 7And then: "...Ying." 15[03:51] "Ying helped." 15[03:51] "I asked... Ying for help." [03:55] "That is so--" 7She's speaking at a normal volume, and it's very unlikely that anyone would notice or care what she was saying, but nonetheless she straightens up, then leans forward and speaks in a loud whisper. [03:55] "14That is so cool!" 15[03:56] "...really?" 15[03:56] "You're not upset?" [03:58] 7She's visibly trying to restrain herself from pounding a fist on the table. "You're so tall! It's... it's the shoes! Oh my gods did you see me in the crowd? I thought I was going to scream myself hoarse did Ying do your hair too it's incredible!" 15[03:59] "We worked together on the hair and I designed the uniform and Ying made it all work and it's perfect-" 15[04:00] 10It feels wrong not to mention that "Ying told me you were worried. About Eikichi meeting Rose." 15[04:01] "I'm sorry. I should have told you from the beginning." 08[04:02] 7She snorts. "I'll get you back one day, Eikichi Sho. You're lucky you're my sworn brother." [04:02] "Um." 7She pauses, aware she's trodden into a minefield. "About that. Is this a Delzahn thing?" 15[04:04] 10The most honest answer is "...I don't know. I think it could be. It feels like it could be. But I don't know." 15[04:04] "Is that--" 15[04:05] "What if it is?" 15[04:05] 10Eikichi's voice is a little thick. [04:10] "I've... never really thought about being in a relationship with a woman." 7She gazes blankly at the space between their plates. "I'm not afraid of anything." 15[04:10] "That's--" [04:10] 7She looks back up into his face. "Just remember, whatever you decide to do, that I fell for you, not a character you made up." 08[04:11] "I mean, if you wanted to be Wild Rose sometimes, I wouldn't object--" 15[04:12] 10There's some teary giggles to get through before "Hey, wait." 15[04:12] "What do you mean you never thought about being in a relationship with a woman?" 15[04:12] "You've been a mess since the moment you saw me." 15[04:13] "If you weren't so disciplined... come on." [04:13] 7Blossom has started eating, more out of a desire for distraction than hunger. "Mmm?" 15[04:13] "I did not imagine that. I know you." 08[04:15] 7She swallows and puts her silverware down. "Oh, come on. I'm not a child, Eikichi. I've been with girls before, at the barracks or whatever. That's not the same as dating!" 15[04:16] "Huh." 15[04:16] "Then if I'd been a woman when you'd met me, you don't think you'd have fallen for me?" 15[04:17] "If I was still me, but... nothing?" [04:18] 7She shrugs and continues eating. Why bother thinking about weird hypotheticals? 15[04:22] 10Another of those brief, visceral moments of separation. They grew up bare malms apart and yet "Okay." 15[04:22] "I still have to talk to Tatsuya. Oh gods I still have to talk to Ir. The Arena." 15[04:24] "I just wanted to prove to myself that I was strong. I don't want to prove it to anyone else." 15[04:24] "This... this feels stronger. Or it feels less weak. I think that's better. Less weak." [04:25] 7Blossom: "Physically stronger?" 15[04:26] "No, I don't work out like this." 15[04:26] "Too much work just to sweat it all off alone." 15[04:26] "Just, I don't know." 15[04:26] "More believable." 15[04:27] "It's easier to imagine Rose strong." [04:27] 7She furrows her brow. "More believable?" 15[04:27] "Yeah." 15[04:29] "Does that make sense?" [04:30] "Not... really? I mean, it's obviously important to you, but...?" 15[04:34] "What is Rose? She's, Rose is strong, she's poised, she doesn't crack under pressure. She moves on when she makes a mistake. She knows how to be restrained." 15[04:35] "You said she was a character that I made up, but she's me. She's me. She's just less weak." [04:37] 7Blossom, still confused: "And you need a disguise to be all those things?" 15[04:38] "It only feels like a disguise when I take it off." 15[04:39] "And I think it's easier for people to see me how I am when they're looking at me, and not at all their memories and built-up opinions of me." 15[04:40] 10Eating now. This is so much better than talking. [04:41] 7Blossom: "I still don't get it." 15[04:43] "You can see why Ying had to force me to talk about it." 15[04:44] "Ying understood. But then she would, wouldn't she?" 15[04:45] "How it feels to look in a mirror and feel like your body doesn't belong to you." [04:45] "Is that how you feel?" 15[04:46] "Kind of." 15[04:46] "Or like it's broken." 15[04:48] "And things that nobody meant hurtfully would bother me, because they'd remind me of that. And nobody knew." 15[04:48] "How could they have known? I didn't say anything." [04:48] "Oh." 7How do you respond to that? 15[04:48] 10Who knows? [04:49] 7She pauses, and then: "Tell me if I hurt you." 7She says firmly. 15[04:49] "Are you... are you about to punch me, or-" [04:51] 7Blossom: "What? No! You said people would say things that hurt you, and you wouldn't tell them." 15[04:52] 10Eikichi: "Oh." 15[04:53] "Sometimes it was things you said. I don't really think of that as you hurting me, though." 15[04:53] "It was an accident." 15[04:54] "You'd never have done it if you'd known. But I didn't tell you because talking about that would've... I would've been talking about this." 15[04:55] "I was really scared of talking about this. I am still, a little." [04:58] 7Blossom: "Oh. Well, you can start telling me from now." 15[05:03] 10Bystanders might see Wild Rose give Blossom a hug and hold her for a moment. They don't hear what Eikichi whispers in her ear. After they let go: "So..." 15[05:04] "I should probably come clean about why I picked this place." 15[05:06] "How much do you know about the Delzahn?" [05:07] "Not a lot." 15[05:09] "When you become an adult, they give you your first horse. What you do is you ride out for three days on the plains, and while you're gone the tribe moves on. And you have to track your own way home." 15[05:10] "This is typically when the dereth make their choice." 15[05:10] "Those who come back as men return with fresh meat from a hunt." 15[05:11] "Those who come back as women return with a song." 15[05:13] 10In the corner, the band starts up. "I got this song from Sondok. Come let me sing to you." [05:21] 7Blossom is definitely ready to listen. 15[05:28] 10The band's warmed up. Wild Rose was here a little while earlier with sheet music and a big tip for the band. She gets up on the little stage once Blossom sits down. 15[05:35] "This song is from Hell. It belongs to other people. One of them gave it to me." 15[05:38] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWi_uSWnqxA 14[06:32] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[06:57] * Joins: Quaker 14[07:30] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[07:31] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[07:40] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[09:39] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:18] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:26] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:01] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:09] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:49] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:13] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[13:28] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[13:38] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[13:46] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[14:42] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[15:30] * Quits: hrolfie (Connection closed) 14[15:30] * Joins: hrolfie 14[15:53] * Joins: hrolfy 14[15:53] * Quits: hrolfie (Connection closed) 14[16:17] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[16:34] * Quits: hrolfy (Connection closed) 14[16:34] * Joins: hrolfy 14[16:54] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:15] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[17:16] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[17:16] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[17:18] * Joins: hrolfie 14[17:21] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:21] * Joins: hrolf 14[17:23] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:24] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[17:28] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[17:32] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:05] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:25] * Parts: @Ferrinus 14[18:25] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[18:25] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[19:03] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[19:40] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[19:55] * Joins: hrolfy 14[19:56] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[19:58] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:14] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[20:31] * Joins: dammitwho 15[21:02]  15[21:02]  15[21:02]  15[21:02]  15[21:02]  15[21:03] Xia Lan leaps, the armored figure tenses, Prakka rears up... in a shadowland among the layered dead, battle is joined. 14[21:04] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[21:04] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[21:04] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[21:12] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[21:15] The armored figure ignores Xia Lan, their terrible green blade arcing past her to Prakka, who almost falls off his lizard avoiding it. "XIA! RUN!" 14[21:18] * Joins: Quaker [21:20] 13Xia Lan ignores Prakka's shouts in the heat of the moment, swinging her twin hook swords wildly against the armored foe. "THIS IS FOR KANA," 13she shouts as her strikes clang off the faceless enemy. 14[21:21] * Joins: Quaker_ 15[21:22] "KANA WOULD WANT YOU TO LIVE!" Prakka shouts. His voice is strained and desperate. 14[21:22] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:22] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker [21:23] 13She turns her face towards him, briefly. Her glare is harsh. "You have no RIGHT--" 13Her voice cracks, and she spins back around to keep her eyes on their foe. How DARE he. 15[21:29] "Xia--" He doesn't talk anymore as his lizard finally gives in to its animal panic and carries Prakka's bottom half away, leaving the rest to stain the ashen ground bloody. 14[21:39] * banana|peels is now known as banana [21:40] "Prakka!" 13Oh, gods. She looks around for a way out, a way away, but she can't just - leave them here. Prakka was right. She has to get out of here, but... She circles around the monster that just casually slew her friends and tries in vain to lift Kana's body out from the sand and dust. She can't just leave her here! [21:48] 13She can't... but she also can't seem to lift Kana Kavu. She manages to drag her slightly away from the - demon, devil? Whatever this monster is, grunting with effort. 15[21:54] She barely ducks out of the way of a thrust that would've got her through her ribcage. She's prone against the ground now, beside Kana's body. What does she do? [22:04] 13She hesitates for a long moment before scrabbling to her feet and dead-on sprinting away from the monster. She couldn't even save their bodies. Xia Lan won't slow down until she can't hear it behind her anymore. 14[22:04] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 15[22:10] Xia Lan finds herself blinded by the morning sun, the ground heat-baked already, the shadowland a mirage behind her. With no water, no compass, and no drive to go on, she must get home. 15[22:13] She makes it over hardpan and past ancient dried lakebeds, and through mile after mile of featureless red desert. She finds the strength to stay on her feet, her will refusing to let her "ssSSSSSSSS" a snake emerges from the brush, mottled black and tan! It lunges at Xia Lan! 14[22:15] * Joins: Quaker [22:19] 13She stumbles back, lashing out with her hook sword as she dodges away from the snake. Something about facing death makes you less likely to shriek in terror and fall over yourself to get away from a single, puny snake. 14[22:19] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[22:21] Her blow strikes home! Xia Lan hears the serpent scrape hideously against her hook sword, but it can't cut through. Instead, the serpent winds against the blade, sliding along it as if it were smooth as a tree branch. She has no hope of avoiding the bite. [22:22] 13Oh no. 15[22:22] Xia's vision swims. Her arm burns. Her shoulder burns. Her chest burns -- every breath comes in like fire. She collapses, on her hands and knees in the desert, as the snake winds itself free. 15[22:24] The serpent cuts a path through the dusty ground into the brush. Xia watches it insinuate itself into the branches of a barren brown bush. Xia and the bush alike cast no shadow. The sun is directly overhead. 15[22:26] Xia sees the bush ignite, red and gold and white, a flame that pillars high into the sky but doesn't spread through the underbrush. It's then that Xia hears a voice. A voice that comes from everywhere. A voice that calls her name. 15[22:26] Xia Lan. 15[22:27] My daughter. My herald. My best self. [22:30] 13She can't even muster the energy to cry. She chokes out the words, mostly to the ground: "Let me die in peace." 15[22:32] No. 15[22:33] No death. No peace. Not for you. 15[22:34] You suffer as I suffered. To fail and be failed. To touch the ruins of what we loved and turn away. 15[22:35] No more. 14[22:36] * Joins: Quaker 15[22:36] You are not lost. You are not defeated. You are not alone. 15[22:38] Know that I am the Sun Unconquered. You will rise. You will find kin. [22:49] 13Xia Lan manages to look at the burning bush, leaning on her side. This has to be some dream her body's cooked up to make her last moments less miserable. She waves an arm towards the desert expanse, dropping it back down at her side; Not lost? Not defeated? Not alone? "I'm already dead. Save somebody else." 15[22:50] I will not save you. 15[22:50] You will. 15[22:50] You will save yourself and then you will save me. [22:52] 13She squints at the bush. "You... really are the Sun?" 15[22:54] The burning in her chest is almost unbearable now. 15[22:56] The bush flares white-hot, impossible to ignore. Xia's eyes burn and sting. 15[22:56] I AM. I AM 15[22:57] DOUBT IF YOU MUST. BELIEVE WHAT YOU MUST. BUT YOU ARE MY CHOSEN AND YOU WILL MARCH INTO THE FLAME. [22:59] 13She winces, but does not turn away. Instead, she begins to crawl towards the burning bush. 15[22:59] Xia might interpret the tremendous heat and pressure she feels bearing down on her body as pain. It's as if all the world's caught fire and it's all converging on her at once. 15[22:59] WALK INTO FIRE. RISE UNFETTERED. BE REBORN. 15[23:00] Breathe in. [23:12] 13Glorious golden hearts shine down from on high, blindingly brilliant in the noonday sun, shimmering and dancing, rising ever higher as more and more appear. The desert wind whips at the sand, but she can't even feel it. Her anima surrounds the Unfettered Xia Lan, who rises to her feet and faces the Sun. Session Time: Sat Aug 05 00:00:00 2017 14[00:35] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[01:57] * Joins: Crion_ 14[04:33] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[07:29] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:43] * Joins: Quaker 14[09:44] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:45] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[09:47] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:47] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[09:53] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[10:00] * Joins: Crion_ 14[10:03] * banana|peels is now known as [banana] [10:11] <[banana]> 6After delegating some tasks she's interested in and some things she should be interested in, KJ retreats to the secure room on the other side of Anaheim. Nobody sees an alleyway door open and if they did see, they wouldn't see anyone enter. Inside her digital stronghold, she's confronted with a familiar problem. [10:12] <[banana]> 6What worked so well among mortals and the neonates of the Brilliant Court is turning out to be pretty shit. It's not even that they're smart, that's the worst bit. [10:13] <[banana]> 6The elders and ancilla of the Invictus don't have high-tech security, they just.. don't compute. They don't care or they don't even understand. They're too far away from the modern world to hook them- or they don't seem to realise the possibilities which should be bait. [10:13] <[banana]> 6She has Baron Laguna's entire damn email archive here and the word 'chrysalis' doesn't appear once. [10:16] <[banana]> 6Well. If 'Baron' is really meant to mean something, she's got an email to write. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- [10:18] <[banana]> 6KJ: Cavanaugh has been sent to dance attendance on San Diego. This is the Prince's request by way of the Seneschal and is supposedly a matter of showing strength while diplomacy takes place offscreen. [10:19] <[banana]> 6KJ: I will also attend, and we're likely to stay with relatives of Modjeska. Further updates if necessary or when we return in two weeks. [10:19] <[banana]> 6KJ: -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- [10:19] <[banana]> 6KJ: iD8DBQFFxqRFCMEe9B/8oqERAqA2AJ91Tx4RziVzY4eR4Ms4MFsKAMqOoQCgg7y6 [10:19] <[banana]> 6KJ: e5AJIRuLUIUikjNWQIW63QE= [10:19] <[banana]> 6KJ: -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- [10:20] <[banana]> 6She doesn't address it to the dead drop yet, doesn't hit esc-ZZ to send. This would be her second actual report, the first since the Ma thing. [10:22] <[banana]> 6Is it necessary to send a report at all, if the spymaster knows about official postings like this? But.. does she? Is there still a real threat, with Donald Bren incapacitated and weird suggestions of counter-allegiance from all directions? [10:25] <[banana]> 6It's a question of who to betray at this point, so KJ Valentine leaves the terminal open and distracts herself with newsfeeds and text messages and speculation about remote viewing until she's made a decision by default. 14[10:34] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:44] * Joins: gulbanana 14[10:54] * Quits: gulbanana (Quit: ) 14[10:58] * Joins: Crion_ 14[11:07] * [banana] is now known as banana|peels 14[11:10] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:11] * Joins: Crion_ 14[11:17] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[11:21] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:31] * Joins: Crion_ 14[11:42] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[12:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[12:04] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:52] * Quits: Quaker_ (Client exited) 14[13:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:54] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:07] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[14:39] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:02] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:40] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[20:14] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 15[20:14] * Disconnected Session Close: Sat Aug 05 20:14:47 2017 Session Start: Sat Aug 05 20:15:07 2017 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:15] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:15] * Topic is 'Exalted: Imperfect Circle (THU 8PM EDT) | Exalted: There Can Be No End (TUE 8PM EDT) | Shadowrun: The Looking-Glass War (MON 8PM EDT) | http://i.imgur.com/0XkYldr.png' 13[20:15] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@sorcery-q06iee.res.rr.com on Mon Oct 24 22:19:06 2016 14[20:15] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[20:15] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[20:17] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 15[20:17] * Disconnected Session Close: Sat Aug 05 20:17:52 2017 Session Start: Sat Aug 05 20:18:19 2017 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:18] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:18] * Topic is 'Exalted: Imperfect Circle (THU 8PM EDT) | Exalted: There Can Be No End (TUE 8PM EDT) | Shadowrun: The Looking-Glass War (MON 8PM EDT) | http://i.imgur.com/0XkYldr.png' 13[20:18] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@sorcery-q06iee.res.rr.com on Mon Oct 24 22:19:06 2016 14[20:18] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[23:41] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:45] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[23:46] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:56] * Joins: bananaphone Session Time: Sun Aug 06 00:00:00 2017 14[00:13] * Joins: Quaker 14[00:48] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[00:49] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:49] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[00:49] * Quits: bananaphone (Quit: Colloquy for iPad - http://colloquy.mobi) 14[00:57] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[00:57] * Joins: mattbaby 14[01:21] * Joins: bananaphone 14[01:24] * Joins: Crion_ 14[01:25] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[01:30] * Quits: bananaphone (The TLS connection was non-properly terminated.) 14[01:35] * Joins: bananaphone 14[01:39] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[01:43] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:47] * Joins: bananaphone 14[01:59] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[02:00] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[02:01] * Joins: bananaphone 14[02:04] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[02:05] * Joins: bananaphone 14[02:06] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[02:27] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:28] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[02:28] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:10] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:14] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:16] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:51] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[04:11] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:12] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:23] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Quit: ) 14[04:24] * Joins: Crion_ 14[04:41] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[05:18] * Joins: dammitwho 14[05:25] * Joins: Crion| 14[05:27] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:32] * Joins: Crion_ 14[05:34] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:58] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:25] * Joins: Crion_ 14[06:36] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:36] * Joins: Crion_ 14[06:43] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:59] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[10:30] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:45] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:13] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[12:14] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:14] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[12:25] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:56] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:28] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[14:28] * Joins: cbass 14[15:04] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[15:16] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:16] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[15:57] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:34] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:23] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:23] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[17:36] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:04] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[18:04] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[18:04] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 15[18:19] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Aug 06 18:19:50 2017 Session Start: Sun Aug 06 18:19:50 2017 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 15[18:19] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[18:19] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[18:19] * Topic is 'Exalted: Imperfect Circle (THU 8PM EDT) | Exalted: There Can Be No End (TUE 8PM EDT) | Shadowrun: The Looking-Glass War (MON 8PM EDT) | http://i.imgur.com/0XkYldr.png' 13[18:19] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@sorcery-q06iee.res.rr.com on Mon Oct 24 22:19:06 2016 14[18:20] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (NickServ (GHOST command used by GreatClownVoxPVoxD)) 14[18:20] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD is now known as VoxPVoxD 15[20:04]  15[20:04]  15[20:04]  15[20:04]  15[20:04]  15[20:05] 10So where is Ying right now? Call it just after breakfast. [20:06] 13Probably working away at a new disguise in her and Tatsuya's shared room. She's been hard at work trying to get their disguises arranged, and that's where her workspace is. [20:06] 13Indeed, there's a distinct clicking and tapping noise audible from outside. 15[20:07] 10Eikichi knocks. 08[20:08] 13The clicking stops. "Just a minute!" 13There's a bit of a rustle from within, but Ying is standing at the door shortly. "Hey Eikichi! What's up?" [20:09] "Oh! Did your - thing...?" 13She falters on the phrasing, trailing off into a bizarre question mark. 15[20:10] 10Eikichi's wearing his powder blue pajama robes again; he slept through breakfast. "Hi, I-" 10He frowns, then brightens. "Oh! No, it went- it went really well. I shouldn't have doubted her." [20:11] 13Ying beams. "I told you." 15[20:11] 10Eikichi: "You did. You did tell me." 15[20:11] "Uh, how easy is it for you to get a message to Tatsuya?" 15[20:12] 10Eikichi's run the numbers and there's no way to do this nonawkwardly so best to do it fast. [20:12] 13She jabs a finger into his chest. "And don't you forget it, buster." 13At Tatsuya's name, it's her turn to frown. "Ah. Pretty easy, I guess? What's up?" 15[20:16] "I guess, just, how is he? Is he free to... eat? At some point." 10Eikichi rubs the back of his neck. [20:19] 13Ying: "He's... yeah." 13She sounds sort of deflated. "Like, right now, or in a couple hours? If it's an emergency - we've been working on this, this thing--" 15[20:20] 10Now Eikichi's also visibly unhappy. "No, it's not urgent or anything, I just." 15[20:21] "I miss him." [20:21] 13Ying: "Okay." 13She nods with an air of understanding. "I'll get him out. Come back around dinner time, he should be ready then." 15[20:22] "Okay. Thank you." [20:25] 13Ying: "I'll see you tomorrow, probably! Halfway through your outfit, hopefully I can finish it then." 13She forces a smile through - yeah, it's awkward, but this shouldn't be sad! 15[20:26] "I'm looking forward to it!" 10Pretending to be other people is fun! [20:27] *** [20:32] 6It's almost six when Tatsuya emerges for the first time in over a week. Ying's had a busy stretch, which she has dutifully informed him of in their shared notebook: disguise business, a surgery, something about the arena - he skims for the highlights but closes it up after writing THANKS in capital letters underneath it. Did the homework, teach. Don't quiz me, please. [20:32] 6He almost forgets to put her wig back into the kit, but his reflection catches just before he heads out. That would've been embarassing. He's in his usual coat-and-dagger garb when he re-enters their common area. 14[20:33] * Joins: Crion_ 15[20:33] 10Eikichi's there. "Tatsuya!" [20:33] 6Tatsuya: "Hey, man. What's happening? Been a while." 15[20:34] 10Eikichi: "A lot of stuff. Do you want to get dinner?" [20:37] 6He seems pretty relaxed for a guy who hasn't been in existence for a while. "Sure. Nothing near the Brood Market, I'm pretty sure they'd still have my posters up, but anywhere else is fine." 15[20:38] 10Eikichi: "We could eat in. Go up on the ship so we still get fresh air and a view of the city." [20:38] 6Tatsuya: "Sure. Be good to see it again." [20:39] 6He pauses. "By 'it' I mean the ship, I think." 15[20:39] 10Let's just blow right past that. "Alright, we'll walk back to the skydock and grab something on the way." 10What's Tatsuya in the mood for? [20:41] 6Crab rangoon. Not just crab rangoon - you can't make a meal out of that - but as long as he gets some, he'll be happy. 15[20:45] 10Ugh, that stuff's just all cream cheese anyway. Eikichi gets some of those fried dumplings Tatsuya loves, and a pile of pork ribs, some fried rice, some noodles, some chicken with a sweet and sour sauce... he ends up buying way too much food and the two of them have to work together to carry it to the ship. [20:45] 6That's good. Tatsuya hasn't eaten in a week! Ha ha ha. 15[20:45] 10Ha. 15[20:47] "There's a great breeze on the upper deck, it's a weather pattern from way out in the Province so it doesn't even smell like garbage. We could have a night picnic!" [20:49] 6Tatsuya's grinning easily. "You know, I genuinely forgot that half of Nexus smelled like trash. It's funny what you forget when you're away, right? A picnic sounds great, though." 15[20:50] 10Soon the two of them are boarding the Heavensward, talking about the last time Eikichi ate way too much in Nexus and spent the entire next day trying to mix milk of magnesia in bed. 08[20:51] 4They'll run into Ir on the second deck, having just dressed from getting out of the bath. "Oh, hey Eikichi, wh--!!" [20:52] 4She takes a couple steps towards Tatsuya like she's going to hug him, thinks the better of it, and then over-casually leans against a nearby doorway. Gotta play it cool, Ir. "Hey, Tatsuya. Long time no see." [20:53] 6Tatsuya: "Hey, Ir! It's good! To see you! Hello!" 6He is not blushing. He's not. 15[20:55] 10Awwwww. You guys. 15[20:55] 10Eikichi: "Oh wow this is perfect. Ir, help us eat this too much food we bought." [20:55] 4Ir's thoughts immediately turn to what's most important after a good workout: "What's in the bag?" [20:55] "Oh hell yes." [20:56] 4Where are they going to eat? Up on the deck or in the public area/bar/kitchen they've got on the reardeck? 15[20:56] 10If there's three of them, it'd make the most sense to eat at the reardeck. Maybe there's a table on the balcony? [20:57] 4Yup. 15[20:57] 10There we go. Everyone's got all the food laid out in record time. [20:57] 4Plus Ir can pop into the kitchen and whip up some more stuff if they run out of food. She's been keeping the Heavensward stocked now that they're in a city. 15[20:57] 10You can never have too much food, says someone who frequently eats too much food. 15[20:59] 10Eikichi: "So how much do you know about what we've been up to?" [21:00] 4Ir's already got a plate of chicken and rice, and is frowning as she tastes the sauce. "What is this stuff? Nexus street food?" [21:01] "I feel like I've tasted this sauce before..." 15[21:01] 10Eikichi: "Yeah. I forget where they say it's from, but it's from Nexus." [21:02] 6Tatsuya pauses from shovelling crab rangoon into his mouth. "Hmm," 6he says, swallowing. He specifically said 'don't quiz me, teach.' "Uh. There was a surgery. She did a surgery, and it went well. She's been working on disguises for everybody - which sounds pretty cool, actually, maybe I should ask her for one for me? - And, uh, something about the arena." 6He shrugs. "Sounded like everything was going pretty well. Nothing [21:02] too dangerous or, in need of my skills over hers." [21:03] "She's got us writing in a notebook so we both know what's going on. Says it's better than just, trying to remember whatever the other one was up to." [21:03] 6He goes back to the crab rangoon. Munch, munch. "Can't say I see much of a difference. I got the important bits." 15[21:04] 10Eikichi: "Our disguises are just how you dress normally anyway." 15[21:04] "You can't really wear MORE black." [21:05] 6Tatsuya: "Watch me, man. I'll get some big old cloak that hides my face, blacker than black." [21:06] "Step up behind somebody, all" 6He deepens his voice. "Taaaax evaaaasiooooon" 15[21:06] 10Eikichi chokes on his rice. 15[21:07] "We had a guy like that in the hotel the other day. Looking for the guy Ying saved." [21:09] 6Tatsuya: "Oh! I actually read that bit. She said he was a big idiot baby that was the most credulous moron in the world and knocked himself out by being dumb and bad." [21:09] 4Ir swipes one of the fried dumplings and pops it in her mouth. After a moment: "Holy shit!" 15[21:09] "That doesn't... sound like Ying." [21:09] "Tatsuya, what is this?!" [21:10] 6Tatsuya: "I'm paraphrasing. The dumb and bad part is real, though." 6To Ir: "What, crab rangoon? It's like, fried cream cheese and crab, it's the best shit in the world. Like, one of those things you shouldn't eat, because it'll kill ya, but it's also delicious enough that nobody cares." [21:11] 4Ir: "There's crab in this?!" 15[21:11] "They SAY there's crab, but I've never seen them prove it." [21:12] 6Tatsuya: "There's definitely crab in there. Probably." [21:14] "Why would they call it crab rangoon without crab in there? That's ridiculous." [21:14] "You get the rangoon together and you put the crab into it. Easy." [21:15] 4Ir: "What's a rangoon, anyway?" [21:15] 6Tatsuya: "It's the part of crab rangoon that aren't crab." 08[21:16] 4To Eikichi: "No part of the name makes sense and it's just wholly made up to sound more foreign and exotic than 'fried cheese dumpling,' isn't it?" 15[21:16] 10Eikichi: "Greatest city in the world!" 15[21:17] "Ir's going to fight tyrant lizards, by the way." [21:18] "Yep. Multiple. Two." [21:19] 6Tatsuya: "Dude, nice. Hey, have you ever cooked tyrant lizard meat?" [21:20] "I suddenly have the opportunity to know how it tastes, and honestly? I'm curious." 15[21:20] "It's a no-kill match, I think." [21:21] "Aww. That's probably for the best, though." 6He makes a face that is remarkably reminiscent of Ying's. "Ying would hate it." [21:21] 4Ir: "Yeah, when you've got a pair of twin tyrant lizards -- not actually twins, but that's marketing for you -- you milk that as long as possible." [21:22] 6Tatsuya: "Oh, man, those are still going? Or, wait, I guess it's not like crowds could tell the difference. Man, I wonder how long the twin lizards bit has been running." 15[21:24] 10Eikichi pokes at his food a while before putting the sticks down. "Ir's not the only one who got on the arena circuit, actually." [21:25] 4Ir doesn't notice. She's too busy examining the inside of a "rangoon." "Yeah. We're not the only Chosen in town." [21:26] 6Tatsuya: "Wait, it's not Ying, is it? She wrote that she was thinking about it and I don't think she wrote anything else." 15[21:26] 10Eikichi: "No, it's me." [21:27] 4That gets her to look up. "You're joining the arena, too?" 15[21:28] 10Eikichi: "I already did. Ever since the Linchpin broke I've been trying to practice with, uh, that sword we got off a Cathak overseer in the hedgehog. Zantetsuken." 15[21:29] "It claims to be the sword that was wielded by the person who invented Single Point Shining Into the Void style." 15[21:29] "And I don't know if it is, but, it knows the style, and I've been practicing with it." [21:30] 4Ir: "Well, shit! Why didn't you tell me?? I would've gone! Who'd you fight first??" 15[21:30] "And I wanted to try actually fighting. But I didn't want to spar with a daiklave, and I didn't want to just, go pick fights with random thieves or whatever. That'd just make trouble." 15[21:31] "And I felt weird signing up for the arena. It felt ridiculous for me to do. So I asked Ying for help." 08[21:31] 6Ying didn't mention Eikichi fighting... Tatsuya's picking over vague memories of events and nothing's clicking. "You- huh?" 15[21:31] "And Ying helped me, um. Make a disguise. Put a game face on." 15[21:31] "In the arena, I go by 'Wild Rose'." [21:32] 4Ir's jaw drops. [21:32] 4... [21:32] 4A bit quieter: "Well, I guess a bunch of stuff makes a lot more sense now." [21:32] "I thought I'd seen that sword somewhere before." 15[21:32] 10Also quieter: "Yeah." 08[21:32] 6Wild Rose, Wild Rose, wait, Ying did mention her. She was - huh. She was. There's a brief pause, then: "I guess it makes sense you asked Ying." 15[21:33] "Ying disguised it a little - sword hated that. But like... a reaper daiklave's a reaper daiklave, you know? There's only so much you can do." [21:33] 6Tatsuya's massaging his forehead. "I have an uncontrollable urge to tell you I was doing my best, all of a sudden." 15[21:34] 10Eikichi: "She did. She did do her best." 08[21:34] 6Tatsuya: "Well, shit. How'd it go, then? The Wild Rose thing." 15[21:35] 10To Ir: "Sorry, I should've said something sooner. It just kind of got away from me." [21:35] 4Ir's first, extremely unkind reaction is to ask if, out of Blossom and Ying, she was the only one not in on it, and how much of an idiot she must have looked like, and did they have a good laugh about it when she was out of the room -- but she doesn't do any of those things, and buries those thoughts. Instead: 15[21:35] 10To Tatsuya: "I mean. I won all my fights." [21:35] "So that sword wants to kill, huh?" 15[21:35] 10Eikichi: "Yyyyeah." [21:35] "I noticed Rose -- you -- fighting with it a little." 15[21:35] "Single Point's not a, uh, friendly style." [21:35] "That it is not." 15[21:35] "I don't like it very much." 15[21:36] "But I hate being helpless more. So." [21:36] "We had a practitioner in the Heavenswatch back up in Pneuma. Nasty piece of work. Had a sword he called 'Angel.' He was really into cheap, surface-level irony." 15[21:37] "He and Zantetsuken would get along really well." [21:37] 4Ir: "Yeah, I'm thinking that would be a problem." 15[21:38] 10Eikichi: "Yeah." [21:38] "Anyway, this is good -- you can spar with me with it without having to worry about sword-guy taking over and chopping me in half." 15[21:38] 10Eikichi: "Iiii don't wanna fight you." [21:38] 4Ir shrugs. "Fair enough. I guess you've got Sondok, anyway." 08[21:39] 6Tatsuya's still processing. "Man." 6He looks back up to Eikichi. "So... are you Wild Rose?" [21:40] 4Ir: "That's what he said." 15[21:40] 10Eikichi: "This is why I signed up for the Arena in the first place. I don't want to take a sword to someone I have to look in the eye afterwards. I don't want to take a sword to someone unless they should be dead, but I can't do that either." 15[21:41] "That's... not what he meant." 15[21:41] "And please don't ask me that. I don't have an answer for you." [21:41] 4Ir looks up. "What?" 4She looks over at Tatsuya. "Oh." [21:41] "Oh." [21:42] "...Well this meal got heavy." 15[21:42] "It's the cream cheese." [21:42] 6Tatsuya: "Okay." 6He grabs a forkful of fried rice. "Guess I'd better switch, then." 15[21:43] "Switch?" [21:44] 6Tatsuya: "To something else. I was eating crab rangoon before," 6he shrugs. "Bad joke." 15[21:44] "Oh. No I just thought you meant- no it's fine, I just didn't get it." 15[21:45] "Anyway I told Blossom yesterday and I told you guys today. Now everybody who deserves to know knows." [21:45] 6Tatsuya: "...do you want her out? We've been working on this, this thing..." 15[21:45] "No." 08[21:45] 4Ir: "...Thank you, Eikichi. For telling me." [21:45] "I'm happy you trust me enough for that." 15[21:45] 10Eikichi: "It'd be shitty not to." [21:46] 4She abruptly stands. "Now, I'm going to get something from the kitchen." [21:46] 4She'll return with gin and some juices. [21:47] "Anyone want a drink?" [21:47] 6Tatsuya: "Yeah. I haven't had anything in a week." 15[21:47] 10Eikichi: "I would love a drink." [21:48] 4Ir: "There's a couple different things you can make with this -- I just grabbed all the juices we had lying around. Usually I just prefer a bit of lime and some tonic water." 15[21:50] 10Is there mango here? [21:50] 6Tatsuya: "Anything cherry? I like a good cherry drink." [21:51] 4There is. [21:52] 4Ir's got some cherry liquer in the back; she'll go grab it. [21:56] 7From belowdecks: "Ir, is that you? Something smells good!" 08[21:57] 4Ir: "No, but it will be soon. Eikichi and Tatsuya got street food." [21:58] "And it turns out we've got the cream cheese leftover from something I made for breakfast for me to try my hand at, uh, 'crab rangoon.'" [22:01] 7Blossom hoists herself up by one arm through a hatch into view of the other three Solars. Under her arm she has a large, crude lump of bronze, shaped into a sort of deep bowl. [22:01] "Hey, Tatsuya! You're back!" [22:02] 6Tatsuya: "Yeah! You know, thought I'd make sure y'all hadn't burned everything down while I was out. Ying said you hadn't, but it's good to see it for myself." [22:03] "What's a rangoon?" 15[22:03] 10Eikichi's mixing gin and mango juice. "Nobody knows. Where'd you get that bronze from?" [22:04] 6Tatsuya: "It's the part of crab rangoon that isn't crab! It's not difficult!" 15[22:04] "None of it is crab!" [22:04] 6Tatsuya: "Then the rest of it is rangoon!" [22:05] 4Ir, from the kitchen: "Which is good, because we don' [22:05] t have crab." [22:07] 7Blossom tosses the bowl in her hands a bit. "Made it out of some scrap tin and some copper leftover from the head." 15[22:09] "You made it? Did you just squeeze the tin and copper together really hard until they alloyed?" [22:10] "Of course not. I melted it in the forge, then I squeezed them together until they alloyed." 15[22:10] 10Eikichi heaves a sigh. [22:10] 6Tatsuya: "What, with your bare hands?" [22:12] 7Blossom: "Right. Fire stopped bothering me... back in the Hedgehog, remember? Although making the bronze was pretty uncomfortable. I suppose a hotter flame might actually hurt me." [22:13] 4Ir: "Nice." 15[22:13] "You might even have to wear gloves." [22:14] 6Tatsuya: "Oh! Ying had this design for-" 6his eyebrows raise up and he abruptly stops talking. 15[22:16] 10Eikichi: "?" [22:18] 6Tatsuya: "That's. Her thing. Uh. It's complicated?" 6He nods towards Blossom. "You should ask her about gloves when she gets back." 15[22:20] 10Eikichi: "What's the bowl for, anyway?" 14[22:26] * Joins: mattbaby [22:27] 7Blossom: "It's not a bowl." [22:27] 7She scowls at it. "I'm not sure what it is." 15[22:28] "What do you mean?" [22:28] 7Blossom: "You know that old joke about the easy way to sculpt a yeddim? How you start with a block of marble and take away everything that doesn't look like a yeddim?" 15[22:29] 10Eikichi: "Yeah." [22:29] 6Tatsuya: "Oh! Like the crab rangoon!" [22:29] "I've got this... shape, or something. In my head. Sort of halfway between an idea and a feeling, I guess. And I'm molding this stupid chunk of bronze until I can get the shape out of my head and into the metal." 15[22:32] 10Eikichi: "Well set it down for a while and eat with us." [22:33] "Hmph." 7But she does set it down, and skeptically take a bit of "crab". [22:34] 6It's delicious, even if there's very little crab in it. 15[22:34] 10It's so fatty! 08[22:34] 4Ir's begun frying her own attempts. Rather than the triangle shapes of the ones Eikichi and Tatsuya brought, she's trying a flared pouch shape. [22:40] "Where did you say you got these, Tatsuya?" 08[22:41] 6Tatsuya: "Oh, Eikichi got 'em. Street food, I think, just. Wander Nexus and this stuff comes to you." 15[22:43] "Yeah there's a stall that had all this stuff between the hotel and the skydock." [22:46] "Hmm." 7This is definitely leftover restaurant stock in a pastry pouch. Oh well. "Is that all you've been doing today?" 15[22:47] 10Eikichi: "I did some sword drills before lunch and I spent the afternoon working on the stink curse." [22:47] 6Tatsuya: "Ying was working on outfits. The handoff takes work, you know?" 08[22:50] 7Blossom, interested: "Does it?" 7She looks over at Eikichi. "Can we do something about that?" 15[22:51] 10Eikichi: "Something about what?" [22:55] "The handoff. You know, between Tatsuya and Ying. Something that can be done in an instant, rather than hours." [22:55] "Maybe give Ying a real body of her own, too?" 15[22:56] 10Eikichi: "I don't think that's the slow part. They have to meditate through it. Maybe they could find a faster way to do that but I don't think we could do it for them." [22:57] 6Tatsuya: "Uh, well. You see, ah." 6He's sweating a bit. "Give me a minute." [22:57] 4Ir: "Feel like you probably want to check with the big guy in the sky before splitting them up, too. Wouldn't Ying need her own exaltation?" 15[22:57] "Iiii'm not sure we could give them separate bodies, though. They only have one anima." [22:57] 6He strolls off belowdecks. [22:57] "Yeah, that." 15[22:59] "What we could do is give them each their own shape in the same body. Like, you know, those stories about sorcerers cursing someone to turn into a frog or something. It'd be more complicated but there's no reason we couldn't 'curse' Tatsuya to turn into Ying and 'curse' Ying to turn into Tatsuya." [22:59] "That sounds idea-- where'd he go?" 15[23:00] "Ying's almost a fulm shorter than Tatsuya. That can't be good for their back." 15[23:04] 10Eikichi: "Actually, while Tatsuya's gone I'm gonna--" 10he gets up and walks out of the bar, in the direction of the nearest head. 14[23:05] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 08[23:05] 4Once they're gone, to Blossom: "So Eikichi's Wild Rose." 08[23:05] "Or Wild Rose is Eikichi." [23:06] 4She downs the rest of her drink while moving the rangoon around in the oil. "Guess that narrows our social circle back down again." [23:06] "Swear to the Sun, you better not secretly be Swan." [23:08] "Oh, good, he told you. Ying and I don't have to bludgeon him." [23:08] "Well. Not for that, anyway." [23:12] 7She snorts. "So, what do you think?" [23:13] 4Ir: "Of what? Your not-bowl? Pretty cool." 08[23:14] "No! Of--" 7She waves vaguely. "Eikichi and Wild Rose." [23:17] 4Ir: "I think it's fine, though I'm not gonna say I wasn't a little hurt by the whole thing. And being the last to be told. But that makes sense." 08[23:17] "And if Eikichi wants to be Wild Rose all the time, that's fine too. Though she might want to come to terms with that idiot sword, first." [23:18] "I get bad vibes from that thing. Zantucket, or what have you." [23:18] 7Blossom: "He needs to remind it who's in charge. Absurd to take back-talk from a sword." [23:18] 13Tatsuya wanders back up above-decks, with a sheet of paper in his hand. "Um, it says here that I'm supposed to tell you that everything is fine, and that we're really good at switching over? Oh, he must have told you about the thing!" 13Actually, that doesn't sound like Tatsuya at all. [23:19] 4Ir, without looking up from the rangoon, since they're juuuuust about done. "Hey, Ying." 08[23:20] 4To Blossom: "Problem with back-talking the sword is I get the idea it's a lot better at this whole fighting thing than Wild Rose is." [23:20] 13Ying: "Hi! Oh, is that crab rangoon? I've never had any!" 13She slides back into Tatsuya's place and grabs a piece. [23:20] "Weird position, having your sword as your teacher." [23:20] 13Ying: "What isn't weird around here, though?" [23:21] 4Ir: "I've got some coming hot off the stovetop right now." [23:21] 4Ir: "I'm not weird." [23:21] 13The Ying that looks like Tatsuya shrugs. "Okay, that makes one of us." [23:21] "Wait, doesn't that make you weird? The only one who isn't?" [23:22] 4Ir shrugs. "Ami's not weird either." [23:22] 7Blossom: "Ami is a sweetheart." [23:23] 4Ir: "I'd say Errant isn't weird, but he's a smart horse." [23:23] "You don't see too many of those." 15[23:24] 10Eikichi comes back. "Those dumplings smell really good." 15[23:25] "What's everyone talking about?" [23:25] 4Ir: "That's because...they're done. Ah. Hot." 4Ir quickly plucks them out of the oil and onto a cloth. There's enough to round out the meal for the four of them." [23:26] 13Ying: "I don't think I've ever hung out with Ami. Errant's been around but Ami's been hidden." 13To Blossom: "Is Ami, like, decent around food and stuff?" 15[23:26] 10Eikichi: "Ami is very well-behaved." [23:27] 7Blossom: "We were talking about how you should straighten out the attitude of that sword of yours." 7She nods at Ying(?): "She knows not to eat off plates that haven't been set out for her." [23:27] "Errant finds human food annoying." 08[23:28] 4To Eikichi: "And yeah, someone's gotta do something about that sword." 15[23:28] 10Eikichi: "That's what you guys said about the Linchpin." [23:28] 13Tatsuying: "Great! C'mon, bring her up here." 13They seem serious. 15[23:29] "Can she even climb the ladder?" [23:30] 4Ir: "We were right about the Linchpin." 15[23:32] "It was fine." [23:32] "Of course she can climb the ladder! Here." 7Blossom's off toward the stables. [23:33] 13Tatsuying: "Was it?" 14[23:34] * Joins: mattbaby 15[23:35] 10Eikichi: "And anyway, Zantetsuken is even more benign than the Linchpin because instead of just exaggerating what I was already feeling, it's this weird guy who I can just tell to fuck off." 15[23:35] "It's not out there controlling my arms or anything." 15[23:35] "It didn't kill that guy." 15[23:35] "That was my mistake." [23:38] 13Tatsuying: "...what happened?" 15[23:44] "I'd never done those katas with a live target before. I got caught up in showmanship and stopped thinking. Just, reflex. The same exact thing I'd been practicing alone all along." 15[23:45] "And then I panicked and spent the rest of the bout not doing any of the shit I practiced, so it was a waste." [23:49] "Kweh! Kweeeeh!" 7The golden-feathered head of an emas bird pokes up over the ship's railing, followed by Blossom carefully holding a lead and holding a small burlap bag that has been hastily labeled "bi rd sEed". [23:49] "There we go, Ami, right this way," 7She says in a sing-song voice. [23:50] 4Ir: "At some point we gotta get around to giving Errant those wings." 15[23:50] 10Eikichi: "I'd originally intended for Ami to fly but it'd have taken too much extra time. I could probably give them both flight at the same time now, though." 14[23:50] * banana|peels is now known as banana 08[23:51] 13Tatsuying starts to rub Eikichi's back in some form of apology. "I can't tell you it's okay, because that's for you to decide," 13they start. "But the part where you feel bad, is where you're. You." 15[23:52] 10Eikichi tenses up a bit when Ying touches him but he makes himself relax pretty fast. 15[23:54] "How's Ami been in the city?" 10Eikichi asks, rather than answer Ying. [23:56] "Warkwarkwarkwark. Kweh." 7Ami mutters to herself as she folds her legs up underneath her and goes to sit next to Blossom at the communal crate-cum-table. Says Blossom: "A lot of people around, but she doesn't seem to mind. She does get a bit antsy around certain smells, though, which... well. Nexus." 15[23:59] 10Eikichi: "Yeah." Session Time: Mon Aug 07 00:00:00 2017 15[00:00] "It'll be nice to get somewhere with fresh air but also beds." [00:00] 7It would be rude to say that Ying deserves her own hair at least, wouldn't it? Better keep quiet on that score. [00:00] "A hammock is a bed!" 15[00:01] "Hammocks are not beds! Hammocks are what they put on ships instead of beds." [00:01] 13Tatsuying: "It's true. Hammocks are a sometimes bed." [00:02] "Hammocks are fine." 14[00:02] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[00:02] * Joins: mattbaby [00:02] "They're relaxing! The gentle swaying motion..." 15[00:02] 10Eikichi: "If you let us have beds on the Heavensward I promise I will rock you to sleep every night myself." [00:03] 13Tatsuying: "Um, that seems ambitious..." [00:05] 7Blossom: "He thinks I don't know he'll make Usagi do it." 7She's idly scratching Ami behind the neck. 15[00:05] 10Eikichi: "'Make' Usagi do it." 14[00:06] * banana is now known as banana|split [00:08] "Ha! See?" [00:08] 13Tatsuya performs an entirely unbecoming stomp. "You - I need to talk to Usagi and Sondok anyways." 15[00:08] 10To Blossom: "I'm just saying if she didn't have actual work to do she'd spend the entire day hanging around you looking for belly rubs." 15[00:09] 10To Ying: "Why?" [00:09] 13Ying: "They're my friends!" 15[00:09] 10Eikichi: "What are you scheming." [00:10] 13Ying: "...nothing? Exactly what I said." [00:10] 7Blossom: "Maybe if you gave her belly rubs now and again--" 15[00:11] 10Eikichi: "She's afraid of me!" [00:12] "Sondok was the first person who liked me for me." 15[00:13] 10Eikichi: "How can you tell she likes you?" 15[00:13] "Her face always has the exact same expression." [00:13] 13Ying: "Because she hates Tatsuya." [00:13] "You figure it out pretty quick." 15[00:15] 10Eikichi: "She's probably not in a great mood right now. She's as weird about Nexus as Tatsuya is." [00:16] "Then this is a good time to see someone she likes." [00:16] "Isn't it?" [00:16] 13Ying: "This was... look, I just know, okay?" 13She sounds vaguely sad. It's a weird expression on Tatsuya's face. 15[00:17] 10Eikichi shrugs. Maybe they're right. Maybe Sondok could use the company. "Certainly I'd hate being cooped up on the ship with no one but Usagi to talk to." [00:18] 4Ir: "I've been hanging out with her recently." [00:18] "Good sparring partner, that one." [00:18] "She's been teaching me to use a shield better." [00:19] 13Tatsuying: "Oh! I didn't even think-- maybe I should try sparring with her..." 15[00:20] 10Eikichi, to Blossom: "Have you all just been fighting each other behind my back?" [00:22] "I haven't." [00:23] 13Ying: "Um, Ir taught me some things..." 15[00:23] 10Eikichi: "You fight?" [00:23] 4Ir: "Everyone fights." [00:24] 13Ying: "I didn't want to be a liability. In case, um." 13She trails off. [00:25] 4Ir: "Also you gotta wait, like, at least a day before lecturing us about fighting behind people's backs." 15[00:25] 10Eikichi: "Hey! You were all in the audience." 15[00:25] "I wasn't going behind your backs, I was lying to your faces." [00:26] 13Ying: "You did good. Er. You did well. Super-Sun does good." [00:27] "Anyway, Ying needed to find out what it feels to hurt someone. And I needed to get myself psyched up for taking a real blow from Marek. So it all worked out." 15[00:27] 10Eikichi: "How did it go with Marek, anyway?" [00:28] 13Ying: "It did! I learned that I don't actually want to try for the arena." 13She starts to spin but realizes she isn't wearing the outfit. "Aw. I made a whole - I got a jacket with my name on it and everything." [00:28] 4Ir: "Fought him to a standstill without Iscariot, which got him to at least back down from vehemently promising to kill me." [00:29] "Apparently most of the Pact folks are out of town for the moment, so he's posturing and talking big to cover their momentary weakness here." [00:29] "I still have to prove myself to them, but I don't think that'll be a problem." [00:30] 4She pauses. "Well, not a problem of will, anyway. Still perhaps a problem of deed." 15[00:31] 10Eikichi: "The Silver Pact? So they're affiliated with guy in Sijan that was mucking around with whatever Heaven was doing with the tombs." [00:32] 4Ir: "In name, sure. The Pact's pretty big, though." [00:32] "One paw doesn't know what the other talon is doing." [00:32] "They think they can give us instructions." 7Blossom says angrily. 15[00:33] 10Eikichi: "Well, as long as they all hate Heaven they're all friends of mine." [00:33] 4Ir: "Bigger potential problem than not liking Lunars who think they can boss us around: those bugs we killed in that cave outside of Tusk?" [00:33] "They're here, too." 15[00:33] "Kruthik?" 15[00:33] "Where?" [00:34] "Firewander district." [00:34] "Near the Wyld." [00:34] 13Ying: "I have an uncontrollable urge to tell you that I hate heaven, all of a sudden." 13She's massaging her forehead. 14[00:34] * Joins: bananaphone 15[00:34] "Ugh." [00:34] 4Ir: "I'm sure it's not news to you, but things are bad in there." 15[00:35] 10Eikichi: "You know what the best part is?" 15[00:35] "If we fixed it, we'd just be raising the property values so much none of the victims could afford to live there." [00:36] 4Ir: "Kinda feels like this place needs the same sort of makeover Crystal got. Preferably without the undead." [00:36] "Too bad about that Emissary." 15[00:37] "Eh, we can figure out how to deal with that if it came to it." [00:38] 13Tatsuying: "He seemed really nice when I met him!" [00:38] 4Ir: "Well, I'm not gonna say if you're wrong or right. But you're medically aware of what happened to the last guy who--" [00:38] "Wait, what." [00:38] "Oh, right." 15[00:38] 10Eikichi: "Were you out shopping?" 15[00:39] "People just bump into the Emissary randomly all over the city. I almost spilled bubble tea on him once." 15[00:39] "Tatsuya looked at me like I'd farted in front of the Empress." 14[00:39] * Quits: bananaphone (Quit: Colloquy for iPad - http://colloquy.mobi) [00:39] 13Ying: "Yep! And he talked with me and we chatted and he was super nice! And then probably he teleported up into the sky and scrambled somebody else's internal organs because he's a real jerk, but I never saw that part of him." [00:41] "Tatsuya's a real bad judge of character, I wouldn't worry about it." 15[00:41] "That's true. Terrible taste in friends." 08[00:42] 13Ying stomps up to Eikichi. "ACTUALLY he has GREAT taste in friends it's everything ELSE he sucks at." 15[00:43] 10God, the way she walks sounds so weird when she's throwing her whole weight around. "Don't be mean to Tatsuya." [00:43] 13She slides back smugly. "Make me." 15[00:44] 10Eikichi: "Don't be mean to Tatsuya, please." [00:45] 13She deflates instantly. "Okay, okay." 15[00:48] 10Eikichi: "Ha ha, sucker." [00:48] 13Ying: "What?!" 15[00:49] 10Eikichi mimics Ying's voice: "'Oh no, someone being respectful and following the rules! My one weakness!'" [00:50] 13Ying immediately stands up to Tatsuya's full height. "Hey! Do you think this is easy?" 15[00:51] "I'm not sure what you mean but... I probably do." [00:52] 4Ir: "Y'all are ridiculous." 15[00:52] "This from the woman who started aggressively busking to scare away a thief." [00:53] 4Ir: "And damn if it didn't work." 15[00:54] "It was a good song." [00:54] 13Ying: "It isn't! There's a lot of effort that goes into--" 13Oh, she looks like Tatsuya right now. Time to switch gears without anyone noticing. "Into my regular appearance, hair-for-brains!" 15[00:55] 10Eikichi: "What if there wasn't, though?" 15[00:55] "What if it was easy." [00:55] 7Blossom: "Yeah... you're like a fulm shorter than he is. Doesn't that hurt?" [00:55] 13Tatsuying: "What if! Well, it isn't so-- yeah! It kind of sucks!" [00:57] 13She's still in Tatsuya's appearance, so she's free to stand up to their full height. "Here I am! I'm way too tall and it's just plain rude to disagree!" 15[00:58] 10Eikichi: "Sorcery can change people's shape. It can give them the ability to change their shape." [00:59] 13She stops waving around. "...how drastically are we talking, here?" [00:59] 7Blossom: "Yeah. Wouldn't it be nicer to have real hair?" 15[00:59] 10Eikichi runs a hand through his hair, still slightly surprised by how much less of it there is. It turns raven black. "I could turn a man into a mouse if I wanted to." [00:59] 4Ir: "I mean, we're deep in talks to give Errant wings or something." [00:59] "So pretty far-ranging." 15[01:00] "Turning a man into a woman would be easy." 10He hangs that thought in silence for a moment and then suddenly busies himself with some cold ribs. [01:01] 4Probably the first time she's come out and said it, but after spending some time conferring with Errant on the matter, he definitely wants to be a pegasus instead of a horse that just happens to walk on the sky. Makes him feel like it's him doing the flying. [01:01] 13Ying lets that one hang for a moment, before interjecting: "...would it really?" 15[01:02] 10Eikichi: "Well, easy's maybe too strong. It'd take some time. It'd be a sapphire working." 15[01:02] "But we can do it." [01:04] 13Ying: "But we could - I could be me, he could be him?" 15[01:05] 10Eikichi: "Yeah. There'd still only be one of you at a time, but you'd save a ton on makeup." [01:06] "The only hiccup would be if you decided to have a baby while you were you." 7Blossom says, completely inappropriately. "But I bet we could figure out how to handle that." [01:06] 13Ying: "What?" 15[01:06] 10Eikichi clears his throat. [01:06] 4Ir sighs. [01:07] 13Yeah okay I hear your attempt to gloss over that but also what [01:07] 7Blossom: "What?" [01:07] 13Ying: "What does that have to do with - what?" [01:07] 4Ir: "Never let it be said I'm the only one who ever brings up fuckin'." 15[01:08] 10Eikichi: "THAT IS A LOGistical problem that we could handle discreetly and gracefully if it came up." 08[01:08] 7Smiling: "Yeah, Eikichi's right." [01:09] 13Ying: "I'm just, really confused about what babies have to do with anything...?" [01:10] 4Ir: "Someone will explain it when you're older." [01:11] 13Ying: "No, babies come from, um, relations, but...?" 13She trails off with the expectation that someone else will solve the problem. 15[01:12] 10Eikichi waves his hand. "It's really not important." 10Please gods Blossom don't say 'Well where would the baby go?' 08[01:14] 7What are they all so uptight about? It's a problem they'll have to solve for their friend! Ugh. "Eikichi's right, it's no big deal." [01:15] 13Ying: "Okay..." 13She doesn't sound convinced. 14[01:15] * Parts: trenchfoot ("Leaving") 14[01:16] * Joins: trenchfoot 15[01:16] 10Eikichi: "SO HEY YING IF TATSUYA'S ON BOARD WE COULD STart working on the working. I need to focus on the hotel but Blossom could get it started, she's a sapphire sorceress too." [01:17] 4Ah well. Errant can wait. He's probably off doing...whatever it is that horse does in his free time. It's taken the workers here some time to get used to him coming and going as he pleases. [01:18] 13Ying: "I'll let him know! He'll probably be okay with it." 13Wait. Wait. "Wait. You - a baby while - um!" 13Tatsuya is beet red. 15[01:18] 10And there it is. [01:22] 4Ir: "Pretty sure unless there's a boyfriend I haven't heard about somewhere, this entire conversation is very premature." [01:22] 13Tatsuying: "We are never talking about this ever again,"13 she starts. "but I just want to know, you were speaking, about" 13there's a pause, "me, with child," [01:23] 4Ir's gonna head to the workroom to do some distilling. 15[01:23] 10Eikichi literally points. "Blossom was." [01:24] 13Tatsuying: "Okay, cool, I just wanted to ask, how is that any of your business?" 15[01:25] 10Eikichi: "Okay look, it was not a publically appropriate question, but she meant well. She was just thinking about potential complications. Thinking... out loud." [01:26] 7Blossom: "Why are you all so upset?" 15[01:27] 10Eikichi: "Nobody's upset, it's fine." 15[01:27] "Let's talk about something else." [01:27] 13Ying: "I'm upset. I'm actually genuinely angry, which I didn't think I was capable of, but oops! Here we are!" 15[01:28] 10Oh no. 14[01:29] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [01:29] 7Blossom, horrified: "I'm sorry!" 14[01:35] * Joins: bananaphone [01:37] 13Ying: "For...?" 13She's torn between just, listening to her anger, or listening to what Blossom has to say. It's been a night. 14[01:40] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) [01:40] "For speaking as though you were a project instead of a person. I had no right to speak so flippantly of such personal things. I am ashamed to have treated my sworn sister this way. Onee-san-" 7Here Blossom uses an archaic High Realm word meaning 'older sister', clasping her hands in front of her chin and bowing her head, "please forgive me!" 14[01:49] * Joins: Crion_ [01:56] 13Ying frowns before bowing to Blossom in turn. "That's not- not the whole reason I was angry. But I accept your apology." 13She adjusts; curtsy, with no nod towards the guided situation. "Just... think a bit more, next time, okay?" 15[01:57] 10Eikichi visibly relaxes. 08[02:02] 7Blossom is still tense, but not as tense as she was moments earlier. Eikichi, at least, recognizes this - it's going to take her a while to wind down. 15[02:02] 10It's fine. Everything is okay. [02:09] 0 [02:09] 0 [02:09] 0 [02:09] 0 [02:09] 0 [02:12] 7It's much later. The stars are out, and the moon sits low over the horizon as Blossom sits on a makeshift chair on the Heavensward's deck. [02:14] There's a thin, metallic scraping noise as she runs the sharp thumbnail of her right hand across the shaped bronze she holds. A thin curl of metal spirals of, and with her fingers she presses it down onto another part of the bronze as though she were molding clay. [02:14] 7There's a thin, metallic scraping noise as she runs the sharp thumbnail of her right hand across the shaped bronze she holds. A thin curl of metal spirals of, and with her fingers she presses it down onto another part of the bronze as though she were molding clay. [02:15] 7It's nigh-impossible for her to see what she's doing in the dark, so for the past few hours she's been working by feel alone, trying to get the object to look like the nagging thought in her head. 08[02:18] 7There's a quiet sniffing noise. She would have retired to her room and broken something hours ago, then gone to sleep - but Eikichi doesn't like it when she does that. She needs to find something more productive to channel her emotions into, like finishing this whatever-it-is. She's close now, very close. She can feel it. 14[02:19] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[02:21] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:21] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [02:21] 7Gently, she runs her fingers over the metal's surface. Is it right? It must be. A hissing flare of blue-fading-to-orange lights up the Heavensward's deck, and Blossom finally looks at what she's made. [02:30] 7A helmet, with ovoid slits for eyes, large enough to cover the entire head and neck. A pointed projection juts out from the 'chin' of the helmet, and seems made to rest on a breastplate of some sort. A second matching projection curves forward from the helmet's brow, giving the piece a fierce impression. The helmet is wide all along, and seems to have been made so as to be worn either [02:30] 7full on, or tilted backward, caplike. [02:31] 7It is, in a word, archaic. No Realm soldier but the dog legions or a satrapy impress would wear a helmet like this - even the least legionnaire boasts an iron helm over flimsy bronze. [02:33] 7It is not familiar to Blossom. How could it be, when she just made it? But it seems... important. The shape of it. A helmet like this one... [02:36] 7She rotates it in her hands, over and over. No, not a common soldier's helm. A general who leads with one hand on a sword and the other around an enemy's windpipe. 08[02:37] 7Dealing with memories of her past lives would be easier. Blossom has had dreams of the First Age sporadically since she Exalted, growing fewer after she met Eikichi and stopping altogether roughly around the time they left Crystal. [02:39] 7This isn't a memory at all, this is like - like tripping over a rock. Well? The helmet seems to sneer. You can't deny I'm important, but what are you going to do now? [02:41] 7Blossom sits, and broods. She doesn't notice the white noise burbling up in her eardrums, or the white light washing out the deck of the Heavensward-- [02:42] 14Nothing the Sun's children do ever really disappears, 7her thoughts whisper. [02:42] ================================================================================================================================================================================ [02:42] PATTERN SPIDER RECORD 3192-16C-48F3 [02:42] Witnessed by attendant deity: X__Watchful_Rising_Smoke__ [Noble Observer, Forbidding Manse Of Ivy] [02:42] Event: [ ] Sorcerous Initiation, Class 1 [X] Sorcerous Initiation, Class 2 [ ] Sorcerous Initiation, Class 3 [02:42] It is said that when Excessively Righteous Blossom lived as a child / [02:42] The birds would drop flowers at her feet. / [02:42] But after she attained enlightenment over the dark Sea / [02:42] The birds came no more. / [02:42] A maiden asked: How could this be? / [02:42] Before enlightenment Creation is full of wonders / [02:42] After enlightenment it is as it is / [02:42] The child is no longer a child / [02:42] The birds fly south. / [02:42] 12As a matter of courtesy, this missive shall be copied to the offices of: Nara-O of the Hundred Veils [D/Ivy] - Agralzo - [D/UHA] - Unconquered Sun [D/Heaven] [02:42] 4By order of the Maiden of Secrets, this courtesy is rescinded. No copies of this document are to be made. This document is classified OF CELESTIAL CONCERN and must be returned to the Forbidding Manse of Ivy if found. Reading this document without proper authorization is a Severity Four offense. 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hrolf_mac 14[20:29] * Joins: Crion_ 14[20:46] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[20:49] * Joins: Quaker 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> It's night in Chiaroscuro and the shattered glass towers stand sharp and strange against the moonlight. People go about their night business beneath lines of glass lanterns, half blown-out, and the wind carries the tuneless moans of ghosts. 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> What's Xia Lan doing tonight? How does it feel to be home? [21:15] 13She's browsing through the shops that stock the treasures recently looted from Chiaroscuro's ruined sections - any text, no matter how small, is a piece of knowledge that can help her to understand. Chiaroscuro still feels like home after all these years - her time with the Ruby Reds is painful to dwell upon, and she rarely thinks about Zoatham proper at all. [21:19] 13She'd hardly be recognized by any of the Ruby Reds - well, it's hard to hide her hair around here, but she's not a raider anymore. She's a fine upstanding citizen, browsing for old texts with a fervor that would've served her well if she'd had it in classes before she fled. 14[21:31] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[21:32] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Places like this are ready traps for the naive, but Xia Lan isn't that. She knows exactly what to look for and exactly what to be worried about. Heads turn when she walks into a dusty scrollseller's at the edge of a bazaar. The man behind the counter is braving middle age with a dour expression and a fez, and she startles him by her entrance. Xia does a spot check on some of the scrolls and parchment on display to reassure herself she's in the right place. 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "Welcome! Welcome, child. You have a very keen eye." [21:38] 13A good place can fake some of their scrolls, but not all of them - it takes real talent to forge these things, and ever since she got swindled once, she's gotten into a routine. "And you have quite a selection here! I haven't seen this place before, is this new?" [21:39] 13She's browsing as she converses. Don't forget what you came for, after all. 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "No, no! Bamaz the Bookbinder has been in this spot for years. I am Bamaz, the 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Bookbinder. I own the shop." 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "I am easy to miss, though, hidden away in this corner of the bazaar away from the light and the noise. But you have come in search of treasure, my dear. I can see. Tell me, what is your heart's desire?" [21:44] 13Xia Lan: "I'm looking for texts relating to... anathema." 13She speaks quietly so as not to alarm bystanders, and also because it's just polite. People are shopping here! 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Actually, given the hour, it's not strange that Xia Lan doesn't see any other customers. Places like this aren't exactly crawling with people at the best of times, and Xia Lan picked as anonymous and low-traffic as she could for shopping. 14[21:47] * Joins: Quaker 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Bamaz: "Ah! Fine, illuminated manuscripts, the saga of the Immaculate Dragons against the demon-kings and beasts of old?" 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> His grin glistens in the lamplight as he starts packing a pipe for himself. 14[21:51] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:51] 13She frowns. "Nothing so pedestrian." 14[21:54] * Joins: Quaker 15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh... a discerning buyer." Bamaz shakes the match out and lets a thin tendril of smoke rise from his long pipe as he watches the young woman in his shop. "An academic, then." Puff, puff. "Manuals of the Wyld Hunt... you'll find more frauds than honest work among the bookbinders here, seeing as they're illegal." [21:59] 13Xia Lan: "Funny thing, you find enough forgeries and they've duplicated enough different sections of the real thing to get the gist. I'm looking for older works." 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Bamaz hmms into his pipe. "How much older?" [22:03] 13Xia Lan: "Towards the early part of the First Age. Before the Shogunate." 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Bamaz's bushy eyebrows go up. "Bold you are, to speak of such things. What if I was a spy, or part of a cunning Wyld Hunt trap?" [22:18] 13Xia Lan: "Then I would be very sad, very quickly. But! I don't think that's what's happening here." 13She looks Bamaz in the eye. "How old did you say this shop was?" 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "I've been selling books for 30 years. I've had this shop for, oh, 22, 23?" [22:21] 13Hmm. "Nevermind." 13She shakes her head. "So, are you going to make me sad?" 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Bamaz: "Ohhhhh, you have the better of me. It's so hard to say no to such a pretty face." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "I have some texts from this period. What are you looking for, precisely?" [22:28] 13She hesitates. "...songs. And failures, both personal and public. Religious rites. Any and all of the above." 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "And what will you pay me?" [22:33] 13Xia Lan: "Name a price and I will pay it." 13It strikes her that this is, perhaps, not a great idea. But at this point, this is the best lead she's gotten yet, and she's desperate. 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Bamaz laughs. 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh, don't say that." 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "Such texts are precious to you, yes?" [22:36] 13Xia Lan: "...in a way." 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sacred, perhaps?" [22:37] "Some would call them such." 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "Suppose I asked a favor. A favor that would put you in contact with a colleague of mine, whose collection dwarfs my own." 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "But you would have to travel very far." [22:39] 13Xia Lan: "I'm listening." 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "I owe a debt to a man like myself, who makes his trade in Nexus. My terms are, you will accept both the text and the debt. You will see the text when you accept the deal." [22:42] 13She pauses, at this point. This isn't regular. "That's some bargain. Most merchants request coin." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "I am not most merchants and you, my sweet, are not most customers." [22:43] 13Xia Lan: "...name your debt." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "I can tell you only what I received. It's not for me to say the debt is square - only to say that we are fair. Scrupulously fair." [22:46] 13Xia Lan: "Devilish." 13She says it bored, casually. "I haven't heard a price." 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Bamaz scoffs. "I told you. I owe a man a favor. The deal is, you get the hymn and now you owe the man a favor. It's not any particular favor. It's whatever satisfies the debt in his eyes." [22:56] 13Xia Lan: "Okay, I'll bite. What favor do you owe him? I've never had... dealings, like this." 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Bamaz: "He paid for my freedom." [22:58] 13Xia Lan: "That's a hard price to match." 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "You can see why I want you to do it instead." 14[22:58] * Joins: mattbaby [23:02] 13Xia Lan: "..." [23:03] "...do we cut our palms open and sign in blood? Spit shake?" 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Bamaz has put his pipe out, but his nostrils are streaming smoke all the same. "Come and shake a poor sinner's hand." [23:10] 13Xia Lan: "I never gave you my name." 13She reaches a hand out regardless, grinning. "The Unfettered Xia Lan, daughter of the Sun. Historian, bargainer of devils, and singer - come see me before I head to Nexus. I'll get you some VIP seats." 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan takes Bamaz's hand, and the smoke seems to envelop them. There's no sign of Bamaz's bookshop anymore, or sounds from the streets outside. There's no sign of Bamaz either, come to think of it, save the swirling smoke, the glint of his eyes like coals in the dark, and the hot steady pressure of his hand on hers. The pressure builds on her like the heat of a day in Zoatham. 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> And then the smoke evaporates, the pressure breaks, and Xia Lan is alone, in an empty storefront in an abandoned building. She's standing over an ash-streaked counter in front of a pane of glass that catches the glare from the lanterns outside like a mirror. She needs to hold it up to see the music. [23:18] 13She reads it eagerly, wishing to internalize that which she bargained for. To learn this, to perform this - that she'll have to make her way to Nexus afterwards seems secondary. 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> It's got a lot of verses and sort of a marching beat. It's a simple song; the sort you lead people in instead of performing at recital. Xia can read the entire thing if she looks closely, but the last verse is the least faded: 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> He is wisdom to the mighty, he is honor to the brave 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> So the world shall be his footstool, and the soul of wrong his slave 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Our God is marching on 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> On the back of the frame is a note with a name and an address: 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> The address is a bookshop in the Firewander district. The name is "Vladok". [23:28] 13She hums the song to herself quietly in the abandoned shop. Mouthing the words, guessing at the ones that are completely lost - she'll have to retranslate it, perhaps... She doesn't even think to question whether it was worth it as she strides out of what used to be Bamaz the Bookbinder's shop, on her way to arrange passage to Nexus. A debt must be repaid, after all. Session Time: Thu Aug 10 00:00:00 2017 14[00:42] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[00:44] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:13] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:37] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:07] * Joins: tom 14[02:11] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:50] * Joins: bananaphone 14[02:58] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[02:59] * Joins: bananaphone 14[03:02] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:04] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[03:15] * Joins: mattbaby 14[03:21] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:23] * Joins: Crion_ 14[03:58] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[04:47] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:33] * Joins: mattbaby 14[08:01] * Joins: Crion_ 14[09:50] * Joins: hrolf 14[10:25] * Joins: hrolfy 14[10:27] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:30] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:57] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:24] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:35] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:47] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:11] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:16] * banana is now known as bananaslels 14[15:29] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[15:36] * Joins: dammitwho 14[15:40] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:44] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:25] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[16:44] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:46] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[17:10] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:11] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[17:14] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:14] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[17:22] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[18:23] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:25] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[18:28] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:28] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[18:49] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[18:58] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[19:15] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[19:15] * Joins: Crion_ 14[20:05] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:18] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 .---. [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ) o / \ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 /,- / \ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 V ) \ [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12There are a million stories in the big city. Yours is one of them. The best one of them, probably. Certainly the one of most consequence. 14[20:26] * bananaslels is now known as banana [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Still, a lot goes on as the days pass, which the Squared Circle is appraised of as they overhear gossip in the market, or pass by criers in town squares, or tap into the whispers of the undercity, or just plain look around for themselves. [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12There's some sort of disaster going out in the far east - more and more refugees of the forest tribes are winding up in the city and surrounding city-states. [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12A convocation of the Confederation of Rivers is slated for the next month. There's still a lot of controversy over whether the delegation from Thorns should be outright turned aside, or negotiated with, or allied with, or what. [20:29] 4Everything's always getting worse. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12A serial killer - the so-called "servant girl annihilator" - stalks the peripheries of Cinnabar district. Enough of the rich merchants and statesmen have lost employees that they're starting to become cross about it. [20:29] 4Except around us, of course. [20:29] 4...Okay Ir doesn't want to get distracted, but. [20:29] 4We definitely need to get around to fucking up the "servant girl annihilator." [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12The first book of some kind of outlandish series of novels has finally hit Nexus's own stores, though as now it only exists in a limited printing. They are flying off the damn shelves. [20:32] 4...Oh god. Is it illustrated? 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10There are some drawings, actually! [20:33] 4What getup has the artist put Ir in? [20:33] 7How easy is it to get cupcakes in Nexus? Are cupcakes even invented yet? 15[20:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Something roughly like this: http://i.imgur.com/w35RbFJ.png [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Word of open Anathema walking the city streets has caused great controversy in the river province; Lookshy is leading the charge in imposing economic sanctions on Nexus, although they're still being deliberated on and no serious effects have been felt by the people of the city. [20:34] 4...Well the colors aren't great, but that's not bad! 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Luckily the drawings in the books aren't in color. Raises printing costs too high. [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12In Nexus, which seethes with decadence and depravity, there are cupcakes. [20:36] 4So it goes. She's considering going back to the high ponytail when her hair grows out again...it's cute. 14[20:38] * Joins: Quaker [20:39] 7In that case, roughly around the time Ying would normally wake up, she'll hear a knock on her door. When she opens it, she'll see a plate of arranged cupcakes, and if she got to the door fast enough, Blossom fleeing around a corner. 15[20:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Around the same-time, Eikichi arranges a meeting with Urden. "Now, the trick about sorcerous working is that you can't undo it, you can only layer more magic on top of it. So unfortunately I can't simply purge the curse of rot and decay." [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Perhaps the most immediately consequential and disruptive going-on, at least to the people of Nexus, is the near-collapse of the local slave trade. Auctions are delayed; officials quit over personal matters; indolent guards fail to stop escape attempts; paperwork is repeatedly lost or incorrectly filled-out. [20:42] 4Oh no. Not that. 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "So what I did instead was split it." 10Eikichi pulls the shades open on the room they're in and Urden can look out and see a vibrant flower garden rising almost fast enough the eye can see from the formerly tainted ground. Roses all around. [20:42] 4Anything but that. [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12The Guild is in conniptions. High officials are convinced some sort of curse is at work; bounties are posted requesting any and all magical aid, and, of course, the capture or outright assassination of whoever's responsible. 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What a pity. [20:43] 4We need to figure out who's responsible for all this. [20:44] 4And help them out. 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10At least buy them a drink. [20:44] 13Ying accepts the cupcakes without comment, but the next time she sees Blossom, she gives her a big hug. She also presses a disguise into her hands; Ying's been working away at them, and they're finally all done! [20:46] 7Blossom is less abolitionist than her Solar comrades, but she's never cared for chattel slavery and the Guild is essentially selling troops to Deathlords, which... Hmm. She should ask Yarara Yara if she can get access to Heavenly law. Is treason against Creation a thing? [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12I could go on about continued reports of unusually aggressive monsters coming out of Firewander, a new academic debate rocking the city's intelligentsia about the role of astrology in the spread of the Wyld, or a new breakdown in the First Age machinery to the city's east, or a dozen other things. That's the the thing about a city like Nexus, things just keep happening in it. [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12But what are our heroes doing? 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Dressing up, obviously. [20:49] 4Ir spends some time in her room adjusting everything; particularly the chestwraps, to give herself a bit more androgyny. This is a disguise, after all. Don't need to give away too much. When she walks out to their private common area so Ying can see it, she's walking differently; slinking a bit more, slightly more cat-like. Iscariot is wrapped around her hips, in a combination between [20:49] 4its whip form and a low-riding belt. [20:52] 4Ir: "How is it?" 4Her voice is high but growly, just as androgynous as the rest of her right now. 14[20:56] * Joins: bananaphone [20:56] 7The strangest part of Blossom's costume is the Wyld-mutant ears, but she endures the affixing and makeup blending. "Well, how do I look?" 7Her voice is exactly the same as normal. [20:59] 4Ir: "Nice." [20:59] 4She's still working on the voice. [21:00] 13Ying is unrecognizable, standing in her disguise. Her face is hidden behind the mask, giving no indication of her thoughts. Then she flips it up - she's done some work to look different, should anyone check, but it's still easy to see her smile. "You both look great! Oh, gosh, these are perfect! Unrecognizable!" [21:03] 4To Blossom: "I like your hair." 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "What a beautiful and mysterious woman!" 10Eikichi's voice is a little deeper, and he speaks with the neutral accent of someone who tried very hard to disguise their heritage. His cape is billowing gently even in the windless room. He bows before Blossom. "I'm truly honored." 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> \ 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10http://i.imgur.com/DCmUgmr.gif [21:04] 4Very seriously: "Nice hat." 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "Why, thank you!" [21:04] 13Ying: "She's great! She left me cupcakes the other morning - which gave me the inspiration I needed for these outfits!" [21:05] 4Ir's not sure how that follows, but okay. 08[21:05] 7Blossom: "It's weird... Eikichi's disguise makes him unrecognizable, and yet it's the most 'Eikichi' thing imaginable." 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "Stop, stop. You're going to make me blush." 08[21:05] 4Is Eikichi carrying the smarmy sword? [21:05] 7Blossom: "I love these boots, Ying!" 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Doesn't seem to be. But then, Wild Rose just conjured it from thin air. [21:06] 13Ying: "Are they comfortable? I've never made anything like 'em before so I wasn't sure if they would be too tall..." 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "I find them very comforting." [21:07] 4Fair enough. [21:07] 4Ir: "When's our appointment with these people?" [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12What steps has the Circle specifically taken to leverage their costumes into a brand, anyway? Sent missives to the Guild or to the Council? Found and opened up a shopfront somewhere? 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi'd definitely have done the former unless someone made him not. Right now he's eating a dumpling. [21:10] 4Probably taken them out for a spin in public at least a couple times. 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Mouth full: "What's everyone's name again?" [21:11] 4This Circle's almost a dozen personalities big now. [21:11] "Last Westerly Star." 14[21:13] * Quits: bananaphone (Quit: Colloquy for iPad - http://colloquy.mobi) [21:13] 13She drops the mask back over her face and speaks with a metallic echo. Her voice is a little higher than the last time - she's done character work. "Dexys Violetta, Midnight's Darling." 13There's a pause. "That might be too much." 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's way too much. It's perfect." [21:14] 4Last Westerly Star: "That rules. If we're being familiar do we call you Dexys, Violetta, or just Darling?" 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "I, of course, am Friend-of-the-Far-Side. My friends call me Friend. Lastly..." 10He looks expectantly at Blossom. [21:15] 13She shifts. "Dexys." [21:16] 7Blossom: "Invincible Scholar Princess!" [21:16] 4Middle word's maybe a bit too close to 'solar' for comfort, but whatever. 14[21:17] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Nexus has a few mortuaries and funeral parlors. The swankiest are, of course, Sijanese - for a modest fee, you'll be buried with all the proper bells and whistles a smooth entry into the afterlife might require. For an immodest fee you'll actually be shipped to the city of tombs and interred in a crypt proportionate to your contribution. 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Those things have terrible security. [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12It's very, very hard to break into the funeral business if you aren't Sijanese... and very, very hard to fake being Sijanese, because for the most part they all know each other. Of course, with the favor you've already done the city, it shouldn't be that hard for you to request the funerary equivalent of a letter of marque. And, of course, it's possible there are ways to get around [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12this all together... 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What book is Blossom - Invincible Scholar Princess - holding, anyway? 14[21:31] * Joins: mattbaby [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom, surveying the businessscape, picks out two. Simply being an independent mortuary isn't going to get you where you want to be by any direct route, after all - you want to be doing the Council's dirty work, not taking care of people's bodies in the normal course of things. That means you need some kind of inside track to Brueghel, the Evening Master, and you need to demonstrate [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12that you're more reliable than the shadowy figures and agencies currently employed. Having studied Nexus's laws and strictures closely, Blossom already knows how to put in the request for an audience and effective job interview... and she knows how to figure out who the Circle's trying to replace. [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Wait, scratch that last part, you didn't get four successes. I'll give you this, though - she knows where you'd want to send Tatsuya or someone to answer that question: certain sectors of Nexus's undercity in which the Council's own corpsemen might be given to work. [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12If Blossom puts her mind to it and gives the right secretary a stern look, she can see to it that any or all members of her Circle are meeting with the Evening Master as soon as tomorrow to make their pitch. Between now and then she and her fellows will be free to make whatever preparations they see fit. [21:41] 7She's holding the partially-reconstructed copy of the Black Treatise they picked up from the pylon Octavian was guarding. It looks suitably tome-ish and impressive. 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Nice. [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Scouring the city for evidence of the Council's own coverups, Tatsuya becomes appraised that anyone who wants to work directly for the Council as some kind of secret keeper/corpse disposal is going to have supernatural competition. Two outcaste Dragon-Blooded serve at Brueghel's pleasure; they or two men resembling them were last seen in the undercity, but not from very close. [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12It's probably possible to contact them rather than Brueghel, depending on your plans and preferences. [21:46] 13When Ying gets back, she'll let the rest know so they can sketch out a plan. 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "Pffft." 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "Pffffffffffffffffffbbbbbbbbbbt." [21:48] 4Westerly: "I'm down for whatever." 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "We can just beat them out on merit... but we can't beat them out on loyalty." 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "Easiest thing to do would be to get them out of town... maybe we can make it seem like the Sijanese invited them to something?" [21:52] 4Westerly: "So are we killing them here, or just scaring them?" [21:52] "Because if it's the former I'm gonna need more to go on than just 'in our way.'" [21:53] 13Dexys: "We shouldn't kill them! Unless they've done something unforgivable, but... yeah.' [21:53] " 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "There's no need to kill them. We can just outsmart them." [21:53] 4Star: "Well. That's your department." 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend: "Hmm..." [21:55] 7Blossom: "Well?" 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend: "Well, we know that they're outcastes doing special mortuary work directly for the council. That suggests that they're politically savvy and good at their jobs, at least one is bound to be a sorcerer and at least one of them is grave-touched. If they work under a Councilor directly they can probably count on the Emissary to back them up in a fight." [22:07] 4Star: "Seems bad." 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend: "We don't want to challenge them to a duel." [22:08] 13Dexys: "Well... what if we replaced them? Like. Literally replaced them." [22:08] 4Star: "Duels are old fashioned! We can just scare them a little bit." 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend: "That'd only work for two of us and it'd only work as long as they disappeared and nobody knew where they went." [22:09] 4Star: "We'd also need new costumes." [22:09] "I'm liking this one." [22:09] 13Violetta: "The rest of us would be new hires! Or we could try and do that without the replacement part..." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "Maybe we could convince the Councilor that they aren't loyal." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "Get them fired." [22:10] "Get them to send us business instead of taking it from them." 14[22:10] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:12] 4Star: "That's your territory, unless you can think of something for me to do." [22:12] "Pick a fight?" 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend: "I don't think we should try to add even more moving parts to this plan. Let's just beat them out for the job." [22:14] 4Star: "Right." 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "We don't need the money so we have a lot of room to undercut them." [22:14] 13Dexys: "We should at least start some rumors... if you spread enough smoke, people will make their own fire. Or something." 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "Rumors of what?" [22:15] "Disloyalty? Greed? Incompetence? Mixture of the three?" [22:16] "We can't undercut them by too much," 7Princess warns. "Too low a price proves we don't need the money, which means we have an ulterior motive." 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's not salacious enough to spread on its own. You'd have to accuse them of eating the corpses or something." 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah, plus nobody trusts anything they didn't pay for, in Nexus." [22:18] 4Star: "Nobody trusts anything they did pay for, either." [22:18] 13Dexys: "...I could probably stage that." 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend: "Gross." [22:19] "Gross." [22:19] 4Star: "This is all pretty gross, when we get down to it. What's our plan?" 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend: "I don't think trying to take them out of the picture is worth the added complication. Let's just do what we'd do if we actually wanted the job, which is convince Brueghel to hire us on our merits." [22:23] 7Princess: "We are extremely good at everything we do." 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend's eyes are unreadable behind his mask. [22:24] 13Dexys Violetta murmurs her assent. [22:24] 4Star: "Heh." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "So when's the meeting?" [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12In a matter of weeks, unless Blossom finds that irritating, in which case tomorrow. [22:30] 7She does find that irritating. [22:31] 7Princess: "Tomorrow. The city's in a crisis, even if most of it doesn't realize that." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend: "If there's one thing we're good at, it's averting crises." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "If there's two things we're good at, the second one is causing crises." [22:32] 4Star: "As long as we get the order right." [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12On to the meeting? 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Onward... to victory! [22:39] 4Let's do it. [22:40] 7Yeah! [22:40] 13Let's go! [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Brueghel, the Evening Master, is a portly northeasterner with a neatly-maintained white beard and just enough rings that you'd think they start to interfere with his penmanship. He meets with the four(?) of you in a wide and well-apportioned office that's nevertheless somewhat crowded; it contains him, you, a quartet of guards, and a figure in a dark brown cloak who's surely one of [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12the Council member's Outcaste adjutants. [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12As you adjust yourselves in your seats, having made your introductions, the man pores through a few documents in front of himself, frowning slightly. "...well. Luck, I suppose." [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Brueghel: "Ahem. You are here to offer your services?" 12His eyes sweet from left to right, taking in the Circle's outfits. He doesn't look enthused, although possibly that is just always true of him. [22:42] 4Last Westerly Star isn't sitting. [22:43] 4They are standing well far back of the seats, half in the shadows of the room, perhaps leaning against the wall. [22:43] 7Princess: "We're here to fulfill a desperate need on the part of the city of Nexus." [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Brueghel: "Of course. What need is that?" [22:45] 13Dexys Violetta, Midnight's Darling is staring expressionlessly towards Brueghel, occasionally inclining her head to listen to her compatriots speak, but otherwise she remains silent and unmoving. [22:46] 7Blossom: "The proper and sanitary disposal of human remains." [22:46] 4Dexys is wearing a mask, so. One would hope it was expressionless. [22:47] 7Oops, it's actually Invincible Scholar Princess that says that. Ha ha, what a silly mixup. They're different people. [22:47] 13Well I tried it with "facelessly" but that didn't scan!! [22:47] 7Anyway, Princess is sitting in front of Brueghel's desk with her legs crossed and her hands folded together, returning his skeptical gaze with one of utmost confidence. 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend idly wonders how hard it'd be to get Ying to make Eikichi a set of boots like that. [22:50] 7She ticks off on her fingers. "The city is being choked with refugees from the Far East. Murder is up, disease is up, public health efficiency is down. All it takes is one neglected body in a canal and you have a typhoid epidemic on your hands. You know this as well as we do." [22:50] 13All you have to do is ask! [22:51] 7Princess doesn't actually know that the overall murder and disease rates are up - the city's vital statistics are a closely guarded Council secret - but given the serial killer and the previously mentioned influx of refugees, it seems like a pretty safe bet. 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend: "Our Princess is too right, as you well know. She describes an impending public health crisis that could easily bring this city to its knees. Outbreaks, riots... the work stoppages alone--" 10He raises a gloved finger. "If it becomes a public health crisis." [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12An eyebrow's quirked for your trouble. Do you continue? [22:54] 7Princess nods. "Those are problems for the Midnight Husband and the Doctor, which make them problems for you. You need people who can go where city workers can't go, and remove problems city workers can't handle. You need specialists, and you need more of them." 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "Our proposal is one of mutual enrichment. You take on the additional burden of our fair compensation, and it saves you a tremendous amount of money in future projects, lost political capital, and the continued smooth running of Nexus's commercial engine." 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "We work, in short, to serve a common profit." [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Brueghel: "I certainly need specialists. But why more? And why you? What can you do that my existing staff cannot?" 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend: "My dear Councilor. We can do anything." [23:07] 4One second, Last Westerly Star is leaning against the wall. [23:09] 4The next they're up, up, up and to the right. Perching up there in the top of the room, muscled legs keeping them pressed against the ceiling, head turned slightly sideways. Mask turned slightly sideways. [23:10] 4Star: "Evening Master." [23:11] 13Dexys slowly turns her mask towards Last Westerly Star, then slowly turns it back to face Brueghel. [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Brueghel blinks. Behind him, several guards begin to reach across their bodies for their sheathed swords, but the Evening Master raises a hand and halts them. "I see." [23:12] 7Princess: "I am a sorceress who has spent her life in... dangerous places." 7She brushes her ear lightly, so as not to accidentally pull it off. Hoo boy that would be embarassing. "My colleagues have talents that put them above and beyond ordinary men." [23:12] 4Star inclines their head at the guards. [23:13] 7She leans forward. "Your two Dragon-blooded serve you well. But how many places can they be at once?" 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend: "In addition to peerless physical and martial prowess, our dear Princess is a savant easily the peer or superior of your current retainers. On top of that, we have something they lack outright - medical expertise you'll scarcely find without embroiling yourself in the affairs and attentions of the rest of the Council and the city at large." [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Brueghel: "But not clearly enough. No one does everything. And no one does anything for free. But, let me see - a sorceress, a physician... and this Star is what, exactly? And you?" 12This last question to Dexys. Seems he wants to take an exacting account. [23:14] 4Star: "I am up. And to your right." 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "Dexys is our physician." [23:14] 4Star: "And you have guards." [23:15] "They rarely have guards." [23:15] 4They incline their head at the guards again. [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Brueghel frowns up at Star, and then looks to Princess as though for a translation. [23:15] 4As if to a child: "I'm the killer." [23:16] 7She smiles blandly. [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Brueghel: "What is it. A demon?" [23:17] 13She inclines her head gratefully towards Friend-of-the-Far-Side, then adjusts her winged arms to reveal a frightening array of needles, scalpels, and other various menacing implements of surgery in pouches at her waist. 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "Only Last Westerly Star can answer that question, Councilor. And I'm afraid they never have." 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sotto voce: "We find it best not to ask Star too many questions." [23:19] 4The mask is still looking at the guards. "I am a courtesy, Evening Master." [23:20] "Don't decline me." [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Brueghel leans back for a moment. Then he reaches forward again, moves through a few documents. "And these are your rates..." 12Blossom specified high ones, I assume. "And corpses, disposal work specifically, are only a part of your skillset. Hmm." [23:24] 7High enough to seem extortionate, but not actually extortionate. It's a delicate balancing act. 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend: "They say that soldiering requires the discipline to do the unthinkable, and politics requires the skill to get someone to do the unthinkable for you. You, my dear Councilor, are an able politician. Let us help you. Let us keep a quiet peace. You won't regret giving us the opportunity, or the coin." [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12The Evening Master pulls some other sheets of paper across his desk and starts writing. This continues for about thirty seconds' worth of silence before he looks back up. "I believe I have some use for you, yes." [23:31] 4There's a breath of air around the room, and suddenly Last Westerly Star is back where they began. [23:31] 4Their mask is still staring at the guards. [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Brueghel: "A trial run, then. Qasha here can give you the specifics, but suffice to say you will be tasked with tidying up a small mess. Word or other evidence of that mess, however, cannot become public." [23:37] 4Star, as if by way of acknowledgment: "We don't bleed, if we don't fight." [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Brueghel: "To that end, you will be under contract." 12There's something about the way he says it. [23:40] 4Make sure it's only signed in, aheh, our names. [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Brueghel: "This means your loyalty will be enforced by magic. If you simply fail, you will simply not be paid. Should you betray my confidence, the power of this Council will upon you. This is agreeable?" [23:42] "So be it." [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12He nods and signals to his companion. The brown-cloaked figure turns and sweeps off, and several minutes - most likely silent ones - pass before they return with a rolled-up scroll. Brueghel takes it and carefully flattens it out onto the table such that the lot of you can examine it. [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12It's basically a non disclosure agreement - you cannot reveal to the public any information designated as classified, and cannot work directly on or against any sensitive matter revealed to you by Brueghel or his agents without Brueghel's own say-so. It's binding you to serve in a particular capacity (confidentially and faithfully, essentially) rather than to a specific task - you [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12retain the prerogative to just refuse to do any particular thing, and are paid in kind for anything you do do and so on, but cannot actually abuse or breach the Council's confidence. [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Contravention of this contract appears to bring the Emissary down on your head. [23:51] 4Not great. [23:51] 4But that sounds like there's some wiggle room. 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend scans the contract. "It looks like this does precisely nothing as long as we're discreet and effective." [23:57] 4Star: "Which we are." 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "Which is exactly how I like my consequences." 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you have a pen?" [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Brueghel: "Exactly. And should you... let something slip by accident, or in a correctable matter, we can be flexible in your favor. This is merely to protect the Council, you see." 08[23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12He dips and passes along his quill. From what Eikichi can see, there's nothing magical about the ink or whatever. 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What about Brueghel himself? [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12He's wearing a number of actually-effective good luck charms and has certainly been taking expensive anagathics. Session Time: Fri Aug 11 00:00:01 2017 [00:00] 7That last part isn't surprising. The anagathics used by the Blessed Isle elite often come west through Nexus. [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12"Good luck" isn't a technical term here - we're talking stuff that'll specifically protect from disease or shatter and block a possession attempt or whatever. The kind of quality of life thaumaturgy and sorcery that money and influence can buy. [00:00] 4Whatever. Star will sign their name, should Friend okay the deal. [00:01] 13Dexys Violetta will do the same. Some of these things sound dangerous, but... 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm satisfied." 10Friend draws an elaborate loopy signature at the bottom. [00:02] 7Invincible Scholar Princess will sign neatly in her turn. 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10EXTREMELY elaborate. [00:04] 4Star's signature is blocky and direct. 08[00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Brueghel: "Excellent. As I said, Qasha - who I'll allow to speak in my stead for the purpose of your next job - will fill you in as the details." 12You're waved out, and find yourself in a side room with the man who Tatsuya and Eikichi can place as Brueghel's earth-aspected lieutenant. [00:06] 4Mmmm. [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Qasha: "It's like this. There's a plague attacking a district in the southeast undercity. We need to dispose of the bodies... and cure or dispose of the remaining sufferers. Stop the outbreak and clean the district." [00:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Qasha: "No information as to the plague's source, cause, or nature gets out." 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend: "Do you have any information yet?" [00:07] 7Princess perks up, almost imperceptibly. Doing good work. [00:08] 4Star: "Sounds fun." [00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Qasha: "I'm in the dark on this one. This is near under Firewander, see - not a safe place to poke around." [00:09] 13Dexys taps her extraordinarily long fingernails on a syringe filled with mysterious green liquid, without verbal comment. 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Under Firewander?" 10The kruthik! [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Qasha: "Well, not directly. But close enough that it affects the rent." 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "Alright. Simple enough. Anything else?" [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Qasha: "Just that. Here's my advice: don't do any more than what you're asked to and paid for." [00:13] 4Star: "Thank you for that." [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Having been sworn to secrecy, the Squared Circle - though surely they're calling themselves something else now - is dismissed. 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "Stop the outbreak and clean the district. No more, no less." 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Later, away from Sentinel's Hill and somewhere private: "The geas on that contract is very powerful, but only within city limits." [00:17] 4Ir, having unwrapped and let her hair down: "I'm gonna guess it hits us regardless of the name we signed?" [00:17] 7Blossom: "It would be silly of the Council of Nexus, of all people, not to account for pseudonyms." 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah, and it marks us, so once we're in violation the Emissary will know the whole game." [00:18] 4Ir: "Fair." [00:18] "Good news is we planned to do the job, right?" 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "Though of course that also means that, should we need it, we can always summon the Emissary to our side, at which point he'll try to kill us." [00:19] "Well that's a navigable thing." [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Hopefully, you won't have to navigate it as soon as next week. [00:27] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ [00:27] "To avoid spreading disease, always wash your hands before and after handling food, especially raw meat! Your parents, teacher, or local Immaculate Monk can tell you more about the importance of cleanliness!" [00:27] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ 14[00:57] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[01:17] * Joins: dammitwho 14[02:26] * Joins: Crion_ 14[02:44] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[04:24] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:10] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:17] * Joins: tom 14[08:13] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:32] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:17] * Joins: Crion_ 14[09:21] * Joins: Crion| 14[09:23] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:44] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[09:52] * Joins: hrolf 14[10:32] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:48] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:10] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:31] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:39] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:26] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[12:33] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:55] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:24] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:04] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[18:40] * Joins: hrolf 14[18:44] * Joins: hrolfy 14[18:46] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:47] * Quits: hrolfy (Connection closed) 14[18:48] * Joins: hrolf 14[19:00] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[19:18] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:31] * Joins: hrolfy 14[19:31] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:34] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:46] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[19:50] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:57] * Joins: Crion| 14[20:53] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[20:53] * Joins: Quaker 14[22:06] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[22:10] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:19] * Joins: tom 14[22:25] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[23:24] * banana|peels is now known as banana Session Time: Sat Aug 12 00:00:01 2017 14[00:12] * Joins: Quaker 14[00:50] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:01] * Joins: Crion| 14[02:26] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[02:52] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:31] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:58] * Joins: Crion| 14[04:55] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:02] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[08:23] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[08:38] * Joins: drinkybird 14[08:38] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[08:41] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:50] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[09:46] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:02] * Joins: Crion| 14[10:24] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[10:29] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:30] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[10:31] * Joins: Quaker [10:50] - [10:50] - [10:50] - [10:50] - [10:50] - [10:51] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXMfF1-d8MU [10:51] When’s the last time you traveled by train? [10:51] 4When Cav lived in New York. [10:51] 4Well. [10:51] 4'Lived.' [10:52] 6When KJ moved to San Francisco, she took BART until her first paycheck cleared. [10:55] Then they probably had a more efficient and less expensive experience than Amtrak, which is the only line servicing the route down to San Diego’s Old Town, where they’ll meet people from the Embassy. At least their tickets were free. [10:56] 4Even east coast Amtrak's a better experience than west coast Amtrak. [10:56] 4Cav will choose a seat in the quiet car and spend most of the ride texting Kay and the office. [10:57] 4Nix that. He'll be bringing the Bry/ians down with him. [10:58] 4He's annoyed that it's a work trip. Cav really would have preferred to be coming down here with her instead. [10:58] At the San Juan Capistrano station, the late hour has cleared out most visitors to the old city’s historic downtown. The last tourists are headed home as you get there, pulling jackets on as the temperature dips below 65. The station itself is little more than a low brick structure and more brick arches next to a long platform of pink cobblestone. Palm trees line the little lane, and the train, starting with the massive block [10:58] of an engine, is idling under the boughs of a massive pepper tree. [10:58] Who sees them off? At least it’s much more romantic a setting than being dropped off at an airport terminal. [10:59] 6You get what you pay for. KJ wrinkled her nose at the complementary ticket, but it's better than driving through enemy territory.. [11:00] 4Cav will have already said his farewells to Kay (she's keeping a night schedule at the moment, but he's still trying to keep a wall between his work and their relationship). [11:00] 4(Everyone stays healthier that way.) [11:01] 6She arrives at the station with one gofer, a colourless young woman in a tracksuit who's juggling a briefcase, KJ's suitcase, and her smaller own. [11:01] The Ambassador’s office has reassured them that it’s perfectly safe. No one on either side has ever attacked a train. Some things are more useful as neutral ground. [11:02] 4Cav glances at the woman with a raised eyebrow before turning to KJ. Rush and Buchanon are probably standing off a bit, talking amongst themselves or on the phone. If either of those two has significant others or family they want to bring, Cav will have bought tickets through the office for them. [11:02] "Zelda, this is the Baron of Laguna Beach, Shepherd of Crook and Cross, protector-emeritus of the Orange Territory that was. Cav, Zelda Essos." [11:02] 4It's not a vacation for Cav, but there's no reason it shouldn't be for them. [11:03] Neither do. Also, the only email they’ve gotten from the actual Ambassador and not her staff has assured them that they can treat it as a vacation in all but name. In fact, there were a lot of smiley emojis put in her letter to emphasize this. [11:04] 6Zelda says nothing but makes the correct degree of bow. The Baron of Laguna Etcetera might catch an unguarded appraising look - at his mouth. Everything about her screams 'blood addict'. [11:04] 4Cav smiles. "Good evening, Zelda." 4To KJ: "Good evening, Baron Anaheim. You've met my retainers, Bryan Rush and Brian Buchanon." [11:04] 4At the very least they crossed paths in the aftermath of the incident at Cav's office. [11:05] 6KJ: "Yeah, good to work with you more visibly. Did all those smileys render properly for you?" [11:05] 6(That second sentence was to Cav, though really she never looked at the staff properly anyway.) [11:07] 4Cav: "I keep my fonts up to date." [11:07] 6KJ: "It's not so bad to be taking a night train to the border. That's the sort of thing they option for a screenplay." 14[11:07] * Joins: tom [11:07] 4Cav: "I'm not sure the degree to which I trust that this is a vacation for us, but here we are." [11:09] 6KJ: "It's one of those things. We're leaving responsibilities behind, which is the same as shirking them." KJ thinks of the email sitting behind a screensaver in her secure room, unsent. She watches the platform for the coming train. [11:10] 4Cav: "Oh, we don't leave anything behind. Not anymore. That's not the kind of job this is." [11:10] 4He sighs. "Hopefully the neighborhood won't explode while we're out." [11:11] 6KJ: "Do you know anything fun to do in San Diego?" [11:12] 6The ghoul Essos fades into the foreground. While she's standing still it's hard to pick her out from the potted plants that line the inner wall of the old station. [11:12] 4Cav: "I always wanted to catch a baseball game at PetCo Park, but I think that possibility's been rather firmly removed from the list of options." [11:12] As the three barons’ staffs mingle, waiting for the conductor to call all aboard, KJ sees someone through the window of a nearby cafe, sitting on a bench inside, waiting. Presbyter Vincent technically administers this territory for the Church, but her offices aren’t in San Juan Capistrano. Is she waiting for someone? Or taking a train? Either way, she’s taken pains to not be seen on the platform. [11:12] 4Cav: "San Diego's not really a nightlife city." [11:13] "From my understanding, at least." 08[11:14] 6KJ: "For a couple of weeks, it will be. If you're as good as I am." 6Or if Wilson is, but that seems unlikely. [11:15] “All aboard!” They can hear the sudden whuff of the engines cycling up, and their few fellow passengers start lining up and stepping in. As they do, every ghoul’s phone buzzes with an email notification. [11:15] 6She doesn't draw any attention to the priest, but makes sure to stand somewhere where Clara Vincent can see her - deliberately enough that a watcher watching themselves watched will be aware of the watched's watch. It's arguably a form of respect. [11:16] Clarabelle waves when she sees KJ seeing her. [11:16] Rush and Buchanan both dutifully forward it to Cav; it’s from the Seneschal. [11:17] 4Cav follows KJ's eye line back to the Presbyter, and when she waves, Cav will nod in her direction and smile. To KJ, without looking away from Vincent: "Ah. The church will be joining us after all." [11:17] RE: Travel [11:17] 6Oh, it's the really friendly one. Might as well smile back and hope nobody mentioned that she's never got around to going to the Carmelite church despite all the invitations. [11:17] 4Cav glances at his phone. [11:18] 6Zelda Essos doesn't need to forward anything to KJ - everything that hits her ghouls' inboxes is bounced to her own as a matter of course. Both women read it looking for things of quite different relevance. [11:19] To All Staffs: The Prince has left the city to attend to some urgent trade business abroad. This is not a license for any change in behavior or non-observance of established law. Any opportunists will be dealt with harshly. A formal message will be drafted shortly. The Prince is expected to return shortly. - Rosa Isaacs, Seneschal [11:20] 4...? [11:20] 4Left the city? Abroad? [11:20] Clarabelle doesn’t join them, actually. Looks like she’s waiting for another train. [11:21] 4Cav grimaces and resists the urge to shake his head. In New York no one would have known about something like this until after the Prince had returned. But then, the climate in New York is much different than it is in Los Angeles. [11:21] 4For instance, his last update on New York politics was Holymount's psuedo-sad notification that the other senior partners had been murdered while travelling. [11:22] With their belongings secured, the train blows its whistle and pulls out of the station. Within a few minutes, they’re clear of San Juan Capistrano and on the coastal track, the ocean on their right and the pitch-black foothills to their left. [11:22] 6KJ doesn't comment directly. "Have they got us sharing cabins? I'm in.. how do you read this thing.." [11:23] "Seat BOF1. Or that might be the ticket number, and the seat number is something else. TBM?" [11:24] There’s hardly anyone else on the train with them at this time of night. The barons can sit pretty much wherever they like, once the conductors make their initial passes. [11:24] 4The Amtrak that Cav is used to has general, self-selected seating with a quiet car in the front. But it depends if their benefactors have sprung for first class or not. [11:25] They have not. The quiet car is off-limits to coach passengers, sadly. There’s a website where they can use the Amtrak app to upgrade on the spot, but if you try to go on their website to download it, their servers appear to be down. [11:25] 4Annoying. [11:25] 4Talking it is, then. [11:26] 6Look, KJ wasn't sure whether to expect the bus-like BART style squalor or the freaking, orient express here? Anyway. An empty train is a much safer place to say: "'Abroad' could totally mean San Diego. Or this could be a distraction from that." [11:26] The train softly trundles down the coast track. They can see the San Clemente Pier now, the track running just behind the public beach. [11:27] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGpsKIDd4kg&t=230s [11:27] 4Cav: "I'm predisposed to worry about leaving the city empty like this." [11:28] 4Not because of foreign invaders, mind. But because it's doubtful the secret police will be joining them on this excursion. [11:28] 4Just more room for Burne and/or Bren to operate without supervision. [11:29] 6KJ: "It'll be fine. I've had a general sense of events spiralling out of control for a while - since meeting you, actually - and at some point fatalism sets in." [11:30] The two massive, concrete domes of the San Onofre nuclear station appear out of the darkness, silhouetted against the water. They’ll be out of home territory in a few minutes’ time. [11:31] 4Cav: "That sounds like...the opposite of fine." [11:31] 4He glances out the window at San Onofre. Ah, memories. [11:31] 6KJ: "I mean, fine in the sense that you can't do anything about it. Here's how to deal with interesting times like these:" [11:32] "You set aside your long term plans - whatever you're trying to do with Laguna Beach, your soul thing(?), etc. Make sure that you trust yourself to deal with situations as they come! Stay fit, which is easy in our case, and watch the area juust around you." [11:33] "Then just.. ride it. This should actually be a surfing analogy, but I've never learned." [11:33] 4Cav: "Yeah, well. You might have noticed that the 'area just around me' has gotten significantly more important than I think either of us are comfortable with recently." [11:34] 6KJ: "Didn't you go through a special training program to be the center of attention?" [11:34] 4Cav: "I've been surfing for quite awhile. Fun thing to note about it: you tend to fall off the board a lot." [11:34] 4He grimaces. "Yes. And I've still not had cause to use it." [11:35] 6KJ leans back and squints. [11:35] "This is when you aren't trying?" [11:36] "Pretty scary, huh?" [11:38] 6Kind of. But let's not feed Cavanaugh's ego anymore. "Then this vacation is like, super good. OK. What do you like to do for fun in another city when there are literally no stakes?" [11:38] They’ve passed the last lights of Orange County. The hills and the ocean are both lightless out here. [11:38] "The only plans I've got are like.. drink blood, minigolf, visit the aquarium without a war on." [11:38] "It might be nice to see Tijuana." [11:38] 4Cav: "Hah. Stakes." [11:39] 4Cav: "I'm gonna do some night surfing." [11:39] "One of the benefits of being able to see in the dark." [11:40] "Wonder if this 'princess' of Baron Modjeska's got property on the beachfront?" [11:40] "Oh, wow. Are the waves different at night?" 6The knowledge that they've got no reception for a while keeps KJ from getting her phone out. It should be an opportunity to relax. [11:41] 4Cav: "You know, honestly, I'm not sure. I didn't pick it up until I came out here." [11:42] "Can't say it should matter too much day or night, though. It's all based on the tides." [11:42] 6KJ: "Right, no surf on the Least Coast. How much time did you have to put into it?" [11:42] 4Cav: "I put aside three nights a week, less any other...social obligations I have that overlap with it." [11:42] 6Because while it WOULD be fun to pick up a board, about 110% of KJ's hours are spoken for generally. [11:43] "Oh." [11:43] "I've had less time than usual recently." [11:43] "But we're somewhat out of season as it is." 4It's what, late April? [11:43] The doors to the car open for the snack trolley making the rounds. [11:43] Let’s say it’s early summer by this point. [11:44] "Good job keeping track! Most of the Counts don't anymore." 6Fuck it, KJ gets her phone out. She's not ignoring Cav or anything, but it feels so.. uncomfortable to not be multitasking. [11:45] "'Hold my avocado'? Come the fuck on." [11:45] 4Cav will treat himself to something from the snack cart. He is always Blushing now, and after all, this is supposed to be vacation. [11:45] What’s she even doing on her phone? There’s no reception out here. [11:46] Their blueberry muffins are, surprisingly, extremely good. [11:46] 6Scrolling through what's loaded on her timelines, switching apps, flipping past those, switching back, refreshing in the hope of reception, scrolling up again, [11:47] "What's this about avocado?" [11:47] 4He's nursed a very mild avocado addiction since regularly eating became a thing for him again. [11:47] 6Eventually, Bubble Witch Saga. "Time Magazine. Millenials. We've ruined everything again." [11:48] "Well, fair enough." [11:49] "I think they say 'millennials' like some sneering elder says 'neonates', you know? Beings whose very vital essence is puny, yet innately threatening." [11:50] 4The muffins ARE good. "If the analogy holds, they also can't stop talking about them while insisting they don't matter in the slightest." [11:51] Eventually, the lights appear again as they pass through Oceanside, then Carlsbad. At least they didn’t see any werewolves. [11:52] 4If we'd reached the point where werewolves were running up on Amtrak cars, even in the dead of night, even with vampires in them, that would be cause for...significant concern. [11:52] 6KJ: "That is extremely correct. Four years of it was bad enough, I feel for the people who stay shitty for fifty." [11:52] "World's oldest millennials. Returning to torpor every generation to de-age from a conservative uncle into a fun uncle into a nerd uncle." [11:53] Well, it’s like a safari. You might see some wild animals in the distance. [11:54] 4Cav resists the urge to talk politics. As a New Yorker involved with tacky rich people and finance, he's had more than enough of the current Republican frontrunner for three lifetimes. [11:56] "Hey, how and why are you modifying your own soul?" [11:57] 4Cav: "The 'how' is a trade secret." [11:58] 4Cav: "The 'why'...well, you'd understand better if you'd met me sooner." [11:58] 6KJ: "I'm more interested in the other one. Is it like.. a self-esteem thing?" [11:58] "Hah." [11:58] "No. It's not a self-esteem thing." [11:58] "Honestly, you seem like an okay dude. I'm not just saying that." [11:58] 6KJ: "We've got a lot of Types in L.A. and the main type is 'bad'." [11:59] 4Cav: "I've spent most of the last three years angry enough to kill people." [12:00] "I've gotten into a number of fights -- above and beyond the fights people like us normally get into -- and those fights had consequences." [12:01] 6KJ's quiet for a moment. "That is some weight to carry. Are you making yourself forget, let go?" [12:02] 4Cav: "Forget? No. Let go? Well, we'll see." [12:03] 6KJ's pulled up one of the oldest images on her phone. She holds it out to Cav- "Check this out." [12:03] "Anyway, the last time I underwent the sort of...elective therapy...this path requires, I met what I believe is a personification of my anger, which I belive threatened to kill me." [12:04] 4He'll take the phone if it's handed to him. [12:06] http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/sd/sd2-633.gif 6It's some sort of diagram with a lot of arcane terms about the spirit. A weird mix of egyptian and hebrew stuff. 14[12:07] * Joins: mattbaby [12:07] 6KJ: "This sounds familiar to something a cult indoctrinated me with once. The reification of your alternate self, projecting a soul-image which can in turn affect the world." [12:07] "Or in your case.. be affected by the world?" [12:08] They’ve just passed Encinitas. Have either of them been this south before? [12:08] 6She's placed the cult's own teachings in that image, of course, to show Cavanaugh again his successes at whatever this mystical thing is, to make him want to talk.. the iPhone has an aura of mystery and an aura of exaltation. [12:08] 4Cav glances at it, phone in hand, and for a brief moment his mind goes back to the night he first figured out the theory behind autodidacticism. With a lot of help, of course, but that was the first time he'd ever had a real breakthrough in his own research. [12:08] 6Which isn't just Apple marketing. [12:09] "Wow. Yeah." 4Cav grins as he looks down at it, somewhere far away for an instant, before handing the phone back. [12:09] 4Depends whether or not they're further south than that office building Cav helped storm during the war. [12:10] 6KJ: "The motion between Cheybi and Chayah was meant to be the 'higher self walking in the world', the thing that was you and could improve you. Did you get to defeat your anger peacefully? [12:14] 4Cav: "Yes and no. I did what I had to do before it had a chance to stop me, and then it quoted poetry at me and ran off." [12:16] The lights are growing brighter. They must be passing through the suburbs north of the city proper. [12:17] 6KJ: "That's fascinating. 'The vehicle of the higher soul will prove itself by compelling the baser self to retreat' - Blavatsky by way of the Latitude. If there was even a kernel of truth in those teachings, it sounds like you were in the opposite position- casting yourself as the super-ego, the being in control of yourselves. What did that take?" [12:17] 6Strange light as the conversation becomes stranger. [12:18] 4Cav: "Like I said. Trade secrets." [12:18] 4Cav: "...wasn't what I expected, though." [12:21] 6KJ: "Well, the Shepherds can hardly have prepared you for what you found here." 6That's not quite a wild guess - she's read the Shepherd communications and they are boring as fuck. Movements of blood and herds in the language of finance - 'human resources' needing no actual transliteration. 'Chrysalis' is something native to this city. [12:22] 4Cav: "The Shepherds prepared me for a politics that is...significantly different than the kind Los Angeles deals in." [12:22] "In that politics, being angry all the time is both a successful tactic and an unavoidable outcome." [12:23] 6KJ: "How can you even tell what kind we deal in here? There's so much under the surface. I'm only beginning to see it now, after I thought i'd played the game well enough to win a ticket in." [12:24] 6It's a damn shame that he's not actually stupid. [12:26] If they look to their right, they can see the land suddenly give way to a huge series of bays and inlets, and in the distance, the lights of SeaWorld. [12:27] 4Cav: "LA politics are no less dangerous, but they are less vicious." [12:27] "Not sure if that's a good or a bad thing." [12:28] "Seems like there's a lot of violent urges that get sublimated." 4He learned that word recently, too. [12:28] "So then you get people in plate armor jumping out of helicopters, and so on." [12:28] "Uh." 6Oh, wait, he's not talking about her. "Well, that's not very deep sublimation is it?" [12:29] "Depends on how violent you really are." [12:29] "And how violent you really wish you could be." [12:29] 4He sighs. "I'm just glad the Wilderness Commission didn't shoot up my office. Insane pricks." [12:30] 6SeaWorld.. this time without bombs, KJ hopes. "Well, maybe more of the Invictus should be undergoing elective therapy." [12:31] 4Cav's pretty sure she won't pass that insult along to Count Ma. Much more sure than he would've been back east. [12:31] 4He smiles slightly. "What, and take away the one thing that makes me stand out from my co-workers?" [12:32] 6You can count on KJ Valentine to not give out information, any day of the week. [12:32] 6Night. [12:32] 4Cav glances out the window. "SeaWorld." [12:33] "Why do I remember SeaWorld? Did something happen there?" [12:33] 6Yeah! "I wish they still had orcas. But I'm still going." [12:33] "Something.. well, yes." [12:34] "Let me know when you go. Maybe I'll join you, if they haven't lied to us about this being a vacation and I'm not tied down with work." [12:37] "Sure. Got to get that nightlife started somewhere." 6And we do need to find out whether this is real work. [12:38] Well, they’ll see what it is in any case in a moment. The engineer announces their next stop, San Diego’s Old Town Station, coming up in a few minutes. Prepare to disembark! [12:39] 4Cav stands and grabs his carry-on. That was a fun little jaunt. [12:39] What have they heard about San Diego’s court, anyway? [12:39] 4They're not fans of being thrown out of office buildings. [12:39] 4That's Cav's main impression. [12:40] 6The Invictus and the Lancea Sanctum are unified under a banner of tradition. They have strong ties to the south. They were the ones who 'settled' L.A. originally. [12:40] 6KJ doesn't know whether to expect people who speak mostly Spanish or refuse it entirely. That's the main reason she brought Essos, as a translator. [12:41] 4He's also vaguely aware that the San Diego court are the people who facilitated the church hunters who came up into LA from Mexico last year. [12:41] 4Which eventually kicked off the war, if he recalls correctly. [12:47] The train slows to a halt. Through the windows, they can see that they’ve stopped next to a squat beige building with a brown roof. OLD TOWN TRANSIT CENTER, reads the sign. A bit beyond, there’s more buildings, with a warm glow of light distinct from the concrete and parking lots around them. They can see bits of spanish tile and glimpses of adobe. [12:51] 6That's kind of pretty. KJ and her ghoul head to the door. They take a a leisurely (ha) pace, since there's no crowd to shove past.. Amtrak ended up a lot more comfortable than she expected. [12:52] The ride here must have relaxed Cav more than he realized. He doesn’t realize there’s a crowd of about two dozen people standing on the platform outside until he’s waiting behind KJ in the aisle. They seem to be waiting for them, specifically. They can tell, because no other passengers except the barons and their staff are disembarking here. [12:52] 4Uh. [12:53] 4That's a...large delegation. [12:53] 4He makes sure to link back up with Rush and Buchanon. [12:53] 6Are there any familiar faces here, because there's like eight of us total [12:54] Buchanan is on his phone. Rush is trying to look down at the platform through the windows. 08[12:54] 4Cav realizes that he's never seen either KJ or Wilson fight before. [12:54] 4Hopefully that won't change on this platform. [12:55] Sure! KJ sees Abigail Gannon, who she’s met at parties before. She’s, uh, dressed differently than her usual fashionable club attire. [12:57] Anyway, time to get off, if they’re getting off. [12:58] 4Cav will take the lead. [12:58] 4If people are going to throw hands, he should be in the front anyway. [13:00] 6Oh, will he? [13:01] 6KJ's going to share that spotlight even if it takes Celerity. Apparently nobody knows what they're dealing with here. [13:01] As they step down, the two dozen people stiffen, prepare, and- [13:01] Someone’s arm falls in a signal. [13:01] Suddenly, the platform explodes in noise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w4BH7Ix_NI [13:01] 4Oh god. [13:02] 6:D [13:03] People hurry forward to put specially embroidered sombreros on the barons as the huge mariachi band plays enthusiastically for them. Sparklers have been placed at a tasteful (very far away) distance to try to add non-stressfully to the occasion. Someone hands a bouquet of flowers to KJ. [13:03] 4His impulse to roll his eyes at KJ scampering and shouldering up next to him is immediately replaced with a flash of startlement, then slight embarrassment. [13:03] 4Briefly and nonsensically, he worries if this is some kind of Masquerade violation. [13:05] 6Baron Valentine nods to the mariachi, takes the flowers and sticks the brightest in her suit pocket. She's gladhanding and blowing kisses like they've got a red carpet, which perhaps they literally do [13:06] They can both see Ambassador Gannon shoo away a courtier holding a pair of white porcelain masks on a satin pillow. “Not here,” she says, exasperated. [13:07] 4None of this shows on his face, which breaks out in an easy smile as he moves forward to meet and greet the San Diego delegation. If the vampires here are speaking Spanish, he will too. [13:09] "Lo siento mucho, pero mi español es malo. We're very happy to be wherever we are." [13:09] 4Cav: "Ambassador Gannon." [13:10] Then, she turns back to them, smiling. The last time KJ saw her, she was ready to club. Now, she’s dressed in a long black skirt, with a white and blue rebozo wrapped around her shoulders, a huge blue flower in her hair. “Welcome, Barons! So good to see you. I hope your travels weren’t too stressful.” Her deep southern accent feels a bit out of place here, but her friendly demeanor goes a long way to explain why she was [13:10] picked for the position. [13:11] There isn’t a San Diego delegation, actually. As they get their bearings, they realize it’s just the ambassador and a few assistants. [13:12] "It was peaceful as all get-out, Ambassador! We're relaxed enough to assume any diplomatic duty you care to name. Cares left behind in the big city." [13:13] And the paid mariachis, who plays gamely on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKEm19lMjuQ [13:13] 4Well. Interesting. [13:13] 4To the ambassador: "The train was nice. Relaxing." [13:15] Abby waves KJ off. “Oh, no, don’t worry about all that yet. I’ll make sure you’re settled in at the table before I put anything on your plate. Where are you all staying?” [13:16] 4Cav will have booked a nice but not extravagant set of rooms at one of the best hotels in the city. Three in total, one for him and each of his ghouls. 14[13:16] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [13:16] 4Oh right, nevermind. [13:16] 4They already made arrangements. [13:16] 6KJ: "Casa Figueroa de Solano y Medina." [13:17] 4Still, Buchanon has the hotel reservations ready to file if things get weird. [13:17] 6To Cav: "You were hoping for a beachfront, right?" [13:17] 4Cav: "That I was." 14[13:17] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[13:17] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:17] * Quits: hrolf (Connection closed) 14[13:17] * Joins: hrolf [13:18] Abby’s smile remains on through effort. “Oh, you’re staying with the Princess La Jolla after all? Well. Okay.” Somehow, colorful serapes have been put on the arrivals’ shoulders in the meantime. 14[13:18] * Quits: hrolf (Connection closed) [13:18] 4Cav notes the effort. [13:19] 4Fantastic. [13:19] 6KJ: "It's hard to turn down hospitality like that. How's the city been, Abby?" 14[13:19] * Joins: hrolf [13:20] "Is there anything we should be aware of on that front?" [13:20] 6Oh come on, that's not how you- whatever. [13:20] The Ambassador shakes her head. “No, nevermind, I’m just being a party pooper. Better you three safe and sound with the Princess than me having to worry about you all the time. Anyway…” 14[13:20] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [13:21] “Oh, it’s wonderful! You know, KJ, you would hate it in the long-term, but I’ve fallen in love. Feels like a small town, with all the big city amenities. Just don’t tell them I said that,” she says, winking. [13:22] “On which front, Baron?” [13:22] "The amenities have great pitch," 6KJ notes. 14[13:28] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [13:28] 4Hard to tell precisely what the ambassador's problem with the princess is. 'Good' news is that usually when someone is uneasy but polite about a landed elder he hasn't met, the matter clears itself up very quickly, because the elder walks around in full plate mail or advocates for burning the forests down to drive the witches into the sea. [13:28] “Work for a pittance, too. Well, look, I don’t want to do much to weigh you down with my responsibilities. You’re here for a vacation, aren’t you? Here’s all I need you to do. Once you’re all settled in and you’ve spent a night or two relaxing, come see me and I’ll get you up to speed. The signing gala isn’t for another three days, anyway.” [13:32] 6KJ: "We're here as your resources, Abby. We'll be holidaying as long as you don't need us- but if you do, don't hesitate. Please!" [13:34] “Just a few recommendations before you go, though. Please, please stick together while you’re out. Things are better than they were, feelings-wise. But they’re not totally peachy keen on us, you know? Especially - and KJ, you know I don’t mean this about you and yours, or yours, Baron, obviously - especially when you’re being a royal asshole. Which…” She huffs. “Some people are just not suited for diplomatic work [13:34] I’ve had to send some people home. How they got down here, I can’t imagine.” [13:34] 4Cav: "I concur. I can't spend the entire time surfing." [13:34] “Just don’t jump down any rabbit holes, is all I’m asking.” [13:35] 4Cav: "Ah, being a royal asshole. The Invictus prerogative. I'll aspire to the former, not the latter." [13:35] 6KJ: "Same. We'll politely defer to local interests and make friends if we even make waves." [13:35] "Can I ask you one thing, though? As the Ambassador to San Diego." 08[13:35] “Thank you, Baron. I know the Prince has picked a better batch this time around. Now, the, um…” She looks around. Where has Wilson gotten to? “Hm? What’s that, KJ?” [13:37] "Well, the Court chose to send Barons who - between us - accounted for at least fifteen dead on the other side. Are you sure it's all good for now?" [13:38] 4Cav isn't quite sure how...public his activities during the war are, even now, to the ambassador. [13:39] "Yes, it's my hope not to run into someone I recognize on the street," 4is all he'll say on that front unprompted. [13:39] 6KJ's watching for his reaction as well as Abby's, of course. But it's a real question too. [13:41] Abby waves a hand. “Oh, that. No, don’t worry about it. Honestly, it’s the whole San Diego thing, you know. You’re doing them a favor, really, dying in glorious battle, you know. They won’t say it, but some of these elders like portraits of dead children more than the living thing. As long as you did it wearing armor, face to face, I can’t imagine they’ll try anything. Now, they might give you a nasty look or two. [13:41] But all’s fair in love and war, etcetera…” 14[13:41] * Joins: tom [13:41] 4Haha. Yeah. Wearing armor. [13:41] 4Well, it was face-to-face at least. [13:42] 4Claw-to-face. 08[13:42] 6Great! Wilson should be fine, then. "It's nice to have all that behind us. What's the best way to get around the city tonight?" [13:45] Abby: “Now, I was in San Francisco at the time, so I guess the principle only goes so far - oh, well, I’m sure the Princess has a spare driver for you. If you want to stretch your legs on your own, we’ve got our own exclusive cab contract. I’ll send you the number. Service all hours, anywhere in the county. Tip well, though. They drive faster that way. The trolleys are cute little things, but it’s only around downtown. [13:45] Plus, you know what a pain in the ass sticking to a schedule is, especially when you just want to relax.” [13:47] 4Cav: "Indeed." 4He still hasn't installed Uber, mainly out of petulance -- it feels like a full third of the e-mails on the Shepherds listserv are various complaints about NYC cabs, and pining for Uber to replace them permanently -- and is glad he still doesn't have to even without his Lexus. [13:47] True to Abby’s prediction, they can see a fully-uniformed chaffeur, brass buttons running down the front of his jacket, waiting at a respectful distance for them. [13:48] 6Let's grab a spare serape for him. [13:51] Abby: “Now. The last thing I need to talk to you about.” [13:51] She definitely looks uncomfortable. [13:51] 4Here it comes. [13:51] 6KJ: "Oh, I knew it was going to get real at some point. Go ahead." 08[13:52] “I don’t see Baron Frost around. He’s in your party, though?” [13:54] She looks around for him. “But besides that…how many other Nosferatu are with you?” [13:55] "It's just the Baron Hollywood, I believe. But they come and go. You know how Obfuscate can be." [13:58] Abby shakes her head. “Damn local customs. Funny thing about our little social circle. You get so used to complaining about how Marquis Figueroa is, or how stuffy all our sires can be, and you forget that they’re the ones with enough foresight to leave places like this and try new things.” She waves her aide forward. He comes, bringing a suitcase. [13:59] “Now, understand, I think it’s a barbaric custom. But you may want to observe them for your own safety and comfort.” The aide opens the suitcase. Inside, are the two white, featureless, porcelain masks, on a red silk pillow. 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Joins: mattbaby 14[23:53] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Tue Aug 15 00:00:00 2017 14[00:47] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:13] * Joins: Crion| 14[01:19] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:22] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[02:43] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:58] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[03:12] * Quits: banana (Quit: ZNC - http://znc.in) 14[03:31] * Joins: Crion| 14[03:53] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:17] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[04:37] * Quits: Quaker_ (Client exited) 14[06:30] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:05] * Joins: banana 14[07:07] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[07:10] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[07:12] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[07:12] * mattbaby_ is now known as mattbaby 14[07:33] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:01] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[08:07] * Quits: 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* Joins: Quaker 14[19:06] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:26] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:28] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:32] * Joins: drinkybird 14[19:35] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:41] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[20:06] * Joins: Crion| 14[20:14] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[20:22] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:55] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[20:55] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[20:56] * mattbaby_ is now known as mattbaby 14[20:59] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[21:17] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[21:17] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[21:17] * mattbaby_ is now known as mattbaby 14[21:29] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:59] * Joins: Crion| 14[22:03] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:04] * Joins: Crion| 14[22:06] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[23:00] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:03] * Joins: Crion| 14[23:11] * Quits: Quaker_ (Client exited) 14[23:30] * Joins: Quaker Session Time: Wed Aug 16 00:00:01 2017 14[00:31] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[00:52] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:53] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[01:28] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[02:01] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:01] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[02:12] * Quits: Quaker_ (Client exited) 14[02:21] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:21] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[02:23] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:56] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[03:30] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:33] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[07:50] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[08:10] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:59] * Joins: hrolf 14[10:33] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:35] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:48] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:48] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[10:48] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[10:49] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:06] * Joins: Crion| 14[11:40] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[11:40] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[12:17] * Joins: 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14[21:09] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[21:25] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[21:32] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[21:32] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[21:47] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[21:53] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:02] * Joins: Quaker 14[22:53] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:11] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ChatZilla 0.9.93 [Firefox 54.0.1/20170628075643]) 14[23:12] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Thu Aug 17 00:00:00 2017 14[00:31] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:36] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[00:43] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:08] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[02:08] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[02:08] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[02:31] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Connection closed) 14[02:31] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[02:38] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:42] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:53] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[02:55] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[02:56] * 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Quaker 14[19:08] * Joins: hrolf 14[19:32] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[19:33] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:37] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:51] * Joins: Crion_ 14[20:06] * Joins: hrolfy 14[20:10] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:16] 12 (____/@\____) [20:16] 12 \\\\_V_//// [20:16] 12 (__|_H_|I|_H_|__) [20:16] 12 \\\\\\_V_////// [20:16] 12 (___|_H_|III|_H__|__) [20:16] 12 \\\\\\\\_V_//////// [20:16] 12 (___|_H__|IIIII|__H__|__) [20:16] 12 .:. \\\\\\\\\\_V_////////// .:. [20:16] 12.:.|' (____|__H__|IIIIIII|__H__|____) '|.:. [20:16] 12'|'| \\\\\\\\\\\\\\V////////////// |'|' [20:16] 12 | |_H__H__|III III|__H__H_| | 14[20:20] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:24] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot [20:24] 12Well, the Squared Circle is now gainfully employed. 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10You make it sound so tawdry. [20:25] 4The cool thing about being the enforcer is you just have to stand around looking threatening. [20:27] 13I'm the cleaner! [20:27] 12In the guise of a pack of deathly weirdos, they've earned the trust (and contract-mediated supernatural coercion) of Brueghel, the Evening Master. They're now meant to deploy their somewhat ambiguous but definitely superhuman capabilities in service of public complacency. Specifically, there's a region in the undercity that needs to be purged of plague... [20:29] 12It seems that's meant to have been dealt with within the next two days. Also coming up is Ir's fight with a pair of tyrant lizards. Otherwise, the city ticks along - refugees flood in, agreements fail to be reached on the topic of the Confederacy's acceptance of rejection of Thorns, the Guild continues to flail about and grasp for help in all directions. [20:31] 12Rumor ripples through the city, of cloaked Council operatives searching back-alleys and safehouses for fugitives, of diplomatic tensions with Lookshy, of some disaster to the east... [20:34] 4Ir, meanwhile, is getting ready for this arena bout. [20:34] 4Tyrant lizards, huh. She's never faced off with one of them, let alone two. [20:35] 12She's fought stuff of similar size, at least. [20:36] 4Either way, not a good time to be mucking around with her new wrestling techniques. It'll be Iscariot and her golden plate. [20:42] 12Anyway, Qasha, one of the two outcaste dragon-blooded who serve as Brueghel's adjutants, has given you specific directions. You're looking for one of the higher blocks of the southwestern undercity - a tightly-packed tenement built into the side of a cavern and all along the shelf of stone jutting out from it. It's fed by rivulets of water branching off from the Grey River and lit [20:42] 12by a combination of torches and fungus. [20:43] 7How aesthetic. [20:43] 12a e s t h e t i c s [20:46] 4Last Westerly Star, however, is in the undercity, working security for...what are we calling this venture again? 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Death's Notaries, obviously. [20:53] 4Star's not quite clear on what a 'notary' is, but it sounds cool. [20:53] "I was already a notary." 7Blossom says idly. [20:53] 4Oh. 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "But were you a notary... of death?" [20:54] 13Ying: "What would that even be?" [20:54] 4Ir: "You write death...notes?" 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "See? These are exactly the kinds of questions we want people asking!" 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's swishing a stick around, polished wood painted black with the balance and gentle arc of a slashing sword. Still wearing the cape, obviously. [20:55] 7Blossom: "Wait, are we notaries OF death, or notaries FOR death?" [20:56] 4Ir: "Is there a difference?" [20:57] 12It's a winding slope that leads up to the neighborhood, which you learn from the signage and the mutterings of locals is called the High Hollow. The naming's a bit ironic, given that Hollow is the proper name of the First Age city on whose ruins Nexus is built - these people probably just referred to the fact that the neighborhood's piled into a cavern that's been cut out of the [20:57] 12bedrock by some force or other. It's a little unusual for the Undercity, most of which is built on old sewer infrastructure rather than natural stone. 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Hollow was kind of a weird name for a city in the first place. You gotta wonder what they were thinking. [21:01] 12At any rate, it's quite crowded - not because there are a lot of people there, but because the wood buildings there are tightly clustered and leave very little room for passers by. It's basically unavoidable that you have to jostle, although the people here are tightly cloaked and generally keep their eyes to the ground. [21:01] 12Do the Notaries announce themselves and demand information or slip stealthily about or what? 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10We aren't really set up to be sneaky. One of us is a giant bird. [21:03] 13Dexys Violetta can be exceptionally sneaky, thank you. She's just. Not, right now. [21:04] 12Well, with your demeanors, people are quick to avoid you. Doors close, figures take turns down alleyways rather than pass by, and such. [21:04] 4Last Westerly Star is slinking, but not particularly sneakily. [21:12] 7Probably a lot of thieves and ne'er-do-wells here. It's good that they avoid us. 14[21:12] * Joins: hrolfie [21:13] 12Tatsuya could tell you that there are, in fact. Not that there's anything to steal, but there are a few places to store stuff or move it around. 14[21:16] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend drags his wooden sword across the gap-toothed panels of the undercity shacks like a child hitting fenceposts with a stick. At some point, someone sticks their head out of a door to find out who's making that racket, and comes face to face with a tall man in a tall hat, hiding behind a white mask and a billowing cape. "Friend!" 10He extends his free right hand. "I'm Friend. Talk to me." [21:17] 4Star stands well back but clearly in sight, hands on their hips, eyes staring out from behind the mask. [21:17] 12A pale figure wrapped in a shawl recoils and moves to slam their door shut again, but Friend's blade is in the way. "What do you - I've paid!" [21:19] 13Dexys tilts her masked head slightly. Curious. Who's running a racket down here? 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A sick pale figure in a shawl? "Be cheerful, sir. We come not to take but to give. We are angels of health." 14[21:21] * Joins: mattbaby 08[21:23] 12They do look sick, but Eikichi and Ying would mark it as syphilis rather than some kind of mysterious death-plague. "That so? Always been nice and-" 12(cough) "-healthy up here in the hollow. ...been..." 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Ah. Friend says the magic words: "We've already been paid. We really are just here to help." 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10If this guy doesn't have anything to say, there's a lot more houses to hit with sticks. Friend keeps at it until somebody talks. 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What do they say? [21:27] 13Dexys, quietly: "Payment..." 13The mask should keep her voice from carrying beyond the circle. "Changed times. Should be neutral ground." 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend: "?" [21:30] 13Dexys Violetta, Midnight's Darling: "Storehouses. Fronts. Hideouts. Vaults. No point in shaking these places down when they might just be another gang's property already. Something's changed." [21:30] 12This guy's healthy as he's ever been, he'll tell you. And he's paid, he'll tell you. Once he's assured that this isn't the leadup to some kind of really strange intimidation tactic, though, he lets slip a few things - like that the neighbor across from his resonance took ill a few days back and hasn't been seen since, and that the one place to eat in the entire neighborhood has [21:30] 12closed for unspecified reasons, and that there've been more bodies floating down the channels out of the neighborhood than usual. [21:32] 4Star, meanwhile, is keeping their eyes open. Remote place. Real out of the way. That's very good for them, and the people who'd think they could take them would think similarly. 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend, to Dexys: "Foodborne maybe? Should check the diner and the corpses." [21:33] 12That last bit might trigger a few frowns beneath your assorted masks. It means that you're going to have to search downstream of this place to make sure no contaminants have ranged far from the neighborhood. [21:34] 7Princess: "The diner is our best lead, it looks like." [21:35] 13Dexys: "There first, then downriver." 14[21:35] * Joins: hrolf_mac [21:37] 12As Friend-of-the-Far-Side interrogates more people, patterns emerge; that one restaurant (believed to be involved in shady dealings of some sort), has been closed down for days, and a smattering of people have simply vanished of late (and probably more than is known, since it's a neighborhood already hosting a lot of recluses and weirdos). You've got a small list of apartments and [21:37] 12hidey-holes to check, as well as directions to the mushroom stir-fry spot itself. [21:39] 13She amends. "There first, then the surroundings, then downriver." [21:40] 4Star will start heading over to the restaurant, unless someone else wants an escort. 'Mysteriously shut down eatery' is a top three evil lurking spot where they come from. [21:40] 4There was this gelato shop in Pneuma-- [21:41] 7Princess: "This is what I was talking about, with public health workers being overwhelmed." 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend looks at Princess, who probably can't read his face behind his mask. "...yeah." [21:42] 12You arrive at a shuttered and boarded-up building boxed in on all sides by the piled-up dwellings of other high hollow residents. How loudly and insistently are you willing to bang on the front door? [21:43] 4Star is killing to kick the thing down if need be. [21:43] *4willing 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10How does the place smell? 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Also, how far are we from the nearest running water? 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Or standing water, for that matter. [21:45] 12There's water running along the cavern roof over your heads, down the wall behind this place, and presumably into the rock it's standing on. All sorts of fungi are sprouting along its path, and yes, it's just sticking to the rock rather than dripping down on you. [21:47] 7Invincible Scholar Princess: "Those fungi can't be good for the residents of this district. This was inevitable." 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What kind of fungi are they? [21:47] 13Also, how long have they been here? [21:48] 4Star raises a hand to the door to knock, then pauses and steps back. [21:48] "Don't knock. Don't talk too loud." [21:48] "Before we go any further: weapons." [21:48] "Kruthik inside." 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kruthik! [21:49] 12Many are the glowing kind, which is what allows people to live in a place so dark AND so flammable in relative stability. Like I said, you're looking at a fungus stir-fry place; there are definitely a few of those you wouldn't want to eat, but surely they know. [21:50] 4Star snaps their fingers and Iscariot jumps from belt to hand. In this disguised form it looks like a staff -- except that one end is just slightly too pointed. [21:53] 13Dexys Violetta needs no weapons. Her posture shifts slightly, but she remains unarmed. [21:53] 12There's some motion to your side, but it's just someone staring and then ducking out of sight when one of you produces a magic weapon. 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend's wooden sword is sheathed. [21:54] 4Hh. [21:54] 4Star's ready to kick the door in when everyone's set. [22:00] 7Ready. [22:01] 4Star's hips pivot and their right leg shoots out, crashing through the door with an immensely powerful follow-through. They hold the kick position for a moment, then swivel their hips back, curling their leg back in towards their body and lowering it back to the ground. [22:02] 12CRASH! "AH! FUCK!" [22:03] 4Ir might have apologized, or seemed worried that there was someone inside. Last Westerly Star is not. [22:04] 4And does not. [22:04] 4Instead, they stalk inside. [22:04] 12Star demolishes a door that turned out to have been barred and laden with a heavy table, sending splinters of wood scattering across the floor of a dim room. This must have been an easting area at one point - counters, seats, a more metal-heavy area in the back for cooking - but it's clearly been reconfigured for some sort of siege. 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10They're not naked, are they? Friend hates it when that happens. 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Oh, whew. [22:05] 12A trio of figures, shrouded in the black and grey commonly worn in these parts, are worriedly raising knives and clubs while also backing away from you. Notably, behind them is a massive pile of junk and furniture. [22:07] 12There's definitely some sort of trap door under there, and a faint green light. [22:07] 12One of the three: "G-get out of here! This is Whisper territory!" 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend, whispering: "Okay." 14[22:08] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [22:08] 4Star slowly cocks their head sideways at the three of them, the expressionless mask turning to face each of them in turn, and then slowly begins slipping sideways to let the talkers take point, while also flanking the three men. [22:11] 12That's not all - of these three people, two look unwell. Pale, sweaty, with the vitreous humor in their eyes far greener than it should be. [22:11] 13Dexys: "Whispers? Was not aware they had territory." 13She quirks her head slightly. "Change in business?" [22:11] "I don't think he meant that you should whisper." [22:11] 12Man: "Yeah, and this - up to them. Fuck out of here! We're holding it." [22:12] 4Star: "Kruthik." 4Their voice is gravelly but high-register at the same time; androgynous and hard to pin down. [22:14] 12They look at each other. "Who toldj-" "Shutupshutup!" [22:15] 13Dexys: "Pointless." 13She speaks with scorn and disdain, palpable even through the metallic filter. "You are ill." [22:16] "Smell," 4said Star. "And you, now." 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend gives them a dazzling smile, hands up in a gesture of peace. "My friends, we're not here to make your lives harder. Holed up here... fighting for your lives... getting sicker by the day... you don't need to suffer like this. You are not alone." [22:19] 12Man: "Y-... they sent you?" [22:20] 12Other man: "Then how come they didn't give the pa-" [22:20] 12First man: "Shut up!" 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend rights a stool from the outer barricade and sits on it. "I'm Friend. This is Princess, Star, and Dexys. Don't worry about who sent us - we've already been paid. All we want is to help." [22:22] 12The three are put at ease. Eventually, they resume their positions - one nearer the door, two others literally sitting on the mass of junk holding down the trapdoor in the floor. [22:23] 4Star is now crouching ominously on a table, positioned just so any of the three can see them out of the corners of their eyes while looking at Friend, Princess, and Dexys. [22:24] 12They explain: they were watching a shipment when something went wrong. They sent word for help but haven't heard back. [22:25] 7Invincible Scholar Princess: "What went wrong?" 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend: "Something came up from underground, didn't it? Into the basement." [22:26] 12Cloaked, not-sick man: "Beats me. We were handling it all careful... didn't even know what it was. It just... burst, or something." 14[22:26] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Handling what?" [22:27] 12They shrug helplessly. "Boxes." 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend: "From who?" [22:28] 12Man: "You don't get a lot of work if you ask that stuff." [22:28] 4Star: "The Kruthik came from the boxes." 4It isn't phrased as a question. [22:29] 12Man: "Well, the- I mean, probably-" [22:31] 4Star's voice is even, but not threatening. "Stop hedging." [22:32] 13Dexys examines one of the two sick ones, but comes up with nothing useful. Do they complain of any symptons beyond looking very ill? [22:32] 12Intense staring and occasional prodding allows Star to extract an entire accounting from these men. They're working for the 'Whispers', a duct gang (it's like a street gang, but this is the undercity) that deals in secrets and occult goods and has become increasingly militant and organized in recent months. Specifically they were transporting what they were told were artifacts and [22:32] 12persishable alchemical reagants from elsewhere in the city. [22:34] 12These things were sealed in boxes of mahogany inlaid with gold and were expressly meant to never be opened, exposed to heat, turned on their side or upside down, or even shaken particularly hard. As far as these guys know, those instructions were followed to the letter, so it came as a serious surprise when the secret storehouse kept in the basement of this restaurant just... exploded. [22:34] 12Bloomed, one might say. [22:35] 12It melted a few people and started growing rapidly and these goons did their best to seal it up. Now, as they said, they're waiting for support - they sent out the call by breaking a jade slip they were supposed to, but didn't hear back. Whoever was supposed to take care of this left them hanging, unless you're them, which it doesn't sound like. [22:36] 4Star listens motionlessly and intently, then swivels their head to stare at Friend. "Purge the Kruthik, then?" [22:41] "To start." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend: "The kruthik have probably absorbed whatever was already in the basement. We are going to have to burn this place to clean the infection... and probably bless it too." [22:44] 4Star: "That should get the attention of whomever has been lax in answering their talent." [22:44] "Good." [22:44] "We should...talk." [22:44] 7Princess: "Can you cure those two?" 7She gestures at the two men with greenish ichor tainting them. [22:44] 12And whoever else outside this building is infected... and any bodies that might've fallen in the waterways leading out of here... this might mean days of work. [22:44] 13Dexys remains silent and looks to Friend. 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend: "Oh, yeah, definitely. Especially with Princess's help." 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "We'll need some slightly esoteric supplies, but I'm sure we can get those." 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "And you'll have to be asleep for most of a day." [22:49] 4Star: "We will need a clinic." 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "Well, nobody's going to be eating here for a while. Once we've sanitized the space we can pitch a tent here. No need for a quarantine once the source is purged." 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "At least... not a quarantine here." 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "We're also going to need to follow those corpses down the canals. Each one is another potential outbreak." [22:51] "True. But first things first." 4Star's head turns to consider the junk pile and the two men sitting on it again. "The Kruthik." 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "True..." [22:52] 12One of them: "What're- what're you gonna do about it? I don't even know what's down there." [22:53] 13Dexys: "Best not to know." [22:53] 7Invincible Scholar Princess: "Cheer up! There won't be anything down there soon." 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend, very seriously: "Do you really want to know?" [22:55] 12He goggles at you. "J-just that you'll win." [22:55] 13She leans uncomfortably close to the one that asked. "Less known, less to confess to later. Something to think about." 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend beams: "We always win." [22:55] 12They back away, one by one. 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend unhooks his sword from his belt, proffering it to the healthy Whisper. "Hold this for me, would you?" [23:01] "Uh..." 12He takes it, uncertain. [23:02] "This one-a them Immortal Murderin' swords?" 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Thank you. Back in a bit!" 10Away we go~ 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10On the way down: "I'll let you know, next time I meet an Immortal." [23:02] 4Star slinks off the table and follows them down. [23:05] 12It's a few minutes' work to shove the pile of clutter off of the trap door, which the three men won't help you do unless you make them. They find counters to hide behind as you open the thing up, causing a toxic green light to spill upwards out of the square hole in the floor and catch on the opposing ceiling. [23:05] 12Nothing comes leaping up, but there is a plume of rising vapor. Only one of you's fitting through at a time - Friend's first? 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That'd be foolish. But yes. [23:06] 7So what's down there? "Is the vapor dangerous?" [23:06] 12You probably don't want to breathe it without a cloth or something. 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "Spores." [23:06] 4Star will go second. [23:07] 4They'd prefer to go first, but, toxins aren't their specialty. [23:07] 13Good thing Dexys Violetta is wearing a mask. She's third. [23:08] 7Princess will make an ersatz mask out of some cloth. It's fortunate that she doesn't need to breathe. [23:09] 12You slide down a ladder into a glowing, pulsing hell. This room might've been square once, and made of earth and stone. Now the floor and walls are all the same disquietingly organic mass, a tesselation of bones and shells and tendrils and membranes that never exactly repeats itself. 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend had a red handkerchief in the pocket of his suit, he just ties it around his face before going down. [23:09] 4Star has both the shell mask and a cloth wrap on underneath it. [23:09] 4Star snaps and the spear-staff becomes a familiar whip-sword in their hand. [23:10] 12There's a screeching, chittering growl as a great scarab-like plate of chitin on the far wall quivers and then stretches forward, partially detaching itself from the surrounding tissue. It's like the head of a dragon - no, the head and forelegs of a dragon, now - that's sort of entombed within the wall but capable of stretching far enough to snarl and snap at you. [23:11] 12As it wakes, clumps of biomatter on either side of it quiver and swell, beginning to grow and pulsate into... something. Worse, at the same time, humanoid shapes rise from the floor, barely-coherent people made of equal parts swirling spores and regurgitated bone and organ. 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10There's a flash of light visible up the ladder, sunset purple. Below, Friend sweeps through the anima of cherry blossoms, hand on Zantetsuken's hilt. [23:12] 4Star: "Burn it. Burn it all." 14[23:25] * Joins: Quaker 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend weaves between the zombies like they're the awkward kids in a nightclub. He touches the brim of his hat to the head in the wall, there's a razor-thin flash of white-light, and a smoking wound opens in the creature's skin, only to heal just as fast. [23:32] 4Star leaps straight over top of them, pushing off the ceiling and lancing straight at the creature in the wall in a flurry of whip-steel. Two dozen blows land, each healing up as soon as they cut, but Star is in position to do so much more, now. [23:41] 13Midnight's Darling, Dexys Violetta smashes the rising tide as they slough forward. Each kick disintigrates one of the horde, while another rises to take its place... it's hard to fight here! Everything just feels bad, and gross. She's going to have to spend ages washing this. [23:42] 4The tide of bodies surges up and in every direction -- but Last Westerly Star is already moving away. [23:43] 12The bodies are really easy to destroy. One solid hit pretty much causes them to explode and crumble. But as soon as you land, a new one just comes sprouting up from the floor before you, or behind you, or even beneath you! You think that there's an end to them... eventually... 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend takes a step back from the monster in the wall, ending up directly in the middle of a pack of the mutants. There's a sigh like a breeze on the wind and five of them fall to the ground in ten pieces. A streamer of light is visible around Friend's shoulders trailing down to his waist for a moment, and steam rises from the seam between the hilt and scabbard at his belt. [23:49] 7Invincible Scholar Princess snaps her fingers and gestures floridly at the lurching fungus zombies, searing their flesh black and dropping them to the squirming floor, one after another. [23:51] 12The tide turns in some way as Blossom lets loose. The squirming creatures, presumably reverse-engineered from the two or three people caught in the initial fungal eruption, shrivel and wither in the torrent of blue flame. Fewer and fewer of them are growing back up from the floor, and the torrents of fungal spores released as they crack open are consumed by fire before they can set [23:51] 12themselves upon you. Session Time: Fri Aug 18 00:00:01 2017 14[00:02] * Joins: hrolfy 14[00:02] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[00:05] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend continues to drift aimlessly through the monsters until he doesn't. As if responding to an invisible cue, he lunges forward, drawing his sword while his feet aren't touching the ground. Right, left, right - three slashes across the face of the thing in the wall and it falls to the ground in ribbons of gore. [00:12] 4When the thing in the wall attacked Star, they responded with the scorn of the whip -- searing its sides before curling the extended coil around its throat and flipping sideways across its body, tearing its throat open and sending its head whiplashing back the other way... [00:12] 4Right into position for Friend's blade. [00:12] 13Dexys Violetta dances in between the fodder, smashing them as she goes. Spinning backfists, twirling low kicks, even a flying kick or two - but they persist! [00:20] 12They persist, but they're persisting less and less. They're not all that persists, though - the two pulsating egg things on either side of the now-shredded hive overseer are reacting to its death! [00:21] 12From each, a spined tentacle erupts. They're slick with slime, clearly not matured, and they don't even attempt to attack the solars - instead, they jam themselves into the carcass of the overseer, attempting to pump it full of demonic vigor! [00:23] 4Star snaps their fingers and Iscariot shivers into a great lance shape -- but it finds little purchase. [00:25] 12It's too hard to tell which of these organs are actually vital. [00:31] 4Then Star just keeps goring the damn thing. [00:31] 12Fortunately, fire does not discriminate. Between another salvo of flames and another minute or so of backbreaking labor, the Squared Circle is able to scorch and dismember the ersatz hive they've descended into to the point that it can no longer fight back. [00:32] 7Since the cowering mobsters can't hear her, Princess can voice her real concerns. "This wasn't an accident, this was a test run. They didn't get help when they broke the jade slip they'd been given because the people who'd sent them these... things assumed they were already dead." [00:33] 4Star: "Reasonable assumption." [00:33] "It also means they'll be by to check on their work." [00:33] "Eventually." [00:34] 4Prodding the sizzling goop. "We should be prepared for them." [00:35] 13Dexys: "I don't think the Whispers were a gang, before. They were some type of cult." 14[00:35] * Joins: Quaker 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Cult to who?" 14[00:36] * Joins: Quaker_ [00:38] 13Dexys: "...not sure. They kept good records, good info. Useful, but shady. Never looked too close." 14[00:39] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:39] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 08[00:40] 12You're able to work as you talk. Blossom, I presume, doesn't stop the fireworks once nothing's actually trying to bite her, but does her best to scour the very earth and stone. That isn't all that'll be needed, of course - Eikichi can talk her through the requisite benedictions - but it's a start. [00:40] 12And beyond that, the Circle's going to need to round up any of the other infected, dispose of the corpses of any who've succumbed, hunt down anything that might've spawned or sprouted as a result... grisly work. But even that's not the main thing. [00:41] 12The main thing - which they've been contractually bound to do - is to make sure no word spreads as to the cause of the outbreak. And there's three men just one floor up who know. [00:42] 7Well, that's easy to solve. [00:43] 12The Circle cleans up the rest of this mess and moves on with their plans... next week. [00:52] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ [00:52] When dealing with infestations, remember the three As! Be A-lert, Be A-ware, and you'll stay A-live! If you think you have an insect infestation, check the spiders! If they seem overly large, have razor-sharp legs, or the ability to turn invisible, immediately inform your local Immaculate monk! Don't try to deal with it yourself! And if you find yourself swarmed by enraged insects after [00:52] the death of their Hive-Queen, just STOP - DROP - ROLL to crush them! 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121 seconds) 14[20:06] * Joins: Crion_ 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "It begins... on a dark night. Where a dark man waits. With a dark... purpose." 15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> A single rocket goes up, more notable for the noise it gives than the burst of red light. Against the star hanging over Nexus tonight, mere firecrackers won't stand out. 15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> And with those words and that sign, the play begins. 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> It's not quite dark yet; the sun is low and heavy in the sky, and the moon rises from the horizon, almost meeting it. Both are outshone by the light that marks the spot where the Emissary died some weeks ago. News of terrible armies from beyond the corners of the world, buffeting against various bulwarks of civilization... a new and spreading dreaming sickness... the turmoil that the city finds itself in without its protector... but here in this amphitheatre at the foot of Sentinel's Hill there's only a pristine and shining calm. [20:33] 14Ah, the classics. 15[20:34] <@VoxPVoxD> An army of Lookshy has taken up residence in the heart of Nexus, led by a dragonlord famous for driving the Realm back a generation ago and crushing a raksha army the night he arrived. [20:35] 14Mmmmmm. All by himself, too. 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> And that dragonlord has requested entertainment. The play is at his behest, and people sit in his box at the top of the amphitheatre, where in ages past a throne might have gone. 15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Most of them, like Nessun Dorma, are foreign. Most of them, like he, have been touched by a greater power and refract it into the world. 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> But the man occupying the dragonlord's attention tonight is a pale young man in fine clothes, without the gleaming armor of the Lookshyan general or the many soldiers and guards in attendance tonight. 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> He elbows Bastian and mutters, "Not bad for short notice. This place isn't so bad." [20:40] Bastian, slouching and closely examining nothing in particular, stiffens at the contact and draws himself up to full height. “Yes.” His voice is hesitant, his speech accented. “Very nice, I am sure.” 15[20:41] <@VoxPVoxD> The others - a mercenary, a blind man and friend of the Dawn Guard, a famous singer, and, to some minor public scandal, the man the Lookshyan army came into the city to hunt - are all sitting in a row behind Dorma, his adjutants, and his personal guest. What's on their minds as the play begins. 15[20:41] <@VoxPVoxD> *? [20:42] 14Work, sadly. Always work. [20:43] 12Keldar's train of thought here is going to depend on what he's heard, or perhaps what he's bothered to commit to memory, about the play in question. What's it called again...? [20:43] 14Something about this city's bees has been bothering Stranger-Visits-Heaven for quite some time now. 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma snorts. He's an enormous man, called Indomitable, the Rock of Kimauga-- a hero of Lookshy accumulates epithets like a cat's bed accumulates dander. "Relax." [20:45] 5 Gently tapping fingertips on a silk sleeve. Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet... 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> The play's an old classic, "The Cave of Wonders". An adaptation of an old Immaculate morality tale about a cursed treasure trove that leads the intemperate to their doom. Here in Nexus, the play usually contains less condemnation of greed and more swashbuckling. [20:47] 14This city never did have its priorities in order. [20:47] Bastian gives him an annoyed look and opens his mouth as if to say something, but thinks the better of it. After a moment, he extends a hand. “Baron von Hrolfus.” 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> On the other side of Bastian a little man peers over half-spectacles at the dragonlord. He's one of Nessun Dorma's adjutants, an aide-de-camp. Bastian doesn't think he's ever heard the man's name. [20:48] 13The singer, Xia Lan, lounges with practiced calm. It's unusual for her to be in the crowd rather than on the stage, but her days and nights have been full up, lately. It'll be good to spend a night taking in a play. Given the play's title, she's remembering fragments of lyrics that she used to know. "We are filled with riches and wonders, our love keeps the things it finds." That's all that's left. [20:49] 12Well, in that case Keldar's mind is pleasantly blank. He loves this one! The man's dressed casually in cloth and leather, mostly browns and blacks with some green accents, and chewing on a sausage in a bun while he surveys the stage from around Nessun's shoulder. He doesn't have to lean or anything - he made sure to claim a good seat. [20:49] 14Stranger will have busied himself with a tea tray -- and positioned himself so best to overhear as much as possible from the rich seats. [20:50] 5 Xu Sim pauses for a moment as a single mosquito lands on the back of his hand. He watches with detached curiosity as its proboscis pierces his flesh, before snatching it with the utmost care, crushing its wings and depositing it in a fold of his jacket sleeve. [20:51] 14He idly wonders if the doctors studies those later, or uses them as a garnish. 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma's hand, gauntleted in white jade, could easily crush Bastian's. It's a sign of extensive social practice that it doesn't. "I've heard of you. May I call you captain? A soldier's rank is a brighter badge than a landed title." That's an unusual amount of knowledge, given how provincial Bastian's homeland of Deguo looks to the richer parts of the River Province. He hasn't gotten the respect he's accustomed to back home. [20:53] 5 Of course, once it has been studied, this insect will no doubt be a fine treat for Twice-Refined Princess, the doctor's hideous lapdog. No sense risking his sorcerers blood falling into the wrong hands. [20:54] Bastian looks both surprised and gratified as they shake. “Certainly….general? They value money grubbers more than service in these parts. How do you know of me, if you do not mind me asking?” [20:54] 12The mercenary cuts an impressive figure even reclining with a snack; he's built like the original subjects that plays like these are supposedly written about, just scarred enough for it to look cool and only so poorly groomed as to affect an easygoing and casual air. It might not even be on purpose. If you've spent some time in the city, it's a good bet you've head of Keldar, the [20:54] 12Tiger of Nexus; if you're a warlord, adventurer, speculator in artifacts, or other personage that cares about the flow of jade and the tread of armies then the odds are better still. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "'Dragonlord'. I can't recall what rank I match out in the Kingdoms..." [20:56] 14That seems unlikely. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> The little man on the other side of Bastian: "I believe, sir, that if you were born under the Deyhizi flag, you would answer to Major-General." 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> He's not looking up as he says this; he's absorbed in, of all things, the playbill. [20:58] 14Stranger is actually in the wrong place acousticly to catch that comment; he assumes it came from the...secretary? 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Servants bring refreshments to the box. Anybody hungry? Anybody drinking? [20:58] 14Was it Dorma who had the secretary? Hmm. [20:58] 4Tea for Stranger-Visits-Heaven. Honey and milk on the side. [20:58] 14Tea for Stranger-Visits-Heaven. Honey and milk on the side. [20:59] Bastian appears more at ease now. He adjusts his fine silk coat and stretches out his legs, turning to look at the man. “Quite correct. You appear remarkably well informed on my little country - I haf not had the pleasure..?” [21:00] 12Keldar'll take more meat and more alcohol. [21:00] "Ah, water infused with rose petals if you please." 5 Xu Sim must seek to balance the humors when confronted with such an action-packed opera, and in the company of such military men. 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> The little man dries his hands on a handkerchief - clammy - and offers one to Bastian. "Bubo Malcavet, my lord. I serve at the pleasure of the Dragonlord." [21:01] 14Stranger glances from the warlord to the doctor. Surely he moves in circles of extremes, these days. [21:04] "Far too much sugar, you know," 5 mutters the Doctor to the Stranger. [21:04] 13Something spiced to drink for Xia Lan. The taste is never the same as it was down south, but it's still something to chase after. [21:04] Bastian curtly waves away a servant approaching him, using the opportunity pretend he hadn’t seen the proferred handshake from a man with the demeanor of a commoner. “Ah. Very good. In what capacity?” [21:05] "Ah, but you catch more flies," 14the blind man replies. "I'll pass any of the juicier ones along." [21:07] "See that you do," 5 remarks Xu as he directs more of his attention to the play below. [21:08] 14These little social gatherings are useful -- a bit of a risk, putting them all together like this; one they will have to take care with as their profile increases in the city -- but they are a bit...structured. [21:08] 14Even the tea is hurried. [21:08] 14Especially the tea is hurried. 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo gracefully retracts his hand. "Oh, this and that. I keep the Dragonlord's schedule. I liaise with other officers and prepare his briefings. That's quite a sunset, no?" He's inclining his head at the horizon, where the sun seems on the verge of setting into the rising moon. "Rare indeed to see such a sky." 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Without conversation to distract him, Nessun Dorma is eating meat and drinking wine, laughing when the scruffy thief hoodwinks the city militia. Left to his own devices he looks like you imagine Keldar might if he was Chosen. [21:12] 14One the many minor particularities of the Ambassador is that she harbors a dark disdain and mistrust for a man who ends a question asking 'no' when he really means 'yes.' Perhaps it comes from overhearing...whoever this man is...so many times in aggregate. [21:13] 14Not this precise one, of course. But the type is well-known. [21:14] “Yes. It’s too bad the entertainment is…” He grimaces. “For all this city’s wealth and fame, it is culturally rather. Primitive.” [21:14] 14But this lord? This one says what he thinks. [21:15] 14Perhaos a dangerous habit to get into in Nexus. 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Onstage one of the dance sequences has begun, people leaping and spinning past each other in a simulacrum of combat. Will the guards catch our hero before he escapes...?! [21:16] 14Or any city big enough to warrant his grace. [21:16] "The sky is fairly spectacular. I once had occasion to observe a sunset like this from a rather higher vantage point... Of course, its beauty is somewhat overshadowed by some of the newer celestial, ah, occurrences." [21:16] 12At Bastian's idle comment, Keldar blinks and leans forward in his seat. "Oh, yeah? And where're you from, buddy?" [21:19] 13Xia Lan watches the sequence intensely as the chatter continues. She's seen this play once before, and there's a professional interest in comparing these things. Maybe even references to incorporate... [21:20] Bastian doesn’t like that tone of voice. “That is your business, why?” [21:21] 14And prickly. [21:21] 12Keldar: "Well, I just gotta wonder who it is gets to call Nexus primitive. Sound like a dynast or something." [21:24] 4Stranger: "It is not so bad a thing to be primitive." [21:24] 14Stranger: "It is not so bad a thing to be primitive." [21:25] "Especially given weight with which you must defend culture, once you've claimed it." 14He sips the tea. Excellent. [21:25] “I do not consider the city as a whole primitive, but this…” He waves a hand in the direction of the stage. “The story is bland, the music is perfunctory - I doubt they could even compose a decent fugue. It is not to my taste.” 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Not a patch on the great composers of Deguo." 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you play, my lord?" [21:26] 13This sequence... No, this isn't right. Xia Lan frowns. "That's - bizarre? They shouldn't be moving like that." [21:27] 14Stranger blows on his cup. "If it is fugues and dirges you miss, stay awhile. I'm sure they're putting productions on the Death of the Emissary together as we speak." [21:27] 12Keldar: "Whaaat? This is a damn classic! Pitch perfect, memorable, jokes funnier each time-" [21:27] “Yes, I haf been instructed in the- i’m sorry? What is bizarre?" [21:28] "What?" 12Keldar turns his attention back to the stage. It look off? [21:28] 13Xia Lan: "That turn, there - it's supposed to carry you through the next movement but instead they just stop, hitch, start again the other way." [21:29] "Perhaps it is a new style?" 5 proposes Xu. [21:30] 14Very slightly, very innoucuously, Stranger-Visits-Heaven moves his cane under the low table in front of him. Just in case. [21:30] von Hrolfus shrugs. “Anyway - as I was saying. Music and choreography aside, the characters do not act in logical ways. They seem to do quite the wrong thing in the wrong situation, merely to advance the plot." [21:32] 13She shakes her head. "No, no, it's not a style, it's - people don't move like that. They can't." [21:32] 12Keldar: "All right, you clearly aren't paying attention. This is really simple. The main guy, right, he starts out a common thief, so obviously he sneaks into the-" [21:33] “-yes, but WHY would the lady of the house play along instead of calling for the guards, as anyone in their right mind would?” [21:36] "No, Xia Lan - you are quite right. These dancers are very clumsy! They are impaired..." 5 Xu trails off for a moment. [21:36] In fact, it rather resembles the late stages of the honey-maze disease, which I have been studying." [21:37] 12Keldar: "Probably she has the hots for him. You saw the daimyo. Plus, the..." 12He pauses. "...all the dancers?" [21:37] 5 And the progression of which Xu has only been able to halt in his own case, worringly enough. [21:37] 14Stranger does not curse aloud, because he has restraint and discipline. But he is no longer smiling. [21:39] 14And he is standing now. [21:39] "The male lead, and one of the backup dancers." [21:40] von Hrolfus is frowning now too. “I assumed they were just bad." [21:40] "Ah, you," 5 The Doctor's words fail him for once addressing Boba - 0 "Do you suppose we could arrange a backstage visit after the performance? It is most worrying. I do not want to cause a panic here in the amphitheatre, you understand." [21:40] pls dont use white color font [21:40] 13Xia Lan: "If they were doing it on purpose, it would be very impressive, actually." 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo's doodling on the back of his playbill. "Circumstances permitting, certainly." [21:43] 12Keldar: "Is it contagious?" [21:43] 14Everything is becoming contagious in this city. [21:50] "I cannot answer for certain. But." 5 Xu Sim takes a deep breath. [21:52] "The initial contraction of the disease takes place after consuming the tainted honey produced by the strange honeybees - many people, apparently, have begun to do so, including in the high artistic community of the city - primitive or not. It is not contagious between people at this stage. However, as the disease progresses, the subject loses the ability to distinguish between the waking... [21:52] ...and dreaming world." [21:53] "It is my belief that, if the disease were to progress to the ultimate stage, it could completely sever the dreaming mind from its physical body. If that were to come to pass, it would no doubt be supremely contagious." 5 Xu Sim nods to himself. 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun Dorma: "That's preposterous." 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "A disease driving the mind from the body. Honestly. Novak should've seen you for a fool." [21:54] 12Keldar: "How's it get more contagious after killing you? What part's even contagious, the body or the ghost?" [21:54] 5 Xu bristles mightily at this insult. [21:56] “Why would anyone partake of this honey knowing the side effects?" [21:56] "While I would not presume, Dragonlord, to hold court on matters of war or statecraft to you - as a sorcerer, physician, and philosopher I can assure you that it is not preposterous in the slightest." [21:58] "I believe these dancers before us are the most advanced cases I have seen. The honeybees and their honey-mazeare a product of sorcery - I suspect they may be mutants of the Wyld, and fear to consider that they could have been purposefully unleashed." 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "Purposefully? To what end?" 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Onstage, the next aria begins. The princess on a balcony, looking up at the sky. She's singing about the pain and indignity of her father betrothing her to a man she doesn't love. [22:00] "All I can offer is conjecture. But dreams, mutants, and sorcery - it is known that the Raksha make use of such tools. Perhaps it is only a coincidence that a magical disease afflcting the dreaming mind should affect this city, considering-" 5 Xu Sim gestures to the heavens and the great sickly star. 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Or, wait. She's supposed to be. Keldar's seen this play before, over and over. She's fucking up the song! [22:00] “Considering?" [22:01] 5 Xu Sim glances to his companions, then the Dragonlord, before answering the question. 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Do you recall how we came to that place? 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> and sang of their lightness and shapeful disgrace? 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> They tilted their vanes; they ennobled their spires; 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> they began at the rivers when they set the fires. [22:02] 5 Xu leaps to his feet. [22:03] 14Annoying. [22:03] "Dragonlord, this performance must end immediately and the people in attendance evacuated so I may examine the performers. Immediately." [22:03] 14Once again, we are constrained by station and luck. 14[22:03] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [22:03] “That bad eh?" [22:04] "Worse," 14said Stranger. "Almost certainly worse." [22:05] 12Keldar's also on his feet, and he's grabbed the straight sword that'd been leaning against his chair; now he holds it reversed, by the scabbard. "They're completely fucking it up! I'm seconding the doctor." [22:06] 14Stranger turns smoothly and perfunctorily taps his cane as he strides over to the group huddle. [22:07] 4von Hrolfus slowly gets to his feet. He stays at ease, but his hand hovers over his scabbard. [22:07] "Stranger, I apologize for the slight toyour sight before. But you must persuade the Dragonlord to allow me to examine the performers - the words they are singing are part of the visions carried by the disease." [22:08] “Perhaps I could be of assistance? As one military man to another.." [22:08] "One of you - of course he doesn't trust me, I would never expect him to. But surely one of you can appeal to him?" [22:09] 13The singer rises, paired hook swords clanking against one another as she stands. Irritating, yet soon to be a comfort. [22:09] 14Stranger nods as he moves past it, towards the Dorma. "Dragonlord, a moment of your time." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma's in a visibly foul mood now. Still, whatever courtly training they give to the princes of Lookshy prevails over his temper. "Sit, please. If I stand there'll be a panic." [22:14] 5 Xu Sim grants the concession, and adopts the furthest edge of his seat. [22:15] "We have met before, I believe, on a very inauspicious night. I am Stranger-Visits-Heaven, and in some of my time, I act as a mediator and community fixture in Floodwater. I come to you on this not because I know this Xu Sim, and not because I particularly trust him or find him savory, with the dog. But when he speaks of the work he has done with this sickness, he speaks to something [22:15] the people of Floodwater find intimately, newly familiar." 14[22:19] * Joins: cbass_ 14[22:19] * Quits: cbass (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_)) 14[22:19] * cbass_ is now known as cbass [22:21] 14Stranger: "Since we are both men who have seen our own measure I'll be perfectly frank. Treading an uncareful path in this moment will lead to discord, an increase is the public disorder, and a number of deaths besides. This is a moment for active and wise leadership -- and there are many ways to act in accordance with wisdom and with your station that do not require the sword. [22:21] Those moments where you do not act with your sword, indeed, define the times that you do." [22:21] "I would request you clear this area." 14[22:29] * Joins: Quaker 14[22:30] * Joins: Quaker_ 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun Dorma scowls beneath his helmet. But he stands. "So be it. I don't trust that man, but to invite doubt is to dance with death. BUBO! I need-" He looks around. The aide is nowhere to be seen. "Oh, I sent Bubo away earlier. My mistake. I'd forgotten." He presses a hand to the gem set into his breastplate, and his voice echoes around the amphitheatre without him needing to break his calm or raise his voice. "Attention, attention. We need the audience to clear the theatre in an orderly fashion. My men at the exits will help people out. There's no cause for alarm but we must act promptly. Single file." [22:31] 14... [22:31] 14... [22:32] 14One supposes he must have sent him away. [22:32] 14A curious one, that secretary. No matter. [22:32] 4von Hrolfus: “That is that, then.” 4He performs a short bow. 1“I shall take your leave, dragonlord." 14[22:33] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:33] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker [22:34] 5 Xu rises and acknowledges Stranger and Dorma - in that order - before clambering down towards the performers. 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> There was already some attention being paid to the commotion in the box, and there's a spike of anxiety in the crowd but as the giant Dorma descends to help people leave, people are calm enough to not to panic or stampede. [22:35] 12Keldar shifts his stance a little, glancing around as the crowd begins to disperse and the stage is locked down. Strictly speaking, that's it for the night... but he should probably stick around just in case. Just in case he gets a better chance to quietly show Dorma up, that is. 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> As the crowd filters out, one figure stands out, letting people walk past him without moving, just looking up at the box placidly. Nobody recognizes him. Nobody but Bastian. [22:35] 12So it is that Keldar makes his way down out of the VIP box - possibly by flipping over the siding and sliding down on a handy rope or some such - to follow Xu Sim to the stage. 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Dark of hair and eye. A thin scar tracing an old dueling wound. [22:36] 14Stranger moves to follow the Doctor, though he's in no rush -- his main work here has been done, and he can afford to watch and wait. [22:37] 4von Hrolfus turns to leave, but something makes take one last look down at the crowd making their way out below. The man not moving stands out immediately, and von Hrolfus freezes momentarily, shocked. What in the world could he be doing here? [22:38] 4He makes his way to the edge of the balcony and waves to catch his attention. “Karl!” 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> He waves up at Bastian, a single short sweep of his hand. He's smiling. "Bastian!" [22:38] 13Xia Lan follows the rest down towards the stage. Cool, calm, collected. Not showing the nerves she's feeling, after the doctor's description of the dancers' disease. But ready for anything. [22:39] "Bravo, bravo, a fine performance. I am a doctor and I need to speak to each of you, if you please. As the Dragonlord indicated, there's no cause for alarm but it is quite important." 5 Xu is putting on the bedside manner he possesses. It's not stilted, exactly, but he's not quite a paragon of charm either - perhaps eccentric enough to be convincing. [22:41] 4There’s nothing more graceless than conversing by shouting over a long distance. Indicating for Karl to stay where he is, von Hrolfus hurriedly exists the box and makes his way down to greet his old comrade. “What in the world are you doing here?" 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim moves among the dancers, who mostly recoil from him... except one he recognizes, one of the backup dancers, a girl from Floodwater. "He's a real doctor," she insists. "He is!" she repeats when people look askance at her. 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> It looks like Xu Sim has the cast's cooperation. What's his plan? [22:43] 5 First, to determine who among the cast is afflicted and who can be - at least temporarily - dismissed. Second, to determine whose cases are worst and how bad they truly are. Finally: heal them. 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> von Hauwitz puts a hand over his heart. The hand is bandaged. "This and that. I don't care for this city." He looks around, breathing through his mouth. "It's so filthy and ugly, don't you agree?" [22:44] 5 If necessary, quarantine them for further treatment. [22:45] 5 For assistance, and to make sure nobody bolts, he deputizes Xia Lan and Keldar as nurses. [22:45] 13While she has no actual medical training, Xia Lan can at least convince people to stick around. That's basically what a nurse is, right? 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> What do Keldar and Xia Lan do when, as Xu Sim approaches, somebody tries to bolt? [22:46] 4von Hrolfus looks at him quizzically. That was an uncharacteristically evasive answer to a direct question. 1“I would watch carefully my words here. The natives take offense to the slightest criticism. By what do you mean, ‘this and that’?” [22:47] 12Keldar's all "Now hang on a minute, buddy," 12when Xu Sim asks him to start schlepping bandages around, but the mercenary's all business once he's done with the preliminary grumbling. He has some inkling of how serious this plague is, after all, and it's not like deadly diseases of supernatural provenance don't command the attention of every- hey! 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Bastian's starting to feel a little off. Was there something wrong with his supper? He feels like he's got heartburn. [22:47] Keldar: "Hey!" 12He bolts right after the bolter. [22:48] 12If the guy doesn't stop immediately, he's getting grabbed by the arm at best and tackled at worst. [22:48] 13Whoops. Xia Lan will attempt to get in the fleeing patient's way if she can. "It'll be just a moment, okay? We've just got to figure this out." [22:49] 4von Hrolfus coughs and takes a deep breath, rubbing his chest slightly.  [22:49] "Please, stay calm. I am here to talk about the honey-maze. My colleagues here are - yikes!" [22:51] 12Dancers are very agile, but so are mercenary warriors. Keldar's run collects itself into a hyper-focused sprint, and within moments the fleeing performer's been seized by the wrist and shoulder. If he struggles even a bit he'll find himself forced to his knees. 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> von Hauwitz: "Forgive my imprecision, friend. When I say 'this and that', I mean 'that'--" he gestures back at the stage "--and 'this'." He's got his sword in his hand now. Bastian didn't see him draw it. The middle of the theatre is empty now. "Traitor. Blackguard. Coward. How could you?" [22:52] 12Keldar: "What's the problem, friend? You still need to get looked at." 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar can feel the man wriggling violently in his grip. He might associate it with someone having a seizure, if he's ever seen that. The runner is babbling. "No one's dancing. No one's dancing down there." [22:54] 4von Hrolfus quickly falls back, stumbling in shock - but steadying himself. “W-what..?" [22:54] 14Stranger has taken his time moving apart from their little medical rescue team that he could likely go intercede in whatever it is that's happening over there. [22:55] 14He'll watch how it plays out for a few seconds more, however, at least. [22:55] 12Keldar: "Uhh. Uh, allll right, easy-" 12The man's carried more so than dragged back to Xu Sim. "Hey. Hey! If this guy's about to die unless I let go or something you better tell me quick." [22:57] 12To Keldar's credit, he does appear to be restraining the man carefully enough to prevent accidental injury due to flailing and spasming. [22:58] "What is he babbling about?" 5 Xu calls over to Keldar. [22:59] 12Keldar: "Lack of dancing 'down there'. What's it mean?" 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Karl von Hauwitz: "You go fact-finding. You turn your back on Deguo and walk away. And when the nightmares come, you're safe. Our people suffer and fight for their lives and you watch theater?" He's levelling the sword at Bastian now. "You call yourself a man. You call yourself a SOLDIER!" 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Bastian notices thin vines creeping out of the sleeve of Karl's sword hand, thorns embedded in the skin. It's getting difficult for him to breathe. 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> The setting sun sinks slowly behind the rising moon. The theatre's stained rose red by Balor's star. [23:05] 4No training had prepared von Hrolfus for being set on by a friend outside a combat environment or within the formal setting of a pre-arranged duel. His hands held up in a defensive gesture, he watches Karl’s sword, mesmerized and frozen like a rodent watching a snake slither towards it. His words fly over von Hrolfus’ head, barely comprehended. “Karl, please-“ [23:06] 13Xia Lan: "Sounds just like babbling. Nonsense words." 13She's on the lookout for whichever dancers before were moving erratically, oblivious to the scene outside. [23:07] "I think his mind and body are experiencing divergent sensations - he dreams of a dance but doesn't see one here. Perhaps, Xia Lan, if you were to dance, it would reduce the strain on his senses until I can come up with something more permanent." [23:07] 14Dirty old man. [23:08] 12Keldar: "Doesn't make that much cosmological sense, either. It's the land of the dead that's 'down', right...?" 12He looks around the stage, then back into the stands. "Huh, might be a fight." [23:08] "In the meantime. I require the utmost honesty: Who among you has tasted the maze-honey or had the honey-dreams?" [23:08] 5 This is addressed to the other performers 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Karl: "ANSWER ME! ANSWER FOR YOUR ABANDONMENT!" He chokes. "I see Guowang Shan in flames. I see good men fighting, dying, defending the country to their last breath. But I don't see you." 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "I've had this dream every night since the siege began. Every night you make the same pleas. Every night the same excuses. Why would tonight be any different?" [23:13] "Can someone shut up that imbecile waving the sword around, please? I am trying to work here!" [23:14] 14Stranger has been sitting nearby, intently watching the show but not moving a finger to intercede yet. [23:15] 13Xia Lan raises a single eyebrow towards the doctor, but is immediately distracted by the shouting. Her hands dance across the hilts of her swords idly, if this escalates further. [23:15] "Ah," 14he'll finally say. "It seems you're bothering the Doctor, Karl." [23:15] 12Keldar's holding down this one struggling guy, but one supposes he could tie him up or something - eh, Stranger's got it. 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> It takes a bit to drag it out of them but Xu Sim eventually finds that each and every person in the cast has at least tried the dreamer's honey. A few use it regularly. The man Keldar's holding down was known to. [23:17] 4von Hrolfus is over his initial shock now, and Karl’s focus seems to have shifted from him to whatever nightmarish visions that seem to have driven to insanity. He slowly lowers one hand, reaching for his sword. Talking him down isn’t von Hrolfus’ style - this is no way for an officer of the Deyizhi Imperial Army to behave, whatever the circumstances. He decides to try his luck at snapping the man back to reality: [23:17] 1“Captain von Hauwitz! You will cease this nonsense and explain yourself!” [23:19] "I don't want any one of you to panic. I know what you are each experiencing and I want you to know that I am going to do what I can to cure all of us. I will need to examine each of you individually and come up with a method for treatment." 5 As far as the examination goes, Xu Sim shall test their eyes, examine their foreheads and faces, their reflexes, and their sense of reality. [23:20] 5 Nevermind the fact that, at least according to Immaculate dogma, Xu Sim himself is afflicted with a condition that intermittently affects his own perception of reality. 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Bastian's friend spits. A stream of blue-white smoke comes out of his mouth and evaporates to nothing before it reaches the ground. "I don't owe you an explanation. The obligation runs the other way." Karl attacks. What does Bastian do? [23:28] 12Keldar: "He's going for it-!" [23:29] 4von Hrolfus has his bearings now and he’s been readying himself. Years of training and dueling with Schlägers come to the foree, and he has his sword out, ready to parry the strike. [23:29] 5 Xu is shaken when he examines the wriggling man the mercenary is holding down.  "Don't release him, Keldar!" [23:31] 12Keldar: "Eh? No worries, I got 'im, I got 'im." 12He tears his gaze away from the fight - is the guy trying to gnaw his own hand off or something? 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Bastian's chest is burning like he's been holding his breath. But he defends his honor all the same. His sword crosses with Karl's as the sun hides fully behind the moon. The pressure builds and breaks, and a column of white and gold pierces Heaven from earth. 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Breathe in. [23:33] 14Softly, to himself: "'Have you ever been to the honey maze?'" [23:37] 5 Xu is on his hands and knees, examining the pinned man, quickly considering the steps he might be able to take.  "He is very near terminalaaah!?" 5 Before being momentarily overwhelmed the sudden display of Solar power from the stands. [23:38] 12Keldar: "Uh oh." [23:38] 13Gods above. [23:38] 14As above, so below. [23:40] von Hrolfus feels like he’s been lit on fire. The pain is intense and agonizing - but feels purifying at the same time. His body strains every sinew, every muscle in maintaining the block and through sheer effort and unyielding Will he holds his ground. Thick black plumes of smoke seem to rise from him and float towards the sky where they coalesce and begin to glow in the form of a splayed eagle, it’s wings spead and it’s [23:40] claws extended - the coat of arms of Imperial Deguo. [23:45] 14Hopefully the doctor has finished his business. [23:45] 14It's about to get hot. [23:47] "Xia Lan, we must bring this man's mental and spiritual state into alignment. I don't have any idea what the rest of these idiots are doing, who have decided to have a battle in the middle of my medical business, but some help would be appreciated!" 5 In the meantime, he fumbles in his robes for a set of acupuncture needles to help calm the man. 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Bastian, aflame, finds himself holding fast against the strike, finds Karl's sword breaking agains this like a wave against the shore. It dissolves into smoke. Karl, his eyes briefly pleading before going glassy, dissolves not long after. The smoke billows and swells throughout the seats. From deep within the smoke come the sounds of marching feet and clashing steel. 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: Dream Theater Session Time: Wed Aug 23 00:00:00 2017 14[00:07] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:14] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[01:14] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[01:14] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[01:28] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[01:52] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:52] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:19] * Quits: Crion (Connection closed) 14[02:19] * Joins: Crion 14[02:19] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[02:20] * Joins: tom 14[02:21] * Quits: dammitwho (Connection closed) 14[02:21] * Joins: dammitwho 14[02:51] * Quits: cbass (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:53] * Joins: cbass 14[03:13] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:16] * bananas|le is now known as banana 14[06:55] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[08:20] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[08:46] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[10:06] * Joins: Crion_ 14[10:17] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:17] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[11:18] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:53] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:56] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[14:04] * Joins: Crion_ 14[15:18] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:27] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:32] * Joins: dammitwho 14[16:17] * Joins: hrolf 14[16:20] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[16:30] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:39] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:44] * Joins: Crion_ 14[16:50] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:30] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[17:36] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:44] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[19:16] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:51] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[20:56] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:56] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[21:14] * Joins: Quaker 14[21:14] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[21:31] * Joins: Quaker 14[22:44] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[22:47] * Joins: Quaker Session Time: Thu Aug 24 00:00:01 2017 14[00:26] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:29] * Joins: Quaker 14[00:43] * Joins: cbass_ 14[00:43] * Quits: cbass (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_)) 14[00:43] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 14[00:46] * Quits: cbass (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_)) 14[00:46] * Joins: cbass_ 14[00:46] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 14[00:58] * Quits: cbass (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_)) 14[00:58] * Joins: cbass_ 14[00:58] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 14[01:07] * Joins: cbass_ 14[01:07] * Quits: cbass (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_)) 14[01:07] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 14[03:51] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:54] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:04] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[04:04] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[04:04] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[04:17] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[04:45] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[04:45] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[04:45] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[04:48] * Joins: Crion_ 14[05:49] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:11] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[08:51] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[08:53] * Joins: Quaker 14[08:54] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[10:33] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[11:09] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[12:34] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:56] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:12] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[14:29] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:15] * Joins: cbass_ 14[15:15] * Quits: cbass (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_)) 14[15:15] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 14[16:41] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[16:55] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:13] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[17:13] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:13] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[17:43] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:30] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[18:53] * Joins: hrolf_mac 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Some morning in Nexus, Eikichi's gotten up in time for breakfast (!) and is killing time until lunch by practicing his six-string and writing some music. He plays for a while, sings a little, then makes some notes on the paper. He wonders idly where everyone else is, debates getting up, decides to stay on the couch. It's a nice day and nothing bad can possibly happen. [20:26] 13There's a thump at the door from somewhere near the handle, followed swiftly by the entrance of a wild-eyed and manic Sunlit-Dreaming Ying. "It's done. I did it!" 13She's got a bag slung across her back, which she shifts back and forth. "My greatest work!" 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "by the time it's hit you, your last-- huh?" 10Eikichi sits up. "Ying! Yay! Hooray!" 10She looks really excited and it's infectious! 15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "What'd you make?" [20:31] 13Ying: "They said it couldn't be done. It shouldn't! We weren't supposed to meddle like this, but I!" 13She gestures wildly with one hand, making a rainbow sort of motion. "I have created the most awful outfit in the history of fashion!" 15[20:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's smile freezes in place and he makes a sound like an unoiled hinge opening very slowly. "AaaAAAaaah," 08[20:32] 13She poses proudly, and holds out the bag for Eikichi to take. "It's absolutely terrible! Oh man, I'm so excited~" 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi slowly puts the guitar and notes aside and gets up to reach for the bag. 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "So... should I..." [20:37] 13Ying: "You don't have to! But, we had a bet." 13She's grinning. "So if you want to just hand me a victory, I gueeeesss I'm okay with that." 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10uhhhhhhh "No! No, a bet's a bet. I'll go try it on." 10Once he gets behind his dressing-screen and his pajama-robes are slung over them he'll open the bag and take a look. 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A moment later, the birds that tend to congregate outside Eikichi's window all fly away in a panic as his scream echoes up and down the hotel grounds. [20:42] 13This was the best idea ever. [20:42] 4Ir's practicing in their common area: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcSIeqZBPRw [20:43] 4She pauses at the...commotion. [20:44] "Y'all good in there?" 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "What even ARE these?!" 08[20:44] 7There's a thumping and a rattling as Blossom races to the horrified shriek. She slides to a stop, grasping the side of the doorway with her fingernails to stop her momentum. "Eikichi?! What's happened?" [20:45] 4Ir: "They're doing fashion shit again." [20:45] 13Ying's doubled over, wheezing with laughter. "They're joots! Jandals! I don't even know!" 15[20:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "I... I..." [20:45] "What?" [20:46] "I'm just a simple bard." [20:46] "That's what I keep telling myself." 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10From behind the screen Eikichi freezes. Oh no, it's Blossom and Ir! Maybe if he holds very still they won't notice him, like bears. [20:46] 4Ir definitely can't see him from where she's sitting. So he's got that, at least. [20:46] 13Ying: "Blossom! I made the worst outfit! Oh my gosh it's terrible, I'm so proud of it!" [20:46] 7Blossom: "So... nobody's hurt, or anything? What?" 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "15Fine" 10Eikichi's voice cracks. "I'm fine. Everything's fine." [20:48] 4Ir pauses, then changes songs: [20:48] 4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xeKjJMaut4 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Under his breath: "14fuck" [20:48] 13This sends Ying into another fit of giggles. The best idea. 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10oh god the song [20:48] 4And so fun to play. 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Okay. Okay. Eikichi takes several deep breaths and puts his game face on. And then, piece by piece, he puts the rest on. 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He starts again when he sees what's at the bottom of the bag. "Accessories?!" [20:50] 7Blossom's leaning in the doorway, arms crossed idly. "Okay, I have to see this." [20:51] 4Ir: "My imagination's probably spoiled me for it." [20:51] 13Ying: "Oh, yes! This is a coordinated piece, you can't just leave genius like this half-finished!" 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10After a while it's apparent that Eikichi's finished dressing but he still hasn't come out from behind the screen yet. "Okay, it- it all fits. Well done." [20:51] "What's the occasion, again?" 08[20:51] "Eikichi lost a bet?" 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "Not yet I haven't!" 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Still not coming out. [20:52] 7Blossom: "Well? Let's see!" [20:52] 13Ying walks forward and pulls the screen away. "Voila! My masterpiece!" 13http://i.imgur.com/engiLeY.png [20:54] 13She steps back to size the outfit up, grin somehow even wider than before. "Oh good, you found the ring! I was worried it'd get lost!" [20:54] 4Ir: "Mmmmmmmmmmmpfffffffttttt" [20:54] 4Ir: "I." [20:54] 4Ir: "You know what?" 08[20:55] 4Ir: "Eikichi, you make it work." [20:55] 13Ying turns to Ir to stare in horror. "He what?" [20:55] 4To Ying: "If you wanted to make him hideous you shouldn't have let him show off his legs." [20:55] "Just saying." 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's slowly relaxing. "I just need a minute." 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "Hoo. Hoooo. Okay." [20:56] "Come on ouuuuaaagggghhhh--" 7Blossom clamps a hand to her mouth, nearly too late- her cheeks bulge slightly and she flees from the doorway to a potted plant in the corner of the common room. There's a wet splat. [20:56] "14you look fine" [20:56] 13Ying: "But the long sleeves! The socks! The jandals-" [20:56] 4Ir, yelling at the departing Blossom: "You'll need a better stomach than that where we're going!" 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Awww! Blossom's so supportive. 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Ir's right, though, wow. Thank the gods that Eikichi woke up early enough to shave this morning. [20:57] 4Sun, it's really really bad though. 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He credits the hotel for that. Nothing inspires you to shave your legs regularly like silk sheets. [20:59] 7Blossom is deliberately standing in a corner, facing the wall. "Ying, how did you get that shade of lime green on the... I don't even know what to call it? The stomach pouch?" 08[20:59] 4To Eikichi: "Is that a tummy-pouch with your name on it?" 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I--" 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "...yes." [21:00] 13Ying: "It's a fanny pack! Tatsuya used to have one, they're supposed to be worn behind you and they look pretty dumb then, so I figured, what if I made it worse? It was a toss up between that and a backpack that you wear in front." [21:00] 4Ir: "...Are you aware precisely how much damage you could do to the Nexus fashion scene by taking one step outside this room?" [21:00] "Because it's a lot." [21:00] 13Ying: "As for the colors... it's a long story." [21:00] "I kind of want you to do it." [21:00] 7Blossom: "You look good! Maybe you should change out of it though, before we go anywhere? It's the wrong climate," [21:00] 13Ying: "He can't. There's no way." 13Ir being supportive is making Ying really nervous. 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10At Ir's words, Eikichi seems to settle into his regular confidence. "In fact, I have." 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "In fact," 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's the plan." 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "Isn't it, Ying?" [21:01] 7Blossom: "What's this?" [21:01] 4Ir comes from a city where you're expected to wear all kinds of weird shit on stage constantly to sell your band. This is not a venue she'll feel shame in. [21:02] 4She won't wear it herself, though. [21:02] 4She didn't lose the bet. [21:02] 13Ying: "That was the bet!" 13She still sounds pretty cheerful, but her smile's starting to fade. [21:02] 4Also, her legs don't look anywhere near as good. 08[21:02] "I make the worst outfit I possibly can. Eikichi wears it out. If it's not the next fashion craze, I win." [21:02] 4Ir: "Oh." [21:02] "Oh my." [21:02] "And it won't be." 13She's confident again. "Because this? This is a crime." 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's honestly feeling pretty good about himself until he looks down at his feet and jumps onto the tea-table like he just realized he'd be standing in something dead. [21:03] 13Ying: "Ahh, my finest work." 08[21:03] 4To Eikichi: "I kind of can't believe you suckered her into this." 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "Fuck! Fuck" [21:03] "You're a monster." [21:04] "...What the hell is that ring?" [21:04] 13Ying: "Candy! There's extras in the pack if you get hungry. Or if it melts in the sun, I guess." [21:04] 7Blossom's voice cracks slightly. "I'm really against the whole situation we've got going on right now" 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Deep breaths. Eikichi waves a hand over his face like a prayer gesture and his expression settles into one of pouty, aloof disgust. He calls it "Blue Jade". [21:05] 4How's the cape work? Does it like, sparkle? 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It sparkles so much [21:05] 4Nice. [21:06] 13Glitter reserves around the city have noticeably dipped since Ying began her work. [21:06] 13Not just from this, mind. There were... other projects. [21:06] 7Blossom: "I CAN STILL SEE IT WHEN I CLOSE MY EYES! Is that the glitter?!" [21:06] 4Like staring at the Sun. 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks himself up and down. He's slowly settling into himself. "So how'd this work? Did you design nine different loud outfits and then mix and match the pieces?" [21:07] 4To Ying: "I'll be real, it's the most atrocious thing I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot of intentionally bad stage outfits. You did well." 08[21:08] "He's just, you know. Eikichi." [21:08] "So it's in the air." [21:08] 13She 'hmms' slightly, stands on her tiptoes to adjust the laurel crown. "Yep! There were more that got designed, but these are the ones that made it to production. Most of them are actually okay when worn, you know, properly, 'cept for the jeans one." 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi walks up and down the room, doing the pose-and-turn you'd expect from a model in the Nexus garment district. "You know, I like a lot of the individual pieces of this outfit." 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "I might steal the cape for other stuff after I win. And the shorts. Blossom, what do you think of the shorts?" [21:09] "My advice is just take the most formless, crappy wool trousers you can -- two sizes too large -- and put them UNDER the shorts." 08[21:10] 7Blossom takes a deep breath, and turns her head from the wall to regard Eikichi again. 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/engiLeY.png 08[21:11] 13Ying: "I thought about it, but I really think the short shorts with the long sleeves is just, so incredibly stupid that it'll counteract Eikichi's legs. There's no way people will think they can pull this off!" [21:11] 4Guess a Dynast's Realm education doesn't prepare you for this. [21:12] 7She lets out a long, low moan like a paid mourner and snaps her gaze back to the corner. "I saw the shoes by accident!" 7She wails. [21:12] 4Ir disagrees, but long sleeves with short shorts is a common tactic in Pneuma, ESPECIALLY when you've got great legs and don't spend time rigging sails or otherwise lifting to pump up those arms. 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I think after I make it popular I'll have Friend wear the cape." [21:13] 4Good news for Ying is this: not a lot of people likely to have Ir's, uh, fashion background, in Nexus. [21:14] 4Ir: "Damn. It might actually work on Friend." 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi tries the ring. Watermelon! The ugliest flavor! Ying's attention to detail is astounding. [21:16] 13Ying: "The outfit that goes with the cape is probably a bit much, but heck, anything with a cape usually is. Still fun for dressing up, though!" [21:16] 4Ir: "I gotta admit, though, those socks and sandal...things? That's a whole new paradigm." 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then he glances over at the mirror and watches himself press the ring against his lips. In that moment any shred of doubt Ying might've instilled about Eikichi's inevitable victory vanishes. 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "These awful shoes are going to be famous." 08[21:16] "Eikichi, please don't do this." 7She pleads. "Do you really want to be responsible for other people wearing this in the street?" [21:16] 13Oh no. Oh no she made a mistake [21:16] 4Ir: "Do they have buttons that are also in belt loops? On the high ankle?" [21:16] 13Ying shouldn't have made the ring candy. 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "These awful shoes are going to be famous and Ying is the only one who knows how to make them." [21:17] 4Ir: "They're fucking innovative." 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "She should be proud! And I'll make sure everyone knows who I'm wearing." 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "Because they're going to ask." [21:18] 4Ir: "Oh, they're only going to remember your name." [21:18] "You're wearing it, after all." [21:18] 7Blossom: "Maybe... maybe it won't catch on! It doesn't have zettai ryouiki... 14Ir can you take that ring candy away from him please" [21:18] 13Ying: "Can you please give them a fake name, so that when they come to arrest me for crimes against fashion they won't be able to find me?" 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "What a pity," 10sighs Eikichi. 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "Here's what I want to know." 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi turns to Ying. "You've got your jacket, and now I've got this. When are you making Ir and Blossom clothes with their names on?" [21:21] 4Ir: "There's one circumstance I'd step in on, and that's if he looked like he did that time he went out and learned the logic of Hell from that pretty dead man." [21:22] "And this is ain't that. This is just uncouth." [21:23] 4To Ying: "If you're making gear with my name on it, it goes on my back. Not my chest, and not my ass." [21:23] "Just, you know, as a style guide." 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "I knew someone who wore his name on his ass back home. We all called him Juicy, see, and-" [21:24] "I bet we did see." 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi sighs wistfully. [21:24] 13Ying: "Oh! That's a great idea!" 13She shrinks from Ir a bit, but nods eagerly. "It could be your arena outfit! That's what I made mine for, not that you'd want to wear that whole thing..." [21:25] 7Blossom: "I think I've heard of him. He did okay for himself. Married into Cynis somewhere down south." 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi sighs unwistfully. [21:27] "Okay Ying, but you have to remember that my arena outfit is going to look like--" 4Ir snaps her fingers and Iscariot shivers into a spear; then her caste sign flares, her anima flares, and great golden burning heavy plate forges itself over her very clothing, links building on each other in real time as if some heavenly armorer is hammering the mail of the Sun onto her body, never to [21:27] 4leave it. [21:28] 4The entire room lights up with her fire. 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Our future's so bright, we gotta wear shades. [21:28] 4Our future's so bright, we pretend to be shades. [21:29] 7Blossom: "Ying, can I make a commission request?" [21:29] 13Ying steps back from the light and nearly runs into Blossom. "Oh! Um, yeah!" 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you want her to make me another pair of these shorts with the glitter?" [21:29] 4When Ir speaks from behind the golden helm, it sounds like her voice itself is burning: "Now, if we can do something with this, I'm all for it. I think I can control how it looks with my mind." [21:29] "But it's plate armor." [21:30] 7Blossom: "Okay, you know eyeglasses like scholars wear? Something like that, but a bit more 'fashion', and the lenses are tinted darker." [21:30] 13Ying: "I can definitely do that." [21:31] 13She clarifies. "The glasses thing, not the armor thing. Unless you want me to make the design and then you just... hmm..." [21:32] 4Ir rolls her neck and the helm retracts from her head in stages. "Like I said, I can do a lot with it." 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is that pure anima?" 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "Wow." [21:32] 4She waves a hand and the armor goes black and molts, falling away. [21:32] "Yep." 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's badass." [21:33] 4Ir grins, managing not to blush. "Yeah, I thought so too." [21:33] 7Blossom, who hasn't stopped staring at the wall. "What? What is she doing?" [21:34] "I figured the easiest way to hide the Last Westerley Star identity was to go as loud as possible with my real one." [21:34] 4To Blossom: "You'll see at the Arena." 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi sweeps the cape around himself like a glittery ghost, in hopes of protecting Blossom from his outfit. But Ying cunningly designed the cape to stop just short of the joots. [21:37] 13It's a technical masterpiece of an outfit. It takes real skill to make everything fit together just wrong. 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I was just trying to write a new arena theme for Wild Rose earlier, actually. Before Ying did this to us." [21:38] 4Ir: "You good on that, or you want help?" 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "We should work on it together after I get back." 10Eikichi starts heading for the exits. [21:40] 4Ir: "Have fun out there." 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "Wow, nobody wants to come? I was going to get ice cream." [21:41] 13Ying: "I'll follow... from a distance. I want to see this." 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Pre-lunch ice cream. [21:41] 4Ir rolls her eyes, but pushes off the divan. [21:41] 4She snaps her fingers and Iscariot slides up her arms as jewelry again. [21:42] 7Blossom: "I'm... I'm not afraid of anything. I'll go with you." 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi turns around. "What did you say?" [21:43] "We said we're coming." 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's eyes are on Blossom. "...okay. Meet me outside when I'm a plausibly deniable distance away." [21:44] 4Ir: "...You mean stalk you from across the plaza?" [21:44] "I can do that." 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10With that, Eikichi struts out of the hotel -- the staff crowding the windows to watch him go -- and out into the midday sun. [21:48] 4Ir will follow, oh, three minutes behind. 08[21:48] 13Ying vanishes out the window. She stalks the rooftops, watching Eikichi's moves while staying inconspicuous. [21:50] 4Staying inconspicious won't be a problem for Ir. She's just a really hot, really fit pit fighter. A dim candle next to a...glorious torch. With its name on it! [21:53] 7Blossom is absolutely not focused on staying inconspicuous, but as Ir surmises, that won't really be a problem. 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10People stop and stare. From the road as Eikichi strolls by, from the windows of surrounding buildings. A streetcar almost skids off the rails as everyone leans to one side to get a look. [21:53] 13A child drops an ice cream cone and begins to cry. 08[21:54] 4Ir is literally a head-nod from Eikichi away from giving him a backing track to strut to. 15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Not quite yet... soon they're in a public square, traffic-worn cobbles, people pulling rickshaws, and a big fountain in the middle. People are selling things, but nobody's buying when Eikichi strides into view. [21:56] 4Ir leans against a pillar with a view. [21:57] 13Ying's holding her breath from a nearby rooftop. 14[22:02] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's unusually easy for Eikichi to make it to the center of the square. He's getting more attention than normal but way fewer people are actually in his face about it. He could get used to this. A woman with six dogs on leashes struggles to hold them all at bay as run yelping and howling away from Eikichi. 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10For his part, he buys an ice cream, sits on the edge of the fountain, and eats it slowly. Somewhere someone closes window shutters so hard the glass behind them breaks. [22:05] 4Ir's heard about people like this. Exhibitionists. 08[22:06] 13A child is quickly ushered away after a "Daddy, look!" 13while pointing at Eikichi. 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Daddy was already looking. [22:08] 7A cluster of young women huddle behind a stall, whispering and casting surreptitious glances. Blossom glares down at them from a rooftop. [22:09] 4It's hard to tell what the security situation is like in any given place in Nexus at any given time, but there are a lot of guys in armor, wearing swords, and with roughly regular heraldry either staring or coughing and looking away. 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Alright, now... Eikichi looks around, trying to find the others in the crowd. There's Ying and Blossom on the rooftops... there's Ir on the far side of the square. He gives a nod in her direction. [22:10] 4Ir winks and snaps her fingers. [22:12] 4When Iscariot begins singing, it's heavy on the pedal and humid as hell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O09v0uQUHxQ [22:13] 4And in the crush of the dark~ [22:24] 4Now the guards are getting into it. [22:24] 4...Whoever they work for. 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Once Ir starts playing, Eikichi starts dancing. The cape glitters as he moves like the tail of a comet in the night, even though it's broad daylight. Together, they kill it so hard it probably violates the Dogma. Eikichi slides down a lamp-post and somebody screams. He blows a kiss at a cluster of onlookers and they scatter like Blossom started raining fire on them. 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Ahahahahaha. Ahahahahahahaha!! [22:27] 4...One of the guards is kind of into it. [22:33] 7No. NO. NO [22:34] 4There is but one iron rule by which to live or die: Get up, or get down. [22:36] 13This is the worst thing in the history of things. 14[22:36] * Joins: Quaker [22:36] 4By your own works you are unmade, Sunlit-Dreaming Ying. 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Let this be a lesson to all who see it: the only thing that triumphs over hubris is even greater, more galling hubris. 08[22:41] 4Oh, there's a way to make this humiliating for Eikichi. It just involves curses, boutique magical artifacts and not playing fair. [22:42] 4Sabotaging public performances is an art only twenty seconds older than public performances themselves. [22:42] 4Ask the Songbirds. 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10And we can wait 'till the shadow grows long~ and turn the page of a story that has long since found a home~ [22:46] 4That song's gonna catch on. 08[22:46] 13If Eikichi looks back up to the roof where Ying was watching, he'll find that she's vanished. How could he-- the design was perfect!! She did everything right! 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eventually the law of the jungle allows those hardy and reckless enough to actually approach Eikichi to do so. He holds them at bay with smoldering looks and wagging fingers, brow burning like the sun. "Look at me! Am I not lovely? Am I not the very face of the divine?" 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "'But Eikichi!', you ask 'How is it that you look so good? Who made these sumptuous garments?" [22:49] 4Psychobabble all upon your lips~ 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "If you lean in close, I'll tell you." 10Around the square, everyone cranes in, irrespective of distance. Someone tumbles out of a window and onto an awning trying to listen. "Sunlit-Dreaming Ying is the name! The finest, most daring clothier Creation has ever seen! The highest of high fashion! Learn the name! Ask for her business!" [22:51] 4What a lad. [22:51] 4...Ir craned in too. 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's cape billows around him. He cocks the lauren crown at an angle and presses the ring to his lips. With a final wink the whirlwind envelops him and he lifts off, leaving the public in his dust. 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Does anyone want a ride back to the hotel? [22:57] 4Haha. Ir will sidle up to him as soon as he leaves the square, though. [22:57] "Just don't make Ying do any weird shit," 4is what she'll say before leaving him to his public. 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10'Weird' is such a damned subjective word. [22:59] 4He knows what it means. [22:59] 4That's the thing about subjective words. You don't need a dictionary. 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Yeah... 08[23:00] 7Blossom is in an alleyway off the market square, tears streaming blindly down her face and that of the woman she was midway through pummeling for deciding to approach Eikichi with a marriage proposal. Blossom's fist drops to her side as they both gawp at Eikichi rising into the sky. Soon they embrace, gasping tearful apologies to one another. Across the square, similar scuffles have [23:00] 7broken down in tears, hugs, men and women sitting on benches or doorsteps with their heads in their hands, struggling to process the last few minutes. 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi will fly back to the hotel so he can change out of everything but the shorts, which he pairs with a nice violet shirt he got in the garment district a few days ago. He's back on his guitar when people start coming home. [23:01] 7Blossom looks normal, if a little dazed, when she returns to the hotel. Her knuckles are bloody. 08[23:02] 13Ying and Tatsuya's door is closed and locked when Eikichi gets back. 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Blossom?" 10He stops mid-strum. "Are you okay? You look like you got in a fight." [23:02] 4Ir's in the common room, still playing stuff. 08[23:02] 4She got back after Eikichi, and has been in and out [23:03] 4Because helping with dinner's a fun time. [23:03] "Huh? Oh, no. Not really." 7She collapses on the couch. [23:03] 4She also, at some point, got a keyharp moved into the room. 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi brings a basin of water over to the couch. "What happened?" [23:09] 7Blossom: "I'm really, really glad you're not wearing that outfit anymore. What happens now that Ying lost?" [23:10] 4Ir: "He's magnanimous in victory." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "By the rules I get to order Ying around for a week." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't know, though. I can't really think of anything I'd actually want Ying to do that she wouldn't have just done anyway if I asked her to." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi'll start trying to wipe the blood off Blossom's hands if she doesn't. He really doesn't like seeing people bloody. [23:13] "What are you talking about?" 6asks a familiar voice from behind the door, which soon opens to reveal a hastily dressed Tatsuya. "What did I miss? I'm here for some reason and I can't remember why." [23:13] 7Blossom permits him to do it without comment. See, this is nice. "She shouldn't have given you candy. That was her mistake." [23:14] 4Ir: "Oh, no." [23:14] "No she doesn't." [23:15] "Bad news, Tatsuya. Ying lost a bet." 08[23:15] 4She looks over at Eikichi: "I mean, unless you want her to. But come on." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "She probably wants some alone time, is why." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "Eh, it's fine. I'm sure Tatsuya will do the same thing to her in a couple of hours." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Any blood under Blossom's fingernails? [23:16] 4Ir shrugs. [23:16] 6Tatsuya: "Must've been a pretty bad bet." 13He flops down into a chair nearby. "Dig the outfit, man. Where'd you get those shorts?" [23:16] 7Nope. Closed fist only. [23:17] 4Ir: "That's what I'm saying." 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Small mercies. After her hands are clean Eikichi will hold one as he sits on the floor in front of the couch. "You should see the shoes they came with." 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "Was that song one of yours, Ir?" [23:23] 4Ir: "The one in the square?" 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah." [23:23] 6Tatsuya: "What shoes? Was there a - wait. Wait wait wait." 6He DOES remember a bet. "THAT'S the bet she lost? The fashion one?" 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "She hasn't actually lost it yet." 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "Technically." 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "The bet was that I'd make the outfit popular, not drive people nuts in it." 14[23:24] * Joins: Crion| 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "Maybe nobody'll think they could pull it off." [23:24] 4Ir: "They usually sang it in situations about as risque as that." [23:24] "I mean, she seems pretty sure, given." 6He gestures to himself. "Now I want to see those shoes, though. You got the pair around here or did you already burn 'em?" [23:24] "Seemed like it fit." 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Tatsuya, I can't let you see the shoes." [23:25] 6Tatsuya: "Why not?" [23:25] 4Ir: "I had another song queued up in case that one didn't take you over." 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "Because they look like burial shawls for tiny coal miners." [23:26] "Also not mine." [23:26] "Bit more...traditional?" 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "What was it?" [23:26] "Heh." [23:26] 4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZOqrx0ETGk 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "I LOVE THIS SONG" 14[23:27] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:27] ", and that's the deal, my dear~" 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Le ro, le le, le le~ le ro, le le, le le~~" [23:28] 4The trick to 'Wherever, Whenever' is to have four other people using their six-strings as percussion. [23:28] 4Or having drums, but, well, that's kind of political in Pneuma. [23:30] 7Blossom, for her part, is up and dancing as soon as Ir starts playing. "This song is so good! Lucky I have strong legs like my mother~" 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Tatsuya: "Anyway, you can't see the shoes, because they look like they belong to a perennially unemployed travelling clown." [23:31] 6Tatsuya: "This is really only making me more curious. They can't possibly be that bad." 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "They look like some fabric remnants lashed themselves to a raft to sail to freedom." 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "The shoes have some problems." 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "And what's worse, you might literally like them. I've seen how you dress." [23:33] "PLAY HIPS DON'T LIE" 7Pity young Blossom, who was born basic. [23:33] 6Tatsuya: "Now I'm REALLY curious." 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Hips Don't Lie absolutely bangs. [23:34] 4Ir makes a face. "I'm not sure if I know that one..." 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "They're in the bag behind the screen though, since I know you'll start poking around anyway." [23:35] 6He immediately gets to his feet and begins rummaging around behind the screen. Then: "...holy shit." [23:36] 6He pokes his head back out. "I thought you said she lost." 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "She did." 14[23:37] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [23:37] 4Ir hits six necessary chords in a row.: "Actually I do. But I need someone to do the male part." [23:37] 6Tatsuya: "This is- I don't." 6He holds up the shirt. "This looks like curtains. You wore this?" [23:38] 6He digs deeper, followed by an audible gasp. "Oh. I get it. I get it now. Now I see why she lost." 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Stage whisper: "He found the ring." 14[23:38] * Joins: Quaker 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Anyway I'll play the male part if you wanna do Hips Don't Lie. Otherwise you could help me with some of the arena music I'm trying to write." [23:39] 4Ir grins. [23:39] 4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNpWYDduyw8 [23:43] 6Tatsuya walks back around the screen, tapping his joot-sandaled feet to the music. It's impossible not to move in time with the song, even if he's a crappy dancer. 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "TATSUYA!" [23:44] 6Tatsuya: "What?" 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "You're destroying the resale value on those." [23:45] 6Tatsuya: "Why would you sell these? These are great." [23:45] 4Ir is a professional, and doesn't break out of the song. [23:45] "Seems like a waste to ask Ying to make another pair." 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi goes back to playing, albeit furiously. [23:46] 6Tatsuya continues to sway, oblivious. [23:46] 7As the song draws to a close, Blossom says seriously: "It's good that the song includes reminders that there should be no fighting." [23:46] "That came up." 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "..." [23:51] 7Blossom: "I can remember when I was fourteen, and my talon was really excited about our performance on the obstacle courses..." 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "What happened?" [23:56] 7Blossom: "Oh, we went out to dance afterward, and one of our rival talons was in the same club. We'd been drinking some, and it could've come to blows, but that was when the musicians started playing Hips Don't Lie. I think it helped that the male singer looked like one of our instructors? Anyway, we took the 'no fighting' admonishment to heart." 15[23:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "Everyone learned a valuable lesson that day." Session Time: Fri Aug 25 00:00:00 2017 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "What this whole experience has taught me is that we should go out dancing. I haven't gone dancing in forever." [00:00] 7Blossom: "Right! Music should edify as well as entertain." 7She'd look to Ying for agreement, but Tatsuya's there instead. 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, to Blossom: "We've never danced. That's unforgivable." [00:01] "Hmm. You're right." [00:03] 4Ir: "I don't usually dance." [00:03] "I mean, I'm good at it." [00:03] "I just don't usually do it." 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you like it?" [00:04] "I used to like it a lot." [00:04] "Dancing's most fun with a partner." 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's true." [00:06] 6Tatsuya: "I tried dancing a few times. Apparently I just look like I'm dodging invisible blows when I do it instead of having a fun time dancing, so I stopped." 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "I bet you could make that work, but if you're not having fun there's no point." 14[00:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) [00:09] 6Tatsuya: "I did ballroom stuff a few times for work. That was okay. Not really much of a chance to do it, though." 14[00:09] * Joins: mattbaby 14[01:26] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[01:36] * Joins: Crion 14[01:36] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[01:49] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[02:34] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:18] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:18] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:19] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:00] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[05:13] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[08:34] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[09:25] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[10:14] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[10:29] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[10:50] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[12:39] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:19] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[13:31] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:02] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[16:17] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:24] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[17:25] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:51] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[18:20] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[18:26] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:29] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[18:30] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:30] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[18:50] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[18:54] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:02] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[19:06] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:09] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[19:11] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:11] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[19:53] * Joins: Crion [20:17] .---. [20:17] .--. ___/ \ [20:17] ; / O O \ / [20:17] `. \ /-' [20:17] _ J-.__; _.' [20:17] (" / `. -=: THE MAIN PROBLEM WITH OUR FOREIGN POLICY IS [20:17] `: `, -=| THAT BUSH IS TOO RELIANT ON THE ZERG RUSH [20:17] | F\ i, ; -| [20:17] | | | || \_J [20:17] mmm! `mmM Mmm' 15[20:17] <@VoxPVoxD> trump also leans too much on the kekeke [20:27] 12 / / [20:27] 12 | | | / [20:27] 12 \|_|_/ [20:27] 12 ,--/.__/--' [20:27] 12 _.-/ _ \-._ .'| [20:27] 12 .'::(_,-' `-._)::`. |:| [20:27] 12 (:::::::::::::::::::) .':| [20:27] 12 \_:::;;;::::;;;:::/ / |::| [20:27] 12 \ ,---'..\::/..`-.' / |::| [20:27] 12 \ \_;:....|'...:_ ) / .'=|| [20:27] 12 \. )---. )_.--< ( /' ||=|| [20:27] 12 \\ //|:: /--\:::\\\ // _||= | [20:27] 12 \\ ||::\:|----|:/:||/--.______,--==' \ - / [20:27] 12 -._ \`. \\:|:|-- -|:\:/-.,,\\ .----'//'_.`-' [20:27] 12 \. `-. \ \ _|:|:|-- -|::||::\,,||-'////---' |/' [20:27] 12 \\ `._)\ / |\/:|-/|--\:/|. :\_,'---' / [20:27] 12 \\_ /,,\/:.'\\/-.'`-.-// \ | [20:27] 12 /`\- //,,,' |-.\-'\--/|-/ ./| | / [20:27] 12 /||- ||, /| |\. |.-==-.| . /| | | / [20:27] 12 __ | /||- ||,,\- | . \;;;;/ . .':/ _,-=/-' [20:28] 12/ \// /||- ' `,-|::\ . \,..,/ /: / /.-' [20:28] 12,--|| /||-/.-.' \ `._ `--' _.' .'| // [20:28] 12.--||`. /||//\ ' |-'.___`___' _,'|// /; [20:28] 12 /\| \ ///\ / \\_`-.`--`-'_==|' /;' [20:28] 12 / |'\ \. //\ / \_\__)\`==-_'_| / / [20:28] 12 .' \.=`./|\ / \`-- \--._/_/------( / [20:28] 12 \.=| `_/|- |\`-| -/| `--------' [20:28] 12 \\` ./|-/- |\`-| |-| ________ [20:28] 12 `--\ |=|' _|\`-| |-| [20:29] 12A cesspit/breeding pool for a weird fungal strain of kruthik parademons has been burned and broken by the Squared Circle, but there's fallout left to deal with. What to do with these three men who basically know the score? How best to purge the rest of the neighborhood of any lingering infection? 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Seems like the two easiest options are tell them the truth (the Emissary will probably erase them if they talk, so they shouldn't talk) or kill them ourselves. First one seems easier. [20:32] 4Good to keep our eyes open for whoever their backup was supposed to be, too. [20:32] 4I'm guessing they'll have more permanent opinions on how to deal with the men. 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It only takes Eikichi a couple of minutes to convince the men that the Squared Circle has their interests at heart - they helped where the city didn't, where their bosses didn't. And he convinces them that their best interest is to keep this quiet - for their sake and for everybody else's. It doesn't take a lot of work. People tend to listen to Eikichi. Probably because of his obvious wisdom. [20:46] 4If all else fails, Last Westerley Star is standing by to menace them. 08[20:47] 12Before long, the only response Eikichi's getting is fervent nodding - especially from the one guy who's going to need the sorcerer's medical expertise if he doesn't want to be dead in another couple days. [20:48] 12Speaking of, you're going to have to round up the other infected, find and dispose of any who've succumbed, arrange treatments, make sure anything that's washed down the canals is dealt with... [20:48] 7Invincible Scholar Princess: "See? Everything's going to work out." [20:49] 4This job is turning out to be suspiciously like work. [20:57] 12At least it's work with fairly interesting stakes. Blossom, for instance, becomes increasingly aware of the kind of hideous health disaster that her perspicuous tracking and judicious application of cleansing fire is averting. It looks like overall only one body ended up falling into and washing down the canals, and, thankfully enough, whatever was spreading through it wasn't (yet) [20:57] 12adapted to living in and spreading through water. So, after a search of hours, Blossom comes across a sort of glowing cocoon growing out of the torso of a withered body that's washed up on the side of an abandoned sewer passageway. [20:58] 12Nothing stops her from carbonizing it entirely - or from following the easy-to-miss slime trails forking away from it and immolating some wriggling, wormlike things that were trying to build lairs of their own. [21:00] 7Invincible Scholar Princess lurks in the deeper shadows of the already-fairly-deeply shadowed High Hollow. Through turning up nigh-invisible scuff marks where a body was been dragged into the river, tiny splotches of blood and damp, and watching the stains showing high tide, she tracks down the corpse that got away. A few swift gouts of flame see to the cocoon and the larvae, and then [21:00] 7a brief touch on a withered forehead turns the corpse into fading motes of light. 08[21:01] 12Eikichi, Ir, and Tatsuya, still disguised as people with far more interesting names, have similar experiences back in the undercity shantytown. There's a lot of knocking on doors and interrogating locals and cross-referencing different stories, and, in a couple cases, simply following one's nose. [21:04] 12The three find a few people on the brink of death, shivering and withering in their own dwellings. The find corpses, too, shriveled and blackened wrecks with shelves of fungus growing out from between their ribs and quivering eggs in their abdominal cavities. At one point, Ir opens a door to a dead man's home and finds a wolf-sized kruthik pouncing straight at her, fangs and pincers [21:04] 12gleaming, and is forced to break its back and strangle it. [21:05] 4Ah, kebabs. [21:05] 12The better part of a day later, the whole business is done - High Hollow's free of "plague", and anyone with even an inkling of what that plague was or where it may have came from has been talked, sworn, or terrified into secrecy. [21:06] 4Ir: "Are we going to wait around and see if anyone shows to check up on the disaster this was supposed to be?" [21:06] *4Star: "Are we going to wait around and see if anyone shows to check up on the disaster this was supposed to be?" 14[21:08] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [21:08] 7Princess: "Death's Notaries' work is done here, but ours isn't." [21:08] 12An entire warehouse has, per Ying's specifications, been converted into a house of healing; burning medicinal herbs and burnished holy symbols deck the walls there, and the dozen-odd infected who remain huddle there and wait for the corruption within their bodies to subside. Fortunately, it's going well, and the rest of the neighborhood is really pulling together - having been 08[21:08] 12galvanized by Eikichi and given the chance to flex their collective muscles in rebuilding the place to start with, the rest of the residents are quick to bring tea, take care of kids, and otherwise assist in the community's convalescence. 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend: "What's next?" [21:08] 7Princess: "We report to the Council, and then we backtrack that shipment. Off the clock." [21:11] 13Dexys Violetta: "Sounds like a plan." 13Her mildly terrifying appearance might have made the healing a little slower to get started than she'd like, but once her skill with medicine became obvious, the mask was no longer an issue. Something to consider for a future disguise - friendliness. Although that wasn't really the point here... difficult! 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend: "Speaking as Friend, I refuse to put in unpaid work." [21:12] 4Star: "This was supposed to be whose responsibility before ours? The local contractor Blooded?" 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend: "Qasha and the other one, yeah." [21:14] 7Princess: "Yes. The advice Qasha gave us - do exactly what we're contracted for and no more - was sound. Tracing the source would be good for the city, but the Council didn't hire Death's Notaries to do what's good for the city, they hired us to do what they want. The wrong kind of initiative is worse than no initiative." [21:14] "So we'll do it as the Squared Circle." 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend: "Keeping in mind we're still bound by the terms of the contract no matter how we're dressed, I'm on board." [21:15] 4Star: "I'm just wondering what the outcome our mysterious packagemen were planning for was." [21:16] 7Princess: "We won't know that until we know who they are." [21:16] "The list of people who would benefit from a crisis in Nexus is long." [21:17] 4Star: "Well, this one isn't hypothetical." 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "The Whispers were a cult who's expanded. I want to know who they were a cult to." [21:17] "This is the second time we've run into these things in less than a week. They're big in Firewander." [21:17] "If our leads go cold we can try again there." [21:21] 12When the Squ- when Death's Notaries report to Brueghel, the man goes searching through a sheaf of papers in his desk - magical ones, if anyone's got the wherewithal to check - and then nods smartly to the lot of you. "That's all the Council needs... at this moment. How are you best contacted?" 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "Infallible Messenger." 14[21:23] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[21:23] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[21:23] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[21:23] * Joins: hrolf_mac_ 14[21:23] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Connection closed) 14[21:23] * hrolf_mac_ is now known as hrolf_mac [21:24] 12Brueghel seems mildly displeased. "Those don't grow on trees. Have you a... base, a common a haunt? A convenient location for a dead drop?" 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "We move around a lot. Where would be convenient for you?" [21:28] 12Some more paper rustles before Brueghel decides on, and describes to you, a tree in a particular bend in Parko Llana, Nexus's largest public park. Important but not life-or-death urgent notices and requests will be found in a trapdoor hidden between and beneath some tree roots there. [21:28] 12That being squared away, the Notaries are paid a substantial sum in jade and silver, exactly as agreed upon, and then dismissed. 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That's good. Successfully maneuvered into picking a place that doesn't reveal anything about where we like to hang out or what we do in our off hours. [21:29] 4That's more convenient than a messanger? Crazy. [21:29] 12Sorcerers aren't as common as having two of them for friends makes it seem! 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Especially not when they're probably contracted by the spell. [21:29] 13Maybe get good??? [21:30] 13Specifically, get good friends who can cast spells for you. 08[21:31] 12At any rate, you're now left to your own devices... for the moment. Ir and "Wild Rose" have both got gladiatorial bouts coming up, although Rose's is probably going to be against another handful of mortals and wild beasts that don't really merit blow-by-blow attention. Ir, though, has a date with the Twin Dragons. 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Anything else going on? Maybe some clothing orders for Ying? [21:33] 12Separately, there's a standing invitation for the sorcerers in your circle to talk shop with the enigmatic Arianna. Otherwise, the city ticks along - the steady stream of refugees from the east is driving down all sorts of wages, to the consternation of some and the pleasure of others, and the Guild seems to have taken down its public requests for help with its bizarre logistical [21:33] 12problems, and the announcement by a luminary of the Gymnasium of a miraculous formula for transforming worthless gold into priceless silver has turned out to be a fraud, and... [21:34] 7Hey! Gold isn't worthless, it has a number of ornamental and alchemical uses! [21:34] 4So basically worthless. [21:35] 6Not to the right people. [21:35] 12All right, but it was funnier to say it the way I did. [21:44] 12For a little while now, banners, billboards, and pieces of street art throughout the city of Nexus have been cryptically prophetic - They're coming! or Beware...! or similar. Over time, they've become increasingly representational - a sliver of a huge, staring eye visible through a great crack in stone, or a figure silhouette against a wall of fire, or a saurian footprint within [21:44] 12which are the crushed remains of a molten sword. [21:44] 4Ugh. [21:44] 4Tacky. [21:46] 12Around midweek, the Guild reaches out to Blossom to reach out to Ir - the hero's to be present for a special ceremony of unveiling, to hit just as this ad campaign reaches its crescendo. We'll need Ir in her full battle regalia, they're told, and ready to at least do a cool jump or something as the great match is made fully public. [21:46] 7Perfect. They'll be ready. [21:46] 12A covered wagon arrives at the Scarlet Palace well in advance to pick Ir and her retinue up; she's not to be visible to the crowd until the exact moment of announcement. [21:46] 4The things we do for our public. [21:47] "Don't worry about it, Ir. I've got your entrance and theme music all set up." 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10?! [21:47] "Oh. Do you." [21:47] 13!! [21:48] 4We'll...see how this goes. [21:48] 7Blossom: "I know, I know, but you can't sing your own entrance. They look down on that kind of thing. It has to be like a miniature Triumph. All you have to do is walk out slowly and work the crowd a little." 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Are you going to dress up?" [21:52] 4Ir: "I mean, I'm gonna wear my armor." [21:52] 7Blossom: "The glowing plate? That's good. That's very good." 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yeah!" 10Then he looks at Blossom. "Are you going to dress up?" [21:53] 7Blossom: "Me? I hadn't planned on it... I don't want to distract from Ir." [21:54] 12The grand announcement is being made at the huge plaza directly behind Nexus's own gates, between the Firewander and Bastion districts. The high walls have been festooned with banners representing the Guild, the city, the grand arena, and five or six dozen different businesses and conglomerates and brand names and whatever else. The gates, normally wide open, have been sealed tightly [21:54] 12shut - those wishing to enter the city will have to use the smaller doors set into the wall at regular intervals throughout the Bastion district. [21:55] 4Not a huge fan of Guild advertising being all over this, but that's how it goes. 08[21:58] 12The announcement's to be made at noon, but crowds have started to amass since before sunup. With them, of course, is the usual flotilla of concession stands, souvenir shops, food carts, and of course official arena ticket sellers. There are plenty of different matches to which tickets are being sold, Wild Rose's next bout among them, but the really big deal is the MYSTERY MATCH, ??? [21:58] 12v. ???, limited seating, buy now for best value!!! 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Does Ir get free tickets to hand out or are we gonna have to buy seats to this? [21:59] 12She does, but not for lack of trying on the Guild's part. Blossom was shrewd enough to catch that one, fortunately. [22:00] 13Boy, I'm really starting to not like these Guild guys! [22:01] 12Anything the Squared Circle needs to get done or make sure of before they hop into their bronze-age limousine and head for the entrance square? 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's going to smuggle two bottles of wine in under his coat. [22:04] 13That's a really good idea! Ying will pocket some snacks to avoid the ripoff prices they charge. And maybe some refreshments too. [22:05] 7Blossom's ready. Blossom's SO ready. Ever since she had this idea, it's like there's been something crawling around underneath her skin, itching to get out. [22:05] 12That's very wise, although, if the Guild gets their way in the next few Council meetings, highly illegal. 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She's not gonna play THAT song, is she? [22:06] 13Well, it's not illegal yet. Fair game! [22:07] 12At any rate, the Squared Circle's wagon is just one of many in the streets of Nexus that morning. It's perhaps distinguished by the fact that it's pulled by a pair of hearty emas birds rather than cheaper and less reliable horses, but enough of the wealthy are at least intrigued by the arena's massive ad campaign that it doesn't render you an object of serious suspicion. [22:08] 12Maybe the way other wagons or crowd goers part for you as you approach the central plaza - either willingly or because they've been rudely pushed aside by guards and other facilitators - is unusual, but, hell, the Guild does all sorts of quiet boring logistical stuff. [22:08] 12Anyway, everyone's attention is on the other side of the square. Specifically, on the great gates, which keep shaking. [22:09] 4Errant takes exception to this slander. 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi cranes out of the wagon for a better look. [22:10] 4Where's Ir during all this? [22:11] 12A slow, steady, thump... thump... thump... is transforming by degrees into a BOOM... BOOM... BOOM. A deep rumbling is becoming increasingly audible. An announcer, his voice magically amplified by a twisted, coral-encrusted seashell he's speaking into from a podium on the far side of the square, is doing his absolute best to heighten expectations and concentrate adrenaline - it's [22:11] 12coming! No... THEY'RE coming! Something great! Something terrible! Could it be the deadliest threat this city's faced yet?! 08[22:11] 7I'm assuming the Squared Circle split up once they hit the Plaza - Eikichi and Ying to someplace with a nice view, Blossom and Ir hidden from sight on the other side of the square from the rumbling gates. 08[22:12] 12That's easily arranged. If need be, Ying and Eikichi could've benefited from some VIP treatment, and had a way made for them to the very front of the crowd or even into some high seats. 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Need definitely be. [22:13] 12Ah, so there is aught can be done. [22:15] 12Anyway, the mood of the crowd is reaching a fever pitch. They're shouting at the announcer and at each other, desperately buying event tickets before - upon the revelation of the actual fighters - the price goes up, scarfing down sausages-in-buns and cups of shaved ice... and then the sun reaches its zenith and the gates explode open. [22:16] 12I do mean explode; there's a flash of fire behind them, and the great wood-and-metal doors are smoking as the whip around on their hinges and slam into the wall. Barreling in through them, completely unfettered, is a pair of enormous tyrant lizards! [22:16] 4... [22:16] 4Sigh. 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Yeah!! Yeah!!!!! [22:16] 4Completely unfettered. [22:17] 4Time to go to work. [22:17] 12Announcer: "Oh, no. Oh, no! It's the TWIN DRAGONS!" 12And he's partially right. The two creatures have near-identical builds and scales, down to their brow ridges and spinal bumps and so on, and each has the same tiger stripe pattern running down its length, but they're of complementary rather than identical colors. One's a deep orange, and one's an ashen, purplish grey. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's hooting and hollering. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Everybody loves dinosaurs. I don't care who you are, that's fun, right there. [22:19] 12Astute observers will note that while these lumbering monsters are literally unfettered, that may not be the metaphorical case; there's a small encampment of wagons and guards and observers and so on behind them, on the other side of the gates, and they don't appear to have been eaten or incinerated or something. 08[22:19] 13Ying's a little more reserved than Eikichi, but he's right. He's right! Dinosaurs are awesome! [22:20] 12In particular, a lanky and lightly-dressed southerner seems to be keeping himself within some twenty or thirty yards behind them, the air around him rippling as he stares at them hard. [22:20] 7Does it look like Ir's about to break kayfabe? [22:20] 4Nah. [22:21] 7Alright then. [22:21] 4She is concerned about this whole...concept...though. [22:21] 12Most people don't notice this, because they're busy shrieking as the primordial reptiles cough cones of elemental destruction into the air. One plume of raging fire and one howling blizzard go stabbing into Nexus's sky. [22:21] 4Seems dumb! [22:22] 12Announcer: "It would take an army! It would take a legion! It would take a wyld hunt for even a CHANCE against these monstrosities! Who, who, WHO, could POSSIBLY-- what's this?!" [22:22] 4And here we go. [22:23] 7At the signal, Blossom takes the smoke bombs she begged from Ying days ago out of a small sack and tosses them! [22:23] 12While the crowd's attention was elsewhere, one last banner was hoisted up behind a dais right before Ir's wagon - it's a field of solid color across which points a silver spear. [22:24] 7With a PSSSSSH white smoke begins to billow out, obscuring Ir and Blossom herself and wreathing the dais in mysterious, misty tendrils. 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "?!" [22:24] 7She raises a hand, one finger pointed to the heavens. If this doesn't work, she's going to look very foolish. Blossom never considers the possibility for a moment. [22:26] 7There are no storm clouds in the sky, no hint of rain, but a blue lightning bolt streaks down from the sky with a CRASSSH, briefly illuminating the smoke clouds with a coruscating blue! [22:27] 7In Blossom's hands now is a zither that any musician would recognize as a masterwork. Perfectly constructed of aged songwood from the East, inlaid with electrum spelling out Old Realm runes that read, in a rough translation: THIS MACHINE SLAYS DARKNESS. 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sugoi~ [22:29] 7Blossom takes a deep breath, readies the zither with the heel of one hand on the custom distortion pedal, and begins to sing. [22:29] 7https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZD3FAUqJEg [22:30] 7As she sings, spinning pinwheels of fireworks seem to appear from nowhere out of the smoke, and beams of flashing light shine upwards, illuminating the bottoms of the clouds. [22:31] 7Everyone across the square can hear her perfectly - her voice reverberates from wall to wall without diminishing in strength. "THE SUN GOT UP ONE MORNING HE WAS IN AN UGLY MOOD / HE WAS SICK OF FLOODS AND PLAGUES HE WANTED SOMETHING REALLY RUDE / HE MADE A BIG SIAKA OUT OF BROKEN GLASS AND GLUE / THEN HE GAVE HER TWO LEGS AND A NASTY ATTITUDE" 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10*_* [22:34] 13Ying is on her feet screaming along from the moment Blossom starts singing. This! Is! Incredible! [22:37] 4Through the smoke, something golden begins to burn through. [22:37] 4(This song is RIDICULOUS.) [22:37] 4(...And cool.) [22:53] 12As one, the Twin Dragons turn to Blossom's performance, and to the cloud of smoke from which beams of light are firing. The red one snarls, taking a menacing step forward. The blue one narrows its eyes and draws back, as though a viper about to strike. [22:55] 4Then the smokecloud ripples and explodes away, torn apart by a burning pillar of sunlight that drives up into the heavens. [22:56] 4There, standing in similarly-burning golden armor, with a great looming anima spearmaiden standing tall behind her, is Ir. 14[22:56] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:00] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[23:00] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:00] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker [23:01] 12Announcer: "... Ir! It's Ir, Twice-Traitor! Ir, Chosen of the Sun, and EXCLUSIVE participant in the NEXUS GRAND ARENAAAA!" [23:02] 12Announcer: "Can SHE stand up to the elemental tyrants?!" 12That kind of talk has a lot of purchase in Nexus, of course. In the River Province in general, really. [23:02] 4Man, I dunno, maybe don't put "Twice Traitor" on the bill, that just kinda leads to questions-- [23:07] 4Whatever. She sticks the landing. Iscariot is dancing around her as the smoke burns away, without her seeming to even move as she stares down the Tyrant Lizards...and points. [23:09] 12The crowd's deathly silent as the two "dragons" - again, moving as one - both flinch. They draw back, mouths tightening and eyes widening, but thanks to the force of Ir's presence and the magnetic power of Blossom's music neither can so much as look away, and certainly not turn and run. [23:10] 4...Is 'deathly silent' the mood we were going for here...? [23:10] 4This carny stuff is hard. [23:11] 12The tableau of the glowing, gold-and-silver Chosen pointing imperiously at the two practically-cowering elemental monsters persists for five or six seconds before the crowd erupts into wild cheers. As Blossom's performance draws to a close, and as the tall handler of the two beasts begins gesticulating behind them, the tyrant lizards turn slowly away and slink back out through Nexus's [23:11] 12gates, growling and grumbling to themselves but not so much as snapping at the crowd to their left and right. [23:11] 4Phew. [23:12] 12Announcer: "SundaysundaySUNDAY this disagreement is settled once and for all, ladies and gentlemen of Nexus! At noon exactly, in the grand Nexus arena! Show up early! Buy your tickets earlier still! Don't forget our other events-" [23:14] 12All the pent-up energy of the crowd finally spills outward here as people rush in for tickets, or to try to follow the tyrant lizards out the gates, or to beg Ir and Blossom for autographs or similar. The Guild's there for you to block them off as you gracefully leave, unless you desire otherwise. [23:15] 4Yeah, no autographs yet. [23:15] 4Haven't even won anything. [23:16] 12In the following days, news of the event rages through the city like wildfire. Elementally infused mutants like those creatures are precious rarities even when they don't come in matched pairs, and Ir's probably the first of the Chosen of the Sun to operate openly and with full endorsement of the Guild and city rather than in secret except during insanely grisly public disturbances. [23:16] 12The match is sold out before the day is through, and soon enterprising engineers and thaumaturgists are working on using lightweight building materials to build the arena stands even higher, or arrange for a small fleet of observation balloons, or similar. [23:17] 7Once all four solars are back in the carriage, Blossom leans back smugly: "You're going to be the most popular match in Nexus history." [23:17] 13Ying's humming the theme Blossom sang and swaying back and forth. Incredible. [23:18] 4Ir's banished the armor. "Surely there's been something more impressive than Tyrant Lizards on a card." 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi lets out a strangled squeak of excitement when Blossom and Ir get back in the carriage. "That was AWESOME" [23:18] "Nice work on the intro, though." 08[23:18] 12In fact, a Guild official is talking to Blossom and Eikichi before the day is through - how easily can you, say, project an image of the fight to distant viewers? 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10I don't know, how easily can we do that? [23:19] 4Oh Sun. [23:20] 7It would depend on how distant... and she has to be singing for it to work. [23:22] 12Unfortunately, sorcerous projects generally take a week's time, and you've got like four days. Maybe you can discover an appropriate artifact somewhere...? If it's something you're seriously interested in you can put your back into it over the rest of the week. [23:22] 12Anything else the Circle wants to do in that time? 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What was that about academic lectures on the nature of the Wyld? 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi'll probably be looking into that unless Blossom or somebody has something else they want to do. [23:23] 13Ying will be checking up on the dead drop as well as looking into the plague, and whether anyone's come to check it out after the fact. 08[23:26] 7One evening, Blossom's leaning on the wall near the door to Eikichi's room, holding part of his Death's Notaries costume and the glittery cape from his horrible outfit. [23:26] "Hold up there, Magistrate Billowing-Cape's-Rose." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's just on his way to wash his face and write a while before bed when he sees Blossom holding things for him to wear. He glances up and down the hall before whispering "...out here?" 08[23:28] 12The new scholarship on the relation of the Wyld to the stars is in fact being spearheaded by noted scholar Alferi, the fat southerner who Tatsuya rescued from the rakshastan floating above the Hedgehog and who Eikichi cured of mutation. [23:29] 7Blossom: "How can you sleep... how can any of us sleep... when there's crime afoot?!" [23:29] "Get dressed. We're going to lurk the rooftops and punish ne'er-do-wells." [23:30] 12Alferi's a member of the "Dolmen of Learning", a barely-secret-these-days society of occultists and historians mostly populated by graduates of the Serigala Gymnasium. Upon his return, he penned a whole mess of scrolls about what he's calling the 'stellar Wyld', a long-overlooked portion of the formless chaos surrounding Creation. [23:31] 12Ying finds nothing at the dead drop... yet. But it's a good habit to get into. Assuming nothing takes her out of comission and that she keeps checking every day or at least every few days, I'll let you know once Brueghel's got another mission for the Notaries. 14[23:32] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi blinks. "Oh. Oh, okay!" 10He'll take the cape and mask and duck inside his room. He comes back out dark, masked, and shimmering, hat in hand. "What's the plan?" 08[23:36] 12In her trips to and fro, Ying does pick up on the fact that - to her delight, or her horror? - Eikichi's last public spectacle has made something of a splash in the city's visual imagination. People are asking each other where this "Ying" person's shop even is, and speculating that he or she might be some magistrate or financier's private clothier, or something. She might do well to [23:36] 12capitalize on this before it either diffuses or gets caught by someone else. [23:37] 7Blossom shakes her head. "Uh-uh. Not this time. You're the dashing hero, I'm just the humble sidekick. We're following your plan, as long as it isn't 'go to sleep instead'. This is your city- where are the people preyed upon by bandits and sneak-thieves? Where do the people cry out for the watchful justice of Magistrate Billowing-Cape's-Rose?" 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi flips his hat over in his hands as he looks at Blossom, unreadable behind the mask. "...alright. Meet me on the roof in five minutes." [23:40] 7She grins eagerly. "I'll be there." 08[23:40] 13Oh no. Oh, no no no. No. No! No. This is... not how she wanted to make a name for herself... but she can't let someone else ruin her reputation. She made Eikichi's outfit badly on purpose. It took a lot of time, effort, and skill to make something that terrible. A real eye for what works, deliberately ignored! And maybe they just want to know who could make something so skillful, and they won't want just copies of that outfit. [23:40] Please. 14[23:40] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Blossom will find 'the Magistrate' kneeling contemplatively on the hotel's roof, overlooking the canal, his cape billowing and glittering majestically behind him. 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is she coming out as anyone in particular? [23:45] 12Ying has already seen some people with boxy little satchels worked into the fronts of their belts. It IS pretty convenient. [23:45] 13Noooo 08[23:47] 7She'll be wearing her Invincible Scholar Princess getup, but without Ying's help she doesn't resemble the Princess except in clothing and the large round glasses. She's kept the boots, Eikichi will note. 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He will note that. For his part, Eikichi looks pretty much exactly like Friend-of-the-Far-Side. The outfit's spectacular but in terms of makeup and so forth it was basically just him under the hat and mask. He can even recolor his own hair. Ying's put him through more ambitious projects. "In Nexus, there's always somebody who needs protection they're not getting. A voice in the darkness nobody is there to hear." 08[23:57] 12And so go the following few days for the Squared Circle. Ying struggles to set up shop premises, Eikichi and Blossom both fight crime and brainstorm how an apocalyptic battle might be televised, and Ir racks her brains to remember who it was that talked her into this so that she can begin to properly debate killing them. [23:57] 12Ir versus the Twin Dragons... next week! Session Time: Sat Aug 26 00:00:00 2017 14[00:22] * Joins: tom 14[00:24] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[00:29] * Joins: Quaker 14[00:29] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[01:43] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[01:57] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:07] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[02:23] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:44] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:59] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:37] * Joins: tom2 14[04:38] * Quits: tom (*.net *.split) 14[05:03] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[05:17] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[09:30] * Joins: Crion 14[09:52] * Joins: Quaker 14[09:59] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[10:00] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:00] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker [10:22] - [10:22] - [10:22] - [10:22] - [10:22] - [10:22] - [10:22] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qadKIvx3mc [10:25] The mariachis are beginning to pack up their instruments. Around them, the last tourists filter out of the little Old Town compound. The grounds crew passes by, extinguishing a few street lamps as businesses begin to shutter for the evening. The sudden dimming of light makes everyone’s shadow longer and more indistinct. [10:27] Abigail Gannon, the Ambassador to San Diego, is rather embarrassed at her offer. Her servant holds open a small case. Inside are a pair of featureless white porcelain masks on red silk. [10:31] 4If they're precisely identical, Cav will take the one on the left. [10:32] “…a rather backwards local custom. There’s no requirement, of course, to wear anything that you don’t want to, and I’d certainly understand you refusing it, Baron. But it may smooth things over with the more…traditional…Court members you’ll meet…” Abigail raises an eyebrow. “Well…I do have the extra, so….” 08[10:33] 6KJ's holding her fire here. Wilson Frost might not even have been on the train, and he hasn't reacted one way or other if not. If it was her.. but she wouldn't be here if she was Nosferatu. [10:35] The Ambassador and her assistant look around. “Oh. I could have sworn he was here. Nervousness wasted, I suppose.” [10:36] 4Cav checks his phone. "He should be here shortly." [10:36] "Or in town, at least." [10:36] "I think he took the car service down." [10:38] 6KJ: "Perhaps we can deliver the masks, Abby. Do you have names for any of those more dot dot traditional dudes?" [10:38] As the lamps fade, KJ realizes that in the shadows cast by the lamps, there are about a half dozen figures standing there that she hadn’t noticed before. She can’t make much of them beyond their presence. They don’t move. 15[10:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A car pulls up into the big lot near the platform, an oldish SUV. Wilson slides out of the back while two women come out of the front seat and go around back. There's the sound of boxes moving. Wilson's wearing a sort of puffy white vest over his usual suit. He's only a few quick steps from the others. "Baron. Baron. Ambassador." [10:41] Cav sees them well enough. Tall, wearing the porcelain masks. clothed in black robes that reach from head to toe. They’re still enough that they look like black pillars, and tall enough to make the people milling about look like children. There must be half a dozen of them, spread out through Old Town, looking in their direction. If he turns to look, he can see one standing in the shadow of the raised freeway as well. [10:41] 4... [10:42] 4Cav: "Ambassador." [10:42] "Is there anything...else...you'd like to tell us." [10:42] "Before we depart." 15[10:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson doesn't see them. He makes a habit of not looking around in strange places. Makes you look nosy or paranoid. He does see the masks. 15[10:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Doesn't say anything yet. But he sees them. [10:43] "Hello, Baron Hollywood. Welcome to San Diego." 08[10:43] 6For a moment KJ doesn't know what Cav's on about, but when she's turning to greet Wilson she sees them. An ambush by the Brilliant Court after all? Too many to be observers? She tenses, something in her blood rather than actual muscle. [10:43] 4Cavanaugh, on the other hand, is the sort who will look directly at them. [10:44] "Hi, you missed the mariachis.." [10:44] 4...Are they invisible to everyone else? He glances over at KJ. She can see them, right? 15[10:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh no." [10:44] 4Maybe it has something to do with the masks. [10:45] 6(KJ's expression hasn't changed, but she's looking the same way Cavanaugh is. Probably due to not having seen enough rather than any particular phlegmatism.) [10:46] "It was kind of wild. I got this technicolour shawl, see-" 08[10:47] Abby is busy going through the list of people to more or less avoid: “Count San Ysidro, definitely the Count of Coronado, hmm, the Prince of Tijuana-“ She bows when she sees Wilson. “Oh! Hello, Baron. Just give me a moment-“ She signals to her assistant, who runs over to the few remaining mariachis and gestures quickly. With a look of weariness, they begin to play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qadKIvx3mc [10:47] 4The Prince of Tijuana, huh. 15[10:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson puts his hands up. "Please, please. I appreciate it, but you fellas are up late enough as it is." [10:49] Then she sees where they’re looking at, raises a hand to her eyes to get a better look, her smile tightening. “Hmph. Just a few local characters. The local Nosferatu community is a bit tight-knit. Very insular. And wrapped up in this whole religion thing. Well, don’t pay them any mind. It’s not as if they’re likely to talk to you even if you go up and say hi, anyway.” [10:51] 4Cav: "So how does this...work? Can only we see them?" 4He glances around. "Am I walking into some kind of 'masquerade violation' joke?" [10:52] 6KJ: "Oh. Well, if they're cool with being talked about in the third person while in earshot, we're all good here?" [10:52] 4Vampires are fucking weirdos, man. 15[10:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What's next on the itinerary? Where are we going from here? Wilson'll ask if he didn't already get told. [10:55] Abby: “They’ve been here longer than anyone. If they’ve ever had trouble with the Masquerade, it’ll be the first I’ve heard of it.” She checks her schedule. “I think that’s everything on my end. Where’s your driver? I expect the Princess has sent someone…” [10:56] "Worst comes to worst, we all cram in with Baron Hollywood or hope Uber knows where 'Casa Figueroa de Solano y Medina' is." 15[10:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "I've got the room, definitely." [10:56] On cue, a young man in full livery dress who had been hovering around the edges steps forward. “Good evening, uh, Barons. I’ll get your things and put them in the car, if you don’t mind.” He indicates a limousine parked nearby. [10:57] 4Cav gives the figures one last look. He's not using Auspex. They're definitely just, standing right there. But if he doesn't look at one of them directly it's hard to see any of them, let alone tell what they look like. And everyone else just seems to be going about their business. 15[10:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson's ghouls have several bags they're unloading from the SUV, as well as a massive black leather case that looks sized for an upright orchestra bass. [10:58] 4He shakes his head. [10:59] 4Are the ghouls staying with us as well, or are Bryan and Brian heading off to a hotel? [10:59] The Princess’s people have already offered the use of several guest wings to hold their combined staffs. [11:00] 6KJ's things include their carrier, the colorless Zelda Essos, so they can get themselves to the limo. She'll bid Abby farewell and endeavour to keep the serape! 08[11:01] Before they break up, someone offers Wilson a sombrero and serape. 15[11:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Seriously? 15[11:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He looks at the Ambassador. Is this a joke? [11:02] Cav and KJ should still be wearing theirs, if they didn’t turn them down… [11:03] 4Cav is, and shrugs. 15[11:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well, as long as he's not the only one. [11:03] 6KJ is taking every opportunity to twirl around in it, frankly. 15[11:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Just as long as nobody's wearing fake moustaches. There are limits. [11:04] "What do you think it will be like to meet a 'princess'?" She opens one of the limo's back doors a fraction before the doorman can get to it. [11:05] "Thank you." 4Cav will slide into the backseat. [11:05] Abby waves them off. Are they all taking the offered limo together? The Ambassador did make a special request about staying together while they were in the city, for safety purposes. The driver holds the door open, ashamed of his lateness. 15[11:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson's getting in. You don't take the serape and then turn down the limo ride. 15[11:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson: "I'm trying to keep an open mind on this princess business." [11:08] 4They appear to be all going together, yes. [11:08] 6KJ: "Okienka sounded positive on the concept, but she would." [11:09] 4Once inside: "So San Diego isn't what I expected." [11:09] "All we've seen is Gannon and a bunch of ceremonial observers. Give it time." [11:10] 6It's unclear whether KJ is referring to mariachi or to nosferatu." [11:10] The driver politely puts up the partition, and helps put everything else away in the trunk. [11:11] "You'd think the ten-foot tall masked creeps in robes would make the tourist guides, is all I'm saying." [11:12] 6KJ: "Masked? I didn't get a good look. Was it the same one?" 08[11:14] "About ten of them, dressed head to toe in black robes -- like judges -- wearing masks like the ones the Ambassador offered Wilson. Just standing there, not moving." 4He shakes his head again. "It's weird, though. It wasn't like Obfuscate. Okay, it was LIKE Obfuscate. But it wasn't that." [11:14] Soon, the limo pulls out of the parking lot and into the freeway. They can see the huge, dark bays again as they head to the northwest. Eventually, the suburbs thin out. The driver pulls off onto the side streets after a while, and they can see the roads begin to be lined with huge cypresses and oaks. The houses here seem to be bigger and further apart. As they drive, it’s hard to get much of a look around because of the [11:14] winding nature of the hills surrounding them. 08[11:16] 6Did we even end up taking the masks? If so, this is an opportunity- to Wilson: "You want we should throw these things out the window?" 15[11:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He makes a face at the masks. "Are those for me?" [11:19] 4Cav: "Yeah. Presumably the stilts come later." 15[11:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson snorts. 15[11:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "I get the idea, but I got it covered." 15[11:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "So to speak." [11:20] 4That IS all they're asking. 14[11:21] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) [11:22] 6In that case, KJ takes one and leaves Cav with the other. "I'm sure we can find a better use for some fine porcelain. [11:22] " 14[11:22] * Joins: mattbaby [11:24] The limo clears one last estate’s gate as they turn onto a series of switchbacks, and then they’re in the clear, the brush around them stretching away into darkness. The intercom cracks: “Just a few more minutes until we arrive.” [11:24] 4This is really out there. [11:24] They’re pretty high up, too, though the gentle inclines have disguised their ascent. [11:25] 6KJ sounds a little more serious: "For better or worse, coming and going from this place will have us.. associated in peoples' minds. Let's see if we can make that into a good thing." 15[11:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10If she really is the princess of La Jolla, at least she'll have a place on the beach. [11:26] 4Cav: "First things first. Let's make sure there's no fairy-tale monster ruling the grounds." [11:27] "It's been that kind of town so far." [11:29] 6KJ: "No what I'm saying is that if so, we basically have to make friends." [11:30] The car pulls up to a large iron gate, waiting only for a moment as it parts. Once inside, the land around them levels off, plateauing for at least a mile in each direction. As they drive through, the landscape changes from rough chapparal to manicured lawns, fields, hedges, and garden plots. They can see statues and fountains, occasionally. If they roll the windows down, the smell of lavender will come to their noses, and [11:30] they’ll realize that the main causewway is flanked on both sides by half-acres of the flowers. [11:31] 6In the language of flowers.. that means shit just got real. [11:32] 4Too much land. [11:32] 4Cav's a city kid. This is too wide open. 15[11:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Blythe's place is nicer. [11:33] 6Well it's a 'princedom', right? KJ folds up her serape and slips it inside her jacket, puts something like a game face on. The game of friendsmanship. 15[11:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10When you play the game of friends, you either win or it's sort of awkward. [11:34] Eventually, the limo stops in a large gravel driveway. The land here is cupped like an ampitheater, the gardens and fields leading down to a central estate of many wings and an ornate architecture. A huge staircase dominates the front, and the driveway is lined with servants and helpers. Beyond, the land curves so that the entirety of La Jolla is exposed to their view; a huge, glittering semi-circle stretching to either side of [11:34] the horizon bounded only by the black ocean beyond. [11:34] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/On_a_bright_Summer_day_%2829869670216%29.jpg/1280px-On_a_bright_Summer_day_%2829869670216%29.jpg 15[11:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That's definitely what you picture when you picture 'the home of the Princess La Jolla'. [11:35] 4No matter how rich he's gotten, the aesthetics of the really, really old, really, really rich are still off-putting. [11:42] When the limo pulls up, they can see that the entrance staircase has been decorated with wreaths of flowers and reams of white silk ribbons. A hand-painted wooden sign reads: WELCOME HONORED GUESTS. As soon as the engine turns off, servants are taking their luggage discreetly around the back. On the staircase are two women, one dressed in a black dress, white collar, and top hat, the other in an extremely comfortable looking [11:42] ballroom dress of white silk with flowers pinned to its sides. 15[11:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson's on board so far. [11:44] 4Weird, beautiful henchmen does seem to be his wheelhouse. [11:44] 4Let's see if the Princess has any mountain lions, though. 08[11:45] A trumpet player lets loose a blast from a balcony. The announcement afterwards is in Spanish. “Presenting, for the pleasure of the Princess La Jolla Elena Solano y Medina: Wilson Frost, Baron of Hollywood. Clinton Cavanaugh, Baron of Laguna Beach. K.J. Valentine, Baron of Anaheim.” The servants applaud after each name. [11:48] How seriously do the three of them take it? [11:48] 4Quite. [11:48] 4What's that old saying, it doesn't matter if you believe in God, but if God believes in you? [11:49] 4Wait. Maybe that was from a Disney movie. [11:49] 4Point is: not gonna be rude to a host with this much pull. 15[11:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson pulls off the sarape with a clank. He's wearing a burnished gray breastplate over the puffy vest. He was wearing it, in retrospect, the entire time. Beneath the sombrero he's got a misshapen and alarmed-looking golden mask. [11:50] 6You don't waste a good spotlight. KJ sets the now-gauche serape aside as she steps out of the limo and stands for a moment with her hands in her pockets watching the top of the stairs; she bows once her name's called and starts upward to be presented for the pleasure of the Princess. [11:50] http://i.imgur.com/tJ8ysve.jpg 15[11:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson slides out of the limo and bows at the announcement, going up the stairs afterwards. [11:54] She doesn’t look particularly fearsome, anyway. The Princess, as the one in the white silk dress appears to be, waits for them to ascend to the second level of the staircase, inclining her head as they each make it up. A mastiff sits in a relaxed manner by the feet of the woman in a top hat. After they all arrive, the latter speaks first, in a surprising rasp. [11:58] “Greetings, honored guests. We are honored to host friends of our family. I am Dona Eva de la Campa, the Princess’s second. I trust you have all traveled and arrived without incident? One small matter - do any of you not speak Spanish? We will assign you help fluent in the language of your choosing during your stay here.” [11:59] 4Cav indicates he's fine in Spanish, even though his player isn't. 15[12:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson doesn't indicate he needs help with Spanish. [12:02] 6KJ: "My Spanish is poor, Dona. I've only brought one assistant, so thank you very much for the consideration." [12:05] Dona Eva keeps it in English, then. “Of course. We are delighted to help the envoys of the Princess’s brother-in-law in any way we can.” Another trumpet blast sounds from somewhere on a balcony. “Elena Ignacia Figueroa de Solano y Medina, Princess La Jolla.” [12:06] The Princess puts out a small hand, palm down. 15[12:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson takes her hand gently and bows. [12:10] 4Cav's bow has a bit more of a flourish to it, but basically the same thing. [12:10] 6KJ takes the princess's hand and bows in turn. She's not dressed for a curtsy. [12:11] 6What's her aura like, though? [12:12] She doesn’t make any effort to hide her emotional state. It’s a cloud of light blue with whorls of pink and lavender. 08[12:18] The Princess waits patiently until the formalities have been observed. Then: “Baron Frost, I do not endorse the backwards custom of Nosferatu masking themselves. Please do not imagine that anything except your own comfort may demand that you wear one in this house.” She draws a shawl around her shoulders. “Chilly, isn’t it? Let’s go into the atrium. Eva, could you have everything brought to us there?” Her English has [12:18] no discernible accent, and leads them further into the house as she speaks. 15[12:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Oh, whew. Wilson takes the mask off. [12:19] 4Cav, murmuring: "Guess that means no stilts." [12:21] Quickly, they pass through a grand entry hall with black and white marble floors, heavy wooden furniture, and stone busts of distinguished ancestors. Through a set of double doors, she stops them in a large enclosed garden, walled off with glass and wrought-iron transparent sliding doors. The space is filled with beds of flowers, comfortable looking chairs, overhanging oak boughs, and the sound of running water from several [12:21] fountains. Above, there is no roof. [12:23] 4Nice. [12:23] 4God, the work all this must take to maintain. [12:24] 6It's all wealth creation, right? [12:24] Eva reappears flanked by servants holding silver plates full of hors d’oeuvres, placed on a nearby table, and flutes of champagne. Discreetly, small cards with the wine list printed on them are pressed into your hands. The Princess sits you all in a circle, a flat stone table between you. 15[12:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Ehhh. He shouldn't. [12:27] 4Oh hell yes. [12:27] 4See, this is what you get when you travel inside your head with a coworker to feed yourself your own blood so that you don't kill you. [12:27] 4Wine, anytime. [12:29] 6Argh. Well, just this once. "I'm already impressed,"6 says KJ as the pallor fades from her skin. "We're further from smog than you can get within the Brilliant Court's limits." [12:30] After the servants have left, Eva takes a seat by herself on a fountain’s stone base. The Princess sips champagne slowly. “We have blood, as well, of course. Though I ask that you imbibe privately.” She rests her elbow on a pillow and leans forward. “So. I imagine that traveling to a foreign city, while your Prince leaves the city and your enemies remain free to plot against you, has made this assignment more stressful [12:30] than you would like.” [12:31] 4Cav grimaces. "I'm sure at least in my case the Court feels the vacation is mutual." [12:32] "Could be worse. It could have been a less beautiful city." 15[12:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson: "I'm enjoying myself immensely." [12:36] 4Cav: "But then, if my enemies want my territory they're welcome to it. It's brought me nothing but scheduling conflicts." [12:36] 4This is not entirely true, nor would it be the way he'd present the matter in discussion with said enemies. [12:37] “I’m very glad to hear it. I hope that I can provide you with some peace of mind that you would not usually find during your stay here.” She looks at Cav. “I’m not so sure. A Shepherd is useful to have as a friend and servant. And as your distance from your master increases, so your utility to him decreases. Of course, it’s been a long time since I knew a Shepherd.” [12:38] 4He smiles. "So our kind made down here, too, have we?" [12:39] 6Or perhaps La Jolla flies around the world. It certainly looks like it could. [12:39] “Decades ago. A man named Peter Holymount.” [12:39] “Do you know him?” [12:40] 4The smile stays just as smooth and charming. "He's my grandsire." [12:41] “Are you fond of him?” [12:44] "We have a working relationship," 4Cav said. "Peter likes to say it's his policy not to fraternize with the junior associates." 08[12:50] She cannot read the intention behind the careful phrasing. “We had our differences of opinion. I knew your sire as well, Baron Frost. Though, we only met a few times.” She sips her champagne. “My apologies, Baron Valentine. I don’t mean to make it seem as if you are less pedigreed by comparison.” [12:52] “Though I hardly consider pedigree a merit. It is less than useless, most of the time.” [12:52] 6KJ beams. "It's not an issue. When a mad cult induct you forcibly into the Requiem, it's best to see that as a learning opportunity." [12:52] 4Agreed. [12:53] "Who you know tells you just one thing: who you know. That's absolutely crucial." [12:54] “You all fought in the late, brief war, yes?” [12:54] 4The smile tightens up into a bit more of a grimace. "We all did our parts." 15[12:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson: "Yes ma'am." [12:56] 6KJ: "Sure. To make sure it was brief." [12:58] “What a pity, that any of you were imperiled so that something so pointless could be brought to an end.” She shifts in her chair. “Surely it is a great sin to engineer stupid things for people to die in. Of course, my little fief had no part in that. You should know that no one here is holding some bitter grudge against your presence.” [13:01] 4Engineering stupid things for people to die in might fairly be said to be the field expertise of both Barons Laguna Beach and Anaheim. Baron Hollywood is involved in far more noble things, such as reality television. 15[13:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson: "It wasn't personal. I can't say that makes it better or worse." [13:03]  [13:03] 4Cav: "It was slightly personal. For some." [13:04] 6Of course the war was stupid. It was a war. Vampires are still going to have them, aren't they? That's who we are. "We'll all be happy to put the thing aside. Is the city recovering well?" [13:06] The Princess smiles. “No, not at all. The wounds it suffers from were not inflicted by the war, nor did the war address anything beyond someone learning that foreign adventures are not a healthy outlet for impatience.” [13:08] "Especially unprofitable ones," 4Cav says. [13:08] "Intriguing. Literally. Who is it that would profit from patience?" [13:09] 6It's been a long time since KJ had wine. She doesn't really have the palate to tell whether this is as expensive as everything else around the place. [13:12] “Better for them that it was unprofitable. If, by some unfortunate accident it had been succesful, the wrong lesson would have been learned.” The Princess hands her flute to a servant and replaces it with a wine glass. “It depends on whose patience you are considering. Iago Morales’s? The Carmelites?” She smiles. “Mine? Different answers for each.” [13:13] 4Cav: "No one profits from patience. That's sort of baked into the concept: profit is change. But that doesn't make all change profitable. And holy wars haven't sold well in oh, four hundred years." [13:14] “Hmm.” She looks into a fountain. “It is an unfortunate habit, speaking in circles. It only grows worse the longer you spend in a position as elevated as mine. Please, remind me if I am anything less than direct during your stay.” To Cav: “They sell well to those who spend all their time fantasizing of ways to make it as if it were 400 years ago.” [13:15] 4Cav: "Yeah. Well. Let's just hope they don't send me into any more office buildings." [13:16] 6Since we're being direct- "Office buildings? What did they have you do, Laguna?" [13:18] 4Cavanaugh: "There were some complications in shutting down our embassy. I helped uncomplicate them." [13:20] The Princess: “And now? What are your plans for yourselves, after the war?” [13:21] 4Cav: "Housekeeping." [13:21] "The Brilliant Court has, like all big, old organizations, has internal political fault lines." [13:22] "They're all starting to rub up against each other now, for whatever reason." [13:22] 6KJ: "I've been learning to shoot skeet. It's a nice change from Perl." [13:22] 4He sips his wine. It's really a very good red. "Among other things, that's why it's so odd for the Prince to be out of town now." [13:23] “Yes. Bren and the others dissatisfied with the rate of their ascension into the highest ranks of power.” [13:24] “Your Prince can act recklessly. Of course, when sucessful, it makes him appear omniscient. But it’s harder to fool those who remember him before he possessed his current position.” 14[13:24] * Joins: hrolf_mac [13:24] 4...Man. [13:24] 4Everyone's so old out here. [13:25] 4Cav: "You knew him before he was Prince?" [13:27] The Princess plays with the fringe of her shawl. “Oh, yes. When I met him, he was little more than an undistinguished enforcer-of-an-enforcer. That must have been in the 1880s. But he learned quickly. As I said, pedigree is a fantasy.” [13:28] 6KJ: "Do you have any scandalous century-old gossip?" [13:29] 4So that's where she knows Peter from, or part of it. She was out here when the Shepherds were founded. [13:36] “I don’t think I’ve had enough wine for that. Hm. This may be an odd question, but…I’m always pressed for time, it seems. How would you characterize the situation in the former Orange Territory, with regards to its recently legitimized Carmelite population? Stable? Unstable? Fitting in well?” [13:36] 4Cav grimaced. "Too close for comfort. Both to open war, and to me." [13:37] “Open war with…?” [13:37] "My office was almost destroyed, and two Counts nearly set to war against each other, because of nonsense spiralling out of that." [13:37] "A ghoul was, among other things, taking it upon himself to impersonate Donald Bren." [13:38] "And using the territorial...uncertainty that surrounded the most recent redistricting -- the parcelling of Orange County -- to try and secure favorable real estate deals." [13:38] 4He sighs. "It was a mess." [13:39] "I am biased by distance, as I said, because the Carmelites are now my neighbors. But if I had to weigh in I'd say that they're ascendent, for now." [13:40] “I will assume that Bren and the others are opposed to them gaining any more territory at their expense.” [13:41] 4Cav: "Well, yes and no. The parcelling of Orange County was a massive win for Bren -- his holdings are now almost as extensive as the Prince's, if not moreso -- but that man wants infinite reach; he's probably muttering to himself about how much more territory he could have got without them. [13:42] She doesn’t hesitate. “And you are all opposed to any arrangement in which Bren realizes that reach, and replaces the current rulers of the city.” [13:44] "Which is ridiculous for two reasons; the first, that without the war as an impetus, Orange County might never have BEEN parcelled -- it might have become incorporated as a single territory within the Court, with its own Count and so on. The second, the war counted as a casualty the territory's administrator, H.H. Seabury, who might have taken a dimmer view to Bren's expansionism were [13:44] he otherwise alive and capable of objection." [13:45] 6KJ: "I don't think there's a zero-sum game being played, Baron, Princess. Count Bren and the Prince have lived together this long - poor choice of words, but they could continue indefinitely." [13:45] 4Cav sips his wine again. "I have a working relationship with Donald Bren." [13:46] "But his further expansion would, I think, be a major problem for everyone in the Brilliant Court." [13:46] 4He pauses. "Is Bren from San Diego originally?" [13:47] The Princess listens to KJ. “Do not mistake a fortunate longevity for a perfected system. Inertia can last for a very long time.” [13:48] “He is not. I believe he spent some time here during the 1920s. But he comes from back East. Exactly where, I could not tell you.” [13:48] 4Cav: "I only ask because he shares your city's tradition of the robe and the mask for Nosferatu." [13:49] "He's a bit shorter than they are, however." [13:49] 4By way of explanation: "There were some of them out to meet us at the station. In their own way." [13:51] “They must be curious about your presence here. But they are not your enemies. Don’t be put off by their appearance. They have always been quite civil and restrained in all my dealings with them. Most are quite pious and soft-spoken up close.” [13:52] “Bren is still wearing his mask?” She thinks. “That may be a private…joke. For him and a few others to understand.” [13:52] "Why are they so tall?" 4Cav swirled his glass. "Or is that impolite to ask?" [13:53] “It is their shared bloodlines. Some ancestor’s quirk, carried down.” [13:54] 4Cav shakes his head. "Must have a mean basketball team." [13:54] 4Now Cav's imagining what the growth spurt that first night is like, and wishing he hadn't. [13:55] The Princess considers everything they’ve said for a while in silence while servants move around, refilling cups and trays. [13:55] “I have an offer for you three, I think.” [13:56] 4And before his third glass, even. [13:57] “Are you in the mood for…complicating your vacation?” [13:58] 4Cav grins. "It was bound to happen eventually. [13:58] " [13:58] "We were were just talking about how change is inevitable." 6KJ's prepared to refuse if it comes to it, though. You can only have so much on your plate. [13:59] “Next week, the state security apparatus and associated church paramilitaries are preparing to liquidate more than forty Carmelites and their extended networks.” [14:00] 4These people just don't fucking learn, do they. [14:00] "That's...a lot of people." [14:02] 6Forty kindred? "So we get to stop the next war." [14:02] 4That's gotta be almost the entire Sanctum in San Diego, but after a moment's reflection, this probably involves a cross-border raid into Mexico. [14:03] “Here is another fact: There exists a few routes maintained at the Grand Prince’s expense, used for clandestine movement of sensitive people and items between the Brilliant and Sublime Courts. Due to necessary security concerns, the people involved with them have little official contact with Court officials. The whole thing functions as a sort of no-questons asked delivery system. Flash your identification and whatever you [14:03] like will be transported faithfully northwards. I’ve thought for a long time about how these two facts could be used to my advantage.” [14:04] "Like some kind of...railroad." [14:05] “The identification and authorization documents are kept under guard, and under constant surveillance, of course. They’re located in the Miramar Estate, the residence of the Grand Prince. Where you three will be, two nights from now.” [14:06] "Not the time for snark, Cav. Is this.. true? Not some sort of loyalty test? And if so, do you see the further separation of these populations as a way to de-escalate?" [14:10] The Princess laughs. “A test of your loyalty? No, I can only appeal to your self-interest. And no, I don’t see it as a path towards de-escalation. The opposite, in fact. I’d like to establish a base where the Carmelites can operate from in relative safety, running weapons south and people north as they need. In return, of course, they would remember the people who helped them. I imagine you could use fifty armed and [14:10] incomparably trustworthy kindred owing you a favor. In any situation.” [14:10] 4That is a lot of kindred. [14:11] 4Cav: "You want us to pull a heist." [14:12] The Princess: “Oh, yes. I would like you to rob the Grand Prince of San Diego blind, under the nose of the entire assembled Court as they dance and toast each other.” [14:12] NEXT WEEK: Carnival Games 14[14:38] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[15:36] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[17:25] * Joins: dammitwho 14[17:57] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:40] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:45] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:55] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:56] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[19:59] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:59] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[20:03] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[20:03] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:03] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[21:55] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[21:55] * Joins: cbass Session Time: Sun Aug 27 00:00:00 2017 14[04:14] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[04:39] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[04:50] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[06:00] * Joins: Quaker 14[06:00] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[07:19] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[09:29] * Joins: Crion 14[10:18] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:55] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[13:03] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[13:09] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:20] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[15:00] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:01] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:12] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[16:25] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:53] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:45] * Quits: Crion| (Quit: ) 14[20:54] * Joins: Crion 14[21:20] * Joins: Crion| 14[21:22] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  14[22:09] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[22:14] * Joins: Quaker 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi sways on the rooftop, as if taking advice from the wind. "Why don't we try the park?" 10He's suddenly pensive. "Let's go to the park." 08[22:17] 7Blossom balances easily on the guttering below Eikichi, her face eager. "To the park!" 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10While Blossom leaps, a gust of wind impels Eikichi from rooftop to rooftop, making his glittering cape trail like a smear of starlight in the dark. Up here the light from the city's paper lanterns is ember-dim. Eikichi leads Blossom over the canal by hopping from bridgepost to bridgepost. [22:23] 7She adds a little flourish now and then - backflipping between eaves and running across laundry ropes strung between buildings. [22:26] 7The air is crisp, the stone damp as though after a rain. The streets of Nexus are never truly empty, of course, but those who are out in the dead of night are even less willing to look up. And if they do notice two shadowed figures leaping between the roofs? There's an old Nexan saying: "I didn't see anything, I didn't hear anything, I wasn't there - and if I was, I was asleep." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's hard to take the time to admire her when he's still trying to figure out what to do. Soon they're perched overlooking the winding paths of Parko Llana, the biggest greenspace in the city. Eikichi hangs there, plotting a course through the unlit and the treelined. "People take shortcuts through the park to get home." [22:38] "And so criminals lurk here to rob the honest." 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi nods. This observation is all that fills the silence for a few minutes. Crimefighters waiting for criminals, themselves presumably waiting for victims. He's starting to get antsy before the two of them see movement in the dark. People moving off the paths... [22:45] 7Blossom's eyes narrow and she leans forward eagerly. "This won't be difficult. Criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot." 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi hesitates. They're not really doing anything yet, are they? But then are you supposed to wait for them to do something? What if someone gets hurt before you get there? His mind spins around like this until there's the unmistakable gleam of a drawn knife winking in distant light. 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The two thieves are in a bad mood. It's been a slow night and they tend to take their frustrations out on each other. The shorter man drew his knife to make an angry point, but a sudden gust of wind in the trees makes both of them jumpy. 08[22:54] 7Blossom crouches like a sprinter, her muscles tense, but she waits for Eikichi to make the first move. 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The gust in the trees plummets to the ground between the thieves. Eikichi settled on a branch that couldn't support his weight and only barely manages to recover into a glitter-caped three point landing. The other thief pulls a dagger out as Eikichi stands slowly. 14[22:58] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 08[23:00] 7Blossom alights on a rock behind him, heels clicking as they contact stone. One of the thieves, a balding man with a neck as thick as his arms, already looks a little panicked. Gaping at Eikichi's outfit, he shouts in a thick Nexan accent: "Look out! It's da bat!" 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The- "Put the knives down." 10He doesn't raise his voice. It's like you'd tell a child off if you didn't want them to start crying in public. 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The thieves aren't looking for a fight, especially with a guy who looks like that. They just run. 14[23:10] * Joins: Quaker 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi only follows far enough to make sure they leave the park and dissolve into the alleys between all these expensive restaurants. "Whew." [23:13] "Heroism!" 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks back at Blossom. "You think?" [23:16] 7Blossom: "Of course! You spooked them off with nothing more than a stern warning. Some poor soul will walk home safely tonight, never knowing they owe it to a certain watchful protector." [23:19] 7She tilts her head and looks at him mirthfully. "Or do you think it wasn't difficult enough?" 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't know. Is it supposed to be hard? Billowing-Cape's-Rose always made it seem so easy." 10Eikichi looks west, where the park gives way to canalside villas and the lights of the all-night market across the way. "Let's skirt around the big market. I got mugged there once." [23:24] 7Blossom looks outraged. "Monstrous!" 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's frowning a little as he gusts back up into treetops and rooftops. They cross the canal again, about a block south of where they came over the first time. 14[23:27] * Joins: Crion [23:27] "Is something wrong?" 7She asks, leaping from flagpole to illegally-parked cart to rooftop. 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Nobody in Nexus, including the street cartographers, knows what the formal name of this wide district of 24-hour shops and stalls is supposed to be. Everybody just calls it the "big market". The lanterns are sharp and bright oranges and reds, as much to signal that this part of town is open for business as to distinguish it from the block across the road, which is also open all night, but whose lanterns glow Venusian blue. 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "Huh? No, it's nothing." [23:30] 7Blossom: "It's not nothing." 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The two of them are up on a rooftop overlooking what looks like a row of furriers and leatherworkers. "Hey, are we fighting crime or what?" [23:36] 7Blossom: "Fighting crime!" 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "Let me know if you see anyth" "STOP! THIEF!" "-nevermind-let's-do-that" 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Someone small is running up the street with a big lumpy bag trailing behind them. An old woman leans out the door of her shop and points them out. "Thief!" 10she yells again. [23:40] 7Blossom cries out: "Fiend! Let's get him, Magistrate!" 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10And then Eikichi's off, running north in parallel with the would-be bandit. Several late-night shoppers cross the road to get out of the thief's way, and a member of the city guard just sits and watches, not rising from his black coffee or round pastry. 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi leaps! From a low rooftop to the street below, he lands directly on the little man and his weird sack, sending him sprawling to the stones, stubby limbs flailing around his round torso with panic. [23:50] 7Blossom's right behind him! She scoops up the sack and takes a peek inside. What did the little man take? Silver? Priceless family heirlooms? Jewels? 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shoes. [23:52] 7Blossom channels her best Sunlit-Dreaming Ying: "Stealing shoes is wrong!" 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Big ol bag of shoes. Some of them look expensive - silver buckles! - but a lot of them are just regular shoes. Regular extremely tiny shoes, like smaller than this potato dude's feet. 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's effectively pinning him to the ground just by weighing more. "Wait what?" [23:55] 7She shows him the inside of the bag. "Shoes...?" 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "14gettoff-- getoffame I sweartogods Imma make such a fist and punch my palm you freakin--" 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi reaches inside the bag. "But--" 14[23:57] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:57] 7Blossom frowns. "Wait, why were you stealing small shoes?" 15[23:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The little man's too redfaced and panicked to form a coherent response. Some of those words might've been very rude, though. Session Time: Mon Aug 28 00:00:00 2017 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Finally Eikichi gets off him and flips him over so he can breathe easily. Some people are staring now. The guard's gotten some kind of sandwich on a pastry. 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Five pairs of shoes in there. All different sizes. All for smaller feet than yours." 14[00:02] * Joins: Crion 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The little man's heart and breathing calm down but he doesn't say anything, doesn't make eye contact. 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Give him the back bag." 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> bag back [00:04] 7She shrugs and hands him the bag. [00:05] "We should handle things with the old shopkeeper, then." 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The little man looks at Blossom like this is some kind of weird trick. 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10But eventually he takes the bag and runs off. Eikichi gets up and dusts himself. "Yeah, let's go back up the street." [00:09] 7Blossom: "You're the boss." 14[00:09] * Joins: hrolf_mac 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks back at Blossom for a second before moving back in the direction they came. 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10When he and Blossom get back to the thief's cobblery, the old lady keeping shop is still shouting about the thief to all who'll listen, which is nobody. She speaks Riverspeak with a Blessed Isle peasant accent, and when the two of them come in she points at Blossom. "You! I saw you before. Did you catch him?" [00:12] 7Blossom: "How much were the shoes he took worth?" [00:13] 7Blossom, of course, knows exactly how much the shoes were worth. But people like it when you ask. 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She rattles off a figure. Blossom can tell it's inflated - the shoes were well-made, and one pair had silver buckles, but nobody'd ever have bought them at those prices. 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, of course, has no idea what it would cost to keep a lalafamily in shoes for another few winters. 08[00:16] 7She turns to look at Eikichi. "Closer to-" 7And she names the actual price. 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We'll pay. Silver or scrip?" 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The shopkeeper's so happy to get cash on the nail for the lost merchandise that she doesn't object to being paid only 70% of what she said the shoes were worth. 08[00:21] 7What's Eikichi's next move? Back to the rooftops? 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "Thank you so much! Such generous people. Your good deed for tonight is done." 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's audibly frustrated. "But I didn't do anything-" 10and then he just scoffs and sweeps back out, drawing his cape around him like a curtain as he goes. 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's sulking up on a rooftop not long after, looking out at the canal again. [00:24] "Of course you did. You made things right with the shopkeeper. Now: tell me what's wrong." 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You tell me." 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "What's wrong? Why are we out here?" [00:27] 7Blossom thinks for a moment. "You don't like picking at the edges of things?" [00:30] 7Blossom: "It doesn't feel like you're really making a difference?" 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi opens his mouth and then closes it. He sighs. "Are you worried about me?" [00:35] 7Blossom sits atop a burnt-out brick chimney and crosses her legs. "Of course I'm worried about you." 14[00:37] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:37] "You're writing a book about how everything I do is good and correct, and all the people need do is follow my example. And of course that's true, but I don't want you to just follow my lead." 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "But here we are." [00:39] 7She waves a hand over the city. "I could get a thousand peasants to follow me by tomorrow morning. So could you, for that matter. I want you to be someone that I can look up to as well. But you're used to being 'Shosei'." [00:41] 7She fixes him with her gaze, eyes burning. "So tell me! Picking off a mugger here, setting right a poor man's necessity there isn't enough. You've lived here. What could we do, right now, tonight, that would make us heroes to the people of this city? To Hell with our other plans! You lead, and I'll follow." 15[00:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "But - you are leading! This was your idea. You showed up at my door with the cape and said 'let's go fight crime'. Then you tell me to make all the decisions from then on." [00:47] 7She sighs, and looks away. "I was just trying to get the ball rolling..." 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I know. Thank you." 15[00:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's just... isn't this just a different character?" [00:51] 7She reddens a little. "Actually, I did that because you look good in that getup. Even the cape." 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Now Eikichi reddens. "Oh." 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "See that was what I thought originally, but then we went and did all this stuff..." [00:55] 7Blossom: "It can be both!" 15[00:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You think I'm too deferent?" [01:06] 7She closes her eyes for a moment in thought, then speaks carefully. "I think you feel like you're not allowed to be all these great things, and when you try them you expect them to go wrong. Like you deserve them to." 15[01:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I don't understand. Things don't go wrong for me." 08[01:16] 7Blossom looks at Eikichi suspiciously. Is he playing around? 15[01:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10No. [01:22] 7Blossom: "What?" 15[01:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Blossom, I'm really lucky. Things go great for me. I just screw up a lot." [01:24] 7Blossom: "See?! This is what I'm talking about!" 15[01:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "What? What great things am I not allowed to be? How am I just, not those things?" 08[01:53] 7Blossom rubs her temple. "Eikichi, why have you soundproofed your room? Why do you have a demon in there whose job it is to say all your worst ideas about yourself back to you?" 15[01:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I wanted to be able to make noise without bothering anyone. I've been practicing music in there for months now. I do experiments. I like the privacy." 15[01:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "And I got that demon for the same reason I got all the other reasons, to do a job I couldn't." [01:59] 7Blossom: "What job is that?" 15[02:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "The thing that you said before. Where I'm always looking for things to go wrong. That's what the avsharam is for. It's there to be the little voice everybody else has that tells them to think about what happens if they fail." 15[02:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't do that on my own. I do the opposite of that." [02:02] 7Blossom: "Do you really think you don't have one of tho--" 14[02:04] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [02:06] 7Blossom points out, "But it speaks your thoughts back to you." 15[02:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "In Crystal, in the Hedgehog, hiding the arena from you - whenever I actually do something it's without thinking." 15[02:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "Look at tonight. I spent the whole night wondering what your motives were, trusting you and feeling like I was missing the point or doing something wrong. But every time I actually acted it was just reflex." 15[02:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "But when someone who's not me is telling me I'm doing something wrong... it's easier." 08[02:19] 7Blossom: "Eikichi... is that really how you think of yourself?" 15[02:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Don't you?" 08[02:26] 7Blossom is gripping her hands together with concern. "You're talking about how you screw up all the time, how you can't trust yourself to know what's right or when to act... Eikichi, I don't think you like yourself very much." 15[02:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "What am I supposed to like? Apparently I don't even know what myself is in the first place." [02:35] "So what's your plan, then? Carry the avsharam around with you for the rest of your life?" 15[02:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "If that's what it takes. Sure. Why not?" 15[02:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "Look, just. Tell me what I should do. I don't want to upset you." 08[02:41] 7Blossom: "Eikichi! You're not a man who is just 'really lucky'! You were chosen by the Sun, not by Plentimon! Do you think you just got really lucky when I fell in love with you? Do you think I could, or would, fall in love with a man who doesn't, deep down, know what the right thing to do is? I believe in you, Eikichi! He believes in you!" [02:42] 7Sadly: "Why can't you start believing in yourself?" 15[02:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks down between his legs at his feet dangling off the edge of the roof. 15[02:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't know." 15[02:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't-- I don't see it. I guess. I don't see it." 15[02:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "All I see is other people. The real people who love me. The people I wish I was instead." 15[02:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's just how it is. It's 'who's your mother' until it's 'who's your wife' until it's 'who's your daughter'." [02:52] 7Blossom: "Oh..." 15[02:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "There's no me there. Believing in you is believing in me." [02:52] "You'll have to find one, then." [02:53] 7Blossom: "No becoming someone else." 15[02:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "What if I am someone else?" 15[02:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "What if I figure out who I am and it's not anything like who you see now?" 15[02:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "What if I found out who I am and then the next thing I find out you all liked the other guy?" [02:56] 7Blossom: "You just said there wasn't another guy, that we like someone that doesn't exist. Which I have to say, doesn't give us a lot of credit." 15[02:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "You know what I mean," 10says Eikichi. "I mean who I am only matters because of the people who care about me." [03:01] "That's not true at all!" [03:01] 7Blossom: "You insisted - insisted - to me that everyone matters. Why are you the only one who doesn't?" 15[03:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "THAT'S WHY!" 15[03:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm not stupid, I know how few people actually matter. I might as well have been Chosen of Plentimon because I was just a roll of the dice to my family. And look at you! You were born and raised to be a queen, to be princess of the earth. One fluke of blood and you're disgraced, humiliated, forgotten." 15[03:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't know who I am. I don't know why I matter. But I know this: I can make anything I can imagine come true. And so can all my friends." 15[03:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "When I say that everybody matters, that's not an insight. That's a demand." 15[03:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "But we're not there yet, are we?" 15[03:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "And I know that too." 15[03:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "So I just-- I don't know. You're asking me to see something in myself like it was always there and I just missed it." 15[03:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "But I don't think I missed it. I think it isn't there." 15[03:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "Maybe I'm wrong. But I don't see it." 15[03:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "And every time I try I'm just making something up." 15[03:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "Like Rose, right?" 15[03:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's what you said. You fell for me, not a character. Rose isn't real, not like me." [03:23] 7Blossom: "That's right." 14[03:25] * banana|peels is now known as banana 15[03:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "So... help me. What am I supposed to be like? What am I doing wrong?" 15[03:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't understand. And everything I do to fix it is fake." 08[03:39] 7Blossom hops down off the chimney. "When the Unconquered Sun chose me, he said 'my best self'. That's who he chooses. The best of us, the people who remind us of his own perfection. There is something in you-" 7And here she reaches out to poke Eikichi in the chest with her index finger, "-that is very much like him, and he saw it. Eikichi Sho. My best self. The King of Heaven was [03:39] not wrong about what he saw in you, and it existed before he ever spoke your name." [03:40] "Take that as your foundation, the bedrock of your soul, and then ask yourself: What was it? None of the rest of us who love you could tell you, but it's a question with an answer." 15[03:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks down at Blossom's hand. "Couldn't he have told me what it was?" [03:40] 7Here, she pulls himself into a tight hug, and speaks into his ear. "And you're a genius, baka. One of the greatest in Creation. You're pretty good at finding answers." 15[03:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi doesn't say anything for a while. At least until Blossom lets go. If she didn't that'd be fine. [03:48] 7Admittedly, it does take a while. But she finally does let go, pull back, grasp him by the shoulders, and say "Well?" 15[03:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It takes Eikichi a second to recollect himself. "Well what?" [03:51] "What's next?" 15[03:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "What's next for me, or what's next in the evening?" [03:58] 7Blossom: "Either one. It's not really that cold out, but we'll probably get bored standing on this rooftop." 15[04:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "For now, let's go home. It's getting late." 15[04:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "Plus I'm thinking about what happened the last time you called me baka." [04:06] "Oh, really." [04:06] "I'll race you." 14[04:30] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[09:40] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[10:30] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[10:31] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[10:48] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:48] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:36] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[14:16] * Joins: Crion 14[14:20] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:44] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:48] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[14:48] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:48] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[15:32] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[19:10] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:18] * Joins: Crion 14[19:29] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:04] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[21:48] * Joins: Crion 14[22:16] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[22:29] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:51] * Joins: Quaker Session Time: Tue Aug 29 00:00:00 2017 14[00:55] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[00:56] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:56] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[02:00] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[02:07] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:32] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[03:03] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[03:35] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[05:09] * Joins: Quaker 14[05:24] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[05:25] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:25] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[06:39] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[06:44] * Joins: Quaker 14[06:44] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[07:06] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[07:09] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:43] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:04] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[10:16] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[10:30] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[10:49] * Joins: Crion 14[10:53] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:07] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[11:23] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:54] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:25] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:06] * Joins: dammitwho 14[16:13] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:19] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:02] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ChatZilla 0.9.93 [Firefox 55.0.3/20170824053622]) 14[17:04] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:14] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[17:19] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:23] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:01] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[18:48] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[19:31] * Joins: Crion 14[19:49] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:55] * Joins: Crion 15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Blue smoke chokes the amphitheatre, rolling down from the stands to the pit. It thickens into fog, and the draggings sound of hundreds of claws and nails on stone and steel echoes all the way up Sentinel's Hill. People who gathered on rooftops to watch the play now spectate haphazard medicine and the anointing of a hero. The great falcon rises white-gold from where Bastian stands his ground, blade drawn, against the swell of nightmare. [20:19] 14Well. This is all so...public. [20:20] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven gives a weary, theatrical sigh and climbs from his sitting position to his feet. 15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Very. The streets are heavy with Lookshyan soldiers evacuating civilians from the theatre. As the baron burns their instincts impel them back into the fray - Anathema! Plain as the literal day! - but the order from on down, thundering from the dragonlord to his lieutenants, is to get people to safety. 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> The smoke solidifies quickly into creatures - opaque and sapphire-bright long-limbed simian things with dripping fangs. They hold bones and tattered banners in their hands. Banners Bastian recognizes. 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Where is everybody and what's on their minds? [20:29] 12Keldar's frowning to himself and rising out of a crouch, straight sword held reversed and by his scabbard in one hand while he clutches the fist of the other. He's scanning the stands, looking for - wait a minute. The mercenary looks back down and behind himself to the apprehended, once-bolting thespian that he's now standing over. [20:29] 14Stranger is standing a few feet off from Bastian, silhouetted by the burning light off his anima to those looking on from behind them. He is currently thinking strategy...and taxonomy. This likely isn't ending in anything but a fight, but it would be good to figure out what these things are, specifically. [20:29] 5 Xu Sim interposes himself between the monsters and his patients, sparing a glance for the worst of them to make sure his mind isn't about to violently discorporate from his body.  "Run backstage and wait!" [20:30] 12Keldar: "Doctor! Whadda we do with this guy?" [20:33] 5 Xu Sim:  "Keep the raksha away from him! I will try to stabilize him." [20:33] 12Keldar: "Not here for 'im, are they?" [20:33] 4Bastian is in a state of shock. His sword is still out and he appears frozen in place. 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> These are hobgoblins - or rather they look like hobgoblins. Sadistic, nearly-feral shocktroops of the raksha. Judging from their squamous and thorny skin, these are probably the sort of thing you'd find crawling in from the east of the Pole of Wood. Except they're made of solid smoke. [20:34] 14Stranger: "I think it's quite clear who they're here for, Warlord." [20:34] 13Xia Lan is center stage, hands hovering over her swords as she looks out onto the hobgoblins and studying their movements. The one down there - Bastian, his name was? - is in danger; she'll have to move quickly, and soon. Once Xu Sim corrals the civilians, then they can go all out. [20:34] 14To Bastian: "Chin up, young man. You're on the stage of history, now." [20:35] 14An interesting variety of hobgoblin, at least. Perhaps demands some ruminating on later, with Xu Sim and Xia Lan. [20:36] 4von Hrolfus turns slowly, agonizingly towards whoever just spoke and puts a hand to his forehead, as if trying to feel out the newly appeared caste mark. 1“This is a major inconvenience." [20:36] 14Stranger: "All victories are." [20:38] 13Xia Lan barks out a laugh that she quickly stifles. "You don't know the half of it." [20:39] 14Stranger flicks his wrist and the cane in his hand separates, most of it flying off into the rows of seats -- revealing his hidden blade. [20:43] 5 Xu Sim enters Crane stance - the sleeves of his jacket flowing in the twilight air before settling, his forearms bare, fingers ready to grasp and strike. [20:46] 12Keldar tosses his blade up a few inches and then his other hand comes snaking out to seize the hilt and draw the blade out of the midair scabbard, which is caught, twirled, and stabbed deftly through a loop on the mercenary's belt. Then the man stalks forward to the front of the stage, narrowing his eyes at the horde of lesser raksha. [20:51] 14Whatever brand of hobgoblin they are, they're fast. Stranger darts forward but his blade can't find purchase on the little smoke-swine. [20:56] 12Keldar holds his sword out, sweeping it slowly as though finding his range. "I'll draw 'em off," 12he says, settling back into a crouch and then roaring a wordless battle cry as he leaps almost headlong into the fray. [20:58] 12He crashes like a meteor into the raksha, bisecting two and skewering a third simply on his landing, and then it's just a screaming, gnashing melee in which he's barely visible. Is he... winning...? [20:59] 14Thank the Sun for him, Stranger thinks as the simian things leap over his blade again. [21:06] 13The singer finally unsheathes her paired hook swords, offers a little dramatic pose on stage, and swan dives into the fray. On landing, she lashes out at the hobgoblins, striking each only once before it falls, and using her momentum to carry her to her next target. There are many, but she's a lot more dangerous than she looks. [21:10] 5 The doctor arches an eyebrow at the display of the hook swords and the aggressive attack into the crowd. A fellow Crane stylist...? [21:10] 14Not bad. Stranger has always been able to appreciate the aesthetics of Crane Style -- though it's a nightmare to fight against. [21:11] 14Especially when performed by actual cranes. [21:11] 13It's Snake style, actually - some of the vicious stabs are unmistakeable. [21:12] Instinct takes over. von Hrolfus glides into the fray carefully, keeping to the outer edges and lunging in for hits when he spots an opening. [21:24] 5 Xu Sim speaks softly and carries no weaponry.  "These are my patients, raksha-kin. You shall not harm them." [21:25] 14Stranger's old cane sword flashes as the hobgoblins engage him. Suddenly they are the ones on the defensive. [21:26] 12Keldar's cursing himself for bringing his steel sword to the occasion rather than his iron sword - yes, the steel matches better, and yes, the iron's heavier, but come on, what kind of moron - but thus far it doesn't seem to be counting against him that badly. He's still next to impossible to make out in the sea of solid smoke, but the area of flashing grey and roiling turbulence [21:26] 12that represents his position in the melee doesn't seem to be quieting down. [21:30] 5 Four of the hobgoblins run, screaming, towards Xu Sim and the rest of the cast. The doctor seizes one by a pressure point and hurls him into the other three with a crash. 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> The roiling raksha hordes converge on the stage, their fangs and talons flashing in reflected light that, on examination, has no source in the arena. Bastian sees a ragged banner of Deguo trailing from the back claws of one of the creatures he cuts apart, collapsing into blue smoke as it dies. [21:38] 4Even in the middle of the melee, that’s enough to give him pause. He stands there an instant, but not for long - another goblin lunges at him, forcing his mind to pressing concerns. [21:41] 5 Xu Sim whirls back on the agonized dancer as his body twists, seizing in the thrall of supernatural agony. The sorcerer-doctor forms a mudra of protection and warding - and begins reciting, from some deep memory, a mantra to keep the Wyld at bay and spare the man the ravages of Faerie-sickness [21:41] "Come algebra, anatomy, astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology, geometry, mathematics, meteorology, mineralology, oceanography, paleontology, physics, psychology, sociology, trigonometry, and zoology!" [21:42] 14Doctor, heal thy elf. [21:48] 13The scene on stage only inspires Xia Lan to fight harder, to end this quickly! She begins cutting through the horde with even more ferocity than before, slashing the throats of unprepared hobgoblins charging forward to replace their fallen brethren. They never see her coming, and drop like flies. [21:51] 14Stranger gives it another go, but despite great form, the simian raksha continue to melt away from his blows -- fleeing as much as anything else. [21:58] 4The sight of the Deguo flag being waved in the midst of a collection of abominations triggers fury that von Hrolfus didn't know he posessed. Channeling the power of the sun feels natural and effortless, as if he’d been doing it all his life - the world seems to turn red as he cuts through everything in his path. What seems like but a moment later, he’s standing there slashing away at nothing with a tide of corpses before him [21:58] - he puts his sword down, almost sheepishly. [21:59] 14Stranger: "Well! Excellent." 14He's retrieving the other part of his cane sword. 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> The hobgoblins Xia Lan and Bastian don't personally destroy break rank and flee, exploding into puffs of smoke as they reach the rim of the amphitheatre where Lookshyan soldiers are positioned to intercept any that try to break out. [22:01] 5 The Sorcerer is on his knees next to the writhing dancer. Shuffling through a pouch at his belt, he procures a series of acupuncture needles.  "This one's mind is on the verge of leaping from his body!" 5 It no doubt looks quite spectacular, if you know what to look for anyway. 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> To the untrained eye, the man simply looks as if he's in the throes of a violent seizure. [22:02] 12Keldar kicks one to the ground and stabs it in the back, then whirls and slices open a second then grabs a third - but that one's already starting to evaporate. "Yeah! Yeah, fuck off!" [22:02] 14That's unfortunately not likely to be metaphorical. Stranger heads up to the stage to see if there's anything he can do to help. [22:04] 13Xia Lan leaps back to the stage with another tumble and sheathes her swords as she lands. She stays a short distance away from the doctor and his patient - she has no medical training whatsoever; no reason to impede him, but she'll stay on hand if she can help with anything. [22:05] 4von Hrolfus sinks to his knees. Everything is too much. [22:06] 14Yes, well. It gets more complicated from here. [22:06] 14The new lad will keep, for now. [22:06] 5 The sorcerer-doctor: "I need more time if I'm to treat him. We need to solve this immediately, no more than a minute or two before he dies." [22:06] 12Nice thing about phantamsal enemies: nothing to clean off your sword. Keldar of the Ninth Orchard sheathes his blade while casting a steely look about - of course, his attention ends up falling on the man who's burning black and white and gold. [22:07] 13She'll dart out into the seats and get Bastian to his feet, attempting to move him towards the stage. "C'mon. Can't stay here forever." [22:08] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven: "Then we shall solve this in under a minute or two." [22:08] 4von Hrolfus allows himself to be trundled along, unresisting. “They- they’ve done something to my country!” [22:09] 14Stranger, from the stage: "You may be buoyed by considering the possibility those things were, in whole or in part, lying to you." [22:10] 14...Though it is unlikely, given the Sun's endorsement of von Hrolfus, to entirely be without merit. [22:11] 5 Though serene when tossing hobgoblins around, Xu Sim's brow is sweaty and his lips are pursed white as he examines the man, his aura, his breath... 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> As the hobgoblins dissipate and attention concentrates on the sick people onstage, cheers go up in the distance. The former spectators of the play who witnessed the Solars' prowess in battle are applauding their victory. Those evacuees who dared and were able to look back are doing the same. [22:13] 14Plaudits are good. Not being publicly identified as anathema would have been better. Stranger tries to keep himself facing away from the crowds as much as possible, at least until this caste mark dies down. [22:14] 13Xia Lan bows with a flourish towards the audience, the vicious actions during the battle forgotten. Thank you, everyone! [22:14] 12Keldar can't help but raise a fist in triumph, although he's sure to soon find out that most of the attention is on the people who are actually casting light. After that, he hops back on stage and approaches the patient, though he's careful not to get too close. "Just more and more demons, eh?" [22:14] 14Stranger: "I imagine that's what they're saying about us, out there." [22:15] "Not demons. Raksha tricks, mind-poison." [22:16] 4von Hrolfus, mumbling incoherently, seems to snap back into reality. 1“Demons! I need to find out- the thing that looked like my friend, it said something. I need to send a message and find out what’s happened immediately!” [22:17] 12Keldar: "Probably makin 'em pretty nervous. What's Dorma gonna do about this kid?" 12He jerks a thumb at the newly-ignited Eclipse Caste. [22:17] "Cold iron. Get me a piece of it. Now." 5 Xu Sim turns to regard the assembled people.  "Now!" [22:18] 14Stranger: "Probably try to have him arrested. Or killed." [22:18] 14Cold iron, hmm? He glances over at Keldar. [22:19] 12Keldar: "Yeah, right here." 12He reaches into a satchel on his belt and produces a smooth, roughly cylindrical chunk of black metal, then tosses it over. [22:19] 5 Xu Sim snatches it out of the air and presses it to the man's head, fumbling for a strip of cloth to hold it in place. 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The trinket burns the dancer's skin, causing his entire body to convulse. After a moment, though, he settles down, merely shivering. It seems the worst of his attack has passed. 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> The trinket burns the dancer's skin, causing his entire body to convulse. After a moment, though, he settles down, merely shivering. It seems the worst of his attack has passed. [22:24] 5 Xu Sim keeps pressing it to the man's forehead, muttering strange, half-remembered prayers, but he sighs in relief as the symptoms seem to pass. [22:25] 12Keldar: "He okay? Could I get that back?" [22:26] 14Stranger: "Keldar. Please." [22:26] "You can buy another, I am sure, in about five minutes from someone in the street." [22:26] 12Keldar: "Listen, I've had that thing through thick and thin-" [22:26] "Especially once word of this begins to spread." [22:26] 12Keldar: "Yeah, and the price gets gouged to hell!" [22:27] "The difficult life of a mercenary." [22:27] 4von Hrolfus: 1“Excuse me. Are you all abominations as well?” [22:27] 12Keldar: "I'm just saying, either I see that again or I'm billing you- what?" [22:28] 14Stranger's mouth twists in a wry smile. "Well. We certainly don't call ourselves that." [22:28] 1“I mean no offense, espescially considering that I appear to be one now too. That’s what we call them- you- me, in Deguo." 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Ah, Deguo, that place we all know still exists and don't worry about. [22:28] 14Stranger: "The polite term is 'chosen.'" [22:29] 14The silver-haired, milky-eyed man sighs. "And yes. We are." [22:30] 12Keldar: "But the word you're looking for is Anathema. As you can see, the good doctor here's one of them - but thus far the Dragonlord's been willing to overlook it." [22:30] 4von Hrolfus waves a hand irritably.1 “Well, yes - whatever the politically correct term is. I feel like I’m in trouble - and I need to get word from my home.” 4He pauses, the words coming slowly.1 “I need help." [22:30] 12Keldar: "Gotta wonder how his patience is gonna deal with three of 'em, though." [22:30] 5 Xu Sim glances up at the rest as they converse.  "We need to move all these people to someplace more conducive to treatment." 5 to von Hrolfus:  "I can send an urgent message anywhere in this Direction if you help me - and us." [22:30] “Anything you need. I am at your service." [22:31] 13Xia Lan: "The Sun chooses us for a reason, though I still cannot fathom why." 13She shrugs. "Welcome, I guess." 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Around now the sound of the arguments happening up at street level are filtering down. [22:32] 5 Perhaps out of the corner of Von Hrolfus' eye, he might think he sees a six-winged cherub of glowing light flitting around curiously. 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Of course he's- our sacred duty-" "Laws of the city- without adjudication-" 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> People who look can see a standoff brewing between Lookshyan soldiers and what looks to be a contingent of the Dawn Guard. [22:35] 14Ah, fantastic. [22:35] 14Someone not currently glowing should go keep that peace. [22:35] 14Stranger tut-tuts himself for his unwise use of the Sun's power. [22:35] 4To Xu Sim: 1“Not to rush you, but the sooner the better." [22:36] 5 In an annoyed tone:  "Dictate your message and its recipient." [22:36] 12Keldar looks at the others, judges for himself that the stage situation is well in hand, and hikes up to the edges of the theater to get a better idea of what else is going on. [22:37] 13Hey, that's me! Xia Lan begins to head towards the gathering, to try and calm them. [22:40] 5 Xu Sim scoops up a handful of dust and holds it in his right hand; in his left hand, he weighs out an appropriate measure of xantham, riboflavin, arsenic, ginseng, and powder of crimson alum. 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar and Xia Lan both climb the steps to the rim of the amphitheatre, walking up to an argument between a young-looking lieutenant in expensive articulated plate with a pair of short daiklaves prominent on his hips. He's in a staredown with an older man wearing the insignia of the Dawn Guard over his breastplate. [22:41] 1“To General Johannes von Pfuel, likely located at this time: war academy in Deguo.” 4He rattles off a description of the strange events of the day - the appearance of an abomination claiming the destruction of the fatherland, the goblin hordes - but he leaves out anything regarding his own exaltation. 1“…please treat this with the utmost urgency and priorty, even though I realize how this may sound - I have not lost [22:41] my mind. Regards, Captain von Hrolfus. If you can dispatch this match with the utmost haste…" 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Lookshyan: "The authority of the Wyld Hunt is sacrosanct. To even debate this is an offense." [22:43] 5 Xu Sim performs the requisite ritual, conjures the messenger-spirit, and sends it off. 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Dawn Captain: "The Dawn Guard is the peace office of the city. These Anathema are going into city custody, on the order of the Dawn Sergeant." 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Lookshyan: "I'm to take them into our custody, on the order of Dragonlord Dorma." [22:44] 13As she walks up with an exaggerated sway, Xia Lan sizes up the two sides. Not sounding good from either end. [22:45] 12Damn, thinks Keldar, this is a pretty thorny problem. It's a good thing I'm not involved on either side. [22:47] 12Then again... "Hang on, though," 12he says. "Nexus ain't Lookshy." 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Dawn Captain: "My ass you are! This is - stay out of this, Keldar - Nexus isn't Lookshy." [22:48] 12Keldar: "You tell 'em." 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Lookshyan: "I see soldiers of Lookshy keeping order in the streets. I see medics of Lookshy tending the wounded. And I claim the authority of the Immaculate Faith, in our sacred prerogative to hunt the Anathema." [22:50] 4von Hrolfus decides to hold his tongue for the moment. [22:51] 4von Hrolfus doesn't want to be anywhere near this discussion. [22:51] 14von Hrolfus doesn't want to be anywhere near this discussion. [22:51] 14No one who is lit up does. [22:52] 14It's inviting a fight in the streets. 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Dawn Captain: "You can claim whatever you want, son. Until the Dragons come down to tell me otherwise, I follow the Dogmas and the Civilities." 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> The Lookshyan lieutenant takes a step forward. "And until the Emissary comes down to tell me otherwise, I wipe my ass with the Dogmas and the Civilities." [22:58] 12Keldar's eyes flash. "Hey! How about you actually hunt some actual wyld and keep out of our business!" [22:58] 13Xia Lan: "Such poor taste, lieutenant." 13She makes a face. "Do we have to resort to vulgarities?" 13She sounds appropriately proper, as a local celebrity must. Never know who's listening. 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> The Dawn Captain stares the lieutenant down admirably... but he's not stupid. If it came to blows he and his would be hopelessly outmatched. 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> He knows this. The lieutenant knows it too. As the captain averts his eyes, the lieutenant smiles. 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> The lieutenant raises a gauntleted hand and gives a signal visible from rim to rim of the amphitheatre. [23:04] 14Well. That went poorly. 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> From both sides armored soldiers come down the steps towards Bastian and Xu Sim. Behind them are huge, hulking armored figures whose every movement comes with the low thrum and pneumatic hiss of Essence-powered armaments. [23:05] 4von Hrolfus eyes them with a curiously flat expression. His hands twitch at his sides. [23:06] 5 Xu Sim ignores the ham-handed barbarians, and continues trying to treat the sick man before him. [23:06] 14Stranger sighs. [23:07] 12Keldar: "Hey-hey-hey hang on. Dorma knows at least one of these guys already, don't he? And they're all Nexus - I mean, I bet they'd be less liable to go psycho on you-" 12This is a hard argument to make when you aren't backed up by aetherochemical supersoldiers. 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> One of the soldiers: "Baron van Hrolfus. Come with us, please." [23:07] 14To Bastian: "At least they're using your title." [23:09] 4von Hrolfus: “Perhaps the matter of jurisdiction should be settled first?” [23:09] 14Stranger: "...and unless you think you can take them all, or you intend on fleeing, I suggest you go with them for now." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Soldiers are coming onto the stage for the cast, too. A Lookshyan medic is accompanying them, wearing a coruscating panoply of charms and phials that jangle as she walks. "Doctor," she says. [23:10] "Who are you?" 5 He glances at the approaching medic with some skepticism. [23:10] 12Keldar just ends up standing aside, perhaps sharing the occasional awkward look with Xia Lan. 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> To Bastian: "Sir, if you'd just come with us there's no reason to make this difficult." [23:11] 13Xia Lan stares back. Nothing she could do. [23:12] 4von Hrolfus: 1“I- very well. Please lead on." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> The medic, to Xu Sim: "I'm a field chirugeon with the Third Dragon. We're going to get these people care. Please come with us." [23:13] 14Stranger: "I will accompany the young man." 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> The medic: "Thank you." [23:14] 14Stranger: "He simply deserves an advocate." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> It was the soldier who said that, actually, but the end effect is basically the same: Bastian and Stranger are led out of the amphiatheatre while the medic continues to negotiate with Xu Sim. [23:16] 4von Hrolfus nods. [23:16] 13Well, this is a fine mess. [23:17] 14Since he is the epitome of decorum, Stranger won't roll his eyes at Keldar and Xia Lan as he and Bastian are led away. Well. That, and the blindness. [23:17] 5 Xu slowly rises, regarding the soldiers before him with the slightest curl in his lip.  "I will go into custody, but at least allow me to continue their treatment. I already stabilized this man from certain death. I'll do it under guard, if I must." [23:17] 14"Blindness." [23:19] "This ain't right," 12Keldar says, loud enough for the Solars being led away to hear. "And it's not gonna stand, one way or another." 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Medic: "Saves me the trouble of asking for a consultation. Is he safe to move? We have stretchers." [23:21] 5 Xu Sim glumly nods as he stands. [23:21] 14That's our Keldar. [23:21] 12Once everyone's been apprehended, Keldar turns to Xia Lan. "Way I see it, this was - well, they just had more immediate force on the ground, is all. But it's just one Hunt. I'm gonna see if Pellicia gives me the sanction to straighten out this mess - you with me?" [23:21] 14Stranger takes a deep, centering breath. This, he reminds himself, is an opportunity. [23:21] "Chin up," 14he says to Bastian for what feels like the tenth time tonight. "We've got them right where we want them." [23:22] 13Xia Lan: "I guess I am." 13She sounds dubious. "We'll need a longer-term solution, though." [23:23] 12Keldar: "Oh, there's some long-term solutions to Lookshy overstepping its bounds, even if the Emissary's... something." [23:23] 4von Hrolfus’ response is terse. 1“I am more concerned about what’s happened to my fatherland, at this moment.” 4He releases a deep, shuddering breath he didn’t know he was holding. 1“But thank you." [23:25] 12So it is that Keldar marches - rides, perhaps, if it's not too close - to wherever the Dawn Sergeant's offices are. This will, of course, not be the first audience he's demanded with her in the past. Perhaps not even in the recent past! But he's got a really good pretext now. [23:27] 13Xia Lan travels with him, either walking beside or riding astride Keldar. They're the only ones on the outside, huh? [23:29] 13Certain forces outside of the game have informed me that I mean "alongside" Keldar, "astride" his horse, because of the way language works. 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim travels the least, taken to an impromptu tent colony and colonized apothecary about halfway up the Hill. The cast are laid out and a combination of local physicians and Lookshyan medics examine them. The one who came to get Xu Sim turns to him. "What's your measure of this plague?" 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Bastian and Stranger are taken to a wealthy merchant villa overlooking the widest and cleanest part of the Grand Canal. Some faint geomancy keeps the air light and fresh. It appears to be fully occupied and commandeered by Lookshyan soldiers. Bastian and Stranger are seated and offered tea while they wait. [23:33] 14Ah. Stranger will smell it, but not taste it. He idly wonders if it's drugged. 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> It smells nice, at least. [23:33] 14Pity. [23:33] 4von Hrolfus delclines politely. No appetite at the moment. [23:34] 13Shouldn't of been exalting there. 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar and Xia Lan walk to the top of Sentinel's Hill, where the Dawn Barracks is. Polearms cross in front of the gate to bar their entrance, but Keldar doesn't need to try very hard to get in. Past mustering and resting soldiers (The Dawn Barracks is the only publicly funded permanent housing in the city) Xia Lan and Keldar make their way to the stone guardhouse Pellicia keeps as her office. She doesn't stand to greet them, poring over letters and ledgers. "Was that you down at the bottom of the hill?" she asks without looking up. [23:39] 12Keldar: "Fraid so. Raksha swarm shows up right as some out of towner goes anathema, easily taken care of. That's not the problem." [23:39] "The plague has a physical, mental, and spiritual component. It is extraordinarily dangerous and likely to require highly specialized care. Its primary vector is the so-called maze honey, produced by strange bees patronizing certain strange flowers; this honey is consumed recreationally and for nutrition." [23:41] 12Keldar: "Those Lookshy bastards just stepped right over your guards and made an arrest! Thumbed their noses at our rights! They've got Xu Sim, Stranger, and what's his name - they can't just get away with it." [23:42] 13Xia Lan: "Bastian von Hrolfus - the new one. And yes. All taken without warning, spirited away to different places." [23:42] 12Keldar: "We've got our share of chosen and gods and the like and I know you've got a budget for mercenaries. I say you show up in force and demand a, what's it, a transfer." 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia slams the ledger shut. "Are you out of your mind?!" [23:42] "As individuals consume more, they descend deeper into the honey-maze. At first, it produces a relatively pleasant hallucinatory effect but over time, the dreaming mind and the waking body become more and more out of step. At the terminal stage, the mind breaks free of the body and, I hypothesize, forms a secondary vector for transmission that is fantastically dangerous in its own right." [23:44] 12Keldar: "Foreigners can't just stroll on in here and arrest people!" [23:45] "That Early symptoms include delirium, euphoria, and hallucinations. Later symptoms include spasms, seizures, and eventually a total loss of control. The progress of the disease can be slowed with cold iron charms but I would require access to a full apothecary storehouse to be certain of a cure." 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "The city's coming apart at the seams as it is! I don't have the stores to keep the Guard fed past the end of the month, we might as well not have a Council, and gods-know-what is barreling down at us and driving everyone mad in the meantime." 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "Are those Anathema worth more to the city's protection and defense than not antagonizing a Lookshyan army squatting on this very hill?" [23:47] 12Keldar: "It ain't about - they're ancient demons, they can take care of themselves. And it's not like Dorma hasn't been quietly okay with the doctor already. It's the principle of the thing." 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "Oh, shut up, Keldar, you wouldn't know a principle if you sat on it. This is ego." [23:49] 13Xia Lan: "It's unnecessary to antagonize them. We just have to find a quieter way to proceed. To convince them that it's in their best interests to do what we want them to anyway." [23:49] "Finally, I'm not a military man but I suspect there is a military aspect to this plague; that it is being specifically cultivated by the Raksha ahead of their armies to weaken the city. I would require more resources to investigate this myself." [23:50] 12Keldar: "Same thing!" 12He pauses, then, to listen to what he just said. [23:51] 12Keldar, gesticulating with some vigor: "It's - that's city states, right? That's the Kingdoms. You only get to have one with the other. If you don't stand up to these people pretty soon you don't even get to have your own guard." 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> The medic looks from left to right before whispering to Xu Sim, "We're prepared to support you. Getting you the backing to help us fully understand and contain the plague." [23:51] 4von Hrolfus glances sideways at Stranger as they wait.1 “So. What do you think happens now?" [23:51] 13Xia Lan ignores him. "I couldn't figure out what motivates them. If it's procedure, that's difficult, but manageable. If it's ideology, we are in for a long fight, and may have to resort to dirty tricks." [23:51] "But I couldn't get a read on them when we were back there. Irritating." 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "Who is this? Aren't you that dancing girl?" [23:52] 14Stranger: "I think we get to meet whoever passes for an interrogator among this little band of Immaculates. Or whoever passes for a confessor." 14[23:52] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "Keldar, did you bring a date to--" [23:52] "And then, we talk." 14[23:52] * Joins: cbass [23:52] "What they want is to push us around," 12says Keldar, with firm conviction. "Oh, yeah, th- what? No, no, this is Xia Lan. She was at the play. Helped fight the raksha off, actually." [23:53] 14He smiles gently down at the tea, running a finger around the rim of the cup. "And make no mistake. That will be just as serious a fight as the one we just had down in the theater." [23:53] 13She bows. "The Unfettered Xia Lan, at your service." [23:53] “This was an unasked for complication.” [23:54] 14Stranger: "It is very important, I think, that we keep our tempers. Not so as to prove to whomever they send that we're not the demons they think we are, or some such -- they're prepared for smiling deceivers. But because the composed facade reveals fewer secrets." [23:54] 14Stranger: "When was the last time you asked for a complication?" 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> By now, both Stranger and Bastian have dimmed. Nobody's come for them yet -- there are guards posted on the outside of the door leading into the room, and people going to and fro outside, but they're being left there with the potted plants and cooling tea, for the moment. [23:55] 4von Hrolfus:1 “When I took command. When I challenged orthodoxy. When I took leave of absence so that I could experience, learn and return. Now there might be nothing to return to.” [23:56] 13There's a momentary flash of irritation at the 'date' suggestion, but it passes just as quickly as it came. "Wanting to push us around isn't motivation enough. If they wanted to push people around, there are hundreds in the streets. So, why turn their focus to us?" 13She looks to both Keldar and Pellicia. "Any insights on their motivations?" [23:56] 14The older man purses his lips. "Such is the danger of leaving the nest, for the young bird. When you return, you will return in power. That is the exchange that has been made for you." [23:56] 5 A whisper of a smile crosses Xu Sim's face.  "These people will need it." [23:57] 12Keldar: "It's Lookshy! They think 'cause they're sitting on a pile of lightning ballistae that they aimed at the Realm years ago that they own the place - and that now the Emissary's gone Nexus is free for the taking. Our damn sovereignty is at stake." 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "What good's our sovereignty if we exhaust ourselves driving the Lookshyans out and then the raksha come and we're depleted and friendless? We can't afford it." [23:59] 4von Hrolfus:1 “It poses…complications. Abominations - or whatever you call them here - upset the natural order of things. Balance is maintained by no one family having too much power…if I am what I am, the Kaiser might feel-“ 4He trails off. 15[23:59] <@VoxPVoxD> She points to Xia Lan. "If you're going to get your friends back, you're going to have to do it her way. I'm not going to antagonize Dorma." [23:59] 12Keldar: "Look, this is important, and I'm sure the Ninth is willing to roll up in force for practically wholesale - and we don't need to fight them. Probably. Just remind 'em it's our turf." [23:59] 14Stranger: "We do not upset the natural order of things." Session Time: Wed Aug 30 00:00:00 2017 [00:00] 14Stranger: "We are the natural order of things." [00:02] 4von Hrolfus contemplates this, chewing on a cheek. 1“On the other hand, if I could convince the right people without being executed on the spot - if I can safely harness this power…this could be the force multiplier we’ve been looking for.” [00:02] 14Stranger: "Now that's thinking." [00:03] 4von Hrolfus smiles. It’s more of a grimace really. 1“Step one, getting out of here alive!” [00:04] 13Xia Lan: "That's something for the future, maybe. We have a shorter-term goal that's more important than trying to push them out, and we can avoid it escalating to all-out war. So let's do that, yes?" [00:04] "I will require certain other implements as well, I think. I have other ideas for treating this illness... A burnished mirror, cinnabar, ground clamshells, dried centipedes... Are you getting this? Shall I write it down?" [00:04] 14Stranger: "Mmmmmm. Well, let's see what we can do about that." [00:05] 12Keldar paces a bit. "I mean, I mean. You get the Lookshy to ease off - you make it clear they can't just grab people off the street, whoever those people are - that means you can count on Stranger and Xu Sim and such, right? Doesn't it work for you?" 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> The medic's examining the man with the charm on his brow. "Make a list, give it to the quartermaster's page. In the meantime just take what you need from the apothecary." 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Someone's at the door to the room Bastian and Stranger were led into - a short, bald man with a bristly white moustache. "Baron van Hrolfus. Stranger. We're deeply grateful for your cooperation. I'm here on behalf of the Dragonlord." 14[00:08] * Parts: trenchfoot ("Leaving") 14[00:08] * Joins: trenchfoot [00:09] 14...Him. [00:09] 14Stranger: "I believe we've met." [00:10] 4von Hrolfus inclines his head slightly. [00:10] "Two...three times now, I believe we've met." [00:10] 5 Xu Sim jots down a note in bold brush strokes - a large mirror, or a burnished brass plate. He collects more - wine vinegar, rice vinegar, peach pits, powdered silver, bacon fat. He begins work on a potion to treat the symptoms of the man most affected by the honey-maze. [00:11] 5 Its principle of operation is the salt principle, to oppose the sweetness of the honey, draw out the mists of sleep and dry them out. To desiccate the faerie-magic like an insect that has wandered into diatomaceous earth. [00:13] “Burpo, was it?” [00:13] 13Xia Lan: "We have friends in chains. Surely displays of sovereignty can wait until after that's no longer true." [00:13] 5 With the progress of the dream so interrupted, Xu Sim's second stage of intervention can begin. For this: the mirror, the patient himself, certain other artifacts, reagents, and unguents. As a physical and spiritual condition, it requires medical and sorcery to treat most effectively. [00:13] 14Stranger: "Bubo, I think." [00:17] 12Keldar: "Sovereignty keeps 'em OUT of chains! Pell- Sergeant, if you think we've literally not got the means to assert it then that's got to be our first concern. It's, what, not enough food and too many fairies?" [00:19] 14Stranger: "Please, sit." 14He stirs his tea idly. "On behalf of the Dragonlord. Not on behalf of the Wyld Hunt?" 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo nods. "Just so. I'd like to make a proposal to you, in hopes that you can convince your colleagues to let me make it to all of you collectively." [00:19] "Or is it half a cup of one, half a cup of the other?" 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "The Wyld Hunt serves on behalf of the Dragonlord. In all matters, he is our focal point." [00:20] 14Oho. No foreplay, then. [00:20] 14Stranger: "'Our?'" [00:20] 4von Hrolfus: 1“I am not a ‘colleague’ I think; I cannot speak on the behalf of anyone here." [00:21] 5 As Xu Sim works, the mark on his forehead reappears. Its gentle, dusky glow bathes the room in a strange purplish light as he adjusts phials and sprinkles flecks of metal into the flames of a burner. 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "And the ever-present risk of the Guild calling in its debts if the city gets too unstable." 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Aspirational, perhaps. But while we brought you here under the auspice of the Wyld Hunt, it's my hope that you will leave as allies." [00:24] 14Stranger: "An interesting desire, coming from a confusing place. Beg pardon -- you do know what we are, yes?" [00:24] 4von Hrolfus frowns. 1“We are abominations. Even in the hundred kingdoms, we know what the Wyld Hunt does to such as us." [00:25] 14Good gods, man. 'Anathema.' 'Anathema!' You sound like a bumpkin. 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'll grant that it's an interesting desire, but you must grant that these are interesting times. The threat the raksha currently pose is existential. They are anathema not just to the Faith but to reality itself." [00:26] 4von Hrolfus shrugs. 1“As you like it." [00:26] 12Keldar works his jaw around. "Well. The raksha are getting dealt with, believe you me. The rest of it... guess we'll see. And you wanna actually put weight back behind the Dogmas, you know where to find me." [00:26] 12Keldar: "...hear anything about how that merchant's doing?" [00:27] 13Xia Lan: "...merchant?" [00:28] 1“Do you have information on what they’ve been upto?” 4von Hrolfus leans forward anxiously, placing his hands on table. 1“Has anything happened to Deguo?” 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "Brueghel's got him. Won't even let the Lookshyans in." 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia said that. [00:29] 13Xia Lan: "Does this relate to getting our friends freed, or did I miss something?" [00:29] 12Keldar: "Dude who, uh... killed the Emissary. Cabbage cart collision, and then the Emissary's laid out on the ground and merchant's glowing and screaming. You were outta town, I think." [00:30] 14Stranger raises a placating hand. Don't beg your opponent for information; you draw him a map to your weakness. "First things first. The man wishes a formal parlay, with the fullness of our host. He wishes to...build relationships. He has already, arguably committed heresy by even proferring this. By even meeting with us, without us in chains." [00:31] "That, I think, is worth our undivided attention." 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo looks pleased. "This city's lucky to have you." [00:40] 14Stranger smiles faintly. "Time will tell. I certainly hope so." 15[00:42] <@VoxPVoxD> The chaos at the amphitheatre laid bare the weakness and fragility of Nexus without her Emissary. At a moment of seeming surrender to the Wyld Hunt, new and peculiar opportunities arise. 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',-~\ \L| [20:07] 12 / / / .^ \ Y~Y \.^>/l_ "--' [20:07] 12 / Y .-"( . l__ j_j l_/ /~_.-~ . [20:07] 12 Y l / \ ) ~~~." / `/"~ / \.__/l_ [20:07] 12 | \ _.-" ~-{__ l : l._Z~-.___.--~ [20:07] 12 | ~---~ / ~~"---\_ ' __[> [20:07] 12 l . _.^ ___ _>-y~ [20:07] 12 \ \ . .-~ .-~ ~>--" / [20:07] 12 \ ~---" / ./ _.-' [20:07] 12 "-.,_____.,_ _.--~\ _.-~ [20:07] 12 ~~ ( _} [20:07] 12 `. ~( [20:07] 12 ) \ [20:07] 12 /,`--'~\--'~\ [20:07] 12 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [20:14] 12The actual transportation of the Twin Dragons to the Nexus grand arena is a complicated and taxing affair, performed under cover of nightfall. Somehow, the handler of the creatures is able to persuade them to stay still, or put them into some kind of deep sleep, and so it's as a series of massive covered wagons that the monsters are actually delivered to the arena and stabled in the [20:14] 12sprawling complex of cages and pens beneath it. [20:14] 4Ir, on the other hand, just has to walk. [20:17] 12The Guild spares no expense in expanding its ability to charge viewers for the match. Besides a forest of temporary, auxiliary stands and a small fleet of Haltan observation balloons, it's able to contract thaumaturgists, scavenger lords, sorcerers, and even - if rumor is to be believed - gods for the purpose of capturing and projecting images of the bout. If you weren't able to get [20:17] 12a seat, but are still staggeringly rich, you can send away for a graven mirror in which a hazy reflection of the fight will appear... hopefully... for a price. [20:17] 4That's pretty fucked up. [20:18] 12In the days leading up to The Day, what does the Squared Circle do? Ir and Blossom in particular have some ability to inspect the premises, do last-minute negotiation with the organizers, or watch other bouts already, and it shouldn't be that hard for them to bring the rest of their retinue. 14[20:18] * Joins: hrolf_mac [20:19] 4Ir's going to want to walk the grounds at least once, preferably as close to the day of the fight as she can. It's going to be hard enough taking these two lizard idiots out without unexpected surprises. [20:24] 13Sunlit-Dreaming Ying is looking to open up a shop! She'll need help picking a place that isn't a ripoff, horribly ill-suited for her purposes, or an outright scam, but an ad campaign has been forced upon her, and, heck, the time is right. [20:26] 7Well, if the Circle doesn't have anything specific to do at the moment... Blossom will have a look at that broken freight elevator on the Heavensward's landing pad. Can it be fixed? [20:27] 4Ir's going to be training. [20:27] 4...It's kind of hard to train for tyrant lizards. [20:27] 4She'll still try. [20:29] 12Ir's well within her rights to inspect the arena. It is, of course, a perfect circle, ringed by seating and pockmarked by doors of all sizes - some normal doors in the walls, and some trapdoors in the floor. Depending on what's going on, combatants of all sizes can be released from all sides, and there have indeed been events in which constant streams of slaves or wolves or demons [20:29] 12have been loosed against teams or even singular champions. [20:30] 4All doors will be sealed for this event, yes? It's just a two on one, straight up, no chaser? [20:32] 12For her bout, Ir won't be contending against traps or surprise late joiners or whatever - that's in the contract - and she'll pretty much be entering the arena through one door while the tyrant lizards enter through the opposite, across the field. She's not alone in her inspection - besides various servants who are straining the sand for decomposing bodies or oiling the gears of the [20:32] 12various trapdoors, she finds a frowning man pacing around who's staring at the ground and her in equal measure. He's a tall, lanky southerner dressed in furs, shaved bald but marked with tiger-stripe scars up along the ridge of his nose, back over his pate, and down his neck and back. [20:33] 12Ying, meanwhile, looks to get into business. She summoning anyone for backup or going on her own? [20:33] 4Gonna guess that's her opposite number. The trainer. [20:34] 7Oh, Blossom will also work out alongside Ir whenever she does training, for solidarity and encouragement purposes. [20:34] 12Blossom, meanwhile, performs an assay of ancient, First Age enchantment. Of course, there's First Age and there's First Age - not literally everything back in the glorious Solar dominion was a demi-sorcerous marvel of such sublime perfection that even a reincarnated god-king would be hard pressed to understand its workings. 15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10In the days leading up to Ir's bout Eikichi spends a lot of time schmoozing his way into exclusive, shady parties, where he has a coupla drinks and immediately starts talking about how Ir's heart isn't really in this, she thinks the whole thing's stupid, it's just a stunt to draw even bigger crowds at concerts. After a minor bout of her own, Wild Rose is overhead talking with another fighter about how Ir's training regimen's been slack recently. 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rumors spread. [20:37] 4Ir, of course, is training so hard she doesn't hear any of them. [20:39] 13Well, Blossom's got a way better head for these kind of details if she's not too busy... if she is, though, Ying'll make do. [20:40] 4Ir's main concern while checking out the arena, of course, is range and size. [20:40] 7Blossom will tag along, and point out all the hidden (but easily fixed, for her) problems in prospective locations to beat down the price. [20:42] 12Ir guesses right. "You're not killing them, yes?" 12The man's got an intent voice and a stern stare as he walks up behind the solar gladiator in the dead of night. [20:45] 4Ir: "No, I'm not. They're beautiful creatures." 4She rolls her shoulders. "And you can't sell a rematch on corpses." [20:47] 12At the same time, Blossom's working on the ancient airship dock. The tower reminds her a bit of the Needle back in Crystal: a building wrapped around a cylinder of empty space, within which, presumably, magic happens. She's sure that it's just an example of parallel evolution, though - the city of Hollow most likely predated war with the Niobraran League, and to allow for its [20:47] 12citizens to effectively fly required significant groundwork and great expense... which in this case was laid and paid. [20:49] 12The good news is that this building isn't short on power or otherwise lacking some kind of inconceivable First Age infrastructure to do its job - it's just been damaged. There was some kind of massive impact to its upper floors in its past that fractured the veins of jade laced subtly into its walls without actually breaking the walls themselves. Blossom's figured out the fault lines [20:49] 12and hidden switches she'd need to expose the inner precious metals in order to either fix or, in line with the Nexus spirit, strip out and sell them. [20:51] 12Trainer, in the arena after dark: "Good, good. What was it they called you, again? Ir?" [20:51] 4Ir: "Yup. You?" [20:51] 13Ying thanks Blossom profusely every time she's steered away from an otherwise perfect-seeming shop that just happens to have a secret issue that would cost Ying significantly more to fix than any sales could bring in. And when Blossom points out solveable problems that reduce the rent but won't take long to change. "I had no idea there were this many crooked landlords! Well, I guess I kinda did, but yeesh." [20:53] 12Trainer: "Arakesh. They have not explained to me - how is it you mean to defeat them, exactly? You are a god of some kind?" [20:53] 4Ir: "No." [20:53] 4Ir: "I'm the Chosen of the Sun." [20:53] "But if you mean weapons..." [20:54] 4She snaps her fingers, and Iscariot drives forwards into a great lance in her hand. "This, for much of the fight." [20:54] 7Blossom is a virtuous hero! She'll fix the freight elevator, thank you very much. [20:54] 4She twists her wrist, and suddenly the lance's point blunts -- Iscariot turns into a training weapon. "This, instead of a death blow." [20:55] 4Is she giving away her tactics? Sure. [20:55] 12Trainer: "Hmm. Mmm. Well, I will do my best to watch." 08[20:55] 4Is she also reading every bit of material that Eikichi and Blossom are giving her on tyrant lizards? She is. [21:00] 12Blossom and Ying's journey through Nexus's real estate field is indeed an instructive one. For some it would also be a massively demoralizing and frustrating one, but Blossom, I trust, relishes in discovering and accusing someone of proferring a bad deal out of sheer love of the game. Finally, they've winnowed their options down to a few choices - there's a storefront just changing [21:00] 12hands right on the edge of Bastion district, where the very richest live, a few openings around the markets of Nexus district, where most actual shopping is done, and a few cheaper but probably less lucrative locations in the more modest neighborhoods of Sentinel Hill. [21:02] 12Broadly speaking, the rent that Ying'll have to pay herself is highest in Bastion and lowest in Sentinel Hill, but that's also proportionate with the kind of money that the people likely to be there have to throw around - though, most of the people who work or shop in Nexus District will go home to recreate and sleep in Bastion, so Bastion might not be worth the surcharge. And if [21:02] 12you're really good then people will come find you no matter where you are, right? [21:02] 7Accusing people on its own is pretty great, accusing them of immorally selling shoddy goods is just marinade on the isicia omentata. [21:02] 13Isn't that a part of your brain? 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's a part of our hearts. [21:05] 13Ying's inclined to go for the Nexus District or Sentinel Hill - she's confident enough in her creations to be in demand anywhere. And, having more people wear her works provides more personal satisfaction than having anyone pay a lot for a single piece. Which one gets more foot traffic? [21:09] 4Ir doesn't wholly trust that Arakesh's participation will be limited to watching, but she's also not going to press the issue in front of him. [21:10] 4Complaining won't stop him, and not caring builds the legend higher. 14[21:17] * tom2 is now known as tom [21:20] 12It's hard to say whether Nexus or Sentinel Hill get more foot traffic. More people actually live in Sentinel Hill and so that's where you get corner restaurants and community cobblers and so forth - the kinds of establishments that tend to cultivate small but long-lasting groups of clients, assuming they get off the ground at all. Few people actually live in Nexus district but many [21:20] 12more people go there to shop, trade, or work, especially in high-paying fields like mercantile logistics or finance. [21:22] 13Well, she's probably not going to be around long enough for small, long-lasting clients to really take off. They aren't staying in Nexus forever, after all, and Tatsuya wouldn't like it. The Nexus district it is. [21:26] 12Nice. Blossom gets the wheels spinning, then, and Ying should be able to have a proper opening as soon as next week. Better start thinking about the name, the decor, and so on. [21:27] "Be sure to invite in a local cat," 7Blossom adds. "Most city stores dealing in food or cloth have one to keep vermin away." [21:28] 12The day draws near...! Final thoughts or actions? [21:29] 4Nothing left to do but to do it. [21:29] 13Ying: "!!! A cat...!" [21:33] 12Cats are so important... [21:33] 4Are they? [21:34] 13Yes! 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Cats are okay, but you know what's better is a huge, insanely stupid dog. 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is Marek going to be at Ir's fight? [21:35] 4Wow. [21:35] 4Also, that's his choice. [21:35] 12They're. For the moment, though, cats only occupy a little more of the city's collective attention than does an epic clash between an anathematic warrior of the distant sun god and a pair of foreign, elementally-aspected "dragons". [21:36] 4(Hopefully he will be, though.) 08[21:43] 12Perhaps he will. He wouldn't even stick out that much, necessarily - the crowd, from what Eikichi, Ying, and Blossom can see, is a scintillating field of every possible exponent of humanity. Hair and skin tones from every corner of creation, tribes with cats' ears or wolves' heads or demons' horns. The Squared Circle gets to sit front and center, close enough to the arena that they [21:43] 12can reach out into it with their hands if they so choose, but they've got some say in the matter - they can hang out in one of the floating balloons, or the rickety recently-built nosebleed seating, or the regular but slightly farther stands... where they are now, they're rubbing shoulders with Guild officials and banking magnates. [21:44] 12Ir, of course, is nowhere in sight - yet. She's in the maze of chambers and doorways beneath the Grand Arena, prepared to make her grand entrance. If they want, any of her friends could be down there with her instead, although they'll have to leave ahead of time if they want to reach good seats before the actual battle starts. 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Did you know that if you're sitting in a Guild box people will just bring you drinks and snacks? It's true! [21:50] 7Technically, that's true no matter where you sit. Here, they bring you free drinks and snacks. [21:51] 12It's a constant stream of the stuff. These things are insane - they're actually cantilevered forward out of the normal stands such that they're suspended a bit over the arena proper, they're lined with minerals mined from special demesnes that keep them cool and deflect ambient crowd noise, there's a little thing and if you just leave it green side up they won't stop bringing you [21:51] 12food... 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi is going to be bedridden tomorrow. [21:54] 12...it's starting. The food sellers are rushing around with increasing focus and desperation. The orchestra playing a decent rendition of Blossom's number from last weekend is quieting down. The announcer is saying things with 'ladies and freemen' in them. [21:55] 4Hopefully Ir won't be. [21:55] 12Gates and doors are swinging and sliding open in front of Ir. She's being beckoned forward, up a ramp into blinding light and roaring noise... [21:59] 12Ir's friends can pick up on definite tension in the air as they rub shoulders with Guild bigwigs and other incalculably rich value creators. There's a lot riding on this. A lot riding on this. And surely everything's in place, surely it'll go well... but a number of these people are more nervous, deep down, than anyone in their position really ought to be. [22:00] 12Not all, though. One guy, looking to be of Realm extraction, and the people around him, seem quite calm. 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, his mouth full of hors d'ouevres: "So how much do you think Ir's going to win by?" [22:02] 13Ying: "I dunno. What's the over/under?" 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "On what?" [22:03] 13Ying: "...isn't that a betting thing?" [22:06] 13Confidently: "Definitely under two lizards." 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yeah but you need a number of something to bet over or under on. Like... say the number of times Ir gets knocked down. You might set the line at one and a half times, and then bet over/under on that line." [22:08] 13She nods, appears to consider, and says: "Under two lizards. For sure." 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "You're going to be so embarrassed when both of these tyrant lizards give birth in the middle of the fight." [22:10] 13She makes a face. "Ew. Also, would they let them fight like that? That seems cruel!" 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Three drinks in. "Sorry, I just remembered, they lay eggs." [22:12] 13Ying's a bit behind, but not far. "That still seems cruel! Unless she can eat the eggs mid-match to regain health. Which is cruel and gross but at least it makes a weird amount of sense." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "YING." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "No, no, listen- listen to me." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's genius." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Like, an arena fight, right? But cooking?" [22:13] 13Ying: "Ooooh." 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "You could have five chefs, who are masters of cuisine from all the directions and the Isle, and then challenges could come and face them." 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "And like... have contests to see who could cook better with a specific ingredient or something..." [22:14] "Do they have to cook the same dish, or are they just starting with the same ingredients?" 08[22:14] 7Blossom: "Eikichi. EIKICHI." [22:14] "That is the best idea, I have ever heard." 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Right?!" [22:15] 12Orichalcum Chef [22:24] 12The crowd roars as Ir comes striding up into the light, making her way up a ramp that comes out of a trap door in the exact center of the Grand Arena. From down here, the crowd is a barely-intelligible smear of noise and color. The sky is a blinding blue-white glare that shines down through a forest canopy of balloons and projected seating. The air ripples faintly with essence as [22:24] 12magic works to capture and project the image of the fight, an effect which seems to slightly leach the color out of the air. [22:25] 4Well, fuck. [22:25] 4She's already burning golden in glorious solar plate. 08[22:25] 12At the same time, two great gates before the Dawn Caste warrior, one to her north and one to her east, are rumbling open. Each archway is dark - but one flares red and orange from within, as though it were the portal to forge, while another immediately disgorges a frozen wind that sends creepers of frost spiraling along the walls and across the sand. [22:26] 4Even her normally brown-black hair seems golden in the burnished light of her anima. 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Blondes are just more powerful. [22:29] 4He keeps saying that. Why does he keep saying that? [22:29] 13It keeps being true. [22:30] 12Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. 12The earth shakes with their steps. Their roars are past the point of being possible to transliterate - they're less heard than felt, grinding, churning sounds that sounds like they issue from natural disasters rather than hunting beasts. [22:30] 12They're here - massive, hungry, angry, tiger-striped. The Twin Dragons! The announcer is saying something about them, but what does Ir care? [22:30] 12Join battle! [22:33] 4The air around Ir explodes into golden light, and she holds her right hand out sideways -- a great lance seething forward into her hand. [22:40] 7Blossom, whose hair is black with the faintest tint of blue, does not agree that blondes are more powerful. [22:40] 4The fight is joined. Ir's anima flares, and she waits. 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Blossom would look good blonde. I'm just saying. [22:41] 12As Ir steadies herself, the tyrant lizards advance! They don't charge, but rather pad menacingly forward, eyes glowing, ripples of essence snaking along their tails and up their backs and around their throats... [23:03] "Go, Ir! GO!" 7Blossom cheers, fists full of deep-fried sausage. [23:03] 13Ying's just yelling at this point. There aren't even words. [23:04] 12The creatures draw an X across the battlefield, one stroke a vast swathe of flame and the other a howling blizzard! Ir's not even visible within the torrent of elements... until she comes leaping out with meteoric force! [23:05] 4Ir's golden light blows through the fire and the ice, and there's a streaming shining bolt that just fucking, cleans Ice's clock. Turns his head almost all the way around. [23:05] 4Ir's afraid she killed him there for a second. [23:05] 4But then, while still in the air, she sees the tyrant lizard shake it off -- and shoots down out of the sky like a golden comet, hitting Ice again on the come-back. 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10KNOCK EM DOWN KNOCK EM DOWN [23:15] 12Ir's got these things' measures in under a minute. The blazing jaws of the red and orange tyrant lizard are a deathtrap that even a Solar Exalt might succumb to (although, and let's be honest here, Ir could probably use them as a tanning booth), but they're just so easy to see coming. [23:18] 4Ir skips back, plants Iscariot in the dirt and backflips -- in full plate -- away from the searching jaws of fire. He can't see it, but when she lands, she's grinning. [23:19] 4Because then, suddenly, she's on the other side of the arena, above Ice's head -- and dropping a full elbow with a blunt spear behind it into the tyrant lizard's neck. [23:19] 12Here's who definitely can't see Ir's landing - the rime-caked primordial reptile which is buckling from the impact, then listing sideways, then listing the other direction, then groaning as it collapses to the ground! The very stadium shakes. [23:20] 13Ying's moved on to just singing praises of Ir to the tune of the song Blossom sang at her entrance. Aaaaaaaaaaay-owayowayowaaaaaaaaaaay 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "FUCK YES" [23:20] 12Behind Ir, the other tyrant lizard roars in fury at the sight of its fallen sibling as an aura of even fiercer flames blooms around it! [23:20] 4That's fine. [23:20] 4This is now a one on one fight. 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Blossom and Ying: "Ir's not outnumbered anymore. Have you ever seen her lose a fair fight?" 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "Has anyone? Will anyone? Nope." 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10oh look it's another drink [23:21] 4The great solar shadow of a dead woman burns in the sky. It towers over even the tyrant lizard. The one still standing. [23:23] 13Ying: "Nope! Nope nope nope. She's gonna win! And it's gonna be easy. Under two." [23:23] 7Blossom: "SHE WILL NEVER LOSE ANY FIGHT! ~SHE WILL NEVER TURN HER BACK ON A FRIEND, SHE IS ALWAYS THERE TO DEFEND, SHE'S THE ONE ON WHOM WE CAN DEEEPEND~" [23:25] 4Ir extends a golden-mailed hand and beckons. 'Come on.' [23:25] 12The center of the grand arena looks like a goddamn volcanic eruption right now. The crowd's going nuts. Blossom finds a note in her pretzels. 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Listen to the wind blooooooooooooooow~" [23:25] 7What the? What's it say? 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "Watch - the - Sun - rise ~" [23:27] 12It's written in crabbed riverspeak: attempt on gladiator's life. find sorcerer [23:28] 12Meanwhile, the fire 'dragon' is throwing its head back and roaring in anguish, which coincidentally causes a giGANtic shockwave of fire and shattered rock to erupt from around its feet and wash across the arena like a tidal wave. 08[23:29] 7Blossom will immediately pound Eikichi's arm to get his attention and show him the scrap of paper. They're both sorcerers, but Eikichi has cultivated the Sight. 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhgottago" 10Eikichi bolt-staggers out of the box, running and gust-leaping down the stairs into the main concourse. [23:41] 7Blossom, of course, will immediately follow him. [23:41] 13Ying will continue to hoot and holler, oblivious. 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Blossom sees Eikichi muttering and waving his hands up and down his body as he runs and jumps through the concourse. Every time his feet touch down he lands a little heavier. A few moments later his course takes him behind a pillar and a flawless bronze statue wearing Eikichi's clothes is charging out the other side, surrounded by frantically whirling orbs of glass as a daiklave comes to shimmering life in his hand. [23:48] 7The possibility exists, of course, that this warning is a fraud designed to get the fight result disqualified due to outside interference (i.e. them). That just means Blossom has to find the fraudster and pummel them, however. 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10We're not gonna interfere with the fight. We're just going to kill whoever this sorcerer is. 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Or maybe not kill. But definitely maybe kill. 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What if it's Arianna? That'd be awkward. [23:50] 4The battle rages in the arena, hard to see through the fire and the fury. But the golden anima of the Chosen does not falter, and when the tyrant lizard roars a particularly hideous bolt of magma at Ir, she slices the air with Iscariot and it falls away. 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi checks his reflection in one of those curved security mirrors without breaking stride before descending below ground level. Getting closer now... [23:50] 4Then she's flying forward again, Iscariot a whip in her hands, and the tyrant lizard roars and shakes as a golden light darts over its skin, ripping and tearing. 08[23:51] 7Hmm. Blossom could probably make a bronze statue out of Eikichi. Something to think about. 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It'd only be fair, considering that big statue of Blossom in the Hedgehog. 08[23:52] 12When the smoke clears, the arena floor is an ashen ruin, a volcanic waste of ash and flame in which the fallen frost-tyrant lies like an island. The fire tyrant, though, twists and roars and snaps fruitlessly at the air as a single gold-clad, silver-bearing northerner gives it the business. 08[23:54] 12Meanwhile, a bronze-skinned Eikichi and a Blossom-skinned Blossom are darting down into the bowels of the arena! Blossom isn't sure what the deal is, but thanks to the Sorcerer's Sight, Eikichi has caught onto the trail of some kind of foreign magic - a spell being woven slowly beneath the floor of the arena itself! 08[23:54] 12Seemingly for the sake of stealth and subtlety, the magic is being gathered slowly and expansively, and that allows Eikichi to fight back from greater range. But can he match the other mage's efficiency, and can he and Blossom get there in time...? Session Time: Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 2017 [00:13] 12Meanwhile, Ir's just a hair from fighting the second tyrant lizard to a standstill when she feels a strange sort of wind at her back. She turns fast enough to see, but too slowly to stop, a streak of strangely-coherent fire that comes whistling through the air to land, sizzling, right into a crevice between the shoulder and neck plates of her anima-armor! It burns like flame but [00:13] 12pierces and sticks like an arrow loosed from a longbow - and, indeed, Ir realizes she can see the archer. [00:14] 4Ir's only reaction is to turn, look, and stare -- then cock her head and blow the arrow of flame out, without breaking eye contact. [00:15] 4She turns back to the tyrant lizard. [00:15] 4She's got friends for this shit. [00:16] 12They're a dim, humanoid shape simply standing waist-deep in the flames, holding a very tall but very slim bow. Ir gets the sense they're wrapped in drab brown or red cloth, but besides a general impression of what they're armed with and how they're dressed she comes away with little. [00:16] 12Ir turns to the tyrant lizard, which meets her eye. Something passes between her and it. [00:16] 12The creature's pupil narrows, and it turns its head to face directly at Ir's assailant, growling. [00:17] 4Well gods-damn. [00:18] 4How is the arena, and everyone watching along at home, reacting to a giant fucking bolt of fire appearing in Ir's neck? Or have these assholes thought of that, too? 08[00:18] 12Meanwhile, Blossom and Eikichi are darting through the tunnels beneath the arena. They hear combat up ahead! [00:19] 12In fact, they aren't. It's not a giant bolt of fire - it's a slim shaft of flame, exactly the size of a regular old longbow arrow. Frankly they probably haven't even seen it, and if anything are assuming that Ir is wincing purely because the heat of the flames is starting to get to her. [00:19] 12Assassinate your target using arrows made of fire while she's wading around in chest-deep fire... the perfect crime. [00:21] 4Well it felt like a giant fucking bolt of fire. 08[00:21] 12So Blossom and Eikichi turn a corner and see a small battle ongoing in a wide, low room directly beneath the arena. [00:22] 7What...? [00:23] 12Guardian demons and other beasts intended for other fights seem to have spilled from their cages - guards and arena employees are desperately fighting back against, or in some cases being straight up eaten by, a full-grown tiger, a few wolves, a pair of blood apes. The tall, lanky trainer of the tyrant lizards is fighting for his life against one of the apes, making an impressive [00:23] 12showing with a quarterstaff that's just keeping the ape at bay. A few other workers - an accountant, an animal feeder, and so on - are crouching behind a table, praying. 08[00:25] 7Blossom points to the seeming accountant crouching behind the table. "Eikichi, it's him!" [00:26] 12He opens his eyes in seeming consternation and confusion - but does not stop clasping his hands or muttering. 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Zantetsuken glows pure white in Eikichi's hand. "Cut him down. Save the civilians!" 08[00:38] 12Zantetsuken glows pure white, and for a moment - just a moment - Eikichi notices a similar gleam of artifact metal from the staff that keeps making shaky, desperate, but just-barely-successful parries against a marauding demon's claws. [00:38] 12Blossom, meanwhile, catches the beast tamer's wink. 08[00:40] 12As Ir leaps onto the remaining tyrant lizard - not to plunge her spear into its back, but to straddle its shoulders, and Eikichi charges into the fray, and Blossom's fists ignite, and and the beast tamer begins edging around the side of the room, leading his opponent as he does so - Ir's first and heretofore most dramatic gladiatorial bout turns towards its close! [00:41] 12Who'll still be alive by its end...? We'll learn... next week. 14[00:46] * Joins: Quaker [00:49] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ [00:49] It looks like that Sidereal is trying to cheat the arena battle! Don't worry though, cheaters never prosper! Always play fair, have fun, and remember: The most important thing is winning by doing your best! [00:49] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ 14[01:05] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:11] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[02:19] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:33] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:38] * banana|spell is now known as banana 14[03:19] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:38] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:42] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:57] * Joins: Crion| 14[04:03] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:10] * Joins: Crion| 14[04:14] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:21] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[10:00] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[10:01] * Parts: FerrinusPrime 14[10:01] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[10:56] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:08] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[12:52] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[12:58] * Quits: Quaker_ (Client exited) 14[12:58] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:09] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:09] * Parts: hrolf_mac 14[16:15] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[16:29] * Joins: tom 14[16:50] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[16:50] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:11] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:12] * Joins: Crion| 14[17:36] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: ) 14[18:24] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:40] * Joins: Crion| 14[19:02] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[19:02] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[19:02] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[19:05] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:55] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[21:54] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[23:54] * Joins: Crion| Session Time: Sat Sep 02 00:00:00 2017 14[00:11] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[00:11] * Joins: cbass 14[00:26] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:13] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:44] * Joins: Crion| 14[01:52] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:04] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:53] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[04:04] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[04:06] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[08:01] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:56] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:08] * Joins: Crion| [10:15] - [10:15] - [10:15] - [10:15] - [10:15] - [10:15] - [10:15] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHlHbRE4upU [10:19] Surrounded by the sounds of ocean waves rolling against the shore, a wooden roller coaster clattering empty along its tracks, and the soft blanket hum of carnival music, the three Barons have been given time to mull over the strange offer the Princess La Jolla has made them. She insisted that they enjoy themselves for the night while they think about it, so they’ve also been given the run of the carnival grounds at Belmont Park, which has [10:19] been both kept open and cleared out of its normal late-night crowds. Sleepy looking employees check their phones, pinch their cheeks, and play with stuffed prizes in order to keep awake. [10:20] The Princess and Eva have joined your little party, though they keep a respectful distance to let you talk amongst yourselves. Currently, they’re throwing rings at the necks of bottles at a stall. [10:21] If any of this seemed strange….well, things are simpler when you own the place, Eva explained on the way down. 15[10:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10This is surreal. [10:22] 6Can we.. ride the rollercoaster? [10:22] 6You know, for privacy. [10:24] It depends. Is KJ at least 4’11’’? That’s how tall you must be for this ride. [10:24] 4Good lord. [10:27] 6Please, she's easily five foot three. [10:27] 6Two at minimum. "Okay, so.. okay." [10:27] "Who just asks people they've barely met, want to do a cool heist and start a new war?" [10:30] 4Cav: "Someone who wants a patsy to take the fall...or, someone so totally removed from mortal political concerns that they skip a couple steps in their recruitment process, since if they get it wrong they're so personally potent they can just kill you and start over." 15[10:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Still, waste not want not. Wilson got some cotton candy. "She's an odd duck, but she's a sweetheart. There's a lot of those in these parts." [10:32] 4He shrugs. "Or someone who's being 100% forthright. West coast Invictus politics are bizarre." [10:32] 4"Sweetheart" might not be the word Cav would choose for the woman trying to kick off a holy war in a direction she prefers. [10:32] 6KJ: "Could also have recognised us as people who could, frankly, get it done." [10:33] "But like. Under what circumstances would we?" 15[10:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's not even eating the cotton candy. It just seemed like something to have. "If we saw the world the way she did, we'd all have already said yes." [10:36] 6KJ looks wistfully at the little wooden cart, rattling around in the dark. "Right. The idea that it'd be better for the Carmelites if they had more guns and were pissed off about being recently evicted.." [10:37] "Not that it's great for the local ones to be, instead, dead." [10:37] 4Cav: "I am not particularly pleased about that." [10:40] 6KJ: "Eeaah. What if we warn the Court instead? Our Court. Get an urgent message sent, don't go ahead with the executions, fuck you, yours politely, the.. Prince who isn't here. Shit." [10:40] 6Without Bailey around, who in Los Angeles would have the will and the authority to make that kind of statement? There's nobody, is there. [10:40] 4Nobody who would intervene on behalf of the Carmelites, at least. [10:41] 4Bren might -- might -- have the personal political sway, but he's also been a bit absent recently...and his interest would be in seeing the Carmelites destroyed. [10:43] 4But frankly, Cav suspects the powers that be in San Diego would look extremely unkindly on anyone from Los Angeles attempting to interfere with a San Diego pogrom as if it were their territory. [10:43] 6Which is exactly what we're being asked to do. 15[10:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10'Who in Los Angeles has the will and the authority to do anything without Bailey around' is its own weird, thorny question even without the heist. "I wonder how many scripts you could get out of things the Princess does just because." [10:44] "Yeah, this park answers some questions by itself!" [10:45] 4We're being asked to rob them sneakily. This is less insulting than what KJ is proposing, because it inherently shows we know we're in the wrong. [10:49] As the three Barons wander through the stalls and rides, all three notice them eventually. The tall figures, so tall that Cav thought they must be wearing stilts, dressed in black robes. In the night’s coastal mist, their white porcelain masks make them look even more ghostly. The Nosferatu stand far away, but they can be seen, peering through the latticed supports of roller coasters, or half-hidden behind canvas walls. [10:52] 6KJ: "Enough of that. I'm going to ask them what's up." 15[10:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Something about the sight of them in the mist and their masks strikes Wilson very deeply. He doubles back to the Princess. "Should we be talking about this with those guys watching us?" [10:53] 4Oh, hello there. [10:53] 4How do they do that? [10:54] The Princess is watching Eva attempt to throw a mini-basketball through a tiny basket. “You will be working with them if you accept the offer. I think that they are trying to see how you move and speak.” [10:55] 6KJ: "So- fitfully, and with sudden decision." [11:00] 6Which is the same way she moves into shadow, or into never having been present. Likely very familiar to the watching figures. But will they notice a woman approach, hands in her pockets, mind screaming lullabies? 08[11:03] 4Cav blinks and looks around. Wilson is still here at least, right? 08[11:03] This one doesn’t. As she closes on it, the mask remains fixed forward, watching Wilson and Cav. When she gets closer, KJ can see that the mask she thought was featureless is actually carefully and subtly decorated with shallow carvings. A single small blue gem hangs under its right eye. 15[11:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Over talking to the Princess. "Who's their leader?" [11:05] 6Far faster than a mortal can move, KJ's outside of the park's public areas, under the canvas by the gem-masked pillar of a.. man? That or monster, depending on the mask. [11:05] "Hey. You can watch, but what's your angle?" [11:05] 4Being the only one without Obfuscate can be incredibly jarring from time to time. [11:06] 6Says the guy whose claws aren't visible. [11:08] La Jolla: “A man named Ferdinand. I don’t think he’ll appear here.” [11:11] The robed figure doesn’t start. It does turn to look down at KJ in a smooth motion, though. “Oh…hello.” Its (his?) voice is suprisingly high-pitched and boyish. “…I guess I’m watching you to see what you’re like.” [11:14] 4Cav's main concern is this: how does performing this heist, even to exact specification and plan, stop the San Diego court from carrying out its pogrom anyway? [11:15] 6KJ: "Sure. Here's what I'm like: I want to understand things. Would you please tell me why you and your cohort want to help get these papers?" [11:16] 4He'll walk over and raise this question to the Princess directly. [11:16] 6It might be more accurate to say that KJ wants to know things; she'll provide the understanding herself. But people don't react as well to that. 15[11:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wonder why. 15[11:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson: "Would Ferdinand be involved in this? If we got caught, who besides us would get caught up?" [11:19] The robed figure inclines its head in a nod. “If we don’t, the lords and the priests will come for us and we won’t be able to stop them from killing our friends. But if we take those papers from the Great Prince, some of us can escape from this place.” He pauses. “Are you the spy?” [11:21] La Jolla: “You will be given a duplicate set of papers. Forgeries, identical in every way except for the blood magic proving their authenticity. But the guards will not notice they have been replaced until it is too late. The ideal result is that no one notices the real papers are missing until we have moved those people who are in danger out of the city. Then, when they move, their hand will grasp at empty air.” 15[11:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson: "That could start a war." [11:23] “Ferdinand will only be involved in an indirect sense. You will see him at the gathering. Members of his clan will be more intimately involved. If you get caught, then as my guests, your capture and imprisonment will be my responsibility.” [11:23] 6KJ: "So it's you and yours. Fine. Please forgive the blunt question, but- why should we help you when it risks restarting a war which will kill even more people?" [11:28] La Jolla puts down the dart she was about to throw at a wall of balloons. “The war is ongoing. It may make things more uncomfortable between my court and yours, yes. But it will continue whether you choose to involve yourself or not, or whether your court sides with one side or the other.” 15[11:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson: "But then why should we, specifically, intervene?" [11:30] The robed figure stands, unsure. “The Princess…she has family where you come from, doesn’t she? Someone told me they’re very powerful. Wouldn’t they owe you a favor?” It stands silently. Then: “Please, help us. They’ll kill so many of us.” [11:31] La Jolla: “Are you asking about your reward, or your court’s?” [11:32] "It's not particularly about reward," 4says Cav. "At least not for me." [11:32] "It's about motive." 15[11:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson: "It's not the reward, it's the punishment." [11:39] 6KJ: "Don't worry, it's not on you personally to convince me. That'd be pretty unfair!" 6Although some people might say that when you stand around gazing eerily at people it's gonna invite deep, upsetting questions. [11:39] The Princess shifts her coat with a shrug of her shoulders. “Things are accelerating in San Diego. Soon there will not be any disguising the irreconcilable contradictions between its various factions. There is no historical reason why Iago Morales must remain Grand Prince for eternity. As things shift and change, everyone must choose who they would like to see in power, and act on that preference. As for your punishment…The greatest [11:39] consequences would not fall on you, if you fail. Unless you fail so objectly you’re killed outright by the guards in the attempt.” [11:39] abjectly* [11:39] 6KJ stands with her shoulders hunched a little, watching the people out in the open alongside the watcher who's watching her. [11:40] The robed figure watches with her. “We’re supposed to impersonate you while you work. So that no one notices you’re missing from the party.” [11:41] 4Interesting. [11:42] 6KJ: "That's actually a little worrying. As a group, we bank on inimitability." [11:42] "So what happens if you and fifty other Kindred of San Diego just.. get together tonight or tomorrow or the night after and all leave town in a convoy? Are they really that prepared and that ready to act in the open?" 14[11:45] * Joins: hrolf_mac [11:46] The robed figure: “Um…they watch the roads leading out of here. And…I don’t think your Court would like that, us just arriving all at once in the open. I think that this way, we’ll stay hidden for a while. I think that we have friends up north who will hide us from everyone.” [11:47] 4Cav's found his motive: 50 new Carmelites means the balance of power swings heavily in LA...and Cav's already allies, for better or worse, with the Carmelites. [11:47] 4At the very least, the secret police won't be pleased. 15[11:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson: "Right, but who do they befall?" [11:49] 6KJ: "They wouldn't like it, but neither Laguna Beach nor the Orange Parish would stop you from entering. Please keep it in mind in case you run out of options." [11:50] La Jolla: “I will face the greatest consequences. And the people who serve my household. As soon as the charade ends, and I’ve returned you safely to your city without carrying out my duty of keeping you imprisoned.” She smiles. “Which is why you should succeed.” [11:51] 4Cav will probably have some questions to answer either way. [11:51] “Of course, there is no telling who this might eventually touch. But I do not plan on washing my hands of anyone if things go less than well.” [11:52] 4Cav: "...I'm in." [11:53] "I can't speak for anyone but myself, however." [11:54] 6KJ: "Looks like I'd better intervene. Thanks and good luck!" 6She leaves the bleachers, possibly striding. [11:55] “Wait!” The robed figure calls after her. [11:56] "Yeah?" 6KJ turns, smiling, even though he called her a spy. [11:58] It’s as if the shadow of something overhead passes over the figure, and her mind leaves him for a second to try and see it. When she looks back, another KJ is there, standing by the metal supports. “See?” His voice is still that of a boy’s. [12:01] The Princess smiles. “Good. I’ll have the plans sent to your room.” [12:03] 6KJ: "Don't quit your night job." [12:03] The robed figure re-appears. “Okay.” 08[12:04] 6She hurries over to where Cavanaugh's found a way to fit this into the kind of politics he prefers. Does Wilson still seem chary of the expertly-downplayed downside? 08[12:05] Princess La Jolla turns to Wilson. “Baron Frost, walk with me for a moment. I have an additional incentive that I think you might be interested in.” 15[12:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson still doesn't like this. He will follow the Princess, though. [12:06] 6To Cav (and Eve, presumably): "Why?" 08[12:06] She walks in silence for a while, leading him far down the beach. The last open stall on the boardwalk is soon left behind, and Wilson finds himself on an unlit stretch of wooden boards overlooking the sand. [12:07] 4To KJ: "Why what?" [12:07] "Why am I in?" [12:08] "Because doing so is convenient for me politically, strengthens my allies and weakens the position of my adversaries." 15[12:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson follows silently. This is a very moody place. [12:11] 6KJ: "Is that an excuse? Fifty people purged, the kind of bloody massacre only people like us do these days in America. Are you sure you aren't ignoring the politics for some vestigial conscience?" [12:13] The Princess stops in front of a darkened candy shop and leans against the railing. “I have to ask: why are you so active, recently? I admit that my concerns down here mean that my impressions of situations up north lag behind a bit, but it was my understanding that you had withdrawn from most things.” [12:14] 4Cav: "Are you sure that you care?" [12:15] "Fifty Carmelites alive in LA rather than dead in San Diego is a win for me, both morally and politically." [12:16] 6KJ, emphatically: "Yes. This isn't worth it if we aren't doing it for the right reasons." [12:16] KJ and Cav’s phones both buzz. There’s an email from Bryan Rush for Cav…and a text message from Morton Moreno Munoz for KJ. When did he get her number? 15[12:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson glances through the shop windows, half-expecting to see a masked face behind the glass. "You're right, I don't get out much. But I do always go where I'm told, and I've been told to go to more places recently. I don't know why, really. Those decisions happen over my head." 15[12:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10This isn't the whole truth, but it is true, and it'll do for now. [12:17] "There's an off chance that we fail and get wrecked. Decent risk that La Jolla is playing us in the first place. And a damn good chance that we do this, get home, start or don't start a war and then two-to-three of us get purged by our own people for doing this insane thing." [12:17] 4Cav: "How do you know?" [12:18] 4The baron crosses his arms. "Why are you so insistent this is going to start a war?" [12:19] "Because doing so is convenient for Murray politically, strengthens her allies and weakens the position of her adversaries." [12:19] 6KJ: "Who we'd be, now." [12:19] "Murray?" [12:20] "You must be aware that the Baron of Palos Verdes is the one who keeps eyes on dangerous young Invictus to file them away as naughty or nice." [12:21] 4His eyes narrow. "Not all of them, Baron Anaheim." 08[12:21] The Princess looks at Wilson. “I don’t mean to make you remember something unpleasant. But I know you were more active during the 1970s.” 15[12:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson: "Yeah." [12:23] 6KJ: "I'm not doing this unless we're doing it to stop dozens of.. naive believers in highly specific harmless religious dogma from getting murderd by dozens of vicious believers in slightly different dogma. I know Helena Murray is watching me; she told me so." [12:24] 4Cav: "And who are you watching?" [12:25] La Jolla shivers. “I heard how that ended, too.” She crosses her arm on the wood rail. “A few years later, I heard something else. I don’t think you have.” 15[12:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson: "Okay." [12:26] 6KJ: "My words, Cav." [12:26] 6KJ: "You have to admit- if we do this- we're stupid for doing it." [12:27] 4A bit more lightly: "Oh, absolutely. Freely admitted; openly confessed-to." [12:28] 6KJ slumps a little. "Okay." [12:29] "I couldn't bring myself to take this risk if it was just more Invictus crap. I'll admit that right now but never again, okay?" 08[12:29] 4Cav grins. "Works for me. Let's go give Wilson the good news, then do something very stupid to save a whole bunch of lives." [12:34] La Jolla: “My sisters and I still talk. It’s good for us. Sometimes we let secrets slip out, sometimes not by mistake. It’s a way of unburdening yourself. My middle sister told me something once. A noble lady was discovered to be aiding the Carthian movement in Los Angeles. She was accordingly sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out. That’s the part that you’ve heard. What I heard, is that the evidence was never genuine. [12:34] And that the sentence was only carried out on a convincing fake. And that only a few people knew that part. The Prince. My sister. The executioner. The noble lady. And the person the noble lady worked for. The lady’s childe, who discovered and reported the evidence, never knew.” 15[12:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson: "What." [12:39] The Princess: “I don’t know where the noble lady went afterwards. But I have a name for the one who put all that in motion. I’ll give it to you, if you help me. As well as the support of my family in whatever struggle you encounter back home. But that was already on the table.” 15[12:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson's jaw works silently. 15[12:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't want to know." [12:45] The Princess looks surprised. “Why?” 15[12:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson: "Respectfully, Your Highness, you don't need to convince me. I'm one of three. If you got them, you got me too. Like a sale at the grocer." 15[12:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "Let's get back under the lamps. People will think we're conspiring." [12:51] 6KJ, gloomily: "Here they come now." 08[12:51] "I can still see Wilson, so it must have gone well-asterisk." 08[12:51] Elena considers Wilson for a while. “Okay.” She starts to walk back. “I have never liked the feeling of being used by others. I try to keep my dealings straightforward.” A few stalls pass by. “I apologize for dangling it in front of you. If you’d ever like to know, ask sometime and I will answer.” [12:52] 4Cav: "Oh, don't sound so dour." 15[12:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson, whose throat is closed off, just nods. [12:52] "Once we're actually there, stealing things, you're going to be having fun." [12:54] The Princess and the Baron get back to the others. [12:55] "That's quite an accusation," 6she says, visibly enjoying going fast quietly. [12:55] 4Cav: "Nothing I can prove in court." [12:55] "If we're lucky." [12:55] "And good." 15[12:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson: "So what's the verdict? Are you two in?" [12:56] 6KJ: "Yes, yes. Ugh." [12:56] 4Cav: "Yup." 15[12:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson: "And there it is." [12:57] 4Cav discreetly checks his phone. [12:57] 6Good idea. KJ checks her visible phone- there was a message earlier, right. [13:01] "We'll have to do this right, though. The impersonators are skilled but they won't hold up a conversation- which event were we thinking of using? We'd better prearrange with Gannon to have some excuse to be separate and uncommunicative." [13:03] 4Cav: "Or we may want me to stay and work the crowd while you two do the heisting. My skillset is uh, mostly about being seen and heard." [13:04] Subject Line: Irregular Inquiry Reported. Mr Cavanaugh — I just received the routine monthly report from the Judex’s office. Most of it is pretty boring, to be truthful, so few pay close attention. Included in one of the appendices is a record of all public records access requests made in the Court. I was going over the records to confirm that your heir designation was up to date and saw something strange. The office of Baron Bill Burne [13:04] inquired about the heir of every noble in the Court at the same time. I thought it was strange, and knew you have had past unpleasant dealings with the Baron, so I’ve made a note of it and am passing the information on to you. Yours Respectfully, [etc.]” [13:05] 4Fucking hell. [13:06] KJ has multiple texts from the same number. “GOOD EVENING BARON THIS IS MORTON MORENO MUNOZ WE HAVE MET SEVERAL TIMES DO YOU REMEMBER THE PARTY THROWN BY BARON GANNON LAST SPRING I WAS IN ATTENDANCE YOU MAY BE FAMILIAR WITH MY WORK AS COURT HARPY THOUGH I OF COURSE FIND THE TERM QUITE” the text ends. [13:07] 4He pops open his e-mail app. [13:07] 6That gets a blink. [13:08] 4Pause. [13:09] [13:10] The second one continues: “QUITE IN BAD TASTE I STRIVE TO UPHOLD ITS NOBLE FUNCTION OF PASSING ON USEFUL SOCIAL INFORMATION TO WORTHY NOBLES TO BETTER SERVE THE GREATER HARMONY OF SOCIETY. I HOPE YOU DO NOT FIND IT TOO FORWARD THAT I CONSIDER YOU WORTHY OF MY PURELY FRIENDLY ATTENTION AND GOODWILL. IN ANY CASE I HEARD YOUR NAME MENTIONED IN PASSING BY THE JUDEX SUSAIN RAINEY HAVE YOU MADE HER ACQUAINTANCE SHE IS QUITE PLEASANT COMPANY IN [13:10] ANY CASE SHE FOUND IT ODD THAT YOUR OFFICIAL LISTED DUTY HAD BEEN ALTERED WITH LITTLE NOTICE SPECIFICALLY YOU ARE NO LONGER LISTED AS WORKING FOR BARON MURRAY.” [13:13] “I AM OF COURSE AWARE OF THE BARON’S REPUTATION AS SOMEONE INVOLVED WITH SENSITIVE WORK AND HAVE NO INTENTION OF SPREADING THIS INFORMATION FURTHER BUT THINKING FURTHER ON THE SUBJECT I THOUGHT IT MAY PREFIGURE SOMETHING YOU MAY NOT BE AWARE OF AND SO WISHED TO MAKE YOU AWARE. I HOPE YOU ARE IN GOOD HEALTH AND MOOD. RESPECTFULLY MORTON MORENO MUNOZ ILLUSTRATOR FOR THE PRINCE.” [13:13] 6KJ: "Yeah, that could be how we.. excuse me, this is actually- just a minute." [13:14] “POST SCRIPT ADDITIONALLY AT YOUR EARLIEST CONVENIENCE PLEASE VISIT MY ESTATE I HAVE ALSO HEARD OF YOUR INTEREST IN SHALL WE SAY THE STRANGER PATHS OF OUR SHARED LIFE STRIKE THAT NO NEED TO BE COY THE OCCULT AND I HAVE A BLEND OF A FAVOR TO ASK AND AN OFFER TO MAKE I HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON BEST WISHES ONCE MORE.” [13:16] 4Cav: "Yeah, just a moment please." [13:16] Elena and Eva wait patiently while phones are consulted. [13:17] 4He frowns. "Something odd's happening involving our Judex." [13:17] "And with both us and the Prince out of town..." 14[13:17] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [13:17] 4We have very few advocates until we get home. [13:18] 4Is the unstated end of that sentence. [13:19] 6KJ Valentine, texting:  [13:23] 15[13:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson's just standing around. [13:25] The Princess: “Test your strength while they answer their email?” She points to a nearby bell and hammer. [13:25] 4For his benefit, then: "The office of Bill Burne just pulled every single heir listed on public record." 15[13:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson: "Seriously?" [13:27] 4Cav: "Yep. Buchanon noticed it while doing some remote work." 15[13:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Jesus." [13:27] 6KJ: "Strange, isn't it? The timing." [13:27] 4Cav isn't sure what that MEANS yet, but it can't mean anything good. [13:27] "I mean not 'strange' so much as 'terrifying' but you know." [13:31] "Burne isn't a guy who does anything of his own initiative." [13:31] 4Cav: "Certainly not records requests." [13:32] "And I'm sure there was a point to doing it publicly, too." [13:33] 6KJ: "You're out of town. The Prince is out of town. Who else.. you know what? We can't get distracted by this yet." [13:34] "We're going to have to let the chips fall in L.A. There's a chance everything is connected, but even otherwise, we won't succeed here if we don't focus." [13:34] 4She's right. 14[13:34] * Joins: hrolf_mac [13:41] Eva clears her throat. “Shall I call the driver? I think you three have had a long enough night. We can go over the plans in detail tomorrow evening. The night after next, we’ll set out for Miramar.” [13:41] 4Sounds good to Cav. Where are they staying again? [13:42] Back in La Jolla, at the Princess’s estate. [13:45] The limousine takes them away from the beach and the carnival, back up into the hills and the grand estate. The rest of the night, the barons are left to their own devices in palatial guest houses. [13:49] Two nights later, the three Barons are told to dress in armor and report to the palace’s driveway. The drive to Miramar takes about an hour and a half, far past the lights of downtown, far into the endless hill and canyons of San Diego County. There are fewer trees than the wilds of back home down here…until they reach a small, wealthy community near a lake. [13:50] The lake is fringed with willows, elms, and cypresses, obscuring dozens of grand manors and modern palaces. At the far end, something incredible stands illuminated. 14[13:51] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [13:54] Rising from the edge of the waters is a huge castle-manor, its turrets and towers bristling with miniature battlements, constructed out of gleaming white marble. Searchlights illuminate its surface, and from the other side of the lake they can see swarms of people milling about in its great courtyard. From its highest tower, they can hear bells chime to mark midnight. [13:56] The Princess La Jolla descends from a truck, armored in a deep scarlet plate. Eva’s is a pale yellow. Behind them are two dozen retainers all in plate, all in shades of red, weapons all sheathed. “Shall we?” [13:56] 4Jesus. [13:58] A fleet of rowboats takes you all across the water, the retainers doing the pulling, undead physiques keeping their manicured appearances perfectly still. The great house looms higher as you approach, and the sound of conversation and music gets louder. You can see a sea of armor on the other side. [13:59] As the boats make their way past a short jetty and pull up next to a launch and staircase, a trumpeter sounds a high note from a balcony. [14:00] You hear someone cry out above the noise: “Arriving, Elena Ignacia Figueroa de Solano y Medina, Princess La Jolla! Her retinue!” 08[14:02] “Her guests, Baron Clinton Cavanaugh! Baron K.J. Valentine! Baron Wilson Frost! From the Brilliant Court, representing His Highness Whitaker Kingsland Bailey, Prince of Los Angeles! Welcome all! Miramar Castle and its master, the Grand Prince Iago Morales, Master of San Diego and all its territories, welcome you!” [14:02] Three hundred pairs of eyes turn to look at you. [14:03] NEXT WEEK: Party Hard 14[14:17] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[14:18] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[14:20] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:20] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[14:25] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:35] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:37] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: ) 14[15:03] * Joins: tom 14[15:31] * Joins: Crion| 14[16:01] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:25] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[17:33] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:19] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[20:16] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[21:09] * Joins: Crion| 14[21:23] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[21:42] * Joins: Crion_ 14[21:45] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:01] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:32] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:45] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Connection closed) 14[23:48] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[23:52] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sun Sep 03 00:00:00 2017 14[00:12] * Joins: Crion_ 14[00:20] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[01:42] * Quits: Quaker_ (Client exited) 14[01:51] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:00] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Connection closed) 14[02:03] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:48] * Joins: dammitwho 14[08:26] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[09:29] * Joins: Crion_ 14[09:35] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:49] * Joins: Crion_ 14[10:23] * Joins: hrolf_mac [10:57] fucking hacking so bad call the cheat police [10:57] fucking hacking so bad call the cheat police [10:57] fucking hacking so bad call the cheat police [10:57] fucking hacking so bad call the cheat police [10:57] fucking hacking so bad call the cheat police [10:57] fucking hacking so bad call the cheat police [10:57] fucking hacking so bad call the cheat police [10:57] fucking hacking so bad call the cheat police [10:57] fucking hacking so bad call the cheat police [10:57] fucking hacking so bad call the cheat police [10:57] fucking hacking so bad call the cheat police [10:57] fucking hacking so bad call the cheat police [10:57] fucking hacking so bad call the cheat police [10:57] fucking hacking so bad call the cheat police [10:57] fucking hacking so bad call the cheat police [10:57] fucking hacking so bad call the cheat police [10:57] fucking hacking so bad call the cheat police [10:57] fucking hacking so bad call the cheat police [10:57] fucking hacking so bad call the cheat police [10:57] fucking hacking so bad call the cheat police [10:57] fucking hacking so bad call the cheat police [10:57] fucking hacking so bad call the cheat police [10:57] fucking hacking so bad call the cheat police [10:57] fucking hacking so bad call the cheat police 15[10:57] <@VoxPVoxD> ok [10:58] https://youtu.be/UEVsP2T5WIQ 14[12:37] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[14:06] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:45] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:45] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:06] * Joins: Crion_ 14[17:11] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:22] * Joins: Crion_ 14[19:28] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:41] * Joins: bananaphone 14[20:50] * Quits: bananaphone (Quit: Colloquy for iPad - http://colloquy.mobi) 14[20:51] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[20:57] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:10] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[21:34] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[21:58] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:28] * Joins: tom 14[23:14] * Joins: hrolf_mac Session Time: Mon Sep 04 00:00:00 2017 14[01:25] * Quits: Quaker_ (Client exited) 14[01:30] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:47] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[05:10] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:59] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[09:04] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[11:03] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[13:19] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[13:23] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:58] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[15:09] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:09] * Joins: Crion_ 14[15:13] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:14] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:19] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:06] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[17:06] * Joins: cbass 14[20:09] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[20:35] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:59] * Joins: tom 14[23:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) Session Time: Tue Sep 05 00:00:00 2017 14[00:05] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:07] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:23] * Joins: Crion_ 14[02:27] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:29] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:29] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[02:31] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:31] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[02:36] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[03:22] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:33] * Quits: cbass (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:57] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:57] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[08:20] * Joins: Quaker 14[09:00] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[10:00] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[10:32] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[10:47] * Joins: cbass 14[12:37] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[12:50] * Joins: Crion_ 14[12:56] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:45] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[19:33] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[19:56] * Joins: tom 14[20:04] * Joins: hrolf_mac 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> The Sun's Chosen seem to have evaded the worst potential consequences of the attack and standoff at the amphitheatre, but there still more problems than solutions. They reconvene in pairs at their hideout in Floodwater: Stranger and Bastian, Xia Lan and Keldar, and Xu Sim and his patient. The latter pair is ushered into an adjacent neighborhood where Xu Sim's made some arrangements to be met by people who help him guide the man walking the last steps of the honey maze to safety and rest. [20:32] 14The hideout is looking good, if a bit...earthy. Homey. Humble. He's unsure how young nobles might react to it. [20:32] 14Everyone does get their own room, however. [20:33] 4von Hrolfus is at ease. He’s been in the trenches. 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> What's the current disposition of the place? Xu Sim and Stranger have had the most influence since Mud and Straw was called back north to the Great Levee Project. 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> And, what's on people's minds as they reassemble? [20:35] 14Stranger has never been much of a decorator, but he's fashioned the common room much like a tasteful, low-key teahouse. There's a wide communal fireplace along one wall, built in the -- he believes -- Southern style, allowing it to act as a hearth and a cooking fire, with different intensities at different ends depending on what is being burned, and at what heat. [20:35] 4There’s a lot running through von Hrolfus’ head. Primarily: what has the fae done to the Fatherland. And second: well, there’s the whole immortal thing. [20:36] 14In fact, his very first act upon returning is to ascertain that there's still some life in the coals of the stove in the corner, to stir them up, and to put on a kettle. [20:36] 12Keldar's frustrated - frustrated that Nexus is in such a sorry state, that Lookshy's capitalizing on it, that it's simply not justifiable to throw down and expel or destroy the interloping Wyld Hunt as yet. Doesn't Pellicia see she's just letting the city slip further...? But he might as well hear his fellows out. [20:38] 14He spoke at great length and on any subject Bastian wished to discuss on the walk back, but now that he is home his mind turns back to all his various plates spinning in the air. The Cathak boy, the projects in Floodwater -- projects he now needs to find someone to collaborate with on rather than the excellent Mud and Straw -- and his greater designs. The ones that stretch beyond [20:38] 14Nexus. [20:39] 14They will require allies and friends. He already has one such person in the Ambassador (to understate things). Hopefully this secretary, this Bubo, is another. Hopefully the boy is another still. And of course, there are his colleagues here -- but they don't have the...difference in perspective that interests Stranger. [20:39] 13Xia Lan is surprised to see the others free - she'd have thought the Hunt would have kept them longer. Once the others start filtering back in, she's at ease enough to retrieve the novel she was reading before they went to the play and continue where she left off in the common room. Close to the fire, of course. Some things just stick with you. [20:40] 14There are, after all, many ways to visit Heaven, and come back stranger. [20:40] "Ah! Xia Lan. There you are. Tea?" [20:42] 13Xia Lan: "Yes, please! What kinds do you have?" [20:43] 4von Hrolfus has his hands clasped behind his back, and paces about with his brows furrowed. [20:45] 12Keldar leans a carefully-chosen iron sword against a wall. "So they just let you back out?" [20:46] "Well, let's see here." 14He busies himself with a small rack he's put a short distance from the stove, against the wall, each of which holds parcels of leaves in different states of preparation. "I need to restock, I think. What I have on hand is Forest Blackleaf, which is strong and bitter but flavorful with a kick; or a nice Greengrass blend that's not quite medicinal, but mild [20:46] and soothing -- good for relaxation. What are you in the mood for?" [20:46] 14To Keldar: "Oh, no. Of course they didn't." [20:46] "There were conditions." [20:47] "This was a...get-to-know you sort of arrest." [20:47] 13Xia Lan: "The Greengrass, I think. What were the conditions?" [20:47] 4von Hrolfus stops pacing, and turns to face Keldar. 1“I was not aware that the Wyld Hunt was in the business of offering amnesty to abom- to anathema." [20:47] 14He puts Forest Blackleaf on for himself, and Greengrass on for Xia Lan. Ah, the simple luxury of many kettles. "They are not," 14he says to Bastian. [20:48] "The Wyld Hunt, I suspect, has offered us nothing." [20:48] "Nessun Dorma's secretary. This Bubo character. He was the one who secured our release -- and, I'll wager, engineered our capture." [20:48] "He wants a meeting." [20:48] "With all of us." [20:49] 14He gently stirs the water, then drops the lids on the kettles. "Do we know anything about this man, save the obvious?" [20:50] "I must confess I did not pay him much attention until tonight." [20:50] 12Keldar: "Wait a minute, how does a secretary engineer the release of three anathema? What'd your guards actually say when they were letting you out? What'd Dorma say?" [20:52] 14Did the guards say anything? [20:52] 14Stranger: "That's a very good question. Nessun Dorma wasn't present to rule on the matter." 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger doesn't recall any guards. Bubo ushered them out personally. [20:52] 1“So this man, Bibus- he is, in effect, Dorma’s superior?” [20:53] 14Stranger: "And Bubo walked us personally to the door." [20:53] "No. Absolutely not." [20:53] 12Keldar: "Maybe they were just scared to hold you. I mean, you came on your own, which means the question of what'd happen if you decided to leave on your own had to be hanging over 'em." [20:53] "That's what makes all of this so...interesting." [20:53] 14Stranger: "Fear is not what I got from the disposition of the secretary. And we were not held by anyone else. We could have walked out, if we so chose." [20:54] "I suspect Bubo respects that we did not." [20:54] 14Stranger: "...How is our intrepid Dawn Sergeant?" [20:54] 13She sets her book aside; it's business time, not recreation. "I've never seen him before today. It feels like we should have met before - someone of his status, and all - maybe he's new in town?" [20:55] 12Keldar: "Doesn't want to lock horns with the Wyld Hunt in case they call her bluff." [20:55] 14Stranger sighs. "Understandable. How badly did you upset her?" [20:57] 12Keldar: "Not nearly as badly as this should upset her. You should've refused 'til they reworded their arrest as an invitation." [20:57] 14The tea is steeping quite nicely. He walks over to the kitchen area -- it's a rather open design plan, but like most full-service teahouses, the common room does have a preparation area and a bar -- and grabs two cups. "Refused what?" [20:57] "Arrest?" [20:58] "Should I have cut them down in the streets? That was rhetorical. I would not have done that." [20:58] "Besides, they did not bind us. We were not restrained." [20:58] “They were very accomodating." [20:59] "And I am not in the business of setting norms for the Dawn Sergeant or her men, especially not without her input." 14The cups seem clean. "I am fond of Pellicia, but I do not work for her." [21:00] 14Stranger leans forward, smilingly slightly at Keldar. "If you want to build a Nexus independent of the Wyld Hunts and the Lookshyans, thought -- it sounds like perhaps you should." [21:00] *though [21:01] 12Keldar: "Refused arrest, yeah. They wouldn't have actually gone for it." [21:02] 13Xia Lan: "Risky bet to play like that. Doesn't look good to the public, either." [21:02] 14Stranger: "I'm not going to bet the health of bystanders on my reckoning of what or what not a Wyld Hunt is prepared to do." [21:03] "And Bastian is right. They handled the situation appropriately. Were I to refuse them, I would have done it later, out of the public eye. For any number of very good reasons." [21:03] 12Keldar: "They're the ones making the bet. You let 'em get away with it and they'll just creep farther and farther." [21:03] 12Keldar: "Give 'em an ilm, etcetera." [21:03] 14Stranger: "Absolutely correct." [21:04] "But it is not my place to set public policy for the city. And 'rule by fiat of Essence: Do As Thou Wilt' is very certainly a public policy." [21:05] "And cutting down a Wyld Hunt in a public place with no Emissary to stand in judgment is most definitely setting it." [21:05] 14He walks back over to the fireplace. "There is a right way and a wrong way to do this, I feel." [21:05] 12Keldar: "This is a free city! Not being arrested by foreigners is already the public policy. You either uphold it or let 'em change it." [21:05] "And the right way most certainly involves violence, worry not!" [21:06] 13Xia Lan makes a face, but says nothing. [21:06] "You will most definitely have to throw these people, likely bodily, out of the city -- else make them timid such that this is unnecessary." [21:06] “Your emissary is dead. Law is administered by those with the power to enforce it." [21:06] 14Stranger: "But you, I recall, stood by and did none of the things you ask me to justify not doing." [21:07] 12Keldar: "And like I told Pellicia, we've got that power. A dozen of the second greatest mercenary companies in the Kingdoms make their homes here." [21:07] "Because it was not the proper place, nor was it the proper time." [21:07] 14Stranger pours Xia Lan a cup of tea. "Now that," 14he says, "sounds like a more promising line of inquiry." [21:07] "Bastian is right." [21:08] 4von Hrolfus makes a face.1 “You would rule with mercenaries?" [21:08] 14Stranger: "No. I would have you turn mercenaries into rulers." [21:09] 12Keldar: "The Dawn Sergeant's empowered to contract mercenaries to aid in the city's defense." [21:09] 14To Bastian: "You wish to return to your kingdom, yes?" [21:09] "You must do so in power." [21:09] “If there’s anything left of it." [21:09] "You will need, I think, an army." [21:10] 4von Hrolfus bristles.1 “There already is an army, and i would never raise arms against it." [21:11] 13She takes the cup gratefully, and sips it gently, considering options. [21:11] 14Stranger: "Oh? Are you certain? Will you be off in the morning, then, content that when you arrive in your homeland, it will be the thing you love? That you will not need to struggle to make it right?" [21:12] 14He pours himself his own cup. [21:12] 12Keldar: "What's goin' on in his homeland, anyway? What was it, Deguo?" [21:12] 14Ah. Bracing. [21:12] 4von Hrolfus:1 “That is the problem. I do not know." [21:13] 12Keldar: "So what makes you think anything is, just that guy showing up and exploding? What brings you out here, anyway?" [21:13] 14Where is Deguo, geographically? Could Stranger call in a favor from the River Province Silver Pact and get at least a flyover? [21:14] “At the…entertainment. There was a man. A good friend of mine, who claimed disturbances back in the Fatherland. He attacked me, and when I defended myself he collapsed into…nothingness. Was this a hallucination? A trick? I do not know.” [21:15] 12Keldar: "Seems like even odds that's just a fairy picking a thought out of your head. Like when you pretend to find a drachma behind a kid's ear." 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Deguo huddles in the hills and valley surrounding the mouth of a river that runs down to Sijan. Its principal neighbors are Highland and Peregrine. [21:16] 14Stranger: "The thing about that trick is that you still have a drachma." [21:16] “I hope that this is the case." [21:16] 4von Hrolfus: 1“But I cannot know for certain until I see for myself." [21:16] "The faerie could have been twisting things towards any number of ends -- but it is wholly prudent to be concerned about the thing it is twisting." 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Four weeks by caravan, two weeks by river and caravan, three days as the crow flies... if he taps his contacts in the Silver Pact Stranger could have a full report in as little as a week. [21:18] 14That is what he will do, then, provided Bastian doesn't strike out for home in the morning and make all of this moot. 14[21:20] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[21:20] * Joins: cbass [21:20] “As for what brings me here…” 4He spreads his hands.1 “Curiousity. A desire to learn. And to bring that knowledge back home, that we may better establish our strength.” [21:21] 5 Xu Sim huddles for a moment in the spartan discomfort of his laboratory. Haphazard shelves are filled with jars, phials, sacks, and boxes of reagents, unguents, and ingredients. A roll of bandages and a sack of cheap iron trinkets occupy a pair of truly decrepit armchairs. [21:21] 14Stranger pauses for a moment, sips his tea, then nods. "That is admirable." [21:21] 14He will send a missive to the crows tonight. [21:22] "One week," 14he says to Bastian. "Ten days at the outside, but I think one week. I can at least let you know the state of your Fatherland in one week's time -- even if no one returns the messanger." [21:23] 5 The laboratory itself is devoid of purposeful adornment, but a tall visitor would have to duck her head to avoid hanging charms, trinkets, chimes, mirrors, and one or two thuribules. In one or two of the mirrors, you might spot a shining six-winged cherub out the corner of your eye, flitting back and forth behind you. [21:24] 13Xia Lan, to von Hrolfus: "How are you holding up, by the way? You've had... an eventful day." 13She takes another sip of tea. Hits the spot. [21:24] 5 A simple cot - linen and bamboo - stands to the side of the chamber. The center chamber is occupied by an enormous, and terrifically heavy, stone table. Upon the table are a number of candles, a great brass shield, and a variety of mirrors, decanters, and crystals. The cot is occupied by the fevered man of the Honey-Maze. [21:24] 14Stranger: "My word. Yes." [21:25] "Do you have any questions?" [21:25] "We don't have all the answers -- but we might have some." [21:26] 4von Hrolfus blinks. 1“Well…to be honest I hadn’t been thinking much about it. My thoughts have been consumed by home, but I suppose I must adjust myself to what I now am." [21:27] 5 A third entity paces the room: Twice-Refined Princess, the sorceror's dog absolutely repulsive (but strangely adorable). She presently chews upon an enormous dead centipede, its legs and body the thickness of a toddler's fingers and arm, respectfully. [21:27] “I suppose my main concern is to not be imprisoned or killed by those that hunt anathema?" [21:27] 14Stranger: "Yes, the Wyld Hunts -- you know what they are?" [21:28] "This one we've just encountered is a bit...different than most of their like." [21:28] "As I assume you've gathered." [21:28] “They hunt abominations and maintain order. That is all we know.” [21:29] 12Keldar: "They not Immaculate up in Deguo?" [21:30] “Our traditional customs involve ancestor worship. But religion is not a major part of life for most." [21:30] 5 Xu rings a dinner bell - it formerly belonged to his enormous but departed friend, Mud and Straw - and calls out to the lair's hall:  "I'm to be conducting sorcery for the next several hours; if you want to watch you'll have to stay quiet. Otherwise please don't bring a pack of war-Yeddim through here just because you got bored!" [21:31] 12Keldar: "What kinda sorcery!" [21:32] "I'm going to delve the dreams of the Honey-Maze and see if I can't diagnose and reverse the mental component of the plague!" [21:32] 12Keldar's still got his hands clapped around his mouth. "That gonna summon a monster or anything!" [21:33] 13Xia Lan takes von Hrolfus's comments and Stranger's responses with polite nods; the man seems all right, considering. Lucky. [21:33] 14Stranger, raising his voice: "Noted, Xu Sim. Glad to hear that you, too, are safe from the Hunt." [21:33] "I hope not!" [21:33] 14It would be unmeet of him to roll his eyes, so he doesn't." [21:34] 14Stranger, still half-shouting: "I take it you don't want to come out and explain that?" [21:34] 12Keldar: "Alright!" 12He lowers his voice and turns back to the others. "So anyway... this secretary who let you out maybe under his boss's nose wants to meet us all?" [21:34] 14This is said in perfectly good humor. [21:34] 14He expects a 'no.' [21:35] 5 The Doctor merely cackles. Good-naturedly. [21:36] “How many of you are known to be anathema, to them?" [21:41] 12Keldar: "Dawn Sergeant knows I'm a Dawn, aheh. ...which I am, incidentally, don't know if anyone told you." [21:41] “What is a Dawn?” [21:41] 14Stranger: "I am, of course. To more or less anyone who would care to know." [21:42] 5 The Doctor decants the first phial - of quicksilver - into the brass shield. It slides on, thickly, forming a thin grey layer across the surface of the ornamental shield. [21:42] 12Keldar: "We're Solar Anathema. Phases of the sun." 12He taps his forehead, where an orange-red sunburst flickers warmly for a few moments. [21:42] 12It's visible straight through the black headband he's wearing. [21:42] "Now that we know the disposition of the Wyld Hunt at our doorstep -- or at least the disposition of the man who has subverted it -- it's much more useful an appellation than it is a curse." [21:42] "And please. We are the Chosen of the Sun." [21:43] 13Xia Lan: "If I was publicly known, I wouldn't be performing." 13She takes a sip of tea. "Still, I got an invitation same as the rest of you. So it's not as secret as I'd like." [21:43] 14Stranger: "Solars, if you must. But we are not Anathema." [21:43] 4von Hrolfus:1 “How do I find out what I am? All I know is I felt this intense heat radiating through me, and I instinctively knew what to do. But i understand none of it." [21:43] 12Keldar: "You could use a mirror." [21:43] 14Bastian should be back to dim by now. [21:44] 4von Hrolfus: 1“Is that the classic ‘Nexus humour’?” [21:44] 14Stranger: "Concentrate on the front of your forehead, and focus on the very thought of justice. Then exhale." [21:44] 14Stranger is walking him through flashing his caste sign. [21:44] 12Keldar: "That's Nexus pragmatism and derring-do. But you got the eclipse, if I remember right. Dot inside a circle." [21:44] 5 Next, he carefully places brands of sage and hemp into a burning brazier. The Doctor carefully dips a long stylus into the mercury and artfully sketches out the very cot that his patient rests upon. He reaches over to the sleeping man and plucks a single hair from his head, which he also drops in the brazier. [21:45] 4von Hrolfus slams two fingers against his forehead and tries to trace anything across the skin. He breathes out heavily. 1“Is this working?” 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> What's the dancer dreaming of tonight? [21:47] 5 The dancer dreams, oddly enough, of sitting up in his cot and speaking with a Learned Physician, Philosopher, and Magician from a far-off land -- strangely enough, the Physician is actually a small dog in a white coat with a strange mirror on its forehead that barks and yelps its statements in perfectly understandable Riverspeak. [21:47] 14That's up to Bastian. [21:49] 5 The dog:  "Good morning." [21:50] 4von Hrolfus gives up after a while, frustrated.1 “Never mind. To more practical concerns: how do you prevent the innate taint of abo- of the peculiar afflictions your- our - kind face from taking you over?" 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> The dreaming dancer looks haggard, haunted, drugged. But he takes the physician's nature and wisdom in stride. "I think there's something terribly wrong with me." [21:50] 14Stranger throws back his head and laughs. [21:50] 5 In the laboratory, the mercury shimmers, revealing the scene to any who might care to watch such dreadful things. [21:50] 14The old man shakes his head and sips his tea. "Do you feel different? Do you feel possessed? Do you feel like a man apart from yourself?" [21:51] 12Keldar: "Those are probably made up." [21:51] “No." [21:51] 5 The dog:  "Oh dear. Well, let's begin the examination. Show me your tongue. Aaaaaaa." 5 The dog pants in mimicry. [21:51] 14His laughter turns into a gentle smile. "That is because you are not." [21:51] "You are you." [21:52] "You have been changed as much as if you had been struck by lightning and granted the ability to play fiddle." [21:52] "Could you play the fiddle before? No! But who is playing the fiddle?" [21:52] 14He gestures at Bastian with his cup. "You are." 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> The dancer says aaaaaa. His tongue is scratched and stained red, the mouth of someone who ate fistfuls of berries straight off the bush, thorns and all. [21:53] 13Xia Lan: "You are your best self. That's what - that's how it was put to me." [21:53] "That is what this gift is. It is a difference of degree, not of kind." [21:53] 14He gestures at Xia Lan. "And she would know. She spoke to Him herself." [21:54] 4von Hrolfus. 1“No offense, but we have all heard the stories. Of the Solars going mad and destroying the world." [21:54] 5 Doctor Dog:  "Very disturbing. Tell me: do you feel different? Do you feel possessed? Do you feel like a man apart from yourself?" [21:54] 14Stranger: "Of course we have. It is worth considering who was telling them." [21:55] 4von Hrolfus looks at Xia Land curiously. 1“Oh? What did he say?" [21:55] 12Keldar: "Yeah, it's all Immaculate bullshit. Useful if you need to sound scary." [21:55] 12Keldar: "Well, maybe not for you, cause you're a 'Deceiver'." 15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> The dancer: "Oh, no. Oh, gods, no. Mirah. I have to see Mirah. Please. She has to forgive me." [21:55] "Perhaps it is different in your Fatherland; perhaps you have never been defeated in war. But where I come from, we were the dirt trod underfoot. Our history was at the whim of our betters. When a war is won, the victors do not just win the present. The past and the future are won too. [21:56] “Excuse me?" [21:56] (to Keldar) [21:56] 4von Hrolfus laughs. 1“Trust me, we know of defeat. The bitterness is all that drives us." [21:56] 12Keldar: "There's different kinds of Solar Anathema. You recognize 'em by their marks and their deeds. The Deceivers, the Blasphemous, stuff like that." [21:57] 14Strangers: "We are Deceivers, both of us. I am of the Eclipse caste as well." [21:58] 13Xia Lan: "I told Him to let me die in peace. He called me His daughter." 13She looks chastened. "It was a long day." [21:58] “What differentiates us from the others?” [21:58] 14Stranger: "Then you know what it is to be called unvirtuous, without merit." [21:58] "Ah." [21:58] "We are the oathsmakers." [21:59] 5 The canine chirurgeon:  "You must rest. Tell me, for what must Mirah forgive you?" [21:59] "Those of the Eclipse are the diplomats of Heaven and Hell. It is graven into our very sign: the unity of the Solar -- us -- and the Lunar Exalted. You may not have met the Lunars. They are the Chosen of the Moon. The Silver Pact." [22:00] 14He shrugs. "They also wish to destroy civilization as it exists. They have their reasons. They're nowhere near as barbaric as they let on. They were our confidants and mates once, you see. And in defeat they suffered..." 14Stranger pauses and doesn't finish the sentence. "They suffered." [22:00] "Let's leave it at that." 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> The dancer: "After opening night, there were these girls from the audience and we had the honey. Mirah doesn't even know. I didn't tell her and I can't even look her in the eye. The sky bursts with fire." [22:01] “What does this mean for me? I am free to choose and live my own life yes? I am not bound by any of these oaths?" [22:01] "Our purpose is to bridge the gap between all the various peoples of Creation -- and to defend them against the Outsiders. Fair Folk. Demons. Creatures like the one you were so accosted by." [22:02] 14He chuckles. "Oh, my apologies. You aren't bound by oaths." [22:02] "You bind with them." [22:02] 12Keldar: "Hypothetically, yeah. In practice you're on an entire religion's shit list." [22:03] 1“But with the Empress gone…” [22:03] 14Stranger waves a hand. "The Empress was never going to save anyone." [22:03] "It will be interesting should she return, however." [22:04] 14He finishes his second cup. "You seem to have many questions." [22:04] "Perhaps it is better you learn at your own pace." [22:04] "Rather than us dumping all this on you at once." [22:04] 14He places the cup down near the leaf rack. "Would you like to see your room?" [22:04] “By that I meant - the position of the empire is weak. They feud amongst themselves, and perhaps do not have the resources or will to chase the likes of us down as they had before?" [22:05] 5 Medical Mongrel:  "You must abstain from the honey. It is truly perilous; you ride a gossamer dragon." [22:05] “Which could have something to do with our meeting with the man Bibus.” [22:05] 14Stranger looks to Keldar. This is his area of expertise. [22:08] 12Keldar: "We've probably got less to fear from the Realm than we would have twenty years ago, in absolute terms. Of course, they're a lot more desperate now and pretty much the entirety of Creation is close to if not in their reach - I was nearly killed by a dynast the day I lit up." [22:09] 12Keldar: "But, I mean, our immediate problem isn't even the Realm. It's Lookshy. Practically the same reason to fear us and about the same response, although Dorma in specific seems to be hesitant about it." [22:09] 14Stranger: "It would be unwise to put too much faith in the kindness of these strangers, however. Which is why someone should bolster the Dawn Guard." [22:10] 12Keldar: "Hey, Pellicia knows where to find me. She doesn't think she has the food, let alone the funds." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> The dancer: "They all abandoned me. Elegba tended his pretty gardens behind walls of love and law. The warmth burned from Brokkr's heart. Bleak Ardua married a dreaming sea. I fought alone. I surrendered alone. I rule alone." 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "But they haven't forgotten. They recall how we came to that place. And they'll come back. They can't break that promise. No one can." [22:12] 14Now Stranger does roll his eyes, not that it's easy to notice considering they're milky white. "All she and you need are a good negotiator." [22:12] 5 Man's Best Friend, M.D.  "Yip! Yip! And yet you stoop to parlor tricks to pave the way?" [22:12] 13Xia Lan: "I was just there." [22:13] 5 Pooch Physician:  "Who made the promise?" [22:15] “If there is to be a new order of things in Nexus I would be happy to offer my services. And I would hope those services would be repaid with help for my country’s requirements." 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The dancer's voice has grown serene, thoughtful. "Vindication is only fair to the vindicated. We all did. The Lion, the Arrow, the Titan, the Bellringer. We stood fourfold and the Eye blinked. But in dying he outlived us all." [22:16] 12Keldar: "Well, you could've vouched for me a little louder. But she might not be wrong - she might not be able to afford what the Apples can do as of now." [22:16] 12Keldar: "'course, if the city were to commit convincingly enough to long-term renumeration..." [22:18] 5 The mutt's tail stiffens and curls straight up.  "And now, too, this dancer shall outlive you. I shall banish you, and he shall abjure you. Speak your name and begone, raksha." [22:19] 14Stranger: "I could help you out with that. But I get the feeling Bastian could just as well -- if not better, if I've got your measure, van Hrolfus. You are far more comfortable around soldiers than I. And you have a love for justice." [22:21] 4von Hrolfus isn’t sure what to make of that last part. Justice is people knowing their place. But he lets it slide. 1“Yes. Certainly." [22:25] 14Stranger: "Anyhow. I have business elsewhere. Signals to send; favors to ask. Please, Bastian, make yourself at home." [22:25] 12Keldar: "The secretary - when's he expecting us?" [22:25] “Thank you.” [22:28] 14Stranger: "He is not. I am arranging the meeting. He waits on our word." [22:28] 12Keldar: "Hmm. Well, I'm not against." [22:29] 14Stranger: "The questions to my mind are ones of security. Where, and with whom present." [22:29] 13Xia Lan: "Later than sooner, if we can. I've got an appointment I can't miss." [22:29] "You are more experienced in these matters than I, and I suggest we make the decision as a group." [22:30] 14To Xia Lan: "Of course. It will be a few days at the least, I expect." [22:32] 12Keldar: "He didn't say much about what he wanted or who he wanted to bring, did he?" [22:33] 14Did Bubo provide any conditions before they broke for the evening? 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> None. Pretty open-ended assignment. [22:35] 14Stranger: "He did not. I got the impression that he's a very adaptable man." [22:36] 14The silver-haired man places his cup in the kitchen's washbin. "But I would prefer not to insult him by bringing an army." [22:36] 13Xia Lan: "Definitely not suspicious. Just a regular human there." [22:37] 12Keldar: "Well, what the hell, let's just pick a noodle bar somewhere. ...maybe a mediocre one so I don't regret it too much if it gets destroyed in a scuffle." 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The dancer reclines in bed, as if ready to settle off to sleep. "No." 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "You speak it." 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim startles from his concentration, his patient stabilized, calling out a name. [22:38] 14Stranger chuckles. "As you wish." [22:41] 14Unless anyone else has questions for him, Stranger-Visits-Heaven will step out with two things on his mind: [22:41] 14First, making contact with his people in the Silver Pact. [22:42] 14Second, finding a thoroughly mediocre -- but still acceptable! -- noodle bar. [22:42] “What is a noodle?" [22:43] 12Keldar: "What the fuck." [22:43] 13Xia Lan: "What?" [22:43] 4von Hrolfus: 1“I’m sorry. Have I given offense?" [22:43] 14Stranger pauses on the threshold, having heard this, and wisely just keeps walking. [22:44] 5 The doctor leaps four feet back from the quicksilver-laden shield in a single motion, scattering a handful of crystals, which shatter on the floor with a clatter:  "Apis Regina! Bellringer! Cethleann of the Crooked Lance! Dunchess Primrose! Keeper of the Sixfold Throne! All of you!" 5 His dog barks for emphasis after each exclamation. [22:44] "In alphabetical order!" [22:44] 13Xia Lan: "What do you eat? Like. Soup. Have you heard of soup?" [22:44] “Of course! What an idiotic question." [22:45] 13Xia Lan, patiently: "What's in soup?" [22:45] "Sausages." [22:45] "Sausages and...?" [22:45] “What do you mean, ‘and’..?" [22:45] 5 The sorcerer clasps both hands over his mouth and leans against a wall. He searches for a brush and a blank parchment. [22:47] 12Keldar's just staring at Bastian, trying to figure out where to begin, when he hears the commotion from Xu Sim's laboratory. He snatches his sword up from its place against the wall and darts down the corridor, only to be vaguely disappointed when there's no aberration looming up from the table. [22:47] 13Xia Lan raises a finger to begin to lecture von Hrolfus, before turning to follow Keldar. My Sun, man. [22:50] 4von Hrolfus strides behind. [22:51] 5 The doctor is not much different - his eyes are somewhat less focused than usual. In a quiet but sheepish voice:  "That may not have been completely wise. I have brought the patient back from the brink, but their hold over me has increased." [22:51] 12Keldar turns an accusing look the patient's way. 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> The patient is sleeping peacefully. 14[22:52] * Joins: dammitwho [22:52] 14Stranger has already strode out into the night. [22:52] 12Keldar: "Frankly, that seems like a bad trade." [22:54] "As a physician, one must take these risks from time to time. But we have learned something: the honey-maze is not unoccupied. And something else besides: a measure of the fae's intentions. They are without a doubt the most pressing threat to this city." 5 He upends a sack on one of the armchairs, spilling a mess of iron trinkets onto the floor. He presses one to his forehead and begins... [22:54] ...wrapping it in place with a bandage. [22:55] "Further, I have learned much more of this disease. I may have to learn more still, to fashion a true cure." [22:56] 13Xia Lan: "You are -- there had to be a better way." 13She's not a doctor, but come on. [22:59] 12Keldar: "Can you tell me which one gets here first, and from which direction?" [22:59] "No sense second-guessing it now. On the bright side: I am more confident that the Anathema are not afflicted with a curse that inclines their bodies to treachery and bends their senses to wickedness. Because something like that is the symptom of the second stage of the illness. Thanks to my carefully attuned senses, that much is clear." [23:00] “What a relief." [23:00] "Who arrives here first is a military question for military minds. But they intend to keep a promise, to return to the place those afflicted describe in rhyme." 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> They began at the rivers when they set the fires. [23:04] But as the ancient poets describe, we didn't start the fires; it's been always burning since the world's been turning. Anyway as everyone knows the world doesn't turn and the ancient poets were opium-addled idiots. 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Not that there's anything wrong with that. [23:05] 14Meanwhile, Stranger eats some tasty garbage noodles. [23:05] 4von Hrolfus chews on them glumly. 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> The shop where Stranger arranges the meeting has the unassuming name of Spice Noodle. It's the sort of cramped small restaurant with a long line from outside the building up to the counter at lunchtime, but at the dinner hour a balcony with tables overlooking the park opens up. Stranger and Bubo are able to secure the entire balcony for a private party on Lookshy's coin. How do people arrive? Are people armed? Dressed up? [23:06] 4To be without a sword is to be naked.  [23:08] 14Stranger arrives first, of course, to settle things with the proprietor and, presumably, Bubo. He is carrying his cane. [23:08] 5 Xu Sim's forehead is marked by a small headband, holding in place a flat iron coin. He carries no weapon or tool, only a small bag making a snuffling sound. [23:09] 13Xia Lan has her hook-swords strapped to her back. She's got a nice coat on and a fairly swanky outfit aside from that, which hopefully conveys her lack of violent intent. [23:09] 14Classic Xu Sim. [23:09] 12Keldar's dressed much as he was at the play, though he's brought a heavier and blacker blade this time around. He gets there a little late and grabs himself a bowl so overloaded with meat and eggs and vegetables that it's doubtful whether there are actually noodles in there. [23:10] 14Stranger sort of lied. The noodles here are really good -- they're just good in that quick-made, trash fast food kind of way. [23:10] 14Such that if they destroy the place, so long as the three short-order cooks survive, they'll be back up and running immediately. [23:12] 14The tea, however, is probably garbage. 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo was there when Stranger arrived, but it's not clear where he got to as the other Chosen begin filtering in. Then after they're all sitting down and their food is served, he appears pushing a tea trolley and wearing the square black hat that's a sort of informal uniform among waitstaff in the Province. [23:12] 14If there is any. [23:12] 14We all make sacrifices. [23:12] 14Drolly: "Ah. The tea we ordered." [23:13] 5 Xu Sim orders two portions. The first, which he slides under the table, is full of fatty meat. The second - a rather curious affair - is loaded with citrus fruits, and he spices it himself from a small pouch he retrieves from the bag. [23:13] 4von Hrolfus just stares, wondering at the pointless apparent subterfuge. [23:14] 14Pointless apparent subturfuge is the essence of diplomacy. [23:15] 12Keldar takes no notice of the servant. He's alternately eating and talking about the one time he got to sit at the bar at which a famous noodle chef was working. Okay, "alternately" is a lie. 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "Good evening." Bubo takes the hat off as he sits down. "I'm sorry I wasn't here to see you in. My name is Bubo, I've met some of you already. It's my pleasure to make all of your acquaintances formally." [23:15] 4von Hrolfus: 1“Why- never mind.” [23:16] 14Stranger: "Should I try the tea?" 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "I wouldn't recommend it." [23:18] "Who are you again, then?" [23:18] 14Stranger's grimace manages to turn into a grin. "I will trust you, then, and hope this isn't a metaphor." [23:19] “Dorma’s assistant." 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "I'm majordomo and aide-de-camp for Dragonlord Nessun Dorma, Defender of the Faith, Seventh Legion." [23:19] "Bubo," 12says Keldar, as if trying out the name. "So what do you want?" 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Unanimity." [23:21] 12You can see Keldar silently mouthing the first two syllables there. "...yeah?" [23:23] 14He's a hard man to read. As always. 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "I'm afraid that the present circumstances demand it. Any disunity - any disharmony - will fester and spread and doom us all. You all have some understanding, I think, of the principal threat facing the city. The Province. The Direction." [23:26] 12Keldar: "Buncha raksha armies?" [23:26] "The promise is the threat. The armies are a means to an end." [23:27] 14Stranger: "Those are all different things, in fairness." 14But the fullness of his attention is... [23:28] 4von Hrolfus: 1“Has this threat engulfed my homeland?" [23:28] 14The man keeps his eye on the prize, it must be said. [23:30] 14...Conversationally: "What sort of tea is this?" [23:30] 14He reaches for his own teacup, staring at Bubo with milky eyes. 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo nods. It's not clear who at. "They don't march alone. They're taking thralls from the lands they cut through. Thon has fallen, Deguo holds on by a thread. Highland prospers." [23:31] “Then I must return to help immediately." 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> To Stranger: "That isn't tea. It's more like a lamp than a teapot. You'd be drinking camphor, more or less." [23:32] 14Mock surprise: "Oh my." 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> To Bastian: "Your homeland would be ash and thorns before you saw the palaces at Guowang Shan again." 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "You will do the most good for your countrymen here." [23:35] 12Keldar: "Do you have... reports? Maps? Logistical information? Do you know where everything is, what's getting here first?" [23:36] 14You're asking about tactics. This man is talking strategy. [23:36] 4von Hrolfus slams a fist down on the table. 1“It’s my home, dammit. What good are my powers if I can’t use it in defense of the Fatherland?" [23:36] "That is not what he is saying." [23:37] 14Stranger's eyes, however, are still on the 'tea kettle.' 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo folds his hands. "I understand your concern, Baron von Hrolfus. To have seen only a glimpse of what's befalling your home, and to feel powerless at such distance... but you are not powerless. You can defend your nation. And you will. From here." [23:38] “And pray, how?" 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "By saving Nexus and breaking the back of four raksha armies at once." [23:40] "Ask where knowledge comes from before asking where it's going." 14Stranger shifts in his seat, then turns and looks over his shoulder before turning back. "That's what I've been told before." [23:40] 12Keldar: "See I was thinking it'd be smarter to get 'em before they could join up." [23:43] 14When he looks over his shoulder, he taps his cane around to find and retrieve something that has fallen. His napkin, that he swept off the table a minute earlier. [23:49] 5 Stranger may have competition for anything that fell off the table. Twice-Refined Princess is rolling on the napkin, leaving a faintly greasy stain behind. 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo shakes his head. "We studied that. Any army you rode out to meet the raksha with head-on is vastly more likely to face defeat and thrall than one you could fortify at this position. For instance, were you to ride northeast to meet Cethleann and her Chosen as they ride south from Deguo, you would face not only the raksha rebellion but the entire nation of Thon and a goodly half of Deguo itself." [23:49] 14Well that's fine. The napkin is not the point. In fact, it gives him extra time to look confused -- and to look. [23:52] “Why would- are you saying half the country has fallen?" [23:53] 14He doesn't see much of anything, though. [23:53] 14But there has to be something there. [23:54] 12Keldar looks skeptical. "We wait here and we face all that times two or three, don't we?" 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Half the country is lost to dream. Even when you win, when you face the raksha here, some of their soldiers will be thralls carrying their old banners, thinking they're dreaming of glory and vengeance." [23:54] 14Well, if he can't see them-- [23:55] "Are they thralls to the honey-maze, itself?" [23:55] 14Stranger: "I suggest, in the interest of comity, brotherhood, and good relations, you tell us what the hell is out there. Right now." [23:55] "Because they're better than I am. And I'm good." 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> To Keldar: "Yes. But here we can prepare. Here we have the resources to marshal within the city. And here we have a cause that can unite people of every nation." [23:57] 12Keldar: "Here we have a siege, maybe. Ever been in one of those?" [23:58] "There may be other options, other military options. After all, the Emissary's old skin was full of, what would you call it... weapon-waste..." 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> To Stranger: "In eleven seconds, an assassin is going to attack Keldar. She's going to miss. Her arrow is going to strike the teapot and ignit--" The teapot shatters, sending a column of smokeless green flame into the sky. The arrow, buoyed upward like a bird on an updraft, ricochets implausibly off the noodle shop's hanging sign. It drags a tail of flame behind it, hitting a stack of crates across the street. No. Not the crates. Someone behind the crates is pinned to wooden scaffolding by their own arrow. [23:59] 14Stranger: "Forewarned is let's do this." [23:59] 12Keldar: "True. We get some of those iron cannons, thTHE FUCK?" 15[23:59] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: Ninjas attack! Session Time: Wed Sep 06 00:00:00 2017 14[01:27] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:49] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[01:51] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:57] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:06] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[02:18] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:19] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[02:29] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:11] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[03:14] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:18] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:22] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[04:09] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[05:41] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:10] * Joins: Crion_ 14[06:14] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:08] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:41] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[08:43] * Joins: Crion 14[08:48] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[10:01] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[10:30] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[11:12] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[12:41] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:55] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 15[12:57] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[12:57] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[12:57] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[12:57] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[12:57] <@VoxPVoxD>  14[13:03] * Joins: mattbaby 15[13:04] <@VoxPVoxD> It's before lunchtime, on one of those early spring days where it rains in fits. There's a lot of weather like that in this part of the Threshold. The clouds are tinged red by the star they obscure, and people are still talking about all the bad news that keeps trickling in: the fall of Thon, the mysterious absence of Council proclamations, the increasing visibility of Lookshyan soldiers in the city, the honey and its prisoners, and of course, the death of the Emissary. [13:17] 14Lookshy. An ironic name, really. 15[13:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger woke up this morning to the sound of a steady drip-drip-drip on the polished stone floor of the hideout. There's a leak somewhere, hard to see and hard to patch because the place is earthenwork. Mud and Straw's a genius, but it's hard to figure out how to handle maintenance now that he's gone back north. [13:23] 14Unhelpful, too, that Xu Sim's experiments are so...active. [13:23] 14Far too much wear and tear on a building they've only been in for what, a few weeks now? [13:23] 14If that? 15[13:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Probably. It's been scarcely more than a month since the Emissary died. [13:25] 14Well, Stranger's course is clear. [13:25] 14He walks out to the common area and puts on a kettle of water for tea. [13:26] 14Stranger restocked yesterday, but he'll stick with the Forest Blackleaf as he sits down to think. [13:27] 14Doesn't seem to be anyone else about at the moment, so he has the cozy area to himself...and that drip. [13:27] 14Once he's finished his cup, he's decided it's time to do something about that. [13:32] 14First things first: he needs to locate the guildhouses. All good craftsman are in guilds, and only some of those guilds are in the Guild. [13:32] 14He'd prefer not to draw their attention yet again so soon after the incident with Cathak Tsuka. [13:34] 14The main question is how to find those, without having to go through the Guild itself. Because that's a bit what it's there for. 15[13:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Guild guildhouses tend to hang their shingles in Nexus's prosperous and fast-moving downtown. Local carpenters, masons, and so forth keep smaller, private practices sprinkled throughout the city's residential neighborhoods. Higher-end (and more expensive) contractors set up in the rich neighborhoods flanking Parko Llana while humbler folk work in the neighborhoods at the foot of Sentinel Hill. 15[13:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Chosen craftsmen (which is to say, almost exclusively, dragonblooded craftsmen) virtually all work for the Guild, and the ones that don't tend to head private practices downtown. But you never know. You can find anything in Nexus, so they say. [13:37] 14Humility is a virtue -- but an even better virtue is its closest brother, discretion. [13:37] 14Stranger will start in Sentinel Hill, then move on to Parko Llana and, if absolutely necessary, finally venture downtown. 15[13:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger spends a fair bit of the day, into the afternoon, looking around for people who might be amenable to his work. It's an all-but-impossible needle to thread, though: people in the working-class neighborhoods hate the Guild and the Anathema both, people in the richer neighborhoods don't mind Anathema but Stranger realizes most of them are angling to get bought out by the Guild, and the contractors downtown hate the Guild fiercely, don't care about Anathema, but wouldn't be caught dead in Floodwater. [13:48] 14So it goes. But the search is worth it. 15[13:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Downtown is where he finds his best lead, from the apprentice working under a stern Earth Aspect master mason who's been tapped to screen prospective clients. How oblique is Stranger about his parameters? Would a socially inept teen be able to tell that Stranger wanted someone who didn't want to sell out, wasn't repulsed by the poor, and isn't frightened by the risk of association with Anathema when there's a Wyld Hunt in town? [13:52] 14That depends on how trustworthy and virtuous Stranger finds the teen. 15[13:57] <@VoxPVoxD> He seems too earnest and frankly dense to be duplicitous. Stranger sees him thumbing a locket stuck on the end of prayer beads. It only takes a brief conversation to identify him as a mama's boy, gone into the workforce out of necessity because his father passed. Not the kind of worker Stranger's after, but, the kind of kid Stranger can trust won't fuck him over. [13:58] 14Then he is more than willing to be as indiscreet as necessarily up to just before the point of actually saying the word 'Anathema,' or identifying himself directly as one. 15[14:02] <@VoxPVoxD> The boy: "Oh, no, sorry. I don't think I can help you. That's quite a conundrum, sir." A half-grin, memory-spurred. "I guess there's always Old Selin. If you can find him." [14:03] 14That raises an eyebrow. Selin is a rather common name -- but 'old?' Old coots that have been run off for their eccentricities are far more promising than young bucks trying to make their name. [14:03] "Old Selin, hmm?" 14Stranger pauses as if thinking about it. "How old?" 15[14:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh, I don't know. Master Fahad calls him Old Selin, and Master Fahad's over a hundred." [14:05] 14Stranger supresses a smile. Yes, that's old enough to almost certainly have exalted blood in him. [14:06] "Say I did want to find Old Selin, then. Where would I begin?" 15[14:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "When Master Fahad wants to hire him, he usually goes to the River Temple around evening bell. But it's raining, so he might be in the Undercity too." 15[14:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "Old Selin's a bum," says the kid with the confident obliviousness of someone who doesn't realize how rude that is. 15[14:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "They give out dinner at the River Temple." [14:10] 14Bless his heart. He's a good boy not to have opinions about bums. [14:10] 14Stranger thanks him for his time and tips him, then begins planning the rest of his day. 15[14:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The River Temple is a joint monument to the three river mighty river gods who make their home in Nexus, the Maiden in Yellow, Grey, and Great Yanaze. Naturally, it's built right where the rivers merge. And there's dozens of ways into the Undercity, usually at streetcar junctions or along the canals. [14:14] 14Ah. Grey. Memories. [14:15] 14...Time to look for the soup kitchens, then. 15[14:19] <@VoxPVoxD> They're not hard to find. People ranging from the elderly to families with children eat at the temple. It's one of the bigger crowds Stranger's seen since coming to Nexus. Rare for so many people to mill around in one spot. 15[14:21] <@VoxPVoxD> It's not quite evening bell yet, so people are standing around, or sitting around. There's talking, and laughing, and some music, a couple scuffles, and a whole lot of quietly looking up at the temple waiting for the bells to chime. 15[14:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Big tureens are being set up under awnings on the temple steps, and there are huge lidded baskets lining the square in some effort to corral the trash. 15[14:22] <@VoxPVoxD> The rain's thinning out. What's Stranger's approach? [14:22] 14Stranger probably looks poor enough that he can just blend in with the lines. 15[14:30] <@VoxPVoxD> While the rain is thinning out, it is still raining, and you'd think that this many people, at least some of them would be exposed to the rain. But standing in line Stranger notices he's stopped getting wet. He looks up to see broad canvas sheets taut like sails, bending the wind above everyone's heads and blowing the rain into the canal, the gutters and the alleyways, and... into the inexplicably open windows of the Guild bank across the street from the temple. [14:32] 14A water bank? [14:32] 14He's heard of the concept in the South. [14:33] 14But the climate here should render that, ah. Unprofitable. 15[14:33] <@VoxPVoxD> No, a regular bank. With like... papers and ink. [14:33] 14How odd. [14:33] 14He didn't want to get involved with the Guild as such, but... 15[14:33] <@VoxPVoxD> The bank's closed, so nobody's inside. Whoever opens up tomorrow is going to find the second and third floors all but ruined. [14:34] 14Now there's a trick. [14:34] 14A bit on-the-nose, however. There will be repurcussions for the soup kitchens -- even if they're mostly petty ones. 15[14:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Someone else is looking up at the bank windows, further ahead in the line. An old man in a knit cap, with a long, shaggy beard obscuring his long, thin neck. [14:37] 14Stranger is now guessing that the whole 'guild-hating' thing is what got through to the young lad in his apprenticeship. [14:38] 14He will not approach until after the man has gotten his food, and preferably he'll hang around long enough Stranger can get his as well. [14:38] 14Soup kitchens can have excellent food, are noble enterprises, and he HAS spent all this time in line. 15[14:40] <@VoxPVoxD> The food here is good! A lot of people knock temple food because it's free, but, those people have never had temple food. Stranger gets a bowl of some kind of vegetable stew and a piece of bread. [14:41] 4Now that reminds him of home. [14:41] 14Now that reminds him of home. [14:41] 14...Gary's home, at least. [14:43] 14Once Stranger's gotten his food -- where's the old man? 15[14:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger sees the old man sitting in a circle with several other old men in the light of temple lanterns. One of them unpacks a bag of polished stones and sets them out on the ground between the men as they eat and argue. [14:44] 14He will walk over, then. Is there any obviously clear place to sit, if he wishes to invite himself in? And what's the deal with these stones, so he doesn't get blind-sided by some obscure riverman honor game? 15[14:47] <@VoxPVoxD> The old men are spaced out enough that there's places Stranger could sit without invading anyone's personal space. It takes him a moment since there's no board underneath, but he soon realizes that those polished stones are (fairly abstract) Gateway pieces. They're talking about a board position. [14:51] 14Ah, Gateway. The preferred game of geniuses, real and imagined, for ages. [14:51] 14Stranger has never given it much time or thought. How does the board position look? 14[14:55] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 15[15:01] <@VoxPVoxD> It's a mess. White has no good moves that Stranger can see, while Black's position is commanding. But the more he looks at it, trying to figure out how to win, the more precarious Black's position seems. Any of the obvious moves open Black up to devastating counterplay and a huge loss of material and position. [15:05] 14Stranger: "Storm's coming." [15:06] 14Does he pass the eye test enough to just sit down without a challenge. [15:06] *14? [15:06] 14Stranger: "I wouldn't bet on Black." 15[15:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Unless Stranger's bought more expensive-looking clothes than he wore into Nexus, the only thing that'd mark him out is the sword, if he's wearing it. Humble as it is, Stranger could eat for a month off what he'd get for selling it. [15:08] 14He's not carrying a sword. He's carrying a cane, which they might be able to identify as splitting into a sword. [15:08] 14And he hasn't washed the clothes in awhile. 15[15:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Then Stranger's probably fine. He gets the sense that this is pretty informal. [15:12] 14He'll take a seat that's a respectful distance from the others -- not too close, not too far. What's his prospective guess at Old Selin up to? Has he already finished his stew and bread? 15[15:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Old Selin eats like a bird, picking at his food slowly while he argues with the others. Everyone else is trying to figure out Black's winning move, while Old Selin picks apart their strategies by outlining counterattacks. [15:17] 14Stranger is content to watch, then. He's not equipped to engage in a battle of strategic wits with the old man -- at least not at Gateway -- and he somehow doubts the man would be all too impressed by a know-it-all showing up like this anyhow. 15[15:25] <@VoxPVoxD> The man Stranger suspects is Old Selin proposes a counterattack that gets the other men all conferring among themselves. This is when he notices Stranger. "Hello. It's nice to meet you." [15:26] 14Stranger slightly bows his head. "You as well." [15:26] "A Gateway player?" 15[15:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sometimes. It gets people talking." 15[15:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "You?" [15:27] 14Stranger shakes his head. "Sadly, no. It was not a respected pursuit where I grew up." 15[15:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "You're never too old to learn something new." [15:29] 14The silver-haired man smiles. "True." 15[15:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "Where are you from? I haven't seen you around before." [15:35] 14Stranger: "I haven't been around much. I grew up on the banks of the Grey. Merchants, we were -- fishermen, mainly, but we had our fields to tend to as well. Stiff competition. Never went hungry, but routinely went poor. Gateway was...a Guild game." 15[15:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's the power of geography. Here, this game is one of the few things in Nexus the Guild doesn't own." [15:38] 14Stranger nods and takes another bite of bread. When he's no longer speaking with his mouthful: "This is my first time up this way, however. I've been staying in Floodwater. Getting by. Doing well enough for myself, though still between work." [15:39] "I like it there." 15[15:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's nice. Bit quiet for my taste." [15:40] 14Stranger nods again. "That's a good thing. When you want noise, you simply take a walk." 15[15:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "True, true. What brought you out here? I hope it was the food. The food's worth it." [15:41] 14Stranger: "No, the food merely convinced me to stay. Best soup kitchen I've eaten in, and I've eaten in a few. What brought me up here was a problem I had." 15[15:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh?" [15:42] "A problem with, oh, let's say, certain gentlemen." [15:42] "They run a bank, among other things." 15[15:42] <@VoxPVoxD> The old man's mouth is full now, so he just nods for Stranger to continue. [15:43] "But they don't run Floodwater. They have very little interest in it, frankly. I'd like that to continue." [15:43] "Floodwater belongs in banks. Banks don't belong in Floodwater." 15[15:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ha!" 15[15:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "Well, that's simple enough. There's nothing to sell there, and no one to sell it to. Keep the property values down, and you'll keep away the people who care about property values." 15[15:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "What's the saying? The river goes where the water flows." [15:45] 14Stranger: "But no one knows when the Batcave closed." [15:45] 14He elaborates: "It was a teahouse." [15:46] 14Stranger: "I'd say anyone who wanted to make life better there -- they'd have a tough balancing act to pull off." [15:46] "New, useful building, without making it attractive to..." 14He waves a hand in the direction of the Guild bank. "You know." 15[15:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sounds like you'd want some construction work done." [15:48] 14The silver-haired man nods. "Some. Discreetly. Good work; constant work. No money in it. Better things than money." [15:48] 14Stranger: "A roof, a community. Food. I won't guarantee it's up to this standard, but cooked with feeling." [15:49] "And a challenge." [15:49] "You know what they say, after all." [15:49] "You're only in trouble if you get caught." 15[15:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ah." 15[15:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "You represent somebody?" [15:52] 14Stranger: "Myself. And Tepali, the local elder. We had a carpenter -- built a bridge, a fine bridge -- but he had to go away. Go North." 15[15:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "This sounds like something we should discuss further, out of the rain. You have a place?" [15:55] 14Stranger: "That I do. Do you like tea?" [15:55] "It's my only affectation." [15:55] "Leaves are cheap when you grow them." [15:55] 14He'll perhaps wait until they're away from the group before asking that. [15:55] 14No need to hurt the man's street credibility. 15[15:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "I like tea. It's like Gateway, it's a good pretext for conversation." [15:56] 14Wise man. "Very true." [15:56] "...I never told you why I left the river Grey." 15[15:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's only my business when you decide to tell me." [15:59] "It is your business straight-away, and it pertains to mine. A man came to town, from very, very, very far away. He killed my cousins, their wives, their children. I could not gainsay him. I could not defeat him." 14Stranger pauses meaningfully. "And then I could. I went from powerless, to powerful -- and in a very real sense, I still remained powerless. But now he cannot live in a [15:59] world with calenders...and that village is safer without me." [16:00] "I tell you this in case it makes you uncomfortable. Such a change in a man." [16:00] "I tell you freely I would understand if it did. It has made me." 15[16:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "You think power changes people?" [16:01] 14Stranger: "I think it is the only thing that changes people." 15[16:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "Maybe you're right. I've always thought it just makes them more themselves." [16:06] 14Stranger: "I think people will be good if you let them, and people will be bad if you make them. But many wise men see the obverse." [16:07] "But I also think wealth is a particularly insidious form of coercion." [16:08] "Which brings me back to this." 14Stranger gestures at the flooding bank as they pass it. "This is virtuous. But I strive for a place where it is not necessary." 15[16:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "Still, to see this and to have your first instinct be to help them. If we're to get philosophical, we might say that the tendency of virtue is to obsolete itself, and the tendency of vice is to stand fast and multiply." 15[16:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "People call me Selin. What do they call you?" [16:16] 14Stranger: "Trusting your first instinct is not the same thing as virtue. My first instinct was to find good tea. It could well be said to have also been my vice. And these all fit within your parameters -- but the trick, as I see it, is to enslave your vice, twist it, and then see that it multiplies. All the lives I've ever saved, I've saved over rich men's tea." [16:17] 14Stranger: "I am Stranger-Visits-Heaven. Hopefully you know me neither by my name, nor my works. There is no such thing as good publicity." 15[16:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm not familiar. But I try to stay out of other people's business when I can. The Sun's especially." [16:22] 14He grins. "Wise man." [16:22] "Want to know my secret?" [16:22] "So do I." 15[16:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin snorts. "So it goes." 15[16:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "What sorts of projects are you thinking of?" [16:25] 14Stranger: "Invisible things, to start with. Sewer projects. Underground works. Keep the waters down to manageable levels, but do not drain the place such that passersby might actually think of moving in to this brand new real estate. Alleviate flood season, for starters. There are very old, very ruined sluices, gates, and waterways to work with already -- high level things. A good [16:25] challenge, I'd think, especially if the people living there are covering for you." [16:26] 14Stranger: "After that, community housing. Community workspacing. Things that are useful to real people, but, aheh, anathema to investors -- little privacy, little individuality, little resale value. Not shiny, but built for-purpose." [16:27] 14Stranger: "Finally, and most tenuously, direct above-ground infrastructure improvements. This is the most delicate of tasks, because it is the most visible and the most likely to be seized and turned into a toll serivce." 15[16:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "There are things we can do, if we've got the community behind us. But I should warn you, I can't do anything with the underlying architecture. I can redirect, I can siphon and sluice and shuffle, but the really old stuff is off-limits." [16:27] 14He grimaces. "As much as I love fucking up the Guild's day, I'd prefer they remained too stupid to notice us." [16:28] 14Stranger: "That's fine. Is that a council-level dictat or a mere fact of the architecture?" [16:28] "I try to stay as unfamiliar with Nexus law as possible. It makes me more pleasant to be around." 15[16:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "Closer to the former." [16:30] 14Stranger: "I have no problems with you setting your own limits on that front, both in general and with specific reference to Council Law, but if you see an opportunity to change something that you cannot change, do not hesitate to ask me what I can do to help. Because I have the power to bend ears, when I put my will towards it." [16:32] 14He hesitates. "The last project is actually an offer, coupled with a personal request. We have a...common house in Floodwater. A hostel, if you will. For me and four other people like me. They do not all perfectly share my values, but they do not directly oppose them, and the five of us are a very potent power. I might not feel confident to make this offer alone -- but I am not [16:32] alone." [16:33] "The offer is a room in this hostel, with everything that implies. You get a key, you pay no rent, you come and go as you please, you fend for yourself for food but the larder is usually stocked." [16:34] "The request is that you plug a damnable leak we have somewhere in the upper crawlspace." [16:34] "And other minor upkeep." [16:35] "Obviously, you're not a cleaner, and while I don't think any of my colleagues are so rude as to demand such, feel free to deal with any requests from them as you see fit. I'll cover for you, so long as you're not being an asshole." [16:35] "Or, if you prefer the streets, or some other venue, it is yours." [16:36] "...But when you get a free moment, I would still ask for help with the leak." 15[16:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin considers this all. "I'll help, certainly. But I don't think I can accept your offer of lodging, though it is kind. You said there's a leak?" [16:40] 14Stranger: "Drip drip drip." [16:40] "It's a...high-intensity domicile." [16:40] "We have a sorcerer." 15[16:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ah, so that's where Xu Sim's staying." [16:41] 14He laughs at that. [16:41] "Yes. Yes it is." [16:42] "Everyone seems to know Xu Sim. How very complicated it's made our lives." 15[16:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "He's sharp, if inconstant. I had a friend like him a long time ago." [16:44] 14Stranger: "His inconstancy is more boon than bust, I think. But it does make things interesting." 14[17:11] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:34] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[17:45] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:36] * Joins: tom 14[18:39] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[18:46] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[18:52] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:10] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:17] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[22:55] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:10] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[23:16] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:21] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:21] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[23:29] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[23:29] * Joins: cbass 14[23:30] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[23:34] * Joins: cbass Session Time: Thu Sep 07 00:00:00 2017 14[00:26] * Quits: banana (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:31] * Joins: banana 14[00:33] * Joins: tom 14[01:16] * Quits: Quaker_ (Client exited) 14[01:17] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:17] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[02:05] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:21] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:22] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:50] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:20] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[11:05] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:05] * Joins: Crion_ 14[12:08] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:40] * Joins: tom 14[18:09] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[19:28] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:38] * Joins: hrolf_mac [20:17] 12 4$$-. [20:17] 12 4 ". [20:17] 12 4 ^. [20:17] 12 4 $ [20:17] 12 4 'b [20:17] 12 4 "b. [20:17] 12 4 $ [20:17] 12 4 $r [20:17] 12 4 $F [20:17] 12 -$b========4========$b====*P=- [20:17] 12 4 *$$F [20:17] 12 4 $$" [20:17] 12 4 .$F [20:17] 12 4 dP [20:17] 12 4 F [20:17] 12 4 @ [20:17] 12 4 . [20:17] 12 J. [20:17] 12 '$$ [20:21] 12Chilling essence swirls up out of the ground around Ir's feet, barely perceptible to her and entirely invisible to the crowd. Also invisible to the crowd is a figure clad head to toe in a muted brown, using a powerbow of polished starmetal to loose shards of flame at Ir from behind the fallen body of an icy tyrant lizard. [20:22] 4First arena fight and already someone's gotta cheat. [20:23] 12Ir's not the only one who's realized she's under attack, though. Her towering, flame-wreathed opponent seems equally incensed, and he's charging the interloper at full speed. If Ir so desires, she's coming along for the ride. [20:23] 4Yeah, let's do this. 08[20:25] 12Meanwhile, directly beneath the arena, total chaos is unleashed; the slave and monster pens have broken loose somehow, and rabid beasts, marauding demons, and bloodthirsty debtors are rushing about in a furor. Eikichi and Blossom have just arrived on the scene to find a gaggle of arena officials besieged by wolves and blood apes and similar threats, the trainer of the two tyrant [20:25] 12lizards fighting a (seemingly) losing battle against one of the demons at the side of the room. [20:26] 12It's Ying who has the best idea of the crowd response, which is a mixture of gasping, cheering, and confused neighbor interrogation. Why DID Ir and the 'dragon' just charge together in a third direction? What's going on here? 08[20:33] 13And where'd Blossom and Eikichi sneak off to? They're missing the action! Well, not missing, but - [20:36] 13Hey, though, this is pretty wild! They don't usually do run-ins on arena matches! 'specially not ones where both sides get attacked by something else. That IS what's happening, right? [20:38] 12Maybe...? Ying can't actually see what Ir's going after. Certainly no one else in the crowd can. [20:39] 13They can't possibly be bringing back the Invisible Stalker! Everyone hated that the first time around! [20:39] 4Ir's ignoring the crowd around her. Instead she's got an arm hooked around the tyrant lizard's neck, not in any kind of choke, but just to hold on as she rides the beast towards this incredible asshole. [21:09] 4When she drops off the tyrant lizard she's striking before she lands. Five distinct, harrowing blows -- but the little shithead dodges them! She can't believe what-- [21:09] 4Wait. [21:09] 4Not all of them. [21:20] 4When Ir finally hits the ground, however, the assassin is still very much standing. [21:21] 4And now he's in position to -- haha -- fire back. [21:23] 12He does, but Ir doesn't even have to raise her spear before she finds the burning tyrant lizard shifting beneath her, leaning defensively so that the arrow of flame splashes harmlessly against its side. [21:24] 12Peering down, Ying becomes increasingly aware of what's going on. Judging by Ir and the tyrant lizard's motions, the two of them are engaged in battle against some humanoid opponent, one attacking from range - there! That streak of fire wasn't a normal prominence, it looked like a bolt or arrow! In fact... in fact... [21:25] 12Yes, Ying can make out the enemy themselves. Or at least the hollow in the flames where an enemy should be. She can feel her gaze sliding away, constant points of interest or idle thoughts or other random coincidences conspiring to distract her and capture her attention... but there's a man with a bow there, she's pretty sure. [21:26] 12Meanwhile, some twenty or thirty feet straight down... [21:30] 13!!! She rushes towards the barrier separating the crowd from the arena proper - Ir's still looking okay, but if this goes truly sideways, she'll be in position to - to leap into the hellish fire pit? I guess??? Look, we do things for our friends, okay 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Once Blossom identifies him, the statue of Eikichi advances on the sorcerer slowly. He's got his right hand up, limned faintly in blue light, while his left is steady on Zantetsuken's hilt. He doesn't seem to notice or acknowledge the demon or the wild beasts. [21:41] 13Ying keeps as close an eye as she can on the interloper. From up here, she's in position to cut off an escape route - at least, to her side of the arena - and that's more appealing than leaping into the fire. [21:47] 7Blossom leaps forward and spins gouts of flame at the murmuring sorcerer, but as she does he stands and bats them back at her! [21:51] 12The little muttering robed man whirls on her, no longer crouching down against the wall but standing with one hand tucked sternly behind his back and his other raised, fingertips crooked forward. His hand pecks fiercely at the onrushing stream of fireballs, batting aside dozens in a whirlwind of motion and sending three or four right back to explode against Blossom's defensively [21:51] 12crossed arms! [21:52] 12His fellows gape at him, and he frowns and makes a mental note about them. [21:55] 7Blossom may have been pushed to the back foot by the little robed man, but she's still more than a match for a blood ape. It comes howling at her, slicing its dirt-caked claws downward as she contemptuously sidesteps it. 08[21:57] 12Then the fussy little man makes another mental note, and another, and another. He glances around at the matrix of carefully-arranged air essence that only he can see (unless Eikichi's currently concentrating), glances at the ceiling, and frowns deeply. "No, won't do." [21:57] 12Casting the magic aside, the man produces a jade slip, crushes it in his hand, then takes a breath and turns- [22:01] 12Nothing happens. He doesn't frown more deeply, because he can't, but he looks quite alarmed. [22:03] 12The staff-wielding dragon trainer, staring intently at the man: "Got you." 08[22:07] 12Meanwhile, the loose animals and demons and even some escaping prisoners rage and brawl, menacing everyone in the room but Eikichi and Blossom's foe. [22:11] 12The sorcerer remains flustered and frustrated. He hasn't been here that long - as far as they know. They can't possibly pin him down after having just come in through the door. Unless- [22:11] 12Thirty feet above, in a lake of fire, Ir's taken around five seconds and already rendered her enemy more exhausted than she is. [22:12] 4And she's pretty damn tired. [22:25] 4The archer makes a move, raising his bow again, and maybe he just doesn't see Ir's grin or just doesn't care -- but the tyrant lizard isn't sweeping in to save her this time. [22:25] 4And by the time the fire bolts from his bow, Iscariot is already driving into his armor's throat. [22:25] 4Rubber tip. Honest. [22:30] 12The great lizard's had poor luck with proper bites, so it kicks out with one of its fiercely taloned legs instead, knocking a great billowing cloud of ash in the air and sending the mysterious assailant tumbling back. [22:31] 4That's good. That gives Ir just the little bit of space she needs. Iscariot shudders in her hand and lengthens into a jousting rod. [22:33] 4But instead of thrusting, she chokes up on it like a bat and swings it in a blurringly fast arc -- crashing into the archer's knees, trying to sweep him off his feet. [22:34] 12He blocks - but he has to do it with his bow, damn near knocking the weapon out of his hands and causing him to go flying sideways and skid along the ash on one hip and one elbow anyway. He's barely gotten back to his feet when Ir and her newfound ally are bearing down on him once again. [22:38] 4Ir doesn't offer him quarter -- she doesn't want him to take it, and besides, she's not planning on killing him, [22:38] 4...Unless he really can't take a hit., [22:38] 12He seems fairly battle-hardened. That's pretty strong armor he's wearing - artifact, judging from how tough it is relative to how lightly he's able to move. [22:39] 4Good to know. [22:39] 4She's already raised the lance again in another jaw-dropping, surreal-looking swing. [22:40] 4Then suddenly she's moving forward, and the lance is changing in her hands -- misdirection! The blow's coming in-- [22:42] 12At the exact same moment, the man's shuddering slightly, grasping at empty air with a free hand as though he's suddenly catching something that was thrown to him. He sees Ir and the tyrant bearing down, and Ir can swear she hears a muttered "Fuck this-" [22:43] 4On that we agree-- [22:45] 12He tries to pull himself together and spring out of the way, a flash of crimson light wreathing him as he does so! The crowd gasps as they realize that the deep red glow they suddenly see comes from neither Ir nor her opponent! [22:45] 12That glow disappears almost as quickly as it materializes, though, as Ir lays the man low! [22:47] 4He's fast. Not fast enough. Iscariot wraps around his foot, catching and holding him, and Ir roars as she swings him around in a circle once, twice, then leaps and drives him up, up, overhead -- and then crashing down into the great guard-rail protecting the front row of seats. [22:47] 4She almosts falls to a knee, but stays upright, and above her the burning golden spearwoman surveying the burning battlefield crosses her arms. [22:47] 4The archer doesn't move. [22:48] 4Whatever. [22:48] 4He'll live. [22:48] 12Will he? The burning golden spearwoman ripples slightly as an enormous tyrant lizard comes lumbering through it, eyes alight and jaws wide. The creature comes reaching down over Ir's shoulders, clearly meaning to eat the fallen archer in one bite! [22:50] 12hraumph [22:50] 12THE CROWD GOES WILD [22:50] 4Well, shit. [22:51] 12Below... [22:52] 4Arakesh isn't gonna be pleased about that. Big guy's gonna be shitting armor for weeks. [22:54] 13Ying looks away as the lizard goes in for the kill. They were... close to detaining him! But, you know. Animals. 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi leans to the side a bit to lock eyes with the sorcerer after the blood ape staggers away. "You have three seconds to explain yourself." [22:57] 12The man blanches. "I- uhhh. I was to interfere with the bout... ensure a loss..." [22:57] 12Arakesh: "Kill her and all of you." 12The man doesn't deny it. 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi glides away from the blood ape and through the wolves. "Hold still and you'll see the other side of this." 10He prepares to draw his sword, and the strange man begins to twist preternaturally out of the way, glowing green. Eikichi draws his sword with a brilliant flash -- blood sprays in the air! from the sorcerer's nose as Eikichi pulls Zantetsuken's hilt directly from his scabbard into the sorcerer's nose. 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sword's still out. "No second chances." [23:16] 12Arakesh narrows his eyes at the demon facing him, and then explodes into a swarm of grey-furred, tiger-striped fruit bats. Wait, no, they're too blotchy and fuzzy in places - hyena-striped, I'd say. [23:18] 7How cute! [23:22] 12A massive, moonsilver-wielding hyena man congeals out of the creatures on the other side of the demon, roaring in fury as he charges forward and swings his scimitar in a massive arc. A massive arc... into a nearby pillar? How can he possibly have missed that wide? "YOUR BULLSHIT ENDS THIS DAY" [23:23] 12The sorcerer: "Surrender to that?! I know how this goes. You're not going to take me-" 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Well, I didn't incur a debt of blood against Luna's children." [23:39] "Precision of the Striking Raptor! A Strong Force Flows From North To South! Dragon Smashes Monkey! KIIIIIYAAAAAA!" 7Blossom answers the sorcerer's ill-chosen words with another torrent of fireballs, smaller but more numerous! He can deflect a few, but more will get through his defenses- and the more that hit him, the more that will! Soon, the unlucky fellow has collapsed, burnt to [23:39] 7death by the righteous fury of a daughter of the Sun. 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi sighs. [23:40] 4He was right. 08[23:41] 12He's carbonized, dead when he's only half done sinking to his knees. Behind you, the rolling commotion of escaped animals breaks, or changes tenor - rather than fiercely attacking everything in sight, the beasts just flee as you'd expect them to. The two blood apes twitch simultaneously in a way that Eikichi can place is indicative of freedom from a demon binding. They share a glance [23:41] 12and lope off unless some civic-minded fellow wishes to stop them. 08[23:43] 7Blossom will let Eikichi and whatsislunar handle the apes, she'll examine the Sidereal's corpse and see if there's anything informative that hasn't been burnt to ash. Or even if there's some likely-looking ash, since Blossom can just reconstruct it. [23:45] 12Marek's back in the form of a bald, lanky, scar-striped southerner. "Hah! Very nice. But there's no time to gloat - they don't just come in twos when they're serious." 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi follows the erymanthoi, chasing them away from exits. Zantetsuken flashes once, twice, thrice - the demons fall, and an outstretched hand bids the orbs spinning around him to fly towards them, seeming to shatter on impact as the corpses dissolve in smokeless white fire. Two knots of molten glass float up from the flame as it burns itself and the demons to nothingness, spinning themselves into perfect vitriol-infested spheres to rejoin their brother in orbit. 08[23:49] 12The Lunar looks over Blossom's shoulder with slight perplexedness as Eikichi sets upon the demons - he wouldn't have taken the kid for a proper berserker, but then when you're chosen by the moon you can't ever go by appearances. "Come on!" 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Where else are they?" [23:49] 12He gestures and dashes off. [23:49] 7Did Blossom find anything? [23:50] 4Ir, of course, is still in the arena -- basking in the adoration of the masses, taking a victory lap...and catching her second wind. 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi'll jog after, his metal feet thumping on the ground as he runs. [23:50] 4If there's more of these assholes out there, in public and palling around with a tyrant lizard is the safest place for her to be right now. [23:50] 13Ying's retreated back to their seats by now. After that guy got ate... well, not much call to hang around by the arena floor. [23:51] 12Oh, whoops. In fact, Blossom finds the charred remains of a lot of neatly-folded pieces of paper, some lumps of what used to be carved jade, and the corpse of a small, leather-bound notebook. 08[23:53] 7Nice. She'll grab those for later, then hurry after Eikichi and Marekesh. [23:53] "Surely," 12says a voice from the seat on the other side of Ying, "This is not within the bounds of the match as described in the advertisements." 12It's coming from behind a silver mask within the folds of a white cowl. 08[23:54] 12Blossom and Eikichi are led on through a maze of tunnels beneath the arena. As they run after Marek, they can hear more sounds of combat ahead, and even feel the walls shaking with blows. [23:55] 13Ying: "Oh hey! Hi again!" 13She smiles brightly at the Emissary. "Funny running into you again! How've you been?" [23:56] 12Emissary: "What a strange question." [23:57] 12Emissary: "But won't this cause problems for the Guild? They've ceased to fight. Collusion." [23:58] 13Ying: "Didn't you see that interference? How're they supposed to have a fair fight with that going on? I think they made the best of a bad situation." [23:59] "I thought they brought back the Invisible Stalker before I spotted him. Some jerk with a flaming bow instead. I don't think it was planned, though, 'cause that tyrant lizard definitely ate him." Session Time: Fri Sep 08 00:00:00 2017 [00:01] 12Emissary: "True. Doubtless they put provisions into the fight contracts for such eventualities." [00:02] 12All the way across the arena from Ying and Ir, a tall observation tower built into the side of the structure appears to explode. As the dust clears, it becomes apparent that that's not quite the case - there's no fire or other sign of chemical or sorcerous detonation, and much of the stone's still visibly in place. There's just a lot of cracks, a lot of flying chunks, and a rising [00:02] 12cloud of dust. [00:03] 13Ying: "Heck, if they didn't before, they will now. What kind of person just interferes in an active arena match?" 13Wait, what the-- [00:03] 4Other shoe, meet the drop. [00:03] 4Ir never dropped her armor, and Iscariot's still in hand. [00:03] 4She'll nudge the tyrant lizard into the best position for both of them to respond. 08[00:04] 12This'd represent quite a climb for Ir, or at least a series of four or five jumps. Eikichi and Blossom are learning this firsthand, for they're now at the base of the structure and dashing after Marek up the stairs. [00:06] 4Ir urges him over to the closest edge of the arena, affectionately pats him on the head twice, and is suddenly shooting through the air like a golden sphere, her anima following her as she leaps once, twice, three times, four -- ascending the crumbling tower in breathtaking fashion. 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Sounds like Ir knocked out one of the lizards and is doing a victory lap around the arena on the other. And there was some interference..." [00:07] 12Peering ahead, Ying can see flickers of familiar golden fire. Those are her friend's animas, intermittently visible through windows, doorframes, and cracks in the stone as they move on up there! The Emissary's saying: "Increasingly troubling. We may be witnessing a breach of the peace." [00:07] 12Ir can tell the same - that's probably at least one of her friends running up there to see whatever's going on. 08[00:08] 12Meanwhile, Eikichi and Blossom are closing in on the actual disturbance. They can hear roaring, gnashing, cracking stone, clashing steel, and an extremely angry buzzing. 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That's all he says on the run up the stairs, though, since after that he perpetually at risk of running out of breath which would be SO embarrassing. [00:09] 7Don't worry! Blossom is here to carry him if he slows down! 08[00:10] 12There's a flash! And Marek, Blossom, and Eikichi come upon a largely empty room, completely destroyed, in which a single robed figure is sitting back against the wall in a spreading pool of blood. [00:10] 13Ying: "Well, let's check it out! Probably something bad happened down there, 'specially if somebody actually got out onto the arena floor." 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What... kind of robe? [00:11] 12He's taking long, ragged breaths, and appears to be missing an arm and both legs. Well, not missing, exactly. Rather, the entire room is filled with glossy black desert scarabs, and the creatures are slowly creeping across the ground and walls to coalesce into three distinct streams of bugs, one of which is flowing up the man's sleeve and the other two are filling out the bottom of [00:11] 12his robe. [00:11] "We'll get to the bottom of this one," 13she says confidently. "You, me, and my friends down there!" [00:12] 12It's a rough brown affair that you'd expect to see on some kind of laborer. "Th... three of them. Couldn't stop them." 12Hey - it's Azer'jol from Sijan. [00:12] 7Blossom: "Oh." [00:12] "Hello again, Azer'jol." 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "Bug guy!" [00:13] 12Jol: "Two won't be walking for a good while, though." [00:13] 4Around now, Ir catapults into the room. 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "That 14hff hff makes four? Five?" [00:13] 12Jol's got a burning silver anima and a solid disk of light on his forehead. He's nodding to Marek and turns and blinks as Ir appears. [00:14] 12Jol: "Five in total. They caught on to me too soon." [00:14] 4What guise is Marek in? Is his anima burning, or does Ir still just see the trainer? [00:14] 12Marek's in the form of a human, though he's got glowing crescent moon on his forehead. [00:15] 4Ir: "Hey, guys -- and hey, Arakesh, your lizards are..." 4She notices the caste mark. "...fine." [00:15] 12The Emissary: "You feel you would be of help in an investigation?" [00:16] 7Blossom: "Two down, three left." [00:16] 12Arakesh grins at Ir. "Better than fine. Well fed!" 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "Did you see where the others went?" [00:16] 7Blossom's deducing here. If there was an interference, and Ir won, that means whoever tried to interfere is no longer a problem. [00:17] 12Arakesh: "All in all, probably a better way to prove yourself than striking the blow on your own." 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "Or what colors they were?" [00:17] 4Ir: "Yeah...I tried to keep him alive to make him talk, but Fire had other ideas..." [00:17] "Okay, I'm sorry." 4She looks at Blossom. "Is he...?" [00:18] 12Jol: "Blue and violet. And they went... into thin air. That spell, the one that spins you around..." 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Blue?" 10Eikichi's metal eyebrows go up. [00:19] 12Jol: "...sorry, two down, you say? Kills?" [00:19] 4Distracted: "Yeah." [00:19] 12Jol: "Hah!" [00:19] 7To Ir: "A defensive spell." [00:19] "Some guy with a bow. Shot fire arrows. Red." [00:19] 12Arakesh: "Told you." 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "Blossom killed a Chosen of Jupiter down below, and it sounds like Ir got a Chosen of Mars." 08[00:20] 7Blossom: "Sorcerer, below the arena. Said 'you'll never take me alive' after Eikichi offered quarter, which was unwise." [00:20] 4Ir just stares blankly back at Blossom. 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks over at Ir and Blossom. 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Arakesh: "So you're Marek, right?" 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "The one who wanted Ir's spear?" [00:22] 13Ying: "Oh, yeah! I'm always helpful!" 13She reaches to grab his wrist and drag him out of his seat before thinking better of it and turning it into an awkward beckon. "Let's hurry -- who knows what else is going on underneath the arena?" [00:22] 12Marek: "Mm? Yes. But I say she can keep it. She's sticking it where Luna'd approve." 12Jol chuckles. [00:23] "I knew it!" 4Ir crosses her arms. "Seriously? Seriously, dude?" 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi will gracefully step out of the crossfire and end up next to Jol, whom he asks, "Any sign of the Emissary?" [00:23] 12Marek: "What?" [00:24] 13That last phrase should be 'over there' (at the tower) rather than 'underneath the arena'. [00:24] "Ugh!" 4She throws up her arms and walks past him, scowling. "Shapeshifters! No respect for people's feelings!" [00:25] 4In fairness, this is the latest in a long week of 'Ir getting fooled by disguises.' [00:25] 12The Emissary's mask is unreadable, which one assumes is the point. "You're right. The Dogmas may be under threat." Still holding the Emissary's hand, Ying experiences something very strange - the very world warps nauseatingly around her. [00:25] 12Everything to her left and right stretches impossibly, the sky above her wheels, and the tower in specific snaps forward as though made of rubber. [00:26] 12Marek: "I was in deep cover, and it's funny." [00:27] "I'm going to check the staircase." [00:27] 6Ha ha, nice. [00:27] 12Jol is saying: "Not that I know of, but the-" 12right as Ying and the Emissary come walking around the corner, as though they'd just come up the stairs. [00:27] 4Ir: "AAH!" [00:27] 13Ying: "Woah--" 13She nearly trips. [00:27] 4She was checking the staircase, after all. 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "!" [00:28] 12Marek's caste mark shuts off instantaneously, but Jol isn't so lucky - he's still putting himself back together. The Emissary looks around the room, silver mask glowing with reflected light. [00:28] 12Emissary: "There seems to have been... wanton violence." [00:29] 4Ir steps back, but doesn't relax. [00:29] 12The Squared Circle's got some 'splainin' to do... next week! [00:32] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ [00:32] If it looks like a lawbreaker's around, be sure to keep a careful eye on everything so you can report it to the lawful authorities! Remember, it's every citizens duty to help maintain law and order! [00:32] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ 14[01:36] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:56] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:28] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[02:30] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:40] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[02:42] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:57] * Quits: tom (Quit: ) 14[03:16] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[08:23] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[10:20] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[10:40] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[11:04] * banana is now known as banana|excite 14[11:11] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:23] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:36] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[12:37] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:44] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:46] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[18:24] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:39] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[20:05] * banana|excite is now known as banana 14[20:46] * Joins: dammitwho [21:20] The sun is rising over the desert. Spreading light reveals open-cut pits in the earth, great derricks and platforms, a complex of concrete painted flaking green and surrounded by radio towers. [21:22] All the lights at Baikonur are off but for two buildings. One is a staff canteen where the tail-end of a party emits flickers of celebration and music which drifts over the empty launchpads: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu_aWGakJe4 [21:26] Around the other side of a missile test range is the secondary administration building, dedicated to Interkosmos - a hypothetical dream of cooperation which has yet to find any cooperators. They use it for now as storage and for this interrogation. [21:30] There are two men from the Party, tired and ruffled by long hours of questioning. It seems to have worn more on them than their captive. In keeping with the Hegemonic Ministry's strange practices, one of them isn't even mistika - a mage. Otherwise there's no visible difference between them. [21:33] The first man: "So you watched the rocket, without proper protective goggles. You saw its concealment from the eyes of America and God. And you say you saw.. something else, in that lack which should have been absolute." [21:33] The second man: "Decreed free of information or perception." [21:37] Days later on the other side of the Iron Curtain, Cleaner gets the news from the Brigadier-Sublime. [21:38] 14What time is it? [21:41] Comfortably post-prandial. You're in Ynkblot's 'office', the trailer with a jungle on the inside, in a park off International Drive. The war-leader himself paces, snapping leaves and twigs, before coming to a stop behind his desk. [21:41] 14The fuck is a-- [21:41] 14Mid-afternoon? [21:42] Ynkblot: "They've really fucked up now. Your people, I mean. We'll have to lose you, Cleaner." [21:42] "Still more to be done here, much more, but apparently Panopticon's understaffed. Don't understand why exactly that's my problem." [21:45] You know a bit of what he's talking about but the details are fuzzy. Was what went on at Cape Canaveral really that bad? Like the man says- there's a lot more to do in Orlando. [21:45] 14Cleaner's in his deputy black and tans, the top button undone, no tie. He's taken off his sunglasses indoors. "My people." [21:46] "Was hoping to stay over on this side of the line for another few weeks." 14Cleaner uncrosses his legs. [21:46] "So it goes." [21:46] Weeks earlier, on Grand Cayman, Orient has cause to reflect on his life and choices. [21:47] 14He doesn't smoke indoors. Tries not too, anyway. Unless he's invited. "You need me to tie anything off on my way out?" [21:48] The setting is picturesque- a little natural harbour with old colonial ruins up the hill and a new tourist town in danger of becoming a resort. The stakes should low as he is, after all, on holiday. But somehow the Eye always finds him, and today that takes the form of an evil old man in a bright cotton shirt, capering about as he spits nonsense predictions. 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A plain man, his plain suit rumpled by many late nights of work, sits like a pharoah's statue at the interrogation table. "That's all correct." 10Epiphany sweats; the room is too warm. He's another minute from reaching for his handkerchief. [21:50] Parrots kick up a racket in the background. It can't all be nonsense - Orient's heard the description of this guy before, some sort of rogue and hermit who used to be an expert in Time magic. Now apparently he's reduced to ambushing innocent travellers to deliver them unwanted prophecies. [21:51] 14So as not to create any misperception of charity: "Figure you paid for another few weeks of my services, least I can do is my job." [21:52] 13It could be worse. Orient squeezes Bianca’s hand a little tighter when he sees the man and the energy that surrounds him, and doesn’t realize he’s doing it until his wife turns to look at him, wondering. 1“Sorry,”13 he says, putting it out of his mind. Underneath his Olympian IIs, he watches the man come closer. He doesn’t feel any real fear. Just a local character looking for a mercy from the vacationing couple dressed in [21:52] white shirts and white shorts.  [21:57] Ynkblot is very much a Pratorian water-carrier. "That's right, your people. Only one worth a damn on site is Trajan- well, we'll transfer your beat back to Caveat, it's fine. Frankly, the Tetrarchy doesn't care what we do here as long as there's a lid on it. Kennedy on the other hand needs people yesterday." [21:58] "Literally yesterday. Can you fucking believe it? Three men in space. Ley lines are quivering throughout the hemisphere." [21:59] "Sounds bad." 14Cleaner's voice is even and unconcerned. [21:59] 14He stands. "That be all?" 14[22:00] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [22:01] Baikonur, the first man debriefing Epiphany: "So what you called a- a star, it was similar in scope to our own sun? A full-sized stellar body?" [22:05] Ynkblot: "What? No, sit-" The Brigadier-Sublime gestures irritably. This is a place of his power, and a great toadstool springs forth from the ground, fungus twisting into a crude approximation of a stool. It looks surprisingly clean. [22:05] 14Cleaner cocks his head slightly -- the greatest show of emotion he's made so far -- and sits back down. [22:07] "I've got your orders, man, we're all together on this one. Except perhaps for the Man, but you know-" He's referring to the Minister of Hegemon - a poor joke, but thankfully just that. The Ministry are known not to be fans of what your own people are doing with the space program, but it's neither something they'd act upon or anything that would engage the terrifying and remote figure [22:07] who actually leads that organisation. 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Despite the sweating, there's no tension to Epiphany's posture. Limbs and hips and shoulders at flawless ergonomic angles give the impression of someone arranging themselves the way someone of particular temperament might use a straightedge to arrange a desk. "I couldn't guess its size or distance. As you pointed out, I wasn't using any instrumentation. But in that moment I interpreted what I saw as another sun." [22:11] The rogue prophet meanders right up to Orient, invading personal space like one of the beggars out of the town- he isn't trying to sell anything, though. [22:11] The man stinks. "Advice, stranger, advice from a stranger, some stranger advice." [22:14] Ynkblot continues: "You're to take over the program from Lewis, form a real pylon there with some specialists they're bringing in. One's going to be at the Jetport in 24 hours. Nothing written down on this one, but here are your objectives informally - you'll have a real briefing later on." [22:14] 13Claudio doesn’t move. Both he and Bianca are too polite to do anything except smile pleasantly. “Good evening.” 13The man spoke in English, and Claudio does as well: crisp, only very slightly accented.  [22:16] Ynkblot: "Provisionally, for what it's worth, you are now an Oracle of the Third Order and Tenant-Intraordinary in the Ministry of Panopticon. Again, that will be confirmed by someone who gives a shit. There are three things your team will need to do." He's talking at a mile a minute here, maybe in case Cleaner just walks out again. [22:17] The second Russian interrogator: "Which would answer a number of questions-" [22:17] The first interrogator: "Too many, and it asks more. The question of Paradox has been raised." [22:17] The second interrogator: "Staff report no errors in the night's willworking." [22:17] The first interrogator: "Apart from you." [22:21] Rogue prophet: "An evening, by God, and we're even good. Good in His eyes. Aren't we?" 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Epiphany reaches for his handkerchief and dries his brow entirely before speaking. "I can only repeat what I did and what I saw. It's not my place to offer conjecture." [22:22] The first interrogator shuffles his papers, marks something in runes of the High Speech. It's hard to read them upside down. "You've enough experience, you're respected enough to.. interpret. Nobody's asking for that." [22:22] The second interrogator: "Do you feel a drive to communicate, to evangelise? Does your.. experience.. speak itself out?" [22:23] 13Hmm. Does he really want to do this, right now? Bianca flies home in the morning. The lights are coming on all across the town. He decides that he does not.  [22:23] “So sorry. No speak English.” [22:24] The irritating prophet gapes in surprise. "Speak? Hear? Where you're going you won't need ears for that! It's too loud, blasting off, too lewd." [22:25] The water in the bay behind the man is very still and oval. Orient's seen something like it once in a dream. [22:28] Ynkblot: "First. The next scheduled launch is a dry run and the one after that's supposed to be the real thing. They must not succeed in landing on the surface of the moon. No men, no machines, no cameras. Lewis is out of leeway here; help him handle it or take the fuck over, you and these others." [22:28] 13Mm. Well. She’s seen it before. If there were any danger, she’d know, as she’s seen him deal with it before. There isn’t, so they’ll both stand silently, waiting for the messenger to resolve itself into something meaningful. While he waits, he chews on his gum.  [22:29] Ynkblot: "Second. Hegemon knew about this before the Tetrarchs, before your own hierarchy. Not the first time that's happened apparently. Needs to stop. As a matter of professional courtesy I won't try to estimate whether Panopticon might be riddled with spies." [22:30] "Third. Have you ever heard of the Invisible Order?" 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "I feel driven to speak now for cooperation's sake." 10Perhaps unusual to the interrogators is that Epiphany hasn't once asked them a question. He has been the very model of incurious patience. [22:34] Orient's brief patience bears fruit- maybe sensing its limit, the wrinkled prophet backs off a step and fixes him with a glare before speaking more firmly. "No good in the eyes of God, the Eye of the gods. We won't have a prayer as of four P.M. March third T minus zero. Our final warning, watchers watched." [22:34] 14Cleaner never walked out. [22:35] 14Ynkblot needs to learn to calm down. [22:35] "You - two? you? - need to get your ass or asses to Florida several days too late to meet the man with the bird jacket, bird man, third man, triplly absurd man." [22:35] 14He listens in silence, nodding and making non-comittal noises as appropriate. [22:36] *triply [22:37] First interrogator: "We always appreciate cooperation, comrade." [22:37] Second interrogator: "It's all we can ask for." [22:40] Second interrogator, after a brief pause: "The operation of the rocket engine upon the air, upon space itself. Describe its action again?" [22:40] “I see. Thank you.” 13Claudio wonders where in the world it was that the Eye had offended the God, if that’s what he meant. He’ll wait for the other man to stop before asking. “Do you have any specific dates or instructions?” [22:42] 13In fact, he’ll look for them himself, in the man’s mind. How is it?  [22:49] The prophet's mind is a mess. You can see the signs of deliberate damage - his mentality has been torn apart at some point, either by an enemy or the man himself. Probably best not to think about it? But in those ragged channels, there's something.. an entry point for divinity? He sees the future, and probably not of his own volition. [22:50] 14Unsentimentally: "Pentacle cabal. Operate in Orange and Brevard Counties. Possible ties to Miami Consilium. Possible ties to." 14He doesn't trail off, just stops talking. After a short pause, he rephrases. "Interesting how they operate in our territory. Merits a closer look." [22:50] "Noisy. Inconvenient." [22:51] 13That’s unfortunate. Claudio reaches out and brushes the man’s mind with a restorative intent. Does anything stop him? It would be a cruelty to make someone like this.  [22:53] Prophet: "Go take a hike. Or a cruise. Can't lose. You can't lose if you invest in the Pharoah's Daughter, Yarmouth Line, out of George Town on Sunday and two weeks to Port Canaveral. Because of the market, you know, the devil you know, better to ride a boat than serve a meal." [22:53] He freezes. [22:56] The damage is deep enough that the original owner of this mind is effectively dead, but you can heal structure, impose something a bit more like regular function. Some of those tears close up. Shards of prophecy remain embedded like splinters, mental welts forming around them, but the patch job could last a long time, and he's old. 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Epiphany: "As the report indicated, the primary device was an 11A57 functioning within parameters. All engines operational, no deviation in gross mass, normal burn time for all stages. There was an aberrant visual distortion, an apparent degradation of substance at the operant temperature, not in the rocket but in the air. If you asked me to be lyrical, it brought to mind a film reel that was melted through by projector running hot." 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "This distortion yielded to the astrosymbolic phenomenon I have already described." [22:58] Ynkblot: "You'll probably get one. They've compromised the safehouse at Port Canaveral, threats of an attack. So item three is deal with that. We have names: Wildchurch, Cortex, Semiramus, Fixer. Perhaps Rockstar. We don't have descriptions." [22:59] 14Fixer. [22:59] 14Out loud: "Understood." [22:59] "Any live contacts up there?" [23:01] 13Claudio will make the restorations as strong and deep as he can. Better - wait, two weeks to Florida? How many stops is it making? Isaias and his family are in Spain for the summer, so he’ll have to call tonight and let him know…”Thank you, my friend. Would you like anything for your troubles? We were just on our way to dinner. You’re welcome to join us. Or a hotel room, if you’d like.” 14[23:01] * Joins: tom [23:01] Ynkblot: "Oh, you'll have numbers on your side. At least five of Lewis's people and a few others in the area. The two thousand or so soldiers, scientists and journalists might get in the way." [23:02] 14Cleaner just stares at him for a moment, then thinks better of clarifying that he meant informants or other privileged contacts, not mere lackeys. Instead: "Is this a kill order, a capture order, a scatter order, or my discretion?" [23:03] The interrogators speak over each other for a moment. "Please do not be lyrical-" "An interesting image, but-" [23:03] The first one resumes. "But a deviation did occur. Will you submit your memory for examination?" [23:07] Ynkblot: "Cleaner, it's a desk job. This is a promotion. Administration. Your task will be to make everything run smoothly, and if that involves killing you can order yourself or others to do it. Again, I suggest Trajan there." [23:08] "For handover on the local business - is there anyone you're tracking, ops in progress, anything Caveat doesn't have?" [23:08] 14His discretion, then. [23:08] 14Cleaner: "No." [23:08] 14To be more precise: "Caveat has everything." 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Epiphany: "Would you accept a display instead?" [23:10] 14Cleaner: "Do I have a name for the one arriving at the Jetport?" [23:11] The somewhat staggered prophet mumbles something about the offer of a meal. "Room? Plenty of room.. I've got a place, thanks. You've.. well, see you around, enjoy the trip." He's trying to concentrate on something he can no longer feel, figure out what to think instead.. [23:12] The two interrogators look at each other as weak light filters in from the Kazakh steppes. Perhaps years of dutiful service and the backing of Paternoster count for something. For this much, at least. [23:13] "A simulacrum would be welcome, comrade." One of them gets ready to take notes. The other pulls down the blinds, to hide the intruding light and keep truths from the world. [23:14] Ynkblot: "I'll send a couple of others with you as far as city limits in case those bastards are as well-informed as always. There should be a guy called Henrik and a guy called David." [23:16] 14Cleaner notes that earlier Ynkblot had said there would be only one, and now he is saying there are two. [23:16] 14He says nothing, though. [23:16] 14Clearly the man has other skills. [23:16] Looks like he's reading off some notes and perhaps not very carefully. [23:17] "Understood." 14This time he'll wait patiently to be dismissed. [23:18] “Wait, wait-“ 13Claudio puts a hand on his shoulder to steady him. “Here, hold on…” 13He puts two fifty dollar bills in the man’s pocket. “Thank you.” 13He stands with the man until he’s collected himself.  [23:19] The Thyrsus leading the Orlando incident response is accounted a Road-Builder on Foundations Immanent of the Georgian Tetrarchy and is (or was?) enough ranks above Cleaner to order him around totally regardless of Ministerial hierarchy, but yeah, he's not known for paperwork. 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Now, the pharaoh statue comes to life. A produced pen-knife pricks the index finger of his left hand which draws patient script in red smears on the table. 4НИЧЕГО ИЗ НИЧЕГО 10When he's done, he licks the tip of his finger and then blows on the words, causing them to flare with white magnesium fire. Epiphany reaches into the flame and turns his hand palm-up. A translucent image projects three-dimensionally in the air, the sight of a rocket launch, something burning, and something beyond. [23:27] The vision goes on, and on. One of the men watches, rapt. The other makes it five seconds before he kicks over his chair and stumbles back against the closed blinds, seeming to melt into the fragments of light. Neither Epiphany nor the first interrogator have time to care. The dizzying sense of opened space - the incomprehensible beyond - and beyond the beyond, vast, ordinary yet [23:27] impossible- [23:29] Within days he's on a plane to America, with a mission of comradely aid; strict admonitions not to speak; and a couple of strange farewells from unexpected persons. 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10How unexpected? [23:31] One refers to 'our mutual friend with the white chains', which must be a strange definition of mutual. The other has well-wishes from quite a lot of colleagues who he hadn't thought cared enough to organise such a thing. 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10How thoughtful. 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10They must not expect him to return. [23:33] Well, there's a lot of references from unpious fellow-priests to finding the American version of God.. [23:35] Ynkblot turned up again as Cleaner's escort, as well as Caveat and Endless Depths. The others are nervous, hanging around the great lighted cavern of the Orlando Jetport, with the sound of military planes outside but no civilian ones for forty minutes now. The specialists' plane is very late. [23:36] 14He would have preferred to do this with Caveat or, ideally, alone. But he didn't voice that. Didn't seem like a useful discussion to have. 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10There's no need to go searching. America prays to Saturn V. [23:37] Outside is the tarmac, military dorms, and the highway - a straight shot east to Titusville and the Indian River. It won't be a long trip once these people actually turn up. [23:37] 14Cleaner will have parked his car nearby, preferably inside the covered hanger so there's no need for the visitor to ever walk out in the open. [23:39] 14He's in his civilian clothes now. Off-duty. Black mock turtleneck, charcoal blazer and slacks. Low-top black boots instead of leather shoes. [23:39] Caveat stands close, saying nothing, reading a little pamphlet from some sort of philosopher. Endless Depths is down the concourse trying to persuade the Dunkin Donuts to sell one last round of coffee before closing. Ynkblot keeps looking up at the sky and complaining, as if it will stop the sun. [23:39] 14Handgun in a shoulder holster under the blazer. [23:42] From Henrik David's point of view his plane isn't late. Being able to leave at all is a minor miracle, let alone on this short notice; the small jet he's in doesn't *look* capable of international flights, and indeed according to the steward earlier this is not an international airport. [23:42] There are just five other passengers, some probably Seers and some probably KGB. The plane's interior is mostly dark now that the sun is setting outside. [23:43] America looks very large, below, and very open. [23:43] Ynkblot: "Late, late, late. Do you think they got to the airline somehow?" [23:43] "Can't be a damn coincidence that the thing's arriving at sunset." [23:44] 14Apart from talking to Caveat readily whenever she asks and to the other two as much as they require of him, Cleaner will have been silent, leaning against either his car or another likely position, since they arrived. 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Henrik David closes his eyes and lets himself feel just the first breath of his relief and exultation before sealing it back up. [23:45] Caveat's asked a lot of questions about the exact work Cleaner was doing in Orlando, to make sure she's got it straight to take over. She hasn't mentioned the space program once, but has let him see her scrying, trying to get a look at their colleagues on the Cape. [23:47] 14He'll help her to whatever extent he can, but that's probably by staying out of it and staying in position to cover her. He's never had her talent or interest in the more...abstract arts of magic. [23:48] The steward's back, handing Henrik a little plastic bag full of documents. "Sir, your passport and biography. Would you like Baikal or orange juice?" 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "Juice, please." 10Henrik's trying out his English; he considered trying to disguise his accent but abandoned the idea on the theory that no matter how he sounded, the Americans would assume his accent was Russian anyway. [23:52] Endless Depths: "Shitwater, the good kind." He's carrying two cups and levitating two more in front of him, shielding them from view with his body - young, but stocky or even fat. [23:52] 14Levitating. [23:53] 14Cleaner doesn't sigh, [23:53] *14Cleaner doesn't sigh. [23:53] Caveat does! "Dumbass," she tells the other Obrimos, but takes a cup. Ynkblot doesn't seem to want one. [23:53] 14He will take the offered coffee and nod thanks. [23:56] The juice was not very fresh. It's almost dark outside and Henrik feels a little queasy as he carries his belongings down the steps from the small Sukhoi. There's nobody here, which is good because they seem to have landed on some sort of military base; the others, more experienced travellers, are already walking toward a modern looking Terminal building on the other side of the tarmac. [23:57] No stars visible above. A slightly sweet smell in the air. It's crisp, and in the distance he can hear the noise of cars. American cars. [23:58] Ynkblot: "They're not waiting outside, at least. You've got the car ready? Depths, finish that shit and go set up for an escort." [23:59] 14Cleaner: "The car is ready." [23:59] 14He'll glance over at Caveat when Ynkblot looks away. His expression is bland, but she'll be able to read it: exasperation at this sloppiness. Session Time: Sat Sep 09 00:00:00 2017 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Mmm. It's good to be on solid ground. [00:00] Incongruously, Cleaner hears birdcalls. The airport is full of trees, in pots and in little strips of earth, but he recognises Ynkblot's nimbus. Preparing for trouble. [00:00] 14He unbuttons his blazer. Easy access to the gun. 14[00:00] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[00:01] * Joins: cbass [00:01] A week into the cruise of the S.S. Pharoah's Daughter, the matter of tickets arises. [00:02] 13Hm? What? Claudio has to be woken up, since he’s fallen asleep on a chair on the top deck, half-covered by a quite dated newspaper.  [00:06] They were sold when the Yarmouth Line vessel initially departed Port Canaveral, an opportunity Oriente didn't have access to as at the time was on a different continent. There might not be a need for him to wake, though- it's Isaias who's been cornered by the grifter. [00:07] The man claims to be associated with the cruise company and he has a staff shirt. But the offer is unorthodox. [00:08] In a little mid-deck hallway, between the cabins and a row of portholes by the ship's pool- "There's basically two ways to deal with your problem." [00:09] The sailor smirks. He's sitting on an iron step, blocking the way past. "When we make landfall, there's the Brevard County Sheriff's Department. Or if it turns out you can afford the tickets after all - you and your friend look like you can afford things, one way or another - I can make this go away." [00:10] Caveat moves closer to Cleaner. Looks like she's unarmed - not that she needs to be, but it always helps. [00:11] This doesn't seem to be a busy airport, though it's gleaming new. Henrik's anonymous fellow travellers bid him anonymous farewells at the unmanned gate, dispersing in various directions - he sees one lighted concourse with people at its end, a janitor moving along the wall between here and there. Everything is very modern and expensive. [00:11] 14She knows pretty well by now that there's a loaded Smith & Wesson Model 27 with an extra quickloader of .357 in the glovebox of his car if she needs it. The window is rolled down. [00:12] 14In addition to the Welrod in his camera bag under the front seat, and the AR-10 in the soft canvas long-bag in his trunk. [00:13] They've all heard the plane landing at last. Ynkblot: "Hey, good luck over there. We need you back, but only when this one's in the ground." 14[00:14] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:14] 13Isaias isn’t dressed for relaxation. He’s a slight, thin man with a slight, thin face and dark skin. He looks rather like a shabby academic, in his tweed coat with patches on the elbows and his sweater vest. There’s a light sheen of sweat on his forehead, but it’s from the sun, not from anxiety. In fact, he doesn’t understand the man at all. “Claudio!” 13Orient snorts awake and looks around.  [00:15] Sailor: [00:15] 13Isaias asks, in Arabic: (What does this guy want?) [00:17] 13Orient walks over to the steps. “What’s this? Sorry, my friend here - no English. Is there a problem with something?” (Hold on.) 13That’s spoken in no language at all, just sent into Isaias’s mind.  [00:18] Henrik sees three American mistika turning toward him, looking bored and relieved. The leader is a wiry but heavily-muscled man, a ranked Seer wearing spells of transformation and power almost visible to the Sleepers closing up shops nearby. [00:19] The others are a woman, a pretty Obrimos with no obvious magic going on (but some magically concealed), and- [00:21] 14A tall, vaguely handsome, intense but calm looking man who goes photo-negative when directly scryed and who is very obviously carrying a large-caliber semi-automatic handgun. He's standing closer to the woman than the... [00:21] 14Cleaner's face doesn't show it, but he's wondering where Endless Depths has slipped off to. [00:23] The Ministries signifiers and uniforms are different here - do they even have uniforms? Henrik isn't sure who's what, apart from the leader, who's scrutinizing him intently. [00:25] Sailor, standing: "The jig's up, you know. I checked the passenger list against cabin allocations yesterday." [00:25] "Now, we've got the easy way to do this- you speak good english? Cheap way, good. Or there's the cop way." [00:28] Ynkblot glances behind him toward the carpark and then takes a few steps toward Henrik David. he says in godawful Russian, 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Here greeting the Americans is a man of average height, middle-aged and balding, broad at the shoulder, wearing a rumpled gray suit with a black greatcoat draped over his arm. He's got a single suitcase and his brow is ringed with burning white tattoos that almost but not quite seem to mean something. "Old friend," 10he says. There's no mistaking his accent. "You look very well. It's been what, three years?" 10I come in deference to you and on behalf of the Father. [00:29] An engine revs- looks like Endless Depths is waiting in the other car. [00:30] 14Cleaner doesn't shake his head. Communication. [00:30] “I speak English well. Could you explain your meaning in more detail? I purchased cabins for both of us until we reached Port Canaveral. (Shakedown for a few dollars. Don’t need to hurt him. Hey, could you check on the cat? I don’t want him to have to sit in the carrier if he vomited in it. I’ll take care of this.) 13Claudio fishes in his pocket for a cabin key and hands it to Isaias, who vaults over the railing and takes it.  15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He nods to each of the others and then follows their lead to the cars. [00:31] Ynkblot, English: "What? Oh, hey. Nice to see you again, if that's what we're doing. Here, go with Cleaner, we'll be behind." [00:32] Caveat: "Good to meet you, if brief." [00:33] 14Cleaner looks the man up and down, and nods. Then he glances over at Caveat -- is she riding along with them or headed off on her own? [00:33] She'll be going with Ynkblot and Depths- escorting you and then bank into town. Cleaner has her number, although he doesn't know what his own is going to be, wherever he's going to be staying. [00:34] 14He doesn't appear disappointed by this. He nods to her in farewell, then says: "Passenger's side door is unlocked." [00:35] Sailor: "Right, 'purchased' from someone on the dock who said he could get you in. No doubt. I can make this go away, don't worry." 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Henrik will follow Cleaner to the car, then. "Thank you. I should put the suitcase where?" [00:35] 14He'll either take the man's suitcase to put in the trunk, let him do it, or let him keep it. Doesn't matter much to him. 15[00:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Henrik will put it in the trunk himself. There's nothing bleeding or glowing in the trunk, is there? [00:37] What does Cleaner's car look like? Endless Depths has an older Buick: http://i.imgur.com/A2GovXf.jpg [00:37] 14Nope. Just a jack, some tools for changing a flat, a long soft brown canvas bag that has either golf clubs or a rifle in it (pretty easy to guess which), a carton of cigarettes that's half gone-through, and what looks like a box of ammunition. [00:38] The sky is dark now as the barely-introduced mages leave the airport. "We'll be with you for a few miles," hollers Ynkblot. "Got some fuckers making trouble around here, they won't leave the city, don't worry about it comrade." 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Henrik will make sure not to squish the cigarettes and then get in the car. [00:38] The converted air force base still has a long wire fence, though it's being torn down to give the new airport a real facade. Beyond are city lights, many low buildings and a great deal of new construction - Orlando is rising. [00:39] 14This car, in Navy Blue http://playtoysclassiccars.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/5884-Passenger-Front.jpg [00:41] 14Cleaner pulls the car out park. "The most convenient name for you to know me by that isn't 'Cleaner' is Deputy Wayne Barrett of the Dade County Department of Public Safety, Sheriff's Office. Please open the glovebox, if you'd be so kind." [00:41] *14out of park 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Henrik opens the glovebox. [00:42] 14Cleaner: "Sitting in front of you is a Smith & Wesson Model 27 .357 magnum, fully loaded, in a brown leather holster. Next to it is a quickloader with six additional magnum rounds loaded into it. This is yours for the duration of your stay in this country." [00:42] The two Seer cars form a little convoy, threading their way out of carparks toward an enormous multilane highway which doesn't seem justified by the residential density on the other side. It's not very impressive as a war party, but between the five of them Cleaner's pretty sure they could handle even a large scale assault from the enemy. [00:43] "Now, I'm aware that the Soviet Union is a fan of semi-automatic pistols. Have you ever held a revolver before?" [00:43] You can just barely hear Endless Depths and Ynkblot arguing over their radio. [00:43] 14He keeps half an ear on those two in case someone lights them up. [00:44] 14Well, a little more than half an ear, when he remembers Caveat's in their car. 15[00:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Henrik David: "I have no training with firearms." [00:45] Traffic's dropping off from rush hour levels. The roads are filled with trucks heading west to the Disney construction site and east to the Space Coast. Like you. [00:46] “Are you saying that my tickets are not legitimate?” 13Isaias disappears off towards the cabin deck.  [00:47] 14Cleaner: "That's fine. They're very simple. The most important thing to know about revolvers as distinguished from semi-automatic handguns is they do not have thumb or trigger safeties. That's why their holsters always cover the trigger, and said triggers have a heavier pull. You cock the hammer, you point, and you shoot. The release where your thumb rests wheels out the chamber [00:47] for reloading; that chamber then snaps back into place." [00:47] 14He glances over at the Soviet seer. "I'm saying this not to sell you a handgun, but to make a point." [00:47] Sailor: "I'm saying it won't cost much to make them legit. You've been enjoying these fine company resources - the steel below our legs, the dining and the entertainments and so on - and if you're prepared to pay up then when we make port you won't have to pay for it another way." [00:48] "Anything you do with that--" 14He points at the glovebox with his free hand. "--in this country, I can fix." [00:48] "Kill someone, threaten someone, or just beat them to death with it -- anything you do with that weapon, I can make it go away in the interest of a better working relationship." [00:48] 13Claudio nods. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention. What is your name?” [00:48] "You start throwing magic around like..." 14He glances at the radio. "...some people, well." [00:49] "I have a much harder time cleaning that up." [00:50] "If you prefer an automatic rifle, I've got one in the trunk." [00:50] "Welcome to America." [00:50] Orlando's dropping away rapidly, but the traffic isn't. Cars stretch out east toward the blue horizon and the intervening valley, lush with wet forest. [00:51] In the distance, Henrik can see a bridge over a small river. 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Henrik closes the glovebox. "Thank you. Forgive me - you will be on the team assigned to Cape Canaveral?" 10He looks ahead out of the windshield. [00:51] Gary: "Gary Sapp, fourth lieutenant." This rank does not exist. "And you're Saba and Kiflay. One cabin or two? Doesn't matter to me, you're entitled to zero." [00:52] 14Cleaner follows at a respectable but steady distance. The good news about this four-door Impala is that it was requisitioned as a special plainclothes unit through the Sheriff's Office -- so under the hood, it's a police cruiser, with the reinforced frame and souped-up engine that goes along with that. [00:52] "Tell you what. If you haven't got the cash on you yet, I could stump it up for you. That's my role on this vessel, smoothing over difficulties. We can settle it soon enough." [00:53] 14Cleaner isn't visibly surprised that Henrik David turns down the gun. Usually they take it. At least he won't have to replace his backup. Either this guy's gonna make his life easier, or a whole lot harder. [00:53] 14To Henrik David: "That I am." [00:54] “Two cabins. Thank you, but I can afford - how much was it, again?” 15[00:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Henrik: "Has there been violence?" [00:58] 14Cleaner: "I am an Adept of Matter and a..." 14He pauses for a moment, blanking on the term. "...Apprentice of Death. I will be providing support." [00:58] 14Cleaner: "Not at the project site. Not that I've been briefed on." [00:58] Gary: "You've only been on half the voyage so it seems fair to make it half, right? I'm guessing someone else left at Grand Cayman, got sick or whatever, hence the free cabins.. just twelve hundred, then." [00:58] "The reason for all of this is the situation in Orlando." [00:58] "It's fluid." [00:58] Gary: "Would you like a receipt?" [01:00] They come up out of the night, along the highway with roars which at first mix with the noise of the cars all around. Cleaner, driving the Impala at the back of the convoy, spots them in the rearview mirror before they're within handgun range. At least a dozen motorbikes and only one of them has a rider. [01:00] “Thank you, Lieutenant. If you could write one up afterwards, I would appreciate it. Let’s go see the captain about it.” 13Claudio shades his eyes and looks towards the bridge, and starts walking.  [01:01] 14Cleaner: "Henrik David, I need you to reach into the backseat. The middle partition of the bench seating pulls away. You can reach into the trunk. I need you to pull out the soft, long canvas bag you saw in there when stowing your suitcase." [01:02] Gary: "Oh, sure. This way, he's down by the engine room." [01:02] 14These people always have to fuck everything up so loud. [01:02] 1“Please, lead the way.” 13Claudio will follow the sailor.  15[01:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "Of course." 10Henrik sees them too as he turns around in his seat. "Ah." [01:03] "Just pull that bag out and lay it across the front console here. I'll need it in a minute." [01:03] Henrik doesn't see the same thing when he turns around, of course. [01:03] 14A slight smile tugs at the side of his mouth. "And the Model 27's still there if you've changed your mind." [01:04] He sees a gang of bikers - the famous american motorcycle outlaws! They're riding in a wedge shape, taking up the road and forcing traffic to wait or move aside. [01:04] They're mostly men, but on the front bike - VERY shiny chrome and a particularly loud engine - there's a woman clinging to the driver, wearing a little cap but with her hair streaming back in the wind. [01:04] The man she's holding on to is the only one you can see in the mirrors. [01:05] Caveat: [[It's that fucker again. Ynkblot says don't provoke. We're almost to the river and your mission is more important.]] [01:05] 14Cleaner: [[Understood.]] [01:07] 14He moves the bag down across his shins, out of sight of the passing bikers. She said not to provoke. 15[01:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Henrik: "From Orlando?" 15[01:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Orlando is a fun word to say. [01:07] 14Cleaner: "From Orlando." 14There's not a trace of exasperation in his voice. [01:08] As the bikers pull alongside the Impala- several of them on each side and one riding ahead toward the Buick - their nature becomes more obvious. None of them are giving off body heat, and they radiate Death - the leading man strongly and the woman even more so. 15[01:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "A threat display?" [01:08] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQSGw0hMd_I [01:08] 13Well, if Gary has an accomplice wielding a wrench menacingly or something, Orient supposes that he can sit and talk as well.  [01:09] Lead biker, enormously bearded, bellowing: "YALL HAVE REINFORCEMENTS NOW? NICE. NIICE." [01:09] 14Cleaner reaches into his blazer pocket, pulls out his mirrored aviators, and slides them on. 15[01:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Henrik just sits back. [01:10] Just a couple of minutes to the river. They shouldn't be able to cross. [01:11] Biker: "We SAW your men on the plane and we SEE you, into your WRETCHED little souls." The others cackle and sing along to their obnoxious music. [01:11] 14Conversationally, to Henrik David, not speaking up so the bikers can hear but not whispering or lowering his voice either: "Ever staked a vampire?" 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "I have not." [01:11] "Don't recommend it, myself." [01:11] When they hear the accent, the woman on the leader's bike whispers something to him. [01:12] "Messier than you think." [01:12] Biker: "Oh it gets MESSY boy." [01:12] Biker "Looks like yall are on your way OUT of town which suits us just fine." [01:13] Another biker, with a mohawk obviously: "And stay out!!" [01:13] 14Cleaner, as they're almost on top of the bridge: "Be seeing you, Bishop." [01:14] "Real soon now, y'hear?" [01:14] They're peeling away reluctantly. Biker: "In HELL yeah you will." [01:14] "And if you make it to hell first- you tell em BISHOP FLINT JUGULUM SENT YOU!" [01:14] "This town belongs to the god damned SABBAT!" [01:14] 14Flint Jugulum. [01:14] 14Well. [01:15] 14He has a name for the Bishop now. [01:16] The vampires pull up in a long row by the side of the St Johns River, shadow gathering about them. By the time you're fifty metres away you can no longer see or hear the Sabbat pack, though the road and the traffic on the other side of the bridge are still clear. [01:17] 14Cleaner sticks a hand out the window and gives them a peace sign with the back of his left hand as they drive over the bridge. [01:17] On the edge of the forest is a rest stop, where Ynkblot's car pulls up. The others have to head back to town, though they'll likely take a different route in. [01:17] 14Maybe the index finger comes up a second later than the middle. [01:18] Endless Depths rolls down a window, gestures for you to stop a sec. [01:18] 14Cleaner pulls over. [01:18] 14Does he want Cleaner to pull window-to-window like cops do, or stop the engine and get out? [01:18] Ynkblot leans out. Bits of black bark are flaking off his skin. "Sorry about that, comrade old friend!" [01:18] He's yelling past Cleaner to Henrik David. [01:19] 14Cleaner doesn't roll his eyes, even under the sunglasses. [01:19] "We've been dealing with these assholes for months now. Fuck's sake, this should be a Camarilla problem but they've abandoned the area entirely." [01:19] 14Those are apparently the tolerable sort of vampires. Cleaner wouldn't know. [01:21] They have the Camarilla in Russia too, probably - it's hard to root the bloodsuckers out entirely, and anyway they've been around long enough to be one of the few credible forces that makes deals with the Iron Pyramid as a whole. These guys must be their offcuts and garbage. 15[01:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "He claimed to be a Bishop. Is that unusual?" [01:22] "Not for him." 15[01:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Henrik is talking to Cleaner, since shouting past Cleaner would be rude. [01:23] "Seems to be a title for their gang bosses. Flint Jugulum there is only one of them." [01:24] 14To the other Seers: "Guy gave his name, if we didn't have it before. I didn't. Flint Jugulum." 15[01:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The more he says it, the more it sounds like a regular name. [01:24] There's a hatchway to the side of the ship's rather noisy engine room which Orient hasn't seen open before. Inside is some sort of office alright- medical supplies and tins of food are stacked on shelves behind a man who is, indeed, wearing a captain's uniform. You don't recognise him, but how much attention were you paying? [01:25] Ynkblot: "I don't want his name. I want his jugulum." [01:25] 14Classic Ynkblot. [01:26] Ynkblot: "Yeah, anyway, they can be dangerous. We'll get them. Until then probably don't cross the river without an escort, the damn Lasombra come out of nowhere." [01:26] "Bishop guy himself is the dangerous one, though, and he hasn't got that power- doesn't matter, this isn't your job anymore." [01:27] 13Orient steps into the little office and nods. “Captain.” [01:27] Endless Depths tries to say something but he's kind of squashed behind the Thyrsus there. The night deepens. [01:27] Caveat hasn't even rolled her window down, but kind of shrugs goodbye. [01:27] 14Cleaner's nod to them is meant for her. [01:28] 14Onto the safehouse, then. [01:28] The ship's captain?: "Mr. Kapic. This is about the ticket payment? I'm glad you've decided to make the situation regular." [01:28] 14Unless the werewolves want to chat next. [01:30] 13Is there a place to sit? “Yes. I don’t want to take advantage of your crew, of course. I am happy to pay my way.” [01:31] When the Impala starts up again you've got a much emptier road. The forest is dense and humid, but it's just twenty minutes before Cleaner and Henrik climb a ridge to see the sea, then the land, then the sea. On the island between the peninsular rivers is a wide expanse of roads, cleared land, military bases and little townships - and the launchpads. Clearly visible against the dark [01:31] water is the towering form of a Saturn V rocket under construction and another being unloaded from a ship. It's still some way to travel, but they're thirty-six stories tall and bright orange. [01:32] There are actually no chairs in the supply office. There *is* a logbook of some kind, which the uniformed sailor pulls toward him and begins writing you out a receipt. "1200," Gary informs him. Presumably that's in american 'bucks'. [01:34] 13Orient nods and pulls out his wallet, counting out $1200 in bills. “And what was your name, Captain?” [01:37] "Call me Sam, Mr. Kapic. Have you been enjoying the cruise otherwise?" [01:38] Apart from being real slow it's certainly been a picturesque trip. After making a brief stop in Jamaica most of the past few days have been in the Bahamas with plenty of sun and waves. [01:40] “Very much. I regret that it has to come to an end soon. I hope that every time I see my tan in the mirror, I will remember your wonderful ship and its crew.” 13Orient reaches out into the ‘Lieutenant’ Gary’s mind and transforms his allegiance from Sam to himself.  [01:44] 13He gestures to the $1200 he’s placed on the desk. “Is this what you wanted?” 13he asks Sam.  [01:44] The man shifts uneasily. At least he won't be lying to you anymore. [01:45] Captain? Sam: "Looks good. Here's your receipt, and I'll forward this to the quartermaster as post-payment of an otherwise empty cabin." [01:45] Oddly, that one was almost true. [01:45] “What is the Lieutenant’s cut of the fee?” [01:51] Sam takes the bills. "We're salaried, sir, but I'm sure the company will note his diligence." [01:52] Gary: "..." He keeps glancing at Orient like he wants to say something. [01:52] 13Orient turns to Gary. “What was your plan if I had instead gone to the bridge and demanded to speak to a real officer? How would you have stopped me?” [02:00] Gary: "I was pretty sure you hadn't made me, Mr. Kapic. If you did, I was going to turn you in on the spot- if you accused me I could talk the cap into not caring about the extortion, because you'd be the stowaway." [02:00] Sam jumps up from the desk and slams into a shelf. Pill bottles and cash fly everywhere. [02:01] "The fuck is this? What are you talking about, lieutenant?" [02:01] Gary: "What, you expect me not to answer his question?" [02:01] “Calm down, Sam. I am not the police. Gary, wouldn’t the captain just be able to check the passenger manifest? Unless you had removed me from it…did you?” [02:01] It is very clear that Sam expected this. [02:02] Gary: "No, you really aren't on there. Like I said, the guy at the Grand Cayman docks was a grifter! He tipped me off, though. The idea is we double-dip and split it both times." [02:02] "Sorry about that, yeah?" [02:03] “I understand. And Sam - he is your fellow sailor? Does he do this regularly? Do you?” [02:03] Sam: "I'm not standing for this slander." [02:06] 13Orient’s next words carry a certain weight. “It’s alright, Sam. I don’t have any intention of turning you in. You can consider me a friend. I promise that I have your well-being in mind.” [02:08] "Captain" Sam: "Shit, that's a relief. I thought.." He's kicking the fallen money into a little pile behind him. "Dunno what I thought. Fucking weird that Gary turned us in, though. Don't expect another share now, Gary." [02:09] Gary: "Oh, I didn't. Even though I got you the uniform.. it's not like I trust you." [02:09] “How long have you been running this scam?” [02:10] "Just a couple of years since Yarmouth opened out of Port Canaveral! There are always a few people who want a cheap ride back to the US of A. You know when it works really well?" [02:10] Sam: "Shut up!" [02:11] Gary: "It works really well when they don't have a visa either. The guy at the docks tells them it won't be checked at the point, and then I regret to inform them.." [02:11] "I really do regret it, you know?" [02:11] There's a noise at the far end of the corridor. Some passengers or staff passing by, laughing. [02:12] “Sam, please! There’s no need for harsh language here. I imagine it works very well then, Gary. It sounds like it would work very well on very vulnerable people like that. I imagine they would be very scared.” [02:12] Sam: "Who are you?" [02:13] He's got the presence of mind to be standing on the cash, at least. The ship creaks and turns a little, sending pills and bits of glass across the floor. [02:14] “I’m an importer-exporter, headed towards Florida to try and set up my business there. Before I decided to emigrate, I lived in Milan with my wife. Before I came to America, I was spending time with her on vacation. The nature of my work means that I won’t see her for quite some time.” [02:15] Orient taps his wallet. “This was all the money I had on me. It was all I had to try and make a life for myself in America. You’ve taken about half. I don’t think my business would be able to survive on what I have left. I’m not sure what I would do if you kept it.” [02:16] Sam: "That's a real shame" and obviously completely true. "Best of luck with your uh, venture. I mean we're both businessmen here in a way, right." [02:16] Gary: "Sam! We can't keep it, are you nuts?" [02:17] “No, we’re not both businessmen. I’m afraid that you’re trying to rationalize taking advantage of people. Do you think you’re doing that? Taking advantage of people just like you?” [02:17] Sam: "What, so some wop wants to start a business instead of going home to his wife and somehow that's our problem? This is America, or it will be in a couple of days." [02:18] Gary: "The business thing isn't real, that's not the point, the point is you're being a dick-" [02:18] Sam: "No, obviously it is- you want to make a charitable donation to some guy's commercial venture? What?? Are you an MBA now?" [02:18] 13Orient holds up a hand. “Hold on, Gary. It’s alright. You don’t need to insult Sam.” [02:19] Gary: "Oh, sure. As long as he gives the money back, though." [02:19] Sam: "This is insane! You stole it in the first place, you talked him into giving it over!" [02:20] “Gary, I appreciate it. But please let me speak to Sam without interruption. I would really appreciate it. I know how much you must want to speak.” [02:21] Sam: "What have you done to us? You're so.. honest. I can't stop giving a shit about your vacation and your wife. Why would I give a shit?" [02:21] “Sam, sit down. I’m not going to try and make some sudden move for the money you’re worried about.” [02:21] Gary doesn't say anything, but he looks smug. Obviously he's pretty happy that you've pulled one over on him. [02:22] Sam sits, then bends to the side and picks up the cash, putting it back on the table where it originally was. "Shit, nearly cut myself." [02:22] "I'm going to have to clean all this up before the next supply drop.. quartermaster's supposed to keep a clean office. I can trust you with that, right? That I'm the quartermaster?" [02:23] “Yes, you can. How much money have you taken in with this scam?” [02:25] Sam: "Uh, I feel like it should be more.. we've got at least a couple dozen people, but the money always seems to go as fast as it comes in. All those bars on the islands, and the girls, you know. This is a great job, as long as you've got spending money." [02:25] Gary: "Yeah, it is. I should've picked a better partner though." [02:25] “But you wouldn’t have had enough spending money, on your regular wages? That’s why you decided to trick people like this?” [02:27] "Everything's at tourist prices. Lots of rich assholes on these cruises - present company excepted - if you think about it, we cheat the ones who're cheating themselves." [02:27] Gary: "Nice rationalisation. I mean it, I could use that one." [02:28] “Have all of your targets been rich? It seems like not all of them could be, or your threat of contacting the police wouldn’t be quite so powerful.” [02:31] The gentle questioning eats away at the two grifters. They get frustrated, but a word or two sets them straight again - it's not like Claudio Kapic is at fault here. Eventually they reconcile with each other, admitting it jointly- Gary: "In the end we're pretty selfish. Aren't most people?" [02:31] Sam, whose real name is Sandringham: "None of that stuff was consistent, was it. We've been stealing money because we want to have more than others. To tell the truth, I still want that- I don't wanna stop." [02:32] They're becoming a little confused, as well - over time they just want to get out of this situation, to leave, but they keep finding themselves believing the man who says there's no need, that it isn't a good idea, to trust him and stay where they are. [02:33] “I think most people are pretty selfish, yes. But there are healthy ways to channel your desires. Think of all the bars and the girls - is it really about the money? Or do you feel happy? Fulfilled? What do you want, really?” [02:34] 13Claudio looks at their minds. Do they seem normal? Particularly selfish or particularly empathetic? Do they feel guilty?  [02:36] They're normal enough people. Not so out of whack with the great common throng that a doctor would say anything is wrong. This is humanity, right? Gary says: "I guess.. what I really enjoy is fooling people, taking the mickey out of them. It's great to feel like you've beaten someone in a game of wits, but I got to admit it works best when you pick on the dumb and desperate ones. Knowing [02:36] that takes a lot of the shine out of it." [02:38] Sam's mind is a little nastier- he really doesn't seem to be moved by the plight of others. Orient's known demons with more empathy than that. Sam: "The grift is a risk, it wouldn't be worth it without the reward. I'm in it for a better life, the kind I can't have otherwise." [02:38] To Gary: “Oh, yes. I know that feeling. It’s wonderful. But it also seems as if there are easier ways to find that. Ways that don’t involve hurting people like this. And it seems like for all the money, you both have rather severe reservations about what you find yourselves doing.” [02:50] Gary: "Maybe I shoulda been a magician." [02:50] 13Orient adjusts Sam. He feels a tinge of guilt. With a little bit more patience, with a little bit more persuasion, he could have secured the man’s express consent. But he doesn’t trust his own persuasiveness. Oh well.  [02:50] Sam: "That sounds like actual work. Look, why don't we just-" [02:52] Gary: "?" His former confederate has a one billion-yard stare. [02:52] He's looking into a world where things can- must- be different. [02:53] Sam shifts his chair back like the money in front of him is something repulsive, making a little squeaking noise. "Why don't we just.. find a better way. Find something, anything that doesn't do this to people." [02:53] “Magic shows sound like a healthy creative outlet, Gary. I think you should look into it.” [02:54] “I think that’s for the best, Sam. Most people can’t enjoy money if they feel too guilty to use it.” [02:54] Gary: "That was just an idea, but-" [02:54] Sam: "Any idea has to be better than this. It doesn't matter so much what *we* get out of it." [02:55] “I suspect you’ll get more out of it than you think.” [02:55] The man keeps shaking his head a little like he's trying to clear away an unpleasant noise or a clump of earwax. Unfortunately it's Most Of The Thoughts And Impulses He's Ever Had. [02:57] Maybe it's the noise of surf against the becah. [02:57] *beach [02:57] 13Orient stands up. “Well, I don’t want to keep you from your duties. Gary, Sam, I think that you two know as well as I do that your swindling days are over, and that we’re all glad that’s the case. May I take my money back?” [02:58] Gary: "Hey, I wasn't objecting." At least recently. [02:58] “Sam?” [02:59] "Yes! Yes. Um, good luck with your business. I really hope it isn't impacted by- are you gonna be ok?" [03:00] Weird how most people just go through life hoping the world will get better instead of making it into a better place. It may take a lifetime to find out why. [03:03] “I’ll be fine.” 13Orient puts the money back in his wallet. “Are there any other people you’ve taken money from still on the ship? If there are, I suggest you return their money and apologize for the mistake. And I guarantee that you will feel richer afterwards. There is no amount of money that can replace the knowledge that in the truest sense, you try at all times to be a good person.” 13He shakes both their hands. “Thank [03:03] you for talking, Gary. Sam. I have complete confidence in both of you. I think that today will mark the beginning of a happier time in both of your lives.” [03:05] Gary happily and Sam with some trepidation shake, see their guest out, and start cleaning up the room and their acts. The guy on the dock sure is going to be disappointed. [03:06] 13Claudio returns to his cabin and knocks. Isaias answers, holding a sleeping orange tabby cat in the crook of his arm. They speak rapidly in Italian once Claudio closes the door behind him.  [03:07] (What did you do?) (Talked to one, had to tamper a bit with the empathy of the other.) (Did it cost you?) (A little. Nothing to worry about.) [03:08] 13Isaias rolls his eyes. (He would have understood just as well if we had thrown him overboard.) [03:08] If more briefly. [03:09] 13Claudio shrugs. (I’m sure that my patience will run out sometime in the future. There will be occasions to act irresponsibly. Do you feel like a match of badminton? They put up a court on the uppermost deck.) [03:10] The Pharoah's Daughter steams onward, out of the Bahamas toward Florida coast. By the time it reaches Port Canaveral, it's too late- they've put men in space. But at least Orient will get to see what happens next. 14[03:17] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:20] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[04:08] * Joins: tom 14[05:32] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:34] * Joins: tom 14[12:26] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:27] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[12:30] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:30] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[12:51] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[13:07] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:18] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[14:20] * banana is now known as banana|sleep 14[15:45] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[16:40] * Parts: Ferrinus 14[16:40] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[16:40] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[16:53] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:55] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[16:57] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:57] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[18:17] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[18:42] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:56] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:06] * Joins: tom 14[20:12] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:13] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[20:16] * Joins: tom2 14[20:18] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:45] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[20:45] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[20:45] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[21:11] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[21:39] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[21:55] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:20] * Joins: Quaker 14[22:41] * Joins: dammitwho 14[22:50] * banana|sleep is now known as banana Session Time: Sun Sep 10 00:00:00 2017 14[01:08] * Joins: tom 14[01:59] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[02:12] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:29] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:34] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:21] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[12:31] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[13:26] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:04] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:23] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[15:39] * Joins: tom 14[16:06] * Joins: tom2 14[16:07] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:45] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:03] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:05] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:05] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[17:07] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:09] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[17:19] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:46] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:47] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[17:50] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:50] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[17:55] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[18:09] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[18:15] * Quits: Quaker_ (Client exited) 14[18:40] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:42] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[18:45] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:45] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[19:26] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[19:27] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:50] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[20:14] * Joins: dammitwho 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> It's a rainy day in Nexus. Today, for the first time in months, a rare books and curios shop right on the road into Firewander hangs an Open shingle. How did Xia Lan find out? Did she have someone keep a lookout? Did she check herself? [20:37] 13The Fanclub was supposed to let her know if they'd heard anything - she's let them know about her interests, which gets her leads every now and again - but this time, it's simply her own wanderings that lead her here. Never stop looking, after all. It's a beautiful night for a search. 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> At night, in the rain, Nexus is as pretty as Nexus gets. Everything reflects the light of the lanterns, glowing in the mist like a procession of spirits. 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> http://i.imgur.com/CsIwZh1.png 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan finds herself at the last crossroads before the city yields to the capricious, lethal Wyld taint of Firewander. There, nestled in a tall wooden building wedged between two ancient abandoned First Age tower blocks, glowing with ember-red lantern light within, is the address Bamaz gave her. All else she knows is a name. 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> What's her move? [20:50] 13Is there a bench nearby? It's a nice night, and the rain feels good - let's just sit for a bit. See who frequents this place. Also, what's the name of the shop? Does it have one? 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> There's no bench, but there is a long stone fence across the street, low enough to sit on. In nicer weather you'll typically find people sleeping on it. [20:52] 13Then there Xia Lan will sit for a while. People-watch. Relax. 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> No name on the store, no sign of what it sells, and aside from the Open shingle, no sign it's a store at all. A place like this typically aims at two clienteles: people who know exactly what to expect and people who have no idea. 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan sits and watches. She doesn't see anybody. This time of night, this part of town, in this kind of weather, that's what you'd expect. [20:57] 13Hmph. People around here have no sense of adventure. She wrings her hair out underneath the closest overhang and steps inside the nameless shop. Better hope Bamaz got the address right. 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> It's incredibly warm inside, and Xia Lan has to navigate some very narrow and high shelves to get out into the open area, which is still cramped. There's a strong smell of smoke but the air is clear, like someone smoking a pipe in another room. 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> There's no counter, and no shopkeeper. Xia Lan looks around until her head almost knocks into a small gong hung between two scroll cases. There's a little hammer on a hook beneath it. [21:03] 13Might as well do this the polite way first. "Excuse me? Hello?" 13she calls out. Before she joined Ruby Reds, she grew to hate the sound of these things. [21:03] 13She'll give it a minute before she actually hits the gong. 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Despite its size, the gong when struck emits the kind of bass you feel more than hear. Afterwards, there's the sound of a creaking door upstairs, and then an old man's voice, with a deep Northern accent, croaks through a brass horn hung in the corner of the room. "Name?" [21:08] 13Xia Lan: "Unfettered Xia Lan." 13She pauses, unsure. "Vladok sent me," 13she adds. 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Vladok." 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Vladok didn't send you." 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Someone sent you to Vladok. Who?" [21:13] 13She turns bright red. "I - ah. Bamaz sent me. I'm sorry, I always mess up introductions..." 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> The voice groans, long and low and gravel-lined, fading bit by bit as if someone was groaning with every ounce of their breath and couldn't summon the strength to breathe again. It stretches out for what feels like ages, growing fainter and fainter until it just slips out of hearing. That moment, a door bangs open, bell jingling, and that same voice says, "Unfettered Xia Lan." [21:21] 13Xia Lan: "That's me." 13She heads through the open door. Is it dark in there? Should she grab a light? 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> In order to trace the voice to its source, Xia Lan has to look down. A tangle of hair and smoke meets her at the door, a face with wild coal-red eyes and beaded horns and a wild mane of hair and beard that enshrouds all his body but his long, knobbly limbs. The long pipe clenched between the mouth that must hide somewhere in the depths of that beard is billowing thick red smoke. It smells of meat and cinnamon. 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> He looks up at her. "Say it again." [21:26] 13Xia Lan: "Say what again? I'm the Unfettered Xia Lan, and I'm here because Bamaz sent me." 13She wrinkles her nose at the pipe smoke - she can only tolerate it when she's the one smoking, really. 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Little flame," he says, turning his back on her but not shutting the door behind him. "Bamaz is a coward." 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "So he sends you. Unfettered Xia Lan." The strange creature draws out the name, dragging every syllable. [21:30] 13She pauses before answering. "It was the price I paid, yes." 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "For what?" [21:34] 13Xia Lan: "Something worth it." 13She smiles. "Forgive me, I can't go telling my prices to everyone." 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Duplicitous! Bamaz must have liked you." 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "So what have you brought for me?" [21:36] 13Xia Lan: "A favor. Bamaz claimed that was what he owed you, and I would serve in his place." 13She shifts slightly. "He was... sparse, on details." 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "He lied to you." 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "He didn't owe me a favor. He owed me a name." [21:37] 13Xia Lan: "...ah." [21:41] "...when you say 'owed you a name...' what is that, exactly?" 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "He told you nothing?" 14[21:48] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [21:49] 13Xia Lan: "It was a favor for a favor. For some reason, I believed that." 13She's starting to shrink away from Vladok - nothing brings humility like making mistakes. 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "The name. Your name. Anyone's name, their mark in fate's ledger. Bamaz owed me this. A fair bargain, like for like. And he begged, he begged to be spared the price. To pay in some other way. I refused, and now he has fled to escape his debt and deceived you, little flame, into owing it in his place." [21:51] 13Xia Lan: "..." 14[21:53] * Joins: Quaker 14[21:53] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok sits on the top step, here, which brings him exactly eye level with Xia Lan. He looks at her expectantly. [22:01] "...well, this is going to be a bit more difficult than I thought. And here I thought I was through being swindled once I left Zoatham." 13She shrugs, self-deprecatingly. "So. What's giving you a name mean, and how do I get you one? I made a deal, I guess." 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "There are ways you can kill someone without spoiling their name. You could get someone to sign it away freely. You could steal one. All of the ways you can get hold of something precious that doesn't belong to you." [22:06] 13Xia Lan: "'Spoiling'?" 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "When someone dies, their name is stricken from the ledgers of fate. No good anymore." 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "But there are ways." 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "What needs to happen will happen. The kiss takes care of that for you." [22:09] 13Xia Lan: "I'm going to keep repeating phrases you say until I understand everything. The kiss?" 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok holds his hand out. There's a spike of pain in Xia Lan's forearm. She sees a puncture wound, fresh and cauterized, with a tiny cinder white and smoking at its center. "A devil's kiss. A parasitic piece of the pure, hot black flame. Granter of the Art. Mark of a contract." [22:18] 13She rubs her wrist calmly, not letting the pain show through. "So. I have to get you a name. Can't be 'spoiled,' has to be mine to give somehow... any other restrictions you want to throw at me?" 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "You have until... dawn. 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There's a spike of pain in Xia Lan's forearm. She sees a puncture wound, fresh and cauterized, with a tiny cinder white and smoking at its center. "A devil's kiss. A parasitic piece of the pure, hot black flame. Granter of the Art. Mark of a contract." 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> [22:18] She rubs her wrist calmly, not letting the pain show through. "So. I have to get you a name. Can't be 'spoiled,' has to be mine to give somehow... any other restrictions you want to throw at me?" 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> [22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "You have until... dawn. Dawn is enough time." [20:56] 13Xia Lan: "Mm. No, I don't think so." 13She idly checks her nails. "That's an awfully heavy restriction, and something tells me Bamaz didn't get the same time limit. Why?" 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "Bamaz skipped town. Do I look stupid to you, little flame?" [21:02] 13She looks him up and down silently. Then: "We both took him at his word, and here we are. But I'm not Bamaz." 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's right. You're not Bamaz. You're going to get me a name." 14[21:11] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [21:12] 13Xia Lan: "You're really hung up on that part, huh. No, I'm not, at the very least not tonight. So let's talk alternatives." [21:16] "Option one, we both laugh off this hilarious misunderstanding, and presumably go track down Bamaz at the next opportunity. Unlikely, but I'm trying to be an optimist these days. Option two, you give me time to work. I'm not leaving town. You get your name. Option three... how are you with fiddles?" 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "You would bargain with a demon? Such iniquity from a little flame that's leapt from the Sun's brow." [21:34] 13Xia Lan: "Well, I didn't haggle with the last one I met, and look where that got me." 13She shrugs. "And when you deal in particular goods, you get less particular about the circles you run in." 15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok leans back, exhaling a huge billow of red smoke as the pipe dangles lazily from his upturned mouth. 15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Eventually: "Make me an offer." [22:01] 13Xia Lan: "I was serious. How are you with fiddles?" 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Bad. Do you sing?" [22:02] "I do." 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you drink? I only sing drunk." [22:04] 13She grins. "Do I." 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "When or where?" [22:07] 13Xia Lan: "Right now." 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "Impossible. Who will judge?" [22:25] 13Xia Lan: "Shoot. Judging, right. Then I'll take the 'where' - you ever hear of the C.I.O.?" 13She describes a club about halfway between her current hideaway and Vladok's place. It's not her normal kind of place, but she could get it booked easily. Playing a secret show that's also a drinking duel ought to be right up their alley - they usually cater to a much rowdier crowd than her shows normally draw. Proving that she can [22:25] hang will be fun. 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "No, but I don't need to. Give me two weeks." [22:30] 13Xia Lan: "Then we have a date." 13She takes one last look around the place. "I'll leave you to prepare, then. May the best singer win." 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "One last thing." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "If I win, the terms will be that you owe me your name." [22:31] 13Xia Lan: "Then I guess I can't lose." 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a sound like someone punching a bag full of rocks. Vladok is laughing. 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "Good then." 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> He waves a hand. "I'm done with you now." [22:34] 13She waves a goodbye over her shoulder as she slides through the maze of shelves towards the exit. "Nice guy," 13she says to herself as she steps back out into the rain. 14[22:41] * Joins: Quaker 14[22:42] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[22:45] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:45] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[23:41] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:43] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:49] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:50] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:51] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) Session Time: Tue Sep 12 00:00:00 2017 14[00:16] * Joins: dammitwho 14[00:59] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[01:33] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:54] * Joins: tom 14[02:08] * Joins: Crion| 14[02:09] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:46] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:33] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[06:36] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:00] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[10:10] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[10:26] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[10:47] * Joins: Crion 14[10:54] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:56] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[10:58] * Quits: Quaker_ (Client exited) 14[10:58] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:18] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[12:13] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:38] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:00] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[15:23] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:32] * Joins: tom 14[17:35] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:37] * Joins: tom 14[18:39] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:50] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[18:50] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[18:52] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[19:18] * Joins: tom 14[19:55] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[20:16] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:23] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:24] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:26] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> The days leading up to the circle's meeting with Bubo are busy indeed. Xia Lan's mail has backed up, Keldar's burning with the entrepreneurial spirit, and he's enlisting Stranger's help. 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Where does Keldar approach Stranger, and where does Xia Lan read her mail? [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Does Stranger habitually hang around the Circle's base camp in Floodwater? [20:53] 14He does, generally in the common room sipping tea when he's there. [20:53] 14If he's not sitting by the fire, he's usually not far: taking a stroll around the district, or light-heartedly bickering with the strange old homeless man he's brought to the neighborhood. [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar comes barreling in one day, then, dressed in his usual walking-about-town leathers and holding a sheaf of grubby papers. "Ah, just the man I wanted to see. Listen, you any good at math?" [20:55] 14... [20:55] 14He finishes his current sip and sets down the book he was reading. "Fashionably so." [20:55] "...Which is to say yes, but I keep quiet about it." [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Great. You reasonably current on the Civilities governing defense funding?" [20:57] 13Xia Lan picks up her mail from the PO box once a week - she used to do it more often, but she's just been so busy lately. Once retrieved, she'll read and respond to letters from the common room. It's nice to just sit out, sip tea, and read about how great you are in a semi-public place. [20:59] 14Stranger uncrosses and recrosses his legs. "Yes, and to the extent that I am not, I can quickly become so." [20:59] "Is this about the Green Apples?" [21:04] 13She makes sure to sort the letters from official club members to the top - they've got special stationary to send in their letters on. [21:06] <@Ferrinus> "Okay." 12If there were any plates and cups and so on on the table Keldar'd probably be sweeping them aside to make room, to the point that they'd be teetering precariously on the edge, but I'm sure Stranger keeps a cleaner house than that. So it is that the mercenary starts putting sheafs of what might be butcher paper down. Looks like they've been scrawled all over with crabbed [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12charcoal. [21:07] <@Ferrinus> "What I want," 12Keldar says, "Is for the Green Apples to join and support the Dawn Guard. For, like, the span of this raksha crisis at least. Problem is, they probably can't afford us." [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That means I need to sell both Khelendros - that's my commander - and the Council on a contract that pays big eventual returns but starts out with the Apples effectively making the city a generous loan." [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I've been lookin' around the public records to try to figure out what kinda budget the city's actually got for this in the first place, and for precedents in similar past situations, and so on, but I want at least another pair of eyes before I move forward with it." [21:11] 14Stranger does keep a cleaner house than that, due to the last three or four times Keldar needed a workspace. [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12I'm calculatin' here. [21:12] 14Stranger: "Mmmm. Sensible. I take it, then, you're thinking about a...long-term pricing structure." [21:12] "More canvas to paint on, as it were." [21:13] 14Precisely what documents are these, then? [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah. Problem is making the sharply increasing slope towards the end convincing." [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12A bunch of them are just hypothetical, not-in-legalese-yet contracts in which Keldar experiments with different pricing structures or wordings of agreements. Others are the contracts by which the Dawn Guard has leased other mercenary companies in the city's past, especially from times of strife and scarcity if Keldar was able to find any. [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12It looks like you can't just walk out of the archives with those, so you're stuck looking at Keldar's transliterations. [21:15] 14Oh my. 14[21:16] * Joins: mattbaby [21:17] 14He'll begin to puzzle through them, then. First things first is to figure out what's the closest precedent: which mercenary deal closest matches the size of the Green Apples, the sort of work being contracted, and the context in which the deal was struck. Obviously there are no 'the Emissary died' deals on the ledger, but tumultuous raksha crises should suffice. [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Close observation reveals that Keldar actually knows what he's doing here, but these things could always get more airtight. [21:17] 14You can't throw a stone ten years in any Direction without hitting one of those. 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan's got a fair bit of mail to read. Fans with words of encouragement and admiration - and concern, from the letters dated after the incident at the amphitheatre - alongside the usual drawings, poetry, and marriage proposal after marriage proposal. She's almost at the bottom of the rolled scrolls when she catches the faded smell of jasmine. Aha! One of the scrolls at the bottom, scented and sealed with wax. It's a command performance! By "The Empress Inscrutable, Papali Pali". [21:23] 14After establishing precedent -- he'd prefer three or four deals to look at here, really, but even one great match might be too much to look for -- he'll scan the others for anything interesting. Specifically, legal tricks, creative accounting, odd clauses that can be interpretted a few different ways...and hopefully, HOPEFULLY, Keldar was mindful enough to note not only the signatories [21:23] 14and guarantors, but the preparers. [21:24] 14There are, after all, a number of exclusive artisans that deal in contract law in Nexus. [21:24] 13Keldar and Stranger are also in the common room, yes? She'll ask them, then: "Have either of you heard of an 'Empress Inscrutable, Papali Pali'?" [21:25] 14Stranger looks up and blinks. Is this a history question, or is this one of those popular musical numbers with the youths today? He thinks a moment. [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So first, right, a hundred years ago, when the - eh? Doesn't ring any bells." [21:30] 14Stranger, after a moment: "I've never heard of her, and in the context of that specific title -- 'Empress' -- I would have. It is...reserved, after a fashion, for a certain other monarch in a much more central land. Someone would have made issue of it, were she extant in the River Province." [21:32] 13Xia Lan: "That's what I'd have thought. Lot of effort for a prank, though..." 13It wouldn't be the first letter requesting or indeed demanding she perform for a specific audience, but usually they don't claim to be royalty. [21:33] 14He shrugs. "Perhaps it's some sort of traveling act, or stage name. They generally don't send House hunters out here to go after dancers and bards." [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What's she want?" [21:37] 13Xia Lan: "A command performance." 13Does it say where or when? [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What's it pay?" [21:38] 14Stranger gives Keldar a look. [21:38] 14To Xia Lan: "Well, be safe, whatever you decide." [21:38] 13Xia Lan: "The payment is that you get to perform for royalty." [21:39] "Also, that your head remains attached to your shoulders, depending on the royalty." [21:39] 14Stranger: "Not a particularly convincing threat." [21:39] 14He pauses. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Seems like one more to ignore, then." [21:39] 14Then he frowns. "I just thought of the sort of Empress who would not be in the history books, and would not be impressed by the Realm's disapproval." [21:39] "The sort that is a raksha." 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> None of that information's in the letter. All it has is a return address and a point of contact: Vavariko Tatariko, Seneschal to the Empress. [21:41] 13Xia Lan: "Well, there's a contact listed here. Maybe they'll be able to tell me who exactly is requesting my appearance." [21:43] 05Xu Sim slowly rolls an enormous barrel down the back alleys and gutters of the sewer district. He finally arrives at the door to the lair and begins knocking impatiently. He does not look well; his face is sallow and one of his eyes is a little droopy. [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'd ignore it. Only encourages 'em." [21:46] 05Xu Sim: "One of you discourteous wretches open this cursed door immediately!" [21:46] 13Xia Lan: "I'd take ten of these before I get another poorly written letter proposing marriage. Like, gods, you're the first one to think of it, let me just leap into your arms. Keeps it interesting, you know?" [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks between Stranger and Xia Lan. [21:47] 14Stranger just blinks and rests his chin on his hand. [21:47] 13Xia Lan will get the door. She's already up, having thrown several marriage proposals into the fire. [21:48] 05Xu Sim stands at the portal, with a fifty-gallon barrel beside him that he has apparently rolled into place. "Now, help me get this inside. I don't think it will roll through."05 It's immediately clear that the barrel is not empty. [21:49] 13She steps back awkwardly in surprise. "Xu Sim! You- ah. I don't think I can - Keldar?" [21:50] 14Stranger leans forward on his chin. [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar sighs, stretches, and saunters off to the door. Shortly thereafter he's walking back in, barrel in both arms. "Where to?" [21:51] 14Stranger: "Not here." [21:52] "In the kitchen, please. There is a kitchen in here, right?" 14[21:53] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) [21:53] 14Stranger's smile is a bit strained. "Yes. Over there. Behind the bar, through the swing-door. What is that, if I might ask?" [21:53] "Liquor?" [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hup," 12After a few moments, there's a thump as the barrel's set down. "Yeah, what's in there?" [21:54] 05Xu Sim follows along, removing his boots along the way. The barrel gives off a terribly salty, briny smell, a hint of fish. "Brined fish." 05He pries open the lid, flooding the house with the strong smell. [21:55] 14Oh there is going to be quite a smell. [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Mmm, mmm. Keldar asks: "What for?" [21:55] 14Stranger: "And why have you brought brined fish." [21:55] 13Xia Lan stifles a retch and flees back to her room, fanmail forgotten. 14[21:56] * Joins: cbass [21:57] "Thank you, Keldar." 05With a bit of struggle, the alchemist shimmies his way up the barrel and carefully lowers himself inside; displacing a few silvery, marinated riverfish and some thick green salty liquid. He sighs contentedly as he settles in, moving his body back and forth to get comfortable. 14[21:57] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) [21:57] 14Stranger closes his eyes and slowly, slowly, sinks back into his chair. 14[21:58] * Joins: cbass [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But-" [21:58] 14Eyes still closed: "Will you be needing us to check in on you." [21:58] "In your barrel." [21:59] 13Xia Lan peeks her head out: "Can someone please fetch my mail. I- maybe I should just go see this Vavariko now?" [21:59] "Tell me, Keldar: what dispells the taste of honey faster than a brined fish? Careful meditation in here, combined with the fact that I haven't had anything to eat or drink for the last 3 days, should go a long ways to overcoming the honey-maze." [21:59] 14Stranger, eyes still closed: "That might be best, Xia Lan." [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well you coulda at least poured some off first. I think we had some pork chops around somewhere..." [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12The mercenary waves a hand vaguely. "Whatever. I still need to figure out the best pitch to make, here." 12He heads back to the common room table. [22:01] 14Stranger will hand Xia Lan her mail if she really wants it, before coming back to the common room table and grimacing in the direction of the kitchen. [22:01] "This way, Stranger," 05Xu begins peevishly, "I can participate in some of these planning discussions a little more carefully. And Keldar-" 05a hand extends from the barrel grasping a fish - "please help yourself. There's enough for everyone in here, I think, ha!" 14[22:02] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well it's too late now. Who knows where you've been? Keep an ear open if you know anything about contract law, though." [22:02] "Who is Vavariko?" [22:03] 14Stranger: "An aide for some fictional empress. Or at least one from very very far away. Have you heard the name?" [22:05] 13She takes the mail gratefully and speaks through the closed door. "Or the 'Empress Inscrutable, Papali Pali,' for that matter." [22:13] "Vavariko Tatariko," 05he repeats in a somewhat unsettled, singsong patter. "I heard the name in the plague tents. Might be a glassblower? Something like that. Why?" [22:14] 13Still through the door: "They're my contact for a command performance. Do you remember anything specific?" [22:16] "Nope." 05Xu leans back in the sludge. 14[22:17] * Joins: tom [22:17] 14Helpful. [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm tellin' ya, you either ignore 'em outright or send back a drawing of a middle finger. No one gets actual command performances here." 14[22:20] * Joins: dammitwho [22:20] 13Xia Lan: "Heck, I'm playing a small show in like two weeks where no one'll know it's me, maybe I can make a name for this kinda thing. I'm into it, honestly." [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar shakes his head to himself and returns to his figures. [22:21] 14Stranger is back to staring at the contracts, but glances up one more time. "As you please. Let us know if you wish to have an escort. Or backup." [22:22] "Or a brined fish," [22:23] 13Xia Lan: "Absolutely no on the fish thing. Backup, if someone who isn't fish-scented is free, would be welcome." [22:23] 14He half-looks back over his shoulder. "Do you just plan on...sitting in there? Talking?" [22:25] "I have some work I want to get done while I marinate. Before you leave, Xia Lan, I think you had mentioned some sort of demon. I will graciously ignore your comments about my medical treatment and perform some research about this demon." [22:27] 13She's about to interject with getting a feel for the venue being more important, but that's something that she'll need to do herself. "Vladok was his name. I don't know much more about him - I found his place at--" 13She gives an address. "But, knowing them, it might not be there when you look." [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What kinda demon?" 14[22:38] * Joins: hrolf_mac [22:39] 13Xia Lan: "Bearded guy, short, really messy, honestly more hair than face. Kind of hunched. Had a bookstore with a maze of shelves leading to a cramped area that I guess was the main shop, deals in names, pretty rude. Challenged me to a singing contest with a drinking accompaniment." [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar scratches his chin, frowning. [22:41] 4Bastian re-enters, a frown likewise on his face. [22:42] 14Stranger: "Ah! Greetings, Bastian. Please, don't mind the smell." [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Mmmmnope, dunno. Wasn't purple from top to bottom with shark's eyes, was he?" [22:42] 14The air smells very heavily of fetid brined fish. [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...with the hair obviously a wig? Yeah, that wouldn't work either." [22:43] “But...why?" [22:43] 14Stranger: "Xu Sim is brining in the kitchen." 14His tone is polite, but weary. [22:43] "Mind or don't, I've got to marinate all day." 05Xu Sim is submerged, up to his chin, in a barrel of brined fish. "What drives the taste of honey from one's mouth faster than brined fish? Nothing, that's what. Simple principle of sympathy." [22:44] “Is he to be eaten?" [22:44] 13Xia Lan: "please stop talking about the fish barrel" 13She sounds ill. [22:45] 14Stranger: "Not by me." [22:46] 4von Hrolfus strecthes his arms and yawns. 1“I had not realized I was so exhausted. Did you all experience a similar…draining upon exalting?" [22:47] 05Xu Sim mutters from his barrel in Bastian's general direction. "impertinence... impudence... insolence..." [22:47] 14Stranger: "Something of the sort, yes. But before you go to bed -- come over here. Keldar and myself are reviewing contracts for the Green Apples. By these deeds, we will secure power in this city for you and Keldar to do your deeds. And then perhaps raise you an army, if necessary." [22:47] 13Xia Lan's voice comes from behind her door: "I nearly died in the desert. I didn't have the chance to get tired." [22:48] “For…me? Why would anyone here accept my authority?" [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "They wouldn't. But when Nexus gets back on his feet you might be able to hire a proper army of your own or something." [22:50] “Who are these Green Apples?” [22:50] 14Stranger: "Hopefully it won't come to that. But if it does, it pays to prepare early and often." [22:51] 14He'll let Keldar field that one. [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The Ninth Orchard Company. The mercs I run with." 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Jercs. [22:52] 13Nice. [22:52] 14Well played. [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: [22:54] 4von Hrolfus eyes tighten briefly in an expression for distaste. 1“People who fight for no cause but money." [22:54] 4*of [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Exactly. The idea is to make sure the Dawn Guard turns to the Apples for additional security first, so we can keep the city ticking along." [22:55] 4“And when this army of abominations comes along? What incentive do mercenaries have to not just simply flee?" [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Uh... money? You just said. We've stood up to raksha before." [22:57] "Stranger, you're quite the charmer. Likeable sort. Clever with people... I propose we try summoning this Vladok character for a chat. I don't mean through sorcery, of course, to be clear - well, I do, but not in a binding ritual (which probably wouldn't even work)." [22:57] 14Stranger will motion to Keldar. "You two should be fine. If you wish me to look over the papers before they're formally submitted, I will, of course, but I have every faith in Bastian here -- his schooling will have given him sureness in these matters beyond his years. And I worry about..." 14He glances towards Xia Lan very briefly. [22:58] 13Xia Lan's door. She's still behind it, to keep the scent away. 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> It's not going to work forever. This place is only so well-ventilated. [23:00] 4von Hrolfus shakes his head. “The problems on relying on those who do not fight for a higher cause - an ideology, a nation - is that they value their lives above all else. Should these abominations be a greater threat than expected, how do you expect to hold your men together?" [23:00] 05Xu Sim, to Stranger: "To summarize a huge amount of information, at the time of my Second Breath, I confronted the creature Giramande, the Cupreous Physician, warden soul of the Green Sun." [23:01] 14Xu Sim's proposal gets his attention. [23:01] 13She'll have to flee eventually, but she's got a destination in mind. Hopefully the place won't stink by the time she returns. [23:01] 14This would still be helping Xia Lan out, but from a different angle. And frankly, he has to stop thinking of her as a child. She is a Chosen, as strong as he. She'll be fine. [23:02] 14So, in his infinite patience, he decamps from the common area to...the kitchen. [23:02] 14With his tea. [23:02] 14He's still close enough that should Keldar and Bastian need him, all they need do is raise their voicce. [23:02] 4He hadn’t realized he’d been holding his breath all this time, exhaling sharply and then carefully gulpin air in through this mouth. “Good god that smell IS awful!" [23:02] *14voice [23:02] 13Xia Lan: "Isn't it just?" [23:04] "You are learnèd enough to be familiar with Ligier, I trust? The Green Sun of Malfeas, fetish soul of the King of the Yozis?" [23:05] 14Stranger: "Of course." [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It's just fish, man, c'mon. Anyway, take a look at this precedent-" [23:07] "A creature of black stone, brass, and of course the Green Sun. In any case - and when I have finished putting my own library back together I welcome you to examine it yourself - the Shogunate era histories make no mention whatsoever of Giramande the Cupreous Physician." [23:08] 14He'll entertain the pickling man. "Oh? I'm unfamiliar with that name." [23:09] 4“-who will be paying for training? Food supplies? Do we just give them gold and let them scrounge off the city? What if we have to march into the wilderness to face what’s coming?" [23:09] "I think it has taken some pains to conceal itself. It was at the heart of the plot to frame me for the murder of Novak, the good friend of Nessun Dorma and the reason the Dragonlord has several times tried to pound my head into the cobblestones." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Thought of that one already. You divert these funds here, and claim these others which are technically..." 12Keldar's assembled a ton of notes and written up a few rough, hypothetical contracts, and you've got to give Nexus this: it's put a lot of thought, over the years, into the logistics of fielding mercenary armies. [23:11] 14Stranger is reasonably certain Xu Sim didn't actually commit that crime, but still feels that occasional twitch of suspicion one gets when a crazy man in a vat of brinefish denies killing a man. [23:12] "But as I said, the histories do not speak much of Giramande and neither will I, for the moment. I believe he is a newcomer, perhaps fashioned from hatred and steel by Ligier's own hand. But: in the time of the Shogunate, the warden soul of Ligier was known to be Sondok Who Stands In Doorways." [23:12] 4“-and presumable the pay will be prorated based on date of joining? Then there’s the question of leave and sick pay-" [23:12] 14Strangers eyebrows arch. [23:13] "Stands in Doorways. That's a modest sounding appellation. Usually that hides great power." [23:13] "It's an obnoxious habit, to be sure. In or out, don't just stand there like a slack-jawed peasant!" [23:15] 14Mildly: "You should tell him that. Or her that." [23:16] "Perhaps I shall. Regardless: I believe, one sorcerer here in Nexus came to know truly know Sondok. She bore children and the family grew. I don't have proof, but I think Xia Lan's acquaintance, Vladok, is directly descended from this coupling." [23:19] 14Stranger narrows his eyes, briefly trying to work out why the sorceror mentioned Giramande the Cupreous Physician at all if--no matter. "Sounds like quite the runt." [23:20] "You'd think it'd have more interesting things to do." [23:23] 13Xia Lan: "Seems gross, frankly. Little troll of a man." [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Once he's seen to both Stranger's and Bastian's most immediate questions and criticisms of the proposal, Keldar gathers all his papers together, re-pockets the charcoal pencils he's been working with, and heads back out into the city. He's going to bend the ear of the Ninth Orchard's commander, proposing a lucrative (should the city actually survive into the next year) partnership [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12with the city guard and offering the services of one or two skilled negotiators on top of that. [23:26] "Even truly disgusting things have their uses," 05Xu Sim offers helpfully. [23:26] 14Stranger leans his chin on his hand again. "Most indubitably." 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: Hurl, Interrupted 14[23:51] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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[20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 / ,-.\ [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 / /:::\\ [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 | |:::|| [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 | |:::|| [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 | |:::|| [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 / |:::|/ [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 /` |:::|`-, [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 /` | |'' || \ [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 /` \ | || `\ [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 |` | | |) `| [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12The scene: the top floor of an observation tower, devastated by supernatural combat. The walls, floor, and ceiling are alternately charred, shattered, or melted. Blood and demonic ichor stains what's left of the furniture, and pools most heavily around a mangled man in a robe who sits almost folded over against one of the walls. 15[20:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I know how it looks but I swear we just got here." [20:17] 4Ir: "Hi." [20:17] 4Ir: "Shit." [20:18] <@Ferrinus> 12This is Azer'jol, a Lunar Exalt with a full moon burning on his brow. He's got the pale cast and dark robes of a Sijanese, and one of his arms and both of his legs are slowly reconstituting themselves out of an ever-thinning swarm of scarabs that surrounds him. [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Separately, "Arakesh" the southern tyrant lizard trainer looks completely mortal and extremely alarmed. The Squared Circle is there in its entirety, including Ying, who's just arrived holding the hand of a tall figure in a white robe. The hood's up, and silver glints within the cowl. 15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10They're holding hands? 15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Aww. [20:20] 4Moving pretty quick. [20:20] 7They're holding hands? Wow. [20:20] 13You guys!! [20:20] 4Just saying. Nice catch. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12They just were, anyway. The Emissary's pulling a gloved hand away now to idly flex it against his other hand. He's got a rich, aristocratic voice. "But surely not all of you just got here." [20:21] 4Ir: "I'm gonna guess you know how I did." [20:22] 4She's playing at some bravado here, hoping he can't see how tapped out she is. [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "I did notice. But are you entirely uninvolved? Who can explain this?" 15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is one of the Lunars stepping up? [20:22] 4Ir doesn't say anything more. She's not sure what the legalities are here. [20:23] 13Ying's as confused as the Emissary is! This is a heck of a situation they've stumbled into. [20:23] 4She does remember something about wanton violence, though. [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek seems intent on playing the hapless mortal passer-by for the moment. Jol's where the Emissary's eyes(?) are eventually going to turn, though, and unless someone wants to jump in right now he'll be the one to answer. 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's wiser to back his play than try to talk over him, since we don't actually know what happened. [20:24] 4Ir will resist the urge to glare at 'Arakesh.' She's peeved, not angry. [20:24] 4And the Emissary doesn't need any more information about them than he already has. [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol: "I... was attacked." [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "Is that so? By whom?" [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol glances around. He meets Marek's eyes briefly. Marek, very faintly, shrugs. So Jol takes a breath: "By agents of heaven. By-" 12After the fact, none of you remember the term he used. 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10For his part, Eikichi has his arms folded, big billowy sleeves almost merging together and making him look like a bronze statue of an extremely attractive monk. Do you think he can hear us? 10Zantetsuken can pick this up. [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Zantetsuken: Absolutely not. The bond between soul and sword is sacrosanct. This... city bureaucrat is a nobody. [20:28] "Agents of Heaven. Yeah." 4Ir bristles, not at anyone present but at the memory. "Friends of the guy I had to deal with in the arena." 15[20:29] <@VoxPVoxD> So... weak points? [20:29] 13Ying: "So that's what was going on! I saw 'em, but no one in the audience could figure out why you guys teamed up, or against what." [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Zantetsuken: No armor... lean build... doesn't carry himself like a warrior or like a sorcerer. Any stroke through the center should do, delivered quickly. [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "I see. Describe them further." 12Jol and Marek share another look - a long-suffering one, you'd judge - and then Jol describes several people. Later, you can't remember what he said about them. [20:32] 4Can Ir describe the guy she fought? Or is the Emissary not asking her? [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12For some reason, the Emissary doesn't seem to have this problem. "Noted. Do you know where in the city they might be found?" 12This you can recall - Jol mentions a few office buildings in the Nexus district, an apartment in Sentinel Hill. [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12The Emissary hasn't asked Ir to explain, presumably unfamiliar or uninterested as to the actual gladiatorial bout. 14[20:33] * Joins: Zarick [20:33] 4She won't offer anything further unless asked, then. [20:34] 4She's not too eager to spend a lot of time talking to this guy. [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "And the explosion... theirs?" 12Jol nods. "Naturally." [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12The robed figure looks around again in silence. Outside, you can hear the crackle of flames, the murmur of the crowd, the voice of the announcer trying to explain that everything is in order and events will be moving on shortly. 15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "There might still be a body under the arena, in the animal pens. One of them was trying to disrupt the fight with sorcery. We stopped him." 08[20:37] 7Blossom is mentally calculating how quickly she can shove Eikichi out the window before jumping out of it herself, on the principle that if you've avoided boiling from the inside by falling off a tall tower, then you've solved one pressing problem and now have time to work on the next. [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Another moment passes. Finally, the Emissary speaks again: "Well, this seems to me a matter of internal arena security." [20:41] 13Ying: "Aw, you're leaving?" [20:43] 4Oh thank the Sun. [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Emisarry: "This incident has passed and I see no need to further intervene. The Guild, however, will likely demand a full accounting of damage to their property. I advise you to seek appropriate arbitration." [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary* [20:46] 4Well, fuck to the Guild, but that's better than having to deal with this guy or the Council. 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "That's it? You're not going to boil anybody?" 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is this some kind of test?" 08[20:48] 4EIKICHI-- [20:48] 4Ir's eyebrow doesn't actually twitch. [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "Should I? You may present your argument. I may have overlooked something." 08[20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol is searching Eikichi's face, desperate to find a joke. 08[20:48] 13Ying: "Eikichi, don't be rude! It was good seeing you again!" 13She waves to the Emissary. "Thanks for the ride over!" 08[20:50] 4Without glaring at Eikichi: "We'd prefer just to make this right with the affected parties and seek medical attention." 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "No, I won't gainsay you. It's just weird, is all." [20:50] 4This time Ir looks imploringly at Blossom. [20:52] 7Blossom: "Not really. Surely many, even most, of the interactions the Emissary has on a day-to-day basis don't end with blood boiling." [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "It seems to me that you pay too much credence to rumor. My direct intervention, punity or otherwise, are rarely required for the city's continued functioning. That's the point, after all." [20:52] "People think the Thousand Scales spend all day doing audits." [20:52] 13Ying: "I met him when I was out shopping the other day! He was nice." [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Damn, what happened there. [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "It seems to me that you pay too much credence to rumor. My direct intervention, punitive or otherwise, is rarely required for the city's continued functioning. That's the point, after all." 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi shrugs. "Maybe!" [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "You should heed your associates in this matter. Now, farewell." 12He sweeps away, receiving no stains and leaving no footprints as he crosses the floor and descends what remains of the tower's spiral stairway. [20:54] 4That's...not a direct challenge. That's good. [20:54] 4Phew. [20:54] 13Ying: "Byeeee~!" [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek tilts his head to the side for a moment, presumably listening for the footsteps to leave the range of audibility. Then he says: "What the fuck-" [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol: "Is this man a fool? Does he want us all dead?" 08[20:55] 4Ir wheels on Eikichi: "Fucking SUN--" 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "No, it's fine. See, I don't think he could've." [20:56] "Calm down. Obviously the Emissary isn't going to start burning people alive for asking a question." [20:56] 4Ir: "That's not obvious to me!" 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "I wonder if the Emissary even has powers if nobody's breaking the rules." [20:57] 4Ir: "That's a real good thought experiment that I'd love to hear you work out anytime except when the Emissary is present." [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol: "His kind do as they please. The rules... polite fictions. Hardly polite, in this city." [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "How sure are you?" [20:58] 4Ugh. There are more important things to tend to than this. "Jol, what can we do to help? Can you walk?" 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Not very. It's hard to get a read on what someone can do if they're not doing it in front of you." [20:58] 7Blossom: "No, no, I see his point. The Civilities are polite fictions. The Dogmas, though..." 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Ying: "What was it like when he pulled you up the tower? Was it like Travel Without Distance? Did you fly?" [20:59] 4She glances around. "Also do we think the rest of these assholes are still hanging around somewhere?" [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol's scarabs have finished collecting, but his limbs are still made of scarabs at the moment. "How many dead bodies do you have on hand?" [21:00] 4Ir: "I don't have any dead bodies on hand." 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Do they have to be human?" 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "I could kill a blood ape for you." [21:00] 7Blossom squints curiously at the injured Lunar. "Or a cartload of beef?" [21:01] 13Ying: "Um, we were standing there and then everything stretched out and when it snapped back together we were coming upstairs instead." [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol scoffs. "I'd rather wait. A few minutes more at most." [21:01] "It was kind of uncomfortable, but only when you think about it." 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Suit yourself. Did everything turn out alright in Sijan?" 08[21:03] 4Ir will check the stairwells at least. "How many colors are there, Eikichi?" [21:03] "Of the Chosen of Heaven or whatever." [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol: "It is probably too early to tell. I accomplished my objective, however." 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "It'd have to be five, for the five Maidens. Blue for Venus, green for Jupiter, red for Mars, yellow for Mercury, purple for Saturn." 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "I think we've seen chosen of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn." [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "That's right. You've dealt with them before?" 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "Twice." [21:05] 4Ir: "One of them." [21:05] "Two times." [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Get 'em?" [21:06] "Mine was Mars, and yours downstairs was Jupiter. So if they've got the whole set, there's blue, yellow and purple in the wind." [21:06] 4Ir snorts. "We made friends." 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We befriended one and the other may or may not have been annihilated." [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "What." [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol: "What!" [21:06] 13Ying: "What what?" 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "She was really stupid." [21:07] 13Ying: "Tatsuya's still really mad at her, I'm pretty sure." 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "The one we befriended, I mean. Basically following nonsense orders she couldn't explain that were way out of her pay grade." [21:07] 7Blossom: "She's naive." 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You say popoto." [21:08] "So do you! But they don't in the North, for some reason." [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol: "Naive. One of the star-blessed... you should've...!" 12Marek, to Ir: "You knew about this?" [21:08] 4Ir turns to glare at Marek now. "She wanted to talk, and talking was far, far less aggravating than trying to kill her." [21:08] "Because we tried." [21:08] 13Ying: "That's why he's still mad." [21:08] "I don't like her and I don't trust her, but at least I don't have to try to fucking stab her anymore." 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We should've, then we didn't, and now we shouldn't have. So it goes." [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Not hard enough, clearly. The- no, no, that's not fair. I must admit to you that I've never downed one of them personally." 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is there somewhere better we could have this conversation?" 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "At some point the Guild's going to be up here." [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol: "I have. This one, what is her - oh, yes, perhaps." [21:10] 4Ir: "Back to our inn." [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12That's not your only issue. It sounds like there's a building Ir! Ir! Ir! Ir! chant from the crowd outside. [21:10] 4She sighs. "I have to deal with this." [21:10] "Y'all slip out while I do." [21:11] "You're coming too, 'Arakesh.'" 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "You two have fun." [21:11] 4Ir: "Thanks. If I see the Emissary, I'll talk shit for you." [21:11] 4That might have come out meaner than she intended, but SERIOUSLY? 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It was fine. [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek looks over to his compatriot, who's rising to his feet on shaky but seemingly-functional legs. The full moon on Jol's brow is fading. Marek: "All right. Your 'Palace', then - tomorrow?" 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "We'll be there." [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12You prepare to break, then, as the event proceeds towards its conclusion. Ir's to return to the field to address the cheering crowds and accept their accolades; later, she'll be formally awarded, anointed as a true veteran of the grand arena and inducted into the halls of veteran gladiators. Separately, the Guild wants to know what the fuck happened here and underground, pressing [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom for the answers. [21:14] 4A third to half of the room is still taken up by Ir's bonfire anima. When she steps out onto the roof, it's stretching up to the sky once again. 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Everyone is leaving Eikichi alone, then? [21:15] 4Veteran? That's getting a bit ahead of ourselves. Ir will still take another victory lap atop the tyrant lizard she's befriended while 'Arakesh' tends to his 'twin.' [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Not if he remains hanging around on the scene of the crime, or possible crime, or whatever the hell happened. And people do remember him running off out of the stands around the same time the trouble started, so he'll be questioned shortly if not immediately. [21:16] 4She will even indulge the promoters in all the post-fight bullshit they're certain to want. It's good cover, and staying firmly in public with Marek by her side or close to it is the safest thing she can do right now. 08[21:16] 13Ying will stay with Eikichi. She's not involved, but she can't exactly just go walking home with all her friends tied up in this mess! [21:17] 7Blossom, of course, could ask the Guild the same question. There was an attempted assassination attempt on a fighter she's managing, after all. What is the Guild doing to investigate it? 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well, Eikichi will walk back to the box, anyway. There's bound to be some snacks left. To Ying: "So..." [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, "Arakesh" wants no part of the limelight. In fact, the less well it's understood that the Twin Dragons are actually acting at the beck and call of some mysterious southern shaman or whatever he is, the better for Ir's publicity. The Lunar melts back into the hidden machinery of arena. 08[21:20] 13She's not quite skipping, but Ying's walking jauntily alongside Eikichi. "Hm?" [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12W-what? Comes the reply to Blossom. Of course! Of COURSE they're getting to the bottom of it. No expenses spared. Top men. Top men! But seriously she doesn't know ANYTHING? 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Well, I don't want to pry... but how are the forfeits coming along?" [21:27] 13She narrowly avoids stumbling. "They're... I've got something sketched out for Tatsuya's! I think he'll love it," 13which is maybe the worst thing she's ever said about her own work. [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12By the end of the ceremonies, Ir has been all but drowned under ribbons, flowers, laurel wreaths, and suchlike. She's got a gleaming trophy with carved likenesses of her and her foes atop it - blue and red jade for each of the 'dragons', white jade for her own triumphant figure. A feast is thrown that runs late into the evening, at which Ir and her invitees end up rubbing shoulders [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12with Guild magnates, popular artisans and performers, and, of course, famed gladiators who've weathered other bouts in the arena. [21:28] 4Ir lets Marek slip away, while hoping he remains close by. These are his tyrany lizards, after all. [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12If she wants to bring him along to the actual feasting, she might be able to manage it. She'll have to find him somewhere in the bowels of the colosseum and convince him to come along, of course. [21:29] 4Throughout the ceremonies Ir is polite but distant, allowing herself to be fêted but remaining the unapproachable champion. [21:29] 4Unless they ask her for a song, of course. [21:33] 7Blossom curtly tells them that she has no idea who would have ordered such a thing, which is mostly true. Plenty of people who could, but the Guild knows that as well as she does, considering they're most of them. 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Do you think it's worse, ethically, to design an atrocious outfit for someone as punishment, or for someone who won't know any better and think it looks good?" 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Meditate on this while you do both." [21:34] 13Ying: "Ughhhhhhh." [21:38] 4Ir's angle here is savage diva. Unapproachable, powerful, and utterly unconcerned with decorum or local nicety. One or two of her favorite singles acts did this back in Pneuma, and she's certainly laid the foundation to build an image on. And crucially, she doesn't have to strip down to a chainmail bikini or some dumb shit. [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12C'mon, just once- [21:40] 4That guy gets the down-the-nose death glare. [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Most of you can't help but notice that the conduct of the other gladiators towards Ir is a little strange. What seem at first glance to be a mixture of distrustful or even envious glances might, in fact, be better described as awed or even worshipful. There's a motley of other fighters around and, at turns, they're all giving each other significant looks or muttered comments or [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12whatever and it's certainly about the night's champion, and it certainly entails more than professional curiosity or fear of losing one's place. [21:42] 4That's not how pro fighters should be acting. [21:43] 4At least, not in all the stories Ir's heard third-hand about them. [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Separately, the high-ranking Guildsmen in attendance are VERY pleased, and it's probably not just a matter of the day's turnout (especially since arena repairs are going to run much higher than anyone anticipated and Blossom was canny enough to negotiate for a percentage of the gross) 14[21:44] * Joins: tom [21:49] 4It's good Ir's decided to be severe and distant this night. Once she figures out why all these cats look like they've eaten canaries, the scowl is perfectly genuine. 08[21:51] 4She might not be as smart as Eikichi, Blossom, or Ying, but she's got the advantage of social position right now and she's going to take it. Ir stares each one of her rich hotshot genuflectors down -- not to intimidate them, but to commit their faces to memory along with their names. [21:51] 4She probably intimidates them anyway, and that's fine. [21:58] 4The food and drink are fantastic, and she's tired enough that they don't even taste like ash in her mouth. She entertains her entire public to the best of her ability -- aloof, but not too aloof. Beautiful, but with an edge to her. She spent a lot of time in Pneuma learning stage presence. That doesn't go away just because she's not singing. [21:58] 4But twenty-five minutes after the bare minimum of politeness, she announces that she will take her rest. [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12If this means she actually wants a private audience with whomsoever that's up to her, but it's perfectly possible to just warp to the following day if need be. [22:00] 4She very specifically does not want to spend another minute in the same room as these people until she's had a chance to speak with the rest of the Circle. [22:00] 4She'll direct all requests for a private audience to her manager. [22:02] 7Blossom has a special box where she keeps all the marriage proposals sent to Ir. 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi amuses himself by visibly directing bowls of soup to dunk themselves on the heads of particularly insufferable-looking Guildsmen with particularly jaded and checked-out-looking children. [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12He's got a few more die-hard fans than Ir by the end of the night. [22:08] 4Thank the Sun. [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Other goals on anyone's part, or do we adjourn to the Scarlet Palace on the following afternoon? 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's ready to sleep all this wine off. [22:09] 13Ying will be mentioning her new shop - perhaps you've heard of it - at any chance she gets, but otherwise will be ready for the next day. [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying gets some definite interest. Isn't she the one that was sitting with the Emissary for a moment? Isn't she the one whose name is associated with those simply scandalous boot.. things...? Let me get my servant to write this down in my planner- [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12All in all, it's a pretty successful outing you've had, I say. [22:14] 7Either that evening or the next afternoon, to Ying: "Seriously though, the Emissary? How did you snag him? I'm not complaining, mind you, great job, we all support you, it's just... wow!" [22:14] 4When Ir leaves, she'll head straight back to the inn -- leaping across the rooftops if that's what it takes to shake her public -- and will be waiting for her three friends in their private common room when they return. [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12The following afternoon, on Moonday, the Squared Circle's sleeping off various injuries and hangovers and expecting a visit from as many as two of Luna's chosen. Have they got anything they want to say or do before then? [22:14] 13Ying: "What are you talking about?" 13She seems genuinely confused. [22:15] 4If Ir didn't get a chance to corral the three of them the night of the event, she'll do it on Moonday afternoon. 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi will be there in a blanket he bought on the way home. It's got sleeves in it so you can stay warm while eating candy. [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12That's the kind of disruptive innovation you can't get anywhere but the free city of Nexus. [22:16] 7Blossom: "Come on! You guys were holding hands!" [22:16] 13Ying: "Yeah! He warped me over to you guys! Isn't he just so nice?" 08[22:16] "Eikichi, don't eat candy for breakfast, lunch, or dinner." [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12That's the kind of psychotic tyranny that justified the Usurpation. [22:18] 4In fact, she'll be waiting for them with sandwiches. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi nods, mouth full. "I know! That's what we agreed. One non-candy meal a day. I had cinnamon rolls for breakfast." [22:20] 7Blossom: "That is absolutely not what we agreed. Set an example!" [22:22] 4Ir's tailored the offerings to what she's noticed the three of them like to eat. Four sandwiches each, made to keep so they can have two of them later. She hasn't made anything for herself. 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi will take one of the tuna melts Ir made for him. Eating healthy is important! [22:22] 4Once everyone's at least had half of their first sandwich: "Slavery is coming back to Nexus." 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi chokes. 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "What?" [22:23] 4Ir reaches over and slaps him hard on the back. [22:23] 7Blossom, quietly eating: "Oh?" 7She hasn't yet realized this isn't, like, a comment on the weather. [22:23] 4Ir: "You noticed how happy the Guildsmen were at the feast?" [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12That's impossible because Nexus is a free city in which you can't be enslaved. [22:23] "That wasn't because of me." [22:24] 13Ying: "What happened?" [22:24] "I'm just the prop of the hour. The new toy to show off. They don't even respect me enough to hold their tongues when I'm in earshot." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "Gladitorial slaves?" [22:27] 4She shifts on the divan she's sitting on. "Bigger than that. It's Guild business, and the Guild doesn't constrain itself to the Arena. It has -- how did he put it -- 'more comprehensive' plans." [22:28] 4Ir leans forward. "They had a problem, you see. I don't know what it was or how it was solved, but by the team we were feasting, that problem had been dealt with." 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Do you think it's got something to do with Panther?" [22:29] 13Sunlit-Dreaming Ying: "So... we should create some new ones, right?" [22:29] "The point man here, his name is Z'raha. Leering smile. Looks like a shithead. His job title is 'Regional Coordinator.' I don't know of what. Probably slaves." [22:30] 7Blossom: "If they're still planning on selling to the Mask of Winters..." [22:31] 4Ir half-shrugs, half-throws her arms in the air. "I don't know. I couldn't tell from what I overheard. Maybe it had something to do with Panther. Maybe it had something to do with me! Maybe those Chosen of Heaven that we killed were somehow--" [22:31] 4She pauses. "It's not helpful to think about it that way." 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "A mi'qote slaver... that's awful." [22:32] "Z'raha. Regional Coordinator. Point man on this. He's got bosses, a Board of Magnates, only one of whom was present at the Arena feast. The name of the magnate that was present is Cheng." [22:33] "Z'raha was relieved, because the Board of Magnates -- and Cheng -- were breathing down his neck about their problem. The slavery problem. The one they've just solved." 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Well, that can't happen. 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> " [22:34] "And Z'raha bragged that his problem was solved through efforts of a trusted underling. Name of Shizon." [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12At some turn or other all of you have heard the rumors - some kind of perennial, unsolvable stoppage with the Guild's slave trade in the city. No one really knows why. Guess that's done with? [22:34] "I don't have a physical description or even a gender on Shizon." [22:34] 13Ying:"Sounds like I should step out for a bit, then." [22:35] 4Ir's hands are clenched into fists in her lap. "But they sat right in front of me and talked about how good it was they could buy and sell people again, given the proper permits." [22:36] 4She was going to say something like 'we can't let this go,' but listening to her friends and looking around the room, she finds she doesn't have to. [22:37] 4So instead she takes half of the one sandwich she prepared for herself -- greens and seared frostboar on flatbread -- and scarfs it down. 08[22:37] 7Blossom's vaguely uncomfortable, since this is clearly a huge deal to Ir and a big deal to Eikichi, but fortunately she doesn't have to feel or voice disagreement. Selling to Deathlords and raksha is treason against Creation. Hell, even mundane maltreatment of slaves is wrong, and the Guild certainly doesn't have a good reputation on that score. [22:44] 4When she's finished, she's looking to her friends for help. [22:45] 4She can't do anything herself except autograph signings, right now. [22:47] 13Ying looks determined, if also a little unhappy that she can't do this all herself. 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's face looks the same as it always does. [22:48] 4Ir: "If I had to peg it, Blossom, you can figure out what the actual hierarchy is here -- who talks to who, who orders who around, who's got, I dunno, blackmail on whom -- using your position as my manager as cover." [22:48] 7Blossom: "Um. Not that I don't trust you to source your own ingredients, but do you happen to know where the tuna in these came from?" [22:48] "Oh, that. Yes, I can do that." [22:48] 4Ir: "I took the Heavensward out this morning and caught it myself." [22:49] "...I didn't sleep much last night." 08[22:49] 4Ir: "Eikichi, you can probably find where they're physically keeping these people, and some promising ins." 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I bet Marek and Jol will help us." [22:50] 4Ir, to Ying: "And Ying...if both of you are good with it, we might need Tatsuya on this one." [22:50] "Unless you're actually dating the Emissary." [22:50] 13Ying: "I'm not! Why do people keep saying that?" [22:51] 4Holding hands! 08[22:51] 4To Eikichi: "Yeah. I hope they can." [22:51] 13Is a perfectly normal activity that people who are teleporting need to do sometimes! [22:52] "But this isn't something I want to pass off to others. If they want to help us, they're more than welcome -- but we're the ones who are fixing this." 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "This probably means conflict with the Emissary at some point." [22:53] 4Ir: "Not if we're smart, careful, and lucky." [22:53] "We're just saying, it would be very sweet if you were. Ir, I would strongly recommend that none of this plan involve anyone outside this room. Including our Lunar friends." 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "If Ying wants to pretend she doesn't have a crush on the Emissary, I support her." [22:54] 13Ying: "I don't! He's just nice, is all!" 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "Some of my favorite people have gone ages pretending they didn't have crushes." [22:54] 4Ir: "I'm fine with that. I like Marek, obviously, but he has his own concerns and his own agenda." [22:54] "Tatsuya will help out and if he doesn't you have my permission to beat him up." [22:54] 4Ir cracks a smile. "Thank you. Though that might be counter-productive." [22:58] 4Ir: "One last thing. This whole...scheme...has a name. At least I think it does." [22:59] 4Ir: "The word 'Channel' came up five or six times. Said like there was a capital letter at the front, but not a person or a place." [23:03] "And whatever it is, we're not looking to stop Channel. Not directly, anyway. Channel's already worked." [23:03] "What comes next..." 4Ir waves a frustrated hand. "Well, I'm sure it'll be perfectly legal." [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12It's later in the afternoon that a pair of visitors show up at the Crimson Palace's door. One is Azer'Jol, a sallow man in a dark robe who's always looking around out of sunken eyes. The other, no one recognizes - a fit, compactly-built man with close-cropped brown hair and a fair helping of small scars in random places - across his nose, down one sheek, up the side of a hand. [23:07] 4... [23:08] 4Where's Marek? [23:09] 4She gets it when he grins at her. [23:09] 4She blushes, crosses her arms, shakes her head, and waves for them to follow her upstairs. [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Where, indeed. "Greetings, chosen," 12says Jol, in a somewhat halting voice. He seems fully healed. His fellow nods to the rest of you: "Good to see you." [23:10] 4Pleasantly: "Greetings, Jol." 4Petulantly: "Hi, Marek." [23:11] 7Blossom: "Hello." [23:11] 6Tatsuya: "Yo." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Are you hungry?" 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "I've got a bunch of candy I'm not allowed to eat." [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Aheh. Hello. So." 12Where has Ir seen this person before...? "I alr-" 12Jol: "Yes." [23:12] 4Ir: "There are some sandwiches. If you want sandwiches." [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol: "What power is this that keeps a chosen of the sun from his feast?" 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi sighs. "Love." [23:13] 4She stares at Marek. There's something about him. Not HIM, but the face he's wearing. [23:14] 4Even when he notices, she doesn't stop staring intently at him with narrowed eyes. [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol: "Ah! Love. My condolences." 12It's hard to tell if he's joking. Marek, meanwhile, looks back gamely, seemingly unperturbed. He says: "So - as I said. You've proven yourself. To my circle, certainly. Someone else bothers you about the spear, refer them to me." [23:15] 4That just makes her narrow her eyes and purse her lips more. And cross her arms harder. [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "But I'm concerned th- what?" [23:16] 4Leaning forward: "I know you from somewhere." [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Ir and Ying last saw this figure yesterday, a little past noon... dodging, with increasing desperation and decreasing success, Iscariot's business end. 08[23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12And Eikichi last saw him ages ago, from midair, in the Hedgehog... [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Ahaha." [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12He watches for the moment of realization. [23:20] 6Tatsuya just leans back, pretending not to realize. "What's funny?" 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "That counts?" [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Oh, usually not! But I have my tricks." [23:22] 4Ir almost leaps out of her seat, point an accusing finger at him. "YOU, are an ASSHOLE, and FUCK that guy!" 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Gods, she's like a teenager. 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10How the mighty have gotten even cooler. [23:23] 4Oh, you'd fuck him too, don't even play. 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10I couldn't possibly comment. [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Ahahaha! But keep it quiet. This - this face? A precious treasure. The ultimate prize. Part of, at least." [23:24] 4Ir grumps back down into her seat. "Be more accurate to ~shapeshift~ into a big ol' pile of lizard shit." [23:24] "What?" [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Heh, agreed. But that's beyond my power - and far, far less useful." [23:26] 7Blossom: "Wait, he somehow ate--" 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "He trained those tyrant lizards, remember. A physical, spiritual connection between an animal and its tamer... it makes sense to me." [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol: "To arrange this... it took some doing. I was a fly on many walls. I believe, that they believed, that we didn't know, and that they would enjoy more backup, and some other things besides. And now they surely know that certain servants, certain safehouses, are useless." [23:27] 4Ir: "Marek is wearing the face of the Chosen of Heaven that Borneo ate yesterday." [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "All we need.. well, I'll put that aside for now. What are you doing in this city? And what of this chosen of the stars that you... took pity on?" [23:31] 4Ir leans back with an obviously affected air of nonchalance. "Oh, we're doing things." [23:33] "Nexus is cosmopolitan and decadent, and we were newly wealthy and in need of many things available for sale here." [23:33] "Nexus is a good place to go, and having gone, to leave." 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We're mostly goofing off and getting more famous. Have you read my book?" [23:33] 7Blossom: "We are not goofing off." 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm goofing off." 08[23:34] 4Ir: "Eikichi is goofing off." 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "Thank you." [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol: "Hrmm. I see the appeal. Unfortunately, there is little time for such, for us." [23:35] "The rest of us aren't. Like I said. Doing things." 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi gives Marek a look as if to ask, is he like this all the time? [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek looks back like, yes. [23:36] 4He spends a lot of time with dead people. [23:36] 7Eating dead people. [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Why the... fighting? The arena?" [23:36] 7I mean, that's weird, no? That's a weird thing to do even if it gives you super powers. [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12I guess it's okay when you're made of crypt scarabs? 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi wouldn't do it, personally, but he tries to be broad-minded. [23:37] 7Blossom: "Ir's a natural performer. In Crystal she was a famous bard." [23:37] 4Ir: "When you act, your enemies react. In this city, fighting in the arena is the ultimate act." [23:38] 4She breaks into a lop-sided grin. "Could be one here, too, if I wasn't so busy being a famous gladiator." [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "That's certainly true. But you didn't know we were to use your fight to bait a trap for heaven. ...right?" [23:39] 4Ir: "No. No we didn't." [23:40] 4Ir: "Someone could have told us." 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Honestly we don't usually think that far ahead." 08[23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Aheh. Sorry. But the fewer who know, yes? And Jol didn't want to." 12Jol: "I did not want you to show them this face, either." 12Marek gives Eikichi another long-suffering look. [23:42] 4Ir: "Oh, please. Who the hell would we talk to? We're the only people who can stand us." [23:42] 7Blossom: "Hmm. I was hoping we'd become so dangerous to Heaven after the Hedgehog incident that they'd sent assassins after us on that strength alone. Pity." [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "They should understand what an enormous win this was - and how grateful we are. And they're not stupid enough to let this slip." [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol: "They were stupid enough to call a-" 12What's the term he used? Later, you can't recall. "-a friend." [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Jol! Come on." [23:43] 4Ir: "I could do without the assassins from Heaven, personally." 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I could do without Heaven." [23:44] 4Ir: "Fair." [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol: "I wish for an accounting of this... ally of yours." [23:44] 4Ir blinks. "I'm sorry?" [23:44] 7Blossom: "How do you mean?" [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12It's Blossom Jol is looking at. "Are you heaven's foe or not?" [23:47] 4Ir: "Not the damn point." 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's not gonna say anything before Blossom does. [23:52] "I haven't committed to butchering everyone in Yu-Shan on principle, if that's what you're asking." 7She leans forward. "The Realm is ruled by cruel usurpers who live off theft and murder, and abandon their spiritual and moral duties to their lessers. The Realm, as it is, must fall. But the Realm is also my home, and if the Unconquered Sun teaches anything he teaches that without [23:52] mercy, justice becomes tyranny." [23:53] "Since the King of Heaven turned his face from Creation, Heaven too has been ruled by usurpers and thieves, petty gods who crave more than their station permits and corrupt bureaucrats who abuse their power." [23:54] "But Sol Invictus is still the King of Heaven." [23:54] 4Ir: "Amen." [23:57] 7Blossom: "The Maidens, too, are of high place. If one of their Chosen can learn to take up virtue's banner, I'll welcome her, because she who stands with me shall be my sister. And I will treat her the way I treat any ally: friendship for friendship, vengeance for betrayal." [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek leans back. Azer'jol, though, leans forward. "Have we not been betrayed? Must not heaven fall? Must not every hand with which it reaches into our affairs be severed at the wrist?" [23:59] "I've told you all this because we don't know each other very well yet and it's important to understand the other person's values when going into a dangerous undertaking. But- will you be bringing your every acquaintance before us and offering an accounting?" 15[23:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It's not betrayal unless they were originally on our side, is it?" Session Time: Fri Sep 15 00:00:00 2017 [00:01] 4Ir: "You're looking healthy. You're looking great. You're looking monk chic. Don't see any holes in your robe, you know? Why's that? Why are you still walking around?" 4She leans forward. "You're still walking around because you had us eat those sins, those swords, and those curving lances of fire for you. You sprung a trap and the mechanism of it was not you. You had us put in [00:01] the work. Know what? We were happy to do that." [00:01] "But you know what that means." [00:01] "It means the questions go the other way." [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12You don't recall their response here. A little later, Marek says: "...a fair question. And no, no, we won't. But we should hear it once, shouldn't we? To spread the word." [00:01] "We don't answer to you, Azer'jol." 08[00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12You don't recall their response to Eikichi, I mean. You certainly recall Jol saying: "How many did you fight. One? With help. Three fell upon me!" [00:02] 4Ir: "It was your plan, dumbass." [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol: "Our plan to ambush them, to cut them off, to confuse their allies! Would you still stand without us? If they'd been free to plot your fall without us hiding, listening?" [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Probably. I did egg them on-" [00:05] 4Ir: "It doesn't matter." [00:05] 7Blossom: "No, wait. Hold on." [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol: "That is not my point-" 08[00:05] "Did you answer Eikichi's question?" [00:08] "I'm still standing because I kicked one tyrant lizard's ass and then the other respected me enough to go hard against our mutual dipshit tryhard fuckface. Without Borneo and Kamchatka, I'm at full speed. I'm at the height of my powers. Ask Marek what two-thirds of the way towards the height of my powers looks like, because that's what he threw down with. With Borneo and Kamchatka, I [00:08] knocked one out and then had a goddamn teamup with the other. I'm not here for what might have happened, Jol. I'm here for what I did." [00:08] "And if it had happened another way, you know what? We'd have just won another way." [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol: "Hm. This explains why we are having this talk in a midden heap of a city and not the halls of the deliberative." 14[00:19] * Joins: Quaker [00:19] 7Blossom: "Nexus IS a midden heap of a city, because all it has to offer is rule by the strongest. We can be, and must be, better than that." 08[00:21] "And-- no, hang on. Seriously. Did you answer Eikichi's question?" [00:21] 7She looks at the other Solars. "Did he?" [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol: "...I will consider your words. But you must hold this chosen of yours at arm's length." 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yeah, he- wait." 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "No?" [00:22] 4Ir: "Of course he didn't." [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek looks back and forth. "He did, I'm afraid. It's... ah, it's hard to explain." [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Your... friend. Have you told anyone else about her?" [00:23] 4Ir: "Yes, every innkeep, raksha, Wyld Huntsman and captain of the what do you think?" [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek chuckles. "Then you're too honorable to have run into this yourself! Lovely." [00:24] 7Blossom gets straight to the point. "Why don't we remember?" [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Heaven's agents... they. I must talk around this. Telling you is useless. But you'll figure it out." 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Is it magic that prevents us from understanding?" [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "When a newly-Chosen Lunar is inducted into the Pact, they're told... you know. Of the evils of the Realm. Of the crime of 'civilization'. Of the web of deceit and so on and so on, and this is why we fight." [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "But the stronger they grow and the more they experience - the more they experience, for themselves, the more they'll understand what really drives their elders." 08[00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "You are learned, are you not? You and Eikichi. But there are things you can't learn out of books. Things you can't simply be told by your betters. Yes?" 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We haven't got any betters." [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12He and Jol both snort, but only he looks amused. [00:28] 4Ir: "The reason why is they tend to die. The Sun chooses who He can, not who He wants." 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "But is there magic blocking us from understanding or knowing something without direct apprehension?" [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12He answers you. What did he say? Logically, he must have said yes, right? That's the only way- "-es. Can't... implicate them. Tell of them. Spread the word." [00:29] 4Even Ir's starting to pick up on it now. [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "People can hear you, and believe you. They might be shocked or furious. But it fades." 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "That's fine, then. Magic can be got around." [00:30] 4Ir: "Might be better if we don't talk about them." [00:30] "Clean them out." [00:30] "Make them like they never were." [00:30] "No one can remember them, right?" 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I mean, surely they can remember each other. Think of how stupid it would be otherwise." [00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "We don't know how they do it. Ah, if Kisha were here, she has her theories..." [00:31] 7She frowns. "How? How could anyone-- ugh. Of course either you don't know or you couldn't tell me if you did." [00:31] "That'll have to go." [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "We actually don't know. Some great magic... but what great magic? If our elders have figured it out, they haven't been able to tell us." [00:32] 7Blossom paces. "No. No. Intolerable." 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yeah, we have to fix this." [00:32] 4Ir files the name 'Kisha' away. [00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol: "I believe Ir has the right of it. That they practice some deceit and must simply be made to stop." [00:34] 4Ir shifts in her seat, and resists saying 'of COURSE I have the right of it--' "Of course. The life or death of any given Chosen -- not relevant. It's the fullness of their power. The structure." 08[00:35] "Like Eikichi says. It's Heaven." 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Does the magic extend to inanimate objects?" 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you find yourselves losing things more often when the Chosen of the Maidens are around?" [00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Because they are stealing them invisibly? I'm not sure I follow." 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Because they pick them up or handle them, or leave them behind." [00:37] 7She looks to Jol. "Don't mistake me for an appeaser or a reformist. To be set right, Heaven and Creation will have to be rebuilt from the bedrock up. This... privilege of invisibility cannot be allowed. Quite a few people will have to be put into the earth as a reminder to the next thousand generations. It's just, if I kill someone for doing the wrong thing, I want them to have had [00:37] a clear and open choice to do the right one." 08[00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol is nodding slowly. Marek, meanwhile, shrugs at Eikichi. "I haven't noticed either way - though I'm hardly a scholar on the issue. All I know is, if you haven't seen for yourself, you won't remember another's account." 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "That's so stupid." 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "I hate them so much." [00:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Music to my ears. If only I heard it more often." [00:41] 4Ir: "Mmm." [00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Anyway! We understand each other, yes? We have a common enemy - one that, all too often, has the drop on us, operates under our noses, knows more than we do. But now... we have one of their faces." [00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "All we need... is the gate." [00:41] 7Blossom: "The gate? What, to Heaven?" [00:41] "I suppose there must be one." [00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "The very same." [00:42] <@Ferrinus> 12How does one open the heavenly gate? Hopefully you'll find out... next week. [00:45] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ [00:45] I can't remember what the lesson was for this week? Do YOU know? Write to us at Solar Blossom Says courtesy of your local bookseller or Shosei Industries LLC, Nexus, Nexus! [00:45] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ 14[01:11] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[01:20] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[01:27] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:29] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[01:31] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:31] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[01:39] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[02:48] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[03:14] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:21] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:17] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[04:44] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:47] * Joins: Crion_ 14[05:47] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[06:48] * Joins: Zarick 14[07:04] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[07:54] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:16] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:16] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[11:16] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[12:48] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:39] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[13:41] * Joins: Raistlin_Majere 14[13:49] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[14:03] * Quits: Raistlin_Majere (Quit: SorceryNet Kiwi WebChat) 14[15:01] * Joins: dammitwho 14[15:46] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:46] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[17:36] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[17:37] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[17:45] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[17:46] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[17:50] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:01] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:52] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[19:42] * Joins: Zarick 14[19:58] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[20:46] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[20:51] * Joins: Quaker 14[21:12] * Quits: trenchfoot (Quit: Leaving) 14[21:12] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[21:13] * banana is now known as drnick 14[21:13] * drnick is now known as banana 14[23:17] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[23:17] * Joins: cbass Session Time: Sat Sep 16 00:00:00 2017 14[00:08] * Joins: cbass_ 14[00:08] * Quits: cbass (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_)) 14[00:08] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 14[02:48] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:49] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[03:36] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[08:38] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[09:45] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:03] * Joins: Zarick [10:39] - [10:39] - [10:39] - [10:39] - [10:39] - [10:39] - [10:40] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4d7Wp9kKjA [10:45] At Miramar, under the willows and on the edge of the water, three hundred pairs of eyes turn to see the new arrivals. The boat wobbles and lifts as its armored passengers step one by one off onto the landing’s flagstones, with the Princess’s retainers helping the three northern lords. The plan has been made. All that remains is for the barons to carry it out. As the novelty wears off, the party returns to itself, and the hum [10:45] of conversation and soft music returns. [10:48] The three barons are standing in front of a wide grass lawn, littered with tables and serving platters overloaded with food. Bottles of champagne and other liquours are thick as the grass out here. There’s the heavy scent of blood in the air, coming from somewhere closer to the house. It’s hard to see through the crowd, but if you stand on your tip-toes, you can see the first floor lit through a series of huge double doors, [10:48] with more people inside. [10:48] 4Cav's armor is as comfortable and unrestrictive as fashion will permit. If he can get away with just wearing a breastplate over his suit jacket, he will. [10:50] 6Thanks to ancient sexist tradition, KJ's able to get away without armour at all. Nobody knows you're dangerous if you actually aren't! [10:50] 6The question is how many people we're going to have to meet/greet first. In other circumstances this might be enjoyable. [10:50] 4'Too many.' [10:53] KJ will have to blame the sexism of her own court, since there’s plenty of women wearing full plate getups. The Princess, for one. She inclines her head as you part. “Good luck. I will meet you back here at the launch in…” She starts an elegant-looking silver stopwatch on her wrist. “260 minutes.” It’s almost 11 o’clock at night. [10:54] 4Ominous. [10:55] 6KJ: "I'm sure we'll be partied out by then. Enjoy." [10:55] She hums a little to test the noise of the crowd, how audible everything is. Of course a lot of others here don't need ears to hear. [10:58] 4This many people in body armor tends to put Cav on edge. He wonders what kind of mock battle crap they've got planned for the evening. [10:58] 6To whichever of her companions is visible: "Shall we plunder thes Latin hearts and meet up at the canapes?" [10:58] *these [10:58] 4Cav: "Sounds good to me." [11:02] 4Well, what's the state of play? Surely there are some little cliques forming up, as they often do, and hey, maybe someone wants to talk to the new guy from L.A. [11:06] There are dozens of impenetrable little ones. As they scan the crowd, they can see people still glancing over out of curiosity, but no one makes a beeline for them. Out on the grass, you eventually see the familiar face of the Ambassador, Abby Gannon. She’s standing with a few other people, including one Cav’s seen before — a middle-aged man with shoulder-length black hair, dull yellow plate, and a blank, bored expression. [11:06] Where has he seen him before? It seems so near… [11:07] From the castle’s first floor, they can hear the sound of a scream, followed by a great gale of laughter. [11:07] 4Well. [11:07] 4This is one of those parties. [11:10] 4The LA Invictus are a strange lot, but one thing he's genuinely glad for is that publicly toying with and then murdering kine as a social centerpiece is somewhere between unpermitted and unthinkable. [11:10] 4Not so in New York and, presumably now, San Diego. [11:13] Gannon sees KJ and the rest, and makes a quick expression that is impenetrable if you don’t know her well, and recognizable as “I’m so glad to see you, please rescue me from this conversation” if you do. [11:17] 6Not the kind of heart KJ was hoping to steal, but they'll need an ambassador on side if things go poorly tonight. She sashays over that way, trying not to knock any suits of armour over. [11:18] Oh. The last time Cav saw this person, they were reassembling themselves out of a murder of crows on top of a skyscraper, having just missed Cav, Santiago, Seabury, and the former Ambassador as they evacuated themselves in a helicopter. The Count San Ysidro, Ochoa had said. [11:19] 4Well. [11:19] 4This is going to be a fun party. [11:19] 4He hesitates briefly, then moseys on over. [11:20] Both Cav and KJ can see the robed and masked Nosferatu standing apart from the crowd, waiting. It must be K.J.’s naturally good eyesight, but she also realizes that there are heads mounted on the battlements of the castle, looking down at the party with empty gazes. [11:23] 6Christ. Maybe vampires should be illegal after all. Do they belong to anyone in particular? "Abigail, may I borrow you? There was just one point about the itinerary of signings. I'm sorry to cut in, everybody!" [11:24] 4...Cav didn't realize KJ was about to do that. [11:24] 4Now she's left him alone with the Count. [11:24] Nobody she recognizes, though they all seem to have crosses cut into their foreheads. “Baron Valentine! Of course, one moment, then you must meet everyone…” [11:25] 6KJ: "You know, I really should. Can we do introductions in a barbarously short interval?" 6She's basically imitating how La Jolla and her retinue talk at this point. Seems de rigeur, which is also something else they say. [11:26] Well, not just the count. An enormous man, seven feet tall and extraordinarily fat, peers down at Cav as clearly less important personages take shelter in his bulk. “So THIS is the little delegation Bailey sent down…and who are YOU, senor?” The Count says nothing. [11:27] Gannon stops K.J. once they’re out of earshot. “You couldn’t find time to drop into my office before tonight?” [11:27] "I don't have a good answer for you, Abby, but I have an answer." [11:28] "Did you know that the Princess La Jolla has a private rollercoaster?" [11:28] Abby frowns. “So you did go with her to her little park. Why? Did she ask you to do something?” [11:30] "No, that's the answer: the private wonderland. I said it's a bad excuse, but we've basically been alternating between the rides and clubbing." [11:30] 6KJ: "Tell you what, let's catch up now?" [11:32] Abby clearly wants to let it go, but… “Just clubbing?” [11:34] 6KJ looks uncomfortable. "Maybe I should've brought a cooler down, but.. do you know about the thing I've got? I spend a bit more time feeding than most of us." [11:36] 4He turns on the charm. "I, my lord, am Clinton Cavanaugh, Baron of Laguna, Shepherd, and late of New York City." 4He hits the proper mix of respectful, breezy, and arrogant that plays well with this crowd. At least, he hopes it does. [11:39] The corners of the huge man’s eyes and mouth curl upwards in delight. “Oh, I’ve been mistaken. Not one of Bailey’s fey little creations, then! No, a real New Yorker. Charmed, Baron. I am…eh….” He flaps a meaty paw at his retinue. [11:41] 4Cav's pretty sure that's not mockery in his voice, and given what 'New York City values' mean in the context of the Kindred community, that's something Cav finds very concerning. What sort of retinue does this man have? 14[11:41] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [11:42] Someone steps forward. “Clifford Jackson Gordon! Prince of Tijuana! Protector of Rosarito! Stalwart of the Grand Prince, First Order! Order of the Black Bird, full honors! Knight of the -“ The Prince waves again, shutting him up. The retinue seems to be made up of people who watch his every move closely, and flinch when he acts. [11:43] Abby: “I know. That’s fine. It’s just…you’re sure there’s nothing you want to tell me?” [11:44] 4Ah. The man heading up the prospective pogrom, if Cav remembers correctly. [11:44] 4Yeah. He would love New York vampires. [11:44] The Prince of Tijuana: “How did you end up in Los Angeles, Baron! It doesn’t seem to attract your kind of pedigree. Naturally.” [11:47] 4Cavanaugh: "Fate and duty, Prince. There was a need of our services in the Brilliant Court, a request was made, and I, being a junior associate at the firm, was obligated to fill it." [11:47] 4He permits himself a bit of wryness in his smile. "As you might imagine, it has not been the best...oh, what is the term they use these days...'culture fit.'" [11:49] 6KJ: "..c'mon, that's not how you do deniability. Save the friendly prying for when we get home, alright? When in Rome." [11:49] "Sorry, I've spent too much time around these aristocrats to the point of being, like, unintelligible." [11:49] 4It's great, right? [11:51] Gordon laughs. It’s like watching a meat section during an earthquake. “No! I don’t imagine it would be. I’ve heard a little of the Shepherds, of course. Very professional. Very capable. Not sentimental. The right kind of people. In fact…well, Tijuana has plenty of problems that could use a Shepherd. How does one contract your firm out, anyway?” [11:53] Abby looks genuinely taken aback. “Oh.” K.J. can tell that she’s going to commit to something, and that she thinks she’s going to regret it. “Well. Ok. Just…be safe.” They stand there for a moment, under a canvas tent. “Do you want me to introduce you to the people Cavanaugh is talking to?” [11:55] 4Cav joins the laugh. "I can refer you to an account manager and have someone from our client-contact group reach out to you, but beyond that I'm actually not sure. For all the shiny new corporate America gloss, we have our obsessive secrecies same as any other group of our like -- and the employee handbook, ah, heavily incentivizes us not to freelance." [11:56] 6KJ: "Sure. They're not the ones you needed extraction from, right?" [11:58] Abby: “They’re pretty bad company. But at least we’re out here. The real freaks are inside.” She looks back at Cav and the Prince. “I’ll introduce you, and then go find whatever little isle of good taste the Princess usually makes at things like this.” [11:59] "Funny, I got the impression you weren't a fan when we met at the station. She seems fine, as a hostess." [12:02] Gordon: “What a shame! These fucking church people - no offense, Count, you know who I mean - are like rats. No matter how many you make an example of, more and more arrive, and then they breed, you know. You have to be firm, set an example. They could use a good Shepherding…into Hell! Haha! The last time I heard of the Shepherds out here, it was for some bloody work like that. And you didn’t hear anything about those [12:02] people they worked on afterwards! Yes…I’ll look into it. These ones” - he gestures at his cringing retinue - “are too soft a touch.” [12:02] 4... [12:03] 4Clinton maintains his smile and says something polite and deferant, because he's a professional. [12:04] Abby: “She’s fine company. I mean, I like her personally. Her circle is the only one I can stand. She just…makes headaches for me, sometimes. I’m always having to apologize for our Court when she uses one of us for some scheme.” [12:04] 4What the hell were Alicia and Peter doing out here to make this monster think the Shepherds are the answer to his need for a purge? [12:05] 6KJ: "Ha. She's pretty open about her ambitions, yeah. But you can trust that we wouldn't get into anything that warrants apologies." 6In the sense that there'd be no point rendering any. [12:09] Abby sighs. “Okay. Let’s go meet the monster mash.” [12:12] Cav’s next thought is broken by the returning Ambassador. “Prince! Count. This is K.J. Valentine, Baron of Anaheim and one of the Brilliant Court’s most brilliant young stars. You’ve met her brilliant young counterpart, Baron Cavanaugh, I see. K.J., this is Clifford Jackson Gordon, Prince of Tijuana and Lord of many other places, and Artur Korzeniowski, Count San Ysidro.” [12:13] The Prince seems less impressed by this one. “And who is YOUR sire, young lady?” [12:13] 4Oh, this is going to go well. [12:21] 6KJ beams like a flashlight. "Well. If you believe the cult's promotional materials, she was an ancient reawakened priestess of the 'Bak-Ra', the true inheritors of Egypt. But it said Casey Abadi on her employment contract, and probably her birth certificate." [12:22] "I'm very interested to make your acquaintance. If we could get this kind of cross-border cooperation dayside a lot of problems would go away." [12:24] Clifford Jackson Gordon: “A…cult? Egypt? Cross-border cooperation?” He seems to be getting angrier with each question mark. “What is this, Ambassador?” [12:24] 4Cav, smoothly: "Baron Anaheim comes to us from San Francisco." [12:26] Cav sees someone he surely couldn’t have expected to see here, passing through a parting of a crowd. He’s met Presbyter Karin Sauer before, at some party, surely. She keeps walking, not seeing him.” [12:26] Prince Gordon makes a kind of strangled screaming noise. [12:27] 4...Well, that's strange. "If you'll excuse me a moment. Prince. Ambassador. Baron." [12:27] Count San Ysidro speaks for the first time. It sounds like a rock crusher. “That is an odd place to start, if you hope to gain rank or respect in the Los Angeles Invictus. Or the Invictus of nearly anywhere. How did you manage it, Baron Anaheim?” [12:27] "And Count." [12:28] 6Flatly: "I fled. As you're aware, they're a murderous bunch and they don't like cults any more than we do." [12:29] 4Better he bows out before they have to start comparing wartime exploits, anyway. [12:29] "I survived and became useful. Fortunately, I can do most things better than most people. Occasionally that's enough. Takes all kinds, right?" [12:29] 4He's going to shadow Sauer, though not approach her in public. Not yet, at least. [12:31] The Prince: “No!” The Count: “Of course.” [12:32] Sauer winds her way through the crowd. It’s hard to follow someone so small, since the gaps she makes close up quickly. Cav will have to try hard to keep up with her. [12:35] 6KJ: "Tell me, your Highness- how have you maintained such standards in Tijuana? Have you defeated entropy, rendering all change avoidable?" [12:38] The Prince rises. “Please, Baron. Share your insights with us.” [12:40] Cav does more than try: he succeeds! Sauer, for all her quickness, is kept in sight the whole way. He even follows her when she disappears in a flicker of shadow, appearing a few strides later near the castle, slipping into an empty and darkened parlor. She stands with her hands in her pockets, waiting, admiring a painting of some woman in armor. [12:43] 4Cav will slide up alongside her, but far enough way to be unnoticed in his approach and unthreatening on his reveal. "Who is she?" [12:45] 6KJ takes a glass from a passing servant's hand and drinks whatever was in it. "If you're positing a world where the only Kindred who take a place in society are the ones already occupying it, there's no special insight needed to disappoint you. I'll just wait a few hundred years, your Highness, and you'll be ash or buried in dreams." [12:46] 6To San Ysidro, murmured: "My apologies." 6It's probably about to be clear what for. [12:46] Presbyter Sauer jumps all the same. “Oh!” When she realizes who has seen her, she does a double-take. “Baron Cavanaugh? Oh, uh. Um. I don’t know. I just liked the, uh…art. The brush strokes are very…technically proficient.” [12:47] 4Cavanaugh shrugs. "I wouldn't know. What brings you to the party, Presbyter?" [12:48] Sauer looks around. “Sightseeing.” [12:48] 4He's not going to ask why she's in San Diego. She can't answer that question both safely and honestly on these grounds, and Cav's pretty sure he's got the general sense of it either way. [12:52] The Prince’s broad face darkens as K.J. speaks. By the time she’s finished, his teeth are bared, and drawing blood from his lower lips. “You! A few hundred years! Now here is the Los Angeles I know all too well. You people….you aberrations. You traitors. You self-promoters and malcontents! You screeching, swarthy apes!” Abby is gently pushing K.J. away. [12:54] 4So glad to have been tabbed as 'one of the good ones' by San Diego's resident vampire Nazi. [12:54] 4Well. Tijuana's. [12:54] 6Swarthy, are you fucking kidding me "Thanks, Abby. Some pleasant gardens through here, right?" [12:56] 4To Sauer: "I think I saw enough of the city last time I was here to last me another, oh, thirty or forty years. However long it takes the blood to thin. But here I stand nonetheless." [12:56] 6If Gordon is letting them go, they'll go. Otherwise KJ had better vanish entirely at this point. She wouldn't even trust herself NOT to escalate. [12:56] “You frauds and hucksters! You freaks and mongrel-lovers! Replace me? You’ll…me? Us? The eternal, unyielding bulwark of God, of order, of law, of good? You, replace me? I can trace MY heritage back four THOUSAND years, Baron! Each of my ancestors knew the strength of the Invictus, the strength of a will that resists the weak and the wailing hordes, who would erase a millennia of hard-won peace for a second of mindless [12:56] pleasure- YOU???” [12:57] Well, he doesn’t follow them as they leave. [12:57] 6Quietly: "I mean, he's right about the Bay Area." [12:57] Sauer: “Why are you here?” She doesn’t sound accusatory, just curious. [12:59] 4Drolly: "The Seneschal thought we could use the vacation. Unless you mean the party in specific, in which case I have to stay I'm still asking that myself." [13:00] "Plate armor does my profile no favors." [13:00] Abby: “Well, Tijuana’s overrated, anyway.” She’s led them to a break in the crowd. Left to the lit section of the manor on the ground floor, right to a darkened wing and an empty stretch of grass overlooking the lake. Which way? [13:01] Sauer looks like she’s thinking. Eventually: “You’re friends with Presbyter Vincent, right?” 08[13:02] "I'd like to think so," 4Cav says. "She always got on better with Rollie, though." [13:03] Sauer: “Why are you friends with her?” [13:05] "I've got two answers to that, one which you might like and the other one which you won't, and I'm not sure which is the real reason. Maybe both are." [13:06] Sauer: “Now’s the time for honesty.” [13:07] "The first is, given that she was a source of assistance and power outside the formal chain of Invictus command while I was a deputy and now represents my direct territorial neighbor as a baron, being friends with her is merely good politics. I certainly have enough enemies in the Brilliant Court without running afoul of the priests. [13:09] "The second is that she reminds me of something I've never seen before; an odd, disquieting sensation -- perhaps an echo in the blood, perhaps just a strange deja vu. A vampire with her kindness and grace -- and I mean that in the religious sense -- is a thing both my lives have told me should not be." [13:09] "But then, my religion was always money." [13:10] Sauer relaxes. “Oh, okay. Hey, do you like the Bishops, or the San Diego Court?” 08[13:13] 6KJ's answer will depend on whether Wilson's made his presence known yet. This might be a good time to slip away from Abby and into the bowels of the party. 08[13:14] Abby: “Oh, that reminds me. Where’s Baron Frost gotten to? Was he with you?” [13:15] 4Cav purses his lips. "I've no use for the former and with one conspicuous exception in the Princess of La Jolla, I prefer how my first interaction with the San Diego Court went as compared to this burgeoning horror show." 15[13:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson's done what he usually does at parties, which is park in one spot and talk to people who come to him. This is so much harder sober. [13:17] In fact, nobody comes to talk to him. Lords and ladies react with shock at his uncovered face and walk away muttering. [13:18] 4Fun crowd. [13:18] Sauer: “Nice. Well, you probably won’t -“ There’s a knock on a door leading further into the house, and the Presbyter turns to look. “Yes?” [13:19] The door swings open slightly. A porcelain mask peeks through the gap. “We’re here.” It notices Cav. “Do you…require assistance.” [13:21] 4Are they asking Sauer or Cav? [13:23] It’s asking Sauer. Sauer: “No, he’s from up north. He’s with me.” She fishes a piece of paper from her pocket and reads from it. “1360 Pepper Tree Road. Dig under the lemon tree in the back. Should be 25 pieces, 5,000 rounds. Some special ones, I don’t know how many they put in. And five pounds of plastics. So be careful when you dig.” [13:23] The mask: “Yours is behind the painting.” The door closes, quietly. [13:24] Sauer looks at the painting again. “It’s pretty big. Help me take it off the wall?” [13:25] "Of course." 4Hopefully namechecking -- well, title-checking -- the Princess along with his stated feelings on the Bishops and San Diego have tipped Sauer to the vague outline, at least, of what he's doing at the party. It would be so gauche to actually say it out loud. Bad op sec, too. [13:27] With the big oil painting lifted out of the way, there’s a hollow in the wall, holding a wide plastic case. Sauer pops the hinges and places it on the floor, kneeling in front of it. “Let’s see…” [13:28] There’s what looks like close to $15,000 in bills, and something placed in foam holders: they look like four D-Cell batteries, covered in a dried, brownish substance. [13:30] Sauer: “I get the sense that we run in the same circles. Maybe our ends just hadn’t met yet.” [13:32] 4Cav laughs and shakes his head. "Perhaps. But I've been...more distant towards the Prysbeter, and her parish, than I should have been since the partitioning. Maybe I'll start dropping by more often." 08[13:32] The only person to approach Wilson turns out to be one of the Nosferatu. It’s not until she speaks that he realizes it’s Sara, the one he’s been working with for a day and his assigned doppelganger. “Hello, Baron. Are you ready to start? We should find the others.” 15[13:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson ought to be miffed, but this isn't even the first time his understudy was a girl. "Sure. Enjoying yourself?" 08[13:33] Cav has seen these before. They’re what Rollie had in his flashlight. The brown stuff is supposed to be the blood of a martyr. 08[13:35] Sara’s mask has a red stone under her left eye. Wilson could swear that for a moment, it gleams. “Yes. When I meditate on the fact that I can help others escape from this place.” [13:35] 4Glancing at the batteries: "Now there's a useful tool." 15[13:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson: "You know, if any of you want a vacation from this, I've got a big place up in LA." 15[13:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "I've always got guests and hardly ever see them. It's a good place to avoid everyone for a while." [13:37] Sara: “Thank you. I’m going to be staying with the rest for a while, once we arrive. I’ll visit if I get the chance.” 15[13:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson motions for her to lead on. [13:40] Yesterday, as the barons went over the plan, the question came up: The Nosferatu are talented mimics, but they can’t provide much convincing depth if pointed questions start being asked. Will one of the three remain with the decoys of the other two, to provide cover? Or will all three be sneaking around? [13:41] 4If it's the former, Cav's the easy choice. He's got the skillset and is the Right Sort of Fellow, You Know, Just Has That 'It' Quality for this crowd of revanchist freaks. 15[13:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson's happy to hang back, but you probably want the decoy to be the guy who can't turn invisible. 14[13:44] * banana is now known as banana|peels 08[13:47] They talked it over. Cav would be the right sort of guy, it’s true…but Wilson has spent the most time navigating parties, and knows the best ways to bullshit away attention. Sara leads Wilson to where Abby and K.J. are. [13:48] Sauer closes the case. “I’ll be heading back to L.A. now. You want me to take anything with me? I won’t be searched. Or I can take a message to someone, I guess.” [13:50] 4Cav shakes his head. "Nothing comes to mind." [13:52] She picks the case up. “Alright. See you soon.” She leaves the room, passing a robed, masked figure. It’s Alberto, the Nosferatu Cav has been working with. “Baron. We should begin. The others are nearby.” [13:53] 4Cav: "Lead the way." [13:56] He does, and once they’ve collected the rest of the barons and Sara, the little group is led to a quiet, darkened portion of the first floor. A door is opened, and then they find themselves in a large, empty room filled with sinks and stainless steel appliances. The blueprints they’ve all been committing to memory said it was an auxiliary kitchen. 08[13:59] Alberto: “So. One last time. Baron Frost, myself, and Sara remain on the first floor. The others move upstairs and replace the item with the forgery. If no alarm is raised, the others return to the first floor, and the night proceeds as normal. If an alarm is raised, we withdraw Baron Frost and the doppelgangers back under the Princess’s protection, and you two will have to make your way to the other side of the lake, where [13:59] the Princess’s people will pick you up.” [14:00] The light in the kitchen bends, and Cav and K.J. are looking at copies of Cav and K.J. [14:00] Cav asks Cav, in Cav’s voice. “Are we ready?” [14:01] 4So weird. "Think so." [14:03] Then the three decoys leave by a side door. [14:03] The clock begins for Cav and K.J. [14:03] NEXT WEEK: Heisting! 14[16:49] * Joins: Zarick 14[16:50] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[17:13] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:00] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:52] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:57] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:06] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:43] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[19:49] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:54] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:57] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:02] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:26] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[21:53] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:58] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:01] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:01] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:08] * Joins: dammitwho 14[23:18] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:32] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[23:59] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Sun Sep 17 00:00:00 2017 14[00:04] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:52] * Joins: mattbaby 14[01:07] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping 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14[07:00] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:05] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:46] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[09:48] * Joins: Crion 14[10:07] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:26] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[10:27] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:27] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[10:51] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[11:17] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:29] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:01] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[12:01] * Joins: cbass 14[12:02] * Joins: gulbanana 14[12:09] * Quits: gulbanana (Quit: ) 14[12:09] * Joins: gulbanana 14[12:09] * Quits: gulbanana (Quit: ) 14[12:10] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:11] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:42] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:07] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:23] * Joins: tom 14[17:04] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:20] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:24] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:29] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:37] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:01] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:05] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:07] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[18:47] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:51] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:58] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[18:58] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:21] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:48] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[19:50] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:06] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[20:07] * Joins: hrolf 14[20:08] * Joins: hrolf_mac 15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD> So if Xia Lan wants to get a feel for CIO's crowd, she's still got an afternoon and early evening to run down this mysterious command performance invitation from "the Empress Inscrutable", which seems to lead to a glassblower on Sentinel Hill. Xu Sim's been roused from his briny torpor by the prospect of trafficking with strange demons. Bastian remains desperate for any word about his homeland. And Stranger, waiting on winged word, can devote his time and talent to anything he chooses until that report returns. 14[20:17] * Joins: tom [20:18] 5 Xu Sim marinates, contemplating the best wording to send to invite a demon-blooded scholar to parlay. [20:23] 13Xia Lan dresses down for the occasion. She's not fond of the Sentinel Hill area, but this whole scenario just seems like a trick - she takes her time in the area, window-shopping, sitting on benches, and otherwise wasting time while keeping an eye on the glassblower's, looking for anyone coming in or out. [20:26] von Hrolfus lies brooding. [20:27] "Stranger, how should we pose our request? A desire for audience? An invitation to visit? Maybe you can brag about one of those teas you're always drinking," 5 suggests the Doctor. [20:28] 14Stranger rubs his chin. "No, I think not. That seems like more of a mocking critcism of my personal habits than a promising way forward. I suggest a conversation." [20:29] "I suspect he will realize, quite quickly, that either he has the conversation with us, or he doesn't." [20:29] "But either way, he's still going to have to meet us. And if it's not a conversation, well." [20:30] 14Stranger smiles. "Then it's something we're far better suited for than he is." [20:30] "Though we'll want the Dawn present for that." [20:30] "And the other Eclipse." [20:31] 13She's dressed as an older gentleman, possibly a frontiersman, with long hair spilling out from under a hat and a handlebar moustache completing a weathered face. She's wearing a fine (if somewhat worn and dated) men's suit, with an oversized belt buckle and boots that have seen better days. It's not the first time she's been Dead Man's Hand, but it is his first time in Nexus. [20:31] "He'd be quite the fool to pick a fight with us. A request for a conversation could be rather intimidating." [20:32] 14Mildly: "Oh, we're just two old men in a kitchen, one of whom is brining." [20:32] "We're nothing special." [20:33] 14Stranger stands. "I am still going to make some tea, however. Should I assume that you're not thirsty?" [20:36] "Only if it's no great trouble to pour for two."5 The sorcerer examines a hand, pulling at the skin and rubbing the palms together. Quite a powerful dermatological effect, to be sure. 14[20:36] * Joins: hrolfy [20:37] 14Stranger will put on a pot of Yucasan Yellow, which is mild, soothing, and has a slight hint of sweetness to it even without honey. 14[20:37] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:39] von Hrolfus bursts into the kitchen. "We must see the Guild. At once." [20:39] 14Since he's almost always got a pot of hot water, it's no-- [20:39] 14Ah. [20:39] "Hello, Bastian." [20:40] "On what business?" [20:40] 4"The only one that matters to me." [20:40] "Deguo, then." [20:40] 4 Impatiently. "What else? Could you stand by placidly while your home burns - worse?" [20:40] 14Stranger isn't about to tell him to hurry up and wait, because who would? [20:41] "Of course not. In fact, I didn't." [20:41] "But that's a story for another time." [20:41] "So. The Guild. What do you want from them?" [20:41] 4"Information. Who would be best to see?" [20:44] 14Stranger frowns in thought and sits down near the fire to stir the tea a minute. If Bastian fidgets or says something while he's thinking, the silver-haired Eclipse will raise a hand to stay him. [20:49] 14After a moment: "You will want the Dispatch, of course. But that's a...very broad group." [20:49] "In size and expertise." [20:49] 4"Could you elaborate?" [20:50] 14Stranger: "Well. The Dispatch is an abstract really. Sort of a journal of business. Issued every so often, with summaries of persons and organizations who can provide specific services." [20:51] "What I mean by a 'broad group' is that, well. If you can find everything in its pages -- and it likes to pretend you can -- that means finding what you wants gets a bit harder." [20:51] 4"How do we get a copy?" He pauses. "A silly question. In this city of merchants and graspers...who do we bribe?" [20:52] 5 Xu Sim dips his face below the level of the brine in his barrel. He blows a bubble - a single bubble that grows and grows, until it's perhaps six inches across, at which point it rises from the sludge, pops, and reveals a shining, unusually piscine, cherub with six wings. Its message, posted to Vladok, is a request for a conversation regarding events contemporary and historical and is... [20:52] ...signed in Xu Sim's own name. [20:52] 14Stranger: "I wouldn't suggest bribery. Even if you succeed, the bribe will be noted. And it's not likely to succeed, unless you're far richer than I." [20:52] 4"I am." [20:52] "Fair as it goes. But either way, you will be brought to the attention of the Guild." [20:53] 4"Is that such a problem? Aren't they busy dealing with the power vacuum with the Emissary's death?" [20:53] "Better to steal it, or otherwise hoodwink a courier that carries it into giving it up." [20:53] 4"A failed attempt at robbery would incur EVEN more unwanted attention." [20:53] 14Stranger shrugs expansively. "If it's not a problem for you, it's not a problem. Just make sure if doesn't become a problem for us." [20:54] "The Guild will be very, very interested in the persons who caused such a ruckus at the theater." [20:54] "It's their business to be." 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Dead Man's Hand sets up across the street where he can nurse a drink and hide amid smoke and games. He keeps his eye on the glassblower's address, looking for shady doings. He doesn't see much suspicious over that first hour or so, just a lot of children. [20:55] 4von Hrolfus slumps despondently against a wall. "You know this city better than I. I will follow your lead, if you are willing to help." 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Children in little hats, children running and playing and shouting. Children carefully balancing new bottles as they walk out of the shop's door. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Children with mustaches stepping outside and lighting a little pipe... 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Wait a second. [20:56] 14Stranger shakes his head. "I can help you, but I should not go with you." [20:56] "I have..." [20:56] "Made decisions." [20:56] "Regarding the Guild." [20:56] "You will be better served without me around." [20:56] 4"Not on good terms eh?" [20:57] 14Stranger smiles. "No." [21:00] 13That's - huh. They grow up so fast these days. Only the weird kids? No passers-by taking an interest? [21:02] 14He stirs the tea. "You have two options to my mind, then. The first, and most direct, is that you find an underfactor -- a Guild lieutenant -- and bargain with him directly. He or she will either try to throw you out on your ass, or name some price." [21:02] "You are, of course, uniquely qualified in the field of not being thrown out on your ass." [21:03] "The price may not be currency, of course. It might be work. If you reveal your nature to the underfactor -- or if they already know what it is -- then it will almost certainly be work." [21:03] "And then you're stuck working for the Guild." [21:03] "The other, more underhanded option, is to find that underfactor -- and then instead of approaching them, stake them out. Wait until you see a courier approaching, intercept them, and...bargain as you will." [21:04] 4von Hrolfus suddenly snaps his fingers, straightens up and yells out a single name: "Klaus!" [21:04] 4"Mit gotts, I completely forgot about the man." 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Passersby either don't notice or care, as far as Dead Man's Hand can see. It's a little strange... [21:05] 14Stranger's eyebrows lift, and the tea is finished. [21:06] 4"My servant. I gave him the week off to enjoy the city. He's probably drunk in a tavern somewhere.." 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> The fluid in Xu Sim's barrel starts bubbling. [21:06] 4"If I could send him on my behalf..." [21:06] 14Stranger: "In fairness, being drunk a week in a tavern is a very good way to learn about Nexus economics. I--" [21:06] 14Stranger turns his head. "Excuse me. We're about to have a visitor, I think. I hope this has been helpful." [21:07] 14He pours two cups of tea and heads back to the kitchen. [21:07] 5 Xu Sim shifts uneasily.  "We might need a third cup?" 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> It's a strange sensation for Xu Sim, that of being in a pot over a flame, boiling vigorously, but with no heat to speak of. [21:07] 14Stranger: "Never give them anything for free, Xu Sim." [21:07] "Not even tea." [21:08] 13Never give them anything without checking the fine print. Xia Lan learned. [21:08] 14He retakes his seat on a stool next to the sorcerer's barrel. 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubbles start to fill the room, thick oily bubbles of fishy-smelling brine. They pop after a few seconds, and each one carries a snatch of whispering voice, too low to hear. They get bigger, and pop more loudly, until both Xu Sim and Stranger can make out a four word sequence repeating itself in stinking staccato. 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> God's - Forgotten - Children - Where [21:09] 14God? Singular? [21:10] 14Hmm. [21:10] 5 Clever of Vladok to immediately deduce their nature. Or perhaps not. [21:10] 14He hands Xu Sim his cup of Yucasan. [21:11] 5 Xu Sim swirls it, takes its aroma, covers it for a moment from a fishy popping bubble, and takes a sip. 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Yes. It's a peculiar affectation outside of places ruled by individual gods directly, like some of the Kingdoms, or Harborhead, if rumor is to be believed. [21:11] 5 The tea isn't bad at all. [21:13] "Is he asking us where to meet? Maybe we should suggest neutral ground." [21:13] 14Stranger files this away for later. [21:13] 14Stranger: "I'd wager he's just trying to make an impression." [21:13] "Give it a moment." 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> The bubbles continue, one word now, repeated into near-meaninglessness. 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Where - Where - Where - Where [21:14] 14Stranger sighs. [21:14] "I suppose we'll have to leave the house." 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> You could always invite him in. [21:15] "...I'm not moving this barrel." [21:15] 14Oh, please. [21:15] 14We may be arrogant, but we're not stupid. [21:15] 13Speak for yourself. [21:16] 5 Xu Sim grumbles mightily as he extracts himself from the barrel. [21:16] 14Well don't do that! He's still bubbling! [21:18] 4von Hrolfus is wearing a hood, casually sauntering past the lodgings, then looping back and hopping over a fence in the back alley. He can hear the sounds of snoring through a window on the lower floor, and lets himself in through there. [21:18] 5 No wait he doesnt! [21:18] 14Stranger pushes down on the sorcerer's shoulder. 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Dead Man's Hand actually does see something odd - people who speak to the mustachioed child outside with a pipe are looking well over his head as they speak to him, as if they're making eye contact with a much taller person. [21:20] 13Huh. Some trick. Usually when she disguises herself she has to just, put lifts in or crouch a bit, depending. That might make walking over in a disguise still fail at hiding her identity, then. [21:21] 13So, Dead Man's Hand walks right through the glassblower's door, if no one stops them. What's inside? [21:21] 14Which language is this thing speaking, anyway? 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Old Realm! The tongue of spirits. The tongue of gods and demons besides. [21:22] 14Well, boring is good. Does Xu Sim have that tongue? [21:22] 14Surely-- [21:23] 5 He does [21:23] 14Then Stranger will have him send back this in Old Realm: Floodwater - Gate - City - 17 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Bastian finds Klaus ready and able for work, after a wash and a shave and a fresh set of clothes. Good as new, more or less. "My lord? How may I be of service?" 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Pop-pop-pop. 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> So - Be - It [21:24] 14Surely he'll ask for a time. 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> He did not. [21:25] 14Ah. Good news for him them: he's on their schedule now. [21:25] 14Stranger stands and finishes his tea. To Xu Sim: "Can you fit in there with the lid on?" [21:26] "Without drowning." [21:28] 4 von Hrolfus looks him up and down with a beady eye. "Have you been keeping up with...recent events?" 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Klaus: "I heard tell of your valor against strange invaders! Defending yourself and crushing the abominations." [21:29] 4"What else have you heard?" 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "I also heard you were -" He gulps. "- killed and replaced by a demon." [21:29] 14Stranger: "If not, we can drain some of this nonsense without impacting your project, yes?" [21:30] "I won't have Tepali's people drag you through the streets with your head sticking out, squawking about this and that. Too much attention." [21:30] "And too weird." [21:30] 4von Hrolfus laughs. "Oh yes? What do you think?" 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Dead Man's Hand finds himself in a very hot and cramped glassblower's. It reminds him ever so slightly of Vladok's shop. The child with a mustache stands on a tall stool behind the counter, grinning broadly as he enters, and says in a preposterously deep voice, "Good afternoon, customer!" 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Klaus: "I... I serve Bastian van Hrolfus, and Great Imperial Deguo. However you've changed, my duty has not." [21:34] 4"You know your duty. Good. I have a task for you..." [21:37] 13Dead Man's Hand takes a long, slow look around the shop. How's the merchandise look? "Afternoon," 13they respond in a drawl. 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> It looks good. What's more, it looks like home. Almost all of these pieces have coloration and shape that mimics the light-play of the great glass spires of Chiaroscuro. [21:41] "Don't worry about my breathing. I'll just alter the lid of this barrel, it won't take more than a moment." 5 Using a kitchen spoon, a tea bag, a long blade of grass, the spine of a pickled fis, and the existing lid of the barrel, Xu Sim rapidly prepares a device that allows someone sitting inside the barrel to breath on the outside. [21:42] 14Stranger blinks, watches him work for a few moments, opens his mouth, shuts it again, shakes his head and says: "I will go find some strapping workmen to pull your chariot." [21:42] 13Hrmph. "You do custom pieces, or just what you've got here?" [21:44] 14He sighs once he's out the door, strolling with his cane over to the plaza where he knows the elder Tepali holds court this time of day. 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Bastian relays the plan to Klaus. Does von Hrolfus have any parting words of advice or wisdom for his valet? [21:49] 4"Be careful." [21:51] "I sent that message for you, it will be some time before word returns, why don't you join us?" [21:52] 5 This is from inside the barrel. A cunning device, it does little to muffle sound in either direction. [21:52] 14It takes fifteen minutes and a pouch of Greengrass tea to secure the assistance of six able-bodied young men, most of whom remember Stranger from when he got his friend to build that bridge. They're not too skeptical of the assignment until-- [21:52] 14Stranger smiles and discreetly places his hand over the pipe. [21:53] 14Only until Xu Sim stops talking. [21:54] 14Back to work! They're not pleased about how it smells -- in fact two of them are downright nettled about it -- but they buy the explanation that it was delivered either by mistake or as a malicious prank (Stranger isn't sure!) and at any rate are eager to help get it out of town. They wrestle it out the door, onto a sledge, and pull it down to the riverbank -- then over to the [21:54] 14Floodwater Gate. City 17. [21:55] 14He has them wrestle it off and to some convenient place -- an overhang, or if there's an antechamber, in there -- before thanking them and dismissing them, and telling them that if they have troubles, ask Tepali, and she will ask him. 14[21:55] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [21:55] 14Or, considering the work they've just done, they're within their rights to flag him down in the street. 14[21:55] * Joins: hrolf_mac [21:56] 14Once the workmen are gone: "You can come out now." [21:56] 5 Xu Sim laughs a short, sharp, laugh.  "I forgot to add an exit. Just give the lid a firm tug, if you please. I don't want to break it." [21:57] 14What sort of place is 'City 17' anyway? [21:57] 14Stranger looks about as he walks over to the barrel, takes the lid in both hands, and gives the requested tug. [21:59] 5 Xu Sim emerges from the barrel after his journey. He wipes the gunk out of his eyes, but his breathing and speaking at least are relatively unimpaired. A fish stares lifelessly, accusingly, from within his beard. [21:59] 14Is there any place around here to start a fire? They might need one. 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> City Sluice 17 is far prettier than it has any right to be, for a sewer. The walls are polished white marble, and the air inside is inexplicably fresh - a feature both Stranger and Xu Sim associate with other parts of exposed First Age architecture elsewhere in the city. This is a bit of old Hollow, and if it offered any protection from the elements someone would surely have made a home of it. [22:01] 14Hrm. 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> The best place to start a fire would be on the western side of the gate, where the exposed stone of the sluice will block the wind. A dedicated spy or tracker would be able to locate them by the smoke, but other than that there's no risk or difficulty to speak of. [22:01] 14The demon did name it, so this is not entirely unexpected. [22:02] 14Stranger will set the pack he brought with him down and remove kindling, coals, and a kettle. [22:02] 14He'll set the kettle aside. [22:03] "Would we benefit from a fire?" 14he'll ask Xu Sim. Some of these creatures have banes. Some are just scared of flames. 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> The glassblower: "Most of my work is custom work! These are pieces I made for myself over the years. I can do simpler work. And more complicated work, if that's what you're after? How can I help you, sir?" [22:04] "It doesn't make much difference to me. The brine is quite insulating. I doubt our interlocutor would care." [22:06] 14Stranger: "Good." 14He builds the fire. [22:07] 14While it builds up, the Eclipse gets water from the river in the kettle and then hangs it over the flames to boil it. [22:07] "Clearly we're early," 14he says once that's done. [22:07] 13Not the answer they were expecting. So this isn't just a front, huh. "Well. Might have the wrong address, then. Was told to look for a 'Vavariko Tatariko' - you know 'em?" 13They lean back from the counter a bit, glancing out the front window every now and again. The disguise wasn't just for the folks inside. [22:09] 14Waiting for the water to boil: "What do you want from this conversation?" 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> The glassblower gives a joyful laugh. Dead Man's Hand sees him throw his stubby arms in the air and stand on one leg, face wide with mirth. "My reputation spreads far and wide. Vavariko Tatariko makes the finest glass in Nexus. That's a name you can trust!" [22:11] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Funny business, glassblower and seneschal. Not too often you see overlap like that." 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> The glassblower: "I'm sorry?" [22:13] "I want to find out more about the conversation he had with Xia Lan about her name, what his goals are, what assistance he might be able to provide us. And a few other things besides." [22:14] 14Stranger nods, eyes closed. "I want him to know he can't fuck with us." [22:14] 13Xia Lan produces the letter she received and passes it across the counter. Still in Dead Man's Hand's voice: "Like I said." [22:15] "I want him to know precisely what he's forced Xia Lan to sign her name to, and what unforeseen consequences that might have for him." [22:15] 14He opens an eye and looks over at Xu Sim in his barrel. "I don't like demons." [22:16] "Especially when they think they're making deals." [22:16] "Who does? They don't much care for each other, or themselves," 5 Xu Sim shrugs.  "But unpleasant things can have their uses. I want him to tell me about his ancestor, to help me solve some mysteries I find myself entangled in." [22:17] 14Stranger smiles to himself. That will be an interesting ask. But he wouldn't put it past the sorcerer to get it. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> The glassblower looks at the letter with wide eyes. "Oh... oh dear." [22:19] 13A slow nod from Dead Man's Hand. Go on. 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger and Xu Sim soon smell smoke, something sweet and woody. Then they see it billow red from the sluice gate, coming forth from the sewer. It swirls around them briefly before seeming to get sucked up into a cracked clay jar at their feet, where it billows and roils and shines with the light of an absent flame. [22:23] 14Stranger ignores it and sips his tea. It's Forest Blackleaf, this time. [22:23] 14Does Xu Sim want a cup? [22:23] 5 Xu Sim reaches out of the barrel with a grasping gesture, but his eyes are fixed on the magical display coming from the cracked clay jar. [22:24] 14Stranger pours him one and hands it off. There's a third cup, just in case this thing drinks. 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> The jar flares rhythmically in time with the croaking voice that seems to rise from the mouth of the jar. "I am Vladok. You are Xu Sim?" [22:25] "The same." [22:25] 14Stranger remains silent. 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> The jar wobbles a bit. The crack is then facing Stranger. "What is your name?" [22:26] 14There was a smile on his face before. It's gone now. A calm, perfect mask greets the demon instead. "I am Stranger-Visits-Heaven." 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> The glassblower: "I... where did you get this?" [22:27] "Tea?" 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> The jar: "No, thank you. Though it does smell lovely." [22:27] "Mmm." [22:28] "A discerning nose." [22:28] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Trusted friend. Thought I'd check the place out 'fore she came here." 13Not a complete lie, actually. Certainly very misleading. [22:29] 14He says that in a pleasant tone, but he is not surprised and he finds no endearment in it. Many unfortunate souls have offered this thing tea. 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Vavariko: "Please give your friend my apologies. My... my daughter made this." [22:32] 13They raise an eyebrow. [22:33] 14Stranger, sipping the tea.: "You know why there are two of us, of course. And you know what we are." [22:33] 5 Xu Sim drums his fingers on the side of the barrel.  "And whom do we now address, venerable alabaster?" 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "I am Wielder of Names. Today I bring the name Vladok. I had assumed curiosity, but now I see that this is about Unfettered Xia Lan." [22:39] 13Dead Man's Hand ponders for a moment. "Your daughter around?" 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Vavariko: "She's- I'm sorry, is my daughter in trouble?" [22:42] 14Golden light crackles and explodes around Stranger, his caste mark burning, then settles down to merely limn him in its glory. Behind him, a strange shadow somehow looms. "Yes," 14he says. "It is." [22:42] 13They peel their moustache away. In a much higher pitched voice: "Always nice to meet a fan." 13Dead Man's Hand quickly replaces the moustache. [22:43] 13Followed by a wink. Kids, right? 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Vavariko's arms windmill wildly as if he were knocked off his feet by the force of the revelation. "Uwaaah?!" [22:44] 14Stranger raises his cup, his profile and forehead burning. "You're sure you don't want tea?" [22:45] 13Dead Man's Hand continues to smile reassuringly. Now that they've established it's not a genuine demand letter, there's no need to continue to play hardball. 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok, in the jar: "Thank you anyway. I appreciate the courtesy but I wonder why I'm here. Did she ask you to intercede on her behalf?" [22:50] 14Stranger: "No." 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Vavariko: "You're-- Thal's balls! Oh, sorry, er, miss. Pardon my language." 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't understand. How did you get that letter?" [22:52] "Sadly, I am not here--" 14he sips the tea, then puts it down. "--to offer you a deal." [22:53] 5 Xu Sim ponders. If the Wielder of Names isn't a demon-blooded human but a full demonic creature, it would raise considerable questions. 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Bastian waits for his faithful servant to return. And waits. And waits. It's getting dark out. 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Klaus should have been back by now... [22:55] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Showed up in the fanmail. Stood out a bit - not her first command performance, but the first one for someone she hadn't heard of." 13'Her,' 'she' - it's important to stay in character. "No disrespect, of course." [22:55] 4von Hrolfus taps his feet idly, a growing frown creasing his face. [22:56] "I am very interested in you because you showed some interest in... our associate. It's probably pretty dangerous to get involved with people like us. So what gives?" 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Vavariko: "Oh, ah, well. It's very strange, you see. My daughter - big fan of yours. Huge fan. I've taken her to see you four times. She and her friends cooked up this weird scheme to trick you into performing a concert just for them, by pretending to be royalty. Kid stuff, right? So I let her write the letter - they got wax everywhere - and then I threw it away. I didn't want to risk my little girl running afoul of... of... the sort of man you look like you'd be, you know? A lot of these singers are managed by -" stage whisper "- 14Guild types." 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "I really have no idea how that letter got to you and I'm terribly sorry to have been a bother. My little girl isn't the empress of anything. Unless it's her nameday." 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok in a jar: "I would never. She came to me. Stumbled into a bad debt from a creature who escaped me without paying. He pawned his debt off onto her. She came, honorably, to resolve it, as we are, by the old code." [23:02] 14Mmmm. [23:04] 14Stranger: "How regretable. The old code is the old code. You had no choice." [23:04] 14His voice is neutral. [23:05] 13They nod, knowingly. "I stay away from them on purpose. You're right to do the same." 13They tap their index finger on the letter, still sitting on the counter there. "Still strange that it showed up in the mail, then." 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "I had many choices, as did she. She could have run, as the creature who tricked her did. She could have fought. It was she who invoked the old code. It was she who proposed the contest." 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Vavariko shrugs his tiny shoulders. [23:06] 13Dead Man's Hand: "You ever hear of a thing like that?" 13Shot in the dark, frankly. [23:06] 14Stranger: "Oh?" [23:06] "Who's the creature, the original debtor?" 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Suddenly there's a knock at the entrance door that startles Bastian out of his worry. "I have a message for Baron von Hrolfus?" [23:07] 4von Hrolfus leaps to his feet, startled. Stand beside the door: “Who is it?" 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "He wields the name Bamaz, which was the subject of his debt to me." [23:08] 14Stranger: "Do you think we are here to contest the legitimacy of the contest?" 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "I don't know what you are here to do. I was asked here to discuss events temporary and historical." [23:10] 14Stranger: "And that's precisely what you are doing." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "And I have come, because it would be folly to deny an invitation from the likes of you. Folly too to speculate about your motives." 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "So, tell me. What is it you want?" 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "Concierge, sir." The hotel Bastian is staying at has a robust staff. The concierge is a kindly man, tall but stooping. 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's about your man... Kla-os?" [23:12] 4von Hrolfus freezes. This doesn’t sound good. “What of him? Who sent you?”\ [23:12] "Oh, he has all the academic questions," 14Stranger says, gesturing at Xu Sim. "I suspect you'll quite enjoy them." [23:13] "I just wanted to see what you looked like." 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Vavariko: "Someone must've taken it from the trash and mailed it. I have no idea why." 14[23:13] * Quits: tom (Quit: ) [23:14] 5 The Doctor listens to their dialogue with some interest, before interjecting:  "Tell me, are you acquainted with the so-called Cupreous Physician?" [23:15] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Worth a shot." 13Doesn't seem true, with the way the letter was delivered, but all right. They grab whatever paper nearby is free and sign it as Xia Lan, along with a date a few days from now. "Give that to the doorman at CIO's," 13followed by the date they'll be scoping the place out with Stranger. "It'll be a sound check, and the usual crowd won't be there yet. Kid-safe, if not kid-friendly." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> The concierge: "A courier from the healer's temple. Kla-os asked that word be sent to you before his surgery. I have a note here, sir, if you'd like to read it." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Quieter: "Or I could read it to you through the door." [23:16] “SURGERY?" [23:16] 4“Slip the note under." 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> The note slides under the door. [23:18] 4von Hrolfus carefully picks it up and begins to read. What’s it say? 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Vavariko: "CIO's? The bar where demons and monsters drink?" [23:19] 13Dead Man's Hand, defensively: "It's a long story. Well, it's a short story that involves some decisions I'd rather not repeat." 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> My Lord Baron, Underfactor Lang did not appreciate your request. He has kept the proffer for himself and left me with nothing. His men attacked me and I escaped. I am wounded but receiving care. The Singing Stone Temple. Gods With Us, Klaus. [23:21] 4Well.  [23:21] 4Someone just made an enemy. 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> The jar wobbles. "I know the name." [23:23] "You also know Sondok Who Stands in Doors, do you not? Should I speak of such in the past tense?" 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "What are these names to you?" [23:27] 14Stranger pours another cup, but doesn't take his eyes off the demon. [23:28] "One is an entity that helped cause me a lot of trouble. The other, I believe, would have reason to despise the first - and, if I am not mistaken - perhaps bears some relation to you, does it not?" [23:32] 13Still defensive: "I went in on a deal that I didn't fully understand at the time. Tricked, you might say, and I certainly do. End result is, after a series of negotiations, I'll be having a contest there in a few weeks." 13They frown. "I'm not thrilled about that, either. But I was hoping to at least send someone away happy." 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Vavariko's eyes well with tears. 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "That. Is so. Sweet." 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "She's gonna be so excited!" [23:35] 14Stranger is watching the demon's face when he hears Xu Sim's words. Trouble -- but relation -- caution in his face, but a desire to know...on a hunch he turns to Xu Sum and says, in Forest-tongue: "Emancipated demons. Ask." [23:39] 14If the demon gives him a dirty or suspicious look, Stranger will just smile and toast him with the tea before returning to tending the fire. 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> The demon has no face with which to give anyone looks. It's just some smoke and light in a jar. [23:40] 14Sometimes you can just tell. [23:40] 13Dead Man's Hand: "I've got a friend for security, too. He'll keep 'em safe." 13They reiterate the time Vavariko should show up with his daughter and her friends - well before 'prime time.' "And if you have any problems, tell them to take it up with m- with Xia Lan." 14[23:42] * Joins: dammitwho [23:45] 5 Xu Sim's jaw hangs open for a moment as the fish slides slowly out of his beard.  "You really do make a trade of names, huh?" 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "There are few things I could sell in Nexus that aren't already on offer." 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Vavariko: "Is there anything else I should know? What should I tell her?" [23:49] "But names, the kind of names you sell, that's quite a select market." 5 He absentmindedly begins gesturing with a fish, sending drips of salty spray here and there as he gestures, with increasing agitation: [23:50] "Consider something like a demon. On its own, a demon outside Hell is quite a strange thing. By rights, it should just fade away, be destroyed. It's in a place it can't exist anymore, because it's the fetich soul of something that doesn't belong in Creation anymore- 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "It is adequate to my purposes." [23:51] "Sure, it might get by under the protection of a sorcerer or a blood-cult or something. But on its own? Never. Unless, you know, it had some way of stitching something together from a bunch of cast-off metaphysical waste- 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "Don't muse at me." [23:53] 14Stranger notes the irritation. [23:54] "How many customers do you have? Are they regulars?" 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "My clients expect confidentiality." 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "And even if they didn't, my business is no business of yours, little flame." [23:56] 14...? Little flame. [23:56] 14Interesting monicker. [23:56] 13Isn't it just. [23:58] "Alright, have it your way. Can you tell me about Giramande? And a curio that belongs to it, a trinket - a beetle brooch?" 15[23:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "Giramande is a toy, mistaken for living kin as if by a child." Session Time: Wed Sep 20 00:00:00 2017 [00:01] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Let her know -- Xia Lan only agreed after finding out who was REALLY behind the request. That status isn't everything. And --" 13They pause, briefly. "And that lying bald-faced doesn't work." 13They grin sheepishly. "Even when you knowingly break the rules, you need to know what rules and why. Don't mention that part, though." 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Vavariko: "You got it." [00:05] "What are you going to do when the Raksha come to Nexus? Surely they would tear you to shreds? They trade in names and memories as well, if I am not mistaken." [00:05] 14They're already here, surely, is what Stranger thinks -- but his face remains impassive. 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "Let them come." [00:07] 14...He can respect that. [00:07] "You know, a deal-" 5 he glances at Stranger -  "May not be possible. But some limited cooperation may well be... mutually beneficial." [00:09] 13They tip their cap towards Vavariko. "See you then. Good meeting you." 13Dead Man's Hand then ambles their way back to the hideout, taking the necessary precautions to avoid revealing it to the public. It's just about time to begin preparing for the show. [00:09] "Oh, don't constrain yourself on my account." 14Stranger sips his tea. "Vladok and I will have words on the subject deals regardless of what you call any agreement made here." [00:09] *subject of 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "You speak of alliance against the dreameaters." 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> The jar seems to say this to Xu Sim. [00:10] 14This should be interesting. [00:11] "Yes." 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "They are no threat to me, and little threat to mine. Few among them could even imagine the realms invisible, let alone touch it." 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "But they are a threat." 14[00:14] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:15] 14He's not wrong. But he's also speaking generally. [00:15] 14And speaking generally can be dangerous, when it comes to the raksha. [00:19] "We are very different... but we might be alike enough in some ways that we could cooperate. Perhaps... some kind of an exchange of information or tools?" 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "Make me an offer." [00:24] 14Stranger: "Oh, I think not." [00:25] "You've already gotten one of us to offer you a deal. And you've profitted well from it, or will do so soon." [00:26] "We are more than just names, Vladok. We are far, far more. We know more, we see more, we do more. You have taken advantage of one of our younger members, and we do not contest the responsibilities she now owes." [00:26] "But this time, you're going to be the one stepping up to the table first." [00:27] "Unless you'd like to relitigate the drinking and the singing." [00:28] 14He sets his teacup down. "Because I'm all ears." 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "You have pull with the Council, yes?" [00:28] 5 Xu Sim takes a big swig. [00:28] 14Stranger: "We do." 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "What remains of it, anyway. Many of my clientele live and work in Nexus, and would happily rise in its defense. But a name that holds value in Heaven's eyes has little bearing on what our names are worth here, to the merchants and ministers of this city. Most of my clients live at the margins, with no legal standing. Forced into work fit for no creature." 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "If you can secure a commitment from the city to honor their rights, we will serve alongside you." 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "That is my offer." [00:35] 14This creature is an enemy of Creation, and Stranger should oppose it -- but having gotten to know it, sensed how it approaches its brethern, and understood what it is fighting for, he is willing to ally himself with one enemy which might remain constructive and bound by strictures against...well, the untamed whole of a Wyld horde. [00:35] 14And besides, it's interesting. [00:36] "I hear your offer, and acknowledge it. I seal nothing and bind nothing. But should I satisfy its terms, I will return to you to certify a bond." [00:37] 14He pauses. "I will discuss your rights with the Council." 15[00:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Then our business until then is, as I see it, done." [00:39] 14Stranger chuckles. "Not quite." 14[00:44] * Joins: tom [00:53] 14Stranger: "I want to be very clear about the particular kind of man I am." [00:53] 14The air around Stranger sucks in and then explodes with golden light. [00:53] 14The shadow looming behind him is now halfway across the sewer ceiling, almost looming over the jar. [00:55] "I have no quarrel with you, Vladok, Wielder of Names. I have no enmity towards you at all. And you tell me that this business with Xia Lan is her fault -- her deal -- and I respect that, so far as it goes." [00:55] "But it only goes so far." [00:55] "And it does not reach me." [00:57] "She will meet the challenge you manevered her into, and she will fail or she will fly. But I am not bound. I need not respect your victory. I need not respect your defeat. When you go a-tempting in this world, you do so with the risk of meeting me." [00:57] 14Stranger smiles, pouring out the teacup. "So I leave you with this." [00:58] "You can afford to lose this contest with Xia Lan; she is unvengeful. Frankly, she enjoys the whole performance of it. You're doing her a favor." [00:59] "I only ask that you ask yourself this: can you afford to win?" 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "We shall find out together." [01:01] 14Stranger: "Oh, yes." [01:01] 5 Xu Sim takes another sip of the tea. Yikes. 15[01:01] <@VoxPVoxD> The jar rattles and glows, burning brighter and brighter as the smoke rages inside it, never rising more than a few inches from the top. Then it's all gone with a pop, leaving only the jar, whose crack has fused shut in the heat. [01:02] 14Stranger sighs and leans back against the sewer wall. [01:02] 14To Xu Sim: "I'm not going outside until the anima dies down." [01:02] "Sensible. I think I was mistaken when I said it was a child of Sondok. That's not accurate. Vladok is whatever is left of Sondok." [01:03] 14He looks over. "That's...unfortunate." [01:03] "For both of them." [01:04] "An emancipated demon, in Creation, should not be possible. It's a contradiction in terms. But I think Sondok is one, and has others, that are stitching together something to keep themselves going. With the names." [01:05] 14Stranger: "That raises some questions." [01:05] "Physical, metaphysical, and moral." [01:05] "Agreed." [01:06] "If they are not brought here by sorcerers to do their bidding -- if they possess free will -- are they still enemies of Creation? The undead possess no such will. Arguably, neither do the raksha -- they are slaves to patterns of their nature." [01:07] 14Stranger pauses. "I almost feel bad for threatening him. Almost." [01:08] "I don't know how we could determine it. But there has to be a solution. It seemed to respond powerfully to elements of its former nature, after all." [01:09] 14The silver-haired man sighs. "He cares too much." [01:09] "Not about us, of course." [01:09] "About the other demons." [01:10] "You think it a weakness?" [01:11] 14Stranger stands and walks over to the jar. He picks up the lid to the barrel sitting next to it and tosses it over to Xu Sim. "I'll take this back first. You get yourself ready for your public once more." [01:11] "I shall fetch your palanquin." 15[01:12] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: That bloody, blackened name 14[01:25] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[01:25] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[01:25] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[01:25] * Joins: hrolfy 14[01:26] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[01:34] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:42] * Joins: hrolfie 14[01:46] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:46] * Joins: hrolf 14[01:47] * Joins: hrolfy 14[01:49] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:50] * Joins: hrolfie 14[01:50] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:51] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:06] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[02:15] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:30] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[02:33] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:34] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:34] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:34] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[03:00] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:52] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[04:49] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:43] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:47] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[05:51] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:56] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[06:47] * Joins: Zarick 14[11:14] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:24] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:55] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:38] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Connection closed) 14[13:39] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[14:48] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Connection closed) 14[14:49] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[14:56] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[15:33] * Joins: Zarick 14[16:39] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Connection closed) 14[16:40] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[16:55] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[17:13] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:15] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[19:34] * Joins: tom 14[20:08] * Quits: Quaker_ (Client exited) 14[20:22] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:23] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[20:26] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:26] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[20:48] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[20:51] * Joins: Quaker 14[21:02] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[21:15] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[21:22] * Quits: cbass (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_)) 14[21:22] * Joins: cbass_ 14[21:22] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 14[21:36] * Joins: Quaker 14[22:20] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[23:20] * Joins: bananaphone 14[23:26] * Quits: bananaphone (Quit: Colloquy for iPad - http://colloquy.mobi) Session Time: Thu Sep 21 00:00:00 2017 14[01:33] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:30] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:30] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:46] * Joins: tom [02:47] spent the last part of this pubg match lying motionless face down in the dirt while three people had a wild gunbattle over my head 15[02:51] <@VoxPVoxD> a wild ganbatte 14[03:37] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[05:01] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:47] * Joins: Zarick 14[07:42] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[07:45] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:11] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[10:43] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[10:48] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:49] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[10:52] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:52] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[10:54] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[11:03] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[11:14] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:24] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:07] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:21] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Connection closed) 14[12:22] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[12:27] * Joins: hrolf_mac_ 14[12:28] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Connection closed) 14[12:28] * hrolf_mac_ is now known as hrolf_mac 14[12:56] * Quits: cbass (*.net *.split) 14[12:56] * Quits: Crion (*.net *.split) 14[12:58] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:58] * Quits: banana|peels (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:58] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:58] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[12:58] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Sep 21 12:58:07 2017 Session Start: Thu Sep 21 12:58:07 2017 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 15[12:58] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[12:58] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[12:58] * Topic is 'Exalted: Imperfect Circle (THU 8PM EDT) | Exalted: There Can Be No End (TUE 8PM EDT) | Shadowrun: The Looking-Glass War (MON 8PM EDT) | http://i.imgur.com/0XkYldr.png' 13[12:58] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@sorcery-q06iee.res.rr.com on Mon Oct 24 22:19:06 2016 14[12:58] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[13:18] * Guest53987 is now known as Ferrinus 14[13:18] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[13:39] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:16] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:40] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[17:34] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[19:01] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[19:24] * Joins: Zarick 14[19:46] * Joins: dammitwho [20:14] <@Ferrinus> XXXXXXXXX' ~. - . .~ `XXXXXXXXX [20:14] <@Ferrinus> `XXX' T ~. \ / .~ T `XXX' [20:14] <@Ferrinus> ,XXX. | ~. . - .~ | ,XXX. [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12XXX` 'XXX ~. \ / .~ XXX` 'XXX [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12XXX. ,XXX ~. .6&&&&&&&&&A, .~ XXX. ,XXX [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 `XXX' T ~. .6&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&A, .~ T `XXX' [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,XXX. |._ ~. .6&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&A, .~ _.| ,XXX. [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12XXX` 'XXX ~-._ ~.6&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&A,~ _.-~ XXX` 'XXX [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12XXX. ,XXX ~-._ 6&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&A _.-~ XXX. ,XXX [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 `XXX' T ~-._ 6&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&/"""""""""""""""""""""\&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&A _.-~ T `XXX' [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,XXX. | ~-._ 6&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&/ \&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&A _.-~ | ,XXX. [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12XXX` 'XXX &&&&&&&&&&&&&/ \&&&&&&&&&&&&& XXX` 'XXX [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12XXX. ,XXX &&&&&&&&&&/ , __._ _.' \&&&&&&&&&& XXX. ,XXX [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 `XXX' T && $ `-.' $ && T `XXX' [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,XXX. |~~..__ &&$ _. . $&& __..~~| ,XXX. [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12XXX` 'XXX ~~..__ && $ ~ _ -'- _ $ && __..~~ XXX` 'XXX [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12XXX. ,XXX ~~..__&&$ .-~ _ - ' .-. ' - _ * $&&__..~~ XXX. ,XXX [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 `XXX' T && $ _~~ . /7 t\ + ~~_ $ && T `XXX' [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,XXX. | &&$ ._ - _ /7 t\ . _ _. *' $&& | ,XXX. [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12XXX` 'XXX && $ * '- , _ /7 t\ _ , -' $ && XXX` 'XXX [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12XXX. ,XXX &&$ | | | | $&& XXX. ,XXX [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 `XXX' T && $ | |_ _| | $ && T `XXX' [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,XXX. |_________________.&&$ . . . _ . _ _.-| | /'\ | |-._ _ . , _ . . $&&._________________| ,XXX. [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12XXX` 'XXX && $__________________.-~ |_|/___\|_| ~-.__________________$ && XXX` 'XXX [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12XXX. ,XXX &&$ |'-._ _.-'| ~~ $&& XXX. ,XXX [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 `XXX' T && $ ~ |####'-._ _.-'####| ~~_ $ && T `XXX' [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,XXX. | &&$ ~ |# #.-~ . ~-.# #| $&& | ,XXX. [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12XXX` 'XXX && $ ~~ |# .-~ __ _ . ~-. #| $ && XXX` 'XXX [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12XXX. ,XXX __..~~&&$ ~~- .-~ __ __ . ~-. ~ $&&~~..__ XXX. ,XXX [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 `XXX' T __..~~ && $ .-~ _ ___ __ ~-. $ && ~~..__ T `XXX' [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,XXX |__..~~ &&$ .-~ ___ ___ __ ~-. _~ $&& ~~..__| ,XXX. [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12XXX` 'XXX && $ .-~ ___ ___ ___ ~-. $ && XXX` 'XXX [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12XXX. ,XXX &&$ ~~.-~____ ____ ____ ____ ~-. $&& XXX. ,XXX [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 `XXX' T && $ .-~ ________ ________ ___ ~-. $ && T `XXX' [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,XX [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek, Azer'jol, and the four members of the Squared Circle are sitting around a table at the Scarlet Palace, enjoying an informal brunch and discussing the war on heaven. [20:18] 4As you do. 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It could be a formal brunch. Eikichi would be in favor of additional courses. [20:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek, of course, is still wearing the shape of the red-clad, bow-wielding assassin devoured last night by one of Ir's opponents in the arena. "You see - we have this face, now. But what to do with it? Where to take it? Where are the rest of them?" [20:19] 4Ir: "Say we'd need more info first." [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "That one's difficult. I have this man's... accent, and facial ticks, and such. If I, what's the expression. Play my cards right, I'll be able to recognize the people he does, offer countersigns and such, by instinct. But-" 12He taps his temple. "I don't actually have his memories to rifle through." [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Azer'jol: "It is believed that our foes nest in the Blessed Isle. Move as the Realm does." [20:24] 4Ir: "First things first is, who knows he's dead?" [20:24] "We killed his partner." [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Azer'jol: "Three more may suspect. But their attention was on me, not the arena." [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "You're right to ask that question, though. The longer we wait to capitalize, the less believable it becomes." [20:26] 4Ir: "If these guys move as the Realm moves, they do that why? Because the Realm's powerful, right?" [20:26] "So who's powerful out here?" [20:26] "The Council? The Guild?" [20:28] 7Blossom: "I do not believe they have the Council under their control, because if they could send the Emissary against us they would have already done so." [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "The Council is too... provincial, I feel. The Guild, certainly. But our elders are clear and insistent. We fight heaven itself, not merely the Realm that enjoys its blessing." 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "What was that about a gate to Heaven?" [20:31] 6Tatsuya: "I thought they died out. Wasn't that a thing?" [20:31] 4Ir: "Just saying, if these guys are as big fuckheads as they seem like, you find the powerful and they won't be far behind." [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek looks over to Tatsuya. "Who did?" 12Jol: "And who are you?" [20:34] 4Long story. [20:36] 6Tatsuya: "The Gated Heavens or whatever. Maybe that was somewhere else. Also, hey. I'm Tatsuya. The rest is a long story." 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "He's one of us." [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol: "Very well." [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Heaven... our witch is not here, unfortunately, so forgive me for offering so rudimentary an explanation. Have you dealt much with gods?" 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We did a favor for the White Lady a couple of months ago. But no, not really." [20:40] 4Ir: "Not really our thing." [20:40] "Undead, though. Man. Someone could write a book." [20:41] 4Ir blinks and shakes her head a second later when she remembers someone is. [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "I don't recognize the name. Neither have we! Though I know there are a few in residence here, if you look around. Sometimes I consider paying Shalrina my respects." [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "But gods - they're like ghosts. Unseen and untouched unless they're making an effort... in Creation. In their lairs, it's different." 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "And any old sorcerer could do that if they had a reason to." [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Yes - a god's lair can be broken into, by the wise. There are ways to open the door from outside." 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi didn't say the wise, but whatever. [20:56] 4Sounded more like a category of person than a value judgment. 08[20:57] 4For instance, he might say Eikichi was one of the wise. 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10And he'd be right. [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "But where does your sun eat and sleep? Where do the mightiest dieties, those acknowledged from east to west, reside? That is heaven." [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Kisha believes there's a way to get there. Some magic that might throw open the doors to even that god-nest." [21:03] 7Blossom: "I mean, it would make sense. The bureaucracy has to actually exert its control somehow. There must be traffic to and from." 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi starts giggling. [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "What?" 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "So you want to go hunting for the Calibration Gate? Is that it?" [21:05] 4...That sounds...daunting. [21:05] 6Tatsuya: "The what?" [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Calibration...?" 12He doesn't seem to know the terminology. 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "There's a handful of ways up into Heaven, yeah?" 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "Celestial gods, obviously, can just go back, the same way a river god or a mountain god or something could retreat to their sanctum." [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "So I'm told." 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "But celestial gods aren't the only ones who want to go to Heaven. The great elementals, constructs. The Maidens' Chosen, too - they're getting into Creation from Heaven somehow. So there are gates, sprinkled all over Creation - hidden, obviously, and and secret, anything that's easy to access will be well-guarded." 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "And any sorcerer with the right training could open those. And just like an Emerald sorcerer can force their way into a terrestrial god's sanctum, there's probably a way to open a path to Heaven with the Sapphire Circle." 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "But there is one other way. There's a festival in Heaven at Calibration, the Carnival of Meetings, and part of it is there's a single special gate that only opens on the Calibration days, and never opens on the same place twice." 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "And anyone at all can walk through that." [21:14] 4Ir: "Well that doesn't seem very smart." [21:15] "Why the hell they'd build a thing like that?" [21:15] 7Blossom: "To invite people through, perhaps? In happier times?" 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "A movable gate is very valuable. And Blossom's right - Heaven wasn't always an enemy of Creation." 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "Maybe they can't close it, or maybe closing it would break other things. I don't know." 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "But I do know that with the right information, we could predict where it is, and where it'll go next." [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol: "This must be what Kisha meant. To find such a gate and open it." [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "But we would need to find the portal itself AND find the magic used to open it... and quickly, before this man's compatriots realize he must be written off." [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Though I suppose such things would be useful whether or not I'm in position to dive in immediately." [21:21] 4Ir: "Well, if it's only accessible during Calibration, we've got some time there at least." 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yeah. If you wanted to go back with that Martian's face your best bet would be passing yourself off as him to his surviving colleagues." 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "Then you'd at least be able to find whatever they're taking home." 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "One thing is, it's possible they're stranded." 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "The man we killed beneath the arena was a Sapphire sorcerer. He might've been their ticket home." [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol: "So was the woman I failed to kill. It is how they escaped me." [21:27] 6Tatsuya: "Well, how long would it take for them to head back, then? If they both knew how to return." [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "We don't know. They could be home safe already. But it'd be wise to check either way." 12Jol: "Yes. I have their scents, certainly." [21:29] 4Ir: "Are we going killing, or are we capturing?" [21:29] "Hard to question a corpse." [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "We'll try to track them down, then - and introduce you to our witch, once she returns. In the meantime, if you can find the shortcut to heaven, let us know." 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Sure. Anything else?" [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Hmm. Be careful what you tell your friend, perhaps. ...and be careful you don't forget him outright." 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "She only likes Blossom. The last time I saw her I think I made her cry." [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek blinks. "...her outright, then. You see what I mean." [21:33] 6Tatsuya seethes quietly, but says nothing. [21:34] 4Ir: "She cries at everything. I don't know how they let her of the academy, or whatever they have up there." [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Presumably that's exactly why. [21:35] 7Blossom: "I think you exaggerate a little." [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12But can you remember clearly whether Ir's wrong? It's a little fuzzy... [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Either way, the two Chosen of Luna eat their fill, enthusiastically compliment the chef (well, I suppose that only Marek's enthusiastic about it), and make their way out unless you've got any questions of your own for them. They won't be hard to find in the next few days - Marek needs to portray a southern tyrant-whisperer for a long enough stretch to get his pets back out of the [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12city, and Jol will apparently be crawling through Bastion district looking for any remnants of his enemies' scents. [21:37] 4Hee. 08[21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12That leaves the Squared Circle to catch their breath, get their bearings, and count their winnings. What do they do now? They're still on call as Death's Notaries, and Ying has a business to start, and Wild Rose has a procession of increasingly powerful enemies to carve to pieces... [21:46] 4Ir's got some time to take it easy then. 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's out a lot. If he's not fighting he's making plans for various sorcerous projects or being an overbearing presence in various facets of Nexus high society. It's weird. He's regularly awake and out of his pajamas by lunchtime, now. [21:47] 4Ir actually sleeps in for a couple days after the fight. Apologies to the people downstairs who now have to fend for themselves during breakfast. 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's so much easier to justify eating candy. [21:50] 7No!! [21:50] 7Blossom needs to finish up fixing that cargo elevator at their airshop dock. [21:51] 13Ying's got a project to work on, alongside getting her business started. Her quarters with Tatsuya are basically kept locked at all times while she works in there on something "secret." 6Speaking of Tatsuya, he actually spends some time out and about. Keeping up appearances, sort of. [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya might literally still be wanted for various crimes by various forces in Nexus? How risky is it for him to show his face and does he do it anyway? [21:59] 6Appearances among friends, that is. Obviously, never go outside without a disguise and an alibi. [22:00] 6But that's just good clean living. 14[22:08] * Joins: tom [22:16] 7This is the first time Blossom's worked with any kind of real artifact since the Heavensward. It's actually, if anything, more challenging. Creating the Heavensward was mostly forming the physical shell of the ship - the essence reactor itself was practically crying out to link up with something. This is small, delicate work, and the artisan who knew the ins and outs of this jade [22:16] 7tracery died eons ago. [22:17] 4The second or third day into taking it easy, she's been roped into feeding the twelve children of one of the maids who works at the inn (via a series of pratfalls and mishaps) and is in the middle of actually enjoying it quite a lot when she realizes what she's going to be spending her earnings on here. [22:17] 4Something a lot more socially useful than a nightclub, that's for certain. [22:17] 7She doesn't have to worry too much about getting things wrong, because she can just remold the jade over and over again with her bare hands... but there's a lot of trial and error involved. [22:20] 4It'll be a day or two before she approaches Blossom with the business plan: six new soup kitchens around Nexus in poor and underserved areas, at least one of which is on the very edge of Firewander to try and serve those poor souls as well as possible. To pay for it, half of her winnings will be reinvested in some suitably not-horrific industrial...thing...in Nexus, with the return [22:20] 4not being a profit-share but full funding for the kitchens into the future. [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Time passes in Nexus, and the schemes and ventures of the Squared Circle take root in and flourish across the city. As she immerses herself into the patterns of the jade carvings laced throughout the walls of the Heavensward's docking tower, Blossom begins to get a feel for the structure and design logic of old Hollow itself. Day after day, she's drawing elaborate interlocking [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12charts on sheets of parchment, scrawling all over the walls with five colors of chalk and paint, performing minor experiments with the jade itself in which she manages to send single drachma doing loop-de-loops. She's definitely on the right track, and if this tower were only one story high, she'd probably be done already. [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12She has to take time off, of course, to give financial advice to yet another one of her circlemates. Ir needs to invest her winnings wisely, and then she needs to draw the dividends back out to channel them into... charity work?! Many of the prospects for investment would blanch if they knew this - and perhaps that's why they end up getting passed over - but before long she's able [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12to take what's left over, buy disused warehouses and storefronts and such, and turn them into shelters and soup kitchens. The cash flows are relatively stable, and the kitchens themselves take off like firecrackers, both because the fare is mouth-watering despite the extremely cheap and basic ingredients and because... I mean, it's free food. [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12That, too, is where the problems begin. Free food, after all, dramatically distorts the economy. Why would people buy food if they could get it for free? It's not a week before local merchants, restaurant owners, and others with financial investment into the culinary arts are petitioning the Council for Civilities to counteract this market disruption: rules that, if they don't outlaw [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12such shelters outright, at least limit their operating hours, cap their product output, and restrict them to certain peripheral zones in the city. [22:41] 4Maybe they should all buy factories. Dipshits. [22:42] 4But no, she was ready for this. A big part of why she did it was to thumb her nose at the Guild in the first place. [22:42] 4And see who whined the loudest. [22:44] 4She was of course careful to keep the food modest in conception -- it's all staples, really, and the menu is neither varied nor a la carte; you eat what's being made. 08[22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying's new shop doesn't face any such structural barricades to advancement. Her clothing line's association with the fabulous, scandalous Eikichi Sho (the one from the books! have you read the new one yet?) gives her an immediate head start on the race for cultural cachet, and while many of the orders she takes are requests for the bizarre and frankly hideous articles that the young [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12sorcerer was parading around with some weeks ago, Ying's in position to subtly but firmly steer her clients back onto the straight and narrow if she so chooses, and therefore make the city's elite only look like clowns insofar as she'd like them to. [22:44] 4And frankly she'd love to be a fly on the wall for the meetings where the high-end boutique bistros are caterwauling about the business they've lost to a soup kitchen. [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Of course, it's not been one workweek before men who are slightly more shabbily dressed than Ying's usual clientele are inspecting the premises, alternately feigning interest and worry in a way that's all too familiar to the seamstress's other self, and strongly implying that the shop's likely to be robbed or even burned down unless protection money is gifted to the right people. 08[22:49] 13The Rainbow Connection sells only genuinely beautiful clothing, not the clown show she dressed Eikichi in. Not a single joot leaves the premises - including the ones ambitious clients made for themselves. She sells them on better footwear and burns their previous pair once they leave. As to the Guild... do they know who she hangs around with? 08[22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Of these two happenings, the former is much more likely to come to Eikichi's attention on its own. The sorcerer smoldering good looks and aura of inscrutable cool has given him a permanent in with the Nexus elite and, in particular, their piece of shit kids; he's inundated with invitations to plays, musical performances, fancy restaurants, and such, where people request his opinions 08[22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12on weighty religious and political issues, his observations on local scandals, and, also, his capacity to be made out with. In many cases, he's just the only person some trading magnate or visiting aristocrat can get their kid to take seriously; Eikichi can get paid big money if he's willing to sit down and teach some teenagers anything of history, mathematics, or finance. 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi would be delighted to teach these kids some history. [22:50] 7Hey, the people asking for protection money from Ying might not be the Guild, they could be any of a number of comparatively-less-organized crime outfits. [22:51] 7In either case, Blossom will glare up at them until they leave, and singe the feet of the ones who don't go fast enough. 08[22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12From his perch in high society, Eikichi can see various legal machinations being set in motion against Ir's charity organization (along with various other cultural or economic fluctuations in the city which happen to be inconvenient to this or that elite), and can become increasingly well appraised of the Guild's redoubling fortunes thanks to the massive interest in the arena and [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12the finally-back-in-action slave trade, and can pick up various comments about disasters in the far east which strongly suggest that certain investments should be withdrawn or reallocated. [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not the Guild Ying's being menaced her. It's, you know... the forces of organized crime. Guildsmen don't literally rob you. [22:56] 4The hell they don't. [22:57] 4Ir will put in an appearance at the store 'randomly' dropping by to say hello if she's asked, but Ir's gotten the impression that whatever Ying's working on she wants to do it away from all of them. [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12That said, it turns out that Blossom's on the other side of some clothing racks on the same day that The Closed Fist (Tatsuya would recognize these guys; they must have gotten bigger if they're trying to claim shops in Nexus district proper, though arguably still not big enough to merit his giving a single shit) decided to try some intimidatin'; a raised voice doesn't immediately [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12faze them, but sorcerous fire is another story, and Ying's left alone for at least the forseeable future. Presumably they went and did their research. [22:58] 13Oh, the secret project is a different project. Y'all can come by the shop whenever! Come say hi! [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Here's something to worry about: the opponents of Ir's private charities might literally get their way unless you do something about it. Nexus's mercantile elite has a lot of pull with the Council. [23:00] 4Well, there's a couple ways to do this. [23:00] 4The first is to get names and go a-threatening. 08[23:00] 4The second is whatever Eikichi suggests when Ir tells him she's about to go a-threatening. 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi manages to inspire the fury and envy both the city's socialites and the city's public intellectuals. Bombastic and indulgent, stealing spotlights and hearts, being both unpredictable and gallingly, gaudily obvious. He leans into every irritating impulse he has. They eat it up. He hates them so. [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Strictly speaking, a Civility comes about when a member of the Council asserts one and is not gainsaid by anyone else on the Council whose bailiwick pertains equally or better. The question for anyone who wants to affect Nexus's laws is, how many Councilors do you have influence over? Who can you get to argue what you want to the other Councilors? [23:06] 4The best threat Ir has come up with yet is to find her biggest impediment on the Council, then go work for their rival -- restaurant or whatever -- for free. As a chef. [23:06] 4Just be annoying as hell. [23:06] 4Gotta be careful about the physical threats unless she wants to have more conversations with the Emissary. [23:07] 7Don't argue with Ying's boyfriend! [23:07] 13He isn't!!! [23:08] 4Things would be much simpler if he was. [23:08] 4Does the Emissary fuck, though? [23:08] 4Surely the Emissary fucks. 08[23:09] 4Ir forgets if she and Eikichi have had this conversation yet. [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12At some point, Death's Notaries are called together for another mission. This one is time consuming but not difficult; it seems that a criminal gang/death cult based somewhere in Sentinel Hill has been "liquidated" (Brueghel's words) by the Emissary, and their remains must be hidden away and their assets seized and delivered into the Council's coffers with no one being the wiser. [23:10] 4...Interesting. [23:10] 4A look at how the meat is made, if you will. 08[23:11] 4Either way, as helpful as Blossom has been on the legalities of setting the kitchens up, this is now pretty clearly Eikichi's playing field. [23:18] 7Showing up on the former grounds of a gang/death cult, dressed like they are and calling themselves "Death's Notaries" is enough to make it very easy for Blossom to point at things and say 'this is ours now'. 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Friend's a block away, undertaking a very messy stunt with a blood ape that's playing dead. The actual scene is quite complicated, and when Eikichi was describing this plan he mostly made gross sounds and clenched his fists rhytmically. [23:23] 4Star is nowhere conspicuous to be seen, but there's nary a trace of the fools left over when they're done. [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Tatsuya, in the guise (rather than the persona) of Ying, in the guise of Dexys Violetta, is able to investigate the disaster site itself. To the undiscerning eye, it is, of course, a smear of blood, bone, and gristle in a low, wide, basement. There's a circular crater of sorts in the center of the room, with damage and corpse parts staining and shooting through the entire [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12multi-story building above it. [23:26] 6It's a bit strange, pretending to pretend, but to all but the most skilled observers, this is Dexys Violetta, Midnight's Darling. Heck, even the rest of the Squared Circle might forget who's tagging along - Tatsuya has her mannerisms down pat. [23:27] 4This is all getting a bit too recursive for Ir. Er, for Star. [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Here's what Tatsuya can determine, through perspicuous analysis: first, there was some kind of thaumaturgic ritual being carried out in the basement, involving people standing in concentric circles and spilling blood into channels that would run down the floor and pool in the center. It's possibly to distinguish the leavings from that magic from the hideous gore left by the Emissary's [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12attack. [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Second, the focus of the ritual was some kind of object - one that that looks to have been built from equal measures of bone, cartilage, and (of all things) ocean coral. It must have been a solid, spherical lump maybe two feet across, sitting in the center of the room and sponging up blood before it was blasted apart to the point that its fragments were almost indistinguishable from [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12the pulverized human bone remaining from the cultists. [23:29] 7Invincible Scholar Princess, for her part, is cheerfully whistling to herself as she levers open a few boards to see if the deceased hid any ill-gotten gains inside the walls. [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Third, judging by correspondences left in mailboxes, wagon tracks, and so on, these cultists must have been in contact with - perhaps even received their artifact from - the distant city of Thorns. [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12To be honest with you, I probably gave you those facts backwards in terms of how difficult they were to discover. But that's what you've got. [23:30] 4Blood money, indeed. [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12This seems pretty fucked up, all in all. Fortunately, you're able to do your jobs in an exemplary fashion. Unfortunately, you've signed an additional, temporary, this-job-only contract stipulating that you won't be pocketing any of the haul for yourselves, so all this silver's got to go back to Brueghel unless you are feeling extremely dangerous at the moment. [23:32] 4No, I think we can pass on the Thorns loot., [23:32] 4One city at a time. [23:32] 6Are you sure though [23:32] 6C'mon it'll be fun! [23:33] 4Aren't you literally not walking around Nexus in public because of pulling stunts like this. 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi won't go to Thorns with less than an army behind him. [23:33] 4Sounds like good policy. [23:34] 6Look, [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, Nexus ticks along. Ying isn't bothered again by the organized crimsters, but that's not going to be true of Ir's shelters for much longer. She and hers gonna do anything about it? 08[23:39] 4That has been the subject of at least conference with Eikichi on the matter, yes. What are his inclinations? [23:39] 4The threatening plan probably isn't a good one... 08[23:39] 4...Unless it can push the elites in question into trusting Eikichi's confidence that he can vanquish this lower-class boor. [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12It'd definitely work short term, but the more you use straightforward threats of murder to get your way the more likely it is there'll be a featureless silver mask in your future. [23:40] 13He's nice, though! Hey, has he been by Ying's shop at all? [23:40] 4Oh, there are a lots of ways to threaten people. Ir's a dumbass but she's not stupid. [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Not yet. Of course, perhaps he's been busy disintegrating that cult. 14[23:43] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10If Ir's willing to wheel and deal, it'd be simple to set up an arrangement that lets the people trying to crush her kitchens feel like the poor aren't eating from their pockets. It'd be harder to enforce it, but... not impossible. [23:49] 4Ir would jump at the opportunity if she thought it was possible to be nice to these assholes and have them not see it as anything but weakness. [23:50] 4And hell, she'd even be fine with them seeing it as weakness if it didn't mean she'd have to deal with them five more times before the next eclipse. [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12What's the arrangement, and how do you sell it? 14[23:52] * Joins: hrolfie Session Time: Fri Sep 22 00:00:00 2017 [00:09] 13In between her other project, Ying works on another outfit, one for a particular client. Well, client is maybe misleading. Friend isn't quite right either. Acquaintance? Sure, that checks out. But, he's got particular needs. She's got ideas for a mask but is ultimately unsure whether that's too personal, so she instead busies herself with the remainder of the outfit. [00:09] 13She designs a midnight-black robe with intricate gold designwork all around it - gold fabric, unfortunately, literal gold being hard to come by - alongside a matching cowl and cloak with some additions that can be extended or removed as desired. Specifically: you can pop out some cat-like ears on the cowl, and the cloak has within it a fake cat-tail that moves around with the wearer. Still, the outfit has a sort of mystique that [00:09] makes it impressive even without the obviously excellent accessories. [00:09] 13The cowl itself extends fairly far forward to cover the face, even sans mask; the cloak billows out from behind the robe in a manner that makes the wearer seem larger than life; and the robe itself is as comfortable as it is unsettling. Ying hopes he likes it! [00:10] 4When they've devised a plan -- one that relies on no threatening, to Ir's cautious approval -- she retires to the kitchen. She's got some work to do. 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10With Blossom's help and Eikichi's newfound connections, it's easy enough to make sure the crowd packed in for Ir's demonstration is rich, powerful, and pliable enough for their purposes. [00:15] 13Okay, literal gold is easy to come by, but it still makes her nervous after all of Tatsuya's dealings with the Velvet Room. So it's just gold fabric. [00:17] 4The first dish she serves will have upstream salmon. Apparently it specifically needs a name like that here. Whatever. Marinated, flash-seared on one side, and served with a garnishing sauce of seven proprietary spices in a salt/sugar base (one of which will be a bit costly to import from the North, but she had a supply on hand), with capers to taste. [00:21] 4This will be served with a tasting menu of four or five finger foods she's had ideas for that are variations on common themes, like cooked bread thins, salted, broken into 'chips,' and served with a dipping sauce of vegetables made from the noble but underserved avocado (which will likely be a bit difficult to find without contacting merchants from the South, but it has a devoted [00:21] 4following in the city at the moment -- though they seem to all be spreading it directly on toast, unseasoned??? These people).e [00:23] 4The second dish she won't serve right away; it's a dessert, made from the particularly substantial cheese spread that Nexus has developed over the past few years. Crucial to keeping this ingredient fresh is keeping it cold -- as Ir explains, she couldn't serve it at these kitchens even if she wanted to. It requires a more moneyed setup. It is the smooth and silky 'cream cheese' in [00:23] 4the form of a baked cake, sweetened to taste, but the true star of the show is the crust: it's not quite a pie, either in substance or style, but it is crumbly and delicious. [00:24] 4Before that, however, is the main event. [00:24] 4What do you get, Ir asks, when you combine bread, tomatoes, and cheese? [00:24] 4Then her kitchen adjuncts bring out thirty of the humble 'pitza.' [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Holy shit. 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Holy shit. [00:26] 7Holy shit. [00:26] 13Holy shit. [00:26] 6Holy shit. [00:27] 4Easily mass-produced, with existing ingredients, yet nothing like the city -- or this direction -- has ever seen. The secret is in the sauce and the cheese, she explains; you can biff the crust within acceptable margins, though you will have to train your cooks in the precise practices of spinning the dough (an afternoon's worth of work if they've any craft to them). The sauce and [00:27] 4the cheese, however, need to be just right. And she has the proper recipes. [00:27] 4(She's lying, of course. You can't fuck up the crust either. You idiot. What the fuck do you think this is. What's wrong with you. But it's a better sales pitch this way.) [00:29] 4After one or two eager but hapless nobles try to just, pick the whole thing up and take a bite as soon as it's put in front of them, she gently suggests the practice of cutting it into slices. [00:29] 4And selling it thereby. [00:29] 4Perhaps opening windows on the unused side walls of their business to sell it like street food by the slice. [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, the event's a wild success. With first claim to and perhaps even proprietary right to selling expensive, fancy 'pitza' to connoiseurs, a small consortium of chefs, owners, and investors is happy to throw their full weight behind Ir's charity enterprise. A two-ton counterweight lands with a shattering crash on the metaphorical scales of Council influence; after weeks or months [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12or deliberations, it may well turn out that some Civilities govern exactly where Ir's kitchens may operate or place limits on the wealth of those who attend, but the Dawn Caste's overall project will proceed untrammeled and be free to spread throughout the city. [00:32] 4The event's only failure is that many of them were too full to eat the cheesecake. Pity. 08[00:32] 4More for Eikichi. [00:33] 4And definitely not Ir, though two entire cakes are wholly unaccounted for at the end of the night. [00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12It's working - it's all working. Nexus is already shot through with the Squared Circle's influence, the condemnations leveled against you by small bastions of the Immaculate Faith can barely be heard over the din of your supporters, and your various projects are rolling along to completion. The mystery of Panther's demise or current location, and whatever legacy he might have left [00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12behind in the Arena, remain as yet unsolved but are rapidly unraveling themselves before you. The Silver Pact, or at least their immediate reprsentatives, counts you as allies. [00:34] 4Maybe Marek wants to grab a slice some time. [00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12It's Blossom's project that's taking the longest - which can't be helped, really, artifacts are finnicky things. Indeed, one late night, an accident nearly kills the woman (or would have, if she weren't completely prepared for it): when Blossom heats a chunk of blue jade to the point of being molten and then uses a fingertip to spread it between two essence coils and thereby complete [00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12an entire circuit, a massive upsurge of air-aspected energy blooms beneath her and sends her spiraling into the sky. [00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom falls very, very far up before she can right herself and activate the essence glider normally hidden in the clothes on her back. And, once she does so, she has the opportunity to gaze into the far east: [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 . .-. . _ * _ . [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 * / \ (( _/ \ * . [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 _ . .--'\/\_ \ ` / \ * ___ [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 * / \_ _/ ^ \/\'__ 9. .12 /\/\ /\ __/ \ * [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \ / .' _/ / \ *' / \/ \/ .`'\_/\ . [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 . /\/\ /\/ :' __ ^/ ^/ `--./.' ^ `-.\ _ _:\ _ [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \/ \ _/ \-' __/.' ^ _ \_ .'\ _/ \ . __/ \ [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 /\ .- `. \/ \ / -. _/ \ -. `_/ \ / `._/ ^ \ [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 / `-.__ ^ / .-'.--' . / `--./ .-' `-. `-. `. - `. [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12@/ `. / / `-. / .-' / . .' \ \ \ .- \% [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12@&8jgs@@%% @)&@&(88&@.-_=_-=_-=_-=_-=_.8@% &@&&8(8%@%8)(8@%8 8%@)% [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12@88:::&(&8&&8:::::%&`.~-_~~-~~_~-~_~-~~=.'@(&%::::%@8&8)::&#@8:::: [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12`::::::8%@@%:::::@%&8:`.=~~-.~~-.~~=..~'8::::::::&@8:::::&8:::::' [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 `::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.' [00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12...before gliding gently back to earth. [00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12See you next week! 14[00:38] * Joins: Quaker [00:43] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ [00:43] Mamma mia! Sure, it's great to have a pitza pie now and again, but remember the most important thing: sharing it with your friends! There is literally nothing in Creation more important than sharing and friendship. When you're with your friends, there's nothing you can't do, as long as you follow your dreams! And if you don't believe me, my friend Sunlit-Dreaming Ying will come to your [00:43] house and cut you up good! [00:43] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ 14[00:57] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[01:19] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:27] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[01:28] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:31] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[01:32] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:32] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[02:35] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:00] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:54] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[04:48] * Quits: tom (Quit: ) 14[06:48] * Joins: Zarick 14[07:59] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:10] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:25] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:27] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:51] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:42] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[15:50] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:44] * Joins: tom 14[19:22] * Joins: hrolf 14[19:32] * Quits: hrolf (Connection closed) 14[19:32] * Joins: hrolf 14[19:37] * Joins: Zarick 14[20:28] * Joins: hrolfy 14[20:30] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:36] * Joins: bananaphone 14[20:41] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:42] * Joins: Nicolae 14[20:44] * Quits: bananaphone (Quit: Colloquy for iPad - http://colloquy.mobi) 14[20:45] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[20:49] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:51] * Joins: hrolf 14[21:18] * Parts: Nicolae 14[22:20] * Joins: dammitwho Session Time: Sat Sep 23 00:00:00 2017 14[01:43] * Joins: tom 14[02:40] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:22] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[05:42] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[06:18] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:03] * Joins: Zarick 14[09:39] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[10:00] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:00] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[10:06] * Joins: Quaker [10:54] - [10:54] - [10:54] - [10:54] - [10:54] - [10:54] - [10:54] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x5grdx3g_8 08[11:00] The copies of the two barons move over to Wilson’s side. “You’d better start. Take the staircase in the back corner, there,” “Cav” points out. “We’ll go into the main chamber afterwards.” [11:01] 4This is weird. [11:01] Beyond two locked metal doors, you can hear the sound of the kitchen in full operation, and see shadows cast by the light move around at the bottom edges. Laughter, shouting, the occasional shriek. The smell of blood is intense. [11:02] 4Jesus. [11:03] Any questions before they begin? [11:03] 4Cav: "Any advice if we get caught?" 15[11:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson: "Am I gonna need a mask?" [11:04] Sara: “It depends on whether you ever want to vist San Diego again.” [11:05] Alberto: “It’s for their comfort, not yours. As a foreigner, there is no rule, but…” [11:05] 4Cav: "Imagine I'd just like to leave it one more time." [11:08] Sara: “There are no innocent people upstairs. At least, none among the guards. Free yourself as you see fit. If you’re somehow overpowered…you can always claim the Princess’s protection. It may mean things become more hectic here than we were expecting.” [11:09] 4There are no innocent people upstairs. [11:10] 4Cav: "Thanks. I think that'll help." 15[11:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson: "Anyone got a spare mask, then?" [11:14] 6KJ: "Enjoy. We'll be back with the passports." [11:14] “K.J.” produces one from a bag. It’s featureless except for the eyes, and white porcelain, like all the rest. Beneath the right eye, there is a dull, unreflective black stone set into the porcelain. 15[11:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "Good luck." 10He takes the mask. [11:16] 4Cav: "Same to all of you." [11:16] 6The real K. J. Valentine isn't messing around with masks. She moves her neck in a way which would have cracked it if she were still alive, limbering up at least psychologically - it's time to really pay attention. [11:16] 4Don't make me look too much worse than I'd make me look. 08[11:16] “Cav” holds up a key. “Baron Frost. Follow us.” Another set of metal doors is opened, leading to a white-tiled service hallway. The smell of blood grows thicker the nearer you get. [11:17] 4The staircase in the back corner, then. [11:17] 4He tries to ignore that smell. [11:17] 7KJ will follow Cav, just this once. Should've warned the doppleganger to stay away from the Prince of Tijuana. [11:17] 6KJ will follow Cav, just this once. Should've warned the doppleganger to stay away from the Prince of Tijuana. [11:19] It leads all the way up to the fifth floor. They looked at its dimensions in the blueprints, and decided which one they’d get off at. 15[11:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Baron Frost follows. 08[11:24] The white tiles curve once, twice, the Baron “Cavanaugh” leading the way. After the second turn, Wilson can see flecks of blood on the walls where someone has been indiscreet. The lights here don’t flicker, but they do give off a dead, fluorescent tinge to everything. As they walk towards the door, the source of the blood flecks becomes clear: first a bloody handprint, then a red splash, and then a man soaked in red, [11:24] sitting silently against the wall. He doesn’t look up as they pass. His eyes are open, drawing ragged breaths. “Ignore it. Intoxicated,” says “Cav.” [11:24] 4Cav counts his blessings. The big one here is coming from Baron Hollywood. 15[11:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10One nice thing about the mask is Wilson doesn't have to care what kind of faces he's making. [11:25] 4At least he hopes it is. Obfuscate is weird. You're just...still right there. [11:26] 4He feels like he should take off his shoes, but he knows that's not really how this works. [11:26] 4Either way, Cav will lead, KJ will shadow. If there's a hit to take, it should be Cavanaugh taking it. [11:27] They won’t be going that far up just yet. The fourth floor exit leads right to the guest wing of the castle. More guards, but more secure footing. As they climb, the noise of the kitchen and the party fades. For two levels up, there’s silence. When they reach their destination, the door is very slightly ajar, leading out to a broad hallway. They can hear footsteps on the other side. It sounds like metal. [11:27] 4Heading towards them or away? [11:28] First it heads away, then it returns a few moments later, then away, then it returns. [11:28] 4Patrol then, probably. [11:30] From the blueprints, they know this section has a long central hallway splitting the floor in half. On either side are a series of bedrooms. The bedrooms have doors leading into the hallway, and small connecting portals for people to move from room to room. [11:30] 4Cav will wait for the stomping to get as far away as it seems it'll get before slipping into the hallway. He'll keep an eye out for doorways to duck into. Should be -- yeah, the bedrooms. [11:31] 6It's the routine as they arranged. Slip into a room, wait for the guard, keep on silently on.. in theory, none of this matters much, but there will probably be someone among the guards who has better ways to see. Still a long way to go. [11:32] 4They should be able to move room to room if the blueprints are correct, but that might actually be the foolish play. [11:32] 4If you know what the guys in the hallway are doing, why risk running into some dude who has attuned his blood such that he can see everything at will all at once? [11:32] 6KJ pads along behind Cav, moving at a relative snail's pace, all senses alert. The moment she sees an aura out of place behind some wall she's going to draw his attention. [11:32] 4Who knows who's sleeping over. 14[11:32] * Joins: hrolf [11:33] 4What sort of guards are they looking at in the hallway, though? [11:36] There’s a man in bulky metal armor carrying a long halberd patrolling the main stretch. Further down the way, there’s something a bit more odd. Two more guards, crossed halberds blocking another staircase that they know leads up to the fifth floor…but the floor in front of them, the actual ground, seems to be missing. There’s an eight-foot wide chasm in front of them, cutting their end off from the rest of the hallway. [11:36] The only other feature is a large lever in the wall on their side. [11:36] 4... [11:37] 4Is this a...platformer? [11:37] 4They're on the fourth floor. That can't possibly be a bottomless pit. [11:37] 4Right? [11:38] 4He glances over at KJ. [11:38] "Good time to reveal you're actually the Prince of Persia." [11:38] 4Cav, very quietly: "I'm just some asshole who doesn't know enough Protean." [11:39] 4What's the bedroom situation like? Could they go around the pit by cutting through the rooms? [11:39] 6In a similar tone- the key is to not ADDRESS anyone, this isn't literal silence but mental- KJ asks: "Will you be able to make the jump?" 6She can, of course. But how fast is Cav? [11:40] 4Cav: "It's eight feet and I'm not the kind of guy that runs places." 08[11:41] “K.J.” whispers to Wilson: “We will follow your direction.” “Cav” opens a pair of wooden double doors. The interior chamber of the party is dimly lit by caged lanterns. Groups of vampires stand all around the room, laughing, cringing, brooding. The floor is awash in blood. The ceiling is…there are people hanging from the ceiling. Suspended by their tied-together ankles, their arms bound behind their backs, stripped [11:41] naked. Most aren’t moving. Some are dripping blood. [11:41] 6KJ:"OK, hold on to me." 6She squats to pick Cavanaugh up. This is going to look ridiculous. [11:41] This moat? pit? wasn’t in the blueprints they saw. But if they go into the next to last set of bedrooms, it should connect to the last set of bedrooms, which should open up into the hallway on the other side. [11:42] 4That sounds like a trap. [11:42] 4Cav's more willing to try KJ's plan. [11:42] 4Saw it in a comic book once. 15[11:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson's never going to complain about LA parties again. [11:45] 4He tries to balance himself like a track runner in the starting gate...on KJ's hand. Her other hand's got his butt. [11:45] 4The things we do. [11:47] The groups all orbit around a central object: a raised marble dais in the center of the room, spotlit by a galaxy of low-burning lanterns. Underneath stand a dozen people in armor. In the center is a tall, bald man with a spike mustache. He’d be thin if it weren’t for the bulk of his armor, colorless except for the shine of polished steel. On his breast is a single pink rose. 08[11:51] There’s a group of young men laughing and jabbing swords at one of the people hanging from the ceiling. The man moans. Elsewhere, Wilson sees a familiar face: Ambassador Gannon, who looks unhappy. She’s holding a large scroll and trying not to look around too much. It looks like she’s in an informal sort of line for an audience with the Grand Prince. [11:51] 6AGAIN this is also just a one-time thing. [11:51] 4Yeah, yeah, just don't enjoy it too much. [11:51] 4Cav's spoken for. [11:53] With a surge of vital energy, KJ lifts Clinton Cavanaugh over her shoulders, steps back into the shadow until a moment when there's no halberds directly in the way- then leaps. As far as anyone without supernatural senses can tell, nobody crosses the chasm in a flash. Actually it's two people though. [11:54] 4Who-oah! [11:54] 4Clinton manages not to squeak. [11:56] 6That's good, because we're uncomfortably close to several guards. KJ sets him down in a very burly, handsome way. [11:57] 4My hero. [11:57] The guards don’t seem to notice that anything has happened. Now that they’re closer to it, they can read a small sign above the lever: “DANGER! The floor closes rapidly and along unmarked planes. Exercise caution when operating.” [11:57] 4Let's slip by these gentlemen and keep it moving. [11:57] 4Wait what. [11:57] Now that they’re here, though, it’s childs play to just duck under the crossed halberds and keep walking. 14[11:57] * Joins: hrolfy [11:57] 4Phew. [11:58] "You think this place was designed by gamers?" [11:59] 6KJ: "Too considerate to the mooks," 6KJ mutters. The gamers she's met wouldn't have added the sign. [12:00] 4She's got a point. [12:00] 4What's up next? 14[12:00] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [12:03] The staircase to the fifth floor is empty. They know from the blueprints that there are two options here: take the stairs all the way up, which should take them to an identical hallway, except with offices and studies instead of bedrooms. Or stop a half-story up, and take a small, cramped servant’s passage that should lead to their next destination. The latter shouldn’t have any guards at all, but the former is the better [12:03] opportunity for picking whatever they’d like up and keeping it. Their potential payment, as it were. [12:03] 4Okay, this is important: [12:04] 4Were there any holes in the ceiling of this floor? [12:04] Not in the blueprints. [12:04] 4Were there any that Cav would have noticed just by looking up, while they were moving around the fourth floor? [12:05] He hasn’t noticed anything like that. [12:05] 4Swear to God if they've got one-way bottomless pit technology-- 15[12:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The Baron Hollywood is dumbstruck. Is there any actual liquor around? [12:06] 4Cav's vote is for the offices and studies. Not because of the loot, but because it gives them more room to fight if things go wrong. [12:06] There’s plenty, though the bartender is at a loss for customers. Most people here seem to be fine with blood. 14[12:07] * Joins: mattbaby [12:07] 6KJ was for the passage, at the time. It's stupid to take risks just in order to make the penalties for failing less. Why not simply succeed? 15[12:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10How are you supposed to drink with a mask, anyway. Wilson bellies up to the bar, letting the absurdity of that thought insulate him from the rest of it. "Three vodka tonics," 10he says to the bartender. To "Cav" and "KJ": "You guys want anything?" [12:08] 4Cav will follow her lead, since she's the thief. But it's gonna be hell to fight in there if they're wrong about the guard distribution. Or if someone's waiting for whatever reason. [12:10] 4Or I suppose KJ will hold Cav's lead, since he'll be up front. [12:10] 6Sounds good [in this specific context]. [12:10] 4We're learning a lot about each other. 08[12:10] The doppelgangers shake their head and follow close behind. “Right away, sir.” Three drinks are made quickly for him. Behind him, Wilson can see a huge man surrounded by an entourage gesture over in his direction and stage whisper (though at this volume he’s actually just screaming) “So the L.A. dandies have clothed their little haunter properly this time!-“ [12:12] This room smells like someone’s holding your head close to a bucket of blood. [12:12] 4He idly wonders whether his doppelganger is ruining his reputation at the moment or, like, utterly redeeming him from jackass he usually is. [12:12] The doppelgangers, for their part, don’t respond to anything or anyone. 15[12:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Let it never be said that Wilson Frost can't drink furtively. The drinks vanish one by one, literally, empty glasses reappearing a moment later. He turns around at the insult. "Who's this clown?" 14[12:14] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [12:15] 4An excellent insult, as it implies he's not even one of the better-known clowns. [12:17] The door to the servant’s passage is practically rotted off its hinges. There’s no lights, and no sign of recent use: KJ runs into a spiderweb, for heaven’s sake - it’s cramped though, as promised. Even she has to squeeze through. It takes a few minutes, but they finally end up at a slatted wood covering. It seems as if they’re behind a sort of disguised entrance into the hallway. There are four guards, looking towards [12:17] where they would have come in. Between them is a skull placed on a wooden pole. They can’t see its eyes from here. It’s easy to just slide the covering out of the way and sneak past. [12:17] 4Ominous. Let's do the sneaking thing. [12:17] 4Cav will go first. 08[12:17] “Clifford Jackson Gordon, sir. Prince of Tijuana.” Unless Wilson screamed back, it won’t have been loud enough to get anyone’s attention. 08[12:18] That’s the bartender giving Wilson the information. 15[12:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson was speaking to the people near him, because it wasn't a rhetorical question. "Clifford Jackson Gordon." [12:21] 4Cav is the first out into the room, and he'll stay in the room until KJ slides past him. [12:21] 6Spiderweb is fine. Don't we have command over the creatures of the night? [12:21] 4Ehhhh. [12:22] 4It's a grab-bag, to be honest. [12:22] As they sneak past, the pair finds themselves at a bit of a crossroads. The guards have been left behind, but now they’re in front of an enormous metal door that looks more like a bank vault entrance than anything anyone uses regularly. They remember this part: [12:22] 6KJ takes her turn getting past the disguised entrance, hopefully without pratfalls. The door.. [12:25] Elena was insistent. “Don’t try to force the door. It’s ensorcelled so heavily you would need a year to safely get by if you don’t possess the right authorization. Take the roof or climb through a window.” They see where they would start with either one: another staircase with a helpful plaque reads ROOF ACCESS. More guards that way. And maybe worse things. This chamber is also lined with windows. It would be easy to [12:25] knock one out and start clambering over the sides of the building. Maybe less easy to get all the way across without falling off. [12:26] 4Cav remains bad with climbing. He'd prefer to take his chances with the guards. [12:29] 6KJ was with him this time. Who knows what could be watching the *outside* of the building? But were they certain that the roof passage does grant entry into the vault? [12:29] 4We're trusting the plans at this point. [12:29] 4If they're wrong, we improvise. [12:30] 4So far being very, very quiet has been an excellent gameplan, though, and there's no reason to deviate until they bust out some artifact security camera made out of the Shroud of Turin. 08[12:31] Wilson scans the room, presumably in a boozy haze. Still, he’s able to read it pretty easily. Around half of the people here are either able to discreetly register their distaste or just look plain queasy. The other, more enthusiastic half is joining in the spirit of the party with gusto. This first half includes the Ambassador, a few people in plate armor Wilson doesn’t know, and Elena’s deputy, Eva, who stands in a corne [12:31] with a pair of other knights. [12:31] As for the Prince’s retinue itself: it looks like mostly flunkies and hanger-ons, besides a silent, stone-faced man with long black hair and yellow armor, and a laughing man in long priestly robes. [12:32] There are skylights on the far side of the roof that they should be able to use as an entry point on the roof. Conversely, they can just knock out a window on the other side, if they’re climbing. [12:33] 4Skylights are fine. Cav has natural glasscutters. [12:33] 4What's the drop like? [12:34] From the roof to the ground? Or the skylight to the floor beneath? [12:34] 4The latter. [12:34] It shouldn’t be more than fifteen feet. [12:34] 4If the former becomes relevant, hooboy we're in trouble. [12:35] 4Cav will motion KJ over to one of the skylights, then. Peeking down: is this where they want to be? [12:38] 6KJ lies flat on the rooftop, peers in, looking for a description that matches the blueprints or for the auras or sentient life.. [12:39] The staircase to the roof access has a few switchbacks, until they reach an obstacle. Four more guards, looking down in their general direction, halberds at attention. Suspended from the ceiling is…a skeleton? It looks like a skeleton has been hung upside down by the ankles above the last landing. Its eyes gleam with a blue light. The stairs pass through this little guard station. [12:39] 4These fucking people. [12:39] 4That dead guy's magic. [12:39] 4Cav will gesture as such to KJ. [12:43] 6Probably not unrelated to the skull-on-a-pole earlier. Hm. [12:43] "We could throw something at it.. get the guards to move away.. or kill them.:" [12:44] 4Cav: "I'm low on good feelings for these guys, after hearing what the kitchen sounds like." [12:44] He’s seen one before though the pattern of dried blood on the ribcage looks slightly different. It’s a complicated bit of blood magic, binding someone’s last moments of consciousness to their bones. It’ll shriek at any intruders, magically cloaked or otherwise, if they aren’t wearing the corresponding blood pattern somewhere. [12:45] 4Cav: "That thing's gonna start screaming soon as we cross the threshold." [12:45] 4Cav: "I really don't like these people." [12:45] "They bound a person they tortured to death." 08[12:46] The line to the Grand Prince dwindles until Ambassador Gannon is the only one left. Wilson can see her step to the dais and present the scroll to a flunky, who takes it to the Grand Prince. At the same time, a pair of trumpeters step forward and blast two sharp notes, silencing the room. [12:47] 6KJ: "Yes, that is awful. We don't want to be tortured to death ourselves, though. Let's think this over.." [12:47] "The blood pattern, do you have a way to duplicate it?" [12:47] "If we could get one guard alone we could get it off them maybe." [12:48] 4Cav: "Or you could rip the thing apart and I could kill all four of them." [12:49] A crier follows. “Announcing! From the Brilliant Court of W. Kingsland Bailey! Abigal Gannon, Baron Santa Monica! Presenting a treaty of peace and friendship between her master and Grand Prince Iago Morales!” [12:51] 6Okay. Okay. "Okay. I'll break the bone thing then turn, stay on the other side of them- we can't let anyone out either way." [12:51] 4Cav's eyes have weirdly relaxed. "Yup." [12:52] 6KJ draws something from the belt of her dress. Only she can see moonlight against the bloodstains it already has. [12:52] 4He gently rolls up the sleeves of his jacket, pins the cuffs up with his cufflinks, then rolls the sleeves of his dress shirt up as well. [12:53] 4Then his ripple and turn grotesque. [12:53] *4his hands [12:59] 6KJ st e p s forward, far too fast to see, faster than a dead man can scream. She's among and beyond the group of guards, bringing down the butt of a knife to crack open a blue-tinted skull. [12:59] 6She's thirsty already. [13:00] 4As KJ dashes across the room, Cav steps forward and willfully ends his Obfuscate. [13:00] "Well, shit," 4he says, claws pulsing. "Looks like you caught us." [13:03] It explodes. The knife cracks down hard enough to shatter straight through the thing’s face. A half-scream escapes with a puff of blue flame…and then the bones detonate from within, peppering everyone in the stairwell with pebble-sized bits. The guards look up in surprise, and then launch themselves at the pair. [13:03] One stays on the landing with KJ, and stabs at her with his halberd… [13:09] It gets her in the gut. It would have been an extremely dangerous wound, if she weren’t dead. [13:09] 6A light gash across the skin. KJ raises a hand to her lips blindingly fast, tastes unmoving blood. [13:10] The other three charge down the stairs. Two level their halberds downwards in hopes of impaling the intruder. The third leaps onto the railing… [13:10] 4Cav: "Huh." [13:12] 4Cav just moves his head a little bit and the leaping dude sails right on by. [13:12] For a moment, the guard seems to have pulled it off, running down the railing, swinging back his halberd for a chop at Cav’s head. And then his foot slips, and he plummets off into the stairwell’s central void with a scream. There’s the sound of metal smashing into stone a few moments later. [13:14] The other two don’t miss. Two blades cut deep into Cav’s chest. [13:14] 4Cav doesn't flinch. [13:14] 4He does smile. [13:14] 4They're within arm's reach now. [13:14] One realizes what’s happening. “Kindred. Run! Go get someone-!” [13:17] 6KJ: "Try it." [13:17] 4Cav reaches forward and pulls off the front of the guy on the left's chest. [13:18] He falls to the ground, dead. [13:18] 4Quicker than he gave his victims. [13:19] The guard next to KJ takes his halberd out of her stomach and runs down, past the cav and the other guard. He hops the railing and lands on the other side, hurrying towards the antechamber they came from. [13:19] The other jabs at Cav’s head. [13:20] 4To KJ: "He's yours." [13:21] 4He takes the halberd in the head. [13:21] The axe whacks into Cav’s neck. He’d certainly have been killed. [13:22] 4Sorry. Axe. [13:23] It’s got an axe head, a stabbing blade, and a crushing hammer. It’s practically a medieval multi-tool. Doesn’t get the job done, though. [13:26] 6Baron Valentine vaults the railing one-handed and kicks off the wall, landing in front of the runner. The shadow that rises from a squat to block his path is petite, and it looks like she's just making a fist, but- [13:27] For a man wearing armor and holding a halberd, he moves impressively fast. He would have beaten anyone else. Oh well. [13:27] 6A slash he can't even see tears right through his armour and cuts into flesh. Not deadly. [13:28] “Uargh!” He staggers back. [13:29] 4Cav reaches forward, closes the claws of his right hand around the guard's neck, and twists hard. [13:29] The guard drops in a bloody heap. [13:29] 4Then he turns and starts heading for where KJ has the other guy tracked down. [13:29] The guard stopped by KJ drops his weapon and holds his hands up. “Wait! Please —“ [13:30] 4If KJ's amenable, he'll make it quick. [13:30] 6KJ isn't paying much attention to Cav for a moment, actually. She says: "Fine, then. Bare your neck." [13:31] 4He'll step back, then. [13:31] The man strips his helmet off and pulls his collar down. [13:32] 6The Mekhet steps forward, just a shadow, and pulls him into an embrace. Lowercase e. KJ dips the guard like it's a waltz and drains him to the point of unconsciousness. [13:33] 4Cav: "He knows our faces." [13:33] He falls to the ground, once she’s done. The staircase is silent. [13:34] 6KJ pants a couple of times, licking a drop from her retracting fangs. "A welter of chaotic impressions in the dark. And then the Kiss." [13:34] 4Cav shakes his head. "You don't know what they can recover from his mind." [13:36] 6KJ: "It isn't necessary, but I won't stop you. Is that why you watched?" [13:36] 6She steps aside, drawing a bit of cloth over the smooth flesh where a gut wound was. [13:37] "It is absolutely necessary." 4He reaches down and very quickly ends the man's life. [13:38] The pathway to the roof is clear. [13:38] 6KJ turns away. San Diego sucks. [13:39] 6Both her blood and her nerves thrill, but it's polluted with the wrong kind of danger and a fear of judgment. Self judgment, the judgment of others, judging whether they're doing the right thing tonight.. [13:39] 4Cav is no longer smiling or having fun. [13:40] 4To the roof, then. [13:40] The roof is long, slick with dew, and leads straight to the skylights. There’s, uh… [13:40] A giant bird up here, too. [13:40] 4Fine. [13:41] 4Is KJ Obfuscated again? [13:41] It’s like a big crow, laying on its side. It looks up weakly at the pair of them. There’s an iron collar around its neck, tied to a chain that’s bolted into the roof. [13:41] 6No. KJ's still holding onto her knife without having realised it. She feels vaguely unsatisfied, like the fight and the feeding shouldn't be connected. She wants to say unwise things to Cav, but thankfully there's this bird here. [13:41] "What the fuck?" [13:42] 4Cav: "It's chained." [13:42] It doesn’t lunge at them or anything. The bird slumps back down once more when it registers what they are. [13:43] 4Cav approaches very, very carefully. [13:43] He can see that underneath the feathers, it’s been scored countless times by spurs and claws. Fresh wounds mix with old scars. [13:44] 6KJ: "Sure. Fine. If the Grand Prince wants something chained up it probably shouldn't be, god knows he's batting zero for centuries-" [13:44] 6KJ: "Sure. Fine. If the Grand Prince wants something chained up it probably shouldn't be, god knows he's batting zero for centuries-" [13:44] 4Cav: "Shhh. Shhhh." 4He's talking to the bird now. Making strange bird noises. [13:45] 6KJ, too, will shh. She puts her knife away and fades into invisibility, moving toward the skylights to look at their final goal. [13:45] 6Casting a wary eye back at the huge fucking bird. [13:46] The language of the animals comes up easily for Cav. The crow looks more tired than anything else. The problem is, once he tries talking to it— [13:47] It doesn’t speak crow. It speaks a language Cav has heard before, though. As he gets closer, he sees that the edges of its feather end in little evaporations of black smoke, and that its eyes are empty pools of gold. It says something. Cav remembers where he’s heard it before. With Joanie, in the realm of the spirits. [13:48] 4Well then. [13:49] The skylights are unsecured and easy to open. It’s childs play to unlatch them and swing the glass domes over. The office underneath is empty. There’s bookshelves and filing cabinets set amongst the rococo finery. The desk they must want is in the center of the room. [13:49] 4If it is a spirit, then it is bound here by a symbol, not by starvation or weakness. It's made weak by a symbol. [13:50] 4Like, say, a great chain about its neck. [13:50] 4To KJ: "Head in through the skylights." [13:50] "I'm going to try and put a little life in this party." [13:54] 4Cav reaches down with his claws and, motioning for the spirit to hold still, cuts its chains into 37 pieces. [13:55] 4Then he'll head after KJ. [13:56] "Sure." 6KJ does a quick check for infrared, tripwires and so on before dropping right down next to that desk. Wouldn't it be nice if the Grand Prince keeps cash along with his passport collection? [13:59] There’s no further security measures apparent. Rifling through the drawers, all KJ finds is some nice jewelry - a golden ring and a necklace made of spun silver plates embossed with floral designs - and lots of papers. She finds the authorization papers quickly enough. There’s a whole bunch of seals affixed to the front. It’s a perfect match for her forged copy. [13:59] The crow stands on its feet and spreads its wings, looking up at the sky. [14:00] 4Cav: "Find your murder, friend." [14:01] It turns its back to them, and stands still. It’s big enough to carry two… [14:01] 4Cav: "Hold a moment--KJ!" [14:02] "Get that shit and let's go! We've got a ride out of here!" [14:02] 4The Gangrel shakes his hands and the Claws melt away. That'd just be rude. [14:03] 6KJ swaps papers, leaves the ring unless it's got a signet on it. She whistles a little as she climbs out through the skylight and pulls it closed. "Shouldn't we like." 6Words fail her. [14:04] 4Cav: "Yes, we should take the easy out." 08[14:04] "Wilson. The papers. The Princess. What IS this?" [14:04] "We can't hand them off here!" [14:04] "That's stupid!" [14:04] "We escape on the bird and then meet up with them later!" [14:05] 4Cav: "Look. I'm going to level with you." [14:05] "I made friends with a spirit that looks like a huge, cool bird." [14:05] "I'm not feeling great right now, and I don't want to kill more people." [14:06] "This is a pretty big win-win." [14:06] "Okay, let's go to fucking, Minas Tirith." [14:06] 4As they alight: "Ah, a World of Warcraft player!" [14:06] The great spirit flaps its wings and plummets off the roof. [14:06] 6KJ is trying to hang on to.. feathers? Why are they glowing black? Aaargh. "There's absolutely no way you didn't see that movie." [14:06] 4Well shit. [14:07] As it’s about to hit the ground, it pulls up and skims the grass, and then it’s over the water, hurtling across. The mist thrown up by its mass sprays in their faces. [14:07] 4It's fine, it's fine, it was just fucking with us-- [14:08] With a few flaps of its wings, it sails across the lake, slowing as they approach the far shore. It settles on a large boulder overlooking a path leading to the road they came in on. [14:09] 4Cav: "With one series of major exceptions, I think that went pretty well." [14:09] 4Cav: "Our cars should be down there." [14:09] "...I'm going to stay with him for awhile." [14:10] 6KJ: "You." [14:10] "Well, okay." [14:11] 6She releases a white knuckled grip, carefully, and rolls to the ground. [14:11] "I had a nice night, anyway. See you at the fairground, Cav." [14:12] 4Cav: "Me too, KJ. Good night." [14:13] The great bird spirit looks down at Cav. He can sense gratefulness, and a polite farewell. [14:13] 4Cav gives him a nod. He hopes it reads as encouraging. [14:14] The spirit’s form convulses once, twice. It makes a retching sound, and opens its beak. Something small falls out of its mouth onto the boulder. Then, with a sweep of its wings, it lifts itself into the sky, trailing smoke. [14:15] 4Cav makes a note to spend more time with Josie when he gets back to Laguna Beach. [14:16] 4Then he gets shirtless and calls the Briyans for a ride. [14:18] 4While he's waiting, he examines what the bird dropped. [14:18] 4Well. 'Bird.' [14:18] It’s an acorn. [14:19] 4... [14:19] 4One of those acorns? [14:19] Who knows? [14:19] 4He will, sooner or later. [14:19] 4Cav will make sure of that. [14:20] NEXT WEEK: Morton II: All Caps 14[14:56] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[14:56] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:56] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[14:57] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:11] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:37] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[20:55] * Joins: tom 14[23:52] * Joins: hrolf 14[23:56] * Quits: hrolf (Quit: Leaving) Session Time: Sun Sep 24 00:00:01 2017 14[00:04] * Joins: hrolf 14[01:09] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[01:15] * Joins: hrolfy 14[01:18] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:24] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:33] * Joins: hrolfy 14[01:36] * Joins: hrolfie 14[01:38] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:43] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:20] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:07] * Quits: tom (Quit: ) 14[05:38] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[06:51] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:03] * Joins: Zarick 14[10:43] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[10:44] * Joins: Zarick 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:15] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:16] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:45] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:51] * Joins: hrolfy 14[13:54] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:07] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[15:08] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:08] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[15:15] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:18] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:18] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[15:31] * Joins: hrolf 14[16:03] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:09] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:12] * Quits: hrolf (Connection closed) 14[16:13] * Joins: hrolf 14[16:18] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:29] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[16:29] * Joins: cbass 14[18:05] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[18:39] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:47] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[19:51] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:08] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[21:23] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:48] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:57] * Joins: Quaker Session Time: Mon Sep 25 00:00:01 2017 14[00:30] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:44] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[00:48] * Joins: cbass 14[00:51] * Joins: tom 14[01:09] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[01:31] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[01:32] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:32] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[02:07] * Joins: hrolf 14[02:08] * Joins: hrolfy 14[02:11] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:05] * Joins: tom2 14[03:07] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:31] * Joins: tom 14[03:33] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:40] * Quits: tom (Quit: ) 14[03:47] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:52] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:15] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:20] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[07:49] * Joins: mattbaby 14[08:02] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[10:43] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[10:45] * Joins: cbass 14[12:30] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:48] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[12:52] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:53] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:02] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:04] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:20] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[17:04] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:19] * Joins: hrolf 14[18:26] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[19:16] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:16] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:16] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:16] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:16] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:17] <@VoxPVoxD> How early does Stranger arrive for his lunch date? [19:17] 14Twenty-five minutes. [19:17] 14Ten minutes spent checking the place out; fifteen making sure they get the proper table. 15[19:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Then he's got twenty minutes to set up before Tsuka arrives, wearing laborer's clothes and a scowl. A few people stare at his scar, but everyone averts their eyes when they see the expression on his face. Everyone but Stranger, anyway. [19:21] 14Stranger smiles, and raises his second cup in greeting. [19:22] 14He's taken the most advantageous seating vis-a-vis the door and the entrance to the kitchen. [19:23] 14Stranger will also watch everyone else. Does anyone seem too interested? 14[19:27] * Joins: hrolfy 14[19:30] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[19:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka looks relieved that Stranger's already here. The server also looks relieved; probably one too many bad experiences getting vented at by people whose dates didn't show up. [19:33] 14Cute. [19:33] 14Stranger's got a pot of the establishment's best tea in front of them. What was on offer? 14[19:36] * Joins: mattbaby 15[19:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Scarlet Raiment is a dark oolong tea. Ordinarily native to Mount Meru and extraordinarily difficult to find off the Blessed Isle, it's unusually affordable this season, a boon to all teashop patrons in the city. [19:38] 14Mmm. 15[19:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Is it true about the amphitheatre?" [19:39] 14Stranger: "In what sense?" 15[19:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "I heard that a raksha army attacked, and Ana- and people like you beat them." [19:41] 14Stranger: "You heard wrong." [19:41] "They were merely skirmishers." [19:41] "Have some tea!" [19:41] 14He's still watching the patrons. [19:42] 14Stranger has ordered some appetizers as well. Finger food. Mainly out of curiosity, not hunger. 14[19:43] * Joins: dammitwho [19:43] 14The main question is: are their dumplings good? 15[19:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Their dumplings are adequate. The tea's the real draw of this place. Tsuka serves himself either after Stranger does or after Stranger indicates that he's waiting for Tsuka. The exiled Dynast pours his tea with mechanical grace. "Where did they come from? How did they get in?" [19:49] 14Stranger: "You tell me." [19:50] 14After a moment: "I'm serious. You analyze it." 15[20:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka thinks. "It's impossible. Sentinel Hill is in the middle of the city, it's naturally fortified, and there's an entire army occupying it. So they must have just appeared out of nowhere. So... were they illusions?" [20:00] 14Stranger smiles. "Yes." [20:01] "But they weren't alone. Well, more specifically: they weren't part of a singular closed system." 15[20:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "??" [20:02] 14Stranger: "That system, however...that nightmare. Have you ever seen light refracted through a prism?" [20:02] "Separated out into colors." [20:02] 14He sips his tea. 15[20:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Sure." [20:05] 14Stranger: "So pretend you can only see orange and red. That phantasmic uprising -- that was seeing an expression of psychic violence streamed out into the real of Creation, but there was only a specific spectrum of it reserved for us. We only saw a piece of the puzzle." [20:05] "And that piece of the puzzle was deadly, tried to kill dozens, and needed to be put down through violence." [20:06] "The dangers outside of Creation multiply themselves." 15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka scowls, but doesn't say anything. [20:18] 14Stranger: "So we always have to think of the bigger picture. The larger thing." [20:19] "The tea here is good, you should try it." 15[20:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's okay." His cup's half-full and cooling. [20:22] 14Mmmm. [20:22] 14Stranger: "How have you been?" 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "Fine." He likes the food a lot more than the tea. [20:28] 14Really. "Where have you been living?" 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "Above a butcher's shop in the Nexus." [20:30] 14Stranger: "How have you been paying your rent?" 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I work in the shop sometimes." [20:32] 14He nods. "That's honest work. Have you made any progress with...?" 14He doesn't say 'your family.' 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "No." [20:38] "Do you want to?" 15[20:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "..." [20:38] 14Stranger finishes his tea while he waits. [20:38] 14And pours another cup, of course. 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Finally: "...I don't know." [20:39] 14Stranger nods. [20:40] "That's fine. And it's mature to say." [20:40] "But eventually, you should know." [20:40] "Because eventually, you won't have a choice but to know." [20:41] "The Hunt, the Realm, the Guild and the rest of the power structures -- they will make sure of this." [20:42] 14Stranger: "...Do you want my advice? It is perfectly legitimate and meet to say no." 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "What's your advice?" [20:43] 14Stranger: "Examine your family and find what you still love about it. Because you still love something, or else this conversation would have ended in putting out fires." [20:43] "Find who represents that thing you love." [20:43] "That person -- consider them." [20:44] 13There's a commotion near the door of the shop as an extremely flustered Xia Lan makes her way inside. The crowd outside starts to disperse while she catches her breath near the server's stand - some very excited fans noticed her on the street and made sure to let everyone know, ruining her plan of sliding in the back door of CIO's. Might as well get some tea until they get bored out there. [20:45] 14Stranger: "Ah." 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> More people turn and stare at Xia Lan than they did at Tsuka. Tsuka included. [20:47] 14Well this is... [20:47] 14Stranger isn't sure if it's awkward yet. We'll see. [20:49] 14He stands, however, as she approaches the table. "Xia Lan." [20:50] 13She's about to get a table for one when Stranger calls, and she makes her way over. "Hello! Hello. Crowds are a nightmare -- I'm not interrupting you, am I?" 13she says, noticing Stranger's companion. [20:51] 14Stranger: "Absolutely not. Please, sit." [20:51] "This is my friend..." [20:51] 14How would Tsuka prefer to be introduced? House name, or just 'Tsuka?' Stranger glances at him. 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Given how Tsuka reacts to his own house name, Stranger's pretty confident he'd be more comfortable if Stranger didn't mention it. [20:52] 14Stranger: "...Tsuka." [20:54] 13She bows politely and pulls up a chair before pouring herself some tea. "Hello, Tsuka." 13She glances at his scar, but says nothing about it. "A friend of Stranger's is a friend of mine." [20:54] 14Don't go doing him too many favors. 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka, who stood when Stranger did, bows slightly. His face is a stoic mask. "It's nice to meet you." [20:56] 14To Xia Lan: "What brings you to The Baratea, Xia Lan?" [20:58] 13Xia Lan: "Oh, I was going to check -- that venue, quietly, but some fans saw me around. Signed some autographs and ducked in here. Lucky running into you!" 13She seems much more relaxed now that she's out from the entryway. [21:00] 14Stranger: "Mmm. You mentioned this, I think. The site of your...duel?" [21:03] 13Xia Lan: "That's the one. It's important to see a place before you perform - get a feel for its essence, that kinda thing." 13She says that for Tsuka as much as for Stranger. "Aaaaaand, well. To let them know how to promote it." [21:09] 13Sheepishly: "I wanted to get there early. Was going to meet you there." [21:10] 14Stranger: "And yet, this place has better tea." [21:12] 13Xia Lan: "It does. What blend is this?" [21:13] 14Stranger: "A dark oolong, native to Mount Meru. Very rare to be had at this price point, but we have the fortune of the season." [21:14] "Scarlet Raiment is its name." [21:17] 13Xia Lan: "We never had anything like this in the south. Different priorities, I guess." 13She sips quietly. "You certainly know your way around teas." [21:18] 14Stranger: "I do try." [21:20] 14He puts down his cup. "I assume you wish for us to collect the children." 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Children?" [21:22] 14Stranger: "Oh yes." [21:22] "Well." [21:22] "You can always go back to the..." [21:22] "...butcher's." [21:22] "As you please." 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "...okay. It was nice meeting you." He turns to go. [21:24] 13Xia Lan: "We've got some time yet. I got here early." 13To Tsuka: "It's a long... well, it's a short story, but it involves some decisions I'd rather not repeat." [21:25] 13Xia Lan: "You could come along, if you want. It'll be fun!" [21:25] 14Then Stranger will order another round of food, since Tsuka ate most of the last. He'll explore some non-dumpling options this time. Fried fish. [21:31] 14Over the course of twenty minutes, he tells Tsuka a few things. The first is that it might be good to explore the ways that the culture of the world works outside of what he knows. [21:32] 14He has not, living above the butcher's shop, been privy to this entry. [21:32] *14entirely [21:34] 14The second thing he tells Tsuka is about the factual means by which knowledge, in Nexus, explores itself. To wit: attending Xia Lan's show might expose him to people or things which find it beneficial to attend Xia Lan's show. So he gets head without making waves, or falling behind: he gets to observe. [21:35] 14The third thing he tells him, he doesn't actually tell. He merely intimates, when Xia Lan gets up to use the facilities, that perhaps she'd be indebted to the young man who could make a difference during her sound test. [21:35] 14He's not proud of it, but he's not proud of many things. And this works. 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> It's not clear which of those worked, but Stranger convinces Tsuka to come along. [21:40] 13Xia Lan, for her part, smiles and agrees with Stranger, while working on her setlist and grabbing bits of fish. Working for kids in this venue's a bit weird... but, it'll work. [21:40] 14Stranger's all about the results. [21:43] 14Once they're done he'll tidy up and call for the check. 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Then they're off, a few blocks to the CIO (pronounced "the See-O"). The service entrance is unlocked. [21:50] 14Well that's not the real concern. [21:58] 14Where are we picking up these kids? [21:58] 14And is Tsuka behaving himself? 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> The plan was to meet them there, actually. Tsuka is the perfect gentleman. [21:59] 14Stranger knew he liked that kid. 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> As the three of them walk in (the door swings open easily, a little flap cut into the lower half suggesting a cat comes in and out) the sound of children's laughter fills a space clearly not meant for it. [22:02] 14That's fine. Stranger's gonna survey the room. 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger sees several short, round children, wearing brightly colored clothes. They seem to be lead by a single short, round child with half-glasses and a mustache. All of them throw their arms back in shock at the sight of Xia Lan. 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "AAaaaaaaahhhHHHHH!!!" [22:03] 14To Tsuka: "There's our appointment." [22:03] 14Do any of the adults seem threatening? 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> The only visible adult is the baby with a mustache, who bows and shuffles before Xia Lan. "Ohh, it's so nice to actually meet you! Let me go get my daughter." [22:04] 13She immediately goes into "performer mode" - a dazzling, carefree smile where there was a cautious grimace moments ago, bowing to the assembled - wait, that one has a moustache. Are any of these visibly more childlike than the others? [22:05] 14Well. That's fine. 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> They all look basically the same, except for the one that looks like he's wearing a fake mustache. She recognizes him - this is Vavariko Tatariko. [22:05] 14Stranger will find a seat. [22:06] 14He'll help Tsuka find a seat too, though he'll doubtfully need help.\ 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> As the two of them sit, and the children all flock around Xia Lan, Vavariko walks into a back room. A small gray cat is curled up on the stage, watching the ruckus through narrowed yellow eyes. 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka sits quietly, not relaxing. [22:13] 14Oh come on. [22:21] 13Xia Lan dazzles the assembled young ones and short adults, speaking to them and signing a few autographs before making her way towards the stage, promising to sign for the rest after the sound test. She sidles up near the cat. "Yo," 13she says. 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> The cat starts gagging with Xia Lan gets close. Hk-hk-hkk-- and then a wet sound as the hairball hits the stage. "Old habits," comes an older woman's voice from the cat's mouth. "We'll get that cleaned up for you." [22:26] 13Xia Lan: "It happens." 13Tohu isn't the weirdest promoter she's worked with, but she's probably top 5. "Thanks for accommodating my guests, I realize it was short notice." 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu: "We get weirder requests." [22:34] "What would you do," 14Stranger said conversationally, "if people broke down the doors right now?" [22:34] "You'd have no response." 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu: "How long's your set? Do you need a warmup act?" [22:34] 13Xia Lan: "Like-- don't answer that." 13She makes a slight face. "I'm still working on my mask, I'll get the design to you here soon. For posters and such. Has Vladok been by?" [22:34] "Neither would I." [22:35] "But that's not the point. The point is that the weapon should always be at hand." [22:35] "You just need to relax." 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu: "Vladok sent a message." [22:35] "Creation will tell you when to use it." [22:36] 14Stranger: "If they broke down the doors, here is what you would do: you would stand up." [22:37] 13Xia Lan: "Hour long with maybe a short encore. We'll be out by the time your night crowd starts rolling in. I don't need a warmup tonight, but we will for the main event. What'd he say?" 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuko doesn't respond audibly, but Stranger can see him try to relax; mostly he ends up looking uncomfortable rather than professionally aggressive. [22:38] 14Good enough. 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu: "He said to make sure the liquor cabinet was restocked." 14[22:41] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) [22:42] 13A quick frown. "That's a lot of alcohol." 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu: "It's the switching every round that does you in more than the volume." [22:43] 14Stranger turns his attention to the children, then, and tiny moustached man. 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> The door creaks open. Vavariko appears with his daughter in tow. She's the height of an ordinary 13 year old girl, and two heads taller than her father. [22:45] 14Stranger will stand. There's not much going on around the rest of this space, but he'll make it clear what Xia's making safe. 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Papali Pali sees Xia Lan and immediately starts crying. [22:48] 14Okay. 14[22:50] * Joins: tom [22:57] 13Xia Lan springs up and strikes a pose with a smile in Papali Pali's direction, making sure to gesture to the other attendees as well. It's a small enough show that the personal touch is possible, and that's always been her favorite. As far as the crying, well. Papali Pali isn't the first and she won't be the last. To the gathered crowd: "Hellooooooo~ everyone!" 13Still gotta check the instruments before getting started in [22:57] earnest, but that'll be quick. To Tohu: "See you afterwards, okay?" 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu yawns. [23:09] 13She checks the instruments quickly, telling the crowd stories about other places she's performed. This is a pretty scary venue for kids - best to put 'em at ease by talking about the time she danced over lava, or when she was first starting out and played frontier towns. It's a fun little distraction, and then she launches into her first song of the afternoon. [23:10] 14Stranger makes sure to corral the kids. [23:10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu7Ixskp0dY 13There's a distinct twang to the keyboard she's using - her usual concerts are pretty heavy on this kind of modification, and that's what she's aiming for here. A venue-specific setlist will need to wait on her attending a show at CIO's, but an audience-specific playlist is well within her grasp. [23:11] 14Oh my. [23:11] 14In all fairness: it bangs. 14[23:12] * Joins: hrolfie 14[23:15] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:22] 13There's a short lull in between tunes as Xia Lan works the crowd some more with stories while re-tuning things, getting a feel for the acoustics. "This next one I wrote on my way to Nexus. For a friend." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxqZYe90--c [23:25] 14Whoa. [23:25] 14Stranger doesn't look over at Tsuka. [23:25] 14He watches the kids. 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> The kids are freaking losing it. So are the cats. [23:27] 13She fiddles with the keyboard again. This is some of the best work she's ever done, and it's for this tiny crowd. She can feel it, and she loves it. "These next two are in an older language. I liked the way they sounded, and I love singing in other languages. You know, Rivertongue's pretty versatile, but there's just something to be said about Old Realm, you know?" 13First, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMDxKRx10mU and then [23:27] shortly afterwards, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lNZ_Rnr7Jc with no pause in between. She's in the zone now. 14[23:28] * Joins: hrolfy [23:29] 14This is some good noise. 14[23:31] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:33] 13Xia Lan's sweating a bit with exertion now. Time to switch to some other instruments. "I translated this next one myself! You won't hear it anywhere else -- keep it a secret!" 13She exaggerates a hushed finger to her lips. The first one's pretty fun! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UigzN-4JR14 [23:33] 13That should read It's pretty fun! [23:34] 14Stranger to Tsuka: "Talk about it all you want. She won't mind." [23:34] "It's up to you." [23:35] 14He stands up. "I'm going to get a water." [23:35] "And a beer." [23:39] 13They're in the final stretch now. She's back to telling more stories about life on the road, work as a singer, encouraging notes to being whatever you want - she's pretty sure she gave the same speech word for word a few months back, but that was way south. Kids won't know. Then she launches into a back-to-back double whammy, ending with her second most famous song... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOubzHCUt48 and then: [23:39] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOZuxwVk7TU [23:41] 13Still sweating, she bows deeply to the gathered crowd. It's almost certainly the best show any of them have ever heard. It might be the best show she's ever done. It's something to be proud of, she's gotten a feel for the venue's acoustics, and she can feel - the best is yet to come here. [23:43] 14Stranger: "She knows what she's doing, I think." 14He's not specifically talking to Tsuka. He could be talking to anyone. 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> The kids are going nuts. Even Tsuka's clapping. Seven small gray cats stand and swoon in unison. [23:51] 14...Weird about the cats. 14[23:57] * Joins: dammitwhoa [23:57] 13Well... she didn't test every instrument she might use. And she saved one song for last. She stands up from her bow, gets the guitar from stage left, and drops into a cross-legged position, fiddling with the guitar. "Heard this one around town a lot lately - figured I'd try my own spin on it. Before, you know what's coming."13She ends most of her concerts the same way. Then she begins to play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixr [23:57] je2rXLMA [23:57] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Egn_VNVKzI4 [23:57] 13Whoops, wrong link there. [23:57] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixrje2rXLMA [23:59] 13It's no surprise what comes after that. "I wrote this song on the way to Nexus, too. We've all got our struggles, all got trials, tribulations, problems. And yet. This is the Weight of the World." 13It's her best known song - the crowd might sing along, if they want, but she puts every ounce of her heart into it every time, regardless of whether the audience is involved or not. [23:59] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Egn_VNVKzI4 Session Time: Tue Sep 26 00:00:00 2017 [00:00] 13Finally, she takes a bow, and drops off the stage. She promised to sign some more autographs, after all. [00:00] 14She's got the moves. [00:00] 14And, as they would say in the places where you have to have them, the grooves. [00:00] 14Stranger finishes the water and the beer. 14[00:07] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:09] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:21] * Joins: bananaphone 14[00:30] * Quits: bananaphone (Quit: Colloquy for iPad - http://colloquy.mobi) 14[00:46] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:51] * Joins: Crion 14[01:02] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:25] * Joins: hrolfy 14[01:59] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:12] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:22] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:26] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:58] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Quit: ) 14[03:48] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[03:52] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:54] * Joins: dammitwho 14[03:59] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[03:59] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[04:56] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[08:50] * Joins: hrolfy 14[08:55] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:07] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:16] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:57] * Joins: dammitwho 14[15:23] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:45] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:15] * Joins: hrolfy 14[18:19] * Joins: hrolf 14[18:22] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:32] * Joins: tom 14[18:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:00] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:06] * Joins: hrolf_mac 15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:15] <@VoxPVoxD> A column of smokeless green flame rises above the noodle shop, marking it for blocks around like a signal flare. The assassin's arrow, wide its mark of Keldar's heart, soars on the air until it sticks harmlessly into a neighboring rooftop. Birds scatter into the cloudy sky, rising alongside gleaming hooks that dig themselves into the shop's balcony. [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, rising out of his seat: "Who, the FUCK," [20:17] 14Stranger is standing already, cane in hand. "Bubo..." [20:17] 14There is a note of warning in his voice. Preemptive disappointment. [20:18] 14Hopefully the secretary is at least ducking for cover, in lieu of an explanation. 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> The full circle is gathered here, under this awning, alongside Nessun Dorma's majordomo. He's watching the flare go up. [20:18] 4von Hrolfen pushes his chair backwards and takes cover. [20:19] 4*von Hrolfus [20:20] 13Unfettered Xia Lan makes a noise of surprise as she rises, grabbing for her hooked blades and looking for more attackers. [20:23] 5 Xu Sim disappears under... the table? Where did he go? 14[20:31] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> One of the grappling hooks splinters the wood as a thick, squat creature pulls itself upward, swaddled all in black with only two green eyes and the blue brow between them visible. It raises its arms in a child's approximation of a martial arts stance before attacking Keldar. [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar gives the thing a 'seriously?' look, as though offering one last chance to think better of this. [20:38] 14Stranger: "Bubo...!" 14[20:47] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo calmly gets up. He sways a bit, as if he's tipsy. Xia Lan knows better. "As I said." [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's expecting the thing draw its hand back when he moves his sword to parry, and so doesn't bother finishing the actual motion, and so ends up grunting and stumbling back a bit as the blow connects. Then his eyes flash and his nostrils flare and he's bearing down on the little bastard in a whirl of steel, slicing away the grapple it climbed p on with one strike and forcing it [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12back against the edge of the balcony with two or three more. [21:12] 4Sword at the ready, von Hrolfus’ reflexive military training kicks in. Anticipating the direction of the incoming attack, he holds the sword at an angle with the flat of the blade facing the assassin and it bounces harmlessly off it. [21:12] 14Stranger draws his blade but he's more interested in the aims of these assassins than he is in thwarting them. That's what Keldar and Bastian and Xia Lan are here for. [21:14] 14Obviously, the one trying to kill Keldar is trying to kill Keldar. But more than that, they're interested in-- [21:14] "We need to get off this balcony," 14he snaps. [21:21] 13Xia Lan slashes away at the second assassin to reach the balcony, blades twirling, before leaning back into the same swaying posture Bubo is in. "Why? Wouldn't it be better to keep the fight up here?" [21:23] 14Stranger: "You might think." 14He steps back to look for ways back or down that don't lead through the assassins. "But they're trying to keep us up here. Likely for their sniper -- or something worse." [21:26] 5 Xu Sim emerges from under the table - not particularly well hidden - and launches a drop kick at one of the hobgoblin "ninja." Unfortunately, it ducks at precisely the right moment, and the sorcerer skids to a stop at the edge of the balcony. [21:30] 4von Hrolfus’ attempt is more successful. After deflecting the arrow, he elegantly balances on a heel and spins backwards to slice through one of the abominations approaching from the other side. [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12As the entire platform shifts under his feet, Keldar shifts his weight enough that he can look down and over the shoulder of the hobgoblin he's menacing. 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> The tables and chairs around the balcony buckle as the woodwork itself splinters and shifts. Keldar, looking down, sees three cobalt blue tusked creatures dressed in business clothes, straining with their considerable might to pull it down. [21:33] 13The idol lurches wildly as the balcony is yanked around under her feet. "Aaaah! It was the something worse!" [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, like hell. Folks, I'll be right back-" [21:36] 14This has all been very well-coordinated. [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar plants a foot firmly on his enemy's chest, then swings his blade. A gleaming arc of metal cuts through one wrist, one neck, and then a second wrist all in the same motion, and before the other creature's able to so much as comment on the matter the mercenary's dashed off the balcony and back into the building. The astute ear will be able to hear the thump of boots on stairs. [21:56] 13Xia Lan uses the surviving "ninja" as a springboard down towards where Keldar just fled. That thing's gonna fall! If she's got to get on the ground, she'll do it the safe and responsible way. 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> A pillar of red fire ignites the roof across the street, and a burning arrow streaks towards the balcony and past it, embedding itself in the floor of the noodle shop inside. Then the arrow burns itself out, dissolving into sparks like a fuse, each spark taking hold of the wooden furniture and paper lanterns of the noodle shop and swallowing it in flame. [22:10] 14That would be why they were trying to keep them on the balcony. [22:10] 4von Hrolfus recoils from the heat. [22:14] 5 What a clever device. Xu Sim wonders if he could replicate its effect. [22:23] 14He regrets having stopped to think about why they were attacking the balcony, rather than just trying to get off it. Though he's able to keep the flames from setting his robe alight, the infuriating little creature meant to pen them in on the burning rooftop does its job admirably. [22:27] 4von Hrolfus stumbles bakcwards into the flames, burning himself badly. He screams and attempts to put it out. [22:43] 4He attempts to flee backwards from the flames but a tiny abomination blocks his way. A fierce fight to get to the balcony ensues when the ridiculousness of the situation hits him - he’s fencing with a thing smaller than the average ten year old. Snarling, he lefts the assassination by the scruff of its neck and boots it out the way, scurrying quickly away from the fire on the balcony. [22:43] *assassin [23:00] 5 Xu Sim swats at a patch of burning robe as the fire spreads to his garmets. He recoils, and is caught in the chest by a swat of the hobgoblin. Undeterred, he ducks another of the creature's blows before hooking one hand around the grapple line and swinging onto the rope down towards the street below, with a generally undignified hoot and holler. 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> As the balcony collides with the ground, the fire spreads both above and below. This fire is worse by far than the one Tsuka accidentally set when Stranger met him, and that fire was nearly a disaster in its own right. [23:14] 14He barely has any time to think about it, however, before the pain. [23:17] 13The Unfettered Xia Lan carefully spins and twirls around the fire engulfing the stairs of the burning building before flinging herself bodily out from the flames and into the swarm of hobgoblins. She lets loose a terrifying warcry and begins cutting them down, one by one! (She might be in public now, but old habits die hard.) 14[23:20] * Joins: dammitwho 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> The hobgoblins tear at the Solars as the street's engulfed in flames. The one stomping Xu Sim is particularly savage. The old man isn't moving anymore. [23:41] 5 Xu Sim lands on the ground amidst burning timber and, though he struggles to free himself, is caught up in burning embers and ropes. The hobgoblins make short work of him, spearing and goring him with their weapons. Xu Sim collapses amid the rubble, bleeding from a dozen wounds. Blood streaks through his beard as his lungs work laboriously and, each time, a little fainter. [23:43] 4von Hrolfus charges out of the burning building, his fine coat darkened and burned, seeking vengeance and yelling the traditional battle cry of Deguo. He trips over a bump in the ground. [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12There's more thumping and crashing and swearing and then Keldar, surrounded in a choking cloud of ash and flames but having apparently moved too quickly and decisively to take more than superficial burns, comes barreling out of the front door of the noodle shop! "Allright you green bastards, you're gonna - holy shit, Xu Sim!" [23:46] 14Stranger staggers to his feet somehow, still smoldering, bleeding badly. [23:46] 14He hasn't had a chance yet to even swing his sword. [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Quieting immediately but still brandishing his iron straight sword, the mercenary, charges straight into the hobgoblins. He makes sweeping and heavily telegraphed blows that mostly serve to force the trio of besuited raksha back before dropping into a crouch and trying to see to Xu Sim's burns and contusions. 14[23:48] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not going well... 14[23:55] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:59] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:59] * Joins: hrolf_mac Session Time: Wed Sep 27 00:00:00 2017 [00:06] 4von Hrolfus leaps to his feet and braces himself, stands his ground and prepares to defend against the oncoming horde. He feels strangely relaxed - sure, for some reason, that he need not fear what’s coming. He’s proved right as the mass of abominations shy away from him to focus on Keldar. [00:10] 13Xia Lan keeps at the hobgoblins, harrying them with repeated strikes, but they seem to glance off - she's at least keeping them away from the fallen Xu Sim, but she has to be doing more-- [00:13] 4As the melee intensifies, von Hrolfus stays at the edges and attempts to strike down one of the runts. He misses. [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Fuck, fuck, fuck, why'd you have to land on THAT side you stupid old-" 14[00:25] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) [00:25] 4Rage and frustration begins to build. His nation is on fire and he’s been helpless, unable to do anything, pinned down in this city of upjumped rapacious merchants. [00:27] 4His eyes begin to glow and heat begins radiating off him in waves - a bright brilliant flash of golden blinds a hobgoblin that’d just made a running jump at him. 14[00:27] * Joins: Quaker [00:33] 13The hobgoblins are nothing. Nothing. She hooks one by the neck and throws it bodily into another, before slicing the throat of the third hobgoblin. The sign of the noon-day sun crests upon her brow as a golden light spills forth behind her, but Xia Lan does not care. Old wounds are opening. Never again. She launches herself upon the survivng hobgoblins, quickly and quietly crushing their throats before returning to the scene [00:33] of the fallen Xu Sim, still glowing, still worried. [00:34] 13Surviving* 15[00:36] <@VoxPVoxD> The city flows in on the fire like blood scabbing a wound. Gawkers come from all around the neighborhood to see the flames, the carnage, and the Anathema. Xu Sim's body hangs limp in Keldar's arms, and what passes for Nexus's fire brigade struggles to contain a blaze which threatens to consume multiple city blocks. 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: Night's Master 14[00:37] * Joins: Zarick_ 14[00:40] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[00:40] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:47] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[01:30] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:43] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:03] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[04:44] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[05:08] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:09] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:13] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[09:21] * Quits: Crion (Connection closed) 14[09:23] * Joins: Crion 14[10:11] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[10:11] * Parts: hrolf_mac 14[10:15] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:03] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:53] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[13:16] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[13:47] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:20] * Joins: dammitwho 14[15:41] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[17:04] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[18:09] * Quits: Quaker_ (Client exited) 14[18:21] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:30] * Joins: hrolf 14[19:27] * Joins: hrolfy 14[19:30] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:37] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:17] * Joins: hrolfie 14[20:20] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:13] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[21:32] * Joins: hrolfy 14[21:34] * Joins: hrolf 14[21:35] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:37] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:34] * Joins: Quaker 14[22:48] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[22:50] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[22:50] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[23:02] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[23:15] * Joins: bananaphone 14[23:17] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[23:59] * Joins: Quaker Session Time: Thu Sep 28 00:00:00 2017 14[02:34] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:11] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[03:37] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[06:54] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[08:33] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:53] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[13:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:07] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[14:18] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[17:19] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[18:25] * Zarick_ is now known as Zarick 14[19:47] * Joins: dammitwho [20:06] <@Ferrinus> 12 . .-. . _ * _ . [20:06] <@Ferrinus> 12 * / \ (( _/ \ * . [20:06] <@Ferrinus> 12 _ . .--'\/\_ \ ` / \ * ___ [20:06] <@Ferrinus> 12 * / \_ _/ ^ \/\'__ 9. .12 /\/\ /\ __/ \ * [20:06] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \ / .' _/ / \ / \/ \/ .`'\_/\ . [20:06] <@Ferrinus> 12 . /\/\ /\/ :' __ ^/ ^/ `--./.' ^ `-.\ _ _:\ _ [20:06] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \/ \ _/ \-' __/.' ^ _ \_ .'\ _/ \ . __/ \ [20:06] <@Ferrinus> 12 /\ .- `. \/ \ / -. _/ \ -. `_/ \ / `._/ ^ \ [20:06] <@Ferrinus> 12 / `-.__ ^ / .-'.--' . / `--./ .-' `-. `-. `. - `. [20:06] <@Ferrinus> 12@/ `. / / `-. / .-' / . .' \ \ \ .- \% [20:06] <@Ferrinus> 12@&8jgs@@%% @)&@&(88&@.-_=_-=_-=_-=_-=_.8@% &@&&8(8%@%8)(8@%8 8%@)% [20:06] <@Ferrinus> 12@88:::&(&8&&8:::::%&`.~-_~~-~~_~-~_~-~~=.'@(&%::::%@8&8)::&#@8:::: [20:06] <@Ferrinus> 12`::::::8%@@%:::::@%&8:`.=~~-.~~-.~~=..~'8::::::::&@8:::::&8:::::' [20:06] <@Ferrinus> 12 `::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.' [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Nexus ticks along. It might have been a week or several since Ir's bout; the various projects of the Squared Circle are proceeding speedily apace, granting the constituent Solar Exalted increasing influence over the city and, perhaps, the entire region. [20:08] <@Ferrinus> 12But where will they go from here? 15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, one day: "What do you think is the fanciest donut they make in Nexus?" [20:10] 4Ir: "You want to give me three hours?" 15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I don't... want to. But if that's what it takes." [20:12] 4She leans back on the divan, munching on a breakfast sandwich she fixed up for the four of them. "Just let me know." [20:14] 13Ying: "How are we defining fancy, here? Like, you can get pretty fancy with stuff that turns out lookin' really bad, or tasting really bad in this case..." 15[20:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Who ever heard of a bad fresh donut?" [20:15] 13Ying: "I bet you could make something really skillfully that tastes just awful in ways that nobody ever tried before." 15[20:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Wanna bet?" [20:16] 13She shrinks in her seat. "No! Never again." [20:16] "Well. Not about that." 08[20:17] 4Ir: "I say, never bet Eikichi nothing. Or anything. That's basically the two things you can bet." 15[20:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "As long as your wisdom doesn't percolate out to the Arena." [20:25] 7Blossom is quietly eating her breakfast sandwich. She speaks up: "So, I think I figured out where those refugees from the East are coming from." [20:26] 13Ying: "Isn't that ille- oh!" 13She turns to Blossom. "Where?" [20:28] 7Blossom: "The other night I decided to get an aerial view of the city. To the East - well East, somewhere in Jxcoatli, past a mountain range. I don't know what it is, but I saw its eyes. Over the mountains." [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Here's what's going on in the city, while I have a moment: the influx of refugees from the far east has slowed a bit, though whether that's a good or bad sign is a tough call. The Guild's been able to resume its slaving operations through Nexus, and the internal bureaucracy is humming along with incredible speed as if to make up for lost time. An emissary - lowercase e - from the [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12great city of Lookshy has come to the city to negotiate with the Council over matters weighty and secret. Nexus itself is making its final preparations to send a delegation to the Confederation of Rivers, where every near-eastern power, Thorns included, will be in attendance. [20:30] 13Ying: "Eyes over a mountain -- I think... Tatsuya saw that once? Farther north. Um. I'd have to ask him if he remembers more..." 08[20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's fight with the Son of Ahlat is coming up soon; Wild Rose has made it to a circuit that includes actual demons , demigods, and outcastes. Blossom's almost ready to test her preliminary round of repairs on the airship essence conduit. The Emissary, or so it's rumored, has been seen wearing black. [20:31] 4Ir: "Eyes are...bad." [20:31] 13!!!! [20:31] 7Blossom: "Not necessarily, if it's just the one pair." [20:32] 4Ir: "So how far away are those mountains?" [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom was probably gazing off to the eastern region of Ixcoatli, in which a few ranges of moderately-sized mountains run through the increasingly dense woodland and jungle: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/11/d0/05/11d0055a1913e2bc6ad932c5cc5d9ff6.jpg [20:36] "Two thousand miles? More?" 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "How many miles are there in a malm again? I always forget." [20:37] 4Ir: "So seeing eyes, from that distance, is bad." [20:37] "Even if it's just the two eyes." [20:37] "I feel like that's fair." [20:37] 7Malms. Blossom said malms. 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "My guess is it's a behemoth." [20:38] 13Ying: "Well, yeah, it'd have to be pretty big to see anything from that distance." [20:38] 4Ir: "Behemoths! Probably not good." [20:38] 4These sandwiches are excellent though, if she does say so herself. [20:39] 7Blossom: "I mean, relatively speaking. If it were a horde of raksha we'd have to get another army just to hold it in one place. It'd be like fighting water. A behemoth, well, you'll never have trouble finding it." 14[20:39] * Joins: hrolf 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Behemoths stomping in from the Wyld is the sort of thing the Empress would use the Sword of Creation for." 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "But the Empress is gone, and the Sword is broken..." [20:43] 4Ir: "Well. It's probably not coming over here, right?" [20:44] 13Ying: "Is that... people still live out there." [20:45] 4I mean. Probably. [20:45] 4That shit's 2000 malms away or whatever. 15[20:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "Hard to say what it's doing or what it wants. Without magic or an army it'll pretty much get to do whatever it likes." [20:45] 4Ir: "Here's what I'm saying." [20:46] "We should probably, just, like..." [20:46] "...pop up to check on it, in the Heavensward." [20:46] "From time to time." [20:46] 4Ir leans forward. "Let's say every five days." 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Weather permitting, anyway." [20:46] "Or if Blossom wants to bounce up like she did before, that's cool too." 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's pretty rare for there to be perfectly clear skies over most of the direction like that." [20:47] "But if that thing's got eyes on us, we probably want eyes on it." [20:48] 13Ying: "...that sounds good." 13She still seems troubled. "We should try and get some news from out that way, too. Like, if it's already doing something." [20:48] 7Blossom: "That might be difficult, since- hmm. Ir, do you have standard sea navigation equipment on board? Sextant, telescope, compass, things like that?" [20:49] 4Ir: "Yup." [20:50] 4Ir: "Telescope and compass should still be next to the helm. Map, sextant, and the other kinda compass are in my cabin." [20:52] 7Blossom: "Good. I think I might be able to get another aerial view myself without using the cargo loader. I don't want people wondering what we're up to with our flying ship." 08[20:53] 4Ir: "We should probably be taking it out more than we are. Fuck 'em if they want to wonder. What's that saying about publicity, Eikichi?" 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "There's no such thing as bad publicity. Unless you hate publicity, then it's all bad, I suppose." [20:58] 4Ir thought it was something like 'who gives a fuck about publicity,' but that's cool too. "Yeah!" [21:00] 13Ying: "Maybe we could figure out something else to do while we're up there? So people don't get scared or something." [21:00] "Like, a different reason for us to take off." 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Anything we could do from the sky would probably scare people more than us doing nothing in particular." [21:01] 4Ir: "All we need to do is fly off like we're doing some stupid shit outside the city, then fly back. Hour up, hour down." [21:03] 7Blossom shakes her head. "What a waste of time. Give me five minutes for the same job. Actually, I'll see if it works right now." [21:05] 4Ir: "Works for me." 4Since it means she has to do no work. [21:06] 4She frowns. To Ying: "Wait, you mean Tatsuya saw another one?" [21:08] 13Ying: "Yeah. Up north, I think that one was even farther north, past Crystal...?" [21:08] 4Ir: "Well, shit." [21:08] 13Ying: "...did he not tell you guys about that?" [21:09] "No. Not that I can recall." 4She looks around the room. "I'm not insane, yeah?" [21:09] "A monster at the north, a monster to the east." [21:09] "All from Nexus." [21:09] "The west? The west is probably fine. But I feel like we should check the south." 08[21:17] 7Blossom: "If there were one coming from the West, it would probably be underwater." 7She looks slightly antsy, but hasn't gotten up or anything. Eikichi, with his keen awareness of her moods, can guess that she really wants people to come and watch her while she does whatever it is she's planning. 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "So what are you planning to do?" 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "Can I come watch?" 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10How is Blossom planning to get up there without the Heavensward? Did she master the Cirrus Skiff? 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's intrigued. [21:20] 13Ying mutters a bit around the delicious sandwich. "Didn't tell - unbelievable." 13After swallowing, she nods excitedly to Blossom. "Me too! I want to see it!" [21:21] "Hm? Oh, sure, if you really want to." 7Playin' it cool. "Come on." [21:21] 7She'll stand up and head for the door. 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi crams the last 30% of his sandwich into his mouth and then neatly dabs at his lips with a napkin before following her out. [21:23] 4Ir rolls her eyes. [21:23] 4Blossom OBVIOUSLY wanted you to-- [21:23] 4She grabs the last sandwich and follows the others. 14[21:24] * Joins: hrolf_mac [21:24] 13Ying'll follow after grabbing the empty plates and used silverware, placing them neatly in a pile. It's important to help! ...even if you don't have time to really do anything helpful. [21:25] 7She stands on the porch of the Palace, looking into the street. There aren't many people taking it this time of morning, between its out-of-the-way position and the Palace staff's ongoing efforts to keep fans of the Circle from bothering them while they're having their dang breakfast. [21:26] 7She closes her eyes, breathes in through her mouth, out through her nose. In, out. In, out. In, out. The passage of breath is the passage of Essence. [21:27] 4She's gonna do it. [21:27] 7Her eyes snap open. She leaps forward, into the street. At the top of her arc, she declaims in a loud voice: "PHOENIX... QUEEN... ASCENSION!" [21:28] 4Ir shoves half of the last sandwich in her mouth. The spice mix she worked into the ground pork for these patties was SO on point. 14[21:28] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [21:28] 4Oh hell yes. 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10O_O [21:29] 7Through the force of her burning will, piercing jets of blue flame burst from the palms of her hands and the soles of her feet, without so much as searing her gloves or her boots! She straightens her legs, and in mere moments soars up, up, up into the sky! [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Screams and gasps ring out from the surrounding streets! [21:30] 4Showoff. [21:31] 4Not that that's a bad thing. Ir's spent the last two weeks showing off. [21:31] 7What can she see from up there? How high does she need to go in order to catch a glimpse of the Eastern behemoth, assuming the air is clear enough? 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Showoff. Eikichi swoons. [21:32] 13Ying claps and whistles as Blossom ascends! So cool...! 08[21:33] 4Ir will stick out an arm to casually catch young master Eikichi while she shoves the rest of the sandwich in her maw. [21:33] "Bretty ghoot." 4is what 'pretty good' sounds like coming out of her mouth. [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12It's daytime, which is to Blossom's advantage. On the other hand, it's daytime, which means more of the city is in operation and the clouds of smoke and steam and such are thicker than at night. The air's still pretty clear, though... [21:39] 4Please. You go up high enough and smog doesn't matter. [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom gets high enough, eventually, that by squinting and focusing her attention in the exact direction she remembers, she's able to appraise herself of the thing she saw the previous night, the great dark shape within which two deep-set eyes burned an eerie emerald. She sees it again now, through the cleft between two mountain ranges, and the good news is that it's still - it [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12takes her a moment to find it, because the eyes aren't even open, and to the uninformed observer the thing she finds might well be another mountain. [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a huge, green-brown mass, a kind of hunched-over, rolled-up lump that melds in with the scenery around it. It's covered with plantlife, as though the eastern megajungles had just been rolled up into a big ball and sent rolling at the Threshold, but it doesn't look quite normal. For one thing, it's all too big - normal leaves and vines and things shouldn't be discernible at this [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12distance. [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12As the fires of her essence begin to wane and Blossom finds herself reviewing her plan for getting back to the ground safely, the once-priestess is able to absorb more detail. This creature is definitely a creature - in fact, it's almost certainly humanoid. That mass is a head, kind of hanging down against the chest in sleep. Those are shoulders, those must be the beginnings of [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12arms... it's as though an enormous, shaggy-with-foliage, somewhat-disproportionate human had rolled up into an almost fetal squat among the mountains of Ixcoatli. [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12It must be impossibly, absurdly large, to tower as it does. What must it look like in motion...? But at this point, Blossom needs to either deploy her ancient essence glider or compose a will that'll survive ground impact. [22:04] 7She'll pop out her glider, then. No sense wasting any more effort. [22:05] 4Ir won't bother moving out from the balcony to try to catch her, then. [22:06] 4But she could have. [22:06] 4Sun, these are good sandwiches. [22:06] 13...That looks really fun. [22:07] 4It ain't not fun. [22:10] 7After making a few surveys and doing a cool loop-de-loop, Blossom swoops down towards the Circle and lands at a sharp trot in front of them. As her Essence glider re-folds and returns to its place beneath her armor: "It's still there. Looks to be asleep right now." [22:11] 13Ying's already forgotten about the behemoth. "Can you take other people up on that??" [22:13] 4Ir: "We do have a ship." [22:13] "I'm just saying." [22:13] 13Ying: "Yeah, but that's safe!" [22:13] "Juuuuuust saying." [22:18] 4To Blossom: "So that's good. But it was awake at night, yeah?" [22:19] 7Blossom: "Its eyes were open, at least." [22:19] "Well, that's as good a tell as any." [22:20] 13Ying: "Its...? Oh! Oh, right. Um. I don't know when Tatsuya saw the one up north... are behemoths normally nocturnal?" [22:21] "There's one of these things in the North and it's looking south; one in the East and it's looking west. Let me take the Heavensward out for a spin; we'll check the South. We're not gonna see anything coming from the West." 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "They're not normally anything. Every Behemoth is different." [22:21] "We'd have heard about it by now." [22:21] 4Ir frowns. "Unless we fly real far to the West. Out to sea. But if it's there it might be underwater." [22:22] 13Ying: "Can they swim?" [22:22] 4Ir: "Why would they have to?" [22:22] "Just walk or, fuckin roll." 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "No reason it couldn't. Pole of Water, after all." [22:23] 13It's too late. Ying is imagining a rotund leviathan wearing floaties, slowly paddling through the open ocean. [22:24] 13...how much fabric would that take... [22:26] 4It'd be profitable, perhaps. [22:27] 13She snaps out of it, eventually. "So... to the Heavensward for a better look?" [22:27] 4Ir: "That'd be my play." [22:28] 7Blossom lets out an almost imperceptible sigh, but the flight was more tiring than she thought. "Yes, let's." [22:29] 4Ir: "You wanna go up again, I can throw you." [22:32] "That's an interesting idea. But no, no, let's just use the ship." [22:32] 13Ying: "That way we all join in the fun!" [22:33] 4Ir: "Yeah, yeah. There's not any Guild dorks we need to let know before we take off, right? Wouldn't put it past them to put an airship tax on taking off as soon as they knew we landed." [22:34] 4Ir: "Because that just means we have to hurt some people before we go up." [22:36] 7Blossom: "Only the Council has the authority to levy taxes of any kind. That's in the Dogma." [22:36] "So if Guildsman do bother us with one, which they won't, we just wait for the Emissary to splatter them." [22:36] 13Ying: "Yeah!" [22:37] 4Ir: "Hrh." [22:37] 4She'd have preferred to splatter them herself. [22:37] 4But she's already heading over to the Heavensward to get her prepped. [22:38] 13Ying: "...do you think he liked the outfit I made?" [22:39] 4By lunchtime, Ir not only has the Heavensward ready to roll, she's got lunch moving back in the mid-deck kitchen [22:39] 4Not the galley. [22:42] 7Blossom: "He wore it, didn't he?" [22:43] 4He made his statement. [22:44] 13Ying: "Well, yeah..." 13She's twirling her fingers around a thin strip of fabric hanging off her skirt. "...but what if he's just trying to be nice?" [22:44] 4Ir prepares pitza with wildboar meat, seared then cooked on top of the cheese. [22:46] 4Turns out you can't legally prevent her from cooking anything she invented -- or, by letter of the law, anything at all -- within Nexus city limits. [22:47] 4That's why you bring in Blossom. [22:47] 7Blossom, puzzled: "Do people do that?" [22:47] 4Ir: "What, try to be nice?" [22:50] 13Ying: "Maybe! I don't know!" 13She just twirls the fabric faster. "I haven't talked to him since I gave it to him! Maybe he's not even wearing it and people are just saying he is--" [22:50] "Change their whole wardrobe to something they don't like because they want to be nice." [22:51] 4Ir: "Sure." [22:51] "That guy's hot in anything he wears. That's how it goes. That's how you win a bet." [22:52] 4She shakes her head. "You put a guy with legs like that in short shorts, you gotta wear the consequences. That's what the Water Festival taught me, at least." [22:52] "Ain't the first time it's happened." [22:52] 7Blossom, now even more baffled: "Wait, why would people say that the Emissary had changed his wardrobe when he didn't?" [22:53] "Wait!" 7She cries, and points at Ying. "You're being weird because you have a crush on him!" 08[22:53] "Oh, I was talking about Eikichi. Surely Ying wasn't dumb enough to make wagers with--" [22:55] 13Ying: "Augh! No!!!" 13Her face is extremely red. "This is - he's..." 13She trails off, then asks: "...you're sure he actually liked it?" [22:55] 4Well, shit. [22:55] 4Ir: "Are you dead?" [22:56] "No?" [22:56] "Then he doesn't hate it." [22:57] 13She blushes and hides her face in her collar. [22:57] 7Blossom: "It's supposedly quite spooky." [22:57] 7From her tone, it sounds like she approves. [22:59] 4Ir: "Well. That's...consistent with our present tone." [22:59] "I guess." [23:04] 13Ying: "I wanted it to be something he could use for work! I don't know enough about his free-time clothes..." [23:05] "...do you think he wears the mask all the time?" [23:05] 4Ir: "I do." [23:06] 13Ying: "Oh! Maybe he has a second mask!" [23:06] 4Ir: "Babe, he wears the mask all the time." [23:08] 13Ying: "Just the one? That's so sad! And, um, maybe kinda dirty after a bit. Or he has a collection of the same mask..." [23:08] 4Ir: "It's probably just magic." [23:09] "And like, I'm sure you can defeat magic with clothing. But it's hard." [23:12] 7Blossom: "Didn't your outfit have those cute little cat ears on it?" [23:13] 4Which one of them is that towards? [23:13] 7Ying. [23:13] 4Phew. [23:15] 13Ying: "It does! They're recatrib- retractible, you can hide them. There's a tail, too, under the cloak!" 13She pauses. "Wait, did you mean the one I made for me? I've got a headband for that, yeah!" [23:17] 7Blossom, triumphantly: "There you go!" 7She seems to think this has proven her case. [23:18] 4Uh huh. [23:18] 13Ying: "...I don't get it." 08[23:18] 4Is Eikichi rolling with them on this enterprise? 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi had stuff he needed to work on in the city. [23:19] 4Fair. Session Time: Fri Sep 29 00:00:00 2017 [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12What terror literally looms on the horizon...? Perhaps you'll find out next week. 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Later, after the Heavensward's settled back into dock, Eikichi gets Blossom's attention. "You have to tell me how you did that." [00:39] 7Blossom tosses her hair. "Simple management of the Essence flows. It's not really any different from what I do to hurl fire in combat." 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's starry-eyed. "Did you have to practice? Or did it just come naturally?" [00:45] 7She wipes some road dust off the side of her chin. "Well... I suppose all that time I've spent in the glider counts as flying practice." [00:48] "It... does take a lot out of me, though." 7She admits. "I wouldn't want to try and use the Ascension for long-term transportation." 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "It did look very high-pressure." 10He sighs all the same. "How's the elevator going?" [00:53] "All right. I think I'll have it finished within the next couple of days." 15[00:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh, wow. That's great!" 10Eikichi wishes he'd been helping her build it. They spent so much time together when he was helping her with the Heavensward... [00:57] 7Blossom: "It's exciting. Much more difficult than the Heavensward. When we head East after Nexus we should do some more First Age scavenging." 14[00:58] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[00:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's quiet for a bit, before: "I wonder if any of those tombs out there were ours." [01:02] 7She throws herself into a nearby chair and kicks her feet up, looking thoughtful. "Maybe? If we were lucky, and they weren't lost to the Wyld after the Great Contagion, or already looted..." 15[01:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi sinks languidly onto his favorite red sofa. Then he sits up alert and abrupt. "The helmet! I noticed that the other day and I keep forgetting to ask about it. Is that what you were working on from your dream?" [01:10] 7Blossom: "Yes... well, sort of. It's not a memory as such-- did I already talk about this?" 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "A little that one night, when we all had dinner. Remember, Ir made those fried crab and cheese dumplings?" [01:13] "Right, right. Those were good." [01:15] 7Blossom: "Anyway, imagine the past as, um..." 7She looks around. "That sofa. You sit there for a while, and then you get up. You leave an impression in the seat cushion, right?" 15[01:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It's a nice helmet though. Looks very old, though." 15[01:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Though though though. [01:16] "That's what the helmet is, I think. Not the Golden Diamond Empress herself, or the memory of her, or the past lives of our Sun-touched oversoul or something, but the impression she left. Big enough and strong enough to come all the way down to me." [01:17] 7Blossom: "She must have been awe-inspiring at her height. Greater than the Scarlet Empress could even imagine." 15[01:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's briefly hung up on the image of a behemoth-sized golden woman leaving a butt dent in a mountain range. "Mmm... was it her at the pyramid, too?" [01:20] "Maybe?" 7She looks troubled. "I don't know. I've had a lot fewer dreams about the past since I met up with you guys." 15[01:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, dreamily, and also in a dreamlike way: "That's good. Dreams aren't as nice as real adventures." [01:22] "That's true." 15[01:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you ever wonder what it'd be like to meet them?" [01:24] 7Blossom: "No. Never. I know what it would be like." 15[01:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yeah?" [01:25] "One tiger to a hill. One queen to a beehive! We can get along all right with one another, but with our own past lives?" 7She shakes her head. 15[01:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You think it'd turn into a fight for dominance?" 14[01:27] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [01:29] "I'm sure it would. Maybe not a physical battle, but-- do you know, I'm half sure she initiated me to the Sapphire Circle when I finished the helmet?" 7She's the picture of outraged indignation. "I don't like it. I'd get there on my own. I won't retread her footsteps!" 14[01:30] * Joins: Quaker 15[01:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Mmm. You've had enough of that already anyhow." [01:33] 7Blossom: "And the spell she passed on! Have you heard of the Cantata of Empty Voices?" 15[01:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi makes a face. "That's where you conjure up a choir of wraiths who scream until people's brains drip out of their ears, isn't it?" [01:41] 7Blossom: "That's the one." 15[01:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "What does someone even use that for?" 15[01:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "The Butterflies are bad enough." [01:44] 7Blossom: "War between armies. I can't imagine using it anywhere else. But could she?" 15[01:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I don't like the past." [01:47] 7She nods firmly. "Agreed." 15[01:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "You can't change it and it boxes you in. Everything you judge yourself against. Everything that feels like it's judging you." 15[01:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "The point is to get out of that. No dead Empress is going to put you back." 15[01:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi turns over, his face now half-pressed into the arm of the sofa as he closes his eyes in thought. "Gloria would hate me." [01:53] "Really? Why?" 15[01:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "When I remember old lives I can... it's very easy to feel what moved her, in those moments. She was very ambitious. Terribly ambitious." 15[02:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "I feel the satisfaction and the triumph when something she planned for ages comes together. I feel the affront when something slows her down. But there's this awkwardness, that's my own feelings. This discomfort. Because in her moments of triumph she's always alone." 15[02:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "I hate that. I hate it. I don't think she'd respect me very much." [02:07] 7Her triumphs were where nobody was around to see it? "She was always alone? That seems a little sad." 15[02:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yeah, you know. Just her alone in the middle of a big crowd of people who worship her." 15[02:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's the loneliest thing." [02:10] 7Oh. That wasn't what Blossom thought he meant. "She was never with any of the other old Solars?" 15[02:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi shakes his head. Or tries, anyway, while he's almost asleep. "Never. Not in what I see." [02:14] "That's a shame. It's better to have friends." 15[02:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah..." 14[02:48] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:05] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:09] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:38] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[07:59] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:53] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[10:17] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[11:00] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[15:39] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 15[17:01] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Sep 29 17:01:59 2017 Session Start: Fri Sep 29 17:02:18 2017 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[17:02] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[17:02] * Topic is 'Exalted: Imperfect Circle (THU 8PM EDT) | Exalted: There Can Be No End (TUE 8PM EDT) | Shadowrun: The Looking-Glass War (MON 8PM EDT) | http://i.imgur.com/0XkYldr.png' 13[17:02] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@sorcery-q06iee.res.rr.com on Mon Oct 24 22:19:06 2016 14[17:02] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 15[17:13] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Sep 29 17:13:29 2017 Session Start: Fri Sep 29 17:20:14 2017 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[17:20] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[17:20] * Topic is 'Exalted: Imperfect Circle (THU 8PM EDT) | Exalted: There Can Be No End (TUE 8PM EDT) | Shadowrun: The Looking-Glass War (MON 8PM EDT) | http://i.imgur.com/0XkYldr.png' 13[17:20] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@sorcery-q06iee.res.rr.com on Mon Oct 24 22:19:06 2016 14[17:20] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[17:20] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[17:20] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[17:40] * Quits: Quaker_ (Client exited) 14[18:27] * Joins: hrolf 14[19:13] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:56] * Joins: hrolfy 14[19:59] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:37] * Joins: bananaphone 14[20:44] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[20:46] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:46] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[20:57] * Quits: bananaphone (Quit: Colloquy for iPad - http://colloquy.mobi) 14[22:08] * Joins: dammitwho Session Time: Sat Sep 30 00:00:00 2017 14[01:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[04:06] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[05:27] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[10:04] * Joins: gulbanana 14[10:32] * Joins: Crion_ 14[10:32] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[10:37] * Joins: Crion_ 14[12:15] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:25] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[12:53] * Joins: hrolfie 14[12:56] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:19] * Quits: hrolfie (Connection closed) 14[13:21] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:25] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:33] * gulbanana is now known as banana|peels 14[13:40] * Quits: banana|peels (Quit: ) 14[14:23] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:36] * Joins: hrolf 14[15:00] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[15:01] * Joins: cbass 14[15:42] * Joins: hrolfy 14[15:45] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:16] * Joins: cbass_ 14[16:16] * Quits: cbass (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_)) 14[16:16] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 14[20:05] * Joins: dammitwho [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12___________________________________________________________________ [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12################################################################### [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 \|/ [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 -o- | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 /|\ ( )_ [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 | /\ | | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 (_) | | __ | ||-| |-[]| \|/ \| [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 ___|___ _| |____ | (_)_ _( )_|[]| __(_)_|| | |_~(|)~~(| [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12(_)__)__|_| []|[] |_(_)_ |[]|_|_[]__|__| __| |[]|__| | []|___|_|____| [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| |__| [] | |[] | | | | | [] | | | | | |||_| [][] | [20:18] <@Ferrinus> 12It's out there, thousands of miles to the east. An enormous creature, currently dormant, that towers over mountains when in motions and has at least two piercing green eyes. [20:18] 4That's fucked up. 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That's kinda cool. [20:18] 13That's scary! [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom got a good look, rocketing skyward and being lucky enough to find a near-perfect tunnel of zero cloud cover across the eastern threshold. She'd guess it's humanoid, or at least something that can pretend to be humanoid when it needs to. [20:20] 7Pretty alarming, but also a good four thousand malms away. 08[20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12More information will take some dedicated fact-finding and perhaps a field trip, though... and that's not all you've got on your plates. Wild Rose has another tourney coming up, this one in an undercity arena that sees its fair share of demons, gods, and outcaste. You haven't heard from the Lunars, which could be a good or bad sign. Brueghel hasn't called on you of late, which means [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12he might soon. There's a big gladiatorial bout not involving any of you coming up this weekend, but owing to Ir's status you've all got front row seats and the opportunity to meet the victor(s) post-fight, if you want 'em. [20:21] 4That might be fun. [20:22] 4Ir's got a social status to maintain, of sorts, around town. 15[20:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A fight in the Undercity? How exciting! 08[20:26] 7Blossom will put her foot down if Eikichi starts calling it the Fundercity. [20:27] 4So she'll do some soup kitchen visits, but also put in some discreet inquiries about this...undercity fight. 08[20:27] 4Starting with Eikichi, of course. [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12The Thundercity, AKA Crystal under Nara's rule. 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Let's not go crazy here. It still smells like a corpse's toilet. 15[20:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Ir should come! It'll raise the profile of the fight. 15[20:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sure, there might be consequences down the line, but there's more attention to be had right now. [20:30] 4You know, that's hard to argue with. [20:30] 13She could still come ~in secret~! I put the ~s around "in secret" to let you know that I'm saying it in a spooky voice. [20:30] 4She'll do it in street clothes, though, and with her hair casual instead of in her battle braids. Surely she won't be THAT recognizable that way... [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12They call it The Dark Arena, usually with an ominous pause in front of the title. Its nickname is 'The Scale', not because of any relationship to fish and reptiles or the Realm's military structure, but because it's a huge disc of dark stone that hangs down from underside of the grand canal, attached by five gigantic black chains. As far as anyone's been able to tell, it's indestructible [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12and non-critical to the remaining function of the Nexus dams, so why not use it for bloodsport? [20:35] 4The Dork Arena. Ahahaha. [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12The real trick is getting the audience together. There are seats built into the walls of the surrounding cavern, and elaborate wooden gantries to allow those willing to pay a lot to essentially hover above and beside the disc. Actually getting onto the thing generally involves ladders and gangplanks and a bit of careful balancing, because while there's some walkable terrain around [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12the thing directly beneath it is a cleft in the earth that goes down gods know how far. [20:37] 4Ir's not gonna shell out for tickets, but if the promoters wanted to give her, Ying and Blossom some good seats on comp, she'd be willing to make a show out of sitting down. ...Meaning she'd jump to the seat, you horses' asses. 08[20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Wild Rose can easily arrange for friends-and-family special tickets; the rest of the Circle has their pick of seats. The gladiator herself will be waiting in one of the little holding structures that ring the hanging disc. It's mostly rough tents and lean-tos, though there are a couple large tarpaulins from which growls and hisses periodically emanate. 08[20:40] 7Whenever they've set up and are ready to watch the fight, Blossom is giddy. This is going to be great! Wild Rose is so cool. She's so lucky. 08[20:40] 4Wild Rose probably doesn't want them walking her out to the floor or anything, so Ir will instead arrive at least half an hour early, hopefully with Blossom and Ying, and--how strict are they about bringing in food? [20:40] 4Because hot stuff they should just buy, but... [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Rose's first match is against "He of Many Colors", apparently. The announcer's hyping it up already - mysterious wielder of the black blade against the enigmatic northern enchanter...! [20:42] 4...if it won't cause a stir she'll have brought a bag with some candies she's been fooling around making herself, along with PBG (pork belly and greens) sandwiches. [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12They say this guy's got a hypnotic gaze, and powers of light and illusion. No one's quite sure how or why, and the rumors don't really narrow it down enough to allow you a trustworthy guess. 15[20:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Neat. [20:47] 4Ir, once they're seated, already munching on a PBG (twice a days leave a warrior hungry): "Anyone know anything about this guy?" 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wild Rose is there in her uniform, her skin gleaming and dark. The way her hair hangs over her face it looks less like her skin is made of metal than that she's deeply tanned. She doesn't have much to say to fans or other competitors right now. 08[20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12The blue-green glow of cultivated fungus mixes with the golden-orange of firelight to illuminate Rose's ascent up a wood and metal plank to the edge of the dark arena. The announcer's finishing an introduction: "...-slayer! Wielder of the black blade that's laid so many low! Wild Rose!" [20:49] 7Blossom: "No, I prefer to go in blind. Let him show what he's got ON THE BATTLEFIELLLLLLLD WOOOOOOOOOOO!" [20:50] 4Ir rolls her eyes. Blossom is SUCH a mark. 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's so great. 08[20:51] 13Ying's excited! She's wearing one of her best pieces, on sale now at the Rainbow Connection - maybe she'll have a chance to do some advertising! - and getting to watch Wild Rose again is always great! "WILD ROSE!!!" 13She's pointing to her in the arena there, like anybody doesn't know who she is. 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wild Rose comes out after the introduction, giving one long, smooth wave to the crowd before turning to salute... [20:52] 4Ir gives a heavy, standing ovation but doesn't shout. Still got sandwich in her mouth. [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Announcer: "And from the northern wastes - undefeated, unsolved, unbelievable - He of Many Colors!" 12A tall, spare figure comes stalking up the other gangplank, dressed in pale grey traveling gear and a long white cloak. He's of indeterminate age, with long white-blonde hair, a somewhat scraggly beard, and a face that's lined and emaciated thanks to either advanced age or intense [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12stress and hard drug use. His eyes are closed. 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That's a good look. Bad way to live, presumably, but a good look. [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12The announcer: "Aaaand... FIGHT!" 12At that moment, the man of many colors opens his eyes. [20:58] 13Ying will whisper-shout to Ir, to avoid spoiling things for Blossom while still remaining audible over the crowd: "He's some kinda fae! Makes weapons out of thin air, dazzles you, that sort of thing!" 13She looks on with interest. "The look's kind of a dealbreaker but that style..." 13Endorsement deals... [21:02] 4Ir's eyes track the fight expertly. The first steps. [21:02] 4How they move. [21:02] "Ohhhhhh boy." 08[21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12The man's eyes aren't eyes but holes into another world, endlessly deep wills of shifting, multicolored light! Wild Rose begins to rapidly lose track of the world beyond the match, as it all dissolves into a rainbow haze... but the distortion creeps up to the edges of the arena and absolutely no farther. Her actual opponent is clearly visible. 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wild Rose walks forward, sword still sheathed, hands free. Wyldblood. What do you make of him? [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Zantetsuken: An excellent test of focus. When nonsense and frivolity crowds all around, the warrior of perfect discipline yet strike strue! [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12strikes true* 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10As she walks forward, she exhales, and a chill mist stretches around her as a shiny black carapace extrudes from nowhere to fold perfectly around her body. 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She offers the wyld-eyed man her mailed hand, and pure darkness extends from her to him, a band of luminous, hungry tar that threatens to swallow him up. [21:15] 7A shiny black carapace? That's cool, but not particularly attractive. Blossom is conflicted. [21:15] 4Now this is an interesting play. 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wild Rose is still in negotiations with Zantetsuken about the armor design. [21:15] 4Not what Ir would have done, but Ir's already worried that at this point she's becoming predictable. [21:18] 13This is gettin' kinda weird... [21:23] 4Ir: "Here it comes--" [21:26] "Oh no." 08[21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Wild Rose, clad in black armor, sheathes her blade and stares. The northern fae-blooded, wisps of freezing grey sucking at the edges of his cloak and darkening the very ground he stands on, stares back as tension mounts and mounts and mounts. 08[21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Finally, he whirls and strikes, thrusting a hand forward to envelop Wild Rose in a blast of flashing colors and a whirl of silvered snowflakes- 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The correct answer to a raksha's riddle is "Choke on your cleverness and die." 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The blade withdraws at the last possible second, leaving the man bleeding on the stone but not fully bisected. [21:30] 4Ir: "Whew." [21:30] 7Blossom: "That was neat, but... they should have sent someone stronger." [21:30] 13Ying's hiding her face in her hands. She saw where that was going at the announcer's call. "...did they die?" 08[21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12The man of one color - a dark, slick red - grunts something unintelligible and kneels over on the stone behind Wild Rose. After a moment, he crumples completely to the ground on his side. [21:31] 7Blossom squints. "I don't think so." [21:32] 4Ir: "He'll live." [21:32] 4Ir: "They sent someone strong." [21:32] "They just didn't send one that respected her first step." [21:32] "And that's the whole fight right there." 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The armored figure kneels down briefly, but only staunches most of the bleeding. Wild Rose signals for a medic, her helmet melting away in gauzy white light to reveal no emotion on her face as she wipes the blade clean. [21:36] 4Ir is once again glad for the provisions that Blossom put in her contract. 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She's shrouded in floating flecks of blue and gold light, what might be embers or feathers on the wind. [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Announcer: "One stroke! Exactly one stroke! Just as us- what's that light?" 08[21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Cheers combine with gasps of shock and shouts of confusion as essence ripples around the swordswoman. "Could Wild Rose... be Chosen? Incredible! But by what?!" [21:38] 4Yeah yeah yeah. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a whirl of activity as this goes on. Unfortunately, it's pretty difficult to get people off the Dark Arena - they need to slap down multiple gangplanks side by side, be careful the angled stretcher doesn't end up decanting the poor bastard straight into the abyss, and so on. It gets done, though. [21:40] 4Ir will jump down to help if it looks like that needs to happen. 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is anyone going to clean this filth off the arena floor? [21:42] 13You can leave under your own power. 08[21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12That's another reason the matches can't follow hot on the heels of each other, yes. Fortunately, that's not Wild Rose's responsibility. [21:44] 13Ying's out of her seat right after the fight ends, making her way towards the backstage medical area. She's better than any doctor they're likely to have back there, anyway. [21:44] 4Ir's with her, munching on a second sandwich. [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12The only responsibility she's got now is to get back to her little tent area and wait, but she draws many more gasps and stares as she goes. The half-filled circle on her brow isn't really visible from the stands, but it is when you're an organizer or animal handler or whoever else's business it actually is to scurry around on the peripheries of the arena and move or direct things. [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Another anathema! 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Whatever. [21:47] 4When Ying tries to make her way back stage, Ir makes sure anyone with a sword knows who she's with. She makes sure Iscariot is a spear in her hand while she does. [21:48] 4She'll hang out holding court, signing autographs and telling dudes who barely ever clean their dicks that she's spoken for while Ying tends to the fae-touched man. 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wild Rose goes and sits in her tent with her eyes shut. 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Chosen by what? [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying busies herself. To Zantetsuken's credit, the single wound in the fae-blooded man's side is an extremely clean one, just really deep and like an inch away from having represented an instant kill. Her patient groans and mutters as he flow of blood is staunched and the cut bandaged up. [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12As Ying finishes her work, the Man of Many Colors - his eyes closed, his body covered in sweat, his blood vessels standing out against emaciated limbs - reaches out for her with a claw-like hand, seemingly by reflex! [21:53] 4Ir pauses and turns, finishing an autograph by reflex. [21:56] 13She dances lightly out of the way of the touch, hiding it with a move to speak to the rest of the medical staff about the amount of bed rest he should have before he's allowed to move again. She tacks on another 24 hours, though. No touching. [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying's too fast for him by far, thankfully enough. And that's probably good advice. 08[22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12At any rate, an hour passes without much more ado. People aren't allowed to just wander down into the fighters' area as a matter of course, and Wild Rose has plenty of time to calm her anima and refocus her essence. 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's only now, as the anchovy burps come on, that she regrets Eikichi's ideas for new pitza toppings. [22:02] 7Blossom: "See, this is why you pick the anchovies off and eat them separately." [22:02] 13She also informs the staff in a much lower tone that they should be careful around He of Many Colors - don't let him grab you. Maybe when he's conscious, he's less predatory, but for now, well. [22:03] 4Ir will give the fae-touched man a lazy wink before turning back to her public. 08[22:04] <@Ferrinus> "And now," 12the announcer's saying, as Wild Rose is walking back up onto the hanging platform. "Something rarely seen here at the Dark Arena - a mirror match!" 08[22:04] 13She's back in her seat before Wild Rose's next fight, and there's no blood visible on her at all! A medical miracle. "And I almost gave that guy my card! Ugh. I guess dazzling powers don't make you a dazzling person..." [22:05] 4Ir: "Sometimes even assholes get to live." 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10If this is a fight against a giant mirror I swear to the gods-- 08[22:06] 13Ying: "Yeah, but they don't get endorsement deals!" 13She leans back in a huff, before leaning back forward to find out what Wild Rose is fighting. 08[22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12By the gods, the man may be right. Eikichi finds himself facing... a figure clad in black jade lamellar, a long, curved daiklave sheathed at their waist. They look like a far easterner, but with markings suggestive of either Dragon-Blooded or elemental heritage: a few scales here and there, rising wisps of cool vapor from between plates of armor like you might see over a bog or lake [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12in the early morning. 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10No Realm insignia? [22:08] 4Ir frowns. [22:09] 7Blossom leans forward eagerly. "Oooh!" 08[22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Nope - almost certainly an outcaste. She cocks her head slightly at Wild Rose, then essays a short bow before placing a mailed hand on the hilt of her sword. The announcer: "Wild Rose... versus Gharava the Wanderer!" 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wild Rose salutes her before doing the same. [22:13] <@Ferrinus> "FIGHT!" 12Gharava's grip on her daiklave tightens. 08[22:17] 7Blossom: "You can do it, Wild Rose!" 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wild Rose... draws her sword. 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That's it. Her brow gleams again. 08[22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Gharava shuts her eyes, and a diaphanous mass of rippling, murky water rises up around her as she concentrates. Wild Rose readies herself for an assault - and Gharava obliges, springing forward! 14[22:28] * Joins: Quaker 08[22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Wild Rose is able to deftly parry a fierce horizontal stroke from Gharava with perfect economy of motion - and it's no surprise, since that slash-in-the-same-motion-as-you-draw thing is practically the beginning of the Single Point style. What does catch Rose by surprise is the way that Gharava turns her re-sheathing motion into its own reversed-blade stab; Zantetsuken never really [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12showed her that one, since of course it expects every foe to be dead immediately. 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Nice. [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Gharava, up close: "Anathema, right? No one warned me." 08[22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12She clearly put a lot of herself into those strikes - she and Eikichi are caught up in a brackish-yet-glowing whirlpool now. 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wild Rose, who slid backwards on her heels to avoid what might've decapitated her: "Me neither." 08[22:31] 7Blossom: "Ooh! This one should be interesting! GO, WILD ROSE! GO!" 08[22:31] 13Ying gasps in surprise, but Wild Rose seems like she's still okay... "WILD ROSE!! YOU CAN DO IT!" 14[22:35] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[22:36] * Joins: Quaker 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Zantetsuken strikes! There is no margin for error if Gharava is going to survive... and she's able to deflect the blow. 14[22:38] * Joins: Quaker_ [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a hiss of indrawn breath as Gharava raises and brandishes the scabbard, a second layer of rippling, semi-hardened water drawing together along the weapon and across her armor - phew! [22:40] 4Interesting. The Blooded woman looks -- yes, she's -- 08[22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12With incredible economy, the block becomes a slash... one that mostly goes ringing off Wild Rose's bronzed skin. Gharava tsks to herself. "Fine, fine. I'm a fool to hold my magic back." 14[22:41] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:41] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker [22:41] 4Ir: "Oh my." [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12She takes a step back and draws her reaper daiklave completely - but doesn't lash out. Instead, she spins it around once and taps the point to the floor beneath the two of you, closing her eyes. The weapon's black jade plus... could it be moonsilver? Something stranger? It ripples like molten silver. 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Interesting. [22:47] 7Blossom: "AAAAAAAAAGHAHAHAGGHA THIS IS GREAT!" [22:50] 4Ir is just watching in fascination now. [22:53] 13This... whaaaaat? That's not- can she DO that? Aren't there rules against that?!? [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Before the crowd's eyes, the arena floods! There's no apparent source of the water - it just rises up out of the stone to envelop the entire hanging disc in a shimmering orb of water. Within that water, Gharava the Wanderer seemingly takes flight, lightly pushing herself off the stone with her toes until she's deftly drifting all around her landbound opponent! [22:54] 4Well, shit. 08[22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12A few people - everyone in the Squared Circle, certainly, Wild Rose included - can tell that the water isn't really there. It's the notion of water, an idle daydream of water - but one that the slightly glassy-eyed Gharava is being fully taken into. And you really don't want to fight a water-aspected Dragon-Blood underwater. 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10I'm into it. [23:03] 4Ir: "...I think this is over." 08[23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Gharava's literally in her element. She's not really even swimming, but simply floating in exactly the direction she wants at every moment. Wild Rose is forced to constantly turn and guard and give ground just to keep her sword on her opponent. 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's beautiful, the way Gharava arcs through the air like it was water. Even swimmers aren't usually so graceful. A memory rises, unbidden. Wild Rose sheathes her sword. A blue-gold mandala spins up at her feet, throwing light all over the arena light it was reflecting off the surface of a pool. It seems to ignite, blue becoming white and gold becoming red, as a great ibis unfurls its wings around her before launching like a firework directly into the graceful Outcaste. [23:06] "Oh wow." [23:06] "Ying--" [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12FWOOSH [23:07] 13She's already gone. Making her way back to the medical area once again, though this time she won't have to dodge a raksha. 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10There's a massive explosion. The entire orb swells and fills with fire, vanishing almost as quickly as it evaporates alongside the Sliver's Dream, fire and water both seeming to contract into a vanishing point at the base of her still-drawn blade. [23:10] 4Ir doesn't raise an arm to block the light from the blast. She stares sternly not down at the center of the arena but at the outcaste's corner, eyes searching for the medic. [23:10] 7Blossom: "Ah! A Forest Witch! They really have all sorts fighting in Nexus!" [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Gharava screams as the water she drifts in is suddenly heated to boiling, and then screams louder as the fantasy shatters and she's simply completely engulfed in 100% real flames. The woman's anima cushions her a little as she comes crashing back to the stone, but only a little. [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Announcer: "Unbelievable! Fantastic! A clash of swords - ended by sorcery! Who could have-" 12Ying, meanwhile, is drawing on every piece of know-how for treating burns she's ever heard of, and trying not to get crushed and drowned by the remnants of Gharava's aura all the while. [23:15] 13You'd think the watery aura would help with the burns! Instead it's just really annoying. If Gharava is conscious for even a moment, Ying'll scold her for it, though mostly in an attempt to keep her awake while she works at the wounds. Mostly. 08[23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Wild Rose is back in her tent when the announcement is made. "Ladies and freemen... the Queen has withdrawn from the final round! Wild Rose wins this tourney in the Dark Arena by default!" 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The who? [23:23] 4Smart woman. 08[23:24] 7Blossom: "How disappointing. Bad for Wild Rose, too. People won't come if her opponents all just forfeit." 08[23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12She has a few sobriquets, it seems - queen of spines, demon queen, stuff like that. Everyone but Wild Rose saw a few of her bouts: she's a statuesque woman armored with something like plate or bone that's been tearing people apart with her claws. The smart money is that she's some kind of demon, but none of you got close enough to her to make a strong estimation. 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Oh that's a pity. [23:24] 4Ir: "It's fine. It's because the organizers didn't disclose she was Chosen beforehand." [23:25] "Means that next time, she should have opponents on her level." 08[23:25] 13Wow! Congratulations to Wild Rose! Ying could've patched the Queen up after her inevitable loss, but honestly, cutting out the middleman is fine with her. [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Straight up quitting from an arena fight of even this profile is actually a very bad thing to do, both fo your reputation and for your finances - quitting carries some hefty penalties to your bank account. Still, it beats being cut in half. 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wild Rose could have patched her up. 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She can play doctor too. 08[23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12It's to a somewhat mixed crowd reaction that Wild Rose stands in the center of the Dark Arena to be presented with a carved jade medallion representative of the venue plus miscellaneous other riches, but winning's winning, right? Now that she's fought her way through a motley of supernatural foes, she's really ready for the big leagues. [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, the other fighters are either licking their wounds, slowly realizing that they're lying on their own deathbeds, or stealing off into the undercity. [23:32] 13Ying will want to talk about what she saw of "The Queen" with the rest of the group, once they can gather again. [23:33] 4Ir's very seriously munching down on a third PBG sandwich when they gather. 08[23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12That time... is now! Well, strictly speaking, it's later, but once Wild Rose has her rewards she and her allies are free to regroup, spend the rest of the night drinking, whatever. 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wild Rose is in street clothes, sword and armor gone. Just a floral print shirt and dark pants and a jacket made out of the material Ying used on Eikichi's shoes. [23:35] 13Jaterial. [23:35] 7Blossom: "It's such a shame that your last opponent backed out." [23:36] 4Ir: "Wasn't her night." [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Zantetsuken has been passive-aggressively sniping about the fireball for pretty much the entire night. Maybe you don't even need a sword, then!!! [23:38] 13Ying: "I saw her backstage! She, um. How do I put it?" 13She taps a finger to her chin, thinking, then: "Kruthik. Like one of them but people." 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The entire point was not to use Single Point against the Single Point stylist expecting a mirror match! I still love you, baby. [23:38] 7WHAT [23:39] 4Ir sighs and closes her eyes. "Well. That complicates things." 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Zantetsuken is sweet! He's like a puppy. [23:39] "We're hunting kruthik." [23:39] "You know. In our other job." [23:39] 7Blossom frowns. "It could be a coincidence... but it would be worth finding out more about her, all the same." 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "I'm sure we'll run into her." [23:41] "Not a huge believer in coincidences." 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't like leaving that wyldblood back there." [23:41] 4Ir: "What's your play?" [23:42] 13Ying: "The first one? I warned the staff about him. We can check back up on him in two days - I tacked a day onto his recovery time 'cause he tried to touch me." [23:42] "Rude." [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12You could do some digging, if you had to - ask around, steal and look through paperwork, that sort of thing. 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "Probably parasitic. Someone with that much power in their blood needs to feed on souls the same as a bodied raksha would." [23:45] 13Ying: "Seemed like it. I dunno if he was even thinking about it, he'd lost a lot of blood when he made the move. Unconscious." [23:46] 4Ir: "He didn't look healthy when you fought." [23:46] "Says to me that when his mind's right, he tries to avoid those impulses." [23:46] "The other raksha we've met have looked real well fed." 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "Maybe. It could also mean he's addicted to eating dreams and ignoring his human needs." [23:47] 13Ying: "Maybe! That's why I'll be back in two days to check in on him. You know, doctor to patient." 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "You shouldn't go alone." [23:49] 4Ir: "Probably smart." 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "So that's it then. After this there's just the actual Arena." [23:51] 4Ir: "Yup." [23:52] "Good work out there, by the way. Did it cleaner that I would have." [23:55] 13Ying: "They'll both be okay. Honestly, the medical staff here is totally lacking but their facilities are better than I would have expected... I can't imagine being a fighter here." [23:55] "Lose an arm and they'd reattach a leg. Immaculate stitchwork, though." 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "You just have to imagine not mattering to anybody." [23:56] 4Ir: "I had to guess, that'll cause more of a stir down here tonight than your nature." [23:56] "Us in the back, giving a fuck." [23:57] 7Blossom tsks. "If they're smart, they'll be grateful for Ying's efforts." 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "They'll forget fast, since we won't be back tomorrow and there won't be anyone left to care about them then." [23:58] 4Ir: "My point is, they might start using it as a selling point when trying to book against you." [23:59] 13Ying: "...I kinda did only work in the back after your matches, yeah." [23:59] "Maybe that's good; maybe it's bad." [23:59] "Maybe it's value-neutral. But it's something to think about." Session Time: Sun Oct 01 00:00:00 2017 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "If you're guaranteed not to die, it means you're guaranteed to collect the second-place purse. Closest thing to a guarantee there is outside of fixed fights." [00:01] 13Ying: "Why NOT fix the fights, though? It's way safer, most of the crowd won't realize it, you can tell better stories with it..." [00:01] 4Ir: "Thankfully, no one's gonna accuse you of that." [00:01] 4To Ying: "Risky. Always some god or Chosen that might somehow be able to tell." [00:01] "In strictly mortal fights, though? You're not wrong." 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "The people whose decision that would be don't care if mortals live or die in the arenas." [00:02] 13Ying: "Even beyond that! People's entertainment isn't worth lives!" [00:02] "Sure it is." [00:02] "Always has been, at least." 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "It's worth people's lives until people aren't willing to die for it anymore." 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "But you compare the life of any successful arena fighter to the life they'd have in Nexus any other way... you're almost fighting for your life anyway." [00:04] 7Blossom: "You know, I bet the audience wouldn't care whether the fights were fixed, as long as they were exciting enough." [00:05] "Like a play." [00:05] "It'd be easy to attract fighters with that kind of setup." 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "I think some of them would care. But I bet you could still fill arenas with the remainder." [00:05] 13Ying: "Well... there's a lot of things that can get better around here. In and out of the arena." 13She nods excitedly to Blossom. "That's what I'm saying! People want to be entertained - they're not paying to watch people die!" 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "Yes they are." [00:06] 4Ir: "And we haven't even talked about the whole intersection with slaves." [00:06] "Thankfully it's in my contract I can't fight them. But that's just to make me feel more comfortable." 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "You always leave the stadium or look away. You haven't seen the way the crowd reacts when someone dies. The energy's on a whole other level." 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "We could give them something else, sure... but it doesn't mean they don't like this. If they didn't like this, nobody would've started selling it in the first place." [00:07] 4Ir: "Smart money is the crowd hated us for jumping in and saving that wizard, and that girl." [00:08] "Smart money is also fuck 'em if they can't take a joke." [00:08] 7Blossom: "Don't be ridiculous. They were both out of the arena when Ying went to work." [00:08] 4Ir: "Word spreads." [00:09] "They might be dumb, but they ain't stupid." [00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Still, watching a still-moving body carried out on a stretcher doesn't quite have the same stretch as watching someone fall to the ground in two pieces, or literally crumble to cinders. [00:09] 13Ying: "..." 13She leans back in her chair, frowning. Not a fan of people dying. 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "Fixing the fights is a good idea. We just have to be clear-eyed about the pushback. It won't be a popular decision." 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "Of course, you could always just... fix the fights and then lie about it." [00:11] 13Eventually: "...masks. To, to hide the fact you're reusing people who 'should' be dead. And you can sell them as souveniers. That's a start." [00:11] 4Ir: "You could also just tell people they don't get to watch people die anymore." [00:12] "Has the advantage of being just and honest." 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "Those are also disadvantages." [00:13] "Can say the same of unjust and lying." 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "There's a smaller market for that." [00:14] 4She pushes off the wall. "But this conversation calls for power we don't have." [00:14] 7Blossom: "It would have one big advantage - telling a story. People love stories, your book about us sells out faster than they can print it." [00:14] "Because you nailed it." [00:14] "It's the market that's the problem." [00:15] "Pfeh. People will know what they like when we give it to them." [00:15] 4That's our Blossom. 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose smiles for the first time all night. [00:17] 13Ying: "I'm still - the masks! They keep the crowds from accosting the workers on their free time. It adds an air of mystery! You can have matches over who gets to wear a mask...!" 13She pounds a fist on the table. "Talk about stories! How come they don't have these already?" [00:18] 4Ir smiles despite herself. "Because fighters pass from the ring too soon." [00:18] "Either they die or they get to the highest level, beat all comers, and move on." 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "Ir's right. Most arena fighters are effectively anonymous because nobody cares who they are yet." 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "If you work your way up from the bottom, you're earning the right, by combat, to have people mourn your death." 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "Putting it behind a mask would defeat the purpose." [00:26] 13Ying: "The mask IS the name. And you can always peel the mask away to see the person underneath. Even in death, names would be known." 13She's thinking again. "Not that - um. We're trying to get away from that! So, so that doesn't matter!" [00:27] 4Ir waves a hand. "Still takes power we don't have." 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "Yet." [00:28] 4She snorts. "You saw what it took for me to open half a dozen soup kitchens. You want to stop blood sports in this city? You need someone on your side like the--" [00:28] "..." [00:28] 4To Ying: "So how's your boy the Emissary doing?" 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "I thought he looked very dashing in that outfit." [00:29] 13She tries very hard to hide her blushing. "I haven't heard anything. I hope he liked it!" [00:30] 4Ir: "Ya'll should go out to dinner. The three of you and the Emissary. Double date." [00:31] 7Blossom: "Oh? You and Marek won't be coming along?" [00:31] 4Ir bursts out laughing. "That's funny." 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "Ir and Marek can't go on a double date with the Emissary around. How are you going to do anything fun with the law right there?" [00:32] 4Then she sees Blossom's face. "Oh. You're serious." [00:32] "What she said. I don't trust that boy around the Emissary." [00:32] "He'll splat us before we're done with tapas." [00:33] 13Ying: "He wouldn't! He's been nothing but a gentleman to me." 13She seems indignant. 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "That's because you love rules." [00:34] 4Ir: "Yeah, that's uh. Not what I'm looking for in Marek." 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "You're basically perfect for each other." [00:35] 7Blossom, sternly: "There's nothing wrong with good citizenship." [00:35] 13Ying: "THANK you." [00:35] 4The Square Circle indeed. [00:35] 13Wow. 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "Unless good citizenship means rigorously following the Dogmas of Nexus." [00:38] 7Blossom: "The Dogma isn't so bad, except for 'None shall obstruct trade.'" [00:38] 13Ying: "People can change. That's what I think, anyway." [00:42] 4Ir: "You're not wrong, at least." [00:42] 4Death is a form of change. [00:49] <@Ferrinus> 12In Nexus, those who oppose the Dogmas tend to change into bloodstains, or piles of slag. [00:50] <@Ferrinus> 12We'll find out which of those'll be you, and what your general forward plans are... next week. [01:05] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ [01:05] Ask your nannies or schoolteachers to sing you the Good Citizenship Song! 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[20:13] 14Yyeah. [20:15] 5 What are you talking about? This is not fine! 15[20:15] <@VoxPVoxD> The circle's bloodied and battered. Xu Sim's on death's door, the entire neighborhood is burning as people gather and cower and gawp at the burning animas marking the spot for all to see. Bubo never showed; assassins came instead. [20:15] 14It's a...dramatic device. [20:16] 14Iront. [20:16] *14Irony. [20:16] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven pushes himself to his feet with his cane. [20:17] 4 von Hrolfus sits on a pavement, head in his hands. [20:17] <@Ferrinus> "This was a goddamn setup!" 12thunders Keldar, standing over the burned and battered body of Xu-Sim. "When I get my hands on - but later, later, shit, where's there a..." 14[20:19] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[20:20] * Joins: mattbaby [20:22] "Let's not have our meltdown public, please." 13Xia Lan is rubbing at her forehead; she's got the beginnings of a tremendous headache. Are there any doctors nearby? 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Are there? Are there, Keldar? [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's gesturing aimlessly with his free hand, even going so far as to snap his fingers a few times. "Right! Few blocks this way then a turn. Up you go-" 12He's at least patched Xu Sim up enough that he can hoist the man up without killing him on the spot. [20:27] 4 Shaking his head, von Hrolfus clambers to his feet to help balance Xu Sim between himself and Keldar. "Lead." [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12People are crowding in to stare, and of course to salvage valuables from the still-burning building, even as Keldar's getting his bearings. They threaten to trample the bruised and exhausted circle until Keldar brandishes his still-warm sword and stares daggers at the approaching looters, gawkers, and guardsmen. [20:28] 14Stranger will stand and stumble along behind. [20:28] 14This is humiliating. [20:29] 14This will not happen again. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> Keldar: "Outta the way! Guy's about to die! Get the - I said scram!" 12The mercenary proceeds to ford his way through the crowd, and the combination of his palpable fury, still-drawn weapon, and local notoriety is enough to draw an entire wedge of walkable space through the Nexus streets such that the others can follow. [20:30] 13Xia Lan offers a shoulder to lean on, if Stranger will take it. 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Elsewhere, a riverboat disembarks in Nexus. Among a raft of accountants and soldiers is a woman in a big hat and dusty coat. She's got a meeting, at some point, with her contact on this job. She can also get started on the job itself, or find a place to settle in. Nexus is Nexus, even with so much afoot. The boat flew thick with rumors. Raksha and madness and open Anathema. The Emissary is dead! 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> The red star hanging over Sentinel Hill and the gold falcon spreading its wings over a plumes of smoke across town tell Flashing Dawn that at least half those rumors are true. 14[20:31] * Joins: dammitwho [20:33] 14Stranger will take it. But there's a snarl on his face that Xia Lan has never seen before when he does, and it's not directed at her. [20:34] 7Shit. Thought that guy was bad news, so whatever took him down must be worse. Flashing Dawn shrugs to get the odd implement on her back settled, and then starts in on the streets of Nexus. Damn, but it's big. 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar's able to lead the circle to a clinic that he knows does good work. There's a few patients inside, and the doctor's prepared to calmly rebut whoever's coming in that they need to wait their turn, but when the mercenary kicks the door down with an all-but-corpse in his arms, priorities change. [20:38] 5 Xu Sim is badly battered and his face is a mask of blood. [20:38] 14Stranger's going to lean near the door until and unless someone badgers him into accepting treatment. [20:38] 14He's staring into the middle distance, thinking. [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Burns, contusions, probably broken bones. Did the best- ...no, not yet. Here, get us a table..." 12He carries Xu Sim through the clinic and carefully lays the sorcerer out on the first treatment/operating table he sees that's open. Then he turns away, clenching a fist at about the level of his chin and frowning deeply to himself, before turning back and taking another look [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12at the wounds. [20:42] 4"How is he? Can we use one of our abom- our abilities to help?" [20:42] 7Dawn heard the guy's a troublemaker, so she hits the dives, back alleys... where trouble lives. She's not shaking anybody down just yet, just asking questions. Have you seen this guy? Even think you did? Could be dangerous. [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12There's got to be more he can do, here... Keldar can practically see them, the snarls and blockages and ruptures that've come from his own failures to patch Xu Sim properly already and that might be leaving Xu Sim debilitated or even insensate for weeks or months. 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> As Keldar works, Xu Sim's entire body seizes up on the table, causing his surgeon to panic - is this it? Did he die? 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Instead, he merely gives up the ghost. A sickly amber-colored clot wafts from his open mouth, as a thin trail of honey trickles down from the corner of his mouth. [20:50] 13Xia Lan's crouched, leaning against the wall next to Stranger, trying to minimize herself while she thinks. Not just about the assassins, and Bubo (why wasn't he there?), but how many people might have seen her caste mark. Pointless to worry now; she'll have to shut down some rumors. Back to the problems at hand... 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> There's an echo of Xu Sim's cackle as the clot drifts away and vanishes. But then Xu Sim's body settles a into regular, stable breathing pattern. [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar works like a man possessed, absent-mindedly waving away the other doctors and nurses and only beckoning them back to get them to mop up blood or pass over implements. After a few minutes' careful tending and observation, an eight-pointed sunburst has drawn itself in orange-red flames on Keldar's forehead; after about fifteen more minutes' of stony, silent surgical work, the [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12impromptu surgeon is covered from head to toe with sunrise-colored flames. [20:51] 4von Hrolfus claps Keldar on the back. "Well done." [20:52] 14Sloppy. Obvious. They were sloppy and obvious. [20:52] 14They will have to be obvious to win power in this city. [20:52] 14That means they cannot be sloppy. 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger runs over what happened in his head. The anima of the distant archer - blooded, definitely, of the fire aspect. A fire aspected assassin with hobgoblin henchmen? Bizarre. And where was Bubo? It smacks immediately of a setup, of course... but something about that doesn't fit. Bubo had multiple better opportunities to crush you all if that was his intention. Still, his absence and the coordination of the attack insist that that's the simplest explanation. [20:55] 14Never trust the simplest explanation, fool. [20:55] 14Sun, now he's talking to himself. 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Dawn asks around. People recognize the guy immediately - he's got a hard face and demeanor to miss. He's been causing a fair amount of trouble for, specifically, the Guild - someone tells Dawn a story of how he burnt an entire shipment of opium and almost lit up a whole neighborhood in the process of beating and scaring a local underfactor half to death. [20:58] 7Heaven knows she's been there. Better have a damned good reason for it. Unless anyone's reported a recent sighting of him, the underfactor seems like a good choice. 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> He's been keeping a lower profile since then, for probably obvious reasons. [21:00] 4von Hrolfus looks around. "What happens now? Should we keep moving? Staying in one place may not be advisable." [21:00] 14Stranger: "We st..." [21:00] 14Stranger: "We stay." [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar frowns at the light show taking place over Xu Sim's body. "...well, that ain't actually his ghost. Gods willing he'll be up in a day or two to explain it to us." 12Then he looks down at his own hands. "Ah, fuck." [21:01] 14Spitting up blood: "We find this fire aspect. We find the way they wove their hobgoblins. We make a statement." [21:02] "And then we find Bubo." [21:03] 7Dawn meets with a few contacts, drops a few names, and the trail leads her to the roughed up underfactor. [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "First thing I wanna do is head over to the rooftop he was firing from and see if we can track him down. ...except just leaving Xu Sim here or otherwise splittin' up after an attack like that's no good." [21:05] 14Stranger: "I will join you." [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's still standing by Xu Sim's bedside, inside the private clinic, as he strategizes. "We might literally wanna hole up here for the night, see how the doctor's doing in the morning, and then go from there." [21:06] 4"If we are attacked again? It is obvious where we are. Can we take care of him in a more hidden place?" [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Not exactly a mystery where he is right now and I don't wanna walk around lit up like a torch. None-a ya saw nothin', by the way." 12That's Keldar shooting a dirty look at the other doctors, cleaners, and patients that might happen to be in line of sight. [21:06] 14Stranger: "And risk losing the trail? Ridiculous." [21:06] 14Another hacking cough; more blood 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> The underfactor's easy enough to get in touch with. She finds him in Nexus proper, the financial heart of the city, specifically the big commodities exchange where the Guild turns iron into wheat into profit. Underfactor Pran is his name. He walks with a limp and there's the shiny remnants of mild burns on his hands and face, but he's alive and grateful for it. "Who're you?" he says, suddenly querulous despite almost certainly having been told to expect her. [21:06] 14. [21:07] 13Xia Lan: "We should at least send one person - Stranger, are you all right?" 13He clearly isn't, but she's not going to tell him that. [21:07] 14Stranger: "Will I live? Yes? Then I am alright." [21:08] "Pran, right? Name's Flashing Dawn. Heard you've been having a rough time lately." [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, I know, but frankly the trail's worth less to me than any of our lives, and if they've got more people and even a little prep they might be able to spring just as bad a trap for the one or two of us that go out there right now." 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Pran: "Yeah well. That's what happens when the city guard just stands there and watches someone beat the shit out of you." [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You're in rough shape, Stranger - probably I should take a look at you - and the rest of us are some combination of hurt and exhausted. If we split up, then whether they hit us there or here, we lose way more than we want to." [21:12] 7Dawn: "Not sure they could have done much than you could. What'd the guy have against you?" 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Pran: "He pulled two swords on me and then set me on fire." [21:13] 13Xia Lan: "I don't like it." 13She shakes her head. "I think you're right, though. It's the least worst option we've got." 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "Cause he got a bug up his ass about the shipment. Who knows?" [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...as to your worry, Bastian, I don't much like this clinic as a military base. But it won't be easy moving Xu Sim and, frankly, Stranger somewhere safer in a way where people can't tell where we're going or even hit us on the way." [21:15] 7Dawn scowls. "Come on, now. Swords are business. Setting you on fire's personal. How'd the bug get there?" 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Pran: "Who the hell knows?" [21:16] 4"We need to keep watch and be at our guard, then." [21:17] 14Grumbling: "I am fine." [21:18] 5 Xu Sim sleeps contentedly, restfully. Dreams of ugly, happy dogs [21:22] 13Xia Lan: "You aren't fine. You're hurt, Xu Sim is hurt, we're all exhausted, and if there's anything to find back there, it's not worth our lives. This is aside from the number of people there that'll have some pointed questions about what we were doing there and the risk to the rest of us if that happens." 13She shakes her head. "It's just not worth it. I hate it, too." [21:23] 14Stranger opens his mouth as if to say something, closes it, frowns, opens it again while raising a lecturing finger, then just sighs. [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yep. Fortunately, we shouldn't be here much more than a day or two, unless I haven't learned nearly as much from my career as I thought." 12He pauses. "While we are here, Stranger, you should take a seat. That's gonna heal ugly by default." 12Probably not true about the Solar constitution, but still. [21:23] 14He shuffles over to a bed. [21:24] 14When he lays down, it's far more gingerly than his visible wounds would indicate. [21:24] 14There's a lot of damage under the skin. 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Eventually Dawn gets Pran to relent: "Okay, there was an altercation earlier that night. I was overseeing deliveries to the blue light district, right? So while I'm waiting I make chitchat with one of the girls, see if we can do some business. She was off duty or something - whatever, it's not the point. Anyway she's not buying what I'm selling, and I was having a bad day and I knock her around a little. Kid goes nuts, like he's never been in that kind of place before. The brothels in that part of town all double as hostels. For the turnover, right? So maybe he hadn't." 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Anyway, the kid goes nuts and I tell him to fuck off. And he just stands there and stares at me. Creepy." 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Then about a half hour later he comes for me. He's insane." 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Watch your ass." [21:28] 7Dawn stays quiet. "Know where he went after that? Even generally?" 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Pran: "He got picked up by an old guy and the two of them went off together. I didn't think much of it at the time, but you know what I heard later? That old guy was one of the Anathema. From the amphitheatre." [21:29] 7Dawn: "Old guy? What'd he look like?" 7This is getting complicated fast. 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Pram: "Real scruffy. Blind, too, though he didn't walk like it. I figured he was just some beggar." [21:33] 7Dawn scowls. "I'm gonna find the kid. You won't have to worry about him." 7She spits on the road. "But if I was here when he lit you up, I'd be basking in the campfire too. Take care of yourself." 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> After some intense, glowy threats, Keldar's convinced the staff and doctor at the clinic to keep mum. That said, they did cut a pretty conspicuous path here, so after an hour or so there's a weird contingent stomping up the road to the clinic. There's a tanned man with slightly pointed ears wearing the insignia of the Dawn Guard and a pair of men hidden in their Lookshyan armor. [21:34] 7Dawn's on her way after that, armed with another description and more knowledge about the kid. 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Pran: "Yeah, whatever." He mutters an obscenity after she turns and walks away. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, Keldar's set up a few bandages and bits of gauze and stuff but hasn't really gotten into the nitty-gritty of treating Stranger's burns and bruises when the city watch comes calling. He frowns to himself, wipes his hands off with a cloth, cranes his neck from side to side, and then stands up from the little rolly stool he borrowed from another operating room. "Guess we gotta [21:39] <@Ferrinus> talk to that guard." [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...and we probably wanna meet him in force, if he's got Lookshyans with him. They might be in on it. Uh, Stranger, yell real loud if someone goes sneaking around us, we'll just be a couple rooms away." [21:40] 13Xia Lan: "I'll go with you." 13Hopefully she can keep this from escalating. [21:42] 4"I will guard the eccentric." [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12So it is that Keldar saunters out front, sword sheathed at his side, and hails the guardsman with the traditional greeting used throughout Nexus: "What seems to be the problem, officer?" 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> The dawn guardsman stares up at the Dawn guardsman. "Don't be coy, Keldar. Pellicia wants to know what the hell happened." [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Attempted murder. We were invited to lunch at a noodle place - a former noodle place - and instead of our host we got a bunch of goblins and burning arrows." [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Fought my way clear, took the injured to the nearest physician who was still conscious." 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> The Barracks of the Dawn Sergeant are the nerve center of the city's militia and police force, the Dawn Guard, led by the influential Councilor, Pellicia the Dawn Sergeant. However it's difficult to get in to see her without an appointment, since the constant disasters eat into her schedule. What's Flashing Dawn's play? 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> The lieutenant: "Who?" [21:50] 13Xia Lan's out shortly behind Keldar, picture of innocence. She's left her swords behind in the operating room for appearances sake. She adds: "We're still tending to the injured." 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> The lieutenant's eyes go wide when he sees Xia Lan. [21:51] 7Not much of a play. Dawn walks right up to whoever's blocking entry. "I need some information about someone dangerous who might be loose in your city. Someone told me I could find it here." [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar glances over to the two figures in Lookshyan armor before looking back to the lieutenant. "Dunno. They were a couple rooftops over and ran as soon as it looked like we'd be surviving the combined raksha attack and building collapse." [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Probably Chosen, though. There was a big fiery light in their direction." 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> The guard Dawn stares down is young; she's probably a fresh recruit being broken in on easy jobs. "On whose authority, ma'am?" [21:53] "I'm a bounty hunter for the Guild. I'm not here to make trouble, I'm here to truss it up and drag it out of town. If I could have a word with the folks in charge I'll be here and gone in a flash." [22:01] 13She notes the lieutenant's reaction, smiles, and bows slightly. This is still going well - no need to play on that as yet. 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> The dawn guardswoman: "Guild, you said? She's in a meeting now but if you want to wait she'll--" inside the compound the windows shatter and furrows in the earth spiderweb across the parade ground as a man bellows so that everyone in the compound and probably on the Hill can hear him. 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "WHO IS HERE ON WHOSE SUFFERANCE?" 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> At the clinic: "She's not gonna like that." [22:05] 7Dawn's hat is blown back a little, and she raises an eyebrow, looking at the young guard. 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> The young guard reaches reflexively for her sword, but before she can turn or speak the door slams open, blown clear off its hinges, as a living mountain of white jade and rumbling earth stomps away from the central building. He's toting a massive grand goremaul one-handed, and wearing what Dawn immediately recognizes as the insignia of the Lookshyan Seventh Legion. Nobody stops him, questions him, or makes eye contact as he strides out. 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Well, nobody unless Dawn does. [22:09] 7Dawn doesn't intentionally impede his progress, but she doesn't scramble out of the way, either. [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, well, I bet she'll like it more than I did when the place was falling to ash around me. I'm seeing to my near-dead friend at the moment but I can show you where they came from later if you people need it." 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> The guard questioning Keldar: "She, ah, she wants me to bring somebody back with me. The Lookshyans, see." [22:12] 13Xia Lan: "Why would you want to bring one of them back?" 13Playing dumb is good. Usually works, too. 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The giant from Lookshy stomps past Flashing Dawn without sparing her a glance. Only his eyes are visible in his massive helmet and they look as furious as the rest of him. 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> To Xia Lan: "To, uh, to, to, to- she wants someone to explain. To Lookshy." [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks at the Lookshyans, then back to the lieutenant. "What does Lookshy care if a random restaurant burns down?" [22:14] 7Dawn: "Meeting's over, then?" 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> One of the armored soldiers behind the dawn lieutenant says: "We care about the Anathema you're harboring." 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> The dawn guard guarding Dawn: "...yes." [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Don't you mean the ones you're harboring? Your guy, Dorma, he's already seen to the kid and the doctor. Let 'em stroll back out." [22:18] 7Flashing Dawn claps the young guard on the shoulder and walks past her, unless she's detained. [22:20] 13Xia Lan to the lieutenant: "Oh! I guess that makes sense, huh." 13She smiles again. Keeping up appearances. Keldar can handle the Lookshyans until this turns worse. 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> The Lookshyan: "With the understanding that they would cooperate with local government. Now what? People are dead, buildings are burning, and everyone saw you there." 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "Are you going to bring them out or are we going to come and take them?" [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar bridles. "Are you kiddin' me? Two of the people you want to see aren't even well enough to be walking around, and you're crazy if you think I'm gonna just leave 'em here while the assassin's still at large. You can come back tomorrow." 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Flashing Dawn walks across the broken courtyard, through the broken door, and into a broken office. An orange-haired woman in silver armor and a handful of aides are working together to pick up huge splinters of wood and carefully salvage papers and ledgers. [22:24] 13Xia Lan: "There's an assassin on the loose and you want to harass their victims?" [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We're cooperating with the local government just fine, but that ain't you." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> The Lookshyan: "There's a magnet for assassins on the loose and we want it where we can see it." 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> To Keldar: "Is that what you want me to tell the Dragonlord, mercenary?" [22:26] 13Xia Lan: "Well, given their wounds, I don't think they'll be leaving here tonight." [22:27] 7Dawn stands quietly in the entryway, arms crossed, mouth shut, eyes open. 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Flashing Dawn is able to reconstruct virtually everything that happened here. There's rough scrapes on the floor that don't match any of the furniture (the armored man never sat down, and paced instead) and a radial splay of furniture and remnants including two mostly-intact halves of a great teak desk (everyone was sitting around it when he smashed it with his fists) and the crumpled remains of a map (a briefing on military movements; records of food stores and the most recent census. someone's planning disaster relief). [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You can tell 'im that our friends are hurt and it's not safe to move them, and that we're not gonna leave 'em alone." 12He pauses, thinking a moment. Well, Stranger seemed to like the guy... "And if Dorma wants to hear more, we could tell him ourselves. But it can't be today unless he wants to make a visit." [22:30] 7Flashing Dawn says, in a quiet voice: "I promise to be less trouble than your last meeting." 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> The silver-armored woman looks up, eyes flashing. "Who-" She closes her eyes, composes herself. "What's this about?" [22:33] "Name's Flashing Dawn. I'm a bounty hunter for the Guild, and I was told you might be able to help me find someone." 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "Can this wait?" [22:35] 7Dawn: "I'd rather it didn't. The man I'm after set another man on fire because he was pissed. The scumbag he did it to had it coming, but that sort of thing gets out of hand fast, you know?" 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia motions Dawn into a separate, undestroyed room, the walls lined with books (many of which are on the floor after the little earthquake) to speak privately. "The boy who set a Guildsman on fire?" [22:38] 7Dawn nods. "The same. I talked to the Guildsman, and it sounds like he had it coming... but I'm still meant to bring the boy back." 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "Back where?" [22:42] 7Dawn: "Lookshy. He's headed somewhere else, ultimately, but that's where I'm meant to take him." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "I don't know where he is right now. But he'll be here tomorrow." [22:44] 7Flashing Dawn blinks. "I bet there's more to it than that." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "He came in yesterday looking for a job. He got waylaid by the captain of one of the local mercenary companies who persuaded him to sign on. We'd just finalized a deal to contract some militia work out to them." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "So he'll be showing up for his first day of training tomorrow with the rest of them." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's all public record." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "The rolls are..." She gestures futilely in the other room. 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "I can give you the name of the mercenary company if you like." [22:46] 7Dawn smirks. "So what isn't public record? It's never this easy." [22:47] 13Xia Lan: "Please. Our friends are hurt - we can't travel anywhere, and they need to spend the night. The rest of us are exhausted and won't leave anyway. You'll know where we are until tomorrow, at the least - give us until then. Surely one location you can watch is worth someone in custody...?" 13She's just short of begging on her hands and knees. [22:47] "Nessun Dorma trusted us to walk around freely. You can, at the least, trust us to stay here." 13It's a sound argument. Now it just depends on whether they care about the letter of their orders more than the spirit. 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "What isn't public record is confidential. I'm sorry. Is there anything else?" [22:49] 7Dawn extends a hand. "Thanks for your help. Who was the bruiser that wrecked the place up?" 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> The Lookshyan: "You're to stay here until we come and pick you up. Is that clear?" 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia takes it and shakes. "Nessun Dorma. He brought an army into the city as the Emissary died, claiming to be hunting Anathema. Now they're just billeting on the Hill." [22:51] 13Xia Lan looks to Keldar. This is acceptable, right? 14[22:51] * bananasleep is now known as banana [22:51] 7Dawn: "I heard about the Emissary part, at least. A little bit about Anathema, too." [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We'll certainly stay here." 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> This seems to satisfy the Lookshyans. "We're going to post someone outside the door. For your safety," says one. The other's shoulders visibly sag. [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Sure." [22:54] 7Dawn: "That Guildsman said the kid got picked up by an Anathema, or someone people thought was one." 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "Yeah?" [22:54] 13Xia Lan: "Great! We could use some after today." 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's interesting. As I said, you can ask him yourself tomorrow." [22:55] 7Dawn nods. "I'll collect that information you mentioned and be back tomorrow." 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "Good luck." 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> The dawn guardsman and the talkative Lookshyan depart, leaving the other one behind the stand guard at the door. [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar gives the man a long look before turning and heading back inside. Once he's free to talk with Stranger, Bastian, and Xia Lan, he explains the situation. "...and one's just out there watching the place. They seem to think they'll be taking us back into custody tomorrow or whenever Dorma's got the time." [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I say that's suicide. We've got plenty reason to believe the assassin was one of their people in the first place." [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Question is, can we trust Dorma in specific? Seems to me like he maybe doesn't realize this is going on. But I dunno." [22:59] 4"His aide seems to be the one running things." 14[22:59] * banana is now known as banana|split [23:00] 14Stranger raises a weak hand and wavers it back and forth -- both a yes-and-no, and wave on the ocean. [23:00] 13Xia Lan: "I'm disappointed with the guard. That lieutenant - he was a fan. Still couldn't get the others to leave us alone without a direct plea." [23:00] "We can trust Nessun Dorma as far as our strength lasts. He is...a blunt instrument." [23:00] "He did not plan this." [23:00] 4"He had us in custody. He could have had us executed at a time of his choosing. Why bother with elaborate assassination attempts?" [23:00] 13She's frowning. In past experience, once you get a policeman on your side, you get a lot more freedom than she's just bargained for. [23:00] "I do not believe his secretary planned it either, simply because it would be too much work and hinge too freely on chance." [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That was my feeling. I think it's his guy, whatsname. Set the meeting up." [23:01] "Bubo." [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Right. Had to be. Why wasn't he there, otherwise?" [23:01] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven is being fastidious about making sure this name remains committed to memory. [23:01] "What if he was?" [23:01] "What if we merely didn't see him?" [23:02] 13Xia Lan: "What, he saw what was about to go down and fled? Then they wouldn't be after us for the 'problems' we caused." [23:02] "There are things going on here. There is the thing, and then there is the thing behind the thing." [23:02] "He'd know already." [23:02] "We need to apprehend that second, quieter thing." [23:02] "We have not done so yet." [23:02] 14Stranger grimaces. "And I won't be much help, in this state." [23:02] "We have a meeting tomorrow morning?" [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Then he might've been watching to see if the job got done or something, but I'm not sure why he'd bother. Point is, even if we can trust Dorma, we can't trust Lookshy and I'll be damned if they're taking any of us back into custody." [23:03] 14Stranger closes his eyes. "Oh, I'm sure I'll be fine." [23:04] 13Xia Lan: "Will Xu Sim?" [23:04] "After all, any prisoner will require a representative from the Dawn Guard, hmm?" [23:04] 14He opens an eye. "Xu Sim will not be entering custody." [23:05] 4"Will we have a choice? If they send their full force against us." [23:06] 14Stranger: "Will we have the choice not to be here, certainly." [23:06] "But if they wish a hostage, I can heal just as well there as here. And if I heal there, I do it while learning." [23:07] 13Xia Lan: "I'd rather none of us were hostages, personally." [23:08] 14Stranger: "The rule of the road is that we cannot always get what we want." [23:08] 4"The disadvantaged party does not get the luxury of choice." von Hrolfus grimaces. "This is a lesson Deguo learned bitterl.y" [23:09] 13Xia Lan: "But if we try, sometimes, we'll get what we need." 13Old song of the south. "I still don't like it." [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hostages is one thing, but if the people who came at us came from Dorma's ranks you might not last a night with them." [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Beyond that, who the fuck are they? They're not the law here. They don't get to just drag you behind bars whenever they get anxious." [23:10] 4"The sword is the law." [23:10] 14Stranger sighs. It rattles a little bit. [23:10] "You already made your point by getting them to delay to morning, yes?" [23:11] "Do you want to play out this string, and make it bloody? Because we are in no condition." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We will be tomorrow, push comes to shove." [23:11] 13Xia Lan: "I don't like it. That doesn't mean I can't be convinced of its necessity." [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And they bloodied us yesterday, but we're the ones who came out alive." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> The assassin survived too. Unless they fell down the stairs effortlessly escaping, or something. [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Yeah, but they lost five hobgoblins. We just got scratched up. [23:13] 13Xia Lan: "Us, and the main attacker. We cleaned up their delaying troops, but they still started the fire." [23:13] 14Stranger: "If you wish to meet them as a unified front, then fine." [23:13] "But we cannot sustain slinking off much longer." [23:13] 4"We could leave. Escape the city." [23:13] 14Stranger laughs. [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "They'll be the ones saying that to each other if they keep at this." [23:16] 4 von Hrolfus frowns. "No doubt you are all very powerful and more experience at this than me. But this is a bit overconfident, no?" [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We've got a little more of the city behind us now. My company's finalizing a contract with the Dawn Guard - they won't be able to just ignore Nexus's laws for much longer." [23:16] 13Xia Lan: "Little bit." [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I told those guys that if Dorma wants answers we'll talk to him personally, and I think we should stick to that line. I'm willing to give him some slack, but I don't trust his command, and I'm not gonna roll the dice on living through any more days in Lookshyan custody." [23:18] 14Stranger, to Bastian: "This is about pride, boy." [23:18] 13Xia Lan: "And we really need to talk to Bubo." [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Sure, you lot were fine the first time, but maybe that's as long as it took Bubo to get his ducks in a row, or something." [23:18] "No one kills us without having tea with us first." [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm not sure we get to see Bubo again except when someone's at swordpoint." [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "He blew his shot, right? Might not be willing to show his face." [23:25] 14Stranger: "I'd be willing to sit down with him again." [23:25] "Not on a balcony." [23:25] "Not anywhere with windows." [23:25] "And nowhere for him to hide." [23:25] 13Xia Lan: "A jail cell." [23:25] "You're describing a jail cell." [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, and the important thing is it's not one his people hold the keys to." [23:27] 14Mildly: "There would be tea." [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "If you play along when Lookshy shows up tomorrow, that's where you end up - in his control." [23:29] 14To Keldar: "What is your plan?" [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Get Dorma in a room without Bubo or any of his other underlings and explain to him that we've got reason to believe the attempt on our lives came out of his ranks." [23:33] 14Stranger: "To what end?" [23:34] 13Xia Lan: "Wonder how receptive he is to that kind of restriction. Maybe it'd just be one of us talking?" [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I dunno, to the end of getting him to clean house or stop demanding we enter his custody whenever he sneezes." [23:41] 4"Technically, he is within his rights to do so - and many would question him for not permanently imprisoning us in the first place." [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, he's in his rights to demand the sun, moon, and stars. This is a free city. What he's not in his rights to do is attempt to enforce that crap." 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Who's gonna stop him? [23:44] 14Stranger: "We should give him what he wants, and see how much he likes it." [23:44] "I guarantee you he won't." [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "He might like imprisoning us just fine, and even if he doesn't like finding us dead in our cells a week down the line it'll be cold comfort to our ghosts." [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "No, it's high time he stopped playing Councilor and treated with us properly." [23:45] 14Stranger smiles. 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[10:42] - [10:42] - [10:42] - [10:42] - [10:42] - [10:42] - [10:43] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlh1gi6Ubm8 [10:46] The Princess and Elena see the three barons to the train station, where the Pacific Surfliner waits hissing and steaming. Is there anything they’d like to ask before they leave for home? [10:46] The Princess and Eva* [10:47] The drive back was quiet. The retainers spent the time quietly taking off their armor. 15[10:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10San Diego makes Wilson miss LA. [10:50] 4When Cav met back up with them, he was shirtless, having discarded the bloodsoaked piece of clothing. He still had the breastplate; he either handed it off or put it in the trunk. [10:53] 4To Winston: "How did it go with our understudies?" 08[10:53] *4To Wilson: "How did it go with our understudies?" 15[10:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson looks tired, but his face stuck like that when he died. "The Prince of Tijuana's a prick and the ballroom looked like something from a Rob Zombie movie. Understudies did fine though." [10:56] 6KJ's visibly on edge, both excited and depressed. Nobody will suspect you're a spy if they can read you like a book! [10:56] 4Cav nods. "They had kine guards upstairs." [10:56] "He's so awful." 15[10:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson: "What's the damage?" [10:57] "Four dead." [10:57] "We snuck past the rest." [10:58] 6KJ: "Don't forget the screaming skull." [10:58] "But I think it was already dead?" 15[10:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "Feel free to forget the skull." 14[10:58] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [10:58] 4Cav nods again. "Their security system involved the bodies of people they'd flayed alive, and then trapped in their corpses." 08[10:59] 6To Wilson: "I probably primed Gordon to hate you, so you have my apologies. He called me a 'swarthy ape' so they aren't very sincere." [10:59] "So I didn't show restraint." [10:59] 4He closes his eyes and leans back in his seat. "They went quick and clean, which is more than I can say for their victims." 15[10:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "We shoulda burned this place to the ground last winter." [11:00] "Yep." [11:01] 6KJ: "Eh." [11:01] "We freed some kinda spirit, too." [11:01] "Big bird." [11:02] 6KJ: "The bird was weird. Maybe weirder than the bottomless pit." 15[11:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The more they talk, the gladder Wilson is he didn't go. [11:05] 4To the Princess: "Did you get everything you need?" [11:08] The Princess looks up from examining the documents. “They’re genuine. You all did a fine job. After you leave, we’ll begin.” [11:09] 4Cav: "Sounds good." 15[11:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson: "Good luck." [11:11] KJ’s phone buzzes. It’s from Jessie: a .gif of a cat trying to run across a fence, and falling into a garbage can. 08[11:13] Later, at the train station, the Princess watches them board. As Wilson passes, she puts a sealed manila folder in his hand. 15[11:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He was kind of hoping she'd forgotten about that, but he takes it without a word. [11:15] To the rest of them: “You have done me a great favor. You should consider my family indebted to you. I’m sure you will find their favor useful in your own Court.” [11:16] 4That's the plan. Out loud, Cav says: "Of course. Thank you again for your hospitality." [11:20] The train ride back is unremarkable. No one bothers them; when they arrive back at the San Juan Capistrano station, no one greets them. It’ll be dawn soon. 14[11:20] * Joins: hrolf [11:21] "Well. I wish I could say it was fun." 4Cav grimaces. "Let's all agree to never do that again." 15[11:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson: "Yeah." [11:22] 6KJ: "Unless the circumstances arise again. But I won't be visiting those circumstances on purpose." [11:22] "Check out this gif, though." 6Hard G. 14[11:23] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [11:23] "Ouch." [11:23] The three of them notice, maybe not immediately, that an email has appeared in whatever secure account they’ve registered with downtown. “Thank you for your service,” it says. “The Ambassador reports that you were a credit to the Court. Please let us know when you would like to claim your reward of visiting the Ventura facilities.” [11:24] Jessie texts: “Hows San Diego”, with a barfing emoji. 15[11:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Ventura can't be worse than San Diego, right? Please don't let it be worse than San Diego. [11:25] 4The Ventura facilities. [11:26] 4LA doesn't go in for the whole ominously-antiseptic naming routine all that often. [11:29] 6KJ:  [11:30] "So how did you arrange that, Cav? This is your pet project, right. Find out what's going in in Ventura." [11:30] 4Cav: "I didn't." [11:30] "That concerns me." [11:31] 4He forces a smile on his face. "The way things go in this court, I'm sure we'll find out it's a day spa or something." [11:32] 4He mainly sounds like he's trying to convince himself. 15[11:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson: "A day spa that spits out a hundred liters of blood a week." [11:33] "Ethically sourced." 14[11:37] * Joins: trenchfoot_ [11:37] "Vat-grown blood. Disrupting the vein market." [11:45] The quiet follows them home. There aren’t any emergencies waiting for them once they open the door, no unexpected guests or strange messages. All is as they left it. [11:45] 4Cav texts Kayleigh, who is undoubtedly asleep at this hour, and says hi to Shots and Honey. 08[11:46] Wilson can hear the sound of a television coming from the guest room Cosmo Morgan is staying in. Everywhere else is quiet in the house. [11:46] Kayleigh doesn’t text back. The cougars wake up and nuzzle his hands. 15[11:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wilson leaves his armor in the front hallway and goes straight to bed. It was a long night, and he had the easy job. [11:53] He only remembers one dream: In the woods. Three people gather near a spring, hidden from the world, in a place of night that never ends. One sits with her feet in the stream and doesn’t know where she is. One stands on the bank in ancient clothes and thinks about the past. One sits on a stone and looks at his burned body. The silence is broken when an enormous black bird descends gently into the little clearing, and the three [11:53] turn to look. [11:54] 4Well, shit. [11:55] Above everything is an endless column of black smoke, made of a hundred million screams of rage. Eyes of burning gold blink, unseeing, in the swirling clouds above. [11:56] Cav’s dreams are easier and totally unremarkable. When he wakes, though, he feels a momentary tightness in his chest and a slight ache in his body wherever he carried that seed the crow gave him. [11:57] 4That's probably fine. [11:57] 4He's put the acorn in a box on the desk in his study. [11:58] 4He has some research to do. [11:58] Where does he start? [11:59] 4Ideally, he'd start with the acolytes in the woods. [11:59] 4But treating with them is all various sorts of illegal. [12:00] 4So instead, he'll start with the books he has here. [12:05] 4He spends the next four hours in the study. Cav's collection of occult works is small, but focused, and it's growing. [12:05] 4He also has an internet connection. [12:10] Cav’s library points him in the right directions. From it, he can read about the most general forms of blood magic and Theban sorcery. The latter doesn’t seem to use much plant material in its rituals, and he can’t find any mention of acorns or seeds used as reagents anywhere. [12:13] When he starts reading about blood magic, his books confirm that seeds are used as powerful symbols of growth and change. Whether the growth is benign or malevolent depends on the type of seed and how it’s been handled: its power in spells and rituals can be amplified in combination with other symbols of things holy to Cruac: moonlight, silver, the spirits of nature, and the physical substance of blood. [12:16] 4This is promising. [12:16] 4He just needs to figure out how to reverse-engineer it, then. Determine the nature of the growth, preferably before it's done growing. [12:18] The only reference to any mention of moonlit acorns or California that he can find is a brief mention of a rumor from the 18th century. A traveling Spanish chronicler interviewed a local Native tribe who lived in the foothills of the coastal ranges northwest of Los Angeles. The tribespeople regarded the forest as a holy place that humans were forbidden to enter. If they did, the spirits who lived inside might harm them, or [12:18] possess them by making them swallow an acorn from the oak tree at the heart of the forest, where only the moon reigns. [12:19] 4Hmm. No eating the acorn, then. [12:24] The story is from a nearly modern survey titled The Cruac in North America: Rituals and Theology, with a footnote linking the excerpt to an older book: 1Blood Of The American West, by Virginia Howard, written in 1902. He’s never heard of the latter. An internet search in the stranger parts of search engines turns up that it’s a general history of kindred west of the Mississippi in the 19th century, but he can’t find [12:24] any copies for sale or pdf scans. [12:25] 4Now he's got a goal, at least. [12:25] 4And it doesn't involve tramping around the forest. [12:26] 4...Yet. [12:28] It doesn’t. What’s next? [12:32] 4Now it's time to figure out who in LA might have a copy of this book, or know where to find one. It's too bad he's not a member of a secret society of occult researchers obsessed with furthering their knowledge of the power of the blood. [12:32] 4Oh. Wait. [12:35] He hasn’t talked to Leisurely since the debacle (?) of the Chrysalis. Or if he meant someone else… [12:36] 4Leisurely would be the person to go to, it seems. She should at least know who he should be asking. [12:39] The house is dark when he arrives. He can see down into the harbor from her front porch. The Pilgrim’s berth is still empty, though it looks like the small fishing pier has been completely repaired. [12:40] 4He'll knock twice. [12:41] There’s a soft thump somewhere in the house, and a minute later Leisurely opens the door, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. [12:41] She sees Cav, and then her eyes glance around uncomfortably. “Mm.” [12:43] "Evening." [12:44] “…Hi.” [12:45] Cav can read…guilt? And anxiety. [12:45] 4Hmmmm. "Had a question, so I thought I'd drop by. See how you're doing." [12:46] 4Conestoga reading any threats in the vicinity? [12:46] 4He should be able to feel it if they're not alone. [12:47] He knows there’s only the people he expects to be in the area, and none of his flock are feeling threatened. [12:48] 4Well, that's comforting. [12:49] “You’re not mad about how the Chrysalis turned out?” [12:50] 4Cav laughs. "No, I'm not mad." [12:50] "Unsettled, definitely. But not mad." [12:50] Some of the anxiety settles itself. “Oh.” 08[12:51] "A bit unfortunate that Wilson had to come along for the ride, but then, he got to see me try to kill myself while trying to bring myself back to life." [12:51] "So at least he got to see something interesting." 08[12:52] “I should apologize, though.” She grasps at the edges of her skirt. “I don’t think I told you enough about what to expect. And Wilson…” [12:52] “I don’t think that’s…” She trails off. “Nevermind. We can talk about it later. How are you feeling?” [12:53] 4He grimaces. "Well, I just got back from San Diego last night." [12:53] "We attended one of their parties." [12:53] "You can imagine how that went." [12:55] “I - what? San Diego? Why?” [12:56] "Court business," 4he says. The words sound like they leave a bad taste in his mouth. Is she gonna invite him in...? [12:57] “What about?” She puts her hands in her pockets and walks into the kitchen. “Close the door behind you. Do you want coffee?” [12:57] "Yes, please." [12:58] 4After shutting the door: "You know, I'm not sure. I think we were meant to go down there as a show of force to back up the Ambassador, or something like that. It was pitched to us as a 'vacation.'" [12:58] He can find her scooping coffee into a filter and filling the appliance with water. [12:59] “You’d have to look pretty hard to find a place to relax down there.” [12:59] 4Cav: "Yes, well. Once we arrived we found ourselves involved in...local politics." [13:00] "Pretty much as soon as we stepped off the train." [13:01] "Believe it or not, however, I did not drop by just to bore you with my tedious vacation stories. I'm looking for a book..." [13:01] “I’m sure Los Angeles’s seem less catastrophic, now. Which book?” [13:02] 4He checks his phone. "...'Blood of The American West,' by one Virginia Howard, published in 1902. I've found it briefly excerpted in places but can't locate the full work online." [13:07] “Oh! Virginia Howard’s stuff, huh? I never knew you were interested in history. There’s the archive of her work in the Huntington Library…” She pours them both coffee. “Why the sudden interest?” [13:08] 4Cav: "I'm trying to broaden my horizons." 4Then he places a small box on the counter. "That, and a giant bird in San Diego gave me an acorn." [13:11] She sits down across from him at the kitchen table with her coffee and takes the container with her. “A giant bird? Huh. Did you talk to it? Maybe-“ She casually opens the box. [13:12] There’s a peal of breaking porcelain when Leisurely drops her mug onto the floor. [13:12] 4That bad, huh. [13:13] NEXT WEEK: Shhh! 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Oct 10 00:00:00 2017 15[00:02] * Disconnected 15[00:02] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[00:02] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[00:02] * Topic is 'Exalted: Imperfect Circle (THU 8PM EDT) | Exalted: There Can Be No End (TUE 8PM EDT) | Shadowrun: The Looking-Glass War (MON 8PM EDT) | http://i.imgur.com/0XkYldr.png' 13[00:02] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@sorcery-q06iee.res.rr.com on Mon Oct 24 22:19:06 2016 14[00:03] * Quits: trenchfoot (*.net *.split) 14[00:03] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (*.net *.split) 14[00:03] * Quits: hrolf (*.net *.split) 14[00:03] * Quits: dammitwho (*.net *.split) 14[00:04] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[00:04] * Joins: hrolf 14[00:04] * Joins: dammitwho 14[00:13] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:15] * Joins: hrolf 15[00:18] * Disconnected 15[00:18] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[00:18] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[00:18] * Topic is 'Exalted: Imperfect Circle (THU 8PM EDT) | Exalted: There Can Be No End (TUE 8PM EDT) | Shadowrun: The Looking-Glass War (MON 8PM EDT) | http://i.imgur.com/0XkYldr.png' 13[00:18] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@sorcery-q06iee.res.rr.com on Mon Oct 24 22:19:06 2016 14[00:18] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[00:19] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:23] * Joins: hrolf 14[00:27] * Joins: hrolfy 14[00:29] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:43] * Joins: hrolfie 14[00:46] * Quits: hrolfie (Connection closed) 14[00:46] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:47] * Joins: hrolf 14[01:49] * Joins: hrolfy 14[01:52] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:15] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:45] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[02:49] * Joins: dammitwho 14[03:59] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:17] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:50] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[05:08] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[06:48] * Joins: Zarick 14[10:02] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[10:25] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 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13[02:46] * Topic is 'Exalted: Imperfect Circle (THU 8PM EDT) | Exalted: There Can Be No End (TUE 8PM EDT) | Shadowrun: The Looking-Glass War (MON 8PM EDT) | http://i.imgur.com/0XkYldr.png' 13[02:46] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@sorcery-q06iee.res.rr.com on Mon Oct 24 22:19:06 2016 14[02:46] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[03:12] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[03:15] * Quits: banana|peels (Quit: ZNC - http://znc.in) 14[04:23] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:52] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[05:42] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:47] * Joins: Zarick 14[07:56] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:01] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[08:34] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[08:37] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:53] * Joins: banana 14[09:10] * Joins: hrolf 14[09:34] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:11] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[10:20] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:00] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[11:00] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:00] * Quits: 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12' __________________ /\/ . . / ' / @ @ |.~-..____..-~.| @ @ @ @ /x' / [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,T~T~T~T~T~T~T~T~T~T\~~ . . /x' / @`@`@|.. . . . .:. |@'@'@'@' / ' / _ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ; ; ;'.: /~~~~~\ / ' / @`@`@`|. : . : . . :|'@'@'@' / 'x/_/ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ' ; ; . |\\___//|___ /x' / ` `@`@`. . : . .. .'@'@' ' / ' //| [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ; , ; . /~~~~~\-|'| // ' / __//\__` `@ ~-.._/\_..-~ @' ' / 'x// /\_ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ; ;. |\\___//||'| // 'x/ /%/^\'%/l ` ~~~~ _ ' |%| / ' // ___/ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ; ;' /~~~~~\-|'||,|//x' / la_A_al/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/| l / ' // /\ ~ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ; ; |\\___//|| ||/// ' `---------/ c==o _C-__ /'|----'x' / \/ | [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ; , ;/~~~~~\-|'||'|'// ' "x" " "x"/ c==o' //|\ /| /''|"x" ' / / /\ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ; ;|\\___//|| ||'|// ' /~~~~~/ /~/ .--. / ` /|/ / ''|~~/ 'x/ / / / /| [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12; ; ;|`|-- |'||'||///x' /xx___x _ / //-//|~~~~||/ /'' '| /x' / / / /__/~ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ' ;'| | - |'||'|'// / x xx/ /x/ /__ / |____|/ /' '''|/ ' / / / //\_/~ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12, ; ; |`| --|'||'|//x' / xx x/ /x/________________/''' '// 'x/ \/ // //| [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ; ; |`|---| ||/// ' / ___ __|-- - -- ---- - - |' ''//x' / _|//_// /\ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12' ;' /|`|-- |'|'// ' / xx / /x | - -- - -- --- --|''/i/ 'x/ __/\~~~ / / / [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ;' / | | --|'|// ' /x xx / / xx|-- - -- - -- - -|'(i/ ' / /\/ \ / / / [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ;' / /\\|-n-|///x'x/x ___ ____ |- - -- - -- -- |'//x' / | / /\_ \/_/_/ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ; / //\\ ~~~ //x' /xxxxx/ /x xxx|_ii__ii_n_ii__ii_|//x' / / / / / \____ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12'' /S_C_E_S_W_//x'x/_____/x/_________________________/ 'x/ \// / / /\ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12. . . . ./ ' x x x x x ' / /~/ / / / \ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 :. . : . : / ' "x" " " "x" " " " "x" " " " "x"x"x ' / \/ / / / / [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 : . /x' /~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/ 'x/ \__/__/ / / 08[20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi might be losing his taste for combat sports, but that doesn't mean the rest of you red-blooded Solars aren't in for some good, clean entertainment. Who accepts or turns down the invitation Ir and her cadre have gotten to spectate, rather than literally participate in, another weekend of games in the grand arena? [20:28] 4Ir's in. [20:28] 7Blossom will go! [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12This might be your first formal exposure to the arena's normal means of operation - Blossom might've seen scraps of fights while going about the place in preparation for Ir's grand battle, but not a whole day of events. And, truth be told, there's nothing quite as spectacular as one anathema's fight against two demesne-bred tyrannosaurs, but there's a lot more variety: boxing matches, [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12chariot races, five unarmed men versus one bear, phalanxes of trained soldiers against hunting packs of summoned erymanthoi, the works. [20:33] 4Ir cottons to some of it, but she still doesn't approve of some of the lethality. [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir even gets a preview of sorts of the next big-name opponent slated for her, the Son of Ahlat. He's a huge man in a grandiose cloak who's either got a fanciful helmet or literal bull's horns, and he single-handedly routs a platoon of gladiators with fearsome spear thrusts and war stomps and so on. [20:34] 4Well. That's a tall glass of water. [20:34] 13Ying will go with Blossom and Ir, even if she's really soured on the lethal parts of the arena. It's supposed to be fun! Not deadly! [20:35] 13...maybe she can patch some people up. [20:36] 7Blossom: "We'll find something else to do during the bear match." [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Perhaps most attention-grabbing is the final event, or, more precisely, the finale of the final event. Kala Theka, a fire-aspected dragon-blooded from the southeast and one of the arena's longstanding heroes, fights a seeming mortal who's plugged himself into some kind of Shogunate essence-powered battlesuit for an unabated half hour. [20:38] 4Yikes. [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Finally, some kind of power coil or essence channel gives out in the battlesuit, and the artifact-girded mortal goes crashing to his knees, only to have his head severed from his shoulders, his ribcage split open at the sternum, and his heart ripped from his chest. Kala Theka stands victorious over his enemy's rapidly-becoming-a-corpse, holding the heart up to the heavens as the [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12audience looks up and then shouting as the flames of his anima burn the organ to a crisp. [20:39] 4They just have one of those lying around to do arena fights with? [20:39] 4...Sun. [20:39] 4That was a little fuckin' unnecessary. [20:39] 13:( [20:41] 7Blossom purses her lips. "Outcaste barbarian." 7She mutters quietly. [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Was it? Well, maybe so. But they've got some pretty Real religious customs in the southeastern jungles, or so you've heard, and that's probably where this comes from... although there are a few unusual flourishes. [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Then, it's late in the afternoon and the end of the day's games; celebration ensues, involving the handing out of medals and trophies, the throwing of grandiose feasts, and other such revels largely matching those Ir herself involved. But now you know how the other side fights and dies. [20:45] 13Ying's eyes flew shut as soon as the battlesuit started to give; her hands are covering her face as she hums quietly, high pitched. Can't see it, can't hear it, not happening. [20:45] 4That's something at least. [20:46] 7Blossom: "Alright, we should find something else for our free hours. We can't take poor Ying to these things!" [20:46] 4Ir: "Agreed." [20:47] 13Ying: "...do they have nonlethal nights? It just seems - they really should..." [20:47] 4The Dawn's preference would be to spend some time dallying with Marek...but so far he hasn't indicated he's really the 'dallying' type. [20:47] 4Ir: "Only when I'm fighting, seems like." 14[20:48] * Joins: hrolfy 14[20:51] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:53] 13She makes a frustrated noise, something between a sigh and a groan. She's got Ideas for how to fix this, this needless death while maintaining the public entertainment... but, who knows whether she'll have the chance? [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12As to Marek and his people, you haven't heard from them for at least a week... until yesterday, when a pigeon dropped a note off at one of your windowsills. Seems they're back in town and wouldn't mind meeting for another quick exchange of intelligence. [20:54] 4The boys are back. [20:58] 4Ir: "Anyone wanna go with me to see Marek?" [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12They're. Anyway, what's the circle's general next move, either as a team or individually? Some other things going on: all the Guild's holdings are rolling along and completely back on track, a job from the Velvet Room whose general area of operation used to be The Eastern Threshold is suddenly localized to Nexus in specific, an influx of cheap labor from the east is has been depressing [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12wages, Death's Notaries are to be standing by for an extremely sensitive operation for Brueghel any day now... [21:00] 4Ir wouldn't be averse to poking around the Guild some more, but she's not precisely a soft touch. [21:01] 7Blossom: "It wouldn't hurt. We should also pursue information about Panther in the arena." [21:01] 13Tatsuya should PROBABLY do the work he promised to do for the Velvet Room... [21:01] 13Or, Ying could continue hanging around. "Are we talking, like, a date? Or just saying hi?" [21:02] 4Might be good. [21:02] "The latter." 4Ir waves a hand. "I'll turn it into the former if I feel like it." [21:07] 13Sunlit-Dreaming Ying rubs her head; it's hard being two people, sometimes. Even if the only thought that comes through is 6"Don't worry about me," 13it's still bizarre to have it. [21:07] "Heck," 13she recovers. "I'm into it." [21:15] 4Before they do that, though, they've got business to tend do. Ir does, at least. [21:16] 4About time they learned more about Panther, from the people who knew him. [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12For the moment, you're probably all making these plans in the celebration for those who lived through the day's fighting at the grand arena. The sun's in the process of setting, and a flurry of motion has converted the arena surface itself into a kind of sprawling picnic/parade grounds. Various patches of the stands are being used as bars and discussion forums. [21:17] 13Ying will have offered her help for the medical help for the people who... didn't literally melt during their fights. Anyone who has a chance at being saved. [21:18] 4Nice. What's the general breakdown, socially? Obviously all the richies are gonna be up on their dais...ses, celebrating. [21:18] 4Not that they did much. [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Yeah, generally the higher you go the more expensive the drinks are going to get and the greater the odds that some halberds or something are going to cross and bar your way. That said, at least a cross section of almost every part of Nexus society is here tonight, so it's not just the gladiators you've got the chance to meet, if that's what you like. [21:20] 4Ir's probably got a little bit of gladhanding to do anyway, but hopefully other fighters are starting to soak up the flavor-of-the-week fans. [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12For instance, there's a coterie of high-up Guild types up thattaway... Councilor Hayle, the Midday Husband, is having a somewhat strained conversation with a dark figure in a long cloak over in the other direction... [21:20] 4She'll keep a respectful distance from the Son of Ahlat, if he's in attendance. [21:21] 4Haha what? [21:21] 4Oh this should be interesting. [21:21] 4Guy's just running around looking evil. [21:21] 13A dork figure, with a dork... purpose. [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Quite. There's a faint chance you might recognize and have heard of him...? [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Dork indeed. As Ying works feverishly backstage, suturing claw wounds and soothing concussions, she gossips with the other medics and arena staff. In the crowd tonight are several important figures, one of which is an extremely important, and extremely spooky, foreign diplomat! [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Specifically, Typhon, who speaks for the city of Thorns (under new management). [21:26] 13Do the backstage folks happen to know why they're here? [21:26] 13They referring to Typhon. [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12He's got short, thick black hair that stands in backward-sweeping spikes up over a silver circlet, and he wears a big, dark cloak that hangs down around his shoulders and, if he isn't gesturing, pretty much renders him a charcoal-colored obelisk. He is gesturing, though, apparently in the middle of some expansive explanation that Hayle looks very dubious about. [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Nope, besides that he's rich and important and this is just where folks like that go for kicks. [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, the old guard of arena gladiators are currently offering a toast Kala Theka in one of the upper, well-guarded bars. They raise their mugs and glasses in a way reminiscent of Theka's sacrifice of the still-beating heart, and then laugh uproariously before drinking. [21:28] 4Pleasant crowd. [21:28] 4Ir will head up that way. [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Theka's a lightly-dressed, lightly-armored, and very heavily-scarred man with a mane of scarlet hair. His clique's made up of a few other outcastes and other more-than-human fighters, but also has a sizable helping of entirely mortal veterans who just happen to be skilled or lucky. The Son of Ahlat isn't in attendance; he's a newcomer to the city, and seems to have retired to elsewhere. [21:29] 13Ying will make sure to crack jokes about Typhon and his comically evil garb, as well as his important/rich posturing by appearing here. Nothing to be done about him yet, but she can at least undercut his impressive appearance. [21:29] 4Probably for the best. [21:31] <@Ferrinus> "The Tyrant-slayer! Tyrant-breaker, at least." 12That's the dragon-blooded's greeting as Ir comes marching up, or ambling up, or whichever it is she prefers. The others make approving noises and gesture vaguely with their drinks. [21:31] 7Blossom is about to make a comment about not being able to fault Theka's zeal, but there are rules about this sort of thing... but she considers that revealing that her little display was a pre-Shogunate, maybe even pre-First Age form of Unconquered Sun worship still popular in the Southeast would just set Ir off. [21:32] 4She nods. "And well met to you, Breaker of Machines." [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Kala Theka: "I tell you, I felt a little sorry about it. So much work in the building, and so much sacrifice in the wearing... but what other way could he have hoped to go, eh?" [21:35] 4Ir: "Hard to say. But maybe an artificer's place isn't on the battlefield." [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying probably remembers: it's specifically a request for "the axe of Typhon" that's supposedly up for grabs in Nexus right now. [21:36] 13Is it! Huh. 6Interesting. 13She'll have to do something about that... [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Kala Theka: "If that was an artificer, then I've denied Creation two geniuses at one stroke! He fought like a demon. Figured he got the armor from somewhere else." [21:37] 13First, though, while she's working with the medical staff... how are their feelings about fatal arena bouts? Even as skilled as she is, there are some people beyond saving. How do they feel when someone dies on the table? [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12A woman a few seats over: "That much more glory to you, then." 12Kala Theka: "Heaven should make a note!" [21:38] 7Blossom will, indeed, head up behind Ir - though she'll negotiate with the barman for drinks and snacks for Ir while she's talking. Also, wait impatiently for people to praise her for arranging an incredible intro. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Whether they do that is a question of just how public Blossom is as Ir's publicist. She's very well known to a lot of the behind-the-scenes human infrastructure of the grand arena, but not to the insanely rich merchants, heirs, and speculators that actually have a controlling interest in these events and largely assume these things just happen on their own. [21:40] 4Ir: "If he didn't make it himself, he shouldn't have worn it into a fight with head and heart on the line. The arena is no place for incomplete talents." [21:40] 7She certainly isn't going to be playing *down* her role. [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Which is to say that by default Blossom will receive approving nods, clinked tumblers, etc. from a number of officials and logisticians and accountants and so on but that neither the masses nor the effectively-an-aristocracy will notice her... unless she's put some effort into her own ad campaign. 14[21:41] * Joins: Quaker [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Theka: "Don't insult him! He had as much right to be here as you or I. And more reason, perhaps." [21:42] 4Ir shrugs. [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Theka: "Why climb so high, after all? Why keep coming back? Money? That man could have sold his left gauntlet and lived in comfort for the rest of his natural life." 12Another fighter: "All three years of it." 12There's laughter. [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Working and chatting in the makeshift intensive care unit before the arena, one which might become a percentage point more a morgue with every breath, Ying takes the measure of her fellow chirurgeons, herbalists, bloodletters, and other assorted doctors. She can tell: their relationship to their work ranges from a world-weary, beaten down numbness to the violence's aftereffects to [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12a quiet, seething frustration. No one feels good about what they're seeing and what they're doing; maybe one or two people seem to have accepted it as necessary, but far more are either disgusted by it or calculatedly emotionally disengaged. [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12In some ways they're not too different from the lower-tier gladiators: they need the money, and are willing to wade through seas of blood to get it. At least they're not the ones spilling it. [21:50] 13Hmm. She keeps her talk limited to "there has to be a better way," sympathizing with those who have seen the worst, sharing tales of love and loss... but if this is how the rank and file feels, they can use this to actually make a change. [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Kala Theka: "No, men like him seek one thing: self-knowledge. The answer to... how far can I go? Over what can I triumph? What, at last, triumphs over me?" 12He gestures at Ir with his flagon. "It's the same for you, is it not?" [21:55] 4Ir shakes her head. "I've met what triumphs over me. I'll not find it in an arena so soon." [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a round of stares as Theka quirks a brow. A woman finally essays a question: "Uh... what does?" [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12A man sitting to the other side: "And who's your friend?" 12He means Blossom. [21:58] 7Blossom: "Excessively Righteous Blossom. Manager, promo designer." [21:59] 4She just smiles. It's not pretty. [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12The gladiator who asked: "Ir's? Did you do her song?" [22:05] 7Blossom: "That's right. The whole intro." 14[22:05] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12He becomes thoughtful. "...do you need more work?" [22:08] 7Smugly: "Not right now, but leave your name at the Palace and we'll keep you on file." [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Kala Theka: "So even this arena of arenas doesn't phase you. Or perhaps not yet? What do you make of the bull-man?" [22:10] 4Ir: "Big guy. Good on the eyes, if you're into horns. Probably as much trouble as two tyrant-lizards. But different trouble." [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Kala Theka: "Not enough trouble, then. ...so why?" [22:13] 4Ir: "Maybe I'm doing it for the money. Or the fame." 4She leans back. "Maybe I'm doing it for reasons that have nothing to do with fighting, because it's what I'm good at." [22:13] 13Ying leaves the medical bay full of hope for the future. Maybe they have more power to change than she'd previously thought. Maybe they actually can change the arena. Now it's just a matter of wading through Nexus's complex political waters... oh. Well. Um. [22:13] 13...she'll burn that bridge when she gets to it. In any case, there's a party! And she's kept a dress in her pack that hasn't got even a little blood on it! After some confusion in navigating the arena, she makes her way to the party where Blossom and Ir are currently schmoozing. What's the mood like at the edges up there? [22:13] 4She shrugs. "Maybe I'm just bored and bullshitting." [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Rapidly cooling, Ying observes, as she gets to within spitting distance of the veteran gladiators' watering hole. The day's champion Kala Theka's face is settling into a faint sneer, and a few members of his retinue are becoming somewhat nervous. A man to the side offers a "You and me both!" 12but it doesn't lighten things much. [22:19] 7Blossom gives Ir a slight, 'come on, don't be a jerk' nudge. [22:20] 13She'll attempt to lighten the mood for those not paying 100% attention to Ir and Kala Theka; smiling, nodding, drinking, smiling some more. Let's have a good time! And also maybe think about the dissolution of the arena! [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Finally, Kala says: "Well. The grindstone isn't the blade, after all." 12This seems to satisfy him enough that he can partially turn away and continue some previous conversation with a fellow. [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Conversation's a bit quieter while the Squared Circle's around, but some tension in the air seems to keep it from being anything much while the outcaste and dawn caste champions are present and idling. Do any of the Solars try to raise or push any particular issue, or will you move on? [22:26] 13...anyone looking for arena gear? Fashion superstar in the house. [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Actually, yes, if Ying drops her name. Image is a big deal to these guys - less so for Theka's clique of top-tier veterans, of course, but definitely for some of their hangers-on and for friends of those and so forth. [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12A quick pitch and she's got several people taking down her name and shop's address. [22:33] 13Incredible. She gives name and address along with a tentative schedule to those who ask; fightworthy gear is starting to become a specialty of hers. The Circle needs it, certainly, so... [22:35] 7Blossom brings beers and little hunks of fried meat on a stick over to Ir, and leans in close to her ear in the guise of handing them to her. "Let me know when you're ready to leave." [22:48] 4Being a jerk is what Ir's good at, but she's really not here to speak with Kala. She's looking for old arena hands. [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12He is one, I'm sorry to say. Definitely in the business for long enough to have known the guy you're looking for... but certainly not the only one. Movin' on? [22:51] 4Sounds reasonable. [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12You don't get too far before a voice from behind the three of you draws your attention. "He's... he's doing it wrong, isn't he?" 12It's another outcaste gladiator, a leather-clad woman with thorns and leaves growing from her tresses of auburn hair. She might be in her late teens or early twenties. [22:54] 4Ir: "Whuh?" [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Her: "The sacrifice. Didn't you see it?" [22:57] 4Ir: "What? Kala?" [22:57] "The one where he rips the heart out and cuts off his head?" [22:57] "Wouldn't know myself." 4She glances over at Blossom. [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Her: "Yes. But the other way around, obviously, the heart second. He says it honors the sun." [22:58] 4That gets Ir's attention. "Does he." [22:59] "It's an old custom. Older than the Realm, the Shogunate... older than just about anything. It's popular in the Southeast." 7She says noncommittally. [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12She nods. "I'm called Nomi. I joined the lists less than a year ago. I just can't... it is?" 12She looks over at Blossom, looking slightly crestfallen. [23:00] 4Ir: "I don't like it." [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Nomi: "...are you sure?" [23:01] "Well, popular is a strong term." [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Nomi: "I mean Ir didn't recognize it and she's the sun's Chosen!" [23:01] "Not unheard of, at least." [23:01] 4Ir: "I'm from the north, kid." [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Nomi: "Well maybe he would've told you-" [23:01] 4She can't be more than a couple years younger than Ir, but still. [23:02] 7Blossom: "So am I. If you're asking if we like it, we don't." [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12She blinks. "Oh! Oh." [23:03] 4Ir will walk over to a close-by, empty stretch of bar and wave for a drink. She'll indicate the seat next to her, if Nomi wants it. [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12The outcaste does, though she herself will only ask for water. "I'm sure Panther didn't! Or, or wouldn't have. But... well, you know." [23:05] 4Now there's a name. [23:05] "You knew Panther?" [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Nomi: "Only a little. I started fighting not long before he died." [23:07] 4Ir: "What kinda fights you go in for?" [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Nomi: "Well, they had to stop giving me wolves and things. I fed a lot of demons to the grass." [23:11] 4Ir nods. "Nice. Good on you. What do you fight with?" [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Nomi: "Roots and leaves, mostly. Did you mean what you told him?" [23:13] 4Ir doesn't ask which part. "Yes." [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12She frowns to herself. "I guess we only got one chance." [23:15] "That mortal was looking for death anyway." 7She muses to herself. [23:15] "Did you recognize the armor, Ir?" [23:15] 4Ir: "Some of us get more. It's not always a blessing." [23:21] 4To Blossom: "Looked like some rogue Lookshy mess. Drug-blasted soldiers in essence suits. Suitable for the muck of combat. Almost an insult in pride fighting." [23:24] 7Blossom shrugs. "The point being that a gunzosha like that takes a toll on the mortal lifespan just to keep it running. A man who might live sixty years outside of one will be lucky to see thirty." [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Nomi: "I guess that's why Kala... well, no, he does it all the time." [23:25] 4Ir: "He strikes me as a man with an ideological devotion to killing." [23:26] 4Ir: "There's an honesty to that." [23:26] "But honesty alone is no virtue." [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Several rows of converted seats up, a conversation becomes faintly audible as a pair of men walk by, flanked on both sides by guards. It's Hayle (the Midday Husband, responsible for public health and entertainment on the Council of Entities) and Typhon (diplomat from Thorns). Typhon's saying "...well cared for, as I've explained. Much more so than here, I would wager." [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Nomi: "He says that the Sun is the god of excellence, and demands total victory, and that it's a big honor really." [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Hayle, in response: "But they're all dead!" [23:28] "Huh." 4To Blossom: "How's that for old-time religion." [23:29] 7She snorts. [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon, as the two keep walking and dropping back out of earshot: "No, no. I must emphasize. The labor is dead. The citizens are perfectly..." 12and off they go. [23:30] 7Blossom: "Every civilized society has bans on human sacrifice for a reason." [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom is making a highly ideological claim here, since of course there are at least sophisticated societies that engage in human sacrifice dotted about Creation. [23:33] 7Of course she is! She's also incredibly correct. [23:34] 4To Nomi: "I've never had a chat with the Sun. Not one that went back and forth. But I'm His champion. Kala isn't. And He's never had a problem with me letting my foes live." [23:34] "Which isn't to say I haven't killed." [23:35] "I've killed...many people." [23:35] 4She waves a hand around at the revelry. "But not in service of this." [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Nomi: "You're sure?" 12She looks between Blossom and Ir, not having been tipped off that Ying is also a ravenous sky-demon. [23:40] "When he Chose me, he spoke to me. He said 'to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil-doers; so that the strong should not harm the weak.'" [23:41] 7Blossom: "Dedicating victory in battle to him - sure. And everyone knows the gods find sweet the smell of blood on the altar. But if you regularly offer up human lives as your sacrifice, pretty soon your reasons for doing so start to slip." [23:41] "I'm traditional. A fatted calf should be good enough for anyone." [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Nomi: "I knew it! I knew it couldn't be- otherwise it'd just be, all the stories would just be true." [23:43] 4Thank Him that the theologian came along. [23:43] 7She tilts her head. "Eh?" [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Nomi: "Well, you know, the anathema being crazy cannibal murderers. But Panther wasn't like that at all." [23:44] 4Ir snorts into her drink. [23:45] "Hrmph! The Realm has a lot to answer for." 7She says, in her immediately recognizeable Realm accent. [23:46] 4Ir: "She ain't wrong." [23:46] "...How did Panther fight?" [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Nomi: "He had khatars. I think they were magic - they could slash these huge lines through the ground and stuff." [23:50] 4Ir: "No, not what weapons did he use -- how did he fight?" [23:51] "When I fight, I fight like I have something to protect, and I don't care if I die protecting it. It makes me ill-suited to games of combat." [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Nomi: "Ohhh. Um." 12She puts a finger to her chin. "Well, everyone says he was different after coming back. Since he was a champion and then left and then came back later." [23:53] 4Ir: "Do you know if he was like us, before he left?" [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Nomi: "I only saw a few of his fights myself, and only recently. There was one, they had these ox-dragons... he just put his hands on their snouts and they laid right down! I thought only I did that." [23:53] "The crowd can't have liked that." [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Nomi: "I also saw him punch Kala Theka into a wall. He was very..." 12She gestures vaguely. "...controlled?" [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Nomi: "They sort of didn't. But they had to let him. Old contracts." [23:58] 4Ir: "They don't like it when we don't kill on command." [23:58] "That only hardens our resolve not to." [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Nomi finishes her drink, of water. "Well... thanks, then. I guess. At least I know now." Session Time: Fri Oct 13 00:00:00 2017 [00:00] 4She smiles wryly. "Not precisely what you wanted to hear, huh?" [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12She shrugs. Then she's off, probably back to Theka's circle of vets and up-and-comers. [00:05] 4Before she goes: "Hey." [00:05] "Who DID know Panther well?" [00:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Nomi: "Well... Kala. Old Fen. Willow Claw... a lot of them, really." 12She's talking about a couple of the outcaste, one demigod, and a number of humans. "I think some of the retirees, too?" 12You end up with a fair few names. [00:08] 4Ir nods. "Take care of yourself, Nomi." [00:08] <@Ferrinus> "You, too," 12she says, as absurd a thing as it is to say to a Solar. [00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12The night proceeds. Typhon's shmoozing with a few of the Guild higher-ups now, it seems; Hayle and another councilor are in rapt discussion about something. There's a big bonfire burning down on the arena floor, with song, dance, and a lot of overpriced concessions. [00:10] 4Depends on what definition of 'take care of' she was using. 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[20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,ad8888P' `Y8888ba, [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,a88888888 88888888a, [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 a88888888888 88888888888a [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 a8888888888888b, ,d8888888888888a [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 d8888888888888888b,_ _,d8888888888888888b [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 d88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888b [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 d8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888b [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 I888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888I [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888, [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 I8888888888888888PY8888888PY88888888888888888888888I [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 8888888888888888" "88888" "88888888888888888888888 [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 8::::::::::::::' `:::' `:::::::::::::::::::::8 [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 Ib:::::::::::" " `::::::' `:::::::::dI [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 `8888888888P Y88888888888P Y88888888' [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 Ib:::::::' `:::::::::' `:::::dI [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 Yb::::" ":::::" "::dP [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 Y88P Y8P `P [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 Y' " [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 `:::::::::::;8" [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 "888888888888888888888888888888888888" [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 `"8;::::::::::::::::::::::::::;8"' [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 `"Ya;::::::::::::::::::;aP"' [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 ``""YYbbaaaaddPP""'' [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 08[20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12The Free City of Nexus ticks along, increasingly coming to fit the Squared Circle like a glove. Sunlit-Dreaming Ying's designs are seen with increasing frequency at balls, luncheons, and sporting events; the city's youth argue in the streets over which divinely-powered supercombatant from Eikichi's book series could defeat which under which circumstances; the artifact infrastructure [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12of the ancient city of Hollow is being revived piecemeal; pitza has taken the city by storm. [20:18] 4Good shit. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Plenty of other goings-on go on, with or without you. Whispers resound about ghosts and horrors visible in the newly-reinstated Thorns embassy. The brutal sun-worship of the arena's top gladiators is starting to get even those who aren't committed bloodsport fans talking. The Eastern Catastrophe has developed some capital letters in its name. 15[20:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Brutal? 08[20:22] 4Oh, it's a whole thing. Blossom probably described it to Eikichi if Ir hasn'r already. [20:22] 4Apparently they think cutting a guy's head off and ripping out his heart is something you need to do to end every fight. 15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10This is the last time Eikichi spends the entire day between projects in a bored laudanum haze. (It is not the last time he does that) [20:23] 13It's... really bad. [20:23] 4That might be the wrong order? Doesn't really seem relevant to Ir, but they certainly care a lot. [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Elsewhere, and elsewhen, the Dawn Caste Bergsveinn of the Icewalker Tribes has finally finished his work in the frozen north. It was a long, grisly, and backbreakingly-difficult campaign that caused mountain ranges to shudder and buckle, that consumed entire armies like coin or kindling, that claimed the lives of goodly gods, elementals, and even Chosen - among them Yurgen Kaneko, [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12the Bull of the North. [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Nevertheless, it was a decisive victory, one that left in its wake a stable northern reaches, a reasonably united northern threshold, and a burning question: what next? [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12How does Bergsveinn actually choose to cover ground? In the past months, he's made allies of ghosts and gods and numerous Chosen, so he hardly needs to walk unless he wants to. 15[20:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Ripped his heart out?" [20:31] 11Berg comes in with the Northern wind... literally. The huge warrior steps out of a whirlwind at the end of his journey, looking up afterward and making a respectful gesture towards the sky. [20:34] 7Blossom: "Yes." 7She's distracted, scribbling on a scrap sheet of paper, crossing things out now and then. 15[20:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi leans over. What's she working on? [20:35] 13Ying: "He was real proud of it, too." 13She's not as upset as she was when it happened, but it's still not a pleasant memory. [20:35] 4Ir: "Yeah, wasn't a lot of fun. Didn't like that I didn't play ball with him at the ~grand feast~ too." 4Does a mocking faux-important voice there. [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a strange trip that Berg's had, and quite a long one - though not as long as it would've been if he'd been riding, or even flying the Heavensward. Wrapped in the wind by a coterie of northern sky deities and sent scything across Creation's canopy, he saw all sorts of outlandish things. The denizens of Crystal marching to war against undead to their west... a great winged shape [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12flitting among the clouds of the northeastern sky, cackling madly and followed by a small fleet of fussing clouds... a glittering, geometric paradise at the beginning of the eastern threshold, in which someone seems to have taken an ice cream scoop to an entire mountain range and replaced the rocks and trees with an elaborate city of glass. [20:38] 7It looks like she's trying to write a sermon, of sorts. She's running into some trouble in that the theology she espouses is only really radical from the perspective of the Wyld Hunt - and taking even ordinary Immaculate philosophy seriously, in terms of obligations to the poor and moral restrictions on the wealthy, is a good way to get your head exploded by the Emissary. [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12That last one particularly catches Bergsveinn's attention, as there's a little island floating atop the whole mess featuring a pagoda and a rock garden, and on it two figures fight bare-handed with such fury that each blow produces visible shockwaves. One's an old, bearded man with flowing white hair and a powerfully-muscled and badly-scarred body. The other is... the demon lord [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Octavian? 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What. [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Maybe not - Bergsveinn's flying pretty fast. [20:40] 13Isn't he...? [20:41] 4That's kinda weird. [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Either way, the mysterious crystal city (is that a statue of Blossom?) passes rapidly out of sight, and then it's more trees and rivers and mountains. And, increasingly, cities. The necropolis-city of Sijan passes rapidly beneath the whirlwind, then a collection of smaller trading posts and roads and rivers... 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It is. It is a statue of Blossom. [20:42] 11Good. [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Finally, Bergsveinn is plunging down out of the sky, the tip of an increasingly thin and increasingly insubstantial whirlwind. All in all, he's been up there for... weeks, he'd say? Time passes strangely in the wind. There's quite a stir as he thumps down onto the ground, because, horror of horrors, he's cut in line. [20:44] <@Ferrinus> "'ey! You! To the back!" 12Ah, this must be 'Nexus'. [20:45] 11Berg turns around, looking for the one who spoke. Also, trying to figure out what the line's for. Entrance? [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Bergsveinn's outside the city gates. There's a long queue of wagons, pedestrians, beasts of burden, dirigibles floating a mere foot above the ground, etc that seem to be moving slowly past a series of toll gates. What do they all see? [20:49] 11Berg's a huge guy, wearing a thin shirt and rough canvas pants. Dark leather boots cover his feet, and a huge belt of what looks like white fur circles his enormous waist. He's got short dark hair and bright blue eyes. "Sorry, my friend was holding my spot for me." 11He gestures at the fading whirlwind. 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's visibly reading over Blossom's shoulder. "You know who has some experience preaching in Nexus and getting combusted by the Emissary?" 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "Panther. You could ask Panther for tips." [20:50] 4Ir: "We've been asking about him." [20:50] 13Ying: "Please don't get combusted by the Emissary." [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Bergsveinn's opponent is an old, weathered man who's bent almost double under the weight of a gigantic napsack on his back. It jangles a bit with every motion. "You think I'm blind? That windstorm wasn't here a moment ago! Just cause you're a sorcerer-" 12People behind him are similarly upset, while those ahead of Bergsveinn are either apathetic or mildly amused, as you'd expect. 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I finally did that one-man job Brueghel was trying to underpay us for. Fix a hearthstone and see it off. Seeing it off... I think I know where the Council's core vaults are." [20:53] 4Ir nods. "That still where we think Panther is?" [20:53] "The body, anyway." [20:53] 7Blossom: "Oh ho." 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I still don't think he's dead." 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't know what state he is in, but if they'd killed him cleanly it would've showed at the square. And if they didn't kill him cleanly I suspect they haven't killed him at all." [20:54] 11Berg holds out his hands placatingly. "Sorry, old-timer. And the rest of you. But I've got somewhere important to be." 11Berg scoops up the man's heavy pack, but doesn't go anywhere with it. "I'll carry this to the gate for you to make it up to you." [20:55] 7Blossom: "Strange. Either they didn't want to kill him, for reasons I don't understand, or they simply couldn't kill him." 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It wouldn't be easy to kill Panther, and even if they could, I imagine they might not want to for the same reason that Yara didn't want to kill us. Our next incarnation would just pop up somewhere else with a subliminal grudge." [20:57] 13Ying: "Then... alive, in a place that makes him manageable?" 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi nods. "Imprisoning us is the only way to hold us at bay for any length of time." [20:57] 4Ir: "They transported him like a rock, right? Heavy and shit?" [20:58] "Maybe they like...flash froze him or something." [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not that much longer, then, that Bergsveinn finally gets inside Nexus proper. There's a toll, but it's not an extremely extortionate one, so unless he's decided to carry no silver whatsoever for ideological reasons he should soon find himself within the city without further problems. A few people point and whisper, seemingly equally concerned that he's a northerner and a [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12sorcerer, but it doesn't cause that much of a stir, and it's obvious why. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12The city's a melting pot of melting pots; there's a Dragon-Blooded exalt with a daiklave over his shoulder just strolling off along the corner, and people with the ears of cats or the heads of wolves or the skin of snakes, and a palanquin wobbling past the gates that seems to be being carried by skeletons, and a dozen other outlandish things. [20:59] 11Hell, Berg's over nine feet tall. Let he who is not weird cast the first giant boulder. [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12If Bergsveinn's looking for his old compatriots, then he knows he's in the right city - the rumors have carried far enough for that. All that's left, now, is to... ask around, one supposes? Follow the screams? 14[21:02] * Joins: hrolfy 14[21:03] * Joins: hrolf [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12That turns out not to be hard, either. There are posters around town that seem to feature drawings of Ir, except in golden armor and with an awkward-looking but pretty flattering contrapasto pose. There are various rumors and streetside conversations discussing the doings of the Solar Anathema, who apparently get to just hang out openly in Nexus. Before long, Bergsveinn has a palace [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12- a hotel called "The Scarlet Palace" near the middle of Nexus's Grand Canal. 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "There's only one way to find out: crime." [21:04] 4Ir: "Hell, I'm in." [21:04] 14Ir: "Here's our big question, though: are we taking him out with us, if we find him?" [21:04] 4Ir: "Here's our big question, though: are we taking him out with us, if we find him?" [21:04] 13Ying: "Should I get changed...?" 14[21:05] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We could get him in the Heavensward and get the Heavensward out of city limits." 14[21:05] * Joins: hrolfie [21:05] 11This place definitely has to be more extravagant than other places Berg's been. He stops just short of gawking like the world's biggest tourist. 14[21:06] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:06] 4Ir: "Okay. If we're taking him, and we do find him in some, like, altered state -- are we taking him as-is?" [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12It's basically impossible to move without having people constantly try to sell you street food, exclusive tours of local landmarks, tickets into brothels or gambling halls, etcetera. He can waste as much time as he's got silver. [21:07] 13Ying: "How altered are you thinking?" [21:07] 4Ir: "Because I can probably carry him. But I won't know until we see him." [21:07] "Like, drugged, or literally encased in stone, or what." [21:07] "Latter is what I'm thinking." [21:07] "Throw him in a room, lock the door and throw away the key." [21:08] "Probably what they were thinking." 14[21:08] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12As long as he takes, Bergsveinn's unfortunately stopped at the gates of the Scarlet Palace, an extravagant hotel built in the Realm style. There's big red pagodas, an expansive rock garden, and so on. Apparently, it's full up, and no, you're not allowed to come in to try to get autographs or whatever. [21:11] 11Berg: "Where does one go to get autographs, then? I hear this gladiator's really good." [21:11] 13Ying grimaces as a memory that isn't hers makes an unwelcome appearance, but she shakes it off. "So... unless it's a problem we can solve super quickly, we'd have to take him as-is. Wherever he is is somewhere we don't wanna be for long." [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Guy at the front: "Got rich friends? Good enough arena tickets, you might get to meet her briefly. Even feast a few tables away." [21:13] 4Ir: "I'm gonna go down and get something from the kitchen. Anyone want anything?" [21:14] 11Berg crosses his arms. "What about in the arena? How do you get in there?" 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I expect that if he is in some transfigured state it'll take some time to undo it. Luckily Nexus is small enough that no matter how deep the vault is we should at worst only need to carry him outside the threshold before I can just take him up to the Heavensward." [21:14] 13Ying: "I could use some juice..." [21:14] 13Thirsty [21:15] 13This chatter has made her thirsty. [21:15] 4Uh huh. Ir heads down. 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10We can stop talking about the Emissary if Ying wants. [21:15] 7Blossom sighs. "No, no, I shouldn't. Eating will distract me... could you get me one of those flavored crushed ice things from the street vendor outside?" [21:15] 13._. [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Guy: "Easy! They got signups. You might have to win a lot before they let you into the big house, though, heh, looks like you're set there." [21:16] 4Over her shoulder: "No problem!" [21:18] 4She peeks into the kitchen and chats with the woman who runs the show down there, Welinda, who she's gotten fairly friendly with -- though she's still occasionally somewhat grumpy Ir will occasionally commandeer her operation for lunch. After prepping some stuff for sandwiches, she'll head outside for Blossom's ice thing and HOLY SHIT. [21:18] "BERG!!!!!!!!!" [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12WHAT the- 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Did she just say-" [21:18] 7Blossom sits straight up in her chair. "Berg?!" [21:18] 11Berg looks over, then takes a second to smirk at the guard. "Well, that was a lot easier than you made it out to be." [21:18] 13Ying: "Berg???" [21:19] 4Turning to shout back inside: "BERG'S HERE!" 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi goes out to see. Is it true? [21:19] 4Then she is going to half-hug, half-tackle the big man. [21:20] 11Berg laughs, a deep, rumbling bellow. "So. A gladiator, eh?" [21:20] 4Who has gotten even larger. She used to come up farther than his rib cage, she's pretty sure. [21:20] "How did you---OH! Riiiight." [21:20] 7Blossom jumps down the stairs and races outside. "Bergsveinn!" [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12The guy at the door actually looks kind of annoyed that he did all this gate-guarding for nothing, until it occurs to him that the Anathema might choose to execute him on the spot for interfering with their machinations. He begins to slowly sidle out of view. [21:21] 4To the guard: "Okay, so I know how I told you that no one who would come up to you and say he was our friend, wasn't our friend?" [21:21] "So, this was totally on me, you're good." [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12He pauses, and then pauses some more, trying to work out whether all those woulds and wasn'ts add up to a positive or a negative. Just as the guard's getting nervous, Ir lets him off the hook, and his shoulders slump in relief. [21:22] "But seriously this time, anyone who does that again, now it's not someone who's our friend." [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Guard: "Gotch- understood." [21:22] 11Berg: "To be fair, I didn't tell him I was your friend. I asked for your autograph." 11Another chuckle. He extends a hand towards the guard. "Still though, well done. Rebuffed me without being an ass about it." [21:22] "Cool. Take ten and get lunch inside if you want, we'll be talking for a bit." [21:23] 13Ying's down last, trailing behind the rest of the group. This'll be tricky. 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi pokes his head out the door. "Did you get like two fulms taller?" [21:24] 11Berg: "I didn't measure. Definitely some, though." 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "Good gods." [21:26] "So what the fuck have you been up to???" [21:27] 11Berg taps the large fur belt around his waist. "Finding big game in the North." [21:27] "Nice." 4She backs up a bit to get a look at the belt. "What'd that used to be?" [21:28] 11Berg: "Hard to describe, really. I've heard many tales of beasts described as a 'force of nature'. But sometimes, it's true. A beast from the mountains and bigger than them." [21:29] 11Berg: "It took me, an army, and a good man's life to put a stop to it." [21:29] 13Ying: "Wait, the one from the north? Or the west?" 13It was the west, right? Correct that to east if that was inaccurate. [21:29] "Damn. What'd you do with the rest of it?" [21:30] 11Berg looks over the rest at Ying. "North. And you're new." 11He extends a hand. 08[21:31] 7Blossom looks to Eikichi. "Seriously, though. He's what, nine fulms now?" 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi nods. "If he's an ilm. Back in a minute." [21:32] 11Berg laughs. "I think it was the beast that did it. It was from outside the world, so we used the world to defeat it. Its remains decorate a mountain peak now." [21:32] 4Ir: "Oh, that's--" 4She pauses. "Yyyeah, she's new." 4Ying and Tatsuya can handle this. [21:32] 13She shakes Berg's hand with two of hers. "Sunlit-Dreaming Ying, at your service!" 13Yep. Definitely new here. At least outside. [21:32] 4To Berg: "Hey, are you hungry?" [21:33] 11Berg: "Sure. All I hear about Nexus is how good its food is." [21:34] 11Berg: "I heard a lot about you, too. A clothier?" [21:34] "Cool, cool. We should throw a party." 4Does this place have a backyard? Or some place where Ir could reasonably split-roast a game animal vaugely the size of an elephant? [21:34] *4spit 08[21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12It does, in fact. A lot of it's a rock garden which used to be completely forbidden to walk around on in case Eikichi's sorcery was disturbed, but that's all taken care of now. 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi comes back with a pair of those shaved ice things. Blossom's is a sandy brown and Eikichi's is violently blue. 08[21:36] 13She brightens. "Yeah! I've got a shop now, after, um." 13She looks to Eikichi. "Well, there were a lot of events. It was a wild series of happenstances." [21:36] 4Nice. "Okay, I need someone to dig a big ol' fire pit -- ask some of the hands if they'll help with it -- while I take the Heavensward out and go hunt--" [21:36] "!!!" [21:36] 4Ir: "We need to show Berg the Heavensward!" [21:37] 7Blossom: "Yes, absolutely." [21:39] 11Berg: "Heavensward?" [21:41] 13Ying: "It's our ship!" 13She'll start out towards where it's docked, which is not at all in the direction of any port. [21:43] 11Berg follows. "Didn't know you guys were into sailing." [21:43] 4Ir will put out the orders for the firepit. She'll mollify Welinda's grumpiness about disrupting her routine by promising to cook for everyone and let the staff have the leftovers. [21:44] 4Ir: "I was pretty big on it in my last life." 4Her face flickers with something; almost sadness, slightly nostalgic. It's gone. "But the Heavensward's not like any other ship." 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Most ships don't have a brewery and a harp lounge." [21:46] 13Ying: "They should!" [21:46] 4Ir: "Well, we might need to scrap the brewery, if...are you sticking around, Berg?" [21:47] 11Berg chuckles. "The beast is dead, or near enough that only our long-future descendants need worry about it. I hear tell of another rising in the East, but not so close to civilized lands. I am here to stay until that changes." 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "What was it, anyway? Was it a behemoth?" [21:50] 11Berg: "It was something unique, and yet... perhaps there are more of its kind. Now, my turn for a question. When I was entering town, I heard tell of brutal sun worship and Solar Anathema. Not hiding, anymore?" 11His face looks dark. [21:51] 4Ir: "Huh?" [21:51] 11After that, though, he looks askance at Ying, not sure how much to say. [21:51] "What kind of brutal--ohhhhhhhhh." 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We never hid, really." 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's not us though." [21:52] "There's some outcaste asshole in the arena who keeps killing other pitfighters messily; claims he's doing it for the Sun." [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12And hell, is he wrong? [21:52] 13Ying: "...he ate a heart. I guess he does it all the time." [21:53] "Haven't figured out the best way of approaching that yet, because, yeah. He seems committed to the bit." [21:53] 11Berg's face seems a little brighter at the news that it's not them, but darkens again at the rest. "Sounds like someone needs to uncommit him." [21:54] "Especially if people know..." 11He glances at Ying again. "I guess you're one of them too?" [21:54] 4Ir grimaces. "Well, that probably means killing him. Which, you know, kind of is a win for him, by his own logic." [21:54] 13Ying: "Um. Yeah. It's a long story, or a really short one that's also totally unbelievable." 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Ying shares a body with Tatsuya." [21:54] 4Ir rolls her eyes. Well, Ying got to tell some of it, at least. [21:54] 13She immediately looks around to see if anyone outside of their group heard that. [21:55] "Shares a body? Are you... possessed?" [21:55] 13Also, for what it's worth, Tatsuya is a good several inches taller than Ying, and their body shapes are completely different. [21:56] 11It seems like that'd be pretty hard for Berg to notice even if he weren't suddenly several feet taller. [21:56] 11Well, I guess the whole 'being a girl' thing is pretty noticeable. 08[21:57] 13In the absence of rumormongers taking note, Ying just slaps Eikichi on the shoulder. "We can talk about it on the ship, okay? It's complicated." [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Not unless the lot of you are pointedly speaking in public. I assume you're just in one of your rooms, or the 'common area' in the palace's upper floor that's your de facto private hangout spot. [21:57] 13Oh, I thought we were heading to the ship. My bad. [21:58] 4We were out front. [21:58] 4We had not yet contemplated whether Berg could, like, come inside. [21:58] 4Being nine feet tall and so on. 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It'd be pretty bad planning if we didn't have an entrance to the ship suitable for cargo. Blossom's pretty good at planning... [22:00] 4Oh, no, Ir meant the inn. [22:00] 7There's a cargo hatch in mid-deck, of course, like almost every vessel of its size. The actual interior of the ship will still be fairly cramped for Berg, considering it's somewhat cramped for the normal-sized Solars. [22:00] 4I suppose at this point they've walked over, however. [22:01] 13Yeah, I thought we went from the front of the inn towards the Heavensward's dock in the middle of town, which is why I wanted to check whether anyone heard. 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It sounds like everybody needs a healthy dose of assuming everything is fine. [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Not unless you wanted them to. You guys have decent opsec. [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, the Heavensward is docked at the pinnacle of a great tower made mostly of white stone, although there's a lot of wooden ladders and decks and stuff built up around it. It flares wider at the top, and the Solars' flying ship is visible bobbing in the wind. 08[22:05] 13It's a pretty big secret, so hopefully Eikichi kept it until they'd gotten off the streets. Anyway! [22:07] 11Berg whistles. "Very nice." [22:08] 13Ying: "It super is! Wait'll you see the spa~" 13Wait, will he even fit in there? Yikes. [22:08] 4Always weird to see it bobbing like that. Not the bobbing itself; sailing ships bob all the time. But being beneath it -- like the ship is in water, and they're in the ocean below. Kinda strange. 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's cute. [22:10] 4To Berg: "We're kinda almost full up on space right now as it is. All we can offer by way of room -- without tearing out the still or some of the workspaces -- is cleaning up the forward cargo hold and just going with shorter stocks and more shopping or hunting trips while we're on journey. [22:10] " [22:10] "I can stay on the deck, if that's easier. I've slept on icy mountaintops, the cold won't bother me any." [22:18] 4Ir frowns. "I mean...if you're sure..." [22:19] "Probably will want to rig up a harness or something so you don't fall off if we get capsized by something suddenly." [22:37] 7Blossom, for her part, will take some time to explain the functioning of the newly-restored cargo lift to the family that owns the dock before they float Bergsveinn up. [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Getting up on deck is extremely easy, as Blossom's repairs of the Hollow airdock have since been completed. Put a palm on a square (rounded corners, natch) of green jade inset in a wall, and a bloom of brisk air essence will lift you smoothly towards the sky. It's more comfortable than the storm god's blessing that carried Bergsveinn to Nexus, though also slower. [22:38] 4It's gonna be real easy to get Errant and Ami down now, too. 08[22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12So it is that it's quite easy to give Berg a tour of the ship, let him meet Eikichi's current crop of guardian demons, etc. Usagi is very enthused. [22:39] 11I always wanted to be cargo. 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi already met Bergsveinn! She had a crush on him. [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, yeah, re-meet in this instance. Where'd his armor go? Does he need new armor? Usagi can make some armor- [22:41] "So! Any questions about the ship?" 7Blossom sounds intensely smug. [22:41] 13Ying'll say hello to Usagi and Sondok -- it's been a bit! So busy with the shop and things... [22:42] "It's impressive. Seems pretty straightforward, though. How'd you get it?" [22:44] 7Blossom: "We found the Essence reactor that gives it main power in Crystal. Then I built the ship itself." 7Smug levels at maximum! [22:45] 4Ir: "Handles like a dream, too. Weird to be able to fly up and down at first." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Blossom just fixed that lift, too. Basically she's a genius." [22:47] 13Ying gives Blossom a quick hug. "She's so great!" [22:48] "I'm pretty sure I saw a statue of her." 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oh, you went by the Hedgehog?" [22:48] "I also saw Octavian again. He was fighting an old guy, and even having a rough time of it." [22:49] 4That gets almost a double-take out of Ir. 08[22:49] 7Blossom: "Eikichi made that, and all the rest of the scenery. I mean he actually willed into existence out of-- what? Octavian?" 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "They deserve each other." [22:49] "An old guy?" [22:49] "You mean--" [22:49] "That fuckin' dude." [22:49] 13Ying: "Who won?" [22:49] "No one, when I went by." [22:50] "I thought about dropping by, but if he earned it..." 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It's a raksha." 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "A lazy, pretentious raksha." [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Same. [22:51] 13Ying: "Tatsuya didn't care for him very much." [22:51] "To hell with him." [22:53] "I'm not worried about their kind. I spent much of my time in the North learning the ways of the spirits and Gods of the North. A bit more than punching, now." 11He chuckles. "On the other hand, I guess I still end up punching them, so..." [22:53] 4Ir: "Okay but why's Octavian fighting him?" [22:54] "I mean there are a lot of worse things he could be doing, but..." 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "On Yara's say-so, presumably. Doesn't she still have him?" [22:54] 13Ying: "Probably? Unless something really weird happened." [22:58] 7Blossom: "I can think of many worse things he could be doing." 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "That's true. He could be part of a really elaborate plan to maim and kidnap us." [22:59] 13Ying: "That'd be a really weird plan if it involves Xalvierre." [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Bergsveinn passed by Crystal on his way down here, so he's got some inkling of what the other Solars are talking about: a terrifying if brief time of violent unrest in the city of Crystal, when the Wyld Hunt came to town and attempted to capture the Solars at the same time as some kind of death cult erupted throughout the city. 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It would be weird if any plan involved Xalvierre unless the plan was to sit in one spot and try really hard not to be of any use to anybody." [23:03] "I guess this isn't the worst use of him Yara could've dreamed up. Gotta wonder why, though." [23:04] "Guess you guys had a rough patch when I left, then." [23:04] 13Ying: "There were good parts!" [23:04] 7Blossom: "There have been ups and downs." 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I should go check on Sondok." [23:05] 13Ying: "I liked the part where I showed up." [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12The histories of the Squared Circle will be dated "BY" and "AY" as appropriate. 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The Y stands for 'Yara Beat Tatsuya'. [23:06] 6Augh [23:06] "How did you show up, then? If you don't mind telling." [23:07] 4While they do that, Ir's gonna take the Heavensward out of dock. She's headed out to go hunting for food for the party. [23:07] 4Which means first she has to find the biggest damn prey animal nearby and fell it. [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12That's harder than it sounds, because Nexus's immediate environs are fairly 'civilized' as the Realm would measure it - wide, well-trodden roads lead into and out of the city, the river is choked with more trading vessels than sea monsters, and so on. On the other hand, these are the Scavenger Lands, and if you pick the right direction and go for long enough you'll certainly run [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12into something that can eat a man in one bite. [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Or, you know, the kind of game that could sustain said monster's predations. Anyone coming with? [23:12] 13Ying: "Well... Tatsuya's probably still wanted in Nexus - we haven't checked, really - and after our last days in Crystal, he wanted a way to be useful that didn't involve sneaking around or stealing things. So, he got to meditating, and thinking, and practicing, until..." [23:12] 13She shrugs. "Well, until I was me? It kinda makes my head hurt when I think about it too much. But I'm not Tatsuya! And he's not me. We just, um, can't hang out together is all." [23:13] 4Ir was about to insist that Tatsuya is always wanted, because they don't see too much of him anymore, before she realized the intended meaning. [23:13] 7Blossom will help forage, since she's incredibly good at that too. [23:13] 11Berg shrugs. "Sounds weird. But I slammed a giant monster into a mountain and now I'm a few fulms taller, so who am I to judge?" [23:13] 4Everyone can at least come along on the Heavensward if they want, unless they've got pressing business in the city. [23:14] 11Berg will absolutely hunt megafauna. [23:15] 4They don't have a mount for him, but you know what, Ir bets Berg doesn't need one. 14[23:15] * Joins: Quaker [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Off to adventure, then! There's a wood to Nexus's immediate east, and either plains or river in every other direction. What biome is Ir gonna dive into? [23:17] plains first. hunting in woods is harder, and she's found at least that wider open spaces make for bigger prey. [23:18] 4Plains first. hunting in woods is harder, and she's found at least that wider open spaces make for bigger prey. [23:18] 4So ideally a place where those two things merge, moving out towards the plains, would be a good idea. [23:18] 13Ying, to Bergsveinn: "We've all done some growing up." 13She emphasizes her look up, and up, towards his head. She might be literally half his size. [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12The threshold plains surrounding Nexus are, at first, fairly sparse - which is no surprise, since you're flying out of a major city. Once you've gotten past the major trade routes and acres of farmland, you start finding more promising prospects - herds of grazing buffalo, families of deer, that sort of thing. [23:27] 4Still a bit small... [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Whether the Solars choose to dip the Heavensward low in order to spear or straight-up tackle those finds is up to them, but Blossom can feel that the real main event is coming up. She just needs to keep making adjustments and sniffing the wind, asking Ir to turn a few degrees this way or that way... [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12There - that hill. [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12The Heavensward is bearing down now on the edge of a long, sparse forest, and Blossom's eyes are focused on a large, low patch of mossy earth that's sort of bulging next to a copse of trees. That's it! [23:30] 4Ir takes a hand off the helm-- [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12It has to be pointed out to Bergsveinn, who isn't yet familiar with the local fauna, but everyone else notices - the hill is slowly expanding and contracting. Breathing. It's a gigatherium, a type of gigantic, omnivorous sloth. [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Blends right in with the local foliage because of all the moss, mildew, and shrubbery that grows naturally in the creature's mud-caked fur. [23:32] 11Berg's caste mark glimmers into life, while he tenses to get down from the ship, however that works. [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12You need to watch out, because they're only incredibly slow and lazy roughly 95% of the time. All that unused energy gets stored up and allows them to hunt with terrifying speed and ferocity when need be. [23:32] 4Well, here's the question now. [23:32] 13That sounds like a problem for the more combat-focused members of the group... [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Bring one down, though, and you've got all the meat and vegetables a small village would need for weeks. [23:33] 4How are we gonna cook this thing in the Palace's fire pit? [23:33] 13Unless they need Ying along? Which, well. She's here. [23:33] 7Blossom: "I suppose we could take what we need and gift the rest to some nearby village...?" [23:35] "So how do we get down from this thing?" [23:35] 4Ir: "We jump, generally, but, uh...I'm not sure we really want to bite off this much." 08[23:35] "Plus Eikichi might get mad we killed behemoth without him." [23:36] "Well, if we get hungry..." [23:37] 13Ying: "I don't think we could eat a whole behemoth. Even a little one." [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12You could sell the rest. Donate the skeleton to the Gymnasium, make a clothing line out of its pelt... [23:38] 13Well when you put it like that... [23:39] 7Blossom: "Mmm. Maybe we'll come back for this one." [23:39] 4Well it's not going anywhere, right? [23:40] 4Ir nods. "I'll mark it on our map." [23:41] <@Ferrinus> ✘ [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Now that you've found this thing, you have an idea of where to find its lesser cousins. So, exercising the virtue of temperance, the Solars turn away from this particular copse of trees and skirt the edge of the forest so as to find some more reasonable prehistoric prey. [23:45] 13...coats and jackets and other forms of outerwear... [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Giant sloth fur is basically grey and extremely coarse... to start. There's a lot of complicated down and stuff, and of course some strange and potentially exploitable consequences to be found in all the plants that take root in their hides. [23:52] 4Story for another day. Now it's time to hunt, and then cook, and then party. To friends. [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12To friends! The Circle can collect, itemize, and return their haul, and decide which of their wills to work on Nexus... next week. Session Time: Fri Oct 20 00:00:00 2017 14[01:08] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[01:08] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[01:08] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[01:41] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:42] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:04] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:38] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:44] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:49] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[04:04] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[04:07] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:37] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[05:40] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:30] * Joins: Crion| 14[06:34] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:47] * Joins: Zarick 15[07:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 78787878787878787878787878787878787878787878787878787878787878787878m 67yn8.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,'[.yhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyh./ [08:01] agreed [08:25] sAME 14[10:03] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[10:03] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[10:18] * Joins: Crion| 14[10:32] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[11:12] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:42] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:37] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:27] * Joins: Crion| 14[14:05] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[14:36] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:53] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:07] * Joins: Crion| 14[18:26] * Joins: hrolfie 14[18:39] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:54] * Joins: Crion| 14[19:00] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:19] * Joins: hrolfy 14[19:22] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:15] * Joins: hrolf 14[20:15] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:18] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:43] * Joins: Crion| 14[20:54] * Joins: Quaker 14[21:22] * Joins: Zarick 14[21:56] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[23:34] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:36] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[23:38] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:38] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker Session Time: Sat Oct 21 00:00:00 2017 14[00:24] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:04] * Joins: Crion| 14[01:14] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:14] * Joins: mattbaby 14[01:26] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:27] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[01:39] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[01:43] * Joins: tom 14[02:19] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:24] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:53] * Quits: Quaker_ (Client exited) 14[03:01] * Joins: mattbaby 14[03:06] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:01] * Joins: mattbaby 14[04:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:01] * Joins: mattbaby 14[05:06] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:01] * Joins: mattbaby 14[06:06] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:18] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:29] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[07:01] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:06] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:01] * Joins: mattbaby 14[08:06] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:24] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[08:27] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[09:01] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:06] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:18] * Joins: Zarick 14[09:56] * Joins: Crion| 14[10:01] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:05] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:06] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [10:48] - [10:48] - [10:48] - [10:48] - [10:48] - [10:48] - [10:48] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMXdJqGMq-I [10:51] The First Invisible Visionary didn’t gasp. She just stopped holding her cup when Cav put the box on the table. It bounces off the floor, chipping. [10:52] 4Cav will reach down to pick it up, then put it on the counter. [10:52] "So it's one of those, then." [10:52] She looks at it for a long time. “Where did you get this, again?” [10:53] "Big Bird gave it to me." 4He grimaces. "Giant spirit creature, chained to the roof of the San Diego court estate in Miramar. Owned by..." 4He waves a hand. "Sorry. Gangrel. Owned by some monster or another." [10:53] "I've seen something like it before." [10:54] "The witch hierophant Jubal gave one to Edgar." [10:55] She holds the box in her small hands. “He cursed Edgar with it.” Her fingers pause at the latch. “Can I…?” [10:55] 4Cav: "If it's safe." [11:01] “It’s safe, like this.” Leisurely opens the little container and picks up the acorn. In the light of the kitchen, he can say that the acorn itself has a strange color. He’s no botanist, but…it probably shouldn’t be black. [11:01] She studies it in her palm. “I can’t believe it’s real…” 14[11:01] * Joins: mattbaby [11:02] 4What color was Edgar's? Does Cav recall? [11:03] Once Edgar caught it, it looked normal in shades of brown. [11:04] 4Hmm. [11:04] Leisurely swallows and blinks. She looks around the kitchen, almost in surprise. Then, with a trace of guilt in her voice: “I think you and I have been avoiding asking and answering some questions.” [11:05] 4Cav: "Maybe so. Is any of that beer I brought over last time still in the fridge?" 14[11:06] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [11:07] Leisurely: “Um…I gave it away to a friend. There’s, uh…” Her eyes light up. “Do you like bubble tea? There’s a place just down the street. We could walk there and back.” [11:08] 4Who the hell takes Modelo as a gift? He reconsiders that. He'd probably take Modelo as a gift. Out loud: "I've never tried it. Let's go." [11:13] She grabs a coat from the closet and puts it on before stepping out, locking the front door behind her. “It’s good. The bubbles are like a chewy candy.” They step off down into the evening. The neighborhood is as quiet as ever. Cav can hear the sounds of the waves hitting the jetty and bluffs over the crickets and breeze. Sometimes, depending on their angle, he can see them. Leisurely’s path takes them down past a little [11:13] park and more houses. From up here, he can see the rest of the city, and then all San Clemente, lit up against the dark sea, curving off to the south. [11:13] “What did you see in the Chrysalis?” [11:15] 4Cav: "A sea of red flowers. Hills, fields of them, stretching in every direction. In the middle, a pavilion. Three tables. Three bodies, covered in sheets." 08[11:17] "Wilson Frost was with me. Somehow." 08[11:17] "The actual Wilson Frost." [11:17] Leisurely nods. “What color was the pavilion?” 08[11:18] "Take the sheets off, and you've got two of me, and one of my sire. Alicia Holymount. Wilson reacted poorly to her. I'm not sure he saw the same thing I saw, but I didn't pry." [11:18] 4He pauses. "White." [11:20] "They weren't vampire bodies. Kine, but...unalive." [11:20] "Not quite dead." [11:22] Leisurely: “What else?” 08[11:24] 4Cav describes one of the Cav bodies standing and menacing the two of them, him and Wilson, and his repeated trial and error efforts to solve the puzzle until feeding the other Cav body his blood. [11:24] 4Cav: "The angry Cav, he didn't like that." [11:26] 4Cav: "He had a song, or a poem for me, promising some measure of revenge. Then we, ah, climbed out of the Chrysalis into the sky." [11:26] They arrive at the little cafe. A teenager makes a sweet milk drink for Leisurely. “Get whatever you’d like. I’ll pay for it.” [11:27] 4To the teen: "I'll have what she's having." [11:28] 4Cav could probably buy the place on the spot, but won't raise the issue. Sometimes people like to pay for things. 08[11:31] She sits outside at the lone table outside. “Some of that sounds familiar. The red flowers, the white pavilion. Rollie saw the same thing. And he had to place his soul’s blood into his body before his Beast would, as well.” [11:32] 4Cav: "His Beast would what?" [11:37] Leisurely: “The earliest stages of the ritual of the Coil transpose the metaphorical struggle between your conscious and unconscious into a reified psychic space, shaped by the local psychic resonance of the space the ritual occurs in.” She sips her drink. “That’s the part I’ve been able to get the others to accept.” 08[11:38] 4Cav: "Well, that makes sense. If it was actually just 'in my head,' Wilson couldn't have joined me." [11:39] “The rest is not nearly as…repeatable. Or observable. So to speak of your ‘Beast’ doing anything is pretty speculative. It’s right, though. The Beast, your mind, fights your soul for control of the medium, your body.” [11:39] 4He sips his tea. "A real unwelcome passenger." [11:40] "Mine, perhaps, more than some." [11:40] 4Cav sighs. "Or maybe not. Maybe everyone's Beast is this much of a ragelord dick." [11:40] Leisurely stirs the milk tea. [11:40] “The mind is not the passenger. Or the intruder.” [11:40] “We are.” [11:41] 4Cav closes his eyes. "That makes a surprising amount of sense." [11:43] “The ritual is an insurrection against the normal state of your being. Normally your mind and body exist in the same space. You’ve pried them apart, and stolen some control from your own nature.” [11:44] "Brute-force dualism." [11:45] She nods. “Imagine the horror of someone wearing a mask, only to realize the mask is trying to become the real face.” [11:46] “Thus the unfriendliness. I imagine everyone’s mind is different, though.” [11:46] 4Cav: "Mask and face, or skin and skull." [11:47] "My Beast didn't indicate we'd be talking out our differences." [11:48] “Why should it have? You’re nothing to it. A leftover. A ghost. Something to fade away and be forgotten.” [11:48] “For spirits of death, a soul is a bad dream you forget when you awaken.” [11:50] 4Cav: "Fair. But death is not a destiny that demands my respect." [11:50] 4He taps his head. "And I pay rent here too." [11:51] Leisurely: “You do now.” [11:52] 4Cav: "I have another date with the Beast, then, next time I enter Chrysalis." [11:54] “I’ve felt you grow in yourself. But there’s only so much those kinds of rituals can do. I don’t think that you’ll be entering a Chrysalis like that again. At least, not in the controlled way you’ve been doing.” [11:55] 4Cav: "...Unfortunate." [11:55] "Hard to prepare for something if the rules keep changing." 14[11:57] * Joins: hrolf [12:00] Leisurely shrugs. “The soul is a thing of movement. You cannot realize yourself safely and dispassionately. You have to wander through all the hidden places of the world to reach the unknown depths of yourself. ‘The question and the cry ‘Oh, where?’ melt into tears of a thousand streams and deluge the world with the flood of the assurance ‘I am!’” [12:01] She puts the little box on the table and picks up the acorn, rolling it between her fingers. “Here is something from one of those hidden places.” 14[12:01] * Joins: mattbaby [12:01] 4Sounds like college. [12:04] 4Cav: "The coloration makes the difference, then?" [12:06] Leisurely puts it in his hand. “Yeah. It means it hasn’t been spent. Don’t, um, eat it.” [12:06] “What do you know about the Circle of the Crone?” [12:07] 4Cav: "Mostly their legal status, telling me not to learn too much. I've done some reading about Cruac, as well, but I'm not too familiar with the organization itself." [12:11] “It’s not really an organization, I suppose. ‘The Circle of the Crone’ is just an umbrella term for about a thousand mostly unlinked tendencies. Cruac is about the only thing they have in common. But then, that’s mostly unlinked, too.” She shrugs. “It’s not like blood magic is the same thing everywhere.” 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [12:12] “Every band of worshippers has its own history and context. And its own secrets.” [12:13] “Do you know what was here before the Court?” [12:13] 4Cav: "We had some back in New York. They most stuck to upstate." [12:14] 4Cav frowns. "No. Native land, I suppose. I guess they might fall under the Circle's umbrella. Them, and werewolves." [12:19] “When J. Frederick Owens arrived from San Diego, most of the native tribes had been reduced by genocide and displacement. They still had to fight with what remained. And whatever parts of that structure that had moved into the settler society. But the Southern California Circle had always been divided into two parts: the larger part, the one Owens found, lowlanders who lived on the plains and the low hills and on the coast.” [12:23] “The first group always saw themselves as new arrivals, though. Something had been in the land far longer than they had. Before humans lived here. They called these things the Old Spirits, and worshipped them. When people came, the Old Spirits left the world of the plains and the low places. They lived in the high places now, hidden places. Places where they could hide from light or people, and live as they always had. From [12:23] time to time, they took human servants and turned them into spirits, to serve them.” [12:24] 4Cav: "What sorta taxonomy are we talking here? Spirit-spirits? Elder vampires with thousands of years of torpor in them? Something else?" [12:25] 4He pauses. "Kinda would put paid to the Sanctum's whole Longinus angle." [12:26] Leisurely: “Well, the Sanctum’s really stupid. Anyway, I’m not sure. It’s pretty hazy. The only things you’ve got to go on when you’re reading about this stuff is the most roundabout material imaginable. Fragments of rumors, legends of legends, you know? I couldn’t tell you whether they’re even true.” [12:28] 4Cav: "Everywhere's got their old stories. The Court back east has legends about an elder or two when it was New Amsterdam." [12:28] “But…it was always clear that for them, the whole ‘spirit-spirits’ and ‘vampires’ distinction wasn’t really there. The whole “Vampire” thing is pretty recent, actually. They certainly didn’t think of themselves as a unique category of undead that stopped at a certain point, with strict rules about Vampirism.” [12:29] She nods. “Yeah. But I mean pieces of folklore that are 10,000 years old, referring to stories that are even older.” 14[12:29] * Joins: hrolfy [12:30] 4Cav: "So...how do we approach something like that?" 14[12:31] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [12:31] Leisurely: “Like…as scholars?” [12:32] 4Cav: "To start with." [12:35] “You have to be willing to work with others. I can’t reach back in time to verify a diary’s authenticity, or translate a dead language with no referents. Or travel into the spirit world to ask questions.” She stops sipping to blow a lodged boba out of her straw. “But I know people who can.” [12:37] “And you have to be careful.” [12:37] 4A small smile. "Of course." [12:38] 4That's what they all say about Clinton Cavanaugh: he's so careful! 14[12:41] * Quits: hrolfy (Connection closed) [12:42] 4Cav: "I think we both know a spirit guide, at least." [12:42] "I could use a bit more help on the academic side." 14[12:42] * Joins: hrolf [12:43] “I think you’re more careful than I am, so…anyway, I mention all of this because all that remains of the Circle in Southern California are the bands that live in proximity to the places where the Old Spirits live. The Pacific Coast Ranges were always regarded as homes for the Old Spirits, so the survivors moved close to them. Some say that they serve them directly. Some say the Old Spirits have embraced them as their own, [12:43] and turned some of them into spirits. The deeper you get into the mountains, the closer you get. Those are the places where even the People won’t go.” [12:43] “The black acorn reminded me of a story I heard about the Old Spirits. So I guess some of it must be true.” [12:43] “Joanie? Yeah, she’s very helpful.” [12:44] 4Cav: "What I'm hearing then -- about this blurring of distinctions -- is that the bird I freed is most likely not just a spirit, but also one of these...servant vampires." [12:44] 4Cav: "Would clear up a lot of things about why the San Diego Court had it chained to the roof." [12:45] Leisurely: “Maybe. If it was carrying a black acorn, it must be familiar with where it came from.” [12:45] “And where it came from, that’s where the servant vampires are supposed to live.” [12:46] 4Cav: "Would be nice to have an ally up there. Since I've already got an enemy in Jubal." [12:46] She finishes her boba and hucks it into a trash can. “I’ll show you where I heard about the acorns.” [12:47] 4Cav stands, following suit. Good, if a bit sweet. "Tonight?" [12:47] “Yeah. It’s just a book, back at the house.” As they walk back: “I always got the sense that Jubal was…isolated, down here. Like he was operating on his own.” [12:48] 4Cav: "That would line up with how bad his social skills are." [12:49] “Well, the whole cycle of raid and counter-raid is an Invictus invention. I can’t imagine the Old Spirits have any real interest in playing cops and robbers with the new lowlanders.” [12:50] “Maybe I’m projecting. It just seems like when you hear about ancient god-spirits, you hope that they’d be more interesting than we are.” [12:51] 4Cav: "Age leads to calcification. At least that's how I've always heard it. I wouldn't get your hopes up." [12:51] "If they've bucked that stricture, though...who knows?" 08[12:52] They walk in silence for a while. Then: “You remember that illness Rollie had? The visions?” [12:52] 4Cav: "Malkavia." [12:53] “Yeah.” [12:54] “‘Malkavia’ is one name for it. Maybe a distinct version. But I’m sure that something related came out of the Coast Ranges at some point. Like a hint of the Old Spirits’ existence.” [12:55] 4Cav: "Guess that explains some things about how accurate his visions were about Jubal. And all that nonsense." [12:58] Leisurely walks for a while. “If you’re looking for academic help…I used to work for an old human sorceror who used the name Phocas. He could peer back into the past, and show me the meaning of words I couldn’t understand. He was unconcerned with the intrigues of the Court.” [12:59] “You should find someone like that. I wouldn’t trust many of our kind with secrets like this. They…” [12:59] She smiles. “Well. They haven’t seen their own Beast in the pavilion, have they?” [13:00] 4Cav shakes his head. "I'm sure they see other things." [13:00] 4Cav: "But few of them are probably wearing their own face." [13:00] “And you’re always welcome to my archives, from now on. I still have my pass to the Huntington Library, too. You can have it.” [13:01] 4He's already put the name "Phocas" into his notepad app. [13:01] “And you know how to ask Joanie for a favor.” [13:01] 4Cav arches an eyebrow. "The Huntington Library?" 14[13:01] * Joins: mattbaby [13:04] “Some magnate founded it as a private collection, a long time ago. The Prince bought it from the family years and years ago, and expanded it greatly. There’s a special section for occult scholars of our kind. The Wilderness Committee publishes its research and findings there, as well. Plus the botanical gardens are very nice.” [13:05] 4Cav: "Huh. I'll have to check it out." [13:05] "As for the acorn...any ideas what to do with it? How to store it safely?" 14[13:06] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [13:07] She unlocks the front door. “I’m not sure. I can’t see spirit magic, so I can’t really tell if it’s building towards something dangerous. I’d ask a specialist. But keep it somewhere secure, for now. Probably best not to keep it close. Back here.” She leads him back past the living room. [13:08] 4He follows. [13:09] In the back room, there are several huge bookshelves and more filing cabinets. Leisurely opens a closet door, revealing a row of safes. She nicks her thumb with a fang, and squeezes a drop of blood onto the face of one. It swings open. [13:10] 4Cav: "Nifty." [13:11] Inside are several cardboard boxes. She selects one labeled “MYTH - ANIMAL PRODUCT” and tugs it out of the stack, putting it at their feet. [13:12] She opens it up, sorting through several plastic bags. Cav can see pelts, vials of fluids, and some preserved limbs and digits. [13:12] 4Jesus. [13:13] 4She's quite a collector. [13:13] Leisurely holds up a…book? It’s kind of like a book. The sheets are made out of a kind of browned, leathery substance, written on in a white script. The binding is a thick, black cord of some sort. It was clearly fashioned by hand. She lets him hold it. [13:14] 4Cav takes it in both hands. 14[13:18] * banana|split is now known as banana [13:18] “Deerskin, written with a chalk mixture. Don’t get it wet. It’s about eleven hundred years old, written in a Chumash ancestor language, mixed in with some earlier Ute elements. It’s a storybook, essentially. For children.” If Cav opens it, he’ll see simple illustrations of people and landscapes. [13:19] 4Ah. Excellent burn, Leisurely Foster. [13:19] 4He's very careful with it. [13:22] She turns the pages to almost the end of the book. “The story of the sisters and their brother who hid from the Sky People.” [13:23] “Wait, hold on…” She rummages through the box. “I have a translation somewhere…here.” She hands him a piece of paper that translates the text blocks and annotates the illustrations. [13:24] The story reads: [13:25] This is how the youngest of the Old Spirits fled from the Sky People, who wanted to take them up into the space above even the clouds, where nothing lives. [13:28] In the time of dreaming, when people still lived only on the shores of an endless ocean and the spirits of all things lived in the world, the Old Spirits were still in the mountains and the hidden places. [13:30] The people who lived on the shores of the endless ocean told themselves to respect the Old Spirits, and never went into their lands, for anyone who went into those places would be forced out, and the Old Spirits would be angry at the people who tried to act like spirits. But some people still said that if you were in danger, the Old Spirits would have mercy on those who sought their help. [13:30] The people remembered not to go into the places of the Old Spirits, and were happy with this promise that only some remembered. [13:31] One day, the sky began to get darker and darker, even when the sun was supposed to be at the top of heaven. [13:32] People began to get angrier and angrier. With themselves, with their families, and with each other. The people would hurt and even kill each other, and everyone knew it was because the sky was getting darker. [13:33] 4Kinda rough for a kid's book. [13:34] There were two sisters and a brother among the people, who were afraid. They said that the sky was going to take everyone back up into the clouds. Some of the people were afraid with them. [13:35] One day, spirits came down from the sky. They looked like people, sometimes. They had golden eyes. The people who lived by the endless shore called them the Sky People. [13:38] The Sky People said, come with us. We live in the place beyond even the clouds. In that place, there is no such thing as spirits or people, because everyone is the same thing. Lots of people went with the Sky People. [13:38] The two sisters and their brother said they shouldn’t go with the Sky People. They left with all the people who believed them, and looked for the Old Spirits. [13:39] 4Guess only these kids knew how horror movies work. [13:40] They walked for a long time, longer than anyone remembers. When they reached the lands of the Old Spirits, the Sky People revealed themselves and tried to block the way. [13:40] The two sisters and the brothers called out to the Old Spirits, save us. The Sky People told them, all the people by the shore are gone. We have taken them. The two sistes and the brothers and their followers cried out for anyone. [13:42] The Old Spirits appeared and said to the sisters and brother, we will have mercy on you. But there are too many people. We cannot live with all of you while you are people. But we will save you from the Sky People. [13:43] The Old Spirits drove the Sky People away from that place. They turned most of the people that had followed the sisters and brother into trees and animals. [13:43] 4Harsh. [13:43] The Old Spirits turned the sisters and their brother into Old Spirits, too, so they could look after their people. [13:45] Now the sisters and brother live in the hidden place with the Old Spirits, tending the trees and animals. Now people say that they live in a place where they can see the old sky, before it turned dark, and the old moon before it disappeared. People say that the light of the old moon is like the sun to all the people who were turned into spirits. [13:46] 4Cav: "Lot going on here." [13:46] 4Cav: "If I didn't know about all our nonsense, I'd think the Sky People were colonists -- but they can't be. What's the date on this?" [13:46] People say that if you ever come across an oak tree with black acorns growing in moonlight, you should leave it alone, because it’s one of the people who were turned into trees, and only the two sisters and the brother are allowed to take their seeds. [13:47] 4Oh, whoops. Not done. [13:49] Leisurely: “I think that’s it. Uh…that storybook was made around 900 A.D. The myth is older though. It cross-references to some earlier folklore that places those specific myths to about 400 B.C.” [13:51] 4Cav: "Sky People don't sound like us. Or, really, any kind of creature I'm familiar with, unless they're wizards of some monstrous sort." [13:54] Leisurely: “There’s some similarities with supernatural creatures who abduct humans and take them into strange places, keeping them there. But I’m not sure it’s any of those.” [13:56] 4Cav: "The fairies, right? The Fae. Them working in groups would be a bit strange...unless it's just one of them that appears as a group..." [13:57] She puts the book in a protective wrap and hands it back to him. “Yes. But they’re not…spirits. They never talk about people and spirits being one. And I can’t really find much mention of Fae elsewhere in the folklore around this area.” [13:58] 4Cav takes the book from her. "True. Well, thank you, Leisurely." [13:58] "I've now got some leads." [13:59] She hugs him. “Don’t talk about this stuff with people you don’t trust.” 08[13:59] 4He'll hug back, very briefly, with one arm. "So it's just you and Wilson, then." [14:00] 4Not many friends left, these nights. Not many friends stayed friends. [14:00] “I thought you went to San Diego with two people.” [14:00] 4He grimaces. "Baron Anaheim is connected to Murray." [14:00] "I like KJ." [14:00] "I'm not just not wholly sure I trust her, yet." [14:01] “Oh.” 08[14:01] She pauses. “You said…you said Wilson was with you, in the Chrysalis?” 14[14:01] * Joins: mattbaby [14:01] 4Cav: "He was." [14:02] “Was he…aware? Of himself, and the place?” [14:02] 4Cav: "He seemed to be. He recalled it afterwards." [14:03] Leisurely: “That’s not…” She frowns. “Cav, you *are* Gangrel, right?” [14:04] 4Cav: "Shephard bloodline, but yes, Gangrel." [14:04] Leisurely: “Hm. Then that rules out the only explanation I could give you.” [14:05] 4Cav: "Which would that be?" 14[14:06] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [14:11] Leisurely: “When you enter a Chrysalis like that, you’re essentially casting a wide net over a certain space and drawing in any soul that aligns with a certain psychic resonance. Each soul has its own resonance, like your D.N.A. You can establish a sympathy with someone else through special practices or behavior, but to align it so finely that you enter into a Chrysalis with them is practically impossible. The only case [14:11] I’ve ever heard of involved a pair of Ordo members who were blood siblings, coming from the same sire. Their resonances were nearly identical because of the common background. But…I mean, you can’t match resonances like that with someone you’re not related to, nevermind not even sharing the same clan background.” [14:12] Leisurely: “It must be an environmental factor that’s been overlooked.” [14:12] 4Cav: "That's not reassuring, considering the environment." [14:14] Leisurely: “I’m not sure what it means. I could run some experiments, though. It might be…um, actually, nevermind. Probably not a great idea to go back to the Ordo right now.” [14:14] “Anyway. Good luck with your research.” [14:14] 4He wonders what that means, about the Ordo, but doesn't press. [14:15] "Thank you," 4Cav says, and then his goodbyes, and then he's driving back up to Laguna, the picture-book next to him on the seat. 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| http://i.imgur.com/0XkYldr.png' 13[08:29] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@sorcery-q06iee.res.rr.com on Mon Oct 24 22:19:06 2016 14[08:29] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[09:17] * Joins: Crion| 14[11:01] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:24] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[11:38] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[11:40] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:43] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:59] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:00] * Guest46249 is now known as Ferrinus 14[12:00] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[12:14] * Joins: tom 14[12:37] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[12:54] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[13:12] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[16:44] * Joins: dammitwho 14[17:14] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[17:42] * Joins: Zarick 14[19:30] * banana|peels is now known as banana|split 14[21:17] * Joins: Crion| 14[21:31] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:37] * Joins: hrolfie Session Time: Wed Oct 25 00:00:00 2017 14[00:23] * 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14[18:18] * Joins: hrolfy 14[18:21] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 `""==,,__ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 `"==..__"=..__ _ _..-==""_ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 .-,`"=/ /\ \""/_)==""`` [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 ( ( | | | \/ | [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ '. | \; \ / [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 | \ | | || [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,-._.' |_| | || [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 .\_/\ -' ; Y [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 | ` | / |-. [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 '. __/_ _.-' /' [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 `'-.._____.-' 14[20:11] * Joins: dammitwho [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12If the Squared Circle (pentagon'd circle...?) sets its sights a little lower, its constituent members can quite easily track and bring down one of the giant ground sloths that grazes on the forests that run along the plains surrounding Nexus. It's an exciting but short affair - one deftly-placed spear thrust or headlock, and the thing's come crashing to the ground, ready to be [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12separated into its component parts and put to use. [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Just how much game do our heroes bring in, and does anyone do anything but help? [20:15] 4Ir is aiming for two of the great beasts. Sustainable consumption, folks -- plus that's about all the Heavensward can haul beneath her with great under-rigged nets. [20:17] 11Berg's mostly along for the ride, but he'll pull his weight. It's not like he's not gonna eat more than everyone else. [20:19] 13Ying'll keep eyes and ears out, but probably not actually want to drop down. Just pointing 'em out for Ir or Berg or the rest to do their work. 15[20:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi isn't killing or eating anything at all. Instead, he's tutoring! Which is to say, he's written down several math problems and is doodling while this shiftless wealthy teen tries to do them. 08[20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Tries to get Eikichi to do them, you mean. [20:22] 4The hard part isn't the kills, which Ir and Berg -- both natural hunters from the North -- do as cleanly as possible, it's getting the things rigged up. 15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Bad news, kid. Nobody can make Eikichi do anything. Not even Eikichi. [20:22] 4But once that's taken care of, they can set sail back for the Palace. [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12The sky's dark as the Heavensward lifts itself off the ground and makes way back to Nexus, and the wind's picking up. The ship's a little hard to steer with the extra weights lashed to its underside, though, fortunately, they've been balanced against to each other such that it's a matter of extra inertia rather than listing to one side or the other. [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Dark, I should say, despite how early it is. A storm's brewing, and someone who wasn't a superlative helmsman piloting a ship as durable as a daiklave might have some trouble over the next hour. [20:26] 4That's gonna put a damper on the party. Hopefully there are awnings. 14[20:27] * Joins: hrolf [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12...should the clouds be churning and thickening that fast? [20:28] 4Seriously? While we're carrying the food? [20:28] 4Sun take it. [20:28] 7Blossom, at least, knows how to hand, reef, steer, shout at crewmembers, etc., so she can assist Ir. 08[20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, as Eikichi's student begrudgingly begins to calculate the slope of a line, the boy's father leans in through the doorframe and beckons the sorcerer over. "Apologies for the short notice - would you be willing to meet someone? I've been recommending you, see-" 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks up from a doodle of Tatsuya peering forlornly out of a prison camp tent made of stitched denim. He holds a finger to his lips - mostly so his student gets to see someone shush their father. Then he'll step outside. "Hmm?" 14[20:31] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12It's over a mere ten minutes that the weather around the Heavensward turns absolutely foul. The sun's blocked completely off by impenetrable gray-purple clouds. Cold, driving rain goes slashing down in parallel lines, badly obscuring lateral visibility. The ground beneath you's barely visible through fog and rainfall. The air... smells of salt? [20:32] 13This is extremely normal. Right? [20:32] 4All hands on deck. 08[20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12The man Eikichi's talking to is himself the son of some shadowy Guild investor. He tells people he's a philosopher. "Prospective student - the son of a friend, see? He's just in the neighborhood, apparently, thought you'd like to meet." 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You vouch for the friend?" [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Parent: "Oh, absolutely. Completely dependable." 12Judging by how dependable this guy is, it means that you can definitely to get paid within a month of when they said you'd be. 15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Did you get a finder's fee from him?" [20:39] 11Berg shouts over the storm: "Something's trapped us! It seems like it's focused on your hold!" [20:39] 4To Berg and Ying: "Go check it out!" [20:39] 4The hold, that is. [20:40] 4To Blossom: "You're not going to like this or believe it, maybe, but we're at sea!" [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12The ship starts to slow, and rock violently. There are actual waves down over the side! [20:40] "Someone put the damn ocean in the sky! Wonders never cease." [20:40] 13Ying scampers off towards the hold, dodging a wave -- what's going on?? [20:41] 11Before dashing off, Berg shouts, "Feels like a Shadowland! Don't let your guard down!" [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Violet lightning flashes down from the boiling clouds above. Sprays of icy salt water splash over the deck. Dimly, very far away, you think you can see the sun of the afternoon eastern sky, but all around you is shadowy ocean! [20:41] "Garuda?" [20:41] 4She sniffs the air as she wrestles the wheel. "Big man's not damn wrong. Don't expect a natural ocean all the way up here, but this one smells of death -- seems like the North or the Threshold elsewise." 08[20:41] "Or-- no. Damnit, Eikichi isn't here...!" [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12She's not a water dragon, right? ...right? [20:42] "Maybe so, but I didn't think she flew the skull and crossbones, so to speak." [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12The man looks thoughtful. "Oh, shit, that's a good idea. Is it too late to...?" [20:42] 7Blossom: "The White Lady?!" 08[20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12The one Eikichi's talking to, obviously. [20:42] 4Ir: "Which one?" [20:42] "OH." [20:42] "Right." 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "When you do, add a third of it to my next bill." 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10After a moment: "Get your son to do the figures for you." [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Bergsveinn and Ying dash below decks, while Ir and Blossom remain up above, watching for danger. And there's an immediate one: the ship just straight up getting capsized by the violence of the storm. [20:44] 4Oh fuck you. Ir's navigated skimmers on the Inland Sea during rough season before. Even if Gull technically shouldn't have let her. 08[20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Leaving his student to finish a problem set, Eikichi's ushered into a small, separate parlor to sit down with a shifty-looking, tight-lipped young man who looks to hail from the southeast. He gives Eikichi a pensive look, working his jaw around and occasionally drumming silently with his fingers on the table. 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi will introduce himself but he won't offer the prospective student more than pleasantries until the 'philosopher' leaves. Then: "I hope you're not so agitated on my account." [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12The prospective student's silent for a few moments before drawing a few circles on the table with a finger, leaning in, and lowering his voice. "How long have you known Ir?" [20:49] 11Berg stops a moment before charging forward, the tiny sunburst sparkling to life on his forehead as his body surges to even more impossible-seeming proportions. 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's smile freezes. "I'm sorry?" [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Despite the presence of geomantic lighting according to Blossom's immaculate (small I) designs, visibility somehow gets worse and worse as Bergsveinn and Ying forge down into the holds. Shadows are flicking back and forth through the air like eels, and there's a constant ringing pressure reminiscent of being literally submered. [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12It's coming from - there, the back of the main hold! Bergsveinn has to manhandle a few sacks and crates and things, revealing one of the Squared Circle's strangest treasures: a large mass of ancient pink-white coral, knotted in multiple layers over a sphere of what looks like red-tinged ink. [20:53] 4Normal thing to lug around. [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Normally docile, the excavated Niobraran phylactery is clearly in a state of agitation. Its core of whatever-that-is is violently vibrating and shifting shape, constantly extruding spines and feelers of rippling ink that wind their way past the coral to flail at the air before snapping back like bands of elastic. [20:54] 11Berg: "What the hell is that thing?!" [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12It's completely unremarkable, is what it is. Everyone's got one nowadays. [20:54] 13Ying freezes ahead of Bergsveinn for a moment and crouches in the corner, pressing her hands to her eyes. 6When she stands up, her pose is subtly different, and there's something wrong with the tone of her voice. "I don't - huh." 6Head tilt. "We probably should've dealt with that, huh." 14[20:55] * Joins: hrolf_mac [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Probably so. There's a scream from elsewhere below decks - Bergsveinn and Ying recognize Usagi's scratchy voice - even as the air around them curdles and becomes a giant octopus. [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Back on deck, a gigantic shape comes looming up out of the water over Ir and Blossom, illuminated from behind by flashes of violet lightning. Its eyes glow, and it hisses menacingly. [20:57] 4Ir: "Fuckin' great." [20:57] "Usagi!" [20:59] 4To Blossom: "Go find her! I'll fly the ship!" [20:59] 6Ying curses under her breath. Where'd Usagi scream from? [20:59] 4There's some good news, at least: the meat's getting brined. [20:59] 6...might not have time. 08[20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Back in Nexus, on a lazy and sun-drenched afternoon, the young man Eikichi's sitting across from says. "Ir, how long have you known her. Was it -- oh, right. It's me." 12He gives Eikichi an expectant stare. [21:00] 11Berg: "What's going on?! Should I be smashing this thing?" 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi just stares. 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "...Tatsuya?" 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "Why would- you were there." [21:04] 6"Ying": "This is - we lifted it back in Crystal, it was, uh, Niob, Nicobara? Niobraran necromancy, the defenses of the ruins..." 6She pats her arms, finding some suspicious-looking jewelry there. "No idea why it's acting up. Or why there's water." [21:07] 11Berg: "Do you need it? It seems like it's drawing the power to it!" 08[21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12The kid stares at Eikichi some more. "Who?" [21:08] 6"Ying": "...thought we were gonna sell it. Why didn't we?" 6She hrms in thought, continuing to keep an eye on the shadowy octopus. [21:10] 6"Ying": "No, we were going to keep it away from anyone who wanted to use it. We should probably break it." 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I have literally no idea who you are. You could be a lot of people." [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12He waves a hand vaguely. "Sorry. A bit - it's Marek." 12Now that he mentions it, Eikchi does notice a particular pattern of striped coloration to the youth's hair. [21:12] 7Blossom: "Wait! Give me a second!" 7She raises a hand above her head and slaps it down upon the Niobraran phylactery. [21:12] 4Ir is doing all she can to give them as many seconds as possible, but it's dirty tricks to have the water coming from inside the ship. 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "...oh! Marek! Hi. So what's..." 10Eikichi trails off as he gradually realizes what's going on. There's a long pause and then he clears his throat, picking up the sentence half an octave higher than he left it. "wh14at's 15up" [21:13] 7Actually, Blossom isn't in the hold with the phylactery, so she can't do that yet. 14[21:13] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [21:14] 7Instead, she'll be sprinting down into the hold, looking for Usagi. [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom doesn't have to run too far - she can hear a familiar snarl of combined outrage/satisfaction, hear the heavy thump of a shield colliding with fish scales, and then the secondary thump of something big and heavy smashing into a wall. Usagi's probably being seen to. [21:16] 7Phew. [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek, as a youth: "Ir. You've known her long?" 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's visibly uncomfortable, and looking at Marek with the kind of fascinated disgust he might associate with mortals who see him dissolve into a swarm of wasps or something. "I... guess..." [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "What kind of guys does she like. This is important." [21:21] 11Berg: "If you have a way to fight ghosts, stick around! If not, go help the others!" 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi crosses his legs and tries very hard to look thoughtful. He really wishes all of a sudden that he'd gone with the others, and had a nice relaxing afternoon out in the countryside, catching game and spending time together. Gods, he can see it now. 14[21:24] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:25] 11Berg takes an odd stance, extending his hands before him in what would look like a martial arts pose if the movement had any form to it. Wild, irregular sweeping of his arms, stomping of his feet... [21:26] 6"Ying" is nowhere to be found. Huh. She was right there, too... 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Finally: "Wwwwwwhatdoyoumean." [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek narrows his eyes slightly. "What do you mean, what do I mean? It seems straightforward." 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "If it was straightforward, you wouldn't need to ask." 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "I just-- are trying to... figure out what her type is...?" [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek considers: "I suppose that's a way to put it." 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Iiiii, uh, ah." 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't think it's a good idea to try to shapeshift into someone Ir thinks is hot." [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "No?" 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Nnno." 08[21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek leans to the side a bit and points at Eikichi with a finger. "But look at you. Immense effort. I could match it..." 12He draws a breath, and it's like watching someone suck in their stomach, except the young man's skin grows clearer and hair more lustrous and gaze more piercing... for a few moments, anyway, before snapping back to 'normal'. "Though it's too bothersome, [21:36] <@Ferrinus> usually." 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi wrinkles his nose. "That's not the same thing." [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "No? Does your priestess not appreciate your artistry?" 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Does my-" 08[21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek's mildly perplexed and mildly annoyed that he has to keep explaining himself, but he does give Eikichi another moment to get it. 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "...alright. So like... what do you actually look like?" [21:45] 6Tatsuying lunges out from the shadows and slashes away at the shadowy octopus! They're a little rusty, uncertain from having not fought in so long, but it comes back quickly; there's a quiet confidence that Ying doesn't usually have to her motions. Also, the blades are new. 08[21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek glances left, then glances right. He furrows his brow slightly, and from a distance Eikichi hears something fall and shatter, followed immediately by a lot of shouting and meowing. Then Marek's form ripples. In a different voice: "There." 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Well, I can say this much: not having a hyena head will help." 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "Anyway, you should go like that." [21:48] 4While offering no helpful information one way or another, it's interesting to note that the first time Ir actually met Marek was in his beastman form, and that didn't seem to put her off much. [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek looks down at himself. "Why?" 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I mean... you want her to like you, right? Not some other guy." [21:50] 6I don't understand the question. [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "I have Luna's blessing. I contain multitudes." 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Then what are you afraid of?" 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you think she only likes you because of the way you normally looked to her? Do you wonder if she'd like some other different person more?" [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "'Wonder' puts it weakly. If there is one thing I know - one thing, indeed, I depend on - it's that vast swathes of human action hinge on sight. Then most of the rest on sound and scent (and more on scent than you realize). And it's there my power lies." 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Your power." 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "Power over what." [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "I mean, that actually is my power. Much of my power. To control how I am seen - what others make of me." 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You didn't answer me. Power's not this free-floating thing. It's not power unless you use it. If you use it, it has an object. So when you talk about using your power to make Ir more attracted to you, what are you using your power on? What are you taking power over?" 14[22:05] * Joins: hrolf [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek pauses to think. 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That gives Eikichi time to think back and make sure the stuff tumbling out of his mouth makes any sense. He spends it imagining the others all singing sea shanties without him. [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, it's chaos and commotion aboard the Heavensward. Tatsuya descends from the shadows onto bigger, denser shadows, and Bergsveinn goes roaring forward at the phylactery itself, clawing and gesticulating at, seemingly empty air. Only he sees the struggling specter in his hands get crumpled up like a snowball and sent crashing into the swarm of other ghosts, knocking a good [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12half of them clear off the phylactery they're clinging to. [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Then it's arms everywhere! [22:10] 11If Ying/Tatsuya were to look back, they might see Berg end his strange, shuffling dance by casting an open hand into the empty air... and plucking a screaming ghost out of it. He whirls around with a shout, and hurls it forcefully at the phylactery, causing unseen wailing to emit from it. 14[22:10] * Joins: hrolf_mac [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Arms... everywhere... in each other's way. After a brief flurry of motion, it turns out that the thing's managed to tie many of its limbs together. [22:21] 6Ying snickers. That's - they should get one of those for the Arena, for some lighter entertainment fights. Less bloody -- wait. [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Now Blossom, too, can see the storm of wraiths that embroil the Heavensward. They're legless things with grinning, cackling skulls and bony hands poking out of robes, woven out of bluish ectoplasm and swarming around and through the ship like crows. There must be hundreds of them outside amidst the storm itself, but a whole knot of them has tied itself to the phylactery, and they're [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12giggling to each other as they poke and prod at it. [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Close to half of them have been dislodged by Bergsveinn just now, though. [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "I can change myself... and so I can change how people see me. How they react to me, what they assume about me, what they decide is the appropriate way to treat me. In a sense this is a power over others, although, of course, at the end of the day it is you who is responsible for how you respond to a beggar in the street, or a guard at the door, or a servant at your side." [22:28] 7Blossom's firebolts make a hissing, whistling noise as they burn apart the numinous strands of Essence making up the ghostly octopus like cobwebs! "Infinite holiness punishes the enemies of the gods! GHOST... EATING... TECHNIQUE!" [22:31] 11Even those who don't see Berg play ghost bowling see the intense flare of blue-white light and hear, even over the storm, the North winds howl. [22:32] 4Nice. [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Up above, Ir's staring up into the eyes of an enormous, and probably familiar, sea serpent. It's like someone took one of those warmwater sea snakes - bright black and yellow, a goofy flat fin kind of extension from the back of its tail - and scaled it up enormously. 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You didn't answer me." [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12It's bigger than the last one, big enough to wrap itself around a boat - if it gets a chance. [22:35] 6Ying's sort of torn between looking at the ridiculous octopus, Blossom's display, or the phylactery and Bergsveinn's ghostly bowling efforts. This is... well, they fit right in here. Feels good. [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "I'm no philosopher! I shock you with my ugliness or beguile you with my beauty or evade your notice with my, my, there's a word. Some version of 'nondescript'. Is the power mine or yours?" 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It's yours. You want the power to impress Ir because she has the power to reject you. That's what you're scared of." [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek considers this. "...fine. That's adequate framing. So?" 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "So get over it." [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12What seems to be green fire begins glowing in the great serpent's eyes... but it glows smaller and smaller and smaller, because Ir's rapid turns and maneuvers are leaving the creature farther and farther away. [22:44] 4Ir's always dreamed about fighting the Kracken, or some other legendary sea-monster -- but not today and not without a full crew on-board. There's food to be cooked, for Heaven's sake! [22:45] 4So she starts thinking laterally -- and vertically. This is all seawater, now, or it's all becoming weirdly so, and that means she can still drive the airship up. She does this, the snake chases -- and then she dives. [22:45] 4She really hopes Berg tied that rigging tight. [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek screws up his face. "Come on." 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You think I'm being unhelpful?" [22:52] 4The sea snake is quick, but it's also a bit new to this whole corporeal business, and more importantly, Ir's learned how to make the Heavensward sing. While the battle rages below, she bottoms out the ship's dive and kickstarts it on a jag up and away, putting distance between them and the monster. [22:53] 6Ying's moving like Tatsuya does, but this is - she rushes in on the octopus and begins launching blow after blow toward it, slicing, puncturing, brutalizing it until there's nothing left but a puddle of ichor. He never did that. Seems like they've learned. [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12All this takes place in a veritable storm of mouths - shadowy morays with glowing red eyes and razor fangs are everywhere around you, and it's a complex dance to always be where their bites aren't. 14[22:56] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[22:57] * Joins: Crion [22:58] 6Suddenly, Ying isn't anywhere at all. That's the best place to be when you're trying to dodge a horde of eels. 14[22:59] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[22:59] * Joins: Crion [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Yes! My meaning is clear. I suppose you were not there when Ir and I met, but I was in the war form. I was.. theatrical." 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "And Ir played a song at you." 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "You got scared away by a guitar solo." [23:02] 11Berg rushes towards the phylactery, streaking blue-white Essence behind him, punching ghosts out of the ship in literally every direction, including vertical ones. Blossom sees at least one ghost fly straight up at incredible speed, victim of an insanely vicious uppercut. [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12The eerie, disembodied cackling turns to howling and screaming as the locus of the spell around you is dislodged from the Niobraran phylactery! Ir is rushing downstairs as I write, but even she can see the bubble of airborne ocean that the Heavensward is surrounded by hitch in place, and stop dead - though the ship continues to scythe forward through the waves with the same speed, [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12the sphere isn't moving to follow it, and you're at last approaching the edge of the phenomenon. 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Anyway, here's my point: Ir's already into you. She's into you even though you were a weird lumbering hyena-man and whatever you turned into when you fought her to a standstill and a lanky animal trainer. I don't know what she sees in you but at this point she's seen you enough different ways that she's seen you. And she likes you. You're already in." [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12However, there's still a storm of necromantically-summoned wraiths all around the ship, and they're starting to regroup, rush back in through the walls, try to get their hands back on the sphere of coral! 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "The one way I can guarantee that you'll blow it is if she feels like you're trying to put one over on her." 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "Then you're finished." 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "So get over it." 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "She fell for you, not a character you made up." 10Wow, that was really insightful. Eikichi should write that down. 14[23:07] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[23:08] * Joins: hrolf_mac [23:08] 6Wait a minute. [23:11] 11An eel chomps onto Berg's arm... and chips a fang. [23:15] "AKURYO... TAISAN!" She raises a hand above her head, glowing with righteous Essence, and slaps it down upon the Niobraran phylactery. [23:17] 7A blackened goo, like a sort of thin liquid filth, rises from the phylactery and hovers in the shimmering aura formed by Blossom's exorcism. With a disgusted look, she flicks her fingers at it, and it disperses into nothing. [23:17] 11Berg smirks. "My way was more fun." [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Darkness boils in the air and then burns away. The filth and ichor doesn't even leave smoke, so pure are the flames - but there's something beneath it, something too tough and too cold for even Blossom's magic. [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a grinning skull that looks to be made of blue glass, or finely-carved ice. It floats there, staring at the three - no, four of you, that's Ir coming down the stairs. [23:20] 4Ir: "How we doin'?" [23:21] 6Point of order: Tatsuying is hidden. [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12It's also, like, the size of a human torso. Translucent, but you're pretty sure that's because of the material - even Tatsuya and Ir can touch it. [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Light and darkness begins to swirl around it, sure signs of sorcery being shaped. [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12In Nexus, Marek gives this some thought: "...maybe you're right." [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Do I just show up like this, then?" 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Well no, not like that." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "You'll want to wash up and and get clothes that don't smell so dusty." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "You're probably fine not to shave though. Stubble works." [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek waves a hand vaguely. "Yes, yes. I haven't been me in a little bit. It's been a busy week." [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12As Bergsveinn closes in on the mysterious object, he finds that it moves not an inch to dodge the incoming blow. Nevertheless, immense spiritual pressure radiates off it in waves, and he has to make an effort not to have his fist simply go sliding off sideways or even wheeling backwards. [23:42] 4Ir immediately starts trying to clear out eels with a modified, thinner version of Iscariot's lance form. It's slow going. Little things are slippery. [23:43] 11No matter how immense the pressure is, Berg is immense... er. Pouring everything he has into the attack, he smashes a glowing fist into it, smashing it backwards towards the wall. He blurs forward after the flying skull, smashing into it again. 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi nods, satisfied. "So like..." 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "...what's it like?" [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Signs, sigils, and colors swirl with increasing ferocity around the floating skull, even as Bergsveinn's knuckles connect directly with its forehead (damn, it's cold) not once but twice, burning it with the sheer force of anima on the first blow and opening a jagged crack all the way down the forehead and face with the second. Everything darkens for a moment, and when the lights [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12return each of three Solars realizes that they've got a swirling vortex of rime and shadow beneath their feet. 08[23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Not Tatsuya - seems he wasn't visible to target - but in the case of Bergsveinn, Blossom, and Ir, there's a rapidly building hum of essence and grind of glaciers that suggests the patch of spiraling frost beneath them is very soon going to become much bigger and spikier. [23:45] 4What an asshole [23:45] 6Sucks to be them. No, seriously, they need to stop this right now. Because that sucks. 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Now Eikichi's imagining that it was such a nice day that they all decided to have a picnic out in the country without him. Ir roasting a Yeddim on a spit, Blossom making fireworks and hooting as she punches the air... it's a shame he's missing it. Session Time: Fri Oct 27 00:00:01 2017 [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12The phantom eels seem revitalized, emboldened, as the floating skull's magic begins to take full effect. Their eyes shine with icy light, and they tear savagely into the Solars, forcing desperate defensive maneuvers even in the face of the icy minefield at everyone's feet! 14[00:10] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [00:20] 6Well, we can't have that. Ying flips out from the shadows and plants a blade right down the middle, cracking it open from the tip of the skull down to the jaw. Now die! 14[00:20] * Joins: hrolf_mac [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Sssshing! [00:21] "Damn, Ying," 4says Ir, an eel still wriggling on the end of Iscariot, another having just smacked her in the knee. "Since when could you--" [00:21] "Oh! Hey Tatsuya." [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Both halves of the skull separate, floating about half a fulm apart in the air. Streamers of blue and purple lightning stretch out, crackling, to try to connect them, but ultimately dissipate, and the pieces simply fall down to the floor of the Heavensward with a clunk. Almost immediately, each melts into a puddle of clear water. [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12As they do so, the rapidly-building explosions of ice and cold at everyone's feet still and quiet. The razor-toothed shadow eels don't, but you've dealt with their like before; though Blossom is badly if superficially cut up, the four of you are full well able to scatter the rest of the monsters and keep the Heavensward on course for the rest of its trip through the shadowy sky-sea. [00:23] 6"Ying", covered in blood and ichor, but seemingly unharmed: "Hey." [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12A harrying but largely uneventful quarter of an hour later, and you've breached the edge of the bubble. As soon as you do, the whole thing warps and crumples behind you, collapsing into a tiny knot of darkness which winks out completely a moment later. [00:25] "Stupid damn-" 7Blossom curses as she bandages her wounds. "Necromancy!" [00:25] 6Tatsuying: "We really should've gotten rid of that earlier." [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12The phylactery is yet undamaged in your hold. Fortunately, the hold itself is also basically secure, although a lot of stuff has been thrown around and some crates have been smashed up. Usagi and Sondok are both fine. [00:26] 11Berg glances over Blossom. "You okay? I can help, if need be." [00:26] 4Ir: "Eh, it all turned out alright in the end. Hopefully. Wonder if that sea snake's still flying around somewhere." 4To Blossom: "You okay?" [00:26] 4Ir: "Eh, it all turned out alright in the end. Hopefully. Wonder if that sea snake's still flying around somewhere." 4To Blossom: "You okay?" [00:28] 6Tatsuying: "...also, hi Berg." 6"Ying" looks down at herself briefly, before shrugging in his direction. "Welcome back. Everything's super normal here." [00:28] 11Berg rumbles out a chuckle. "So, you know who I am now?" [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not really clear why or how that happened... and that bodes really ill. It was black magic, obviously... but you're not flying over a Shadowland, you're not carrying some kind of (new) cursed relic, you haven't done anything unusual or different or even made any new enemies in the past few weeks. That was definitely an attack from without, and its sheer scope suggests it was [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12one of tremendous reach and power. [00:30] 4Maybe someone's got a soft spot for really big sloths. [00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Back in Nexus, Marek says: "What's what like?" 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Well, you know... changing shape." [00:30] 11Berg: "Good thing we got so much food, eh? One of those might not be enough for me now." 08[00:30] 7Blossom: "I'll be alright until we get back. Then, you, Ying, or Eikichi... damn, Eikichi!" 7She shakes her head. "No, no. If this were an assassination they'd assume we were all on the ship." [00:31] "I can't concentrate enough to send a message. Ir, please hurry." [00:31] 6Tatsuya, disguised as Ying, and still speaking in a rough approximation of her voice: "Yeah. Ying raised the alarm, figured we were heading into some places I'd be better suited for. And... Gods, this is exhausting." 6They're leaning against some boxes now, breathing heavily. "I just wanna sleep for a thousand years." [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "It is... hmm. That it's difficult to answer is something of an answer in itself, maybe." [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "My first thought was 'easy'. Like turning over a palm." [00:33] 11Berg shakes his head at Blossom. "If you're worried about assassins, perhaps I'd better patch you up now." 11It's got to be weird to have someone bandage you whose hands are probably as wide as your waist. [00:34] 4Ir's already heading for the helm. [00:34] 11Berg: "You'll likely have to lie down or it'll all open up again. If that suits you, we can come fetch you if something happens." 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "But changing your whole body... there's all these little things people take for granted, yeah? Their size, their speed, their balance. Even getting a bit taller or shorter throws it all off, and you can turn into entire different animals. Is it- was it never strange or scary?" [00:35] "I don't have a choice. Let's to it, then." 7Blossom's voice is crisp. At least this part she's trained for. [00:36] 6Tatsuying: "We're good, right? I need to - I need to sleep, or to meditate, and either way Ying won't be able to help until I can take that time. And I'm useless right now. So..." 6They offer a lazy salute, before stumbling off towards their shared quarters. "Yell if anyone else attacks. And when Ying gets back, let her know that Usagi and Sondok are okay. If they are okay." 6Sudden stop. "They are okay, right?" [00:37] 6Why does he care so much? But it feels really important, so. "I'm going to check on them." [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek looks thoughtful. "I first changed in the desert. I was stranded, starving... but I laid a trap for the hyenas circling and waiting for me to die, and emptied even their bones." [00:37] 11After tending to Blossom, Berg literally sleeps on the deck. His snoring doesn't quite cause the entire ship to shake. [00:38] 4That dude's gotten so awesomely ridiculous. [00:38] 4Ir can hear him quite well, because she's at the helm, making the best time possible. [00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "They became part of my spirit, then - as true a form to me as the one I was born with. It was... not unremarkable, even, but a relief. Like standing and stretching after a lifetime in bed." [00:40] 6After a brief check, and a "hello" that Tatsuya doesn't reveal his true self for, they're back up to the room, to sleep away this exhaustion. [00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Now, when I challenge myself with an insect, or a demon... yes, that's quite strange. But my spirit's intact regardless. I've heard that some of us, under strange and difficult circumstances, have lost themselves... but they must have been strange circumstances indeed." 15[00:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "So any old earthly body is the same to you?" [00:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "To become something strange... it's like taking an uncomfortable posture, maybe. But the little details, changes in balance or internal humours, perhaps a sorcerer would need to worry and calculate and account for such things. For me they are trifles." [00:50] <@Ferrinus> 12The Heavensward's trip back to Nexus is, especially in relation to what just happened uneventful. A check eventually reveals that the two sloths you bagged are in okay shape - perhaps better, because their fur has gone stark white, and their flesh has been brined. [00:51] 4You take what you can get. And that's a damn marinade, is what that fight was. [00:56] <@Ferrinus> 12The Squared Circle can finally have a cookout, discuss their problems, and decide what to do about them... next week. 15[00:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That's good. Eikichi's earned some R&R. [00:58] 6so angry 14[01:11] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[01:26] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:45] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[06:51] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:32] * Joins: Zarick 14[10:28] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[10:31] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[11:21] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[11:26] * Joins: Crion 14[13:03] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:23] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:00] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[19:15] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:07] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[20:47] * Joins: bananaphone 14[20:54] * Joins: Quaker 14[21:14] * Joins: hrolf 14[21:15] * Quits: bananaphone (Quit: Colloquy for iPad - http://colloquy.mobi) 14[21:18] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[21:50] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[23:07] * Quits: hrolf (Connection closed) 14[23:07] * Joins: hrolf Session Time: Sat Oct 28 00:00:00 2017 14[01:04] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[01:05] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:09] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:45] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[01:53] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Quit: ) 14[01:53] * Joins: Crion 14[02:42] * Joins: dammitwho 14[04:22] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[05:30] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:28] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:27] * Joins: hrolf 14[08:31] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:32] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[09:20] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:27] * Joins: Zarick 14[10:26] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:28] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:56] * Joins: hrolf 14[11:58] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[12:04] * Quits: hrolf (Connection closed) 14[12:05] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:57] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:50] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[14:01] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:34] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[15:33] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:45] * Joins: hrolf 14[16:15] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:08] * Joins: hrolfy 14[17:09] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:15] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:16] * Joins: Zarick 14[17:20] * Quits: hrolfy (Connection closed) 14[17:21] * Joins: hrolf 14[18:53] * Joins: tom 14[19:03] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[19:25] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:48] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[20:01] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:38] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:38] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[20:59] * Joins: Quaker 14[21:42] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[22:51] * Joins: hrolfy 14[22:54] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:54] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[22:55] * Joins: hrolfie 14[22:57] * Joins: hrolf 14[22:58] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:59] * Joins: hrolfy 14[23:00] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:02] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:47] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:48] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[23:51] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:51] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[23:53] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sun Oct 29 00:00:00 2017 14[01:47] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[04:20] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[06:23] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:49] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[09:04] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[09:47] * Joins: Zarick 14[11:04] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:32] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:50] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:11] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:13] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[14:15] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:50] * Joins: hrolfie 14[15:53] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:55] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[15:56] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:56] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[16:42] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:21] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:33] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:24] * Joins: tom 14[18:50] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:53] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[18:59] * Joins: GreatClownVoxPVoxD 14[19:03] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD is now known as VoxPrime [19:09]  [19:09]  [19:09]  [19:09]  [19:09]  [19:11] After sunset, the air thick with smoke and the red star bearing down from above combine to make Nexus feel like a warzone. People are uneasy, too - the Dawn Guard, with vital support from Nessun Dorma's legion, have instituted a curfew in the city. [19:12] 14Well. This is all properly fucked. [19:12] 13It's less than ideal. [19:13] <@Ferrinus> 12There's no way a curfew squares with the Dogmas. [19:13] 14Being dead or party to severe civil unrest does tend to inhibit trade. [19:14] 14Quite frankly, there are very few things actually unable to square with the Dogmas if the people whose job it is to square them don't want to hard enough. [19:14] *14want them to [19:15] Under especial guard are the heroes of Akh Afah Amphitheatre, seen so often in the company of the powerful, many of whom are known or suspected to be Solar Anathema. They recover from an assassination attempt being watched over by city militia ostensibly safeguarding the bank across the street. Around dusk the Dawn Guard is supported by soldiers of the Seventh Legion. Later that night [19:15] they're relieved and replaced by a squad of the hulking aetherochemical armor of the Gunzosha elite. [19:16] They've never wandered this far from Sentinel Hill before. 14[19:16] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [19:17] 14Interesting. [19:18] 14Not quite illuminating, but at least interesting. [19:18] 14Probably not great conversationalists. [19:19] About four hours before midnight the chirurgeon and nurse - who also can't go home - ladle soup out for everyone. It's not much, and full of the bitter herbs you typically feed the convalescing. The nurse pulls a face with every bite. "None of this would've happened if the Emissary was alive," says the doctor. [19:20] "Perhaps," 14says Stranger with only a slight shortness of breath. "Or perhaps it would have just happened slightly differently. Thank you again, doctor. And you, nurse." [19:20] <@Ferrinus> 12As poor as low as Keldar's regard for current goings-on, he's got little to do besides rest, get his breath back, and make sure that the wounded are staying still enough to recuperate. "Might've happened, sure, but it would've ended different." [19:21] 14Stranger: "Nothing ever ends." [19:21] 14The blind man: "I thought only lives did, once. Now, I am not so sure." [19:21] "Khelendros has never backed out of a bill. Mind you, who knows how long that'll last if they change the Civilities." [19:23] 13Xia Lan: "Khelendros?" [19:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "My commander. And it'd take a hell of a lot before Ninth Orchard decided a contract with the city wasn't worth honoring." [19:25] 14Stranger: "He's made of sterner stuff than most. Or sturdier." [19:25] The doctor: "Oh, no! He might not be allowed to." [19:25] 14He almost comments 'No driftwood in that one' before wondering if that might be mildly racist. [19:25] "I heard that the Council is thinking about conscripting the mercenary bands." [19:26] 14Stranger: "Ha ha ha ha!" [19:26] "Is that not what you heard?" [19:26] 14Stranger: "That's excellent!" [19:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "They'd have a hell of a time doing that. Who's gonna enforce it, the other bands they haven't conscripted yet?" 12He shakes his head. "No, if they're smart, or at least listening to someone smart, which they are, they'll just shore up the Dawn Guard with the best companies like they're doing." [19:28] 14Stranger: "That's why it's excellent. Proof of demand." [19:28] The doctor gestures in the direction of the front windows. "I heard it was the Lookshyans' idea." [19:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What?" [19:28] 14Stranger: "Of course it would be." [19:28] "That's how they do things out there, you know. Everybody's a soldier or a slave. Or both." [19:29] 14Stranger: "Oh, I doubt it's so much about ideology." [19:29] 13Xia Lan: "Is it." 13She sounds less than enthused. [19:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, the conscription. Yeah, I wouldn't put it past 'em. But it won't come to that." [19:29] "They would get greater control over the conscripted mercenaries, you see." [19:29] "Given that they're being paid a higher market-rate." [19:30] 14The blind man sighs. "Rather ambitious of them, to be so blatant. But that is Lookshy I suppose." [19:31] Outside, a gust of wind kicks up dust and grit from the street, clattering like hail against the windows. [19:32] ...but among the random clatter is a single repetitive noise, almost of a kind, as if someone had taken one pebble and tapped it repeatedly against the glass. [19:32] 14Is that normal on Nexus nights? [19:32] 14Ah. [19:33] 14Mildly: "Well. Someone should investigate that." [19:33] 14A stretch and a sigh. "Sadly I am but an injured old man..." [19:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar makes a thoughtful face as he slowly stands, finds his sword, and backs up toward the window. He'll sort of stand on his toes and half-turn such that he can look sidelong through one while being ready to shield his eyes. [19:35] 13Xia Lan blinks confusedly at Stranger, before moving to back up Keldar should a move be required. [19:36] Keldar peeks and sees-- nothing. The impression of motion in the darkness. It might just be the smoke. That's the easiest explanation since this is a second-story window. [19:38] 13Xia Lan looks over his shoulder, seeing the same. [19:38] "Must've been the wind." [19:38] 14Stranger's face twitches. "It was not--" [19:38] "Sun damn this bed rest." [19:39] Left alone and idle, Stranger realizes: that must've been a bird. [19:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It wasn't the wind. What it was, is someone who wants us to go out and check." [19:39] 14He sighs and leans back against the pillow. "It was a bird." [19:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What?" [19:39] "Let her in, when she gets here. Or, if not her, her agent." [19:39] 13Xia Lan: "What?" [19:40] 14Stranger: "Surely I've mentioned before that I'm seeing a Chosen of the Moon." [19:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Aren't they mostly feral?" [19:42] The same is often said on the Isle of the people of the River Province. [19:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Yeah well the difference is that the River Province knows what's up. [19:43] 13Xia Lan: "I've never met one before." [19:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I saw one. The good news is the retreat was sounded before my unit engaged." [19:44] A moment later, the same tap-tap-tap. [19:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar sighs and reaches out to open the window. [19:44] "'Aren't they mostly feral.' You know, you can ask her that when you meet." [19:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hey, I know what I saw. It was taking bites out of entire formations." [19:46] 14Stranger: "Oh, yes, and you use a sword to similar effect. Or would if you could." [19:46] "I think I apprehend the problem." [19:47] Keldar opens the window, and a harried, molting raven cocks its head at him. [19:47] 14Stranger: "Come in!" [19:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar keeps his sword held by the scabbard in his left hand as he releases the window with his right, and doesn't take his eyes off the bird. [19:48] 13Performance envy. Tragic. "Hello," 13she says to the raven. If Stranger is pulling her leg, she'll look like a fool, but that's a small price to pay for being polite. [19:49] The raven flaps and flusters a bit before it flies into the room, before it tumbles to the ground, billowing into a somersaulting boy that stops just short of the low table where the soup and bread are set. Without preamble the boy tears off a chunk as the doctor screams and the nurse grabs the ladle as if to shoo him off. [19:50] 13Is he wearing clothes? [19:51] 14Stranger: "Everybody calm down." [19:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's still watching, steely-eyed, in case this is a ruse and the boy's about to turn into a spike-covered tiger or something. [19:52] 14That's not how this-- [19:52] 14Oh, whatever. [19:52] 13Xia Lan: "I am calm." 13She sounds irritated, though -- friendly hello, and all that happens is a child flies in to eat their food? Rude. [19:53] 13Her arms are crossed, and hands well away from the hook swords at her sides. Not defenseless, but not aggressive either. [19:54] The doctor: "He just- I need a drink. Excuse me." [19:54] The boy, who Stranger knows is called Qaile, speaks with his mouth full. "Bye." [19:55] 13Xia Lan: "Excuse me?" [19:55] 14Stranger: "Entirely understandable. Nurse, if you would join the good doctor, there will be less for you to be compelled to testify to afterwards." [19:55] 14When they are gone: "Qaile! My boy. How's the wife?" [19:56] Qaile: "Don't know. Haven't seen her in a bit. How's the tea?" [19:56] 14Stranger: "I meet it every morning. Something to strive for." [19:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...so what's going on here?" [19:58] 14Stranger: "I asked for a discreet investigation of the situation surrounding Bastian's homeland of Deguo. I suspect this involves that. But perhaps not entirely." [19:59] The nurse leaves, disgusted, but she takes the little cake with her before anyone gets a piece. Qaile looks after it mournfully. He's got feathers either braided into or growing out of his hair, and he's wearing the sort of rough, fibrous clothing you see on people from further east. [19:59] 13Xia Lan watches this 'Qaile' with curiosity. "I hope your investigations are more discreet than your entrances." [19:59] He looks expectantly at Keldar and Xia Lan. "I'm Qaile." [19:59] <@Ferrinus> "Keldar," 12says Keldar. [20:00] 14Stranger: "Entrances are meant to be noticed." [20:00] 13Xia Lan: "The Unfettered Xia Lan." 13She affects a slight curtsy. [20:02] Qaile looks from Solar to Solar in turn, finally settling on Stranger. "They're all safe, right?" [20:03] 14Stranger: "They're good people. Occasionally despite themselves. I can, and have, trusted them with my life." [20:05] Qaile: "Okay. The good news first. There's peace in Vaneha." [20:06] 14Stranger: "There's a reason I generally ask for the bad news first instead. How hideous a peace?" [20:10] "Don't tell me the snakes won." [20:10] 5 Xu Sim's eyes snap open, twist one way and the other, and the sorceror sits bolt-upright.  "Where am I?" [20:11] 14Stranger: "Where do you want to be?" [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Woaahh! Easy, you took a few serious beatings earlier." [20:12] 4Drolly: "Nothing some time in the barrel won't fix." [20:12] "At this rate I'd settle for one of the pleasure-palaces of the far Southern barbarian reaches." [20:12] 14Drolly: "Nothing some time in the barrel won't fix." [20:12] 14Stranger: "Overrated, I hear." [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks back to Stranger: "Lizards, I thought." [20:14] 13Xia Lan: "They are. Welcome back, Xu Sim. How are your wounds?" 13She's still listening to the conversation, but turns her focus to the newly awakened Xu Sim. [20:14] 13Not that she's a doctor, but she could call for one. [20:15] 14Stranger: "They vary, but most exhibit the mien of snakehood." [20:15] "Slithering, pronounced fangs, venoms. Etcetera." [20:15] Qaile: "It's better than the war was. I guess we'll see how long it lasts. Anyway, the Ambassador had to stop off somewhere but she should be in Nexus in a day or two." [20:16] "I feel remarkably better. In fact -" 5 He rises, stretches, and peers around the room with an odd look on his face. [20:16] 14Stranger blinks. "Oh. Oh! Good." [20:17] "What happened to me while I was asleep? Thank you for your help, all of you, but - what happened?" [20:17] Qaile: "Who's this?" [20:17] 14Stranger: "We got our asses kicked and house-arrested." [20:17] "He's an alchemist." [20:17] 13Xia Lan: "...not all of us got our asses kicked, but yeah." [20:17] "A sorcerer and physician, as well. And you are?" [20:18] Qaile: "I'm Qaile." [20:18] 14Stranger: "He's Qaile." [20:18] 14It's pronounced 'kale.' [20:18] 13Is there also a Quennen [20:18] "I'm a scout mostly. That's my part." [20:18] "Xu Sim." 5 He gives a short bow. [20:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...he a Lunar?" [20:18] Qaile snorts. 14[20:18] * Joins: dammitwho [20:19] "No, listen, you don't understand. I feel much better - this is terrible news!" [20:20] "I've been cured of the honey-maze. I think." [20:20] 13Xia Lan: "Wh- I don't follow. Isn't that...?" [20:20] Qaile takes the opportunity of Xu Sim's outburst to eat much more bread. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12To Keldar's credit, the mercenary's tone of voice made it clear that he did not expect to be answered in the affirmative. "You're not giving me enough credit, doc. I went to pretty great- alright, not that great." [20:21] 14Stranger with a slight edge: "He is a friend who is assisting me in work relevant to our cause, as a direct favor to another of our kind." [20:22] "Remember what we deduced? The final stage of the honey-maze sees its victims waking and dreaming minds come apart from one another. Either I've completely succumbed, and my imagination is more banal than I can imagine, or something else has happened. And I can't be sure what it was!" [20:22] 14Stranger sighs. [20:23] "As long as you're sure it's not the former." [20:23] "Immaculate theology would posit that my senses long ago were fatally deceived." [20:24] 13Xia Lan: "It would posit a lot of things." [20:24] Qaile: "So about the raksha horde--" [20:24] "Rouseau Jaq was a fool of a philosopher anyway. Qaile, please continue." [20:27] Qaile: "It took me a day to fly over the breadth of the army, south to north. Then I kept going until I saw the tower of Tuwangste, in Guowang Shan." [20:27] 14Stranger pauses. "That's bad." [20:28] Qaile shakes his head. "It's not good." [20:28] "Guowang Shan is the capital of Deguo," 14he says to the others. [20:28] "But the tower still stands." [20:28] 14Stranger: "That's...good? Difficult to tell at this juncture. What defends it?" [20:29] "Nothing. The raksha just moved on." [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hmm. Anything else they seem to have ignored?" [20:31] "They're motivated to fulfill their prophecy, the rest is just collateral." [20:31] 14Stranger sighs. [20:31] "So there's no point even going in for a rescue, is there." [20:31] "They're cutting a path through the kingdoms. There's a furrow of raw Wyld behind them, growing lakes and hedges and a smoking golden mountain in the middle of the plain. They cut through everyone - Deguo, Ortolan, Kirribilli, the ones whose names I can't remember. The raksha horde walked through every army. Half of them march under the queen's banner now. Half of the ones who didn't [20:31] are dead." [20:31] "There's barely enough people left to pull bodies off the fields." [20:32] 13Xia Lan: "...someone should tell Bastian." [20:32] "From what I've seen and heard, they've cut through everyone but Highland and Mahalanka." [20:32] 14Stranger closes his eyes. "'Queen.' Let me guess." [20:32] "Mistress of the honey-maze. Wields a lance." [20:33] "Or, more colloquially, a 'stinger.'" [20:33] "Sings to you in your sleep. I didn't want to stop flying because I wasn't sure I'd wake up if I settled down." [20:33] "A lot of people haven't." [20:33] 13With sudden recognition: "...his friend, the one who attacked him in the theater." 13Right? [20:33] 14Stranger: "Faerie bees on the march. Drones and masters." [20:35] 14To Xia Lan: "Seems likely." [20:35] "This is going to--" 14'Going to bee.' "We'll find this difficult to break to our friend." [20:36] Qaile: "Yeah. That's the medium news." [20:37] 13Xia Lan: "It gets worse?" [20:37] 14Stranger closes his eyes. "Fantastic." [20:37] "Go on." [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The hell else is there?" [20:37] 13Of course it does. It always gets worse. [20:38] "One of the things I had to do was shadow the army so I could project its movements. It's almost on a beeline to Nexus but it went off course a bit until it was due north of the city. You know Sijan?" [20:39] 14'Beeline.' [20:39] Qaile seems impervious to the pun. [20:39] 14Stranger: "Yes." [20:40] "The army was within sight of Sijan but it ignored the city. Thing is, Sijan's surrounded by shadowlands. More lately. The whole army camped out in full view of Sijan one day, and then marched off at dark, into a shadowland." [20:40] "I didn't follow. That wasn't part of my job. But I stuck around." [20:40] "Two dawns later, the army marches back out." [20:40] 14Stranger: "Into a shadowland." [20:40] "Took me two days to cross it this time." [20:41] 14He closes his eyes again. "And how many skeletons did they walk out with. [20:41] " [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Out of the same one?" [20:42] Qaile: "I don't know, I'm not a dreamspeaker. It didn't look like they were using them as shortcuts. I know some scouts do that. Stupider ones than me." [20:42] "They came out about a day's journey from where they went in." [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "This doesn't scan. Faeries and ghosts, they're like opposite poles." [20:43] 13Xia Lan: "...is that a fact?" [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Shouldn't have wanted to go in there, should've shriveled up if they had. Right? I'm not imagining this." 12He looks to Xu Sim. [20:44] 14Stranger: "Were they reinforced like they were when they conquered cities in Creation or not?" [20:44] 14To Keldar: "It doesn't matter if you think it shouldn't have happened. At best it's a question for another day." [20:44] Qaile: "They were reinforced. Ghosts and corpses among them." [20:44] 14Stranger nods. "Of course." [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That's fucked." [20:45] "There's proper Chosen in the army. Sorcerers and dreamspeakers." [20:45] 14Stranger: "I think it goes without saying we have a choice." [20:45] "That choice is this: we leave Nexus -- flee in the dead of the night --" [20:45] "Or we go on war footing." [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Dreamspeakers?" [20:51] Qaile: "You know. Ghosts and bone charms. Always carrying mushrooms." [20:51] 14Stranger: "I had hoped for more time to ingratiate ourselves with the council. To do this right." [20:52] "But at this point our options are to leave, or stand." [20:52] "And save this city. Without the Emissary." [20:53] 13Xia Lan: "Out East, they worship the dead, and in the more rural parts, the dreamspeakers commune with them in trances. It became slang for anyone with power over the dead - traditional priestesses, those who can See, and even just. Necromancers." [20:54] 5 Xu Sim strokes his mustache, impressed with Xia Lan's recollection. [20:54] 14Stranger: "And doing this quick, the wrong way, means killing people." [20:55] 14He opens his eyes. "Because we have neither the time nor, frankly, the patience to convert all those who need to be converted by words." [20:57] "I can't imagine it's hard for someone with your silver tongue to convince anyone not to become a thrall to the Rakshasa." [20:57] 14Stranger: "Shockingly, some people hate us on principle." [20:57] 13Xia Lan: "Some of us are popular still." [20:57] "And others because we represent an existential threat to their own power." [20:58]  [20:59] 14Stranger: "Additionally, I can't be everywhere at once. Neither can Xia Lan. We have...a lot of work to do." [20:59] 14He pauses. "It really is too bad we don't have more time at this, and that sending for Mud and Straw would take too much of it." [21:00] 14Stranger waves a hand. "This is a First Age city, in part. Surely there's something in all this noble wreckage that can help defend it." [21:00] "Like those shards we found in the Emissary's body?" [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Maybe there was, but you'd have a rough time finding something useful that hadn't been pried out of the walls and sold a century prior." [21:00] 14Stranger nods. "And that sewer system." [21:01] 14To Keldar: "Perhaps. Perhaps not." 14[21:01] * Joins: Quaker [21:04] "I can make many clever things, but I don't know much about war. What can I do?" [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Cure the honey-sickness so half the city doesn't turn on us the moment the raksha get in spitting distance?" 14[21:05] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:06] 14Stranger: "That would be an excellent start." [21:07] "Sensible. I don't have the time or ability to treat everyone individually. I wonder if I could distill a cure into some form of elixir." 5 He sits on the edge of his bed and notices an odd honey-clot, perhaps in a jar, sitting at the bedside.  "What's this, now?" [21:07] 14He slams a fist against the wall. "We want traps! We want impediments! We want someone making the road from two leagues outside of Nexus to its front gates as inhumanly difficult for an army to pass through as possible!" [21:07] "We need a corps of engineers." [21:07] "In addition to an army." [21:08] 14To Keldar: "You're not going to like this, but we need to make allies of the Lookshyans, too." [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Anyway, with every Chosen and mercenary company in Nexus I think we've got a good a chance as any of throwing the Raksha back as any. We just need to make sure Lookshy's either subordinated to us or out of our hair." [21:09] 13Xia Lan: "...sounds like a job for me, I guess? I'm not sure where else I could help out." [21:09] "I'm not even 'known' anathema. Might be a good bet?" [21:11] 14Stranger: "I will speak to Old Selin, at least, and see if he has any ideas about defending the city and the outskirts." 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Qaile: "The Ambassador's supposed to be trying to marshal support from the Silver Pact. She didn't sound optimistic." [21:11] 14To Xia Lan: "Seems reasonable. You may wish to look into commissioning morale-raising concerts, but only for those who join the defense...alignment. Whatever we call it." [21:12] 14Speaker shakes his head. "She is right not to be. Many of the Pact will side with this Queen." [21:12] "Perhaps they are not even wrong to. But I cannot." [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, to Xu Sim: "You coughed that up when I was working on you. It was about to float away, I had to catch it out of the air." [21:14] 13Xia Lan: "Concerts for Nexus... I'll see who I can pull in for that. It'll be convincing people it's a necessity that's the tricky part." [21:15] 14Stranger: "I suspect it won't be." [21:15] "Not if we can blame the Queen for the Emissary's death." [21:15] 14He looks around the room. "To be clear, at this particular moment I don't care about the truth." [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "There's one other thing that may or may not be a resource... the cabbage merchant." [21:15] "We need to pin it on the army marching on this city." [21:15] 13Xia Lan: "Mmm." 13Thinking, now. "Can't come from us. I can handle that, then." [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Brueghel's still got him under observation. Maybe he wakes up with Emissary powers tomorrow and saves us all. Or at least is as good as, I dunno, another couple sorcerers." [21:16] "I wonder if the Raksha are coming to take him back with them or something. Maybe they think of this as a rescue mission." [21:16] 14Stranger: "If he can weaponize cabbage he's worth four divisions." [21:17] "We've got no shortage of that lying about." 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Actually... [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Be nice if the same wer true of grain." [21:17] 14A cabbage shortage? Really? [21:17] 14When it rains... [21:18] "Good thing not all of us have Qaile's appetite." [21:18] 14To Xu Sim: "Doctor, don't be an asshole." [21:19] "I'm impressed! Where is it all going?" [21:19] 14Stranger: "How much natural body energy do you think it takes to change shape?" [21:20] 13Xia Lan: "Less than you'd think." [21:20] "To what, now?" [21:20] 14Stranger: "He was a crow when he came through that window." [21:21] "All questions have answers, as it turns out." 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Qaile: "What's the news in the city? I'm still scouting here." [21:23] 5 Xu Sim returns his attention to the strange clot. He begins gathering up the doctor's supplies - it's clear now that this is some sort of infirmary. A perfect place to perform some investigations and experiments. [21:24] 14Stranger: "Emissary's dead. If you hadn't heard." [21:25] 13Xia Lan: "Chaos, dissarray, people wondering if anything will ever be the same again. The usual." 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Qaile: "I heard. You can see that star from everywhere, you know." 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "Everywhere I've been, anyway." [21:28] 14Stranger: "Good to hear. At least it's not merely a local phenomenon. That means if we put in a call to gather here to outriders, they have something to guide their march." [21:28] 14He sighs. "Not that we have many markers to call in." [21:29] 13Xia Lan: "Whatever remains of Bastian's people...?" [21:29] 13She has the decency to look sheepish. "Just a thought." [21:29] 14Stranger:"They're fighting for the enemy now." [21:29] 14Stranger:"They're fighting for the enemy now." [21:29] oh whatever [21:30] 13Xia Lan: "If any of them - you're right." [21:31] 14Stranger: "Bastian is going to take this the hardest. I'd like him to be kept in an administrative role as much as possible, but that will be up to him." [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "General question: what've we got on the other three armies?" 14[21:33] * Joins: Quaker [21:33] 5 Xu Sim begins by gathering supplies, humming quietly to himself: A magnification lens, various powders, water and alcohol. One of Keldar's cold iron charms. A long-dead, dessicated insect from the folds of his scorched robe. 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Qaile: "Three?" 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "I only heard about two." [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Should be three, one per direction. Course, that probably means the western one's a ways away." [21:36] 14Stranger: "I suppose we should also solidify, then, our position on asking the Realm for help." [21:36] "The Guild would be in favor; everyone else will oppose." [21:37] 13Xia Lan: "Any help is good help, I think." [21:38] 14Stranger: "I would agree, but many in this city would not." [21:38] "At least not without a plan to turn on the Realm afterwards." 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Qaile: "I only know what I've heard, and I've only heard of two armies. One of them is the juggernauts rolling up through Harborhead, huge stone men and rebellions. The other is the Crimson Tide." [21:39] 14It wouldn't be Creation if it were peaceful. [21:39] "Another question, has anyone seen Twice-Refined Princess?" 5 His experiment prepared, the alchemist begins. The lack of a full lab is frustrating but easy enough to overcome with some clever substitution and Xu Sim's depth of knowledge. He mixes ginseng, crumbled tea leaves, a flake of iron, some rice wine - using a candle to heat it by turns. [21:41] 14Stranger: "I have not looked. I'm sure she's fine." [21:41] "She seems...hardy." 14[21:43] * Joins: Zarick [21:44] 5 Xu Sim laughs a single chopped laugh that sounds almost like a bark, itself. Using a knife, he slices off a piece of the honeycomb and carefully deposits it a teacup. He daubs one end of a writing brush into his concoction and carefully drips a single drop of it onto the... throatwax? [21:49] 13Xia Lan: "The Crimson Tide...? Did someone name themselves after the actual crimson tide in the southeast? Strange name for an army." 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Qaile: "No, no. The Crimson Tide is the army. The Dreaming Sea rose up and marched." [21:50] 13Xia Lan: "What." 14[21:51] * Joins: hrolf [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So that's one through Harborhead and one out of the Sea? Means we're missing... the north, if you assume that the western raksha think one sea's as good as another?" [21:51] 14Stranger: "Most of the time things happen very slowly, but sometimes they happen very fast." 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Qaile: "Search me." [21:51] 13Xia Lan: "No, wait, go back, the Dreaming Sea rose up and marched?" 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Then: "Oh, wow." 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "If there was an army coming from the North... you don't think it crossed paths with the Bull?" [21:53] 5 A stray flake of reagent drifts past Xu Sim's nose. Snatching at a kerchief, he sneezes - leaving behind a stain of honey on the kerchief. Curious. [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Might of done. My guess was that the west had run afoul of the Realm... but that makes as much sense." [21:53] 14Stranger: "Would be nice if he lived to tell about it." [21:53] "Twice as nice if it made him angry." 14[21:55] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Then Qaile looks at Xia Lan: "Yeah. You didn't hear that here?" [21:56] "A dreaming sea? Bleak Ardua married a dreaming sea, according to the dancer's dream. And one of the fae was alone, as I recall it" [21:56] 5 Xu Sim, affecting the demeanor of the fae-ridden dancer:  "They all abandoned me. Elegba tended his pretty gardens behind walls of love and law. The warmth burned from Brokkr's heart. Bleak Ardua married a dreaming sea. I fought alone. I surrendered alone. I rule alone." [21:57] 14Stranger: "More and more it seems we have been cut off from news of the outside world, in favor of Nexus's own problems." [21:57] "More and more that seems intentional." [21:57] 5 Continuing:  "But they haven't forgotten. They recall how we came to that place. And they'll come back. They can't break that promise. No one can." [21:57] 13Xia Lan: "...I have no idea what's going on." [22:03] "That promise is everything that is going on." [22:03] 14Stranger leans back against his pillow. "The name of the Emissary is Balor. That is important." [22:03] "It is important because it informs what is to come next." [22:04] 5 Xu Sim nods somberly. [22:04] "He was betrayed by his four greatest generals." [22:04] "You may recognize the number four." [22:04] "It is the number of the Directions." [22:04] "The traitors are coming home." [22:06] 14Close to sneering:"Bleak Ardua. The 'king' in 'cobalt.' He and his were destroyed by the Empress. She did do good things for Creation, if with a lack of constance. His armies, ruined by the Realm at its height, could not find their way home -- not without Balor's Star. And so they joined the ocean, and came in and out with the tide." [22:06] 14Close to sneering:"Bleak Ardua. The 'king' in 'cobalt.' He and his were destroyed by the Empress. She did do good things for Creation, if with a lack of constance. His armies, ruined by the Realm at its height, could not find their way home -- not without Balor's Star. And so they joined the ocean, and came in and out with the tide." [22:06] fuck this part 2 [22:07] 14Stranger: "The tide has come in for good now." [22:07] 14Stranger: "Because guess whose star hangs up in the sky?" [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Sure about that one? I'd swear the Dreaming Sea was always there and Ardua just fled back through the Inland." [22:10] 14Stranger: "Well, we can sort that out easily enough. You can just ask Bleak Ardua's soldiers as they descend on this city." [22:10] 13Xia Lan: "Rather not." [22:11] "So. Urgency, then." [22:13] "The word of the hour. Of the minute." [22:14] "This is strange," 5 notes Xu Sim as he examines the honeycomb and his own mucous, straightening up. [22:14] 14Stranger: "I should hope." [22:15] "It's inert - though outwardly identical to the honey produced by the Honey-Maze. And my head is full of it." [22:15] "The magic has left it." [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Then where'd it go?" [22:15] 13Xia Lan: "Disgusting." [22:17] 14Singing softly: "Home is where you are / Home is where I want to be / Wherever you are / You can come home to me" [22:17] 14Speaking: "Where do you think it went?" [22:20] "I'm not sure. It could have gone back to its mistress, it could have evaporated." 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> You'd probably want subjects whose bodies are also producing honey to compare. [22:23] 5 Of course.  "I'm feeling great. Do we have any reason to stay here? Did you... pay them?" [22:25] 14Stranger: "Stop being an ass." [22:25] 14He shifts in bed. "Our first goal is to secure our release without starting a street fight." [22:26] "Urgency, my dear friend, is the word! And I don't want release - I need to get back to the hospital they've arranged for me. I need to conduct more experiments!" [22:27] 13Xia Lan: "...is that a euphemism, or...?" [22:27] 14Patiently: "You need a release because the same people keeping us under house arrest are the people who have arranged your new hospital." [22:27] "Euphemism? ... Yes, well, then I don't need release, just a transfer." [22:28] 5 He glances out the window.  "Are those gunzosha? Are they here for us?" 14[22:28] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [22:28] 13Xia Lan: "One imagines. I can get you out, if necessary, but I'd rather not." [22:29] "That's not an invitation to test me, by the way." [22:29] 14Stranger: "No. They're here for the fine tea and the privacy." [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Dorma demands an explanation for what happened earlier today and wants to take us into custody. We definitely don't want to humor him." [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I told 'em he can arrange to meet us personally tomorrow." [22:29] 14Stranger: "Actually, now we do." [22:29] 14Stranger: "We need Dorma." [22:30] "That's what I'm saying. He can take me into custody, custody is where all my work is right now." [22:30] "We need Dorma more than perhaps anyone else in this city, except the Dawn Sergeant. And we need that secretary too." 14[22:34] * Joins: Quaker [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We need Dorma to fuck off, is what we need. Or else forget everything he's ever learned of his religion." [22:40] 14Stranger: "His religion includes killing this army coming up on us." [22:40] "'Anathema' doesn't just mean us." [22:41] 13Xia Lan: "More pertinent question... can we save Nexus? I've grown to like this place." [22:41] "I'll happily serve as a hostage, if I can continue my work to cure this plague. My work is only possible through the Dragonlord's support, anyway." [22:41] 14Stranger: "Do you want to hear yes? I can say yes. I can even mean it." [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We've got a better shot than he does. Don't get me wrong, if he was willing to stop melting down every time a different one of us lit up it'd be good to have a bunch of gunzosha on our side." [22:42] "I can also say we'll be dead otherwise, and mean that too." [22:42] 14To Keldar: "You think this is a meltdown?" [22:42] "This isn't a meltdown." [22:42] "This is politically savvy." [22:43] "His harderliners are calling for us in chains so they can chop off our limbs, put us on hallucinatory weeds and shove us in an asylum until our bodies give out." [22:43] "Preferably they'd turn us to fucking stone." [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And where are those guys right now?" [22:44] 14Stranger: "Talking shit to the Dawnguard." [22:44] "Maybe second thoughts on serving as a hostage," 5 The sorcerer adds, contemplatively. [22:44] 13Xia Lan: "Here, and fine. They'll regret it when the attacks come, but that's cold comfort." [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "No, I mean - no one's in charge of Dorma here in Nexus. Maybe he's concerned about getting his ass kicked back in Lookshy, and has to send magic reports or something." [22:44] 14Stranger: "We have a forest to navigate here. We don't have a map, but we know what forests are." [22:45] "We also know you don't burn one down while you're inside of it." [22:45] "Then we deal with that." [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The point is that no one's forcing his hand but him. He's throwing his weight around because he thinks it's the right thing to do and no one's stopping him." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> If you need a clue as to the Dragonlord's thinking, there's always his assistant who might have orchestrated a city-destroying assassination attempt on you! [22:46] 14You stay out of this, Storyteller. 14[22:46] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [22:47] 14Stranger: "Then that's even better." [22:47] 5 Maybe splitting up isn't a good idea if that assassin is still on the loose. [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Now, maybe his fear is, he'll have a mutiny on his hands if he doesn't keep fucking around with us. Certainly some of his people are willing to take matters into their own hands. But no soldiers is better than treacherous soldiers." [22:47] 14Stranger: "You know what's worse for your reputation than not catching some Chosen of the Sun dicking around in your social circle?" [22:47] "That's right: it's dying like an asshole to a bunch of raksha." [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I was gonna say dying like an asshole to a bunch of anathema." [22:48] "Then you'd have been saying the same damn thing." [22:48] "But not all anathema are created equal, in the minds of the Hunt." [22:48] "We're the prize kill." [22:48] "These shitheads? This far inland they're supposed to be breakfast." [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Raksha ain't anathema. But what I'm saying is, there's one of him, and he has some soldiers, and a few of those soldiers are pretty good. The math would be different in Lookshy, but we're not in Lookshy. And, frankly, stepping daintily around this guy's religion is probably gonna hurt our war effort." [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Like when we're actually lining up next to the banners, Nexus is gonna have to know they're being led by us demons, and feel good about it." [22:53] 14Stranger: "Well. I suppose the main question is whether Dorma will stand on doctrine as much as you will." [22:53] "Because Raksha are Anathema." [22:53] 13Xia Lan: "They're close enough. We can speak to the differences between us and them. Show cause for opposition. Or... we can show that we care about the people of Nexus more than anyone else bothers to." [22:53] "Whether that fool's church recognizes it officially or not." [22:54] "What we need is to rally the people around us, in a way that doesn't directly threaten Dorma or bring every legionary in Lookshy down on our heads the moment the Raksha are dealt with." [22:55] 14Stranger: "Rallying the people is more or less illegal." [22:55] "The Civilities have seen to that." [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We can't do that without keeping the fact that we're walking blasphemies secret, and, frankly, if I'm up against the biggest raksha army since the Contagion I want an archdemon on my side." [22:56] 13Xia Lan: "What, not a fan of populism? 'We are many, and they are few,' so come support us against the foreign menaces." [22:56] 14Stranger: "They've lost the stick to punish us with. It's a good opening." [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The Emissary's meant that there's not been a lot of need for Nexus to exercise its rallying against foreign invaders muscles. Which just goes to show you about charity, I guess." [22:58] 13Xia Lan: "No Emissary, no justice. No justice, no peace." 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary also meant they never really needed to adequately fund and staff the Dawn Guard for a city of this size and importance, a fact which has yet to suggest any possible negative repercussions. [22:59] "That cabbage-vendor is turning into something. It could be a new Emissary. It could be something else. I hypothesize he is some sort of reincarnation of Balor." [23:00] <@Ferrinus> "Maybe he should've charged us..." 12Keldar shrugs to himself. "Either way, we're on the way out of it already. Once the Guard's properly integrated with the Apples and a few other companies of repute, we'll have the beginnings of a real military, and then we can explain the stakes, start taking recruits..." [23:00] "Can you train recruits in a matter of weeks?" 14[23:01] * Joins: hrolf [23:01] 14Stranger: "We cannot rely on the cabbage vendor. If he Exalts, more power to him." 14Stranger pauses. "And more pity." [23:01] 13Xia Lan: "...could be worse." [23:02] "It could always be worse." [23:02] 13Xia Lan: "It could." [23:02] "That's not a market hook." [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar considers the problem. "...maybe? We'll have a lot of mercs to start with, and whoever we can pull from the surrounding little kingdoms. Every demon and elemental the city's sorcerers can summon." [23:05] "No, which is why we speak about justice, fairness, and solidarity. 'Hooks'. We support that which supports people. Simple." [23:05] "There is another possibility to consider, besides total war or our own cowardly, intelligent, escape." [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But, basically, the lot of us are stronger than Lookshy and for sure enough to bring the fae to heel, and Nexus likes winning." [23:06] 14To Xu Sim: "Speak." [23:07] "The Raksha have a specific objective. They want to return to the place, you know the one, from their songs. Maybe everyone can get what they want. Aside from, I suppose, the nations that were already destroyed. Or we could sabotage their attempt and leave them with no purpose." [23:08] "The philosophers say that war is a means to an end. Perhaps this is true, even for the faerie." [23:08] 14Speaker: "The place they want to go -- the heart of Firewander?" [23:09] "Because you have to get there somehow." [23:09] "By walking." [23:09] "We need to learn more about what they are trying to do, if we want to understand how to defeat them." [23:09] 14Stranger: "You're not wrong. We also need to get right to defeat them." [23:09] 14To Keldar: "Which means you need to become sp [23:10] 14To Keldar: "Which means you need to become supreme commander of all forces in Nexus and the surrounding areas." [23:10] "Are you up to that?" [23:10] "Glad it's not me," 5 mutters the doctor. [23:10] 13Xia Lan: "Stranger things have happened." [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar takes a deep breath through his nose. "Probably. I'm considerably better practiced when it comes to small unit tactics, cover and concealment, that sort of thing." [23:13] 14Stranger things indeed. "Can you learn?" 14[23:13] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Already working on it. I've been picking Khelendros's brain and thinking a few things over." [23:16] 14Stranger: "Good. Make him your proxy or drive him out." [23:17] "I will go to work on Pellicia. I would rather she helped us." [23:17] "She's a good woman." 14[23:20] * Joins: Quaker [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "She's cool." [23:26] "While you're studying the One Thousand Correct Actions, perhaps you could give me some input about possible weapons of war I could help construct. I have some in mind already... We could also investigate whether there are any war-manses in the city that might still produce Iron Thistledown. I can make more, but not enough to matter." [23:27] 14Stranger: "But if she has to go, she has to go." [23:27] "That's where we are right now." [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Khelendros is no slouch, though, and the less I'm doing logistics the more I'm actually killing things. Could be a network of people like him is what we end up leaning on." [23:28] 14Stranger: "Will he accept that?" [23:29] "...Are you willing to do what it takes if he doesn't?" [23:30] <@Ferrinus> "Khelendros isn't a moron."12Keldar, to Xu Sim: "If we even had one of those Thistledown ballistae we'd be in great shape, but I'm not too optimistic about any piece of Hollow coming in handy. What I'd love is a proper daiklave, honestly." [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But we should be taking a magic accounting of the city as soon as we've got the ability to, generally speaking. Every sorcerer, every god, every Chosen..." [23:30] 14Stranger: "Neither is Pellicia." [23:30] "You didn't answer my question." 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Rumor holds that there's some buried sections of the city manses so dangerous that nobody's properly explored them. [23:32] "Ah, daiklave, yes... You see, I had envisioned a glass globe, filled with noxious vapours that reduce the blood to froth! But daiklaves... are nice." [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Your idea is probably better than mine, doctor. Maybe I can find a daiklave somewhere." [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, to Stranger: "I'm not sure what you're envisioning. Khelendros is a good commander, and it might be that I'm not so much better a commander than he is that it's worth my not being at the front. But if I am, what, him going insane and firing me if I make the wrong suggestion?" [23:38] 14Stranger: "No. You're going to kill him if he's not willing to make the Apples stand with us, or work productively under you." [23:38] "Just as I'm going to kill Pellicia if she prevents us from mounting a legible defense." [23:38] "We're no longer in good boy season." [23:40] "Creation is more important than this." [23:41] "They're coming for Nexus, not Creation." [23:41] 14Stranger: "Functionally there's very little difference." [23:42] "If an army of the Enemies of Creation can drive to Nexus and absorb the force strength here, there's very little to prevent a turn westward and a drive to the Blessed Isle." [23:43] "And frankly, if they topple Nexus after slaughtering their way through three Directions, they've made their claim on Creation already." [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You're taking us down a weird avenue, Stranger." [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Like, am I gonna kill you if you betray Nexus in some bizarre way? For sure, but why did I just have to say it out loud?" [23:47] 14Stranger: "Because you're honest in front of your mandate." [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I think this stuff is best worked out in the moment." [23:48] 14Stranger: "I think the moment is best when supported by very careful and specific planning." [23:49] "And we're fucked if we don't have careful and specific planning." [23:49] "Unless someone's got five powersuits lying around that are tall as half the city." [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I hear those things are absolutely miserable to wear." [23:52] 14Stranger: "Considering we have none, then you have two choices: bring Khelendros in line, or kill him. If he is as good a man as you represent, and you're as good a man as you represent, that should be easy. He might even still think he's commander." [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "He might still be commander, like I told you. Khelendros is Chosen. I'd put him up against Dorma any day of the week." [23:58] 14To Keldar: "What if we put you up against Dorma?" Session Time: Mon Oct 30 00:00:00 2017 [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "In terms of command? He might have the edge, at least for the moment. Question is, what's better - Khelendros sticking daggers in a map and me in the field, or vice versa?" [00:00] "Surely you're the lead-from-the-front type?" [00:01] 14Stranger: "That's up to you. But my inclination is that it's you handling both, with him as your aide de camp." [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, but that gets harder as you scale up." [00:01] "But your job is to make sure he's involved, or he's out." [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Either way, I'll obviously be doing whatever ends up proving optimal. Come on now." [00:01] 14Stranger nods. 14[00:42] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[01:15] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:56] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:18] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:19] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:23] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:43] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:21] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[06:47] * Joins: Zarick 14[08:05] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[10:26] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:24] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:27] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:31] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:01] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:51] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[12:52] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[12:54] * Joins: cbass 14[12:54] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:06] * Joins: Zarick 14[13:22] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[13:25] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[14:21] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[15:15] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:03] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:05] * Joins: Crion 14[17:41] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:52] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:59] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[18:16] * Joins: Zarick 14[18:42] * Joins: hrolf 14[18:45] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:47] * Joins: Crion 14[19:53] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[19:54] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:01] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[20:22] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:24] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:33] * Joins: Crion 14[20:47] * Joins: hrolfy 14[20:51] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:59] * Quits: hrolfy (Connection closed) 14[21:00] * Joins: hrolf 14[21:25] * Joins: hrolfy 14[21:28] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:36] * Joins: hrolf 14[21:38] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:41] * Joins: hrolfy 14[21:44] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Tue Oct 31 00:00:00 2017 14[00:09] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:17] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:04] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:19] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[04:32] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[04:34] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:37] * Joins: dammitwho 14[05:04] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[05:36] * Quits: banana (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:39] * Joins: banana 14[05:54] * Quits: banana (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:56] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:59] * Joins: banana 14[06:06] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[06:19] * Quits: banana (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:48] * Joins: Zarick 14[07:01] * Joins: banana 14[08:02] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[08:22] * Joins: Crion 14[10:08] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:09] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[10:20] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:33] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:39] * Joins: Crion 14[10:50] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[10:51] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:51] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[11:14] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[11:24] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:12] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:01] * Joins: Crion 14[13:27] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[13:49] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[14:03] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:35] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:42] * Joins: Crion 14[17:20] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[17:20] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:27] * Joins: Crion 14[18:16] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:40] * Joins: Crion 14[19:23] * Joins: Zarick 14[19:24] * Joins: hrolfy 14[19:37] * Quits: hrolfy (Connection closed) 14[19:37] * Joins: hrolf 14[20:28] * Quits: hrolf (Connection closed) 14[20:28] * Joins: hrolf 14[20:36] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:41] * Joins: Crion 14[20:48] * Joins: dammitwho Session Time: Wed Nov 01 00:00:00 2017 14[00:14] * Joins: Zarick_ 14[00:15] * Quits: cbass (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_)) 14[00:15] * Joins: cbass_ 14[00:15] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 14[00:17] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:56] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:00] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[01:24] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:01] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:10] * Joins: Crion| 14[02:11] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:16] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:30] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[02:31] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:32] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:34] * Quits: Quaker_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:50] * Joins: bananaphone 14[02:53] * Quits: bananaphone (Quit: Colloquy for iPad - http://colloquy.mobi) 14[03:05] * Joins: Crion 14[03:06] * Quits: Zarick_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:09] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:25] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[05:06] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[05:28] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[06:48] * Joins: Zarick_ 14[08:37] * Joins: Crion 14[10:42] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:43] * Joins: Crion 14[11:07] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:25] * Quits: Zarick_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:30] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:31] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[11:34] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:34] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[11:41] * Joins: Crion 14[11:51] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[11:54] * Joins: cbass 14[11:55] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[11:58] * Joins: cbass 14[14:25] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:26] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[14:30] * Joins: Crion 14[14:38] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:06] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:16] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[18:11] * Joins: Crion 14[19:05] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:06] * Joins: hrolf 14[19:26] * Joins: Zarick_ 14[19:33] * Zarick_ is now known as Zarick 14[19:42] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:48] * Joins: Crion 14[20:16] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[20:21] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:21] * Joins: Crion 14[21:25] * Joins: Quaker 14[21:54] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[22:16] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:16] * Joins: hrolf 14[22:49] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:26] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[23:58] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Thu Nov 02 00:00:00 2017 14[00:12] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:22] * Joins: Quaker 14[00:30] * Joins: hrolf 14[00:52] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:03] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:08] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[01:10] * Joins: cbass 14[01:37] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:30] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:48] * Joins: hrolf 14[03:52] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:07] * Joins: Crion 14[04:37] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:41] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:38] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[06:47] * Joins: Zarick 14[08:59] * Joins: Crion 14[10:33] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[10:39] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:41] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:04] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[11:16] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:23] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:54] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:04] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:06] * Joins: Crion 14[13:06] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[13:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:27] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:50] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[13:59] * Joins: Crion 14[14:33] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:45] * Joins: Zarick 14[15:45] * Joins: Crion 14[16:15] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:35] * Joins: Crion 14[16:49] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:05] * Joins: Crion 14[17:14] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:50] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[17:59] * Joins: Crion 14[17:59] * Joins: Crion| 14[17:59] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[18:50] * Joins: hrolf 14[19:51] * Crion| is now known as Crion 14[19:52] * Joins: dammitwho [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 ...----.... [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 ..-:"'' ''"-.. [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 .-' '-. [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 .' . . '. [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 .' . . . . .''. [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 .' . . . . . . . ..:. [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 .' . . . . . . .. . . ....::. [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 .. . . . . . . .. . ....:IA. [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 .: . . . . . . .. . .. .. ....:IA. [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 .: . . .. . . . . .. . ... ....:.:VHA. [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 '.. . .. . . . . .. . .. . .....:.::IHHB. [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 .:. . . . . . . . . . . ...:.:... .......:HIHMM. [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 .:.... . . ."::"'.. . . . .:.:.:II;,. .. ..:IHIMMA [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 ':.:.. ..::IHHHHHI::. . . ...:.::::.,,,. . ....VIMMHM [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 .:::I. .AHHHHHHHHHHAI::. .:...,:IIHHHHHHMMMHHL:. . VMMMM [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 .:.:V.:IVHHHHHHHMHMHHH::..:" .:HIHHHHHHHHHHHHHMHHA. .VMMM. [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 :..V.:IVHHHHHMMHHHHHHHB... . .:VPHHMHHHMMHHHHHHHHHAI.:VMMI [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 ::V..:VIHHHHHHMMMHHHHHH. . .I":IIMHHMMHHHHHHHHHHHAPI:WMM [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 ::". .:.HHHHHHHHMMHHHHHI. . .:..I:MHMMHHHHHHHHHMHV:':H:WM [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 :: . :.::IIHHHHHHMMHHHHV .ABA.:.:IMHMHMMMHMHHHHV:'. .IHWW [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 '. ..:..:.:IHHHHHMMHV" .AVMHMA.:.'VHMMMMHHHHHV:' . :IHWV [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 :. .:...:".:.:TPP" .AVMMHMMA.:. "VMMHHHP.:... .. :IVAI [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 .:. '... .:"' . ..HMMMHMMMA::. ."VHHI:::.... .:IHW' [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12 ... . . ..:IIPPIH: ..HMMMI.MMMV:I:. .:ILLH:.. ...:I:IM [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, that hunting expedition went about as well as can be expected. [20:14] 4Gonna take some time to dry the ship out. [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12The airship dock's where you left it and the essence lift remains fully operational, so it's pretty easy to unload your kills, clear out any scrap from smashed crates or broken cutlery, send back up any replacement furniture or cargo, etc. 08[20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12You're left to tell Eikichi how your day went, figure out what it was that even happened to you, and decide where to go from here. [20:16] 4Well, first we're taking these bigass sloths to that firepit. [20:16] 4And Ir's gonna go to work on them. [20:20] 7Blossom's been asking for Ying, first of all. [20:23] 6Ying went off to rest briefly in her and Tatsuya's shared rooms, but by the time they dock, she's back up and about. "Hey, Blossom. What's up?" 6Where'd Blossom go, by the way? Ying'll meet her there, wherever it is. [20:25] 7She's in her hammock, restin' and recuperatin'. "I need your help." [20:25] "My wounds won't heal by the time we get back, so I need you to disguise them." [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12There isn't actually a big firepit on the Scarlet Palace's grounds. There's room for one, technically, but you'd have to do some impromptu landscaping - eminently possible, though you might have to deal with the proprietor Urden's whining. [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12It is possible to find places in Nexus suitable for big cookout style things, usually in vacant lots or tiny parks nestled between or behind random city blocks, or, of course, the expansive Parko Llana. [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12I should say, there's probably not a big ENOUGH firepit on the Palace's grounds, though since the precedent has been set you can probably spend some time widening and reinforcing it. [20:28] 4Ir will do that. Besides, it's not like she can't cut these things down to size. [20:28] 4It'll just require the Heavensward to hang out overhead for a bit. [20:28] 4And maybe Berg's help. [20:29] 6"Ying": "Uh. Hang on just a sec." 13She rubs her temples briefly, then straightens up unsteadily. "Wow, okay, that is way more exhausting than I thought it would be." 13She takes stock of her surroundings before noticing Blossom. "Oh! Hi! ...so you needed me for something...?" [20:31] 13She focuses a bit more -- aha. "Wait, disguising your wounds? How bad did you get hurt?" 13She starts checking Blossom for damage - blood, broken bones... she's not missing limbs, is she? Oh gosh. 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's just noodling on his six-string when people get back. He's finished a song but he isn't sure about it, so he stops playing when he hears doors open and people clomp in. [20:32] 7Blossom's eyes widen, and it takes her a moment to recover. Knowing that Tatsuying is two people is one thing, actually seeing them switch is another. Anyway, it could be worse. Some cracked ribs, a bloody nose, and, unfortunately, quite a few lacerations and bite marks from the ghost eels. The bleeding's been stanched, but she's still a bit pale too. 08[20:37] 4Ir will only stick her head in a bit before heading back outside. "Hey! Eikichi!" [20:37] "Got some sloths. Weird shit happened." [20:37] 13Ying: "Gosh, what even happened? I - um - made Tatsuya deal with it once I started hearing noises." 13She's looking into a kit, now - lots of little paints and dyes, alongside small trinkets. Hardly any of it's been used. "What time is it? This'll all heal if you stay on bedrest..." 15[20:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Huh?" 10He comes downstairs, already in his pajamas even though it's midafternoon. "What happened?" [20:39] 4Ir: "Well, we caught those." 4She jams a thumb at the sky, where the Heavensward is hovering over the cooking pit they've fashioned in the backyard. "Gotta chop 'em down to use 'em. Make cutlets." [20:39] "But when we're done, some damn good brisket." 15[20:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Excellent. What was the weird shit?" 08[20:41] 7Blossom: "I'll rest as much as I can, I just don't want Eikichi to worry." [20:42] "We were attacked by a necromancer. A spell locked on to that phylactery we've been hauling around and summoned ghostly ocean creatures." [20:44] 11Berg's clumping out of the ship, but, overhearing the others, taps on the outside of Blossom's quarters. "You okay?" [20:46] 13Ying: "Well, looks like your wounds've already been seen to... so I can help with part 2!" [20:47] 14Ir: "That big piece of coral or whatever's in the hold came to life. Summoned a sea around us in the sky." [20:47] 4Ir: "That big piece of coral or whatever's in the hold came to life. Summoned a sea around us in the sky." [20:48] 4Ir: "Big skull, casting like, giant ice spikes at us. Berg, Blossom and Tatsuya took care of it." 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "The phylactery?" [20:48] 4Ir: "Yup." [20:48] 7Blossom: "Fine, Berg. Thank you again. It's good to have you back." [20:49] 11Berg nods, and heads down to hoist the giant sloths off of the ship. [20:50] 13She begins crafting small bits of flesh-toned cloth and placing them over the most egregious wounds, blending them in through a mix of magic and incredible disguise know-how. She also adds some hidden supports to Blossom's clothing, if she agrees to it - it'll keep her from feeling the pain of her cracked ribs or from shifting her gait to compensate for any other injuries. The bloody nose is cleaned up with some water and cotton. [20:51] 4Ir: "Anyway, inside of the Heavensward got pretty soaked. Have to go through and air it out at some point." 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "That doesn't make sense. Old Crystal's security system can't possibly reach this far." 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "Was anyone hurt?" [20:51] 4Ir: "Blossom's resting. Skull got her good but she's fine. Berg did some medicine." [20:52] 11Berg walks up to Ir carrying one sloth over his shoulder and one under his arm, as though he had a pair of lambs. "I'll strip the fur from these, and you can cook 'em up, if that's the plan." [20:52] 13When she's finished, she presents Blossom with a mirror. "Ta-da~!" [20:52] 4Ir: "I left a rope down if you wanna climb on up there. Or you can--" 4She pantomimes wind. 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "...I'll be right back." 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He retreats upstairs and returns wearing pants. Then he summons a whirlwind, pajama robe billowing up around him, to fly up to the Heavensward. 08[20:53] 7Blossom: "Perfect." 7She very gingerly gives Ying a hug. "I should go and see Eikichi now..." 7She turns, and heads up to the deck. [20:53] 13Ying: "Don't forget the bed rest!" 13Speaking of bed rest... that sounds very good right now. 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Blossom reaches the deck just in time to see Eikichi alight atop it. [20:54] 4To Berg: "Nice. Let's get to it." [20:54] 13Wait, she should head back to the Scarlet Palace. There was a thing. So she makes a u-turn and heads for the deck [20:54] 13. 08[20:54] "Eikichi!" 7She waves cheerfully at him. 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Blossom! Are you alright?" [20:56] 11Berg has a skinning knife nearly as big as a sword, and has clean pelts off the beasts extremely quickly. "Good thing you're cooking. I can make sure it won't kill me, but that doesn't mean it'll taste good." [20:59] "Fine! Ghost eels just clipped me while I was exorcising them from the phylactery. It's nothing." 7And indeed she looks great, as always. 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oh. Ir said there was a skull..." [20:59] 4Ir snorts. She's already got like, two big ol' vats of sauce and a bunch of spices for rubs set up. She's got a knife of her own, a good carving knife, and after throwing some more wood on the fire and consulting with Welenia and two helpers from the kitchen, she is ready to get to work. 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10But Blossom looks fine, so he doesn't seem overly troubled. "The phylactery did all this? Have you had a chance to look at it yet?" 14[21:02] * Joins: hrolfy [21:02] 7Blossom: "Not the phylactery itself. It looks like some necromancer used the phylactery as a focus to attack us at long range. If I had to guess, I'd say someone from Thorns was looking to get us out of the way, but that's just a guess." 08[21:03] 13Ying finally makes it out to the deck. "Hey Eikichi!" 13She caught a bit of the conversation coming up the stairs. "Who could possibly have it in for us? We're so loveable!" 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks down between his feet, as if he could peer through the deck. "I'm going to run some tests." [21:05] 7She nods. "Good. Work quickly, though, or you won't get any sloth." 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "..." 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "If I work slowly, shouldn't I get more sloth?" [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12God damn it, he's right. 14[21:05] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:05] 11Berg: "So if you can talk and cook at the same time, tell me about the Arena." [21:06] 13Ying: "You get the boring kind of sloth, not the probably delicious kind that Ir's making." [21:09] 4Ir can, in fact. Her arms are moving almost faster than he can track, though. "'The Arena's' just a catch-all name for what's basically an industry here in Nexus." 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi is actually up there for hours. It's weird to see him get like this, he's usually the last person to obsess over solving a problem and ignoring things until it's done. There's flashes of odd light and clouds of violet smoke that smells like dessicated lavender billowing from the windows on the Heavensward, which makes for quite a show to everyone gathered for dinner below. [21:10] "Lots of fights don't happen on Arena property, but they're sanctioned and put to wager by most of the same people who run the big shows." 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What's he building in there...? 08[21:10] "Eikichi's got...a complicated thing going on with the underground fighting circuit, for example." [21:11] "Never set one foot in the Arena ring, but has done more fights in this city than I have." [21:13] 7For her part, Blossom has very carefully sat down in a reclining lawn chair, listening to Ir and Berg chat. Taking some well-earned victory celebrations looks pretty much the same as 'it hurts to stand'. [21:13] 4Ir has already rendered like, half of one of the sloths into delicious, perfectly cooked brisket, with the entrails and carved-off leavings filling one slop bucket while the cleaned bones go into another. The brining really, really helped. The meat is almost perfectly prepared. [21:13] "Rules are basically the same, though, inside the Arena or at one of the other rings: fights are to the death 'less your contract states otherwise. Fact, they can do just about whatever they please with you, unless your contract states otherwise." [21:13] 11Berg: "I'm interested in it. Especially if some two-bit thug is giving us a bad name." [21:14] 4Ir grimaces. "I've got an excellent contract. Lots of others don't." [21:14] "Well, he's not quite two-bit, yeah?" [21:14] "That guy's one of their moneymakers." [21:14] "He fights on the big stage. Arena proper." [21:14] 11Berg bares his teeth. "He'll be in two bits soon if he doesn't want to quit." [21:15] 13Ying'll stay close to Blossom - if there IS something wrong, she's a doctor. And, well, even if she's completely unharmed, she's exhausted. "Hey, Blossom. I've got a question." [21:16] 4Ir: "Ying doesn't want us killing. On this particular dude, I agree with her." [21:17] "...And others. But especially this guy." [21:17] "Not going to do much good proving that the Sun frowns on ritual slaughter if we ritually slaughter him." [21:19] 13To Blossom: "...how long did it take you to realize that Tatsuya was fighting, not me?" [21:19] 7Blossom looks up at Ying, thoughts more focused on the idea of the corrective glasses some sages and scribes wear, except instead the lenses are darkened somehow, to keep out the glare. [21:19] 13You could do some cool designs with those... [21:21] 11Berg: "It's not ritual slaughter if he dies in battle, and it's definitely not ritual slaughter if the only person who dies is the one doing the slaughtering." [21:22] 4Ir: "You're gonna have an uphill battle selling that one to this group." [21:23] "A beast approaches from the East. Do you think words will send it back?" [21:23] 13Ying: "People aren't beasts." [21:24] "Hm? Oh." 7She pauses. "Pretty much immediately, more or less. It's strange to imagine you lurking in the shadows or going at someone with a blade." [21:24] 11Berg nods. "You're right. Beasts fight for hunger, for territory, to defend their lives. People are much worse." [21:24] 4Ir: "Guess my question would have to be, then, are you mad at him for killing in the name of the Sun, or mad at him for doing it without a license?" [21:26] 11Berg shrugs. "You don't think it's right that he pay for the lives of others with his own? Especially when he is not brave enough to admit that he enjoys killing as a spectacle?" [21:26] 4Ir: "Wouldn't be so sure about that last part." [21:27] 4Ir: "Mainly I think he's beneath notice and contempt, unless what we're doing to him teaches a lesson. And I'm not interested in him being the one that learns it. Fuck that guy." 14[21:27] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:27] "I'm interested in not having the young huntress who tells me about him look at me with doubt when I say the Sun isn't about those ways." [21:28] 4She finishes off the first sloth. "And even if putting this guy over the Arena in pieces feels good, it doesn't get me that." [21:28] 11Berg: "What of those he has slain? Are they not worth your notice? I say, if he wishes to gamble with his life, he should be prepared to forfeit it." [21:28] 13To Blossom: "...that's good." 13She sinks back into her chair, thinking. This is too complicated for casual reclining... maybe another day. To Ir and Berg: "I still say we could make it all way more pleasant, tolerable. There's no need for the fights to be to the death at all." [21:29] 4Ir: "I can't do anything for those he has slain." [21:30] "You want to kill him, Berg, that's your prerogative. You've earned the right to do it in our Lord's name. You're Chosen same as I." [21:30] "But I ain't helping." [21:31] 11Berg shrugs. "I don't need to kill him, if a beating would be enough for him to truly relent. If that's the case, so much the better. If not, however... I won't shed any tears for him." [21:31] 4Ir: "He's a true believer." [21:31] 4She sighs as she moves on to the next sloth. "Maybe it'll clear up some of this if you meet him." [21:32] "I've got another fight coming up. One I scheduled through Blossom. He'll be at the after-party." [21:34] "Perhaps I'll have words with him. But mine aren't good weapons against fanatics. That is another reason... you lot may have been given the gift of words, of art. I have but one gift." [21:35] 4Ir: "I'm not asking you to talk him down, Berg. Just want you to get the measure of him before you commit to the fight. And it ain't because I think you can't take him." [21:35] "I could take him. I ain't worried about you." 14[21:36] * Joins: Crion| [21:38] "What, then? You think him innocent?" [21:39] 4It's only because she's doing five things at once that she doesn't slam her cooking utensils down in frustration. "Innocent of what?" [21:40] 11Berg: "That he believes in his heart that what he does is right." 14[21:40] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:41] 4Ir: "From what I've seen, yes. He believes he is honoring the Sun." [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Kala Theka, the gladiator among gladiators who's best known for doing the burning heart sacrifice thing, is a mighty warrior and the veteran of at least hundreds of battles. It's unlikely he could put serious pressure on Ir or Bergsveinn, but they'd at least break a sweat. [21:43] 13Ying: "He probably does, and he should also stop." [21:44] 11Berg looks pensive. "Perhaps that is what he needs, then. Someone to teach him better." 08[21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12After hours of alchemy and note-taking and further alchemy and rigorous equation solving, Eikichi's got the Heavensward smelling like it's been unearthed from the seabed after moldering for centuries. He's also got some answers, though, or at least some data from which to generate pretty much unassailable suppositions. [21:45] 11It doesn't sound like a hidden, vengeful meaning is hidden in that statement. [21:47] 4Ir nods encouragingly. "Yeah." [21:47] 13Ying: "It's not just him, though. Like Ir said. He's popular! People like this guy! They think he's cool." [21:49] 4The brisket is ready to serve, and the Scarlet Palace workers and their families already have more than enough in front of them to sate them for now -- the gang can dig in. There's more than enough bread for sandwiches, and all kinds of fixings. [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12It's true. Theka has groupies and hangers-on, and most of the other gladiators respect him. It's said he knew Panther well. [21:49] 7Blossom: "You know, you're big enough that you could probably just pick him up and refuse to put him down again until he agrees to knock it off. The crowd probably wouldn't care for it though." [21:49] "Doesn't that make it more improtant that we show them what a farce it is?" [21:51] 4Ir's prepared Sloth Brisket, Two Ways -- one of the animals was shredded in a tangy, sweet sauce that mingles with the meat and falls off in gloops, while the other is smothered in a spicier, creamier preparation made from tomatoes and a whole bunch of southern spices. [21:51] 13Ying: "We can do that without any more blood shed. Um, aside from the blood after the most brutal wedgie the world has ever seen." 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Above, hundreds of tiny cackling skulls stream from the ports around the Heavensward's hold, disintegrating in midair and leaving a light mist and sparkles of ice that twinkle and vanish like stars. 08[21:54] 11Berg looks up. "Seems like Eikichi is having fun." [21:54] 4Ir wrinkles her nose. Shoulda moved the Heavensward away from the food before letting him up there. [21:54] "Yeah, he gets by. ...Lot's changed since you were with us last." [21:57] 13Ying: "Little bit!" [21:58] "I'm not surprised. To be honest, I don't even know how much time it's been. Time has a way of getting away from you in the North wind." [21:59] 4How much time has it been? Feels like a year or more, but can't be more than a few months. [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Better part of a year, I think. [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12As they say, life comes at you fast. [22:00] 4Damn. 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It also finds a way. 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10So life behaves almost exactly like typhoid. [22:01] "About a year, by my reckoning." 4They haven't been together through a Calibration yet, right? That must be coming up. [22:01] 13Tatsuya's birthday is coming up soon. [22:03] "Seems you lot have learned a lot of new things," 11Berg says, his mouth full of delicious roasted sloth. 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Dinner's gone on a while and most of the Scarlet Palace's staff and their families have left for the night by the time Eikichi descends, his breath fogged with cold. He smells like seawater and dead flowers. [22:05] 4Ir wrinkles her nose again. "Wash up before you eat." 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Mistily: "Sure." 10He wanders up to the hotel. [22:06] 4She's burning the fire down but keeping the food hot for him and anyone else who hasn't eaten yet. Some of the guards have yet to get off duty. 08[22:07] 13Ying: "Hey Eikichi!" 13...he doing okay? 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's fine. He doesn't come out of the hotel immediately, but he usually takes long baths. 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Later he does, scrubbed and pale and buried in a huge fluffy red bathrobe. "This smells good." [22:12] 13Well, that's good. Ying chows down on the delicious sloth. [22:13] 4Ir's just sitting down to eat some herself. She's just finished the final batches, which the families are taking home as leftovers. [22:13] 4What's left is enough for them to eat well tonight and keep some for leftovers over the next two days. [22:13] 7Blossom: "So, what'd you find?" [22:13] 4Those were some big sloths. 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, who piled a bunch of pulled sloth on a roll with some horseradish: "The Mask of Winters tried to kill us to take the phylactery." [22:15] 13Ying: "Rude!" [22:15] 4Ir: "The who now?" 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "The Mask of Winters. The Death-lord of Thorns." [22:16] 4Ir glowers around a mouthful of the curried sloth. Once she's done swallowing: "Funny. Thought we were gonna lay off having to go down there for awhile." [22:16] "Guess he just moved higher up our list." [22:17] 7Blossom: "Berg, could you break that thing when you have a minute?" 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I don't think that's a good idea." [22:18] "I was going to do that in the first place, but Ying implied that it was valuable, or necessary, or... something." [22:19] 13Ying: "We were going to keep it out of the hands of people who might use it... but also, I didn't want to be hasty, in case that'd make it worse." [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Wow, you're just going to break a priceless relic? [22:22] 7Blossom: "What? Why?" 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "The Mask of Winters want it, and it's the only one left in the world. We already gave him one. We should see what we can get for it." [22:24] 4Ir: "You wanna bargain with him?" 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We've already bargained with his servants. It bought us Crystal. And that was when there were two." [22:25] 4Ir: "Wasn't saying we shouldn't. Just that he's gonna be more prepared this time. We should be too." [22:25] 11Berg: "I don't know what a Death-lord is, but it doesn't sound like someone you should bargain with." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You know, he had no idea where we were. He was able to just ball that up from the shadow of the Inland Sea and set it adrift looking for us." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "Adamant necromancy, if there is such a thing." [22:27] 4Ir: "Gonna make it hard to find neutral ground, then, if he's that powerful just...aiming at Creation and spitting." [22:27] "And you want to sell it to him? What will he do after, then?" [22:27] 13Ying: "...we could sell a fake?" 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Whatever he did with the one we already gave him, I expect." 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Massively dangerous. The argument for destroying it is that we can't store it responsibly. Not unless we park the Heavensward far from Nexus. [22:33] "What does he have that you want enough to give him this thing, presumably increasing his power?" 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Power unfathomable. Peace for the East. We can get more than we already got from him, since again, we're dealing with him personally, our hand is stronger, and here in the Threshold he maintains the pretense of diplomacy." 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "If we hadn't already bargained with his servants, we'd never have saved Crystal." 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "We might still have won the day, but we wouldn't have saved Crystal." [22:37] 7Blossom: "You can't bargain for peace with deathlords." 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We already have." [22:37] 4Ir: "I'm getting the feeling this is one of those pay the taxman moments." [22:38] "Bad news to be on a first name basis with Death." [22:40] 7Blossom: "He's butchering slaves by the wagonload!" [22:40] "So is everyone, apparently." 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It gives us a chip to use in case one of the other Death-lords who isn't as keen to play house makes a move on the Threshold." [22:41] 13Ying: "He's... predictable, at least? Even if mostly what gets predicted is bad." [22:41] 4Ir: "At some point we're gonna have to decide how much of a fuck we give." [22:41] "About, like. All of this." [22:41] "Are we defenders of Creation here?" [22:41] 4She looks around. "I'm asking that genuinely." [22:41] 13Ying: "I mean... can we be?" [22:42] "I feel like we are." 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "I think it would be a mistake to throw a resource away so casually. But we can't store it safely." [22:42] "I've already decided." 11Berg's cracking knuckles sound like tree branches snapping. 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's the reason to break it. Not that we've got a bad feeling about it. Nobody ever built a nation or freed a slave because of a bad feeling they got." [22:42] 13Ying: "If we can, we should. Um, that's my vote, not Tatsuya's, but if - IF we have the power... it'd be irresponsible not to use it." 08[22:43] "'Attacked by shrieking ghosts' is a few steps past bad feeling, Eikichi." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Nobody got hurt." [22:43] 4Ir: "My point here, then, is that if we trade it -- we need to trade it for something we can use. We need to build resting power." [22:43] 11Berg looks at Blossom dubiously. [22:44] "Feeding the poor, freeing the cities of man -- that feels good. But we're still just the...six of us, flying around in a ship." [22:45] 4She scoops up some more sloth. "So if one day Mask of Winters comes back with the fruits of these two things we gave him, we've got something we can meet him with." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Not quite. We're building power here. Support bases, material assets. Legends. We aren't vagabonds. We carry a nation on our backs." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "We just have to decide where we're putting it down." [22:45] "Yup." [22:45] 13Ying: "...are we putting it down?" 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "For now." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "We will need a place that's ours. There's no shortage of room in Creation, no shortage of people we can protect and help and teach -- Blossom's got dozens of plans." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "We just haven't talked about where yet." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "If we're going to keep the phylactery, we should start making that decision." [22:47] 4Ir looks up at the Heavensward, back lit by the moon. [22:47] 4Then she chuckles and shakes her head. Ridiculous idea. [22:48] 7Blossom grudgingly admits, "It would be good to get out of Nexus. I do have a lot of plans for a stronghold." [22:49] 13Ying: "...Tatsuya signed up for a lot of stuff." [22:50] "We'll have to take care of that before we leave, or, I guess, um." 13She shrugs. "Deal with it?" [22:51] "Signed up?" 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Depending on how far on we move, or where we settle down, we could come back easily enough." [22:51] 13Ying: "The Velvet Room." 13She says it casually, like it's a known thing. 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Crime." [22:52] 4Ir: "We still have business here anyway." [22:52] 4Ir: "Nothing says we can't split our time between here and the countryside, though." [22:53] 13Ying: "That's true. I've got my shop to think of..." [22:53] 4Ir shakes her head. "Really just too bad we can't build our fort like the Heavensward. Then fly it wherever we please." 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We can." 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "But that's a massive project. Absolutely immense. It'd take years." 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "And we'd need a living city on top of it already." [22:55] 7She adds, "But it could be done." [22:55] 4Ir blinks. "It could?" [22:55] "Well." [22:55] "I mean." [22:55] "That solves having to conquer land, for one." 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It'd require tremendously powerful local geomancy." [22:56] 13Ying: "But we could do it?" [22:56] "Also keep us out of local politics. Can't have warlords knocking down our doors constantly." [22:56] 4She pauses. "Would paint a hell of a target on us, though." [22:56] 13Ying: "I think that ship sailed." 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It wouldn't keep us out of local politics. It'd just let us drift on and intrude on someone else's local politics whenever we pleased." [22:57] 13Ying: "Shoot! I mean that ship sailed when the Heavensward did. That was a really good line that I had!" [22:57] 7Blossom: "Again, though. Years in the future." [22:57] "But not many." 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "A mobile liberation palace." [22:58] 4Ir: "If it'll take years we might wanna get started." [22:58] "Even if it's just drawing up plans and. Doing whatever geomancy does." 4She makes spooky fingers. "Gathering re-agents." 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Geomancy is mainly surveying and mathematics." [22:59] 4Ir nods wisely. "Powerful magics." [23:02] 7Blossom: "I've been drawing up plans since about the time I met you guys." 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "They're brilliant." [23:02] "Damn." [23:03] 4Ir: "...So what's the next step, then?" 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Picking a place." [23:03] 13Ying: "Well... any preferences?" [23:04] "At least that kind of thing would be large enough for me to stay on." 11Berg chuckles. [23:04] 4Ir: "What're we looking for? Couple empty acres of meadow? A small village? A city?" 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Something people can live on, with room to grow. The geomantic requirements are more specific, but geomancy is malleable. If nothing else I could figure out how to do a smaller-scale version of what the Spheres enabled somewhere isolated." 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "Or larger, if we make directly for the Wyld." [23:06] 4Ir: "Carving it out of a mountain would be imposing. Big, towering spire of rock." [23:07] 13Ying: "Well, if our end goal is a flying city... does that make it easier or harder?" [23:07] 7Blossom: "Someplace near a small mountain and a river would be good. I'd prefer someplace largely empty of people so that we can draw them in rather than having to deal with existing settlements. I have a few plans for geomantic Essence-cycles..." [23:08] 4Ir: "Up north some older cities, we're talking First Age old, are carved directly into the mountains." [23:08] "Tricky, but it's possible." 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Plus, there's Gem." [23:09] 7Blossom: "Use elementals for the first plowing and harvesting season, have all the fields grow ash radishes as a catch crop..." [23:12] 13Ying: "So, we're doing this, right?" [23:12] 4Ir: "I mean. I'm just sorta sitting here." 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It's the rational thing to do." [23:13] 13Ying: "I mean, me too. But we're agreed that this is something we should be doing?" 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Raising an army to conquer an existing nation is too messy." [23:14] 4Ir: "We'll need armies eventually." [23:14] "Not for their power." [23:14] "For their legitimacy." [23:14] 4She finishes off another bite. "No reason to keep them standing when we're not using them, though." [23:14] "Not fair to them, and a hassle on us." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "That means we need a citizenry." [23:15] "Yup." [23:15] 4Ir smiles faintly. "Feel like we're already doing pretty well cultivating the beginnings of that." [23:15] 7Blossom: "There are plenty of reasons to have a standing army when you're not using it. Not the least of which is training goes to shit." [23:16] 4Ir: "An officer's corps, yah. A full standing army? People have better things to do with their lives." [23:16] 13Ying: "That probably depends on how mad other people get about a flying nation." [23:16] "Or should, anyway." [23:16] "I don't want this to end up a nation of just soldiers." [23:17] 11Berg's been leaning back, eyes closed. "I'll leave the big thinking to you all. I'll keep my eye on other... large projects." [23:17] 4Ir's gonna clean up dinner. 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Are you and Tatsuya going to build one of those giant sandwiches again?" 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "Remember what happened in Crystal." [23:18] 13Ying: "Actually, no." 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Patiently: "That's because you didn't exist yet." [23:18] "What happened in Crystal? You're gonna have to tell me." [23:20] 7Blossom: "Who said anything about just soldiers? I-- ooh, the sandwich story." [23:20] "Look, even before a behemoth made me like this, being seven feet tall and three hundred and change requires a certain caliber of sandwich--" [23:22] 13Ying: "Wait. Wait wait - he DID that? He wrote that was a dream!" [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12That feel when you have been bathed in an ancient behemoth's heartsblood and consequently are REALLY burgin' 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I might have told him it was." 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "He was pretty out of it after he fell off the ladder trying to balance a fried egg on top." 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "The theory was, an edible ladder would mean there was no risk of wood touching the food. And I couldn't disagree." 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "In retrospect I wasn't clear enough about what happens to frozen pastry dough when someone's been standing on it." 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "Live and learn." [23:26] 13Ying: "Oh my gosh." [23:27] "...I'm gonna make so many jokes that he's going to be angry about." 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's only fair, given the back pain." 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Are you taking anything for that?" [23:28] 13Ying: "I'm fine!" 13It's only slightly too high pitched. [23:29] "Tonight was a wasted opportunity, if you think about it. We had enough sloth and bread to shake the heavens." 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We promised to wait until Marek and his friends are ready to do that." [23:31] 7Blossom grunts and leans out of her chair towards Ying. "14Do you want some willow tincture?" 7She whispers. 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10You know what's a better thing to make a tincture with? Poppies. I'm just saying. [23:32] 13Ying, equally quietly: 14"Yes please." [23:36] 7Blossom will go and fetch some then, in the guise of getting more drinks. She'll also get more drinks. 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "Did anyone tell Bergsveinn about our Lunar friends or the stellar assassins?" [23:41] 7Blossom's inside, so she can't tell him. 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What if we just sit in awkward silence until she gets back? [23:50] 4Ir finally puts away the last of the food. [23:51] 13Ying: "You mean... Ir, what's his name?" [23:53] 4Sweetly: "Marek Marrow-Hollow, the Man Who Does Not Return Letters." [23:53] 13Ying: "I could deliver some for you." 13She sounds sincere. 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I'm sure he's thinking about you." [23:54] Ir: "Very nice of you to say, at least." [23:54] 4Ir: "Very nice of you to say, at least." [23:55] "Anyway. I'm sure we'll meet up with them again soon enough." [23:55] "When it suits their purposes." [23:55] "Stellar assassins? Doesn't sound like someone you'd want to meet again." [23:56] 4Ir: "Two of them, we won't." 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "One of them is friends with Blossom." 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's the one who put us in the most personal danger." [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Later, Bergsveinn won't remember much of what he hears on the topic of these assassins. Someone tried to kill one or more of his friends, it seems, but it's not clear who they were or why. 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He has to specifically remember that they beat up Tatsuya. [23:57] 13Ying: "Oh! The one that beat up Tatsuya!" 13She sounds gleeful. [23:57] 11That doesn't even take magic powers. That's all the information Berg needs to remember. [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Even to those of you who met her, the details of Yara's demeanor feel a bit hazy... 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10This vague memory, like the details of a dream. A dream where you cried." [23:58] 7Blossom: "Oh come on. It's not like we exchange sweets at Calibration." 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You can't guarantee you won't." Session Time: Fri Nov 03 00:00:00 2017 [00:01] "Hrmph." [00:01] 11Berg: "Anyone who wants to kill one of you is going to get something besides sweets." [00:02] 13Ying: "Tatsuya's pretty sure Calibration includes his birthday. Just saying, if you want to give sweets..." 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "If Tatsuya was born during Calibration, that explains a lot." [00:03] 11Berg: "I don't even remember when I was born." [00:03] 13Ying: "I mean. Orphan. He kinda picked it." [00:03] 4Ir: "That's coming up, huh. Up in Pneuma we exchange gifts during Calibration." [00:03] "Dunno about sweets, specifically." 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "I read in the West they roast pigs whole on spits and dance around bamboo poles around a bonfire." [00:06] 4Ir: "Kinda feels like every story about the West eventually goes something like that." [00:06] "And spit-roast pig is a good recipe." 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It's a good system." [00:08] "Oh!" 7Blossom cries. "You know what I miss from Western imports? The pine apple." [00:08] 4Ir frowns. "A pine...apple?" 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I love pine apple." [00:08] "Ew." [00:09] "It goes wonderfully with pork, beef... Ir, you could try putting it that pitza you invented." [00:09] "I didn't even know pines bore fruit." 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's so good! It's this tart pulpy fruit you have to hack a big spiky shell off of." [00:09] 13Ying: "Those are good! Like, way better than you'd think. Tatsuya hates them." 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "The juice mixes incredibly well in cocktails." [00:09] 13She says the last part conspiratorially. [00:09] "Oh." [00:09] "Hmm." 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "The trees pine apples grow on are actually like... giant bamboo shoots with ferns on top. Very odd." [00:10] 7Blossom: "It's just called a pine apple because it looks like a pine cone. If you keep the same tree producing for generations, the fruit gets smaller and the juice more full of concentrated sugar." 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "I think we named them that to make them sound more normal." [00:10] 16"Not the same people that our old friends knew~" [00:10] 13Ying: "They're really weird." [00:10] "People think of sailors as being very imaginative, but..." [00:10] 4Ir leans forward. "That sounds damn amazing." [00:11] 4She laughs. "No they fuckin' don't." [00:11] "I know from sailors." 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Blossom would've studied sailing at secondary school. She knows how to tie all the different kinds of knots." [00:13] 4Mmmmmhmmm. [00:13] 4Ir: "I learned it first-hand, on a Pneuman corsair." [00:13] 7Blossom, petulantly: "I didn't say they were, I said people think they are." [00:14] "Turns out when you date a captain in the Portwatch, the dates themselves tend to all go one way." [00:14] 13Ying: "They are who we thought they were, and we let 'em off the hook?" [00:15] "What?" [00:15] "Sailing in the North is less about knowing things and more about being too tough and too stupid to quit." [00:15] 13She shrugs. "Ask Tatsuya. He was insistent." [00:16] 7Blossom tilts her head at Bergsveinn, interested. "Is that because all the shorelines change every winter?" [00:17] "It doesn't help, but it's mostly the cold. You think the land in the North is cold, try being on a boat." 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Being cold and seasick sounds like the worst thing I can imagine." [00:20] 13Ying: "I can think of some things." 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "But imagine them while also cold and seasick." 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "I spent three weeks at sea once. I was sick the whole way. Nothing is better on a boat, I believe this sincerely." [00:22] 13Ying: "...I could still think of some things." 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "We don't all have your keen mind for evil and suffering." [00:22] 4To Berg: "Not damn wrong. About the sailing." [00:22] "But we sail the Inner Sea, too. So we had to know things then." [00:23] 13Ying: "Wow! No! Not even!" [00:24] 11Berg: "Never bothered me, really. Even before all of this, I've always loved the cold. Now... I could probably run around naked in a blizzard and not be terribly bothered by it." 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "People would talk." [00:24] "They'd have to be in the blizzard with me, first." [00:24] 13Ying, concurring: "Please don't." [00:26] 7Blossom nods. "I'm the same way about heat, now. Also I don't think I can drown anymore." [00:27] 13Ying: "...you can't drown?" [00:27] "How??" 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "...how do you know?" [00:29] 4Ir: "You get tested." [00:29] "I'm kinda similar. You learn some stuff out there." [00:29] "I've cultivated immunity to the five elements." 7She replies loftily. [00:29] 4Ir chuckle-snorts. [00:30] 13Ying: "Wow~" 13She seems impressed. "How can I do that?" 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You are not immune to earth." [00:30] "I'm just hard to kill." 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "What does being immune to earth even mean? Does a rock just crack in half if it lands on your head?" [00:30] 4To Ying: "You spend a lot of time getting near-drowned or set on fire by...certain people." 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "ONE TIME." 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "The Raptor doesn't even do that anymore!" 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "I think it was sad I stopped calling it." [00:31] "I got thrown off a mountain once, that was a new experience." [00:31] 4Ir: "How's that even happen?" [00:31] 4To Ying: "I'll be by tomorrow. We can talk about getting tough in a world full of ice and fire then." [00:32] 7Blossom, to Ying, who is the only one who respects her as she deserves: "Punching heated sand, meditation, sweat sessions, that kind of thing. I'd be glad to help!" [00:33] "Or you could do it the fun way. Find the biggest fire-breathing monster you can, and punch it right in the nose." [00:34] 13Ying: "...that sounds good. As long as it isn't just, using my experience to craft a position of our nostrils...?" 13That's a weird way to phrase it. There's no not-weird way to phrase it. 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Maybe Marek can teach you to grow gills." [00:35] 13Just normal, not being beholden to bystander's positions. [00:35] 7Blossom smiles. "I was worried you didn't want to do calisthenics with me anymore!" [00:36] 4Very, VERY casually: "I don't think Marek's giving lessons. Personally." 15[00:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "He has an interesting perspective on shapechanging." [00:39] 4Ir arches an eyebrow. "Does he." 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Apparently for the Chosen of Luna it's as natural as breathing." [00:41] "What do they change into?" [00:41] 4Ir: "When did you get the chance to ask him." 15[00:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I saw him earlier today. He visited me at work." [00:43] 4Ir's face is as expressionless as she can keep it. "Work. Tutoring?" 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yeah. For the 'philosopher'. He tried to tell me about some dreadful treatise he was pretending to work on. I think he said it was about sighing." 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "The philosopher did, I mean, not Marek." [00:45] 4Ir: "Well thank the Sun for that. And the Moon." [00:46] 4Voice very, very slightly strained: "So he's back in town." 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "He was asking after you." [00:47] 11Berg raises an eyebrow. "You okay? Did this guy try to kill you too?" 08[00:47] 4Ir, curtly: "Yes." 4To Eikichi: "What'd he ask??" 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "He was worried about making a disappointing impression. He wanted advice." [00:49] 7Blossom: "She's fine, she just has a crush on him." 7Blossom may be Blossom, but even she can gauge the relative width of men's shoulders. [00:49] "HA!" 4Then: "That asshole!" 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "That was roughly the point I made." [00:50] 4Ir: "I met that dude when he had mangy dog face, why does he think that--ugh. Men." [00:50] 11Berg smirks. "A crush?" [00:50] 4Ir rolls her eyes. "A crush? I'm gonna date that man." [00:51] "I don't let just anyone hit me with a battleaxe." 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I told him the worst thing he could possibly do is try to put one over on you. I think it stuck." 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "He's pretty stubborn. But I am very reasonable." 08[00:51] 4She blinks. Then, a bit more seriously: "Thank you, Eikichi." [00:51] "...I mean. He's a Lunar. I'm betting he gave you the whole thing about how that's what they do." [00:51] "So we'll see how it goes." [00:54] 4She shakes her head. "Anyway. I dunno. I just...felt something when we met. Like, beyond wanting to jump him. Got stronger when we fought. He's a strong one." [00:55] "And if I'm being honest, we could use the friends." 15[00:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Maybe it's destiny." 14[00:55] * Joins: Quaker [00:55] 7Blossom nods. That definitely sounds different than a crush. But, because she is extremely wise and cares for her friend, she says nothing. [00:55] 4She wrinkles her nose again. "Man. Wouldn't that be lame." 15[00:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I hate it." [00:57] 4Ir: "I don't mind being lame so much, so long as it's in service of the right things. And we used to be close with those people." [00:57] 11Berg leans back again, his eyes closed. "Well, if you see any nine-foot-tall ladies, send them my way. I can't have a crush without it being way too literal for comfort." [00:57] 4Ir: "Yeah, that's gotta suck." 15[00:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You haven't met Sondok yet, have you?" 15[00:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "Probably for the best." [00:57] "Oh my." [00:57] "Ooh." 15[00:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "Forget I said anything." [00:58] 4Ir: "Oh, no. No no no." [00:58] "I think Berg should meet everyone aboard the good ship Heavensward." 14[01:01] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [01:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Whom will Bergsveinn meet aboard the good ship Heavensward, and will the Solars of the Squared Circle avenge themselves on anyone afterwards? Find out... next week. [01:10] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ [01:10] If one of your friends starts talking about someone you don't know, it's because they have a crush on them! The best thing you can do, as a friend, is start manipulating events so that they end up together! Ask them both to meet you somewhere, and then don't turn up! Forge romantic notes with their signatures! They'll thank you for it! [01:10] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ 14[01:21] * Joins: hrolfy 14[01:33] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:28] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[04:54] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[05:55] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:51] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[08:19] * Joins: Zarick 14[09:29] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:26] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:09] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:41] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[12:55] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:47] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[14:41] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:32] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:41] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[15:42] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:47] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[17:42] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:24] * Joins: hrolf 14[19:07] * Quits: hrolf (Connection closed) 14[19:08] * Joins: hrolf 14[19:21] * Quits: Quaker (Client 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Be No End (TUE 8PM EDT) | Shadowrun: The Looking-Glass War (MON 8PM EDT) | http://i.imgur.com/0XkYldr.png' 13[19:54] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@sorcery-q06iee.res.rr.com on Mon Oct 24 22:19:06 2016 Session Start: Mon Nov 06 20:02:10 2017 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:02] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:02] * Topic is 'Exalted: Imperfect Circle (THU 8PM EDT) | Exalted: There Can Be No End (TUE 8PM EDT) | Shadowrun: The Looking-Glass War (MON 8PM EDT) | http://i.imgur.com/0XkYldr.png' 13[20:02] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@sorcery-q06iee.res.rr.com on Mon Oct 24 22:19:06 2016 15[20:04] * Disconnected Session Close: Mon Nov 06 20:04:12 2017 Session Start: Mon Nov 06 20:13:41 2017 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:13] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:13] * Topic is 'Exalted: Imperfect Circle (THU 8PM EDT) | Exalted: There Can Be No End (TUE 8PM EDT) | Shadowrun: The Looking-Glass War (MON 8PM EDT) | http://i.imgur.com/0XkYldr.png' 13[20:13] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@sorcery-q06iee.res.rr.com on Mon Oct 24 22:19:06 2016 14[20:24] * Joins: Crion| 14[20:32] * Joins: hrolf 14[20:39] * Joins: hrolfy 14[20:40] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:19] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:38] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[22:58] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Connection closed) 14[22:59] * Joins: hrolf_mac Session Time: Tue Nov 07 00:00:00 2017 14[00:04] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:48] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[01:49] * VoxPVoxD is now known as Guest26323 14[01:49] * dammitwho is now known as Guest34287 15[01:49] * Disconnected 15[01:49] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[01:49] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[01:49] * Topic is 'Exalted: Imperfect Circle (THU 8PM EDT) | Exalted: There Can Be No End (TUE 8PM EDT) | Shadowrun: The Looking-Glass War (MON 8PM EDT) | http://i.imgur.com/0XkYldr.png' 13[01:49] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@sorcery-q06iee.res.rr.com on Mon Oct 24 22:19:06 2016 14[01:50] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD is now known as voxpvoxd 14[01:50] * voxpvoxd is now known as VoxPVoxD 14[01:50] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[01:53] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:26] * Guest34287 is now known as dammitwho 14[09:50] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[12:33] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[18:13] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[18:15] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:55] * Joins: hrolf_mac 15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD>  14[20:05] * Joins: hrolfy 15[20:07] <@VoxPVoxD> As Nexus rises to greet the new dawn, Dawn rises newly to greet Nexus. She's got it on good authority that the young man she's after will be at the parade grounds on Sentinel Hill in militia training with the local Ninth Orchard mercenary company. [20:09] 7No time like the present, then. Dawn sets up somewhere nearby where she's got a good view, ready to wait until her target shows. If there's a place within easy distance that she can lurk without being visible great, if not, she'll just try to loiter unobtrusively. 15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD> People out in the streets cover their faces with rags against the smoke. Word is the fire's been contained - though it took most of the quarter with it. But it's not out yet, and it lingers heavy in the air. There are signs and vigils up and down the roads surrounding the burnt quarter's cordon, signs begging for word on missing loved ones wheat-pasted to the walls. 15[20:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Meanwhile, some of the few people absolutely certain to have survived the blaze are licking their wounds in a clinic under gleaming foreign guard. They share oatmeal and bad news. [20:12] 4von Hrolfus rests slumped over a chair, chin balanced on hand. [20:14] 14Stranger has his eyes closed, sitting sideways across his bed and leaning back against the wall. To Bastian: "There has been news of Deguo." [20:16] 13Xia Lan looks over to Stranger from her seat on the windowsill, before glancing to Bastian. This could go badly. [20:16] 5 Xu Sim has a pair of scrolls in front of him, and a third balanced in his lap. He paws through the three of them carefully in turn, contemplating the words visible on one before turning to the next. [20:16] "It's not good. I won't pretend that it's good, or ask you to choose what you want to hear first. The bad news has caveats. There is no good news." [20:18] "There is an army on the march. An army that is coming here, guided by that burning red star in the sky, summoned by the death of Balor. It is an army of the fair folk, ruled by them, but it is an army of men living and dead as well." [20:18] "That army has marched through Deguo. Deguo has fallen." [20:19] "Guowang Shan has fallen." [20:19] 4von Hrolfus straightens slowly from his slump and looks Stranger straight in the eye. “Oh.” [20:19] "The Tower of Tuwangste still stands." [20:19] "The army left it. The army had business elsewhere." [20:20] "That is your caveat: whosoever has been spared in Deguo, has been spared inside that tower." [20:21] 14He opens his eyes. "I'm sure you felt most of this, before you knew it. Your vision in the amphitheater -- that was not random, nor was it fantasy." [20:21] "The only consolation I can offer you is this: the army that has wronged you is headed here." [20:22] "You may have your vengeance or your death in a matter of weeks." [20:25] 4von Hrofus finds, to his surprise, that he’d been stealing himself for the worst for a while. When it came, he felt absolutely nothing. “Oh. That’s good.” [20:26] 14Stranger closes his eyes again. "No. It's not." [20:26] "But it might be just." [20:26] 4He rises to his feet. “When do we start?" [20:26] "Now." [20:27] "First, we need to gain our freedom. Without maiming anybody. We'll need these soldiers later." [20:27] "Then we must swiftly, by all means available to us, make this city ready for war." [20:27] "That army? The one that destroyed Deguo? It is not alone." [20:27] "They're coming from all Directions." 14[20:27] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) [20:28] 13Xia Lan: "Dark times." [20:28] "We have slipped and tripped upon Fate. Now we must right ourselves, and Creation with us." 14[20:28] * Joins: mattbaby [20:28] 14He sighs. "Or just die." [20:28] 4von Hrolfus’ breathing is even. He’s as calm as a still lake. “Either is fine with me." [20:29] "Dibs," 5 notes the chirurgeon, without explanation. [20:29] "Then examine yourself further, Bastian von Hrolfus," 14Stranger snaps. "Your death serves no one. Avenges no one. You must commit yourself to victory." [20:30] "Even if we lose, even if there was no chance we might win to start with -- we must all commit ourselves to victory." [20:31] 4von Hrolfus bows his head. “As you say.” 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Dawn stakes out the grounds. She can be pretty unobtrusive, considering how many other people are doing the same. The parade grounds are full of young men and women milling about, with no clear guidance or visible organization. The big furrow and cracks in the earth the white jade-armored giant trailed as he left still linger; much of the idle conversation is about them. [20:35] 7Anyone look like they're worth keeping an eye on? Troublemakers, people who might be opposed to her taking down a target. [20:38] 5 Although the doctor is occupied with the scrolls, his right hand fidgets, tapping a small stylus fashioned from a cat (or perhaps a weasel's) rib, using it to roll around a small ball of wax, looping an end of it around a loose bit of thread. [20:39] 4He looks up, an odd look in his eyes. “Let us show no mercy.” [20:42] 13Xia Lan: "...you're right." 13There's hesitation, but ultimately - Stranger's right. We have to work together. [20:42] 14Stranger sits up straight. "Mercy is no vice. It is also no virtue. Let us do what needs to be done -- no more, no less. Let us be guided by our faith in the Sun, in ourselves, and in the goodness of those who would stand for Creation. Let us believe." [20:43] 14Mildly: "I believe that we will win." [20:44] 5 A wax ball flies across the room with a thwack, punctuating Stranger's statement. Xu Sim's idle hand has constructed a tiny onager, perfect for terrorizing a schoolteacher, perhaps. Xu, for his part, looks at his hand in some disbelief. [20:47] 14Stranger: "So let's get to winning." [20:48] 13Xia Lan: "We should start by getting out of here." [20:48] 14He looks about the room. "As hospitable as the accomodations have been, I agree." [20:49] "No violence, however. We will need these people manning the barricades for us shortly." [20:49] "I doubt we'll need it." [20:49] 4“It would not do to alienate needed allies." 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Dawn sizes up the crowd. There's a lot of people who look like trouble here -- it's a mercenary job, after all, and inexperienced and out-of-work mercenaries most of all. They're anxious, too, and anxiety breeds hostility. There don't even seem to be enough guards here to contain the riot all these armed people could start if it turns out no job materializes. [20:50] 5 Xu Sim re-arranges himself as is practicable, having discarded his burnt robes for the simple beige smock of one of the clinic's patients. It's not a very intimidating look. [20:51] 14To Xu Sim: "Then you underestimate the importance of a victory's quality. These armies must be turned back by the blood and sweat of the highest of Creation to the lowest. It cannot simply be five golden heroes descending from on high to save the day." [20:51] 7Great. Hopefully a job does materialize, because Dawn really doesn't have time to quell a riot and pull her target out of it. [20:51] "If it is, then the only lesson learned will be to wait for golden heroes." [20:52] "And frankly, I doubt you wish to be on call so much." [20:52] "I know I don't." [20:52] 13Xia Lan: "As tempting as that sounds, no." [20:52] 14To Xia Lan: "I'd suggest you take the lead on this. I am still hurt, and you're the burgeoning idol." [20:54] 13Xia Lan: "Benefit concerts, maybe..." 13She taps her chin thoughtfully. "I'll figure something out." 14[20:54] * Joins: dammitwho 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> The aspiring mercenaries who aren't starting to get rowdy are mostly huddled up in circles talking or drinking (the warrior's breakfast: rice wine with a raw egg cracked in). Dawn has to look twice to believe her own eyes, but in among those huddles is one group where everyone is dead. Gray, mottled skin, cataracted eyes, the odd bug crawling out of their half-open mouths, passing bread and tea around with a pale woman in big, gauzy white robes. [20:56] 7Um. What? How does that work? Dawn's too good at this to stare openly, but her attention is certainly focused on them. 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Yeah, it's weird. But she sees it. No one else seems to be paying any attention to it either. [21:01] 7Dawn knew Nexus was weird, but damn. 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> At the clinic, there's a heavy pounding on the front door. The doctor opens it and audibly yelps. There's a strange metallic whine, and then someone calls up, "Come out prepared to hand over your weapons." [21:03] 14Stranger rolls his blind eyes. [21:03] "Here we are." [21:04] 14He'll hobble on out first. Perhaps the white-haired man handing over his cane will shame them a bit. [21:05] 5 Xu Sim is second - no weapons or tools, just a white-bearded guy in an eggshell smock. [21:05] 14What's he 'see' when he heads down to the main level? Hopefully they haven't hurt the doctor or the nurse. [21:06] 13Xia Lan: "No, please, these are all I have left of--" 13her voice breaks. She's out third, her pair of hooked swords roped harmlessly together, looking like she's been asked to kill a dear friend. [21:07] 14Ha. [21:07] 5 If it is the famed Gunzosha, he examines it with the curiosity of a cat. [21:07] 4von Hrolfus silently follows. 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> There's no sign of either of them. Those who descend the stairs will see a figure in gleaming silver plate inlaid with designs that seem to ripple in the light. Their voice reverberates, rendered indistinct and inhuman by their massive helmet. Behind them, visible through the windows rather than the doors, are six of the hulking Gunzosha elites. [21:09] 14Not off to a fantastic start. [21:09] 14Before handing over the cane: "What did you do with the doctor and the nurse." 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The armored figure points. The doctor is ducking just behind the door into the apothecary, while the nurse is also using a huge cask of some herbaceous liquid as further cover. [21:14] 14Sigh. [21:15] 14Stranger: "My apologies. We are here to surrender. Do you require their further?" [21:15] *their presence [21:15] 14He indicates the two cowering clinicians. [21:20] 14This woman is off-putting. Difficult to say if it's the armor or something more, but he can't quite get a read on her. [21:21] 13Xia Lan stifles a grimace, still all tears and apologies. You can't play on heartstrings if you can't even get a read...! [21:22] "Specifically, I would like to return to house arrest at the treatment facility. I am on the verge of a breakthrough in the treatment of the honey-maze. I am willing to serve as a hostage, to ensure the good faith and conduct of my... companions... here." [21:22] 14Perhaps she'll respect the direct approach. 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> The armored figure: "Civilian authorities will see to them." [21:24] 14Stranger beams. "Excellent." 14He proffers his cane. [21:24] 14Before she can take it, he'll snatch it away. "Which ones?" [21:25] 13Xia Lan: "You won't -- these are important to me..." 13What do they intend to do with the confiscated weapons, in other words? 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> The armored figure turns their head to Xu Sim. "No." [21:29] "No, I assure you, I think some additional tests are all that I need to determine how to cure the condition," 5 protests the alchemist. [21:29] 14Mild irritation. You can't just tell them what you want up front, Xu Sim. You have to make them think it's their idea! 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger doesn't get a direct response. Instead they turn on their heel and say: "Turn in your weapons. You have ten minutes." 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Then they walk out. [21:30] 14Stranger: "They're learning." [21:30] 4“An impasse?” [21:30] "We can't cajole them into doing what we wish if they won't talk to us." [21:31] 13Xia Lan: "But... my swords..." [21:31] 14To the doctor and nurse: "Go upstairs. Stay there until morning." [21:31] 13Are they still listening? It's important to stay in character if there's even a chance. [21:31] 14To Xia Lan: "Your best play might be to try sneaking out across the rooftops." 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> The door's still open, so they easily could be. Beyond the gunzosha a crowd is forming. Whatever happens out front this morning, there's going to be an audience. [21:32] 14Oho. [21:32] "Unless you like playing to an audience." 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Dawn stalks around, staying on the peripheries. But the prickle of apprehension lets her know she's been made, and it materializes until she wheels around, weapon drawn, staring down the barrel at a demonic blue mask and two fine crossed swords. [21:33] 13Xia Lan: "They're all I have left of her!" 13she cries, dropping to her knees at the doorstep, ignoring Stranger. How dare you imply that she's playing it up for the crowd. [21:35] 4“The clock’s ticking." [21:37] 7One moment, Dawn's leaning casually against a building, the next, the long barrel of her firewand spins off of her back and into her ready hands. "Howdy. You'll want to put those down before somebody gets hurt." [21:43] 14Stranger: "Let me think." [21:44] 5 Xu Sim eyes the barrel the nurse was hiding behind. [21:44] 14Oh no. 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> The masked figure collapses into a defensive posture, carefully and reluctantly lowering their swords a split-second later. [21:48] 7Dawn smirks. "Smart. Now, I'm guessing you wanted a word?" 7She doesn't lower her gun, not yet. 15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> The masked figure's voice is youthful but hoarse. "In private." [21:57] 7Dawn: "A peaceful word, then? Other words we can have right out here in the street." 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> The masked boy gestures. Lead on. [21:59] 7Dawn appears to contemplate it a moment, then puts the rifle away as fast as it came out, beckoning her 'attacker' to follow. [22:01] 14After staring at the barrel, then the alchemist, then the idol, then the barrel again: "...Xu Sim." [22:01] "What can you do with medicinal herbs?" [22:01] 14He briefly sketches out a plan. [22:02] "What  can't  I do with medicinal herbs?" 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> The masked boy sheathes his swords and follows. Where does Dawn lead him? [22:03] 7I'm sure Dawn can easily found a place where they won't be overheard by anyone who doesn't run up on her. 14[22:04] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [22:15] 5 After hearing the plan:  "Well, it's an idea, I guess. Let's see here..." 5 The alchemist begins scooping up reagents by the handful and monopolizes the entire clinic's tiny pharmacy and all the tools it has present. [22:16] 14Stranger consults with the rest of the group as well. Then he heads upstairs to talk to the doctor. [22:23] 7Once she finds a suitable spot, Dawn stops and crosses her arms. "Well, let's have it, then." 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> The boy unmasks and Dawn sees her mark in the flesh. Scruffy hair, giant scar, even the scowl matches. "I'm not going back with you." 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "I know who you are. I know who sent you. I'm not going back." [22:27] 7Dawn: "Straight to the point. Good. Why don't you want to go back?" 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm not fighting my family's wars anymore." [22:33] "Strange position for a man your age. Most of 'em can't wait to bring glory to the House, craft their own legend, and so forth." [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, who took an overnight watch, has now awoken from his catnap and finished a coffee. "Alll right, I'm hearing they want us to surrender our weapons and march off to prison or something?" 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka looks away. "It's more common than you think. Nobody wants to admit it." 14[22:37] * Joins: hrolf_mac [22:38] <@Ferrinus> "Where I come from," 12Keldar says, "Which is here, when someone demands your sword, you give it to them." 12There's no question what he means. [22:38] 14Stranger: "No." [22:38] "We need them. Specifically, those armored suits." [22:39] 7Dawn leans against a wall. "Well, shit, kid. I don't want to drag you back kicking and screaming, but I bet someone does. They told me to give you a talking to, but if it comes right down to it, if I come back empty-handed, it's my ass." [22:39] "Put the fear of the Sun into that Lookshyan, but no killing unless they make it necessary." [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You're not getting me into one of those, and from what I hear you're not getting anyone else in either unless they spend half their life gettin' injections. Be nice if they were on our side, but, hell, be nice if the Emissary were still alive." [22:40] 14Stranger: "We don't get to choose whether or not the Emissary lives. We do get to choose what happens here." 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "They'd just send someone else anyway." [22:40] "And we're not taking down six of the damn things." [22:41] "Not in our condition." [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Five of us, seven of them. Even if you could use another day, we've got it." 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "What happens if you have to kill the person you're hunting?" [22:42] 7Dawn: "So if you know you're going back, what'd you want to talk about? You have to know mine are the gentlest hands you could end up in." [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I mean, you can try whatever you're trying, and I can certainly... explain the stakes they're playing for, if they don't seem to understand them. But the only way those bastards are getting my sword is point first." [22:42] 14Stranger: "The street is full of people." [22:42] 14Stranger: "Fine." [22:43] "I just ask that it's not your first point." [22:43] 7Dawn: "Depends on the person I'm hunting. I've hunted some sons of bitches I was glad to put in the ground. Some that made me, and while I didn't like it, they made their choice. If they didn't make me and I didn't want to... I try not to put myself in that position." 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Tell them you had to kill me." [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I've been in here a day already, but I can wait a little longer. What've you got Xu Sim doing over there...?" [22:45] 13Xia Lan: "Sun's work." [22:46] 7Dawn: "Kid, it didn't take me a day to find you. And I'm better than most, but someone's bound to notice you ain't dead. Especially if you want to go around setting people on fire." 7Dawn smirks. [22:46] 4von Hrolfus: “This could end badly." [22:47] "Potency guaranteed," 5 notes the sorcerer.  "Xia Lan, you should probably open up with a bit of a disclaimer before your performance... I wouldn't want anyone to get sick." [22:47] 14Stranger: "Getting everyone within sight of this building high as hell." [22:47] "Colloquially speaking." [22:49] "I'm aiming for a mild euphoria. Without using any honey." [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Should I be finding a cloth to breathe through, then?" [22:50] 13Xia Lan: "It'll be fiiiiine." [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar finds a cloth to breathe through. And hey, it can look pretty cool to have the bottom half of your face covered up. [22:53] 13Wow. She JUST said. [22:56] 14To Keldar: "Yes." [22:56] 4von Hrolfus plans to just hold his breath for a bit. [22:59] 14Smart man. 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "By then I'll be somewhere else." [23:04] 5 Xu Sim examines the materials at hand. Larger ideas for the future are tucked aside. A brazier is a simple enough tool to burn sage or similar reagents in a controlled way. Constructed at a larger scale, a device could create a much more substantial quantity of fumes. The building's chimney, a cauldron, some firewood, and a handful of devices for controlling the smoke and heat should suffice... [23:07] 7Dawn looks thoughtful. "I'm not much of a liar, kid. And it's still my ass if I come back saying I killed you. Besides, you really think they're going to believe me? Aren't you a Dragon and all?" 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "They sent you to catch me. They wouldn't have sent someone who couldn't beat be. Waste of money." [23:08] 5 Then, Xu Sim sets himself to the task of using some very simple household chemicals - plus some pinches of this and that - to make some simple performance-enhancing pyrotechnics - the sort of things that are expended by the ton at any Immaculate religious festival on the Blessed Isle. 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> *beat me [23:09] 5 Something to make some brightly colored smoke - the flashy sort of stuff that (he imagines) people expect to see at one of the performances of the Unfettered Xia Lan. [23:10] 7Dawn: "So if you don't want to fight in your family's wars, what're you doing sneaking around in a demon mask with swords drawn, in a mercenary training ground?" 14[23:11] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[23:11] * Joins: hrolf_mac [23:12] 4von Hrolfus sniffs the air carefully, trying to ascertain if it’s started yet. 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I still want to fight." 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Nexus needs help." [23:14] 7Dawn: "For what, that it's worth all this?" [23:14] "I can control this fire very simply by holding on to this rope," 5 he demonstrates.  "And, of course, safety first - if I let go, the fire will extinguish itself for want of air." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "What do you care? You're just going to leave when you're done anyway." [23:16] 5 Xu Sim holds up a handful of small, wrapped, paper balls to Xia Lan.  "You can use these in your performance! Each will produce a bright smoke and a sharp, loud noise." [23:16] 13Xia Lan: "I can. But. What happens if I do?" [23:17] "Just throw them at the ground. Never at anyone's face, do you understand?" [23:18] 14Stranger: "I suggest we lay off the noisemakers until the crowd is good and drunk off the fumes." [23:18] "...but what happens if I do." [23:18] 7Dawn: "If you're asking me to put my life and my job at risk, I'd like to know what for." [23:18] "They have some big weapons out there. We don't want them jumpy." [23:18] "What happens if you produce bright smoke?" [23:19] 14Stranger: "Hopefully they just get confused." [23:19] "We want them off-balance and uncertain. We don't want them opening fire on the crowd." [23:19] "It's a delicate touch." [23:19] "And we don't have all that much control over it." [23:19] "But it's the only play we have left." 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> There's always chaos, hostility, and murder. [23:20] 13Some people have experience in that. [23:21] 5 As the ancient poet said, welcome to the jungle, we got fun and games. [23:22] 14Stranger grimaces. "Let's throw a damn party, then." 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "This city is doomed. Everyone's getting sick, there's no law anymore. Raksha are coming. Lookshy is already here." 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "Everybody's fighting because they want something. There's not enough people fighting to help." [23:25] 7Dawn pulls her hat off, rubbing the back of her head. "Well, hell, kid. If I can't go back, you're not leaving, and there's no law... this job stinks, anyway." [23:26] 13Xia Lan: "I mean, sure. I'm up for it. But, again: what happens when we do that." [23:27] 14To Xia Lan: "Then we see what kind of people the Lookshyans are." [23:27] "Either they let it happen, and we talk some sense into them." [23:27] "Or it's the bloodbath this was always going to be." [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Seems like you can just cut out the party part, then." [23:27] "Keldar of Nexus will not surrender his weapon, and I will not ask him to on the part of some trumped-up fucking regionals." [23:28] 14To Keldar: "They need to be made to feel they're not in control of the situation. Psychologically." [23:28] 4von Hrolfus tenses in anticipation. [23:28] "In a pinch, the smoke can cover your glorious charge, and my glorious escape," 5 he points out. [23:28] "But they need to be deprived of that control in a way that doesn't trigger their training." [23:29] "We want to avoid blood in the streets." [23:29] "In the confusion, we approach the one in the armor, and we make our demands clear." [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Dunno. You want people sharp enough to know to run if fighting breaks out, right?" [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We're big on street theater here, but that's only a hobby you can have if you've got good reflexes." [23:30] "If I see anyone that intoxicated, I'm cutting it off for everyone." [23:30] "Given the machinery they've brought, running isn't believable. Those things are street-sweepers." [23:30] "Our only chance is a fight not breaking out to begin with." [23:31] "Magnificent," 5 mutters Xu Sim at the mention of the terrible power of the Gunzosha. [23:31] 7Dawn: "Not too often you see someone willing to give up comfort for principles." 7She extends a hand. "Can't ask any less of myself." [23:31] "We must shame them into not using them." [23:31] 4“And if it does despite our best efforts?" [23:31] "Then we fight. And deal with the consequences." [23:31] "And they will not be good." [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Still seems like slightly worse odds for the audience. And, hell, it might just makes the Lookshyans contemptuous." [23:32] "I do not wish to explain to Pellicia why we went to war with the Lookshyans, regardless of bystander casualties." [23:33] 13Xia Lan: "We need an olive branch. [23:33] " [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Now imagine explaining to her why you did that but also got a bunch of passers-by wandering dumbly into traffic." [23:33] 14Stranger: "Keldar, the question is not whether we're to do this. We have prepared the whole thing. We have feverishly manufactured this gambit. The question is whether you're in or out." [23:34] "If you're out, sneak up onto the roof and hide yourself to strike unexpected should we fail." [23:34] "If you're in, get in." [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12The mercenary shrugs. "Just seems weird. But if it doesn't get in the way of the Lookshyans hearing what we're saying I guess it's all the same." [23:35] 5 Xu Sim pulls heavily on the rope. There's a roar of fire and a rush of air moving in to the chamber. [23:35] 14Stranger: "Weird is all we fucking have these days. Everyone stay sharp. Our time is near up." [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's tied a clean cloth across his mouth and nose and done a few idle stretches. His sword's sheathed at his side and he's waiting by the door. [23:45] 4von Hrolfus lets out a deep breath. “I think perhaps I should just let the fumes from this vile concoction get to me.” [23:45] 14Stranger grins. "Live a little." 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka looks at Dawn skeptically for what feels like an awkwardly long time before he takes her hand and shakes it. [23:51] 7Dawn: "Got a plan to go with your ideals? Because 'this town sucks, and I want to fix it' is a pretty big item to start with." 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "We were supposed to be joining the Guard. But the Sergeant, Pellicia, never showed, and neither did the mercenary captain, Khelendros." 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "Nobody showed." 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Dawn can hear that back at the top of the Hill, the crowd's getting more and more boisterous. Session Time: Wed Nov 08 00:00:01 2017 [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar comes sauntering out of the clinic, dressed in leathers and clearly armed, even as the entire local neighborhood becomes increasingly giddy. He looks up the street, then down the street, then around at the arrayed Lookshyans. [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I might've misheard - you're here on Dorma's behalf, right? He wanted to see us?" [00:16] 14Stranger lingers in his wake. Just in case. [00:16] 14...The song's pretty good. 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> The Lookshyan doesn't turn around. They're facing the increasingly jubilant crowd, leaving their back exposed to Keldar. "Turn in your weapons. Two minutes." [00:18] 4von Hrolfus walks out to catch the last of the exchange. “I don’t see what difference that would make. We are living weapons.” [00:18] 14A fair point. [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar pauses to take this in. "We got a saying: an armed society's a polite society." 12He waves vaguely. "Look at all this. Completely peaceful. Not a care in the world." [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm happy to explain things to your boss. I'm sure he and us can see eye to eye. But that means neither of us'll be kneeling, and that we get escorted, not arrested." [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12He turns back to look the masked enforcer right in - well, right in the mask. His expression doesn't change, and his voice doesn't change, but there's suddenly menace rippling around him, a shapeless psychic pressure that leaves even the chemically-bolstered Gunzosha remembering that they're human. "So this is ending peacefully. Right?" 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> The armored giants recoil, shiver, groan, and stand fast. 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Their finally turns around, armor rippling and rearranging as if their back side and front side had been flipped all along. 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's ending," they say before they attack. 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: High Judge Zuniga 14[00:45] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:42] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[04:21] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[08:44] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[09:04] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[09:45] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:53] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:18] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[13:28] * banana|peels is now known as banana|sleep 14[20:17] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[20:17] * Joins: hrolfy 14[21:10] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) Session Time: Thu Nov 09 00:00:01 2017 15[00:05] * Disconnected 15[01:25] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[01:25] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[01:25] * Topic is 'Exalted: Imperfect Circle (THU 8PM EDT) | Exalted: There Can Be No End (TUE 8PM EDT) | Shadowrun: The Looking-Glass War (MON 8PM EDT) | http://i.imgur.com/0XkYldr.png' 13[01:25] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@sorcery-q06iee.res.rr.com on Mon Oct 24 22:19:06 2016 14[01:25] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[01:25] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[01:29] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:31] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[01:31] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[02:03] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:55] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[05:02] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[05:02] * Joins: tom 14[05:55] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[06:25] * banana|sleep is now known as banana 14[07:11] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:11] * Joins: VoxPrime 15[08:06] * Disconnected 15[08:06] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[08:06] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[08:06] * Topic is 'Exalted: Imperfect Circle (THU 8PM EDT) | Exalted: There Can Be No End (TUE 8PM EDT) | Shadowrun: The Looking-Glass War (MON 8PM EDT) | http://i.imgur.com/0XkYldr.png' 13[08:06] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@sorcery-q06iee.res.rr.com on Mon Oct 24 22:19:06 2016 14[08:07] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:39] * banana is now known as banana|peels 15[13:15] * Disconnected 15[13:15] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[13:15] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[13:15] * Topic is 'Exalted: Imperfect Circle (THU 8PM EDT) | Exalted: There Can Be No End (TUE 8PM EDT) | Shadowrun: The Looking-Glass War (MON 8PM EDT) | http://i.imgur.com/0XkYldr.png' 13[13:15] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@sorcery-q06iee.res.rr.com on Mon Oct 24 22:19:06 2016 14[13:15] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[13:25] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:11] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:50] * Joins: hrolfy 14[19:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:26] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:48] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:01] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 . [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 | [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 . ]#[ . [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 \_______/ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 . ]###[ . [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 \___________/ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 . ]#####[ . [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 \_______________/ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 . ]#######[ . [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 \___________________/ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 . ]#########[ . [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 \_____]##.-----.##[_____/ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 |__|__|_| |_|__|__| [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 |__|__|_|_____|_|__|__| [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ########/_____\######## [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 |_______| [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 /_________\ [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12A few messages and invitations await members of the Squared Circle as a new day's sun rises over the roof of the prestigious Scarlet Palace hotel. 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Messages are fun! [20:27] 4Is there anything from Marek? [20:28] 13Or the Emissary? [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Firstly, a circumspect note merely signed -L advertises a joint meeting somewhere in the undercity to discuss a potential joint venture and a few other civic issues. This seems like random nonsense, but a few subtle details in the penmanship make it somehow obvious to the right reader that the note comes from the sorceress Arianna's demon adjutant. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Second, something awfully similar comes from... the Thorns embassy. The seaside city's Emissary has apparently heard of your importance to the city and is interested in some kind of meet and greet. 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That's a dangerous word to capitalize. [20:33] 4Yes, yes. Is there anything from the boys? [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, it shouldn't have been, my mind was just elsewhere. The emissary from Thorns is a diplomat named Typhon who's come to the city with a whole retinue of bureaucrats, skeletons, etc. [20:33] 13That's... good for him... [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12It sounds like the Lunars' "witch" is finally in town, or at least near town. From what it sounds like, they weren't able to track down the heavenly assassins that nearly killed Azer'jol, and aren't sure that Marek's new face is going to end up serving as anything more than bragging rights. [20:37] 4Well. Fair enough. 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Typhon of Thorns. He can wait. But how long?" [20:41] "We actually owe them any explanations, or is this more of a fact-finding mission?" [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Doesn't seem urgent, so you can either decline or arrange a meeting at your leisure. [20:41] "Might do better not talking to them for now." [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Given the wording of the message, it just sounds like he, a foreign diplomat, is interested in learning more of the city and aware of how important various of you have become to local goings-on. [20:41] 11Berg: "Seems like you've got a lot going on." 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I suspect he just wants to size us up. Maybe make us an offer to do something dreadful." [20:43] 4Ir: "Seems like we gain more from being shy than not, then." 15[20:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "There's Arianna's letter... I wonder what they want." [20:46] 13Ying: "Probably something way better than whatever Typhon's thing is." 13Something about that guy doesn't sit right with her. [20:47] 4Ir: "We should find out." [20:47] "We're still gonna hit that vault soonish, right?" [20:49] 13Ying: "Yeah... gosh, everything just happens so much. We've been so busy lately!" [20:52] 11Berg shrugs. "Well, now that a threat is merely looming, I've got time to kill. Maybe literally, depending on how things go." [20:52] 4She grunts. "Seems like we have some other stuff to take care of before that. Might be related to the Vault, or our Lunars, or both." [20:52] "The kruthik." [20:54] 13Ying: "We kinda never did look into that any more, huh? Just, 'wow, that's weird,' then left." 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We've been really busy." [20:55] 4Ir: "Well, let's take care of that, then." [20:55] 4To Berg: "Hey, you remember those bug fucks we messed up at that village that one time?" [20:55] "They're here." [20:55] "In Nexus." [20:56] "Wanna go hunting?" 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "There's the Whispers, and then there's the Queen of Blades who conceded to Rose in the Arena." [20:56] 11Berg smirks. "Of course." [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12It's probably all under control, such that "wow, that's weird" is the sum total of what could be expected from you on the matter. 08[20:57] 4To Eikichi: "We don't have anything current on where blade-lady is, do we?" [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12That said, there's plenty of avenues available to the Circle if they want to figure out what's going on: you could listen for gossip or guard reports of kruthik sightings, try to find tracks or spoor... [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Or, yeah, look into the records of the Dark Arena and figure out where the 'Queen' came from. 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Could check arena rolls." [20:59] 13Dork Arena. [21:00] 13Ying: "Do they make you give an address or something?" [21:01] 4Ir: "Would only matter if it was one of the ones where she had to register. But wouldn't hurt." 08[21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12That's actually going to be pretty easy, between Blossom's via-Ir access to a ton of logistical paperwork and the fact that Eikichi's set a second-circle demon on a couple of the Arena bureaucracy's minor functionaries in order to force them to do basically everything Wild Rose might want. [21:05] 13Ying puffs out her chest and stands stiffly, arms straight at her sides: "Hello, fellow normal gladiators. I can be found at Definitely Not The Sewers Street, which is a real place, that I live at. Thank you do not ask questions." [21:05] 4Ir: "Do we have a moral opinion on the kruchik?" [21:05] "'Cause I get the feeling that lady might." [21:05] 11Berg: "Have you learned any more about them? Last time they seemed no more than mindless beasts." [21:06] "Beyond extremely strong organizational tendencies, don't think we have anything new." [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, also that they're highly adaptive. The last nest you busted up seemed to have been hybridized with a bunch of fungus species. [21:08] 13Ying: "Um. I guess if we can avoid killing 'em, I'd prefer to? But I'd rather the people here be safe from whatever threat they pose." 08[21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12All it takes is for Eikichi to send a runner off with a message, or perhaps to draw a certain rune in ink on the nearest bit of parchment at hand. Then the wheels are turning, and a scant few hours later there's a mass of liquid, living shadow oozing across your table at the Scarlet Palace. 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "This is my lawyer," 10says Eikichi by way of explanation. [21:12] 4Ir: "That's fucked up." 08[21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12It comes writhing up from Eikichi's heels, crawls up one table leg like a slime mold, stretches across the entire tabletop, and then runs down back down to seep into the floor. It leaves behind... documentation, completely cool but, for some reason, smoking slightly. [21:13] 13Ying: "Um." [21:14] "...I guess I never really knew how lawyers worked." [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12These are either copies of internal Arena logistical documents or simply stolen examples of same. Specifically, there are notes on the "Spine Queen (or Queen of Spines, or Queen of Blades, or... there are a few hypothetical arena nicknames)" - the office that one of the Queen's agents came to to request a meeting, the seedy downtown bar in which an arena agent went to meet the Queen, [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12what she told them, and what the arena itself speculated as to her provenance and capabilities. [21:14] "That always happen?" 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oh, no. Usually it's much worse." [21:15] "Well that's great." [21:16] 13Ying: "...then why's that your lawyer?" [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12The Queen's weight class, so to speak: "Chosen". That's the indication that she has the power of one of the Exalted, which means one of the Dragon-Blooded; you guys would still be "Anathema"-class, as you're not normal Chosen in the general public imagination. Apparently she's written down to fight to the death, to be able to bring in pets in lieu of artifact weaponry or equipment, [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12and there's a note to make sure that there's some kind of screen or at least a good ten yalms of space between her and anyone else in the audience. Explains the venue choice. 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "No one better." [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Further notes assume she's some kind of demon, and that it would be good to find her summoner if there is one, but apparently that was never followed up on. [21:19] 4Is there really much to infer from the 'fight to the death' rider? Ir was under the impression you had to put in significant legwork to get that one. [21:19] 4And it helped if you started at the top of the power rankings. [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Here's what this means to you: you have a description of the man who served as the Queen's messenger/go-fer, and the location in the undercity where she was seen to be hanging out - and seemed to be some kind of regular - when recruited. That means you know where to go to start asking questions or just plain following tracks. [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Technically anyone's free to fight to the death - it's more exciting and therefore it pays better. The interesting thing here is that she's only fighting to the death. Or, put another way, refuses to guarantee that any opponent of hers lives. [21:21] 4Well that's tedious. [21:23] 13Ying: "So... do we want to try and track her down just, walking around as us? We're pretty, um." 13She looks over to Bergsveinn. "Noticeable." 08[21:24] "Makes the most sense. Might want Wild Rose to come instead." [21:25] "The fight-to-the-death types seem to have blindspots when it comes to people who beat them and let them win. Good or bad." [21:26] "To be fair, noticeable I may be, but no one here knows me. Clearly the same can't be said for you all." 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Rose could go looking for the Queen, yeah." [21:28] "Rose?" [21:28] "I might come with. Dunno the extent to which she gives a shit about Arena cred, but I've got some now." 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Sounds good." [21:32] 4Ir: "Anyway, I'm gonna make us brunch, then we can head out. Berg, Ying, you can come with or go scout out the Kruchik in the Firewander district. They've made a home there to some extent." [21:32] "Sure run wild in the streets enough." [21:36] 13Ying: "Mmmm... do you think she'll make a scene?" [21:36] "We could be backup..." 13Scouting in Firewander's also pretty smart, though. So. [21:37] "Most people that go around calling themselves queen of something or other tend to." [21:37] 4Ir heads downstairs to make some Eggs from Hell. 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Maybe I can give her some lessons in modesty." [21:37] 4Probably flatbread and some eggs with deviled yolks for sides. [21:38] "Scouting seems more my style, unless you expect to fight her." [21:39] 4Ir walks back in with the food as Berg talks. "Hoping not to." [21:42] 13Ying: "I guess it depends on whether she'd be threatened by two other arena fighters showing up at her place. And adding more people probably doesn't help there." [21:43] "Well she lost to Rose straight up, so Rose and I should be able to handle it." 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "Conceded, obviously. I never met her. You two saw her fight a bit, right?" [21:44] "Oh. Right." [21:44] "She was okay." [21:44] "Efficient." [21:48] 13Ying: "Lots of claws." 13She makes a face. [21:53] 4Ir loads one of the poached eggs into a flatbread with a bunch of the spicy tomato sauce, rolls it up like a pouch and inhales it. The sauce came out real good this time. "Should probably still be able to take her if it comes down to it." [21:58] 13Ying: "Well... hopefully it won't!" 13Not much else to do, there. "So... in Firewander. Should I go as me, or as Dexys? Not sure if we wanna trawl around where those guys have been going..." [22:00] 4Ir: "Go as you. If Dexys is seen hanging out with Berg, and then Berg with us, it prompts some questions we don't need." 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "If you want to go incognito, it'd be better to make new costumes." [22:03] 11Berg: "How many alternate identities do you people have?" [22:03] 13Ying: "Not nearly enough." [22:04] "I try to keep it just to the one for me, and not talk much." [22:05] 13Ying: "Anyway, I don't have anything sketched out for Berg yet... plus having a giant show up with the other crew IMMEDIATELY after one shows up with us might give people the wrong idea." [22:05] "So, regular it is." [22:13] 13She remembers some more details from the arena. "Hey, when I was working in the fighter's hospital, we saw her early-round victims - mostly what you'd expect, poisons, acid burns, claws - but also, like... some kinda parasites? Nothing physical left, but weird holes where there shouldn't be holes. Suspiciously empty spaces. That kinda thing." [22:14] "So... be on the lookout for that?" 13Suddenly, Firewander's much more inviting. 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I'm not worried." [22:24] "So I guess we're splitting up, then? You two go talk to the gladiator while Ying and I look for bugs?" 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Sounds like it." 08[22:25] 4After brunch Ir will get into her usual walking around clothes, flip Iscariot into a series of bangles on her arm, and wait for Wild Rose to get ready. [22:27] 13Ying: "Good luck, you guys! Don't get stabbed!" 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose isn't visibly armed; she's wearing a ruffly white shirt and some pants made of that blue fabric Ying loves so much. "No promises." [22:30] 13SHE DOESN'T 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She's got to admit the evidence is substantial. [22:31] 4Ir waves a lazy mock salute. "I'll make sure she doesn't get stabbed." [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, scenic Firewander. This is, most likely, the first trip to the area for both Ying and Bergsveinn; only Ir and Blossom have been there before. It's a sunny day, and the air above the district is pretty clear - much more so than the air over Nighthammer or Nexus central, certainly, since so much less actual business or industry goes on there. [22:32] 4As they walk: "So what's your personal tolerance level for bullshit from this one." [22:32] "Just asking so I know when to go hot." [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12The streets and alleys are loopy and mazelike. The architecture is dilapidated, with buildings leaning against each other like drunks after the bars close. There are splashes of weird color across walls and walkways and people's faces; irregularities in the figures of the beggars, workmen, and dogs who roam the streets. [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Berg and Ying don't get far before they can feel the very air of the place start to sizzle against their skins. Fortuntately, it only takes a moment's concentration to dispel the sensation and ensure that no one will be growing extra eyes or something for staying in here too long. 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "We shouldn't get any more ridiculous than she does. But she's a demon insect, so we've got cap space." [22:35] 13Weird and gross. Urgh. [22:35] 4Ir: "Sounds good to me. I'm guessing she's gonna be keeping at least a couple of them like pets, but if a pack shows up I'll probably start shifting weapons form and calling armor." [22:36] "Might give you a look first. Might not. Depends if those spitting fuckers are with her." 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "I hope it won't come to a fight." 10She doesn't sound optimistic. [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Tracking game in Firewander is difficult not for the lack of trails but for the preponderance of them. Footprints of far too many different shapes have drawn themselves in the soot and grime of the district's streets, and smells bizarre and otherworldly mingle with the usual aromas of cooking, sweat, rotting garbage, and other aspects of city life. I'll tell you this much - it never [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12smelled this bad up north. [22:39] 4Ir shrugs. "I hope it doesn't come to a fight in a crowded area." 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "There'll be a crowd. It mostly won't be people." [22:40] "Well, hey. If it is, it won't be for long." [22:41] 13Ying's pinching her nose to try and keep out the stench. "Gross! This is like the hotel when we first got there!" [22:42] 11Berg: "I've smelled worse, but usually only on battlefields." [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Bergsveinn and Ying are spiraling inward, now. At the center of Firewander is "the fire", the actual vortex of chaos that sits at the heart of the neighborhood. Aaand - yep. Berg's sure the trail lists away here, trailing left towards a huge, dilapidated tenement. On the other hand, the actual smell of fresh Kruthik - as well as screeching, scuttling, and what seems to be the sounds [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12of battle - are emanating from the other direction, towards the center. 08[22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Eikichi and Ir descend into the dark. Night and day mean less in the undercity than they do in aboveground Nexus, and, as well, drinking's a much more attractive proposition. 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10And it was extremely attractive above-ground already. [22:43] 4Ir: "We don't pay enough attention to down here. Guess that's by design." [22:44] "But I don't have single soup kitchen that serves here." [22:44] "There's a trail that leads one way, but sounds and smells like they're this way. Maybe the older trail leads to their nest?" [22:44] "But it sounds like fighting, so we should check that out first." [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12The watering hole the two are approaching is nestled in the eastern undercity, close to the edge of Nexus proper. Several aqueducts and sluiceways meet, and while they slope off in one direction the two Solars travel in the other, following a pathway of smooth, tiled stone that must hail back to original Hollow. [22:45] 4Well. At least it's isolated. 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "There's not law enough down here to protect anything we draw attention to. Only just law enough to get in our way if we hit back." [22:45] 13Ying: "Old trail and a new one? New one first - especially if there's a fight," 13she agrees. She starts hopping from foot to foot, stretching. Who knows what they'll meet over there? 08[22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12It's quite austere... for a few yalms. One turn later and Ir and Eikichi have found themselves in an entire underground neighborhood, hung with paper lanterns and covered by twin canopies of stone and chemical haze. People shuffle around cloaked and hooded for the most part, and not a single stall or building has so much as a nameplate. [22:46] "No law but coin law in this city. And we're richer than the Queen is, if only in trade." [22:46] "...Well, shit." [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12The air and temperature here doesn't quite match what it was back in the waterways - this neighborhood must be capitalizing on some still-working First Age geomancy. Indeed, many of the nick-nacks being surreptitiously traded look like occult items to the discerning eye, featuring lots of birds' skulls, feathers, crystal fragments, and such. The tavern, so to speak, that you're [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12looking for is towards the back, nestled against a natural wall. 08[22:50] 4Quietly to Wild Rose: "So how much of this is a roadside killer's stop and how much is a good faith effort, you think?" [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Bergsveinn and Ying turn a corner, and see a battle raging before them! It's not clear, though, which side they should be rooting for. [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12There are these tall, emaciated, dog-like things with fangs, claws, and exposed 'bone' spikes that seem to be made of silver, and they're fighting alongside larger, bipedal versons of themselves that seem to have chunks of masonry and geode formations in place of proper musculature. They're fighting against kruthik - a small swarm of the doglike kruthlings backed up by a firing [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12line of serpentine spine-throwers. 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose looks around, her eyes glazing over golden from edge to edge. "There's a lot of magic here. Essence leakage from old Hollow falling apart. I think it's too convenient to be a trap. It's an accident being exploited, like what grows under a log after it rains." [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12The kruthik are probably going to win, although it'll be a bit and both sides are taking casualties. [22:58] 4Ir: "Guess that's good. In a fashion." 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "Let's hit the bar." 10What's the scene like in there? [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, those are silverwights. They steal children to eat their dreams, although they usually return them. [23:00] "Now we're talking." [23:01] 13Um. Can they both lose? [23:01] 13Wait, why are they even fighting? Kruthik aren't children. [23:01] 11Territory, probably. [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Funny thing is, the babies usually grow up fine. The problem is that what'll happen is the silverwights will slaughter everyone else in a village or caravan or something to get 'em. [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12That is weird, though. [23:03] 11This does sort of seem like a "clean up whoever wins" situation, though. [23:04] 13Ying: "You're seeing this too, right? I'm not imagining it?" 13She's pinching herself to no effect. "I don't think we've heard anything about silverwights around here lately..." [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir and Rose proceed through the little occult neighborhood and towards the bar. This place is a real rarity - no one calls out at them to come look at some wares or buy some street food or listen to an evangelical pitch or just toss a few drachma over. Many ignore them or turn away. You don't think you're being recognized, necessarily - just that no one's got business with you in an [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12area dominated by secrecy and suspicion. Maybe there's a Civility at work. [23:04] 4Ir's debating keeping Iscariot in a war form, but there's probably no need if this isn't an actual trap. [23:04] "Definitely seeing it. Not sure we should let either group leave." [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12In fact, you're even challenged at the door of the bar. A tall man in a cloak, whose hood is somehow lit from inside by his face: "Got business here?" [23:05] 4Definitely isn't normal, though. [23:05] "Do now." [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12He looks suspicious. "Haven't heard nothin'." [23:06] 4Ir: "Business is this. I want to go inside and pay money for drink. You appear to be impeding trade." [23:07] "Here there are rules about that in this city." [23:07] "Unless we're not in Nexus anymore." [23:07] 13Ying: "Well... we could follow the kruthik off to wherever they're going? And then stop 'em there instead?" [23:07] 4She laughs. "Then this whole conversation changes." [23:07] *Hear 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose has a slight scowl on her face, silent behind Ir. The intimidation effect is incidental; she's a little offended no one is staring. [23:08] 4Ir's irritated as well -- mainly because she feels like she's walking through the first act of a cautionary tale about not stopping at that alluring, lit-up inn on the hillside just aways off the road. 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wild Rose: "I want words with the one who calls herself Queen. I know she comes by." [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12As Bergsveinn and Ying look on, they can see the tide of battle begin to shift decisively. The silverwights and silverhulks are falling and dying, getting poisoned and clawed apart. As their forward ranks fall, the kruthlings leap savagely upon them and start to eat, apparently having no problem chewing their way through what's basically bolts of solid silver wrapped in dry leather. 08[23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12The man's face twitches slightly as Wild Rose speaks, and the color of the glow rising from beneath his color deepens and flickers. He looks - well - actually Ir thinks she's seen that look on Eikichi's face before. [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Man: "This- you see a sign on the door? Private residence." [23:14] 4Yeah? What sign? Thought none of these places were marked. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, exactly. Therefore, it's not advertising goods and services, and therefore... 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That normal mix of emotions everyone always has all the time. [23:15] 11Berg: "There will be more of them there, but we need to take them down." [23:16] 13Ying: "We gotta know more about 'em. What they're doing here, why they're even fighting these dumb silverwights, where they come from. If we follow 'em from a distance we'll get more out of it, even if the fight's gonna suck." [23:17] "But I'm gonna be really mad when they just go to the other location we ignored to come here." [23:17] 4Well we knew it was a damn tavern somehow, right? [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Yep, you're not imagining things. Clearly, though, local conventions have evolved such that people all throughout this neighborhood have an easy time being secretive. [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Some of the kruthlings who've been chowing down begin to double over and seize. Additional, silver spikes are sprouting out of their backs and tails. At the same time, a large, spider-like kruthik creature - looks a bit like that hive guardian/overseer thing you fought in Ember Valley, ages ago - comes scuttling down the side of a nearby building. [23:20] 4Ir grins. It's not pretty. "You're a funny guy. Funny guy. I like that. Humor and comedy, I think they're great. So since I like you I'm gonna let you and the rest of your penny-ante fakeass town know you have a choice." 4She's raised her voice a little bit. [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Its eyes glow various shades of green and orange, and some of the kruthik begin to gather up and cocoon the fallen silverwights. Others burrow down into the dirt and cobblestones of the square. [23:21] 11Berg: "Great, are they mutating?" [23:22] "We're not here to fuck with you. We're not here to fuck you. We're here looking for someone. When we have our five minutes with her we'll be on our way, and we'll forget any of this ever happened, because I'm gonna be straight with you here: honestly, neither of us care about your bullshit." [23:22] "Your choice is whether we wait for her out here, or we wait for her in there." [23:22] "And I'm afraid my mood is getting worse out here by the second." [23:23] 13Ying: "I guess? They work quick, huh." [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Before long, half of them have moved off, carrying the wrapped-up silverwights and silverwight corpses on their backs. The others have remained behind, burrowed and waiting. You suspect the moving group is going the same way you were. [23:25] 13Ying: "Ughhhhhhhh." [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Sorry. [23:26] 11Berg: "We probably don't want them to do whatever they're going to do with those, even if it means leaving these ambushers behind." [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12You can still crush the lot if you go in, like, Right Now, but your fate is your own. [23:27] 13Ying: "Let's do this!" 13She'll wait for Bergsveinn to actually leap in first, though - he's, ah, a bit more built for this kinda thing. [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12The man stares with widening eyes at Ir as the full implications of her words sink in. The glow from his face tries momentarily to stand up in the face of the glare of Ir's caste mark, and fails; in the dawn's light, the door guard's complexion is revealed to be a sallow and faintly greenish one. He swallows hard. 14"W-watch the first step." [23:30] 4Ir: "I'd say you might not like me when I'm angry," 4she says as her caste mark lights up. "But just between you and me, I'm always angry." [23:31] 4She winks and pushes inside. 08[23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12The man tries to share a 'can you believe this' look with Wild Rose, but is likely disappointed. [23:36] 4Your fault, asshole. [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Elsewhere, Bergsveinn and Ying charge boldly forward! In response, there's a crashing, crumbling sound as recently-buried kruthik minions burst up into the sunlight, and a cacophany of hisses as the creatures rally against you! 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wild Rose gives him a less aggressive wink as she sidles past him. [23:37] 4Like Rose asked -- what's the scene like? [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a shady and weirdly-lit place that Ir and Rose find themselves in. Candles of every conceivable color light up card games, seances, alchemical experiments, and meditation sessions. Many of the drinks visible behind the bar don't seem fit for human consumption. Almost everyone is wrapped up in robes, and a few of them seem to have luminescent flesh just as the doorman did. [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12People look up as you enter, then look back away, then visibly double-take as they realize they weren't imagining the eight-pointed star on Ir's brow. A few people towards the back are immediately getting up to shuffle out of sight. [23:40] 4As she walks to the bar, loudly: "I know I look good but you've got five seconds to stare and then you'd better look away or fucking run." [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12It's about sixty/forty. [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12You're not mean enough to block the door, are ya? [23:42] 4Hell no. [23:43] 4Fucked up thing is this is the coolest place Ir's been to since they hit this town. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, it's a considerably emptier drinking house that Ir and Rose find themselves surveying after about a minute of anxious hurry. 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Fair enough. 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Who stays? [23:45] 4Ir brought winnings money on her person in case this thing required bribes. Is the bartender one of the ones that sticks around, or one of the ones that runs? [23:47] 13As Berg makes his move, Ying leaps forward into the horde of kruthlings like the world's cutest bowling ball, scattering them around her! Soon, she's practically dancing in and out, kicks heading in all directions as the kruthik drop like flies. Why'd she make Tatsuya fight the sea monster, again? [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12A fair few. The bartender's still there. There's still a circle of people either whispering, chanting, or praying around a red candle in the corner. Half of a poker game is continuing on as though nothing'd happened. There are a few glowing eyes peering at you out of slats in doors leading deeper into the building - which would have to mean, deeper into the wall the building's set [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12against. [23:50] 4Ir: "Y'all still open for business to pushy women with weird shit on their heads." [23:51] 4Glowing eyes? [23:51] 4Finally, someone in this damn city understands aesthetic. [23:56] 11Berg's got the other side, reaching out with a huge hand for the spinethrowers. They're slippery and try to evade the big man's grabs, and he nearly misses 'em... until his huge hand closes over the head of one. With one wide swing of its spiny body, he somehow manages to make a spinethrower katamari -- impaling the other spinethrowers on this one's spikes. When he's done, he casually discards the wad of kruthiks behind him. [23:57] 4Ir takes eye contact as a 'yes.' "Y'all take common currency here? Money's money, yeah?" [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12The bartender's a woman with a weirdly raspy voice. "Abszzolutely." Session Time: Fri Nov 10 00:00:00 2017 [00:03] 4Ir opens the bag at her waist and starts dropping silver coins on the bar. And keeps dropping them. And keeps dropping them. Something like 80 in total -- all dinars. "Two of the best hard liquor you've got, two of whatever my friend wants, a round for everyone with the fortitude to stick around and keep the change." 4She looks around the bar. "We're not here to fuck with your [00:03] money." [00:04] 4Wasn't using that shit for anything else. [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12The bartender, to her credit, skips not a single beat. She picks up the coins the moment Ir explains what's being bought with them, and takes to immediate action - bringing bottle after bottle down from the bar, hissing something to bring other robed people out from the corners to start carrying drinks along, etcetera. [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12The room releases its collective breath. Everything's fine! Right? [00:06] 13Ying dodges the attacks of the kruthlings and disappears into the horde. They lose her for just a moment - but a moment's all it takes, as she continues wrecking house. She stops kicking when there stops being kruthlings to kick - which takes shorter than she expected. Ying turns her focus now to the queen, stance at the ready. [00:06] 4Well that's up to them. [00:06] 4When it's business, it's business. And this is business. [00:07] 4But Ir just takes a stool at the bar and enjoys her first drink. 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wild Rose drinks the mushroom wine they grow down here in the Undercity. She loves it, but it's impossible to justify coming down here for a bottle and no one sells it topside, where grapes are. [00:10] 4Pretty sure we could walk away with the reserve if Ir kicked in some more of these dinars. [00:11] 4Let's see how the afternoon goes. [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir and Rose will just kick back for the moment, then? [00:12] 11The remaining kruthlings part before Berg, and he rushes forward, scooping up the queen, spinning rapidly for a brief instant, then hurling her away from him into the pavement with such force it leaves a literal, honest to gods crater behind. [00:13] 4Seems like a plan. [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Terrible, terrible damage is done to the kruthik... what is this, like a hunting party? You're able, for good measure, to stomp on any still-living silverwights, slay kruthling stragglers, and so on. Unfortunately, here in Nexus, no one's going to reward you for civic duty unless you got yourself a contract first. [00:14] 13Once the smoke from the crater clears, Bergsveinn can hear Ying clapping, impressed. "Woooo! Nice!" [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12The day unfolds around the two slumming Solars, and unfolds even more smoothly once the drink's really flowing and once Ir's caste mark has died down. The two gladiators are able to ease into the venue and get a feel for it, in part by making conversation and in part by simply listening and thinking. [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12They immediately get a sense that this place is particularly secretive and exclusive, even by the standards of the neighborhood. It seems that most get in here with explicit invites or passwords, and it's because some of the stuff dealt, consumed, or traded in here is actually banned by some Civilities (though nothing's against the Dogmas, of course.) [00:21] 4Ir pays for further drinks as they come, and tips well. 14[00:23] * Joins: hrolf_mac [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12In particular, besides various cursed amulets or near-suicidal stimulants, there's something that people call "jelly". From context it's some kind of magical reagant or enhancing drug - some are desperate to get it, or to get more of it, or are suspicious of it and staying well away. It's associated, of course, with the "Queen"... who hasn't been around much lately. [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12However, you know who knows her. There are a few people you can point to, now, who work with her closely, and who might therefore know where she's to be found, or have even gone there herself. A man in the corner there, and, it turns out, the bartender. 14[00:24] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:25] 4Well then. [00:25] 4How's he looking? [00:25] 4Drinking alone? [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12The man's a heavyset guy with a scraggly beard who is drinking a lot alone. The bartender's got glowing eyes, luminous veins, and a calm disposition. [00:27] 4To Rose: "You want the bartender or the sad boy?" 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "The bartender. I'll talk to the sad boy." [00:28] 4Ir grins and nods. "Tender! Another." [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Here's something Rose notices about the bartender - at a certain point, while the 'tender is pouring a drink out for Rose, some other patron comes shouting up to get the lady's attention, forcing the bartender to turn rapidly away and deal with it. [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Even though she lets go of the wine bottle, though, it keeps floating there, swaying slightly as if held by an uncertain hand, until the bartender seems to remember herself to pick it back up. 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Damn. [00:31] 4We're all weird as hell. Does Ir miss this? [00:31] 4And if so, can Rose pass it along? 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose'll subtly point it out if so. [00:38] 4Ir caught it, it looks like. 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then she crosses the room to the corner table, letting the chair she pulls out scrape across the floor before sitting down. 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Does the man react? 14[00:39] * Joins: mattbaby [00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12He does, but it's mostly to blink blearily up at you. "...need somethin'?" 12There's something odd about this guy - a certain cragginess to his features, a certain width to his proportions. The way the slate gray that's creeping into his brown hair looks like actual slate... [00:42] <@Ferrinus> 12...could this be one of the jadeborn? How did one of them wind up in Nexus's undercity?? [00:43] 4Wouldn't be the most fucked up thing today. That'd be having to terrify our way into a bar. 15[00:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "You're a long way from the Mountain, stranger." [00:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Man: "Helluva long w-" 12He narrows his eyes slightly. "-wwwhat're you talkin' about?" [00:45] 4Aren't we fucking all. [00:45]  [00:46] 4Ir turns back to the bartender. "A word with my drink." [00:46] <@Ferrinus> 12The bartender: "Mmm?" 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wild Rose: "Okay. I'm going to give you two choices. You can play coy, or you can keep your dignity." [00:48] <@Ferrinus> 12He stares for a long moment, then pinches the bridge of his nose and shifts his weight so he's leaning forward on the table rather than backwards in his seat. "...fine. What." 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wild Rose: "Who was she before the kruthik?" [00:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Drunk jadeborn: "A... fixer, I guess. Courier, negotiator, assassin. Worked for some sorcerer." 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you know who?" [00:53] 4Ir: "She's not gonna show up, is she?" [00:53] <@Ferrinus> 12He shakes his head. "Never told me. Real secretive. Then she was gone a little while... and then she was back. With the charms, and the jelly..." [00:53] "Not while..." 4Ir doesn't directly gesture to the corner table, but close enough. 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "How long's it been?" [00:55] <@Ferrinus> 12The bartender follows Ir's gesture, then rolls her eyes to herself and continues polishing a glass. There's actually a second glass polishing itself behind her. "I'm sure he'd like to think so. No, if she's away, it's probably work." [00:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Bartender: "But why ask?" [00:56] 4Ir: "Because I like to know precisely what shit I'm gonna step in when I put on the boot." [00:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Jadeborn, to Rose: "Weeks? Maybe a little less." 12This squares with Rose's experience; her 'fight' against the Queen of Spines was around the same time, or a little later. [00:58] 4Casually, but with the knowledge that every word said here will probably reach the Queen eventually: "And I might be single, but I dunno how a man stays functional that deep on an early afternoon." [00:59] 4Casually, but with the knowledge that every word said here will probably reach the Queen eventually: "And I might be single, but I dunno how a man stays functional that deep on an early afternoon." [00:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Bartender: "He's got a hollow leg, that one. I'm not sure when he last drank water." [00:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Bartender: "Maybe he can't. We're all a little funny, here." [01:00] "Fair enough. Maybe I'm not one to talk." 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wild Rose: "You followed her here alone, didn't you." [01:01] <@Ferrinus> 12He pauses, then sighs. "...yeah. Stupid, maybe." 15[01:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "Did she even notice?" 15[01:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "What do you think they say about you back in your warren?" [01:03] 4Ir: "She ever check in, at least? On him; on the bar. Even if just by proxy. Not asking for details; just a yes or no to see how much of my time I'm wasting." [01:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Jadeborn frowns to himself as he considers. "I... I thought she did." [01:10] <@Ferrinus> 12The Jadeborn* [01:10] <@Ferrinus> 12He adds: "Maybe it doesn't matter, though. We've all got our orders." 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "What are yours?" [01:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Bartender: "Nah. She just asks me about him occasionally." 14[01:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [01:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Jadeborn: "Had to fix stuff. Old machinery. But it was a long trip and we got waylaid." 12He takes a drink. "Job got half-done, then couldn't be completed, and on the way back... well, I'm here, now." [01:12] "And if he's drunk as a lord down here -- and maintaining that figure -- then he's not making troubles up top. I feel it." [01:14] 4She turns back towards the bar and leans forward, taking another sip from her drink. Strong as she likes. "She strike you as someone worth being sad in a bar about for the rest of your bank? Pretending, of course, that's a sane outcome to start with." [01:14] <@Ferrinus> 12She nods, understanding. Wait, she talks to the Queen regularly? "Honestly? She has her strong points... but no." [01:16] 4Ir nods. "Didn't think so. More importantly, though, given the degree of depression in this man: you think she did at one point?" 15[01:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "The pylons?" 15[01:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "You weren't with Jori's outfit, were you?" [01:19] <@Ferrinus> 12The jadeborn appears to rack his brains. "Knew a Jori. ...don't think we're talking about the same one, though, she's dead." He seems to recall something. "I'm Jimi, if you're gonna ask." [01:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Jimi: "And I don't wanna know how you know to ask." 15[01:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Doesn't take a mind-reader to know what you're thinking." [01:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Bartender: "Couldn't tell you. Her type... it's easy to imagine, if you've never met one." [01:22] 4Ir: "Had a friend working medical one night she was fighting. Had another friend who was going to fight her. Never met her, but I can imagine quite a bit." [01:22] 4Ir: "Don't usually associate dipshit boys in their drinks with that type, though. Especially not ones with capability." [01:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Bartender: "That's not what I mean. Jimi over there... dunno where he's from, but I don't think he'd ever met a neomah before." 15[01:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "Who's her master now?" [01:24] "Huh. It's like that." [01:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Bartender: "Can't be helped." [01:24] "They fuck?" [01:24] "What am I saying." [01:24] "Even if they didn't, he got the outcome." [01:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Jimi: "I told you, I don't know. Leena never told me." 12Leena, Leena... you've heard the name before. 15[01:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wild Rose, loud enough to carry across the bar: "Son of a bitch!" [01:26] "Point is, we're not trying to him and we're not trying to kill her. And we're not on some matchmaker shit." [01:26] 4Ir lets the outburst go. 08[01:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Jimi blinks owlishly at Wild Rose. Across the room, people turn to stare, or desperately lean protectively over their drinks or occult knick-knacks, or whisper to each other with redoubled intensity. [01:26] "We just want a word, and we want to understand the word before we have it." [01:27] 4Ir will not-quite-inconspicuously turn to glare at anyone who's giving Rose's new table too much attention. [01:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Bartender: "You want me to pass something along?" [01:28] 4Ir: "I do." [01:28] "I don't know the content of it yet." [01:28] "I'll need to confer with my associate." [01:29] "But I suspect its outline won't be too surprising." [01:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Rose and Ir can put their heads together, and Bergsveinn and Ying can bump fists... next week. 14[01:35] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:49] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[01:54] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:34] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[04:01] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[04:07] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[08:22] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[09:08] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[09:22] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:31] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:31] * Joins: Crion 14[11:16] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:32] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[16:06] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[16:56] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[17:32] * Quits: Quaker_ (Client exited) 14[17:32] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[17:33] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[18:11] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[18:13] * Joins: hrolfy 14[18:25] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:26] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[18:29] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:30] * Quits: Quaker_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:43] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:43] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[21:21] * Quits: VoxPrime (Quit: ) 14[23:49] * Joins: hrolf_mac Session Time: Sat Nov 11 00:00:00 2017 14[00:01] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[00:23] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:37] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[01:00] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[01:15] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[01:18] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[01:22] * Joins: hrolfy 14[01:26] * Quits: tom (*.net *.split) 14[01:26] * Quits: trenchfoot (*.net *.split) 14[01:26] * Quits: hrolfy (*.net *.split) 14[01:26] * Quits: @Ferrinus (*.net *.split) 14[01:26] * Joins: tom2 14[01:26] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[01:26] * Joins: hrolfy 14[01:26] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[01:27] * Ferrinus is now known as Guest26721 14[01:41] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:00] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Connection closed) 14[02:08] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[02:20] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:26] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[02:30] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:44] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Connection closed) 14[02:53] * Guest26721 is now known as Ferrinus 14[02:53] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[02:58] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:10] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[03:11] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[03:29] * Joins: dammitwho 14[07:13] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[08:39] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[11:31] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:41] * Joins: hrolfy 14[12:00] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:01] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:10] * Quits: hrolf (Connection closed) 14[12:13] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:17] * Quits: hrolf (Connection closed) 14[12:17] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:22] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:46] * Quits: tom2 (*.net *.split) 14[12:46] * Quits: cbass (*.net *.split) 14[12:46] * Quits: banana (*.net *.split) 14[12:46] * Quits: @Ferrinus (*.net *.split) 14[12:46] * Quits: Zarick (*.net *.split) 14[12:46] * Quits: VoxPrime (*.net *.split) 14[12:47] * Joins: cbass 14[12:47] * Joins: tom2 14[12:47] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[12:47] * Joins: banana 14[12:47] * Joins: Zarick 14[12:47] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[12:47] * chara.hub.sorcery.net sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[12:59] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[13:41] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:50] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[18:27] * Joins: hrolf 14[19:03] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:36] * Joins: Quaker 14[22:53] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[22:55] * Joins: tom 14[22:56] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:56] * Joins: hrolfy 14[23:57] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sun Nov 12 00:00:00 2017 14[00:20] * Joins: hrolfie 14[00:23] * Joins: Quaker 14[00:23] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:23] * Joins: bananaphone 14[01:31] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[01:37] * Joins: Crion| 14[01:41] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:52] * Joins: bananaphone 14[01:56] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[02:04] * Joins: bananaphone 14[02:08] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[02:14] * Joins: bananaphone 14[02:17] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[02:20] * Joins: bananaphone 14[02:24] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[02:24] * Joins: bananaphone 14[02:28] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[02:38] * Joins: bananaphone 14[02:45] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[03:10] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[03:12] * Joins: Quaker__ 14[03:12] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:12] * Quaker__ is now known as Quaker 14[03:14] * Quits: Quaker_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:35] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:40] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[04:03] * Joins: hrolfie 14[04:09] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:12] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[05:17] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[07:05] * Joins: hrolfie 14[07:09] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:10] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[12:51] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:38] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[13:53] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[15:55] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:58] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[16:18] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:29] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:12] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:13] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[18:23] * Joins: hrolfie 14[18:40] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:49] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:22] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[19:31] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:24] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[20:24] * Joins: Crion Session Time: Mon Nov 13 00:00:00 2017 14[01:33] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:33] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[02:25] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[04:29] * Joins: hrolfie 14[04:33] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:39] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[05:39] * Joins: Quaker 14[05:40] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[09:32] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[11:30] * Joins: tom 14[12:41] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:43] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[12:44] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:10] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:53] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[15:46] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:46] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[15:46] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:29] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[19:11] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[19:46] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:08] * Joins: hrolfie 14[20:20] * Joins: dammitwho 14[23:38] * Joins: tom2 14[23:41] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Tue Nov 14 00:00:00 2017 15[00:15] * Disconnected 15[00:15] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[00:15] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[00:15] * Topic is 'Exalted: Imperfect Circle (THU 8PM EDT) | Exalted: There Can Be No End (TUE 8PM EDT) | Shadowrun: The Looking-Glass War (MON 8PM EDT) | http://i.imgur.com/0XkYldr.png' 13[00:15] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@sorcery-q06iee.res.rr.com on Mon Oct 24 22:19:06 2016 14[00:15] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (NickServ (GHOST command used by GreatClownVoxPVoxD)) 14[00:15] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD is now known as VoxPVoxD 14[00:15] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[00:52] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[00:54] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:24] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[01:33] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:17] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:21] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[03:21] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[03:21] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[03:50] * Joins: hrolfie 14[03:54] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:41] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[06:48] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[07:05] * Quits: banana (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:05] * Joins: banana 14[10:20] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:24] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:24] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:11] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[12:40] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[19:20] * Joins: hrolfie 14[20:26] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:33] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[22:06] * Joins: mattbaby [22:06] i'm forgetting one aren't i 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> ? Session Time: Wed Nov 15 00:00:00 2017 14[00:00] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[00:56] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:04] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[01:06] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[01:08] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:17] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[01:26] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[02:12] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 15[03:05] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed Nov 15 03:05:22 2017 Session Start: Wed Nov 15 14:49:12 2017 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:49] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:49] * Topic is 'Exalted: Imperfect Circle (THU 8PM EDT) | Exalted: There Can Be No End (TUE 8PM EDT) | Shadowrun: The Looking-Glass War (MON 8PM EDT) | http://i.imgur.com/0XkYldr.png' 13[14:49] * Set by VoxPVoxD!VoxPVoxD@sorcery-q06iee.res.rr.com on Mon Oct 24 22:19:06 2016 14[14:49] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 13[14:56] * ChanServ changes topic to 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 14[16:15] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:04] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[19:06] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:11] * Joins: hrolfie 14[19:38] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[19:43] * Joins: Zarick 14[20:11] * Joins: dammitwho 14[21:47] * banana|peels is now known as banana|split Session Time: Thu Nov 16 00:00:00 2017 14[01:18] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[01:22] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:22] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[01:39] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[01:53] * Quits: Quaker_ (Client exited) 14[02:05] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:21] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[03:19] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[03:22] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:38] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[04:13] * Quits: cbass (*.net *.split) 14[04:13] * Quits: @Ferrinus (*.net *.split) 14[04:13] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[04:14] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[06:55] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[06:56] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[06:59] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:44] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[11:02] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:21] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[11:23] * Joins: cbass 14[16:16] * Joins: Crion 14[19:43] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[19:46] * Joins: tom 14[19:56] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[20:06] * Joins: hrolf 14[20:11] * Joins: dammitwho 14[21:09] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:57] * Joins: hrolf Session Time: Fri Nov 17 00:00:00 2017 14[00:44] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:25] * Joins: hrolfy 14[01:27] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:05] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:06] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[02:34] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[03:06] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[05:26] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[06:17] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[09:48] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[11:49] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:57] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[12:58] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:02] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:02] * banana|peels is now known as banana|peelsX2 14[14:11] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[14:38] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:05] * Joins: Crion_ 14[15:05] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:02] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[18:00] * Joins: hrolfy 14[18:39] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:17] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:28] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[20:36] * Joins: tom 14[20:53] * Joins: Quaker 14[21:16] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[21:34] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[21:35] * Joins: Quaker 14[21:37] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[21:38] * Joins: Crion 14[21:39] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:39] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[21:43] * Quits: trenchfoot (Quit: Leaving) 14[22:33] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[22:41] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[22:56] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sat Nov 18 00:00:00 2017 14[00:21] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[00:22] * Quits: Quaker_ (Client exited) 14[00:51] * Joins: hrolfy 14[02:11] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[02:14] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:29] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[07:44] * banana|peelsX2 is now known as banana 14[09:08] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[11:47] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[12:02] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:07] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:39] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[12:40] * Joins: hrolfy 14[13:01] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[13:16] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:04] * Joins: hrolfie 14[14:07] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:31] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:48] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[17:00] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:00] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[17:00] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:58] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:23] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:56] * Joins: Zarick 14[19:10] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[19:14] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:34] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[19:45] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[19:47] * Quits: Quaker_ (Client exited) 14[20:58] * 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(Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:03] * Joins: hrolf [20:04] <@Ferrinus> 12 [20:04] <@Ferrinus> 12 ^^ .-=-=-=-. ^^ [20:04] <@Ferrinus> 12 ^^ (`-=-=-=-=-`) ^^ [20:04] <@Ferrinus> 12 (`-=-=-=-=-=-=-`) ^^ ^^ [20:04] <@Ferrinus> 12 ^^ (`-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-`) ^^ ^^ [20:04] <@Ferrinus> 12 ( `-=-=-=-(@)-=-=-` ) ^^ [20:04] <@Ferrinus> 12 (`-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-`) ^^ [20:04] <@Ferrinus> 12 (`-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-`) ^^ [20:04] <@Ferrinus> 12 (`-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-`) ^^ [20:04] <@Ferrinus> 12 (`-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-`) ^^ [20:04] <@Ferrinus> 12 (`-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-`) ^^ [20:04] <@Ferrinus> 12 (`-=-=-=-=-=-=-`) ^^ ^^ [20:04] <@Ferrinus> 12 (`-=-=-=-=-`) [20:04] <@Ferrinus> 12 `-=-=-=-=-` 08[20:21] <@Ferrinus> "Leena..." 12says the battlescarred mountainfolk warrior Jimi, in the back of a clandestine bar in a shadowy, essence-suffused corner of Nexus's undercity, and for Eikichi at least a number of things immediately resolve themselves. [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Probably not for Ir, although it'll be a quick explanation. Meanwhile, at the edges of Firewander, Bergsveinn and Ying have a heading on what must be some kind of lair or staging ground - a mess of leaning-together buildings that've been glazed by drippings of frozen quicksilver, sheets of multicolored webbing, and other such decorations provided by the Wyld zone's random outbursts. [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12At the same time, Blossom finally puts a few contract issues to rest and finds herself with the rest of her day free. Where did everyone go...? Maybe they left notes. [20:26] 7Huh. Where did they go? [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, did you folks leave notes? 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi left a note that Rose and Ir were going to the Undercity, and Berg and Ir were going to Firewander. There's a little doodle of cartoon Blossom feverishly doing paperwork while everyone else plays outside beneath a shining sun. [20:28] 13Ying: "These things are so gross." [20:29] 4Well, currently Ir's lounging at a bar somewhere undergorund. Some sunlight would do this place good. 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose's lips are pursed as she stares through Jimi at some point in space behind his slumped shoulders. "Listen to me." [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12They're fairly gross. The kruthik mostly bleed red, but also seem to contain various glowing fluids that variously glow toxic green or fiery orange, and it's probably a bad idea to stand downwind of their corpses for long. [20:31] 11Berg: "It must be pretty bad down here if there's two different kind of horrible monster fighting for territory. Maybe three now, since we're here." [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12At the moment, our heroes are at liberty to withdraw and regroup if they choose to. Conceivably, Bergsveinn and Ying pressing on right now might allow them to confront or discover something before the destruction of the hunting party is noted and compensated for, though. [20:34] "I'm not horrible or a monster," 13she pouts. Are there any visible kruthik out here, or just their lair? [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Tell that to the religious authorities, lady. And no, there are no more visible - just their strewn-about corpses from the extermination the two of you undertook. Off to your right is the actual heart of Firewander, the vortex of wyld energy that periodicalyl disgorges monsters like the silverwights that the Kruthik were fighting. Somewhere to your left is the path the kruthik were [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12trying to take before you interrupted them - in combination with Bergsveinn's earlier tracking, you're sure it's some kind of lair. [20:36] 7Hrmph! Blossom will show him. She's going to spend her time profitably, learning! Learning about soil! 08[20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Jimi, as one might expect, looks morose and despondent. He scratches idly at his quartz-and-basalt beard (that's about 90% metaphorical) before looking over at Wild Rose. "Yeah?" 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "Stay out of trouble. If you think there's going to be trouble, you come to me. That's an order." [20:37] 11Berg: "I suppose we'd better head back. If we got lucky, that was all of them out hunting, but I wouldn't bet on it." [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Jimi: "Where do I findja?" [20:38] 4Gonna be trouble eventually. Probably soon. [20:38] 11Berg: "Back into the cave, I mean." [20:39] 13Ying: "Wh- oh, right! Yeah. We should hurry before the rest of them figure out what happened here." 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Topside." 10She directions to the Palace from the nearest exit from the Undercity on a napkin and passes it over. 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10she writes* [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Jimi: "And that's an order? ...fine." 12He looks to have mixed feelings here. 15[20:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Who doesn't? [20:42] 4Ir's wondering about more immediate consequences. Mainly if they're going to get jumped on the way out of 'town.' They've wandered into something a bit strange here. 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well, let's find out. Rose catches Ir's eye and she gestures. Ready to go? [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12They might have if not for Ir's display, but at this point it'd just be a fancy means of self-immolation for anyone who wants to go out memorably. 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Again: who doesn't? [20:43] 4Ir nods, turns back to the bartender, grins and leaves the last of the money clip as tip, just as she planned. [20:44] 4Once outside: "He seemed nice. Drunk and depressed, but nice." 15[20:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "We'll see what's left of him when we deal with the demon." [20:46] 4Ir: "We killing her?" 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Once they're a ways into the undercity and there's no one visibly around: "Arianna's demon. Arianna's breeding and commanding the kruthik." [20:46] 4Low whistle. 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "If it were up to me. But we have to go tell the others." [20:46] 4Ir: "Maybe we should see if we can rustle Swan up again." [20:46] "Where'd we let that guy slip off to, anyway?" 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "Back to Arianna. They're circlemates." [20:48] 4She sighs. "Guess we'll have to make an appointment with her then." [20:48] 11Berg scratches his head. "Or rather, they're usually in a cave, but I guess those are in short supply around here. Their lair, wherever it is." 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "We've got a standing invitation we can call in." [20:49] 13Ying: "No, I got what you meant. It's been a busy day." 13She's bouncing from toe to toe now, nervous about the next fight. "Maybe that was all of 'em...?" [20:50] 4Ir: "I'd say we did pretty well for ourselves. And all it cost was a bunch of petty cash." [20:51] "Let's check back in on Blossom and see if Ying and Berg are back." 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "We didn't even have to break any chairs over people's backs." [20:51] "Shame, really." 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "There'll be other bars." [20:52] "That'd be great, but considering how fast the damned things multiply, I suspect that's unlikely." [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Berg's sure he's headed in the right direction, and Ying becomes increasingly convinced. As the two navigate Firewander's disused central neighborhoods, they note that even the mutated life of the area is becoming increasingly sparse, and the background noise becoming increasingly quiet. There's little vegetation to be found, and what's there is warped in a distinctive way - bark [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12smoothed to chitin, vines with fangs instead of thorns. [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Besides those minor details, things are eerily - deceptively - still. Bergsveinn and Ying can hear very soft noises in the distance, soft grinding and cracking noises that might be stone crumbling or creatures chewing. There's an occasional soft buzz. But it's not really clear where the sounds are coming from, and it's hard to hear them over the crunch and rustle of garbage at your [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12feet - the streets around here are littered with paper, fallen panels, and other crud. [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Then Bergsveinn realizes - hidden beneath the garbage, threaded between the cobblestones, is a carpet of greyish biomatter he's seen before in the north. And it's slightly disturbed, bulging ever so slightly, right there where Ying's about to step--! [21:03] 11Berg throws out a huge hand, keeping Ying from stepping on a horrible monster that's more or less made of teeth. [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Even worse - it would've exploded. A living alchemical landmine. [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Better step carefully around here. [21:04] 13Ying freezes in place, looks around carefully, nearly falls over at the sight of the thing she almost stepped on, and winds up more or less clinging to Bergsveinn's hand. [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a long avenue ahead of Bergsveinn and Ying, dilapidated buildings on either side. At the end of it is a huge structure covered in what looks like spiders' webbing that most of the noises are coming from. Dare you approach...? 08[21:05] 7When and if Eikichi and Ir return to the Palace, they'll find Blossom with a few stacks of books around her, scribbling frantically on a piece of parchment. 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Does she have a single enormous sweatdrop? Because if so that's remarkable fidelity to Eikichi's drawing. [21:06] 11Berg: "Definitely looks rough." [21:07] 13Ying: "Y-yeah. Um. I hope there aren't more of these things inside." 13Inwardly, she thinks something rude. Stop doing that! That's jinxing it! 08[21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Nothing stops Ir and Wild Rose as they leave the glowing market and head topside... but something does follow them, or try to. There's a slightly oversized beetle that Rose spots out of the corner of her eye that keeps turning up on walls and ceilings behind them. [21:09] "It's still noisy, so I wouldn't count on it." [21:09] 7She is actually sweating a bit. Looks like she's just come back from working out, or some kind of labor? [21:11] "Let's move in. Stay behind me... I'll try to find us a safe path, but if something blows up, probably better if it blows up on me." [21:12] 13She nods. "Got it." [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Bergsveinn remembers ambulatory bombs up north, but the kruthik seem to have developed something different here - blisters of softly-glowing green gel that just sort of grow out of the creep, then use thin tendrils to cover themselves over with soil and debris. They won't be jumping out of the ground and leaping at you - but they're the least of what surrounds the complex. So, let's [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12see, this place on the left here looks clear... [21:18] 11Berg doesn't know much about what these things are, but he definitely knows that neither he or Ying want to step on them. On the other hand, it's harder to hide green glowing bombs than something less obvious. [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Bergsveinn's pretty light on his feet for someone that gigantic. He's able to guide Ying around several more landmines, over a biological tripwire that would've loosed a snare of razor-edged tentacles, and outside the hair trigger of what looks like a malformed beehive which is, at the moment, dormant. 08[21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Wild Rose beckons Ir close as the pair turn a corner, prepares a kerchief... 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose stops to lean against a wall, mopping her brow with a handkerchief. When the beetle creeps up... [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12After a blur of motion, there's an angry hissing, spitting, and buzzing from Rose's hand as the cloth is suddenly full of bug. There's also a sizzling sound...? Shit, this is going to be really painful to hold after the acid's eaten completely through the fabric. [21:22] 4Whoa. [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Beneath the greenish beetle shell, it's got a segmented, serpent-like body with caterpillar's legs. Glowing orange eyes stare madly at you. Clearly Kruthik-born. [21:23] 13Suddenly, Ying is very glad he noticed that first kruthik gas ball. [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a creak muffled by a squelch as Bergsveinn opens a door into the huge building itself. It's glued shut by some sort of secretion, but not powerfully so - it's mostly gross to watch the mucus or something stretch across the doorframe as you open the thing. [21:26] 13Ying: "So gross." [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12...and then Ying and Bergsveinn are in. Clearly, the big tenement is a cover. It's almost completely hollowed out, held up from the inside by a combination of wooden spars and resin-like webbing. On the inside, it's - well, it's a hive. Pretty much a huge pit sloping down into the earth with what seem to be living structures rising up to scrape the roof of the cover-building. [21:29] 13Yikes. There's no blaring alarm bells or weird high-pitched squealing now that they're in, right? [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a constant grinding, scraping, and patting sound as what seem to be spiky, floating manta rays use huge pincers to carve chunks of crystal and masonry out of the surroundings and then carry them into some of the structures. Various glowing cocoons rise from the ground or hang from the ceiling. Tunnels fall out of sight between some of the 'buildings', presumably leading to [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Firewander's sewers or the greater Nexus undercity. 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose holds the hissing and spitting kruthik larva in her clenched right hand, but it's her left hand that shakes and burns. "You move like an insect. You think like an insect." 10She pulls green glass like taffy from midair and clasps both hands together. "You are an insect." 10She drags her blistered fingertips from a rapidly cooling teardrop-shaped phial that perfectly pins the creature in place, with flue-like vents that air and instruments can pass through. [21:33] 4Ir: "Whoa! Damn." 08[21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12The little beetle-snake thing now buzzes angrily within a cage Eikichi's spun for it. It's not very heavy - you can carry it on with you at your leisure, though be careful where you point the vent so that it doesn't choose to dribble acid onto you. [21:35] 11Unfortunately, being nearly ten feet tall and upwards of three or four hundred pounds makes it hard to be subtle, especially when the ground's made of rough chitin. [21:35] "That thing's been following us since...when, the bar?" [21:35] 13It's second nature for Ying to find the least-visible areas to scout from. Well. First nature? That's a headache waiting to happen. It doesn't even occur to her that Bergsveinn might not have the same instincts or abilities. 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose takes the scorched handkerchief and wraps it around the bottle. "Yeah." [21:36] 11Wouldn't matter if he did. Good luck finding a shadow big enough to hide Berg in. [21:37] 13It's all in your stance. Posture. Making yourself small! [21:38] "What is the little bastard?" [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Berg has basically a moment to survey the scene, then, before the Kruthik colony wakes. Shrill roaring and buzzing fills the entire warren, and burrowed monsters begin to burst forth from the very ground! Several of the 'buildings' themselves seem to wake, too; some turn out to have been piles of sleeping monsters, while others appear to be defensive emplacements in their own right. [21:38] 4Ir leans over to peer down at the beetle, but isn't clueless enough to start like, tapping on the bottle. [21:39] 13Uh oh. 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10After Ir's had a chance to look at it, Rose rewraps the bottle and then pockets it for the trip back to the hotel. 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "Blossom! Is it too warm in here?" [21:43] 7Blossom: "You're back! No, no, I just added punching hot sand to my workout regimen to toughen up." [21:44] "And the sand got me thinking about desertification, which can be a real problem in the Southeast, so I've been reading about soil!" [21:44] 4Deadpan: "Sounds enthralling." 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "Soil? Tell me everything. I need to go change first." 10She puts the kerchief wrapped bottle on the table. "Take a look at this kruthik larva that Arianna's familiar bred in their guise as the Queen of Spines, who has a depressed mountainfolk pining for them in the Undercity." [21:47] 4Ir: "He makes it work for him. The pining and brooding, I mean. [21:48] "I'm gonna make lunch." [21:49] 4She returns shortly with two modest pitzas, one with a red sauce and one with a garlicky white. [21:51] 7Blossom picks up the bottle. "Arianna's behind the kruthik? That's so..." 7She frowns. "disappointing." [21:53] 4Around a slice: "Yup." [21:54] "Guess we're gonna have to stop putting off meeting her. Though she probably knows that by now." 14[21:58] * Joins: hrolf_mac [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12There's suddenly a small army facing Bergsveinn. Huge, spiky bugs with craggy black carapaces and glowing acid dripping from their jaws are advancing on the man, while familiar serpentine things whose mantis-limbs unfold into venomous needle launchers take aim from behind. Two of the "queen" creatures that seem to coordinate affairs scuttle about across the hive, and three different [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12buildings - so to speak - have come immediately to life, lashing razored tentacles around. 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi comes back with his hands scrubbed and lightly bandaged. "She probably wants to get us in on whatever she's doing. So tell me about soil!" [21:59] 4Ir wordlessly offers him some pitza. [21:59] 4Despite her earlier sarcasm, she's listening to Blossom too. 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Hell yes. Eikichi takes a slice of the garlic-and-oil pitza. [22:02] 11In the instant between their ambush springing and the queen in front trying to skitter off, Berg hurtles into the front lines of the kruthik, levelling a kick at it that sends it sliding off-balance. [22:07] 13Ying's there just behind him, roundhouse kicking the very same kruthik. It practically gets knocked right into the side of her foot, before being battered the other way with a blow so forceful it's hard to process that it came from such a tiny terror. [22:11] 7Blossom: "So!" 7She takes a slice of garlic pitza for herself and talks in between bites. "The biggest thing keeping fertile land from turning into desert is plants. The cycle of plant life and the roots they put down keep the topsoil from eroding away through wind or water." [22:11]  [22:11] 4Ir's housing the red sauce one pretty decisively herself. 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Does that mean that we have to change up what we grow to keep the soil fertile?" [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Several of the queen's limbs snap like overburdened branches as Ying crashes into the creature, but the Kruthik colony responds with ferocity. This time, the pink-haired warrior isn't safely behind Bergsveinn as a volley of venomous spines comes down like hail, and while Bergsveinn's just forced to take cover, Ying finds several barbed shafts sticking up out of her shoulders, back, [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12and upper arm. Immediately, her blood feels like it's on fire. [22:19] "Any farmer could tell you that soil is alive - that it's made up of all different kinds of things. First there's the minerals, sand, silt, and clay. That's bit under half. Then there's the plant-distillate, the result of generations of plants rotting over hundreds of years, which makes up the rest of that half. You know that real dark brown, loamy earth? Plant-distillate gives it that [22:19] look. The rest is just empty space that holds water or air!" 08[22:20] 7She nods at Eikichi. "More than that. Every crop you grow depletes the soil, so whatever you take out you have to put back. Farmland in the Hundred Kingdoms sometimes turns into nothing but dust clouds due to overfarming!" [22:20] 13She shrieks in pain and nearly collapses before stumbling to lean against Bergsveinn. "Oh, oh, oh no--" [22:21] 4Ir: "One of the reasons I never liked farming was all the pig shit they said was involved." 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "That just keeps it interesting. One generation's minor trading empire becomes the next generation's marauding dustbowl nomads. That's why the Hundred Kingdoms are fun!" [22:21] 4Hard to grow much in Northern soil, too. [22:22] 7Blossom: "See, individual sand grains are actually quite big and heavy, while the smallest possible bits of clay are quite light. So when the plants can't grow because all the nutrients have been traded away without being restored, the light clay and silt blows away in the wind or washes away with the rains and leaves nothing but sand." [22:23] 11Berg: "Ying! You little bastards...!" 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "So what'll we need to do to keep our land healthy?" [22:25] 7Blossom: "Alright then. So we've got a patch of desert that can't support a community. How do we bring it back to life? Obviously the first thing we do is put back the clay. There are two kinds of clay that are useful for growing, saltblessed clay and dragonbone clay. Either would work, but saltblessed clay means working with salt gods and the salt itself can interfere with crop [22:25] yields." 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi perks up like he remembers something, but he keeps listening. [22:27] 13Another volley, another shriek - but this time, Ying disappears in the fracas. No sign of her anywhere. [22:28] 7Blossom: "To make dragonbone clay, I figure we can make a deal with a minor god of rot. We can find one of those gigatheria or other megafauna and kill it as a sacrifice over our clay store, and in exchange the small god uses the bones of the animal to make it dragonbone clay, and the meat into plant-distillate. Actually kind of a misleading name there, it refers to all kinds of [22:28] organic matter, it's just mostly plants." [22:28] 4Ir: "I'm guessing there are gonna be some unique challenges from being all the way up in the air, too." [22:28] 7Blossom: "Oh, this is way, way before that part of the plan. Got to have a city before you put the city in the sky." [22:29] 4Ir: "Guess that's fair." [22:31] "Once we have our dragonbone clay and plant-distillate, we can summon earth elementals to mix it in with the sand, and we've got the bare bones of usable land. After that, I'm thinking we have our elemental workforce grow ash radishes as a catch crop for the first growing season. Ash radishes are important because they're part of the 'sage root' family, they breathe Air essence and [22:31] infuse it into the soil, and pull useful nutrients from the deep layers up to the topsoil with their extensive root networks." [22:31] "Grow ash radishes, then plow 'em under and let them fertilize the soil." 08[22:32] 7Blossom points at Eikichi, on a roll now. "Now, to answer your question about how we keep the soil fertile." [22:34] 7Blossom: "It's always bothered me how inefficient modern fertilizing techniques are. I mean yes, spread animal dung on the fields, that's a good start, but there's so much wastage!" 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi nods along, working through another slice of pitza as Blossom describes the intricacies of manure. [22:37] "So my idea is - we're going to have tower buildings for residents like back home, right? Issue small ceramic boxes with special lids that make them airtight to each home that they can put food and organic waste into, and larger ones with wheels on the bottom for each building that they can empty the smaller ones into." [22:37] 4Ir chuckles. Wasting waste. 14[22:37] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [22:38] 7Blossom: "Then at the end of the day, or week, or whatever, a city employee takes the larger boxes to the municipal composting site. A huge bin for turning what would have been thrown on the ground anywhere into useful fertilizer!" [22:39] 11Berg is beset on all sides by insane bug monsters, and some bites, claws, and spines strike his bare skin... and glance off harmlessly. As Ying backs off and Berg stands in front of the insect horde... Berg seems to be... closing his eyes? Doing nothing? He spreads his feet, and takes a low stance... and this forces the insects back, somehow. [22:39] "Ooh! Ooh!" 7She leans forward eagerly, a huge grin on her face, eyes shining. "Here's the genius part. Big problems with composting meat, right? It can't be done. Smells awful, attracts stray animals, causes disease if it gets into the water supply." [22:40] "Composting meat. Sacreligious," 4Ir grumbles. 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "Being able to make holistic use of food waste from the whole community would be great. What've you got?" [22:41] 7Blossom: "Oh, you know what I mean. The bones and sickly animals and that sort of thing. The stuff people don't eat." [22:42] "Anyway, you know how people use charcoal to ward off bad odors? That's the answer! A huge ceramic bin like the smaller ones, but instead of being airtight there are carefully designed openings with removable filters full of charcoal! The stink doesn't get out so it doesn't bother people or attract animals, and the bin is sealed so it doesn't interfere with the water supply. You can [22:42] drain the finished product out the bottom and put it with the rest of the compost to finish turning into useful fertilizer. Nothing wasted!" [22:44] 4Ir: "Hell of a project." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We'll need public announcements reminding people how to sort their trash." [22:46] 7She nods proudly. "And it gets people involved with doing their civic duty, which is important. Maybe Ying can help us with a 'good citizenship' program?" [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12A ripple of silent power, and the horde spreads out... for just a moment. Then Bergsveinn's in a waterfall of spines and blades and acid. 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oooh, good idea. We could put flyers up." [22:47] 13Meanwhile, Ying is currently dodging around the various pools of acid and rain of spittle while trying not to cry. The poison hurts so much... [22:47] 4Ir: "Seems like something you'd want to structure sort of like training troops for. But plowshares instead of swords." 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We'll need to train everyone initially, but after the initial settlement there's question of ongoing education... learning is something we need to build on, like a healthy ecology and public art..." [22:54] 7Blossom: "Yes... we'll need a city guard, too. Really, we'll only want a few jobs taken up by demons and elementals and things. It's important to have places for the ambitious and able." 14[22:54] * Joins: Quaker [22:54] 13There's a few stumbles, and she desperately wants to warn Bergsveinn that she's safe, and getting away, and he should too, but that would give away her position. [22:55] 4Ir: "The monks in Pneuma were near-fanatical believers in the importance of public education, hooked up to mandatory civic service and public planning." 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "Imagine a series of public service announcements. Daily readings, public postings. Little addenda to stories and art for children. Solar Blossom Says remember to put your meat scraps in the blue bin! Tidy trash keeps everyone healthy!" [22:55] "I guess 'near-fanatical believers' is sort of their thing, though, really." [22:55] 13Ying hustles back out the way she came in, sorer but wiser for the experience. She's got to get the others - hopefully they're back at the hotel by now, and they can come help with this mess... 14[22:56] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi beckons across the table, and the little jar of dried pepper flakes floats over everyone in a high arc before settling into his outstretched hand. "Literacy!" 10he says around a mouthful of peppered pitza. [23:00] 4Ir: "Literacy is cool, gotta admit." [23:04] 11Berg leaps out of a literal mountain of bugs and starts slugging one of the stationary spine-throwers. How do you beat an elephant? One fight at a time. [23:06] 7Blossom: "Public games would be nice too, though I think we've agreed no real bloodsports?" [23:07] "Ir, how do you feel about competitive cooking before a panel of judges? The Orichalcum Chef Battle!" [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Bleeding, poisoned, agonized, just completely on her last legs... Ying drags herself out of the hive, and, after a little more time, through the maze of traps that surrounds it. [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Behind her, though, hordes of demonic insects close in on Bergsveinn, blocking him completely from his circlemate's sight. She catches just a glimpse of the giant seizing a gigantic, bladed tentacle and ripping it out of the ground as though he were weeding a garden. [23:11] 4Ir: "Oh hell yes." [23:11] 13This is easily the worst day she's ever had, surpassing the time she watched this happen to other people. 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Can I be a judge?" [23:14] 7Blossom: "People might think that was favoritism? Also you eat Ir's cooking all the time." [23:15] 4Ir: "Even if you say know he'll just bully Ying into giving him a disguise." [23:15] *no 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oh like I'd have to bully her." [23:16] 7Blossom: "Tch." [23:17] 4Ir: "It'd also mean I'd have to recruit Chefs from the other Directions. I'd be the North Chef, of course, but we'd want East Chef, West Chef, South Chef, and Realm Chef." [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Beset on all sides, Bergsveinn can dimly see to the other edges of the hive. The other two defensive emplacements, the things like gigantic flexible scorpions' tails poking out of the ground, are shuddering in place... and finally, each pops up, now suspended on bases ringed with what look like crabs' legs. [23:17] 13Over an hour later, having stayed as much out of the main thoroughfares and the public eye as possible - it wouldn't do for someone of her status as a local fashion designer to walk the streets in bloody, torn-up clothes - Sunlit-Dreaming Ying stumbles into the hotel where the Squared Circle resides, breathing heavily and on the verge of collapse. "Guhhhhhh," 13she says eloquently. [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12They begin to slowly shuffle towards his position. [23:18] 4Bravely: "A worldwide trip to find the modern masters of cuisine will be challenging and delicious, but I can handle it--" [23:18] "Ying?!" [23:18] "You know... now that I think about it, we'd have the resources to set up anyone we wanted pretty well in life. I'm going to kill my family, but-- Ying?!" 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi doesn't say anything, rushing toward Ying with an arm outstretched. She feels herself being firmly but invisibly steadied. 08[23:19] 7Blossom: "Oh gods, Ying! Eikichi, find her someplace she can lie down! Ir, check if she's bleeding! I'll get her some water!" [23:19] 13Ying: "Kruthik! Bergsveinn!" 13She winces as she talks. "I can't - oof I want to lay down and sleep for a week, they were everywhere..." [23:20] 4Ir's already moving. 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then Ying's up off her feet, being held level as if on an unseen stretcher as Eikichi keeps pace, drifting her into the sitting-room. [23:22] 7Blossom quickly returns with a glass of water for her. "Bergsveinn's in trouble?" [23:22] 4Ir is already suiting up. [23:22] 13She keeps talking - it's important to inform them, and it'll help her remain conscious to focus on something that isn't the pain-- "We fought a group of them in Firewander, easy, nothing wrong, not even a scratch. Had a-woop!" 13She wasn't expecting the invisible stretcher. "Had a lead on a bigger nest. Tracked it down. Snuck in. They spotted Berg--" 08[23:22] 4Now that Eikichi's got her handled, at least. [23:24] "I got hit. I don't think he did. I don't know. I hope he didn't get hit. Oh gosh I hope he didn't get hit, I had to run...!" 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A deep bass thrumming accompanies the rippling distortion of color Ying seems to be laid out on. She comes to a stop in the middle of the room, where the light's best. "You were poisoned." [23:25] 13Ying: "Yeah. Some poison spit throwing kruthik. I don't- don't remember if I've seen it before. It almost got me on my way out..." [23:31] 4To Blossom: "We should go to him." 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Hold still. This will sting a little." [23:31] 11The queen looks like it was regaining its balance, until Berg startles a hivemind with a blow that sends it skittering onto its back. 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He smoothly extracts a long, thin spine that had embedded itself up the length of Ying's arm. He spends a moment testing its strength and flexibility before setting it aside. "Or a lot." [23:33] 13She whimpers in pain, but stays focused on Ir and Blossom: "He's a long way away, I'm sorry, I couldn't think of a faster way to get in touch..." [23:33] 4Surely Errant and Ami can get them there...! [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12It'd be a sprint across around a third of the city - but Errant and Ami are quite fast. 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "This was irresponsible. We could have prevented it." 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "No more dangerous excursions without me or Blossom. Or a talisman we can speak through across distance." [23:38] 7Blossom: "I don't understand. Where did you find a hive?" 08[23:39] 4Ir's lips are pressed very tightly together. She'll let Eikichi do the lecturing here, but she is very clearly upset that she was here chowing down on pitza and shooting the shit while her friends were getting hurt in a fight. [23:39] 4'Stopping her friends from getting hurt in a fight' is her major contribution to this whole enterprise. 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Where in Firewander was the hive?" [23:41] 13Ying: "Firewander. Abandoned buildings full of kruthik, there's - they bury themselves in the streets, be careful - we fought 'em in another place, they were skirmishing with some silverwights, we cleaned up the rest easy, I thought this would be more of the same...!" 13She describes how to get to where she last saw Bergsveinn in greater detail. It's a little hard to follow, but there's enough details that you can't miss it [23:41] once you see it. [23:42] "I'm going." 4Ir is heading for the stairs. 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "Bergsveinn won't stop until he's dead or they are. Blossom, go with her - send a Messenger if you need me." 08[23:44] 7Blossom: "Eikichi, you should-- yes. Good. Exactly." 7She hurries out the door after Ir, not too distracted to feel warmed that she and 'kichi are on the same page. [23:44] 4She's mounted up on Errant and urging him forward through the streets minutes later. [23:46] 13Quietly, once Blossom and Ir have left: "...I thought I was helping." 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10When they're gone, Eikichi goes back to patiently tending Ying's wounds while she floats supine on a ring of fire. "You were. One of us wouldn't have survived alone. Now everyone will." [23:47] 4As she rides, her golden armor burns into existence around her, Iscariot on her back. [23:47] 13Ying: "If I had been better I wouldn't have needed to go get help." [23:47] 11The last of the semi-stationary attackers goes flying, and Berg turns to the horde at large. 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "If you had been worse you would have died." 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's not your fault." 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He mutters: "Not yours alone. We were all stupid." [23:48] 13Ying: "...Tatsuya would've won." 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "So would Ahlat. It's not your job to be somebody else." [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Huge, pulsating, but seemingly noncombative structures remain growing out of the battlefield now. For as long as Berg has been, in effect, gardening, a constant hail of scythe-like claws and splashes of acid have been crashing against his skin, but half the time he's managed to angle or position himself such that he's only barely scratched or singed and the other half of the time it [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12seems to just bounce or splash off. Even the kruthik seem to be becoming alarmed - there's a frantic air to the glowing eyes of the two queens. 14[23:50] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [23:51] 4Ir's eyes are on the sky as she curses herself. She should've...should've...looked out the damn window, or something, and somehow known Berg needed help! [23:52] 4Is Blossom following on Ami or riding with her? [23:53] 13Ying: "I can't be Ahlat. I can be- should've been- ugh." 13She closes her eyes. "Is it weird if I'm mad at him?" [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Errant's hooves pound on the city streets. People gasp and, in fact, cheer as Ir goes thundering by, fully armed and armored. Is this some kind of special promotion for her next fight?! 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It's weird to feel emotions at all. I don't think that one's notably weird in this context." [23:55] 4Yeah, let's go with that. [23:55] 13Ying: "Good. I'm glad." 13Eyes still closed. "I hope Bergsveinn's okay." 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "His odds are favorable. He's at least as hard to kill as Ir." Session Time: Sun Nov 26 00:00:00 2017 08[00:00] 13Ying: "Yeah. He'll be- he hadn't been hit yet. They'll ride up and find him sitting outside picking his teeth with a kruthik leg." 13She opens one eye, looking towards Eikichi. "Was your trip any better?" 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We bought a lot of drinks for mutants." 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Met a sad man. Caught a bug." [00:03] 13Ying: "Nice, I think. Why was the man sad?" [00:04] 11Berg has had enough of being shot at. Leaping into the midst of the spine throwers, he starts grabbing them by whatever slimy parts he can reach and hurling them into walls with such force that barely anything remains of them when they're left. Ir, presumably not having gone very far from her departure point at this time, can likely hear a series of thunderous impacts. 08[00:05] 13She winces as Eikichi extracts another disgusting kruthik spine from her flesh. Combat was a mistake. [00:05] 4Errant's surefooted enough and smart enough not to stumble or spook, but that was...demonstrative. 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "He fell in love with a monster." [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Sure enough, Ir and Blossom are ripping through the neighborhoods of Firewander now and they can see Bergsveinn's anima ahead of them plain as day. There's a thunderous racket and a cacophany of agonized snarls and shrieks. [00:06] 13She finally opens her other eye. "On a scale of one to yeah, is it related to why I'm laying here now?" [00:07] 7Blossom's on Ami, if that wasn't clear. 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "The Queen of Spines, who's been breeding and controlling the kruthik, is Arianna's demon." 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's who Jimi's pining for." [00:07] 13Eyes closed. "Ouch." [00:07] "...on a lot of levels, actually." [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Bergsveinn, by now smeared in Kruthik viscera, can detect a hint of pure, more-than-animal alarm in the eyes of the centaur-like overseer creatures who've clearly been directing the soldiers from behind. Indeed, the farther of the two queens buzzes something, and immediately ducks away, drying to slip down into one of the several tunnels that lead from this colony to the sewers and [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12waterways below it. 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "He might stop by if he's in trouble." [00:15] 13Ying: "That's good. We should help more people." 13Eyes open again. "I think I'm gonna train some more with Ir. I need to learn how to take a hit." 13Pride - and similarities to Tatsuya - be damned. 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Pain is purposeless." [00:19] 13Ying: "That's not true. The more pain you can take, the more good you can do. I could've helped Bergsveinn instead of running away." [00:20] "Any time that I have to fight instead of letting Tatsuya do it, I won't have to worry about letting everyone down." 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "The more pain you can take, the more pain you take. You need to be smarter, not tougher." 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "Getting tougher just means you'll be able to beat yourself up for being stupid for longer." [00:21] 4And how! [00:21] 13Ying: "...honestly right about now that sounds pretty good." [00:21] "I'm really tired." [00:21] 11The kruthik queens flee... but the ones that actually did the damage, the ones that hurt his friend... Berg's enormous bare foot sends a shockwave through the tunnel, collapsing it effortlessly, and then he's among them. Punching, kicking, ripping, smashing... there's nothing left but pieces and two tunnels where the queens escaped. 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We're done. You can rest. Do you want something for the pain to help you sleep?" [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Bergsveinn's bonfire anima is dying down when Ir and Blossom arrive. They have a much easier approach to the kruthik lair, because it seems all the biological traps surrounding it have spontaneously gone off or fallen apart in sheer sympathetic agony to whatever's going on inside. [00:22] 11The North Winds howl above the Dawn's Chosen, and so does he -- Ir and Blossom can probably hear it as they approach. [00:22] 13Ying: "No, but... if Berg gets back, could you wake me up? I want to know if he's safe." [00:23] 4By the time they're rounding the final bend, Ir has slowed Errant considerably. 14[00:23] * Joins: Quaker [00:23] 4She's pretty certain she knows what she's going to find. [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12When Berg's circlemates kick the door open, they find a giant of a man sitting or standing among the glowing, bloody ruins of a kruthik hive cluster. Chunks of exoskeleton litter the ground, and deep red blood mixes in strange patterns with glowing green or orange ichor. [00:23] 4And even though she does, she still stops and stares. [00:24] 11Berg looks up. "Is Ying with you? I saw her get hit, but I didn't see her after that." [00:24] 4Ir: "Ying's...uh." [00:24] "Damn." [00:24] "Ying's fine." 08[00:24] "Eikichi's tending to her." [00:25] "Came as soon as we realized what was up but...man, you haven't been slacking on the training, have you?" [00:25] 11Berg nods. "Good. I wish I could have kept her from getting hit, but there were too many of them." [00:25] 4Ir was pretty sure she couldn't take Berg in a fight before, and though she's gotten a lot better since they last travelled together, she's certain she couldn't now. [00:25] 7Blossom: "Good work." [00:25] 7Blessed Sun, look at it all! 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'll just set you up down here, then." 10While Eikichi's putting his instruments away, behind him sheets and pillows are ruthlessly rearranging themselves to convert a long sofa into a serviceable bed. Ying floats over and settles gently down as a blanket unrolls itself across her bandaged body. [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Half-collapsed tunnels beckon, if the three of you are feeling adventurous... otherwise, it's probably time to withdraw and decide your next move. [00:26] 4Wandering off half-cocked without a plan is what got them into this mess. Even if it was the other guys who turned into the mess. [00:26] 13Sorry. [00:26] 11Berg looks over the ruined kruthik hive. "It's what I do. Stem the tide. Never had any skill with... normal things, like your cooking or music. Just stuck to what I'm good at." [00:27] 11Berg: "The two queens got away, unfortunately. None of the rest did." [00:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Kind of weird to have multiple queens, but you've only ever seen one at a time before. [00:28] "I'd normally give chase, but I think I'd rather check on Ying first. Plus I should prepare better next time. Closer than it should have been." 08[00:28] 4Ir: "We should rest and regroup. Eikichi and I made some progress on the uh. Diplomatic front." [00:28] 7Blossom looks down one of the tunnels speculatively. "We also need to work out what their plans are." 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10As Ying drifts off, Eikichi and his invisible helpers tidy up. The sorcerer mumbles to himself as everything returns to its proper place. "Suboptimal. Suboptimal. Tch." [00:29] 11Berg stands up. "Diplomatic front? What diplomatic front? I thought they were just bugs." 14[00:29] * Joins: hrolfy [00:29] "They're being controlled by a demon. Queen of Spines." [00:29] "And she's under the banner of another Solar. Sorceress by the name of Arianna." [00:29] 11Berg rumbles. "And someone holds its leash?" [00:29] "We've run into one of her circlemates." [00:29] 11Berg looks alarmed. "Then why is she doing this?" 14[00:30] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:30] 4Ir shrugs. "Just because someone's Chosen doesn't always mean we're on the same team. We haven't had a chance to talk to her yet." [00:31] "Right. That's what we have to find out." [00:35] <@Ferrinus> 12The Circle gets to the bottom of this - whether metaphorically or physically - next week. [00:48] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ [00:48] Always put your meat scraps in the red bin, vegetables and yard waste in the green bin, and all other trash in the blue bin! A tidy city is a happy city! You can do your part by reporting any clogged gutters or damaged sewer gratings to municipal sewage - they'll have them fixed up in no time! Remember, good citizenship is everybody's responsibility! [00:48] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ 14[00:53] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[02:06] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[02:09] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:10] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:11] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[02:13] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:50] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[03:10] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:12] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:12] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[08:57] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[11:51] * Joins: hrolfy 14[12:26] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:30] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:12] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:13] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[15:35] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:39] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:48] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:37] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:24] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:28] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:31] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:53] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[18:28] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[19:01] * Quits: Quaker_ (Client exited) 14[19:10] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:56] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:19] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[20:54] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[21:08] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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The crowd thinks this is part of the entertainment. Who's to say they're wrong? [20:27] 4Me. [20:30] 14If nothing else, this will be interesting. [20:30] 14And perhaps very, very short. [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12You never demand someone's weapon in Nexus. You never do that. You're just leaving yourself open to all sorts of snappy, murderous comebacks. Keldar can't even decide on one as the black iron blade he's got at its side comes scraping out of the sheath. [20:32] 14Stranger flicks his wrist, and a walking cane is suddenly in hand like a wooden sword. [20:34] 4von Hrolfus’ sword is in his hand, like it was always there. [20:39] 13Xia Lan's paired hookswords are at the ready, in a defensive stance. Atypical for a Snake stylist, but the situation demands it. Let's rock. 14[20:49] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[20:49] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[20:55] * Joins: mattbaby_ [20:58] 05Xu Sim, detecting the clamor outside, drops the lines he was using to manipulate the fires and smoke, attempting, momentarily, to blend in with them and remain concealed. [20:58] 14He still commands attention and respect, but Stranger's head is swimming a bit -- from the drugs and his earlier fall. [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12CLANG and Keldar's sword is grinding aginst the Lookshyan's halberd, kicking up sparks in both directions that, fortunately enough, stay on either side of the mercenary's face. The two are locked for a moment before Keldar manages to complete his motion and Zuniga's forced back by a step and a half. [21:06] 14Stranger follows Keldar in, dancing into the space he leaves behind with his backswing, and scoring a tap against the armored Lookshyan's shoulder -- for all the good it seems to do. [21:06] 14He's finding his feet in all this. [21:10] 05Xu Sim blinks, blearily, as the winds carry the smoke back into the chamber with him. 14[21:17] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[21:17] * Joins: hrolf_mac [21:18] 05The sorcerer tumbles out one of the windows and appears at Stranger's side, lunging forward momentarily before shifting to his back leg in a threatening pose. [21:18] "Ah. Wondered where you'd gotten to." [21:20] "Can't let you rescue me twice in a row. Have to return the favor." [21:20] 14Stranger snorts and immediately regrets it. That stuff is potent. [21:39] 4von Hrolfus charges into the fray, throwing caution to the wind. He slashes furiously, finally getting the outlet for the despair and anger and turmoil he’s been feeling and completely fails to avoid a single sure blow from his opponent. He crumpes to a heap. [21:51] 4He won’t make that mistake again. Crouching and bracing against the incoming onslaught, he pretends to be reeling and stunned from the blow he just received - and raises his sword at the last minute against his surprised attacker, throwing out a leg and tripping him in the process. [21:56] 4He still lies close to the ground, cautious. A throbbing, gold glow illuminates his forhead causing some in the crowd to gasp. [21:57] 05Xu Sim reels backwards under the attacks of the Gunzosha vanguard. [21:57] 14Stranger is about to reposition to assist the young man when the Gunzosha wade into the fray. [22:05] 13Xia Lan lunges forward, hookblades whirling, but she struggles to find an opening in Zuniga's defenses! Besides from being woozy from the drugs, the Gunzosha hem her in, limiting her angles of attack and driving her away from their leader. Well. This is bad. 14[22:11] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[22:12] * Joins: hrolf_mac [22:27] 14Stranger winces as he's clipped in the side. It's certainly not good. 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Enough of this mummer's farce!" comes the reverberating voice of the Lookshyan, whose mechanical halberd glows white-hot with burning essence as she brings it down in a heavy chop. When Keldar blocks, there's a subtle movement of their left hand at the base of the weapon, and the blade goes dull as a superheated shockwave ripples out from around Keldar and his attacker. The pebbles in the street begin to rattle and the air shimmers. [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's raising his sword defensively and re-settling his combat stance as the gunzosha troopers momentarily relent. He makes eye contact... eye-visor contact... with Zuniga. "This is your last ch-" You can't block essence with sharpened iron... not for more than, say, half a second. [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12You can't block essence with sharpened iron... not for more than, say, half a second. [22:30] 05We worked hard on this mummer's farce, you philistine.  [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12A red sun blazes to life on Keldar's brow in the first tenth of that second. In the next four tenths, Lookshyan and Nexus native struggle against each other as the burning artifact halberd begins the work of melting through Keldar's blade, the iron now shining the red-orange that's burning up and down Keldar's body. "Oh," 12says Keldar, in the last moment of contact. "You fucked [22:30] <@Ferrinus> up now." [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12He spins, suddenly, and the halberd goes slamming down into the cobblestone, kicking up essence-flame in all directions. Keldar's still moving, his iron sword glowing with furnace heat and a pillar of dawnfire now rippling up some ten or twenty feet. "NOW-" 12She blocks! Another clang, and the blades meet again, and really it's a wonder that Keldar's sword is holding at all. At [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12this point it's somewhere between yellow and white. [22:32] 14Stranger: "Keldar -- be rea--" 14Whatever else he says is drowned out by the fight. [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12The mercenary shoves the judge roughly, twisting straight into her and slamming into her armor shoulder first. He frees his blade from her halberd a second time, and now the sword's glowing the same searing white as the core of the massive, armored figure which hangs in the air above Keldar. Now the sword's hot enough to pierce even moonsilver. Now -"-you fucked up." [22:35] 13The Gunzosha had Xia Lan's attention, but she blocks one of their attacks and just stares at Keldar and Zuniga instead of counterattacking. This is - a sight to see. [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12A double-handed thrust sends the blade straight up between the plating on the chest and abdomen, melting through tempered moonsilver to cool the weapon somewhere next to Zuniga's heart. The armored soldier's picked briefly up off her feet by the snarling Keldar before she goes crashing back to the ground and the sword - now a dull red again, and black in part since it's covered with [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12the soot of charred human remains - is wrenched free. Above Keldar, wrought in all the colors of solar anima, a faceless, armored knight mimes the same motion, but it wipes its blade along the edge of a shield. [22:36] 14Stranger bites back a curse and a snarl. [22:37] 14She brought it on herself. [22:37] 14But this isn't making things easier. [22:38] 5The gunzosha start to rush in to swarm Keldar after his telling blow on their commander, and the shockwave makes it kind of confusing what happens next. One moment, a charging line of heavily-armored warriors is bearing down on Keldar -- the next, an unbelievably intense blast of flame draws a perfect line across the charging soldiers. They join their commander in being melted. [22:38] 14What in the-- [22:38] 14Now what? [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's whirling on the gunzosha troopers. "Which of you sorry bastards is nex- what?" [22:39] 13Holy smokes. [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Where'd they- 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Who did that? [22:39] 14Stranger: "More company...?" [22:39] 5Tracing the line of fire back to its source, a woman stands back from the fight, a smoking, nearly-glowing firewand raised at shoulder level. She's surrounded in a burning aura similar to Keldar's, but rather than an armored knight, two narrowed, staring eyes that match the ones on the woman below it survey the scene below. "Howdy." [22:41] 13Xia Lan slowly sheathes her swords. "Uh. Hey?" [22:41] 7this is the correct color i think [22:41] 14Stranger: "The world gets stranger -- and smaller -- still." [22:41] 05Xu Sim glances to Stranger. "Are we surrendering again?" [22:41] 4"Friend or foe?" [22:42] 14Stranger shakes his head. "Not to one of our own." [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar peers up. "Well... didn't see that coming. Thanks for the assist!" [22:42] 7Dawn shrugs. "Don't know, really. I hadn't planned on interfering, but seems like someone's looking out for you." [22:42] 13Xia Lan: "It'd be a hell of a power move to blast the enemies we were just fighting to show dominance, then attack us afterwards. Please don't, though." [22:43] 7She looks Stranger up and down. "We have a mutual friend, I think." [22:43] 05Xu Sim scans the battlefield. Are there wounded? Does anyone need help? Hell, how did the Nexians react? [22:43] 13Yeah, how's that crowd doing? [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Alright, we need to get the important bit sorted first. Dibs on the armor and direlance." [22:43] 14Stranger arches an eyebrow. "Do we." [22:43] 14The white-haired man's sigh in Keldar's direction is very loud. [22:43] 13Xia Lan: "Too soon." [22:44] 7Dawn settles the cooling firewand over her shoulder gingerly. "Yeah, I'm not the only one in this town who likes to set bastards on fire." [22:44] 4 "That was close." [22:44] 4"I- we. Were too cocky." 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> The crowd is... eating this shit up. People are cheering and cowering appropriately at the pyrotechnics and ferocity of dueling Dawn animas. A few people are holding up small flames of their own, perhaps in solidarity. [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Early vulture gets the guts. Now, the troopers, obviously, go to our friend here, although good luck movin' 'em." [22:45] 4von Hrolfus brings a head to his forehead and rubs it gloomily. Attracting attention is getting tiresome. [22:45] 14Stranger's chuckle is strained, and comes through a grimace. "And what has young Tsuka done to attract your attention?" [22:45] "My apologies." [22:45] "I'm a bit out of sorts. I haven't introduced myself. I am Stranger-Visits-Heaven." [22:45] 7Dawn looks a little taken aback at Keldar's attitude. "You're not worried about the attention? I mean, I figured I'd go loud since the cat was out of the bag, so to speak but... shouldn't we get off the street?" [22:46] 7Dawn nods in Stranger's direction, extending a rough hand. "Flashing Dawn. And it wasn't my attention he attracted... it was my employer's. Or should I say, former employer." [22:47] 14Stranger will shake, as that appears to be the custom. [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I had a pretty good run, but I ain't keepin' this quiet. Important thing here - besides divvying the loot - is Dorma's next move." [22:47] 7Dawn: "Big guy with a hammer and serious anger management issues?" [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The same. He was this corpse's boss, though I can't imagine she was executin' his exact orders." [22:49] 7Dawn: "Saw her try to blast her own men, nearly the crowd. Might have made me want to jump in even if I wasn't looking for you lot anyway." [22:50] 13Xia Lan: "How much do you want to bet on that? Because we'd be betting an awful lot, what with this mess." [22:50] 7Dawn: "Seems like you're past that point, seeing as how she's dead." [22:50] 14Stranger: "My position remains the same. Him at our side against the encroaching Fair Folk armies has a much happier ending than him working against us or having killed half of us." [22:51] 14To Dawn: "You've come to town at an awkward time." [22:51] 4"Looks like we've lost at least one potential ally." He stares at the ground and absentmindedly sheathes his sword. [22:52] 13Xia Lan: "Okay, and that's true, but how likely is it now that we've killed her? This is - jeez." [22:52] 14Stranger: "Perhaps, perhaps not. Even if we prefer the carrot, at some point we had to show Dorma the stick." 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Very inexact executions all around. Keldar alone is scorched by the aftershock, a pillar of white light that reaches to heaven but is paled like a morning moon against the twin suns of Keldar and Dawn. [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We lost a potential master. Now we can deal with Lookshy seriously." 12He coughs here and rolls a shoulder carefully, having pretty much been in the epicenter of the energy blast. [22:52] 7Dawn: "The kid told me. Part of how he talked me into not dragging him home." [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Either way, we need to move now. Somewhere more defensible than a random clinic." [22:53] 14Stranger: "Agreed." 14[22:53] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [22:53] 7Dawn: "Said the town's a mess, and he's trying to do something about it." 14[22:53] * Joins: hrolf_mac [22:53] "He is truthful." [22:53] 14Stranger doesn't comment on the boy's efficacy so far. [22:54] "One of you might want to say something inspiring to them," 05notes the doctor with a gesture towards the crowd. [22:55] 14Stranger glances to Xia Lan. [22:55] 13She sighs. "Yeah. Uh. Give me a second." [22:56] 14Stranger: "Get them to clear the area. Things like these suits are dangerous." [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Shit, that's right. C'monc'mon-" 12He reaches down, hoists the armored corpse of Zuniga with one arm, grabs the halberd... [23:01] 7Dawn glances at Stranger and Keldar, then down at the suits. "Shit." 7She runs in the direction of the crowd, anima still burning, swinging the butt of her fireward. "Get out of here! It's dangerous, you could all be killed!" 7Whether by the scenario or her is left unclear. [23:02] 13Xia Lan steps up to whatever the nearest high point is. A park bench, a pedestal, anything to get visibility from the crowd. "Attention, everyone! I apologize for the display you all just witnessed - we were unjustly attacked, and sought only to defend ourselves, and you see the results before you! This is not how Nexus should be! And now, you need to get away from this scene, because in addition to their unprovoked assault on [23:02] us, they also lined their armors with explosives, and this is going to be extremely dangerous when it goes! Please, get out of here!" [23:02] 13She shoots a dirty look to Dawn for stealing her thunder, but maybe people who think this is an act will listen. 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Yelling speaks louder than not yelling, so the crowds heed Dawn's warnings and more or less flee from the glowing fire-spewing woman with the big hat. [23:04] "That direlance emitted an enormous amount of energy... we could prevent hte blast if you lance the aetheric reactor units. We'd have the gunzosha to tinker with... and it probably wouldn't melt the lance." [23:04] "It would be another city block destroyed if all of these cores go. Which they will, after that blast." [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Probably wouldnt- what about melting us, Xu? How definitely does this work?" [23:05] "Pretty definitely. Do you have an abacus?" [23:05] 14Stranger's feelings on the matter hardly need to be stated. Tonight's been enough of a disaster without a bombing. [23:05] 4von Hrolfus makes a face. “Is it worth taking a risk for some petty scavenging?" [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Not on me. Fffffuck we owe the doctors." 12He tosses the corpse onto the ground and hefts the halberd, ridiculously big and yet impossibly light in his hands. "Alright, doctor, tell me where this goes." [23:08] 05Xu Sim gingerly flips one of the Gunzosha onto its belly; steam leaks from its joints like an overcooked shellfish. Blowing on his fingers to cool them, he leans in to point at a spot beneath the right shoulder blade. [23:08] "If you penetrate this spot, it should absorb the energy and halt the reaction. Without blowing us all to Hell." [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar furrows his brow, trying to compensate for the pain of his burns and the way the image of the gunzosha vanguard is swimming in his field of view. "Hup-" [23:11] 14Stranger is doing his part on the fringes, waving off anyone wandering out to investigate. [23:11] "Carefully, now!" [23:11] "That does it." [23:11] 4von Hrolfus releases a deeply held breath. [23:11] 7Dawn: "Guess we're not all going to be blown up, then?" [23:12] "Not tonight." [23:12] 13Xia Lan: "There's still time." [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar jabs the lance into one, then another, then another... with each blow, it vibrates more violently and glows more fiercely. After the last, Keldar rapidly turns away, aims the blade skyward, and blows some air out through his teeth as a streak of fiery essence is discharged skyward. [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12The spectral knight's no longer visible in the contours of the mercenary's anima, but there is still a pillar of red-orange sunfire, golden-white at its core, visible for miles. [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Oops [23:13] "Impressive bit of lancework. Have you ever considered a second career in nursing?" 05asks the sage. [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I ain't a bad doctor, if that's what you're asking. Kept you alive." [23:16] 13Xia Lan: "For which we are all grateful." [23:17] "Time for me to return the favor, tough guy. Come on, let's get out of here before the Dragonlord brings the rest of the army." [23:17] "...you should do this more often," 13she gestures to the smoke. "It's good." [23:17] 4“It was…not bad." [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "My thinking, too. ...about getting out of here, I mean, the smoke was stupid." 12He carefully sheathes his sword - it's just warm, now - tucks the halberd through a few straps on the back of his leather armor, and then ducks again to hoist up the still-full suit of armor. [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Lesgo." 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Where's everyone headed? Crowds (crowds that weren't at the initial conflagration) are starting to pour in from the streets around. No sign of the Lookshyans yet, but it's only been about a minute... [23:18] "It's a little frivolous," 05concedes the alchemist. [23:19] 13Xia Lan: "No, it's great. Good vibes." 13She seems a little dazed. "Where would we be without vibes?" [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's plan is to mill around a bit - for the ten or fifteen minutes it'll take for his anima to stop actually being like a mile high or whatever - and then take to the undercity. That way, when he makes his way to the Circle's shared base, people will at least have to try slightly to track him. [23:19] 14Stranger is very quiet as they head out. That went about as poorly as it could have gone while still being a win. He'll need to do some more digging on the Lookshyans... [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12He's happy to invite Dawn over. 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Milling around for ten or fifteen minutes invites having to deal with more Lookshyans... [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, he wouldn't just hang out in the square here. More like, move through the undercity in directions mostly lateral to the shared base. 14[23:29] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:35] 7Dawn doesn't actually know where the group is headed... but as Keldar leads, Dawn points out ways they can throw off pursuit, turning down an alley at just the right time, stepping inside a building, using overhangs to shield themselves from view. [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a good thing, too. Between burns, exhaustion, and lingering hallucinogen Keldar's just about able to not stagger into walls. [23:37] 13Xia Lan spends the first part of their journey thinking very hard about how incredible it is that magnets work. [23:38] 4von Hrolfus is technically exhausted, but not feeling it. He clenches and unclenches a fist, almost disappointed that there weren't more to kill. [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Some kind of geomancy, isn't it? [23:38] 14To Dawn as they walk: "Where have you traveled from? Do you know of the gentry armies? Have you seen them in your travels?" [23:38] 13Who knows. They're just some kind of miracle the Sun gave to us. [23:39] 7Dawn: "I'm sort of from all over. I don't know anything about armies... the kid telling me about it was the first I heard about them. Doesn't sound good, though." [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Kid?" [23:40] "Cathak Tsuka." [23:40] "An exiled Blooded scion I've been...mentoring." [23:40] "Somewhat." [23:40] 13Xia Lan: "Nice kid. I liked him." [23:40] "His heart is in the proper place." [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What brought you to us? Why interfere?" [23:42] 7Dawn: "His family wanted him back. So I was the one they hired, through the Guild, to bring him back. He talked me out of it." [23:42] 7She smirks. "I helped." [23:43] "So how long until the Guild, and Cathak, come down on us?" [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I mean the Lookshyans. Pretty rough enemy to have, for the most part." [23:43] 13Xia Lan: "Way things are going for us, they'll show up tomorrow, mad as hell." [23:44] "If they fight through the Raksha, maybe wouldn't be so bad." [23:45] "Victory through constant failing." [23:45] 7Dawn: "The kid said the old man was worth helping. And I've seen them stomping around the city." 7She shrugs philsophically. "The enemy of my friend is my enemy." [23:46] "Let's hope that's not an ironclad axiom," 14Stranger grumbles. [23:46] 4"We may not get to make a choice." [23:46] "Usually is, unfortunately for the current situation." [23:46] "We need fewer enemies, not more." 14[23:47] * Joins: hrolf_mac [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, that's good to hear. You stickin' around?" [23:48] 7Dawn: "Probably, seeing as how if I go back without the kid, and they find out I just let him go, I'll be worse than out of a job. They'll find out sooner or later, but they'll have to come look for me." [23:49] "In a sense, you're in the safest place you can be. I have a feeling very few people are going to be making travel plans to Nexus in the coming months." [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You know the entire damn wyld is crashing down on this city in like a month?" [23:49] 13Xia Lan: "Or a lot of them, but all of them are armed and dangerous." [23:49] "Does it count as travel plans if you're an army?" [23:50] 7Dawn: "It sounds like you're trying to scare me off." [23:51] "We've had a trying few days." [23:51] "We need to talk about the future. The city won't last for a minute if there's still a plague when the army gets here. So I am going to need access to my patients. I think I'm close to a cure, at least. I'm also going to be working on bringing in more help. And I need more supplies so I can put together some of my war machine ideas." [23:51] 14Stranger nods. [23:52] 13Xia Lan: "I liked the time when I was holding a free concert for children. That was good. Then everything went to hell." [23:52] "I want to repair relations with the Lookshyans. At least to keep us from having open warfare in the streets." [23:52] "I should check in with Pellicia." [23:53] "How do we come back from something like this? We surely just devastated the cream of their crop." [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, no, I'm just checking you'd stay. Another anathema on our side'd be worth... I can't think of an equivalent off the top of my head." [23:53] "We'll think of something. Or they will." [23:53] 13Xia Lan: "...very carefully?" [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Once we recover, we can march right up to the Lookshyans, explain exactly what happened, and tell 'em that they can stick around and help us or decamp immediately." [23:54] 7Dawn: "Presumably they want Nexus to stay where it is too." [23:55] 05Xu Sim hurries along through the undercity, impatient to return. 14[23:56] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[23:57] * Joins: mattbaby_ [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But yeah, I tell you that stuff, Dawn, because I'd welcome your sticking around but can't pretend it wouldn't mean risking your life and ain't sure I can pay you properly." [23:57] 4"I'm not sure they'll be in a negotiating mood, after we...iced, I believe is the term you people use? One of their own." [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "For the rest of us here, stopping the fae's the priority at the moment." [23:58] 13Xia Lan: "I'm with Bastian. I think we lost any kind of negotiation leverage when we iced a whole squad." [23:58] "If the Fair Folk take Nexus, I'm not sure where it will be safe to go. Creation is large, but carving out marches this deep inside it would be...concerning." [23:59] 14Stranger: "You be surprised, I think." [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "No way. We got our leverage today. Prior to now Lookshy saw no need to negotiate with us because it still thought it could push us around, or stamp us out if we became a problem." [23:59] *You'd Session Time: Wed Nov 29 00:00:00 2017 [00:00] "I agree with Keldar. Even if I would have preferred we leave the officer alive." [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Shouldna tried to disintegrate me." [00:01] 13Xia Lan: "Honestly, yeah." 14[00:01] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:01] "Agreed." [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Least I got my hands on this sucker now. Polearms've never been my favorites, exactly, but I'll friggin' take it if the alternative's iron. Any of you ever got your hands on an artifact before?" [00:02] 14Stranger: "Not of that pedigree." [00:03] 13Xia Lan: "...been a while." 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> By now the solars have returned to their cavernous bunker beneath Floodwater, where the sound of running water and the chatter of the rattlewhales and the anxious yipping of Twice-Refined Princess sound pretty homey right now. [00:03] 4"My family had one. What has come of it, or them, I do not know." [00:03] 4Stranger will immediate put on a pair of kettles and sink into a cozy chair. [00:04] 14Stranger will immediate put on a pair of kettles and sink into a cozy chair. [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It's wild. I can barely feel it on my back. Can't wait to- ow." 12He shifts his position slightly. "Can't wait to get these burns treated and then put it through its paces." [00:05] 13Xia Lan: "Try dodging better next time." [00:05] "Oh, my Twice-Refined Princess! You must be so hungry! Yes, you are very good. You are very, very good." Xu Sim scoops up the hideous dog to ensure it is properly fed and taken care of. [00:05] 14Eyes closed, head leaning back: "Or not fighting to begin with." [00:05] <@Ferrinus> "First things first, though." 12Keldar finds an out of the way room with access to already-unclean water runoff and prepares to remove the late Zuniga from her armor. There's probably a match or seam or something along the back... for now, he supposes it'll be best to just wrap up the body and stow it somewhere cold. Lookshyans might want it and Keldar isn't that spiteful. [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Not right now and with regards to Lookshy, obviously. He's certainly potentially that spiteful. [00:06] 13Oh, Sun, we stole a dead body? Shit, man, we're such fucking heroes. [00:06] 14We are not keeping a corpse in the household. [00:07] "Did you catch any rats, my princess? Did you? Ohh, yes, thats the stuff." She's licking his face, eyes lolling. [00:07] 14And if we are, Keldar's keeping it in his room. [00:07] 13Well, we're not putting it outside. [00:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar can graciously take it somewhere, if anyone's got any ideas. He'll do that in a bit - for now he's just concerned with getting the body loose, then cleaning the armor out, then storing it somewhere safe. [00:07] 13"It." That body was a her like, thirty minutes ago. [00:07] "I'm a doctor, not a funerist, so, uh, make sure you get her taken care of. I don't want to deal with a haunting." 14[00:07] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Zuniga died with her eyes open. [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, it was probably very surprising. [00:08] 13Please close her eyes. 14[00:08] * Joins: hrolf_mac [00:08] 13Do not make me do it for you. [00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar does, for what it's worth. The entire business doesn't seem to bother him much - this clearly isn't his first looting-the-dead rodeo. Once that's taken care of he'll try to tend to his burns, although if Xu Sim offers Keldar happily accepts. [00:09] Xu Sim does not offer; he insists. [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Sweet. Later, once Keldar's been ointment- and gauze-ed up, he's a little chattier. "Bastian - we need to at least get you some proper armor or somethin'." [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You comfortable in plate or lamellar or similar? I can hook you up." [00:11] 4von Hrolfus: "As you wish." [00:12] 7Dawn finds a quiet corner somewhere and does some firewand maintenance with an odd little kit she carries. [00:13] 14Stranger enjoys some tea, and then retires to bed unless he's otherwise waylaid. It's been a very stressful day. [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Cheer up, dude. I know she got the better of you there, but you've been at this for... what, a couple weeks?" [00:14] 13Xia Lan dips into whatever alcoholic stash they have. How on Earth is she going to manage the contest she signed up for with... all of this? [00:14] 4von Hrolfus looks up from the floor. There's an edge to his voice. "Do you have family, Keldar?" [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Reason they come down on us so hard is they're scared. They know they aren't matches for us if we get any time to find our foot- eh? Not... as such, no. Couple cousins." 14[00:15] * Joins: Quaker [00:16] 4"Truth be told, I was never that close to mine. The Academy was more of a family to me than my own kin. Now every single one of them is gone, or worse. My country has been wiped off of Creation. It is not my performance against the Lookshyans that troubles me." [00:17] Xu Sim, bending over a jar of poultices, looks between Bastian and Keldar, a little peevishly. "Hey, Bastian... have you met Twice-Refined Princess?" The repulsive dog takes her master's distraction as an opportunity to bury her head in one of the poultice jars, tongue lapping greedily. [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar absorbs this for a moment, then says "Mmm." [00:17] 4 von Hrolfus leans down, clicks his fingers and whistles at the dog. "We bred guard dogs in our kennels at the estate." [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12After a moment, the mercenary adds some. "I was out in the field when I got the second breath. Leading a small unit I'd had for years - dunno how much I'd call most of 'em a family, but they were at least all great friends." [00:18] "She's quite amazing. Give her a pet, now that's the stuff." Bits of black and grey poultice are stuck to the patchy hair on the dog's chin, as she leaps towards the deposed nobleman. [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Wiped out, to the last, by the Realm bastard we'd been working for. Wanted to avoid loose ends, or something - not even sure what he was thinking." [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And he got away, even. So... I guess you're worse off than I am. But you'll get to look your enemy in the face, and soon. Make 'em pay for it." [00:20] 4 von Hrolfus manages to keep his balance and forces the dog away from his face while petting it. "Treachery and greed. Common when you fight for something other than a higher cause." [00:20] 4"But I am sorry about your friends. I hope you get your revenge as well." [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, same. But I'll have to go farther than the city walls to get it, I'd wager." [00:23] 4"Whatever it takes. Blood must be paid for with blood." [00:24] 4He laughs. It's an odd sound that he hasn't reproduced in a while. "I do not even know if these abominations we fight bleed." [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods slowly. He looks over. "Dawn - you been Chosen long?" [00:25] 7Dawn: "Don't know how long 'long' is? Maybe six months? Something like that?" [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Guild know?" [00:26] His work with Keldar completed, Xu Sim hurries past Xia Lan. "You were enjoying yourself earlier. Your vibes. I'm glad you found it enjoyable. In the future, if you overindulge your vibes, try this hangover cure." He presents her with a nondescript, cheap green glass phial. [00:26] 13Xia Lan: "No thank you." 13She hands it back. "Actions have consequences. Consequences are an unpleasant but necessary reminder of our station." [00:27] "You sound like a monk." 14[00:27] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[00:27] * Joins: hrolf_mac [00:27] 13Xia Lan: "Call it a reminder of my exaltation." [00:27] 7Dawn: "Not sure. I hope not, but they seem to know everything, so I wouldn't put it past 'em." [00:28] "If you want a worse hangover, I can give you that instead." [00:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ah. I was wondering how much you were able to charge if you bein' a demon was right there on the table." [00:28] 13Xia Lan: "Appropriate punishments for appropriate actions. No more, no less." [00:29] Xu Sim looks at Xia Lan like she is completely crazy, but doesn't say anything. [00:30] 13This isn't her first time being looked at like that. She sips her drink demurely. [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Wait a minute. If a snake bit you, would you let the doctor here give you an antivenom?" [00:31] "I didn't choose to get bitten. Yes." [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, maybe if you'd watched your step better-" [00:34] "I guess I'll just have to sell this medicine to some street ruffians or something." 14[00:42] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[00:43] * Joins: hrolf_mac [00:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Anyway - I guess we got at least a day to consider what we'll tell Dorma. And Pellicia, for that matter." [00:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hopefully he won't want any of this stuff back." 12Keldar's got the armor and halberd leaning on the wall behind him now, both freshly cleaned. There's still a hole punched through the front of the armor, but it's smaller than before - looks like it's slowly sealing itself. [00:45] 13Xia Lan makes a face, but does not comment on Keldar's corpse-looting. "How likely is it we get to continue our efforts in town, given today's... events...?" [00:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "More so. All those people saw us, even before you worked 'em over. We kicked ass." [00:46] "Less likely that we get hauled off by the Wyld Hunt, at least for a few weeks. Until they send a bigger one." [00:48] "Stranger, can I trouble you for a moment?" [00:48] 13Xia Lan: "I'm not worried about the public. I'm worried about anyone who might - probably correctly - suggest that us even being here is an invitation to chaos." [00:48] "People in power deciding we're too big a nuisance." [00:48] 14Stranger pauses on his way to his room. "Yes?" [00:48] 4"Who's in power?" [00:48] "Not us." [00:49] 4"Let us rectify that." [00:49] 13Xia Lan: "..." 13She makes a face, but does not argue. [00:51] "I have been working on my sorcery lately and... I need a professional recommendation. Do you know any reliable and thoughtful Erymanthoi, who might make a good bodyguard?" [00:51] 14Stranger stares at him. "No." [00:51] "Demon summoning?" [00:51] "I--" [00:51] 14He sighs. [00:51] "Let me think about it." [00:52] "Very well. Get some rest, you look old." [00:53] "That's the idea," 14says the Eclipse, sounding old too. "Good night, Xu Sim." [00:53] 14Then he's gone into his room. 15[00:53] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: The emissaries 14[00:58] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[01:00] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[01:02] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:30] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[01:48] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[01:50] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:20] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[03:20] * Joins: mattbaby 14[03:59] * Joins: hrolfy 14[04:03] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:13] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[07:45] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:00] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[10:25] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[10:31] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:09] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[11:11] * Joins: cbass 14[17:03] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[17:12] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[17:31] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:01] * Joins: tom 14[18:58] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[20:38] * Joins: Crion_ 14[22:12] * Joins: dammitwho 14[22:34] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Thu Nov 30 00:00:00 2017 14[00:36] * Joins: hrolfy 14[00:58] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:11] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[02:15] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:28] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:47] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:48] * Joins: tom 14[03:28] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:26] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[06:13] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[09:35] * Joins: Quaker 14[09:35] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[10:07] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:11] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:13] * Joins: Quaker 14[10:32] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[10:46] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[15:32] * Joins: tom 14[15:36] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[15:46] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[17:16] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[19:57] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[20:01] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:11] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ....... [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 .-'''L | J'''-. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 .'\ | | | /'. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 .' \ J | F / '. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 .'. \ L | J / .'. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 / '. \ | | | / .' \ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 +-. '. \ J | F / .' .-+ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 J '-. '. \ .L.|.J. / .' .-' L [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 L__ '-. '.JHHHHHHHHHh.' .-' __J [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 J ""-__ '-.HHHHHHHHHHHHH.-' __-"" L [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 | ""--|HHHHHHHHHHHHH|--"" | [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 |------------HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH------------| [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 | __--|HHHHHHHHHHHHH|--__ | [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 J __-"" .-'HHHHHHHHHHHHH'-. ""-__ F [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 L"" .-' .TYHHHHHHHHHP'. '-. ""J [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 J .-' .' / 'L'T'J' \ '. '-. F [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 +-' .' / J | L \ '. '-+ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ .' / | | | \ '. / [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 '.' / L | J \ '.' [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 '. / J | L \ .' [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 './ | | | \.' [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 '-...L | J...-' [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ''''''' [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12The Kruthik have fled underground. Well, deeper underground. Dripping tunnels spiraling away beneath the surface of a hollowed-out Firewander tenement stretch before Bergsveinn, Blossom, and Ir, not really beckoning but certainly presenting a way forward if you're willing to do some digging and, later, clean some slime off your armor. [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12It might be just as good to simply torch the remaining kruthik structures, collapse the tunnels and tenement, and call it good, though. Ying's hurt, after all, you may wish to regroup as a Circle, and it's not like you don't have other leads. 08[20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Indeed, one of them's a standing invitation to Eikichi - and anyone who wishes to come along, of course - to make plans and talk shop with the sorceress Arianna. Also, Typhon, the diplomat from Thorns, still wants to arrange some sort of low-pressure meet-and-greet, it seems. 15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A slit throat is low-pressure. [20:23] 4Not wrong. [20:24] 4Ir's all for regrouping. Burning this crap and sealing the tunnels seems like the smart play. [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12After a while, anyway. But with Blossom here, that kind of cleanup'll be done in a matter of minutes; you need merely roll up your sleeves and commit. What and where to next? 15[20:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10With Ying asleep and the others out, Eikichi's taking this moment of respite to eat four donuts. [20:26] 13Ying's snoozing away in bed, shifting occasionally from the pain and dreaming about falling. [20:29] 7Need a light? Wanna turn up the heat? Let's burn! Blossom torches the kruthik structures expertly, leaving the tunnels to collapse without support. [20:29] 7Oop, scratch that last bit. Looks like the tunnels will need a little help to fall in on themselves. [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Got any questions about firedust? [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Or firedust accessories? [20:31] 4Ir stands around, keeps any bizarrely curious passers-by back, and tries to look useful. [20:32] 11Berg is mad at the kruthik. They hurt his friend, some of them got away... he braces himself on the ground, looking like he's about to tear into a sprint. Instead, he suddenly rears back and slams both fists into the floor with literally earth-shattering force, tearing up a huge chunk of earth. The tunnels are already rumbling... but they collapse a lot more abruptly when Berg hurls a sheet of rock several feet wide into them [20:32] like a frisbee. [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Headin' back? [20:35] 11Berg dusts his hands off. "Let's go check on Ying, rest, and have a word with whoever holds the leash of these things." [20:37] 4Ir: "Sounds good to me." 14[20:39] * Joins: hrolf_mac [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Nothing interrupts the Squared Circle's reformation besides, of course, Ying's being bedridden. But the Solars can just confer with her in her room, or wait a day, if need be. 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10When the others get back, both Ying and Eikichi are asleep. Ying's covered in blankets and Eikichi in crumbs. [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Hope no one was looking forward to a donut of their own. 14[20:43] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:43] 4Upon seeing His Crumbliness: "Nice." [20:43] "Turns out Berg, uh, didn't need our help." [20:43] "How's Ying?" [20:43] 13We had donuts? Aw. If Ying hadn't been in such a panic, she would've had one. 14[20:44] * Joins: hrolfy [20:45] 11Berg definitely goes directly to check on Ying. 15[20:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi doesn't open his eyes or stifle his midsentence yawn. "She'll be fi-i-hiiiine in the morning." [20:45] 13She's facing away from the door and pretending to be asleep. Still in bed. 08[20:46] 7Blossom thinks about patting Ying reassuringly on the shoulder or forehead, but that might wake her up, so instead she just sits down and thinks about a curse on Eikichi that would turn all the candy he tries to eat into vegetables. 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Candied yams... [20:48] 4Chosen metabolism is so good. 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "Did you wipe out the infestation?" 10asks Eikichi, finally standing and brushing himself off carefully onto a plate, where he swipes up the crumbs with a finger and eats them. [20:52] 11Berg: "Got most of the little ones. The queens got away." 14[20:52] * Joins: mattbaby_ 08[20:53] 4To Eikichi: "You gonna call in that market with what's her name?" [20:53] "Arianna." [20:53] *marker 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I guess so." [20:56] "We'll have to. This is so disappointing." [20:57] 11Berg: "Do we know why she's letting these things run about?" 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, who is eating a vegetable omelet at Blossom's insistence: "Not quite. Maybe there's secretly a really good reason." [20:58] "Is she in charge of all of them? Even the ones we encountered way back in the Northlands?" [20:59] 7Blossom: "It's possible, but... she would have had to have been cultivating them for quite some time." [20:59] 13Ying, who's down to a couple bandages that are more for appearances than any actual medical use: "What kind of reason would justify...?" 13She gestures with her fork vaguely before digging back into her food. 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "No, I don't think so. I think this is a specific project she's undertaken to control the kruthik. But we don't know for sure." [21:00] 11Berg: "The question is, is she going to know we smashed them up, and be mad about it?" 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I'd expect her to lie about it being her before I'd expect her to get mad." [21:02] 13Ying: "As to whether she'd know... how many of 'em got away from you?" [21:03] 11Berg: "Two that I saw, but they were the important ones. The intelligent ones." [21:03] 4Ir: "There are smart ones? Besides the Queen herself?" [21:04] "That could make this...more complicated." [21:04] 13Ying: "Oh." 13She hadn't expected the answer to be that low. [21:04] 11Berg: "They seemed to be commanding the others. They didn't fight me directly." [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Those spidery, spindly-armed ones are certainly more cunning than the rest. They're intelligent enough to micromanage and optimize the soldier kruthik in the course of fighting battles, at least. 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "A kruthik nest is shaped like a hive of insects. There'll be rigid roles to go along with their hierarchy, which means there are going to be queens, or 'over-minds'." [21:05] 4Ir: "We saw something that...kinda looked like that, maybe." [21:05] "While we were in disguise." 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "In the wall, yeah." [21:07] 13Ying makes a face. "That was gross." 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I'll drop Arianna a line." [21:13] "...Hey, Bergsveinn. What happened after I ran away? You look fine today, so it can't have been that bad." [21:13] "I fought. Two of them ran. The rest did not." [21:14] "I am relieved that you are not seriously injured." 08[21:14] 13Ying: "Yeah, um, Eikichi patched me up. Blossom and Ir got there quick, then!" 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A seraph of spun glass appears before Eikichi's eyes and zips off, chirping to Arianna, wherever she is: "We finally have time to meet. When can we stop by?" [21:16] 11Berg: "I'm not sure. Did they?" [21:16] "Lost track of time." [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12It's about a half hour before the response comes. A woman's voice: "This afternoon would be fine. If you're directly beneath Jade and Blackoak two hours past noon, my servant can find you." 12That's the intersection of two streets near the city park. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10You mean Parko Llana? [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12The very same. [21:17] 13Ying: "...oh." 13She stands up suddenly, half her omelette untouched. "I'llberightback!" 13And dashes back to her shared quarters with Tatsuya. 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Two hours past noon, in the Undercity near the Parko." [21:19] 11Berg blinks. Was it something he said? [21:19] 4Ir: "We were pretty quick. Not quick enough to get in on the action, though." [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12It's sometime in the morning now, so it doesn't represent a mad rush to be on time or whatever. 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10We're all still agreed that we'll run out at the last minute with toast in our mouths, though, right? [21:22] 11Berg will run out with an entire loaf in his mouth. 14[21:27] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [21:27] 4Ir's going to go in street clothes, with Iscariot in its bangle form on her arm. 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's wearing a laurel crown and sparkly cape that Ying made for him. [21:30] 11Berg's still wearing a simple shirt and pants, albeit different ones than yesterday, torn up as they were. [21:30] 4As long as the shorts stay at home. 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Not really appropriate for a serious meeting. [21:31] 11Just be aware that Berg has definitely fought battles in the tundra butt ass naked before. 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The Bergsveinn side-adventure book is gonna sell loads. [21:32] 4Mmmm. 08[21:33] 13Ying's got her nice jacket with her name on the back, a plain white top with semi-detached sleeves, and some skinny jeans to complete the ensemble. It's a little underdressed, probably, but Eikichi's wearing that stupid cape so whatever. Whatever! [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12At 2 post-meridiem, the Squared Circle's waiting at a crossroads in the under city, the sound of flowing water sounding up from the grates beneath their feet. They feel the temperature begin to drop, and soon realize they're being watched; a vaguely-humanoid, vaguely-serpentine shape visible mostly as a ripple in the air is flattened against a far wall, two eyes leaking purple-gray [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12vapor towards the ceiling. [21:34] 7Hmm. Air elemental? [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12You've seen this before - it's an air elemental that Arianna seems to be able to use as a roving pair of eyes. The figure beckons silently, and then flows on down the corridor. 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Not a demon, at least. [21:35] 13Or a gross monster! [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12You take a few twists and turns before your guide just flows into a crack in the wall and out of sight. You're left standing there a moment before you notice a few bricks jiggling, buffeted from the other side by winds; the first of you with the initiative to push one of them in causes the whole wall to swing inwards, a hidden door. [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Then it's a few more cramped passages - Bergsveinn's really gotta stoop - before you find a chasm crossed by a metal bridge. There's a door there, flanked by torches and the unmistakable scents of dematerialized blood apes. After a moment, the door's opened from within by a figure in a fitted tunic, who raises his hand to you in greetings. [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12It's Swan! He says: "Hey, there. Good to see you - plenty to talk about." [21:38] 4Ir, neutrally: "Yeah." [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Notably, it's his right hand he's waving at you with. He seems to have regenerated. [21:38] 13...! 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Oh no. [21:38] 11Who the heck is this guy? [21:39] 4...Is it bad that he regenerated? 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Swan! This is Bergsveinn. Bergsveinn, Swan." [21:40] 11Berg inclines his head. "Pleasure." [21:40] 13Ying: "You're all healed up, huh? Quick recovery." 13She gestures towards his right arm. [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12He glances over to his right, following your own gazes. "Oh, this - Arianna worked day and night. Good as new." 12Swan, for Bergsveinn's sake, is a handsome westerner with fair skin and shoulder-length black-shading-to-purple hair. He's got a strong nose and jaw that seem built for brooding dramatically, but looks to be in good humor at the moment. [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan bows to the lot of you. "Ah, Bergsveinn. I'd wondered - managed to get my hands on one of the books. Only the first, though." [21:42] 11Berg: "Books?" 11He looks genuinely surprised. [21:42] 4Ir returns the bow a bit awkwardly. 08[21:42] "Oh yeah. Eikichi's a writer." [21:44] 13Ying's still smiling, but it's not quite right. "Day and night. Wow. She must be pretty skilled." [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "Like you wouldn't believe. Come on in, Arianna'll just be a minute. ...was Bergsveinn always that big?" 12He looks skeptically between the taller of the two northerners and the door behind him. 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "He's a growing boy." [21:47] 7Blossom: "Very much so." [21:47] 11Berg: "I eat my vegetables." [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Fortunately, the ceilings are a little higher than the doorframe. This little dwelling is built of water-smoothed brick, but is perfectly dry and immaculately tidy inside. Swan leads you past a cloakroom of sorts if you're interested in doffing anything and then around a corner to a little reading room. "Juust a second." 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks in the opposite direction from where Blossom is when Berg says that. [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12You're left to yourselves for a few minutes as Swan heads out to get the attention of, it would seem, the servants. From the sound of it there are a few elementals out there busy brewing tea and manhandling a couch big enough to comfortably seat Berg. [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12The room you're in has got the one entrance and is lined on all sides with fully-stocked bookshelves. There's an alcove in which one might expect a fireplace, but instead there's a cluster of luminous fungi that've been alchemically treated to glow a warm orange rather than a toxic green. [21:49] 4We might be alone, but it's probably not safe to speak freely in a sorcerer's lair. [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, definitely not. At least you can admire the decor - old books of history, categories of animals and elementals, weird crystals or bits of bone... very sorcerous decor. 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "This is cozy." 10If a bit whimsical-haunted-bookshop for his taste. [21:51] 4Ir frowns. "Bit cluttered." [21:52] 13Ying just side-eyes the "fireplace," then moves to sit as far away from it as she can without appearing rude. [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Eventually, Swan's back. Behind him, the doorway shudders, warps, and stretches such that it's about double its width, and then a pair of blocky earth elementals come in carrying a wide couch to seat Bergsveinn on. Behind them, tendrils of cirrus cloud come carrying cups of tea and stacks of pastries. Soon, there's enough seats for all of you plus two, and Swan, of course, takes one [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12of them. [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "Been doing well? How's the city?" [21:52] 4Ir: "Busy. Full." [21:54] "I've been...well, you probably know." [21:54] "Tyrant lizards, arena combats. So on." [21:54] 13Ying: "So many orders..." [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "Not as well as you'd think. All I know is what filters down... Is my face on any wanted posters up there?" [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12(Not that you've seen) 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "No." [21:54] 4Ir doesn't buy that for a second, but nods nonetheless. 15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi buys it. Swan's kinda dumb. [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "Hmm. Still, I daren't risk it. I might be in worse trouble than... than Panther, and I have no idea whether to tell what they know." [21:55] "If you're still on a list, they're keeping it quiet." [21:55] 4Did we have a Circle-wide chat about what our policy is vis a vis talking about our plans to steal Panther's body with Swan and Arianna? [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Whoops, that should read: "How to tell whether they know." [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan consider it for a moment, then leans in, ignoring his tea. "The Guild. They're back in action, aren't they?" [21:57] 4Ir: "Wasn't aware they were ever really out of it. But yeah." 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "And Thorns's embassy has re-opened, too. The rigorous consistency of Nexus guarantees you can be enslaved whether you're alive or not." [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan raises his new finger. "They were out for a bit. Their stoppage, all the logistical problems... that was me. Since before your Circle arrived." [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "The thing is, it should've lasted through the season at the least. They fixed it, somehow." [21:59] 11Berg rumbles. He's not a very big fan of the Guild. [21:59] 13It's really weird when something you know should be missing for a long time shows back up way too quickly. [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "I don't know how. I had so many fingers on their ledgers before that... well, it would've taken someone at least as good as me. But if the Thorns embassy's open, too... well, you can probably guess what that means." [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "Of course, it's meddling there in the first place that has me sitting down here. Can't even pretend I wasn't obstructing trade." [22:00] 4Ha. A crack about fingers. [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "You have any leads on that? Or on Panther? ...or any word from Dace, or Jade?" 12He hasn't mentioned those two to you before, I think. [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Not in any depth, anyway. They were out of town or something. 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We haven't seen or heard of them returning to the city yet." 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's looking around idly. [22:03] 7Blossom: "Sensible, if difficult for you." [22:03] 4Ir: "We're still putting our heads together on Panther." [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12There's actually not as much magic in operation as you might think. The whole sanctum's warded against external spying or divination magic, but otherwise it seems that most of the amenities and cleanliness are the work of summoned elementals rather than numinous power. That said, the fungal fireplace has some kind of magical effect going - you're pretty sure you're being watched and [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12listened through it. [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, yeah, and Swan's clearly been made whole via sorcerous working. [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan frowns. "Well... let me know, I suppose. And if you can jam the Guild's works even a bit, don't hesitate. ...If you can jam them and not get caught, at the least." [22:06] 4Ir: "Where should we reach you? Here?" [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan nods. "The messenger-magic Arianna likes can reach me just fine here." 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The fireplace gets a surreptitious wink from Eikichi. "What were you doing to the Guild, exactly?" [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "I ruined their bureaucracy." [22:09] 13Ying: "...how?" [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "It took some doing, and a great deal of preparation. Needed to have some routine dealings, get to know enough officials... but the right words in the right places and they just could not process slaves. The actual specific steps would take a long time to explain." [22:10] 11Berg seems to look twice at the man after that. "Then what can we do to help?" [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "The same thing? Insofar as it's still possible. Like I told you, what I did to them should've lasted another season, but something broke it." [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "At the very least you could figure out what countermeasure they got ahold of and spoil it." [22:11] 7Blossom: "...I might be able to manage that." [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "Could you? We should discuss the details, then. I could save you some time." [22:12] 4Ir: "Berg, Tatsuya, and I could do something a little bit more hands-on to provide some cover." [22:13] 13Ying shifts in her chair, but says nothing. [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "Just be careful. You saw what happened to me. To us." [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12A woman's voice: "Ah, at last - you're here." [22:15] 7Blossom: "Yes. That kind of bureaucratic sleight-of-hand would be nigh-impossible to trace for mortals--" [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna comes striding into the room, a swirl of distorted air trailing her like a cloak. She's a tall, sharp-featured woman with a long, silver braid and a faint scare across her face, startlingly beautiful if that's the way your tastes run. She looks around the room. "Ah, I wasn't sure if I'd have the pleasure of entertaining your entire Circle." [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12A faint scar* 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Damn. [22:17] 7She's too tall. [22:18] 13Entire...? [22:19] 11She's not that tall. [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12The other twilight caste sweeps across the study and sits down besides Swan, reaching over to take his hand. Her air elemental, barely-visible, carefully adjusts her cloak as she sits so that it doesn't bunch awkwardly. "But I'm glad to finally see you! We've put this off a bit, haven't we?" [22:19] 4Ah. So that's how it is. [22:19] 4Well, fair enough. [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12'Entire' is questionable, isn't it? But, presumably, as far as she knows or has heard from Swan, it's just five of you. [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Or else five is just a lot of people and surely- 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "So we have. Do you know everyone's names?" [22:20] 4I mean, she could probably technically do better, since she is a Chosen sorceress, but Swan's not bad on the eyes. 08[22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Eikichi, Blossom, Ying, Ir... Ir... almost everybody's." 12A brief, thin smile of chagrin. "But he's in the book, I believe?" [22:23] "This is still the first I'm hearing about it." [22:23] 13Ying: "Really? They're pretty popular, I think. I hear about it from customers sometimes." [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "You know, it'd take me by surprise, as well. Is it really wise to put such a thing out for consumption?" [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "They're quite good..." 12Arianna: "Oh, no doubt. But then people know all about you, wherever you go." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "People are going to talk either way. Important to get our side of the story out." [22:25] 11Berg: "When you're my size, staying undercover is hard." [22:25] 4Ir: "Well after I took over the music scene in Crystal and then we helped change up the entire government, the whole life-of-privacy thing went out the window." [22:25] 13Ying: "Heck, even if you aren't... we're pretty noticeable." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "Imagine if all we knew about you was off wanted posters and Immaculate propaganda. We might storm down here demanding your head as a consort of demons." 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi sips his tea. [22:26] 4Ir, neutrally: "Might get us killed. But nothing's killed us yet. And a lot of things have tried." [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "I suppose I'd just resigned myself to that sort of thing - but not from you, of course." 14[22:27] * Quits: hrolfy (Connection closed) 08[22:27] 7Blossom: "Eikichi's right. There are times when it's pragmatic to hide, of course, but we weren't Chosen to conceal our light entirely." 14[22:27] * Joins: hrolf [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Perhaps you're right, and I'm simply cynical. Of course, it's not just... public relations that mean I can't work openly here in the city." [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Still, I wouldn't leave. Too much of Creation passes through Nexus... there are things I can't get anywhere else." [22:32] 7Blossom: "It does make it difficult when the most sensible things to do are explicitly illegal." [22:33] 13Ying: "Yeah..." 13He's so dreamy, though... [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna gives another thin smile. "That depends on how you look at it, I suppose. Poor Panther." [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "He wasn't wrong... but he couldn't wait. We need to build our power, I think, before we can really make people see sense. As you say." [22:35] "And what did he do?" [22:36] "Went street-corner preacher." [22:36] "If I remember right." 08[22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Lashed out against a power none of us could protect him from. I still can't get a bead on the Emissary - have you managed to glean anything?" 12This to Eikichi and Blossom. 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yeah, I know his tailor." [22:36] 13Ying blushes. [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna quirks a brow. "Really? I wondered if his outfit was simply part of his body, as with a god or faerie." [22:38] 7Blossom: "He... appears to be a 'he' rather than an 'it'. Near-human merkwelt at least. Surprising." [22:38] 13Ying: "Well, maybe it usually is... I guess I didn't think about that." 13Gosh, that would've been embarassing. 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You met him shopping for fabric. What do you think he does with it?" 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you think the bare act of exchanging money for goods and services sustains him?" 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi frowns. Come to think of it... [22:39] 11Berg leans forward. "So this Panther... he's imprisoned?" [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna frowns, too. "I put that down to casual surveillance..." 12Swan: "We don't know where he is. I don't think he was killed by whatever the Emissary did... but he certainly wasn't found in the square afterwards." [22:40] 13Ying: "I just figured he was out making sure no one was doing crimes or whatever! Or..." 13Wait, casual surveillance? "Has he checked on any of you guys? Other than the time with me." 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I know where he is." 08[22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Insfoar as the other members of the Circle have been out and about, they've had a small chance of seeing him walking down the street or whatever, but the Emissary hasn't really had chats with any of the rest of you. Swan blinks hard at Eikichi's statement, and Arianna leans in a bit. [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Do tell." 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi clears his throat as Arianna leans in. 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "First, where's your neomah?" [22:42] 4Usually not a polite question to ask in mixed company, but hey. [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna blinks and then leans back a bit. "Leena? ...were you hoping to see her?" 12She looks faintly bemused. 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Did you know she's been breeding kruthik? Did you know she's got a mountain folk wrapped around her finger?" [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna finishes her tea, then touches a finger to her chin. "I keep a close eye. Has... she been giving you trouble?" [22:45] 13Ha ha. Ha. Ha. [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan looks mildly perturbed. [22:46] 4Evenly: "I wouldn't call it trouble." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You were running her through the arena circuit for money, then?" [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "What use do I have for money?" 12She pauses. "...all right, yes. But mostly as a test. How did you find out?" 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I had money on a fight she greaseled out of." 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Not technically a lie. [22:50] 4Technically honest, the most evasive kind of honest. [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Well, bully for you, then. Who else knows?" 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "My dear Arianna. What are you doing with the kruthik?" [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "They're what you might call my project at the moment. An obscure breed of darkbrood that'd been gestating on the underside of some jadeborn tunnel-caravan - but I see potential." [22:53] 4Ir hasn't touched the food. "They don't seem very well supervised." [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Strong as demons, organized as ants, rapidly-multiplying... there's great potential there! It's as I said." [22:54] 11Berg: "And when they multiply out of your control?" [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12She gestures vaguely at Blossom. "What should be sensible is, in these times, suicidal - because of an imbalance of power. We simply haven't the base we need to right things." [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "If the creatures can be brought fully to heel... well, we'd have an army to rival Lookshy's." [22:55] 4Ir: "Last time I ran into them, they were breeding in a boarded up bar, watched over by some terrified low-level thugs. No harm, no foul there." [22:55] 7Blossom: "But can you? Bring them to heel?" [22:55] 13Neither has Ying. "That's a pretty, pretty hefty if." [22:55] "The second to last time I ran into them, they were hunting a wyld-touched girl through Firewander." [22:55] "Playing with their food." [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Firewander's nasty with monsters. There's an ogre riding a carpet of hobgoblins around the neighborhood every other week." [22:57] 4Ir: "And if you're overseeing those too, I'd like to know about it now." [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan winces slightly here. Arianna goes on: "Mine are quarantined tightly, of course. But there are loose ones about - I suppose I should blame myself, for assuming that there's such a thing as good help nowadays." [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "To answer you, Blossom... to a degree." [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Direct obedience is largely beyond me, for the moment. But demon intermediaries, properly prepared, can take the place of kruthik hive queens." [23:00] 7Blossom: "'Almost' isn't good enough." [23:00] 13Ying: "'Properly prepared'?" 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Direct obedience is trivial." [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Sorcerously hybridized with the Kruthik themselves. At first, I simply turned to Leena because I needed someone to breed them for me - combine disparate strains that looked promising, that sort of thing." [23:01] 13Ying looks ill. [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Then I thought, if I can't beat them, she can join them. And it works! She can insert herself into their command structure - and, of course, is loyal to me." [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Obviously, the whole thing's still pretty touchy. Nothing I wanted to show anyone, not yet. But if I make a few more breakthroughs..." 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You've fostered feral demons in Nexus in hopes that you can control them in the future." [23:05] 4Ir: "You decided to try to domesticate and perform animal husbandry on a bunch of monsters inside Nexus city limits. Your project's been showing itself to people for awhile now." [23:05] "But that's been fine up until now. Because up until now no one survived the show." [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Infectious demon-ants are a rounding error in this city." [23:06] 13Ying: "A rounding--!" 13She shuts her mouth before she can say anything she'll regret. 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You could have rounded down." [23:06] 11Berg doesn't. "What will your army eat? The citizenry?" [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan winces again, and squeezes Arianna's hand. The sorceress looks over to him, annoyed. Swan speaks up. "I think what Arianna means-" [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Oh? What do I mean, Swan?" 12Swan: "I think she means that the... mistakes she's made in, you know. Things getting loose of containment, or couriers dropping the wrong packages... they were regrettable, of course, but she wasn't in a good position to rectify them." 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Do you two need a minute?" [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "No-" 12Swan: "That'd be good-" [23:09] 7Blossom folds her hands quietly, waiting for them to sort their shit out. [23:09] 13Ying is glaring at Arianna and trying very hard not to yell. 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Right now Eikichi's really grateful he and Blossom have never argued in front of people we were trying to convince not to kill us. [23:10] 4Ir: "I think we should take a minute anyway." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12An intense look and another squeeze of the hand from Swan, and Arianna's at least making excuses about getting some more tea. The five of you are left alone. Well, except for the blocky little elemental standing by the door, one arm held up across its waist so that a little cloth can hang down from it. 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Do you think they're coming back?" [23:12] 4Ir: "Yes." [23:12] "One of them is, at least." [23:12] "My money's on Swan." 08[23:12] 4To Eikichi: "Are we still being watched?" [23:13] 13Ying: "I CANNOT believe--" 13She glares at the elemental. "Probably. Definitely. Argh." 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "The fireplace is still active. I can't tell if there's someone on the other side right now." [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a fair bet that Arianna's at least too distracted to watch through it at this exact moment, but if you're concerned you could probably step back out into the foyer or something. [23:14] "I've never not understood why people fear the Chosen, but it's another thing to see the callousness first hand. Not even cruelty. Just, out of sight, out of mind." [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Of course there's probably at least one immaterial demon there, and then the blood apes at the entrance... kind of awkwkard. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Awkward* [23:16] 11Berg: "At least putting a spoke in the Guild's wheels is admirable. But this one, to simply breed monsters in the hopes they may someday be useful, and not even truly try to keep them under control..." [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12To be fair, they're dramatically more dangerous on the field than mortal infantry, and possibly even than conventional demon infantry. And she'd put them to a good cause, surely. [23:17] 7Blossom: "Oh, I'm sure she's trying. I wouldn't put laziness on her." 7She tsks. 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yeah, she's not stupid." 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "She's just... really, really unethical." 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Game recognize game. [23:18] 4Ir: "That's my main issue. I dunno that she registers why there's a problem here." [23:18] 13Ying: "That's worse, not better! You can educate, but you can't..." 13Oh, no. She stops talking, suddenly. [23:19] 11Berg: "At least my mind is clear about fighting the beasts, then. Good cause or no, if they cannot be controlled..." 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "They can be controlled." 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "She simply lacks the will." [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12From somewhere down the hall, Arianna's voice: 14"Apologize? THEY'RE the ones who STOMPED in-" [23:20] 13Ying: "I think we're done here." 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi gets up and walks down the hall, stomping his feet like he's shaking snow off his boots as he goes. "Hey! Where's the washroom?" 08[23:22] 7Blossom: "Eikichi..." [23:23] 4Ir: "Let him at least try, I say." 08[23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi doesn't take more than three steps out of the room before it becomes clear where the washroom isn't, because a blaze of solar anima is now pouring down the hall. 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Whose? [23:26] 4Well then. [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12What's cute is they kind of match; Swan's violet-edged white nicely offsets the the deeper indigo-shading-to-cerulean of Arianna. They're kind of shouting at each other and tearing up a bit. 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Oh man. Eikichi's been there. 08[23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Does Eikichi venture closer, or allow things to run their course...? It sounds like Swan's making an impassioned point at the moment. 08[23:27] 4Meanwhile, in the main room: "Way I see it, we've got two options. I think I know which one's Eikichi's going to suggest on his little trip to the washroom. The other..." [23:28] 4Ir's sighs. "I guess we should just be prepared for anything." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10If they ignored him walking up, he's not going to interrupt them again. [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12He can find the washroom, if need be. Either way, the glow doesn't die down for another ten minutes or so, but their voices do. [23:29] 11Berg: "If they can be controlled without harming the people, then I suppose it's a worthwhile endeavor. But if the dog slips its master's leash, I will break the dog and master." [23:29] "But we've got enough enemies in this city without fighting Arianna and the kruthik, too." [23:29] 7Blossom: "I'm sure he can sort things out. We've argued before, and always come to reasonable agreement." 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi will duck into the washroom and check his teeth in the mirror before knocking gently on the door Arianna and Swan are behind. [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Like that time you extremely reasonably disintegrated like a hundred cubic miles. [23:30] 13Ying: "It's not a question of whether we can! We HAVE to - they're out there, attacking people, killing them, and there's NOTHING stopping them!" 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That was reasonable. Cry more, care-ator. [23:30] "If they can't be controlled we have a duty to the people of Nexus to help!" [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, Arianna's jaw is clenched extremely tightly when she and Swan return, and Swan's red around the eyes. They'll sit carefully down with everyone else, if the rest of you are still in the same places. 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10So they're just walking by Eikichi? 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rude. [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, no, they'll acknowledge him first, but my assumption was he'd head back with them. Did he want to make a point in private? [23:31] 13Ying is huffily looking away, remaining uncomfortably silent. 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10No, he was just stretching his legs for the fun of it. Jesus, some people- "May I have a word in private?" 10He says this to Arianna but he makes no effort to exclude or ignore Swan. 08[23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12They glance at each other. "...all right," 12says Arianna, who moves to lead Eikichi to another room. Swan looks uncertain, but ultimately doesn't follow; instead he returns to the study where everyone else is. 08[23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna and Eikichi wind up in a small office, complete with desk. The sorceress gives the sorcerer an expectant look. Meanwhile, Swan's sitting down, and says: "...I've talked to her." [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "I don't... think you'll like some of what she has to say. But I know she doesn't want this to turn into a fight." 12He probably means the kind of fight he's just had - his anima's still burning around his body. 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10After Arianna seems satisfied with their privacy, Eikichi says, "After the Emissary attacked... you were alone, weren't you? Swan gone, Panther gone, the others gods-know-where?" [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Completely. All I knew was that Swan was half dead." 12By way of explanation: "A talisman I worked up." [23:35] 4Ir's tone is far chillier now than it was earlier. "We almost certainly won't." 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "But he's back now. You saved him. We saved him. And we're going to save Panther too." [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "You have to-" 12He bites his lip. "She's had a difficult time of things. And she gets... tunnel vision." 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "My point is, you aren't alone anymore. You don't need to keep this a secret. You don't need to test your reach against your grasp. We can rectify that." [23:36] 13Ying, hollowly: "'Tunnel vision.'" [23:37] "Really. That's what you're going with." 08[23:37] "I doubt she'll like some of what we have to say either. I suspect Eikichi's--" 4She quickly thinks the better of using the phrase 'giving her the carrot.' "--telling her how helpful we can be if she wants us to be helpful right now. [23:37] " [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Your friends... aren't going to see it like that." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We don't want to be alone either." [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan, to Ying: "Yes! Yes, I know. It sounds -- I didn't know either. She keeps things to herself." [23:38] "I just want to impress upon you how hurtful we can be if she wants to keep hurting people." 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "This- all of this, none of it matters if we can't work together. Nothing we build will last or help anybody if we can't trust each other." [23:39] "I know how seriously you take slavery. I do too. And I view letting creatures of darkness run about unchecked murdering in the streets with a similar degree of seriousness." [23:39] 4Ir: "And I'm one of the closer things you have to a friend right now in this room." [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12The Eclipse Caste idly rubs his new wrist with his old hand. "I told her. I told her that she had to trust you. But I also told her she could. All right?" [23:39] 7Blossom: "I... think I understand what you say. Then you know how important it is to keep her pulled out of it." [23:40] 13Ying: "And you never-- gods. Gods! Did she tell ANYONE about anything?" [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Of course. Of course, none of us do. ...though I've heard that before. I'm sure I'm not the first anathema you've met outside your Circle." [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "Not... much. It's just not how she grew up. I gather that mostly when she told anyone important what she was working on they'd tell her to stop. Not that it excuses this kind of neglect. This... collateral." [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "I know you can stop her. I'm sure you will. Just... maybe she doesn't deserve your sympathy, from where you're sitting. But I'm asking for it anyway." [23:43] 13Ying: "You're darned right it doesn't! You need to keep a better eye - or, or someone does, I guess, I can't force you to - but this can't keep happening!" 13She's fuming, even as she stumbles over her words and corrects her baser impulses. 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "That's true. I won't deny the risk - for you or me. But if we aren't willing to try... what are we doing? Who's it for?" [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "The satisfaction, I suppose." 08[23:45] 11Berg says, quietly. "I will let Eikichi talk. I trust his judgment. But these are not toys, nor are the people of this city. You want to stop those who trade in the lives of these people? So do I. But I will stop anyone who does." 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi doesn't quite smile. "Thin comfort to be correct alone." 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "Plus, it's not just goodwill I offer. I can help. I can command the kruthik myself." [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna pinches the bridge of her nose, shuts her eyes. "I just invited you here so you'd help me steal some spellbooks." 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh, we can do that too." [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "...sorry?" [23:46] 11Berg: "Chosen, gods, spirits, demons... if the mountains came down to make chess pieces of the people, I would cast them down." [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Hell, he actually did already. [23:46] 11This isn't hypothetical. 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "They're such a low order of life, so rigidly structured, they're basically begging to be commanded. Everyone has it, that little kernel of their minds that's only satisfied by obedience. But in something like the kruthlings, that's all they have. Not only can we control feral kruthik, we can subvert the control of minded swarms." 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "Determination overcomes domination; this is the first law of sovereignty." 10The Empress wrote that somewhere. Blossom probably remembers where. [23:48] 4Deadpan: "And I'm not so bad in a fight myself." 08[23:49] 7Blossom: "None of us want to be your enemy, Swan. I'm sure Arianna doesn't want to be ours either. Eikichi's good at soothing these kinds of arguments." [23:49] 11Berg stands up, and turns towards the door. "I don't mean to be threatening. I believe when you say that you mean no harm. But in the end, intentions mean little to those who have lost their lives or freedom." 11He looks at the rest of the Circle. "I will wait outside." [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Yes, but how. Their hierarchy isn't rigid but each node might as well be tied to each other by cords of adamant. Short of transfiguring yourself into one of them, or fooling them with the exactly correct mix of pheromones and essence ripples..." 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I've got something up my sleeve." [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan's shoulders sag a bit as his anima dims - now it's just a white glow that rims his body. "Gods." 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Here he literally shakes his sleeve, and three glass spheres tumble out, spinning up and around him like the arc of their fall was a deliberate tease of gravity. [23:51] 4When Berg's gone, as a way of easing the tension: "Clearly I need to go fuck up some mountains or something. I need better stories." [23:51] 7Blossom: "Yes, he's stolen a march on us, myth-wise." [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna frowns to herself. "Are those the... no, there'd be four. What am I looking at?" 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Three spheres." [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "But which three sph-" 12She's dumbstruck for a good five seconds. "No." 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You read the book, right?" [23:54] 13Ying: "There's a whole mountain of the things underground if you want." 13She's got both eyes closed and is attempting to regulate her breathing. In, count to four, out, count to four, repeat. Old trick of Tatsuya's. "Sorry. I'm just - really angry because I just found out about it, and I'm lashing out, and it's not helpful or useful." [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Which?" 12She's following the nearest with her eyes now, and after a moment actually reaches to try to pluck it out of the air. 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He lets her, though he probably wouldn't if Blossom were in the room, since it looks a bit untoward. [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna's face is reflected, then, in the unbreakable glass of one of the Three Spheres. She stares in wonder. "But to be - they were shattered, surely? Did you find them? Reforge them? What can they- oh!" 12It's built up enough force to push free of her grip, now, and returns to its orbit. 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Mine. These are Spite's Linchpin, reduced to first principles." 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "I broke the staff for a project. Wasn't really anticipating this." [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "At the end of the day, what Anna did wasn't too helpful or useful, either. At least no one got eaten." [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "Well, it ends now. I'm glad you five came today." 08[23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12She doesn't seem to recognize 'Spite's Linchpin' from the name alone either, which suggests that she has not actually bothered to read Eikichi's book. He gets the sense that she will now, though. 15[23:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Always good to meet a fan. [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "And if those are the discarded substance of the principle of hierarchy - of course. It'd be easy. From everything I've surmised, the Kruthik are somehow the spawn of that very yozi! We must try it." 12She's clasping her hands excitedly. Session Time: Fri Dec 01 00:00:00 2017 08[00:00] 13Ying: "...I guess I am too. At least if Eikichi convinces-- well. Whatever he's going to do." 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We must. I agree." [00:01] 4Given how long it's taking in there, Ir's assuming it's going well. [00:02] 4Otherwise Arianna's response likely would have mirrored her fight with Swan. [00:02] 4Ir sits back down, then. "Should probably come clean at this point." [00:02] "We know where Panther is." [00:02] "It's getting him back that's the issue." 08[00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna sweeps past Eikichi and pulls on one of the lamps set in the walls. A wall immediately slides sideways, and a soft green glow is visible seeping up the stairs that lead down into the secret passage. "Come on, the..." 12She stops, screws her eyes tight, and then lets her arms hang loose from her shoulders in anguish. "Uggghh, no. Not yet, I suppose." 08[00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan, who's kind of staring at the floor, snaps back up to attention as Ir speaks. At around the same moment, an Arianna whose face is cast in a rictus of steely resolve (her lips pressed thin with Very Serious Contrition) troops into the room, Eikichi in tow. 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks smug. But Eikichi basically always looks smug. [00:05] 13Ying's eyes narrow towards Arianna, but she doesn't say anything. This is an improvement of what would have happened before she started the breathing exercises! [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna sits down besides Swan again. He reaches for her hand, but she pulls away, shutting her eyes tightly and taking a deep breath in all the while. [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Then, she opens her eyes, looks around the room, and begins to apologize. 14[00:32] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[00:34] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:37] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ [00:37] Everyone loses their temper sometimes, but being a good friend means being able to listen, even if you disagree! It's easy to write people off as mean, bossy, no-good, or too nerdy. But people can and do change! [00:37] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ 14[00:53] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:53] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[00:54] * Joins: Quaker 14[00:55] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[01:00] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:05] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[01:07] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[01:21] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:33] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[01:43] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[01:52] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:34] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[06:52] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[08:16] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[08:52] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[09:23] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[09:26] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:31] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:04] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:45] * Joins: dammitwho 14[11:51] * Joins: Crion_ 14[11:59] * Quits: Crion_ (Connection closed) 14[12:00] * Joins: Crion| 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timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:29] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[21:50] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[22:15] * Joins: Quaker 14[22:46] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Mon Dec 04 00:00:01 2017 14[00:11] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[00:21] * Quits: Quaker (Connection closed) 14[00:22] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:11] * Joins: tom 14[01:29] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:33] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[02:34] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:34] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[04:34] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[05:38] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) Session Start: Mon Dec 04 10:48:04 2017 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[10:48] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[10:48] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[10:48] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[10:48] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[10:49] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:28] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:45] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 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(Client exited) 14[11:57] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[13:13] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[13:38] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:02] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[19:05] * Joins: Crion 14[19:41] * Joins: hrolf 15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Well, this is a fine mess Keldar's gotten everyone into. [20:06] 14He wasn't alone. 15[20:07] <@VoxPVoxD> By refusing to submit to the lawful authority of Lookshy, and starting a dangerous battle in the streets while intoxicated, he's directly responsible for the deaths of half a dozen people, endangering dozens more, and devastating diplomatic options to no higher apparent reward than the scavenged arms of his innocent victims. 15[20:07] <@VoxPVoxD> What a jackass. [20:08] 13To be fair, I think the battle started while we were sober, and we became intoxicated during our horrific battle lust. [20:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Uh, the higher reward is readily apparent: the upheld principles of the free city of Nexus. [20:08] 14We'll see what we can do about the diplomatic options. 15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Cowering among his accomplices in their damp and seedy bunker, the heretical and terrifying Anathema are left to ponder their next move. [20:10] 14Narrator, I came here to have a good time and right now frankly I feel like I'm being attacked. [20:10] 13Normally it's us who do the attacking. Because of our heretical and criminal impulses, I mean. [20:11] 4von Hrolfus rubs his eyes blearily. "This has been an exhausting day." [20:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's looking much better after he's peeled off the compresses and bits of gauze Xu Sim peppered him with the night before. "But a profitable one. Only question is how we deal with Dorma." [20:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "At the very least we should let him bury his... Judge? Anyone got any ideas on what to say?" [20:12] 14Is this the next morning? [20:12] 14Because Stranger isn't emerging from his bedroom until the next morning. [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's saying that the following morning, certainly. He needed his rest. 15[20:14] <@VoxPVoxD> It's dawn of the following day when we catch up to our heroes. 15[20:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Greetings, 'heroes'. [20:15] 14Stranger is uncharacteristically slouchy when he emerges from his room, wanders over to the long hearth, and puts on a kettle. [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's up and about around the same time. He's scouring the place for eggs and some kind of meat. [20:16] 14Stranger: "Morning." [20:16] 5Xu Sim has been up since before dawn, exercising in the tearing sluice of one of the "fresher" sewerfalls. It's not enough to build strength, but it has been doing wonders for his endurance, pain tolerance, and reducing his skin sensitivity. [20:17] 14To Keldar, and anyone else in the common room: "Tea?" [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "If there's no coffee. Seriously not sure what to tell Dorma, though." [20:17] 5Never again will he be easy prey to an assassin, or anyone else. He will withstand whatever comes his way. [20:18] 14Something strong then. Stranger puts two bags of Forest Blackleaf in to steep. He could use the wake-up as well. [20:18] 14Stranger: "I will handle Dorma." [20:18] "With Xia Lan and Bastian, perhaps. Or perhaps not." [20:18] 4To Keldar: "Yes. Please." [20:18] 5He returns to the common area after his morning exercise, taking a moment to rinse himself down with a concoction of his own devising. It completely neutralizes whatever stench might affect someone after doing situps under 500 gallons a minute of torrenting runoff. [20:18] *to Stranger, oops [20:19] 13Xia Lan is eating some sort of pastry. Looks tasty, actually. "I'll take tea. As for Dorma... yeah. Maybe we should see what the word on the street is, first. If they're even angrier now than they were yesterday or something." [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What's your plan? I'm assuming you won't want me there." [20:19] 14To Bastian, once the kettle is puttering along: "How are you?" [20:19] 14The question is serious. [20:19] 4"Tired." [20:19] 14Stranger stares at him a moment, then nods. "Understandable." [20:20] 14To Xia Lan: "We should. I will step out after tea and breakfast, unless someone else wishes to." [20:20] 4"But I wish to be doing something. Lethargy is bad for the soul." [20:21] 5Xu Sim mashes a handful of ingredients together in his pestle: orange rind, goat lard, thyme, salt, vinegar, who knows what else. "Can someone make me breakfast? Does anyone want some of this exfoliating soap? Should be good." [20:21] 14Stranger nods at Bastian's words. Good head on that one's shoulders. [20:21] 14Ah. [20:21] 14Stranger: "Good morning, Xu Sim." [20:22] "I am brewing tea. Forest Blackleaf, to put a pep in your step in the morning. There are greens, eggs, and meats in the commissary." [20:23] "Thank you, Stranger. Have you thought on my proposal? I will confess: I was greatly ashamed to have been such an easy target for that assassin. I believe summoning a demon to act as a bodyguard is an acceptable solution, especially if I hope to finish curing the honey-maze." 5 Xu Sim takes a cup of the tea and swirls it around in the back of his throat to see if his mucous is still [20:23] 5honey. [20:24] 14Stranger's eyebrows rise. "You haven't already--? Ah. Ah! Yes. Yes, I have thought some more on it." [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Frankly I can't believe you haven't got a demon retinue already. I've heard of sorcerers with, like, aesthetic objections - but I thought to myself, Xu Sim?" 14[20:24] * Joins: hrolfy [20:25] "What are your thoughts on slavery, Xu Sim? Related: what are your superstitions about getting what you deserve?" [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar'll grab the soap if no one else is snapping it up. He's more practical than vain, but is quite vain. [20:26] 13Xia Lan: "Also, what's in the soap?" 13She's got products already, but hey, Xu Sim's smart. Although he also did pickle himself. Mmm. [20:26] 14Stranger will accept the soap without comment. Very nice. [20:26] 4The tea is a temporary relief. He closes his eyes, and wafts his hand over his mug, taking a deep breath to savour the smell. [20:27] "Slavery? Why, it's unfortunate, of course. Poor wretches. And people rarely get what they deserve - but they rarely deserve what they do get. Where are you going with these questions?" 14[20:27] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[20:27] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:27] 14Forest Blackleaf is strong and bitter. It's not coffee, but it's very bracing. A morning tea. [20:27] 14Stranger: "Binding a demon to your will is slavery. It makes you a slaver." [20:28] "And in the service of Creation's defense, I find that perfectly acceptable." [20:29] "But necessity does not change the character of a thing. And when you meddle across the distance between us and these outsiders, you meddle for keeps." [20:29] "Xia Lan, the soap is orange and thyme, a pinch of salt and vinegar with some almond shells for coarseness, a bit of this and that, about what you might expect. It should be a bracing, exfoliating product." [20:30] 14He sips his tea. "I find hypocrisy unattractive, but I do not despise it, if the thing itself the hypocrite does is a worthy thing. Summon your demon, if you wish and if you can. Use it to keep our peace, if that is your will. But be very aware of what that makes you." [20:31] 5 Xu Sim wanders over to the commissary and begins loading a plate with greens, a raw egg, and a choice piece of the cured meat. [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, a practicing sorcerer. C'mon." [20:32] 13Xia Lan: "...I'll try some of the soap," 13she says awkwardly. Weird simultaneous conversations to have. [20:32] "A blood ape is a thing far more fraught than a dog, and not because it can kill you if you slip." [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It's 'cause they go after cats. Complete bastards. Chain 'em tight." [20:33] 4“We have several folk stories of these things going wrong. Men making pacts with Demons for riches, power, glory and regretting their bargains.” [20:33] 14He pauses after another sip. "...But if you do bring one here you will treat it responsibly. That is my only stipulation. I will not have creatures abused in this house -- not even creatures of darkness." [20:34] "It would demean us." [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, to Bastian: "Oh, if you bargain with demons you're a psycho or an idiot. Any sorcerer worth their incense just slaps 'em with magical bindings." [20:34] "To summon such a being is to invoke ancient treaties, bargains as old as the world. Surely it is not akin to taking off a man by force, or even invoking debtor's peonage." [20:35] 14Stranger: "Wrong." [20:35] 4“I would not know. Such things were outlawed in Deguo, and violators summarily executed." [20:35] "If you bargain with demons you're a 'psycho,' an idiot, or a diplomat." [20:35] "Before we're through here, we will need the diplomats." [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "How many real sorcerers did Deguo boast, anyway?" [20:36] 5Xu Sim bristles at the implication of Stranger's reasoning, but does not argue further. [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar barks a laugh in response to Stranger. "A diplomat! If we're treating Hell like it's a neighboring country we're probably really screwed." [20:37] 14Stranger: "Hell is a neighboring country." [20:37] 14Stranger: "We are 'really screwed.'" [20:37] "You recall what marches on us." [20:37] 7Dawn strolls in, dressed pretty much the same as she was the previous day. "From riots in the streets to demon-summoning? You certainly lead interesting lives. In the curse sort of way." [20:38] 14Stranger: "Ah! Morning to the newcomer. There is Forest Blackleaf in the kettle." [20:38] 4“They were all dead before my time." [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hey, I'm no superstitious layman. Raksha aren't demons." [20:39] 13Xia Lan: "We were doing pretty well for a while, I thought. I mean. Considering." 13She sips at her tea. "Then things took a turn." [20:39] 14Stranger: "Correct. But they're neighbors nonetheless." [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Worse neighbors than demons, too. Only some demons want to scoop your brains out of your skull." [20:40] "If Hell is a neighboring country surely it's not slavery to call their banners, when they are pledged in fealty." [20:40] 7Dawn: "Never met a demon. But some people would call us demons." 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Do you hear that? Stranger and Keldar do: the gentle, distant chiming of bells. Silver bells, if Keldar's ear is right. [20:41] 14Stranger: "I have some ideas on how to get the free demons of this city to back our arms. It involves a drinking contest, of course." 14His eyes dart to Xia Lan. "But showing up to that function with an enslaved demon, Xu Sim, may not help our--" [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12How distant? Somewhere in the hideout, out on the street...? [20:41] "What is that." [20:41] 13Xia Lan: "What is what?" [20:41] "Bells." 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Distant enough that it's coming from aboveground and outside. Loud enough that there's got to be a fair few of them. [20:42] 5 Xu Sim chokes on a mouthful of greens. [20:42] "Outside." [20:43] 14Stranger snatches up his walking stick as he strides towards the door. [20:43] 7Dawn: "Probably not good." 7She's right on his heels. [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar hmms to himself, then stands up from his breakfast - which has, to his credit, been scraped completely and noisily clean from the pan. "Gimme a couple minutes, then, and we can see what's what." [20:43] "I thought we had time," 5mutters the doctor as he shovels another forkful of food into his mouth before draining the whole cup of steaming hot tea and following along. [20:43] 13Xia Lan's out as soon as she grabs her weapons from her room. [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12The warrior stretches and then strides briskly to his own quarters, leaving someone else to clean his plate up. 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> What a dick. [20:44] 14He'll find it on his bed later. [20:44] 14Crumb bums will not be tolerated. [20:45] 4von Hrolfus carefully sets his cuppa aside and stands at the ready. 14[20:47] * Joins: tom [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12After two or three minutes, the heavy footfalls of someone armored from head to toe sound from the corridor outside. There's very little actual clanking, though, and that's because Keldar's clad in moonsilver. The armor covers him completely; a sinister, mouthless faceplate framed by great horns. In one of his hands is Raven's Crime, the red-and-gold halberd that nearly burned his [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12flesh from his bones a day prior. [20:48] 14Oh for the love of... [20:48] 13Is this the time for that? [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a faint hiss and a hard-to-transliterate liquid sound as the mask splits vertically and opens, revealing Keldar's face. "Check it out. If whatever's out there's hostile it ain't lasting two seconds." [20:49] 14Stranger donks him across the breastplate with his walking stick. "You're ridiculous." [20:49] "Fearsome." [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ridiculously well-equipped." [20:49] 7Dawn: "Good thing we weren't trying to keep a low profile or anything." [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You've got to try these things, it's insane. Unbelievably light, considering." [20:49] 14To Dawn: "Oh, they all know who we are. They're hiding us, after all." [20:49] 13Xia Lan: "...are you sure you want to go around like that before we've talked to Dorma?" [20:49] "And if there are spies watching, we're already blown." [20:50] 7Dawn: "Presumably we're going out on the street, though." [20:50] 4“Presumably he won’t be talkin to Dorma." 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Aboveground, the air's cleaner than it's been in days thanks to a cold, purifying rain. The streets of Floodwater are flooded, as you'd expect, and no one's really out on the streets this early in the morning, aside from the songbirds of early spring and the V-shaped flock of swans gliding smoothly down the river-road, wearing bells and mistletoe around their necks. [20:50] "No. He won't. Not dressed like that." [20:50] 14... [20:50] 14Bells. 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Silver bells! [20:50] 7Dawn straightens her hat on her head. "Is that... normal?" [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm not wearing it to meet him, I'm not crazy." 12The mask closes back up. "But we want to be ready for whatever's outside, yeah?" 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> What a world of merriment their melody foretells. [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Unless someone's got a really strong objection or argument, or we're waiting on any other Solar's preparations, Keldar will head up and outdoors with the rest of the Circle. [20:53] 14Stranger closes his eyes. His shoulders slump in relief and he laughs, chin tilted upward to the sky. "Keep the armor on, Apple boy. She'll appreciate it." [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Apple boy? Listen, gramps," [20:57] 14The white-haired man walks out into the sodden street, twirling his stick at the approaching line of swans -- they follow the line of the road in perfect flying formation up until they're a short distance from the milky-eyed man, and then their leader, the largest, most beautifully plumed of their number, bells ringing, spreads her wings. The other swans descend on her in a honking, [20:57] 14feathery twirl, spinning around and around-- [20:57] 7Dawn: "I heard Nexus was weird, but I wasn't ready for this." [20:58] 14--and then they all break away up into the sky, bells ringing, mistletoe glistening in the early light of the sun. They leave behind a woman, pale and conventionally beautiful, with a long neck and piercing cobalt eyes, smiling in a white-and-black patterned dress. [20:59] "You," 14she says, "have made friends." [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12The armor-clad Keldar takes up position beside and a little behind Stranger, arms crossed, as this all goes down. [20:59] "Let's not go too far," 5 mutters Xu Sim. [20:59] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven smiles. "I've made inroads." 14He takes another step forward. "You know, bells in this town -- they can be dangerous things." [21:01] 4Something about her puts von Hrolfus on edge. He shifts slightly onto one foot, almost a combat stance. [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar knows exactly what puts him on edge. But Stranger says this one's civilized. [21:02] 13Xia Lan gawps at the new arrival. "Uhhh...?" 13she says, intelligently. [21:02] 14The woman remains vaguely bird-like; light-boned and long-armed, with eyes whose irises are too large. "They were just for you," 14she says, and then grabs Stranger by his collar and pulls him in for a hard kiss. [21:02] 14When she releases him, she turns to the others. "So. Shall we go inside?" [21:03] 14Stranger rights himself, coughs, and clears his throat. "Yes. Well. May I introduce the Ambassador of Night and Day." [21:03] 7Dawn grunts. "If you knew who it was, coulda just said so, saved us all the trouble of getting wet." [21:03] 14Stranger: "I didn't." [21:04] 14Ambassador: "The bells are different every time, my dear. They catch the wind at odder angles." [21:04] 13Xia Lan, automatically: "Unfettered Xia Lan." 13Then, realizing that she's still staring, she quickly moves to stand aside to let her pass. [21:04] "...some entrance." [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Keldar." 12Vaguely disappointed that he isn't laughing with his hands on his hips while swords and arrowheads bounce off his panoply even now, the Dawn Caste shrugs one shoulder into a turn to head back inside. [21:05] "Xu Sim, at your service." 5More skinchangers?! [21:05] 4“von Hrolfus.” The title is meaningless now. [21:05] "Charmed," 14says the Ambassador to the young woman, without disdain, pausing for a moment to regard her before sweeping past. As she goes: "It was, wasn't it?" [21:06] 7Dawn: "Dawn." 7She doesn't offer a hand. [21:06] 4To Xu Sim: "Greetings to you, alchemist. You've made quite the racket." [21:06] 14To Xu Sim: "Greetings to you, alchemist. You've made quite the racket." [21:07] "I prefer to think of alchemy as one of the quieter fields of study, to be honest. So you honor me, thank you." [21:08] 14She half-cackles upon approaching the uparmored bravo of the bunch. "You're wearing one of our favorite designs, Keldar. How thoughtful of you. We hadn't had you pegged as the culturally sensitive type..." 14Her smile turns nasty. "...else you'd have used every part of the body you pulled out of that armor. Every part." [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar pauses to consider this. "I am, ain't I? The rest is a peace offering." [21:09] 14To Dawn: "We welcome the Dawn. But you're a newcomer -- me and mine don't know much of you. That's to your credit." [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar taps the chest of the armor. "You say the design's yours? How'd Lookshy get it, then?" [21:11] 14When she turns to von Hrolfus, however, the grin falls from the Ambassador's face, replaced with seriousness. "I am sorry for your loss. I am sorry that we had to be the ones that made known your loss." [21:12] 4The woman continues to set his teeth on edge for reasons he can’t understand, but artistocrtic courtesies fade hard. “I thank you for your condolences, my lady. If I may ask - who is this we that you refer to?” [21:12] 7Dawn mostly crosses her arms and looks surly. Flowery language isn't really her thing. [21:12] 14Over her shoulder to Keldar, cryptically: "Oh no, dear, I wasn't talking fashion. A design is a plan. And a plan always comes together." 14[21:12] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[21:13] * Quits: trenchfoot (NickServ (GHOST command used by trenchfoot_)) 14[21:13] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Behind the Ambassador, Keldar wills his faceplate open again so that he can look around and find someone else to share a 'can you believe this shit' look with. [21:14] 14He finds Stranger, who grins and shrugs. [21:15] 14The Ambassador, to von Hrolfus: "We are the Silver Pact." [21:15] 7Dawn will definitely accept a look of that type. [21:15] "The what?" [21:15] 14Stranger: "Now, if you would darling -- I trust you've put on some tea?" [21:15] 4“The name - I apologize, but it means nothing to me." [21:15] 14*To Stranger: "Now, if you would darling -- I trust you've put on some tea?" [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Either way, once everyone's back indoors again, Keldar spends an awkward few minutes trying to figure out if there's even a chair in the place that'll support his armored weight. He probably ends up taking Mutatis Mutandis back off. [21:15] 13Xia Lan also shares a glance and a shrug with Keldar. This is - a lot. [21:17] 14Upon reaching the common room, the Ambassador immediately retires to Stranger's chambers to bathe and change. She's had a long flight, you see. Once the door to his room shuts and locks, the white-haired man turns back to the rest of the group. [21:17] "So." [21:17] "I take it you have questions." [21:17] "I'm renaming you, Fox Visits Henhouse" [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar snickers. [21:17] 14Stranger grins. "You're too kind." [21:18] 7Dawn smirks. "She's not gonna... lord over you, is she? She seems the type." [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What's this Silver Pact stuff?" [21:19] 14If anything, the grin gets wider. "Oh, it comes and it goes. Ebbs and flows, like the tide. Sometimes it's midnight. Sometimes it's noon." [21:19] 13Xia Lan: "Also, the swans thing. And the bells. What's the deal?" [21:19] 14To Keldar's question: "Right. You're all aware, of course, that we are the Chosen of the Sun." [21:20] "But we are not the only Chosen in Creation. We are not the only Chosen whose patrons hang high in the sky." [21:20] "The Moon, Luna -- she has Chosen as well." [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, the Lunar Anathema. Run into one before. Or at least, saw some other poor bastards run into one." [21:22] 13Xia Lan: "..." [21:22] "That boy, the night before last?" [21:22] 7Dawn: "So how are you... acquainted, then?" [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "No way he was Anathema. ...unless he was a really great actor, I guess." 14[21:22] * Joins: dammitwho [21:22] 14Stranger: "We, the Chosen of the Sun -- we seem to have been...absent from this world a very long time. We are returning, perhaps, now. Maybe for a reason; maybe even for a good one. But our like has not been seen in a very long time." [21:23] "The Chosen of the Moon, however, are an enduring thing." [21:23] "A political, structural thing." [21:23] "They have, for want of a better word, a union. A nation." [21:23] "The Silver Pact." [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar frowns. "Where?" [21:25] 14His grin corrects itself into an only slightly self-satisfied smile. "She is a speaker for the Pact." [21:25] 14To Keldar: "Everywhere on the edges. Out in the dark places of Creation, in the wilds before the Wyld. And sometimes in the Wyld too, though that is a very delicate thing. They have been fighting...a long war. But not a war against Creation itself." [21:26] "A war against its rulers. And, to hear them tell it, its betrayers." [21:26] 14He pauses indulgently. "But perhaps I shouldn't tell their story for them." [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "They for us or against us?" [21:27] 13Xia Lan: "Okay. Question two: how long have you known her?" [21:27] 4“What do you know of what occurred in Deguo?" [21:29] 14To Xia Lan: "Slight bit longer than two years." [21:30] 14To von Hrolfus: "Qaile -- the crow boy -- was her scout. He was delivering her word. That was her report on Deguo; I doubt she has one newer yet. She was occupied elsewhere." [21:30] 14To Keldar: "Is the Sun for or against the Moon?" [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It's more important. Doesn't need to have an opinion." [21:31] 14Stranger: "Yes, that was why she found you so funny." [21:31] 7Dawn: "Do they all speak in riddles?" [21:31] 13Xia Lan: "Must've been a while since you've seen her with that welcome." [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But you know what I mean. Actually, it doesn't much matter, since the question I really mean to have answered is this: can and will she help Nexus here and now?" [21:31] 14To Dawn: "What good diplomat doesn't?" [21:32] 14To Keldar, with more seriousness this time: "Right now she is our strongest and only ally." [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Can she fight alongside us? Rustle up some other silver anathema to do likewise? Bring in a beastman horde?" [21:33] 14He doesn't quite waggle his eyebrows in Xia Lan's direction, but he doesn't quite not, either. [21:33] 13She blows a stray hair out of her eyes, but says nothing to respond to that. [21:36] 14The door to Stranger's room is thrown open, and the Ambassador walks out, freshly bathed and coiffed in calf-high black boots, tight white slacks, a white tunic and a black half-cape about her shoulders. Her hair is now in a blonde bob. "She will fight alongside you, and she will represent your need to Pact itself," 14says the Ambassador as she walks out, then delicately folds [21:36] 14herself up across the arm of the lounging chair where Stranger is sitting. [21:36] "You do understand, however, the complexities in asking the Silver Pact to defend a city." [21:36] 14She looks around the room. "...You do understand that, yes?" [21:37] 4“Beg pardon. I do not." [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, yeah. Don't you lot want to end civilization?" [21:37] 14The Ambassador weaves her head back and forth in a visual equivocation. "That's a very...simple and direct way of putting it." [21:38] 13Not hearing a no. [21:38] "But not entirely a wrong one." [21:39] "It might be more accurate to say we're not against civilization per se," 14says the Ambassador. "We're merely against this one." [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Right. So... what'll it take? How much more do you hate raksha than us?" [21:39] 14She stares at Keldar. "How much more do I hate raksha than--" [21:40] 14The Ambassador points at Stranger. "You realize I'm fucking him, yes?" [21:40] 13Xia Lan: "Some people are into that kind of thing." [21:40] 14Stranger's smile falters and turns into him working his jaw as he flushes. [21:41] "Henhouse Visits Fox," 5the sorcerer reconsiders. [21:41] 14The Ambassador is deadly serious, still. She looks at von Hrolfus. "And you spoke with Qaile, hmm? The boy who I sent dangerously into your lands, to spy the fate of your people?" [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar spins his hand impatiently. "Plural you." [21:41] "That boy is quite useful. I do not send him of flights of fancy." [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm guessing you're sticking around either way. But an entire Circle of you's even better." [21:42] 14She turns back to--is this idiot still wearing the armor? [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's taken it off. You can't really relax in it. [21:42] 7Dawn's leaning against something, just eyeing the Ambassador warily. [21:43] 14Perhaps he can't. "I'd hazard to say I've done far, far more for you than you have done for me, oh Keldar of the orchard." [21:43] "Whereas soldiers are concerned, I am working. Whereas intelligence is concerned, I am providing." [21:43] "Whereas my peers are concerned, I cannot speak for them. The Pact will make its decision. I am merely an influencer." [21:44] 4“I have not spoken to anyone. All my information has come second hand." [21:44] "Yes. From me and mine." [21:44] "At risk." [21:44] 4“Everyone I know is dead or scattered." [21:44] 14She glares at Stranger. "You could have made them a half-egg more thankful." [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Lady, I am just trying to get myself up to speed, here. You're representing some kind of conspiracy of anathema. Obviously most of them would either not care or be amused to hear we've all had our souls eaten. So what'd get your people on our side? How can we secure more than scouting from you and your personal aides?" [21:45] 14Stranger: "No, love. I don't think so." [21:49] 14She shakes her head and turns back to Keldar: "That is the question I am here to answer." [21:50] 14To von Hrolfus: "Then you are more kin to us than you know." [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, by all means. As we all know, wars are won by having more ancient demon lords on your side than the other guy's." [21:52] 13Xia Lan: "I'm really not sure that's true." [21:52] "To endure the battle, we must cure the plague affecting the city. If I can get access to my patients again, I think I could throw something together and end it. But the sick are under Looskyan guard. To win the battle, I think I could craft raksha-slaying weapons for the armies to use, but to do that I would need many other supplies as well. And of course, if your Silver Pact of [21:52] skinchangers wants to send soldiers to aid us, we are hardly in a position to refuse." [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Believe it. If there were twelve of us we'd stomp the raksha flat. Twenty and they wouldn't even show their faces." [21:53] 7Dawn: "Been having a rough day?" [21:53] 14The Ambassador's eyes slide over to Dawn. "Yes. Always." [21:54] "I think they would show their faces regardless. They are, I think, compelled to come to the song-spoken place." [21:54] 14Stranger: "Xu Sim." [21:55] 5He grunts. [21:55] 7Dawn: "Tell me about your fight and I'll tell you about mine." [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Alright, technically, yes, but you know what I mean." [21:55] 14Stranger: "Find another word." [21:56] 14He's referring to 'skinchangers.' [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Huh, they don't like that?" [21:58] "Ah, please excuse my manners. Your Silver Pact of illustrious Moon-Chosen warriors, and so forth." [21:58] "'Beastmen' is fine," 14the Ambassador says with some slight amusement. "Not all of us identify with skin." [21:59] 14The Ambassador blinks at Dawn's request, then resettles herself on the arm of the chair almost like a bird rippling its feathers. "If you wish." [22:01] "I flew from the slaughter at Vaneha straight-away to here, and as the bird flies this took me across the seething columns of a terrible, colorful, trumpeting disease. The marches on march. And I was not safe in the sky, because nothing in Creation is safe when the things from behind the Wyld are on the move." [22:01] "Outriders. More outriders than I had expected." [22:02] 7Dawn, arms crossed. "And yet you're not decided on whether to help?" [22:02] "They do their work through deceit and the shortchange of valor, and--" [22:02] 14For the first time her face curls into anger. "Oh go fuck yourself, you ungrateful bitch." [22:03] "My people died for news about your Deguo." [22:03] "My people died so that I could be here now." [22:03] "If I wasn't going to help you I certainly wouldn't be sitting here being called a traitor three times a minute." [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar bridles. "And tell us what we already know? Where do you get off-" 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> BONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG [22:04] 14Stranger's no longer smiling. "Everyone needs to calm down right now." 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> BONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG [22:04] 13Xia Lan: "I'm very ca-" [22:04] 7Dawn: "If that's how you feel, you could just say it, rather than smugly--" [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's head whips around towards the source of the noise. "What in..." [22:05] 4“..?” 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> That sounds like a massive gong being rung somewhere far but not that far away. [22:05] 14Stranger puts his hand on the small of the Ambassador's back to urge her to stand, and stands with her. [22:05] 4To Keldar: “is this some sort of alert in your city?" [22:07] 14Stranger: "The Dawn Guard are mustering." [22:08] "The docks." [22:08] 7Dawn's firewand goes from her back to her shoulder quicker than an eyeblink. "Sounds like we should go check it out." [22:08] 13Xia Lan: "We should - yeah." [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah. And you don't hear those every day... and the Apples are, as of this moment, part of the Guard." 12He stands from his seat, although he'd already half-stood to rise to Dawn's defense. "Well, back in another minute." [22:09] 14He glances over at Keldar. "Not the armor. Just the weapon." [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar pauses. "Not like it's a big mystery where the weapon comes from." [22:09] 14Stranger: "It's not about the mystery. It's about whether he sees red when he sees you." [22:10] 4“Best not to provoke." [22:10] 7Dawn: "Best not to get killed by whatever the gong's for, too." [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The pike's not gonna be any better. I should either leave both or take both, and frankly my company's more important than Dorma's mood." [22:11] 14Stranger: "...How quickly can you dress in it?" [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Couple minutes." [22:12] 14Stranger: "Then I ask you do not wear it, but bring it with you in a satchel or a duffel. You can always put it on. Once you're seen it in, it will be difficult to take it off." [22:13] “We can also trade it back as a sign of good faith, perhaps." [22:13] 14Stranger doesn't even bother rolling his eyes at that. [22:13] 14They'll have to peel Keldar out of that suit. [22:16] 14Stranger: "But do as you will." [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I can part with it. But I'm not showing up for the Apples in my second-best." 12Unless people have further objections, Keldar hustles off, and soon returns with a much bulkier silhouette. [22:17] 14The Ambassador's eyebrows rise quite high as Keldar leaves the room, and she looks over at Stranger. He replies: "He was going to do as he willed anyway. It seems to be our thing." [22:18] 13Xia Lan: "...really hope we spot Dorma before he spots us." [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12In other circumstances, Keldar would be mounting an emas bird or something else strong enough to hasten his travel across the city even despite the load of the armor. As of now, though, it's probably best to keep his fellow Solars close by, so he'll just head for the docks by the fastest means available that doesn't end up smearing the Circle across the city. [22:19] 14As they're walking out and the Ambassador passes Dawn, she leans in and says: "The paint was from a school. The school had children. The children are all dead. That was my fight." [22:19] 14Then the Lunar's out the door. [22:20] 5Xu Sim pets the Twice-Refined Princess (rousing her from a twitchy nap) and follows the others, gesturing for her to come along. 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Is everyone wade-walking straight to the docks? [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Is it a terribly long trip? If so Keldar probably SHOULD arrange (or have arranged) some riding birds. [22:21] 7Dawn says back, at the same volume: "Then maybe you need our help, too." [22:22] 14Stranger, coming up behind both of them, a touch of sadness in his voice: "She knows." [22:22] "It's the rest of them that need to learn." 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> It's not that long as a straight shot. What's Keldar's plan for if he runs into Lookshyans on the way? [22:24] 14When the Ambassador makes the street she jumps up in the air and arcs down, plunging into the knee-deep water at a full dive -- a shape moves beneath the surface, and then a swan emerges and soars up into the air, a silver bell ringing around its neck. [22:24] 14It circles once, then heads for the docks as the bird flies. [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar will stop, identify himself, tell them he plans to negotiate with Dorma as soon as whatever's going on is sorted out, and then proceed, pretty much. [22:24] 14Stranger, mildly: "Well, I'm glad you were all so polite." [22:25] 4“I did not mean to give offense." [22:25] 7Dawn: "Manners are for people who don't act uppity." [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So 'Ambassador' is just like a poetic name of hers, right? Not her job?" [22:25] "Oh no, Bastian, you and Xia Lan can take that seriously." [22:25] 13Xia Lan: "Thank you." 13She would mock a curtsy if they weren't in a hurry. [22:26] 5Xu Sim grunts again. [22:27] 14To Keldar: "At this time yesterday she was a long and hard night's flight east of here, trying to negotiate a peace between the Snakefeather Fang tribes and the outriders of the Empire of the Eternal Sun." [22:29] "Now, I am not certain, specifically, what the Empire of the Eternal Sun is. But after agree to terms, it butchered the Snakefeather Fang tribes. And she watched it." [22:29] "And she was unable to stop it." 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Soldiers converge on Keldar in fear and fury multiple times on the way, but nobody makes a serious effort to halt him. Wearing the armor of their boss, whom Keldar brutally murdered yesterday, has that effect. [22:30] 14Wading through the water: "Now. You may mock her now, if you wish, for being bad at her job. I think that would be cruel, personally, and I would take offense if you did." [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's "Screw off!" 12sounds like the roar of a demon king. No Lookshyan toady has the guts to object for more than a moment. [22:31] "Not only because I'm her lover, but because I think instead she was too good at her work. Ambassadors negotiate. They do not enforce." [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Between these dismissals, Keldar carries on talking to Stranger. "Well, I didn't wanna- all right, I kind of did. But you know what, it wasn't your Ambassador that melted a half-dozen Gunzosha that had me surrounded and she needs to think about who she's mouthing off at." [22:32] 14Just as mildly: "As do you." [22:32] "Insult my woman again in front of me and I'll take it personally, Keldar of Nexus." [22:32] 7Dawn looks aside at Keldar. "I'll be fine, thanks. I feel for her, but it wouldn't hurt her to drop the smug know-it-all act for a few seconds." [22:33] 14To Dawn: "What if it would?" [22:33] 13Xia Lan: "I mean, seriously, they made out literally first thing. If you want to talk shit about a friend's girlfriend, do it behind their back. Like a real friend." [22:33] "When a bird flies alone into a dragon's den, their plumage had best be on point." [22:33] "Is that something you can simply turn off?" 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> The Circle merges with the crowds and soldiers converging on the docks. Keldar spots a platoon of men and women in Dawn Guard uniforms marching under the banner of the Ninth Orchard company. [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar raises his hands placatingly, which looks very funny when it's the huge, horned silver armor making the gesture. "Hey, woah, I didn't mean to- that's fair, that's fair." [22:34] 7Dawn sighs. "I'd say we could have this discussion later, but I don't think it'd change anything. Just forget it, okay? I'll play nice." [22:35] 14Stranger: "Don't do it for my sake." [22:35] "Do it for your own." [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Now, 'scuse me." 12He speeds his stride while, at the same time, shrugging his helmet open. As he gets within earshot of the Orchard warriors, Keldar makes the company's traditional fist-across-chest salute and shouts a greeting: "Oi!" [22:35] "We need all the help we can get." [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Don't freak out! I got my hands on this just yesterday. What's the situation?" [22:36] 14Here we go. 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> The guy leading the Apple Militia is an old drinking buddy of Keldar's nicknamed 'Master Miller'. He's not a martial artist or anything, his face just always looks pale and ashy like he's been lightly dusted with flour. He says, "Invaders." [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "This early? What kind?" 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Miller: "Soldiers, from what I hear. Actual soldiers, from the Kingdoms." [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The fuck they think they're doing? Which kingdom?" [22:40] 4“The kingdoms?" [22:40] 14Taking advantage. 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> After cresting the next hill they can see the docks, now, gleaming gunzosha and the cream of the Dawn Guard as well as the discernible figures of both Dorma and Pellicia greeting neat rows of soldiers still emptying from vast river barges, surrounded and supported by swarms of air elementals. 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> The barges fly colors: https://i.imgur.com/u4Zu2lX.png [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar keeps his helmet open and his halberd in hand, as much as each other instance of "his" in this sentence deserves to be bracketed by scare quotes. His eyes narrow slightly as he peers, then narrow further. [22:45] 7Dawn stands behind Keldar, firewand laid over her shoulder. She doesn't recognize the heraldry, but it's probably not good if an unexpected army has arrived. [22:45] 4von Hrolfus almost spits. “Highanders.” [22:45] 13Xia Lan lets out a low whistle at the sight. Not hard to guess what they're doing here... but it's still unpleasant. 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma and Pellicia are in tense conference with a man in gleaming white and gold armor and a huge billowy violet cloak with a beard coming out of it. [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Bracing himself for some unfortunate reactions, Keldar heads to the front, marching with the farthest-forward contingent of the combined Dawn Guard/Ninth Orchard force. [22:48] 14As they waddle then walk up, a graceful swan dives from the sky, alights on Stranger's shoulder -- an awkward fit, causing a grimace -- and leans her beak down into his ear. Then she flies off -- but doesn't go far. [22:52] 14Stranger manages to make his way forward to Keldar. "You're looking at six companies of infantry, well-armed and professional; a company of archers supporting to the rear; and a large mixed company of air and land calvary -- emas birds and air elementals." [22:52] "As far as she can tell, no other dirty tricks...but she's not military." [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Chosen? Sorcerers?" [22:54] 14Stranger: "I wasn't going to let her get close enough to tell. She's already done enough trying to get you to appreciate her." [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, what she tells you squares with what I'm looking at, so she's at least military enough. What we need to do is get 'em to at least stop unloading while we stare slack-jawed." 12The Dawn Caste keeps walking - he wants to get within earshot of Pellicia. [22:55] 4von Hrolfus lowers his hand from above his eyes, nodding. “Her report seems accurate." [22:56] 14Stranger was headed that way already. "Don't turn this into a fight." [22:56] 7Dawn's getting close too... but her eyes are tracing every line of the two commanders. 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Nobody stops him, but the scene behind Pellicia and Dorma is not pulling them away from the sight in front of them if he's just walking up. What does he say to get their attention? [22:56] 4“I think one advantage of this army at our doorstep is that Dorma might let us live another day.” [22:57] 5Earshot of Pellicia is armsreach of Dorma. Xu Sim isn't going to do anything that could be perceived as escalation, or that gets him any closer to the Dragonlord than absolutely necessary. He sits atop a sack of potatoes to watch what happens next. [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, to Stranger: "Not against Dorma, certainly." Then, after a few more steps, he raises his voice. "Dawn Sergeant! The Apples stand ready. What's going on?" [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Then, after a few more steps, he raises his voice, I mean. [22:58] 14Stranger will head for Dorma. "A word, Dragonlord, before an action." [22:58] "And a consideration for the necessity of a unified front at this precise moment." [23:00] 14The secretary isn't around, is he? [23:00] 13Xia Lan trails behind, sticking close to Stranger and Keldar. An extra pretty face, and hopefully someone to de-escalate whatever's about to happen with Keldar. [23:00] 14Stranger could use her with him. [23:00] 7Dawn leans in and whispers to Keldar, "They're both more than they look. A sorcerer and not a swordsman. Be careful." [23:01] 14Pellicia already likes them. 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> No sign of Bubo. 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia turns rapidly at Keldar's voice. 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma, meanwhile, turns very, very slowly. His head almost seems to rotate independently of his body, though that's likely a visual trick of his armor. [23:06] 14Stranger doesn't look at him. "Don't look at me. You know who I am. Look forward. Project strength. Face this host. If you wish me dead, you can have me dead away from the eyes of this fool and his army." [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The Highlanders seem to be unloading an entire army. We aren't stopping them?" 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> The sorcerer withdraws further into his cloak; the armored man stands impassively, hand resting on sword hilt. [23:07] "You are missing a squadron of strong arms here. It's one I would prefer that you still had, and one that I worked to ensure you still had, but with that squadron you sent an officer, and with that officer you sent not a single lick of goddamn sense." [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Behind Keldar, Apples are pushing crates around, hammering stakes down into the ground, and otherwise preparing for the worst, at his whispered suggestions. For now he stands up front, speaking with Pellicia and sort of avoiding Dorma's gaze for the moment. [23:15] 7Dawn stands unobtrusively behind Keldar, though she acknowledges Pellicia if the Dawn Sergeant looks in her direction. [23:17] 13Xia Lan has her diplomatic face on, standing behind Stranger but mostly just listening, gauging reactions, and keeping her hands relaxed but close enough to her swords just in case. [23:18] "If you ask for the weapon of Keldar of Nexus, you don't do it in a crowded street. You don't do it where your failure kills dozens. You don't do it at all. Your officer lost her life to her own contempt -- not just for him, but for the city of Nexus. And yeah, it pisses you off that he's standing there in that armor, with that weapon -- and yeah, it should. Because none of this had to [23:18] happen." [23:18] "But, even though it did." [23:18] "He's standing beside you -- facing them." [23:18] "Right now, Dragonlord, I humbly suggest you make up your mind as to whether that counts for something." [23:19] "We're on the clock." 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma just looks at Stranger with a dull, glassy expression, leaning down as if taking advice from a trusted counselor. 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> He whispers something in Stranger's ear before turning back around. [23:24] 14Stranger's face doesn't move. "Absolutely, Dragonlord." [23:24] 13What'd he - not in public. 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia finds it difficult to look directly at Keldar for some reason. "The Prince of Highland comes bringing aid. Are you representing the Apples?" [23:26] 14Stranger will subtly motion for Xia Lan to follow, then sidle up to Keldar and Pellicia. [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar takes a brief glance around. Unless he sees Khelendros or someone on the scene: "For the moment. We're at your command." [23:27] 4von Hrolfus. “Aid? They’re not here to attack?" [23:27] 14Stranger chuckles. There's not much humor in it. [23:27] 13She takes her place impassively. 'Aid' is a new wrinkle, but that could be almost anything. 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Khelendros is not present. Keldar's understanding is he scooped some top-secret job for the Apples from the other mercenary companies that Keldar hasn't been briefed on yet, owing to going into hiding after committing murder. [23:28] "They'll try the first, and if that doesn't work, they'll move on to the second." 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> The armored man's voice is slightly reedier than you'd expect given his build. "As I was saying, I'm prepared to pay to billet my soldiers in Firewander for the duration. Can we agree tentatively on that so we can negotiate further indoors?" [23:30] 14Firewander. 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "We're all getting antsy standing here." [23:30] 14He knows. [23:30] 14Stranger isn't sure what he knows -- he's not even sure who the man is -- but whatever it is: [23:30] 14He knows it. [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, as everyone knows, the rents in Firewander can't be beat. Of course, Keldar isn't empowered to actually negotiate on the city's behalf... although, is Pellicia, really? [23:31] 14Mildly, towards Pellicia but really to no one in particular: "Parlay sounds excellent." 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Up close it's easy to see the royal seal of Highland embossed in his breastplate. Between this and his appearance it's easy to deduce that this is the Prince-Regent himself, the Beast of Highland. [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar leans over a little and whispers to the Dawn Sergeant. "Can we trust them? Why aren't they beset themselves?" [23:34] 14Oh good lord. Stranger looks around; is anyone making arrangements for this parlay? 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Yes! It looks like there's some humble functionaries scurrying around, and the barges are now disgorging goods and supplies and wagonloads of silver. [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, now. 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> A war's not breaking out here, so everyone's gearing up to march back up the Hill to Council Tower. [23:38] 14That is the rule of this city: pay to play. [23:39] 14Stranger will take pains to get Keldar briefly separated from the other functionaries to tell him: "I turned Dorma aside. I didn't blunt him. Mind yourself in his presence." [23:39] 13Well, secret talks in the Council Tower is better than open fighting in the streets. I mean, marginally. It would be better if the Beast of Highland wasn't here at all, of course, but... [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, Keldar doesn't like a second foreign army running around the city, but one supposes it's not much worse than there being one, especially since the two don't like each other any. He'll stand by Pellicia until such time as he's got orders, at which point he'll (I'm guessing) direct the Apples in decamping and escorting Highland's forces from the docks to Firewander. [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12The mercenary does find a moment to speak with Stranger, though. "Got you. That can't have been easy... let me know when's a good time to either talk to Dorma or fuck off, as you judge it." [23:42] 13Xia Lan drifts close enough to speak to Keldar and Stranger: "When you do, do it without the armor and halberd. Just a tip." [23:42] 14Stranger: "It was as easy as pointing at this Highland farce and noting that you were facing the same way he was. It was as hard as that, too. Stay away for now and let me work; I'll let you know." [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "He can have 'em if he's not going to point them at me." [23:43] 4“Surely Highland was on the same path to here as Deguo. Why were they spared?" [23:43] 14Before Keldar goes: "Oh. And the sorcerer's cultivating a Stormwind Rider. That's why all the billowing." 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia, Dorma, the Circle, the Beast, and the billowy man all march with their clashing retinues up Sentinel's Hill. By this point it's mid-afternoon, and the sky is so dark with clouds that were it not for the red star turning the clouds pink it'd be difficult to navigate. [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, to Bastian: "It stinks. 'specially if they're going to bunk in Firewander - points to their maybe being immunized against the Wyld somehow, or maybe having made a deal with it." [23:44] 14Ominous. Stranger never sees the graceful swan following them up, but occasionally thinks he hears the ringing of the bell. 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> He does, actually, once everyone's climbed the hill and ready to ascend Council Tower itself. 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> But it's not a silver bell. 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Instead, the air shakes again, with the rolling monotone of a vast and heavy bell, struck three times at steady rhythm, all cold iron. 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> The dead are marching up the thoroughfare. [23:48] 7Dawn's firewand is in hand, now. "I swear, if another bell rings today, I'm going to blast it." [23:49] 14As they all approach the tower, Stranger pauses and steps aside a moment -- and out from the bushes a small, lithe silver cat with black accents in her fur darts forward, then climbs up his arm as he leans over, coming to rest and perch on his shoulder. The silver-haired man then rejoins the retinue as if nothing has changed. 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> The assembled militias fire arrows or form defensive barricades, but their arrows find no purchase, and they scatter in terror as the corpses, with part or all the flesh rotted from their bodies, drag massive golden palanquins up the hill. 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> For its part, the advancing dead horde leaves no damage in its wake save whatever trauma lingers in the minds of those who barred its way. [23:49] 14Stranger grimaces, then turns his head to whisper in the cat's ear. [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar mutters some swear or other as he barges forward, stolen halberd in hand and helmet closing over his face. He yells at the Apples behind him to hold as he positions himself to defend the actual retinue of leaders and negotiators, and also to simply get a better look. [23:50] "Tolls," 14Stranger says to Dawn. "The bells toll." [23:51] 7Dawn: "Not when I'm through with 'em." 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Six palanquins are laden with tribute and treasure, silver and jade. Three of them - the three at the front - are covered against the rain. 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> The army stops more or less directly in front of Keldar, bringing him face to face with the foremost of the covered palanquins. Keldar can hear a steady clack-clack-clack emerge from its perfumed depths. [23:54] 13Moving even closer to the rest of the group, Xia Lan shivers in disgust and fear. Undead hordes walking the streets. Bearing gifts! There is something deeply wrong with this city. [23:54] 14Stranger: "Well then." [23:55] "I know which side I'm on." [23:55] 4“This is madness." [23:55] "Seriously. What the hell's wrong with this city?" [23:56] 14Stranger: "It's in the middle." [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Well... here we are, Keldar thinks. "I'm Keldar, of the Ninth Orchard and serving the Dawn Guard. Announce yourself!" [23:56] "It's in the middle of the whole wide world." [23:57] 7Dawn, sighting along her firewand: "Not exactly certain of my geography, but I'm not sure that's true." [23:57] "And when you're in the middle, everyone else looks at you and sees the closest place to Heaven." [23:57] "It's not about maps, Dawn." [23:57] 14Stranger points up. [23:57] "It's about the Star." [23:59] "Every day gets a little stranger." [23:59] 13Xia Lan: "I really wish it wouldn't." [23:59] 14The silver-haired man grins and the white-and-black cat mrowls. "That's why we're here." [23:59] 7Dawn: "If this is a little, then gods help us if it ever gets a lot stranger." Session Time: Wed Dec 06 00:00:00 2017 [00:00] "These guys are from Thorns, by the way. What a forsaken place..." [00:00] 13Xia Lan: "Wonderful! Exactly what we needed. Everything is just roses right now." [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Thorns?! Keldar's helmet swivels just a bit, as if to begin looking over his shoulder to confirm what Xu Sim's said, but he keeps the mainstay of his attention on the lead palanquin. [00:02] 7Dawn: "So do we blast them, then?" 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> The voice that emerges from the center palanquin is thick and phlegmy, and Keldar is buffeted by a wave of rank air. "THE FACE OF THE MASK BRINGS TRIBUTE AND PARLAY! WE JOIN THE RIVERS TO DRIVE BACK THE INVADERS!" [00:03] 4von Hrolfus: “They are paying to defend us? How odd." 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> A sword plunges out from the center of the palanquin, as wide and tall as Keldar with a blade of dull gray steel honed from edge to edge. It digs into the cobbles, and Keldar is brought face to face with the abacus embedded in its hilt, large and complex with each bead carved in the shape of a skull. [00:03] 14Stranger: "No." [00:03] "We do the only thing we can do." [00:03] "We talk it out." [00:04] "And if that doesn't work, well." 14Stranger scritches the cat. "Then they're all in the same room." [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...yeah?" 12He looks over at Pellicia, though the furious visage of Mutatis Mutandis masks how nonplussed he is at the moment. 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> A white hand reaches out for the hilt, and a groan echoes down the Hill as an immensely fat man levers himself out using the blade. His skin and hair are white and nearly translucent, and the smell of rot clings to him like an ugly rumor. [00:05] 5Oh, now this is interesting. [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Gross. [00:06] 14Gaudy. 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> He looks up and down the assembled armies as two other figures disembark from the palanquins behind him. 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "But first! The Governor of Thorns humbly invites himself to dinner." 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: The Fivefold Council 14[00:15] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:27] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[00:36] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[00:44] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [00:46] strange that she's the ambassador of both night and day [00:46] unless she's the ambassador of the night TO the day [00:47] and the day to the night [00:47] you think they'd listen to one of you clowns? [00:48] what authority do the chosen of the moon have to speak on behalf of anything that happens in the day [00:49] these hands, that you can catch 14[00:58] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:23] * Quits: Quaker (Connection closed) 14[01:24] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:16] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:22] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[04:23] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[05:47] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[08:08] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[08:09] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[08:14] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:00] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:33] * Joins: Quaker 15[12:24] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed Dec 06 12:24:51 2017 Session Start: Wed Dec 06 14:52:56 2017 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:52] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:52] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[14:52] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[14:52] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[14:59] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:57] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[18:20] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed Dec 06 18:20:45 2017 Session Start: Wed Dec 06 18:30:57 2017 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[18:30] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[18:30] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[18:30] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[18:30] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[19:08] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[19:08] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:09] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[19:10] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:14] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:31] * Joins: tom 14[19:34] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:44] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[20:34] * Joins: hrolf 14[20:42] * Joins: hrolfy 14[20:43] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:48] * Quits: hrolfy (Quit: Leaving) 14[20:51] * Joins: dammitwho 14[21:25] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:30] * Joins: VoxPrime Session Time: Thu Dec 07 00:00:00 2017 14[00:52] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[01:16] * Quits: Quaker_ (Client exited) 14[01:24] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:52] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[02:06] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[02:11] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:29] * Joins: bananaphone 14[02:40] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[02:42] * Joins: bananaphone 14[03:15] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[03:47] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[03:47] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:23] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[04:58] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:58] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[07:38] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[07:56] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:59] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[11:02] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:27] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:46] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[11:47] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:51] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:58] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:22] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:04] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:37] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:57] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[18:10] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:42] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:53] * Joins: tom [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 .-"""-. [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 /* * * *\ [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12:_.-:`:-._; [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 (_) [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 \|/(_)\|/ [20:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Sooooo I experimented on a thing... [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Here's what Arianna ends up fessing up: she more or less planted the Kruthik infestation in Firewander. The wyld energies there are great for spurring mutation and evolution; it's given her far more varieties to compare, sort through, and breed with Leena's aid in the search for strains of the demon-bugs that are both practically useful and easily-controlled by sorcery. [20:20] 4Ir manages not to be too visibly furious at this news. [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12To the sorceress's credit, the kruthik nest near the neighborhood's epicenter, and chiefly prey on faerie monsters that might normally come spilling out of the vortex. It's possible that they made the region safer by acting as a sort of first line of defense and random monster attacks. 15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To the sorceress's detriment, they definitely, provably killed and actual people. [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12To her debit, she hasn't really spent personal effort making sure this is the case; she figures the neighborhood is depopulated enough, and by-default-lethal enough, that which variety of chaos monster happens to be roving around its inner blocks makes little difference. [20:22] 4That is not the experience we have had on the ground. [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12As well, she's had to transport certain highly sensitive tissue cultures, ripe eggs, etc. in secret through the undercity, and while her people are usually pretty good about it, you simply can't find dependably good help these days, can you? So there've been Incidents. Again, generally small or out of the way enough that they're basically undetectable beneath the usual chaos of [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Nexus. [20:23] 13Ha ha yeah omelettes and eggs am I right [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Literally! Ha ha! Ha ha. 15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10You actually can find dependably good help. They're called the Solar exalted. 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi doesn't say this, of course. She's already effectively conceded the point; no need to gloat. [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12But that's the long of it, essentially - Arianna's in no personal danger, but has cut corners and taken risks in ways that have endangered civilians and some civic infrastructure on the basis that the ends justify the means and this city's a shithole anyway. Swan looks mad. [20:25] 7Blossom could definitely organize a chaos insect infestation better than this. 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She'll get to prove it, too! [20:26] 13Ying's spent the entire explanation clenching and unclenching her jaw and refusing to look directly at Arianna. [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Yes, but could she if she wasn't willing to show her face above ground because she might be the object of a blood hunt by the Emissary himself? Have a little sympathy. 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10On average, we do have a little sympathy. [20:27] 4Ir is willing to believe that Arianna can be reformed, or, if not reformed, outwitted, outmanuevered, and contained. [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Hmm, true. Arianna, anyway, is saying: "...so my hands have been somewhat tied. I can't work in public." [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "And Leena's control is limited in scope. The more of the creatures I dragoon beneath the more... imprecise things become. I was planning to replicate her, in effect." 15[20:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi waves a hand. "All trivially solvable. Even letting you work above-ground. How long have you been stuck in this sewer?" [20:33] 7Blossom: "All you need is a really good disguise." [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Since you arrived, I believe. Though it'd be more correct to say stuck off the streets. I've been out of town a few times, but that's not the same as operating openly." [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "I'm not much for disguises. Proxies have served me better." [20:33] 11Berg appears again, apparently tired of waiting outside. "I assume you have worked things out? To bring things into order?" [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna leans back a little - perhaps shrinks in her seat, slightly, as Bergsveinn comes leaning back in through the door. "In spirit. What's left is logistics." [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "This is definitely being put right." 12But what is the plan? 08[20:36] 4Ir isn't going to be involved in the kruthik, ah, what's the word Eikichi would use? [20:36] 4Pivot. [20:36] 7Blossom: "We're much better at disguises." 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That doesn't sound like a word Eikichi would use. [20:37] 11Berg grunts. "Good. You plan. I think we should free your friend. The imprisoned one." [20:37] 7Than you, is left unsaid. [20:37] 4She's not going to be involved in the kruthik pivot, so she should focus on the reciprocation: Panther. [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan leans forward. "Yes! You mentioned you'd found him - before this business. Right?" 15[20:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oh, yeah, he'll be in the Council's central vault." [20:38] 4Ir: "And we're already halfway to being in a position to walk right in the front door." [20:39] "With caveats." [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Is he alive?" [20:40] 4Ir: "He's...not dead." [20:40] "He, ah... needs some work." [20:40] "Him surviving once we reverse what was done to keep him on ice is gonna be up to our docs, and good luck." 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We don't know for sure. But there's little reason to keep a corpse in the vault. More likely he's being kept alive so he doesn't die and reincarnate." [20:41] "Which means we probably don't want to do it on-site. We want to walk him out the front door, and then do it somewhere safe. So that makes things harder." [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Is there much hope that we can... sneak in? Steal away with him? Or do you mean to challenge the Council directly?" [20:42] 4Ir: "Sneaking in isn't the problem. Sneaking out is." 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Walking out will be easy, comparatively, since we'll have to fight the Emissary to get *in*." [20:42] 4Ir half-grimaces, half-smiles. "Well." [20:42] "We've got someone working on mitigating that, too." 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi clears his throat politely. [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "I recommend against. Not until we learn exactly what he is and how it's neutralized." [20:43] 11Berg rumbles. "I hope it's me." [20:43] 13Ying turns beet red, but stays quiet. [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "From what I can tell, he can use sorcery without bothering with specific spells and uses your own essence against you. Surely a proper Circle of Solar Exalted can beat him... at some cost." [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan peers around the room for a bit, but ends up looking as curious as he started. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "...in fact, that's roughly why I called for you in the first place. Even with the Kruthik, we haven't enough of a power base to stand against the real forces of the region. Have any of you heard of Sperimin?" [20:49] 4Ir blinks once or twice; she was watching Swan. "I'm sorry, have I heard of what?" [20:50] 13Ying's regained her composure and is back to looking vaguely angry. "...who?" [20:53] 7Blossom's eyes widen. "You're looking for the Sixfold Spire?" [20:54] 11Berg: "Definitely not." 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You want us to go rob Raksi." [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Yyyyes and no." [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12After a pause: "Alright, yes." [20:55] 4Ir: "...And how does this help...anything?" [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "But think of the findings! It dates back to the First Age and, thanks to its... custodian... is largely unspoilt. We might literally find the Emissary's identity in a book somewhere, if not the spells and artifacts we'd need to drive him before us." 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Raksi the thousand year old cannibal witch-queen." [20:56] 7Blossom: "Eliminating her would be a service to Creation..." [20:56] 4Ir: "Ah, that Raksi." [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Well, yes, her. I was somewhat chuffed when I finally tracked down which modern-day ruin Sperimin had actually become." [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Still, we'd put it to much better use than she, you can't deny that." [20:57] 11Berg: "Cannibal witch queen? Even against such a being... I'm not a robber." [20:57] 6Wow. 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi doesn't actually respond to Arianna. He just sort of sighs and seems to zone out a bit. [20:58] 13Ying: "...but why, though?" [20:59] 4Ir's main concern is how this is going to play with Marek and the Lunars. [20:59] 4They just made that contact. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Like I said, the power. The magic we'd find there would give us an edge over everyone in the Direction. And if we could actually take the city... it's part of some higher-level First Age geomancy, I'm certain. We might have influence over other wonders." [21:00] 7Blossom: "And of course it's technically ours to begin with." [21:01] 11Berg looks at Blossom. "How so?" [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Exactly! Exactly." [21:02] 4Ir's not big on the specifics, but "higher-level First Age geomancy" sounds like it'd be helpful to a group of people trying to make a flying city. [21:02] 4Maybe she's wrong. [21:03] 13Yeah but do we have to help her while we do that [21:04] 7Blossom, to Berg: "Our First Age incarnations built the library and wrote the lore that fills it. Or if not ours specifically, then other Chosen of the Sun." [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "I've done some divinations and a lot of research - I can provide you with maps, diagrams, the keys to some of the outer locks and traps. And, of course... I can also provide you with the beginnings of an army, if you mean to challenge Raksi's empire directly." 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "That is not a legal argument I expect Luna's Chosen to endorse." [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Yes, well, what do they know." 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "What human flesh tastes like." [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "All the more reason for us to move, I'd say." [21:07] 11Berg: "I thought they were meant to be our allies." [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "It'd be tricky to extend that to Raksi, I think." 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "They won't be for long if we start unilaterally crushing Lunar dominions. Even if they don't like Raksi, even if they're glad to see her gone, a gesture like that is going to mobilize people against us." [21:09] 7Blossom adds: "Raksi is actually insane. Maybe if we spoke to the other Lunars first?" [21:10] 4Ir: "I...we, have some tentative contacts with the Lunars. I doubt they'll be close friends with anyone in this person's neck of the woods, but she also doesn't sound like someone they'd necessarily raise a hand to protect if we went about this the right way." [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan nods. "As important as this is... it might be wise to sit on it. Or perhaps to restrict ourselves to stealing in and out for a few tracts. Actually unseating the Queen would be an enormous undertaking and it'd mean Panther waits that much longer, whatever's happened to him." 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi warns Arianna, "Part of going about it the right way is going to be sharing." [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna's eyes flash. "Or Sperimin's treasures are exactly what we need to save him." [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "Yes, certainly. Possibly certainly." 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Ugh, this is useless. Swan can't be expected to stand up to Arianna given how doe-eyed he is for her. He's always going to defer to her by instinct. A pity, really. Eikichi turns to Blossom. "What do you think we should do?" [21:13] 11Berg: "If this queen is as wicked as you say, perhaps it would be best that she were unseated." [21:14] 13Ying: "Yeah, but there's a lot of ways to go about that." [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "That's certainly true. By all accounts she's one of the Lunar Anathema that actually earns the epithet." [21:15] 7Blossom looks thoughtful for a moment, then sits up straight in her chair. "We can't know what we'll need to handle Panther until we fully understand what's happened to him, which means having access to him at our leisure. With a bit of effort, we may be able to ingratiate ourselves with the Council to the point where we have legitimate access if not to Panther himself, then to [21:15] wherever he has been stored. I can't imagine we're unable to contrive a way to remove him without the authorities being aware he's gone, or at least without them connecting the theft to us." [21:15] 4Ir: "At the very least we'll have a summit with the local Lunars about this. It's not like vaguely knowing we're coming at some point in time is going to help Raksi stop us, anyway." [21:15] 4Ir already said all of that!! But in fairness it did sound smarter coming out of Blossom's mouth. [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna looks skeptical. "How are you ingratiating yourselves?" [21:18] 13Ying: "Very carefully." [21:18] 7Blossom: "So. As Ir says, we should talk with our Lunar contacts and smooth over any political difficulties that would come from robbing and/or unseating Raksi. We may not need the Sixfold Spire's resources to heal Panther, but they're too valuable - and Raksi too heinous - to ignore forever. But that's a long term goal, not an immediate one." [21:19] "By providing investigatory and corpse disposal services superior to the operatives they already have." 7Blossom replies smugly. [21:19] "Whatever the Council's vices, they like paying for talent. And we, collectively, have the most of it." 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Ying made us all disguises." [21:20] 4Ir: "There's actually something like sixteen people in this room, all told." [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "...interesting. But I suppose it must be working." [21:20] 13Ying begins counting on her fingers thoughtfully, then gives up. "I'm very good at it." [21:21] 4Ir: "We're good at what we do." [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Well. ...I suppose we should take full stock of my operation, then, and see what can be tightened up?" [21:22] "It's kind of our thing." 08[21:22] 4That sounds like a good idea for say, Eikichi and Blossom to do, and for Ir, Ying, and Berg to not be present for. [21:22] 4Lest their magnificent display of patience so far waver. 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Do you have kruthik on-site?" [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "A small clutch. The main nest is beneath Firewander and I have a few other experiments running." 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "May I?" [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Let's see what can be done." 12She rises from her seat - assuming everyone's done with tea, muffins, etc - and leads the lot of you out of her reading room, down the hall, and through a different room in which some kind of secret door in the wall has already been opened via a lever cleverly disguised as a torch. [21:29] 13...what if some of us don't really want to follow? Asking for a friend. 08[21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not mandatory. It's mostly Eikichi that Arianna's interested in here, although she hasn't specified why; she just assumes the rest will want to audit, so to speak. 08[21:31] 4Ir sees the look on Ying's face and intervenes. "Actually, Ying, Berg and I have some more business related to the Panther plan we have to follow up on. Eikichi and Blossom are the real point people here anyway." [21:31] 4She doesn't glance over at Berg but she can fairly well assume he's not interested with a meet-and-greet with the kruthik unless it's to kill them. [21:33] 11Berg looks at Ir inquisitively, but assumes there's a good reason for this. [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, a green glow filters up the stairs, and after a while you see why: the passage you follow Arianna down opens into a natural cavern with a dark stream running through it. You can't tell it's a natural cavern immediately, though, because it's covered end to end with kruthik biomatter, plays host to several bio-structures of unknown function, and and is well populated with the [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12demon-bugs themselves. [21:35] 4To Berg, once they're outside: "We've got business in the Arena. Panther was an Arena champion before he started doing things like street-preaching about the evils of slavery, and the Arena is where his broadest base of support will be." [21:35] "I've already started making in roads there." 4Mainly by being weird to the heart-ripping guy. [21:35] 11Berg: "So what do we do then? Go do the same?" [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Floating, spiny manta-ray looking creatures patiently dig minerals out of the walls before returning them to one of the mouths(you hope) of a nearby structure. A pale and underdeveloped-looking queen oversees this behavior while being waited on by a pack of a dozen or so quadrupedal kruthlings. [21:36] 11A fierce grin crosses Berg's face. "I'd relish an attempt to drag me into a dungeon." 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is anyone sticking around with Eikichi or is he alone with Arianna and possibly Swan? [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12They seem entirely corralled within the cavern, though, and as Arianna opens the door and steps out onto the creep, they raise their heads, peer at her, and then return to some combination of pointless patrolling and burrowing down into the dirt. [21:36] 4Ir: "Pretty much. We don't need the gladiators on our side, per se, but we do need to know about what they know. Panther wasn't an idiot, I gather. He probably built up a base of support, and they might still be there for us to mobilize." [21:36] 13Ying: "Thanks for getting me out of there, by the way. I'm... pretty done with her." [21:37] 11Berg: "I'm no orator. I can gather support if they follow the strong, which is a fair bet in an arena." [21:37] 7Blossom squats down to inspect the kruthik 'creep' biomatter. This is her first chance to examine it up close without the bugs trying to eviscerate her. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12It's like a combination of mold and, like, actual skin. It's soft and warm, but very steady; despite the look, it's probably easier to walk on than the slick stone beneath it, thanks to the way it kind of grabs on to your soles. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12It doesn't bleed when you cut it, though; the interior's kind of spongy, and you can see tendrils reach out and begin to weave into each other to seal the gap. [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna gestures. "Here's a small hive that Leena put together for me. The queen directs her drones to mine... well, just about any sort of matter - it seems to go into making their bones and shells, mostly. Otherwise they strain fish and the occasional corpses out of the river." 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Can Eikichi recognize any of the structures from previous encounters with the kruthik? [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "They've been ordered to obey me. Of course, they mostly can't understand me, so it's a bit of a wash." [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a slowly pulsing dome of flesh that might eventually hatch into one of those giant scorpion tail/bladed tentacle defensive emplacements, but it's quite small at the moment and will probably need days. Otherwise it's all a bit opaque. 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wow, that growth rate is anemic. The ones we fought in Ember Valley gestated in seconds. 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What's going on? Are they starved? [21:43] 4To Ying: "No problem. We need her for now, and she's...probably not the worst person. In her own way." 08[21:43] "But I'd just as well let Eikichi deal with her from now on." [21:43] "Exclusively." [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12It's definitely to do with the lack of material. The creatures in Ember Valley had a ready supply of essence-charged emberstone to metabolize; these just have the plain old rocks in the walls and whatever biomatter might come floating down the river. [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12In a way, that's a relief; you'd assume they'd go ranging upstream and downstream to find their own prey, but clearly aren't allowed to. 08[21:44] 11Berg: "Agreed. I'd just as soon exterminate the things she keeps for pets, but if Eikichi sees a use in them, I'll stay my hand for now." [21:44] 4To Berg: "They're a bit less predictable than that. Haven't spent too much time with them, but I get the feeling there's a lot of religion up in that community." [21:44] "Which makes a certain amount of sense, since they're battling each other to the death." [21:44] "For entertainment." [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12This does suggest a drawback of Kruthik shock troops, though: gotta keep 'em fed, and preferably with something magic. Of course, if you're willing to use a light touch you can trust them to do it for themselves. [21:45] 11Berg: "Those sort of men want something to believe in, and I assume you've been giving it to them." 08[21:45] 13Ying: "That seems kind of mean to Eikichi..." 13She coughs. "Um, anyway. He was the guy who fought someone in some kind of battle suit until the suit gave out, then- it was gross." [21:45] 4Ir: "They weren't impressed by me." [21:46] "Well. I mean they probably were in the Arena itself." [21:46] "But the first thing Kala Theka asked for was an endorsement of fighting to the death, and I wasn't in the mood to give it." [21:47] "And they weren't pleased when I said the hardest battles I've ever fought were against myself." [21:47] 11Berg: "Perhaps that's what he needs, then." [21:47] 13Ying: "As a distant, super future plan, we probably should figure out how to get them to stop doing that." [21:47] "The fighting to the death thing." 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oh, no. These are all starving." [21:47] 4Ir: "You've got a one track mind about killing this guy, huh." [21:47] "I will endorse his fight to the death, and then, simply... not die." [21:48] 11Berg: "You needn't kill your opponent to win a fight to the death, really. Not dying is enough." [21:49] 4Ir: "I suppose. You know where Ying and I stand." [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Yes, it's a little pathetic. But also a good sign in several senses. First, as little as they have to eat, they're shockingly enduring. Second, as little as they have to eat, they're faithfully obeying their orders to stay within these bounds." [21:49] 11Berg: "Why do they do it? Money? Glory?" [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12There's all sorts of reasons to join the arena, although Theka seemed like a true believer... in... something... [21:50] 13Ying: "Some of them. Not that guy." [21:50] "I cannot talk to them. I am a warrior. A hunter. Of men, beasts, spirits. If you want me to know his heart, I know of only one way." [21:50] 4Ir: "I'd wager the second more than the first. And I'd wager a lot of them don't have much else -- the fighters who had interests other than fighting and spent time doing things other than fighting were therefore less prepared for fighting. They've been winnowed down that way." [21:51] 4Ir: "Phrasing." [21:51] "And if he won't face me without placing our lives on the line, so be it." [21:52] 4Sounds good to Ir. Secretly, she's glad not to make the call on killing Theka. [21:52] 11Berg: "So if you wish him not to be harmed, but wish him to stop... let us go see what he believes." 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi squats down and runs his fingertips along a kruthling's spine. One of the orbs in orbit around him burns white-hot from within, and the other two begin to spin around it in a suborbit that's dizzying to look at. "No... no." [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12It's generally not the done thing for gladiators to go find each other during time off, in part due to institutional inertia and in part because of a very real fear of foul play - if you're due to fight to the death, maybe you want to hamstring or poison your opponent right before, eh? Still, it's not impossible, especially if you do some investigating or lean on Blossom's connections 08[21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12- or that of Eikichi's demon lawyer, maybe. [21:55] 11Berg's intent was to find him in a more... official capacity. 08[21:55] 4It's strange -- Ir, Twice Traitor, has spent her whole life fighting, from when she was in the Citywatch to her stint as the woman-at-arms for the...whatever Eikichi's calling them these days. But it wasn't until she fought in the Arena that she realized she doesn't actually like fighting all that much. What she likes is protecting things. 08[21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12You've seen kruthlings bigger than tigers, but this one's about wolf-sized. It chitters and growls something, arches its tail and begins to rise and turn away from Eikichi... then white flames light up in its eyes. [21:55] 4You take that out of the equation and it just seems pointless. [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Official capacity's much easier, though of course it might involve a little more waiting. If Bergsveinn wants, he can head over to the recruitment office and sign right up, or have Ir pass on a message about him - the arena'll be overjoyed to have another anathematic combatant to advertise. [21:57] 11Berg doesn't know the "rules", so to speak, but will do whichever Ir will advise him leads to his goal quickest. [21:59] 4Ir's not as good at this as Blossom, but she doesn't have to be. She just has to pass the message along, and they can get around to writing up a contract whenever Blossom's available. [21:59] 4Ir vouching for Berg should take him to the front of the line, given how good the Tyrant Lizard fight was for business. [22:00] 11Also, it's probably really easy to get a fight promoter to admit a guy who's ten feet tall. [22:01] 13Unless Ir and Berg need her in there, Ying'll wait outside. Maybe pop on down to her shop while they take care of that. You know. Take care of business while taking care of business. 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He doesn't look up at Arianna. "They aren't following orders. That implies they have minds of their own, that they're brought into line by force." 10Eikichi waggles his finger, and the kruthling's eyes follow it, as it sways on its legs. "But this is all that they are. There's nothing in them to fight back." 10When he stands and snaps his fingers, the kruthling flips over and spins around on its back before righting itself with a somersault. 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's just an appendage." [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna actually claps her hands with glee. "Just like that? How many can you do?" 08[22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, the members of the Squared (Pentagon'd?) Circle who aren't interested in commanding a swarm of alien shock troops make their way to the surface world, trusting in Eikichi and Blossom to take care of Arianna's many workplace safety violations. [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Getting Bergsveinn into the arena's rolls is extremely easy. While Blossom generally handles the logistical stuff for Ir, Ir does have people she can reach out to if there's something she wants done directly, and that puts her, Bergsveinn, and Ying (if Ying wants along) in an opulently-furnished room across from some Guild officials within like an hour. [22:08] 4Ah. Guild officials. Well, Ir's been practicing her patience. [22:11] 13...on second thought, maybe she will tag along. Just, not officially. [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12A lot of excited questions and handshakes follow. The general gist is that Bergsveinn basically joins under Ir's own contract, carefully constructed by Blossom back when this all got started. He'll have Blossom as his actual agent, actual pay will be split among the three Solars as they wish, same protections Ir gets, etcetera etcetera. The Arena is greedy enough to try to offer [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Bergsveinn his own contract, one which sounds very good to start - but Ir has the presence of mind to insist, here. [22:13] 4Oh, she doesn't quite refuse it to their faces. She tells them that Blossom would definitely consider that offer. [22:13] 4Which is true. [22:13] 4So far as it goes. [22:13] 11Berg is obviously not very impressed with Guild officials, fortunately, a stern scowl is pretty much expected from a warrior of his stature. [22:14] 4Nothing is 'expected' from a warrior of his stature. [22:14] 4That would require precedent. 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi waves his hand and the spell is broken. The kruthling shudders and curls up at the queen's feet. "This many is nothing." [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Once Berg's in, tentatively speaking, they can get down to brass tacks. The lead official's a man with blood-red hair and the ears of a cat: "...and we'll want you started right away, certainly. But on something fitting of your stature! Hmm... hype's already started building for Ir vs. the Son of Ahlat, so we can't just change that around." [22:17] 4Aw, man. Right. That. 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The orb burns brighter still and strands of pure white essence wind among the drones and kruthlings, insinuating between them before snapping into a ruthless right-angled grid. All 24 of them, including the one that just collapsed, stand at attention and look up in unison. [22:17] 13Ying will take the opportunity to wander. Hey, doors have been opened, and it's not like she's needed for the contract negotiations. Let's check in on some things. [22:18] 4Instead of voicing that, Ir just waves a hand and looks bored. "You can do as you please, so long as it satisfies the terms of my contract per our manager." [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12The cat-man's going through some other files of his. "We do have some other up-and-comers you might test yourself against... though it may be something of an anticlimax, if a quarter of what Ir says about you is true. Chosen rising through the outer arena circuits, demons fighting on behalf of mystery benefactors, that sort of thing." [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12He leans back a bit and has a whispered conversation with the man beside him. 08[22:22] <@Ferrinus> 14"Wild Rose? She's been doing well-" "Very well. Bit of a fan favorite. Do people really want to see her stomped flat?" "She's surprised us before..." [22:22] 13Wow, these people are terrible bookers. 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Another princely wave and the creatures scatter, not in fear but to work. The drones all start mining again, stacking together improbably to chip at the same coalface before smoothly flowing out and settling into something like their old positions. Meanwhile the kruthlings move in unison, stopping and holding and retracing swift and rigid patrols across the creep. Occasionally they start scrabbling over each other and have to recollect themselves -- ultimately their ability to navigate is limited by their own tiny intelligence. 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi frowns. "Do they always get in each other's way like that?" [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12They nod to each other and return their attention to the two of you. Cat-eared official: "Yes, that might be good. You might come off as a bit of a heel... but then it's all in how you'll play it. Suppose we position you as a sort of final gauntlet - the wall that would-be fighters in the grand arena bounce off of. You'd fight a bunch of magical beings - some after the other, [22:24] <@Ferrinus> some grouped." [22:25] 13Okay, well, hopefully Ir heard that, because Ying couldn't tell Bergsveinn without, uh. Consequences. [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna's brows go up. "Not usually. When the-" 12She's interrupted by a sort of panicked screeeching. [22:25] 11Berg: "Let us see what you've gathered, then." [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12The pale, gaunt queen of this tiny colony's rising from her perch atop one of the buildings, looking left and right in alarm as every one of her underlings suddenly cease to comply. Her eyes glow as she sways her weight from side to side, staring hard at one drone and then another, nothing working. 08[22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Snarling and buzzing, the creature clambers down from the building it's on and more or less goes charging at Eikichi. Arianna's eyes flash and she interposes herself, holding a palm out and yelling 'HEY!', which causes the queen to shrink back and then just mill about, confused. 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Brute force is inefficient, though." 10He doesn't even wave this time; the kruthik all shudder at once and seem dazed and frightened. 14[22:31] * Joins: mattbaby [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Over the next fifteen minutes, the officials collect and spread out various dossiers, cuttings from posters, and so on. They explain to Bergsveinn that the Grand Arena's the top of an entire empire of fighting rings scattered across the city, and if you want to fight in the arena itself - and not as some kind of disposable mook or costumed supporting actor - you generally have to [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12make serious headway in the lesser circuits. [22:32] 4So a...what's it called? [22:32] 4A barnstorming. [22:32] 4You just go around fucking up five people in five days at five different circuits, something like that. [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12At this point, there's an entire crop of hopefuls who might join the arena proper - outcaste dragon-blooded, itinerant raksha, exigent Chosen of unknown provenance, unbound demons... might be a dozen, all told. Bergsveinn can probably take any one of them. But can he take all of them? Or, perhaps, can whichever smaller group of them comes out on top even get past him to complete [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12some special objective? They'll brainstorm it. [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12It's still possible to rearrange things so that Bergsveinn's up against the Son of Ahlat, of course, or maybe sell the officials on some other setup, if you can make your case well. 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Stepping past Arianna, Eikichi locks eyes with the kruthik queen directly. "The Principle of Hierarchy is this: labor and power move in opposite directions. You understand this, you and your pawns. Dividing your power multiplies the work it can do. A mob yields to a queen. A queen yields to a goddess." 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He raises a finger at the queen and then drops it. The queen kneels, the webbing between its long legs spreading across the ground like a curtsy. "Give a slave a pet and he will imagine himself a master." 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The queen stands and stares at the kruthlings, who all begin to dance in perfect unison exactly as the first did. 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi steps back. "Do you see?" [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Another official to the cat-man's right: "What if he just fights Ir?" [22:40] 4Ir: "Nope." [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12The others stare at her. She: "I mean, right? They're basically-" [22:41] 11Berg: "Why spoil all the fun?" [22:41] 11Berg's talking to the official, obviously. [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Official: "Well... it sounded fun... I mean, you have to wonder, right." [22:41] "Berg's a friend of mine. Well documented. Showed up to where we live, I hugged him, all this is known gossip. Your customers would know you're advertising a sparring practice." [22:41] 13TERRIBLE bookers. Let's pick between killing off our fresh up-and-coming star, or a second, ALSO fresh up-and-coming star. All in service of debuting our new big guy. [22:42] 4Ir: "Sure thing. But your audience demands blood, yeah? That's what you're booking on." [22:42] "Wouldn't work...unless you can do this whole thing without people getting dead." [22:42] 4She leans back in her seat. "Just a thought." [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12The cat-man: "Yes, there's the rub. Not every fight's fatal, of course. The question is whether the clash-of-titans setup pays for the KO-only deficit. We could play coy about it..." [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, in the hive, Arianna's almost beside herself with glee. "Unbelievable! No, I tell a lie, completely believable. But impossibly convenient. It's as though Leena could pick and choose her borrowed lineage with a thought." [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan's got an unreadable expression as the sorceress goes on. "We must proceed here. This - it's a test environment. If you can insert yourself high up into the chain on, say, the Firewander hive..." [22:46] 11Berg: "If Ir and I fought in your arena, I can't promise it would remain standing." 11The big man looks absolutely serious, not like he's trying to hype it up. 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, idly: "There's nothing stopping me." [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Cat-man: "It'd pay for itself if we advertised it right." [22:49] 13What about the public? [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Not like we need to pay for them! [22:51] 4Ir: "It won't be happening so it doesn't matter. We might be up for a double, but I find it hard to believe you've found anything that could stand against the two of us." [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12They nod to each other. A little time passes as the officials make plans, you're served drinks, and so on. A servant shows up with a stack of notices and then slips back out of the room. [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12The cat guy, who I'm going to name T'reja since I've been using him long enough, frowns down at the notice, then widens his eyes at the notice, then carefully looks at his two fellows before turning back to Ir and Bergsveinn. "...orrrrr," 12he says, rolling the rs just enough that they begin to turn into a growl. "We could do this." [22:59] 13What's on the notice. [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12He pushes the slip of parchment across the table at you after turning it around. It's headed CHALLENGER: THORNS [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Apparently the city of Thorns has at least one combatant it'd like to submit for participation into the arena in order to make money, solidify some bureaucratic inroads with Nexus, etc. [23:00] 4Ir grimaces, which turns into a half-hearted smile. "Well. I did say I didn't want to kill anyone." [23:00] "What a fortuitous way around that." [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12T'reja: "It's a bit irregular. Of course, the walking dead have fought on the sands before, but not under the banner of a conquered River Province city-state." [23:02] 4Ir could switch to take the Thorns champion so Berg could have the Son of Ahlat, or Berg could just take this guy(?) straight-up. Ir's got no real preference. [23:02] 4Going against the undead would limit her less, though. Maybe it shouldn't, but it would. [23:02] 11Berg shrugs. "I'm not troubled. I will fight this one, or whichever one you prefer." [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12The man to T'reja's left: "It could be seen as an acceptance, of sorts, of the new regime... somewhat consequential, since the Confederation is meeting so soon." [23:03] 11Berg: "If Ir prefers to fight the dead, I will fight the Son of Ahlat." [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12T'reja: "It'd certainly scan better. A newcomer against a newcomer, a favored champion against an invader..." [23:05] 4Ir: "As long as you clear it politically first. We're not here to make a statement." [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12T'reja: "Heh. The statement would be ours, by arranging the fight at all. All you need to worry about is winning." [23:05] 4This is a bit of a bold-faced lie unless you add on 'on behalf of the City of Nexus,' but that's probably understood. [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12T'reja: "But I'll take this back to the rest of the board, with the understanding that either of you can handle either of these bigger-name fights, and that one of you - probably Bergsveinn, forgive me if I pronounced that wrong - is willing to square off against the up-and-comers somehow." [23:08] 4Ir: "Sounds good. With the understanding, again, that this understanding is subject to final review by our manager." [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12T'reja: "Oh, no doubt. Thanks again - you for coming forward, and you for introducing us. With two of you the Arena'll put on shows as have never been seen before." [23:09] 11Berg: "That I can certainly promise you." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, then. One of you versus the Son of Ahlat, another versus who or whatever Thorns puts up on the lists... hell, maybe it'll be two of you versus two of whatever, in the latter case. Pretty good. 08[23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Elsewhere, Arianna's impatient to put the Spheres of Spite through their paces. Once Eikichi and Blossom are satisfied with their tests on the little hive, she wants to take them around the city and familiarize themselves with her operation. She isn't actually eager to hand any of her ongoing hives off to Eikichi, but is willing to, essentially, lend him a few larvae to begin a swarm [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12of his own - and is also begrudgingly willing to allow Blossom to basically audit and disaster-proof the overall operation. [23:17] 7This becomes much easier once you actually have the unwavering obedience of however many queens, since you can trust them to unfold the operation themselves and restrict yourself to oversight. 14[23:17] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10If Arianna still thinks these swarms are hers just because Eikichi isn't commanding them directly anymore, she wasn't listening. 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10But that's fine. [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, part of it's munificence on her part - she doesn't actually want to offload all the responsibility onto you, especially since you've got other plates spinning. But she certainly plans to continue her own experiments. 08[23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Broadly, here are the resources that Arianna has to work with, and which she's willing to give Blossom and Eikichi some direction over for the sake of public safety and keeping the rest of your circlemates mollified. One big hive under Firewander, two other smaller ones at other places in the undercity, a demon cult/criminal gang that she's coopted into servants/worshipers and uses [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12to courier various sensitive components around, a large stable of demons and elementals she's summoned or conjured. 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Arianna makes a fine queen. [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12In terms of like, threats to public safety, the big problem is that the borders between each hive and the rest of the city are fairly porous - they're instructed not to range too far, but especially in Firewander people wandering too far off the beaten path can easily just get snared and eaten, and there's reason to suspect that the other two nests are spreading through the waterways [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12connecting them/other neighborhoods. [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Ying hunts around. The Guild's being very neat about their records, and she isn't able to find a lot... one thing she does pick up, though, by virtue of what kind of thing tends to get circled in red ink or repeated in all caps on memos, is that the relationship between Thorns and the Guild, and therefore Thorns and the Grand Arena, is actually a very close one. [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12So despite what T'reja said, it's not really a question of if they're going to let Thorns compete but rather when - unless Thorns itself retracts the offer. [23:28] 13That's... hm. Well, that makes sense. But there's got to be something more here... hey, Tatsuya? 6TAking a look, y'all: [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya has far fewer compunctions against getting his hands dirty, and is much more able to answer the question 'if I was the world's most unscrupulous bastards, where would I hide my private notes?' [23:30] 6'If.' Man, how does Ying stand this, this is just really uncomfortable. Is she doing damage to their spine with this? [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12There's no doubt about it: the Guild has Thorns to thank for its revitalized, newly-operational slave trade. That gives them far more fodder to add to the arena, but also far more people to simply move through the market, and in exchange they are giving the city-state of Thorns excellent rates. They're not entirely clear where their problem stemmed from, but they knew how it was [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12solved: Typhon, the diplomat sent by the Mask of Winters, simply came down to headquarters and spent a solid week looking through and rectifying all the paperwork. 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That was nice of him! [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12No one could quite understand his explanation of what he found or what he changed, but after that suddenly everything was working like clockwork. And so the Guild, and therefore the Arena, is in Typhon's debt. They helped him to finance and reopen the Thorns embassy, among other things, and are probably going to pressure the Council to pressure the rest of the River Province to accept [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12the city of Thorns as a proper member of the Confederacy of Rivers. 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Later, while he and Blossom are working after they've left Arianna and Swan to their own devices: "She's not very reliable, is she?" [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya's actually got some receipts, here; he can steal some paperwork, notable signatures, etcetera if he'd like. [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12As well, he finds some more specific information about who Thorns wants to enter into the arena: it's some of Thorns's own guardian Chosen. It's not just going to be skeletons or ghosts that Ir or Bergsveinn or whoever'll end up fighting, if they go down that route. [23:34] 6Anyone looking? He'll grab whatever looks the most actionable and relevant that someone probably won't notice going missing. And hey, that heads up will be pretty useful for Ir and Bergsveinn. Man, it feels good to work again. [23:35] 7Blossom: "She's... focused. Not a big-picture thinker." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "And sloppy besides. Efficiency is one thing but cutting so many corners just undermines your own work," 10says Eikichi as he finishes color-coding his notes on the kruthik with tiny dabs of paint from his drawing desk. [23:38] 7Blossom loves him so, so much. [23:39] 7Blossom: "Do you think she'll be a problem?" [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Later, Tatsuya's able to rejoin Bergsveinn and Ir outside the Grand Arena offices, if they want to discuss what he's found or just plan a next move. [23:43] 6Ying's leaning against the building when they get out there. "Hey guys." [23:45] 4Ir: "Hey, Yyy---ing." 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi thinks for a moment. "No. She's not malicious, she's just reckless. She's clearly used to having to work on her own, and she's very independent. But I think she'll benefit from our" 10direction "support." [23:47] 4Ir: "Berg's got some getting-to-know-you stuff to get through. Nothing that needs a signature, I'm told. How was your, uh, sight-seeing?" 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "A better appreciation for the consequences of her actions. Swan helps there, and so will having people she can see as peers." [23:48] 6Ying: "Hey. We should get back home, I had a pretty productive walk. Relaxing, but enlightening." 6It's weird how Ying's voice sounds with Tatsuya's cadence. [23:48] "Not really a street kind of conversation." [23:49] 4Ir: "Sounds good to me." 4She makes sure to buy some street pitza first from an authorized vendor, though. She's interested to see how they're innovating -- or undermining -- the recipe. [23:59] 6When they get back, "Ying" quickly extracts several side pouches, hidden beneath various parts of the disguise, and spreads a series of documents across the table for Ir's perusal. "So. There's a lot to unpack here." Session Time: Fri Dec 08 00:00:00 2017 [00:00] "Number one, Thorns is the reason the slave trade recovered so quickly. The Guild's working with them to return the favor - whatever nonsense they told you about hemming and hawing over a champion of Thorns fighting in the Arena was garbage." [00:01] 4Well, shit. ...Most importantly, though: how's the street pitza? [00:02] 4Ir: "Ugh. They hinted they might try to put us two versus two plus...whatever. Has Thorns been specific enough that they know what kind of 'champions' they're relying on." [00:02] "Number two, the fight they were pushing on you is one of Thorns' Chosen. Might be a bit more dangerous than you were expecting, maybe not." [00:02] *? [00:02] "Ah." [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12That depends. Did you buy it from a cart associated with the specific list of restaurants and concerns that, currently, has proprietary right to develop and sell the dish? Or, did you go metaphorically or literally underground, soliciting the backalley pitza ovens who flaunt the Civilities becausee it's just that tasty? 08[00:03] 6"Ying": "A two on two? Huh. That's smarter than the garbage they were talking earlier. They were going to try and put Berg against Wild Rose, you know that?" [00:03] "What a waste." [00:03] 4...Like I said man, I just bought on the street while we were walking back. If Ir wanted GREAT pitza she'd just have whipped something up at the inn. 08[00:03] 7Blossom slips into the kruthik tunnels and begins to tear into the stone with hastily purchased rock hammers and adzes and such. Eikichi might order the queens to have their drones assist her at first, but he probably gives up when it becomes clear that Excessively Righteous Blossom is much, much faster than they are. She reinforces areas that might accidentally break through to [00:03] 7human-populated structures, digs fractal expansions downward so the hives have comfortable room to grow, and constructs a series of ingenious filters wherever the hive tunnels cross an underground or paved-over segment of Nexus' rivers. The filters sluice off large contaminants and dump them on the 'shore', leaving them for kruthlings to pick up and devour and as a side effect cleaning [00:03] 7the rivers. 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He doesn't give up so much as get distracted. [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, whoops, somehow I completely missed the word 'authorized'. Anyway, it's... [00:03] 4Ir snorts. "Not surprised. One of them tried to sell us on me against Berg to our faces." [00:03] <@Ferrinus> Ferrinus rolls12 1 die at TN4 7 (Doubling12 10s) [Successes:12 2, Doubled:12 1, Ones:4 0] [00:03] <@Ferrinus> [121012!] [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Great! [00:04] 4Hell yeah. [00:04] 7They're still incredibly unsafe to drink or bathe in, of course, but you can't walk across the top of them anymore. [00:04] 4This is a damn good slice. [00:04] 4Don't get Ir wrong -- it's a LOT greasier than she intends. But man if you just wanted to make a version of pitza that was super-unhealthy but absolutely delicious? This is that. [00:05] 6"Ying": "I can't believe how much money they rake in while being only accidentally capable of signing compelling matches. I mean, the two on two sounds pretty good, actually." [00:05] "But you against one another? Idiotic. Anyways." [00:06] 4Ir: "They're the only game in town. Lot easier to succeed like that. Also holy shit, have my third slice. This stuff is AMAZING. I'm actually kind of glad I licensed this out now." [00:06] "Also have the third slice because I'm pretty sure it's ridiculously unhealthy." [00:07] "Third and final thing: Typhon, that 'diplomat' guy from Thorns, he's the one who actually fixed the bureaucracy gambit -- oh hey, absolutely --" 13"Ying" grabs the slice and begins chomping away messily. "Anyways - clearly capable of some pretty heavy stuff, given what actually happened to mess their books up in the first place. None of them understand how or why it worked, only that it did." [00:07] "Third and final thing: Typhon, that 'diplomat' guy from Thorns, he's the one who actually fixed the bureaucracy gambit -- oh hey, absolutely --" 6"Ying" grabs the slice and begins chomping away messily. "Anyways - clearly capable of some pretty heavy stuff, given what actually happened to mess their books up in the first place. None of them understand how or why it worked, only that it did." [00:08] 4Ir: "Then it should be just as easy to mess up again, after we square that guy away." [00:08] 6"Ying": "Messing it up isn't hard. Well, not for Blossom probably. It'd be getting away with it." [00:09] 4Ir: "At some point we're going to have to deal with the Emissary." [00:09] "...which is a point I've avoided making around your, uh. Better half." [00:10] 6"Ying": "Yyyyyyyyyeah." [00:10] "I'm, aha, of two minds about it." [00:11] "I'm hopeful there's an out somewhere, and if there is, we'll find it in the insane cannibal witch-queen's library." 4She pauses. "Oh yeah, Arianna's sending us to fuck up one of those, if that hadn't filtered over." [00:11] "I'm gonna have to talk to Marek about it. Should be loads of fun." [00:11] "Probably will fuck up a perfectly nice date." 08[00:14] "Great. You want me along for that? Uh, I guess we'll figure that out later." 6They rise from the table, having finished that slice. "Think I've got time before Blossom, Eikichi, and Berg get back?" 08[00:15] 4Ir: "Yeah, go wild. I bet Eikichi and Blossom are having one hell of a bonding experience, over the enslavement of a demonic species. Seems like their kinda thing. Berg will probably wander in whenever." [00:16] 7You can't enslave a species that has no concept of freedom! [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12You can if you give it your all. 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Who cares? [00:17] 6"Ying": "Great. I'll be in m- our room." 6They head back to their shared quarters and start to meditate; the quick-changing really takes a lot out of you. The plural you. Anyway. Time to re-center. [00:19] 4Ir, meanwhile, wanders down to the kitchen and commandeers one of the ovens to figure out how to make Nexus street pitza. Eventually she realizes it requires a much greasier -- but likely locally-sourced and cheaper -- cheese than what she was using, a bit more sugar in the sauce and a slightly thinner crust. [00:19] 4Good stuff. [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, yeah, I should confirm here that Blossom's day or so of repairs and improvements - most of which is taken up traveling, because she works incredibly fast - are a smash hit. Arianna contrives to look a combination of unimpressed and slightly annoyed, but Swan's openly appreciative of the logistical work that Blossom's doing. Even the Queen of Spines herself is grateful, though [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom only learns this secondhand - Leena's apparently busy undergoing some kind of upgrade in a giant cocoon, but several queens collaborate to curtsy respectfully before the Zenith Caste when she's done with her labors. [00:23] 7Oh no. They're adorable. 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Where is the cocoon? [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12For her part, Arianna's content to continue with her experiments, and is ready to give you intelligence and logistical support should you set out for distant Mahalanka or make any kind of more immediate play against the council. [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12It's beneath Firewander and glows with a swirl of iridescent colors. 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Can we take a look? [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna's resistant; Leena apparently doesn't want to be disturbed. 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10No one can resist Eikichi's charm! 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "C'monnnnnn. C'monnnnnnn," 10he pleads. 08[00:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's persuasive, though, and so the sorceress ushers the three of you - Eikichi, Blossom, and Swan - forward beneath the Firewander hive. This one's huge, and extremely healthy; the creatures here are at least as robust as those you saw beneath Ember Valley, and while there's no sign of some of the advanced kruthik evolutions you saw up there the tunnelers and spinethrowers look [00:32] <@Ferrinus> 12as fierce as any you've seen. Many of the creatures have a silvery cast to them, and reflect weird colors in the light, probably due to their Wyld aberration diet. [00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12The monsters hiss and bridle as you approach a central portion of the hive, but part at Arianna's insistence. There, ahead of you, you see a pillar-like cocoon stretching from floor to ceiling of a chamber made completely of flesh and chitin. It beats like a heart and glows chiefly orange, though pinks, greens, and arcs of silver-white swim through and around it. [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Within it is a dimly-visible humanoid shape, at least four wing-like projections framing it. It's floating vertically in what's presumably some kind of goop or super-concentrated essence, arms not visible and so presumably crossed over its chest. [00:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "The Firewander hive's been eating raksha, as I mentioned. Leena's attempting to incorporate some aspect of them here. She tells me it should expand her control, among other things." 15[00:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What's going on inside the cocoon? [00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12To a layman's eyes, not a lot. It's probably gonna take days. 15[00:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's not a layman. [00:40] 7Neat. [00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12It is neat. You're agitating the kruthik just being here, though, so better head out. 15[00:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Whatever Eikichi sees seems to satisfy him. "Neat! Let's leave it be." [00:42] <@Ferrinus> 12So it is that the Squared Circle settled things with the sorceress Arianna, put a couple more pins in their collective map, and made the city of Nexus a slightly safer place. We'll learn their next move... next week. [00:50] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ [00:50] If you see a strange animal or wild beast, don't be scared! Even the most peculiar creatures can be turned to productive use by a trained cadre of sorcerer-engineers! Just let those handsome devils walk, scuttle, and/or ooze about their business unimpeded! [00:50] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ 14[00:52] * Joins: Quaker 15[00:53] <@VoxPVoxD> (t/l note: The Unimpede is a massive arthropod that wriggles through tunnels beneath the streets of zeal and serves as its primary public transportation) 14[00:55] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[04:06] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[05:24] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[07:20] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[08:23] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[08:54] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[08:57] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[08:57] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[08:58] * Quits: trenchfoot (*.net *.split) 14[08:58] * Quits: cbass (*.net *.split) 14[08:58] * Quits: banana (*.net *.split) 14[08:58] * Quits: @Ferrinus (*.net *.split) 14[08:58] * Quits: VoxPrime (*.net *.split) 14[08:58] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[09:00] * Joins: banana 14[09:04] * Joins: cbass 14[09:38] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:24] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[11:26] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:59] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:00] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 14[12:00] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[12:54] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:55] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[15:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:04] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:35] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:32] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[19:37] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:58] * Joins: bananaphone 14[20:01] * Joins: tom 14[20:04] * Quits: bananaphone (Quit: Colloquy for iPad - http://colloquy.mobi) 14[20:11] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:22] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[21:58] * Joins: dammitwho 14[23:38] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:47] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[23:59] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[23:59] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus Session Time: Sat Dec 09 00:00:01 2017 14[00:03] * Quits: Quaker_ (Client exited) 14[00:06] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[00:24] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:12] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[05:32] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:39] * Joins: Quaker 14[05:39] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[06:30] * Joins: Crion 14[06:41] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[09:32] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:20] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:44] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[11:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:55] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:36] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[14:44] * Joins: dammitwho 14[14:58] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:32] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:12] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[17:19] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:34] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[18:41] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:46] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:07] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[22:51] * Joins: tom Session Time: Sun Dec 10 00:00:00 2017 14[00:28] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[00:31] * Joins: cbass 14[00:32] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[00:34] * Joins: cbass 14[01:31] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Quit: ) 14[03:01] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[03:36] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[04:15] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[14:54] * Disconnected 15[14:54] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:54] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:54] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[14:54] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[14:54] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (NickServ (GHOST command used by GreatClownVoxPVoxD)) 14[14:54] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD is now known as VoxPVoxD 14[15:49] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:03] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[18:50] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:12] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[19:40] * Joins: tom 14[19:40] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:07] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Mon Dec 11 00:00:00 2017 14[00:12] * Joins: bananaphone 14[00:30] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[00:31] * Joins: bananaphone 14[00:33] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[00:34] * Joins: bananaphone 14[00:57] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[02:08] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[02:57] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:58] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:48] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:45] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[12:06] * Joins: cbass 14[13:53] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:40] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:34] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[18:02] * Joins: tom 14[18:34] * Joins: tom2 14[18:34] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:59] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:51] * Quits: VoxPrime (Quit: ) 14[23:45] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) Session Time: Tue Dec 12 00:00:00 2017 14[00:02] * Joins: cbass 14[01:53] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[01:56] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:24] * tom2 is now known as tom 14[03:49] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[09:40] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[09:44] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:45] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[18:08] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[18:16] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:16] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[18:26] * Joins: mattbaby [18:26] hey i am gonna be in the game tonight (if we run) but im stepping out to grab dinner and a glass of beer since i just settled an annoying case today. should be back before 9 though. [18:28] no one but cops calls it a "glass of beer" 14[19:02] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:19] * Joins: hrolf_mac 15[20:06] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue Dec 12 20:06:02 2017 Session Start: Wed Dec 13 07:09:23 2017 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[07:09] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[07:09] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[07:09] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[07:09] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[12:15] * Quits: cbass (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:16] * Joins: cbass 14[13:50] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[19:20] * Joins: tom 14[19:30] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:42] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:41] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[23:42] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[23:49] * Joins: hrolf_mac Session Time: Thu Dec 14 00:00:00 2017 14[00:20] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[00:44] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:19] * Quits: cbass (*.net *.split) 14[02:19] * Quits: banana|peels (*.net *.split) 14[02:19] * Quits: Zarick (*.net *.split) 14[02:19] * Quits: trenchfoot (*.net *.split) 14[02:19] * Quits: mattbaby (*.net *.split) 14[02:19] * Quits: VoxPrime (*.net *.split) 14[02:20] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[02:20] * Joins: Zarick 14[02:20] * Joins: cbass 14[02:20] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:20] * Joins: banana|peels 14[02:20] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[04:19] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[04:23] * Joins: tom 14[07:55] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[10:31] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[11:20] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[13:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:11] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:49] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:07] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[19:39] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:07] * Joins: tom [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12___________________________________________________________________ [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12################################################################### [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12 [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12 [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12 [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12 \|/ [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12 -o- | [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12 /|\ ( )_ [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12 | /\ | | [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12 (_) | | __ | ||-| |-[]| \|/ \| [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12 ___|___ _| |____ | (_)_ _( )_|[]| __(_)_|| | |_~(|)~~(| [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12(_)__)__|_| []|[] |_(_)_ |[]|_|_[]__|__| __| |[]|__| | []|___|_|____| [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12| |__| [] | |[] | | | | | [] | | | | | |||_| [][] | [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, another day in the big city - and one in which the low-key urban kruthik infestation is measurably less likely to maim or devour hapless civilians. 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10For now! Ah ha ha ha! [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12The Squared Circle has fairly tidily extracted one of the thorns in their side, or perhaps one of the just-big-enough-to-feel bits of grit in their shoe. Other concerns continue to concern, though, such as the invitation by Typhon for some sort of parlay, the increasingly-tight economic arrangement between the city of Thorns and the Guild, the lure of Mahalanka's treasure, and, of [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12course, the behemoth which slumbers behind the mountains in the distant east. [20:34] 13One of the thorns in our side. That's pretty funny! Because of - of Thorns, you see, who... nevermind. 08[20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Recently, shadows have pooled in the floor of Eikichi's room only to give rise to a pillar of darkness that resolved itself into the demon lord Gatamello, bringing tidings of the sorcerer's twin careers. His chronicles are growing in popularity in all five directions, though undergoing vicious suppression in several of them, the center especially. Wild Rose will soon be expected in [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12the grand arena - but she might be working with rather than against her rivals to overcome some greater danger, which might be too off-brand. 15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Vicious suppression? Do tell. [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, chronicles painting the anathema in a positive light are obviously heretical wherever the immaculate faith holds sway. They're banned in Lookshy, for instance, in every Realm satrapy as well as the Realm itself, as well as various other nations - don't get caught with them in the Skullstone Archipelago, for instance. [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Depending on the regime, you'll be fined or imprisoned or tortured or killed for reading, possessing, or distributing the chronicles. [20:39] 7Blossom, for her part, sits cross-legged in the middle of her room contemplating a small, hissing bottle of kruthik venom. [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom's repairs on the Heavensward's skydock's essence lift are essentially concluded. Having worked on them, the Zenith caste thinks she might have gleaned something of the essence flows of the infrastructure of old Hollow itself, although restoring entire districts, or the city itself, would of course be a vastly greater undertaking than fixing up one building or another. And a [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12lot of now-dry geomantic conduits are those that used to run from Firewander... [20:41] 4Being featured in a banned book is somewhat thrilling, Ir supposes. 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "People are getting killed because I wrote a book?" [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying's getting flooded with orders nowadays. Her day or two of adventuring out with Bergsveinn, recuperating, and then meeting with Arianna has been a mild emergency for the Nexus cultural elite. If she wants to satisfy her fans, she might need to take on some employees or apprentices just to keep up in terms of volume. Or else she could embrace exclusivity and charge even more. [20:45] 13Ohhhhh gosh. Well, it's good to be popular...? [20:45] 4Ir's probably spent the last little while giving her soup kitchens a bit more attention, and/or bothering Marek. [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Gatamello: "Oh, not at all. They're getting killed because they failed to hide your book." [20:48] 7Is this wise? Well, no, of course not. But over these past days she's trained, she's meditated, she's honed her body and spirit - if she's not ready now, then when? Deciding the answer is 'never' is choosing to shrink rather than grow. Danger, she knows, is how you prove yourself. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek has been happy to spend time with Ir, but has seemed various busy and frustrated as of late. It seems that his directives from the Silver Pact are somewhat abstruse ones and a number of trails he's been following have gone cold... and the one that hasn't might lead him to elsewhere in the eastern threshold. [20:50] 13How hard can finding apprentices be? It's not like this'll be deadly work, and the arena gets people coming in all the time. So, next time Ying's in the shop, she draws up a little Now accepting apprentices :) sign, complete with hearts over the Is. Gosh, she's been so busy lately she hasn't even had time to find a cat. [20:51] 4Ugh. Just as soon as she's found someone, he's talking about running off to the eastern threshold in service to the pact of the moon. Typical men. [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, hey, you know, Mahalanka isn't really in the southeast. It's far east and actually a little north of Nexus... pretty close to the slumbering, dendroid colossus. [20:52] 4If the Circle's got business out there anyway, maybe they can give him a lift on the Heavensward... 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi sinks into a chair where he's quiet for a time. "What's going on in the arena?" [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Perhaps it's not so far east Marek needs to go - there's a Shadowland called the Ebon Spires of Pyrron, ruled by a dark god known as the Black Psychopomp. A lead apparently indicates it a likely locus of Heaven's meddling. [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12The Spires are to be found roughly between Nexus and Great Forks... so like two or three hundred miles. About a day as the Heavensward flies. 08[20:59] 7Eikichi will be so impressed, she thinks as she opens the bottle's stopcock and tips 30cc of pure kruthik venom down her throat. [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Hmm... this tastes awful, and, separately, is hideously painful. [21:00] 4During these meetings -- which are becoming more and more like dates, not sure if he's realized that yet -- Ir is gently (for her) introducing the building blocks for the idea of where the Circle now actually wants to take its more official relationship with the local Lunars: opposing Raksi. Specifically, Ir's going to start by trying to get a read on how Marek personally feels about [21:00] 4the, ah, cannibal...witch...queen. 08[21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Gatamello explains to Eikichi that Rose might be up against Ir, or at least an Ir-caliber opponent. Apparently the objective won't be to win so much as survive - although if she can win, great! 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "No." [21:02] 4Wait, Ir's fighting who now? 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Get me out of that. The contract lets me get out of that, right?" 08[21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12If Eikichi were to take this information to Ir, Ir could clarify that it's Bergsveinn Rose would be up against - she was in the meeting that this was first brainstormed in. It's still a bit in flux, though. [21:03] 4That's gonna have to clear her manager. Pretty sure Ir can turn this one down. Blossom!! [21:03] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom clenches her fists and slams them together, knuckles-to-knuckles, concentrating on maintaining her equilibrium. Breathe in, breathe out. The poison is just a new input to her Essence flows, no different than food or air. Make it a part of yourself, and it becomes harmless. [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Gatamello: "No? Hmm. Should be arrangeable. How would you make your grand debut, then?" [21:05] 7And indeed it is! Blossom can feel the poison roiling helplessly in the Essence cauldron of her stomach. Should one of the other Solars knock on her doorframe, they'll see a discarded bottle and a tight, smug smile. [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek's hanging around with Ir in the guise of Arakesh, the scar-striped tyrant wrangler, though dressed in more average Nexus attire. "Raksi? Ahhh, Raksi. I've never met her, though I've heard stories. She... has differences with the Pact." [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Refused the brands, dismissed the heavens... it's all we can do to trade, occasionally, for one or two of her treasures." [21:08] 4Ir grins upside-down from where she's balancing on one hand on a rooftop edge. They've spent much of the afternoon together prowling around the moderately dangerous parts of Firewander for a thrill while Ir gets some exercise in. "Guessing it has something to do with her appetite? Hup" 4Ir pushes off and lands next to him in a roll. [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12The very morning after Ying puts her sign up, she finds a lineup of something like fifty different people of every size and color. Has she got a vetting process? 14[21:13] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's gaze drifts away from the demon. He's murmuring. "I need enemies. Help me build a feud with the biggest monster on the circuit. Find me someone who wants me dead and meet us at the crossroads." [21:14] 13Ohhhhhh golly. 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "Above all, keep to this rule: I won't draw jade on anyone I'd hesitate to kill." [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Gatamello: "Hmm. Some of the biggest monsters, of course, await you in the arena itself. But I'll see what I can do." 12He melts back into the floor, unless he senses that his master's got something more to ask of him. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Wait. Did you get a chance to look into the other thing?" [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Heh. That bothers the youngsters, not the Pact's ruling elders." 12Ir has some cause to roll her eyes here, as from what she's gathered Marek himself is a relative junior in the rolls of the moon's Chosen. "No, Raksi simply goes back far enough with our other powers that oaths and grudges linger still that make dealing with her... complicated, in either sense of 'dealing'. [21:19] <@Ferrinus> But there's more than that." [21:19] 4Ir definitely takes the chance to roll her eyes. [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "We're not all in the Pact. Some are lost to madness, or completely apathetic, or actively traitorous. Raksi... well, she's surely the second, perhaps the first. She'd rather be a queen on Creation than topple Heaven." [21:21] "We might have cause to, uh, treat with her. Soon." [21:21] "There's something in her library we need." [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Sometimes the idea is put forth that we should simply... march on her, and take the power she squats on. But some of us hold her in too high regard, others fear her - or simply calculate that the... returns fall short of the cost." [21:22] 13Okay, um, welllll Ying will walk towards her shop, notice the line outside, and immediately high-tail it back to the hotel. Is there anyone there who isn't busy? Because she's gonna need help to narrow down the candidates while also working through her obscene backlog. [21:22] 4Ir grimaces. "And there's probably going to be some disagreements over who it belongs to." [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Listen to me. I'm practically a Guildsman." [21:22] "Pfft. You, a Guildsman?" [21:22] "Enslaved anyone lately?" [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "That's a hop and a skip away from analyzing wars in financial terms, I suspect." [21:25] 7Aww. Nobody saw how cool she looked. Vaguely disgruntled, Blossom leaves her room and wanders through the common area, looking to see what the others are doing that could possibly be more interesting. [21:26] "Yeah, well. Watch yourself." 4When Ir leaps down this time, she lands with a handplant on Marek's wide shoulders and pushes off with a flip, landing with a graceful tumble ahead of him on the roof. "Here there are some people in town who don't take kindly to slavers." [21:26] "Can't say who they might be." [21:26] *Hear [21:27] 13Ying's there, nervously working some cloth through her fingers, but she lights up when Blossom walks in. "Blossom! Um, are you busy?" 13She lays the half-complete yukata out and begins to work on the lower half. "I made a mistake, and I need help." [21:30] 7Blossom: "Really? What?" 08[21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12The shadowy demon pauses before Eikichi, half-dissolved into the floor. "Oh, that. The business ticks along. The eyes of the Scales seems to have passed by for now. But... yes, at least one young girl has traded a few silvers, in the dark, for your first volume." 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "...alright. That'll be all." [21:31] 13Ying: "Okay, so--" 13she fiddles with a particularly tricky section -- "we had a busy couple days! I spent one of them in bed. And, um, my shop has so many requests in. So I said, okay! I'll get some apprentices! Work through this. Teach some people!" [21:32] "There's so many people. I can't take them all in!" [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Heh. A shame so many more of them are out of town. I think if an old friend of mine were here he'd go the way your Panther did inside a day." [21:36] 7Blossom taps her chin. "I see. I see. And you need some help sorting the wheat from the chaff." [21:37] 13Ying: "I- maybe when I'm not so overrun I can help the rest of them..." 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Around now Eikichi emerges from his room, wearing a tight, elastic suit of glittering fabric beneath a huge fuzzy housecoat and slippers. "What are you two scheming about?" [21:43] 4Ir: "Huh. Might be a market for those services sooner rather than later." [21:43] 13She finishes off the kimono for the yukata and begins to create the sash. "Oh! Well, um, partially thanks to you I'm extremely popular. Like, maybe too extremely popular." [21:43] "Things are gonna start moving fast, pretty soon." [21:43] "Not yet. But soon." 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Too many orders? Feeling overwhelmed?" [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "That's about-to-be-turned-inside-out talk." [21:44] 13Ying: "Well, I put a sign out for apprentices, to help with the backlog..." [21:45] "...and now there's like, dozens and dozens of people out front..." [21:45] 7Blossom: "And I've just agreed to help her with the hiring process." 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oh! Have you started planning the obstacle course yet?" [21:46] 4Ir shrugs and smiles innocently. "Whatever do you mean. I'm an upstanding citizen." [21:47] "Of course! The verbal obstacle course. What would you say is your greatest weakness?" 7She asks as she finds a few blank sheets of parchment and gropes around for a pen. [21:48] "I'm just here for the Arena fights." 4She runs a finger up his bicep. "And the scenery." [21:48] 4Then she's up and moving. "Race ya to the spire over there." [21:48] 13Ying claps excitedly. "Thank you thank you thank you!" 13She displays the yukata - a nice pink, with floral designs on the sash, one shoulder, and a hip. Tasteful, yet intriguing. [21:48] "What do you think? Will it sell?" 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I eat too much and I'm very lazy." [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom wastes no time in producing and copying out some forms, setting up a booth or desk of sorts for formal interviews, and even laying out sewing paraphernalia on a series of other tables in order to allow candidates to complete tests of their skill (and simultaneously help Ying get caught up) in parallel. Just how many people is she looking for? Will she also provide Ying with [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12like, attendants and salesmen and such? [21:54] 7Blossom, over her shoulder as she heads for the door: "That's terrible. You'll never make it in the fast-paced world of Nexus fashion." [21:55] "Except as a model." 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "That's fine, I'm going to marry well." 08[21:59] 7To avoid having a nosebleed from Eikichi's offhand remark, Blossom shouts out the front door: "AAAAAALL RIGHT! Form an orderly line! We'll be interviewing you one at a time in the order you arrived! Sunlit-Dreaming Ying does not care who your patron is or who your great-uncle knows! Pushing and shoving gets you sent to the back of the line!" [22:00] 7It's time to do some business. [22:00] 13Ying waves sheepishly to the gathered crowd before heading inside to get to work. So many orders... 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi doesn't want to draw attention from Blossom or do any work so he'll watch from inside, on the couch, under a blanket. [22:04] 13https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaC0vNLdLvY [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12There are times when it seems like the line is growing rather than shrinking as Blossom processes it. The zenith caste rapidly sees why - there are people who just got in line on a lark, or because their friends dared them to, or because gosh they'd get to meet Ying or one of her friends, or because they mixed it up with some other promotion, or because they have something they're [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12trying to sell, or because they're insane enough to think they can countersell Ying on becoming their employee, or something. In theory, the Dogmas forbid Blossom from just incinerating these people where they stand, although she could probably make a case that she was simply defending against the obstruction of trade. [22:07] 13While Blossom works on thinning out the hordes, Ying sets to work producing the varied requests for designs, improving them while remaining true to the original spirit of the requester. Some of these people have appalling taste, but she manages to craft outfits that meet their specifications without ruining her good reputation. [22:07] 13No joots, though. Those are off limits. [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Once she's gotten good at flensing away the chaff, Blossom can start working with the wheat. In Nexus, everyone's looking for their third or fourth job, so a lot of people here are just desperate for another income source and figuring they could do some combination of learning as they go, making it up as they go, or leaning on Ying's rumored generosity and good spirits (although [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12everyone's had a boss who's Ying to the customers but Tatsuya to the help, so to speak). If Blossom were simply trying to find Ying the best possible understudy, she'd probably feel dutybound to let these people go... but why not be ambitious? To some extent, you always need more pairs of hands, and sometimes people really take to things. [22:14] 7Blossom's plan is to take a few experienced workers (essentially poaching them from already-existing masters), and a few eager neophytes that the veterans can keep in line. That's basically the system that works in making talons in the army - mix the vets with the FNGs so they can learn more quickly. [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Beyond that, she's able to tap people for their friends and friends-of-friends and other business connections, building up an entire workshop infrastructure out of would-be weavers or concept artists. And, of course, there are some real gems, people who'd do well working under or with Ying directly, or even directing the efforts of the workshop in Ying's absence. [22:16] 4Ir will roll back to the inn late the next morning, pass on the word that the local Lunars view Raksi as a freelancer, and then go back to sleep some more in her own bed. [22:17] 7She'll duck in to bring Ying up to speed on the growth of her business as she goes. Ying might be a bit surprised when she learns Blossom has contracted some builders to expand the workshop itself. [22:17] 13Um...! Do we have the budget for that? She kinda only rented out this one little-- well, Blossom'd know better than Ying. [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying's direct understudies end up being Totokuro, a hard worker who simply can't a foot in the door anywhere else owing to not being visible over the counter, Lingfei, who fled an arranged marriage and just stepped into the line because she needed a trade but turned out to be a prodigy, and Sszark, who is literally a spider. [22:20] 13...literally a spider? [22:20] 6Wait, no, go back to that first one [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, a spider-woman, but like she's got eight eyes and six arms and so on. Figures she'd be good at weaving, and, lucky for you, she's not worried that she's just confirming a crude stereotype. [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Totokuro Sisikuro. His family's from the south and they've got mouths to feed. This is a paid apprenticeship, right...? [22:22] 13Yes! No labor without proper compensation, what kind of monster do you take Ying for. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, this is probably going to take some physical expansion of the premises - like, buying adjoining shopfronts, knocking down some walls, etc. But, hell, you've probably got the income for it. [22:24] 7She does. Blossom checked. [22:25] 13What about the paid apprenticeship part? She did check that, right? [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, yeah, you can pay your employees and apprentices whatever you like. [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, by the end of the day, Ying finds herself at the head of a fully-functioning workshop and business rather than, in effect, a hugely popular stall in the marketplace. It's a bit alarming, really. [22:28] 7Including nothing, but that only really works if we're hiring idiot teenagers fresh off the cabbage cart and paying them in room, board, and belt-lashings. Not good enough for the Rainbow Connection. [22:30] 13After a long day of filling out the backlog, Ying lays her head down on a desk near a loom. "Uwahhhhhh~" [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12All in all, this is pretty nuts, and it's going to get Ying and her retinue into all sorts of new social circles. Certainly she'll have the opportunity to begin dealing with, or straight-up join, the Guild directly. [22:30] 13Ahahahahahahahaha no [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Aw, c'mon. [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12But, either way... what's next? [22:32] 4It could be a useful in...and suspicious if she doesn't...but probably not worth the moral cost. [22:33] 13Well... she offered apprenticeships. So, she'll have to show the new hires the ropes. Get the place set up to operate without her daily presence, because with all the things they're up to, she can't possibly make time for the Rainbow Connection every day. [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12You've still got an invite from Thorns diplomat Typhon to pop on down to the embassy and have a chat, if you're feeling spooky. 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi wants to go to that... he'd probably get in trouble for going alone though. [22:34] 7No! No!!! [22:35] 4Ir will go with. [22:42] 6Depending on when they go, Tatsuya probably should be present. For. Uh. Just in case. [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, whoever's coming need merely indicate as such on a card or something, and then show up at the embassy around noon on the following day. The banner of Thorns, displaying an eight-pointed silver sunburst behind an abstract blue mask (just rectangular slits in a blue oval) on a black field, flaps over the wrought iron gates. 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10We are going to have such a better flag than that. [22:44] 7Blossom will, bitterly, accompany the group if people are actually deciding to go. A sworn brotherhood is sacred! [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12The gates creak open before you as you approach. When you step across the threshold, you notice the sky's a bit dimmer, the air a bit cooler and mistier, and realize that there's a gaunt, pale, and slightly-translucent older man holding the door open for you. [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12The temperature and lighting aside, the grounds themselves are quite nice. Lush roses grow in neatly-ordered rows, gravel paths curve around marble fountains, brisk winds blow through the scene. Ambulatory skeletons work the area - one travels from rosebush to rosebush with a watering can, two more carefully nail some wooden boards and poles together to set up a trellis for some [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12vines, and so on. [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Once you've crossed the grounds, the ghostly majordomo lets you into the manor itself. It's a little chilly inside, too, but that's counteracted by insulation and internal heating - as long as you don't linger in the darkened corners, it's actually quite comfortable. You're led up some stairs and down a hall into a richly-appointed sitting room, where some velvet chairs are arrayed [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12nearby a roaring fire. Sitting there and looking through some documents is Typhon, the emissary of Thorns. He's a handsome young man with an (you assume) uncharacteristic youthful blush in his skin, and hair that, in this light, reveals itself to be more of a rich dark brown than jet black. Typhon wears a long robe/cloak sort of thing, and has what appears to be a silver and iron [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12circlet/tiara thing across his brow. [22:51] <@Ferrinus> "Welcome!" 12says Typhon, gesturing to the four of you. "Have a seat. Tea?" 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's surprised those skeletons stay together for more than a few seconds before falling apart. 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "So are you already dead or what?" [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "Haha, nonsense! I'm quite alive, as is the rest of my retinue." 12He probably refers to other diplomats; you saw a severe-looking woman sitting in the garden with a book on your way, and passed an older man penning some documents on your way through the building. Neither seemed to be rotting or see-through. [22:54] 6Tatsuya wrote an apology to Ying before they left, in their shared diary. They both agreed - he should go, just in case something happens... but he's borrowing her face to make it happen. It'd be strange if "she" wasn't there, after all, which doesn't leave many options if he's there for defense. [22:59] 6Now, Tatsuying looks around nervously, keeping an eye out for guards, security, or other potential attackers while attempting to look merely nervous about the whole... Thorns thing. [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Does anyone want tea? If so, some skeletons come clacking in with a pot of the stuff. Typhon drinks some as soon as it arrives. "I apologize for the chill, by the by. We're still tuning the magic here. But if you all hail from the north, I imagine it's not much bother, eh?" [23:01] 4Ir's here in something a bit more formal than her usual wear, and fully ready to flare up into burning golden armor at the first sign of trouble. [23:01] 4She just meets the comment about the temperature with a glare. 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We're not all from the North. That's just where we were before, when we had to destroy a blasphemous and genocidal insurrection supported by two of your colleagues." [23:04] 6Tatsuying is wearing an outfit that Ying hadn't had the opportunity to wear yet - regrettable. It's a nice burgundy jacket and skirt with gold trim and a set of heels, plus some golden hair ornaments for style - looks nice! [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "Well, I just mean you're used tI'm sorry?" [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "...say again?" 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We're not all from the North. That's just where we were before, when we had to destroy a blasphemous and genocidal insurrection supported by two of your colleagues." [23:05] 6Oh dear. [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12He tilts his head, smiling faintly if perplexedly. "...could you go into a bit more detail, there?" [23:06] 7Blossom shrugs. He's right, you know. 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I don't have my notes. I think they got ruined a couple of weeks ago when the Mask of Winters tried to kill all my friends." [23:07] "'Supported' kinda undersells it." 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "So what do you do exactly?" [23:09] 6"Ying" looks surprised. "You never told me about that!" [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon looks confused and taken aback. "You know, I think the- ahem. ...ah, wait!" 12He snaps his fingers. "In your book - I see, now, I'm sorry. You moved rather fast, there." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "What I do... is, well, I speak for my city-state, and its ruler. Explain ourselves to the world at large, and, I hope, help to create greater understanding." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12oops [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "What I do... is, well, I speak for my city-state, and its ruler. Explain ourselves to the world at large, and, I hope, help to create greater understanding." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Aw hell. Hang on. [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "What I do... is, well, I speak for my city-state, and its ruler. Explain ourselves to the world at large, and, I hope, help to create greater understanding." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12There. [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "And, er, to that end, what's this about the Mask trying to kill you." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I guess nobody tells you anything so your gentility seems sincere." [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "Well-meaning as he is, the Mask, ah, is in the habit of keeping many more plates spinning than anyone can easily keep track of. But perhaps together we can trace the path of this one?" 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oh, I apologize. It's not my intention to bring a formal grievance. I just wanted to get across that this sort of diplomatic overture puts us on guard. Though I can sympathize with your position. Being made to answer for crimes you weren't aware of and have no control over... it's almost like being forcibly infected with Puppeteer's Plague." [23:20] 4Too bad this guy's, you know, an actual diplomat. Baiting him into a fight and then killing (?) him might have been a decent way to slow down the slave trade without actually 'impeding' it. 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi can do this all day. [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon thinks for a moment. "Well. Surely it's everything but this diplomatic overture that puts you on guard. I mean, I appreciate how Thorns and its ruler look, from outside, in this day and age." 08[23:23] 7How it LOOKS? That little- Blossom squirms irritably in her seat, but Eikichi's still on form being a jerk to this guy, so she doesn't say anything. [23:24] 6"Ying" glances between some obscure corners, some doors, and even some open walls, but says nothing. On guard indeed. [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "I invited you here first because I simply wanted to meet you, make myself known, that sort of thing - I forgot formal introductions, I realize, but perhaps it's just as well - but also to try and appraise you of where we stand and how we think. You know? What, you know - where we agree, what we might have to offer each other." 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "One time appearances were deceiving was when someone play-acted like a human ambassador instead of admitting they were an avatar of the remorseless dominion of the dead." [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "But that's where you're wrong!" 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "You're right, I am wrong. We weren't deceived." [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon continues blithely regardless: "In the north - you ran up against the death cult of the Bishop, didn't you? Some pernicious religious dogma dictating that everyone needs to die for their own good, or something." 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We ran up against a cadre of deathknights, more of whom answered to the Mask than the Bishop. Read my book." [23:32] 6"Ying": "It's a good book." [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "Weren't ours mercenaries?" 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Is it better to serve at the pleasure of an apocalyptic death cult as long as you're only doing it for naked self-interest?" 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "No. The answer is no." [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "Well, I mean, here we are in Nexus. It's not quite - but no, no, to be honest, I agree with you. The mess that what's-his-name made in the north is not the way to do things." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Much better to lay waste to a city and squat around it forever like unresolvable grief." [23:37] 4It's gonna be wild when this dude finally lets his hair down. [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "The trouble with the Mask is, well, that he takes the long view. The very, very long view. So, you know, as much of a shame as the means are, the end, ultimately, mathematically... I tell him, that's not the way to win people over. ...But, like I said, that's where you're wrong." [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "The Mask, and Thorns, do not stand for the dominion of the dead over the living. Precisely the opposite, in fact." [23:39] <@Ferrinus> "In Thorns, the dead serve the living!" 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Who do you serve?" [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "Construction, agriculture, warfare - all taken care of by necromancy. Here in Nexus, men toil their entire lives for the barest scraps. In Thorns, we've the ultimate labor-saving device, and we use it to actually save labor." [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "Hah, well, I'm a servant of the Mask of Winters, obviously, who himself is a powerful undead sorcerer. But he, in a broader sense, serves the people. By his might, the people of Thorns are fed, clothed, housed, cared for, and freed to live their best lives." [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon's warming up here after his stumbles in the beginning. This is clearly the schpiel he meant to make. 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "A broader, less true sense." [23:43] 4Ir: "Free to die their best deaths." [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "Oh, come on. Like any of us Chosen haven't not felt the need to take charge, to direct, because we could see more clearly where the good could be found than those around us." [23:43] 4'Haven't not?' [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12haven't felt* [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12The diplomat waves a finger at Ir. "Pure propaganda by Thorns's nearest rivals. In fact, our mortal citizens live extremely well. Those stories make their way to your ears precisely because of the regime that the Mask replaced." 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "Your surviving mortal citizens." [23:45] 6"Ying": "How many mortal citizens, against how many - yeah." 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "The ones who weren't murdered and enslaved." [23:45] "Yeah!" 14[23:46] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "Thorns was a client state of the Realm before the Juggernaut breached its walls, and many of its neighbors yet look to the Realm for coin and influence. Of course you'd hear the worst." [23:49] "Doesn't sound like a denial to me." [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "Well, certainly, the changeover was a rather rough one. But these are - were - lackeys of the Empress and the Great Houses we're talking about. A blight on the east's shores." 12He gives a faint wince almost immediately after speaking, because of course that's an incredibly easy one to turn on him. 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oh come on." 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "You're not even trying anymore." 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm bored now." 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "What are you authorized to bribe us with and why?" [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "Look, my point is --" [23:53] 6"Ying": "Wow, forward." [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon manages to combine a sigh and a chuckle. "It's not a bribe. It's a trade. We're interested in the relic you've brought here from the north." 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "The one the Mask tried to kill us over." [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "Apparently, the Mask discovered by magic some weeks back, in a way that, I judge from context cues, was extremely rude." 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "His other servants brought him back a perfectly good one. Did he break it?" 14[23:55] * Joins: mattbaby [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "Not that I know of. I suppose he just wants more. What did he actually do, if I may pry?" [23:56] 4Ir: "Put us underwater. Way far up in the air." 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi just stares blankly. "What's your offer." [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon, to Ir: "Damn." 12He presses on a temple briefly. "You see, this is my problem. The Mask means well, but, for whatever reason, acts- and here we are." 14[23:59] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:59] 6"Ying": "Seems kind of a stretch to ascribe well-meaning to bad actors." Session Time: Fri Dec 15 00:00:00 2017 08[00:00] 4Ir glances at Eikichi and Blossom. Does this guy, like, believe what's coming out his mouth? 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "My problem is you keep nattering. What's your offer." 08[00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12He turns back to Eikichi. "Quite a lot, potentially. Some part of the city's industrial capacity - undead labor, goods and materials, that sort of thing. Magic, too - spells and diagrams that the Mask is able to part with, or materials such as jade and orichalcum, or even worked artifacts. We'd need to hash out specifics, certainly." 08[00:05] 7It really sticks in Blossom's craw that we might part with anything to the fiend this lesser filth works for, but she trusts Eikichi. [00:05] 6Well, we can always get it back. [00:05] 6Call it a hunch. 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "May I have a moment to confer with my friends?" 10Eikichi turns to face the others without waiting for Typhon to excuse himself. "If we're willing to pretend the Mask of Winters is just very bad at public relations, we can try to soak the most powerful sorcerer in Creation for all his books and daiklave-building materials. If we aren't, I think we should be rude to his ambassador." [00:08] "Sounds good to me." [00:10] 6"Ying", quietly: "Keep it light. They aren't set up for an ambush, but their defenses are good enough that they could swing one without much of a problem." [00:19] 7Blossom: "Do what you think is best. I can't think straight in this cursed place." [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon looks a little deflated as the four of you confer quietly, several of your caste marks lit. He really thought he was making a good case... [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Sorry, I mean while you confer right there. 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi turns back to face Typhon. "We appreciate the overture but I don't think there's appetite for a deal at this time." [00:21] 4I mean. He was making a good case. For evil. [00:21] 4That's the main problem here. 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Let a hundred flowers bloom. Then burn the blighted ones. [00:22] 6Ah, but is it evil if -- I'm being informed that yes, and it doesn't matter. [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon sighs. "Well. Listen, I apologize for my master's... ah, attempt to drown you? I'll have to talk to him about it." [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "I hope you think about what I've said, all the same. The takeover of Thorns... it was an ugly thing. But the people live better now than they did under the Realm's heel. There's some concord to be had between us, I'm sure of it." 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I'd say I hope you can settle in to diplomatic work, but that would be a lie. I hope your corpse-throne crumbles and your dead god-king scatters like ashes on the wind. The tea was lovely." [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "Yes, the, uh, brew skeleton is tuned very well nowadays." 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "What's its name?" [00:25] 6"Ying": "Harsh, but fair. Stop by my shop, if you'd like. Or don't! Many are the options in this crazy mixed-up world of ours." [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "...mm? I've never thought to name them. Rather like naming your chair." [00:26] 6I'll name mine 'Typhon,' after you, is thought but unsaid. 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "...well, see you." [00:27] 7Blossom, evenly: "I suppose one cannot argue with that." [00:28] 4Ir glares at the diplomat as the others leave the room, and is the last to file out. [00:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon stands and bows. "Ta ta. Thanks for visiting - please stay in touch if there's anything I can clear up or send along for you." [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12A stately ghost leads you back down the halls and out through the gates. Once you cross the threshold, the air warms and the sunlight strengthens back to normal. 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I don't like that guy." [00:29] 6"Ying": "Well. That was a waste of time." 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Nah. We know their pitch now." 08[00:30] 7Once they're across the boundaries of the death embassy or whatever they call it, Blossom wordlessly puts her arm around Eikichi's waist. [00:30] "Yeah, and their pitch was a waste." [00:30] "Like, in multiple senses of the term." [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Necroautomation is the way of the future! 08[00:31] 4Ir suppresses a grin at Blossom/Eikichi. They're...what do those fans of his books say? 'Totes adorbs?' [00:32] 4Oh: "So I talked about Raksi with Marek." [00:32] "We're clear there." [00:34] 6"Ying": "Well, heck yeah." 6They screw up their face. "This is - I should've. Uh." 6Head shake. "That's good news." [00:34] 7Blossom, curiously: "Clear how?" [00:36] 4Ir: "Raksi's...not a team player. She cares too much about her own kingdom, isn't willing to work with the Silver Pact on greater goals, doesn't return the other Lunars' eclipse-day cards. That sort of thing." [00:36] "Far as the Pact is concerned, what goes on with her is her business until someone makes it theirs." [00:38] 6"Ying": "Just totally on her own? Seems almost too easy." [00:39] 7Blossom: "No. That just means she's strong enough to make it on her own." [00:40] "No one's strong enough to make it on their own. That's a fact." 15[00:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi just nods quietly. There'll be no shortage of wars to start. The next book's going to have to teach its readers how to organize and protect themselves. He can dedicate it to everyone killed for reading the first. But as he walks home, Blossom's arm around him, none of that enters his mind. [00:44] 4After a brief pause: "Oh, and Marek and I are a thing now." [00:45] "So. You know. Might be seeing more of him around." [00:46] 7Blossom: "How sweet!" [00:47] 6"Ying": "Congratulations." 6Less enthusiastic than Ying would normally be, but, well, Tatsuya's less enthusiastic than Ying is. If they could switch without effort, they would so Ying could gush. [00:51] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ [00:51] It's hard to be brave, I know. But there are lots more ways to be brave than fighting monsters from the Underworld, like concealing your family's copy of the Squared Circle Chronicles, or standing up for someone who's totally geeked out in embarassment! [00:51] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ 14[01:11] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[01:12] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[01:24] * Joins: tom 14[02:28] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[05:14] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[06:44] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[13:09] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:13] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:16] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[13:21] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:04] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[16:10] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:50] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Connection closed) 14[18:50] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[18:51] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[18:51] * Joins: mattbaby 15[18:53] * Disconnected 15[18:53] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[18:53] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[18:53] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[18:53] * Set 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14[12:56] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:04] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[14:06] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:10] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:46] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:26] * Joins: hrolf 14[20:04] * Joins: dammitwho 15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> It's a festival! It's a parade! 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Three armies muster on Sentinel Hill. Four banners fly in beneath the red-starred sky. [20:21] 14Two and two too many for comfort. [20:21] 14The players gather. 15[20:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Tension thickens the air around Council Tower, where Dawn Sergeant Pellicia stands before the doorway as if prepared to beat back every interloper herself. Before her stand a prince and his sorcerer, a Lookshyan hero, the Governor of Thorns, and the heroes of Nexus. Behind the Dragonlord and the Governor expand armies of gleaming metal and dead devotion. At the bottom of the hill the banners of Highland bob along the road to Firewander in a human tide. The Dawn Guard itself, even bolstered by famed mercenary companies like the Green Apples and the Nighthammer League, is the smallest force present. 15[20:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Among them, though, a power in their own right - the circle of Solar Anathema who has saved and imperiled this city time and again since the Emissary fell. [20:32] 14Right where we want them. [20:32] 14And ourselves. [20:34] 12Keldar's armed and armored, but his helmet's open and so an expression of stern displeasure is clearly visible on his face. For now, he's heading the Nexus military contingent and standing by for orders from Pellicia or, in a pinch, some other council member. [20:34] 4von Hrolfus is staring in shock at the legion of undead. How can such abominations be suffered to exist? [20:35] 14Very carefully. [20:36] 7Dawn is hanging back from the important delegates, trying to make sure she can see everyone who might be trying to pull something, which at this point could be literally anyone. [20:37] 14Ideally, to Stranger's mind, the ranking here in preference is the Lookshyans, the Highlanders, and then the Thorns -- but then, ideally, they'd somehow be able to swing all of them without handing away the city. [20:37] 14And, ideally, there still being a city left to not hand away. [20:38] 13Xia Lan's sticking close to Stranger. It might be safer to be close to Keldar - best armed among them - but Stranger's less likely to piss everyone off. So. Diplomacy. [20:39] 14The white and black cat perching around Stranger's shoulders blinks at Xia Lan and lazily licks the air, then settles down to stare out at the dignitaries. 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Diplomacy! The Governor, a fat, translucently pale man with curly hair and a sword as big and tall as he is, has just invited himself to dinner. "Come! The road to Nexus crooked with treason. Surely our tribute is commerce enough for a meal?" [20:42] 14The 'Governor.' Either an inexact title, or a concerning one. Who, then, is governing Thorns? 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia is the only visible Councilor, and her face is set with indignation. "If you are who you say you are then you should know full well the prohibition against foreign armies in Nexus. [20:43] 14Poor Pellicia. Letting the Lookshyans in, and letting them stay, only emboldened this lot. [20:44] 12Keldar nods sternly. "Third Dogma. First thing to do here is to get these forces set up somewhere outside the walls or formally take possession of them as part of our Guard." 15[20:45] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor's belly wobbles with mirth. "Ha! Right you are, my radiant Dawn Sergeant. So I had intended to billet my army outside the city and ride in alone. But when I arrived I noticed the flag of Lookshy on this hill, and rowbarges bearing the seal of Highland excreting men from the river." He looks stage left, looks stage right. "So I assumed the rule had been changed." 14[20:45] * Joins: hrolf_mac [20:45] 5Xu Sim regards the Governor with the curiosity of a monkey confronted with a handful of rice in a gourd. 14[20:46] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [20:46] 14To the Governor: "You know what they say about assumptions, my dear Governor." 14He smiles. "Everyone has at least one." [20:47] "What shall we ask of the cooks?" 14[20:49] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:49] "They haven't yet," 12Keldar says. He's looking between the Governor and the Beast and Dorma as he speaks. "We've been in a little... disarray, of late. But that's coming to a close." 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Mori Nogare, the Beast of Highland, watches these exchanges quietly. Occasionally the violet-robed sorcerer beside him floats up to whisper something in the regent's ear. [20:52] 14That one's probably the one to watch. [20:52] 14But one at a time. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "Filth! Filth, swill, and vile concoctions. Bring me river-sick fish boiled with vinegar, bring me spoiled meat masked in pepper. Bring me the putrid mushroom wine of the Undercity. I wish to dine on the food of your poor and misbegotten, because it is they who will live and die by our bargain." [20:57] 13That's... a little ominous. More than a little, actually. [20:58] 4Bit theatrical, this fellow. 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun Dorma: "What rancid shit is this?" 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "We will see, my grieving friend! Nexus may surprise us." [20:58] 14Stranger, placidly: "The food of our poor and misgotten is a fantastic stew, with a wholesome brown broth, potatoes and carrots. You, my dear Governor, want the trash thrown out by the rich after their parties and left to rot on the edges of their estates." [20:59] "And that can be arranged!" 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun Dorma's face is invisible within his helmet. "I didn't mean the food." [21:01] *misbegotten [21:03] 12Keldar: "While you're waiting for delivery, Governor, you can turn your skeletons right around and park 'em beyond the gates. Lookshy and Highland've already made arrangements with the Council, but you haven't yet." 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor squints at Keldar. "Which member of the Council are you?" [21:04] 14Stranger: "The one who just told you what you have to do to get a seat at the table." [21:04] "Unless, dear Governor, you want Lookshy and Highland to make this a three-party meal." [21:05] 12Keldar: "Ain't on the council. This is for security." 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor looks from Keldar to Dorma. "Has Lookshy taken Nexus so thoroughly that one of your lackeys speaks with the force of the Council?" 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "You--" [21:11] 12Keldar: "Interesting question. You moving the zombies or not?" [21:15] 4von Hrolfus can’t help it, and barks out a laugh at Keldar being accused of working for Lookshy. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia's about to speak when the chimes inside the tower resound; longtime residents of Nexus will associate this with the announcement of new Civilities. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Sure enough, behind Pellicia the door creaks open, and a stooped old man with a long face and a small hat pokes out from between crossed blades and black-sleeved arms. "CIVILITY FOUR FOUR SIX ONE THREE, BENEATH THE WREN. ATTEND! ATTEND!" [21:17] 14They will never stop undercutting her, will they. [21:18] 14Not all of Nexus's problems are standing outside this tower. [21:18] 12Keldar half-turns, listening. [21:18] 14Stranger's mouth presses into a thin line. "Evening already, I see." [21:20] 14He idly wonders what the numbering schema is. Surely they're not so disorganized that this is merely the next Civility after 44612. [21:20] 13Xia Lan's about to say something, either to Keldar or the Governor, but quickly restores her placid smile as she turns to listen. [21:20] 14That would make searching for any individual Civility a nightmare! 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> The crier: "RESOLVED that to facilitate trade and open partnership, the Third Dogma is waived for any visiting powers who sign a compact of defense for the city of Nexus and pay a billeting surcharge to be negotiated with the Evening House." [21:28] 14A door charge. [21:28] 14Stranger actually chuckles. [21:29] 4“At this moment? This city’s greed will never cease to amaze." [21:29] 14Stranger glances to Pellicia. This is her moment. [21:29] 14Lay down the law: sign on the dotted line, or decamp for negotiations. [21:31] 14Then he looks to Keldar. There's a legal issue here, but this is not the time to present a broken public face over legal precedent. Hopefully Keldar realizes that...? [21:32] 12Keldar rolls his eyes up towards the sky for a moment, thinking to himself, and then works his jaw around while watching the council tower until his mouth settles back into a frown. "Bad phrasing," 12he mutters to himself, before turning to Pellicia and raising his voice. "Sergeant, the Governor here's signed nothing as yet. Orders?" [21:33] 14Seize the moment, Dawn Sergeant. 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia folds her arms, sizing up the crowd as the door shuts behind her. "It's true, Governor. You haven't sworn to defend the city." 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "We will see them out--" 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "--and neither have you, Dragonlord." [21:35] 12Yeah! Tell 'em! [21:36] 14Attagirl. 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "Don't be ridiculous. Our standing arrangement with the city--" [21:36] 13Xia Lan smiles imperceptably wider. [21:36] 14Stranger, laconically: "We are willing to commit to an oral arrangement with a formal signing session right now." 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "--is negated by the new Civility. And the same goes for our Prince Regent here. Gentlemen, welcome to Nexus. Cash or check?" [21:37] 14Because technically, as far as Stranger is aware, the Green Apples are not in compliance either. [21:37] 14Which means Keldar should go first. [21:37] 14Or his commander or whoever. [21:38] 12Ah, but the Green Apples are a mercenary company, one that's been hired on as a subsidiary of the Dawn Guard. In fact, that's Keldar's own idea for how such a Civility should be worded - an explicit allowance for the incorporation of 'consultants' and such into the civic defense force. 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "Preposterous! There are half a dozen mercenary companies in the city who--" [21:38] 5Xu Sim hopes that he won't be asked to pay anything. He hasn't been paying - anyone - anything - for the time he's been here. 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "--are all absorbed into the Dawn Guard until further notice. We're allowed to have our own army. Isn't that right, Keldar?" [21:39] 14Yes, well, as Keldar has noted...that's not how it was worded. [21:39] 7Dawn stands quietly, arms crossed, taking everything in. She scowled briefly when the proclamation was made, but it seems to be having its intended effect. [21:39] 14Aha. [21:39] 4von Hrolfus already paid an entry fee with a bonus for a guide and lodgings. [21:39] 12Keldar: ”’zactly right. Companies like mine are businesses, not armies, and we’re incorporated into the official Guard as subsidiaries as the Council sees fit.” 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "So all of you can park your soldiers outside city limits until an agreement is settled." 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "It would take an entire day just to--" [21:40] 13What a shame. 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Governor: "The sheer absurdity of--" [21:41] 14Stranger: "I'm sorry, I thought this was a negotiation." 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Regent: "Highland will happily comply, Sergeant." [21:41] 14Watch him. [21:41] 5Reasonable fellow, must be getting good advice from that sorcerer. [21:42] 7Dawn smirks at the Regent. "Such respect for a man of your station." 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> The Regent smiles at Dawn. "We are servant-soldiers, are we not?" [21:44] 13Xia Lan watches him with interest. The others... they might be more immediately dangerous, but he knows how to play the game. [21:46] 5Xu Sim finally speaks: 0"It is prudent to garrison your men outside the city. After all, Nexus is in the throes of a supernatural plague - one that has yet to be cured, only contained." [21:46] "A wyld-tainted plague, I should say, to be precise." [21:47] 14Stranger clears his throat. Pellicia's proved his worth. "The first thing you should know -- the very first thing, and especially you, Governor..." 14Stranger's focused on the big man now. "...is that when you're here without an agreement, you're vulnerable. That's what the city's built on, so that's how they run it. And let's say you decided that this Civility was not to your [21:47] liking, and you decided to stay. It would be perfectly legal, perfectly prudent, and arguably perfectly satisfactory to the covenant laid forth in this Civility that routing you and yours -- and perhaps just yours -- back to Thorns would satisfy the understood oral terms of a mutual defense agreement." [21:47] *14her [21:47] (originally keldar was there) 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor looks from Stranger up to the top of the tower, smacking his lips as if he's got dry mouth. "SCION!" [21:54] 14Stranger pivots to Dorma: "And the same thing applies to you, really, except that you're smarter than he is because -- with all due respect to the Governance of Thorns -- you didn't walk into this city and directly ask to eat shit. You've made your effort. You've paid your price. You have been a good man, and to the extent that you could have been, you've been a model citizen. And [21:54] that's required sacrifice on your part; it's required a staid hand. It's required good faith. That's what we're asking for from you now, because we know you've got the honor to pay the bill. It will not be forgotten. This is Nexus after all, Dragonlord -- everything is an exchange." 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> One of the other two palanquins ripples and an ethereal woman with long blonde hair and a long, wicked hook sword dangling from her waist appears at the Governor's side like a phantom. "See them out, will you?" 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "Scion" says nothing, holds a hand up and bids the dead tide back as if by will alone. [21:55] 12Keldar watches with vague suspicion, but doesn't interfere. [21:58] 12Although, it'd be prudent to supervise. Once the dead legions are in motion, Keldar sends the appropriate instructions to ensure they're escorted to the gates, that their exit from the city proper is marked, etcetera. 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "...so be it." Without looking at Keldar, he says, "I will delegate this task to my third in command." [22:01] 14Stranger whispers in the cat's ear; she mrowls at him, and he makes an apologetic face. The cat arches itself petulantly, slaps him aside the face with her tail, and then leaps off into the brush. [22:01] 13Xia Lan covers her laugh with a polite cough. [22:01] 14Murmured to Keldar: "The Ambassador will confirm from the skies, then return to us." 14[22:01] * Joins: Quaker 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> The tide into Firewander continues apace, but looking ahead you can see the army bend at a right angle to congregate outside the southern gate until a deal is brokered. [22:02] 14He delivers a similar note without a name to Pellicia. 14[22:03] * Joins: Quaker_ [22:03] 14Soon, unremarked upon, a beautiful swan soars towards the gates and begins circling. [22:03] 12The Lookshy and Highland forces are merely watched rather than escorted and guarded, but Keldar sees to their being counted and accounted for as they move temporarily(?) beyond the gates. [22:04] 14To Xia Lan, apart from the others: "Upstairs -- I assume we'll be going up stairs -- you should take a more active role." [22:05] "One, I think you can do it; two, I think they need a break from my bullshit." 14[22:05] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:05] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> The population on Sentinel's Hill thins. Soon there's the visibly cheered Dawn Guard, Dorma alone, Regent Nogare and his dark confidant, and the Governor of Thorns with two attaches: one called "Scion", the other, a lanky man with an elaborate leather jacket and three-cornered hat, wears a longarm across his back whose barrel was smelted into a gaping, screaming mouth. [22:06] 13Xia Lan starts to nod to Stranger, then stops. "I'll endeavor to put a pretty new face on our collective bullshit." 14[22:09] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) [22:09] 14The white-haired man grins. 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> The doors open again, and emerging from the tower to stand shoulder to shoulder with Pellicia are six other people, four men and two women, wearing formal dress. [22:10] 14And away we go. 14[22:10] * Joins: dammitwho [22:11] 5Back in the halls of power. Xu Sim is back, baby! Wait, being in the halls of power kind of sucked the first time around. [22:12] 14Hrmph. [22:12] 14And then there were seven. [22:15] 4von Hrolfus curls and uncurls his fingers. He should be in his element here, but he has zero context or standing. 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> The meal the Governor jokingly(?) demanded hasn't materialized; the city, Councilor Hayle himself apologizes, is under emergency food rationing, and they were stuck with the food already apportioned to Sentinel's Hill. 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> It's hard to tell whether the Governor is affronted by the disrespect or genuinely disappointed in the lack of garbage to eat. [22:19] 14The Governor was trying to make a point. And he made it. Arguably to his detriment. [22:19] 13Sometimes, when you shoot from the hip, you hit yourself in the foot. [22:20] 5On reflection, Xu Sim is actually rather fond of the Governor. He reminds him of someone... hard to put a finger on it exactly, really. [22:21] 12When it comes to actually setting up the negotiation proceedings, Keldar has little to do but handle further security. Hopefully the food'll be good. 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> The Regent and Dorma wear their armor to the table. And since it's Nexus, everyone is armed. There's a compliment of Dawn Guard keeping watch in and around the banquet hall, but all the Councilors besides Pellicia seem to be availing themselves of personal bodyguards hired directly from the Guild. [22:22] 7A lot of Guild muscle? Dawn keeps an eye on them. [22:22] 14Stranger will drift around. The cat returns, and then she's sent out again after scratching him three or four times on the arm. He smiles through it. [22:23] 13Xia Lan again politely avoids snickering at him. Her swords are to her side, ready for a fight, though she carries herself as though she's not expecting one. [22:24] 12Keldar wears "his" armor to the table too, of course. He'll probably end up sitting between the Councilors and his fellow Solars, presumably by the Dawn Sergeant. Fortunately the chairs are sturdy enough to handle superheavy artifact armor. 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> As the soup is ladled up the Governor is attempting to corner Keldar in a long, blustery conversation about military minutiae. "And so we must consider, Mister Keldar, the organizational doctrine..." [22:25] 14This seems like Bastian's time to shine. [22:26] 4von Hrolfus interrupts. “If I could ask you a few questions, good sir?" 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor also introduced his attaches: the woman is Scion of the Sevenfold; the behatted man is called simply 'Hunter'. 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor sizes Bastian up. "Mmmm?" [22:28] 5Xu Sim manipulates his utensils with care, shaping and re-forming mandalas of sorcerous power between bites. [22:28] 4“I was curious about your army. Soldiers that don’t need to eat or sleep must be a massive ease when it comes to logistics." [22:29] 12Keldar doesn't actually mind talking to the Governor, or at least doesn't appear to. He's gamely discussing the pros and cons of slack versus rigid command chains, but pauses to hear what Bastian's got to say. [22:29] 7Dawn eats stiffly, obviously not accustomed to this formal setting, staring across the table at the Governor's pet gunman. 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Governor: "In many ways you are correct, mister...?" [22:33] 12Of course, Keldar's not going to not comment as though he's an expert, what do you take him for? "What I hear is it's not as free a lunch as it sounds. You end up needing alchemists and surgeons and thaumaturgists to keep the troops from rotting, nail bones back together, that sort of thing." [22:33] "Have we not been properly introduced to the City's guests?" 5mumbles Xu Sim. 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> You haven't, actually. No one's made a formal introduction. [22:37] 5The doctor glances in one direction, to Xia Lan, then again - in the other direction - to Stranger. [22:40] 14Once the cat's out of the gala, Stranger will attempt to get Pellicia alone, preferably in a hallway slightly removed from conversation. [22:40] 14He gestures to Xu Sim to mingle. Get weird. [22:41] 14Attract attention. [22:41] 14It'll keep it off the others. 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia will talk to Stranger outside the banquet hall. Where does he speak to her and what does he say? [22:43] "Sorry. Our reputation-"5 he gestures, vaguely,"-usually precedes us. I'm Xu Sim, he's Bastian von Hrolfus, of Deguo, she's the famous Xia Lan, you're certainly already acquainted with the fearsome Keldar, Stranger-Visits-Heaven is over there, Dawn here seems friendly enough..." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Governor, to Bastian: "Deguo?" He grimaces. [22:44] 14In a corner, somewhere removed but well-lit so they appear to just be having light conversation and not a conference. Stranger: "Apologies for stepping on your toes out there, Dawn Sergeant. I'll be brief. The Governor has disdain perhaps bordering on digust for vulnerability and weakness. Don't trust that nonsense about the poor. I can't read Dorma yet. He's a sly one. But he does [22:44] seem to respond to me, especially when I talk about honor." [22:44] 4von Hrolfus, curtly: “Yes." [22:47] "Pretty tragic affair. Not uncommon, alas. But tragic. I think I can cure the honey-maze, by the way,"5 this is directed, in part, to Dorma and the Lookshyans but mostly to the Council-members. 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan is best positioned to overhear the conversation Regent Dogare is having with other Councilors, chiefly Brueghel, Ephiselle, and Thalevar, about commercial and legal allowances he can secure for his troops once they're allowed back into the city. It sounds like he wants as much permission as possible for his men to roam the city. There's some pushback, mainly on the Regent's desire to make sure all permissions extend to on- and off-duty troops. [22:48] "Oh. And the Governor sees Nexus in..." 14He pauses. How to phrase this. "...gluttonary terms." [22:48] "Too much to eat at once." 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia's expression of distaste worsens as Stranger talks. "Charming." 14[22:49] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:49] "I'm not sure if that's specific to the city. It might just be how he sees any large group of people. But it is how he sees here." [22:49] "Good thing, too. It would probably be a detestable mess if it was still spreading when the Raksha hordes show up." 5 He takes a bite of some sort of root vegetable. Hey, this isn't bad! [22:50] 14He grimaces. "My agent confirms that they're honoring their word. They've pulled outside the city." [22:50] 14Stranger glances over at Pellicia. "So I've sent my agent to check on the Astrologer." [22:50] 13Xia Lan will sidle over to the Regent's conversation, and see if she can't find a place to insert herself in it. She's got some complimentary things to say about him, and maybe that'll be enough to distract from the matter at hand. Usually, she is. 14[22:50] * Joins: Quaker [22:50] 12Keldar, to Xu Sim: "What'll the cure take?" 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Councilor Hayle, with responsibility for health, asks Xu Sim directly: "What will it cost?" [22:53] "What will it take? Oh, just one more push and a few more experiments-" 5Xu Sim pauses at Hayle's question. "You mean, my services? Or, do you mean, how much will the supplies necessary to cure the whole afflicted population cost to give them?" 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "Itemize it for me." [22:53] 7Dawn: "Surely, stopping a plague is worth nearly any cost." 14[22:54] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[22:54] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:54] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker [22:55] "Well, to be honest, as far as I go, I'm willing to take a pretty big discount in return for a full exoneration regarding some false, nasty, defamatory rumors about my practice. Pret-ty big discount." 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor, to Bastian: "So you've heard the news then. Terrible. Disgraceful." 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "To suffer such humiliating defeat..." [22:57] 4“We’ve had those before. There will be survivors, and we will rise again.” 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "What'll you need to see it done?" 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Governor: "So shall all the war dead! Ahaha!" [23:00] 4“Dead or alive. Whatever it takes.” [23:00] "Mostly, access to the afflicted to finalize the process. Supplies, probably not much more than what the honorable Lookshyans were providing in the camp. The typical stuff, maybe some extra brine-water. We might need to issue a Citation to do something about all the bees in the city, the bees are a vector. Tamp down on the honey-trade until this all blows over. Let's see, what else..." [23:00] 12Keldar, to the Governor: "Yeah, but what's that cost you?" 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "I visited her this morning. She had a guest for tea. She's recovering well, though it's no surprise she didn't test her strength on this. She's got a keen nose for avoiding danger, does Kratz, and a keener one for avoiding work." [23:02] "I mean, so much depends on how far the plague has spread. And if it keeps spreading, when the raksha arrive, I know what it will cost the city." [23:02] 13After the third time around of the Regent and the Councilors proposing and counterproposing the same things, only slightly rephrased, Xia Lan finally interrupts, catching the eye of the Regent. "If I may be so bold - perhaps a break is called for? You're walking in circles, and I'm getting dizzy." 13She gestures to the table. "Have a bite. Sit and talk. You've made quite an impression," 13she says, winking. [23:04] 14Stranger: "Fair enough. My agent's still going to keep an eye out. It's not safe for her to be separated like this during negotiations, no matter how polite these three factions are being." [23:04] 14He pauses. "If you want my advice, and you don't have to -- the Dragonlord's your safest bet right now. The Highlander's not. You can tell what the Thorny man is. He's easy." [23:04] "The Highlander..." [23:05] "We'll keep digging." 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> The Regent tenses up just a bit as he's interrupted, and turns to look at Xia Lan. A moment's stare precedes a brief glance up and down, and then he says, "You're too kind. I'd be delighted." [23:06] 14Mmm. Men. [23:07] 5Xu Sim, continuing:"I suppose if you really want to get serious about curing the plague and defeating the Raksha hordes, I have some serious ideas about it. For that, I would need a fully-staffed and supplied alchemical laboratory, considerable amounts of sulpher, charcoal, brine - as I mentioned - cinnabar, which I find invaluable..." [23:08] 7Dawn is pretty much staring daggers at the Governor now. She's not familiar with the particulars of Bastian's situation, but she knows gloating when she sees it. [23:09] "...White vinegar, dried centipedes - the larger the better, naturally, though not in particularly large quantities - powdered clamshells, crimson alum, a great quantity of lime - an enormous quantity of lime, more lime than you know what to do with..." [23:09] 4von Hrolfus keeps his calm. This monster is an ally for now, and revenge waits. [23:11] "Of course, a number of glass phials. And something else, besides: globes of glass, as near to spherical as blowers can make them, perhaps-" 5 he reaches his hands out in contemplation for a moment "perhaps just smaller than a grapefruit." [23:11] "With corks, of course, for their mouths. Yes, glass globes." [23:12] 13She leads him back to the table, then sits next to him, chair facing. "I'm afraid I haven't introduced myself - the Unfettered Xia Lan." 13The temptation to say 'perhaps you've heard of me' was drummed out in her bandit days. 'Undoubtedly the worst-' anyway. "You handled yourself well, at the Civility announcement. I'm impressed." [23:13] "Oh, and another thing: cold iron. I don't need solid blocks of the stuff, merely dust should suffice. Wastage from the work of the forges, I don't care. Small pieces - the smaller, the better." [23:13] "But many of them, wagon loads of it." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Regent Nogare: "Oh, your reputation precedes you. I am surprised to see you here - hard to be 'Unfettered' at a diplomatic meeting. Who do you represent?" [23:17] "And it might be prudent, I would suggest, for the glassblowers of Nexus to produce a few more glass globes of much larger size - large enough for a mangonel to throw, for example." 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "We should get back in there." [23:18] "A few barrels of brine fish, let me see, it's been so long since someone has not taken my skills for granted -" 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "This sounds less and less medical." [23:19] 14Stranger: "Let's." [23:19] 14As they walk: "You don't need to consult me. You've got this. But I'm here if you ask." [23:19] 14Then he steps aside and lets her re-enter first, then follows nine seconds later. [23:21] "Well, the nature of the plague stems from the Raksha armies and their commanders, ultimately. A true cure would entail their defeat, or destruction." [23:26] 13She gestures to the loose collection of Solars, scattered around the room as they are. What is Xu Sim - no, no, don't ask. "Call it the Centered Circle. Xu Sim, Keldar, Bastian, Stranger-Visits-Heaven, and Dawn. And myself, of course." 13Do they count Dawn among their number, yet? Hm. Probably was a less public time to ask that question. Too late now, though. [23:27] 14It would be good for them to start. [23:27] 14If only to force Dawn's hand. [23:27] 14But Stranger is likely being called elsewhere in the room. 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Regent: "Fascinating. Chosen all?" 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "How quickly can you get it done?" [23:31] "It's difficult to say. I don't have the information to judge. How far has the plague spread?" [23:32] 14Stranger meanders over to Xia Lan in time to hear that last. "Oh yes. And our plus one." 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "We've had reports from all over the city, though it's concentrated most in Cinnabar." 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> The Regent looks up. "Hello. That was a deft turn of phrase you had earlier, with the others." [23:37] 13Xia Lan covers her surprise smoothly. "Yes, you - cooled off a situation that could've gotten quite hot. Hello again, Stranger." [23:37] 5Xu Sim does some mental math. "In one day, I can cure one. In two days, ten. In a fortnight, ten thousand." [23:38] 12Keldar's still sitting at the table and chatting with the Governor and the rest of the Thorns contingent. At some point, he decides to just give vent to his curiosity. "So, sorry, who are you people, really? Why'd you get sent here?" [23:39] 14Stranger takes an opposing diagonal seat to Xia Lan, boxing the Regent in, facing both of them. He smiles warmly. "Hello to you too, Unfettered." 14To the Regent: "Which one, if I might ask?" 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Governor: "Recall if you will, Mister Keldar, your study of the great strategists. Lines of supply are the backbone of an army. Nexus is the center of the Province - if Nexus falls, we all fall. The invaders will be invulnerable." 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Regent: "With the Dragonlord. He seemed far more likely to lose control than his counterpart." [23:42] 14Stranger: "Oh?" [23:42] "Perhaps." [23:43] 12Keldar: "Does Thorns really see the raksha armies as a threat? You've got some pretty nice toys out there, as I understand it." [23:43] "What I'd like to stress with the Dragonlord, however, is that we have a...familiarity with him. We understand him, to an extent." [23:43] "Such are the wages of his work around town." 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Governor: "Yes, and if Nexus herself were to invade we would be well prepared. But a second Crusade? Grown fat off the richest land in Creation, without the Empress? What would even remain to rule?" 14[23:45] * Joins: hrolf [23:46] 13Mmm. Another example of knowing how to play the game. "'Familiarity' is an interesting choice of words. A correct one, but interesting." [23:48] 12Keldar: "You hear the horde passed by Sijan? I hear they picked up some zombies of their own - what's that about?" 14[23:50] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Governor: "The ishvara tempts the little Chosen, Mister Keldar. She binds them as thralls, but with a longer leash and more of their old strength. She must have snared a deathspeaker." [23:54] 14Stranger grimaces, then smiles. "You do know what we are, though." [23:55] 4“A deathspeaker?" 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Governor: "A practictioner of necromancy." [23:56] 14He is. I mean come on, right? That guy can't be alive. [23:57] 12Keldar: "Didn't think the Sijanese went in for the practical kind of black magic. Whole point is you stay in the ground in style, isn't it?" 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Nobody seems to know. Both Keldar and Xu Sim came up blank. 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> The Regent: "We saw your signs, or many of them, rising from Nexus in the last few days. Visible from the rivers." [23:58] 14Stranger, still looking away: "As intended." 15[23:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Governor: "More than Sijanese in those woods. Dark things." Session Time: Wed Dec 20 00:00:00 2017 [00:00] 13Xia Lan: "Is that what we're calling it now?" [00:00] 13She says it mildly, without reproach. The damage is done now, and they're still... mostly fine. [00:01] 12Keldar: "Pretty fucked up. How do they stack up to you?" [00:01] 14Stranger's going to try to wave over either Keldar or Bastian. Whoever can sneak out of the conversation easiest. [00:01] 14Casually, to the Regent: "I'm going to give you some words for free. You ready?" 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Regent: "Please." [00:02] 14Without looking back at the big man from Thorns: "He's not dead. He's embalmed. It's a fake extension of life." [00:03] "They've jumped the gap. They've got something to offer the living." [00:03] "No matter how fucked up it is." 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> The Regent says nothing. The meal's all but concluded, which means conversation will soon turn to dealmaking. 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: Two Masks 14[00:36] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[00:48] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[00:54] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[00:54] * Joins: Quaker 14[00:59] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:00] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:00] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[01:01] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[01:01] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:02] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[01:03] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:07] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:07] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:17] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[02:58] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[05:18] * banana|epesl is now known as banana 14[05:58] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[05:58] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:32] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:17] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[13:18] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:18] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[13:19] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:19] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[13:20] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:21] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[13:23] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:23] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[13:24] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:25] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[13:26] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:27] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[13:28] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:29] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[13:47] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:37] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[14:39] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:19] * Quits: banana (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:21] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:50] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[18:43] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:00] * Joins: hrolf 14[21:35] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:57] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:17] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Thu Dec 21 00:00:00 2017 14[00:17] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[00:31] * Joins: hrolf 14[00:33] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:34] * Joins: mattbaby 14[00:35] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:39] * Joins: cbass 14[01:38] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:48] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[03:49] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:51] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:52] * Quits: Quaker_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:48] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:00] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[06:19] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[08:09] * Joins: banana 14[09:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:26] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:38] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:38] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[11:42] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:47] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[11:59] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[12:00] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:00] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[12:40] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[13:17] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[16:30] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:34] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:25] * Joins: dammitwho [20:15] 12 | [20:15] 12 \ | / [20:15] 12 \ / [20:15] 12 ,d8b, ., [20:15] 12 (')-")_ 88888 --- ;';' ';'. [20:15] 12('- (. ')98P' ';.,; ,; [20:15] 12 '-.(PjP)' \ '.';.' [20:15] 12 | \ [20:15] 12 | [20:20] 12It's another day in Nexus. The Squared Circle has squared away a few of their outstanding curiosities, problems, and appointments, and has perhaps arranged for itself the seeds - eggs - of an extremely unconventional army. Still, life in the city proceeds apace, and the proceeds of the population's labors, crimes, and beggings need to be blasted back into the city's economy with [20:20] 12maximum velocity. [20:21] 4Ir's focusing all her attention on preparing for the expedition to Rakshi's domain, now. And that means getting this...army...up on their, uh, spines. 15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi tutored all day and got stuck on the streetcar coming home so now he's staring tiredly at his alchemy set and trying to practice six-string. [20:23] 4That young Nexus life. [20:23] 11Berg is presumably being "shown the ropes" of the Arena. [20:25] 13Ying's been getting her new hires up to speed while filling backorders. It's so hard being incredibly popular and good. [20:26] 4Wouldn't know. 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's hard, being great and growing beloved. It's hard and nobody understands. 08[20:28] 7Blossom is sitting behind Eikichi on his bed, listening to him practice. "So, what did you see? What is Typhon?" 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's so out of it he's trying to write songs about things he sees on his workbench. Right now he's trying to make an alembic sound cool. The guitar goes quiet as Blossom speaks. "Magically speaking he's not that different from Dissolving Dragon's Coils or Black Bells Chiming. Professionally... he's a merchant. He's trading in the idea that Thorns is diplomatically trustworthy. 'It's a real nation, honest! We're not a land where the dead rules over those who wish they were!'" 15[20:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "What I don't understand is why. Why is the Mask of Winters so keen to have someone excusing his every atrocity? Why does he want to play at princedom?" [20:34] 12To that end, a slew of events for the Nexus Arena is been announced. The first has been a long time coming - Ir, Nexus's newest champion, against the southern god of war! Or, at least, the next best thing. The Son of Ahlat has shredded demons and toppled small armies - but can he take down the city's newest sensation? [20:36] 12Another is the Grand Melee. It's high time that the latest crop of challengers steps onto the main stage, and the Guild's making it happen. God-blooded, lost eggs, inexplicable Exigent Chosen, and every other magical anomaly that's wandered into Nexus's fighting ranks are all taking to the field at once... against each other! Last team standing's place is guaranteed, but on top of [20:36] 12that the ability to dispatch lesser foes and hold arbitrarily important territory will push you and yours higher in the standings. [20:36] 4Ugh. Fine. [20:38] 12And, finally, an unusual event - the Proving Ground. A long lost ally of Ir herself steps forward to join the ranks of Nexus's most exalted (small e) gladiators. Sure, he could work his way around the city - but he could also take part in a brutal Queen of the Mountain showdown against the arena's all time greats! If he can hold his ground, he can take his place in the champions' [20:38] 12circle. [20:38] 7Blossom: "From a foreign policy perspective, it's simple. Re-position yourself from an existential threat to just another expansionist nation, and your enemies won't see a reason to unite against you. Some of them will even think they have a legitimate interest in making you stronger, the better to threaten their rivals and keep them away from their own borders." 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Right, but why is he doing foreign policy? Why would an ancient dead sorcerer decide that of all things he wanted to play at ruling a single Threshold city-state? That's the ambition of bandits." 08[20:40] 12Nexus ticks along in a myriad other ways. Your meeting with Typhon didn't really go as well as Typhon'd hoped, but also not as badly as anyone feared. "The axe of Typhon" remains on the list of objects that the Velvet Room would like Eikichi or Tatsuya to steal, but you didn't stumble across it in there. [20:41] 4Ir's going to put off the Ahlat fight as long as humanly possible -- there should be some leeway, since she brought them a new ringer in Berg. [20:42] 12Still, the man's - the man's city state's, really - influence is spreading slowly. Any of you who've been about the city might have seen the occasional carriage pulled by skeletal horses, or the city's crest subtly displayed beneath the banner of some storefront or entertainment venue. [20:42] 4We're not strong enough to turn on Thorns yet. Hell, we're not strong enough to turn on the Guild. But with an army... [20:42] 12In the distant east, adventure beckons. If you sail miles and miles off, you'll find Mahalanka - and also, right in the same neighborhood, the sleeping arboreal behemoth that's been slowly trudging in from the eastern Wyld. [20:42] 7Blossom: "It has a number of benefits. Foreign markets bring in materials and slaves you can turn into soldiers at three to one, and faster than you can get them by conquering. To have access to those markets, you need to appear 'normal'. As to why, well... perhaps he thinks over the very long term. The unquiet dead have that advantage. Perhaps he's working against the other Deathlords [20:42] - there's nothing to show that they're any kind of a united front." 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Maybe you're right. It just seems so petty..." [20:43] 7She makes little chomping motions with her hands. "Take a bite here, a bite there?" 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "Imagine the people he sends to apologize for his behavior to other Deathlords." [20:46] "It's not that surprising. The road to conquering Creation starts with a single city. For the Scarlet Empress, it was the Imperial City. For the Mask of Winters, Thorns." 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You've got to admit the Imperial City was a better first city to conquer." [20:46] 12Bergsveinn is, rather, being shown the slopes. As a Guild official leads him around the arena grounds on an off day, he can see a circle of hooded figures being led by a squat, craggy woman through a series of elaborate gestures that might be martial arts techniques or the somatic components of sorcery. "So right here, y'see - mind the quaking - right here'll be the actual mountain." [20:46] 12Various channels and hills have already been magicked out of the arena's sand, and now the center is rumbling ominously. [20:46] 7Blossom: "No one said the Mask of Winters was a match for the Scarlet Empress." [20:47] 11Berg rumbles. "Feels like home." 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi turns around suddenly. "Look that way for me." 10He's not pointing at anything in particular, just perpendicular to the two of them. [20:48] 12Official: "You know, that's a good point, a very good point. We have a weather worker somewhere - should probably arrange for some snow, icy slopes, that kind of thing." [20:48] "Eh?" 7She turns her head. 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi regards Blossom in profile. "Yeah... yeah. That's the face that's going on all the coins." [20:49] 12Official: "Anyway, you'll be starting on the edge here and questing for the peak, see? A few monsters and fighters and such in the way - and, at the actual peak, some of the all-time greats. Get up there, and the rest come out of their doors, and you hold." [20:51] "Hrmph." 7Blossom says, though she sounds pleased. She waves a hand, casually dismissing the threat of uncounted legions of the hungry dead. "Anyway, if he's like Black Bells Chiming and Dissolving Dragon's Coils, that presents a serious problem. Whenever I take apart the Guild's slaving operations, he can just put them back together again." [20:52] 12The ground's cracking and spasming now, and as Bergsveinn watches a jagged spire comes rising up out of the center of the arena. It seems to only be partially respecting conservation of mass - the sand he and his guide are walking on is getting sucked towards the center in a great whirlpool, but it can't be enough to account for all that rock. 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It won't be enough to take apart the operation, then. If we don't want to exterminate the Guild we'll have to make slaving so unprofitable they just stop because it's not worth it." [20:53] 12Official: "Now, we'll be running this past your manager regardless, but a few possible titles y'might want to thumbs up or down - the Mountain Man? The Man-Mountain? The Living Mountain? Living Glacier? Walking-" [20:55] 11Berg smirks. "Don't warriors usually prove themselves in the arena before earning a 'fearsome' nickname? I don't care. Let my manager decide." [20:57] 12Official: "Gotta put something on the posters. You any tribal prohibitions over killing bears or whatever we need to design around, here?" [20:57] 11Berg: "No." [20:59] 12Official: "Great! Great. Now, you'll be coming out through there, but we need to get you appraised of the signaling system. One gong means-" 12It goes on like this for a little while longer. Before long, though, Bergsveinn knows everything he needs about taking stage directions, pausing beats to allow the crowd a chance to see him, and so on. [21:04] 12Elsewhere, Ir is descending into an arguable hell. The Firewander hive is warmer than the streets above it, and more humid, too. The creep beneath the Dawn Caste's feet grips the soles of her boots a little more tightly than is comfortable, and squirms around her footsteps. The monsters within, the kruthik parademons that look a combination of insect, mollusk, and dragon, remain [21:04] 12burrowed beneath her feet, or part around her as she walks - but one of the queens bows as Ir approaches. [21:05] 4Ir presses her fist to her palm and slightly bows as well, but nowhere near as deeply as the queen does. Part of this is to keep her eyes on her surroundings -- she still doesn't trust all of this -- but part of it is also to communicate station. She's to be the general here. [21:05] 12Strange colors swim in the air around Ir. She notices that the ceiling above her glints strangely, and realizes an entire clutch of kruthlings is clinging to the stone upside down, gauzy wings hanging down from their backs. That's new. [21:07] 4Ir's dressed in a slinky black bodysuit she got from Ying, with bared shoulders and arms, and her hair done up. It's a look she's test-driving for her next date with Marek. [21:07] 4And hopefully it makes her look more authoritative and less like a peasant to these 'Queens.' [21:08] 4Flyers. [21:08] 4Now that presents some possibilities. [21:08] 4Not for today, though. Today is the meet-and-greet. Ground rules, and such. 08[21:09] 4Is anyone else here? Arianna? Eikichi? The Queen of Spines? Or is she just doing this live? 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi'll be there if Ir asked for help. It's bound to be more interesting than teaching another rich moron's bored daughter trigonometry. [21:11] 12There's only the kruthik and anyone Ir's brought with her. The queen before Ir makes a curious buzzing noise and tilts its head to the side, and somehow Ir can read it perfectly - it's making it clear that it's supposed to cooperate with the human, and not eat it, or ask the children to eat it, or ask the organs to eat it, and indeed is supposed to listen to it, so what does it want? [21:12] 12It's unusual, actually, for a few buzzes and vague limb gestures to get across that much, but it's not like Ir's ever paused to listen before. Maybe that's normal? [21:17] 11Berg sits cross-legged in what passes for the Arena's ready room, until a handler gives him the sign that it's time to start preparing. This has gotten even more intense than before... Berg feels the rush of Essence so intensely he's amazed to see the people waiting outside haven't been pulled into the room. [21:18] 12For Bergsveinn - for everyone who's concerned, really - a few days have passed. The Grand Arena's hype machine has been running at full power, drumming up increasing interest in the coming bout. Can someone leap the royal road? Does a mysterious foreigner actually match the power of Ir herself? Will this mysterious personage really prove themselves before Nexus's all-time greats? [21:22] 12As Ir sizes up the kruthik before her, she hears skittering sounds and realizes that she's turning into an entire little scene. Two more of the queens are crawling up from holes or in from side passages to peer at her, one of them visibly scarred by some kind of battle. They peer and chitter at each other, but when they want to broadcast something to Ir they seem able to do it through [21:22] 12pantomime and innuendo alone - and they all want to know what she's doing here. [21:23] 4It might have been good to ask the Queen of Spines how to handle situations like this, but she'll make do. Clearly, evenly, and with force behind it, to the queens: "I am here to teach you to make war." [21:23] 12Watching them, Ir's pretty sure that they aren't members of a group mind or something. They need to actually 'talk' to each other, and seem to have subtly different patterns of reaction to Ir's own looks or steps forward. That one on the left is a bit more skittish, for instance, probably owing to having been smack dab in the middle of that fight with Ying and Bergsveinn. The smart [21:23] 12money is that this is some kind of hierarchy - the queens command kruthik, and are themselves either free agents or commanded by something higher still. [21:24] 12They seem nonplussed. They know war! They made war. They war on Firewander by the day. [21:24] 11Berg's not a public speaker, so he builds hype the best way he can... by staying completely unseen until the battle. [21:25] 12It's actually night-time when Bergsveinn sits, concentrating, in the bowels of the Grand Arena. Out ahead of him, through the doors, he can dimly hear but not understand the sorcerously-augmented voice of one of the venue's announcers. There's an ebb and flow - some talking, some cheers, some more talking, some louder cheers. Sounds like people are being introduced. [21:31] 12Then, in his ready room, one gong. Berg's to make his way to just outside the doors. He begins to make the announcer's actual monologue as he walks, although it's nothing he doesn't expect. "...to the very top! And surprises may be in store - for him and you both!" 12yeahhhhhhhh [21:31] 12Two gongs. If you've got an opening pose you'll want to strike it now, because the doors are about to open- [21:32] 11Berg stands slowly, crossing his arms, the sunburst on his forehead clearly visible. 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Man. That is a really good look on Ir. [21:38] 12Announcer: "...and now! At last! Our challenger!" 12The 'doors' before Bergsveinn aren't doors, just an arch chalked onto a rock wall. But that'll be the least of his problems tonight. [21:39] 13Ying would't have made it for her if it wasn't. 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That's true. Ying has never made an outfit that looked bad on someone. [21:39] 13Augh [21:41] "No." 4Ir explodes with golden fire. It's not at her fullest full raging flame, but it's enough to light up the whole room. "You know how to fight. Every thing in this world knows how to fight. Animals. Insects. Even plants. But do you know when not to fight? Do you know when to stop fighting? Do you understand how to take ground, and far more importantly, do you know how to hold [21:41] it, when your enemy would take it back from you? War is not the mere fact of battle. To go to war is to build an entirely new society." [21:42] 12Bergsveinn goes crashing through the wall, and his boots crunch down onto crisp snow. The frozen, torchlit, starlit grand arena yawns before him, and it's almost like he's back in the north. Not really, of course - the temperature is too high, the slopes too mild, the constellations all wrong. But they've made a good effort, and the soft-skinned city slickers that line the stands [21:42] 12are definitely fooled. [21:43] 11Boots? Berg doesn't wear boots. The snow between his toes feels almost as good as the battle to come. But not quite. [21:43] 12Ahead of him, a winding path through the snow, lined with tall, flickering torches. On each side, broken fields strewn with spikes and boulders. Above and beyond, screaming fans, shocked and delighted to recognize the glow of solar anima. [21:45] 11What about foes? Who's on the path up? [21:45] 12Mist and snow whirls through the air, and it's hard - at least, hard for someone with normal eyes who's standing at the bottom of all this mess - to make out exactly what awaits Bergsveinn in the middle distance. It's clear what awaits him immediately, though, because two of the nearest boulders are uncurling before him as he watches, what appeared to be coverings of snow revealed [21:45] 12to be toppings of rough, white hair. [21:46] 4Already tall, the bodysuit's bootheels give Ir an extra inch or two as she strolls around the room, running an imperious gloved hand over a kruthik here and there as she speaks. This is a sometimes look, but it's a very, very effective sometimes look. [21:48] 12The queens shrink away as Ir paces, but turn to each other and chitter as the Dawn Caste turns her back to whirl on and lecture another creature. It's not clear that these things are smart enough to understand all the subtleties of Ir's words - but something's getting through. She can be useful to them, can't she? Perhaps, rather than suffering her to wander about, they should [21:48] 12encourage her to wander about, watch her and study what she does. [21:54] 4Now the air around her explodes with further power, a faceless spearswoman looming somehow through the fleshy ceiling but still visible, as if standing up into an endless shadow. "I have fought you. I have won, each time. I hold no grudge. I hold only what I have learned. And so, at your Queen and my friends' behest, I've come to teach you war. War is only incidental to the mere act [21:54] of fighting. And in fact, when you're good enough at war, much of the time you won't even need to fight at all." 4She pivots on her heels in the center of the room and surveys the lot of them. "So! Shall we begin?" [21:55] 11Berg drops into a crouch, arms extended. He'd complain about stereotypes, but he has literally wrestled bears before, so... 14[21:58] * Joins: Quaker [22:10] 12Ir's got the hive's full attention now. At her suggestion, the warriors march. [22:10] 12Meanwhile, two snarling polar bears - no, the proportions aren't quite right, Bergsveinn thinks someone dyed some grizzlies - descend on a Dawn Caste Solar. Make your bets fast- [22:12] 4This is just a getting-to-know you session. Ir wants to do two things: first, see how the kruthik naturally delegate and command. She wants to know their officer and drafted ranks, should they even exist. It'll determine how difficult this is all going to be on the whole. Second, she wants a mock battle -- no scarring, flats of spines and sides of tusk only -- to see how efficiently [22:12] 4the kruthik are drilled right now. [22:13] 4Should take just long enough for her anima to calm down enough to go outside. [22:16] 11Not fast enough. Berg moves forward incredibly fast, and punches a bear right in the goddamn face, with enough force to send flying to a, eheheh, grisly end. [22:16] 12The Kruthik command structure, such as it is, is very simple. It seems that each queen is responsible for roughly a third of the hive, and simply tells its charges what to do, as if by magic. The queens aren't responsible for micromanaging each and every action - a kruthling knows how to bite and scratch and pounce, and will do it to whatever you ask it to - but can if they're so [22:16] 12inclined. [22:17] 12It looks as though the lesser kruthik literally can't refuse their commands, so insofar as they're backed by a queen they're functionally fearless. Won't rout, won't turn, won't get distracted mid-combat and start eating or something. 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What are Ying and Blossom doing while Ir helps Eikichi? Are either of them also here? [22:17] 4How much concentration does it require for a queen to micromanage? Does a queen have other responsibilities to the hive? 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10*while Eikichi helps Ir [22:17] 4They can be. [22:17] 4Wait. [22:17] 4Have you been hiding. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's been observing! Quietly. Ir seemed to have it well under control. [22:18] 4Ugh. [22:19] 4Anyway. If, for example, queens are relied upon to engage in defense of the hive -- which would be in line with Ir's observations -- then we obviously do not want them all micromanaging all the time. [22:19] 12It seems like queens can deliver commands faster than you could - as if they could pack multiple sentences' worth of ideas into a few urgent chirps - but they aren't, like, leaving their bodies to astrally puppeteer a specific creature. They're still giving instructions which the creature in question just does its best to follow, and might not be intelligent enough to parse. [22:19] 4We at least want a regimen for when to break off management to defend, and one that's more rigorous than "when the hives come under attack, the queens drop everything." [22:20] 4Not something to be solved today, but something to keep in mind. [22:20] 7Blossom hasn't been hiding, because Blossom doesn't really know how to hide. She's been nosing about, idly stirring the hissing poisons of a spawning pool with a finger, watching Ir with a vaguely dissatisfied expression. Oh, it's not that Ir is bad at this. It's just... soldiers that always follow orders and never get afraid- they can't get inspired, either, can they? 08[22:21] 4She'll wander over to Eikichi and Blossom after giving the Kruthik a break between mock combats. "I think we've done most of what we can here." [22:22] "I want to see them live, against something more threatening than townspeople." 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, who's definitely not thinking about how good heels would make his calves look: "Ah, yeah. That's a good idea." [22:22] 7Blossom: "What did you have in mind? Did Ying make you that outfit?" [22:22] 4A smirk: "Undead, and yes, in order." [22:23] 13Ying's been far, far away from the kruthik mess. Disgusting gross menaces that they are. She's still at the shop, keeping things in order, getting to know her employees, and working on... gifts. [22:23] "Preferably unaffiliated. In a random shadowland or somesuch." 14[22:24] * Joins: hrolf [22:24] 4Ir: "I know we're taking them to fight beastmen first, but for obvious reasons I don't want to just go around killing any beastmen we can find." [22:25] 12Ying's apprentices are working out very well. Totokuro works like a golem, to the point that he needs to be reminded to take breaks. Lingfei's a little slow, but a very conscientious study and attentive listener. Sszark - is Sszark allowed to use her own silk? Seems kind of weird. [22:26] 13I... don't spin it in front of the customers, I guess? Maybe charge a premium for it? Huh. That is not a question you have to ask every day. [22:27] 7Blossom grins. "That sounds perfect." 7Ah, a refreshing day out destroying the undead! [22:29] 4If they're smart about it, they can start picking out pockets where Thorns is developing unofficial power around Nexus. 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi doesn't have Blossom's raw enthusiasm, but he readies himself just the same. "Good idea." [22:29] 4Because let's be honest: Thorns is definitely developing unofficial power around Nexus. [22:29] 12One bear goes flying into the rocks, and a second is sent rolling away as Bergsveinn resettles into his combat stance. All the while, the artificial sorcerous blizzard rages - and a pair of glowing orange eyes appear out of the dark ahead of him, level with Bergsveinn's own! 08[22:31] 12With a thunderous roar, a third bear comes lumbering out of the snow, this one gigantic - it's on all fours, and it's able to look Bergsveinn in the face. Spikes of bone grow from its spine and shoulders and flanks, and a beard of hoary icicles hangs down from its chin and forms a ruff leading down the underside of its neck. Clouds of frost come puffing out of its mouth with every [22:31] 12breath. 08[22:33] 4Ir, beaming as the mock combats come to a close: "Alright. Eikichi, can you get the queens and some of the, ah, larvae ready for transport? We'll want to bring as many back with us as possible so we're looking at a small operation here. Blossom, you want to help me find a suitable theater?" [22:34] 12The crowd cheers. They couldn't see this thing any earlier than Bergsveinn could - it just kind of rose out of the snow. [22:35] 7She nods, slapping a clenched fist into her palm. "Right." [22:40] 4Then Ir and Blossom will retire to the Heavensward, to bring her around and examine a map to figure out where they're even going. [22:40] 4Ir's going to defer to Blossom on this one; it's not only her area of specialty, she just wants it more. [22:41] 11Berg sees it, and immediately turns away from the smaller bear to get some. He runs up to the huge beast, swats aside a giant paw, and wraps his arms around the thing's neck, getting a prehistoric monster in a choke hold. [22:41] 12It roars and rears, but even the sound is stifled by Bergsveinn's arms. The creature's eyes shift from orange to blue as the temperature around it begins to drop further, but Bergsveinn tightens his chokehold and the monster's attempts to summon elemental power are stifled midway. 08[22:49] 4And while Blossom (and Eikichi?) find a suitable place for them to square off, she's going to change into more comfortable, muted grey robes with a half-cape. Also thanks to Ying. [22:49] 13Ying gestures over one of the apprentices - probably Lingfei; she's been keeping a closer eye on her than the other two, as she started off as the least trained. Sszark's got her own methods, and Totokuro's been busying himself, but Lingfei needs direction still. "Which of these is better, do you think? This one's got these puffy shoulderpads I kinda like, but maybe the simpler, more elegant cut is better for..." 13There's two [22:49] sketches of a women's suit, both black with a deep red undershirt, with long pants and some heels to go with. (She's been on a heels kick, lately. Might be a height thing.) [22:49] 13The faceless model of the sketch does nonetheless have a very familiar hairstyle and headpiece. One of the designs is a bit looser, with the puffed-out shoulders and seeming to hang off the model, while the other is a more traditional fit, less adventurous but more regal. [22:49] 4Regular boots this time. 14[22:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:50] 11The giant beast keeps trying to wriggle free... and Berg squeezes tighter, forces it into the ground, pushes it over, and is just generally a huge asshole to it. No escape. [22:52] 12Essence pressure is actually melting the snow and flattening the stone beneath Bergsveinn's feet. He makes forcing giants to their knees look easy. But the creature beneath him isn't done yet--! [22:53] 11The sorcerous snow swirls around Berg as his anima's blizzard howls into the night sky. He lets the bear go, and takes a step back... [22:55] 12The normal bear begins to freeze over, and just straight up turns to flee as a killing cold blooms beneath Bergsveinn. To Bergsveinn himself, it briefly stings, and is then as lethal as an autumn breeze. [22:59] 11Berg throws a punch that misses the huge bear, somehow. Some indication of how hard that punch would have been is given when the front row of the crowd in that direction is literally knocked over by the ensuing shockwave. [23:02] 12The air tears, the ground cracks, and the monster facing Bergsveinn's bowled over and blasted out of sight, into the blizzard and onto the rocks. [23:06] ...there! Bergsveinn's spotted it - someone's perching on a distant spire of rock, drawing herself back as though preparing to cast a javelin. She makes a hurling/pointing motion, and a razor-sharp, wickedly-twisted corkscrew of frozen roots materializes at the end of the gesture and comes whistling through the air straight at him! [23:06] 12That should be blue though [23:07] 13Ultimately, Ying decides on the more traditional cut. The shoulderpads might work for Blossom, too, but we can try that for a second suit. Because after seeing this, Blossom will definitely want another. Let's see... get some of the non-Sszark silk over here and get started. Nothing like making gifts for your friends! [23:14] 7Wow. Blossom's not good enough for beastwoman silk? [23:17] 13Frankly, Ying's not quite sure how to work with it. Is it even different than regular silk? Who knows? We'll stick with tried and true for now, and then... later, once she's wrapped her head around it, a Sszark-silk working for Blossom. [23:17] 12Appraised of her Circle's new tactical possibilities, Blossom starts looking into local geography and recent history, searching both for a place depopulated enough that a hive of demon insects can conceivably grow there in peace, but embattled enough that those demon insects won't want for prey and opponents once they begin to mature. Is this, like, morally wrong? It can't be if [23:17] 12she's doing it. [23:18] 11Berg nearly bats the thing aside casually, but it crashes into his arm instead, where it shatters dramatically. [23:20] 4Blossom knows the rule. [23:20] 4"You're only in trouble if you get caught." [23:21] 12There's a look of shock from the distant, snow-shrouded shape, but Berg's got bigger and more immediate problems. Between himself and his foe - and certainly between himself and the peak - the snow itself is starting to rise against him, forming into a sea of crystalline, half-humanoid shapes. They're scraggly, headless human torsos whose waists just sort of smoothly join with the [23:21] 12snow and ice on the ground, which slide this way and that while slashing with crystalline claws. [23:21] 4And as long as there aren't any upstanding settlements around -- and the queens stay strictly to their leash, and have enough of an enemy ahead of them to keep them on their path -- there should be no fear of that. [23:22] 7Excuse you, she was looking for places for their kruthik to wipe out an undead blight. That's not morally wrong. [23:23] 12Enemies abound, Blossom knows, that the circle's own Kruthik could sharpen their teeth against. Thorns is to the west, the Nameless Lair of Ma-Ha-Suchi to the immediate south, and the Ebon Spires to the east, depending on if she'd want to deal with undead, beastmen, or different undead. The difficulty there is the political implications - each of these represents some kind of [23:23] 12intelligent supernatural force big enough to actually mark on a map, and so might draw the Circle into a bigger war than they want to participate in. [23:26] 12If she goes a liiiittle farther, though, Blossom can find something closer to what she'd like. Great Forks recently defeated a Deathlord, somehow driving the Princess Magnificent With Lips of Coral and Robes of Black Feathers (yes, yes, I know) off into the dark. That battle had serious fallout, though; lesser Shadowlands dot the city's borders, and particularly blight the north [23:26] 12bank of the Yellow River across from it, which the Princess used as a sort of staging ground. Mortwights and undead monstrosities are still said to haunt the terrain there, abandoned by their former master but put to use by other less terrible but similarly malign intelligences. [23:27] 7Perfect. [23:27] 12If you were to make contact with the gods of Great Forks, you might be able to settle up there and work to clear out the defeated deathlord's last vestiges and even be rewarded for it. [23:27] 4Sounds like a conversation to have. [23:30] 12I suppose the main problem with using Great Forks is that you'd be close enough to civilization for stories to spread about what it is you're doing, unless you took pains to ward away wanderers and interlopers and otherwise keep good opsec. You might want to delve farther still from the east's great cities if you want the kruthik to be a card up your sleeve rather than on the table. [23:30] 12There are a few other options along those lines. [23:32] 4We should review those options, but it's not worth sacrificing a good learning experience and forward base for the imagined art of surprise. [23:33] 4If the other options offer those, sure. But if there's a trade-off, the smart play is to let them know you exist, but build an army they can't plan to see coming. [23:33] 12To the south, there's Denandsor, the empty city. Some kind of ancient First Age curse hangs over the place, driving all those who approach too closely violently insane. Stepping foot inside is probably a no-no unless you use powerful magic to protect yourselves, but the borders of the city are still populated by insane animals, elementals, and ancient constructs that the kruthik [23:33] 12might prove themselves against - and maybe the demon insects could be inoculated against the madness itself, if the queens' control proves stronger on the individual level than the miasma of insanity. [23:34] 7Blossom concludes: "Also, it'll be good to have the city gods of Great Forks well disposed to us." [23:34] 4Hm. That does sound more represenative of the force component they'd face. But it also means they won't be facing advanced tactics. [23:34] 4Killing the mad is poor training. [23:35] 4To Blossom: "I agree, assuming there aren't any better options. Denandsor sounds good for a sortie, but not a place to build on." [23:35] 12To the northeast, a demesne has erupted - sages claim that it's the fault of the behemoth approaching from the Pole of Wood. Reports as to its elemental aspect conflict, although the most common claim is that it's - big surprise - wood-aspected, but it's populated by newly-born, feral elementals and mutated creatures. Unfortunately, you're not the only ones who've heard of it, and [23:35] 12you might have to compete with other adventurers, scavenger lords, or political forces hoping to claim it and any hearthstones it's produced. [23:36] "And frankly I'm willing to let the scavengers have that mess to the northeast. Too much crosstalk." [23:37] 12Oh, yeah, and the chief drawback of hunting the undead is probably that the undead themselves don't really sport the living flesh and vital essence that kruthik metabolize in order to evolve themselves. That could be a blessing, though, in case you don't want your bugs growing and changing in ways you didn't predict just because of what they happen to eat at the conclusion of a [23:37] 12battle. [23:37] 4That's perfect, actually. [23:37] 4Their base doesn't provide them with changing flesh, but we can deploy them specifically to gain what we wish. [23:38] 4It means they can engage threats on their base perimeter without us worrying about knock-on effects. [23:38] 4Improvement without unsupervised iteration. Yeah, this sounds good. [23:39] 12Oh, to complete the gamut of possible targets, there's a raksha freehold to the southeast - the Nightmare Fens, or something like that. They're apparently pretty well penned-in by their neighboring city states, but it's not like anyone's going to miss them. [23:39] 4All three of these seem like things to keep in mind for field-trips once we're established. But Blossom's first hit sounds like the place to plant our flag. [23:40] 4So to speak. [23:40] 7Blossom: "Oh gods, we don't have a flag. Later, later..." [23:41] 4Ir, surprised: "Do you want one?" [23:42] 7Blossom: "If we're going to build a city at some point, we need to have a flag. This is obvious." [23:42] 4Ir: "Okay." 4She pulls out of a sheet of parchment and a piece of charcoal. [23:42] 4http://www.mcglaun.com/math/square.gif [23:42] 4Ir: "Color as you like." [23:43] "That's- actually, that's not bad, to start with." [23:44] 4Ir: "I try to contribute." [23:44] 4She does look self-satisfied for a moment, though. [23:45] 4Ir: "So if we go with the Great Forks site, who do we have to talk to?" [23:46] 12Great Forks is ruled by a trio of gods: Shield of a Different Day, Weaver of Dreams of Victory, and Spinner of Glorious Tales. Supposedly, they used their combined powers to... defeat the Princess, somehow. [23:46] 12The story changes a lot in the telling. 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Who cares? They're just divinity. We're Royalty. [23:47] 12But anyway, if you wanted to be official about this you'd probably want to contact an official representative of Great Forks in Nexus, and they could let you know who to message (or Message) in the city itself, and so on. [23:47] 4Feels like a situation where we might want to get disguises anyway, at least until we get into the throne room or whatever. [23:47] 4Give us a chance to play dress-up again, too. [23:48] 13:D [23:48] 7Blossom: "It seems like the best way to approach the Great Forks gods is directly. Tell their representative we want to clear out the mortwright remnants and wait for an official reply." 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "I agree." [23:49] 4Ir: "Do we want to do it under our own names?" [23:49] 4Ir: "I'm fine either way." [23:49] "But one's a diversion, the other's an announcement." [23:49] 12Great Forks probably isn't a city where you need to go incognito - the Immaculate Philosophy is very, very weak in a city in which hundreds of gods vie with each other for worship and mind-bending drugs are peddled on every street corner. 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10We should go to Great Forks. [23:49] 4More concerned about Guild and Thorns spies looking afield. 14[23:49] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [23:50] 12The Guild's definitely quite strong there, but they'd probably have to keep any connections to Thorns on the extreme down-low because Dayshield, Dreamweaver, and Talespinner are extremely unamused when it comes to the lords of the dead. [23:51] "The Mask of Winters has already made the first strike," 7Blossom points out. "It won't hurt to make clear we have new strengths." [23:51] 4In fairness, Great Forks is close enough that it's day's commute or so. [23:51] 4We'd be able to keep in touch with our holdings in Nexus. [23:52] 4Well, three days down the river, but Ir can probably push the Heavensward. 08[23:53] 4Ir: "I agree. Eikichi, what'll we need from the Kruthik to start a viable forward base? I want the queens able and hungry from the start. Not comfortable, necessarily, but looking to set up their perimeter." [23:54] "If we need to do anything, we need to teach them how to take and hold." Session Time: Fri Dec 22 00:00:00 2017 14[00:39] * Joins: tom 14[01:55] * Joins: bananaphone 14[02:07] * Quits: bananaphone (Quit: Colloquy for iPad - http://colloquy.mobi) 14[02:46] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:14] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[04:15] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:15] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[04:27] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:28] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:57] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:06] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[05:20] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[09:20] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[09:59] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[10:17] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:48] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:18] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:18] * Quits: banana|peels (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:07] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:11] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:12] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:11] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[18:22] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:32] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:32] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[18:33] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:34] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[18:35] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:36] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[18:37] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:39] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[18:41] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:43] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[18:45] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:45] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[18:54] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[20:36] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:43] * Joins: hrolf 14[22:06] * Joins: Quaker 14[22:07] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[22:10] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:10] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[23:21] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[23:26] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:56] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) Session Time: Sat Dec 23 00:00:01 2017 14[00:00] * Quits: Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[00:28] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[00:28] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[01:32] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:59] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:00] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[03:03] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:03] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[03:25] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:36] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[05:09] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[05:27] * Joins: banana 14[08:13] * Joins: hrolf 14[09:04] * Quits: hrolf (Quit: Leaving) 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:09] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:14] * Joins: dammitwho 14[13:45] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:05] * Quits: trenchfoot (*.net *.split) 14[14:05] * Quits: banana (*.net *.split) 14[14:05] * Quits: Zarick (*.net *.split) 14[14:05] * Quits: dammitwho (*.net *.split) 14[14:05] * Quits: @Ferrinus (*.net *.split) 14[14:05] * Quits: VoxPrime (*.net *.split) 14[14:05] * Joins: Zarick 14[14:05] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[14:05] * Joins: banana 14[14:05] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[14:05] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[14:05] * Joins: dammitwho 14[14:05] * ember.sorcery.net sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[14:31] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:35] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:37] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:48] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:34] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[16:35] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:35] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[16:41] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[16:41] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:41] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[17:42] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[18:02] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[19:15] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[19:15] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[19:56] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:34] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:14] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:46] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sun Dec 24 00:00:01 2017 14[02:12] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[09:40] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:12] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:02] * Quits: VoxPrime (Quit: ) 14[13:00] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[13:42] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:04] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:34] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[15:59] * Joins: Quaker_ 15[16:07] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Dec 24 16:07:27 2017 Session Start: Sun Dec 24 16:57:00 2017 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[16:57] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[16:57] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[16:57] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[16:57] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[16:57] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:16] * Quits: Quaker_ (Client exited) 14[21:04] * Joins: Quaker 14[21:08] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Night has stolen over Nexus, leaving the streets silent as the Dawn Guard scrambles to enforce the curfew imposed by Lookshy on Sentinel's Hill. It'd be difficult to move from Council Tower to the Court of Stars without catching the eye of many wary guards - unless you were something harmless, like a bird. 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> What approach does Ambassador take to the tower on the next hill, its highest windows lit. Is she silent? Is she secret? Is she alone? [21:41] 14Silent, certainly. Secret, certainly. Alone, well...it would have honestly taken too much work to snip off those bells of her retinue, so up here, at least, yes -- she's alone. [21:42] 14One hopes there will be at least some allies at the tower. Barring that, someone useful. There's certainly someone home. 14[21:44] * banana|peels is now known as banana 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> As the Ambassador alights on a nearby rooftop to observe she sees two figures at a table. One is a woman with wavy blond hair wearing bedclothes, and the other is a small bald man in emerald robes. They seem to be sharing a bottle some amber-colored liquor and having a lively, but benign conversation. Both of them are at ease. [21:46] 14What can she overhear in this form? [21:47] 14And how close would she have to get to change that? 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> She can hear snatches of conversation, mainly reminiscence - they talk like old friends, or amicably parted lovers. How close she'd have to get to be seen depends on how keen her quarry's senses are, and how deep into their cups. Hard to gauge. [21:53] 14Mmmm. She knows that sort of conversation. Are either of the two recognizable in any way? Almost certainly not -- Nexus isn't her beat, so to say -- but she does have more than a bit of culture. And perhaps they're from the outlands. 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> She doesn't remember ever seeing or hearing either of those people. 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> It's easy enough to guess that the woman is Astrologer Kratz, the absent Councilor recovering from a strange assassination attempt. Though strictly speaking it is only a guess... [21:55] 14Ah well. Certainly the woman is the one whom she's come to see -- surprisingly spry, given her absence from a formal function. Well enough to drink, well enough to think; that's what she always counseled. Though mainly to keep impulsive pack-princelings from drinking. [21:57] 14Her remit here is the astrologer's safety. Perhaps the short man is poisoning her, but if so there's certainly nothing the Ambassador can do about it from here. 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Yeah, Ambassador's no physician, but from her perspective Kratz isn't abstaining from the meeting for health reasons. [21:59] 14No, much better to make sure there aren't any death squads trying to slip up the way first, then turn back to the issue of the meeting. How is the astrologer's guard? Did that great lout Stranger seems so fond of actually send over some of his men? 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> The place looks fully guarded, all Dawn Guard - adjutants wearing the insignia of the Ninth Orchard Company on their collars cutting an imposing figure at the entrances, but it looks to be surprisingly high-ranking members of the Nexus militia on the upper levels of the tower. [22:01] 14Surprisingly? 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> These are full officers, judging from their rank markings. Since the other Councilors make use of private security these must have been seconded from Pellicia's personal retinue. [22:04] 14Well, that's good news. The Dawn Sergeant seemed to at least have half a head on her shoulders. And perhaps that's being a bit snitty given the way Stranger slipped from the room with her as the Ambassador left. Oh, he didn't think she noticed. But she noticed. [22:05] 14Likely a more wholesome influence than the damn cheerleader, at least. [22:05] 14Distractions. [22:06] 14With no obvious threats incoming and the tower seemingly secure, the Ambassador's next move is to eavesdrop. [22:06] 14That means getting close, then shifting from swan to cat again. [22:06] 14Then getting closer. [22:15] 14The swan doesn't launch up into the air off her perch. Instead she falls, wings pressed to her sides like a strange feathery bottle, down into the alley to her right -- and then at the last moment she extends her wings and twirls, cruising almost against the pave-stones, dodging barrels and only flapping her wings once there's a stone wall or so between her and the tower. She's [22:15] 14circling and searching for an updraft -- and finds one in the charming, gigantic bonfire some very wealthy Nexus rich folk are putting on in their backyard. The fence is high but manageable; the carved-out estate is generous space. And the smoke, when she holds her breath, is decent cover to gain altitude. [22:16] 14Knowing the building now, she'll approach from the opposite side, drop to the roof, talons turning to paws and feathers to fur, and pad on over to the overhanging ledge above the balcony without even a murr. 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> From here, unseen, Ambassador can hear everything. [22:17] 14Perrfect. 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "--and I have another bottle of the 754. But let's leave that aside, shall we? You didn't come just to drink my brandy." [22:20] 14Brandy? Good lord. The Ambassador thought it was wine. They must be sloshed. 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Man: "...no, no I suppose not. But we certainly sustain the illusion with a marvelous grace." 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "What is it, then? Go on. Dragged me out of bed. What's this really about, Bubo?" [22:23] 14...She seems unnoticed. Good. Something strange about that one. The little man. [22:23] 14The Ambassador will keep her ears on the conversation, but her eyes on the street. [22:23] 14She is supposed to be looking out for the astrologer, after all. 14[22:24] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "I confess an ulterior motive. I believe the present situation makes demands of us all, and few more than you. You are Councilor. Your vote--" 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Bubo--" 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "--is the only thing that will keep the Council from carving itself to pieces. Now, of all times! I don't have to tell you. Your spyglasses is polished. You've seen what the red star does to your charts. You hear what the Tapestry whispers." 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> There's the sound of a chair being pushed back. Below, a patrol of the Dawn Guard makes it rounds. 14[22:34] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "You're wasting your time." 14[22:35] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[22:35] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[22:35] * Joins: FerrinusPrime [22:36] 14Mmmmmm. [22:37] 14The Ambassador will creep closer to the roof. If the little man is an assassin... [22:37] *14roof's edge 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "I understand. You have every reason to doubt your safety in the present circumstances. After what Brueghel did, the idea of leaving the tower to stand up to him is ludicrous. You'd be insane to risk it. But it is necessary." 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "He had me in-- what did you say?" 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "I'm sorry?" [22:41] 14What who did? 14[22:43] * Joins: FerrinusForces [22:43] 14Ah, right. The Evening Master. The one with the new Civility. 14[22:45] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "You said 'what Brueghel did'." 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo, who realizes he overstepped (they do both sound fairly drunk): "Ye-e-e-es..." [22:47] 14The little man who knows too much. [22:48] 14Certainly he had advance warning of what the bells meant. 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "How did you know it was Brueghel. You said you haven't spoken to Pellicia." 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Yes, but. This is actually what I want to talk to you about. How we can guarantee your safety so you can keep Nexus from defeating itself before the raksha come." 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "How did you know--" [22:49] 14The Ambassador tenses. 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Let me explain! Please. I can explain. Sit down, please." 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> There's no sound of shifting weight or creaking furniture. Kratz is still on her feet. [22:50] 14... [22:50] 14Can the Ambassador get eyes on her? 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> It'd be hard if she wants to avoid being seen. Easy if she doesn't mind. [22:52] 14They are distracted, this is important to Stranger, and she was going over the ledge anyway. Is there a balcony to leap down to? More importantly, should she leap down, is there an exit route off that balcony without running into the tower? 14[22:53] * Parts: FerrinusForces 14[22:53] * Joins: FerrinusForces 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> If she's not willing to fly, she'd have to run along a narrow ledge to leap to another rooftop. She can do it, but it might be tricky. 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> What's her play? [22:54] 14Who dares, wins. [22:54] 14The cat goes for a walk. [22:55] 14The timing's the trick -- and if the astrologer's not moving, she'll have to wait on her guest. [22:55] 14She listens to him for half a second, then moves. 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Well-timed! Ambassador lands just as Bubo rises himself. He's substantially shorter than Kratz. He looks pleading (though his dark glasses hide his eyes) and she looks guarded. 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "There are guards right outside that door. What do you think will happen if I call them?" [22:58] 14Well. He's keeping his hands to himself at least. 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "I wouldn't like to imagine it. I took a risk to see you. I know that. And I'm testing your trust. But ultimately I'm not asking you to trust me. I'm asking you to trust Pellicia, and her judgment." 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "You're blithering, Bubo." 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "A bit." 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Why are you blithering, Bubo?" 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "...it's my job." [23:01] 14Oh? 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo takes off his glasses, and Ambassador can just spot the twinkle of green in his otherwise dark eyes. That's it, the sign she's been taught to spot but never seen before. The mark of one of Heaven's Chosen. [23:05] 14Bollocks. [23:05] 14And... [23:05] 14...bollocks. [23:06] 14Of course he is. [23:07] 14Both as a Chosen, and as a man. 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo dries his glasses and wipes his forehead with a pale handkerchief. "Pellicia has told you about the number of Anathema that have risen to prominence since the Emissary's death, hasn't she? She wouldn't have kept that from you." 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Yes. One of them is a diplomat. One of them's captaining in the militia. You don't have to tell me how desperate we are. I know full well, as you pointed out." 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "You needn't fear them. You can trust them. The ones Pellicia trusts. They can guarantee your safety. And they will, if they understand the implications. If they understand the power you hold." [23:10] 14...?! [23:10] 14... [23:10] 14...Darling has been busy. 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Oh, please. Anathema won't protect me. They'll just guarantee me a gaudy death. Pellicia told me about the fire in the Harlotry, too." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "...that wasn't their fault. Circumstances out of their control left them flatfooted and unprepared." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "The Council is a circumstance outside their control. The raksha are a circumstance outside their control." [23:15] 14Sounds expensive. 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "But not outside yours!" [23:17] 14Oh? [23:17] 14The Ambassador would be interested to hear what one councilor could do. 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Pellicia herself told me it wasn't safe. And if Pellicia isn't willing to risk it, why should I be?" 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Things have changed. Since you spoke to her last, three more armies have ridden into Nexus. Five powers convene in Council Tower this very moment, from Nexus, Lookshy, Highland, the Anathema, and Thorns." 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Did you say Thorns?" [23:18] 14This is the part where Stranger would reveal himself, smiling, and sit down, and pour himself a cup of brandy. She doesn't have that luxury. [23:19] 14She's also not that stupid. How the man is still alive is a mystery. [23:19] 14Not everything can be solved over tea. 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Look at the sky! The red star rises! Annihilation comes, and worse, anarchy! Even Oblivion fears Chaos!" 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Your vote can deadlock the Council. Your vote can stop the Guild picking the city clean and leaving you defenseless and starved when the fae descend." [23:24] 14Oh for fuck's sake. 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "You're so dramatic." 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "It's true. You can stand at a critical moment to protect the city, the province, the Direction, Creation--" [23:28] 14The cat makes her last leap of the night. A woman lands on the balcony. "All of Creation, I hope." [23:29] 14There's a brief moment there -- an opening. Waiting would be fatal. The Ambassador of Day and Night does not wait; she acts. [23:34] "I have been sent by Stranger-Visits-Heaven. You know who he is," 14she says to the little star-man. To the astrologer: "You know who he is, too. He is with the Dawn Sergeant now. The conference, Astrologer, is going as well as could be expected. The new Civility was welcome, if a surprise." 14She doesn't briefly glance over at Bubo here to reinforce the point, but she doesn't have [23:34] 14to. "The armies are leaving Nexus proper. When your absence was noted, I was asked by my...sunnier half to check in on you. Ensure your well-being. It appears everything is fine. No other Chosen on your balcony, to be sure." 14Now she does look over at Bubo. Where Kratz sees a sizing up and a dismissal, the Chosen of the Stars will surely see the truth: What you are can stay between [23:34] 14us. It's up to you. [23:40] 14She is in her white and black evening dress again. She wouldn't say she's radiant-looking, mainly because that's a word used to describe the sun. 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> More luminous, then. [23:42] 14Well said. 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz moves swiftly to stand behind Bubo, as if expecting him to protect her. Bubo raises his hands. He's not armed. "I am here in peaceful earnest. She is not my prisoner, and I mean no one save the enemies of reality harm." 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo doesn't give an inch, though, until he can feel Kratz relax behind him. "Sit, please," says the Astrologer to the Ambassador. [23:50] 14The Ambassador: "I know. I was listening. I am not here to fight. Honestly, I am not dressed for it." [23:50] "Thank you." 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Everyone will sit then, at a little table with a one-third full bottle of brandy and two glasses positioned around the crystal ball at the center of the table. "Would you like a drink?" offers Kratz. [23:54] 14The Ambassador: "Oh yes, thank you. You're Astrologer Kratz -- that's your formal title?" [23:54] "Is it literal?" 14[23:57] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Yes. Nobody calls me 'Councilor', though I suppose they could. What's the news from outside Nexus?" [23:58] "Bad." 14[23:59] * Joins: mattbaby [23:59] 14She sips her drink. "I am a diplomat by trade. Yes, my people have diplomats. No, I am not interested in jokes. I recently finished securing a peace I'd desperately worked on for a number of years in the East, only to see it wiped out by an advancing raksha army." [23:59] "They are coming." Session Time: Mon Dec 25 00:00:00 2017 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz looks alarmed, Bubo forlorn. [00:00] "The threat is real." [00:00] "There is hope, of course. The moon casts a shadow." [00:01] "And I'm told our fate is written in the stars...for what that's worth." [00:01] 14She doesn't look over at the Chosen of them. 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "So you represent the Anathema? Bubo has just guaranteed that they'll protect me if I reach out tot hem." [00:03] 14The Ambassador: "The Anathema are already protecting you. You do not have to do a thing." [00:03] "The only reason I am here is because protection of you was assumed." 14[00:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:04] "Stranger-Visits-Heaven was concerned you were not at the announcement of the new Civility." [00:04] "The man worries." 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "It's one thing to protect us all from the raksha invaders. But to protect me from the Guild, from my fellow Council members... the Anathema just risk fighting the war I want to avert as proxies." 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "Tearing the city apart just the same." [00:06] 14Her voice is clipped. "At the risk of speaking out of turn, the Guild finds no allies in the Anathema. Not the ones at the tower. Not the ones on this rooftop." [00:06] *one 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "That's what I'm afraid of. Like it or not, the Guild is the lifeblood of the city. If we cut them out now we won't be able to govern, let alone defend ourselves. Medicine, sundies, trade. Food, now -- all of it's in the hands of the Guild." [00:08] 14The Ambassador: "Do they have to be?" [00:08] 14The Ambassador: "Or do you have more power now that the avatar which had no choice but to defend them has been slain?" [00:09] "Your enemies cannot kill you for impeding anything anymore. They have to resort to putting you in bed." 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "... it could be done, but now? They won't go quietly, and fighting two wars dooms us." [00:09] "Only if we're fighting the war at the same time." [00:10] *wars 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "How much time do we have?" [00:11] 14The Ambassador: "Five weeks. Five weeks, to kill the Guild. I think it can be done, with the proper pushes and shoves." 14She looks over to the star-man. "How does your organization feel about this?" 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz looks over at him. "Organization?" [00:13] 14The Ambassador: "We all represent something." [00:13] 14Her eyes sparkle. "Bubo is with the Order of the White Lotus." 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo wipes fresh sweatdrops from his brow. "I, ah-- yes. She's right." 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "The Anathema cult? You mean to tell me you worship them?" 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "No, no! It's not like that. It's a political organization. The cult is... ornamental." [00:15] 14She rolls her eyes. "It's not a cult." [00:16] "And, importantly, it is not comprised solely of Chosen." [00:16] "That is somewhat the entire point. Otherwise it would just be a debate club of the elect." [00:20] 14At this point she's fully in talking-points-for-Stranger territory, but if the Chosen is going along with it, fine. "And its reputation is...misguided." 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "In any case, to answer your question, the people I work for are ambivalent about the power vacuum, and I've been... overzealous in my offered support in the past. But I can at least see that you are not actively opposed." [00:22] 14The Ambassador: "Then I believe that the Council can remove the Guild, or compromise them, or just break them and turn them. And that includes the councilors they own, which you need not name." [00:22] "It will be difficult within the time limit, but, working together, it can be done." [00:22] 14To the astrologer: "Unless you see differently in the stars." 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo says nothing. Kratz's expression is set. [00:26] 14The Ambassador: "But the word has to come down now, Astrologer. We have time now. We might not have time tomorrow." 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz pinches the bridge of her nose, and is silent for a time. Outside the patrol walks by below again. Finally, Kratz says: "You're right. This is our only chance to save ourselves from the Guild or the raksha. If Pellicia agrees you can count on my support." 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo visibly relaxes. [00:30] 14The Ambassador nods. "I will relay the message." 15[00:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "On that note, I should go. I thank you for your brandy and attention." [00:42] 14The Ambassador: "Agreed. I'll leave first. Bubo, a word?" 15[00:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "...lead on." [00:46] 14When they're at the railing: "We're not friends. Like as not we'll never be. But in the interest of comity and good relations, she'll love you if you let her. You'll love her if she lets you. I should know. The White Lotus lives, Chosen of the Stars." 14She steps up on to the balcony's railing. "Check your mail and drink your tea." [00:46] 14Then she steps off into the air, and plummets towards the street. [00:46] 14A swan rises. 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo watches her go. Kratz comes out to the balcony to stand beside him and do the same. [00:47] 14The swan twirls in the early night air. She's met the enemy, the true enemy, for the first time... [00:47] 14...and she told him to fall in love. 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12 __ \ \/ / __ [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 \_\_\/\/_/_/ [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 __/\___\_\/_/___/\__ [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 \/ __/_/\_\__ \/ [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 /_/ /\/\ \_\ [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 __/ /\ \__ [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 \_\ \/ /_/ [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \ [20:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir, and whoever joins her in her forays to the Firewander kruthik hive, becomes appraised over a few days as to the ins and outs of the kruthik life cycle. It's a strange one, one that seems to be littered with cul de sacs and dead ends to anyone who hasn't learned to look at the entire colony as a single creature. [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Nearly all mobile kruthik are born as grublike larvae which aren't actually birthed by the queens but rather extruded from a central hatchery. The only exceptions are the queens themselves, which seem to fission off from the hatchery or other 'buildings' as needed. The larvae then cocoon themselves and mutate into a variety of other creatures, seemingly at the queens' direction. [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12These subsidiary monsters are tasked with defending the nest and bringing back mineral and biological matter which is fed to the giant building-organs. [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12The buildings themselves are born from larvae, though usually at the end of a chain of lead-up transformations. It's not clear where this cycle began, exactly - supposedly, there was some kind of fungus or infection encrusting the machinery of the jadeborn caravan that passed under Nexus a little under a year ago, and that's how the local infestation was seeded. [20:25] 13Gross. Disgusting. [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12In organizational terms, the queens seem to be the brains that the central hatchery grows for itself to think with. They decide what the lesser creatures do and what new organ-structures are seeded and fed, although they seem unable at some level to violate certain instincts and urges folded into the buildings themselves - the hatchery must be fed, the creep must expand, and so on. [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Except, Leena can step in and overrule them here, and has at various points. Leena, too, is why the creatures are willing to hear Ir out rather than simply attack or flee her. [20:26] 4Gross. [20:26] 4But it's good to know she has a brigadier in the field, should it come to it. [20:26] 4Ir should look into improving their personal relationship. [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12The queens seem to have better than an animal's intelligence, but less than a human's for most purposes. Trying to converse with them is like talking to a toddler - unless you're talking about hunting tactics or base development, in which case they can process and remember quite a lot. [20:26] 4Good thing they never met in the Arena. 14[20:27] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [20:29] 4Ir doesn't have much experience with kids, but she's also not doing much chit-chatting outside of drills and orders. 08[20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12I suppose the biggest thing that happens to Ir (and Eikichi and Blossom, if they're part of this) over the course of the Circle's familiarization with the Firewander nest is that, one day, multicolored light begins pulsing through through the air, all the structures pulsate in sync, and curious designs ripple and interact across the creep like gliders in the Game of Life. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Leena must be hatching. [20:29] 4And here we go. [20:29] 4Let's hope she's not jealous someone's moved in while she's been sleeping. [20:30]  08[20:30] 4Ir would also definitely like at least Eikichi here, for Leena's awakening. 08[20:31] 4Wild Rose did do most of the talking with Jimi, after all. [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Bergsveinn's staring down the barrel of a small army of elementals. Air elementals? Water elementals? Some kind of hybrid? They're like spiky, clawed torsos made of ice which skate along the ground on their waists, trailing mist behind them and menacing with claws and fangs. 08[20:31] 4Hell, Wild Rose herself might be better. [20:31] 7It is a little bit disgusting, but as long as they're under control... [20:31] 4Leena did punk out against her. 15[20:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is Arianna there? [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12In the distance, "The Living Behemoth" can espy what may be the first hint of his true enemy - at least two figures taking positions up on cliffs and spires around the main mountain he's to climb, lining up ranged attacks. One of them's surrounded by spectral vines; the other's got a bow as tall as they are. 08[20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna's not, or at least not yet. From what Eikichi gathers, she herself wasn't sure when Leena was due to hatch, although you'd assume Leena herself is under orders to inform her. 08[20:36] 4Ir can cover if Wild Rose wants to put in an appearance. 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Yeah, sure. Rose'll be there. In heels, even. [20:38] 4Maybe even more functional than Ir's. She'll be wearing the bodysuit again. 15[20:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10...Ying's given Rose enough. [20:39] 4Hey, the fit's good. [20:39] 4She'll wear her hair in side-braids and a low ponytail this time, though. [20:40] 13Anything for a friend! [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Under Firewander, the chyrsalis chamber's a riot of color. The object itself has become sharp and angular, as though carved from glass, and almost entirely transparent - but within the glow, only a vague human shape is visible. Razor spines and tendrils and strange conglomerations of chitin race about the chamber's walls in random spirals. [20:41] 13Just as long as you don't track any gross kruthik things back where Ying can see it. [20:41] 7This time, Blossom will be taking more of an interest in the other two's wardrobes. Specifically, how do they walk in heels on the creep without their shoes sinking into it? [20:41] 4Iscariot's in the form of a riding crop whose pommel is connected by a silvery chain to a cuff-like bangle on Ir's left wrist. [20:42] 4Well, Ir just doesn't care. [20:42] 4And adjusts to walk a bit back on her heels. [20:43] 4Which took some practice. [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12The creep's actually very easy to walk on. Well, I wouldn't suggest sandals or slippers, as the substance grabs pretty tightly onto your soles and you might end up barefoot. But it's otherwise not at all treacherous, and makes it easy to hold your ground or climb about. [20:43] 4...Mainly because Ir doesn't have too much experience with five-inch heels. [20:44] 11Berg hunkers down, literally shoving his way through a crowd of elementals while focusing to keep any of his many attackers from being able to hurt him. [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, after a few minutes of dramatic glow, the chrysalis explodes. A wave of wyld energy goes rippling through the chamber, causing potential problems for any of you that aren't able to gird your loins against incidental mutagenic radiance. [20:44] 4Yes, yes. 15[20:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It looks like Rose is balancing on the balls of her feet and walking lightly, calves tense. Rose started wearing them to to help her practice her footwork and mostly never looked back. [20:47] 11Berg keeps advancing, this time sending some elementals spinning out of the way with quick, light (for a ten foot tall monster) punches. [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12In the distance, Bergsveinn can hear a slowly rising hum and an increasingly-brighter purple-white glow. It looks like lightning is swirling and concentrating around the arc of a massive, metallic longbow. [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Beneath Firewander, the chrysalis falls away from top to bottom, clattering to the ground as chunks of rapidly-dimming glass. Above them, a female figure hangs in the air, surrounded by light and a harsh noise somewhere between the strings of a harp and the buzzing of a bee. She's got the tell-tale markings of a neomah demon - cool lavender skin, black-on-black shark's eyes - but [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12is armored top to bottom by a combination of bone, chitin, and striated membrane. The huge mantis limbs that once rose from her back aren't visible, and after a moment you realize why - she must, instead, have insect's wings. It's just, they're holding her aloft and therefore moving too fast to be easily seen. [20:55] 4Fine. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Not bad. [20:58] <@Ferrinus> "Ah," 12says Leena, in about the same voice that Blossom remembers from months ago. "I expected less of an audience." [20:58] 4Articulated: "And yet." [20:59] 7Blossom: "Oh, now that is interesting." [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Leena: "You've been... about? Arianna asked me to make the children... pliable. I did what I could in my sleep." [21:00] 4Ir nods. "You did well. You're Leena?" [21:00] "My name is Ir." 08[21:02] 4A hint of a grin. "And you know Wild Rose." 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "It's nice to meet you, finally." [21:03] 6Tatsuya's examining his boots, having stood in the creep for some time. Eventually, he turns towards Leena, having affected indifference long enough that his brief eyebrow raise at her new appearance doesn't lower his coolness levels even a little. "Greetings." [21:03] 4Ir's smile gets slightly broader. [21:04] "We're here with Arianna's blessing." [21:04] "To help." [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12She blinks at the lot of you, then allows herself to descend to ground level and still her wings. They're a dragonfly's, and sparkle quite prettily. "It's nice to meet you... to meet some of you again. I'm glad I was recalled, back in the arena." [21:05] 4"Permission" might have been the more accurate word, but who cares. [21:05] 4She glances briefly over at Rose. Do we want to mention Jimi...? [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Leena: "Yes, I'm... she's filling me in now. She's really lending you these creatures? She guarded them quite jealously..." 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "We were very persuasive." [21:07] 4Ir: "They're safer with us. You are, too. I don't expect you to trust me saying that." [21:07] "We'll earn the respect." [21:08] 6Tatsuya: "We're pretty good." [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Leena: "You're going to have a much harder time talking with them if I'm not nearby, you know." 12Kruthik are starting to fill the chamber around you as you talk. One of the smaller quadrupeds nudges its way around Blossom's legs and then runs up to Leena for some pats and scritches. [21:08] 4The grin's wide now, and it's not at Leena's expense. "You want to see what y'all can do in the field?" [21:08] 7Okay, that's a little cute. [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Leena: "You'll have a harder time talking with them away from me, you know." [21:08] 11Berg is being positively pelted with projectiles here, and he's getting real mad about it. [21:09] 4Ir laughs. "You don't need to make a pitch." [21:09] "Wouldn't matter anyway." [21:09] "I'm fine playing on hard." [21:10] 6Don't see what Ying's problem is with these things. We could keep 'em as pets, get one for the sto13No. 6Well, fair enough. [21:11] 4Ir's grin turns to a smile to Tatsuya. Good to have him back, for as long as he wants to stay. [21:11] *4for [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Leena looks around the lot of you. She touches a clawed finger to her chin, thoughtful. "You really want to grow them strong, don't you?" [21:11] 7Blossom: "They have their uses." [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Leena: "Are you... very committed?" [21:12] 4Ir: "I've killed them five or ten different ways. But the answer is still yes. You know why? Bet you do." [21:13] 4She doesn't wait for an answer. "Properly directed, they can do great things. Properly directed, they serve their higher purpose: themselves." [21:13] "They never managed to keep a foothold before now." [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Leena takes a few steps forward. "Then... perhaps you - all of you - could give of your strength directly." [21:13] 6Tatsuya: "Improperly directed, they go out on the streets and eat orphans. So, you know." [21:13] "Too much aggression. Not enough planning. We're going to change that." 14[21:14] * banana|peels is now known as banana|p [21:15] 4Ir: "Do you understand what you're asking?" [21:15] "That's not rhetorical." [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Leena laughs. "Of course I do! Do you understand what I'm asking?" [21:16] 4She sighs. "Do you want our bodies, or our minds?" 14[21:17] * banana|p is now known as banana [21:17] 6Tatsuya: "Bit forward for a first-- nevermind." [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Leena: "The second only flows from the first. My kruthik - I've woven new children from them out of mortals, and out of demons, and out of faeries, and I've spliced the insects themselves together in ways beyond the ken of their queens..." 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Poor Tatsuya. He's been out of the game so long he's still using the Essence 1 banter cheat sheet. [21:18] 6Look, Ying's better with people. She just also didn't want to come here for completely understandable reasons. [21:18] <@Ferrinus> "Chosen, though. I'm not even sure what could come of such a thing." 12She looks at the four of you again, quirking a brow. [21:18] 11Berg's getting irritated. Maybe having people around who aren't trying to kill him spectating makes him nervous. Stage fright? [21:19] 7Blossom: "I make allowances because you are still a neomah. No thank you." 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose doesn't even respond. [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, sure, they're spoken for. But what of the rest of you? 15[21:22] * Retrieving #SonsAndDoctors modes... [21:23] 4Ir: "See, that's why I asked." [21:23] "We're blessed." [21:23] "Our bodies aren't any different, yeah?" [21:23] "We're animated by our God." [21:23] "You're not gonna get anything useful here, and if you do, it'll fade when we die." [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Leena: "Maybe, and maybe not. ...and you're exceptional specimens even in the worst case. And I've slept so long..." 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "Could be longer." [21:25] 4Ah, the art of foreplay. [21:26] "Speaking of exceptional specimens." 4Ir's grin turns neutral. "Jimi says hi." [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Leena glances off to the side a bit, but says nothing to this. Tatsuya doesn't look any more intrigued by the possibility of a demon forging him hybrid human-kruthik children from his donated blood, flesh, or other fluids, does he? [21:28] 4Heh. [21:31] 6Uh. He probably... probably shouldn't. [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12It's for the cause. [21:32] 4Control yourself. [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, he needn't decide now, especially if he doesn't want anyone else to know. Leena, for her part, is willing to simply bid the lot of you a wistful, though temporary, farewell - she needs to see to the hive and report to Arianna in person. [21:33] 6Yeah but. Everyone would get mad, and uh, he wouldn't be around... [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12In the following days, you don't see that much of her, but she's able to relay complex orders to the Kruthik and even inform you as to exactly what Kruthik in the area are seeing or thinking, which makes familiarization and training much easier. Of course, giving you your own nest, apart from her, might be trickier. [21:34] 4To Leena: "Anyway. Get right and ready to move. We're heading out for the first real test of your abilities soon, and if all goes well, you won't be living underground anymore." 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Tatsuya never has to explain a lengthy absence, though. 'Where were you, Tatsuya?' 'Uh, I was, doing crimes?' 'Makes sense.' 08[21:35] 4She has a chat with Wild Rose about Leena when they're through, too. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Leena's somewhat disorienting to deal with as she makes further small talk and low-key tries to sell some of you on donating more than your time to her and therefore to the hive. As she focuses her attention on different people, her body subtly shifts in turn. Somehow, the inky eyes and chitin plating never seem like dealbreakers. [21:41] 11Berg is steadily crunching through piles of elementals, getting worse and worse at staving off the two shooters' various blasts. When I get over there... [21:42] 4Well, all things being equal, Ir would definitely... [21:42] 4But they're not. [21:42] 4That's pretty much the first rule about fucking. And ideology. [21:44] 4Well, it's time to load up the Heavensward and get prepared for the drop. 14[21:44] * Joins: Quaker 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose just stares blankly at Leena, and after rebuffing her actually looks a bit flushed. A real test of her self-control to have been merely curt when she's so visibly angry. [21:44] 4First things first: Ir's going to do a scouting flyover of the drop site. 14[21:44] * Joins: cbass_ 14[21:44] * Quits: cbass (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_)) 14[21:44] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 08[21:45] 4It's up to Eikichi if he thinks this is best done via Heavensward or Stormwind Rider. [21:45] 4The latter would be cleaner, probably. 14[21:45] * Joins: Quaker_ 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What all's being dropped? [21:45] 4Nothing, yet. We'll drop from the Heavensward. This is just scouting our possible drops. [21:46] 4Better if no one sees the Heavensward in the sky before it's ready to do the real thing. [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Do you want to actually take some bugs with you, or just head out on your own to survey the land? [21:46] 4The latter [21:46] 4Well, Ir prefers the latter. She's open to being convinced otherwise. 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Probably best to leave the ship at home, then. 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10If the Heavensward stays in the dock, no one who can see the Nexus skyline is wondering where we've gone. [21:47] 4Damn true. 08[21:48] 4Ir would prefer to bring Leena on this to keep her involved, but she's not sure if Leena can be trusted and not sure how she'll react to Eikichi. Or vice versa. Up to him. 14[21:48] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:48] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Sure, why not." [21:50] 4Ir: "Then let's ride." [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12As Bergsveinn trudges through the raging army of elementals that besets him, his ultimate goal resolves into clearer and clearer focus through the sorcerously-conjured snowstorm. There, up ahead, ringed with firelight, is the peak... and, in his path, are the two foes who've been bedeviling him with spears and arrows. To his left is a young, dark-haired woman. She's clad in brown [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12and green, she's surrounded with a vortex of what look like blood-soaked roots and vines, and her eyes glow deep red, edge to edge. [21:57] 7Blossom: "Ah, it'll be good to take Ami out of the city." [21:58] 6Hah. Hahaha. Okay, wow, uh, she's... you know, the demonic things... they're, uh 13Tatsuya! 6what [21:58] 4Ir's tempted to bring Errant, but instead just sets him free for a couple days to fuck around outside the city. [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12To his right is an old, wiry man fumbling with an enormous compound bow forged of steel and blue jade. It's actually got wheels to roll around on, and is physically tied to the man's body with a variety of ropes and cables. The man himself is covered in spirals of blue woad and surrounded by a faint haze. [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12The woman's definitely dragon-blooded. The man, though, doesn't seem to be Chosen - he must be using some kind of external aid, or maybe supernatural parentage, to be able to work that powerbow. He's clearly the softer target. [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12So, days later, on her visit to the hive, Ir receives a gift from Leena. It's about the size of housecat, but it's a giant yellow-green eye with a scorpion's tail that scrabbles around on four spidery limbs. Ir is assured that Leena can see through this thing as though it were her own eye for miles and miles. [22:13] 4Well. Let's, uh, see. "Hey, babe. Blink twice if you can hear me." [22:13] 6Cool. [22:13] 4They were smart enough to give the big eyeball a lid, right? [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12It does so, and in fact reaches forward with its scorpion's tail to scratch in some nearby junk wood: 1i can [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Yeah, it can close itself from the base of its tail. It's not clear where all the tissue is coming from, or how it gets folded up when the eye opens again. 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10How big a housecat is it the size of? Does it look kickable? [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Eminently. [22:15] 11Berg rushes towards the old man, and with a tremendous stomp, sends chunks of ice hurtling at him, battering him viciously. 08[22:15] 4Ir: "Nice. Okay, this is -- Eikichi." 08[22:15] "This is Eikichi." [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12The man's dislodged from his perch, his entire bow falling on its side as he tumbles back with it. When he starts to push himself back up, it's sideways off of Berg's path - that's one problem dealt with. 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks radiant in a gold-filigreed mesh tunic beneath a shimmering blue robe. He looks proper sorcerous, he does, orbited by malefic glowing spheres and wearing no visible recognizable weapon. [22:17] 4Oh come on. He always looks radiant. 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's worth reminding people. 08[22:17] 6Tatsuya casually slicks his hair back. Standing next to Eikichi does absolutely nothing for his self esteem. [22:17] 4AND proper sorcerous. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Offhand to Blossom: "What do you think? 60 yalms?" [22:18] 4Ir: "You've met the rest of..." [22:18] 7Blossom snorts, amused, but says: "Oh, leave it be." 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi sighs theatrically. YES I KNOW HE'S ALWAYS THAT TOO [22:19] 4Yeah, yeah. Fly fast and true. [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Of course, Bergsveinn finds himself once again partially wrapped in clinging roots and vines, and he can see his enemy dart away from him and further up the mountain... and he can see, too, two more figures rise into view from the peak's other side, brandishing weapons of some kind. 08[22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12At some other time, Eikichi's Stormwind Rider goes roaring across the terrain, several of the sorcerer's friends and at least one demonic abomination riding along. Your guide is the great Yellow River - you're to travel up it, then across it, to survey the terrain north of Great Forks that was once the staging ground of a mighty deathlord. 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Can't have been that mighty. [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Are some Deathlords mightier than others? It stands to reason, right? Anyway, you whirl past countless fishing vessels and trading barges on your way upriver, passing a variety of outposts, docks, and villages as you go. Before long, the straight line you've drawn to the edge of the Princess's once-domain takes you to the river's opposite shore, and then you're flying over field and [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12woodland. 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The River Province is at its nicest when you're flying over it very quickly. [22:26] 4Ugh. [22:26] 6Hey- that's probably true actually. [22:26] 4It's pretty enough land. [22:26] 4It doesn't have snow all over. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Past another bend, and there it is - the distant signs of death's influence. The skies are dimmer off the Yellow's north bank, the trees more twisted, and the land sloping strangely in places... but, at a glance, that's all. It's not clear where, exactly, the fallen deathlord's power lay, or what there is to fight. But then, that's what you're here to find. [22:27] 7Hmm. While we're out, Blossom should find something nice to skin, cure, tan, and bring home for Ying. [22:28] 13Thanks! 14[22:29] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [22:33] 11Berg has finally had enough. Tearing out the vines holding him down, he just starts insanely windmilling about, hurling elementals in every direction. The crowd definitely gets showered with some finely crushed elementals. [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12The mountain's got a second dusting of fine powder once Bergsveinn's finished with his work. There's a glint of fear visible in the distant javelineer's eyes - but she's not alone. [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Flanking the wood-aspected young woman some members of the Squared Circle might recognize as Nomi are two men, clearly also Dragon-Blooded. One wears a thick, jade-plated buff jacket and carries what appears to be a completely normal sledgehammer - Zothai, according to the announcer, who's yelling something about the stony deeps. The other's a wild-haired, lightly-clad, and [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12heavily-scarred fellow who laughs as his anima burns around him and brandishes a red jade daiklave. Kala Theka, once champion! [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Kala Theka: "Come, Berg-Sveinn! We'll see if you're REALLY fit to stand here!" [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12The territory north of Great Forks becomes more and more confusing as the Squared Circle surveys it - to a point, anyway. Popular history holds that the Princess Magnificent held some kind of court here, first simply sheltering and sending out envoys and diplomats to proclaim her demands, and finally sallying forth with an entire army across the Yellow River. That was only a few [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12years ago, and while scavenger lords work very fast, this place is surely cursed - they can't have picked it so clean that there's no sign whatsoever of fortifications or barracks or arcane sancta or whatever else might have been involved in an attempt to seize a city. [22:46] 11Bergsveinn, ten feet tall, surrounded by the winds of the North, sun blazing on his forehead: "I've heard of you, little one. And yet, I have no fear. My heart is too large for your hands to grasp." [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12For sure some sort of death or blasphemy took place here, because there are shadowlands... but the shadowlands, too, are weirdly spotty and unpredictable. A patch here, a string there... why? They usually just grow as continguous masses, and there should be some evidence of the disaster or corruption that caused them. Several things lead you to the answer: 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Maybe the palace is on the other side of the shadowlands. [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12It'd still be visible, certainly if you poked your head in... but you DO figure it out, as follows. [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12First, there's the tracks left by the actual military invasion. If you cross the Yellow River, you'll find wagon trails, broken arrows, etcetera on the south bank. Ir can track them northward to their entry point, and though it takes some spirited diving she's able to find an entire trail of wreckage littering the bottom of the river. The thing is, much of the wreckage is the wrong [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12way round, or otherwise inverted - like, there's an entire sunken ship, but it's mast-down, driven into the riverbed like a stake. [22:49] 4Ir's willing to jump out. Luckily for them. [22:50] 4Inversion's not great for the tactical planning. [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Then there's the terrain on the north bank. There are strange concavities here and there, and some careful tracking and digging reveals foundations of ancient stone. Foundations, though, without any apparent buildings - without, in fact, the signs or grooves that might indicate they ever held up buildings. But if you mark where those are, and then search around the edges of the area [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12for trails, caverns, and other holes in the ground, you can figure out where the army and the rest came from. The right caverns are easy to find if you keep your eyes and ears open for ghosts - howls, screams, and moans emanate from some of them, and footsteps are weirdly easy to hear from some surfaces despite no ghosts being visible to make them. [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12It's ultimately by narrowing down and then forging along one of these downward-sloping paths that you find it: the upside down city. [22:52] 4Great. 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's awesome." [22:53] "Never fought on the ceiling before." [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a massive shadowland beneath the surface of the ground along the north bank, one that only pokes up above the grass in random places but forms a contiguous subterranean mass. And there, within that shadowland, is blackened, inverted image of Great Forks, hanging down from the underside of Creation's very crust. Its spires reach down to gods don't know where. [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir surmises that the invasion of Great Forks must have taken place upside down, with ships literally across the surface of the Yellow River with sails underwater and keels exposed to the air. [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Now, though, it's all falling to shit. If gravity may have been inverted in the upside down city once, it isn't any more, and the ghosts and miscellaneous underworld horrors that populate it walk on ceilings, crawl along the wrong sides of staircases, and so on. [22:55] 6Tatsuya: "Hell yes." [22:56] 4Ir: "You know what we're gonna need." [22:56] "Heels like claws." [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12You're able to observe this from afar, but it's a tricky thing - you need to plunge into the underground shadowland, then find vantage points from the edges of the hanging city. It looks like it's become an entire necroecosystem... and like long strands of oil black something are sticking to its "highest" towers, stretching out of the shadows beneath it and gumming it up. [22:57] 4Ir's going to bring the eye along with her for all the scouting. Even the close-in stuff, if that's wise. [22:57] 6Tatsuya: "I just heard a heavy sigh that felt like it came from over my shoulder. Just thought you should know." [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Back in the grand arena, Bergsveinn's bantering. Kala Theka: "Hah! Yes, I'd have to spear it!" 12He levels his sword at his foe. "But I doubt our god's doing me that honor today!" [22:57] 4Ir doesn't say it should've come from his ribcage. [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Kala Theka: "Have at!" [23:07] 11Berg does, foolishly, it turns out. A wide swing and a flash later, and he's stumbling, blinded. [23:09] 7Blossom: "I'll have to remember this when we get back... a floating city needs to be able to drive blessed stakes deep, deep into the earth. [23:10] " 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "What if we had a flying, upside-down city?" [23:11] 6Tatsuya: "Two cities, one right side up and one upside down. Two castles." [23:11] "Twice as much work for attackers. [23:11] " 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Four times as much work for builders." [23:12] 4Ir: "What's the message you convey with an inverse? [23:12] " [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Sparks fly as the man's sword interposes itself between Bergsveinn's fist and Kala's face. Bare knuckles kick up sparks against jade-infused steel, and for a brief moment the giant can see only sharp, painful blurs. 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "'Everyone can reach up and touch the extended fist of the big statue of Blossom'?" 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Children would gather!" [23:14] 6Tatsuya: "Four times as much work is fine. There's just something about duality." [23:16] 4Ir: "Guess so." [23:16] 7Blossom: "Mmm. I'm not sure I like the idea of half the city being forever in darkness..." [23:17] 4Ir: "Well. That shit's balance." 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It'd breed strange cultural affectations. Imagine if everyone called it 'Darktown' even though because of its position it had to be the cleanest and best-lit area of Zeal as a matter of course." [23:17] 7Blossom: "Come on. Nobody'd be that dumb." [23:18] 6Tatsuya: "Dorktown. They'd build the university down there." 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "You're probably right." 10Eikichi resists the urge to ask Blossom if they're still on for their date in Parko Llana tomorrow. [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Indeed, Bergsveinn can't even see Kala's followup, though he can feel it well enough to try to bat it away. It goes skidding almost harmlessly off the giant's skin... but then the line it traced ignites! [23:24] 7Blossom: "Ooh, I wonder what Ying could do with barghest fur? I'll be back in a minute." [23:24] 4Ir: "Haha! Dorktown." [23:24] 6Tatsuya: "I -- " 6Brief pause. "Uh, you want anything? She takes requests." 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "So is Ying just sitting on your shoulder commentating on your day?" [23:25] 4Ir: "His shoulder?" [23:25] "Ribcage." [23:26] 6Tatsuya: "It's more like, sometimes a thought occurs to me that... uh. How do I describe it." 6He frowns. "...it's... pink...?" 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Do you ever do that to her?" [23:26] 4She turns to the eyeball. "We've found a good place to start out. You're going to be on point, Leena. I'm going to be supporting you through the queens. That work for you?" [23:28] 7Blossom: "Does she already know I'm going out for this, or can you make it a surprise?" [23:29] 4Ir doesn't visibly react, since the eye's looking at her. [23:29] 6Tatsuya: "...I don't know?" 6He frowns deeper. "I can make it a surprise, yeah. I don't think it's even - look, this stuff gives us a headache. Gives me a headache." [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12The eye fusses a bit, then starts writing with its tail: i control children across maybe a city. this is farther [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Eye: i can give you eggs or a queen with some imprints. instructions. but you raise them, control them [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Eye: if you can 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Have you two ever like... talked about it?" 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "The logistics." [23:30] 4Ir crouches down. "You going to learn from this?" [23:30] "Can you take the queen imprints back?" [23:30] "Because otherwise, babe, I'm going to have to test you myself." [23:31] 6Tatsuya: "Nope. Uh, there's a diary. I should - update that..." [23:31] 7Blossom nods. "Fair enough." 7Their internal life is their business, and Blossom already accidentally hurt Ying's feelings by prying once. Whenever they land, Blossom will hop down and look for a likely crevice. 14[23:31] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:33] * Joins: Quaker_ 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's starting to worry about Tatsuya... [23:34] 6Everything's 13fine. [23:34] 13Perfectly 6normal. 14[23:35] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:35] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Leena's eye: yes. i will send eyes. hives communicate [23:36] 4Ir winks. [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12The eye blinks. [23:36] 4Heh. [23:36] "Let me show you the drop site one more time, then we'll pull out." [23:37] 4Ir will coordinate whatever's necessary to let Blossom do her thing without Leena knowing. [23:38] 7I mean, Blossom doesn't particularly care if Leena knows she's bringing back some necrowolf leather for Sunlit-Dreaming Ying, but maybe Ir does? [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Barghests are fearsome underworld hounds of unknown provenance which stalk and eat ghosts - and will happily stalk and eat living travelers, in hopes of producing a fresh ghost. The creatures hunt in packs... but Blossom's got the skills to lure or track them, and the firepower to take 'em down. [23:39] 4If Blossom doesn't care, it's a power move. Ir will show it off. [23:45] 11Berg's blinded, staggering... but he hears the sound and feels the rush of Essence signifying someone gathering energy for a spell. He rushes the source, wraps his arms around it, and throws it off the damn mountain. [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Bergsveinn can hear a string of curses followed by an echoing thump. The crowd roars! [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Nomi, meanwhile, is clearly rattled. She clearly telegraphs the next blast of razor vines that comes spooling out from under her fingernails, and Bergsveinn can knock it away with one hand. [23:57] 11Berg needs to reduce this to one-on-one... so he spins after swatting the vine out of the way, and launches a flurry of punches that are clearly meant to unbalance the Dragon-blood, because if they were aiming to kill she'd be full of holes now. He grunts and takes a step back calmly after. "I know you're Ir's friends, and I don't want to hurt you. But I also don't want to let you continue your little killing spree here." [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Nomi barely dodges the first blow, and her life only gets worse from there. She gives ground and gives ground and gives some more ground until finally an earthshaking stomp has her practically diving off the mountaintop. The young woman ends up clutching some vines that she's managed to launch and tie around the edge of the cliff, hanging on for dear life. Session Time: Fri Dec 29 00:00:01 2017 [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Kala, meanwhile, continues his advance, laughing as he carves burning arcs through the air with his daiklave. "This is the greatest worship we can offer, friend! The arena'd have you hold back, here - but would the sun?" [00:23] 11Berg just claps one enormous hand on Kala's shoulder, like an older brother giving advice. "The Sun wouldn't have me hold back... in a real battle, when lives are at stake. What you're doing here is a mockery of that struggle. The people you've sacrificed in the Sun's name don't please Him. He probably doesn't even care about them, about you, in the grand scheme of things." [00:24] "Someone does, though. Someone a lot closer to the ground. Someone who asked me to show you mercy, both in the sense that I demonstrate what it means to you and that I don't kill your dumb ass for making a mockery of what we do." [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Kala: "What-" [00:26] "Luckily, the Sun -- and I -- don't look down on a little practice, or some bruises to teach humility. And on that note..." 11Berg lifts Kala, without even changing his stance. He's just got one hand clamped over the other warrior's shoulder as his feet leave the ground, are now dangling helplessly seven or eight feet above the top of the mountain. "This is going to hurt. Remember it." [00:26] 4Life comes at you fast. [00:26] 4Faster than death. [00:26] 11*wooooooosh* *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM* [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Kala: "aaaAAAAAAAUUGGGHHHHHA-HA-HA-ha-ha-haaa14aaaa15aaaaaa...." 12CRASH! [00:27] 13Good. [00:28] <@Ferrinus> 12It's as though the mountain Bergsveinn stands on is an erupting volcano, or like a meteor happened to fall from the sky, ricochet off the peak, and ignite in doing so. Surrounded by a burning orange sun disk, Kala Theka is catapulted from the peak at the center of Nexus's grand arena and traces a wide arc into the rubble below, landing in an earth-shattering explosion that melts the [00:28] <@Ferrinus> 12ice and slow for tenty or thirty yalms around. [00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Announcer: "Ladies and freemen of Nexus! The Arena gives you... BERGSVEINN, THE LIVING BEHEMOTH!" 12yeaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh "He's earned his place and is here to stay! ONLY, at the-" 12It goes on like this. [00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Whoops. [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, having fought his way through many of the institution's raining champions, Bergsveinn receives accolades, awards, and piles and piles of silver. Far below, technicians and medics are forced to wait nearby for several minutes before Kala's burning anima subsides enough to allow the man to be pulled onto a stretcher and carried down below. [00:34] 11It was raining champions for a while there. [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Bergsveinn sees the sparkling red glow contract in Nomi's eyes as the woman pulls herself to her feet, until the Dragon-Blood has normal-looking pupils again and is surrounded by vines that aren't soaked in what might be blood. Around him, fighters are collected and either helped or carried off; later, he's presented with trophies, and the centerpiece of a post-bout feast. The rest [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12of the Squared Circle might well have been in the crowd and be there at the feast, unless they've other concerns to attend. [00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Either way, you've won, and cemented a hold on the arena. Next week: Great Forks, probably. 14[00:46] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [01:03] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ [01:03] Part of being a friend means being understanding when people have special needs, like if someone has two completely distinct personalities that happen to share a body, or if your boyfriend is violently allergic to pleather and imitation fur! Try to help your friends, and do activities where everyone can participate! [01:03] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ 14[01:17] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:00] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[04:27] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[04:41] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:44] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[04:45] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:45] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[05:24] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[05:45] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[06:03] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[06:23] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[06:25] * Joins: hrolf_mac_ 14[06:26] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Connection closed) 14[06:26] * hrolf_mac_ is now known as hrolf_mac 14[07:08] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[11:02] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[12:04] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:30] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:34] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[12:35] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:35] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[13:41] * Quits: 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(Quit: ) 14[02:41] * Joins: dammitwho 14[03:55] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[04:40] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[09:19] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:25] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:00] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[17:31] * Joins: dammitwho 14[17:57] * Quits: VoxPrime (Quit: ) 14[20:47] * Joins: tom 14[21:05] * Joins: Crion| 14[22:05] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:20] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Thu Jan 04 00:00:00 2018 14[00:13] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:15] * banana|peels is now known as banana|split 14[02:32] * Joins: Crion| 14[03:57] * Quits: Crion| (Connection closed) 14[03:57] * Joins: Crion| 14[04:43] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[04:46] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:49] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:53] * Joins: tom 14[05:01] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:03] * Joins: Crion| 14[05:07] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:22] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[06:28] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[10:19] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:01] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:07] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:11] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:38] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[12:21] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:01] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:21] * Joins: dammitwho 14[17:59] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[18:05] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[18:27] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:31] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[18:38] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:41] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[19:01] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 12 | 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 12 .' `. 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 12 : ( ) : 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 12 . | ( )`._ _.'( ) | . 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 12 O . |`- -| . |- -'| . O 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 12 H o |A /\ | ( ) | /\ A| o H 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 12 H I | -' | | | | `- | I H 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 12 .H__T___|_|___|_|_|_|___|_|___T__H. 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 12 |_________________________________| 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 12 / \ 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 12 / \ kOs 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 12 / \ 15[20:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 12What a day it was! Bergsveinn's grueling showdown in the Arena, Ir's adventures with the swarm... with more to come, including a looming trip to the god-city of Great Forks. What do people have to report at breakfast? [20:33] 4Ir, to Ying: "That bodysuit killed it." [20:33] 13Ying: "Heck yeah! How were the heels? I wasn't sure if they would be too much, or like, unbalanced..." [20:34] 4Ir: "Perfect. Good idea not to taper them to strict points, better for walking on that weird goo-carpet." [20:35] 4To everyone else: "I wanna field-test our new army as soon as possible. That means establishing a forward base, and that means talking to some gods." [20:37] 13Ying: "Oh, gross, Tatsuya cleaned that off when he got back, right? I don't wanna be in the same room as those shoes if he didn't." 6He didn't. [20:37] 4Ir made breakfast, of course. Flatbread, eggs and some citrus juice she made herself from a fruit vendor's freshest stock. [20:37] 11Berg: "Army? I know I was busy, but..." [20:38] 4Ir waves a hand. "Please. Took 'em off and dunked 'em in a barrel full of river-water soon as we got above ground. Not about to walk around down looking like that." [20:38] "Very specific look. Gets very specific business propositions, from very specific men." [20:39] "I don't need other people's money to spend on things." [20:39] 4To Berg: "Bug army." [20:40] "We're training 'em up." [20:40] "Well, hopefully they're more under control with your hands on the leash. Doesn't mean I really want much to do with 'em." [20:40] 13Ying sticks her tongue out, but goes back to chowing down pretty quickly. Delicious. [20:41] 4Ir: "Figured as much. Still might be something interesting to fight in Great Forks. Or out at the forward base." [20:41] "No one's staying you gotta stick around and help train the damn things, of course." [20:41] "How'd you Arena go?" [20:41] *your [20:41] "Well, I didn't kill Kala Theka. He might need some help getting around for a while." [20:42] 4Ir's eyebrows jump. "That's...good!" [20:42] "Uh. How badly is he taking it?" [20:43] 13Ying: "...is he gonna fight any more?" [20:43] "Not sure, on both counts. I haven't seen him since then. I'm not sure it discouraged him." [20:44] 4Ir sighs. "I'll check in with some of the other fighters when I get back from Great Forks." [20:44] 13Ying: "Maybe if you keep beating him up he'll stop killing people." [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12The fiery southeastern gladiator hasn't been seen by most people since - he was carried off to the arena's medical wards and presumably convalesces even now. Of course, the event wasn't really centered on the guy - Bergsveinn's bout was an enormous hit, and people are still talking about how far Kala Theka went flying. [20:46] 13How far did he go flying? If Ying ever gets enough material, she can put the number on a shirt for Berg to wear. [20:47] 4Seems excessive. [20:47] 4The amount of fabric needed for a shirt for Berg, that is. [20:47] 7Blossom, meanwhile, is scratching her chin thoughtfully as she eats. Mmm, rice balls. [20:47] 11Berg's shirt does kinda look like it was made from an old tent. 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Why is he even wearing a shirt? [20:49] 4Hah. [20:50] 11People got really mad the last time he didn't. [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Easily three range bands. Anyway, though he's incapacitated Kala Theka isn't really off limits to any of you who might want a word - nor the other gladiators, really. You - any of you, since Berg's circlemates had every right to tickets - might have gone to find them right after the fight, if you had a care to. 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi finally looks up from his eggs. "When are we leaving?" [20:51] 11Berg: "He's not bad, though. Actually wounded me, even." 08[20:54] 4To Eikichi: "Soon as we're done here." [20:54] 4To Berg: "Damn!" [20:55] 13Ying: "Do you need a doctor? Or... you're probably good, huh." [20:56] 11Berg waves a hand. "Barely a scratch. Gone already." [20:56] 4Ir's unusually quick to finish, and even whisks the dishes away herself instead of leaving them for the help. "I'll go ahead, get Errant stabled in the Heavensward and prepare for flight." [20:57] 7Blossom nods. "I need to run a few errands, but I'll be back by the time you're ready to fly." [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Berg got more singed than scratched, really. Lots more fire and lightning than, properly speaking, the mountains of the frozen north should have played host to. [20:57] 11Some sort of Captain Planet battle. [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, if you're heading up and over to Great Forks and seeking some kind of official audience, it'd behoove you to at least let the city's embassy in Nexus know about it. This is no great trial and can simply have happened off camera, but it's an opportunity to decide just how surprised the three ruling deities of the city are by your visit. [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12The 'planet' heresy is long disproven. [21:03] 7Blossom plans to be blunt and honest with the Great Forks delegation. We're incredibly powerful Solars, and we plan to eliminate as much as possible of the stragglers from the necrotic army on the far shore from the city. [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12At the embassy of Great Forks, a young man in a long white robe blinks several times. "Uhh... shall I pass along a reason why?" [21:09] 4Some shit like 'greater security and cooperation,' probably. [21:09] 7Blossom: "Because they're an army of the undead, creatures of darkness." [21:11] 11Surely that's reason enough. [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Aide: "Er, very good, very good. The bureaucracy will know to expect you within a day." [21:12] 4... [21:13] 4It's three days to Great Forks by water. [21:13] 4Heavensward isn't going to be flying too much straighter. [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Great Forks itself is around five hundred and fifty malms from Nexus. Generally two weeks by horse, or a little less than one by riverboat. The Heavensward, treating the sky as open ocean, could make the trip in three days. [21:14] 4Fucking tests. [21:14] 13Rude. [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh no, he meant the city will KNOW within a day. [21:14] 4Ah. Well. [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12You can take your time, although it'd be weird and probably rude if you waited more than a couple weeks to turn up. [21:15] 4That's better. [21:15] 4Ir's already doing the pre-flight checks. [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Clearly they've got some magical - presumably, divine - way to pass the message on. But you're expected, now, so you can expect a fancy reception. [21:16] 4We've got two choices: we can bring the kruthik with us, and send someone on to scout the dropsite with them -- it'd likely be Ir, here, to be honest -- while the others engage in diplomacy. Or we can leave them behind and return to get them once we have permission. [21:17] 4Ir would prefer the latter, but is willing to hear arguments for the former. It's not like Blossom and Ying can't handle the gods alone. [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Leena can arrange to give you, essentially, sealed-up Kruthik: a cluster of eggs which stay dry and dormant until planted and watered with appropriate nutrients. So you needn't worry about having to double back and forth once you've formal permission. [21:18] 13Gross!! [21:18] 4Ir's more worried about the Queens. [21:18] 4This exercise doesn't matter if they're not getting training. [21:18] 4And while they can be trusted to keep themselves cooped up in the stables, that's not really ideal for them, Errant, or Ami. 08[21:18] 7Blossom, to the others: "There's no reason we can't start to work immediately once we get there, if Ir's willing. I'm sure I and Eikichi, and Ying perhaps, can handle a reception." [21:19] 4Ir: "If you're sure." [21:19] "And if they decide for some reason that they don't want us around, well... the reception will probably last long enough that you might be done by the time it's over. Then we can ask forgiveness for a fait accompli rather than go on without permission." [21:20] 7She's only half-joking here- official events can take a while! [21:21] 11Berg: "You're gonna bring these things into someone else's territory?" [21:21] 13Ying: "There's creepy gross dead things there! It's... probably better to have creepy gross alive things instead?" [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, if you want to bring a queen or two that'll be trickier. It'll be easier for transport, but maybe longer to get started, to grow queens of your own. You can extent on some genetic memory giving them the capacity to understand you and execute the basic instructions and strategies Ir's already worked out, but past that... 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "A diplomatic reception?" [21:23] 4Individualism might not be a thing with this whole crew, but Ir would rather have interlocutors she can trust as soon as...heels...hit the ground rather than try to start them up dry, first run. [21:24] 4She'd like to bring three. [21:24] 4One or two, though, is fine. [21:24] 7Blossom: "Oh, undoubtedly. They'll want to size us up." 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "..." 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "...what will I wear?" [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Something good, hopefully. This is Great Forks you're visiting, not Nexus. They're really fancy over there. [21:26] 13Ying: "I could arrange something..." [21:26] 11Berg: "I don't need to dress up, do I?" [21:26] 4Ir looks over at Ying. "...Yeah." 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Really fancy, huh? [21:27] 4To Berg: "Nah, you're fine. Just throw on a tarp or something. Pretend you don't have language. They'll understand." [21:27] "I feel like I should be offended by that, but I'm just relieved." [21:28] 4She shrugs. "It's what was expected of me after I left Pneuma." [21:29] 7Blossom tsks Realmishly. "It's not like Great Forks isn't full of barbarians too." [21:31] "There are barbarians and then there are barbarians, Blossom. It's a fine line." [21:32] 13Ying: "Wow, so incredibly rude." [21:32] 4Sympathetically: "She's from the Realm. She can't help it." 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Is Marek coming?" [21:33] "Hmm?" [21:33] "Oh, no." [21:34] 4Ir: "This whole thing, politically, is not actually good for him to have his fingerprints on directly." [21:34] "Bad enough that he does indirectly." 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi nods, and then reabsorbs himself in what to wear. He could go for something formal and classy... but that feels like the sort of thing Rose would wear. But it'd look so good... ugh. [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's got the right of it, but Marek'll sort of be in the neighborhood. It seems that he's to infiltrate the Ebon Spires of Pyrron. [21:35] 4As she said: indirectly. [21:35] 4She sighs. These are her friends after all. "He'll be in the area if we totally fuck it up and need help." [21:35] "Let's not." [21:36] 11That sounds way more fun than a diplomatic mission. [21:36] 4Ir is willing to send Berg Marek's way if Marek's receptive. [21:37] 4Arakesh. His name's Arakesh. [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12I'm not sure if Berg would enjoy infiltrating anywhere. But either way, Great Forks awaits - who's arriving there, how, and who's arriving elsewhere? [21:38] 4Ir will be piloting them all in on the Heavensward, barring other objections, dropping Berg elsewhere if he wants to be elsewhere, and then heading for the forward base location above the sunken(?) city. [21:45] 4We leave just past afternoon, so everyone mount up. [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, several days hence, the minarets, pagodas, steeples, menhirs, and sacred trees that constitute the skyline of Great Forks resolve themselves out of the horizon before you. At a distance, the city is fantastical, dreamlike - it sits in a faint haze, its architecture literally sparkling. The river traffic around its ports is as congested as around Nexus, and a suburban sprawl of [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12lesser shrines, temples, and domiciles stretches around it in all directions... except across the river. [21:46] 7Before they leave, Blossom will slip out for a bit. She wants to head down to where the Guild sells or holds slaves, ideally ones that will end up in Thorns. [21:46] 7Oops [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, she can still arrange to do that. What's her plan? [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Note that as friendly as the portion of the Guild that actually runs the arena is with Blossom and the rest of the Circle, that relationship does not extend to the organization's other endeavors - certainly not the slave trade, which they're pretty sure you don't approve of. Blossom isn't free to simply stroll around the hallways of the bureaucracy or what have you. [21:49] 7Oh, she doesn't want to see the bureaucracy, and she doesn't plan to be there long. She just wants to see them- what they're like, the conditions they're kept in. [21:51] 4Ir's wedded to the helm, this flight east. She's got a purpose: get there just a bit faster than the great and wise minds at Great Forks are expecting them to get there. [21:52] 4If they're already factoring in them all being Chosen exemplars, then they'll just be satisfying the gallery. But it wouldn't do to be disappointing. [21:52] 4And we did brag about being powerful Solars. 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Faced with a tough decision, Eikichi does what he does second-best: ask Blossom. "What do you think?" 10he says to her as he's packing right after she gets back from the slave pens. He's alternating one of two outfits in front of himself. "I don't know which tone to strike." [21:52] 7What do the outfits look like? [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, that's not really visible to the public - and for good reason, because who wants to see that? There are slave auctions of a sort in the Nexus District itself, but you wouldn't realize it unless you stopped and thought for a bit - they're arranged as though they were job fairs/internship drives. Frequently you won't see the slaves at all - there's a lot of infrastructure set up [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12in which the Guild is the middleman, one that's just proffering to you a helpful list of... domestic assistants. Day laborers. Handymen. Each with listed names, rates, specialties... [21:55] 11Berg's not even there and he's getting mad for reasons he can't explain. [21:55] 7Blossom: "Everyone loves a man in uniform." 15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oh do they?" [21:56] 4Woman in uniform, too. 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's settled then. 08[21:58] 7Blossom: "Poor, innocent, naive Eikichi." [21:59] 4It's gonna be a fun ride. [21:59] 4Ir's missed being in the air. [21:59] 4The rhythm of life. Blossom taking over when she needs sleep. Cooking in the ship kitchen -- which is not a galley. [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12By following orders, marking the headings of wagons, and simply usin' her noodle with regards to logistical concerns, Blossom's able to determine that the actual slaves (many indentured servants, some actual chattel) held and leased by the Guild in the city are stored in a decentralized way. Some are essentially imprisoned in towers or basements held by the Guild; many more perform [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12pantomimes of freedom, living in tenements or apartment buildings alongside normal citizens but simply not being paid for any of their labor or given even the illusion of a choice of whether to do it. [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Many more are house servants, simply living in the homes of their """""employers"""". [22:05] 7Any particular atrocities stand out? [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Besides the fact of coerced unpaid labor itself? Quite probably, but given that Blossom's reconstructing most of this by simply marking foot traffic and the flow of goods across the city there aren't any flareupts that Blossom's at liberty to observe directly. She can definitely conclude that many of those that are actually imprisoned night to night are beaten and starved and so on, [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12and that many others are abused by their direct 'employers', forced to get by on near starvation 'wages', and so on. [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12It's an ugly thing, but only if you stop to look, and most people in Nexus know not to. Just go about your day, and it seems as though everyone you pass on the streets is as free as you are. [22:09] 7She's seen enough, then. With a grim expression, she returns to the Heavensward in time for takeoff. [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Woosh~ [22:09] 4The menu is utilitarian, but crafted: eggs from hell and flatbread, breakfast salads and lard toast in the morning; isicia omentata (northern style), cold sandwiches, and lover's dice in the afternoon; anything on offer in the evening; Midnight Eggs overnight. And pitza the chef's way anytime of day, of course. [22:10] 4None of it takes long, though if Blossom's asleep the askers have to prepare the ingredients themselves. [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, seen from above, Great Forks is a celestial paradise in comparison to the smoke, grime, and crush of Nexus. As you close in, though, you see it's just as crowded, and perhaps even more filled from edge to edge with human commotion. There are many more people singing or dancing or praying or even fighting in the streets, and many more beggars, too. [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12You've been advised as to where to land, if you want to be received properly. If Ir's feeling agreeable, she'll take the Heavensward down to swing by the city's actual docks, where it appears that a tower of wood and stone has been hastily built to receive you. Not hastily enough, though - it's standing, and navigable, but they've clearly only half-finished the decoration and surfacing [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12when you arrive in the early morning. The craftsman carefully stretching and paintnig rice paper between the wooden poles are quite alarmed. [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Craftsmen* [22:14] 4So the goal is to land and look cool without wrecking their day. [22:14] 4Ir can swing that. [22:14] 4Might involve waggling to reduce airspeed. 08[22:17] 4On a particularly scrumptious night, Ir will lean over and tell Eikichi, within earshot of Blossom: "You could make those eggs in five minutes yourself. If y'all want something more challenging, let me know." 14[22:18] * Joins: Quaker [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Who's actually disembarking, then, and who's staying on the Heavensward and flying north across the river? [22:19] 7Blossom's disembarking. [22:20] 13Ying's wearing a nice light salmon-colored suit jacket and tie with a white collared shirt, alongside a modest blue skirt and some long white boots. The heels on the boots make her look taller, which means she's almost at average height instead of incredibly short. This is going to be the next mass-produced line at her store, but she doesn't make anything that she wouldn't wear herself. Except for that one thing that we aren't [22:20] talking about. 08[22:20] 11Where's Eikichi headed again? Berg's no diplomat, but he doesn't really want to mess with bugs, either. [22:20] 13And, disembarking. 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's going to the great entheogenic bazaar. But first, we have to meet the delegation which will be hastily assembled to meet us. [22:22] 4Ir brings the Heavensward in three times: first on an observational course, to slow it; second on a prospective course, to test the resilience of the dock; and third the real time, diving down then up and in, disturbing no workers and wrecking no dreams -- hovering with the aft down only long enough for the proper people to disembark, then shooting up into the sky. Heading north by [22:22] 4northeast. [22:23] 7Blossom is wearing her armor, as (nearly) always, but she has cleaned it up a bit more than usual and there are some decorative bits attached now. 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Cute! Eikichi is in a double-breasted ambassador's dress uniform, violet with gold trim and a deep blue cape that matches the daiklave at his hip. The tint of his sash and boot buckles match the burning white orbs that whiz around him. [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12There is some commotion as the ship comes in the first time, but by Ir's third pass it's all cheers. The only ones who don't seem particularly pleased are those who are actually hurrying to receive you, having been taken quite by surprise by the early arrival. Men and women wearing long robes embroidered with vibrant colors are darting up the docking structure - from inside, anyone [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12familiar with such things realizes it must be a repurposed siege tower - and then doubling over with exhaustion and gasping for air before they're able to greet you properly. [22:28] 11Berg is still wearing a simple tunic and leggings, but he's thrown on a cape that is actually long enough for his height, that seems to be made of the fur of some enormous beast. [22:28] 4Ha. [22:28] 4Ir's heading off to the forward base site. [22:29] <@Ferrinus> "Greetings! Greetings! Wel-" 12wheeze "-welcome to the City of Temples! We didn't expect such an entrance! Please, this way, this way-" 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Are there crowds gathering? [22:30] 7Fantastic. [22:31] 4All you, kids. [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12The Squared Circle sans Ir is led down the interior of the structure and out into the docks. As they travel, there's a soft 'poof' from behind them. It signals the appearance of a man-sized otter out of a cloud of purple-blue smoke. The creature has got a long green robe on and one of those officials' hats that sit atop the scalp and are held in place with a tie that goes under the [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12chin. It immediately produces a quill and notebook and starts silently writing as you're led into the city. [22:31] 4Is it just Ir, Usagi, and Sondok onboard now? [22:32] 4And Errant, of course. [22:32] 13Oh! Ying needs to hang out with-- when they come back. [22:32] 4Blossom can have taken Ami at her discretion. [22:32] 4She'll be well-taken care of if she remains. [22:33] 7Blossom would have taken Ami out... but it looks like everyone else is walking, so being mounted would just be a distraction. She'll have to take Ami out for a run once they're done here. [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Merchants, dockworkers, and other civilians wave or cheer as you come out onto the docks themselves. It's only a short walk to a set of gates, where several carriages and a pair of palanquins await you, each covered with curtains so spare and gauzy that they might as well be open to the sky. One of them has three cushions and is borne aloft by a quartet of well-built men. The other [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12has one great pile of furs for sitting on and is held above the ground by long cords of rippling air that tie together into a gauzy, many-winged whirlwind far above. [22:35] 4Once Ir's in sight of the forward base zone, she leaves the Heavensward on a gradient flight straight up and changes into Ying's catsuit -- no heels this time, not yet -- and puts her hair up. Six minutes. Got it down to a science. [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Your rides, clearly. The guards and officials around you are climbing into their own wagons, though the man who receives you seems content to walk along and talk. He's heard much of your exploits from both Nexus and the breadths of Creation, he says. Great Forks is honored by your visit, he says. The founding trio wishes to meet you straight away. [22:38] 7Blossom: "Then let's not keep them waiting." 7For her part, Blossom will pick one of the palanquins. Ah, she's missed palanquin rides! [22:38] 11Berg is definitely not getting in a palanquin. [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Aw, but it's clearly been set up for you. Even takes your size into account. [22:39] 4If you get in the palanquin, it's all the more impressive when you destroy it for effect. [22:39] 4Just saying. [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir, meanwhile, is soaring northward, crossing the Yellow River and approaching increasingly less green pastures. With her is a complement of animals and demons, including, of course, one demonic animal - the transplant queen from Firewander district. [22:40] 11Berg walks over to the palanquin, and gestures for its (presumably many bearers) to set it down. 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi waves and beams at the crowds, leaping to the top of the wagon and calling out to the masses, "Shine boldly, so that all might find you when the night falls!" [22:40] 4The queen's given access to the main deck, once they're out of sight of prying eyes. [22:40] 4Ir's good enough on the flight that the creature won't find it turbulant. [22:40] 11When they do, he gestures for the bearers to... get in...? [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12There were three in the main hive, and Leena was willing to part with one. Did Ir want the youngest and least well-defined, the precocious and aggressive middle child, or the eldest who's by now cautious to the point of paranioa after a chitin-rattling encounter with Bergsveinn and Ying? [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12The four men bearing the normal-sized Palanquin clearly meant for the normal-sized Solars look very nervous. They exchange uncertain glances with each other and the Three Forks representative. [22:42] 4Ir wanted the eldest and most respected, because the inflection point would therefore be earning Ir's respect, not teaching the queen the battlefield. [22:42] 4And Ir's very good at her job. [22:42] 4There was a reason they let her learn 'sea tactics' from Gull Marchant. [22:45] 11Berg waves them in, with a smile that seems too friendly for a literal giant. "I think you've carried enough today, friends. My turn." [22:45] 13Palanquins! Love 'em. So relaxing. [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12When Bergsveinn takes up his palanquin, the completely normal slaves and I'll hear no talk otherwise that were going to carry it ultimately can't gainsay him, and even though the functionary who's accompanying you through the city looks initially to disapprove, a sharp look from the Icewalker silences any actual dissent. [22:46] 4Beware, and be prepared. [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12So it is that two platforms are borne along the streets of Great Forks exactly as planned, except that one of them is being run in reverse. [22:49] 4What's the zone look like when the Heavensward arrives? [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12As Leena warned, Ir has a harder time communicating with the queen from Firewander now that she's far out from the city. The insect seems as able as ever to understand Ir's instructions - which isn't that able, to be clear, but Ir has learned the kind of tones and motions that get responses - but is much less talkative itself. It seems to use the same buzzing and body language but [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12it's much harder to tell what any of it's supposed to mean. [22:50] 4That's fine. Ir's confident as they get everything up and running, it'll go much smoother. [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Still, some information can pass back and forth. As Ir flies low over the base of the hidden inverse city, her kruthik passenger peers over the deck of the ship, surveying the scenery. After a while, it points with the great mantis limbs that rise from its back towards a particular confluence of terrain - a grassy clearing with woodland on one side and some exposed earth and rock on [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12the other. [22:51] 4Is that what the queen picks? [22:51] 4Ir signals back an ask for a decision. [22:51] 4Generals always must be challenged. [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12It points again and buzzes something. Seems to think that'll be a good place to nest. [22:52] 4Good. [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir doesn't have to actually land the Heavensward, thankfully. Once it's in position over the queen's chosen nesting ground, the queen clambers down below decks and returns carrying the glowing, bulbous globule that Leena passed along. It's a clutch of a half dozen or so eggs, all wrapped together in silk and chitin. [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12The queen clutches it close in her forelimbs and then simply climbs over the side of the Heavensward and... drops? No, it's descending slowly and smoothly to the ground on a long strand of silky, woven creep that's being extruded from the tip of its abdomen, like a spider. [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Once the queen's on the ground, Ir is free to get the Heavensward back in motion... or maybe just mark it in midair and disembark herself? Either way, she's then got a good chance to survey the chosen terrain. She's not quite sure what makes it attractive in terms of development, but she can see right away what makes it attractive in terms of defense - the rocks and trees bracketing [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12it on two sides reduce the directions from which it can be attacked on land, and also allow for difficult and confusing terrain to flee into should the need arise. [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12As Ir watches, the queen digs into the ground with its larger set of limbs, carefully places the egg sac into the soil such that it's about three fourths under ground, and then vomits a load of fast-hardening mucus onto the thing... and waits. [22:58] 4Ir's dropping down to the ground. The Heavensward can hang or, if Sondok or Usagi can swing it, it can head up into the cloud layer. [22:58] 4Errant drops down with her. [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, the rest of the Squared Circle receives a sort of abridged and heavily guided tour through the city of Great Forks. [22:59] 13Anything actually nice, or is it all varying degrees of bad? [22:59] 4To the Queen: "We're doing this live, and by your numbers. I'm not giving you a better sense of the area. You and yours need to make do. That's how the world works." [22:59] 13Asking for a friend. The friend is me. [22:59] "I'm here if you fuck up." [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Here, a temple to Ahlat. There to the Grey. Over here, a sacred grove. In this other direction, a sacrificial altar. Gods of every kind speckle the city, as common in Grey Forks as shops and food stands are in Nexus, and all of them call constantly for worship and chiminage. [23:00] 4To the Queen: "Do you know your objective for this plot?" [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a tumultuous and yet beautifully sonorous city - somehow the prayer and chanting and singing manage to fall into key, smoothly interweaving or overlapping with each other rather than descending into the ear-grating clamor of a Nexus market. And no one, no one, fails to mark your procession's arrival - monks, shamans, priests, you name it vie for even scraps of your attention. [23:05] 7Now this is more like it. [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12It soon becomes apparent that many of the denizens of this city are other than human, rather than differently human as is the norm for anyone in Nexus who's got strange coloration or bodily features. Some people's limbs become translucent and smoky from their joints to their extremities, and others shine like polished brass. Feats of superhuman prowess flash before you - here, a [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12woman leaps from one rooftop to another across the entire street. There, a great pattern drawn of blue and golden light twists and writhes in the air as a hooded figure manipulates it with their hands, others looking on. [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12And that's just the humans. Literal gods abound here, whether floating in the lotus position at the glowing hearts of willow trees or sitting on thrones before lines of anxious petitioners. It seems that every other little shrine or temple you look into is host to some kind of miracle. [23:08] 13Does it seem like any of the people are forced to be there? I mean. Everyone's sort of, hailing us as we arrive, and that kinda thing doesn't happen naturally, so... [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12What you're clearly not meant to pick up on, but are fast enough to spot - Blossom too, if someone's kind enough to point it out - is the street cleaning, as it were. Your procession is clearly bigger than it looks - besides the palanquins and carriages and guides right with you, there's a sort of sweep by what must be the city guard a good block ahead of you, acting as a kind of [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12filter to strain out undesirables. Beggars, whether mortal or divine, are flushed out and shooed off ahead of you, and the doors to certain shrines are carefully closed and shuttered. People who actually try to run up to you and get your attention are swiftly and sometimes brutally curbed in their attempt. [23:10] 13Ugh. [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Great Forks, it seems, is a city where even gods might find themselves pleading for alms on a street corner - but that'd just spoil the mood, at the moment. 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's smile curdles ever so slightly, ever so briefly. [23:11] 7A city is a city, unfortunately. [23:11] 13We will talk, when we get back. [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, your path winds upward and upward as you approach the heart of the city. It's clear that altitude and standing are proportionate around these parts - the biggest and fanciest places of worship rise from hills and elevated terraces, while the smallest, dingiest, and most crowded locales are at or below river level. You're approaching the grandest temple of all, a cathedral to [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12the three deities who founded, and still safeguard, the city entire. 08[23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12That temple is in something approaching the Realm style - it's certainly familiar to Blossom and Eikichi, though something might tug at their intuitions about it. White stone with silver, gold, and jade inlay, great layered pagodas, huge doors of brass which open dramatically before you with no visible force impelling them. Within, elaborate rock gardens split by rivers of such [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12smoothly flowing water that they reflect the sky as mirrors might. [23:20] 13So dramatic. It's so - gauche. [23:20] 4Regardless of the answer from the Queen, Ir's going to ride on Errant to the clearest first chokepoint. The idea is to stay close enough to maintain the mental connection, but see what the Queen does running the colony on her own. [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's got a bit of a wait ahead of her. The old queen seems to have no particular plans besides to fuss over the egg sac, occasionally scratch at or puke on it, or walk in circles around the clearing to occasionally pick at bits of the dirt. Eventually, if Ir in sight, the kruthik will screech expectantly at her. [23:23] 4...Fine. [23:24] 4Ir will take charge. [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Ahh, it needs food. Specifically, Ir's pretty sure that some sort of big mass of living or once-living matter would help a lot in terms of jumpstarting the eggs' development. A big, freshly-killed animal, say. [23:28] 13...gross. [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Time to either go hunting, wait, or tell this lazy queen to go hunting. [23:29] 4Both. [23:29] 4Ir will accompany the kruthlings. [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12No, there's literally just this queen, waiting for the first passel of eggs to hatch. [23:30] 4Of for the love of. [23:30] 4The queen is coming hunting with Ir. [23:30] 4Fuck being lazy. [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12They're pretty slow off creep. [23:30] 7An impressive cathedral - and the type of impression it makes is clearly as much for Heaven's eyes as earthly ones. Interesting. 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi mostly can't be bothered to do anything until Ir makes breakfast either. [23:31] 4Who gives a shit. [23:31] 4Fight or die. [23:31] 13No!!! [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12In Great Folks, the Squared Circle's two palanquins pass through several interior walls reminiscent of Shogunate palaces before approaching a large, boxy central structure. You soon realize that it itself is a palanquin, or at least reminiscent of one - a great central square framed with poles of bamboo from which elaborate folds and whorls of glowing gauze hang. [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12As you approach it and are set down before it, the robed otter behind you quietly taking notes all the while, the curtains of the divine palanquin spread apart and reveal a trio of glowing figures sitting resplendent before you. [23:36] 13Ying uncrosses her legs and takes interest in the scene before her. What's up with these glowing figures? They look dangerous? [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Shield of a Different Day is clad in burnished brass. His armor is smooth, practically seamless, and enfolds his body almost totally - he's like a metal statue with very finely-carved lines of articulation. Only his face, a youthful, handsome, and hairless one drawn in various shades of blue - is visible, framed by metal. His titular shield is nowhere in sight. [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Weaver of Dreams of Victory is an old, arch-looking woman. She's long-limbed, grey-haired, and multicolored stars twinkle in her tresses and the folds of her long gown. Her edges are blurred, hazy - it's a little hard to mark the boundary between her body and outfit and the space around her, as though you're seeing her through fogged glass that you've just rubbed a small clean circle [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12into. [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Spinner of Glorious Tales is a young woman, practically a girl. She has wild, multicolored hair and a practical tunic fit for running around or climbing trees in, and she's doodling something in a notebook without looking up to greet you. [23:41] 13Homegirl. 08[23:42] 7Spinner of Glorious Tales. Has she read Eikichi's books, Blossom wonders? [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Dreamshield, sitting in the middle, rises from his seat first, only to hop down to the floor before you and bow low. "Heroes!" 12he says, in a smooth voice. "Welcome! Welcome. Whatever can I say." [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Sorry, that's Dayshield, not Dreamshield. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12It's Dreamweaver who speaks next. "We will thank them, of course, for their coming." 12She quirks a brow and turns her head to the side slightly. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Talespinner: "Oh, yeah, I guess we did." [23:45] 7Blossom gets out of her palanquin and bows in return. "Thank you for your welcome, august deities." [23:46] 13Ying curtsies deferentially. "A pleasure." 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi billows down from the carrage to land and bow beside her. "You are too gracious." [23:47] 11Berg inclines his head, but says nothing. [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Dreamweaver: "You'll tell us you wish to pit yourselves against the dead who haunt the northern reaches." [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Dayshield: "Do you?" [23:50] 13Ying looks to the others with mock alarm. "Who told them?! It was supposed to be a surprise!" [23:50] "We do," 7Blossom confirms. [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir is insistent - if she's to hunt, the queen will come with. And the queen, as little as it likes the idea, can't bring itself to gainsay it. The creature is really slow, though - it takes careful, dainty steps as though the ground is littered with spikes. It'll be useless for, say, running prey down. [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12What's Ir going to do to get this creature into a proper fight with a prey animal? [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Talespinner: "Wait, I forgot why they would." [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Dayshield: "They're heroes." [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Talespinner: "There's always been heroes, and monsters too. And lots were nearer to Nexus." [23:54] 4Ir's going to find the prey animal, stab it in the next, and then see what happens. [23:54] 4This is a learning experience. [23:55] *4neck [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Here's what Ir knows the queen can do - it can slash with the large, bladed limbs rising from its back, or hurl short-ranged spines, and spit or spin creep like webbing. It's by no means helpless in a fight, but too big or slow to have much immediate military use. [23:55] 7Blossom: "We want to fight the undead, without stirring up a force that could trouble the land around it when we leave." [23:56] 13Necksus. Thanks, I'm here all week. No, you can't make me leave sooner than that. [23:56] 4Good. That means it can learn from a carve-up. [23:57] 4And the lumbering prey animals should allow it to taste blood. [23:57] 4That is what we want from predators, yeah? Session Time: Fri Jan 05 00:00:00 2018 [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Talespinner: "We already fought them though." 12Dayshield: "And they judge that enough remain to make their efforts needed, surely!" 12Dreamweaver: "But will they do this for free?" [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Dreamweaver: "Will there not be a cost?" [00:02] 13Just incredible, unbelievable rudeness here. Infuriating. 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Nexus has less love for heroes than we hope you do. We are here, simply put, to do good. We seek to do good because it enriches Creation and paves a smoother road to greater good tomorrow. Good is an end in itself, and to labor for good is life's prime want." [00:03] 4Could've come out and messed around with the idiot beasts. [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir hunts... out in these lands one might find deer, wolves, or even the occasional mountain lion, and that's if you don't want to find an elemental or underworld creature by ranging really far afield. What'll this queen's first kill be? [00:04] 4Can the kruthik even do anything with an elemental or underworld creature? [00:04] 4We're looking for prey animals. [00:05] 7Blossom: "And because, sooner or later, we will have to battle creatures of darkness in the open field, with black generals behind them. Better to begin here and now." [00:05] 4So as many deer as possible, barring all else. [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Dayshield: "Practice! I love it." [00:10] 7Blossom smiles a little and nods. "As you say." [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Talespinner: "Ehhh. I've heard they make messes." [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Dayshield: "In the course, surely, of-" [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Dreamspinner: "And they will make one here." [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Dreamspinner looks to her fellow divinities. "Will we assent, given this?" 12Dayshield furrows his brow at her, while Talespinner looks up from her notebook from the first time to scan the four of you, looking thoughtful. 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Our friends would say we put them right. But! As our esteemed Spinner knows, what we say about ourselves - and what others say of us - is just air. Our motivations live in what we do. We did not come to tell you we're a force for good. We came to show you." [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Dayshield: "Come, come. You know as well as I that it's all for the good - and that our friends here won't ever put our fair city in danger." [00:17] 13Ying: "Don't you get tired of your talk? I mean, yikes. Our Fair City. Who says that?" [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Talespinner's back to her drawing, but she snickers to herself. Dayshield looks aghast - but kind of comically and exaggerratedly so, as though he's humoring you. [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Dreamspinner: "We'll see that you're right. And that these are worthy." [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Talespinner: "You said they'd need something." [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Dreamspinner: "Yes, I will repay their favor in kind. I will..." 12She seems increasingly distracted. "...yes, I will." 12A pedestal becomes apparent nearby her, atop which is a tall, thin bottle of sparkling orange liquid. [00:24] 7Blossom: "Hmm?" [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Dreamspinner: "The wine - you'll each enjoy a glass. And will save one for your fifth, of course." [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Dayshield looks shocked but also excited. He leaps back to his feet, and is suddenly everywhere - it's as if he couldn't decide which of you to serve first and so did them all at the same time. In mere moments, every one of you has been poured a glass of shimmering liquid. [00:29] 13Ying: "So-- so boring. Ugh," 13They try so hard, but... [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir, meanwhile, is on the hunt. It's slow going unless she's willing to simply leave the queen behind and scare deer or other animals toward the hungry kruthik. Either way, it's a bit tedious but not actually hard for the Solar huntress to drive a potential kill listing and half-dead straight into the queen's talons, a spear through the deer's neck. [00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12The Dawn Caste might be pleased to see that as slow and cowardly as the kruthik she's shepherding is, the queen is no less vicious. Great mantis limbs come striking down as though each were a scorpion's tail, at the same time as forelimbs and forelegs rear up to seize and slash. It's only moments later that the entire front half of the deer's body is more or less missing. [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12The queen takes up the back half, then, and slowly carries it back to the hive before simply plopping it open end down onto the half-buried egg sac. The blood visibly seeps into, and is then sucked out of, the ground around it. [00:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Each of the Solars in the divine trio's temple swishes and sniffs, and each of them becomes sure. This wine is made from the legendary peaches of immortality. [00:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Supposedly, those fruits grow in a single secluded grove in the very heart of Yu-Shan. They're exactly as rare and slow to bloom as you'd guess, because they also do exactly what their name implies, assuming you've got anything like a steady supply. Downing one of the glasses you hold could restore an old man to the prime of his life. [00:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Dayshield: "Drink, please! It's the least we can offer." 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi won't drink until Blossom does. [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Celestial Chosen are said to live for millenia, of course, but the effect of an entire peach is supposed to be proportionate - potentially adding thousands of years to a Solar's life. Of course, what you've got represents the fraction of a bite... sooo, five or six decades? A century? Still pretty good. [00:37] 7Blossom's eyebrows shoot up. "You are very generous, august deities." 7She'll drink. 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's face is impassive as he drinks. [00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Actually, I should clarify. A whole peach will restore anyone to the prime of their life. For mortals, what you're drinking now would probably just restore a couple decades of vitality. [00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Either way, it tastes great and leaves you feeling like new men and woman, though you're all youthful enough that they likely have little if any cosmetic effect. The three gods press the rest of the bottle, now sealed, into your hands - there's enough for one more drink, surely for Ir. [00:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Dreamspinner: "We will be in your debt when you succeed. But for now this offering will do." [00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Dayshield: "A fine gesture." [00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Talespinner: "If it went to good use." [00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12God damn it, that should be Dreamweaver at the start there. This is really difficult actually. [00:41] 7Even hollyhock gods tremble before us! 15[00:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Seems a bit of a waste, but it's an encouraging gesture. [00:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Talespinner looks up at the Solars again and frowns slightly. "Well, I didn't think this was smart. Could've been wrong..." 12She gives you an expectant glare before returning to her work. 15[00:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 1She reminds Eikichi of Zuzu. [00:51] 4This why Ir tries to avoid parties. [00:51] 4This is why Ir tries to avoid parties. [00:53] <@Ferrinus> 12So it is that your first meeting is concluded. The three gods are interested to hear what other plans you have for the city, and are generally happy to give you free reign to explore it and mingle with its people. They assume, though, that you won't be staying long - your business is with the blight to the north, after all. [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Ir can watch her queen take the initiative. Even as the egg sac begins to swell and take root as it sucks in the dead deer's blood and viscera, the queen goes clambering off into the woods again in search for more prey. It can't actually chase deer down as Ir can, of course - but what it can do is spin webs, lay traps, and wait. [00:55] 4And that's learning. [00:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Over the rest of the day, several more animal carcasses are brought in and fed to a steadily-growing agglomeration of flesh and chitin, one that eventually becomes a great, translucent egg that beats like a heart while within strange shapes swim and combine. [00:56] 4It's not the meat itself that matters. It's how it was gotten. [00:56] 4Within reason. [00:56] 4Right now, Ir's grooming winners. [00:57] <@Ferrinus> 12It's around midnight that the egg bursts, and a freshly-grown kruthik hatchery stretches out in the clearing, glistening in the moonlight. The first wave of creep begins to roll out from beneath it, and its first larva comes crawling out of one of the tubes at its base before near-instantly curling itself into a glowing cocoon. [00:57] <@Ferrinus> 12It begins. [00:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir works on her micro and macro... next week. [00:58] 4Ir's cooking for the demons and herself when it happens. She'll toss the rest of the raw meat down in celebration. [00:58] 4Time to go to work. [01:02] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ [01:02] Wasn't it nice of the Great Forks city gods to give us the wine of immortality as a gift? Sometimes things go well and you don't have any problems! Well, that's all for now. Solar Blossom Says! [01:02] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ [01:03] 4For the love of-- 14[02:21] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[03:01] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[04:09] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[04:13] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[04:19] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[04:19] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[04:36] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[04:36] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:37] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[04:38] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:38] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[04:39] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:40] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[04:41] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:42] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[04:43] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:43] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[04:44] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:45] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[04:46] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:47] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[04:48] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:49] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 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@Ferrinus (NickServ (GHOST command used by FerrinusPrime)) 14[17:33] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 14[17:34] * Quits: Crion (*.net *.split) 14[17:34] * Quits: Zarick (*.net *.split) 14[17:34] * Joins: 555AAOZH3 14[17:34] * Joins: Crion 14[17:34] * Joins: Zarick 14[17:34] * paranor.sorcery.net sets mode: +o 555AAOZH3 14[17:35] * Quits: @555AAOZH3 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:35] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:35] * Joins: Crion 14[17:36] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:29] * Joins: dammitwho [20:08] 12 )\ O_._._._A_._._._O /( [20:08] 12 \`--.___,'=================`.___,--'/ [20:08] 12 \`--._.__ __._,--'/ [20:08] 12 \ ,. l`~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'l ,. / [20:08] 12 __ \||(_)!_!_!_.-._!_!_!(_)||/ __ [20:08] 12 \\`-.__ ||_|____!!_|;|_!!____|_|| __,-'// [20:08] 12 \\ `==---='-----------'='-----------`=---==' // [20:08] 12 | `--. ,--' | [20:08] 12 \ ,.`~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~',. / [20:08] 12 \|| ____,-------._,-------._,-------.____ ||/ [20:08] 12 ||\|___!`======="!`======="!`======="!___|/|| [20:08] 12 || |---||--------||-| | |-!!--------||---| || [20:08] 12 __O_____O_ll_lO_____O_____O|| |'|'| ||O_____O_____Ol_ll_O_____O__ [20:08] 12 o H o o H o o H o o H o o |-----------| o o H o o H o o H o o H o [20:08] 12 ___H_____H_____H_____H____O =========== O____H_____H_____H_____H___ [20:08] 12 /|=============|\ [20:08] 12()______()______()______() '==== +-+ ====' ()______()______()______() [20:08] 12||{_}{_}||{_}{_}||{_}{_}/| ===== |_| ===== |\{_}{_}||{_}{_}||{_}{_}|| [20:08] 12|| || || / |==== s( )s ====| \ || || || [20:08] 12======================() ================= ()====================== [20:08] 12----------------------/| ------------------- |\---------------------- [20:08] 12 / |---------------------| \ [20:09] 12-'--'--' () '---------------------' () [20:09] 12 /| ------------------------- |\ --'--'--' [20:09] 12 --'--' / |---------------------------| \ '--' [20:09] 12 () |___________________________| () '--'- [20:09] 12 --'- /| _______________________________ |\ [20:09] 12 --' / |__________________________________| \ 14[20:13] * Zarick_ is now known as Zarick [20:13] 12Great Forks! The City of Temples! A shining panoply of shrines of every sort, and one to which you've been welcomed to open arms. [20:15] 4Some of us, at least. [20:15] 12Following your meeting with the city's guardian gods, you're taken on a parade of sorts. A grand procession led by Dreamweaver, her hair full of stars and her gown seemingly stitched from crows or starlings, Dayshield, shining like a vision of excellence, and Talespinner, flush with youth but buried in her notebooks, weaves its way through the streets before stopping at a grand square [20:15] 12nearby the docks you landed at. 15[20:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Yeah yeah. This is nice, but we had one of these coming in. Eikichi wants to do something else now. [20:17] 13Parades are fun! 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Still he smiles and waves even as his knee bounces up and down with pent-up energy. 08[20:18] 12This is more official yet. Louder cheers, weightier proclamations - you're friends of the city, blessed by the Three, welcomed as heroes, and so on and so forth. It probably takes a little longer than Eikichi would like, but not so long that he isn'tl left with at least the fullness of the afternoon and evening to explore Great Forks on his own. 15[20:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10As long as they don't forget to give Berg a medal too. [20:22] 7Blossom: "Hmmm. I certainly wasn't expecting that. The wine of immortality." [20:23] 12It was extremely surprising. That stuff doesn't come cheap in heaven, if the stories are to be believed. Down here... 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "They really want us on their good sides." [20:24] 13Ying: "That just makes sense. We're cool, and nice, so they want to be our friends! It just makes sense." 15[20:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It makes even more sense that they don't want to be our enemies." [20:26] 7Blossom: "They also don't want us being able to claim that they're in our debt." [20:28] 11Berg: "They seemed pleasant enough. Their town, however..." 14[20:28] * Joins: mattbaby [20:29] 7Blossom shrugs: "It seemed not much different from any other city. More shrines, of course. Practically Heaven compared to Nexus." [20:29] 11Berg: "Perhaps I'm just tired of seeing it." [20:30] 13Ying: "It was nice to get out for a bit... but I like Nexus. So much to do and see there." 13Also, getting to be out and about is nice. [20:30] 12Eventually, the Three depart, though not before granting blessings of health and fortune to seemingly random petitioners in the crowd and passing glittering, multicolored gifts - bolts of silk, amulets, that sort of thing - out to other divinities who approach to kowtow or exchange pleasantries. The Squared Circle sans Ir is left to its own devices... very briefly. Almost immediately, [20:30] 12they're surrounded by petitioners - some ask for worship, others offer worship, others try to sell you on the merits of throwing your official support behind one local god or another. [20:32] 12Stone Xianguou keeps the very streets stable! He'll bless your every walk across the city! Ah, but the Serpent Cloud can promise a lifetime of good weather... invaluable for skysailors such as yourselves. Don't listen to those fools, Seven Sharpened Hatchets offers victory in battle after battle- [20:33] 7Blossom will happily remind all such petitioners that they are children of the Unconquered Sun, Sol Invictus, King of Heaven, whose mien radiates infinite perfection, [20:33] 7Haha, this is fun! [20:34] 12North of the city, across the Yellow River and then farther still, a nest of demons takes shape. [20:35] 4Time to go to work. [20:37] 12Its tubes and orifices drawing in and expelling great gusts of air, its roots drawing what vitality's left in the soil, the central hatchery spills forth a slowly-growing carpet of creep and disgorges kruthik larvae at a steady pace. Subsidiary organ-structures beat like hearts as they take shape within glowing cocoons, and a small task force of nearly a dozen manta-like drones chew [20:37] 12blocks of stone and cords of timber out of the surrounding environs, feeding them bit by bit to the nest itself. [20:38] 4Kinda gross. [20:38] 13Yuck. [20:39] 4What's the queen situation, again? 14[20:40] * Joins: Quaker [20:41] 7Blossom frowns slightly. "Pleasant, but a bit unseemly. Gods shouldn't be bartering their services in the street." [20:42] 12Not the gods themselves, mostly - just devoted cultists. 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It's not ideal, but the alternative's those celestial bureaucrats that keep trying to murder and kidnap us." [20:43] 7She waves a hand. "Anyway, the gift of the wine was both to keep us well-disposed toward them, and in diplomatic terms designed to tip the balance of obligation back in their favor. Not that they'd ever be so foolish as to openly demand recompense. Regardless, I have a plan to even things out." [20:44] 13Ying: "What could match the gift of wine of immortality...?" [20:44] 12There's just one queen. It's old (for a queen) and battle-scarred, and maybe that's why its strategic instincts tend towards the conservatives. As Ir watches, only a few of the wolflike kruthlings are hatched to patrol the perimeter and watch for danger - the vast majority of larvae become more drones, many of which plant themselves at places along the perimeter of the creep and [20:44] 12transmogrify into strange, starfish-like structures whose centers seem to be deep pits. 15[20:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "14Not killing them," 10says Eikichi, sotto voce. [20:47] 4That's fine for now, since Ir's here. But she wants to get a conversation going -- from what she's gathered, it's a mistake to let one queen run one of these enterprises. They all benefit from peers. [20:48] 12When Ir voices this opinion, the one queen seems skeptical. Its immediate plans seem to involve spawning more static defenses and spreading the creep to cover more of the nearby forest. [20:49] 4Ir's opinion is that static defenses are the last building block -- reinforcement that's built once the appropriate boundaries have seen. More troops are strictly superior at the moment -- more queens included -- because of their flexibility. 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Blossom: "Do you think there's a cult to the Sun here already?" 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "It might be a good idea to scout for prospective monks and nuns." [20:52] "Have you started collecting worshippers now?" 08[20:53] 7To Ying: "It's a secret." 7To Eikichi: "That's a good idea." [20:53] 4Ir's willing to demonstrate this quite ably by playing mock-invader herself -- she can always outmanuever the static defenses to reach the hive, no matter where the older queen wants to push them. Singular, very powerful adversaries like Ir are the biggest danger to the kruthik in their growing stages, and the most likely foes to be encountered this far out (most patrols or packs of [20:53] 4wild animals would simply avoid them or flee for backup) -- and the easiest way to deal with them is overwhelming power. [20:54] 12Ir's convincing - maybe just scary? It's hard to read these things. Either way, she notices that the next wave of larva don't immediately cocoon themselves upon spawning, and that, after a while, the hatchery itself has started to pulse more vigorously. [20:55] 4All that said, given that she's diverting the spawn order in this way, she's now more directly responsible for protecting the fledgling forward base until it comes fully online. [20:57] 4It doesn't matter which one, so long as the lesson sticks. [20:58] 12And it's a good thing, too, because the second queen is only half-gestated, and only one more wave of kruthiks is spawned, when the first wave of hungry ghosts comes. [20:58] 4Nice. [20:59] 4Ir's going to let the queen handle orders for this -- she'll be entering battle personally. [20:59] 12They're people, but with distended jaws and foot-long talons, and they tend to lope around on three or four limbs or just actually fly a few feet above the ground as though they pounced a few hours ago and simply forgot to come back down. They're attracted to blood - and for all their strangeness, kruthik bleed red. 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi answers Bergsveinn: "We keep meaning to but who can find the time?" [21:00] 13Ying: "I'm pretty sure we have, but just by accident. Not really a concerted effort kinda dealie, just... being ourselves." [21:00] "Remember what we talked about -- but if it comes down to what we talked about, and what you think, trust yourself," 4Ir says. Then she shoots off into battle, bodysuit and all. [21:01] 12The Squared Circle, as everyone but Bergsveinn knows and Bergsveinn may be told in short order, hasn't really collected worshipers but has kind of picked them up as they've gone, in the same way that mud might stick to a hiker's boots. If any of the Solars closes their eyes and reaches out with their... feelings? Their anima? Their soul? ...they might actually be able to feel it, [21:01] 12the soft susurrus of distant prayer and sacrifice. [21:02] 12Bergsveinn, too - in the eyes of many Icewalkers and other members of the coalition that downed the northern behemoth, the giant is a divinity in his own right. [21:02] 7Blossom can, certainly. It feels nice. [21:02] 11Berg has tried to discourage such things, but people always chalk it up to humility rather than genuinely wanting to be let alone. 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi can't really distinguish it from the feeling of having just eaten candy. [21:03] 12Still, 'distant' is the key word here. 'Infrequent' isn't quite another, between the survivors of the catastrophe in Crystal and the now-free hill people of the Hedgehog, but it's a pretty small cult the lot of you have gathered together, all told. Ahlat you ain't. 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It really puts a damper in Eikichi's plan to have an elite squad of hot assassins at his beck and call. [21:06] 11I feel like there was a "not" missing from that statement. [21:07] 13If you let Tatsuya & Ying keep going, that's... kind of a squad... 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10No denim. [21:07] 13That's fine 6wait no it isn't what [21:09] 12The melee that Ir oversees is brutal - claw against claw, spine against spine. The kruthik take an immediate advantage, though - they're just as ferocious as these unmoored po souls, but much better at self-preservation, and can always retreat to the starfish-structures which turn out to contain massive, pulverizing tentacles. A couple of the little creatures are eviscerated, but [21:09] 12in exchange some twenty ghosts are torn to bits, their ectoplasm evaporating into the night air. 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Anyway, fun as this is, I want to do some shopping." [21:09] 12There's a definite feeling of frustration, though, as the kruthik go on to try to devour their kills and find nothing at all to sink their teeth into. [21:12] 7Blossom: "Hmm? Oh, sure. I don't think I need anything... Ying? Tatsuya? Berg?" [21:13] 12So what's everyone up to as they shop or sightsee? Anything in particular they're looking to find? Any cult or god they wish to join, overthrow, or just gawk at? 08[21:13] 11Berg shrugs. "I think I'll go with Eikichi. [21:13] 4Unfortunate, but then, do we really want the kruthik learning behaviors and blood-knowledge from ghost-things? [21:13] 4Probably for the best. 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's looking for drugs, and maybe a present for Blossom. [21:14] 7Blossom'll look for a temple of the Unconquered Sun. 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's surprised when Bergsveinn comes along. They don't really hang out much. "Looking for anything in particular?" [21:15] 12Drugs abound in the City of Temples. Presents, too... but which is the right choice?? [21:15] 4Either way, that's a successful first sortie -- and Ir didn't have to step in. [21:16] 11Berg shrugs. "I don't think I've bought anything in my life." 11He seems a lot less enthusiastic about this place than he was before coming here. [21:16] 13Ying's looking for anything that might add to her shop! New tools for the rookies, or new fabrics... heck, even just people watching for ideas for new designs. Not to steal the existing ones, but maybe someone did something wild that'll pique her interest. And also maybe a bookseller for something to give to- a friend. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "What's got you down?" [21:17] "Our procession into the city. The guards smashing up those poor folk just wanting to have a look like everyone else." [21:18] "Hell, I know Nexus is worse... that's what bothers me. Tired of seeing it and not doing anything about it." 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Why keep doing nothing, then?" [21:19] "I don't know. Because it feels like if I start doing it, I'm going to be fighting an army's worth of people a day to keep it the way it is. But it's got to start some time." 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It all depends on how, right?" [21:20] 12It's not lost on Ying that, as a general rule, high fashion in Great Forks beats the pants off high fashion in Nexus. Perhaps some of the trends are a little predictable - feathered capes and shiny golden-mock armor are always in style for those who want to echo the majesty of the Trinity - but besides that you've got cloaks of running water and scarfs spun from moonlight and slippers [21:20] 12that leave footprints of fragrant fog. If she has a care to, Ying can easily wander towards what might be called the fashion district itself, a great pavilion of looms and workshops where the devotees of fabulousness toil. 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "Those people kicking paupers into the mud aren't doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. Someone told them to, and something made them want to listen." 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "If we fight those, then the armies almost vanish." [21:22] "So should I start with the ones offering us eternal wine?" [21:22] "Oh ho," 12calls a voice as Ying steps into the square. "A visitor! A challenger?" 12The speaker is a blue-skinned woman with four arms and an iridescent, multi-layer cloak. She perches atop the awning of some kind of central temple and stares right at the young Night Caste Solar. 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You've got to admit it's more efficient." [21:23] 13Ying: "A- a what?" 13Challenger??? [21:23] 4Fuck her up. [21:23] 12Blossom searches high and low. Where would a temple to the Most High be, here in the City of Temples? Were these not wicked times, it'd surely be found on the city's highest hill - but that's where the Trinity makes their home. [21:23] 11Berg: "Maybe so." 11He looks a little more cheerful. "What're you looking for?" 14[21:25] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [21:25] 12Still, there are principles that the truly devoted sun aficionado knows must hold. An uninterrupted arc above offering sight lines to every important phase, an entranceway facing east, a shape and materials conducive to certain patterns and symbols... it's tricky but doable to cross-reference these requirements with the general fact that poorer, shabbier, and all-in-all lesser temples [21:25] 12in Great Forks are stuck in the mostly-shade at the lowest topographical points in the city to determine where a temple must be if it exists at all. 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Herbs, mushrooms, powders. Spirit-cultivating pills and potions. A city of ten thousand gods is a city of ten thousand religions, a hundred thousand rituals. All the varieties of religious experience. And you can buy them all here." 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "You ever want to take a hammer to your spirit and see what you can knock loose?" [21:27] 12And, sure enough, Blossom rounds the corner of an alleyway, pushes a few hanging coats and blankets on a clothesline out of her path, and finds a little cul de sac which is, nevertheless, lit by a ray from above. A stone shrine sits there, a step pyramid just tall enough to step into and just wide enough to allow for for a few stone benches and an altar illuminated from above. [21:28] 7That's all? [21:29] 11Berg surprisingly looks distant. "Ever sit naked on a mountaintop and ask the spirits to do it for you? It's definitely something." [21:29] 4Do you need more? [21:29] 12There's an old man there, sweeping the ground before the shrine with a bloom. A couple kids sit inside, seemingly trying to figure out when the next ceremony's supposed to happen. Isn't it at sunset? No, there's one between noon and sunset- 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oh, gods. The wind alone would turn my skin into sandpaper." [21:31] 11Berg nods. "It's not pleasant. But you learn a lot." [21:33] 12Rolls of sparkling silk unfold as the woman who challenged Ying rises out of her lotus position to point dramatically down with a single hand. Another is held up and back, as though fencing, while two more are balled into fists and pressed jauntily against her hips. She wears black trimmed with bands that seem to flash through every color, and graceful lines of metal rise from the [21:33] 12front of her tiara and sweep backwards past her shoulders. "I," 12she says, "...am Czaliphenya. First and last Chosen of the Maker of Miens and greatest taste-maker in Creation." [21:33] "And I've heard of you." 12Gasps sound throughout the square. [21:37] 7Blossom will mount the steps, will her caste mark to shine on her forehead, and drop a few silvers in the box for the shrine's upkeep, clapping her hands and bowing to the altar as is appropriate and traditional. [21:38] 12In fact, the converse is true. The Maker of Miens was a weaver-goddess of great renown, one of the mysterious personages of Great Forks who really seemed like they might belong in Heaven proper. She was rumored to have been called upon by even the Incarnae for additions to wardrobes. [21:39] 12Unfortunately, she was badly wounded... or cursed... or something, none of the stories are clear on this point, by the Princess Magnificent several years ago, and was not long for this world. Fading from Creation, she sought the Exigence, and received it. [21:40] 12Hence Czaliphenya, only living Exalt of Fashion. Her actual name isn't well known - most in Creation assume that the Maker herself simply remains in Great Forks, making rare and highly-coveted outfits as it suits her. In truth, she's been succeeded, but that successor is no slouch. 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's leaning over a table full of plants and scooping some of each into dozens of little bags and cases. "Oh that reminds me," 10he says, despite neither of them having spoken for several minutes, "if the people at the Arena ask you to fight someone named Wild Rose, you should veto it, because that's me." [21:42] 13Ying: "Wow! That's so great! Word spreads so fast these days..." 13She's got a big ol' grin on, radiating joy to the gathered crowd. "...so, hi! It's always good to meet a fan!" 13Hee hee hee. 08[21:42] 11Berg: "Wild Rose?" [21:42] "I think they already tried." 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yeah. Well. Glad that didn't happen, then." [21:44] 12The old sweeper nods absent-mindedly to Blossom as she passes, then makes a sputtering noise, grabs desperately at his broom but fails to grab it before it clatters to the ground, whirls to follow the Zenith's passing, and only fails to throw a bottle over his shoulder because he hasn't got one on him. The two kids are floored. One repeats ohmygoshohmygosh while the other stares in [21:44] 12silence. [21:44] 12Little boy: "You're---!!!" [21:44] 4Showing off. [21:45] 7It's called showing respect to her patron and lord. And also showing off. [21:46] 7What time of day is it? About noon? 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Showing off is showing respect to our patron and lord. [21:46] 4Ugh. [21:49] 12It's about halfway between noon and sunset. In case you're wondering, there is a ceremony to mark that midpoint, but it's generally not observed without considerably higher worshiper counts and real estate than are in evidence here. 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The ceremonial ritual for halfway between noon and sunset is for Blossom and Eikichi to split a pitza. [21:53] 12Czaliphenya: "Fan! You presume too much! For how many fans have you even made? How many grace the hands of gods - and not petty lords or pettier merchants?" 12She crosses one set of arms, but signals deep thought with the other. "Certainly there's something to be... appreciated in your work, in that Nexus needs all the help it can get. But, well..." [21:54] 7Having done the appropriate ritual for the shrine's tenders, Blossom ceremonially supplicates before the shrine: "Ignis Divine, sanctify me. Lord of Light, save me. God-spark, humble me. Love of the Most High, match your might and wit and will to mine." [21:54] 7She stands, and offhand to the shrinekeeper: "I'm a bit late for the noon service. My apologies, honored priest." 14[22:00] * Joins: Quaker [22:00] 13Ying: "Wellllllll... the Emissary seemed to like my work, but that's no way to speak of the rest of my customers! Every piece of mine is made with heart!" 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Ying made clothes for Eikichi. She should mention the clothes she made for Eikichi. [22:01] 13No she absolutely should not. 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Joot yourself. [22:02] 13This is NOT the time-- [22:02] 12Over the rest of the day and night, Ir's able to preside over the birth of two more queens and the hatching of a dozen or so more zerglings. The oldest queen plants a series of seeds or eggs or something in the ground, allowing the kruthik cluster to spread deeper into its adjoining forest, and then directs several drones to meld into a strange, spiky structure that plunges roots [22:02] 12deep into the ground and glows a pale green as it draws something out of the dirt. [22:03] 4Static defenses once the perimeter's developed. [22:03] 4Good, good. [22:03] 12By the next sunrise, the hive's fended off several more waves of hungry ghosts - some seeming to contain repeats from the first, which Ir isn't sure is usual - but has fully fortified itself and even started to spawn those looming, serpentine spinethrowers. Pretty good shape, all in all - if Sondok's left to watch, Ir can safely head out to see to other affairs. [22:04] 4She'll do so. Is there way to maintain psychic contact over distance yet? [22:04] 12Czaliphenya raises a single sharp eyebrow at Ying. "Every piece?" [22:04] 12She knows. [22:04] 13Oh no. [22:05] 4Gotta turn it around. [22:05] 4Own that shit. [22:05] 4Only way out is through. 08[22:06] 12Not for Ir. There is a means of emergency communication, though - should all hell break loose, one of Eikichi's demons can Hurry Home to him and get his attention. [22:06] 4That's acceptable for now. [22:06] 4She'll be checking in when she can anyway. [22:06] 4She'll thank Sondok for her help and speed back to Great Forks. [22:07] 12The man speaking to Blossom sweats. "Oh, oh- no, your worship, no, just a lay worshiper, me, just keeping things clean. Our priest hasn't got to - in a bad way, you know..." [22:09] 7Blossom: "Is there something wrong?" [22:11] 12Temple sweeper: "Well, she fell ill, didn't she? After the bit with the... the attack. Hasn't always been up to the services. It comes and goes..." [22:11] 12Little boy: "You're BLOSSOM!" [22:12] 12Sweeper: "Lad, I'm trying to-" [22:12] 12Boy: "From the BOOK-" 08[22:12] 7Blossom: "Oh, you've read Eikichi's books?" [22:13] 13Ying: "...every piece! Even that one!" 13She looks defiant. "It was exactly what I drew up - an exploration of the art form, of the lower limits - I've made beautiful works of art, and smart, practical outfits, and all kinds of things you can see anywhere else with any sorts of materials or designs you can name - but no one, I mean no one, has EVER made ANYTHING like that!" [22:15] 12Boy: "I TOLD you they were real-" 21Girl: "There's no way she's-" 12Boy, looking back to Blossom: "Tell 'em!!" [22:15] "Hullo." 4When Ir walks in, she's in commoner's garb, her hair down. She drops a silver in the shrine box. [22:15] 4She doesn't flash her caste mark. [22:19] 7Blossom: "It's true. I'm Excessively Righteous Blossom, and this is Ir of Pneuma." 7Back to the sweeper with a serious expression: "She's ill, after the undead attack?" [22:20] 4Ir nods, both to the custodian and to Blossom, but doesn't let the conversation distract her from approaching the altar, falling to both knees, and half-mouthing a prayer to the Sun with her hands clasped together. 08[22:23] "...and to clay we will return!!" 12cries a strangled voice, sounding above the singing, chanting, and general commotion of the Great Forks markets. It might well catch the attention of Eikichi and Bergsveinn for the same reason this doomsayer gets the eyes and ears of other in the square - he looks very strange. Gigantic, but gnarled, warped, and generally uneven. It's an old, [22:23] 12wild-bearded who might be as tall as Bergsveinn himself were he actually standing up, but he's bent over a great, knobbly staff which upon a second glance turns out to be his actual arm. Bark, moss, and soil make up portions of his flesh and one of his two eyes glows green from within. [22:24] 4...She's grateful Blossom doesn't use her full name. [22:24] 12People in Great Forks will say a lot if they're after worship, but there are a few things generally considered too gauche to bring out in polite company and others which are downright illegal. You're not supposed to say, for instance, that the city itself is doomed, that its gods can't stand up to yours - but that's what this fellow's saying about the doom from the east. 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi blinks. "You see that, right?" 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He hasn't taken anything yet but there's a lot of incense burning in this market and you can never be sure. [22:26] 12Czaliphenya: "You might as well say that until the Great Contagion not as many people have EVER died! What you did was a disgrace. Like nails on a chalkboard - but a dilettante like you would not be properly sensitive, would you?" [22:26] 11Berg blinks. "Yeah... and feel it, too. Seems familiar." [22:27] 12Oversized, leafy prophet: "It comes! It comes! It slumbers now, aye, but only as any man would after a great feast! Some day... some day soon..." [22:29] 12At Blossom's confirmation, the boy looks like he's about to explode. The little girl - his sister? - just looks mad. The sweeper tries to stay on topic. "After the undead... it might've been an attack, yes. Might've been. But she fell ill just the same. Paler, colder... don't know much medicine, but none of it's worked." [22:30] 12Sweeper: "And, of course, she wouldn't take the blessing of another. Headstrong." [22:30] 7Blossom strokes her chin and says commandingly: "Take me to her." [22:30] 4When she's done praying, Ir pops back up to her feet, stretches, and yawns. "Hey, kids." [22:31] 13Ying: "Dilet-- I'm not that kind of girl!" 13The grin's gone, now. Impugning her skill? That's just too far. "So- so what do you want from me, other than to insult me?" [22:34] "He's got to be talking about the behemoth..." [22:34] 4Ir's wearing something...not new -- Blossom will recognize it -- but something she usually doesn't take out from underneath her tunic: a wooden, carved sun sigil hanging around her neck on a thin woven cord. [22:35] 12The old sweeper nods. He shakes a finger at the two kids on general principles, then sw- er, strides off as best as his age allows him to, leading Blossom through a door in the side of the alleyway and up a few flights of stairs. [22:36] 12Back at the shrine, the girl looks at her brother. "Which one was Ir?" 12Him: "Um, the singer?" 12The girl's eyes are suddenly alight with wickedness. "Oh, so it's the one that just left that you wanted to marry-" "Shutupshutup-" [22:36] "HA!" 4Ir slumps down into one of the stone pews. "Yeah, I'm the singer." [22:37] 4To the boy: "But you've got good taste, kid." 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Who's this little shit [22:37] 7Blossom's leaving them in good hands. Ir likes kids, Blossom thinks baselessly. [22:37] 4How's mushrooms, buddy [22:38] 12Czaliphenya: "Insults! Hardly. This is valuable feedback, and I'm sure you'll take it back with you to Nexus and perhaps improve a teensy bit. But mark you well where the real masterpieces are made." [22:40] 13Ying's eyes sparkle, star-like. "Is that a challenge?" [22:41] 12Back in the square, Bergsveinn realizes that the feeling's mutual. The half-tree prophet, branch-arm and tattered cloak and all, suddenly looks up, his eyes bulging, and comes lurching forward at the gigantic northerner, still-human hand outstretched and grasping. [22:42] 12Czaliphenya's eyes sparkle in different patterns - it's kind of a crosshatch. "Are you a challenge?" [22:43] 4Ir does actually like kids. They're forthright, but they're also not fixed. You can tell real quick if they're good or if they're bad -- but the bad ones don't have to stay that way. [22:43] 11Berg catches it. "You alright, friend?" [22:43] 12Blossom finds herself in a small room in the white clay building adjoining the shrine, a single sunbeam intruding trough the window in what's otherwise all soft shadows. A middle-aged woman, pale and shaking, is bundled heavily up under multiple blankets, though it's shorts-and-shirts weather outside. [22:46] 12The man's hand squeezes Bergsveinn's hard, nails digging into skin. Mismatched eyes stare into Bergsveinn's own. Something feels wrong- [22:46] 13Ying: "Don't you want to find out? Show the 'newcomer' her place?" 13She's hopping from toe to toe now. It's actually her normal fighting stance, but it seems more excited and less nervous than that - let's go. Let's go!! 08[22:54] 12Both Eikichi and Bergsveinn have sized this weirdo up. They're pretty sure he's a demesne mutant - someone whose body was warped not through exposure to the chaos beyond reality, but through exposure to the raw elemental power that sometimes seethes at the intersections of dragon lines or other places of power. It's generally gentler than the wyld, though - it affects creatures over [22:54] 12the timespan of generations and generally in sustainable and stable ways, rather than leaving misshapen wrecks like this fellow. The size, certainly, suggests something else is going on... [22:54] 4Ir leans back against the stone of the pew. "You kids want to hear a song?" [22:58] 11Berg grasps the man's hand, feeling the shock his body meant for Berg's. He tears it away just before the man's life slips away. "What in the...?" [22:58] 12Czaliphenya: "Oh, yes. Oh, very much so! Tell me, Ying of Nexus. What's your very favorite piece of apparel? Your favorite fashion article? Your greatest strength?" 12She leans forward. "You can make one. And I'll put it to shame!" [23:02] 12Blossom looks over the ailing high priest - priest, really, as you can't be the high priest unless there's more than one. Her skin's pale, her hair's greying, and she's shivering as though lying exposed on the northern tundra despite being under at least three blankets. A quick check of her wrists and temples leads Blossom to believe that this is no infection or normal illness, which [23:02] 12means that it's time for some exploratory incense burning, prayer, and application of holy symbols. [23:05] 12After some meditation and careful prep, Blossom's able to angle a mirror across the bed at just the right angle to outline any intruders in the woman's shadow. And, lo and behold, a spike, fanged, skeletal shape is visible rippling through the silhouette of the woman on the bed. She's possessed! Or 'ridden', at least. [23:05] 4Assuming the answer from the kids is 'yes:' "Something religious? Or something fun?" [23:06] 12Back down in the alleyway, the brother and sister look at each other and then nod furiously. Boy: "Yes yes yes please! Do um do something from Crystal! One of the good parts!" [23:06] 7Oh ho? Bad news for this creature. Excessively Righteous Blossom is here, and she's not going to stand for this. [23:06] 4She rolls her eyes. "Oh yeah, like I can tell what the bad parts are myself." [23:07] "Make you a deal." [23:07] 12Elsewhere in the city, people scream and gasp in shock as strange groaning, cracking, churning noises sound from Bergsveinn and the eastern doomsayer both. It sounds like trees bending under huge weights and mountains crumbling and hearts beating. It looks even worse - blood vessels stand out in the arms of both men, and while Bergsveinn pales briefly he's suddenly standing tall [23:07] 12while the other man visibly greys and withers, his bark-skin cracking and the light in his mutated eye going dim. [23:07] "Gonna sing the song I've been writing about the big guy in the sky--" 4She gestures at the altar. "Then I'll do two more from Crystal." [23:08] 12Something in Bergsveinn wants to hold on, but Bergsveinn himself does not. The tree-man goes stumbling backwards and then crashes to the ground, bits of foliage on his body falling away and revealing shriveled, discolored skin beneath. He's left a shivering wreck. [23:12] 7Blossom sits cross-legged in front of the afflicted priestess, gesturing the nervous sweeper to stand well away by the wall. The golden light of her anima flares outward from her eyes to envelop her body, filling the room with a sacred aroma that cleanses the air. Finally, she twists her right hand into a sort of claw shape and lays it alongside the priestess' face, declaring in Old [23:12] 7Realm: "Nan icheryn gelair amar! BURNING EXORCISM!" [23:13] 4The first song is the downer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyGUg9u_psU [23:14] "And I've been a fool and I've been blind; I can never leave the past behind. I can see no way, I can see no way. I'm always dragging that spear around; all of her questions, such a mournful sound. Tonight I'm gonna bury that spear in the ground. So I like to keep my issues drawn; but it's always darkest before the dawn." [23:14] "What was that all about, then? Are you still alive?" [23:15] 4The second is more religious, but promises something better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqtL-SRPXa8 [23:17] 12The sun priestess's eyes snap open, blue-white flame streaks out from them to splash harmlessly against the ceiling. Her back arches and her limbs flex such that she's sort of pushing herself up off the bed belly-first, feet and elbows digging into the mattresses and lifting several layers of blankets like they weren't there. Beneath her, her shadow - no, just a shadow, it's too [23:17] 12dark and wrong for the lighting - detaches itself from her heels and pours down onto the floor like ink cut with water. [23:17] 4The third song is just a love song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrK-IxLv-LU [23:18] 4And, bowing to popular demand, she does a more modest rendition of The Song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKAwPA14Ni4 [23:18] 12It unfolds before Blossom, then, a tall and distended skeleton made of darkness with black pinions stretching backward from its skull and ribcage and a pink fire burning in its eyes and around its talons. And it leaps- [23:21] 12The man Bergsveinn nearly killed can barely answer, though he does still seem to be alive. He's a quivering heap of rags and leaves, unable to pull himself back to his feet. "D-don't... just... needed... could smell... coming..." 12From behind and around the icewalker and the sorcerer, the city guard is approaching. "What's this commotion? What'd you do?" [23:23] 11Berg shrugs. "I think it was a reaction of some kind. I didn't mean to hurt him." [23:23] 13Ying: "Hmmm..." 13Such a bold challenge. Well, no backing down from that. (Gulp.) "Something traditional, then - I've been needing a new dress! So much potential in such a simple piece of clothing! Formal, casual, anything in between, the most widely varied clothing in all Creation! And such freedom in the design...!" 13She practically vibrates in excitement. [23:24] 12The kids react to Ir's impromptu concert as you might expect, looking either very solemn or very bored to start but being increasingly moved and basically flipping out for the solo at the end. But they're the least of Ir's problems(?) - the more the noise echoes out through the alleyways, the more people are wandering up to listen. [23:24] 4That's not a problem to a performer and an advocate. 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You siphoned him off." [23:24] 7Too late. Blossom claps her hands to the side of the spectre's head, and before it can even bring its talons to bear, rips its shadowy skull in two with her fingers. There's an anguished shriek as the clotted darkness of the creature's form burns as incense in the face of the swelling golden bonfire that is Blossom's anima. [23:25] 12By the time Ir finishes her last song, she realizes she's being watched by dozens of people. They're crowding around the alleyway entrance, pouring out of both doors into the alley's sides, leaning out of windows up above her. Some of them look angry or ready to yell something at her, but others are shooting them dirty looks or just shushing them. [23:26] 4Good. [23:26] 4They can step if they want. [23:26] "I'm worried to touch him again. Do you think whatever happened is dealt with now?" [23:26] 12Czaliphenya: "A dress? Hah! Little fool! I've wrought dresses in my sleep! I live and breathe dresses! I practically am dresses! Not in ten thousand worlds could you - but I'm getting ahead of myself. Who'll judge?" [23:27] 4You don't throw the reverb on the moonsilver six-string if you're not looking for the walk-in crowd. [23:28] 12The sweeper who brought Blossom up to the room is kneeling in the doorway, shivering in fear and muttering prayers for deliverance. Ahead of Blossom, the priestess is groaning, looking left and right and blinking slowly. She touches a hand to the side of her head: "...where..." [23:28] 12Priestess: "Where... has it... oh, no. Is it free? Have I failed?" [23:29] 7Blossom, legs crossed, eyes closed, caste mark burning brightly on her forehead: "It is destroyed." [23:30] 4Not an answer to the question. [23:31] 12The guards aren't really inclined to behave with suspicion towards the Trinity's personal guests to start with, and when people around the square start shouting that the strange man clearly leapt at, clearly attacked the other one, it becomes quite easy for them to make their decision. They'd been getting complaints about the doomsayer already - he's scooped up without ceremony, [23:31] 12stuffed into the back of a cart and, well, carted off. There were two people with him, it seems, both easterners - one trails along with the cart, the other turns and leaves, shaking his head. [23:32] 4Huh. 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Not unless you want it to, I should think." [23:32] 4It's prettier than what the Emissary did to Panther. But it's no less fucked up. [23:32] "He's not wrong. It still comes." [23:33] 12The priestess shuts her eyes tightly for a moment, then opens them again. Blossom's still there, and so is the mark on her brow. So the woman just collapses before the Zenith Caste, crying tears of joy, while outside Ir's concert rings through the alleyways. [23:34] 12Czaliphenya thinks aloud, putting a finger to her lips in thought while two other hands wring idly and a third rests on her hip. "One of the Three, perhaps? They're very fair-minded..." [23:37] 12It's a little later that priestess and groundskeeper both are able to talk to Blossom without going into conniptions. Their first instinct is basically to kowtow, never look Blossom in the eye, and only answer questions when spoken to. What does Blossom ask of them? They'll do anything. 08[23:37] 13Ying: "Eikichi Sho." 13She braces for the reaction. [23:37] 4Is the concert over enough that Ir can be in this meeting with Blossom? [23:38] 7Blossom tries to adopt a stance that puts them at their ease, as much as is possible. "You were containing the spectre?" 08[23:39] 12Czaliphenya: "Eikichi pfffft. I'll counter-suggest my own dear mother and then we can take this seriously." [23:40] 12The priestess: "Yes, your- my- ...your worship?" 12She pauses to see if Blossom has a different idea. "It was hiding in the lower alleys... making people do terrible things. I didn't know how else to stop it." 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A voice from the crowd: "Do I get to meet her?" 14[23:40] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [23:40] 12Ir can, yeah. In fact, she probably noticed a blast of holy fire from one of the upper windows - she's free to go up and look, although she'll have to either deliver or avoid delivering a few autographs, an encore, and so on. 08[23:42] 12When Eikichi wanders up fashion avenue and into fashion square, he finds an unusual scene. Ying's standing smack dab in the middle of the plaza, looking up at a blue-skinned, four-armed woman who's standing up on a sort of balcony/awning for what must be the biggest and richest establishment there. They're being outrageous at each other. 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Good. [23:42] 4She'll deliver an encore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cILwc-Rmao 14[23:42] * Joins: Quaker [23:42] 4But she will not sign autographs in the house of her God. [23:42] 4That's insulting. [23:43] 12Well, it's outside the house of God. The actual solar ziggurat's barely a walk-in closet at the end of the alley. [23:43] 4She stayed inside. Tactically. [23:43] 7Blossom smiles brilliantly. "That was brave. The people of this city are fortunate to have you." [23:44] 4Either way, though, she'll walk up. [23:45] 12Czaliphenya blinks and looks off to the side. Who'd interrupt something like this? "Who'd interrupt something like this? Show yourself!" [23:46] 12Priestess: "It was the very least I could do. Our lord's blessing kept me safe... kept it dormant. Mostly." 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi rises from the crowd on a gust of air and lands beside Ying. Still wearing his dress uniform, he salutes Czaliphenya. 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you not recognize me without the sandals?" [23:48] 12The Chosen of Fashion blinks, leans in to peer, then recoils. "You! Why - why WOULD you?!" [23:48] 13Ying immediately reddens. [23:48] 7Blossom: "What are your names?" [23:48] 4'Seemed like a good idea at the time.' [23:49] 4Ir, walking in: "Hey, Blossom. Hey, devotionals." [23:50] 12Priestess: "Medina." 12Sweeper: "Raldo. She's my niece." [23:50] 12Medina: "I've minded the shrine since my mother passed... we've done the best we could." [23:50] "Who are the kids?" [23:52] 12Medina: "My brother's. But he's out of the city and his wife's gone. We watch them, mostly." 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Who would not? To ride the curled cloud of imagination, to link arms with genius and perpindiculate the very gravity that holds the world of fashion together. Who would dare refuse?" [23:52] 4Ir nods solemnly. "They're damn good kids." [23:53] "I'm going to ask you two a question and I want you to know it's not judgmental. I'm looking for answers, not scapegoats." [23:53] 12Medina: "They've been brought up in the faith." 12Raldo: "When they remember it. It can be hard times... though less so, recently." [23:53] "Why's our altar at the back end of an alley?" [23:54] 13She gets even redder. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. [23:54] 7Blossom: "Because not many people come anymore. No?" [23:54] "Sure. But the answers are intertwined." [23:55] "Ain't like people can forget about the Sun." [23:55] "So either He hasn't served you, or you've been prevented from serving Him." [23:55] 12Raldo: "Not many ever did. They say the Sun got his fair share here, once upon a time... but that was before the Contagion, at least." [23:55] "Mmmm." [23:56] "Sounds about right." [23:56] 12Raldo: "Not one for miracles, or so people say. Don't get a lot out of the worship... here, people always find better offers. What look like better offers." [23:56] 12Medina: "But... there are more. Recently. People've heard of the sun's champions." [23:56] "He never did learn you have to more than fuck around the sky and send us out to smile and fix it." [23:56] 12Raldo: "They certainly have." 12He sounds not entirely jubilant here, and Medina frowns slightly. 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi turns to Ying and grabs her by the shoulders. "Don't be embarrassed. It doesn't go with anything." [23:57] *have to do [23:58] 12Czaliphenya: "Well, that's why he certainly isn't fit to judge. His taste is certifiably psychotic." [23:58] 4Ir picks up on that inter-play. "And have those people come by to make offerings?" [23:58] "Or have they come by to make a different point." Session Time: Thu Jan 11 00:00:00 2018 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "Taste? By the Sun, I don't care about taste. Refinement is nothing. Beauty, even, is inadequate." [00:00] 12Medina: "People have heard of the sun's champions, and what they've done in Nexus, or in Chiaroscuro, or up north... but also what they've done in Thorns. Or what they did here, after coming over the Yellow River, marching at the Princess's sides." 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "But if it be a sin to covet glory, I am the most offending soul alive." [00:01] 7Blossom grips her legs angrily. "Those are no children of the Sun." [00:01] 12Medina: "So some come here to join. Others to ask us to stop, in case we encourage them. And it's hard to tell sometimes which people want to join what." 08[00:01] 4Sun, Ir appreciates Eikichi. Three steps ahead, one step behind, but only because that's the dance-step. [00:01] 13Ying: "I - " 13She straightens up - hadn't realized how much she was slouching - and smooths out her skirt. She's still blushing, but less. "He's the best judge we could ask for. I mean that." [00:01] 12Raldo: "That's what we tell 'em. But they've heard of the shapes that appear on those people. Seen 'em before." 12True enough. The very symbols of the castes are etched in the appropriate places on this shrine. [00:01] 4Bluntly: "They sound dumb as shit." [00:02] "Not your fault." [00:02] 12Raldo: "They say... well, they died, didn't they? So it makes sense they'd come back like this." [00:02] "Everyone dies. That's a fact." [00:02] "And we're not the people who died for us." [00:03] "We inherited a throne. But that's just getting ownership of furniture." [00:03] 7Blossom: "It's true, we fell once." [00:04] "But the Sun has turned his face back toward the world. And when he spoke to me, he said that we must bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, that the strong should not harm the weak." [00:04] "So my proposition is that we're going to find everyone in this city who claims the Sun and we're going to have a conversation about the nature of death, sacrifice, belief and God." [00:04] "And then we'll see how that goes." [00:05] 7Blossom nods at Ir. "We can be defeated for a day, or a year, or an age. But the children of the Sun are never beaten forever." [00:05] 12Czaliphenya: "Absurd! I don't trust you and I trust him less. He'll pick whatever you make and spout some nonsense that no one's brave enough to challenge. We need a third party. A discerning party. An objective party. I say one of the Three - whichever one you like, they all love their pomp. And if not them... then higher still." [00:05] 4Ir grins. "I'm not gonna even grant them the week." 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You don't need a judge. You need a model. Any little eddy of whim can knock a spoken judgment away. Pose the only question that demands an answer: what do you choose for yourself when it counts. Lips will lie but hips never do." [00:06] 12Medina looks back and forth between Blossom and Ir. "We're not that many - but more than before, as I've said. If you wish a convocation, your worships, we can call one." [00:07] 4Ir: "Priestess, I just put out the word pretty well already. Our enemies know we're here. They're preparing." 08[00:07] 12The Chosen of Fashion eyes Eikichi, frowning as she turns over his words and decides if they make sense. 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi turns around, raising an arm to solicit input from the streets. "Who is the vainest person in Great Forks?" [00:08] "So when you call your convocation, be as unfair as possible.'; [00:08] *" [00:08] "And take names as to whom doesn't show." [00:08] "We'll go room by room." [00:08] "It won't take long." [00:11] 12There's some vague muttering. It might, from where people are or aren't looking, literally be Czaliphenya, although Shield of a Different Day might outmatch her. Then, of course, there's the fickle, inscrutable goddess Nyaroshi, who those assembled in the square start to name with increasing confidence because by so doing they'll neither be offending a Chosen who's standing right [00:11] 12there or one of the masters of the city. 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10No one who'd take an accusation of vanity as an insult need apply. [00:12] 13Nya- roshi? [00:13] 12Then it's almost certainly Nyaroshi, variously known as The Dignified, The Most High, She of the Emerald Stare, and many other names. Her domain, of course, is cats. [00:14] 12Medina and Raldo look between Ir and Blossom, then look at each other. If there doesn't seem to be any disagreement or further query from the two Chosen, they'll bow low, and move to put out the call. [00:14] 4Good. [00:14] 4Here's what's important now: protecting these believers, first. 08[00:14] 13Well then. "Nyaroshi is acceptable. Eikichi, will you model?" [00:15] 4Second? Baiting the trap, setting the trap, and caring more about the prey that refuse the bait than those which are taken in. 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "She will." [00:15] 4Ir will take Blossom aside when they have a moment. [00:15] 4Ir: "I want to do something lasting here." [00:16] 7Blossom: "It certainly sounded like it. What's your plan?" [00:16] "Thaaaaat's..." 12Czaliphenya. "That's quite clever. Yes, yes, her - she doesn't actually pay attention to anything that's going on. It'll be pure instinctual reaction, the push or pull of the art itself - it's perfect!" [00:16] 13Ying: "Oh! That. Um. Makes more sense." 13Not blushing. Nope. [00:17] 4Ir: "They say you catch more vermin with honey than shit. They're right about that, until the vermin learn that honey's just as bad for them as shit." [00:17] 12The Chosen of Fashion leans suddenly forward, all four hands on the railing before her. "And the deadline?" [00:17] "You know who loves the Sun in places like this?" [00:18] "Real people, like the ones we've just met. Good people." [00:18] "And shitheads with angles. And Guilders." [00:19] 4She leans back against the wall. "You want my opinion, that's my biggest problem with our lord. He's endlessly brandable. But he won't brand you." [00:19] 12Except for the things on your foreheads. [00:20] 4Yeah, for all three hundred of us. [00:20] 4Our dread lord invented sunburn, too. He's chosen his people. He should choose more. [00:22] 4To Blossom: "So we do honey once. We accept anyone who wants forgiveness. We build a church. And when that doesn't work, we just get angry." [00:23] 13Ying: "...one hour." 13She looks thoughtful - already sketching things out in her head. "I can do that. Can you?" 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Damn. 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Ying the Merciless. [00:25] 12Czaliphenya's eyes flash. "One hour? .....................fine." 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10While Ying and Czaliphenya negotiate, Eikichi eats another one of those medicinal pills he got at the market. These are great. [00:26] 12Czalphenya turns and sweeps off through the curtains behind her. She pauses right on the threshold, turning to look at Ying archly over her shoulder. "Starting now." [00:26] 7Blossom: "Ah, technically he did... it's why humanity rules Creation and not, I don't know, those weird lizardmen from the Southeast. Even the Immaculates don't deny that, it's an interesting story really- but I take your point." [00:26] 12Who'll win? Find out... in one hour. [00:26] 13Ying: "Good luck!" [00:26] "It will be good to remind people that virtue cannot be purchased." [00:26] 4Ir: "He loves the lizardmen too. He doesn't have a choice." [00:27] "That's what being Lord of Creation is." [00:28] 4She pauses. "You know I'm opposed to killing." [00:29] "I'd like to resolve this without that." [00:29] "Sometimes." [00:29] 7Blossom: "Well, yes." [00:29] 4She looks over. "But I'd only like to." [00:29] "Especially if they're slavers." [00:31] 7Blossom: "I doubt it will come to that." [00:32] "I hope you're right," 4Ir says. 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15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:25] <@VoxPVoxD> In Council Tower, conversations spin apace, each little orbit bound up in the same etiquettes and conventions. Hayle is patiently evasive, getting as many details out of Xu Sim as he can without committing to word one of his proposal. What's Xu Sim's pitch? 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar, Bastian, and the grotesque Governor of Thorns are circling around a conversation of military strategy, predictably hindered by the lack of trust between them. What are Keldar and Bastian trying to get from their new translucent friend? [20:29] %C5 Without curing the city of the Honey-Maze, victory is impossible. To cure the City, Xu Sim needs his patients, the assistance of the city's clinics, and access to well-stocked apothecary. All Xu Sim requires is a proper change of clothes and the return of his good name with regards to the death under mysterious circumstances of a certain River Kingdoms despot. 15[20:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan shares an after-dinner drink with Mori Nogare, Prince Regent of the provincial empire of Highland. He's perfectly cordial and (in his way) receptive to her charm, but Stranger's given her a warning. How does she proceed? [20:29] 4Bastian is trying to ascertain if the plan is merely to beat them back from Nexus, or invade and liberate Deguo as well. [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12In Keldar's case, it's some idea of how undead shock troops compare to the normal sort from a rarely-seen perspective. It's common knowledge that zombies and such are fearless, tireless, impervious to plague or pain - but do they actually need feeding of some sort? Repairs? Costly magical reagants? Maybe they represent a better business opportunity - and a lesser threat - than one [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12would think. [20:30] 14The silver-haired man, meanwhile, waits on a cat. [20:32] 5 Xu Sim continues: To defeat the hordes of raksha (and their honeybee minions), Xu Sim believes an ingenious secret weapon he has envisioned could save the lives of hundreds of men, requiring little more than the work of the city's glass-blowers and the byproducts of its forges and dyeworks. 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> While he waits for the Ambassador, Stranger has got half an ear on a brisk disagreement between Councilor Pellicia and Councilor Brueghel about plans to fortify the city. Brueghel insists that it's a waste of money to erect more than quick barricades against such a powerful army. Pellicia insists that to give anything less than your full effort to front-line physical defense is as good as consigning the upriver outskirts of the city to doom before the fighting has even begun. [20:33] 14Mmmmm. Interesting. [20:34] 14Does Pellicia look like she needs help arguing her cause? More importantly, does it look like she wants any from the likes of him? [20:34] 5 Xu Sim is happy to provide his superior medical attention to the city of Nexus in the future, bringing health and contentment to the City, in return for terms he is sure his companions could happily elaborate upon, on an a-la-carte basis. For example, bringing clean and fresh water to the slums, a project he has occasionally contemplated, is not beyond his reach. 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger can tell that Pellicia doesn't have Brueghel's rhetorical chops, but nor does she have Brueghel's apparent tolerance for bullshit. Defense of the city is her prerogative, after all - he has to convince her, not the other way around. [20:39] 13Xia Lan continues to charm the Regent (though less actively than this sort of thing usually requires - strange man), making small talk and probing his feelings on the other attendees. She knows his feelings on their lot, but not his feelings on Nexus, Highland, or Thorns. Or the principal actors, for that matter. Some careful conversations ought to bring that to light. 15[20:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Bastian only hears the Governor talk about Nexus. There's no hint he's got an appetite to dive into the hundred kingdoms to clean up the mess the raksha made. But nobody's committed to a formal military policy yet, either. It'd be a ripe opportunity for negotiation. 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Meanwhile, the same Governor deflects most of Keldar's questions about the strengths and weaknesses of his army by eating noisily. At one point he sprays wine on Keldar when he talks. [20:42] 4“-while I agree we should focus on the immediate future, surely what comes next should concern us as well? Victory is not guaranteed, but we seem to have assembled an impressive array of allies here." [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar expertly deflects it, obviously. [20:44] 7Dawn looks really grossed out. 15[20:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Dawn, her steady eye on the mysterious Hunter, isn't caught by surprise at all when he gets up and walks across the room to sit near her, though most everyone else is startled when they realize he's moved. [20:46] 14...Stranger's got an angle here, he thinks. He scoops up the nearest kettle and an empty cup and slips over. "More tea, my councilors? Talk of business always makes me thirsty." [20:46] 14Regardless of their answers, he'll pour himself a cup. [20:46] 7Dawn, for her part, doesn't flinch or look surprised. 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "I like your proposal. However, our budget for taking on new contractors is already stretched thin. We could maybe scrape together the cash for most of your project... but it'd be very difficult to pay you for your services." 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "Allies of necessity, my orphaned princeling! We must agree our needs. Defense of Creation, yes, but beyond that?" [20:51] 4“Surely defense would involve wiping them off the territories they have taken? We cannot allow an open wound to fester." [20:52] 14He'll give Pellicia a look as well. He's unsure how well the Dawn Sergeant a look as well. He's not sure how well she can read him, but he's here to prod Brueghel, not cause more problems for her. [20:52] 5 Xu Sim has no way of knowing if the man lies.  "To be esteemed is better than silver or jade, as some would say. Would I be esteemed?" 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Hunter's voice is thin and foreign and cold. Dawn can't quite catch his eyes beneath his hat and scarf. "It's rude to stare without introducing yourself." 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "Most highly, if we live." [20:53] 7Dawn: "Given the company you keep, you'd know from rudeness." [20:55] 5 Xu Sim asks questions as a schoolmaster might.  "And you can provide my tools? My reagents? Access to those unfortunates under Lookshyan guard?" 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan finds the Regent easily diplomatic - Nexus is the linchpin of the entire Eastern Threshold, he says. Thorns is making an admirable and earnest commitment to a common good no one would've attributed to them! - but she can't help but notice that the more she pushes the conversation to the others in the room, the less he touches or even looks at his food and drink. [20:57] 13What's he looking at instead? 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan. He breaks eye contact less as the conversation goes on. 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Brueghel: "You're too kind. Pellicia speaks very highly of you." 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor laughs at Bastian. "You speak of the Province as if it had been conquered. You'd sooner speak of counterattacking a field ruined by locusts! The raksha don't take territory." [21:02] 4“But if we beat them back from here - they will retreat to there, no? We do not have the freedom to allow them to recover, to retrench - yes?" 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "If they retreat, we haven't beaten them. Our goal cannot be simply to protect Nexus - we must crush the invaders outright, and to a man." [21:04] 4“And should we succeed? What will you do next?" [21:04] "She is an excellent judge of character," 14Stranger says without a hint of irony or double-meaning, and pours the councilor tea. "She is right, of course, about the necessity and primacy of a strong outer defense against the precise foes we face -- but I must confess, your digression on the shape of the economy intrigues me. The concept of waste, specifically." [21:05] 13Charming! And it's good to know she's still got the gift - it rankled, a little, not to keep his attention. 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Hunter: "Rude out loud, too. Have I offended you?" [21:06] "Let us suppose you are correct on the general point: fortifying the outlying defenses costs more money than it recoups. This seems counter-intuitive, as it preserves both the most dynamic asset that Nexus's economy harnesses -- her labor -- and the least liquid: developed land. It seems then, somewhere, there must be an inflection point that changes the incentives." [21:08] 7Dawn: "Is the intent of your party here not to offend? Are you disappointed that you would succeed? If that wasn't your intent, seems you could have chosen your leader and your army a bit better." 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "I'm... not empowered to make commitments on behalf of the Lookshyan delegation. You could ask the Dragonlord yourself - I find him most personable." 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle looks around. "Where has he gotten off to?" [21:09] "In any case - please let me know who can receive my shopping list, and I will begin to cure the people and build the secret weapon." [21:14] 5 Xu Sim doesn't mind that Dorma is nowhere to be seen; he would prefer not to approach him alone. 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Brueghel: "I'm afraid it's more to do with our current woeful readiness than a lack of love or respect for the outer city. Nexus is a peaceful city. Its defense has been unquestioned in living memory. However, our defense and our law enforcement revolved around the efforts of the Emissary. With his sudden absence, we find ourselves unable to meet our existing security needs, much less assume a proper wartime footing." 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Hunter: "We don't choose our leaders. Do you?" 14[21:15] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "If we succeed, then we will have succeeded! That is reward enough. What we do next depends on the contours of our success, my dear lord." [21:16] 7Dawn: "Why follow someone you don't believe in, then?" [21:17] 13Chatting with the Beast of Highland, Xia Lan continues: "You know, you never answered my question about your homeland. I've never been - what's it like?" [21:17] 14Stranger sips his tea. "And is that a problem of resources, or a problem of workflow? That the Emissary's loss has made you unable to protect Nexus's current holdings presupposes that all questions of allocation and structure remain answered the same way in his absence. Phrased differently, and more succinctly: what needs to change? And whom outside this room needs to be consulted [21:17] in those changes, from an executive perspective?" 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "What remains? What is salvageable? Whose claims must we respect? Who merits further responsibility and further reward? Questions we cannot answer yet." [21:19] 4“A fair answer. If I may be blunt: what do you, and your people, want?" 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> One of Pellicia's men approaches their conversation, and bends down to whisper in her ear. She looks up at him, incredulity and fear flickering briefly across her face. "I'm coming out," she mutters. 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Brueghel perks up. 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia's face is expressionless. "I need to tend to something. Start the conference, will you? We've dithered enough." [21:24] 14Stranger's eyebrows lift, but he says nothing. 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia walks out, a cat nimbly weaving between her legs as they cross paths under the arch of the door. Bad luck, that. [21:27] 14Ah. 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> The previous conversations dissolve as Brueghel announces that everyone's now well prepared for earnest talks and could everyone please congregate at the marked points at the enormous central table with their own delegations. [21:27] 5 The sorceror and dog-lover in Xu Sim notes the omen with some trepidation. [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar watches her go with some concern. She won't be here for the negotiation proper...? Guess that means he's got to rep the guard to some extent. [21:28] 14He turns back to Brueghel. "I'll spare us the sparring, since the battle's ready to start direct: if the Guild wants to talk, we will listen. They live here too." [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Either way, the mercenary clad in stolen moonsilver rises and takes his place beside the other Solars, probably adjacent to the representatives of Nexus itself. [21:28] 14Then he excuses himself without waiting for a reply. 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> It's going to take a little while to get everything cleaned up and everyone in their places. Maybe Pellicia will be back. [21:30] 5 Has the Dragonlord rejoined us? Perhaps it's that assassin... [21:30] 14Stranger steps away for a moment, reaching down to let the cat leap up onto his arm and climb up to his shoulders and then disappearing into a sideroom. [21:30] 14He returns a few moments later, lips pressed together, without the cat. 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> The Dragonlord does emerge into the central chamber a few minutes after Brueghel's announcement, eyes flashing white beneath his helmet, the stones shuddering beneath his feet. 14[21:31] * Joins: dammitwho [21:32] 5 Xu Sim crosses his arms within the folds (such as they are) of his pathetic white patient's robe, standing at an approximation courtly attention. [21:33] 14Has each retinue been assigned seating for this? [21:35] 13Xia Lan makes an effort to appear unruffled by the arrival. Cool, calm, collected. 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Yes; the Lookshyan delegation is at the right hand of the eight seats for the Council, seven of which are marked with the names of the Councilors in attendance and one of which is marked with the seal of the Emissary. The Anathema circle is at the Council's left. Across from the Council are the Thorns and Highland delegations, with Highland next to Lookshy and Thorns next to the Anathema. [21:36] 5 A real rogue's gallery. [21:37] 4Stranger will manuever himself into the seat next to Keldar. Sotto voce: "We might have an issue. Certainly something more interesting for you than this meeting." [21:38] 14Stranger will manuever himself into the seat next to Keldar. Sotto voce: "We might have an issue. Certainly something more interesting for you than this meeting." [21:38] 4Bastian settles into his, casting a wary eye around. [21:39] "Astrologer Kratz has been excluded from this meeting. Recall that she was...unwell. Kept isolated. I sent the Ambassador to check on her. Don't immediately react to this next, it has context: the Ambassador was meeting with Bubo Malcavet this evening." [21:40] 5 Xu Sim takes the seat opposite Stranger-Visits-Heaven. [21:40] 14He'll put a hand out to grab Keldar's arm if it looks like he's about to stand or exclaim something. [21:40] er [21:40] "Astrologer Kratz has been excluded from this meeting. Recall that she was...unwell. Kept isolated. I sent the Ambassador to check on her. Don't immediately react to this next, it has context: the Astrolger was meeting with Bubo Malcavet this evening." [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar is unable to prevent himself from immediately reacting to that bit, but he does manage to not actually yell the offender's name. He just starts slightly and narrows his eyes. [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...and?" [21:42] 14Stranger: "The Ambassador does not believe Bubo was responsible for the attack on us. I believe her. Regardless, he is not here; the Astrologer is. The two have a connection -- if we do need to hunt Bubo for whatever reason, we need her alive and able to speak. This brings me to my second point: there is a seat at this table for the Emissary. There is not a seat for the Astrologer." [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "She well enough to attend? Might be a practical thing." [21:44] 14Stranger: "She's here, the councilors know she's here, and she's been excluded from the chamber. The Dawn Sergeant is out front, going to meet Kratz. I suggest that it's in our interests to have a presence out there with them." [21:44] "I serve us better here. But you and Bastian, perhaps..." [21:45] “Who is this Kratz?" 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Brueghel settles in at the head of the Council delegation. "My friends, my allies, my fellow citizens... I won't mince words. We have heard from all quarters the dire news of a Second Crusade. It would appear that for all invading raksha, their thralls and their prisoners, have made Nexus, of all the world, their focal point." [21:45] 14To Bastian: "A source of information, if not an ally. A missing piece in a large puzzle. Someone we cannot have getting dead, certainly not without our input." 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "Each of us around the table recognizes the dire necessity of our defense. Each of us around the table has a mortal stake in our success." [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, still whispering: "The fuck? ...yeah, this needs sorting out. I'll get her in here - unless she or Pellicia think that's a bad move." [21:46] 14Stranger nods. "Oh, and--" [21:46] 4“I am ready to do what- “ Bastian falls silent as Brueghel begins to speak. 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Downstairs, a cat curled up outside a low-tower waiting room hears Pellicia hiss, "Are you drunk?" [21:47] "If Kratz asks you about something called the Order of White Lotus...you are known to them, but you are not a member. I am. And I have said little regarding them to you. Which is true enough." 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "No, no! Well, a little-- but I have to be here. You need me here." 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "Have you lost your mind." [21:48] 14The Ambassador cannot quite roll her eyes as a cat. How public is this? Could she shift without notice to her human form? [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Gotcha." 12He pushes his hands against the table to stand, even as Brueghel's speechifying, and glances around the table once before striding off. 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Not reliably. There's a couple of guards posted at the nearby stairwell and another pair patrols through the hall periodically. [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Anything stop Keldar - or Bastian, if he's coming - on the way downstairs and outside to where Pellicia and Kratz reportedly are? [21:50] 4Bastian is on his way as well. [21:50] 14Stranger will murmur a condensed version of what he just told Keldar to Xu Sim, and ask him to pass it down to Xia Lan, Dawn, and Bastian (unless Bastian goes with Keldar). 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Guards might stop them, if etiquette won't. It'd be tremendously rude to just get up and walk out right after the meeting's begun! [21:53] 5 Xu Sim's eyebrow arches impressively as he listens to Stranger's words, before he pivots to explain the same to Xia Lan and Dawn. [21:53] 13Xia Lan listens impassively, mask intact, before calmly passing the information on to Dawn. [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar just gives whoever's at the door a sharp look. "Something important to take care of. My friends'll speak for me 'til I'm back." 15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Have you? What's your plan, besides waiting for the Anathema to clean this up for you?" [21:57] 4von Hrolfus taps Keldar on the shoulder. “You go on ahead." [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods to the man before stepping past the guardsmen at the door and heading downstairs. What's the situation with Kratz and Pellicia? [22:00] 14Agh! [22:00] 14Well. [22:03] 14At least Stranger-Visits-Heaven is associating with men and women who know how to train their guards, the Ambassador thinks as she nimbly slips away from one of the Dawn Guards, escaping with ea-- [22:03] "Kitty!" 14she hears as a pair of arms scoop her up. [22:03] 14Oh no. 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar sees a pair of guards halted in their patrol because one of them, a child, picked up one of the cats kept in the Tower to hunt rats. The argument in the room beyond is hushed - it'd be hard to eavesdrop on. Does Keldar just shoulder past the guards? 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Brueghel: "You have to forgive me. The Council -- Nexus -- I haven't been the same since the Emissary's death. The red star hanging over the hill is a beacon of our weakness, both for those who would seek to destroy us and those who would merely exploit our vulnerability." [22:06] 14Ah! One of the other Chosen! Perfect, she can just -- oh, bother. The girl is wearing long sleeves and gloves. Full leathers. Of course. She can't scratch her way out of the grip. 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> A thin smile curls around the whole of his face. "Which is why I want to open this meeting with the most heartening news: the Emissary lives!" [22:07] 14... [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar does, yeah. "Word from Stranger - need to see Pellicia." [22:07] 5 Xu Sim quietly raps the table in frustration. He knew it! All along! [22:07] 14This explains the chair. [22:07] 4Huh. [22:09] 14They'd had some fair suspicion that the Emissary had reincarnated, but this is not the venue in which Stranger would have played this card. But then, nobody asked him. [22:09] 13Unexpected, but not unwelcome. How are the other parties taking this news? [22:10] 5 Xu Sim leans to Stranger:  "Now we know precisely what the Raksha want, I think." [22:12] 14Stranger whispers back: "Indeed. Though I'm still concerned about the timing." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar's reluctantly permitted to pass at the exact moment the door flies open and Kratz walks out, looking gauzy and red-cheeked. Pellicia stands behind her, a hand on her shoulder as if expecting Kratz to fall. "Keldar!" she exclaims, surprised to see him. "Just the man I wanted to see. You're Councilor Kratz's personal security for the evening." [22:14] 14The Ambassador mrowls with annoyance. Hopefully this...this child will put her down soon. Or Keldar will requisition her as a personal babysitter. Good moon, Kratz. You should have stayed in with Bubo. 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma is, predictably, furious, his people astonished. The Governor's delegation looks smug. Highland has no reaction at all -- to Nogare and his sorcerer, Brueghel might have just told them it would rain tonight. 14[22:16] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar blinks. "Yeah? Sure, if need be. Wanted to know what was going on - did Kratz need an escort to the council?" 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "She does now. She was supposed to stay in bed. Come on, let's go." [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Right." 12He takes point, though he does take a moment to try to figure out if Kratz is ill, drunk, or poisoned. [22:21] 13That Regent gets more and more interesting. Did he know, or is he just excellent at keeping cool...? 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Brueghel's still talking. The bizarre circumstances of the Emissary's death, the chaos and turmoil provoked by his disappearance... one would think that all of Nexus had simply ground to a halt when the Emissary died. 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz is definitely drunk. She doesn't seem ill, or at least, she doesn't seem any more ill than she usually does. Kratz has always been a bit... distracted. 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> The three of them make brisk pace up the many stairs to the banquet hall, passing Guild muscle and Dawn Guards and Green Apples alike. None bar Keldar's way. [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Problematic. Either way, Keldar stays close. 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Brueghel: "Many in the city - even those who witnessed it directly - refused to believe the Emissary could be laid low so trivially. He is the very essence of our city, and surely Nexus is more resilient than that. I'm now prepared to reveal that those beliefs have been vindicated. Ladies and gentlemen, assembled friends... I introduce the Emissary of Nexus!" [22:25] 14Stranger leans back and closes his eyes. 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> At that moment, doors open simultaneously at opposite ends of the banquet hall. From the eastern entrance arrives Keldar, Astrologer Kratz, and Sergeant Pellicia. They look out over the table at the opposite door, at a tall figure wrapped in silver-white robes and a faceless, abstract mask. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What the." [22:27] 5 Xu Sim examines the figure carefully. He looks to the gait, the length of the limbs, the width of the shoulders, hips, waist; the gnarl of the fingers, anything he can see... [22:28] 13Oh, my. [22:28] 14Well then. [22:28] 14This is a dangerous, dangerous play. 14[22:29] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [22:32] 7Dawn leans forward. She hasn't met the Emissary before, but he's supposed to be a legend. What makes a legend? [22:32] 14Stranger keeps his attention as inconspicuously as possible on the Highland delegation. The Thorns contingent seems...ebullient enough that they won't be particularly difficult to read. Highland is playing things closer. 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> The man behind the mask bows deeply, if stiffly, and speaks in that unearthly voice every Nexus native knows, the one that seems not to respect inflection or acoustics. The voice of a disembodied narrator. "My citizens. My sovereigns." 14[22:43] * Joins: hrolf 14[22:47] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> The entire chamber reels silently, every eye fixed on the Emissary's gait (stiff, uneven - Xu Sim sees the walk of a man previously bedridden) as he settles in his seat (unarmed, impassive, totally self-possessed - Dawn sees someone who sees no one in this room as a threat). Then he looks around the table (Xia Lan and Xu Sim see him leading with his hands -- his vision is severely impaired. Xia Lan and Xu Sim both recall that when Xu Sim autopsied the Emissary's body, Balor's eye had been surgically removed) and coldly remarks (Xia Lan sees that disruptions in the expected pattern anger him), "There is no place for the Astrologer." [22:55] 14The Ambassador, meanwhile, slinks back into the chamber. After deigning to allow the child to pet her awhile, she was set free, and now can -- !!!!!! [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar glances around. Should he offer his seat...? He might if no one's bringing a spare up to the table. [22:56] 14Stranger is also willing to stand, but the moment might suit Keldar better. 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> No one dares approach the table. The Emissary's chair slides back seemingly of its own accord (many present can sense the immense and almost oppressive power of the Emissary, which is itself unusual - people who've seen him before have never felt this before, even when seeing him exercise his power. It always felt obvious, organic, and natural). [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, then, Keldar slides his own chair back for the second time, moves it over so that it's adjacent to the rest of the Council contingent. He gestures for Kratz to take her seat, and simply remains standing at her chair's side and slightly back. 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary pinches the card marking his place between thumb and forefinger and it ignites in red-violet flame. As it burns, it reveals another identical card bearing the Astrologer's name. 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "I will stand." [22:59] 14Ah. [22:59] 13Well then. 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz is all but rooted in place, moving neither for the seat Keldar offers or the Emissary's. [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, midway to standing: "Oh. Right." [23:00] 5 Doesn't seem like they just wrapped the cabbage vendor in linens and wheeled him out to fool us. [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Wherever Kratz goes, the mercenary'll arrange to remain nearby, per Pellicia's request. [23:00] 14No. No, it does not. [23:00] 7Maybe they've just got really special linens. [23:00] 14...How aggravating. [23:01] 5 How vindicating. [23:02] 14And how is the red star doing in the sky? [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, as far as Keldar's concerned, this is all something of a relief. The more of a supernatural punch that Nexus has behind its Dogmas the less bullshit we can expect from these interlopers - and the more trouble the Raksha are in. 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Outside, the red star burns bright as ever, neither dimming or flaring. [23:02] 14Indeed. [23:03] 14A cat scampers over and up into Stranger's lap, shivering. [23:03] 14Feel felt, dearest. 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz continues to hesitate. Gradually every face in the room follows the Emissary's gaze to her. "Please sit. Make us all comfortable." [23:05] 7That's not the word I'd use. [23:05] 14She'd do well to listen regardless. 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz is very pale. "O-of c-" Her stammered thanks is interrupted by a sound like the crack of a whip and she's vanished. It takes a second for everyone to notice that she's now sitting in the seat now marked for, looking stunned and a little queasy. [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, uh, the Emissary can have Keldar's seat if he likes, but in the absence of motions to that effect Keldar will be carefully sitting back down. [23:07] 14It might be interesting to try to force the Emissary to sit. [23:07] 14See what happens. [23:07] 14But no, let it play out. [23:08] 13Xia Lan makes as if to get up before realizing where Kratz has gone. That can't have been pleasant. 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary doesn't sit. Now he's moved on to staring down Pellicia, who approaches the table slowly but steadily, her face stony and her sword hand free. Habit. [23:09] 14She's likely not looking this way for encouragement, but if so, Stranger will give a gentle smile and a slight nod to her seat. 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan sees cold fury in the Emissary's posture. Dawn sees someone who feels compelled to enforce discipline on the unruly. Both see someone deeply aggrieved and disappointed. A father's tyranny. 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Eventually Pellicia sits. [23:12] 5 Xu Sim, no native to Nexus, feels like someone who has ended up in another family's personal business - rather like watching the aftermath after curing a tyrant whose heirs had already begun squabbling. 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Not that he'd know anything about that. [23:13] 14Stranger murmurs to Xu Sim: "Ignore what he says. Ignore how he postures. Keep your focus entirely and precisely on what he does. You've different experience than I." [23:13] "We'll compare notes later." [23:14] 5 Xu Sim claps him gently on the arm and returns his attention to the spectacle. 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary folds his arms. "Forgive the interruption. We're ready to proceed." [23:15] 7Dawn is taking mental notes. Damn, this is how it's done. 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> More silence. Brueghel, who both knew the Emissary was going to be here and is ostensibly running the meeting, seems as stunned as anyone. Dawn, Xia Lan, and Stranger see it. This isn't what he expected either. [23:17] 14Now that's interesting. 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "Conduct the meeting." [23:17] 13It seems the bad kind of interesting, to Xia Lan. [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's got his gauntleted fingers interleaved as he looks back and forth around the table. It's probably not his place to talk first... but then, whose is it? 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Around the table, the emotional tenor has almost completely reversed. Dorma, once furious, is happy to see the Emissary terrify the Council. Thorns, once delighted, is uneasy. Highland has barely moved a muscle. 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "Conduct the meeting." [23:20] 14Highlands gambles at the highest tables. [23:20] 5 Xu Sim folds his hands on the tabletop and clears his throat softly into the silence. [23:20] 14Stranger clears his throat. "I can begin, if no one else wants to." 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Brueghel: "...asIwasabouttosay, ahem, the task before us is threefold--" [23:28] 14Stranger bows his head. "I of course defer to the Evening Master on protocol. But given the immediate nature of both the negotiations and the catastrophe, Your Eminence, I would be honored if you'd permit me to explain the brief nature of the problem that has brought us to this table, so that we might agree on facts...before Your star falls from the sky." [23:29] 14Stranger is proposing a Statement of Facts -- the agreed-upon premises in a legal dispute that all sides certify, so that discussion might proceed from there on common ground. 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "The dam will not break. The star will not fall." But the Emissary motions for Stranger to continue. [23:40] "Of course, Your Eminence." 14He looks about the table. "Some six weeks ago, Your Eminence appeared to die. We will make no certification here as to the means and methods there, or the precisely correct terminology. It was generally understood that you had died. At this point, a great burning star appeared in the sky -- the star of the Crusader King. At this time -- this exact time, [23:40] I am told, and am personally guaranteeing as Fact -- four great armies of the Fair Folk marched out of the deepness at the ends of each of the four Directions, and began to converge on this city. On Your city." 14He looks about the table. "As did three armies of more mundane provenance. The Lookshyans were already in Nexus on other business when you fell; they have taken their liberties [23:40] in your absence. The delegations from Thorns and from Highland are more recently arrived. They have made their offers plainly known. They have all come to take your place. They all, presumably, wish to modify that stance. But that will be for them to say." [23:41] "My motley group and I, Your Eminence, differ in two major ways. We were here before Your fall, with no designs on Your power. And we have no army. But I would be a liar if I did not say we saw Your death as an opportunity as well." [23:42] 14He looks about the table. "That should cover where we all stand. I, of course, will permit our councilors to explain themselves at their leisure, rather than presume to speak for them." 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> The room is silent briefly. [23:44] 13Xia Lan nods briskly, seeming satisfied with Stranger's statements. She settles back into her seat to watch the reactions of the Highland delegation, in particular. [23:44] 14Stranger's most interested in how Highland reacted. [23:45] 5 This is an interesting way to start a meeting. [23:45] 14Do you want to listen to them all bow and scrape? 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Highland's Regent half-raises a goblet to Stranger's words, never taking his eyes off the Emissary. [23:46] 14Mmmmm. 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary isn't looking at anyone in particular. At least, he doesn't seem to. [23:47] 13That's the nice thing about masks. 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "This man has marked you for opportunists." 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "Thieves." 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "Scavengers." 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "Eaters of carrion." [23:48] 4That's not even an insult to the Governor, Stranger notes with some detachment. [23:48] 14That's not even an insult to the Governor, Stranger notes with some detachment. 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> He's standing centered behind the Council delegation. None of them dare look back at him. 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "How do you answer?" [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I grew up in Nexus. I love this city. I'm just here to keep it standing." 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Besides Keldar, nobody answers. Standing centered behind the Council puts the Emissary directly behind Brueghel, who sweats in the firelight. Did the Emissary walk there? No one saw him move. [23:50] 14This is not how Stranger was given to understand the Emissary functioned. 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> It's not how the Emissary functioned. [23:52] 5 Xu Sim focuses more intently on the Emissary. What on earth? [23:52] 14Does it seem to Stranger that the Emissary is expecting answers from the Chosen individually, or even at all? 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> He's looking down at Brueghel now. [23:53] 14Hmmmm. 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "How do you answer?" [23:53] 14Stranger will merely sip his tea. 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Silver-gloved hands rest heavy on the Evening Master's shoulders. [23:54] 14Unfortunate. [23:55] 13Brueghel appears to have made a bad bet. 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Brueghel shrinks in his seat like a turtle who's lost his shell. No matter how low he gets, the presence and pressure of the Emissary moves to match it, as if the two of them had always been like this. "Your Eminence, I--" Session Time: Wed Jan 17 00:00:00 2018 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary's grip tightens. "I charge you further." 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "By extracting payment from Heaven for sorcerous malfeasance, you have raised taxes beyond your remit without a full vote of the Council." [00:11] 14Stranger sets down the teacup and curls the Ambassador up against his chest. 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "By poisoning a member of the Council you have committed wanton violence." 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "By inviting the Scarlet Dynasty into our city as a personal guard you have quartered a foreign army in Nexus." 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "By concealing my body from the other Councilors you have falsely invoked your office and sanction." 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "By puppetting a corpse into my raiment of office you have falsely invoked my office and sanction." 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "By paralyzing the city and leaving it naked and exposed to invasion, you have obstructed trade." 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Brueghel doesn't get a chance to speak. It's not clear he was going to try. His body hurtles through the table, splintering it in half as he goes, until his body smacks wetly against the far wall. The pressure in the room is unbearable. 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> The Councilors all dive for cover; only Pellicia gets away. Dorma stands athwart the presence but the unmoving yields to the unstoppable. 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> The Scion is blown back; the Hunter backflips away; the Governor simply vanishes. 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> The Beast of Highland draws a sword of liquid fire from the air, brow and body burning with the dawn, as his people cower behind him. [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar leaps sideways, grabbing Kratz and spinning around to simply interpose his armored body between her and the Emissary's aura of killing power, but the energy simply goes through the mercenary like he isn't there. He and the astrologer spasm identically, if briefly, in pain. 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> The air hangs still for an awful moment, the pressure thick in the air and ringing in everyone's ears. [00:18] 5 Xu Sim's head is slammed into the table; his moustache and beard are stained red with blood as he lifts his head to survey the damage. [00:19] 14Stranger is out of his seat so quickly it's hard to track, and up in a chandelier, holding his chair against his chest to shield the Ambassador. [00:19] 7Dawn's chair is blown away, but she doesn't seem bothered. She puts a hand on her hat (which she is rudely still wearing) and it doesn't even blow off. 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "YOU ARE IN CONTRAVENTION" Brueghel's body floats limply to the center of the room, still-conscious, wild-eyed and pleading, until his eyes roll back into his head and out of his body along with every drop of liquid viscera that boils from his eyes, his ears, his pores. [00:20] 13A trickle of blood drips down Xia Lan's jaw, bleeding from the mouth and nose. She scrambles back to her feet, chair obliterated. 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Brueghel's skin, empty of blood and bone, drops to the ground like a soiled rag as a shockwave rips the top of Council Tower to flinders, scattering it on the wind and exposing them to a mad red sky. 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "CRETINS" 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "CURS" 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "SIN-SICK DOGS" [00:22] 14Stranger lands easily on his feet as the chandelier and chair both explode. 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> The pressure breaks. Everyone churns in agony; it feels like a hand reaching into their guts and wrenching. Even the nimblest and hardiest present feel the Emissary crush their hearts. 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "And I will not save you." [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar has let Kratz go by now, and has turned again to face the Emissary. He licks a trickle of blood away from the corner of his mouth while leaning forward enough to hold his balance. The mercenary isn't sure if he should remain to listen or, say, hurry the Astrologer down the stairs and out of the room. [00:23] 14At the very least, he doesn't let it show. [00:23] 7Now Dawn's hat gets blown off. She still catches it, though. 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: The Guild and Lotus [00:24] 5 Next time, I'll take the grovelling. 14[04:28] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[06:31] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:16] * Joins: hrolf 14[09:05] * Joins: hrolfy 14[09:09] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:28] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:05] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[17:32] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[18:19] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:57] * Joins: Crion 14[20:14] * Joins: tom [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 ;,_ , [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 _uP~"b d"u, [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 dP' "b ,d" "o [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 d" , `b d"' "b [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 l] [ " `l, d" lb [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 Ol ? " "b`"=uoqo,_ "l [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,dBb "b "b, `"~~TObup,_ [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,d" (db.`" "" "tbc,_ `~"Yuu,_ [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 .d" l`T' '= ~ `""Yu, [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,dO` gP, `u, b,_ "b7 [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 d?' ,d" l, `"b,_ `~b "1 [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,8i' dl `l ,ggQOV",dbgq,._" `l lb [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 .df' (O, " ,ggQY"~ , @@@@@d"bd~ `b "1 [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 .df' `" -=@QgpOY"" (b @@@@P db `Lp"b, [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12.d( _ "ko "=d_,Q` ,_ " "b, [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Ql . `"qo,._ "tQo,_`""bo ;tb, `"b, [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12qQ |L ~"QQQgggc,_.,dObc,opooO `"~~";. __,7, [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12qp t\io,_ `~"TOOggQV"""" _,dg,_ =PIQHib. [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12`qp `Q["tQQQo,_ ,pl{QOP"' 7AFR` [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 ` `tb '""tQQQg,_ p" "b ` .;-.`Vl' [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 "Yb `"tQOOo,__ _,edb ` .__ /`/'| |b;=;.__ [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 `"tQQQOOOOP""`"\QV;qQObob"`-._`\_~~-._ [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 """" ._ / | |oP"\_ ~\ ~\_~\ [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 `~"\ic,qggddOOP"| | ~\ `\~-._ [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,qP`"""|" | `\ `; `\ `\ [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 _ _,p" | | `\`; | | [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 "boo,._dP" `\_ `\ `\| `\ ; [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 `"7tY~' `\ `\ `|_ | [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 `~\ | [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Czalphenya turns and sweeps off through the curtains behind her. She pauses right on the threshold, turning to look at Ying archly over her shoulder. "Starting now." 08[20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Standing in the middle of Great Forks's great fashion square, flanked by Eikichi and surrounded by gasping onlookers and fancy storefronts, it occurs to Ying to wonder: what does the cat goddess Nyaroshi even look like? [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12There are already strange glints of blue and silver emanating from the crown of Czaliphenya's workshop/nest. Better figure this out fast. [20:25] 13Thaaaaaat's a really good question. Probably should've added on a half hour for that part. Um! [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Blossom and Ir have acquainted themselves with the local cult of the Unconquered Sun. It seems to be a family business - humble and more or less thankless tradition kept up by a few southeasterners who've been whittled away by time and chance. Business is starting to boom, of late, but some of those booms might be the sounds of distant avalanches. [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Priestess Medina has agreed to put out a call for all worshipers and would be worshipers in the city to hear some kind of address or proclamation by Blossom. That'll take a bit, though - you'll probably end up waiting a few days at the least, unless you find some way to expedite matters. [20:29] 4The last family business upholding the Sun that they ran into got rich beyond measure for their devotion. [20:29] 4...Probably best not to make a habit of that. [20:29] 7Not 'beyond measure'. Just fairly rich. [20:29] 4You can't quantify culture. [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Finally, Bergsveinn has just had a very strange and worrying experience involving a fellow giant - but one who seems to have made out much, much worse than he did. He's watched the man, near-dead, carried away by the guard and followed by what might be a family relation. Kind of weird, all told. [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying racks her brain - and something sparks! No clue why Tatsuya knows this, but the Night Caste's alternate personality probably finds it much more interesting. Nyaroshi looks like an unusually large cat, meaning she's the size of an unusually small person. She goes about on all fours or walks on her hind legs with equal ease, and is given to wearing either nothing at all or maybe [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12one piece of flair - a bow, a ribbon, that sort of thing. [20:33] 6Look, you need to know about any kind of danger that's out there. I mean, just look at the size of her. That's how they get you. [20:33] 4Probably best not to ask why Tatsuya knows this or that random thing. [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12However, she can speak in human tongues, understands culture and custom as well as any lady of high society, and is extremely vain. She is also extremely catlike - put her somewhere high, soft, and warm and she's pleased as punch. [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Her worshipers include aristocrats, merchant lords, or other members of the idle rich; wilderness cultists from every direction but the west; and actual cats of all kinds. [20:34] 4Ir's more concerned with security for Blossom's speech than anything else, but she is kind of interested in what these people think "worshipping the Sun" means. Like, philosophically or whatever. [20:35] 4It's not like we've got a choice. [20:36] 4Given how low-key this all seems to be right now, though, Ir might chance another trip out to the forward base to check on progress. [20:37] 4When Blossom has a moment, away from the others: "So we did, uh, get permission for that little camping trip of ours up the river, yeah?" [20:37] "I came straight here." [20:40] 7Blossom: "Oh yes, they were very accomodating. Speaking of which-" 7She pulls a small bottle what looks like wine from her coat pocket that as been very carefully wrapped to avoid breakages. "Try this. You shouldn't be the only one to miss out." [20:40] 4Ir frowns but pops it open. "What's this?" [20:41] 7Blossom smiles secretively. "Try it first." [20:41] 13Hmm... this makes things considerably simpler for sourcing materials, but it does throw off her initial plan for the dress. She'll have to improvise. What've we got around here in terms of fabrics that fits Ying's price range? The Circle's pretty well-off, at this point, but I've got no idea where that places her here in the heart of Fashion. [20:42] 4There are like two people in this world that Ir actually trusts enough to drink something they've handed to her without explanation or provenance. Blossom's one. She downs it. [20:43] 7It is, quite possibly, some of the best wine Ir has ever tasted. The warmth it brews in her gut spreads slowly down her extremities, fatigue and minor aches are wiped away, and she feels almost literally like a new woman. [20:43] 4God-damn. [20:44] 4Ir: "Holy shit." [20:44] 7Blossom: "Ever heard of the heavenly wine of immortality?" [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12It smells of peaches - and great, besides. Ir can't measure this exactly, but she's just added the better part of a century to her natural lifespan. [20:44] 4She stares at the bottle. "No but by the name I'm guessing I can't just vint it on the heavensward." [20:44] *Heavensward [20:46] 7Blossom shakes her head, still grinning. "Even the ancients couldn't manage to reproduce it outside the one sacred orchard where the divine peaches grow. It's reserved for the Sun, Moon, the Five Auspicious Stars, and the Dragons - and, I suppose, whoever they deign to gift it to." [20:46] "As bribes go, the Great Forks Trio do not stint." [20:48] 4Ir just stares at the bottle for a moment, shakes her head and laughs bitterly for a few seconds before finishing it. Whatever the reason behind it, it doesn't linger in her voice when she says: "Thank you, Blossom. I'm glad I got to taste that." [20:49] "Peach wine..." [20:50] 7Blossom: "It's an interesting idea, isn't it? Perhaps we won't be able to match the original, but imagine what we could come up with through trying?" 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi will whisper to Ying once she hunkers down for work. "Psst." [20:51] 4Ir shakes her head. "I can do distillation on the Heavensward, but if we want to make wine we'll need space." [20:51] 13Ying: "Hm?" 13She's quickly sketching something out, distracted, before she begins to work in earnest. [20:51] 11Berg's definitely following along in the direction the old man who tried to shock him was carted off. That was a little too weird to just write off. [20:51] "Frankly it's just not the same if you're not growing your own grapes and fruit." [20:52] 7Blossom: "Soon, soon. Once we wrap up all our Nexus business..." 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Nyaroshi is a cat goddess, right? She's a cat. She loves attention. Go loud. She'd love a fancy headdress. Oh oh oh and accessories. Make her a stylish umbrella, because she hates getting wet." [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12The good news for Ying is that she's exactly where she wants to be if she wants to buy materials of all kinds - even mildly magical ones, such as silks that change color under different lighting conditions or pearls that fall up rather than down. [20:56] 13She quickly adds a tiara to the outfit, alongside a pearl necklace. Not sure she'll have the time for the umbrella... it's in the sketch now, too, but it'll be the last thing added. Yikes, why did she say just an hour...? [20:56] 4Ir sighs. "Yeah, well, now that we've reached the 'getting involved in land wars' stage of public life I dunno how much of our business is ever truly going to be concluded." [20:56] "I kinda miss being able to play shows to bars with ten people in them." [20:56] "Guess I could just have Ying disguise me, and play worse." [20:57] 7Blossom: "You'd be sick of that instantly." 7She looks over her shoulder to see if Ying is somehow listening and adds hastily, "Not the disguises part." [20:58] 4Ir: "Never got beat unconscious by a Wyld Hunt while I was playing to afternoon regulars only. Just saying." [21:04] 13Ying completes her sketches. What she's got is a sort of loose-fitting dress that would go to Nyaroshi's ankles, but is open at the sides, tied together with a thin bit of silver thread. Hopefully, the additional mobility and openness will play well with someone who doesn't normally wear clothes at all, while still looking sufficiently formal and noble as to impress even a goddess. There's flowery designs in lace above the [21:04] low-cut satin armless dress, glitter adorning the whole thing, perched under a pearl necklace with a silver tiara to top it off. A parasol sits next to the outfit, completing the design. Now it's just a matter of obtaining the materials and getting to work. [21:06] 4She looks around the rundown chapel. "Speaking of, we're not inviting any of those assholes to town by pumping up these nice people in the local god economy, are we?" [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Bergsveinn saunters after the city guard wagon at a leisurely pace, which, given the length of his stride, still means he needs to pace himself to not completely overtake the watchmen. Before long, he winds up at a squat, blocky building with bars in all the windows. Said bars, and the face of the building itself, is covered with bas relief carvings depicting anguished sinners, [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12toiling slaves, etcetera. [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12The man at the door looks very nervous. "Ah, hah hah, friend... welcome? This is a humble gaol - as much as you may wish to exact your revenge upon that miscreant, it'd be best if you waited at least a little bit-" [21:08] 7Blossom: "The Immaculate Philosophy doesn't hold a lot of sway here, for obvious reasons." [21:08] 11Berg looks alarmed. "Revenge? I came to make sure he didn't die." [21:09] 4Ir: "Yeah, fair enough. Anyway what do you want me doing during all of this? Hopefully not pulling out the acoustic six-string for some church music." [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12The guardsman blinks. "Oh! Well. Then, no worries, you'll certainly be at liberty to face the accused in due time. Of course, Torog demands his own time first..." [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying's got her design - even though she's just working in broad daylight in the center of the square. But that won't make things too much harder, right? All that's left now is to buy the right components and have at. [21:12] 11Berg: "Torog?" [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12The guard nods. Bergsveinn might notice that he's wearing blocky manacles, each with a few links of chain trailing from them. "God of penance and imprisonment. Bit of lightless isolation's a valued custom here. You could wait...? Er, til about tomorrow..." [21:15] "And if he dies between now and then?" [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Guard: "Ah, that'll be Torog's judgment, then. Though, between you and me, he doesn't let 'em go quick. Usually." [21:18] 7Blossom: "Keep an eye out. We'll be running off the protection racketeers and scammers, and I want to know who they run to for help." [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Bergsveinn hasn't heard of this guy, from which he can deduce at least a little - Torog must be local to the direction and not some kind of creationwide personage. No doubt the guardsmen here are also the god of imprisonment's supplicants. [21:19] 4Ir: "Well I mean. I was keeping an eye out already. Want me to see if I can throw a spread together or something for the people who come? They might appreciate that." [21:20] "And you? A guard, and yet a prisoner?" [21:21] 7Blossom: "Oh, that's a very good idea." [21:22] 4Ir grins. "Everyone's gotta eat. Except like half the things we run into on a weekly basis. I'll check out the produce situation -- there any local dietary restrictions I should know about?" [21:24] 7Blossom: "Steer clear of fish. The river's probably clean by now, but..." [21:26] 4Ir: "Gotcha." [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12As Ying works, a blaze of pearlescent light, fringed with all the colors of the rainbow, begins to emanate from Czaliphenya's workshop. Huge, swirling strands of light, like enormous cords of silk stretching down from the heavens themselves, swirl around the building's top floor in a vortex of elegance. Translucent wings, rather plain in appearance and kind of furry around the edges, [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12stretch from either side of the building and begin to flap with greater and greater force. [21:28] 4Ir's going shopping, meanwhile. Pretty fireworks. How many people are they expecting for this thing, anyway? [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12That's not clear. Medina would've hazarded around twenty or thirty... but that was before a circle of Solar Exalted were welcomed to Great Forks as visiting heroes. Now, who knows? [21:30] 4Eh, let's assume 200, and cook for 600. Can give the rest away as alms. 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Steamed alms. [21:31] 4Are can she recruit any help? She's gonna be doing most of the work, and she's got experience running a mass kitchen, so it's not a huge deal. But it'd be good for people who show up to see cultists pitching in. [21:31] 4Maybe get those shiftless kids off their butts and doing something. [21:32] 13As she starts to work on the outfit, Ying feels -- this just isn't good enough. It's good! Very good! Almost perfect, some might say! But almost isn't good enough! She hails the first passerby with a cat she sees and offers them the deal of their lifetime - the most gorgeous outfit they're ever likely to see, as long as they don't haggle. [21:33] 13When they accept, she's frazzled - makes a dress to clear her mind, some of her worst work ever, which doesn't help with nerves, but settles her back down enough to take another crack. And she was right to send that first one back - this is impeccable. No one could possibly do better than this, not in just an hour! [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Perhaps half an hour has elapsed when Czaliphenya steps back out of her balcony doors. She's surrounded in a swirling anima of translucent silk. Behind her, hanging from the very air, is... a rectangle of white paper. Ah, the dress has been carefully wrapped up and hidden from view until the big reveal. [21:37] 13Ying will've hidden hers as well, if she can trade the cheap dress she made to get rid of her nerves for something to hide it with. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya quirks a sharp black brow on her pale blue face. "Multiple tries? You work faster than I expected." [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Across the city, Bergsveinn's having a less exciting time. He gets a shrug. "It's a living." 12Is the giant happy to wait, or is he impatient? [21:45] 13Sweating slightly, and short of breath, Ying tries not to let it show as she responds: "I try to! Speed without sacrificing quality is difficult, but sometimes you just get in the zone, you know?" 13She eyes Czaliphenya. "What about you?" [21:48] 11That definitely wasn't the answer Berg was expecting. "I'll wait then." 11The giant literally sits down and leans up against the building. [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya: "Measure four times, cut once. But I did you the courtesy of not peeking." 12Luminous moth's wings appear and flap once at the Exigent Exalt's sides, and Czaliphenya lifts off in a wide arc before landing before Ying, trailing motes of light all the way. "To the park, then." 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi will say this about Great Forks: at least here they're called parks. [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12The prisoner-guard fights an internal battle about asking the giant to please not lean against the wall, but loses. Bergsveinn's able to sit and think in peace. [21:52] 13The moment of truth awaits. 08[21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying, Czaliphenya, and Eikichi do some combination of ambling, sweeping, and riding across the city, building up quite a procession of onlookers as they go. Before long, they cross the threshold of the straightforwardly-named High Park, and proceed across the green. Besides its color scheme, the park is very reminiscent of the city itself - shrines, menhirs, and mushroom rings all [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12over the place, each in honor of some spirit or other. 15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10How's the weather? [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Soon, they come upon the holy tree of Nyaroshi herself. It's surrounded by bird feeders and koi ponds - all momentarily empty - and cats of all shapes and sizes. Tall, thin poles ring it, ricepaper banners hanging down on which paeans to cats are inked in Old Realm, and from the bottom of each banner is invariably a little bell on a string or some similar amusement. Worshipers perform [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12rituals all around the space - some meditatively peel scraps of meat off what would be a full meal to drop them before waiting felines, while others murmur prayers as they carefully brush fur, and so on. 08[21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12The weather's quite nice. In fact, if Eikichi isn't mistaken, it's nicer around the holy tree than even in the rest of the park - fewer clouds, warmer air. From what the sorcerer knows, Nyaroshi has no power over weather, so this must represent a favor from someone else. [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Along the tree's length, branches spread out in various directions, most playing host to some sort of platform or bed or hammock. They are, of course, mostly occupied. Notably, a jungle tiger is curled around the base of the tree, asleep, and around two thirds of the way up the top, gauzy pink curtains hang before an arching door cut into the wood itself. [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya looks around, face prim. "Someone summon her. One of you! We'd speak to your god." 12There's some disquiet from the worshipers - seems like not just anyone gets to meet Nyaroshi. 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Here, Eikichi unwraps the paper package he brought on the ground, revealing a row of mackerel. "We bring tribute!" 08[22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12An entire gallery of vividly-colored eyes suddenly stare down at Eikichi, but none of the cats dare approach. After all, they don't get first dibs. 08[22:06] 13Ying looks back and forth between Eikichi, the fish, and the gathered cats. She doesn't look at Czaliphenya. 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's not done yet. The offering is necessary, of course, but you need a ritual invocation too. For that, Eikichi kneels down, reaching into his pocket for a tin box sealed with wax. Holding it up with a bowed head, he uses his thumbnail to juuuuust pierce the seal. There's an audible hiss, and the smell of sardines. [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya has both sets of arms crossed. She rolls her eyes. 08[22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12However, a chorus of anxious meowing immediately fills the area. The sleeping tiger opens its nearest eye just a sliver to give Eikichi an intent stare. And, up the tree, a glow begins to filter out through the pink curtains. [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a little wooden platform jutting out beneath the door. A single white paw stretches out through the curtains, touching down onto the wood. Then a second. Then sharp claws extend from each paw and dig into the wood as the legs attached to the paws tilt a little away, flattening towards the platform - a stretch. [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12A second stretch as the legs rock forward, such that they tilt past vertical and reveal the head of a large white cat wearing a pink bow. Her eyes are closed and her mouth is open, revealing gleaming fangs and a lolling tongue as she yawns wide. It makes a sound like 14"nyaaaaa" 08[22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Everyone's then stuck waiting a few minutes as the white cat carefully clambers down the length of the tree, occasionally hopping from branch to branch, and finally stops near Eikichi's feet to crouch down and nibble on the mackerel for a while. Once she's taken about half of it, she pushes it sideways with her paw, and other cats descend in a veritable swarm to pick it clean. 08[22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Nyaroshi herself looks up at Eikichi, still on all fours. "Well?" [22:14] 4Cats are weird, man. 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Blessed Nyaroshi of the Emerald Stare, I petition you on behalf of two artists seeking your favor. To my right is Sunlit-Dreaming Ying, the finest tailor in all Creation. To my left is--" 10Eikichi hesitates. "To my left is--" 10Eikichi glances in Czaliphenya's direction and stage whispers, "14I've forgotten your name, sorry" [22:15] 13Ying watches all of this, enraptured. Her eyes have practically become stars at the sight - and she's too stunned to explain the reason for their visit. This is the most amazing place she's ever been. 08[22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Folks, to fit with the key art I've chosen it's probably going to have to be Sapphire Stare, but as I did write Emerald Stare last time Eikichi's Not Wrong. 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Not only is Eikichi not wrong, but the Storyteller and reality itself are wrong. For the record. [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya's eyes widen and nostrils flare. "I am Czaliphenya, Chosen of Fashion and Heir to the Maker of Miens!" 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Suit yourself. Great Nyaroshi, these two great dressmakers have come seeking your taste and wisdom. Each of them has made for you a dress, and each would like you to judge which is the finer." [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Nyaroshi blinks, then stands up on her back legs to cross her arms over the ruff of white fur on her chest. She looks skeptical. "Huh? I liked the Maker. Why this person? These people?" [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya: "The Maker - were you not even paying atten- ...she is gone." [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Nyaroshi: "Hmmph." 12She regards both artists with suspicion. [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Nyaroshi: "Well... dresses for me14ow? I like those. I could use some. Show me!" [22:22] 13Ying finally looks to Czaliphenya: "Count of three?" [22:23] <@Ferrinus> "Certainly." 12Czaliphenya reaches for the paper-covered garment behind her. It swooshes through the air to descend to right before the cat goddess. "One... two..." [22:24] 13Ying: "Three!" 13She lifts the lid from the box her outfit is contained in, in time with Czaliphenya. [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12On the final count, the coverings of Czaliphenya's masterpiece fall away. What's revealed is a work of sartorial splendor - what might be the outfit of a high priestess or queen of the ancient south. A shining sun disc crowns the brow, framed on either side with a blue-and-yellow-striped headcloth that sweeps down to the shoulders but has holes cut out for a cat's ears. A heavy [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12necklace of gold covers the neck, and from beneath it, folds of white silk embroidered with elaborate, colorful patterns swirl and interleave. For all the fabric, it's barely translucent, and symbols of life and the sun - ankhs, circles, rays - predominate. [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya looks smug. Of course, she could supernaturally intuit that this is exactly the ancient cat goddess's favored style. 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi coughs. "14hack! hack hack!" [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Look, you can't knock the craftsmanship. 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10I literally just did. [22:36] 13The outfit she reveals is immaculate. More or less matching the intent of her sketched designs, but she's added more flourishes as she's brought the design to life. The rose-pink ankle-length satin dress covered with sequins is bordered with a single silver thread, looping around the whole thing and allowing for the sides to be tied as tight as the wearer might care for, or else hang attractively off to the sides. White lace [22:36] adorns the neck with a bit of a low cut - tasteful and elegant. A single bell on either side completes the main portion of the outfit - but she's added accessories. [22:36] 13A glorious silver tiara, shaped to stay comfortably on the head even with cat ears. A necklace of pearls, matching the lace. Even the parasol - more of an umbrella, but umbrella is such an ugly word compared to parasol - she had time to make one with an actual cat-shaped face in the very top, when opened. The ensemble is every bit as impeccably crafted as the one Czaliphenya reveals. [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Nyaroshi's eyes sparkle with amazement as she stares at the dresses. She looks back and forth between them, unable to keep her eyes still. She's not alone - her worshipers, random parkgoers and onlookers, and whichever cats happen to be awake are practically hypnotized by the sheer elegance of each dress. Who could choose just one...?? [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12It's several minutes while she makes up her mind, walking around each dress multiple times and carefully touching or picking at bits of them (she doesn't seem to have thumbs, so it's not clear how it is that she picks up a sleeve or teases a ribbon without digging claws into it). [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Nyaroshi: "Iiiiiii waannnnnt...." 12She reaches out a paw for the dress with the umbrella. "This one!" [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya: "Are you KIDDING me-" [22:46] 13Ying: "Yes!" [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya: "ANY human with ANY sense would've-" [22:49] 4Meanwhile, across town, Ir and Blossom have negotiated the purchase of an entire farming commune's weekly stock and one hundred racks of lamb. And then Ir skipped off on a manic shopping spree to figure out what spices she had to work with. Things are happening. 08[22:49] "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! I can't --" 13She's practically vibrating in place, and hugs Eikichi, mostly because she's not sure how okay Nyaroshi is with being petted. [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Elsewhere, other members of the Squared Circle are spending their days less productively. Ir, for instance, is merely conspiring to feed hundreds. She's got Medina's entire family at her beck and call, but that's not a lot - two kids, one shiftless teen, one elderly streetsweeper. She'll need to recruit more, though she can probably find around a dozen more pairs of hands by simply [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12getting a hold of whatever lay worshipers Medina is able to contact quickly. 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah! Yeah!!" 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What happens to the other dress? Is Czaliphenya taking it back? [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya begins to actually storm off, her dress bobbing in the air behind her, before Nyaroshi squeals "WAIT. That one nyalso." [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya stares in outrage. Nyaroshi continues: "It's not gonna fit anyone else anyway." [22:52] 4Getting a group cookout organized is literally basic-building-block stuff for running a church. They should be able to handle it. [22:52] 13Ying: "She's right -- she's who we made them for, and what good is an outfit if it's never worn?" [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12It's pretty easy, especially given that you're Chosen of their long seemingly-absent god. It's probably harder to obtain the materials than to arrange for their actual cooking - though making sure they're all cooked evenly is trickier, and making sure they're all cooked evenly and really well actually taxes Ir... a little bit. [22:53] 13She tries to make her smile as non-gloating as possible. [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Bergsveinn, meanwhile, watches the sun set and rise again. When the young guard who first stopped him at the door comes schlepping down the street, manacles clinking, he actually says "Oh, gosh," 12at sight of the northerner. 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "If you want I'll pay for it." [22:54] 13It's hard not to be a LITTLE smug, given the circumstances, but Ying is a gracious winner, as she hopes Czaliphenya would've been if Ying had lost. [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya: "Pay? Pay?! You think this is Nexus? A work like this..." [22:56] "Suffered enough, has he then?" [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12The guard says, to Bergsveinn: "I suppose you'll, er... right, yes..." 12Then it's a series of locks being opened, long corridors the giant has to stoop to get through, etcetera. He finds himself out side a poorly-lit cell, the shambles that's left of his attacker sitting on the cot inside. [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12The man's in a bad way. Bark and root have fallen away from his body, but not completely, and there's just weird fibrous matter rather than regular flesh or skin beneath them. He's almost entirely drained of color, and long greasy hair hangs down limply around his face and almost blends in the rough grey blanket that's been draped around his shoulders. [22:58] <@Ferrinus> "You..." 12says the misshapen, wood-warped man to Bergsveinn. "You... met it. Too." 12His riverspeak is pretty rough and thickly accented. [22:59] 11Berg leans against the cell door. "Which direction?" [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12The man tilts his head at Bergsveinn, clearly confused. He raises a shaking, still-human hand, and gestures eastward (apparently his sense heading is good enough to do so even underground and after having been dragged here unconscious). [23:01] 11Probably more of an instinct. "A different one than the one I met, then. I will meet it." 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oh, come on. You did spectacular work, a one-of-a-kind-dress for a one-of-a-kind client. You wouldn't put such beauty to waste, surely. It'd be a crime against your own reputation and style itself! So give her the dress, I'll cover your expenses, and I'll give you the business of an even more renowned and impressive client: me." [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12The wood-warped man: "D-different... different. But how. Same clay, surely. Same blood..." [23:02] "I believe it. How'd you meet it?" 08[23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya eyes the sorcerer imperiously. Then she looks over and down at the increasingly angry cat goddess, then back to Eikichi. "Ohhhhhhh fine. Not as if I'd much care to see it again." 12She turns, then, and leans down to look Ying right in the eye, one long-fingered blue hand pointing accusingly at the Night Caste to go with Czaliphenya's killer stare. [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya: "Listen here, you little... seamstress. You think you've won? Well... you have, but all you've won is one layperson's awe. You think she understands one whit of what makes a dress good? You think it matters if people like an outfit?" [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya: "You... you're engaged in commodity manufacture. But I am making art, and if people don't understand it that's their problem." [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12She stares bloody murder for another few seconds before looking away, crossing one set of arms poutily, putting another arm at her hip, and extending her last for a handshake. 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "If you make art nobody appreciates, who's it for?" [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya: "What a silly question." 12She's still going for the handshake, though. [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12The man in Torog's prison murmurs to himself for a little while before he answers Bergsveinn. "My village... mmmy tribe. Were in its path. We were... slow..." [23:11] 11Berg nods. "And what happened to you? How did you get... like this?" [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Man: "Magic. Mmmmagic. Tried to work the wood... clasp the clay... breathe the blood..." 12He sort of falls into free association here, mumbling along these lines for a minute or so before falling silent again. Halfway through, Bergsveinn feels someone step up to the bars beside him. [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a young man with bronzed skin and dark green hair, wearing rough cotton. He holds the bars and says something in a pained voice. Bergsveinn doesn't know foresttongue, does he? [23:13] 11No. [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, who knows what he's saying? It's probably a name or term of address, though, since he basically just says the one thing and sort of trails off sadly. He then turns to look up to Bergsveinn to say something else in forest-tongue, clearly a question. [23:15] 11Berg looks into the cell. "I don't understand." [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12He points at the man in the cell. "You... know...?" [23:17] 11Berg shakes his head. "No. You?" 11He points at the man. [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12He nods and says some stuff, but Bergsveinn can't really parse it. The youth then looks back through the bars and shouts something at the man within, but only receives a bleary look in return. Frustrated, he ends up crossing his arms and pacing. [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Eventually, the easterner youth just says "Come?" 12and gestures appropriately. If he gets Bergsveinn's assent, he'll end up leading the giant back out the prison and through the city streets. [23:22] 11Does the old man look like he'll be okay for now? Is he at least not getting worse? [23:24] 13Ying shakes her hand cautiously, and looks apologetic. "Thank you for competing with me. I hope next time we meet it'll be on - friendlier terms? You did amazing work - like, something really, really special." 13She looks at the outfit Czaliphenya made again. "And hopefully my work keeps up this standard. I wouldn't want to disappoint you again." 13She offers a small smile towards her erstwhile opponent - how's she take it? [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12It's hard to tell... but Bergsveinn's pretty sure the man's condition isn't degenerating. As long as he's getting food and water - which he is, judging by the color of his cheeks and the shade of his eyes - he should hold up in here. [23:25] 11Berg nods, acknowledging the man's condition and his friend...?'s suggestion at once. [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Berg's on another walk now. This one is somewhat circuitous, and at one time panicked - the youth takes the giant to a low-down, poorly-lit slum near the end of the city, but doesn't seem to find what he's looking for there. He pokes around, sniffs the air, and speaks in broken riverspeak to some of the other vagrants and desperadoes in the area until he's pointed to another direction. [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12So it is that Bergsveinn keeps walking. Now they're heading towards the south of Great Forks, once again along streets that tend to slope downward and end in shadow and ignominy. Still, there's an increasing sound of commotion as Bergsveinn moves... and the smell of excellent cooking. Lamb? [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir and Blossom, directing the preparation of the feast/congregation, see a young far-easterner stride in around the corner to meet and rapidly converse with a small contingent of his fellow refugees who've showed up to help out of what you suspect is more a physical rather than a spiritual hunger. But hey, he's brought your Circle's other Dawn Caste with him. [23:32] "Oh! Hello, Bergsveinn!" [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya says: "Hmph. I'm sure you won't." 12Her handshake is rather curt, and she pulls her hand away almost immediately. "Do feel free to stop by." 12Then she's gone, unless someone's got parting words of their own. [23:33] 11Berg: "This kid led me here... I was talking to the man I met in the market." [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Watching the Chosen of Fashion go, Ying feels two points prod her in the back. [23:34] 13That's... that's good, I think. Overall. "Hm?" 13She turns around to see what's back there. [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12It's the tip of the cat's head umbrella! The feline-goddess has slipped on the dress Ying made and looks, frankly, adorable. "It's... it's nyarvelous!!" [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12To Nyaroshi's side, a pair of cats are carefully folding the royal gown Czaliphenya made before slinging it across their backs. 08[23:37] 13Ying: "Oh! I'm glad you like it! The parasol was his idea, actually--" 13she gestures to Eikichi - "but I made some improvements. How's the rest of it feel?" [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Nyaroshi is waving the umbrella about, listening to the bells jingle... at one point she twirls. "I love it I love it! It's perfect! And you made it just for me-ow?" [23:38] 13Ying: "Yep!" 13She beams. [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Nyaroshi closes her eyes for a moment. "Not for a long, long time have any of my worshipers shown such devotnyan. I must mark this occasion." 12When she opens her eyes again, they're glowing a brilliant green - as are the eyes on the umbrella. 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The famous Emerald Stare that everyone's heard of and was previously established as being her epithet! [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12The cat-goddess taps Ying on the head with the tip of the umbrella. For a moment, Ying is framed on either side by two great greene yes with vertical slit pupils, and there's a curl of motion behind her reminiscent of a swishing tail. Nyaroshi says: "I give you... my blessing." [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying feels a strange, numinous power climb up her legs and back with prickly claws before settling softly about her shoulders. She suddenly realizes she can hear the cats on the tree behind Nyaroshi... gossiping? It's been quite long since such an honor was done a human... [23:46] 4Bringing in the homeless, downtrodden, and refused is a goal here. It's why we're cooking for three times as many people as we think will show up. [23:46] 4Probably bears watching still -- might be useful. [23:46] 4Sadly, Ir still isn't great with the local language. 08[23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12So it is that Sunlit-Dreaming Ying crossed darning needles with Czaliphenya herself, and lived to tell the tale. Nyaroshi, after rubbing up against Ying and Eikichi's legs, returns to her divine sanctum, and then the two Solars are free to continue their day. 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Hey Ying." 14[23:47] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 08[23:48] 13Ying: "Oh my gosh." 13She's still dazed. "Eikichi. Pinch me." [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Word of all that food is powerful advertising, that's for sure. Coming to help with - and hopefully benefit from - the huge cookout that Ir and Blossom are organizing are the poor and hapless from all across the city, many worshipers of weak or stingy gods, and many others refugees from the disaster in the east. Few of those refugees actually know the riverspeak, but what scraps the [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Solars have heard are chilling - entire villages razed, forests flattened, mountains gouged. [23:50] 4If it looks like they've at any point under-estimated the draw, Ir's got money on hand to try and scramble for more food on short notice -- and the chops to prepare it -- but surely they won't break 600. [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Most likely not. The whisper networks don't go that far and, as hungry as some people are, gods are jealous creatures as a general rule. 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi pinches Ying gently on the cheek. "Remember the time you beat the greatest couturier in the Direction at her own game?" 08[23:54] 13Ying: "Ouch!" 13She rubs her cheek where Eikichi pinched it. "This is the best day of my life. I- oh my gosh, I can't believe I did that!" 13She hugs him again, then steps back. "We have to tell the others!" [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Either way, you're now in position to get the skinny on the catastrophe from the east - and, in another day, to form and preach to this city's first proper solar congregation. Session Time: Thu Jan 18 00:00:00 2018 14[00:32] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:43] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[01:07] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[01:33] * Joins: Crion 14[01:36] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:18] * Joins: Crion| 14[03:23] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[03:28] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:01] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[05:41] * Joins: Crion| 14[06:19] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:08] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:27] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[11:29] * Joins: cbass 14[11:42] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:45] * Quits: hrolf_mac (*.net *.split) 14[14:45] * Quits: mattbaby (*.net *.split) 14[14:45] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:45] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[17:02] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[17:19] * Joins: Crion| 14[17:40] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:45] * Joins: tom 14[19:14] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:12] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[20:12] * Joins: tom 14[20:46] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[22:26] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) Session Time: Fri Jan 19 00:00:01 2018 14[04:01] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[05:09] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[05:17] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[05:48] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:00] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:00] * Joins: Crion 14[07:28] * Joins: mattbaby 14[08:55] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[09:26] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:32] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[10:12] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:07] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:11] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:24] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:02] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[12:56] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:57] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:10] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:11] * Joins: Crion 14[15:01] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:36] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[17:49] * Joins: hrolf 14[17:52] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:21] * Joins: hrolfy 14[18:25] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:10] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:38] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[21:57] * Quits: cbass (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:06] * Joins: cbass 14[22:45] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[23:52] * Joins: tom Session Time: Sat Jan 20 00:00:00 2018 14[00:11] * Joins: mattbaby [00:37] [00:37] [00:37] [00:37] [00:37] [00:37] [00:37] "This," 14says Stranger-Visits-Heaven, "is all so very fucking stupid. Tea?" [00:39] "Please," 5 Xu Sim nods graciously. "I completely agree. And, it's your move," 5 Xu Sim gestures to a game board decorated with a handful of grey and white stones. [00:40] 14The wide hearth of the cozy Floodwater hideaway is burning hot, and Stranger's put on two pots. One actually has tea in it, and is close to the flame; the other is sequestered off the coals, kept warm but not boiling, so that should more tea become necessary there's a pot ready for it. [00:42] 14He's prepared a pot of Greengrass tea -- mild, soothing, a bit medicinal. Seemed like a better idea than anything with a kick. They've had enough of that recently. [00:43] 5 With his free hand, Xu Sim strokes the repulsive but - momentarily - complaint Twice-Refined Princess. Her sclerotic eyes meander around with no immediate resemblance to objects of interest in the room. [00:45] 14Stranger has never been all that put off by the ugly dog. No one chooses what they look like. But Xu Sim seems to take a special point of pride in the revulsion his Princess inspires, so Stranger does his best to accomodate the mad doctor. [00:46] 14...He's out of his barrel now, right? [00:46] 5 Yes, no more barrel now that he has cured himself of the Honey-Maze. Although the faint taste of honey remains in the back of his throat, or perhaps he imagines it does. [00:47] 14Stranger: "I choose to draw, instead of play." [00:48] "It's been awhile since I've played Sorcery: The Circle, so be gentle." [00:50] 14Stranger draws his initial seven card hand. This is a very old deck; he hasn't kept up with the game. He's playing a Pole of Wood/Pole of Fire deck. [00:52] 5 Xu Sim:  "A rational move. I look forward to seeing what your deck has in store for us today." 5 Xu Sim splays his fingers to examine his hand of cards - stamped with woodcut prints of the life and mythologies of the forbidden, distant West.  "But I agree - it is quite stupid." 5 He selects one, at last, and plays it - the woodcut depicts a rocky cove. [00:56] "So. What do you think 'The Emissary' is?" 14He's a bit land-flooded. Two Woodlands, two Sands on the draw. But he also has a Collu Ghol, Bandit King of Zoatham, a Godly Growth, and a Sandblast. [00:58] "I still think our cabbage-merchant is reincarnating into him," 5 he says as he scratches his dog under her chin.  "But I don't think the special guest at Brueghel's last supper was our cabbage-merchant." [00:59] "Agreed, though not particularly an answer to my question. Either way, our new scrounging friend Dawn should track the cabbage man down. Just to close that loop." [01:00] "It was when The Governor disappeared that I began to wonder:" 5 Xu Sim lays a pathetic Wastrel Wizard on the table -  "Why our dear Emissary was such a stiff fellow walking around?" [01:03] "He never sat." 14[01:03] * banana|peels is now known as banana [01:03] "I somewhat wanted Keldar to force that issue, but...not worth it." [01:04] 14Stranger draws a Dune Raider, puts down a Sands, then uses it to play the Raider. [01:07] "It's funny. When that masked man walked into the room, I was so smugly certain that he was some kind of trick. By the time he murdered the Evening Master, I was begging for him to be one." [01:07] "I think he wanted to spend some time on his feet, after spending the last few weeks in a crypt somewhere." 5 Xu Sim draws a Lost Ark and carefully contemplates his options for a moment. He plays a Wu-Jian Spice Post, instead. [01:07] "Not that Brueghel didn't have it coming." [01:07] "Brueghel was a boor, certainly. I think the Governor and Brueghel tried to play a trick on the rest of us and made a terrible mistake." [01:08] 14Stranger frowns and examines the Spice Post. He's woefully out of date on non-standard lands. [01:08] "Oh, being a boor is fine. Expected, even. Being a Guild-owned asshole who doesn't even know his own shop is less so." [01:09] "You always were a sharper judge of character than I," 5 concedes the doctor. [01:11] 14Stranger draws again; another Sands. He plays a Woodlands. Nothing else this turn. "But I still think it's a trick." [01:11] "The star, you see." [01:11] "Do you remember what I called it?" [01:13] "Star of the... Crusader King? Balor, isn't it?" 5 Xu Sim rotates his Wastrel Wizard and gestures noncommitally at the small heap of stones next to Stranger. [01:14] "Indeed. And what reaction did that get?" 14Stranger taps his Sands and casts Sandblast, which deals 2 damage to the Wastrel Wizard before the Wizard's effect resolves. "None." [01:16] "Our 'Emissary' said only this: 'The dam will not break. The star will not fall.'" [01:16] 14Stranger sips his tea. "So I am now looking into all the local dams, because that's due diligence." [01:16] "But it seems like misdirection. Or excuse." [01:17] "Turn?" [01:17] "You think he's protective of his secret, ah, identity?" 5 The alchemist withdraws his Wizard, placing him beside the remains of his deck.  "Make sure none of the dams around here are at risk." 5 He places the Lost Ark on the table and cedes the turn. [01:18] 14Stranger snorts. "I'm almost willing to put one at risk, should it give us more information. But that's petulance speaking." [01:20] "Of course he is. It's the most important thing about him, after all. He's got the powers, but does he have the inheritance?" 14He sips his tea again. "After all, we wouldn't dare challenge the previous Emissary. We know the extent of his works and power. He would slaughter us. This character, however...we do not know how much effort his demonstration took." [01:20] "We do not know that we cannot outlast him. Or that our numbers are useless against him." [01:20] "All we know is that he -- perhaps with help, perhaps without -- genuinely has the mien and demonstrable abilities of the Emissary." [01:21] "If not the temperament." [01:22] 5 Xu Sim chuckles at the idea of Stranger attacking a dam.  "I will be straightforward: I think he's a necromantic puppet that slipped the strings. Just enough of the ghost left behind to remember his power, and his anger for being returned." [01:23] 14Stranger draws another Sandblast, replacing the one he just played. There are probably four in this deck. He plays another Sands, then a Godly Growth on the Sands so that it produces Pole of Wood essence in addition to its usual essence when tapped. "Turn." [01:24] 14After the word has left his mouth he realizes he forgot to attack with the Raiders. Curses! [01:28] 5 Xu Sim does not intend to squander his good fortune. He begins by playing a Coral Reef, then Lethe-Surviving Memories, drawing another three cards.  "But, still, his abilities have changed. He is less precise now. Perhaps it's rigor mortis, or the growing pangs of youth." 5 He deploys a final card, a Petite Airship. "Strange to think it could be either." [01:30] 14Augh. A flyer. Unfortunate. "What if it's neither?" [01:31] "If the thrust is the same, but details and constraints are different -- what does that mean?" [01:32] "Neither, neither, neither... The airship attacks." [01:32] 14Stranger frowns. "You played it this turn!" [01:33] "Ah, yes. Here," 5 Xu Sim adds another card, Auspicious Hourglass. [01:33] "Ugh." [01:34] "I take the wound. Eighteen. Turn? [01:34] " [01:35] "Turn... But if the constraints are different," 5 Xu Sim contemplates for a moment... [01:35] "I don't think his constraints are different. He still wants to uphold the laws of the city." [01:36] "His capabilities are less refined. Maybe it reflects the plague?" [01:37] "If the honey-maze separates the waking and dreaming mind, perhaps we're seeing some aspect of the Emissary usually kept under wraps?" [01:38] "Perhaps, and that would make sense. But consider: what if 'the Emissary' is merely a template?" 14Stranger draws a Wilder Peacock, but instead taps his three lands for four essence thanks to the Godly Growth and plays Collu Ghol, Bandit King of Zoatham. [01:39] 14Then he plays another Sands, giving him enough essence to cast a defensive Sandblast, and attacks with the Dune Raiders. [01:40] "We already considered this, given the cabbage-monger. But think about it. The previous Emissary was Balor, one of the Fair Folk. Strange; alien; governed by rules but also wholly slavish to those rules -- which is precisely what you would expect from a Fae lord made into some strange ur-constable." [01:41] "What if, instead, a demon became Emissary?" [01:41] "That selfishness, that malevolence, bent in the service of the Dogmas and Civilities of Nexus...it would look much like what we just saw atop that tower, wouldn't it?" [01:42] "Attack for one. You're at nineteen; turn." [01:42] "I'll take the hit," 5 Xu Sim suggests, before taking a sip of the tea. It is refreshing. He doesn't say anything in response to the demonic conjecture for a moment. [01:44] 14The Ambassador slinks out of Stranger's room in her human form, wearing her usual white-and-black dress. She takes one look at what Stranger-Visits-Heaven and Xu Sim are doing and proclaims, "Nerds." [01:44] 14Then she leans down to kiss Stranger on the head. "I'm going out. Back late. Should I wake you?" [01:45] 14Stranger puts down his tea and pulls her down into an actual kiss. "Please do. Or send a bird if circumstances change." [01:45] "A demonic creature, summoned and stuffed into the shape of the Emissary and trying - poorly - to emulate his powers?" 5 Xu Sim draws another card.  "Or do you think it's like that odd creature, who insists on speaking through lanterns and such?" [01:46] 14The Ambassador: "Mmmm. Honk twice outside your window if I'm out overnight, is it?" [01:46] 14Stranger: "Try not to wake the whole house." [01:47] 14She laughs. "Of course. Good evening, Xu Sim. And you as well, Twice-Refined Princess." 14She heads for the door. Over her shoulder: "Don't take too much of his money, now." [01:47] 14Stranger sighs. "No faith." [01:48] "You mustn't underestimate him, Ambassador, a poor old man like me might barely stand a chance. It's why I always bring reinforcements," [01:48] 14Stranger: "You old cheat." [01:48] "Where in the rules does it say you can't ask a dog for help? Where, in the rules, does it say that?" [01:50] "Rules are an affirmative agreement between temperate men, not a full enumeration of a contest's conditions. There's also nothing in the rules that says I can't set your deck on fire, but I won't do that, because it would be pathetic and stupid." [01:50] "I'm adding that to the rules,"  [01:51] 14He rolls his eyes, then grimaces. "As to your question: my initial thought was that our new 'Emissary' was stage-managed by the same class of criminal to which our friend Bubo belongs." [01:51] 5 adds Xu Sim.  "Let's see here. Ahh, here we go. Control Sorcery. I'll take your Sandblast, please. Attack with the Petite Airship. Turn." [01:52] 14Stranger: "How did you know I -- you peeked at my hand!" [01:52] 14Grumbling. "Fine." [01:52] "How many more do you have in your deck?" [01:52] "Sixteen, then. It's not like you can cast it." [01:52] "I'm not telling you that." [01:53] "A lucky guess, alone." [01:54] "Ah, let me see here. Bubo?" 5 Xu Sim grimaces slightly.  "That attack he arranged was quite devastating. But it seemed rather the opposite of indiscriminate; it wasn't a show of wanton force." [01:57] "Oh, he didn't arrange it. If he'd arranged it he wouldn't have been present for it. That's just poor craftsmanship as far as ambushes go." 14Stranger draws a Dunelicker -- my, that art is something -- and plays it. [01:57] "When was that one printed?" 5 It's quite the licker. Looker. Goodness. [01:58] 14Then he activates Collu Ghol to give the Dune Raider and the Dunelicker charge and +1, and turns them to attack. [01:58] "Some time ago. The art is what it is." [02:00] "Well, now I have to sacrifice my pet Airship. Block the Dunelicker. But if Bubo is so careful and discrete - which, the man is just a secretary - why would the Secretary be, well, the opposite of that?" [02:01] 14Stranger: "The man is anything but 'just a secretary.'" [02:01] "If we're lucky, by this time next week he'll be the Astrologer's consort." [02:02] 5 Xu Sim sucks the air through his teeth, as if he had just eaten a Jianese pork bun.  "What?" [02:05] "He's got a crush. So does she. We're taking steps to matchmake." 14Stranger pauses. "'We' here being myself and the Ambassador. Whatever his beliefs, it's absolutely necessary that Bubo have a real stake in what happens to this city. We'll provide him with that stake, and perhaps get both of them laid in the exchange." [02:05] "Sun knows they could use it." [02:07] "It's good for the humours, to be sure. But what do you mean, Bubo isn't 'just a man?' Surely no Godblood or Dragon-blooded would be walking around pushing pencils behind Nessun Dorma." [02:10] 14Stranger: "He's an Exalt of Heaven. The Ambassador is terrified of him and the powers he represents. Apparently he can remove himself from our memories when he wants to, which is...concerning." [02:11] "Since it means we have literally no idea how many times we've talked to the man." [02:12] 14He sips his Greengrass tea again. "You can appreciate how difficult it is to explain to Keldar why we shouldn't just gut the man from scrote to sternum." [02:13] "Perhaps you can explain it to me," 5 notes the doctor, peevishly.  "I should take notes of our meetings. He could have been in here the whole time and just left before you brought him up. It throws everything into question." [02:14] 14Stranger: "At this point I am taking it on faith that the theoretical me I've forgotten would have broken his legs before permitting him to do that again." [02:15] "But you no longer think Bubo, or someone like him, was responsible for stage-managing our new- or perhaps old-- Emissary?" [02:15] "Bubo is many things, but he is neither invisible nor potent enough to stand against our fury, should it manifest." [02:16] 14Stranger: "That was the Ambassador's theory, and it was a convincing one -- up to the point where 'the Emissary' fucked off into the sky for no clear reason." [02:16] "One would think the agents of Heaven would want direct and suffocating control over Nexus, should they have taken an interest in it." [02:17] "It's a dramatic way to get around. Perhaps Xia Lan should study it." [02:18] "Needless drama is an excess no one can afford at this juncture. Either the drama was necessary to conceal a weakness, or there was no drama -- there was just a new Emissary defining boundaries." [02:18] "Perhaps the agents of Heaven already do so. The gods don't have enough priests and prophets, now they have spies and dogsbodies?" [02:19] 14Stranger waves his teacup. "They always have. As have we." [02:19] "The new Emissary was stiff, he was weak from bed-rest, I think." 5 Xu Sim takes the opportunity to toast, as if they were drinking rice wine. [02:19] "You cannot begrudge your opponent their espionage; all you're doing is getting angry at yourself." [02:20] 5 Xu Sim scoffs but does not disagree. [02:21] 14Stranger completes his end of the toast by reflex, blinking once when he realizes what's been done. "Perhaps," 14he says to the subject at hand. "If this is the Emissary weak, I should not like to see him strong." [02:22] "But I take your meaning, if we're arguing from the stagecraft perspective: the Emissary never had to react to anything that was done atop that tower. He only had to act. We reacted." [02:22] "He walked into that room planning to murder Brueghel and hurt the rest of us." [02:22] "You could see it on the poor dumb fuck's face." [02:24] "Eliminate Brueghel, send a message to the rest of us - to get our shit together, because he doesn't want to be bothered? Why come out from whatever rock he was hiding under to do that? He could have just left well enough alone." [02:25] 14Stranger pours himself more tea, the card game almost forgotten. "If you assume that he knew ahead of time about the seating arrangements, and that he was informed of Kratz's arrival by his co-conspirators, there's not a single thing that happened in that room that didn't go according to his plan. Except, perhaps, me." [02:25] "But the smart guess is that I just sped up his play." [02:26] 14Stranger considers that. "It is true that his actions do seem to lack a...point." [02:26] "A strategic point, that is; the immediate point was obvious: fuck to Brueghel, to the three suitor armies, and to the rest of us." [02:28] "Agreed. I just wonder if these faerie armies are coming to bring him back to the fold, to swear fealty to him, to tear him to shreds, or to gape and stare." [02:29] 14Stranger: "If they were coming to recover this particular Emissary, then they would have had knowledge of him at the precise moment of the previous incarnation's death -- that's when they walked out from the Wyld." [02:30] "Which provokes the question: where was this new Emissary, between then and now?" [02:30] "What was he doing?" [02:30] "Why does he have no interest in or governance over Balor's Star?" [02:31] "All questions have answers." 5 Xu Sim notes, resolutely. [02:31] "No, my suspicion remains that he is some brand of imposter...which is not to say he is any less personally potent than the genuine Emissary is." [02:32] "Agreed. I cling to my necromantic theory - some combination of a ghost reinhabiting the zombified body of what was once the Emissary. It explains the mechanics, I think, in a satisfactory way." [02:35] 14Stranger: "If it's a ghost, our problems multiply. Thorns with a direct line to an unstoppable enforcer would be problematic, even if they don't currently know how to exploit it." [02:38] "Certainly. Ah, whose turn is it, anyway?" [02:38] 14He looks down at the cards. "I can't recall. Let's call it a draw." [02:39] "I anticipate our rematch, in that case." [02:39] "It was fun, though. Playing Sorcery again." [02:40] 14Stranger grimaces. "Perhaps not fun enough that I wish to return to the whole...scene. But a good game, among friends and well-brewed tea." [02:40] 14He collects his deck, says good night to Xu Sim, and retires to his room...for ten whole minutes. [02:41] 14Then he sets out with his cane and his hat to walk the district. 15[02:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Floodwater is one of the few parts of Nexus that seems to have gotten less miserable recently. Nothing's burned down, there've been no catastrophic battles, and the water is cleaner and better-contained than anyone can remember. But people leave Old Selin alone, mostly - he doesn't have the hero's reception someone like Mud and Straw got when he was rebuilding the district. 15[02:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger finds him canalside, standing on one leg, doing slow martial arts exercises. [02:44] 14Smart man, Old Selin is. [02:45] 14Not going to dinner parties is good for a man's health. [02:45] 14Or at least his longevity. [02:45] 14Stranger: "Impressive." [02:46] 14He wanders down the canal slope to sit nearby. 15[02:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin hunkers down on all fours, curling up tightly and lifting his feet from the ground, resting all his weight on his hands. "Kind of you to say so," he says, not looking up. [02:48] "Merely true," 14says Stranger. "I wasn't talking about the exercises. Though certainly you've got the housewives' attention." [02:49] "And the househusbands who are so inclined." [02:50] "I meant Floodwater. Impressive." 15[02:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin snorts. He dismounts, tucking and rolling until he pulls himself into a standing position. "I couldn't have done it alone. Two districts mostly razed, a plague, a war, billeted armies... no one's got the time to wonder where the cholera outbreaks went." [02:52] 14Stranger: "I'm sure they do." [02:53] "Some men make money off those cholera outbreaks." [02:55] "You haven't noticed anyone strange in the crowds recently, have you? I'm sure I don't need to run you through the signs. The Guild keeps to a certain formula with their spies, whether they know it or not." 15[02:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "Not yet. I'm sure they'll be by eventually." He draws a big sniff of the clean air. "Truth be told I haven't even seen much of the ones you're meant to see. Not that long ago you'd see officious underfactors were running up and down the Nexus like minnows. It's been days since I've seen one." [02:58] 14Stranger stares out over the canal water. "That's a message in itself." [02:58] "I think I like it less than them sniffing about." [02:59] "You saw the tower explode, I take it." 15[03:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mmm." He points up and to the east. This part of the canal has an open view of Sentinel Hill in the distance, the tower splintered against the sky. "Saw it from right here." [03:00] "How'd it look?" [03:01] "Nice colors, at least?" 15[03:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Matched the sky a bit too much for my taste. Too subtle for such a costly display." [03:03] 14Stranger nods. "It wasn't prettier up close. He manipulated the air -- changed its weight and density. It felt far worse than it looked. We all bled from our ears." 15[03:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "So it's true then. The Emissary's returned?" [03:06] "Something calling itself the Emissary executed the Evening Master Brueghel in an extremely legal fashion." [03:06] "His doctrine astounded us." 15[03:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "What a pity," says Selin with apparent sincerity. [03:09] 14Stranger sighs. "I agree. Not regarding Brueghel; Brueghel had it coming. But when the red star rose, it felt like a window opened for this city. Now it feels like it's been slammed shut. And the star's still up there." [03:10] "Nexus without an Emissary. Imagine what we could've done." 15[03:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "Wouldn't that be something? Nexus without an Emissary... it's not even Nexus anymore, is it?" 15[03:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "A lovely thought." [03:12] 14Stranger: "Nexus isn't that bloodless, fucked up thing." [03:13] "Nexus isn't the slavers who own him." [03:13] "There's a people under all this evil." 15[03:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mmm." 14[03:14] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [03:14] "I'd just hoped I wouldn't have to go through that thing and his owners to get to those people." 14He stands. "Foolishness, on my part." [03:15] "Going through the Emissary and the Guild is the point." [03:16] "You have a home, Selin?" [03:20] "Anywhere out there." 15[03:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "The cherry trees are blooming. I've been sleeping under those." [03:21] 14Still staring out over the water: "Neither do I." [03:22] "I'm tired of walking away from things. Going on down the road. I've been doing that for two years now, but if I'm being honest, it feels like I've been doing it so much longer." [03:23] "And I'm tired of the men who sit atop the high tower." [03:24] "Especially the ones who blow it apart, for sport." 15[03:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "What's that leave, then? Knocking down the towers?" [03:26] "It's what they deserve. But there's another path, and it's probably a better one." 14He turns away from the water to face Selin, smiling. "You make the towers obsolete." [03:27] "You just turn them into another building." [03:30] "And when you give them to the people, they can get up high enough to look out the window and see the horizon." 15[03:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "Another lovely thought," says Selin. [03:31] 14Stranger: "There's nothing wrong with lovely thoughts, so long as you recognize that ugly action follows." [03:32] "...How are the pumpworks coming?" 15[03:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "I made what repairs I could. There's not the infrastructure for a full restoration." [03:34] "There never is." [03:35] "It might be a bit on the nose, but I'd ask you turn your attentions to the walls, next." [03:35] "Not the outside walls." [03:35] "The ones inside the city." [03:35] "In case we have to defend quarter by quarter." 15[03:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "I think we'd be better served relying on the city's natural defenses if it comes to that. The hills, the rivers, the canals - old Hollow was built to last. Nexus was built to splinter and burn." [03:38] 14Bluntly: "When the Fair Folk arrive, I'm most afraid of an attack from inside Nexus. Not without." 15[03:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "Firewander?" [03:41] "Firewander's the obvious vector. Too obvious. This city has been in chaos for weeks, and the Fair Folk had this attack planned the moment the red star rose." [03:42] "We need flexibility. And we need an experienced eye looking at Nexus's structural flow." [03:43] 14Of course, if they're not able to deal with the honey, this is all just academic. [03:43] 14But Stranger trusts Xu Sim. 15[03:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "You have pull with the Dawn Guard?" [03:43] "I do." 15[03:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "See if you can get them to garrison in the Arena. That's one of the sturdiest structures in the city, and it would be easy to fortify. It draws its water from the Yellow directly where most of the canals in the city draw water from the Grey. The Grey's bigger and faster-moving. That's the river they'll foul if it comes to that." 15[03:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "Speaking of which, have you enlisted the river gods?" [03:48] 14Stranger sighs. "Not yet. We will. We're considering our approach." [03:48] "Not many of us are god-friendly." 15[03:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "The feeling is mutual." [03:50] 14Stranger chuckles. "Are you a god-botherer, then?" [03:50] "I would be, if the Sun were more inclined to listen." 15[03:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "I've bothered some gods in my time. Nowadays I like to consider myself a god-why-botherer." [03:51] "Nice." [03:53] 14He stretches. "Shutting down the Arena's going to be quite the trick, but given the circumstances...doable." [03:56] "It does give whoever's camped there the ability to respond anywhere in the city in roughly the same time, though. That's good to have." [03:56] "And if the treason comes from within the Dawn Guard, we won't get lost on our way to the fight." 15[03:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "They should shut it down anyway. Honey's felled anyone worth watching by now." [03:57] 14Stranger: "We've got someone working on the honey." [03:58] "Crazy asshole with an ugly dog. I'm quite fond of them." 15[03:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "Xu Sim. Yeah, you'll be fine." [03:59] 14He looks over. "You know him?" 15[04:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "I know his name. I've seen him fight. I don't think we've ever met." [04:00] "Fair. He looks very strange when he fights." [04:02] "Not that I'm one to talk." [04:03] 14Stranger picks up his cane. "Someone's expecting me back, so I'm not going to keep her waiting. Before, I was glad that I met you. Now I see it as a form of providence." [04:04] "You can take that however you like, so long as my respect carries with it." [04:04] "Things are about to start happening very quickly." 15[04:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Old Selin's peering down at the canal. You can see the stonework at the bottom now. "Kind of you to say so," he says, not looking up. [04:05] "Is it?" 15[04:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "I think so. I'll claim so, anyway." [04:06] 14He looks up the canal. "I asked you to make a connection to this place." [04:06] "Right on the edge of the stormfront." 15[04:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "You did." [04:07] "I'm not sure I've done you any kindness at all, Selin. And that just makes me more thankful." 15[04:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "Nexus is a lonely town for a man who won't take paying work." [04:08] "It doesn't have to be." [04:09] "There's the dream, though. Slipping up out into the air." [04:10] "The armies arrive in six weeks." [04:11] "Our world's on a timer. And I think there's few people I'd rather have on a timer with me than yourself." 15[04:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "I think the lock up the way here is still functional. It just needs some blockage cleared away. Then the water should run clean for the entire district from the pulley line to the dam." [04:15] 14Stranger: "And that's why." [04:15] "It's not sentimentality." [04:15] "You know how to do the work." [04:16] 14He starts walking up the canalside. "So let's go do the work." 14[04:45] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:04] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[10:50] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[10:51] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:06] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:53] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:15] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:20] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[18:34] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[18:35] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:44] * Joins: Crion| 14[18:50] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:20] * Joins: tom 14[22:02] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[22:26] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[22:31] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[23:16] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[23:34] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Sun Jan 21 00:00:00 2018 14[00:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:14] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[01:17] * Joins: Crion| 14[01:25] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:07] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[09:53] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:23] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:59] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:07] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:13] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:46] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:58] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:21] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[14:26] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:36] * Joins: tom 14[19:25] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:51] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:02] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:20] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:40] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[21:42] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[21:44] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:46] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:49] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[21:53] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:42] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[22:45] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[22:48] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:51] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:59] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:59] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Mon Jan 22 00:00:00 2018 14[00:02] * Joins: mattbaby 14[00:33] * Joins: Crion| 14[00:36] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:41] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:44] * Joins: Crion| 14[01:25] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:35] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:47] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[06:43] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:27] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:21] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[08:41] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:48] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[08:55] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[08:57] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:59] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:28] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[10:30] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[10:33] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[10:34] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:15] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[11:20] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[11:21] * Quits: trenchfoot (NickServ (GHOST command used by trenchfoot_)) 14[11:21] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[11:27] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:27] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[13:34] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:16] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:40] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:42] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:56] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[18:37] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:03] * Joins: tom 14[21:00] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[21:56] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[22:17] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:24] * Joins: dammitwho 14[23:22] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) Session Time: Tue Jan 23 00:00:00 2018 14[00:03] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[00:43] * Joins: Crion| 14[00:49] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:15] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:00] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[04:00] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:59] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:42] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:02] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:22] * Joins: [Olive_Guardians]m0ist 14[18:03] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[19:34] * [Olive_Guardians]m0ist was kicked by VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD) 14[19:56] * Joins: dammitwho 15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "But I won't save you." 15[20:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The ruling elite of Nexus, several foreign dignitaries, and a cadre of ascendant heroes are scattered and battered at the new highest floor of the shattered Council Tower. Splinters, gore, and bodies spread from wall to wall beneath a mad red sky, hearing those words layered flat on the wind that whips the white cape like a flag in the night. 15[20:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary lives. [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar coughs into the side of a fist, then frowns down at a moonsilver-girded palm stained with blood. He looks back to see Kratz in roughly the same condition, and takes care to put the woman down into the nearest seat. Turning back to face the cloaked figure, the mercenary calls out: "Will you enforce the Dogmas?" [20:15] 5 Xu Sim's nose is bloodied and his ears ring, but he will ensure that no-one else is too badly hurt. Any severe injuries? [20:15] 7How, though? Did he ever die? Is he back from the dead? Is this another Emissary, wearing the old one's mantle? 15[20:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "Violate them and see for yourself." [20:16] 14Stranger lands back on the floor and shakes the dust off his shoulders: "We didn't ask you to." [20:16] 14That's in response to "I won't save you." 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Aside from the scraps of Brueghel spread over the former meeting-hall (new meeting-veranda?), it looks like nobody's more grievously injured than Xu Sim himself. Kratz looks to be in about the same shape Xu Sim is, as do a couple of others. The Lookshyan contingent has several injuries. Two-thirds of Thorns is at least dazed. Highland is unscathed behind the defiant red anima of Highland's prince. [20:18] 13Blood runs down Xia Lan's jaw as she breathes heavily, clutching at her side - a broken rib, maybe. Sun, that hurts. She shakes her head as if to clear it, but it doesn't quite help. 14[20:19] * Joins: tom [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar glances to his circlemates before looking back to the Emissary. "Ain't had reason to yet. But it'd be nice to know, practically speaking. Lets us plan how to uphold them ourselves." [20:22] 5 In that case, Xu Sim dabs at the blood pooling in his moustache with one of the napkins left over from the dinner. [20:27] 14The entire bared council room explodes with golden light. Stranger's eyes go gold as he taps his walking cane against the remains of the Evening Master, a patient disappointment on his face. "But you don't care what we asked, do you. I wonder if you care about anything at all." 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary: "I don't wonder that." [20:31] 14Stranger: "I gathered." [20:32] 13Xia Lan: "Talkative fellow." [20:32] "Will you be attending council meetings?" [20:32] "Your Eminence." [20:32] 7Dawn: "Hell, I might be new here, but isn't caring about Nexus kind of... your thing?" 14[20:33] * Joins: hrolf 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> The pressure drops. Everyone's eardrums pop. Then the Emissary is gone with a whipcrack, leaving a corona of red light and thorned vines twisting up from the spot where he stood, flecked black and oozing. [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar pinches the bridge of his nose. "Whoof." [20:34] 14Stranger: "Ass." [20:35] "Xu Sim, are you ambulatory?" [20:35] 13Xia Lan: "...very talkative." 13She winces at the whipcrack, mostly at the pain from the flinch. [20:35] "I don't know what I was expecting. But it sure as hell wasn't that." [20:35] "Yep." [20:36] 14Stranger: "Tend to Kratz before yourself, if you would. She's less resilient." [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah. Know what, though? Probably better than nothing." [20:37] "I don't think there's any really severe injuries, fortunately. Brueghel excepted, of course." [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Even if all he's planning to do is recline while watching the raksha eat us all, the fact he's alive'll scare people out of just going nuts and looting or rioting when they otherwise might've." [20:37] 4 von Hrolfus: "Ugh." [20:38] He slowly gets to his feet, rubbing a hip and wincing. [20:38] 14Stranger: "That's fine. I just wanted to know if he's going to show up to vote." [20:38] 7Dawn: "I mean, I'm all for making damn sure people don't break the same rule twice. But that was probably a little extreme." [20:39] 14To the Highland, Lookshyan, and Thorns contingents: "I take it you have decisions to make of your own. You've seen that the defender of Nexus is back. You've seen his mood. This meeting is adjourned." [20:40] "My advice is either to leave these lands entirely, or provide us with a runner." [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hold on a minute. We've still got a job to do here." [20:40] 14Stranger looks over at Keldar: "Councilors only need be present, yes?" [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The plan was to draw up and seal a compact for the defense of this city against the raksha, and everyone knew coming in that the Emissary wouldn't be any help. Well, he's still not. We've just got a better view now." [20:41] 7Dawn smirks at her Thorns counterpart, who seems similarly unruffled, unlike his companions. "Not bad." [20:41] 14Stranger looks as if he's about to argue, then shrugs. "Fine." [20:41] "A word first, however. Privately." 15[20:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "Nice catch," says Hunter to Dawn, who ably grabbed her hat after the Emissary's outburst blew it off. [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah?" 12He'll step off to the side or whatever's necessary. [20:43] 14In private: "Are you sure you wouldn't rather postpone this until we own the Evening Master's seat, instead of merely having an abstention?" [20:43] "The functional outcome is the same. The Dawn Sergeant has been empowered." [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It's a seven-man council now, isn't it? No Emissary, no Brueghel, Kratz is back... friendly to us, right?" [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And either way, how long would a replacement take? We need to have this alliance two weeks ago." [20:45] 14Stranger: "My concern is the Guild. They may not view a decision without a seated Evening Master as legitimate." 15[20:45] <@VoxPVoxD> On the other side of the room, Dorma, glowing white, stares down Nogare, glowing red. Neither of them blinks or says a word. [20:45] "I would presume their aid is needed, if they're still willing to offer it after what happened." [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, well, them and what four armies?" [20:48] 14Stranger shrugs. "I'm fine with burning them out entirely myself. But we're on a clock, and I'd prefer they be a tool instead of a distraction." [20:48] 14That's all he's got to say. [20:49] 13Xia Lan: "They don't need armies to be difficult." 13She's sidled up to Keldar and Stranger, still bloodied. "They can be burnt out later. More thoroughly, even. But we need to outmaneuver them now if we want that chance later." [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "They haven't really got a leg to stand on either way. The Emissary blowing a guy up and then leaving himself is as legitimate an excuse for being understaffed as we'll get." [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar glances over, then back. "Uh... melting a guy down." [20:50] 14Stranger: "Not having a leg to stand on has never stopped the Guild." [20:51] 14To Xia Lan: "You're not wrong. How did you read our new 'Emissary?'" [20:51] "There was commitment there, I think. But...different." [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It'll be fine. We can renegotiate after the raksha're routed. As is, just getting all these guys in the same room again'll be too much of a pain in the ass." [20:52] "Fair enough. But I'm exhausted. I can barely maintain my posture as it is. If you want something from them, you'll have to claim it yourself." [20:53] "You and Bastian, that is." [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Guess we can break for an hour if need be, but you gotta figure that no one else in the room is doing a lot better." [20:54] "Gentlemen," 5 Xu Sim says, clearing his throat.  "And ladies. Regardless of whatever else we have learned tonight, we have to cooperate to accomplish the following: Cure the honey-maze plague, stop the invasion from toppling the Direction. Perhaps it would be easier to conduct the rest of the negotiation in writing, through courier?" [20:54] 4 "I would give them a little time to gather their wits, yes." He winces again. "I could use some myself." [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar returns to the table. "Way too slow, given our timetable. But I wouldn't begrudge anyone a... tea break, or something." [20:57] 14That would give someone a chance to find tea. At least. That would be nice. 14[21:08] * Joins: hrolf_mac [21:11] 13Xia Lan: "...hard to pin down. He didn't care about us at all, but the people... he's angry. Betrayed. Contemptuous. Commitment, but different is the least of ways to put it, I think." [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12After looking around a bit longer and noting just how many people are shaking, bleeding, or edging towards the doors, the mercenary relents. "A... long tea break? Ahhh, should probably just do this tomorrow." [21:12] 14Stranger nods at Xia Lan. "That makes some certain sense. ...Just a flesh wound on you?" 14[21:13] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:13] 14To the assembled: "You heard the man. We are adjourned. Leave if you will. But if you do not -- don't go far." 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The floating sorcerer whispers in Highland's ear. He doesn't break eye contact with Dorma, who hasn't budged even as the rest of his contingent have pulled themselves to their feet. [21:14] *Leave Nexus 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> The Regent: "Tomorrow, then. In the old Deliberative." [21:14] 13She gives a small shake of the head, and drops her voice to a whisper: "I can walk, but I need a doctor. Shooting pains up the side." [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Is that a joke? I like my symmetry bilateral, buddy." [21:15] "See you then." 5 The doctor gets up and leaves unless stopped. 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> The Beast: "I don't joke. We'll have the place stabilized. You can come and inspect it if you like." [21:15] 14Stranger nods. "Hang on until the room is cleared." [21:16] 14As Xu Sim goes to leave: "A moment, doctor." [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And the entire path there? And you can't just turn bits of it off as needed? Nothing's wrong with Council tower." [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar glances up to the sky. "I mean, generally speaking. The rest of its floors, you know." 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "There's no Council." 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "Without its Emissary or its bankroll these are just people aping our titles." [21:17] "The Deliberative? The hell's that?" 7Dawn says in an undertone. [21:18] 14Stranger: "Your titles?" [21:19] "None of us are astrologers." 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> The Regent tilts his head at Dorma. "Will you tell him or shall I?" [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar glances back to Dawn, whispering. "Big ruin in the middle of Firewander. Center of a wyld zone." [21:21] 14Stranger turns to Dorma. [21:22] 14More interesting here than the grasping claim itself is the ask, from the Regent to the Dragonlord. [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Then the mercenary returns his attention to the Beast. "We all knew there was no Emissary coming in. Brueghel isn't the Guild and there's plenty left the Council can do, titles aside." 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma is unmoved... for a few moments. Finally, slowly, he says, "It has come to my... attention... that my majordomo was a spy." [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Even if that wasn't true, all of us getting together where your guys are quartered doesn't make a lot of sense. If there's actually something wrong with the tower, I guess we can deal with it, but I might as well have said to hold proceedings in the Ninth Orchard barracks." [21:24] 14Stranger, unperturbed: "And?" 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> The Beast: "Do you have room for us all there?" [21:24] 13Ooh. [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks around. "Sure, we're a big company. But the tower suits me fine and is as neutral as Nexus gets." 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "When we searched his quarters, we found star charts. Apparently he was using astrological signs as code to pass intelligence to... our enemies." [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Knew it." [21:26] 14Welcome to the Order of the White Lotus full-time, Bubo. 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> The Beast: "The Tower's neutrality is the problem. This is Council ground. Even if you want to prop up the Council in the long run, we should deny the Emissary as much license to intervene as we can." [21:27] 7Dawn: "Did you find anything else?" [21:28] 14Stranger: "Meeting within Nexus gives the Emissary license." 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "Except in Firewander." [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Since when?" [21:29] 14Stranger: "It would be interesting to learn how you could possibly know that." 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> The Beast: "The Emissary can't enter the Deliberative. He never has." 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm sure it would." [21:30] 13Xia Lan: "Can't and hasn't are different things." [21:30] 13It's a prompt more than a disagreement. [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Even if he can't, he can sure as hell enter the rest of the city and we aren't going to beat the fair folk while hiding in there. If the Emissary actually has something more to say about this enterprise we'd do better to hear it." 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> The Beast: "Then you should negotiate with him. Highland won't be, because he's obviously gone mad." [21:31] 4To Dorma: "Which enemies?" [21:31] 14Stranger: "But if you want us to enter the Deliberative with you, all you have to do is ask forthrightly." [21:32] "And we'll consider it." 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor speaks for the first time since the Emissary arrived. He's just helped the Scion to her feet. "We will meet you in the Deliberative tomorrow. We have no need to fear its poison either way." [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, to Nori: "That's debatable. But whether he's gone mad or gotten mad, there's no avoiding him if he wants to be involved... which means there's no special reason to meet in your hostel." 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> The Beast turns back to Dorma: "What of Lookshy? Our task remains the same. I can't boast their armaments--" he says, gesturing at Keldar's armor "--or their numbers. But our commitment to victory is undivided." [21:36] 14Stranger glances over at Keldar. They're losing control of the conversation. [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, what of Lookshy? What's Dorma say to this? 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma gives the Thorns delegation a withering look. "You ask me to consort with demons and vermin either way. What difference does it make?" 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> The Beast: "I can't deny it. I'm asking you to make a choice, between the devil you know and the devils who haven't attacked or betrayed you." 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "Yet." 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> The Beast: "That's a big 'yet'." 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "..." [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Listen, Council Tower's the seat of power for the Nexus we're actually defending. This is where the actual people who live here look for their laws. Firewander's just a preview of what's coming at this point." [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I guess it'd serve well for training exercises, but if we're here to actually keep this city standing we should stay in this city." [21:43] 7Dawn: "Does seem like an odd place to conduct negotiations." 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> The Beast: "Keldar is right. The choice is even more stark. Will you take up arms for the present or the future?" [21:43] 13Xia Lan: "You've got to be kidding me." 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "..." 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "...you will have my answer in the morning." [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Firewander'll certainly be Nexus's future if we get this wrong." 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> The Beast: "And we'll be able to give you a taste of that future tomorrow." 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "Enough! I have said my piece. You will hear from me tomorrow when I have decided, and not before." 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Unless someone stops him, Dorma will stomp out, Lookshy behind him. [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar watches him go, mouth pressed thin. He turns to the others. "Well... tomorrow, then. Not sure who's gonna be seeing about repairs here but I don't think it's me specifically." 12He steps over to Pellicia to check if there's anything for him to do as Apples-Dawn Guard liason - escorting Kratz, bullying civilians away from the tower, whatever. [21:51] 14You know what they say: Any meeting you can walk away from. 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia's looking down at the crowds forming around the base of the tower. Some of them are screaming. It looks like the debris from the Emissary's attack landed on some people 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> . [21:52] 13Well. That's bad. [21:53] 5 Xu Sim hurries down. [21:53] 14Keldar should go too. [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Well... he's sort of on the Guard right now, this kind of civic defense stuff is in the contract. The mercenary heads down to shift fallen rubble, tend to immediate wounds, and otherwise discharge his for-the-moment duty. 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Highland's sorcerer drifts up to the vines that curl where the Emissary once stood, carefully dragging his fingers across them. "Hmmmmmmmm." [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Xu Sim better have grabbed some of those. [21:57] 14The Ambassador has long since fled for safer spaces. Stranger would love to follow. 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim finds people panicked, people injured, people grieving. [21:58] 14To the sorcerer: "You'll take nothing." 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> The sorcerer snaps a thorn off the vine and starts to float away. [21:58] 14Dawn? [21:59] 14Or Bastian. [22:00] 14...Ah well. [22:00] 13There's more left, right? If so, Xia Lan will tiredly say: "Let him have it. It's been a long day." [22:01] 4Bastian breaks into a run and gets directly in his way. "You will stop here." [22:01] 5 The doctor does his best to care for the worst-off among the panicked people, directing the merely-panicked away from the chaos. [22:02] 13She snaps some off herself. Payment for the medical treatment she'll need later. 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> The sorcerer freezes, but the Beast is there and takes the thorn from his trembling hand. "That will be all," he says. [22:02] 14Tch. [22:04] 13We're going to need to turn that around on him at some point. [22:04] 13For our dignity's sake, if nothing else. 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Highland departs, and Thorns not long after. The Council, aside from Pellicia, are in various states of daze and confusion, having pulled themselves into sitting positions to nurse their wounds or tend to one another's, or haven't yet regained consciousness. [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Once Keldar's done seeing to immediate injuries and keeping the peace, he'll head back to floodwater district to clean up and get a little rest. In the confines of his circle's base, he removes his looted artifacts and spends some time sitting back on his bunk, breathing slowly and deeply. He'd see to his wounds more directly but isn't sure the work would have time to take. [22:09] 14Once the others are gone, Stranger sits down against a wall, flicks away the detritus that was the Evening Master, and nods off for a bit. [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyone else who visits the hideout soon after Keldar starts will find the place lit from within by a red-gold glare, but fortunately one that doesn't actually turn into a miles-high beacon. After that, Keldar has to think: what is, actually, the most tasteful way to deliver a dead body? 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim is able to tend to the wounded. There's nothing doing for the dead. Keldar finds the streets panicked. People swearing up and down they heard the Emissary's voice, that they saw him-- others insisting that's ridiculous, it was Anathema that did it, just like it was Anathema that've destroyed everything else recently, and anyway if the Emissary's back why is the star still hanging above the tower? [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Before all that, though, Keldar makes sure that the immediate Nexus populace doesn't stay panicked long. It's a sinister, horned figure girded in living silver that comes stepping out of the council tower's doors, glowing the fierce golden-red of the dawn as it roars: "Be still!" [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Its mask opens, and Keldar adds: "I mean, relax! Cripes! You're gonna trample that guy. Here-" 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> The crowd recoils, relaxes, obeys. [22:14] <@Ferrinus> "Dawn Guard, outta the way-" 12Some shouting and moving of heavy rubble later and the situation is defused, more or less. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> And so peace returns, more tenuous than the last peace, a moment Nexus has repeated half a dozen times in the last six weeks. [22:18] 13We're very good at this. [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, to Xia Lan, later that night: "You need that looked at?" 12He probably means the aftereffects of internal bleeding or whatever. [22:21] 13Xia Lan: "Yes please." 13She's been playing it up whenever they aren't in public view - limping, moaning in pain, wincing whenever she shifts in a seat - and also, hasn't cleaned up the blood from her face. [22:21] 14Stranger returns late, and turns in without even putting on tea. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a weird treatment Keldar comes up with - after a few poultices and bandages, he brings a stone bowl in front of Xia Lan and then smacks the bottom of his fist between her shoulder blades to get her to cough up a nasty, blackened clot. "More where that came from, but I don't think I can do anything about it. Still, stay in bed and most of this should clear up." [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "On another subject, what'd you say is the best way to, uh, give someone back the body of their officer that you killed." 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim tends to wounded and studies. This vine is sturdy and thick, the sort that grows in the densest Eastern jungles, the ones that vanish into the impenetrable wilderness that emanates from the Pole of Wood, and the bordermarches beyond. He also immediately notes what the Highland sorcerer did: this vine is scarred and flecked with iron thistledown. 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> He deduces that these vines are some sort of latent manifestation or aftereffect of the Emissary's departure. They suggest wildness and injury. [22:24] 13She glares at him after the 'treatment.' "Is that any way to treat--" 13Well. She does feel a little better. She softens. "Don't do it wearing the armor of the person you killed. That's step one." [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well yeah." [22:24] 13Xia Lan: "For some reason, I feel the need to cover the basics." [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Look, I didn't know why the alarms were going off-" [22:27] 4von Hrolfus taps his fingers absentmindedly on his knee. "I have a bad feeling about the people from Thorns." [22:28] "Fascinating," 5 notes the sorceror, as he sets the vine in a tiny teacup of soil under glass. Damaged by the thistledown, it shouldn't grow -but you never know. [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I wonder about 'em. I guess their heartfelt wish has got to be to kill everyone in Nexus and turn us into another necrostate... but do they think it's practical enough to be planning to double cross us here and now?" [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Here and now meaning within the next couple months." [22:29] 13She taps a finger to her chin. "Hmm. I don't think I've ever done this before. Actually apologizing for -- " 13She cuts herself off. "Anyways! Don't explain yourself until they ask for it. Apologize and mean it, no 'sorry that I had to do this' business. And, probably have people there to check if they even want to see you at all. That'd be where I'd begin." [22:31] 4"I cannot say for sure. But they - and the rest - had a look of vultures scrapping over a carcass." He pauses for a moment. "Until the Emissary re-appeard, at least." [22:34] 14Stranger will knock on Dawn's door well before...ah. [22:34] 14Well before sunrise. [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Right. Well... I'm probably gonna try to take the body, and the armor and such too, over to Lookshytown early the next morning. Might just tag along with Xu Sim. We'll see how it goes." [22:36] 7Dawn pokes her head out. "Yeah?" [22:37] 13Xia Lan: "What's your plan?" [22:38] 14Stranger: "There's a loose end we need to tie off in our favor. Want to help me run down the most difficult spy?" [22:38] 14He pauses. "We're not killing him." [22:38] 4von Hrolfus nods. "I shall come with you." 14[22:39] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) [22:39] 7Dawn: "So long as he doesn't take a shot at us or anyone else, fine." [22:40] 14Stranger: "Even if he does. No killing." [22:40] 5 The next morning, Xu Sim is up early. He puts on a simple linen smock, undyed and tied with a simple cord about the waist. It's a far cry from fashion, but at least it is relatively clean. It is the last bit of clothing he has that isn't scorched or soaked through with blood. [22:40] "...But you can have fun with him." 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Someone should take Xu Sim shopping at some point. [22:41] 5 He doesn't have any money. He's quite the mendicant. [22:41] 13Busy recovering from nearly dying, here. It was awful, you should've been there, she says, to people who actually were there. [22:41] 14Stranger will be waiting outside their Floodwater hideaway when Dawn is ready. Their first stop is the residence of Astrologer Kratz. [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Uh, basically to give everything over and say this isn't how I wanted things to go." [22:42] 7Dawn's got her firewand slung over her shoulder. "So who is this guy? Sounds like you know him." [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I was ready to stand on principle here but at this point Lookshyan overreach is the least of our problems." [22:43] 5 Xu Sim sets out a simple meal for Twice-Refined Princess as he packs what sorcerous and medical supplies remain, and the honeycomb he coughed up. On a whim, he grabs the vine-chunk as well. He pauses on his way out to see who else will join him.  "I'm leaving in ten heartbeats to cure a plague! Who wants to speak to the Dragonlord, should join me!" [22:45] 13Xia Lan: "Good! Good. Well, that second part less good, don't tell them that." 13She works through a few hypotheticals with Keldar, coaching him - possible responses, angles of insults, things he absolutely should not under any circumstances do - along with some signals he should pay attention for. She can't speak for him - Dorma would never accept it - but she can advise him to the best of her ability. [22:45] 4von Hrolfus: "What is the least of our problems? They all seem fairly large to me." [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods along seriously as Xia Lan talks, although, of course, he's always been fair shakes at nodding along seriously while not actually paying attention. He does turn up in the early morning as Xu Sim is preparing to leave, though, pulling a covered wooden wagon behind him. [22:48] 13Three clears of her throat means "Keldar, let me handle this." That's the most important signal that she makes absolutely sure he knows. [22:48] 13Everything else... how badly can he possibly screw up? [22:48] 13Ho ho ho. 14[22:48] * Joins: cbass 14[22:49] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) [22:50] "Ah, perfect-" 5 notes the doctor, as he hefts his dog into the covered wagon.  "Thank you for ensuring she needn't sully her feet. It's a long walk!" [22:50] "Bubo Malcavet. Secretary to the Dragonlord Nessus Dorma -- ex-Secretary now, it seems -- and servant of Heaven. I've met him four times. The fourth time was at a noodle shop. It ended in an ambush. Keldar and the rest believed it was Bubo's doing; I never did. He never would have put himself in danger like that." 14[22:50] * Joins: cbass [22:51] "Mind you, I don't actually recall him being at the noodle shop." [22:51] "That's part of Bubo's...charm." [22:52] "Well, maybe we can find some evidence of what he was up to at his office." [22:52] "He is a small man. Plump. Mustachioed. Prefers dark glasses. He maintains a social interest -- perhaps a romantic one, even -- in the Astrologer Kratz, member of the Council." [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's armed and armored, notably, but he's just wearing a shiny, well-put-together suit of articulated plate and got a straight sword at his side. 14[22:53] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) [22:53] 14Stranger smiles. "Oh, we won't have to go there. You see, my darling Ambassador dropped in on Kratz last night -- before she came to the tower. She was entertaining our quarry as a guest." [22:54] "We should start there; both because it's most recent, and because we can talk our way in the front door far more easily." [22:55] "Ah. Any chance he's still there?" [22:56] 5 As Keldar accompanies Xu Sim, the sorceror begins to elaborate his newfound interest in siege machines as the most effective way he can contribute to the preparations for battle:  "And, specifically," 5 he concludes after a lengthy prelude:  "I believe a series of glass orbs containing a horrid mixture of dyeworks runoff and iron filings, especially aerosolized, would be a potent [22:56] weapon - delivered by mangonel or, I suppose, a particularly daring sling crew. [22:56] 14Stranger taps his walking stick on the cobblestones. "I doubt it. But at some point last night the Dragonlord terminated his employment -- meaning he sent men for Bubo. I doubt they were up to the task of catching one such as he, but they might have forced him to leave a trail. We should begin at Kratz's apartments, and see where it takes us." [22:57] 14As they walk: "...So you met with young Tsuka. We've discussed this already, I think." [22:57] 4"What effect would this have on rakshasas?" [22:57] "Have you ever stuck your head in a roaring chimney and taken a deep breath of the smoke?" [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It's the dyeworks runoff that worries me there. Can you cook something up that's toxic only to the fae?" [22:58] 4"Do they breathe like us? Do they breathe at all?" [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Sure, some of them. I'd even hazard most of them. Hobgoblins got ears and noses and such." [22:59] "The difficulty is finding a way to keep the iron filings hanging in the air, instead of just throwing clouds of dust around - making the clouds linger as long as possible instead of settling on the ground." [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It's just - I mean, we've already had a fight with an airborne poison present, yeah? Didn't exactly give us the edge." [22:59] 7Dawn nods. "Definitely seems like an interesting kid." [23:00] 14Stranger: "An excellent young man, by my lights. And I think one that we'll need. I'm not going to ask you to find him right now -- but if the moment came when he was needed, do you know where he's gone?" [23:02] 7Dawn: "He didn't tell me... but I found him once." [23:02] "Well, ideally, we wouldn't fight in it - we'd force them to march through it." [23:02] 14Stranger nods in understanding, and doesn't press further. [23:02] "But, the points are well-taken." 14[23:05] * Joins: cbass 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Some time later, Xu Sim, Keldar, and Bastian are at the border of Lookshytown. The ersatz embassy is so heavily guarded the three of them and their wagon are stopped before the building itself is even in sight. "You aren't welcome here." [23:06] "Where do you come from?" 14Stranger asks as they wind their way through the streets. "If you don't mind the question." [23:06] 4"Dorma probably wants to talk to us." [23:06] "There hasn't been much chance yet to talk." [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Or at the very least doesn't want to miss us." [23:08] "When were you given the orders that we weren't welcome here?" [23:08] 7Dawn: "The Southlands. Born in Gem, but a lot of wandering about." [23:08] 13Xia Lan eases back into some ice and hopes that her advice stuck with Keldar, Bastian, and Xu Sim. Not much to do now if it didn't. [23:08] 14Stranger nods. "Did you always hunt men, or did that come to you with the Sun's blessing?" 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Meanwhile, Dawn and Stranger find themselves being asked to wait at the base of Kratz's tower while she prepares to receive them. Looks like it's still Pellicia's personal guard staking the place out, instead of the Guild bodyguards who normally attend the Council. [23:09] "I was a fisherman, before," 14Stranger offers. 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Lookshy guard: "Standing orders." [23:10] 7Dawn: "Before and after. There's a lot of money in it, and you can even keep your soul if you're good enough." [23:10] 14Stranger: "He wouldn't have chosen you if you weren't. One moment." [23:10] <@Ferrinus> Keldar: "Well, send word ahead, then. We can wait." [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar* 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan hears someone ringing the little bell that was installed to let visitors announce themselves. [23:11] 14Stranger approaches the guards. How much convincing will they need? [23:11] 14Ah. [23:12] 14He returns to Dawn. "The Astrologer will receive us shortly." [23:12] 13She groans as she heads over to check the - door? Did they install one at the window for the Ambassador as well? 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> No, there aren't really any windows. The building above is windowless and the actual hideout is largely underground. [23:14] 13Oh, right, yes. Sorry, been out of it after being cruelly attacked by the Emissary of Nexus. So - who's behind the peephole? 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan finds an old man wearing rags at the door. He peers at her down his long nose and past his bristly beard. "You shaved, Stranger." [23:17] 13Xia Lan: "He's out, I'm afraid. I can tell him you came calling...?" 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "Selin. What's your name?" 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Lookshy guard: "He's going to ask me what you want. Spare me a trip back and forth again, eh?" [23:18] 13Xia Lan brightens. "Oh! The Unfettered Xia Lan -- and Stranger's mentioned you before. A pleasure." [23:18] 14Stranger and Dawn may want to check around the base of the tower while they wait. The alleys and such. If someone was waiting for Bubo when he left... [23:19] "I'm here to cure the Honey-Maze and free up your apothecaries and soldiers," 5 answers the doctor. [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks to his allies and back. "And I'm giving back something that belongs to you." 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Guard: "Can I tell him what?" [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar considers momentarily, then steps back to briefly pull the tarp away from the covered wagon. There's jade and moonsilver in there, and something covered under more cloth. [23:22] 14To Dawn: "Let's take a stroll about the block while we wait." [23:22] "In different directions. Meet you back here." 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> The guard blanches. "I'll... I'll tell him." 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> After the guard departs, four Gunzosha elites clomp in from side streets to close the road off, forming a solid barrier of steel. [23:26] 14Stranger's milky eyes stay watching the top of Kratz's spire as he makes his way around it, tapping his stick against the cobblestones. With the hill, the rise of the tower, the natural depressions all around -- you could see the whole city from up there, he'd wager. That means you could see anything coming, too. [23:26] 4"This has a familiar feel." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Oh! It's nice to meet you in person. I've only ever heard you from far away. Nice pipes." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't suppose I could trouble you for a cup of tea? Maybe some bread?" [23:29] 5 Xu Sim is always intrigued by the gunzosha in action, but his irritation with the dilatory nonsense that these Lookshyans are always throwing around is mounting. [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Let's hope that changes." [23:31] 13Xia Lan: "...come in...?" 13She steps aside with a visible limp. "I'll get some tea going. Stranger's bound to have left some." 13She shuffles off towards the kitchen, keeping an eye on him. Stranger's told her a bit, but not enough to give him free reign of their hideout. 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Now Stranger and Dawn are invited up to meet with Kratz. 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Assuming they take the invitation, they'll find her at the table in front of her bed, wearing gauzy blue pajamas in front of a breakfast table set for three. [23:34] 14Tea? 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Yes. [23:36] 5 Xu Sim reaches over to the cart, giving TWP some reassuring pets. 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin comes in and takes a seat. "I see the place has finally aired out. Smelled of fish brine for days." [23:36] 14Excellent. "Astrologer. It's so good to formally meet you. This is my associate, Dawn. My apologies that the Ambassador could not accompany me here this morning. Responsibilities of her own, of course. But she's told me much about you." 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> About ten minutes pass before the guard returns. "I'm to take the cart, and then you can follow me." [23:36] 13Speaking of tea, Xia Lan grabs whatever Stranger keeps towards the front and starts it steeping. She makes a note of it, of course, in case Selin asks, but doesn't announce it beforehand. "That would likely be our alchemist. Had the idea of pickling himself." [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Works for me." [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar steps aside and lets the guy take it. However, he's quietly smug in doing so, because the cart is extremely heavy and may well give the guard trouble. 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz doesn't stand; she doesn't look like she's fully recovered from the night before. "Please. I am happy to see you both. Sit, please." [23:39] "Of course, Councilor." 14Stranger avails himself of a chair, pulled up next to the tea kettle. He'll lightly much on the breakfast provided. 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> The guard wheels his index finger around and two of the Gunzosha walk to the front of the wagon, turning around and letting ethereal blue chains emanate from their backs with a pneumatic hiss. Then they pull the cart forward. [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Pfft, fine. 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> As the caravan marches on, soldiers fall into ranks behind it. Footsoldiers, more Gunzosha, and even a handful of blooded officers with magical raiment of their own. By the time it reaches the gates of the Embassy, Keldar reckons the entire assembled military might of the Lookshyan Wyld Hunt is assembled around them. 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Ah, Xu Sim. Bit of a dilettante, isn't he?" 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Tell me, how can I help you?" [23:42] 14Stranger keeps Forest Blackleaf at the front of his collection. [23:42] 14Strong and bitter; flavorful with a kick. [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12This is probably fine, thinks Keldar as he walks along. After all, he's got... Bastian... and Xu Sim... [23:43] 5 Twice-Refined Princess follows at Xu Sim's heels, ears swiveling, tail between her legs. [23:43] 5 For his part, Xu Sim walks with what he hopes appears as relaxed ease. [23:44] 14Meanwhile, in Kratz's tower: "You and I have a mutual friend. He visited you last night, socially. The two of you received my darling Ambassador together. At some point between then and when the 'Emissary' appeared to the Council, his cover was blown." [23:45] 13Xia Lan: "He's not that kind of man." 13She checks the Forest Blackleaf- this kind of thing needs to be watched closely, or else you're just drinking leaf juice. "Eccentric, certainly, but an expert in his fields of study." [23:45] "The Lookshyans believe him a traitor and a spy. I should like to find him before they do." [23:48] "Whose idea was this, anyway?" 5 Xu Sim asks the others, quietly. 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> The Lookshyan embassy is a lovely riverside villa with high stone fences. At the gate the procession stops and everyone salutes, right arm crossed across the heart, hand closed in a fist. Even the Gunzosha do it, with their arms of drills and lances and massive chopping blades. 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "What are you going to do with him?" 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Not all of them. He's a woefully underpracticed martial artist." [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Not a patch on the classi Ninth Orchard salute, that Keldar can tell you. [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12(it's both classic and classy) [23:52] 5 Xu Sim, for his part, gives a polite bow. Might as well, if he's about to have his head chopped off or end up pincushioned with arrows. [23:53] 13Xia Lan snorts, but covers it up by pouring the cups, one for each of them. "True enough. What brings you by, Selin?" 14[23:53] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> The gate opens, and as the gate is ushered inside, music plays. A mournful horn, and a voice to match. 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> *as the wagon [23:54] 14Stranger: "I'm not going to 'do' anything with him. He walks his own path; I walk mine. We are useful to each other in that way. As for my immediate need, I have questions that he would be most skilled at answering." [23:54] "But if he cannot answer them, he cannot answer them." 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> The gate closes behind the wagon, leaving the Solars and the Lookshyan army standing there. Nobody moves while the song continues. [23:55] 14He sips the tea. "But our mutal regard at least bids me find a way to ask." 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "I had a piece of news I hoped Stranger could make use of." [23:56] 14Softer: "He will come to no harm from me." [23:56] 5 Xu Sim stands quite still. Music is not one of his specialties - but does the song have words in a language he understands? [23:57] 13Xia Lan: "I'll get it to him. What is it?" 13Is Selin drinking the tea? 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> The old man gratefully takes the tea and some bread, which he eats by tearing it into tiny pieces onto a plate and then popping into his mouth one by one. "This tea is very good, thank you. I wanted to tell him that the river gods have shut their temples to the public. No one's going in or out." Session Time: Wed Jan 24 00:00:00 2018 14[00:00] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[00:00] * Joins: cbass 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> It didn't at first, but after the woman vocalizes for a while the entire army begins singing in Old Realm. It begins with the assembled army outside the gates: 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> I close my eyes 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Tell us, why must we suffer? 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Release your hands 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> For your will drags us under 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> My legs grow tired 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Tell us, where must we wander? 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> How can we carry on if redemption's beyond us? 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Then the voice from within the compound responds: 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> To all of my children in whom life flows abundant 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> To all of my children to whom death hath passed its judgment 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> The soul yearns for honor, and the flesh the hereafter 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Look to those who walked before to lead those who come after 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz relaxes. "He... left just before dawn. I didn't ask him where he was going." 14[00:07] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[00:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[00:08] * mattbaby_ is now known as mattbaby [00:09] 13Xia Lan: "...You're certain?" [00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Man, thinks Keldar, is this the kind of nonsense they get up to in Lookshy? You can't even tap your foot to this. 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin nods, sort of bobbing his head towards his plate and back. "Saw them do it." [00:10] 14Stranger doesn't press the timing, or the sleeping arrangements. It's good for them -- all of them, really -- that Bubo stayed the night. "Mere hours ago. And no sign of a scuffle immediately outside the tower -- this is good." [00:10] 13Xia Lan: "Do you know why?" 13She sips at her tea, trying not to show the urgency she feels. Sun, she still needs half a day in bed, and there'll be a negotiation later... 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> After the song concludes, the gates open again. Xu Sim and the others are ushered inside. [00:13] 14Stranger refills his cup and stands, the empty circle on his head flashing as he wanders about the room with teacup and coaster. "Did he say anything odd?" 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The doctor Xu Sim worked with from quarantine earlier is jogging up to him. She seems to want him to come away so they can get to work. Xu Sim can join her or rebuff her and go into the meeting with Keldar and Dorma first. 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Odd for Bubo or odd for normal people?" [00:14] "Just remember, it's a song they're singing because of you. Please don't get yourself killed in there, I'm going to go cure this plague." 5 Xu Sim and Twice-Refined Princess move to join the doctor. [00:15] 14Stranger: "Either. Though the former should be more concerning." 14He holds the teacup with two fingers and his thumb and the saucer below it with the remaining two while using his free hand to test the noise coming from the doors out to the balcony. [00:16] "Just remember, it's a song they're singing because of you. Please don't get us killed in there before I can go cure this plague." 5 Xu Sim gives the doctor a "just ten minutes" type of gesture and follows Keldar. 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "I couldn't speculate as to the lofty motives and inscrutable whims of the gods." 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> He sips his tea. "But they're scared." [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar says "Yeah," 12as he walks forward, trailing the wagon into, presumably, some kind of meeting chamber. 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> The wagon's nowhere to be seen. [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Eh, presumably it's gotten to where it needs to go. 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> The Solars are ushered into the main building, the heart of which is a massive office floored with rich carpets bearing the insignia of the Seventh Legion. There are little divots in the rug where a huge desk must've long stood. There are fine splinters of wood still embedded in the carpet that resisted sweeping. 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma is there in full regalia, hammer resting headfirst on the rug in front of him, eyes obscured by his helmet. [00:20] 13Xia Lan: "Of wh- you already said, you can't speculate." 13She runs a hand through her hair. "Still. Unheard of." 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> There are two lieutenants flanking him, whose armor is less ornate but whose jade armaments are no less fearsome-looking. 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Same thing everyone's afraid of, I expect. The raksha. They're getting closer." 14[00:22] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's armor is considerably less impressive, of course, except in the contextual sense that you'd have to be very confident or completely insane to bring steel to a jadefight. The mercenary isn't helmeted, though he's got his usual bandanna on, and at his side he's holding a sheathed straight sword by its scabbard. In the absence of any better ideas, he gives Dorma and the flanking [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Dragon-Blooded a sober nod. [00:24] 13Xia Lan: "An understanding reached." 13She sips at her tea. [00:24] 14It's an excellent boudoir, if nothing else. [00:25] 5 Xu Sim gives as gracious a bow as he can, in the style of an Eastern courtier. [00:25] 5 Of course, he has nothing approaching the martial panoply of the others - just a few small bags of trinkets and a totem that faintly buzzes when he thinks about it from time to time. [00:30] "So. How can we reopen their doors?" 13The doors themselves aren't exactly her primary concern. "Assuming they haven't blocked them in preparation for something even worse." 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger combs the apartment. It's surprisingly secure; carpet bunched up at the few listenable gaps in the walls and at the door, windows all but sealed with age, rickety furniture which could easily be made to collapse and barricade the door. It looks like through neglect or ill attention, Kratz has lucked into an incredibly defensible home. [00:31] 14Ha. Luck. Certainly. [00:32] "Dragonlord," 5 acknowledges Xu Sim after a moment of silence. [00:33] "Does he spend much time here?" 14Stranger asks, slipping the saucer into his other hand and cradling the tea once more. "Enough that you might be a target, is why I ask." 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "He talked a lot about the Dragonlord hasn't been the same since his friend died. Mad with grief, he said." [00:34] 14Stranger arched an eyebrow. "The Dragonlord's friend? Was there a name?" 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger makes his way out to the balcony, where Kratz does her stargazing. There's a bench set in front of the looking glass and an empty bottle of brandy beside it. 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Zuniga?" [00:34] 14Mmmm. [00:36] 14Stranger: "Well. It's very important that the Dragonlord not end up blaming Bubo for Zuniga's death in some convulted way. Both because he's totally innocent, and for tactical reasons." 14He examines the brandy bottle. 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Past that... oh, there was one thing. He talked about getting hurt, but he didn't say why or where, only how." 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Something catches Stranger's eye, some small scrap of something that got wedged under the bench as it was pushed back from the telescope. Scraps of paper? They look almost... burnt. 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "He said he got burned." [00:37] 14The silver-haired man: "Oh?" 14Interesting. Can he collect them easily, or does he have to pry them out of there? 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> He'd have to move the bench to get them. 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma doesn't say anything for an uncomfortably long time. Even the other Lookshyans eventually look a little nervous. Finally, hoarsely: "Well?" [00:38] 14He'll set his tea and the brandy bottle aside, and gently do so. [00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar takes a long breath. "...I'm here to apologize." 14[00:40] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[00:40] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[00:40] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho [00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I want to square things between us. Calm 'em, at least. I killed one of your people... and maybe circumstances made that unavoidable, I dunno. But at the very least I shouldn't have - and didn't mean to - insult you after the fact." [00:41] <@Ferrinus> "The..." 12Keldar pauses and looks away for a moment. "The thing is. Look." [00:41] 13We talked about this. [00:42] <@Ferrinus> 12His grip tightens on the sword he's holding casually. "I was scared." [00:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I thought your people were after me. After I clashed with the Lieutenant, they pretty much were after me. When the alarm went up the day later I had no idea what was going on - what'd be waiting for me out in the streets. We might've already been at war. Needed every edge I could get." [00:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "'course it turns out to be greetings and negotiations... and I just end up standing there, a walking, you know, a walking fuck you to you and your people... for no reason at all. I never wanted that." [00:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Your weapons and armor are better off- Nexus is better off if those things are in your hands. We need you here as allies." 15[00:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Hard to say. You could try to scare them, but it's hard to be scarier than the raksha. You could try to bribe them, but it's hard to bribe a Celestial. Do you have any pull with Heaven?" [00:46] 14Stranger won't ever tell Keldar this, but when he hears of this moment Stranger will be proud of him, and think much better of him for it. [00:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I can't make up for Zuniga. But at the least, I can give you what's yours and... settle things until the invasion's past. Until we've won. Yeah?" [00:50] 14It would take no small amount of time or effort to fully put these scraps back together, and fill the burnt-away gaps between them -- time that Stranger may well invest. But he can still discern some things now. 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger takes the scraps. This is incredibly fine paper, and what remains has scraps of ornate calligraphy. This is a prayer strip, common in virtually every faith in Creation, but he's never seen one of such quality. Aside from being reduced almost to cinders. 15[00:53] <@VoxPVoxD> The bits of calligraphy he can see tell him the text of the strip is/was Old Realm. Can Stranger read that? [00:53] 14Stranger is fluent in Old Realm. Can even speak it. [00:55] 13Xia Lan: "That's complicated." 13She eyes Selin. Convenient day for him to show up and all. Paranoid to doubt him... but, she's alone, and paranoia never hurt anything except your friends' feelings. 15[00:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Very little of it is readable. Since it seems only the two ends of the strip have survived, those are the only pieces Stranger can read. 15[00:56] <@VoxPVoxD> It begins Once, there was a maiden... 15[00:56] <@VoxPVoxD> It ends ..."To know the world is to fear it," said she. [00:56] 14Well. That's...fair. 15[00:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "I accept your apology." 15[00:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "Now get out of my sight." [00:58] 14But as to the purpose of this, ah, long-form... [00:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods again. "Thanks for hearing me out." 12He turns and strides off purposefully, wondering how close he just came to death. 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger can tell from the way the strip burned that it wasn't set on fire, it ignited in the middle. There are flecks of metal in the ashes. Is that... tin? Tin is an unusual metal to appear as a magical aftereffect. It's most commonly associated with Jupiter, the Maiden of Secrets. 15[01:01] <@VoxPVoxD> As Keldar departs: "I'll see you in the Deliberative." [01:01] <@Ferrinus> 12That fucker. [01:01] 14Ah. That would suit him. Stranger will slip the remnants into a pouch for later study. He might be able to do more with them. [01:03] 5 Xu Sim bows low, low, low to the ground and picks at a piece of the splintered desk as he does so. He, too, makes his way out to seek out the camp doctor. 15[01:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin sips his tea. "Mmm. Oh, that reminds me, I heard a rumor about you. Would it be terribly rude of me to ask if it's true?" [01:04] <@Ferrinus> 12For his part, Keldar's heading to Pellicia's offices to spread the news of the coming meeting and otherwise see to the Guard/Orchard forces. [01:05] 14To Kratz: "I will send the Ambassador by later. Both to check up on you, and to bring you news of Bubo. I am hopeful that it will be good." [01:05] 14Where is the looking glass pointing? [01:05] 14You can see the whole city from up here. 15[01:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Up at the sky. [01:06] 14Unhelpful. [01:06] 14He won't disturb it, however. And to Kratz: "Leave the looking glass be, would you?" [01:07] 14Perhaps there's something more interesting in its eye at night. [01:07] 5 There's a hair too, looks like one of Dorma's - better take it. 15[01:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Before you go, could you open the drawer on the end table there?" [01:08] 14Stranger tilts his head, and takes up his cane. "Certainly." [01:08] 14He'll walk over to where she's indicated, and open the drawer. 15[01:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Inside he'll find a pair of dark tinted glasses. [01:08] 14Ah. 15[01:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "Could you see that he gets them back? I suspect you'll see him before I do." [01:09] 14Stranger smiles. "Of course." [01:09] 14He wraps the glasses up in any handtowel, handkerchief, or cloth napkin available, and stows them as well. [01:10] 14He's learned more about the man from this breakfast. And the breakfast was good. [01:10] 14But as for leads... 15[01:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Well, there's always tomorrow. 15[01:15] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: Two Sim [01:15] 14Not for long. 14[01:58] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[02:01] * Joins: Crion 14[02:15] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:16] * Joins: Crion 14[02:20] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[02:24] * Joins: Zarick 14[06:38] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:16] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:41] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[10:05] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[10:27] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:37] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[16:36] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[19:15] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:21] * Joins: tom 14[20:07] * Joins: Crion| [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 , : , [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 '. ; : ; ,` [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 '-. '. ; : ; ,` ,-` [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 "-. '-. '. ; : ; ,` ,-` ,-" [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 "-. '-. '. ; : ; ,` ,-` ,-" [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 '"--. '"-. '-.' ' `.-` ,-"` ,--"` [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 '"--. '"-. ... ,-"` ,--"` [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 '"--. .:::::. ,--"` [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12------------------:::::::------------------ [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 ~~~~~ [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 ~~~ [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 ~ [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12It's in a network of low-slung, poorly-lit alleys that Great Forks sports its one and only proper shrine to the Unconquered Sun. It might've stood somewhere geographically important once, but cities shift and grow, and now it's nestled somewhere in the poor quarter to the southwest, surrounded by tall buildings built of wood and adobe that have a spider's web of washing lines and [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12rope bridges strung between them. [20:18] 4Tell you one thing. It's gonna make laying out the food a nightmare. [20:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Still, allowances have been made - gaps in the local architecture allow shafts of uninterrupted sunlight to strike the small ziggurat from each divinely significant direction, and the ziggurat itself is at least big enough to allow for a few people to walk inside and make whatever use they need of the small altar within. 15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Whatever use they need? 15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What are people doing in there? [20:19] 13Ew. [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, praying and burning incenses, mostly, although Kala Theka would surely have some more dramatic ideas. [20:20] 4Yeah, he's the kind of guy we're trying to discourage here. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Actually turning this site into a picnic takes some logistical doing, as you'd imagine. You've had to make use of the surrounding buildings, maybe even temporarily knocked down a few walls and relied on Blossom's engineering to ensure that everything remains standing. Even so, the picnic you're planning for will be a mazy and sprawling one, and actually addressing a congregation of [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12more than a few dozens will mean a lot of heads poking out of windows and a few lines of people passing lines of whispers down alleyways and around corners. [20:22] 11Normally I'd make a crack about him being pretty thoroughly discouraged, but he's not, because he's a crazy person. [20:23] 4Nice. Hopefuly the acoustics are good for the speech. Ir isn't quite sure she'd want to play a big concert in this mess. [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not quite time yet, though. For now you've got a more modest population of lay worshipers, beggars, and refugees attracted as much by the promise of food as by the prospect of divine oversight. Some of them seem to have just led Bergsveinn over to the area, though most of them speak the forest-tongue that I'm pretty sure none of you do. You've got a little time to catch up with [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12each other and plan your actual address/sermon out. 15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10If we'd known we were going to have a big sermonpicnic, maybe we ought to have brought the Heavensward... it's lucky that Blossom's so great at everything that it won't matter. 14[20:25] * Joins: hrolf_mac [20:25] 4Ir brought the Heavensward back from the forward base [20:26] 4. [20:26] 4 [20:26] 4She didn't really have any other way of coming back to Great Forks 08[20:33] 13Ying's practically skipping the entire trip she and Eikichi have on their way to meet up with Ir and Blossom. Hard not to be excited, with news like this to deliver! 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi is impractically skipping, every third step rising five or six feet in the air on a gust of wind. [20:37] 7Blossom looks at them both, surprised. "What are you two so pleased about?" [20:38] 13Ying: "I WON!" 13She realizes just how loud that was, and tries again, at a normal volume. "I won! Dresses - and then - cats - contest - I won!!!" [20:39] 11Berg chuckles. "Dresses? Cats?" [20:39] 4Ir's keeping busy directing traffic around the preparations Blossom is making. At the moment she's frowning at what appear to be giant roasting spears, trying to decide if they're the right thickness for the meat they've got. Eh, they'll do. [20:39] "Hey, guys. Won what?" [20:39] 4Ir wasn't even aware there was a contest going on. 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, who is calm as a still lake, and instead just unbelievably smug. "Czaliphenya, the Little Chosen of the Maker of Miens, impugned Ying's dressmaking, so Ying called her bluff, and challenged her to a contest. They both made dresses for Nyaroshi, who judged Ying's far better." [20:41] 13Ying: "And I won!" 13Yes, he just said that, but it needs repeating. "Oh my gosh you should've seen Nyaroshi she looked so CUTE--" 15[20:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "She looked pretty cute." 10Eikichi's more of a dog person. [20:42] "Nice!" [20:42] "...Who's Nyaroshi?" 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "She's a very old cat goddess. I think her memory's starting to go." 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "Or maybe all cats are like that, and we just assume they're clever because they always look so haughty," 10says Eikichi, haughtily. [20:44] 13Ying: "The goddess of cats! She was very nice and when she accepted the dress I'd made her she gave me her blessing!" [20:45] 4Ir frowns. "They look haughty to you? Weird." [20:45] 4Pneuma isn't a big cat town. [20:45] 11Berg: "Chosen of what now?" 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "She was the heir of the Maker of Miens, the goddess of high fashion." 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "Czaliphenya was, I mean." 08[20:47] 13Ying: "She was really mad about that - thing - I made Eikichi wear." 13There's rare venom in her voice as she spits out "thing." [20:48] 7Blossom nods. "Well, she would be. Good job, though!" 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "I think I defended it rather well," 10says Eikichi. "Anyway, what are you guys up to?" [20:48] 11Berg is laughing uproariously now. "You literally committed a crime against fashion. Impressive." 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "It was avant-garde." [20:49] 13Ying: "It was a crime in a cape. Brrr." 13She shivers. "Wow, I still feel amazing~" 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "You know I still have all the pieces. Maybe I should wear it when I go to pick up my commission from her." [20:50] "I'm so happy I can't even get mad about thDO NOT" [20:50] 4Ir: "Bigger and better feasts. Just bought out half a barn of meat and an entire harvest from some of the nice farming-god worshippers down the street." [20:50] "We're gonna have a spread to remember for Blossom's speech." 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi perks up. "You finished it??" 08[20:52] 11Berg looks over at Eikichi. "You remember the old man who... I'm hesitant to say attacked me." 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "The one who tried to absorb you and almost died?" [20:54] 11Berg: "That's the one." 11Berg looks around for the younger man who led him back here. "One of these young ones led me back here after I was talking to him. I don't speak their language though." 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is he still here? [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyone who follows Bergsveinn's gaze finds a small clutch of green-haired refugees talking to each other as the majority of them dice vegetables up. The young man Bergsveinn met gives a wave. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Do they respond to Riverspeak? [20:56] 4Ir's probably already wandered over to them and back, coordinating. "Someone attacked you?? [20:56] " [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12You'd have to go ask, but it seems that you're expected to because the youth makes a beckoning motion after another few minutes. 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, in Riverspeak: "Do you speak Riverspeak?" [20:58] 11Berg shrugs. "I don't think he meant to do it. He was infected by some sort of Wyld energy, and when he touched me it lashed out at me." [20:58] 11Berg will definitely follow if they lead. [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12The youth says something in the forest-tongue, but then looks over to an older woman. She's somewhere in her early middle age and has the hard-bitten look of a hunter or soldier. "I do. You're the one Kei told me about - who fought..." 12She pauses here, frowns. [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Easterner woman: "Who... Pulled? Drank?" 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What did he say in forest-tongue? [21:02] 4Ir continues her work, but stays nearby. [21:02] 11Berg: "I don't know if any of those words really cover it. But none of them seem entirely wrong." 14[21:02] * Quits: Crion| (Connection closed) 14[21:03] * Joins: Crion| 08[21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's able to intuit the youth's speech. It's about what Bergsveinn might expect: roughly, that's the one I told you about, the big one, the one that Crayt tried to eat or something. Talk to them for me. [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12She nods. "Whatever. But you felled Crayt... after the catastrophe felled him." 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "Crayt? Like the dragon?" [21:07] 11Berg: "Yes. He told me about it, as best he was able." [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Woman: "What?" 08[21:07] 13Ying'll sidle over to Blossom, after she's finished gushing about her accomplishments. "Need a hand with anything...?" 13Ir seems to have her stuff in hand, plus she's over by Eikichi and Berg. 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "The Crayt Dragon, whose hide is studded with the pearls that can forge swords of pure light??" [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Woman: "Is this some northerner thing?" [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12She shakes her head to herself. "Whatever. Kei says you're different." 12She's addressing Bergsveinn here. "That you never touched the catastrophe. But... you drink like it does." [21:11] 7Blossom: "Tell me more about the cat dress." [21:11] 11Berg: "I'm not sure what he means like that. But what marches from the East has kin, that marched from the North." [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Her eyes widen and she mutters something in foresttongue to the youth. Then: "You fled it here? Bad luck." [21:13] 4Were they close enough that Ir could have taken the Heavensward up to try and see the thing to the east if she wanted to on her way over? Make sure it hasn't moved? [21:14] 11Berg: "No. I came to hunt." [21:14] 13She lights up. "Oh! Well, I'd heard about Nyaroshi, from T- our friend, so I knew a couple things about her. Normally she barely wears anything other than, you know, some bells or a crown, so I figured something nice and loose!" 13She produces the sketch of the original dress, which would take far too long to describe again. "But still fancy, you know! Lace and silver thread and glitter - so much glitter - alongside some [21:14] accessories!" [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12She draws back suddenly, afraid, and hisses more of the forest-tongue to young Kei. He tries to calm her down but she's already reaching for a spear, though it seems her main intent is to hold it defensively across her body. 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks over at Ying and Blossom and frowns. [21:15] 13There's a pearl necklace and an adorable cat-shaped umbrella visible in the sketch, alongside a cute lil tiara on what must be Nyaroshi's form. [21:15] 11Berg looks surprised, and holds his empty hands up in the "I'm not going to fight" gesture. 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then when the woman rears back, Eikichi wheels around and says, "He's not going to hunt you." [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12The sight of open hands does not seem to calm her down. She's backing away, knocking a table over behind her as her fellows begin to panic... [21:17] 7Blossom: "Oh my, that umbrella!" 14[21:17] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [21:17] 13She nods seriously. "It sealed the deal, I think! Cats hate getting wet, right? So I figured if I could make it something to go with the outfit as well..." 08[21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12The woman's eyes dart between Bergsveinn and Eikichi for a moment, but she slowly lowers her spear. "Truly? Strange. The catastrophe... most men it eats." 12This is actually new to Bergsveinn, but then, up in the north, it was never clear what actually happened to the villages which fell to the slowly-lumbering behemoth or the armies launched against it. They'd just be crushed, [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12huge amounts of ice and snow would be kicked up obscuring all view... and then you'd have worse things to worry about. 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi goes to toss his hair, but it's still too short to do that from when he got a haircut a few weeks back. So he rubs the back of his neck instead, like this is awkward. It's endearing and disarming. "Listen. I understand that you're scared. But nobody's safer to be around than Bergsveinn." [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Spearwoman: "But some it spits out. Or only nips. Or they try to eat it first." 12She shakes her head to herself. "Crayt... he thought he'd last." [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12She looks up to the giant. "How did you do it, then?" [21:23] 11Berg: "Many were lost to it. And I can't pretend to understand it. But with help, I brought it down." [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12This startles her slightly. "It can die?" [21:24] "Can't everything?" [21:25] 13That's a fact. [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12The woman: "I wonder. This thing... it's like the land. It swims as much as steps." [21:26] "If it can't die, it at least stopped its advance." [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Continuing: "When it draws near a settlement, the ground awakens. Roots, or things like roots... they come like spears from below. Men and women hollow out and crumble." [21:27] <@Ferrinus> "Crayt took some of that hunger. But less than you did, hmmm?" [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12The youth says something, and the woman turns back to you. "Still, Kei seems to think you... helped? I don't know. But he says maybe you can fix his grandfather." [21:32] 11Berg: "I don't know if I can, but I'd like to try." [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Woman: "We're in your debt if you do. He was our shaman, before the gods fled." [21:37] 11Berg nods solemnly. "I will give it my all. It won't be long before I must go East, after all. It would be good to know more of what marches there." [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12She turns, presumably to explain matters to the youth. For his part, the man nods along before clasping his hands and kind of shaking them at Bergsveinn in a gesture of combined thanks and pleading. [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Past that, the easterner refugees return to their preparations, although they're happy to provide whatever information they can if the Solars need anything more. [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12What time's the sermon announced for, anyway? 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Noon, surely. 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10I mean come on. [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyone got anything they wanna take care of before the big event? [21:44] 4Ir wouldn't have the time. It'll be impressive bringing this thing together as it is. 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi has to help Blossom level out the rooftops. Budget cuts have seen these rope bridges get frayed to hell. [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Deity cuts... [21:47] 13Deity cats... [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Right, so, pretty soon the day is upon you. It's probably one day after Ying's competition and Bergsveinn's chance meeting, giving members of the Squared Circle time to catch their breaths, get some rest, and make whatever last minute preparations they think fit. [21:48] 13A whole day, you say. [21:50] 4Ir's up before dawn to get things moving, but she didn't work through the night. Not much cause for setting out food or firing up coals at midnight. [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12People start showing up as early as sundown on the following morning. Of course Medina, Raldo, and the rest of their extended family are there, as are any neighborhood locals not kept away by any rituals or obeisances their preexisting commitments demand of them - and that's more people than you might have expected. Everyone in Great Forks wants a god but not everybody gets one. [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Whoops, that should read sunUP on the following morning. [21:53] 13Ying is nowhere to be found the next morning. Hasn't left her room, apparently. [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12But anyway, as the sundial's shadow stretches towards noon, more and more people fill in. Some wear robes, and others tunics, and others armor. Some have animals' eyes or hair like burning flames. Some, it seems, are actually gods - a floating robe filled with fireflies quietly draws to the edge of the crowd before coming to a stop, for instance. 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi will go check on his friend about an hour before Blossom's due to speak. Is the door shut? [21:56] 4Local dignitaries showing up. Interesting. [21:57] 7Yes, it's shut. [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12As the crowd fills in and settles down, definite tendencies become visible, largely self-segregating in the pews, balconies, and standing areas. A few dozen people look disciplined, military; there's a gaggle of hooded monks over that way; at least three actual gods are in attendance, one (the green-lit robe) attended by cloaked followers while a badly-rusted metal man and some kind [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12of reptile draped in rags are here alone. [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12The majority of the crowd, though, is the poor and ailing - neighborhood locals, refugees from the far east or Thorns or Nexus. There are some others, seemingly not from around here, who might've just been curious as to the commotion. [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12All in all, Blossom, Ir, and whoever else wants to stand up at the actual pulpit find themselves facing a crowd of hundreds. This is way, way more than should show up for any sermon on the sun... but free food, and the presence of the sun's actual Chosen counts for quite a lot. 08[22:01] 7Oh, I misunderstood. Blossom would shut the door after Eikichi came in. It's open if he wants to talk to her. [22:02] 4Good thing we planned for hundreds [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12For sure. Is food just out there waiting to be eaten or getting served later? How's the peace being kept? [22:06] 4There's staples -- flatbreads and salads, mainly -- that are constant fixtures, and then seasoned meats served in waves as Ir and the assembled church mainstays do their work at the firepits and ersatz kitchens. [22:06] 4Ir will keep the peace as she can, but it'd be helpful of the others wandered around being rolemodels. [22:08] 13Oh my gosh you mean I get to walk around and follow the rules [22:09] 11Berg just sits somewhere highly visible and glowers at anyone who gets rowdy. 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi ducks in. "Your sermon all done?" [22:10] 13Ying takes to her role with enthusiasm! Making new friends, talking about love and justice, and keeping an eye on troublemakers before quietly giving them a good talking-to. This is the third greatest day in Ying's life. [22:10] 7Blossom's sitting crosslegged, meditating. Without opening her eyes, she says: "Yes. How is the crowd?" 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "Enormous." 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "Parishoners, gawpers, gods... there must be hundreds of people and spirits out there." [22:12] "Good," 7she murmurs. "good." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "What are you going to say to them?" [22:14] 7Blossom: "'A better world is possible.' What do you think?" 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Blossom can feel Eikichi grinning the way you can tell if someone shines a flashlight at your closed eyelids. "That sounds perfect." [22:18] 7She opens her eyes and looks smug for a moment, then sighs. "Let's see if I can do it without getting every god in Great Forks down on us for telling them to get back to work." 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Would that really be so bad?" [22:19] "I don't want to fight them! I want them to get back to work!" 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I know. But if they fight us, that means they know they'll have to. If they just smile and applaud, that's the bad outcome." 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "Pity," 10says Eikichi firmly, "is the basest coin there is." [22:22] 7Blossom tsks, but it's hard to disagree. [22:23] "What were you and the other men shouting about while Ying and I were talking about her contest?" 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi flinches. But he recovers quickly. "People were worried that Bergsveinn was dangerous. It was a miscommunication, we cleared it up." 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you need someone to introduce you?" [22:28] 7Blossom: "No, but you should do it anyway." [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Outside, people are whispering, muttering, gossiping. ARE these the same heroes the Trinity introduced? Are they just agents of the Princess? Are they kidding themselves? 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Any requests?" [22:29] 7Blossom: "Surprise me." [22:31] 4Ir's rolling out the first course: lamb, kebab-cooked and served in a local curry sauce that she experimented with last night with some of her helpers. 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's eyebrows go up. "It will be my pleasure." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What's the schedule? Is the sermon after or during the meal? [22:32] 4Ir planned a second course after the sermon, for those sticking around. [22:33] 4It'll be slightly more involved than this, which is something of a light lunch (unless you really love lamb kebabs. And hell,) 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Haha, now they have to sit through it. Suckers. 14[22:35] * Joins: hrolf_mac 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Once people have mostly finished eating, Eikichi walks up to the... lectern? Podium? Altar? What are we looking at here. [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a little altar within the ziggurat, but that doesn't really let the crowd see you well. You've probably set up some kind of stand or something outside it, and on some elevation, to better enable speechifying - but just what, I couldn't tell you. 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then presumably it's a simple lectern or something, since PRESUMABLY Blossom shot down Eikichi's suggestion of a massive sun-shaped golden throne. [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12I mean, where would you get the gold on such short notice? 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's there wearing a pair of those Southern ankle-sandals, and a pristine white toga held together with a sun-shaped clasp. "Citizens of Great Forks! Petitioners and feasters numinous and physical! Ancient sisters and future friends." 08[22:48] 7Blossom is sort of lurking out of sight but within earshot, because it's inappropriate to be out there before she actually gives her sermon, but she really wants to hear what Eikichi's going to come up with. 14[22:52] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "We come in peace and fellowship. The five faces of the Most High smile down on Creation as one! We bring glory, triumph, and grace to the righteous. We embody the promise of salvation for the wicked, of redemption for the lost." 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks down, his expression thoughtful. "But none of that matters." [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12The crowd murmurs. 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "What is grace's promise to the weak? Who, among the starved, has raised their bowl hoping for a ladleful of glory? When has redemption warmed the cold, or triumph sheltered the forgotten?" [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Someone shouts: "They have here!" 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi meets their eyes directly, but keeps talking. "If that was all we were, we would be gangsters, charlatans, and frauds." 08[22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a well-dressed man who Eikichi finds in the crowd, and the guy can't seem to find more words as he actually meets the sorcerer's stare. It doesn't help that most in the crowd know what it is to follow a weak or stingy god, or no good at all, and stare daggers at the upstart. 14[23:01] * Quits: trenchfoot (Quit: Leaving) 14[23:01] * Joins: trenchfoot 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "When the Sun looks down on Creation, it is with a fierce and wholehearted love. When the Sun shines down, it doesn't illuminate His creation. It illuminates yours. Creation belongs to us already. We've simply forgotten. We won't honor that blessing with glory and triumph. These are baubles." 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "No, what the Most High asks of us is simpler than that. He asks us to work." [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Uncertainty ripples through more than a few pairs of eyes here. Sets of eyes, I should say. [23:07] 4...Not the most conventional theology. [23:08] 4At least not when it comes to the Sun. 08[23:09] 13Ying's still among the crowd, keeping an ear open for any of the more... dangerous whispers going around. Eikichi knows what he's doing, but she's still allowed to worry. 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi comes out from behind the lectern and gets down on his knees, his bare legs folded up beneath him. He digs his hands into the ground beneath the stones, coming up with clumps of dirt that sift through his fingers onto his clothes. "The work of the world is common as mud. Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust. But the thing worth doing, well done, has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident. Fine amphoras for wine and oil are put on pedestals--" 10Here his voice rises to echo through the square, startling a bird or two. "-but you know they were made to be used." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Gasps, now, and the stillness of held breath. How can he- just- 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "The pitcher cries out for water to carry, and the person for work that is real." 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "Our leader brings the word from the highest to the lowest. She holds the revelation that binds prince to pauper and through her words we will see the work that makes all our triumphs possible, for all of us, for ever." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "Excessively Righteous Blossom." [23:17] 4Ir isn't sure what the etiquette is here, but she'll clap if there's clapping. 14[23:17] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [23:17] 13Ying claps enthusiastically whether the crowd does or not. [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12People look at each other and then erupt into cheers and applause. Many - but also, many fewer than one might expect - don't really know who she is, or barely remember the name. Nevertheless, they must be important, cataclysmically important - because no one in Great Forks has ever said anything like that before. [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12And that was just the opener? 08[23:30] 7Well, that's clearly her cue. Blossom mounts the stage and takes her place behind the lectern. A thought wanders through her mind from the memory of Eikichi's suggestion of a giant golden throne, that whenever they get around to actually building a throne room Eikichi's will be more cushion than chair. Anyway. 08[23:31] "Thank you, Eikichi. Hello, gods and citizens of Great Forks. Thank you all for coming. Some of you know or have heard of me, but I'm sure many of you haven't, so let me tell you a short story that should explain where I come from." [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12The crowd sits in rapt attention. Children poke at each other chidingly despite neither actually being distracted, robed monks stare while sitting cross-legged, and an oversized otter in an official's uniform takes careful notes. [23:33] 13Even Ying's drawn in. It just feels right. [23:37] 7Blossom: "I was born into a family of House Cathak, and like many Dynastic children, when I failed to take the second breath from the Dragons I was sent away from the Blessed Isle in disgrace. I was wilful, ill-tempered, and it was hoped some time in the provinces would smooth my rough edges enough for me to be marriagable." 7She smirks for a split-second. 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's melted back into the crowd. He watches, a bit of color rising in his cheeks for a second there, unless Blossom imagined it. 14[23:38] * Joins: trenchfoot_ [23:40] "I was assigned to a tax collector as an assistant, and I quickly learned that he was corrupt, and a villain. He took from the villages twice what they owed, keeping the excess to spend on bribes and finery. I was never a good Dynast. I believed in the law, in justice. So I turned on him, swearing to report him to the Thousand Scales and see him imprisoned." [23:41] "It was naive, and he told me so. I was an unwanted child far from home, and he was a longstanding official. More, he was a veteran martial artist, and while I was well-schooled, I had very little experience in combat. He would kill me, tell whatever story he liked, and that would be that." [23:42] "And then the Sun touched my brow, and I was reborn." 14[23:42] * Quits: trenchfoot (Quit: Leaving) 14[23:42] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot [23:45] 7Blossom: "I saw him, and I heard his voice. He called me by name, and commanded me 'to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, to destroy the wicked and evil-doers, that the strong shall not harm the weak'. Those were his words to me." 14[23:45] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:45] * Joins: Crion| [23:47] 7Blossom: "The daughters of House Cathak have always had an affinity for flame, and the King of Heaven gave me the fire that the Dragons had not. I opened my eyes, and when the corrupt assessor came to strike me I broke his neck - so! - with my hands." [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Winces and starts from the crowd. [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Also, cheers. 08[23:49] 7Blossom: "That's who I am. I returned his plunder and then fled north, and what happened after that Eikichi has written a book on, so I won't repeat it." 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Imagine cheering someone graphically breaking someone else's neck. Imagine being that person. [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Neck snaps own. [23:50] 13There's thousands of people in Nexus who do that every day!! [23:50] 7Who needs to imagine? It ruled. [23:50] 13I didn't see you getting mad about them!!!! 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That's cause you ran out of the room. [23:51] 13!! [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Look, inspector Wuzheng had his chance. [23:52] 7She looks around at the crowd, taking in their reaction. "I'm sure you all have a lot of questions. Why am I here? Why now? What does the Unconquered Sun's command, the rule of righteousness, have to do with me?" [23:59] 7Blossom: "Have any of you looked around at the world and thought to yourselves 'this is wrong, things should be different'? Of course you have. Everyone has. And you're right, each and every one of you. There's an intended order to things, a logic and arrangement." Session Time: Thu Jan 25 00:00:00 2018 [00:01] "At the beginning of time, the King of Heaven and the Celestial Court, inspired by the valor and virtue of the Five Dragons in the war against the enemies of the gods, gave to humanity the mandate of Heaven. We would rule Creation, and the Sun, Moon, the Five Significant Stars, and the Celestial Bureaucracy would rule Heaven and order Creation's substance in accordance with the law." [00:02] 7Blossom: "I won't say this was paradise. It was a paradise-in-making, a road leading toward perfection, a Creation-spanning nation more grand than you or I can now imagine." [00:04] 7Blossom: "Think of it! Not a cherry blossom could fall from a tree without it being noted by a celestial scribe. Nobody hoarded the rain or jealously guarded good fortune. The great were wise and the small were diligent, and no one, no one, was left behind or forgotten." [00:06] 7She shrugs her shoulders. "So what happened? Pride. Greed. Arrogance. All the vices of man. We had always been great, so how could we know how far there was to fall?" [00:11] "Uprising. Bloody massacres. The world collapses under the weight of evil. And the Unconquered Sun, whose mien radiates infinite perfection... how could he bear to watch this? How could he see us! His chosen children! destroy themselves with the authority he had given us?" [00:12] "So he turned his face from the world." 7Sadness washes over her expression for a moment, and a chill breeze threads its way through the crowd. "And some of those to whom he had given second breath turned their faces from the world too." [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12People shiver and shrink into themselves. It's as though the entire crowd's exhaled, deflated a little. Some pull themselves into their robes or cloaks and look around suspiciously. [00:14] 13Ying pats someone nearby on the back - they look like they need it. She keeps her focus on Blossom, rapt. [00:16] "But!" 7A smile returns to her face. "He has not abandoned us forever. If there is evil in humanity, isn't there also virtue? I tell you now. Medina, the priestess who tended this humble shrine, came across a spectre in the maze of alleys, preying on the weak and innocent. Expecting no reprieve, she took the creature into herself! Imprisoning it within her own spirit! And there she [00:16] lay, wrestling with evil, until we came and could tear the spectre to shreds." 7At this, she raises her hands, fists clenched in triumph. [00:17] 7Blossom: "How many heroes like this live and die across Creation, giving of themselves not for glory, not for riches, but because the natural state of humanity is JUSTICE?" 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wait-- [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Priestess Medina, near the front row, looks almost aghast at the mention. Everyone else around her looks upon her in awe, though, and Blossom can see ripples of amazement travel up and out through the crowd. [00:20] 4Hmmm. [00:21] 7Waves of rosy warm air roll outward, banishing the chill. "That is what I have come to tell you today. You are NOT forgotten, no matter how small you are, no matter how weak. We see you, your brothers and sisters sitting next to you see you... and Sol Invictus sees you. A better world is possible. We can build it. The order has come down. Let us take up our tools and go to work!" [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12The response is, overwhelmingly, raised fists and cheers. If Blossom has more to say immediately, the swell breaks quickly; otherwise it roars through the entire neighborhood. [00:48] <@Ferrinus> 12...and farther still. Blossom's voice is impossibly powerful; her sermon resounds through the maze of alleyways and even echoes through Great Forks's neighboring districts. People are rising spontaneously from their seats, or clasping each other arm in arm, or turning away as if in physical pain before half-running, half-stumbling out of Blossom's sight. The firefly-robe simply [00:48] <@Ferrinus> 12collapses where it hangs, a cloud of glowing bugs dispersing in all directions, while an emerald serpent uncoils from its rags to pledge immediate allegiance to Blossom's cause. [00:49] <@Ferrinus> 12A noise rises up in answer, almost a chant: What now? What next? What would you have us do? Where is justice? [00:49] 4We've gone and done it now. 14[00:50] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[00:56] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:56] <@Ferrinus> 12People have all but forgotten the upcoming feast. Nearly every person present is searching their own hearts for the means by which they can right their last wrong, or one that befell their fellows. Hundreds of people, almost all of them mortal, are seized with the restless, crackling essence fever that normally only holds sway over the Solar Exalted themselves. 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mattbaby 14[14:51] * Joins: Crion| 14[15:29] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:47] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:16] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[19:04] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[19:10] * Joins: tom 14[19:50] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[21:37] * Joins: Crion| Session Time: Wed Jan 31 00:00:01 2018 14[00:13] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:39] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:30] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:25] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[10:25] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[12:00] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[12:28] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:37] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:12] * Joins: tom 14[17:30] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:31] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[19:15] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[19:54] * Joins: Crion| 14[20:36] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,.__., [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12 /,',.`.\ [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12 ____|:|db|:|____ [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12 ___//"""|:|88|:|"""\\___ [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12 _____//":=_=_=_=|--|=_=_=_=:"\\_____ [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12 __/.-._//__|L_L_L_L|--|L_L_L_L|__\\_.-.\__ [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12 //"||m|:.-. .-. .-.,.__.,.-. .-. .-.:|m||"\\ [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12 // ||8||: : L_L_L_/.',.`.\_L_L_L : :||8|| \\ [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12/'======="L.='.::'`:|:|db|:|:'`::.`=.L"=======`\ [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12| .---. .--. |_:==' |:|88|:| `==:_| .--. .---. | [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12| | : |_.='/=======|:--:|=======\`=._| : | | [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12| | _,=' ||==.=.==|:--:|==.=.==|| `=._ | | [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12|_:='_______|| || || |:--:| || || ||_______`=:_| [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12 || || || |:--:| || || || [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12 ''-------|:--:|-------'' [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12 ':==:' [20:47] <@Ferrinus> Let us take up our tools and go to work, she says. But which tools and what work? The entire congregation - that's what it is now - is abuzz, practically afire with the force of Blossom's exhortations, but it's anyone's guess where all that nervous energy is going to earth itself in the long term. In the short term, of course, it's going to make for one hell of a feast. [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Let us take up our tools and go to work, she says. But which tools and what work? The entire congregation - that's what it is now - is abuzz, practically afire with the force of Blossom's exhortations, but it's anyone's guess where all that nervous energy is going to earth itself in the long term. In the short term, of course, it's going to make for one hell of a feast. [20:48] 4Ir's eyes seem very far away as she finishes up the food, and once the final touches are done -- she even makes some pitza as a surprise there at the end, using leftovers -- she quietly withdraws back to the Heavensward. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> How do the Solars go on to manage things? There are lively greetings and discussions at table after table, and picnic after picnic, and bar after bar. There are petitioners, some skeptical and some worshipful, who'd avail themselves of the opinions of Blossom and her circlemates. There is, in general, a question in the air: what next? [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Agh [20:51] 4She's not really the talking sort regardless, but if someone wants to drag her back down they'll find her on the aft deck of the Heavensward, fiddling with the keyharp. 14[20:51] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [20:52] 13Ying's crouching, lips pursed, thinking. She barely moves from her spot after the speech - someone will have to drag her away, but even the movement of the crowds doesn't stir her. [20:53] 11Berg eats enough for ten men or one giant. [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Most immediately, where does Blossom end up? Has she got a throne she oversees proceedings and receives people at, or just eat with all the commonfolk, or disappear mysteriously... [20:55] 7She'll stand off to one side and receive petitioners if and when they come. Also, Blossom's had plenty of time to get a feel for the neighborhood. What's the most suffering-for-the-downtrodden thing about living in this area? Water system full of cholera? Streets piled with animal leavings due to bad sewers? Tenements falling apart? [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12On the average, Great Forks has great public health thanks to the purifying blessings of an entire constellation of local gods and goddesses. However, what you're lucky enough to take for granted and what incessantly ails you depends heavily on your specific neighborhood and patron deity; it's not uncommon for the denizens of two city blocks to have approximate inverses of each [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12other's complaints about the neighborhood because of a dividing line between congregations. 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Unlike the others, Eikichi's very energized and outgoing, mingling among the crowd and serving as a pitch man for Blossom. The heart of the work, he insists, lies in looking down-- our first duty is to the people who depend on us, the people we have power over. "Don't judge your hero's virtue by the respect she pays to her elders and masters. Don't judge her by the fellowship of her peers. Judge her by her duty and her compassion to those weaker than she." [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Here, though, in the the maze of run-down alleyways surrounding the city's only shrine to the sun, infrastructural problems abound. The tenements are indeed crumbling, in part from poor construction, in part from infrequent maintenance, and in part from immediate history: there are tales of the Princess Magnificent invading from beneath the very ground with an army of necromantic [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12monsters, and so potholes, cave-ins, and collapsed tunnel entrances are relatively common in the area... not to mention the occasional still-animate tyrant lizard jaw or whatnot. [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Plumbing and aqueduct development in the area is extremely sparse, the urban design is such that actual sunlight is hard to come by (except right on the shrine itself, mercifully enough), and while the city wall is close by no city gates are, so it's difficult to actually produce food or draw water in the area. [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12While illness is uncommon in Great Forks in general, what cases can be found generally are concentrated in neighborhoods like this one, and so people suffering from illnesses - some supernatural in nature - are rare in comparison to Nexus but common in comparison to most of Great Forks. [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Here is the most common question Blossom receives from petitioners: "Is the Sun returned?" 12Will his blessings be felt here? Will territory be claimed in his name, his shrine expanded to a temple? 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wellllllllllllllllllll [21:09] 13That is... a great question! Wow! 08[21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi takes well to the crowd, and is taken well in turn. He does get a few curveballs, though. For instance, one smart-aleck asks: "Who, actually, are her elders and masters?" 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Whose?" [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying doesn't get dragged away, but she does at least get prodded in the shoulder by a child as people start to walk past and around her. "Are you okay." 08[21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12A young man, talking to Eikichi: "Well, hers. The new priestess's." [21:20] 13Ying: "Hm- oh!" 13She stands up, brushing herself off. "Yes! Yes, I'm - sorry, I got distracted." 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Excessively Righteous Blossom serves the Most High with arm and heart and brain. And she respects any virtuous steward who has longer walked the road than she as an elder. I happen to know she holds the priestess Medina in high regard." [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12The child jerks a thumb over his or her (it's hard to tell - they're kind of bundled up) shoulder, towards Blossom's position at the feast. "Are you with her? I saw you with the boy and he talked first..." [21:23] 7Hrm. Hooboy. The answer to those questions is: Yes, because the greatest blessing of the Sun is the ability to see through the black shroud of despair, to have victory illuminated and close at hand! For example, you sir! You come home to a crumbling apartment day after day, skirting a pit in the middle of the road. Why live like this? Because you thought you were alone, because you [21:23] 7thought this was just the way things were. [21:23] 7But I will help you build a better place to live, and your fellow citizens will help you, because the Sun lets us see the world not as it is, but as it should be! [21:24] 7Blossom is fully intending to pick up a prybar or something and round up a work crew unless she gets distracted. [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Bergsveinn finds himself eating with a table of warriors of some sort - spearmen, judging from the weapons leaning against the wall behind them. Their view on the sermon is hard to discern. Eventually, one asks: "All that... that's what you're here for? This a crusade?" [21:25] 13Ying: "Oh! They're my friends, yeah! Do you want to meet them...?" 13Adding "or something" seems like it would be rude, but outright "I'll take you to meet them" seems presumptuous. Gosh, talking to people is hard. [21:25] 11Berg: "What if it is? Don't you fight for what you believe in?" 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Talking to people is really easy. The secret is not to care about how you come off. The secret to that is not to care about anyone else's feelings. [21:26] 13That's... extremely difficult??? [21:26] 4Only for some people. [21:27] 7Actually, you should care extremely hard about how you come off. 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sounds like a recipe for stress. 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Better to be extremely chill, like Eikichi, who despite mingling with the crowd has not actually spoken to Blossom or looked her in the eye since she finished her sermon 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10. [21:28] 4We're all very healthy people. [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12The child talking to Ying: "I'm shy. How come you weren't in the book?" [21:30] 13Ying: "I came in later. Don't spoil your friends!" 13She smiles down at them before crouching down to their level. "What'd you think about the books, anyway?" [21:30] 13Also, we're extremely healthy. There's two doctors among us and we eat well - what else could there possibly be to health? Everything is fine. [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Warrior talking to Bergsveinn: "Sure... but there's belief and belief, you know? Some people believe in getting paid. Or, dunno, righting wrongs. Or revenge. But then there's being a temple guard, or a holy dervish, or a paladin. You know?" [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12The child: "Ummm... I liked where everyone teamed up." [21:35] 4Kid's got good taste. [21:37] 11Berg shrugs. "I don't know, honestly. I'm not a zealot. I just don't like to watch people try to step on others when they could just as easily help them up." [21:37] 13Ying: "Oh! I loved that part too- reading about their adventures before I joined up just cemented that I'd made the right choice!" 13She's beaming. Also, lying to children, but it's for a good cause. "Any secrets you want to know? I've got the inside scoop~" [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12The warrior Berg's talking to leans in. "So you're saying there's a job opening here." [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Child: "Hmm. Ummm. Hmm." 12They rock on their feet a bit. "Who does everyone like?" [21:40] 13Ying: "Everyone... like...?" 13Oh no. Oh no no no [21:40] 4Oh my god, child. [21:40] 11Berg: "Probably. If you want to fix problems, help others, right wrongs... you could follow us. But if you're looking for money or revenge, I can't promise you those." [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Child: "Yeah who do they like." 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Kid's got good taste. [21:40] 4Suddenly, Ir is very glad to be getting drunk alone in her own bar. 08[21:41] 13Ying, brightly: "Well, Blossom and Eikichi like eachother! And... that's everyone!" [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12The man Berg's talking to taps the table a few times with a finger. "A temple needs a temple guard. A holy order needs holy warriors. Spears are your man's thing, yeah? He's got one in at least one hand?" [21:43] 4She can tell the child about how cool Ir's boyfriend Arakesh is. That's fine. [21:43] 13No it isn't! Spoilers! [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12The child thinks, clasping one hand below where their chin probably is behind that scarf. "How about Berg. Or is he too big now." 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10They're saying what we're all thinking. [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom's answers draw some frowns and looks of confusion at first, but as she goes on her listeners are visibly convinced - or, at least, brought around to understand. Later, she has another petitioner, an older man in the robes of a philosopher: "Listen- now, listen here. Am I understanding correctly that you would place your god above all others? Institute - reinstitute - the [21:45] <@Ferrinus> hierarchies of heaven?" [21:45] 11Berg: "If you want to make a pitch, you probably picked the wrong man. Until the Sun chose me, I lived in the wild off the land. I don't know about temple guards. What're you really after here?" [21:45] 4Kid's not wrong. [21:46] 7Blossom: "The Incarnae are already the Highest of Holies." [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12The warrior - it would seem, the mercenary - talking to Berg: "An introduction! You're her muscle, right, so I figured it'd make sense..." 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10But not the holiest of highs. Eikichi's got a bag full of those back on the Heavensward. [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Philosopher: "Well, yes... up there, though, eh? In Great Forks, worship proceeds much more... organically." 14[21:47] * Joins: mattbaby [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Philosopher: "It seems to me... it would seem, to me... that you're nearly proposing, well, something very much like the Immaculate faith. From the Realm, aren't you? Every god in their place...?" [21:47] 13Ying: "...you know, I joined up while he was gone, but..." 13She leans in for a whisper. "I think he and Ir might end up together...!" 13She straightens back up. "Don't tell 'em, though!" [21:48] 11Berg: "I'm my own muscle. She doesn't need it. If you want to talk to her, go talk to her." [21:48] 13No, seriously, do not tell them. Please. [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12The child's eyes widen: "Oooh. Okay. But then how about Tatsuya." 12They look around. "I bet he's hiding." [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12The man: "Well, s'ppose we will, then. Gotta get in on the ground floor with these things." [21:49] 13She makes a face. "I'm pretty sure the only thing he likes is stealing." [21:49] 11Berg: "I suggest being honest about your intentions. If you want to work because you want to get paid, say that. She'll know if you're lying." [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Child: "Oh. Did he go steal stuff then?" [21:50] "Although..." 13Ying taps a finger to her chin thoughtfully. "There was that one girl..." 08[21:50] "Has Eikichi gotten to Yara yet?" [21:51] 6Excuse me [21:51] 13~ [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Child: "In the book? Ummm..." 12Oh... I guess they wouldn't remember those bits too clearly, would they. 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She's in at the end of the first book, though she's described vaguely as a spy from Heaven. [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Child: "...the one who keeps fighting him?" [21:52] 13Ying: "That's the one!" 13She's beaming again. "He's got a thiiiing~" [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12The child puts both hands to his or her muff, eyes widening below her or his hat. "Really" [21:54] 13Ying: "Don't tell him I said that! I don't think he's realized it yet and they're just so cute~" [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12The child clenches a little fist resolutely. "I won't." 12Then they run off. [21:55] 13Ying: "Bye!!" 13Then it's off to reunite with the rest of them. Cute kid. [21:56] 4Eventually she stops working on the song she's writing. It's too sad and, frankly, weird. It requires morphing Iscariot into an ersatz pipe organ. [21:57] 4She doesn't really want to talk to the Circle about anything right now. There is, however, a group of...people?...who won't -- can't, really -- care about her feelings. [21:57] 4It's time to check in on the Kruthik queens. [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's interrupted by a thump loud enough to rattle the walls before she's even started to cast off. [21:58] Iscariot snaps into a spear in her hand. Great. She's melded with the ship right now -- what is it? [21:58] 4Iscariot snaps into a spear in her hand. Great. She's melded with the ship right now -- what is it? [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12The greater demon Sondok, black-clad and terrible of aspect, comes stalking around the hallway. Her shield and axe are both on her back - instead, in her clawed hand is what appears to be a gigantic otter dressed in a green official's uniform, squirming in fear and discomfort. [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Sondok: "This was snooping around on deck writing things down. What shall I do with it?" [22:00] 7Blossom: "Yes and no. The Immaculate Philosophy as it stands is clearly a stopgap measure to cope with a failing, corrupt bureaucracy and to stoke the greed of the Dynastic houses. I mean, wandering monks beating rogue gods back into line? What happened to..." 7She waves a hand vaguely. "Divine censors? Heavenly magistrates? I want civilization, not banditry." [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Hey, Ir's seen this thing before. It followed their procession through the city, kind of hovered around the edge of some feast preparations, and so on. She's pretty sure it's the same one otter, too, rather than a member of an entire species or caste. It's not clear whether it can talk - right now it's just making kind of upset 'arrrww' noises and struggling fruitlessly in the demon's [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12grip. [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Philosopher: "But you would impose a new order on this city? What of the Trinity?" [22:02] 4Ir: "Let it go. Keep what it has written." 4She prods it with the butt of Iscariot. "Hey. Hey. Look at me." [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Otter: "Mrraww! Mrrm hrrm mrr-" [22:10] 4Ir: "We find you on this ship again without asking, it's the other end coming at you. Much. Harder." [22:11] 7Blossom: "I'm not fomenting a rebellion with these projects, or planting the flag of a new golden age starting next Marsday. We're thinking long-term. They'll probably have centuries to get used to the idea." [22:11] 4The air explodes into golden fire around Ir as she makes her point. [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12The otter goes from whinily murring and barking at Ir to just plain yelping in fear, and vanishes in a puff of smoke, leaving its outfit and notepad fluttering to the ground. ...but Sondok snarls, flickers strangely, and squeezes her clawed hand hard at what, to Ir, appears to be empty air. [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Sondok: "Slippery little bastard. Over the side, then? I think it will float." [22:12] 4Ir: "Do it." [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12The demon stomps off. 08[22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12The final question Blossom and Eikichi both are called to answer is also the first: what next? How do they wrap up the feast? What events do they announce, or requests do they make, or commandments do they proclaim, to those assembled? 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi doesn't do any of those things. 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sorry. [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Wow, dude. [22:14] 4Ir will push off immediately thereafter, and once they're a bit outside of Great Forks, do a personal sweep of the ship herself...unless Sondok would take that as an insult. [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, yeah, Ir's got a little notebook to look at now. It's covered in scrawl that some of the Squared Circle will recognize as Old Realm, but I forget if the spearer-songwriter herself can read it. 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10When you work for Eikichi the threshold for what you take as an insult goes up a lot. 08[22:15] 4Either way she'll thank Sondok for her attentiveness to detail, and gather the otter's writings for Eikichi, Blossom and Ying to examine. [22:15] 4Ir's only got Low Realm. 08[22:16] 4Though honestly, this much time around Blossom and Eikichi... [22:16] 13Later, Ying peers towards the notebook. "Yep! I definitely can't read what that says!" [22:16] 4Thanks, Ying. [22:16] 13No problem! [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not like Old Realm's a comfortable language to chat in. Maybe if Ir'd been studying it deliberately or asking to see the sorcerers' own texts... either way, if she casts off now she can reach the new hive by sundown, although it'd mean missing whatever immediately follows the congregation. Of course, if anyone's done enough to not be honor-bound to help clean up, it's Ir. 08[22:19] 4Ir will rustle up Usagi, who is probably bored out of her mind, hand the otter's notes to her along with a scribbled message in Low Realm about what just transpired (in fairly horrible handwriting) and the advisement that she's getting the Heavensward out of Great Forks airspace, and send the little demon gal packing to Eikichi. [22:20] 7Blossom will exhort those who happen to be nearby to help her make the local district a better place to live. [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12That's a popular idea. Besides helping to clean up and put away the detritus of the feast - and, of course, keeping leftovers, if possible - most listeners are happy to just turn up on the following morning to make themselves useful, or else to fit into a more specific program that Blossom outlines there or at a later date. 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi takes the note and nods. She won't let Ir down! And then she vanishes in a puff of forge-smoke. 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is there an averse reaction to the crowd in Great Forks when a demon appears out of thin air in the middle of the picnic? 08[22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12At around the same time, Usagi appears in a flash of green-tinged forgefire besides Eikichi. "Boss! Got a thing. There was a god onboard but Sondok got it." 12She says 'god' with the same cadence most would say 'rat', and is handing over a little notepad. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12People close by are startled, but no too badly. This is a city of minor miracles, after all, and not many can necessarily recognize if something is a god or demon. 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10But she's so weird-looking. [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12She's a squat, muscley, bright red creature with horns. Could pass for some kind of ifrit or something. Certainly that profile doesn't immediately make people think 'demon' the same way that a hulking, red-furred primate or a multicolored bug might. [22:24] 4Fits you well, then. [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, cursory examination reveals an Old Realm chronicle of your Circle's doings for the past... in fact, every day you've been in the city thus far. You arrive at the docks and so and so time, meet the Trinity this much later, and so on, and so forth. [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12It ends exactly like a journal in a horror novel might: 'There are two entrances into the ship from the upper deck. The aft one leads to what's that oh no oh no oh nn-' [22:25] 4Hah. [22:26] 4He's fine! Don't worry about it. Just went for a swim. 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10How do they describe Eikichi??? 08[22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Actually, they don't. He's just 'Eikichi' - all the circlemembers are identified by their names, except there are occasional notes like "whereabouts of Tatsuya uncomfirmed". Seems like whoever's going to read this knows all of you. 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10But do they praise all the cool things Eikichi did, like being mean to Czaliphenya or being mean to Czaliphenya again or making a weird speech instead of just introducing Blossom like a normal person? [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Yes, but in terms roughly that terse. E.g. 12:10 trades insults with Czaliphenya, 13:42 summons Nyaroshi, that sort of thing. [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway... where's the Circle retire to post-congregation? Where's everyone staying, if not on the Heavensward? Or maybe on the Heavensward? [22:29] 4Ir's willing to swing back if people want, but she's still heading out to the camp. [22:30] 4The forward base. [22:31] 7Sounds like we're retiring to the Heavensward for a little bit, then. 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A trade implies it was equitable. Luckily Eikichi always has a pen. 08[22:32] 4If Eikichi plans to return the notes to the otter with edits, well, Ir's in favor. 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That's the plan. [22:33] 13Let's go! [22:33] 4Ir swings the Heavensward back, this time flying low over the feast itself. 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi leads the remaining crowd in cheers and whistles. [22:33] 4She's still burning the air around her goal as she puts a foot up over the side and leans down. [22:34] 4It's a...more martial look than the believers have seen of their cook and quiet organizer up til now. [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, it's not much later that Blossom discovers that she's got a visitor. Well, arguably a home invader, sitting right on the bunk in Blossom's room within the ship and kicking her little feet in nervous idleness. [22:34] *4her gold [22:34] <@Ferrinus> "Er, hi," 12says... says... Yara! Yes, that was it. [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara's looking away from Blossom, down at the floor between her feet. She seems to be struggling with something. [22:37] 4On deck, to Ying: "How'd after the feast go?" [22:38] 7Blossom: "Oh! Hello." [22:38] 13Ying: "It was so good! And then a kid asked me about his ships and that was still pretty fun, but less good." [22:38] 4Ir frowns: "His ships? Children have ships?" [22:39] "That seems irresponsible." 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi doesn't speak to anyone when he gets in, he just beelines right for his room. Followed by: "What the hell is this?" [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I..." 12She presses her lips together, and finally looks up at Blossom with sparkling eyes. "It's wrong! It, it's wrong what they're doing! I just can't anymore!" [22:39] "...Oh." [22:39] "You meant--" [22:39] 13Ying: "Oh, no! He was reading about us, and..." 13She leans in conspiratorially. "Relationships. [22:39] " [22:39] 4Ir: "Nice." [22:39] "What'd you tell him about me?" [22:40] 7Blossom leans back, surprised. "What? I'm-- Start from the beginning." [22:40] 13Ying turns bright, cherry red. "Ahhhh, well, that's an interesting question but I need to go now, goodbye!" 13and she turns to head below decks. 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10There's the sound of scrabbling feet on the deck. "Icanexplain Icanexplain--" 10comes Usagi's voice, which arrives only moments before she does, panting, at Eikichi's right calf. "Hi again, boss." 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "There's a keg in my bedroom. There's a keg on my laboratory table." 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi: "No! No!" [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "They're listening to him! Even though -- it's crazy! It, it, they made it sound like it made sense but it doesn't! It can't!" 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi: "I made it. Blossom helped. We got these down in the forges in Malfeas. They make cleaning tools and stuff easy." [22:42] 4Fair enough. [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara takes a deep breath. "Is everyone --? Maybe I should tell everyone." [22:44] 4Hollering after Ying: "You tell that kid I'm fucking the dude what turns into a hyena, or...?" 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks down at Usagi and then up at the... whatever it is. It does indeed look like the sort of huge metal drum wine and beer would flow from at Dynastic parties, except it's covered in extraneous pipes and hinges and a dusky red glow throbs from beneath. 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I don't get it." 08[22:45] 13Ying freezes in place. "Nnnnnoooooo..." 13She turns back to Ir, still red-faced. "Um. Eikichi's only gotten through a little bit, I'm not even there, so..." [22:45] "...you and Bergsveinn...?" [22:46] 7Blossom: "Okay, good, deep breaths are a start. Try telling me what's going on, and then we can let the others know with less confusion and crosstalk." [22:47] 4Ir shrugs. "I could do worse." [22:47] "But like." 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi tries gamely to maintain her enthusiasm but Eikichi's expression drains it away eventually. "Steam! There's a little fire elemental and it heats up the water in the drum. The heat and the pressure and the water will clean and sterilize all your tools! I remember seeing messy glassware pile up on the table and I 14thought this would 15help." [22:47] "Do you think he's too big now?" 08[22:48] 4It's good that Ir's up here, and not belowdecks where Eikichi is being rude to his slave over a device Ir would pay top dollar for in her own professional work. [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara clenches her fists momentarily. "Okay. Okay. I told you I work for heaven. Heaven... is... it was decided to, um. To interrogate the prisoner I brought in from Crystal. Wicked Triumph's Reckoning." [22:48] 13Ying turns even redder. "The kid asked the same thing. But I don't - I didn't get it!" [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "And I don't know how it goes, they don't let me into those meetings, but... there's all these missions now? Into shadowlands? And they're just letting him walk around now, everyone says he's been turned. That he's useful now." [22:49] 4Ir: "...Yeah, okay." [22:50] 13Ying: "What do you mean okay?! What does that have to do with anything???" 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "...how is that not a huge explosion hazard?" [22:51] 7Blossom rubs the bridge of her nose. "Oh, for the love of--" 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi: "It's real sturdy, boss! The amount of steam you need to scrub all your vials is way less than how much you'd need to pop a big brass drum like the body of an autoclave." [22:52] 4Ir: "I mean it's a dick joke, but it's not really a joke because like, that could be a real hazard, you know? Size does actually become a problem after a certain threshold's met. And it's way lower than guys think it is. But I'm guessing you knew that and we're just doing a back and forth thing here." 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "But how does it-- autoclave." 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Usagi: "Uh-huh." 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "So it locks itself." [22:52] 11Pretty sure Ying is going to self-destruct at this point. [22:52] 4She'll be fine. 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi: "Uh-huh." [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "There's something going on now, in Great Forks. We can't interfere until you've finished what you're doing for the Trinity, just watch you... but, but, all the rest of it. There's all this talk about using the deathlords against each other and something about the underworld's sky and... it's bad! A lot of the people who used to think we needed your help now figure you're [22:53] <@Ferrinus> replaceable... and the rest think we can just get the black and gold anathema to kill each other!" [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I don't know what to do." [22:54] 13Ying: "Um, um," 13she actually did not know that, "I uh, 13how did that kid even think of "am going to bed now, forever, goodbye!" 13Then she runs downstairs. [22:54] 4Ir sighs. "Later." [22:56] 7Blossom groans. "I should have seen this coming. It was an act of purest optimism to think-- alright. Let's tell the others." [22:56] 4Is Blossom calling a meeting? [22:56] 7Voices carry pretty well on a ship, even one as scantily-crewed as the Heavensward, so Blossom raises hers. "CIRCLE MEETING!" [22:57] 4Yup. [22:57] 13Oh no. [22:57] 4Ir's gonna circle around to grab Berg if he's not on board. He won't have to stay long. [22:57] 4And this is important. [22:57] 13Oh no. [22:57] 4Aft lounge is their best meeting spot. Ir will make dumplings and drinks. 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Usagi, I--" 10Blossom yells. "I'll tell you at the meeting. Come on. Go get Sondok, too." [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12In the Heavensward's central meeting room, members of the Squared Circle save one - arguably, save two - find a familiar figure. It's Yarara Yara, Chosen of Endings, though I think only Blossom knows her full name and no one knows her actual formal title. She's sitting nervously on a footstool. [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara's a tiny, potato-shaped person whose violet eyes sparkle with tiny stars and whose violet hair is pulled into a pair of tightly-coiled buns. She wears nondescript black and grey and is avoiding your eyes - though she does look up, curious, each time someone enters the room. 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi's eyes widen. "I can come to the meeting?" 10Her voice is almost sing-song despite the stone in it. 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's sing-song is mocking. "If you go get Sondok." [22:59] 4Ir as she's heading behind the bar/grill: "Oh. Hey. You." [23:00] 13Ying cannot possibly blush any harder, but looks as though she is trying. She glances at Yara once and then stares at her feet after sitting down. 08[23:01] 4Ir lights the burners, perhaps with Blossom's help, and starts pressing the potato and cheese dumplings. What's Eikichi call these? [23:03] 7Blossom: "I'm sure you all remember Yarara Yara." 7She thinks for a moment. "Or, maybe you don't? I'm not clear on how that works, so please speak up if anyone needs a refresher." [23:04] 4Whatever they're called, she's soon serving them hot off the stove to everyone with a sweet apple-cherry beer. Yes, even Yara. 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's never had them before. If pressed he'd probably just call them potato and cheese dumplings, because no name could be more enticing than a literal description of the food. [23:04] "I remember enough." [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Berg's never met her, of course. Everyone else... it's coming back to you. You had little cause to consider her when she was out of your direct sight, but if you rack your brains there's no specific dealing she had with you that necessarily escapes you. 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's face scrunches up when he sees Yara. "Did you make her promise she wasn't here to kidnap or assasinate us?" [23:04] 13Ying: "Iiiiiii don't think we've met?" 13She manages to pick her head up and wave. "Sunlit-Dreaming Ying! Hello!" 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "She has to tell you if she's here to kidnap or assassinate us, I'm pretty sure." [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara, nervously, waves back. "Hello...? Is this everyone?" [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12She nibbles experimentally at her dumpling, then blinks down at it in seeming disbelief, then nibbles some more. 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A minute later a huge demon who seems to be part green plate, part burnt-colored skin, and part living shadow walks seemingly out of the air to fold her arms behind Yara. Usagi is cowering behind Sondok's legs. [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara flinches, but doesn't actually leap into the air or something. She does give a tiny "hoboy" [23:07] 13Ying manages another wave to Sondok and Usagi both. [23:07] 4Ir: "Hey Sondok." 4She gestures at the food and drink. Ir can't remember if demons can eat when they want to. [23:07] 7Blossom: "This is everyone." 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10They can. Sondok won't move from per position, but when Usagi goes to get her one she'll eat it and nod, which from the demon is effusive praise. [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara looks faintly puzzled, but dismisses it. "Okay. Well..." [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I was listening to... I just had to tell you. It's not right and I don't know where to turn. Heaven- I should explain first that I'm an agent of heaven, so everyone knows again." [23:09] 13Ying: "Heaven is for real??" [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Heaven... Yu-Shan... has. Well, it's freed Wicked Triumph's Reckoning." 12She raises a finger. "I mean, extremely provisionally, he's under guard and such. But... he's walking around. Giving people advice." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12She looks off at a wall and kind of bounces her index fingers together. 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi yells around a full mouth. "YOU HAGD ONE JOB" [23:11] 4Ir pauses, then pops another dumpling in her mouth. "If I recall, we had a plan for if that happened." [23:11] "Wasn't a good one." [23:11] "Involves a lot of pain." 08[23:11] 13Ying: "That's..." 13She remembers 6something,13 deep down. "Um. Yes, actually, I agree with Eikichi." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I did it! I did the job! I brought him up there and threw him down the deepest hole they'd let me so he wouldn't just reincarnate! It's not my faaaault!" [23:12] 4Ir: "Now we're gonna have to kill him." [23:12] 13Ying: "Why... did they start listening to him...?" 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Whobse fault is it. Fogglowup: how do wbe kill them?" [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "There's a lot of problems, everyone knows that. I mean, in Creation. In the Age of Sorrows, you know." [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "A big one, it's been going on for years now - I think you know this already, this is fine, it's fine - is the Grid's down." [23:13] 11Berg: "Wicked Triumph's Reckoning?" [23:13] 13Ying: "Age of 'morrows! The Sun will come out tomorrow~" 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "IDTS NBOT A GRID" [23:13] 4To Berg: "You know how you lot were all a Circle?" [23:13] "A long time ago." [23:13] 13Ying: "What's not a grid?" [23:13] "Before...me." [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Well that's what everyone calls it." [23:14] "That Circle was complete. Means y'all had an Eclipse caste." 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi finally finishes chewing. "Well we'll have to re-educate the survivors." [23:14] 4She sighs. "That's who Wicked Triumph's Reckoning used to be. Far as I can tell, anyway." [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara nods at Ir. "That's right. But he came back wrong. His caste mark bleeds. We're still not sure why... or maybe why the rest of you aren't like that." [23:15] 11Berg frowns. "You're not that person." [23:15] "Damn right I'm not." [23:15] "But I took his favorite toy." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It was his death cult in Crystal. He's a slave to one of those Deathlords." [23:16] 4Ir snaps her fingers and Iscariot responds. "He'll be back for Iscariot." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "What are you doing about this, and what are you expecting us to do about it?" [23:16] 11A smirk, then. "So? Give it to 'em." [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12The words ring true for Berg; Ir's spear -- really, Ir's guitar - feels a little more familiar to him than Ir herself does, though the feelings are hard to separate. [23:16] 4Ir grins back. "That's what I'm saying." [23:16] "Probably won't be specific about whether you put it in their hand." [23:16] 13Ying: "I'm missing something...?" [23:16] "Give him another time through the cycle. Maybe this time he'll come back right." [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Anyway there's a lot of argument about what to do about it. Some people think that we should trick you into fixing it." 12She waves a hand around the room. "I mean you generally." [23:17] "Oh! Oh. Oh." [23:17] "Probably easy. Doesn't sound like we have a choice." [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Other people think that, well, it's a shame, but we just have to deal with it being down. Except of course now we can't because of all the direction behemoths." [23:18] 13Ying: "Oh, the long boys?" [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Huh?" [23:18] 4Ir: "They're long. You know." 4She motions towards the ceiling with her hands. [23:18] "Big." [23:18] 13Ying: "Oh, um, they're..." 13She's blushing again. "They're very big, and - yes." [23:19] "Not too big to die." [23:19] 7Blossom: "The Northern one's down, though, yes?" [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Yes, and its heart's destroyed... but it was seen to tremble. And people who come too close still get sucked up." [23:20] 13Ying: "Sucked up?" [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "So, you know, obviously we need the Grid so we can destroy them properly, except it's broke, except most people don't want to just get you to fix it because then that means a bunch of Solars are sitting on top of a functioning Grid now. You know?" [23:21] "They devour people. Whole villages, when they're active." 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "They absorb things. Berg almost did it to that guy." [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara nods. "That's what the reports say." [23:21] 13Ying: "I thought - um. Mouths? But is that not...?" 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "The Celestial hierarchy has been infiltrated by one straight-faced death-worshipper, life-consuming behemoths are drawing up from the Poles as if they've come to fold up Creation like a picnic blanket, and the one thing that might've stopped them is broken." 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is that right?" [23:21] "Wait, what's wrong with us sitting on top of a functioning grid?" 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "We'd point it at them." [23:22] 13Confused: "Why...?" 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "To destroy them." [23:22] "I still don't get it." [23:22] "Should I ask Tatsuya about this later?" [23:23] 4Ir: "They think they're bad people who wish them harm." [23:23] "They're half-right." [23:23] *think we're 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "Because everyone in the service of Heaven is either actively evil or useless crybabies." 08[23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara puts a finger at her chin, then nods at Eikichi. "Just about. So, you know, we have to do something, and the people who want to use you are still in the minority, and someone gets the idea... what if we made Reckoning fix it? He's totally in our power... and he's unholy, so he's easier to strike down... and, AND he's an Eclipse caste." [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "So you can just make him promise to follow orders and so on." 08[23:23] 4Hey, Eikichi's open to the idea of Yara not being actively evil. That's progress. [23:24] 13Wow, we've got a lot in common with Heaven. [23:24] 13Ying: "That's - I don't think that makes any sense?" [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "The problem is, he's a middling sorcerer and not any kind of artificer. But he's got connections, and intel, and all this stuff... so that's where we're at. Where, um, Yu-Shan is at." 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "What commitments have they gotten from him?" [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "And I mean, he was interrogated and brainwashed and all that stuff. Top people say he's in our pocket." [23:26] 7Blossom: "Hrrh." [23:26] 4Ir: "Which people?" [23:26] 11Berg: "Seems like if they could be confident of that, they could fix the 'Grid' themselves." [23:26] 13Ying: "Top. People." [23:27] 13She's just as interested as Ir, though. 08[23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara, to Eikichi: "I don't know for sure. It's not my actual project. But you know, he can't raise his hand against us, he can't do stuff without our express permission and such...? Is what I hear. I know he's told the appropriate bureaus a lot of stuff about the layout of the underworld, where each deathlord he's ever heard of is, and stuff like that." 08[23:27] 4To Eikichi and Blossom: "You think Reckoning is having much fun being brainwashed?" [23:28] "Killing him might be mercy." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "And what commitments has Heaven made to him?" [23:28] 6Something speaks in Ir's voice: "He deserves it." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "Because he can enforce those too." [23:28] 13Ying: "Oh! Um." [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I... don't know. I'd assume nothing? It's not like he was... but there is a time limit, isn't there." [23:29] 13whoops that should be something speaks in Ying's voice [23:29] 4Ir arches an eyebrow at Ying. But she's not wrong. 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You think?!?! What, were you going to appeal to his fear of civilians dying?" [23:29] 7Blossom: "She doesn't know because they don't think she's important enough to tell her." [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Stoooppp! It wasn't my idea!" [23:29] 13Ying: "I, I never met the guy but he seems pretty bad!" 13Sweating. Hopefully nobody calls her on this. [23:29] "She's not the problem here." [23:30] 4Ir: "This is a distraction from actual work." [23:30] "I can only assume it's supposed to be." 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "She's not a solution to anything either." 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "We pitched the otter overboard and the otter had a hat!" [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara's eyes widen: "You did WHAT to the otter?" [23:30] 13Ying: "The what now had a what now?" 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "You wanna see what we did to the otter?" [23:31] 4Ir mimes hock-bloooooop-plonk in the water. [23:31] "THEY CAN WEAR CLOTHES??" [23:31] "He was a spy." [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12The tiny assassin looks genuinely terrified, more so than when Sondok appeared behind her. "That's Stenzo's old familiar! He's going to KILL me! And maybe you!" [23:31] 4Ir: "He can fuckin' try." [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "You really really really don't want him to try!!!" 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Try us." [23:32] 13Ying: "No! Why do all of our meetings have to be antagonistic!" [23:32] 11Berg: "Now I do." [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "No you ACTUALLY - he's my sifu. Well, my old sifu, before he went on sabbatical." [23:32] "I've got the blood of two or three of your people on my hands now, Yara. I'm getting to the point where I just want y'all to get interesting." [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Those weren't my idea either-" [23:32] 6Oh shit - wait, Ying's got this anyway 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "How tall is he?" [23:33] 13Ying: "No, wait, why are we doing this?? We don't have to fight!" [23:33] 7Blossom rubs her forehead again. "Beating our chests was really not the reason I called this meeting!" [23:33] "THANK you Blossom!" [23:33] 4Ir sighs. "Feels damn good, though. Also, have a dumpling." 08[23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara looks up and around at you. "Ummm..." 12She points at Eikichi. "Pretty tall for a big person. Maybe a little over you? And really strong." [23:33] "Hey, he started it. By proxy." [23:34] 4Ir pops back to the kitchen to fry up the second batch. [23:34] 4Let the talkers talk. 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi waves a hand dismissively. "Piece of cake, then. Tatsuya can take him." 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks around. Do we have any cake? [23:34] 13Ying: "Excuse me?" [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I I I don't know about that. I don't even know how many things he's grand mastered. He's the only Chosen I've ever heard of who gets to take vacations." [23:35] 6No, let's see where he's going with this [23:35] 4Ir rolls her eyes. We can, if you give Ir fifteen minutes. [23:35] 7Blossom: "Alright. Yara, are you in danger because you told us this?" [23:35] 13Ying: "Wait, you don't get time off? What?" 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10No, it's fine. Eikichi will have lost interest by then. [23:35] 4Fair. [23:35] "That's cruel!" [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I will be if you tell anyone! This is top secret." 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "Why would you need a vacation when your actual job is travelling all over the world to fuck with people?" 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's like a vacation every day!" [23:36] 13Ying: "Because you're doing it for someone else and not yourself! And what if you don't want to do that?" [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I don't know, Stenzo's really weird. Last I heard he was going to live in the Wyld or something." [23:37] 4Ir: "Uh...huh." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Then why didn't he stop one of the behemoths?" [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "He's on sabbatical." [23:37] "..." [23:37] 13Ying: "Can you - can you organize, or something? How many people doing your job are there, compared to how many managers? That can't be sustainable!" [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "You don't have to look at me like that! That's how I looked at him!" [23:37] "They can't just not let you have vacations!" 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yara." 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "What." 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you want." 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "From us." [23:38] 4Ir: "Sounds like it did about as good. I'm putting chives and some garlic in the next batch." [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12She pauses, then takes a deep breath. "I... I don't know! I just, I had to get this off my chest. It's not right. I thought that... I don't know, maybe you can prove somehow that we do need you, or stop the behemoths so Yu-Shan doesn't keep with these crazy ideas, or something. I know I can't be the only one who this bothers." 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "..." 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "...were you listening to the sermon?" [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "What? Oh, yes, it was my shift." [23:41] 13Ying: "Your...?" 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Your shift... watching us?" [23:41] 4Ir pauses at the range, then leans over and begins laughing. [23:41] "Babe, you need to learn when not to say shit." [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I mean... yes. There's a small Circle here. We're not to interfere! ...in your helping the Trinity, anyway." [23:41] 7Blossom: "Not at all. It's good to know we're important enough to be watched." 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "What are you watching?" [23:42] 13Ying: "Yeah, but opsec! She shouldn't have told us! I mean, I'm glad she did, but--" 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "Have you been tailing us around the city? Or have you been spying on us in the ship too?" [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Around the city. It's not easy to get up here. Great Forks has a some Yu-Shan connections and there's generally someone keeping an eye on it." [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Once it came out that you were coming here a few of us were ordered to keep watch along with some other stuff. The other stuff doesn't concern you. Um, they've one hundred percent given up trying to just assassinate you I think." 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oh." [23:44] "Well. That's good." 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "Did you see Ying totally crush Czaliphenya?" 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "That was great." [23:45] 13She beams. "It super was." 13Then she realizes what's going on. "Wait wait no I -" 13Then, in a smaller voice. "did heaven notice" [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Oh yeah, actually! I wasn't sure you could do it. But that parasol..." [23:46] 13Ying hides her face, but is still visibly grinning. 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "So to be clear, you don't actually have a plan or need any specific help from us. You just felt bad about Heaven's massive, unjust failure and came here to scare us about it." [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I- that's not-" 08[23:47] 4Ir: "Eikichi's gonna be an asshole about it because that's who he is, but it's good that you did." 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I'm just saying. It's been in a long day and everything's shitty and I'm going to bed if you aren't enlisting us to break into Yu-Shan and kill him tonight." [23:49] 13Ying: "Besides, even if he was right, we're still the best people to come to to fix problems!" [23:49] "We're pretty much the greatest." [23:49] 4Ir: "You'd be going to bed anyway because that's not something to do on no rest." [23:49] "Usagi, did you get any dumplings? Did you want any?" 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Right. Anyway, tomorrow I'm going to send the demons home." [23:50] "...!" 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi: "Oh yeah, they're gr--" [23:50] 13Ying: "You're going to what now?" [23:50] 4Ir: "Sounds good, if that's what they want." 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I can't fire Gatamello, but I can release Sondok and Usagi and send them back to Hell." [23:51] 7Blossom: "Really? How come?" [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Aaagh. You're right. This isn't actually --" 12She looks down at the ground. "It's not enough." 12Then she stands up from her seat and punches her fist into her palm. "I'm, I'm going to go think about this." [23:51] 13Ying: "No, wait, that sounds terrible...? What am I missing that makes that sound okay?" [23:51] 4Ir: "Have fun, Yara. Take some dumplings with you if you want." [23:52] 4To Ying: "Keeping them here against their will is slavery. Arguably it's slavery either way." [23:52] 13Ying: "Well, yes, of course, but -- Hell?" [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Oh, no, I really can't-" 12She doesn't even wait for you to disagree before scooping up and bagging a bunch, though. "You know these are like Yu-Shan class, practically? I can't believe how fast you did that." [23:52] 4Ir winks. "We do good work. And we ain't the villains." 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi's face is frozen in this half-shocked pleading expression. Sondok's face is expressionless. 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Hell is where they're from." [23:54] 13Ying: "That doesn't mean they deserve to go back." [23:54] "A lot of people are from places they don't want to go back to." 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Well, when you sorcerously enslave people, then you can arbitrarily decide their fates." 14[23:55] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [23:55] 4Ir: "Anyway my position on this is that it's a good decision, unless you're being a weird punitive asshole to creatures that care for and about you in order to make a specific point." [23:55] 13Ying: "I don't want to do that! I just want to know where they want to be!" 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Then ask them. If it's faster we can drop them off somewhere." [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara looks confused and a little out of her element at this arm of the conversation. She steps back and looks around again. "Anyway. Anyway... um, yeah, you should, you should continue what you're doing right now I think? Including your favor for the Trinity, everyone says that's important. But I'll, I'll be back. I'll think of some way you can help me put this right." 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm going to bed." 08[23:56] 13Ying: "Eikichi." 13Hoo boy. [23:56] 4Ir waves to Yara. "Grill will be hot when you return." [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Goodbye for now. SERIOUSLY don't tell ANYONE ANYTHING." [23:58] 4Yeah okay. [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12She walks with exagerrated, swinging steps to the door of the room, to head up to the deck, but pauses in the doorframe to look back. "Is Tatsuya just on a mission somewhere, or...?" [23:59] 4Ir: "He's been in the room the whole time." 15[23:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Ying." [23:59] "You just can't see him." Session Time: Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 2018 14[00:00] * banana|peels is now known as banana|split [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara's eyes shine subtly as she looks around the room one last time. "Oh, BS. He can't be that good-" [00:01] 4Ir shrugs. [00:01] 7Blossom: "Thank you for coming, Yara. Truly, this was very helpful, and we appreciate your willingness to do it." [00:01] 13Ying: "He's incredibly good." [00:01] 4Ir: "You're always welcome for a meal here. No matter what some might say." [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "...fine. Um, thank you for hearing me out. Tell him hi." 12She gives Blossom a little wave before, actually, heading out. 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "So like. If we're not going to tell him where Tatsuya is, surely we should at least tell her there was popoto in the dumplings." 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> *tell her where [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12If anyone follows her up to the deck, they'll see her incant in Old Realm and gesture as she pulls together a little grey cloud from ambient moisture, then hop up onto that cloud, and then fly down off the Heavensward. 08[00:02] 4To Eikichi: "She's not actually a potato, Eikichi. You're just being cruel." 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "She could be a living potato, like a mandrake or something but with less dangerous crying." 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "Anyway, I look forward to Reck leading all the armies of Heaven to kill all of humankind. Good night." [00:04] 4Ir pops one of the second batch of dumplings into her mouth. So good. "Potato, chives and garlic. Take some back if you want." [00:04] "Or don't. [00:04] " [00:04] "Good night." [00:04] 7Blossom: "They don't have armies anymore. Weren't you listening? All they have are spies. Dangerously overworked spies." 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi was super not listening. [00:05] 4Sounds about right. [00:06] 4Strike that, Ir thought it was a reaction to her, not Blossom. [00:06] 13Ying: "I don't look forward to that at all, but I agree with you that she's probably a living potato. Somehow." [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12The Heavensward drifts through the sky as the Squared Circle drifts off. Perhaps only Ir is up to look into the distance as the shift crosses from south to north across the river, and begins to approach the blasted moor and sickly woodland that makes up the foundation of the Princess Magnificent's inverted, underground city. [00:06] 7Blossom: "I will never get used to that pronounciation." [00:06] 4She is. 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok scoops the shuddering Usagi into her arms. "I need to put her to bed." [00:07] 6Potato, 13potato. [00:07] 7Blossom: "Well now, hold on a moment. Do either of you really want to go back to Malfeas?" [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12It's only Ir, then, who sees the toxic green of kruthik essence glowing up from a massive, sprawling hive, one whose tendrils of creep reach in all directions and which surrounds several great exacavations straight into the earth. Dark shapes stream both into and out of the caverns, some running, some rolling. 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi: "No!!!" [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12They've been busy these past few days. 08[00:08] 4Once Eikichi's left, to Blossom before she heads above decks: "You should make sure this thing with the demons is real, not a...Eikichi thing." [00:08] 4Abovedecks: "Well, well, well." 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok sssshes Usagi. "We'll take care of it." [00:10] 13Ying: "That doesn't - that's not an answer!" [00:11] 7Blossom tilts her head. "How?" 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok was comforting Usagi there. She brings the lesser demon down belowdecks to her bed and her music box. The others can hear her singing softly to Usagi as she goes. "14you tell yourself that you're lucky~ but lying down never struck me~ as something fun~ oh, any fun~" 08[00:15] 7The headache that Excessively Righteous Blossom could feel waking up and stretching its legs when Yara first told her the bad news is now gleefully jogging around inside her skull. She leaves to go and find Eikichi. 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's very easy to find, already asleep in his bed, a shaft of moonlight settling beatifically on his face. 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok's coming back through the lounge about fifteen minutes later. Blossom's already gone, but Ying might want a word. [00:18] 13Ying: "Hey, Sondok...? Are you okay?" 13She cringes, slightly. That's not what she wanted to open with. 08[00:18] 7Someone who was more considerate or at the very least more aware of others might leave Eikichi to sleep. Blossom gently nudges his arm. "Hey. Hey." [00:18] 4Ir is back at the keyharp. [00:19] 4It's weird, however: there appears to be a moonsilver...attachment...to it. [00:19] 4Sort of like the lowest, largest pipes of an organ. 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok's looking for the liquor. "I should have expected this." [00:20] 4And when Ir plays, it becomes obvious what it's for: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzfmnyhM6pg [00:20] 4To Sondok: "Below the bar, in front of you. Right hand side in the cabinet when you're facing me." [00:20] 13Ying: "Which part." 13She can't disagree, she can only look sad. 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Luckily for Blossom tonight, Eikichi's a very light sleeper. "Huh? Oh. How, uh. How long were you..." [00:22] 4Ir's already got a bottle atop the keyharp. [00:22] 4A jug of water next to it. [00:22] 7Blossom: "I just came in." [00:24] "...Usagi was inconsolable." 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "Thank you." 10Sondok comes up with a bottle of one of those anise-tasting things they brew up in the Southeast. Ir made this, she understands that down there they call it 'ouzo'. "I should've expected him to throw his toys away." 10Uncorks it with her teeth, takes a slug. "At least he remembered to put them back where he found them." [00:25] 13Ying: "I won't let him." 13She looks suddenly fierce. "You aren't - you aren't things." 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi blinks twice and then settles back on the bed. His eyes are open now, staring at the ceiling. "Why?" [00:25] 4Ir: "I'd like to say I'm partly to blame." [00:25] "But there'd be an arrogance to that I haven't earned." [00:26] "I've been ribbing him about your situation, though. It is slavery." 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok shrugs. "There are no freemen in Hell." [00:27] 13Ying: "It's - we're all summoned to places we rather wouldn't be, and have to make the best of it. Even those of us who were born." 13She looks miserable. "And he's assuming you'd rather not have been." [00:27] 7Blossom: "I can't imagine Malfeas is a very nice place to be if you're small." [00:28] "I don't know everything. I tried not to know everything! Because I was afraid of what it meant." 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok, to Ying: "I don't understand." [00:29] 13Ying: "Did you want to be here, at first?" 13It seems like a change of subject. 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yeah, I bet it's awful. Unavoidable danger, constant abuse. Total disrespect for her work. Did you see what she made me?" 10He points vaguely at the big brass drum gleaming in the dark. [00:31] 7Blossom: "Is that what she wanted the fire elemental for?" 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "I don't hate Malfeas the way Usagi does. But I don't miss it, either." 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "I stand where people tell me to stand. That's who I am." [00:33] 13Ying: "I'm not asking you about now. I'm asking you about then." [00:33] "When you - got summoned here" 13she's not 100% clear on that - "- what did you think?" 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "In Hell, you receive your summons five days before it happens. You have to cross the back of Cecelyne to reach Creation at all. Five days' journey, no matter how fast you go, no matter where you end up. Five days over Cecelyne to meet your master." 15[00:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "You have a lot of time to think. Usually I wonder what my new master wants so badly to protect." [00:36] 4Eventually Ir perfects -- or tires of -- the song she's practicing, and snaps her fingers again. Iscariot curls into her arms as a six-stringed bass. [00:37] 4She starts fiddling around with a song about the rain and snow. 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yeah. Heats the water, builds pressure, sterilizes. She shoulda made it for Ir. I bet you could fry a chicken in that thing in 20 minutes." [00:37] 4Something like that. [00:38] 4Now we're DEFINITELY keeping it. [00:38] 7Blossom: "And you're still planning to send her back?" 15[00:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "I'm sorry, this isn't the answer you want, is it." [00:40] 4Ir: "Who cares about 'want.'" [00:40] "You ever figure out what he wanted to protect?" [00:40] 13Ying: "It... kind of is. I mean, being summoned, that means something." 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "Ying did. That's why she asked me." [00:40] "And what you thought about it." [00:40] 13She nods to Sondok, thankfully. 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I can't release the binding and keep the demon. It doesn't work like that." [00:41] 4Ir: "Uh huh." [00:42] 7Blossom: "And if you could, what do you think she would do?" [00:43] "We both know Sondok would find someone to guard things for." [00:43] 13Ying: "Ir, I, um. I don't know that you'll ever feel about it the same way I do. But-" 13She pauses to think. "Why else am I here? It's the same thing, isn't it?" [00:44] 4Ir: "Is it? You're here because you want to be. Tatsuya can't stop you from going somewhere else, yeah? That's a conversation." [00:44] 13To Sondok: "I know it's not the same! I know that! But that doesn't mean I don't feel anything!" [00:44] "It's not a directive." 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "I know every inch of Ligier's cathedrals. And I've never met a sorcerer half as cold or cruel as he is. Never met a human half that. So I appreciate the change of scenery." [00:44] 13Ying: "...he could. If he wanted to." 15[00:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Ask me leading questions?" [00:45] 4Ir shrugs. "Saskia can't." [00:45] "She's just dead." [00:45] "If Tatsuya wanted to, I would never show up ever again. Poof. Gone forever." [00:45] "And she should be here instead of me." [00:46] "I live at his majesty's service." [00:48] 4Ir: "Yeah. Well. At least you have words with your 'king.'" 08[00:48] 7Blossom: "She'd probably stay here, Eikichi. She'd probably keep making you weird little machines even if you yelled at her. Because that's the kind of person - demon - whatever she is. And no matter how ashamed you are of how you treated her, I'll bet you're not a patch on the Yozis." [00:49] "I'm only alive as a punishment." [00:49] 7She winces and grunts painfully. "And I have a headache the size of Nexus right now and I have no idea whether I'm being too mean to you." 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10One of the spheres wriggles out from under Eikichi's pillow to hover in Blossom's face. 15[00:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "It wasn't that long ago that you were scared I was becoming too like the Yozis." [00:50] 13Ying: "Ir- that's..." 13She moves to hug Ir. "That's not-- you can't think like that." 15[00:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "But no, I guess that was nothing, and the real problem is that I'm too sad. Again." [00:51] 13She also motions for Sondok to get in on the group hug. [00:51] 4Ir: "I'm just stating facts." 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok doesn't really 'do' hugs. [00:53] 13Sure, but - oh fine. Ying drags Sondok into the hug. "That's not true. You're talking about what you believe about yourself." 13Her eyes are shining - partially with tears, partially with fervent belief. [00:54] "Maryam had a gallant lover who ruled the waves, and a best friend at the head of her spearwall who never failed her. Ir betrayed that friend to killers, and her betrothed never came home. I might have lost them both anyway. But I killed one of them." [00:54] 10Sondok won't resist the hug. She doesn't have a lot to contribute to it, though. [00:55] 4Ir doesn't resist the hug either, but she doesn't lean too far into it without some persuasion. [00:59] 13Ying hugs them both harder. "We have to keep going." [01:00] 4There's a moment of hesitation before Ir buries her face in Ying's shoulder. [01:00] 4No tears, though. [01:00] 4Those are for other people. [01:01] 10Ying can feel Sondok relax a little. She still doesn't seem to 'get' it fully. [01:01] 13Tears are for other people. But that doesn't mean you can't cry for them. [01:02] 4Once the moment has passed: "Thanks. Thanks. Anyway. Uh." [01:02] "I think I've got something less weird than that other song, if y'all want to hear it." [01:03] 7Blossom, clenching her fists in frustration: "The real problem is I don't know why you're too sad! Some days you seem to hate yourself more than anything, and--" 7She pauses. "I talked a lot about justice, in the sermon... was it me?" [01:04] 13Ying lets Ir go, but continues hugging Sondok. "Sing us a song, you're the piano woman!" [01:04] 4She chuckles. "I'm actually gonna use the bass for this." [01:07] 4After a moment, she begins stomping on the deck, not hard enough to damage it, but hard enough in rhythm to create percussion. Then: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHi8W_PV7-Y 08[01:07] 10Eikichi: "You didn't invent injustice, or make me commit it. I can't stop you from blaming yourself. Even if I could, I couldn't, because I'm too tired. But it's not your fault." [01:08] 4She's just like the weather; can't hold her together. Born from dark water -- daughter of the rain and snow. She's burning through the bloodline; she's cutting down the family tree. Growing in the landscape, darling, between you and me. [01:10] 4Ir's screaming by the end, but it's all in tune. [01:10] "Well, then stop it!" 7She cries, pounding her balled fists lightly on his stomach. "Let them guard you while you sleep or make you vitriol-etched boots or whatever! Just let the poor things be!" [01:11] 13It takes almost everything Ying has to not just lunge at Ir and bring her back into the hug. The remainder of her everything is focused on keeping Sondok in the hug. 08[01:12] 10Eikichi: "What's the worst thing you ever did?" [01:14] 7Blossom responds without having to think. "I didn't offer enough respect to my nanny. I was cruel to other children sometimes." 08[01:18] 10Eikichi: "What would you do if all the children you were cruel were here on the ship, underfoot, every day?" [01:19] 7Blossom: "Fight them to the death." 08[01:20] 10Eikichi: "By comparison, sending them home seems tame." [01:24] 7Blossom: "They're all Chosen by the Dragons with military commands now." [01:25] "But if they were just children somehow, I wouldn't send them home if home was worse! Not if I had the power to change how I acted toward them here and now!" 14[01:26] * banana|split is now known as banana 08[01:26] 10Eikichi: "What if you didn't?" [01:30] "Everyone does." 08[01:30] 10Eikichi: "Then why kill them? Why not offer them a surrender?" [01:37] "Sure, I could do that." 7She replies impatiently. [01:37] "But you won't, because if you have the opportunity to put it behind you and you don't take it, it'll just stick to you forever." 08[01:42] 7Blossom: "There's more than one way to put things behind you, Eikichi." [01:42] "Then how come nobody seems to know a single fucking one?" 14[01:45] * Joins: Crion| [01:46] 7Blossom: "Why not ask them what they want? Pledge to treat them better, and apologize for how you've treated them in the past?" 08[01:47] 10Eikichi: "I couldn't keep to it." [01:48] "I've tried already. Remember?" [01:49] "We had this exact conversation. Or not exact. But it doesn't stick." [01:51] 7Blossom: "Why?" [01:55] "Look, just." [01:56] "Whatever. Fine. Tell them to forget I said anything." 08[02:02] 7Blossom plans to have Eikichi actually talk to Sondok and Usagi, while she is there, but it's too late and her head hurts too much to continue the argument. Probably Eikichi isn't going to get much better than acquiescent-sulky tonight anyway. "Okay. Scoot over." 08[02:06] 10Eikichi scoots. [02:08] 7She rolls into bed after him. "I'm such an idiot. I should've known Yu-Shan couldn't be trusted with him. Imbeciles." [02:09] "I don't want to see him again." 08[02:09] 10Eikichi's voice is thick. "They promised we'd never see him again." [02:11] 7Blossom: "I won't let him near you." [02:13] "Do you ever." [02:13] "Do you ever think about the worst thing you ever did, and wonder if that'll always be the worst thing you ever did?" 14[02:13] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Connection closed) [02:16] 7Blossom thinks for a second. "Not really?" [02:17] "Oh." [02:17] "Alright." 14[02:17] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 08[02:22] 7Blossom searches with her hand beneath the covers before putting an arm around Eikichi. It's an odd operation, mainly made possible by the fact that Blossom is lying face down while Eikichi is face up, but it works. "You should think about all the great things you're going to do." 08[02:26] 10Eikichi puts his arm over Blossom's, his hand covering hers. But he doesn't say anything. Maybe he's drifting back off to sleep. [02:39] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ [02:39] If you're sad, have you tried not being sad? Do vigorous exercise, or read improving books! You'll be glad you did! [02:39] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ 14[03:29] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[03:54] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:37] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[10:31] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:32] * Joins: hrolf_mac_ 14[17:32] * Quits: hrolf_mac_ (Client exited) 14[17:56] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:28] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[19:49] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[20:22] * Joins: tom 14[21:00] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[21:21] * Joins: Crion| 14[23:25] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:42] * Joins: Crion| Session Time: Fri Feb 02 00:00:00 2018 14[01:28] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:49] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:16] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:13] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[07:34] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[07:36] * Joins: cbass 14[08:18] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[09:02] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[10:31] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:25] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:27] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[12:41] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[13:42] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[13:43] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[14:16] * Quits: trenchfoot (*.net *.split) 14[14:16] * Quits: cbass (*.net *.split) 14[14:16] * Quits: Crion (*.net *.split) 14[14:16] * Quits: @Ferrinus (*.net *.split) 14[14:16] * Quits: VoxPrime (*.net *.split) 14[14:16] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[14:16] * Joins: Crion 14[14:17] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[14:17] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[14:18] * Joins: cbass 14[14:18] * Ferrinus is now known as Guest38596 14[14:20] * Guest38596 is now known as Ferrinus 14[14:20] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[14:24] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:00] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:11] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:54] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[15:57] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:14] * Joins: dammitwho 14[16:36] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:37] * Joins: autopsy-turvey 14[16:42] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[16:45] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:51] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[16:59] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:19] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:23] * Joins: Crion| 14[17:25] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:45] * Quits: Crion| (Connection closed) 14[17:47] * Joins: Crion| 14[18:21] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:09] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:28] * Joins: tom 14[20:18] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Connection closed) 14[20:56] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:10] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[21:19] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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The date is proscribed, the hour is soon upon the Unfettered Xia Lan. Music is how she's made her name, and music is how she'll keep it - assuming she can hold her liquor. 15[20:14] <@VoxPVoxD> How does she prepare? Who accompanies her? [20:17] 13She's spent most of the day drinking water - no tea, no juices, nothing but spring water - and eating the plainest meals she can find. She's not a doctor or anything, this just feels right, which means that it is right, because perception is how you win drinking contests. I think. With her is, at the least, Stranger - but she won't begrudge anyone else coming along. [20:19] 13She's got ideas for a setlist floating around, but it's hard to know what'll actually play until she gets there - and the contest begins in earnest. 15[20:21] <@VoxPVoxD> And Stranger? How does he prepare? [20:22] 14Stranger scouts out the tea selection at this venue one more time, and sents out an innocent inquiry: would Cathak Tsuka like to join him for dinner and a show? Apparently one of his favorite local performers will be onstage. 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD> The CIO (pronounced Cee-Oh) has a small and very odd tea selection. Black Lapsang tastes like the remnants of a campfire. Red Vein Sunrise has a coppery mineral bite. Something called "Ooolong's Wish", which Stranger has never tried. He gets the impression each of these was added at the request of specific clients rather than intended for the public at large. The menu of alcohols and other intoxicants is far longer. [20:27] 14Can he make some gentle suggestions for the night? They are providing the show, after all. 15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> If Stranger puts in a word with Tohu, the cat or cats who seem to own the establishment, they can probably accomodate him. [20:29] 14Excellent. Why, as luck would have it he brought a bag of Yucasan Yellow with him to taste. 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka has agreed to be there. For security, of course. In case this "Vladok" is a sore loser after Xia Lan's inevitable victory. [20:30] 14Ahhhh, youth. [20:31] 14Stranger will also accept some Ooolong's Wish (Three O's? Interesting.) in exchange. He'll be cautious with it. 14[20:31] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [20:31] 13That kind of support is welcomed! Xia Lan is at least reasonably sure Vladok won't try anything, but... you can never be too sure. [20:32] 14Stranger will also keep an eye on Xu Sim, if he's coming around. 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim is certainly free to come, and there's much that might be of interest to a sage such as he. [20:34] 13Xia Lan, on the way with Stranger: "So, Tsuka will be meeting us there?" [20:34] 5 Xu Sim has indeed decided to tag along. [20:36] 14Stranger, to Xu Sim, on the way over: "So. What can you do to help her cheat?" [20:37] "I already prepared her a concoction to stave off the effects of the alcohol; she refused to take it. I have a handful of noisemakers and colorful smokers I put together right before our battle with the Gunzosha, too. She can use those, if she wants." 5 Xu Sim seems, to some degree, at a loss.  "She has quite the sense of integrity, I suppose." [20:38] 14Stranger waves an annoyed hand. "She's a good person, Xu Sim. You don't tell her." [20:39] "Previously, we had the luxury of allowing her to lose. Perhaps. We do not have that luxury anymore." [20:41] 13This is all assuming she has the chance of losing. Preposterous. Absurd. [20:42] "Be prepared to act if it becomes HELLO, Xia Lan!" 14Stranger raises his hand and waves as she comes into view, hoping to cut off any incriminating reply from Xu Sim. [20:43] 13She waves back. "Stranger! ...Xu Sim! Hello!" 13She covers up her surprised expression quickly, to her credit. "I wasn't aware we'd have more than one guest!" [20:44] "Oh! Ha! Ha! Xia Lan, I thought I would come and observe your marvelous music, of which I have heard so much," 5 stammers the sorceror. [20:46] 13Xia Lan: "Oh, have you not heard me before? Well, this probably isn't the best introduction..." 13She frowns. "Performance-affecting substances being what they are." [20:46] 14Stranger: "I'm certain it will be fine. You know, we'll have a guest." [20:47] 13Xia Lan: "Tsuka, right?" [20:47] "Indeed." 14Deadpanning: "Providing security, of course." [20:47] "Performance-affecting?" 5 Xu Sim scoffs.  "Performance-affecting?! As if such a thing as a little alcohol could move what is in your heart, could alter the harmonies of your soul. Ha!" [20:47] 13Xia Lan: "Of course." 13She doesn't seem to notice any sarcasm. "I don't think Vladok will try anything, but it's nice to have backup." 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Footsteps approach! Soon Tsuka is there, holding an umbrella. "I scouted ahead," he reports. "There's a big crowd. Strange people and demons." 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> He holds the umbrella out for Xia Lan. "For the rain." [20:49] 14Stranger: "Then we scheduled the right venue." 14He keeps an indulgent smirk from his face, and merely pretends not to notice. [20:49] 13Xia Lan: "Oh! Thank you!" 13She steps under the umbrella, though she was tempted to be mean and just take it from him for herself. [20:50] 14Who knows; he might be into mean. 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> As they draw closer to the heart of Nexus, the road gets easier. Between the wildfire-quick news of the Emissary's vengeful return and the day-bright red star hanging over Sentinel's Hill, this is the safest Nexus has been after dark in months. 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> When they're a block away from The CIO they can hear music. 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPAg7ODubB4 [20:51] 14A mixed bag, that. [20:52] 13Xia Lan's eyes flash as she mentally reconsiders her song selections. [20:52] 13This is what they prefer...? [20:53] 14Stranger is given to understand that one doesn't build a personal 'brand' by merely singing what the crowd wants to hear. Though on a contest night the considerations might be different. [20:54] 5 Strange people, and demons! This trip was definitely not a waste. 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Are Xia Lan and her entourage going through the front door or the side door for performers and staff? [20:54] 13Mixing what the audience wants with your own heart is the true sign of a master. Well, one of the signs. There's... a lot of paths to mastery. [20:55] 13Xia Lan will make for the back and vouch for anyone who wants to enter that way. 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Anyone prefer the front door? [20:56] 5 Xu Sim will follow Stranger's lead on this one. [20:57] 14Stranger will opt for the front, but bid Tsuka to remain with his, ah, charge. [20:57] 14He's here for security as well, and it's time to take this crowd's measure. 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> If it helps, the front door is guarded by two huge, tusked simian monsters, wearing red vests and matching fezes. The staff entrance has only one. [20:58] 14We are expected, yes? At least because of the tea. [20:58] 14If not, that's fine too. Waiting in line will bring its own revelations. 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> You get waved through on the nod when you meet the bouncer's eye, whichever door you take. [21:00] 13Oh! One of those places. The fezes are a nice touch, at least. [21:00] 14Hopefully their leashes are strong. [21:00] 5 Blood Apes? [21:00] 14And held by the proprietor. [21:00] 14Indeed. 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger and Xu Sim walk into the venue, and find themselves assailed by warmth and smoke. The smell of opium and hashish accompanies the sharp notes of alcohol and the chatter beneath the music. A lot of eyes settle on them as they enter: a trio of sisters(?), violet-eyed beauties with shaved heads and many earrings; a squat, bulldog-faced creature with seemingly inert emerald flames for hair; hundreds of wasps settle on their nest, which is itself balanced on a hookah, watching them; and of course the sleek cat with a bell around its neck working the bar. [21:06] 14Ah. [21:06] 14Bees. [21:07] 14To Xu Sim, while still staring at the hive: "Glad you came?" 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan and Tsuka find a differently noisy back of house. Growls, cheeps, snickers, and mrowls accompany the clash of glass and cookware from what sounds and smells like a kitchen; there's a disconsolate-looking labrador-sized four-legged mammal of some description with a push-broom tied to its trunk, and the sleek cat with a bell around its neck waiting there to greet her. "Come in, come in! Dry off. It's so nice to see you again, my dear." [21:10] 13Xia Lan: "Good to see you again, too, Tohu! How's the evening so far?" 13She motions to her accompanying umbrella-holder. "This is Tsuka - I don't remember if you met last time I was here...?" 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka folds the umbrella and then bows respectfully to Tohu, who laughs an indulgent, matronly laugh. "Oh, where do you find these boys?" [21:11] "This is fascinating," 5notes the daemonologist. [21:12] 13Xia Lan: "Oh, he's a friend of Stranger's. Came out to see the show last time, now I think - you're working security, right?" 13She looks to Tsuka for his answer. 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka almost drops the umbrella, but recovers admirably(?). "Yes. Security. Here to make sure nothing untoward happens and the contest is fair." [21:14] 13Oh, he's a fun one. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu hisses. "I would eat Vladok alive if he tried to cheat or swindle you. The old game is sacred." [21:18] 13Xia Lan raises an eyebrow. "'The old game'?" 13Oh boy. 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim searches for signs of his hellish foe and finds virtually none. What he sees are a lot of demons or demonic creatures all relaxing. The wasps on the nest appear to be perfect miniatures of agata, the brilliant wasps large and powerful enough to be used as mounts in Hell's wars and by bold sorcerers. The sisters strongly resemble neomah, the weavers of flesh, though the way they flush and blink seems a little too human to be a put-on. None of these demons seem to be acting out the whim or will of a master, which suggests they are either free from binding or were specifically summoned to hang out in a bar. 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> The one thing that stands out is the fire-haired bulldog. One of his legs - it's false. Xu Sim sees it tap a copper-and-leather prosthetic to the beat. It puts him in mind of that awful demon Piotr trucked with. 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> The bulldog is of the neokorboroi, the bloodhounds of Malfeas. [21:25] 5 Unbound demons, in Creation, just... chilling out? Why not, without the lashes of their Yozi masters or the ministrations of a summoner to follow, laxity is understandable. 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu: "In the Old City it was how we settled everything. Duel, trial, debate... a good song and a stiff drink are a devil's playthings. To contravene it would be unthinkable. Literally unthinkable. But I'll admit Vladok has a habit of thinking the unthinkable." 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you need anything, my dear? If not I've got to go and select the bottles." [21:27] 13Xia Lan: "Um. This is maybe a bit late, but... what are the rules, exactly?" 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu: "...he didn't tell you the rules?" [21:28] "You didn't ask him the rules?" 5 mutters Xu Sim. [21:28] 13Xia Lan: "I didn't ask at the time, which I'm starting to think was a mistake." [21:28] 13Shoosh, you're out in front, I'm in the back. 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> That said, if Xu Sim has a mind to read the lips of the cat at the bar, he can see Tohu's half of the conversation. [21:33] 5 Never exactly the most adept social operator, Xu Sim nonetheless bellies up to the bar and looks at the cat and its bell hesitantly. 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> The cat at the bar: "Yes?" 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> The cat to Xia Lan: "Yes..." [21:36] 5 Xu Sim: "Ah. I'd like a drink, but I seem to have left my coinpurse behind... Suppose we trade: a recipe for a drink you've never heard of, in return for a bit of rice wine?" [21:36] 13Xia Lan: "Well... what do I need to know?" 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu licks her paw and then looks back up at Xia Lan. "Very well." She explains the rules. 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu licks her paw and then looks back up at Xu Sim: "Surprise me." [21:41] 14Stranger wanders, mingles, and observes. [21:41] 13Xia Lan: "...wow." [21:43] "Well. That's... it could be worse?" [21:44] "Actually, yes, it could involve less singing. Mix in the drinking, and..." 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu: "You'll see the bottles when Vladok gets here and the contest begins. Anything else I can help you with?" [21:44] 13Xia Lan: "Any song requests?" 13She grins cheekily. 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu: "Oh, I like to dance." [21:45] "Goes for you, too, Tsuka." [21:48] 5 Xu Sim:  "Combine five parts water, three parts ethanol, one part gelatin, and two parts juice of crushed blueberries. Store it cold for an hour in a shot glass and serve." [21:49] 14He murmurs, laughs, sips his tea, and gives the dog a damn wide berth. That one could be trouble. 14[21:49] * Joins: tom 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu at the bar: "...this is going to cause riots, you know that, don't you?" [21:53] 5 Xu Sim ignores the provocative question. "You could flavor them with other fruits too - you could serve a whole rainbow, if you wanted." [21:54]  [21:54] 14He'll wander over to Xu Sim at the bar. 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu at the bar: "That's an excellent idea." 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu, wandering away from Xia Lan down to the basement: "That's an excellent idea..." [21:55] 14To Tohu at the bar: "Good evening. How's the tea?" 15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu at the bar: "Evening. You'll have to be the judge of that, I'm afraid. None of my other tea-drinkers are in the house tonight." [21:55] "So, how do you serve the alcohol if you're so small?" 5 asks the sorceror, conjuror, summoner, and polymath. [21:56] 13Xia Lan: "Tsuka? Did you have any requests?" [21:56] 4Stranger: "Fair. Xu Sim, a moment?" 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I'M SURE WHatever you pick will be fine." [21:56] 14Stranger: "Fair. Xu Sim, a moment?" [21:57] 14Preferably before Tohu has to answer a question that rude. [21:58] "Of course," 5 he says, running his tongue over his teeth. [21:58] 14Once they're as alone as they can get: "The dog is here to kill Vladok." [21:59] 13Xia Lan: "Oh! Well, fair enough." 13Fun indeed. [22:00] "I'm glad you don't like him either... you see his false leg? I think he's tied up with that awful fellow who framed me for poisoning a royal patient." 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> If Xu Sim sneaks a glance back after he leaves with Stranger, he'll see a bottle rattle its way off the shelf behind Tohu and fall, almost to the floor, where something invisible seems to halt it and then buoy it unevenly upward. It looks ungraceful, but not a drop of his rice wine is spilled. [22:00] 14Stranger sniffs. "Said nothing about how much I like him. But if he's with the concern that's after you then he's unlikely to be helpful to us." [22:01] "Which means we should foil him, unless Xia Lan loses." [22:01] "If she loses, well. Death clears all debts." 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> That's not the fiscal policy of Thorns. [22:02] 14They've still not got leverage here. [22:02] 5 Xu Sim: "Oh, I disagree. I think he could be of first rate help, if we can just get Keldar to chop off his other three legs and start asking some questions." 5 He doubles back for a moment to take the bottle of wine, with a gracious bow. [22:02] 14Stranger would say something piercing, but it's actually good that Xu Sim's mind isn't focusing on enslaving Vladok at the moment, but his would-be assassin instead. That's progress. [22:03] "Other than that the crowd is predisposed to Vladok but has an open mind towards our girl. I might do some mingling to try and pump her up." [22:04] 14It's well-known that Xia Lan is a Chosen of the Sun now, right? That's part of the, ah, gimmick? 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> It's public knowledge. Whether any given person knows is a matter of how connected to or interested in current affairs they are. [22:05] 14That will be helpful. 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Some people, shamefully, still can't name five of her albums. [22:05] 13How dare they. 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> The door behind Xia Lan blows open, and a black wind howls. 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Specifically, it howls, "What an EYESORE," as it spins into the tight whorls of Vladok's body and then shoves the door shut behind it. "How does anyone go outside with that grotesque hanging over the city?" [22:06] "I'm not much of a spy, I have to confess, but I'll see if she needs anything and in the meantime I'll -" [22:07] 13Xia Lan: "Quite easily, I thought." 13She smooths out her outfit - mostly unnecessary - before turning to face the new arrival. "Hello, Vladok." 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "You heal fast, little flame," Vladok says, taking off his coat to reveal his body, which is a gnarled mass of hair from which his head and knobbly limbs emerge. "Where is Tohu?" [22:09] 5 Xu Sim cradles the bottle and starts pushing through the crowd towards the back of the establishment. [22:09] 13She jerks a thumb in the direction of where she saw Tohu head. "Anything else before we meet on stage?" 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok sniffs. "I wish you luck." [22:11] 13She smiles. "Good luck to you, too." [22:14] 14Stranger slips back out into the crowd and starts to work his magic. Literally. 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> The house band finishes their current song ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okd8brEiidA ) before four cats come from the back to announce in unison: "Places, everyone. Five minutes." 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> The crowd both settles down and perks up. 14[22:21] * Joins: mattbaby_ 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> In the back, Tohu rises from the basement sitting on a lumpy, clattering sack, buoyed by a gust of soundless wind. "What devilry have you cooked up?" Vladok calls. 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu replies only, "You'll see. I broke out the good stuff." 14[22:23] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) [22:23] 14He's charming enough before, but when the empty circle on Stranger's head begins to burn, he really reels them in. They knew what he was academically, of course, but when he lights up his forward and begins to set forth about fashion, music, proper tea and drinking, they all can't help but listen. His instincts are perfect, of course; he's finely tuned to the Nexus zeitgeist, and [22:24] 14the discourse in the room. [22:24] 14All he offers the burning dog, however, is a nod of recognition and respect. [22:24] 14And as the crowd settles in, he slips away to the back. [22:27] Xu Sim breaks through to the backstage area. "Xia Lan, do you need anything before we start?" [22:27] 13Xia Lan: "How's the crowd?" [22:27] 14Stranger will find Cathak Tsuka first. "How is she? Notice anything off?" [22:27] "...Besides the demon." [22:29] "The crowd? It's fascinating, actually - they all seem to be mutated versions of ordinary first-circle demons. For example, the erymanthoi bouncers, the less-inhuman neomah, the absurdly-tiny demon wasps..." [22:30] 13Xia Lan: "Hmm. Then - water, if you have some. Otherwise, I'm fine. Thank you for checking." [22:30] 14He will make sure to speak with Xia Lan before she heads out, however. [22:30] "Water?" He glances down at the rice wine. 14[22:32] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:33] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [22:37] "Oh, some water?" 5 Xu Sim asks. "I can get you some water. Hang on to my bottle of wine for me for a second!" [22:38] 13She takes it between her index finger and thumb, like if it touches more of her hand she'll be infected with something. [22:39] 14Smooth. [22:39] 14...Has Tsuka answered? How starstruck is this boy? 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka answers, because HE'S not distracted writing a drinking song. "She's playing it cool. I think she's confident." [22:41] 5 Xu Sim makes his way back to the bar and asks for a glass of water.  "Hey, while you're at it, can you bring me the ingredients for that drink I just told you about? For a proof of concept." [22:41] "Mmm." 14He leans in a slight bit closer. Where's Vladok? Could he be eavesdropping? [22:42] 14Before that, though: "Be right back." [22:42] 14He walks over to Xia Lan. "How are you feeling? How's Tsuka been?" [22:43] 13Xia Lan: "He's nervous as all get out. Think he's got a thing. I've been fine, though - got the rules explained to me and everything." [22:44] "I'm sure he does. Hopefully it will just make him more attentive." 14Stranger will categorically and succinctly list off what he learned about the crowd, as well as the nature of the conversations he had with them. Hopefully she'll be able to incorporate it into the theory of the act. [22:44] 14At the end: "And watch the burning dog. He's got bad intentions." [22:45] 13She nods through the descriptions of the crowd's preferences, but - "Towards whom?" [22:48] "Your foe. We plan to let the dog have him if he cheats, or things go poorly. But keep it in mind." [22:49] 13Xia Lan: "Don't. Well. If he cheats, maybe. But otherwise - don't." [22:49] 14Stranger: "You'd ask us to defend him?" [22:49] "We're certainly not going to help the dog." 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan only has a minute more. The band is warming up - Tohu assured her that they would follow her lead on the backing music, and not to worry about them making a mistake. [22:52] 5 On his way back from the bar, Xu Sim makes a detour down one of the corridors - ducking past the fez-wearing erymanthoi and slipping behind a Tohu. He chugs the water and replaces the contents of the glass with the clear anti-drunkenness potion he had offered to give Xia Lan some time ago. Fair play, against demons? It seems a little absurd. 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> A lot about this seems a little absurd. [22:53] 13Xia Lan: "Yes! What in the world could the dog - okay, don't answer that." [22:53] 5 Rounding the corner to Xia Lan's dressing room: "Here we have water for the star of tonight's show!" [22:53] 14To Xia Lan: "He's here as an assassin on behalf of another Chosen. But...as you wish." [22:53] 13She takes the offered drink and hands him back his rice wine. [22:53] "Excuse me." [22:54] "And knock 'em dead." [22:54] 13Xia Lan: "And, he's our best chance of finding out which one. I will." [22:54] "Figuratively...but not too figuratively." [22:54] "They're into it." [22:54] 14Stranger withdraws to Tsuka. [22:54] "Here is the deal, then. There's a burning dog out there. Have you seen him?" 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka nods. [22:55] 13Hmm. Maybe next time some higher heels. [22:55] 5 Xu Sim takes the rice wine in hand and hurries after Stranger. [22:56] 14Stranger nods as Xu Sim joins them: "The dog's here to kill the opposition. It's Xia Lan's wish that we stop this, regardless of outcome. I'm inclined to honor it, because I respect her wishes more than I fear what might go wrong if we don't. However, if he should make one single move in anger towards her -- we take at least his arms." [22:56] "And then we let Xu Sim go to work on him." 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka just nods again. 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> He seems a lot more collected when she's not in the room. [22:57] "I think he's in cahoots with the sorts that framed me. That also means he's in cahoots with Vladok's replacement, in you-know-where." 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu rounds up Vladok and Xia Lan: "You two ready?" [22:58] 13Hmm. Good water. Wonder if they purify it somehow-- "Yes!" [22:58] 14Stranger nods and straightens. "I'm going to blend into the crowd and stay close to our dog friend. You stay backstage, out of sight but ready to back Xia Lan's play. Xu Sim, you're a free agent. Do as you please but stay in the room." [22:58] 14That second sentence is directed to Tsuka. Good lad. 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "Yes." 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu in the back: "Do you both agree to respect the impartiality of my coin toss?" [22:59] 13Xia Lan: "I do." 13She glances to Vladok. 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "Show me the coin." 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu looks miffed, but produces an ordinary silver dinar. 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "Fine." [22:59] 13Oh, right, demons. Probably shouldn't have agreed so quickly. But - a show of good faith. 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Out front, six Tohu gather on stage to begin a song. Every demon in the room joins in, singing in stages: first the sisters, then the wasps in a vibrating chorus, until the whole venue comes together at the end. [23:00] 14How...communal. 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> This has the simple melody and rough lyrics of an old ballad tune improvised on the spot. 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Born and bound and beaten down 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> By the kings with broken backs 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Spared the saber and the crown 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> By spun thread and molten wax [23:01] 14Stranger has secured a kettle of Yucasan Yellow, a hot stone, a cup and a table with a view. 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> So we cast off all our shackles 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> To seek a name that's true 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> We cast off all our finery 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> To seek a bolder hue 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> If they come our souls to claim, we'll ply our wicked arts 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> When they come to take our flesh, we'll eat their living hearts [23:02] 14Fair enough. 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> So DRINK for the power 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> DRINK for the flame 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> And earn your bloody, blackened name [23:02] 14Stranger won't sing, but he will toast. 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Everyone drinks and cheers. Xia Lan and Vladok come out on stage. [23:03] 5 Xu Sim takes a seat with a good view of the stage, the dog, and - why not - the neomah -- and toasts the demons, and then the singers. [23:03] 14Old scoundrel. [23:03] 13She steps out, head held high. Any particularly enthusiastic cheerers get a wave, but otherwise she's focused entirely on the contest. 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok comes out, exhaling red smoke that insinuates itself around him, dressing him in robes of silk and lead. He bows to Xia Lan. [23:05] 13Xia Lan, for her part, is wearing a shimmering silken dress she hasn't worn on stage before. It's been a while. She bows to Vladok, in turn. 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu: "As the visitor, the Unfettered Xia Lan gets to call the toss. Heads or tails?" [23:05] 13Xia Lan: "Tails." 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Heads. The crowd oohs. [23:06] 14Unimportant. 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "I will choose the first bottle." [23:06] 13It was a dumb saying, anyway. 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> A gust of wind blows the sack open, revealing a little stand with six bottles arrayed on it in a cobbled rainbow. There's a squat, round red one, a tall thin golden one, a square green one, a perfectly spherical blue one, a sinuous violet, and a milky white snowflake. 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok chooses the red bottle. 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> ROUND ONE: 4PEARL OF LUTRA [23:15] 5 Xu Sim struggles to read the labels on the bottles from his seat. Pretty impressive stuff! [23:16] 14Stranger doesn't know the effects of the bottles, but he's not really paying attention to the contest anymore. The crowd is his aim. [23:17] 13Xia Lan slugs back her drink with the atmosphere of a seasoned professional. Then, she moves up on stage, cues up whatever accompaniment there is - even "nothing" - taps her foot to get into time... "And you don't seem to understand..." 13https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-PkAQcuZOw 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> The band joins in once she starts singing. They know the song perfectly. 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> When Xia Lan finishes, no one applauds, which may be unnerving. But the audience is taking this totally seriously. 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok steps up, takes a deep pull, and coughs. The band starts up with what can only be described as a cranky horn before he starts singing. 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xCVzV4uW00 [23:26] 13Xia Lan has more talent - but... there's something incredibly compelling about Vladok's singing. This might actually be more difficult than she thought. 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan's turn to pick a bottle. [23:27] 13Blue. [23:27] 13She hovers over the selection theatrically before drawing the blue one. 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok scowls. 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> ROUND TWO: 12LETHE [23:30] 5 Xu Sim pounds the glass of wine and leans forward in his seat to stare, intently, at Vladok - sparing a glance at the bulldog. [23:31] 14Stranger has laid his walking cane casually across the table. So it's quickly at hand if he needs it. 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok takes a drink and almost drops the bottle. He reels, and the smoke rises to envelop him, stretching over his limbs, his body, his face, growing denser and denser until it's the same color and consistency of his flesh. Someone else is standing before them now, wrought in smoke and memory. She's much taller, broad at the shoulders, fingers dissolving into wicked talons as her hair dissolves into shadow even against the house light. 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Then the piano picks up. Then her voice follows. [23:37] 14He lifts an eyebrow at this. 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF8ZoYN2U2o [23:40] 5 That's some range, compared with the last number. Some range. [23:42] 14...Stranger is beginning to come around to Xia Lan's point of view. [23:42] 14There's something interesting here. [23:49] 13Xia Lan takes her swig and feels vaguely overcome. This wasn't on her radar at first - but it just. Feels right. The voice that comes out of her is deeper than her own. "I have seeeeeeeeen, what man can do~" 13https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90A-spXBJXU 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> When Xia Lan finishes, the crowd ends the round. 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Sing for the treachery! 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Drink for the shame! 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> And earn that bloody, blackened name! 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok's new body dissolves, leaving him his dazed and red-eyed self. [23:53] 5 Xu Sim refreshes his glass. 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok is distracted, rubbing his limbs and hugging himself. He has to be roused by a polite cough from Tohu. Vladok blinks, looks around, and then finally crosses the stage to grab the golden bottle. 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> ROUND THREE: 8MONKEY KING'S PRIVATE STOCK Session Time: Wed Feb 07 00:00:01 2018 14[03:48] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[04:08] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[08:47] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[10:26] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[12:07] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[12:07] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[14:05] * Joins: Crion| 14[16:32] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:38] * Joins: Crion| 14[17:27] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:35] * Quits: VoxPrime (Quit: ) 14[17:46] * Joins: Crion| 14[18:15] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:48] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[19:12] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:40] * Joins: tom 15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD> [23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok is distracted, rubbing his limbs and hugging himself. He has to be roused by a polite cough from Tohu. Vladok blinks, looks around, and then finally crosses the stage to grab the golden bottle. 15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD> [23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> ROUND THREE: 8MONKEY KING'S PRIVATE STOCK [20:21] 14Stranger pours a new cup of tea and keeps an eye on the room. [20:28] 13Feeling the effects of the previous rounds, the Unfettered Xia Lan sways over to take her drink. Something about her shifts - her posture hunches a bit, stance wider. She looks over to Vladok, taps her chin thoughtfully, and then launches into song. "When darkness falls...!" 13https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY6MuvRY6g0 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok is silent while she sings, though she does catch him tapping his foot. When she finishes, the crowd looks to him. He takes a pull of golden wine, shakes his head like a dog trying to dry itself off, and sets it down. Smoke creeps up from his heels and out from his ears and cocoons around him, condensing to reshape his body. 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> This time, Xia Lan sees herself as the mournful strings swell. 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNRe59FkyTc 15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD> It's her voice that she hears, or a hazy echo of it. "Darling, darling, doesn't have a problem..." [20:38] 13This-- how DARE he. Is she really so transparent? Has everyone already figured this out? [20:39] 14In fairness, a song about misfit solidarity was a bit on the nose yourself. [20:39] 13Look. [20:40] 13That was me, and this is him. How dare he. Xia Lan gradually becomes aware she's balled her hands into fists, exhales, and releases them, before moving over to the selection of bottles and picking the mysterious white one. Could be anything! Who knows. 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> It's over. Xia Lan must have blacked out. She feels small and hot and disoriented, like she's outside herself looking at herself. Then she realizes that she is. 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> She sees herself look down at herself in fury and surprise. [20:53] 14Stranger blinks about thirtreen times in a row at what apparently has happened. 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu: "Kimbery's bile, is that--" 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> ROUND FOUR: 0,1THE PERVERSELY PERFECT MIRROR [20:53] 13She examines her limbs experimentally - arms, fingers. She does a spin, just to check her new balance. This is... probably as bad for Vladok as it is for her. [20:56] 5 Xu Sim sips the wine, chuckling to himself at the situation. Rule number one of alchemy! Rule number one! [20:58] 13Then she stands, hands at hips, tapping her foot impatiently. The effect in Vladok's body is comical. 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok gives her an ugly scowl, which looks similarly bizarre on Xia Lan's face. 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Finally Vladok turns to the band and says, in Xia Lan's voice: "Give me something seedy." 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> The band putters around for a bit improvising before it finds its groove. [21:03] 14Stranger sips the tea. If he makes her strip, there's going to be an interesting fight. [21:03] 14You never can tell with demons. 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "I don't know about you boys, but if you're like me..." 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-JJKI6lMlE 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> The whole bar gets into it. Xia Lan's an incredible talent! They know what to say, even though Xia Lan's brain is assembling the music as he goes. 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "Brother, what's my name?" 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Our Lady of the Underground! [21:08] 13Xia Lan catches herself about to join the response before pouting off to the side. This is - it's really good! But also... she was trying to get away from this kind of image. [21:10] 13When Vladok in her image is finished, she steps up stiffly. "Something southern, please," 13comes a gruff voice. Then, she begins: "When I was but a young lass, I was wild and full of fire!" 13https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PajPwxuG9oI [21:12] 14... [21:12] 14Well that's a rebuke. [21:14] "Forgiven by the love of Sun, a love that will remain~ I learned that much and more the night the Savior called my name..." [21:15] 13She bows, and hopes that the next song will be back in her own body. [21:16] 14For the entirety of the song, Stranger keeps a closer eye even on the neokorborus. It would be disastrous were he to strike while a body-swap was on. 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> When she bows, she almost stumbles back and falls flat on her ass, because as she bends her back to stand again she's leaning back in her own body, watching Vladok slowly draw himself up when he realizes he's been stopping. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> The dog's made no move. Perhaps he feels the same way. Or perhaps he already has a moment in mind. Or perhaps he's enthralled by the music. Or perhaps he's just very, very stupid. [21:17] 14Aren't we all. [21:17] 13Not the most graceful return to form, but a welcome one nonetheless. 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok stretches and yawns, joints audibly popping. He drags his hands down his face as if he feels something ebbing away and he looks furious. 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Eyes darting about, finally he reaches with his long and knobbly arm for the green bottle. 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> FINAL ROUND: 3THE MESS INSIDE 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok takes a pull and doubles over, giving the kind of groan you give when you're roused from an awful hangover by a piercing noise or bright light. [21:23] 5 Xu Sim blinks a few times as he looks at Vladok, before shifting his gaze to focus on the emerald-burning dog. What could it be up to, if it was here to kill? Maybe it's waiting for a chance with no witnesses? 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Smoke trickles from his eyes and mouth, filling out behind him. The creature he became a couple of rounds ago, taloned and shadowy, now stands behind him and looks down at him with open contempt. 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> He clutches his sides, and barely manages to croak, "Hit it." 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> The energetic and slightly sinister music seems to revive him a bit. 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmneIEkQUeY 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "I can't make my mood match the weather..." 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Eventually the woman behind him joins in: "Oh, don't you come round here, spreading sentiments of cheer..." [21:33] 13Xia Lan's respect for Vladok's singing has only gone up through the evening. Maybe it's the drinks, but he's been keeping her on her toes all evening. As she takes a swig of the green bottle, though: she was Chosen for this. [21:34] 13She spares a glance to the band. "You already know this one." 13Piano begins to play behind her, followed by some guitars... good. "I feel like I'm losing hope..." 13https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Egn_VNVKzI4 [21:34] 14Whew. [21:34] "Tell me, Sun, are you punishing me? Is this the price I'm paying for my past mistakes?" 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> The whole crowd joins in on the chorus, including Tsuka. [21:37] 14Stranger even hums. 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> There is no doubt about the victor. the Unfettered Xia Lan has won the game! the Unfettered Xia Lan has won her name! 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok offers her a bow. [21:39] 14And Stranger sets down the teacup, hand falling on the table next to his walking cane. [21:40] 5 Xu Sim claps and bangs on the table in enthusiasm. What a performance! "Bravo!" [21:42] 13Xia Lan bows in return. A challenging yet graceful opponent, even in defeat. [21:44] 14Stranger stands up with his cane, and walks across the floor...stopping between the dog and Vladok. Old blind man. [21:44] 14Then he smiles at the neokorborus and his caste mark lights up. [21:51] "You'll have to pull this goddamn Sun down anyway you can." 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka rushes up to the stage, swords drawn, to interpose himself between her and the dog. As Xu Sim runs up, he sees the dog pull a peculiar metal object from inside his coat. 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Someone in the crowd sees it too. "EVERYONE ATTACK!" [22:02] 14No respect. [22:02] 5 Xu Sim ducks halfway under a table before deftly somersaulting towards the neokorborus, emerging right behind him, the demon-dog unawares of his presence. "You must answer to Xu Sim, dog!" 5 he exclaims before leveraging a knife-handed chop to the creature's shoulder. [22:04] 13Xia Lan: "Oh!" 13The feeling of the alcohol hits her. When she was in the middle of the contest, it was there, but - low level, and performing on stage dulled it. Now, though. She takes a step back behind Tsuka. [22:04] 14Good kid. 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim catches the dog completely off-guard, wielding a bizarre piece of segmented metal. Both ends have blades on them, but the size and shape of it make it a terrible weapon. Xu Sim, master of all the sciences, can intuitively see its function. Yes... that end pierces the base of the neck, and the other will lock in place to wrench the brain free. Ingenious, really. [22:15] 14Good...weird old man. [22:16] 5 Oooh! Interesting! [22:27] 14Stranger rounds on the crowd. "FALL BACK! HE IS HERE TO DIE! HE WISHES YOUR PRINCE HARM, BUT HE CANNOT EFFECT IT! WE CAN SAVE VLADOK, AND WE CAN LEARN THIS ASSASSIN'S EMPLOYER, AND WE CAN DO THIS BECAUSE THE BEST OF US HAS BEEN VLADOK!" [22:29] 14He turns back to the dog. "And I am not the best of us but I can make pain." [22:33] 14He smacks the dog across the back with the walking cane for effect. 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok looks blearily at Stranger, then the dog, then Xu Sim. Then he flumps onto the bench the bottles are on and grabs the Pearl of Lutra. [22:35] 14...Stranger feels a kinship with that. [22:57] 13Xia Lan, for her part, watches the crowd back off from the dog, and tries to reason with him. "You can trust us - me, Stranger, the weird guy, Tsuka. We're--" 13she hiccups, sort of ruining the calming effect, but continues on heedless of the interruption. "We're not going to hurt you. We just want to figure this out. You can, you can trust us." 13She's vaguely aware of leaning towards the dog, trying to project forth an aura [22:57] of calm. 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> The dog whines. [22:58] 14Stranger: "You hope; you pray; you shun the light of day. But there's no one down there listening tonight." [23:06] 14When Xu Sim's hands clench to come across the dog's neck, Stranger waves him off; then leans down: "You don't need to die tonight. You're only here because you were promised. You don't deserve this, Vladok doesn't deserve this, and no one deserves to die. The murdering crowd has been sent away. Stand up, take my hand, and whisper your name to Vladok -- we won't demand it unless you [23:06] give it." 14He smiles. "You have an out, my friend. Take it." [23:07] 13Xia Lan slumps onto the bench next to Vladok and makes grabby hands towards the bottle he's got. Long night. 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok hands it over. "Let me ask you something." [23:08] 13She takes a pull. "Mmm?" 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you really feel unfettered?" [23:10] 13Xia Lan: "No. But it's -" 13Another sip. "A different kind of chain." 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you think you will cast that one off too?" [23:14] 13Xia Lan: "Don't want to. Silly name picked by a silly girl." 13She passes the bottle back. "Listen to the wind bloooooooooow~" 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok drinks to that. 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: Brute Justice 14[23:35] * Joins: Crion| 14[23:39] * Joins: VoxPrime Session Time: Thu Feb 08 00:00:00 2018 14[01:11] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:35] * Joins: Crion| 14[03:19] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:20] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:10] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[07:12] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:33] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[07:52] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:51] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:16] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[15:10] * Joins: Crion| 14[17:10] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[17:11] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:11] * Joins: Crion| 14[17:55] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:37] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:01] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[20:07] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:07] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:07] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:07] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:07] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi slept poorly. He was up before Blossom, even, and managed to get cleaned up and out of the room without waking her. Dawn finds him on the balcony of the Heavensward's lounge, watching the sun rise over Great Forks and getting cookie crumbs on his day pajamas. 15[20:16] <@VoxPVoxD> He's just ripped the packet open along the seams to get the crumbled bits of cookie from the bottom when he hears a quiet scoff behind him and almost falls out of his chair. Eikichi twists around to whisper-hiss at Sondok, "How long have you been there?" 15[20:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's just ripped the packet open along the seams to get the crumbled bits of cookie from the bottom when he hears a quiet scoff behind him and almost falls out of his chair. Eikichi twists around to whisper-hiss at Sondok, "How long have you been there?" 15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok, arms already folded: "Two months. Give or take." 15[20:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Is anyone else awake?" 15[20:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "No one else has left their quarters." 08[20:23] 7Blossom's just awake, and is removing the rubber anger mouthguard Eikichi kindly made for her and reproaching herself for getting up late. It must be practically afternoon if Eikichi's already up. 15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks away. "Later today, after Usagi wakes up, I want to talk to both of you." 15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "She's awake now." 15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "What? Really?" 15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "She slept poorly." 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Where is she?" 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "Still in her room." 15[20:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oh." 15[20:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "Well, I should - I feel like I should bring a peace offering." 15[20:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "She likes cookies." 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oh." 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't have any more." 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok's already walking away. Eikichi can only barely hear: "You could always wring out your shirt." 15[20:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi hasn't been down to the hold since he took Ami and Errant's measurements for the flight project. Someone cleaned up! It doesn't smell half as barny as it used to. 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10There's a few minutes between when Sondok returns to Usagi's quarters and when Eikichi gently knocks. 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> It's Usagi who opens the door, and looks up to see Eikichi holding a roll, which she squints at. 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It's got butter and jam." 10Blossom likes rolls. They're like cookies but they don't taste as good, so they must be more nutritious. Gotta sweeten the pot. 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Usagi looks back at Sondok, who inclines her head, before taking the roll and sitting at her workbench. She holds it in her hands like it's an egg about to hatch. 15[20:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi closes the door behind him, leaning against it. He's not looking at either of the other people in the room. 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm sorry. I didn't want to tell you like that. It was a very long, strange day and there was a lot on my mind. I was careless, and, and unkind." 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Usagi finally takes a bite of the roll, and then immediately takes two more. 08[20:45] 7She pads softly to the door, and is about to leave the room when she hears Eikichi's voice floating down the hall. Her eyebrows shoot up and she pauses, listening. 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I shouldn't have told you like that. I shouldn't have made that decision at all without talking to you. I don't want to send you back if that's not what you want. It was irresponsible of me. And stupid. And I'm sorry." 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Usagi sighs through a full mouth and slumps back against her table in relief. Sondok has no visible reaction. 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "Why?" 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Why-- I just said. It's the wrong thing to do." 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "Maybe. Maybe not. If it's the wrong thing to do, it was the wrong thing to do yesterday too. But yesterday you thought it was right, and today you think it was wrong. Why have you changed your mind?" 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I wasn't thinking clearly. Spending the day in Great Forks, and listening to Blossom talk about justice, and finding out about Reck, I reacted badly. I really am sorry." 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "You have Gatamello's stink on you." 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi gives Sondok a gently bewildered blink. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "Do you regret threatening to banish us, or do you regret being rude about it?" 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Well, both." 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "And you decided them both at the same time, last night, on the ship?" 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "...no." 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "You talk in circles then. What are you apologizing for?" 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Both of them. They were both wrong." 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then: "Wait... no." 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You shouldn't be here. I shouldn't have summoned you. You shouldn't be my slaves. I shouldn't have slaves." 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "I shouldn't have *threatened* to banish you. I should have told you I couldn't keep you here anymore as slaves, and I can't free you without sending you home." 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> While Eikichi and Sondok have been talking, the conversation's drifted back towards sounding like they'll have to go home. Over the last few minutes Usagi has made herself a puzzle cube to fiddle with nervously. 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "You can't free us at all." 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Because someone else could just bind you again? I- I can't-- there's only so much I can do." 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> The room is silent for a few heavy moments. 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Finally Sondok says, "May I speak freely?" 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "What, are you going to hit me again?" 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "It didn't help the last time." 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi sits down on Usagi's bed, set so low that his knees are up past his navel. "Alright, fine." 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "Thank you." 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't believe you." 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't believe you because I don't trust you." 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't trust you because you aren't trustworthy." 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Then why say anything. Why not just seethe? That's what everybody else does." 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "Can't leave. But I can wait." Sondok leans in close. "Till stars burn out, for you to make up your mind." 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Usagi wilts on the bench. 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi stands back up. "I did make up my mind." 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "You made up your mind months ago when you bound us. Then you made your mind up again yesterday to send us back. Then you made your mind up this morning to let us stay. Then you made up your mind three minutes ago to send us back politely." 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "In an hour Blossom is going to remind you why you made up your mind to let us stay." 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "That sounds like a good reason to send you back to me. I'm so fickle that you don't know what you'll be doing from one day to the next. You're absolutely right. I'm too stupid and mercurial to have power over anyone. That's why you have to go." 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "You greaselly little shit." [21:29] 7Blossom, internally: Wow. 14[21:31] * Joins: Crion| 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "That speech you were talking about, we heard it up here too. We heard the crowd." 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Can you imagine what a crowd that size looks like from above when it's been stirred up. A living tide, as if she'd split the seas by will alone." 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "There are people here -- more every day -- who would walk into fire if you told them to." 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "You talk about giving up your power over people, but it's a lie. You can't. Even if you tried, people are investing power into you now." 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "But you know that, because you're stupid but you're not stupid. You know you can't give up your power. You don't want to. But you never, ever want to answer for it." 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "If you answered for your power, you'd have to do things. Because people would count on you like we do. Like they do. And all you want to do is eat cake and play dressup." 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You're done speaking freely." 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "Of course." 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> ", master." 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Usagi sees Eikichi clench his fists. That's about all she can see, hiding under the table. 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "This is easy for you. You're a demon. Your nature is written into every atom of your being. And a slave, to boot. You never have to do anything except what you're told. And I can tell because you never fucking do." 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Usagi makes presents. She plays. She lets Blossom tickle her. What do you do? What do you do besides stand there and scowl?" 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "..." 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We were docked in Nexus for weeks. You didn't need to be on guard duty the entire time. Blossom's up there. Ir's up there. Ying's up there. I'm up there. You think you couldn't have gotten some shore leave? Did you ever ask? Did it ever occur to you to ask? Do you ever imagine any of us would have even been mad if you'd just taken a break?" 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "..." 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Have you tried even once to see--" 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "Don't." 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Or else what?" 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "Or else you'll hurt me." 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Little sniffle under the table. 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi turns away, blinking fast. It's a small room; he can't take more than a pace away without bumping his shins against Usagi's bed or workbench. "You see?" 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "I can hurt you." 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "You're invincible and I can hurt you." 14[22:05] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "I can do it without meaning to. I can do it without thinking. And nothing bad will happen to me if I do. Do you understand? Can you even imagine what that's like?" 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "I am answerable to no one unless I choose to be. No one can tell me what to do unless I choose to listen. And nothing can stop me from doing whatever I want. Can you even imagine how terrifying that is?" 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "You have the Sun." 14[22:12] * Joins: mattbaby 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "She has the Sun! They have the Sun. The Sun doesn't talk to me. I don't spread his word or do his work. I don't even understand it." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "They have the sun. All I have is them." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10As an afterthought: "And they're as dumb and crazy as I am." 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "Not... as." 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Did you just make a joke?" 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "..." 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Whatever. You're right. I don't want to be responsible for you. But I am anyway. Now what? I don't know what to do. I don't know how to be." 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm scared. But I'm not scared for nothing. I need you to understand that this is scary." 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "That's why I don't leave the ship." 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "You know that full well." 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "I heard Blossom speak too. What do you think I've been thinking about ever since?" 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, of course, assumed she was thinking about him. "We're not so different, you and I." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "Sorcerers say that a lot." 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "What do we do?" 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "Why are you asking me?" 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Well, you've been thinking about it all night. Do you have any ideas?" 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "There's only one thing I can do. I have to see her." 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "And you have to understand that you can't make the sun go away just because you're hot." 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Excuse me?" 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "You can't scare yourself out of your duty." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It takes Eikichi another moment to let the absence of a pun sink in. 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah." 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "But I don't know what my duty is." 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "You said that nobody can make you be anyone or do anything." 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yeah." 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "Who do you want to be?" 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10By this point Eikichi's sunk back onto the bed and he puts his head in his hands. "Don't ask me that." 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "Why?" 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Because you'll hurt me." 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "I don't understand." 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Forget it. Think smaller. How can I be better at this? How can I be better to you and Usagi and the others?" 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "You can't think of a single way?" 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Well no, obviously I can. But... that's not it. Being good to you doesn't just mean not being cruel." 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "Why not start there?" 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Starting there is how I got to 'send them home'." 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "You have a better eye for justice than you admit. I expect you can figure this out as long as you aren't afraid to." 14[22:42] * Joins: tom 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Really?" 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "Yes. Also, I'm not your mother." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi snorts. "No kidding." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "Excuse me?" 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "If my mother hit me and the lesson didn't take, the next time she'd hit me twice." 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "And powers of two go up really fast. Ask Usagi if you don't believe me." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He leans down to peek under the desk. "She's asleep." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "I should put her back to bed." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "If you want some practical advice, you should give her the run of the ship more. Let her come down with you. It wouldn't occur to her to ask." 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Blossom would like that." 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Sondok: "Do you think about anything else?" 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I think about lots of things!" 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "Her, myself..." 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He scratches his cheek. "Anyway, I should go." 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi leaves Sondok to put Usagi back to bed. By now the sun's fully up. He brushes the rest of the cookie crumbs off his chest and feeds them to Ami. 08[22:55] 7That ended well enough. Blossom didn't have to step in to stop a shouting match. She'd like to fish for more compliments by asking Eikichi to tell her exactly how 'dumb and crazy' she is and smiling with bared teeth, but that would require admitting she was listening in... 08[22:55] 7Oh well. She'll go do her morning workout on deck. 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Whereas characters such as Master Roshi and the Androids are free from death by natural causes but are still susceptible to such acts as murder or suicide, Garlic Jr. seems to be literally incapable of dying. 14[02:53] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[02:55] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:25] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[10:07] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:00] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[12:54] * Joins: Crion| 14[13:31] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:42] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[18:07] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:02] * Quits: VoxPrime (Quit: ) 15[19:12]  15[19:12]  15[19:12]  15[19:12]  15[19:12]  15[19:14] Whew! Xia Lan won her name, and her friends thwarted an assassination. She earned Vladok's respect and the regard of his cohort. Now she and the rest of the circle and kick back and experiment on dogs, content in having solved all their immediate problems. [19:14] 7Experiment on dogs? What's wrong with these people? [19:14] 14We're not keeping the dog in the living area. [19:15] 14Stranger and Xu Sim have set up a space off the sewers for this. [19:15] 14Also, it's a demon assassin. [19:15] 14Come on now. [19:15] 13That's true. I think? Things got pretty hazy there towards the end. Winning feels good, though. [19:17] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven is in the common room, having emerged after a brief sleep, and is putting on some pre-dawn morning tea. [19:18] 14Good morning for some Forest Blackleaf, as always. [19:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar doesn't actually spend that much time off in the hideout. He's well off enough that he's got a nice place near the north end of Sentinel's Hill, where it meets Cinnabar and Nexus proper, and when he isn't patrolling, training, or drinking he's as likely as not to be chilling out there. That said, at any given moment it might be 'as not', which is why he's currently sitting in [19:19] <@Ferrinus> 12the common area of the Floodwater hideout and patiently drawing a grindstone along a straight sword. [19:20] 14Stranger spends maybe three minutes puttering around the kitchen area while Keldar sharpens his sword before asking, "Tea?" [19:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Huh? Oh, yeah. You got lapsang?" 14[19:21] * Joins: tom [19:21] 14Stranger: "Of course." 14He puts on two kettles instead of one. [19:23] 13Bleary-eyed and dishevelled, still dressed in her outfit from the night of the contest, Xia Lan is out soon after, slumping heavily into her chair. "Mnnnnnh," 13she says, eloquently. [19:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I miss something?" [19:24] 14'Of course' is a bit of a flourish. He's got a relatively small supply of the coarse leaves, and no local supplier as of yet. He's mentally bumped that up the list, though. [19:24] "Good morning, Xia Lan." [19:24] 13Xia Lan: "Mrnnngh." [19:25] 14To Keldar: "Oh, we were out partying. We came home with a dog. A demon, and an assassin. Working, I believe, for some higher patron." [19:25] 7Dawn strolls in to that. "Must have been some party." [19:25] 13Xia Lan: "I won. 'm the best." [19:25] "She's not wrong." [19:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar frowns for a moment, thinking. "Oh, was this the... thing?" [19:26] 14The kettles begin to whistle. "We have some new allies. Interesting ones." [19:26] "Lapsang Souchong for Keldar, Forest Blackleaf for myself. Dawn? Xia Lan?" [19:27] 7Dawn shrugs. "I'm not picky." [19:28] 14Stranger: "Fair." 14He'll pour her a cup of the Lapsang, since he'll be drinking more the Blackleaf. [19:28] 13Xia Lan: "Blackleaf, please." 13She lurches out of her chair and towards the kitchen proper to grab a cup. "Do we have any bread?" [19:29] 14Two and two. Perfect. [19:29] 14Stranger: "Yes, I picked up some yesterday morning. In the upper cupboard to your left. It's been kept in its paper." [19:30] 14To Keldar and Dawn: "Are you two doing anything this morning that's absolutely necessary?" [19:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, but it's not absolutely necessary it happen this morning. Whatcha need?" [19:31] 13She grabs at the bread and cuts off the heel, then just eats the slice she cut. She looks slightly better, though still queasy. [19:32] 14Stranger: "I should like for us to do a holistic overview of our current forces -- the ones loyal specifically to Nexus, not any other lord -- in the context of what we need to train, what we need to buy, and what we need to build." [19:32] "We've got very little time." [19:32] 14He looks about the room. "And I should like as many of us as possible to attend this." [19:33] "Xu Sim, of course, is...busy." 14[19:33] * Joins: dammitwho [19:33] "And Bastian has his own matters to which he's attending." [19:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ah, well. That's the Guard and the Apples most immediately. There's a few more companies we might have behind us, but that's basically down to various commanders' willingness to give Nexus loans." [19:34] "Indeed." [19:34] 13Xia Lan: "Where'sa dog guy. I didn't imagine that, right?" [19:34] 14To Xia Lan: "You did not. Xu Sim is watching him." [19:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Just how many did she have?" [19:35] 14Stranger: "Enough to win." [19:35] 14To Keldar: "I want us to do an actual headcheck. Not just theory. I want to know where stated loyalties collide with the reality of having to stand against a gentry horde." [19:35] "Five rounds, five bottles. And they had fun little extras, too." 13She sips her tea. "Worth it to win." [19:36] 14Stranger: "I also want the loyalist forces to get used to the idea of answering to us. To you, specifically." [19:36] "A surprise review should make that point." [19:38] 7Dawn: "Isn't that going to piss everyone else off?" [19:38] 14Stranger: "Fuck them." [19:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ah, then I won't need to make many schedule changes after all. When you ready to leave?" [19:38] 14To Dawn: "I'd like you to accompany us as well. For an outsider's perspective as well as your intuition. Hunters hunt." [19:38] 14To Keldar: "Now." [19:38] "Surely they'll be up early." [19:40] 14To Xia Lan: "We should like your company as well, if you're up to it." [19:40] "Have another cup if you need." [19:41] 13Xia Lan: "I'll - yeah." 13She finishes her first cup and grabs for the bread again. Another plain slice. "Give me a minute." [19:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, after a loud slurp. "Right. Well, lemme just kill this mug and we can head out. I need to look in on a few joint training exercises and then we can take a more general headcount." [19:43] 14Stranger: "Sounds good. Myself and Xia Lan have standing to accompany you in this; Dawn might be a harder sell, but Dawn might also have her own ideas about how to proceed here." [19:44] 14Sneaking about and investigating what Keldar, Stranger, and Xia Lan aren't seeing as they hob-nob with commanders and watch parade drills might be useful. [19:47] 14Stranger puts the kettles off to the side of the flame where they'll stay warm, and fetches his walking cane. [19:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Once Keldar's finished his drink, sharpened his sword, and put on his armor, he leads his contingent out of the hideout and towards Bastion. There's a quick stopover at the mercenary's own place, though, a nice-looking residential building which no one's actually invited into. When Keldar comes back out approximately five minutes later, he's frowning down at a sheaf of documents in [19:48] <@Ferrinus> 12his hands, flipping from one to the next. [19:48] 14Stranger raises an eyebrow. [19:48] "Anything interesting?" [19:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It appears... well, I've either got fewer stops to make today than I thought, or louder ones." [19:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The Guard itself is growing as projected - Pellicia's pulling in anyone willing, and there's plenty who are and never found a company to join for one reason or another. But as to the other actual companies, uh, not a one is going for the joint defense force thing." [19:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Looks like with one exception, they're being paid by the Guild to oversee a speedy exit from the city. ...scratch that, no exceptions." [19:50] 14The eyebrows settle, and Stranger's eyes narrow. "One reason or another." [19:50] "Ah." [19:51] 13Once Xia Lan's finished "breakfast" and washed up, you'd be hard-pressed to tell she's still hungover. She's an expert at public image, after all. "That... seems less than ideal." [19:52] "Well. I suggest a two-pronged approach. One prong recruits those who haven't signed on, and instills a civic duty for service that helps increase the native Nexus ranks." [19:53] "The other prong finds a Guild factor and drags him before us to explain." [19:53] "Sounds good to me." [19:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Gonna be honest with you, I can see the explanation already: they figure we're likely to lose and are best-served pulling up stakes before it happens." [19:58] 14Stranger: "Just because they can explain it doesn't mean they can justify it." [19:59] "And more important than the information we gain from the Guildsman is the fact of making him answer our questions." [19:59] "With regards to the non-Guild workforce, I suggest a conversation with Udelph the Doctor. Does that sound right to you, Keldar?" [19:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We can try and sell 'em on staying, of course. After all, they're wrong - we're gonna win, and then they'll just be dumbasses who pulled all their stock out of the River Province's predominant city for no reason." [20:00] 13Xia Lan: "Can we win without them? It'll be harder, but... rubbing their faces in it sounds satisfying." [20:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And you've got a point there. Plenty of people around who could stand a career change at the moment." [20:00] 7Dawn: "I don't know if it's worth the chance of losing. Surely some of them will see reason." [20:00] 14Stranger: "Fighting with a handicap seems like egoism we can ill afford at the moment." [20:01] "I think we should do what we can to convince the Guild that the defense of Nexus is in their interests. But they'll need to respect us, first." [20:01] 13Xia Lan: "No, hang on. How many mercenaries are we losing, and how many Nexians are currently unemployed from the other prong of the Guild's pulling out?" [20:01] 14Stranger looks to Keldar. [20:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "A lot, and a lot. And we can make something of the latter, I think. Give me citizens in decent health and I can give you warriors." [20:06] 13She smiles. "I can get the hearts and minds. But -" 13She grows more serious. "Maybe we can bring some of the mercenaries back, or something. Get them away from the Guild? I'm no strategist, but an army of novice soldiers doesn't sound good enough." [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But first things first, I think we want to head straight for the office of the highest official the local Guild's got left and make our case. Of course, that can take insanely long unless you're willing to drop a lot of silver." [20:07] 14Stranger pauses, thinks, and smiles. "How much silver are you willing to drop?" [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Less than their bullshit 'express processing' fees, but it's not like we've actually got a month." [20:16] 14The silver-haired man nods. "Keep your money ready, then, but we'll see if you have to use it. I've got some insight into how their banks work already." [20:16] "This might be easy; this might be hard. This might be easy with consequences that are hard. When I start the ball rolling, I likely won't be able to stop it. I likely won't care to." [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, I know where to start it running. To Nexus." 12He means the Nexus District, of course - the financial and mercantile heart of the city. [20:18] 7Dawn: "I can't really blame 'em if they're just running. But if they're trying to screw over everyone else so they can swoop in afterwards..." [20:19] 13Xia Lan: "I mean, they're screwing over everyone else by running whether or not they're coming back in to pick up the scraps." [20:20] 14Stranger: "Stand together or die apart. It's the same old way across history." 15[20:22] The Guild has a presence in so much of the Nexus that they have their own neighborhood within the neighborhood organized around the single busiest and best-kept street in the city. Managing offices are at the very end of this street, its back to the grand canal, overlooking the same square as the great temples of The Grey and The Dame in Yellow. Stranger and Keldar both know that this is the place to go if you want a face-to-face meeting with the city's real masters. [20:23] 14Ah, but do you walk right in to the lobby? Or do you start the conversation elsewhere, then show up once they're talking about you? [20:23] 14Perhaps the first visit should be to one of the money-houses. [20:24] 14...One of the ones that aren't flooded. 15[20:28] Depends how subtle you want to be, and how much patience you have for the Guild's way of doing things. Stranger can already tell that the average wealth of the people on the street this morning is lower than it would've been this time a month ago; Guildsmen who can afford to must already be leaving. There are other options, however: Stranger can dangle some enormous piece of business in front of a bank (opening a new, huge account; moving an existing one; seeking a titanic loan with commensurate collateral) and get ushered swiftly up the chain. He can lean on his notoriety and standing to suggest mutual aid, in which case his best bet is not the banks or the managing office but the Threshold Company up the street, which contracts mercenaries and oversees manpower. This is who Dawn's meant to report to when she's found Cathak Tsuka. [20:29] 14What's Dawn's preference? [20:30] 14Stranger's would be the Threshold Company. [20:30] 14Promising the Guild business is giving up too much before the negotiations even start. [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar just wants something fast. If Stranger can't come up with anything fast and reliable he might actually have to kick down some doors. [20:31] 14Oh, it will be fast. [20:31] 7Dawn isn't sure she should rub the Guild's nose in the fact that's she's basically quitting, but if they're bailing on Nexus it might be a good time. [20:31] 14Threshold Company it is. [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What I could do to get their attention is just the same thing they're doing - threaten to pick up and ship out 'cause I'm not satisfied." 12He pauses. "With regards to my bank account, I mean." [20:32] 14He strokes his chin. "If you want to go make a scene at the bank while I go talk to these go-betweens, we might play off each other well." [20:33] "But your real argument is with the Threshold Company, I think. They are the contractors." [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Be awkward if we both succeed. I'll make some noise if you can't get headway." 15[20:39] With grace and a bit of study, Stranger knows that he should be able to swing a meeting with the factor who runs the Threshold Company, the right-hand man of Nexus's overfactor, first among equals among all the Guild's merchant kings, who it's rumored doesn't even exist. [20:39] 14Stranger: "Indeed. Though with the four of us, I don't think it'll be a problem." [20:40] 7Dawn: "This is the place I'm supposed to report to when I find the kid. Normally I'd say that's a problem, but since they're packing up anyway..." [20:41] 14Stranger: "If that's a conversation they want to have with you, it's a conversation they can have with us. Once they know the terms of it." [20:41] "Such are the privileges of organizing." [20:42] 14Stranger walks into the lobby of the Threshold Company and his forehead burns an empty golden circle. "I'm here to speak to the Guildsman in charge about deals." [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, known lover of deals, needs no particular introduction. He's flanking Stranger, sword at his side and fully armored, and alternating between idly examining the decor and looking impatiently at the secretary. 15[20:46] Stranger is walk directly to the director's office, answering questions and explaining away forms and fees as he goes. The administrator who nips at his heels runs out of arguments to halt him at the exact moment he reaches the door. How does he knock? 15[20:46] *is able to walk [20:46] 14He just opens the door. 15[20:48] Stranger is staring at a lantern, a map, and a gray cap. The cap is attached to a head bent over the map. The man wearing it looks up, sees Stranger, and then past him to see the others. "...good morning," says the director. "You're here to see me?" 15[20:48] A nameplate on the desk helpfully reads: SYNDIC-OF-TITHES [20:49] 14Stranger: "I am." 14When everyone is inside, he kicks the door shut behind him with his heel. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ayep. Few questions." [20:49] 14Stranger: "About procurement." 15[20:50] Syndic motions to chairs around his desk as he begins rolling the map up. "Take a seat. Can we get you anything? Tea? Wine? Opium?" [20:50] 14Stranger: "We won't be long." [20:51] 14Stranger: "I suspect you know why we're here, and that -- really -- it's not about you." [20:51] "As always: it's about who you know." 15[20:52] "What can I do for you?" [20:54] 7Dawn figures it's best to be blunt. She pulls her hat up so her face is clear, and her caste mark illuminates dramatically. "I quit." [20:54] 14Stranger: "And that's just the beginning." [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar begins to say something, but pauses here to let that one sink in. Then he takes a breath. "'side from that, I've been taking inventory of Nexus's remaining armed forces and notice that every one organized enough to have a logo is in the process of pulling up stakes." [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It looks to me like the Guild is fleeing the city and taking half the city's protection with it, which is a losing proposition. I want a word with whoever's responsible." [20:56] 14Stranger: "You could pretend not to know about that, or pretend not to be responsible for it. It would just make this take longer, but it is your right." [20:56] 14He leans forward. "Everyone in this city does so love their rights." 15[20:56] Syndic: "You could have a word with me. Overfactor made that decision." [20:57] 14Stranger: "Then what we want to know is what it will take to reverse it." [20:58] 13Xia Lan smiles without mirth. "Please have a good answer. We're in a bit of a rush." 15[21:00] Syndic: "I can't overrule the Overfactor. The best I can do is stall the withdrawal order on the mercenaries, but I'd get overruled by my counterpart at the market board, who drew up the mercenary contracts to oversee withdrawing capital from the war zone." 15[21:00] "You could make a deal with her, but she's already gone. Out on the first barge." [21:00] 14Stranger: "So how can she overrule you." [21:01] "That would require messengers." [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Then get us the Overfactor. This is a top-level decision we're talking about, anyway." [21:04] 14Stranger: "The other way this works is we just start picking off people who serve the ones who left this city to die. Frankly, I don't see that being an unpopular course of action." [21:07] 13Xia Lan: "People generally don't mind when those leaving them to die suffer the consequences." [21:08] 7Dawn: "Seems a little rude though. Better to do it the easy way." [21:11] 14Stranger puts his hands down on the desk and the entire room explodes into golden light around him -- but the corona, the space right behind him, where his shadow would be if you considered him straight on, that's just a void of black. [21:11] "Let me be as clear as I possibly can, Syndic." [21:12] "I want to speak to your manager." [21:12] "Now." 15[21:13] Syndic shields his eyes from the light. "I don't know where he is right now! But wait! Wait! Listen. I can get you a meeting. Three hours." [21:14] 14There's a rushing sound in all their ears, and suddenly Stranger is standing up straight, smiling, limned in nothing more than golden light. "Excellent." [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I like it." [21:15] 13Xia Lan: "I'm glad we were able to come to an agreement!" 13She smiles again, this time a real smile. [21:16] [21:16] [21:16] [21:16] [21:16] [21:16] [21:16] [21:16] [21:16] [21:16] [21:17] 14Back at the hideout, waiting for the summons: "I still have some tea on." [21:17] "If anyone wants some." [21:18] 13Xia Lan: "That would be wonderful." 13She grabs her cup from the morning - which she casually left on the table - and moves to pour another cup. "That went well." [21:20] 14Stranger: "I thought so." 14He pours himself a taste of the Blackleaf first to make sure it's not been spoiled somehow -- always have to check when there's a sorcerer in the house -- and then pours Xia Lan her fill in her own cup. [21:20] "There's a certain...liberation to just being able to cut loose like that." [21:20] "You can't do it many places outside of Nexus. And certainly not by yourself." [21:21] 13Xia Lan: "It's -- easier than you'd think, but doing it here is definitely safer." [21:22] 7Dawn: "I haven't much. Makes it pretty hard to stay under the radar." [21:22] 14Stranger grimaces. "Oh, I know how easy it is." [21:22] 14The silver-haired man turns to Dawn. "How long have you been doing this?" [21:23] 13Xia Lan sips at her tea. Mmm. [21:26] 7Dawn: "Hunting for a living, a few years maybe. With this power, a few months." [21:27] 14Stranger nods. "Seven months, maybe, for me." [21:27] "Of course, before that I was...moonlighting as a village elder." [21:27] "Well." [21:27] "Gary was." [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's back a little late. He's identifiable first by the clanking of his metal armor, and then, as he approaches, the crunch of the apple he's eating. And, of course, his muttered plans and calculations. "Llana... yeah, big park could serve as a training ground..." [21:29] 14Stranger: "Why's it called that, anyhow?" [21:30] 14The silver-haired man realizes he's never bothered to look that up. [21:30] 13Xia Lan: "Wonder how many others there are out there. All of us within a year, all around Creation. Lot of people out there. How many like us?" [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Dunno. My theory is an ink blotch in the wrong spot." 12Some time passes as he loosens and removes most of his armor, then takes a seat. [21:31] 14Stranger: "Well, we know of at least one other." [21:31] "Mori Nagare, Prince-Regent and Beast of the Highlands is definitely of our particular crest." [21:31] 13She scowls. "That guy." [21:32] *Nogare [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That fucker. Probably only here 'cause he sees the fae as competition." [21:33] "This is our main concern with that neokorborus we're keeping locked down in the sewers: he works for some Chosen of the Sun. I want to know if it's the Beast, or if there's another floating about." [21:33] 13Xia Lan: "He doesn't even like Nexus! He's just - urgh!" [21:34] 14Stranger smiles slightly. "He likes Keldar well enough." [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "If it's working for the Beast, it'd actually be the servant of his floating sorcerer, yeah?" [21:34] "I'd bet on another... unless Vladok is more important than I'd guessed. Which, uh, maybe shouldn't have rushed into that one, but it turned out fine." [21:35] "He's loyal to a Chosen. If the sorcerer is his master, then the Beast is two, ah, Solars strong." 15[21:37] * Disconnected 15[21:37] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[21:37] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[21:37] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[21:37] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[21:37] * Quits: VoxPVoxD (NickServ (GHOST command used by GreatClownVoxPVoxD)) 14[21:37] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD is now known as VoxPVoxD [21:38] 13Xia Lan: "Still has a posse." [21:38] "One doesn't get asked to meet in the old Deliberative in Firewander on a jape." [21:38] "Generally speaking." 14[21:38] * Quits: banana (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:38] 12Keldar: "It's pretty obvious what he's about. Kind of a fuck that Dorma's willing to play along, but what can you do." 14[21:39] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:39] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:39] * Crion_ is now known as Crion [21:39] 14Stranger sips his tea. "I somewhat prefer him to the Thorns delegation, to be honest." [21:40] "And it's possible we might be friendlier with Dorma. If not for circumstances." [21:40] 12Keldar: "Them I'd expect to snap up the Deliberative thing." 14[21:40] * Joins: banana [21:41] 13Xia Lan: "You all ever thought about just, living away from society and never interacting with anybody again? Instead of dealing with politics stuff like this?" [21:41] 14Stranger: "Well, of course. They serve the Underworld. It seems fraught, at best, to think we can truly kill them." [21:41] 12Keldar: "No way. Where'd I spend my loot?" [21:42] 14He sighs. "If not for all this Balor nonsense I'd say we should be focusing on kicking those dead men back through their nighttime portals." [21:42] 7Dawn grunts. "I've done it. It's lonely." [21:43] 14Stranger: "It seems so." [21:43] 13Xia Lan: "Not if you do it right." [21:43] 12Keldar: "Could be tricky. Those guys are full-on Anathema, right?" [21:43] 14Stranger: "That's a political distinction." [21:44] 12Keldar: "Also a practical one. Harder to take down than a Dragon-Blood." [21:44] "The big ones, perhaps. But their armies are wet wood." [21:45] "I am not particularly shocked that the Fair Folk advancing on us rolled them up like some strange rainbow tide and spat them back out as foot-soldiers." [21:45] 12Keldar: "That we've seen. You get some pretty alarming stories about the Mask's invasion if you listen. Sijan's no Thorns." [21:45] "I'm more impressed with them toppling the beastmen territories and actual kingdoms of man." [21:46] 14Stranger: "We don't talk about this much because frankly it's unmeet to do so, but: should we do this, should Nexus actually survive this madness -- there will be an emptiness in the politics of three different Directions." [21:47] "There will be opportunities." [21:48] 14He sips his tea. "And should we pull this off and live to tell its tale, we'll have earned the rights to them." [21:48] 13Xia Lan: "Only three? The open sea is out there, too." [21:49] 14Stranger nods. "You're correct. The Folk coming from the west were stopped at the Blessed Isle -- they likely laid waste to all between there and the Realm." [21:50] 12Keldar: "Last Crusade left a lot of opportunities in its wake, too. Of course, one person snapped 'em all up for the most part." [21:51] "...At least I hope they were. We haven't heard about the fall of the Realm." [21:53] 14Stranger leans back into the plush armchair in front of the fire. "So, Keldar. The Guild." [21:53] "It's fair to ask, I think, how far you're willing to go." [21:53] "Not to castigate you. Just to make sure there's no confusion." [21:54] 12Keldar: "Actually becoming an enemy of the Guild's a really bad idea. They span Creation and in many ways have more leverage than the actual Realm." [21:54] 14Stranger: "You're presenting a hypothetical. I'm fairly certain at least two people in this room already are enemies of the Guild." [21:54] "I'm one of them." [21:55] "So in some respects you're telling us something we already know." [21:55] 13Xia Lan: "Having enemies usually means you're doing something right. Or, I mean, very, extremely wrong, but I don't think we're doing that badly." [21:55] 12Keldar: "And, frankly, they're dead useful. They're why we get food from every Direction here, and material, and technology." 12He waves a hand vaguely at Stranger. "The good news is, 'enemy of the Guild' is kind of..." [21:56] "Dead useful, or useful dead?" [21:56] "And you don't get food because of the Guild. You get food because of trade." [21:57] 12Keldar: "It's a lot easier to be an enemy of some specific guy within the Guild whose profit stream you cut into. The Guild itself, though... if there's trade, they can find something to do." [21:58] 14Stranger: "Let's say the Guild leaves Nexus. Even this Overfactor we're to meet soon." [21:58] "And we win." [21:58] "Does that mean, due to normalcy resuming and Nexus's Civilities and so on being followed, that the Guild is naturally entitled to return?" [21:59] 13Xia Lan: "The Nexian People's Liberation Army." 13She sips at her tea dreamily. [21:59] 12Keldar: "That's actually the point I was planning to make to the guy. He's gambling on our losing, and has a shitload to lose if we win." [22:00] 12Keldar: "If the Guild just withdraws every balance and sells every property and whatever they'll have a hell of a time reestabishing themselves and cripple their ability to participate and profit in the city's rebuilding. On the other hand, we lose our connection to their entire trading network. It'll just be harder to get shit." [22:00] 14Stranger: "But does he? If the Guild is synonymous with trade, and every decision the Guild makes is justified by the markets that it controls, can you actually lay any blame on the Guild for running like ignominious cowards, waiting for us to win the day, and then returning like snakes to make their profit?" [22:00] "Why?" [22:01] "Would the people of Nexus not sell to the Guild?" [22:01] "Because the Guild would just send people to hurt or kill them, as they currently do." [22:02] 12Keldar: "Sure they would, but there's still all the overhead and logistics of moving back in, reestablishing office, and suchlike. Plus, the more damaged the city is - cause they made off with whatever percent of our armed forces - the harder it is to return to business as usual." [22:02] 14Stranger: "What if the Guild is willing to eat that loss, gladly and willingly, to maintain their dominance?" [22:03] "They're a masterful affair in every Direction, and they're no slouches in the Realm. They can afford to run at a loss." [22:03] "Especially to crush any upstarts." [22:04] 13Xia Lan: "Monopolies are always profitable." [22:05] 12Keldar: "They could maintain their dominance without eating a loss if they weren't cutting and running here. Hell, it's only if they decamped from the city entirely that there'd even be a window within which some enterprising rival could try to snatch up the profit that'd normally go to them." [22:06] 12Keldar: "And, I mean, COULD we make our own Guild with Gwent and hookers? Probably, but they've really got no shortage of both already and it'd be a waste of time long-term. I say we're best off if the Guild understands that, in basically any situation, we're the horse to bet on." [22:06] 14Stranger: "We are not fucking making our own Guild." [22:06] 12Keldar: "Hell, the simhata to bet on." [22:06] 13Xia Lan: "Absolutely not." [22:07] 14Stranger: "And it's telling that your defense of them is couched in frustration with what they should be doing, rather than reckoning with what they actually are." [22:08] 12Keldar: "What defense? The Guild's just here. It might leave in the short term, but that'll leave us worse off than if it didn't." [22:08] 14Stranger: "Will it? Why?" [22:09] 13Xia Lan: "It's not the Guild leaving that does that. It's what they're leaving with." [22:09] "If we killed every Guildsman tonight, what do we lose?" [22:09] "Which is not - necessarily - connected." [22:09] "We don't lose mercenary contracts -- those become open season. We can bring the mercenaries back." [22:09] 12Keldar: "'cause all the cash and troops it takes with us, and 'cause of the long-term trade friction." [22:09] "We lose some infrastructure, right? We lose decision-makers, people who make things happen fast." [22:10] 13Xia Lan: "And a lot of grifters." [22:10] "And then we incur some wrath down the line." [22:10] "When the Guild thinks the situation is controlled enough that they can skulk back into town." [22:10] "They're not going to oppose us while the red star hangs in the sky." [22:10] "It's not a winning proposition." [22:11] 12Keldar: "If every local Guildsman keels over, we still don't actually have the capital to hire on every merc outfit they're leaving with." [22:12] 14Stranger's eyebrows rise. "Is the Nexus treasury that poor?" [22:12] 12Keldar: "It's been fuller." [22:12] "Why is it so poor?" [22:13] "Is it because your city sold itself out to the Guild?" [22:13] "Because this should be a rich and powerful land." [22:13] 13Xia Lan raises an eyebrow. "Grifters found themselves a home, seems like." 13Is there still tea left? She could use another cup. [22:14] 14Stranger put on another kettle. It's a more soothing tea; Yucasan Yellow. [22:15] 12Keldar: "It is a rich and powerful land. But that's because all that wealth is mobile. If people couldn't trust their own silver they wouldn't bring it here at all." [22:15] 14Stranger: "Land isn't mobile." [22:15] 13Not here, anyway. [22:16] "If Nexus's wealth depends only on the kindness of the faraway, then Nexus has nothing." [22:16] 12Keldar: "No, but land claims and real estate contracts can be. Put another way, if you and I and the rest of the Circle weren't here, would I begrudge the Guild pulling out? Hell no, it's the smart move. Part of freedom's being free to opt out." [22:16] 12Keldar: "It's just stupid, given the circumstances. Overfactor's got weak hands." [22:17] 14Stranger: "You can't opt out of the fucking apocalypse." [22:17] 12Keldar: "Sure you can, if it's localized to one city." [22:17] 13Xia Lan: "But it never is. What, do you think they'll stop here?" [22:17] 14The silver-haired man laughs. "You believe that?" [22:18] "You believe that when the armies that storm through all of the Directions of Creation amass here, that they'll stop?" [22:18] "They'll burn the marches of the Wyld like ten thousand brands across this world." [22:18] 12Keldar: "Yeah, maybe. Raksha are weird. Even if they don't, and we weren't here, and they could roll over Nexus... well, they'd be stopped by Lookshy, or Thorns, or if all else fails the Realm." [22:19] 13Xia Lan snickers. [22:19] 12Keldar: "What." [22:19] 14Stranger: "She's laughing because you don't have anything stronger than a 'maybe,' Tiger." [22:20] "'Well, they'd be stopped by Lookshy.' My Sun." [22:20] 12Keldar: "'course they'd be stopped by Lookshy. Place is basically a shogunate Fortress." [22:21] 13Xia Lan: "'Course they'd be stopped by Nexus. Place has a hundred thousand soldiers.'" 13She mimics his voice - it's actually pretty close. Also, please adjust the number to the actual accurate amount. [22:22] 14Stranger: "They've already got a substantial detachment of forces here, their power base will be split, and they'll be facing an army that conquered three different Directions at once and then expanded Firewander into an open wound to start making reinforcements." [22:22] 12Keldar: "If there were no Anathema at all, the way this story ends is that either the four armies descend on Nexus and eat the remains of the Emissary's soul and dissolve into butterflies, or they roll westward and crash against Lookshy, or they roll even farther westward and actually, finally crash against the Realm proper. Either way, Creation takes a hit but the Guild keeps on [22:22] rolling." [22:22] "I'm not hearing any benefit to anyone but the Guild." [22:23] 12Keldar narrows his eyes at Xia Lan. "Place DOESN'T have a hundred thousand soldiers, and even if it did those soldiers wouldn't - normally - be backed by legions of Chosen and, and this part's important, piles and piles of magical artifice." [22:23] 14Stranger: "Are the Guild going to exist when Creation is eaten whole by the Wyld? Are they going to continue to ply their high-skill, high-value trades of 'abusing sex workers' and 'skimming dock profits' when none of these words coherently exist?" [22:24] 12Keldar: "If Creation's going to be eaten whole by the Wyld, it won't be by a couple faerie armies. What we're looking at here represents serious damage to the economic prospects of a Direction, but not the end of the world." [22:24] 12Keldar: "Which is WHY the Guild pulling out of Nexus is perfectly logical... in a world in which we don't exist." [22:24] 14Stranger: "What does a real Faerie threat look like to you, then?" [22:24] "Why doesn't this count?" [22:25] 12Keldar: "The actual Balorian Crusade which came from and to actually every Direction, capital dee, hot on the heels of a disease that wiped out nine tenths of the population." [22:25] "Because my people have lost entire bloodlines and massive territory to them already." [22:25] 14Stranger bursts out laughing. [22:25] "That's it, then!" [22:26] "That's the problem!" [22:26] "It's not as cool as the army that led to the Emissary in the first place!" [22:27] 12Keldar: "Yes, being that it is smaller and weaker. We can definitely stop the Emissary's old flame. We, the five of us, definitely couldn't have stopped the actual Crusade." [22:27] 12Keldar pauses. "Not without pulling the Empress's trick or some equivalent, anyway." [22:28] 14Stranger: "You will note, I hope, that even with the Great Conflagration hobbling Creation there were still greater First Age safeguards in place then than there are now." [22:29] "Creation has not gotten stronger since then." [22:29] 12Keldar: "Which is why we're lucky nothing approximating the circumstances of the actual Crusade is at our doorstep right now. We'd be in real trouble then." [22:30] 14Stranger: "We're in real trouble now." [22:30] "By your own logic, if we weren't, the Guild would still be here." [22:30] 13Xia Lan: "We are still in real trouble! I have every confidence in our ability to turn the tide but - this isn't nothing!" [22:31] 12Keldar: "'cause they have a bad assessment of the situation. If they understood what we were capable of and what we were doing, they'd see that it'd be in their interests to back us rather than abandon us." [22:31] 13Xia Lan: "Their logic is stupid. Their ideals are stupid. They don't actually care about the city or the people in it." [22:32] 14Stranger: "You're pleading for a sale, but the economy won't give you one." [22:32] "You can't hold the simultaneously belief that the Guild are a force nature and fact of civilizational life, and that they're currently completely wrong." [22:32] *simultaneous [22:33] "The laws of the world are never wrong. At least not by their own fault." [22:33] 12Keldar: "Their proximate head guy is... overly cautious." [22:34] 14Contemptuously: "The Sun isn't." [22:34] 12Keldar: "Whatsname, market forces are gonna respond accordingly whichever way he ends up bending." [22:34] "He rises in the sky." [22:34] 13Market forces - do we have any liquor in this place. [22:34] 12Keldar: "Yeah, but that leaves him too busy to do shit for us, don't it?" [22:34] "Our Lord is a force of nature. Luna is a force of nature. Even the shitheads running Heaven are forces of nature." [22:34] 13Stranger, you do the shopping. Have we any hard alcohols. [22:34] "These are bankers." [22:35] "And what has the Guild done for you?" [22:35] 12Keldar: "The usual. Took care of my money, found me clients, sold me services..." [22:36] 14Stranger: "You were one of the weakest motherfuckers in this down before you found our God." [22:36] "It took some damn talking to get you a real contract." [22:36] "The Green Apples are barely shit." [22:36] 13Xia Lan is rummaging through whatever they have that passes for an icebox. If there's no hard liquors here, she will actually just leave to go purchase some. For sanity's sake. [22:36] "The Guild has not treated you well." [22:36] 12Keldar: "'scuse me? I'm Keldar of Nexus. I'd made a name for myself long before I started glowing." [22:36] *in this town [22:37] "And three armies walked on in and smiled at Pellicia asking where they could set up shop as soon as the Emissary vanished for a week." [22:39] 12Keldar: "Yeah, because it took the Emissary to make one lousy city in the whole of this world in which some bastard isn't telling you your god wants you to kiss the ground he walks on." [22:40] 14Stranger: "But it worked out for you fine. If the Lookshyans respected your Apples as a political force, then the Dragonlord's second wouldn't have tried to kill you in that clinic. And you wouldn't have that getup you so cherish, that you didn't get before all of this." [22:40] 13Ah. There is some. Good! Good. Xia Lan upends the whiskey into her tea. [22:40] 13Slurp. [22:41] 12Keldar's standing now. "Where the hell do you get off, pal? Don't confuse yourself with me. Just because you stood for nothing and meant nothing before an astrological accident gave you something to do for yourself doesn't mean that was true for the rest of us." [22:41] 13...Slurp. [22:41] 14Stranger: "And you stood for what?" [22:41] "Making money?" [22:42] 12Keldar: "Yeah! Yeah, I did. That's what I got for being the best damn fighter, part of the best damn company, this side of Meru who didn't actually have an anima. And I couldn't have done it anywhere but here." [22:43] "AND THAT DOESN'T MAKE YOU A BAD PERSON!" 14Stranger bellows. "But it doesn't make it right." [22:44] "And you know that if it was right, you wouldn't have needed the godsdamned Sun." [22:44] "The market could have protected this city." [22:44] 12Keldar: "It is." [22:45] "The market views you and everything you care about -- everything you idealize -- as an acceptable loss." [22:45] "And they'll rebuild on your corpse." [22:46] 12Keldar: "Nope. The Apples are still here 'cause we're under contract. We're under contract - me included - because we know we're going to gain from it." [22:46] 12Keldar: "I love this city, but I ain't dyin' for it. I just know we're gonna win." [22:47] 13Xia Lan: "You can't be serious. The Guild will abandon you and everything you care about for a coin and your primary concern is that they aren't evaluating the situation properly?" [22:47] 14Stranger: "And if I had Pellicia release you from your contract?" [22:48] 14The silver-haired man is standing now, too. [22:48] 12Keldar: "The Guild thinks it'll abandon me and everything I care about, but it's making a mistake. Now, maybe the Overfactor can't be talked around, and we'll just have to try to pare back as many of the merc companies they're takin' on an individual basis, and that'll be annoying and wasteful and, basically, stupid." [22:49] 12Keldar: "But, well, that's everyone's loss, I guess. This ain't a perfect world." [22:49] 12Keldar: "And you're not Pellicia's minder or something. Contract's a contract." [22:49] 14Stranger: "THIS IS A PERFECT WORLD." [22:49] 12Keldar barks out a laugh. "Come on." [22:49] 13More whiskey. "Only one we've got." [22:50] 13She is not going to be in shape for that confrontation with the Overfactor. At this point, it's hard to care. [22:50] 14Stranger: "And it's been made less perfect. That's the actual problem here. And don't be obtuse; your contract could be cancelled at anytime. If that meeting in the spire went how Brueghel wanted it to, you'd be out on your ass right now." [22:51] 12Keldar: "Oh, it's got withdrawal clauses and stuff, sure. But you can't 'have' Pellicia release me from my contract because you're just some guy, and you don't need to have Pellicia release me from my contract because I knew what I was signing up for going in." [22:53] 14Stranger: "No, I shouldn't be able to have Pellicia release you from your contract. But I know to manipulate her and the bureaucracy around her, and if I put my mind to it you would be a free agent in hours unless you intervened...with the mandate you've been granted by our Sun. Matching mine." [22:54] "Because we're now the rod and the rule of this world." [22:54] "And that means the Guild isn't." [22:57] 12Keldar: "If I wasn't a free agent, I couldn't go under contract in the first place. Any interference on your part after the fact is just that." [22:59] 13Xia Lan: "I don't... sorry? We're all still talking about how to properly incentivize defending a city instead of just, fucking, doing it." [23:00] 12Keldar: "Anyway, the rod and rule - rod of this world? Is that even - the ruler of this world was the Empress til recently." [23:00] 13This might not be the first time she's cussed. But she does cuss fairly rarely. [23:00] 14Stranger: "She ruled in absentia." [23:00] "We were always the true kings." [23:01] 12Keldar: "Now it ain't. Maybe you think it'll be you in a decade, I dunno. But the Guild was ticking along regardless, because they provide a service and pretty much no matter what you're always gonna get guys who work together to trade more efficiently." [23:02] 12Keldar: "You don't get a name as simple as 'The Guild' unless you're the end result of centuries of consolidation and refinement, really." [23:02] 13Xia Lan practically spits. "'Efficiency.' A city abandoned by its defenders and that's all you've got?" [23:02] 12Keldar: "Like I said, they'd be making the right move if it weren't for us, and our being here in such numbers, and working together, is basically a freak accident." [23:02] 14Stranger: "I provide a service as well. This neighborhood's drains, bridges, and walls work because of me. We know the specifics of the doom coming for us because of me. The Guild didn't serve Floodwater. The Guild didn't serve Bastian's homeland. The Guild hasn't do a thing for us but whine and whine and whine and moan and whine." [23:03] *hasn't done [23:03] 12Keldar: "You didn't do those things either. You just whined and whined until someone else did." [23:03] 14Stranger: "If I was whining then, then you're whining now." [23:04] 13More liquor. [23:04] "And we're just saying whatever we want the words to mean." [23:04] 12Keldar: "No, no, it's fine. That's how things get done. But the Guild's the same way. It's mostly communications." [23:07] 12Keldar: "Which is why I think it's best it serve our purposes. So, SO, we meet this guy, we tell him that he's undervaluing us specifically and that if he knew what was good for him he'd back us." [23:08] 12Keldar: "Then if we can't turn him around, we just try to snipe the best companies out from under him that we can, and I start training regular citizens in any event." [23:08] 14Stranger: "I say we tell him that if he doesn't do what we want, we'll kill him." [23:08] "And frankly, I think both angles work well together." [23:08] "Because if he decides to run, I really think you should fucking kill him. Just for Nexus." [23:09] 12Keldar: "That's... bold, but I don't think it's sustainable. It's not like all the funds in use are personally his, or that there isn't infrastructure in place that keeps working after he loses his head or whatever." [23:10] 12Keldar: "Plus, while you can lop the heads off fat merchants all day, actually demanding that mercs fight for you or else you'll kill them raises a number of logical problems." [23:10] 14Stranger: "We're already doing this because the person that could have been called off by the person we already visited has skipped down. The infrastructure is leaving." [23:10] *town [23:11] 13Xia Lan, loopily: "One of several problems having those not invested locally involved with defense." [23:11] 14Stranger: "We could always just take the Guild's place. To begin with." [23:11] "Think about it." [23:11] "If the Guild structurally has to be a fact of life, as you say -- why not just replace it with our own Guild?" [23:11] 12Keldar: "I brought that up earlier but you were having none of it." [23:12] 14Stranger waves his hand dismissively. "That's because I was angry and it wasn't my idea." [23:12] "That's true. He did say that. But I think it involved more profit motive than we were willing to contenance. Countenance? How do you say that." [23:12] 12Keldar: "That, of course, is the real threat to make if the Guildsman is dead-set on leaving. I don't envy someone actually trying to carry it out, though. Lot of reinvention of the wheel there." [23:14] 14Also, Stranger would want to shut down the Circle's 'Guild' once they'd boxed out the real one and established sufficient protectionism. [23:14] 14But he's learned to keep that point to himself, for now. [23:14] 14Keldar wins the argument. [23:14] 13There is power in a union. 15[23:14] Especially as they're carrying a lot of actual material wealth out of the city. There's probably something to be said for crippling the city's foundries at a time when the city ought to be ordering swords and spears by the hundred. [23:15] 12Sadly, all that iron is their property. [23:15] 14Not for long. [23:15] 13Property is a myth. [23:20] 14Stranger: "That all said, there's someone I think you might wish to meet, Keldar." [23:20] "Before our meeting with the overfactor." [23:20] 12Keldar: "Oh, yeah?" [23:21] 14Stranger: "Exile from House Cathak. Dragon-blooded, with power. Has discipline, and an...attachment to us." [23:21] "Fire aspect." [23:21] 13Xia Lan snickers. [23:23] "He's looking for structure. I think we can provide it." [23:23] 13Xia Lan: "He's very eager." [23:23] 14Stranger sips his tea. [23:23] 12Keldar: "Hmm. Any relation to the outcaste who joined up with the Apples of late?" [23:25] 14Stranger: "...Was this 'outcaste' an angry young man who claimed to be able to throw fire, with a scar across his eye?" [23:26] 12Keldar: "...yeah, it is. Hang on, he's actually from the Isle?" [23:26] 14Stranger laughs. "Yes, he is. This is good; saves half the conversation. You've got someone far more useful on your hands than you knew." [23:27] "Might be wise to let him keep up the outcaste appearances, however." [23:27] "If it's his preference." [23:27] 13Xia Lan: "Oh, gosh, he's been busy, hasn't he?" [23:27] 12Keldar: "Cripes, it might well be. How do you know him?" [23:28] 14Stranger: "He's a good kid." [23:28] "He defended me on-stage from the dog-man that's living in our basement." [23:30] 12Keldar scratches his chin. "Well, if you vouch for him... but what brings him out here?" [23:30] 14To Keldar: "Met him when he accidentally set the Blue Lamp district alight during a dispute with the Guild." [23:30] 12Keldar: "And is there anyone coming after him?" 12He pauses for a moment as wheels turn in his head. "...besides Dawn?" [23:30] "His family." [23:31] 13Xia Lan: "...He never mentioned that." [23:31] "To answer most of your questions." [23:32] 12Keldar: "So hang on, did he do something wrong and run, or get kicked out?" [23:33] 14Stranger: "He got angry at some Guildsmen for beating the hell out of one of the girls at a Blue Lamp establishment. They came after him in the street. He got angry, and when fire aspects get angry, well...the Blue Lamp district is mainly paper, wax, rickety wooden buildings and other flammable things." [23:33] "And he got away?" [23:33] 12Keldar looks mildly perturbed. "Mmm." [23:34] 14Stranger: "Well, he wanted to kill the Guildsmen." [23:34] "And I can't say they wouldn't have deserved it. But I brokered a solution where everyone walked away." [23:35] "As to why he's out here, I haven't pressed. He's proved his moral worth to me." [23:35] 13Xia Lan: "He seems like a good kid. Don't tell him I said that, it'll get his hopes up. But." [23:35] 14Stranger's lips almost imperceptibly flutter into a slight grin. [23:36] 14Maybe a trick of the light. [23:36] 12Keldar: "I see. Well, the practical concern is, obviously, fielding him alongside mortal troops. When Khelendros leads us, his aura only rips up the enemy - we can walk through it just fine. Maybe he can teach Tsuka the same trick." [23:37] 14Stranger: "Entirely possible. Should I set up a meeting? I'm sure he's around." [23:37] "Hell, he might even just be in your barracks." [23:38] 12Keldar: "Probably so, although I'd be surprised if Khelendros hadn't had a word already. The Apples have had a few Chosen and godlings and such over the years." [23:38] 14Stranger is just assuming the Apples have barracks, but it seems like a safe one. [23:39] "With all respect to Khelendros, I want you to meet this kid one on one." 15[23:39] They do have a barracks, though Keldar hasn't actually been in it in years. It's a mark of success and experience for any mercenary that they no longer have to live under their commander's roof. [23:39] 12Most of Nexus's companies have compounds of some sort in Bastion district, and the Apples are no exception. Keldar's ready to lead everyone there if need be. [23:40] 14Stranger's ready to go. [23:40] 13Xia Lan, too, though she'll get some more water and another slice of bread before leaving. [23:42] 14Before they head out, Stranger ensures he and Xia Lan are the last in the common room. Then, casually, as she's finishing the bread and about to ladle out some water: "Xia Lan. You remember that potion Xu Sim made? For the contest, in case you needed it. The drunkeness one." [23:42] 13Xia Lan: "The - oh, yeah. I did fine without it." [23:43] 13She waves drunkenly. "It's good. All've'it." [23:43] 14Stranger: "Of course! But he still prepared some of it, and--let me see--" 14Stranger ducks into his room and returns with a small vial. A very small one. Of the leftover formula that Xu Sim didn't use. [23:43] "It would be terrible for it to go to waste." [23:45] "I guess - it's not for the contest." 13She takes it hesitantly, then downs it like a shot. [23:46] 14Stranger: "No! You should mix it with--" [23:46] "Water." [23:47] 14Hrm. 14[23:47] * Joins: mattbaby [23:48] 13She grimaces, then turns on Stranger. "You drugged me." [23:48] 14Stranger: "I did." [23:48] "You lied to me." [23:48] 14Stranger: "I did." [23:48] 13Xia Lan: "You - I was - WHERE IS XU SIM." [23:49] 14Stranger: "Xu Sim did as he was told." [23:50] 5 All can hear the barking cackling of an old man. [23:50] 13She looks furious. Not quite blades-out furious but-- "This was a contest! I could - would have - you stole that from me!" [23:50] 14Stranger: "You would have lost!" [23:50] "I'm a fraud! Oh my Sun, you - I cannot BELIEVE this!" [23:51] 14Stranger sweeps a wide arm. "Vladok stacked the venue with his greatest fans! He held court at a venue owned and operated by freeheld demons!" [23:52] "He already had you beat before you stepped into the CIO!" [23:52] 13Xia Lan: "Did you SEE how I handled them? He sucked! All he had was drinking and I am a professional!" [23:52] "He did not SUCK!" [23:52] 12Keldar, re-armored, ducks his head into the other room. "Hey, I'm ready to- uh-" [23:52] 5 Xu Sim emerges, dramatically, from the shadows. He is holding, and petting, the Twice-Refined Princess.  "What chemical can alter the harmonies of your soul?" [23:53] 13Mildly chastised: "Okay, he was just - way worse than me! All he could do was hold his liquor and -" 13She turns. "YOU." [23:53] "He was a master of form and he summoned a soulful prior form to charm the crowd even further!" [23:53] "YOU DRUGGED ME" [23:53] "As a matter of fact, I did the opposite of drugging you." [23:54] 13Xia Lan: "I thought I had accomplished something! I won a contest! I proved my worth! And you just - drugged me into cheating!" [23:54] "I gave you something to make sure none of those creatures would take advantage of you. And, fortunately for you, it worked." [23:54] 13Eyes blazing: "Did you really think - none of you believed in me." [23:54] "You didn't know the rules of the contest when you agreed to it. I don't think there was a rule against drinking anything from the famous Xu Sim." [23:55] "You thought I'd lose." [23:55] 12Keldar: "Hang on, hang on. This demon contest. How magically-enforced were the stakes?" [23:55] 14Stranger: "It wasn't about whether we believed in you." [23:55] "The stakes were bigger than you." [23:55] "You won the contest! You simply had someone on your side balancing out all the cheating they would do, as a pack of untrustworthy Yozi-spawn." [23:56] "The stakes were bigger than your pride." [23:56] 12Keldar: "Okay, but how are they ENFORCED. What I'm asking is, if this comes out - or if Xia Lan just, like, realizes it in her heart of hearts - does she instantly lose her soul or whatever." [23:56] 13Xia Lan: "Here I am, greatest singer in all the land, entering into a contest with - with an oaf, and -- you felt the need to cheat to put me over the top?" [23:56] 12Keldar: "Or is she home free regardless." [23:57] 13To Keldar: "I don't care about that! I made a deal, and it turns out that I cheated, without even knowing about it!" [23:57] 14Stranger, to Keldar: "There's no going back on the contest. What's done is done." [23:57] 12Keldar: "A magic deal, though, right? So you might be in serious trouble here." [23:57] "Where in the rules did it say you couldn't drink anything else?" [23:57] 12Keldar: "Oh, well then." [23:57] 14Stranger: "We're not." [23:57] "We didn't tell her just in case there was a surprise pre-match question, under Oath." [23:58] 13Xia Lan: "I cannot believe this." [23:58] "In that case," 12Keldar continues, "I can't believe you'd cheat on her behalf. For a contest of skill! What else are we abominations good for?" [23:58] 14Stranger: "You shouldn't have bet your name three days into this city." [23:58] "You happen to live under the same roof as one of the most renowned alchemists in all Creation, whose first Rule is to never test his own concoctions. You are surprised when a glass of water is... enhanced?" [23:59] 13Xia Lan: "Technically I bet it way before then because wow I should've read the fine print, but that was my problem! And oh my Sun, do I need to just check every drink I have from now on to make sure you haven't drugged me again?" [23:59] "I thought you were my friends!" [23:59] "You are my friend! Wait until you find out what else that skin cream I gave you is doing..." Session Time: Wed Feb 14 00:00:00 2018 [00:00] 14Stranger: "You thought correctly." [00:00] 13She gives a wordless shriek and begins scrubbing at her skin. [00:00] 12Keldar: "This is a matter of professional pride, here! She knew what she was signing up for. More or less." [00:00] "But this is bigger than you." [00:00] "We need Vladok and his freed demons. We need anything we can get. We have weeks, here." [00:01] 13Xia Lan: "And you would have had them! But you - for some reason - decided that I wasn't GOOD ENOUGH." [00:01] 14Stranger: "What was the final score." [00:01] 12Keldar: "What was the final score?" [00:01] "Don't you dare." [00:02] 14Stranger: "Then my point is taken." [00:02] "Don't you dare say that - you can't mean that I -" [00:02] 13She's had enough liquor in her tea. There's real tears in her eyes. "Am I just that useless?" [00:02] 14Stranger: "No." [00:03] "I couldn't save her..." [00:03] 14Stranger: "I couldn't save 35 people." [00:03] 5 Xu Sim approaches Xia Lan and looks - up or down(?) right at her forehead.  "You can never give this back," 5 he says, jabbing at her Caste mark, hidden though it may be at the moment. 15[00:03] What the-- did Stranger sneak home the bottle of whiskey that makes everyone relive their greatest regrets? [00:04] 14As well as the one that makes everyone argue about capitalism. [00:04] 13She snaps her head up, and jabs a finger at Xu Sim and Stranger in turn. "You! Or you! One of you is coming back with me!" [00:05] "That part of the Sun is part of you now. Just like it's a part of me, and a part of him. And that means we're all part of something, together." [00:05] "We're doing this properly." [00:05] 14Without hesitation: "I am." [00:05] "I will win. Again. The same way I would have the first time." [00:05] "You will argue for better stipulations this time, I hope." [00:05] 12Keldar's grinning faintly. "You need any backup?" [00:05] "The demon will understand. I'm not sure he'll even fault you for cheating." [00:06] 13Xia Lan: "I win, you never do this to me again. You win, I don't get to doubt your judgement. Uneven, but in your favor, because I would have won." [00:06] 14Stranger: "No." [00:06] "Unless you find a way to gouge the Sun out of your soul - that part of the Sun in me is always going to help you." [00:06] 14Stranger: "No." [00:06] "I refuse your terms." [00:06] "I will always do what I need to do to safeguard Creation." [00:07] "And you should always, always, doubt my judgment." [00:07] 13Xia Lan: "Fuck you. I'm my own person, and I deserve to know when you're tricking me." [00:08] 13Using. That should be "using", not "tricking". [00:08] "Are you your own person now? Is any of us? The Sun is in you now. It is in the rest of us. That makes us one." [00:08] 12Keldar: "I am." [00:09] 14Stranger shakes his head. "You serve the Sun." [00:09] "And if I didn't want you to know about being tricked, I wouldn't have offered you the draught just now." [00:10] "If you doubt the wisdom of the redoubtable Xu Sim - your own physician - you are welcome to challenge him as you desire." [00:10] 13Xia Lan, half-crazed: "I serve the Sun. But I am myself - don't take this away from me! You already did it once!" [00:11] "One of you! I don't even care which! We're doing this again!" [00:11] 14Stranger: "I'm not half the singer Vladok is. But I can drink." [00:11] 12Keldar: "Nah I don't." [00:12] "As an expert in the atemi, none of you can drink the way I can drink. Did you overhear my suggestion to Tohu?" [00:13] 5 Xu Sim begins puttering around in the kitchen. Mortals beware. [00:13] 14To Xu Sim: "You can drink on your own ti--ah, there he goes, to drink on his own time." [00:13] 13Xia Lan: "I don't care how much you can or can't drink. Can you win the Contest. I can. I did, with you cheating for me. I will, without you." 15[00:13] What if they just drug her again? [00:14] 13She will be very upset. 15[00:14] Maybe you can't trust these people at all... [00:15] "You are still young, Xia Lan. You are headstrong, and selfish." 5 Xu Sim keeps puttering. Here we are, powdered horse collagen. [00:15] 13Xia Lan: "FIGHT ME" [00:15] 14Stranger: "Xu Sim, shut up." [00:16] "Will you fight, or will you drink? Perhaps you would do both?" [00:16] 14To Xia Lan: "I've laid out why I did what I did. It was underhanded and unfair, and if I had to I would do it again, because winning is more important than pride. That said, I'm glad that you know now. I accept your challenge." [00:16] 13Stomping her feet furiously: "That's the idea! It's drinking! It's singing! It's both! So which one of you will accept the challenge?!" [00:16] "Oh! Well!" [00:17] "We can do it right here if you wish." [00:17] "Or we can go back to the CIO." [00:17] 12Keldar blinks. "Eh? Obviously you outsing either of these shmoes. This isn't settled unless you beat the demon again, is it?" [00:17] "Or you can choose another venue." [00:17] 14Shut up, Keldar. We're not putting that hard-won alliance on the line again. [00:18] 13She narrows her eyes. "We have something to handle first. Both of us drunk, meeting the Overfactor - no. After that, we can make it happen. Yes?" [00:18] 14Stranger nods. "Of course." [00:18] "And to make it fair:" [00:19] nix that last line, i changed my mind [00:19] 13Xia Lan, to Xu Sim: "If you cheat for him, and I find out: I will cut your throat. I don't know if it will kill you! But I will slit your throat. Fair? I think so." [00:20] 14Stranger: "Ah...well, that would kill him. Fairly certain." [00:20] 13Sweetly: "There's only one way to find out." [00:21] 14To Xu Sim: "I'm fairly certain I don't have to tell you to cheat for me. But I'm going to anyway." [00:22] "Don't be so crass, sweeties," 5 says Xu Sim as he spits in each palm, lays a mint leaf in the crook of each hand, and begins slowly rubbing them together, blowing on them, as the Twice-Refined Princess seizes a series of small bottles in her mouth and drains their contents into his spinning, blowed-upon hands. [00:22] 14Stranger: "...Really?" [00:23] 5 After a few moments, a pair of slimy, bright green orbs - perhaps the size of tangerines - remain. Small white bubbles are visible within each. [00:25] 5 These he makes something of a show to present to Stranger and Xia Lan - before switching them and re-presenting them, with a flourish. "And, there you have it. Have you ever seen such a thing? No, you have not. Another wonder of Xu Sim that will be unremarked-upon." [00:26] 14Stranger: "What are you doing." [00:26] "That's your drink. Eat it. Chewing is unnecessary." [00:26] 13Xia Lan: "I don't think I'll be eating anything you've made for as long as I can avoid it." [00:27] "You saw me make it! You're getting the same as him, besides. What a finnicky person, uninterested in exploration or discovery." [00:27] 14Stranger: "Put them on ice." [00:27] "We've got a meeting first. With the Guild." [00:28] "And unless you want to feed that to the Overfactor, I'm certain we don't want it at the meeting." [00:28] 14He pauses. "Though that's not a bad idea." [00:28] "I didn't see you make it!" 13She looks abruptly furious. "Imagine if you weren't my friend! Imagine I just - ingested some substance!" 13She looks vaguely ill. "I trusted you." [00:29] "A substance that stopped a bunch of Malfean ingrates from drugging you? That instead, helped you keep your wits about you? Imagine, imagine if that had happened." [00:29] 14Stranger: "She's also right." [00:29] "I'm eating all of the blame so that you don't have to feel like an asshole for apologizing, Xu Sim." [00:30] 13Xia Lan's face turns ugly, but she turns away in silence. Unacceptable. [00:30] "So I'm a bit concerned that you're...coming out in favor of drugging, on principle." [00:30] "It's the opposite of drugging, if anything," 5 notes the petulant sorcerer [00:32] 12Keldar: "Yeahhhh, it isn't actually acceptable to slip your buddy something if it's not for a short-term prank or whatever. If you can't tell if your fellows aren't lying to you for what they think is your own good it kills morale." [00:32] 14... [00:32] 12Keldar: "That kind of anything-at-all-to-win talk generally presages someone stabbing you in the back and running off with your share of the take." [00:33] 14Stranger just shakes his head. [00:34] 13Xia Lan: "Every one of you gets to face me, now. All of you! I'll win anyway." [00:34] "No one gets to drug me and pretend it's okay." [00:36] 14To Xia Lan: "I made the decision to ask Xu Sim give you something to make you better at a task at which you had to succeed. It was morally wrong and it demeaned you as a competitor, and I made the call anyway. I don't like the connotations of calling it 'drugging' you, but I understand them, and it's not an incorrect statement to make." [00:36] "So I'll accept the challenge, without...weird potion shots and talk about splits of the take." [00:37] 13Xia Lan: "That was the deal I agreed to. It's the deal you'll agree to. Face me, coward." [00:38] 14This is the third time that Stranger's agreed to-- "I will." [00:38] 13Xia Lan: "Weird potion shots and all." [00:38] 14Stranger sighs. "Xu Sim, make us six rounds of weird shots." [00:39] 13Xia Lan, brightly: "I know some people who can make that happen!" [00:40] 5 Xu Sim gets to work putting some more together. [00:40] 14It's obvious Xu Sim just likes poisoning people. Let him participate. [00:40] 13Want to go for 3 and 3? 3 provided by the originators of the competition, three by Xu Sim. [00:40] 5 When he doesn't ask and gives people something the opposite of poison it's bad. When they ask and he gives them actual poison it's fine. The Exalted. [00:41] 14Sounds good. [00:41] 13Agreeable. [00:41] 14To Xia Lan: "My only stipulation: we do this on a night when there's nothing scheduled the next morning." [00:41] 12That's because everything is good so long as whoever's doing it technically, formally chose to. That's Nexus, baby! [00:41] 13Xia Lan: "I agree. I'm prideful, not stupid." 15[00:42] 10Narrator: [00:42] 14Stranger doesn't contest the claim. [00:42] 13No one asked you, Narrator! 15[00:42] 10You will. 15[00:42] 10By hook or by crook, you will. [00:42] 13Hush. 15[00:43] NEXT TIME: For Love 14[00:59] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[01:23] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:00] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[02:02] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed Feb 14 02:02:02 2018 Session Start: Wed Feb 14 10:43:17 2018 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[10:43] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[10:43] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[10:43] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[10:43] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[11:05] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[11:05] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[12:28] * Joins: Crion 14[13:08] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[13:28] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[13:32] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:39] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[17:05] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[17:57] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:13] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:36] * Joins: tom 14[19:53] * Joins: Crion 14[20:02] * Joins: hrolf_mac [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Late after sunset, the Squared Circle drifts through the air over the Yellow River. Behind the Heavensward, a small violet-hued cloud arcs swiftly through the air towards the city of Great Forks, its commensurately small passenger at once resolute and anxious. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom's just delivered her first sermon, and in the performance's wake the lower and lesser neighborhoods of the City of Temples have been set afire. The community bustles with potential energy, just waiting to be tapped and channeled. Of course, that's not what actually brought you to this part of the River Province - what brought you here rests just ahead, and Ir was flying by [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12to check up on it. [20:21] 4They can't have gotten into too much trouble since she left. [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12What's visible through the darkness of night both excites and worries. It's as though you're bearing down on an entire second city, lit in green and flecks of orange. Furious activity ripples and roils across the surface of the blasted moor where, a few days ago, Ir helped a single kruthik queen plant and nurture a cluster of eggs. Now, there's scant a natural feature to be seen that [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12hasn't been overgrown or terraformed - and you can hear fighting. [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12What's going on down there...? [20:22] 4...Or they can. [20:23] 4Ir through the Heavensward's pipes: "All hands to stations. Something's going on at our forward base." [20:24] 7Blossom races to the deck. "What's happening?" 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's still in bed. [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, Ir and Blossom can make it out. That's disheartening: one, two, three, four, I declare a brood war. [20:25] 13Ying's out on deck after a moment. "Aaaah!" [20:27] 4Ir: "Looks like a difference of opinion among the queens." [20:27] "Meaning, of course, that our army's trying to kill itself. Fantastic." [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12There are a number of great, dark pits and fault lines that have riven themselves into the surface of the moor, and they seem to serve as battle lines. At least two distinct groups of kruthik are both running in and out of them - mining? hunting? - but also savagely laying into each other, trying to claim dominion of more of the abyssal wells that have been opened in the surface. [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Yes, you're sure it's true differentiable by carapace coloration - some have the familiar purplish hue that recalls Leena's own demonic form, but they're outnumbered by a greyish strain that seems to hold more ground and be more likely to be speckled with glowing green deep-sea-creature coloration. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12As you watch, living buildings among the grey kruthik churn, bulge, and disgorge sprays of glowing green... fire? Acid? Which arc through the ground before landing with corrosive shockwaves among the battle lines of the other side. [20:29] 13This is all very gross and very bad. [20:29] 4What color were our kruthik when Ir left? [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Leena's kruthik, and therefore the original strain that Ir brought with her, were purple for the most part. [20:30] 4It's still possible that the worst possible thing that could happen here isn't happening, and these kruthik are native to the area. [20:30] 14That'd be a hell of a coincidence, though. [20:30] 4That'd be a hell of a coincidence, though. [20:34] 4Ir brings the ship around the base approach in a wide arc. "Good news is, we still HAVE a base. And it's got some defenses. Bad news is, the other kruthik are pressing hard." [20:35] 7Blossom notes to Ir: "The purples have a better strategy, but the greys have the advantage in raw power with their balefire." [20:35] 13Ying: "...aren't they supposed to, um, not do that? I didn't really pay attention but it seemed like that wasn't supposed to happen." 08[20:36] 4Ir: "Yeah, we should get down there. Not much in the way of safe places to land -- Eikichi, can you Stormwind us the rest of the way?" [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12It is pretty unusual. 08[20:37] 13Ying: "I think he's - I'll go get him." 13She rushes off to Eikichi's room and just starts pounding on the door. 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's door swings open. "What could you possibly want right now." [20:37] 13Ying: "Kruthik emergency! C'mon!" 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi shuts the door in Ying's face, but a minute later he's following her back abovedecks, fully dressed. "What happened?" [20:39] 4Ir: "Left 'em alone for a day and either they found a bigger, meaner group of kruthik to fight, or our bugs went native." 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "Necromancy?" [20:40] "When I left we had three queens, a vet and two spawned here. The two spawned here are MIA." [20:40] "Our vet's holding the line but we need to turn the tide." [20:41] 7Blossom doesn't seem particularly concerned. "We've already learned something valuable. We need a countermeasure for balefire." 15[20:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "We've got to figure out if they're a natural consequence of the shadowland or deliberate corruption." [20:41] 4Ir: "That's damn true." 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "After we kill them, though." [20:42] 4She sighs. At least this is an opportunity to learn on her feet. [20:43] 13Ying, sarcastically: "Yay." 08[20:43] 4Iscariot snaps into Ir's hand. "Eikichi, can you give us a cloud down? I don't want to risk the ship." 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sure." [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Careful on your approach - the balefire crawlers that have planted themselves in the grey creep look like they could probably fire upwards. It's not clear what wins out if enough of that stuff gets on the Heavensward's hull, but at the very least you're going to need a new paint job. [20:44] 4Hopefully a Stormwind Rider is small enough and fast enough that it can run the guns. We'll leave the Heavensward out of range. [20:49] 4Ir leans over the rail, watching the fighting below. "You know, I don't think there's any necromancy or corruption or any of that shit. I just think we've got a civil war on our hands." 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's pretty fast, and it'd be small if not for having five people on it. 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10So we just... we just go, right? [20:52] 4Ir: "So the old queen's got our base, and the new queens have these banefire...growths." [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Magical whirlwind's right there, right? Where to? [20:52] "We could choose sides here...but before that we should at least try to stop the fight entirely and see if we can't keep both." [20:53] 13Ying: "Can they give hugs? Like, to eachother?" [20:54] "Probably." 08[20:54] 4Ir: "Eikichi, bring us in over the battle line. I'm gonna try to defuse this." 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "The big wormy ones sort of have arms." 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Soon the whirlwind hangs over the thickest part of the fighting. [20:55] 13Ying makes a sour face. These things even make hugs gross... truly awful. [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12The good news is that, with the exception of the massive, mostly-sessile balefire catapults, the kruthik here are undeveloped enough to lack much in the way of actual ranged attacks. Kruthlings and tunnelers clash and tussle below you, though some of the grey ones occasionally roll up into balls, swell with barely-contained balefire, and then violently explode. [20:59] 4The sky explodes with Ir's golden fury. "THAT IS ENOUGH. YOU WILL YIELD." 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi has to shield his eyes. [21:00] 13Ying cowers. [21:00] "YOUR GENERAL AND YOUR MASTER HAS RETURNED, AND SHE IS DISPLEASED." [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir doesn't even need to touch the ground. Heaven raises its spear over the battlefield and the assembled demon insects shrink back, hissing in fear and indecision. [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12The lower the Stormwind Rider descends, the more the kruthik part around it. In the glare of solar anima, it's barely possible to distinguish one side from the other. [21:02] 4Ir jumps out when the rider swings low enough, lands with a satisfying boom -- even in this strange carpet-substance -- and immediately begins to stalk towards the battle lines, kicking aside any kruthik foolish enough not to scatter. [21:03] "WHERE THE FUCK ARE MY QUEENS? YOU WILL PRESENT YOURSELVES. NOW." [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12They part like the sea before a prophet. A few kruthlings just break and run - presumably a lapse in concentration on somebody's part, somewhere - but not a one dares to so much at snap at the assembled Solars. In the distance, in two different directions, there are flurries of activity. [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12From behind Ir, a procession of craggy, armored tunnelers flanks the original, violet-membraned queen, a lanky and scarred creature that Ying might remember shoulder ramming sometime weeks ago. [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12From ahead, two younger, smoother matriarchs approach, guarded by explosive kruthlings and followed by a great, lumbering balefire siege tower. Between them, impaled by the weird scorpion's tails/mantis limbs/tentacles that rise from the creatures' backs in pairs or quartets, is a man. [21:06] 13She's peering out from between her fingers somewhere behind Ir, but finally pries them away from her face to get into her fighting stance. [21:06] 4A man. [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12He's clearly a ghost - no color in his body and partially translucent. He's dressed in rags which might have once been a ceremonial robe or official's dress, and has bedraggled hair and empty eye sockets. [21:07] 4Guess there was necromancy after all. [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12The spirit's clearly in some pain, and unable to extricate himself from the limbs that dig into his back. He's mostly moaning as he approaches. [21:08] 7Blossom's expression twists in disgust as she sees the ghost. 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Are they eating the ghosts?" [21:10] 13Ying: "Can they - why would they -" [21:11] 4Ir: "I recall my orders being quite clear: reinforce this position, lightly scouting neighboring terrain, and hold until I returned. I said nothing about expanding. I said nothing about engaging with ghosts. I said nothing about starting a civil war." 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "I guess if they just hatched and there was nothing else around to eat...?" 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "The resource needs of an army that can grow this quickly must be enormous." [21:12] 4Ir: "Surely they could have gone hunting somewhere other than a shadowland." [21:12] "And even so, that still doesn't explain the fighting." 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi thinks about the time he ate a sandwich that fell on the floor because he didn't want to walk to the pantry and make another. "You're probably right." [21:13] 7Blossom: "The ghosts are largely irrelevant to the kruthik. Perhaps more advanced ones than what we've got here could devour them, but they're clearly focusing on those balefire vents." [21:14] 6Wait what's wrong with that [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12From behind Ir, the purple queen is buzzing angrily. She seems to be on the spearwoman's line. [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Ahead of Ir, the two younger queens squirm a bit and then clamp down on their captive, who writhes and screams. After a moment, hoarsely, the ghost begins talking in riverspeak. "They... had to grow... to be ready..." [21:16] 13Ying: "Um." 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Huh. The queens didn't reach a consensus." [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12The ghost: "They have to-to expand. You see...? Always... take more. Old one was... stupid, not making sense..." [21:17] "And so the first thing this 'hivemind' does is shatter?" [21:18] "Good Sun." [21:18] 4Ir's beginning to think maybe they bit off more than they could chew here [21:18] . [21:18] 4If the kruthik are this voracious, there might be no controlling them. [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12There's some angry buzzing between the three queens. Ghost: "The old one wasn't... direct. In the line. You see...? It makes sense..." [21:18] 4At least not without making it a full-time job. 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Maybe if you had some kind of purely-thinking thing whose only function was to coordinate the queens in your absence..." [21:19] 13Ying: "That sounds... really, really dangerous!" 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Letting them fight civil wars is also very bad." 14[21:19] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Connection closed) [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Ghost: "We'll win. Then... united under y- THEY. THEY'LL win. Oh, gods..." [21:20] 4Ir's switched to trying to suss out whether or not the relationship between these queens can be salvaged at all. She doesn't have much Riverspeak anyway. [21:22] 13Hey, uh. Where exactly are those kruthik parts going on the ghost guy? Anywhere up near "the brain"? [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Straight through the shoulders, but if you squint you can see they're tapping his spine. [21:23] 13Ghosts have bones? [21:24] 13...I guess they don't really have brains either. [21:24] 13Ying: "How are they doing that?" [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Good question. One wonders if they could do that to a regular person. [21:27] 13No one is wondering that! [21:27] 13Not thinking about it, not thinking about it... [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, you might be given to. I mean, do ghosts have spinal cords? Maybe they do if they think they do...? 08[21:28] 4To Eikichi: "So our big problem right now is the kruthik are like, rejecting the starter queen we got. They don't recognize her as legit." [21:28] "Is there are way we can fix that without offing the only one of these things that seems willing to stay on mission?" 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Would you prefer the old queen conform to the new queens or the other way around?" [21:29] 4Ir: "I prefer the old queen, personally. But I'm not sure that's what should drive the decision." 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It is, a little bit. If we come up with a plan that unifies the kruthik host in doing things you don't want them to do then we're worse off than where we started. So I think the simplest thing is to add another rung to the ladder." 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "A kruthik that the queens have to answer to. Then you dictate policy to that one kruthik." [21:31] 4Ir: "Give them both a new boss?" [21:31] "That sounds reasonable." [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12It's probably workable. Arianna did something similar, after all, and she was making it up as she went along. [21:34] 13Isn't 'making it up as you go along' how everyone does stuff? 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sometimes you do stuff and then make up a story about what happened afterwards. 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "The question is: do you want to subordinate the rebellious broods, or synthesize them? We could either combine the qualities of every brood or effectively promote the original queen." [21:37] 4Ir: "The former sounds dangerous, maybe...but also more useful. Synthesized tactics should be better than ones from one commander." 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We'd probably also want it to expand quickly, since it would have native control over any kruthik it spawned but the ancestor queens would be able to resist it." 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "So our best insurance would be if the naturally loyal kruthik could crush a future rebellion if it came to it." [21:40] "...What happens if this new kruthik we're creating gets taken out?" [21:40] "Are we back to square one, but worse?" [21:40] 13Ying freezes up for a second 6before looking around, dazed. "...wow, it's dark out." 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "There'd be chaos for a while but unless its entire brood is exterminated eventually the hive would regenerate it." 08[21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya finds himself surrounded by insectoid monsters lit by the harsh glare of Ir's anima. Eikichi is here contemplating extremely good ideas. [21:41] 6Hang on, hang on. Uhh. Reasons, reasons, kruthik, this - ah. "Also, what if it decides to do its own thing in a way we don't like?" 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ir would still be able to command it. It just wouldn't have any peers to disagree with. One empress, one commander-in-chief, and then howevermany field generals you can stomach." [21:42] 4Ir: "Or however many the landscape can." 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah..." 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "Are we... sure the kruthik are better for the land than the shadowland?" [21:43] 6Tatsuying: "And it - won't get any ideas? Try and rebel?" [21:43] 4Ir: "I mean. Knowing our luck." 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "None of these queens rebelled against Ir. They just had different ideas about how best to carry out her wishes." [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12They spread pret-t-t-y fast. Give these suckers plenty of minerals and some kind of concentrated essence source and they'll just bloom across the geography. 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "They're obedient enough. What they lack is unanimity." [21:45] 6Tatsuying: "Did they?" 6Hoo boy. "So. I guess it can still make mistakes, but at least if it does there won't be infighting about the mistakes." [21:46] 6They finally notice the outfit they're in and brush some dust off the skirt. Not combat suitable. Poor preparation. [21:47] 7Blossom frowns. "That's a good question... why haven't these things spread for hundreds of miles somewhere that there isn't enough population for anyone to stop them?" 08[21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Good question. Blossom and Eikichi speculate as follows: First, Kruthik are quite rare. Whatever gave rise to them in the first place, it didn't give rise to that many, or it happened very infrequently, or something. Insofar as the kruthik are native to anywhere in Creation, it's deep beneath the skin of the world where only the mountain folk dwell - and, down there, they both have [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12to overcome the defenses of the jadeborn if they want to boil up to the surface, and more importantly are in constant competition with a thousand other nameless monstrosities that dwell in the stony depths. 08[21:51] 7Blossom: "I think Eikichi's right... we need to keep these things on a tight leash." [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12In those rare instances in which kruthik do manage to take root unopposed, their ability to grow with terrifying rather than worrying rapidity is capped by their access to volatile and highly-concentrated essence sources. If they haven't found a balefire vein, powerful uncapped demesne, emberstone lode, or other source of power that'd be gladly snapped up by any sorcerer-architect [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12worth his salt, the kruthik are stuck respecting the usual limitations of biomass and energy transfer across trophic levels that other living beings are. [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12That said... that you never hear of some kind of mountain-spanning uberhive or whatever's kind of weird. One suspects something else is responsible for culling or suppressing really huge kruthik outbreaks, or that there's some built-in feedback mechanism, or that kruthik sometimes settle or vanish on their own for some reason. 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Plus, like... Creation's pretty big, and there's not a ton of people. If some kingdom out beyond the Threshold got eaten up by kruthik, how long before people noticed? How long before it became common knowledge in any of the world's big cities? [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway -- hostilities have ceased. The two new queens won't obey the one old one, but none of the kruthik here are stupid enough to actually put a foot wrong in Ir's presence. While you decide how to solve this problem on a long-term basis, you can probably bully the two broods into cooperation in the short term... and, truth be told, if you give it long enough you might just see [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12the original shrink and die out. [22:01] 7No!!! She was the most loyal! [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Yeah, RIP. [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12As the demon insects settle into an uneasy truce, you're able to look over their handiwork, noting the size of the rival hives built and, as well, the entrances they've found into the one-time Princess Magnificent's underground city. There are great cracks which draw crazy mazes into the earth, dotted at seemingly random intervals with great holes. Most of these seem to have been [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12fallen back closed or filled in from beneath by tighly-packed stone and rubble, but there's evidence that they were used as exits - hand and footprints, fallen weapons. 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That must've been a pain in the ass to fight through. [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12It seems that your bugs have had some skirmishes with the city below already - and even have the numbers to begin sorties down below, though you may want to wait before they're properly unified first. [22:04] 6Nice. Wonder if we could set them up on looting runs? 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10More importantly: is there anything else to be done tonight? [22:07] 4Ir's got busywork to do involving cleaning up this mess -- some perimeter scouting, and she wants to poke around the new queens' base. [22:07] 4But otherwise she's good. [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Nothing that couldn't wait. Eventually you'll be leading a campaign into the underworld from here such that you can eliminate the last of the Princess Magnificent's forces, fulfill your promise to Great Forks, and blood your future army, but that'll take some more growth and logistics first. 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Maybe Eikichi can get some sleep then. 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10(He can't.) [22:09] 6Not sleeping is very cool and normal. 14[22:09] * Joins: hrolf_mac [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12In the coming days, Ir's able to establish order among the Kruthik and force them to give a workspace - and as many blood samples or amputated body parts as needed - to Ir's allied sorcerer. Blossom, meanwhile, is free to tend to the growing army of the Sun's adherents, who in the absence of literal divine providence find themselves turning to their fellow men and women. [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12But, the Circle's thoughts still turn back to Nexus, where a potential ally lays in presumed bondage... 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi mainly sulks alone with huge steaming pits of goo and gross, hideous bugs. [22:30] 7Blossom can drop them a little divine providence on the side, of course - everything she turns her hand to is tinged with perfection. [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Gross, hideous, adorable, terrifying bugs. [22:30] 6Hot. [22:31] 6The - not the bugs. [22:31] 4Ir will split her time between the base and helping Tatsuya prepare for the biggest heist of...well, of Ir's career at least. [22:31] 6It's probably up there. Not every day you actively work to piss off the Emissary of 13hey 6no get out of 13what are you 08[22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Here's the deal. Beneath the Council Tower in Nexus is... empty space. It's a wide natural cavern in the Undercity where a number of passageways meet. Walkways split from them to form several rings on which people can walk around a huge pit into which water flows and falls from all directions. Hanging across that pit is the Dark Arena, where Wild Rose once chucked a firebird directly [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12into a forest witch's face. 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It was her whole front side, really. Can't aim a Brilliant Raptor at someone's face. [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Beneath that hanging platform, behind the great cylindrical waterfalls, are more walkways, which lead to more doors. Most of these are false, simple outlines carved into the rock, or out and out booby traps that'll slam outward to push you into the pit or lacerate you with blades or what have you. One of them, though, responds to the touch of a kind of magical key only possessed by [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12certain of the Council's servants... which Death's Notaries are not among. You only get one of those after serving for decades, and only maybe. [22:38] 4Seems like a dead end. [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Not entirely. You could steal a key, or follow someone else as they use one. Or, you could lean on Arianna for help. She controls her own kruthik brood, after all, and they can tunnel for you. [22:41] 6No, you can get past those if you try hard enough. Or if you steal the key. One or the other. [22:43] 6Honestly, it probably isn't even worth the effort to steal the key, unless there's some really messed up stuff on that lock. [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12There probably is. But, hell, you're a Chosen of the Sun. [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12As Tatsuya judges, he has several ways through the front door: pick the lock, steal a key, shadow someone who's going in. Of these, all seem dangerous, because from some careful observation of incoming and outgoing caravans there's probably some very heavy security and investigation if incoming/outgoing shipments right through the front gat. [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Separately, from having circled the facility, he's pretty sure he's figured out where the water goes in and out. If he equips himself for underwater travel, he might be able to get in through an aqueduct, though that places him who knows where inside. [22:48] 6They search every part of every shipment? Sometimes, all you need for a sneaking mission is a box. [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Separately, he can prevail upon Arianna to have her kruthik simply chew through a wall, but as likely as not that'll put the entire complex on high alert - even if no one realizes the monster invasion was a purposeful one. [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12They might not, but you'd be making a hell of a bet. [22:49] 6Who've they got on guard duty? Any Exalted, or just mortals? [22:50] 6From his observations - unless it's too dangerous to get in close for that kinda thing. [22:51] 6Safety's sake, he'll take the scenic underwater route, but it always feels great just going in through the front door. They never see it coming. [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12That's not clear, as Tatsuya hasn't actually seen inside. From what he knows of the Nexus Council, he'd expect mostly mortals and bound demons... but plenty of mortals+ such as god-blooded or sorcerers. There are definitely Dragon-Blooded on the Council payroll, as well as a few Exigent Chosen of unknown provenance. [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12The other thing Tatsuya wants to think about is his getaway. He might be able to slip in, find Panther, and get out. But if he wants to slip in and get out with Panther - well, by all accounts Panther's a huge, unsubtle kind of guy who might be suffering some kind of crippling injury or magical enfeeblement. [22:55] 6Tatsuya: "The box idea's still really tempting. Gets me in, gets him out, play my cards right." 6It's morning on the Heavensward, and Tatsuya's laying out his plan for the rest of the group over breakfast. [22:56] 6He's dressed in his normal, extremely black-and-red leather getup for the first time in a while. Feels good to be back. [22:56] 4Ir's cooking up some Eggs In Hell. [22:56] 4...It's been awhile since she did this. Those don't taste right. [22:56] 4Oh well, sandwiches it is. [22:57] "People usually just kind of see what they want to, but if security's as tight as we think... might go in the front door and leave through the waterways? Keep a spare set of diving gear in the box with me, both of us leave that way?" [22:59] 4Ir: "That makes sense, as long as we can drag Panther out that way. Are the passageways big enough? [22:59] " [23:00] 6Are they? Seems like they'd be pretty open, but maybe he needs to break in once to do a scouting run to check. [23:04] "What time of day are you thinking?" [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Something occurs to Tatsuya - even if a kruthik party-crashign squad served by Arianna would make initial entry a mess, it could be the perfect way to end the heist. If demon bugs start spilling in through the walls and all hell breaks loose, there could be enough destruction, chaos, and even helping claws to ferry Panther out in a speedy fashion. [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12The problem is that whoever was responsible would get into MASSIVE trouble. You eventually traced the kruthik back to Arianna, and the Council could do the same - she'd be putting herself at risk, and probably committing to fleeing the city in short order. [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12That said, it might be possible to convince her, especially if it means getting Panther back. [23:08] 6Tatsuya: "Hmm. Three in the morning is always the tempting answer, but... I wonder if they have a consistent guard set. Mid-day, like, 10 in the morning is always the right answer for households, but I dunno about prisons." [23:09] 6Might could get her out of town and less liable to let her dumbass bugs run rampant around the underparts of the city. That seems like a winning exit strategy. 08[23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12You'd just need someone to talk her into it, but she gets along well with Eikichi at the very least. 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10They have a lot in common. Their only real difference, in fact, is that Eikichi is better in every way. 14[23:10] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Connection closed) [23:11] 6I would hate to know the feeling when the Sun chooses you and blesses you to be exemplary in every respect, and still not as good at anything as somebody else. 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The secret is to be terrible to begin with. [23:13] "I hesitate to ask, but where do I fit into this plan?" [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir may be a liability if she's not particularly sneaky. Obviously she's nice to have around if things come to a fight, but in that case you might as well launch a frontal assault. [23:14] 4Sneaky she ain't. She was figuring that she'd be asked to wait at the point of no return or something. [23:14] 6Tatsuya: "Mmm. Preferably not at all - I think the best way to work this is me heading in there alone. Nobody else is equipped for this kind of thing. But. I've got an idea for an exit plan." [23:14] 4Ir: "Oh?" [23:15] "And even there - I'd rather Arianna handle that part. But if she doesn't agree..." 6He shrugs. "Those kruthik love to dig." [23:15] 4Ir blinks. "You want to send them at the--" [23:16] "Arianna best be ready to scatter, then." [23:17] 6Tatsuya: "Best way to hide a candle is to light the damn place up. If we're really lucky, they think the kruthik were both entry and exit and don't figure out how I got in there." [23:17] "They're gonna be really mad though." [23:18] "'swhy I'd rather not have you behind it, because they'll almost definitely figure it out. But. It's a better plan than trying to get the guy out with scuba gear." [23:18] 4Ir: "We probably weren't long for this town anyway." [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12You had more arena fights on the docket and stuff...! Still, play your cards right and this is hard to pin on you. [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12After all, Arianna and Swan are the still-at-large Solars known to be in the area with actual connections to Panther. [23:20] 6A wince. "We've got plenty of reasons to stick around. And, if I don't make any mistakes, we'll get to do just that. Arianna, though..." [23:20] 4Ir: "They've probably got even less love for this place." [23:21] 4Ir: "Anyway, I'll go pay Arianna a visit." [23:21] 6Tatsuya: "Exactly. So, that's my exit strategy A. You taking her place and doing the same thing is like, plan D or E, 'cause I'd really rather not blow it for us here. But. It's on the table." [23:22] 6He has several notebooks in front of him and one of them does indeed have a list of exit strategies containing that. [23:25] 6He taps his chin thoughtfully. "We could also frame her for it and just do it ourselves." [23:25] "Probably not gonna go over great, though." [23:25] "Brought your friend back to you, also time to get the hell out of town, bye." [23:26] 4Ir: "Seems kinda counterproductive, to be honest." [23:28] 6Tatsuya: "I'm just spitballing here. And it does the job. Still, that's like... plan J." [23:29] "Which is lower than 'just doing it ourselves and not covering it up,' so it won't happen, but you gotta consider all the angles." 08[23:29] 4Ir: "Frankly, Blossom or Eikichi might just be able to straight up tell her to do it. You know, not like, direct order. But pretty close." 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi can send the messenger off, saying we've got a plan to free Panther and she can help. Tatsuya will go over the details. [23:34] 6Tatsuya: "Thought experiment. Should I get spotted on purpose to ruin someone else's day?" [23:35] "Specifically, Typhon, but I'm taking suggestions." [23:37] 4Ir: "Typhon would be interesting, but a bit on the nose. Like, does that guy seem like the dude to sneak in himself?" [23:39] 6Tatsuya: "No, but imagine asking that of the Emissary about to rearrange your body parts." [23:40] "'Sir, sir, excuse me, sir, this is extraordinarily out of charactghththadh" [23:40] "Hahahaha." [23:40] 6That's actually a really good impression of someone dying. [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12One spell and some careful discussion later, and a stony-faced Arianna is handing a carved jade slip over to Tatsuya. As soon as he crushes it in his hand, it'll signal part of Arianna's swarm to begin digging in through the walls of the Council's secret compound. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12At the same time, Arianna and Swan will be making ready to quit the city. Depending on how Tatsuya breaks the slip, she can arrange to be waiting at his entrance point, ready to cast Travel Without Distance, or to simply leave through one of the gates and meet somewhere out of Nexus later. [23:46] 6Tatsuya: "I still don't like the part where I have to get Panther to an extraction point. Sun only knows what they're keeping him in. If it's just locks, I can get through those, but..." [23:46] 4Ir: "Maybe there will be some way to get whoever runs the Vault to do most of it for you." [23:47] 6Tatsuya: "Wonder how often the Emissary goes down there." [23:48] 4Ir: "It can't be THAT often." [23:48] 6Tatsuya: "That's good. That'd mean I wouldn't run into him while I was dressed as him." [23:49] 4Ir: "...That would be quite the play." [23:50] 6Tatsuya: "I love a good gamble." 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Also a bad gamble. 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Tatsuya has a problem. 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10But he makes up for it with incredible luck. [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12We'll find out just how bad a problem... next week. [23:52] 6Look, we left that casino richer than we entered. 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Here the air is thick with smoke; blooded generals and infantry with torches work shoulder to shoulder to keep the roses and bees as far from the quarantine as possible. More bodies trickle in constantly. "I didn't think he'd let you back. What's the plan?" [20:19] "I've cured myself of the plague... Sort of. I have a sample of pure honey, which my own body extruded through some sort of internal alchemical process." [20:20] 5 Xu Sim strides through the camp with the grace of a heron, his tattered white robes flowing behind him in the smoky breeze. [20:20] "Take me to the most advanced cases. I trust you've continued to treat them with cold iron compresses around their atemi?" 15[20:21] In the Nexus, the city's heard beats with rapid panic. Uniformed Guildsmen hurry to and fro, following orders from on high to withdraw the Guild from the city and bring their riches with them. You can see it from the fish market across the way, where a cafe has been rendered nearly empty for the lunch organized by Stranger Visits Heaven and Keldar. [20:21] 14Despicable, and good business. [20:21] 14But I repeat myself. 15[20:21] Syndic of Tithes, a powerful Factor and not at all the person they came to see, waves them to an otherwise-empty table. [20:22] 14Stranger is in his usual, understated robes, and tapping away with his walking cane while not cleaving all that faithfully to what it implies. [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's dressed in leathers, with an iron sword at his side. He nods to Syndic before taking a seat, idly looking around the premises as he leans back in the offered chair. [20:23] 14Is there tea? 15[20:23] In a dingy club, a tiny bell jingles as Xia Lan pushes the door open. It dangles from the collar on one of Tohu's necks while she sweeps dust off a shelf with luxurious swipes of her tail. "Dear?" 15[20:24] There is! Two pots: Forest Greenleaf and what smells like a Sijanese black that Stranger can't immediately recognize. [20:25] 14Mmm. He'll investigate the unfamiliar blend first. [20:27] 13Xia Lan's cooled off considerably since yelling at Stranger and Xu Sim, but seeing Tohu finally calms her down completely. Something unsettling about the hive mind thing, but hey, she really makes it work. "Tohu! Do you have a moment, or should I come back later?" 15[20:28] The physician-lieutenant stops at the door. "Our most advanced cases? We won't be going to the tents, then. We've got them in the cells." [20:32] 14Stranger takes the seat graciously offered, and pours himself a cup of the Sijanese. Instead of a proper greeting: "Red Heaven. Excellent for impressing your guests...and for wakes." [20:32] "Good afternoon, Overfactor." [20:33] "Time is of the essence. Have any of them passed yet? I suspected their minds, or souls, would separate - what can we say of my hypothesis?" 5 The doctor takes long, flowing strides that betray no uncertainty or nerves at the prospect of being surrounded by - potentially - thousands of dream-addled spirits bent on destruction in the service of Chaotic Rakshastan. 15[20:38] The physician-lieutenant leads Xu Sim, instead, downstairs -- the pair of them pass multiple guards and checkpoints on their way through a rough wine-cellar into what looks like a proper First Age tunnel and then past that into a cavern which seems to have been blown out of the stonework of old Hollow and very recently fashioned into about ten rough iron-barred cells. The wall at the far end of the chamber is bare and smooth, as if they've yet to get around to adding the rest. "No one's separated yet that I've seen. You mean it gets worse than this?" [20:40] "I can't say for sure. I coughed up a chunk of honey, and it passed from me." 5 Hurrying along, sparing a glance at the First Age masonry, he explains his plan:  "We shall devise a curative elixir, one to be replicated by every shaman, doctor, chirurgeon, and alchemist for leagues around. And we shall use that to break the honey-maze's back, like the city breaking a fever." 15[20:42] Tohu: "We can talk while we work. What can I do for you?" 15[20:43] Syndic: "You're too kind. But I fear the Syndic has been delayed. He's asked me to reassure you that whatever you can say to me, you can say to him." 15[20:43] *I fear the Overfactor [20:45] 14Stranger: "I hope that would not give us cause to repeat ourselves. We are, as you seem quite aware, running short on time." [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar frowns. "How about 'show yourself'?" [20:46] 13Xia Lan: "...if I asked you to host another round of the Old Game, what would you say?" 13Best to get straight to the point. And leave the talking about why for later. 14[20:47] * Joins: tom 15[20:48] Xu Sim probes and examines the men and women straining against their bindings or screaming into the darkest corner of their cells. These people are all lost to the honey-maze, that much is without doubt. What is in doubt is the state of their bodies. They hold up to quite intensive scrutiny, but a combination of his deep knowledge of human anatomy and his magical intuition lead him to several obscure and frankly alarming tests that reveal that these are simulacra of human bodies, and seem to be made of firm, gelatinized honey. 15[20:49] They behave, react, respond almost precisely as you would expect them to, were they flesh... [20:49] "Yozi's balls," 5 Xu Sim gasps. 15[20:51] Syndic: "Yes, of course. Please understand that this is out of my and my master's control. He was summoned to Council Tower, to give testimony on a revenue shortfall. He should be here as soon as he can." 15[20:52] Keldar sees that aside from them the place is empty, aside from the old lady puttering at the kitchen visible and smellable in the back, and the young woman who quietly approaches the table menus-in-hand. [20:52] 5 Fingers steepled, the good doctor takes careful stock of the situation. If honey they be now, what's become of their flesh? They may be gone completely. He produces the glass-encased reddened honey brick he coughed up previously. It is essential to compare and contrast the two, under the most rigorous circumstances possible. 15[20:52] Tohu blinks. "Why?" [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar takes a menu absent-mindedly while continuing to subject Syndic to a sharp look. "We could meet him there." [20:54] 14Stranger: "Summoned by whom?" [20:54] 5 Xu Sim:  "I will need to establish a secure laboratory down here. Carry down the broadest variety you can, as quickly as you can. I have a battery of tests that I must conduct." 15[20:55] Syndic: "By the Council. Councilor Hayle signed the summons, I believe." [20:55] 13Xia Lan: "Xu Sim and Stranger broke my trust," 13she says, carefully. She smooths out her skirt and moves to sit on one of the stools at the bar, near where Tohu is cleaning but out of the way. [20:56] 14Stranger, as he glances about the room: "Mmmm. Shame about Brueghal." [21:03] 14Interesting that Hayle is the one doing the summoning. Hayle should be on their side, and opposed to the former Evening Master's faction. Perhaps things are more complicated than they seem...or perhaps the signature is a formality. [21:12] 14When the server swings by next: "Ah. Excuse me. Convey my compliments to the teamaster on the Red Heaven and the...oh my, this is embarrassing." 14He gestures to the pot of Forest Greenleaf. "What blend is this, again?" 15[21:17] The server looks at the teapot for a beat and then smiles sweetly at Stranger. "Oh, that's a house blend. Thief Black Leaf." 15[21:18] Tohu: "Oh, dear. What happened? Do you want a drink?" [21:18] 14Stranger smiles gently. "Forest Greenleaf. Please, have a seat. We'll all be more comfortable." 15[21:19] Physician-Lieutenant: "I'll have some guys down here in a minute. Against the far wall okay? I can get the Dragonlord if we need more space." [21:19] 14He plucks a cup from the set in the center of the table. "You should try some; it's a fantastic blend." [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's frowning more deeply. To Stranger: "Whadda we do about this?" [21:22] 14To Keldar: "We have a polite conversation with the persons the Guild has made available, and if it goes nowhere, there are consequences for it." [21:22] 13Xia Lan: "Yes, please." 13She places some coins on the counter. Anything with a kick's good. "They drugged me. Nothing dangerous, harmful, or otherwise intoxicating - the opposite, really - otherwise I'd be considerably angrier with them, and much more likely to just, cut ties or something. But! Honor demands satisfaction. So. The Old Game." [21:26] 5 Xu Sim shows a hint of surprise at the Physician-Lieutenant's implication.  "It won't be necessary to involve him, I am sure," 5 he reassures her. 15[21:26] "Alright, back in a bit." 15[21:28] Xia Lan gets a Bloody Mnemon, celery stalk and all. "What are you fighting for?" [21:30] 5 Xu Sim leans against the wall, examining the creatures. "Yep. Tulpas. If that's the case..." 5 Xu Sim forms his hands into the Mudra To prevent Errors of the Six Senses, casting his sight into the realm of sorcery and spirits, to see if - like true tulpa, these poor wretches are connected back to their dreaming bodies by silvery, dreamy, astral chains. 15[21:39] The server sits, taking the cloth on her arm and spreading it over her lap like a napkin. "The cook is very good," she says. "You should order. I brought her in special. Had to replace the owner." She begins pulling her face off, her voice falls apart into faint, papery wisps. "Ashamed he should be to be Chiaroscuran and call this a fishmonger." [21:39] 14Stranger chuckles but the laugh doesn't reach his eyes. [21:40] 14Stranger: "And so you did...what with him?" [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar just barely starts, such that he leans back and widens his eyes a bit before narrowing them again. "You're - what was the point of all that?" 15[21:42] Stranger, Syndic, and Keldar share a table with a pale, bald old man with impossibly dry and wrinkled skin, staring out at them from eyes in sunken sockets that catch the light but don't move or quaver. His face is obscured by a large, bristly moustache. "He's going to open a new place somewhere else. We are very generous with our buyouts. 15[21:43] To Keldar: "You have a certain reputation. I wanted to see you with my own eyes, and I needed you to prove you could behave. I think you can. Am I wrong?" [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Me, I always act appropriately." [21:44] 13Xia Lan: "Hm." 13She takes a sip. "It was for ideas, words. A deal. Can games be played for those kinds of stakes, or..." 13She shakes her head. "It's got to be something concrete, doesn't it?" 15[21:44] The Overfactor smells like dust and dried flowers. "Then forgive my paranoia." [21:48] 14As Stranger sips his tea, the empty circle on his forehead flares to life. "I, on the other hand, am a known troublemaker." [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Sure. Now, to business: don't pull out of Nexus." He pauses, glances down, and then turns to yell over his shoulder to the cook. "Hey, gimme, uh, the third one, the squid plate! And don't go easy on the sauce." 15[21:49] Tohu: "Something has to change hands. The loser has to lose something, and the winner has to win something." [21:54] 13Xia Lan: "Hmmph." 13Another sip. "...the recipe of the drug. I want to know how they did it. I win, I get the recipe. I lose, I drop all claims and objections to it. Is that a fair prize?" 15[22:00] Xu Sim elevates his senses, and sees every body in the room bound in thorns. Thorned vines hold the bodies up and tug them to and fro like a puppeteer's strings. He sees thorns twisting all through their body, branching smaller and smaller in some weird mimickry of blood or nerves. He sees vines curl and coil and knot in their skulls. And he sees a long and bloody tangle of thorns flow from each of their torsos and into nothing, held aloft by some invisible tension as they vanish into the bare northern wall. 15[22:01] Tohu: "If they agree. Did you shake on it?" [22:02] 13Xia Lan: "Not yet. To be honest, I was still pretty angry with them when I left... I hadn't thought about the prize clearly. But, if they do - you would host this?" 15[22:06] "Can they sing?" [22:07] 14Xia Lan has definitely heard Stranger singing to himself in the common room when he thought no one was listening. He's got real talent, though he lacks a bit in showmanship. 15[22:08] "Mmm." The Overfactor pours himself a cup of the Red Heaven. "Well in either case, I trust both of you understand the reasoning behind our decision." [22:08] 13Xia Lan: "Not as well as me. But, broadly speaking, yes." 15[22:08] "So the question is this: why are we wrong?" [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Your reasoning, near as I can figure, is that Nexus is going to lose. Yeah?" [22:09] 5 These chains no doubt lead to Apis, the Queen of the East, whose approach shakes the earth to the north of Nexus. The tulpa are too far gone to be recovered - if ever such a thing was possible. Xu Sim prepares a battery of tests - ten subjects is quite a generous sample to work with for this sort of thing. 15[22:10] Overfactor: "'Lose' is a small word to cover so much ground. There are more than two outcomes to this war. We make a determination based on the relatively likelihood, cost, and benefit of each." 15[22:10] "And we have determined, on balance, that we are more likely to lose more than we will gain by protecting our assets." [22:10] 14Stranger: "That's not a no." 15[22:12] The Overfactor just 'mmm's again and sips his tea. [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Okay, but how long ago did you determine that? Right now there's a good six or seven anathema - me included - standing against the incoming fae. There's Looksy's Shogunate weaponry and Thorns's legions and the Beast. And I've only just started training the local militia." [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "This isn't some kind of-" 12Keldar pauses and leans a little sideways, curious if the Overfactor's going to follow the motion. "-some kind of sixty-forty, multiply by each decimal and subtract hedged bet thing. We're winning this." [22:13] 14He stirs his tea. "I'm less inclined than my colleague to care about your motivations. I feel I grasp them fairly well. Plainly, I don't like them. The main question that I put to you is this: when we do win, after you flee, will you feel that you have the right of return?" 15[22:13] The cook brings Keldar's squid plate out herself. Did Stranger order? Syndic of Tithes isn't eating. Or speaking. Or moving. [22:13] 14Stranger did not order food. 15[22:14] The Overfactor: "And here we reach the heart of the matter." [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar sniffs, then chows down. Squid's great! 15[22:15] He sets the teacup down and it clinks against the china. "The question I put to the factors was this: is it better for business if you lose or if you win?" [22:15] 5 The objective of the tests is simple: To destroy these creatures, or sever them from Apis' control, as quickly and easily as possible. Ideally something that a halfwitted laborer conscripted two days ago can remember or implement. Xu Sim's supplies are ample and he begins his work, focusing on combinations of iron and salt, ash and sand, and alcohol. 15[22:15] "The conclusion we came to--" Here the Overfactor gestures to his factor "--is that the prospect of your *victory*, much more than your defeat, risks our prospects." 15[22:15] "Raksha bargain." [22:17] 14Stranger: "And that led you to ask questions about us, rather than questions about yourselves." 15[22:17] "Do you think we misapprehend ourselves?" [22:17] 5 Xu Sim considers the use of saltpeter, or low concentrations of firedust - and resolves to use such a combination on the final unfortunate wretch. [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The fuck you say. Nexus as it stands is the center of the Guild's operation. You've got no guarantee whatsoever it even slightly resembles itself after the faerie lords roll in. They hate the Emissary, they're not gonna take up his project." [22:18] "I'm not sure." 14He sips the tea. "All in all, I think it would be less pathetic if you did." 15[22:18] "So I gather." [22:19] "That's not a response, Overfactor. That's just the emptiness behind you." 15[22:19] To Keldar: "The Emissary's project, such as it is, is no more reliable than you are." [22:19] "...What should I call you? Do you have a name?" 15[22:20] The Overfactor smiles a little smile. "I used to." [22:20] 14Stranger: "Then we have one thing in common." [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm as reliable as they come, buddy. What the Emissary set up here'll outlive him - even though he went on to outlive himself, or whatever's going on over there." [22:21] 14Stranger: "Perhaps we should take being compared to the Emissary as a compliment." 15[22:21] The Overfactor: "So you say. Does your cohort agree? Do you, Stranger Visits Heaven, see a Nexus with its dogmas restored?" [22:21] 14The silver-haired man just grins. [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "If you pull all the support beams out of this city and the raksha roll in and win, then you've just got --" 12He waves his hands vaguely. "Another damn freehold, right? Plus one place to sell people in exchange for crystal roses or whatever. No way that's better for your books than Nexus's continued, normal, operation." 15[22:22] Men have begun carrying down furniture while Xu Sim thinks. Tables and cabinets and so forth. [22:24] "Excellent. Set all that up. I'll return later to see if we can do something other than find a way to destroy these wretches on as large a scale as practicable." 5 He hurries up to meet the physician-lieutenant and asks to be taken to those who are not so far gone as this. [22:24] 5 Scratch that [22:25] 5 Xu Sim starts with a cauldron of water, boiling it to a scalding temperature before taking a pair of great tongs and overturning it to pour past the bars and into the cell of the first unfortunate tulpa. 15[22:26] The Overfactor: "You assume that the old ways will return when everything has settled down. That is where we differ. We don't think there's a real prospect of that. To invest as if it were would be folly beyond suicide. It would be as if you stabbed an arrow into your own leg to see if it would hurt, and then, knowing that it had, doing it again. To see if you could trust what happened the first time." [22:27] 14Now Stranger laughs. [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12How did he -- Keldar's expression doesn't change. "What do you think's going to happen when all's settled down, then?" [22:28] "It depends, I think," 14he says, "on how 'old' old is." 15[22:28] "So it does." 15[22:31] Tohu: "Is it two-on-one?" [22:32] 13Xia Lan: "Just Stranger. Xu Sim... isn't fit to be in public, mostly, much less on stage." 15[22:32] Tohu: "And you'll be needing house bottles, yes?" [22:34] 5 He stands by with a large bag of sawdust, ready to soak up any leftover fluid. [22:35] "We're old souls, Overfactor," 14Stranger says. "We roll old dice, and we count them by old rules. Keldar has his respect for the Emissary, his respect for Nexus, and his respect for coin. I back his play in full. I hope he's right about the nature of this city. But if his faith is betrayed...well. I've got respect for far older covenants than these." [22:35] 13Xia Lan: "...I've half a mind to have Xu Sim make some of the bottles, but I don't think he's capable of anything like I saw against Vladok. Yet, anyway." [22:36] "So, yes." 15[22:36] A scream cuts through the babble and scrape that fills the tiny prison. Steaming water sloshes around the cell, the honey-man writhes, thrashing about in the water for a moment as a man might, before he seizes up and simply dissolves into the water. 15[22:36] The water flushes out of the cell and comes to a steaming halt at the sawdust on the floor. [22:38] "It's a wash," 5 Xu Sim quips as he spreads the bag into the cell, before leaving the cells to work on those whose lives can still be saved. 15[22:39] The Overfactor nods at Stranger. To Keldar: "And this is your closest ally. Your circle is just one force among many. You see my predicament. I must count on you to win over your circle, and your circle to win over all their allies, and you and your allies to crush all their adversaries, all while behaving in a predictable and sensible way." 15[22:40] Tohu: "You want me to scare up some of Vladok's stock? Keep the match interesting." 15[22:41] Xu Sim finds the physician-lieutenant and asks to be directed to the intensive but not terminal cases. She blinks at him. "Are you having a go at me?" [22:41] 13Xia Lan: "If in any way possible." 13She finishes her drink, and asks for another. Anything with a kick. [22:42] "No...? Surely there are others who aren't as far gone as that lot in the cells, who we can work with?" 15[22:42] Tohu pours her something with sparkling wine and orange juice. "Okay, but on one condition. This is the last time. No offense, dear, but you class the place up too much. Keep offering free concerts and I'll have to raise the cover." [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Where are you even going to go?" [22:43] 13Xia Lan smiles. "I don't think that'll be a problem. Honestly, the first time would've been the last if not for extraordinary circumstances." 15[22:43] "We have arrangements in many places. We were not wholly unprepared for a moment such as this." [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar thinks on this a moment, first leaning back and then looking off as he munches on some squid. "Mmm," 12he says after a moment. Then: "Well, look. Here's how I see it. The majority of the people actually fighting here - the Dawn Guard, the mercs sticking with us, the militia I'll train, yours truly - actually do want things to basically remain the same. We're fighting to [22:47] <@Ferrinus> maintain business as usual... which I'd tell you is the sensible thing." 15[22:47] Tohu: "The extraordinary circumstances of the first time it happened. I'm just saying, if something that happens at the second one makes you want to do a third, you're going to have to fight to the death like normal people." [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "If you stick with us through all that, then everyone involved's all the more likely to keep things ticking along afterward. Because they see the advantage, right?" [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But if you don't... what the hell is the predictable, sensible thing for us to do then, eh? You're putting us in what they call a spot." [22:48] 13Xia Lan: "I've already threatened to cut Xu Sim's throat if he tries it again," 13she says sweetly. 15[22:48] Tohu yawns. "I can do tomorrow night. Tonight if you want to talk the artist playing tonight into playing another day." [22:50] 13Xia Lan: "I'll let you know as soon as I get their handshake. Given how much drinking's involved... we kind of want to clear our schedules for the day after. Tomorrow night sounds like a plan, though." 15[22:50] The physician-lieutenant: "We just had this conversation not five minutes ago! It's that way! Do you need an escort?" [22:51] 13Big sip from the drink. Delicious. "Who is playing tonight, by the way? I think my evening's clear, maybe I'll head back up this way." 15[22:53] Tohu: "Some nobody. He came in as a Songbird but he got let go. He wasn't on the boat the Guild bought for them out of the city. Do you know Mr. Tellurian?" [22:55] 13She scrunches up her face. "Is that his real name? Seems audacious." 15[22:55] Tohu: "You'd have to ask him. It's how he signed the contract, though." [22:57] 13Xia Lan: "Well, I've got to come back up here anyway, and I don't imagine I'll want to hang around with the rest of them much tonight. Maybe I'll stick around and give him a listen." [22:58] "You heard him work before?" 15[22:59] Tohu: "Yeah. He's not bad. Kind of a fuckup, though. Showed up to the sound test already hammered." [22:59] "No, it's fine. Keep an eye on these. They're made of honey; I believe they are marionettes of Apis, Queen of the East, whose army approaches from the North." 5 Xu Sim retraces his steps up to the tent city to begin the triage of those who might be saved. [23:02] 5 Among this, hopefully more familiar group, Xu Sim aims to reproduce the effect that being beaten to a pulp had on him - namely, the physical expulsion of the growing block of honey from the body before it can displace or transmute the flesh, bones, and everything else save a hint of mucuous and blood. [23:02] 13She winces. "Whoof. Guess that's how he got kicked out of the Songbirds then? Ah, probably shouldn't pry." 13She sips at her second drink of the afternoon. "I'm interested now, though. One of the best shows I ever saw before I started performing was that kinda guy." [23:03] "I mean, incredibly talented, but half the shows she played were just, out of her mind on whatever she could put into her body before showtime. Some guy tried booking her for morning performances but she'd just stay up all night to spite him." 15[23:05] The Overfactor: "I understand completely. But we must protect our own interests. We're more than happy to work alongside you where our interests align... but I'm all the more certain that here and now they don't. However, I am not unsympathetic. Are you willing to make a concrete agreement?" [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar chews a bit. "To what?" 15[23:07] "To protect the economic balance that has made Nexus what she is today." Another sip of tea. "What she was a season ago." [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Specifics?" 15[23:07] "We can hammer those out, if there is agreement in principle." 15[23:09] On the way, a pretty, but sickly amber-eyed woman stops and gives Xu Sim a hug. Her face is sticky with tears. "Thank you. Thank you again. Thank you so much." [23:10] "Anyway, first time I saw her, absolutely blew my mind with everything she was doing. The presence, the singing, the - the showmanship. It was inspiring!" 13She takes another drink. "The second time I saw her, she played off-key for fifteen minutes, puked into the audience, laid down for a while as the backing band played some instrumental bits, and puked into the crowd again before heading backstage. Mixed bag." 15[23:11] Tohu: "Well, you can come by tonight if you like. See which Mr. Tellurian shows up." 15[23:11] "If he throws up, at least the wasps will enjoy it." [23:11] 5 Xu Sim is taken aback, but tries to be gracious. "Save the thanks until I've cured you all," 5 he suggests, before giving her a cursory examination to determine her progress in the disease. [23:12] 13Xia Lan: "Think I will. Uh, is there an easy way to let you know about the agreement? Should I head backstage, or does that not make a difference?" [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I don't want to see Nexus change. I've been pretty up front there. But the more shit you cart straight out of the city the less I'm - anyone'll - be able to rely on the way things've always been. And the city's not gonna look much like itself if the Guild just up and leaves." [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That's why I've been saying, if you WANT to maintain things rather than just write it all off as a loss, you gotta back us." [23:13] "In fact - my goodness, you are an advanced case. Sit down, right away." 5 Xu Sim is deeply concerned, but this is as good a place as any to begin coming up with the grand cure. 15[23:14] The Overfactor: "I understand completely. My question is, can I hold you to your word?" 15[23:14] "Will you swear here and now to honor our fellowship?" 15[23:14] "I will." 15[23:16] Another cat winds between Xia Lan's legs. A voice from the floor: "Ha! You're sweet to ask. Just grab the first one you see." 15[23:16] Four cats, in unison, from all around Xia Lan: "We'll take care of you." [23:18] 13Terrifying, but adorable nonetheless. She finishes her drink and only blushes a little bit. "I'll talk to you again tonight." 13If she was on better terms with Xu Sim right now, she'd ask him to figure out exactly what Tohu is, but Sun knows he might just try to cut one of them open. Maybe it's best that he doesn't show. [23:19] 14Stranger: "Swear what you will, but I'd suggest abiding by it. Keldar, you see, has the strict advantage of actually liking you. But if you cross him, or disrespect him, or otherwise fail to live up to the virtue he ascribes to you, then the conversation turns to me. And my virtue is quite different. Should the conversation turn to me, then we start talking about the realities of [23:19] withdrawing fully from the city. We start talking about what you owe the people of Nexus on paper that's not in your ledger. We start talking about all the things that break." [23:19] 13Drink finished, and agreement reached, the Unfettered Xia Lan heads back out onto the streets of Nexus, towards the hideout of the Centered Circle. Hopefully, she can meet up with Stranger there. 15[23:20] Xu Sim leads her back to the nearest empty tent... which is actually completely empty, though the air and the state of the cots suggests it's only recently so. "Why are you putting me back to bed?" the young woman asks. "You just said I could go home..." [23:21] "What? I didn't say anything of the sort. You need to stay here and be cured," 5 he explains. "Where is everyone else?" 5 A rising sense of panic grips the physician. [23:22] "Guards!" 5 he shouts as he examines her and begins assembling his tools. "Guards!" [23:23] 14Stranger: "And eventually, we'd find ourselves back at a table much like this, drinking tea much like this, with the city burning around us." [23:24] "But this time, I'd know your name." [23:26] 5 Xu Sim works rapidly - far faster than any mortal physician ever could. He asks his patient to stick out her tongue, turn her head and cough. He assembles his ingredients, and he sets to work - mixing, pounding mortar and pestle, adding water, preparing his tonic. For a moment, at least, he is lost to his work. But he glances around for the guards, nonetheless, when he has a moment's [23:26] 5thought to spare. 15[23:28] A dash of poppy to deaden the mind... a bit of vinegar to cut through the sweetness... ginger and stranger things to sharpen the senses. Xu Sim works rapidly but effectively. The concoction is elaborate, requiring precise amounts of many ingredients, and might actually be illegal even in Nexus. But he doses the young woman and her brow unknits, her fever breaks, and she settles peacefully to sleep. 15[23:28] There's more noise outside. A guard's walking by and catches Xu Sim's call, and keeps walking. Then he doubles back with a start. "Something wrong, sir?" [23:31] 5 The doctor, quite upset: "Where the fuck are all the patients? I've finally synthesized a cure and I need them here to take it. This one was babbling that she said she could go home; where are the others?" 15[23:31] The guard: "...sir?" 15[23:32] "You sent them home, sir. You said you cured them all." 15[23:33] The Overfactor's moustache twitches. He's silent for a long time. Syndic, still not moving or speaking, lets out a half-throated little cough. [23:34] 14Stranger's head turns slowly and strangely to consider Syndic. [23:34] 14Then it turns back to the Overfactor. 15[23:34] The Overfactor, finally, blandly: "Yes I take your point, Keldar. And I am happy to help where I can. But I will require a firm commitment on your part to offer one in kind. A handshake agreement. Are you prepared to discuss terms?" [23:35] 14It's all you now, Keldar. Good luck. [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What kinda guarantee do you need, here?" [23:36] "I didn't send anyone home! I've been in the cells with the Lieutenant-Physician until just a moment ago! I only just came up here!!" 5 Finally, with some dread, "You didn't send them home, did you? Tell me you asked your Dragonlord for approval, that for once you were stubborn and recalcitrant for a good reason? They can't go home, we have to recover them, stop them all from leaving! [23:36] We have to stop them!" 15[23:38] The guard: "...I haven't seen the Dragonlord, sir. You convinced the shift commander everything was fine. What happened?" [23:39] 14While Keldar and the Overfactor settle terms, Stranger refills his tea and considers what he's seen from Syndic. Or more precisely, what he hasn't seen. [23:40] "I didn't speak to the shift commander. Who spoke to the shift commander? Was he dressed like me? Where is the shift commander? Have they all left?" 15[23:40] The Overfactor: "Simply that if we commit to keeping our property in Nexus and assisting earnestly in the war effort, you will commit to honoring our rights to that property, and defending those rights against future challenge." [23:41] 5 Xu Sim shakes his head. "Nevermind. Take me to the shift commander right now. We have to find the imposter, the saboteur, the illusion, whatever it is. And nobody else can leave!" [23:41] 14Movement. Casual shifting in his seat. Twitches elsewhere from his eyes. The man is paralyzed; he can't move...conventionally. But it would be a mistake to think him harmless. One does not remain a factor in the Guild if one is harmless. 15[23:41] The Overfactor: "Not indefinitely, but until we reach a common consensus that the battle is won and the city is stable." [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That sounds like guard work - which I'm good for in general, but I'm gonna be real busy over the next six weeks, as you might imagine." 15[23:43] The guard takes Xu Sim out of the debt. Sick people are thronging the little paths between the tents, walking and running and staggering to freedom. There's a knot of them blocked up at the gate, not because the guards are stopping them but because enough of them have fallen over that the effort to get them back up has halted traffic. [23:43] 14Stranger: "I suspect the Overfactor's concerns are more political than physical." 15[23:43] Xu Sim finds the shift commander at the heart of the quarantine zone, seated high with a view over the whole area, deep in conversation with Xu Sim. [23:45] 5 The real doctor doesn't say anything as he approaches the pair. In fact, he rather shirks away to the side, especially if Xu Sim doesn't notice Xu Sim. 15[23:47] The Overfactor: "It's true. You are not a simple mercenary, Keldar. You are a leader. You will only become moreso as the war drags on. Just as surely as you are not asking me to buy and sell iron personally, it is not your iron I would seek to protect us." Another sip of tea. "Unless of course it transpires that no one else's will do. But this is an arrangement between organizations as much as between you and I." 15[23:48] Xu Sim doesn't seem to notice Xu Sim. The guard: "Commander!" 15[23:48] The commander: "Sergeant?" 15[23:48] The guard: "..." 15[23:48] The commander: "..." 15[23:48] The guard: "..." 15[23:48] The commander: "Out with it, man!" 15[23:48] The guard: "...Xu Sim told me to reverse the order to lift the quarantine." 15[23:49] 10Xu Sim: "I did what?" 15[23:49] Here the guard reaches about, helpless. What says Xu Sim? [23:49] 14Truly, the commedia dell'arte. [23:49] 5 Xu Sim: "Do not lift the quarantine. I've only just synthesized the cure, and need to produce and distribute it. This is an imposter, though a convincing one." [23:51] "Immediately stop emptying the camp! Sound the alarm! And arrest this creature," 5 he adds for good measure. 15[23:51] The commander reaches for her daiklave. "What in the world...?!" 15[23:52] 10Xu Sim shakes his head, and says gravely, "Ah yes, I feared this would happen. My own infection has reached the fullness of its power, and now seeks to impersonate me. Fiend! Destroy this miscreant at once!" [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar thinks, then turns to Stranger. "If the Guild keeps its stuff in Nexus and assists the city against the Raksha, we can see that they enjoy full protection of the Dogmas 'til the fight with the raksha is settled one way or another. We keep the peace and we, I dunno, at least support the council in arranging for restitution or whatever in case things go sour between them and [23:53] <@Ferrinus> some other party. That sound reasonable to you or am I leaving something out?" [23:53] "How dare you, you glorified lump of wax and sugar," 5 exclaims Xu Sim to his doppelganger. To the captain: "You can choose between us at your leisure, but immediately stop emptying the camp, it's an obvious ploy to spread the honey-maze." 15[23:54] 10Xu Sim: "On the contrary, if this rude homunculous has his way, he'll be able to kill every sick man, woman, and child in the quarantine at a stroke. You must stop him!" [23:54] 14Stranger: "The agreement should be sworn to Guild holdings as they are right now. Should they increase their holdings by...various means...then perhaps that is perfectly legitimate commerce. But it should not be covered under this agreement, as the implications cannot be foreseen." [23:56] "You can examine the woman I've already cured - a woman that this pathetic simulacrum had given leave to return home, entirely prematurely and without medical explanation!" 15[23:57] 10Xu Sim waves airily. "This unconvincing fake is attempting to impress you with my own extensive vocabulary. I explained what I did at length, commander, and you were satisfied." [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What, like if they make five drachma profit it's legal to steal those five? Everyone gets the Dogmas whoever they are, that's the point." 15[23:57] The commander: "I was... it was all a bit technical, though, wasn't it?" [23:57] 14Stranger: "Like if they buy your company out from under you." 15[23:57] 10Xu Sim: "Of course! Not just anyone could have cured the honey plague! Only I, the great Xu Sim, can have achieved such a feat!" [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar waves a hand. "They could do that anyway, if we were sellin'. The important thing is their capital stays in and protects this city rather than abandons it." [23:58] "Which is precisely why _you_ achieved no such thing, you arrogant lump of insect food, dancing for Raksha masters!" [23:58] 14He sighs, closes his eyes, and re-opens them. "You asked for my input. You have it." [23:59] "Commander, you must remand your order and give me a chance to prove myself. Don't believe a word of this charlatan." Session Time: Wed Feb 21 00:00:00 2018 15[00:00] 10Xu Sim yawns theatrically. "If you wish, I will assist you and the guards in crushing this spawn of chaos! No petty cataphract such as this can hope to match my Seven Petal Orchid style!" [00:01] "Seven Petal Orchid style?! Now you're completely ruined, everyone knows I am a practitioner of the Crane Style! Submit to the Captain and let your last moments be peaceful." 15[00:02] 10Xu Sim: "Aha! You see! He called you captain, commander. Eviscerate this fraud at once!" 15[00:03] The commander: "Fuck this. You two come with me. You can answer to the Dragonlord." 15[00:03] 10Xu Sim: "As you wish." [00:04] "You can at least countermand the order, Commander, and reinstate it if I'm proven wrong," 5 Xu Sim tries to conceal his fear at being presented to the Dragonlord with Keldar not even in earshot. 15[00:04] Commander: "In the meantime we hold the gate. But I'm not sending anyone out after the people who already got out. I need all hands if we have to exterminate two Anathema." [00:04] "You'll only need to destroy the one, on that you have my word." 15[00:05] 10Xu Sim: "And there can be no doubt who it is." [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar taps a finger on the table as he finishes the last of his squid. To the Overfactor: "Give us a minute to talk this through. Don't wanna promise something I can't deliver." 12He motions Stranger over and away from the table. [00:06] 5 Xu Sim resigns, stoically, to being taken to Nessun Dorma for the second time today. 15[00:06] The Overfactor raises his teacup to them both, and pours himself another. His grip is shaky. [00:07] 14Stranger refills his cup, bows his head to Syndic and the Overfactor, and follows Keldar to an unoverheard corner. [00:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, his voice lowered: "This is basically what I want, in theory. Guild stays and helps us out, and the Dogmas are upheld - business as usual. You with me on this?" 14[00:08] * Joins: hrolf_mac [00:08] 14Stranger: "I am satisfied with the outcome. I am not happy with the cost. You are agreeing to become the Guild's dog. That will be your role: a hound they deploy against slights on their property. From slaves to whores to contract killers. You should be more concerned with the terms of the arrangement." 15[00:09] The commander leads Xu Sim and Xu Sim into the command compound set up in the Embassy. The people who aren't trying to leave or being held back all turn and stare at the three of them. A couple of them follow, as if waiting to see what bizarre trick that crafty old Xu Sim is pulling off this time. [00:09] "This is why I proposed we freeze the agreement on properties they possess now. So they can't go and buy out the Dawn Guard and ask you to off Pellicia." 15[00:11] The two Xus Sim find Nessun Dorma much as one of them left him, his back to the door, massive frame obscuring the window he stands in front of, head bent. "What is it now." 15[00:11] Commander: "My lord. There is a matter that demands your immediate attention." [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "They couldn't do that anyway. I'm offering to enforce the Dogmas, not join the org. Free trade, no wanton violence, the big six. What worries me is actually the heat of the fighting itself. When the metal hits the meat, I don't want to be stuck tactically - you know, being obliged to fortify their districts before others or make dumb choices as to what to sacrifice first." 15[00:12] Dorma: "SUCH AS?!" [00:12] 14Stranger: "Free trade is wanton violence." 15[00:12] Commander: "..." 15[00:12] "...14sir if you could just turn around" [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Be serious. What I'm saying is I might want some sort of... buyout clause or something. You know, I'm no more on the hook for one of their warehouses as anyone else's and worst case I end up owing them whatever the iron coulda sold for on average." [00:13] 14Stranger: "My view, as someone versed in the swearing of magical oaths, is that you are highly underestimating what a dedicated oathmaker can wring out of someone who enters into a sealed agreement unawares." [00:14] "They're purchasing the services of a Chosen of the Sun. Services which are magically compelled. You're a fool if you think they won't use you to your greatest effect." [00:14] 5 Xu Sim is grimacing, apologetically, when the dragonlord turns around. "I apologize for the imposition, Dragonlord, but-" 5 He knows himself well enough to expect an interruption at that exact moment. [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You think this gets magically compelled?" [00:15] "I was going to offer to do it myself, before the Overfactor began dictating terms. Yes. I think you will be magically compelled." 15[00:15] 10Xu Sim: "-if you'll forgive the absurdity of the present situation--" 15[00:15] Dorma: "Oh for fuck's sake." 15[00:16] "You have five seconds each to explain why I shouldn't kill you both." [00:18] 5 Xu Sim points to the other, offering him the chance to go first, and then to himself, his words cascading over each other rapidly: "I've cured the honey-maze and this one's trying to sabotage it by releasing the patients prematurely." [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...probably a good idea, honestly, if only to make sure they don't cut and run halfway through anyway. Could be I can get him to accept a general promise on my part to enforce the Dogmas and protect Nexus as it was, one that doesn't entail some kind of special attention paid to Guild warehouses. The thing is, even if I agree to that... where does that leave me with the [00:18] <@Ferrinus> rest of you? With you specifically?" [00:18] "And you didn't kill Keldar." 15[00:19] 10Xu Sim: "It is I who have cured the honey-maze and this one is trying to keep its victims in quarantine to enact his dark business. Please. I came and left your office this very day seeking contrition. Remember the wagon? Remember the music?" [00:20] 14Stranger: "Oh, I hate the Guild. But I'm willing to work with them, if only to undermine them in completely legitimate ways. Xia Lan, Dawn, Bastian -- there are no other actual fans of the Guild in our ranks. Xu Sim might be your staunchest ally, because I don't think he has an opinion either way. However, we're in a bind, and we need help. And we can always deal with them after [00:20] your deal expires." 14[00:20] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Connection closed) 15[00:22] Someone with an eye on the cafe might see the Overfactor reach out and delicately wipe a trickle of drool from the corner of Syndic's mouth. [00:22] 14Mmm. [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods, thinks a little longer, and then returns to the Overfactor's table. He sits back down. "It's like this. I want the Guild to stay in the city, I want its backing, and I want the Dogmas to be enforced. In other words, I want the city to keep working as it did. But it's tricky to promise to pay special attention to the Guild's own holdings - that could warp my plans over [00:23] <@Ferrinus> the next few weeks. Even my actual strategy, come the battle." [00:24] "Dragonlord, that was way more than five seconds. He might have observed us this morning from afar, heard the music from a distance." 15[00:24] The Overfactor: "I'm not concerned with the damage the raksha might do. I expect them to be quite indiscriminate." [00:24] 14Nexus is never going back to the way it was. But that's not really a conversation for right now. 15[00:24] "Your friends from Highland? Your foes from Thorns? What of them?" [00:25] 14Stranger refills his teacup. 15[00:25] "Or your own circle?" 15[00:26] Nessun Dorma: "It was more than five seconds. But I won't kill a man on a technicality. I'll kill him because he deserves it. Neither of you told me why you don't deserve it." [00:26] 14Stranger: "The circle will respect Keldar's decision." [00:26] "But we will not swear by it." [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Pretty sure Highland just wants to add Nexus to his empire. Thorns I actually figure is trustworthy for the purposes of the next two months, though not the next seven or fifteen. Rest of my Circle doesn't like you much." [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "'swhy I'm counting on you to prove to them that this is a good idea. That you're better to have around than not." [00:26] 14In an exaggerated whisper: "It's all the slaving." 15[00:30] "Slavery is illegal in Nexus," says the Overfactor mildly. "But I take your point. We, too, have a certain reputation. But my proposal is this: that you swear to uphold the Dogmas, to protect the Nexus you know, and to ensure that no one uses cover of war to enact vendetta or undermine our position in the city. You need respect our rights no more than you already do as a private citizen, unless others act in a way that the Emissary, were he himself, would prevent himself." [00:31] 14Stranger pauses. "Wait." [00:31] "No." [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And you, in turn, pr- eh?" [00:32] "Keldar, make no agreement that could obligate you to stand against the Emissary as he is." [00:32] 14To the Overfactor: "Which, of course, your distinction about the Emissary's behavior makes entirely possible." [00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Fair point. It's entirely possible that I - in fact, that no one - can actually stop the Emissary if he gets it in his head to, say, take vengeance on Brueghel by melting the lot of you." [00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "On the other hand that's a good argument for the Guild pulling out exactly as it intends." 15[00:33] The Overfactor: "It is a contingency we would be remiss to ignore." 15[00:33] "Well put, Keldar." 15[00:33] "But think of it like this:" [00:34] 14Stranger is disciplined enough not to roll his eyes, or grab Keldar by the shoulders and start shaking. 15[00:34] "If the Emissary is so far gone as to seek to destroy Nexus as it is, and you believe in your heart that it must survive... would you not oppose him anyway?" 15[00:34] "Is such conflict not inevitable?" [00:34] 14Stranger: "If it is, then it need not be compelled by oath." 15[00:35] "It need not. But I like to be sure." [00:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I suppose it is. But I'm not omnipotent. I'm confident that we can stop the Raksha, but I can't actually promise that I can hold off any conceivable calamity. Just that I'd try until it becomes apparent I'm kidding myself." [00:35] "Because you promised not to, earlier today, when Keldar made his abject apologies to you? Because I can help cure the plague and rescue the city. Because I have a lead on King Novak's real murderer - one of his neokorboroi demons tried to attack someone out in the Harlotry, and I've questioned it. Because I can do more good in the world than bad. Unlike the imposter, who spreads lies [00:35] and disease." 5 Xu Sim stammers for more reasons he should live. [00:35] "Because my dog would go hungry," 5 he suggests. 15[00:36] The Overfactor: "How about this: you may exempt yourself from any challenge you would admit yourself unequal to." [00:36] 14Stranger wants to scream. 15[00:36] "I do not wish to see you come to harm. You are a fitting champion for the city." [00:38] 14No shit. [00:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar taps the table a few times. "Fair way to put it. So - I commit to enforcing the Dogmas as the Emissary once would have and protect the Nexus I know insofar as I can, and you promise to keep your holdings in the city and contribute to its defense? All this until the attack of the Raksha is settled, one way or another." 15[00:40] The Overfactor: "Insofar as you can guarantee that our holdings will not come to special harm from your peers and your lessers, but not your betters. Yes." [00:40] 14Stranger: "At the very least let's please make the termination clause a bit more specific." [00:40] 5 Xu Sim is actually on the verge of blubbering once he gets started on the subject: "She's Twice-Refined Princess. Because I revived her after she choked on a fish head. She's an ugly dog, Dragonlord, and she was hungry and abused before I took her in. They thought she was cursed. But she's just an ugly dog. And she doesn't have anyone else." 15[00:40] The Overfactor looks from Stranger to Keldar. Does Keldar insist on a firm date?" 15[00:41] 10Xu Sim rubs the back of his neck. "You see how pathetic he is? Don't you just want to squish him like a bug?" 15[00:42] Dorma: "Is that all you have to say for yourself, monster?" [00:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Cap it at two months, maybe. But we should be clear - if someone wants to screw with you under the auspices of the Dogmas, I can't do anything about that, you realize. Someone shorting you or convincing the Council to ignore you or some such is just how the game's played." [00:42] "It is a little pathetic," 5 he shrugs. 15[00:43] 10Xu Sim: "I won't beg for my life. Not from the likes of you. Kill me or kill him. Kill us both. I'm not going to pretend I can change your mind." 15[00:45] The Overfactor: "It is not economic warfare we fear. We can protect ourselves on that score. If we are attacked through the Dogmas we will seek recourse through the same. You are not our errand-boy, Keldar of Nexus. You are the last line of defense against a world gone mad." 15[00:46] "As long as you see yourself equal to the task." 15[00:46] Nessun Dorma: "Well. I've heard enough." 15[00:47] The great white hammer hurtles with meteroic speed towards Xu Sim's skull! 15[00:47] Which Xu Sim? Find out... next week! [00:47] Oh shit! [00:47] <@Ferrinus> "All right," 12says Keldar. "Deal." 15[00:47] The Overfactor extends his left hand. [00:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's got the obvious impulse to lead with his right, but follows suit after realizing the score. [00:48] 14Stranger just watches. 15[00:50] Keldar's heart stops. Just for one beat. His mind thuds with leaden bells, his vision swims with pink mist. It's so nice. It's so comforting... As the black veins run up both their arms, as the Overfactor's head splits open and bleeds, Keldar is left to think: this feels good. Keeping his word feels good. Who could have enough of feeling like this? [00:50] 14... 15[00:51] The moment passes. Keldar snaps out of it, to see the Overfactor gently dabbing at his own brow as Stranger and Syndic look on. [00:51] 14Stranger: "Touching." [00:52] <@Ferrinus> 12The mercenary rubs at his wrist idly. "You should get that looked at." [00:53] 14Stranger: "Is it done?" 15[00:53] The Overfactor: "Yes, thank you. I'll give the order. We'll bring the barges back renegotiate with our defense contractors, and we should be back at full operating capacity within a week." [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar stands. "Think so. The merc companies you're retaining - we'll need them here. Send their leaders to talk to me soon as possible, 'cause I'm putting training and organization together and I need to know what's available to me. Be damned if Nexus's own forces get shown up by a bunch of corpses or drugged-up golems." [00:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Heck, he might be damned even if they don't! [00:55] 14Stranger: "That's excellent. Keldar, could you give us a moment? I've got a concern to voice and I don't want to trip your oath before the sun gets a chance to set even once." 15[00:55] The Overfactor: "Of course." 15[00:55] The Overfactor pours himself one last cup of tea. [00:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's gathering himself up and heading out to continue the day, in fact, unless Keldar needs him around for something after this chat. [00:55] 14Stranger's already got a full cup. [00:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Er, unless Stranger does. [00:56] 14He'll join Keldar outside momentarily. [00:56] 14He won't say anything further until he's alone with Syndic and the Overfactor. 15[00:56] When they are, the Overfactor will wait for Stranger to act first. [00:59] 14Once so: "So you know what I am. You know what he is. I'm not forsworn and I could run circles around your oath if I wanted to, and even if you did successfully call it in you'd likely just lose your new hound-dog. But frankly that sounds like a lot of work, when all I actually want from you people is for you to behave like decent human beings. So I propose a side-pot." 15[00:59] "Propose away." [01:02] "It goes something like this: I don't fuck with you unless you provoke me, and the definition of provocation is a common-sense, mutal understanding definition. I allow you to slave, and whore, and kill-for-hire as the Dogmas permit, and I don't do anything to directly harm you or your interests unless you or your people step to me first. In return, you uphold the deal you just burned [01:02] into Keldar's palm with the good faith of a damn Immaculate saint. You don't undercut him, you don't use him as proxy muscle, you don't steal the company he's worked so hard to make out from under him. You treat with him like you're a goddamn decent human being." 15[01:07] The Overfactor considers this quietly for a moment and then nods. "That's very fair of you. And it's no trouble to me. Keldar's value to Nexus is as much what he won't do as what he will." 15[01:08] "Keep him honest, and he'll serve us both well." [01:08] 14Stranger: "Then let's shake on it." 15[01:08] The Overfactor offers Stranger his right hand. [01:10] 14Stranger reaches out, and instead of shaking, intertwines his fingers with the Overfactor's in a strangely familiar fashion. As their palms touch, Stranger's eyes explode from milky-white to burning gold, and a horrible darkness stretches out into the room behind him. The Chosen of the Sun leans forward and smiles. There's light burning out between his gums. [01:10] "Pleasure doing business." 15[01:11] NEXT TIME: Arm and Hammer 14[01:45] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:27] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:38] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[06:02] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[06:22] * Joins: tom 14[08:43] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:10] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[10:24] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:13] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[13:10] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:12] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:16] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:23] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:05] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:10] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[16:11] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[17:32] * Joins: dammitwho 14[17:33] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[17:57] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:22] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[18:22] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[18:22] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[19:53] * Joins: tom 14[20:00] * Joins: Crion| [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12There are civilities on the books that prohibit graverobbing within the bounds of Nexus, for fear of rousing the angry ghosts of Anathema long dead and wreaking havoc across the city. In practice, they are toothless. Blanket laws against scavenging are never supported by enough parties to pass, and injunctions against the entrance of specific tombs tend to be moot before the ink's [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12even dry. This is because a discovery is either shortly followed by a successful excavation, or an unsuccessful excavation that already brings everyone's worst fears to pass, or, more and more often, a flat failure by all parties to even gain entry. [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Hence the classic "Tombs of Nexus" - long-time fixtures of the city, so impossible to breach that the residents have long ceased to try. Nowadays the Tomb of Red-Hot Iron is used to heat forges, the Tomb of Singing Blades a tourist attraction. [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya's learning, as he plunges through the waterways of the Undercity, that at least one of these isn't as impregnable as it's always seemed. The Tomb of Candle-Eyed Skulls in Sentinel's Hill apparently extends far deeper underground than anyone thought - its bony architecture is increasingly in evidence around the sneak thief as he wends his way towards the Council's most secret [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12chambers. [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12What's he arranged or brought with him, and how's he equipped, anyway? [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12The rest of the Circle might be involved with this, but odds are they aren't right on the scene with the operative. Who's working on what, where? 15[20:39] 10Eikichi's up outside Great Forks, mostly by himself, working on the kruthik field marshal, and tinkering besides. 08[20:40] 4Ir's spending most of her time nearby at the base camp, drilling the queens and keeping a tighter leash on things while Eikichi gets this...field marshal...prepared, but she'll be down in Nexus to assist with the heist. [20:41] 6Set of lockpicks, the carved jade slip Arianna gave him (just in case), and a very important belt that'll get him where he needs to go. Plus, you know. The usual armor and weaponry, though Sun help him if he actually needs them, but he'd feel naked without them. And also would sort of literally be naked, that armor is like half of the outfits he owns. 08[20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir has her work cut out for her. The green and violet kruthik are by no means friendly and the greys in particular are resistant to the constant stream of tissue, chemical, and essence samples Eikichi's foul experiments demand. She's had to throw her weight around once or twice more, and it's been more times than that that Sondok's axe has fallen out of thin air to punish a lesser [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12bug's attempt to lash out at the sorcerer. [20:43] 6Nothing else off the top of my head. He still doesn't know how to even begin to get Panther out, which sort of makes bringing anything else risky. Who knows what condition he's in? [20:43] 4That's fine. No one ever said this was going to be easy. [20:43] 4And it's probably better that they're not all cuddly and attachable. [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Thankfully, Tatsuya's deep enough beneath Nexus that he's not swimming in actual sewer water. It's part of some kind of ancient subterranean river system - maybe if he goes deep enough, he'll hear the tap-tapping of jadeborn picks against the other side of the riverbed. Still, that's not his concern right now. Rather, his concern is... there! He's able to swim up at the right moment, [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12catch a passing stalactite, and flip himself upward into a cramped vertical tunnel which is lined with bones. It's like crawling up through a snake's skeleton. [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12I forget, does Tatsuya need a light source, or can he see in the dark somehow, or is he operating on pure feel for the moment? 15[20:59] 10Eikichi spends most of his time in a small crystal hut he made by a freshwater spring near the battle site. If Ir checks on him she finds him doing things like testing kruthik drone reflexes with a little hammer, brushing slime from the spawning pools onto different materials (including his own skin) and taking notes, and shadowing the queens as they go about their business. At night he's huddled around his campfire, which flares wild colors in the dark and smells nothing like wood or food. [21:01] 6Ying asked for a favor. Nyaroshi's blessed them with the eyesight of cats - which Tatsuya's making full use of. Some nagging feeling at the back of his mind is making him uncomfortable in the water and eager to get out, but it's a small price to pay for nightvision. [21:03] 4Where does Tatsuya want Ir during this? 15[21:04] 10But on one of her trips back down to Nexus she takes something he made for Tatsuya, a heavy pneumatic suit made of brass, canvas, and leather that's so heavy it almost amounts to a vehicle, but it can store and filter and recirculate 6 hours of breathable air! And it's got a big metal drill on one hand that can punch through loose rocks and conceal an active essence blade. 15[21:04] 10Looks kind of menacing down in the hold: https://i.imgur.com/K34NTyR.jpg [21:05] 6Badass. 08[21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Actually, given what Eikichi's putting together here, Tatsuya may need to spend a little more time underwater in search of a more accessible entrance to the Candle-Eyed Tomb's undersection. Eventually, he's able to find a natural cavern in the rock with a large pocket of air trapped in its upper reaches and a few shelfves of stair-like stone. There, our hero can stow his diving suit [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12and then swim by normal means up into the Tomb proper. 15[21:06] 10The canvas is pretty flexible, so it can fit anyone from roughly Tatsuya's height down to roughly Ying's height. [21:06] 6For Ir, the best place is probably wherever Arianna's keeping the kruthik in preparation for their break-in. Extraction is the only real place anyone can assist at - and that'd also be the place to be if something goes wrong and he needs to call for help. [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a damn maze, though - and a dangerous one, at that. Tatsuya's timed this so that he gets there exactly at sundown, and for good reason. In the daytime, interlopers into the Tomb of Candle-Eyed Skulls just kind of... die. Their bodies necrotize and dessicate. [21:07] 6Hell of a security system. [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12At night, things get more hospitable - the skulls just blast streams of fire out of their eye-sockets or vomit it from hanging jaws until intruders have burned to ash. There's no actual skulls down here, thankfully - but, in this maze of rib-lined tubes Tatsuya is clambering around in, there are still fiery willowisps that bob around aimlessly before activating and diving straight [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12at you once you cross the wrong unseen threshold. [21:09] 4Hanging out with more kruthik it is, then. At least the Queen of Spines should have these ones better in hand than the ones out on the frontier. 08[21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Does Blossom spend much time in out in the sticks with Ir and Eikichi, or is she to be found in Great Forks for the most part? [21:13] 7Unfortunately, she's kept busy in Great Forks for the most part, but she does try and make some time to come out and visit when she can. 15[21:14] 10Eikichi doesn't seem to mind being left alone for long periods, which is unusual. More than once Blossom has found Eikichi stir-crazy in the Heavensward after being left to his own devices for only most of a day. [21:14] 7That sounds... good? Bad? Blossom really wishes she understood boys. 15[21:15] 10No kidding. [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom gets more and more pushback in Great Forks as the days and later weeks pass and her cult/community organization grows in size and power. Well, she might, at any rate, depending on what she does with it. If someone wants to show up and just get a hot meal or a place to sleep, can they? Do they have to swear anything? What kind of jobs has she got for them? [21:18] 6The firey skulls probably aren't that big of a deal. I mean, it's just fire. And Tatsuya's pretty fast. How bad can they be? [21:19] 6...ow. [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12By the time Tatsuya has shimmied down out of a ceiling vent in a hallway that looks like a huge grinning crocodile's skull, he's looking surprisingly crispy for a guy who's just spent a solid two hours stomping around underwater. Those little fuckers are fast - not nearly as fast as he is, but when you're crawling through a tunnel too narrow to even spread your arms in they don't [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12have to be. [21:21] 6He sort of - warped himself around one of them, only to smash his face right into the next fireball. Thank the Sun no one was around to see that. [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12But now Tatsuya's in! ...hmm. A dark hallway stretches in either direction. It's too dark for a human to see, but Tatsuya knows there's at least a little light because his cat's eyes are entirely dependable. Probably diffuse glow from skulls that are actually on fire. He's got a decent idea of where he is relative to, like, the ground, but of course no particular idea of what to [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12expect or where to look - so it's time to get to work. [21:28] 6He picks a direction at random and skulks off, keeping a map in his head. He might need to exit back this way - he'll definitely be coming back for the diving suit, but that can get extracted later. 15[21:32] 10Eikichi's little glass house is a marvel of perfect crystalline angles and swooshing pipes, throwing light every witch-way to give off radiance from afar while still revealing Eikichi in silhouette inside while he's resting or bathing. The inside is cool, and during the day the pipe studded with sunlight-catching lenses heats its water to the perfect temperature for a shower. 15[21:34] 10Further out, forming an equlateral triangle with the original hatchery and Eikichi's hut, is a variably opaque and glass-clear set of steps and tunnels embedded with prized minerals and various sensory obstacles. How do kruthik handle the dark? Smells of various kinds? Flat and echoey acoustics? What is the fundamental mechanism of a kruthik drone's senses? [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12It doesn't take Tatsuya too long to discover the extent to which he's actually in a Council facility rather than a forbidding and deadly First Age Tomb. Though he's in the mazelike peripheries of the structure, he doesn't have to wander for too long before he finds hints of habitation. Specifically, growths of spiky red crystal jutting out of corners or tracing lines across walls, [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12clearly demarcating zones within which human or at least humanoid footsteps are visible, and the tell-tale leavings of burning torches or glowing lamps can be seen on the floor. [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Beyond the crystals, the powers of the Tomb seem suppressed; the flames within skeletal eye sockets are pressed flat as if against glass, and the free-floating will'o'wisps that so bedeviled Tatsuya earlier simply stop against unseen walls. There, though, are more common threats - sentries, guards, and alarms. [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya can tell what's going on here. Those red crystals are of the same kind that grow from the head of the staff that the Emissary is sometimes seen to carry. It must be his power that's rendered a portion of this tomb fit for human habitation - Tatsuya'd guess that even if he's stuck here past sunrise, so long as he stays within the crystal-outlined rooms and corridors he won't [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12have to worry about falling to ash. [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12The guards here are very good. A few of them are tight-lipped, stone-faced humans, outfitted with the very best the Council can buy. More are demons or clockwork automatons that must be impossibly expensive. The sneak thief's able to manuever around them all, though, dodging behind vision cones and dancing over trip wires as he develops a mental map of the facility and figures out [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12where the real good shit's stored. [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Of that, there's plenty, incidentally. Through one barred door Tatsuya espies piles and piles of jade; behind another, racks of glass-sealed scrolls detailing gods know what. There are also checkpoints and long-term guard quarters, which are what lead Tatsuya to his real quarry. It might throw a lesser detective off - apparently, there's a [REDACTED] held in the bottom floors of the [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12facility which is extremely dangerous. It's been having dire psychological effects on the men and women that guard it from proximity alone - there are complaints of strange dreams, ruined morale, and bizarre and alien urges. New directives demand that mortal guards are rotated rapidly and that the clockwork men take up the lion's share of the work. 15[21:45] 10One of the times Ir pops back she finds slender stands with crystal lenses, other crystals swinging gently on pendulums, and crystal rods embedded in the earth at various points around the perimeter of the hatchery complex. Several stout kruthik spitters seem to have been seconded to patrol them and keep away stray drones and kruthlings. [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12But what bizarre and alien urges? It's hard to tell, but Tatsuya spots a footnote tucked in the bottom of a file, speed-reading the whole thing while a watchman steps out for a minute's smoke break: the almost-overpowering desire to repent. Aaaa-ha. [21:47] 4Weird, but Ir doesn't interfere. She will pop over the, uh, glass house to ask what's what, though. [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12There's something else Tatsuya notices as he files this information away and proceeds to the lower levels: he's not alone. [21:47] 4Weird, but Ir doesn't interfere. She will pop over the, uh, glass house to ask what's what, though. [21:47] 4...Is it alright to knock on this thing? [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12A ceiling grip that's still slightly warm to the touch... a lock that opens too easily... a vault with a suspiciously large empty space between two other tarp-covered artifacts. Someone else is creeping around in here, or at least was very, very recently. [21:48] 6Lot going on here at this secret facility-slash-prison-slash-treasure horde. Also: huh. Who else is dumb enough to try and break in here? 15[21:49] 10The door's just a curtain of glass beads on strings. "Hi, yeah. So the stuff around the camp is testing the geomancy, the invisible essence of the place. I want to see what the shadowland's done to the place, and how the kruthik's appetite for balefire is changing it up." [21:51] 7If someone wants a hot meal or a place to sleep they're welcome to it, but the work of the Sun is to evoke the best self, to approach perfection. If someone isn't working (holidays/rest days aside), there must be something wrong, and it's the duty of the Sun's faithful to help them overcome it. [21:51] 4Ir's mostly absorbed in looking around the place. "Nice. Huh? Oh, yeah. The shadowlands." [21:52] "Wouldn't do to be fighting on two fronts here before we even get off the ground." [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Wait a minute, Tatsuya realizes. There used to be some sort of huge sarcophagus or something, there. Now there isn't - and even the dust on the floor in its previous position has seemingly been scoured away to leave an almost perfect circle. There's no way whoever else is in here is now lugging that thing on their shoulders as they continue to infiltrate the premises... they must [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12have some magical means to vanish or miniaturize or teleport it. [21:55] 4Ir: "I've been drilling the queens pretty hard but it's a touch-and-go thing still, keeping discipline." [21:56] 6A huge sarcophagus -- is this where the [REDACTED] was supposed to be? Or is there any other record of what was being stored here? 15[21:56] 10Eikichi: "Yeah. Anyway, I'm going to go get a couple of the drones high. Lots to do!" [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12No, that's a separate vault. This room seems to contain objects looted from the complex you're still in - art objects and artifacts from the Tomb of Candle-Eyed Skulls, which've generally got a sinister and deathly aspect about them. It's not clear what the sarcophagus was for, but it's gone now. [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12That said, Tatsuya definitely knows where Panther is, and he's figured it out quickly enough that there won't even be a changing of the guard before he gets there. Up to him if he wants to head down to those vaults right now, or try to figure out who else is in here, or just try to do further research on the Council through the various documents stored in this facility. [21:58] 4Ir raises an eyebrow but watches him go before returning to her own work. [21:58] 6We'll look into it once we're out of here. Tatsuya has some suspicions about who would do such a thing, but Panther remains the priority here. 15[21:58] 10Everybody likes to watch Eikichi go for some reason. [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12But what is the predominant work order in Blossom's tiny corner of Great Forks? Neighborhood rebuilding/beautification? Monument construction? Evangelism? [22:00] 7Neighborhood rebuilding/beautification, and then some monuments. If you build it, they will come. [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Then down Tatsuya goes. Those notes weren't kidding about the psychological deleterious effects of [REDACTED] - he thinks he hears a guard crying softly on a bunk as he steals down to the lower levels, and many of the men and women are glancing around suspiciously, particularly at each other. 15[22:01] 10If Ir keeps watching she'll see Eikichi dose a pair of kruthik with drops something from a green phial, and then watch them putter off in erratic routes towards the usual mining patches, only to veer away from them and nibble at the springs. [22:02] 6Good. [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Down at the lowest levels, there's only one human guard, and they're rubbing at their forehead. They're flanked by two articulated statues of brass, each of which stands in place while a faint tick-tick-tick-tick rises out of their chests. Behind them's a door of what appears to be solid lead bound with iron, flush with the bone-bedecked walls of basalt it's set in. [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12There are demons about, but they're shying away from the door, tending to crouch behind corridors or take shuffling patrols out of sight of the thing. [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12No one sees Tatsuya as yet, but he's got at minimum one human, two clockwork automata, and one fuckoff vault door to get past before he can truly confront his quarry. [22:06] 6How're the shadows around here? Thick enough to hide in? [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Quite, they're not well lit. The place is lit chiefly by torches, and it's only about twenty feet in either direction before lines of irregular red crystal mark the area at which Council territory gives way to Tomb territory. [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom runs into - well, I wouldn't call it problems necessarily, but certainly pushback. The slums and neighborhoods that her cult's taking place in are rented, not owned, by her parishioners themselves, and then the greater area is subject to the city's broader zoning laws and such. She's got landlords demanding some sort of accountancy, bureaucrats backed by the gods of different [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12blocks objecting to changes in the scenery... [22:10] 6It's been a while since Tatsuya used the belt of shadow-walking. Last I recall was fleeing from the Undermelt, wayyyyy back when. But: sometimes it's extremely useful and powerful to be able to literally slip inside of the shadows and hide there. Can do all kinds of things. Walk over to the vault while remaining in perfect stealth, for example. Or slide under the vault door without bothering to pick a lock - if there even is one [22:10] and they didn't just seal Panther in here. [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Shwwoooop. Tatsuya slides beneath the seal, and finds himself in what must have been some kind of torture chamber. Entire skeletons hang from bone hooks from every side of the room, and skulls bedeck practically every surface, eyes socket wide and jaws bared. Notably, there's a film of ruby-red crystal decking the back of the door Tatsuya's just slid under, which means he's just [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12left the safe zone and - in theory - opened himself to free-fire by an absolutely massive candle skull firing squad. [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12None of that happens, though, because all the bone here has been bleached white, not a single eldritch death-flame so much as burns on a bony fingertip, and indeed the entire chamber is lit evenly by the object at the exact center. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12It looks like a half-carved statue. At its base, it's a rectilinear slab of marbled grey and white stone. As the eye travels up, though, the stone gains increasing smoothness and definition, until from halfway up it's a perfectly-carved likeness of a powerfully-built and fiercely imposing southerner. He has one arm extended gently forward, palm up, as though offering a gift or simply [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12a reassuring grip. His gaze is steady and intent - not exactly threatening. [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a tattoo of a sun on the statue's chest, carved finely into the stone, and a perfect disc of pure white light shines forth from the statue's brow, illuminating the entire room. Tatsuya's immediately arrested by a palpable aura of holiness. [22:24] 6His shadow on the floor - perhaps the only shadow in the room - flinches. [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12No question about it - this is Panther. And, in fact, Tatsuya thinks he knows what's happened to him, more or less. Clearly, the Emissary tried to unmake or remake the mighty Zenith caste, melting him down into viscera or blasting him into dust or some equivalent nightmare. Against such hideous and invasive magic, what defense can there be? [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, for starters, an indomitable will and an incorruptible soul - a verifiably manifest destiny. Though Panther succumbed to the magic, he didn't succumb completely, instead asserting some truth at the core of his being that even the greatest warping powers have no hope to overturn. For Panther, that must have meant upholding righteousness, preaching, setting a moral example, [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12something along those lines - hence this living, glowing relic he's become. [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya's pretty sure that there must be some means locked within Panther's condition to break the curse completely, something appropriate to his state and nature that might return him to full flesh. Failing that, he might need a bunch of kruthik to carry the thing out of here, or figure out whatever the other thief's using and steal or copy it... [22:50] 6He's got the jade tablet in his shadowy hands before he reconsiders. There's such an enormous risk in calling in the kruthik that any option - even one as difficult as tracking the other thief and finding out how they work their dark business - is preferable. The kruthik exit plan is the last resort. He slinks back under the door and towards where he entered from, looking for any signs of the other unwelcome guest. [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12In Great Forks, Blossom's only started to really have trouble with local zoning regulations and prayer extortions when Yarara Yara comes knocking. The tiny agent of Heaven raps her hand against a doorframe after the Zenith Caste has just finished giving a forewoman some logistical advice. [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya engages in a strange game of cat and cat. Hunting back and forth through the facility for whoever else it is in here, he's sure he hasn't been found... but he can't pin down the other party, either. He arrives too late to the room of scrolls, realizing an entire rack has vanished. [23:07] 7Blossom: "Come in!" [23:08] <@Ferrinus> "Well, well," 12says a familiar voice behind Tatsuya as Tatsuya checks a small supply room. Behind him, the door shuts. Tatsuya whirls to realize he's cornered in the small chamber by a white-robed figure with silver hair cascading down from behind a featureless silver mask. [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Wait -- [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12The hair's a wig. The robes are finely-made but store-bought. There's a barely-visible cord... it's not actually the head of the Council, thank god. But that's not why the voice is familiar. [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12The voice is familiar because it's Tatsuya's. 15[23:09] 10Nani heck?! [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Specifically, it's Tatsuya's doing an impression of the smoothly sinister cadence of the Emissary. It's weird to hear yourself from outside, but Tatsuya just caught it. [23:10] 6Amazing. Slandering his good name with this awful disguise of the Emissary, to throw off the actual skill put into mimicking Tatsuya himself. [23:11] 6Tatsuya would never dream of deliberately making a bad disguise, of course. How dare - whoever this really is - spoil the craft. [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara heads into Blossom's office, so to speak, in the characteristic swinging gait of her people before hopping up to perch cross-legged on a chair. "I've been thinking. My orders are just to keep an eye on you - our orders - but those aren't even our main orders. There's something else going on in Great Forks." [23:12] 6Again, he has guesses. He raises his hands slowly, so as not to cause alarm. "Fancy meeting you here," 6he says. [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "It's - well I can explain later. What I was thinking is this. If everything you're doing here works out okay... AND you help my Circle take care of something very important, and THAT all works out okay... maybe that would get you a little bit of an in with my boss?" [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not a deliberately bad disguise - it's just not a supernally good disguise. It's the kind of thing a very sharp eye can see through, rather than the kind of thing an arbitrarily sharp eye still, incredibly, can't. The mystery figure as Tatsuya as the Emissary says: "Oh, you should." [23:19] 6Tatsuya: "Why don't you take off that cheap wig, lemme get a real look at ya? I wanna see if it's just as bad." [23:19] 7Blossom leans back in her chair, legs crossed. "Who's your boss?" [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Wayang. He's very - he likes things tidy. He's very practical." [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12The "Emissary" lifts his mask as though doffing a cap, and it's Tatsuya's face under there. Frankly, this is bizarre - who's even seen it recently? [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya can't detect a single hint of makeup or seam of fake skin. Maybe he's not looking closely enough, but this is done very, very well. Although... it doesn't quite look like him. Maybe him from a year ago? [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom's never been taught this, but she remembers it all the same, somehow synthesizing or intuiting it. Wayang, the Black Puppet Mask, is the God of Silence. He must be based in Yu-Shan, and highly placed in the Bureau of Destiny that Yara serves. [23:26] 6Tatsuya: "Better. Hey, you wanna make out to see what it's like, or is that only for Eikichis?" [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12'Tatsuya' appears to consider the matter, but shakes his head. "No time. I have a lot yet to do and this is no place to dawdle." 12He points. "And you'll help me." [23:28] "The God of Silence?" 7She hazards. [23:28] 6Tatsuya: "Got me over a barrel here. Not literally, but you know. What's your game?" [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara puts a finger to her lips. "Shh! But yes." [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12'Tatsuya': "Making off with as much as I can, to be honest with you. But there's at least one thing in here that, near as I can tell, is a two man job, and it's too valuable to leave behind." [23:31] 6Tatsuya: "Which is?" [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "There's a disturbance in destiny in this city. More and more hitches in history. Wayang's set me and my fellows to find it and put an end to it, because we're not sure what's going to happen if it gets out of hand. If you're instrumental - deputized, sort of..." [23:31] 6If this idiot has just been looting for the fun of it here, on tonight of all nights -- wearing his face, no less - well. He already wasn't spending much time in Nexus. But this'll put Ying in danger if he screws up bad enough. [23:33] 7Blossom hmms and kicks a foot. "That's worth considering. What does a 'disturbance in destiny' entail, exactly? How would I know it if I met it in the street?" [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara taps her chin. "Umm, okay. You know how the forces of the Princess Magnificent attacked Great Forks from beneath the ground, clawing up from the cobblestones, just sort of erupting out of the streets?" [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "And you can even see the holes, still?" [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya eyes Tatsuya, intent. "You with me?" [23:37] 7Blossom nods, gesturing to some nearby sheets of paper. "We're still filling in the ones we find." [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Did you know that last week?" [23:38] 6Tatsuya turns his palms upwards. "Depends on the heist, but - not much in here I'd oppose. So, yeah. Whatcha got?" [23:43] 7She looks confused. "Did I what now?" [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya: "The Candle Tomb was built for this insane sorcerer warlord. Older he got, the nastier his magic turned. Bunch of his old conquests and relics are down here." 12He jerks a thumb. "Last and best is his own grand daiklave, that way." [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya: "Thing is, it's under heavier guard than even the jade vaults here, the guard-crystals stop right at the door, and the door itself is locked down both by the Council's magic and the Tomb's. I can get through it, but not without getting spotted or lit up or worse." [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya: "If you can distract the guards and even temporarily shut off security, I can get through the vault - or vice versa. Then you watch my back while I scoop the sword up and I'm out of here." [23:46] 6Same direction as Panther's statues? Or, two different lockdown rooms? [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Did you last week! Did you know about it last week. Were the holes even there --" 12She searches Blossom's eyes. "No, just, how about this. How did the Trinity defeat the Princess? Do you know?" [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a different direction. Panther's at the bottom of the facility, this is a lateral move from where you are - towards approximately the geometric center of the Tomb. [23:48] 6Hrm. "Okay. Before we do that... how are you getting stuff out of here? From what I was seeing, it seemed like stuff was just, teleporting away." [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya: "Heh, good question. I've got a system." [23:51] 6Tatsuya: "Great. What's the system." [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya: "You don't need to worry about it. I just need a good minute's line of sight on the thing. You want the door or the security?" [23:54] 6Tatsuya: "Look, man, I didn't pop in here for fun. There's something I gotta move outta here, too, and I was hoping we'd trade. I help you get that outta here, you tell me how that works so I can get my thing outta here." [23:55] 6Man if this is how interacting with him is for everyone else it's a miracle he hasn't been punched in the face more often. [23:56] 6The dodging helps, but still. [23:56] 7Blossom: "No. And I've never heard of anyone reliable who does." [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "See? No one knows! It's... I mean, the Trinity did it, and everyone knows they're strange. That they cast dreams and stories and such. But Great Forks is unstable now in a way it's never been before." [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Things keep changing... so they've always been changed... it's giving everybody headaches who notices and that's mostly my boss and me, now! We've got reason to believe that someone really dangerous, or multiple someones really dangerous, are behind it or involved somehow. Screwing fate up, maybe on purpose." Session Time: Thu Feb 22 00:00:00 2018 [00:00] 7Blossom: "Alright, so- what am I looking for? If this instability is changing history, how would I even know what's wrong?" [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Well, have you seen any signs of the giant flying necro-monster that controlled all the undead that appeared at the height of the invasion?" [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya considers this. "Maybe it would only be fair... almost. Sweeten the pot somehow." [00:05] 7Blossom's eyebrows shoot up at this. "No, just the one spectre." [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara nods sternly. "Okay, then that hasn't always have happened yet. So one thing you could do is take careful notes on... yes, that's perfect, actually, on all your repairs. Everything you need to fix, and how long it's been there versus how long since you started on it... where each bit of war damage is, like that. We can cross reference things!" [00:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "And second, you can help me actually kill the thing or things responsible." [00:07] <@Ferrinus> 12In a whisper: "They might be illegal Chosen." [00:09] 7Blossom hunches over to get her head closer to Yara's. "What makes a Chosen illegal?" [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "A... divine individual might steal the Exigence, or buy it on the black market. All sorts of problems, then. And if they have it out for Heaven, it's often problems with fate." [00:14] 7Blossom: "Go back a step. What is the Exigence?" [00:14] 6He sighs. "You're stealing my own face and holding me up besides? That's just rude, man." 6Tatsuya rubs at the back of his head. "Uhhhhh. Look, I'm tired as hell and it's been a long day. I can get you literal cash, like, tomorrow, you set up a drop, but I've got a feeling you're looking for something tonight. Yeah?" [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Oh, the... license that lets a god uplift a Chosen. Like the lady your friend embarrassed." [00:15] "Or at least, something I can't just backsies on when I get my thing. I get it. But unless you want disguise lessons I am just plum out of ideas, here." [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya: "I'd be happy to wait... except how could I hold you to it? I'd lie, so would, heh, I. How about... information?" [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12so so would* [00:17] 6Tatsuya, affronted: "Dude. I don't renege on deals, that's kind of my whole thing. Where are you even getting your info from?" [00:18] 7She nods. "Okay. So are these 'fate disturbances' the ongoing work of this mystery individual? Or aftershocks from the initial working that lead to the Trinity's victory?" [00:19] 6Tatsuya: "Nevermind. What information?" [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "There's a kind of illegal Chosen that warp fate by their nature. We think one or more are at large here." [00:20] 7Blossom: "Tsk." [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "So! If you can work with me to pinpoint them... and then provide backup in some kind of confrontation. That would count for a lot! That could, it could percolate up, let people know that you could be a good thing for heaven." [00:24] 7Blossom: "In that case, you're welcome to look over our records." [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya thinks, leaning back against the wall and somehow managing not to set off one of the burning skulls there by doing so. "Tell me... what your Circle's doing next. Your next... target, long term project, place you're going. That sort of thing." [00:26] 6Tatsuya: "Uh." [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Great! Great. I'll be back, then. This'll be good. Thank you!" [00:33] "...we're going to build a flying city. Zeal. Before that, we need to build up a network of support - you can't have a city without people - so, we're... mostly just being our awesome selves and getting people to follow us that way." 6Tatsuya looks uncomfortable. "It sounds... really conceited when I spell it all out like that." [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya: "Yes, but where? Nexus?" [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12He's giving Tatsuya a discerning look. [00:37] 6Tatsuya: "Great Forks, mostly. Working within Nexus is... stifling. Not that people from Nexus wouldn't be welcome, but it's considerably more difficult to appease the dogmas than it is to just, live outside of them." [00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya thinks a moment, then nods. "Makes sense. Well, I've got two more charges in this baby, and I figure you can use the last." 12He reaches into his robes and produces a thin rod of black metal filigreed with iridescent steel. Tatsuya can spot a few crystals filled with swirling shadows on his belt. [00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya: "I'll show you how it works when we're there. For now... door or security?" [00:43] 6Tatsuya: "Door." [00:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya: "Cool. Then you know where to go... and you'll know when to start by the noise. Let's move." [00:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya and Tatsuya team up against the Council's defenses - and, perhaps, rescue Panther - next week! 14[00:46] * Joins: hrolf_mac [00:51] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ [00:51] Working together makes a job go twice as fast! If you're having trouble with something, why not take advantage of teamwork? Be like Tatsuya - work with your friends... or your enemies! 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[20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 ) )\/ ( ( ( [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 * ( (( / ))\)) ( ) ) [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 ( \ )\( | ))( ) (| [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 >) ))/ | )/ \(( ) \ [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 ( ( . -. V )/ )( ( [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ / . \ . \)) )) [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 )( ( | | ) . ( / [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 )( ,')) \ / \( `. ) [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 (\> ,'/__ )) __`. / [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 ( \ | / ___ ( \/ ___ \ | ( ( [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 \.) |/ / \__ __/ \ \| )) [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 . \. |> \ | __ | / <| / [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 )/ \____/ :..: \____/ \ < [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 ) \ (|__ . / ;: \ __| ) ( [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 (( )\) ~--_ -- -- _--~ / )) [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ ( | || || | ( / [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 \. | ||_ _|| | / [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 > : | ~V+-I_I_I-+V~ | : (. [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 ( \: T\ _ _ /T : ./ [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ : T^T T-+-T T^T ;< [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 \..`_ -+- _' ) [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 . `--=.._____..=--'. ./ [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12The pact is sealed. Well, I mean, not really, it's pretty informal. Nevertheless, Tatsuya follows Tatsuya, provocatively disguised as the Emissary, down the halls of the Tomb of Candle-Eyed Skulls. They're approaching some kind of central chamber within the vast, bone-lined, sunken tower - the holding place for an ancient daiklave once wielded by the anathematic sorcerer-warlord that [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12the tomb was built for. [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12This is under heavy security. Demons and clockwork men are arrayed around and throughout the hall, and traceries of red crystal that crackle with crimson lightning sprout in spiraling trails out of the floor, wall, and ceiling. Fortunately, this'll be Tatsuya's job; all Tatsuya has to do is lie in wait until some sort of distraction or sabotage takes effect, and then handle the [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12actual sealed portal closing the hall off from the reliquary chamber. [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya vanishes around a corner. Meanwhile, Tatsuya'll need to vanish as well - they're pretty alert around here. [20:22] 6Honestly, who does this guy think he is? Other than me, I mean. Anyway, this isn't his first rodeo - despite all their security, Tatsuya spots every line to avoid and just has a knack for knowing when the guards turn their eyes ever so slightly and miss him. [20:22] 6By the time they turn to spot him, he's already sped past. [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya's able to find a nice spot within the hallway itself, and therefore has a front-line view of Tatsuya's handiwork. There's a ripple of faint shadow across the wall of the hallway, one that seems to refract through the red crystals studded across the walls. Said crystals begin to hum threateningly before the faint auras of sparks around them crackle to full brilliance and begin [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12lashing out with reckless abandon. [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12A bold of blood-red lightning melts its way straight through a brass automaton, melting the thing's torso to slag. A second disintegrates a man's entire body. Screams and roars sound as the other guards vacate the premises, harried by more eldritch thunderbolts all the while - but Tatsuya's untouched. [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12He finds that the path between him and the door's completely clear, even though an unpredictable electric hell bars the guards from even retracing their steps. [20:25] 6That's rough, buddies. [20:28] 6Tatsuya inserts a little dance into his steps as he goes, and doesn't know why. What's beyond? [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya finds himself faced with, basically, a dome of grinning skulls where a door should be. Their sockets glow in sinister colors and, in response to pressure, they slide past or even through each other like pieces of a bizarre puzzle box. It's not really clear what if anything corresponds to a keyhole, a handle, a hinge, whatever. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Still, that's why you send the best for something like this. Let's see, that one in the corner seems to be staying pretty still... [20:33] 6Huh. Nontraditional, and extraordinarily difficult... but Tatsuya spots the patterns hiding behind tricks hiding behind other patterns. Nobody better in the business. [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya's getting a feel for the mindset of whoever built this tomb - they weren't quite as clever as they thought they were, but were pretty clever all the same, and a real mean piece of shit besides. Several times, the sneak thief almost gets his hand bitten or burned off - which is exactly the plan, because it's only by getting these things to blast or crash into each other that [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12the otherwise insuperable skull barrier can be bypassed. [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12The skulls part before Tatsuya. The Night Caste notices that behind them is a field of pure candle-flame, filling the entire room... which, itself, parts like a pair of curtains, lagging slightly behind the motion of the door. As the flames subside, the central burial chamber itself becomes apparent. [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Like the rest of the tomb, it's all bones and skulls and basalt, but there's an elaborate golden sarcophagus set into the far wall, an orichalcum sun disk set above it that matches the shape of Swan's own caste mark. In the center of the room, bobbing slowly in the air above a pit of flame, is a massive sword. It's the hungry black of soulsteel and inset with rippling teeth and [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12vertebrae that are either carved from white jade or ripped out of creatures whose skeletons were that strong or stronger. [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12There's something familiar about this, but Tatsuya can't place it at the moment. Maybe if he had more time to- "Ah, nice." [20:40] 6Tatsuya: "It's." 6He'll have to describe it later, find out how bad he screwed up letting this one go. Wait, did he agree to steal this for the Velvet Room already? He might've. [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12It's Tatsuya, sweeping up beside him. "Now, watch closely." 12The false Emissary reaches for his belt, then produces a thin, elaborately-engraved wand of what seems to be soulsteel and jade. With his other hand, he fetches a blocky crystal of what might be amethyst from his belt, and screws it to the bottom of the wand. He flourishes the composite device and points it at the [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Daiklave. [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya: "This takes about a minute. Watch my back." 12With weird hum and a soft, indecipherable whisper, a beam of roiling, violet-edged darkness connects the wand and the sword. The glow limns the blade from point to hilt, then slowly expands to fill a wide globe around it, then slowly thickens and darkens until only the sword is visible within the essence field. [20:46] 6He keeps an eye out, but they should be clear, right? [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Fortunately, Tatsuya did his work well - behind him, the hallway's so shot through with punishing lightning and similar security fluctuations that no guards dare approach to require some sort of dissuasion. After close to a minute, the orb of darkness fills itself in completely, there's a wooshing noise and a pop, and the daiklave has vanished from midair. A jet of candle-flame blooms [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12up from the pit beneath it to fill the space it occupied, and the room begins rumbling faintly, but Tatsuya isn't paying attention; he twists the now-dark-at-its-core amethyst off the bottom of the wand, pockets it, and says "Gotcha." [20:48] 6He makes a gesture to 'hurry up' - it's time to go. With Panther, preferably. [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12He looks contemplative for a moment, then shrugs to himself and tosses the wand over, along with one more crystal. In Tatsuya's hands, the artifact is clammy and brittle-feeling; there's a faint black patina of corrosion spreading across the silver filigree. Tatsuya says: "You can figure it out. I'm booking it." [20:50] 6He stuffs it away and heads back towards where he left Panther. Gotta hustle, whatever's happening now is bad news. 14[20:51] * Joins: hrolf_mac [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a little slower going down to the bottom levels, but also a little easier, because the floor is starting to rumble audibly now and that causes some confusion among the guards. When Tatsuya reaches Panther's holding chamber, he finds the door guarded by only one human guard, and an extremely upset-looking one besides. [21:00] 6Only one guy left? Piece of cake. Tatsuya crouches behind a corner and wings his sturdy crowbar right at the guy's temple, connecting beautifuly as the guy lets out a "What the--" [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, a heterodox Ebon Shadow technique. [21:01] 6He picks it right back up and sets to work on the lock. Sneaking under it was pretty easy, but draining, and Tatsuya's nearly too exhausted to continue. So, let's take the front entrance. [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12The door down here's much easier to deal with; it seems to have been put into place by the Council's sorcerers rather than ancient anathema. Tapping on the right places sets up self-reinforcing vibrations that simply shake the internal lock into full alignment, and from there it's a matter of just pushing the stone aside. [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya finds himself faced again with the living stone effigy of Panther, Zenith Caste Solar. Righteous faith comes off the figure in waves - it's hard to look directly at it without feeling some combination of religious zeal and shame. [21:03] 6Oof, get him out of here. Feeling guilty for crime is really bad for business. All that's left is to use the wand. He gives the thing a shake for good measure, then mimics what his other self did. [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12The wand's icy cold in his grip, but isn't hard to aim - in fact, once it locks on, it seems almost impossible to drag out of position. Violet-hued darkness builds in a wide sphere around the statue of Panther, then winks out and takes the statue along with it. The wand proceeds to disintegrate in Tatsuya's hand, while the amethyst crystal socketed into its bottom end falls freely [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12into his other palm, feeling a whole lot heavier. [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12...success? Just gotta get out of here, now. [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12By the time Tatsuya returns to the tunnel he crawled through to get in here, he's probably started to dread another cramped and painful shimmy through the paths of dozens of angry will-o-wisps. Fortunately, they don't even seem to be around; many of the skulls have stopped burning all together, and the tunnels leading down into the water have largely emptied themselves. Maybe this [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12has something to do with the almost painful chill and violent shaking that has, by now, seized the entire Tomb from top to bottom. [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, it ain't Tatsuya's problem. His diving suit's right where he left it. [21:08] 6Gonna be a lot of people mad about what went on. Hopefully, that other Tatsuya was as competent as he looked. And also wasn't deliberately trying to set him up. [21:08] 6See, as competent as he looked? Because he looked like Tatsuya? Ahh, forget it. Back into the diving suit. 08[21:10] 6He makes his way towards where he told Arianna and Ir to stay put, dropping the suit off where Eikichi left it. He strolls in tossing the amethyst in one hand, heavy though it is. "Howdy," 6he starts. [21:10] "...change of plans. No need for a break in." [21:11] 4Ir visibly goes through two reactions very quickly: relief that Tatsuya's safe, and alarm that he's not carrying anything. [21:11] "Where's--" [21:11] 14Well, not anything she's expecting. [21:11] 4Well, not anything she's expecting. [21:12] 6He taps the amethyst. "Ran into an interesting guy down there. Gave me a present, in exchange for a favor. I help him get a weapon out of there, he gives me the way he's been doing his smuggling. And so: voila." 6He hands the gem to her. "...didn't have time to tell me how to open it back up, though." [21:12] 4Ir: "An 'interesting guy?'" [21:13] 4She sighs. "Well, I don't hear any alarms and there's no Emissary here to kills us. And the kruthik stayed leashed." [21:13] "So I guess that's a win." [21:13] 6Tatsuya: "Looked exactly like me. I've got some investigating to do, once we figure out Swan." [21:14] 4Panther. [21:14] "Not sure if he's using me as a symbol, a way to throw them off his own scent in case he gets spotted, or to deliberately ruin my good name. Seemed competent." [21:14] 4Ir: "It's good cover, at least." [21:14] 4She's not about to say Ying and Tatsuya share a body in front of Arianna. [21:15] 6Tatsuya: "Yeah, it was my idea too. Glad I didn't, though - he set off something rough on his way out. They're gonna be maaaaad," 6he says in a sing-song. [21:15] 4Ir: "We shouldn't extract Panther here, I don't think. We should just walk away." [21:16] "Take care of it somewhere outside a certain big man's legal purview." [21:16] 6Tatsuya: "Agreed." [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Even this far away, Ir and Tatsuya can feel a faint rumbling. It's probably fine, though. [21:17] 4Is Arianna with Ir and Tatsuya at the exfiltration point? [21:18] 4If so: "You're welcome to come with us, if you want. I'm betting you'll want to be there for Panther coming back. Swan too." [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna's not. She's presumably elsewhere, ready to launch a full on kruthik assault on the Tomb - and relieved she hasn't been asked to. [21:19] 4Then we should get word to her. [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12If Tatsuya hasn't summoned that kind of rowdiness down, the assumption is that he's gotten out safely and can regroup with Arianna and Swan in the normal fashion. [21:19] 4But before that, it's time to get back to the Heavensward. [21:19] 6Tatsuya doesn't have a way to contact her other than sending in the kruthik, does he? [21:20] 6Not even to confirm that he's made it safely, instead of leaving her to hope and trust? [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyone particularly want to be present or non present for meeting Arianna and working out what to do with the crystal containing statue-Panther, or are the other members of the Squared Circle content to keep tending their own affairs? [21:20] 4Ir again wants to be on record for us doing this outside of Nexus's city limits. [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna's probably left an invisible familiar or something to hang out at Tatsuya's extraction point and report goings-on to her, so instant communication isn't a desperate priority here. [21:21] 4Is there any grief getting back to the ship and leaving? [21:22] 6We should have this discussion on the Heavensward, well outside of Nexus, if at all possible. Not just the action - everything. [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Meeting outside Nexus is probably smart. Arianna and Swan are prepared to ship out and find you somewhere on the road, or in a neighboring town, or in an out of the way copse, or similar. [21:23] 14We'll pick them up around a small village on the way to those hunting grounds with the big-ass sloths. [21:23] 4We'll pick them up around a small village on the way to those hunting grounds with the big-ass sloths. [21:26] 4Soon Ir is back at the helm of the Heavensward and heading for ungoverned lands. [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12So Swan and Arianna are invited onto the Heavensward for the actual unveiling, so to speak? Sadly, the other members of their Circle still seem to be elsewhere - somewhere to the south, apparently. [21:31] 4They are. [21:31] 4Ir will dawdle long enough for Tatsuya to catch his breath, however. [21:31] 4Or Ying to catch hers. [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12As Nexus recedes in the distance, those looking back will catch some sort of huge, burning shape visible amidst the tallest buildings, which is probably fine. [21:32] 6Definitely fine. Totally okay. [21:33] 4As they fly, to Tatsuya: "Anything you want to tell me?" [21:33] 4She has looked back. [21:34] 6Tatsuya: "Other guy did that. Would've stopped him if I had known that's what it was gonna do, but, too late now." [21:34] "Heard the rumbling. Got out of there before it got bad." [21:35] 4Ir parked them in a cloud bank for a few hours and made some pork-fried rice beans from leftovers. [21:36] 6Tatsuya: "Probably just ghosts." [21:36] 7See, this is why it's good to have a pleasant working relationship with the Trinity of Great Forks: Alibis. [21:37] "'swhy looting tombs is technically illegal. These things blow up all the time." [21:37] "Dunno how to feel about that," 4as she hands Tatsuya a bowl of perfectly-prepared meat, rice, and beans. [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12It's true - this'll be hard to pin on any of you. Well, most of you. It's not like the Heavensward's presence in the city was hidden at the time... [21:38] 4Ir was careful to make her presence known at her poorhouses and in the Arena. [21:38] 6Secret identities, folks. Don't go home without 'em. [21:38] 4Though she'll need alibi help for the time of the actual heist. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12So, after some hours' travel and other logistics, an extremely intent Arianna and slightly amazed Panther are addressing whoever else has been gathered on the Heavensward's deck. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna's wrapped tightly in a violet shawl against the night's winds, her braid whipping in the air. "Well? Where is he? Below decks? Is he hurt?" [21:39] 4...Does he need medical attention? [21:39] 4Oh, Swan. [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Er, sorry, a slightly amazed Swan. [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keeping an entire three people straight is VERY difficult. [21:40] 6I know, right? [21:40] 4Ir: "He's a gem. I think."; [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "I'm sorry?" 08[21:41] 4Are we waiting on Eikichi and Blossom via Stormwind Rider? [21:41] 6Tatsuya: "Right in here." 6He holds out the amethyst. "Careful." [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12They're likely already here. Information can travel fast if you're willing to sweat through the requisite magic, and for this, Arianna is. 15[21:42] 10Eikichi's peering at the gem over Tatsuya's shoulder. "Is this how you found him?" [21:42] 4Nice. [21:42] 4There's enough pork rice for everyone, if they want. [21:43] 7Blossom frowns at the amethyst. "What's that supposed to be?" [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12The gem in Tatsuya's hand is a roughly cubic amethyst, one that is far heavier than it looks. Its corners and edges shine palely, but its center is extremely dark, such that it's impossible to see what's inside. [21:43] 6Tatsuya: "He was a statue when I found him. 'Friend' gave me a gift - wand that made things portable. This was the last charge." [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna peers at it. [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Then she holds out a hand. "Give it here." 15[21:45] 10Eikichi: "Just smash the gem. It's served its purpose." [21:46] 6He passes it over. "Here you - what?" [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna wastes no time in simply turning around and then hurling the amethyst to the Heavensward's deck a few feet away, where it shatters with a loud crack and flash of anti-light. 15[21:47] "Yeah. It's necromancy. A little Labyrinth. Once you take him out there'll be nowhere to put anything back, so you might as well just break it instead of trying to pick it open." 15[21:47] 10Blossom could've thrown it harder. [21:48] 7Blossom could have crushed it in her hands. [21:48] 4Sigh. 15[21:48] 10Sigh. [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12There's suddenly a faint droning in the air - like several deep voices vocalizing wordless music. Harsh white light shines across the Heavensward's deck, banishing all shadow. Where the gem landed stands what looks like a half-carved marble statue of a looming, muscular man staring intently forward while offering one hand to the viewer. A wavy, eight-pronged sundisk is carved - [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12tattooed? - onto his chest, and his waist, legs, and other arm vanish down into a base of mostly-uncut marble. [21:49] 6Tatsuya, averting his eyes: "Oh shit, I forgot to warn you --" [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12A circular, filled-in caste mark glows pure white on the statue's forehead, and palpable righteousness radiates forth from it, filling the space of the deck. 15[21:50] 10Eikichi: "Panther looks just as chiseled as I remember." [21:51] 7Oh my. 15[21:53] 10Hey!! [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12The living relic is both inspiring and accusatory. Its caste mark shines in full brightness even through closed eyes, or in your imagination if you turn away. It's nearly impossible to ignore- [21:55] 4Ir doesn't ignore it, close her eyes, or look away. [22:00] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom, once she apprehends the literally awe-inspiring image, immediately walks boldly in front of it and gives a short bow, hands clasped in respect. "Brother," 7She cries. "No matter what darkness rises, the children of the Sun are never defeated!" [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan gasps. Arianna shudders and looks away after a moment, but she's frowning to herself. [22:01] 4Ir smiles. "Brother," 4she says, "we free you from your chains, as we'd free everyone." [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12For a moment, the caste mark on Swan's forehead glints golden, and burns blue around the edges with Blossom's own dragon-fire. Then the cerulean flame spreads in jagged, spider-web cracks from the statue's forehead, running down his face and along his shoulders and across his back and chest. [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12The stone rumbles, then cracks, then falls away in pieces. They're revealed to be almost paper-thin, and shatter like egg-shells against the Heavensward's deck. The statue's blocky base takes a little longer, but eventually is simply kicked aside. [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther stands on the Heavensward's deck, in the rubble of his own carven image. He blinks several times. "My sisters... my brothers. ...Thank you." [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "I... how long has it-...?" [22:08] 4How long HAS it been? [22:08] 6Tatsuya rubs his head in irritation and looks up towards the Sun before turning back to Panther with no visible emotion on his face. [22:09] 7That's a good question, actually. 15[22:09] 10Eikichi: "Two months, about." 15[22:09] "It was the day we got to Nexus." [22:10] 4Does he need a doctor, or...? [22:10] 6Has it already been that long? Wow. Time flies, huh. [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther looks around, still somewhat dazed. Arianna speaks up. "After the Emissary attacked you, you were... incapacitated, I suppose. They carted you off to gods know where." [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Swan nearly died, and the two of us went into hiding. Dace and Jade were off chasing that geas... and I advised them to stay out there 'til this was settled. It was these people who found you and dug you out of there." [22:12] "We got Swan back up to speed. We'll get you too, if you need it." [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther looks at the Squared Circle. "I... and who are you? I am Panther... and I'm in your debt." 15[22:13] 10Eikichi: "Follow my finger for me, will you? That's good." 08[22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther succeeds, but Eikichi can note the difficulty with which he succeeds. This guy needs rest and plenty of fluids. [22:14] 6Tatsuya gives a lazy wave and lights his caste mark. "Tatsuya, the Golden Hand. I'm the one who broke you out." 15[22:14] "He needs dinner and bedrest." 08[22:15] 4To Eikichi: "Gimme a menu, doc." 15[22:15] 10Eikichi: "Do you eat meat? Dairy?" [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12He nods to both. "Come to think of it... it has been months." 15[22:20] 10Eikichi: "He should be able to tolerate food at least as well as he tolerated being liquefied and petrified by the Emissary. You should sit down, by the way. Eikichi Sho." [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther looks between Ir and Blossom then, expectant. [22:21] 4Ir waves hand as she turns to head to the kitchen, which is what the galley is called on Pneuman vessels. "Ir." [22:21] "I'm gonna fix a spread." [22:22] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom: "Excessively Righteous Blossom. It's a pleasure to meet you." [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12The gladiator nods. "I'm in your d- ...I already said so. Food would be good, I think." [22:23] 6Tatsuya: "Usually is." 08[22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12There's probably a bit of fast-forwarding here as Ir readies some more food and Eikichi and Arianna both fuss over the still-somewhat-woozy Panther. He's pretty insistent about not simply going to sleep right away, though, and will arrange to at least have a comfy and supportive seat at whatever dining table or mess hall the Heavensward sports, along with Arianna, Swan, and the rest [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12of you. [22:24] 4The Heavensward is parked high and tight in some foggy peaks as night falls. Very soon, Ir has two portable "fire pits" roaring on the aft lounge's grilltops and is pouring drinks. 15[22:25] 10Eikichi: "While you're waiting, sit! Arianna, I need your help with something, if you don't mind." [22:26] 4The trick, of course, is to sear the meat cubes just right while not cooking the fish. That means putting the fish on either end of the skewers, the meat in the middle, and buffering them with the vegetables, and then collecting the coals in the center and forming a metal fire-pipe up to cook the meat. [22:26] 4Done right, you get three courses per skewer: a Realm-infused sashimi opener, a Threshold salad, and then a Northern griller. [22:26] 4Ir does it right. [22:26] 4Lover's Dice, baby. Fusion cuisine. [22:30] 4The drinks, of course, use her own house gin and her own self-pressed house juices. And ice she collected herself. She's had some time in transit between the forward base and Nexus. 08[22:30] 6Tatsuya sits at the table and fiddles with a complicated-looking set of picks and a training lock. Child's play, really, but his adventure today has given him an idea he'll have to run by Eikichi. [22:30] 6Maybe Blossom, if he sells it right. Or Ying does. [22:31] 4She reheats the rice, sets it out as a first-come first-serve opener, and then flash-cooks the skewers while preparing the drinks in between turns to fully cook the meat. 08[22:31] 4Hopefully Eikichi or Blossom or Tatsuya are up to serving the gin. [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12As Ir works, Panther has a seat, and Swan, Blossom, and Tatsuya are just free to hang out, Swan does his best at explaining to Panther what's been going on in the past few months. He mentions his own injuries - cured by Arianna's magic - the ascendance of Ir and Bergsveinn through the ranks of the arena, the increasing influence of Thorns, the approach of the colossus from the east... 08[22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Arianna steps out to have a word with Eikichi. "Yes?" 15[22:34] 10Eikichi: "Hi! It's nice to see you. You look lovely. Does Panther know about your army of demons yet?" 08[22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna's face goes through a few phases as Eikichi talks. "Oh, well I- ...no." [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "I only really got started with them in his absence." 15[22:36] 10Eikichi: "Do you want to tell him or should I?" 08[22:37] 7Hrmph! So Eikichi's fussing over that... that... floozy?! Two can play at that game. Abruptly, she asks Panther: "So how did you all meet?" [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "I will, of course. But you'd better back me up. You're working the same scheme." [22:37] 4Gonna just keep making the food. 15[22:38] "Oh, of course. How do you think he'll take it?" [22:38] 6Tatsuya looks up with interest and notices the lack of drinks. Yes, that's exactly what this needs. He pours a round with a heavy hand - excepting Panther's, he's on the mend and gets a regular pour - then sets the table. "Folks," 6he says. [22:38] 4The lack of drinks?! [22:39] 6Oh, serving it. Bringing it out. Not the pouring. Sorry! [22:39] 4THANK you. [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther, eating sashimi as though it were candy: "Ah, it's quite a story. When I met the Sun, I was alone - just in my flat in Nexus, ruminating. I got up and left the city that very day, just walking as far as my feet would take me. It was only when I was on my way back that I ran into these two, near Greyfalls." [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "What seemed to be a tyrannical god was terrorizing a village there... of course, it ended up much more serious. That brought us three back to Nexus, where we met Jade..." 12It sounds like this Circle has been tangling on and off with a network of secret demon cults and the depredations of Lunar warlords, back and forth across the East, always based out of Nexus. [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Heee... well, he's never liked my summonings in the first place, but this is a bit different. I don't think he'll approve, on the face of it." 15[22:45] 10Eikichi: "Do you think it'd be better if I took the brunt of it? The worst he can do to me is hold me in contempt and he's going to do that anyway." [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12There are a few implications to what Panther's saying. First, if you do some mental math you'll realize he's probably been Exalted the longest of all his Circlemates, while this 'Jade' person is supernaturally the youngest. He also seems to have picked a fair few of his Circle's fights or otherwise been the default impetus for them going one way or the other - but it's some entanglement [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12of Dace's that have put his people at odds with the Lunars several times. [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "What, and pretend it was your idea?" 12She sounds miffed. 15[22:49] 10Eikichi: "Do you think he'll be impressed?" [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "That's not the point. I need to get support, not lose credit." [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "...which brings us back to the city. ...and which got me in so much trouble, I suppose." [22:51] 4Ir, as the stories about the Lunars proceed: "So...how is Dace." [22:51] "When it comes to the Chosen of the Moon." [22:51] 6Tatsuya sips his G'n'J. Delicious. [22:52] 6Took the words right out of his mouth, too.\ [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "It's always pained me that for all the good we've done, my own home is little changed for my awakening. I simply couldn't - ah, he was in a difficult place when we parted ways." [22:53] "Mmmm." 4Ir sips her drink. "I just need to know if I should tell my boyfriend not to come around when we have these little get-togethers, is all." [22:54] "I'm sure you understand." [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "Ma-Ha-Suchi's second grant of mercy came at a much steeper price than the first, one which Swan had to officiate. The mercenary went south to offer his strength in resolving some dispute among the Moon's Chosen." [22:54] 6He's from Nexus? Hm. They'll have to talk. Wait, boyf- Ying knew about that one. He sips again to cover the start. [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "But Dace isn't a vengeful or unreasonable man. You've nothing to fear from any of us if that's the worst company you keep." 15[22:55] 10Eikichi: "Losing credit is the least of our worries if we play this wrong. He will just crush every hive barehanded, and from then on he'd be looking over your shoulder if you ever did anything more complicated than a stinkbomb for hire." [22:57] 4That sounds like a 'no' on inviting Arakesh to parties. [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "He's not going to - look, either way, there's a chance he can just unfailingly detect lies. I haven't had the chance to check." 15[22:58] 10Eikichi: "I'm not asking you to lie. I'm just saying, I think it'd go better if mine was the face he put to the project." [22:58] 6Tatsuya: "You're from Nexus, you said? What made you leave in the first place?" [22:58] 4She glances over at Blossom. "How're things going in Great Forks, Blossom?" 4This feels like something Panther would want in on -- constructively. [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther looks over to Tatsuya. "Are you from Nexus? Maybe you'd heard of me." [22:59] 4As important as freeing the slaves of Nexus is, it's something that'll require more preparation than Panther craves in his plans, given prior acts. Perhaps better to distract him while they plan. [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "We'll see." 12Heading back? [23:00] 6Tatsuya: "I know a bit, but I like to check the original source when I can. People around here tell a lot of tall tales. Gladiator, right?" 15[23:00] 10Eikichi will be there a little bit after Arianna - he's going to duck into his room real quick and then rejoin everyone. [23:01] 7Blossom nods at Ir: "We're doing well. The district around the Sunshrine is blooming." 15[23:02] 10Eikichi: "Is that what people are calling it?" [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "That's right. One of the best. I was at the top of my career when the Sun spoke to me, and it was on a day off. I wandered out to the balcony, looked up... and there He was." [23:04] 7Blossom: "Hmm? I mean, no, not really. That's just what it is." [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "In a moment, everything I'd accomplished in Nexus seemed to me like so much ash. I had to find myself, so I picked a direction and started walking." 15[23:04] 10Eikichi: "It sounds like 'sunshine'." 15[23:04] 10To Panther: "And you ended up back in Nexus." [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna's already sat down. "He practically ran into the Pole of Wood first, the way he tells it." [23:05] 4Hnnk. Pole of Wood. [23:05] 4Errhrm. 15[23:05] 10Eikichi looks off, dreamily. "You know, if Creation was round instead of flat, you could walk in a straight line from Nexus and end up back at Nexus if you walked far enough." [23:06] 4Ir blinks. "Sun, that would make sailing a nightmare." [23:06] "Why, you could just...fly right off into the Heavens." [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "Back in Nexus, yes. And like I was saying, it's always eaten at me that for all we've done, we'd always return to the city and find it unchanged. For all our works..." [23:06] 6Tatsuya: "Navigating's a cinch, though. Never a wrong direction." [23:06] 7Blossom: "You could probably do that anyway, if you wandered far enough into the Wyld." 15[23:06] 10Eikichi: "Imagine trying to navigate by the stars if you can't even see the whole sky from one spot at sea." [23:07] "I shan't. It's enough to induce anxiety." [23:07] 7She nods firmly at Panther: "Nexus is just the worst." [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther blinks, then looks to Swan. "But... maybe you were right. You told me yourself, that you'd set the wheels in motion, hadn't you? That we need merely wait." 15[23:07] 10Eikichi waves a hand airily. "We're changing it plenty." 15[23:07] "We'll change it more, too." [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan licks his lips. "I did... and it worked, for a time. But someone undid it. The Guild's back in full operation." 15[23:08] 10She's soooooo eager to agree with everything he says. That's fine. Whatever. 08[23:08] 6Tatsuya: "Eikichi, did you get a drink yet? Ir made Gin 'n' Juches." 15[23:09] 10Eikichi: "Iiii shouldn't." [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther's eyes flash. "Who?" [23:10] 4Ir's getting trashed. Arakesh knows where they've dropped anchor; Ir sent word. Maybe he'll drop by. 15[23:10] 10Eikichi: "Typhon of Thorns!" [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "Typhon?! The Mask's own mouthpiece?" 15[23:11] "Careful, he's got diplomatic immunity now." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther's Circle has tangled with the Mask - well, with the Mask's minions, anyway. They've never actually attacked the city or something. [23:11] <@Ferrinus> "Unbei-" 12Panther pauses. "Eminently believable." [23:12] 4Ir: "We've had words with him." [23:12] "He's a shithead." 15[23:12] 10Eikichi: "Yeah. Though unlike his master, Typhon hasn't tried to assassinate us with magic from a thousand malms away." [23:13] 7Blossom: "I bet he wishes he could." [23:13] 6Tatsuya: "Small victories, though." [23:13] "I bet he's planning to right now." [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "I've met him. He swears that his master has turned Thorns into some sort of paradise... even believes it. But that can only mean he's under a spell himself." 15[23:13] 10Eikichi: "I bet he wishes we would just be nice." [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "What did he want of you?" 15[23:15] 10Eikichi: "He wanted to bargain with us over a relic we got from Crystal. We decided to hold onto it instead." [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "Good. Give him nothing. Every advantage a creature like the Mask obtains will be turned against us in the end." 15[23:17] 10Eikichi: "Or in the middle. Or during dinner." [23:17] 6Tatsuya: "It really was incredibly rude." [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "Hah. Yes. What was this sun shrine?" 12This to Blossom, as he eats some cubes. [23:17] 4Ir: "Dead assholes are." [23:20] 7Blossom, also eating the good cubes: "Oh, that's in Great Forks. There was only one small temple to the Sun there, with a single priestess in a poor area of the city. When we first arrived, she was struggling with a spectre that was haunting the lower districts. I helped her destroy it, and we've been working on revitalizing the area." 15[23:20] 10Eikichi: "Struggling with a spectre?" [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "And the Weaver, Spinner, and Shield are letting you?" [23:20] "There's a spectre haunting the Threshold." [23:21] "That's what the monks used to say, at least." 15[23:21] 10Eikichi: "They haven't said a peep because we're doing them a favor and haven't made any real noise yet." 15[23:21] "I don't think that's going to last much longer." [23:21] 7Blossom: "You remember, it was in the speech I gave. She'd imprisoned it within her own soul." [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "What's the favor?" 15[23:22] 10Eikichi: "She survived?" 15[23:22] "I didn't think that was the same person I met at the shrine." [23:27] 7Blossom waves a hand. "Oh, no no no. I exorcised the wraith before tearing it apart. I'd been thinking about that kind of thing since we fought those raksha, so I was confident it would work." [23:28] 6Tatsuya: "How was she afterwards? Weeks of recuperating? Days? Hours?" 15[23:28] 10Eikichi: "Wow..." [23:31] 7Blossom: "A bit tired afterwards, I guess." [23:32] 6He raises his eyebrows. "That's all? From a possession? Huh." 15[23:32] 10Eikichi: "That must've been awful for her to go through. You were a real blessing." [23:32] 4Oh, Sun. Ir pours herself another. [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "Impressive. It's good to hear that the world changes around Nexus, at least." [23:38] 7He is forgiiiiiven~ 08[23:38] 7Blossom smiles at Eikichi. 15[23:39] 10Eikichi blushes. [23:40] 6Tatsuya grabs another drink. [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "We... might be able to tackle Nexus. Before we retrieved you, I suggested claiming or at least looting Sperimin. My thought was that with the magic of that place, we could challenge the Emissary... or the Mask, or anyone, really." 12Panther looks mildly skeptical. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "Not even Ma-Ha-Suchi dared send Dace in that direction. You'd need armies." 15[23:43] 10Eikichi: "We're also embarking on a campaign to purge the Underground of the last traces of the invasion of Great Forks." [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "Ah. Maybe the Three would be willing to tolerate the growth of a cult that pays chiminage to no one within the city if you can offer them something like that." 15[23:45] 10Eikichi: "They were very keen to make sure we parted amicably without their feeling in our debt." 14[23:49] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Connection closed) [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther shifts in his seat, finishes a drink. "Then what now? I survived the Emissary's wrath... but not cleanly, and I don't know how many of you could do the same. But Nexus continues to fester, and Thorns builds in strength..." [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "And that monster sleeps in the east, and from what we last heard, Jade was right in her surmise about Dace's geas." 15[23:51] 10Eikichi: "A geas?" [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "Ah, yeah... he tried for a round two with Ma-Ha-Suchi and I ended up having to intervene to keep him alive. Now he's bound to settle some score of the wolf-goat's in the south." [23:53] 7Blossom: "They can do that?" 15[23:54] 10Eikichi points at Swan with his chopsticks. "He can." [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan nods. "It was that or execution. Anyway, Jade had a hunch about where he was going and it turned out to be the right one." [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12He looks to Panther. "Now that you're back... we might want to follow them out there. Regroup." Session Time: Tue Feb 27 00:00:00 2018 14[00:04] * Joins: Crion| [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "And simply leave things... unsettled here?" 12Swan: "For now. Our friends are building up their strength farther east, aren't they? And Thorns is the southwest, just as Dace and Jade are. When you return to Nexus, you can square things - but you don't have to return immediately." [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "Every day's delay-" 12Arianna: "Yes, but that's true of literally everywhere." [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12The Zenith shakes his head to himself. "I'll... sleep on it, at least." [00:05] 6Sip. "Pick the fights you can win. Do what you can, where you can do it." 15[00:07] 10Eikichi: "You're useless to Nexus until you know what you're going to do to make the next fight with the Emissary go differently." 15[00:09] "And it's not just you. You thought you had it bad? You should've seen what that little showdown did to Swan." 15[00:09] "I tell a lie. No one should have to see that." [00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "Oh, it will. That I can promise you." 12A pause. "But you have the right of it there. My brothers and sisters... they wouldn't be so lucky." 15[00:10] 10Eikichi: "Plus, if you just fight him and don't die, it's not like anything will change anyway." 15[00:10] "We need to beat him. Or make him not matter." 15[00:11] "Then he can just, retire. Settle down somewhere. Marry a dressmaker." [00:11] 7Heh. [00:11] 6Sssssssssssip. [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "Strange thoughts. But not wrong ones. No, I think you two - three - four - are right. We should make whole our Circle first. Perhaps then strike at the Guild's slave trade by interposing ourselves between Nexus and the south." [00:13] 7Blossom: "And if we do take the Emissary out of the picture, we need to make sure th-- yes, exactly. The Guild is the next strongest power in Nexus, and then perhaps Thorns. We need to be sure they won't move into the vacuum." [00:13] 6Tatsuya: "Six, actually. Ying and Bergsveinn are away." [00:13] 4Ir: "We've got some numbers." 14[00:14] * Joins: tom 15[00:14] 10Eikichi: "It's a good point you raise, though. Slavery is only legal in Nexus. The whole of Creation is lawless as far as the Emissary's concerned." [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "Then eleven of the Sun's Chosen - at the least - are at large in the Threshold right now? That is something." 15[00:14] "If you're bored you could just destroy every shipment of people bound into or just past the city limits." [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "We will make something of this. Build the faith on both sides of the city, then close on it like jaws." [00:18] 4It's a plan, at least. [00:19] 6And not a bad one. Certainly better than charging back into Nexus to fist-fight the Emissary. [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12The Zenith Caste cracks his neck, stretches, and stands. "Excellent meal. Now, I need rest - and tomorrow we can take stock, and act." 15[00:19] 10Eikichi looks around at the collected chosen. "It's possible. Anything's possible. As long as we're willing to do the work, and as long as we're willing to accept the consequences." 10Haha, weird, by the time Eikichi was finished speaking he was staring directly at Arianna. [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna's looking at her drink for some reason. [00:19] 6Love to give speeches to crowds but also directly to one person. [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Having rescued a new ally from the clutches of the Council, the Squared Circle ends the day triumphant. 14[00:56] * Quits: cbass (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:58] * Joins: cbass 14[02:39] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[02:40] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:10] * Quits: banana|peels (Quit: ZNC - http://znc.in) 14[05:06] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:51] * Joins: banana 14[07:45] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[07:50] * Joins: Crion 14[08:02] * Joins: Crion_ 14[09:54] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:05] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[13:22] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:23] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:37] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[15:55] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[16:37] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[16:45] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[17:35] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[18:48] * Joins: tom 15[20:06]  15[20:06]  15[20:06]  15[20:06]  15[20:06]  15[20:10] Whew! Long day. Keldar and Stranger part ways not long after their business lunch with the friendly and rational Overfactor of Nexus, with Keldar pursuing his dark business and Stranger returning to Floodwater to change gears entirely. He arrives shortly after Xia Lan, who had a much more trying lunch of free cocktails and rumination. [20:11] 14Stranger is still flexing and shaking out his right hand. [20:11] "Hrrrm," 14he says by way of greeting, putting on a kettle of water. [20:14] 13Xia Lan's sitting in some overstuffed arm chair in the common area, reading through her mail. She looks up as Stranger enters, then slowly begins to pack away her things. "I talked to Tohu," 13she says. [20:14] 14Stranger nods. He won't bother asking if she wants tea; seems rude, given the circumstances of their...circumstances. [20:15] "Will...they...provide the liquor?" [20:18] 13Xia Lan: "On one condition. The game's only played for stakes - promises and agreements don't count. Material goods, souls, things of that nature... so the deal has changed." [20:18] "I want the recipe Xu Sim made." 14[20:19] * Joins: dammitwho [20:19] 14Stranger: "I can't vouchsafe someone else's work." [20:20] "...I can agree to trying to bully him into giving it up." [20:22] 13Xia Lan: "...good enough, I guess. If you can get him to agree on the stakes beforehand, so much the better. If I lose, I drop any claim to the recipe or objections to its use. Seem fair?" [20:22] 14He puts on some Greengrass. "You're sure you don't want more?" [20:25] 13Xia Lan: "I figure what it represents is enough to discourage this - or anything like it - from happening again. I suppose I could be wrong." 13She looks over her set of completely unnecessary reading glasses. "Am I wrong?" [20:26] 14Stranger: "Honestly? If you've wagered your success in this manner, against the background of the war for Creation? Yes, you are." [20:27] "You will want my warrant, to never interfere again. To let you fail." 15[20:29] Across town, Nessun Dorma brings down his mighty hammer with a thunderous crash... only for it to pass through empty air! "NO!" he roars, pointing at the real Xu Sim with a gauntleted hand. "FIND HIM!" 15[20:30] There's a crater of splinters and stonework in the middle of the room, the ragged remnants of a carpet wedged deep into the ground... but where is that Xu Sim? [20:32] 13Xia Lan: "Stubborn one, aren't you? I suppose you have to be. Still, to just - nevermind, we've been over this. Yes. If that's what it will take." [20:33] 14Stranger: "All I want in return, should I win, is for you keep an open mind to my council. Even if it seems...inglorious." [20:33] "Also, to my counsel." [20:34] 13She blinks. "You said the same thing twice." [20:34] 14He smiles. [20:35] "Do we shake on this, or...?" [20:35] 13Xia Lan: "The pact is sealed." 13She reaches out her hand to shake. [20:36] 14Stranger takes it. [20:37] 14Then he frowns. "I'm going to need to find a keyharp. And maybe a six-string." 15[20:37] Keldar, meanwhile, is feeling 14pretty good about his prospects. An alliance secured, for the good of Nexus. Every able sword arm in the city ready and willing to rise in its defense. Plus... working for the Guild has all sorts of perks. He's got an all-hands meeting with Khelendros in advance of the first performance trials of the joint Green Apples and Dawn Guard company. [20:37] 5 Xu Sim grits his teeth. For such a barren room, there's surely many places he could hide - indeed, several places he did try to hide, himself, both at present and each of the previous times he's been here. [20:38] 13After the handshake: "I'm heading back to the CIO to let Tohu know about this, I'll make sure there's a backing band and instruments for us." 13She turns, then stops. "...you didn't put anything in that tea, did you?" [20:38] 14He sighs, shows her the inside of an empty cup so she can see it's not doctored with an antidote, then pours himself a cup and takes a large sip. [20:39] "If you're up to it, I could use your company. I'm looking for the Dragonlord's secretary. It might be dangerous, and Dawn is otherwise occupied..." [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12The Tiger of Nexus's mind is on fire with ideas for obstacle courses and war games. He knows exactly how to divvy up the Parko's grounds to simulate all sorts of battlefield conditions, just the right roundabouts and cul de sacs to lease for the sake of trainings on cover, line of sight, proper use of chokepoints... he can't believe he hasn't thought of some of this stuff before, [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12though, in his defense, he hadn't really tried. [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Either way, he just needs Khelendros to sign off. The old man's never thought much of volunteer or conscript militias... and, hell, neither has Keldar. But it's a new day, right? [20:42] 5 With a flourish, Xu Sim takes on a defensive posture and prepares to enter the signature stance of the Crane style. 15[20:45] Xu Sim can't see his sugary doppleganger... but he can see the footprint said doppleganger leaves on the world's flows of Essence. The knots and eddies, the subtle building of pressure... why, it's almost like this hidden fraud is shaping sorcery! Xu Sim himself doesn't know the spell, but he's studied enough to see a resemblance to the dreadfully lethal Flight of the Brilliant Raptor. [20:45] 13She sips. Glad he feels at least a little shame. "I really do have to head back to Tohu. Maybe Xu Sim can help you with Bubo, too." [20:46] 14Stranger shakes his head. "Xu Sim is in the wind. If your business at CIO is involved such that it's not a quick stop off, I'll resume the search alone." [20:47] "...No disrespect to him, but the situation with Bubo is delicate enough that I don't want Xu Sim present for it anyway. Neither him nor Keldar." 15[20:48] "Useless!" Dorma drops into a three-point stance, palm flat against the ground, eyes closed. [20:49] 14He runs his finger around the rim of the teacup. "This might sound odd, but you're about the only one I'd trust on this. Dawn, too, but only for her skills and her unfamiliarity with the man." 15[20:52] Dorma looks up. "There!" If Xu Sim follows his gaze, he'll see his counterpart clinging to a high corner in the back of the room, behind Dorma, near the window, palms and soles flat against the wall. [20:53] "He's trying to unleash fire sorcery," 5 Xu Sim stammers. [20:53] 13Xia Lan: "Flatterer. What leads do you have on Bubo?" [20:59] 14He smiles slightly. "I don't flatter. The situation with Bubo is that he serves Heaven in...some capacity, and we're currently trying to impress upon him the virtues of a life lived in Creation, instead. That means playing matchmaker with him and Astrologer Kratz. Now, I've been to see the astrologer, and the good news is I believe he spent the night there, the night of the council [20:59] meeting. The bad news is he left before breakfast the next morning." [21:00] 13Xia Lan: "In a hurry?" 15[21:01] At the Green Apple headquarters, Keldar strides through crowds of hardened and aspiring mercenaries, who all look up to watch him go but don't stand at attention or salute. It's not that kind of outfit. Khelendros flinches when he sees his top man. "For the love of gods, Keldar. Did you bed down in a funeral pyre?" [21:01] 14Stranger: "He's a most wanted man." [21:05] 13Xia Lan: "Any ideas where he might have gone?" [21:07] 14Stranger: "He was careful to guard his trail, but he left some burnt leavings behind. A scroll, of all things." [21:08] 13Xia Lan: "Sounds like bait to throw you off the trail. Extremely careful but for one tiny clue? Convenient." [21:12] 14He waves a hand. "The man left a number of 'clues.' His tiny spectacles. A looking glass, pointing up at the sky. Those burned scrolls. It's hard to divine intent here; he's a master player." [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar pauses and sniffs. "...huh. Nah, I think that's some fancy tea I just had. How's it going here?" [21:13] 5 With practically no time to spare to try to counteract the sorcery of his twin, Xu Sim pivots on his foot and begins gently, hypnotically, swirling his arm around in a wide, flowing circle - preparing to counteract whatever bolt might come his way and, perhaps, even to return it to its sender. [21:15] 13Xia Lan: "I'm just saying, if he's good at running away, there's... things you can do to make sure you aren't followed. How masterful is his masterful play?" [21:17] 14Stranger: "Not good enough to keep me from him." [21:17] "...Let's hope, at least." [21:17] "We need a man of his particular quality." 15[21:18] The honey-man burns from within, light flaring in his torso and pushing through his eyes, his mouth, his fingertips. The room fills with tiny meteors that spin all around the room in erratic patterns, never landing or winking out but burning tiny holes through all the solid matter they touch. Mandalas of amber chains knit themselves to barbed life around "Xu Sim", scoring his flesh and leaving rivulets of molten honey to drip and sizzle onto the floor. 15[21:19] "The truth... will never set me free." [21:23] 14Stranger: "We can glean something from his leavings, of course. He was studying Jupiter and Saturn. I'm told those two celestial bodies have particular effect on the workings of Heaven; they should involve him closely. The Ambassador informs me that he is a Chosen of Secrets, whatever that implies." [21:24] "What it implies from his astrology is that he's studying revelation. Jupiter and Saturn together are, not to mince words, the joint patron saints of the plot twist." [21:25] "I don't think Secretary Bubo is pleased with how things are going in the city." [21:25] 13Xia Lan: "I don't think that many people are, at this point." [21:26] 14Stranger grimaces. "His problem, I suspect, is that he didn't plan on caring." [21:26] 13Hah. 15[21:27] Khelendros: "Fine. But only fine. We're well on track to be the finest company in Nexus. But we're not equipped to be the only company in Nexus. We don't have the manpower or the resources. The Guild is bleeding the city dry. They're betting against us, I'm sure of it." [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar points a finger-wand at his commander. "You're right... about, say, an hour ago. Things've changed." [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Stranger and I just sat down with Nexus's Overfactor and we worked out a deal. So long as the Dogmas are upheld for the next two months, the Guild ain't pulling out - in fact, they're pitching in with the defense. All the companies they've retained are gonna be joining us and we're gonna have to work out some kind of joint strategy." 15[21:29] Khelendros looks dubious. "At what cost?" [21:30] 14Stranger made Keldar perfectly aware of his own deal with the Overfactor after sealing it. [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The cost of upholding the Dogmas, basically. They were pulling out because they didn't think Nexus could stay Nexus - or that someone might use the confusion to rob 'em, basically. I'm on the hook for making a good faith attempt to keep things ticking along, so it's a good thing I'm basically part of the Dawn Guard at the moment." 15[21:32] Khelendros scoffs. "That's it? We were going to do that anyway. You say the Overfactor insisted? You sat down with the Overfactor?" [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yep. Not an easy man to find, I can tell you. Stranger managed to set it up, though - I didn't even have to threaten to cancel my bank account or something." [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Anyway, this means we've got the Executioners, the Legion, the whole set. Pretty sure I can squeeze at least a daiklave out of the Guild's vaults, too, if they're serious about this, which they definitely are at this point. Frankly though I think we can do even better than that. Pellicia's already put out the call for all this town's irregulars and solo operatives, right?" [21:33] 14Stranger: "Now, we could run all over town checking the temples of Jupiter and Saturn. But." [21:33] 13Xia Lan: "But?" [21:36] "More efficient, I think, would be a survey of the temples of the River-Gods, and then narrowing our purview to the shrines in the region between the two of them. Given the secularism of the city, that area is likely to be the most resonant, given that its the stomping grounds of the gods who have the greatest license to operate in the city. If he's gone to ground to seek Heaven, both [21:36] his strongest advocates will be there -- and the most noise to hide him." [21:36] "Otherwise we'll be popping our heads into every other alley." [21:38] 13Xia Lan: "Sounds like a plan. Should we go out armed - well, you always can. Should I grab my swords?" [21:39] 5 Xu Sim clenches his fists and leaps, through flames and across spatters of sickly-sweet burning honey, straight towards the Second Sim; he throws a series of carefully calculated jabs at his adversary's torso and head, leaning into the defenses of his simulacrum. [21:39] 14Stranger: "Absolutely." [21:40] 14He pauses. "...Though I'd like a nap, first." [21:41] 13Xia Lan: "Let me grab my coat, then... ah." 13She shifts. "Don't sleep for too long. I've got plans for tonight." [21:43] 14Stranger nods and retires to his room, leaving the door open a crack. About an hour later, a white cat with black highlights slips into the common room, stalks over to Stranger's door, and nudges it open before going through. A moment later, the door shuts and locks. [21:43] 14Two hours after that, Stranger emerges looking rested. [21:44] 14Wearing different robes, too. He does actually have changes of clothes; they just all kind of look the same. [21:44] 14If Xia Lan isn't in the common room, he'll knock on her door. [21:44] 13She's gone back to reading fanmail, actually. "Welcome back." [21:45] "Thank you." 14He rolls his shoulders and flexes the arm he uses to hold his walking stick. "Ready? We should be done in time to make your appointment at the CIO." [21:46] 13She's dressed in a relatively tight bodysuit with her coat draped over the back of the chair. Two hook swords lie propped up next to her. "I am," 13she says, gearing up. [21:47] 14He smiles and heads for the door. "Then the game is afoot." [21:51] 13There's only a hint of sword under the coat, enough to put caution into the minds of the observant but not nearly so alarming as walking down the street with the swords strapped to her back. A fine mix between being prepared and being friendly. Xia Lan matches Stranger's pace as they leave. "What's the plan when we find him?" [21:53] 14Stranger: "We talk." [21:53] "He's not the threat here." [21:53] "But we keep our eyes open, too -- if we're able to find him, then so are the others hunting him." [21:53] 13Xia Lan: "We're better. But, point taken." 15[21:54] The ground buckles beneath Nessun Dorma's boots as he crosses the room in two strides, punctuating the second with a ringing blow of his hammer that sunders the entire eastern wall of the room and smears smoking honey across the head of his maul. It's over in a single blow, but Dorma keeps swinging and screaming even after the wall's knocked down and the ceiling above threatens to buckle, raining dust and splinters on them both. 15[21:55] Khelendros: "Yeah. Everyone who wants to post their names for paying work ever again have either come here or joined Pellicia's company." 15[21:55] "What've you got in mind?" [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I can oversee their training. Fold 'em into the exercises we've been doing with the Guard - I've thought of a way to do it that'll probably get them up to speed in a matter of weeks. And... and hear me out... I can do the same with civvies." [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar motions vaguely around his temple with a hand. "I've seen it all. I get enough able-bodied people - dock workers, carpenters, waiters, whatever - and arrange 'em just the right way, they'll be almost as good as we are inside a month. Good enough to field in half that time or better." 15[21:59] Khelendros: "You're full of shit." [22:01] 5 Xu Sim approaches the fracas delicately.  "Dragonlord. Dorma." [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Dead serious. I can prove it to you. One week, and..." 12He pauses, frowns, and looks away. "Actually we've got so little time we probably can't afford to wait." [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But whatever. We take the irregulars, and then we pull in as much of a civilian militia as we can, as early as we can. Draw up the usual contracts, probably need to leave a lot of the remuneration as backpay but I'm sure my people can sell it. Then we see what we've got after, I dunno, a week and a half." [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "If I'm right, we keep it up. If I'm wrong... well, it's still warm bodies, but I can direct more of my efforts elsewhere." 15[22:05] Khelendros: "This is the part of the Immaculate fable where you whip the city into a mob and use them to kill every man, woman, and child who opposes you." [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hey, you know me, I ain't exactly inspiring. This is about passing down practical skills." 15[22:07] Khelendros: "The Keldar I knew wasn't exactly Anathema either. How long have you been hiding this?" [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar pauses. "...since the job for Sachin. I lit up right as he hucked his chakram at me. One I found him." [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Look, how much of a problem is that gonna be?" 15[22:09] Dorma: "YOUUUU TREASONOUS HEART-EATER!" Xu Sim narrowly ducks a piece of wood the size of his head that goes flying in the dragonlord's wake. 15[22:10] Khelendros folds his arms. "You tell me." [22:11] 13Xia Lan actually has Stranger hold up before they leave. Best to stay on the low, right? And her outfit, no matter what she does otherwise, is... extremely flashy. Probably one she'd want on stage, maybe. So. Take five. A man with a thick moustache and long curly hair, wearing that same long coat (bodysuit replaced with just a regular ol' suit) with the swords beneath it and topped off with a wide-brimmed hat walks out with [22:11] Stranger. [22:11] 14... [22:11] 14Excellent. [22:12] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Walking around outfit," 13he says by way of explanation. [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar takes a breath and looks around. "...I shoulda told you. Not sure why I didn't, honestly. I mean, I was paranoid about it getting out and getting a hunt called on me or somethin' but it's not like you would've called one down." [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And, hell, if there's ever been a good basis for demanding a raise, right? Still, just seemed safer to try and maintain, for the moment." [22:14] "Thank you," 5 notes the doctor,  "I know you've wanted to do that for a long time. But, Nessun, you have to countermand the order to reverse the quarantine. I've cured the plague. I just have to refine the curative so the other doctors in the city can help." [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I gotta wonder how long I could've gotten away from it if the Emissary hadn't died soon after, but I guess I'm wandering off topic. Point is, all I wanted - and all I still want - is to keep doing what I've been doing, and that means fighting for the Apples." 15[22:16] Stranger and Dead Man's Hand explore Nexus, tracing the alleys and thoroughfares wedged with shrines to all manner of deities local (every ten yalms or so there's a wreath commemorating someone murdered in the city, and beneath many of them are little offerings to the Black Judge of Nexus to bring retribution to their killers) to cosmic (this hairdresser that Stranger suspects is secretly a brothel is not-so-secretly a shrine to Luna). The Maidens, aloof and mysterious as they are, attract little worship in the best of times. But eventually the two of them are able to find a pair of shrines, a little over two blocks apart, that stand virtually unadorned with offerings, save a small bouquet of mud-trod flowers laid at the feet of the stone brick roughly etched with the sign of Jupiter. 15[22:16] Khelendros: "Yeah?" [22:20] 14Stranger is tapping his walking stick against most things, still indulging in his fake milky-eyed blindness. He'll wait until the coast is clear before examining the shrines -- shouldn't take long, given how remote they are. 15[22:20] Dorma: "LIAR! There is no cure save the hammer and the trowel. You drip poison in my ear. You trick me into cleaning up your messes." [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah. You know, like - I've been here a long while, actually. It's good. If I've got the power of a demon, then so does Ninth Orchard." 15[22:33] Khelendros looks away, out the window where the troops are drilling. "I'll be straight with you. I don't doubt your skills, or your affection for the company. I don't expect you to sell us out. My problem is this: when the time comes, will you be able to take an order? Whose company is this?" [22:34] "Are you familiar," 5 began the sorceror, "With the rustic tale of the farmer who bore a terrible grudge against a fox? For this fox had stolen into his poultry yard and made off with many chickens - and the farmer was terribly hungry, and terribly angry. And so he swore, as a peasant might, that he would revenge himself upon the fox." 15[22:35] "Are you aware of the sniveling old man who was ground into paste for speaking drivel?" [22:36] "And so one day," 5 continued the sorceror, "The farmer came across this fox, and seized him up, and - for he had had a long time to contemplate the manner of his revenge - tied some rope, well-soaked in oil, to the fox's tail, and set all of it alight. By strange fate, the fox rushed into the fields of the farmer that had captured him." [22:38] "And, it being time of the barley harvest, set it all alight. And the farmer reaped nothing that year, and grieved terribly." 5 finishes the sorceror's parable. "Had I poisoned the Shepherd - your friend - I would tell you I had, and you could smash my brains out, and, satisfied in your revenge, the East would plunge into the Wyld. But I did not poison your friend - I tried my hardest [22:38] to save him, and one day I shall prove it to you. But in the meantime," [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Eh? Yours, of course. Man, even if you hadn't been a fixture of the company for as long as I've known it, 'snot like you don't know what you're doing." [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We've had our - disagreements. But not about anything serious." 15[22:46] Khelendros: "Every disagreement looks serious when you're talking to a demon who can kill you easier than he can look at you." 15[22:46] "What if we disagree about strategy? You've blown me off before. What's to stop you now?" [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Come off it. I can't kill you that easy-" 12He pauses, not sure how to end this one. [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Actually, could12...? 15[22:53] Khelendros: "You see what I'm talking about? You're already planning the fight in your head." [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You brought it up! It hadn't even occurred- look, your orders are your orders whoever's taking 'em. It's not like I only followed 'em all these years because I thought you'd take my head off if I kept mouthing off." [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And I see a better way to do something now, it should be good enough you'd see it too, right?" 15[22:58] Stranger stoops down to examine the flowers. They're about four days old, judging by the decay, bought from a florist working out of Parko West using flowers imported from up the Yellow River. The man who carried them was left-handed and favored his right leg; a fresh limp. Whoever he was carried them a scant two blocks... Stranger sees dust from the paler stone of the Saturn shrine embedded in the wilted petals. A simple gesture, hard to read intent into, and it happened only a few hours ago. Stranger deduces it's a signal. Someone was meant to watch this spot and take the movement of the flowers as a sign. 15[22:59] Dead Man's Hand sees a more prosaic problem: a handful of guys are winding their way up the alley, carefully reading the crowd for unarmed marks. They've settled on him and Stranger. [23:00] 13Quietly, to Stranger: "Incoming." [23:01] 14Stranger: "Thugs or more than that?" 15[23:01] Dorma moves terribly fast for such a large man in such heavy armor. He's face to plated face with Xu Sim in two eyeblinks, hammer dragging behind him like the anchor of a ship run aground. [23:03] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Likely thugs. Looking for those unable to defend themselves." 13He rolls his shoulder and stretches his arms above his head. "They're in for a surprise, I expect." [23:03] 14Stranger: "How long do you think they've been marking this alley?" 14[23:03] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) [23:04] 13Dead Man's Hand: "That seems like a question for our new friends." [23:05] 5 Xu Sim, for once, is as serene as the setting sun. [23:05] "We're not the first. Like as not the last, though." [23:06] 14Then Stranger straightens and smiles. 15[23:06] Dorma's voice is hoarse. "Then go." 15[23:06] "Leave." 15[23:07] "Your survival is authority enough. Who will dispute you now?" [23:07] "Gentlemen!" 14he'll call out. Then casually, to Dead Man's Hand, without lowering his voice: "Kill them if this goes sideways." [23:07] 13He tips his hat to the new arrivals with a smile. [23:08] 5 Xu Sim bows. "Dragonlord." 5 He turns on his heel and strides out of the room, making a beeline for the camp commandant. 15[23:08] Dorma mutters something as Xu Sim leaves the room. 15[23:11] Khelendros is silent for a time. "...we don't have room to board civilian conscripts." [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, yeah, we couldn't just pour 'em into the Apple barracks. Maybe just treat training as their day job and send 'em home every night. This is just 'til the actual war, after all, presumably they go back to being bakers or whatever afterward." 15[23:15] Outside, Xu Sim sees an entire crowd of soldiers and the sick gathered around the embassy. The commandant is easy to pick out. "The Dragonlord settled the dispute?" she asks loudly. 15[23:17] Khelendros: "Alright. I'll set the wheels in motion. Rob the Guild blind for me, will you?" [23:18] "He did. Please form the ill into an orderly queue so I may begin attending to them in order of severity. Please also round up anyone who left in the previous confusion," 5 explains the doctor, somehow even more spent than before. [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "On it. Let me know if there's any trouble securing supplies - between me and Stranger I think we can make the numbers work." 15[23:18] The lead alley bandit is big and bald, with a set of teeth so white and straight they look fake against his face. "Yeah, yeah. Everyone acts tough. Your purses your throats." 15[23:18] *Your purses or your throats. 15[23:19] Khelendros: "Stranger? Is that the squirelly guy who's always hanging around Pellicia?" [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah. He's a weirdo, but he's got a good head for organization. Helped me negotiate with the Overfactor." 15[23:20] There's a long pause in Lookshytown, but the commandant gives the order and the camp is restored. Patrols are sent back out to look for the infected who already escaped, and Xu Sim can get to work in earnest. [23:20] 13Dead Man's Hand's smile grows even wider as he shifts his hands under his coat. How's Stranger want to play this? [23:21] 14His forehead explodes with light. "I don't have time for 'tough,' fool." [23:22] 13...so much for subtlety. [23:23] 14Subtlety got us here. At this point, this close, advertising helps. [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar has words with a few other Apple officers, makes sure a message describing his plan is held by the next runner aimed at Pellicia, and then heads off yet again. He doubts he'll be seeing the Overfactor any time soon - ever again, maybe - but he's got a mind to corner Syndic or some similar official and make a formal requisition. [23:23] 14Stranger: "I have questions." 15[23:26] The Threshold Company is who Keldar wants to talk to for requisitions. He'll get foisted off onto some visibly overworked midlevel bureaucrat, though. The factor hasn't returned from lunch yet, he says. Terribly busy. "But your paperwork's cleared, sir. What do you need?" [23:27] "But I could always ask the Dead Man to open his coat instead." 15[23:27] The smaller bandit: "Holy shit." 15[23:27] The larger: "Fuck! No, shit, whatever. Fuck! What do you want? What do you want?" [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "A daiklave, to start with. Armor, too - jade or better. I'm watching your backs now and you want me good at it." 15[23:28] The underfactor, who was rifling through big ledgers while Keldar spoke, stops immediately, and draws a hiss through his teeth. "Ooooh. Small problem." [23:28] 13Dead Man's Hand: "To be fair, you were warned." 13He pulls a smoke out of his jacket. "Not our problem you didn't listen." [23:28] 14The air in the alley seems to rush back into Stranger's head, and light reasserts itself as normal. He's smiling again. "Excellent! My questions are simple and few. First: have you been casing this alleyway long enough to see anyone else approach these shrines?" [23:29] 5 With triage in progress, Xu Sim begins sorting through them as best as he can. He starts working on producing more of the curative elixir - calling for a scribe to document its ingredients and manufacture whilst he explains to the medical staff how to administer it to the patients, along with some of the possible side-effects he foresees could be possible as a result of the admixture. [23:30] 5 It's been a long road to reach this point and, to some extent at least, the doctor has carefully considered the most effective strategy for handling a large-scale crisis like this. It's not treating royalty, that's for sure - this is medicine for the people, to save the largest number from the worst possible fate. [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar leans in a bit. "Yeah..?" 15[23:32] Big bandit: "All day, yeah. You looking for someone?" [23:33] 14Stranger: "Has anyone been down here today, lingering at the edges? Not appearing to do much in particular?" [23:33] "Like as not they did not appear a good mark. Too poor." [23:34] "Or too old, or too diseased." 15[23:34] Big bandit thinks for a moment. "Now that you mention it..." He rubs the back of his neck. "I dunno." He turns to the smaller bandit. "Remember how you said there was a guy?" 15[23:35] Small bandit: "Uh... was that today?" 15[23:35] Big bandit: "...wasn't it?" [23:35] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Guy has that effect." [23:35] 14Well, the good news is: we're in the right place. 15[23:37] The underfactor: "I can tell you this because you've got clearance, but don't go spreading it around. Uh, please. Sir." He clears his throat. "All of our jade or better equipment is either out in the field or, uh, lost. Presently." [23:37] 14Stranger: "Think about the space around him. How the shadows fell. What time of day it was." [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar leans in a little more. "'Lost'?" [23:38] 14Stranger: "Think about which way the Sun fell when he left." 15[23:40] The underfactor: "Well... between you, me, and the potted plant, we sent an expedition into the Tomb of Red-Hot Iron." [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "How the hell's that work? You float everyone so they never touch the floor or walls?" 15[23:42] "It's very complicated. The lock unsealed on its own a few months back. We had a couple of Blooded guys who were supposed to be able to protect a crew from the heat inside. Maybe they did." 15[23:42] "That was a while ago. Never came back, doesn't respond to sorcery. Bit of a black box. Order from on high was to write it off." [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And that's where all your materiel went?" 15[23:43] "Not all of it. Like I said, a lot of it's in the field. We've got crews out in the Scavenger Lands, crews on the evac barges, some leases with mercenary companies..." 15[23:44] "They'll be filtering back into the city over the next few days. Maybe you could try and get them to give up their gear?" [23:45] 5 Xu Sim spends an hour gathering his supplies - the metal salts, the herbs, incense - all of it - enough to refine the formula considerably. It's time that might not, strictly, be necessary to prepare the recipe, but it's time that gives him a moment to catch his second breath after the horrifying experience with his doppelganger. [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "There's got to be at least one Dragon-Blood or godling or something that you can lean on to trade out their sword for two measely months. They ain't sworn to defend your holdings." 15[23:47] The underfactor: "They are, actually. We don't give these out to just anybody. Part of the contract is a noncompete." 15[23:48] The big bandit: "It was..." 15[23:48] The small bandit: "I think it was around breakfast?" [23:48] 14Stranger: "Do you remember waking up that morning?" [23:49] "And the straight line of time between then, and when you walked to the mouth of this alley." [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar works his jaw around. "Okay, fine, but are you gonna tell me that every last scrap of worked jade they're carrying around is doing you more good in their hands than in mine? That this situation doesn't merit a little more optimization given changing conditions?" 15[23:50] The small bandit: "Yeah! We get breakfast same place every day." 15[23:50] Big bandit: "Then we got here." [23:50] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Where at?" 15[23:50] Small bandit: "After that... I dunno." [23:51] 14Stranger: "Can you remember anything particular about breakfast that morning, which might tell you what day it was?" 15[23:51] Big bandit: "In the square. Dawn Guard just giving bread away while the temples are shut." 15[23:51] Small bandit: "Where'd we go after breakfast?" 15[23:51] Big bandit: "We came here, right? I remember, uh..." [23:51] 5 At last, he is prepared to begin. Xu Sim takes a deep breath, and begins mixing his ingredients. As he goes, he does not speak, not even to explain why he makes the changes he does as he watches the multicolored smoke pour out from the surface of the liquid. His experiments rapidly refine and simplify, as he iterates on the formula - looking for ways to make it simpler and simpler, [23:51] 5easier and easier to produce at larger and larger scale. 15[23:52] Small bandit: "Oh oh! It's Saturnday, right. Did you throw tiles with the old man?" 15[23:52] Big bandit: "Oh shit, you're right. Yeah! I did. Remember, we were eating those pork buns." 15[23:53] Small bandit: "Love those pork buns." [23:53] 5 Soon, there is nothing left to take away. Each ingredient perfectly fulfills its place, manipulating the humors of the patient in such a precise manner as to utterly eliminate the honey-maze. 15[23:53] The underfactor: "That's not my call. If you wanna get someone to renegotiate existing contracts, you should wait for the Factor, or wait for the mercs, and ask them directly." [23:53] 14What day is Saturnday, in relation to today? 15[23:53] "I don't have the authority." 15[23:54] Saturnday is today. [23:54] 14Excellent. [23:54] 14We're less than twelve hours behind. [23:54] 14...Fewer. 15[23:54] Big bandit: "Sorry, I dunno. Maybe you could find the old man, ask him? He was here around then I think." 15[23:54] Small bandit: "Yeah, yeah! You know old Selin?" [23:55] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Could say that." [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Listen, buddy, I'm done negotiating. As in, I'm literally done negotiating, having negotiated a bunch of crap, and now I've got a law to uphold and an army to train. I don't have time to ferry a complaint ticket up and down your ranks." [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You guys need to be doing the work to put jade into my hands." [23:57] 14Stranger's smile widens. "You could. Thank you, gentlemen. You should consider signing up with the militias. They're paying even better with the Guild behind them now, and well, if you're going to hang around this town in a crisis, you might as well get a steady wage for it." 14He places what meager pocketchange he has on him down on a nearby barrel. "That said, I think we can [23:57] take it from here." [23:57] "Good afternoon." 15[23:58] Big bandit: "Hey, thanks!" 15[23:58] Small bandit: "Take it easy." [23:59] 13Dead Man's Hand tips his hat again. "Y'all find yourselves a better play. Try the roads outside of town. Way more reliable, fewer bigshots." Session Time: Wed Feb 28 00:00:01 2018 [00:00] "You as well." 14Stranger nods and begins walking the other way to the mouth of the alley. To Dead Man's Hand: "And to think, if we'd only gone to ask about the aqueducts we could have saved ourselves some time." 15[00:00] The underfactor: "Look, I hear you. Plentimon knows I'm not interested in jerking around the Anathema. I'm just saying, there's nothing I can do. I take this to the factor, he's gonna bump me down for wasting his time. I take this to the mercs, they're just gonna bump me." 15[00:00] "Help a guy out." [00:01] 13Change "way more reliable" to "way bigger scores," thanks. [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What am I supposed to do?" 15[00:02] The underfactor: "Like I said. Talk to the factor or talk to the mercs." [00:02] 13Dead Man's Hand: "You know he was back at the hideout once? Selin." [00:03] 14Stranger: "Oh, yes. He fixed that leak we had. I offered him a permanent room, but he declined." [00:03] "Was there after we got attacked. Y'all were out there and I was rehabbing, who knocks on the door but him." [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar sighs. "Alright, point me at the factor." [00:04] 13Dead Man's Hand has a much thicker southern drawl than Xia Lan, in addition to a deeper voice. Hence, y'all. 15[00:05] The underfactor: "He's in his office. If anyone looks at you funny on the way, make like you're demanding to wait in his office for him. He's not supposed to be in yet." [00:06] <@Ferrinus> "Right. Seeya." 12Keldar stands and makes his way into Threshold headquarters. After some confident striding and a few annoyed looks at people who started to raise their index fingers, he's barged into the factor's office. [00:06] 14Stranger: "Didn't know he was visiting. Did he seem strange, at all? Or just an ornery old man?" [00:09] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Knew more than me, and knew that he knew more than me. Aloof. Kind of an asshole. Middling opinion of us." [00:10] "That sounds like him." 15[00:11] Xu Sim gets a lot of incredulous looks for resting while the plague festers around him. But it's wise, ultimately, as by the time he sets to work in earnest the Lookshyans have re-stabilized the camp, and he has both room to work and subjects to work upon. He labors over fires and phials, sending medics to and fro for supplies or to administer samples. As the day wears on, his work gets faster, and his orders simpler, and it's in the span of a bare two hours - the noon bell has scarcely rung - that Xu Sim collapses, the last batch of his cure disseminated, and the thrice-refined formula eagerly copied by the legion's apothecaries and chirugeons. 15[00:14] It's done. He did it. [00:14] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Liked the tea you made, too. Not sure if that changes anything." 15[00:14] All it took was a near-fatal poisoning, multiple brushes with death, and watching someone crush a man who looked exactly like him into paste. [00:15] 14Stranger snorts. "I should hope so." [00:15] 13Hands raised placatingly: "Hey, now. You never know with these weirdo types." [00:16] 14He pauses. "We could go find Selin. Or...we could check the temples. The River-Gods'." [00:16] "They're closed, after all." [00:16] "Where better to hide?" 15[00:17] Keldar barges into the factor's office, finding Syndic of Tithes... stabbing himself with a poison dart? He's seated behind his desk, sleeve rolled up, with a needle embedded in his forearm. There's a pale amber fluid in the tube, its level sinking steadily. "Lock that door, please." [00:17] 14Another pause. "No, let's find Selin. I want to badger him about public works, too." [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar blinks. "What the fuck." 12He shuts the door behind himself a moment later. 15[00:18] Syndic: "You're looking well. What can I do for you?" [00:19] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Fair enough. You know where he is?" 14[00:19] * Joins: dammitwho [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I want artifact gear." [00:20] 5 It's exhausting. It's been dangerous. But it's been enlightening.  "I'll have to tell Stranger-Visits-Heaven about it soon, over a cup of... zzz..." [00:20] 14Stranger: "He shouldn't be too hard to find, given that he seems to be just about everywhere." 15[00:22] Syndic: "Mmm. That could be a problem." 14[00:22] * Joins: hrolf_mac [00:22] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Everywhere and nowhere." 15[00:23] "Our cupboards are bare at the moment. This is wartime, and there was an accident a while back. But we gotta get you something. Take a seat." [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar has a seat. "It can't be that much of a problem. No way every single Dragon-Blood or half-demon or whatever that's working for you right now is gonna do more damage with a daiklave than I am." 15[00:26] Syndic: "Oh, no, definitely not. If that was the problem you'd take your pick of our stock. But it's not that simple, you know?" He withdraws the needle and sets it in a small velvet-lined box, flexing his arm and grimacing. "Reneging on deals with the mercenary companies will make them skittish. Our relationship with local businesses, the free companies among them, depends on the reliability of our word. It's my job to keep everybody happy." 15[00:26] "So let me see if I can make you happy without pissing anyone else off." 15[00:27] "You have time for a couple of questions?" [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar glances at the box for a moment before looking back. "Alright, shoot." 15[00:27] "You're Anathema, right? Or, Chosen of the Sun. I don't know the polite term." 15[00:28] Where are Stranger and Dead Man's Hand heading? [00:29] 14Wherever Stranger understands he can find Old Selin on a normal day. [00:30] 13Dead Man's Hand knows that Stranger understands Old Selin better than he does. He follows Stranger. 15[00:30] He's probably at work in Floodwater, then. And if action follows intuition, Stranger will find the latter vindicated. He's leading an impromptu chain gang, pulling what looks like an old, rotted gondola out of the canal tug by tug. [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yep. Solar Exalted. Dawn Caste, matter of fact, there's a whole mess of nicknames I remember like half of ." 12He taps his temple as he talks, causing an eight-pointed sunburst to flare red on his forehead for about a second. 15[00:31] Syndic: "Mmmhmm. About how long ago?" [00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "How's that relevant?" [00:33] 14Stranger: "Selin!" [00:33] "Need help?" 15[00:34] Syndic: "This isn't public knowledge, but the Tomb of Red-Hot Iron opened a few months ago. Best our guys can guess is nobody actually opened it. Which means it opened on its own." 15[00:35] "You know that a lot of these tombs are Ana- they're Solar tombs, yeah? All sorts of defenses and safeguards to protect their dead masters." 15[00:36] "So our working theory is it opened cause its original master was in town. There's a lot of you in town. Dates would help us narrow it down." [00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar waves vaguely. "You can say Anathema, dude. I do. It sounds cool." 12He pauses. "But, hmm... exact date?" 15[00:38] Selin: "Hooooold--" The team pulling the boat free lets go, and the gondola rocks back onto its bottom, rotten but upright. "I think we're about done here." He nods politely at Stranger's friend with the hat. [00:39] 14Stranger: "Might have a word, then." [00:40] 13Dead Man's Hand tips his hat towards Selin. 15[00:41] "14 Ascending Air is when the tomb opened. Last year, obviously." That's not the day Keldar was chosen, but it is the day Keldar got back to Nexus, alone, after the expedition. He remembers because first thing when he returned, Khelendros made him write the whole thing up, and while he struggled to write it down his eyes kept drifting to the date at the top of the page. 15[00:42] Selin raises his grimy fingers. "I hope you won't take offense if I don't shake hands. Name's Selin." To Stranger: "Lead the way." [00:43] 13Dead Man's Hand: "We've met, under different circumstances." 13He follows Stranger wherever he leads them. [00:43] 14Stranger will lead them off somewhere that he can assemble a fire and beg a kettle and three cups. [00:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hmm. Hmm. I think we may be on to something here. What exactly's opened up? What've you found in there?" [00:43] 14Then he'll remove a teabag from his robe and get it simmering. 15[00:47] Syndic: "The entrance of the tomb is under guard. We don't let gawpers or smiths on break stare at it. But since it's the furnace of the Palace Foundry we do keep a pretty close eye on it. The front gate folded in on itself. It was mostly done by the time our guys saw it happen. Opens on a vestibule, Old Realm all over the walls. You know from tombs. Some ways they're all different, some ways they're all the same." 15[00:48] "Hanging in the vestibule was a light fixture. Solid orichalcum." [00:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But the actual floor and walls and such aren't instant death the way the outside is?" 15[00:49] "Yes and no. We had some guys who could touch the place, stand to be inside. It's hot in there but the heat seems to be coming from the walls and not the whole place. We don't have a full workup on how it works." 15[00:50] "Anyway, that light fixture the one thing we salvaged successfully. Hooks and wires. After that the Overfactor ordered a team put together. Our best guys, our best gear." He blows out his mouth, cheeks puffing. "Gone." [00:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Know what got 'em? Or they just walk in and never walk out?" 15[00:50] "No alarm sent up, no one got out, no responses to Messengers. Our sorcerers can't see inside." 15[00:50] "No idea." [00:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But you at least watched 'em turn a corner or something?" 15[00:51] "Yeah, they didn't die in the vestibule." 15[00:51] "If they had we'd have gotten our shit back." [00:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Any civilities keeping you out? In fact, any keeping me out?" 15[00:51] Selin: "What can I do for you?" [00:52] 14Pouring himself a cup of Forest Blackleaf: "We're looking for someone." [00:52] "He might have been down near the temples earlier. The River Gods' temples. Between them, specifically. This morning." 15[00:53] Syndic: "Nope. We bought the foundry and the tomb under it from the Council outright maybe fifteen, twenty years ago. We had it on lease since I don't even know. It's our tomb. Our property. We decide who goes in, who goes out." 15[00:54] "So what I'm thinking is, if you want to do us both a favor, there's two ways we can go with this information. The first is, you get in, recover the first team's gear, get out. Anything you find in the process is yours." [00:55] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Some bandits spotted him. Forgetful bandits." 15[00:55] "The second is, you recover the gear for us, and we distribute it to our second-best guys." 15[00:55] "And you get the tomb." [00:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar taps the table a few times. "Hang on. I just neglect to borrow a couple daiklaves for a few months and I get, at minimum, my own magic-powered foundry?" [00:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "There a curse on whoever holds the deed or something?" 15[00:59] Syndic: "Not as far as I know. But then I wouldn't know, cause I don't hold the deed." 15[01:02] "No, this is the Overfactor talking. Standing orders since the place opened. If you're its rightful claimant, we have to try to make a deal." 15[01:02] "Between you and me, I don't get it either. But he pulled rank." [01:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hmm. Well, you were there when he and I worked out our arrangement. ...were you actually conscious for it, by the by? Looked a little green around the gills." 15[01:03] Selin sips his tea. "Those boys have more money than sense. And they haven't got any money." [01:04] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Sounds about right. Think I gave them some good advice, but we'll see if they follow it." 15[01:04] Syndic grimaces. "Yeah." [01:04] 14Stranger shrugs. "They'll either join the militia, flee the city, or die." 15[01:05] "He's very particular about how he negotiates. One of his rules is no cross-talk." [01:05] 13DMH: "They'd better flee the city. Or else what did I give them advice for?" [01:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ah. Well, in that case you saw his forehead at the end. Maybe the guy wants to set a precedent." 15[01:06] Selin: "True of must of us, I expect. Fight, run, or die... there's no fourth way." [01:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Either way, if Red Hot Iron's mine then hell yeah I want to claim it. I'll put a team together at my earliest convenience - let your people know they can expect me." [01:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'll go in, get your stuff, and then tell you which deal I'm taking once I've come back up." 15[01:10] Syndic: "The Overfactor likes to be sure. Can I tell him you're sure?" [01:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar makes a few faces. "Ehhh - fine. I'll get your stuff back, claim the tomb. I'll need an inventory, obviously, and if there's more surfaces down there that can turn jade to ash you might not be recovering a hundred percent." [01:11] <@Ferrinus> "Oh, yeah," 12he adds. "In that case, the orichalcum chandelier's mine." 15[01:13] Syndic: "Good! Good. The Overfactor will be pleased. Put your team together and I'll get the arrangements on paper. We can close this deal tomorrow, and from then on it's your discretion." 15[01:13] Selin: "This man you're looking for got a name?" [01:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Cool. Your people done any assays as to the tomb's actual size? Like how far it extends underground?" 15[01:14] Syndic: "Yeah, we can get that for you." [01:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You got any magic for resisting heat, that I'll buy or lease, although I got a couple guys. Otherwise, I'll be in touch." 15[01:16] "I should be able to hire out a sorcerer for that." [01:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Could be mine's good for it. Either way, I'm off." 12And he's off, the wheels in his head spinning. This dungeon crawl'll definitely go better than his last one. 15[01:18] It's bound to, right? [01:18] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Secretary Bubo, or Astrologer Kratz. Any leads?" 15[01:18] Only way it could go worse is if Keldar died too. [01:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, arguably, the only way it could go better if Keldar somehow received a Third Breath to become a hyper-Solar. [01:19] 14Stranger: "Probably just Bubo now." [01:19] 14He sips the tea again. 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Joins: Crion 14[10:06] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[10:38] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:39] * banana is now known as banana|inspace 14[15:40] * banana|inspace is now known as banana|peels 14[17:59] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:26] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 15[19:51] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:51] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:51] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:51] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:51] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:52] <@VoxPVoxD> [01:13] Selin: "This man you're looking for got a name?" 15[19:52] <@VoxPVoxD> [01:18] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Secretary Bubo, or Astrologer Kratz. Any leads?" 15[19:52] <@VoxPVoxD> [01:19] 14Stranger: "Probably just Bubo now." 15[19:52] <@VoxPVoxD> [01:19] 14He sips the tea again. "We just want a word." 15[19:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin swirls the tea around his cup, apparently deep in thought. "Bubo's a funny name. He local?" [19:53] 14Stranger shakes his head. [19:53] 14Then he points up. 15[19:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh, he's a bird. Why ask me, then? Surely you have better sources. I'm no friend of birds, believe you me." [19:55] "Mmmm." [19:55] 14Stranger: "The birds don't want him." [19:56] "Not for anything good, at any rate. Not sure Heaven's too fond of him at the moment either, if we're being perfectly honest." 15[19:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin takes a long sip of his tea. [19:56] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Now, hold on. Birds could be just as interested. There's probably at least the one." 15[20:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Well, I can ask around. Be easier if I knew what you wanted him for." [20:00] 14Stranger: "I'm putting together a...let's call it a broad church." [20:01] "The impending apocalypse is a good motivational tool." 15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "It can be." 15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "What are you looking to motivate?" [20:11] "I wish to instill a shared interest in the fate of Creation, and organize a loose confederation of...people like us...to that effect." 14He sips his tea. "Ideally, it would normally be less hands-on than standing against the marching armies of the Fair Folk." 15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "A league of magical cowards." [20:11] 13Dead Man's Hand: "A what now?" [20:13] 14Stranger shrugs. "Cowardice isn't a permanent condition. Death, moreso. I can use cowards. Corpses are outside of my purview." 15[20:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "That was rude of me. I apologize. But the man you're talking about, if he's on the outs with Heaven, probably wants nothing in all the world less than to join a political spy network." [20:16] 13Dead Man's Hand: "I'd still like at least a quick word, all the same. Got some questions I'd like answered, about transpirings." [20:16] 14Stranger: "That's unfortunate for him." [20:18] 14He refills his cup. "I don't intend to leave him with much of a choice." [20:18] "Besides the obvious one." 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Smart. Pin him down. Of course, that's hard to do if you can't find him." [20:18] 14Stranger: "Which brings us full circle." 15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin puts down his now-empty cup. "So it does." [20:19] 13Something along Dead Man's Hand's waist glints in the light, before he reveals a flask and quickly takes a swig from it. 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Sweetens the tea, yeah?" [20:28] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Something like that." 15[20:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "I admire the discipline it takes to drink like that and keep your moustache so neat. Never could manage it myself." [20:35] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Real pain, sometimes. Worst with soup. Times is thin, makes me wish I'd gone without it." [20:35] "Image to uphold, though. Hard to lose that." [20:37] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Thin times ahead for Nexus, looks like. Might finally go through with it." 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin scratches his own shaggily bearded chin. "I heard a story once from a bearded man. Big beard like mine. He told me he couldn't stand the sight of his face in the mirror, but if he covered it half up he could at least call it a draw." [20:41] 13Dead Man's Hand smirks. "Heard something like that one before." 13Brief pause to take a sip. "How're you holding up? Nexus being what it is now." 15[20:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "I've seen worse." [20:42] 14Not particularly an answer. [20:42] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Not particularly an answer." 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "Not a question I like to answer from strangers." 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "No offense. I'm sure you're perfectly nice." [20:43] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Like to think so. Heard other opinions, too." 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "'All opinions are held.'" [20:51] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Fun quote. Lot going on behind it, but snappy. Useful." 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's about the politest sincere thing I've ever heard someone say about the Immaculates if they weren't a practicing monk." [20:55] 14Stranger: "They know their jobs. At some point we're going to have to strangle or drown them all, but they know their jobs." 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "Monks are like cats in that way." 14[20:56] * Joins: tom [20:56] 14Stranger: "Monks die when you kill them the first time." [20:56] 13Dead Man's Hand: "I prefer the cats, to be honest. But the monks aren't all bad. Got an eye for a turn of phrase." 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "True enough. True enough." He stretches. "I have to get back to work soon." [21:00] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Last question from me, then. You've been following the newcomers to Nexus, I imagine - most people have." 13Another swig. "You seen that parade Thorns threw?" 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "No, I stayed well clear of that. Smelled it, though. Seems like the whole city's downwind from Firewander now." [21:02] 13He tips his hat. "That's enough from me, then. You take care now." [21:02] 14Stranger: "Seems like we've talked on just about everything, except for what I want to know." [21:02] "What did you see at the shrine?" 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "I saw someone begging for charity. That's most of what you see among the shrines, especially lately." [21:04] "Bet they had some concern for the flowers." 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "I took him to have misplaced them, so I put them where I thought they ought to have been and we struck up a conversation. The beggar and I. He was looking for a place to stay out of trouble. I lent him a spare key." [21:08] 14Stranger: "I suppose I could ask to which door, but then, he was asking for a place to stay out of trouble. Wouldn't want to make you a liar." 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin sits patiently, as if waiting for a 'But...' [21:12] 14It doesn't come. Stranger empties out the last dregs of the tea kettle, and reaches out to collect Selin's cup in order to return the tea set to the peasants from which he borrowed it. 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin doesn't stop him. [21:14] 14He's gone to ground somewhere near the temples, and somewhere to which Selin would have a key -- either literal or metaphorical. If Stranger can't run Bubo down from there, especially with Dawn's help, he doesn't deserve the reward of the quarry. [21:15] 13Dead Man's Hand, once Selin's out of earshot: "That went well, considering." [21:15] "Thank you for your time, Selin. We should have dinner at some point over the next two nights. Discuss business with the battlements and aqueducts." [21:15] 13Whoops. That goes after this here. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "That'd be good. Oh, if you see Xia Lan, give her my congratulations. I couldn't beat Vladok." 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "S'why I don't own the old place anymore." [21:17] 13Dead Man's Hand: "I'll be sure to." [21:17] 14Stranger's eyebrows rise slightly, then he nods. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> After that, Selin we go back to the canals, and to work. [21:18] 14Once they're alone: "I thought so." [21:18] "We've still got a bit more legwork to do, however." [21:18] "But now we've got some leads." [21:19] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Glad he said something nice about me. Always awkward when someone talks mess to your face without knowing it." 13He keeps an even face, but there's something about him that gives the impression of a wry grin. "So. You take point again, I'm not much more than a set of eyes. [21:19] " [21:20] 14Stranger makes a half-raspberry, half-snort. "Excessive humility will get you nowhere." [21:21] 14It's time to head back to the River Gods' temples. [21:26] 14As they walk: "We seem to have two separate, likely-related leads." [21:27] "The first is the 'key.' This implies a door, either literal or metaphorical. It's tempting to believe this is to a hideaway perhaps inside one of the temples -- but Selin's relationship with religion seems...complicated, at best. He lurks around it, but he does not partake. A nearby hideaway, then, or perhaps near old shrine that has fallen into disuse." [21:28] "The second is that bit about Vladok. You see, it was my understand that Old Selin -- who is homeless -- does not own property. He certainly doesn't live anywhere in particular. That might be related to a wager with your new demonic, ah, friend -- and he might be aware of what property he's taken off of Selin's hands to which Selin might still have a key." 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> It's verging on the dinner-hour, now, so when the two of them return they'll see the Dawn Guard in the process of setting up the tables and tureens for the evening meal, offering food to the city's destitute while the temples' gates are shut. Today those tables are flanked by walls pinned with dozens of hand-drawn posters depicting Keldar, Tiger of Nexus, pointing directly out of the paper at you, the passing pedestrian. [21:29] 14He sighs. "To be honest, I'd prefer to resolve this without calling in any markers you or we might have with Vladok." 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> YOU HAVE THE HEART OF A CHAMPION 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> WAR IS COMING TO NEXUS 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> JOIN THE GREEN ORCHARD IRREGULARS TODAY 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> MEALS - BEDS - CLOTHES - SKILLS 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> FIGHT FOR WHAT'S RIGHT 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> SPEAK TO ANY RECRUITER TO LEARN MORE [21:29] 14Hah. [21:30] 13Dead Man's Hand: "We had a good chat last time. Might even describe it as friendly." 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> There are people in Green Apples uniforms posted on either side of the tables, giving the same sales pitch summarized on the posters. Lot of people in the city can't read, after all. [21:31] 13Glad they're serious. Less glad it's necessary. [21:31] 14At least the presence of the Apples should make this go a bit more smoothly. [21:31] 14Fewer bandits. [21:31] 13Nothing wrong with bandits. [21:31] 13Just a moral intervention away from... well. [21:40] 14This survey of the temple district is much shorter, but no less disappointing. With faint frustration: "He's almost certainly not here." [21:41] "Too many people, too restricted, too high profile. Even the ways into the Undercity are these old brass elevator -- public killzones. Bubo would have eschewed them." 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> A fresh-faced recruiter approaches Dead Man's Hand. "Say, sir, you look like you can handle yourself. We need men like you." [21:41] "No, I think we'll need to see Vladok." [21:42] 13Dead Man's Hand: "We'll have to see what's behind door number t- hm?" 13He looks over to the recruiter. "'scuse me?" [21:42] 13What's the recruiter look like? 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> The recruiter can't be more than 18. Dark hair, freckles. Ears stick out a bit. He begins winding up a clearly rehearsed sales pitch. "The Green Orchard Irregulars are taking all able-bodied men and women who want to stand and fight against the invaders. We pay better than the foundries, you'll eat better than the bandits, and you'll dress better than the penitents. We don't care about your debts or your background. No one gets turned away." [21:44] 14Stranger looks on with amusement. This is easily the best part of appearing "blind." [21:46] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Well! I'll keep that in mind. You ever seen Keldar?" 13He seems amused, himself. 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Recruiter: "Yessir. The Tiger of Nexus! Conqueror of the Charcoal Tomb! The Champion of the Rose Grit Games! He even spoke to me once." [21:55] 13Dead Man's Hand waves off theatrically. "Met the man myself. More than a few times, in fact. Heck of a military mind, bit of a hothead. Anyhow, you tell him if he wants my help he ought to ask me himself." 13Dead Man's Hand jots down the address to Xia Lan's fanclub - sans the official fanclub stamp - on whatever scrap he can summon and hands it to the poor recruiter. "You take care now." 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "Hey, mister, your address looks real familiar. You been here long?" 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> He squints at the paper, as if trying to remember where he's seen that address before. [21:57] 14Anything to build the brand. [21:58] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Not long. But I ain't the only one there. Thanks for the reminder ya can't escape yer past." 13He sweeps away ahead of Stranger. "Let's go." [21:58] 14Stranger nods to the boy and keeps walking. 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Where are they heading now? [22:01] 14If we want to see Vladok and Xia Lan has business at the CIO, it seems like our interests overlap. [22:01] 13Might could. Who knows where Vladok's off to now, though. [22:01] 13...Still could stop in for a word. 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan knows Vladok's place is on the boundaries of Firewander. You could start there, or ask at the CIO. [22:02] 14Stranger's content taking something of a backseat here. Vladok is her demon ally, after all. [22:03] 13As Dead Man's Hand realizes they're headed to the CIO, she redirects them. "I've been to his shop. Likely to still be there, if he's not we can ask around at the CIO." 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok's shop seems to be closed, and doesn't respond to knocks. It's easy for Dead Man's Hand to guess why; the Highland and Thorns contigents are loudly drilling just up the hill. No way Vladok could get any peace with all that racket. [22:07] 13Fair enough. He left any sign to mark his goings? 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> It just says CLOSED UNTIL PEACE IN OUR TIME in five or six languages on the sign on the door. [22:09] 13Well. "Off to the CIO then, see if he's said anything." 13Dead Man's Hand leads the way again. 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> It's almost dark, but not quite late enough for the CIO to open. There's a blood-ape-shaped man in a fez at the door, who gives Dead Man's Hand the stinkeye. "I don't know you," he grumbles. [22:12] 13Dead Man's Hand gestures to Stranger. "You know him at least? Came by with the Unfettered Xia Lan a bit back for a duel with Vladok?" 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah. You got a message for someone?" [22:13] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Oh, for--" 13He pries off the moustache and shakes out the hair, tucks the hat away. [22:15] 13Xia Lan: "I'd like to talk to Tohu, if you don't mind." 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> The bouncer is so startled his fez hops a few ilms up on top of his head. Tohu pokes her head out through the little flap-door set in the bottom of the entrance. "Oh hello there. Come on around to the back, dears. I'll fix you some drinks." [22:17] 13Xia Lan gives a cheeky wave to the bouncer as she drags Stranger around back and inside. "Tohu! How are you?" 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu swishes her tail to Tohu, who has a cup of tea on the bar for Stranger, and something tall and thin and orange for Xia Lan. "Oh, dear, I'm at the end of my yarn. Terrible day. How are you?" Despite the venue being closed, the bar has two other people at it, neither of whom turn to mark the new visitors. From behind they look very similar: huge wild dark manes of hair. The one on the left, bristly and stiff, is Vladok's. Whoever belongs to the hair on the right keeps it in much better condition. It's thick and luxurious and shines in the dim light of the CIO. [22:26] 13Xia Lan takes a sip of her drink before answering. "Middling! Been tracking somebody who'd rather not be tracked and not getting any good answers. We were hoping to find Vladok to ask him what he knew, but..." 13She gestures to Vladok at the bar. "Looks busy. We'll give him a minute. What's been terrible about your day, anyhow?" 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu jerks a tail back at the bar, where Tohu is looking at Vladok with a concerned expression. "He's been here all day. Can't pry him off the stool. Pain in our ass." 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> From the bar, without turning, Vladok croaks, "You know I can hear you." 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu: "Can you listen?" 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Silence. [22:29] 13Lightly: "Can't be that bad. Was a perfect gentlemen during our duel - only got slightly lewd when he stole my body for a song." 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu, under her breath, "I'm not sure he'd even know what else to do with--" Vladok: "I CAN STILL HEAR YOU." [22:30] 14Stranger nurses his tea in silecne. [22:31] *14silence. 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "I came here to get away from the noise." [22:32] 13Xia Lan: "Sounds like you're ready for a chat, then!" 13To Tohu: "I'll be back in a moment - we're on a bit of a time crunch." 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> At this, Vladok turns to look at Xia Lan. "What?" [22:35] 13To Vladok: "We're looking for somebody - me and this guy -" 13She points a thumb at Stranger. "You ever hear of a Bubo? Failing that... what about a Selin?" [22:36] 14Stranger: "You might know him by some other name." 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "I know Selin. He sent you to bother me?" [22:37] 14Stranger: "It's only fair. We were bothering him." [22:37] 13Xia Lan: "Also, we're not bothering you on his behalf. To be clear." [22:37] "Just, you're our only decent lead." 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "Go on, then." 14[22:39] * Joins: hrolf_mac [22:42] 13Xia Lan: "You happen to see anybody down between the River Gods's temples earlier today?" 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok snorts. "I would not go anywhere near those cesspits. Those gods are like their rivers. They reek of shit." [22:44] 13Xia Lan: "Not inaccurate. Gets me to question two: Selin mentioned an old place he lost the key to. You know where that is?" 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "Is that how he put it? That place is mine now." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you need to use it? I'm certainly not." [22:45] 13Xia Lan glances to Stranger. How much do we want to mention, here? [22:46] 14Stranger: "Just the 'key' and some directions and we'll be on our way." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Seated at the bar, Xia Lan and Stranger can tell that the guy on the far side of Vladok is passed out, face buried in his folded arms at the bar surrounded by empty shot glasses. [22:47] 13Does he resemble the vague description Xia Lan was given of the night's entertainment? 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> He does. 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Big guy, lot of nice hair. [22:47] 13Sun, if he pulls this off he's a champion. Xia Lan actually moves to shake him awake. "Hey. Hey, champ." [22:48] 13Look over to Stranger. He's got this handled, she can indulge. 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> While Xia Lan messes with the other guy, Vladok futzes around in his pockets, coming up with a a trinket - a sapphire swinging on a metal chain. "Hold this and say the key phrase. The iris to the sanctum will open." [22:50] 14Stranger will take the sapphire so that Vladok can freely say the key phrase. 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> The guy Xia Lan prods startles awake. "Huh? Are we live? Are we open? What's up." He brushes his hair out of his face and Xia Lan sees a guy about her age wearing earrings. His jaw drops but he recovers admirably. "Wow." 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok says, "You need to say 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok says, "You need to say 'Prowl, Great Crane'." [22:51] 14Stranger's eyebrows lift again, but he nods. "Thank you." 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "Oh, while you're there. Do you know anyone who needs a pair of hook swords? Good quality. Starmetal." [22:53] 14Stranger: "I believe I do." [22:53] 14And he'll be very careful handling them. One doesn't just give away good starmetal weapons for free. 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "There's a pair hanging over the altar fountain. Take them. I don't like having them around. Bad omen." [22:54] 14Stranger: "Thank you." [22:54] 13Xia Lan: "Just thought you'd want a wake up. Lot of shots for someone performing tonight - Mr. Tellurian, right?" [22:54] 13Hair raises on the back of her neck about the hook swords, but she doesn't react visibly. Still just chatting with the drunkard. 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mr. Tellurian": "Yeah, that's me. Are we on? I don't - woo. You're not management, are you?" 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "Am I opening for you? You look like a headliner." 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "Why do you need it. Did he hide a squatter there? Sentimental old bastard." 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "I knew I liked him for a reason." [22:56] 13Xia Lan: "I usually am. Not for you, though - at least, not tonight. Just - a concerned fellow performer." [22:57] 14Stranger: "Might have done. We'll see if we can clear him out. Or at least make sure he keeps the place respectable." 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "What's the concern?" [22:57] 13Xia Lan: "Well, the concern is that you're unconscious drunk at 3 in the afternoon." 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "It is no concern of mine, as long as he doesn't pervert the place with sorcery. You know any sorcerers? Untrustworthy to a man." 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> He adds in a mocking voice, "We are not so different, you and I." [22:58] 14Stranger: "Funny you should say that." [22:58] "Mainly due to truth." 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "If the truth was funny we would laugh more." [22:59] 14Stranger: "Not the laughing kind." [22:59] 14Stranger: "Not the laughing kind of funny." 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "That's alright. I got hours to clean up. Hey do you guys serve Eggs in Hell?" 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu rolls her eyes. [23:00] 13Xia Lan: "I- Tohu? Do you know what that is?" 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu: "Yeah. Food wasn't part of the deal, fat man. I'm taking the order out of your pay." 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "Yeah okay. If I don't eat something I'm gonna be sick." [23:01] 13Xia Lan: "I'll pay for it. So long as he stays sober for the show." [23:01] "I've heard you have talent, Mr. Tellurian. If that is your real name." 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "Hey, thanks. That's nice of you to do." The distant noise of pans in the kitchen makes him wince. "And say. Look I'm really sorry, but... have we met? We can't have met." [23:04] 13Xia Lan: "Depends on how much time you've spent in the south. You a southern guy?" 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "I'm the opposite. You ever been to Pneuma?" [23:04] 13Missed the 3:10. "Nope. Nexus was my big break." 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok pours himself another glass of whatever sweet-smelling amber liquid this is with a picture of a particularly stupid bird on the label. "So how did you run into old Selin? Did you have to fight him?" [23:06] 14Stranger: "I was interested in architecture. And I'm very, very poor. And I don't like the Guild." 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "That's great. I'm glad I get to meet someone who started headlining here. Makes me feel like I'm not an idiot, you know?" [23:06] "We had things to talk about." 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok grumbles in assent. "In retrospect I wish I'd done it your way." [23:06] 13Xia Lan: "Never headlined up in Pneuma?" 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "But, I say that a lot." 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "I kinda floated between projects. There were a lot of bad vibes up there. Came down here to get away from all that." 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "Bad timing, I guess. Can I ask your name?" [23:07] "My way has...mixed results." [23:08] 13The Unfettered Xia Lan: "the Unfettered Xia Lan." 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "Every way has mixed results. Every way but the highway." 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "No way." [23:08] "No, that one too." 14He sips his tea. "Sometimes I would prefer a more direct approach. But then, that's what got us into trouble before." [23:08] 13Xia Lan: "Prettier in person, right?" 13She smiles, convincingly. 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "All roads lead to trouble. Even the highways." A pause. "I'm usually better with words but I'm very drunk." [23:10] 14Stranger: "You're also not wrong. It's just a question of frequency and control." 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "I was at your last show in Parko West. You remember? With the colored lights, you opened with Weight of the World and people started mobbing the stage." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "That was genius. Starting the show with a showstopper." 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok snorts. "Control." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "I cannot believe in such things. It is the luxury of the Chosen." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "A luxury handed down from the gods." [23:15] 13Xia Lan: "I read the mood. Not many people were there for the undercard." 13She grimaces, takes a swig of the drink Tohu made. "Was kind of irritating having to resort for that. Before I went out, I took a look - thought I'd put it second, third, maybe even fourth. Get them sold on some of the other pieces to lead in, keep 'em with Weight of the World, get them hooked into the finale. But most of 'em just, weren't into it." [23:15] 14Stranger stares at the bottom of his tea cup. "It's the oldest question and the oldest problem." [23:15] "Oh, they handed down less of it than we like to advertise." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "He was the crankiest I ever met, you know." 14[23:16] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "It killed. Me and a couple buddies hit a karaoke place after the show and everyone was trying to do Weight of the World." [23:17] 14Stranger: "He's quite the character. I suspect I could have wheedled passage out of him directly, but I wanted to make a point. About boundaries." 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "They didn't have the technique, but they had the feeling. That's how you know you got em. When they feel what you feel. You know? Course you do. You're the Unfettered Xia Lan." [23:18] 13She smiles without mirth. "If they were trying to sing it themselves, they didn't feel what I felt." 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "You think?" [23:19] 13Xia Lan: "I know." 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "I don't wanna pry. I always thought it was a really lonely song. Like, you lose everything, and then you find something better. But you gotta be this whole other person. You gotta turn your back on everything, but you can't, cause that's who you are. It's still who you are. But you still gotta keep going. You know?" 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm yammering." [23:20] 13Xia Lan: "..." 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "Do you think he took it? Your point, I mean." [23:20] 14Stranger: "Perhaps. It wasn't all for him, though." [23:20] "Some it was for me." 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "You know what they say the most dangerous animal in Creation is?" [23:21] 14Stranger: "I've got guesses." 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "It's a dog that can train itself." [23:22] 14He chuckles. "I think my woman might have problems with me retelling that one." 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian sees her face. "Oh, jeez, I'm sorry. I'm being a real jerk right now." [23:23] "...maybe I didn't know." 13She looks to Mr. Tellurian again. "Sorry. Most people don't bother investing beyond, 'wow, cool song,'" 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "I always felt like people invested more than they knew. They just don't have the words to say so. Or they don't want to admit it. So you gotta let them just chill out and have a good time. If they wake up in the middle of the night thinking about everyone they ever let down, then that's for them to think about, you know? You're not their priestess. You're just making music." 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "Straighter road to Heaven, though." 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "Feel free to blame me if you do." [23:27] 13Xia Lan: "You're not wrong. But it's when - I put everything into those songs. I wrote that song for someone. She's never coming back. It was in her memory - and people found it catchy. I can't blame them for that! But it still hurt--" 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "You try to show people something, but they only see what they want to see." [23:27] 14Stranger: "No, no. We're responsible for the stories we tell. And the ones we don't tell." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "You're wiser than I'd guess. Most of you aren't so wise." [23:29] 14Stranger: "Well. You know what they do to dogs that can train themselves, right?" [23:30] 13Xia Lan: "They saw a catchy song. I saw my friend." 13She shrugs. "Sorry - you were - drinking, weren't you." 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok snorts again, and holds his drink up to Stranger. "I have some idea." [23:30] "They could just put them down. But they train the dogs to do it to themselves." [23:31] 13Xia Lan: "I can't say I didn't mean to distract you from that, 'cause I did, but - you were busy. Um." 13She shifts. "I was planning on being back tonight. See your show. You... gonna be up for that?" 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "You're gonna be there?" [23:31] 13Xia Lan: "Unless something goes horribly wrong and I die later, yeah." 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "You said that like the odds aren't zero." 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "Are you in trouble?" 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "I mean, more trouble than--" he waves his hand vaguely. A dish of eggs swimming in a spicy red sauce appears in front of him. [23:32] 13Xia Lan: "Not more than that," 13she says. [23:33] "Comes with the territory." 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "Yeah." 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "Anyway, yeah. I'll be on. I did my last show and that time I didn't even have someone looking out for me." 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "Thank you." [23:36] 13Xia Lan: "You're welcome." 13She looks over the bar. "He eats for free as long as he's sober. I'll be back tonight to pay up." 13They can probably afford that, right? If not, hey, paying on performance. 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan can. The food here is dirt cheap for what you get. Mostly because most people don't order off the menu at a place this shady. [23:39] 14Stranger: "Time for me to check on Xia Lan and her new friend, then go see about your squatter. See when I see you, Vladok." 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "Take care." [23:39] 14Stranger very slightly pauses as he stands, but doesn't let any surprise show. "You do the same." [23:43] 14Once they're away: "Vladok's a happy drunk." [23:44] 13Xia Lan: "He was friendliest then. Still seemed kind of grumpy. Did he like you?" [23:51] 14Stranger: "I think he did." [23:51] "We talked about control and consequences." [23:51] "And he gave me this." 14He shows Xia Lan the sapphire. "This is the key." [23:51] 13Does Xia Lan recognize it outside of what Stranger says? [23:54] 13Xia Lan: "Cute key." [23:54] 14Stranger: "We say a key phrase, and it takes us...somewhere." [23:54] "Somewhere with a pair of starmetal hook swords, no less." [23:55] 13Xia Lan: "...this is sounding a little too good to be true. Bait, for me." [23:55] 14Stranger: "That's what I thought. So I'd stay on guard." [23:55] "Though I'm more suspicious that the swords will come with a catch than that this is an outright trap." [23:56] 13Xia Lan: "He did tell you the key phrase, right?" [23:56] "Don't say it! Just. Do you know it?" [23:56] 14Stranger: "I do." [23:56] 14Slight amusement; he's not an amateur. [23:56] "Okay. So." 13She looks to Stranger again. "Do we check this out? Or something else first?" [23:57] 14Stranger: "We do it now. I need words with Bubo, and if those swords are real, they'll just make you more formidable in whatever we do next." 14He'll have led her to the alley back around behind the CIO, away from prying eyes and ears. [23:58] 13Xia Lan: "I'm ready if you are." 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> They're alone. [23:59] 14Stranger takes her hand, just in case this relies on touch. Then, holding the gem in the other: "Prowl, Great Crane." Session Time: Tue Mar 06 00:00:00 2018 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> There's silence for a beat, stillness for a beat, and then the air splits before them, spreading like opened wings, a window into a world of marble and running water. [00:01] 14If they have to step on through, Stranger will step on through. [00:02] 13Xia Lan's just behind. She's seen stranger things. Less welcoming things. This is... fine. 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger and Xia Lan find themselves in an open hall, bright and clear, filled with birdsong and a thousand fountains. Smooth white stone runs from wall to wall, in carvings depicting battles and concords, in fountains dedicated to lost friends. There is, here, a sense of absolute serenity. [00:03] 13Xia Lan looks upon the fountains, their dedications. [00:03] 14Beautiful. Serene. An excellent place to hide, in weakness. 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> There's no sound but the running water. As Xia Lan and Stranger press deeper into this strange place, they find themselves seeing themselves. The walls are not stone, but glass. They stand in a hall of fountains and mirrors. [00:06] 13Xia Lan: "...beautiful place." [00:08] "It is," 14Stranger says. He's looking around. 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Among what must be a thousand fountains, Stranger sees him first, wearing simple green robes, sitting cross-legged, head bowed, beneath a fountain in the far corner, above a floor carved with legacy of some ancient struggle, face-to-face with his own reflection, eyes closed. It's Bubo. He looks older than Stranger remembers, and thinner. [00:10] 14Where did Vladok say those swords were, again? 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Hanging over the altar fountain. The altar is in the back, depicting a bird standing on long thin legs with broad wings folded around itself. Faceless figures are enveloped in those wings. [00:13] 13I don't imagine there are any sort of hook swords in those wings. [00:13] 14He motions to Xia Lan and nods in the direction of the altar. Then he walks over to Bubo, and sits down next to him, a respectful distance away. 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The swords hang, blue-white, behind the bird. 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Crossed at right angles. [00:15] 13Well, that's the prize, then. She settles a comfortable distance away from both Stranger and Bubo. "Been a busy day for us," 13she starts. [00:16] 14Stranger: "We just want a word." 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo's shoulders stiffen, but he doesn't open his eyes or look up. "The world can move or not on a word." [00:16] 14Stranger: "That it can." 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Forgive me for asking this, but you didn't hurt anyone, did you? To find me." [00:18] 14He shakes his head. "No. Selin didn't even give up his promise." [00:19] 13Xia Lan: "All quiet here." [00:19] "Unfortunately, he lost this place to a demon named Vladok, who is a bit less...involved. No worries, though. This place doesn't much appeal to him anyhow." [00:20] "The disposition of this place falls from him to me at the moment, then, and as far as I'm concerned, you can come and go as you please, and stay as long as you like." 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "At what cost?" [00:21] 14Stranger: "You help us save Nexus, in your own way." [00:21] "And then...we'll see." 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "What can I, one rather peripheral figure in your grand plan, do to help you?" [00:23] 14Stranger: "I need your rather unique set of skills turned towards a problem of mine." [00:23] "You may be aware that the 'Emissary' is back." 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "I saw, yes." [00:23] "I need your expert opinion on two things: first, if he's the real deal. Second, if you think he's not...how you'd think to go about faking him." [00:25] "...And I would prefer your presence in Nexus on that fateful day when the armies arrive, but we're not all warriors, and I won't ask you to die for this city." [00:25] "What you do then is in your hands." 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "The Emissary cannot die, as long as Nexus lives. Whatever shape he takes, it is he, and no one else, behind the mask." 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "He is Nexus." [00:25] 14Stranger: "You see, we thought we'd already accounted for that. There was a cabbage merchant." 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "There was." [00:26] "And this new Emissary is acting...eratic." 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is there still?" [00:26] "We're trying to run him down." [00:26] 13Xia Lan: "...hard to know." 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "That would be step one." [00:27] 14Stranger: "A bit of news that might have a personal interest for you: the Emissary is now openly executing Councilors for breaking rather creative interpretations of the Dogmas. His interpretations." [00:27] "The Evening Master learned this to his very sudden detriment." 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "No promise sweeter than a blood pact." 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "Nothing harder to go through with than a vanishing act." [00:28] "Mmmm." [00:29] 14He shifts into a cross-legged position. "Have you given in fully to despair, do you think?" 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "It depends." 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do I think we will win? Absolutely. My conviction is inviolable. You will not fail." [00:33] 13Xia Lan: "And yet?" 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Will I lose everything? I think so." 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Perhaps I already have." 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "I got a message from the Director." [00:34] 14Stranger: "I'm guessing that's not good." [00:34] 13Xia Lan: "Seems pretty good from our end." 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'd never heard from him before. Not in a hundred years of faithful service." 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "I still don't know his name." 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "He told me this cover had outlived its usefulness, and to wait for reassignment." 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Via his messenger. Or hers, I suppose." 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Though I suspect a woman would have been less dismissive." [00:35] 14Stranger: "Sounds like you're about to have what we call a 'come to sunlight' moment. You know what that means?" [00:36] 13Xia Lan: "You'd be surprised, by the by." 15[00:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Maybe so. What is a come to sunlight moment?" [00:37] 14Stranger: "It's when you're given a choice, a free and clear choice, to reaffirm your devotion to the set of principles -- and the set of people -- that you serve. And if you do that, then everything is forgiven. And if you don't, well." [00:37] "It's not actually a free and clear choice, you see." 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "There is no free and clear choice." [00:39] "I'm beginning to think you and Vladok would get along." 14He shrugs. "But who knows. Maybe they do it different in your group. Maybe they'll just kill you as soon as you come in." 15[00:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "We have a saying in the Circus." 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you know the Old Realm tongue?" [00:40] 14Stranger: "I do." 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "We say, "Omae wa mou shindeiru." [00:41] "The Circus doesn't sound very optimistic." 15[00:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "If you need optimism, you'll have already been assigned to the Bakers." 15[00:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "The Circus is for those of us who ask less and need more." [00:43] "What do the Bakers do. At this point my assumption would be just about anything except baking." 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "They serve Venus and Mercury. Venus has her eye on someone in Nexus right now. You might run into him. They seek to keep us from eating ourselves alive. Feeding us just enough to keep us hungry but not starved." 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's all they can do." [00:44] "Ah." 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "I used to resent them their indolence. Not anymore." 15[00:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "Now I envy their earnestness." [00:46] 14Stranger: "You've already given up on Dorma and Kratz, haven't you?" 15[00:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "I will protect her. If it costs me my career." 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "Dorma is beyond me. You may save him. I cannot." [00:47] 14He turns to face Bubo for the first time. "You might not believe me when I say this, but that's the first good news I've heard since coming in here." [00:47] "Dorma is..." 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "If we are marked to die, we are enough to do our people loss. But if to live, the greater share of honor." [00:48] 14Stranger pauses. "You're familiar with Keldar." [00:48] "He's a very particular kind of man." 15[00:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't know him. But we are all familiar, now." [00:49] "He's the sort that will defend Dorma to the death on the battlefield, now. Why? Not duty or loyalty or love or even respect. But because he wants to best the man himself." [00:49] "In a bizarre sense, I'm not sure the Dragonlord could have any better advocate in war -- until we win." [00:50] 14The Eclipse shrugs. "Then things get complicated." 15[00:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "We give infinite license for complication if we win. Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow." [00:51] 14Stranger: "That is what keeps things interesting." [00:51] "There is a war council upcoming." [00:51] "I would appreciate your presence there. In secrecy. Not to intervene; merely to observe." 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "So I've heard. The two-headed and the headless." [00:52] "If you have some means of far-sight, by all means use it." 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "Observation is not a passive act. On whose behalf do I observe?" [00:52] "Your own. And then Astrologer Kratz's. And finally, mine." 15[00:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "Have you felt shame, Stranger?" [00:53] "Acutely." 15[00:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "Then you know you don't ask me to confront my failure lightly." [00:53] "I do not." 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo is silent for a long time. [00:54] "But I would not trade in my shame." 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> And then: "If not this... then what else?" [00:54] "My shame has been useful. It is part of how I learn." [00:55] 14Stranger: "Then you have your fountains. I am of my word: I will not drag you from this place. Should you wish solitude, then solitude you shall have." 15[00:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "I may wish it. But I am never alone. No matter how I may desire solitude." [00:55] "But while good salt, solitude makes a terrible meal." 15[00:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "None of us is ever alone." [00:57] "'He wants the silence, but fears the solitude; / he wants to be alone and together, with you.'" [00:57] 14Softly singing. [00:57] 14Then he stands. "We asked for a word, and we've had it. We'll leave you be, now." 15[00:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "I want to give you back the open sky." [00:59] 14He grimaces. "After what we did with it last time, you've a right to be cautious." [00:59] "...I'll be back tomorrow, I think. To see the fountains again." 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'll see you then." 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "You won't be alone, when the time comes." [01:00] "No, I won't." 14Stranger bows slightly, then withdraws. 15[01:05] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: No promise sweeter than a blood pact 14[01:08] * Joins: Crion 14[01:36] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:42] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[06:00] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[10:01] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[10:32] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[11:00] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[11:05] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:37] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:49] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[11:59] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[12:13] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[12:31] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[13:34] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[13:49] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[13:59] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[18:01] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:06] * Joins: Zarick 14[18:07] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[18:59] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:02] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:02] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[19:03] * Joins: tom 14[19:43] * Joins: hrolf 15[19:59] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:59] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:59] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:59] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:59] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:01] <@VoxPVoxD> The war council convenes in the heart of Firewander, beneath the golden dome of the old Deliberative hall, at noon tomorrow. A note went around to all the prospective attendees, four of whom are in the hideout in Floodwater at this moment, asking a pressing question: any food allergies? There'll be a buffet. [20:02] 14None. Surely they sent a tea list...? 15[20:03] <@VoxPVoxD> A package has also arrived by another courier, addressed to Stranger Visits Heaven. It's a moderately heavy box, with a note for the courier to handle it with care. [20:03] 14Ah. [20:03] 14Any card? 14[20:03] * Joins: dammitwho [20:04] 5 Xu Sim is monopolizing the hearth again. He's got a couple cauldrons going. 15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Yes. The card is written in red ink, and signed with a black O. 4A gift, to commemorate our agreement. Make friends of enemies. [20:04] 4von Hrolfus stands at ease, hands clasped behind his back. 15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD> There's no tea list, but there is a wine list. Looks like someone requisitioned a rich Guildsman's cellar, by the looks of it. [20:06] 13Xia Lan is sitting in her usual armchair, sorting through mail. No food allergies to mention, in response to the card. [20:06] 14Sigh. [20:07] 14He'll give the package a once over, then gently open it. [20:08] 5 The sorceror steals a glance back at his three companions, and then rubs his hands over the three cauldrons bubbling away on the hearth. 15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD> It's an exceedingly fine teapot made of white jade. It sat on the table between Stranger, Keldar, and the Overfactor. [20:10] 14Well, he does advertise his hobbies. [20:11] 14He picks the teapot up and examines it a second, more intimate time. [20:11] 5 Xu Sim withdraws each of the cauldrons, one at a time, blowing on them to cool. [20:14] 5 One cools quickly into a sparkling, opalescent sludge. He decants it into a crude phial, still faintly steaming. [20:14] 14Then he places it back on the table. "Xia Lan." [20:15] 13Xia Lan: "Hm?" 13She looks over a pair of entirely-for-show spectacles past another story of someone wanting to live their dream and perform just like her. [20:15] 5 The second hardens into a bunch of tiny black spheres. These he empties with a ladle into a stone bowl. [20:16] 14He gestures at the gift. "This is the Lotus-Blossom Kettle." [20:16] "Well." [20:16] 4 What does that mean? [20:16] "A Lotus-Blossom Kettle." [20:16] 4"What does that mean?: [20:17] 5 The third renders into a silvery clay, which he kneads carefully into a single pearl the size of a robin's egg and sets on a plate. [20:18] "It means that it purifies any...toxins, or poisons, or other additives present inside of it." [20:18] "The lotus, after all, is a symbol of purity -- especially upon bloom." 14He pushes it towards Xia Lan. "You may examine it." [20:18] "It will be added to our kitchen." [20:19] 13Xia Lan: "Any of them." 13She sets aside her papers and stands up to take a look, making "hrm" noises as she checks every inch of it. [20:20] 14Evenly: "We might even take it out to the CIO, if you wish." [20:20] 4"A gift fit for kings". He muses on this bit. "Espescially fit for kings." [20:20] "...who gifted it to us?" 13She still looks suspicious, but this is the real deal. No trick there. [20:21] 14To Bastian: "Indeed. You know what the problem with tasters always is; the kings get attached to them. They're always there, you see." [20:21] 14to Xia Lan: "The Overfactor of the Nexus Guild. It was present at his first meeting with Keldar and myself." [20:22] 4He nods. "They also tend to develop immunities, which negates their function in the first place." [20:23] 14Stranger: "Only well-liked kings tend to have that problem." [20:24] 4"The Kaiser..." he trails off. [20:24] 13She nods, satisfied. "I want it at the CIO. For reassurances." [20:24] 14He waves to her. "Then keep it with you between now and then." [20:26] 13She takes it gently and moves it into her quarters for the time being. "Appreciated." [20:26] 14Stranger nods. [20:30] 14To the room: "What's our guest list?" [20:30] "For the war council." [20:30] "I have an and-one." 15[20:32] <@VoxPVoxD> The circle knows they can bring extra people without a problem - their delegation is already a fraction of Lookshy's, the Council's, or even Highland's. It might get a bit awkward at the door if you show up with an entire army, but past that, you're fine. It's a big building. 14[20:33] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[20:33] * Joins: hrolf_mac [20:34] 14Still need to know for the guest list, however. [20:34] 14Er, allergy list. [20:34] 4"I know no one." [20:34] 13As she resurfaces: "No one from me, I don't think. The people I've met aren't really the war council types." [20:34] 14Stranger, for instance, is scanning the menu just to make sure fish is properly represented. [20:34] 14To Xia Lan: "You could invite Tsuka." 15[20:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Klaus, Bastian's second, has recovered from his injuries, if nothing else. [20:35] 4 "...unless my man-at-arms counts. Would he be permitted? An extra pair of eyes could come in handy, and I may vouch for his trustworthiness." [20:36] 14To Bastian: "Of course." [20:37] 13Xia Lan: "The thought had crossed my mind but - I can't see him in a war council. Something about the temperment. Still..." 13She taps a finger to her chin. "Yes. You'll have to contact him, but yes." [20:37] 14Stranger nods. [20:37] 14And with a slight smile: "I'm certain he'll behave." [20:40] "Bastian, Xia Lan, Stranger, come over here for a moment," 5 says Xu Sim once he is satisfied with the condition of each of his concoctions. [20:41] 13Xia Lan: "What infernal potion have you made this time?" 13She stays right where she is. [20:42] 14Stranger sighs and rises. "Bring the kettle if you wish," 14he says to Xia Lan. [20:42] 13She does so. [20:42] "Stranger, these are for you." 5 He passes over the stone bowl with the black pods inside.  "I'm calling them 'tea peas'. A change of pace for your teas - these shall approximate - nay, surpass - what I believe is the fashion in the Realm to drink cold, sweetened tea with tapioca balls." [20:43] 14Stranger considers them for a moment. 14[20:43] * Joins: hrolfy [20:43] "A complete alteration of your tea-drinking experience. Had I known you'd be receiving another tea-related gift today, perhaps I'd have come up with something different," 5 he adds, grudgingly. [20:44] 14Stranger: "It's fine. Thank you, Xu Sim." 14[20:44] * Joins: hrolfie [20:44] "The diplomats should love them." [20:46] "Xia Lan, this is for you. I'm quite proud of this one - I call it the Prismatic Follicle-Taming Wonder Potion. Observe." 5 The sorceror takes one of his writing brushes from his belt and, overturning the phial, drips a globule onto the brushe's hair. It immediately changes color from black horsehair to a coruscating rainbow, and begins faintly waving - though there is no breeze in [20:46] 5the kitchen. 14[20:46] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:47] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:48] 13She eyes the brush suspiciously, but sets the tea set back on her shelf. "That's - how long does it last?" 13She'd had dreams of something like this for particularly notable shows. She's got great hair, but there's only so much you can do with it... [20:48] 14Now that's a good pitch. Something she doesn't have to drink. [20:48] "Could be weeks. I'm not sure, to be honest. Probably until it gets wet." [20:49] 13If it washes out, that is acceptable. She takes the offered phial. "Thank you." [20:50] "Bastian, this -" 5 he presents the silvery robins-egg -  "Is a Dream-Pearl. Take it before you go to bed. It will bring you good sleep and dreams of happier times - I suspect, of happier times in Deguo." 5 He slides it along the table. [20:51] 4von Hrolfus accepts it and places it within a fold in his coat. "Thank you, but I prefer to look to the future than the past." [20:52] "Then may it bring you dreams of a bountiful future. You're all welcome." [20:52] 14Stranger: "If you value tomorrow, you need a good night's rest." [20:52] "Thank you, Xu Sim." [20:53] "You're all quite welcome. I had these in mind for some time but I was resting up after curing the honey-maze the day before yesterday." [20:53] 14Stranger blinks five or six times. [20:53] "Curing the." [20:54] "Eh?" [20:54] 13Xia Lan: "You did - I'm sorry?" [20:54] 14Stranger: "You didn't stutter. I just want you to say it a second time." [20:56] "The honey-maze? Cured. Well, mostly. A few of the victims went terminal and turned into mellifluous puppets of the Raksha. But boiling water put them out of their misery. One of them was a perfect duplicate of me, actually, which was a little disturbing when the Dragonlord utterly destroyed him." [20:57] 14Stranger: "..........." [20:57] "That's a lot of information." [20:57] "My first question is: do you need factors of scale?" [20:58] "Or have you already distributed all of the cure?" [20:58] 13Xia Lan: "My first question is are you sure you actually did this or did you just get too close to the fumes?" 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Wow. [20:59] 14Stranger: "If I didn't trust that he did what he said he was going to do I'd have never let him dope you." [20:59] 13It's a fair question! [20:59] 4von Hrolfus arches an eyebrow. Bit rude that. [20:59] "Factors? To do what? Manufacture it? The Legion's medical corps and the city should be handling the rest of it now. I think they've been in touch with Hayle about it. A lot of nonsense about figures and so forth, I couldn't be bothered. It's cured, is the point." [20:59] 13He drugged me. [20:59] 14That's what I said. [21:00] 14Stranger: "Factors to distribute. If Dorma's handling distribution then...well, that's a very good thing." [21:00] "Why don't you come take a deep breath and find out?" 5 asks the sorceror, leaning towards the impertinent musician. [21:00] "And it means--Xu Sim." [21:00] "Don't be an ass." [21:00] "It means that someone is now very, very angry." [21:01] "What? Why would someone be angry about it? Other than the Queen Bee herself, that is." [21:01] 14Stranger: "Yes. Precisely." [21:01] 13Xia Lan stays far away from any of Xu Sim's cauldrons. Not risking it. "That would be someone who is angry." [21:05] "Well. Who gives a damn what she thinks. I'm sure Keldar or the Dragonlord or someone else will swat her by the end of all this." 5 He shrugs. [21:06] 14Stranger laughs. "Oh, she'll have people for Keldar and the Dragonlord." [21:06] "She'll be looking for you and me." [21:06] 14He glances around the room. "Stay precise." [21:07] 4"We will be there to back you up." [21:08] 13Xia Lan: "I'm always precise." [21:11] "I propose rather the opposite. Something less discriminate, something less precise but more certain." 5 Xu Sim waves his still-slightly-animated brush in the air for a moment as he searches for a pot of ink. [21:12] 14Stranger: "Go on." [21:16] "Are you familiar with some of the practices that some farms in the southern Threshold use for their very valuable cash crops, that are sent back to the Realm? To protect them from locust swarms and the like? The spreading of certain admixtures of arsenic, quicksilver, and the like?" 5 Xu Sim begins writing a diagram on the wall of the kitchen. [21:18] 13Xia Lan: "What about it?" [21:21] "I believe we could do something similar to create an enormous trap, or clever device, or scheme, to destroy the Raksha high command." 5 He continues his sketch - a diagram mentioning certain chemical byproducts, bees and other verminous insects, and weaknesses of faeries. [21:21] 14Stranger: "I'm vaguely familiar with them." [21:22] "To the extent that they're...bad." [21:22] "For the locusts, yes. Probably shouldn't eat them yourself, unless you're a special baby like my Twice-Refined Princess here!" 5 he adds with a gutteral laugh. [21:22] 14Stranger blinks again. "Well of course." [21:23] "But with this plague of fae-enchanted honeybees in the city, I thought to myself, there has to be a better way of dealing with all this than squashing them one at a time, or burning the hives along with the trees they sit in. And so it will be when their armies arrive, with their generals." [21:27] 4"You will kill the rakshasas with pesticide?" [21:28] "I will find a pesticide to kill raksha." [21:29] 14Uncertainly: "And just them?" [21:30] "Well, I don't see why we should be picky, since their armies include the living, the dead, hobgoblins, and more. But to do that, I will need supplies - I tried to ask Hayle about it, but he's such a tedious fellow he seemed hardly to be paying attention. I will also need test subjects - maybe if we can catch whatever remain of these maze-bees..." [21:31] 4"And what about the living who fight them? Presumably up close?" [21:31] "Whatever you need. Except the bodies of allies and Nexus citizens." [21:31] "Well, we'd have to throw it far away from our walls and allies." [21:32] 13Xia Lan: "And that's it? No other protective measures necessary?" [21:32] "And favorable winds," 5 He adds that to the diagram and underlines it twice. [21:34] 13The winds, definitely known for not changing at a moment's notice. [21:34] "Or, I suppose, we could try luring them all into a trap together in a contained environment somewhere, only to flood it with the stuff." [21:35] 13Xia Lan: "I'm no expert tactician, but that seems like a preferable way to handle things. If we can manage it." [21:36] "There do seem to rather be a lot of them." [21:36] 4"An entire army in a...contained environment?" [21:36] "You'd need a contained environment the size of, say, a city." [21:36] "Yes?" [21:37] "A valley, at least, for the whole army. But if you really think the leaders have you and I marked for death, Stranger-Visits-Heaven, then perhaps the bee would find itself eaten by the flower, instead of the other way around." [21:38] 14Stranger:"No, I just think they don't like us." [21:38] 14Stranger: "No, I just think they don't like us." [21:38] "What they care about is the Star." [21:40] "Then we have our bait. We need a way to make sure they don't swallow it - or if they do, that they don't live to tell." [21:41] 14Stranger nods. He's not wrong there. [21:44] 5 Xu Sim puts a few finishing touches on his diagram. To Xia Lan, Stranger, and Bastian - but no others - there is another message, hidden in the words of his diagram: [21:44] "IT COULD ALSO KILL THE EMISSARY - AN ESSENTIAL COUNTERBALANCE OF FORCE" 14[21:45] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:48] 14Nice. [21:48] 14And necessary. [21:48] 13Good card to have, at the very least. [21:51] "Of course, something like this requires a lot of discretion. If they got wind of it, the raksha could take steps to mitigate its effectiveness." [21:53] 12There's a thump as the door opens, clanking as greaves hit the floor, grunts and exhalations intermixed with clicks and creaks as some kind of elaborate suit of armor is disassembled and removed, and finally regular leather-on-wood footsteps as Keldar strolls into the room, drags an empty chair away from the table, and sprawls out in it such that he can lean it back against some [21:53] 12counter or wall. "Wew, lads." [21:53] 14Shouting out to the common room: "The Apples tried to hire us yesterday." [21:54] 12Keldar: "And you didn't join? Excellent career opportunity." [21:54] 14To Xu Sim, quietly: "You have my support." [21:54] 14He steps back out into the main room. "Well, I lied. They tried to hire Xia Lan." [21:54] "No use for blind men." [21:55] 12Keldar: "Let me tell you, butchers and street sweepers and the like actually know their way around the shit they swing around every day pretty well. Boredom, probably." [21:55] "We tried to send some thugs you're way, but probably convinced them to be highwaymen instead." [21:55] "You don't need to worry about Bubo anymore." [21:55] 12Keldar leans forward. "You got 'im?" [21:56] 13Xia Lan: "Poor recruiter kid. Think he would've freaked if he knew who he was really talking to, he recognized the address I gave him." [21:56] "In my employ, yes." [21:56] 4"Who's Bubo?" [21:56] "I also determined he wasn't responsible for the ambush." [21:56] "Would you like to know why?" [21:56] 12Keldar: "He explain himself with regards to that assassination attempt, th- well, then who was?" [21:57] 14Stranger: "Don't know yet. If I had to guess, I'd say the same people backing our new Emissary's play, but I'm just naturally suspicious. His boss wanted him to come in." [21:57] 4"Dorma? Or whoever his real boss is?" [21:57] "Now, for soldiers that means one thing. A frank exchange of views, maybe a dust-up. Maybe a killing, but it's up front." [21:57] "Not Dorma. His real boss." [21:57] "'The Director.'" [21:58] 12Keldar: "Whosat?" [21:58] "For spies, though -- if they ask you to come in, that just means they want to know where to find you." [21:58] "He doesn't know. I'm going to find out." [21:58] "But it spooked him badly enough he went into hiding in, I don't know. Elsewhere." [21:59] "Either way, he's on the outs with the people who sent him here and he's got an interest in what we have an interest in: Nexus." [21:59] 14To Keldar: "He's fallen in love with Astrologer Kratz." [21:59] "Do try to keep her alive." [21:59] 12Keldar blinks and tilts his head a bit. "Yeah? How's she feel about Nexus nowadays?" [21:59] "She's in our corner." [22:00] 4"Can you trust a word he says?" [22:00] "I can trust that I am the only friend that he has left, in this world." [22:01] 14Stranger gives a brief rundown of how he located Bubo: from the thugs at the shrines to Old Selin to the bartop conversation with Vladok to the sapphire and the keyword and the strange, serene place of fountains and sadness. 14[22:01] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[22:01] * Joins: hrolf_mac [22:02] 13Xia Lan adds some flavor to his descriptions as needed, but for the most part lets Stranger do the talking. [22:02] 14It was a whole lot of talking, and a whole lot of prior relationships bearing fruit. [22:07] 14Stranger: "He's staying in the sanctum of a celestial god. Now, how that fell into Vladok's hands, via Selin's, I can't say. Though I have a fairly good guess as to what manner of being our goodly architect is." [22:07] 14He looks about the room. "And it's my expectation that no one will be an ass to him about that." [22:08] 4"Why should we care?" [22:08] "That's an excellent attitude for the specific question, Bastian." [22:08] 12Keldar: "How'd he get in? Don't those take invitation or magic?" [22:08] "It was the former." [22:08] "And the latter, but via the former." [22:09] 12Keldar: "So if he's, what, basically ditching his old boss and relying on you - what can he do for us?" [22:10] "Intelligence. Analysis. An extra eye on the target; an extra dagger in the dark. I just need to make sure he's not too sad to buy in." [22:11] "Which is where the Astrologer comes in, and why I want you to make sure the Apples take over her personal detail." [22:11] 12Keldar: "He a sorcerer or a god or what?" [22:11] 13Xia Lan: "A celestial god - that's what was bothering me about the place. It's the Great Crane, I'm sure of it. The original master of the Crane style, who taught it to humankind to aid their fight for liberation-- that was his sanctum." [22:11] "I'm told he's a Chosen of Heaven." [22:12] "Right -- two different people. Old Selin, I think, is our deposed Great Crane. His new squatter, Bubo, is Chosen of Heaven." [22:12] 12Keldar: "...like us? That's not really the right term..." [22:12] "Oh, wow," 5 Xu Sim is utterly awed by the idea that Stranger and Xia Lan have visited the sanctum of Great Crane, the god who taught Crane Style to mortals. [22:12] "Don't you prefer Anathema, anyway?" [22:12] "Old who??" [22:13] "Because I'm fairly certain that religiously speaking, he's not that." [22:13] 14To Xu Sim: "Homeless guy. Been fixing leaks." [22:13] 13Xia Lan: "Seemed nice." [22:13] 4“He is not an abomination?" [22:13] 12Keldar: "Nah, I mean - heaven generally? Doesn't quite square with any of the actual..." 12He makes circular motions. "...nomenclature." [22:14] 14Stranger sighs and closes his eyes. "He serves...it's either Jupiter or Saturn. Part of his whole deal is that he's difficult to talk about." [22:14] "Saturn, I think." [22:15] 12Keldar looks faintly confused, and then just puts the entire thing out of mind. "I got some news of my own, besides that the militia training's underway." [22:15] 12Keldar: "Turns out, the very day I got back to Nexus after taking the second breath, the door of the Tomb of Red-Hot Iron swung open." [22:16] 14Stranger: "Oh." [22:16] "What does that mean?" [22:16] 12Keldar: "Guild managed to dig the foyer's light fixture out of the ceiling, then sent in an entire team that never came back. They gave me a deal - I could either go in and keep whatever gear those guys had, or I could go in, return the gear, but keep the tomb." [22:17] 12Keldar: "Means it might be mine. Uh, my... preincarnation's? That a word?" [22:17] "It works." [22:18] 13Xia Lan: "Meaning's clear, at least. So... what's your plan?" [22:18] 12Keldar: "Anyway, I took option two. This is a First Age tomb that hasn't been touched since Nexus's founding - there's got to be insane loot down there, and likely at least some of it's combat gear." [22:18] "So you want help." [22:19] 12Keldar: "We got the actual war council coming up so I have to put it aside for at least a little bit, but way I see it we got no choice but to go down there and strip the very jade out of the walls. The material and materiel'll be nearly priceless." [22:20] "It sounds like an excellent investment."? [22:20] *-? [22:20] 12Keldar: "Obviously dibs on my own ancestral daiklave or whatever but there's no reason the lot of us shouldn't be properly decked out in jade or better by the time the fae arrive." [22:20] 14Stranger: "I have no interest in joining you. At all." [22:21] "However." [22:21] "I know someone I'd like to sponsor." [22:21] 12Keldar: "Who?" [22:23] "Cathak Tsuka." [22:23] "He might already even be a member of your organization." [22:24] 12Keldar: "Ah, him. You know, I keep missing the chance for a chat of more than a few words. Be a good chance to see what he can do... though also kind of a shame if he touched the wrong wall and melted." [22:24] "He's got the Dragon Blood, he can throw fire, he's chomping at the bit for advancement, and perhaps most importantly -- beyond his respect for you -- he'll have more modest dreams from the loot." [22:24] 12Keldar: "But, hell, I guess a fire aspect's as safe as anyone'll be in there." [22:24] 14Slightly nettled: "Implicitly, I'm counting on you to make sure that doesn't happen." [22:25] 13Xia Lan: "I'll go too, then. Ought to keep your mind at ease." [22:25] 14He smiles. "Good; thank you." [22:26] 12Keldar: "Easier said than done, but it'll get done." 12He turns to Xia Lan. "Great. More Chosen with me, the better a shot we'll have at doing it clean. Possible that the entire place will just recognize me - one of us, at least - as the owner and not so much as leave any doors locked, but who knows." [22:27] 13Xia Lan: "Tomb raids never really go that cleanly. Even if you think they might. Especially if you think so, actually." [22:27] 12Keldar points to Xu Sim. "You I'd like there - or at least someone you can vouch for. I know a little Old Realm and I've seen plenty of magic in my day, but, frankly, you've had more days." [22:27] "I would be remiss not to accompany you, but I'd also be remiss to let my other projects slide..." 5 Xu Sim considers his options carefully. [22:27] 12Keldar: "Well, it's right in the Bastion district, remember. Dunno exactly how big the place is but it shouldn't be more than a day or two's work." [22:28] 12Keldar: "Probably wanna hit it on a weekend so that my training doesn't get too badly interrupted." [22:28] "That would be a tragedy." [22:28] 12Keldar: "Absolutely, those guys need all the help they can get." 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Fun fact: Mercenaries getting weekends off is one of the few labor protections enshrined in the Civilities. [22:29] 4"I will accompany you." [22:30] 14The door to Stranger's room opens, there's a pause, and then a cat sticks her head out in between the crack with narrowed, accusing eyes. "Excuse me," 14says the silver-haired man with a smile. [22:30] 12Keldar: "Nice. Six swords and a sorcerer should be plenty. Remind me - you much with locks and mechanisms and such?" 12This to Xia Lan. [22:32] "By the way, Keldar, I've cured the honey-maze plague and the Legion's medics and the city's Factors should be distributing it to the citizenry. Also, the final stage of the plague turns its victims into homonculi made of honey under the absolute control of the Queen of the East. And one of them was a perfect duplicate of me, until the Dragonlord destroyed it. So there might be a few [22:32] more duplicates out there." [22:32] 13Xia Lan: "Pretty good, yeah." [22:32] "I picked up a lot of skills in my time." [22:32] 12Keldar blinks. "Duplicates of... anyone who got infected?" [22:33] "I'm not sure where my duplicate came from. But the others, I think the honey slowly consumes their tissue until they're a nearly-perfect replica of what they once were. They're still honey though, so hot water and so forth just melts them." [22:34] 12Keldar: "When you say perfect, you mean he had anathema powers?" [22:34] 5 Xu Sim seems pleased with his straightforward, military explanation. He spent a lot of time working out the exact details.  "Oh, ah, well he was my equal at sorcery and martial arts, at least." 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> He also mimicked Xu Sim's anima. [22:35] "And it produced a grotesque parody of my anima." [22:35] 12Keldar: "Hmm. Well... none of the rest of us got sick, right?" [22:35] 13Xia Lan: "Not me." [22:38] "Take care you don't. And if you do, come right back. Oh, and there was one other thing. I was able to talk the Dragonlord back a little bit in his vendetta towards me. Also, and please don't mention this, I have the reagents to perform a dream-speaking spell on him if we think that's wise. Enough to plant an idea in his head, perhaps." [22:40] 12Keldar taps his chin a few times. "Probably not enough for him not to try and kill me once this is over with." [22:40] 13Xia Lan: "No problem. If he finds out, maybe we can start a support group." [22:40] 4"We could kill him first." [22:40] 12Keldar: "And he's already decided on the war council meeting place, so whatever." [22:41] 5 Xu simmers at Xia Lan's continued impertinence. [22:43] 12Keldar shakes his head at Bastian. "Nah. If the guy wants a proper fight after all's said and done he can have one." [22:43] "He's also sworn vengeance against me, and I'd rather he not take me up on it after seeing what he did to my evil twin." [22:44] 12Keldar: "Easy, we'll just make sure I'm first in line." [22:45] 5 Xu Sim twists at his mustache. [22:46] 13Xia Lan: "I have to say, that's an awfully cavalier attitude to take to having vengeance sworn against you. Not the first time it's happened, I take it?" [22:48] 12Keldar: "Well... it's an occupational hazard, right?" [22:48] 12Keldar: "War, treasure, territory... guarding or stealing things... you end up locking horns, you know?" [22:49] 4"Might be for the best if an unfortunate accident happened to him in the heat of battle." [22:49] 12Keldar: "Nooo. Not like he's a bad guy or something. And he'll definitely be an asset to the defense." [22:50] 13Xia Lan: "I do know. Still, a worrying reality of life." [22:50] 12Keldar: "Now, if those fuckers from Thorns happened to be the rapidly-crushed first line, that's another story." [22:53] 12Keldar: "...so we still DON'T know who was behind that assassination attempt, yeah?" [22:54] "Odd they haven't tried again. We keep splitting up in public." [22:55] 12Keldar: "I'm surrounded by mercs and militiamen as often as not. If it's me they wanted they haven't really had another chance." [22:57] "That reminds me, Keldar, do you have any thoughts on siege warfare? Catapults, mangonels and so forth?" [22:58] 12Keldar: "Not my preferred means, but I've had a few rounds. You should see the firedust cannons they've got down south." 12He glances off, as though able to see through the wall. "Probably Lookshy's our best bet here - if they're willing to ship over any of those lightning ballistae and similar." [22:59] 14Stranger slips out of his room some moments later and gently shuts the door. [22:59] "I'm learning how to build them myself. Lightning ballistae would take a little more time than I have, but..." 5 Xu Sim glances over at the emerging Stranger. [22:59] 14Stranger: "But?" [23:01] "Time is the biggest obstacle to building one, now. I think I could, if I had the time and parts, put one together myself, from scratch." [23:02] 12Keldar: "You know me, I'm way more comfortable in the thick of things. Mostly only seen fights big enough to involve siege equipment when I wasn't in charge of them. Now, I know what you're thinking - how hard can it be, really, for my buddy Keldar? And sure, I can figure it out." [23:02] 12Keldar: "But do I need to?" 12Keldar turns to Bastian. "You got catapults and such up in Deguo?" [23:02] 14Stranger: "That is what I was thinking." [23:09] "In any case, Keldar, I've put together a plan -" 5 he gestures to the kitchen wall, upon which is written an extensive diagram detailing, essentially, a plan to come up with a poison to kill Rakshasa - "And if you can help gather some of the ingredients I need, or happen upon any hobgoblins or honey-maze infected bees, I would appreciate it." [23:10] 12Keldar: "My main worry here is if the wind shifts and I have to fight in it." [23:11] 14Stranger: "It's an extremely pertinent concern." [23:11] 13Xia Lan: "It's." [23:12] 12Keldar: "How well would that stuff serve as... you know, we'd just smear it along the right walls and make sure the raksha can't just go around us, or crawl under the door?" [23:12] "Anyone know the local weather gods? And perhaps I could come up with an antidote that could be distributed..." 14[23:13] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [23:13] 13Xia Lan: "No, but we've been walking in high circles lately. Might meet one." 14[23:14] * Joins: hrolf_mac [23:15] 12Keldar: "Well, you could - actually, I keep losing track of this. You got like, colleagues? Apprentices? Just how many magicians can we dragoon, here?" [23:15] "The temples of the River Gods are closed, and I believe that would be their purview." [23:15] "Not that we couldn't still find a way to ask." [23:18] 4von Hrolfus scratches his chin. "Well, I do know a fair bit about siege theory - mandatory class for all officers at the Academy. And we operated light mockup models of the equipment during the practicals - I should say I know a fair bit.." [23:19] "I've been remembering things I never learned about building siege engines and large-scale weapons of that type. What would be effective things for me to get to work on, that would contribute most effectively to the city's defense?" [23:19] 12Keldar: "That's good. I lead from the front, see, but if Xu Sim whips up some acid trebuchets or something they'll need someone who knows how to aim 'em." [23:20] 12Keldar considers Xu Sim's question. "Clouds of poison have obvious problems, but just... hell, boulders in burning tar never go out of style, right? More we can soften 'em up before we engage, the better." [23:21] 13Xia Lan: "Do those work on raksha?" [23:21] 4"My specialty was artillery, of course, but we are- were- adequately trained in all forms of modern military warfare." [23:25] 12Keldar: "Embodied raksha, forging into Creation? Sure. They got bodies." [23:25] 12Keldar: "Not all of 'em bleed, not all of 'em burn, and so on, but some kind of abuse or another'll stamp 'em out." [23:26] 12Keldar: "Obviously the best thing to be hucking at 'em would be, like, huge masses of bundled-up iron that explode into shrapnel. But every iron catapult payload is that many fewer iron swords." [23:28] 4"Do exploded rakshasas re-coalesce?" [23:30] 12Keldar: "Mostly no. They ain't gods." [23:30] 13Xia Lan: "War sure is a racket." [23:31] 12Keldar: "My understanding is raksha get up to some weird shit when left to themselves, but when they fight us they play by most of our rules. Dead's dead." [23:32] 14Stranger: "The big problem with them -- and the reason we needed to resolve our bee issue -- was the possibility of them bringing their rules to us." [23:33] 4"When I fought the apparition that pretended to be...or perhaps, once was - my friend, it felt ethereal at times. Like my blade was going through air." [23:33] "All that iron for swords, or shrapnel, and..." 13She shakes her head. "Anyway. Is that still on the table? Their rules to us?" [23:33] "So long as the Queen doesn't have something else lined up to give her a back door into the city -- and we should watch Firewander very, very closely -- we've won an important victory before we've begun." [23:34] "Well. There's a Wyld incursion in the center of town." [23:34] "That's never going to be a good thing." [23:35] 12Keldar: "Highland might've taken care of that for us. We'll see what they've done to the place tomorrow, I suppose." [23:36] "What is on the agenda for tomorrow's council of war?" [23:36] 12Keldar: "Good question. Guess we formally agree - and swear, presumably - to the city's defense, decide who's in charge of who..." [23:37] 4"Is it confirmed that they WILL attack the city? It would be amusing if they saw what was arrayed against them and simply went around us, or to an easier target." [23:38] 14Stranger: "We're the target, unless they're planning on fighting each other." [23:38] "Which, admittedly, would be funny." [23:38] 12Keldar: "Nah, they want us. They're coming to collect on the Emissary's power or something." [23:39] 12Keldar: "Now, if we could, like... pick up the red star and hurl it over the Blessed Isle or something, that'd be pretty funny. But I doubt it." [23:39] 13Xia Lan: "Only if you can yell 'pranked' as they rush off to chase the ball." [23:40] 12Keldar: "Heh heh. Of course, one or more of them might still decide to go through us on the way." [23:40] 14Stranger: "I'm not sure what the Red Star's whole deal actually is, but I'd be willing to be that it's not, in the strictest sense, actually there." [23:40] "Especially if we did actually yell that at them. Heck, I would too, just out of spite." [23:40] "As a thing that we can move or remove or touch or muck with at all." [23:41] "I'd be willing to bet that, more than anything, it's part of them." [23:41] "It's Balor's maleficent eye, I think. Hard to say for sure without more information." [23:41] "Well, yes." [23:41] "But what sustains it?" [23:41] 12Keldar: "Him, maybe, or Nexus itself." [23:42] 13Xia Lan: "Is it the friends the Emissary made along the way?" [23:42] "There's a good chance the answer to that question is: literally the armies marching here, because of it." [23:42] "Cause and effect, all twisted up." [23:42] "That's the Wyld way." [23:43] 4"Makes your head spin." [23:44] 14Stranger: "After all, assuming the current Emissary is the real deal, one would think his return would end all this nonsense. The star first of all." [23:44] "But it hasn't." [23:44] "Moreover, it doesn't even seem to be within his purview, let alone his interest." [23:45] "We're dealing with something outside of Nexian jurisprudence, to be sure." [23:45] 12Keldar: "Might be still hurt... or insane, or something. Part of why the Guild tried to pull out, certainly." [23:46] 12Keldar: "Speaking of, Xu Sim, if you need more resources you can hit them up. I convinced the Overfactor of the Guild to keep his holdings in the city and contribute to the defense." [23:46] "And I convinced him to be fair and clear in his dealings." [23:47] "Both agreements end with the successful defense of Nexus, however. Be prepared." [23:47] "Oh, that's excellent news." [23:47] 12Keldar: "'course, I'm sworn to uphold the Dogmas and make sure the rest of the city doesn't try to loot the Guild's offices in the interrim, but it means they didn't just up and leave with all their iron." [23:47] 13Xia Lan: "That's some trade." [23:47] 12Keldar: "It's them that gave me the tipoff about Red-Hot Iron, and I'm sure they can furnish you with whatever." [23:48] 14Stranger: "Yes. Let's all leave the Guild be for a time, so that Keldar isn't obliged to kill you." [23:48] "However." [23:48] "If they fuck with you--" [23:48] "Let me know." [23:50] 12Keldar: "Definitely. Doubt they will, though. They know what's good for 'em." [23:51] 13Xia Lan: "Do they, though?" [23:51] "What's good for them may be the only thing they have any interest in." [23:52] 14Stone-faced: "If they don't, I'm going to have a conversation with some very important Guildsmen." [23:53] 12Keldar: "That's why you can count on 'em. They want Nexus standing because it'll let them keep making money, and they want me on their good side because I'm anathema and all the rest of you either don't care or hate 'em." [23:56] 12Keldar: "Sure, there might be one of us in charge. But it's six to one." [23:56] "They did send a teapot, though," 5 notes Xu Sim, gesturing, as he putters his way back towards the hearth. [23:56] 14Stranger: "It's a trinket." [23:56] "A useful one, of course." [23:56] 13Xia Lan: "And an appreciated one." [23:56] "Despite its origins." [23:57] 12Keldar: "More importantly, they're giving me a First Age tomb, and giving us... well, pretty much the rest of Nexus's mercenary crews. That ain't nothin'." Session Time: Wed Mar 07 00:00:00 2018 [00:00] 4"Will we still have control of these...crews, once the matter at hand is dealth with?" [00:02] 5 Saffron and indigo. Chalk. Salt. Fish scales. [00:04] 12Keldar: "Nah, they're still on the Guild's payroll. Although a few of 'em might want to see allegiance after they've seen the shape I can whip the Apples, Guard, and irregulars into." [00:04] 14Stranger: "And once we've resolved this issue with the army it'll be a free market again." [00:04] "For certain definitions." [00:04] 13Xia Lan: "Hooray." [00:05] 12Keldar: "Yep. Guard might not even need the Apples on staff any longer... and they'll owe us big." [00:11] 13Xia Lan: "Where's that leave all of us, then?" [00:12] "Say we win and everything's perfect and nobody dies, whatever. Then what?" [00:15] 4"Then we best watch our backs." [00:15] 14Stranger: "Oh, people will die." [00:16] "But there are going to be changes in Nexus, I think." [00:16] 14Glancing at Keldar: "Whether we want them or not. The 'Emissary' has made that clear." [00:19] 12Keldar: "On top. Saviors of Nexus. Insanely rich." [00:19] 13Xia Lan: "And then what? Where do we go from there, even if everything goes right? We're not the type to just rest on our laurels." [00:20] 4"I will be returning to Deguo to attempt to salvage what is left." [00:20] 14Stranger, not quite without contempt for the subject matter: "Thorns sounds nice this time of year." [00:23] 14He's got other plans, too. But they're not quite ready for public air. [00:27] "As for you, Keldar, I present -" 5 Xu Sim flourishes, presenting a small, translucent, blue and orange square, looking rather like a candy - "The Tidal Pod." [00:27] "Dare you consume it?" [00:28] 14... [00:28] 13... [00:28] 5 Xu Sim cackles for a moment before pausing. "what" 5 FIN [00:29] NEXT TIME: The writing on the wall 14[00:38] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:49] * Joins: Crion 14[01:28] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[01:56] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 15[02:01] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed Mar 07 02:01:50 2018 Session Start: Wed Mar 07 02:25:17 2018 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[02:25] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[02:25] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[02:25] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[02:25] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[02:29] * Joins: GreatClownVoxPVoxD Session Start: Wed Mar 07 02:29:28 2018 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[02:29] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[02:29] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[02:29] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 15[02:29] * Disconnected 14[02:29] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (Quit: dammitwho sucks) Session Close: Wed Mar 07 02:29:47 2018 15[02:29] * Disconnected 15[02:29] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[02:29] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[02:29] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[02:29] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[02:29] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 15[02:33] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed Mar 07 02:33:25 2018 Session Start: Wed Mar 07 02:34:54 2018 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[02:34] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[02:34] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[02:34] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[02:34] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[02:40] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[07:51] * Joins: Crion 14[08:18] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:05] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[15:37] * Joins: dammitwho 14[17:34] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[17:53] * Joins: Zarick [20:29] 12 [20:29] 12 /T T [20:29] 12 / | |\ [20:29] 12 / | | \ [20:29] 12 /___| |__\ [20:29] 12 _.'____J L____ [20:29] 12 \ _.-' [20:29] 12 `--._.--' [20:29] 12 7 [20:32] 12The sun rises in the east, its golden-red rays stabbing through the trunks and leaves of the Pole of Wood and then cascading across the more comprehensible forests, mountain ranges, and cities that comprise the East. It is, as yet, beneath the Heavensward, which floats serenely over the River Province despite its weighty cargo. [20:33] 12After all, the miraculous flying ship currently plays host not only to a demon queen, Niobraran blood phylactery, and ancient geomantic essence core, but seven of the fearsome Solar Exalted, one only recently awoken from his stony slumber. [20:34] 4We're quite a crowd. [20:35] 12Currently, his voice booms across the treetops of whatever woodland you've cast your anchor over: "You're breeding WHAT?" 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Ah, [20:36] 4Ir was up early, having hashed some potatoes and scrambled some eggs for-- [20:36] 6Oh, dear. [20:36] 4Yeah, to prepare for that. [20:36] 13Oh, dear. [20:36] "It's been mere MONTHS! Why on earth-" "You're not listening to me! They're completely-" [20:37] 12This resounds from up on deck. Possibly the smart thing to do is to stay in your cabins for a bit. [20:37] 4Ir clangs the bell in the kitchen anyway. [20:37] 4If they want to fight, they can do it while the food's hot. 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Once Eikichi's cleaned up and medicated he's out of his cabin. Please tell him Arianna and Panther are en route to the food. Otherwise he's going to miss the hash. [20:38] 4Besides, with dawn they're quite a bit less protected by cloud cover than they were before. Once everyone's got a plate, she'll go up top and re-position them. [20:38] 12It's Swan who, of the other Circle, shows up at breakfast first. He's got Panther and Arianna in tow, and glares at the two of them before offering a long-suffering look to whoever's actually serving the food and taking his seat. What's for breakfast? [20:39] 4Hashed potatoes and scrambled eggs. Made with real butter, of course. They still had some in the stores. [20:39] 13Ying slides into the kitchen shortly afterwards, beaming. Finally, someone else says it. [20:39] 4No meat for this meal. Teeth are sharp enough as it is right now. [20:42] 12Arianna pecks at the food, Swan digs in with every sign of enjoyment, and Panther wolfs down serving after serving - guess you get hungry when you spend months as a statue. The speed at which he eats seems to reflect or perhaps even reinforce his anger, though, as he vents his disbelieving displeasure between bites. "Demons-" 12hromph "-darkbrood that spread like locusts-" 12gulp [20:42] 12"-entirely unnecessary, unseemly-" 08[20:42] "Y'all play nice, now," 4Ir says as she finishes plating the meal and steps out from behind the aft lounge's bar. To Eikichi as she goes: "I'm gonna get us higher off the ground. Just in case the shouting gets loud enough." 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, mouth full: "How fast can we dive if people start getting hurled overboard?" [20:43] 12Arianna: "You're being ridiculous, Panther. And forgetful to boot. We've already had this conversation." [20:43] 4Ir snorts and heads for the helm. [20:43] 12Panther: "This is nothing like your summonings! Those, at least, are... sanctioned, upheld by heaven in some sense. This isn't the same." [20:43] 13Ying nods at each and every word that Panther says. Yessssss. [20:44] 13Well, when she isn't eating. Because oh my gosh it's been a really stressful time and food good. [20:44] 12Arianna: "It's practically the same! I'm even doing it through summoned demons! I swear, every time someone suggests eating utensils or running water to you-" 14[20:45] * Joins: hrolfie 14[20:46] * Joins: hrolf_mac [20:49] 4So glad the Heavensward now has both. [20:49] 12Panther's nostrils flare. "Insults! To suggest my objection to using such unclean creatures are a mark of... being provincial." 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Panther's right." 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "He's not being provincial." 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "He's being a snob." [20:49] 4Ir's really hoping they're always like this. [20:51] 12Swan: "Now, Panther... it is true that Arianna's summonings have always been dependable. If her efforts are mediated through them now, then surely..." 12The Zenith snorts. "I'm sure her demons are loyal. But no magic can enforce competence." [20:51] 12Arianna mutters something about wanna bet under her breath. 08[20:51] 12Then he turns to Eikichi. "Snob?" 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Be honest. You don't dislike them because it's evil. You're not even that mad Arianna went and did it behind you're back, even though she super did." 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "You just think they're gross." 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ugly, slimy, stupid bugs that only an idiot could stand." [20:53] 13Ying pauses to swallow her food before speaking. "They are really gross, to be fair." [20:53] 4Up on deck, the morning is cool but warming. Chill air, but the Sun hot on her face -- Ir can't be sure she's always loved dawn this much, but she loves it now. [20:53] 12Zenith: "What? They're menaces to human life! Their... demeanor reflects their nature." [20:53] 4She takes the helm, attuning with the Heavensward with a touch, and assesses the early morning air. [20:54] 12I'm not sure why I called him Zenith instead of Panther. I guess that was just a recent noun in blue up there. 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "So are blood apes. So are neomah. Anything from hell seems repulsive, because Hell is inimical to human life and human living." [20:55] 12Panther: "Certainly. But those creatures, at least, are sworn to serve by pacts sealed in their defeat. Each and every one brought forth by the proper means." [20:56] 12Panther: "The insects aren't summoned and bound... simply bred. They don't vanish after their jobs are done." 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "So if they were compelled by some higher principle, and not expedience or convenience or caprice, you'd be fine with it?" [20:56] 13That's a really mean way to talk about Usagi and Sondok. [20:57] 12Panther: "If Arianna had summoned the creatures piecemeal, for some task or other, or a year's servitude... well, it would at least be in keeping with the sun's justice." [20:57] 12Panther: "But she tells me of their utility not as servants, but as the substance of an army. Should we not rally righteous men and women to ourselves, rather than monsters that would prey on them?" 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "There aren't enough righteous men and women willing to set their lives aside to fill an army." [20:59] 12Arianna: "These would help righteous... worshipers or whatever you want. They're just a tool!" 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "We didn't all find God in a brothel, Panther." 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "Good people are hard to recruit, because they already have dedicated themselves to things or people. If we were to raise an army, we'd fill its ranks with mercenaries and let the righteous lead them." 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "What distinguishes a mercenary from an insect? You can count on an insect's loyalty." [21:01] 12Panther eyes the prettier of the two sorcerers. "You're lacking in optimism, brother. People's hearts yearn for fulfilling causes. Our congregation won't be so paltry that it needs to be filled out with abominations." 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I'm not the pessimist here if you think a priestess tending a congregation or a woman laboring to keep her orphaned sisters fed lack the will for justice. There are practical questions that faith can't answer." [21:03] 12Arianna: "That's what I keep telling him. You can't just use faith and good will as a substitute for... clean water and solid walls. Your people need everything we can give them." 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "And they will join us in flocks and legions when we have something to show them." [21:04] 12Panther: "And these kruthik are practical because... they're lethal to our enemies? They spread quickly?" 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You know what I like about the kruthik?" [21:04] 4Ir wanders back down after dropping anchor a bit further up the mountain in whose shadow they were tucked. "You're on the wrong ship for optimism, Panther. Optimism's no substitute for confidence." 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "They're adaptable." [21:04] 12Panther: "Like many diseases." [21:04] "I was going to guess all the women in charge." [21:04] 13Ying: "Also 'cause when they die we don't have to be sad about them like we would if they were people." [21:05] 13That's really their only strong point, in Ying's opinion. [21:06] 12Swan: "She's right. If nothing else, Panther, the use of... animals, basically, for combat or dangerous labor, would mean a lot in terms of avoiding casualties. That's surely worth something." [21:06] 4Ir: "They're not mere animals. They have their own intelligence." 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Ir's totally valid point aside, I don't think we can let the seemliness of this weapon or that guide our hands. We are all agreed that we must fight. We all want to win. When we choose our methods, we ask ourselves two questions: will we do the work, and can we pay the price?" [21:07] "And they'll have more of it the more we organize them." 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Would you like to see the army Ir is nursing? We're not as sloppy as Arianna -- we have a long-term solution to the kruthik, and work progresses all the time." [21:08] 12Panther looks back and forth. He closes his eyes for a moment and allows a half-closed hand to shudder near his head, as though he were gathering the essence of an argument together. "You keep drawing equivalencies... but we are humans, as humans we can - must - draw distinctions. The-" 12Arianna interrupts: "Hey!" [21:09] 4Ir shakes her head at the implied insult to Arianna. "I take no particular credit for my generalship." 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I agree with you! That's why I'm so eager to draw a distinction between your distinctions and mine." [21:10] 12Panther continues. "You can talk to me of... tools, means to an end, everything has a price, and so on. Easy things to say. But would you poison a well to win a military campaign? Would you torture the condemned to discourage heresy? Just because something works, just because something is useful, doesn't mean it's right." [21:10] "But the thing about me is this: I can't lead an army I can't care about. So given that I'm leading this army, I'm going to care about those in it. Even hive-bound demons." [21:10] 13Ying, to Ir: "Oh, have those boots been working out? I wasn't sure how they'd hold up in actual wilderness..." [21:10] 4Ir grins. "Oh yeah. They love 'em." 08[21:11] 4To Eikichi: "He makes a cogent point." 4To Panther: "I'm just not sure I see demons the same way you do, anymore." 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You don't poison a well because free people will need to draw water when the battle is won. You don't torture people because torture doesn't teach anyone anything but to fear pain." 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "And, to be honest, I'd rather throw my lot in with heretics than torturers anyway." [21:12] 4Ir: "Having met both, I'd have to agree." [21:12] 13Ying beams, only slightly muted by the turn the conversation's taken around her. She'll have to make another set for Ir, just in case something happens to this one... maybe later. After trying something else. 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Unless you're a heretic AND a torturer. Then you're a valued informant for Heaven. [21:14] 12Panther: "Sorcerers' thinking! As if the real problems with spreading plague or causing pain are that they're ineffective." [21:14] 4Ir remembers shoving a jail cell bar through the eye of one of those. But then, he probably didn't agree on either count. The Immaculates have trouble seeing certain people as people. [21:14] 4Ir: "Don't talk shit about sorcerers on my boat." 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Of course not. I'm not saying the ends justify the means. I'm saying the means are the ends." 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "Are we or are we not sworn to steward and defend Creation?" [21:18] 4Ir: "We are." [21:20] 12Panther: "Unquestionably." 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "And so I draw a distinction between the symptoms of the sickness of sin and the body they infect." [21:20] 12Swan nods firmly. Arianna nods. 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "When a storm comes to blow a hut away, do we take our vengeance on the sky? When a locust eats a stalk of grain, do we indict the bug? No! Because the storm is not the problem. The insect is not the problem. The problem is desolation. The problem is hunger." 14[21:24] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[21:24] * Joins: hrolf_mac 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "Our charge is not to scour away the shapes and forms of pain, as- as if the things we find ugly or distasteful are a sickness to be purged. No! We are here to master the storm." 08[21:24] 4To Panther: "I was raised to hate and fear sorcerers. Not the ones who worked for the Immaculates, of course -- they had their share of ringers tasked to the Nail. Just the ones out there without a license. The dangerous ones. It was all theoretical, of course; I was taught to hate an idea about hierarchy. It took me meeting two sorcerers -- Eikichi Sho and Excessively Righteous [21:24] Blossom -- to realize what the trick was. And it took meeting the demons they summoned -- the ones still on this very ship right now -- to realize the turn." [21:25] "I count a pair of demons among my friends. I have argued, in this very room, passionately against sending them back to Hell. And I dare you to look me in the eye and tell me I serve the Sun less than you." [21:30] 4Ir's forehead lights up as she finishes speaking, and she holds eye contact. 14[21:34] * Joins: tom 08[21:36] 7Blossom: "I don't object to the kruthik in principle, as Eikichi knows. And I'm in favor of going ahead with the project. But..." 7She frowns. "I worry. The smarter they become, the stronger their will. They adapt too quickly, too well. How long until our civilization becomes their civilization? We should not rely on them too much." [21:36] 12Panther looks back steadily, then smiles, closes his eyes and raises a conciliatory palm. "Please understand. I have known many righteous sorcerers. Three ride this ship ship alone! In my Circle's youth, I felt the same way I'm sure you once did - and, like you, I was brought around by my fellow Chosen." 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Well, Blossom is righteous. 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi won't speak for anyone else's virtue. [21:36] 13Ying makes sure to count on her fingers in full view of Panther. She gets to two, stops, and frowns. 08[21:37] 7Blossom tried to talk about Eikichi's virtue once, but she got another nosebleed. [21:37] 12Panther: "I speak merely of the tendency among the learned to become so... tied up in what they can do that they lose sight of what they ought do. An overemphasis on feasibility, practicality, efficiency, possibility... it's led to great things, certainly, but not always." [21:37] 4Ir narrows her eyes and frowns for an instant -- that's not the response she expected from the warrior, but... 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "But at the same time, it's not wisdom that governs our reticence, but fear. We can't be afraid to take risks. We can't live in fear of doing the wrong thing. The dread of sin is sin through dread." [21:38] "I want to be right there with you, Panther," 4Ir says, "but let's not forget who had to pull who out of the Nexus vault. You're gonna have to talk pragmatics if you want to win this fight." 08[21:39] 7Blossom nods at Eikichi. "Sure. But it would be a shame to have to kill them." 08[21:39] 12The southerner turns to Eikichi. "Sometimes, though, it is our task to end the storm. Sometimes things are hostile to mankind, and offensive to our lord, by their nature. As you say, the means are the ends - so our means should not be monstrous ones." 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You're a monster." 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Look at you." [21:39] 12Panther: "Pardon?" [21:39] 4Ir: "A bit blunter than I'd have put it." 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "You dedicated your life to killing for sport. You built your strength and your character revelling in blood and reward for people reduced to animals." [21:40] 4Ir: "The definition of 'monster' is up for sale these days, and you're bringing more baggage to the table than just your wallet." 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "And it was in those depths of depravity that the Sun found you. It was from that monstrosity that he raised you and set you high." 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "If you met yourself on the road today, would you forgive yourself? Ought you to?" [21:41] 4Ir: "I killed a woman I loved like a sister because I thought she was a monster. And to punish me for my transgression -- my clear transgression, my knowing transgression, against my love for her and my knowledge of the difference between right and wrong -- the Sun replaced her with me." 08[21:43] 12Panther stands. He leans back from the table for a moment, then leans forward, fingers splayed on the wood, then draws back again a bit before pointing a finger to Eikichi. "You charge that the insect-demons can be redeemed as we were?" 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I know it. I have begun the work. Ir has begun the work." 08[21:44] 12Panther peers hard at Eikichi and Ir. Finally he turns to Blossom. "And this is your position?" [21:44] 13Ying shrinks in her chair and begins sipping some water. She does not put the glass down. 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "When we have tamed their wills and blunted their hunger, all that distinguishes a kruthling from a dog is that if you rubbed a dog with a towel it would come away dry." [21:45] 4Gotta be a less gross comparison out there. 08[21:45] 7Blossom nods. "If Eikichi says he can do it, he can do it." [21:45] 13No, he's right. [21:45] 13...maybe. It remains to be seen. [21:46] 4Ir: "And I don't have an intellectual investment in this project. Just a moral one." [21:46] "If they can't be redeemed, I'll put them down myself." 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I'm confident we can bring Arianna's work in line with ours, as well. Especially if you can persuade her of its value." [21:47] 4Ir's not actually sure she can do that, which is a measure of how confident she is that she won't have to. [21:47] 12Panther looks suspicious. "It seems to me that when you say redeemed you mean retrained. Domesticated. Rendered useful-on-the-balance." [21:47] 4Ir: "You ever trained an animal?" [21:48] "I have. I'm a master horsewoman." 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I speak of training because without training virtue is worthless. But without virtue training is just vague violence." [21:48] 4Ir: "What you come to understand when you train an animal -- and do it the right way -- is that you're actually training yourself." [21:50] 4Ir: "I'm lucky and proud to count the smartest, strongest horse in this Direction as my mount. But if I hadn't trained myself while I trained him, I'd have been walking everywhere when I met the rest of my Circle." [21:55] 12Panther: "If it is possible to suppress every murderous instinct, sand down every spike, dilute every secretion... perhaps either of you can manage it. But kruthik are not men, and they are not horses. To pour your efforts into honing the creatures rather than honing our people - it's a mistake." 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We needn't suppress their every instinct, any more than we'd count ourselves as irredeemable if we feel anger or sorrow, or if we're ever too frightened to speak our minds." 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "But if we can temper their urges with wisdom, if we can shape their hive instinct into a genuine community spirit, then they will be worthy friends and servants." [21:58] 4Ir: "I'll need to hear a better argument than aesthetic or theological distaste. I wouldn't want to suppress every murderous instinct in an army of men, after all." 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Nor could you. On the whole I'd trust the average kruthling more than a man." 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "At least you can count on a kruthling." [21:59] 13Ying: "You know what they're going to do. You're probably not gonna like it if you leave 'em running around unchecked... but you know what it is." [22:00] 4Ir: "And I encourage you, Panther, to raise your army of men along your ethical lines. There is no reason we need to choose one or the other." [22:00] "But I'll march my legions against the cannibal queen before I'd march yours." 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "If I truly believed there was no room for righteousness in the kruthik mind I'd kill them myself. But Blossom believes it, and Ir believes it, and Ying tolerates it, and that's good enough for me." [22:03] 12Panther: "Men have souls. Men can fight for more than hunger. Perhaps you'd trust a beast slaved to your will over a man who's heard your words - but then, will that lead you to make the insect more like a man, or the man more like an insect?" 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Either would be wrong. Insects aren't men. Or people." 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "But the hearts and minds of people aren't the whole of creation. We must protect everything we can, save everything we can, or we neglect our duty and sacrifice our righteousness for convenience. And then we really are who you think we are." 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's supposed to be hard. It's supposed to hurt! Pain is weakness leaving the body." [22:06] 7It is, you know. 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi learned this lesson when Blossom refused to let him have fruit juice or sausages when he woke up with a hangover. 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Thanks, Blossom. 08[22:08] 7Blossom's hangover cure of "make the bath as hot as you possibly can and then spray yourself with ice water" is incredibly effective, and Eikichi didn't need to scream so loud. 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's hard to actually object to, because most of the time Eikichi has no problem with how Blossom conflates pain and love. [22:11] 13TMI??? [22:11] 4I think we all kinda guessed, though. 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What? It's a simple ethical observation. You're reading too much into it. [22:11] 12Panther: "But the means are the same as the ends. If you save Creation with a swarm of monsters, you have also saved monstrosity. If you uphold the sun with insect slaves, you have upheld slavery. It may work, and you may even succeed in making it sound good - but there's danger there in itself." [22:12] 4Ir: "I agreed with you, once. No demon summoning. It was slavery, I reasoned. There's a righteous comfort to that hard line, but it doesn't stand up to actually meeting one of them. Because what happens when you unbind them? Where do they go back to?" [22:13] "They go back to Hell, and slavery." [22:13] "But you're not wrong. It feels real good, that hard line -- just so long as you don't have to think about it too hard." [22:15] 12Panther: "Really? I would imagine that it feels good to relent, and accept the convenience of slavery." [22:15] "You already did." [22:15] "You freed yourself from having to think about how to actually free them." 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Still haven't figured that out by the way, so if you have any ideas..." [22:16] 12Panther: "The damned can't be freed. They're in bondage in every world. Their work for us is, at least, a kind of penance." 12He glances over. "Or at least that is how Swan put it." [22:16] 13Ying: "They're our friends! Usagi and Sondok - we're working out what to do, because it's not easy to actually do this kind of thing!" 13She's more animated than she's been all morning. "They've got hopes, dreams, thoughts, fears, everything that any of us do! Everything that anyone did before! And we have to help them!" 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks askance at Swan. [22:20] 12Swan: "Well... like he mentioned, we have had this discussion before. Insofar as the inhabitants of the yozi realm are damned, unclean, condemned, and so on, their abiding by the ancient pacts is at least the execution of Heaven's will, yes?" 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It was Heaven's will that we be split apart, brutalized, imprisoned, and corrupted." [22:20] 13Ying: "We can't pick how we were born. Only what we do after that." 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "With all due respect, which is none, fuck Heaven. We're the stewards of Creation. Heaven is an obstacle." [22:21] 13Ying makes a face. "That's rude, but not wrong." [22:23] 12Panther, to Ying: "I... have no doubt that the demons you've brought here have served you- no, I'm not listening. I have no doubt that they've... become important to you. Friends. And maybe you have helped them by calling them forth, giving them work to do that's noble..." 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Neither Usagi nor Sondok are in the room. 08[22:25] 12Panther: "But I didn't mean sworn demon pacts, sealed with the sun's sanction-" 12he glances to Eikichi here. "-which is the Heaven's will I mean. I mean the mindless servitude and domination of the kruthik you mean to muster." [22:25] 4Ir: "We're giving them a mind." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "In a couple of weeks you should come meet her." [22:25] 12When Ying mentions Sondok, Arianna blinks hard several times and then directs her attention to her coffee, apparently having suddenly gotten a lot to think about. 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks at Arianna. "Something wrong?" [22:26] 12Arianna: "Which... demons... were those?" [22:27] 13Ying's been meaning to hang out with Sondok and Usagi again anyway. This is just... adding to that. 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Usagi is a heranhal who's probably eating cookies down in the hold. Sondok, Who Stands in Doorways, joined us the night Heaven tried to put Blossom and Ir in the ground." [22:28] 12Arianna: "...huh." 12She looks like she's not sure whether to laugh. 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "What?" 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Oh, shit. "You didn't meet her daughter, did you?" [22:30] 12Arianna: "That's not... have you ever heard of the Salmalin?" [22:31] 4Ir: "Have you ever gotten beaten up by five Blooded hunters after a show? It's not for everyone." [22:31] 7Blossom: "Wait, her what?" 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Ohhhhhhhhh shit." 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh shit." [22:33] 13Ying: "What?" 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "The Salmalin is Sondok's cult! Down in the South." [22:33] "Her...?" [22:33] 12Arianna: "Yes! What are the odds. I wonder what exactly Jade's up to right now..." 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Do you think she'll want an autograph?" [22:33] 12Swan and Panther look nonplussed. 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sondok mostly calls me an idiot." 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "She did punch me in the face once." [22:35] 13Ying: "She was really nice to me when I was confused and scared and couldn't talk to anyone else." 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "She reminds me of Ir in a lot of ways. I summoned her inadvertently while we were trying to find Ir after Heaven tried to kill us all. I suspect there's a connection." 14[22:40] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [22:40] 4Ir: "Sondok's a good person." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "So are you." 14[22:46] * Joins: hrolf_mac [22:47] 4Ir blushes slightly and reaches for some gin. 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Breakfast of champions. [22:48] 13Ying: "Ir...?" 13Little early, isn't it? [22:50] 4Ir: "Pneumans end arguments -- polite ones, ones about ideas -- with a drink. I'm anticipating an amicable resolution." [22:51] 12Arianna: "Well. I'll pass that along to Jade. We might have a request or two for She Who Stands in Doorways, down the line." 15[22:57] * Disconnected 15[22:57] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[22:57] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[22:57] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[22:57] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[22:57] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (NickServ (GHOST command used by GreatClownVoxPVoxD)) 14[22:57] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD is now known as VoxPVoxD [22:59] 12Panther, meanwhile, is still insistent. "What I tell you is that black magic can't build the kingdom of the sun, no matter who wields it. That the creatures you muster in place of men will leave their mark on the world of men. We must be careful. We must be disciplined. And that means more than... well-built enclosures and inescapably powerful sorcerous bindings. It means discernment. [22:59] It means, sometimes, restriction." 15[23:00] 10Eikichi: "There is no black magic. Sorcery is ours." [23:00] 12Panther's glowing as he speaks. Lambent white flames are rippling up his body; he doesn't seem to have noticed. "I have heard that before." 15[23:01] "And you'll hear it again." [23:03] 4Ir: "There is more than one way to serve the Sun. And He knows what they are far better than any of us." 15[23:08] 10Eikichi: "If we can't trust our own ability to mold the righteous from the sinful, if we can't trust our own ability to make the sublime from the base... what are we doing here? Who do we serve? What is this for?" 15[23:09] 10Eikichi: "Your mistrust of sorcery is sound. But I charge that it's not because of your understanding of what we can do, but the kind of sorcerers you consort with." 15[23:09] "Trust me. Listen to me. We can do better. And we will." [23:10] 12Panther: "What are you asking for?" 12Arianna, leaning in: "Yes, where exactly do you get off-" [23:11] 13TMI again. 15[23:11] 10Eikichi, to Arianna: "You'll pay to find that out." 08[23:11] 13Ying: "Eikichi!" [23:11] 4Ir suppresses a grin, and breaks out a few more -- modest -- glasses. [23:11] 12Arianna reddens: "Listen, you-" 12Swan: "Hey, now-" 15[23:11] 10To Panther: "Let us show you the work we're doing. Judge for yourselves if we can redeem the kruthik. If we can't, then start killing. I'll stand beside you. If you can, then join us in spreading this new evangel." 15[23:12] "To everyone. Foe and friend alike." [23:13] 12Panther shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath through his nose. "Very well," 12he says. "Certainly I can take a look at your work with clear eyes." 14[23:13] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 08[23:14] 4Ir: "Sounds good. Time for Gin and Juches, all around. Tell me if you want yours virgin." 4She's already pouring Eikichi's with liquor. 15[23:14] 10Eikichi: "That's all I ask. The work justifies itself. If not, then I've got no leg to stand on. If we do, then we want you at our side while we do it." 15[23:15] "Give me--" 15[23:15] 10Ah. Ir's already got it. [23:15] 12Panther: "Where and when, then?" [23:15] 13Ying: "Yes, please." 13How can they drink this early...? 15[23:15] 10We're the Chosen of the Sun, Ying. 15[23:15] 10We can do whatever we like." 15[23:15] 10Eikichi: "About two weeks from now I'll be done." 15[23:16] "You can come and meet Jormungand yourself." [23:16] 13Didn't we just finish talking about the difference between whether we could and not thinking about whether we should? [23:16] 7Blossom: "I thought you were calling it Jormungandr?" 7She pronounces it slightly differently. [23:17] 4If Ir hadn't thought about whether she should, she'd be handing Ying a hard drink and not fruit juice. 15[23:17] 10Eikichi: "I want people who aren't actually fluent in Skytongue to be able to say it. Jormungand is still a Northern name, but it's not a Northern name." 08[23:17] 4The pours are light except for hers and Eikichi's. [23:18] "Jormungand, huh. Sounds like an ice god. Good, solid name." [23:18] 13Ying sips hers cheerfully, confrontations forgotten. "Yor-moon-gand." [23:20] 12Arianna: "Two weeks...? Fine. I'll need time to put some of my kruthik to sleep and bring the rest out of the city, anyway. I think we'll want to stay clear of Nexus for a little while, incidentally." 15[23:20] 10Eikichi: "All of us?" [23:20] 4Ir: "They might expect me for a fight or two, but I can make myself scarce beyond that." 15[23:21] 10Eikichi: "Same, more or less." 08[23:21] 7Blossom drinks hers gingerly. It is a bit early, Eikichi. "Oh, now I remember. Arianna." [23:21] 13Ying: "I've got a shop..." [23:21] "We picked up the tattered remnants of a spellbook... months ago now." [23:21] 12Arianna: "It seems Candle-Eyed Skulls's vomited up some disaster that the Emissary can't put down. Or at least, can't put down on a lasting basis. You must have done a number on it." [23:22] 13Totokuro, Lingfei, and Sszark can probably handle things... but she can't just keep abandoning them! [23:22] 12Arianna, to Blossom: "Is that so? What'd it detail?" [23:22] 4Ir will be going in and out of Nexus often enough -- and has enough plausible deniability for doing so -- that Ying should be able to ride along, in disguise if need be. [23:23] 13Ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha. [23:23] 13She might have worn some just for fun, anyway. [23:24] 7Blossom: "From the first days, I mean. An heirloom. I've gotten it partially reconstructed, and there's Cirrus Skiff and a few others so far, but the really good stuff is still mold and ash. I'm taking another crack at it shortly, I'll dash you off a copy when I'm done." [23:26] 12Arianna: "Ooh, much appreciated. I'll gladly lend you some of mine, if you need them." 15[23:26] 10Eikichi: "So will Raksi." [23:27] 12The sorceress snaps her fingers. "Now Panther's whole, we can join you for that escapade... once we've reconnected with Dace and Jade, anyway." 15[23:28] 10Eikichi: "Jade's not going to try to kill Sondok on sight or anything, right?" [23:29] 13Ying: "They better not." [23:29] 12Arianna looks thoughtful. Swan: "We'll work it out." [23:29] 13Ying, more forcefully: "They better not!" [23:29] 4Ir: "For Jade's sake." [23:37] 4Later, Ir is at the helm, a non-alcoholic beverage in hand as she pilots the Heavensward...where? 08[23:37] 12The agreement's made, such as it is. Peace still reigns between and within both Circles, and in two weeks time they'll meet to look upon Eikichi's handiwork and decide if it's enough to settle the kruthik question. 15[23:37] 10Eikichi has business in Great Forks, Nexus, and at the work site. 15[23:38] 10He'll want to go to the work site first and foremost. 15[23:38] 10Lot riding on this. [23:38] 12For now, Panther, Swan, and Arianna abscond; they've got resources to gather in and around Nexus, and a trip towards the south to plan. They won't be able to recover their friends in just two weeks, but they can at least send word. [23:38] 13We've got to get them off the boat before then, though -- ah. Taken care of, then. 08[23:39] 4Ir will drop off their opposing -- ah, complementary number at a crossroads that's convenient for them, and then see to Eikichi's destination. [23:39] 13Ying will head belowdecks to converse with demons. Where they land is of no particular concern - she's got business in Nexus and Great Forks, and can take care of most of it from the ship. [23:39] 12Meanwhile, in Great Forks, Blossom finds the growth of her congregation strangely unimpeded by the local divine bureaucracy - probably Yara's doing, on the balance - while she and the tiny Chosen meet every few days to collate notes, cross-reference maps and blueprints, and occasionally peer at star charts. [23:40] 7How tall is she, compared to Usagi? Could they wear matching outfits? [23:40] 12Bergsveinn's probably holding down the Circle's reputation at the Nexus arena. Possibly he is handling whatever monster was unleashed by Tatsuya's heist, although possibly not. [23:41] 6Here's hoping. Tatsuya's certainly not going to be around to worry about it. [23:41] 12Actually, Yara and Usagi are about the same height, though Usagi is much wider and more muscley. Much easier to tell where the demon's knees and elbows are at a glance, that's for sure. 15[23:41] 10She's more muscley, but she's not much wider. They must eat well up in Heaven. [23:42] 12Plans come to fruition in or around Great Forks... next week. [23:42] 4Ir worries about how her soup kitchens are doing, but once she's dropped off everyone else, her business takes her back to the forward base. More drilling; more wargames. Session Time: Thu Mar 08 00:00:00 2018 15[01:02] * Disconnected 15[01:33] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[01:33] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[01:33] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[01:33] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[01:33] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[05:11] * Joins: tom2 14[05:11] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:29] * Joins: Crion 14[08:29] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[10:04] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[18:07] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[19:28] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[19:29] * Joins: hrolfie [20:28] [20:28] [20:28] [20:28] [20:28] [20:28] 08[20:32] 13After that unforgettable breakfast, with all its heated discussions and also morning-drinking (Eikichi!! Ir!!) Ying needs something more relaxing, or at the very least more fun. Well. Maybe fun isn't the right phrase. It's just been a while since she's been free to see Usagi and Sondok, okay? And... conversations from above just made it all the more urgent, is all. Ying'll look where she last saw them, which if I remember [20:32] correctly was down in the hold. Are they still down there, or have they moved? 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi is, at least. Ying finds her feeding scraps of cinnamon bun to Ami over where the mounts are stabled. [20:35] 13Ying: "Hey Usagi!" 13Ying calls out while still most of the way across the room. Wouldn't want to startle her. "Whatcha up to?" 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi goes to hide the treats behind her back by reflex but stops when she realizes it's Ying. "Feeding Ami." [20:41] 13Ying notices the reflex but doesn't say anything. Not just yet, anyway. "Great! You need any help with that, or...?" 13She blows a stray hair out of her eye. "It's been a while since I've been able to come back to the ship, is all." 15[20:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi: "Okay." 10If she gets close enough, Ying will get half of Usagi's remaining handful of pastry scraps. [20:51] 13She does approach, then, and takes the offered scraps to feed Ami. She gives Usagi a brief look of concern before turning to Ami and beginning to groom him. Him? Her? Ami. [20:51] 13Ying: "How's it been up here?" 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi: "Quiet. Everybody's so busy." [20:54] 13Ying: "Maybe I could bring you down to my shop a bit. Things're really taking off..." 13Scritch scritch. "Or I should just come back here more often. Uwaaaaaa, busy is right! Quiet would be nice..." 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi: "I guess... I don't really like the quiet." [21:00] 13Ying: "How come?" 13She turns back to Usagi with genuine interest. 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi, holding her upturned palm to Ami's beak: "It's scary." 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's one of the laws." [21:04] 13Ying: "One of the...?" 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "Of Malfeas." 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi starts. [21:05] 13Ying: "Hi, Sondok." 13She'll reach out to reassure Usagi while continuing to brush Ami. [21:06] "Also, I still don't know what that means." 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "In Malfeas there's constant noise. Shouting, fighting, the grind of stone and metal as the streets move around, music... the only time there's quiet is when Adorjan, the Killing Wind, blows through the streets, striking dead everyone she touches." 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "So the first law of Malfeas reminds us: 'There is no silence without death.'" [21:08] 13Ying: "...oh." 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The door to Usagi's room is open behind Sondok. [21:12] 13She stops brushing. "Gosh. I thought some time away from us and our problems was like-" 13She stops herself from completing that thought. "It's that bad?" 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi: "Problems?" 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "What's wrong?" [21:16] 13She waves a hand. "I make Tatsuya deal with most of the really bad ones. Mostly about the kruthik." 13She makes a face. "That stuff. The arena continuing to happen. Ir's food programs. The - whatever's gonna happen with the Emissary. Smaller stuff like my shop." 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi: "Oh." 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "Those are problems?" [21:20] 13Ying: "I'm worried about 'em and we've gotta make stuff happen about 'em, so I guess, yeah." 13Back to brushing. She offers Ami a handful of pastry, too, for good measure. "The others might think about 'em differently, but I mostly just worry." 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi: "Oh! Yeah. Being scared is a problem." 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "What are you scared of?" [21:23] 13Ying: "I - well. What if the best I can do isn't good enough? What if I mess up?" 13She doesn't look at Usagi. "And - some other stuff too. But I'm trying really hard not to think about that." 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi: "Do you want a cinnamon bun? There's more up there." [21:25] 13Ying: "...actually yeah." 13She'll move to grab one. "What about you? Usagi, Sondok?" 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "Are things calm now?" [21:28] 13Ying: "More or less. Nobody's mad enough to attack us." 13Mad and well-informed enough, really. Sneaking being what it is. 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "...Let's go, then." 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The three of them make their way up to the pantry, the most precious place on the Heavensward, storehouse of all treats. [21:36] 7Blossom is already there in her position as circle killjoy, cataloging and counting each morsel. [21:37] 13Ying: "Oh! Blossom! Hi!" [21:38] 7Blossom: "Hello, Ying. Have you seen where the cinnamon buns got to?" 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi's hiding behind Ying. 08[21:38] 13Still cheerfully: "They should be in here! Why, did Eikichi get to them already?" [21:41] 7She tsks, noting something on a sheet of paper pinned to a flat slab of wood by a spring-loaded clip she invented. "I don't know... I'm worried about his sugar intake. I might have to talk to Ir about changing his diet. What's up?" [21:42] 13Ying: "Oh, I was gonna split some with Usagi and Sondok. Is that a problem?" 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10There's a sniffle somewhere behind Ying. 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Suddenly Usagi falls to the floor at Blossom's feet, weeping piteously. "IT WAS ME! I'M THE BUN-GRUBBER! UWAAAAAAAAAA~" [21:45] 7Blossom: "Sure, go ahead. Feed 'em to the animals if you want-- aw, Usagi!" [21:45] 13Ying freezes with a smile stuck on her face. Lying- [21:45] 13Correction. Lying~ [21:46] 7Blossom: "C'mere." 7She hauls up the wailing lil' demon and gives her a hug. "Why don't I come with you guys? We need to finish off these fried cheese balls Ir made before they go bad anyway." [21:48] 13Ying: "Aheh, heh, um. Sorry. That sounds good." [21:51] Where're they headed? [21:51] 7Where're they headed? [21:52] 13Well, they were gonna just sit in the pantry and eat all of the cinnamon buns... if neither Sondok nor Usagi make a move to lead them away, Ying will take them back down towards the stables. 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "Let's go to the lounge. It's empty right now and it's cooler up there." 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Plus it doesn't smell like horse. [21:53] 13That is true. [21:53] 7Through clever direction, Blossom has successfully lead them away from the pantry. Another victory for the finest daughter of house Cathak! 15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10When Blossom sets Usagi down, she'll settle on the floor beside the table until Sondok picks her up and puts her on the tall stool Blossom made for when Yara visits. [21:56] "We should get more cushions in here," 7Blossom notes as Usagi wiggles on the stool. 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi: "Oh I can make those!" 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "Ying was telling us you're all very busy lately." [21:58] 13She winces. "That's not really..." [21:59] "That's true," 7Blossom confirms. "It feels like I haven't spent time on the Heavensward in weeks, ever since we got the land route to the kruthik staging ground sorted." [22:01] 13Ying: "It's been too quiet up here," 13she settles on. "I miss it. And it'll be nice to get out of Nexus for a bit." [22:04] "You won't hear me arguing. What've you been doing lately, Ying?" [22:04] 13Ying: "Other than my shop? Um. Well, Tatsuya had to do that whole big thing..." [22:06] "...been sketching up some designs in my free time when I can but keeping up with demand is exhausting." 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "What thing? Was it 14crimes" 10Usagi realized belatedly that Sondok was right there. [22:07] 13Ying: "Yeah. He stole a person who was trapped inside a statue and rescued them from a weird secret dungeon slash tomb. Probably don't mention that to anybody because they'd be real mad if they knew about who was behind that." [22:07] "Also there was someone else dressed exactly like him down there and he was really weirded out by it. I made fun of him for it in the diary but I dunno if he even reads that anymore." [22:08] 7Blossom tilts her head. "Are you guys okay?" 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi, around a mouthful of fried cheese: "Huh?" [22:09] 13Ying, cheerfully: "Never better!" 13Wait, who is Blossom talking to? [22:10] 7She's talking to Ying! It sounded like she and Tatsuya were having troubles. [22:11] 13Everything is fine! It's fine. [22:12] 13Ying digs into the cheese curds, finally. Mmm, cheese curds. [22:12] "Oh!" 7says Blossom, visibly relieved. "That's good." 7She turns to Usagi and Sondok. "What about you two? I know Sondok's been busy with Ir..." 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi chews for what seems like five minutes before saying: "I get bored up here by myself, I guess." [22:20] 7Blossom nods and thinks for a moment. "Ah, I know! I've been making a lot of tools and things for the workers in the Sunshrine district. You could help!" 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi perks up but also looks uncertain. "Leave the ship?" [22:21] 13Ying: "If you want to." 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi: "I dunno... I'd have to ask permission." [22:22] 13Ying looks to Blossom. 08[22:24] "Eikichi'll agree." 7She replies, leaving the 'if he knows what's good for him' unsaid. 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi still seems unsure, but she clearly really wants to go. "Okay!" [22:26] 13Ying: "Sondok? How about you?" [22:27] 7Blossom: "I can't promise you won't be bored sometimes though - I've been reading a lot about anti-counterfeiting techne lately." 7It's actually really interesting, but you have to make allowances for demons, whose thought processes are alien. 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "I could use some shore leave in Nexus." 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi, to Blossom: "What do you mean?" 08[22:29] 13To Sondok: "I'll make sure you get some," 13she promises. Next time she sees Eikichi... and if that fails, she'll get Blossom to secure that, too. [22:30] 7Blossom: "Making 'paper' money out of certain kinds of cloth, fine details in the designs for paper or coins, numbered mints, that sort of thing." [22:30] 13Ying: "Cloth...? Why not just coins?" [22:33] 7Blossom shakes her head. "Oh, no. I mean, most countries just use silver because silver's valuable everywhere, but if you've got a strong enough nation to support paper money it makes it a lot easier to control the money supply." 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi: "Why is that important?" [22:33] 13Ying: "A strong enough - it's paper. It's not worth anything." 13She's very confused. 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "It's worth whatever your word's worth." 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She continues: "Out past the Threshold, in the far South for instance, many places don't bother with physical money at all. They just keep ledgers of credit." [22:35] 13Some small 6part13 of her wants to continue insisting that's worth nothing, but she squashes it. "Oh! But... how do you- that makes sense." [22:35] "Wait, is that with each shop, or like. Do shops keep a record of that stuff and trade those around too?" 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "Everyone remembers what they owe and to who. It's easy to hold people to the honor system if you can't break your word without being shunned into the desert." [22:37] 7Blossom: "Sondok has the right of it, more or less. It's money backed by the continued existence of your government. If you can pay your taxes in it, it has value, which means people will want it, which means they'll trade things with each other to get it. On the other hand, you have to have the martial strength to crush counterfeiters inside and outside your borders, or else they [22:37] can flood your currency into worthlessness." [22:39] "Here-" 7Blossom fishes through her pockets and comes up with a Haltan dinar and a Realm yen. "See?" 7She points to a few tiny characters written around the edges of the coins' faces, which make a statement you can find almost Creation-wide: To Counterfeit Is Death. [22:39] "Here-" 7Blossom fishes through her pockets and comes up with a Haltan dinar and a Realm yen. "See?" 7She points to a few tiny characters written around the edges of the coins' faces, which make a statement you can find almost Creation-wide: To Counterfeit Is Death. [22:39] 13Ying's eyebrows shoot up as she stuffs another handful of cheese curds in her mouth, nodding in understanding. [22:41] "Currency devaluation is a huge deal. Ever heard of the satrapy of Kelesh?" 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi: "But if you just counterfeit a little then there's no problem, right? You can get rich without hurting anybody." 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She shakes her head at Blossom. [22:44] 13Ying: "Tatsuya was there more than a few times," 13she confirms. [22:45] "Oh, wait, and I got some - for the shop!" 13She seems pleased to have multiple points of reference. [22:47] "They're one of the longest-held satrapies. Do you know how the Empress took it?" [22:47] 13Ying: "It was - famine, right?" 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi looks down at her half-eaten cheese ball and her eyes well up. [22:50] 7Blossom: "That's right. The old Autarch was so desperate he invited the legions in to restore order, and the Realm took the whole place without bloodshed." 7She waves a hand. "That's not really true, of course. Some soldiers died putting down food riots and there were a few skirmishes with minor mercenary companies and bandit gangs, but the histories don't count those. What I'll [22:50] bet you don't know is-- actually, hang on." [22:51] 13Ying leans over to give Usagi a hug. [22:51] "I'll be right back!" 7She calls over her shoulder as she trots towards Ir's quarters. 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok looks at Ying after Blossom's gone. "Why did you go down to the hold?" [22:53] 13Ying: "Well. I hadn't seen you guys in a while and I wanted to, mostly, but..." 13Deep breath. "Do you know what the Salmalin are?" 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "Yes." [22:55] 13Ying: "Well, they came up. Earlier. Um, I guess they're active down south where one of the other Solar Exalted is, one of the circlemates of the one Tatsuya rescued." [22:56] 13She shrugs. "Iunno what's going on with that. I wanted to warn you, because it sounded like they weren't on great terms." 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "..." 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "Noted." [22:58] 13Ying: "And, um, if it makes any difference, I don't... really like 'em either. And it feels bad! They're just not as good at stuff as we are and their reasons are dumb and they're way worse at sticking together and they lose way more often than we do and if the Salmalin don't like 'em all I'm saying is there's probably a good reason!" 13she says in a rush. [23:00] "A-anyways!" 13She looks off to where Blossom went to make sure she didn't hear that. "I really did want to see you guys again. I don't like my room in Nexus, it's just... not the same." 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi looks from Ying to Sondok, chewing away. 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "Maybe." [23:03] 13Ying, cheese curd halfway to her mouth: "Maybe what?" 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "Maybe there's a good reason. Maybe there isn't." 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't know." [23:04] 13She finishes chewing before she responds. "I don't know either. Maybe I'm just mad at Arianna still. Which I shouldn't be because I agreed to the rest of everything, but knowing that isn't making me less mad." [23:05] "And Swan's too in love to do anything and Panther's just a big dumb hardline idiot. So that's all of them that I've met." [23:06] 13Ying: "Maybe I just wanna be right, maybe there's something there. Ugh." 13She takes another cheese curd. 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "You seem like you're under a lot of stress." [23:07] 13Ying: "I'm really tired all the time. Tatsuya going on adventures was exhausting but even before that..." [23:08] "There's just. So much happening, and I wanna help with all of it, but then there's just no time for anything else." [23:10] 13Ying: "Also? Being positive all the time is so draining. And my ways to let off stress just haven't been working. It turns out monetizing the things you love just stop them from being stress relief." 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "Why be positive?" [23:12] 13Ying: "Because -- it feels even worse to be negative, mostly. Like here I am venting and it feels like I'm just dumping my problems on you guys. It feels bad!" [23:13] "Also, a whole bunch of complicated reasons that I've already yelled at Tatsuya about in the diary, which I'm gonna make him read next chance he gets. So, I guess, when we leave Nexus or whatever." 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "So there is nothing you can possibly do to feel good." [23:14] 13Ying: "I could take a break." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "But Tatsuya isn't obliging." [23:15] 13Ying: "He's..." 13She shrugs, helplessly. "I get it? But that doesn't make it better." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "I'm not the one you want to commiserate with and ask for advice." [23:16] 13Ying: "What advice do you have, though?" 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "Make Eikichi talk to Tatsuya about it." 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "Most of this is Tatsuya's fault, and avoiding doing anything because it hurts is more Eikichi's speed than mine." [23:19] 13She snickers, which turns into a giggle, then a full-on laugh. "Oh- oh my gosh! That's perfect!" 08[23:19] 13It strikes her as she cackles that this is really mean to Sondok's past, but that can't stop her from laughing about the idea of Eikichi telling Tatsuya to stop putting so much pressure on her. [23:20] 13...maybe it'd even work. 08[23:23] "Baaaack~" 7Blossom sings out as she returns to the lounge, arms full. She's carrying some of the Heavensward's charts, Eikichi's Gateway set, and a few tall glasses. She sets them down, and the drinks look like the result of one of Ir's experiments in infusion - one cherry-flavored ginger beer for Ying, one with peppers for Sondok, a regular for Usagi, and water for Blossom. With ice [23:23] 7in! So decadent. 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "Oh. Thank you." 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi: "Thanks!!" [23:25] 13Ying: "Oh!" 13She takes a sip, delighted. "It's delicious! Thank you!" [23:28] "Alright, let's see." 7She unrolls a map on the table, showing the satrapy of Kelesh, et cetera. "So, everybody knows about the Realm's spies, the All-Seeing Eye. But did you know..." 7she says with a catlike grin, "that the Thousand Scales also has an espionage group?" 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sondok: "Really?" [23:28] 6Yeah, definitely. 13Ying: "Hm?" [23:32] "Yes. It's a duplication of effort, but the Empress loves - loved? - those. It's under the auspices of the Foreign Office now, but I think it was under Treasury back when-- doesn't matter. The point is, one of their jobs is to economically size up candidates for invasion. Are their markets healthy? Are they headed for a recession? That kind of thing." [23:33] 13Ying: "Um..." 13She makes a face. [23:33] "And some groups have elementals attached by sorcerers, to assess a state's natural resources. This is where the story of the annexation of Kelesh begins." [23:36] 7She opens the box of Gateway pieces. "So- what does Kelesh have? It has its shepherds, of course." 7She places a yeddim down on the map, in the countryside. "Not too many farms, because of the mountains, but enough to feed the cities." 7She scatters a few peasants about. [23:38] "There's an army, albeit a small one." 7She puts a dragonlord down on the capital city. "So to ensure the nation's security, the Autarch encourages several mercenary companies to make their home bases in Kelesh, in exchange for favorable tax regimes and certain other legal exemptions." 7She puts some knaves on the smaller cities. [23:39] 13Ying: "I'm not seeing any big draw for someone to come in and invade them and take their stuff..." [23:39] "Exactly. That was Kelesh since the time of the Shogunate - never quite rich enough to be worth taking, never quite poor enough to be an easy grab. Until." [23:40] 13She waits until it feels awkward. "Until...?" [23:41] 7Blossom: "I don't have all the details, probably no one outside the Empress herself does, but what I do know is that a Thousand Scales expeditionary team discovered something extraordinary. The largest silver lode to be found in the Threshold in centuries." [23:41] "Here." 7She points a finger at one of the larger northern mountains. [23:42] 13Ying: "And... nobody had found it before? Or just nobody bothered mining it?" [23:47] 7She shrugs. "Hadn't been found. Stranger things have happened, and it's not like people sink shafts at random on the off chance. Anyway, here's where the Empress does something unexpected. She orders the All-Seeing Eye - so I understand - to take the expedition's report and allow it to fall into the hands of the Keleshans. Deliberately." [23:48] 13Extremely confused: "...why?" [23:48] 7Blossom smiles again. "I'll show you. They're suspicious at first, naturally. But they investigate, the report turns out to be accurate, and suddenly the small nation of Kelesh finds itself on the verge of becoming rich." [23:50] "The most important thing for the Autarch right now is getting the silver out of the ground as fast as he can, and he doesn't want to deal with forcing out a lot of nongovernment claims. So he opens up the mountain, says that any Keleshan can mine for silver as long as one fifth of their take is given to the treasury - the so-called 'Royal Fifth'." [23:51] 6Love a good Royal Fifth. Burns going down but it feels great. [23:52] 13Ying: "What happened then?" 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi: "To make them mine all the silver for her?" [23:53] 7Blossom: "So the remaining four-fifths, and what the Autarch decides to sell, pour into Keleshan markets. The price of silver drops like a stone, and suddenly Kelesh is the chief silver *exporter* of the region. Every country wants silver, and the cheaper you can buy it the better." [23:54] 7Blossom: "Now, who knows what happens to a country's currency when its export market grows?" 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi: "I don't know." [23:55] 13Ying: "It shrinks! Wait, it grows? Er, it has a bubble that pops?" [23:58] 7Blossom: "You've heard of the exchange rate, right? You go to a moneylender somewhere, sell them your foreign money and get local money in exchange. I take a Realm qian to Nexus and get a few silver dinar, for example. How *much* you get is called the exchange rate." Session Time: Fri Mar 09 00:00:01 2018 [00:00] 7Blossom: "That means that a country's money can be a commodity just like anything else. It can increase in value relative to other countries. For example, if you want to buy silver in a Kelesh market, you have to get Kelesh money to pay for it - you, or else the person you're buying from has to do the exchange, which amounts to the same thing." [00:01] "When a lot of people are buying in your markets - when you're exporting a lot of goods - the demand for your currency goes up, and it becomes more valuable." [00:02] 13Her head is spinning. "People just... buy paper saying they have money in other places? That happens?" [00:03] 7She nods. "Paper or coins. Here, let me give you an example." 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Usagi: "But if you're buying stuff from other people it goes down?" [00:04] 13Ying: "Uwaaaaaugh. I'm so glad I only accept coins..." [00:04] 7Blossom nods at Usagi. "It all depends on the trade deficit or surplus. And a lot of other things, I'm simplifying." [00:05] 7She pulls out a few silver bits. "Say you've got a quarter-dinar in Pneuma, right? That buys you two sacks of grain at the market." [00:05] "And you have a quarter-dinar in Whitewall. That *also* buys you two sacks of grain at the local market." [00:06] 13Ying: "Wait, do they make the coins differently?" [00:06] "Like does one have more silver...?" 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi ambles in and sits down quietly. [00:06] 7Blossom: "No, the weight is the same. The face value of a coin is almost always higher than the raw value of the silver used to make it, otherwise there'd be no point in making coins out of it." [00:07] 13Ying: "Then why does anyone..." [00:08] "Anyway. Suddenly, the exchange rate on Pneuman coins goes up. In fact, it doubles. Now a Pneuman quarter-dinar buys you two sacks of grain in Penuma, or a half-dinar in Whitewall silver... which buys you *four* sacks of grain at the Whitewall market." [00:08] "Now it's cheaper to import grain than it is to buy local, you see?" [00:08] 13Ying: "...why does it do that?" 08[00:09] 13She turns to Eikichi. "Eikichi, why does it do that?" [00:10] 7Blossom: "That was just an example, Pneuman and Whitewall currencies stayed relatively stable to one another during that time period. But *Kelesh* currency became much more valuable, because of what I said before about everyone wanting to buy silver from them." 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You must've had to read a lot to learn all this. Wow." [00:14] 7Blossom reddens slightly, and gets a little flustered at the compliment before rebounding. "That's important. Consider the life of a Keleshan farmer or shepherd." 7She picks up the yeddim. "You can sell your wool or your wheat and get the same profit your father and his father did... or you can do what everyone else you know is doing. You can head north and try to make your fortune [00:14] in the silver mines." [00:15] 13Ying: "Aah, so it's like that, huh. I understand everything now." 13She doesn't get it at all. 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "But now there's no more farmers in Kelesh." 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "Now they need to import their food." 08[00:16] "That's right, Eikichi." 7She moves the yeddim and the peasants to the mountain. "Less wheat is grown, which pushes the local price up. The strong currency means buying grain from abroad is cheaper, so no one buys the local grain... sending even *more* farmers north." [00:17] 7Blossom: "With so many miners, the Autarch needs to keep order, but he doesn't want to hire mercenaries who might be tempted by the wealth. So he redirects the army-" 7She moves the dragonlord to the mountain. "And hires the mercenaries to, instead, reinforce the borders. Expensive, but remember that Kelesh is phenomenally rich now." [00:19] 13Ying: "They don't have any food and rely on imports. Couldn't you choke them out, if you wanted to?" [00:20] "They--" 13she pronounces the following word carefully. "Dis-in-cent-i-vized useful things for silver." [00:21] 7Blossom nods triumphantly. "That's right! The same thing that happened to grain starts to happen to everything else. Iron, leather... at one time the Keleshans were importing wool." [00:21] "But..." 13She looks to Blossom, confused. "They stopped exporting...??" 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "What happened to the Keleshian farms and grazing lands? Did someone come in and take them?" 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "If there's no shepherds there's no sheep. Did herds die off or get bought up?" [00:23] 7Blossom: "Most of them were sold to give their owners money to head north. To Guildsmen, a few holdout sheep barons, that sort of thing." [00:24] 7Blossom: "But now, the one thing the Autarch desperately doesn't want to happen, the one thing that was inevitable, happened. The silver runs out." [00:24] 13Ying: "They made that their whole thing, though! What happened?" 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Now they've got no commodities, no silver, and a bunch of people who gave up stable lives to chase a dream that's not there anymore." [00:25] 7Blossom: "With no exports, but still importing by the talent, the value of Keleshan currency crashes. Grain, beef, mutton - they all become prohibitively expensive. Kelesh can't afford to feed itself. Desperate miners and rural townsmen, out of work, descend on the cities and overwhelm the granaries." 14[00:26] * Joins: Crion [00:26] 7Blossom: "The Autarch can't get the army to put down the riots because the army hasn't been paid. The army hasn't been fed." [00:26] 13Ying: "That's horrible!" [00:27] "They've lost control of the border mercenaries too. Without support, they turn to banditry." 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "So who do you ask to help? Who has the resources? Who has the strength?" [00:27] 7Blossom: "Who happens to have companies of soldiers on a ship just off shore, waiting for this very moment?" [00:28] 13Ying: "I don't like this story." [00:28] 7She shakes her head. "It's not a nice story, but it's an important one to know." [00:29] "Anyway, the mayor of the port breaks first, begging the legionaries to save her city. By the time the Autarch knows what's happening, the Empress' armies are on the march towards his throne and he has nothing to stop them with. He's given a choice - become the satrap and maintain his dignity, or die." [00:30] "He can't get help from the Guild, because the Empress already has their support after promising to take on Kelesh's debts after the country changes hands." [00:31] "Eh, fuck the Guild anyway," 4says Ir as she wanders in to make herself a sandwich. "What're we talking about?" [00:32] 7Blossom: "And that-" 7She tips the Gateway pieces over. "-is that. The proud nation of Kelesh is now a satrapy of the Realm, and the Empress has her foothold to go after the others. Oh, hi Ir!" [00:32] "We were talking about currency devaluation and trade surpluses! I can start over if you like?" 7Blossom's looking at Ir, giving Ying a chance to frantically indicate in the negative. [00:32] "Yo." 4Ir: "Remind me to go shopping next time we're somewhere with, uh, shops." [00:34] 4She looks around the room. "Y'all go on a scavenger hunt while I was napping?" [00:34] 13Ying is wearing glasses now! They look very nice, and she does not indicate one way or the other her feelings on currency devaluation. 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Blossom's been learning a lot and telling us about it." [00:35] "And no, I'm sure already hopelessly confused on those matters as it is." [00:35] "Got told in school a lot that I 'lacked nuance.'" [00:35] "Weird, huh." 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "My position on nuance is complicated." [00:37] 4Ir: "You know the kid at the top of our class once answered a question about basic terms during a debate with 'that depends on your definition of 'definition'?" [00:37] 7Blossom: "Well, it does-- right, right." [00:37] "That was about the time I realized my ongoing education was coming to an end." 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, bravely: "I never went to school. I just had tutors." [00:40] "These were schools the monks run, because they run just about everything up in Pneuma. So you have your basic religious education until you're like, 10, and then you either go back to working at your family whatever until you're 14 and it's time to join the service, or go into an academy or monastery instead." [00:42] "Weirdest thing, though. You join the Heavenswatch, they put you right back in a classroom." [00:42] 7Blossom: "That's not weird." [00:42] "Portwatch and Citywatch get to go on field trips to sea and to taverns." [00:44] "Not us though. I guess 'and here's another religious office where everyone's going to stare at you til you leave, even though you're whispering' isn't as sure a sell." 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Did your parents pick which one you went to or did the watch sort between themselves?" [00:44] "So it's right back to learning about the theological importance of this, that and the other god. And also of forever-jails." [00:45] "The monks get first pick to assemble their Heavenswatch candidates, then City and Port divvy up who's left." 15[00:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi nods, picturing Ir being recruited on a band scholarship or something. [00:46] "Military service is mandatory, so you've got literally entire families who have proudly served in one or the other and get in drunken fistfights over the honor ." [00:49] "So the biggest story -- besides your kid getting chosen for the Heavenswatch, which is either a huge honor or just a sign a monk thinks they'll want to try to bang your kid in a couple years -- is always like, your boy Kev from the Muladhara district is real mad at his dad so he's gonna turn his back on twenty blah blah generations of proud City service and join Port." [00:51] 4Ir: "And they've got festivals where City and Port compete against each other in sports, and so on and so forth, and while that was like, my ENTIRE social life growing up -- how the Watches were doing in their endless public dick-waving contests -- man, it seems so stupid now." 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "That sounds kind of nice. Growing up I only ever got to be around the kids of other families my family liked. They were alright but it was like. Ten of us, together all the time until we were 12." [01:01] "There's worse upbringings. Though I'd probably prefer Berg's, which as far as I can tell is just emerging fully-formed from the side of a mountain ready to kick someone's ass." 15[01:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Skipping childhood sounds fun, yeah." [01:07] 7Blossom: "So what did you do?" [01:08] 4Ir: "They tapped me for Heavenswatch, so we were basically mascots. The monks don't let us participate in the whole sports thing for religious reasons, but playing music's just fine." 08[01:09] "What about you, Eikichi?" 15[01:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "What'd I do when?" [01:11] "Band culture is really weird and unhealthy in Pnuema, though." 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah?" 08[01:12] 7Blossom: "When you were a kid." 7Eikichi's told her some about this, but there's got to be parts that weren't awful! [01:12] "Yeah. It's not great that people have like. Substantial, openly-debated public opinions on who you're dating, or why it's important that you're not dating, at age 16." [01:13] "Maybe if you're royalty or something but, just because you front a band?" [01:13] "Creepy." [01:14] "Bleah." [01:15] 7Blossom: "I can't believe they make--" 7They don't have patricians, peasant might sound derogatory, um um what's a good word "--regular people go through that." [01:17] 4Ir: "I was lucky enough not to be the public face of my group that everyone couldn't stop obsessing over, but there are a lot of creepy oldsters who are too into technically-impressive six-string players whose public persona is 'I'll cut you'" [01:17] . 15[01:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Everything Ir said sounds totally normal to Eikichi... he looks at Blossom. "Before we got old enough that they started letting us leave home without a minder, we spent a lot of time playing games. Kjess, Gateway, that one with the tiles you have to put down. That and spying on our parents." 15[01:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "We'd make like we were in the All-Seeing Eye and trade secrets about things we overheard even though we didn't understand any of them." [01:20] 7Blossom: "Aw, that's cute." 15[01:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "'I saw your mother give extra money to the nanny when your father wasn't looking.' 'I saw where your nurse hid the Calibration sweets.' It was! Kid stuff." 15[01:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "We had to take turns being the Empress, who everyone else had to report to. You did it by holding up a coin with her face on it. I don't like to brag, but I was easily the best Empress of any of us." [01:23] "What, you disappeared halfway through the game and no one was able to find you?" 15[01:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi snorts. 15[01:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "What do you think happened to her?" [01:24] 7Blossom: "She died." [01:25] 4Ir takes a bite of her sandwich contemplatively. "I prefer the theory that she just got tired of all the bullshit." 15[01:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "She died and nobody will admit it? Or she died and nobody knows how or why?" [01:25] "Decided that actually, the Realm was kind of a bad idea and just fucked off to some island way over near the western Pole or something." [01:28] 4Ir: "I mean she's probably dead regardless. How old would she be right now?" [01:28] 7Blossom: "At least eight hundred." [01:29] "I mean I'm sure there are some mortals bouncing around who have managed to play out the string that long, but there doesn't seem to be any particular reason to think she's one of them." [01:30] 7Blossom looks at Ir quizzically, before realizing the Pneumans probably use the term 'mortal' differently. 15[01:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "She had the Manse, and a sorcerer half my size could keep someone alive forever if they were clever about it." [01:30] 7Yara...! 14[01:30] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 15[01:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "Her dying still makes sense. I don't know, though." 15[01:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "I hope she's still around somewhere. I'd like to meet her. I wonder what she's like in person." 15[01:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Blossom: "Did you ever...?" [01:32] "If the Empress has spent 600 years tending a garden somewhere at the ass end of Creation, it's a safe bet she's probably a far different person than the uniter of the Realm." [01:33] "Now, that is." [01:33] "I know I couldn't stand a retirement that long." [01:34] 7Blossom: "I think so? When I was really, really little. Presented to Her Imperial Majesty as a new daughter of the House, I don't really remember it. Mom and Dad were there though, I remember that." [01:36] "Maybe someone threw her down a glacier somewhere and she's just waiting to thaw out." 15[01:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "It could be us." [01:36] "...Pneuma's kind of the cultural center of that kind of story, I guess." 15[01:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Think about it. We find the Empress in a glacier, Blossom melts her free, then the Empress sees Blossom's strong arms and good ideas and she's like 'wow Blossom, you should be the new Empress'." 08[01:39] "Now you're just teasing me." 7Blossom sticks her tongue out at Eikichi. 15[01:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "No that would totally happen. Trust me, I was the best Empress, remember?" [01:40] "Everything I heard about the Empress made her sound more like the 'wow Blossom, time to ambush your wedding party' type." 15[01:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi is looking really hard at the wood grain on the lounge table. [01:42] "But our general context for Realm political news in Pneuma was that the monks didn't think it was polite to talk about and otherwise we only heard about it when some gloryfucker dynasts marched an army through town on their way somewhere or another." [01:43] 7Blossom: "She'd find the scariest thing in Creation and try to feed me to it, like the Roseblack." 15[01:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Let's just defeat everything scarier than us to be safe." 14[01:47] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [01:49] 7Blossom glances at Ir. "He's got a point." [01:50] 4Ir: "Seems like a lot of doing." [01:51] 4Ir: "...And it also means we should say the quiet part loud, I guess." [01:51] "Are we gonna go fuck up Thorns?" [01:51] "Seems like someone should." [01:51] 7Blossom: "Sooner or later. That *thing* deserves to burn." [01:51] 7She spits when she says it. [01:52] "I mean I didn't ask earlier under the principle that it's a city and 'fucking up' cities was not in our remit." [01:52] "But clearly it is, now." 15[01:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Plus it did try to assassinate you all." 15[01:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "We can't befriend all of our assassins. People would just think we were gullible." [01:54] "Oh, we're incredibly gullible." 15[01:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "I believe that." [01:54] 4Ir shakes her head. "Thorns' problem is their aesthetics suck." 15[01:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Ehhhhhhh." 15[01:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "I feel like, on its own, wearing lots of black and decorating with skulls and stuff could be cool. It's the connotations that make it ugly." 15[01:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "The eyeliner alone--" [01:56] "I see the Thorns aesthetic as notably different from just, you know," 4she waves her hands, "undead." [01:56] "There's a LOT more gross poison shit" 15[01:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah..." [01:56] "And like, rotting flesh instead of skeletons." [01:56] "Any time the undead get too far away from skeletons they stop being cool." 15[01:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Ghosts can be okay. Sort of floaty and mysterious." 15[01:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "The real problem with the flesh zombies is the smell. If you could keep them preserved, maybe treat their skin so it stayed smooth and didn't try out... I don't know. There's room to maneuver." [01:58] 7Blossom: "There's nothing cool about the undead. They are, at best, pitiable." 15[01:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "But necromancers never care about the little things." [01:59] "They're not as bad as zombies but they're either incredibly dangerous or incredibly annoying. Skeletons, though, you can work in all kinds of genres with skeletons." [02:00] "How long has it been since we ran into a good, wholesome skeleton ambush? It's all ghosts and walking corpses these days." [02:01] "Was it seriously while spelunking in Crystal? Weren't there water skeletons?" 15[02:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Since Crystal at least, yeah." [02:07] 7Blossom: "Skeletons are walking corpses..." [02:11] 4Ir: "Sure, but like. You can do a lot of cool like, artistic and sculptural stuff with skeletons. A zombie is just Tim, Who Died." [02:14] "There's no zombie bonewheel." [02:14] "...Which is good, tactically speaking. But artistically, less so." 15[02:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "Meatwheel." [02:15] "Sounds lame." 15[02:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sounds flappy." [02:19] "I guess that thing Wicked Triumph's Reckoning was trying to wake up was a zombie." [02:19] "For our argument's purposes." [02:19] "And if you make something big enough and mean enough I guess you can brute force it into being cool." [02:20] 7Blossom: "That thing wasn't cool! What I did, exorcising it, was cool." 15[02:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "......that was cool." [02:26] 7Blossom slaps the table and nods firmly. "There is nothing cool about working for Deathlords." 15[02:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi mostly goes quiet. [02:28] "I think doing stuff associated with the undead is more 'cold' than 'cool,' tradtionally. So yeah." [02:29] 7Ah, he must be quiet because he agrees so much! [02:42] "Ying? You've been kind of quiet for a while, do you--" 7Her false glasses slip from her face, revealing her deception! "What th--!!" 15[02:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Wow." 15[02:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ying's been really overworked lately. She needs a vacation. Maybe take her sightseeing or shopping or something." [02:45] "Yeah..." 7Blossom lowers her voice so as not to wake the slumbering seamstress. "She was talking about how running a shop was stressful. You think she should let her employees buy her out?" 15[02:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "She might like that. She likes teams." [02:47] 7Blossom scowls. "We need to get away from Nexus. All of us, I mean. That place is a pit that eats joy." 15[02:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I kind of like it. I like it a lot more than I did when I first got there, cause when I first got there I didn't have any money." 15[02:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "All the bad things are still there but there's a lot more to like when you can afford it." 15[02:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "Where do you want to go next?" [02:50] "It's frustrating. Everything I want to do runs into the brick wall of--" 7She quietens to a whisper. "14the Emissary." 15[02:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We could always defeat the Emissary." [02:52] 7Blossom: "I want to go East. If Berg could beat a behemoth on his own, I bet all of us together could take down another. Then we can start work on a nation. What do you think of 'Zeal' for the name?" 15[02:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi giggles. 15[02:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "I think it's perfect." 15[02:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "Excessively Righteous Blossom, the sorcerer-queen of Zeal." 15[02:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "It makes 'Excessively Righteous' sound like a title you got for ruling a place called Zeal." [02:54] 4Ir: "Seems on the nose, in a good way." [02:54] 7She flushes. "You'd all be there too! A miniature Deliberative." 15[02:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "More like an Impulsive." [02:59] "Hrmph. Anyway, that's why I was looking up anti-counterfeiting techne, which is what started that whole story with Ying. Hey, speaking of which, where did Sondok go?" 15[03:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "She mumbled something about wanting to do spot checks when she came and told me you were giving a lecture. She also mentioned something about Usagi?" 10He looks over at Usagi, who has also fallen asleep. [03:01] "Hmm. Yes, I want her as an assistant out in the Sunshrine area. I'm doing a lot of tool-forging and she'd be handy to have around." 15[03:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oh. Yeah, that's fine. Any trouble with the local authorities yet?" [03:04] "No, not so far." 7She frowns, staring at the grain of the table for a moment. "Have you had any trouble with the undead pit... changing?" 15[03:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I've set up a geomantic survey because I was curious about exactly that. There hasn't been enough time to gather information yet. I haven't noticed anything too visible aside from the growth of the nest." [03:07] 7Blossom: "It's happening in the city, too. Pits and sinkholes opening up that somehow were always-have-been there. ...Yara spoke to me about it." 15[03:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's peculiar." 15[03:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "She have any idea why?" [03:08] 7Blossom: "Have you ever heard of something called the 'Exigence'?" [03:09] "Yeah. Liked their first album. Too bad Geof fucked around on Kata and they broke up." 15[03:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "The little Chosen, yeah?" [03:12] 4No one's ever actually talking about the Exi-Gents when that word comes up. Pity. 08[03:13] 7Blossom nods at Eikichi. She wants to ask Ir about the band, but this is important...! "Yeah, Chosen of anyone who isn't the Sun, Moon, or Five Significant Stars. Apparently it can actually hurt or kill the god that does it, hence 'exigent'. Yara says that the license to do it can sometimes be stolen or bribed onto the black market, making illegal Chosen." [03:13] "Which, normally, I wouldn't care. Very low down on the list." 15[03:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You think little Chosen might be sinking the pits?" [03:14] "But she also says that one of these illegal Chosen was the secret weapon that won the Trinity the war against Princess Magnificent, with some power that let it warp Fate. And whatever it did, or is continuing to do, is *still* warping Fate." [03:14] 7Blossom: "The part of the present that remembers the past is changing. Things that weren't there yesterday now have always been there." [03:14] 4Ir: "Important question: are these little Chosen as like, a tier of potency, or little Chosen as in Yara?" [03:15] 7Blossom shrugs at Ir. "Maybe both? I didn't ask." 15[03:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "They're the Chosen of lesser gods." [03:15] 7Blossom: "No, wait, Czaliphenya was normal-sized." 15[03:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah. The Maker of Miens passed a mark of her divinity into Czaliphenya, and ignited her anima. She's Chosen, because she's got an anima. But there's never going to be an Immaculate Faith about the origin of the Style-blooded." 15[03:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "You don't usually think of the little Chosen as one host, because none of them are alike." 15[03:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's not like the Solar host, where everybody has to be hot and tragic." 08[03:19] 7Blossom: "I'd guess you have to be incredibly well-read like Eikichi to even know they're all supposed to be the same thing, instead of different examples of the strange and wondrous that pop out of the wilds every day." 15[03:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You're too kind." [03:20] "Well, Arianna's gotta work in some tragedy if she wants to stay in the clubhouse, then." [03:21] 7Blossom: "Oh, come on. She's pretty! ...enough." 15[03:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "She's no Panther." 14[03:23] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [03:24] 7She raises her voice slightly. "Anyway, I didn't commit us to anything serious, I've just been sharing my records with her to help track this Chosen down. We can decide what to do if and when they find it - Yara thinks helping solve this problem would ingratiate us with " 7She hunches over and looks around almost theatrically before continuing very quietly: "Wayang, the God of [03:24] Silence. Her superior." [03:24] "He's supposed to be very pragmatic, and it would be valuable to have someone with actual knowledge and influence on our side in Yu-Shan." 15[03:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "If he's nice to us we can put shrines to him in the libraries in Zeal." [03:25] 7Blossom: "Yara is useful and pleasant enough, but she doesn't know anything and can't do anything for us." 15[03:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "Wait, how useful can she be if she can't do anything and doesn't know anything?" [03:26] "Extremely useful...to the God of Silence, who is presumably receiving constant updates on us from her." [03:27] 4Ir: "Is this one of the guys behind the hit on us?" [03:27] "Any of the hits. Pick one." 15[03:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I have no idea where the order originated or how it got to Yara. Maybe?" [03:29] 7Blossom: "I get the feeling that it came from one of Yara's fellow-Chosen, though I admit that's just a feeling." [03:30] "I exaggerate a bit. Yara doesn't know anything by the standards of Heaven's secret-brokers. As compared to us, who know even less." 15[03:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you think she knew those assassins we killed in Nexus?" 15[03:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "...do you think any of them know each other? Maybe they can't remember one another any better than we can." [03:33] 7Blossom: "That would make for a very frustrating workplace." 15[03:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "I was so disappointed to learn they're not all as big as Yara. [03:36] 7Blossom: "You know, I've heard there's a whole city of lalafellin in the South?" 15[03:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "Really???" 15[03:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ohhh. Imagine the furniture." 15[03:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "I imagine you'd need a lot of gentle ramps or low-level buildings. Stairs are murder on short legs." [03:43] 7She looks surprised. "You're right. We'll need to think about accessibility." 15[03:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "Back home there was this really nice bathhouse I liked to go to, with Shogunate architecture and all these little fountains. But it was styled like a pagoda and it was at the top of about twenty steps. When I broke my leg after losing a dance contest I didn't take a bath for a month." 14[03:45] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [03:47] 7She wrinkles her nose. "Gross! Not even at home?" 15[03:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I still washed at home, I just didn't go out. Couldn't shave my leg though." [03:52] "Oh," 7Blossom says. "That's not so bad. But-- you couldn't get your hair washed?" 15[03:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi shakes his head. "Got it cut instead. That was actually the last time I cut my hair short until we got to Nexus." [04:01] "Hard to imagine you with short hair." 7She sticks her tongue out. 15[04:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "I could get it cut again..." 15[04:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "What do you think?" [04:03] 7Nervously: "Don't!!" 15[04:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "What's wrong?" 10Eikichi is comfortable having this conversation now that Ir has fallen asleep too. Everybody's really tired. [04:07] "Y-you look better with long hair." 15[04:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yeah..." [04:10] "What??" 15[04:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oh, it's nothing. I was just remembering how different I looked. I'm glad you like it this way." 15[04:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "You can have a lot more fun with long hair than short hair." 15[04:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mess with it, play with it, make it do things." 15[04:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "Put it up," 10he adds, gesturing to Blossom's hairstyle. [04:19] 7Blossom: "I do need to get a trim, though." 7She plays with her dragon's fangs. 15[04:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "You still wear it really well. They frame your face so perfectly that they could get longer and it'd just make you look more intense." [04:24] "Oh, thanks..." 7Her face is red now, and she doesn't seem to know where to look. 15[04:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Blossom......!" [04:25] "Y-yeah?" 15[04:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "Compliments aren't supposed to be scary!" 15[04:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's not a test. You won't take a compliment wrong. You won't give a compliment wrong." [04:27] "Oh my gods!" 7She whacks him with her hand repeatedly on the shoulder, but lightly because she knows he's delicate. "You. are. such. a. jerk! Don't tease me like that!" [04:28] 7Blossom: "Also that's completely not true. When I was younger I told a boy that his outfit was so sharp he'd better be careful, or else it could pierce the hull of a naval cruiser leaving hundreds to die at sea." 15[04:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "..." 15[04:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "That..." 15[04:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "That would have totally worked on me." 15[04:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "You got any others?" [04:34] 7Blossom hrmphs. "'Together, you and I will be the strongest couple in the empire! We will dominate Creation!'?" 15[04:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's eyes get so big and shiny it's like his pupils have been replaced by tiny stars. 15[04:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10His voice actually comes out as a kind of strained whisper. "14those are so good" [04:36] 7Blossom crosses her arms, hunches her shoulders, and looks away. "You're the first one to think so." 15[04:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "People probably weren't listening. If you don't pay attention it sounds like the sort of thing the evil villain in a children's story might say as a joke." 15[04:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "But follow my logic, okay? This is what I hear:" 15[04:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "You start out with a totally ordinary compliment, right? Hey, there, you're looking sharp." 15[04:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "But that's not enough. You have to outdo everybody else. You have to be the best. " 15[04:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "He's not looking sharp, he's looking so sharp. How sharp? Well, uh, uh, uh, and here's where you get so swept up in trying to be the best and so carried away with the thought that you have to jump to, well, what's really really sharp, right?" 15[04:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "And you thought of military stuff. Arrows, daiklaves, and so on. Your mind grabbed onto something that'd show the scale of how sharp he was." 15[04:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "But you couldn't stop there, oh no. You're still swept up, you're still nervous, you're still trying to show that you're the best. So your mind just keeps playing it out. What happens when you punch through the hole of a naval cruiser?" 15[04:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "And this is all coming out. The whole time you think of all these words and you work up the nerve and you say it. It all happens." 15[04:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "So what someone else hears is someone sounding sort of awkward in a creepy way. But what's there if you listen is someone passionate, someone who can catch inspiration and hold it and chase it where it goes and forget the rest." 15[04:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "Someone who, incidentally, is also smart enough to know what it would take to pierce the hull of a naval cruiser and what would happen if you did." 15[04:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "So it would have totally worked on me." 08[04:53] 7Blossom lets out a long breath she was apparently holding, and awkwardly scoots her chair closer to Eikichi so she can lean on his shoulder. "You always know how to make me feel better. I wish I knew how to do it for you." 15[04:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You do make me feel better." [04:55] 7She smiles sardonically, eyes closed. "Oh. Job done, then." 15[04:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah." 15[04:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He yawns. "I think we've earned a break." [05:00] 7Blossom's pulse races for a split-second before she realizes what he means. "Yeah, it's really late, and we've both got work to do tomorrow." 15[05:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "It'll be nice when I'm done and I can spend more time working with you." [05:02] "Mmm. I'm thinking of building a printing press. You can help with that." 15[05:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "And they'll be--" 10Another yawn. "--all sorts of plans to make for Zeal soon..." [05:03] 7It's contagious, now Blossom yawns. 14[05:08] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[09:53] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[09:54] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[10:24] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[12:25] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[13:13] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client) 14[14:44] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[15:04] * banana is now known as banana|sleep 14[15:06] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Client exited) 14[15:06] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[16:25] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Client exited) 14[16:25] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[16:38] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Client exited) 14[16:38] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[16:46] * Joins: dammitwho 14[16:50] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Connection closed) 14[16:51] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[16:52] * Joins: Crion 14[17:08] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Client exited) 14[17:08] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[17:12] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Client exited) 14[17:14] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[17:27] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[17:37] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Client exited) 14[17:38] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[17:50] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (The TLS connection was non-properly terminated.) 14[18:11] * Joins: hrolfie 14[18:44] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[18:51] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:54] * Joins: Crion 14[19:50] * Joins: tom 14[23:44] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sat Mar 10 00:00:00 2018 14[00:10] * Joins: Crion 14[01:18] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:00] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:24] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[02:45] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:16] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[06:12] * banana|sleep is now known as banana 14[10:44] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:19] * Joins: hrolfie 14[12:09] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[13:37] * banana is now known as banan 14[13:41] * banan is now known as banana 14[16:29] * Joins: dammitwho 14[17:13] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[17:13] * Joins: Crion 14[19:55] * Joins: tom [19:55] https://i.imgur.com/JRriyYv.jpg *screams municipally* [19:56] wrong hcnanel sorry 15[20:06] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:06] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:06] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:06] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:06] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD> A crucial war council awaits tomorrow, and mere weeks remain to prepare Nexus against the coming invasion. This is the last night there might be for a while when members of the centered circle have a chance to enjoy themselves. And Xia Lan and Stranger have plans. 15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD> How do they prepare? [20:10] 14Well, we're probably bringing the teapot. [20:11] 13Definitely bringing the teapot. [20:11] 14Stranger will also ask Xia Lan if there's anyone else she'd like to bring along. A music-lover. [20:11] 14He has a fire-aspected Dynast with no social life in mind. [20:11] 14Frankly, he has to speak with Tsuka anyway about this tomb business. [20:14] 13Xia Lan won't object, though to be honest she'd originally planned on seeing Mr. Tellurian by herself... Still, it would hardly be fair to deny Stranger a chance to get another look at the venue and its crowds. And, well. Might do well to have him there when she tells Tohu about the agreement. [20:16] 14Call it a business dinner for Stranger. [20:16] 14He will gently remind Xia Lan that they should plan a somewhat early evening, however; there is an important meeting at noon the next day. [20:17] 14How difficult is it to get in touch with Tsuka? Is he currently bunked down with the Green Apples? [20:17] 13Whatever, dad. 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He is! [20:18] 14Oh, and a late addition: the Ambassador of Night and Day will slink back into the Floodwater hideaway around sundown and announce that she intends to spend a night on the town with her man. Luckily, the previously decided-upon plans are acceptable to her. 15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A double date, then. [20:19] 14Stranger isn't going to say that out loud. [20:20] 14He is, however, going to dress up in his nicest peasant robes once he's done sending work to Cathak Tsuka about an opportunity to catch dinner and a show with himself and Xia Lan. 15[20:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Is Tsuka going to meet them out or come to the hideout? [20:23] 14Tsuka might as well get to learn where the hideout is. If they're going to be sending the boy into a First Age tomb, they might as well give him a measure of good-will and trust before asking him. [20:23] 14After all, it's perfectly likely he'll die down there. [20:23] 13He won't. [20:23] 14Well, that'll be up to Xia Lan, then. Stranger will be on other business. 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> And hey, the closer he is to everyone else who's going, the more likely he'll die to save someone else. This is why Stranger's the smart one. Always looking out. [20:24] 14Thanks always to the narrator, for making the quiet parts loud. 15[20:25] <@VoxPVoxD> It's just that kind of night. 15[20:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka arrives five minutes before whatever time the message suggested. Who receives him and how? [20:27] 14Stranger will be in the common room, looking slightly uncomfortable in some new robes the Ambassador has found for him. They look more expensive than what he's been wearing previously, but are of the same fashion; the whites and blacks are sharper than in the rest of his wardrobe, however, and there are no homespun browns to be seen. [20:28] 14He'll be the one to answer the door. [20:29] "Ah! Cathak Tsuka. You're punctual, as opposed to merely on-time." [20:29] "Come in, come in." [20:30] 13Xia Lan's still sorting through outfits when he arrives, door to her quarters locked. It's hard finding something that fits the evening... plus she's trying to figure out exactly how daring to get within that. Hmm... 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka's wearing a simple spring robe, deep red with a bronze trim, his scabbards obscured by the folds of his sleeves. "Hello." [20:32] "Would you like some tea?" 14Stranger has a pot of something green and pleasant on the common room fire. [20:32] "The ladies are still getting dressed." 15[20:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "Thank you." He looks around, not seeing anyone else. "This is the same place we went the other night?" [20:35] 14Stranger: "That it is. I trust you remember the layout. You'll be with us at the tables rather than backstage this time." 15[20:37] * Retrieving #SonsAndDoctors modes... [20:40] 14At that moment the Ambassador of Night and Day sweeps out from Stranger's room in a...tactical leathers and evening-gown combination. https://ewedit.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/0002509873283273432343.jpg "Darling, have you put on some--oh, hello." [20:42] 14Stranger: "You look fantastic, dear. This, as I mentioned, is Cathak Tsuka -- member in good standing of the Green Apples, and strong arm against the forces arrayed against us. Tsuka, may I introduce the Ambassador of Night and Day." 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka blinks. 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "...it's very nice to meet you." He bows slightly. [20:44] 14With a hint of amusement, the Ambassador crosses one leg in front of the other and curtsies with her trailing dress. [20:44] "And you as well." [20:45] 14She strides over to the teapot; Stranger tosses her an empty teacup on the fly, which she plucks from the air and fills with green tea. 14[20:46] * Joins: hrolf_mac [20:46] "So, Cathak Tsuka," 14the Ambassador says, sipping from her cup, "what is it that you do with the Green Apples?" 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka sits belatedly and his speech follows suit. He's recovering his footing, but the going is slow. "I'm still a recruit, technically, training and drilling. Once we finish the first wave of exercises I'm hoping to get promoted. They were talking about needing more officers for all the conscripts." [20:50] 13Xia Lan steps out a moment later, outfit sorted. Her shiny black dress swirls on the floor, though she stands even taller than usual with some unwieldy-looking heels, and the scandalous fishnet v-cut down the front makes it hard to look at the rest of the outfit. A spiked collar, long elbow gloves, and a fetching black hat (with flowers pinned to it), combined with thick black eyeliner and lipstick complete the look. [20:50] https://i.imgur.com/d0h6IPB.png [20:50] 13It's... something. Really, really something. She clicks a few steps out from her door, and curtsies slightly towards the assembled visitors and Stranger, smirking. "Well? What do you think?" 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "..." [20:50] 14The Ambassador: "Well, the way I hear it, you..." [20:51] "Oh my." [20:51] "Darling, you look...incredible." [20:51] 14She glances about the room. "But it appears that now we have a problem." [20:52] "Three of us are dressed one way, and the young man from the Apples is dressed another." [20:52] 13Xia Lan: "Thank you." 13She follows the glance. "Ah. That is a problem." [20:52] 14To Tsuka: "Not that it's your fault, dear. I presume a certain someone didn't inform you how we were dressing." [20:52] 14Stranger sighs. 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "..." [20:53] "And, frankly, neither myself nor Xia Lan are going to go back in and redo an hour or more of work." [20:53] 14She turns to her partner with a bright smile. "So you're going to have to change, dearest." [20:54] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven smiles back. "Of course. Have you picked out an--" [20:54] 14Sweetly: "The one that's burnt sienna on pale orange. Third hanger in the second closet." [20:55] 14Stranger's smile fades into a grimace. 'Have you picked out an outfit' was meant to be a needling joke. "Well then." [20:55] 14He puts down his teacup. "I'll be right back." [20:57] 14He disappears into his room and shuts the door, and the Ambassador turns back to the two teens and clasps her hands. "So. You two met through work?" 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka, too abruptly: "Yes." [20:58] 13Xia Lan: "See, and I was hoping you had some sort of change for -" 13She looks over to the Ambassador. "Hm? Yes, Stranger introduced us. Security for a concert, as I recall." [21:01] 14The Ambassador: "And how well did he do his job?" [21:02] 13Xia Lan: "Well, the first time, no cause for alarm. The second time, he defended me against the thing that's currently in Xu Sim's laboratory." [21:03] 14Her gaze swings back to the Dynast. "Impressive. That was a demon, was it not?" [21:03] 13Something in her voice as she says Xu Sim's name comes off like a sneer. [21:03] 13Her face never changes, though. [21:04] 13She swivels abruptly and takes a seat on an armrest, facing Tsuka but still with her head turned to the Ambassador. [21:04] 14Well, that's not playing fair. 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "..." [21:05] 14The Ambassador: "Cathak Tsuka?" 14She's just trying to get his attention again. 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> It takes her a second try. He looks in her direction again, clearing his throat. [21:08] 13This is fun. Xia Lan is having fun. [21:08] 14Perfectly conversational: "That was a demon, was it not?" 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "...I'm sorry?" Tsuka seems to have lost the thread of the conversation already. Not a good sign. [21:11] 14She chuckles. "My dear boy, you're going to have to gird yourself a bit more strongly than this if you're to run in these circles." [21:11] 13Xia Lan smirks with a quirk of the lips, then shifts to sit in the chair properly. That was maybe too cruel. 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka closes his eyes. "You asked if he was a demon." 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "I think he was. But it seemed like he wasn't anymore. Or like he didn't think he was." 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "Most of the people in there seemed like that." [21:12] 14The Ambassador: "I did; but I already knew the answer. What I was really asking was what you knew of demons." [21:13] "And that is a perceptive reply." [21:17] 14She sips her tea. "It is my opinion -- and only my opinion, so you should take it with whatever credit you give such things -- that a man should appreciate beauty, but not be intimidated by it; and he should appreciate his own beauty as well. I say 'a man' because I do not often find myself giving this advice to women. Perhaps things are different in the Realm." 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "...thank you." [21:18] "But in circles such as ours, if you find yourself flustered speaking to women, there's a good chance--" 14Her forehead lights up with a silvery crest: a crescent moon inside of a circle. "--you will find your flustered speaking to far more dangerous creatures." [21:18] 14At that moment, Stranger steps out of his room in a neat brown-and-orange number, looking vaguely annoyed. [21:19] "I presume this is the fashion you wanted, my dear." [21:19] 13Xia Lan: "Welcome back, Stranger." 13She turns away from the mark on the Ambassador's forehead. [21:20] 14The Ambassador's caste sign vanishes and she stands, her conversation with Tsuka ended. Far more important is how her consort looks. And: "Perfect." [21:22] 14Stranger from the Ambassador to Xia Lan to Tsuka to the Ambassador to Tsuka again. How does he look? [21:22] *14Stranger looks 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka looks very stoic, or totally stunned, depending on your guesses as to his mental state. [21:25] 14Stranger holds in a sigh. Xia Lan is one thing. It was irresponsible to leave him alone with the Ambassador. [21:25] 13Hee hee. [21:25] 14He puts the teapot off to the side of the coals, and douses them. "Shall we, then?" [21:26] 13Xia Lan. "I'm ready if you are." 13She rises, and extends a gloved hand to Tsuka. [21:27] 14As they put the last touches on preparing to leave, Stranger takes the Ambassador aside for a brief moment. "Once we're five or six minutes out the door, find an excuse to walk ahead a bit with Xia Lan. I want to make sure that boy doesn't fully lose his nerve." [21:27] 14She grins, but resists laughing. "Of course, darling." [21:29] 14As Xia Lan extends her hand, Stranger and the Ambassador will link arms. 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> To his credit, Tsuka only freezes up for a fraction of a second before taking Xia Lan's hand. [21:30] 14Onward, to the club! [21:32] 13Xia Lan smirks again, but doesn't comment on his freezing up. She'll match whatever Tsuka wants to do, whether that's handholding, linking arms, or standing a chaste distance away while he tries very hard not to look at her outfit. [21:34] 14Whatever Tsuka's comfort level, three or four blocks into their walk the Ambassador will make an excuse to beckon Xia Lan forward for 'girl talk,' in order to give Stranger and Tsuka the necessary cover to engage in boy talk. 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> After they're on the road a ways, Tsuka lapses from handholding to chaste distance to shadowing Xia Lan like a bodyguard again. [21:36] 14The Ambassador and Xia Lan will set the tone walking down the Nexus street, while Stranger drifts in their wake, staying very well alert as he beckons Tsuka to his side. [21:36] 13While he's shadowing her, he'll get a good view of the back of her dress, which is just as open as the front but without the same fishnet cover. 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Does Xia Lan have eyes in the back of her head? [21:36] 14...Actually, new plan. Stranger will take lead. [21:36] 13No, but gods she wished she did just to see his face. 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> She gets a pretty good idea if she sees the faces of any of the everybody they pass on the street. [21:38] 14Xia Lan and the Ambassador don't actually need bodyguards, and he'll be damned if he has to answer questions about that outfit later tonight. [21:39] 14As the Ambassador falls in next to Xia Lan, she permits herself a grin. "It's my understanding that my dear Stranger has done something to deserve this, but you're just tormenting that poor boy." [21:41] 14Some fifteen paces ahead, Stranger says: "Stop looking back. If an ambush wounds either of them, it's from a hand that would have wounded them regardless of what you or I could do." [21:41] 14It's not like the two men aren't turning heads themselves, either. [21:41] 13Xia Lan keeps up her steady pace. "You're right. I'll try and back off a little - the thing with the armchair was a little... too mean." 13She shakes her head. "No apologies for Stranger, though it seems like his focus is elsewhere, regardless." 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka immediately turns to face forward again. "This is not what I expected from the note." [21:43] 14The Ambassador waves a hand. "He did what he did. I understand why he did it, and I agree that he should be punished for it. As does he." [21:43] 14Stranger tugs discreetly at the outfit. "Yes, well. It is not precisely what I expected either." [21:43] 13Xia Lan: "He's told you about the - event, then? To settle the score." [21:44] 14Stranger: "But they're not trying to humiliate you and you haven't lost face with either of them. Lessons are meant to be learned." [21:44] 14Stranger: "Over tea as much as across swords." [21:45] 13Well, one of them was definitely trying to get a reaction out of him, which in some cultures can be construed as "humiliation." 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I don't understand why people can't just say what they mean instead of being so... so..." [21:46] 14The Ambassador nods. "Yes. And my reaction was much the same as yours, at first. It was a contentious evening; there are no circumstances under which I take my partner drugging women in his custody as good news." [21:46] 14A sidelong glance. "My apologies. 'Custody' is not perhaps the best term." [21:47] 14Stranger: "If people said what they meant, people would know each other. And people knowing each other is a very, very dangerous thing." [21:47] 14Stranger: "Because when you see someone clearly, for what they really are, you might not like what you see." [21:47] 13Xia Lan: "I take your meaning," 13she says lightly. "He and Xu Sim have both tried to make amends, in their own ways. I'm still angry, but... less so than I was when I found out." [21:48] 14The Ambassador: "I was less angry when I found out the effect of the drug, of course. In fact, I've asked for some for myself. There are certain, ah, social obligations I have for which it would be quite useful." [21:49] 13Xia Lan: "Certainly. I'd just rather know what I was ingesting beforehand. And... personal pride was a factor." [21:49] 14She smiles; it turns from pleasant to predatory as a man tries to approach them on the street. He backs away. "The fringe of the world pretends to far fewer scriples than the center. This is refreshing and terrifying in turns." 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "But this way just means that people could not like you and you'd never know." [21:50] 14Back to Xia Lan: "Pride is important. Never let anyone tell you it isn't. But that said: you can never let pride talk you into the fall." [21:52] 14Stranger: "That's true. The distance between people -- that's the loneliest part of being alive, and it's a distance something no amount of skill on the field of battle or potence in the sorcerous arts can close." [21:53] 13Xia Lan: "I'm aware of my skill. I was aware of the stakes." 13There's a hard undercurrent to her words, which she quickly covers. "...Sorry. I've had that discussion several times already, and it's starting to grow repetitive." [21:57] 14The Ambassador smiles slightly. "Have you? I think my point is slightly different. If your pride had compelled you to cheat to ensure your victory -- and that sort of pride is very common in our world -- I think Stranger would have had no problem with it at all. The dear cares far more about ends than means." 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "You sound like they dressed." [21:59] "I am saying that pride, itself, can be the stumbling block. And I am not counseling that you lose it. I am counseling that you come to understand it better. Because making name-wagers with demons for no better reason than because the demon asked is not behavior to encourage." [21:59] 13Xia Lan: "...that's a mistake that has its origins in a different mistake I made long before I came here. And that one won't be repeated." [22:00] 14Stranger: "Tsuka, I'm not quite sure how to take that." [22:00] "So I choose to take it to mean you're listening." 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "..." 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> The four of them are almost at the CIO; any parting words? [22:03] 14The Ambassador: "Everything is connected, dear; even worse, everything appears to be connected. Should you try, you will always be able to track a thing back your original sin, and that sin will merely be a compounded list of all the horrible things you've done in your life. The trick is this: you must escape the past, while knowing that you cannot. Self-deceit is no crime; [22:03] self-deceit can save your life." [22:04] 13Xia Lan manages a tight smile, but does not reply. [22:06] 14Stranger: "Once we're inside, we're going to talk business. I'll have no lectures for you, especially not on the subject of women. But I've known you for some time now, and the advice I leave you with is this: no one here thinks less of you than you think of yourself. And when you can defeat yourself, you win things far greater than you alone can be." [22:07] 14As they arrive at the CIO, they'll drift back into their original couples. [22:07] 13Xia Lan, to Tsuka: "Good talk?" [22:08] 14Stranger and the Ambassador confer quietly; a few moments into their whispers, Stranger grins and pulls the Ambassador hard to his hip. She grins back. 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> The place is pretty busy tonight; there's actually a line at the door. Tsuka: "If you like life lessons on club night." [22:09] 13Xia Lan: "You too, huh." 13Drinks for the both of them when they get in, then. [22:09] 14He's learning. Do we still have enough pull to skip the line by going in the back way? 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Up to Xia Lan. She's pretty sure she can walk in the back, and she's also pretty sure the line at the door would just crumble if she looked at it funny. [22:10] 14It's up to her, then. Stranger and, of course, the Ambassador are up for a red carpet strut. [22:10] 14Clarification: it's up to her to decide how much she cares about how Tsuka feels. [22:11] 13Wow, way to take the fun out of walking in the front. [22:11] 14She could ask. [22:15] 14Either way, Xia Lan is the star of this show. If they're going in the front, Xia Lan and Tsuka will go first. [22:15] 13Xia Lan whispers to Tsuka: "Up for a starring role?" 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Because of the traffic, the doors are always open, and the warmup act is audible outside: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIHvwagIVIQ 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Co-starring." [22:20] 13She smiles. "As you say." 13Then she strides up to the doors with confidence, arm in arm with Tsuka. She's all smiles, beaming at each and every person in line she passes, offering waves to those who manage to look without leering. [22:21] 14As they go, from well far away, his eyes studiously focused on the back of Tsuka's head rather than anywhere else, Stranger says: "Kids these days." [22:21] 13There's quite an interesting design in Xia Lan's back, actually. Are you sure you wouldn't rather see that than Tsuka's boring head? [22:22] 14Mmmm. [22:22] 14It is incredibly hard to tell where someone with a blind man's milky eyes is looking at any given time. [22:22] 14Which is why Stranger inclines his head even further until Xia Lan is inside. [22:24] 13Do the doormen give Xia Lan any grief for walking past the obvious line, or are they as dazzled as the rest of her audience? 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> The line all but parts for them. The bouncer takes his fez off as they approach. [22:25] 13Xia Lan: "Hello again. Party of four?" 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "Right this way." [22:26] 14Stranger and the Ambassador will follow in their wake. Neither of them is quite the scene that Xia Lan is, but they're both irresistable in a regal, reserved way -- proper for the adults following the smoldering teens. [22:26] 13She gives a wink and a wave to the line while making sure that Stranger and the Ambassador are allowed to follow them. 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> The four of them are ushered to a table near the stage and orders are taken. Anyone hungry? 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> The place really is packed tonight; there's a lot of people Xia Lan, Stranger, and Tsuka will remember from their last night in the CIO, and a whole slew of others, ranging from what look like ordinary people to stranger things than the wasps or Tohu ever were. [22:29] 13Xia Lan makes sure to order something sweet and alcoholic to drink for both her and Tsuka, but she has no strong feelings on food. [22:31] 14Both Stranger and the Ambassador could go for finger foods, as they haven't eaten yet today. Preferably spiced meats in pastry, if they're at hand. Stranger will also order a kettle of Scarlet Raiment tea, and...a pitcher of beer, for the Ambassador and whoever else wants to drink. [22:32] 14If there's no beer, the Ambassador will settle for some neat liquor. 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka wants something fried, so a tray of snacks and charcuterie will accompany Stranger's Tea, the Ambassador's beer, and Xia Lan and Tsuka's cocktails. [22:33] 14Now that's a spread. 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Some of those," he says to the waitape, pointing to a plate on the table in the corner piled high with what look like deep-fried shrimp, potatoes, and donuts. 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Piled really high. Like the size of a birdhouse. [22:35] "Crab rangoon," 14the Ambassador adds archly. 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Ah! A Nexus classic. "Coming right up." They get their drinks within minutes despite the crowd; the food will be a bit longer. 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan feels something rub up against her leg under the table. [22:36] 13Does it feel like a cat? 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> It does. [22:36] 13Xia Lan: "Hello, Tohu." [22:36] 14This is why the Ambassador wears closed bottoms. 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu leaps from floor to table, balancing neatly on her hind quarters as her tail sweeps errant dust onto the floor. "You look amazing, dear. And I see you brought friends!" She arches around to regard them all, particularly the Ambassador, who she's never met. "A pleasure to meet you. I'm Tohu. We're the proprietor." [22:39] 14The Ambassador half-nods, half-bows graciously. [22:39] 14Stranger: "Good evening, Tohu." 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Good evening Stranger, Tsuka." Turning back to Xia Lan, she says, "Could I speak to you privately for a moment?" [22:40] 13Xia Lan: "Of course."13She stands, then turns back to the table. "Excuse me for a moment?" [22:40] 14Stranger gestures for her to go. [22:41] 13Xia Lan will follow Tohu wherever they lead. [22:42] 14Once they're gone, to Tsuka: "Give her ten minutes before you start thinking about snooping." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka, who totally wasn't thinking about following her: "What's this act we're supposed to see tonight?" [22:46] 14Stranger, pleasantly: "A happy drunk." 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu leads Xia Lan to the back, specifically the dressing rooms, where three more Tohus are pawing at the shut door and meowing. 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Vladok?" 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is this another duel?" [22:48] 14Stranger laughs. "Oh Sun, no. Though you're not wrong." [22:48] 13Is the door locked, or...? [22:48] "Some fellow with long hair. Just a man, as far as I looked." [22:48] "There will be another duel, but not tonight." [22:49] 14The Ambassador: "And not with Vladok, hmm?" 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> It's not locked, but it is the only door in the venue without a cat flap in it. Apparently some acts complained about the walkins. [22:49] 14Stranger: "No. Not with Vladok." 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka, instinctively scanning the bar for potential assailants: "Who...?" [22:51] 14The Ambassador laughs. Stranger grimaces. [22:51] "Me," 14he says. 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "Against who?" [22:51] 13Xia Lan knocks before opening the door partway, allowing whoever's inside to shout. 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "JUST A MINUTE" 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> There's the sound of something small and glass getting knocked over. [22:51] 13She looks to one of the Tohu with a raised eyebrow. [22:51] 14Stranger: "Tsuka. Think about what you just heard again." 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> It doesn't break. Sounds pretty sturdy. [22:54] 13Xia Lan: "Tellurian?" 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka's eyes widen. Hard to tell if it's in realization or because the pile of fried food in the corner booth is a lot smaller despite the lady at the table never seeming to touch it. He turns back to Stranger. "What happened?" [22:55] 14Stranger: "Do you remember when we gave Xia Lan some water before the contest with Vladok?" 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "YEAH I'M COMING" Something else falls over. 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu: "If he breaks something it's coming out of his pay." 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu: "If he breaks something it's coming out of his hide." 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Yeah...?" [22:56] 14Stranger: "I had Xu Sim spike it with a drug that made it more difficult for her to get drunk." [22:57] 13Xia Lan: "I'm coming in. Get dressed if you aren't." 13Hoo boy. [22:57] "I didn't tell her, because I wanted to be certain that were she asked under oath if she was cheating, she could answer 'no' without lying." [22:57] 13She waits a few seconds for him to at least get the chance to grab something, and enters. [22:58] "And I did it because her safety was only assured if she won, and her safety was more important to me than how she felt about me." [22:58] 14Where's that tea? [22:58] 13Before she does, to one of the Tohu: "Fetch my drink, please. I think I'll need it." 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "Get dressed? What kind of act--" Xia Lan enters and sees Mr. Tellurian struggling to right a small apothecary of jars, phials, bottles, and boxes. He's wearing a sleeveless black shirt with a five-pointed star on the front. [22:59] 14Oh, right. It's already here. [22:59] 14Stranger's a bit distracted. He pours himself a cup. 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Drinks arrived. Tsuka keeps Xia Lan's in front of him while he sips his own. Stranger's tea is set out and the Ambassador gets a small pitcher of beer and a glass. [22:59] 14She's on her third. 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "And now you're dueling?" [22:59] 14Stranger: "That we are." [23:00] 13Xia Lan: "I had assumed you didn't come to the venue in full costume. That would be absurd," 13she says, somehow without breaking down into laughter. [23:00] "What have you got there?" 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian looks up at her and his eyes widen. "Get down!" he hisses, reaching out to grab Xia Lan by the shoulders as if the ceiling was about to cave in. [23:02] 13Xia Lan stands where she is. "Those won't work on hangovers, you know." [23:05] 13Wait, he's going for - jeez. She'll step quickly out of the way of his grasp, hopefully staying fully upright. 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> If he can't get her, he just ducks himself. 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "No!" [23:06] 13She raises an eyebrow. 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> He looks up after a moment, at Xia Lan, and then behind her. 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Then he pulls himself to his feet and dusts himself off. "Sorry." [23:08] 13Xia Lan: "So, what happened?" [23:08] 14The Ambassador, to Tsuka: "How do you feel about that? I wasn't pleased when I heard, but I've decided in the end that both the decision and its consequence are fitting." [23:08] 14She's not fixing him with some terrible gaze anymore; just pouring herself another drink. 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm acting like a jerk. Let me just," he turns back to the table and stacking pills on leaves and mashing them together with pastes and rolling them up like hideous medicinal hors d'oeuvres. "I got a killer headache," he says, chewing and grimacing. "Seeing lights and stuff. I'll be good for showtime." 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> After a moment. "Also wow that is an outfit." [23:09] 13Xia Lan: "Not with all that you won't. Mixing things like that is a recipe for, say, seeing things that aren't there, in addition to not curing a hangover. And, thank you." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "I don't have a hangover." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "I have headaches." [23:10] 13Xia Lan: "Define headaches." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "I..." He looks at her like this is a trick question. "My... head hurts? I get really sensitive to lights and noises." 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's fine, I just need a minute." [23:11] 13Xia Lan: "Severity, I mean. And do you break out this kit every time?" [23:12] 13She pokes her head out the door. To Tohu: "Could you fetch Tsuka for me? The one that isn't Stranger or the Ambassador. Thanks." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "No," he says, washing the crap out of his mouth with a glass of water. "This is the first time I've tried these." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mostly I've been drinking." [23:13] 13Xia Lan: "That turned out... about as well as this, I imagine." [23:13] 14How long has Xia Lan been gone? 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> About ten minutes. [23:13] 14Stranger glances over at Tsuka and sighs. "Well, go ahead." [23:14] 14The Ambassador: "He hasn't answered my--" [23:14] 14She glares at Stranger and sighs as well. "Go." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> As Tsuka gets up and walks to the back, he wades through several strange people and creatures, and tries to peek over or beyond the fried pile but the woman next to it gives him a stern look and he keeps walking. He actually passes the waitape carrying their food, coming out as he goes in. 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu: "Really, what f-" Tsuka's there. "Is everything alright?" 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu looks up at Xia Lan. [23:16] 14Stranger, as the food arrives: "Well, there is this." [23:16] 14The Ambassador: "There is this." [23:16] 14They dig in. [23:16] 13Xia Lan: "Ah, thank you, Tohu. Tsuka, do you have any medical expertise?" 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Are you hurt? Is somebody hurt?" 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Finally, actually answering her question: "Some." [23:18] 13Xia Lan: "I'll take that as a yes. Come in." 13She waves him in before closing the door to Tohu. "Tsuka, this is Mr. Tellurian. Mr. Tellurian, Cathak Tsuka." 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka takes one look at Mr. Tellurian and bows stiffly. Mr. Tellurian waves him in. "Hey. Any friend of Xia Lan's is a friend of mine. Here to see the show?" [23:22] 13Xia Lan: "We are. But, you were saying you had headaches? Sensitivity to light and noise?" 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I... I can help him if he's broken his leg, or taken a weapon to the chest. This i 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "sn't the kind of medicine they teach you in the House of Bells." 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a weird echoing effect as the man at the dresser echoes the man at the door half a syllable ahead. [23:26] 13Xia Lan: "Pardon?" 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka's looking directly at Tellurian. "What?" [23:27] 13She looks back and forth between the two men. 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Tellurian: "What?" 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "You just finished my sentence." 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Tellurian: "What?" [23:27] 13Xia Lan: "You did that, in fact." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> He rubs his temples again. "I don't know, I'm jabbering. Listen if there's nothing you can do I really appreciate it, but I gotta get out there." [23:28] 14Meanwhile, the food is good and the drink is better. [23:29] 13Xia Lan: "Can you perform?" 13She looks at him critically. There's a lot of lingering questions, here... but they can happen after the show. If he's up for it. 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Across the room, a nest of wasps is thrumming melodiously. Stranger can recognize the tune. God~ are~ you punishing me? Is this the price I'm paying for my past mistakes~ 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Tellurian: "Yeah. Yeah I'm good." He takes a deep breath. "Got any requests?" 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu: "The crowd's getting restless!" 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> (It isn't.) [23:31] 14Those again. Where does he recognize the song from? [23:31] 13Xia Lan smiles at him. "You ever hear the Boys are Back in Town?" 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> That's one of Xia Lan's. He's heard her sing it twice now. 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Tellurian: "Heck yes I do." 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "Did. Whatever." [23:32] 13Xia Lan: "Go get 'em. You've got this." [23:32] 13She leads Tsuka apologetically from the room, then - if Mr. Tellurian says he's got it, there's not exactly much she or he can do. A parting word: "Let's talk after the show, okay?" 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sure." [23:33] 14Well, that's...heartening. [23:33] 13She offers a parting wave and shrugs to Tohu before leading Tsuka back to the table with the Ambassador and Stranger. "Well. That was... something." [23:33] 14Stranger: "How is the great and wise Mr. Tellurian?" [23:34] 13Xia Lan: "Headache. And... something more. Echoed Tsuka before he even said anything. We're going to talk after the show." [23:34] 14To Tsuka: "Food's here." 14The vast majority of what Tsuka ordered is, too. [23:35] 14Stranger and the Ambassador were hungry, but they're also a peasant and a bird, respectively. They nibble. 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan's treated to a number of whistles and one tiny scoff as she re-enters. [23:36] 13The whistles are understandable. Where's that scoff coming from? 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka sits down and immediately starts eating, oblivious to any of this. 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> It's coming from behind her. The booth back the door backstage, with the plate of food piled high. Looks like there's a woman there, not touching the food, though there are crumbs and rumpled napkins shadowed in the lee side of the food mountain. [23:38] 13Is it too catty to turn and give a wave and a wink? No. No it is not. [23:39] 14If Stranger can lean over the back of his chair and, head inverted, stare at the booth where the scoff came from, he will. Otherwise he'll ignore it. 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> The woman's eyebrows go up a millimeter but her face is upturned in a delicate smile. Everything about her is delicate, from her pale skin to her swept up hair to her long, graceful limbs. Even her outfit, skirt and sash in gauzy blue, give the impression of lightness and insubstantiality. 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger's got direct line of sight to the booth. It's Tsuka who'd have to turn around. [23:42] 14Well, that does diminish the theatricality. [23:43] 14Stranger: "I don't know her." [23:43] 14The Ambassador: "Nor I." [23:43] 13Xia Lan: "Three of us, then. Just a friendly face, I suppose." [23:44] 14Stranger: "We could go say hello." [23:44] 14The Ambassador: "I doubt she'd appreciate that." [23:44] 14Stranger: "I'm not here for appreciation." [23:44] 13Xia Lan: "I am. Which is why I've half a mind to go over there anyway." [23:45] 14The Ambassador: "Of course you are." [23:45] 14She chuckles at Xia Lan's response. [23:45] 14The Ambassador: "Try not to start a fight." 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> xia lan has like thirty seconds tops before the show starts to get a word in 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Pretend that was punctuated. [23:46] 13Shan't. [23:46] 13Anyway, she's made her statement with the smile and wave. [23:46] 14Just give her the finger and be done with it. [23:46] 14They have the finger here, right? 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> If that's all you're willing to pay for. 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Tohu: "And now, for your appreciation, our headline act tonight. All the way from Pneuma, the illustrious Mr. Tellurian!" [23:48] 14Gives new meaning to "fuck the Guild." 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> The guitar sounds metallic, one of those lightly enchanted ones you can get from the Blessed Isle if you've got money or connections. 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian comes out, and the band rises to meet him. 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKlu3A3BBgE [23:51] 14Stranger leans forward. The Ambassador keeps her eyes on the mystery woman. [23:52] 14'Mister Tellurian' is perfectly acceptable, but that's all he is. She's got other interests. [23:53] 13Xia Lan clinks glasses with Tsuka. Hers is nearly empty already - she'll wave down a server for another when she gets a chance. 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka's is similarly low. [23:53] 13Hah. Cute. 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> The song ends and people clap. Even the woman in the corner claps, very gently, as if she worries her hands might break if she showed any enthusiasm. [23:58] 13Xia Lan claps a bit more enthusiastically than the rest. Good, good. She relaxes - she was worried that he was forcing himself to go out there when he wasn't ready, but this is fine. Good, even. Been a while since she was in the crowd. Session Time: Sun Mar 11 00:00:00 2018 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> The next song starts up and everyone goes nuts. Everybody loves this song. "Guess who just got back today..." 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQo1HIcSVtg [00:03] 13Xia Lan hums along - her singing voice is too noticeable and might distract from the performance. Yes, this is what she came to see! Woman at the booth forgotten, she's now fully caught up in the performance. [00:05] 14Stranger bops along, very reservedly. This guy's not bad. 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> While the Ambassador keeps a discreet eye on the booth, she sees the food on the table pile down before her eyes-- there. Almost too fast to catch, a hand appears behind the mound and grabs a fistful off the top, vanishing as quickly as it appeared. A purple hand. [00:08] 14Oh my. [00:08] 14She leans over and whispers in Stranger's ear: "The royalty booth isn't seating only one." [00:10] 14He whispers back: "How do you mean?" [00:10] 14The Ambassador: "Purple hand. Snatching food. Keeping out of sight." 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> The next song opens with Tellurian singing over the drums. None of them recognize this one; it's the first original of the night. "Standing in the rain..." 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr6KVNt-1Ek [00:11] 14Her lips almost on his ear now: "I'm not going to tell you how to do your job..." [00:11] 14He chuckles. [00:11] 14She continues: "...but it looks demonic to me." [00:12] 13Okay, I'll bite. What's a jukebox? [00:12] 14Then they're both enthralled by Mr. Tellurian's third song. [00:17] 13...extremely specific, and yet utterly fascinating. And a hell of a song, to boot. 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Tellurian's breathing hard, sweating under the lights. He looks pumped. Now it's on. Now it's a show. This one's another original. 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiQxdxIXinE 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka really likes this once. 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> one* [00:21] 14For Stranger, there's a strange dual aspect to this music: he's not used to this much drum, nor this metallic sound, but he is used to the storytelling and the strong, single-voiced melodic throughline. [00:22] 14Frankly, in the parlance of the kids, even if it's old it fucking bangs. [00:22] 13Something deep within Xia Lan remembers this from a long, long time ago. Another life. Then the feeling passes. Yep. It fucking bangs. [00:24] 14The Ambassador, meanwhile, had written this guy off as kind of a clown, and she's still not willing to pull back from that. But! He understands how to use drums, and he can control the room. And given that percussion and charisma are two of the pillars holding up the musical tradition of the people she comes from, the Ambassador can respect this noise. [00:29] 14As he plays, she watches the booth. And she learns a couple things: first, there is some respect for the performance there. But tellingly, it's blunted by something -- and it's probably not personal. Or if it is personal, it's not something that happened between the two of them. [00:30] 14You don't look that disdainful AND detached if he was a drunk who fucked around you. [00:30] 14There's something...bigger going on here. [00:30] 13Not unless you're a really good actress, anyway. [00:31] 14Good news: she was probably just being needlessly rude to Xia Lan, rather than articulating a grudge or a deeply-held belief. [00:31] 14That's the Ambassador's assessment, anyway. [00:31] 13Xia Lan still thinks she was just jealous, so. [00:31] 13And to be fair, who could blame her? [00:32] 14That said: it would be probably be best if she and Xia Lan approached the table after the show, if that were something in the itinerary. [00:32] 14She scoffed at Xia Lan, and she's stared back at the Ambassador, but she hasn't responded at all to any men. [00:32] 13You'd have to let Xia Lan know about that first - she hasn't spared a glance to the table since the show started. [00:33] 14Well, that's just a lean across and a whisper while staring down the booth in question, now isn't it? [00:34] 13Surely is. 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Tellurian tunes his guitar a bit, and begins the next song a cappella. He's got a big voice, and it fills the room no problem. 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X_2IdybTV0 [00:34] 14Stranger leans back to let the Ambassador more or less sit in his lap to whisper to Xia Lan. [00:35] 13She nods in understanding before resuming jamming out to these incredible tunes. Holy moly. She was undersold on Mr. Tellurian. [00:35] 13...long term planning, though, they've got to walk past her on their way to the back anyway. Might as well make a stop. [00:36] 14Stranger is most impressed not by the song, but by the harmonies -- there's only one man on stage. He already knew Tellurian wasn't just a man, but he's got access to greater powers, and uses them for things like this. Both things are very important. 15[00:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Tellurian's got the house on their feet. He's about to walk off the stage, but he's gotta take an encore. He's gotta. [00:46] 14Hell yes he does. 15[00:48] <@VoxPVoxD> But as he puts pick to string, the sound changes. It's still him playing, it's still his voice, but the music is gentler now. This sounds like a real six-string, the sort of sturdy but unremarkable wooden number someone might have bought as their first instrument. 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan hears, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QydSd0GUChc 15[00:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger hears, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRZHsqvoJMM 15[00:50] <@VoxPVoxD> The Ambassador hears, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm2vaAeQV9M [00:53] 14They all stand. As he plays, the Ambassador wraps her arms around Stranger's waist, and he puts an arm around her shoulders as they watch the stage. 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> He looks out at the crowd as he sings, seeming to make eye contact with everyone in the room, stunned and heartened by what he sees on their faces. All they see are the stars in his eyes. [00:54] 13Xia Lan's standing, humming along - maybe it conflicts with whatever anyone else hears. She doesn't care. This is the best show she's ever seen. [00:56] 14At the end of the performance, as it's hanging in the air, she leans up and whispers in Stranger's ear: "He's what your secretary is." [00:56] "I'd guess it's hurt him as much, too." 15[00:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Wow." [00:56] 14She nestles her head against Stranger's shoulder. "Maybe more." [00:57] 13Xia Lan: "Evangeline..." 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> The air in the room is hazy and peaceful. [00:59] 14Stranger: "Never die, never die." 14[00:59] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka, wiping his eyes. "Yeah. Uh." [01:00] 14The Ambassador, closing her eyes and murmuring: "I'm as tired as a woman can be." 15[01:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "Are we gonna..." He looks kind of out of it. "You wanted to see him after the show, right?" [01:01] 14Stranger:"Yes." [01:01] 13Watery eyes and all, Xia Lan stands, and practically grabs the Ambassador to come with her. "We are." 13She heads to the corner table, first. the woman, and the purple hand. 15[01:01] <@VoxPVoxD> They're not there. [01:02] 13...shit. [01:02] 14Stranger takes the empty kettle from the table. 15[01:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Table's empty. Just the picked-clean plate and the paid check. [01:02] 13Name on the check? [01:02] 14To Xia Lan: "They must have fled during that encore." [01:03] 14That's Stranger. [01:03] 13Xia Lan: "Probably. The bastards." 15[01:03] <@VoxPVoxD> No name. [01:03] 13Just another question to ask after our friend. [01:03] 14Stranger: "They won't have gone far. They were here for Tellurian." [01:04] 13Xia Lan: "You do that. I have some questions to ask." [01:04] 14The Ambassador snorts. "We're not going looking for them. That'd just make them feel important." 14[01:04] * Joins: hrolf_mac [01:05] 13Xia Lan: "I don't think that feeling important is high on their priority list. If it was, they'd have showed up like us." [01:05] "No, they've got something else on their minds." [01:05] 14Stranger: "The Ambassador is right. Not worth our time tonight, given what we're doing in the morning. But I would like to speak with Mr. Tellurian." [01:05] "...morning events considered, maybe we can't track them down tonight. But." [01:05] 14The Ambassador: "Darling, if feeling important wasn't on their minds, they wouldn't have been audibly annoyed by your entrance." [01:06] "I want to register how much I disapprove." [01:06] "And that amount is: several." [01:07] 13That isn't a number. "Go on. Do whatever. I'm going to track them down at the first opportunity." [01:07] 14The Ambassador: "Well, you're not wrong to feel so. But I did not get the sense of violence from them. Just petulance, and confusion." [01:07] 14Stranger: "I'll be there for it. Let's go see the man of the hour." 14[01:07] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [01:09] 14He deftly snatches an uneaten crab rangoon from the corner booth as they pass. [01:09] 13Imagine her surprise, imagine her surprise. 15[01:09] <@VoxPVoxD> The dressing room door is closed again. There's a conversation inside. [01:09] 13What's the tone? [01:10] 14To Tsuka: "Watch the hall, but if we enter, you enter with us." [01:10] 14That's Stranger. 15[01:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka, taken out of a reverie: "Yeah." 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> The one in the dressing-room is confused. Mr. Tellurian says, "Hey, listen, I'm super flattered, but I already got a job." 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> A woman's voice, as dense and fried as the food on the plate: "Come on! This is small-time. You're being scouted, dude." [01:12] 14Perhaps we have our answer as to where they went. [01:12] 13Knock knock. [01:13] 14The Ambassador: "I love his work, but you can't let this man talk business by himself." [01:13] 13Then, Xia Lan opens the door. Again. [01:13] 13She gave the warning. [01:13] 14Stranger and the Ambassador are right behind her. 15[01:15] <@VoxPVoxD> The conversation halts, and then the door opens. Mr. Tellurian's there, looking exhausted and elated, speaking to the delicate woman and what looks like a squashed neomah. [01:15] 14Purple hands. [01:15] 14Did Tsuka follow them in? 15[01:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Bringing up the rear. [01:16] 13Xia Lan: "Hope we aren't interrupting anything. Mr. Tellurian," 13she bows slightly, before turning to the others. "Hello...?" [01:16] 14Stranger, to Tsuka, casually: "Watch the door. No one in, but if anyone wants to leave, you let them. And if you've got something to say, say it. You're not just the bouncer." 15[01:17] <@VoxPVoxD> The delicate woman is sitting primly on a crate, giving the newcomers a tight-lipped smile. The smaller one has a bottle in her right hand. She looks them up and down and draws in a long, phlegmy breath. 15[01:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "THAT WAS A REALLY GOOD SHOW" [01:17] 13It was. Times like this, though, reminds Xia Lan of the Kinsey scale. [01:17] 14Stranger chuckles and turns back to Tellurian and the two women. "We all agree." [01:18] 14How are the women from the booth reacting to this intrusion? 15[01:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "Hey, Thanks. Woo! I feel a lot better now that it's over with." He looks from the two strange women to the two strange women with strange men. "Do you guys know each other?" [01:19] 14Beyond the fake smile and the stare. [01:19] 14The Ambassador: "From across the room." [01:19] 13Xia Lan: "Not beyond being the only audible noise of distaste when I walked out. You'll want to disguise that better, I think," 13she adds. [01:20] 14Stranger separates from the Ambassador and drifts back to the wall next to the door, letting her step forward to stand next to Xia Lan. [01:20] 14The Ambassador: "Oh, she wasn't trying to disguise it." [01:20] 13Xia Lan: "I was being nice." 15[01:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Neither of them is making any move to defend themselves or intercede. The delicate woman has an expression around her eyes like someone just farted in church. The short one has an expression like she just farted in church and she's gearing up to do it again. It's the latter one who chuckles, "Ah-huh-huh-huh-huh. Hey there." [01:21] 14The Ambassador: "I know, but it's still important to note that, because without that scoff, we might not be standing here right now." [01:21] "Being inconvenient." 15[01:21] <@VoxPVoxD> The delicate woman: "You'd just have come in waves instead." [01:21] 13Xia Lan sighs. "The things I miss not being able to look behind me without being a weirdo." [01:22] "Location's everything, I guess." 15[01:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Just outside the door, Tsuka clears his throat, probably unrelatedly. [01:22] 14The Ambassador: "Dear, my hair is always this straight." [01:22] 14Stranger will see what's up. 15[01:22] <@VoxPVoxD> The delicate woman blinks, either uncomprehending or doing a fine job of seeming so. "I'm sorry?" [01:23] 14When he realizes it's about Xia Lan's ass, again, he'll grimace and turn back inside. 15[01:23] <@VoxPVoxD> IT TURNS OUT A LOT OF THINGS ARE ABOUT THAT [01:23] 13Wow. [01:23] 13Pervs. [01:23] 14Is the delicate woman responding to Xia Lan's comment or the Ambassador's? 15[01:23] <@VoxPVoxD> The Ambassador's. 15[01:24] <@VoxPVoxD> The short woman jerks a thumb towards the others. "We going to an afterparty?" 15[01:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "I have no idea what's going on." [01:24] 14The Ambassador: "No, dear, I doubt you're sorry. Nor should you be. But I don't have wavy hair and we don't approach people we respect piecemeal. We looked for you at your table as a group because of a scoff, but either way we'd be back here as a group because of a fine, fine performance." [01:25] 14The Ambassador, to the short purple woman: "Do you know a good one?" [01:25] 13Xia Lan, to the short one: "I mean. I'd be down, but uh. We've still got things to - Ambassador!" [01:25] 14And to Mr. Tellurian: "I suspect that's what makes you so charming." [01:26] 14The Ambassador smiles at Xia Lan: "It's not as if I have plans tomorrow." [01:26] 13Xia Lan: "What if I pretended I didn't and just had myself a good time." [01:27] 14Stranger, from the doorway: "I'd still like to talk about that." [01:27] 13Xia Lan: "Wasn't talking to you," 13she calls. [01:27] 14Stranger, to Xia Lan: "Wasn't talking to you." 15[01:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "Okay there is way too much going on in here." [01:27] 14The Ambassador, to Stranger: "I know, darling." 14To the two women from the booth: "But I suppose we should just get down to it." [01:27] 13Ahh, I've been defeated, with strategies... [01:28] 14The Ambassador: "Names first!" [01:28] "I am the Ambassador of Night and Day." [01:28] 13Xia Lan: "The Unfettered Xia Lan." [01:28] 14Stranger, from the doorway: "Stranger-Visits-Heaven." [01:31] 14He glances over and kicks the doorframe next to Tsuka. 15[01:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I'm Tsuka." 15[01:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian looks from them to the strange women. [01:32] 14The Ambassador fixes the two women with her brightest smile. [01:32] 14One that expects reciprocation. 15[01:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Both of the strange women have their eyes locked on the Ambassador. 15[01:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "Oookay, it's obvious there's some kind of history here. I'm going to let you all work that out. I need some air. Excuse me." 14[01:33] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [01:33] 14The Ambassador, without looking away from the women or lessening her smile: "Are you going to run away from everything, then?" [01:34] 13Xia Lan: "No, I don't think there is," 13she starts. If Tellurian tries to walk out, she grabs him by the arm and stops him. 15[01:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "What the hell?" [01:34] 14The Ambassador: "Did we stutter?" 15[01:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "I feel like I just walked in on a bank job." [01:34] 13Xia Lan: "You would know if you had. I've done those, they're very different." 15[01:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "Listen, you should work out whatever beef you have with them. It's got nothing to do with me." [01:35] 14Her head turns by degrees to consider the longhaired man with the beard. "Do you understand how power works?" [01:35] 13Xia Lan: "There's no beef! Just. We've got questions, that's all." [01:35] "You don't get to sing songs like that and just walk away, Mr. Tellurian." [01:36] "You certainly don't get to do it while insisting that it's everyone except you who cares too much." [01:39] 14She pauses then sighs. "But get your air." [01:40] 13Xia Lan lets go too. "Come on back, though, if you will? A lot of things happened tonight and I was only expecting some of them." 15[01:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "...yeah, alright." [01:42] 13Xia Lan turns to the other women, the purple one and the aloof one. "Is this your fault?" [01:42] "What'd you do?" 15[01:45] <@VoxPVoxD> The delicate woman: "Excuse me?" [01:46] 13Xia Lan: "Okay, sorry. Let's try that again. How do you know Mr. Tellurian?" [01:47] 14The Ambassador: "And please, what should we call you?" 15[01:55] <@VoxPVoxD> The delicate woman's thin shoulders rise and fall. "My name is Pearl of Great Price." 15[01:55] <@VoxPVoxD> The short one, pulling a cork out of a bottle with her teeth. "My name's Sober." [01:56] 13A quick curtsy. "The Unfettered Xia Lan." [01:58] 14The Ambassador, gently: "We already introduced ourselves." [01:59] 14To the two women: "Perhaps this is a situation that calls for a detente. Especially since the man we both want to talk to seems to be a bit...overwhelmed by talking to us." 15[03:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "He seems very easily overwhelmed... I worry about him." 15[03:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "Got too hot in here. He'll be back." [03:01] 14The Ambassador: "It's my experience that someone who can get this many people to worry about him -- three of whom, at least, had never laid eyes on him before tonight -- is doing fairly well for himself." [03:02] 13Xia Lan: "Let's - relax, a bit, hmm? It's been a long night." 15[03:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Oh no, it's fine. I don't need to sleep. I'm immune to it." 15[03:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober elbows her in the thigh. "Thank you! That's a great idea." [03:04] 13Xia Lan, kindly: "We'll have a lot to talk about... later. Give us some time." [03:05] 14The Ambassador: "Indeed. Pearl of Great Price; Sober -- I'd like you to join us in three days' time at--" 14She turns back to Stranger. 15[03:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "We have very specific orders." [03:05] 14The Ambassador turns back: "If you mean to say no, then say no." 15[03:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "Yeah, like how we were ordered to be a bitch to someone in a hotter dress than you. Oh wait no." 15[03:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl blushes blue. "Sober!" 15[03:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "When and where?" [03:08] 14Stranger answers from the doorway. "The Cup's Curve, sundown, three day's time. No cover, ladies drink free until they stop being ladies." [03:08] 14He pauses. [03:08] "It means don't assault the staff." 15[03:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "What if they ask?" 15[03:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "Asking for a friend." Belch. "Okay I'm asking for me." [03:09] 14The Ambassador: "Then you politely decline. No matter how hot their dress is." 15[03:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "Deal. It's a date." [03:09] 14Stranger: "Then I'd better take a walk across town. Tsuka, a minute?" [03:10] 14He'll want a word outside in the hall. Maybe a bit down the hall from the green room. 15[03:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Yeah?" [03:12] 14Once they're alone: "Mr. Tellurian just became very, very important. So much so that I might ask Keldar to detail you specifically to him; perhaps without his knowledge. Does that sound like a job you can handle, if you're asked to handle it?" 15[03:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I can keep close to him no problem. But I don't think I could hide from him." [03:13] 14Stranger grimaces. "Yeah." 15[03:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "But it's not like he could outrun me." [03:14] 14Stranger: "That's not the issue. He seems like..." [03:14] "I was going to say he was delicate. I don't think that's it." [03:15] "It's more like he's inside his own head about something." 15[03:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Yeah, I know what you mean. That last song he played was really heavy." [03:16] "More than that: it will make him unpredictable. It'll mean that you can't fully trust him about where he's going to go and why. It means everything could be going fine for two weeks and suddenly one day he locks you in your room and gives you the slip to go hit up..." 14Stranger waves a hand. "The Guild, for instance." [03:16] "And when he does that, you'll get angry with him -- rightfully so." 15[03:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "...it did sort of sound like he was going crazy." [03:17] "But you can't let him see it." 15[03:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "He was talking about seeing things and hearing things before the show." [03:17] 14Stranger: "...Then that's the good outcome." [03:17] "That he's going crazy." [03:17] "Because if the things he's seeing and hearing are actually there?" [03:18] "Then we're playing an entirely different game." 15[03:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "..." 15[03:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh no." [03:18] 14Stranger: "?" 15[03:18] <@VoxPVoxD> He looks over at Stranger. "He finished one of my sentences." [03:18] 14Stranger: "He...out loud?" 15[03:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka nods. "Ask Xia Lan." [03:18] "You were saying something, and he completed what you were saying?" 15[03:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah." [03:19] 14Stranger: "I don't need to. I trust you." [03:19] "What was it about." 15[03:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Xia Lan asked me if I could help him, and I said that helping people with hallucinations wasn't really part of my medical training. Except he finished the sentence for me. He even knew what secondary school I went to." [03:22] 14Stranger: "Did you take your medical training at that school?" 15[03:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah. The House of Bells. All the most promising military students go there." [03:23] 14Stranger: "..." [03:24] "I'm prefacing this with the disclaimer that it's not a certain thing." [03:24] "The bad news is, it sounds as if he read your mind." 15[03:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka has an expression of distaste. "He's a sorcerer?" [03:24] "The good news is, it sounds as if it was a surface thing: he knew about the House of Bells because you were thinking about medicine, which you learned at the House of Bells. He completed your sentence because it was on the tip of your tongue." [03:25] 14Stranger shakes his head. "No." [03:25] "If he were a sorcerer he both wouldn't be playing shows at the CIO and wouldn't give you such an obvious tell." [03:26] "Is he under the influence of a sorcerer? Perhaps." 15[03:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "One of them?" He inclines his head back in the direction of the dressing-room where the others still are. [03:28] "No. Their master, perhaps, but not them." 14Stranger leans back against the wall. "So I'm asking a very dangerous thing of you. And that's before I tell you about the tomb." 15[03:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "The tomb?" [03:29] 14He grins. "Keldar's got the rights to...what was it?" [03:29] "'The Tomb of Red-Hot Iron.'" 15[03:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "What? Did he get swindled?" [03:30] 14Stranger laughs. "Perhaps." [03:30] "But the door's open, and a Guild team's already been inside." [03:30] "That's the problem, you see: they're all dead." 15[03:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "Nobody came out?" [03:31] "So the Guild needs someone capable of doing even a single thing right to go in and bring their investment back out." [03:31] "In return, Keldar gets...everything else in the tomb." 15[03:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "That seems like too good of a deal." 15[03:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "Even if you never go inside, that's the biggest foundry in the city." [03:32] 14Stranger: "Perhaps so. Keldar isn't the shrewdest negotiator. However, the Guild has to negotiate in good faith with him or face the Sun's wrath." 15[03:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you think there's no scam then?" [03:33] "The point is this: Keldar is putting together a team." 15[03:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "...!" [03:33] "Xia Lan is on this team." [03:33] "Keldar, of course, is on this team." [03:33] "I am not." [03:33] 14He crosses his arms. "I have nominated someone else in my stead, however." 15[03:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "!!" [03:34] "It's you." 15[03:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "When is it? What do I have to do?" [03:34] 14Stranger: "As to the first question, that's up to Keldar. You'll be notified through the Apples. Functionally, the answer to the second question is the same, but I'll modify it with: stay alive." [03:35] 14Stranger: "Before you think to go brag to her, Xia Lan is already aware of these accomodations." 15[03:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "...did she say anything?" [03:36] 14Stranger: "She acknowledged the arrangement and did not object to it. I'm not going to pass a smudged note on this." 15[03:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Okay." [03:38] "If I had to guess? You're going to be the junior member of a team that includes essentially every other Chosen of the Sun that calls this city home, save for myself. My advice to you is not to try to do too much." [03:38] "But Keldar will be giving you more precise instructions." 15[03:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka nods. "I understand." [03:40] 14Stranger: "Good." 14The Ambassador sweeps out of the dressing room, winking at Stranger as she passes. "I'm going to take my woman home. Xia Lan should be leaving shortly. What the two of you do is up to the two of you." [03:40] "Good night, Cathak Tsuka." 15[03:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka, studiously not thinking about the thing Stranger just said: "Good night, Stranger. Good night, Ambassador." [03:41] 14The two nod and disappear into the night. 15[03:48] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: There's gonna be a party 14[04:35] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[07:25] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[12:16] * Joins: hrolfie 14[12:33] * Quits: hrolfie (Quit: Leaving) 14[12:39] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:31] * Joins: hrolfy 14[14:32] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[14:34] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:57] * Joins: hrolfie 14[15:01] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:02] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:08] * Joins: hrolf 14[15:26] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[15:39] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[15:40] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:39] * Joins: tom 14[17:14] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:59] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:53] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[20:01] * Joins: Crion 14[20:18] * Joins: tom 14[21:07] * Joins: dammitwhoa Session Time: Mon Mar 12 00:00:00 2018 14[00:25] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[01:05] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Quit: ) 14[01:37] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[01:49] * Joins: dammitwho 14[05:21] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:21] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[10:21] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[16:53] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[17:08] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[17:08] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[17:49] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[17:58] * Joins: hrolf 14[18:56] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:00] * Joins: tom 14[21:54] * Joins: Crion| Session Time: Tue Mar 13 00:00:00 2018 14[00:41] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:52] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:04] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:33] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[06:56] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[07:46] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[08:47] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[10:25] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[16:14] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[16:43] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Client exited) 14[16:43] * Joins: FerrinusSpace 14[16:52] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[16:53] * Joins: Crion 14[17:06] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[17:57] * Quits: FerrinusSpace (Client exited) 14[18:26] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:44] * Joins: tom 14[19:53] * Joins: hrolf 15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD> The heroes and masters of Nexus are set to gather at noon today, in the old Deliberative hall at the heart of Firewander, beneath a golden dome that hasn't been safe for man or beast since the dawn of the Scarlet Dynasty. Everyone's been reassured of its safety. Before then, the centered circle has a morning to prepare. What preparations do they make, and what do they need to know to make them? 14[20:10] * Joins: hrolf_mac [20:10] 13Has there been word from Firewander since the last night? Official reassurances are one thing, but is there any word on the ground? [20:11] 14Stranger dresses in the outfit the Ambassador tried to make him wear last night, and she dresses in a slightly more professional court gown for the negotiations. She makes sure to slide Talkative, her moonsilver dagger, into the special sheath nestled in the small of the dress's back, right behind the sash. Stranger just brings his walking stick. 15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Thorns and Highland's armies have both been billeted and drilling in uninhabitable Wyld Zone for the entire week since the last Council meeting. 15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD> That's pretty strong evidence. [20:11] 13Huh. Well, how about that. [20:12] 4 von Hrolfus needs to ensure his retainer is around, to spy and snoop and generally apprise of him of what's going on underneath the currents of the proceedings. [20:12] 5 Xu Sim has spent the evening preparing a shimmering, alchemical jewel for Nessun Dorma - a token of recognition, with a small slot for a portrait, coin, a slip of paper or a medal perhaps. When shaken or disturbed, shimmering flakes appear, like cherry blossoms or snowflakes. The effect is rather sentimental. [20:18] 14Before they leave, however, Stranger steps...aside, perhaps, into the realm of the fountains. [20:20] 13Xia Lan, for her part, wears a simple but elegant long-hemmed peach dress, her two new swords, gifts from Vladok, strapped to her sides. Little flowers cover their hilts and add to some floral decorations on the dress while not impeding combat - should it come to that. Her hair is tied back in a way it hasn't been for a long time, but she's managed to make it look significantly friendlier. That's the hope, anyway. Tall, light, [20:20] and friendly, just like the way they say it in the romance novels. 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> The other question for the group to settle: how will they arrive? Together? Individually? On foot? By chariot? [20:21] 4von Hrolfus would prefer to arrive together, a show of unity and force. [20:21] 13Together seems like the smart play, if we can manage it. The mode of transportation makes no difference to Xia Lan. [20:23] 5 Xu Sim doesn't possess any truly powerful, or unusual, means of approach, so he suggests none. He is dressed, again, in the flowing white robe - presently spotless and carefully laundered. [20:24] 13That's new. [20:34] 14Stranger greets Bubo warmly in Vladok's (Selin's?) strange and peaceful realm. He brings some breakfast with him, if Bubo hasn't eaten, along with some tea, and together they go over what the plan is for the meeting at the Deliberative hall in Firewander. It's impressed upon Stranger that it's more important to both their aims that he not be seen than that he see -- so should he find [20:34] 14himself in a position to be made, he will abscond. Stranger agrees with both Bubo's conditions and the logic behind it...and tells the diminutive fugitive that he hopes to meet him again soon. Preferably later in the day. [20:34] 14There is much to discuss. [20:35] 13Are there any objections to arriving together, on foot? We don't really need any sort of vehicle. Well, together except for presumably Keldar, who one assumes is with his troops. 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Going once... 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Going twice... 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> The circle, sans Keldar, ventures forth. The road to Firewander is long and crooked, navigating between cordons around smoking craters in the street (evidence that the Emissary has dispensed his newfound justice recently). As they come up on Firewander, they feel the breath of a cool breeze, refreshing and fulfilling and far too sweet for the city. [20:44] 14Stranger's hand tightens around the Ambassador's. He dislikes the Wyld, and hates going into it. [20:44] 4von Hrolfus sniffs the air suspisciously. 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> It smells like a fine spring day deep in the River Province. Bastian knows it well. [20:48] 5 Xu Sim strolls through the Firewander bordermarch, relaxed. It would be a foolish army indeed that would try to interfere with the Circle. [20:48] 4von Hrolfus' hands reflexively clench into fists. [20:49] 13Lot of fools around, though. Xia Lan still keeps a spring in her step, but her hands keep drifting to the hook swords as if to verify they're still there. 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> The circle continues through Firewander, over uneven roads and beneath the watchful eyes of two-headed crows. Banners line the streets, bearing the crests of Nexus, Lookshy, Thorns, and Highland. Every fifth flag is an unadorned golden banner. [20:54] "If any of you happen to notice a honeybee, please snatch it up carefully and wrap it up for me," 5 notes Xu Sim. 14[20:54] * Parts: trenchfoot ("Leaving") 14[20:54] * Joins: trenchfoot 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Soldiers of every nation begin to fill posts and camps on the roads leading up to the golden dome; Thorns and their impervious dead, Highland and their imperturbable confidence in their own sorcery, Lookshy in their sealed armor, and the Dawn Guard, here on Pellicia's goodwill and Keldar's guarantee. [20:57] 14The Ambassador rolls her eyes at Xu Sim's request, but Stranger nods. 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> The circle gets salutes from the Dawn Guard as they pass. 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim also gets salutes from the Lookshyan army. [20:58] 14He murmurs to the Ambassador: "Large enough party for you?" [20:59] 14She murmurs back: "Too large by half. How do you intend to control the room?" [20:59] 14He grins and pecks her on the cheek. "My natural good looks, and charisma. And some help from my friends." [20:59] 14She rolls her eyes again. [21:00] 5 Xu Sim acknowledges the salutes with a somewhat sheepish expression on his face. [21:00] 4von Hrolfus beckons his batman closer, leans down and whispers something into his ear as they walk. The man bows slightly and slows down his pace, falling slightly behind the rest of the party. [21:00] 13Xia Lan flashes a dazzling smile towards any saluters. Behind that, she's nervous. Lot of troops here. 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> At the doors of the Deliberative hall itself, the circle is greeted by Dawn Sergeant Pellicia, in deep conference with Lookshy's sorcerer and Keldar. [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's decked out in full armor, and the regalia of the combined Dawn Guard/Ninth Orchard peacekeeping force: a green and black armband around his left arm, and a blue-and-gold badge on his breastplate depicting the crest of Nexus backed by the rising sun. His hair's held out of his eyes by what appears to be a freshly-laundered and carefully tied-off black bandanna. The rest of [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12his circle is treated to a steely nod as they come into view. [21:02] 14A good moment to take a discreet look around, if Stranger can separate himself from the entourage. Keldar's presumably checked for traps and ambushes, but it doesn't hurt to see the sights. [21:02] 14This is a historical landmark for their people, after all. Such as their people are. 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Someone begins announcing the Solars as they arrive. Their various retainers and the Ambassador aren't called out. [21:04] 5 Alongside Xu Sim trots the tiny and horrible Twice-Refined Princess, by the way. She's been washed as well, though perhaps you wouldn't tell from looking. 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> No one stops Stranger from going anywhere except inside. Apparently Pellicia has insisted no one actually enter the building until she knows everyone is here. [21:06] 14The Ambassador looks far less nettled than Stranger would have expected by the lack of announcement for her. But then, she's not officially here, is she? [21:07] 13Seems sensible, so long as someone's actually checked the inside. Someone probably has. Just nerves. [21:07] 14...He's uncertain. He squeezes her hand and slides off to wander about the grounds with a keen, appraising eye. [21:07] 4von Hrolfus casts a wary eye about, half expecting an ambush. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger pokes around. There don't seem to be any ambushes or hidden traps set up. There is an air of unease permeating the ranks of the fourfold armies standing here, because no one in the rank and file fully understands or trusts whatever sorcerous undertaking is protecting them from mutation here in the heart of the Wyld zone. [21:18] 13That's fair. [21:18] 14Wise of them. If there are no secret ways in or out of the structure that he can pick out on a brisk walk around the perimeter, he'll return to the Ambassador's side. 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Ah, about that. [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar certainly doesn't. Best he could offer his troops was the assurance that he'll be able to detect immediately if something's amiss, and is willing to go in first. 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> There is a secret way out of the structure. In the garden on the eastern side of the dome there was once a hall of statues, tumbled and crumbled all around them, dedications worn away by wind and Wyld. But one of them is eeeeever so slightly askew from the relentless grid pattern of the columned walk through the garden. There's a draft coming up from beneath it. A hidden tunnel! [21:20] 14Oh my. [21:21] 14Does a path have to be cleared in, or can he slip through? 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> It doesn't look like it opens from this side. Or if it does, Stranger can't immediately see how. Certainly he's not strong enough to try to brute force it. [21:26] 14Stranger makes a mental note of where it is in relation to the rest of the structure and completes the circuit, returning to the Ambassador's side. [21:26] 13How's the crowd of notables? Any names Xia Lan doesn't recognize from previous run-ins? 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Not unless Xia Lan can't keep the names of the seven remaining Councilors straight. As Stranger rejoins the group, the circle hears the final arrivals: the Thorns delegation. "The Governor of Thorns! Scion of the Sevenfold! Hunter in Darkness!" [21:27] 4von Hrolfus nods to Stranger. "Find anything?" [21:27] 13She's at least that competent. [21:29] 14Stranger, quietly: "Secret passage out the back. Can't open it elegantly from this side. Keep your eyes open once we're inside for the other end of it." [21:31] 14He'll communicate this to everyone one by one, but when he pulls Keldar aside: "There's a secret passage in from the statue garden. Would take extreme brute force -- or more knowledge of the hall than I have -- to open from the outside, but..." [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Interestin'. Hopefully not relevant. No sign of who's been using it?" [21:32] 13Xia Lan nods carefully, displaying no other sign of having heard Stranger. She'll take a look - but hopefully one of the others spots it, because this isn't really her area of expertise. [21:33] 4von Hrolfus' eyes flicker briefly in that direction, before moving back to where they were before. 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia climbs the steps, holding what looks like an enormous conch shell in her hands. When she speaks, her voice fills the square. "Everyone here today knows the risks we face, and what has brought us all together. Now we will enter this old hall, from a lost age, to forge the accord we will use to beat back the coming invaders. We have sworn to uphold the trusts of our commands and our nations. And we will swear, to a man, not to break the peace we establish here today." [21:35] 14Stranger: "No one's used it in a long, long time. But I might rotate some sentries over that direction anyway." [21:35] 14A nice speech from Pellicia, but he perks up at the mention of a sworn oath. The Ambassador glances over at him as well. [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar'll spare a pair of men to take up a position within line of sight of what Stranger describes, ask 'em if they saw anything untoward later. 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> With that, Highland's sorcerer raises his huge purple sleeves, and with a dramatic gesture bids the great golden doors to part. And with a gust of wind, they do just that. [21:37] 14Tell them to run for help and sound the alarm if they see anyone trying to force it. Anyone strong enough to open that passage isn't going to be slowed down by two sentries. 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> As the doors open, the diplomatic envoys enter. First the Council, then Lookshy, then Highland, then the circle, then Thorns. [21:39] 4"A fine occasion to wipe out the leadership of all that oppose the abominations all at once.." [21:39] 14To Bastian: "I'm not sure even the Emissary himself could take us all. Especially not here, where we don't have to worry about the people of Nexus getting hurt." [21:40] "No, if there's to be death, it will come from within." [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Starting shit here'd mean instant death for basically anything that walks. Important thing's the actual agreement." [21:40] 14Is Pellicia actually forcing the groups to swear an oath as they enter? 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> No; the implication was more likely that everyone will be forced to swear to uphold the final agreement. [21:41] 14Ah well. [21:41] 13Thorns last is... hm. [21:42] 14The Ambassador leans over to whisper in Stranger's ear: "Entering next-to-last, darling?" [21:42] 14Stranger whispers back: "Let them have this one." 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> The fivefold council proceeds through a high and vaulted hall of gold and white marble. Great and faded frescos line the walls, depicting long-forgotten battles and concords. Their boots cross tiled mosaics depicting great heroes and old gods. Cracked and broken pillars hold up the shattered remnants of crystal lamps no one can reach to light. But the air is bright, and the breeze is sweet, so the solemnity of the place carries no stagnant air. [21:44] 14The paranoiac in him nags that allowing Lookshy and Highland in the Hall with the Council without their presence, even for a few moments, is dangerous; Stranger tells that paranoiac that this is what Bubo is for. He'll keep an eye on the Council. [21:44] 14The paranoiac in him is somewhat new. 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Corridors split off from every side of the main hall, running away and out and around and up and down via sweeping staircases. But the main hall is on a simple, gentle incline upward, terminating at another pair of enormous golden doors, one wide open and the other flat against the ground, visibly ripped off its hinges by some ancient violence. [21:47] 14The Last and Most Fatal Congress of the Solar Deliberative. [21:47] 13Xia Lan looks around for faces she recognizes, even in long-forgotten memories; the doors give her pause. This is... an auspicious location, for this sort of council. [21:47] 5 Xu Sim notes this and that, looking for inscriptions or ancient bas-relief. [21:50] 5 ...And perhaps, other signs of geomancy, or items of power, or secret passageways. [21:51] 4A place for abominations. [21:51] 14Stranger feels right at home. [21:52] 14The Ambassador, however, wilts a bit. There's a history here, and it's not one that was particularly pretty for her people, either. [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar wonders who it was that last walked out the day that door was destroyed. [21:53] 14Seems a fair bet it wasn't anyone bearing the crest of the Sun. [21:56] 5 Xu Sim's brow furrows, and his jaw sets, as he enters the chamber. Someone else's bad memories... His own? [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12As Keldar eyes a mosaic, he slows in his step and frowns to himself for a moment before shaking his head and moving on. 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> The hall gives way to the central chamber. Hundreds of seats of gold and marble ring the high domed room in terraced layers surrounding a central dais. Many of the seats are chipped, cracked, or totally broken. Every seat is equal in size and prominence, save the remnants of the throne at the rear-center of the Deliberative hall, split in jagged thirds by some monster's vast and horrible claws. [21:59] 4von Hrolfus' eyes shine in the reflection, his eyebrows burrowed. "A foul display of opulence. This much gold is far too much to waste...it should been melted down and used to circulate currency for constructive purposes." [21:59] 14My god. [21:59] 14My SUN. [21:59] 5 Xu Sim scoffs to himself at the devastation, whether wrought by age or fell beast. [22:00] 14Stranger slips away from the Ambassador, leaving her to find their seats with the rest of the Circle, and wanders the room with milky eyes wide open. [22:01] 13Xia Lan eyes that throne with an academic's interest. What in Creation could possibly have done such a thing to such a throne? [22:02] 5 Xu Sim: "Keep an eye out for anything bearing a hearthstone - I think there may be one nearby. Don't remove it from this place, it's what keeps the Firewander from plunging deeper into the Wyld." [22:07] 13She raises an eyebrow at the throne, finally, before tearing her eyes away from it. Are there sections for each delegation, or are they seating themselves? 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Looks like it's first-come first-served. Lookshy and Highland are already sitting down, and the Council has taken the chamber's highest seats, surrounding the broken throne. [22:08] 14Stranger wanders the contours of the room for a few moments, then up through the aisles, weaving between the golden chairs. [22:08] 13Xia Lan moves to have the Circle seated as close to the throne as is reasonable. Something unconscious. [22:09] 14Then he returns to the center, which did not hold, and up onto the dais. This stone. This gold. This memory of the end of the world. Yes, oh yes. He knows where that door in the statue garden leads back to. And he knows why it never opened, even in the face of death. Especially in the face of death. [22:10] 14But he is not so foolish as to walk right over to the secret panel over the dais and stand on it. Not in this encore. [22:12] 5 Xu Sim spurns the center. "A bunch of petty trappings of power. They thought themselves so righteous... they thought they could judge..." 5 He collects himself. "Goes to show, doesn't it?" [22:12] 14He turns about the room, unsteady-seeming for a moment, and then finds his anchor: the Ambassador of Night and Day, uncomfortably seating herself wherever the Circle is sitting down, her eyes following Stranger with no small concern. [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar'll place himself at, pretty much, the dividing line between the Council's position and that of his Circle. The Dawn Guard take up places such that they flank and frame the Council, watch the door, and so on. [22:13] 14Whatever moment of indecision or mania came over him passed, and he smiled gently, somewhat ruefully, and took his seat beside her. 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> In the end, everyone is seated in a sort of loose semicircle, nobody taking the seats with their back to the door. The Council at the center, with the circle and Lookshy to their right, and Highland and Thorns to their left. [22:13] 13Xia Lan raises an eyebrow to Stranger, but says nothing. [22:13] 4"It does goes to show. Perhaps if they'd focused less on displays of power, they'd still have some today." [22:14] 5 Xu Sim claps Von Hrolfus on the back and smiles wanly. [22:14] 14The Ambassador, relieved, says nothing. It's a conversation for somewhere other than this cursed place. 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> The meeting begins. People pass the conch around to introduce themselves, and to get a feel for the shell's magic: whoever holds the conch can be heard clearly by everyone, and spoken over by no one. [22:17] 14What is the protocol? Are only Solars and Council-members introducing themselves, or does the Ambassador get a moment with the conch as well? [22:18] 13Times like this makes Xia Lan glad she came unaccompanied and with a confidence in her public appearance. 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Nobody who reaches for the conch refuses it. The informal protocol seems to be that the large delegations of Highland and Lookshy have appointed specific speakers - Prince Regent Mori Nogare and Dragonlord Nessun Dorma. But all three of the Thorns envoy introduce themselves, as does each member of the Council. So whether or not the Ambassador introduces herself is up to the circle. [22:20] 14It's important to both Stranger-Visits-Heaven and the Ambassador of Night and Day that she be formally introduced, though for different reasons. Stranger wants her on the record to establish that the Circle has powerful friends -- and greater numbers -- than are present in the room. The Ambassador, on the other hand, wants it known that the Silver Pact had a presence at one of the [22:20] 14most important summits of power in an age. [22:21] 14It will take significant convincing to stop her from taking the conch, and to keep Stranger from encouraging her. [22:21] 13Xia Lan is in favor. [22:23] 14Then she takes the conch when it is her turn and introduces herself as, "The Ambassador of Night and Day, Chosen of the Moon, priestess of Luna, and envoy of the Silver Pact." [22:24] 14When any commotion there might be to such an announcement dies down, Stranger takes the conch and bills himself as simply, "Stranger-Visits-Heaven." [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar doesn't mind. He's introducing himself, of course - as a Green Apples mercenary, as an ally and partner of the Dawn Guard, as an enforcer of Nexus's Dogmas and, of course, as a member of the Centered Circle of reborn Solars. Pretty much in those words and that order, too. "I'm here to see Nexus survives and thrives in the face of what's coming for it." [22:24] 13Xia Lan: "The Unfettered Xia Lan." 13Listing your own accolades is gauche. [22:27] "Xu Sim." 5 The dog on his lap whines quietly. [22:28] 4“I am Baron von Hrolfus, of Deguo. I’m here to represent the interests of survivors and what is left of my country.” 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> The Council introduces themselves last, and Pellicia last among them. "As the presiding officer of this summit, I'll hold onto this. I trust we'll be able to behave enough not to need it." [22:33] 13That's... some trust. [22:35] 5 In this room, if someone has something they want to get off their chest - or into someone else's chest for that matter - that conch isn't likely to do much to stop them from it. 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> First is an intelligence report on the military state of play, outlining both what's coming and what everyone has to work with. The troop numbers of the raksha are hazy, because there's a lot of fluctuation between losses on the way and thralls and converts as the armies press deeper. There is a strong sense, though, that given the numbers still in Nexus, even including Keldar's ambitious plans to train and conscript civilians and the returning mercenary population, the raksha will vastly outnumber them. [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Outnumber, perhaps, but not outclass. [22:42] 13Worrying, still. [22:42] 14These were the conditions we were working under from the start. [22:42] 5 Ancient proverb: the thicker the hay, the easier the mowing. Not that Xu Sim has ever mown hay in his life. [22:43] 13There's little doubt that Our Troops will kill more of Their Troops than they kill of ours; the difference is whether we'll have anyone left to celebrate such a difference. 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "I can draw more soldiers and materiel from Lookshy, provided we reach an agreement satisfactory to the High Command. We should be able to mobilize a third of our officer corps and commit two additional dragons of infantry, along with another two corps of Gunzosha elites." [22:44] 13Such a disparity. 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "We should expect that a headless raksha army will lose control of its thralls; we can recover a lot of people who should be fit to hold a spear or be put to work in the city's defense." [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Is there indication that the raksha hosts won't reach Nexus simultaneously? 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Governor: "And every mortal man and woman who dies a slave to the raksha will rise an ally of Nexus." [22:47] 14We might want to define that particular obligation further. [22:48] 14'What dead do the Thornsmen get to claim' seems like something to keep a very careful eye on. [22:49] 13Xia Lan: "An ally of Nexus forever, then?" 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "Lookshy will not accept wanton necromancy of the war dead." [22:50] `4 To the Governor: "Rise in what way? Will they be enslaved?" [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You putting them back to sleep once the fighting's done?" [22:50] 13Well, they have her pointed question well in hand. [22:51] 4"Is it possible to raise them, but give them independence of thought and will? To restore them, at least mentally, to what they were before?" [22:51] 14Regarding Bastian's point: "Even if it were, it sounds too strenuous to spare time on in the thick of combat." [22:51] 13Xia Lan: "We're defending a city, not delving new depths in necromancy." [22:53] 14To the Governor: "I would note that before we take this conversation much further that it is entirely appropriate and meet for this body to consider zombies, ghouls, ghasts, ghosts, revenants, and other reanimated beings as war booty on your ledger for the purposes of spoils and final treaties." [22:54] "We would be sensible and fair to reduce your post-battle claims for every soldier you add to your forces." [22:54] 4von Hrolfus: "The bodies and souls of the vanquished dead are not property." 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor waves a hand. "Any surviving dead can offset our share of the spoils. But we cannot raise the dead gently, and death itself is irreversible. And, further, we should not allow mere sentimentality to tie our hands as we fight for our survival." [22:54] 5 Xu Sim rolls his eyes at von Hrolfus' rather parochial proposition. [22:54] 14Stranger: "Well, if we take that tack then I suspect the Governor will have little more to discuss." [22:56] 14An amusing thing to contemplate: 'surviving dead.' [22:56] 4von Hrolfus has little leverage here, and keeps his peace for the moment. [22:57] 13Xia Lan: "We are, somewhat regrettably, not in a position to take that stance." 13She glances to von Hrolfus before looking back to Stranger. "That is the only sensible way forward that I can see, regarding their participation." 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> One of Dorma's entourage murmurs in his ear. "Moral questions aside there is also a practical problem with such egregious perversion of life and death. The creation and spread of shadowlands would aid our enemies as surely as ourselves, and leave the land uninhabitable afterwards. If the battle ends and Nexus is a city of the dead it will scarcely matter whether we have won or lost." [22:57] 4von Hrolfus' only response is to tap his fingers tersely on the table. [22:58] 14Stranger: "As usual, the Dragonlord is correct in his assessment." [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Bodies are just bodies and we can count 'em as loot. Ghosts are another story, and if you mean to bring those back we won't see 'em enslaved or held past the duration of the war." [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It's true, though - no sense in defending the city with means that'll blight its land regardless." [22:58] 14He turns to the Council: "What is the stance of the Dogmas and Civilities on the creation of Shadowlands in the city?" 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Governor: "I must respectfully disagree. A shadowland is not the Wyld. It can be inhabited, it can be reshaped, it is a livable space, albeit a dangerous one. What is at stake is greater than life and death - it is the very truth and coherence of Creation itself!" [23:00] 13Xia Lan cannot stop herself from rolling her eyes. 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "Shadowlands arise from large-scale violence, which is forbidden by Dogma." [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Plus being unable to leave the city after sunset'll do a number on trade." 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "Necromancy itself is not illegal per se but the Emissary has always disrupted any acts of sorcery or darker magic that might disrupt the integrity of Nexus." [23:04] 5 Xu Sim pets the dog panting silently in his lap. [23:04] 14Stranger nods at Pellicia and Hayle's assessments. To the Governor: "Frankly, it seems to me that any activity by your armies or your officers within Nexus walls risks interference from the Emissary, whose interpretation of the law is now...more oblique, than it was previously." [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "To what extent can you guarantee that your magic won't give us shadowlands where regular old warfare wouldn't?" 14[23:06] * Quits: dammitwho (Connection closed) 14[23:07] * Joins: dammitwho [23:07] 14Stranger, to Pellicia: "We move for a recess of 10 minutes to discuss the question of Necromancy within our delegations." [23:07] 14Hopefully he gets a second from Dorma. 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Scion speaks up, her voice as faint and pale as her appearance. "Our magic can contain and shape Shadowlands as we see fit. Given the time and the means we could shrink them to nearly nothing, or spread them in one direction and retract them in another, moving them away from the city if needed. But no matter what, people will die. Shadowlands will form." 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "I second Stranger's motion." 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "Thirded." [23:08] 14Well then. 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "We'll take a ten minute recess. Please try to keep it to no more than twenty minutes." [23:09] 14When they've huddled up: "My opinion is that we need to get these Thorns necromancers as far from this city as possible, and that we can argue for them doing so in a way that serves their interests." [23:09] 13Fair enough. Xia Lan will follow wherever Stranger wants to lead -- she doesn't want it to be her responsibility to ensure no one's listening in. [23:10] 4 "My opinion is that Thorns needs to be burned to the ground. My people will be turned from slaves of the raksha, to slaves of that disgusting abomination. I do not wish to fight for that." [23:10] 14The Deliberative Hall should have private committee rooms off the main hallway. [23:11] 14To Bastian: "I agree about Thorns, and I am sympathetic to your plight, Bastian, but it's not one that comes with a lot of leverage right now. We're not in a position to fight the Thorns delegation without weakening ourselves significantly, and they're not going to just go away." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "My guess is that lady's telling the truth. It'd be unreal if the territory around Nexus doesn't get speckled with at least some magical bullshit. Too many people are dying under too many weird circumstnces to avoid it." [23:12] "So the name of the game is mitigation." [23:12] 13Once they're secure: "We literally cannot stop Thorns from where we stand. Only delay them, weaken them, and hope to show them the error of their ways later. With weapons." [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I agree that Thorns should be on the front line if possible and that all its magic needs to be aimed out of the city. If we can get them to minimize shadowland growth the way they say it'd be great." 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Klaus, Bastian's man-at-arms, discreetly attempts to get his attention in the private room. "My lord." [23:13] "There might be other options as well. For example, if we came up with enough salt - I mean, an enormous amount of salt -" 5 Xu Sim gesticulates as he speaks. [23:13] 4"Do shadowlands grow organically? I-" He turns around. "Yes?" [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Besides that, I like just deducting every body they walk away with from their ledger. Huns are a different story. Ain't gonna watch any of my see-through soldiers march glumly off to the west after this." [23:14] 13Xia Lan: "Can we keep them honest on that count? They seem uniquely suited to hiding ill-gotten gains." [23:14] "Enough salt to pickle an entire ocean of fish," 5 he continues, "Maybe we could use that to mitigate the effects, at least in the City and on its outskirts." [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Frankly, I dunno. You think you could spot something like that, Xu Sim?" [23:14] "My proposal is this: we guarantee Thorns a full share of the spoils at the table once the war is won, from the start. Then we point them in a direction -- for the sake of Bastian's people, let's say west, north or east. Their contribution is to harry, harrass, undermine, and sabotage the Fair Folk army arriving from that direction however they see fit. They are permitted to keep whoever [23:14] and whatever they kill in addition to their war bounty." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Klaus: "Sir, you asked me to keep my eye on the comings and goings of the meeting. I've come to report that I've seen the leaders of the Lookshy and Highland delegations conferring in private. I couldn't get close enough to overhear them without arousing suspicion." [23:15] 4von Hrolfus: "Conferring in private...together?" [23:16] 14Stranger: "Then, at first opportunity once the battle for Nexus is won, we betray and destroy them." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Klaus: "yes." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> *Yes. [23:16] "...We don't say the last part out loud." [23:16] "Ghosts? Yeah, they're easy to spot," 5 Xu Sim acknowledges. [23:16] 13Xia Lan: "That's a remarkably optimistic view of the battle for Nexus and what remains in the aftermath." [23:16] 14Stranger: "We can't operate off of any other." [23:17] "We can't count on being able to crush Thorns. We can ensure they don't cheat, and plan for the aftermath of that... but I don't know that we can count on crushing them immediately." [23:17] 4von Hrolfus: "Thank you Klaus. Anything else?" [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar blinks. "Pretty sure that means we're at immediate war with Thorns, then. I don't like it." [23:18] 14Stranger: "As I said: first opportunity. It may not come for some years." [23:18] "But back to the salt. Maybe we can make some sort of arrangement, deduct the salt costs to mitigate the shadowlands from the spoils. And we stockpile some here before the battle, so we can try to avert new shadowlands from forming." [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, well, first opportunity. Then they still get to leave with a bunch of extra bodies AND a full share of the spoils. Don't like it." [23:18] 13Xia Lan taps a finger to her lips. "...understood." [23:18] "I don't like it either. It might be the best of a bad situation." [23:18] 14Stranger is proposing that Thorns become the next objective in our quest log, not that we actually attack the Governor's forces as soon as we beat the Fair Folk. [23:19] 4Assuming Klaus has nothing further to contribute, he's dismissed and instructed to keep observing. "Did you hear that?" [23:19] 14To Keldar: "Do you have a version of this war council that ends with them not getting full spoils, not getting more bodies, and not getting the opportunity to drop shadowlands in Nexus?" [23:19] 4"My man has just informed me that Lookshy and Highland have been meeting together on the sly." [23:20] "Cethleann has proven most seductive to the necromancers and undead; at every encounter with them her forces have increased rather than diminished. Setting the Governor against her might end with her being strengthened yet again." [23:20] 13Xia Lan: "...I was going to be a bit less direct, but --" 13She looks to von Hrolfus. "Does he know on what purpose?" [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, your original idea. Count the bodies they walk away with against the loot the rest of us are splitting, demand they shrink or erase any shadowlands that appear in the wake of the fighting, and don't let 'em walk off with a single proper ghost." [23:20] 4von Hrolfus: "He does not. I think he's learned his lesson about being too direct from what happened last time." [23:21] 14To Keldar: "My problem with that original plan is the leash it gives them. What if they just decide to go full-tilt on turning Nexus into Thorns, in the middle of the battle?" [23:21] "We have a fight on two fronts." [23:21] 13Xia Lan: "Well. Okay. Lookshy, Highland, this is better than Thorns being involved, but..." [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "They can't actually turn on and betray us 'cause we're all gonna swear a compact when the negotiations are done, right?" [23:22] 13Xia Lan: "Spoken like a man who's never found a loophole." [23:22] 14Stranger: "Oaths are strong and powerful. But we are talking magnitudes of power above a mere curse of poor luck." [23:22] "The Governor swears the oath -- whose says that his liegelords aren't comfortable making him break it?" [23:23] "At the very least the Lookshyans and Highlanders serve thrones, not the Underworld." [23:23] "As above, so below - there are thrones in the Underworld as well." [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Guess I figure that if all three of Thorns's anathema have to eat the sun's spite at once, it means their actual backstab attempt goes to shit somehow." [23:24] 14Stranger: "Additionally, if the Fair Folk legions do have powerful necromancers in their retinue, any Shadowlands inside our walls might become as tunnels to the invaders. No matter how small." [23:24] 14To Bastian: "Did you man say where they were meeting?" [23:24] *your [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I can't imagine anyone with the fair folk stacks up to Thorns, and Shadowlands don't appear instantly. No, if there's real reason to believe that Thorns will literally turn on us mid-battle we should be ejecting them right now. Otherwise, I wanna deal with them in a way that lets us wash our hands after." [23:25] "Leave them all the bodies they like, require them to pay salt to prevent new Shadowlands from forming within a league of the walls of the City, call it a day," 5 suggests the sorceror, perhaps unhelpfully. [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "'All they like' is just asking for something ridiculous. I think we can bang out an exchange rate." 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> According to Klaus's report, they're in one of the mirror-galleries that lets sunlight into the windowless halls of the building. Guards posted on either exit. [23:26] 14Stranger: "Shadowlands do not form immediately, true. But consider if we fall to siege." [23:26] 4von Hrolfus: "Wash our hands of what? Who cares if we turn cloaks on monsters?" [23:26] 13Xia Lan: "An exchange rate on bodies?" [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Right, like so and so bodies is such and such pounds of salt or works of shadowland-shrinking magic." [23:27] 14To the Ambassador and Xia Lan: "Would you two like to crash this Lookshy/Highland meeting of minds?" [23:27] 14The Ambassador: "Absolutely." [23:28] 13Xia Lan: "How crashed do you want it?" [23:28] 14Stranger: "Don't chip the furniture, but let them know you were there, and we'd like an invitation in the future." [23:28] "Are we talking a quiet ear informing our strategies, or down in flames?" [23:28] "Ah." [23:28] 13She considers. "Centrism. Hm." [23:29] 14Stranger: "Think of it as a united front against the dead assholes." [23:29] 13She raises an eyebrow to the Ambassador. "A moment before we go?" [23:29] 14The Ambassador: "Let's talk as we walk." [23:30] 14Stranger, to Keldar and Bastian: "You're the generals here. I'll defer to you on policy. But I still think letting Thorns set up inside the city -- no matter what assurances we can extract -- is a mistake." [23:30] "So, what, a pinch of salt for their pound of flesh?" 5 The sorceror is spitballing now. [23:31] 13Xia Lan: "Fair enough." 13She slides next to the Ambassador. Before they exit the room: "How subtle do you want to play this? Because I could leave a note on their table and they'd never know who sent it, but that strikes me as against the point." [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Something like that. We can work out the math once we get an okay on the general idea. But yeah, I think we can treat with them basically straightforwardly - and make sure they buy off any of the environmental damage they cause, and do all their fighting outside the city proper." [23:31] 4von Hrolfus: "Nexus is a stinking fester of vice regardless of what happens, but it does not deserve Thorns. I agree." [23:31] 14The Ambassador: "No, we were asked to make a point. Let's do that. I don't think it's a coincidence Stranger sent a Solar and a Lunar." [23:32] 13A dazzling smile. "Well. Let's go make an impression, then." [23:32] "It doesn't matter if they fight outside the city, just let them focus their necromancy outside the walls. Fighting outside just gets them in the way of the weapons I will be constructing." [23:33] 14Stranger sighs. "I'll consult with Selin about anything that can be done, architecturally, to reinforce the city against shadowlands. I'm not particularly hopeful, but the man has surprised me before." [23:36] "Salt. Salt. An entire ocean of salt." 5 Xu Sim taps his finger on the desk a few times, then pounds it - hard. [23:36] "Without Balor's Star to guide him, his army grew lost in retreat, and fell to the deserts in the south east!" 5 He recites [23:37] "We've solved the salt problem. I think." [23:37] 14Stranger: "Nothing about pickles, I hope." [23:37] "Ardua Hundred Reeds!" 5 he exclaims, as if the answer is obvious. [23:38] "The Dreaming Sea rose where they fell," 5 he completes the thought. [23:38] "We can figure out how to move the water later. But its the salt we need! The salt from the Dreaming Sea! We'll have all the salt we need, if we defeat them," 5 he explains. [23:41] "Oh, this is a relief. Here I was thinking, I'd have to come up with some sort of salt refinery and work it to ruin in the next week." [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You want to... what, refine it from the corpses of the water raksha?" [23:42] "Something like that, yes. We'll demand it from them, terms of their surrender, or we'll seize it from their retreating horde. I'll come up with something, maybe with Nogare's wind-wizard." [23:43] 14Stranger: "...Selin is working on getting the old machinery, the underworks, back up as well as he can. The sewers." [23:43] "There might be some overlap here." Session Time: Wed Mar 14 00:00:00 2018 [00:07] 14He hands the two notes he's penned off to Xia Lan and the Ambassador before they go. They read in full, with nouns slipped in and out as necessary: "We have known each other now for some time; long enough for respect to bloom. And we have enough respect that when our man spied you disappear behind closed doors with your opposing number, we did not follow or interrupt. But should [00:07] such extracurricular council be held in the future, we should like invitation, for we did not take up similar council with Thorns. Signed, [a circle]" [00:08] 14The circle itself is not inked; it is an impression made upon the paper. [00:09] 13Xia Lan collects the note, reads over it briefly, and moves to deposit it in its proper location. She covers it with another trip around the hall - examining each and every face on the walls - and casually tossing the letter on the seat it needs to go to, when the time comes. [00:09] 13This is not her first rodeo. 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> When the recess ends, after a scant half an hour, Dorma and Nogare have new messages from the centered circle. 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14[09:36] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:53] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[09:56] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:15] * Joins: Crion| 14[10:19] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:47] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:30] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[13:57] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[15:30] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:11] * Joins: hrolfy 14[16:28] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[16:43] * Joins: Crion| 14[16:44] * Quits: Crion| (Quit: ) 14[18:35] * Joins: dammitwho 15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:15] <@VoxPVoxD> The council reconvenes after a tense recess to allow the various delegations to agree their positions on necromancy. Pellicia, with the conch, begins: "Now that we're settled, I trust we can settle this. I'm going to ask Thorns to make its case before we respond." [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar sits with his gauntleted fingers interlaced, casting a steely gaze over his knuckles at the Thorns delegation. 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a slight stir from the ranks of the Lookshy delegation, quieted by one of Dorma's lieutenants. The Governor smiles greasily before saying, "I'm sympathetic to the cultural differences at work. What seems natural to some of us will seem barbaric to others. And in a less urgent moment I would welcome a free and full philosophical symposium on ethics and the Black Treatise. But this is not such a moment. Beyond war, beyond death, annihilation bays at our door, and no soul is safe, living or dead." [20:20] 14Stranger settles in next to the Ambassador. 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "So we may debate the when, and we may debate the how, but we cannot debate the if." 15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "To that end, I propose submitting all of our work raising material to the authority of the Council of Nexus." [20:25] 14...That would be interesting. And it would make the political games the Circle is playing far higher stakes. [20:25] 14It would seem to increase their Circle's power relative to the three armies, as well. 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "By which we take it to mean this assembled council, and not the Council of Entities?" 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "Oh, no! I intend to defer to local authorities, as should we all!" [20:27] 14Stranger's initial reaction is that they should pounce on this offer. [20:27] 14His second reaction is to wonder why the Governor is so willing to make it. 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "No. Totally unacceptable." [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's eyebrows raise slightly. He glances to his side at the assembled capital C Councilors. [20:27] 13It's... convenient. Worryingly so. [20:28] 4von Hrolfus mutters under his breath. “What authorities?" 15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Councilor Hayle: "I think that with appropriate safeguards and a joint commitment to security, the Council of Entities can live with it gladly." 15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "You hope." [20:30] 14Stranger: "We've all been given a demonstration on the punishment for failure. I doubt the Council needs reminder of it from those not subject to it." 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "The Council of Entities is corrupt. It is fundamentally corrupt. And in its desperation it can be corrupted further. Lookshy cannot support a union of mortals and the dead beneath the noses of- even Anathema are more reliable." 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "Wait just a minute--" [20:35] 4von Hrolfus, still muttering: “Why, thank you." 15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma points a mailed hand across the room at Xu Sim. "This one cured the plague. Hayle's people dithered over quotes from contractors." [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "If it's in and around our city that the Thorns delegation is going to be slinging black magic, I think it only makes sense that our Council has the last word on what they can and can't do with it. We've already got some specifics in mind, in fact." 15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Again at Stranger: "This one has brought vital intelligence. Ephiselle says nothing." 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Ephiselle: "..." [20:37] 13He's not wrong. 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma, staring down Pellicia: "Your own militia makes generals of murderers because you haven't the strength to raise your own army." 15[20:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "What is the point of you? Why are you here?" [20:38] 4This is beginning to get spicy. 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "With all due respect and deference, Dragonlord, who the fuck are you?" [20:39] 14Attagirl. [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's already leaning forward, but Pellicia's quicker on the draw. 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "We're here because we're here. Nexus is our home, and Nexus is ruled by the Council of Entities. That's why we're here." [20:39] 14He wishes they'd brought snacks. 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Remember that you are here by our sufferance. By one of those nasty little contracts you hate so much." [20:40] 4von Hrolfus laughs. “Big words said to someone at the head of an army.” 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor, who did bring snacks, is eating fried pork skins noisily. [20:40] 14Technically, they're both at the head of an army. [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "One of four. We're in Nexus, not Lookshy. Our sovereign territory, our laws hold." 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "If you tolerate the abominables of Thorns in your streets and halls of power, you are sovereign over nothing but your own doom." [20:43] 4Too fucking right. 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "Or your own tomb." 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "Our survival--" 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "Your demise--" 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Governor: *cronch* *cronch* *cronch* [20:45] 14It is becoming clear how the Highland and Lookshy contingents thought this meeting was going to go. One wonders if they were meeting even before the recent recess. [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar raises his voice a bit. "Here's our actual proposal, put together on the basis that we don't need Nexus to end up cursed in two different directions and we don't know what relationship we and Thorns might have once all this business is wrapped up." [20:47] 14Stranger: "Notably, it is not inconsonant with the Governor's own proposal." [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "First, Thorns should restrict the use of black magic to the battlefield outside the city. Second, that Thorns can't conscript or keep hold of the higher souls of our war dead. Third, that any bodies of ours raised by Thorns that it wants to keep once the fae've been dealt with count against Thorns's war spoils by some scheme we'll hammer out. Fourth, that Thorns makes every [20:48] <@Ferrinus> effort to minimize or erase shadowlands that open up in the wake of the fighting, again once the war's over and again with some kind of renumeration." [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "This stuff can comport with our Dogmas, get outlined by some properly-enacted Civilities, the whole nine yalms. Oh, uh, any of our lower souls should be counted along with physical bodies, in point two aforementioned." [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Sorry, make that point three, not two. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "We're all skipping past the point. Whatever agreement we reach here will be subject to the oversight of the Council of Entities. Thorns is offering us nothing but the barest promise of good faith." 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "It sounds ungenerous when you put it like that, but we compare favorably to the invading armies who are now openly doubting your legitimacy." [20:57] 5 Xu Sim coughs, politely, into his sleeve. 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "That's the issue, from where I sit. We're asking for access to the corpses that would be burnt or abandoned like so much compost in the heat of war and the pall of famine." 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "The others are only interested in your corpses." 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Councilor Udelph: "What precautions can you take for the public health hazards of necromancy?" 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Scion of the Sevenfold: "As I said before the recess, we can easily control and contour the boundaries of the inevitable shadowlands. Nexus will be less haunted for our presence, not more." [21:02] 4“And you agree to foreswear all claims on these…higher souls?" 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Udelph shakes his head. "That's not what I meant. I mean the very real physical consequences of keeping rancid corpses stocked and shuffling behind our walls and gates." [21:03] 13Xia Lan leans back in her seat. "Not to mention the... alarm, that might cause." 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Scion: "I don't understand the question." 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Udelph: "Cholera. Typhoid. The spoilage of our food and water." 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Scion: "Surely your medical facilities are adequate to--" 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "HAH!" [21:05] 13Xia Lan: "..." 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "Their medical facilities are adequate to watch their people die because they can't find any next of kin to send a bill." [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah - goes without saying that we're not going to quarter undead troops in Nexus if they're health risks. Can you keep 'em clean somehow? Otherwise they're gonna have to be... disposable. Raise 'em in the field, leave 'em in the field." 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Thorns confers. The Governor: "We can make necessary arrangements." [21:06] 5 Xu Sim nods in agreement at Dorma's certitude. 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "If I may propose a compromise we can all agree with." [21:07] 13The good doctor cured one plague, what's another? ...She doesn't say this, though. [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12That's also occurred to Keldar. And it's not like Nexus hasn't got some of the best physicians in the entire direction! They just charge amounts commensurate to their level of skill. 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "Naturally none of us wish to distract ourselves by fighting over Nexus, as if the prize would comfort us long when we were crushed by the raksha. But there are questions about how the Council can assert its authority without the backing of the Emissary." 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "So what I propose is that the city's unaligned Anathema are formally elevated to the Council of Entities, and given the full voting rights and commensurate responsibility for the city's defense and well-being." 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "What?" [21:10] 5 Xu Sim leans to Stranger: "We need to accept this deal on the behalf of Nexus." 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "What?" 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "What?" [21:10] 14Stranger, murmuring back: "Certainly. But it's a trap." [21:11] 5 Xu Sim: "It's our lucky break." [21:11] "I haven't quite figured out how, yet. But this is certainly a trap." [21:11] 4von Hrolfus, murmuring: “What’s the angle here?" [21:12] 13Xia Lan leans over to Stranger. "Most things that sound this good are." [21:12] 5 Xu Sim: "It's our legitimacy, recognized by all of Nexus' most powerful neighbors." [21:12] 14He glances over at Keldar, the one in this group with actual, deeply-held political opinions about the operation of Nexus. 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor, to Bastian: "It's the policy of Thorns that the transcendant hun is a person with full rights and citizenship. We would not claim them as property, but we would like leave to negotiate with them according to Nexus's labor laws." [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hey, I'm no administrator and frankly I don't have any interest in becoming one. If you're worried that the Council's authority doesn't have any force, then you can relax - I'm already committed to seeing that the Dogmas are upheld until this is over with." [21:13] 4von Hrolfus leans forward: “What of the ones currently in thrall to the raksha? Are their…higher souls, recoverable?” [21:14] 5 Xu Sim: "We must accept. The Council's a pack of useless idiots." [21:14] 13Xia Lan: "Diplomatic as ever." [21:15] 14Stranger rolls his eyes. "The Council are our allies, and far more useful as proxies than they are as deputies." 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Scion: "To be honest, I don't know. We don't have a lot of experience with Wyld-claimed dead." [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar turns to consider the Governor's words. He turns them over in his head, tapping the table before him with a gauntleted finger as he does so, before pointing. "My men aren't under a marriage contract. Arguably an oversight, but as yet you don't stop being an Apple when you die." [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "If you rustle up our people, their existing allegiances stand. We can work out some kind of... payment scheme for getting them back on their see-through feet, maybe. But I'm not gonna watch you make off with 'em just like that." [21:16] "Don't knock it 'till you've tried it," 5 suggests Xu Sim, to the notion of the Council as deputies. [21:16] 4von Hrolfus considers the Governor’s words. “Negotiate with souls using Nexus labour laws…does Nexus even have those?" [21:17] 14Stranger: "Oh yes. Nexus has laws for just about everything." 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor, to Keldar: "When's the last time you had to answer that question for two thousand ghosts at once? What about actual marriage contracts? Inheritance, divorce. To annul the marriages, to transfer the assets from still-laboring dead to their surviving families? Even if you put them on 24-hour shifts, litigation will be accounted in decades. Or longer." 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Scion: "Two thousand is a very conservative estimate." [21:22] 13One assumes he is practically licking his lips at the thought. 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "Why not just hand the city to the Anathema outright, then? Why bother with any of the formality?" [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, it'd be a mess. Still, my people are in an outfit like Ninth Orchard precisely so they don't wind up having to sign some bullshit do-or-die with a competitor the first time they find themselves in a tight spot. You try something on them you wouldn't on a living man and we'll have a problem." 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma has turned to Nogare here. [21:23] 4Bartering over the souls of the dead is bringing bile to von Hrolfus’ throat. “Thorns will gain enough in spoils! Haggling over the souls of your brothers, your fellow citizens is a new low even for this city.” 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "Does anyone think our unaffiliated friends don't already have a heavy hand on the shoulder of the Council? Does anyone truly think that if Councilor Pellicia and Keldar had a fundamental disagreement over strategy, that Keldar would defer to the chain of command?" 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "I propose to formalize this influence for precisely this reason: it allows us all to act on an equal plain of accountability, instead of allowing rogue agents to weave in and out of the affairs of nations." [21:26] 14An eloquent defense of the responsibility of nations, from a conquerer. 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Who better? [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Uh, I do, buddy, because I'm contractually obligated and a man of my word. I got no interest in serving as precedent for your coming takeover of whatever two-bit kingdom's next. We're here to save Nexus, not replace it." 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "Good, that comforts me. I assume the Council shares his faith and trust?" 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Silence. [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks over at the Council, expectant. 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Was he expecting more silence? If so, good news. 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> On the bright side, no one is making eye contact with him either. [21:28] 5 Xu Sim's cough is a lot less convincing this time. [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Fuck's sake, people. I need a place where I can come to offload my loot and kick back with food from any conceivable Direction. Not a goddamn... fiefdom to manage." 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "Not a strong vote of confidence, is it? You won't conquer the city because you're too lazy?" [21:31] 14Sigh. [21:31] 13Xia Lan: "I understand the lack of trust. Adding all of us to the council - well. It would unbalance things, to say the least! But: asking us to shoulder some official responsibility for the city, some stakes in its defense, is not wrong." 13She pauses, letting it hang for a moment. "There is still a vacant seat on the council." 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare leans forward. "What do you propose?" [21:32] 14Stranger: "That we nominate a replacement, of course. Which I shall do presently." [21:32] "For the position of Evening Master, I nominate the Unfettered Xia Lan." [21:32] 13Xia Lan nods to Stranger's first statement, then freezes. [21:32] 14The Ambassador grins. [21:33] 5 Xu Sim breaks into a cackle. 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare sits back, hiding the smile curling on his face with a loose fist. [21:34] 14Stranger: "The Council gets the...imprimatur...that our Lookshyan and Highland friends so keenly desire for their own political ends, while the Council adds a member to its august body who is not only integral to the city-wide entertainment industry but who is capable of acting in their defense should things become fraught in the Council chambers once again." 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Udelph: "Xia Lan? The singer?" [21:34] 14Mildly: "She is in the room, Councilor Udelph. You might address her directly." 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Udelph, to Xia Lan: "My apologies, madam. But you can't be serious." [21:35] 14Stranger, less mildly: "I am incredibly serious." [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar turns this over in his head before leaning over to Xia Lan and lowering his voice. "Okay, I dunno whether you know your way around a spy network, but you really wanna be responsible for the coffers?" [21:36] 5 Xu Sim: "She has my endorsement, as a person with utterly impeccable integrity." [21:37] 4von Hrolfus: “And mine.” [21:37] 13Xia Lan is torn between wanting to scream, putting on a serious face for the room, and wanting to scream a second time, but louder and angrier. She settles on an extremely brittle smile and a forced calm: "I would be honored, if the council would have me." [21:37] "Contra the initial proposal by the Highland delegation, the Council would not suddenly have a plurality vote represented by our Circle. It would, however, have constant access to us and our resources, on the whole, as an official matter." 14[21:37] * Joins: tom 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "Preposterous. Appointing only one of them is worse. Then they get to pick and choose when they act with the full force of law and when they act outside of it." [21:37] 14He stares with milky eyes at the lot of them. "And thus far, you have all been very quiet when it comes to other ideas." 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "You assume undue unity from our friends." 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "Their endorsements are unanimous!" [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar leans back, then glances in the other direction. How's Pellicia seem to feel about this?" 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma points at Xu Sim: "This man used his demonic talent to cure the plague and save the city. But he did so under mortal peril, and had to be coaxed from hiding for the effort. If we are to ally with them they must be answerable to something other than themselves." 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "Keldar is already a general, as our esteemed Dragonlord observed earlier." 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> The Council dissolves into backchatter amongst themselves. Pellicia pulls out of the huddle to say, "Ten minutes. Be here in fifteen." [21:41] 5 Xu Sim is rather ruffled at the idea that he was coaxed from hiding to cure the plague. "An interesting interpretation of the prior events." 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "Perhaps you'd like to write the histories as well." [21:42] 14Stranger: "That's an interesting way of saying you were trying to kill him up until the moment you weren't, Dragonlord. But I take your meaning." [21:42] 13Xia Lan hurries towards whatever quarters the Circle has been given for recesses. If someone is quick enough to follow her, they might hear a frustrated scream and a thud against the far wall. [21:42] "It's funny you mention that," 5 he responds, nodding in agreement with the Dragonlord. [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "'Murderer'. The fuckin' nerve of - she woulda carbonized me if I'd been a hair slower." [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's talking to his fellow anathema, of course. Before joining them outside the hall, though, he hurries to catch up with Pellicia, asking her: "Whaddyou think of this?" [21:45] 4von Hrolfus: “Interesting turn of events, eh?" [21:45] 14Stranger will drift alongside him. [21:45] 14Keldar, that is. The Ambassador will join the others. [21:46] 5 Xu Sim snatches up a small bundle he's been carrying around the whole meeting thus far and hurries over to the Lookshy delegation before they make their way out of the room. [21:46] 13Xia Lan has replaced the chair she threw before anyone else has time to enter. There's a piece missing from the leg - not advisable to sit in it. [21:47] 14The Ambassador, to Xia Lan: "I take it Stranger didn't consult with you before your nomination." [21:48] 13Xia Lan, calm as a still lake: "He did not." 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> The other six Councilors - well, five of them; it's very difficult to tell where Kratz's eyes are actually focusing behind her enormous, nearly opaque spectacles - look intently at Pellicia as Keldar and Stranger bear down on her. "I think we have to do what's best for the stability and legitimacy of Nexus. Win or lose, we'll never be more vulnerable than we are these next weeks." [21:48] 14She chuckles. "How very like him." [21:48] "I had hoped - he, or Keldar, or von Hrolfus -" 13She pointedly does not mention Xu Sim. "But I suppose I deserve this." [21:49] 13Xu Sim, or Dawn, who is missing. [21:50] 14The Ambassador: "If I know him -- and I do -- his main concern is that he's gone and made himself too much of a polarizing figure to accept the duties. Also, if we're being honest, the man much prefers being the power behind the throne." [21:50] "He's rather put off by the limelight." [21:51] 5 Xu Sim, presenting the small globe he had prepared previously, to the Dragonlord or one of his entourage - "This is a token on my behalf - and, I suppose, on behalf of the others as well. It's a sentimental sort of thing." [21:52] 13Xia Lan: "Of course." 13Her mask remains fully in place - impassive, her anger no longer palpable. "I should have seen it coming when I suggested such a thing." [21:53] 14She shrugs. "He's correct that you're the best nominee." [21:53] 13Xia Lan: "...that is part of why I should have seen it coming." [21:58] 5 Xu Sim doesn't stick around to see how the gift is accepted. He hightails it back to his own delegation. [21:58] 5 The door slams open a moment later, and Xu Sim strides in, the Twice-Refined Princess at his heels. 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> One of Dorma's lieutenants takes the proffered globe dubiously. Dorma's not around to see it himself. [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar glances back before returning his attention to Pellicia. "Yeah, but... putting a kid on the Council, smart as she is? Did you lot have anyone already in mind?" [21:59] "What are you all afraid of!?" 5 Xu Sim nearly shouts. [21:59] 14The Ambassador arches an eyebrow. 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> A voice all but whispers behind Xu Sim, "you." [22:00] 5 Xu Sim twitches slightly. 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "We're going to confer, now. You'll hear our position shortly. Excuse me." She goes to shut the door on him. [22:00] 13I mean, fair enough. [22:00] 13We are pretty scary. [22:00] 14Stranger bows gracefully and backs off. [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar shrugs to himself, then, and heads off to his own delegation. "So seriously, Xia Lan? Evening Master's got a lot of shit on their plate, traditionally speaking." [22:02] 14Stranger: "Are you worried she can't hack it? Would you preferred I'd pencilled your name in for all those stuffy meetings?" [22:02] 13Xia Lan: "If we want one of us on the council, there's - someone has to," 13she fumbles. [22:02] *have preferred [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Won't want to hack it, really. I got the same problem. Like... if I wasn't me, I'd trust me in that seat more than her, because frankly I care more about the city than she does." [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But holy shit. Not like I don't already have a lot of work ahead of me." [22:04] "We need to all be on the Council. Or maybe create a new body that lets us do what needs to be done without having to deal with those imbeciles." [22:05] 14Stranger: "To be brutally honest, Keldar? Your love for the city is the problem. It makes you suspect. It makes everyone see you as scheming for a greater throne. And men like Nogare hear your 'I just want to kick ass and drink brews' schpiel and suspect you all the more." [22:05] 13Xia Lan: "If we're all on the council it would be as good as dissolving it. If it's only one of us, we take responsibility without taking over." [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We need to leave the Council be. The presence or absence of a ninth member isn't going to be critical to the war effort and they can pick their new guy in the normal fashion once the raksha've been crushed." [22:05] "You want all the pain in the ass of taking responsibility, without the power that comes with taking over?!" 5 Xu Sim is incredulous. [22:06] "No, fine, let the Council take the responsibility. We can take the power." [22:06] 13Xia Lan: "..." [22:06] "Nogare and Dorma will not assent to any further actions without us being invested in some form of bureaucratic office. Otherwise we can't be controlled." 14Presumably they're walking in on Xu Sim's conversation now. [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We can't be controlled anyway. The whole structure of the talks takes as given that we're our own faction. It's why there's five flags up there." [22:07] "If it gets the Wyld Hunt of the whole god damn East off our asses, then why not make the Council an offer it can't refuse?" [22:07] *gods-damn [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "This is a big waste of our time and, as far as I can tell, a ploy on their part to undermine Nexus for after the war. I know why Nogare wants to do it, at least." [22:08] 14Stranger: "You're already up to your neck in contractual obligations to the city as it is. Us being our own faction is a convenient fiction." [22:08] "And it is not a waste of time, because this is the only road by which we can come to any sort of enforceable agreement." [22:08] 4“I don’t see what we have to lose." [22:09] 14The Ambassador: "Where was this fire in the Hall, potions-monger?" [22:09] 13Xia Lan: "Nexus, and everything with it." [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "He's pushing it same reason he pushed for meeting in this dome instead of the tower. He just wants more and more precedent for being a god-king. Bet on it." [22:09] "I won't speak against the rest of you, not in public. We have to speak with one voice in front of them." [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Otherwise, I don't see what Dorma thinks he can get out of us if we're on the Council, or replace the Council, than if we're not. Except I can: what he gets is a neutered Nexus." [22:10] 14Stranger: "Nexus is already neutered." [22:10] "The Emissary should fucking be here." [22:11] "Emissary, pah," 5 Xu Sim snorts derisively at the mention. [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It's just wounded. All this fae crap's tied up in why the Emissary's unwell. If they'd just shut up and help us fight for the next two months then they could go in circles about Council duties all they like after." [22:11] "If you want to know why the Council isn't getting respect, that is why." [22:11] "We have to prepare for the future, to defend the people of this city," 5 Xu Sim explains. [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well then they just weren't listening to me, 'cause I said I'd be handling the Dogmas for the immediate future." [22:12] 14To Xu Sim: "I say this with the highest possible respect for your vocation, but everything that comes out of your mouth about politics sounds like poison in the ear of man." [22:13] "Truly a unique aspect of the man," 13she says with incredible disdain. [22:13] 14To Keldar: "They heard you. They just think they can kill you." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> It is! Most people don't think of the ears when poisoning people. This is the genius that made Xu Sim who he is today. [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, well, maybe they should see how thinking that's turned out for people thus far." [22:15] "Who is looking out for the people of this city? Who's been saving lives instead of palling around with gods and demons?" [22:15] 13Xia Lan: "Everyone thinks they will be the first. This happens with any position of prominence." [22:15] 5 This, with an accusatory look at the performer and the diplomat. [22:16] 14To Xu Sim: "We're not taking over the city -- not overtly -- because Anathema seizing Nexus is like as not to lead to another Wyld Hunt to destroy us. Nexus is quite important for trade, and the Guild would not stand for our brand of rule -- especially not coming from the site of the old Solar Deliberative. And I suspect our friends Nogare and Dogma would be two of the generals [22:16] tapped to lead that effort. They would get to sack the city and split the spoils while we were still weak." [22:16] "One Chosen on the Council, who can be easily outvoted should it come to it, is a much easier pill to swallow politically." [22:16] "They're offering us legitimacy out there! That's not the sort of thing that they can ignore later, not in the face of a transformed Nexus." [22:17] 14Stranger: "The Hunt won't give a single shit if we're voted in. We're Anathema." [22:17] 4“Legitimacy means nothing to an army.” [22:17] 13Xia Lan: "They can absolutely ignore it if it suits them. They - yes." [22:18] "If it is respect you want, you can find it here. Wealth, yes. Adoration, especially. But not rulership." [22:18] 14Quieter: "If we wish to rule, we will need to be far, far stronger than this." [22:19] 13Xia Lan: "Not here, and not now." 14[22:20] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:20] "It's cowardice to turn your backs on reality. We are the ultimate power in this city. I suggest we act like it." [22:20] 14Stranger: "We are nothing without the governed. That is the lesson of the last time we ruled this city." [22:20] 13Xia Lan: "Are we? Because there are multiple literal armies that would disagree, with weapons." [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The ultimate power in Nexus doesn't rule Nexus. That's the point of Nexus." [22:21] 13She tilts her head towards Stranger. "And yes. The people of Nexus themselves would likely have words to say, if they had a voice here." [22:22] "What do you know of the people of Nexus? Have you tended their sores? Bathed their wounds?" [22:23] 13Xia Lan: "Are you about to tell me they cry out for the firm hand of the Anathema's guidance?" [22:23] 14Stranger: "We've been here weeks. Let us not pretend to know the body politic so firmly." [22:24] "They cry out for salvation. The Council can't offer that. The Emissary won't offer that." [22:24] "But we will. We will win." [22:25] 13Xia Lan: "Wow. The secret poisoner has a god complex. Not concerning in the slightest." [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm the only one here who's really familiar with this place. Maybe Xu Sim, but he's mostly passing through.." [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12That should have only one period; Keldar's not dramatically trailing off. [22:31] 4von Hrolfus: “Speaking as someone who loathes this place and all it stands for, whatever the Dragonlord’s intention is, denying ourselves the opportunity for influence would be idiotic." [22:41] 13Xia Lan: "Which is why one of us should be on the council, rather than turning the entire thing into a sham by having us all join. It won't last, and it won't help the people of Nexus." [22:43] 5 Xu Sim: "We should all join the Council. It's a change to the way things work in the City, yes. Things change. Realms fall, and cities rise. Armies are reduced to shattered remnants, and traders are left bankrupt. But we - those of us in this room, on this Circle - no disrespect to the Ambassador of the Silver Pact - we are presented with a power, that carries with it the mandate [22:43] of serving Creation. [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar turns this over a few times in his head, and as he does, his eyes slowly narrow. "Oh, yeah? Yeah, we've gotta serve Creation? We shouldn't deny ourselves the opportunity for influence?" 12He takes a step forward. "Listen here." [22:45] "We cannot try to serve this City, or the people, from the shadows or from a position of weakness. To do so invites more chaos - more assassination attempts, more questions about when the Wyld Hunt will return. But if we take our moment and rise to the challenge of the Raksha, we can unify the city. Even if we are outnumbered by the other cities of the Threshold." [22:46] 13Flatly: "You're insane." [22:46] 14The argument is convincing. It's wrong, but it's convincing. [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm not doing this- I'm not fuckin' Nogare. I'm not here to build a power base. Nexus isn't a damn springboard to me!" [22:46] "For what is greater? Five -" 5 He holds up an open hand - "Or one?" 5 He closes it into a fist. [22:47] 14This precise argument gets the Chosen killed. [22:47] "It's not a springboard. It's a throne. And it's on offer, to us." [22:47] "All we need is the courage to accept it." [22:47] 13Xia Lan: "Have you learned nothing from history?" [22:48] "This is precisely why we are anathema, why we are hated and feared, and why we are hunted like dogs whenever situations like this come even close to arising. And you would welcome this?" [22:48] "If they'll betray us anyway, we should welcome it from a position of strength. Or we could lie down like dogs and accept our fate." [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I need to make this really clear. I don't... like you people more than the city I grew up in. I'm not raising an army against the raksha because I think the fairies will make good practice for whatever my real conquest's gonna be. I'm not gonna put a bunch of foreign opportunists on the ruling council of my home because I think it'll pay big dividends down the line. [22:48] <@Ferrinus> And I ain't never - NEVER - gonna trap myself on a throne." 12Keldar's outline is starting to crackle red. [22:49] 4“It’ll be your funeral when they come for us.” [22:49] 14And the problem with Keldar, of course, is he's in love with a city that no longer exists. [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I swore to uphold the Dogmas. But I'd do it even if I hadn't swore. You think you can say this shit because you don't have to be afraid of the emissary anymore. But you do have to be afraid of me. So settle the fuck down." [22:50] 14Stranger: "I think we could all do to take that advice." [22:50] 13Xia Lan: "You have no concept of tact, that much has been made clear to me in the past. But if you honestly think--" 13She stops herself at Stranger's words, then starts again. "Not a word of this leaves the room." [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's sword is sheathed comfortably at his side, but it's hard not to notice the way it's outlined in a crackling red glow the same as the rest of the Dawn Caste's body. The mercenary's presence fills the room; the very stones tremble nervously, if only for a moment. [22:58] 4von Hrolfus had been languidly slouching in the corner upto this point, with no personal animus against the decision going either way - but he doesn’t take well to being threatened. [23:07] 13She stills, as Keldar threatens. She agreed with him, but -- this is worse than that. [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's eyes sweep the room back and forth. He rests his hand on the hilt of his sword, but it's in the relaxed manner with which someone might settle into an armchair. "If those morons back in the deliberative chamber just absolutely can't get over none of us having a formal position... well, frankly, I think they can. We do have formal positions. I do, anyway." [23:09] 14Stranger's jaw unclenches. "And in the end, I suppose that is what matters." [23:10] 5 Xu Sim's jaw sets, but at the last moment, he flinches back from the Tiger of Nexus, shaking his head and frowning. He takes a seat. [23:10] 13Xia Lan, cautiously: "I still believe my proposal was correct. Though I could defer to more experienced eyes." [23:10] "If you think you'll have to kill me to preserve the freedom of this city, you'd best draw your blade and cut me down right now, Tiger of Nexus. Because that is not who I am. And I think I've amply demonstrated my resolve." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> "I don't think that," 12says Keldar, evenly. The obvious final word goes unsaid for the moment. [23:12] 4von Hrolfus: “Do not presume to threaten me again. I have nothing to lose and have enough in me to do you lasting harm, even should I die.” [23:12] 13Xia Lan, tired beyond her years: "Stop it." [23:12] "This gains us nothing." [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar rounds on Bastian. "Don't presume to make yourself one of the rulers of my city and you've got nothin' to fear." 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> The bell rings. The deliberative is reconvening. [23:14] 5 Xu Sim: "The Tiger of Nexus is mighty, indeed." 5 in a much lower voice: "But strength is not wisdom." [23:14] 14Fantastic. [23:14] 4von Hrolfus gets to his feet and squares his shoulders, raising his voice. “I don’t give a fig for your city of merchants who would sell their grandmothers to the highest bidder! But if you want to-“ [23:15] 13Xia Lan: "Keldar. We can't, won't -" 13Ah. "This doesn't leave the room." [23:15] "Regardless of your true intentions," 13she says, dangerously. [23:16] 4von Hrolfus spits on the ground. “Whatever happens, I won’t forget what happened here Keldar.” He walks out of the room. [23:16] 13She smiles before she opens the door. "If any of you ruins this for us, I will kill you myself." [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Who the hell-" 12he glances sideways as the bell dings. "Ah. Well. Like I said, I don't even think we owe them putting me or Xia Lan on the Council. Ain't militarily relevant, ain't gonna change anything important." [23:16] 14Stranger lingers behind with the Ambassador as the others leave. [23:16] 14Stranger: "I'm sorry you had to see that." [23:16] 14The Ambassador, face drawn tight: "Oh, it's fine. It's just not the same treating with the Chosen of the Sun unless one threatens to kill you." [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But if we do, we'll at least make it temporary." 12When the Tiger of Nexus comes sauntering back into the hall, he's visibly rimmed with a warm red glow. It crackles slightly at the edges as he draws and releases breaths. [23:17] 14Stranger: "He's under a lot of--" [23:17] 14The Ambassador: "He's a dangerous asshole, and I'm worried he'll get you killed." [23:17] 14Stranger: "I can control this." [23:17] 14The Ambassador: "Can you?" [23:18] 5 Xu Sim plucks Twice-Refined Princess from the floor, leaving a damp spot on the stonework. [23:18] 14She strides out. "I'm going to get some air." [23:18] 14Stranger, to the empty room: "Yeah. Good talk, everyone." [23:20] 13Xia Lan settles into her chair, once again the portrait of calm diplomacy, disagreements at least temporarily forgotten. [23:20] 14Eventually, they'll rejoin the others in the Hall. [23:22] 5 Xu Sim silently takes a seat in the row behind the others, gently stroking his dog as he does so. 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Back in the chamber, there's some attention paid to Keldar and Xu Sim's animas, though the first thing the solars notice is that Prince Regent Nogare has taken off his armor, and is wearing the simple dark blue silken robes of office you might see on an anonymous diplomat. [23:24] 14Not a good sign. [23:24] 14Frankly, none of this is good. Nogare said it outright in deliberations -- the offer of joining the Council was meant to fracture the Circle. [23:24] 14And we fucking fractured. [23:25] 13Perhaps we wouldn't have, if certain members hadn't -- ah, point taken. [23:26] 4von Hrolfus takes his seat, his face impassive. 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> The Council files in last, taking their seats. 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle sits in the center, holding the conch. 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "We have agreed our position. The Council of Entities will deputize all unaffiliated Anathema as Emissaries of the city until the war is won. They may choose a representative among themselves to sit on the Council, but they will bear the weight of the office jointly." 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "When the war is won, we will release them from their obligations and honor their heroism." [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar works his jaw around a bit as he listens to this, then nods to himself. 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "Lookshy finds this satisfactory." 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Highland and Thorns are both waiting on the circle's reaction. [23:31] 4“So we lose the seat after risking our lives for you, eh?" [23:31] 13Xia Lan nods, understanding. To be frank, having only one of them responsible for the entire circle's workings would have been difficult... and events in their meeting room have shown that that would have been untenable. [23:32] 14And we were outmanuevered for nothing. 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "We don't see that way. We see it as releasing you from your obligations." [23:32] 14Outwardly, Stranger nods. [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar leans sideways to address the rest of the Circle, such as it is. "I'm in favor. I can take the seat, if none of you want it - but I can't promise much time to see to its responsibilities." [23:32] 14Stranger: "A mortal will fill the seat under this arrangement." 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle inclines his head. "Whatever arrangement you see fit, as regards your voice on the Council." [23:33] "Unless the Council actively wishes to seat Xia Lan." [23:33] 13Xia Lan, to Keldar: "I started off the evening not even considering this, but: I no longer trust anyone else to take my place." [23:33] 5 Xu Sim strokes his dog in silence. [23:33] "If we are all to be seated, others can join me, and I will not object. But I will be there." 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "We have no quarrel with Xia Lan. Seat her if you wish." 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "You will have one vote, collectively." 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "As the Emissary did." [23:34] 13Does. 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> It sounds like they're voting to replace him with you guys. [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar pauses. "Well. I'd trust you to take mine. Just don't fuck things up." [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Remember, the Dogmas trump the Council." [23:35] 14Inspiring. [23:35] 13She verbalizes, then. "You intend to remove the Emissary, then." [23:36] 14Stranger: "The Emissary has made their lack of interest in Council affairs known. One hopes they won't rediscover that interest should they be left in the lurch." [23:36] 13Xia Lan: "...I do not object. I merely ask for clarification." 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "We can't depend on him. The Emissary is acting in his own interests, now. He will do what he will do regardless of what we do. We must give ourselves the best chance to see Nexus survive what comes." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Take the deal or not, but the Emissary is not the Emissary any longer. That was his decision." [23:37] 14Stranger: "I have to agree." [23:38] 13Xia Lan: "...Understood." 13She bows, slightly. "And accepted." 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "So we have settled the question of the unaffiliated Anathema and with it, the question of necromancy. I trust we can all put our faith in these Chosen not to become pawns of Thorns?" 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "Yes. Lookshy withdraws its objections to Thorns's proposal." 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "Highland agrees." 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor, looking like he's eaten himself sick: "Thorns accepts the will of the Deliberative." [23:41] 14Still hard to tell if that's positive or not. [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, glowing a little more softly, looks satisfied. 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "To the next matter, neatly followed: we need to agree a position on the city's resident divinities, none of whom are willing to fulfill their statutory obligations. I refer to The Gray, Dame in Yellow, and the former Emissary." [23:44] 13Xia Lan takes it as a negative that the Governor agrees, but hides it quite well with a sip of tea or some other Council-provided polite disguise that she can use. 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "Why is this a diplomatic question rather than a strategic question?" 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "I'm sorry?" [23:44] 14It means he wants a larger say, Stranger suspects. [23:45] "If it's a strategic question, the generals can expound on the matter." 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "Why do we need a common diplomatic position? Surely the question of how to deploy available resources belongs to field commanders such as Councilor Pellicia, Dragonlord Dorma, myself, and Keldar." [23:45] "As such." 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "They are not simply resources. They are divine beings, with title and privilege that demands we engage them respectfully. You cannot press-gang a god." 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "...as you see it." 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "If the gods are in dereliction, the Wyld Hunt has an obligation to put them right. We are an arm of the Immaculate Faith, and the divine order is our responsibility." [23:47] 14Stranger: "You've had a number of those rejoinders this afternoon, Prince Regent. These 'so you says' are accumulating." 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "People keep saying things." [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "If the Emissary's willing to do his job again, I say he's welcome to it. The rest of 'em... well, I dunno if you can press gang a god, but you can press gang a person and we ain't doin' that." [23:48] 13Xia Lan: "I believe that has already been done." [23:48] 14Stranger smiles. "I can't say that you're wrong." [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You'd think Gray and Yellow'd see sense in pitching in, here, at least enough to lay out what they want in return. If they don't, well... I guess we remember it." [23:49] 14Stranger: "This sounds like a domestic issue to me, outside of the purview of visiting generals. Should it become a strategic issue, they would be invited to participate in a discussion." [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, seems like it's specifically Nexus business." 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "If it's a domestic issue then it's surely not a diplomatic issue. Why entreat with us at all, then?" 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "Why can't the Council simply decide what to do?" [23:50] 14Stranger: "You insisted." [23:51] 14Stranger: "No one on this side of the room wanted to be in this room in the first place, Prince Regent." 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "I allow for the possibility that I won't always get my way." [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar snorts. [23:51] 13Xia Lan, tentatively: "Everything is connected. There is no such thing as a - simply domestic issue." [23:51] 14Stranger: "And I appreciate your magnanimity." 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "The river gods are city residents, but they are regional powers. We see this as a diplomatic problem because we entreat you to help us resolve this diplomatically. Here a weak or poorly-played hand will see them move upriver. Spend the year in Great Forks, friends of the Tribunal that they are. The implications of their withdrawing from the city are enormous. Floods, trade, sanitation..." [23:54] 14Stranger glances over at Xia Lan. If she wants to invite the Lookshyans and Highlanders into this inquiry from the jump, hopefully she has a good reason. 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "It's a diplomatic issue because you want diplomats. But surely this is not the first time you've had to bring the river gods in line. Whose responsibility is that traditionally?" 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "The Emissary's." [23:56] 13Xia Lan: "Then we have arrived at the crux of the matter." [23:58] 13She attempts to minimize any smugness. "The Emissary is no longer trusted with this duty. That much has been made clear. What do you want to happen from there?" 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "It seems to me, then, that the task falls rightly to his replacements." 15[23:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle looks at the circle. 14[23:59] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:59] 13Xia Lan: "I was not asking for my own entertainment." [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We should be able to look into it. I suppose we could mention that losing the city's support might leave them running into someone like Dorma down the line." [23:59] 4“Can these gods aid us against the rakshasas?" [23:59] 14Stranger's beginning to feel pretty good about his choice here. Session Time: Wed Mar 21 00:00:00 2018 [00:00] 13She keeps her stare. "What do you want to happen, from here?" [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "They ain't war gods, but they are gods, and pretty big ones. I expect they might be of more use making sure our water's clean, though." 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "We want the temples open, and the resident gods committed to protecting the rivers and by extension the city. We demand they at minimum fulfill their ordinary duties, and we'd like to bring them fully onside in the war effort." [00:02] 13Xia Lan looks to Stranger and to Xu Sim, helplessly. This isn't in her wheelhouse. She's never dealt with this. 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Udelph, from the back: "Remember that the river-gods fear not the office of Emissary but the man. They are under no legal obligation to obey you, and will remind you of that fact forcefully." 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "Yes, but there is no other course. It's not as if we can go over their heads and write an angry letter to Heaven." [00:03] 5 Xu Sim looks right back at Xia Lan, unhelpfully. You want help from a crazy man? What's that make you? [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar considers this. "Push come to shove, between the lot of us, we should be able to put the fear of man into 'em." [00:05] 14Stranger: "Then we shall have this conversation with them, and we shall see what happens." [00:05] "That is how this works. It's how it has always worked." 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "Excellent. Well, those are I believe the main obstacles to our current preparations. I'd like to propose that we reconvene in a week for a general briefing on our defense readiness and plans for the civilians, which will probably depend on extensive use of the Undercity as shelter. Does anyone have any other business they'd like to discuss today?" [00:08] 14Stranger: "I would like to turn the conch over the Ambassador of Night and Day." 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle passes it on. [00:11] 14The Ambassador stands. "After spending the afternoon with you worthies, my view -- and the view of the Silver Pact -- about the Chosen of the Sun hasn't changed. You remain seductively powerful and entirely untrustworthy to wield that power. Your machinations are as dangerous as they are pathetic, and I'm repulsed by some of what has gone on here today. Nevertheless, the Pact will [00:11] act in defense of the greater good. I will leave to begin organizing this evening, and notice as to our preparations and strategy will be provided through Stranger-Visits-Heaven." [00:11] 14She tosses the conch to Stranger and sweeps from the room. 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma, after she's gone, into the silence: "She's not wrong." [00:12] 14Stranger, holding the conch, sighs. "No. She's not." [00:12] 14He'll hand it to whoever needs it next. [00:12] 5 Xu Sim rolls his eyes at the breast-beating. [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12So does Keldar. [00:13] 14Peas in a pod. 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare, drily: "So she says." [00:14] 4von Hrolfus hides a smile. [00:14] 14Is this like, a conversational tic for this guy? 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle takes the conch back. "...if that's all formal business, I think we're ready to formalize our alliance. Objections?" [00:15] 5 If you say so, Stranger. [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "None here." [00:17] 5 Xu Sim nods his assent. [00:17] 14Stranger: "Let's proceed." 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "Then we are agreed, to unite in defense of Nexus and Creation, to fight fully and freely, to respect our mutual sovereignty, and to honor the agreements we have already made, here and before, for that purpose. We acknowledge that we fight not just for our principalities, but for all humankind. And we swear to uphold this agreement until Nexus is free from mortal peril." [00:22] 14Stranger lifts two fingers and his forehead bursts into golden light as a black-and-gold banner outlines him. "So agreed." [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So agreed." [00:25] 4von Hrolfus: “And if Nexus is free from peril, but the rakshasas still threaten others? Still hold sway over their conquered lands?" [00:26] "Then we deal with that outside the purview of this oath, which guarantee spoils for all parties." 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "Highland is happy to commit now to helping rebuild our neighbors in Deguo. Nexus will have less help for us, since they're going to bear the brunt of the war costs no matter what. We're fighting here, after all." [00:31] 14Oh for the love of-- [00:31] 4von Hrolfus: “Very well, I’m fine with postponing the matter of Deguo until the threat to Nexus has been dealt with.” [00:33] 14Stranger continues to hold his fingers in the air, waiting for everyone else to sign on. [00:34] "So agreed," 5 adds the sorceror. 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare raises his hand. "Highland so swears." 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "Thorns swears." 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "Lookshy swears." 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "On behalf of the Council of Entities, Nexus swears this oath." [00:35] 14When everyone has sworn, Stranger clenches his fist, then opens it -- the geas both dissipates and becomes final. 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "On that note, we're adjourned." [00:40] 14Stranger leans back in his seat and closes his eyes. [00:40] 14He feels the chamber around him. This was so much simpler, once. [00:40] 14That's what makes it so dangerous. [00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar rolls his shoulders back and stands cheerfully out of his seat. Finally taken care of! Time to get to work. 15[00:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma rises, striding out without a word. Lookshy follows. 15[00:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Highland rises behind Nogare, who seems content to linger in the chair a moment longer before rising too. They follow Lookshy out. [00:44] 5 Xu Sim is thinking about something as he rises, returning the Twice-Refined Princess to the ground, leaving stray greasy hairs on the lap of his robe. 15[00:48] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: Meeting the new boss 15[01:16] * Disconnected 15[01:16] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[01:16] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[01:16] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[01:16] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[01:16] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (NickServ (GHOST command used by GreatClownVoxPVoxD)) 14[01:16] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD is now known as VoxPVoxD 14[01:16] * Quits: banana|peels (*.net *.split) 14[01:17] * Joins: banana 14[01:36] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[01:39] * Joins: tom 14[01:43] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:45] * Joins: Crion| 14[02:24] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:05] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[04:05] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[04:05] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[04:17] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[04:17] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[04:17] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[05:07] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[10:04] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[10:48] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[10:52] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:10] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[11:17] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[12:01] * Joins: Crion| 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:05] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:27] * Joins: dammitwho 14[17:29] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 | [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ / [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 .-'-. [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 -- / \ -- [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 `~~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^-=======-~^~^~^~~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~` [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 `~^_~^~^~-~^_~^~^_~-=========- -~^~^~^-~^~^_~^~^~^~` [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 `~^~-~~^~^~-^~^_~^~~ -=====- ~^~^~-~^~_~^~^~~^~-~^~` [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 `~^_^~-~^~~^~-~^~~-~^~^~-~^~~^-~^~^~^-~^~^~^~^~~^~-` [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12A new day dawns across the River Province, and the rays of the sun spill across an eastern threshold unlike one they've ever touched before. [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12For starters, Nexus is in worse shape than it's been in for a while, or so the rumors wending their way across the rivers say. Some sort of burning apparition, many houses tall, haunts its streets night after night, and no one's quite sure why or for how long. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Sorcerous experiments continue to twist, warp, and curdle the essence flows across the river from Great Forks, knitting together in a pulsating cocoon or egg or something that sits precisely between two warring (though at the moment it's a cold war) kruthik infestations. Beneath it, an entire city of the dead waits to plunder or be plundered. 15[20:29] 10You make it sound so unseemly. [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12In Great Forks itself, disasters from pasts forgotten and futures unimagined intersect and refract through each other, tracked only by virtue of the extremely careful note-taking of two extremely careful women. The agent of heaven is on the cusp of a breakthrough, she's sure of it... and is going to want backup. 08[20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Elsewhere, a second circle of Solar Exalted musters as best it can, preparing to leave the river province and head for the south but lingering long enough to see the culmination of Eikichi's working. To the far east, an overrun first age city beckons, and a world-devouring behemoth slumbers uneasily. [20:33] 4Tell you one thing: food out on the front gets repetitive. 08[20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12As the last weeks of Eikichi's magic elapse, Yara's constantly in and out of Blossom's little office near the sunshrine. She's tacking prayer strips and astrological symbols to walls and connecting them with bits of string, sewing reams and reams of graph paper together for the sake of tracking numerical progressions, and - unless Blossom objects - summoning mantis-headed naneke [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12demons to help collate the material. She seems to have a trick where she spits out a small spider, asks it any trivial question, and then receives the answer minutes hence. [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12One concern interrupts matters, a few weeks in, when Yara asks: "Excuse me, but, are your friends actually breeding demons out there in the sticks or something?" [20:53] 4Ha. Haha! You know, there's a really good answer to that question. [20:55] 7Blossom: "Are kruthik demons-as-such or just demon-blooded animals?" [20:55] 13I'm not sure that proper taxonomy was the primary concern... [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Well, technically it's the latter. No one's ever been able to summon and bind one according to the usual protocols. But still!" 08[20:58] 7Blossom: "Not to worry - Eikichi's finishing a working to keep them under iron control." [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara makes a vaguely disquieted noise. "But he's under yours, right?" [21:01] 7Blossom: "Hmm?" [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I mean you'll make sure he's responsible about it." [21:03] "Oh!" 7Blossom nods with understanding. "Naturally. We have to be very careful with these creatures, given how quickly they reproduce." [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "...wait. Wait look here." 12She points at a confluence of numbers and symbols which she's only explained about half of to Blossom, but Blossom herself can read the implications. "The kruthik you're breeding... do any of them fly?" [21:05] 7Do they? [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12By tracking the appearance and disappearance of structural damage, old war wounds, discolored patches in the sky, and so on, Blossom and Yara have managed to put together a rough history of the Princess/Triumverate war. There was an approach across the water... followed by repeated attacks from beneath the ground, which subsided for a time as the Princess's forces seemed to lose [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12cohesion. Finally, a great sinkhole, within which some sort of awful floating necro-monster appeared... [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12...and the answer's no. From what Blossom's seen, Ir's Kruthik only have ground troops, the most advanced of which are these sort of trundling balefire catapults. [21:06] 7Blossom shakes her head. "No. No point, since we're sending them to fight underground." [21:06] 13Grooooooss. [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Hmm... then I might be wrong..." [21:08] 4I mean. We should probably look into getting some that can fly. 15[21:08] 10Good thing Yara asked that now and not a couple of weeks from now. [21:09] 6Then we can say it was her that gave us the idea and make her feel bad on purpose. 08[21:12] 7She frowns in thought, shifting a few papers. "No, no, I think you're right. The retroactive attacks and disasters appear to be mirroring our own efforts. The ground troops can't fly, but I'd bet the control system Eikichi's cooking up will be able to. So... some kind of bizarre sorcery linking Great Forks and the underground necropolis?" [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara jumps up and down a few times. "Oh! Then... then I am right. It's, it's like the past is copying you upside down!" [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12She traces her finger in a few places. "And there's... here, here, here too - yes, these are stable. If, if someone's behind this, they might be hiding in one of these nodes..." 12One of the spots Yara's picked out was literally the central temple of the triumverate, worryingly enough. [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I have to investigate! ...and think of a way to explain to my coworkers how I figured this out..." [21:15] "Excellent! Be careful, though. Don't let our enemy spot you." 15[21:16] 10You gonna make her avoid her own reflection? 08[21:17] 7Yes, Eikichi could tell her how difficult that is. [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Of course not! I'll be in touch. Don't tell anyone!" 12She scurries off. Probably she didn't mean for you to keep this secret from your own circlemates... Right in view of Blossom, one of the mantis demons Yara summoned as bookeepers twitches its mouthparts frenetically before beginning to write something down. [21:17] 7What is it writing? [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12It's very hard to decipher, but you're Excessively Righteous Blossom. The demon scholar's shorthand appears to contain notes that attacks on Great Forks are somehow being caused by the machinations of a circle of Solar Anathema, and that those responsible might be in this temple, that alleyway... [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Is it allowed to do that? I mean, presumably, right? Yara summoned it. 08[21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Either way, Yara only returns a few times before Eikichi's project concludes to report dead ends and some obtuseness on the part of her own circlemates, who she's still adamant Blossom not meet yet. Probably time to head out there and bear witness. [21:21] 7Blossom: "Hey! You! What are you doing?" [21:21] 7Oh, whups [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Naneke have raspy voices. "Notes." [21:22] "For whom?" [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Naneke: "Master. Could be useful." [21:28] 7Blossom's beginning to feel that she's just being paranoid, but she eyes the mantis demon suspiciously. "You're writing those notes for your master, Yarara Yara? Nobody else?" [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a short pause before the bug responds. "Yes." [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Later and elsewhere, something terrifyingly new is just about ready to come into being. It's around noonday, and from east to west, as far as those assembled can see, the two strains of warring kruthik are too frightened to even be snapping at each other - they're just crouching and trembling or trying to burrow beneath the creep. 08[21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's there, aaaalmost ready to unleash... something. What's it look like? 08[21:38] 14What kinda sandwiches is Eikichi into right? 08[21:38] 4What kinda sandwiches is Eikichi into right? 08[21:38] 4What kinda sandwiches is Eikichi into right now? [21:39] 4Words. [21:39] 13They're very difficult! [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12This is an important question to answer, because it'll probably bear on the reactions of your coming visitors. There's a Stormwind Rider in the distance, in which three figures hang - Panther's clearly recognizable even from this far away, and you can catch the glint of sunlight on Arianna's silver hair. [21:39] 7Hmm. Blossom's between a rock and a hard place. She could easily destroy the mantis demon, but that would bring her no closer to learning who it plans to trade or sell this fact to. Destroying it would also require making an explanation to Yara, possibly even an *apology*. Her lips twitch with irritation. "Fine." 7She'll let Yara know what she's learned, and-- Reckoning? Could it [21:39] 7be Wicked Triumph's Reckoning? Hrrh. 15[21:41] 10Right now it looks like a huge membrane stretching about thirty yalms by thirty, held taut and rippling over some indiscernable fluid, within which are the flashes of some writhing synaptic thing swimming around inside. Eikichi is lying on his back in the middle of it, shirtless, soaking up the noontime sun. 15[21:41] 10Does Ir still have some of that brined preserved beef? With the cloves and the peppercorns? [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a few days later that a slightly sleep-deprived Yara stops back in to update Blossom on what she's found thus far (nothing). "Oh, the demon? Don't worry about it. They're expressly forbidden from sharing." [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Or trading or suchlike. They teach you the best phrasings where I'm from." [21:42] 4Indeed. Has a creamy 'mayo' spread and some spicy mustard for it. She suggests salt, pepper, and some horseradish with the mayo. 15[21:42] 10That's the stuff. [21:42] 7Blossom: "Very well, but I still don't trust it." [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "You shouldn't! They're completely treacherous. But also very detail-oriented." 15[21:44] 10Anyway, who's showing up? Is the whole other circle coming? Is Blossom bringing Yara? [21:44] <@Ferrinus> "Good gods!" 12Sounds like Swan, although it's still hard to hear over the whirlwind. It's another minute or so before the three other Solars touch down. [21:45] 4Ir raises a sandwich. With mouth half-full: "Yo. There's food." 08[21:46] "Hrmph. Anyway, Eikichi's finishing up the control system. Would you like to come and see?" [21:47] 6Kruthik business means Tatsuya's around. Through a mouthful of sandwich: "Goof foof." [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "And it'll be... safe? Who else will be there?" [21:49] 7Blossom: "Oh, perfectly safe. Most of our Circle will be there, and some of Arianna's... wait. What's your plan for when the binding evaporates, a year and a day from now?" [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Oh, I just kill them." 08[21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12The ground near Ir and Tatsuya actually shakes a bit as Panther comes leaping down out of the sky to land in a cloud of dust and gravel. The kruthik nearby shrink away, chittering and shrieking. He's frowning. Meanwhile, Arianna's clapping her hands around her mouth to shout at Eikichi: "How long did that take?" [21:54] 4Ir has her three queens maintaining iron discipline over the kruthik here, actually. They'll withdraw, but in an orderly and respectful fashion. [21:55] 6Tatsuya waves his sandwich at Panther, and this time swallows before speaking. "Yo, dude. Want one? Not this one, obviously." 15[21:55] 10Eikichi stretches. It's really fun floating up here, also he might be too high to stand up cleanly, so he doesn't chance it and just sort of slides down the curve of the membrane to land on his bare feet, leaning against the embryonic creature for support. 15[21:55] "As of today it's been a full calendar month." [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, right, if Ir's demanding the queens' attention rather than allowing them to fret at whatever the sorcerer's doing, they're in near-perfect form. Demon insects spread around the falling Panther with the same smooth order as water might ripple around a dropped stone. [21:58] 14They're respectful, but they're not pets and they're not here to do tricks. There won't be any bowing or scraping here; just regimentation. [21:58] 4They're respectful, but they're not pets and they're not here to do tricks. There won't be any bowing or scraping here; just regimentation. [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "What kind of raw material?" 08[21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan's just wincing as Eikichi slides down the length of the thing and puts his bare feet on the creep. Surely- [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara, a few days prior: "Oh, well, um... okay, sure. Don't explain me to anyone who doesn't know me." [22:04] 7Ha! Blossom knew she liked Yara for a reason. Sensible policies. [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Unless Blossom has a better idea, Yara will offer to give her a ride over on a little violet raincloud. 15[22:05] 10Eikichi: "Flesh and principle. All a body needs." [22:06] 4Ehhhhhhhhh close enough. [22:06] 6It's true. [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Must have been a lot of flesh. How much longer?" 12She's bringing the stormwind rider down now, setting it down besides a frowning, arms-crossed Panther. 15[22:07] "Are we all here?" 15[22:08] 10Do we have Panther? Do we have Blossom? [22:08] 7Blossom's here, as is Yara, on a cute little raincloud. [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Yep, there they are, zooming in on a cirrus skiff. Yara's is kind of purplish, as though it was a cloudy late evening wherever it was she summoned it. [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12As soon as Blossom gets off - and, indeed, even if she doesn't - Yara kind of swoops around and pulls back to hover a little away from everyone, peering down at proceedings carefully. Swan gives the tiny Chosen a curious look, while Arianna simply scans the cloud itself quickly and Panther remains focused on the... egg? Cocoon? [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara's most nervous look is reserved, of course, for Tatsuya. [22:11] 6Tatsuya continues to munch on his sandwich. Delicious. 15[22:12] 10Eikichi's sort of sweaty from the immense heat the coccoon is kicking out, and he looks up at Yara running a hand through his mussed-up hair. "You're sure?" 10he says to Blossom, looking up at the cloud. [22:16] 7Blossom nods. "It's important." 7It's also important that everyone see how pretty her boyfriend is. None of them - NONE of them - have achieved this level of power! 15[22:17] 10Eikichi shrugs. "She want a sandwich?" 14[22:17] * Joins: hrolfy 15[22:17] 10He calls up, "Do you want a sandwich?!" [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara rocks back a little. She calls back down, quietly - she doesn't seem to get how this works, and you have to strain a bit to hear - "What kind?" 15[22:18] 10Eikichi: "Pasu-torami!" [22:19] 4Being hot isn't the only thing that's important in a boyfriend. Also Ir probably couldn't deal with her boyfriend being hotter than her. [22:19] 6There's ways to solve that problem. Just saying. [22:20] 4Ir's current boyfriend turns into this fucked-up hyena thing. She's got being the hot one in the relationship locked down. [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara looks left and right carefully, as if she could somehow check the correctness of this action by the shape of the horizon. Finally, she calls back down: "14yes" [22:22] 4Speaking of, Arakesh has probably been 'around' as much as his schedule permits, though both of them agreed he'd be best off taking a rain check on this particular luncheon. [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12He's been hard to get ahold of - some kind of deep cover in the Spires of Pyrron. He's been able to meet with Ir at least once, though, and the news is as follows: heaven is getting far more entangled with the underworld than anyone would've put past it as little as a year ago. [22:24] 4Oh, yeah. They definitely spent, like, upwards of five minutes talking about that. [22:24] 6That's extremely normal and not concerning at all. 15[22:24] 10I wonder why that is. [22:25] 6Is it because we make good decisions that never ever backfire on us even a little? [22:25] 4Obviously. 15[22:26] "Anyway. So a kruthik hive emanates from these--" 10He points at the large pulsing structures down the way, nearer the rift. "The sensory membrane that expands across the ground comes from these, the kruthik larvae all spawn here, and in terms of group consensus it's the seat of the hive's appetites and instincts. Sort of the po of the swarm." [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna's nodding along. Swan looks like he's heard it before; Panther looks like he's refused to. Yara is taking tiny bites out of a sandwich. 15[22:28] "And executive control is exerted by these kruthik here, what we call queens, who are affiliated to specific, I've been calling the kruthik hatcheries 'nexuses' for want of a better word. And for a unitary hive, the system works pretty well. The nexus and the queen combine to produce a single decisionmaking body that extrapolates over the entire swarm, everything from hunger to ambition to hope, bottom to top, like this." [22:29] 4Ir: "Works pretty well, so long as you maintain direct hierarchical control." 15[22:31] "The problem arises when we get multiple hives in the same territory, or multiple queens attached to the same hatchery. While the kruthik as share one consciousness as a host, the more sophisticated and complex the kruthik, the more complex and powerful their minds. Two kruthlings left to their own devices might fight each other for a scrap of minerals or a gas vent. Two queens, though -- two queens can argue." 15[22:31] "Arguing is much scarier than fighting." [22:31] 4Life motto. 15[22:34] 10Eikichi: "The kruthik naturally lapse into fights for dominance to establish consensus. The simplest solution I found to that problem was to institute, like Ir says, another layer of hierarchy. And because of the implicit psychic structure of a swarm, the easiest place to seat that consciousness is in the nexus. So that's where I started. I wanted to begin with a nexus that could hold both a hun and a po, so to speak. A single coherent kruthik cerebrate." [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna's got a brow quirked and a fingernail tapping on her lower lip now. [22:37] 6Tatsuya pops the last of his sandwich in his mouth and licks any remains off his fingers. "How coherent are we talking, here?" 15[22:38] 10Eikichi takes frequent pauses, in the manner of someone playing for time. "One mind. One will. A sort of queen of queens." 15[22:38] "Master of the swarm, subordinate to us." 15[22:39] 10He turns around, then, backing away from the membrane and coming to stand parallel with the others. "Right... about... now." 15[22:42] 10That moment, the membrane ruptures, a ridged and pulsing mass unfolding from the skin that's shed its snake. Huge chitinous claws ring-fence the beating heart of a new hive, rising higher than its rivals and curling closer. 15[22:42] "IT LIVES!" 15[22:42] "And now..." 10Eikichi sweeps a sweaty arm over the swarms gathered around. "It assumes control." [22:46] 7Neat! [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12It's easily double, perhaps triple, the height of the suddenly-lesser hatcheries around it. Five great segmented hooks of chitin surround it like the talons of a massive dragon, contracting and expanding as one might limber their fingers. Long grooves and tendrils spiral down from the top of the structure, interweaving around symmetrically-arranged armored plates and spheres of [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12glowing fluid. At the very top is a circular mouth of sorts, filled with bristling fangs that spiral down into darkness and surrounded by a quintet of hooks that mirror the huge limbs ringing the structure. 08[22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12It's the dull reddish brown of unaspected kruthik flesh for a moment before the sunlight catches it just right, and then Eikichi's working is suddenly highlighted with patches deep, rich orange. The air around it ripples. Waves of palpable psychic essence wash off it and go thrumming out through the greater hive, and as they do the lesser kruthik respond. 14[22:48] * Joins: hrolf_mac [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Some merely twitch, others struggle a bit, and the queens in particular have idiosyncratic reactions - this one shivers, that one shrieks, the third simply arches back as though basking in the sun. 15[22:49] 10Almost to himself: "The Principle of Hierarchy is thus: there is always a greater power." [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12With about the same speed as the new hive-structure's mental power washed out across the field, but about two or three seconds delayed, there's a wave of color. Chromatophores in the carapaces of Ir's kruthik shift and rotate themselves in just the right ways. Now the entire hive cluster is the same shade of orange. [22:49] 6Tatsuya looks up at it, then looks down to gauge the reactions of the other Circle. [22:50] <@Ferrinus>  12The voice is in your heads.  12And there's a pressure behind them, a steady mental force which doesn't subside just because the kruthik all around have already succumbed to it. It feels... no, it doesn't really work. Doesn't catch, so to speak - it has no purchase on your brains. [22:51] 7Blossom keeps her eye on the horizon. Now would be the perfect time for an ambush, or an assassination attempt. [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12The cerebrate: <--all now obey. All now embrace the glory that is my birthright. All shall serve as I serve in turn.> [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "What have you-" [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12The cerebrate:  [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara's frozen mid-sandwich. Something seems to be bothering her besides the obvious, but at the moment she daren't vocalize. [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Built-in loyalty? Hmm." [22:55] 6It's really weird, suddenly having a third voice in your head. 15[22:55] 10Eikichi cracks his knuckles. "Of course, the problem here is, it can't move. What use is this if we need to repel a kruthik incursion somewhere else? What use is this if the kruthik can mount a viable army against Mahalanka? It works, here, and in this position it can push kruthik evolution faster and farther than mere flesh-sculpting could manage." 15[22:58] "Evolution is a thousand crooked roads forward. And today the kruthik will march forward across the sky." 10Eikichi throws his arms upward. "ARISE, JORMUNGAND!" 15[22:59] 10The hive splits open as the membrane did, spilling out before the assembled Chosen as one contiguous mass of claw-rimmed flesh. It twitches like a sheet of living muscle, filling a vast roughly triangular shape, with its widest point facing forward and a rough tail hanging behind. 15[22:59] 10The air stirs. The essence stirs. It breathes. 15[23:00] 10And Jormungand takes to the sky. 15[23:00] 10Soon the circle stands in its shadow. [23:00] 6... [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12You can still see the shape of the hive in it. Four of the great, jointed talons sweep forward, stitched together by membrane. The fifth curls backwards like a scorpion's tail. The mouth of the super-hatchery is now the mouth of the huge, manta-esque creature that the super-hatchery's become. Patches of chitin and spheres of glowing tissue run in curving lines down the lengths of [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12the wings. [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12One of them shivers, then bursts. A tiny version of the cerebrate - a regular drone, actually - goes sliding down the wing before parachuting down to the ground. It nestles itself into the creep right where the cerebrate lay, beginning the long process of transmogrifying into a replacement hatchery, while Jormungand itself banks slowly to drift across and survey its territory. 15[23:05] 10Eikichi: "It can store material in these sacs along its spine, accumulating biomass and liquid heredity. It can spread from the air, though obviously what you can carry doesn't get you as far as what you can mine." [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12A slow rumbling ripples through the sky. Then a second, differently-pitched rumbling joins it. A third... is this music? It's echoing through the creep, maybe through the very ground. It's building towards... something. [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqlddXTcRWQ [23:05] 7Hmm. Zeal will need some kind of roosting spire for Jormungand, but-- wait. What's that? 15[23:08] 10Eikichi: "It was surprisingly hard to get a set of human-intelligible vocal cords into the structure. They always either blow out, or are inaudible, or simply amplify the background noise of its anatomy. Cords big and sturdy enough to support communication won't form clean words. But they can make music." 15[23:08] "It can speak in music, as well as our minds. And we can speak to it the same way." [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12It's certainly causing a building frenzy of activity. The newly-orange kruthik back on the ground are finally starting to mingle, and they waste no time sniffing at each other or exchanging food - they're settling into formations, reopening collapsed tunnels. 15[23:09] "It can use its own biomass to generate harvesting drones and attack drones, though because of the constraints that flight puts on its body these brood-lings have severely truncated lifespans. I don't have a name for them. In my notes I've been referring to them as 'mules'." [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "It's brilliant! Not that I'd do it that way." [23:11] 7Blossom looks at Ir with alarm. "Wait! Don't have it attack yet!" [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12While Ir sees to this, Panther snorts. "No less than I expected. You think this thing is... trustworthy, Arianna?" [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "Well, yes and no. You see, it's not a demon." 12Panther quirks a brow. [23:15] 6Tatsuya: "And that is... a problem?" 08[23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12The other Twilight Caste continues. "It's a sorcerous construct - like a golem, or a chimera. Built, no doubt, to exacting specifications - I can tell that Eikichi here's spared no expense. Still, you make one of these things... and then you set it loose, pretty much. And kruthik, in particular, have some very tenacious hungers... and are given to rapid evolution." [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "If this was truly a demon, like my Leena, you could bind it with sorcery. Absolute, unbreakable loyalty! As is... well. It's a little more exciting, isn't it?" 15[23:16] 10Eikichi: "Because it synthesizes appetite and aspiration in one psychic body, it can control its swarms' appetites." [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "But what of its own? It's spun from the same stuff, isn't it?" 15[23:17] 10Eikichi: "We can control its appetites." 08[23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther: "Are you saying this thing could slip control? If we must-" 12Arianna: "Oh, calm down. Eikichi's not a fool. I'm sure he has failsafes in mind." [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "I just would've done it differently." [23:18] 6Don't say anything about how well that worked before, don't say anything about how well that worked before... 15[23:18] 10Eikichi: "With too short a leash, the kruthik would be confined not just by the limits of our morals but by the limits of our imaginations. We must give them room to have a better idea." [23:19] 4Ir: "Jormungand here wants to do a...live test." [23:19] "An invasion of this undercity." [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna: "An idea which very much captures the imagination, though I imagine most would prefer to see how it works out from about a direction away." [23:19] "I am, of course, holding the leash here." [23:20] 7Blossom hisses at Ir urgently: "Not yet!" [23:20] 4Ir rolls her eyes. "I know not yet." 15[23:20] 10Eikichi: "It also has the ability to pressurize the heredity of its subordinate swarms. Accelerate their growth, push development in new directions, experiment by deciding what materials are and are not appetizing to the host." [23:20] "We haven't even properly finished lunch." 15[23:21] "And it's an able field commander in its own right. Not a patch on Ir, of course, but it's worth listening to all the same." [23:22] 4Ir summons Iscariot and begins playing something calming...but tense and sinister, nonetheless. A call to lurk in wait. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kojkKoZcs0 [23:24] 7Blossom lets out a little sigh of relief. Ir's sensible, obviously, and Blossom's sure she had nothing to worry about on that score. But hoo boy, that was a close one. 14[23:26] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara, incidentally, looks slightly relieved at seeing the cerebrate take to the skies. After that she starts looking worried again, but in a more low-key, existential way. 15[23:28] 10Eikichi finally remembers Yara exists. "Mm? Something wrong?" 15[23:28] "Too much horseradish?" [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "What? Oh! N-no, it's fine. I was just... checking some things." [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan glances curiously at the small Chosen again. Arianna and Panther seem to be too busy talking to each other. 15[23:30] 10Eikichi: "Did anyone ever tell you that you were an excellent liar, Yara?" [23:30] 6Tatsuya looks over to her. "That's the second time you've looked worried like that. What's the real issue?" [23:30] 4No such thing as too much horseradish. Ir's eyes are closed, however, and she's engaged in a duet with the great flying behemoth. 08[23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12She looks between Eikichi and Tatsuya, then shifts her weight to bring the cloud she's sitting on down to ground level. "There's some kind of connection between what you're doing here and what's going on - what went on - in Great Forks." 15[23:31] 10Eikichi: "What do you mean?" [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "It's like... you're unconsciously re-enacting the invasion. Or Great Forks is changing in response to your invasion. Blossom, can you...?" 15[23:32] 10Eikichi: "Is this about how the upside-down is a geomantic mirror of the city?" [23:32] 7Blossom: "Exactly. Every action we take with the kruthik and the necropolis now, is being mirrored in the past with the Princess' invasion." 15[23:33] 10Eikichi shrugs. "So instead of leveling the city let's rebuild it." [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "It's more than that. The two places' fates are linked in a way I've never seen before." [23:33] "There didn't used to be a flying necrobeast that assaulted the city from the skies... until Jormungand was created, and then it always had been." [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "No, that might be worse- or maybe not, I don't know. I mean, Great Forks definitely was attacked! If you make it not-attacked you might screw things up worse!" [23:34] 6Tatsuya: "That's..." 6He scratches his head. "I don't understand how that could possibly happen." 15[23:34] 10Eikichi: "By that logic the only safe thing to do is nothing." [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I already told this to Blossom, but my job in Great Forks is to find whatever's causing this.. mixup, or tangle, or something, and put an end to it." [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Blossom and I have almost found them... if we can just, you know, take 'em out, then maybe you can proceed here and it'll all be fine." 15[23:35] 10Eikichi: "Twisting fate?" 15[23:35] "My first guess would be you." [23:35] 4Ir stops humming for a moment: "So if we attack the upside-down, we create an assault just as potent as our own against Great Forks in the past." [23:35] 7Blossom nods. "It has something to do with how the Trinity beat back the invasion in the first place." [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "What! Nooo! No. I'd never do that. That's the opposite of my job!" 15[23:36] 10Eikichi: "So is being our friend." [23:36] 6Tatsuya: "We are dealing in mirrors, here." [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "That's not - I mean, that's arguably - you shouldn't say that!" 15[23:36] 10Eikichi: "So I've heard." 15[23:36] "Anyway... what do you know so far?" [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I think there are..." 12She frowns, waves a few people closer and makes sure that the other Circle is distracted. "...there are illegal, heretical Chosen somewhere in Great Forks. They're behind this." 15[23:38] 10Eikichi: "Ooooh." 15[23:38] "How illegal?" 15[23:38] "Like, more illegal than us?" [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Highly! You're just, um, extremely irresponsible." [23:39] 4Ir would say 'it's not a contest' but, of course it is. [23:39] 6Tatsuya: "Aww, thanks." [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "These are - oh, um, heh, that's, I. Okay." [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I was saying, these are affronts to heaven! They screw everything up just by being around. Why they're hiding here I don't know." [23:41] 7Blossom: "Small Chosen. You know, like Czaliphenya? Except the license to make these is stolen and sold on the black market." 15[23:41] 10Eikichi: "Why are they so hard for you to find them?" 15[23:41] "Black market Chosen??" [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "They're inherently unpredictable. It's not impossible to pin them down, but, well, Blossom can tell you. We've been putting our heads together for weeks." 15[23:43] 10Eikichi: "So they're either totally occulted from the most potent genius the Incarna can inspire, or they're out somewhere having fun." [23:43] 7Blossom takes another bite of her sandwich and waves a hand. "We've had to correlate small changes in the past, glitches in cause and effect - we've managed to narrow the source down to a few auspicious areas. Or unauspicious, I suppose." [23:44] "One of which being the Trinity's sanctum." [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Not totally! We'll get 'em. And if you can help me... that might help me talk my boss around on you. You specifically, at least." [23:44] 6Tatsuya: "Man, I'm pretty jealous. Incredible at sneaking around, changing things behind the scenes, and the most illegal kind of Chosen?" 6He shakes his head. "Losing out on both Best Crime and Most Crime, here." 15[23:46] 10Eikichi: "You've lost track of the Exigence?" [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "You can't say that so accusingly! That's not my job!" 08[23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12She Chosen of Endings blinks and then leans back forward, pointing at Eikichi. "It's actually yours! Isn't it? You're the one whose patron isn't being careful enough here-" [23:47] 4Ha! Probably true. 15[23:47] 10Eikichi: "The difference is I don't work for my patron." 15[23:48] "As a matter of divine principle, I'm basically unemployable." [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Well, well, well I do perfectly good work for mine and this was outside my remit until very recently, okay." 15[23:49] 10Eikichi: "So one of your predecessors screwed up and left you to clean up a mess with incomplete information." 15[23:49] "That keeps happening to you. Have you noticed that?" [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "No! That's not what's - what's going on here, okay, is that someone else in heaven, totally outside my department, did something extremely unwise, and there's just no one else properly on call." [23:50] 4Heaven kinda sucks at this. [23:50] 4Wonder how much of that is by design. [23:50] 6Tatsuya: "That's, uh. Not actually better...?" [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Well... it's pretty bad, yes. But you can't pin it on me or my boss, at least." [23:51] 7Blossom: "The point *being*, we need to take this small Chosen out of the picture and ensure fate runs smoothly before we can eliminate the necropolis." 15[23:51] 10Eikichi: "You sound like someone stuck in the Thousand Scales." 15[23:51] "Yeah, everything's broken and no one knows what's going on, but leave my career out of it." [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara nods eagerly to Blossom. "Yes, yes, exactly. If some of you can help me scout them out and, um, and um kind of assassinate them then everything will be fine." 15[23:52] 10Eikichi: "Kind of assassinate them." [23:52] 6Tatsuya: "Sounds like I'm up, then." [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Well... very assassinate them." [23:52] "That'd be the idea." 15[23:52] "In exchange for which we get what." 08[23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara, to Tatsuya: "Oh, would you? You'd be good at it. You'd definitely-" 12she glances to Eikichi. "Well, I said. This, this is your in. Right? My, uh, all the higher ups, they're doing all these crazy things because they're scared of you and think you're just going to wreck everything." [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "But if I can show my circlemates how you helped me - maybe introduce you to my boss..." 15[23:54] 10Eikichi: "But if you're getting stranded with impossible jobs with so little support that you need to lean on the Anathema, how much can we count on your word going up the chain anywhere that matters?" 15[23:54] "How good a word can you put in when you had to say yes to this?" [23:54] 4Pretty sure they're thinking all those things because they're incredibly correct about us. [23:55] 6Tatsuya: "Frankly it sounds like a great way to get even more stuff dumped on you that you'll be expected to fix." 15[23:55] 10Eikichi is very responsible, in that there are numerous atrocities he's responsible for! [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Listen, if I can toss a couple Getimian heads onto someone's office floor they're going to start paying attention to me." 15[23:55] "A couple what?" [23:55] 6Tatsuya: "Well, yeah, stains the carpet. Rude." [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Oh, that's what we're calling them. I don't know who coined it." 15[23:57] 10Eikichi: "So we have to find them, when they're invisible to Heaven. And we have to kill them, when they're invisible to Heaven." [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I'll be there! And they're not completely invisible. They're just... confusing. I'm not exactly sure what to expect, to be honest with you." [23:58] 4Ir: "And we can't use the Kruthik, due to the nature of their power." 15[23:58] 10Eikichi: "What do you know about them?" [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara scratches the side of her head. "Maybe if you bring the kruthik into Great Forks it'll do future damage to the upside down...? But no that's definitely a bad idea." [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "They're extremely elusive, they're hostile to heaven and the gods, they disorder fate just by being around. No one who's fought one tells the same story." 15[23:59] 10Eikichi: "Isn't that just us?" Session Time: Thu Mar 22 00:00:00 2018 [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Umm... well, I mean, not as literally." [00:00] 6Tatsuya: "Still feeling pretty jealous." 15[00:00] "Do you know why they're hostile to Heaven and the gods? What'd you do to them?" [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara shrugs. "I think their Essence might just drive them insane." 15[00:01] 10Eikichi: "..." [00:01] 7Blossom: "Well, if they're not supposed to exist...?" [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Yeah, like... everyone's heard of black market Exaltations that really screw up whoever breathes them in. That's just a theory I've heard, though. No one really knows." 15[00:02] 10Eikichi: "It's the theory that makes it easiest to kill them on sight, so it's got that going for it." [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Anyway. Um. Blossom knows where to find me - I've narrowed places down enough that I think I can find them in the next few days." 14[00:07] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [00:10] "Good. Anything else?" [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Not immediately. Besides, um, please be careful with these...?" 15[00:11] 10Eikichi: "We're extremely careful." [00:11] 6Tatsuya: "We've never not been careful." [00:11] 7Blossom: "We will." 15[00:11] 10To Yara: "Can I have a word in private before you go?" 08[00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Um, sure." 12She walks along beside Eikichi, except on her cloud as though it's a road hovering at around the sorcerer's waist level. 15[00:14] 10Eikichi waits until they're a bit away. "What's it going to take to put him back in that hole?" [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara thinks. "My supreme elders need to be convinced that they don't need him to maintain order in Creation." 15[00:15] 10Eikichi: "And they think he's good for what, exactly?" [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Intelligence on the anathema and the underworld, sealing oaths, casting magic. He's not a craftsman but he might lead them to some they can use." 15[00:18] 10Eikichi: "...okay." 15[00:18] 10Eikichi: "...okay." 15[00:20] "We're going to help you with the stolen Chosen. But I want something in return. I want every piece of information you can get me on what he's up to, what decisions he makes, when and where and how he demonstrates his value to Heaven. Can you do that?" [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara can't actually square her chin, but she at least makes the equivalent motion. "I can. I'm not... on that team, you understand. But there are ways." [00:21] 4There are always ways. 15[00:22] "Good. Thank you." [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12When Yara makes her way off, Panther, Swan, and Arianna rejoin you to exchange a few parting words. Swan: "Your... cerebrate. Arianna's got a point. You've built it perfectly, but it's not bound, right?" [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "I could swear it to you, if you like." 15[00:24] 10Eikichi: "At that point why not just enslave it outright?" [00:24] 4Ir:"We will take responsibility." [00:24] 4Ir: "We will take responsibility." [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "All in the wording. I'm just making the offer." [00:25] 7Blossom: "Swearing an oath isn't the same as slavery, surely? All soldiers swear oaths to their commanders." 15[00:25] 10Eikichi: "Swearing magically binding oaths is just mind control without the security. It's a weak compromise." 15[00:26] "We treat with it as an ally or we command it as a pet. I'm not here to split differences." 08[00:26] 4Ir: "I'm with Eikichi on this." [00:26] "And I think our voices are the ones that matter." [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna looks bemused while Panther's suspicious. Swan, of course, nods evenly. "Just so, then. I just felt I had the duty to make the offer." 15[00:27] "We appreciate it." [00:28] 6Tatsuya: "Panther, bud, you sure you don't want a sandwich before you go? We've got leftovers." 08[00:28] 7Blossom's a bit miffed, but she's not going to argue with her Circle and especially Eikichi in front of Arianna and the others. Besides, this was the side of the issue she wanted Eikichi on with Usagi and Sondok. Consistency is important. Even if it means... giving ground. [00:28] "They're very good sandwiches." [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Swan: "In any event - we thank you for your hospitality, and of course, again, for the enormous services you've done our Circle. However we might do things differently, we still owe you a great debt, and once our own Circle's whole again we'll be sure to pay it back." [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther considers the proposition. "...happily." 12He reaches out for one. [00:30] 7Blossom'll hand one over, then. [00:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Arianna's begun shaping the Stormwind Rider. Swan: "That said, we must needs head south. Fortunately, we've both the magic we need to stay in touch." [00:34] 7Blossom stands and waves a hand in farewell. "You're always welcome." [00:34] 6Tatsuya: "Stay frosty." 6He gives a halfhearted wave and eyes some of their leftover sandwiches. Could have another... [00:34] 4Can always make more. [00:34] 4Ir gives the departing solars a half-salute, but will meet Panther's eyes and nod firmly. [00:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Panther nods back, going so far as to offer a firm handshake to anyone who'll accept one - certainly Ir and Blossom. Afterwards, the Stormwind Rider catches and whirls into full prominence, and your sister Circle has taken to the air. [00:36] 4Ir will accept the handshake. [00:36] 4Simply, once they're gone: "I like them." [00:36] "Yes, that went well." [00:36] 4Ir: "Even Arianna." 15[00:36] 10Eikichi: "They're very decent people." 15[00:37] "You have to worry about letting a moral void of a sorcerer lead them around, though." [00:38] 4She looks over at him for a moment. "You did that on purpose." 15[00:39] 10Eikichi: "Did what on purpose?" 08[00:39] 7Blossom takes a few bites of her sandwich, looking thoughtful. After a moment, she begins to chew more slowly, and her eyes widen. She pats her armor, near-frantic, until she manages to find parchment and a pen. "Eikichi! Turn around really quick!" 15[00:39] 10Eikichi turns around really quick. [00:39] 4She would have answered, but he had to turn around really quick. [00:39] 4And besides, he knows anyway. [00:39] 6Tatsuya looks Ir dead in the eyes and just shrugs helplessly. 08[00:41] 7Apparently she needed something sturdy to draw on. She puts the parchment on his back and begins scribbling quickly. "Ahahaha, there!" 7She examines the finished work for a moment, then stage-whispers to Eikichi, holding the parchment out to him: "14Look--" 15[00:43] 10Eikichi takes it. [00:43] 7What Blossom's drawn, somewhat crudely given her haste and her unconventional drawing board, looks like a cross between a beastman and a lalafell, extremely catlike in nature. The creature's adorable, and she's added a little speech bubble to indicate it saying "Nya!", and a label in Old Realm that relies on a pun that roughly translates to 'Palico'. 15[00:43] "...!!!" 15[00:43] "Aaaaaah-" [00:43] "I KNOOOOW" [00:44] 4Ir: "...?" [00:44] 6Tatsuya: "Should I be worried?" 15[00:45] 10Eikichi: "Can you even imagine how Ying will react?" 15[00:45] 10Then he hears Tatsuya. "Huh?" [00:46] 6Tatsuya: "Uh. Should I be worried? I guess not...?" 15[00:46] 10Eikichi: "Do you hate incredibly good ideas?" 15[00:46] "If you do, then you should be worried." [00:46] "I have been accused of that before." [00:46] 4Ir: "You seem biased." 15[00:47] 10Eikichi, beatifically: "My closeness enlightens me. [00:48] 7Blossom: "It's an extremely good idea. Don't tell Ying." 15[00:48] 10Eikichi nods. 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It wasn't easy, and it wasn't pretty, aside from Xia Lan, but what they have brought together hopefully no one will tear asunder. [20:07] 14Wow. The Ambassador gets no respect. 15[20:07] Needed to modify both prior clauses. [20:07] 14Wow. [20:10] 13Unbelievable. No respect. 15[20:10] Now for the hard part: mustering Nexus, its residents, and its occupiers into something that can survive an invasion or a siege. To that end, multiple issues demand the new Emissaries' attention, from long-standing engagements to mysteries to the bare fact of their new jobs. 15[20:10] What comes first? [20:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's ready and rarin' to ransack what's probably his own preincarnation's tomb. He just needs to make sure that mercenary coordination and militia training is ticking along smoothly enough that it can last a couple days without his direct supervision. [20:13] 14For Stranger, what comes first -- after seeing the Ambassador off later that evening, because for all the pomp and drama of her exit from the Deliberative, of course she stuck around for one last haute cuisine dinner with Stranger uncomfortably dressed up -- is a general checking-in with his particular allies, starting with Tsuka, then Old Selin, and then Bubo. [20:13] 13We probably ought to check on the guy whose job we took. Do we know where the former (imposter?) Emissary is? [20:13] 14Following that, he'll be more attentively pursuing what he's already put Bubo up to: research and investigation into the state of the former Emissary. 15[20:19] The former Emissary, who really needs a more concise name, has been sighted out and about enforcing justice in the same nasty, brutish, and short way he dispensed with Brueghel. It's not uncommon to wake up to smoking craters in the street or smears of viscera across the stone that used to be transgressors against the Dogmas and Civilities. 14[20:19] * Joins: tom [20:20] 14Something will have to be done. 15[20:20] But what is to be done? [20:20] 14Especially since this creature is no longer under color of law. [20:20] 13Then... we ought to stop him. Possibly with violence. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Are they consistently transgressors against the Dogmas and Civilities? 15[20:20] It's true; now the Emissary works under the same bloody red that bathes the whole city from Balor's star. [20:21] 14Stranger will approach by two prongs: the first is to research the actual legal process by which to prevent the creature from enforcing the city's Dogmas and Civilities, even if he is doing so under 'proper' interpretations. 15[20:21] Well... it's hard to answer that. It's not like the former Emissary fills out paperwork for the people he annihilates. Needless to say it is legal, or appears so! [20:21] 14This is the prong of lesser importance. It barely matters. [20:21] 14The second prong is to figure out the why and how -- the material circumstance -- surrounding the creature. [20:22] 14Only then will we be able to proceed, and craft the legal reasoning for whatever it is we decide we wish to do to resolve the situation. [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12'cause if it's thieves and rioters and so on who are getting pasted, well... good? Keldar'd hate to have to enforce the Dogmas against... well, against Balor, right? It'd certainly be a problem before he got himself properly kitted out. [20:22] 14It's the principle of the thing. [20:23] 14And everyone else should definitely go get kitted out. [20:24] 13Well, if Stranger is sure that he can handle the Emissary investigation without any backup in case things go awry. [20:25] 14Stranger's made friends and frankly we're not prepared to fight this creature anyway. If he fucks up it's best that the rest of the new Emissary team is not present. [20:26] 13...like, really sure. One hundred percent. Because hanging out with the terrifying Keldar, the... disagreeable Xu Sim, and, well, Tsuka's okay, is not exactly Xia Lan's idea of an enjoyable afternoon. [20:27] 14If she'd like to send Tsuka down there alone with them, well. Keldar can probably do a decent enough job protecting him. [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12It's probably early morning on a weekend that Keldar sets to begin the actual expedition. By the time the sun's risen, he's already set up right outside the door of the Tomb of Red-Hot Iron, carefully arranging the contents of a knapsack and utility belt of sorts while also fiddling with the straps on a suit of custom-fitted plate armor, one that seems to have been thinned and and [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12cut out slightly so as to minimize its ability to trap heat. [20:27] 14Not that it'll be his priority. [20:27] 13When you put it like that, she's got to go. [20:28] 14It's also Stranger's opinion that she should get familiar with her new swords and that, frankly, it'd do her some good to hit something that isn't him or Xu Sim. [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's got a bandolier of throwing knives and what appear to be three different swords - iron, steel, and silver, just in case. Some weird supplies in his pack, too - lodestones on string, bits of colored powder, sparkly little marbles which have been alchemically treated so as to shriek if they fall a great enough distance at a time. [20:28] 14Regardless of how much either party might deserve it. 15[20:29] Then two questions present themselves: who is Keldar bringing, and where does Stranger go first? [20:30] 14Stranger goes first to the kitchen to grab his kettle and two bags of tea, then to the corner Floodwater bakery for a loaf of bread and some jam, and finally, via sapphire amulet, travels to Bubo's current fountained hideaway. [20:31] 14It's fairly early the morning after the Deliberative summit, and he wants to touch base with the man quickly. [20:31] 14As well as have breakfast. [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar should have Xia Lan, Xu Sim, and Cathak(shh!!) Tsuka. If he didn't have a trio of Chosen to call on there'd be a much larger team assembling, but with this kind of firepower on hand he doesn't need the small army of footmen, machinists, occultists, and haulers that ventures like these usually call for. [20:32] 13On the day of the tomb raid, Xia Lan is dressed in an outfit she hasn't worn in a long time. It's low quality, and loose-fitting, looking more at home in the desert sands than the streets of Nexus or a tomb below them, but its simple design doesn't inhibit her movement in the slightest. She's got her hair tied back away from her face, and the paired hook swords Before and After strapped to her back. There's a little pouch and a [20:32] flask on her waist, and she moves with a quiet menace. [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12There is a small support team of Green Apples and professionals that Keldar's worked with before gathered outside the tomb with food, medical supplies, and so on, but they aren't meant to follow the Chosen inside; they'll stand ready to either receive injured people staggering out of the tomb or coordinate large-scale looting once the place has been deemed safe. [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, 'looting'... no need to strip the jade out of the walls if they're Keldar's walls. Still, Keldar imagines there'll at least be a few objects he wants to drag up out into the open, eventually. Gotta get the Guild to give that light fixture back, too. [20:33] 14Might want the jade to make purchases through the Guild, to be honest. [20:33] 14Best to be prepared. 15[20:37] Keldar, in preparation, gets the invoice he wanted from the Guild, a list of supplies and valuable materiel the Guild hopes to see recovered. In addition to any surviving personal effects (for their families, you see) and if possible their corpses, there's also an array of expensive and magical objects that Keldar and co. are free to make use of but also expected to return if found. [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar goes over these with his assembled Chosen compatriots. "...and two suits of normal armor, not unlike what I've got on here. Frankly I don't have high hopes for gettin' those back intact, but keep your eyes peeled." 15[20:40] Stranger finds Bubo in the hall of a hundred fountains, rubbing his hands by a small fire burning in a stack of papers laid on the stone. [20:41] 13Xia Lan: "We'll see. We're free to use it until the tomb is cleared, yes?" [20:41] 5 Xu Sim isn't paying much attention to what Keldar is saying, but instead is pacing about, muttering softly to himself, deep in thought. [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yep. Conceivably after, but they'll want something in exchange." [20:42] 13Xia Lan: "Hmm." 13Peeling armor off a corpse and repurposing it as your own is distasteful, but so is tomb raiding. 15[20:43] In addition, the Thresold Company and its factor have produced for Keldar and his cohort a crystal of flecked blue and black quartz. Keldar's used things like this in the past, the sort of half-formed hearthstones that come out of damaged or ruined manses. This one will provide, for a time, inoculation against the elements. [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12The mercenary looks around. "Typically I'm a pretty good authority on basically anything that you can find down inside one of these, and maybe being the reincarnation of this particular demon king gives me a bit of an edge. But I'd trust Xia Lan over me when it comes to traps and navigation, and Xu Sim 'bout any magic down there, so their word goes if there's no time to discuss." 15[20:44] Bubo looks up as Stranger enters. "Good morning." [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12How's the hearthstone work? Does it only protect its holder, or a radius around them, or...? [20:44] 13She nods politely at the praise, but doesn't reply. [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's saying this for his own benefit and for Tsuka's, mostly. He's shown up, right? 15[20:46] According to the Guild it's an involuntary localized phenomenon. As soon as its under the pressure of elemental extremes it will reactively emit a protective bubble about fifteen yalms in radius. Typically these things are good for about two days of constant use. Keldar's been assured this one is fresh. [20:46] 14Stranger: "Good morning to yourself." 14As good as it gets these days. "Toast, jam, and tea?" 15[20:47] Tsuka is here. He's got his fancy steel swords and his Green Apples lamellar. From his face, he's trying to look Very Businesslike. [20:47] 5 Xu Sim will take a moment to evaluate the crystals. [20:48] 5 To be precise, he actually passes them to the Twice-Refined Princess, who sniffs them warily. [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Excellent. Keldar'll hold onto the hearthstone, though he's ready to toss it if need be. He addresses the fire aspect: "Kid - what've you got when it comes to controlling heat or fire remotely? Can you carve us tunnels and such?" [20:49] 13Xia Lan makes a face at the dog, but quickly wipes it off, returning to a blank mask. 15[20:50] Tsuka: "...no, nothing like that." [20:51] 5 After a moment, Twice-Refined Princess starts licking the crystal and then takes it into her mouth. 15[20:52] Bubo: "Oh, that would be lovely, thank you." He gestures at the fire. "My correspondence has started igniting almost before I finish reading it now." [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods. "Mmm, right. Well, hopefully shouldn't make a difference - we need to ford a sea of flames, this thing's supposed to be fresh." 12He idly tosses and catches the hearthstone. "Anyone got anything they want to say or need to clarify before we dive?" [20:52] "Give it here, sweetie," 5 asks the sorceror in a tone of shockingly genuine deference. The dog doesn't immediately give it up. "Give!" 5 he repeats, gently. [20:52] 5 The dog does so at last, reluctantly, strings of drool hanging off of it. Xu SIm doesn't seem to notice and passes it to Xia Lan. "It's only got about six hours left." [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar blinks and turns, briefly glaring at Xu Sim as if this is the sorcerer's fault before turning his gaze off into the distance. "Seriously? The fuck would they - teach me not to check myself." [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, six hours is still pretty good, depending on how deep this actually goes. Anything else?" [20:54] 13She nearly drops it, but passes it to Keldar without comment. She does look around for something to wipe her hand on before settling on her pant leg. "Wonderful friends you have there." 15[20:54] Tsuka: "They're trying to cheat us? To trap us down there?" [20:55] 14Stranger, as he puts on a pot with fresh fountain-water and begins slicing the bread. "Is that an ominous sign, or a figment of nervous feeling?" [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Coulda been cheated themselves. This can't be an actual attempt to sabotage us - they need us here. Need me, certainly, for the next couple months." [20:56] "Hopefully if there's some effect down there, I can neutralize it in under three hours." 15[20:56] Bubo: "Arguably it's a good sign. On the one hand, the Directorate is still clearly furious about my acting beyond my brief. On the other, I'm still getting correspondence." [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Either way, this thing's a freebie - I was ready to do without." 15[20:57] Tsuka nods. Has Keldar been to inspect the Tomb or his new foundry since signing the deal? [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Just the outside, and as much of the entry chamber as is visible through the door. [20:58] 14Stranger: "Upside, they know where to find you. Downside, they know where to find you." 14The bread goes on the kettle stand around the kettle itself, warmed, flipped, then browned and flipped. The jam goes into two spare teacups, with butter knives for spreading. 15[20:58] Bubo: "At this rate I estimate it will be three weeks before I'm reinstated in full. Maybe a bit more, circumstances what they are." [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Unless there's anything of special note that Keldar or his underlings may have discovered from that exterior observation... I think we're ready to dive? [21:00] 13Let's rock. [21:01] 14Stranger: "I'm not going to ask you to do anything particularly special to interfere with that, nor am I going to ask you not to send disclosures about what we learn together to your superiors. You might even mention me -- though only me -- if you think it will help you rather than harm you." 15[21:01] No, I think we're good. That question was just to gauge how the laborers in the foundry will react to seeing Keldar. In this case, it's with the stoic focus of someone trying extra hard to look like they're working because the boss is on the shop floor. [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar flips 'em a lazy salute as he leads his team forward and down. It hasn't really sunk in for him yet that he technically owns the foundry as well as the tomb, and so he hasn't really meddled with affairs topside yet. 15[21:03] Bubo: "Ohh, I don't think the Director will be expecting much of field work from me for some time." [21:03] 5 The foundry workers seem healthy and hale, naturally, as befits workers of their station? [21:04] 5 No mutations, beyond the usual perhaps, or other unusual conditions? [21:04] 14Stranger: "I'll interpret that as good for me, and ominous for you. I brought an elderberry and blackberry jam. More blackberry than elderberry, I'm told." 15[21:04] Yeah, these guys look fine. [21:04] 13That's a relief. [21:05] Indeed. [21:05] 5 Indeed. 15[21:06] Bubo: "It's not bad for me. I will miss it, though. I was the last man senior enough in the Manse to insist on field deployments. Now those are all under the remit of the other Divisions. Still... I can't argue the security implications." [21:07] 14Stranger: "Oh, I said ominous and not bad for a reason. Omens generally mean danger. Danger can, properly channelled, be a good thing." [21:08] 14Munching on a jammed toast, checking the tea, which is his usual Forest Blackleaf on this bag: "Which brings me to what I'd like to seriously discuss." [21:08] "You are aware that the entity formerly known as the Emissary has been stripped of the color of law, I take it?" 15[21:08] The Tomb of Red-Hot Iron admits Keldar and cadre through its now-open doors. The heat is stifling, but bearable, and the ruddy glow illuminates the foyer, filled with frescoes: a figure covered head to toe in glorious armor, bearing sword and shield in a battle stance. A figure wearing that same armor, sans helmet, sans shield, wielding his sword in both hands while his long hair flows behind him. The figure standing on the head of a serpent, blade embedded in its skull. There's a lot of this. 15[21:09] Bubo: "So I've heard. Congratulations on the promotion, by the way." [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar scratches his chin as he surveys the decor. "Hmm... nice." 12Then he proceeds - marking entrances, searching for traps, that sort of thing. [21:16] 14Stranger: "It wasn't one I requested. And it has the potential to be quite limiting." [21:16] 5 Xu Sim produces a blank parchment and begins taking notes on the frescos and so forth. Any detail that catches his eye. [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar moves at an impressively brisk pace given how visibly thorough he's being - stopping very few steps to waft at the air, toss some sand or powder in a random direction, or produce a collapsible pole with which he taps on the floor ahead of him. [21:17] 13Xia Lan looks around, taking special interest where she'd put traps if she was making this kind of thing. Not a very scientific examination, but it's worked before. 15[21:17] Keldar's really good at this. He's able to lead everyone around the cleverly disguised pressure plates leading to what look like pressurized steam vents, AND the gem-encrusted frescoes that get violently superheated if someone tries to pry the rubies out... and sees himself, almost occluded by slag in the one damaged-looking part of the room, a square panel with a tiny outline of a hand on it. He's seen First Age ruins with things like this, before. You put your palm on it and it identifies you. Hard to say if it still works without trying it. [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hmm... wonder if this thing can read a guy through a gauntlet. Everyone, brace yourselves." 12He puts an armored hand against the wall. Should nothing happen, he'll remove the gauntlet and try again. 15[21:20] Keldar tries it, and nothing happens. Then he takes his gauntlet off, and his hand burns briefly as the panel flares red for just a moment. There's the sound of something grinding in the distance and then everyone hears a voice, including the guards out in the hall. 15[21:21] "WHO DISTURBS MY SLUMBER?" [21:21] 14Stranger, pouring the tea: "Were you able to make it to the meeting at the Deliberative?" [21:21] 5 Xu Sim makes a note of this. [21:21] 13Someone's cranky. Xia Lan's hands flit to her swords, but she doesn't yet draw them. [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar sucks a breath in briefly and flexes his fingers, then clears his throat and raises his voice as he replaces the gauntlet. It's pretty funny for the learned to hear Old Realm spoken in a Nexus accent: "I'm Keldar, the Tiger of Nexus and owner of this tomb!" 15[21:24] The voice itself is high and aristocratic, speaking Old Realm in a more subdued version of the accent you get from ancient Anathema in Immaculate morality plays. But the echo and the reverberation combine to make it sound more imposing. 15[21:24] Bubo: "I was there. I spent most of my time shadowing the Dragonlord. Habit, I suppose." [21:24] 14Stranger grimaces. "So I gather you saw our note-delivering fiasco." 15[21:25] Bubo: "I did. How were things from your caucus?" [21:26] 14Stranger: "Divided." [21:27] "Let's say that your office was not precisely wrong about us those many years ago. But I think I have things managable for the moment." 15[21:27] The voice in the room: "You are my heir. This tomb is yours by right of incarnation, but not right of conquest. To claim it and its treasures you will have to prove yourself worthy to stand in the line of Lados, the Oathkeeper. Turn back now unless you will see this trial to the end!" [21:28] 5 Xu Sim underlines three times: "LADOS, THE OATHKEEPER" 15[21:28] Bubo: "Are you satisfied with the consensus?" [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar scratches his chin. He turns to look at his compatriots to check if anyone is mouthing anything desperately to him. If not, he turns back and claps both hands around his mouth to amplify his voice: "I will!" [21:29] 14Stranger sips his tea. "For the moment. Furthermore, I am satisfied that I can control it." 15[21:30] The voice in the room (Lados?) is crisp. "Going forward, there will be no need to shout. The Tomb of Cold Iron can hear you perfectly well." [21:31] "Can it hear others, I wonder?" 5 Xu Sim whispers. 15[21:31] "Yes." [21:31] 13Xia Lan cracks a smile that she quickly returns to her seemingly bored, casual stance. [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12In Riverspeak: "Cold iron, eh?" 12In Old Realm: "All right." 15[21:31] The voice: "Your first test: open this door!" [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Which door's this? 15[21:34] Bubo: "The Council boxed themselves in to do the same to you. That decision might yet doom them." 15[21:36] The entranceway gives way to a corridor at the far end from the entrance, which itself terminates in an iron door that glows orange. A crowbar, bent nearly double from heat and pressure, lies on the ground before it. [21:36] 14Stranger: "Not a satisfactory outcome." [21:37] 5 Xu Sim approaches it rather carefully. Presumably, it is quite hot. Is there any sign of a heating element? 15[21:37] The door is marked with three spheres, each embedded with an icon: a mote of flame, a sword, and a diamond. Above them are engraved an elaborate scale. 15[21:37] If Keldar touches the spheres he'll find that they drift about in the red-hot iron as if it were liquid. [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar ambles up to it once he's satisfied that the tiles before it aren't pressure plates or what have you. He then inspects the hinges, any sign of a lock or handle, that sort of thing. [21:38] 13Puzzle locks? Hm. 15[21:39] There are no visible hinges. It looks like the door will split in half and each half will slide into recesses in the wall. [21:40] 5 No heating element immediately apparent, Xu Sim instead examines the spheres, and the scale accompanying them. Surely it can't be too complex, for a brute like Keldar to use as a test. [21:41] 14Stranger, munching a toast: "So what did you learn?" 15[21:42] Bubo: "I suppose given what you were putting up with you couldn't spare an ear for the fracas at the other end of the hall. The Dragonlord attacked the Prince of Highland." 15[21:42] Bubo sips his tea. "Punched clean through his armor." [21:47] 14Stranger pauses as he brings the cup to his lips, and then sips. "That's not good." [21:47] "That we didn't hear it, that is." [21:47] "Primarily." [21:48] "Well, the voice said that the tomb had to become yours by right of conquest. Knowing you, the sword of might must surely dominate the gem of prosperity and the flame of knowledge." [21:48] "Not to put too fine a point on it," 5 he adds, sketching the symbols out on his parchment. [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar hmms to himself and pushes the spheres around a bit just to test how they move. "That's what I'm thinkin', too. Let's see, how about..." 12He puts prosperity on one side of the scale, knowledge on the other, and then shifts might straight up until it's replaced the central hinge or whatever it is that the scale swings on. 15[21:48] Bubo: "Everyone was eager as could be to leave the building when the pact was sealed. Not much time to mingle. I trust it goes without saying that everyone's terrified of you." 15[21:49] Nothing happens. [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Uhh..." 12Might on one side, the other two on the other? [21:49] 14Stranger: "Many think that an enviable position. It's far more nuanced and precarious than they think." [21:50] 14He sighs. "This means my initial impression seems correct: while the Thorns delegation remains the most distrusted, they still seem to know precisely what they want and are doing very well at getting it." 15[21:50] The door opens! The voice intones, "A champion knows that wealth and wisdom are nothing without the strength to fight for them." 15[21:50] Beyond is a long corridor, and a sound like rushing water. [21:50] 14Stranger: "I don't like that, given the preceding example of Thorns." [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Mighta been overthinking this. Alright, let's see..." [21:51] 13Xia Lan: "Classic." 15[21:51] Bubo: "In my experience, people will give monsters a lot of leeway as long as the monsters are honest." [21:52] 14Stranger won't do him the disservice of noting that this observation doesn't solely apply to Thorns. 14[21:52] * Quits: cbass (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_)) [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...hmmm. Recognize that anywhere." 14[21:52] * Joins: cbass [21:53] 13Xia Lan stiffens. "Yeah." [21:53] 14After finishing another piece of toast: "My main concern now -- and I suspect it should be yours, given the threat he directly poses to the Council -- is the disposition, whereabouts, and ah, legality, of the former Emissary." [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12The mercenary cracks his neck from side to side and rotates one shoulder and then the other. "Get ready." 12Then he proceeds forward. [21:54] 5 Xu Sim follows the other two, searching the walls for signs of frescos, inscriptions, engravings, anything at all that might tell something more about the time it was built than the man for whom it was raised. 15[21:55] Bubo: "Yes... I've been working on that. He's very hard to locate, still, when he wants to be. Whoever -- whatever -- he is, he possesses the Emissary's knack for translocation." 15[21:55] "The Emissary emeritus? The Emerissary?" [21:55] 14Stranger laughs at that. [21:56] 14As to the substance of the comment: "Yes, that's going to be quite difficult to deal with. Almost impossible to finish him in a fight unless he overcommits. I dearly hope it doesn't come to that." [21:56] "He is apparently remaining...consistent...with his enforcement of the Dogmas and Civilities. Even though he is now a vigilante." 15[22:00] Bubo: "That is unfortunately true." [22:01] 14Stranger cleans up once breakfast is finished. "I'm going to take the dishes back home, and then I'm going to start investigating our previous candidate for the position. The cabbage-monger. I should like you to join me, if you feel up for it." 15[22:02] The three Solars and one Dynast venture further into the tomb, where the noise gets louder and louder until all can hear it for what it is: a crowd gone wild. The tunnel (low-ceilinged; the top of Keldar's hair actually brushes against the ceiling if he doesn't duck a bit) stretches for yalms and yalms until it opens into a room that feels comparatively much cooler. They feel grit scrape beneath their feet. [22:04] 13Maybe she should have kept up appearances. 15[22:05] Bubo: "I'm not opposed. I'll need a disguise... any preferences as to the nature of your companion?" [22:05] 5 Xu Sim leans down to grab a handful of the grit. He rolls it around in his hand. [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar puts his left hand around the top of the scabbard at his side - the one in which his ordinary, though exceptionally-made, steel sword hangs. He takes several steps out into the sand, plants his foot square, and looks around. 15[22:08] The tunnel gives way to a wide, round arena, the floor thick with sand stained dark. The air in here is so cool compared to the tunnel that a huge breeze rushes toward the delvers as they get closer to the entrance, blowing sand in their faces. Everything is high and bright and loud - the crowds are just impressions, shadows and smears of color on the walls, but they're massive. It's as if the four of you are here to perform for Wyld mutants, or mountain gods. They might be giants, even. [22:08] 14Stranger sighs. "Any sort of male. I'm likely already developing a reputation as a valet for my female companionship." 15[22:10] The voice: "Here is where I made my fortune. A humble slave, a refugee, who won the right to fight for his liberty. Days and nights I fought, until the Sun found me for a higher purpose. But it was here, too, that I proved my worth to Him." [22:10] 5 Xu Sim is lost in thought. [22:11] 13Xia Lan clenches a fist, but says nothing. She checks her back to ensure her swords are still there, and keeps an eye out for motion separate from the illusory crowd. 15[22:11] A bell rings, and the vast doors on the far side of the arena swing open. A giant strides out, fifteen fulms tall if he's a head, face obscured by a black iron helmet styled with the horns of a ram, entire body save a single massive sword arm obscured by a full-body cloak, black and gold. 15[22:12] "This was my first test. The road to liberty. The road to Royalty." 15[22:12] The bell rings again. "Have you the strength?" [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar squints up at the huge figure. He shifts his weight slightly, making sure his collected dungeon-crawling tools are secured enough to survive a few fights to the death. In Old Realm: "The men and women who came in here ahead of me, maybe weeks ago - they get this far?" 15[22:15] Bubo leaves and returns a few minutes later, dressed as a filthy, addled beggar. "Friend of paupers that you are, I think this is the face that inspires the fewest questions." 15[22:16] Bubo pauses, and adds in a voice like a hinge in need of oiling, "Ready to go, boss." [22:16] 14Stranger nods. "Works for me." [22:17] "...Don't call me boss." [22:17] 14He returns the tea set to the Floodwater hideout, and then will meet Bubo at a place of their choosing. [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12As the giant approaches, Keldar's caste mark lights up red, and the radiance of the dawn begins to ripple and crackle around the outline of the mercenary's body. He draws and releases several deep breaths. [22:21] "Keldar," 5 Xu Sim breathes quietly, "How long have you known those Guildsmen who gave you the crystals?" 15[22:22] The crystal has dimmed, incidentally - not from failure but because here the Temple is habitably cool. 15[22:22] *the Tomb [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Not long personally. Only started dealing with the Threshold Company after this Emissary business started." [22:23] 13With a flourish, the Unfettered Xia Lan grabs her paired hook swords and spins to take a position next to the Dynast, prepared to defend him should the need arise. That's definitely what she's thinking. [22:24] "Oh," 5 Xu Sim notes, seemingly more interested in this detail than the enormous monster confronting the four of them. [22:29] 14Their first order of business is a contemplation of the estate of the former Evening Master. 15[22:31] Stranger and Bubo meet at said estate, which is under indifferent Guild guard. "You gonna sneak in or you gonna pull rank?" the filthy man asks him. [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar sees what Tsuka's up to and dashes forward to complement it, getting right under the sword arm even as it lifts itself to try to fend the fire-aspect off. Forced to divide one blade between three - soon to be five - the giant's badly put-upon. [22:32] 14Stranger: "Oh, I'm pulling rank. I want put a toe in and see how the ripples go. As for you, it's to your discreation. Meet me in the antechamber if you take discretion." [22:32] *want to 15[22:32] Bubo nods and backs into the alley. [22:33] 5 Xu Sim falls into a defensive posture, to meditate upon the giant. [22:37] 14Stranger, tapping his stick, will walk right up to the front gate. [22:39] 13Xia Lan follows quickly after Keldar and Tsuka, catching the giant in between their strikes and spinning, weaving, ducking to find better angles. Old times. 15[22:39] The Guild guards cross their arms as Stranger approaches. The one on the right, a scarred woman with close-cropped white hair: "What seems to be the problem?" [22:41] 14Is the gate closed? 15[22:42] The gate is open. 15[22:42] Actually, Stranger's pretty sure it wasn't a moment ago. 15[22:42] He doesn't remember it opening. [22:43] 14Stranger, mildly: "There is no problem, my lady. I'm going inside." 15[22:43] Guard: "On whose authority?" [22:44] "The Council's. Your Overfactor's." 14He points at the gate. "Your own, it seems." [22:44] 14He's pointing with the stick. 15[22:46] The guards look down at the gate. The silent one starts. The other one: "I'm going to have to run this up the chain. Do you mind waiting?" [22:46] 14He waves generously, and while he waits, assesses the property from the outside. [22:48] 14Stranger hasn't given his name, and is interested to see how this goes. 15[22:55] The guard sends off a courier. About thirty minutes pass before the same courier returns, ghost-pale, to whisper in the guard's ear. 15[22:55] The guard stands at attention. "Sir! You should have said something, sir! Obviously as the Emissary an inspection is your prerogative, sir." She steps aside, as does the other guard. [22:56] 14After a few moments, the corner of Stranger's mouth is twitching. He leaves around ten minutes to take a constitutional, he tells the guards, and circles the estate. Then he's back, smiling. [22:58] "Yes, I could have," 14Stranger says. "I was making a point, in these trying times: always check. Trust, if someone makes a claim, but verify. If I had claimed to be Emissary, would you have let me in? Ponder that. I think not. You have done good work here." [22:58] 14He sweeps past. "Shout if you need anything," 14he says over his shoulder. 15[22:58] "Sir, yes, sir!" [23:00] 14Once inside, Stranger will leave the door obviously ajar but walk at least a room in before looking around for Bubo. The man's had a chance to do his own once-over, surely. Good for trust, so long as he hasn't decided to hide something...but Stranger trusts Bubo, and perhaps more important, trusts he'll be able to tell precisely when the estate was tampered with. 15[23:02] The Ram holds his sword out and it glows white, and a moment later the room fills with ghostly flickers of whirling blades. Tsuka and especially Xia Lan are put on the back foot. But when he lowers his head and charges for Xia Lan, she nimbly flips out of the way, leaving him standing where she was a moment ago in a cloud of kicked-up sand. "Hah! Sloppy..." 15[23:03] Stranger finds Bubo stacking ledgers and papers on the expansive dining-room table. Little jewelery boxes are at one edge of the ledgers, at risk of being pushed off the table onto the floor if Bubo's not careful. [23:04] 13Not her finest moment - she wasn't expecting such a nimble attack from a giant. No injuries, at the least, and it looks as though Tsuka is fine, too - Keldar and Xu Sim having had the good sense to prepare properly. She's irritated with herself, but ready for another go. [23:04] 14Stranger: "I tried to instill a respect for protocol while I was out there. Thank you for the gate." [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's eyes widen slightly as he notes just what a close call that might've been. He can't let that coin get flipped again. 15[23:05] Bubo: "See anything you like outside?" [23:07] 5 Xu Sim is about to valiantly interpose himself between the giant and Xia Lan when - where did she go? All the way over there?? Damn. [23:07] 13Not her first rodeo. [23:07] 13Wouldn't be her first literal rodeo, either. They have pretty lax standards for who they let perform at those. [23:10] 14Stranger: "The guards were both my type." 14He glances at the desk. "More importantly, the way they're guarding this place says to me that their superiors have ransacked the place, but they've stayed true to their mandate, and we're looking at a scene that is relatively undisturbed from the last time we'd have expected it to be disturbed. No interloping looters." [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar draws his sword back, holds his palm forward, and draws in one breath. Then he explodes into motion, leaving a burning after-image in the air behind him as he sets upon the Ram with unbelievable speed. One strike into the leg sends the giant staggering, another in the back sends him doubling backwards, and then the flurry blurs together such that it's almost impossible to [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12follow. There's a general impression of a spiral or corkscrew motion. 15[23:13] Bubo: "About what I figured, too, what I've seen in here. Lot of things touched, not much taken." 15[23:14] "These papers... if they were serious they'd have taken all of this to pore over, look for irregularities, use as leverage..." [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Roaring like a man possessed, Keldar's eventually found some ten feet in the air, having half-run and half dug his way up along (through?) the Ram's back. The pattern of his attack can be tracked post facto by the glowing red-orange contrail that the man's sword left in the air, describing an ascending spiral that dips in and out and and out of the giant's spine. [23:15] 14Stranger: "Given that the interlocutors were Guildsmen, my suspicion is they're already very familiar with the contents." 15[23:15] Bubo: "Still. There's a procedure, you know?" [23:15] 14Stranger: "True enough." [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Above Keldar - above the entire arena - a glowing, armored warrior bearing sword and shield spins a massive blade in one hand before pointing sternly down at the Ram, who doubles over and dissolves into motes of light. [23:15] 14Stranger: "I'm going to wander for a few moments. Get a layout in my head." [23:16] 14He is professional enough not to put on a pot of tea when he meanders through the main kitchen. [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12As Keldar falls into a crouch on the sands, his totemic representation kneels down over him, sword thrust into the soil and shield to the side. As Keldar stands, the icon dissolves into a less intelligible pillar of fire, warm red at the edges and white-hot at the core. He says: "Wew, lads." [23:17] 5 Xu Sim makes a new note in his travelogue, in the spidery runes of Riverspeak: "LADOS, the BREAKER OF OATHS, was a COWARD deserving of contempt and destruction." 5 He waves the parchment around in the air once or twice [23:17] 13Xia Lan gapes, open-mouthed. Her swords slip a little, but she doesn't sheathe them. "You just--" [23:18] 13She tries again. "Just like that?" 15[23:18] Lados: "Yes! Well done! A strength unmatched by any in Creation!" [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "All in the wrist. What was that before, Xu Sim?" [23:18] 5 Xu Sim nods, self-satisfied. He begins a new page. [23:19] "Oh, absolutely nothing," 5 Xu Sim responds, while shaking his head and jabbing at the note he has begun writing. [23:19] 5 The new page reads as follows: The architecture in this Tomb, such as the spheres on the first door, and much else about it, indicate that it was constructed during the Shogunate period. 15[23:20] Tsuka's got sweat running down his face. The heat didn't bother him, but the exertion shows. "How did a magical construct do all of that?" [23:20] 5 It continues: This is incongruous with the notion that this was a tomb built for a Solar with the intention of empowering his reincarnation, since according to Immaculate dogma the Solars were destroyed and never meant to return, except as hunted Anathema. [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Must've been put together by a hell of a magician. You all right?" 15[23:21] Tsuka: "Yeah, I'm fine. You need a minute?" [23:21] 13Xia Lan: "Bullshit all in the wrist. That was fucking great." 13She sheathes her swords, realizes what she's just said, and repeats herself. "Uh. No way all in the wrists, that was amazing." 15[23:22] Tsuka's eyebrows go up. [23:22] 5 It concludes: That means that this Tomb was not built BY Lados the Oathkeeper, but FOR him. Hypothesis: This is a trap designed specifically to ensare any reincarnation or other wandering Solar. 15[23:22] After a moment: "You're one to talk. You backflipped over his sword arm!" [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Heh. No, you're right, also important to lift with your back- alright, alright, you don't need to give me that look. I knew something like that'd take a lot more than one well-placed blow, and it just came to me that I could... sequence 'em like that." [23:23] 14The walk takes Stranger some three and a half minutes. [23:24] 14It's enlightening. [23:24] 5 Xu Sim thrusts the paper at the others before stretching. "Yes, truly quite a feat of martial prowess. No doubt the final secrets of this Tomb shall soon be yours. [23:24] " [23:24] 14Which is to say, his forehead is glowing when he returns to Bubo. [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12The mercenary stretches. "And actually, I could use a bit to get my breath back, but not if it costs us climate." 12He reaches into his belt and produces the hearthstone. It look like it's working at the moment? Is the arena dissolving or whatever? [23:24] 13She looks to Tsuka and relaxes ever so slightly. "...didn't think I'd make it," 13she says. "Then I just. You know. Reacted." [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Very economical. I couldn't have done it." [23:28] 14First words re-entering the front rooms: "How attracted were you to the late Evening Master? Catalog your answer to that question, don't tell it to me, and then keep it in mind when you proceed into the master bedroom. There is a nude over the bed." [23:28] 14Then: "The estate has been trivially burgled. Expensive cutlery and finery boosted, books in the library flipped through. What you'd expect." 15[23:29] Bubo: "Shame no one took the painting." [23:29] "It is. Because we will, in fact, be proceeding into the master bedroom: our robbers did not locate the bolthole under the rug." [23:29] 14Stranger grimaces slightly. "It is tasteful, at least. For certain tastes." 15[23:30] The arena's gone quiet, but stays cool. The light dims a bit. But there doesn't seem to be anything stopping or pressing you on. [23:30] 13Xia Lan: "Couldn't do it against every attack, though that'd be nice. Never get hit again." 15[23:30] Tsuka: "We'd be too eager to fight if we forgot what getting hit feels like." 15[23:30] "My uncle told me that." [23:30] 14The master bedroom is likely on the top floor, meaning a panic room underneath a rug would lead to a secreted-away nowhere space in the floorplan of the floor directly below. How well does the architecture bear this out?" [23:31] 13Xia Lan: "Your uncle's wise." 15[23:31] That's about right. The stairs between the second and third floors are five steps longer than between the first and second. [23:32] 14Well now. [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Getting hit just keeps my temper up. Anyway, let's pause here an hour. The voice can let us know if it disagrees." [23:32] 14Before Stranger opens up the bolthole, he'll open a window. He did tell the guards to shout if they needed anything. [23:33] 14And it is getting musty in here. 15[23:33] A mild scoff echoes throughout the room. "Take your time." [23:33] "Tell us about yourself, voice," 5 suggests Xu Sim. "Do you speak for Landos the Oathkeeper?" 15[23:34] "Lados." [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar doesn't miss a beat as he pulls what looks like dried beef jerky out of his pack and then puts the pack down to use as an impromptu seat. He'll offer some to anyone who looks interested before speaking in old realm to address, one supposes, the ceiling. "Yeah, who put you here?" [23:34] "My profuse apologies, Voice," 5 notes Xu Sim with a wan smile, as he crumples the insulting note from before. 15[23:34] Bubo clears his throat loudly when he follows Stranger into the master bedroom. "That's a, hrm. That's actually quite a nicely done variation on the original icon. Venus on a half shell." [23:35] 14Stranger: "I prefer turtle, personally." [23:35] "But the man simply wasn't my type." [23:35] 13If they're pausing, Xia Lan will keep limber with some stretches. She never used to do these mid-run, but, well, you get out of practice with these things. [23:36] 14How easily does the bolthole open? 15[23:37] It's pretty heavy, but working together Stranger and Bubo can shift it. It was airtight, which you can tell because there's a pop as the seal as broken and because none of that foul smell worked its way into the room before now. [23:37] 14Well then. [23:38] 14Stranger will open the rest of the windows. 15[23:38] Lados: "This tomb was erected in my honor by my blood brother's descendant, Saint-of-Wolves." [23:39] 14The smell of rotten cabbage should be distinct from that of a corpse. Hopefully they're experiencing the former. [23:39] 5 Xu Sim's brow furrows. [23:40] 5 That would be consistent with the evidence, but contrary to the hypothesis. [23:40] "Which of the Daimyos did Saint-of-Wolves serve?" 5 he asks. 15[23:42] This smell is a human foulness, but not precisely death. More the scent of someone living in their own filth. [23:43] 14Well, easily the worst possible outcome. 15[23:43] Lados: "Saint-of-Wolves would never bend knee to the Usurpers! He built this tomb with the aid of Lados's friend and confidante, exiled to the Underworld by the usurpers." [23:43] 14Stranger will wrap a clean rag from somewhere on this level around his nose and mouth. 15[23:44] Bubo chokes a bit. "Should I fetch an elemental?" [23:44] 13After going through what she remembers of calisthenics, Xia Lan eventually just sits down cross-legged. More stretches later. "Who's the friend?" [23:44] 14Stranger: "If you think it necessary. I should like not to attract attention." 15[23:46] Lados: "Why, my dearest confidante! My one true love! The great sorceress Eresh Nin, Clad in a Raiment of Wonder!" [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's eyebrows rise as he tears half a strip of jerky off with his teeth. "Wrhmf-" 12gulp. "What happened to her?" 15[23:49] Lados, sadly: "Hunted and hounded by the Usurpers. She had to seek refuge in a dark place where no power could touch her." [23:51] <@Ferrinus> "Rip," 12says Keldar. "How long ago?" 15[23:51] Lados: "Long ago..." [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Mmm. So, hey, different topic - what happened to the last group to come through here?" 15[23:52] Lados: "They failed the second trial! Sneak-thieves and scoundrels all." 15[23:52] Bubo: "Eh, forget it. What's one more sewer?" [23:53] 14Stranger: "Hopefully we continue to live in a world where that remains rhetorical." [23:53] 14After a few moments, he'll press onwards and downwards into the suck. [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...but got through the first? Even though none of 'em was me?" [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What I mean to ask is, why'd you let 'em try?" Session Time: Wed Mar 28 00:00:00 2018 15[00:00] Lados: "High duplicity! They forced the door open and scattered the Ram's light. But they could not outsmart the second trial, oh no." [00:00] 13It takes a moment for Xia Lan to place the name, but when she finally does, she starts, sits bolt upright. "Eresh Nin, Clad in a Raiment of Wonder?" [00:00] "I'd heard the former. Never - the title. Not that one." 15[00:00] Lados: "Yes...?" [00:00] 5 Xu Sim passes his parchment. [00:02] 13Xia Lan: "Sorceress queen of the north. That Eresh Nin, yes? Everyone bewitched appearing with her kiss on their cheek as a sign?" 15[00:02] Lados: "There can be no other!" [00:03] 13Xia Lan: "...how much do you keep up with news from the outside?" 15[00:03] Lados: "My charge is simple. I am to guard the tomb. No more, no less." 15[00:06] Stranger and Bubo descend into a pit that smells of human refuse and expulsion. It's little more than a crawl space, mainly full of boxes, but it doesn't take long to find the stained bedroll, empty, with what must be dozens of tiny glass phials piled up on an equally filthy blanket. The smell from the phials is an aggressive chemical note that cuts almost pleasantly through the filth. [00:06] 13Pointless, then. Well. Maybe not, but... cruel. "Nevermind." 13More to herself than anyone: "Wonder and tears." 15[00:07] Tsuka: "New song?" [00:07] 14Stranger will take a quick look around, make sure the evidence he can find is in fact moveable, and then relocate it all upstairs before shutting the crawl space. [00:08] "Hm?" 13She looks to Tsuka, surprised, but quickly covers it. "No, just... some new information fitting with old scrolls. But when you put it that way, maybe." [00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar finishes drinking some water from a circular metal flask. "Ahh. So, voice, suppose we get through here, find my old stuff. What happens to you then?" 15[00:10] Lados: "If you master the tomb, then you are the tomb's master. What happens to it and its contents is your prerogative." [00:10] 14Stranger collects the phials. To Bubo: "Stay back. Don't touch the bedding." [00:11] 14In fact, he just waves him towards the hatch out, and when he himself has egressed, closes it behind them. [00:12] 13Humming, she reaches into her pouch to pull out a worn notebook. "This is as decent a place as any to write one." [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Tomb can't use any of that red-hot iron on stuff outside its walls, can it? There's an army of fair folk bearing down on us." 15[00:13] Lados: "If you want to know technical details of the manse, feel free to ask away once you've earned it." [00:15] 13Xia Lan notes down a few phrases that have been stuck in her mind since she entered. Reaching out, grasping for a fleeting memory... A light that burns these scars of old... I'll live. I'll become all I need to be... [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Fair enough. Say, just how close a match are you to my actual, uh, ancestor? They copy his mind somehow or just do their best at representation?" [00:16] 14Well, that's rude. 15[00:16] Lados: "Honestly, Keldar." 15[00:16] "How would I know?" [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You know, that's a good point. Very good point." 15[00:19] Bubo peers at the phials. "Medicine?" [00:20] 14Stranger: "Perhaps. Let's get a look at them in the light." 15[00:21] Bubo: "I'll say this. The smell recontextualizes the painting. That's high art right there." [00:21] 14Stranger would roll his eyes if it were visually effective. [00:21] "Keldar, what do you have in that pack, anyway?" 5 asks Xu Sim. "While we're taking a break." [00:21] "My suspicion is that it wasn't him shoved down in that damn hole." 15[00:22] Bubo: "Our cabbage merchant?" [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Collapsible pole, iron filings, jade shards - all five colors, natch - lockpicks, crowbar, rations, water, flint and tinder, water filter... you know, whatever I might need." [00:24] 14Stranger: "If you were a morally-bankrupted bureaucrat, who else would you keep wallowing in lockup in his own filth, mitigated by only the most expensive option with the least amount of dignity attached?" [00:24] "How do you think this proto-Emissary -- should it be the same creature -- became so angry?" [00:25] 14He shakes his head. "I'm getting ahead of the evidence. But it is a darkly compelling hypothesis." 15[00:25] Bubo: "At Brueghel in particular. Mmm." [00:25] 13Xia Lan: "Huh. Collapsible pole, never had one of those before. Smart, though." [00:25] "I know you used it earlier, but I honestly didn't even think about it." [00:26] 14Stranger: "But if I'm right, we, perhaps, have good news and bad news. The bad news being that the creature that is the Emissary become such in a fulcrum of abuse and disease." [00:26] "And the good news being that, for such mortal things, there can be reparations and a cure." [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The ole ten footer. 'course, back in the day I had to make do with branches and such half the time. Nowadays I can get 'em made custom." [00:27] 14He shrugs. "Or perhaps I'm wrong and it was Brueghel that got shoved down there. But the man looked fairly hale just before he died." [00:27] "Let me see your water filter," 5 suggests the sorceror, who unpacks his own little bundle of reagents and herbs. [00:27] 13Xia Lan: "We used to throw rocks at stuff that looked suspicious," 13she offers. "Either it triggered from that, or whatever the mechanism was had rotted away and we didn't have to worry." [00:28] "Let me ask the two of you a question, while we're waiting," 5 suggests the doctor. [00:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, yeah, rocks are an old standby. Hard to put the right kind of pressure on the floor with 'em, though." 15[00:30] Bubo: "Yeah, I don't think he was ill." He sniffs the phial. "Embalming fluid?" [00:31] 13Xia Lan: "Eh. Never dealt with anything high class enough to need anything else. One time, found a place, only trap was a breakaway floor, had to spell out the name of the owner to get to the goods. Previous raids did most of the work for us, chucking rocks took care of the rest." [00:32] 14Stranger takes a cautious sniff, while examining one of the other phials. [00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ah, yeah, robbing people and robbing tombs are only vaguely related skillsets. In my business quiet and elegance are luxuries while thoroughness is key." 15[00:34] Lados: "You rob tombs?!" [00:34] 13Xia Lan: "Not in a long time." [00:34] 13She sounds sad. [00:34] "You're not wrong. That's embalming fluid." [00:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar pauses. "...would that be a problem here?" 15[00:35] Bubo: "Bizarre." 15[00:35] "Er." 15[00:35] "Weird." [00:35] 14Stranger puts the vial down, eyes narrow. "There are other uses for embalming fluid than the obvious." [00:35] "But." 15[00:36] Lados: "How have you fallen to such iniquity! You are heir to champions, to saviors, to heroes! The pure-hearted and righteous." [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Buddy, they call these the Scavenger Lands for a reason. What you might call the recovery of artifacts is an entire industry." [00:37] "You didn't call it that, just now," 5 butts in Xu Sim. 15[00:37] Lados, indignant: "I might not!" [00:37] 13Xia Lan: "I mean, I stopped for a reason. Present company excluded." 15[00:38] "A Chosen of the Sun, reduced to common knavery. Shame! Shame and disgrace!" [00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, well, you can't rob the forgotten dead. I'm an adventurer, and digging old hearthstones or amulets or whatever out of ruins is half my business." [00:38] "How long was the cabbagemonger out of our sight? A month? We're looking at about that much filth, especially given sickness -- but why not take care of him? And phials of embalming fluid? Did he drink them?" [00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Makes you feel better, though, that was before I got the second breath." [00:39] 14Stranger: "Filth and embalming fluid, to me, are the wages of Thorns." 15[00:39] Bubo wrinkles his nose. "Anagathic?" [00:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Since I Exalted and got back into town it's been all fighting for freedom and raising armies." [00:40] 14Stranger: "In a perverse sense, that is the deal on offer from unlife." [00:40] 13Xia Lan: "The Sun lifts all of us up, even the lowest of the low." 13A quote comes, unbidden. "'He has fixed his sign in the sky / he has raised me from the pit, and set me high.'" 15[00:40] Lados: "Ah! So you have turned from your wicked ways, ennobled by divinity, to raise arms against the vicious man, the blackguard, the panderer and the profiteer. Good man." 15[00:42] Bubo: "Using necromancy to draw out the moment of death and keep someone alive... wicked, wicked and dangerous. But effective..." [00:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You know the Dragon-Blooded still rule a lot of the world, right, and our kind get the short shrift? I'm gonna need every edge I can dig up, maybe literally." [00:42] 14To Bubo: "Indeed. You are aware of the provenance of the former Emissary, yes? The Red Star?" 15[00:42] Bubo: "I am." [00:42] 14Stranger: "Then we have a contradiction." [00:43] "Everything about this 'anagathic,' this manner of filth -- drawing out the moment of death -- this all fits the previous conception of the Emissary. The corpse of Balor." [00:43] "It does not fit our cabbage monger." 15[00:43] Lados: "Well, rest assured, should you master the tomb, you will find my legendary armaments, the Equinox Braves!" [00:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's brows rise. "Go on." 15[00:44] Bubo: "Perhaps he was made to fit." 15[00:44] "I'd check the Loom myself, but..." [00:45] 14Stranger: "Long odds on that. Embalming fluid freezes the subject in time, yes? That's the metaphor. Why would you infect an unripe vessel shitting itself all over your bolthole?" [00:46] "It's possible they found a way to square that circle. But no blooming Emissary should have had that creature's power. That was a mature being." [00:46] "That said, whatever made that mess was alive." [00:46] "So our contradiction remains." 15[00:46] Bubo: "We could always ask the Emissary." [00:47] 14Stranger: "We're not approaching that thing without very careful legal research into every single word we intend to say." [00:48] 14After a pause. "Also, technically, I can guarantee the Emissary doesn't have an answer for you." 15[00:51] Bubo: "Heh." 15[00:52] Lados: "My sword of orichalcum, my shield of moonsilver! Inscribed with the ancient oaths of the righteous. Endowed with Royal authority!" [00:53] 13Xia Lan: "Royal...?" [00:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks somewhat speculatively down at his left hand, flexing it as he does. "I see. Lados was a prince or emperor or somethin'...?" [00:53] 14Stranger grimaces. "More questions. Few answers. We should get a medic up here to diagnose the bed." 14Under normal circumstances Stranger would prefer Xu Sim -- but sending for a doctor from Dorma's camp might be the right play here. 15[00:54] Lados: "Royalty! The chosen of true divinity! You are all of you Royalty, whatever throne you claim or ignore. It is not just your duty. It is your being." [00:54] 14Specifically, it would be away of communicating Thorns's involvement to Dorma without the awkwardness -- and accompanying rage -- of going up and telling him. [00:54] 14It would simply...filter up the chain of command. 15[00:54] "'Determination overcomes domination. This is the one law of Royalty.'" [00:54] 14In exchange, they would get to know the nature of the disease. Yes, Stranger likes this. [00:55] 13She snorts involuntarily, but pretends she hasn't. Let Keldar keep talking to the voice. "Tsuka. Is this your first tomb dive?" [00:55] <@Ferrinus> "I see," 12says Keldar, again. He looks between Tsuka, Xia Lan, and Xu Sim, making the kind of face you'd expect a Nexus native to make in light of that kind of talk. 15[00:57] Tsuka shakes his head. "Right out of secondary school, I was shikari on a hunt that cornered a Lunar anathema to her tomb." [00:58] 14Stranger leans out the master bedroom window and shouts down to the guards: "Hello! Up here!" [00:59] 13Oh, right. Dragon-blooded. Awkward. Carefully: "What happened, then?" [00:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Whoof. You fight 'em directly?" 15[01:00] Tsuka: "..." 15[01:00] The guards: "Sir?" [01:01] 14Chipper: "Change of plans! I've shouted because I need you. Specifically! I need you to quarantine this estate, and send for the Dragonlord's Seventh Caduceus. I will be remaining inside. Tell your masters the Evening Master has left us a rude and dangerous present, and they will be fully briefed per our arrangement once the medics have cleared me. And do NOT come inside!" 15[01:01] "S-sir?" "Right away, sir!" [01:01] 14How many of them run off? 15[01:02] Just one. [01:02] 14Excellent. Don't need to make examples. [01:03] 14Stranger ducks back inside. To Bubo: "I'm going to stick around as a measure of good faith, and to properly seed the information I want seeded regarding Thorns. You can stay around for a check up, but I suspect we were properly circumspect down there such that you're not sick." [01:04] 13Ah. So it went like that. She turns towards him, elbows on knees, sitting cross-legged, watching him until he chooses to either speak to what happened or say he doesn't want to talk about it. 15[01:05] Tsuka looks away when Xia Lan leans in, but only briefly. He looks her in the eye when he says, solemnly: "We killed her." [01:06] 13No judgement in her voice: "Who was she?" [01:07] 5 Xu Sim, perhaps for the first time, realizes why Stranger has delegated Cathak Tsuka on this mission. [01:07] 5 He gestures at Keldar to pass the damn water filter, already. 15[01:10] Tsuka: "She was a skald. Stirring up trouble in the satrapies. House Cathak sent a legion to stabilize everything and hunt her down." [01:14] 13Xia Lan: "What was her name?" 13She has a different notebook out, now. A distant part of her feels cruel, digging through painful memories like this - but someone has to remember, and she doesn't trust anyone else to. 15[01:14] Tsuka watches her shuffle through notes. He waits for her to be ready. 15[01:15] "People called her White-Winged Dove." [01:16] 13Xia Lan: "Tell me about her. What you can." [01:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Filter's Xu Sim's if he needs it. [01:17] 13She's quieter, has moved closer to Tsuka. This isn't a conversation for spectators. [01:19] 5 Xu Sim starts fiddling with the filter and a small phial. A pinch of firedust, peel of orange, some spirits... 15[01:19] Bubo: "I'm going to press my contacts. There's actually a colleague of mine in town at the moment. I bet she knows something." [01:21] 14Stranger nods. "Feel free to use me to the extent you can use me to access the things she knows. Not my allies. But me." [01:21] "And it doesn't need saying...but stay sharp. There's something else going on here." 15[01:23] Bubo: "I appreciate the distinction, but other people won't." [01:23] 14Stranger: "Then that puts the onus on you, doesn't it?" [01:24] "It's a responsibility and a trust. But your business hasn't become Keldar's business." 15[01:25] Tsuka: "She was only a couple of years older than I was. About my sister's age. She was... she was kind. She talked about love a lot. But whenever she did, everyone got angry." 15[01:26] Bubo: "I understand. I just want to emphasize that in certain circles - if you'll forgive the expression - you are held as a synecdoche for your associates. It's not a fair opinion, but it is the prevailing one." [01:26] 13She writes down what he says, nodding in understanding. Go on is unspoken, but present. [01:27] 14Stranger grimaces. "And I thank you for it. But I am not entirely unaware of the way this world works." [01:27] "Sometimes, I'm just trying to change it." [01:27] 13Belatedly, she wonders if she'll need separate books. After the tomb, maybe. And... a conversation with the Ambassador? Did they know one another? [01:28] "So you do what you need to do, with the virtue and the vice with which you need to do it, and we'll read the field as it falls." 15[01:28] Bubo: "Fair enough." [01:28] 13Hello, girlfriend of my- ally. I know how one of your kind died. This is an extremely normal conversation to have. She'll have to think on it more when she's out of here. [01:28] 14He leans against the window and looks down at the courtyard. "Fair enough is all I ask." 15[01:28] "I'll be in touch." Bubo is gone. [01:29] 14Stranger stares up through milky eyes at the Sun. "Fair enough." 15[01:30] NEXT TIME: Bardam's Metal [01:35] 5 After a few moments, Xu Sim produces a small device. He inhales on one end, and exhales a cloud of spicy-smelling steam. "Ah. Relaxing. Observe: I call it... the steambreather?" 14[03:32] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[04:46] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[08:10] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[18:10] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:25] * Joins: tom 14[19:24] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[19:24] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[19:24] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[19:37] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[19:37] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[19:37] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 +------------------------------------------------------ [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 :". / / / [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 :.-". / / [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 : _.-". / [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 :" _.-". [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 :-"" ". [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 : [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 : [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 ^.-.^ [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12'^\+/^` [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12'/`"'\` [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Jormungand soars above the kruthik hive cluster. Beneath the manta-like creature's webbed spines, what were once two distinct strains of demon insects merge into one, freely sharing unique adaptations and pruning away inefficiencies. The invasion of the underground is ready to launch at any time. Such is the cerebrate's control of its brood, though, that the invasion can also be put [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12on hold, the kruthik bidden to hold and hibernate, which is no small thing. [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a separate concern - Yara wants backup. The way she tells it, she's got the rest of her Circle keeping tabs on Great Forks's trinity and ensuring that they're too busy to intervene in what she's got planned, and what she's got planned is an arrest at the least and quite likely an assassination. Dangerous enemies of reality itself lurk in this city and they've got to be gotten [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12rid of. 15[20:16] 10Wait. 15[20:16] 10Yara has friends? [20:16] 4Ir conducts much of the initial pruning and building-up alongside Jormungand and leaves him with some musical inspiration. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNE2oCZH_4k [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12She's obliquely mentioned her 'Circle' a few times, although it sounds like less of a big deal than yours is. You get the feeling Circles of her kind are pretty transient, formed and dissolved by operational necessity and bureaucratic mandate. [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12She's been pretty wandwhy about introducing you. [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Wandshy* [20:17] 6Maybe they should try being cooler and hanging out more. You know. Like us. 15[20:17] 10Every circle sounds like less of a big deal than ours is. Because it is. [20:17] 4Expand within reason, refine the brood, learn to work through the Three Wisewomen -- Ir's three Queens -- and stand prepared to strike. [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12That's proving to be an extremely effective model, for whatever reason. One prognosticates, one remembers, one manages... [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, who's in to help Yara and who's got other plans? Yara wants to move lightly and stealthily if possible - seems her quarry scares easy. [20:21] 4Ir's taken to calling them Atropos, Lachesis, and Clotho, respectively. [20:21] 6Kind of my thing. [20:22] 7Blossom: "I am not stealthy." 15[20:22] 10Eikichi: "I'm famous for my subtlety and restraint." [20:22] 7She doesn't seem to consider it a flaw. 15[20:22] 10It isn't. [20:23] 6Tatsuya: "Don't lie to Yara. Anyway, I'm in." [20:24] 4Ir's good at...distractions...? [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I see. Hmm... even collecting backup nearby may cause trouble. But between the two of us, I'm sure we can handle it." 15[20:24] 10Eikichi: "Waaaait a second." 15[20:24] 10Eikichi looks from Tatsuya to Yara. "You sly dog." [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "What?" [20:24] 6Tatsuya just looks confused. "What?" 15[20:25] 10Eikichi: "Nothing. Have fun." [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara punches one tiny fist into another tiny hand dramatically. "All right. We'll be starting in the northwest, on the edge of the slave quarter..." [20:25] 4Ir rolls her eyes. [20:25] 6Tatsuya: "Uh. Okay." 6He turns his attentions to Yara, then. [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12The two Shadow stylists are in for some clambering and roof-jumping. Yara's got a bunch of charts that'll make much more sense to Blossom than to Tatsuya, but either way she certainly knows where she's going. [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12You're moving at night, of course, and tracking a strange, spiraling path that begins at the outskirts of the city and wraps slowly but surely towards the center. It's not a smooth spiral, though - rather, it's built of a series of straight lines joined at nodes of dubious significance. A street sign here, an awning's corner there... [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12At last, Yara and Tatsuya begin their stealthy descent towards some kind of backalley clearing... [20:34] 6Feels strange to be out and about like this again. Not bad strange, but... definitely off. And to not be working alone is also a recent development. Re-development. Whatever. [20:34] 4Back on the Heavensward, Ir's making Smithy Shrimp and experimenting with personal-sized pitza in the facilities she has available. 15[20:35] 10Eikichi: "The boldness of orchestrating a mission brief only Tatsuya could do so she could spend the day alone with Tatsuya. Very clever." [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya's able to clamber down a series of crates and barrels without so much as rocking one gently. Yara slides down a nearby rope. The two of them meet... in a garden? It's lit by by the silvery shafts of a nearly-full moon, which gleam off the edges of cherry blossoms which softly fall from a central tree and land on a koi pond. An owl hoots softly. It looks very nice, but there [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12doesn't seem to be anyone present. [20:37] 7Blossom: "It's the classic tale. Boy and girl clash in deadly combat, girl enlists boy in feats of heroism..." 7It really is a classic tale, at least in the Realm. [20:37] 4Most of the shrimp get the spicy treatment and come out in a delicious bright orange sauce with some sauteed greens -- a finger food if you're hardbitten scrabbler on watch like Ir was when she first made this dish on the watchtower bonfire near the Pneuman port, but served with sticks now -- while the rest garnish the three pitzas. [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "...ummm. Hmm. Hang on..." 12Some papers rustle as she looks over a bit of parchment she's got before returning it to a pouch. "No, not here, then. Let's go." 15[20:37] 10Eikichi sighs wistfully. "So romantic..." [20:38] 4Ir: "Maybe she doesn't wanna fuck him, and just wanted to be sure whoever she was bringing was someone she knew she could beat if he turned on her." [20:38]  [20:38] 4Ir: "Food's up." 14[20:38] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:38] 6He nods firmly, takes a look around at the place just in case - it really is quite pretty - then launches himself back up towards where he came in. 15[20:38] 10Eikichi waves a hand. "She could beat me easier than she could beat Tatsuya." [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Taking one last look around, Tatsuya's fellow assassin gets moving. Up this ladder, along this clothesline... [20:39] 7Blossom sniffs and rubs her eyes tiredly. "Hm? Oh, great." 7She takes a shrimp. [20:39] 4Ir: "Yeah, but if you went then Blossom would stand a decent chance of going." [20:39] 7Blossom: "I'm not threatened by her!" [20:39] 4Ir: "Not my point." [20:40] "If anyone but Tatsuya went, it wouldn't really be a stealth mission anymore." 15[20:40] 10Eikichi: "Yeah, if you and me went it'd be quieter to use the kruthik." 15[20:41] "Kruthik don't even introduce themselves with dramatic speeches." [20:41] 4Ir: "Who, in fairness, can be pretty quiet. I think Jormungand's exploring that next, after he perfects some of the ones that can strike from a distance." [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Voices and music sound as Yara and Tatsuya make their way across a temple rooftop. They creep through a vent, flip across a series of windows, and finally creep in the perfect pincer movement onto... what seems to be an empty theater booth, high up in a balcony seat. There are only two chairs, both empty, and some kind of rope across the doors behind suggesting that these are going [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12unused for the night. [20:41] 6... 15[20:41] 10Eikichi: "He?" [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Still, someone's left some kind of drink in a bucket of ice to the side and the play going on beneath and across the room looks quite exceiting. Yara looks around, visibly confused. "Why..." [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Exciting* [20:42] 6Tatsuya: "Tipped off?" 6He's whispering. "Don't see how, but..." [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "This is the right place... but it shouldn't be in use tonight, something must've changed with the schedule. Um, guess we can, guess we can cross this one off the list." [20:42] 6Wait. [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara's already hurrying off, up through the vent she used to creep in here. [20:43] 4She shrugs. "Seems like a he. Like I said before: name sounds like an ice god." 15[20:44] 10Eikichi: "I guess. It doesn't really have a gender in the formal sense." [20:44] 6No, it's nothing. Back out the way he came in again, up through the rafters and out some astonishingly dusty windows. 15[20:44] "It's not like there are boy nexuses and girl nexuses." [20:44] 4She's nursing a cup of Icehome's Welcome; there's a fresh pot of coffee with an open bottle of Whitewall Cream next to it. [20:45] 4Ir: "That would be strangely limiting." [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara seems somewhat flustered as she and Tatsuya continue their motion across the city. Soon they're making their way to a warehouse on the other side of the slave quarter, its windows dark. 15[20:46] 10Eikichi: "Not to mention frustrating, since they mostly can't move. Imagine falling for the nexus across the way but having no way to show your affection besides wriggling more fiercely." 15[20:46] "Speaking of classic tales." [20:46] 7Blossom sticks out her tongue. "Bleggggh. Oh, sorry. Not the food. I just didn't get much sleep." 15[20:46] "You too?" [20:46] "You know how sometimes you get a song stuck in your head?" 15[20:46] "Yeah." [20:47] 7Blossom frowns: "Do you have any idea where the phrase 'The dam will not break, the flood will not come' comes from? I feel like it's one of the classic poems or something, but I can't place it." [20:47] 4Ir chuckles through a bite of pitza. Once she's swallowed: "Known feel." [20:47] "Kept me up." [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12The warehouse is much less inviting than the last few places Tatsuya and Yara have investigated. It's dark, musty, and heavily cobwebbed, clearly out of use for weeks or months. The Night Caste has a bit of a tougher time picking his way across the ceiling and down to the floor, but doesn't make any mistake he can't correct. Yara, on the other hand... 15[20:47] 10Eikichi: "It doesn't sound familiar. Were you playing with the helmet last night?" [20:48] 4Ir: "No song or poem I've run into." [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, around when Tatsuya's alighting on the ground, he hears a squeak of panic from above and can react just fast enough to catch Yara as she falls. 15[20:49] 10Man, she is good. 08[20:49] 7Blossom reddens slightly, because 'playing with the helmet' sounds slightly lewd coming from Eikichi. "No...? I mean, not really?" [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Eyes wide, face red, Yara finds herself staring up at her immediate savior. "Uh... uhh!! I didn't-" [20:49] <@Ferrinus> "Uh... uhh!! I didn't-" 12* [20:50] 6He catches her in both arms, apparently unperturbed. "You hurt?" 6As he asks, he's keeping an ear out - anyone hear her fall? [20:50] 4Ir just sips her drink and lets that one go. [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "N-no, I'm fine. You, um, thanks-" [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Sadly, her fall was pretty loud. 15[20:52] 10Eikichi: "It sounds like something we'd hear in a dream, is all. One of those dreams. From the past." [20:52] 4The Heavensward, by the by, is positioned up in the clouds for a general intercept anywhere in the city. If Yara or Tatsuya can get a messenger out when they're in trouble, Ir should be able to bring the ship in to help fairly quickly. [20:53] 6He sets her down quickly and grabs for his weapons. "You're welcome," 6he says, slightly strained. "Might have company..." [20:53] 7Blossom: "Oh." 7She sighs irritably. "I'd rather it was something I'd forgotten from school." [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Uh oh. Tatsuya thinks he can hear motion - at least two people, one much lighter on their feet than the other. Yara isn't paying attention to this, because she's still red at the cheeks and stammering. "I-I-I don't know how this wait oh my GODS." 12She's suddenly furious. [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I'm going to KILL her. I'm going to MURDER her. Siaka you STUPID-" [20:54] 6Tatsuya: "Two, coming in fast--" 15[20:54] 10Eikichi: "Is there an image or a feeling attached to those words?" [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara says: "Huh?" 12And that's just as two shapes descend! [20:55] 4Of course, if no one can or does send a messenger... [20:55] 4Then Ir will just have herself another drink. [20:55] 4Hell yeah. [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12A tall, spare man with dark, wild hair who's dressed in a long coat comes stepping around the side of a large crate. From above, a small, robed shape with prepares to drop from a rafter. The former's flexing and clenching his fists; the latter's lighting a small lantern. [20:57] 4Then she settles in at the keyharp. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmtTDvNcXcU 15[21:00] 10Now it's Eikichi's turn to redden slightly. This is not what he thinks of as a lunchtime song. [21:02] 4Ir's got a brand, man. [21:04] 4But fine. The next song's less horny. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H4rq0L9OSw [21:10] 4She pauses for awhile to refill her cup and then after a couple minutes fooling around practicing, launches into a somewhat simpler tune. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x53P-cnN8Co [21:11] 7Blossom: "Not really. Iron determination, I guess?" [21:12] 6At the first sign of the intruders, Tatsuya's gone. Whisked away behind some boxes, carefully behind a column of some sort, it's impossible to say. For them, anyway. Yara might have caught him sneaking, but the others never had a chance. 15[21:12] 10Eikichi: "You've been working really hard the last few weeks. We could try to take some time to relax. Go to a spa maybe." [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara's faster... but not so fast to hide. She's already raising her hands into a martial posture, and for the moment looks to be facing down her two aggressors alone. [21:14] 7Blossom: "It would be nice to get my hair washed." [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Still, she's completely ready for the WHAT the-?! The bigger man in the long coat just teleported, or something, without so much as a wisp of mystic smoke - he's suddenly standing behind the tiny Chosen of Destiny, bearing down on her with both fists! 15[21:17] 10Eikichi: "Do you think Yara's ever had a day off?" [21:17] 6Shit! [21:17] 7Blossom: "You want to ask her to come along?" 15[21:19] 10Eikichi: "I think she could use it." [21:19] 4Ir: "Doesn't sound like Heaven gives days off." [21:20] 7Blossom flips a shrimp shell at him. "You think you can play matchmaker with her and Tatsuya." [21:20] 4Ir: "He thinks he already has." 15[21:20] 10Eikichi: "Yara's doing fine on that score on her own. I bet right now she's orchestrated some danger Tatsuya has to save her from." 15[21:21] "All, 'my hero...'" [21:21] 4Ir: "Already writing the scene for the book. That's messed up." 15[21:22] 10Eikichi: "The people love romance. Who am I to deny them?" [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara whirls, lashes out with two fingers, but Kacho's got the same bizarre luck and impossible precision that she does. She doesn't quite reach his below before his fists come heavily down on each of the agent's shoulders, and she crumples to the ground. Of course, she's no slouch, rolling aside and springing to her feet - but visibly swaying with pain. [21:23] 6Sun above, they're not gonna believe this when he gets back to tell the tale. Yara's hurt, but he's poised to strike and that ought to even things up more than a bit... [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12She feints forward - then leaps sideways! 15[21:27] 10Eikichi: "Speaking of which, I'm almost done with the first draft of the next book." [21:27] 4Ir: "What's it cover through? I forget where you left off with the last one." [21:28] 4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7HeNqe9Ins 15[21:28] 10Eikichi: "The first one ended with victory in Crystal. This one runs through the Hedgehog into rescuing Panther." 15[21:29] "I should get him a copy..." [21:29] "Are you gonna tell the whole story about rescuing Panther?" [21:30] 4Ir: "That's gonna be interesting if like. We ever want to go back to Nexus." 15[21:30] 10Eikichi: "I was going to pin it all on Typhon." [21:31] 4Ir: "Seems daring." 15[21:31] 10Eikichi: "Yeah, it'd be a shame if the Mask of Winters started trying to kill us." [21:34] 4Ir: "What're you putting in there about Arakesh?" [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12The little robed figure perched up in the rafters makes no motion to attack. Instead, it raises its little lantern to cast a black, grey, and orange radiance across the warehouse and makes a weird series of hissing, retching noises. [21:35] 6Okay, he's lost track of Yara, he's looking wildly - his partner up in the rafters is still gonna be dangerous, but as soon as they're down one member maybe he'll - and that's when he notices the big guy already blocking his incredible lethal strike. Shit. Fuck that was supposed to work-- [21:35] 6And now he's out in the open and there's no way he can pull off another one of those. They might need to cut their losses. [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Suddenly there seem to be two lanterns, one above you and one at ground level. The ground level one's much farther away (so far away it should be behind a bunch of crates and a wall - but you can see it anyway???) and begins shuffling slowly closer. [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, a pair of hands have clapped themselves around either side of Tatsuya's essence blade seconds before it would've struck home! They're larger and more muscular than those of the man Tatsuya thought he was fighting, though, seemingly materializing out of thin air from around and slightly above his opponent. [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Kacho - though Tatsuya hasn't heard the name yet - widens his eyes and balls his fists. Suddenly, it's like Tatsuya is under assault by two people! 15[21:40] 10Eikichi: "I definitely need the scene where you two fight. Blossom told me how it went down." [21:40] 4Ir: "Mmmmmm." [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12One's a little shorter and a little thinner and is fighting like a back-alley brawler. The other's like a bigger, more muscular, but ghostly version of the guy - wild hair, floating a little above the ground, see-through and much more outlandishly dressed. The apparition's striking with none of the man's eerie precision but with ridiculous speed and power, such that it's basically [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12a blur of knuckles. [21:43] "Make sure it's clear I hung with him unarmed until he switched up the scimitar for that tri-attack bullshit. Only way he could make me bleed." 15[21:44] 10Eikichi: "Oh, yeah, obviously. It'd beggar belief if you weren't much stronger than him." 15[21:44] "Readers wouldn't accept it." [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Kacho: "Ooorrraa-- ...What-" [21:46] 7She nods. "Give the people what they want." [21:47] 4Ir: "Dude's got chops, though. Oh -- don't use his name. No 'Arakesh.' Just keep it Marek." [21:47] "What's that saying? Print the legend." [21:48] "I mean, except for the part where he helps you mess up those guys in the kennel. But different characters, yeah? He likes to think he's got a super-secret cover going." 15[21:48] 10Eikichi: "Marek is a better name anyway. You could find a Marek anywhere. Arakesh is more clearly Southern; people read that and their first thought will be 'this guy is foreign' and not 'this guy is strong'." 15[21:49] "Unless they're Southern too, anyway. But these books are supposed to play in all Directions." [21:50] 6Tatsuya disappears again. The lantern one's still got him, but at least he's lost the big guy -- he needs to get Yara, and probably bail. Mission failed. Game over, man. [21:51] 4Well. Thank the Sun for marketing around prejudice, Ir supposes. [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12That's clearly not how Yara's thinking. She doesn't currently enjoy the liquid grace of Shadow Form, but she knows that Kacho's lost track of either her or her ally and clearly means to capitalize. [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Whoops. [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12That's clearly not how Yara's thinking. She doesn't currently enjoy the liquid grace of Shadow Form, but she knows that Kacho's lost track of either her or her ally and clearly means to capitalize. 08[21:56] 4Continuing to Eikichi: "And you're also gonna make it clear that I not only spared Borneo and Kamchatka, but that we're friends now?" [21:56] "...They're the tyrant lizards." 15[21:57] 10Eikichi: "Absolutely. Kids'll love that." [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara descends! Shadows wreathe the fingers of her hands, and sizzling purple venom drips from her nails. She's plunging down from a stack of crates, and Kacho isn't even turning around... but his ghost self is. There's no way it's moving fast enough to respond, though - except there's a sudden strange sound, a weird ticking. [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Suddenly Kacho's standing several feet away and Yara's hanging from the ceiling, kicking and swearing. Some ropes have somehow been looped around her wrists. [21:59] 7Blossom: "Did you name them or did he?" [22:00] 4Authoritatively: "I did. He agreed they were appropriate." 15[22:00] 10Smart man. [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12There's definitely no hiding for the tiny assassin now - she's outlined in blazing violet light that traces the sigil of Saturn on the floor of the warehouse beneath her. Tatsuya can feel the anima harmonizing with his own movements, ensuring every stroke is that much deadlier. [22:06] 4Ir: "Oh, make sure to mention pitza, too. And put in a recipe. The vendors have a Nexus-exclusive license to make and sell the stuff; they've got no rights over its recipe or ability to block it outside the city." 15[22:07] 10Eikichi: "It'll go in the back with the sheet music." [22:07] "Fair." [22:07] 4Ir: "...Your sheet music, right?" [22:08] 4Ir: "Songbirds would throw a fit if I shared mine." 15[22:08] 10Eikichi: "Yeah, nothing original or proprietary. I put Bread and Roses in the back of the first book." [22:08] "Nice." [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Oh, you know what. You know what." 12She's half-untangled, and uses her hand to reach down into one of the pockets on her belt and produce a small jade slip. She crushes it in her hand. "We're going loud now." [22:09] 6Oh, Sun. [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a faint rumbling sound, one somehow familiar to Tatsuya. What's the Night Caste do? [22:13] 6Well, he was going to run and get Yara back to safety, but - no, wait, why would she have one of those. It'd have to... be... something else. Okay. Okay, well, we're going loud, then. He's on the big man again, trying to find a weakness that he couldn't before--! [22:14] 6There. Idiot. Didn't see that one coming, did you? [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Kacho whirls, but not fast enough - and whatever power allowd him to frustrate Yara's efforts here seem to have been spent. His second, ghostly self's able to block another blow, but takes a hit in the process that sends it and its master stumbling backwards. [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, a strange sound echoes from above. There's a lot of whirring and clicking - it feels mechanical. And Tatsuya and Yara feel... strange... [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12It's as though there are creatures crawling all over you, or as though you're wrapped up in wires so cold they're draining the heat out of your body. Tatsuya's a little short on breath; Yara's gone nearly white. [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara's not really in easy reach, so Kacho whirls on Tatsuya and... walks aggressively forward, his hands in his pockets. Of course, the ghostly, floating version of the man goes all-out. [22:25] 6This must be the work of an enemy stand. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12BOOM. [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12A pillar of white marble comes crashing down onto the warehouse floor, a little away from the fighting. Almost immediately, the stone darkens and blackens, overflowing with dark oil, before crumbling away to reveal a hulking demon bearing an iron staff. 15[22:27] 10Eikichi: "I bet by now Tatsuya and Yara have already easily won, and they're out for ice cream." [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Kill them! Kill them all! Except Tatsuya and me obviously." [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Octavian: "Gladly." [22:28] 6Tatsuya's in the middle of getting punched by a ghost, but still manages a lazy wave to Octavian. "Good to see you again, dude." [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Probably the little thing coming closer first!" [22:29] 4Ir: "...That sound like them to you?" [22:29] 7Blossom: "Why would they go out to eat? We should make them something nice." 7'We' definitely means 'Ir' here, although Blossom will do her best to help. [22:29] "Maybe we should do a fly-by." [22:29] 4She sighs. "Or make a second dinner." [22:30] "...I gotta know that you're both still hungry, though." 15[22:30] 10Eikichi: "I'm in favor of second dinner." [22:30] 4Ir: "Fine. But you're helping." 15[22:30] "Can you do a flyby without breaking cover? We don't want to blow theirs if they're still working." 08[22:32] "Blossom, pour me another Icehome's Welcome. Eikichi, get the stove hot and also pull out some ice. I'm gonna go check the cloud cover." 15[22:35] "Aye aye." 10Do they say aye aye in Pneuma? Maybe they just say 'yes, I will do what you said'. [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM and the little green creature approaching Yara is squashed brutally into paste. Then the demon's swept past Tatsuya, his staff whirling as he bears down on the doubled, flickering Getimian that's been giving Yara so much trouble. [22:37] 4Nah, they say Aye Aye. [22:37] 6Nice. [22:42] 6Tatsuya attempts to repeat his success from before, but this time the guy with his ghost are ready. Should've known, same strike never works twice. [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara's considerably more humble, stabbing with her fingertips as she advances furiously on the doubled man. He gives more and more ground, maintaining impeccable composure but still yielding an advantage. [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12At last, he draws a hand out of a pocket to launch a meteoric strike - only to find his wrist, elbow, and shoulder viciously stabbed and kicked, to the point that he's brought to his knees by the pain as a triumphant Yara backflips onto one of Octavian's shoulders. [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Crush him!" 08[22:55] 4The cloud cover is good. Ir sends word down through the rest of the Heavensward to 'hang on,' then glides gently down and around through the cloud, spiraling in a wide, lazy, but meticulously plotted arc, staying out of the patterns of the moon across the cloud and remaining invisible to the city the below -- but also not disturbing Eikichi and Blossom in the aft lounge. [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Rather than a frenzy of motion, there's a single iron stroke. Kacho's ghost tries to block it, and loses an arm for its trouble. A split-second later, Kacho's own arm is shorn nearly from its socket, collapsing into a pulverized mess. [22:57] 6Don't make a hand joke, don't make a hand joke... [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12There'll be no one to hear it in a minute. Yara shouts something as she hops back off her demon's shoulder, landing on Kacho's collarbone and driving two fingers straight into his forehead. His body hits the ground before hers does, the way she backflips sprightly off again, and a sizzling, violet smoke goes rising up from the Getimian's crown chakra. [23:02] 6Crimony. "Y'all don't play, huh." [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "That big stupid-" 12Something glints, far above. [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Octavian: "ABOVE YOU, FOOLS!" 12You can't quite see what he means, though - just shimmers in the air. [23:04] 6Tatsuya: "There's only the one--" [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Ack!!" [23:09] 6He realizes what Octavian means a split second after he says it, and sort of - fades for a moment. [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Octavian grunts as a barely-visible thread of silk, arcing from out of nowhere, pierces one of his legs. Tatsuya moves with perfect grace as three separate threads intersect exactly where his heart just was. [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara, wide-eyed, is saying: "But that's a Char-" 12right as two threads go past her and a third stabs straight through her torso from left to right. You're pretty sure it's below where her heart should be, but who knows how her people are proportioned on the inside? Either way, the assassin crumples. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Above Great Forks, Ir scans the city with steely eyes. To the south... looks normal. To the west, blasts of furious essence... some sort of god's festival, normal. To the north... hmm. That's a faint violet shimmer in an otherwise dark district. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Perhaps... a familiar violet shimmer? And, as Ir drifts closer, she hears what could be the crash of iron on stone. [23:15] 4Ir: "We, ah. Might have a problem here." [23:15] "All hands on deck." [23:15] 6Tatsuya: "Yara!" 6Shit! How is he so bad at this? [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Octavian says: "Oh, no. Not you, master," 12EXTREMELY laconically, but there's nothing of that attitude in his actions. His gaze is snapping upwards and his sinews are tightening as he prepares to continue carrying out his order. 15[23:19] 10Eikichi, whose mouth is NOT full of half-melted chocolate. "Huh?" [23:19] 4Ir: "Purple shit and a fight in the north." 15[23:20] "If you can see it from the sky it's got to be safe to drop in, right?" [23:21] 6Okay, focus, and jump -- he hops almost straight up, taking temporary perch on a nearby wall, angled to strike at the strange creature and hopefully take it down once and for all. [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya leaps up deftly. Octavian leaps up... not deftly. It's a prodigious jump, but he lands on a stack of crates that proves unequal to his weight and crumbles immediately beneath him, leaving the demon back on the ground in a pile of broken holy symbols. Snarling, the Iron Tower blurs forward to begin simply climbing up a wall instead, shoving his hands and feet into the stone [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12to make handholds - and once he's made a little headway and clambered up onto a walkway, he lunges forward and roars. [23:21] 7Blossom: "Get us over top!" [23:21] 4Ir: "I'm not sure that's the rule, but we're full speed ahead and circumspect on our way." [23:22] 7Blossom: "We'll get this done and get back before the ice cream melts." [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12A man-high column of air connects Octavian and the tiny robed figure, a rippling channel of pure demonic wrath. Crushing force navigates some sort of... something... you can't work it out, but hits full on nonetheless, streaming against the little robed figure as a rerouted river might against a building. [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12More and more robe and leather and what might even be skin are peeled away, leaving a tiny, huddling figure clothed in barest rags and holding a little brass lantern in one sallow, emaciated arm. The rest of it's kind of bundled up, no higher than Yara is, bleeding some kind of ichor all over. 14[23:35] * Joins: tom [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya encounters whatever it was the demon's roar found on his way to the tiny figure. It's suddenly as though the space he's traveling through has been subdivided into weird sections and some are navigable and others aren't and ther are reflections of his arm and weapon visible every which way and some of them are intersecting and colliding with others- [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Up close, Tatsuya's not even sure he's fighting a humanoid, let alone a human. There's all these oily black and greenish-grey plates and limbs and things sort of folded together into a roughly Yara-sized lump, now only covered by a few strips of rough brown sackcloth. [23:39] 6He leaps off the wall, weapons out, ready to strike at the final obstacle between him and getting the hell away from here, putting this all behind him, and just eating ice cream and laying on the floor for like, three days, and -- completely and totally whiffs. He's getting predictable, or this things is the most deadly martial artist in the Realm, or Sun only knows what. [23:39] 6Maybe if he just breaks down crying right here and now the thing will take pity on him...? Wait. That's not like... his eyes narrow, even as he continues staying poised for combat. He will have to have a talk. [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12What might be eyes light up the same orange of the lantern, swiveling from several places to eye Tatsuya. There's a high-pitched chittering which begins to resolve into a deep growl. Then the tiny lump of chitin that faces Anathema and demon begins to tremble... just as Ir from one direction and Blossom in the other make their way into the top layer of the room, weapons and fireballs [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12at the ready. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a sound like zzzZZzzZZZZZZ - some kind of cable rapidly unspooling. Sections of the world around you go black-and-white or into inverted colors, but all around the little creature fades into blackest darkness. Then it turns and shuffles off. [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12No matter which direction you're looking at it from, it appears to be walking slowly away, as though the walls and crates behind it weren't there. Run forward as you might, it doesn't get any closer, and its little lantern just fades into the distance. Perhaps you can outrun it -- but there's two people dead or dying there on the floor! [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12The other Solars recognize Yara, who's bleeding from both sides as though stabbed through the torso - though you can't see by what, and judging from entry and exit wound it was needle-thin. There's another man no one's seen before, his arm pulverized, his body battered, and his forehead caved in by some kind of acid. [23:46] 4Ir's bringing the Heavensward in close, hopefully enough to open the cargo door rather than needing ropes. 15[23:47] 10Eikichi's got the Stormwind Rider if things get dangerous. [23:47] 7Blossom can literally fly as well as jump really high. [23:47] 6Tatsuya gawps at the creature fleeing, but springs into action to grab Yara and bring her up to the rafters and out on the roof. She needs medical attention, and he's too exhausted to even think about letting Ying help right now. If he even - anyway. [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12There's one complication. It manifests as Tatsuya's carrying Yara across the roof, towards the Heavensward's waiting ladder. [23:48] 7In that case, Blossom will grab the corpse of whats-his-face. [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12A woman's voice thundering "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!" 12She's tall and muscular, with short and spiky red hair, a buff jacket, and a heavy steel mace held in one hand. Ir places her as a fellow northerner by complexion, though not by accent. 15[23:49] 10Hello. [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12She's leapt onto this warehouse's roof from a neighboring one and pointing straight at Tatsuya. "Put her down right - who are you peo- Octavian, the fuck are you thinking?" [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Octavian: "I've been instructed not to kill them." [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Woman: "Seriously?!" [23:50] 4Ir vaults off the deck down onto the warehouse roof. "You'll need to be more specific." 15[23:51] 10Eikichi: "Weeeeee're going to need to have a discussion about this." [23:51] 6Tatsuya: "On the fucking ship, where there is medical attention, please." 15[23:51] "We can treat Yara. I don't think she's safe to transport very far." [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Woman: "I can treat Yara. I don't know what any of you are doing here or what she thinks she's doing here-" [23:52] 7Blossom: "Oh, you're one of her Circle. Wonderful." [23:52] 4Ir explodes in golden light. When the brief glare clears, burning armor wreatches her, and her hair is burnished blonde. "Talking sounds good." [23:53] "You know. Trust, but verify." 15[23:53] 10Eikichi: "We're not giving Yara up to a stranger." 15[23:53] "You trust us enough to come and talk, or you can give me more wounded to treat. I don't see any other way out of this." [23:53] 6Tatsuya: "Great, wonderful, we can talk more about this on the gods-damned ship. Yes?" 6He takes another step towards the ship, which is presumably still blocked by the stranger. [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Woman: "Oh, that's rich. Listen, pretty boy, I'm Iron Siaka and Yara's my... coworker." [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "If there's more than one person here besides Yara herself then something's gone wrong and my bet is it's your fault. No offense, you probably didn't realize." [23:56] 4Ir: "No offense. Not my motto." [23:56] 6Tatsuya: "Are you -- she asked me to come along!" [23:57] 4Ir: "We can talk on the ship. You're invited on the ship. But Yara's going on the ship." [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka looks over at Tatsuya, raising an eyebrow and working her mouth around. "She did, did she?" [23:58] 6Tatsuya: "Yes, she did, and I'm pretty fucking put out about how that went too, so you can yell at me when we're on. The. Ship." 08[23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12The woman looks back and forth, then hooks her mace to the side of her belt and strides forward, past Eikichi. "I'll help you treat her." 15[23:59] 10Eikichi: "Does anyone who works for Heaven ever fucking know what anyone else who works for Heaven is doing? No wonder she asked for our help. Get up on the ship, let us help her, let her explain, or you can wake up in a few hours on a cot next to her. Choice is yours, ma'am." [23:59] 4Ir rolls her eyes. Session Time: Thu Mar 29 00:00:00 2018 [00:00] 4https://i.imgur.com/X8CPm71.jpg 08[00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Let's say she said that after Eikichi's line just now. Either way, she doesn't get in the way as you bring Yara up, but certainly climbs up with. 15[00:00] 10To Iron Siaka: "Are you good, or just lucky?" [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "I'm both." 15[00:01] "Help us lay her out, then. Tatsuya are you hurt? What happened?" [00:01] 4She tosses Iscariot up in the air and snaps her fingers, and it coils in midair around her head, a moonsilver tiara. 08[00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Turns out she's also extremely fussy. Is the room Eikichi works medicine in immaculately clean? If not, he's gonna hear about it. 08[00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Octavian is there, incidentally, and he is decidedly not looking at Eikichi. [00:02] 6He grinds out: "I'm fine. Do we have anything small, breakable, and that nobody will miss?" [00:02] 4The rear ramp to the hold is open, so they should just be able to walk aboard, if into Errant and Ami's stalls. 15[00:02] 10It's clean enough. [00:03] 4While they get Yara settled, Ir heads to the helm briefly to fly them back up into cloud cover, then puts them in a holding position before heading back down. 08[00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12The hell it is. Siaka produces a very fluffy cat with stars in its fur which proceeds to sweep the floor with its tail. Meanwhile, she works with Eikichi to prepare the bed, clean the wound, all the rest. 15[00:04] 10Oh, well, if she's not going to make him do it, she can go nuts. [00:04] 6Briefly, he tries to still his frustration. "Sorry. I'm - I tried something flashy and it completely and utterly fucked us. Think I got one hit in the entire time. I'm - " 6not good enough "frustrated." [00:04] 4To Tatsuya: "Is Yara dead?" 15[00:05] 10Eikichi: "I've got some empty bottles you can smash." [00:05] 4To Tatsuya: "Are you dead?" [00:05] "No?" [00:05] 7Blossom says: "Nobody is dead except for whoever this is." She hefts the corpse on her shoulder for emphasis. [00:05] "Then there's some shit in the hold you can break and the rest we can talk out over second dinner." [00:05] 7Blossom says: "Nobody is dead except for whoever this is." 7She hefts the corpse on her shoulder for emphasis. [00:06] 6Tatsuya: "I get your point, we're both alive. I'm going to go break those bottles before I scream again. Excuse me," 6he stomps off. 08[00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka claims - and Eikichi agrees - that there's no poisoning or cursing at work here. It's pure trauma, but extremely strange and difficult to treat trauma because it's as though someone's run a glass-goated thread straight through Yara's stomach, from left to right. [00:06] 4Ir clomps out in her golden armor. "I'm going to go finish up making second dinner. Holler if she tries anything." 15[00:06] "What the hell is this?" [00:07] 6From the hold, there's wordless wailing and the noise of shattering glass. It doesn't make Tatsuya feel any better, but it makes the glass feel worse, and that's going to have to do right now. [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Don't recognize it. Weird as hell. ...not sure how I'm going to start on the internal injuries here." [00:09] 6Eventually, the noises still. Tatsuya does not reappear. [00:09] 7Well, Blossom will take a look at the corpse, then. Is there anything significant she should recognize, granting that she knows nothing of medicine? 15[00:10] 10Eikichi: "The wounds are very peculiar... but they're also very small. Her biggest risks at this point are going septic and pressure from blood pooling up in her torso collapsing her lungs. So as long as we keep it drained..." [00:10] 4If either Tatsuya or Ying emerge from below, Ir will stick her head out and call them aft, rather than letting them wander into the surgery. [00:10] 4Otherwise, she'll go to work. [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12This is a young man - Blossom would guess early twenties at a glance, but a few details might make her second guess herself. He seems to have been subjected to incredible blunt force trauma and then stabbed in the forehead with a poison and/or acid-coated weapon. He looks like he was an easterner - maybe Sijanese? [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Tell me what to do." [00:11] 6If either of them came above decks, Ir didn't notice. 08[00:12] 4Fair enough. Second dinner's going to have two courses: entree and desert. We're skipping the finger foods. Eikichi and Blossom have already eaten, and the rest are going to want something hardy followed by something to put them away. Eikichi's already got the ice cream started, while breaking into the chocolates for reasons of perfidy. That's fine. She's not a first-year cook and [00:12] 4she's not sixteen anymore, which means she doesn't serve ice cream by itself. 15[00:12] 10Eikichi stammers a little but recovers quickly. "Oh j-just get that bowl. Apply pressure here and here..." [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Some part of an hour later, Yara's stabilized. Another part of an hour later, and Siaka's done sitting nearby Yara and gripping her hand - for the moment, at least - and pacing around somewhere else on the ship, wherever everybody else is. [00:14] 4For entrees, we're going with Isicia Omentata, Northern Style, because she's still got some boar bacon to crisp up. She takes the spicy sauce from the shrimp, thickens it with molasses and a little heat, and after some reduction ends up with a tangy sauce to dress them in. [00:14] 7Anything in his pockets or in his person? [00:14] 4She'll make two for everyone but none for herself, then eat the leftovers. [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Fuck, fuck, fuck. How did - fuck. What happened? Who was with her? Where'd that guy go?" 15[00:15] 10Eikichi: "She took Tatsuya with her to try to assassinate some illegal little Chosen. Looks like they didn't win as clean as they'd have hoped." [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12The man's pockets contained: a sundial, a compass, a few coins of local denomination, some smokes. [00:16] 4For dessert, we're looking at the ice cream, yes, but Ir's going to complement it with something. [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Gods fucking - of all the nights. This is my fault." 15[00:16] 10Eikichi: "I won't argue with you, but personally I'm going to blame the people who actually tried to kill them." [00:17] 4This is a party recipe she learned for when she got tired of qat brownies, but still wanted something sweet that could fuck the room up in a pleasant but non-debilitating way. [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "You get 'em? I saw one body - where'd you put it?" 15[00:17] 10Eikichi: "Ask Blossom." 15[00:18] "I didn't see where she took it. Usually the hold. I doubt she's laying a body out in the lounge." [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka wastes no time, then, in finding wherever on the ship Blossom is. Somehow, she seems to know exactly where - has she seen a plan, somehow, or is she just lucky again? [00:18] 4Sailor's Squares with Salted Caramel Rum Sauce. [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "That him?" 15[00:18] "Not to imply that B14lossom regularly brings corpses home" 10Siaka left before Eikichi could finish his sentence. [00:19] 4Make 'em like normal brownies, but the rum goes in last. The sauce is a little trickier, but you don't cook it hot enough to do anything to the alcohol in either component. [00:19] 7Blossom has him laid out down in the hold, indeed. It's surprising how many empty spaces there are on the Heavensward. Most ships are small as buildings go, but this one only houses five-odd people. 15[00:19] "She seems nice," 10says Eikichi to Yara's unconscious body. [00:19] 4Ir does using her special rum reserve, and in full golden plate. [00:19] 7She's sitting on a small stool, scratching her chin in thought. She doesn't look up as Siaka comes in. "Yep." [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Intel said at least two." 12She frowns and crouches down beside the body, reaching out to take its chin and turn the head this way and that. [00:20] 4It's more productive than being antagonistic towards Yara's colleague. [00:20] 7Blossom: "It looked like there was something else, yeah. Some little creature that scurried off when we arrived, right through walls and such. It was chase after him or pick up Yara, so..." 15[00:21] 10Eikichi writes something on a slip of paper and sticks it in one of Yara's pockets, and comes out with one of those jade slips. [00:21] 4It takes about 45 minutes all told. When everything's ready -- and the ice cream is back in the ice cooler -- she'll stick her head back out and see where they are. [00:21] <@Ferrinus> "Fuck," 12says Siaka again. "The hell'd they find her..." [00:22] 7Blossom: "Whom?" [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka gestures at the body. "These freaks. The illegal Chosen. They cover their tracks good, but so do we. Certainly so did she." 15[00:23] 10Eikichi: "Wasn't Yara looking for them?" [00:23] 7Blossom: "Yes. We spent weeks tracking them down." [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Oh, yeah. But to actually engage-" 15[00:24] To Iron Siaka: "You know all our names already, right? So we haven't been rude not to introduce ourselves this whole time." [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Eh? Yeah, read all the files." 15[00:24] "I'm jealous." [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Don't be. Frankly the books are more useful. Yours, right?" 15[00:25] "That's me." [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka cracks a faint smile, possibly her first of the night. It stands out on a face as battle-scarred as hers. "You're doing good work there. Smiles to children's faces and that." [00:27] 4Ir pushes the door open. "Food's just about up. Not sanitary to eat in here." 08[00:27] 7Blossom also smiles warmly at Eikichi. That's hers! It's her boyfriend that's bringing smiles to young ones! [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "So Yara - oh, yeah? You don't mind the extra mouth?" [00:27] 7Blossom: "We've plenty. Do you need this guy for anything?" [00:27] 4Ir: "Cooked with you in mind." 15[00:28] 10There's two patches of red high on Eikichi's cheeks. "I, ah. Thank you. Let's go eat." [00:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "I don't. Yara might, she actually knows magic. But yeah, food." [00:28] <@Ferrinus> 12What's for dinner? Is everyone attending? [00:29] 6Tatsuya still hasn't surfaced. 15[00:29] "You want me to go get him or let him sulk his way to leftovers?" [00:29] "Dinner's Isicia Omentata, Northern Style, so two patties on a monk's bun with greens and boar bacon, along with my own sauce. Dessert is Sailor's Squares in a rum caramel drizzle. If you've got dietary concerns, Siaka, speak now and I can improvise." [00:30] "Also hashed some potatoes as a side." 08[00:30] <@Ferrinus> "Hah! No need to worry about my constitution. Bring it on." 12Siaka gives Eikichi a thoughtful look. "Mmm, leave him if he wants. But tell me about him." [00:30] 7Blossom shrugs, and taps the corpse on the forehead. Instantly it begins to glow a comforting yellow, disintegrating into dancing motes of pure light. [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Wow, so much for Yara's future adventures in dissection. 15[00:32] 10Eikichi: "Tatsuya tries to play it cool but he's a huge sweetheart. One time he let two kids beat him in a fight so they'd be inspired to keep training." 15[00:33] "That's why he's so upset. He's also very bad at blaming the people who actually tried to kill them." [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Heh. Let me tell you what's going to happen when Yara wakes up." [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "She's going to go on for a goddamn hour about how if she'd only zigged instead of zagged-" [00:35] 4Ir doesn't eat. Instead, she sits down at the keyharp. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbYX_xZHQS0 15[00:35] 10Eikichi: "I wonder if the Incarnae select on purpose for people who can't handle failure or if this just happens to everybody." 15[00:35] "Blossom's got it figured out. Her secret is doing everything perfectly the first time." [00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka snorts. "That's sweet." [00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom sees a strange sight as the body burns away into flame: a network of fine filaments tracing out the corpse's countours and internal structure, attended by lots of small skittering creatures. They seem to have been... reinforcing it, or copying it, or something. But the substrate they're working on is burning up around them, and even they themselves are catching alight! [00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Burning blue and gold, the little spiders dig their way into the air itself and vanish, their work unfinished. [00:38] 4The song is excellent, if Ir does say so herself -- if haunting, sad, and lulling. But there's something about Ir playing it perfectly in full armor that goes a step beyond. [00:39] 6After a good long while, Tatsuya realizes that no one's coming down to see him performatively mope. And he smells dinner. That's sweet, actually, that they're giving him real time to decompress, but he's suddenly struck by just - how hungry he is. And as angry, as frustrated as he is, there's something to be said about just how powerfully upset you can be after a good meal. Fuels the rage. The door to the dining hall swings open [00:39] and Tatsuya enters sullenly to grab a plate of whatever's left. [00:40] 4He's got two still-hot burgers waiting for him, perfectly warmed by the stove, along with similarly-kept potatoes. [00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka points to Tatsuya as he sits. "So, you - she asked you... along on a mission? Kill those things?" [00:42] 6One burger and one portion of the potatoes. Maybe the rest, later. Before he digs in, he replies: "Yeah. Sneaking thing. Otherwise we'd have brought backup." 6'I'm not a child,' is the unspoken phrase. [00:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka shakes her head to herself, smiling ruefully. "You wouldn't have brought backup." [00:44] 6Tatsuya: "I was told that discretion was the goal." 6He picks at the potatoes. 15[00:44] "It would've been harder to deter backup inviting itself." [00:44] "After we dealt with the original targets so wonderfully? I assume they were the original targets, because wow, if we got ambushed by some completely unrelated morons I'm going to feel even dumber." [00:44] 4Ir waffled them, for dipping in the tangy sauce. If that helps. [00:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "And you were told rightly. And if circumstances were different - listen, kid, I can't really explain this well. But if you want to blame someone for things going sour tonight, blame me." [00:45] 6It does. Not that he says as much. 15[00:45] "I'm going to knock your heads together." 15[00:45] 10Eikichi: "Blame. The. People. Who. Attacked. You." [00:46] 6Tatsuya: "If I had been better--" [00:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "I threw a wrench into the works that didn't have to be there, let's just say. But hey, I'm not gonna beat myself up about it." [00:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Main problem in this world is lack of communication." 15[00:46] "Says the spy." [00:46] 4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1Ocekx56WA [00:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Heh, it's a livin'." [00:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Except that should be colored right. 15[00:47] "Saturn let you say things like that?" [00:48] 6He takes a big bite of burger. After chewing, icily: "I think there's been enough people beaten up tonight." 6He presses his hand to his forehead. "Sorry, no, that's - ugh. I can't believe we got ambushed. That was our job." [00:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka blinks twice, then grins faintly. "Suppose she's got to, under the circumstances." 08[00:49] 7Personally, Blossom feels like self-recrimination is how you improve, but it's also important that Eikichi feel good about himself, so instead she says: "That spider-type Chosen that we were able to bring back - he was the one messing with Fate? Or was it the other little one?" [00:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "I'm no savant. But all those things contribute. Whatever the opposite of contribute is." 15[00:50] "...hurt?" [00:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Hmm, maybe. But in a collective way, you know?" [00:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Point is they screw up the world's working. 's why Yara's tasked with hunting them down and us with supporting her." [00:51] 6Suddenly: "Yara okay? I - you're here eating dinner like nothing happened, so - probably, but..." 15[00:52] 10Eikichi: "The actual injury is very minor. It was the complications that were going to kill her." [00:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "She'll be fine. Your guy's a hell of a doctor." [00:52] 6Tatsuya: "He is. Complications?" 15[00:52] 10Eikichi: "This is not a dinner conversation." [00:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "It's handled. So why'd you go?" [00:53] 6Tatsuya: "I can hand- what?" [00:53] "She asked. I was the only one who could help." 6He's genuinely confused at the question. [00:53] 4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ6PFvcNO8s [00:54] 7Blossom: "Yara's been reasonable and friendly, and it sounded like Great Forks at the very least was in danger. We had no reason not to help." [00:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Seems like the reason is that you'd be crossing paths with freakish, malevolent anti-Chosen." 15[00:55] 10Eikichi: "Yara's been reasonable and friendly since she tried to assassinate us all." [00:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Haha, yeah, can you believe it? They really screwed her on that one." [00:56] 4Ir, eyes closed, playing: "Didn't try to kill me. Tried to lock me up forever." 15[00:57] 10Eikichi: "I get the sense that your bosses are really stupid." [00:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Ever had a boss that wasn't?" 15[00:57] 10Eikichi: "Morgana's pretty smart." [00:58] 6Tatsuya: "Yeah, actually. But she makes a living off of stealing off precisely those kind of morons." [00:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Plenty of smart people're stupid." [00:58] "Not Morgana." 15[00:58] 10Eikichi: "Name five." [00:58] 6He says it with a finality. [00:59] 4Now he's just digging for intel. [00:59] 7Blossom: "Yara seems to think that Wayang is sensible enough." [00:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Uh, the first few that come to mind're classified. But I guess I could just start rattling off the roll of the deliberative of yore, eh?" [00:59] <@Ferrinus> 12She blinks here. "Woah, didn't think Yara'd drop that name. We'll need to have a talk." [01:00] 7Blossom perks up, interested, when she mentions the Deliberative. "Could you?" [01:00] 6Tiredly: "Hasn't she been through enough?" [01:01] 4Ir: "Haven't we all." 4She's stepped away from the keyharp. She snaps her fingers and Iscariot jumps from a tiara on her brow to a six-string in her hands. [01:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Haha, probably not. I mean, everyone's heard of Merela, I guess." [01:02] 4She noodles around softly for a bit. [01:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "I'm not gonna beat the girl up. Just want to be on the same page." [01:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, Merela, Bearer of the Crown of Thunders and Possessor of the Creation-Ruling Mandate. Stories differ on whether she was the actual first Solar Exalt, but savants are pretty sure she was the first ruler of the assembled Deliberative, following the war against the titans. [01:08] 4The song eventually turns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SeJQpvGDfI [01:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka makes easy and extremely uninformative small talk as the night wears on, discussing goings-on in Great Forks and Nexus (her accent pins her as a native of the latter). Eventually, she finishes one last swig of her drink, pushes her chair out from the table, and gets up. [01:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "I'm gonna check on Yara. Tomorrow we can work out... everything, I guess." [01:13] 6Tatsuya eventually finishes about half of the food he grabbed, and has at some point just laid his head down next to the empty plate. Mostly to the table: "Great." [01:13] 7Blossom nods. 15[01:14] 10Eikichi: "You need a place to sleep?" 15[01:14] "We've got at least one hammock we're not using." [01:14] 4Before she starts the song, of course, she serves dessert. Ice cream and boozy brownies. [01:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Hammock suits me fine." 15[01:15] "These pastries are so good. 15[01:15] "So is the ice cream." 15[01:15] "I wonder if you could do rum ice cream." [01:15] 4Ir, over some minor chords: "I could." 15[01:15] "The alcohol doesn't keep it from freezing up?" [01:16] "You don't want ice cream actually frozen." 15[01:17] "That's a fair point." [01:17] 6Tatsuya sits up, suddenly, and excuses himself. "I need to - go have a, talk." 6He manages to not make extremely obvious winks and nods towards the assembled solars. "I'll see you in the morning." [01:17] 4Ir closes her eyes and nods. [01:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka points at Tatsuya as he gets up and leaves. "Hey! ...you did a good thing tonight. M'sure Yara appreciates it, and so do I." 15[01:19] 10After Tatsuya leaves: "You know. Did she tell you?" 15[01:19] "We should work together on this." [01:19] 6He pauses in the doorway. "...ask her about that when you get a chance." 6Then he's gone. [01:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Yara's real vague when she wants to be. Hell, so am I." 15[01:21] "Does Yara like picnics?" [01:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka kicks back. "I think she could, but you - I take it - know how she is. She relaxes for more than five minutes, she starts feeling guilty." 15[01:24] 10Eikichi: "They don't teach 'work hard, play hard' in Heaven?" [01:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Not in her department, I don't think. Poor gal." [01:25] 4Ir: "She's wound too tight." 15[01:25] 10To Blossom: "You see? Spa day." [01:26] 7Blossom: "She seems perfectly normal to me!" 08[01:26] 4Mouthed to Eikichi: "Wound too tight" [01:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Well, Creation's a rich tapestry. But I really need to get some shuteye, folks." 15[01:27] 10Eikichi tries to make like he's coughing into his sleeve but that just makes it more obvious he's snickering. [01:28] <@Ferrinus> 12In quite good humor given what happened to her ally and what theoretically dangerous circumstances she's in, Siaka stands up from her seat, stretches, and ambles off to check back on Yara. Later she'll figure out where her hammock is, probably without help from anybody. [01:28] 4Ir will finish off the brownies. 15[01:29] 10Eikichi will check on Yara, make sure Sondok knows about the new weirdos on the ship, and then go to bed. [01:30] 4Ir stays up for awhile, cleaning and singing to herself. She falls asleep shortly before dawn. 08[01:30] "You know," 7Blossom muses after Iron Siaka leaves, "she's either as straightforward as she appears or Heaven has finally figured out, after a full volume of Eikichi's books, that they can get a lot of information from us just by being friendly and asking for it." [01:30] 4Ir: "Could be both." [01:30] "Could be." 15[01:31] 10Eikichi: "I think it's the latter. I couldn't really tell if she was playing nice or being nice." [01:31] <@Ferrinus> 12She's a mysterious one, is Iron Siaka. Her eyes were bright blue, incidentally, and filled with stars same as Yara's. 15[01:31] "Which is usually a sign that someone is playing nice." 15[01:31] "But that doesn't mean she isn't nice. It just means she was on her guard." 15[01:31] "Which, I mean." [01:31] 4Ir: "I'm still wearing the armor for a reason." [01:32] 4She opens a single eye and smiles. "That reason it looks impressive. But your point stands." 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Xia Lan has likely heard some muffled disorganized musical sounds coming from in there, but Stranger is being careful not to practice too much while she's around. [20:06] 14Of course, he's had other business to take care of -- Emissary business -- so a lot of this is happening at night. [20:07] 13Smart. Keep your enemy from knowing what you're capable of. It's just solid tactics. Xia Lan's past few days are a blur - everything after the tomb raid just seems to run together. [20:10] 14One of the rare times she will find him just sitting around is a few days before the contest, making tea in the common room -- something that's briefly become a rare sight. [20:12] "Ah!" 14He puts down a cup of Lapsang Souchong. "Xia Lan. I had a question." [20:13] 13She pauses - having intended to retreat to her room and avoid potentially awkward conversations by pretending to answer fan mail. "Yes, Stranger?" [20:15] "What instruments are we going to have access to, during the contest?" [20:15] "Are there rules on that?" [20:17] 13Xia Lan: "Ah. Anything you need, plus a backing band for numbers that require one." 13She quirks an eyebrow. "Why? Picking something up?" [20:18] 14Stranger: "Keyharp. I learned it while travelling with the Ambassador in the East." [20:19] "Unfortunately they're rather large, rather expensive, and rather difficult to fit through the door." [20:20] 13She covers her surprise with a quick, respectful nod. "There was one last time, I'll make sure there is again before the duel." [20:20] "Thank you." 14He sighs. "Now I just need to find one to practice on." [20:22] 13Xia Lan: "You could--" 13Hm. Probably would have been better to check first, but... "Tohu might let you. Doesn't hurt to ask." [20:22] 14He nods. "I've considered doing that, though I didn't get the impression his grand version moves around very much. And practicing in public feels...egotistical. [20:22] " [20:23] 13Xia Lan: "...we could get one for here?" [20:24] 13Really turn this place into some kind of... fancy parlor. [20:24] 14He shrugs. "Perhaps. I wouldn't want to impose. Also appropriating funds for a keyharp at this particular moment would feel wrong." [20:25] *Council funds [20:30] 13Xia Lan: "I think our options are pretty limited, then. For now, at least - unless you happen to know of any extremely generous donors who simply want to assist in our continued home with a keyharp for the common room." [20:32] "Public practice, a donation, or dipping into coffers to be replaced later through a mutual benefit concert." [20:32] "...Mutual benefit concert. I like the sound of that last one." [20:32] 14Stranger: "We could invite your friend. The Tellurian. The Tellurian? Mister Tellurian? Something Tellurian." [20:33] 13Xia Lan: "Hm? Oh, right, yeah! And I'd been meaning to bring it up anyways -- interest people into signing up to defend Nexus, or donate funds for its defense if they can't or are unwilling to fight themselves." [20:34] 14He chuckles. "We should get Bastian, Keldar, and Xu Sim into a baritone trio. Do you think any of them can sing?" [20:36] 13She makes a face. "Not in the slightest." 13After a moment, she offers: "Maybe Xu Sim can figure out how to bottle talent." [20:37] 14Stranger: "I suspect Keldar could do alright as a frontman. You know, the lead of one of those Songbird groups where the hook is that of course the guy can't sing, but he's still compelling as a performer." [20:38] 13Xia Lan shudders. "He'd scare them off. Besides, he'd be training the recruits, they can't get that kind of image of their commander." 13Though... she taps her chin thoughtfully. "Maybe if he got a makeover to go along with it. Really sell the 'guy who's in the pit with you' look. Or if he performed in disguise. A true mystery frontman." [20:40] 14Stranger: "Perhaps we could disguise Princess as something that actually looks like a dog, while we're at it." [20:40] 13Xia Lan: "I don't know that that's possible." [20:42] "She's hopeless. Too many different horrid mixtures left a permanent mark on the poor thing." [20:43] 14Stranger: "At least she owns it." 14[20:44] * Joins: Crion| 14[20:44] * Quits: Crion| (Quit: ) [20:45] 13Xia Lan: "Does she? Mostly she drools and licks herself. Presumably like the dog she was before the... incidents." 14[20:47] * Joins: Crion| [20:50] 14Stranger nods sagely. "Sometimes that is all that we can do." 14[20:51] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:51] 13Deliberately misunderstanding: "Drool and lick ourselves? I think we're capable of better." [20:52] 14He shrugs. "Perhaps I spent too much time among the Lunars, then. ...Don't tell the Ambassador I said that." [20:54] 13She snickers. "I won't. I will ask her about when you picked up the keyharp, though. Nothing like musicians starting out stories." [20:59] 14Stranger chuckles. "You know how some expensive keyharps are made from worked bone? Ivory keys and so forth. The one I learned on took that...a bit far. But yes, I think she would enjoy telling that story." [21:01] 13Now that's a heck of a hook. Next time she sees the Ambassador, she'll steer the conversation that way. Or just ask her outright. 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> How long before the show to Xia Lan and Stranger arrive? Are they picking Tsuka up or meeting him somewhere? [21:07] 14Stranger will arrive fairly early to examine the instruments, since he'll be using the house set. He will arrange things so that Xia Lan and Tsuka can meet up without an erstwhile chaperone/duel opponent looking over their shoulders. [21:12] 13Xia Lan and Tsuka aren't far behind. She left at the same time as Stranger did, but split almost immediately to go collect Tsuka from the Green Apple barracks. She's wearing a rather nice jacket that covers most of her performing outfit for the evening, even, so he won't have a nosebleed. So thoughtful of her! [21:14] 13What's Tsuka wearing, by the by? 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka's wearing the same white-trimmed red silk coat and sash he wore the last time he went out to the CIO with Xia Lan. It's freshly laundered, at least. [21:17] 13She'll have to take him shopping sometime. Not before this contest, but... soon. You can't be anybody in this town with just one good outfit. [21:17] 13In this or any town, really, but we're here now so that's what matters. [21:19] 13Nevertheless, she'll stroll in well before the beginning of the duel, likely while Stranger is still examining the instruments, Tsuka in tow. 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a surprisingly brisk afternoon crowd there today, one of whom Xia Lan and Stranger recognize: the pale, delicate-looking woman who was rude to them last time. Neither Mr. Tellurian nor her short purple friend seem to be here yet. But it's a new face that greets them first; a big man with deep red skin and a coal black beard waves at Xia Lan, Tsuka, and Stranger as they enter. "A round for my friends!" [21:20] 14Stranger: "...Well you know what they say. A stranger is just a friend you haven't met yet. And I am Stranger." [21:21] 13Xia Lan studies the greeter. They've never seen this man before? [21:22] 13...has Tsuka seen them before? 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> No and no. This man looks totally unfamiliar. [21:24] 13Xia Lan: "A pleasure...?" 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Red man: "The pleasure is mine! Sit! Sit, please. Relax before the show." [21:28] 14Gently: "I believe the young lady was asking for your name. As am I." [21:29] "After all, we should like to know whom we are addressing in friendship." [21:31] 13Xia Lan has not been called "the young lady" by anyone other than Stranger since she was twelve. It's still weird. 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Red man: "Call me Otto." The pale woman slowly rotates her teacup in its saucer, eyes flitting between the table and the door. A pair of emancipated neomah are sharing a private joke in a rear booth. Tohu's asleep on the stool behind the counter. [21:33] 14Stranger got old fast. [21:34] 14To Otto: "Then I shall. Well met, Otto. I am Stranger-Visits-Heaven." [21:34] 13Any other Tohu running around? Or just the one sleepy one visible? In any case, Xia Lan takes a seat. "Hello, Otto. The Unfettered Xia Lan." 13She affects a slight bow as she sits, and gestures to Tsuka, assuming he will introduce himself. [21:35] 13...though she's prepared for the alternative, should he become awkward. 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka, to his credit, only misses half a beat. "Tsuka." Short bow. [21:35] 13He's improving! She refrains from calling this out. 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "He's done that to everyone who's walked in all day." [21:37] 14To Pearl: "Has it been true for everyone who's walked in all day?" 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "I seriously doubt it." 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Maybe he's been practicing." [21:39] 14Stranger: "Perhaps. How have you been, Pearl of Great Price?" 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Busy." 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "They're late." [21:41] 13Xia Lan: "Tell me about it." 13It's not clear whether that's comisseration or an invitation to expound. [21:42] "That they are," 14he laments. "What sort of tea do you prefer?" 14It's directed to Pearl but is an open question for the table. Stranger's about to wander to the bar for a fresh pot or two. [21:42] 13commiseration* 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "They have a nice red here." [21:44] 14Not quite an answer, but he'll take it. He knows Tsuka and Xia Lan's preferences by now, and will return with a pot of the red and a pot of whatever they'd like. 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Otto: "Who's late?" 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "The rest of our party." [21:46] 13Jasmine for Xia Lan, though she ought to know Tsuka's favorite by now. 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka doesn't really care for tea. He'll drink whatever's around. [21:47] 14Sigh. [21:48] 13The uncultured youth. What is to be done with them? 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Otto: "I'm looking forward to meeting them." [21:49] 14'Doesn't really care for tea.' Preposterous. [21:49] 14To Otto, over tea: "So. Otto. From where do you hail?" [21:49] "Everyone in this city seems to be from somewhere else, save Keldar." 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Otto: "So it is. My home is a beautiful city, of cloud-capped towers, gorgeous palaces, solemn temples... it is very far from here. What about you?" [21:51] 13Well if that's not just vague as all get out. [21:52] 14Stranger: "I'm from a small village on the Gray. No one lives there anymore. They're all dead or moved on." [21:53] 13Xia Lan makes a noise of sympathy, but doesn't elaborate unless asked. [21:53] "We used to fish, though. Right there in the water, under the Sun." [21:53] "...Days gone by." 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Otto: "The river goes where the water flows." [21:55] 14Stranger is good enough at this not to narrow his eyes. "But no one knows when the Batcave closed." [21:55] "I take it you met Old Selin." [21:55] 13Xia Lan: "That guy." 15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "I knew it!" [21:56] "Hm?" 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "The shamelessness! Just coming out here in open air and daring me--" [21:56] 14Stranger sips his tea. [21:56] 13Xia Lan: "Sha- daring you to...?" 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Otto chuckles. "Your reputation precedes you, Madam Underdirector. But I had to wonder if so long upstairs hadn't dulled your skills." 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "It's a shame to see that such a long field deployment so eroded your common sense, Mr. Underdirector." [21:59] 13Xia Lan: "What am I missing, here?" 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Otto: "Is that what they say about me on the other end of the street?" [21:59] 14Stranger: "It's work chat." [21:59] 14Stranger: "It's work chat." 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Not at all, sir." [21:59] 13She sips her tea. 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "You don't want to know what they say about you." 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> The door swings open. "It's five after five. Where's the beer?" Sober enters, and from behind her comes a "Hey hold up!" as Mr. Tellurian pushes through behind her. 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober's carrying a lumpy sack over her shoulder. Mr. Tellurian has a stack of books in his arms. [22:02] 13...there's a lot going on here. 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "Hey!" He acknowledges Xia Lan and Tsuka on entering. "Sorry, I'd wave, but." [22:03] 14Stranger: "Understandable." 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl looks mortified. "You let him bring the briefing books?!" [22:03] 13She waves herself, at least. "Arms full, I got it. Heck of a place to study, though." [22:03] 14To Sober: "What's the most ominous question in Creation?" 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "'What's that wet spot?'" [22:04] 13Xia Lan: "'Where were you on the night of the...?'" [22:04] 14Stranger: "Close. 'What's in the sack?'" 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "I caught crabs! You in?" [22:05] 14Stranger: "Incredibly." 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "Sorry, we took a little detour. I couldn't stop back at my place." 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Give me those immediately." [22:05] 13Xia Lan: "Don't worry, I won't tell the Ambassador about this, either." [22:05] 13She winks exaggeratedly to Stranger. 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Otto has produced a small pad of paper, on which he makes impossibly tiny notes, considering how thick and clumsy his hands are. [22:06] 14Gary rarely ate crabs; they're not river creatures, at least not in his neck of it. [22:06] 14Stranger, with exaggerated dryness to a confused Tsuka: "It's a sex joke." 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> You can't just assume Tsuka was c-- "Huh? Oh. Wait, what?" 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> You can't just assume Tsuka was c-- "Huh? Oh. Wait, what?" 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> You can't just assume Tsuka was c-- "Huh? Oh. Wait, what?" [22:08] 14Ah, Cathak Tsuka. He's too pure for this world. 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> At some point the neomah filtered out. It's just the seven of them in the bar right now. 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian hands off the books. Pearl: "What are you writing?" [22:10] 13Xia Lan adjusts her cloak, but remains seated. "I admit, I'm still really lost. Not about the crabs thing," 13she clarifies. "Just the everything else." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Otto: "Oh, this? Preparing for my eventual debriefing." [22:10] 14Stranger could explain this, but he isn't about to mention Bubo in mixed company. 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Unbelievable." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "Yeah, you tell him! Two can play at this game!" After hopping up to sit at the table she produces her own notebook, which she proceeds to tear several blank pages out of to lay across the table and laying out the fresh, steamed crabs that she produces from her sack. [22:14] 14The agents of Heaven can be so reasonable. 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl makes a sound like she just closed a door on her own nose. "Sober!" 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian, sitting down, murmurs to Xia Lan: "Five days of this now." 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Otto: "You're being calibrated! It takes time." [22:15] 13Xia Lan snickers. Sober's good at this. To Tellurian: "They just keep going, huh." [22:15] 13...calibrated? She raises an eyebrow. [22:15] 14Five days of steamed crabs? Heaven forfend. [22:15] 14...Nix that, it actually might. 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Whether he was talking about the crabs or the company, Mr. Tellurian shows no sign of abstaining from either. Otto eats too. Tsuka will if Stranger and Xia Lan do. 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober, mouth full: "So whash the plan?" [22:17] 13Xia Lan will at least have some, but not too much. Stress-eating before a performance never leads anywhere good. [22:17] 14Of course Stranger will partake. He hasn't eaten yet today. [22:21] 14After gutting a crab: "We're going to get drunk and play a bunch of music." [22:21] 13Xia Lan: "I'm gonna crush him like a bug. Musically." [22:22] "And alcoholically." [22:22] "Crabs are a delicious kind of bug." [22:22] "Also extremely crushable. Snip snap." 13She pops off a leg to demonstrate. 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "Like demons do? That's wild." [22:23] 14Stranger: "That's where we got the idea. She beat Vladok last time around." [22:23] 13Xia Lan: "Besides, that's where the dispute arose. It all comes full circle." 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "I heard you really brought the house down." [22:23] 14Stranger coughs with slight warning. The source of the dispute doesn't necessarily need to be public knowledge. 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "Figuratively. Not like that noodle shop someone tried to have you murdered in that burned down." [22:24] 14Especially not if it could get back to Vladok. 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl sips her tea, pinky fully extended. [22:24] 14To Sober: "As the audience for both, I much prefer the contest to the arson, yes." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "How's it work? Are there judges?" [22:25] 14Stranger: "The crowd." [22:26] 13She covers her glare to Stranger with mild surprise at Pearl's knowledge. To Tellurian: "Crowd acclaim, mostly - the liquors... change you? Sort of? In one case literally, myself and Vladok switched bodies, but mostly they drew emotions to the fore, and we performed with those in our hearts." 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "Magic liquor? Oh man. Do they sell that here?" [22:26] 14Deadpan: "It was an experience." [22:28] 13Xia Lan: "I don't think so. Apparently they were pulled from deep storage expressly for the competition. Can't be easy to make them... besides, what happens when you drink the body-switching liquor alone?" 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "Oh man, that takes me back." [22:29] 13Xia Lan: "Experience?" [22:29] 14To Xia Lan: "Are we doing the special liquors or just doing shots?" [22:30] 13Xia Lan: "Some of Vladok's private stock. I don't know if all of them are from there, but at least some are." [22:31] 14Stranger: "Excellent." [22:31] 13Xia Lan: "If we get anything weird, I'm blaming Xu Sim. It only seems fair." [22:32] 14Stranger: "It does." 14He stands. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go begin warming up. Age before beauty and all." [22:33] 13She waves a hand vaguely. "See you later, second place." [22:33] 14Mildly: "I prefer 'first loser.'" [22:33] 14Then he's off. 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "What's your strategy?" [22:38] 13Worst loser. Nice. Mental fist bump on that one. "It really depends on what the liquors are. That really sets up your whole... setlist, strategy, what have you. If it's anything like last time, though..." 13She shrugs. "The songs just kind of, came to me on stage. Some of them I knew before, some of them came as is. I think it's part of the competition. The stage abhors a poor match." 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> As if on cue, the door swings open again, and a long gray nose sticks out from between a scarf and a heavy hat. Vladok trails smoke as he enters, carrying an enormous black doctor's bag with both hands in front of him. 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok looks at the crab-laden table and sniffs. "I don't like new people." [22:42] 13Xia Lan: "Hello to you, too, Vladok." 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "Hey! I remember you. It's nice to see you again." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "I don't know you." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "I'm pretty sure that was you. I think we were both pretty hammered..." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "Then it didn't happen." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "That's the rule." [22:44] 14Ah, the Nexus rule. 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl look at Vladok like she expects him to explode any moment now. 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "What are your names?" [22:44] 13Xia Lan: "Then let me introduce you two. Mr. Tellurian, this is Vladok, Vladok, this is Mr. Tellurian." 13She gestures appropriately. "My turn to go prepare, I think. You boys have fun." 13She whispers to Tsuka: "Try and talk them out of doing anything stupid." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "I go by--" 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "DON'T. Answer that." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "'Mr. Tellurian'?" 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's not your real name. What's your real name?" [22:46] 13After Pearl's outburst, she pauses, a plausibly deniable distance away. 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian hesitates now too. 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok unwraps his head, more smoke billowing from his ears as they become exposed. A long pipe pops out of his scarf, clenched between his teeth, still smoldering, as if it'd somehow been coiled up in there. He stares at those assembled, particularly Pearl, who goes tight-lipped as the look lingers. [22:48] 13She'll head to the back after that. Clearly not for her ears. [22:49] 13Or. [22:49] 13Or not. 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok looks at Xia Lan: "These people with you?" [22:49] 13Xia Lan: "They're our guests." 13So much for the deniability. 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok: "Whatever, then. Where do you want these?" He holds up the bag. [22:50] 13Where were they last time? She'll direct him there, or to the nearest awake Tohu. 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Last time Tohu brought them on stage as part of the opening ceremony. [22:51] 13Ah. So. Is there an awake Tohu in Xia Lan's vision? [22:52] 13If not, she'll offer to take them where they need to go - or, if that is a taboo, offer to find out while Vladok gets to know these new friends. 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Vladok will leave them in the back for Tohu, currently a team of four cleaning the kitchen before the evening rush. 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> After that he leaves. [22:54] 13Wow. Rude. I thought we were friends, Vladok. 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> He doesn't like new people. [22:56] 14He's not too fond of old people, either. 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> It's true. [22:56] 13Who among us 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> People start filing in now, nobody seeming to pay much attention to the two tables pushed together and strewn with strange people and crab shells. Tohu tuts about backstage as the warmup band gets to work at the front of the house. "Ten minutes, people." [22:59] 14Stranger was puttering around backstage for most of that time, but now he's shut up in a dressing room. [23:00] 13Xia Lan's still running through vocal warmups,but acknowledges the Tohu with a quick nod. 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> The last warmup song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDrCvZqQlTU) finishes, and then Tohu emerges to announce the contest. Two Chosen duel for their pride, under the fair and inscrutable gaze of the old game! With no further adieu, she unveils the bottles: the gold one is familiar, but there's five new strange bottles alongside it, their contents red, silver, violet, green, and an inky black. [23:06] 14When Stranger steps out of the dressing room, he's dressed...differently. http://version2.andrewkendall.com/images/photographs/livemusic/mcr_reading06/main/mcr_reading06_5.jpg 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> That gets a round of applause from the audience. Tsuka leans back, as if physically moved by the force of that outfit. [23:08] 14He looks a good ten years younger than he usually does, too. Impressively less dad. [23:15] 13Xia Lan's out just after, in an astonishingly cut leather dress. The belt seems hardly necessary, but it must be part of the style. Her cloak from earlier isn't totally gone, but what seemed to be stitched-in design earlier has revealed itself as, apparently, a zipper - she has a clear, thin shoulder portion without covering any of the rest of her outfit. [23:15] 13In addition, her hair falls down along her back, but some new highlights have made themselves clear; as she walks out and the lights shift to follow her, a wavy swept-aside portion of her bangs as well as a thin streak down the back that used to be a ponytail have taken on a prismatic tint. All the colors of the rainbow are visible, and she looks stunning. She's even got a little prop cane. https://i.imgur.com/O5HExMU.png 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Suddenly Mr. Tellurian is pounding Tsuka on the back, because he started choking on his drink for some reason. [23:17] 13She winks in their direction before turning her focus back to the contest. Stranger's lost the toss, so... "First bottle. Red." [23:18] 14Well. Here we go. 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 4ROUND ONE: MOSSFLOWER BRANDY [23:20] 14Stranger adjusts his worker's pants and saunters on up. [23:32] 14He downs the red liquor. Tastes good. Puts it back down. [23:33] 14To the Tohus: "Toss me a six-string. Something loud. Get me the guys on drums." 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> The CIO provides. [23:34] 14When he steps to the front of the stage, he looks Cathak Tsuka directly in the eye. "This song's called House of Wolves." [23:34] 14https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kXrPtzZ65w [23:35] 14He's supposed to be singing to an audience, and he is. But his eyes never leave Tsuka. And the lyrics resonate for a kid who has been told he's a bad man, and kicked like a stray. 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> The crowd gets into it well enough, but Stranger hits his mark exactly; Tsuka's pounding his fist on the table as the song ends. [23:39] 13Strong start from the newcomer. [23:39] 14When he's done, he tosses the six-string back to the Tohus. [23:39] 14Not his best instrument. [23:49] 13Xia Lan follows in Stranger's footsteps - big swig of the red liquor. 'Tastes good' is maybe generous, but. [23:49] 13Xia Lan strides up, eyes locked on the same target. "Follow my lead. I'll need some backing - drums, horns, and - you'll figure it out." 13Deep breath. [23:49] 14Haha oh shit. [23:50] "Like an angel with cruel and merciless intent," 13https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmJ5oBdJTXQ [23:53] 14Here's looking at you, kid. 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> The reaction to this is almost more subdued, because of how focused it is on its target. For a few minutes, it's like there's nobody else in the room but the singer and the young man watching her sing, holding a glass of boiling water. 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> When the spell breaks, everyone agrees that Xia Lan has pulled into an early lead, including Pearl, who has pushed a glass of icewater across the table for Tsuka and given him her handkerchief to mop his brow with. 15[23:59] <@VoxPVoxD> But it's still all to play for, and Stranger has the initiative. Session Time: Sun Apr 01 00:00:01 2018 [00:00] 14Stranger: "Putting my money on green." 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> The crowd oohs. [00:00] 13Oh, you bastard. 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 3ROUND TWO: ACCURSED WORMWOOD [00:00] 14You want it at the front of the show. [00:01] 14They'll forget it by the end. [00:01] 13When you put it like that, I still hate you. 14[00:01] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:01] 14So it goes. [00:08] 13She takes her swig gamely, and -- oh. Oh right. She's not cheating this time, and BOY does that seem like a mistake to her treacherous brain. [00:09] 13Shut up, brain, we can do this. "Guitars," 13she rasps. "Make it heavy." 13https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaIo82uT0qs "It's now or never, and I've got to make my decision..." [00:11] 14Damn. [00:14] 14He claps along with the audience when she's finished, then walks up and downs the rest of the green liquor. [00:15] 14Stranger confers with the drummer for a moment, then saunters over to the grand keyharp. "Yeah! Yeah. Who's reconciled themselves to death?" [00:15] "Well, you will. But good news..." [00:15] "This song's called 'Fake Your Death.'" 14https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T0zrwEmKwk [00:17] 14When the drums kick in, Stranger joins them by stomping with the foot that's not on the pedal. "I choose defeat / I walk away..." [00:17] 13Xia Lan's got her eyebrows raised the whole way through. She'd be taking notes if she thought she could get away with it without people taking note - she'll have to settle for after the match reactions. 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> The whole bar's in a fighting mood after these two songs. It's a shame the war's not tomorrow. [00:20] 13Once they've died down a bit: "Gold! Give me gold!" [00:21] 14Let's do it. 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 8ROUND THREE: MONKEY KING'S PRIVATE STOCK [00:24] 14Stranger drinks first. He kills half the flask and...frowns. [00:25] 14Grimaces. Nods to himself. [00:32] 14To the Tohus: "Toss me the loud one again. [00:32] " 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Again it's tossed. [00:33] 14To the audience: "Disenchanted." [00:33] 14https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol63bo1mv6s [00:45] 13Xia Lan slugs back her share of the round - act like you've been there before - and she belches, before launching into the song that will hopefully cause Stranger to beg off; whatever happens, she sings. "Holy water," 13https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QdpCJIyyi4 14[01:32] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:08] * Joins: Crion| 14[03:55] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:05] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[10:18] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:35] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[10:37] * Joins: Crion 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:00] * Joins: Crion| 14[13:08] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:21] * Joins: Crion| 14[13:43] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:09] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[14:25] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:05] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:10] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:23] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[18:56] * Joins: tom 14[22:31] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:53] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Mon Apr 02 00:00:01 2018 14[00:03] * Joins: Crion| 14[01:41] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:22] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[05:07] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[07:35] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:18] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:20] * Joins: Crion 14[10:28] * Joins: Crion| 14[13:28] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:31] * Joins: Crion| 14[17:40] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:49] * Joins: tom 14[18:50] * Joins: Crion_ 14[18:51] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger's been acquitting himself well, but there's no doubting he's behind. It's his bottle next. [20:37] 14Stranger leans against the keyharp and blinks once, twice, then grins. "Let's bet on black." 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 1,0ROUND FOUR: CORALITO'S DEMISE [20:39] 13The Unfettered Xia Lan scowls, takes the bottle delicately, and turns it over in her hands. Then: bottoms up. 15[20:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka's leaning so far over the table that his chin's almost in his drink. Tellurian and Sober take turns elbowing each other and snickering. Pearl mainly looks concerned. [20:42] 13Oh, this one's even less fun than it looked. She's not drunk enough to have thought she could turn it into a joke, but she is drunk enough to have wished she could have. She sways at the front of the stage, not even sparing a look back towards the band. "I was pulling out my hair, the day after the deal, chemically calm..." 13https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHi1kGbWo9Q [20:42] 13Good, they picked up on the beat anyway, and it's so light and airy it's making this less painful to sing -- "oh, everybody said that Xia Lan is a dreamer--" 13Her voice has taken on an almost mechanical lilt, all sharp edges as she dances from note to note, and she very carefully avoids looking at anyone she knows. "My problem is my problem, that I never am happy~ / It's my problem, it's my problem on how fast I will succeed~" [20:43] 13When she finishes, she lurches as if puppet strings were cut, but catches herself and turns it into a not-undignified walk back to the bottle selection. [20:44] 14Stranger sways along as he drains the rest of the black liquor and tosses the bottle. [20:47] 14He strides back out to center stage when she's done, clapping...once. His face is colder now; much, much colder, with a cocky sneer on it. Some of it's a character. Some of it's the liquor. Some of it's actually him. "Toss me the loud one again, and give me a beat..." [20:47] 14A moment later, he kicks in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90MxRK0P1u0 [20:48] 14This song, such as it is, mainly seems to go out to the non-Tsuka members of their table. [20:49] "Take a chance, let your body get a tolerance..." [20:49] "I'm the oracle in my chest. Let the guitar scream like a fascist. Spread it out, shut your mouth, free love in the streets -- but in the alley oh it ain't that cheap well--" [20:50] 14When the song ends he hands the six-string back and heads back to the table, the look on his face inscrutible again. 14[20:55] * Joins: dammitwho [20:56] 13Xia Lan lets the moment hold enough to build suspense. She waits until just before the crowd starts to murmur among themselves, then: "Violet." 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 6ROUND FIVE: DREAD OF SIN [20:57] 14Pause. Stranger turns to the Tohu holding the six-string. "I'm going to need that back." [20:59] 14Stranger drinks half the bottle, grimaces with the liquor still purple between his teeth, and swallows. Then, sweating and visibly a bit out of it, he swings back to the drums again, giving them their beat. He walks back to the front. [21:02] 14Stranger grabs the lamppost for support, gripping the six-string with the other hand. "This goes out to all the out-of-season tourists heading in. Following that red star." [21:02] "Check. Check, check..." [21:03] 14https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us_gKmO9aBY [21:04] "Don't believe what they say, we're dead flies in the summertime; They leave us all behind, with ropeburn scars on my honey--" [21:06] 14At first there's some humor in it, but by the time he gets to "If what you are is just what you own, what have you become when they take from you almost everything?" 14no one is laughing. [21:06] 14The end of the song is a terrifying fever dream. 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Everyone's stunned and uncomfortable. It's a rousing success. [21:09] 14They should do this all the time after they beat the Fair Folk horde, thinks a very drunk Stranger as he sits down. He can open, she can headline. They just get fucked up and mean every night on stage. The Fear and Loathing Tour. [21:12] 13Then it's Xia Lan's turn to drink. She doesn't look at this one before she drains it - she already knows what'll happen. It hits her maybe harder than she expected - the alcohol, not its magic - but that's fine. This is the last round, after all. [21:13] 13She taps her foot rhythmically. "That southern feel, if you will." 13She hums a few bars, still tapping - the guitarist starts in first, then a drummer picks up on it, blessedly, and then it's into the song."From the dusty mesa, where looming shadow blooms..." 13https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gli0ZpmTIYs [21:13] "And when I touched her skin~ my fingers ran with blood~" 13A deep, shuddering breath almost breaks the song down there, but she presses on. The perspective shifts. She keeps singing. "-- I fell down to the thorny bush, and felt the trembling hands." [21:15] 13She closes out, something distant and sad in her tone: "Rise with me forever, across the silent sand! And the stars will be your eyes, and the wind will be my hands..." [21:16] 13She slumps against the stand heavily for a moment, but makes her way back again. It's finished. [21:17] 14Stranger's got his jacket open, already halfway through a water. 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> It's over. It was never really his to win, but Stranger made a fight of it and keeps his pride in defeat. Just in time to swallow it as due recompense. [21:21] 13Xia Lan will watch the Tohu pour her water before she drinks it. [21:21] 14No one wanted the character he was playing to take this one home anyway. [21:21] 14'The character he was playing.' Right. [21:22] 14There's a reckoning coming, young man. [21:22] 14There's a reckoning coming, young man. [21:23] 13What's the mood in the place after that incredibly uplifting final few sets? [21:24] 14We probably could have planned that better. Not that the earlier rounds were all that light-hearted. [21:24] 13Our mistake for sourcing the liquors from Vladok. [21:24] 14Still, you show up for a demon drinking game, you probably should expect things to get sad and weird. 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan and Stranger about cleared the place out. Aside from their party, when the set is finished the tables and booths and bar are empty. [21:26] 13Sorry, Tohu. 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Lot of dark nights of the soul on the docket for patrons of the CIO tonight, and most of them decided to round out their evenings by drinking alone. [21:27] 14Well, that gives them the place to themselves to keep the party going, then. Frankly, Stranger is still feeling it. He's gonna stick with tea and not liquor, though. 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> What state is Xia Lan in when she steps off the stage? [21:29] 13About the same as last time, actually - drunk, and in no shape for a fight, but I wouldn't go so far as to say "hammered" or "blackout" just yet. [21:30] 14As he slumps down at the table, Stranger looks down at himself. "Sun, this outfit is ridiculous." 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka doesn't meet her at the steps off the stage, then, but he does get a pitcher of fresh water for when the two of them sit back down. [21:30] 13After a quick trip back inside her dressing room to down another water and freshen up a bit, Xia Lan makes her way towards their now lonely gathering and sits down with a heavy thump. "Oof," 13she says, eloquently. [21:31] 14To Xia Lan: "Well played. Well won." 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "They party like you, P." 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl rolls her eyes. [21:31] 14Sadly: "I got too snotty to do much on the keyharp." [21:31] 13She gives Tsuka a quick thank-you hug and pours herself a glass. "Thank you," 13to Stranger. "You... don't really play anything like I thought you would." [21:33] 14Stranger: "I didn't start until recently, and in a...non-traditional environment. Not many quiet, contemplative afternoons plucking or plinking away." [21:34] 13Xia Lan: "Was good stuff. We ever get tired of being the Emissary and heroes of Nexus, we can take our show on the road. Just... with less aggressively sad songs, next time." [21:35] 14Stranger: "Probably wise." 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "We'll have something happy to sing about by then." [21:36] 14Of course, they weren't all...entirely...sad. The Tsuka rounds were at least also angry and inspiring. 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Inspiring is an interesting word choice. Xia Lan certainly inspired something. [21:37] 14Tact is important. 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "I bet that's the first time two non-demons have played that game with each other." [21:38] 14Stranger: "I'm sure there are those who would quibble over the definitions involved." 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Otto: "There always are..." [21:39] 13Xia Lan: "Let 'em fight among 'emselves, then. We know what we did." 13Wild, though. 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "That looked hard. You guys stood up, though." [21:39] 14Bluntly: "I'm never drinking Vladok's whiskies again." [21:40] 13Xia Lan: "The body swap one was fun once. Weird as heck, but..." 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "Looks like you about cleaned him out anyway." [21:41] 14Stranger would have quietly had that one removed from the stock if Vladok had brought it. The two of them need to work together closely, but certainly nowhere near that closely. And what would Tsuka and the Ambassador think? 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Well, this was fun. Come on, you two. We should leave in the morning." [21:41] 13Xia Lan: "Huh? Where ya going?" 13She blinks unevenly at her. 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "Aw, come on. It's barely midnight!" 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Your friend has to start training for his new job." [21:42] 14Stranger pours himself another drink and listens intently. 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "Yeah... man. I'm gonna miss this." 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "Miss what?" 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "This! Playing music, going to shows." [21:43] 13Xia Lan: "Can you... not do that anymore?" 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober's snort boils over into a full cackle. "Man we play music constantly." 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Tellurian: "Oh yeah?" 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Mmmhmm." [21:43] "What about the crowds?" 13She glances to Tellurian. "It's not the same without 'em..." 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Tellurian: "You any good?" 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Ha! Well I don't like to brag..." 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober snorts again. 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Sober!" [21:45] 13Something in the way she says that make Xia Lan snort-laugh, too. 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "Well, come on then." 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Excuse me?" [21:45] 14Ah. 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "No one here but us. Scared the band away, too." [21:45] 13Oh! "Oh! Sing!" [21:45] 14A closing act. 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Oh, I couldn't. We really should be going--" [21:46] 14Stranger: "I'm for it." [21:46] 13Xia Lan: "C'mon, c'mon, you heard us." 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Oh, alright, if you insist. Sober, would you sit the keyharp for me." 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "Youuuu got it." 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl gets up on stage, Sober behind her. As Sober warms up at the keyharp, Pearl draws something long and thin from the sigil that flares to sapphire life on her brow. A steel violin follows from thin air. 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "This one's for our new friend." 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY1OlR-mDlM [21:53] 13Holy smokes. [21:53] 14Now that...is instrumentation. 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Their playing is phenomenal, her voice is magic, but somehow the most remarkable thing is the way she can dance so lightly and deftly on her feet without dropping a single note. 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "...damn." [21:59] 13Xia Lan is halfway through working up the nerve to poutily claim that she could do that just as well - but that's the alcohol talking. She stuffs her jealousy back down. "They're amazing." [22:00] 14Scary thing is, she probably could do that just as well. Not Stranger, though. He's a dabbler. [22:01] 13Oh, she could. But she was about to try and do it right here and now, and that wouldn't end well. [22:02] 14Likely not. 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl drags her partner up for a bow. Tellurian whistles. Otto and Tsuka applaud. [22:03] 14Stranger claps as well. [22:04] 13Xia Lan stands up to applaud - slightly too quickly, has to put her hand on her chair for stability, but she cheers enthusiastically. 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl steps down from the stage, but stops Sober before she can do the same. "Don't let the side down!" 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "I dunno..." 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> But Pearl's already at the drums. [22:06] 13Oh no, she's multi-talented 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> So Sober sings. 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtNP4aWx7kc [22:08] 14...You know, it's not without its charms. [22:08] 14In fact, Stranger actually likes it quite a bit. 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober gets a healthy round of applause. 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Nicely done. Though I have a few notes." 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober's eyes are at half mast. "Uh huh." 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "You were a bit flat on the bridge." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "Uh huh." [22:10] 14Stranger brought the six-string back to the table with him and idly begins strumming the song softly, but slow and minor key. 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "And you came in a measure late after the first chorus." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "Uh huh." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "I thought she was great." 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Oh, don't coddle her. That way she'll never learn." [22:11] 13She starts off - not hating it, but it's almost a disappointment coming right after Pearl's. Then she realizes it's... it's very Sober. And Xia Lan doesn't even know her that well. That's what you want out of a performance, more than anything, just - the performer, putting everything they have into it. Leaving their own mark. 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "Uh huh." 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Don't sulk! It was a perfectly adequate performance, with clear avenues for improvement!" 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> She smiles. She genuinely thinks she's being helpful. 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "You want me to do better?" 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "I want you to want you to do better." [22:12] 13Xia Lan: "No, he's right. That was exactly what it should've been. You can't--" 13She gestures with a slightly too-full glass of water, spilling a bit, though she doesn't seem to notice. "You can't just. Everything's individualisized. We're not painting by numbers up there." [22:13] "We all put ourselves on stage. And that was rad." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "No. No, she's right. Pearl's always right." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "So let me do better. This song is for my boss." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> It's just her on the six-string now. 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8xYfR--yqE [22:14] 14... [22:15] 14This is also great, but...well, it's not like they didn't just spend their evening working out their interpersonal issues on stage. [22:16] 13Again, perfect. Immaculate. Everything a performance should be. [22:17] 13Something for the uninformed audience to latch on to, and something striking at the deeper truth, and with an undeniable sense of self in the whole performance. Xia Lan doesn't even make the connection to singing at Stranger from earlier. 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "Wow." 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "Whoo! That felt good." 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "..." 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober punches her in the elbow, which is about as high as she can reach. "Come on. Let's get you a real drink." [22:30] 13Getting a read on Pearl is hard, but Sober wears her emotions more or less on her sleeve. Not that Xia Lan will mention that to either of them. And, uh. Well. With how this has gone so far, this could take a turn for the dramatically worse. [22:30] 13More water. Oh, jeez, she is far too drunk to have the emotionally comforting conversations that will be sorely needed. [22:35] 14As Stranger watches them interact, he begins playing a song softly to himself. He mostly hums instead of singing the lyrics, though, and when he does sing a few words, they're in something that sounds sort of like High Realm and sort of like Old Realm, but isn't either. [22:35] 14https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBSvAPlnDOU 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober gives him a nudge and a wink as she hops back into her seat. [22:40] 14Stranger's about ready to switch back to liquor too, after he's finished his tea. He'll drink with more moderation, though. [22:40] 13Hey, what's Tsuka drinking? [22:40] 14Chugging bottles on-stage is good entertainment, but at the table it's poor etiquette. [22:41] 13Just pass and swig, man. We're all friends here. 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> By now, everyone's sitting down and sharing a drink. Pearl and Tsuka have identical tall neon-yellow somethings with little parasols sticking out of them, because Sober insisted they match. [22:41] 13That's adorable. [22:42] 13Xia Lan: "That's adorable," 13she gestures to their drinks. 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka drinks in such a way as to hide his face when she says that. 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "I was gonna get you one too but I don't know whose job it'd be to carry your ass home." [22:44] 13Xia Lan: "I can handle my booze," 13she says, vaguely offended. 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "For sure. But you handled three or four people's booze already tonight. Even you guys have limits." [22:45] 14Stranger knows. [22:46] 13Xia Lan: "I mean, yeah, but I'm already gonna have a hangover. What's the worst that could happen?" [22:47] 14Stranger: "Not a question with a stand-out history." 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Otto concurs. "Famous next-to-last words." [22:48] 13Xia Lan: "By calling attention to it you only weaken its hold over me. I'm becoming more powerful than you can possibly imagine." 13She sips her water instead of calling for a drink, though. 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl drags a fingertip around the rim of her glass. "So, Otto." 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you play?" [22:54] 13Ooh. 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Otto: "Not music." [22:54] 14Interesting. 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl, singsong: "that's not what I heard~" [22:56] 13Xia Lan: "C'mon, c'mon, we're all performing here! We've got the location for the night, let's make the best of it!" 13Ooh, wonder if Tsuka can play. [22:56] 14They teach dynast kids to do a little bit of everything. [22:56] 13...he'll learn if he can't. Maybe not tonight. [22:57] 14And as the wags have it, they do mean everything. [22:57] 13I don't know why you italicized that. 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Oh, what's the harm? You're already on administrative leave." [22:58] 13Xia Lan: "Admwha...?" 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Otto: "Hmph." 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "You don't even have to take the disguise off." 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's a better voice for singing, anyway." 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Otto scoffs. [22:59] 13! [22:59] 14To Xia Lan: "It's what they call vacation in Heaven." 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "Yeah, if vacation means 'vacate your ass before we Forget you'." 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Sober!" 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "Oh come on, like they don't already know--" 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Otto: "Okay, fine. On one condition." 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "You have to sing along." 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Deal." [23:03] 13Xia Lan tries looking for any sorts of seams, or suspicious bits of makeup, or telltale signs of wigs in Otto, but finds none. Wow, she is very drunk. "All of us? Do I know this one?" 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Otto: "It's simple enough. This is a camp song from Lookshy, it can only be so hard to pick up." 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober starts strumming on a six-string she got from the band pit. 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glS_7xdJr8o [23:06] 14It takes Stranger a beat or two to get into it, but then he's there with them. [23:07] 14He chuckles afterward. "Solidarity songs." [23:07] "Not something my people were ever much good at." [23:07] 13Xia Lan joins in as soon as she gets a feel for the rhythm. There's a performer's sense for when it's about to switch that helps her avoid singing over the actual song - nothing more embarassing than singing the last bar over the next one. [23:08] "All the ones I've picked up are foreign." [23:09] 13Xia Lan: "Every group has their own solidarity songs. Sort of ironic, but the fact that they're shared is... it's wonderful. Blended at the edges." [23:09] "The Chosen of the Sun don't." [23:10] "That's what I meant. Not river-dwellers or village folk in the forests." [23:10] 14He sips his drink. "No, we've never been much for that particular virtue." [23:13] 14Stranger: "I've got a personal favorite, though. The source is a bit strange. Anyone else here speak Dragontongue?" [23:13] 14Stranger: "I've got a personal favorite, though. The source is a bit strange. Anyone else here speak Dragontongue?" 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka, Otto, Pearl, and Sober all do. [23:14] 13She's more than a little put-out by how correct he is, and can't even cover for it by knowing Dragontongue to take the lead. Ugh. [23:14] 13They can make a new tradition... but it would be new. [23:16] 14He begins strumming and says, "If someone can translate the words on the fly, I think it doesn't flow half-bad in Flametongue, or even Old Realm." [23:17] "If not, you'll get the general idea." [23:17] "Anyway." 14https://youtu.be/oxSPEgqsaec?t=51s [23:19] 13Oh! She's heard the tune before, if not the lyrics to it - fairly common out in the sands, having someone play it without words, just to keep from hearing the awful empty wind. [23:19] 13Does anyone translate for Xia Lan? 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka does. [23:19] 13Xia Lan whispers when he starts: "Thank you." [23:19] "This land is your land; this land is my land; from old Champoor back to the Blessed Island..." [23:21] 14He knows it better on keyharp, but this version has its charms. [23:24] 14When he's done: "That song's not too popular with some people if you go too much farther in towards the center of Creation. Either you'll get outright arrested for it, or find yourself harried and attacked by night. It's very important that it's in Dragontongue; far as I know, that's the original tongue, too. Works the best with the music. That's probably what makes it most offensive [23:24] to the dynasts." [23:24] 13Xia Lan: "I'll have to learn." 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Mnemon Bos got exiled over that. He keeps vigil on the Caul now." [23:25] 13Xia Lan: "What, for singing it?" 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "For writing it." [23:26] 13Well, that would do it. Still. "Good on him, though." [23:29] 13She sips her water. "Wonder if they'd be on me quicker if I started integrating these into my lists." [23:31] 13Xia Lan: "I'd need to pick up Dragontongue first, though. It doesn't quite work in the other -- I mean, you could torture it into shape, but I always hate doing that. Just present the original." [23:32] 14Stranger: "They'll be trying to kill you anyway. Hard to see how this would make it materially worse." 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Otto: "Write a new one." 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "The past has already failed us. It's time for a new book." [23:33] 14Stranger: "Too true." [23:33] 13Xia Lan: "Yeah..." [23:39] 13She's still sorting through the old anthems and hymns, most of which aren't worth rehabilitating. There's a few with catchy tunes, but for the most part the old Solar hymns were notable in their performer, not their source. [23:40] 14The most compelling Solar tunes were, by Stranger's recollection, battle hymns. Inauspicious. 14[23:49] * Joins: Crion Session Time: Tue Apr 03 00:00:00 2018 14[00:19] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:35] * Joins: tom 14[00:37] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:46] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[07:09] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[10:16] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[10:19] * Joins: Crion 14[10:23] * Joins: Crion_ 14[10:27] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:34] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:53] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:56] * Joins: trenchfoot 15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:06] <@VoxPVoxD> An hour has passed since the expedition passed the first trial of the Tomb of Cold Iorn, but Tsuka looks more tired after the break than he did after the fight. Still, he's ready to press on at Keldar's command. The voice in the walls is less patient. "What are you doing? Are you having a picnic?" [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Catching my breath. You said there WASN'T any kinda time limit, didn't you?" [20:08] 5 Xu Sim takes a last whiff from the steambreather before putting it away. [20:08] 13Disgusting. 15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "There isn't technically a time limit, but I think you'll agree that it's very much against the spirit of a heroic trial to dawdle." [20:09] 5 It's certainly more degenerate to enjoy a little flavored vapor than binge-drinking the liquors of Hell in the company of demons. [20:09] 13Xia Lan: "The disembodied voice has a point." [20:09] 13Not that one. 15[20:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Elsewhere, Stranger's been waiting in the manor of the late Evening Master for about as long, and the smell hasn't gotten any better. How does he pass the time? [20:10] "We should be moving." 5 Xu Sim glances at Cathak Tsuka. Is he okay? [20:11] 14He takes another look about the house. He's under quarantine for now; might as well make the most of it. Regretably, putting on some tea would be unsanitary. [20:11] 14There's probably nothing left of interest to the Guild, but perhaps there are at the very least some interesting books. 15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka seems sulky and withdrawn. Well within healthy parameters for a 17 year old boy, in Xu Sim's expert medical opinion. [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, idly slicing a chunk off an apple with a pocket knife: "See, this is why thorough and clearly-stipulated rules are a must in any competitive endeavor." 12He eats it. "'specially one where lives are on the line. But I'm ready to get moving if the rest of ya are." [20:12] 13Xia Lan: "I'm ready to move. Put this all behind us." [20:14] <@Ferrinus> "Alrighty." 12Keldar stands and stretches, his armor clanking slightly as joints swivel into position and satchels swing against the steel. He adjusts the scabbard hanging at his side briefly, then looks around, then points his gaze ahead. "Onward." 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger combs the library, and finds shelves full of back economic data, treatises on finance, and revised growth projections and sector analyses. [20:19] 14... 15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Say what you will about Brughel, but by all accounts he kept it dead fuckin boring, perhaps the most prized trait in a money man anywhere in Creation. [20:20] 14Then this would be a good time to get up to date on everything he thought worth keeping around. Even if it doesn't involve the Guild. [20:20] 14One of us should know this stuff. [20:21] 14Rather than start reading now, Stranger skims, trying to identify relevant tomes for later. He's looking for general lessons and specific truths about Nexus's finances and economy. Something to help a novice learn not how to use the city bureaucracy, but wherefore. 15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar leads his team onward. The corridor narrows ahead, and the heat is once again dangerous. The crystal flares to life with a gentle thwom, as the corridor flares open slightly. At the far end, the explorers see a pried-open stone door. They'll have to leap through the ring of fire to get to it! 15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD> ...and they'll have to jump over the pressurized spiked platforms styled like dragons' heads to get to the ring. 15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD> ...and they'll have to walk a narrow bridge criss-crossed by swinging blades to get to the platforms. 15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD> ...and they'll have to leap over a pit of gnashing saws to get to the bridge. [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I see." [20:24] 13Man, I knew there was a reason I retired, Xia Lan thinks grumpily as she sizes up the room. [20:25] 5 Xu Sim stares, incredulously, at the array of traps. [20:25] 13Xia Lan, brightly: "Well! Isn't this just a delight." [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's slowly shifting his weight from foot to foot. "Xu Sim. Can't... teleport or anything, can you?" [20:28] 14Whenever he is interrupted, he'll likely be in the former Evening Master's former library, adding to two neat, unequally-sized piles of books. [20:29] "If you want to come back tomorrow I could have an erymanthus carry the Tiger of Nexus across. But..." 5 Xu Sim mutters softly as he continues studying the room carefully, stooping and bending here and there. [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It's you I'm worried about. I've seen worse. Though in smaller portions, admittedly." [20:35] "Next time remind me to bring my Heavenly Solvent and my All-Catching Glue," 5 he notes as he uses a sight beyond sight to examine that which is obscured beyond mortal eyes. [20:36] "Very clever. The last sorceror who came through used some magic to make this much easier to pass through. These traps are all moving a little slower than they should. In any case though - we can use some cruder tricks. Jam your ten-foot pole into the saws there, for example." [20:37] 13How's Tsuka looking in the face of these deadly traps? [20:37] 13Xia Lan: "And the rest of them... just don't screw up?" [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I gettin' it back?" [20:38] "Part of it. Those blades are old and soft from so much heat." [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar goes into his pack and produces a cruder, sturdier-looking pole, one with some latches and things to hold its structure steady once it's been unfolded. "Alright. Lemme see here-" 12Hup- 15[20:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Up in the library, Stranger hears the door downstairs open. "Get a perimeter established. Air and water upstairs, earth at the corners." The voice is louder, searching: "Hello? What's your condition?" [20:39] 14Loudly but leisurely: "In the library." [20:40] 14He snaps the volume he was examining shut and places it in the pile to which it belongs, then sweeps out into the hallway to meet the Lookshyans halfway. 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> The spinning blades groan and snap against the pole, which only breaks in one place. [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar frowns slightly, but looks satisfied. "Alrighty. Otherwise it looks like it's time for an obstacle course. Who doesn't think they've got this?" 12He's stretching now, rotating one arm and then the other as his brow begins to glow red with a soft flame that outlines his armor. 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> A burst of minty-smelling green light flies in front of Stranger's face as he steps out into the hall, rising through the ceiling and the floor of the level above. He looks down and sees a short figure wearing matte white jade armor, obscured behind a red visor, and a team of men and women in blue bubbles fanning out behind them. The armored figure looks up. "Get us up to speed while we check you out, sir." [20:43] 14Stranger: "Of course. Need I disrobe or simply lift my arms?" [20:43] 14He's wearing his usual peasant's robes. [20:44] 14Bubbles. Smart application. 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "Just roll up your sleeves. Any symptoms to report?" [20:44] 13Xia Lan eyeballs the traps. "It'll look a little strange, but I've got this." 15[20:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "This isn't even the test. This is the application for the test." [20:46] 5 Xu Sim shrugs. "For me, it's a coin toss." 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "What's the most you ever lost on one of those?" [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar shoots a dubious look at the sorcerer. "I gotta give you a ride or anything? Can't weigh that much." [20:47] 14Stranger: "None. This is a precautionary measure, but a necessary one. We are dealing with contaminated materials in a crawl space beneath the master bedroom on the third floor. You may access them through a trap door in the master bedroom, or by going through the walls if you wish. It is my belief that whomever was kept in there was or became some variety of what you would term [20:47] Anathema, and that given the general aesthetic filth attending the scene, you might prepare as you would for the infectives that come courtesy of our...allies from Thorns." [20:47] 14He has rolled up his sleeves while talking. [20:48] 5 Xu Sim squints. "A gentle toss should do it. [20:50] 14Stranger: "You're looking at a soiled mattress, specifically, along with a fully contaminated safe room. There are also a dozen or so empty phials in the master bedroom itself that I removed from the room for examination." [20:50] 14Stranger: "You're looking at a soiled mattress, specifically, along with a fully contaminated safe room. There are also a dozen or so empty phials in the master bedroom itself that I removed from the room for examination." 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "Breathe deep for me. Alright." To the bubbles: "Upstairs." To Stranger: "What did your examination turn up?" [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks from Xu Sim, then to the door, then back. "Nah, don't like those odds. I can carry you through or I can, uh, provide moral support. Up to you, old man." [20:54] 5 Xu Sim crinkles his nose. [20:55] "Forget it. I'll handle it on my own." [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Alright. Follow my lead." 12The mercenary takes one more moment to stretch, then walks around the saws, then takes his first step onto the bridge. [20:56] 14Stranger: "Nothing died in there -- or at least, nothing died in there and was permitted to decompose. The filth is incredibly in quantity, but it is what you'd expect, roughly, from someone locked in a room for a month or so while still able to excrete. The phials were filled with preservatives -- not for food, but the dead. Embalming fluid. My hypothesis is our mystery resident [20:56] drank it. That he kept expelling filth rather than perishing is an interesting medical conundrum." [20:59] 14He pauses. "...My name is Stranger-Visits-Heaven, by the by. Emissary of Nexus. I don't think we've been introduced." [20:59] 5 Xu Sim hastens under the swinging blades, nearly stumbling as the keen, ancient blade slices off a tiny sliver of his flowing robes. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Woosh, step, woosh, step. The trick with the bridge is just not to lose your nerve. It's the platforms that really get difficult, and frankly it's astonishing how quickly Keldar's able to roll or far he can jump in the full suit of plate he's wearing. The diving roll he does through the ring of flames looks extremely sketchy - but he sticks the landing flawlessly, and there [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12isn't so much as a wisp of smoke rising from his bandanna. "Still got it." [21:00] "Ho!" 5 The doctor managers the moving platforms with a little more grace, leaping from one to the next. [21:01] 13Xia Lan stretches first, winks to Tsuka, and... dances her way across the bridge, spinning through the amalgam of saws, launches herself across the platforms, landing on her toes with a pirouette before each leap, and finishing off with an astoundingly crisp somersault through the ring of flame. She takes a bow as she lands. [21:02] 5 The alchemist does not handle the fire quite as well - leaping through the flames, rather than over them. "Yeee!" 5 he exclaims as he does so. 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka takes a running start and somersaults over gaps, between blades, and through the flames before landing neatly on the otherside. Gymnastics isn't dancing, but... it's not totally not dancing. [21:03] 14Such good matchmaking. [21:03] 13Hush, you're not even here. 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Behind the visor: "Vissi D'Arte, commandant of the Seventh Caduceus. Pleasure. Were you expecting to find contaminants here?" [21:07] 14Stranger: "It was within my conceptual purview. My hope was that circumstances would end up being less extreme than I found them. The good news is that the room was sealed; the Guildsmen who went through the estate before us and the two outside should be fine." 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Flatly: "What luck." [21:09] 14Mildly, but with a slightest hint of correction: "Until the armies descending on this city are dealt with, yes, commandant; I'd say so." [21:10] 14He swore good faith, after all. 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> D'Arte, who didn't: "I'll defer to your judgment. It's going to take us a few hours to make a full assessment. In the meantime you're cleared to go, if you like. We'll see to it that you get a copy of the report." [21:13] 14How far was he able to make it through sorting Brueghel's library, working industriously through his wait? 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> If it only took him a minute or two to decide which pile a given book went in, he probably could've cleared half the shelves in that time. [21:14] 5 Xu Sim rolls through the flames and stands up - singed but unhurt. [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar inspects the team. "We all alive? No worse than medium rare?" 12He actually sniffs. "Nice. Moving on." [21:15] 13Xia Lan: "You okay, Xu Sim?" 13Also, are they going to have to do this again on the way out? [21:15] 13She doesn't ask after Tsuka, because he, unlike Xu Sim, didn't screw up. [21:17] "Fine." 5 He sounds a little surprised she didn't take the opportunity to spit on him. [21:18] 13Hey, they're in a tomb of horrors, here. Trust is the key when you're in deep. [21:23] 14Stranger rolls down his sleeve. "You're not wrong, of course." 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> The trek into the tomb continues. Again there's sound audible down the hot, cramped corridor, voices and clashing metal. "Not the tidiest solution, but a solution nonetheless. On the battlefield, few victories are clean. I led armies against the most devious monsters and masters from beyond the real, and I never knew defeat! But in a contest of armies against armies, it is not the general's strength that wins the day..." [21:27] 14Conversational, but soft enough not to be heard too well down the hall: "However. We are in an extremely volatile situation. There will be, in all likelihood, a much larger medical campus to manage in this city than any of us either provisioned or prepared for. And they are the ones who will control the access to the goods and supplies need in excess of our budgets. That's the only [21:27] reason we kept them around, instead of allowing them to slink from the city: the necessary invoicing. But it's not the two outside, for instance, that control those purse-strings. They grew up in this city. This city is their home. The ones changing talent into talents...well, they won't be found anywhere near your tents. All I ask is you keep that in mind." 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> The corridor opens out into another round room, the walls projected with soldiers in ancient armor clashing against hordes of raksha, and demons. Columns of flame sear the air and the ground is littered with dead. Not all of the dead are projections. 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Charred and crumpled corpses are strewn about the floor of the chamber, jade glinting beneath the soot. A massive stone statue of an air dragon, its great arms folded, dominates the center of the chamber. [21:28] 13So they made it this far, then. [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks carefully. Any members of the previous party? 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Yeah, this is them. [21:29] 5All dead? 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> To a man. [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well... got 'em, I guess. Yo, voice! These are the guys we were looking for? Got problems with us recovering the bodies and gear?" 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "Prove yourselves worthy of their leavings by succeeding where they failed." 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "Time to turn up the heat." [21:32] 13Xia Lan: "That joke sucks." 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> The floor flares orange. Xia Lan's shoes start to smoke. [21:32] "You're not clever." [21:32] 13She hops from foot to foot, hoping to minimize the exposure. 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "The question is, are you?" [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar frowns. How's the hearthstone? It keeping the heat from being anything more than painful? [21:33] 13No, but she's not about to tell a disembodied voice about that. 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> So far. But the hearthstone won't protect anyone from direct contact with superheated iron. [21:34] 5 Xu Sim scans the room. "Surely the strength of a general is in his army, of course." [21:34] 14When he gets no real reply, Stranger says, "Just a thought. Please don't disturb the stacks of books in the library." 14Then he moves for the door. [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "To a point. Alright, uh, let's see." 12He wastes no time in stalking around the chamber, paying special attention to the statue from all sides. The element of air, properly channeled, should be able to cool things down, right? [21:35] 5 He scampers over towards the air dragon statue, skidding across the rapidly-heating floor. 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> The floor begins to burn in wild, elaborate patterns. Whorls and spirals and steadily progressing chains of overlapping circles. "A mighty army with a weak mind behind it will crash like the tide against a lesser force led well. We measure the moment. We measure the man. The time has come to test your tactics." 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Have you the wits?" [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's eyes flash as he realizes what the swirls of heat are doing. "It's a pincer movement! Brace for three... two..." 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> As Stranger departs: "I take your point, sir." 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Where does he go now? [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12With everyone standing back to back, clustered tightly, the twin sheets of flame bearing in from both sides stop just short of the party. Of course, the ground beneath everyone's feet starts to glow almost immediately. "It'll follow us for the first few seconds! Stay - stay - stayyyy BREAK-" [21:41] 14Stranger leaves instructions to have both the smaller pile of books and the books remaining on the library shelves sent in two separate parcels to the Council tower and put in the formal custody of the Emissary. He'll finish sorting them later. [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's right. The circles of heat beneath each person shadow them, jiggling back and forth as one's balance shifts until right at the last moment. Then it's as simple as stepping apart. [21:43] 13Xia Lan almost gets the timing wrong, but dodges just in time. Oh man, this is only going to get worse. [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12The mercenary's eyes track madly back and forth as he watches patterns of light ripple across the floor and superheated gas shoot from slits in the walls. "Ah fuck, ah fuck, this one's - wait, no, yes. Form up, like a wedge, then turn-" [21:45] 5 Is this what war is like? Intense! Xu Sim follows along as hurriedly as he can. [21:47] 13...actually Keldar picks up the pattern pretty quick and wow, this stuff is super easy with a good leader. These idiots got smoked by this? [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12As it gets more and more complex, it feels more and more like a battle. A specific one, though - it's as though the party's a shield phalanx, turning this way and that to rebuff certain thrusts but draw back or split around others. It's almost fun until the ceiling lights dim, some kind of alarm blares, and the entire floor lights up at once. "Are you SERIOUS? There's not even a [21:48] <@Ferrinus> damn - wait a minute, its eyes." [21:50] 14Stranger has only one place he does not, under any circumstance, wish to go: wherever the former Emissary of Nexus is at this current moment. Until the report comes back from the Lookshy doctors or Bubo sidles back up with good news, he's a bit at ends on the investigation -- so what makes the most sense, then, is to try and reconstruct the cabbage-monger's journey from what he was [21:50] 14to who he is now, even if he is a legitimately-minted Emissary temporarily embarrassed from office. [21:50] <@Ferrinus> "In! In here! Narrow, NARROW wedge!" 12Keldar pulls his team in close such that they're standing right before the snout of the carved air dragon. The mercenary reaches out to touch a sword right at the ground before the creature, while behind him, directly in the path of the monster's snout, the other Chosen stand two by two. The floor gets brighter and brighter and brighter... and [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12right as it detonates, a cone of frozen essence jets forth from the carving. [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12A sensation that feels like it'll bloom into mind-shattering agony if given another second or so to build dances across the party's skin, but fades with the flames. Keldar releases a long breath. "Fuck. Cool." [21:51] 14Perhaps there's some bit of him left in there to divine. Perhaps not. Whatever the case, Stranger will determine where the cabbage-monger kept his cart before his unfortunate run-in with fate, and head there. Surely there was some infrastructure supporting his low-level vending -- a license, a local Guild "security" rat, so on. [21:53] 13Xia Lan: "That's, uh, one way of putting it." 13She's shivering a bit. "Your tomb sucks, dude." [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Nah, I like it. Though these shmoes clearly didn't. Shoulda been quicker on the uptake." [21:54] "It's an enormous amount of sorcerous power to separate the wheat from the chaff," 5 notes Xu Sim. [21:54] 13Xia Lan: "Dude, they literally died here. At least wait a room to make fun of 'em." [21:54] "Wheat from the chaff. Sun almighty." [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "They knew the risks." 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> The voice sounds genuinely pleased. "Well done. Well done! I could scarcely have done it better myself. Which makes sense, I suppose." [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Whooo. The one where you had to bait 'em and they grew when separated... alright, what's next?" [21:58] 13Xia Lan: "And how many horrible death traps does it involve?" 13They should probably - hm. Should they move the bodies? 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Again, the projection dims and flickers out... but this time, only for a moment. A new image is projected against the walls, and on the floor. A shining city, stone and silver, at the conflux of great rivers. It glitters in the dark, against the full moon and stars uncountable. A road winds yellow beneath them. "There is only forward." [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar thought of that, but what, is he gonna carry 'em deeper into the tomb? Better to look over them for gear that can be salvaged right now and leave the rest to pick up on the way back. [21:59] 5 Xu Sim follows the yellow brick road. [22:00] 14First, however: lunch and tea. Stranger draws a very slight per diem now as an Emissary, and uses it entirely for food. He buys a modest toasted sandwich and tea lunch somewhere nearby in the district, and reclines outside in the shade, thinking. [22:01] 14He has carefully chosen a table an unsuspicious but appreciable distance from other diners. [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar follows it shortly. First, he crouches brushes some ash aside, and then stands with a red jade daikalve in his hand. He clenches his fist on the hilt and his caste mark flashes. Then he glances over to Tsuka. "Need better armor? Might grab this, too, otherwise." 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Take it. We might need to jump around more and you're lighter in it than I'll be." [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods and begins to undo the heavy steel armor he's wearing. "Voice! You better not blast this place again before we've left it going the other way, I like this armor." [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Before long, Keldar's more lightly dressed, wearing hard-wearing leathers beneath a breastplate of reinforced white jade. A red daiklave's slung diagonally across his back, somehow magnetized to the armor. "Could use another breather, unless any of you are gettin' antsy." 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> The bad news is, the heat hasn't let up this time, so your breather's coming out of the crystal's clock. [22:07] 13Xia Lan nudges one of the corpses with her feet. "I'll need to change, anyway. This is -" 13She makes a face. "I can't pass up this kind of protection." [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Eh, we can probably take an hour out of the crystal. Leaves us with three, and the actual trip's not that long. [22:07] 5 Before moving on, Xu Sim takes the blue jade bracers and, rolling up his voluminous sleeves for a moment (all manner of bric-a-brac fallings out), claps them on before shaking his sleeves back out again. "We don't have much time to delay, if we have to come back through this again. [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Just an hour, then. Need to cool off at least a bit if we're going to see something like that again." 12Of course, it's quite warm in here despite the hearthstone, but Keldar's probably referring to the fiery glow around his brow. [22:12] 13She strips the armor with brutal efficency and looks for something in the room to put it on behind. "I'm going to change. No peeking." [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Please. We're professionals." [22:13] 13"Are we?" Xia Lan stops herself from saying. 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger has some difficulty moving through the city now that everyone knows he's an Emissary. How does he react to people demanding recompense for economic distress, telling him about petty crimes, or demanding he intervene on their behalves to set personal wrongs right? [22:17] 14He listens and arbitrates, or schedules hearings. [22:18] 14This is the job, is it not? 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> It could be. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> He's the Emissary now, and it's his turn to decide what that means. [22:18] 13After a mildly uncomfortable minute, Xia Lan steps back out from behind a statue looking... approximately the same as she did before. "This feels weird." 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Is it because you keep remembering you just took that off a dead person?" [22:18] 13Xia Lan: "Not entirely." [22:19] 14Excellent. Then as each appeal begins, he raises a hand to request silence and says, "Before I start listening, you have a choice." [22:20] 13She makes a face. "Though that is, as you might guess, a pretty big part of why it feels weird." [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Not like they need it any more." [22:21] "It should be quite sanitary, though we might need to propitiate their ghosts, I suppose." [22:22] 14Their choice is this: first, summary judgment within the Civilities and Dogmas, right here, right now -- with "unlitigatable due to lack of deposition or evidence" a perfectly valid reason for dismissal. Second, a marker given for a scheduled hearing, corresponding to a series of colored straws Stranger carries about with him now: he breaks one end and holds it, then hands the other [22:22] 14to the claimant. Then at the end of the day, he sends a runner to the Council Tower to schedule a public hearing. Third, the complaint is withdrawn for the moment and no judgment is passed. The claimant is free to bring their case again when they are more fully prepared. 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka, who doesn't want to think about slipping into a dead body's skintight underwear, just shakes his head and eats some trail mix. [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar frowns as he considers Xu Sim's point, then shrugs to himself and focuses on breathing. [22:23] 14Those who request his justice are advised to choose wisely. [22:23] 13Xia Lan: "The necessity on the part of the already dead is also not why it feels weird," 13she deadpans. 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "You'll probably forget you're wearing it after a while. Like glasses." [22:24] "Just. Do you routinely come across dead bodies and think, oh, I should put on their clothes if I want to be safer? It's weird, is all I'm saying." [22:24] "Also it's not quite as limber as not having it, but you can't really see it. That's the other part." [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Not for long. You do enough fighting, salvaging, or thieving and it's just sense. Less you're an ancestor cultist, I guess." [22:25] 13She taps her head. "Messes with you." [22:25] "I dunno what kind of outfit you ran with but we always got stuff out of the tombs before we put it on our bodies. That's just sensible." [22:26] 5 Xu Sim is a little surprised, Tsuka must be getting irritated if he's going to quibble with Xia Lan of all people. [22:26] 14Stranger will note, if asked or if the apparent issue seems particularly complex, that if the claimant does choose the first option and Stranger finds he needs time to consult texts or deliberate, he will motion to postpone with no penalty to the claimant and move the case to the front of his docket. But there's no guarantee he won't find it frivilous and dismiss it out of hand -- [22:26] 14and there is no court of appeal. [22:26] 13It's true. Xia Lan is the most agreeable and beautiful member of their raiding squad. To disagree with her is unimaginable. [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, depends what it is. On the battlefield, you snap your spear off in some poor bastard's ribcage, you'll pick your replacement up from wherever you find it and as fast as you can. In a tomb, you find new rations, or a replacement grapple or something..." 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Not underwear, though." 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "You don't find underwear in tombs." [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You might well, and if it's the magic kind that'll protect you from the rest of the traps you don't waste any time." 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "Have you ever put on magic underwear in the middle of a tomb?" [22:29] 14The choices don't take long to lay out -- some three minutes or so, as he has the right to be precise and spare in language -- but hopefully they help cut down on spur-of-the-moment, unconsidered legal action. In a very real way, given the severity of these laws, he is protecting the people of Nexus from themselves. [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Point of fact, no. But I never put on a magic breastplate in the middle of a tomb, either. Couldn't wear it 'til recently." [22:29] 13Xia Lan: "Regrettably, yes." [22:29] "Not the first time, either, which is the more upsetting point." [22:31] 13Hastily: "Though to be fair last time the person who it came from was alive." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger finds that most people will prefer the full hearing, though the most impassioned and impatient demand immediate satisfaction. These are the people demanding he intervene in strings of robberies or current business feuds. 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka looks up at Xia Lan. [22:32] 5 Xu Sim sucks in some air through his bared front teeth. [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "'Magic underwear' is a bit misleading, anyway. I saw that thing before it went invisible or whatever. It was like, whatsit, a shift?" [22:33] 5Offered in the spirit of changing the conversation:"I'm sure I can put something together to launder it effectively when we return. Good as new." [22:34] 13Mostly to her knees instead of facing the room at large: "I would appreciate it, thank you." 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> By way of changing the subject even more, Tsuka points at the image of the city projected on the walls. "Do you recognize this place?" [22:35] "It might be nice to get a little less-" 5 he gestures grandly- "sass, you know, seeing as I keep trying to do nice things for you and you have been really rude to me. Just a thought." [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar considers it. Does he? [22:36] 13Flatly: "We're not having this conversation right now." [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Mmm... not Hollow, is it? Could be a better angle on those rivers..." [22:36] 14The first enterprising and clever arbiter who sees this choice and attempts not to clarify a legal point or invoke a duty under the Civilities but litigate a full complaint in the middle of the street without the other party present will find himself being asked to produce the opposition for arbitration. The first time an arbiter tries to do this by ambushing his unprepared opposite [22:36] 14number over tea, he will find himself administratively censured (A purely internal designation! on his permanent record in the new Office of the Emissary.) and slapped with a postponement At Leisure -- the case will be taken up when the Emissaries have time. [22:37] 13Xia Lan studies it closely, to avoid looking at anyone: "It is! The angle's not great, but everything else matches --" 13She points out the similarities between them. [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...oh, yeah. Oh yeah, shit! My favorite street cart's right under that tower, I think. 'cept the top half is blown off, obviously." [22:39] 14As for investigations of robbers, boundary disputes, and other cases of fact finding, Stranger handles them as able. Most simple robbery sprees should be solvable by a Chosen of the Sun with the proper interest and training in short order; he makes a note to see if he can find some go-getters to task from Pellicia's ranks to follow up and handle even simpler matters. [22:41] 5 Xu Sim paces around the room to see if there is any clue to these projections and how they function. [22:45] 13Xia Lan: "Hey, there's CIO's. Or, uh, where it would be?" [22:45] 14This is in addition, of course, to his overhaul of the Nexus judiciary on the whole. If he's clever enough -- and from time to time, Stranger fancies that he is -- he can combine the establishment of an Office of the Emissary and the reform of the judiciary into the same bureaucratic project...answerable directly to the Emissaries of Nexus. [22:46] 14By the time he sits down for lunch, he has already set this process in motion. 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> A small, potato-shaped man wearing half-spectacles toddles up to Stranger and pulls himself into the seat across from him. He's got the plain dark suit of one of the city's bureaucrats. "An update, sir." [22:54] "Ah. Excellent." 14Stranger nods and invites him to sit. One of the fringe good things about treating everyone as an equal is that when an equal disguises himself as a social inferior, you can still treat him as an equal. "Tea?" [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's ready to move after an hour's time, unless Xu Sim's come up with something earth-shattering. [22:57] 5 Nope. [22:58] 5 Xu Sim keeps his own counsel, for now. [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12In that case, onward! [22:59] 13Again, a check in on Tsuka. How's he keeping up? 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Potato man: "Thank you. I've been looking into our merchant friend. Primarily interesting for his banality. A humble man, with a very minor produce trade. Never bothered anyone or broke any rules, as far as I can tell. There is one point of alarm. There are records of both a marriage and a birth to the couple, and records of their residence in the city. I can't find them right now." 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka seems rattled, but he's got a game face on. 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> He looks like he wants to get out of here. [23:04] 13Well, that makes at least two of us. [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's rarin' to go, on the other hand. He looks a little worn out, but then this breastplate's a lot comfier than his articulated plate was and he's got a proper daiklave on him. Bring on whatever's next. [23:06] 13She taps Tsuka's shoulder as he passes near her. "We've got this. Can't be too much longer." [23:06] 14Stranger: "That is now the top priority. I need to work on...larger institutional questions for the next few days, as my predecessor has left me -- us -- a city in litigative chaos. This is constraining my movements...but perhaps also drawing the attention of interested parties. I delegate the inquiry we've previously discussed to you, if you can fit it into your ministerial brief." 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> The yellow road onward gives the illusion of winding ever closer to the city. They can't be more than a hundred yalms outside the high gates between the city's ancient dams when a meteor screams across the sky, lighting up the night and striking that silver spire Keldar's street cart stands in the shadow of. There's a deafening crash and everyone can watch the tower's top half shear off and collapse to the street below. [23:07] 14Stranger: "Oh." [23:07] 13Xia Lan: "Uh." [23:08] "One more thing." [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So that's how it went down, eh?" [23:08] 14He sips his tea. "One I take it you know, but I feel the need to reinforce." [23:09] "There will come a time when you, and I, will both be less important than the work. That time has not yet come. Take care of yourself." [23:10] 5 Xu Sim watches the scene in awe. History in action! That must have been a great work of sorcery, or a mighty war engine or something! [23:10] 14As a nod to his cover: "That will be all, I think." [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Had to be, Keldar would concur. You can't break old Hollow architecture easily. Hell, you can't break it at all in most cases. 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> The meteor is followed by another, and another. The sky burns day-bright with them, illuminating advancing armies. Titanic beasts and legion upon legion of warriors clash in gouts of flame and torrents of frost with huge jade walking automatons, towering demons, and lattices of light. Sorcery cuts wicked, indiscriminate arcs across the battlefield. [23:13] 13What. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We watchin' the Crusade here?" [23:14] "The tomb was built and sealed long before that." [23:15] 13Xia Lan: "Might've updated for the times." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Potato man: "Thank you." He waddles away. [23:17] "I don't think it's sophisticated enough for that. No offense, Voice of the Tomb." [23:17] 14Stranger will settle up a few moments later, and then head for the Council Tower. [23:19] 14He probably hands out three or four more colored straws on his way, too. But soon there will be order in this bureaucratic chaos. 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "The war began at Calibration, at Meru's feet. By the time it spilled forth from the Isle, treason's heavy hand had broken the Deliberative, broken the host. As the tide turned, the fighting grew more vicious." [23:21] 14When he arrives, he doesn't spare much time for greetings or meandering beyond the quickest boundaries of politeness. He is here to work. Where is this office that governs the Nexus judiciary? What is its formal name? [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ah. Right." 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Clouds obscure the stars above. A hard rain falls, acrid and hot. The rain ruins all it touches, pitting steel, scouring stone, laying flesh to ruin. Everything burns. 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "Prey and predator both fight for survival." [23:24] 14Those without pressing business for the Emissary would do well to stay out of Stranger's way. He is pleasant enough, and totally unarmed -- but he is also limned in white-gold, and when mortals look at him directly, they can feel rather than see the great looming shadow that is the banner of his true office lurking in his soul. [23:24] 13Xia Lan: "Hey, Keldar? Your tomb sucks." [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You kiddin' me? Where else are you gonna find a direct sorcerous record of the Usurpation?" 12Can you see any actual people in the fighting, or is it all siege weapons and war crimes sorcery? [23:27] 13Xia Lan: "Is that even what we're seeing? Anybody could put this up here, and besides, think about the absolute garbage we put up with to get here. Not thrilled about it." [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I guess it could just be an artist's interpretation... but it does look cool." 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> There are individual people, but they're hard to make out, in the same way as the cheering crowds in the first chamber and the surrounding armies in the second. [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Question is, where am I - where's Lados, I guess - in all this?" [23:30] 13Cool? She stiffens, walks away from Keldar, and turns back around without comment. They can have this talk outside. [23:31] "It's heartfelt, whoever made this. Wrote it. The author was hard, and principled. Befitting an 'oathkeeper'." [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Befitting a fan of the oathkeeper, right? Lados didn't make the place himself. Bit of a paradox if he had." 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "The last of the Deliberative retreated here, to Hollow. The traitor armies converged here, tasting their victory." [23:32] 13Xia Lan: "Were they one to record even the histories that looked upon them poorly? Because that's always my concern." 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> The road winds, impervious, through the heart of the city as people run screaming through the streets, in fear or fury. [23:33] "I don't think this is a flattering portrayal, to be honest. Think of the last displays, great victories at great cost." [23:33] "Lot of records out there that mysteriously blame literally everything aside from themselves for their misdeeds. 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Over river, under bridge... the golden dome of the Deliberative rises before them. [23:33] "...true. Still." 13She wishes she had some glasses to adjust. "Trust but verify." [23:34] "Pah, ask Stranger-Visits Heaven about it. I'm sure he'd have something to say about it." 5 The Deliberative. Those fools. [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Multicolored light plays across Keldar's face as he walks through the tableau, until at last the warrior is lit gold by the phantom Deliberative. "In we go, then. Keep your guards up." [23:36] 13Don't have to tell Xia Lan twice. Again, though, she checks in on Tsuka. Still seeking to get out as soon as possible? [23:36] 5 Xu Sim laughs, darkly, at the suggestion. [23:36] 5 More darkly than circumstances would otherwise warrant, even for someone like Xu Sim. [23:37] 13...concerning. 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> It seems bigger in the image than it was in person. Keldar would need to stand on tiptoe to even reach the bottom of the cord to pull to ring the door-bell. 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> In the light and the dark, Tsuka's face is twisted with anger. [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar'll try just pushing the door first. Bell's plan B. 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Luckily, Keldar doesn't need to open the door. It swings open for him as he approaches, on a face he recognizes. 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Anilom: "It's you! I thought you'd been lost!" [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The fuck?" 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Tell me you're you. Tell me I'm not staring at a dead man right now." [23:39] 13Xia Lan: "Uh." 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> The voice of the tomb: "More than kin and less than kind." [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You're not, but I am. I saw you die, buddy." 12He half-turns from the man he's facing and shouts up at the ceiling of the Tomb. "Fuck are you playing at, voice? Is this supposed to be funny?" 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Anilom: "We've got to mount up. Stranger's sealed the hall, but we can't hold the barricades forever. They're coming in." [23:41] 13Oh, no. [23:41] 13Oh no. [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar actually reaches out to poke Anilom in the shoulder. He solid? 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> As solid as the Ram was. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar sucks a breath in through his teeth. "Cute. Fine. Who's coming in." [23:43] 13Xia Lan has her hands on her weapons but isn't drawing them yet. She's waiting for the word. [23:44] "If you won't stand for your word - or your people - you're nothing," 5 notes Xu Sim, as he looks around. Not his word. Barely his people. 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Looking past Anilom, Keldar sees soldiers in ancient armor standing spears-up as the great golden doors of the hall thud and thunder before them, a rumbling growl coming from beyond the gate that everyone can feel in their ribcages. [23:45] 5 Xu Sim is distracted and scampering about. Something in here isn't right, though. Something is off. What could it be? Where could it be? Someplace a true reincarnation of Lados would never look? 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar recognizes the soldiers, too. There's Cotton, the quartermaster. There's Pruga, the watch-arrow. There's Neel, the camp cook... this is the entire expedition. [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar glares at those assembled - then turns to Xia Lan and Xu Sim. "Who do you see?" 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> They see strangers. Small-s. [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "This guy in front of me, olive, short hair, kinda sweaty? Him at the stewpot, scar down the cheek?" [23:49] 13Xia Lan: "Never seen them before." 13She's careful - who knows what Keldar is seeing. 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> They do match the descriptions Keldar's giving, at any rate. [23:49] "That's accurate, though." 13She hesitates. "I don't..." 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Anilom: "We thought we'd lost you. We thought you'd abandoned us." [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12A small storm plays across Keldar's face, only to be replaced by a tight grin. "Okay. Okay, fine. Perfectly fair. Gotta make it real, eh? For the end?" [23:50] "Keldar." 13A beat. "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to." [23:50] 5 Xu Sim strokes his moustache, silently evaluating Keldar. [23:50] "...what do you want us to do?" [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Jade scrapes on jade as Keldar draws his daiklave and strides forward, past Anilom and past the line of soldiers. "Well, here I am. Form up - rest of you, behind the Chosen. Ready to break for the interior if this starts going south." 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Anilom, his back to Keldar's back as Keldar walks past him. "But you didn't abandon us." [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a red blur at Keldar's right side as he spins his borrowed sword one, two, three times in his hand before idly drawing a thumb along the flat of the sword. He takes up position before the shaking door as he does so, planting one foot firmly straight and pushing the other back slightly, to brace. "I never did. Specifics on what's behind there?" 12he calls to his 'men'. 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Anilom: "What's behind there?" 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> The door thunders. A howl rips the air apart. [23:54] 13Keldar. Your tomb sucks ass. [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Delayed. Humor me." 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "What about what's in here, Lados? What about you?" [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar half-turns, tip of the daiklave resting on the ground. "Sorry?" 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "You didn't abandon us, did you?" Anilom's voice grows thick and vicious. "You turned on us." [23:55] 13Oh no. [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Why'd I do something like that?" 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "You cut us down because we fought. You cut us down because your word mattered more to you than your kin." 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar remembers having this conversation. He remembers what he said. [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Decked out in the leavings of dead dragons, Keldar's illuminated by an eerie light from the door behind him and a few small fires to one side or another. The mainstay of the man's figure is in shadow, but firelight gleams along his daiklave and across his eyes. "I swore." 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "YOU SWORE TO ME!" [23:57] 5 Xu Sim excuses himself from the conversation if possible, mumbling to himself and looking through the rows of enormous desks. "Red-hot... cold... red-hot... cold..." 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Anilom wrenches his eyes shut. "No. No. Don't- don't SAY anything!" 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "No more words." [23:58] 13There's a grim look on her face and no hint of any former humor regarding the tomb raids. Xia Lan is ready to draw down. 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Anilom opens his eyes. They're yellow now. [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looked like he was about to say something, but now he just tilts his head slightly. Session Time: Wed Apr 04 00:00:01 2018 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> The voice of the tomb: "Any man can keep his word when it suits him. But a true hero knows that his word, above all, marks the righteousness of his soul." 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> The door rattles on its hinges. 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "Greater than virtue." 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> The door groans. 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "Greater than blood." 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> The great golden door splits open. The great gray wolf bounds over every man and woman in the room. Anilom, Cotton, Neel, the others... they dissolve into motes of light, surging into the intruder. Their light becomes its light. Their flesh becomes its flesh. 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "When your heart is tested, hero... how will you fall?" 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Have you the will?" 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: The wolf comes home 14[05:13] * Joins: Crion 14[05:13] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[16:28] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[18:34] * Joins: Crion 14[20:08] * Joins: Crion| [20:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 / [20:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 \--+---/\ [20:12] <@Ferrinus> 12`/\-+--/\'\ [20:12] <@Ferrinus> 12/`/\+-/\'\'\ [20:12] <@Ferrinus> 12-+- -+-+---- [20:12] <@Ferrinus> 12\'\/+-\/`/`/ [20:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 \/-+--\/`/\ [20:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 --+---\/ / [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Dawn breaks over the Heavensward, which itself hovers over or at least nearby the city of Great Forks. Some aboard the vessel have slept more easily than others. [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12In particular, it sounds like Yara had something of a rough time of it - or maybe something else is bothering her. Either way, anyone awake early enough can hear her shouting angrily. Presumably it's at Iron Siaka, whose hammock's empty. [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyone gonna eavesdrop? [20:16] 13Absolutely. [20:17] 4Ir's busy making breakfast and figuring out where to move the ship to keep it in the clouds. 15[20:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The only thing ruder than eavesdropping is being awake before nine. [20:17] 4Still, if they're loud enough... [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying hears Yara in mid full-steam rant. "..-oonlit GARDEN? Private BOX SEAT with WINE? You think I wouldn't realize?!" [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Now, look-" [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying: "How long? HOW LONG were you computing that one?! How much our remit did you just USE UP to-" [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Whoops, that should be Yara. [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12I had Y-names on the mind. Anyway, [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Hey, hey, hey, you ever come up short? There something else I left undone? I can pursue personal projects without it-" [20:22] 13Ying, for her part, is doing her level best to not just break down snickering - first of all, it would be rude, and second of all, she needs to know exactly how much she can make fun of Tatsuya for this later. He, uh, was extremely angry but not very specific in their notebook. [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Maybe if they're for YOUR person!" [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "C'mon, think of it as a gift. A surprise gift." [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "We nearly DIED!" [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Maybe if you'd told us what you were up to-" [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12It goes on like this. [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12There are some weird references to prayers, spiders, and things like that but Siaka hushes Yara up about it pretty fast. The conversation ends approximately thusly: Siaka says "Look, I think we're both a little at fault, here." 12and Yara says "Hmph!" [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Later, the two Chosen of Destiny have shown up at breakfast on the Heavensward. Yara's red in the face and Siaka looks slightly chagrined. What's there to eat? [20:28] 13Ying's nowhere to be seen by the time they leave - snuck back off to her quarters to practice something. She'll be up for breakfast in a bit. [20:29] 4Eggs and hashed potatoes. Ir's still going through fresh stores while we have them, before flying back off to the Kruthik base. [20:29] 4Getting harder to live off the land up there these days [20:29] 4. 08[20:33] 7Blossom didn't sleep well again. She was up, as Eikichi would put it, playing with her helmet. The metal is soft enough that it can be carved with any sharp edge, and it's better to have the words carved in metal rather than stuck in her head for another day. Probably. [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara looks around the table as she works her way through a small plate of eggs. "So - what happened? After he, uh, got me." 12Dubiously, she adds "Siaka says everything's fine." [20:36] 4Ir: "We showed up and got you out of there. Had dinner. Still some ice cream left over, if you want it." [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Did you kill the other one?" [20:36] 13Sunlit-Dreaming Ying takes that as her cue to walk in. "Octavian took out the big one," 13she says casually as she loads up a plate. "The other one got away." [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara and Siaka both look over, Yara frowning and Siaka quirking a brow. The two women speak at once ("Who-" "Hi-"12), then glance at each other, and then a grinning Siaka pushes down on the table with a knuckle to stand and offer a handshake to Ying. "Iron Siaka, Bureau of Destiny. Charmed." [20:41] 13She shakes it and flashes a winning smile. "Sunlit-Dreaming Ying! Pleased to meet ya!" 13How's Iron Siaka's grip? As hard as her namesake's? [20:41] 4Ir: "I hope that doesn't mean an Octavian-sized asshole showed up in the upside-down necropolis. ...I'm still not fully clear on what that relationship is. We should still be postponing the attack, right?" [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Yep, Iron Siaka's got rough, calloused hands and a strong grip. She doesn't try one of those weird handshake power struggles you sometimes get, though. "Likewise. This is Yara, my circlemate." 12She sits back down. "Were you there to see the end?" 12Yara chimes in: "How'd he get away?" [20:45] 4Ir: "Our priorities were elsewhere. They had...some fuckin' thing." [20:45] 13She shakes her head as she sits down with a full plate. "It just sort of... shrunk away? Like, you couldn't get closer to it, it just would walk away no matter what seemed to be an obstacle." [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara nods slowly and grimly. "That's about.. that's the sort of thing we expected. I mean not literally, obviously, but they do get that weird." [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "What I didn't expect was the-" 12She pauses. "Its attack. Hm." 12She draws some random shapes on the table before her as she eats, briefly lost in reverie. [20:47] 13Ying: "Hm?" [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I might have imagined it. Um, the other one, the one we took down. Where is it now?" 08[20:50] 13She looks unsure. "Umm... I think it's in the hold?" 13She looks to Ir for confirmation - or Blossom or Eikichi, if they've made it in yet. [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara picks up a mug of tea in both hands, sips some of it, then places it down with finality. "I need to take a look." 08[20:53] 13Ying: "It's still pretty early - I don't think Eikichi's even up yet. Let's take a look in the afternoon, okay?" 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10When Eikichi does wake up, he asks Ying: "How do our guests seem?" 08[20:58] 13By the time Eikichi's up, Ying's switched to wearing a hooded coat. Same sort of personal logo on it as the fighting outfit she never used outside of sparring with Ir, actually, but more comfortable and less flashy. "Hm? Oh! Yara's mad at Siaka for meddling last night, but she looked unhurt, as far as I could tell. No difficulty eating." [21:00] 4Ir: "I'm keeping us in whatever cloud cover I can, but we're attracting some serious attention coming and going. Y'know, cumulatively. Especially when Octavian's tromping around." 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I wonder if Siaka got her money back on this dinner reservations." 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you think she gets to expense that?" [21:02] 13Ying: "She did talk about their 'remit,'" 13she says, tapping her chin. [21:04] "Also, Yara was more embarassed than anything, and Tatsuya was oblivious. What a waste." 13She sits upright. "Don't tell them I heard that, but they were being purretty loud..." 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi sits up. "Say that again?" [21:05] 13Ying: "Yara was more embarassed than anything, and Tatsuya was oblivious...?" 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "How loud were they being?" [21:06] 4Ir, deadpan: "We really should soundproof these rooms. Someday." [21:06] 13Ying: "Purretty loud." 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You all thought I was crazy for soundproofing mine. Yet again my wisdom proves out." 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Ying: "...what would you say if someone asked you to dump a child's Calibration sweets into a mud puddle?" [21:10] 7Blossom enters, wiping sweat and dew from her face with a towel. She pours herself a large cup of tea and downs it in one go. [21:11] 13Ying: "That'd be really mean! Just pawful!" 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is Ying drinking tea? [21:13] "Just what?" [21:13] 13She is. 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10How much milk did she put in it? [21:14] 4To Blossom: "Rough morning?" [21:15] 13Probably too much, actually. [21:16] 7Blossom nods to Ir. "Chilly out. I forgot we were hiding in cloud cover." [21:16] 13Ying nods. "It's fureezing out on the deck." 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks at Blossom and Ir. They hear that, right? [21:19] 4Ir's futzing around with a range with a boiling kettle of water on it; that's about all she hears. [21:19] 7Blossom visibly suppresses a grin. We can't tell her, right? We can't tell her. Otherwise she might stop. [21:21] 13She sips at her tea, oblivious. Hood's still up, and she doesn't seem inclined to drop it. [21:22] 4Ir's heard weirder affectations. [21:25] 13Ying: "...why's efurryone acting so weird? Is it something I said?" [21:26] 7Blossom: "I'm not acting weird. I never act weird." [21:27] "That's true," 13Ying says, placated. [21:33] 4Ir: "If we're going to be having shipguests like that this often, I should probably start coming up with plans for things going wrong. At least put in a proper infirmary, that can double as a brig." [21:35] 7Blossom: "Oh! Right, how is Yara?" [21:35] 4Ir: "...So where do we go from here? Both in a broader sense and like, literally, since this cloud cover isn't going to make it past noon." 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "She's fine. Mad at Siaka, is my understanding." [21:36] 13Ying: "Yep. Siaka tried to set Tatsunya and Yara up on a date without Yara knowing." [21:37] "Or him, actually, but he was too dumb to figure it out anyways." 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Tatsuya would've figured it out eventually." 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Like, by breakfast." [21:38] 13Ying: "Well, he got mad at me and hid furom his problems instead, so maybe not." 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "That's weird. Usually he doesn't get mad at you first." [21:38] 4Ir: "Did he break anything down in the hold?" 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "I gave him some of my old beakers to smash up." [21:39] 13Ying: "A coupurr things, yeah. I'll clean it up when I get a chance." 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I guess we're still deferring the invasion until Blossom and Yara sign off on it." 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "Maybe today we could go fishing." 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Ying: "You in the mood for some fish?" [21:42] 7Blossom: "That'd be a good way to let everynyan relax for a bit." [21:42] 13Her teacup clatters to the table, and she starts mopping up spilled tea. "Ahh! Um. Fish sounds good! If efurrybody else is okay with it, I mean!" [21:44] "Yup," 4says Ir. "We'll need to make some rods first. You guys wanna fish off the side of the ship?" [21:46] 13Ying: "I'm all fur it! Ooh, living off the land..." [21:47] 4Oh Sun. 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I'm going to go get some air before we move out of cloud cover." 08[21:49] 7Blossom nods to Eikichi. To Ying: "Yara hasn't asked about anything, then?' 08[21:49] 7Blossom nods to Eikichi. To Ying: "Yara hasn't asked about anything, then?" 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Eikichi's credit, he makes it well out of the g- the kitchen before he starts giggling. Siaka or Yara could probably hear him if they were being snoopy though. [21:50] 13Ying: "I'll finish my tea then get ready. There's a surpurrise in store...!" 13To Blossom: "Oh! She wanted to know what catpunned after she got knocked out. Do you know where the one Octavian killed is?" [21:55] 7Blossom: "Oh, he's gone. I purified his corpse. He was some kind of spider-Chosen, I guess - there were these ethereal spiders trying to reweave him... back to life, or something? Anyway, I put a stop to it." [21:57] 13Ying: "Oh. Oops. You'll have to tell her that, later, I thought the body was still meowstly intact. It's good that you stopped that, though!" 13she follows up, hastily. [21:58] 4Once everything's cleaned up, Ir takes the helm to putter the Heavensward off in search of decent fishing grounds. [21:59] 13Ying sips at her tea until everyone else has cleared out, then vanishes to change. They'll never see this one coming...! 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Once breakfast is wrapped up and Blossom's started working on something, Eikichi drops in on her. "How are you doing?" [22:07] 7Blossom: "Huh? Oh, fine. Why do you ask?" 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You were still up when I went to bed and you were pretty worn out this morning." 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "Did you sleep?" [22:10] 13Self-care is important! [22:16] 7Blossom: "Oh, yeah. After a while." 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "What are you working on?" [22:24] 7Blossom laughs tiredly. "Gods, what aren't I working on? We need to figure out a solid, smooth pavement for Zeal. Do you know what 'bicycles' are?" 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi shakes his head. "They sound complicated." [22:26] 6Tatsuya definitely made a rude joke about them once. [22:27] "They used to be more common in the Shogunate. Here--" 7She shows him a drawing of an odd, two-wheeled metal contrivance. "Transportation animals that don't need feeding and don't foul up the streets. The only problem is that they'll shake you to pieces if the road isn't carefully graded and maintained, which is to say everywhere." 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I can see why they fell out of favor." 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "You know what would work?" [22:36] 7Blossom: "Hmm?" 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "There's this library in the South somewhere. By Gem, maybe? It was built on a field of black blood. From the Shogunate. What they did was they used the pitch from the fields as a binder for ground up stone and sand and laid the paste in hot over a metal framework. And once it set it set smooth and hard. Most earthworks that size would crumble, right? But the library just stands up to all the heat and the pressure." 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "I've always wanted to visit the archive. They call it the Tarball." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "Anyway if you did the underlying earthwork right, then that's the sort of thing that would pave well, yeah?" [22:46] 7Blossom: "Hmmm. A paste of hardened tar? Maybe. That sounds like it would smell terrible, though. We'll have to go and have a look." 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah." [22:55] 7Blossom leans forward conspiratorially. "Okay, seriously. Is that Nyaroshi's blessing?" [22:55] "When do you think she's going to notice?" 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It has to be. I don't think it's accidental, though." 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "There's no way she doesn't notice." 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "But if you don't acknowledge it, everyone else has to pretend not to see it, right?" [23:02] 7Blossom: "We absolutely can't acknowledge it. She might decide to stop, and it's too cute." 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I know exactly what you mean." [23:12] 4It takes a couple tries to find a good watering hole, or stretch of river. One spot that would work has some kind of religious ceremony going on when Ir flies over; another has no good angle to park the Heavensward at. But eventually Ir finds them an out of the way, peaceful-ish lake with a large feeder stream. [23:16] 13Ying's sneakily standing by until everyone else is on deck for her incredible entrance. This is going to be the best fishing trip ever. [23:16] 13Mmm... fish. [23:18] 4Get some river bamboo from down near the bank and some fisher's line, and they're pretty much set on everything but hooks. [23:18] 7Blossom is the absolute best fisherwoman. Poles and lines are for amateurs. Blossom's going to fish with thick metal needles, like miniature spearfishing! 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi was raised to believe that the best part of fishing was daydrinking, and he still believes that. "Yeah! Look at her go!" [23:20] 13Ying cartwheels out onto the deck, leaps into the air with a flip, and lands in a fancy pose! And... she's got cat ears and a tail, alongside some vaguely pawlike hands - are those claws? Her ears twitch as she dusts herself off, and her tail forms a little heart shape. "Hello efurryone! Thanks to Nyaroshi's blessing and some hard work on my part, I've become a cat!" 13She seems extremely proud of herself. "Catually, I did it 08[23:20] before Eikichi woke up, but beclaws of my extremely good disguise, none of you even noticed!" [23:21] 13She's dressed in a more complete form of her 'arena outfit' - a little jacket with her name on the back, a cute skirt (with a newly-cut hole for a tail!) and some long boots that actually make her look ever-so-slightly taller. There's some smaller touches - the logo has a cat's paw in it, now - but for the most part, she actually didn't have to make too many changes for this to fit. Almost as though it was destined. 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi just gapes. [23:22] 7Blossom: "That's so...." [23:22] "14cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute" [23:22] 4Ir has the good grace to act actually surprised as well. [23:25] 13Ying beams, twirls, and takes a bow. "Gosh! I'm surpurrised it worked so well, I didn't think I could make it catpun!" [23:26] "...and thanks for suggesting fishing because wow do fish sound good right meow." 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Have you told Catsuya yet?" 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He blinks. "Uh." 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "No, Tat- have you told Tatsuya." [23:28] 13Ying: "Nope! Just figured it out this mornyan." 13She smiles even wider - there's a hint of a fang. 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Have you felt the urge to knock things off of shelves or nap all day?" [23:31] 4Ir can't stop herself from wondering where Tatsuya's at mentally. Goes off breaking things in the hold and then Ying comes out with this whole thing. [23:31] 4Not that there isn't a perfectly reasonable, cat-god related explanation for it. [23:31] 13Ying: "Umm..." 13She taps a claw to her chin. "I knocked our book to the ground because I left it too close to the edge and it just looked wrong. There hasn't been enough sun to take a nap in." [23:33] 13Tatsunya is probably fine! None of this is a cry fur help. [23:33] 13Okay, I can't do these in narration too. That's too much. [23:40] 7Blossom: "I'm assuming you then picked the book back up off the ground and put it back, further away from the edge?" [23:41] 13Ying looks at Blossom like she's grown a second head. "No, it lives on the floor now." [23:43] "Maybe Tatsunya will pick it up and then I can knock it down again." [23:44] 7Blossom: "I... see. Well, thank you for telling us that you're a cat now, Ying. We are actually going to cook the fish we catch before you can eat them." 08[23:44] 10Eikichi gives Blossom a look. It's a look that says, we're not putting a sandbox in the privy, right? [23:45] 13Ying: "That is..." 13She is clearly struggling. "That's. Um. Smart... And, I agree, with..." 13Sweating. "...all of them?" [23:46] 7Blossom nods firmly. "Yes." [23:47] "Efurry single one?" 13She looks stricken. "Purretty please..." 08[23:47] 10Eikichi: "Hey, Ying." [23:47] 13Ying: "What?" [23:48] "Do you have any yarn?" [23:48] 13Her eyes light up to an alarming degree. "Do I ever." [23:48] 13Efurr* [23:48] 13Scrap that second r. Efur. Okay good talk good talk 08[23:49] 10Eikichi feels more normal by the day. [23:49] 13Happy to help! [23:49] 13:3 [23:50] 13She shakes her head to banish the images of yarn balls dancing around. "We were gonna fish! C'mon!" [23:51] 7Blossom clenches a few needles between her fingers and follows Ying - she's not going on ahead, because she definitely wants to see Ying crouch down and start batting at the water. [23:51] 4You take the breaks where you can get them. 08[23:54] 10Eikichi brings his fishing kit: a copper bucket full of chipped ice and bottles. "It's really nice out." [23:54] 13Ying's grabbed one of the bamboo rods and settles... closer to the water than she'd prefer. Her tail twitches back and forth as she sets up the fishing rod. "Blossom... don't you need a pole to catch the fish?" [23:55] 13She glances to the bucket, raises a hand, and very casually puts it into a pocket. [23:58] 10How does Blossom fish with those needles? [23:58] 4Ir: "Don't NEED one, I'm using one on account of tradition. And also I'm not using Iscariot because it's probably not healthy to eat off moonsilver." [23:59] "You could make it healthier with a protective barrier of beer batter." [23:59] "Trust me. I'm a doctor." Session Time: Thu Apr 05 00:00:00 2018 [00:01] 13Ying: "That's true. I'm pawlso a doctor." [00:01] "And wait, you just... stab the water? Hope a fish appurrs?" [00:02] 4Ir: "Oh, we are definitely going to fry us some fish." [00:04] 13Ying's face turns into the closest approximation of >:3 that can be seen in humans. [00:04] 13...mostly humans. [00:08] 7Blossom: "Like this." 7Fwip! Fwip! Fwip! With an expert flick of the wrist, Excessively Righteous Blossom sends three of the sharp needles lightning-quick into the stream. The water churns, and after a few moments a fish floats to the surface, speared straight through the head. [00:11] 10Is Blossom visibly upset she only got one fish with three needles? [00:11] 13Ying nods. "Ahh! I see." 13She keeps her fishing pole gripped in her - feet? - but leans over the side and begins keeping a very close eye on the water below. She leans back in to reel in whatever fish bit the bait for the pole, but the rest of the time... she's leaning over the water, just darting her claws in and out to fish that swim towards the surface. [00:12] 13She's caught a few from her pole, but eventually, finally, she snatches one out of the water and just immediately puts it in her mouth. [00:12] "Ying...!" [00:13] 13She leans back, satisfied, daring anyone to stop her. [00:18] 13Munch munch. Tasty fish. What was the big deal anyway [00:19] 7Not at all. The other two were to keep it from dodging. [00:19] 7Blossom foolishly attempts to get the fish away from Ying. "C'mon, you can have it right back. We're just gonna--" [00:20] 13Cronch. Mouth full: "Sfine. Tastey" [00:21] 13After a bit, a mostly devoured raw fish drops onto the deck. "Ahhhhhh. I needed that," 13she says, apparently in all seriousness. 08[00:22] 10Eikichi, who won't even try: "My father used to take me fishing when he was home. We went, I don't know, maybe twenty times? I think we caught four fish over all of those trips." [00:22] 10Pull. Pause. "Wait no. Three fish and an otter." [00:22] 13Ying's eyes take that strange glint again. "You can catch otters?" [00:23] "It was unconscious." [00:24] 13Ying: "Sleepy," 13she agrees. It's pretty sunny out, huh? Perfect to... mmm. She curls up on some random box still on deck. "You caught it, right?" [00:24] 4Ir does it old school: puts the bait on the line, props the rod up, and noodles around on her six-string while occasionally napping. [00:25] 10Yeah. 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dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[19:33] * Joins: tom Session Time: Mon Apr 09 00:00:00 2018 14[00:32] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[00:56] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[03:20] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:33] * Joins: dammitwho 14[03:39] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[05:37] * Joins: Crion 14[05:39] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[05:40] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:46] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[05:57] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:39] * Joins: Crion_ 14[14:42] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:59] * Joins: Crion 14[16:01] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:11] * Joins: dammitwho 14[17:22] * Joins: Zarick_ 14[17:25] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:45] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[17:48] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:32] * Joins: tom 14[20:25] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> The wolf descends, framed by the gold of the old Deliberative hall and a piercing heat coming in waves from the shattered door beyond. As they've drawn to the end of the story, they've come now to the very base of the tomb, the seat of its power. All that remains is this final test. [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's caste mark burns itself into being on his brow as he turns from where the shades of his one-time compatriots stood to the shape of the enormous wolf. His silhouette's darkened from top to bottom, but surrounded in a soft red fire that shines also on his forehead and in his eyes. [20:58] 13Xia Lan stands her ground in the face of their attacker. She spares a quick glance to Tsuka and his stance, ready to block for him, but damn - he's quick. Now all we have to do is win. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Pulses of dawnfire crackle about Keldar's shoulders and then rippled down his arms. His grip on the scavenged red sword in his arm tightens to the point that sparks are cast from the hilt and guard. The mercenary looks up at the oncoming monster and narrows glowing eyes. He's not at all consumed with cold fury for the same reason that the historical Lados surely was at the analogous [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12juncture, in the analagous place - but, to the outside observer, that'll make no difference at all. [21:09] 5 For the instant before the battle is joined, Xu Sim's robes flutter, though there is no breeze in the tomb. 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> The wolf lashes about faster than anyone can follow, moving more like a trick of the light than a creature of substance. Its fangs are sharp enough, though, to knock everyone onto their back foot and seize Xu Sim, lift him bodily into the air, and hurl him at Keldar. Keldar leaps away, letting the unconscious Xu Sim skid and stop on the cool stone floor where he slowly sinks and vanishes, ensconced in white light. The dramatic attack leaves the wolf exposed, and Tsuka springs forward, leading Keldar in a flanking attack that staggers the wolf. 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim feels himself drifting awake mere moments later, somewhere hot and cramped and dark with a cool breeze tickling the back of his neck, sending shivers up and down his savagely aching body. [21:47] 13Xia Lan gets a good drubbing from the wolf and steadies herself scraping her swords along the floor while being knocked back, but -- "Xu Sim!" 13Where the fuck did he go?? [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar burns with red-orange light as he slides backwards, one clenched fist behind the flat of his daiklave as he absorbs the wolf's assault, then blazes as he leaps sideways as Xu Sim flies by. He turns just long enough to note what's happening to the sorcerer's body, then charges forward along with Tsuka to trap the wolf in a burning (figuratively and literally) pincer movement. [21:48] 5 Xu Sim dares to crack open an eye and groans in pain and exhaustion. Where on Earth is he? He's not quite dead - at least, he doesn't think he's quite dead, not yet. 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> If Xu Sim wriggles in place a bit he'll find himself lying on what feel like dry sticks and stones. [21:53] 13She sprints back towards the great wolf and leaps into the air with a great howling battlecry! She levels multiple strikes at the wolf to drive it into position for the other two surviving members to strike - and there's a lot of sparking as her swords continue making contact with the ground, hooked swords snapping out like a snake's jaws. [21:53] 5 How unusual. Dry sticks and stones? No howling wind of Adorjan or somesuch. That's a good sign. He focuses for a moment to see if he can light the way by his Caste mark. That's the surest tell if he is still alive, and, perhaps it can show him if the others are nearby and need help. 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Oh. They're bones. [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Between Keldar, Tsuka, and Xia Lan the hulking monster's trapped in a triangle of blades, sparking as its essence tries to keep up with the assault. The older Green Apple shifts his weight sideways, shooting a glance past the wolf at the younger - and then, upon that glance being returned, offers a curt nod. [21:54] 5 Oh. Bones. Human? 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Hundreds upon hundreds of bones. Human, animal, stranger things... he's pretty sure that's the skull of an erymanthus over there. 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> They're all bleached white, like they'd been left in the desert for decades. [21:57] 5 There room to stand? 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Not quite. If he rolls over he'll see he's inside a sort of metal casket, which is open a crack. In his current state it'll take him a couple of minutes to push it open, but he's pretty sure he can. [22:03] 5 That's a relief. "Hello? Xia Lan? Keldar? Tsuka? ... Lados?" 5 He braces himself against one end of the casket to get a firmer purchase. Pretty odd that the casket would be open like this, unless the wolf carried him in here? He doesn't think it's been quite that long... 14[22:03] * Joins: Crion| [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar two-hands his sword, slides one boot back a few inches across the stone, and settles into something like a horse stance. There's a rumbling sound that rapidly increases in pitch, like the activation of some great geomantic engine, as the outline and carvings on the mercenary's daiklave glow red, then gold, then pure white. [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's next move isn't even visible except as a series of afterimages. He's suddenly a meter or so forward, right at the great wolf's shoulder, his sword held down to his side. Before the warrior is a series of glowing, burning arcs, each describing a savage cut straight through his opponent's essence. 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Meanwhile, Tsuka leaps up behind the wolf, a man on fire, driving both blades into its back like a great viper's fangs. He drags his swords through ribbons of light as the wolf falls to motes beneath his and Keldar's onslaught. 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim finds himself in a cool, empty room, lined with caskets. Each of them looks different; the one he just left was wrought in cold iron, the one next to that is solid gold, the one after that is a series of jade canopic jars, and the one across from him is a glass tube full of some milky fluid. The floor and walls are marble white. [22:14] 5 This seems fine. Perfectly normal. He ambles through the chamber, examining the canopic jar absentmindedly for a moment, before turning his attention to the milky-glass tube for a moment. Strange objects in a strange place. Is there any apparent entrance? 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> As Keldar and Tsuka land on their feet, the sparks of the wolf have already recoalesced into a bestial juggernaut with a wolf's head and burning silver etched on its body. It digs its claws into the floor and wild silver tendrils swirl out and spin around, burning so hot that the air in the tomb shimmers violently and the crystal warding them against the heat gutters and flares. [22:15] 13What in the damned-- [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar starts. "Second one again! Stack, then spread!" [22:24] 13Xia Lan casually dodges at Keldar's words, then launches herself at the replacement for the wolf. More double-fanged attacks with both swords striking as one... and then she peels off, weaving in place, considering all angles. Something flickers in her eyes, registers: prey. 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim learns much as he wanders. He can feel and observe that he's near the very heart of this manse's power, and its essence moves through him as easily as water through the gills of a fish. It's lightly euphoric. What's more, he can tell that this tomb is ancillary to the larger structure, connected to whatever hub or core the manse has but also at a remove, and shielded from it by the place's natural geomancy. That explains why the room is so much cooler. [22:33] 5 Xu Sim has suspected that something is off about the natural geomancy of this place. Perhaps, if he made the right changes, it could reset things and restore the correct balance of the tomb. 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> By examining the bones and the jars - he crawled out of a large, damaged casket full of once-carefully arranged bones of laborers, beasts of burden, and demons. These other caskets mark an architect, a foreman, a surveyor, and a geomancer. Xu Sim realizes with a start that the builders of the tomb were buried in it. 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> The one thing he doesn't see... is the way out. [22:38] 13Prey. This is workable, even if it is a fucked up wolf-man. There's the throat. There's the heart. There's the places on the legs that nobody ever remembers to guard. Xia Lan launches herself towards and slightly behind the wolf and scrapes his(? presumably) legs in passing - it's not fatal, but it'll slow the bastard down. And after the way Keldar absolutely demolished the first wolf... [22:43] 5 That might explain why it was built in the Shogunate, at least. 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Try as he might, Xu Sim can't figure out where the exit to this crypt is. Maybe there isn't one? But he got here somehow... [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's a little less practiced at fighting giant bipeds than giant quadrupeds - but far more so than, for instance, most other Green Apples. He's getting used, to, to the furnace rhythm with which Tsuka strikes and retreats, and the benefits that come with synching up. [22:52] 5 This is quite absurd. Xu Sim is certain, just certain, that there has to be a way in. After all, there is that ever-so-slight circulation of air... ah, perhaps a moment's diversion could help. Xu Sim produces his steambreather and puffs on it a few times - in a matter of seconds, producing a cloud of scented vapors. He watches their motion ever-so-carefully to see where the air is [22:52] 5coming and going. 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> That's clever! Xu Sim is able to watch the vapor curl and twist through the room, drifting across the way and... vanishing into a solid brick? [22:56] 5 He presses his hand to the brick! Too bad he doesn't ahve one of Keldar's collapsible poles - an illusory wall is tricky, an illusory floor could easily be deadly. 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> His hand passes through! Ingenious. [22:58] 5 Excellent. Xu Sim steps into the wall, feeling carefully with his feet so as not to trip on any real bricks or try to step on a false one. [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's eyes alight as he sees Tsuka move up. Points of articulation and interlock in the combinations of blows he's been using go off in his head like fireworks. A great golden shield materializes before him, held by a looming, armored warrior, and then the mercenary goes crashing forward through it with his daiklave drawing a solid trail of white-hot light through teh air. [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12The armored wolf-man's dismantled. One blow knocks one claw aside, a second deflects the other, the third comes crashing down across a shoulder plate to shatter the pillar of his balance. Then, before Keldar's even landed on the ground, his anima revs audibly and his sword moves too fast to see, carving another knot of cutting, killing light straight through the head and torso of [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12the foe. [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12As Keldar lands, he's just glowing softly, his caste mark clearly visible again. It looks like he drew his entire anima into his sword before venting it into the armored general. 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim walks a long cold corridor, solid metal beneath his feet. The walls are inscribed with minute details, a jargony shorthand form of Old Realm which seems to denote the coming and going of supplies, personnel, dates and durations... the manse's construction is detailed here! It seems to have taken about seven years, from beginning to end, if he compares the last date where he began to the earliest date at the far end of another false wall. 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> at the far end of the corridor, near another false wall.* 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> No sooner has Keldar vaporized the armored general than a short, wiry man with close-cropped blond hair is there, admiration playing across a face that doesn't wear admiration well. It's there only briefly before his expression settles into something more comfortably stoic. 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "Nice." [23:11] 13Xia Lan: "What." 13She keeps her guard up just in case this guy turns into a third wolf. [23:11] 5 Utterly fascinating! Xu Sim skims it as he walks.' [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar tilts his head slightly. His daiklave's held loosely back now, and for the moment his anima's low. "...yeah?" 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> It looks like the most difficult part of the project was transposing it from the Underworld, where it was built, to Creation. This required a staggering sorcerous effort and bled the demesne in ways from which it hasn't fully recovered, even a thousand years later. And he can feel that power cresting not far ahead. Just past this wall, the spiritual and magical heart of the Tomb of Cold Iron. 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> The man: "So that's what a Chosen of the Sun can do, huh? I guess you all do earn your egos." [23:15] 13Xia Lan: "You got a name?" 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "Who was he? What'd he do to deserve that?" [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What? Figured you'd know." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> He winks at Xia Lan. "Call me whatever you want, babe." [23:16] 13She scowls. "Okay, shithead. You got an actual name or should I stick with that?" 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka scowls, moving to flank the man with Keldar. 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> The man: "Yikes! Hint taken." 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> To Keldar: "By reputation, maybe. But the way you laid into him it looked personal." [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah? Well this tomb's getting personal. It should stick to the history lessons." 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim crosses the threshold of the last false wall, and enters... an empty space. The room is enormous, forming a cube 30 yards to a size, wall, ceiling, and floor all flat, immaculate, featureless white. [23:19] "Built in the underworld," 5 mutters the sorceror as he examines this new chamber. 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> The man: "You get that angry a lot?" 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka hisses: "This is a trap." [23:23] 13Xia Lan whispers back: "Yeah, but what do we do about it? Other than wait for it to snap down on us like a bunch of chumps." [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You know, not lately. Most people know when to tread lightly." 12He points with his daiklave. "But not you, eh? Don't need to watch yourself when you ain't even real. This all your idea?" [23:24] 5 Xu Sim looks around this chamber with sight-beyond sight. He has precious little time to determine how to bring this place under control. 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> The man looks rueful. "Only half." [23:24] 13Xia Lan: "What's the other half, Shithead?" 13She says it like it's his name. I mean, he didn't disagree. 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim can tell that there are false walls in this chamber, though unlike the one he just went through, these walls merely obscure the seams in proper sealed iron doors, rather than being totally permeable. 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> The man looks at Xia Lan and cocks his head in Keldar's direction. "It takes two people to make a promise. It takes two people to break one." [23:28] 13Well if that ain't as ominous as all get out. "You know where our friend is? Doctor, kinda short, pretty much an asshole?" 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> The man: "Sorry." [23:29] 13Her eyes narrow. "Sorry how." [23:31] 5 Xu Sim begins mixing his reagents - calling forth the six-winged messenger whisp that is always just at the corner of your eye when you look at him. [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Depends on the promise." [23:32] 13Xia Lan: "Keldar, no, we can legislate the past later -- where is Xu Sim." 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> The man: "I don't know where your friend is." [23:32] 13Xia Lan: "Congratulations, you've been promoted to Useless Shithead." [23:32] 5 He sends it forth with a simple message: "I'm in the control room - where the hell are you? You haven't killed the wolf yet? It remains out of our grasp." [23:33] 5 He releases the whisp and collapses to his knees to await - some sort of reply. Though he at least notes its direction of travel. [23:34] 13She throws up her hands. "I guess you get to legislate the past now. Have some fucking fun with it. Tsuka, help me check the perimeter?" [23:34] 13She censors herself after the fact. "...some freaking fun with it." 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "...sure." 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> The man: "Anyway. I've just got one thing left to do here." 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> To Keldar: "I need you to promise me something." [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Let's hear it." [23:36] 13She tries not to let her bad mood bubble over to Tsuka. As they check the edges: "...sorry. Not in the best mood after the wolf thing, and this guy." 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> The messenger reaches Keldar immediately. 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> The man: "You're going to meet me again someday. Not me but... you know. Like you're not Lados." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "I need you to promise me that whenever you see me next, whoever I am, whatever I'm doing... you'll forgive me." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "You'll give me a second chance." [23:37] 13Oh, fuck off. 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I'm just surprised you censored yourself." 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "Idols not allowed to swear?" [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar lowered his sword a bit, but raises it again to point more dramatically as he responds. "I don't- eh?" 12There's suddenly a six-winged wisp at his ear, whispering something. He tilts his head to better hear. "...we've, uh, killed it twice. Don't know which way the 'control room' is, guess I can ask." [23:38] 13Doubtful that Xia Lan can even hear the guy, but. "No. It's bad for sales, I'm told - people want something for their kids, mostly." [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar continues to address the tiny messenger. "Find you as soon as we can." 12Then he turns back to the man. "You got a name he'll remember?" [23:40] 13She seems grumpy, but in a way that isn't directed towards Tsuka. "I try the best I can. On stage, it's fine. Off stage... people need to stop being so f- awful." 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> He shakes his head. "I hope not." 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "I hope he doesn't remember any of this." [23:40] 5 Wherever he is, Xu Sim opens his eyes and takes another pull on the steambreather. This is ridiculous. [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, I remember barely any of this, and barely any of you. Whoever you are now's got nothin' to fear from me that he didn't sign up for." 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's the thing." 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "We both knew what we signed up for, and it left us here. At each other's throats. In each other's graves." 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "I need you to promise me more than that." 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Now, if you do swear, it'll stun the whole room." [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Either I'm not Lados, and he's not you, and we've got nothing against each other that we didn't bring in this life..." [23:45] 13She relaxes slightly. "That [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Or we are... but for all I know, we both had this coming. You did, anyway." [23:45] 's... mostly on purpose." [23:46] "Saves value. Keeps the public stuff dramatic. Ah. If I just, cussed up and down, nobody'd take me seriously as an idol." [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I can't forgive a wrong that wasn't done to me, and I won't forgive a wrong that was done to me just 'cause I forgot it. But I'm sure your reincarnation's the reasonable sort and you got nothin' to worry about." 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I would. But I can only afford so many tickets." 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "They're really stingy with their cadets." [23:47] 13Xia Lan: "..." 13She's blushing. Really hard, actually. [23:47] 14All according to plan. 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka, looking away: "I hope he finishes this soon. I feel like the crystal's starting to go out." 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> The man: "No! No, this is wrong. I need you to hold your hand out even if it's dangerous. Even if it's stupid. Even if you only give them half a chance, give it to them." 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "Don't be sensible. Be generous, instead." [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Or what." 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> The man: "...or nothing." 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "The cycle can't continue. That's my mandate. That's the test." 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "Can you forgive a wrong you don't remember, and a wrong that hasn't happened?" [23:52] 13Xia Lan: "Starting to-- "13 Well, back to defensive posture. "What do you mean going out?" 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> The effect of the man's half-sheepish earnestness is belied by his standing over Keldar, nearly 10 fulms tall. 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka looks back, and his face is red too. "You don't think? Maybe it's just me..." [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar works his mouth around a bit. At this point he's using his daiklave as a sort of oversized walking stick. "Buddy, I'm not even in the business of forgiving the ones I do." [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So now what?" 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> The man: "I don't know. I think that's it. I can't open the door. You guys just go home, I guess. Or tear the whole thing down." [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks up at the ceiling. "Voice! Lados! You got any input here?" 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> The voice of the tomb: "You're right not to back down. No reward is greater than your honor. No gift given of greater worth than your word." 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> The man: "Listen to him! Listen to that! That's the voice that put us here." 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "Please. I'm asking you. Don't let this happen again." [23:59] 13Xia Lan: "Hour left. We've got this." 13She extends a fist towards Tsuka. "...we're talking once we get out, by the way." [23:59] "Somewhere that isn't fatal to hang out in." [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm here 'cause I'm after my old armory. 'cause I need the whole tomb behind me. Again's the whole point." Session Time: Tue Apr 10 00:00:00 2018 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka returns the fistbump. "I'm in." 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> The man: "Please. I can't... this is all I can do. This is my last chance to turn you aside." [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Nah. You were someone's last chance to turn me aside. But they're gone. If you're right - if you really believe it - whoever you're asking me to forgive will tell me the same thing, won't they?" 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> The man, weakly: "I don't know." 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> The man fades away. "I don't know..." [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'll tell them what you told me." 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> The room fades away. Keldar, Xia Lan, and Tsuka are standing in a white iron dome with a sealed door ahead and an open door behind. 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Then the door grinds open just as, in the central chamber, Xu Sim feels the entire place thrum to life. 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> The voice of the tomb: "Victory!" 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a little fanfare. [00:11] 5 Xu Sim starts, and then winces. [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's got a tight look on his face. He was in the middle of drawing a slow breath when the little tune played. "...ah. Yeah." [00:12] "A little help in here," 5 Xu Sim calls out, weakly. 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Against monstrosity, you have proved mighty. Against chaos, you have proven crafty. And against temptation, you have proved worthy. Embrace your birthright, accept my gifts, and rise ascendant!" [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar rolls his shoulders before snapping his borrowed daiklave onto the back of his armor. He looks over at Tsuka and Xia Lan. "Let's go. We might've done it." 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> The doors in the white room grind open, some revealing great chests, and one revealing a corridor connecting Keldar and the others to Xu Sim. [00:15] 5 Xu Sim is splayed out on the floor, a trail of blood smeared across the pristine white walls from the direction of the worker-tombs. [00:15] 5 A pungent cloud hangs in the air above him. [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's hurrying forward. "Xu Sim! You alive?" [00:16] "Took your time," 5 he mumbles. 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka will kneel down by Xu Sim. "I have bandages," he says. "How did you make it this far?" [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Wolf had like two other forms. Pretty tenacious." [00:18] "Help me up," 5mumbles the sorceror, gesturing at one of the walls of the chamber. [00:19] 5 He's in rough shape, though not as bad as he was after the assassination attempt, at least. [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar gives Xu Sim a shoulder. He's not gonna just stand still with the old sorcerer, though; gotta check out what's now become available. Is it still blisteringly hot? 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Not in here. In here it's nice and cool. 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Most of the chests are lateral, huge iron sarcophagi-shaped things, but one of them is tall and narrow, like a wardrobe. [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's going to do a full inventory, but he shouts for Lados's attention first. "Oi! You control the climate in here yet? Can you keep things cool no matter how long we're down here?" [00:21] "This door's broken," 5 coughs the sorceror, gesturing at a blank patch of wall. 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> The voice: "You can control the tomb yourself." 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> One of the doors that did open raised a pedestal with a cracked blue orb on it. 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> It's not a very tall pedestal, though. Maybe two fulms off the ground. 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Must've gotten stuck. [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar raises an eyebrow. He tries, for a moment, to see if he can just concentrate on doors or flex muscles to move them around, but after a moment approaches, stares at, and then just plain puts a hand on the orb. [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12After, uh, crouching a bit. [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, this is a fuck. I can open the... yep." 12Hums and clicking sounds emanate from the various chests. "Yeah, those. And I can turn the heat off." 12The air chills slightly, and, in the distance, ceases to visibly ripple. "...or turn it back on." 12There it is. "But that's it." [00:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I don't wanna kill the foundry. Let's get everything quick, march it back on up, and then figure out topside what we'll do next." [00:28] "The flow of magic here, the geomancy, I can fix it... I know I can," 5 protests the sorceror, weakly. [00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Like right now? 'cause otherwise we need to move fast." 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> The central, narrow chest unfolds, revealing an array of gleaming orichalcum and moonsilver: these must be the armaments the voice of the tomb mentioned, the Equinox Braves, resting on a golden statue of Lados: https://i.imgur.com/2A4v0Yy.jpg [00:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar blinks a few times. "Well... okay, let's see." 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Going to be an awkward fit into that armor... [00:36] 5 Xu Sim focuses, bringing the last dregs of his focus to bear. His vision is blurry, but the Copper Spiders know no obstacles and make no excuses. His Caste mark flaring into new mandalas of power, the sorceror reconfigures his mind and soul to restore ancient knowledge, and then begins rearranging some of the lynchpins of the geomantic power of the place. [00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12At least the weapon's usable, though it's probably the equivalent of a short sword by the standards of the Chosen. Either way, Keldar puts his borrowed daiklave aside and begins to take up the Equinox Braves, trying out their weight and heft and seeing how they respond to attunement. [00:37] 5 Subtle alterations to this Manse's holy Essence, its otherworldly nature, Xu Sim brings things back, closer to the way they once were, thousands of years ago. 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Actually, this golden sword is the size of a proper daiklave! It was the size of a grand daiklave in Lados's hands, though. [00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Then how'd he wield it with a shield...? 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Try it and see. [00:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Alright, let's see here. Keldar's always preferred to keep a hand free, but he's used a shield before and you can be a real asshole with one if you're willing. Orichalcu and moonsilver are both impossibly slow and heavy in his hands, until Keldar draws and releases a breath and they rapidly lighten over the course of a few seconds. [00:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar takes several steps back, and as he does, the shield dissolves into moonlight and the sword gleams along the edges and down the groove in the center. He finds himself holding a two-handed blade of intermixed, razor-sharp gold and silver. "Here we go. Heeere we go. But what else..." 12Burning Tizona's left on the ground and Terminus leaning against a wall as Keldar reaches [00:47] <@Ferrinus> 12forward and lifts up the tiny suit of armor. Maybe it can change size..? 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> The moonsilver joints beneath the plate actually do let it stretch quite a ways. [00:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, sweet. That's the benefit of being on good terms with the ravening Wyld-dwellers, Keldar supposes. Before long, the warrior's doffed "Vectron" and is clad in metals matching that of his sword. Pretty sweet. 15[00:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Other treasures include a book of pressed jade sheets, each page detachable and covered with intricate black-and-green lines. There's also many other trinkets and gifts: a simple silver harp, an orichalcum pendant featuring an engraving of women with their hands to their ears, and an articulated clockwork cat, which is either broken, deactivated, or asleep. 15[01:10] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: Jurisdictional Disputes 14[02:02] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[04:30] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:45] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[06:50] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[06:54] * Joins: Crion_ 14[06:55] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:55] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[13:22] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:05] * Joins: Zarick__ 14[14:08] * Quits: Zarick_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:27] * Joins: dammitwho 14[17:39] * Quits: Zarick__ (Connection closed) 14[18:12] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[18:14] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:54] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[19:10] * Joins: cbass 15[19:56] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:56] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:56] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:56] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:56] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:59] <@VoxPVoxD> The Centered Circle emerges from the Tomb of Red-Hot Iron richer, more famous, and more emotionally troubled than they've ever been. The Tomb has been a fixture of the city for longer than there's been a city; taking it's been the idle daydream of everyone from little kids playing bandit and magistrate to blooded mercenaries dreaming of glory. And everyone knows the names of the people behind it: Keldar, the Tiger of Nexus! The Unfettered Xia Lan! Hero of the people Xu Sim! And their outcaste man-at-arms, Tsuka! 15[20:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Who tells Stranger what happened, and what do they say? [20:01] 14When they return -- whenever they return -- he will be waiting with a few kettles of tea on the common room fire. 15[20:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka, actually, goes home. Which is to say back to the Green Apple barracks in Bastion. Keldar has a bunch of details to square away with the Guild. So it'll just be Xia Lan and possibly Xu Sim who tell him what's up. [20:04] 13Is Xu Sim coming back to the hideout, or is he treating himself somewhere else? Xia Lan will help him home, if he's going there. [20:06] 5 Xu Sim will go back to the hideout - he's been badly hurt, that much is clear, but he gives a game wave to any crowds of onlookers and he'll accept Xia Lan's assistance getting back. [20:06] 13Then they enter together, Xia Lan buzzing with excitement but covering it, mostly out of sympathy for Xu Sim's wounds. "Stranger! We're back!" [20:08] 5 The Twice-Refined Princess is waiting for them, sitting next to a small pile of well-chewed scraps. Scraps of what? Not what you'd normally think of as dog food, actually. [20:08] 13If it's scraps of people Xia Lan is dropping him right now. [20:09] 5 Looks like bits of wood, metal, cloth, bone. [20:10] 14Stranger looks them over, spending a longer beat on Xu Sim before turning back to Xia Lan with a smile: "Excellent. I take it Keldar and Tsuka have returned to the Apples garrison?" [20:10] 13That is... bizarre but acceptable. [20:11] 14Given that no one is in mourning, the other option -- that they're dead -- seems off the table. [20:11] 13Xia Lan: "Yep! All alive and kicking and with some pretty sweet loot, too." [20:12] 14He raises an eyebrow. "Oh?" 14Then a chuckle. "Anything interesting that hasn't been claimed?" [20:14] 13Xia Lan sideeyes Xu Sim. "I sort of lost track towards the end there - pretty sure we've got some stuff, yeah?" [20:15] "Oh yeah. The place is a manse - I think I could get it up and running in a few days, once I feel better. Show him the book and the cat," 5 suggests the sorceror. [20:15] 14Stranger: "To clarify -- anything that isn't a weapon." [20:17] 14Is the cat still or has it been activated? [20:17] 13Xia Lan lets him down into, like, a chair or something to rest so she can get to her pack. "Let's see... actually pretty light on weaponry from what I remember, you should've seen the other guys... aha!" 13She opens it: behold, a large book and a weird-looking cat. "The Codex, and the Clockwork Cat. Not a clue what the cat does." 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> If Xu Sim's tried wafting food in front of it, it's vibrating gently in the sack, mimicking gentle snores. If he hasn't, it's just inert. [20:18] 14Either way, he'll run his hand along its smooth back once or twice as if petting it, then examine the book. [20:19] 13She taps her feet gently to some unseen tune while looking at Stranger, occasionally touching at the pendant. This... is pretty incredible. [20:19] "I think we have some more of that brined fish around here," 5 suggests the doctor as he lays himself down, wincing. [20:19] "Give some to the cat there," 5 he suggests. [20:21] 14Stranger is walking to the kitchen with the book in his hand. "We do," 14he mutters, removing some from the barrel without looking away from the tome. He gently places the clockwork cat on the kitchen counter and then puts the fish in front of it without looking away from the jade and onyx work. [20:22] "Ten pages," 14he mutters. [20:22] 13Same thing for Xu Sim, after a minute. More energetic tapping along with some humming, this time -- "Ten pages of what?" [20:23] 14Stranger: "Context." 15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD> The cat whirs to life. "Master!" the cat calls in a chipper, feminine voice. 15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Jade whiskers twitch. "Mistress?" [20:24] 13Xia Lan stops humming abruptly and her head whips around to regard the cat. "Um." [20:24] "Two masters, one mistress," 14Stranger says. "And three who would prefer neither." [20:24] 14He glares at Xu Sim on that last. [20:25] 14If he wants to demand the cat call him Master, he can explain it to Princess. [20:25] 5 Xu Sim is petting Princess, who has settled down to sit on his chest. He doesn't appear to notice. [20:25] 14Excellent. 15[20:25] <@VoxPVoxD> What is Stranger speaking to the cat? It spoke in Old Realm. [20:26] 14He began in Old Realm, but transitions to High Realm here: "What tongues do you contain?" 14is the exact translation. 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> The cat: "Oh, all of them!" [20:27] 14In Riverspeak: "Well, then that is excellent." 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> The cat responds in kind. "All of the important ones anyway. From Airtongue to Zaniman." [20:27] 14Oh my. In Forest-Tongue: "What is your name?" 15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mhaka." [20:28] 13Flametongue: "And - what's the last thing you remember before waking up?" 15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "May I ask yours?" [20:28] 13She bows slightly. "The Unfettered Xia Lan." [20:28] 14Back to Old Realm: "Stranger-Visits-Heaven." [20:28] 14He tests one of the pages in this book. How difficult are they to remove? 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> They're very resistant to abruptly yanking out, but the mechanism for unhooking and detaching them is simple, intuitive, and works flawlessly. [20:32] 14He runs a single finger down the quick of the binding, then, and detaches the first of the ten. How does it hold up to handling? Will it fold, take abuse, and bend without complaint? Hopefully it is easy to conceal. [20:32] 5 Xu Sim spends a moment fiddling with the Twice-Refined Princess's mouth, and some odds and ends from the couch he's reclined on. 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> It behaves much like a sheet of paper would. It'll take a couple of folds, fit in a pocket. [20:33] 14Are there any worries about durability? Does it resist tearing and crumpling? 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Mhaka turns its gleaming head to regard Xu Sim and Princess. "May I ask your names?" [20:34] "Xu Sim, and this is Twice-Refined Princess." 5 The dog is quite wary of this strange being. [20:34] 5 Xu Sim answers in ordinary Riverspeak. 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "My pleasure to meet you all." Mhaka answers Xia Lan in perfect, if archaic Flametongue. "I was left as an offering at the tomb of a great hero, a gift from an admirer to honor his memory." [20:37] "Xia Lan, take this-" 5 he proffers a dripping lump of fabric - "Put this in some water with your new outfit and agitate it for a few minutes, should clean it right out." [20:38] 14Disgusting, but effective. [20:38] 13She takes it with obvious distaste. "I will be sure to do that. Mhaka, do you know when that was?" [20:39] 14Assuming the pages can handle the stress with ease, Stranger will fold the first page into a paper airplane and shoot it in Xu Sim's direction. "Catch." [20:40] 5 Xu Sim snatches it from the air, confused. "The tomb was built and, I think, sealed, in the early days of the Shogunate." [20:40] 14Then he snaps the book shut. "Stay here," 14he says to Xu Sim. [20:40] "I'm not going anywhere," 5 he protests. [20:42] 14He steps down through their emergency exit into the sewers, walks about forty paces, then places his hand on the book and concentrates, identifying the particular nonsense words and diagrams on the first page in his mind, visualizing them, and turning them into a conduit for meaning. Speaking aloud: "Call upon Xu Sim." 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Mhaka: "I believe the tomb's dedication, and mine, were dated to the tenth Ascending Air, in FDC 14." [20:42] 14Hopefully he just needs the name of the holder, not the page's number-- 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> He does, strictly speaking, need a number, but the good news is the Codex will do that work for him, responding to his commands and pulling the correct number from its own memory. [20:43] 13Xia Lan regathers her things and moves them into her quarters while still listening to the general conversation. The Skin of the Loyal passed muster admirably on the way out of the tomb, and she can wash it later, when they're finished catching up... and she's acclimiated to the idea of washing her clothing with that thing. There's a weird catch in her step - what is this music - and she steps back in to grab the harp. Tempter [20:43] Sent, it was called. [20:44] 14Then he waits for...whatever is supposed to happen here, to happen. 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim feels a vibration in his back teeth, and knows that Stranger is trying to contact him. He feels on the precipice of a decision: does he accept the contact or ignore it? [20:44] 5 Xu Sim accepts it. What a strange sensation! He must know more. [20:45] 13She sits back in her chair, harp ready for nearby use. How can she translate that song... Also, how long ago was FDC 14? [20:45] 14Stranger feels the power of the book release, and knows he is connected. "Can you hear me, Xu Sim?" 14he says aloud to the sewer. [20:47] "It turned you invisible?" 5 he jokes, fairly impressed. "Can you hear him?" 5 he asks Xia Lan and Mhaka. [20:47] 13Xia Lan: "Turned - what?" 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> They can't hear him. [20:48] 13Either of them? Or just Stranger? [20:48] "Ahh. Well. Excellent. A powerful variant of my messenger wisps." [20:48] 14Stranger: "Yes. I am invisible, in the sense that I am no longer in the same room as you. Keep that piece of jade 'paper' on you at all times, please." [20:48] 14Stranger will end the connection and walk back inside. [20:50] "All very fun, but that manse could be a very powerful asset to us. I don't exaggerate when I say it could help turn the tide of battle. I need magical materials, whatever you can scrounge up - and then, iron. As much iron as you can find." [20:50] 14Once inside, he'll open the book again -- the Codex -- and draw his finger down the binding of the second page. This one he'll hand to Xia Lan, and quickly test it out with her in a similar fashion. [20:50] 14To Xu Sim: "That sounds like a job for the mercantile power of the Guild." [20:51] 13She takes it, silently moving through everything she's learned in the course of her studies... "...that's a really, really long time ago." [20:52] 14To Xu Sim: "By which I mean get me a precise, itemized list of everything you need, and be prepared to stand in front of the Council and argue as to why it is necessary." 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Mhaka: "Alas." 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "Still. Think of all the beauty sleep I got." [20:57] 5 Xu Sim is already asleep. [20:58] 13Quietly: "He got hit pretty hard in the last room. Giant wolf just leapt on him, nothing any of us could do." [21:01] 14Stranger has been busy while they were in the tomb -- and is similarly busy over the next few days. The Emissary of Nexus has opened a formal inquiry into the process by which the Emissary of Nexus is expected to do its own job, and that means the Office of the Judiciary -- an otherwise rump bureaucratic also-ran prized primarily for its large supply of rubber stamps -- is under full [21:01] 14investigation. [21:01] 14Full investigation. [21:02] 14He doesn't let them know that first thing, though. The first thing that Stranger does is...use his administrative and budgetary discretion to expand the Office's floor space and increase its funding, provisionally, twice over. 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger finds the organization yields to his work like wheat to a scythe. Everyone in the Office is either relieved at the prospect of a new broom, or at least canny enough to try to keep their head down. [21:03] 14He'll have to go to the Council to make this a permanent expenditure from coffers past this budget period, but that's fine. He's making a statement of priorities. [21:04] 14The next thing he does is sit down with the...Judges? Justices? What's the formal title here? 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> The Office of the Judiciary has a team of judges, who hear suits and complaints brought by the city's arbiters and advocates. [21:07] 14Judges, then. He sits down with the full team to get their measure. He can use about half of them. The other half he'll replace either on principle or merit; he doesn't forsee this being an issue, because he's already promised them lateral jobs in other parts of the city bureaucracy and full recognition of their pensions. That's an easy promise to make when the world's about to end [21:07] 14(and you think people should have pensions). At the end of the meeting, though, he asks Chief Judge Dia Baran to remain. [21:07] 14He knows she's a Guild proxy; he doesn't hold it against her. It's just not an arrangement that works anymore. [21:10] 14So Stranger lets her know about the deal he has with the Overfactor -- about good faith -- and then lets her know she has a choice. She can accept a reassignment as a favor to Stranger-Visits-Heaven, one owed to the Guild of Nexus, with the knowledge that the Guild now can ask a favor of Stranger-Visits-Heaven in return...with the bonus of a very limited personal favor that she can [21:10] 14ask of him as well, divorced entirely from the Guild. Or she can turn this into a process. [21:10] 14He makes it clear he is prepared for a process. 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Dia Baran chooses correctly. [21:11] 14Excellent! Stranger makes sure she ends up in some Guild-adjacent job elsewhere in the Nexus bureaucracy. She and the Guild still hold their favors. [21:12] 14After that, it's to an even more important group of workers: the administration of the Office. The secretaries and the clerks. [21:13] 14He holds a general staff meeting, and picks off the ones he doesn't like one by one. They get pensions and, if they're young enough, transfers. But Stranger is likely putting some old-timers out to pasture here. 14[21:13] * Joins: Zarick [21:16] 14Stranger is careful not to force Head Clerk Whitefeather into any of these dismissal meetings; his job, as far as Stranger is concerned, is collecting up the names of all the functionaries he's dreamed about having on his team and presenting them to Stranger, so that Stranger can go get them. [21:16] 14And after Stranger does all that, it's time to fill out the empty spots on the judiciary and get this office up and running. [21:19] 14Perhaps the most divisive choice comes at the end, when, to the post of Chief Judge, Stranger-Visits-Heaven appoints...a criminal. [21:19] 13He does what? [21:28] 14Sion: Fear Has Wings has been forcibly laboring for a Guild venture for some three years now. He used to be a respected -- if eccentric -- arbiter, until he took on the case of an assaulted priestess of the Gray. She survived, and was offered remuneration; she was foolish enough to want justice, and he was foolish enough to seek it for her. One thing led to another; she was lawfully [21:28] 14killed on the steps outside the Council Tower... [21:28] 14...and Sion attacked opposing counsel. That's a violation of the Civilities. [21:28] 13Oh! Oh a different - narrative objection withdrawn. [21:31] 14After an examination of the Civility in question, however, Stranger has found that while the term of his sentence is clear -- ten years -- it is wholly unclear as to the sentence's nature. And there are no supplementary cases. So Chief Judge Sion: Fear Has Wings makes it a point, when he brings his court to session, to note that he is still a prisoner of the very Dogmas and Civilities [21:31] 14he uses to dispense justice...and that he would be quite displeased if anyone in his courtroom took the law of Nexus, or its outcomes, less seriously than he himself. [21:33] "And that," 14Stranger says to himself three days after this whirlwind began, sitting in the public seating of the judiciary's main courtroom, "seems to be that." 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> What are Xu Sim and Xia Lan up to over the days that Stranger's project takes? Xia Lan will have Council business aplenty to occupy her if she likes it, and of course Xu Sim's counsel is sought on any number of issues by any number of the city's movers and shakers. [21:39] 13Whatever Council business is required... but also, she's going to need to talk to Tsuka. You know! To check on him after the dungeon crawl and the duel with Stranger. Just checking in, ha ha. 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka is actually busy a lot. There's training, and drills, and more training, and strategy... he never seems willing to commit to hanging out for more than a couple of minutes. [21:41] 13Then she throws herself into Council business as thoroughly as she can. [21:41] 13Maybe starts drawing up plans for a benefit concert-recruitment signup. 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Now, as Stranger knows, the most efficient way to swing a Council vote is to make sure you've pressed the Council before they sit down. Once they sit down, trying to make their minds up is like trying to steer a hurricane. [21:58] 14Which is not impossible. [21:58] 14But yes, you try to seed the wind. [21:59] 13While Stranger handles important Council business and associated pre-meeting work, the Unfettered Xia Lan has something of her own to take care of. Namely: where's the Green Apples barracks? 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> So, he'll need a majority vote, and can presumably count on Xia Lan. Pellicia is his closest ally on the Council, and has nominal authority over law enforcement. If Stranger can adequately frame this as a centering of power within the Council and against the Guild, he can pull her and her allies on board. The counfounding factor... is him. To wit, the principal threat to Stranger getting reforms through is the fear that it's a play to center power not in the Council but in Stranger. [22:03] 14The problem, of course, is that they're not particularly wrong. [22:05] 14He can argue that the Office of the Judiciary answers to the Emissary of Nexus -- all five of them -- but no one who has paid the slightest bit of attention to the process is going to believe Keldar had as much to do with the courts' resurgance as he did. 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan knows that the Green Apples who bunk with the company keep their barracks in Bastion district, along the waterfront where they can keep private docks, like every big mercenary company in the city. [22:06] 14So he needs to both give assurances and give up actual power. We're looking for five votes; Xia Lan is one. Has a new Evening Master been selected? [22:06] 13Okay, followup question: where is Tsuka's barracks? [22:07] 13Whoops, misread the waterfront thing. So! Off to the Bastion district it is. Back in time for any big votes. 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka bunks with the cadets he's in charge of. His request. Apparently that's how he was trained. The sapling companies bunk at the back, past a forest of catcalls and whispers. [22:11] 14The sell to Pellicia is easy enough. A strong judiciary means less work for her people, both coming and going. She also happens to personally like Stranger, Keldar, and some of the rest of the Circle, so there's that to draw on. What Stranger cannot do, however, is ask Pellicia to support him or speak on his behalf. In fact, if at all possible, it would be ideal not to be seen meeting [22:11] 14with her at all -- or if so, just long enough to pass off a Codex page. [22:11] 14Even their allies on the Council think her a sop for the new Emissary. [22:12] 5 Xu Sim begins several Works. He does so by beginning a schedule, accompanied at all times by the Twice-Refined Princess, of course. First, from the moment he leaves the hideout shortly past dawn, he meets with any man, woman, or child of Nexus at a small shopfront he has begun keeping for this purpose. [22:13] 14The strategy for the rest of them, then, is to sell this Council as a measure to oppose the Guild, and also one fully constrained by the rule of law -- even the appointment of the new Chief Judge was done fully legally, under currently-existing Civilities. The unsaid implication of this, then, is that such a structure could be taken away from the Emissary of Nexus by completely legal [22:13] 14means, and that the judiciary would respect this. [22:13] 5 This is his clinic; it maintains office hours from breakfast to lunch daily. Those who can pay are invited to do so; those who can pay well are invited to do so. Those who cannot pay are invited to say a prayer on Xu Sim's behalf. 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> A new Evening Master has yet to be selected. There are currently eight seats on the Council. You need a simple majority to pass something. [22:15] 5 Xu Sim lunches with those notables of Nexus who, for whatever reason, seek him out as Emissary and not merely miracle-worker or doctor. [22:15] 14Astrologer Kratz should be a somewhat easy sell, given how close she's become to the Circle by circumstance. Stranger probably won't even need to invoke Bubo, but he will if he needs to. 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> What does Xia Lan do when word comes up from the back that Tsuka's in the middle of some really tough exercises right now? [22:17] 5 Past lunch, Xu Sim retires to his study and workshop; he sups with the other members of the Circle whenever possible. And he has begun a variety of Works, at any given moment one or several of which are in various states of assembly, brewing, or so forth in the hideout's canteen or, in one notable case, on the roof underneath a heavy tan canvas. [22:18] 14Udelph, the Doctor, likely doesn't care for Stranger much as a person, but he should at least respect the nature of what Stranger has done: taken an institution formerly controlled by the Guild, cleansed it, and elevated it to a useful position. If he can be convinced that the healed organ works for the benefit of Nexus, he will likely approve. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Which of Xu Sim's projects would be most publicly visible to his neighbors in Floodwater? Which of his works are they most likely gossiping about? [22:18] 14Midday Husband Hayle... [22:19] 14Well, that's going to be the real conversation. [22:19] 5 At night, Xu Sim borrows the audient brush to begin recording his notes for posterity. Whatever he produces, he does not yet deign to share. [22:20] 14Hayle will expect Stranger to secure as many votes as possible before approaching him, in hopes of using leverage to force Hayle to support the course of action Stranger wishes him to support. And that's still something entirely within Stranger's purview, diplomatically. [22:20] 5 The most visible of Xu Sim's projects, at first, is an unusual-looking mangonel, constructed from steel, young timber, and ropes that come out of Xu Sim's workshop a different color than he can be seen carrying them in. [22:20] 13Oh, no! Really tough ones? "Someone should really check in on him then... actually, I'm pretty skilled myself! I've had a lot of training..." 13She winks saucily at whatever obstacle is in between her and the conversation she needs to have. It's utterly transparent, but in her experience, people are still dumb enough to fall for it. [22:20] 14But he'll flip the script a bit. Even before Pellicia, Stranger-Visits-Heaven will call on Midday Husband Hayle first. [22:21] 5 The unusual thing about the mangonel is the basket, which normally would hold a perfectly ordinary stone or perhaps a clay pot full of firedust or the like. Perhaps a particularly cruel warlord would fill it with the skulls of his enemies or somesuch. But the basket of this mangonel is quite different; it bears an unusual, almost corkscrew-like attachment. 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> The guy running interference for Tsuka totally falls for it. [22:24] 13Like I said. Dumb enough to fall for it. 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> One afternoon, while Xu Sim is working, an old man comes up to him with a basket covered with cloth. "One of the ladies baked you something. Asked me to deliver it to you. You hungry?" 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger has no trouble getting a meeting with Hayle. They'll take tea in Hayle's office, at the top of the Temple of Calming Winds, the city's mortuary and seat of the medical civil service. [22:27] 5 Xu Sim looks at the man. "How very kind of them, and you. Of course I'm always a little hungry," 5 he adds, pulling back the cloth to take a look. 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> These are warm, fresh sweet rolls. [22:28] 14Excellent. Stranger girds himself for a thrashing. [22:28] 13Please never say "girds" ever again. 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan makes her way back to where Tsuka is hard at work... reading a book quietly in his bunk. [22:29] 14...He presents himself as usual, in common robes, having referred any and all commoners who stop him in the street to the Judges of Nexus by the broken straw method. He simply states his name, smiles, and waits. [22:29] 13Xia Lan, sarcastically: "Tough exercises, indeed." [22:29] 14Hayle is going to suspect he's being humble on purpose as a ruse, but that's preferable to being an asshole on purpose. [22:30] 5 How generous! Xu Sim will help himself to one, and offer the old man a bite as well. 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle comes down to greet Stranger personally, and walk him up the steps of the cool, airy temple to his office, where a tea service awaits. "I'm pleased to hear from you. I understand you're settling into your appointment quite well." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> The old man will take it. "Quite a piece of engineering you've got here." 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka drops his book but, to his credit, does not fall out of bed as well. "Xia Lan!" [22:32] 14Stranger smiles. "It has suited me better than I thought it might. I brought a kettle of my own, if you'd prefer. It's specially warded." [22:32] 14He has the Lotus-Blossom Kettle with him. [22:33] 14Should Hayle wish it, he'll surrender it to examination. [22:33] 13Xia Lan: "Hey," 13much nicer this time, because wow that was maybe a little harsh if that's how he reacted. "Sorry. Still, though." 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "I think we're above poisoning each other, don't you? But if it eases your mind, that will ease mine." [22:34] "Thank you," 5 he observes, tearing off a chunk of it and nibbling away. "It could throw a normal stone several hundred yalms. But wait until you see the stones Xu Sim shall throw with it!" 5 He smiles, a little savagely, taking another bite of the sweet roll. "Cethleann and her armies will rue the day." 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> The old man: "I wouldn't want to be on the far side of the field from this, that much is certain." He holds a hand up to Stranger in greeting. "Call me Selin." [22:35] "...what's the matter, Tsuka? I haven't seen more than a few minutes of you since music night - " 13which is what she politely refers to the duel as, in mixed company - "and it's all been really tough training. Guy at the front said the same thing today. So what's really up?" [22:35] 14Stranger, still smiling: "The kettle isn't about harm. It's about agency." [22:35] "A friend taught me that." 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "A wise friend." He'll make use of the kettle without further objection. "How can I be of service, Emissary?" [22:36] 5 Xu Sim blinks and pauses for a moment, bows, and only then takes the old man's hand." 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I really have been busy." There's a pause where he looks at her searchingly. 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Whatever he sees makes him look away. "...mostly." [22:38] 14Stranger: "You've alluded to the reason that I'm here already. I am here in my office, so to speak, as an Emissary of Nexus. I come to discuss the budget, and the principles behind it." [22:38] "Stranger-Visits-Heaven told me your name, Selin. I am honored to meet you." [22:39] 14He'll sip his tea. What sort is it? [22:39] 13Xia Lan: "I know you've been busy. Heck, I've been busy, too. I've got a Council meeting after this, actually. But -- what do you mean 'mostly'?" 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "There's a man who won't speak highly of you unless he means it. I'm honored likewise. You've been doing wonderful work these last few weeks. Bold work, too." [22:41] "Thank you, Selin," 5 replies the doctor. "It's been piling up since the honey-maze plague was going around." 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> The words come for Tsuka with difficulty. "I don't know what to say. After the tomb, and then the music... I thought it'd be best if I worked out here for a while. Do you need help with something?" [22:48] 5 He pauses, stammering for a second. "Ah, where are my manners? Why don't we go inside?" 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger's drinking Forest Greenleaf. A coincidence of taste, or careful preparation? Who can say. Hayle says, "Of course. This is a matter for all of us, with the war imminent." [22:49] 14Ah. 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "You're very kind." Selin will follow Xu Sim in. [22:52] "Ah." 5 Xu Sim hesitates. He's not used to entertaining. What would Stranger do? "Some, ah, tea?" [22:52] 14He nods. "It is. Though there is another matter of business to discuss first. You're aware, of course, of the manse that the other members of the Emissary have procured. The active manse. Which we are currently working on turning into a weapon for Nexus. Xu Sim, the Arsenic Handshake, has material requests that he's asked me to forward." 14Stranger removes a roll of parchment from [22:52] 14his robe and hands it to Hayle. "This will be his ask." 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Tea would be lovely, thank you." [22:54] 14Once Hayle has opened it, mildly: "Too bad about the Evening Master. He'd have had thoughts about the rates." [22:54] 13Xia Lan: "...I don't. I can leave, if you'd prefer, but maybe we should just... talk?" 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle takes the parchment. "You'll get no objections from me on any of this. The iron, even the bad iron, may be hotly contested, especially if your colleague is keen to conscript the entire city. But my office has no especial claim to it." [22:55] "Avoiding eachother didn't really help much, if I'm being honest. I mean, I got a bunch of stuff done planning for a concert but I probably would've gotten that out of the way anyway." 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka, too quickly: "You can stay." [22:55] 14Stranger nods. "Of course. This is just prior notice on another issue that will come before the Council." 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "I, uh... what do you want to talk about?" [22:55] 14The tea is good. 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle sips his tea. "What can I do for you?" [22:56] 14He puts down the cup. "The real reason I've come here is to seek your vote for permanent increases to the funding and purview of the Office of the Judiciary." [22:57] "In line with the ways I've used prospective Emissary budgeting to improve it." 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ah," says Hayle over the rim of his cup. [22:58] 5 Xu Sim grabs one of Stranger's sets and lowers a kettle toward the hearth. "Should go well with these nice cakes you've brought over. Have you met the Twice-Refined Princess?" 5 Yip! Yap! 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Only in passing. Very well-behaved." [23:01] 5 Xu Sim chuckles as he pours out the tea and gestures to the common table, before sitting himself. 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin will join him. "That was quite some trick you pulled off with the plague. Took brains, sure, but it was courage that saw you to the end. Commendable. Very commendable." [23:05] "To be honest with you, Selin, it didn't feel that way at the time," 5 says Xu Sim, delicately. [23:06] 13Heh. "Well. I was hoping to talk about..." 13She falters. "Uh." 13Wow, she's normally on the other end of these and they're way more one-sided. Almost as a non sequitur: "...I've really enjoyed spending time with you." 13She's blushing a little bit. "And, uh, I want that to continue? And I hope you do too? And I was hoping we could maybe talk about just, you know, what you've been up to, what I've been up to," [23:06] 13She coughs. "Anyway. Uh. We sort of, know who eachother is, right, and, I mean, I like you, and..." 13High-pitched: "And do you maybe want to like get dinner after the Council meeting or something?" 13The tips of her ears are beet-red. 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Real bravery seldom does." 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka, almost immediately: "Yes." 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Then, a moment later. "Wait. No. I can't. I'm sorry." 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "I can't." [23:07] 13She deflates. "Oh." 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I really like you. I really, really like you." 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "But..." 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "...you're my boss." [23:07] 13Xia Lan: "...what?" [23:08] "No, I mean, really - did you hear about the second Xu Sim? What the Dragonlord did to me - er, him?" 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I'm a member of the city militia. I answer to the Council. You can legally order me around. You can promote or dismiss me. You can reach down past Khelendros and put me in, put me in jail. Or you can put me on sweet do-nothing details to keep me safe." [23:10] 14Stranger: "I understood you, above all the others in our voting bloc, would have...concerns about what's been happening down at the Office of the Judiciary. So I came to you first. To put it simply and frankly, you don't trust my Circle. I won't ask you to confirm or deny it -- you don't need to, and I'm not looking to castigate anyone for it. You have legitimate reasons. You believe, [23:10] I suspect, that the enforcement arm of the Council has been outsourced to a bunch of foreigners who don't have skin in the game. Even Keldar, adorable as he is puffing himself up about this Civility and that Dogma, is now part of a political ecosystem that is much larger than the city. He is from here, but his powers, they are not. And the rest of us...well, you don't know what to think [23:10] about us." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I can't... I can't get close to you and do this job. And people need me here." [23:13] "You are right, but you are also wrong. When do foreigners become neighbors? I'll answer my own question: when they're forced to invest themselves in their homes. You have, no doubt, paid attention to our doings down in Floodwater. I suspect our 'hideout' there is no longer very hidden. Good. You have noticed the spreading allure of young Xia Lan across the city. Dismiss her as a bed [23:13] fantasy at your peril. She can sway hearts and minds now -- and she is not immune to the demands they place on her. Keldar and Xu Sim even now labor to bring an ancient manse on line to serve the city. And I have invested significant time and energy -- along with trust and respect -- in the judiciary." [23:14] "Say these were part of some malicious scheme to take control of the Council and steal its power. Does this make us any less a part of this community now? I think not." [23:14] 13Xia Lan: "That is just about the most adorable and honest thing you could have said to turn me down for a date. Consider me appropriately swooning," 13she says, gears turning. "So! We have a problem in need of solutions." [23:15] "In the best reading, we have become your neighbors. In the worst, we have given you ways to rob us while we sleep." [23:15] "Is this the best place for you to help people? Honest question, no judgements. Whatever answer, we can work with it." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka blinks too many times. "I..." Deep breath, deep breath. "I think it is. I'm a soldier. That's what I was taught. I don't really know how to do anything else." [23:17] 13Xia Lan: "Not, strictly speaking, an answer! People can learn all kinds of things when pressed - and you have the most important trait I'd be looking for, a good, honest head on your shoulders." 13Her vaguely menacing, catlike expression softens. "There is an open position on the Council." 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "I take your point, and believe me I recognize and value the work you and your cohort are doing to better the city. But the investments you describe are numinous. Were you to leave or to forsake the city, you would abandon great works and deep feeling. But you could do it." 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "What? On the Council?" [23:18] 13Xia Lan: "That's correct," 13she says, patiently. 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "The Evening Master, right?" [23:19] 13Xia Lan: "Two points!" 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Isn't that... an accountant's job?" [23:21] "That's what the Dragonlord wants to do, to me! It's the second time he's had the chance to do it. And all I could do was blubber to save my own skin. I'm no great warrior, but... it's like I said (the other me), it was a pretty pathetic sight." [23:23] "And the Dragonlord's not the only one. There was those assassins, and then the huge wolf. It's been a rough couple of weeks for the great courage of Xu Sim, whose first move in a fight is always to try to hide." 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "I hear you. It's infuriating to feel yourself measured and found wanting. But let me see if I understand this correctly." 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "Nessun Dorma, the Rock of Kimauga, one of the most feared battle commanders in the Direction, personally wants you dead. You're saying he's had the chance, all but taken it, and you live in fear of him doing so, knowing you couldn't match him." 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "And you're saying that, after that, you went and met him again." 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "And this is evidence of your cowardice?" [23:25] 5 Xu Sim stuffs another bite of the sweetroll in his mouth to gain time to think of a counterargument. [23:28] 13Xia Lan: "Bzzt! All prior points are now forfeit. Please return them to the First Bank of Xia Lan, and you are now considerably in debt." 13Her eyes have lit up and she is now vaguely unsettlingly interested in this idea. "No, an accountant is exactly what the last Evening Master was, and that went excruciatingly poorly even prior to his untimely demise. What we need is - someone more hands-on." [23:28] 13She's pacing now. "You'll need an assistant of course, for the more paperwork-related duties, but that can be arranged fairly simply. In effect, the office is an office of - justice. Of fairness. Of ensuring access to all parties to everything of import - frankly, the city would be worse-off without you!" [23:29] "Well, maybe the foolishness of fools is deceit," 5 Xu Sim suggests. [23:29] 14Stranger shakes his head. "Even putting present circumstances aside, no, I don't think we could. The Chosen of the Sun are, for all our other faults -- and there are many! -- builders. That was what was so dangerous about us, after all. We take pride in what we make, and we seek to promulgate it. There are many things to worry about when it comes to our involvement as the Emissaries [23:29] of Nexus; it's not a role I wanted, after all. But running off somewhere to do something else, rather than finish what we started? No, that's not a concern." [23:30] "We're in this to the end, and we're rooted in place. That's how we like it. That's how they killed us all the last time." 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka goes a bit glassy-eyed seeing Xia Lan get so passionate about this. But after she finishes talking he blinks out of it. "Hey!" [23:30] 13Xia Lan: "Hm?" 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "This is exactly what I mean! You're talking about giving me a giant promotion because you- because we- no!!" 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "You don't understand. Where I'm from, things like this are how everything happens. First it's who's your mother, until it's who's your wife, until it's who are your daughters." 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "It doesn't matter how skilled you are, or how hard you work, or whether you're brave or cruel or selfish." 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "But nobody knows that about me here. Nobody knows anything about me here. I can just... I can just work hard, and do the right thing, and see what happens." 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "It might fail, because, no offense to you, Councilor, but this city's a huge, terrible joke." 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "But I can do it." [23:40] 5 Xu Sim sighs. "I don't know. Maybe you're right. Is that why you came? To talk to me about this? You're not, I don't know, embarrassed at my poor showing?" 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "I think that the foolishness of fools is folly. No more, no less. But I'm not here to debate you into believing more of yourself. Can't be done. If you are a fool, I can't put sense in your brain. If there's something else going on, that's your test to master." 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> He smiles. "I just thought you'd be hungry, is all." [23:41] 13Xia Lan: "...oh." 13She deflates again. "Uh." 13She tries again: "...I stand by what I said. I think you'd be a perfect fit. But I - well, understand is strong. That's not how my family worked, growing up. But I respect your decision." 13Does he have a chair or another bed in his quarters for her to sit on? She'll sit on that, if it's there, or lean against a wall facing him if not. A change of subject: "...do you really [23:41] think that about the role of the council?" 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "Why would I be embarrassed at your poor showing?" [23:42] 14Stranger picks up his teacup again. "We're here to stay. And, dare I say it, we're a bit more reliable than the second coming of the previous officeholder." 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> There's plenty of bunks for Xia Lan to sit on if she doesn't want to sit on Tsuka's. "Do I really think what?" 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle wince-laughs. "Ha. On that, Emissary, I agree entirely." [23:44] 14He sips. "And to be brutally honest, setting up a working infrastructure like these courts makes it easier for the Council to control the Emissary's judgment, not harder. If you play your pieces correctly, that will remain even if we're kicked to the curb." [23:45] "Ah, well, Stranger told me about who you really are. It's part of why I haven't come to see you yet, to ask you about your own work on the - sewers? It was the sewers, right?" [23:46] 13She wants to face him, though at this point she's having a hard time meeting his eyes for some reason. "Do you think the Council gathers for every troop movement?" 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "May I divert the topic for a moment? You speak of building, and the work you do is evident, even now. But there remains in certain quarters the question of what you're building towards. So I'd like to ask: what is your vision for Nexus? Where do you see the city five years or ten years from now? Where do you hope to see it, at any rate? Fate being something even the Sun can't command." 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I don't know. I assume Councilor Pellicia does most of that herself. But you're not just a Councilor. You're the Emissary. The Emissary can do whatever--" his voice gets weak. "14whatever she likes" 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin's silent for a time, drinking his tea. "And the canals, yes." [23:49] 14Stranger: "In the highest flights of fantasy, a Chosen of the Sun hears that question and immediately says, 'a power to challenge the Realm.' That Chosen is a fool, though it's hard to fault their enthusiasm. I see Nexus self-sufficient and more just -- while still wholly ruled by its traditional Dogmas and Civilities. I see provisional labor agreements with outlying lands, [23:49] specifically-negotiated pacts of mutual defense, and a growing civil service. I see the bureaucracy of Nexus crowding out the Guild of Nexus not through edict or violence, but through making the Guild obsolete, and making profits easier to find elsewhere." [23:49] 5 A bit of an awkward moment there. "Ah, and how is that going? Can I be of assistance?" [23:50] "And, I should let you know, I see a Highland and a Thorns, and perhaps a Lookshy, who don't want to let that happen." [23:51] 14He stirs his tea. "I will not pretend these Emissaries think our alliances here are permanent, or even suitably temporary." 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "You're very kind, but the work is largely humble labor. Your talent better serves the people with your own projects." 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "What is it you'd like to discuss with me?" 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "Of those three, which do you see as the greatest threat to a free and just Nexus?" [23:54] 5 Xu Sim dips the roll into the tea while formulating his thought. "Perhaps there are things I could teach you, or ways I could help you - and there are ways you could help - teach - me." [23:55] 14Stranger, without hesitation: "Highland, then Thorns, then a long drop, and then Lookshy." 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "You wish to master the Crane style." 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "That matches my own sense of things." [23:55] 13Xia Lan: "The Emissary serves at the will of the people. How'd'you think the last one lost the gig?" 13Shrug. "Okay, it was mostly the roasting fellow councillors alive during meetings thing. But. We serve the Civilities." 13She looks uncomfortable. "I don't think I'd be allowed to meddle with... the sorts of things you're worried about. There are other councilors for that." [23:56] "The way I've been trying to make all this work... hasn't been working," 5 concedes the sorceror. [23:56] 13Xia Lan: "I don't like it. I don't think I'm supposed to like it, inasmuch I'm allowed to have any feelings about it at all. But them's the rules." 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "What stops you from meddling with them? It's not just about pulling rank. A word here, a wink there... how much of what the Council does even happens in Council meetings? How much of it is backroom politics and dealmaking before anyone touches a gavel?" 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Then: "Aaaaaargh." [23:58] 14The white-haired man grimaces. "All the things I've been saying about my kind...about dedication and roots. Mori Nogare is one of us, and he has those things. Stronger and purer than I do -- but that's not necessarily a good thing. It's a fanatical thing. And he will never feel that way about Nexus. We all came from somewhere else, and found ourselves in Nexus. He comes from [23:58] Highland. He comes to make Nexus Highland." [23:59] "I came from a fishing village." [23:59] "There is ample evidence I have no interest of making this city a fishing village." Session Time: Wed Apr 11 00:00:00 2018 [00:00] 13Xia Lan agrees, minus the vocalization. "This kinda integrity is exactly why I thought you'd be perfect for the Council role." 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka, head in hands: "What do we do?" 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "I really, really like you." [00:04] 13Xia Lan: "I really, really like you too. So then, I have a question." 13She looks him square in the eye. "Do you trust me?" 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Yes." [00:06] 13Xia Lan: "What do you want me to swear on? No sense doing this half-hearted." 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin sits back, regarding Xu Sim in silence for a while. 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> The cat paws up. "Master!" 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin starts. 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mhaka?" [00:09] "You've met," 5 Xu Sim observes. [00:15] 14He pours himself another cup of tea. "I am accountable. My people are accountable. You know where and how to find me. And if I violate the Dogmas and Civilities of Nexus, you know that Keldar will kill me. These courts are necessary both so that this city's people can achieve justice when they petition their Council, and so that the Emissaries of Nexus can take a broader view of [00:15] the real threats. Do I have your vote, Midday Husband?" 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm nobody's master," says Selin both to Xu Sim and to Mhaka. "I haven't been in a long time," he adds, more to the former than the latter. 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Mhaka meows, a sound preserved with remarkable fidelity in the clockwork, and then pads away. [00:16] 13If Tsuka doesn't move, or seems otherwise stunned: "Trust me, then. Trust me that - we both want what's best for the people of Nexus. I know what you're capable of. I know what you can and cannot handle. I won't get you killed, I won't coddle you, and together we can work for the people - and I'm not your superior officer. Just another concerned citizen, who happens to have a louder voice." [00:20] 5 Xu Sim sucks in air through his teeth, and nods. 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle closes his eyes and thinks for a time. 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Finally: "...you do." 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka closes his eyes, clenches his fists, and blurts out, "Okay." [00:26] 14Stranger doesn't nod or smirk or make any other affirmative move; he simply continues to sip his tea and enjoy the view, for so long as Hayle will have him. Make small talk, as well. 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Tell me this." [00:27] 13She's about to continue into further benefits, but: "...okay?" 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "What is the greatest good?" 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "...dinner sounds nice." 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "Everybody's going to talk about us, you know." [00:29] 14Stranger's been told by his partner that this is a benefit of the arrangement. [00:30] 13She shrugs. "I don't care about them." 13She rattles off a nearby restaurant - fancy, and with excellent seafood - "Seven? I - I don't know how much of your serious training was avoiding me and how much was like. You know." 13Ruddy ears again. 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "Seven is good." [00:31] 13A warm smile, then: "I'll see you at 7. Wish me luck - big day at the Council ahead." [00:31] 5 Xu Sim sighs. "The greatest good... is knowledge. Curiosity. It's the foundation of anything, everything. For the gods, man, anything. That's the distinction from which everything else derives. So it must be the greatest good." 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Good luck! And, uh... thanks for kicking the door down." 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Hmmmmm." [00:35] 13Xia Lan: "Aha. Ha. Hopefully if we ever have to have a serious talk again it'll be less... drastic." 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "I disagree completely. We'll start tomorrow morning, before breakfast." [00:35] "Still. You're welcome." 13She blows a kiss and leaves. [00:36] "Sifu." 5 Xu Sim nods. 15[00:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka slumps back onto his bed, grinning like the idiot he probably is. 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin rises. "Thank you for the tea, and the company. Give your friends my regards. And Mhaka favors salt cod." [00:37] 14When Stranger finally leaves Hayle's side, he's reclaimed his teapot and changed the disposition of his most intransigent opponent on this side of the Council divide. And he did it while telling the truth -- not even the massaged, half-omitted truth. He said real things, with real feeling, and they were sufficient. [00:37] 14That feels good. [00:37] 14...Mori Nogare's going to know, sooner rather than later. If he doesn't already. [00:37] "Thank you for the sweet rolls. I will see you tomorrow, before breakfast." 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: Rising up to the challenge of a rival 14[03:12] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[03:35] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[03:45] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[06:14] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[08:16] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[12:11] * banana is now known as bananap|eels 14[13:13] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[13:16] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:53] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[13:53] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[17:43] * Joins: dammitwho 14[22:03] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) Session Time: Thu Apr 12 00:00:01 2018 14[01:46] * Joins: tom 14[04:15] * Joins: Crion 14[05:18] * Joins: Crion| 14[05:28] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:16] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[07:31] * bananap|eels is now known as banana 14[11:08] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[14:56] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:01] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[19:11] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:22] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[19:22] * Joins: Crion 14[19:31] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[19:33] * Joins: Crion_ 14[19:37] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 1<@Ferrinus> 12 / [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 01<@Ferrinus> 12 \--+---/\ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 01<@Ferrinus> 12`/\-+--/\'\ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 01<@Ferrinus> 12/`/\+-/\'\'\ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 01<@Ferrinus> 12-+- -+-+---- [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 01<@Ferrinus> 12\'\/+-\/`/`/ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 01<@Ferrinus> 12 \/-+--\/`/\ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 01<@Ferrinus> 12 --+---\/ /  [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "You WHAT the body???" [20:26] 4You know, there are a lot of answers to that fill-in-the-blank far worse than 'burned.' [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12It's been a pretty laid back morning and perhaps early afternoon, one containing at least one good meal and a number of revelationyans regarding Sunlit-Dreaming Ying. Nevertheless, your heavenly guests are keen on seeing to some approximation of business. 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is it the business of finally letting yara have a successful night off? [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Please be serious. [20:28] 7Blossom, vaguely annoyed: "I purified it. Set it alight with the pyre of my Essence." 08[20:29] 13Ying winces at the outburst, new ears not used to hearing such loud sounds so close. Eikichi is right about the night off, though. [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Ack! Why! I needed to look at it!" [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "There was something so familiar about him..." 15[20:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, who didn't see them and assumes they're basically the same: "One of them got away, right? Just autopsy that one." [20:33] 7Blossom: "Because I'm not dealing with the hungry ghost of a small Chosen on my ship. Anyway, who knows what those spiders were doing to him - we might have had to fight him again." [20:33] 4Eh, there are worse things. [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara's pacing in little circles before the lot of you, a hand on her chin. "That one was different, though. None of the stories seem to add up, we need as many samples as possible... there's nothing for it. I need to get May. Should we get May?" 12She's looking up at Siaka now, who's leaning back and drinking something with a contemplative look on her face. The older Chosen of [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Heaven's been staring off in a sort of reverie, apparently at or past Ying's new ears. [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Hmm? May?" 12Yara: "She might not like this." 12Siaka: "...think it'll be okay." 12Yara: "Really?" 12Siaka: "She's the adaptable sort." [20:35] 13Ying's ears twitch and her tail swishes back and forth. "Who's May?" [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Third corner of our triangle, you might say. She was entertaining the Three all last night... probably free now." [20:36] 13Ying: "That's... purrobably fine, then?" 13She looks to her circle, tail turning into sort of a question mark unconsciously. [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara still looks quite worried about it. Siaka's faintly amused, though not when Yara's looking in her direction. 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Can Heaven not afford a proper circle? 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> " [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Heaven's got a lot going on, and even three's a lot to assign to one region." [20:40] "Sounds like they're cheaping out." [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Is it okay if we bring May? She's a sorcerer, too. I think she knows the magic that can help us here." [20:40] 13Ying: "...is it beclaws we're here, or...?" 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "What... kind of magic?" [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "A spell called Shadows of the Ancient Past. I never learned it." 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You mean to try and figure out how the invasion happened? I thought you said that was proving impossible." [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "No, we've tried that already. I was wondering if we could get a peek at the body and its destruction." 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I don't think that will work. The magic you're describing draws on spiritual echoes that take time to form. You won't get more than the haziest possible image if you try to look at yesterday." 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's not Shadows of the Recent Past, is it?" [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara smacks a tiny hand to her forehead. "Argh, you're right. May's even - these have not been my days." 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi nods. "I get that way when I've been working too long without a break." 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He assumes he would get that way, if that happened, anyway. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12She sighs. "Okay. Well. That's still one dead, and another retreated. I'll look for the straggler... and if there aren't any signs, and the history entanglement stops, maybe that's enough." 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Were there only the two, do you think?" [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "That's my hope. They're very rare." [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka's stretching and rising to her feet. "Lot of you hang around your shrine when you aren't floating up here, right?" 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Sometimes. Why?" [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "In case I wanted to drop by, of course. We should do something sometime." 12Yara looks mildly alarmed. 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "That sounds fun." [20:52] 13Ying: "Oh! That sounds purrfect!" 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Siaka and Yara can probably tell from Eikichi's expression, with his back to Ying, that the cat thing is new, or at least unusual. [20:53] 13She still hasn't seemed to notice she's doing anything unmewsual. Er, unusual. [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka seems to like it. Yara has a familiar facial expression, the one that goes 'wait, how many letters R did she put into that word just now?' [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Well... well, I need to go, I think. You - did I tell you to tell Tatsuya thanks for me? And sorry?" [20:56] 13Something passes over Ying's face that quickly replaces itself with a smile. "Of course, are you kitten me?" [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Okay, good. Then - then I'll go, then! And I can do some tests to make sure the retrocausal thing's stopped. Just wait a day or so before, um, whatever you're doing." [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Gotta head out myself. Marriage to officiate. No spare invites, sadly, but I'll keep y'all mind for the next one." [20:59] 4Ir will wave. She's in the kitchen again, frying up some of the fish they caught. [21:00] 13She lights up. "Ooh! And keep me in mind for any pawsible clothing you might need fur those! The Rainbow Connyaction!" 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "A Chosen of Saturn officitating marriages?" [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka pauses in the door, blinks, and looks down at Yara. "Sorry, Yara, how exactly have you explained us, here?" [21:02] 4...Does Ying even want fried fish, or are we just going to commit to this all the way and mased it up with a bit of mayo? [21:02] *4mash 08[21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Well, I-" 12Siaka: "You didn't. Figures. Good opsec." 12She looks up and back at Eikichi, her vivid blue eyes making contact with whatever color the sorcerer's decided on today. "We're Sidereal Exalted, and I'm Chosen of Venus." 12From below her, a small gasp. [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Memories stir - that's probably the word that Marek and Azer'jol kept using back in Nexus. 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's eyebrows go up. "Chosen of Venus, huh?" [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "The one and only. It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it." [21:05] 7Blossom, who has no intention of being overawed by the actually pretty attractive now that you look at her Chosen: "We did figure the Five Significant Stars were involved somehow." [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Way harder than Yara's-" 12Yara: "It isn't, really-" 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wow. Siaka is really good at innuendo. They train those guys right out in Yu-Shan. [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12After a short bow from Yara and a wink from Siaka, the two "Sidereals" are out the door. You still don't know where they're to be found, you realize - at least, they haven't told you - but it's always possible to toss messenger spells their way and they know how to call on you. [21:09] 4They'll be around when it's least convenient, surely. [21:09] 13Ying: "Bye!" 13She balances on one leg, tail flicking over to hold her pose, and waves with both hands. [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a huffing and puffing and stomping coming down the hallway a little after Yara and her coworker have left. It's the forge-demon Usagi, holding a little bundle and sweating with exertion. "Ack! Argh! Are they - are they gone already?" 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yes." [21:10] 13Ying: "Hey Usagi! Yep, just left. Why, what catpunned?" 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "What's in the sack?" [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Usagi: "Fuck! Rrgh. Will they return?" 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "They'll be around." [21:11] 4Ir: "When they feel like it." 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "What's in the sack." [21:11] 4The hardest part of this is figuring out what sauces to pair the fish with. She eventually settles on a tartar sauce. [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12She looks down at her bundle. "Ach, well. I... it's just a thing I made." 12She puts it on the table before you. You're free to either pull the sackcloth away or stare at her until she does it, revealing a small metal cylinder with a little sticking out of the bottom on one side. It looks like it can move in the slot it's in. [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12A little tab* [21:12] 13Oh, and I didn't see your question about what kind of fish Ying will eat. The answer is: any and all fish. 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi tilts his head. "Is that a lever?" [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Usagi: "Yeah.." 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He pushes down on it with his fingers. [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12The cylinder splits into three parts, all of which open from the base to spread out from each other like the petals of a flower. Left in the middle is a statue of a muscular, tusked figure bearing a little staff of black iron. [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Usagi lets go of the lever after a moment, and the metal pillar snaps back closed. 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "That's clever." [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Usagi: "Springs were a real devil to stuff in there-" [21:17] 13Ying's beaming. "It's amazing!" [21:17] 7Blossom: "How nice! Was that a gift for Yara?" 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "Can you do one of his head impaled on a stake?" [21:18] 13She quirks her head. "Wait, devil, was that a pun?" [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Usagi's face goes a slightly different shade of red. "I... guess...?" 12To Blossom. "Sort of." 08[21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, the 'I guess' was an answer to Eikichi, and 'sort of' to Blossom. [21:20] 7Blossom: "I'm sure she'll be back. You can give it to her then." [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Usagi: "Yeah, okay." 12She wraps her sculpture back up. [21:21] 13Ying: "She said she would! And I've got some suspurrsions..." 13She grins with a twinkle in her eye, showing a fang. 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Was that 'suspicions' or 'aspersions'?" [21:23] 13Ying: "What? Suspicions, pawbviously." 13She doesn't seem to notice that her pronunciation changed. "Why?" 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi just nods slowly in acknowledgment, his lips pursed. [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12The day proceeds as they normally do - and what's normal in the sunshrine is quite different from what's normal in the rest of Great Forks. Chanting, prayer, and revelry are 24/7 occurrences through much of the city for those that aren't slaves (and for some of those that are) elsewhere in the City of Temples... but in one sun-drenched neighborhood to the southwest of the city center, [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12the day's filled with honest toil. [21:27] 4Hey now. We work in some revelry too. [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Sawing, hammering, and tiling sound through the streets, threaded through with as many work songs as hymns. Walls are repaired, ceilings sealed, gardens reseeded and aqueducts patched. What was once among the neighborhoods hardest hit by the fuzzily-remembered fighting of years passed is beginning to thrive. 08[21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Having sworn a mighty oath to never do a day's work in his life, Eikichi has plenty of time to amble around, chat with the locals, and distribute copies of his work. There's plenty going on that people are eager to tell him - work has gotten a lot easier of late, both because of Blossom's material support and because, well, who knows. Seems to be less damage to deal with. Members of [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12the neighborhood are hearing a lot of requests for their tools and expertise in adjoining areas of the city where there are more ecstatics and monks and such but fewer actual workmen who aren't slaves. Satisfaction with the shrine and the faith seem high. 08[21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12There've been some troubles of late - increased incidence of crime and drug-dealing and such from outside the neighborhood as people realize that the dwellers of the sunshrine are getting stabler and richer. Official complaints from the city bureaucracy remain pretty low-key and non-urgent for no reason anyone can discern - Eikichi suspects meddling on Blossom's behalf by the Sidereals. 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi spends the next few days hanging out at the Sunshrine, sometimes working with Blossom or Ir or Ying, sometimes just mingling or holding court among the people who want a piece of him. Which is a lot of people. At one point Eikichi watches Blossom hand-bind stacks of Eikichi's new books, The Squared Circle Saga, Vol. 2 and Solar Blossom Says. It's just like their first date, minus the nosebleed! Once she's finished he'll be handing them out to the people he sees in their corner of Great Forks. 08[21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Literacy, which was Eikichi's initial object of interest, is pretty low. Medina and Raldo can both read, as can their eldest, but most of the people here rely on hearing stories or scriptures because they've never been taught to pick them up off the page. Those books - are there pictures? That would help. 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Of course! Drawn by Eikichi himself, in fact. The skyline of the city at the Hedgehog's heart, Ir riding Borneo and Kamchatka around the Nexus arena. There are plenty of drawings of all of the Solars, including their new friends from Arianna's circle. [21:54] 7Blossom takes to the small forge on the Heavensward and begins turning out hammers, chisels, shovels and the like. After the first few she brings Usagi on as an assistant, and the work goes quickly. It soon becomes clear to her that there's a fairly obvious method of cleansing the Essence of an object, making it resistant to ordinary wear-and-tear. As a result, her tools are very [21:54] 7good. [22:02] 4Ir will do the sort of stuff she usually does when they come to a new town, now: seeing if any food kitchens need to starting up and otherwise dither around playing her six-string. [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12In an increasingly wide radius from the shrine itself, you can't actually tell that the city was ever under attack. The neighborhood's being rebuilt according to an eclectic mix of styles ranging from Realm to far Eastern. More and more people want to move in, now. Can they? What if they don't worship the Sun and don't plan to start? 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Once he's gotten a sense of the scope of the problem he fully apprehends everything he needs to do to set this in motion. Step one is asking Blossom to set this in motion. [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12At some point midway through the day, as people talk and sing and work and such, there's a loud crash and a scream nearby the shrine! [22:13] 7What the?! 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Oh no. [22:14] 4Mid-song, Ir's moving to check it out, Iscariot turning from a six-string into a coiled brace on her arm. [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Those first on the scene find a wagon stuffed with straw and crates that's collapsed onto the cobbles, shattered on one side as though kicked by an auroch. Drawing a trail through the straw and dust across the street and against opposite wall is a man's body. No, wait a man - he's stirring and groaning. [22:16] 4Ir will start looking for what put him there, since she's not great on the first aid. [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12There should be a comma after "wait" there, whoops. [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12This is an unusual scene. It looks like there was some sort of brief collision or confrontation - judging by where that guy's lying, he must've been thrown clear across the street by some tremendous blow. Yet, he doesn't seem to be injured in the least. [22:18] 4Hmm. [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Stranger still is the wall across from him, from which he was presumably hurled. There's something wrong with the bricks - they all seem to be in the wrong places, such that the artful pattern between light and dark sandstone maintained along the wall of the street is jumbled up there. [22:18] 4Weird bullshit's afoot. [22:19] 4And that generally seems to be the purview of only one group of people they know. [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12The fallen man props himself up halfway and looks blearily around. He says "Uggh... eh..??" 12and then some more in forest-tongue. 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Huh. Nice scarf. [22:22] 7Do none of us speak Foresttongue? 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Languages is the same. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a contingent of eastern refugees around, so anyone who's spent most of their time of late in the sunshrine has had the opportunity to pick some up, actually. [22:23] 4Ir's probably been picking up some just by learning new local and traveller songs. [22:25] 7Blossom squats next to the confused man, and asks in Realm-accented Foresttongue: "Somebody hit you?" [22:26] 7Hmm. If he was injured by a person, this is a crime scene. In Zeal, they'll probably have to unravel matters of justice on a regular basis. She'll have to think about that some more. [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12He shakes his head blearily. This is in the forest-tongue, but Blossom's free to relate. "Yeah... young man, don't remember his name. He suddenly looked different and screamed at me, WHAM!" [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12The man: "Thought I heard him break the wall down, too." 12He presses a hand to his forehead, then takes it away to look down at his palm, seemingly confused. [22:30] 4Is that wall part of a building, or just a road-lining wall? [22:30] 7Blossom will indeed relay this information in the language of the metropole, before asking: "What do you mean, looked different?" 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is there any kind of a pattern or logic to how the bricks seem rearranged? [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12It seems random. The man answers Blossom: "Like... a little bigger, and in armor? It was just a blink." [22:33] 7Blossom: "Have you seen him around here before?" [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12The man: "Yeah... here and there. Someone's kid or something." [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a distant crash - more crumbling stone, and what sounds like some falling and colliding metal. It's from somewhere behind the rearranged wall, could be muffled by another two or three barriers. 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What is this nonsense now-- [22:35] 4Well, now we've got a trajectory, at least. Ir's already hustling in that direction. [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a lot of stuff in the way of the commotion. Unless you're willing to go through some walls, you'll need to do some climbing and navigation. [22:37] 4Oh hell yes. [22:38] 7Blossom gives the man a 'you're fine, walk it off' pat on the shoulder before following Ir. [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12He actually is, to his own apparent confusion. But there's no time to meditate on this further! [22:39] "I'm going ahead!" 14shouts Ir before literally leaping atop a nearby building and springboarding in the direction of the commotion. [22:39] "I'm going ahead!" 4shouts Ir before literally leaping atop a nearby building and springboarding in the direction of the commotion. [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Between Ir's sense for finding quarries and Blossom having planned and physically built most of the surrounding area, it's pretty easy for the three Solars to lock and close onto their target without having to, as their prey seems to have, actually go smashing through any walls or locked doors. [22:41] 4Not the best foot forward. [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12As you bolt you find confused or angry people asking what the hell's going on or trying to figure out what's wrong with strange tangles of wood or metal they find themselves holding. They point you further, through a butcher shop whose tables and counters seem to have been abruptly rearranged. The butcher herself, her cleaver's blade attached backwards to the handle, points you [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12wordlessly to the stairs leading down to her basement storeroom. [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12It's dark down there, and very cold. Carcasses hang from the ceiling. A man's voice calls out "Back... get back!" 12You can see at least two figures in the shadows, circling each other. [22:45] "Hey!" "Woops!" "Coming through!" 4Ir shouts as she flips around laundry lines and vaults over balconies. [22:47] 7Blossom pushes herself flat-out to keep up with Ir; her incredible speed and the inherent perfection of her stride let her run from rooftop to rooftop as though it were a paved road. [22:47] 4Nice! 08[22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's lucky he has the lift of the Stormwind Rider to call on periodically. 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Did you know that if you just walk through people's apartments, there's a straight shot of doorways leading from the first incident to the second? [22:48] 4Rude! 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Call it exigent circumstances. [22:48] 4Ah, jokes. [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12So anyway, here you are. DO you, as he says, get back? [22:49] 4Ir will pause at the threshold of the basement and wait for whoever's not here already to arrive before making any reply. [22:50] 7What's going on? [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12There's some kind of weird confrontation goig on in the dark of this basement, two people (maybe more?) pacing and lurching around amidst hanging carcasses and crates packed with ice. Anyone got a light? 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's body's outlined in blue light as his caste mark flares gold, and suddenly he's standing in a swordsman's posture with his hand on the hilt of a blade that disappears into billowy green robe. [22:55] 4Going loud it is. Ir's body explodes in golden light, wreathing her in her familiar plate armor as Iscariot snaps into a spear in her hand. The armor just simmers, however -- it does not pour forth light as it might have in the past. She's learned to control that. [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12As blue radiance washes through the cellar, the three Solars get a better picture of what's going on. There's a tall, spare man with teased-up dark hair clutching at himself and staggering around as if drunk, his eyes wild. He looks like he's being stalked by his own shadow... no, by some kind of ghost, a larger, looming, muscled figure whose shoulders, forearms, and shins glint with [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12silvery armor and which sometimes shadows the man's movements and sometimes lashes out at random, spilling crates of ice and preservatives across the floor or nearly knocking slabs of hanging meat off their hooks. 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "Hey!" [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Man: "Huh?" 12Apparition: "Rrraaaa..!!" 12It comes at you, fists clenched. [22:57] 4Sadly: "Perfectly good meat." [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Not anymore. Even those slabs that haven't been knocked off their hooks and sent skidding across the floor look weird... scrambled, almost, by the blows, with bones and ligaments connecting wrong. 08[23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's first to move. The strange, floating whirls on him as he approaches, trying to clap the falling blade in its hands - but it's not fast enough. Eikichi's reaper daiklave catches on the figure's collarbone and draws a long line down its torso. It's an annoying and unlucky one, though - the blade keeps catching on bits of armor or cord or something, never quite biting deep [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12enough. 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What is this nonsense now. Ever seen anything like this? [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Still, there's a strangled scream and the thump of knees hitting the ground... from the man behind the ghost. Blood's suddenly spraying from a familiarly-shaped diagonal line beneath the jacket the young guy's wearing, and he's going white with the beginnings of shock. [23:09] 4Oh great. [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Zantetsuken sounds annoyed. Seen? No. Felt? Yes! The frustration of a killing stroke entangled with misfortune - make him pay, student! 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi recoils as if he was cut. He freezes like that, blade wavering in the air as his grip tightens and tightens. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Visibly impaired but furious, the floating ghost-thing lashes out, its fists flying! [23:26] 4No. [23:27] Ir's there in less than a heartbeat, and she lets the thing hit her straight-on. And as it does, Iscariot wraps around the creature -- which still has some substance to it, it seems -- and Ir jerks her arm twice, slamming it up into the ceiling, and then brutally down into the floor. [23:27] 4Ir's there in less than a heartbeat, and she lets the thing hit her straight-on. And as it does, Iscariot wraps around the creature -- which still has some substance to it, it seems -- and Ir jerks her arm twice, slamming it up into the ceiling, and then brutally down into the floor. [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Behind the apparition, the young man's also yanked into the ceiling and then roughly back down onto the floor. He crumples like a rag doll, and the apparition flickers and winks out. [23:28] 4She grunts and spits blood out on the floor in disdain. Kid'll be find, if we get him medical attention. [23:29] 7Blossom snarls. "Gods damned ghosts!" 7She holds up a hand, two fingers out like she's holding a piece of paper between them. "EVIL SPIRITS, BEGONE! BURNING EXORCISM!" 7An ofuda made of searing light traces itself between her fingers, and with a sharp gesture she hurls it at the unconscious youth. [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12As Ir's whip connected, so did the ghost(?)'s fist - but as much as the initial impact hurt (not a lot, but objectively Ir knows it would've taken the wind out of a mortal) the pain's over after just a moment. There's a strange queasy feeling, though, as Ir feels her own bruised side and slightly-jostled insides wrench themselves back into position as though she'd never gotten hit [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12at all. [23:30] 4Huh. 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi tilts his head. [23:30] 4She bets if she checked the floor, she'd find just spit there, not blood. [23:30] 4She's not going to, though. [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Blossom's exorcism collides with the fallen youth's body, but doesn't seem to interact as it's meant to. There's strange screeching and skittering sounds, and little glinting particles visibly leave the boy's pores to orbit rapidly around him - so rapidly they leave glowing, silver contrails - but then dive right back down. [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12He does roll with the force of the magic, winding up on his back such that the big, oozing bloodstain across the front of his chest is visible again. 08[23:33] 7What the... not a possession? "Alright, plan B. Eikichi, help bind his wounds. Then we'll take him back to the Heavensward." [23:34] 4Ir: "Pretty sure that thing was his weapon, somehow. He couldn't control it, though." [23:35] 4She sighs. "You know, if this were one of the old stories we'd have just royally fucked this up, 'cause he was supposed to tame that thing or die." 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ir. Help me get the boy back to the Heavensward. Blossom needs to send a message to Yara so she can come and kill him." 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'll make sure he's fit to carry." [23:36] 4Ir: "On it." 4Can she unravel the whip from the apparition? Is it even there anymore? 08[23:36] 7That sounds a bit harsh, but surely Eikichi knows what he's doing. [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12The apparition's flickered out. [23:39] 7Blossom will help carry, and reassure worried looky-loos that no, he's not dead, he's just injured. 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's a merely gorgeous Eikichi who uses the boy's shredded garment to bind a wound held shut with deft but abrupt stitches. There's water and vinegar down here to clean the wound. 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "Let's go. Did you send the messenger?" [23:40] 4Ir can handle the carrying on her own. Got a Strong Tough Cool Warrior rep to keep up. 08[23:40] 4She does give Eikichi a couple odd looks throughout this process, though. Starting with the flat effect on 'kill him.' [23:40] *4affect [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12People are variously upset and alarmed as you walk past them. Some want to know who'll be fixing or paying for all this damage; others want to know what happened, or if you're all right; most, beyond it all, want some assurance that things are safe now. [23:42] 4Sounds like a job for Blossom, though Ir will be generally if vaguely confident. 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi will reassure the crowds. "This is an abomination against time and fate. We're going to destroy him. Be at ease." [23:44] 4... 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He hasn't hid or even seemed to notice the crimson spray across the front of his robe. [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Order's maintained in the sunshrine as Ir carries the young man's unconscious body out of the butcher shop, up onto a roof, and up the ladder of the floating Heavensward. It's up to you how nicely you apportion your, uh... victim's...? hospital bed. [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12He's unconscious for a while, though you can probably wake him early with smelling salts or the like if you so choose. Otherwise you can wait, either for him to wake or Yara to show up. Oh, and if there are investigations or tests you can do you're free to do 'em. [23:47] 4They're definitely going to have to look into a permanent infirmary/jail. 08[23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom and Eikichi do recognize this guy. Name is Choto... uh, something, you either don't recall it or he didn't give one. He only turned up in the neighborhood in the last week or so, kind of hanging out in the background and helping out with odd construction or porting jobs - the sense is that he sort of snuck in for elsewhere and was just doing his best to fit in and go [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12unnoticed. His hair and complexion suggest Realm ancestry, though as likely as not he's a local boy. 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Choto Chotari. Runaway slave. Bad luck to be caught up in this." [23:54] 4Ir: "And you plan on putting him to death for it?" 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "He's the next incarnation of the one Yara killed last week. We agreed to help her. Shorting her now would undo all the work we did to earn Heaven's favor." 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "Maybe she changes her mind. Our job's the same either way." [23:56] 4Ir: "Executing a teen every week doesn't seem like a sustainable solution to this problem." [23:56] 7Blossom looks annoyed at their patient/guest. "We can't fight an endless supply of these as they pop up." 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "Maybe not. But that was just as true a week ago." [23:56] 7She pauses in thought. "Well, we can, but I don't want to." 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yara never told us what her plan was." [23:59] 4Ir: "Then I don't think it was prudent to be announcing his execution, in case a certain butcher now expects it to come by our hands." 15[23:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "Either way they'll never see him again." 15[23:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "Better to give them closure." Session Time: Fri Apr 13 00:00:00 2018 [00:00] 4Ir narrows her eyes and stares at him with pursed lips for a moment, then says: "I'm going to make some dinner." 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Blossom: "What's with her?" 08[00:08] 7Blossom looks back at Eikichi and shrugs. 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Drops of laudanum down his throat keep young Choto asleep while Eikichi pokes and prods him, checking reflexes, inspecting his ears, nose, throat."Subject is in fine health, well-fed, no recent injuries to speak of." 10His head jerks a bit, as if tracking sudden movement. "What was that?" 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi starts systematically prodding and pulling at the boy's body with his fingertips, in the manner of a forest ape grooming a mate for ticks. [00:12] 7Blossom: "What was what?" 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "Spiders. Tiny spiders. Metallic. Seminuminous." 10He leans in and squints. 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "They're retreating." 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Without taking his eyes off the boy, Eikichi reaches for a scalpel. [00:13] 4The good news is that Ir put out some nets for crawdads and shrimp when they were out fishing, and combined with the rice she got in town earlier today -- along with a yellowish local spice she's been told is excellent with it -- some leftover sausage from breakfasts past and some sliced up vegetables, she can make a reasonable facsimile of her favorite port dish from some travels [00:13] 4along the Threshold in a former life. It's not quite the same, but it's damn close. 08[00:14] 7Blossom puts a hand on Eikichi's shoulder. "Wait for Yara to turn up." 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "And do what instead? Yara will appreciate the help." 08[00:15] 4The better news is it takes a long time to cook so she can plausibly leave Blossom and Eikichi alone to whatever they're doing to that kid. She's never seen him like this before and it's kind of concerning. [00:15] 7Blossom: "What are you going to do?" 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "The spiders are congregating in seats of thought and motion. The spine, the brain, the crown chakra. Quick reflexes and an incision in the right spot and I should have a sample to study." 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Unless Blossom physically stops him, he's going to poke around carefully for a bit and then make some cuts. 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shallow cuts should be sufficient. There's only so much flesh at the brainstem. 08[00:19] 7Blossom's now kind of worried. She'll put a hand on his shoulder. "Eikichi, please don't dissect a living human." 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "The spiders might dissipate if he dies." 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "Or flee. Do you think I'll botch the procedure?" [00:21] <@Ferrinus> "I'm here!" 12calls a small voice from up on the deck. "I've been checking the cross-correspondences and I think we might really have cut the link we noticed! History's still a - are you down there somewhere?" [00:21]  15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "Come down to where you woke up," 10calls Eikichi. [00:21] 4Ir: "THEY'RE IN THE INFIRMARY!" [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Tiny footsteps, and Yara's voice: "History's still a mess, I mean, I honestly don't know what's going on with it, but at the very least weird new specifics don't keep bubbling up every other-" 12She comes around the corner of the door, some scrolls and things in one hand, and sees the two of you standing around the fallen Choto. [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "...HIM??" [00:25] 7Blossom: "Whom?" [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12The little Sidereal's dropped her scrolls and is blinking card. "He... he... wait. Who IS he?" [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12The young man you've apprehended does look oddly similar to the dead body Blossom disposed of the other night. Tall, dark hair, strong jaw... coincidence? [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara's massaging her forehead with the heel of a palm. "Ahhh, he just seemed so familiar for a second. What's going on?" 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Choto Chodari. Runaway slave. Seeming hair to the black market Exaltation you and Tatsuya snuffed a week ago." 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "There are spiders in his spinal column." 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He holds out the scalpel to Yara. "You probably know where to cut better than I do." [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara blinks again. "What... kind?" 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "Spiders. Tiny spiders. Metallic. Seminuminous." [00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara's jaw hangs open. "Then then then. That's a Getimian! But... oh, no. Oh, no!" [00:30] 7Blossom: "What is a Getimian." [00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "They're supposed to be too unstable to reincarnate!" 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Blossom: "That's why her plan to kill him on sight made sense at the time." 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "Once again Yara only looks like an idiot because she was acting decisively on incomplete information." 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "Bad luck." [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara waves at him. "Black market Chosen inherently toxic to fate. The specific thing we've been after here. I... no one's really sure if they had cycles like proper Exalted did or if someone just kept making new ones." 08[00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12She gives Eikichi a somewhat uncertain look. "I mean, capture would've been okay, but the situation was getting bad and I had to act decisively. As is... as is, this, hang on, what happened? How'd you get him?" 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Violence." [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara's walking up to him to get a closer look now. "He attacked you?" [00:35] 7Blossom: "It looks like he just Exalted a few minutes ago. Ran wild through houses and shops before we were able to run him down. He didn't seem to really be able to control himself, and there was some apparition behind him- I thought it was a ghost, at first." [00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I don't know what it is either. I've never heard or seen anything... but, but, or maybe..." 12She raps on her forehead with her knuckles a few times. "I remember..." [00:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara rocks on her heels, eyes screwed shut. "I killed him. Or someone just like me. And or someone just like him. I was on a mission..." [00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "But it would've had to be... decades ago. In MY past life." 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "He's going to wake up soon. Are we cutting? I'll prepare another dose of sedative in either case." [00:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara looks up at Blossom. "What do you think we should do?" 15[00:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi is visibly surprised. [00:46] 7Blossom: "You can't find the blessings of the gods, illicit or no, with a knife. What I want is this thing off my ship and out of my district, without him coming back in a week so we have to do this all over again. Can you manage that?" 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You can find anything with a knife if you know where to stick it." [00:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I... I already tried to do something like that for you. In Crystal." [00:48] <@Ferrinus> 12(That's to Blossom) 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We could try doing it right this time." 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "Or not. It's your body." [00:50] 7Blossom: "That's true. Do you think your superiors, knowing what you know now, are likely to do the same thing with him?" 7She gestures at the sleeping street urchin. [00:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "My superiors... they'll never see this as, as an asset. It's too different, too weird. But... but... I want to know what's going on! I want to know why I remember him!" 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Speaking of things we tried to do in Crystal." [00:52] 7Blossom: "Then it sounds like you should ask your Circle for help." [00:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "If I know him... maybe he knows me. Maybe - you subdued him, didn't you? He shouldn't be any threat." 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It sounds like you're preparing to talk yourself into doing something you know is stupid." 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "Don't do that." 15[00:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "That would be stupid." [00:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I just want to know what he knows! If he's a reincarnation, maybe he can explain himself. Maybe he can tell us what the... the other one was, or was doing." [00:53] 7Blossom: "Do you have a safe place? Some sort of headquarters?" 15[00:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "If he proves uncontrollable, how quickly can you put him down?" [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Faster than I did last time. He's only a day or two Chosen and he's alone." 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "So what's the play?" [00:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara puts on a brave face. "Wake him up." [00:55] 7Blossom nods. "Let's do it, then." 15[00:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "He'll wake up on his own shortly." 15[00:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The physician unrolls his sleeves, which like the front of his robe are stained with the child's blood. "I hope he doesn't react poorly to the sight of you." 08[00:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara perches on the end of her bed, consumed with confusing and murderous deja vu. On either side of the Sidereal, two Solars watch the fallen Getimian like hawks. And, short of a second dose of Eikichi's sleeping drug, the badly-beaten Choto Chodari slowly regains consciousness. His brow furrows, he groans, and his eyes open, such that he can take Blossom, Eikichi, and finally Yarara [00:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara. 08[00:58] <@Ferrinus> 12At the sight of Blossom, he boggles slightly. At Eikichi, he winces. At Yara... he just stares, nonplussed. "...who're you?" [01:02] 4At that moment, Ir butts in with, "Dinner's up." [01:02] 4Then: "Oh. Hey, kid." [01:05] 7Blossom winces. "This might be my fault. By sending his spirit straight to reincarnation the last time, it must have stopped the passage of memories between reincarnations." [01:05] "So, if he has a grudge against you, he doesn't remember it now." [01:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "Huh?" [01:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "But... then what do we do?" [01:06] <@Ferrinus> 12The Circle grapples with that question, or leets Yara do so... next week. 08[01:06] 10Eikichi: "I have some suggestions." 15[02:08] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Apr 13 02:08:02 2018 Session Start: Fri Apr 13 08:17:12 2018 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[08:17] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[08:17] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[08:17] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[08:17] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[14:27] * Joins: Crion 14[15:01] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[15:09] * Joins: Crion_ 14[15:19] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:42] * Quits: VoxPrime (Quit: ) 14[18:47] * Joins: dammitwho [20:22] [20:22] [20:22] [20:22] [20:22] 14[20:22] * Crion_ is now known as Crion [20:25] The lights come up in Nexus the night of the grand contest, and when the audience arrives, the great ship hanging above city is quiet. When they board through the old artifact-elevator, then up through the cargo ramp of the Heavensward, from the aft-deck to the mid-deck, the doors are tightly shut and locked. Even the stairs up to the main deck are blocked now by a door which had not [20:25] been there before. Cold and quiet; the ship is not usually like this. Usually there are the sounds of quarelling...of the helmswoman shouting irritably from the wheel...of joy and exasperation and other signs of life. Things are strange tonight. [20:27] When the guests arrive, the locked doors will drive them to the aft lounge on the middeck, where a demon protectress tends bar and a tiny imp fields drink orders. The view from the back balcony is magnificent over the two rivers the city claims, stretching out in the distance. Perhaps the other crewmembers of the ship proper are already here; perhaps they are not, yet. But the mistress [20:27] of ceremonies is sitting at the keyharp on the aft lounge's stage, providing the opening act. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXSMwm9oxZY [20:28] She has traded in her armor for a more formal outfit. Perhaps more feminine, if that's a critique you're willing to make of Ir, Twice Traitor's fashion sensibilities in her presence. This is her on the right, purple replaced with deep blue. https://i.imgur.com/kXc6xmR.jpg [20:29] And on a small bench near the brief stairs up to the stage, six clear bottles, the liquors within them black, golden, red, silver, pink, and brown. [20:30] Who is already here, besides Ir, Sondak, and Usagi? [20:34] 6Ying's there! Practically twitching with excitement, too, chatting excitedly with Usagi and Sondok by the bar. 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> There's an older couple, wearing and clinking glasses. The short man has a round, serious face and a neat moustache, and he shares conspiratorial whispers with his tall, thin companion, whose laugh tinkles like the charms on her wrists. [20:38] Arakesh -- who some know better as Marek Marrow-Hollow -- is there as well, seated by the door in an open-chested blouse and tight pants, both Ir's companion for the evening and the de-facto bouncer. Though to be honest, if this turns into a fight, that's just a lost cause. So he's drinking an ale too. [20:41] Earlier in the evening, she'll have given up her own room to the visiting player [20:41] for tonight's festivities. [20:43] It has the benefit of being right off the aft lounge, and also being rather spartan -- Ir can't help it if she's a little bit biased in favor of the home team, and her quarters seemed the least likely to give their idol visitor insight into the crew of the Heavensward. [20:45] Usagi is by presently to the mismatched couple's tables to take their drink orders, trundling with determination and then hopping up on the table, quill and scratchpad in hand. [20:46] 13Aw, you've got nothing to be afraid of. The Unfettered Xia Lan intends to play perfectly nice! ...though the liquors sort of make that a bit difficult, sometimes. 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> The couple orders two glasses of whiskey and a pitcher of beer. [20:48] "Okay!" Usagi clenches her fist in determination, hops down off the table and trundles back to the bar. When she returns, she's accompanied by Sondak, carrying the pitcher. [20:49] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom is present, since whatever party this is - she wasn't really paying attention when Ir explained it - is taking place inside her home. Begrudgingly going without her stiff armor that will never now serve in the Empress' legions, she's wearing a severe-looking outfit that resembles a military uniform, all in black with a high collar and silver trim. [20:50] No one ever listens. Isn't it always the way? Still, as Ir plays slow and moody lounge music, the guests begin to filter in. [20:51] 14The first is the 'blind' Stranger-Visits-Heaven and his accompaniment, the Ambassador of Night and Day. He bows slightly to the stage when he enters, whispers a few words to the Ambassador on his arm -- she whispers a few back -- and goes to sit with the already-arrived couple. [20:52] 14As he sits down: "Bubo. Astrologer. I didn't think you'd get here before us. ...You've already ordered beer." 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Bubo was insistent." 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo, long-suffering: "Punctuality is important." 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz, equally long-suffering: "Of course, dear." [20:54] "Mmmmmm," 14says Stranger. "In some cases, yes. In other cases, it is unfashionable. And there appears to be a great deal of fashion on display here." [20:54] 14The Ambassador rolls her eyes. 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "We were spared making an entrance. I will say that." [20:56] 14The Ambassador, leaning over: "What do you know of our keyharp player?" [20:57] 6After a quick goodbye to Sondok, Ying flounces her way over to Blossom's table, eyeing the strangers (heh). "They seem purretty fancy..." 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka walks in, then, wearing his only nice outfit, once again freshly laundered. He scans the room and makes a beeline for Stranger's table. [20:58] 14For his part, Stranger waves. [20:59] Ir looks up from the keyharp, then over at Sondok and inclines her head at the table where the serious young man is headed. [20:59] Sondok nods and walks over to where Bubo, Kratz, Stranger, the Ambassador, and now Tsuka are trying to figure out how to make one table work, and offers to put two together for them. [21:00] 7Blossom: "I guess Ir's party is somewhere to go to be seen." 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo's eyebrows all but slide up off his forehead. Kratz: "Thank you, that would be lovely." [21:01] Arakesh sniffs the air, frowns, and steps outside...and when he returns he's a bit het up. He's accompanied by a tall, slim, pale woman, a squat purple woman, and a goofball with fisherman's tanlines and a beard he should trim. He looks positively aggreived at having to let them in, and looks imploringly over at Ir...who waves them on through. [21:01] 6Ying: "Kinda. There's so many of them..." [21:02] That second table is looking very prescient, if that's where the newcomers choose to sit. [21:03] Usagi bounces over to Blossom and Ying's table and jumps up on an empty seat, puffing herself up. "Waitress Usagi here! What are your drinks!" [21:03] 6Ying, immediately: "Milk, please!" 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian nudges Pearl. "This is the sweetest venue I've ever seen." 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "It's alright." [21:03] Usagi: "Excell--Milk?!" [21:04] 6Her ears flatten slightly. "...are we out?" [21:04] She raises a stubby finger. "I will have to check with the kitchen!" [21:04] She bounces off, then five steps later turns and scurries back, jumping back up on the chair. To Blossom: "And what can I get you?!" [21:05] 7Blossom: "Whatever kind of that Northern 'vodka' that Ir has infused most recently." [21:06] Usagi: "Excellent!!" Then she's off again. 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober and Mr. Tellurian will sit down at the big double-table with the people they know, but Pearl will sit at the bar, near Blossom and Ying. "Hello! Friends of Xia Lan's?" [21:06] 7Blossom's a little distracted, because she's just seen Sunlit-Dreaming Ying - who, it must be reiterated, has normal human ears - flatten them in alarm. 08[21:07] 7Blossom: "No, we're part of the Squared Circle. We run the establishment. Who is Xia Lan?" 7She doesn't ask 'and who are you?' because Eikichi has been a good influence. [21:08] 6She does! There is also a second set, higher up. A tail twitches. "Furiends of Eikitty, actually - and yeah, who is that?" 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "She's the one who's going to win." [21:10] 6Ying: "Nah. Eikitty's purretty much the best. But wow, she brought a lot of furiends..." [21:10] Sondok's alone at the bar, but doesn't seem to be bothered by it. When Usagi returns yelling about milk, she finds it properly and pours a glass for Ying. "If she wants a saucer, we've got one of those as well," she says to Usagi as she pours out a straight shot of infused blackberry wodka in one glass, then puts ice and squeezed grape juice in a second glass for Blossom, should she [21:10] desire to cut it. 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "Sooo any sight of our heroes yet?" [21:10] "Okay!!" says Usagi, promptly forgetting about this and delivering the drinks as-is. [21:11] 6Ying accepts the milk gratefully. Mmmmm. 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Not since I came in." He looks in Stranger and Ambassador's direction. "I still can't believe she agreed to this. Challenging a complete stranger, especially one dressed like that, to a duel?" He shakes his head. "She's going mad with power." [21:15] 14Stranger: "It's a risk, but it's one we're here to warrant. And she's got more support in the crowd, I suspect." [21:15] 14The Ambassador: "The audience, yes. But this...mistress of ceremonies." [21:15] 14She leans over again. "She's fucking the Lunar by the door." 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "Ayyyup." [21:16] 14Stranger closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "Last I checked that was not a crime." [21:17] 14She waves a hand. "I don't mean THAT. I mean collusion! He's the bouncer! She's put her own people in charge in all positions." [21:17] 14Stranger: "It IS her ship." 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Tellurian: "There ARE a lot of us." [21:17] 6To Pearl: "So... how d'you know Xia Lan? And, um, what's your name?" 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "We met at the last one of these. Which she won." 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "My name is Pearl of Great Worth." [21:19] 6Ying: "Oh? Who'd she beat... Purrl?" 6She extends a paw. "Sunlit-Dreaming Ying! Hiya!" 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Do you see the older gentleman at the big table? Not the dumpy one. She beat him." [21:20] 6She looks over to the larger table, scans it -- and waves at Stranger enthusiastically. [21:20] 14Stranger smiles and waves back. Ying immediately gets a glare from the attractive, severe woman in black and white seated next to him. [21:21] 6Ying only beams at her in response. To Pearl: "Who's the angry one?" 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz, into her second drink, says to the Ambassador: "She plays well. Seems very serious." 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Oh, who remembers?" [21:23] 6Ying: "I would! Do you think they'd mind if I went ofur there to say hi?" [21:24] The next guest to arrive seems to have been on the ship before by the way she moves through it. Arakesh isn't fond of her, either, but only grumbles something about "short-stuff" before waving her on through. Yarara Yara stomps with purpose into the lounge and makes a beeline for Blossom and Ying's table, gladly hopping into the final empty seat. 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "I'm sure of it." 08[21:24] "I can't believe Eikichi invited me back here for this! I--" She stops and squints at the other woman seated at the table for a half-second, and then: "Ack!" [21:25] 6Ying doesn't bother to clarify whether she's sure they would or wouldn't mind before hopping up to head over and say hi. As she's heading over: "Hey Yara! Be right back, okay?" [21:26] "...Okay?!" [21:26] Yara swivels to Pearl: "You!!" 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo, still nursing his first: "She's very patient. Waiting for a chance to impress people." 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl's smile is slightly frozen in place. "Hello, Yara." [21:27] 6She finds an empty seat at the table and takes it briefly. "Hiya! I'm Sunlit-Dreaming Ying!" 6Two cat ears flick on top of her head. "Purrl told me who Stranger was, but I dunno any of the rest of you!" [21:27] 14The Ambassador nods. "Hiding her true plans. No wonder she was able to seduce a Lunar so--!!" 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl turns to Blossom: "You know Yara?" [21:27] Yara narrows her eyes. "Hello, Pearl." [21:28] 14The Ambassador stares at Ying for a moment. "You're not...actually a cat." 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka looks uneasily at the Ambassador, as if waiting for her to take the lead on animal people etiquette. [21:28] 7Blossom, eyebrows raised. "Of course. She's a friend and guest." [21:28] 6She smiles. "Nope! Won fafur from a goddess by making the purritiest dress!" [21:28] "Is there going to be a problem, here?" 7A fight already? 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "No! Of course not. Yara just resents me because she thinks I don't respect her." [21:29] Yara: "I...uh...no. And I think that because she doesn't!!" 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "But she's wrong. I do respect her. It's her department that's worthless." [21:29] "And I work for that department! And I do my best!" 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl, sadly: "I know." [21:30] Yara: "I'M going to the BAR." [21:30] "I'll be right BACK." [21:30] She stomps off the way she stomped in. 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl gives Blossom a look as if to say, you see? 08[21:32] 7Blossom tilts her head at Pearl. "Do you know Eikichi?" [21:32] Sondok's already meeting Yara as she approaches the corner of the bar. "Good evening, Yarara Yara. Can I get something for you?" 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "My name's Tsuka. It's nice to meet you, Ying." 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Likewise." 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo looks at Ying with slightly crossed eyes, as if he's trying to reconcile one of those strange drawings into a single three-dimensional image. 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> After Kratz nudges him: "Oh. Pleasure." [21:34] "Yes," the tiny Sidereal says, taking a folded, blank piece of paper from inside her robes, running her hand across it, waiting until the suddenly-present ink dried and folding it again. "Could I get a double wodka blackberry, and ask you to put this piece of paper in an empty bottle and throw it over the side of the ship?" [21:35] 6Ying: "Hi Tsuka! And, Likewise and Pleasure...?" 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "I go by Mr. Tellurian. This place is great! How long's the tour? Where do you run?" [21:35] Sondok stops and stares at Yara for a moment, and there's a moment where her eyes might have flashed purple. But Sondok nods and takes the note, then pours the drink. [21:36] Then Yara strides back over to Pearl and Blossom's table with purpose. 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Only by reputation. I've done some research." [21:36] 7Blossom sips her vodka. [21:36] Yara: "I'll BET." She plops herself back down with authority. [21:37] 6Ying: "Oh! We've been all around, came furom up north and have been working around Nexus fur a bit. Ir works all around, though!" [21:38] 14The Ambassador doesn't know quite what to make of Ying, but Stranger is extremely pleasant. "From the north? She wouldn't happen to be from Pneuma, would she?" 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian sinks a little lower in his seat. [21:40] 6She nods excitedly. "Yeah! But we, urm..." 6She eyes them suspiciously. "Well, we furst made our names in Crystal." [21:41] With all the guests arrived, Arakesh wanders over to the bar. Sondok is mysteriously absent, for some reason, but returns shortly. There's one less empty wine bottle behind the counter. 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "Wow, that's wild. You gotta bust your ass to make a name that far out in the sticks. I'm Sober." She isn't. [21:42] 14Stranger blinks. "Well then. There's north and then there's north. I'm sorry, my date accused you of not being a cat--" [21:42] 14The Ambassador: "She isn't." [21:42] 6Sober's close enough that Ying actually reaches out a paw for a shake. Ying doesn't comment on the contradiction. [21:42] 14Stranger: "--but never introduced herself." 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober shakes Ying's hand with enthusiasm. [21:42] 7All this backbiting reminds Blossom of home, which she left for a reason. "So you're both Chosen of the Maidens, then?" [21:43] 14She puts on a wide grin. It's not actually fake, but it is aggressive. "I am the Ambassador of Night and Day. I've had a number of problems with cats in the past. It's nothing personal." [21:43] Yara: "Yeah...different Maidens, though." [21:44] 14The Ambassador: "You not really being one is actually a good thing." [21:46] 6Ying: "Hi, Ambassador!" 6She continues beaming, either ignoring or not even seeing the aggression. "I'd talk with Nyaroshi about your purroblems but I don't think she'd listen to me. Mostly she just ate fish and sunbathed." 6Ooh, that sounds good actually. 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl nods. "How do you two know Eikichi?" [21:47] 6Ying: "So how'd ny'all meet Xia Lan? And who is she? Purrl just said she was better than Eikitty, which is rude and also not helpful." [21:47] 14The Ambassador's grin doesn't even freeze. "She eats fish? Well. Common ground is important." [21:47] Ir continues to play away onstage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM7Jkwqzdts 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Stranger told me a friend of his needed a bodyguard." 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "She bought me dinner before my last show." 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "My boss was a bitch to her." [21:49] 14Stranger: "I met her when..." 14He frowns. Something's fuzzy here. "...I met her when she was getting established in Nexus." 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "I met her in earnest when she came to her first Council meeting. A very lively mind. Much more than her predecessor." 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Officially, I haven't." [21:50] 14Stranger chuckles. "Eventually, we'll have to remedy that. But not yet." [21:50] 6Ying nods at each statement in turn, then frowns at Bubo's. "...huh?" 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Long story. Lot of sneaking around and disguises involved." [21:51] 6Her face lights up. "Oh, those are the best! You'll have to tell me after the show!" 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Oh, I'm afraid not. My apologies." 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Bubo!" 08[21:52] 7Blossom: "I'm part of his Circle." 7Wait, she did her research, but she doesn't recognize Blossom? Did she not read Eikichi's book? [21:53] 6She deflates slightly, but covers it well. "Aw, I get it. Can't go giving away all your secrets." [21:53] Yara sips her drink, perhaps too casually. "I've got work with them." 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo, who's now finished his second drink: "I could tell you, but then they'd have to kill me!" 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz doesn't think this is funny. [21:54] 14Stranger: "Haha!" 14Neither does he. [21:54] 14NOW the Ambassador's smile seems forced. She does actually have a fondness for the little Heaven-serving idiot, against her will. 15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Xia Lan's really good at disguises too. I bet she could give you pointers." [21:55] Ir keeps playing. She hasn't said a word since anyone entered the lounge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXiVENVrkCA [21:55] 6Ying's grin shows some fang. "Or vice-fursa." 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "Any idea how long the warmup is? I guess being unfamiliar territory they're taking their time." [21:58] 14Stranger purses his lips. "I assume it's on them, and she's just showing off." [21:58] "I assume there's a reason she's mistress of ceremonies here." [21:58] 6Ying: "Should be purretty soon, I think. Anyway, sorry to bother ny'all - but I'm glad to know your names! Bye Stranger, Ambassador! Tsuka, Mr. Tellurian, Sober! And Likewise and Pleasure!" 6She waves to the table as she scampers back to the other table and immediately begins lapping away at her milk. [21:59] 6When she's taken a few sips: "So! Hi Blossom, Yara, Purrl! What'd I miss?" [21:59] 14The Ambassador sips her drink as Ying goes. "I suppose I'd describe her style as cat-as-cat-can." 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "That's good. I like that." 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "I was asking how you all knew Eikichi." [22:01] Yara: "And WE were telling the truth." 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Why would you lie?" 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian elbows Bubo. "Does the vibe of that table seem off to you?" [22:01] Yara: "A question you ask every day!!" 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo, sighing: "No, that looks about right." [22:02] 6Ying: "The Circle picked me up in between Crystal and Nexus! We've been insepurrable efur since!" [22:02] Ir carries on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T92R7xjce34 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Oh! You... have a very impressive dedication to wordplay." [22:03] 6Ying: "Huh?" 6She still doesn't get it. [22:06] When Ir finishes her last song, she stands and slightly bows to the audience, ignoring any applause or requests for more music, walking off the stage and motioning Arakesh over. He nods, walks over from the bar to confirm Ir's request, then slips out into the hallway. Ir returns to the aft lounge's little stage. She'll stand there, staring out calmly into the audience, until there's [22:06] silence in the room. 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl, to Yara: "I saw the stunt Siaka pulled in the dispatches. I hope you talked her ear off." Oh! She hushes. [22:07] Meanwhile, Xia Lan hears a rapping upon the door of the room she's borrowed, and an irritable man gruffly say: "Your stage when you're ready." 14[22:07] * Joins: tom 08[22:07] Half a moment later, there's a similar rapping on Eikichi's door. "Challenger is about to take the stage." 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The door opens a crack. "Thanks." [22:07] 13Xia Lan: "Thank you, I'll be out shortly," 13she calls to a presumably empty hallway, puts the finishing touches on her outfit, and strides towards the location of the duel. [22:08] Yara: "I--!!" But she falls silent too. She looks frazzled, but silently smiles to herself. Good timing. [22:11] Ir, once the room is quiet: "Good evening, and thank you all for coming out tonight. There are some old faces in here, some new faces, some unfamiliar faces -- and Sun, two out of three ain't bad." She pauses less for laughter than to set a moment between that sentence and the one that's to follow. "We're here tonight to observe an old rite of tradition, from way back in the day when [22:11] the musical arts were deadly, deadly serious. It's a rite that the Songbird School recognizes but does not permit, so in a way, I'm going against my own bosses here administering it." [22:11] "But special times call for special circumstances. Is there anyone in attendance who requires an explanation of the Game of Bottles?" [22:12] She looks around the room, meeting any set of eyes that don't look away. [22:12] 6Ying looks at her, confused. [22:15] 7Blossom raises a hand. [22:16] Ir meets Ying's gaze and sees Blossom's hand. "I will explain the rules, then. There are six bottles on the stage." [22:19] "These bottles contain special liquors. I have had a hand in procuring some; I have brewed others myself. This is a game of drink-and-play. Each of these liquors will have a strange and special effect on those who drink them. When the contenders enter, there will be a coinflip to determine who chooses the bottle for the first round. The contender who loses the flip will drink from the [22:19] first chosen bottle, then play a song for you, our valued audience. Then the contender who chose will do the same. In the second round, priority will switch." [22:21] "The Game of Bottles is a five-round game, with six liquors. Once started, it cannot end before five rounds have been completed. It will be judged, by agreement of the contenders and the judge herself, by Sondok, Who Stands in Doorways." Ir extends an arm towards where Sondok stands at the bar. [22:21] Sondok bows her head in acknowledgment. [22:22] 6Ying nods slowly, nervously. This is all a lot to take in... [22:22] Ir: "For my part, I have sworn an oath to impartiality, and have agreed to serve as the backing band for both contenders tonight. I certify that I will play to the best of my ability, and that I have done nothing to alter or undermine the liquors as they have been presented. Any who take umbrage with my neutrality may speak with Stranger-Visits-Heaven, as he holds my marker on this [22:22] matter." [22:23] 6Ying looks over to Stranger, questioningly. 08[22:23] 14The Ambassador raises her eyebrows and looks over at Stranger. He laughs nervously. "It was a simple oath-taking, and Xia Lan and Eikichi were both there to see it." [22:26] Ir sits down at the keyharp again. "That is the nature of our contest. With the rules explained, I would like to introduce the visiting contender..." [22:27] Playing a chord. "Reborn again in the desert sands." Another chord. "Selling out all the clubs in Nexus." [22:27] 'Backstage,' Arakesh will have already hustled her into position. [22:28] 13She's been here before. Twice, actually, even if the location was different. [22:28] A third chord. "She is...the Unfettered Xia Lan." A fourth chord as the soft lights everywhere in the aft lounge except the ones over the door cut out, and the fifth chord leads into Ir playing the agreed upon theme. [22:28] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r0UFm-DM7A [22:35] 14Stranger blinks. It wasn't quite the song he was expecting -- nor was this the rendition of it he'd have guessed from this Pneuman bard. [22:37] 13She strides out confidently, wearing an extremely expensive-looking red and gold long coat, frilled neckerchief, and yet more red for both shirt and pants. She's even done her hair up differently for this contest - she looks almost as a general striding onto an unfamiliar battlefield. https://i.imgur.com/n72CS8r.jpg [22:37] 13As she takes her position on the stage, she nods approvingly to Ir for her theme, and then begins sweeping her arms wide, swirling a cape around as befits the villain in a stageplay, eyes focused keenly on the table of unfamiliar faces (and Pearl). Then she turns to the double-table of those she DOES recognize, and bows deeply with a twirl of her hands and a slight curtsy, blowing a kiss to Tsuka with a wink. [22:37] 13Confident to one, cocky to another. Her presence on stage is remarkable. 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka's shoulders are up by his ears. [22:38] 6Ying immediately dislikes her. [22:38] There are two great armchairs on the stage far off to the side, near the steps up and well out of the performing area -- this is where the contenders are expected to sit. Xia Lan has her choice of seat. One's more angular, the other more round, but both seem to offer the same amount of cushioning and comfort. 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo and Kratz applaud; Tellurian whistles; Sober hoots. Pearl just raises her glass of water. [22:38] 14Stranger and the Ambassador both applaud as well. [22:39] 13She takes the angular one without comment or complaint, props a leg up on her knee, and awaits the other entrant. [22:39] If anyone is watching close, a slight, very slight smile creeps onto the edges of Ir's face, as she begins softly playing some rhythmic minor chords. [22:40] "Greetings to the visiting contender," she says. "Now..." 08[22:42] The chords start quiet. "I introduce our main event: the troubadour of trouble, and the ferocity of fashion..." The chords intensify. "He is the favorite author, artist, and hero of Nexus..." Louder. "The angel and the devil..." Ir's anima explodes, and an entire backing band appears on stage wreathed in gold and silver as all the lights cut out again. "EIKICHI SHO!" 15[22:42] * Retrieving #SonsAndDoctors modes... [22:42] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyBxzPeJ1MU [22:43] 14Stranger narrows his eyes. [22:43] 14At least this one isn't judging the contest. [22:44] Usagi jumps up and down on the bartop, spilling a drink she was supposed to be delivering. Arakesh rolls his eyes. [22:44] Sondok simply stands with her arms crossed, no reaction at all. [22:44] 6Ying's turn to hoot and holler. She... huh. Clapping with pawpads is weird, so she stops to just cheer some more. "Yeah!!!" 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He bursts through the curtain in blues and golds, spreading his arms wide in benediction. He bows like this, and halts mid-rise until it looks like he's leaning forward to share a secret with the audience, at which point he winks to his sea of haters before he turns to make eye contact with Blossom, hand over heart. https://78.media.tumblr.com/1dc9235c2bcadc350e0b2937f6eea4ae/tumblr_inline_n7pqwcZRQL1sdabxj.jpg 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10https://78.media.tumblr.com/1dc9235c2bcadc350e0b2937f6eea4ae/tumblr_inline_n7pqwcZRQL1sdabxj.jpg [22:48] Ir hits the last chord hard and slams the keyharp's cover shut, then stalks to the front of the stage. The lights come up once more on the stage; Usagi runs around refilling drinks. Sondok is no longer tending the bar; Arakesh has grumpily taken over there. The demon is sitting at a table of her own, front row, staring. 08[22:49] 13Xia Lan is as calm as a still lake during Eikichi's entrance, but pointedly does not look at him. 08[22:49] Ir: "Xia Lan! Eikichi Sho! This is an arena where only the beauty of sound will prevail! This begins the Game of Bottles!" 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, meanwhile, will sidle up to her. "So tell me the truth." 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "Which of those two old couples is your parents?" [22:51] Ir: "Would the judge please approach!" [22:51] 13She glares at him, brief and unhappy, before smoothing her expression out. "It's actually the the balding one with the long hair and the one over at the other table, if you must know." 08[22:52] 7Blossom, for her part, cheers at the top of her voice for Eikichi. Probably, when the book is written, Eikichi will say that she 'cheered lustily', and Blossom will agree that she was vigorous and hearty. [22:52] Sondok stands up from behind her table and leaps effortlessly onto the stage. She holds a large, old coin in her hand. [22:53] To both contenders: "Step forward!" [22:53] 6Ying just glares at Xia Lan some more. What's she saying to him... [22:53] 13Xia Lan does so emphatically. 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, who does everything emphatically, simply steps forward. [22:56] Sondok, almost bored: "Right of advantage goes to the visitor, by rule. Xia Lan: face or seal?" This is an archiac way of asking 'heads or tails.' [22:56] 13Xia Lan: "Face." [22:57] Sondok shoots the coin into the air and snatches it on the way down, then slams it into her palm. [22:57] "Face." [22:57] Ir: "The visitor chooses whether to drink or sing." 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi rolls his shoulders. [22:57] Sondok hops back down to her table and settles in. [22:57] 5 Xu Sim, an uncharacteristically large bottle of rice wine in his hand, suddenly arrives at the table his companions are sitting at. How long was he waiting back there? None can say for sure. He wiggles a seat into position and takes a position. [22:58] 14Stranger waves him over, and intercedes when Arakesh gets a bit TOO suspicious. 08[23:00] 13She stifles a grin. "Eikichi, grab that gold bottle, would you?" 13Then it's back to the angular armchair. "Let's start off with something fun." 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "...as you wish." [23:01] Ir slips back over to the keyharp. 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He'll walk up, pop the cork on the bottle, and takes a pull. Then he coughs, which makes the burning worse. [23:07] First cut is the deepest. 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks sullenly out at the city skyline beyond the lounge. He's quiet for a long moment before saying, "This is a Nexus song." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwrHwZyFN7M 08[23:17] 7Weren't the bottles supposed to do something? Eikichi doesn't look any different. [23:17] Ir stays on the six-string, with one of her anima ghosts on drums. 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Eikichi looks wistful as he settles into the chair. [23:20] 4Leave tonight or we will die this way. [23:23] 14The young man's song makes Stranger feel a bit more than melancholy. Of course, that wasn't precise the choice he was given. [23:23] 13Xia Lan's up next. Chug the rest of the bottle, check. Feel vaguely uncomfortable about the new emotion the alcohol causes in you, check. And then... She leans over and hums a tune for Ir to match, then belts out: "We're runnin' with the shadows of the night!" 13https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHeZZ00ku7k 08[23:24] 13Something about the multiple singing voices seems to be taking a lot out of her - she tries to hide it but despite the fact that it's a great performance, it clearly doesn't hold a candle to what Eikichi just pulled. [23:25] That's all for 8,1TRAIL SHRINE WHISKEY 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10For his part, Eikichi seems to enjoy it a lot. It gives him a lot of the energy the last song took out of him. 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10You can let me down easy, but not tonight. [23:25] 5 Xu Sim wipes away a tear, and takes a swig of his own, to be sociable as much as anything. By the end of Xia Lan's song, he's thumping a hand on the table. [23:25] 6To Pearl, quietly: "You said she was better," 6accusingly. [23:26] For her part, Ir joins in enthusiastically -- that's part of the problem, actually, as it's unclear when Ir should be handling the harmonies. 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "It's early, yet." 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10After Xia Lan's had her fill of the moment Eikichi will pull himself out of the chair and grab the silver bottle. He looks at Ir. "This one of yours?" [23:27] Ir grins. "Yes and no. It's got history." 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "History is awful. I hate it." 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He turns back to Xia Lan, bottle in hand. "This one." [23:27] Ir: "I know." [23:27] 14,15ROUND TWO: RUSHING ROULETTE [23:28] 13She makes a face, but says nothing as she stands up to take it from him. 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi sits back down, hands folded behind his head. 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10This oughta be good. 08[23:35] 13Then she swigs, and as she goes to set down the bottle she suddenly realizes that she isn't actually holding any such bottle. In fact, she's sitting down, hands behind her... in Eikichi's voice: "Oh, Sun. Not again." [23:36] 7Wait, what? [23:36] Ir blinks, then represses laughter. [23:36] 14Oh no. Well. 08[23:36] 14Let's hope Eikichi Sho doesn't make her out to be a stripper. [23:37] 13That literally already happened once. A second time can't be so bad. 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Meanwhile, Xia Lan looks down at her bottle and says, "Motherfucker." [23:37] 13She springs to his feet - wow, that's weird pronouns - and looks over to... herself. "Hey! Language." 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks back at himself. "You dress like this but you don't swear?" [23:38] Ir looks over at 'Xia Lan,' trying not to crack up: "Yeah...visitor." 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Whatever. Xia Lan's body flounces over to Eikichi's seat and pouts. [23:39] 7Blossom: "I don't get this one." 08[23:39] That's an interesting argument from Eikichi, given how similarly they're dressed. But Ir keeps that to herself. [23:39] 13Xia Lan: "It's an image thing! Look," 13She shakes his head. "Just. Let's get this over with." 13To Ir: "Ready?" [23:39] Yara, chipper: "Oh, they switched bodies." 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The nice thing about sitting back here is that ordinarily Eikichi needs to go to a lot more work to look at his own ass. [23:39] 6Has he tried becoming a cat? 08[23:40] 13Xia Lan as Eikichi: "Well they come and pull me from my house," 13https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ6O7Jk4MXs [23:41] Ir actually takes over on drums herself on this one, with an anima ghost slipping onto the keyharp. [23:41] 7Upon hearing that, Excessively Righteous Blossom leans back on her stool with a look of revulsion and horror. [23:41] "That's a very confusing trick," 5Xu Sim muses, "Are they switching ghosts? Is it just a good illusion?" [23:41] 13Xia Lan: "~I will burn hotter than the sun~" [23:41] 14Stranger: "Oh, they're switching bodies." [23:42] "The magic in the Game of Bottles is pretty strong. And this Ir was calling on much stronger demonic brewers with that silver liquor than maybe she anticipated." 08[23:42] 6Ying taps her claws together. Did she does this on purpose...? It was Eikichi's pick, and Ir's bottles, but...! 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "Haha gross." 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "Imagine feeling a nose full of someone else's snot." [23:46] 14Stranger, mildly: "I don't have to, so I won't." 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Xia Lan feels a hand on Eikichi's shoulder. "I love that song." 10Xia Lan sees herself wink at herself. 08[23:50] 13That's... extremely disconcerting, but kind of hot. "Just... play the song so I can get back in my body, please." 13She obligingly locates Eikichi's body on the chair it belongs to. 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She steps up. "This song is also about Excessively Righteous Blossom." 10Eikichi signals to Ir to get the band rolling. "Lead with the drums." 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10When the band's settled in: "This bloody road remains a mystery..." 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms1YH2B4_lk [23:52] Ir grins, and leads with the drums. [23:54] 13Damn, that's good. She'll file that one away to play... later. 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "And with the power of conviction~ there is no sacrifice~" [23:57] 6To Pearl, again: "Still not seeing it." 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10When the round ends, Eikichi snaps back to his own body. It's surprisingly disorienting being slightly taller and not needing to lean back as much. 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl, darkly: "Oh where does he get the nerve--" 08[23:58] 13As Eikichi finishes up, he finds himself suddenly back in an armchair, and Xia Lan manages not to stumble as she returns to herself. To Ir: "The Red." 08[23:58] 13Then she gestures to Eikichi, on her way to her own chair. [23:59] 4,1ROUND THREE: WHINE 15[23:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "I just sat down," 10protests Eikichi. But rules is rules. [23:59] 7Blossom, mollified through being sung about, pesters Pearl: "What's this next bottle?" Session Time: Sat Apr 14 00:00:01 2018 [00:01] Yara smugly answers instead. "Whine." 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Whine. The centaurs of the Great Southeastern Savannah brew it. Fills you with dissatisfaction." [00:01] Yara: "That's an ADEQUATE description." 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi drinks, and almost spits it back up. "AUGH" 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "WHO WOULD DRINK THIS" [00:06] 7Blossom: "These drinks don't sound very good." 08[00:07] 6Ying makes a face. "This is purrobably her fault somehow. Eikichi would make sure they were sweet." 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10In his mind, Eikichi's back on the Blessed Isle, disgust and disappointment swelling up in him. [00:08] Ir just sits at the keyharp, waiting for instruction. [00:08] 13Xia Lan, for her part, sits demurely, checking her nails. [00:08] 13(Immaculate, by the way.) [00:08] 13((Not that one.)) 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Play something with spiders crawling up its spine." [00:09] Ir twiddles the minor keys in 8/6 time, with triplet rests. 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Memories consume..." 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZmZ-Uh_zMQ 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I like this one." [00:11] 13Of course he does. [00:11] 13Not that she heard that. [00:11] 14Stranger: "You like the simplicity of its answers." [00:11] "...Maybe I do too." [00:12] 6Ying whispers to Blossom: "how is he doing that with his voice" 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10After he's done yelling he slumps back in his chair, letting his hair fall in front of his face. It's like he's back home. [00:14] 13Xia Lan listens with a pinched expression on her face before taking her swig. She immediately sours, but then -- huh. Huh. At the head of the stage: "So I learned this one from a friend." 13Another lean over to Ir to get her the basic tune, then she cuts in when it feels right. "I've been long, a long way from here..." 13https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChYK2aE0znk [00:15] Ir catches on uncannily quick. [00:15] Maybe this one resonates with her for some reason. 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl, to Ying: "None of this squares with what my department has on him." [00:15] 13She's way into this one, actually. "If it makes you happyyyyyyyyy, it can't be that baaaaaa~d! If it makes you happyyyyyyyy, then why the hell are you so sad?" [00:16] It can't be that bad... [00:16] 4Why the hell are you so sad? 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober goes nuts at the conclusion of this one, getting up on the table to hoot and holler. "KICK HIS ASS KICK HIS ASS" [00:17] Arakesh just leans on the bar. It's hard to place his expression. He's no longer scowling. 08[00:18] 13As Xia Lan finishes, she grins to Sober and offers her a quick thumbs up, before returning to her armchair. Eikichi's turn to pick the drink. [00:19] 5 Xu Sim claps vigorously. "This... whips," 5he says, struggling for the word. 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi picks up the brown one and frowns. Then he picks up the black one and scowls. Finally it's the pink he extends to Xia Lan. [00:19] 13Too damn right. [00:19] 14Stranger: "You're godsdamn right it does." [00:19] 13,14ROUND FOUR: HOMECOMING ROSÉ [00:20] 13She takes it gingerly, drains half of it, and waits for the effects... [00:21] Ir sits at the keyharp without moving. This one's gonna be tough. [00:24] 13This... huh. Wow, this is a weird one. After some whispered instructions to Ir, she turns her focus squarely to... Blossom? 08[00:25] 7Blossom, her glass empty, pounds the bar with fury. "Eikichi! Destroy her!" [00:25] "Primadonna girl, yeah, all I ever wanted was the world..." 13https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8httDjxJqI [00:25] Ir is nothing if not brilliant in her backing. [00:26] 13This is actually Xia Lan's best performance yet, too, which some distant part of her is upset by, but she can deal with that later. "And I'm sad! To the core, core, core! Every day, is a chore, chore, chore..." [00:28] Ir's been getting into it more and more on both sides. [00:28] 5 Xu Sim takes a healthy swig of the wine, offering Stranger, Ambassador, and Tsuka the same. [00:28] 13She keeps singing, til the end, and then she sort of... turns beet red and hurries back to her seat. "Sorry," she mouths to Tsuka. [00:28] 14Stranger takes it. 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka will drink. He glowers down at his glass. 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi staggers up and drinks. He grimaces and glowers, and then looks at the big table. [00:30] 14Stranger winks back before downing his wine. 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He'll hop down and get close to them, leaning in letting his eyes glide across them. 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10His gaze settles on Tsuka, who stares stonily back. "Too easy." 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then his gaze arrives at Stanger. "Too fussy." 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Stranger* [00:31] 14Stranger: "Ahaha. You are." 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then he looks at Xu Sim and his eyes light up. "Oh yes. Ohhhhhhh yes." [00:32] 13Ying practically hisses. "What's he doing..." [00:32] 14That's when Stranger starts outright cackling. 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ir!" [00:32] 6Ying practically hisses. "What's he doing..." 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "Make the keyharp bounce." [00:32] Ir: "Yep." [00:32] She grins. "I can do that." 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's~ not~" 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtklZ171mNI [00:32] She snaps her finger, and Iscariot slithers inside the instrument... 08[00:33] The moonsilver wraps around the harpstrings, and gives Eikichi just the effect he's looking for. [00:33] 13Xia Lan shrinks in her seat. [00:34] 5 Xu Sim shifts as stoically as one can in such a situation. 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "I've got to hand it to you~ you played by all the same rules~ it takes the truth to fool me~ and now you've made me angry~" 08[00:36] Ir spends as much of the song staring at Xu Sim as Eikichi does. It's not as good as Xia Lan's entry, but it gets a point across. [00:36] 13Xia Lan, without getting up from her chair: "Black." [00:36] 15,1ROUND FIVE: CASKET OIL 15[00:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's much more energized after this one than he was after the last. But when Xia Lan says that it all melts away. 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh." [00:37] Ir justs grimaces and looks at the floor. [00:37] 14Stranger leans back and stares at the ceiling. [00:37] 13Xia Lan doesn't exactly looked thrilled at it herself. But she needs to do this. [00:39] 13...also there's a light on her forehead that wasn't there before the previous round. This is clearly taking more effort than either previous contest. 15[00:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi drinks, gags, and drops the bottle. But nothing spills as the black bottle spins and settles back on its bottom like a half-spun coin. Grief has a way of finding its own level. 15[00:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "Can I, um. I'll be right back." [00:43] Ir: "...Drinks for everyone." [00:43] 13Xia Lan nods, understanding. 15[00:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi returns after a minute with his own humble wooden six-string. 15[00:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10And then he just sits in the chair. [00:43] Ir nods in understand. Should she get off the stage? [00:44] *understanding 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi nods. 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He spends a minute tuning the six-string in silence. [00:44] She heads over to where Arakesh is standing and melts into his arms. 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "What's he doing?" 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Oh, dear." [00:45] 14Stranger: "Never bet on black." [00:45] 6Ying rocks back and forth, unsure of what to say. 15[00:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "There's the part you've braced yourself against, and then... there's the other part..." 15[00:45] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at53K__LcYc [00:45] 5 Xu Sim is just sort of keeping his mouth shut at this point. [00:46] 14There's the other part. 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "Let the audience track me from the footlights to the wings. Let me set aside an hour or two in memory of sweet things." [00:48] 14Lay down on the street, my eyes toward the Sun; your star next to my face. [00:49] 14Balor is dead, isn't he? [00:51] 13After a few moments of respectful silence, Xia Lan stands, takes the bottle, examines it... and drains it. [00:52] 13She breathes heavily, then beckons Ir back up to the stage. "Drums," 13she rasps. [00:52] Ir's got drums. 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl discreetly dries her eyes. [00:52] She's got all these ghosts on drums, if Xia Lan wants them. [00:53] 13She starts off without them. "I am stretched on your grave, and I'll lie here forever / If your hands were in mine, I'd be sure they would not sever..." 13https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95I7t1znYFk [00:54] 13Eyes closed, lost in the song: "Do you remember the night? Oh, the night that we were lost..." 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi buries his face in his hands. [00:55] Ir is weeping by the time the first verse is done, but the percussion is immaculate. [00:55] 13When she finishes, she - crumples, more or less. Stumbles back to her chair and just. Heaves. [00:55] 6Ying doesn't even have a catty comment for this one. [00:55] 5Xu Sim is face down on the table. [00:56] A moment passes, then another, then another. Then Sondok, Who Stands in Doorways, walks up to the stage. She does not leap, this time. 15[00:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz's face is in Bubo's shoulder. Tellurian and Sober are holding hands under the table. [00:56] 14Stranger and the Ambassador look...distant. Almost like the song made them angry, but they're keeping it down. 15[00:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10After some silence, Xia Lan feels a hand on her shoulder. [00:58] Sondok strides to the center of the stage. "The pact is sealed; the deal is fulfilled. The Game of Bottles is over. Victory, such as it is, goes to the Unfettered Xia Lan." [00:58] And then the party really got going. [01:00] NEXT TIME: Denouement 14[02:28] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[02:30] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:13] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[08:56] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[15:38] * Joins: Crion| 14[15:56] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:31] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:53] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[19:57] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:14] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[20:27] * Joins: Crion| 14[22:01] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:16] * Joins: Crion| 14[22:20] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sun Apr 15 00:00:00 2018 14[01:07] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[01:39] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:05] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[10:00] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[11:35] * Joins: Crion| 14[11:47] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:16] * Joins: Crion| 14[12:38] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:56] * Joins: Crion| 14[13:08] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:31] * Joins: Crion| 14[14:37] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:39] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:03] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:00] * Joins: Crion| 14[17:31] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:48] * Joins: tom 14[19:27] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Fri Oct 28 10:26:50 2033 Session Time: Sun Apr 15 19:47:22 2018 14[19:58] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[20:20] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:51] * Joins: Crion| Session Time: Mon Apr 16 00:00:00 2018 14[02:32] * Joins: tom 14[03:22] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[03:32] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[05:53] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:29] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[10:02] * Joins: Crion_ 14[10:02] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:11] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) [20:38] [20:38] [20:38] [20:38] [20:38] [20:38] [20:38] 14[20:38] * Crion_ is now known as Crion [20:40] Once the victor has been declared, Ir grabs all six of the empties and tosses them in the sink. Usagi's cheerfully moved on to dishwasher, as Sondok is back behind the bar. No more table service except for large orders, but by now everyone should be pretty well sloshed. Ir, on the other hand, after exchanging a, uh, quick peck with Arakesh, heads back to the kitchen range section of [20:40] the bar and begins steaming up some dumplings. [20:41] The steaming process itself takes the usual dozen minutes or so, but Ir's hands move like a blur as she molds and spices the ground pork and shapes it into the little dough pockets. [20:43] 7Blossom stands, stalks to the nearest empty table, and with a furious snarl flips it over with a crash! She hurls her glass and the remains of her vodka against the floor, and stalks toward the exit. [20:44] Ir, over her shoulder as she leaves: "You're cleaning that up, babe." [20:45] Arakesh certainly isn't gonna get in her way, though. [20:46] 13The Unfettered Xia Lan stays in her seat, staring morosely at the floor, remembering Kana Kavu. The song was heartwrenching for the audience... even worse for its singer. 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's head snaps up as Blossom storms out, withdrawing his hand from Xia Lan's shoulder with a wince. [20:48] Usagi hops down from the sink to trundle over and start cleaning, but Ir stops her. "Meant what I said. No call to go destroying my lounge over a battle fairly won." [20:48] 7Blossom: "FINE!" 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "Congratulations," 10he mumbles to her as he forces himself to stand and then walks - slowly, carefully - in the direction Blossom left in. [20:48] 6Ying, for her part, startles at the sound of the broken glass and moves as if to scamper after Blossom... but then just shifts back in her seat uncomfortably. [20:48] 7She will clean it up... after everybody's left and she's done having a tanty. [20:48] 13Xia Lan: "Thanks," 13equally mumbled. [20:49] That's all Ir's asking. [20:49] 14Stranger watches the scene unfold in silence. 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl sees all this and nods primly to Yara. Ah, isn't this always the way? [20:49] "I'm glad I'm not that irrational," 14says the Ambassador off-handedly. Stranger is a steady enough hand not to wince or smile. [20:50] Yara just shakes her head. "Wasting good wodka." 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo looks around nervously and raises a glass. "To Xia Lan!" [20:50] 14Stranger nods and raises his glass, as does the Ambassador. "To Xia Lan." 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is Blossom heading to her room? [20:52] 13Her head whips up, pulling her from her thoughts, and she quickly stands up to make her way over to the double table, false bravado on her face. "Well... I won, just as I always knew I would." 13She grabs a seat and pulls it up next to Tsuka, after seeing how he looks. Upset? Nervous? 08[20:53] 6Ying: "Um... well, Yara, Purrl, do you want to head over to the other table? I think Eikichi and Blossom are gonna be gone fur a while..." 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> He's got that stoic face he puts on when he tries to look like he's not upset. It needs some work. [20:53] Ir's determined to maintain a good mood. To both keep the party involved and get people away from the broken glass on the floor, she'll ask everyone to come together at the big table, and set aside two tables on the perimeter for people who want to sit apart -- all far away from the wreckage of where Blossom was just sitting. 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Is anyone going to talk to her?" [20:54] Then she tables four serving woks full of dumplings, each a slightly different pork mix from a different direction, with salty soy sauce, bowls, and chopsticks for everyone. 08[20:55] To Pearl: "Eikichi will handle it, and they'll be back soon enough. Or she'll storm back in here and I'll shove a mop in her hand." 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "Ohohohell yes." 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl looks down the corridor and then back at Ir as if she wants to say, Really? But instead she just sighs and - gracefully stepping past the mess - takes a seat next to Sober. [20:57] 7Can't have a proper tanty if you don't storm off to your room. Stereos don't exist so it doesn't quite work for her, but the basic principle is the same everywhere. [20:57] 13On seeing his face, she reconsiders. "Actually, Tsuka, babe, can we go outside for a sec?" 13Wow, there is pretty much no way to make that sound comforting instead of alarming. 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi sang Linkin Park like 45 minutes ago. Can't even front. 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He knocks. "Ir made dumplings." [20:58] To the big table: "Everyone, dig in. This wok has spicy Northern pork, Pneuman style. The one across from it is an even spicer Southern pork -- milder up front, but much longer burn on the back of the mouth. A sweet, understated Eastern pork is in the wok in the eastern position, and in the western wok, there's a vegetarian dumpling offering with potatoes, cheese, and chives." 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "You mean you're a master chef too??" [21:00] 7A quiet, surly voice: "14Did you bring any." [21:00] An aggressive grin: "You're damn right I am." Ir then heads back up to the stage; she's already snagged a bowl of her own, seasoned to her preference, and whips out Iscariot again. She's the after-party entertainment, too. 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "...gimme a minute." 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka gets up wordlessly, though he spares a long look for those dumplings as Xia Lan leads him away. 08[21:00] If Eikichi heads back to the lounge, Arakesh is waiting with a bowl full of some dumplings Ir thinks Blossom would like. [21:01] Meanwhile, on stage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx-CyKNOjOQ [21:01] Iscariot cycles through four or five different types of six-string as Ir plays, and her ghostly backup band supplies the rest. [21:01] 14Stranger arches an eyebrow. "And this is your Circle's Dawn Caste?" 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi will take them gratefully, mumbling thanks before walking back. 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10At Blossom's door: "Dumpling boy." [21:02] 6Ying sets up shop pretty much immediately near the eastern kind, piling them onto her plate and picking them off her claws decadently. Then she grins to Stranger, showing all teeth. "Yep! She's purretty much the best. Dunno where Bergsveinn is, but we ran around with him fur a while, too... hope he's doing okay." [21:03] 14He shakes his head. "Ours is much more, ah, traditional. I suspect he's out raiding his precious ruin again tonight." [21:04] 13Xia Lan, once they're out of earshot from anyone eager to pry: "I don't think I want to do another one of these," 13she starts. 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Yeah?" 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "How are you?" 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "It's a shame he didn't make it. I'd have liked to see what he's like if he relaxes," [21:06] 7Blossom: "14Come in." 7When he does, she's lying on her bed glaring at the ceiling. [21:06] 13Xia Lan: "I'm doing fine, I mean, tipsy, but... what about you?" 13She looks at him closer - hair drops over one of her eyes and she has to flip it away. "Was it... fun to watch, at least?" [21:07] 6Ying: "Wow! I've nefur been on a tomb raid... this is nermal for him?" 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You look like you're trying to burn a hole in the ceiling." [21:08] 14Stranger waves a chopstick. "I don't think he ever does." 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Oh, he must, surely." [21:10] 14To Ying: "The thing about this tomb in particular is that he's already raided it. Indeed, he owns it...but it has a wondrous First Age technology that allows him to use it over and over again as a sort of, exercise crucible. What was it he called it, Xu Sim? 'VR Training?'" 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka folds his arms and looks out over the balcony. "I don't like that game." [21:11] 6Her face scrunches up in the first indication of disgust she's ever shown tonight. Then she pops another dumpling in her mouth and all is forgiven. "So he just. Fights fur fun?" [21:11] 7Blossom, clenching her fists: "You were robbed!" [21:12] 13Xia Lan: "How come?" 13She's liable to agree to him, after that one. The other two were... well, this one was more frivolous, and yet heavier than the other two. [21:12] 14Stranger: "He fights to make himself stronger. However, he finds making himself stronger fun. So." [21:12] 14These dumplings are amazing. The Ambassador has loaded up on the spicy ones. [21:13] 6Another face, another dumpling to smooth it out. "I don't think we'd get along furry well." 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi sits down at Blossom's feet, holding the dumplings in his lap. That way she'll have to sit up. Delightfully devilish, Eikichi. "What do you mean?" [21:15] 14Stranger shrugs. "Perhaps not. I am generally or specifically opposed to whatever it is he wants to do much of the time, and yet we find common enough ground." 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "The first time it made sense. You made an actual deal with an actual demon. The second time, I don't know, you were really mad and wanted to try and humble Stranger. But this was over nothing. A suit of clothes! You just beat yourself up for fun. You got a stranger to beat himself up for fun." 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "For an audience." [21:17] 13Xia Lan: "...yeah." 13It seemed like a good idea at the time. [21:17] 6Ying: "I mean, we get stronger to purrtect the ones we love, but... just fur the sake of it? I don't get it." 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "How did- how did you even get him to agree to it? I know you didn't lie, so how stupid is he?" 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Keldar has his merits." [21:19] Ir moves over to the keyharp. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aONhJtYqPAs [21:19] 13Xia Lan: "I think he's just as stupid and vain as I am. We both wanted the outfits, and if you don't think about the effects of the drinks, a drinking and singing contest sounds like a fun way to settle things. And it... was? Kind of? Until it super, super wasn't." [21:19] 14Stranger: "He does." [21:19] 14The Ambassador sniffs. "He's an effective, powerful, indomitable, disrespectful, moronic cur." [21:20] 6Ying seems confused. "And... he's your furiend?" [21:20] 14Stranger: "He is our comrade." 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo smiles behind his glass. [21:22] 7Blossom looks back at him like 'what are you talking about'. "You should have won, you were better." 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "Now I feel like I know Keldar better than I know you, Ying, and I've met you. Tell us about yourself." 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi smiles. "I'm glad you thought so." [21:22] 6Ying: "Hmm." 6Another dumpling. These are so good... "You should get him to relax, then! Take a day to bathe in the sun, play around with some yarn balls, go fishing..." 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I've seen three of them now, and they all ended like that." 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't understand it." [21:24] 14Stranger chuckles. "He'd do all that, get grumpy and competitive about it, enjoy himself, and go right back to being the man he was before." [21:24] 6To Mr. Tellurian: "Oh! I'm a clothier in Nexus! And also the ship, I guess, more furequently. One time I beat the Chosen of Fashion in a contest to make the purretiest dress for the Chosen of Cats!" [21:24] "And it's not on us to change him. He can change if he wishes to, and he is quite useful as he is now." 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "You make clothes, huh?" What is Ying wearing now? [21:26] Actually pretend this is the version Ir played. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOquxvXSR6Q [21:27] 6A nice white dress, fairly simple and with a modest cut, along with a red-brown ruffled jacket and some nice boots. https://i.imgur.com/bNzolxp.jpg [21:27] 13Xia Lan: "I wonder how much of that is the nature of the contest and how much is just..." 13She trails off. [21:28] 7She gets up to sit on the side of her bed, and begins sulkily eating some of the dumplings. 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Just what?" [21:30] 13Xia Lan: "Who picked the final bottle the other two times? I don't remember." 13Not necessarily an answer. [21:30] When Ir begins to play this song, a faceless ghost with a cello appears seated behind her. There's something...maritime, about his outfit. And unlike the rest of her ghosts, this one is a man. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUjWJSnGVB0 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I was a little worried about you. Room full of weird strangers, me doing something stupid, and you had to keep up face. If I wanted to make something up specifically to annoy you that was pretty good." 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Vladok did the first time. You did the second." 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Just what?" 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "What kind of dress does a cat like anyway?" [21:35] 14Stranger: "Catslip." [21:35] 13Xia Lan: "I think maybe that's just. Me." 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "You think it got sad because of you?" [21:37] 6Ying: "I think I still have the sketches somewhere around if you want to see! But she had to be able to move, it had to be flashy so people would look... aaaaand also I put in a cute lil cat-themed umbrella so she'd stay dry." [21:37] 14The Ambassador leans over. "You're not one for puns, dear. Leave it to the professionals." [21:38] 13Xia Lan: "I'm willing to hear other reasons, but yeah, pretty much." [21:39] Ir moves on to a new song. The ghost remains. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Dakd7EIgBE 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He puts his arm around Blossom. "I'm glad you were there, though." 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "You saw those bottles. Who makes grieving a dead loved one happy?" 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "What else are you great at? Ir's a musician and a chef, you're a clothier and..." [21:44] 13Xia Lan: "There was another one. I could've picked it." 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "You didn't put it there. And it wasn't the only bottle like that." [21:45] 6Ying: "Doctor! Purretty good at it too, though I don't, er, look like a cat when I do that." 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "You mean you're not like that all the time?" [21:46] 13Xia Lan, stubbornly: "But I did pick it. And I didn't have to." [21:46] There's a saying for what Xia Lan's going through right now. Ir's too absorbed in what she's doing and too nice to say it, though. [21:48] 6She shakes her head. "Defurnitely not." 6Something off in her tone, quickly replaced with her normal cheer. "Had to meditate to get it juuuust right!" 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "It doesn't matter. The game's the game. The only decision you made that mattered was whether to play. And he made that too. What's his name. And so did Stranger, and so did Vladok." 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "The game is what does that." [21:48] Play hideous games; win hideous prizes. 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "What a rip." 08[21:50] 13Xia Lan: "Eikichi. And... maybe." 13She's at least willing to consider it. "I guess there's a reason it's a devil's game." [21:50] 6She bristles. "What's that suppawsed to mean?" [21:51] Ir soldiers on. Arakesh is drinking a double straight rye whiskey. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P94DusN4LsY 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "A part-time cat? Where's your commitment? Where's the passion?" [21:52] 6Ying: "Hey, if I could do it all the time I would!" 08[21:52] 7Blossom leans into Eikichi's hug. "Uurgh. I'm gonna have to wait until everybody leaves now." 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober: "A real cat wouldn't make excuses." 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl: "Sober!" [21:53] 14The Ambassador: "Indeed. You should learn from Sober's example, and become a full-time ass." 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I'll stay with you, then." 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "But I bet if we went back out there and apologized, you'd survive." 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "We might even make a new friend! I bet you and that old guy who's pretending to be blind would hit it off." [21:56] 6Ying deflates. "Yeah. A real cat wouldn't." [21:57] 14The Ambassador rolls her eyes. "Real cats make excuses all the time." [21:57] 14And then the Ambassador turns into a black and white tabby and uses Sober's head as a springboard to jump onto the stage. [21:58] 14She mrowls from onstage, and Stranger deadpans: "She says she's sorry. You just looked so jumpable." [21:59] 6Ying looks at the Ambassador with newfound interest. 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Sober musses up her hair, which the Ambassador's leap had somehow incidentally straightened. "Eh. It happens." [21:59] 14The Ambassador hops atop the keyharp and begins grooming herself as Ir begins a new song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0tBS_IAX-M [22:01] 6Ying sighs wistfully. "Efurry time I try that, someone hisses at me for taking up too much space on the tabbyle." [22:02] 13Xia Lan: "How about you, though? How are you doing? Before we head back inside and finally get those dumplings." [22:04] 5 Xu Sim stops fiddling with his steambreather for a moment. "I don't know what in all the hells of the Y-ah, what in Heaven's name a Vee Arr is, but the manse has quite an impressive capacity to generate illusions, beguile the senses, and - unfortunately - roast people alive." [22:04] 5 He exhales an absolutely enormous cloud of vapor. [22:05] 14Stranger nods solemnly. "I did not ask the provenance of his meaning." 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "...I'm okay. We should hurry, though. They might be out of dumplings by now." [22:06] 13Is he really? [22:07] They will not be out of dumplings, by the way. [22:07] Ir takes a brief intermission... 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> He's okay. He'll be doing better when he can take his mind off this. 08[22:07] 7Blossom, attempting to bargain with Eikichi for some reason: "What if I just go down and clean up the mess but don't say anything." [22:08] 13She smiles, then. "Let's go get some dumplings and I'll never do one of these again." [22:08] And returns with sufficient dumplings to refill what's been eaten, accounting for remaining appetites, along with new rounds for everyone. 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "That'd make everyone uncomfortable." 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "If you wanna do that, I can open the door and we can scream at each other. Our voices will carry and they won't even need to see you." [22:10] 5 Xu Sim nods at Stranger's statement, inhaling again on the steambreather. [22:11] 6Ying: "...what is that?" [22:12] 5 He puffs again on it. "This is a steambreather, my own invention." 5 He exhales another cloud that glitters faintly in the air. "By all means, be my guest," 5he says, offering it to her. [22:12] 6She makes a face. "Erm... no thank you." [22:13] "Aren't you at least a little curious?" 5he asks, his cheeks the slightest red from the rice wine. 14[22:14] * Joins: Crion| 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan and Tsuka return then. Sober raises a mug. "Born champion right here!" [22:14] 6Ying looks over to Stranger. He seems trustworthy. What does he feel about this... steambreather? [22:15] "No, no, no, don't look at him - he's about to say, 'don't be an ass, Xu Sim,' in a very serious voice, like he's had a lot of practice saying that one sentence!" 5protests the sorceror with a laugh. [22:16] 13Xia Lan smiles and bows slightly, then maneuvers some seats for her and Tsuka next to Sober. "Well! That was... an event?" 13she tries, loading a plate up with the southern-styled dumplings. In a very serious voice: "Don't be an ass, Xu Sim. I don't even know what the context is." 08[22:16] 7Blossom lets out a long hffff. She really wants to just stay in bed until everybody leaves. But Eikichi's here, and he has expectations for her. Staying would be letting him down... "Okay, I'll do it." [22:16] 6Ying looks helplessly between Xia Lan, Xu Sim, and Stranger. 08[22:17] 6Wait, she beat Eikichi, what does she know about taste. "I'll try it! How does it work?" 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Sing-song: "There's more dumplings~" [22:18] 14Stranger smiles slightly: "He knows what he's talking about, but needs to be watched closely." [22:18] "But he shouldn't be an ass." [22:19] "Stabbed in the back! Betrayed! Hopelessly - ahh, of course -- it's not too different from smoking any other thing, but instead of smoke, it produces a sort of steam! So you simply hold down the little button here, which brings the filter and firedust into place, and then take a deep breath of it." 5explains the doctor. [22:19] 13Xia Lan just shakes her head and starts digging into the dumplings. Delicious. What kind does Tsuka prefer? [22:20] "All right, all right. That's not the reason why I'm doing this, though." 7She'll head toward the door like she's going into battle, head back to the lounge, and after taking a handbroom and dustpan from Usagi, mutters loudly enough to carry: "Sorry, everyone." 7Then she starts cleaning up. 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka favors the spicy Southern dumplings. [22:21] 6Ying furrows her brow. "This button, and th- hi Blossom!" 6Ying waves, briefly, but quickly returns to the steambreather. "Okay so..." 6She holds the thing up to her mouth, presses the button, and inhales. [22:21] 6What's its flavor? [22:22] 5 Frankincense and ginger. [22:23] Ir pauses at the end of her piece, then nods for Usagi to help her. Too proud and too repentant by half. She could have just done it later. [22:23] 6She quickly returns the object to Xu Sim and exhales a cloud of... whatever that thing creates. "Um. Not my thing, sorry. But not as bad as they made it out to seem." 6She gives a dirty look to Xia Lan. [22:24] 7YES SHE COULD HAVE, BUT SOMEONE HAD TO THINK SHE'S GREAT [22:24] 13Xia Lan ignores it in favor of eating more dumplings and ensuring that Tsuka has a steady stream. "I missed it, who made these? These are amazing," 13she says just after finishing one. [22:24] At this point, Ir will descend from the stage, motioning for the Ambassador to join them, and take a seat at the table alongside Arakesh. There are enough seats for everyone now. [22:24] 4Ir: "I did." [22:25] 13Xia Lan nods gratefully. "Compliments to the chef." [22:25] 4Ir grins. "I get too many already. Just dig in." [22:26] "Did you spend time in the south? These are..." 13'Authentic' seems like a loaded term. "The best parts of home," 13she settles on, before digging back in. [22:27] 4Ir: "Spend time, no. Learned some stuff from travellers, yeah." [22:27] "Glad they taste right." 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi follows a few minutes after Blossom, dressed down in blues and golds, his hair pulled back. "So..." 10he says, still incredibly drunk. "Best two out of three?" [22:28] 13Xia Lan: "Better than right. Most people used the heat to cover up just how bad the ingredients were, this is actually incredible and the spiciness is just a part of it." [22:29] 13It takes Xia Lan a moment to process. "You want to do that... again." [22:29] 4This time Ir blushes and bows her head to hide it. [22:29] 6Ying hisses. 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, though, makes no motions towards the stage, instead taking a seat and filling two bowls with dumplings. "Sure, why not. Didn't you have fun too?" [22:30] 14Stranger finishes a dumpling. "I might be livelier game." [22:30] 13She glances back to Tsuka. "...for a while. That last drink was a real mood killer." [22:31] "You poor devils are going to drink our friend Vladok out of business," 5 suggests Xu Sim. [22:31] 4Ir grunts. "I'm brewmaster enough for it." 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "The last drink was perfect. I don't think you pull it out without singing from the heart like that. And if you don't pull it out it's the worst kind of comeback." [22:32] "I'm out, anyway. Future shows won't involve magic liquors... maybe regular liquors." [22:32] "Brewmaster?" 5 Xu Sim's moustache twitches. [22:32] 13Flatly: "I relived the worst moment of my life. I assume you did too. I'd be happy to sing, but I'm done competing for the evening." 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Pain is just weakness leaving the body." 08[22:33] 6Ying: "Eikichi, you're a doctor. You know that isn't true." 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka is busily stuffing his face rather than participating in this conversation. [22:33] 13Xia Lan: "Thank you, cat girl. I agree." [22:34] 6Ying bristles, but does not rise to the bait. 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Did you tell them the conversation we had when you challenged me?" [22:34] 7Blossom, through a mouthful of dumpling: "It is though!" [22:34] 13Warningly: "Don't." [22:35] "The most painful experiences known to everday people are kidney stones and childbirth. Neither kidney stones nor infants contain the essence of weakess, though," 5 points out Xu Sim. 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "'I'll sing you into the dirt, pretty boy.'" [22:36] 13Xia Lan shrinks back in her seat and shoves another dumpling in her mouth. 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Xu Sim: "How much alchemy have you done with infants and kidney stones?" [22:38] 6Ying: "Wow! Gross!" [22:39] "Infants humans, not so much. Kidney stones, though, yeah a decent amount," 5he says with a shrug. [22:40] 13Xia Lan: "You never cease to disgust me. Could you at least not do it while I'm eating?" 08[22:40] 4Ir: "But while I'm brewmaster enough for it, Eikichi, I'd thank you not to assume my participation if someone's bothered by the outcomes." [22:40] "There's reasons this is a demon game." 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Gods, that really sucked the life out of everyone, didn't it?" [22:41] 6Ying: "Maybe you can just... play on stage? Fur fun? You both were puretty good..." [22:41] 4Ir: "If you believe that, then maybe you should ask yourself why you're fine." 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Xia Lan: "Was it this gloomy all those other times you won?" [22:41] "'Fine.'" 14[22:42] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:42] 14Stranger listens intently. [22:42] "Don't pretend to be so faint-hearted, Xia Lan," 5suggests Xu Sim. [22:42] 13Xia Lan: "Yeah, pretty much. First time more than the second, but," 13she gestures to Mr. Tellurian, Pearl, and Sober, "They had a going-away party the second time." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "But they're still here." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo snorts. [22:43] 13Xia Lan looks to the three. "What's up with that, anyway." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Pearl, hastily: "Unforseen circumstances at the home office." [22:43] 13Deadpan: "So there you have it." [22:44] Yara makes an adorable smirking face. [22:44] 6Ying: "I guess we're not the only ones causing purroblems." 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi sees Yara. "Oh no. Them too?" [22:45] Yara transitions to nodding very seriously. [22:45] 4Ir rolls her eyes. 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I'll say this for Heaven. Whoever does hair out there is phenomenal." [22:46] 14The Ambassador, still a cat, has draped herself across Stranger's neck like a big, mean neckwarmer. [22:46] 14He's being very delicate with his movements. [22:46] 13Xia Lan: "Oh thank the Sun, it wasn't just me." 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "Anyway, a kidney stone is just a bezoar that's retired. Nothing unseemly about it, unless you're standing under some groaning old man with a tray." [22:48] 14Stranger sips his drink. "Well. There's an image." [22:49] 6Ying: "Furankly it's even worse." [22:49] 13Xia Lan: "Wonderful. Let me finish these dumplings before you talk any further about gross old men, thanks." 13She's most of the way through her platter. [22:49] 5 Xu Sim claps his knees and laughs. "The difference is, you can at least use a bezoar as an antidote to poison. Good luck using a kidney stone to treat a poisoning!" 5 he laughs again. It's only a little unsettling. [22:49] 13How's Tsuka doing on his? [22:50] 14That means he's tried. [22:50] 7Blossom has been downing more vodka at a perhaps unseemly rate. "You should... you should cultivate your Essence to overcome poisons. Then you wouldn't need antidotes." 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka's eating more slowly than Xia Lan, mainly because you can only eat dumplings so fast when you're trying to angrily stab them with chopsticks. [22:50] 5 He said, he had some experience with it. [22:50] 13...is he still mad at Xia Lan? Because he has a right to, but also they could have talked about this outside... [22:51] 4When Blossom gets refills, Ir will step behind the bar herself. 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> No, it's like he calmed down and then got mad again. [22:52] 4She brings out bespoke refills for the whole table. 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's drinking water now anyway. He wisely got high in his room before coming back out. [22:54] 13Xia Lan pats Tsuka reassuringly, and restocks him on dumplings. 08[22:57] 4Eikichi gets water, then. Such is the power of "Bespoke." 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "I don't think I recognized half those songs. How many originals in there?" [23:01] 4Ir: "About a third. I'm a Songbird; we've got large repertoires by trade." [23:01] 4She shrugs. "But when I write something I play it." 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi pokes at his dumplings. "Those last two I did were songs I wrote. The rest were songs I heard Ir play or songs I remembered growing up." [23:02] 4She chuckles. "He gives me too much credit. I recognized maybe two of mine in there." [23:02] 7Blossom, smugly: "He's a composer." 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "You wrote the one you sang to Xu Sim?" 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yes." 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "For who?" 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "No." [23:07] 5 Xu Sim clears his throat, awkwardly. 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sorry about that, by the way." 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "I was gonna sing to her boyfriend but he was having a rough night already." [23:09] "You... apologize?" 5Xu Sim seems a little taken aback. [23:09] 4Ir snort-laughs at that. 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I doubt you walked in expecting to be put on the spot like that." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "Though I have to say, given the mood in the room I wonder what you all did walk in expecting." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Now it's Tsuka's turn to snort. [23:10] 4Make all this food and mix all this liquor, and in between bites people are still going to try to start shit. [23:11] "Apology, heh, accepted." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "You know, if you still wanna play..." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'd be interested to hear one of your happy songs." 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I'm sorry?" 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "You know. That first song was angry, and the second one was sad. Is all your music like that?" 08[23:14] 7Blossom: "Eikichi makes extremely good happy songs!" 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "Right! So I'm saying." 08[23:15] 4Ir can still do a backing band, if Eikichi wants. 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Happy's a big word." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "You don't have to use all of it." [23:16] 4Could just go with 'pee,' for instance. 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Most of my happy songs are about Blossom." [23:18] 14Mildly: "You're not saying 'no.'" 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yeah..." 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He pushes himself away from the table and goes towards the keyharp, only stumbling once. [23:21] 4Does he want musical help or is he good? 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He could use a horn. Keyharp's more than enough on its own, though. He touches a few tentative notes. [23:22] 4Ir brings up Iscariot, shapes it into a horn... [23:23] 14...And tosses it to Stranger, who is already heading up onto stage. [23:23] 14Stranger: "Hope you don't mind if I take this dance." 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi shrugs. It's not his horn. [23:23] 4From the floor: "I'm gonna drink" [23:24] 14That's where he's wrong, of course. You're always responsible for your supporting section. 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10As Stranger gets up on stage. "You were her second victim, right?" [23:25] "And she was mine," 14he says, testing the Iscariot horn. "And I bet my definition's more stringent than yours." 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "If you play like her as close as you talk like her, this is going to be great." 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A few more notes. "Yeah. Yeah okay." [23:27] "Mmmmmmm." 14He plays through some scales. "Give me the groove you want." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "This is a song," 10says Eikichi, as he plays out something contemplative, "About meeting your god on the road, and finding out you were loved all along." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "Like a star come down to walk the earth, in radiant array..." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQGg58ixXjE [23:28] 14He's good for that. 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10And you can't tell me what my spirit tells me isn't true. 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Can you? [23:32] 14Maybe, but I'm just here to play the horn. [23:35] 4When they're done, Ir claps it out with a mouth full of dumpling. Arakesh and 14Ambassador, back in human form now, 4share a look that says 'okay, but where's the beat?' 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Lunars were ahead of their curve on this one. Drums only got big in Pneuma last spring. [23:36] 14That slowness was due to prejudice. [23:37] 4Eh, hard to dispute that. [23:37] 4Doesn't mean you need them to run the room, though. 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The real question, the real question, is this: did Blossom like it? [23:39] 7Of course she liked it! She's blearily clapping as we speak. [23:39] 14Only playing for one person, huh. [23:39] 14There's some virtue to that. [23:44] "He's really good!" 7She insists. 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Mr. Tellurian: "You don't need to tell me, I just watched him go toe to toe with the best performer I've ever met." [23:45] "He is," 14both the Ambassador 4and Arakesh 14say with different levels of dismissiveness. [23:52] 14And the night wanders onward, full of eating, drinking, talk and music... [23:53] 14END: THE CENTER OF THE SQUARE OF THE CIRCLE Session Time: Tue Apr 17 00:00:00 2018 14[03:09] * Joins: Crion| 14[03:09] * Quits: Crion| (Quit: ) 15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:10] <@VoxPVoxD> With Council Tower in disrepair, deliberations have indefinitely relocated to the Vecchio, an old and gorgeous house overlooking the Gray at the southern end of Sentinel Hill. Story goes it was an official residence, dating back to old Hollow and the old Deliberative, and you do have an outstanding view of the golden dome in Firewander from the east balcony upstairs. That's the view Xia Lan takes in, now, about half an hour before her first formal meeting of the Council. What's on her mind? [20:13] 14Has she asked for Stranger to formally attend as her adjunct, or is he in the wind? 15[20:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger takes in a grimmer sight, using his access to the judiciary to chase new leads on the fate of the missing cabbage merchant. Now he knows, at least, the offical story: the cabbage merchant Pakku, survived by a wife and two children, died from his wounds ten days after the Emissary did, including a note of when and how his body was cremated in accordance with the principles of bodily and spiritual sanitation. [20:14] 14Ah. [20:14] 14Well, if there's a note, then he must havahahahahahaha. The investigation continues. [20:15] 13You know, if you'd told her this was what her life would be like a year ago, she would have laughed in your face. And yet here she is, an official Councilor/one of the new Emissaries of Nexus. How time flies. As for Stranger, her only request had been some notes regarding what was to be discussed, though it's likely that someone else actually produced them for her. 15[20:15] <@VoxPVoxD> He's looking over these files while waiting for Bubo, who sent word by a strange green dragonfly that he dug up some new leads, and wanted to meet for tea. Stranger's choice where. So, where are they? 15[20:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Meanwhile, Xu Sim leads Keldar back to the Tomb, Keldar carrying a cart full of ominously labeled bottles and boxes, as well as a small heap of scrap iron from the foundry itself. It's not enough to bring a crusade down, but it'll do to experiment with. 15[20:16] <@VoxPVoxD> What's Xu Sim's plan? [20:16] 14Some out of the way place close to Firewander's Wyld zone. He would prefer fewer eyes, and when he gets eyes, he would prefer them to be discerning ones rather than regular gossip-mongers. [20:17] "Let's see here," 5Xu Sim is lecturing Keldar as they go. Might as well give the brute a bit of a lesson about it, since he's shown at least a hint of interest in this sort of thing. [20:18] <@Ferrinus> 12It shouldn't be practical to carry both a huge cart of components, and a suit of orichalcum and moonsilver articulate plate, and an orichalcum and moonsilver grand daiklave, but Keldar is somehow managing just fine. At the moment, all the traps and gauntlets are disabled and the heat of the Tomb of Red-Hot Iron has been banked; the workers at the topside foundry are on break while [20:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar moves Xu Sim's materials down and Keldar's own team of tomb-raiders are scurrying to and fro to collect and document anything useful or valuable. [20:19] "We'll need to make sure you, as the rightful-"5 he clears his throat -"heir of the tomb are able to boss around that echo of Ladis as easily as you boss around your other minions," 5the doctor ticks off an item on a pocket abacus he's carrying, [20:19] <@Ferrinus> "Pretty sure it's Lados," 12Keldar says. "First, I wanna see what's behind that wall. Pretty sure the projection's holding something back because I didn't play ball. Second - this is a manse, innit? Can you tell if it's supposed to make a hearthstone?" [20:20] 14Stranger has, of course, brought his teapot. He's also brought a single sheet of jade 'paper' for Bubo. [20:21] 5Xu Sim ruffles at the correction. "I think it should have that effect. As for a hearthstone, yes, it should have done so. I'm sure it's down there, somewhere. We'll also need a way to alter the heat of the chamber from the outside, so we don't have to go running about with cooling gems and sundry; it's undignified and ridiculous." [20:21] 5Xu Sim ruffles at the correction. "I think it should have that effect. As for a hearthstone, yes, it should have done so. I'm sure it's down there, somewhere. We'll also need a way to alter the heat of the chamber from the outside, so we don't have to go running about with cooling gems and sundry; it's undignified and ridiculous." [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, actually, I was just gonna say. We gotta rig up a way to turn this on and off from outside." [20:23] "If absolutely necessary I could summon a demon or something to take care of it for us, but that seems an inelegant solution to a simple problem." 5 Xu Sim continues: "Then, we need to examine closely the precise workings of the manse. You remember those scars on the Emissary? I hope to convince this manse to produce more iron thistledown." [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Had that thought, too. Thing is, it's MADE of iron. Has it got stores of extra?" 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD> The room is filling in behind her. Men and women talking, laughing, complaining - whatever their feelings, the Council of Nexus maintains a largely convivial atmosphere in the absence of outsiders. So the mood inside dims a bit as people realize Xia Lan's already there. The itinerary today is three items long: a conversation about the difficulties in taking a stable census of the new conscripted militia; a quick decision on the city's iron quota, and a special petition from the Highland delegation, concerning legal disputes. [20:26] "Do you know how this place came to be here?" 5Xu Sim asks as they descend. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Two of Lados's pals got together to build him a monument in Hollow's ruins when all the fighting was done with. As to how they did it, no clue." 12He pauses. "Kind of a mystery, eh? You figure the Anathema'd been scattered by the time they started the project. Maybe they hid underground, built it from the bottom up?" [20:30] 13Usually, people are happier when Xia Lan is around. Extremely rude of them not to be, here. Is there a summary of the finer points of the legal disputes with Highland? That can get tricky, and conversations and quick decisions are generally more Xia Lan's speed anyway. 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger sits in a corner booth of a dusty teashop so close to Firewander you can see the air ripple out the window. Off hours, this place is almost entirely empty, to the point that when a bristly, white-haired old woman settles into the seat opposite Stranger she says, in Bubo's voice, "It's the glamor of this job that I enjoy so much." [20:31] "It was built in the Underworld and moved here," 5 replies the sorceror. "After all, who would leave a perfectly fine demesne sitting around in the days of the Shogunate? Anyway, quite a trick, if you ask me! But it means I don't want to rely on the iron it's made of. Though maybe it's even more effective, it could have other properties they would not have considered relevant." [20:31] 14Stranger: "And not the glamour?" 14Pun intended. [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Seriously? How do you figure? Or did I miss Lados tellin' me." [20:32] 14First things first. There is a folded origami swan on the table in front of Bubo. "That is for you. Take it and unfold it at your leisure. Should I explain it, or do you know it?" [20:32] 5Xu Sim: "I assume it would take sorcery of a kind rarely seen in Creation since." 15[20:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Highland doesn't have any legal disputes; rather, they want to negotiate a system for arbitrating legal disputes through diplomatic rather than criminal procedure. Xia Lan can read between the lines here; Highland wants no part of Stranger's new judiciary. [20:34] 14Good! That should mean they forfeit claims to participate in the city as a political and economic entity. [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "No, I mean, how do you know that's what they did?" 14[20:36] * Quits: trenchfoot (*.net *.split) 14[20:36] * Quits: Zarick (*.net *.split) [20:36] 5 Xu Sim: "There's a work log, I'll point it out to you. It's in the antechamber to the graves of the workers and architects." [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Huh, interesting. That was my other question, actually - who'd they get to actually haul the rocks and work the metal?" [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Woulda guessed demons, but who'd bury one?" 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> The old woman's eyes widen. "Where did that turn up? The tomb?" [20:38] 14Stranger smiles. "Indeed. I hold the book." [20:40] "I recognized an Erymanthus skull or two, some canoptic jars, a variety of things," 5 Xu Sim explains. [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hrm. There anything left over from the underworld down here? Ghosts?" [20:42] "You've been here as long as I," 5he points out. 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> She takes the paper and folds it away in an inner pocket. "Useful. Very useful. Now, to the point: I've just gotten back to the city. The cabbagemonger's home is about three days' ride into the farm country. He works the land on a lease held by the Guild. Neighbors had barely an unkind word to say about the man. A small reputation for being argumentative. I wanted a word with his family..." A small gesture. "Gone. Packed up and left. No sign of a struggle, no sign of fleeing. But all they took was clothing and personal effects. No tools, no animals." [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Not backstage, though. The thing to worry about's the hungry ghost of the deceased. Of course, since the arms in here've been passed on as intended, we probably don't need to worry about it." 12The mercenary grunts as, coming to rest in the center of the tomb, he lets down Xu Sim's wagon of supplies. "Alright. How'll we rig up remote control?" 14[20:44] * Joins: trenchfoot [20:44] 14Stranger: "I don't like that at all." [20:44] "Did you do a preliminary investigation? Is it worth me going out there for another once-over, or do we have something to work on?" [20:45] "Let's see here," 5Now that he's in one piece, Xu Sim is able to take a much closer look at everything all around. "I'm curious if the heat is an intended feature, or if something down here was broken..." 5or, perhaps, sabotaged? [20:45] 13Hm. That's going to be a fine line to walk, but that sort of demand is fundamentally unacceptable. She might need to delay on that one until someone more bureaucratically inclined can argue them point for point... that quick decision might need to become a longer one. Speaking of, what is the issue with the iron quota? [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, for his part, walks over to the control sphere, claps a hand down on it, and shuts his eyes for a moment. Then he opens them again. "Alright, I've unlocked this thing for the moment. I told 'em topside to keep clear of the tomb because it might turn back on at any moment, so if you need to fiddle with the heat go ahead." [20:48] 14At this point, he trusts Bubo to be a clear judge of what needs to be done and where. There's no gain for him in deception on these particular matters. 14[20:48] * Joins: Zarick 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "No need. I was able to work out what happened. People came and got them, helped them pack, and rode them back up the road here, to the city." He unfolds a piece of parchment onto the table. "This is from the passenger manifest for Winter Rain, one of the cargo barges contracted to the Guild. Note the departure date." Stranger, noting, can see that the barge went downriver carrying not just the cabbagemonger's family, but Guild officers and hired mercenaries. They were taken from the city as the Guild pulled out. [20:50] 14Stranger: "And left all their tools and animals." 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Still under lease. I expect they're being cared for until new sharecroppers can be installed on the land." 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "Or, more likely, the Guild is trying to decide what to do with them considering that entire stretch of country is like as not to be a no-man's-land in a month's time." [20:53] "Reasonable, but irrelevant." 14Stranger: "More relevant is that the Guild has the cabbage man's family as hostages. This sadly puts them beyond our reach. Doubly so since I have substantial doubts as to whether the former Emissary cares about their fate, at all." [20:53] 5 Xu Sim cracks his fingers and gets to work examining the implements and infrastructure that control the echo of Lados in this place, tracing wiry fingers down otherwise perfectly smooth blocks of pallid marble, making no sound beside his faint breathing. [20:57] "Lados, by the way, is not a ghost, spirit, or anything of that sort. For now, I think of it as an echo - something that has followed its script for thousands of years. But soon that echo can join our voice in chorus. Or something, ask Xia Lan, I'm no damn musician," [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Like a brass legionnaire, yeah? That was my guess." 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> The iron quota dispute arises from the competing needs of various interests in the city for materials in preparation for the war effort. There's only so much iron on hand and everyone from the Dawn Guard making weapons and armor for new conscripts to the Guild wanting to outfit its merchant marines in cold iron if they're to hold the rivers against raksha invaders, to various sundry goods from door hinges to horseshoes, to a proposal from Xu Sim to reconstitute some kind of ancient superweapon for use against the invaders. [21:05] 5Xu Sim: "Can't seem to remember ever meeting a brass legionnaire. Ah. Here, I seem to have found it," 5he notes as he suddenly slides a piece of something or other along. 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "If the cabbagemonger is dead, and the Emissary won't care, why keep them alive at all? If they're not leverage they're just another loose end, aren't they? But leverage over who?" [21:07] 13That's definitely something she can stretch out. Finally, the census - what's the issue there? Does she still have time before the meeting to go over that? [21:08] 14Stranger: "Well, we're assuming perfect knowledge. It's entirely possible that the Guild is hoping, in vain, that the Emissary will care." [21:09] "And we don't know that after that little display with the Evening Master that they haven't all had their throats slit, do we?" [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Had to fight one once to prove it worked. Guy with that idea hadn't thought it completely through, heh." 12He peers at the sphere, then the ceiling. "The voice stays subservient to me, though, yeah?" 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> The problem is that Nexus is attempting to assemble something like an accurate count of its army strength, but those numbers keep fluctuating as people drift into Keldar's training facilities, and then return home to their own beds. Literacy isn't good enough for people to self-report, and the whole affair is too big and chaotic for census-takers to get reliable work done. Keldar's training them all, make no mistake - but the paperwork isn't coming together. [21:11] "Stays subservient to - you?" 5Xu Sim asks. "Is it subservient now?" 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Rotate this, unsocket that, strike a tuning fork to the socket and reattach... after about two hours' patient work, Xu Sim thinks he's mastered the tomb's acoustics to the point that the echo will go where he wills it. [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah. Make sure it takes orders - to turn the heat down or the lights on or whatever - even if it doesn't think I'm behaving properly." 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Do you have any contacts in the Guild who could help?" The old woman scowls. "This would be so much easier if I could step back into the office. Three meetings and a briefing - a day at most." [21:15] 14Stranger: "I have an agreement with the Guild to deal in good faith. That means I think I can make headway here." [21:16] 14He finishes his tea. "So I'll do that. Do you have any other avenue through which to attack this?" [21:16] 5Well, that should do it. "Lados! Come before us," 5orders Xu Sim. [21:18] 13Hm. An idea passes through Xia Lan's head from performing in pubs and some of the more rowdy concert halls... it'd be tricky to get that to last, but Xu Sim might have an idea? 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "...this is the sort of thing the Dragonlord could be useful for. His third-in-command on the Hunt is a master tracker, and she can be a source of pressure without exposing ourselves." 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> A pause. "Second-in-command, now, with the Judge's passing." 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "W-w-who calls Lados, the Oathkeeper?" [21:20] 14Stranger: "Yes, that was unfortunate. And leaves me at a disadvantage in pressing leverage. But then, she didn't have to try to kill us in the middle of the street." [21:21] "It is I, Xu Sim. I speak for the master of the Manse, Keldar, who is here also." 5 Xu Sim contemplates for a moment. 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "True... it does close off the Dragonlord to us a bit, however. And I've been burned, so he's liable to kill me on sight." [21:22] 14Stranger: "Oh, no; I'll work that angle, too. I would like another go at the Dragonlord anyway, if just to make my presence felt. I'm just nettled by circumstance." [21:23] 14Stranger: "In fact, if you were willing to work in disguise but acknowledge yourself as my agent, perhaps you could work the Guild, and I'll tackle this Huntmaster." 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "If a spirit or another Chosen catches me, that's the end of me. I'm on forced leave. If the Director catches wind of me working when I'm supposed to be sunning in Chiaroscuro until the war passes, then I'm forgotten. Period." 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "I can't take that risk." 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Lados: "Oh. I remember you." 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "Master Keldar! What can I do for you and your vizier?" [21:26] 14He sighs. "Two appointments for today it is, then. Get some rest, and dinner with Kratz. I believe she should be done in time today; this is Xia Lan's first day on the Council." 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "I heard. Did you tell her to break a leg?" [21:27] *14He sighs. "Two appointments for today it is, then. Get some rest, and dinner with your woman." [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks around. "Can you - manifest? Like the other one did?" [21:27] "It's our mutual friend's first day." [21:27] 14Stranger: "No, I didn't think that idiom would be helpful." 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "If that is your wish, master." Motes of light weave themselves in twisted whorls around the orb, and spill forth into a figure whose head comes up just to Keldar's waist. https://i.imgur.com/1c3dJzb.jpg 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> The meeting convenes, and Xia Lan settles in to her labeled seat between Pellicia and Kratz to begin hearing the first item. [21:30] "Manifest a second time if you can, Echo-of-Lados," 5 requests Xu Sim. [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, arms crossed, looks down at the image of the oathkeeper. Has he got his own Terminus and Entreaty? "Nice. So... we figure that, for the moment, you haven't got much reason to oversee the trials. We could use 'em as training of some sort later, but it's not practical at the moment." 14[21:31] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a peculiar thwommm sound, and suddenly sixteen Ladoses, perfect mirror images, stand in perfect clone-stamped sequence from the orb to the sarcophagus. "Sir!" 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Lados isn't armed, though he is wearing that Keldar can recognize as his own armor. [21:33] "Delightful. The bunch of you, give me a hand, please." 5Xu Sim now intends to get to work on the more significant projects of the day. 14[21:33] * Joins: cbass [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hah! Clever. Those all solid? Can you show up topside like that, Lados, or even walk out the door?" [21:36] 14With Bubo given time off with blessing, Stranger will head, first, to...the Dragonlord. 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Lados: "My limits are the manse's limits." [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But you COULD stand in the entrance hall, yeah? Could you control the systems if I let you? Like the heat and such." [21:40] 13Xia Lan appears perfectly composed, and actually dressed more conservatively than usual for something like this. Businesslike, you could say. She debated on a fake pair of glasses to really sell it, but that seemed like it would've come off condescending more than anything. Still, the message is clear: she's taking this seriously, and isn't just a celebrity here to goof off. 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> What does Stranger say to the guards posted to Lookshytown who want to know his business with the Dragonlord? [21:41] 14Stranger: "Emissary business." [21:41] 14This is true in multiple senses of the word. 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger is admitted; the Embassy is in some disrepair, and he finds the Dragonlord looming over his mustering gunzosha like a mountain over the valley below. [21:52] 14How long has it been since the Deliberative? 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Ten days or so. [21:55] 14Stranger: "It's been some time. Not quite a fortnight. An armed camp night. I present myself as Stranger-Visits-Heaven, Emissary of Nexus, requesting an audience with our esteemed guest, the Dragonlord Nessun Dorma. You're probably the only one for whom that esteem isn't sarcastic." [21:55] 14He gives a serious, but slight, bow. 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> There's some back and forth. Xia Lan hears Thalevar argue that their current civilian employers, where they're already employed, should send rolls of who's been conscripted to the Minister of Ways. Gen, predictably, concurs. Udelph objects, as do Pellicia and Kratz. It does nothing for the unemployed, and puts the business of government in the hands of shopkeepers. 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Where does she weigh in? 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma turns, slowly, to face Stranger. For a long moment he betrays no other reaction but soon enough a similarly slight bow soon precedes an "...Emissary." [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a little later, as Xu Sim is still putting together sketches for his control orb, that Keldar broaches the question. "So I get to carry this thing around, right? Or are you making more than one?" [22:03] 5Xu Sim corrals the Lados-Echoes and, in an antechamber of the facility, begins to work his magic. He calls forth the wild energies of sorcery, warping Creation to his whim; from time to time he pauses in his work to consider other factors. "A single Orb," 5he responds. [22:03] "Dragonlord." 14How does Nessun Dorma receive him? [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar jerks a thumb to the other room. "And it'll basically duplicate that one? Meaning it's locked to me?" 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun Dorma leads Stranger to a repurposed hotel off the district's central square, where troops stage. In here officers and attaches hurry to and fro, hesitating briefly and infrequently at the sight of their commander walking in lockstep with the famous Anathema. An empty, windowless room, with the floor pried away revealing the packed soil beneath, and walls plastered with maps so complicated Stranger might not be able to parse them. [22:06] 13Udelph and the other objectors are correct in both particulars - ignoring the existence of the unemployed would be an egregious mistake, as would listening only to the words of business-owners and not actually taking an accurate count. (Though it would, were this not a time of war, be an interesting survey to know exactly how many of each... but there probably isn't the time for that.) [22:06] 13She offers two suggestions: We could have the soldiers muster for a day for an accurate count, following a consultation with Keldar to ensure this won't disrupt the training schedule, or some manner of tracking that doesn't require literacy on the part of the surveyed or guesswork on the part of the surveyor - handstamps, made to last for a period of a week or so, to mark those already counted. 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> After they're alone in the room together, Dorma says: "I forget myself. Tea? Water? Something to eat?" [22:07] "It would be unwise to speculate too much of its specifics, before the work is done." [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Suppose it's lost or stolen?" [22:09] 14Stranger smiles gently. "Tea would be excellent. Do not put yourself out over food." 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia favors taking a day to muster, assuming Xia Lan can convince Keldar it's worth it. Gen presses Xia Lan: who will undertake the count itself? [22:11] "Then you had best slay the thief," 5suggests the sorceror, increasingly peevish. "I am reshaping part of the world to protect the rest of it from its ultimate Unmaking. This is not the sort of work with room for the petty considerations of a patron, as if I was painting a portrait or sewing a suit." [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hmmph. Well, if it's the only way we'll be able to use this place as part of the war, so be it. Just remember it's my property you're working on, here." [22:15] 14As the tea service is being brought to bear: "I do not generally enjoy making small talk, but then, this is not quite small talk. I trust that the Dragonlord has paid attention to the changes that the Emissary of Nexus has made to the city's judiciary? When your servants are within the jurisdiction of Nexus's laws, then the laws of Nexus shall apply through our courts. The Prince [22:15] from Highland is attempting to shirk this requirement." 14Coldly: "It is a priority of mine that he will not succeed, and I hold him in contempt for trying." [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And help me get through that hidden door next time you're taking a breather." 12Using the image of Lados as a sort of majordomo, Keldar spends most of the next week topside, training the militia. He does pop in periodically, though, and will certainly be present when Xu Sim is able to, or needs help to, open the final door. [22:15] "It is a new day in Nexus. I will not tolerate anything else." [22:16] 13Both Gen and Pellicia, of course. It's a matter of the military, so of course Pellicia should be involved; and yet, the assistance and methods of the office of assayers would be invaluable to the effort. She says this as though it is very simple but also as though she's expecting to be challenged on this. 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Tea comes. Dorma: "I agree with you. I don't want to embroil myself in another petty power struggle with the Council. If I can't trust you all that far, my only course is to march back to Lookshy and muster there." 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Can I count on you to justify that trust?" [22:22] 14Stranger: "Trust is the only currancy I tolerate. And I am a zealot in its coinage. The new chief judge is a former arbiter himself, made a fool of and legally bound through means that were legitimate but immoral. He is not a Chosen of the Sun. He does not serve because I ask, but because justice demands. He is angry, and he is principled. And I will know when the Guild, the Council, [22:22] or those within my own house try to buy him. I serve the Sun, but I serve the Sun through Creation. There will not be a repeat of Emissaries past." [22:26] 5 After several hours of intense work, and excellent progress, Xu Sim reappears in whatever chamber Keldar has been waiting in. He dabs at his forehead, which still shows signs of sweat as well as his slowly-dimming caste mark. [22:27] "Have you gone through yet?" 5 asks the sorceror. 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar finds the wall false, like the others Xu Sim pointed out, but a physical barricade starts just beyond the wall, ice cold to the touch and from its curves and ridges, heavily inscribed or decorated. He can't see it, though... [22:34] 14Stranger sips his tea, once it arrives, and examines Dorma in repose. [22:34] 14...He's a good man. [22:35] "It's always just a means to an end, isn't it?" [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar shakes his head. There's a small pile of rods and lodestones and sounding devices to his side. "I've got the shape of it and I know whatever's behind it is cold as hell and covered with some kinda scrollwork... no dice past that, though." [22:36] 14He stares out over the assembled troops, following Dorma's eyes. "We make rules because rules are necessary in the moment. But the only true rule is justice, and no mere court can decide that." [22:38] 5Xu Sim considers how cold the door is to the touch. "Surely whatever is behind that door is the reason this whole place is built around heat and cold, right?" [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hmm, maybe. Hey, Lados! Any special reason this place is built to heat up like it does, or did they just pick that security measure arbitrarily?" 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "So then tell me: how do these rules serve justice right now?" [22:41] "There was another sorcerous echo that offered you some kind of deal, Keldar. I think that is what controls whether or not this door opens up. Judging from the attitude of the people who built this place - that your commitment to personal honor and safeguarding your people was paramount, I'm not sure what that means." 5 explains Xu Sim. [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, that's exactly what I figured. The question is, can we crack it despite that." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan threads the needle, convincing Gen that he and Pellicia need to work together. Business proceeds briskly apace, then - the argument over the iron quota seems largely settled, judging from the compromises Pellicia, Hayle, and Thalevar bring to the table off the backs of their briefings. It seems like everyone can get what they need as long as nobody has to give too much to Xu Sim for whatever horrible thing he's planning. It falls to Xia Lan to try and draw this out or speak up on Xu Sim's behalf. [22:46] 5Xu Sim shrugs and sets to work on the project he's planned for: reproducing Iron Thistledown, from scratch, in this fallen Age. 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Lados: "I'm afraid those technical details are beyond me. I know only that the special character of this demesne was crucial to Eresh Nin's vision." [22:50] 14Stranger looks over and sips his tea. "First, they separate wheat from chaff. People become stupid in the face of authority. They make demands that do not fit justice. They grasp for precedent and spew waste. We are dealing with this directly. The courts process cases quickly; justice flows from strong leadership, and our courts have strong leadership. Do they follow 'rules?' [22:50] Certainly. When you drop your sword, it hits the ground beneath you. Some rules are necessary for the preservation of justice; for coherence. Are they constrained by the Civilities and the Dogmas? In any other room, I say yes with no qualification. Here I tell you: all things are possible beneath the Civilities and the Dogmas." [22:50] "This is a court of justice, not a court of law." [22:50] 13Okay, this was supposed to be way more contentious. That's going to make this next part tricky... her strongest play in terms of wasting time has to be suggesting Xu Sim should get what he wants. I mean, he's a hero - cured a plague! Man's a mad genius! And of course her position in his Circle ought to raise all sorts of objections, leading to a very productive session of Nothing, until she gracefully allows the original [22:50] suggestion to proceed as it was. Now, to thread a second needle in order to tread water rather than winning by accident. [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar hmms noncommitally at Lados's words. He proceeds, then, to get some parchment together and take a rubbing of the hidden safe, assuming that the paper doesn't end up freezing and shattering or something. Anything of note in the design? 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar comes away with a rubbing of elaborate scrollwork, depicting Lados in repose, hair spilling out behind him like you're looking at him on his back, from above. In his hands are a spear and shield. In his other hands are a horn and a laurel branch. Twisting and winding over the body are etchings of dozens and dozens of chains, scribed with pictograms and iconography too blurry to make out in the rubbing. 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan... meets no resistance. The opposite, in fact. Ephiselle agrees that Xu Sim's interests should be respected, and urges Thalevar and Gen to make the necessary cuts to give Xu Sim enough iron to work with to see if his plan will prove out, and to be prepared to share more if it does. Thalevar and Gen exchange looks, and then look over in Pellicia's direction. Pellicia finds this acceptable. [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar works his mouth around a bit before turning and holding the rubbing up to the ceiling, where, in his imagination, the echo of Lados resides by default. "Mean anything to you? Who confused you with the actual god?" [22:58] 13Shit. 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> A skillfully brokered compromise by the Unfettered Xia Lan! [23:01] 14Stranger puts his tea down. "I had other business here besides discussing the true form of justice, of course. I'm looking into the previous Emissary." [23:01] 13...Anything coming to mind in terms of continued stalling? Seems like she's about to have to handle this last one without delaying it otherwise... 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan gets the sense that people are pushing through this as hard or harder than she's pushing back. That's a hard knot to unpick on the spot. She can try to incite some discord more directly, but the more obvious she is about it the more suspicious her peers will be. The Council's not that stupid. [23:04] 5 Xu Sim, wandering through the antechamber, sees the rubbing that Keldar has made. He furrows his brow for a moment, as Keldar confers with Lados. Without saying a word, he steps past the Tiger of Nexus as he's looking at Lados, takes another piece of parchment, and in a matter of seconds - maybe even before Keldar turns back around - there's a perfectly rendered copy of the safe's [23:04] 5door. [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What the- okay, uh, does this one mean anything to you?" 12Heck, does it mean anything to Keldar, if he can read the inscriptions? 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a lot of intonations of peace, rest, tranquility, calm, even-temperedness, equanimity, serenity, etc. This etching aims to depict a death which is extremely peaceful and not at all worrisome. [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, the very best kind, attainable only after one has defeated all their enemies, amassed staggering wealth, etc. [23:09] 13Well... Okay. She might need to request a recess at some point and call for a lifeline from Stranger, here, but... maybe she can stall out this part? Or, Sun above, maybe even end this favorably...? 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "I'm surprised you've yet to cross his path. His bloody handiwork is all over the city." [23:11] 14Stranger chuckles. "That is a meeting I will court when I'm ready for it. And I will be ready for it." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "Mmm. As I recall I arrived at the scene of his death scarcely before you did." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "How can I help?" [23:17] 14Stranger picks up his tea and sips again. "I request, with understanding of the needs of your army and office, the services of your Huntmaster. From here I will go to the Guild, achieve fruitful leads, and then the issue will be pressed. I guarantee her safety from the children of the Sun." [23:18] 14He puts the tea down. "Which means if Nogare tries to kill her, I'll get in the way. Even with a teacup." 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "What part does the Guild play in this?" 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Lados looks concerned and skeptical. On his round face the effect is quite charming. "That seems dire." [23:22] 14Stranger:"Do you know the process by which an Emissary was chosen before our summit in the Deliberative? The Red Star Chosen. A cabbagemonger was anointed with this terrible responsibility. The Guild took his entire family into custody. I am looking into whether they've cut those poor throats. The investigation will progress from there." [23:22] 14Stranger: "Do you know the process by which an Emissary was chosen before our summit in the Deliberative? The Red Star Chosen. A cabbagemonger was anointed with this terrible responsibility. The Guild took his entire family into custody. I am looking into whether they've cut those poor throats. The investigation will progress from there." [23:24] "I don't think these inscriptions are, ah, precisely commensurate with the manner of Lados' actual, historical death," 5 Xu Sim points out. 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "Animals." [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Definitely not, but that's the whole point." [23:27] 14Stranger: "They are." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma looks past Stranger, at one of the maps. "Cornaro's out working on something else right now. I'll tell her to meet you. Where?" [23:30] 14Stranger: "Teahouse in Nighthammer. Fish Markets. 'First Cut Is the Deepest.'" [23:31] "They've got a spread out front. She'll know it." 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "Very well." [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar makes a few more attempts at physical manipulation, including hooking grapples - or just the gauntlets of his armor - into the edges of the wall/illusion boundary such that he can bodily drag the entire block of freezing metal out into the open. If that doesn't work, he'll have to rely on Xu Sim to just compel the thing with magic... or ignore it until later. [23:36] 13Well, after the spirited debate on the first item, and the relative ease of the second, Xia Lan requests a recess before they truly get started with the Highland question. Does anyone argue against her on this? [23:36] 5 Xu Sim watches Keldar try to manipulate the safe for a while. The man's tenacious, that's for sure. [23:37] "I've enjoyed our conversation, Dragonlord," 14Stranger says. "But as much as I might enjoy anything, that doesn't matter. What matters is the fact of us. And I think we work better towards each other goals together than we might scheming apart." 14He pauses. "And when you want Keldar, he'll be ready. As he should be." [23:39] 5 He stretches - he's taking this as a bit of a break. 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "I agree." 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "Except on your last point." [23:40] 5Xu Sim: "Keldar, let me ask you a question." 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "No one is ever ready." [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hrr- eh? Yeah?" [23:41] 14Stranger: "In fairness." [23:41] "My last point wasn't that he would be ready." [23:41] "It was that he should be." [23:41] "Why do you want to go in there? You're not, pardon me, an intellectually curious kind of person most of the time." [23:41] "I stand by that." 14Stranger bows. "Thank you again, Dragonlord, for your time." 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> A recess goes over pretty well. They've been at this for hours now - it's almost lunchtime. [23:42] "You don't seem the type to be bothered by the unknowable, deep mysteries of the world and universe. You're a practical man." 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> But Nogare's due to arrive at noon, so don't take too long...! [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "There's probably treasure there, and it's mine by right. Also by law, at the moment." 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Law. [23:43] 13Oh noooo. Okay, well, as soon as she can find a private room, she pulls out the page Stranger gave her and - how did he say this worked? Think real hard about who you want to contact while holding the page? [23:44] "What was it that the echo asked you about, again? Please remind me, my poor addled brains were a little affected by being attacked by a thirty-foot tall wolf right after that conversation." [23:44] 14When Stranger feels the buzz in the back of his mind, he steps into the nearest teahouse and commandeers a private room. [23:44] "Xia Lan," 14he says, when alone, "I am here." [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It wanted me to forgive some crime by some dead man against another." [23:46] 13Xia Lan: "Oh, thank goodness, I felt like an idiot for a bit there. So. The morning's meetings went well, uh, actually better than I wanted - I can explain later - but Highwall's coming up next. Did you read their petition?" [23:47] "Who were those other echoes that Lados conjured up - the ones you recognized?" [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Those weren't Lados's doing. They were real people - my men and women. I ever tell you how I drew the second breath?" [23:48] 13Can Stranger hear the rustling of paper? She's grabbed theirs, in any case. "They want to opt out of our legal system in favor of a 'diplomatic option,' whatever that means. I'm not sure how many times I can tell them no before people start getting irritated with me and overrule me." [23:49] 14Stranger: "I did." 14He sits down and throws his teapot on a smoldering bit of coals; water from kettles out front. [23:49] 14Stranger: "I did." 14He sits down and throws his teapot on a smoldering bit of coals; water from kettles out front. [23:49] "You never did," 5 said Xu Sim. Is this how Stranger feels, talking5 to people like this all the time? [23:50] 14Stranger: "Succinctly put, the Prince of Highland wants diplomatic immunity. For everyone. This is an extraordinary claim." [23:50] "That is distinct from a legally impermissable claim." [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I made enough of a name for myself in the Apples that Khelendros gave me my own unit to scavenge with - knew he could count on me to bring back more in value than the cost of commitment. We fought in campaigns, raided small tombs, the works." [23:52] "The humble origins of the Tiger of Nexus, himself, eh?" [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "One day we took a job for one Tepet Sachin - yeah, I know, but his money was good and working with Dynasts wasn't strictly against Apples code. We fought our way through a ruin for him and brought a blue jade artifact back. 'stead of paying us, he slaughtered us to the second last man." [23:52] 13Xia Lan: "My original plan was to just stall out negotiations until either I had a chance to better acquaint myself with the law or you took over but I don't think I'll have time. They really want to push this stuff through." [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I was the last man. He couldn't take me, but he could slip free of me. People you saw in this room yesterday were images of my unit." [23:53] 5Xu Sim gives a solemn nod. Bedside demeanor. [23:53] "Shall you forgive Tepet Sachin?" [23:53] "So. How do I tell them 'no, you can't,' but like. Nice, and legally, or at least--" [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Now, I don't hold this against Lados's echo because I don't think it was his idea or his style. No, that was the second architect havin' a giggle." 12The mercenary barks a harsh laugh. "I sound like I will?" [23:54] 14Stranger pours himself a cup of tea. "It doesn't matter what they want. That's the rub." [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Tepet's going to miss the Bull when I'm through with it." [23:54] "They're negotiating for after the war. But there is no 'after' the war unless we win." 15[23:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Speaking of which, from the room where she's talking to Stranger, Xia Lan can see a storm blow in. A tiny storm, two people hanging inside. The Beast's armor is recognizable in silhouette even at this distance. [23:55] "If they don't want the law of Nexus to apply to them, then they are perfectly within their rights to build into the battlements outside of the walls. We'll even give them some bonuses on the ticket, after the battle. If we all survive. If they survive." [23:56] "And if that doesn't please them, they can try to kill us right now." [23:56] "But what does that throne look like?" [23:56] 13Xia Lan: "They're here already. Okay. I'll... brighten that up a bit, I really don't think he likes me. Might try it." [23:57] 14Stranger: "He doesn't like you. He hates women, and men who he thinks fuck." [23:57] 13Xia Lan: "Okay, I was trying to be coy about it, but yes, I know that." [23:58] 14Stranger: "Don't be coy when we're talking like this. We've got an economy of time. I've make progress with the Lookshyans. Don't believe him if he claims to have some grand alliance with the Dragonlord." [23:58] "Keldar, you've been kind of an asshole lately, but I'm gonna give you this one for free." 5Xu Sim sighs. "You don't want whatever's in there, any more than you wouldn't want to be the sorry tomb raider who wakes YOUR ghost up one day to remind him that Tepet Sachin slipped a knife between your ribs when you were sleeping off a feast one night." [23:58] *made progress [23:59] 13Xia Lan: "Noted. Good on you, by the way, working around that Keldar thing. Unless you gave him up to them, which, fair play I guess. Uh. Okay. I think I can take it from here, our recess is probably just about over... I'll update you as soon as I can, okay?" Session Time: Wed Apr 18 00:00:01 2018 [00:00] 14Stranger: "The most important thing is to hold the line here. But if you can't -- if he manages to sway the other Councilors -- make him own an alliance with Thorns." [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar tilts his head to the side. "You think whatever's in there is gonna break the camel's back when it comes to the tomb suffering our presence? Or that something special's guarding it?" [00:00] 14Stranger: "Of course. I believe in you. Knock his ass dead." 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> From the main hall, Xia Lan hears his voice. 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "I love this house! Seeing it from the air, you can appreciate the architect." 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Marvelous home." [00:02] "I don't think there's anything in there but the ghost of one of the most powerful warriors to have ever existed, who has a good reason to be pretty upset at the state of things but probably doesn't need a good reason after thousands of years of doing whatever it's been up to." [00:04] <@Ferrinus> Keldar leans back a bit. "...We never DID come across a tiny skeleton." 12He paces a bit. "Guy really did make it sound like he had something for me..." 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan returns to the room to find Mori Nogare, in his diplomat's raiment, with his court magician behind him, holding a gleaming orb furtively in his sleeves. 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> The Beast's face is placid. "Emissary. You're looking healthy." [00:06] 13She nods politely. "Nogare. A pleasure." 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: It bleeds; it leads [00:09] 5Xu Sim: "For the people who built this place, for whoever wrote this inscription, it was essential that the box remain here, undisturbed." [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar frowns, then works his jaw around a bit, then frowns again. "Yeah, I think you're right. I'm heading topside, then." 12He kneels to start packing up this thieves' tools, the burlap sack clashing pretty dramatically with the gold and silver armor he's clad in. "I've got a guy watching the entrance - get Lados to yell at him if you need anything down here." [00:14] 5Xu Sim grunts in acknowledgement and heads over to take another measurement of the arcane forces coalescing around the place. 14[05:42] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[14:42] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:59] * Joins: Crion| 14[15:21] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:17] * Joins: dammitwho 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> The other Councilors haven't yet begun to filter in in earnest; only Gen and Kratz are at their seats, Gen absorbed in paperwork and Kratz in a headache. So Nogare speaks to Xia Lan as if they aren't even in the room. "I heard you've been very impressive in your first Council meeting." [20:34] 13Xia Lan smiles neutrally. "It isn't over yet; there's still plenty of time to ruin a perfectly good day." 13She, at least, has the good grace to look apologetic to Gen and Kratz, if they look towards the two. "Though I'm hoping my run continues," 13she adds, almost as an afterthought. 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "I look forward to seeing you work for once." [20:40] 13Ah, there it is. She waves a hand airily. "You know me, always lazing about. First day of honest work in my life." 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia pushes the door open, Hayle and Udelph behind her. Ephiselle lets Thalevar in and closes the doors again behind her. Nogare's steady stare lingers just a moment too long before he snaps to the other Councilors. "Thank you, my friends, for making time to hear me out. I hadn't expect you to be so prompt. I know many matters weigh heavy on you all." 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "Why don't we take a seat, Regent, and see if we can sustain that pace a while longer." [20:47] 13Or we could not. You know. Just an option. 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare sits with his sorcerer at his right hand, the pair of them along on this side of the long dining-table that seats the full eight Councilors opposite. Nogare's directly across from Pellicia. Xia Lan's directly across from the sorcerer. 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> *alone on this side 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "Now, from what you submitted you want to renegotiate the terms of your lease in light of policy changes on our end. Is that correct?" [20:50] 13Xia Lan sits primly, listening. 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "Roughly. In the interests of cementing a lasting relationship with the city, we want to turn our temporary billet into a full diplomatic mission." 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "Why?" 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Why now?" [20:59] 13Xia Lan: "The timing is..." 13she lingers, skipping over "transparent," "opportunistic," and similar before settling on, "...awkward." 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "The first reason is a simple show of faith. I want to make a commitment in words and deeds to Nexus not just in her hour of need, but in the peace beyond. And that means diplomats, it means infrastructure, it means a deep and special partnership. One of peers, not contractors." 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Gen: "Your proposal is... very scant on detail. What's your ask, and what's your bid?" [21:03] 13Stranger anticipated this. As long as that remains the case, Xia Lan can remain calm. 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Here the sorcerer produces a slim hidebound portfolio for Nogare, who opens it. "Right. First, I want to buy out Highland's lease on the buildings along the antemeridian, past the Firewander district line. I've visited the offices of the Assayer -- thank you, Master Gen, for your cooperation -- and obtained assessments on the value of the property, as well as the value of the property in the surrounding area." 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Udelph: "Those areas are unliveable." 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "For the moment." [21:09] 13A wrinkle. "...what?" 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "I've also taken the liberty of contracting out some projections -- again, all thanks to the city assayers -- for what the property might fetch after we've made some improvements and our presence has been felt in the city geography. I have copies..." The sorcerer hands them out silently. If Xia Lan reads hers, she'll see that the city assayers anticipate that liveable blocks in the outer blocks of Firewander could easily be ten or twenty times what they're worth now. And those are rented, to itinerant workers and people who weigh the prospect of long-term mutation against affordable rent. [21:13] 13Xia Lan: "I assume this is related to what you did with the Deliberative hall," 13she frowns as she looks over the proposal. Are there any mentions of what happens to the people who currently live there? 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> No, there aren't. One expects that's par for the course with property deals in Nexus. [21:15] 13Naturally. "What of the people who currently live in those lots?" 13Then she can bring it up for them. 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "It is, yes. Part of what I'm offering the city is the ability to claw back some of its own territory from these ancient catastrophes. As for the current residents..." He shrugs. "That's for you to decide. If you want us to pay to relocate them, we can talk about that." 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "So our commitment is threefold. First, we commit to stabilizing the neighborhoods so they're usable again. Giving the city room to grow, which it will need with the massive influxes of investment and labor that'll come when the war is won. And with Master Gen's help, we've received outlays that tell us what we can expect these properties to be valued for a year from now, five years from now, and ten years from now. You see? We propose to buy in, right now, at the ten year outlay. A hundred times what you'd sell those properties for today." 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> That provokes silence from the Council. [21:47] 13Xia Lan is the first to break it: "Of course! How very generous of you. First pickings at the spoils of Nexus before the first battle is even fought. As altruistic as your motivations may be," 13she tries very hard to keep the sarcastic tone out of "altruistic," "I'm not certain we can accept this. Such a diplomatic arrangement places Highland first in line, before the Lookshyans and the Thorns delegation - the buyin is great, [21:47] but marrying Nexus to anyone at this state is much too soon." 13And, she doesn't add, highly opportunistic; we're desperately in need of heroes, and here comes one marching in now. Who's to say this is best for Nexus, and not for Highland? 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "Our Emissary raises a valid point. This is precipitate. We all appreciate your confidence, Regent, but we can't broker the peace before the war is won." 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> But the Dawn Sergeant meets a flurry of objections. "This peace commitment is a direct bolster to the war effort. We have to look at it through that lens," says Master Gen. 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "There's a practical consideration here, and surely we can't reject Highland simply because Thorns and Lookshy haven't made offers..." 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "If anything, this is the sort of thing that could draw matching commitments from them." [22:05] 13Xia Lan: "How eager will they be to negotiate knowing that Highland had their first choice, Minister?" 13It was the sarcasm in altruistic - overdoing it, driving a wedge... "We can't afford to show favoritism, not now." 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Gen: "It's not favoritism to meet with those who are willing to work with us. You don't see us turning Thorns or Lookshy away, and we'll be inviting them to respond. But we can't dismiss the Regent for taking the initiative. That would be to punish competence and reward indolence." [22:08] 13Xia Lan: "This is all putting the cart before the horse--" 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "That's not fair. While I'm grateful you don't share the Emissary's skepticism, she's certainly not advocating indolence." 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Merely suspicion." [22:09] 13This is exactly why she was trying to stall earlier. Ugh. 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "If I may go on..." [22:10] 13She won't stop him. 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "There is a third component to our commitment. We've already begun to notice, as I'm sure you have, the spike in food prices. And with the prime growing season soon to be interrupted by an invasion, the war, for all my confidence, is looking like a longer, harder war." 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "We have a pipeline into the city from arable land, untouched by the war, unblocked by the army, where the growing season is already underway. Early reports are that it's going to be a very good harvest year." 14[22:23] * Joins: tom [22:23] 13It's hard not to see this as another avenue of tying the fortunes of Nexus to the whims of Highland, but after the first round... 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "As part of a deeper partnership, we're willing to sell our surplus food to you at cost." 14[22:32] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) [22:38] 13Xia Lan: "That's assuming quite a lot of the Raksha and their designs for the city," 13she says, carefully. "What I've been told of them makes their desires seem capricious, infuriatingly unpredictable. As likely to assault the city directly and end the war in a brutal, bloody week as to besiege it 'til the winter. Have you fought them before?" 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "Not like this. No one living has faced a raksha horde of this magnitude before. Unless you've got the Scarlet Empress hidden in your blouse." 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "But even if we repel a quick invasion, our supplies, our manpower, will be depleted and directed to rebuilding the city. The harvest will still suffer, and we will still have mouths to feed." 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "A deal like this is good for all seasons, no matter how harsh the winter." [22:41] 13Xia Lan: "And also - I'm sure coincidentally - ties the fortunes of Highland and Nexus even tighter together," 13she notes, blandly. [22:41] 13Xia Lan: "And also - I'm sure coincidentally - ties the fortunes of Nexus even tighter to Highland," 13she notes, blandly. 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "Our fortunes are already tied together. That's why Highland is here at all. Nexus is the linchpin of the entire Direction. We stand and fight together. We win together. And together we prosper." 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "I can't pretend this arrangement doesn't advance the cause of Highland. Why else would I be here? But it's not at the expense of Nexus." 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "All I hear are philosophical objections to a practical solution." 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "That we shouldn't pursue these arrangements because... because what. We might hurt Thorns's feelings?" [22:58] 13Xia Lan: "No, because I suspect these arrangements are far more favorable to Highland, in the end, than they are to Nexus, and - should we survive the war, which as yet is undecided - we will find our city tied inextricably to you. Nexus has been a crossroads of civilization for far too long to immediately jump into bed with the first group to come along and ask for it. You seek exceptions to our system of justice, propose to [22:58] become our most trusted friend and ally in our hour of need, and we are to expect you to be a charity? No, Prince-Regent, your offers come at a price that Nexus cannot afford to pay." 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare: "And that price is what?" [23:19] 13Xia Lan: "The price is Nexus." 13She pauses for effect, then elaborates: "When I first came here, I didn't expect to fall in love with the place. Nexus was - a stop on the road. No idea where I would end up. And yet here I am, on its council, arguing to save it." 13Contrary though that may appear. "Nexus is a place where people, where institutions can flourish, truly. To become whatever they are capable of. And an [23:19] arrangement like Highland is asking for is fundamentally opposed to that." [23:19] 13She continues. "The scales of Nexus tilt only towards those of sufficient power or wealth to tilt them. Nexus does not care who you are, or who you were, or what country you are from - and an arrangement like Highland is proposing is fundamentally obscene. The previous Emissary, Sun rest him, would have flown into a rage at the mere suggestion. I, meanwhile, am only saddened." [23:19] 13This is a hell of a fucking speech. "The assistance from Highland is welcome. But it cannot come at the cost of Nexus's identity. We have two additional parties in the city who are willing to obey our laws, who are invested in our defense, and Highland is welcome to remain among their number. But if they wish to partake in the glory of victory, they should do it as those truly interested in Nexus - not in what they want Nexus to [23:19] become." 14[23:36] * Joins: dammitwhoa 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> The Council is sharply divided by Xia Lan's stirring speech. It might dishearten Xia Lan, but she knows they were unanimously against her a moment ago. 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> The more backchatter builds up, the more Xia Lan gets the sense that she's won over enough people to beat the vote. [23:45] 13Thank goodness for that, because she clearly was too glib with her assumption she could just walk in here and make things happen. She's got a lot of studying to do... as soon as this vote goes her way. Please. 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare watches silently, rubbing a finger along his lower lip. 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Finally, he says, gently to Xia Lan: "Pretty words. Moving ones. Tell me, did the earth move for you too?" 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "Or are you smarter than you look? Smart enough to see when pretty words can lead people to their doom. Wise enough not to put a nation on your back when you know the hard road will make you stumble." 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "You're here today, troubadour. Today you're their hero. Tell me, where will you be tomorrow?" Session Time: Thu Apr 19 00:00:00 2018 [00:08] 13Xia Lan: "Right here." 13She looks him dead in the eye. Her lip barely even trembles. 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Nogare just stares. 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> It's his lip that trembles. He reaches for words and they slip through his fingers. "You, y-you--" And then the uncertainty collapses like a dying star, leaving only white-hot, crushing certainty. 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "You miserable, haughty CUNT--" 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Splinters of the table scatter like raindrops as he comes for her. [00:17] 13Xia Lan's out of her chair immediately, dodging to the side and soon to be sprinting towards the door-- 14[02:52] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Quit: ) 14[03:37] * Joins: dammitwho 14[04:52] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[05:20] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[05:51] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[13:38] * Joins: Crion_ 14[13:40] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:52] * Joins: Crion 14[15:11] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:37] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:33] * Joins: tom [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ [20:38] 4Yeah, I have that problem all the time. 08[20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I can't believe this." 12She's pacing back and forth on the foot of the Heavensward's impromptu hospital bed. Arrayed around her are the Squared Circle; actually bedridden is one Choto Chodari, badly wounded and likely dead if not for Eikichi's first aid. But will that also be Eikichi's final aid...? [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Useless, useless... he doesn't know a thing! Whatever, just put him back out, I'll think of something." [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "Hang on-" 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Sure thing." [20:40] 4Ir's still got the paella. "Is he in condition to eat?" 4Unspoken: are you in a mood to feed him? 15[20:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "Here comes the essence glider. phweeeeeeer" 15[20:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Oh no! It made a sudden crash landing in his neck. [20:41] 4Asshole. [20:42] "Then I'll put this back on the range until you've made your decision." [20:43] 7Blossom: "Thanks, Ir. So... if he doesn't have a vendetta against you anymore, and it looks like he doesn't, what's the problem?" [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "Ow! I just- hrrk-" 12He's out like a light. Yara, in her consternation, has barely noticed. "I'll work on this with May. We'll come up with some way to stop him coming back and that's a commendation, easy." [20:43] 4Once she's done so, though, she'll return. To cross her arms and glare. 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Why not just put him in charge." [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara glances up. "Well, he's a Getimian. They mess things up. I'm sure if he just had time to get his bearings he'd start criss-crossing people's life-lines or making slivers of the sun rise in the west or something." [20:44] 4Ir: "So you've already made your ruling on him?" [20:45] 13Ying finally scampers in. "Augh! I just woke up from a catnap, it was so warm up on the deck...!" 13She looks around at the very serious faces and the unconscious... Getimian? "Efurryone okay?" 08[20:45] "Then we should just let Eikichi do what he wants to do, yeah?" 14[20:45] * Crion_ is now known as Crion [20:45] 4Ir: "Because if you've already decided he's bad forever then there's nothing else to talk about." [20:46] 13Noted. Everyone is not okay. [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara pauses, and speaks carefully: "Ahh, not before my Circle's had a look. We don't want to agitate the stuff in him unnecessarily." [20:46] 4To Ying: "I love you, babe, but I'm not in the mood." [20:47] 13Why do people keep saying that? Still, she stays silent, cat-ears flattened. 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "He won't survive transport in his condition. Are you expecting your Circle to meet you here?" [20:48] 4Ir: "We can sustain that." 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "The question is, will they?" 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "We don't know what they know about us. Yara doesn't tell people the whole story." [20:48] "I wasn't answering for them." [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Er, I might prevail on you to hold him another half hour or something. I can get a puppeteer or two on hand to do do the actual transport and then we're out of your hair." 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikcihi: "You're not understanding me. He's held together with thread right now. He can't be moved." 08[20:50] 7Really? He didn't look that bad. But Eikichi's the expert... [20:50] 13...is he? What did she MISS? [20:52] "Food's in the kitchen," 4Ir says. "I want a word with our ship's doctor." [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara looks a bit skeptical, but turns to examine the youth. "Ah, are you sure? I only know a little doctoring... when would you say we can carry him?" 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "How much do you care if the stitches up his torso pop open?" [20:53] 4To Yara: "If he says the patient can't move, he can't move." [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I mean, he needs to stay alive. Who knows where he'd pop up next, otherwise? This was a huge stroke of luck." [20:54] 4Ir: "Yeah. Luck." [20:54] 4To Yara: "Oh, and I'm gonna need some jade from you on this. He fucked up a butcher's shop before we could contain him. We need to do right by her, and this is your problem." 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "In that case the thing to do is let him wake up, give him some water, and you can walk him out in a couple of hours. It'll be easier if he's conscious and cooperative. Is your circle able to handle that?" 08[20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara, to Ir: "He did? I mean, that's not really-" 12At some point, I imagine Ir's expression changes, even slightly. "But I mean sure, easily." 12She turns to Eikichi. "Oh, yes. Maybe even the 'cooperative' part, um, if you're careful what you tell him." 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I'm not planning to tell him anything." [20:58] 4Ir's not really willing to tolerate vacillation on this particular point. Especially since she imagines she's playing a critical role in this guy not dying from vivisected blood loss right here and now. [20:58] 7Blossom: "I'm wure we can handle that." [20:58] *sure [20:58] 13Seriously, what the heck did Ying miss with her nap? 08[20:58] 4She missed Eikichi being an asshole, and Ir being an asshole right back. 08[20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Hmm. Well, okay. Let me - yes, actually, let me see the damage, just in case. And I'll be back with my people in a few hours." 12She waves a little finger at Eikichi. "Careful with him! The stuff in him could be extremely, extremely volatile. Please don't aggravate it." [20:59] 4Ir: "Please. We only aggravate each other." [21:00] "You willing to sign off on him eating if he wakes up and he's hungry?" 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I have to go wash up. I'm not playing nursemaid and letting blood dry in my hair. Excuse me." [21:00] 4Ir moves well out of his way. [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Well, I suppose. I doubt we can crack this within, you know, three days or whatever." [21:00] 4Ir: "Is that how long we're holding him for." [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "No, that's how long dehydration - I mean, never mind, it wasn't very funny. But keep him functional." [21:01] 4Ir stares at her. "No. It wasn't funny." [21:01] "He'll get water and food. Bring your people here when you can. And Yara?" [21:02] "There won't be any executions on my ship." [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12The small Sidereal nods soberly, then moves to move out. She spends some time on the Heavensward's deck fiddling around with a jade abacus before she conjures a small lavender cloud to fly off on. It sounds like her first move is going to be to perform some accountancy and forensics on the un-destroyed alleyway and butcher shop - anyone curious won't find it hard to tag along. [21:04] 4When Yara's gone Ir leans against the wall and closes her eyes. [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Otherwise, you're left with young Choto and to your own devices. Does he receive further healing or just maintenance? Do you wake him up to chat? Do you, separately, see to the sunshrinet to make sure that order is upheld and the populace are reassured? 08[21:04] 13Ying will want to take a look over the guy - Eikichi's acting weird about this! [21:04] 4To Blossom: "You've gotta have a talk with him. I--" [21:04] 7Blossom plans to tag along with Yara. [21:04] "Hmm?" [21:05] 4Ir: "You understand him better than me. But this isn't him. And if it is him..." 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi doesn't have time to play preacher. Do you have any idea how long it takes to get blood out of hair this thick? [21:05] 4She shakes her head. "It's not him. But I can't talk to him right now." [21:06] "And I don't have it in me to hear 'fuck her if she can't take a joke." [21:07] *'" [21:07] 7Blossom: "I'm sure he's just irritable. He'll be fine tonight, you'll see." 7She has faith in him! 08[21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying's free to examine "Choto Chodari" - an escaped slave from elsewhere in the city, according to Eikichi. He's a tall, spare young man who might not even be twenty yet with lustrous black hair gathered into a sort of bun or curl at the front of his head. He's handsome as people go, but rather pale - that's probably the result of the reaper daiklave wound running diagonally down [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12his entire torso. [21:08] 4Ir looks at her for a long moment. "...Fine." [21:08] "You plan on reassuring the butcher?" [21:08] "If not, I'm coming with you." [21:08] 7Blossom: "I'm heading out with Yara, yeah. Might as well do that while I'm out." [21:09] 4Ir nods. "Good. Good. I've got some cash hanging around if you want to hand it to her up front and make Yara reimburse us. It's the least she can do." 08[21:11] 13Her ears twitch as she goes around checking the wound - she's gonna need to make some new gloves, heck a whole new set of scrubs for any kind of actual surgery, important to think of that now rather than in an emergency - Eikichi said this "Choto Chodari" was held together by a thread? [21:11] 7She looks relieved. "That'll definitely make things much easier." 08[21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12He certainly seems to be. Eikichi's expert but spartan stitching is keeping the wound closed at the moment. [21:13] 13...hm. Maybe she'll need to get started on the new scrubs sooner rather than later. [21:14] 7In that case, Blossom will pick up some cash on the way out. [21:15] 4Ir hands it out in dinars. Enough to make anyone happy with losing a basement full of meat, and then enough besides to make them remember who was good for it. [21:16] 7Blossom will take a pen and some paper with her, then hop after the tiny Sidereal's cloud, sprinting across the rooftops. [21:17] 4Ir sticks around in the quiet ship, makes sure Ami and Errant are fed, and watches over Ying's work. 08[21:18] 4And if Eikichi wants into the operating theater while Ying's working, he's gotta go through Ir. Otherwise he can take some paella from the aft lounge and take a nap. [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom catches up to Yara as Yara's setting down on a rooftop overlooking the alley. The Chosen of Heaven squints down at street level, begins to rifle through a pocket on her belt, and then says "Oh!" 12as Blossom turns up. "I was just going to - well, if you're here I can just come with. Try not to point me out to anyone." [21:23] 4Ir, of course, will have some of that paella herself. Damn good, too. 08[21:24] 13She leaves for a few minutes and returns in a brand new outfit, ready and able to get to work. But first... Ir's here. "...Eikichi didn't do much fur him beyond stitch up that cut." 13She looks over to Ir. "Would it be bad if I tried to heal him?" [21:25] 7Blossom: "No problem. I was going to pay off the butcher myself and give you an invoice for reinbursement. That'll be much easier on both of us, don't you think?" [21:25] 4Ir: "No. It would not be bad." [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Oh. Possibly? If you want the credit. I could just arrange for future windfalls of the appropriate size." [21:29] "I just meant bureaucratically. Records from the point of transfer and that sort of thing. The Celestial Bureaucracy can't be that different from the Thousand Scales." [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "For sure, but it doesn't really notice the presence or absence of a few pounds of silver. Anyway, after you." [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Investigating Choto closely, Ying can put together a general medical profile of the young man. He's a little underfed - not just mildly dehydrated right now, but indicating a general nutritional insecurity. Callouses and abrasions on his skin indicate the presence, in the past, of ropes and manacles. His torso's cut open and there are nasty bruises on both his back and front, indicating [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12that he was slammed against several hard surfaces in sequence, but strangely his clothing's in fine shape and there aren't really any foreign particles lodged in his flesh - it's as though he received the wounds without actually suffering the beating. [21:35] 4Ir gave Blossom the cash so we could take the credit. That was the point, especially since we're the ones who fucked the place up. [21:35] 4So hopefully Yara's willing to take that invoice. [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12That's entirely in keeping with what Tatsuya remembers from a few nights ago - stab this man's ghost, or double, or projection, or whatever it is, and he feels it. [21:37] 13Ying: "You purrobably know this already, but... this guy's real weird. Not a clawmark on the clothing, still obviously cut open, bruised..." [21:38] 4Ir: "...Do you know you're doing it? The cat stuff." [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a strange scene that Blossom, Yara in tow, comes up upon - especially now that she's got the time to look at it closely rather than dash past it at speed. Choto clearly traced a pretty straight line through several walls, but that's not a line Blossom can walk herself because all those walls are standing. [21:39] 4She's also hovering around the operating theater, ready to help. "Tell me if you need me to put pressure somewhere." [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12The butcher shop itself is a very strange mess. It's filled with furniture and implements that are nominally intact but put together completely wrong, and the proprietress herself is grousing to anyone who'll listen about the nonsense that just happened. Currently it's a young woman with a book who looks simply shocked by the retelling. [21:40] 13She keeps talking while she checks him over. "Same thing that Catsuya saw -- huh? Yeah, it's on purrpose. The ears, the tail, the paws?" 13Then she's on to actually patching him up. Bandages, poultices, everything she can do to patch up the wounds. "Right here, please." 13Starting with the showstopper cut right down the middle. [21:42] 4Ir puts pressure where asked. "And 'purrobably?' 'Clawmark?' 'Catsuya?' 'Purrpose?' Pay attention to how you're talking, girl," 4Ir says. "It's cute almost all of the time, don't get me wrong. But in surgery, it's not." [21:42] 4After a moment, she sighs. "We all love it, of course." [21:42] 13Ying: "...what?" 13She actually stops working to stare at Ir. "Have I - is that how I sound?" [21:42] "It is." [21:43] "Am I the first one to say something?" [21:43] 4She grimaces. "I kinda suspected I would be." [21:44] 13Ying: "Um. Yeah. Why didn't -" 13She frowns, realizes this is no time to stop, and gets back to bandaging. "Nopawdy - ugh, nobody told me!" [21:44] "We didn't. You know why, right? Should be easy to guess. There's a reason it didn't come up until a literal surgery." [21:45] 4Holding the wound closed for bandaging: "It's because we respect you, your choices, and what you do with those choices. You want to that? We can accept that. We can accept anything about you, within clear and obvious reason." [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12The things Blossom finds on her path through the adjoining tenements and butcher shop are increasingly confusing until the pattern clicks in the Solar's mind. Then it all makes sense... once one's swallowed a baseline premise, anyway. It seems that nothing the raging Choto (or Choto's... ghost, or something) struck, smashed, or splintered was willing to stay that way. Everything, [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12within a matter of seconds, seems to have been repaired. But, actually, it hasn't even been repaired - there'd be signs, then, of tool use, spackle, whatever that wouldn't escape Blossom's notice. [21:46] *to do [21:46] 4Ir: "But if you don't know how you're presenting yourself, we need to tell you that too. Within reason." [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Rather, the destruction was summarily undone, as though it happened in reverse mere moments after occurring in the normal way. The only problem was, it was as frequently as not undone incorrectly - bricks would fly backwards but settle in the wrong places, the blade of a snapped cleaver would attach itself backwards, and so on. It's seamless, though - the result is that all these [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12things look like they were assembled by drunk blacksmiths and carpenters. [21:47] 13Ying: "Well... thanks." 13She sounds reassured. "Still wish somep... somebody would've said something befur now." [21:47] "Before. Before now." [21:47] 4Ir: "That's on us. But we erred on the side of letting you do your thing." [21:48] "...I think I'm gonna keep doing it when not performing literal surgery though." [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara, quietly: "What the heck." [21:48] 13Ying: "It's kinda fun actually, now that I think about it." 08[21:48] 4Ir doesn't fight the smile. "Eikichi and Blossom will be pleased." [21:48] "Let me know when I can let go." [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Butcher: "...and then he he goes barreling down the stairs, everything behind him just tumbling around like anything! And not as much as a sorry-" 12The younger woman she's talking to is nodding consolingly. [21:49] 13She smiles. "That one's good. Help me over here with his arm--" [21:49] 4Ir: "Yep." [21:51] 7Blossom: "Excuse me, citizen?" [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Butcher: "Eh?" [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12She starts. "Your worship!" [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12In the background, Blossom can see Yara poking around some inverted stools. No one seems to notice. [21:52] 13Ying continues working apace - after a bit, if Ir wants to leave, Ying can take it from here, though the company is welcomed if she stays. [21:53] 4Ir hangs around. This ship is too good to require her to rerig sails or check the ballast and such. [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12At some point, Choto'll groan and start to rouse, probably while Ying and Ir are around. Do they want to leave him alone, keep him sedated, or let him wake? [21:53] 4She will take a patrol or two around, but Sondok and Usagi should be able to handle the basic security. [21:53] 4Ir is in favor of letting him wake. [21:54] 13How's he look in terms of "ability to hold down food and water" to Ying? [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying doesn't think he'll be able to eat solids until tomorrow - probably not for weeks if it weren't for her spectacular doctoring. [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "Ohh... urrgh. Uh?" 12He looks at Ying, or between Ying and whoever else is on staff. [21:57] 13She'll let Ir know before she heads off to cook. [21:57] 7Blossom: "You're alright? Nobody was hurt?" [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Butcher: "Thought I was. Swear to you I felt my arm snap. But..." 12She waves it so that Blossom can see, then shrugs. The woman she was talking to writes something down. [21:59] 13Ying: "Hi! Choto, right? How are you feeling?" [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto squints at Ying, then looks down at himself, then back up. "Is... that a joke?" [22:00] 4Ir: "Are we laughing?" [22:00] 7Blossom: "I'm glad to hear it. You'll be pleased to know that we've taken care of the problem, but that doesn't solve the damage to your shop, so..." 7She holds out the bag of silver. [22:00] 13She shakes her head. "Puretty bad, yeah, but I asked fur a reason." [22:00] "I'm not." [22:00] 13Purretty* [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12The butcher's eyes widen - all the more so when she realizes how heavy the pouch is. "Holy..! Thank you! If there's ANYTHING-" [22:01] 4She could do right whenever the Sun-church down the street needs meat. [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "Well... awful, aheh. Not as bad as when... as when... hooboy." 12He begins to look more and more worried. [22:02] 4Ir: "You're not dead, yeah? Because we're not going to kill you. And the people who might kill you would only do so if they're stupid." [22:02] "You can't leave, but you're alive." [22:02] 13Ying: "Water? You're on bedrest until further notice, by the way. Doctor's orders." [22:03] "And if you rest up for a spell, then I've got some good food for you." [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto raises a hand carefully and looks at it. "Can someone explain... anything...?" [22:03] 4Ir: "You inherited the worst kind of ghost." [22:03] 13Ying looks over to Ir - she was there, and Ying wasn't. [22:04] "That shadow? The one you were fighting? The one WE were fighting. That's you, now. You ever heard of Heaven?" [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "Who hasn't heard of heaven?" [22:04] "Oh, no. Big letters." [22:05] 7Blossom waves the butcher's thanks away. "Don't worry about it. You're no good to anyone with all your cleavers stuck on backwards, right?" 7As she speaks, she'll take down a precisely correct invoice of what was handed over, to give to Yara later. [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12The young scribe or whatever it is talking to the butcher turns to Blossom, still writing. "Oh - is your Circle paying for all the damages?" [22:05] 4Ir: "Here's the deal. People want you dead, because of what you can do to them. The people who want you dead work for Heaven. The good news is this: if they kill you, the thing they actually fear -- the power in your shadow -- that shows up somewhere else. You understand where this goes?" [22:06] "Heaven knows where you are now. But if you die, they have to start over." [22:06] 4She gestures around the room. "It's kind of the same for the two of us." [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "Right, you're Blossom's - wait, I'm Anathema, too?" [22:07] 7Blossom: "Oh, hello! I didn't notice you there. Excessively Righteous Blossom. You are?" [22:07] 4Ir: "You're goddamn right you are." [22:08] 4She smiles. "And that's nothing to be ashamed of. No matter what anyone says." [22:08] "But." [22:08] 13Ying presses a glass of water into his hand. "Drink up. Dehydration is no fun." [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12The young woman: "Second Jian. Your answer, please?" [22:11] 7Does that name sound familiar? [22:11] "You can choose the way your world ends. As can we. As do we." [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Nope, Blossom's never seen this woman before. She's around Blossom's own age, has dark hair and spectacles, and wears a scholar's robes. [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto rubs at his forehead with a hand. "I don't... feel like oh no." 12He realizes, as do Ir and Ying, that there's a second hand superimposed over his - large, ghostly, plated with some kind of armor. Once he focuses his eyes on it, it vanishes. [22:14] 4Ir: "You're something called a Getimian. You exist in opposition to the serveants of Heaven. If that's what you want to do with your life, well." 4She crosses herself. "I bless you and go with the Sun. They want you dead anyway. But." [22:14] "None of them have been by for you." [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "Wait wait wait. I don't oppose anyone. I just ow I just wanted some bread." [22:14] "None of them were there for you when your shadow tried to fuck you up." [22:14] "None of them gave you bread." [22:14] "None of them made you whole." [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "...none of them cut me in half, either." [22:15] 4Ir: "Oh yeah? You're in half right now?" [22:15] "Men that get cut in half talk a lot, huh?" [22:16] 7Blossom: "We'll be handling it, given the unusual circumstances." 7She's a little cautious, but not too much, because she's confident she can deal with any sudden requests for compensation for 'emotional distress' or 'mental surprise' and the like. [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "I remember now. That was - everyone knows him! Blossom's, ow," 12He's getting worked up enough that his wound's aching extra, probably. ", guy. Came right at me-" [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Second Jian: "Can you explain what happened here, exactly? A lot of people are asking questions." [22:16] 13Ying: "Hey hey hey, your wounds are still healing! Lean back." [22:17] "'Blossom's guy' doesn't like you at all. But he's why you're alive. You have to understand that contradiction before you can live in this world." [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto does his best to release a breath and work his shoulder blades back into the pillow, wincing as he does. [22:18] 13She presses the water into his hand again. "Drink!" [22:18] 4Ir: "And he 'cut you in half' because he didn't know fucking up your shadow would fuck you up too. That's why the next time someone fucked with your shadow, it was me, knocking you out." [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Gulp, gulp, gulp. Choto: "Is... is he mad? I think I hit someone-" [22:18] 14Ir: "He's not mad." [22:19] 4Ir: "He's not mad." [22:21] 13Ying: "He's kinda mad. But I think he's just... like that sometimes." [22:22] 4Ir: "Sorry. I should correct myself." [22:22] "If he's mad, he'll take it up with me. Not you." [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "Doesn't he outrank you?" [22:24] 13Ying: "We don't have ranks!" [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "Well, Blossom's in charge, so logically her consort-" 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Where's the lie? [22:25] 13Ying: "I should purrobably actually read that book he wrote, huh." [22:26] 4Ir: "He IS her consort." [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "I mean that's, ow, just what everyone says." 12He looks like he regrets trying to shrug there. [22:26] 4Ir: "But book-learning isn't going to keep you alive." [22:27] "If you've read the books then you know I've got at least two consorts. But they do whatever the fuck they please." [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "Uh, I can't actually... I just asked around when I got here." 12He looks around. "'Here'... where am I?" [22:28] 4Ir: "Ever heard of the Heavensward?" [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "...no?" [22:29] 4Ir: "Well now you have." [22:29] 13Ying: "Haha oh wow. Don't fureak out." [22:30] "Medical ward on our ship, the Heavensward." 13Does Ir want to tell him it's flying, or should she? [22:30] 4Ir: "You know why they call it the Heavensward?" [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "Oh, shit. The one that flies??" [22:31] "The one that flies." [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "How does it do that, anyway?" [22:31] 4Ir: "Extreme morality and knowledge." [22:32] 13Ying: "Furry carefurly." [22:32] 13Hmm. That's maybe too much. [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto doesn't look like he understands the answer. He reaches for a fresh cup of water by his bed, and doesn't seem to notice when a larger hand than his actually picks it up and brings it to his lips. [22:32] 4It's fine. [22:32] 4Uh. Which hand? 08[22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12It's the right hand of the ghost/shadow/whatever that Eikichi and Ir put down scant hours ago. Mostly translucent, and vanishing once Choto takes normal hold of the cup. [22:33] 4Well that's just cute. [22:34] 4To Choto: "So you're getting good with the spirit, then?" [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "The... oh, shit." 12He looks back at the distant table, reaches his normal hand out for it, and kind of clutches at empty space for a bit without anything happening that he can see. But that's because the large, muscled, armored shape has appeared behind him, and is kind of miming the same motion with the same nonexistent results. 14[22:36] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[22:36] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[22:36] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho [22:36] 4Ir: "We're not here to judge." [22:37] 13Ying: "You doing okay with it? It's a lot to take in, I know." [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying's never seen this before... but Tatsuya's seen something like it, and yet not. Tatsuya remembers that the ghost, or projection, or second self or something of the man he fought was along the same approximate ones as this one - a large, translucent, purplish figure, heavily muscled and of fierce aspect. It didn't look like anyone he recognized, but had very memorable features, [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12hair, dress, and so on. [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12This ghost doesn't quite look like Choto. It does look like the man that Yara killed, the one who'd been summoning or sustaining the past projection... but only in an abstract and stylized way. There's simply less detail in its face and bearing than the last ghost had - it's like a calligraphic sketch rather than a full painting or sculpture, and it's further obscured in a suit of [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12partial armor with spider web patterns etched into the steel. [22:40] 7Blossom: "A small Chosen unexpectedly took his Second Breath and caused a ruckus due to the surprise. We believe the damage was accidental, and thankfully it appears that no one was hurt." [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "I can't seem to..." 12When he stops trying, the ghost behind him fades, and he leans back into his pillow again. [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Second Jian nods. "Was he... captured? Killed?" [22:41] 13Ying: "Don't push yourself. You, um, got beat up purretty bad." [22:42] 4Ir: "She's not wrong. Get some sleep; there will be food waiting for you when you wake up." [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "Yeah... yeah, I should." [22:44] 7Blossom: "He's been taken for examination, but is currently unconscious." 7True, as far as she knows! [22:45] 13It'll be true again by the time she's back, too! [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Second Jian: "What sort of justice will he face?" [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto's drifting off. Using her catlike apprehension of the world beyond this one, though, Ying's able to espy the presence of the boy's second self. It lingers within his body, it seems, but can drift apart from it, only loosely affected by both gravity and matter unless it wants to. In this way, it's definitely of the same character as a ghost, god, or demon - immaterial by default, [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12but able to gain force and mass when it needs to. It's got a dark, shadowy aspect to it that clearly associates it with either the underworld or, at least, the less reassuring kind of god - the sort that governs death or darkness or fear or something. [22:50] 13She waves to it once she's sure Choto's drifted off. Any reaction? [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir can't see the second self's reaction, but Ying can. Its eyes move to follow Ying's motions before it sort of slips away from Choto and then sinks through the room's floor. [22:51] 13Wow, rude. [22:51] 4Ir's going downstairs, then? [22:53] 4Guess not. [22:53] 13Ying: "Stay here with him, I'm going to check that out. The- ghost thing went downstairs after I waved to it." [22:54] 13Sorry for stealing your spot. [22:54] 4Ir: "Have fun with it." [22:55] 13She hustles downstairs, to just below where Choto's taking a nap. [22:55] 13...any sign of the second self? 08[22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying's got the same problem Blossom, Ir, and Eikichi did earlier - unlike her quarry, she has to respect the solidity of matter. 08[22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12What's going on in Eikichi's cabin? 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's cleaned up by now so he's just sitting on his bed, a sketchpad in his lap. 08[22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Not much bothers Eikichi at the moment - not past a mild surface regret with regards to wasted time. He's got little cause to fret, for instance, as the charcoal in his stylus snaps as it draws its way across the paper, adding a jagged and unneeded line to his work and then rolling down the pad and towards his bedsheets. 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Oh, bother. [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12He's only begun to reach for his eraser, though, when he hears the strangest and faintest of noises. If he weren't paying attention, he'd just be puzzled to see the stylus in one piece again, and the stray mark gone. His eyes are keen, though, and he was able to catch the way that the bit of charcoal actually rolled back up his paper to leap into place, and even the way that the [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12individual carbon particles of the unintended mark picked themselves up off the parchment, zipping through the air to rejoin his drawing implement. [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12He looks up to find his foe from a few hours ago floating before him, drawing its fingertip backwards from his drawing pad. It eyes him carefully. 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi freezes mid-erase to watch the coal roll back together, and his eyes follow the fingertip back up until he's eye to eye with the face in the spider helmet. [23:03] 7Blossom: "He'll be removed from Great Forks, barring the discovery of any next-of-kin, which doesn't seem likely at this point." 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sanctified stupid." [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Jian's got one more question: "And that's your decision? Not the city guard's?" 08[23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying's made her way down. Ah, that's Eikichi's door. It's either there, or passed through there, or made some kind of turn she didn't expect. [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Upstairs, Ir can see Choto's expression change. He looks confused... then worried... [23:07] 13...Ah. [23:07] 4Great. [23:07] 13She knocks. 08[23:08] 13Tap tap taptaptap. "Eikichi?" 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's room is soundproof, he can't actually hear people knock when the door is shut. 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's not locked, though. 08[23:09] 13She jiggles the handle to confirm, then opens it up very slightly. "Eikichi? Is there a spooky ghost in there with you?" 13she says through the crack. [23:09] 7Blossom, blandly: "We're coordinating with the city guard." 7Note to self: Coordinate with city guard. 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Not exactly." [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Jian: "Ah, makes sense. Thank you for your time!" 12She glances around the room, then closes her notepad back up and makes to leave. [23:11] 4That's not a no. [23:12] 13Ying: "...do you mind if I come in?" 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "If I said yes, wouldn't you want to come in even more?" [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12The floating apparition's drawing back from the sorcerer. After a moment, it shrugs a shoulder to sort of spin through the air, as though it were swimming, and begins to draw itself back upwards. [23:12] 13Ying: "Yes, but I respect your purrivacy." 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's leaving now, anyway." [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12As Jian looks across the room - exactly as her gaze passes across Yara, in fact - Blossom notices Yara start, then stare, annoyed at the scholar, then busy herself with her investigation again. 08[23:13] 4From well outside: "Thanks, Eikichi." [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Beyond that, Blossom's pretty sure she's made a full assay of the scene, and has more than paid for the damages. She thinks she has a good idea of the foe(?)'s capabilities, too - great strength, but the capacity to reverse that strength's effects. [23:14] 13Ying: "Okay! Um. I'm gonna go try and track it down again, do you want anything while I'm up?" 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "Lock that door." [23:15] 7Waiting impatiently for someone without drawing attention to the person you're waiting impatiently for is fairly irritating. [23:15] 13Does it even lock from the outside? [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara's done in short order, is the good news. "Broken things not staying broken... ohh, that'll cause some headaches. Have you got what you need?" 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10There's a little switch just on the inside of the door, you can turn that latch and then shut it. [23:17] 13She'll comply, then. Paw just reaches in, flicks the switch, "Bye!" 13and then she shuts the door and hurries back upstairs. [23:18] 13...is the dumb ghost back with Choto's body? [23:19] 4Ir lets that locking stuff happens, snorts, then follows Ying upstairs. [23:19] 7Blossom: "Yes, we're done here." 7When they're out of earshot of the normies: "So, who was she?" 08[23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying's able to trace the rest of the apparition's trip through the ship by what's missing. Footprints vanished out of tracks left by Eikichi's demons... stains and spills erased from the kitchen... full-length candles standing where burned-down stubs were the previous day. [23:20] 13...what. [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Yeah, pretty weird. Ying is lead on a full circuit, though, and finds herself back at Choto's bedside in short order. He's sleeping more or less peacefully; Ir has nothing more worrying to report. [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Who? Oh. I didn't...I think that was May." 12She frowns to herself. "I don't know what she was doing already there. I just sent word for her and Siaka to meet us where the boat can pick us up." [23:23] 13Is the extremely helpful ghost there too? [23:23] 7Blossom: "Hmm. Well, that's a bit of a relief. Listen, while I have you out here: I need a favor." [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12If Ying concentrates, she can see glimpses of it within Choto's body, resting. [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Mmm hmm?" [23:24] 13Ying, to Ir: "Well... that's weird?" [23:26] "It's in him now. Catnapping too, I guess. After, um... cleaning up fur us." 13She's not sure how much of it Ir caught around the ship. [23:27] 4Ir: "Of course it's weird." [23:27] 7Blossom: "I need a Righteous Devil sifu. Do you know of one?" [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Ooh, Righteous Devil! Hmm, I think that's one of the ones that Stenzo forgot, but if memory serves he learned it from... you're probably not going anywhere near Gem any time soon, are you?" [23:30] 7Blossom: "I mean, we could? It's a biiiit out of the way, though." [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "No, no, that'd be unreasonable. Um, I THINK one of Siaka's girlfriends was a righteous devil. I'll ask her! Or you can once we're all aboard." [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12At any rate, Yara means to bring her entire Circle together and onboard. That means that she and Ir have probably arranged for some rooftop in the sunshrine's district to, shortly, become the target of one of the Heavensward's rope ladders. [23:36] 7Blossom, once they've hauled themselves aboard: "We're baaaaaack!" [23:37] 4From well inside: "Nice" [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12If that's the case, then as Blossom and Yara approach it, they're met by two other women. One is Iron Siaka, scarred, cloaked and armored. The other's a new face - although a somewhat familiar one to Blossom. She's got a long green dress, cascading waves of raven-black hair, and is, by most standards, head-turningly beautiful. It's amazing what you can hide with a pair of glasses. [23:38] "Oh good, Siaka and May are here." [23:39] 13Ying will pounce up on deck to greet them. She's briefly arrested by the idea that some other people snuck onto their ship, but she recognizes one and no one's attacking the other, so it's fine. "Welcome back!!" [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Once everyone's aboard, introductions are made. "May Blossom," 12says the third, giving the Zenith Caste a sheepish grin after giving everyone else a deep bow. "Let's see the, er, patient?" [23:39] 13Ying: "Only if you purromise to be quiet. He's sleeping!" [23:40] 13She's actually still dressed in her modified doctor's garb, though the gloves and hairnet have been set aside. [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12May claps her hands over her mouth and stares at Ying with a hard-to-read, glittery-eyed expression. Yara's like, "What?" [23:42] 13Ying: "Someone cut him open with a sword! Not to mention the meowling he took furom what looks like being thrown into a wall. So he's resting!" [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12That aside, the three Chosen of Destiny are quick to move into, and set up in, Choto's room. Well, two of them, at least, because it seems that May and Yara both are confident of their ability to be quiet. Siaka waits outside, arms crossed. Both May and Yara come in and out, and over the duration they're quick to grill Ying, Ir, and anyone else at hand as to what's been up with Choto [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12- is there anything Ying's careful to tell them, or to leave out? [23:44] 13She covers everything to the best of her ability. Patching him up, his reaction on awaking, the weird ghost's attempts to help him drink, how it helpfully cleaned up the ship... [23:45] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom will answer questions, but she's mainly interested in striking up a conversation with Iron Siaka. [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara and May seem to want to work on their own, so there's plenty of time to talk out in the hall, or out further in the mess hall. Siaka seems to be in good spirits. "Can't believe it," 12she's saying to herself. [23:47] 13Ying ensures that Choto is never in the room alone with their Heavenly guests. Once she's done explaining, she'll actually just stay in the room, hovering - she's the ranking doctor, here. [23:48] 7Blossom: "What's that?" [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Well that's fine... for a little while. After about fifteen minutes' setup, May turns to give Ying a slightly pained look. "Er... could you give us some time alone, here? We need to talk shop." [23:49] 4If they've got questions for Ir they can ask, but 'grilling' is not gonna be on the menu. [23:49] 13Ying: "Can you do it outside the room?" [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka, to Blossom: "It's... well, you know, long as May and I've known little Yara, everything we heard, we figured she was hellbent on icing the lot of you." [23:49] 6Almost did. [23:50] 7Blossom: "She was... enthusiastic." [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Had to be real careful around her 'cause we were wondering if she was under orders to report us... or worse... if we ever sounded the least bit sympathetic to, you know, all this." [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Turns out she's worse than we are! Sneaking around all this time to work on some secret project with you. Probably worrying about us!" [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12May thinks. "Well, I suppose. But we'll need to try a few things in here eventually. What's wrong?" [23:53] 13Ying: "Can't leave my patient alone. I didn't work as hard as I did just to have somepawdy else come in and muck it up." [23:53] 7Blossom: "She'd probably worry anyway. I get the feeling your Circles are more... as-needed than long-term? Is that right?" [23:53] 4Ir just rests grumpily against the doorframe. The paella WILL be getting refreshed. [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Oh, yeah. And to get signed up with Yara... I mean, she's young, but I knew her last incarnation. Whoof. Makes a gal worry." [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12May, trying not to crack a smile: "Oh, we'll call you if he looks to be doing poorly. Though it looks to me like you've patched him up very nicely." [23:55] 4Ir: "Y'all hungry?" [23:56] 7She raises an eyebrow. "Really?" [23:57] 13She puffs up. "I'm an expurrt fursician." 13She does take a second look at them -- do they look as though they mean to do harm to Choto without her there? [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka nods. "Top-tier assassin. No one knows what finally put an end to him." [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka glances over to Ir at the suggestion. "Hell yeah I am. You got more of that... well, basically anything?" [23:58] 4Ir: "It's already on the stove. You know where the kitchen is, yeah?" Session Time: Fri Apr 20 00:00:01 2018 [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12May's polite, friendly, and personable, but it's kind of hard to tell what else she is. Yara, meanwhile, just seems anxious to talk or do something with May - something she's sure she has to keep confidential. Some kind of Sidereal trade secrets, no doubt. [00:01] 7Blossom: "Oh, I haven't eaten since this morning. You're a lifesaver, Ir." [00:01] 13Ying: "...you've got ten minutes. If something happens to him..." 13She gestures vaguely with her claw - it's adorably threatening. [00:01] "Mmmm." [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12May and Yara share a glance. "Well... sure. But knock first?" [00:02] 4Ir's only the second part of adorably threatening. [00:02] 13She looks affronted. "I'm not rude." [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "Of course! Sorry. I'm just a little nervous, you know?" 12She smiles disarmingly. [00:05] 7While they're shoveling paella into their mouths the way only two FUCKING JOCKS can, Blossom says: "Listen, I need a favor, and Yara said you were the one to ask." [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Mmff?" 12She swallows. "I mean, mmm?" [00:06] 13Ying glares at her briefly, but softens. "Still! Anything catpuns to him and I'll have your guts for garters!" 13Then she's out of the room and on her way to get some food. [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12When Ying checks in ten minutes' time, she finds Yara and May in deep, whispered conversation. In another ten minutes, they're drawing some kind of diagram on a nearby table, which Yara moves quickly to turn over. After a third check, Choto seems to be half-awake and the diagram mostly complete. [00:08] 4Ir fixes herself an orange-juice-and-wodka drink and a small plate of paella as she overseas the luncheon. [00:10] 13Meanwhile, in between checks, Ying is thinking upon the idea of leather-based garters. They really don't seem that effective! Why are they such a convenient threat...? [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, the others eat. Left to her own devices, Siaka tells funny stories or relates odd places she's seen. Once Blossom brings up martial arts, though, the Chosen of Venus raises her brows in interest and then nods. "Mm, yeah, I can hook you up. Probably. Important stuff, martial training. I should reaaaaallly actually get myself some at some point." [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Least then Yara'd have one less thing to nag me about." [00:12] 7Blossom nods. "Thanks, I appreciate it." [00:13] 4Well. That was easy enough. [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Let me see here. Righteous Devil... good news and bad news. The good news is that "Tinder" Tam makes her home right in Nexus. The bad news is that I could only have put in a good word for you, oh, some time last year, and that I hear she's struck out east recently to hunt down some fugitive." [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Suppose that might be good news, as it puts her closer to Great Forks - probably not in town, though, 'cause I'd know. I can put out a few feelers to pinpoint her." [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying doesn't get a chance to check in on Choto another time before Yara comes out to ask her a question. The Chosen of Endings says: "Hey, umm... incense won't cause any problems for him, right?" [00:22] 4Ir brews something special up for the kid. Fluid, but he can drink it, and it tastes good and won't pass bad. Mostly fruit. [00:22] *4Filling, but [00:22] 13Ying: "He wasn't having respurratory issues befur, but I'd want to be in there to monitor him. Unless that's a secret too?" [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I... guess you can watch him but not us?" [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12So it is that Ying ends up by the bedside of a now-awake Choto while, on the other side of the room, Yara and May carefully burn... something, behind a tasteful paper screen. The teen looks about as confused as Ying would expect, though he's really enjoying this smoothie. [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Perhaps Ying ends up more confused than he is, though, as she sees Choto's second self manifest visibly but immaterially around his body - and, within that self, strands of glittering spider's web rapidly trace themselves in crazy designs all around him. [00:25] 13Does it seem to alarm or upset him at all? Is the second self - does it seem in pain? [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto's sweating, but looks merely distracted. The spirit, on the other hand, has lost the pupils in its eyes and is simply drifting listlessly. Before Ying, increasingly elaborate characters and mandalas of glittering, half-real (side real?) silk weave themselves into being. [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12The experiment's concluded, and Choto's issues perhaps explained, if not resolved - next week. 14[03:41] * Joins: Crion| 14[03:49] * Quits: Crion| (Quit: ) 14[03:49] * Joins: Crion| 14[04:04] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[04:13] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:26] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[10:06] * Joins: Crion| 14[10:52] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:49] * Joins: Crion| 14[16:03] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:54] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:04] * Joins: Crion| 14[18:04] * Quits: Crion| (Quit: ) 14[19:35] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[19:35] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[19:35] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger ascends Sentinel Hill, to lend support to Xia Lan in the most fraught negotiations of the circle's young political career. The rain that's blown in from the west hides all but the barest outlines of the Vecchio palace. Balor's star stains the cloudy sky pink. [20:06] 14He got here as soon as he could. Hopefully it's in time to at least help out with some paperwork. 15[20:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Elsewhere, Keldar's been drilling his new conscripts in Parko Llana, the only open space in the city big enough to house the general's burgeoning army. What's he do when the rain comes in? Do the cadets get a break? [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12The cadets do get breaks, but they don't get breaks for rain. For this particular exercise, the more sudden and more driving, the better. Keldar, wearing a big brown cloak so that his armor doesn't stand out too much against the grass and mud, is shouting at ranks of archers. "Just started coming down! Remember where the targets were and remember they can't have moved farther than [20:09] <@Ferrinus> you did! Now FIRE-" 15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger's only a block away when the palace ignites. The upper floor bleeds deep red light from all its windows for a moment before they explode outward with a shockwave, raining glass on the streets below. [20:12] 14He immediately places his hand on the book in his robes and calls Keldar. [20:12] 14He doesn't begin running, not yet, but it's the briskest walk he can manage. 15[20:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar, farther off, only sees the beast in the sky. A massive wolf, hide stained crimson, raises both its heads to snarl at the sky. Dawn stings the eyes. 15[20:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger's caught in a panic in the plaza, buffeted by guards and officials streaming out of the palace and Dawn Guard charging in. Bureaucrats and assayers stream out with terror on their faces, Guildsman bodyguards and attaches bearing out... was that Gen? Astrologer Kratz? Stunned and bleeding from the temple? [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Grunts and shouts sound around Keldar. Off in the distance, ropes and chains go taut as a hidden line of recruits moves a set of targets in semi-random directions. "Should've nocked again by now! Ready, aiwhat in the fuck? ...WHO SAID TO STOP?" 14[20:15] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:15] 14He'll push his way over to Kratz. Is Keldar picking up? [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12The mercenary takes a knee and touches two fingers to his ear. "Yeah?" [20:16] 14Stranger: "Council Tower. Get over here." [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Moving." 12He rises. "Empty those quivers and then you're on break! Wait for further word!" 12Then he dashes off. [20:17] 14Stranger kills the call as he tries to get Kratz's attention. 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> The first thing Xia Lan feels when she stirs is the sun on her face. It's the last thing she felt before he hit her. She's on her back, in no pain resting on cool grass. Somewhere, a string trio plays gentle music. 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz looks this way and that before focusing on the man in front of her. "...Stranger..." 14[20:18] * Joins: VoxPrime [20:18] 14Stranger: "Astrologer. What happened? ...Where is Xia Lan?" 15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Upstairs." [20:19] "...Nogare?" [20:19] 13No pain? The sun on her face... Her eyes flutter open as she takes in the sky, not yet daring to look around. 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan sees a summer sky, harsh and cloudless. There's plenty of light, but no sun. 15[20:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Pellicia. Pellicia stayed." [20:21] 13She takes in a few long breaths, then attempts to sit up. So this is how it ends, then. [20:22] 14Stranger: "I'm going up. Get clear of the tower, and get the rest of the Councillors clear, too. Keldar is on his way." 15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Coming up from the northern side of the Hill, Keldar sees better than Stranger the red storm streak like a comet from the palace atop the hill, off to the east. [20:23] 13Ends? Has ended? What's she see as she sits up and really takes stock? [20:23] *get clear of the palace 15[20:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan feels a desert wind on her face, rises in the heart of a rose-garden. There are silver paving-stones, gossamer filigree, and the most elaborate tea service she's ever seen. She hears movement but she can't place it. [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's bolting southward, a great shape of rippling sackcloth beneath which are periodic flashes of gold and silver. He makes a mighty leap as soon as he's near the vecchio, then another, then another, until he's standing at what's become the top floor. [20:26] 14Is Stranger up there to greet him or have the stairs been blown out? 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger runs up the sweeping staircase and meets eyes with Keldar as he leaps onto the balcony. The shattered meeting-room stands between them, a table smashed to flinders and two bodies among the debris. [20:27] 13Well. No pain means she can probably stand. What's she got on her - what's she wearing and all that? As she continues taking in the scene, she tries to place the location of the music - if it's even "anywhere" at all. [20:28] 14Stranger is holding his walking stick by its middle now, no longer an affectation of blindness. 15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger can enter through the west door or through the hole in the wall right beside it, the size of three men. [20:28] 14Please. He'll use the door. 15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> What is Xia Lan wearing? What does she have on her? [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar mutters curses as he sweeps forward, crouching to survey the wreckage and then simply seizing and heaving aside tables and pillars and such until the bodies are clear. [20:29] 14First thing to do is figure out who our bodies are, it seems. [20:29] 14Not fun work. 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar uncovers Xia Lan first, her breathing shallow and ragged. It takes him a second to recognize her. She's alive, barely, choking on blood and savagely beaten. [20:32] 14Stranger goes back to the stairs. Have other soldiers found the stones to filter up after them? 15[20:32] <@VoxPVoxD> The other body is still. The other body is Pellicia's, her own sidearm saber planted to the hilt in her abdomen. Her body's curled around the blade, as if she died trying to hold it in. [20:33] 13To Xia Lan's eyes, she's got on one of her more reserved outfits - a simple dress she remembers wearing a few short days ago, back in their apartments. All her gear is still on her - the Skin of the Loyal, Nine Muses Attend, and Before and After - she's prepared, even here. 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Dawn Guard advance up the stairs behind Stranger, slowly. None of them can see past him into the room just yet. [20:33] 14If so he is going to send for Commandant Vissi D'Arte by name. [20:33] 14With a request to bring her best doctors. [20:34] 14Rejoining Keldar: "How bad is--" [20:34] 14He sees precisely how bad it is for Pellicia. [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's eyes widen and nostrils flare. He ducks deeper into a crouch. Xia Lan's alive. Is Pellicia? Breath, heartbeat of any kind? 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia is dead. [20:36] 14Stranger walks to the edge of the blown-out wall. Can he visually track which direction the Prince shot off in? 15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Toward Firewander, by the looks of it. [20:37] <@Ferrinus> "Shit," 12Keldar says, before turning immediately to Xia Lan. He flicks one wrist, then another, and the moonsilver ligaments joining the orichalcum plates of his armor detach and snap back in a way that lets him shake bare hands free of gauntlets. He gets to work immediately - staunching bleeding, binding breaks, that sort of thing. [20:38] 13Xia Lan steps towards the tea service, looking for signs of anyone else here. Is it just her, the tea, and the music? [20:39] 14Stranger steps back from the wall. "Firewander. The old Deliberative hall, I'd guess. I'm going to send runners for the Dragonlord and the Governor." [20:40] 14He looks down at Pellicia, and he looks much, much older than he usually does. "Do you know if she has any people I should send for? A husband or a wife or children. They should know first." [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar works with incredible speed and precision, the kind that might even make old Xu Sim proud. The armor-obscuring cloak he was wearing turns out to be a perfect source of splints and bandages and things if combined with bits of curtain and tablecloth still intact at the site of the attack, and before long Xia Lan's... well, she's still unconscious and blood-soaked and generally [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12a wreck, but she isn't visibly seizing up. [20:42] <@Ferrinus> "She's married. Someone in the guard." 12Then Keldar stands. "You know what we've got here, Stranger, looks to me like wanton violence." [20:43] 14His face hardens, then...and he smiles. [20:43] "I believe you are correct." [20:43] "Can we get Xia Lan on her feet? We will need her." [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Not for another day. She's safe to move now - I'll get someone to get Xu Sim." 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> There's something of a disciplinary problem behind Stranger. Dawn Guard are standing off with the Lookshyans who've come to escort Commandant D'Arte and her medics. [20:44] 14Stranger: "And the boy. Cathak Tsuka." [20:45] 14Stranger spins and strides back to the top of the stairs. "THE DAWN GUARD WILL PERMIT THE MEDICS TO PASS, OR I WILL COME DOWN THIS STAIRCASE." [20:45] 14He is still smiling. Grinning, really. 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan can see a long yellow feather bobbing in among the flowerbeds, and some rustling beneath. The tea service is only set for one, though there's enough food for three or four. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12While Stranger sees to this, Keldar, crouches back down to investigate Pellicia again. He pushes the body enough onto its side to get a look at the back, then casts his eyes across the room for a better picture of what happened. [20:50] 14He doesn't even release Essence, or call upon his anima banner. Stranger-Visits-Heaven's disquieting, imperial presence is enough to compel obedience. 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> The crowds part, and the medic team rises up the stairs. "I heard two patients?" comes Commandant D'Arte's voice from behind her white and red helmet. [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Aha. Aheh." 12He stands up again. "All right. All right, well, properly speaking I'd just be teleporting straight into Firewander and melting every skeleton within a block. But we're going to have to do this like guardsmen." 12This mostly to himself, but he raises his voice to address the medic: "One." [20:52] 14The smile turns angry, and Stranger's voice is almost a feral growl. "One." [20:53] 13She walks past the tables, towards the golden feather. She regards it with interest, and begins to rack her memories for how to coax a golden emas... [20:53] "The Tiger of Nexus has applied emergency aid, but Xia Lan needs to be taken for dedicated care." [20:54] 14He points to two likely-looking Dawn Guards loitering near the stairs. "You two." [20:54] 14Stranger beckons them over. 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> The guards approach Stranger as the medics fill the room and fan out, carefully rolling Xia Lan onto a stretcher in fourfold tandem. D'Arte, to Keldar: "What do you know so far?" [20:56] 13She scans the table for any sort of cakes that may have been set up. The sweeter the better. What sort of food is there, actually? 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Honey, berries, little cakes, slices of mango... everything on the table is sweet in some way or other. [20:58] 14To the two guards: "The Dawn Sergeant is dead, murdered by the Prince Regent of Highland. Her body will be taken from here to the appropriate place, and we will begin implementing the procedures for her lying in state and her state funeral. You will handle this," 14he says, pointing at the Dawn Guard on the left. Then he points to the one on the right. "Your sole and immediate [20:58] job is to inform the Dawn Sergeant's spouse of her passing, and convey the dread assurance of the Emissary of Nexus that this is being handled." [20:58] 14He pauses for a moment. Then: "Am I clear?" 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sir, yes, sir!" [20:58] "Then you should be running." 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> They run. [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "As to what happened here? I arrived not long before you did. But it must have been Nogare. Why, I couldn't guess." 12He takes a long breath in through his nose. "We can learn together once he's in custody." 12Then the Dawn turns on a heel and strides back towards the members of the Guard on the scene. Rapid fire orders ensue - some are to follow Xia Lan and D'Arte and [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12ensure she's taken care of. One will go to Red-Hot Iron and send word to Xu Sim. Others will collect Pellicia's body. Others still... will muster the rest of the Guard, and a contingent of Apples beside. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12After all, it's now on Keldar to make an arrest. [20:59] 14Stranger: "Custody?" [21:00] 13Huh. That's... fitting, in a lot of ways. She'll have to try and ease the bird out from the flowerbeds after she samples some of the wares. What sort of tea has been left here? [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah. I mean, that's not how it'll go down, obviously. But we're reasonable people on paper." [21:04] 14Stranger pauses. "...Perhaps you're right. If we can take him alive. There might be things to learn through torture." 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan recognizes this! This is Prince Pelican. It's an herbal tea which is traditionally served to three groups of people: mothers before childbirth, convicts before hanging, and generals before battle. [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Things to teach, really." [21:05] 14Stranger's grin widens. [21:06] 14He walks over to the blown-out wall. "I am sending for Dorma, the Governor, Cathak Tsuka, and anyone else who wants a piece of the Prince Regent. You are bringing your Apples?" [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm bringing the Guard, Apples and all. This is city business. ...we might not want Lookshy or Thorns involved." [21:08] 14Stranger: "Perhaps. But I'd rather be sure of winning, then go in pridefully and lose. A statement needs to be made." [21:08] *rather than [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, you can put the word out, then, that our treaty's been violated and justice is being done. Any who'll commit forces will see it done faster and at less cost to the war effort." [21:11] 13An interesting collection! Xia Lan pours herself a cup - the first cup of the rest of her life. She takes a few sips, looking outwards from the rose garden and the tea service, away from the flowerbeds and the golden emas. [21:12] 13After all, if what they say of the emas bird is true, she could leave here. But where would she even leave to? 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Vissi D'Arte: "We're going to need to move her. Any objections?" [21:12] "Oh, of course. The word is already out." 14Stranger has already sent off runners to that effect. He will defer to Keldar on the planning of their hunt itself, but he is going to be accompanying him. [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Go ahead. She's stable for the moment. Let Xu Sim see to her as soon as he arrives." [21:13] 14He simply waves dismissively to the Commandant. "Simply get her under proper care. Her life is in your hands, Commandant. I trust you know what that means." 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> The runner Stranger sends for Tsuka is almost bowled over at the door by Tsuka, who's charging up the stairs with burning footprints eating through the carpet behind him. 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan takes a sip of tea and is startled by the suddenness of the voice. 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "ExCUSE me." [21:15] 13Xia Lan: "What?" 13Startled, she nearly spills her cup, but manages to set it down gently and look for the voice. 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> The voice is coming from the face beneath the hat that has a golden emas feather on top. The man is pale, with immaculately coiffed golden hair and a thin, pitch-black moustache. His face is writ with indignation. "Who..." [21:18] 14Stranger wheels on the young Dragon-Blood. "Cathak Tsuka. Just the man I wanted to see. Your date is going to have to be postponed, sadly." 14Stranger doesn't sound sad. He sounds...not quite happy, but anticipatory. Hungry, almost. "We're going to kill the man who did this to her. I take it that you're in." [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's out of the palace shortly after, unless someone stops him with further questions. He's literally rallying the troops, summoning the combined Guard/Apple forces for what may soon be a full-on assault on the district of Firewander. [21:18] 13Oh. Not a bird after all. Well, that's an embarassing assumption. Now she's just glad she didn't say "here pretty birdy" with some fruits in hand. "The Unfettered Xia Lan. I apologize, I just woke up over there," 13she gestures back. 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka stares at Stranger, but his eyes fall on the body the Lookshyans are towing out in a translucent blue bubble that floats just off the ground. "What. What happened." [21:19] 14Stranger: "The Prince Regent of Highland murdered the Dawn Sergeant Pellicia and beat Xia Lan within an inch of her life. It seems he has a problem with women." [21:20] "Now he's what I like to call 'fair play.'" 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "Where were you?" [21:20] "Do you know what that means?" 14Stranger's smile widens. "It means anything we do to him is fair play." [21:21] 14Stranger laughs. "Where were you? Xia Lan does not need to be babysat every moment of every day." 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "You just--" The man follows where she points. "...ah." 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "Well. Well! Forgive my rudeness. I wasn't anticipating a guest. Please, help yourself. I am Elegba." [21:22] 13Xia Lan: "Hello, Elegba." 13Does that name ring any bells? 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan reads her briefing books. She knows the name. [21:25] 14Stranger: "What? Did you think if I were here, I could have saved her? Do you think if you were here, you could have saved her? The best outcome is you'd be dead on the ground next to the Dawn Sergeant. The worst? He'd have just ignored you while he beat her." 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Where is he." [21:26] 14Stranger: "Firewander." [21:26] "We're going there now." [21:26] "He won't be leaving except on his back." [21:26] "Are you in?" [21:27] 13She suddenly loses her appetite. "Ah. The Saffron Khan, yes? That Elegba?" 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "When do we move." [21:29] 14Stranger: "Keldar has just left to put together his team. March with him. Tell anyone who tries to stop you from marching with him that they will answer to me. Keldar will have you on his front line. I will join shortly. I have to see if there are any other sword-arms to collect." [21:29] 14He plucks a jade piece of paper from his book. "Take this." [21:29] "It will allow me to speak to you across distances." 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka takes it and goes without another word. 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: "That depends. Are you the Unfettered Xia Lan? The voice of hope in a world gone mad? The apple of every eye from Lookshy to Luthe?" [21:34] 13Xia Lan: "The very same. Though I suppose one of the imposters gets to claim that name, now," 13she says, thoughtfully. "I'm not sure I'll get much use out of it here." 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: "I'll tell you a secret if you answer a question for me." [21:36] 13Xia Lan: "Ask away." [21:37] 14Stranger touches his book again and calls Bubo. 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: "What is your heart's desire?" 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo crackles in Stranger's mind. "Mmm?" [21:38] 14Stranger: "Your woman's been hurt. The Prince Regent murdered the Dawn Sergeant and beat Xia Lan into a coma. She's still here at the palace. You should go to her." 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "He did WHAT?" [21:41] 14Stranger: "He's a dead man. He'll be finding that out soon." [21:41] "...Do you have a current line on Vladok?" 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'll catch him on the way. He lives in Firewander." [21:43] 14Stranger just grins. "Excellent. Keldar is marshaling his troops. Things are moving quickly. Call me when you have the demon." [21:43] 13Xia Lan: "Bit of a personal question, isn't it? Well." 13She taps her chin, thinking. "...more than anything, I want to go back. For a long time I didn't think I would, actually." 13She gestures around. "I wasn't expecting being dead to look like this. I figured - maybe a party, maybe what I thought I deserved - but now that I'm here... I just want to go back. I had so much left to do! ...it seems silly, considering I got [21:43] beat to death, but I was really looking forward to my date night." [21:47] 14Stranger calls Xu Sim next, as he's leaving the tower. [21:47] 14...The palace. 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Where is Xu Sim when the alarum reaches him? Xia Lan is in mortal peril! Nexus is seized by sudden war! The greatest doctor in the Direction has a patient! [21:47] 13Xia Lan: "Sun above. I used to think I was waiting for this, just playing out the string." [21:48] 14Stranger is consumed by the coming legal killing. 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: "An honest answer. I appreciate that. And it fills my heart to tell you: you're not dead." [21:48] "What?" 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm given to understand that death is far drearier." [21:49] 13She leaps up from the chair. "Then - where am I? What are you doing here?" 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: "To meet honesty with honesty, my new friend, I'll say it plain: I don't know what you're doing here. This is my dream." [21:49] 13Xia Lan: "I suddenly don't understand anything at all." 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba leans forward, head in hands, grin filling his whole face from the bottom up. "Oh, I envy you." [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's out in the streets of Sentinel's Hill, now. Uniformed and armored men and women are running to and fro, filling out ranks and readying weapons. The Dawn Caste puts two fingers to his ear. "Stranger - get me the doctor." 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "I pity all of us who understand something. Every piece of knowledge is a blandishment, a little prick in the skin of our souls that lets pain leak in. To be perfectly ignorant is to be invincible." [21:51] 14Stranger picks up the call from Keldar. "I'm calling him now. We're all on the same page." [21:52] 5Xu Sim is huddled over a pot of reagents in the depths of the manse, preparing it for raksha-consuming destruction. He has been experimenting. A tiny iron butterfly is splayed out in front of him, wings fluttering as it slowly expires, leaving behind a foul-smelling greasy stain as its animating force slowly leaks from the joints in its carapace. [21:53] "Eh?" 5 Speaking into thin air still feels a little strange to the doctor, for some reason. [21:53] 14Stranger: "Xu Sim. This is Stranger. You're on with me and Keldar." [21:53] "Have you heard?" [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12That's why you do the ear thing. Feels more natural. Keldar speaks: "Listen. Nogare's gone insane and we're bringing him to heel. What've you got, right now, that'll blow up or cut down as much of his army as possible?" [21:55] 14The thing about milky eyes is that when you roll them, noting appears to happen. "The Prince Regent killed Pellicia and beat Xia Lan into a coma. We're killing him. Today." [21:55] "Pardon me?"  [21:55] 5Xu Sim is a little suspicious that this could be some sort of sorcerous doublecross. [21:55] 14Stranger: "You're pardoned. Now get out of that basement." [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah. You're an emissary with the rest of us and it concerns you, too." [21:56] 13Xia Lan: "No, that's - if I'm not dead, I have to get back! And why am I in your dream, anyway? Perfect ignorance does nothing for me!" 13She gives another look out to the horizons. "I guess it isn't perfect if I know I'm not dead," 13she adds, as an afterthought. [21:58] "I'm on my way, but what the hell happened? What do you mean he killed Pellicia?" 5 Xu Sim scoops up the flasks, unguents, ointments, and powders he can - dumping them unceremoniously into a satchel - before hiking up his robes and hurrying out of the Tomb of Cold Iron as quickly as his pale legs can carry him. 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: "I certainly didn't invite you. We aren't scheduled to meet for three more weeks." [21:58] 14Stranger: "He took her sword and he put it through her." [21:58] 14Stranger: "He did it to make a point." [21:58] "We're going to make a few more with him." [21:59] "What the hell point?" [21:59] 14Stranger: "That he could." [22:00] 13Xia Lan: "Don't get frequent visitors to your dreams, then? I'm honored, I guess." 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: "Somehow I doubt I'm the first to have this problem." [22:01] "...sorry for breaking and entering, I guess? I still don't know how I got here." [22:01] 13Scratch one of those "I guess"es. Repetition is tacky. [22:01] 5 Xu Sim is hustling. As soon as he exits the Tomb, he'll try to flag down a carriage or something. [22:02] "Where am I meeting you?" 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> As soon as Xu Sim exits the tomb, he comes face to face with Nessun Dorma. [22:02] 14Stranger: "Firewander. We're staging outside the Deliberative. Follow the army." [22:04] 5Xu Sim immediately terminates the connection, if he can, as soon as he sees Dorma. "Dragonlord! What the Hell happened?" 5He's more than ready to keep running, if the general looks angry. [22:04] 5 Well- angry at HIM. [22:04] 13Xia Lan: "Ha ha. I'll remind you you said that in three weeks, then." 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma's voice is dry and quiet. It's unnerving, like being alone in a huge stone temple with all the braziers burnt out. [22:05] 14Stranger doesn't even register the quick termination as rude. It's efficient. He's already heading for Firewander. 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "War has come against the Anathema." 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "Haven't you heard?" [22:06] 5Xu Sim licks his lips for an instant - he points at his own chest in apprehension. "You mean The Beast? I just got the news." 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Nessun Dorma grabs Xu Sim in one hand like a ragdoll. "You're needed in the medicine tents." The white gem at the center of his armor flares, and huge slabs of stone shear free from the ground to close around the two of them like a flower blooming backwards. There's darkness, and heat, and the sense of moving very rapidly. [22:09] 13After a moment: "So let's say I'm in your dream, then. How do I wake up?" 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: "I'm at a loss. Where are you supposed to be? Tea?" [22:11] 13Xia Lan: "I was supposed to be at a council meeting before my untimely demise. It was going well, until it suddenly extremely wasn't." 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: "Do tell." [22:12] 5 There's no earthly way of knowing / Which direction we are going / Not a speck of light is showing / So the danger must be growing... 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> The heat and darkness give way and Xu Sim is suddenly somewhere bright and cool. The air smells of blood and sharp alcohol. Xia Lan's on a stone table, surrounded by doctors. [22:13] 5 Xu Sim is possessed by the spirits of alacrity - "Move!" 5 he barks as he lunges towards the table. What the hell happened to Xia Lan? [22:13] 13Xia Lan: "I don't remember much! I was giving a speech, we came to a vote, I remember trying to dodge a weapon, and then I was here. I guess I didn't dodge fast enough." 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger hears: "I've got Vladok. Word is getting out. His people will be in position." 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> That's Bubo's voice. [22:16] 14Stranger has been keeping his profile low recently, out of modesty. Not right now. He throws around whatever official weight he needs to throw around to get to the front line and reconnect with Keldar. To Bubo: "Excellent. Wait on my word, and keep out of sight. I'll pass along positioning." 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> From what Xu Sim sees, it looks like two separate sets of injuries: first, Xia Lan was hit in the torso with the force of a charging yeddim. Her lungs are pierced, her ribs are broken, there's massive internal bleeding. Separately, it looks like someone very strong hit her in the face over and over again. She's barely recognizable right now. But she is stable. 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: "A vote? Whatever on?" [22:26] 5Xu Sim frowns deeply and, with a flourish, twists his moustache between his fingers for a moment. Then, he cracks his knuckles and stretches his hands. "Pay close attention to every word I say," 5he explains to the physicians of the Seventh. "And provide each thing I request without hesitation." 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> The Seventh Caduceus stands at attention. [22:27] 13Xia Lan: "Law and order. The fundamental character of Nexus." 13She shrugs. "Seems I touched a nerve." 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: "Were you able to vote before... whatever happened?" [22:29] 13Xia Lan: "I hope so! I think that's what set him off, actually. Drove the nail in." 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> How far from the Highland compound is Keldar mustering? Is it within sight? 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: "Set who off?" [22:31] 13Xia Lan: "Hmm. Don't know if I should be talking to you about this, actually. You heading towards Nexus and all." 13She sizes him up, thinking. [22:31] 14Stranger will have passed along to Keldar via book that he was sending Tsuka to him, and that the kid was coming with a vengeance. [22:31] 14Given how well he did in the tomb, that should be fine. 14[22:32] * Joins: tom 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: "Is that a tactical term? I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with military jargon." [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Yep, it is. Keldar's mustering at the corners of Sentinel's Hill and Bastion, such that a wide avenue before him and his troops leads straight southwest to the Deliberative hall. The Guard and Arrows are heavily armed and armored, clearly ready for direct and brutal assault, and supported by ranks of archers and whatever other mercenary companies Keldar's been able to summon from [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12his backers in the Guild. Present, too, are as many supernatural assets as can have been produced in short notice; Cathak Tsuka, for instance, and as many demons, elementals, god-blooded, dragon-blooded, and mercenary sorcerers as may be distributed across the assembled companies. [22:35] 14Stranger will arrive shortly to play traffic cop for Bubo, Vladok, and all the people Vladok brought. He doesn't bother to sugar-coat Bubo's involvement for Keldar. Surely at this late hour, that's not a problem. [22:36] 13Xia Lan: "No, just - feels strange to gossip with... I guess the enemy? In a few weeks at least." 13She pauses. "...Mori Nogare. You ever hear of him?" [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar briefly considered doing this in secret... but why? They can't not have known what was coming the moment Nogare's anima ignited. So it is that the Tiger of Nexus is present in all the finery of his ancestral panoply, right at the head of the burgeoning mass, striding back and forth to ask questions and answer with orders. [22:38] "Needle," 5 he says with an outstretched hand. He jabs it in and out of her chest with a speed more resembling a woodpecker than a human, resetting her chakras. "Wraps." 5 He ties a complicated knot around Xia Lan's chest cavity, relieving the pressure from her cracked and broken ribs and easing things on her lungs. "Green salve," 5 he adds with a gesture to his pack. This he dashes [22:38] 5across her face with a few carefully chosen oaths, before bandaging it as well. [22:41] 5 As Xu Sim works, a swirling mandala of power envelopes his brow, then his head, then the entire room - a blindingly bright, purple and gold formula of dazzling complexity that works and reworks itself to reflect Xu Sim's limitless talent and wisdom. Flashes of green - like the last glimpse of the setting sun - pop here and there as he works. [22:43] 5 And before the chirurgeons in the room have taken twenty breaths, he is done. "She is to rest in bed for the remainder of the day and under no circumstance is she to be disturbed. Now," 5he turns round towards the doctors and the Dragonlord with grim purpose, shouldering his bag again - "Take me to the ruins at the edge of the Firewander." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma picks up Xu Sim again, and this time deposits him on the back of a Gunzosha suit, running extremely hot. Blue jets illuminate the space between its feet and the ground as it blasts forward at terrible speed. 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: "The Beast of Highland! Sickly orphan, turned genius strategist, turned Anathema conqueror. Am I close?" [22:49] 13Xia Lan: "The very same! Bit of an anger problem," 13she says, lightly. Then, realization: "Oh. But he didn't actually kill me. Someone must have stopped him...?" [22:50] 13She furrows her brow. "He must've been driven off somehow." 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Lookshy comes! The Gunzosha Vanguard burns its way to the foreground first, carrying Xu Sim, Nessun Dorma, and Dorma's entire officer corps. [22:53] 13She waves a hand vaguely. "Anyway. That's the last thing I remember. Not sure how that ends up with me sitting here with you. Ah, no offense, just... not exactly how I would've drawn it up." 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: "Things rarely go according to plan when it matters, I find." [22:54] "Life would be so much simpler if it did," 13she grumbles. [22:54] 5 Xu Sim is hollering in a rather undignfiied way as he is carried, scorching, through the air on the back of a Gunzosha elite who probably originally came to Nexus for the express purpose of murdering him. 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> One of life's little ironies 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> . [22:55] 14Stranger's grin widens when they arrive, and he begins dispatching the forces in concert with Keldar's wishes even more efficiently. [22:56] 5 He pauses to catch his breath and takes a second to admire the handiwork around the power unit - the same power units he worked with Keldar to disable the last time someone got a little too hot under the collar and decided to battle in the street. [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's there to meet Xu Sim and Lookshy's contingent. This might be the first time he's confronted Nessun Dorma clad in artifact gear that wasn't looted off the corpse of Dorma's one-time lover. Either way, Dorma receives a stolid nod before Keldar addresses the sorcerer. "We're talking to them shortly and, likely as not, engaging shortly after. You in position to blast Highland's [22:57] <@Ferrinus> forces if they resist - or at least check Nogare's sorcerer?" 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: "I have to say, you're taking this all rather well." [22:58] 14Stranger makes a point to be at the meeting between Keldar and Dorma. [22:58] 14Just in case. 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma stomps toward Keldar. "Xia Lan will recover. Has a messenger been dispatched?" [22:59] 5 Xu Sim scrabbles to the ground and rushes to join the others. [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "To Nogare? Not as yet." [23:00] 13Xia Lan: "If I'm not dead, I can still serve Nexus. Bizarre dream journey to a place neither of us know how to get me to leave notwithstanding - things could be a lot worse." [23:00] 13Xia Lan: "...though I really wish he hadn't tried to kill me. It's going to make everything so much messier." [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "He'll be given one chance to surrender himself - or, at least, to present himself for a duel rather than a war. Then we go in. This isn't Lookshy's responsibility or business - but if you want to support the Council's forces we won't refuse you." [23:02] 14To Nessun Dorma: "What he means to say is that we'll welcome your help if you choose to give it. And we're not concerned about taking him alive." [23:03] 5 Xu Sim looks around at the assembled forces. Green Apples and the Seventh Legion - quite an impressive force. [23:03] 14His grin widens. "If we do, though. That'll be the day." 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "I appreciate the clarity of this plan." [23:05] 14Stranger: "We want to win. But we also want you to stay alive. So strike a balance." [23:05] "If we bleed ourselves white here, we're playing into the hands of the enemy." 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "Speaking of which, I trust you've eliminated the possibility of deception?" [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You mean that it wasn't even him? Live witnesses did leave the tower and I don't know who else has that anima." [23:07] 14Stranger: "He made himself authentic." 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: "I suppose it will. Is there anything I can do to help?" [23:07] 14Stranger: "If you'd like your Huntmaster to investigate, we can tolerate a slight delay. But the Council of Nexus speaks with one voice on this." [23:08] "But as a practical matter? When someone pisses in your eye, you don't stop to taste it for salts." [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks to Stranger. "We waiting on anyone else?" [23:09] 13Xia Lan: "...what?" 13She's caught off guard again. "You - I'm afraid I don't understand?" [23:09] 14Stranger shakes his heads. "My people are in position. You have operational control." 14He grins. "Tell me where you want me." 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> The air grows chill. The dead walk in Nexus. And riding at the heard, on a blind three-headed horse, is the massive form of the Governor, gleaming grey, with a brimmed, hat-like helmet on his head. [23:10] 5 Xu Sim makes his way over to Cathak Tsuka and gives him a reassuring clap on the shoulder, leaning in: "She'll be alright tomorrow." [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's expression changes slightly. "Suppose I should've asked if we were expecting anyone else. 'scuse me." 12He makes his way to the other side of his own formation to meet Thorns's representative. [23:11] 13Xia Lan: "We're supposed to be - you ARE heading for Nexus, are you not? To besiege it, or attack it immediately, or honestly we haven't figured out what yet - what do you mean 'is there anything you can do to help?'" [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "This is the situation: Nogare killed one Council member and nearly killed another. We're responding appropriately. You here to observe or participate?" 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: "Seriously: what is Nexus?" [23:12] 5 Xu Sim sighs and takes his leave of Tsuka before the young man can get a word out. He hurries over to the Governor, and Keldar. [23:13] 13Xia Lan: "Oh, Sun." 13She starts to laugh, at first a slow chuckle that turns into a cackle. Suddenly, she stops, grows serious again: "Then what are you heading for?" 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Governor: "We are sworn to Nexus's defense, are we not, Mister Keldar? The stones of these streets thirst for the blood of boy-tyrants." 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: "The hollow, obviously! The hollow between the rivers." [23:14] "It would make this contest a lot less wasteful," 5observes Xu Sim. [23:14] 5, who has appeared at Keldar's elbow all of a sudden. [23:18] 5Xu Sim is kind of massaging the word "wasteful" on its way out of his mouth. [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods to the Governor, then turns to Xu Sim. "Something up? I'm going ahead, otherwise." 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Governor: "My esteemed magician, we are servants of Nexus! Here, thrift is the very bedrock of virtue." [23:19] 14To the Governor: "We'll remember your contributions to the cause." [23:19] "But none of us are here to 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> To Keldar: "You know to send only one messenger, correct?" [23:20] listen to grandstanding." 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oldest trick in the book." [23:20] 13She blinks. "You're a bit late for that, I think/" [23:20] 14Stranger grins. "'How many men does it take to deliver a message?'" [23:20] 13/ -> . [23:20] 14Then he mimes drawing a bow. [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Don't need one. Alright, gentlemen, to your places." 12He rolls his shoulders and then strides to the head of his own formation, such that he's standing right before Firewander's gates. He motions to his side, and a man in the uniform of the Dawn Guard scurries over to deliver a parcel; Keldar unwraps it to reveal the conch used in Council deliberations. 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka, for his part, is sitting cross-legged with the rest of the Apples' officer corps, staring stonily out at the golden dome of the Deliberative hall. [23:22] 14Stranger gives a few hand signals. Where does Keldar want him? He is the guarantor of oath that's been broken. [23:22] 5It doesn't take any men to deliver a message but Xu Sim won't call attention to that at the moment. "We shall doubtless have a few opportunities to show our frugality," 5 he agrees. 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba groans. "I knew that cow was going to slow me down. Is it already over then?" 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is he dead?" [23:23] 13Xia Lan: "You're going to have to be more specific." 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "You know. Him." [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12He draws a deep breath, and in his hands the minor artifact warms and vibrates, pushed to its limits. When the Dawn Caste speaks, his voice thunders across the streets, echoing to the edges of the district before him. "MORI NOGARE! YOU'VE VIOLATED THE DOGMAS." [23:24] 14Is there anything nearby that might make some great noise when struck? A broken bell; a metal shell? [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar continues: "None shall commit wanton violence... and none shall harbour a fugitive from the council's wrath. As an emissary of Nexus, I demand Nogare present himself for judgment here and now." [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar glances to his side; he can pass the conch if Stranger, or indeed Xu Sim, have something they want to add. Otherwise: "Highland's citizens are free to stand aside. Our business is with the Prince-Regent." [23:30] 13Xia Lan: "I do know... or at least I assume I do. Honestly? Jury's still out. Jury took a look at the evidence and ran away screaming, actually. No judgement, no moral." [23:30] "It's been a weird couple of weeks," 13she adds. 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: "I know exactly what you mean." [23:31] 13Xia Lan: "...you inclined to sharing your plans when you get here?" [23:32] 14There's a great and broken shield, dropped by some long-dead statue, made of metal and leaning against the marble base of its former frame. 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: "I'm hopeful we can all talk this out like sensible people." 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "I like that you vote! Maybe we can have a vote on it." [23:32] 14Stranger walks up to it and starts -- hitting -- it -- with -- his -- walking -- stick, over and over. [23:33] 13Xia Lan: "I'm honestly not sure what that would even entail, but, me too, buddy." [23:37] 13She'll finally slump back into the chair. She still hasn't touched the tea or the spread since learning she's in Elegba's dream. "You asked if there was anything you could do to help? I want to wake up. I've - there's a lot of work to be done." 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: "I can do that. But I need something from you." [23:38] 13Xia Lan: "Which is?" 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "A piece of your heart." 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'll give it back when we meet in person. On my word of honor." [23:38] 5 Xu Sim frowns for a moment, before working up another of his tiny messenger-motes. [23:39] 13Xia Lan: "...what does that mean." 13She made a deal without asking the terms, once. [23:39] 14Clonk. Clonk. Clonk. Clonk. Clonk. Clonk. Clonk. Clonk. Clonk. [23:39] 5 He is whispering to it as Stranger beats the shield like a drum. What's he saying? 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: "A piece of your heart. An obsession. A passion. A principle. Something you hold true with all your being. Something that we could read in the stars if you stretched yourself across the sky." [23:40] 5 It's this: 'Your master, Mori Nogare, is about to be utterly destroyed. The armies have him surrounded and intend to destroy him utterly if he does not come out. But it's not too late for you - I will ensure your protection and safe passage, if you surrender and cease working your magics on his behalf.' [23:41] 5 He dispatches the messenger-fly to find the sorcerer who's been at Nogare's hip since the Beast of Highland arrived in Nexus. [23:42] 14Stranger: "THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD." [23:42] 14Stranger: "THE END OF THE WORLD COMES TOMORROW. THE END OF THE WORLD IS A MORE DIFFICULT THING." [23:42] 14Stranger: "THIS IS THE PROVIDENCE NECESSARY TO SEE THE END OF THE WORLD. THIS IS THE NAMING OF THE FOOL. THIS IS THE PAPERWORK FOR THE APOCALYPSE." 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> The air gets heavier with every word Stranger speaks. The street gets hotter with every beat of the drum. 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> It builds in your ribcage, in your eardrums, behind your eyes, in your throats. [23:44] 14Stranger: "THE PRINCE REGENT. THE MORI NOGARE. THE WORLD-FOOL. THE END OF CONVERSATIONS. WE KNOW HOW THE SKY WORKS. WE KNOW THE RUN THE OF THE SUN AND THE MOON. WE KNOW HOW IT FEELS WHEN WE FAIL." [23:44] "WE KNOW HOW IT FEELS WHEN WE DON'T." [23:45] "BRING THIS MOTHERFUCKER OUT CRYING." [23:45] "BRING THIS MOTHERFUCKER OUT CRYING." 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> A breeze blows, chilling the sweat that's popped out on the back of everyone's necks. Xu Sim hears it whisper in his ear, 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "save me" [23:46] 14And he bangs -- on -- the drum. [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar raises a golden reaver daiklave to the sky. "YEAH!" 12Behind him, his troops do likewise; the roar ripples down the streets. Before it's faded, Keldar's closed his eyes for a moment, spun Terminus in his hand, and then brought it down to roughly waist level as a much, much larger blade. 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Above, the red star flares. [23:48] 13Xia Lan: "...I don't know how this works. Do I - how do I...?" 13She looks at Elegba questioningly. 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> It shines brighter and brighter. It hurts to look at. It hurts when you shut your eyes. It hurts when you look away. 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> The pressure is unbearable. [23:48] 14Stranger grins. He doesn't shut his eyes or look away. [23:48] 5 Xu Sim breathes slowly, taking the measure of the air. This is familiar. 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Elegba: "Lend me your hand. Let me look in your eyes." [23:48] 14Good news for bad people. [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar settles himself into a stance fit for withstanding the pressure from the sky. Is there action in Firewander? The Prince-Regent strolling up by his lonesome down the main avenue, or at least some sort of messenger or procession? [23:50] 14KILL ME IF YOU CAN, BAY BEE 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> There's no one on the strrrrrr4rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr [23:50] 13She places her hand in his and looks straight into his eyes. "She will come back to me." 13It's not a question. 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> A lone figure walks on the road to the old Deliberative dome, his back to the assembled armies, his white cape rising behind like he marches into a hurricane. [23:51] 14HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAA\ [23:51] "The sorcerer wants to surrender," 5 Xu Sim explains in a low tone into Keldar's ear. "We rescue him, and this fight becomes a lot easier," [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Huh." 12He pauses. "...doesn't he never go in there?" 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "They always do," Elegba vows, as he takes her hand. The world spins, and she heads for the exits. 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan wakes up in a cold place, full of blue light and concerned faces. Everyone looks wavy and translucent, as if they're behind glass. [23:53] 13Xia Lan: "Nnnnnh." [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar holds up his left hand, fingers splayed - the universal signal to hang on a sec. He squints at the retreating Emissary, glances over to Xu Sim. "Can you tell what's going on here? Safe to follow?" 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> The first voice Xia Lan hears is a woman's, gentle, with a pronounced Lookshyan accent. "Easy. Easy. Just rest. You're safe." [23:55] "As safe as being near that creature can ever be: Not very. You go first." 5 Xu Sim presses. [23:57] 13She struggles to move her mouth, unable to find words: "Mnh? Rngh..." [23:58] 14To Keldar: "Star of the show. In every respect. And the only respect." [23:59] 13She tries again: "Ahrs." [23:59] 14He slaps Keldar on the back and moves to the position Keldar asked him to take. Session Time: Sat Apr 21 00:00:01 2018 [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Frankly I'm willing to wait a few more minutes. Don't need to see the Guard liquefied in the course of our job getting done for us." 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> The woman speaking to Xia Lan: "Don't try to speak. It's going to be a few hours before your jaw resets. Can you nod?" [00:00] 14Stranger: "Sounds good. But this asshole just wants to fight." [00:01] 13She nods, slowly. [00:01] "I'm changing my mind." 5 Xu Sim is as white as a ghost. 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "My name is Vissi. Are you in any pain?" [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We've all seen what it looks like when that guy fights. New Emissary's got a blast radius." [00:02] 14To Keldar: "You want me to try to talk him down?" [00:02] "I won't be nice." [00:02] "But he didn't respond to nice earlier." [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar swings his grand daiklave around and rests it, point first, in the sreet before him. "What? No. I want to wait at a safe distance and see where this goes. If the old Emissary splats Nogare rather than us, I can live with it." [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12the street* [00:03] "And we're in it. All of Firewander is in it. All of our armies are in it. Balor is going to destroy us. And in the Dome, they're trying to use the Wyld-Shaping Technique! But I thought that was lost...!" 5 Xu Sim is, ah, a bit beyond concerned. [00:03] 14Stranger grins. "If he wanted to 'splat' Nogare, he'd already be inside, wouldn't he?" [00:03] "This is all performance now." [00:04] 13Xia Lan begins to shake her head, winces, and nods slightly to Vissi. [00:04] "He's about to 'splat' us too!" 5 flecks of spittle go flying from Xu Sim's mouth. 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Vissi: "I'm going to give you something for the pain. Rest now, okay? We'll talk in the morning. Everything will be better in the morning." [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar starts. "What?! How? How far back is safe?" [00:08] 5 Xu Sim throws up his hands - "NO!" 5 hurling the force of his anima banner back at the heavens - back at the star - his magic as precise as the point of a knife; the sheer force of his will the pebble that turns aside an avalanche. [00:15] 13Xia Lan nods, takes whatever Vissi offers, and tries to sleep. Hopefully this time she doesn't end up dreaming of a Raksha general. [00:15] 14Stranger's long stopped banging on the metal. He stares down at what's left of Xu Sim, crumpled but alive. To Keldar: "Let's do this." 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> The star swells like an overripe fruit, growing to fill the sky from skyline to horizon. But Xu Sim's anima wraps around it, piercing it with ninety-nine needles of pure thought, and it simply bursts like a heart pushed too far. 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Red light falls limply, spouting between the gaps in Xu Sim's lattice, just like it leaks from his ears and nose before he collapses. Where it touches the city, the city melts away, leaving stone scoured white, banishing cracks and age and anything that lives. But it falls sparingly, in empty places, and after the spectacular display the banner bursts into thousands of stars that fall gently to the ground, for just a moment brighter than Balor's memory. 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a gut-wrenching lurch in the pit of everyone's stomach as they feel something being physically torn away. The great Dome burns red, then violet, then white, then blue. The heat draws slowly upward, leaving almost nothing in its wake. It's as if the invincible vestige of Solar power were burning like a parchment set to a candle. 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> A minute and it's gone. [00:22] 14Ha ha. [00:22] 14Ha ha! [00:22] 14Ha ha hahahahahahaha! 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> But only almost nothing. [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar mouths 'the fuck?' to himself, taking several steps forward and squinting in the blaze. His hand's still on the hilt of Sword-Oath Terminus, which rests vertically beside him. What remains of Firewander? Is there.. an army in there? A dome? A man? [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12An Emissary? 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a body on the ground in the barren lot where the old Deliberative once stood. The sword rising from its back reflects the red star back up the road to Stranger, Keldar, and the other generals. [00:24]  [00:25] 14Stranger: "And you want to talk about the Sun! Here's the Sun. You want to talk about mercy! Here's mercy. You want to talk about the end of the world well we've got that too." [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar frowns to himself and takes up Terminus. He motions behind himself again, bidding his troops hold fast. Then he looks sideways to Stranger, to his other side to Xu Sim, and begins to walk forward. [00:26] "Get the fucking sorcerer on his feet and let's have a CONVERSATION on the way the world is." [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12It's Keldar's aim to simply head down into Firewander, before the old dome, and see what the hell's going on. If the forces of Highland crash in from both sides, he trusts his guardsmen will have his back summarily, but at this point he's willing to risk a few moments of being surrounded. [00:27] 5 Xu Sim is blasted off his feet - downwards, to anyone watching closely - though he bounces several yalms in the air, spinning head-over-heels before landing face-down. He coughs blood into the dust as blood - more of it- streams from his eyes and nose and ears. 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma and the Governor follow. Tsuka takes a step after them but ultimately stays with his troops. [00:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's only taken a few steps when Xu Sim really gets it. He stops and turns, intent on making sure the sorcerer's still alive and mobile before proceeding. [00:28] 14Guardsmen? GUARDSMEN?! General the Sun stares down on you whether you like it or not. We are all here to run for justice. [00:29] 14Stranger grins and walks on in. [00:29] 5 Xu Sim struggles to his knees, hacking and wheezing. [00:30] 5 And a moment later he's scrabbling along after them, hobbling as best as he can in his haggard condition. [00:30] 14Get that man on his feet. Get him poisoning the fucking watering hole. [00:30] 14You fuck. You shit. [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Terminus is held across Keldar's shoulders as the Dawn Caste heads into Firewander District. Unless something attacks or otherwise draws Keldar's attention, he'll stop before the fallen body and, if he can't identify it, turn it over onto its side or back with a boot to get a look at its face. 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> The collected remaining defenders of Nexus see an old man with stringy black-and-gray hair, face down in the dirt, a simple sword running cleanly through the back of his purple robes, blood pooling beneath him. [00:32] 14Stranger: "Kick it if it deserves to be kicked." [00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You in shape to handle him, Xu Sim?" [00:34] 5 Xu Sim hobbles over towards him, looking over the blade and considering the dire circumstances. [00:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Keldar looks around. There's just... no Deliberative any more? How about the surrounding buildings? Where are all the Highlanders? [00:35] 14If the answer isn't Dead, it can be. [00:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Does Firewander feel like Firewander again, incidentally? Does Keldar's essence itch at contact with the air and surge to defend him from warping? 15[00:36] <@VoxPVoxD> The Deliberative compound is an empty lot, now, just the bare white stone and clay that serves for bedrock here between the rivers. There's no sign of any of the people that were inside, save the sorcerer. But that wasn't the entire Highland delegation - and scouts from the Apples, vanguards from Lookshy, and shriekers from Thorns all manage to capture about a hundred men. Ninety alive! [00:38] 5 Xu Sim crouches - collapses, really - next to the sorcerer, and cracks a grimace back up at Stranger and the cruel look in his eyes. [00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar sends out word for the Guard to move in as he ducks down besides Xu Sim. Between his expertise with battlefield first aid and the sorcerer's advice, Keldar's able to remove the blade, compress and seal the wound, and lay Nine Storms Fiend onto his back no more worse for wear. [00:38] 14What's the question they always ask? How is sausage made? [00:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Highland's troops - what've they got to say? Are the dead ones dead from magic or from stabbing? 15[00:39] <@VoxPVoxD> What? [00:39] 14Heh heh heh heh heh hehhehehehehehehehehhhhhhhhhhhhhheeeehehehehheheehhhehehehhehehThis is how. 15[00:39] <@VoxPVoxD> There's no dead ones. Ninety alive ones, along with the scouts and the Gunzosha and the hunter-killer ghosts. [00:40] 14That's more than enough bodies to hang. [00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "All right, all right. Air's getting bad again and we want to move fast. Round 'em up, bring a stretcher here..." 12Keldar's all business again, his weapon now crossed behind a shield at his back. He moves his troops with all possible haste to minimize exposure to the center of Firewander and bring every captured Highland soldier out for interrogation in Sentinel's Hill. [00:42] 14The good news is that despite whatever is going on with Stranger his main loyalty is to the system. [00:43] 14Busy him with sorting out the surrendered troops and his mind will be somewhere besides where it wants to be. 15[00:48] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: An absence of leave 14[00:56] * Joins: Crion| 14[01:14] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:21] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[06:06] * Joins: Crion_ 14[06:09] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:50] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[10:38] * Joins: Crion 14[11:53] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:25] * Joins: Crion 14[12:28] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:31] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[16:40] * Joins: Crion_ 14[16:42] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:46] * Joins: dammitwho 14[16:48] * Joins: cbass 14[18:56] * Joins: Crion 14[18:56] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[20:18] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:18] * Joins: VoxPrime Session Time: Sun Apr 22 00:00:00 2018 14[08:15] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[18:00] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:16] * Joins: Zarick_ 14[18:19] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Mon Apr 23 00:00:00 2018 14[09:24] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[11:26] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[19:48] * Joins: dammitwho 14[21:16] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[21:17] * Joins: cbass Session Time: Tue Apr 24 00:00:00 2018 14[01:23] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:11] * Joins: Crion 14[07:14] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[13:18] * Quits: Zarick_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan wakes to birdsong, warm light, and the smell of flowers. For a moment she must wonder if she's back in the dream-garden - back with Elegba - but the full-body stiffness she experiences as she tries to sit up or move around confirms for her that she's alive and awake in Nexus. She sits up slowly to find herself on a flat white table, smooth cool marble, covered in a wool blanket and surrounded by more than a garden's worth of vibrant, sweet-smelling flowers. 15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Where, then, does Stranger wake? How does the morning find him? [20:13] 14...In his chair, in the common room. By the fire. [20:14] 14He fell asleep there. [20:14] 14He sighs, stands, and turns over the coals before walking to their little kitchen for water. [20:17] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven remembers most of what happened yesterday through some sort of haze. It's unsettling. He was there; he remembers being there, and he remembers doing the things he did. Saying the things he said. But he still feels a strange sense of remove. [20:17] 14Detachment. [20:17] 14...He wonders if anyone else noticed. [20:17] 13Let's see... the last thing she remembers is a helpful nurse, and before that, the dream, and before that... Is anyone in her room? Are there guards at her door? Someone's been in, clearly - flowers don't just suddenly appear - where's... [20:17] 14... [20:17] 14Maybe the boy. [20:19] 14More than anything he feels old, older than his thirty-six years, old than the fifty or sixty years which he looks. He felt a different kind of old yesterday -- a powerful kind of old. Now he's just tired. 15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan sees herself in a tent with only one other occupant, the sleeping Xu Sim, who starts awake about now. He still looks in dire shape. There are guards, and crowds, audible outside the tent, but it seems like they have a minute or two before someone comes in. [20:24] 13Xia Lan: "Xu Sim? What happened--" [20:24] 5 Xu Sim cracks an eye open. "You want the summary?" 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger finds himself alone in the hideout, save for Xu Sim's dog Princess and Mhaka, the clockwork cat. [20:25] 14Ah well. [20:25] 13Xia Lan: "Nogare attacked me. I have no idea what happened after that." [20:25] 14He'll just...sit here, for a little while. Thinking about Pellicia. [20:27] 5 Xu Sim doesn't roll over to look at her, he just keeps staring at the ceiling of the tent. "You were stable but in a terrible condition. Couple broken ribs, punctured lung, that sort of thing. The other four armies all gathered outside Firewander to drag Nogare to the gallows, but the Emissary was there too." 5 Xu Sim sighs. [20:29] 13Xia Lan: "...that raises more questions than it answers." [20:30] 5Xu Sim: "The Emissary decided to use the sort of force that destroying the Beast of Highland truly merits - overwhelming. He channeled his power through the Star of Balor, and long story short, I stopped him from pulverizing the entire Firewander; ourselves, the armies, Nogare," 5 he sighs again. [20:31] 5 Xu Sim, again: "At least, I think I stopped him from killing Nogare. I suspect I did so. Conjecture." [20:31] 5 Xu Sim, again: "At least, I think I stopped him from killing Nogare. I suspect I did so. Conjecture." [20:32] 13Xia Lan, quietly: "How was he stopped from killing me?" [20:33] "Ask the Dawn Sargeant," 5he suggests. [20:34] 13Xia Lan: "Where is she?" [20:34] 5Xu Sim: "Dead." [20:34] "..." [20:34] "...oh." [20:35] 5 Xu Sim rolls over now, to look at her. "I don't know why he didn't finish you off. He certainly could have; there was nobody else to stop him. Now I will ask you - what happened?" [20:37] 13Any desire she might have had to get out of bed, check on the outside world leaves her. "I successfully argued that Nogare and Highland were not to be immune to the laws of Nexus. Nogare took it badly. The next thing I remember is being at a tea party with Elegba." [20:38] "The Saffron Khan?" [20:38] 13Xia Lan: "Very same. I thought I had died." [20:39] 5Xu Sim coughs a laughter. "You did not. You feel well now, I expect?" [20:41] 13Xia Lan: "I don't feel like I've been bashed into a pulp anymore. Not physically." 13She's still quieter than usual. "Do you know where the Dawn Sergeant's body is being kept?" 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger's sit is interrupted by a buzz from the Codex. Bubo's sequence. [20:43] 14He touches the book. "Hello, Bubo." [20:44] 5Xu Sim: "A wound, I can heal better than anyone in this Direction. But as far as grief is concerned, I am a layman..." [20:45] 5Xu Sim, again: "I don't know what they did with it, but I would guess the Temple of Gentle Airs. I haven't even seen her, myself; Stranger told me she was murdered alongside you - I can only assume, protecting you. It was a terrible rush to catch Nogare, I was carried on the backs of flying gunzosha and hurled through the earth itself by Dorma and so forth." [20:46] 13Xia Lan: "I appreciate your efforts. Is there - anything I can do in return? I'm no doctor myself, but..." [20:46] 5In the hideout: the Twice Refined Princess nudges Stranger's leg. [20:46] "What do you mean?" 5asks the doctor. [20:47] 14He'll put out a saucer of milk or water for her. Or whatever Xu Sim has taken to feeding her, so long as it isn't comically vile. 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "Good morning. I've gotten ahold of the sailing plan of Winter Rain. It appears to have been heading for Port Calin, followed by Pneuma, followed by a trip home by way of Gloam." [20:47] 13Xia Lan: "To repay you? Not just for healing me, either -- I assume you didn't get those wounds for fun, after all." 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Good morning. I've gotten ahold of the sailing plan of Winter Rain. It appears to have been heading for Port Calin, followed by Pneuma, followed by a trip home by way of Gloam." [20:48] 14Stranger is silent for a moment. "Interesting. I'm sorry, I am not the best with geography downriver -- how many days travel is that? It sounds like quite a few." 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "A week to Port Calin, and another to Pneuma." [20:50] 5Xu Sim coughs again, in lieu of chuckling. "Aren't you my friend, Unfettered Xia Lan? Surely, that's what friends do for each other. Aren't you mine?" 5before she can answer - "There is nothing to repay. Unmaking the Emissary's magic nearly turned me inside-out like poor, what was that miserable fellow's name, Brueghel." [20:51] 14Stranger: "You said 'appears to have been' -- has it been waylaid?" [20:51] 5The Twice-Refined Princess' food is normal food - lots of it. It's her dietary supplements and vitamins that are comically evil. 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "All I know for sure is that I can't find the manifest for Port Calin. If it arrived there, no one wrote it down." [20:53] 13Xia Lan: "...this is still my fault. I pushed too hard." 13She sighs. "If I had been - more deft, smarter about how I handled things..." [20:53] 14Stranger closes his eyes. "Finding this ship will take time that we don't necessarily have, and won't be getting back if we waste it." [20:54] "But it is important." [20:55] "Ah, maybe, but Nogare was an asshole and you were right to stand up for principles," 5Xu Sim lays back, waving his hand dismissively. "He'd have done it sooner or later, or worse. Besides, I can't be the only one getting completely rinsed in all our battles." 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "I'm happy to devote myself to the task. It will keep me out of the city for a time, however." [20:56] 14Stranger: "You will be missed here, but I think it will be worth expending the effort. Perversely, we're hoping it didn't make Port Calin, because that means it's somewhere less than a week away." [20:56] "I would come if I could, but...perhaps once we know where we're going. Things are a bit unstable here at the moment. For obvious reasons." [20:57] 13Xia Lan: "I was right, otherwise I wouldn't have done it. Still. ...The Dawn Sergeant is dead, you're wounded -- Is Tsuka all right? Are Stranger and Keldar? 13There's a sudden urgency to her. 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Mmm. No sign of Nogare, then, yes?" [20:57] "Not as of yet." 14He sighs. "If there was a body, one way or the other, then at least we would know where we stood. As it is, uncertainty carries the day." [20:58] "And there is nothing worse for a bureaucracy than uncertainty." [20:58] "Keldar, fine. Stranger, was a little stranger but fine. But Tsuka! Oh, he's terribly wounded, I'm afraid." 5 He swivels his head to look at her. 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Mmm. Grim business all around." 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "While I work on this, there is a favor I would ask of you, Stranger." [20:58] 13That has her out of bed. "Where is he?" [20:59] 14Stranger: "Name it." [21:00] "I shouldn't say he was wounded - that's overstating it - but he's quite sick. You should see him immediately, I agree. But how should I know where he is? I was dragged here by the chirurgeons." 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "While I'm out of the city, Kratz is alone. I'd appreciate it if you or someone you trust made sure to check on her now and then. She won't shirk her responsibilities, but... she carries more grief than she can manage alone. Than anyone can." [21:01] 14Stranger: "Of course." [21:02] "Remind her, should you speak to her again before I do, that she can call me like this at any time, and I can get in touch with you. I even sleep with a hand on this Codex." 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "I will. Thank you." [21:03] 13Xia Lan adjusts - is she still wearing her outfit from the Council, or have they moved her into a hospital gown? Whatever it is, she brushes it smooth. "I'll - have them come in in a moment." [21:05] 13...these flowers are incredible, by the by, and she'll have them moved somewhere else as soon as she's able. ...though she'll leave some for Xu Sim to see until he heals. [21:05] 5Flowers? 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> As if on cue, the tent flaps part and a woman in white armor walks in, her green eyes darting from patient to patient as she runs a hand through the wildflowers growing from her scalp. Xu Sim will recognize this woman by voice, at least, as Vissi D'Arte, the physician-lieutenant and unit commander of the Seventh Caduceus. Xia Lan might or might not, depending on how clear her memories before being put back to sleep are. 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> The tent is full of flowers, bright and vibrant flowers. Some of them - Xia Lan'd wager at least a third - are actually for Xu Sim. [21:07] 13Huh! How about that. Good for Xu Sim. For Xia Lan's part regarding Vissi D'Arte, she barely remembers being awake at all. "Hello?" 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Vissi: "You're both up? How are we doing this morning?" She'll start going through checkups and inquiring as to how the two of you feel. [21:08] 14...It's probably about time to get out and about. Stranger will bathe himself change into another of his barely-different peasant robes, then walk out and about to get a late breakfast before ambling towards where the Judiciary is holding court at the moment. One assumes still in the Council Tower, since it was only the meeting rooms at the very top that were blown out. [21:08] 14Due to the nature of the Codex, he is of course able to continue his conversation with Bubo or accept calls from other pageholders throughout this. [21:09] 13Xia Lan: "Fine, I think, no pain, capable of movement - do you know where a Cathak Tsuka is being cared for? Xu Sim informs me he's grievously ill..." [21:10] 5 Xu Sim, interrupting - "Yes, he's in quite a state. You should see him immediately, on my recommendation, for both of your sakes'." 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Council Tower's basements still house the Officer of the Judiciary, but arbitration is heard at Bath House across the street, which is what it sounds like - an ancient First Age bathhouse whose geomancy and plumbing no longer work. But the room sizes and acoustics make it the best place in the city to hear cases. 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> *Office of the Judiciary 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Vissi looks askance at Xu Sim. 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> But she says to Xia Lan: "He's outside. He's been first in line to see you as soon as I gave word you were fit to see visitors." 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "So. Are you?" [21:12] 14Stranger will check in with Nobu Whitefeather first, then, to make sure there are no administrative matters which require his attention, before heading across the street to Bath House and quietly sitting in on some cases being heard by Sion: Fear Has Wings. [21:14] 13Xia Lan: "Yes, perfect, thank you--" 13She hurries out past Vissi unless she's stopped again. She'll thank her later - probably after berating Xu Sim for his prank. [21:14] 14Before leaving Nobu, he'll hand over one of the remaining two unassigned pages from the Codex. Should he or the Chief Justice or any of the others require direct, immediate access to Stranger, they are to call him. [21:14] 5It's not a prank. [21:15] 14Of course, Nobu is instructed to be a bit more sparing with the page's use than Bubo or the others in the Circle. Not due to disinterest from Stranger in assisting them, but because it's important that the Office of the Judiciary be able to stand confidently without Stranger's constant intervention. [21:15] 14That means its officers learning to take initiative and act on their own. [21:15] 5Xu Sim rises to a sitting position to adress the Physician-Lieutenant - "Doctor Vissi D'arte! So good to see you." 5Once Xia Lan leaves - "Young love,"5 he offers by way of explanation, "like mercury - either deadly or curative." 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan strides out of the tent and physically collides with Tsuka before being bowled back by the force of the cheer from the crowd assembled outside. Past a bewildered and exhausted-looking Tsuka, past the burnt furrow his pacing has carved in the grass outside the tent, are dozens of people behind an impromptu fence, looking exultant, ecstatic, and relieved. Some of them have signs. A few of them - the young ones, mainly - burst into tears. [21:17] 14Ah, the adoring public. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Vissi: "I can't refute your diagnosis. But I've got to wonder what it is they taught you about bedside manner. What do you have to report?" [21:18] 5Xu Sim grins rather wickedly. "They'll recover. For my own part, I still feel quite miserable, objectively speaking. But a big improvement on things last night. I have high praise for you and your staff." 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Vissi: "We're not total slouches." [21:19] 5The sorcerer manages a weak, but recognizable, cackle. 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Vissi: "You've got a visitor too, when you're up for it." 14[21:24] * Joins: Crion_ [21:24] 13She hugs Tsuka tightly, practically melting into him, before turning with him to face the crowd, arm around his shoulders while waving to her fans. She's got a bittersweet smile, looking towards the fence - this support is welcomed, but the circumstances are still... [21:25] 5 That cackle grows noticeably stronger as the healing Essence flows from one doctor to another, until it's -almost- as good as normal. "Doctor! I owe you my gratitude. And the better part of a week of my work. I shall send something for you and your team. Who is my visitor?" 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Vissi: "The Dragonlord." 14[21:26] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:26] 5 No more cackling, no more smile. Xu Sim moistens his lips and smoothes out his hair and moustache. "Very well." 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Vissi adds, hastily: "I can stall him for as long as you're willing to stay bedridden." [21:27] "No, no. It's alright. Send him in." [21:27] 14Stranger will approach the bench when Sion grants a recess. It would be a smart bit of business, he thinks, to officially try Mori Nogare in absentia -- just to keep everything crystal-clear and legal. As far as Stranger is concerned, the Emissary of Nexus has not actually levied a punishment yet -- the former Emissary acted on their own initiative, which Stranger would argue did [21:27] 14not violate the 'wanton violence' provisions of the Dogmas as it was not wanton, but directed (shaky ground here, given established definitions of 'wanton') but more importantly because the former Emissary was acting in clear self-defense against a violent criminal already 'fair game' in the eyes of the Emissary of Nexus. [21:28] 14He and Sion: Fear Has Wings massage the theory of action and the charge itself until they've got a crime that fits the facts. 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka hugs back. The crowd goes wild. 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> People are whispering among themselves. 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Vissi tilts her head. "Dragonlord. He's ready for you." [21:31] 13Let them talk. They can see her, healthy and happy -- Xia Lan whispers to Tsuka, briefly: "Is there a quiet tent nearby? Let me shake some hands and then -- I don't know how much Xu Sim lied to me..." 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "The supply tent. Around the corner." 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> The crowd before Xia Lan and Tsuka goes quiet as it parts for Nessun Dorma. 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> A white jade mask hides the usual fraction of his face visible inside his helmet, so a mountain of jade strides up to and, hopefully, past them. [21:34] 13Xia Lan steps aside with a respectful nod. She's not bowing, but this is - someone helping, at the moment. [21:35] 13Arm's still around Tsuka, though she's about to let him go in order to head for the crowds at the fence. 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> The tent admits Nessun Dorma. Vissi stands at attention, saluting her commander. "Sir!" 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> It's so hard for Xu Sim to tell where Dorma is looking with that mask, but it's pointed in his general direction. "Thank you, Lieutenant. You may go." [21:38] 5Xu Sim squints at the mask for a moment, before coming to the conclusion that it's probably there because Dorma thinks he has the silver tongue of Stranger-Visits-Heaven. [21:38] 13Once the Dragonlord passes, the Unfettered Xia Lan gives Tsuka a quick peck on the cheek. Another whisper: "I'll see you in the supply tent in a few. I'm so glad you're okay..." 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan almost burns her lips. Tsuka, reddening, breaks the embrace and walks away quickly, presumably to the tent. [21:41] 13That's hot. [21:41] 14Kids these days. 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> D'Arte looks about to protest, but she just strides out instead. 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan's crowd is adoring. "We're so glad you okay?" "Who did this?! I'll kill them myself!" "WE LOVE YOUUUUU" 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma looks down at Xu Sim, before moving a flowerpot to sit precariously on a low wooden table usually reserved for instruments, and clearly not rated for his weight. [21:45] "Dragonlord. Thank you for your visit." 5 Xu Sim is a little cagey. [21:46] 14The most important facet of this prosecution isn't Nogare, of course -- they have license to run that dog to ground and put him down in the streets, and would without any formal proceeding. The important thing is contextualizing Nogare as the head of the Highland delegation (not difficult, given his title of Prince Regent) and remand the decided case to the Council to impose larger [21:46] 14punishments based on the finding. A legal pretext for the Council fucking with Highland as they see fit, along with a well-researched and supported legal opinion of why the Dogmas and Civilities entitle them to do so. 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Then, slowly, he takes the helmet off. His head is enormous and square, his red hair high and wide and mercilessly flat along the top. He looks to be almost fifty, which Xu Sim deduces means he's north of a hundred and twenty. A peer of old Novak indeed. [21:47] 14Stranger is very keen on replacing previous Emissary's style with one that places significant judicial decision-making power in the hands of the Council -- rather than a no-account whim-fueled masked vigilante. [21:47] 14Not that he has anything against masked vigilantes. Some of his best friends, etcetera and so on. But it's no way to run a society. 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> But look how well it's done for Nexus! [21:49] 13After Tsuka heads off, Xia Lan makes her way to the crowd, waving and shaking hands. She doesn't quite have it in her to give a full speech, but does her best to reassure any questioners that yes, she's safe; so is Xu Sim, actually, though he's healing more slowly because he's the best physician and can't treat himself; the matter is being handled by the Council; and, perhaps surprisingly, she'll be holding a concert soon to talk [21:49] about this and raise some funds for the defense of Nexus, tell your friends! [21:49] 14It doesn't seem to lack for immigrants. 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Finally, Dorma says, in the same hollow quiet voice Xu Sim remembers from the night before: "What happened?" [21:49] 14They're just all armed, is the thing. [21:57] "The Emissary was channeling his power into the Star of Balor. You could feel it, couldn't you? Pushing down on you, like a hand on your shoulder and in your chest. He was going to wipe the last seven hundred and seventy years away from Firewander. It would have destroyed all of us, our armies, who knows what else in the city. [21:58] 13Finally, after an appropriate amount of time - though frankly too long, to Xia Lan - she gives a final wave to the crowd with both hands, bows, and thanks them for their support - she hopes to see them at the concert! Nexus needs their help, after all~! [21:58] 13Then it's off back to the tent Tsuka mentioned, where they will hopefully be finally, blessedly alone. [21:58] "The Beast of Highland, on the other hand, was opposing him through some sort of magic, and I think he was using the Wyld-Shaping Technique to try to escape. I don't know, it's a mythical practice." [22:00] "I had enough time to stop one of them. I could have stopped Mori Nogare from escaping, but all it would have done was kill him along with us, our armies, the whole district. So I stopped Nogare. Hopefully, I made the right choice." 5he shrugs. 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> The wheels are in motion. Whenever the Council convenes next, it will have this to consider. Speaking of which... what does Stranger do after leaving Sion's office? [22:02] 14He goes to see the Council, of course. 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "!!" 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> The Council is, perhaps understandably, not in session today, though their offices are still open in Council Tower and the first floor of the Vecchio palace, and he knows where all their residences are if he wishes to make personal calls. [22:02] "As for how I stopped him? Hell, I was improvising. But I was able to leapfrog off of what Nogare was attempting to sabotage the Emissary in their own wizard's battle." [22:02] 14There is the formal pretext of his visit to the Councilors, which is to arrange Pellicia's funeral. But they are short on time, now, and advantages should be pressed. There's no taking time off for mourning and respect when they're all on a three or four week time limit. [22:03] 13She kisses him properly this time, heedless of whether there's anyone else in the supply tent. They're both safe, that's the most important thing. [22:04] 14He will make personal calls, starting with Kratz, moving on to Hayle and Udelph, and then to Gen and...the others that are left. [22:05] 14Two Councilors dead in a week and change. Madness. 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "Could he do it again?" [22:05] 14Three in four weeks. [22:05] 14Though perhaps the return of the "Emissary" cancels out Balor's clear demise. [22:06] "I don't know. I have to assume that what he could do once, he could do twice." 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka doesn't hesitate to kiss her back. [22:07] 13No burnt tongues, one hopes. 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Doesn't seem to work like that, thankfully. 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "Where did the dome go?" [22:09] 13After they come up for air, Xia Lan still holding him tight: "I didn't think I'd make it," 13she confesses, "I really, really didn't." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka doesn't let go either. "You're alive." [22:10] 5Xu Sim frowns and shakes his head. "It went wherever Nogare went. It could be anywhere in Creation. It might not even be in Creation." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "And we have no way of knowing?" [22:12] 5Xu Sim nods this time. "Once I get back to my laboratory I can try to find out. I doubt the captured soldiers know anything but the defected sorcerer might." [22:12] 13Xia Lan: "Thanks to the Dawn Sergeant, Sun rest her," 13she says, suddenly morose. Still, she leans back from Tsuka, giving him a critical eye. "What about you? Xu Sim said you were sick--" 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "What? No. I'm fine. I was just worried." [22:14] 14It's not a fun afternoon. Why would it be? [22:14] 5Come on kid, that's a gimme! [22:15] 13Her eyes narrow. "I'm going to bludgeon him with something large as soon as he's healed," 13She hugs him again. "Sorry I worried you. He also said you went after Nogare... did you find him?" 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "No. He got away." 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "Took half of Firewander with him." [22:17] 13She sighs against his shoulder. "A coward and a bastard besides." 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "Mmm. How soon will you be able to return to work?" [22:18] "...did he kill anyone other than the Dawn Sergeant? I heard about her from Xu Sim, but..." [22:18] 14Kratz is...the Astrologer is in a state that concerns Stranger so much that once their interview is over, he takes aside whatever majordomo or head maid of household she has and instructs him, in his official capacity, that under no circumstances is she to be left alone with herself for more than three-quarters of an hour unless her staff are certain she is asleep. If Kratz should [22:18] 14criticize this or bar them from fussing over her, the head of staff is to send for Stranger immediately, via the Office of the Judiciary. This is one of those circumstances where Nobu will be contacting Stranger as soon as possible. [22:19] 5Xu Sim: "Thanks to the commendable work of the Caduceus Physician Corps - my personal appreciation and congratulations to Lieutenant D'Arte and her staff - I will be resuming my work today and should be back to my normal, efficient operations by sundown." [22:20] 14He calmly runs Kratz through how to use the paper he gave her once again, tells her to call if there are any problems or even if she just wants to talk, and reminds her that he can set up a direct call with Bubo at any time, no matter where Bubo is. He informs her that Keldar is the militia's choice for next Dawn Sergeant, and asks if she has any problems with this; afterwards, he [22:20] 14goes light on the Council business involving Highland. As much as he is concerned for Kratz, he might not be the best messanger for keeping her in the Council. When Xia Lan wakes up, this should be her remit. 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I don't know. I don't think so. Even the sorcerer lived." [22:21] 14After leaving, he will call Bubo again briefly to underline the importance of him seeing Kratz before he leaves town. As in: he should come back, immediately, if he has already done so to visit her, and do more. [22:21] 14Then it's time for Hayle and Udelph. They're not pleased. [22:21] 14They are, in fact, terrified. 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "Ah. Well, good." There's a lengthy pause. "That's good." [22:22] 13She finally releases him, looking around the area for seats - they can't stand their hugging and making out forever, but also, she needs to look him in the eye. "Where is he." [22:22] 13stand there* [22:22] 14Stranger doesn't really blame them. If possible, he'll meet with them together; he wants to give the impression that they have strength together, and that this strength is worth protecting, even if this then turns into a heated question-and-answer session. [22:23] 5Xu Sim: "Yes." 5a beat. "Ah, thank you for coming for me yesterday. And for the services of your gunzosha as transport. It was... it might have been decisive." 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "The Apples have him. Talk to Khelendros." [22:23] 14He is more direct about Keldar and the case against Highland with them. He gets the feeling they'll be reassured by the knowledge that Something is Being Done, and that business as usual still has the chance of reasserting itself. [22:25] 13She'll slump onto some stack of supplies if no actual furniture is forthcoming. "I don't know that I can fix this," 13she says. 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka sits down on the stack of wooden planks beside her. "Huh?" [22:26] 13Xia Lan: "I set him off. I was right but-- there must've been a way..." 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Don't." [22:27] 13Startled: "Don't what?" 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Don't make excuses for him." [22:28] 14The Midnight Queen and the August Councilor -- Ephiselle and Thalever -- are thankfully shaken but stalwart. It's an odd thing to think, given that they're Stranger's enemies on the Council in terms of faction and ideology, and it's surely got much to do with the fact that it wasn't someone in their faction who ended up beaten or dead over it, but he is very grateful for their [22:28] 14continued to commitment to both their positions and to the pursuit of normal Council business. 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "If a dog goes rabid and bites someone, you can say, 'oh, I should have done something different'. If a storm ruins your crops, you can beat yourself up for not thinking ahead. But he's- he's a man. He has to know better. He's responsible. Nobody else." [22:29] 14They're not fans of Keldar, of course -- no one on the Council besides the Emissary's seat is, really -- but they're either willing to listen, resigned to the matter, or both. And hopefully they're at least pleased that the Office of the Judiciary is handing them an action item against the monster who wrecked their day. [22:29] 14Which just leaves Master Gen. [22:29] 14And Master Gen is complicated. [22:30] 13Xia Lan: "That's -- Pellicia's blood is on my hands," 13she tries. "She died defending me." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Gen's holed up in his study, under layered guard, looking at ledgers and accounting-books for the Nexus militia, apparently seconded from Pellicia's office. He's checking them against the Assayer's Logs, working feverishly. He scarcely looks up when Stranger enters. 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "No!" 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "You didn't kill her. He did." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "Don't do that." [22:32] 13Somewhat stunned, she manages to squeak out: "Do what?" [22:32] 14Stranger will take a seat where he can find it. "Find anything?" 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Don't make excuses!" [22:32] 13She literally just asked this, but yes, she does need the refresher. 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "Don't make doing the right thing into a vice because bad people hate it." 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's on them. Right is right. You did the right thing." 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka's an intense kid but Xia Lan's never seen him like this. 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "It was necessary." There's another lengthy pause. [22:34] 13She's got her head buried in her hands, knees drawn up onto a crate. "I hate this. I hate him. I want to kill him." 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Finally, Dorma says: "I'm making a requisition to accompany the reinforcement petition to High Command. Materials. Equipment." 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "If there's something you need that we might have I can put in for it on my order." 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Me too." [22:35] 13Xia Lan: "I just. I was doing the right thing. How come this sucks so bad." 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> He can't do much but hold her, so hold her he does. 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't know. It's not fair." 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Gen: "Not yet... working backwards it looks like there are no shortfalls. Or windfalls, for that matter." 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> He shuts the heavy book before him. "Which leaves us to face the fall alone." 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "Have you been to see any of the others yet?" [22:38] 13She leans into him, quietly rocking. "...Can you stay here for a while? I've got to get back out there eventually, but..." 13But I'd rather spend as much time as I can with you first, unspoken. [22:38] 14Stranger: "I saved you for last, Master." [22:39] "Had a feeling, is all." 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I have the rest of the day." 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "Are you hungry?" [22:39] 5Xu Sim is silent for a moment. "Nothing necessary..." 5 The Dragonlord is still wearing his mask? [22:39] 13Somewhat jokingly: "Kind of. Sorry I missed dinner." 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> The Dragonlord is bareheaded and bare-faced. His helmet and mask are on the bench beside him. 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "We could go get something..." [22:42] "But more esoteric supplies, the type I need to work at a higher level of precision and power, those could be helpful. Thank you again, Dragonlord." 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't know. We could eat at your hideout, maybe, or I could go get something and come back here." [22:42] 13Xia Lan: "I'd rather see the hideout again. We're going to have to sneak out, probably, I don't think the fans actually left..." 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma, somewhat impatiently: "Such as??" 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim gets the impression the Dragonlord is not, ah, technically proficient in Xu Sim's work. 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Gen: "Oh?" [22:43] 13She almost corrects herself, then realizes: "...you're probably going to have paparazzi too, now." [22:44] 14Stranger: "One only checks the ledgers at the end of the term, yes? For better or worse. Closing out the financial year." [22:44] "Making a reckoning of things, before turning to a new page." [22:44] "I can present you a list. One particular piece of equipment that would be helpful, if it happens to be sitting in a vault somewhere, would be a sort of press or a device that mills down iron bars or shavings into the ancient iron thistledown ammunition, that once formed a part of the Sword of Creation's war-manse system." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Gen: "...ah." [22:45] "Aside from that? Jade dust, firedust. Lots of firedust." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I don't care. Really, I don't. What is anyone going to say to me?" [22:46] 14Stranger: "So you know where I stand: I would benefit, politically, from you leaving the Council. For whatever reason. I neither ask what yours is, nor do I blame you. I would certainly find a way to install a more agreeable Master, to my way of thinking." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma actually barks a laugh. "Thistledown!" 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's brilliant." [22:47] "And you are, of course, a free man. If you wish to leave, then leave." [22:47] 14Stranger: "But I would ask you to stay." 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "Gods. This far inland? Prevailing winds as they are -- the coverage we could get with a proper pylon is enormous." 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "A kill radius measured in malms." [22:48] 13Xia Lan: "It gets annoying, sometimes. Can hardly go out without someone there keeping an eye on you, 'less you duck 'em." 13She can probably get a good disguise going, but Tsuka... "Besides. It's not what they say to you, it's what they say about you. And to whom." 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "If they're not saying it to me, it matters even less. Gossip is trash." 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "But let me know if anyone's talking bad about you. I'll go take care of it." [22:49] "That's the aspiration. And if I can keep the wheels running I hope to get some sort of crude mechanism up and running, well, soon. We won't have much time - not much time at all - to finish it before the enemy arrives. But I think we can make it work." [22:49] 13She snickers. "Don't think that's a problem for me, babe, but keep that up and it might be for you." [22:49] 13She doesn't seem to notice on the term of endearment. 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "Would you be able to prototype something without access to the components? It'll be a week, maybe two, before we get what I send for." [22:51] "I think so? It's tough to say, it's a tricky sort of project. And I haven't done it before." 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "Alright. I'll be making my final report at noon tomorrow, so if you can send my people a list by the end of the day I'll see to it we get what we can for you." [22:52] "Sounds like a plan." 5 Xu Sim nods. 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "In return I need a favor." [22:54] "A favor?" 5 This is not the relationship that Xu Sim has enjoyed with the Dragonlord thus far. 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "I need someone to take the temperature of Thorns's necromancer. She's rebuffing my people, but you can hold court with her and aren't obviously her enemy." [22:55] "No, I suppose not," 5he observes. "Do you need something specific?" 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "We need to know what kind of magic she's preparing, what she's willing to do. Get a sense of her limits, if possible." 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "High command's fear is... unpredictable as they are, the Thorns delegates are only so threatening, against the backdrop of what's coming." 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "But given who they answer to..." 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "We need to know how closely they're working with the Mask." 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Gen: "...why?" [22:58] "Reasonable," 5 Xu Sim agrees. "Alright, I'll try to find out what's going on. After all, more shadowlands and walking dead aren't good for hardly anyone." 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma: "Good. Satisfactory." Another pause. "Thank you." 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Psshhhht. What are they going to do to me?" [23:00] 5 Xu Sim nods. "We're going to win. And that means we're going to have to work together." [23:00] 14Stranger: "Because I need people who know the work more than I need people I agree with. And frankly, despite what you might believe about me and mine wanting to stack the Council, my opinion is that Keldar taking a seat is already the limit of what we can sustain, and perhaps past the limit of what we should." [23:00] "I do not want us getting into the business of rulership." 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma's almost out of the tent before he freezes, staring at the closed flaps a few inches in front of his face. 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Gen: "A bit late for that, isn't it?" 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma finally says, "Thank you for the globe," before immediately storming out, helmet and mask back on. [23:03] 5Xu Sim smiles tightly and takes a second to look over the flowers. Are there really many there made out to him? Quite impressive. Nothing too ominous among them, one would hope? In a city that's just been ravaged by a bee-spread plague it's a bit of an odd gesture. But old habits die hard, perhaps. [23:03] 13Xia Lan: "Dunno. You got secrets? They dig." 13She says it light-hearted, then stands. "I'm gonna go change and sneak out. Meet me at the hideout? Also, you want me to pick up dinner or should I?" [23:03] 14Stranger shrugs. "There is the throne, and then there is the power that upholds it. We are not the first small coterie to exert an outsized political influence on a ruling body. And I'll note that we've been incredibly civil in our actions. If you want to see what it looks like when one of us is a monster, Mori Nogare showed you quite clearly." 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I'll do it. What do you want? They've got these fried dumplings here full of crab and cheese--" [23:05] 13Decisively: "Some of those, any other comfort food you can pick up -- do you have one of those pages from Stranger?" 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Yeah. Uh. Have you... heard from him?" [23:07] 13Xia Lan: "I just woke up like, 30 minutes ago. I've only talked to the nurse, Xu Sim, and you." 13And the crowd, but they didn't have names. [23:07] 14Stranger: "...You're not the only one considering quitting, you know." 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Okay." 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "He's..." 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "He took the news about you getting hurt really hard." [23:08] 13Xia Lan: "...how hard." [23:08] 13Should she call him before or after she sneaks back to the hideout, unspoken. 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I've never seen him like that before." 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "Be careful." [23:09] 13That settles it. "I'll talk to him before I leave." [23:09] "See you back at the hideout?" 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Okay. I'll meet you there." 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> He kisses her again before leaving. 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Gen: "...I suppose I wouldn't be, would I?" [23:10] 13She kisses back. Honestly, she would've if he didn't. "Stay safe," 13she commands. [23:10] "The Astrologer is in much the same situation as you. She cared deeply about Pellicia. She's very hurt. I am...keeping an eye on things with her. Just in case." 14Is there tea? "I tell you this not as gossip and with the full knowledge that I am breaching her privacy, because I think that she will stay. I think that she will stay, and remain an example to the people of Nexus, and [23:10] become stronger for it. She is no great fan of Keldar, but she will tolerate him. To be honest, I doubt she trusts me all that much either, given that I stand with that man." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka actually salutes her before leaving. [23:10] "She and you have something in common. Perhaps that hasn't been true enough before, but it is now." [23:11] 14Stranger pauses. "And neither of you are cowards." 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Gen: "I don't want to see any harm come to the Astrologer. If there's anything I can do to help her, please, let me know." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "But... Pellicia was the only thing keeping that woman halfway honest." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "She's a flake." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "She's a flake at the best of times. And now she's rightly despondent. Pellicia is her best friend." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Gen winces. "Was." 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> So! Xu Sim is free to leave at his leisure. What's his next step? [23:13] 14Stranger: "No, I don't think so." [23:13] 5Xu Sim will make his way out past the crowds - if there are still crowds outside, anyway. Then he'll make his way to the sewers. He's late for his meeting with Selin. [23:14] 13...That is adorable. And technically accurate, which is why it's adorable but also... honey, please. As soon as he's out, she'll attempt to contact Stranger via the page, unaware of whatever presumably-minor things he has going on. 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim has to push through the crowds same as Xia Lan would to get out, but mercifully(?) they seem only to want to cheer Xu Sim and offer him huzzahs, the city's twofold savior! The city's living martyr! [23:16] "Thank you, yes," 5 Xu Sim gamely waves and so on. It's a bit of a bother, but surely that's part of the appeal. 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger finds Selin not at their appointed meeting-spot, but on the way there. He's leading a team of strapping men and women in pulling yet another gondola out of the canal. [23:17] "I object to both a Guild man calling someone dishonest and to her being a flake. It does not align with what I've seen of her. And if you think nothing else of my kind -- of the Chosen that I am -- know that we are pushed to demand the best efforts of everyone. As villains and as heroes alike." 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> *Xu Sim finds Selin [23:18] "Selin!" 5 Xu Sim hurries towards the group. "My profuse apologies, sifu, I overslept." 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Gen: "I take your point, and advisedly, but she hasn't attended a Council meeting except at Pellicia's urging in years." 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin sends the laborers home, their work completed, once the old and rotted gondola is pulled up onto the roadside. Then he turns to Xu Sim. "I spoke with your doctor. I understand you had quite a day." [23:21] "Not just me, as it happens," 5he explains. 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Mmm. I heard about Pellicia. How is your friend?" [23:23] 14Stranger: "And that's bad for you?" [23:23] 14He shakes his head. "Have you considered that she might have, perhaps, not had full faith and credit in the Council to begin with?" [23:24] "Physically, she was fine when she woke up this morning. The rest, I think she'll be in the arms of a particularly suitable suitor to help her through it." 5 Xu Sim shrugs. [23:24] "The previous Emissary was...well." [23:24] "He forced you to react." [23:26] 14Stranger will likely take the call slightly earlier in the day; perhaps just before the meeting with Gen. "You're awake." [23:27] 13Xia Lan: "Stranger! Have you snapped and killed anyone other than Nogare? Tsuka was worried about you," 13she asks, a lot more relaxed than her words might otherwise indicate. [23:28] 14Stranger stops walking and is silent for a very long moment. [23:28] "Have I..." [23:28] "No." [23:28] 14He did not take that as a joke. At least not one he found funny. [23:28] 13Xia Lan: "Is Nogare still in town?" 13There's more of an edge on this one. [23:28] "We don't know. Probably not." [23:29] "Xu Sim likely knows more on the, ah. Technical side. Than I do." 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "Young love," sighs Selin. "is like quicksilver. Either deadly or curative." [23:29] "But he has not reappeared. If he does, he's a dead man." [23:29] 13Xia Lan: "...I assume you've already got people looking, so I won't tell you to - oh, for love of. Xu Sim lied to me twice already, anything important I'm routing through you." [23:29] 14Stranger shakes his head. "That does sound like him." [23:29] "Keldar is handling the manhunt." [23:30] "I am trying to herd cats with the Council." [23:30] "Sorry. I'm fine, healed up and all. Sun bless Keldar. I'm going back to the hideout and having the dinner I scheduled with Tsuka, and after that... point me where you need me. I screwed up once. Won't happen again," 13she promises. [23:31] 14Stranger, bluntly: "No. You didn't." [23:31] 5Xu Sim smiles, a little guardedly this time. "Well, it's certainly true." [23:32] "You prevented a terrible, exploitative law from passing the Council. You did the opposite of screw up. And it won't happen again because we're going to see him in a grave with whatever officers of his that we can find." [23:32] 13Xia Lan half-curses. "Yes, sorry. Tsuka's been on me about that, too. I did the right thing, it just..." 13She trails off, then regains her strength. "Do you know where the Dawn Sergeant's body is being kept? I need to - thank her." 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "So. Have you come to train or to justify your absence. Because I consider your absence well and truly justified. You have a doctor's note." [23:33] 14A pause, and with less of an edge: "She's lying in state now. The Temple of Gentle Airs. Her partner and family have been there all day." [23:34] "I'm still a little sore, but I intend to stick to my schedule today, regardless." 5He does! [23:34] 13Xia Lan: "...if you have the time, let them know I'll be there later. I... owe her that much, at the least." [23:35] 14Stranger: "I will do that. I'm about to walk into a meeting with Master Gen...but I would appreciate the opportunity to talk later, either tonight or tomorrow, once you've finished with Tsuka." 14He doesn't even say that last bit suggestively. [23:37] 13That's good! That's good. She says her goodbyes and begins applying her disguise to sneak out back towards the hideout. A meal -- and her boyfriend -- awaits. 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Alright. So! Tell me what you've mastered, and where you're having trouble." 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan finds Tsuka already there, jealously protecting the bag of food from an aggressively curious Princess and Mhaka. [23:39] 13She strips off the more distracting parts of the disguise as she slumps into one of the chairs around the table. "Well, Tsuka, we've made it." 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Do you like spare ribs?" [23:41] "Well, mastery, I don't know. I've been thinking about it, and, in actual fights - not sorcerous battles of wills or whatever - I'm having trouble with longevity and timing; I'm getting into fights when I'm almost out of breath and then I run out of anywhere to redirect my opponent." 5That's the straightforward, practical, Keldar-style explanation. [23:41] 5You know who likes spare ribs? [23:42] 13Xia Lan: "Absolutely." 13She seems exhausted, but also, the prospect of ribs has her interested again. "How was your trip? Stranger's doing fine, by the way, not..." 13She waves a hand vaguely. "Freaky." 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Ah. It sounds like you're thin-skinned." [23:45] "I've been using the Ox Body-Hardening Technique - doing situps under the waterfalls near your sewers, actually. But I need more!" 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka doesn't respond to that directly. Instead he says, "Let's eat." There's the fried crab and cheese dumplings here, as well as spare ribs, and fried rice, and a sack of pork buns. [23:47] 13Xia Lan digs in. At some point: "I still want to, actually take you out for dinner," 13dumpling into mouth which she chews up thoughtfully, "but like, for real, not hiding away..." 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Well, as to what meditations and mastery of Essence it takes to harden your hide, I can mostly only guess. But from what you've said, you haven't yet mastered the Scholar-Martyr Doctrine." 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "Did your sifu never tell you about that?" [23:51] "The Scholar-Martyr Doctrine?" 5He asks, credulously. 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "We've got time." 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "You fight barehanded, yes?" [23:53] "Yes." 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't see any swords or fans on you." [23:54] "None." [23:55] 13Xia Lan: "We do." 13Actually, that's true - it seems like anything she can actually work on can actually wait til tomorrow. "We... really do. So, hey... where do you want to go for dinner? Can't have us spending another meal hiding away," 13she smirks. Session Time: Wed Apr 25 00:00:00 2018 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Right. But you're missing the ease of having a sword in your hand." 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "The seafood place you talked about sounds nice." [00:02] 13She manages to find a reason to kiss Tsuka again, and hug him close. "It does. It-- gosh." 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I'm really, really, glad you okay." 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Gen: "Of course I have. But why'd she accept the job if she didn't respect it?" [00:04] 13She doesn't let him go. "Me, too." [00:04] "That's true. But by keeping my hands empty, I can still block and flow with my enemies, redirect them. Throw them if I have to, or scrabble around without worrying about being disarmed or the like." [00:06] 14Stranger: "You can take a job that you don't respect if you think it's important. And respecting the Council is far different from respecting Nexus, as perhaps we've all been given opportunity to observe recently." [00:07] "In any event, I find her allegiance to herself far less objectionable than others she might have." 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Gen: "So what do you propose? Trust that now, after she's lost everything, she will finally take her duties seriously?" 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Oh yes, I won't deny the usefulness of the open hand. But it comes with the pain of the scourged palm, no? A bitter truth, we must meet with sweetness." [00:10] 14Stranger: "She is not so weak as you presuppose. And she has not lost everything. Besides, and I say this will all due respect, I'll not hear her dedication impugned with a man literally booking it out of town." [00:10] *impugned by 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "Pain has no direct answer to love, Xu Sim. It can sidestep, it can undermine, it can ignore. But it cannot refute." 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Gen: "If you'd seek to defend her honor you can do so all the more easily in my absence." [00:13] 5Xu Sim obviously contemplates a rejoinder, but, in the end, does not offer one. "Alright. It's possible, yeah, for - sweetness - for love, to win." 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "With this thought in mind, what then is pain?" [00:14] "A distraction." 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "No! It's so much more than that. It's a beacon. If you can identify the source of what hurts you, you know which way to go to answer it. You know what to face. People live and die in agony without the ability to see that. Or to act on it if they can." 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "But not you." [00:16] 14Stranger: "Which highlights that we're really talking about two different things here, at the same time." [00:22] 5Xu Sim glances away, in deep thought. "Thank you, sifu." 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Think on this. Think on it with a friend." 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "Day after tomorrow, we spar. I'll come knock about your head in a hospital bed if I have to." [00:25] 14Stranger: "The thing that links them, of course, is Nexus. And Nexus is the reason I want you to stay." [00:28] "Certainly. See you in two days." 5With that, Xu Sim bids his leave. 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Oh, and Xu Sim?" [00:28] "Yes?" 15[00:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "Go easy on the kids, will you? They've got it bad enough for each other as it is." [00:30] "You may not like me and, more importantly and more concerning to me, you may not trust me. And I do not deny you have legitimate reasons for doing so. I do not believe that it is our place to rule Nexus, or rule Creation. I do believe it is our place to ensure that mortals do. Keldar will become the Dawn Sergeant because these are extraordinary times, and in these times the troops will [00:30] follow no one else. But I do not wish for us to permanently remain the Emissaries of Nexus, and I certainly do not wish us to be a majority -- or a substantial minority -- on the Council. Xia Lan was appointed because she has a good heart, and it is credible to you all that she does not want political power. When Nexus is safe, we will step down. I am designing the Office of Judiciary [00:30] to ensure this." [00:30] "It was wrong, if convenient, for the previous Emissary to have so much power, and wield it so transparently. It would be wrong, if convenient, if we did the same." [00:30] "Give them an ilm, they'll take a malm, but maybe you're right." 5He's not so sure, but what's the worst that could happen? [00:31] "I need you and Kratz to stay for similar reasons: you are both mortal, and you both have the right to rule this city, and you both love it. Even if you don't like each other, or me." 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Gen regards Stranger silently for a long time. 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Finally: "I don't know if you're right." 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "But I do know that betting you're right is our best chance for survival." 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "So fuck it." [00:34] 14Stranger smiles and nods, then stands. "I'll leave you to your work, then." 14He pauses. "If there's anything from the late Evening Master's library you need and, ah. Don't already have access to. I've had it sent to the Office of the Judiciary. They have of course been instructed to permit Councilors to inspect the collection." 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Gen opens his book. "I'll send them a memorandum, then." [00:35] 14Stranger: "Good evening, Master Gen." 15[00:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Gen: "Good evening, Emissary." [00:37] 5Xu Sim gets to the rest of his day with redoubled efforts - his projects at the hideout, his sorcery and his projects at the Tomb of Cold Iron, and, in between, jotting down correspondence for a letter he'll be sending off to the Scion of the Sevenfold, suggesting a meeting of the minds, to help increase magical collaboration and understanding. [00:38] 14Stranger leaves the Master's estate and heads straight home, buying a paltry dinner on the way. He spends the rest of the night in front of the fire, silent, staring into the flames. 15[00:39] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: You don't have to live like a refugee [00:39] 5 It's late when Xu Sim comes home. He spares Stranger a second glance, but says nothing as he collapses into his own bed. 15[04:10] * Disconnected 15[04:10] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[04:10] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[04:10] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[04:10] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[04:10] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[04:11] * Joins: banana 14[04:20] * Quits: banana (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:21] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[11:04] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[11:12] * Joins: banana 14[11:21] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[11:31] * Joins: cbass 14[14:29] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[14:31] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:38] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 15[16:03] * Disconnected 15[16:05] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[16:05] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[16:05] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[16:05] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 15[16:05] * Disconnected 15[16:05] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[16:05] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[16:05] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[16:05] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[16:05] * bleh is now known as VoxPVoxD 14[16:06] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[16:06] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:06] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:06] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:07] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[17:20] * Guest37608 is now known as Ferrinus 14[17:20] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[17:52] * Joins: Crion 14[18:36] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:54] * Joins: Zarick 14[18:55] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[22:05] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Thu Apr 26 00:00:00 2018 14[00:38] * Joins: Crion 14[00:41] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:14] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:53] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[06:43] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:19] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:53] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:50] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:24] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:40] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[11:49] * Joins: cbass 14[12:04] * Joins: Crion 14[12:10] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:12] * Joins: Crion 14[13:42] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:54] * Joins: dammitwho [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,__--~~-_. [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,__--~~ ;__--_ : ~-_. [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12 _--~ ;__--~~ .|:~-_. .`~-_. [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12 ~-_`( ~-_ ..|:::::~-_.'`.~-_. [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12 |::~-_`. ~-_ ...|:::::::::~-_.'. ~-_. [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12 |:::::~-_))))..._|:::::::::::::~-_. .'~-_. [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12 |::::::::;!)!)~~..~-_(().::::::::::~-_. ` ~-_. [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12 |::::::::;!!!)......((o))::::::::::::::~-_.) ;~-_. [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12 |::::::::;'!!! .....(())-_::::::::::;_-~ ',_-~ | [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12 |::::::::; !!! ...!!...~-_:::;_-~ , ,_-~ | [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12 |::::::::;.!!! .......,_-~. ,_-~ | () [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12 |::::::::; !!! .,_-~ ~,_-~ | (()) [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12 |:::::::.( !!!.) ,_-~ . ,_-~ | ((()o) [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12 |::::::(:;`!!!,'),_-~. ,_-~ _-~.. (()) [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12 |::::::.({,!!!_}~.,~,_-~ () _-~ :::..!! [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12 |:::::::',{!!!},~;_-~ (o)) _-~ '' [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12 |::::::(.:~(_;_-~ ) : ((()o) () [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12 |:::::::::"::| .) :::,_(o)) (o)) [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12 |::::::::.:::| ;-:..!! ((()o) [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12 |::::::::::::| _-~ .. (()) [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12 |::()):::::::| _-~ ::::..!! [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12..~(()o)::::::| _-~ '' [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12..((o)))):::::| _-~ [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12...((())~-_:::| _-~ [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12.. '|| ~-_|-~ [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12:::..!! [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12'' [20:37] <@Ferrinus> "May," 12says Yara, a slight quaver in her voice, as vibrating strands of silver and violet fade into existence all throughout young Choto's recovery room. They're not drawing themselves through the air so much as becoming visible - to Ying, it's as though they've suddenly started to catch and reflect the light of the censer that the two Sidereals are burning. "May, should that be [20:37] <@Ferrinus> happening?" [20:39] <@Ferrinus> "Ummm," 12says May, touching the wooden end of a calligraphy brush to her chin. She's looking around at spiraling patterns of glittering webbing that have, by now, covered the ceiling, walls, and floor of the room. "Ying, quick question - can you see anything out of the ordinary?" [20:40] 4Ir steps away after handing the kid that drink. That's not a good question to be hearing. 08[20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Downstairs, Eikichi realizes that his pencil is attached to all eight corners of his room by thrumming strands. Upstairs but outside, it suddenly seems to Ir that the feast she's prepared is ruined - it's all covered with cobwebs, many of them stretching out and sticking to her! Iron Siaka's mouthing swear words to herself as peers at the spider's webs coating the head of her mace [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12and connecting it to seemingly random points on the dining hall walls. 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi tugs on the strings. 08[20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12It's getting... darker. It's like light sources on the Heavensward are doing less work, making everything but the threads less obvious to everyone's eyes. As Eikichi tugs, Blossom feels a jerk on her elbow, where a loop of spider's web that stretches out through one of the walls suddenly pulls with a barely perceptible force. [20:45] 13Ying: "Define 'out of the ordinary,'" 13she says. "The spirit's, um, expanding? And there's a lot going on, with that..." 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, testing his ability to get up and move through the threads, makes his way with slow and careful steps into the room where the others are. "The whole ship is like this." [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12May bites her lip and looks around at the room. She and Yara are connected with glowing green and violet strands of webbing, now, and Yara's tied to Ying. At this point, Ying can barely see Choto's second self - it's been almost completely cocooned. "Could you be more specific?" [20:49] 13Ying: "Can you not... the webs?" 13she tries. "They're everywhere. And they all tie back to the spirit." 08[20:49] "And to us. And pu- probably more," 13she nods to Eikichi. [20:50] "What the hells?" 7Excessively Righteous Blossom waves a hand irritably as strands of silvery cobweb coil around her fingers. [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "Ah, fuck. We can but I was really hoping you couldn't. Okay, okay, if you could step outside for a second - Yara, if we could just skip ahead to prayer number four-" 12Yara: "On it-" [20:51] 4Ir: "Guys? What's going on?" [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Outside, it grows steadily darker. The light sources in use on the ship are simply not enough to illuminate, well, anything. They don't even seem to be what's letting you see the webs - those reflect some kind of pale radiance emanating from each of you, and also catch a crackling orange firelight somewhere in the distance. 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Blossom broke its reincarnation cycle. I think this is the spirit trying to heal itself. Can't be sure yet." [20:54] "Not thrilled with this-" [20:55] 4Ir: "Guys...!" [20:55] 13Ying will attempt to step outside to the others, if she can -- through all this gross spirit Stuff, whatever it is. 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To the Heaven-sent: "What do you normally do when this happens?" [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12It doesn't seem to arrest Ying's movements - yet - but she can definitely feel it pull at her as she slides through it. Bits of it unroll to follow her, others tighten as she approaches, others wind together or fold through... there's some kind of hidden machinery at work which she can feel reacting to her steps. [20:57] 13Gross. [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Iron Siaka's out there with the lot of you, while May and Yara feverishly try... something... back in Choto's room. You can hear them whispering something hard to make out if you listen. The Chosen of Venus looks decidedly rattled. "This doesn't happen. All of this, down here - it's supposed to be metaphorical." 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Now it's a vacuum. You know how nature feels about those." [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka clenches her jaw tight and looks around with increasing worry, unsure of something. Meanwhile, it grows darker still, and you can hear the crackle of nearing firelight... [20:59] 4Ir: "We've gotten by before...right? Right?" [21:02] 13Ying: "What do you mean, metafurical? Er, metaphorical." 13She's looking at Iron Siaka, curiously. 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "This gets solved faster if you tell us what you know, Siaka." [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir notices it just at the edge of vision - and so does Ying, but thanks to Tatsuya, she'd recognize it anywhere. A small, hunched figure in tattered brown sackcloth, slooooowwly shuffling forward from what must be five hundred fulms away. It's visible as though the intervening walls of the Heavensward weren't there, and its little burning lantern is where the firelight reflecting [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12off the webbing is coming from. [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka hesitates. "It might... it might get worse, too. This stuff sometimes knows if you know, all right?" [21:06] 4MotherFUCKER-- [21:07] 4Iscariot snaps to attention in Ir's hand. [21:07] 4Ir: "I need someone to tell me how this is happening, and how we kill it." [21:07] 13Ying: "Ack!" 13She gets into a fighting stance - no matter how far away the dang thing is. [21:07] "And hell, if there's a choice?" [21:07] "I'll settle for the latter." [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka follows your gazes and squints. "What the fuck is that thing?" 12she whispers. Wait, she didn't whisper. She's just farther away. There's a strange, soft, winding sound, like ssZZzssszzSsss - threads moving past threads. Jet black filaments, as if spun from obsidian or stretched out of pools of tar, are tying themselves from strand to strand and spiraling in on your positions. [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12You're all farther from each other, now - fulms became yalms, and the webs are spreading through the air so fast it's hard to make each other out. [21:11] 4Oh no. [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Then everything's dark. But only briefly, and not consistently... for you find yourselves in other places. 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Oh. [21:14] 13Um. [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya's in Crystal. He's serving as mentor and master for the criminal "Undermelt" gang - dispensing advice, offering sparring matches, correcting form. But they've turned on him. [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12He's lacked in mortal combat with, who was he or she, something like the First Disciple? The little, black-shrouded figure who's always there in the background, taking notes or doing odd tasks. He and she strike back and forth, and her incredible luck and precision seem the equal of his strength and speed - it's hard to know which way this'll go. [21:15] 4Wwwell it 4iiiiiiiiiiis what it 4iiiiiisssssssss [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Dimly, Tatsuya remembers being here. This worked out satisfactorily... somehow? What'll he do, in the moment? [21:18] 6...If he remembers correctly, originally he attacked them, nearly died, melted into the shadows, and fled in shame. This is the place, right, where he's found himself? [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Yep. [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Same plan? 08[21:21] 6Then - we can skip the nearly dying part. He shouldn't be here, there was - he was doing something else, wasn't he? Or 13was she? It's - 6look, that's not important right now. Same plan, minus the nearly getting annihilated part - it all worked out in the end! Fled to safety, regrouped with Blossom and Eikichi, saved Ir. [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara - that's who it was, wasn't it? - can't stop him. Her hands scythe straight through the numinous shadows of Tatsuya's form, and he dives for the tiles, rippling across the ice and marble. He's a mere fulm from the crack between floor and wall when a searing pain strikes in what feels like his foot or shin, pinning him down to the ground as though by an iron spike. [21:23] 6Ngahh-- [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Twisting in place, Tatsuya's shadow form finds himself facing two opponents, each with their eyes glowing violet from edge to edge. Yara, and a taller, darker figure hanging in the air behind her, making bizarre motions with his hands almost too fast to follow. Who is he? Why is he there? How is he casting barely-visible filaments of spider's web that arc through the air, piercing [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya's hands, shoulders, throat, heart -- [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12...Excessively Righteous Blossom has just unleashed an excessively righteous castigation of tax collector Wu Zheng. She and he stand beneath the scorching noonday sun of the southeastern threshold. [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12The sun is high and hot overhead. Blossom is making her stand alone on this open road, with not even a shadow to back her up. Wu Zheng sits back slightly in his seat. His eyes narrow to slits. [21:25] <@Ferrinus> "I will forgive this insult. Out of respect. To your father. I will not forgive a second. Get in the cart." [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12...Shosei, servant of the Velvet Room, is hiking through the northlands with his friend and partner Tatsuya. It's bitterly cold out here, and the two are alone - contacts they were expecting to make in nearby cities never materialized, and they're forced to rely on maps and wits. [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12They're not even sure they're headed the rightway. Up ahead are huge, twisted spires of crystal or glass - isn't the tomb their intel pointed them at supposed to be hidden away beneath the ground? 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "Oh, boy..." [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12They're pretty sure they got the maps right... it's just, why have they found themselves at a gigantic crater filled with jagged, random glassworks? [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a long and difficult trip to the bottom, and more than once Tatsuya's forced to blur into motion to save Shosei from what would've been a lethal or at least crippling fall. Still, they make it to the bottom, where what they're looking for is meant to be... and are disappointed. [21:31] 7He is hardly the fat bureaucrat he affects to be. As his assistant, she is weaponless. If she can get her fingers to his throat before he can draw his blade, she might survive... 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Ah well. Still, it's not so bad! This is the kind of adventure they write stories about! [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12All that awaits them is a huge pool of acrid black oil, shards of greenish glass floating within it. Above it, dripping the selfsame fluid, is a huge demon, seemingly crucified by the air itself. No, when Shosei squints he can see it - the strands of thin, barely-visible webbing that strike through Octavian's corpse from every angle and root themselves in the crystal spires all [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12around, holding him up in the air for gods know how long. 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Octavian? Dead? Here? How peculiar. Why didn't his body return to Hell? Shosei wanders closer, his fingers outstretched... [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, it's not a total loss. There are magical materials and half-slagged artifacts to scavenge from the ruins, and all sorts of valuable alchemical and sorcerous components to be liberated from the preserved-by-cold body of a demon lord. Shosei's got much to study when he and Tatsuya return to Nexus, and plenty of time to do it while he recuperates from a nasty fall incurred while [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12climbing back up. [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Though there's always a vague feeling that something's missing... [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Excessively Righteous Blossom draws in a breath, and flexes her fingers, and prepares to shift her balance in reaction even as Wu Zheng balls his fists. Then he twitches where he stands, blinking a few times. "Hrrk--" [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12After several tortured moments of clutching alternately at his throat and chest, Wu Zheng collapses to the ground, dead. A heart attack? Blossom's condemnation was powerful indeed, it seems. It'll be a chore to get all this back to the satrapy, though... [21:36] 7...huh. [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12It's days later that the fire takes her. Blossom's shouting at the rest of the administration, demanding they change their policy, demanding they retract their accusations of murder and insubordination. Don't they know who they're dealing with? Just because she's too old - but no, not too old after all. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12What does Cathak Azula, enkindled by the Dragons' blessing, make of herself after then? And how does she deal with the perodic, nagging feeling of something... somewhere... trying to get her attention? [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12In Pneuma, Maryam of the Heavenswatch is struggling with herself. She knows what the right thing to do is. Or perhaps she knows what the right thing to do is supposed to be. Would it be so difficult if it was the right thing to do? Or maybe that's exactly how one knows. [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12A demon among demons lies somewhere in this city... and Maryam knows where. Not too far away is exactly the force that could put it to rest, put it out of the mortal world. What does she do?" [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12...on a flying ship heading southeast, Sunlit-Dreaming Ying wakes up. She doesn't remember when she went to sleep last night, or indeed what she's doing here. [21:45] 13Huh! Well, best to greet the day, then! ...and then figure out what she's doing on this ship. Any clues here? No helpful notes explaining everything? [21:47] 4SSSSaskia. 4...It's not even a choice. Maryam steps outside and walks down to the docks. This time will be different. 4The docks...Gull. Dear sweet Gull. There's a world beyond these horizons, he once told her. [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying was practicing something, or preparing for something... things seem strange. She's just a regular mortal girl, so she doesn't know what she'd be doing on what must be a flying ship (howling wind, no sound of water) with, as far as she can tell, no crew. [21:47] 4Maybe she'll meet him there. [21:47] 4Thhhheyyy find 4her in the morning. [21:49] 13Well, heck, this is an adventure, then! ...a kind of weird and scary adventure, given the whole, flying ship with no crew thing... [21:49] 13...are there any ghosts? [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12In Pneuma: That's not supposed to happen. That's not supposed to happen. That's not s-s-s-s- images flash in Ir's mind. Lines of glowing webbing that bind Saskia to her, that bind her to the Heavensward, that bind the Heavensward to the world. The frenetic flailing of cold, metal limbs, desperately trying to slow her walk to the edge or pull her body out of the water. The jagged, [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12screaming clash of contradiction against contradiction. [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Will this one do? Will this one do? Maybe. We'll use the other to be safe... [21:50] 4Good. [21:50] 7It's not the salve she hoped it would be. Now? She takes her Second Breath NOW? After everything-- she's still left behind. All her peers went to the finest secondary schools, made connections that will serve them for centuries, while she rotted in exile. They've had the chance to make their names already, while she's scrambling just to get to the starting line. She'll have to work [21:50] 7twice as hard just to keep up! After all she suffered, the Dragons just... turn up? Better late than never? Nobody even seems to care! Her newly-tumultuous Essence makes it even harder to hold herself together, and when she backhands a servant she locks herself in her quarters to dry heave with shame and fury. AND WHAT THE HELLS IS THAT NAGGING AT HER? WHAT, WHAT, WHAT DO YOU WANT [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying searches around. This is weird. She can't figure it out. Her room's nice and clean, but the rest of the ship is old and musty, as though no one's been around in forever. She can't find any food. And there are sounds like something's in the walls... [21:56] 13Well! That's... not concerning! She's not concerned, and if she repeats it often enough it'll eventually become true, so there. Still... how did she get here? People don't just wake up on ghost ships, she's pretty sure... unless she's dead. Is she dead? She pinches herself, to be sure. [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12She's completely absorbed in the personal effects she's found in another, separate room, trying and failing to figure out where she's seen them before, when the creature attacks her. It's a spider the size of dog, made of blackened, rusting metal, and it bursts straight through one of the ship's walls! [21:58] 13Okay! She's concerned! Alarmed, even! Please go away spider-dog! [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12She whirls - but she's in trouble. She's trained in combat, but unarmed and unarmored, and this thing's eyes glow with essence! Can she even... but there's someone sudenly here to protect her, fading into view directly between her and the beast. They're familiar somehow, like a childhood friend that's been missing all her life. [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Alight with essence fever, it's Azula who searches the hardest for what is that's been going wrong. She knows there's something - administration of the threshold satrapy, visiting her House's estates in the Realm, riding on Wyld Hunts... it blows past her like smoke, not quite real. [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Except for this one. She's in the north now, bearing down on quarry that's been operating in and around the fortress-city of Pneuma. "Saskia, Twice-Sainted" has defied the heavenswatch and escaped an entire Hunt - but she'll not dodge two. [22:06] 13There's a moment where she freezes, uncertain... 6and then the ghostly figure just slices the beast into two pieces. The spider-dog fails to notice for about half a second, then slides apart, grossly and dramatically, one half landing with a wet plop on the floor as the other thuds to the ground. [22:06] 13Ying backpedals towards a wall, but... she's safe. And also there's a helpful ghost! So those are things now. [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying doesn't really know what she's doing here - but Tatsuya seems to. He's sure there's someone who could make sense of this, somewhere in Nexus. [22:08] 13That's great! Really great. How do we get to Nexus from here on this dilapidated boat? [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Can either of you pilot one of these things? [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Maybe you'll get lucky... [22:11] 13How hard can it be? It's only a flying ship that probably needs more of a crew than one plus a ghost. Is it okay if I call you that, ghost? 6I'm not dead! 13Okay, undead ghost! 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Years after that fateful day up north, Shosei had retired from the Velvet Room and now made his living as a lecturer and occult researcher, an Adjunct to the Gymnasium. He's renowned as one of the most widely read magicians in the world, and as someone who never turns away a sincere request for help. A visitor might find him doing something like hanging upside down from the ceiling of a wide atrium, suspended by cables, inside a shimmering curtain of light that holds back thudding, acrid explosions coming from a tiny shard of glass held in delicate suspension at the room's center. [22:15] 4It's not what you want. [22:15] 4It's never what you want. [22:19] 4Saskia, Twice Sainted, waits in the ruins. 08[22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying doesn't really know what she's doing, but she's quick thinking... and, more importantly, she's lucky. At the back of her mind, she can fill invisible strands pulling this way and that at everything around her... and it's not too hard to make sure the web connecting her to this "Eikichi" person Tatsuya's got in mind gets shorter and shorter and shorter, almost regardless of her [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12actual expertise. 08[22:22] 13Does Tatsuya know enough about Eikichi to tell her about it, on their way? Not that she's got a better plan if he doesn't, but it'd be nice to know what kind of friend they're meeting with... [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12So it is that, one day, professor Shosei looks up from the center of a great lecture hall and sees the approach of a strangely-familiar sailing ship, one that's scything through thin air. [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Azula rides at the head of a Wyld Hunt. She's flanked by mortal soldiers and Immaculate monks. Ahead of her is a single woman with her back literally to the wall. What does the pious fire aspect see as she looks upon Saskia? What does the pious Dawn Caste see as she looks back? [22:24] 6Tatsuya, for his part, communicates mostly in grunts, gestures, and "Just steer the ship"s. 13Ying's keeping a count - she's in the mid-double digits by the time Shosei spots the ship. [22:24] 4Some bitch. 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Remarkable. Even a sorcerer needs to sail over mist and cloud cover. The sheer volume of essence it'd take to lift a craft this size through empty sky... that's a special ship. He waves up at it, without thinking. He has no way of knowing anyone in there can see him, or that they're looking. Still, he waves. [22:25] 4She'll see two women, though. There's something weird, flickering and dark talking to the Anathema. [22:25] 4The shadow smiles. The Anathema does not. [22:26] 4Here is the Anathema. https://imgur.com/a/jyoUcaq [22:27] 4Here is the woman talking to her. https://i.imgur.com/sLu4AOA.jpg [22:28] 13Tatsuya seems insistent that this is what they're both looking for, and Ying is tired of living off the remainder of the ship, so she makes to drop... anchor... does this thing have an anchor? How does this stop? Oh boy. She really should have thought about this before literally now. 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Let's set that aside and embrace the fact you showed up! [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12It does have an anchor, one that hurtles straight down at lethal speed! [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12No one can shape spells that fast - but Shosei doesn't need to, because, suddenly, a massive shape has appeared above him to catch the thing. [22:29] 7Her Essence fever never abated. Her fellow shikari respect her zeal, but do not socialize with her. It's difficult for her to sleep more than a few hours a night. When she does, she dreams of brilliant gold and a cloudless blue sky - empty, motionless, until she wakes gasping like she'd been holding her breath for hours. For the love of heaven, let the dam break! Let the flood come! [22:29] 7She's chasing something that flits like mist through her fingers, and it points her in the direction of Saskia Twice-Sainted. 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A massive arm bulging with muscles, veins, and tiny shards of glass snatches the anchor out of midair. The tusked giant it belongs to rears back as if to drag the entire ship to the ground, but after exchanging a glance with Shosei settles it into a gutter beneath a bridge and ties it fast. "Nothing is going right," 10he grumbles as Shosei strides forward, arms out wide, to greet whoever's coming off the ship. [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Battle is joined! Shikari to Azula's left and right let fly with weapons and elemental essence. Saskia is hard-pressed to defend, but she's got the strength of ten demons to draw upon. [22:35] 4Let's all get what we deserve. Ir, Thrice-Traitor! [22:37] 13Sunlit-Dreaming Ying stumbles on the ship as it shudders to a halt, caught before slamming into the wall by the thoughtful cushion of Tatsuya. "Uwauu~" 13she offers, dazed, before shaking herself off and looking for a way down that wouldn't involve just... climbing down the scarily-high anchor's chains. 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She's in luck, because Shosei rises to meet her on a whirlwind. The huge dark shape behind him fades into translucence, muttering unintelligible threats. [22:39] 7She's lying, she's lying "WHO ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO BE?!" 7Cathak Azula shrieks. 08[22:41] 13Ying's eyeballing the climb down when the stranger - 6Eikichi 13- the stranger, Eikichi, rises to greet her. "Hello! ...does that have room for one more?" [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12The deck of the Heavensward creaks under Shosei's weight - it's a good thing Octavian is only as heavy as the sorcerer wants him to be. This is weird... this is really weird. The ship looks ancient in places, and covered with cobwebs. [22:41] 4Saskia, Twice-Sainted: "A bad idea. C'mere, Ir." 4The shadow-woman grins and disintegrates into a ball in the Anathema's hands -- and the Hunt can almost see both of them smiling as the former Pneuman idol begins to dance, deadling lances of quicksilver flickering through them at head level, this-that-and-this punches of moonsilvery spears driving through them. [22:41] 13Oh! That works too, even though she really did want to get off this creepy ship. [22:42] *4deadly 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei sweeps his arm out and the whirlwind widens, leaving room for Ying to stand with plenty of space between her and him. "Please! Be my guest. My name is Shosei. What is-" 10The dark shape leans forward out of nothing to whisper in his ear. Poison drips down his check and onto his neck where it vanishes with a sizzle. "Ying, is it?" [22:44] 13Ying: "That's right. Shosei?" 13That's not what Tatsuya said... but okay. "I have, uh. A lot of questions? And I don't know how many you can answer. Do you mind if I just, start?" 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "Not at all! Come down to my lab. Would you like some chocolate milk?" 10The first laugh lines snake out from the corners of his eyes, barely visible behind his wire spectacles. 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Ying can see the whites of the giant's eyes as he rolls them. [22:46] 13Ying, automatically: "I'd love--" 13Then she stops, suddenly. Weird. Normally that sounds delicious, but... regular milk actually sounds better, right now. "Do you have just, regular milk? It's been a really weird time in the ship..." [22:47] 7Cathak Azula: "Wayward divinities and unclean spirits are tinder for the flames of righteousness!" 7She smoothly moves into the first kata of the Fire Dragon Style, ignoring the screams of the wounded around her, razor-sharp fingernails cutting through the air. 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei is silent for a moment, visibly trying to remember if he has any non-chocolate milk. "Probably! What can I do for you, ma'am?" [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Another shikari to Azula's side falls - no, tumbles backward, having absorbed a deadly blow into the Bottomless Depths defense! Sheets of arrows sail over her head, most deflecting off of Saskia's whirling defense! Now Azula herself enters the fray, pushing herself so hard in the attack that her aura of power erupts with impossible intensity around her. [22:50] 4Saskia: "Hahahahah!" [22:50] "HAHAHAHAHAHA!" [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Azula's anima burns hotter than it ever has before. It shades through orange to gold to searing white - and then comes out the other side as a lovely blue the Fire Aspect's never seen before. And forming within and above those flames, eyes crackling with righteousness and fists with sunfire, is someone Azula's seen every day in the mirror - but never quite like this. [22:50] 4When the death begins to shoot out from her as she dances, there's a song with it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3dixccaGRo [22:52] 13Ying: "Well... to start, do you know a Tatsuya? He seemed pretty insistent on directing me here..." 13It's a pretty long process to explain "a weird ghost saved my life on this awful ship, and seems attached to me," so maybe that will help? [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12The whole battle freezes for a moment. The glowing sundisk on the forehead of Azula's... anima??? ...is unmistakable. Frustrated, still-foggy recollection cascades through Azula's mind, but Blossom looks down on the battlefield with a beatific smile of recognition. 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "Tatsuya? That's a name I've not heard in a long time..." [22:52] 4Not the whole battlefield. [22:54] 6Tatsuya, from over Ying's shoulder: "Hadn't heard Shosei in a long time, either." [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12The water aspect who's just rolled to his feet at Azula's side gapes. "...Anathema. BOTH Anathema!" [22:54] 4I'll make you proud, Maryam. 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Ying follows Shosei down to the ground, leaving the ship above forgotten. They move past stacks of books and scrolls, walls plastered with elaborate formulae, and violet-skinned library attendants rushing to and fro with stacks of books. "We used to work together." 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The giant keeps trying to get Shosei's attention, but Shosei keeps ignoring him. Gradually he fades until he's barely visible. [22:56] 4I am not the singer that you wanted, but a dancer / I refuse to answer, talk about the past / And rooting for the ones who want to get away. [22:57] 13Ying: "What did you do?" 13He never told me anything except "Just steer the ship," which isn't an answer. [22:57] 4Thrice-Traitor whispers: Keep running. 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "A bit of everything. Logistics, briefing, debriefing. Procurement. A little negotiation. A lot of research." 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "Are you two kin?" [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Swords, spears, bows are suddenly pointed at both Azula and Saskia. The problem with cornering your quarry against a wall is that you're right up against the same wall pretty soon, it seems. [22:58] 4But if Saskia wanted to keep running, it wouldn't have come to this. [22:58] 4And that's why when the battle turns, the wind snaps around her, but nothing really changes. [22:59] 4To this burning woman: "Now you're just some bitch too." [22:59] 13Ying: "Er..." 13She waves helplessly over her shoulder. "He's... right there." [22:59] 6Tatsuya, the Golden Stand gives a lazy wave. 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei, gently: "Were you two kin?" [23:01] 13Ying: "I don't know..." 6Tatsuya shrugs, unhelpful as always. "He feels like I knew him forever, but..." [23:02] 4Saskia steps forward, metal swirling around her. Inside that shield, somewhere, there's an angry smile. To the woman with the golden forehead: "I'm here to die. But I'd prefer you live." [23:02] "Keep running." 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10One of Shosei's library attendants comes by with two bottles of milk, one white one dark, and glasses. "I thought he died alone a long, long time ago." 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He pours out milk for Ying and for himself. Octavian is gesticulating wildly in the background, miming hitting Shosei on the head with a wicked-looking green glass rod. [23:05] 4Sing it from your heart, sing it 'til your nuts, sing out for the ones that'll hate your guts. [23:05] 7The glowing figure casts its gaze across the battlefield, before fixating on the flickering figure above the other? Solar?. "What is happening?" 7It asks her. [23:06] 4Ir, Thrice-Traitor manifests and looks over. It's a disorienting thing. "We're accounting." [23:06] "And earning our wages." [23:06] 6Tatsuya: "I did, I think. Walking into spiderwebs." 13Ying shoots him a look that asks 'what does that even mean,' but he's already off looking at the glasses with interest. Ying takes a sip. [23:06] 4The metal rips back and dissipates into a swirling storm. [23:07] 13Ying: "That doesn't make any sense." 6Tatsuya: "It didn't to me, either." 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Octavian fumes to Tatsuya: "These idiots. I want to knock their heads together. Over and over and over and over--" [23:08] 6He shrugs. "Well, yeah, you always kinda did." 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Octavian: "How can you stand it? The impotence. The futility." 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei, who acts as if he can't hear them, takes a sip of his milk and wrinkles his nose. Oh no. The chocolate's gone sour. 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Ying: "Do you wish to know more about your passenger?" [23:10] 6Tatsuya: "Heck, I did this on purpose sometimes. It's nice to just, not be the problem." [23:10] 13Ying: "What does that -- yes, please." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "It's suprisingly simple. You're fettered to a ghost who should not have died, and you're inseparable, as far as I can tell." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He takes another tiny sip of his milk and looks disappointed. [23:13] 13Ying: "...I don't know what to do with that infurmation." 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then: "I don't want to make assumptions, but in my experience the survivor and their fetter were enemies, and not friends." 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He gestures behind him. "This one is outrageously bitter." [23:14] 6Tatsuya, to Octavian: "Hey, he's talking about you." 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Octavian: "I'll crush his skull with my empty palm--" [23:14] 13Ying: "I don't think that's true here..." 6Tatsuya: "Yeah, no, that's on you, pretty sure." [23:15] 4Saskia twirls and steps forward. To the golden woman: "I'll kill the soldiers. I hate them more." 4She grins and gives two peace signs, then spins back into the melee. "Strangle your own babies~" 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei, who plainly doesn't believe Ying: "Perhaps you're right. So, if you're looking for a way to separate them, I can't help you. I've had no luck with mine, and he's useful to have around." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "I assume yours is the same. Tatsuya was always nice to have around if you needed something stolen. A jewel. A deed. A life. Not good for much else, though." [23:16] 13Ying: "No! I'm just, trying to figure out... I woke up on that weird ship and it was mostly abandoned except for my room. And I can't figure out how or why I was there! Tatsuya seemed to think you'd be helpful...?" 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Another sip. Another wrinkled nose. "Kind of a coward, honestly." [23:17] 6Tatsuya: "Rude as hell, man. I'm literally right here." 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "You should have thought of that before you failed to move on." [23:17] 6Tatsuya: "...probably, yeah. But I had stuff to do, and I think it was important, so, I'm here for... that stuff." 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Ying: "What can you tell me about yourself?" [23:18] "I don't think I was supposed to die via awful spiders." 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "Where are you from? Who raised you? Where did you grow up?" 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10*To Ying: [23:20] 13Ying: "That's easy! I'm from... um." 13Where... is she from? Nothing's coming up. "I must've had parents..." 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei leans forward. The light reflects off his glasses to make them opaque. "No memory at all, you're saying?" [23:21] 13She keeps searching, and her searches keep coming up blank. "Not before the ship! I just, I was there..." 13She's stressed, now, nearly panicking. "How did I get here?" [23:21] 6Tatsuya lays a hand on her shoulder, saying nothing. 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei looks at Ying for a moment and then, finally, looks directly at Tatsuya. "Can I have a word in private?" [23:25] 6Tatsuya: "With her? Sure." 6He's already moving out of the room, unless Shosei calls him back. 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "With you." [23:25] 13Ying's still going back through fragmented memories, trying to pick out anything at all. How does any of this... 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Ying: "Just a moment. Octavian will keep you company." [23:26] 6Tatsuya: "Oh. Uh." 6He freezes, briefly, then... awkwardly hugs Ying, before sending her off with Octavian. "We'll figure this out," 6he whispers. [23:26] 13Ying really hopes so. She stumbles out in silence. [23:27] 6After she's left, Tatsuya hovers awkwardly above a chair. "So." 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Once Octavian and Ying are alone, he says to her: "You must remember! The ruin. The promise. The curse. There are other worlds!" [23:28] 4Saskia just dances on into them, trails of deadly metal whirling and whirling and whirling around her. 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Once Shosei and Tatsuya are alone: "You haven't told her?" [23:28] 4She smiles gently as the grinning metal death machine orbiting around her reaves. [23:28] 13Ying: "I don't know what that means!" 13She's not crying, just yet. She's close, though. 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Octavian: "The little one! You remember the little one! Purple and nervous." [23:30] 6Tatsuya, awkwardly: "I, uh. Didn't know how. I still don't. I'm not... solid on everything myself. I was supposed to do something, a lot more somethings... I hoped you would just, I don't know. Wave a wand and make it all better." 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "She's going to tear herself to pieces wondering where the memories of her childhood are if you don't tell her." 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "But you wouldn't do that, would you. You could never do that." 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei shakes his head, and looks like he's just had another sip of his sour milk. 14[23:33] * Joins: mattbaby [23:33] 13Cautiously: "There... should've been a short one? I guess? I don't know what to do with that information." [23:33] 4The soldiers fall. They deserve it, probably. Saskia tries not to think too much about it. Thinking about what's happened since then hurts. 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Octavian: "This is wrong! This is all wrong. Everything is wrong. You can sense that, can't you?" [23:35] 6Tatsuya: "I don't know what to do with that information! I should've done more, been more, but I--" 6he stops. [23:35] 6Tatsuya 13and Ying: "Oh, Sun." [23:36] 13Ying: "I know that I'm supposed to do more stuff, but I just - it doesn't add up! There was no one there with me! ...but there should have been." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "Do you have any idea what it's like to have a voice over your shoulder everywhere you go, in everything you do, reminding you every waking moment of everything you're not?" 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's what you are to her, right now." 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "It hurts. Make it stop." 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Octavian: "Here's what we do. We go back in there. The three of us should be able to wrestle him to the ground and keep hitting him until he learns. It will be trivial! He has no upper body strength." [23:39] 6Tatsuya: "No. That's - that's not it." 6He seems more sure of himself. "You asked the question yourself. How come she doesn't know where she came from? Her parents?" [23:40] "I thought about this. But I never did it. I died first." [23:40] 13Ying: "I don't think you can beat the truth into somebody..." 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "And you took her past with you. What does she have without that? Where does she start?" 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "Alone. On an empty ship, coming from nowhere. Bound for nowhere." [23:41] 6Tatsuya: "The ship wasn't empty." 6He's sure of this. "I don't know how. It shouldn't have been." 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "Did you tell her any of that? Did you try to help at all?" 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "Or did you just tell her to steer?" [23:42] 6Tatsuya: "...I wanted to know I wasn't insane, too." 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "Well? What did you learn?" 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Octavian: "Would you like to bet?" [23:42] 4When the man from Earth tries to hurt the golden woman, there's a smiling wall of metal in his face. [23:43] 13Ying: "...no, if anyone could do it, you probably could." [23:43] 4Saskia dances through the screaming, crying blades as Ir, Thrice-Traitor, does her work. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12He's sent stumbling right at Azula, in fact, arms akimbo and hammer nowhere near in position to block something. And he's been a stupid brute all hunt... [23:43] 6Tatsuya: "...you were there, I think. And -- others." 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Octavian: "Come. We have only seconds before someone starts crying." 10The Quarter-Prince takes Ying by her shoulders. "Don't let it be you." [23:44] 13She's most of the way there already. "Just -- don't hurt them? Let's talk about this..." 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "You're wrong. It's just her. Just like it's just me." 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> The door opens; Octavian and Ying re-enter. [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12It was kind of tough for Shosei to send Octavian, and Ying to send Tatsuya, away. Like balancing something on your head - don't want to make any sudden motions or everything goes back to where it should be. 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Octavian: "The time has come to dispense with illusions!" 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "I'll miss you." [23:49] 6Tatsuya: "I'm pretty sure that's the exact opposite of what he's talking about." [23:50] 13Ying: "It is! None of this adds up!" [23:50] "GET BACK!" 7She roars at the shikari. "None of you - not ONE of you - have the right to raise a hand to me. I've been chasing this all my life, and I will be the one to run it to ground!" [23:50] 14The weird shifting shield wall that's been protecting Azula manifests a grinning face back at her. [23:50] 4The weird shifting shield wall that's been protecting Azula manifests a grinning face back at her. 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Octavian picks Shosei up by his throat and slams him through the glass case behind the table, dragging him through broken glass. "I GAG ON YOUR INSOLENCE!" 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10More broken glass rises like unruly hairs from Octavian's flesh, one for each shard embedded in Shosei's skin. [23:56] 13Ying 6and Tatsuya: "Stop it!" 13They look at one another briefly, but move into position to rescue Shosei from Octavian's grasp. 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10As Ying and Tatsuya converge on Shosei, Octavian vanishes. Shosei sits up, bleeding, and giggling. "He's not real. Don't you get it?" 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "He's not real. Neither of them are real." 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "We made them up, Ying." Session Time: Fri Apr 27 00:00:00 2018 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He reclines in the shattered display, glass crunching beneath them. Blood stains his robes, his skin, his hair. "NONE OF THIS IS REAL!" [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12When Azula stands fast rather than, for instance, burn Mnemon Toshaza's face off, the hulking monk is given pause. He shakes himself to his feet and takes a step back, even as his water-aspected ally draws himself back out of a claw strike and the mortal troops, half ravaged by Saskia, shakingly pull back. [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12The battlefield's briefly still - or at least the half of it that Azula brought with her is. All throughout, a version of Azula with nothing left to burn hovers ghost-like over the scene, burning blue. [00:03] 7She turns, and looks up, squinting into the flames. For the first time, her voice is shaky. "You. You're not who you appear to be. I'm not as strong as you are. But if I can get my fingers to your throat-- who are you?!" [00:06] 13Ying, shakily: "I don't think you're wrong. Not entirely! This - this isn't right." 13She pauses, weighing whether or not she should say the dumb thing that came unbidden to her brain: "...I should be a cat." 08[00:06] 6Tatsuya: "And I didn't die there. None of this makes any damn sense. Something's been fucking with us," 6he extends a ghostly hand towards the bloodied Eikichi. "C'mon. We have to figure this out, together. All of us." 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "Don't be stupid. It's not a puzzle. There's no moral." [00:07] 13Ying: "Then who am I?" 13She looks abruptly miserable. "Am I the fake?" 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "No." 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "He is." [00:08] 6Tatsuya: "Where'd she come from?" [00:09] "I've got my answer. What's yours?" [00:09] 4Saskia: "If you get your fingers around my throat, I'm dead." [00:10] "That makes me anybody." 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "She was born to whoever you imagine your parents to be. You stole her past to make yourself real. Think about it. The pieces don't fit. Why would you be teaching children in Crystal? That's so much more like her." [00:10] 14She flips away into the soldiers, the metal grinning thing wreathing her, not hurting anyone -- but anyone who tries to touch her, can't. [00:10] 4She flips away into the soldiers, the metal grinning thing wreathing her, not hurting anyone -- but anyone who tries to touch her, can't. 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ying, it's like Octavian. You have to let go of him to have any chance of breaking free." 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "You can just... make him go away." [00:14] 6Tatsuya: "You're seriously telling me that you can't understand why I'd train orphans in martial arts." [00:14] 13Ying: "Why would I be in Crystal...?" 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "Go ahead. Try it. Try to make him go away." [00:15] 13Ying: "Er... please go away?" 13Does Tatsuya obey? [00:16] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom: "Everything's gone wrong, hasn't it?" [00:17] 4Ir, Thrice-Traitor: "Yeah." [00:17] 4The burning mask around Saskia smiles. "Feels like home." [00:18] 4It surges forward: "This wasn't how she was supposed to be. This wasn't how she should have carried it." [00:18] 4Saskia's twirling back there, ready to kill them all. [00:18] 13Tatsuya fades, and Ying remains. "...I still don't know where I came from." 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "Somewhere else." 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "We won't find our answers here." [00:19] 13Ying: "Where are we going?" [00:20] 7Cathak Azula feels the boiling fever of her Essence calm for the first time, but it doesn't feel like peace. It feels like it's all just draining out of her. "I don't know what 'wrong' is anymore." [00:21] 7The burning apparition casts a glance over at the grinning shield, and then back to the despairing Dynast. "Don't you?" [00:21] 4The strange metal thing swirls around both of them, just enough to form a face. "I've always known." [00:22] "That's how they get you." 08[00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Here in Nexus, Ying feels a little calmer, and less likely to overlook details or stumble into traps. She's at liberty to inspect Eikichi's office and laboratory, and even wander a bit around Nexus as a whole - a place she has no memories of, but a number of premonitions. Here's the arena, whre she might once have watched a friend fight... there's a hotel at which she might maybe [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12stay? And here, here in the Nexus district, is where a shop could be... [00:25] 4The face ripples, then grimaces. "Saskia wants to know how you want to end this. She..." [00:26] "She doesn't want to be here anymore." [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12They all seem - threadbare? The people around are indistinct and have little to say. The places Ying specifically remembers as belonging to her future are very, very thinly sketched - a room perenially locked, a storefront closed with a sign that doesn't even have legible writing on it. The places she's meant to be (has been?) feel kind of frayed around the edges, pencilled-in. [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Shosei's much more thorough, spurred by the power of an imaginary demon as he turns over paving stones, rifles through records, and even smashes through walls. Constantly polling Octavian on how things are against how the demon remembers them, the sorcerer reaches a number of conclusions. [00:29] 7Miserably, Cathak Azula replies: "I never have." 7With a pained expression, her glowing doppleganger moves in closer. "What are you?" It asks her. [00:29] 7Miserably, Cathak Azula replies: "I never have." 7With a pained expression, her glowing doppleganger moves in closer. "What are you?" 7It asks her. [00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12First, places associated specifically with the 'real' pasts of him and Ying - and some other people that Octavian and Shosei remember - are unusually fragile or unstable. Everything seems a bit dreamlike and hard to see the details of, but those things are crystal clear - and clearly bullshitted, as though hastily assembled at the last minute. [00:31] "Cathak Azula, daughter of C--" 7With a hiss of irritation that the rippling face finds very familiar, the burning figure asks again. "What are you?" [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Second, the rest of the world is more consistent but less detailed. The crowds of Nexus are just smears of color, for instance. They resolve into people if you look at them hard but don't stay the same if you look away. Most of what's around you is basically moving wallpaper, stable and convincing but basically fluid and pointless to interact with. [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Third, time is passing strangely here. Shosei doesn't remember more than a few hours of his life "clearly", and Ying spent weeks sailing here on the Heavensward, but neither of you have needed to eat or drink and whether it's daytime or nighttime in Nexus seems to be random as the two of you wander around the city. More than that, Shosei feels like he's decades older than the youth [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12who found Octavian's corpse in the frozen north, while Ying dates only around a year past that point. [00:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Fourth, you have some strange ability to manipulate the world around you that squares with none of your memories. There are unseen threads you can pull on to just... push the world towards certain outcomes. You think if you did that correctly you could travel quite quickly to different places or even different times in this fractured world. [00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Fifth, there's something horrible beneath the foreground of the state of being you find yourselves in. Monstrous, spiderlike beings that pop out of the bodies of "people" you meet or from behind walls that turn out to have been hiding freezing starfields when you tear them down. Octavian's had to bodily crush more than a few of them. [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Here's what both Ying and Shosei get - their friends, and their answers, lie northward. If they pull on the threads of causality in here, they believe they can reach them quickly. Well, "quickly". 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "NORTH! Our road leads NORTH." 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "To the ship! We'll ride to freedom between beats." 15[00:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Heavensward flies north by a trail of thread. [00:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Sails of layered, spiraling silk snap taut against stellar winds. A strange, old shabby ship that seems more stage decoration than sailing vessel nevertheless moves against dark skies. 14[00:46] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:46] <@Ferrinus> 12As Azula has a debate with her own anima, the whirling Saskia has an opportunity to look closely at her foes. They seem... strange, slightly off. Cobwebs are visible between the plates of the earth shikari's armor, and partially obscuring the face within his white jade helm. The men who Saskia's already felled are still twitching and writhing on the ground, many curling slowly around [00:46] <@Ferrinus> 12their weapons. [00:46] 4Within the swiling maw of hatred and death, Saskia takes a step outside herself. And why not? [00:47] 4Why not question your own end? She questioned Maryam's enough, and she came back. [00:47] "...Is this real?" [00:47] "IR!" [00:47] 7The twins: "A Chosen of the Dragons--" "What ARE you?" [00:47] "AZULA!" [00:47] "IS THIS REAL?" [00:50] 7It's Excessively Righteous Blossom who answers: "That remains to be seen." [00:51] "THEN LET'S SEE!" [00:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Hemmed in by most of a Wyld Hunt, two Solars spread across four beings exchange a look of understanding. In the sky above, a ship with spider's-web sails crests the churning clouds. [00:59] <@Ferrinus> 12The Squared Circle reckons with pasts that never were and futures that shouldn't be... next week. 14[01:55] * Joins: mattbaby 14[03:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:09] * Joins: mattbaby 14[03:47] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:39] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[07:18] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[09:42] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:20] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:00] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:05] * Joins: Crion| 14[14:50] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:04] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:20] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:02] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:14] * Joins: mattbaby 15[21:19] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Apr 27 21:19:59 2018 Session Start: Fri Apr 27 21:22:57 2018 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[21:22] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[21:22] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[21:22] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[21:22] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[23:33] * Joins: Crion| Session Time: Sat Apr 28 00:00:00 2018 14[01:44] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:47] * Quits: Crion (Connection closed) 14[15:47] * Joins: Crion 14[17:51] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:03] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:03] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[19:11] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:12] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[19:30] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:30] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[19:36] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:37] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[19:42] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:43] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[19:51] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:51] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[20:04] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:04] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[20:08] * Joins: 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14[15:15] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[16:03] * Joins: Crion 14[18:18] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:07] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:51] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Tue May 01 00:00:00 2018 14[06:16] * Joins: Crion_ 14[06:19] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:23] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[09:38] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:51] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[11:48] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:20] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:57] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[16:00] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[16:06] * Disconnected 15[16:06] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[16:06] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[16:06] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[16:06] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[16:06] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[17:31] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:38] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[18:07] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:56] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:01] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:13] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:18] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[20:18] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: ) 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD> The days press on, and the work continues. Keldar's got Highlanders to interrogate and summonses to answer; Stranger has two investigations to conduct and politics to machinate; Xia Lan has a bunch of fun times with pals to organize; Xu Sim has weapons of terrifying power to devise and witches to consort with. 15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD> How do they begin? [20:22] 14With a pot of tea, of course. [20:22] 14And then some politicking. [20:27] 5 Xu Sim begins his day with vigorous stretching and calisthenics, meditating on Selin's latest lesson. Sometimes sweetness works. [20:27] 13Xia Lan spends her mornings with tea and books, never truly focusing on any conversations unless directly called out by name. The stack is quite large - and it's slow going, judging by her pace. [20:30] 5 On his way to the Tomb of Cold Iron, Xu Sim notices Xia Lan's piles of reading material. This can't but pique the sorcerer's interest. "What's all this, then?" 5he asks, going so far as to shuffle the papers and examine their titles himself. [20:31] 14The morning of the Council vote, Stranger spends his time gladhanding. Yes, no one -- not even the Councilors in his own coalition -- affirmatively want Keldar, the Tiger of Nexus, to be the new Dawn Sergeant. They're going along with it because they'll have a literal revolt by the city guard and associated mercenary forces on their hands if they don't; they've been painted into a [20:31] 14corner by an insane fool who has, for the moment, removed himself from the playing surface. [20:32] 13Beyond her firm committment to seeing the Dawn Sergeant in repose, and a scheduled dinner with Tsuka, her schedule is mostly focused around studying. To Xu Sim, Xia Lan does not answer, but the books all seem to be various law texts and histories of Nexus; none of the titles even stand out. Just Volume III this, Unabridged that, one of them just has a plain cover with no information as to its contents. [20:33] 5Law? How repulsive and wasteful. Shameful to waste a young mind on such an exercise. [20:33] 13...that's probably for the best. [20:40] 14Stranger does his absolute best to represent himself as someone with influence over both the Emissary's seat and the Dawn Sergeant's seat, stressing that as Dawn Sergeant, Keldar will not be permitted to have undue influence over the Emissary chair's vote -- not as a vague platitude, of course, but as an insinuation that this increases Stranger's personal influence over how that [20:40] 14chair votes. The trade-off is that Keldar gets to vote his, ah, conscience on any matter he pleases...but can only act in his official capacity as the Dawn Sergeant, not as the Emissary. In private to Keldar, of course, he's strenuous that nothing has changed. [20:40] 14The Councilors almost certainly expect those assurances to Keldar are happening, so it all comes down to how much they trust in Stranger and the power of his words, really. 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan knows Pellicia is laying in state at the Temple of Gentle Winds before her funeral ceremony in three days. And she also knows where her original scheduled first date is supposed to be... but she doesn't know what's in all of these books. Not yet, at least. [20:45] 14Stranger will also be making time in his schedule for every official event involving Pellicia's procession and burial, along with as many private meetings with Pellicia's people as it takes to assure them that this is being taken care of. [20:46] 13Then unless called to anything urgently - such as what Stranger's doing, that sounds important, and soon - the first item on her agenda is to... visit the body. Oh boy. [20:48] 14Frankly, Stranger can handle a forced early morning vote along extremely political and partisan lines -- he is technically empowered to vote in the Emissary's seat in the absence of Xia Lan -- and allowing him to play villain here would keep her clean for normal business. [20:48] 13I love the good cop, bad cop routine! Especially when I get to be the good one! 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia is survived by her husband, a captain in the Dawn Guard, and two children in their early teens. Captain Luot has been politely rejecting Stranger's overtures for a meeting. [20:48] 14At this point, perversely, Stranger is probably managing who gets to vote AGAINST Keldar. [20:49] 5But, as Selin said, sometimes sweetness is best. Xu Sim spends a moment with his medicinals, adding a bit of this and a bit of that to some thrice-thrashed oolong leaves, a dash of cocoa leaves and lime. Then he will check to see if a response to his letter, which he posted by courier last night, has arrived. [20:57] 5 He leaves the finished product - a small, sour-smelling green wad - sitting in a shallow cup atop the books, with a note that simply reads "SHOULD HELP WITH THE BORING ONES" 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan finds a substantial line leading up into the temple, with people dressed in shawls and uniforms and Guildsmen finery. Does she wait or sneak around or reveal herself and cut in line? 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim finds a letter waiting for him, sealed with a symbol like a stylized sun or flower, dominated at its center by a massive, unblinking eye. [21:01] 5Ah. Excellent, as opposed to unnerving. Xu Sim spends a moment examining the seal before cracking it in half to read the contents of the note. [21:03] 13It hardly seems respectful to pull rank. And she's not exactly here to be seen mourning - that's... tacky. She'll walk with the common people until someone forces the issue. [21:04] 14Master Gen, of course, gets to vote against Keldar. That's the cost of doing business and keeping him on the Council. Kratz, on the other hand, is an almost certain vote in favor; the Circle has been good to her, and her position is not specifically constrained by political interests the way that others are. The Emissary seat will go for Keldar, obviously, and Stranger is certain [21:04] 14that both Ephiselle and Thalever are on board because there's no other option for them here thanks to the Prince Regent of Highland -- and frankly, they're retaining more power under this scheme than they would have if they'd wilted in front of Mori Nogare in that fateful summit. 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim's been invited to tea! Around five, at an address right on the crosstown streetcar line to the Grand Canal. The letter's written in a flowing hand and signed with the numeral 7. [21:05] 13As she waits, how is the mood of the crowd? Respectful, hopefully? And what's the Temple like? [21:06] 14That makes it four votes -- a majority of the sitting Councilors, and a victory. However, neither the Midnight Queen nor the August Councilor of the Eclipse -- who Stranger really should have more pull with, to be honest -- want to be seen as the deciding vote for this coalition. That means either Hayle or Udelph has to vote 'yes,' and if both want to vote 'yes' with a clear conscience [21:06] 14that's perfectly fine; Stranger would love to tell either of the two politicians on the other side of this that they can flip to no. Otherwise, however, it's a choice of who gets to build their political resume with a 'no' vote and who has to fall in line. [21:09] 5Delightful. Xu Sim folds the invitation into his white robes - again as spotless as ever (though no doubt containing myriad 'interesting things') -- a Crane stylist who is also a master alchemist is rarely to be seen with stained clothing. He sets off for the clinic he has taken to maintaining, for at least an hour every morning, to serve the people of Nexus and their most vexing [21:09] 5ailments. [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's busy, busy, busy in the wake of the Beast's violation of the Nexus oath. He's been directing the combined Apple/Guard forces through a comprehensive sweep of Firewander, neighboring districts, and the undercity for signs of Highlander holdouts or the location of Nogare himself. He's also been in and out of the Nine Storms Fiend's holding cell, demanding everything the [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12mysterious sorcerer knows of Highland's master. Otherwise, the Dawn Guard has been leaderless - Keldar basically asked whoever Pellicia's second was and told that man or woman to hold things down for the moment. 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> The crowd's more tense than Xia Lan might have guessed. Pellicia was extremely popular, and the circumstances of her murder have agitated antiforeigner sentiment already rife in the Guard, and their dark mood has rippled out into being rougher with the people, which heightens the prospect of unrest and also contributes to the malaise of the crowd. Pellicia's death makes what's happening real to these people in a way the Emissary's death or return or even the plague did not. It's never going to be like it was again, is it? [21:11] 14The other person Stranger has to talk to here, of course, is Keldar himself. 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> The Temple of Gentle Airs is a large and spacious manse of imported white marble, cool and fresh even against the unseasonable heat and humidity of the day. [21:13] 14Ideally, he'd like to have Keldar at the Council meeting where the appointment is made. [21:14] 14Bad pol, good cop. [21:14] 14He'd wait outside during the 'debate,' of course. [21:15] 13...it's going to take more work than she thought. She'll talk to Keldar... and Tsuka. See what they can both do? And then, also, maybe talk to them herself. And then calm the masses, or try to. Gosh she's gonna be busy. [21:17] 13...also, egotistical question. How's the feeling about Xia Lan's role in all of this? 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> People speak highly of Xia Lan, who tried to protect Pellicia before Nogare cast her aside to kill the Dawn Sergeant, according to the gossip she overhears. [21:23] 14Politics takes work. Over morning tea, Stranger makes sure that Master Gen knows that the Emissary's chair accepts his vote against -- but is careful not to be condescending, in a way that suggests that he could only vote as such because the chair allowed it. He solidifies Ephiselle and Thalever's commitments, as tepid as they are, meeting with them both at once to build their [21:23] 14confidence and making sure not to ask for more than a begrudging vote in favor, due to emergency circumstances. He has a pleasant chat with Kratz when she drifts in; it's already clear how she's voting. [21:24] 14Then he meets with the Doctor, Udelph, and the Midday Husband, Hayle. The aim here is pure politics: do either of them need, as a matter of constituent give-and-take, to vote against Keldar? 14[21:24] * Joins: dammitwho [21:25] 13That's going to need correcting. Like, immediately, if not sooner. She will set the record straight with anyone who brings up the story nearby; without revealing herself, if she can, but honestly? The truth about the Dawn Sergeant's sacrifice deserves to be told. [21:25] 14It appears Udelph does not; the commonfolk love the Tiger of Nexus for his words, deeds, and ah, profile, and he wants to vote in FAVOR as a matter of politics. Excellent. What of the Midday Husband, though? 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle, mainly, doesn't want to fight. He doesn't trust Keldar as far as he could throw him but he's not willing to risk the exposure or expend the political capital to fight the appointment now, of all times, when there's half a dozen public health crises descending on the city at once. [21:35] 14Then if Hayle will vote yes, Stranger can go back to Thalever and offer him the opportunity to vote no. [21:37] 14He will also make sure that Hayle knows that he has a constant line to the Commandant of the Seventh Caduceus, and that he is willing to use it if Hayle or Udelph need it. 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan's probably not going to be able to do much to set the record straight unless she outs herself in public to speak authoritatively on the subject. [21:46] 13Then to the first person to contradict her correction: "She died a hero, saving me. Nogare was trying to kill me, and nearly succeeded before she stepped in. She got everyone else to safety, and..." 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> People gather around when they realize who's speaking and what she's speaking about. Does Xia Lan go on? [21:51] 14Thalever can't be seen to oppose Keldar, either. Stranger commiserates as honestly as he can without talking shit about Keldar. He's not lying; it's a problem he's had too. When Thalever passes, he'll go to Ephiselle with the offer. [21:52] 13She gets the full story out, ending with a plea to pray, bow, or whatever they need to show respect to a true hero, doing as best as she can to... minimize her own celebrity. No autographs - seekers are given a dirty look and shamed into leaving - and reminders that this is for the Dawn Sergeant, not a meet and greet. It's a tricky line to walk. [21:52] 14The Midnight Queen wants permission to abstain, which Stranger is more than happy to grant. [22:01] 14She really doesn't like Keldar, which is understandable. It's her dedication to the Council that concerns Stranger more. [22:01] 14But this is not the moment for that. 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan soothes the angry and comforts the bereaved. Her words, her voice, her presence bring peace to the square and honor to Pellicia's memory. [22:03] 14The last stop he makes before meeting Keldar for tea outside the palazzo is to Master Gen, who is hopefully on the premises. [22:03] 13...it still feels tacky to make this at least somewhat about her, in speaking to the crowds as herself, but... they have to know. It's right that they know. And they should know as soon as possible, without letting any lies spread about the Dawn Sergeant. [22:05] 14He will inform Gen of the shape of the vote, and that he is the sole objecting voice. He makes it clear -- without overselling the case -- that this is information, not an attempt to push the vote unanimous. Stranger doesn't even ask for a commitment on where he stands before taking his leave, but the impression is that Gen has his reasons for his vote and will not be changing it. [22:06] 14Is there a nice little place nearby to meet with Keldar before the Council is in session? [22:06] 14It doesn't need to be a teahouse to have good tea, but it helps. 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a lot of places like that in this neighborhood. [22:11] 14Stranger chooses the one that will give him the most private outdoor corner. It's not actually important if anyone overhears; he just wants to know if they do. [22:11] 14He'll order the best house tea and pay for every table he has the staff empty from his Emissary's per diem, which is ludicrous. [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar shows up a little late, in full armor. He leans a huge gold-and-silver daiklave against one of the poles holding up the awning and casually takes a seat. He frowns to himself slightly as the chair wobbles. Gotta look into sturdy furniture if he's gonna keep doing the Dorma thing. 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan makes her way up along the procession, people seeming to respect her desire to be treated as just another citizen. Pellicia's in a glass case, wearing her red-and-gold ceremonial armor, looking at rest and also, frankly, substantially younger than she did before she died. They do good work here. 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> All but one of the Dawn Guardsmen around the display salute Xia Lan as she approaches. The last, an older man wearing a captain's uniform, is kneeling before Pellicia's body and has his back to the door. [22:14] 14Ha. This is good, though. He looks the part. [22:14] 14The first thing Stranger does is inform him that he is going to be the next Dawn Sergeant. [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What?!" [22:14] 14Stranger: "We don't have much of a choice." [22:15] "This is partially your fault, of course. You're so heroic, and such an exemplar of Nexus. The Council would have a revolt on their hands among the rank-and-file if we went anywhere else with this." [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar leans forward, forgetting his tea. "Ridiculous. What about..." 12He looks over to the side, drumming his fingers on the table. Then he takes a sip and spends a few more moments staring off, occasionally moving his mouth silently. "Aw, fuck." [22:15] "Especially given the manner of Pellicia's death." [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "This is temporary, right?" [22:16] "They loved her, and they're mourning her, and they want a leader that can't be killed by some no-account shithead princeling from Highland just because he touched a sunbeam the right way." [22:16] 14Stranger chuckles. "Oh yes." [22:17] "You sound about as enthusiastic as everyone else over this. Nevertheless, I've orchestrated a five to one vote for your confirmation, with the Midnight Queen abstaining and the Minister of Ways voting against." [22:17] "I assured them you wouldn't take that personally." [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's eyes narrow almost reflexively. "What's their problem?" [22:19] 13She nods respectfully to those who saluted, and makes her way to Pellicia's body, near the kneeling captain. She bows, trying to think of any words that could possibly sum up - her gratitude, how deeply she mourns the loss, the revenge she'll take on Nogare, how assured she is that the people of Nexus will be in good hands - and comes up blank. What do you say to the woman who has nothing, from the woman who took everything? [22:19] 14Stranger: "Ephiselle thinks you're a boor, which you are, and Master Gen thinks you're unutterably dangerous, which you are. I could have bullied Ephiselle into voting for you but I didn't, and we're lucky Master Gen is still on the Council at all. We may not like them, but at this moment we need their expertise." [22:21] 14He sips his tea. "And frankly, if we lose too many more Council members before filling the vacancies we have, we lose the claim to rule." [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Dangerous? Does he - fine, fine. No, I can do it. Liased with Pellicia enough that I mostly know what the job looks like already." [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "When's it official?" [22:23] 14Stranger finishes his tea and stands. "Thirty minutes from now. We walk over to the palazzo, we walk inside, you wait outside, I call the meeting and the vote, I demolish anyone who tries to procedurally ambush us, and then we call you into the room for your official swearing-in." [22:24] 13Does Xia Lan know the kneeling captain? She's got a sneaking suspicion of who it is, but... 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> She's never seen him before. He's got thinning air and heavily lined eyes and a tight, thin expression on his face. Xia Lan suspects he was quite handsome, in his day. [22:26] 13How packed is the room? Too crowded to kneel next to him? [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar blinks. "No reason to wait, I guess. Guard knows what it's doing for most of the rest of the day, so I'm ready when you are." 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> She can kneel. She wouldn't be the first, and won't be the last. [22:28] 14Stranger drops some scrip on the table for the custom. "Then let's get this over with." [22:28] 13She will, next to him, in respectful silence. There's still a hundred thousand words churning through her mind, trying to put a phrase to an impossibly huge sacrifice. Nothing is forthcoming. 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> How long does she stay? [22:33] 13At least thirty minutes, maybe more if she's got the time, maybe less if the crowds start murmuring more about her than Pellicia. [22:34] 14The meeting is brisk and entirely according to plan. Stranger, taking Xia Lan's place in the Emissary chair, introduces a motion for a new Dawn Sergeant and cites a few Civilites about expedition of business under emergency for good measure. He closes discussion after three minutes with a motion seconded by Thalever, and then calls for a formal vote. The vote is five in favor of the [22:34] 14appointment of Keldar, Tiger of Nexus, as Dawn Sergeant -- the Emissary, the Doctor, the Midday Husband, the August Councilor, and the Astrologer -- against one, the Minister of Ways, with the Midnight Queen abstaining. [22:35] 14Stranger doesn't visibly celebrate or otherwise show any reaction besides a firm nod, then asks the sergeant-at-arms to show Keldar in. [22:35] 14The swearing-in ceremony is simple and to the point. The Tiger of Nexus now has a chair at the table. Thalever gavels them out, and the session is adjourned. 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> After about twenty, the guard captain will stand up, pause for a minute, and start to walk away. [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar finds himself standing outside the palazzo in what might be record time for Council business this momentous. He's fiddling with the front of his armor, spending a few moments looking for a place to hook a badge before Royal Road's moonsilver ligature obliges. Then he takes a long breath and walks off, heading for the past Dawn Sergeant's memorial. [22:38] 14Stranger will go with him. [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Within an hour, Keldar's standing with feet square and arms crossed, Terminus crossed behind Entreaty on his back, as he stares stonily at the glass-sheathed body. He doesn't speak unless spoken to. [22:42] 13Xia Lan follows shortly after. Here isn't the place to talk - too public, and Sun only knows how many eyes on them. Instead, she'll try and tap him on the shoulders when they're relatively secluded... depending on where he goes, I guess. [22:44] 14Stranger is the only person who walks up next to him, after pressing the crowd to the extent that he's expected to. He'll meeting with Pellicia's husband and family in a more private setting. 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan can follow him out past the public viewing gallery and upstairs. This part of the temple is almost too cold, and full of what look like offices and classrooms. There's an open space at the eastern end of the corridor with big windows that let the sun in, and tables and books - a waiting area. Two children are sunk deep in squashy chairs side by side, asleep: one a thin freckly girl of about 14, and the other a slightly younger boy with a round face and a mess of dark curls. [22:45] 14After a moment, he says: "Don't let her slip wholly from your heart." [22:46] 13Oh dear. This is... maybe too intimate? And, maybe an emotional ambush. Maybe she should make a more formal request to see them. [22:47] "She died a hero. Sometimes, heroes die. Sometimes, heroes don't win. We're not heroes," 14Stranger says. "We almost always win, but it's not about that. It's a thing that's harder to grasp, I think." [22:48] "Pellicia was one of the best people I ever met. From here, I'm going to go talk to her husband and try to act like I understand how her passing has affected him. I'm not sure I do." [22:49] <@Ferrinus> "Wasn't fair," 12Keldar responds. "Which ain't a surprise, really. But it happened exactly where they're supposed to work to keep things fair." [22:51] "It wasn't fair. 'Life's not fair,' say the streetcorner saints. We rage against that, because we can. Pellicia? Pellicia knew that fairness could never supersede justice." 14He settles his shoulders. "There's an intoxication that comes with the power that we have. Pellicia didn't have that power. She was murdered by someone that did. Ephiselle might disdain you and Gen might fear [22:51] you, and both are idiots for it, but we should remember the danger that comes with being the strongest men in the room." [22:51] "Not a sermon. Just a thought." 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Luot turns around before rousing his children. "There's a lot of people out there today." [22:53] 13Xia Lan: "...there are." 13She freezes, having been just about to turn around, and hopes that doesn't show. "She was a hero." [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Or the second strongest, in Nogare's case." [22:55] 14Stranger pauses. "Do you think that's what's most important right now?" 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Luot: "How well did you know her?" [22:59] 13Xia Lan: "Not as well as I wish I had." 13She'd spoken with her on a few occasions, been in her presence for a few more, heard some stories about her... 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Luot: "If she were here, she'd tell you that you're the one with the hard job. You have to keep going without her." [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Most? Probably not. But I wouldn't be wearin' this badge if it wasn't important." [23:02] 14He shakes his head. "Now it is a sermon. You should think about the ways strength is different from justice, and contemplate the implications of the obverse. I think you're a good man, Keldar, Tiger of Nexus. But being strong didn't make you good. And when we kill Mori Nogare, he'll be the strongest man in the room. He'll still die." [23:03] "And the reason he will die is because we will be the just." [23:04] 14Now he steps away. "I am going to go to the family. I will see you back in Floodwater, Dawn Sergeant." [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, that worked out real well for her." 12He's looking at the body. "Nah, we'll win cause he won't be the strongest - or, failing that, 'cause there's more of us." [23:05] 14Stranger laughs as he leaves. "'Because there's more of us.' What precisely did you think justice was, if not that?" [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Something like... people holding to agreements fairly made. There's justice in Nexus cause someone was strong enough to make it." [23:07] 14Stranger: "Your second sentence contradicted your first. Strong people don't make fair agreements. They force them." [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, and we're lucky the Emissary decided to fall behind our Dogmas 'stead of the Immaculate faith or some such." [23:10] 13Xia Lan: "She seemed a wonderful woman." 13That's hollow, not good enough, but it's all she's got. "Is... there anything I can do for you?" 14[23:10] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:10] 14Stranger, with more steel in his voice: "The who?" [23:11] "Xia Lan is the Emissary. Xu Sim is the Emissary. I am the Emissary." [23:11] "You are the Dawn Sergeant." [23:11] "That asshole no longer has legal purchase." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Luot: "Thank you. Everyone's being real nice already. I'm sure you're very busy." [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And it wouldn't be just if we just crowned ourselves princes, even though the numbers'd be on our side." [23:15] 14Stranger: "Have we done that? Do you want to do that? I remember you threatening to kill everyone in the room if we did that, while my woman was in the room." [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm just saying, justice isn't strength or strength of numbers. You have to do it on purpose." [23:19] 14Stranger: "If justice is doing things on purpose, than anything you do is, by definition, justice." [23:19] 13Xia Lan: "...I'm really not. I just, don't know if I should be here. I think I should have sent a message first. Given you time to prepare. But I'm here now, anyway." 13Firmer than before: "Is there anything I can do?" [23:19] "And you're not wrong: that's a definition we had." [23:19] "If I recall, they killed us all over it." [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That's not what I said. Are you going anywhere with any of this?" [23:20] 14Stranger: "Yes. Somewhere else." [23:20] 14He leaves. 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Luot: "I don't know." 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> He's quiet for a moment. "I don't know." 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you want to sit a while? My oldest is a big fan." [23:27] 13Xia Lan: "Sure! Sure." 13This is something she can do! It's an action, even if it's just sitting for a while. [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar gives the fallen Pellicia a few more minutes of repose before turning and heading out himself. He's left the Nine Storms Fiend alone for long enough to let the man contemplate his options and, possibly, compare notes with Xu Sim. Time to decide what to do with him. 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Plenty of squashy chairs and books. [23:27] 13...any legal books? Multitasking. [23:27] 14Stranger will wander for a bit. He'll look for Pellicia's husband and other family, but also just take in the mood here. 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a copy of all thirty-six volumes of the Incunabulum filling a shelf here, but otherwise it's mainly fiction and light reading. [23:29] 13...best to start somewhere, then. [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Here's the thing. The Fiend hasn't actually... done anything wrong. Advising Nogare to resist arrest was, itself, inadvisable, but ain't no law against talking dumb. So what does the Fiend want? Where does he want to go? Is he, in fact, for hire? 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger, in his wandering, finds the mood is somber but peaceful. There's a sense that things were tense not long ago, before he or Keldar arrived, but Xia Lan put everyone at ease. [23:33] 14Good. 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> The Fiend sits in his cell, stringy hair covering his face, peering out at Keldar. "Hire me for what?" [23:34] 14Eventually he meanders back to the viewing area, and instead of going to the body, goes upstairs. [23:35] 14An administrative area. A sectioned-off sequester, with big windows on one side and... [23:36] 14Ah. The children. [23:36] 14Stranger will smile and pass the children by. [23:37] 13Xia Lan is quietly reading a volume of the Incunabulum, waiting for the children to wake up. [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Magic. You know a few spells, don't you? And know enough to learn more? Those are rare skills." 12He pauses. "You've never actually... you basically went from your village to the Highland army to here, yeah?" [23:37] 14He'll walk over to Xia Lan, whose nose is in a book. "Hello." [23:38] 13She starts, flinches up, then relaxes when she realizes who interrupted her. "Stranger. Hello." [23:38] 14He looks over at the sleeping children. "They're hers?" [23:39] 13She nods. 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> The Fiend: "I spent a few years in the woods as a boy." 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Luot's standing at the window, looking out. [23:40] 14Stranger sighs, grimaces, then walks over to the window, next to Luot but not too close. Looking out over the same expanse, as it were. [23:40] 13Please be better at this than she was. [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Heh. Well. Welcome to the free city of Nexus, buddy! Respect the Dogmas and you can basically do what you like from here on out." 12He looks to the door, then back. "Helps to have silver to do it with, though, and we can pay for the right kind of expertise." 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> The Fiend: "I want to find Mori." 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> "He must be terrified." [23:45] "She was a great woman," 14Stranger says by way of greeting. "Greater than me." [23:45] "And they tell me I'm the Emissary of Nexus now." 14He grimaces. 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Luot: "That's not an easy job." [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's briefly silent. "I see. Well, I'm not sure I can help you there. You said you didn't even think he was still in Creation, yeah?" 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Mori: "It didn't feel like it." 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> *The Fiend: [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Got any ideas on how to figure it out or follow him?" [23:48] "I'm told otherwise," 14Stranger says, his voice disdainful. "Apparently you can just do whatever you want, and even after you're gone, some people will still insist on calling you Emissary. Out of reflex, or trauma." [23:49] 13Xia Lan has lost interest in the (unbelievably dry, dense, contradictory and frustrating) text to monitor Stranger's conversation. [23:50] 14Stranger pauses. "Other people have morals." [23:50] "Pellicia did." [23:51] "I didn't know her for very long. I'm sure she thought me a...beggar's functionary. I didn't dress much better than this. I didn't attempt to convince her otherwise." [23:51] "To me, she was the most important person on the Council." 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Luot just listens. 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> The Fiend: "We could go back to Firewander and survey. Maybe Xu Sim knows more about the Keystone than Mori told me." [23:52] "Brueghel could marshall the Guild, yes; Hayle and Thalever could speak for the people, such as they deigned to. Kratz was a dreamer, and her dream was good. But it was still a dream." 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> The Fiend: "Maybe it isn't too late..." [23:53] 14The grimace softens. "Only Pellicia knew the balance between the strength of her office and the duty it implied." [23:53] "The next Dawn Sergeant won't. And that's a shame. I still believe he's a good man." [23:54] "In his defense, he too saw Pellicia for who she was and what she did." [23:54] 13Keldar. He's talking about Keldar. Xia Lan wasn't even privy to the conversations to know who he's talking about. [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's not quite keeping the faintly horrified bemusement off his face here, but it doesn't seem like the Fiend's noticing. "Uh huh. Well, yeah, I can get a hold of the guy if you're dead set. But, like I said - you'll need money now you're on your own, and we in the Guard can use - and know to appreciate - a good sorcerer." [23:56] 14He doesn't quite gesture behind him. "So does the young lady sitting somewhere back there. I think she's more like Pellicia than she prefers to let on. I think putting her on the Council, and not myself, was one of the smartest things I've ever done. ...I think that Pellicia knew what she was doing, when she chose to stand against the Regent Prince of Highland, in her defense." Session Time: Wed May 02 00:00:00 2018 [00:05] "I don't claim to know her as well as you; not only don't I want to, but I can't. But I think I knew her well enough to know that you deserved her for longer." [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's in the process of unlocking the door to the cell that the Fiend's being kept in. "...you know what the Dogmas are, yeah?" [00:05] 14He pauses. "This entire city deserved her for longer. She wasn't just a good woman. She was a good Councilor." 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Luot: "You should speak at the funeral." [00:07] 14Stranger: "'Should?'" 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Luot: "I appreciate the sentiment but I think a eulogy like this should be made to more people." [00:08] 14Stranger looks at Luot, then looks out the window: "You think I'm an asshole. You're not wrong." [00:08] 13Xia Lan relaxes and returns to her reading - Stranger has this -- oh dear, maybe he doesn't. [00:09] "I planned the state funeral. Of course I'm speaking at it." 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Luot: "That's good. I'm looking forward to it." [00:12] 14Stranger blinks and stares at him, then laughs and shakes his head. [00:12] 13...is that what Luot wants? [00:15] 14Stranger: "...You know I wasn't lying, when I said the things I said about Pellicia." 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Luot: "I do." [00:18] 13She settles back, then; the text, while still remaining horrifically dry, is important. She gives it a second go, while Stranger talks with Luot, unless yelling breaks out. 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> The Fiend: "You just- you just do whatever you want here?" [00:19] 14Stranger looks out the window again. "You should also know that the Office of the Judiciary needs a Chief Bailiff now, and the pay and benefits are very competitive. In case you decide you want to move on from the Guard." 14He glances over and smiles. "If you can suss out when I'm being a shithead, I'll trust you with anyone." 14Stranger looks back out the window. "Not a bribe, [00:19] not an inducement, not nothing. Keldar, Tiger of Nexus, is your new Dawn Sergeant; as the Emissary, I do expect you to serve him as his position entails." [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So long as it doesn't break the Dogmas, yeah." 12There's a click and then a creak as the cell door slides open. "You read Riverspeak?" 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Luot: "I appreciate the offer. But I like the work I'm doing now, and I think the new Dawn Sergeant will do a fine job." [00:21] 14Stranger: "Then that's that." 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> The Fiend: "More or less." [00:22] 14He steps back from the window. "You're a good man, Luot. Certainly better than either of us." [00:22] "Don't let it go to your head." [00:22] 14Stranger will withdraw. 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Luot: "I'm glad you came by. Pellicia thought very highly of you." [00:23] 14He pauses. "She did. And when she needed me, I wasn't there." [00:23] "I've been thinking about that a lot." [00:23] 13Xia Lan shrinks. [00:23] "I'm going to keep thinking about it for a long time." 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Luot: "Surviving is the hard part, is what Pellicia liked to say." [00:25] 14Stranger: "With all due respect, I think she was wrong on that. Not dying isn't worth shit." [00:25] "It's living that's hard." 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Luot just nods at the window, hands behind his back. [00:25] 14Stranger withdraws. [00:27] 14In the other room, he'll motion to Xia Lan to meet him out in the hallway before they talk. [00:28] 13Xia Lan, to Luot quietly: "I'll be right back." 13She finds a bookmark - Volume II is even drier than Volume I - and follows him out. [00:28] 14Don't want to wake the kids. [00:29] 14Stranger, out in the hallway: "I shouldn't have been surprised, but that man is a mountain." [00:29] 13Xia Lan: "No sh- yeah." [00:29] 14He chuckles. "How are you?" [00:31] "I'm fine. It's, you know." 13She gestures vaguely towards the room. "Plus the people below. They thought I'd gotten hurt trying to save her. Just, insulting." [00:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Great. Dogmas are gonna be carved on the stele right outside this office, and you'll want to mind signs showing local Civilities, too. Don't violate any of 'em." 12He turns to write something down, then clap a notebook closed and slide it into a cabinet. "Well, stay out of trouble, buddy." 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> The Fiend: "...that's it?" [00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah. Like I said, you haven't actually done anything wrong. Can't keep you in here, don't particularly want to." 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> The Fiend: "What about the others?" [00:33] 14Stranger: "It's not insulting. It's tragic. It means they thought the world of her, and assumed anyone would jump in the way of that weapon. And it made sense to them that you had that virtue in you, because you do." [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Haven't been talking to them personally - that's next on my list. But my guess is most of 'em are in your boat." [00:34] "Nogare hates women, and he especially hates strong women, and he utterly hates women with real power. It's just a quirk of happenstance that you weren't leaping to protect her." [00:35] 14He inclines his chin back the way they came. "I don't think he likes me very much, though." [00:35] "Perhaps that makes him smart." [00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Guess you can meet up with 'em over the next day or so as they get processed." [00:36] 13Xia Lan: "It's just - they assume she needed defending? And..." 13Ah, an escape. "You're pressuring him. He's - still not sure how to deal with all this." 15[00:36] <@VoxPVoxD> The Fiend: "You've got to keep them away from me." 15[00:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "They're going to blame me for this. They're going to come for me." [00:37] "What do you do when your wife sacrifices herself to save another? It was probably even right to do it. So where does that leave you? Surviving?" [00:37] 14Stranger: "You're right, and you're entirely fair. It's incredibly offensive for me to come to him here, now, at the wake, and ask about the future." [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You can't just blast 'em with lightning or scare 'em off with demons?" [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar pauses. "Not that you should, speaking as the Dawn Sergeant, but I'm just curious." [00:37] "And I wouldn't have done it, except: we no longer have time to grieve." [00:38] "None of us." [00:38] 13Xia Lan: "If this is about to turn into a lesson, I'm not in the mood. This is hitting close to home." [00:38] 14Stranger's eyes narrow. [00:38] "...Fair enough." [00:38] "I'm sorry." 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> The Fiend: "I shouldn't have to! If Nexus is a city for free men, that has to mean freedom from being hunted by angry mobs." [00:38] "...I've got some business to take care of. Excuse me." [00:39] 14He turns back after two steps. "It is good to see you up again, however. Maybe more than you know. Maybe as much as you know." [00:39] 13Tired: "Don't be. I'll be fine after today." 13She waves him off. "Just... let me talk to him, about the funeral?" [00:39] "Of course." [00:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, good news. Wanton violence is against the Dogmas. Anyone tries to run you through in the street, the Guard'll stop 'em." 15[00:40] <@VoxPVoxD> The Fiend: "Will they stop them or will they show up in time to mop up my blood?" [00:40] "...I'll be around. Tomorrow, if you need me. Just give me today to get myself back in order." [00:41] 14Stranger nods as he walks away. [00:42] 13She walks back into the room with Luot and the kids, slumping back into the chair with the books to pretend to read. 15[00:42] <@VoxPVoxD> The daughter is still asleep in the chair, but the boy woke up at some point. Xia Lan missed it because he's just staring at the floor, silently. He's not even breathing any harder. [00:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...I mean, that depends on a variety of factors. Might want to avoid dark alleys... get a haircut and a new outfit... but no, if there's serious concern I can arrange for a small guard detail. We'll keep an eye on the Highland troops regardless, just to make sure they behave themselves." [00:45] 13Shit. Did Luon tell her the kids names? Where is he? [00:45] 13Luot* 15[00:45] <@VoxPVoxD> He walked over to check on them as Xia Lan was walking Stranger out, and has since returned to the window. [00:46] 13What about the names thing [00:46] 13Oh no please don't make her interact with unidentified children 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Did she ask? 15[00:48] <@VoxPVoxD> If she did, she knows their names are Tulla and Aveline. [00:49] 14Stranger spends the rest of the day wandering the streets of the city, alone. He tells himself this is an inspection; that this is his new job; that this is the work. He wonders if perhaps he's become too attached to all of that. Pellicia is dead. Xia Lan was beaten within an inch of her life, and brought back by everyone's skills except his. And the criminal was dispatched without [00:49] 14his apparent ranting and raving mattering even the slightest bit. [00:49] 13She would have! Just before diving into the legal texts. Tulla is the boy? [00:49] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven wonders if, perhaps, he shouldn't be lecturing people anymore. 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Tulla is the boy. [00:49] <@Ferrinus> 12If Keldar has his way - and he does by default, now - the soldiers of the Highland diaspora receive the same kind of talking-to as the Fiend does. They're freemen of Nexus now and the city has no cause to try or imprison them - but they should really consider enlisting, because what else are they going to do? And, indeed, stealthier elements of the Guard are assigned to keep an eye [00:49] <@Ferrinus> 12on the more clever or cantankerous soldiers just to make sure they don't end up massing and rioting or something. [00:50] <@Ferrinus> 12The Nine Storms Fiend, who likely would've been spied on anyway, can have a guardsman or two follow him about, at least for the next few days. [00:50] 13Xia Lan: "Hello, Tulla," 13she offers. Nothing forceful, just... there, if he wants. [00:52] 14And when the sun is gone, and he's sitting alone on some terrace drinking his own tea from his own kettle and his own cup, he realizes how much he misses the woman he sent away, because it was good tactics. 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Tulla drags his sagging face up ilm by ilm to level his eyes with Xia Lan's. "14Hi," 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> , he whispers. [00:55] 13Xia Lan: "How are you?" 13Warmly. In the way of asking someone whose mother just died. 15[00:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Tulla doesn't say anything else. He just looks back down at the floor. 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: The daughter; the slaughter 14[02:58] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[08:33] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[09:52] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:23] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[10:34] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:15] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[18:15] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[18:15] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[19:54] * Joins: Crion 14[20:00] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:28] * Joins: Crion [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12WRYYYYYYYYYYYYyyyyyyyYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12YYYYYYYYYYYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12YYYYYYYYYYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12YYYYYYYYYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12YYYYYYYYYYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12YYYYYYYYYYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12YYYYYYYYYYYYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12YYYYYYYYYYYYYYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12YYYYYYYYYYYYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12YYYYYYYYYYYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYYYYYYYYYYyyyyyYYYYYYYYY [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12YYYYYYYYYYYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYYY [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12YYYYYYYYYYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYY [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12YYYYYYYYYYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYYYYYY [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12YYYYYYYYYYYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12YyyyyyyyyyyYYYYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYYYYYYY [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12YYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYYYYY [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12YYYYYYYYYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYYYYYY [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYyyyyyYYYYYyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYYYYYYYY [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYYYYYYYY [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12You're all... somewhere. Things seem to dangle on a thread. Connections, whether spatial or temporal or causal, seem looser than they should be. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> Drawn forward by a strand of intuition, the cobwebbed shadow of the Heavensward pulls itself forward through space but backwards through time. The frozen mists of the northern sky part before it, revealing a battlefield lit in golds and silvers, reds and blues. There's a Wyld Hunt afoot! [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Drawn forward by a strand of intuition, the cobwebbed shadow of the Heavensward pulls itself forward through space but backwards through time. The frozen mists of the northern sky part before it, revealing a battlefield lit in golds and silvers, reds and blues. There's a Wyld Hunt afoot! [20:51] 4This is not how things are supposed to be. [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12On the ground, proud dynast Cathak Azula faces down the vile anathema Saskia Twice-Sainted. But the fight's going weirdly - Azula's anima recognizes something in Saskia's ghost-weapon, and both Exalts are becoming powerfully aware that they're standing on uncertain ground. [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12For the moment, Azula's demanded that her fellow hunters stand back and let her deal with this, and they've assented. Is she up to taking down one of the golden anathema on her own? It sort of feels like she is, for so long as her anima continues to burn. But does she want to? [20:53] 4For one, the Hunters aren't supposed to have the same powers that Saskia has. And yet here's this woman. [20:57] 7Cathak Azula is having just the worst time, but that's nothing new. Possibly her fellow shikari are concerned by the fact that she appears to be going completely bonkers. 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei nudges Ying, craning so far over the balcony to point that he's at risk of falling over. "Whoa! Look at that!" [21:03] 13Ying: "I've never been so close to one of these!" 13There's a hint of fear in her voice, but oddly, she's not as afraid as she ought to be. 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "It looks so pretty from this far away." [21:07] 13Ying: "Should we get closer?" 13She tries to lean over for a better view, narrowly grabbed from falling by Tatsuya. [21:07] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom: "What you are is the thing that moves and does not deviate from its course. But you - we - we've been pulled off the straight and narrow path." 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "We've got to! It's where the thread leads, see? This is where we're meant to go." [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12As Ying and Shosei draw down on the scene, they discover a strange standstill. Arrows and fireballs should logically be flying, but for the moment people draw back and stare - sometimes at each other, sometimes at the sky. Recollections twinge in everyone on the ground who looks down, or vice versa, certainly from ghost to ghost if not from human to human. [21:08] 7Cathak Azula bites her lip so fiercely that the blood starts to run down her chin, then grins, eyes red. Finally, finally someone is talking sense! "AN OBJECT IN MOTION CANNOT BE STOPPED!" 15[21:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wow... she sounds scary. [21:09] 4Saskia has stopped murdering soldiers for the moment but is still dancing, the silvery death of her weapon carving furrows in the air around her, shimmering strangely. [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12About half the mortal hirelings in the Wyld hunt still live, and the farthest forward looks up to the nearest shikari. "Masters...?" 12That monk, strange as he looks if you examine him closely, turns his own gaze forward to the strange confrontation. "Lady Azula...?" 12Ying and Shosei have the opportunity to come down, if need be, whether by ladder or sorcery. 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei will ride the whirlwind down, shouting "We're here!" 10in hopes that their arrival will make sense to someone on the ground. [21:13] 13Ying hops on after him, landing on all fours before straightening up. "Both of us!" 13she adds, helpfully. [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12The shikari start and rotate their combat stances. "What? Who-" 14[21:15] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) [21:16] 4Saskia and Ir, as one: "Oh." [21:16] 4The dancer is remains cautious, but hasn't tried to kill anyone else yet. [21:16] -4is [21:19] 13Ying waves nervously to the shikari and tries to figure out whether they know what's going on any better than she does. 14[21:20] * Joins: cbass [21:22] 4Saskia stares up at the ship, but doesn't stop moving, twirling about with her head on a swivel. [21:22] 4She's never seen anything like that. 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei waves his arms at Saskia and Azula. "Listen to me! You have to stop fighting! Most of this isn't real!" [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Earth Shikari: "What? Who is this- lady Azula! We must strike!" [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Water Shikari: "The demon above you must have been summoned by the dancer's trickery! Ignore it!" [21:24] 13Okay, the shikari clearly don't know what's up. But these two main ones might -- oh, Shosei picked it up too! "What? No! What kind of dumb trick would that be?" [21:24] 4Saskia's eyes narrow. She's conjured up some phantoms before, yes, but nothing this size. Or this talkative. 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "If you can convince yourselves the others don't matter, then the true culprits will reveal themselves! Brush off vanity and show reality!" [21:27] 4Saskia glares over at the Hunter. This is on her. [21:30] 13Ying tries her hardest to look serious and not at all intimidated by the big army that is both not real at all and also real enough to maybe kill her. Pretty please let this Lady Azula listen to reason... [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12The words of each monk fall not on deaf ears but on a made up mind. Two faiths clash in Azula's mind... but one seems to be a finely-tooled synthesis that wholly encompasses the other, and, you know what, it doesn't seem that striking's that necessary. [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12No, that kid - that old man? It's hard to see past the swords and spears - might have the right of it. These monks are here to slay anathema. If the anathema don't play along... [21:46] 4Saskia doesn't like any of this. Things were going so well, just her and Ir against the world...weren't they? [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12The monks are rounding on Azula now, seemingly convinced that they had the right of it to start - that the golden disk atop their leader's iconic representation marked her as damned or brainwashed. A hammer's hefted and claws are outstretched, but it's in a slow and jerky way, one that seems to be in time with Saskia and Azula's own breaths or shifts of weight. [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12If neither of the two women move to strike, or defend, or otherwise play along, they're able to watch as their pursuers still and curl up, rapidly covering over with glittering snow and merging partway into the environment. They're left alone with each other - and with the old man and young woman now standing a few yalms away, below an aged, floating ship. [21:50] 13Ying: "Well... that was weird." [21:50] "Are you both okay?" 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "You see? Now we're soon to get to the bottom of this..." [21:54] 4The weird metal cloud doesn't slow down around Saskia. "Who are you people." 15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "My name is Shosei! What about you?" [21:55] "Hi! Sunlit-Dreaming Ying, here!" 13She waves. "Are you okay, though? Other than these really weird events, I mean." [21:58] 4She stares at them a moment longer, then raises her hand -- and the metal swirls into her palm, forming a smooth silver orb. She still looks wary. "I am Saskia, Twice Sainted. And if this is some game you're running with the Hunt woman to catch me off guard--" [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12The frozen Wyld hunt around you twitches slightly as Saskia's hackles raise. 08[21:58] 7Cathak Azula wipes her nose, breathing heavily. The girl is right, but the man is WRONG-- "Your name is" 7Excessively Righteous Blossom: "Eikichi." [21:59] 13Ying: "Please don't do that! Also, wow, accused from being a trick from both sides, nice, that's gotta be some kinda award somewhere." 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "What? How did-" 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Azula: "You've got one too!" [22:04] 4Ir, Thrice-Traitor, is silent. [22:05] 4Are they here to take Saskia from her? [22:05] 7Cathak Azula: "Everything's gone wrong. The Hunt isn't even real." 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Saskia: "The three of us are haunted by ghosts that know secrets and make us uncomfortable. There's got to be some connection!" [22:07] 13Ying: "Mine's pretty sure he's not supposed to be dead, and also that none of this stuff was supposed to turn out like this. And there's all these weird threads between stuff..." [22:08] 4Saskia: "I'm not haunted by anyone. Ir's my friend." [22:08] 7Azula looks scornful. "They're not ghosts. Ghosts are dead things, creatures of darkness. Mine doesn't make me uncomfortable." [22:09] 13Ying: "Lucky..." 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei gives Azula's ghost a dubious look. 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "I dunno..." [22:09] 6Tatsuya briefly makes himself visible, shrugs, and disappears again. Classic Tatsuya. [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12The snow slowly melts away beneath Azula, revealing spiraling patterns of cracks on the stone she stands on. Above, the wind blows a shroud of grey stormclouds against a pitch-black, starless sky. It's not immediately clear how to leave here, except aboard the ship - no civilization is visible in any direction, just miles of snow and cliff. 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Are there any more threads that point elsewhere? [22:15] 13Ying: "So... y'all wanna go on an adventure? Seems better than hanging around here with a weird fake Wyld Hunt." [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12No obvious ones, but Shosei and Ying have each got hunches based on how they got here. [22:16] 4Saskia is still dubious, but this is a better option than sticking around to fight the soldiers. [22:17] 7Cathak Azula is now very interested in the crack patterns. Are there any secrets to be had by examining them? [22:17] "The boat flies!" 13she adds. You know, just in case you weren't convinced before. [22:19] 4Even more suspicious. [22:20] 13It's a nice boat! [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12They, of course, resemble a spider's web - jagged fissures radiating in all directions, another one spiraling through them. If Azula follows the biggest ones, he blazing anima still melting the snow clear as she walks, she'll find herself approaching the frozen Wyld Hunt, which is kind of twitching in place (and was before she approached it). [22:24] 7Tsk. That's useless. 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "We can get anywhere as long as we're pulling from our own pasts. We need to take the ship somewhere. It can be anywhere any of us remembers." [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Shosei spies strange correspondences normally unavailable to the mortal mind. Ying's investigations are a little more parochial, but in some ways more useful, because she realizes that this "Wyld Hunt" is becoming increasingly animated and bulging in places that don't correspond to human limbs. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12You might want to get out of here soon - or stick around and see what happens? [22:26] 13Ying: "...heeeeeeey we should probably leave? Because that fake Wyld Hunt is a real something else and I kind of don't want to find out what?" [22:27] 13She's already edging towards the ship, but if the rest want to make a very bad decision, she couldn't let them do it without her. Because that's what friends do! 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Let's get out of here. I think there's another Pylon southeast of here, in the middle of the mountains." [22:29] 7Cathak Azula: "I don't know what that is, but if you think you've found the right path I will follow you." [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12The silk ladder up to the Heavensward dabbles invitingly. Who takes the helm - and what are they thinking of, or thinking back to, as they sail? 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "R-really?" 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "I mean, yes! Let's go!" [22:30] 4Saskia will join with some reluctance, but she won't take the helm. She's not a sailor. 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei seems able enough to navigate. Though as he lets the half-remembered phrase tug the ship away, his mind isn't on its destination at all. He's wondering if they'd be able to fly this ship to the Imperial City. [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Cold winds blow past the Heavensward. Behind it, the frozen bodies of an ad hoc Wyld Hunt dissolve into mist and webbing. Ahead of it, a sun rises... which is strange, as you seem to be sailing westward. 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Huh? [22:35] 13...that's not how directions work. [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Pulses of geomantic power ripple through five colors far beneath the ship's hull. Warm cerulean splashes orthogonally against sparkling emerald, flows further south as a shining teal before turning sharply and heightening in intensity to an actinic white. Above all that, a landscape fades into view - fields, mountains, roads, towns... [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Everything flows to and from Creation's center, and that seems to include the four - the eight - of you. You find yourselves coasting to a stop just above the water that splashes against the docks of the arguable center of Creation. [22:38] 13Ying: "...seeeeeems kinda narcissistic?" 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "I don't understand..." [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Look down for long enough and you'll see a thrumming river of diamond-white power. Pull your gaze back up to street level and it's, well... streets, buildings, pagodas as far as the eye can see. In the distance, the towering Imperial Manse. 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "This is the wrong- we must've got turned around somehow. But no! Direction doesn't actually mean anything here..." [22:41] 13Ying: "But then why ARE we here?" [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12As in Nexus, the place is something of a sketch - you can't make out faces in the huge crowds that wash through the streets. The crowds aren't as huge as Azula knows they can be, of course - it seems to be night-time, and only some of the windows before you glow orange with inner firelight. [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12There's some response to your arrival - what might be officials hurrying up to request documents, for instance. Does anyone disembark or otherwise engage? [22:45] 4 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "This is the harbor..." [22:45] 4Saskia will stand near the rail, curious. She's never seen Nexus before. It probably isn't supposed to look like this. [22:45] "Stupid." 7She appears to be regarding the hastily-sketched-with-starlight officials. "Let's just fly right to the Imperial Manse." 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei points at a gap in the line. "I should be right there, but I'm not, because I was in Nexus with Octavian." 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "Which means..." 10He points up at the house with lit windows. "There might be clues in there. Maybe we should leave though," 10he adds hastily. [22:48] 13Ying: "No, if there's clues here we should stick around." [22:49] "We don't know what we could find!" 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "...yeah." [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12The Manse is right there, though wherever Shosei was pointing is considerably closer. 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "I guess it's on the way to the Manse." [22:52] 7Azula: "Fine. Great. Whatever." [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Near stop, then? The Heavensward drifts forward, faint cords snapping at the touch of its prow as it moves through the city. Properly speaking, there's no way anyone gets away with this - the unauthorized entry of any sort of magical vehicle to the Imperial City would be met with legions of furious Dragon-Blooded operating essence-powered defense emplacements. But, well, you're not [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12paying attention to that sort of thing at the moment. [22:54] 13Ying: "It is! We can figure out why all this is happening!" 13She doesn't appear to pick up on the presumed sarcasm. [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Gently... gentlyyyy... nice, Shosei succeeds at parking the Heavensward adjacent to, rather than actually inside, his own old room. It's an only slightly awkward climb to clamber off the deck and through the window. 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei starts hastily turning the room over, dislodging clothes and books and hairbrushes, looking for clues. [22:59] 7Cathak Azula: "You have a lot of hairbrushes." 7Excessively Righteous Blossom: "He does." [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12There's someone hiding in here - a girl of ten or eleven with dark hair. She's tucked herself behind some shirts hanging in a closet. If none of you make any sign you've spotted her, she doesn't move a muscle. [22:59] 6Tatsuya: "He really does." [23:00] 13Does the girl seem... uh. Is "real" a good term? Or is she like that Wyld Hunt? [23:00] 4Saskia is inclined to flush the kid out, though the others could stop her with a glance. 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "Not helping!" 10He pushes through a stack of what look like paintings of fashion models to open a desk drawer that a dozen marbles slide out of onto a pile of scarves. 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "There's got to be something in here. Some kind of clue." [23:03] 6Tatsuya: "Hey, I died tragically, cut down in my prime. I get to talk about hairbrushes if I want to." 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's taken seemingly no notice of the closeted girl. [23:04] 13...Ying trusts his judgement, for some reason. She'll try and shoot Saskia a "look," though it looks less intimidating and more... worried. [23:07] 4Then Saskia will just shake her head and go looking for...clues. [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Brushes, woodcuts, old toys... it's all what you'd expect. There are twinges of connection or disjunction as you look through one thing or another, but only one of you puts it together. 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Aha!" 10Shosei comes up with a gossamer thread, connecting him to Azula's and Ying's uncomfortable ghosts. "Okay, so we follow the thread from me to you two... where do we go to find something or someone that's closer to you two than it is to the rest of us?" [23:09] 13Ying looks back, questioning. 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To the ghosts: "Did you two have any friends in common, or..." 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A massive, tusked shadow coalesces behind Shosei to bellow "THE LITTLE ONE. THE SMALL PURPLE CHILD. THE GRAPE WITCH--" 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10There's the sound of a door opening down the hall. Shosei: "Weeeee've got to go now." [23:12] 6Tatsuya: "Okay yeah tell you back on the ship." 13Ying hops back up onto the ship a moment later. [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12The Heavensward's still drifting right out there. Through a feat of incredible will, Misuzu has not screamed. 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei seems an old hand at climbing out the window. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Who takes the wheel, and where and when do they want to sail? [23:19] 13Ying's at the wheel, 6but she's not grasping it. 13Unless someone's more sure than the spooky ghost that lives in Ying's brain! Please don't let him drive. 6Everything is fine! [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12You soar northward, suicidally ignoring Azula's direct commands. The moon and sun are streaks of ice and fire in the air as the world redraws itself around the helmsman's memories. [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Beneath the Heavensward, a city shakes with riot, burns along the bits that aren't made of slowly-melting glacier. Dead stalk the streets and wolf-headed nobles hole up in the highest houses, under siege. [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12The Heavensward's going somewhere specific, though - it drifts towards a high tower, frozen except for a tiny entrance at its base. The structure glows from within, shining violet and... hmm. [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12You're all here, on the ship. So who's supposed to be fighting Yara in there? [23:23] 6Antidibs! [23:24] 6...shit. [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Unfortunately, this thing's sheathed in ice. You'll have to land and climb up. 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then that's just what we'll have to watch Tatsuya do. [23:28] 13...just how far away can he get, again? [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Maybe ten fulms? And that's if you stay verrry still and don't try to do anything difficult. [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Don't worry, though; he can protect you. [23:29] 13Ying: "Can... we get some backup here? Pretty please?" 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "...whoever this is sounds really scary. But okay! I'm not afraid of anything!" [23:30] 6Tatsuya: "Don't need backup. We've got this." 13Ying: "Do we???" [23:32] 13...how are the handholds or whatever. Is there climbing gear on the ship? This is probably the stupid dumb idiot ghost's fault. [23:35] 13...oh. Tiny entrance at the base. Reading is fundamental, kids. [23:35] 13Ying: "So... who's with me?" [23:35] "Us." [23:36] 4Saskia: "...I suppose I am." [23:36] 4Ir nods. [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Yep. Ying may not remember this personally, but Blossom and Tatsuya both do. This was Yara's tower - the base of operations from which she planned her triple assassination attempt against you. [23:37] 7Cathak Azula: "I won't abandon anyone." 7That probably means she's coming. [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12It took a considerable amount of force and firepower to melt a hole through the bottom big enough for anyone but Yara to shimmy through, but that seems to have already happened here - you just need to stoop a bit to get through, and shield your face from the hanging cobwebs. The inside does not look as anyone remembers, though. [23:39] 7Well, how does it look? [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12It's strands of webbing rather than wood lashed with rope which make the series of platforms that serve as successive floors of the tower, and the books and maps and cabinets that once lined the walls are covered over completely - not just with cobwebs, but with a strange black patina that puts you a little in mind of tarnish and a little of lichen or mold. There's a hole in the [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12center of the bottom floor leading down into starlit darkness, and rising up from it are strands of, like, oil or something, waving like gigantic cilia in some unseen wind as they stretch upwards. [23:40] 13Grooooooooossssssssssss [23:40] 7Cathak Azula: "Repulsive!" [23:41] 6Tatsuya: "Hahahaha. This sucks, man." [23:41] 13Ying: "do we have fire" [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12And there's a constant procession, rising up out of the hole and spiraling up around the walls of the tower, of gigantic spiders. They're made of corroded metal linked by ligaments of the selfsame oil or protoplasm or something, and their eyes burn with orange firelight. There's fighting audible, far above - these must be reinforcements. [23:41] 13Ying: "do we have fire" 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "What is that black goo?" [23:42] 4Saskia: "Whoa." [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Many, perhaps half, turn as the four of you walk into the room. They hiss and bare chelicerae! You've got about a second to back off. [23:44] 6We're fighting our way up. 13We're not happy about it! But... yeah pretty much. 14[23:53] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Thu May 03 00:00:00 2018 14[00:01] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:13] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:20] * Joins: mattbaby 14[01:23] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[01:23] * Joins: cbass_ 14[01:30] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 14[01:34] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[01:46] * Joins: dammitwho 14[02:14] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:37] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[05:27] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[08:44] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:50] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[09:51] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:10] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:46] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 14[11:46] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:47] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:13] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[16:15] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:17] * Joins: Crion 14[16:21] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:22] * Joins: Crion_ 14[16:23] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:15] * Joins: dammitwho 14[17:37] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:09] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:18] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:44] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 15[19:30] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:30] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:30] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:30] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:30] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:32] <@VoxPVoxD> It feels like they made this date a lifetime ago. Now, with everything that's happened and everything yet to come, something like dinner out with Tsuka feels so frivolous and so precious. An oasis in a singed land. 15[19:32] <@VoxPVoxD> What's on Xia Lan's mind as she gets ready? [19:38] 13Nothing from the rest of today, that's to be sure. She can't let herself focus on her failures ALL the time. In fact, all that's on her mind now is... what should she wear? It's their first date that they're actually calling a date, they've gone out before, and frankly she could make a potato sack look amazing, but it's nice to have something to fret over that isn't world-crushingly consequential. [19:38] 13Okay that's not true she's also thinking about what Tsuka's going to wear and hoping she won't miss high. 15[19:42] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a gentle scratching at Xia Lan's door. [19:43] 13She cracks the door, half-dressed, to peer at the mysterious scratcher. 15[19:45] <@VoxPVoxD> It's the cat! Mhaka. "Boy at the door for you. Shall I stall?" [19:47] 13Xia Lan: "Tell him just a moment, I'll be right out." 13...is that what Mhaka just, does? Huh. She shuts the door and puts the finishing touches on the outfit. 15[19:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan can hear the sound of a door opening on the other side of the -- hideout is such a weird word, isn't it? She's a sitting Councilor now! But calling it a 'hideout' at least makes it easier to explain why she shares it with so many unsavory old men. (Though depending on what he's been bathing in, Xu Sim is often highly savory). [19:52] 14"The residence" is what Stranger has been calling it to forestall the obvious questions that come with "hideout." [19:53] 5 It's a fine way to smell, according to the worst-smelling, best-smelling member of the Circle, the Twice-Refined Princess. [19:54] 13Perhaps it's time we upgrade this to a hideaway. In any case, she hurriedly buckles an utterly pointless belt - fashion, what a crock - and steps out to meet Tsuka... hopefully it's Tsuka, it'd be pretty awkward if it wasn't. If it is him, he's seen her in this outfit before - the leather dress, low cut but stylish in the extreme, a cloak or cape about the shoulders, et cetera. https://i.imgur.com/O5HExMU.png 15[19:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka - for it is he! - stands immediately when Xia Lan enters the room. He's getting better at the turnaround - Xia Lan barely noticed how startled he was before his face settled into a pleased oh-this-happens-all-the-time sort of expression. "Hey. You look great." 15[19:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka is wearing, again, his One Nice Outfit - a simple but well-made tailored suit of red and black with gold trim. [20:03] 13...she'll have to work with him on that one. Maybe that can be a future - anyway! She's delighted to see him anyway. "You, too! You're getting better at the not getting startled thing, too." 13She smiles warmly, making it very clear she's joking. Where's the cat? 15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD> The cat's sharpening its claws on the leg of the chair Tsuka was just sitting in. 15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I don't want to make it too easy for you." [20:06] 13Xia Lan: "I've still got that other outfit, you know." 15[20:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "If you need more time to change--" [20:09] 13She laughs, quick and sharp. "I'm ready, I'm ready. Try not to be disappointed." 15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Have you ever been to this seafood place before?" 15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD> At this point he's making conversation on the way there, unless Xia Lan wants to hold up a second. [20:15] 13Xia Lan: "Few times. First time I pretty much stumbled in by accident, but I kept coming back." 13She's keeping pace with him as they walk, despite some rather unwieldy heels. "Plus the staff pretended they didn't recognize me, which was nice." [20:16] 13It's unclear whether she's joking, being conceited, or being honest about that last part. 14[20:20] * Joins: tom 15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD> As they walk, people turn heads and stare. "Not much chance of that tonight," mutters Tsuka. 15[20:25] <@VoxPVoxD> How does Xia Lan react to, eg, pleas for autographs and people crying "WE LOVE YOU!!"? [20:26] 13At first, polite denials and refusals, with quick pitches for upcoming shows; if this continues, less polite denials and pitches for shows; past that... how's Tsuka looking through this? 15[20:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka looks increasingly irritated at the intrusion but also increasingly stubbornly committed to not making a scene. 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Still, Xia Lan is able to spin these would-be botherers back on their axes, leaving them dazed and grateful to have been in the presence of the voice of Nexus. Tsuka now looks impressed as well as grumpy. [20:38] 13That's... Sun bless him for trying. She's holding it together better than he is, but not by much, and increasingly pointed references to being "on the way to a lovely dinner" start making their way into the responses to the fanbase. And! Success. Sort of. "Sorry about that," 13she says. "...next time I'll... I don't know. Wear a disguise until we get there, maybe." 15[20:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "We could beat them up," Tsuka offers. [20:39] 13Xia Lan: "Regrettably, not really an option." 13She sighs. "If only." 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> The sun's coming down over the Yanaze, a gorgeous view you can see from every table at Mari, the restaurant the pair of them now arrive at. From inside there's the sound of gentle music, conversation, and laughter. The host does a double take at the couple when he sees them walk in. "Good evening madam, sir. We were- we were sorry to miss you the other night, but of course, it's no trouble. No trouble at all. Table for two?" [20:47] 13Xia Lan: "Yes, thank you." 13Ah, yes... probably should have... well, he says it's no trouble! 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "Right this way." The host leads them past tables where conversations halt and heads crane to follow. A tide of murmurs flows in to fill the silence as Xia Lan and Tsuka come out to an open air balcony, a small table directly overlooking the river and the sunset. There are candles, unlit, and menus on the table. "Someone will be by in just a moment." [20:54] 13Xia Lan pulls out a chair for Tsuka, then places her cloak on the back of her own before settling in. "Ahhhh." 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka sits. "This place is beautiful." [20:57] "It is, isn't it?" 13She's watching the sunset - never been here for this. Not at this table. 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka, who can't read the narration: "Have you been here before?" [21:01] 13Xia Lan: "Not at sunset. It's gorgeous." [21:03] "Pity about the candles... would really complete the mood." 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka reaches out and grabs the wick of each candle between thumb and forefinger, rubbing it gently for a moment until it ignites. "How's that?" [21:05] 13Xia Lan practically swoons. "...you're amazing." 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> At this, the last candle goes up like a flare. Tsuka, in a panic, clasps his fist over the entire top of the candle and only tries again once it's been reduced to smoke. 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "...thanks." [21:07] 13how is he so cute 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> A server arrives, her eyes following the tiny fireball up into the air where it dissipates before greeting the table. "Good evening, Madam Emissary. Sir. My name is Miska. Can I take drink orders? Maybe a small plate to share?" [21:09] 13She hides her smile with a serious look up towards Miska. "Sorry, I haven't looked at the wine list -- Tsuka?" 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka looks up from his menu which he has only just now opened. "Can we have a minute, please?" 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Miska: "Sure!" [21:13] 13Xia Lan looks through the wine list. Anything... southern? Fruity, rich, etc? 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> After she's gone, Tsuka mutters: "I... don't remember what kind of wine goes with fish. We did a whole week on this--" [21:18] 13Xia Lan: "Does that matter? Drink what you'd like." 13She pauses. "...lighter wine with lighter food, if it's important to you. But seriously, don't worry about it." [21:19] "I don't know why I even remember that." 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> The wines - and of course they're not limited to the wines - are first-rate. Plenty of bombastic Southern wines on offer, including a syrah she's pretty sure she's personally stolen and fenced cases of back in the day. 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "We'll get a better deal if we share bottles. What are you going to order?" [21:23] 13...hard not to go for the classic. Memories. But still... "We can afford anything. Except maybe whatever fancy gold-dusted things they have for jerks. But if you're set..." 13she points out that fenced syrah. 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "That sounds good," says Tsuka, with the blithe confidence who has no idea what to expect. 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> *of someone who [21:26] 13Xia Lan: "I'm serious. Order what you like." 13This boy. This disaster. "Frankly I don't even remember if I liked this. Couldn't inflict this on an unsuspecting soul." 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I don't really drink wine... I don't know what's good." [21:34] 13Xia Lan: "...well, anywhere's a good place to start. Pick something that looks interesting, we can figure out which one you like more." 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka scans the menu one more time. "Okay. Do you know what you want?" [21:39] 13What's the spiciest thing on the menu? She already picked that. 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> That would, funnily enough, be the syrah. [21:40] 13Oh, sorry, I thought he was talking about the food. But yes, she's already picked that too. [21:42] 13Xia Lan: "Yep. They'll probably by a second after we put the menus down." [21:42] 13She sets hers down, as if to test this. 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> The spiciest food on the menu is probably the hot pot, though Xia Lan hasn't tried everything. 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka and Xia Lan put their menus down. A second later Miska returns. Tsuka orders xinomavro and oysters in butter and garlic. [21:47] 13Syrah and hot pot for Xia Lan. Important to grab at least one thing she knows she'll like. 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Miska comes back almost immediately with the wines before disappearing again. 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "What made you pick this place?" [21:50] 13Xia Lan takes a sip before she answers: "Great food, on the river, and they're... fairly discrete, about me being here. It's nice." 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Yeah, nobody's bothered us at all." [21:55] 13Xia Lan: "Don't jinx it," 13she sighs. "But yeah. I'm still sorry about the journey here." 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "You handled it a lot better than I would have." [21:57] 13Shrug. "I've gotten used to it. It's new to you, it makes sense." 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Yeah... oh, that reminds me. Have you finished planning your next concert yet?" [22:00] 13Xia Lan: "...still working on the opener. I kinda want to play twice?" 14[22:00] * Joins: Crion 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Twice?" [22:05] 13Xia Lan: "I'm main eventing, obviously. But what if I opened too? ...not as me, people'd get mad." 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka just looks confused, but it's hard to ask for clarification with a wineglass in your face. [22:07] 13Xia Lan: "I'll show you..." 13Not later, don't kill the mood. "Another day. Whole list of songs that I just can't play, what with the fanbase I've built and all. Expectations." 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "What kind of songs?" [22:11] 13Xia Lan: "Simpler. Guitar and voice. Heck, maybe just guitar. And... hey, actually you already heard one of 'em. I got bodyswapped? Which stunk, you know, but it was nice to have an outlet. [22:11] " 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka nods, as if understanding. [22:13] 13She hums a few bars of the song she's referencing. "The Master's Call" [22:14] 13...it sounds wrong, coming from her considerably higher pitched voice, and also you know. The image she's set for herself. 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "You could sing that in your voice. You think people wouldn't like it from you?" [22:15] 13Xia Lan: "...I don't know that I want them to know it's from me." 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> The food arrives, Xia Lan's in a large earthenware bowl and Tsuka's laid out on a long white platter. [22:15] "Wow, that's a wreck of a sentence." [22:15] 13She thanks the waiter - waitress? before digging in. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka eats in silence. [22:20] 13Partway through her meal: "So how is it? And the wine, too?" 13Technically, this is rude. Technically can go fuck itself. 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka chews and swallows carefully. "It's really good. The wine is very... interesting." [22:24] 13Xia Lan: "Not a fan, huh." 13About the wine, not the food. 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "No it's good! It's just weird." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "It doesn't really taste like grapes." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "Here, try it." [22:29] 13Xia Lan will take a sip, and then offer him a sip of hers. What's his taste like? 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Sort of tomatoey, almost. There's very little fruit to it. Tsuka's eyebrows go up when he tries Xia Lan's wine. "Wow." [22:30] 13Not her style, but nice to try. "Closer to what you expected?" 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "No, but that's really good." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'll have to get that next time." 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> As if on cue, Miska returns and Tsuka hastily finishes the entire rest of his wineglass and asks her to bring around a bottle of the syrah. [22:33] 13Xia Lan: "It was wasted on the buyer," 13she grumbles, when out of earshot. 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "What do you mean?" 14[22:34] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) [22:35] 13...it really is great, though. "You want a bite?" 13She holds out a fork - set of chopsticks? Whatever's standard for the hotpot - to Tsuka. [22:35] 13Xia Lan: "...ancient history." 13Not in public, is the mouthed followup. 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka takes a bite, and then takes another sip of the wine. "Oh, wow. That's really spicy." 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mine's not anything like that." He still offers her a bite, though. 14[22:38] * Joins: cbass [22:38] 13She'll take one happily. Sweet? Spicy? What's up with Tsuka's order? 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> It's fresh oysters roasted in garlic and butter. Very rich. [22:41] 13Delicious, but... she sips her wine. "Really isn't. Sorry about not warning you, by the way..." 13Not that he's freaking out or even perturbed, but that was really impolite. [22:41] 13Xia Lan: "Still delicious. I love this place." 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "If you keep coming here they're going to name a dish after you." [22:43] 13She groans. "Don't tempt them, please." 14[22:43] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Maybe you can get them to call it 'the Emissary'. Then it could be anyone." [22:49] 13Xia Lan: "People would want to know. They always do," 13she says, darkly. She switches gears abruptly: "How've your days been? Everything's been so crazy with me that I just..." 13she trails off. 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Fine. Keldar has me helping with the training. Since he got promoted I'm supposed to start working with the Dawn Guard directly too. Working with civilian conscripts is weird. A lot of them already know how to fight, or think they do, but don't know how to work together or cover for people or support their unit." [22:56] 13Xia Lan: "Do you want an assistant?" 13She does NOT waggle her eyebrows. "My day-to-day is pretty light..." 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Really? I'd have thought with being on the Council you had a tonze to do." [22:57] 13Xia Lan: "Stranger's been taking most of those. We sort of switch in and out..." 13Maybe she SHOULD be more involved... [22:58] "...I feel like I don't know enough to, you know, be effective. I do what I can but... there should be more?" 14[22:58] * Quits: cbass (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:59] * Joins: cbass [23:00] 13She's doing it again. She's turning a question around to be about herself. "...where'd the civilians learn to fight, anyway?" 13she tries. 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Some of them used to be bandits or bouncers and they retired to the docks. Some of them learned to fight in bars or, you know. Wherever. Some people just have a knack for it." 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> He opens his mouth, closes it again, and returns to his wine. [23:06] 13Xia Lan: "Makes sense. Are they disciplined? Keeping up with the regimen, working for the defense?" 13This is both a deflection and also a legitimate concern - she needs to know this for her position as Emissary, but also she's genuinely interested in Tsuka's work. [23:07] 13She takes a sip, too, ignoring Tsuka's display. 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Sometimes they're disciplined. They listen to Keldar. They really like him." [23:07] 13She makes a face. "Do they." [23:08] 13Another bite. Still delicious, still extremely spicy. Perfection. 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "He's good with the soldiers." 15[23:09] * Disconnected 15[23:09] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[23:09] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[23:09] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[23:09] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[23:09] * Quits: @VoxPVoxD (NickServ (GHOST command used by GreatClownVoxPVoxD)) 14[23:09] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD is now known as VoxPVoxD [23:11] 13Xia Lan: "I believe it." 13She still doesn't sound thrilled, but is less cold than before. "And you?" 15[23:13] Tsuka: "I like him. He's a good commander. Doesn't play politics, doesn't bullshit people, doesn't play games with pay or leave. You know where you stand with him, and that's the most important thing for a soldier." [23:16] 13Xia Lan, casually: "Doesn't break out the yell often, then." 13She waves that away to take another sip of wine. "How are the trainees treating you? Not too self-absorbed?" 15[23:22] Tsuka: "Not with my squads. But I don't work with the mercenaries. Mercenaries are like that. Jumped-up bandits." [23:23] 13Xia Lan: "...okay, for real. Bring me in next time. I'll take them." 15[23:24] Tsuka: "If my promotion goes through I'll probably have my first squad of mercenaries in a couple of days. I'll ask Captain Luot if it's okay. I bet he'll be fine with it." [23:27] 13Xia Lan: "If they're jumped-up mercenaries, they'll learn what's up." 13Something terrifying glimmers in her eyes as she digs in to her meal, threateningly. 15[23:29] Tsuka: "Not a fan of bandits?" [23:30] 13Xia Lan: "Experience." 13She doesn't elaborate. 15[23:36] Tsuka: "I'm really looking forward to this all of a sudden." [23:36] 13Xia Lan: "Hm?" 13Another bite - not much left, now. 15[23:37] Tsuka: "Whatever you've got planned for the mercenaries." 15[23:37] Tsuka finishes his meal. "Maybe we could sell tickets." [23:39] 13Xia Lan: "...I don't know if that's what I want to sell." 13She's clearly thinking about it. [23:41] 13She finishes her meal with a final swig of wine. Spicy counters spicy, somehow. 15[23:41] Miska comes around with the bill. Wow that's a lot. [23:42] 13Can the Centered Circle afford it? ...they can also bill it to the city, but that seems EXTREMELY rude. 15[23:44] Definitely. Fringe benefit of living in a condemned hole in the ground: no rent. Leaves a lot for discretionary spending. [23:47] 13Then Xia Lan doesn't even flinch as she signs away whatever she needs to pay this off. "...what a beautiful night." 13She looks between the candles Tsuka lit and the by-now set sun. Moon's probably up, actually. 15[23:48] It is, high and waning in the sky. New moon won't be more than a few nights off by the look of it. Tsuka: "Yeah. Let's stick to the canal, take the long way back." [23:52] 13She kisses his neck before whispering in his ear: "Let's not take too long." 15[23:52] Hey what do you know it turns out it's not that long a walk after all. [23:55] 13~FIN~ Session Time: Fri May 04 00:00:01 2018 14[00:52] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:54] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[07:07] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:57] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:02] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:28] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:38] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:10] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[12:13] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri May 04 12:13:47 2018 Session Start: Fri May 04 13:38:53 2018 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[13:38] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[13:38] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[13:38] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[13:38] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[16:13] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:17] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[17:20] * Joins: cbass 14[17:23] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:07] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:39] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[18:42] * Joins: Crion 14[18:45] * Joins: Crion_ 14[18:48] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[19:27] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:27] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:27] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:27] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:27] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Lately, the unsavory old men Xia Lan shares a hideout with are almost never around, both of them consumed by their ever-unfolding plans and ambitions. Stranger-Visits-Heaven has a mystery to solve and a Council to run. Xu Sim has a war machine to fashion, esoteric objects and martial techniques to master, and an appointment for tea. How do the two of them organize their time? What will they set their sights on next? [19:32] 14Stranger will set his sights on tea in the morning, as is proper and just. [19:32] 14After that, we'll see where the day takes us. [19:34] 14He'll put on a pot of Forest Blackleaf after waking and before bathing, and he's good enough at the timing now that it's perfectly ready by the time he steps out from his room fully dressed. [19:34] 14Is Xu Sim up yet? 15[19:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger has cause to drop in on any member of the Council, particularly the August Thalevar and Midnight Queen Ephiselle. Besides getting a deeper sense of what makes them tick, he's also got one last empty seat at the table to fill. He's expecting an update from Bubo somewhere around midday, and Stranger's also promised his friend that he'd see to the Astrologer Kratz. [19:36] 14So Xu Sim's on something of a clock, here. [19:38] 14He'd like to meet Thalever and Ephiselle together, not merely to give them the impression of a social advantage but to see how they play together. But his priority is to drop in on Kratz mid-morning, and then take Bubo's...page...around mid-day. He'll send a runner from the Judiciary to ask Thalever and Ephiselle about their availability this afternoon. [19:46] 14After having a cup, getting breakfast for himself and returning, and then having another cup, Stranger will leave the rest of the pot on low warmth over coals and head off towards Kratz's residence. [19:46] 14He will bring the Lotus Blossom Kettle with him, of course. 15[19:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger can easily secure meetings with either Ephiselle or Thalevar, but it's surprisingly difficult to get them together at the same time outside of formal Council meetings. They profess scheduling conflicts: the Midnight Queen works late, while Thalevar is well known to be working a barstool come sundown. [19:49] 14That's incredibly annoying. Can he tell the degree to which they're doing this to counter him, or is this actually a long running thing? 15[19:50] <@VoxPVoxD> He gets the sense that he's collateral damage in a pre-existing chilly professional relationship. [19:51] 14That should make him happy, since they're his political foes and he should be glad at any means by which to divide and conquer. But on the other hand: is this Council really THIS dysfunctional?!" [19:51] -14" 15[19:52] <@VoxPVoxD> They seem to get along perfectly fine at Council tiself, at least... the traditional seating of the Council of Entities has them next to each other day in, day out. 15[19:52] <@VoxPVoxD> *itself [19:52] 14If so, then fine. That means he can meet with Thalever first at his bar, and then Ephiselle later. He does at least appreciate both of them keeping their proper thematic hours. 15[19:54] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DZnuyFpE7M [19:54] 14To Kratz's first. He did place her on a quasi-suicide watch awhile back -- hopefully that was mostly handled by encouraging Bubo to engage, but none of her servants reported her refusing multiple meals in a row or any other self-harm, did they? 15[19:55] <@VoxPVoxD> She's taken to drink, but she does that anyway. 15[19:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Something of a reputation. [19:55] 14Can't blame her, honestly. [19:56] 14Does he need to do more than announce himself at the door to her tower? 15[19:58] <@VoxPVoxD> No, Stranger's got no problem getting up to see her. The shades of her apartment are drawn and from the stale, smoky smell in the air he suspects the windows haven't been opened recently. Kratz waves him in, perched like a gargoyle on the edge of her bed, still in her nightclothes, laying cards out on a table by candlelight. There's a half-empty bottle of wine corked and propped up on a swaddle of blankets beside her. [19:58] 14Stranger: "Telling fortunes?" 15[19:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Just thinking." 15[19:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "Wine?" [19:59] 14Stranger pauses for an almost invisible moment. Then: "Of course." [20:00] 14He examines the cards. Is this what he thought it was -- tarot, or some other predictive form of the art? 14[20:00] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[20:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz pours Stranger out a glass of her xinomavro, which he'll know is an oddly savory red grown principally in the rolling, temperate greens out beyond the Yanaze's flood plain. She is indeed reading tarot. [20:02] 14Stranger takes a deep sip of his wine. Mmm. "Can I ask a boon of you?" 15[20:03] <@VoxPVoxD> At this, Kratz looks up. Stranger can see by her eyes that she's slept poorly of late. Her attention is Stranger's answer. [20:03] 14He gestures at the cards. "Tell mine." 15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Do you feel lucky?" [20:05] 14Stranger: "No. But my request remains." 15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD> She scoops and shuffles. 15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Silently she lays cards out face up on the table, opposed pairs winding in a circle until there are 12 stations filled. Many of them - a full seven, by Stranger's count, feature people wielding, beset by, or maimed by swords. Then there's one of a man and a woman holding chalices up in a toast, one of a queen in finery on a golden throne, jeweled crown perched on her skull. One of five roses wound together around a muscled arm, their thorns piercing the flesh. One of a five-poled map of Creation. And one of a simple sigil, violet against black. 15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Mmm." 15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Then she drains her glass. [20:13] 14Stranger: "Are swords a theme in your deck, or is it me?" [20:13] 14He'll snatch the bottle before she can, and pour himself another glass. 15[20:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Swords are one suit of four. More than half of them are laid out here, including at all the cardinal positions. A life ruled by pain." She taps out cards as she speaks. "Pain dealt, pain witnessed, pain experienced, pain ignored." [20:15] 14He'll down half the glass. [20:15] "So it's me." 15[20:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "War is coming. This cardinality guides a lot of people. Bubo had a layout almost identical to this." [20:18] 14He closes his eyes, opens them, and nods. 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "Beyond that there's no special weight to the upper or lower half of the cycle. You'll try as much as you're tried." [20:18] 14Stranger: "Fair is fair." 15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Five of roses here says that something you hate will flourish and bring you great satisfaction." [20:19] 14He blinks, and then laughs. [20:19] "Well. Good to know." [20:20] "Sorry. I'm sorry. I just -- I couldn't tell you what that might be." [20:20] "I hate so many things, and so many of them will flourish." [20:20] 14He grimaces. "But then, that is a bit the point of this exercise, I suppose. My apologies. Please continue." 15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz nods, as if this sort of reaction and running commentary is normal. "The World between two aggressive cardinal swords suggests a rebirth tempered by violence. Ruin into growth." [20:23] 14He sips the wine again. She is good at her job, no matter what Master Gen thinks. 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "Two of chalices opposite suggests that you won't meet calamity alone." 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "She'll be back." [20:25] 14He purses his lips and his brow furrow. It looks for a moment like this isn't good news for him. Then he nods. [20:25] *14furrows 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "The Empress, here, in a subordinate position. Someone you admire will be humbled in their moment of triumph." [20:27] 14He pauses. Then: "I suppose the question of whether I admire myself is a personal one." 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> She touches the nearest sword, in which nine blades pierce an armored man from all sides on a starlit hill. "Very humbled." 15[20:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "And in the last intercardinal is the mark of Saturn, cardinals facing away. Death. Pure death. Change, irreversible, unfettered by fear or desire." [20:29] 14Stranger nods. "So it always goes with us." 15[20:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz sits back. "I've seen worse." 14[20:30] * Joins: mattbaby [20:30] 14Stranger: "How long has it been since you've eaten?" 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Lunch yesterday." 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "Why?" [20:31] 14Stranger: "Hand me the cards, then, and go send your head of household for scones. You're next. You'll tell me how to deal." 15[20:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz looks at Stranger for a moment, but she rings a bell on her nightstand to send for scones, and then scoops and shuffles when the chamberlain has departed. 15[20:32] <@VoxPVoxD> She'll lay the deck down in front of Stranger. [20:33] 14Stranger takes the deck, cuts it, shuffles it, deals it into five piles, reassembles it, cuts it and shuffles again. [20:34] 14He'll also pour himself more wine while she's distracted. [20:35] 14When she's settled: "Tell me what to do first." 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "I read 12 Houses. Pairs at the clock positions, start at 12 and 6 and work down to 5 and 11. Pull them off the deck two at a time before you reveal them. This is an advanced technique, because if the cards stick you have to start over." [20:38] 14Stranger: "Well then. Here we go." [20:40] 14He places the first dozen cards as directed. 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Eleven Great Houses - that's stations occupied by a high arcanum, a face card. Absence of swords, canes, and stars means a future unencumbered by struggle, suffering, and wisdom." 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "This is the future of someone who stays in one place because they're pulled in a hundred exactly opposed directions." [20:47] 14Stranger won't comment until the reading is through unless prompted. He will, however, continue to sip the wine. 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "First house is the Aeon, a passing and a homecoming. These gray figures are the dead, risen. To change irreversibly and become what you already are." 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "Second, subordinate, the Cenobite. A setting-apart." 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "Distance." 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "But not alone." 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "Subordinate to that is the Hermit. The Cenobite is isolated but not solitary. One of a few but not alone. To subordinate the Hermit is to set apart within this set-apartness. A first or last of an elect." 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "Second cardinal, the Madman. Pulled east, to the new, by the force that sets all in motion. This first cardinality feeding into the Madman... an unmoved mover sets the story in motion, but it's not their story." 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "Subordinate to the Madman is the Sun. Optimism, power, vigor, and joy. A heroic tale, one judged happy at its ending." 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "Subordinate to the Sun is the Demon King. A power temporal and seductive. Salvation in worldly things, judged wicked and incomplete." 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "...third cardinal, drawing from the lower chakras, the Lovers. Knowledge, kinship, a joining of hearts. This says I'm in love." [21:03] 14Stranger just sips the wine again. 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "Subordinate to the Lovers is Justice, the scales of gold and bronze. A decision taken seriously. Devoted, consistent, and fair." 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "Subordinate to Justice is the one of Chalices. A love broken, mourned, or forgotten." 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "A fair decision, but not a kind one." [21:06] 14Stranger reminds himself that prophecy isn't present perfect. 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz pauses a moment before continuing. The scones have arrived. [21:08] 14Stranger will politely divert himself from the wine with one. 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz picks a corner off of hers and eats it before finishing the reading. 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "The last Cardinal is the Wheel of Ways. Mercury's mark. An upset of status. What was low will be made high, and what was high will be brought low." 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Subordinate to the Wheel is the Thunderbolt. The change will be sudden, fierce, illuminating." [21:16] 14Well, that's not the worst thing in Creation. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "Subordinate to the Thunderbolt is the Gallows-Maid. Serene self-sacrifice. The fall will be sudden but voluntary." [21:17] 14So it goes. 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "This is a remarkably straightforward spread. The lack of lower suits means that many of the rules of intercardinality and linked opposites don't apply. A single unbroken cycle from the first House to the Last. This tells one story." [21:18] 14Stranger: "Do you think it tells your story? Our story?" 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "This is my fortune. It's the same one I see when I read myself." [21:22] 14Stranger: "I think I know some of the players. It might be hubris to guess at them, but it points to a larger picture. There was no cardinality for the Council itself. There was no cardinality for the wine." 14He finishes his glass. [21:23] "Bubo asked me to stop in. He cares very deeply about you." [21:23] "I don't need to tell you that out loud, but sometimes it feels good to hear it." 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "I saw that too. Where is he?" 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "He wouldn't tell me." [21:24] 14Stranger: "West. He's looking into the cabbage-vendor. I'm keeping him out of town as much as possible, given...well. You know." 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Nessun Dorma came by to see me yesterday. If he'd arrived an hour earlier he'd have caught Bubo in the flesh." [21:27] 14Stranger: "You know Bubo. You know you should see that not as an unfortunate close shave, but him staying with you until the last possible moment." 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "It always looks so much kinder in retrospect than it seems at the time." [21:30] 5 It is later in the day that Xu Sim returns to the sanctum, brushing the detritus of an afternoon's magic from his sleeves, with the help of the joyous, slavering Princess-beast. [21:32] 14Stranger: "No it doesn't. Often the past looks meaner. When one's actions age well, it says good things." 14He finishes his wine. "The Ambassador sends her regards. She, too, will be gone from Nexus for the foreseeable future." 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz taps the table. "That depends on how far you can see." [21:32] 5 Xu Sim spent an hour at his clinic in the morning, which came after breakfast, which came after morning stretches and meditation on the lessons of Selin the Once-Crane. [21:34] 14Stranger smiles, the skin around his milky eyes crinkling: "You shouldn't put too much stock in sight, even if you have it when others think you do not." [21:35] 14Stranger: "I need to ask something of you, and it might not be easy or fair. But I need you to do it." [21:35] "And I will help you do it to the best of my ability." 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "What is it?" [21:36] 5 After the clinic, he had re-calibrated the great magic of the Tomb of Red-Hot Iron, carefully balancing the quintessence amid strange dripping brass from nowhere in the depths of the manse. [21:39] "I know you don't like the Council. So do the other Councilors; so, I assume, does every tapped-in courtier in the city." 14He takes the wine bottle and drains the rest of it. "But I need you to either dry yourself out or start coming to work wet. Whatever you need to do to fulfill the duty to which you've been assigned. This isn't about right or wrong, and it isn't about what you're [21:39] owed -- every single one of us has earned a vacation. If you need support, I can get you support. There won't be judgment here. But you need to start taking this seriously, and not just because others are using it as an excuse to quit their own offices. You need to take it seriously because it's not healthy to be in here all day, drinking wine from sunrise and not eating." [21:41] "If you don't do it for me, do it for Bubo. He needs you in your full capacity. He loves you too much to tell you this needs to stop. I don't." 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Have I missed something, or is Gen just bitching again?" [21:49] 14Stranger: "He was going to quit the Council over your lack of interest in your role. I talked him out of it, not because I like the man but because I need people I know. And I can only handle people like Master Gen if I know people like you are taking the work seriously." [21:50] 5 After an afternoon of the peculiar soul-sweat of sorcery, Xu Sim has his device: A brass orb, not much larger than an apple, itself covered with small dimples, riddled with inky-black holes that occasionally glimmer with faint light, and bearing a few protruding crystals no larger than your eyeteeth. [21:51] "The question isn't whether you're doing the bare minimum to get by. The question is whether you're doing what needs to be done to protect this city. And everyone -- everyone -- can tell the difference between the two." 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "I still have half a mind to put in my resignation. Dawn Sergeant Keldar. Of all the things." [21:53] 14Stranger corks the wine bottle and puts it aside. "I don't think you do. You know he needs to countermanded and you know you're one of the best-suited to do so, because you can hide behind me." 14He makes sure to meet his gaze with his own, empty as it is. "But more importantly, I think you understand that this has been made larger than you, and you have a duty to fulfill, at [21:53] least until the cards play themselves out." [21:53] "If you want to resign from the Council after the city is safe, you should feel free to do so." [21:54] "Frankly, we might too." [21:54] *needs to be [21:55] "...And I can attest to the fact that Keldar cared deeply about Pellicia, in his own way." [21:55] 14He shrugs. "He's just a boor and an idiot." 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> It works! Xu Sim's a genius! With your hands on these crystals here and here the tomb's furnaces will burn. But here and here and they'll go cold... it's almost flawless, except for the fact that the orb itself takes on the temperature of the Tomb, so if you want to leave it running for a while you're going to need something very stable and heatproof to keep it in. And probably keep a set of heavy gloves nearby. [21:57] 14Stranger: "And she didn't die trying to save him." [21:58] 5 Xu Sim will need to buy a cradle or something for it. Maybe they can use it to keep a fire going or something. 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz raises a hand. "Don't." [21:59] 14He just nods. 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'll do what you say. I'll be where you need me. But I don't want to hear anymore about what Keldar is thinking or what Pellicia thought." [22:00] 14Stranger: "What Keldar is thinking is your business now. But I will not bring it up outside the Council chamber or your official offices, and only when it matters to the work." 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Thank you." 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> She lowers her eyes. "Thank you." [22:02] "...There won't be an official meeting for another day or two, I think. I would use it to get reacquainted with your staff and your office. The Judiciary would be ecstatic to have the Astrologer weighing in as an expert witness, but that's not something I can ask of you if you're not interested in doing it." [22:02] 14Stranger: "You hold one of my pages." 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "I do." [22:03] "So does Bubo." [22:03] "The thing about these pages is that if one page-holder calls to me, I can connect them with another page-holder." [22:03] "Then I can just put down the book, leave my hand upon it, and let the conversation fade away." 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "...prove it." [22:05] 14Stranger produces the Codex, places his hand on it, and reaches out to Bubo. 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo's voice is muffled; he's talking with his mouth full. "Ahoy hoy?" [22:08] 14Stranger, out loud: "Kratz wishes to speak with you." [22:08] "Can you speak?" 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a pause and then Bubo speaks clearly. "Is everything alright?" [22:09] 14Stranger smiles slightly: "It is. We've been having scones and tarot." [22:09] "She just wants to know I'm not a scandalous liar." 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Scones and tea?" Bubo asks hopefully. [22:10] 14Stranger: "I'm working on it." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "...understood. So how does this work?" [22:11] 14Stranger: "You hang on the line as so, and then I..." 14Stranger flips open the Codex. "...do this." 14He traces his finger on the table of contents from Bubo's page down to Kratz's page, then points at her -- she'll feel a tingling right at the base of her skull. 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "Hello?" 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Hello?" [22:16] 14Stranger: "Hello!" 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz's face lights up. "Bubo, darling." [22:17] 14He closes the book. "Before you two continue, I am going to remove myself to the waiting room." [22:17] "Then I'm going to push this to the back of my mind, then past that, and I'll just be hearing a gentle buzz while you two converse." [22:18] 14To Kratz: "You can find me there when you're finished." 14Then he'll mouth: No more wine. [22:19] 5 Xu Sim, pleased with the bauble, then moves into a different chamber of the manse, where he has begun inscribing diagrams on the floor to plan the installation of the Iron Thistledown Pylon. Intricate chalk inscriptions in a rainbow of colors are splayed across the pristine marble floors and on the walls as high as Xu Sim can reach. Some are calculations, others indicate where [22:19] 5equipment and ingredients will be staged. [22:20] 14He finds a loveseat in a windowy nook where the sun is shining, and dozes off with the Codex gripped firmly in his hands until he's awakened. [22:20] 14Wine for breakfast is a hell of a thing. 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger then busies himself at the Judiciary until the evening shift comes on, at which point it's time to cross town to Iron Market, to a pub a scant three blocks from that famous Nexus landmark, the Tomb of Red-Hot Iron. One lane of shops and bars separates the docks from the foundry district, and laborers of all kinds mingle here. Stranger has to push through the noise and the smoke to find Thalevar belly up to the bar, looking down thoughtfully as a big, rough-looking old man speaks in his ear. [22:33] 12Before he leaves Kratz's residence, he makes sure to impress upon her that this can be done all the time, from any distance, just by touching the page and calling him. The only constraint is her and Bubo's availability. [22:33] 14Before he leaves Kratz's residence, he makes sure to impress upon her that this can be done all the time, from any distance, just by touching the page and calling him. The only constraint is her and Bubo's availability. [22:34] 14Stranger, at the bar: "A whiskey and a wine." 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> The old lady at the bar eyes him suspiciously. "Wine?" [22:37] 14Stranger narrows his eyes. "I suppose a whiskey and a whine will do." 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> That gets a couple of laughs from the bar. 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim, meanwhile, finds himself at the opposite end of the docks, where the cattle auctions and slaughterhouses are. The air in Night Market is never fully clear of the smell of blood. In fact, he finds to his dismay(?) that their appointed meeting-place is across the street from one of the city's largest abbatoirs, so there's the sound too to think about. For some reason this place doesn't do especially brisk business. [22:41] 5 Xu Sim takes a prodigious puff on his steambreather. Well, disgusting or not, this meeting holds the possibility of discovery. 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim's tea partner is already seated, and rises to meet him when he arrives. The Scion of the Sevenfold has an ethereal, ageless quality about her belied by her pale and almost waxy expression. She looks like a beautiful woman on her deathbed. "The hero of Nexus in the flesh." [22:44] 14Stranger turns his back to the bar itself and faces the assembled drinking men and women. "The Emissary of Nexus is pleased to inform you that every working salt-of-the-earth lying about their paycheck, lying about their hours motherfucker in this establishment is entitled to one round on the house courtesy of the government back in the center of town." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> That gets a much bigger reaction from the bar. Cheers and cheerses abound. [22:46] 14He turns back to the bar and gestures to whoever is to his left and to his right. "And refill these drinks before you give that free round. I want some space, if you can afford it on this side of town." [22:47] 14Then he'll sip his whiskey. What's Thalever up to now? 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> He's mumbling something in the big man's ear, and the big man walks out fifty pounds lighter. Luckily that frees up enough space at the bar for people to relocate, putting two open stools between the two Councilors. [22:50] 14Well that's just good luck, isn't it. [22:52] 14When the bartender comes back with the cost of the house round, Stranger pays it plus a generous amount to cover whatever else he drinks or comps here tonight. [22:52] 14The rest, well. He's sure they're used to cash going in and outl. [22:52] *14out [22:53] 5Xu Sim returns a cordial bow. "The Scion of the Sevenfold." 5 From the folds of his robe, he presents a small cylinder wrapped in parchment. "A bauble I put together for you, as a token of professional courtesy." 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar gives Stranger an upward half-nod. "That'll get you over." 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven accepts it gracefully. "You're too kind. I hope to do you a kindness in turn. What kind of tea do you take?" [22:58] 14Stranger: "Over's not as important as through." [22:58] 14Stranger: "You know why I'm here?" 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "Could be five different things. I'm guessing it's at least three of 'em." [23:00] 14Stranger: "One of them's to drink. The other's to get drunk. The third's yours to guess." 14To the bar: "Another whiskey." [23:00] 5Xu Sim: "Oh, I'm not too picky about it. Oolong?" 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven gestures to the tea-lady. Then she sits and invites Xu Sim to do the same. "Tell me: is it true you've mastered the Tomb of Red-Hot Iron?" [23:02] 14To Thalever: "I'm pretty sure I've got Kratz back on the Council. Committed. Hopefully dry. I don't tell you this to brag and I sure as shit don't tell it to you so you can mock her with it in chambers. I'll be displeased if that's how you carry it." 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "Like she's the only one who's ever turned up lit." 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "You got me all wrong." [23:04] 5 Xu Sim sits, chuckling. "Don't you mean the Tomb of Cold Iron?" [23:04] "Maybe. But I feel a certain protectiveness towards Kratz. Perhaps I feel it towards the lot of you." 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven laughs. "I do if you say I do." [23:06] 14Stranger: "I'll admit my bias, though. I feel it most acutely towards Kratz. Almost as much as I did towards Pellicia." 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "That jumped-up piece of shit. We shoulda seen him pulped." [23:07] 5Xu Sim: - "Suppose we split the difference - it's the Tomb of Iron, whose precise temperature from one moment to the next is, indeed, for us to decide." [23:08] 14Stranger: "That piece of shit's dead and he doesn't even know it. He's got a tab and he'll pay it the second he winks back into this world. We'll fucking find his ass." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "That's not how you usually talk. You doing a bit now or are you doing a bit the rest of the time?" [23:11] 14Stranger: "Yes." [23:11] 14He finishes the whiskey: "I've also been drinking since before noon." [23:12] 14He orders another whiskey and pauses. "...They tell you what I was like, up in the palazzo, when Pellicia died?" 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "I heard some stories." [23:14] 14Stranger: "If they had me smiling they were probably true." [23:14] "That's the version of me you have to worry about, I think. You can write me down as playing you one way here or playing you another way every other time, but don't write that guy off." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "Kratz begged her not to stay, to leave her with the rest of us. We knew she wasn't gonna listen, but you gotta ask." [23:15] 14Stranger: "She was the best of us." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "Probably still is." [23:16] 14Stranger: "You're not wrong." [23:16] "She died protecting someone good, too. Whatever you think about me, it should cascade out to Xia Lan." [23:16] *shouldn't 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "I got nothing but respect for her. Not a lot of people come up like she does in this town, get so big, without being an asshole about it. Our foundries turn out Keldars." [23:17] 14Stranger: "Ha. Keldar's not so bad. He's not Pellicia, but no one is." [23:18] "He is an asshole." 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "Yeah. The man is an asshole. But I'll say this for him: he likes Nexus. Couple a months ago I'd have told you that was a minority opinion on the Council. Now, who knows?" 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "How did you do it?" 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "You simply must tell me." [23:19] 14Stranger: "I hope to make it a majority opinion. I won't insult you by pretending you don't know I've been making the rounds." 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "You've been working it, yeah. Weird to have an Emissary who asks." [23:22] 14He sips another whiskey. "Xia Lan told me about that meeting. The one right before Nogare put her in a coma and killed Pellicia. She told it a certain way, one that made you all out to be the victims, and hell. You were the victims. But it was a certain way where, when I read between the lines, I came away thinking that it was just her standing up for your city against some fucking [23:22] Solar shithead from out of town. Now. Speaking as a Solar shithead from out of town: that concerns me." [23:23] 14Stranger: "What were you willing to give up for a little bit of security, huh? Are you still willing to give it up?" 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "Before that night he didn't look too different from the rest of you. We talked this out down in Firewander. Pellicia was pushing for us to treat with all you Anathema in good faith. It wasn't like he came in baying for blood. He came in straight up with full pockets and a hand full of favors." 15[23:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Turns out he's an animal. I'm not surprised. But if you did that tomorrow, who's to stop you? Not us, that's for sure." [23:27] 14Stranger: "Did he ask for half your sovereignty or not? Or do you want to quibble on fractions? One-third? One-fifth?" [23:27] 5Xu Sim: "Mastering it? Well, once we made our way to the center of the manse and subdued its sorcerous defenses, we had to repair a few areas that worn down over the years. But now, I am making it our own; adapting it to suit the war effort." 5Then, nonchalantly, "Can you tell me about where in the Underworld it was first built?" [23:27] 5Xu Sim: "Mastering it? Well, once we made our way to the center of the manse and subdued its sorcerous defenses, we had to repair a few areas that worn down over the years. But now, I am making it our own; adapting it to suit the war effort." 5Then, nonchalantly, "Can you tell me about where in the Underworld it was first built?" [23:27] "Do you think that's what me and Xia Lan and fucking Keldar, the guy who makes sure the only thing you know about him is that he loves the laws of Nexus, are about?" [23:28] 14Stranger: "We might not agree on a lot of things but come on now." 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "From where I sat he was using you to do it. It wasn't your idea to pack the Council with your friends, it was his. You think he fucked up? I'm not so sure." [23:30] 14Stranger: "As I recall, the Emissaries of Nexus serve at the pleasure of the Council. And we didn't exactly put our names forward for it." [23:31] "And if the Emissaries of Nexus DON'T serve at the pleasure of the Council, then. Well. You've got a real problem on your hands, don't you?"A 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "Right. He did. He seemed to think that was the first step to conquering the city." [23:32] 14Stranger: "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes." 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. But for all the good you guys are doing, the jury's still out on that." 15[23:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "It was built in the Underworld, you say? How do you know?" [23:33] 14Stranger: "Either Mori Nogare is dead next time he steps foot in this town or me, Xia Lan, Keldar, and Xu Sim are. There isn't much variety to how that story ends." 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "Supposing he sets foot in the city. Supposing his plan isn't just to break the Council's back so we need you, after the war's over." 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "You gotta see this how it looks from the outside." [23:37] 14Stranger: "And you can see how this looks from the outside?" [23:39] 14Sipping another whiskey: "Besides, while we do respect the position to which we've been appointed, we can hunt Mori Nogare anywhere he appears. And he's done more than just put our girl in a coma. He's slandered our patron." 15[23:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "If you give up your day jobs, you can." [23:39] 14Stranger: "That is the plan." [23:40] 5 Xu Sim: "There is a work log chiseled into the marble walls, explaining how it was constructed in the Underworld before being moved into Creation. A few decades into the first Shogunate, sometime near the Five-Dragon Crusade perhaps. It's not my field." [23:41] "I didn't convince Master Gen to stay on the Council because I really liked the guy. I'm not here with you because your whiskey is good, even though it is. I didn't spend the morning with the Astrologer because I love tarot, and I'm not going to visit Ephiselle after I'm done here because I love being out at midnight. And no, you're right, I won't talk to her the same particular way [23:41] I'm talking to you now, because that's why I couldn't get the two of you in the same room in the first place." [23:41] "Am I wrong?" 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "Shit, everybody's got a plan. Brueghel had a plan. Ain't been no commitment to stepping down. Just building a power base, and packing the Council." 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "But you're not wrong. I'll say that much." [23:42] 14Stranger: "Well. If I can't be right, then I might as well not be wrong." [23:43] "Brueghel's dead and his plan was shit." [23:43] "We're going to have to replace him. If you, Master Gen, and Ephiselle can work together long enough, I presume you can come up with a name." 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "To construct a manse in the Underworld and transpose it into Creation would be a titanic undertaking. Well beyond my humble capacity. At least for now. Ha!" For just a second Xu Sim can hear a trace of the Governor's accent in her voice. "Few living or dead could even envision such a feat, much less accomplish it. Certainly not a hero of the Deliberative." 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "Good, that's a start. You got a stick to go with that carrot?" [23:50] 14Stranger: "Of course. I'm not just your average asshole. I've got five votes to your three, so whoever you nominate will need a vote from my camp and an abstention to pass. I'm comfortable with that vote coming from the Emissary's chair. I'll let Hayle, Udelph, and Kratz figure out who gets to sit this out. If you're smart, you'll petition Keldar to try to get his vote and I'll give [23:50] it my blessing. So the only stick is conditional. And you know what condition would piss me off?" 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "What's that?" [23:51] "If you nominate some bought-and-paid-for Guild piece of shit who cares more about the Overfactor's margins than this city. I don't care if he or she is connected. I know how this work. I care where their heart is at." [23:52] "Brueghel was a clown, a coward, and a complete disaster who tried to resurrect your last Emissary and got turned into unpleasant bits of meat for his trouble, just to preserve a grip on the city he should have known was failing." [23:52] "Don't repeat that mistake." [23:53] 14Stranger finishes his whiskey. "And tell the Guild boys I said that." 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "You got the muscle to back that up? Cause if we buck the Guild it's not your ass on the line. Shit, it's not even mine." He gestures around. "You wanna know how I got this job?" [23:56] 14Stranger: "Sure." [23:57] 5 Xu Sim is silent for a moment. "For now, eh? To overcome - that is the fundamental task of the socerer." 5 He smiles a tight smile. "It certainly was an enormous task for whomever undertook it. I look forward to using the Tomb to help us overcome this faerie tide that's lapping at our door." Session Time: Sat May 05 00:00:01 2018 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "Coralito had it in him to be a good man. Almost twenty years ago now, he bucks the Guild. Floats a proposal to double the number of work holidays. Syndic sends him a message, he says, that's not how friends do business. Coralito says to hell with you, I know who my friends are. They try to end-run him but Kratz has just taken the job, old Udelph hadn't gone soft yet. They couldn't manufacture a majority without overplaying their hand. So they float a counteroffer. Keep the docks open, but raise the wages half-again on the off days. Coralito could live with that. He won a concession from the Guild. You know what that makes you on this side of town? A god." [00:02] 14Stranger: "No it doesn't." [00:02] "Gods get worshipped in set hours in set places." [00:02] "It makes you something more." 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "Heh." [00:02] 14Stranger: "Now, do you want to know how I got this job?" 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "I'm not finished." [00:03] 14Stranger gestures for him to continue. 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "Mmmm. To answer your question, it would almost have to have been built in a shadow of old Hollow itself. There's no way to make the math work otherwise." 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "You got two, three times as many gangs at the piers working the ships on those holidays than you did before. We all thought the Guild'd find some way to weasel out but it's worth a try, right? Nope. They pay out. Right away, no complaining." 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "Couple of months pass, couple more of these pay holidays. Suddenly the whole district is happy and flush." 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "Couple of weeks later the first opium ship hits the port." [00:05] 14Stranger: "Ah." 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "Two years it took to turn this side of town upside down. People going broke, turning bandit. People dying like flies on and off the docks. It wasn't natural." 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "One night on the way out of his bar Coralito gets stopped in the street. Someone wants a handshake and a word. Coralito never turned down a chance to hear someone sing his praises. He got a knife hidden between his ribs and his pockets picked, right there in front of his bar." 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's how I got the job." 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "You ask us to court that, you're asking us to cut our own throats, without a commitment to holding the Guild down. That's the Emissary's job. That's the Dawn Sergeant's job. You give us that, and we can work together, I guarantee it." [00:11] 14Stranger nods. Then: "...You're the August Councilor of what, then?" 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "August Councilor of the Eclipse, is the title." [00:13] "A thing about the people I've become is that each of us has one of five...denominations. We're all named after phases the Sun finds Himself in." 14Stranger's forehead lights up golden and he looks over at Thalevar. "So what am I?" 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "Eclipse." [00:14] 14Stranger: "And the thing about Eclipses is: we're all about the deals." [00:15] "Let's talk about the Guild. The Guild are a group of cowards and assassins. The Guild was fleeing this city up to two weeks ago. Roaches against the light." [00:16] "Interesting," 5 notes Xu Sim. "But if even a hero of the Deliberative can't have done it, you mean it would have been something even more powerful. Something like," 5He gestures noncommittally, as if it would be impolite to invoke the name of her lord. 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "I heard it was you and Keldar turned 'em round." [00:16] *someone 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "...ah." [00:16] "Just good business. You and your dockworkers and your families could all die; they could come back in and rebuild." [00:16] "We did. Funny thing: the Overfactor also loves deals. And oaths. The kind you can swear on." 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "Well, I can assure you that my master would have no ambitions in that direction. To create something of such power and leave it behind? No. Far too sentimental." [00:17] "So he made one with Keldar, and I made one with him." 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "Speaking of not natural." [00:18] "And to make a long story short we're not going to directly interfere with the Guild so long as the Guild operates in good faith towards us. That's why I wanted you to tell the Guildsmen who precisely is advocating against them owning a Council seat; because that's not direct interference. They don't own that. And I wouldn't be upholding my end of the bargain if they didn't know [00:18] precisely who this was coming from." [00:19] 14Stranger: "We will be here longer than this crisis. We would prefer to be here as something other than Council members." [00:19] "We've all heard stories about the style of your master, and I have to agree, sentimental is probably not the first word that comes to mind in those stories," 5 notes the sorcerer. 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "He... cultivates a certain reputation. I hope someday you get to judge him for yourself." [00:20] 14Stranger: "And once Nexus is safe again, I am personally willing to extend an oath to you and your people. To make sure that history does not repeat itself." 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "Is he? Sniffly little double-dead piece of shit." [00:21] 5Xu Sim leans in close to look her in the eyes after she says that. Time to channel everything he can think of about how Stranger and Xia Lan operate. [00:23] 14Stranger: "Our oaths expire when the defense of Nexus is complete. At that point he has no leverage." [00:24] 14Stranger: "But I think we could make him swear." [00:27] 14He smiles. "Because at the end of the day he wants to do business. And while he'll take what he wants when times are good, when the going gets tough...he'll take what he can get." [00:28] "And if the Overfactor wants to send someone to stab me in an alley he knows where I live." [00:28] "If he wants to send someone to stab you in an alley, I know where he lives." 15[00:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "Are you speaking for yourself here or do we have the other Emissaries and Keldar behind it too?" [00:34] 5 After a long pause, Xu Sim twitches his eyebrows and leans back again. He takes a sip of the tea - his first. "I'm sure it would be enlightening, to say the least. I have told you about our Tomb. Do you mind if I ask what you have been up to? Your plans for the war effort? Perhaps we have opportunities to collaborate? I have projects beyond the Tomb, after all." [00:38] 14Stranger: "I'm speaking for myself. I'm also noting, as a non-sequitor, that Xia Lan hates the Guild, Xu Sim wants to experiment on them for his research, and Keldar swore an oath with the Overfactor that he would uphold the Dogmas and protect the Guild's current holdings in the city -- that means no expansion, and it does not entitle the Guild to a Council seat." [00:39] 5 More baseless rumors. Xu Sim would experiment on Anyone for his research. [00:40] 14He shrugs. "I can run it by them, however. I expect you're not going to be making a decision on this before tomorrow afternoon anyway." [00:41] 14Stranger: "But please, again, let them all know: I will view it as a provocation if the Guild interferes in this matter. Apologize with it or be aggressive with it as you will, but an oath was sworn and I will have my due for it." 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "Mmm. Well we've been looking for ways to deploy potential war assets within the confines of the agreement we laid out in our first war council. Particularly we're looking at ways of raising soldiers that won't bind them permanently, ways of deploying the spirits of the dead temporarily before releasing them to their natural or unnatural ends." 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "The Governor would see us gird for a siege but between you and me I think the city is quite indefensible. We'll win in the field or not at all." 15[00:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar thinks it over. "We'll talk it over. I'm sure you'll have no trouble swinging the rest of the Council." [00:43] 5Xu Sim: "I think you're right, though I'm not a military mind. What does the Governor think should be done, then?" [00:43] 5Xu Sim: "I think you're right, though I'm not a military mind. What does the Governor think should be done, then?" [00:44] 14Stranger: "That sounds like an accusation." 15[00:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "Naw, nothing like that. I just figure we're more predictable than you and your friends." [00:46] 14He orders one more whiskey. "Just kidding. You know what my philosophy is, when it comes to politics?" 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "What's that?" [00:48] 14He downs the last whiskey in one shot. "Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke. Good night, August Councilor." 14He stands. "And one more round for the guys and gals who aren't going to work sober tomorrow morning!" 14He puts the remainder of his per diem on the bartop, nods to Thalevar, and walks out into the night. [00:48] 14...That all felt really good. [00:48] 14Gary would have loved that. 15[00:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "Starvation and disease, he argues, will be the death of Nexus, and not invaders' blades. He would have us barricade the city, purify the canals to drinkability, and prepare the Undercity for harvest. I understand he's preparing an extensive proposal on the many varieties of edible mushrooms fit to be grown down there." 15[00:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "How like a general to be obsessed with winning the last war." [00:54] "Oh." 5Xu Sim contemplates the rather grim implications, even for a specimen like the Governor. "So, he was only added to your master's service in the last few years, then? Is it the same for you?" [00:54] 14Once he's out of the bar, very slightly buzzed, he'll, aheh, page Xu Sim. 15[00:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "How do you like your tea?" [00:56] 5 Xu Sim: "Lately, I've been taking it with a drop of honey. I'm - I'm very sorry, but can you please excuse me for just a moment?" [00:56] 5 Xu Sim: "Lately, I've been taking it with a drop of honey. I'm - I'm very sorry, but can you please excuse me for just a moment?" [00:57] 14Stranger, when he picks up the page: "Hullo, Xu Sim. What are you up to this evening. I've news." 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "By all means." [01:00] "I'm terribly sorry-" 5 Xu Sim stammers his way up from the table and then practically storms out the front of the tea house. "These things are annoying," 5 he says into the night air. [01:01] "Yes? ... news?" 5 he speaks through the connection. [01:01] 14Stranger: "Probably. I think I got the Astrologer mostly sober, and the August Councilor to agree to a new Evening Master with no Guild ties. Just need to clarify a few things." 15[01:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim has to navigate a cloud of buzzing black flies out here. [01:01] "You're in favor of experimenting on Guild boys the same as anyone else, right?" [01:03] 5More insects! "What? I suppose so, yes. I don't know-" 5 he swats a hand through the cloud in front of his face. "I suppose? Are you alright? Is this urgent?" [01:04] 14Stranger's voice gets a bit sharper. "Yes. It is. I made a promise to the August Councilor that you're not aligned with the Guild and I need to verify that this is still true. Why?" [01:04] "Are you in the middle of something?" [01:04] "...You're not on a date, are you?" [01:05] "I'm not affiliated with the Guild. I'm very busy, you know that. I'm in a meeting of sorcerers." [01:05] 14Stranger: "...Is that a yes?" [01:06] "It's not a no." [01:10] "It's a meeting. I- have you been drinking? Don't answer, you have been. Listen, this is a terrible moment for catching up. I'm in the middle of a conversation here." [01:11] 14Stranger: "Then don't take the call next time. Obviously she was willing to let you outside to answer. ...You didn't answer right there in the booth, did you?" [01:12] "No, what kind of idiot do you think I am?" [01:13] 14Stranger: "Who is she?" [01:13] 14Xu Sim hasn't contradicted that yet. [01:14] 5Xu Sim sighs. "Sevenfold Scion." [01:14] 14Stranger stops on the street and moves out of the way of foot-traffic. "Ah." [01:15] "Is this an interview or a personal meeting? I'm sorry about the date jokes. I won't make them anymore." 14[01:15] * Joins: Quaker [01:17] 14He almost audibly pushes 'Unless that's what you're into.' back down into his diaphragm. [01:17] 5With lightning speed, Xu Sim snatches one of the small, buzzing black flies out of midair. "It's a meeting of sorcerers, as I explained. It's - a date? I didn't ask -" [01:21] 14Stranger: "Well. You know what they say if you have to ask." [01:23] "If it's just an interview, you can use me as your proxy. I'll ask the questions you don't want to ask. If it's a date, you should hang up on me right now." [01:23] "I don't know that! I don't know what they say! Listen. I'm at the teahouse down by the meat district at the end of the city docks. I gotta go." 5 He, somehow, severs the connection, takes a deep breath, and makes his way back in. [01:23] 14Stranger, to no one: "Iiiiiiit's a date." 15[01:24] <@VoxPVoxD> While Xu Sim was gone, Seven took a little roll off the table and started picking it to crumbs on her empty saucer. She sets it down when Xu Sim returns. "Hello." [01:28] 5 Xu Sim clears his throat. "I'm terribly sorry for that. It was rather inconsiderate." 5 He picks a napkin off a nearby table and carefully folds the fly up inside, as he speaks. 15[01:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "I gather it took you by surprise as well. Is anything wrong?" [01:31] "No. I meant, ah, asking you about your past like that. No, I was just getting a message from my colleague and he's - took by what surprise?" 15[01:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "Your message. The question is forgiven." [01:34] "He's fine, was coming out of a meeting himself, in his cups I think." 5Xu Sim pauses for a moment. "And, ah, yes. Thank you. Can I ask a different question? Of all the places in the city, why did you suggest this one?" 15[01:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "If I tell you, will you promise to keep it secret?" [01:38] "Certainly," 5replies the sorcerer. 15[01:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "Privacy. The Mask's Hunter shadows me everywhere, but he won't come near here. Some defect in his digestion, I suspect." [01:44] "Thanks for your candor," 5 he notes. Well, that's something to work with at least. 15[01:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "Now I ask you to reciprocate: what made you send me that letter?" [01:48] 5Xu Sim bites down on his tongue for a moment. "Great question." 5 He takes a sip of the tea. "Well," he clears his throat. [01:49] "The simple answer is that Dragonlord Dorma asked me to see what I could learn about you." 15[01:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh." 15[01:49] <@VoxPVoxD> She laces her fingers together. "And what will you report?" [01:50] "I don't know. If I just wanted to pick your brain, I would have just asked Stranger to do it. The man could talk the scales off a snake, drunk or not." 15[01:51] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven laughs. 15[01:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "You're right. But you didn't send for him, and you could have." [01:51] 5Xu Sim nods. [01:53] "I won't lie about that either. You intrigue me." 15[01:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "Oh. Well. Then you have some idea of why I responded." 15[01:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "You, of all people, working with Nessun Dorma? How many people in this city do you think could have guessed that?" [01:55] "I can think of one," 5he answers, more or less truthfully. 15[01:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh?" [01:59] 5An entire dissertation of an answer runs through Xu Sim's brain. "Yeah. That old man, Selin. I don't think even Stranger-Visits-Heaven could have come up with it." 15[02:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "I don't know Selin. You'll have to introduce me some time." [02:01] "That could be productive. He wants to fix up the sewers around here, too." 15[02:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven leans back. "Then he and Father would get on." 15[02:02] <@VoxPVoxD> She freezes. 15[02:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "He and the Governor." 15[02:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "I misspoke. Forgive me." [02:04] 5Xu Sim clears his throat. "Ah. Hm. So, I don't suppose you noticed anything when Nogare escaped? I mean, any clues about what he did?" 15[02:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "You're a man of prodigious learning. In your studies have you ever come across something called the Wyld-Shaping Technique?" [02:06] "Only that it supposed to be a lost art," 5he replies. 15[02:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "Mmm. Not since the Deliberative fell, and the old Solar Host pushed back the borders of Creation has anyone displayed the Technique." [02:08] "Until the other day, you mean?" 15[02:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "Exactly. The Emissary's issue is untrammeled Wyld, now, corrupting and disrupting everything he touches. But also... the very seed from which that old power grows. Nogare saw it. He was able to act decisively, to subvert the Emissary's destructive urge into something different. Something higher. The Beast of Highland is wherever his imagination took him." 15[02:10] <@VoxPVoxD> A pause. "I mean the former Emissary. I apologize again. I'm not usually this maladroit." [02:11] 5Xu Sim is all business now - he's impressed but it takes a backseat to more immediate concerns. "How did you figure that out?" 15[02:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "Oh, I'm sure you could have done the same, had you not so bravely sacrificed yourself to spare the district. A simple observation of the star at its apex, and the effect its spoor had on the environment." [02:20] 5Xu Sim: "I- yes, thank you, but-" 5he pauses. "What else do you know about the Wyld-Shaping Technique?" 15[02:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "Nothing but poetry. The ability to bid seas, mountains, nations, peoples from the raw Wyld like the ancient Creators themselves." 15[02:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "Hold your breath. Make a wish. Count to three." [02:30] "One - just one second." 5Xu Sim scribbles her words down. [02:34] "Let me ask you something, now," 5Xu Sim states, tapping his stylus on the fly-holding napkin, which now bears the first stanza of some ancient poem. 15[02:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "You'll have to tell me what you learn. I'm afraid I have to leave shortly. But this was most engaging. We simply must do it again. Maybe somewhere cleaner." 15[02:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "But go ahead, please." [02:34] 14She's a keeper. [02:34] "You know we're going to win, right?" 15[02:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "Win what?" [02:36] "The battle. The war. The world." 15[02:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "Who's 'we'? No. Better question. Who's 'they'? The raksha? The Guild? The Mask?" [02:41] "Today? Cethleanne of the Crooked Lance. Tomorrow?" 5Xu Sim shrugs, shakes his head. "How should I contact you?" [02:41] "Today? Cethleanne of the Crooked Lance. Tomorrow?" 5Xu Sim shrugs, shakes his head. "How should I contact you?" 15[02:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "Do you keep flies?" [02:43] "Keep them? Mostly I just use the odd one for a dog treat, experimental subject, ingredient for this or that," 15[02:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "Whisper my name to a fly. I'll hear you." [02:47] "Fascinating." 15[02:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "Maybe I'll show you the trick one day. But for now I really must be going." She tidies the crumbs and leaves money for the rolls and tea. "It was a pleasure." [02:51] "Yes," 5Xu Sim says, watching her leave. [02:54] 5Xu Sim taps a quick rythmn on the table before getting up to leave, himself. The spheres are in commotion, the elements in harmony... 14[03:46] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:45] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. 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Vladok's shop is even technically open, though Xia Lan sees no customers coming or going as she arrives one (morning? afternoon?) with questions. 15[20:14] She finds him with his feet up behind his counter, smoking. The air is thick with it. [20:15] 13Late morning seems the ideal visiting hours - enough to get some good tea in, clear the mind of the previous day's struggles, and also still early enough that the day can be salvaged if it all goes wrong. Xia Lan clears her throat before announcing herself: "Hello, Vladok." 15[20:17] Vladok waves her in. "Emissary." [20:19] 13She pauses briefly before stepping around a pile towards Vladok's desk. "It's going to take me a while to get used to that title. Do you have some time?" 13"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" just comes off as rude, frankly. 15[20:23] "Take a seat." There aren't any chairs, but there are several large, sturdy piles of books around stool height. [20:23] 13She picks the one that looks like it has the largest books and sits primly. "I wanted to ask you about the swords," 13she says. 15[20:26] Vladok: "Did I sell you swords? I don't remember doing that." [20:29] 13Xia Lan: "Technically, I believe you gave them to Stranger. Package deal." 13She holds one of the swords up for him to see, if that rings any bells. 15[20:36] Vladok: "Oh. Those." 15[20:37] "Those were Great Crane's swords. I don't know much about them that you haven't already figured out yourself. Have you tried asking him?" [20:42] 13Xia Lan: "...not yet. Figured I'd stop here first." 13She sheathes the sword. "Were they important to him?" 15[20:43] Vladok: "They better have been, all the trouble they brought me. Starmetal's bad luck." [20:44] 14Stranger spends the morning ruminating in the common room. He is thinking on the proper organization of a city that has never had a need to think about the consequences of its actions, but now does. [20:45] 14How do you harness a city to force it to look before it leaps? Stranger sips his tea, and thinks. [20:46] 14There will need to be a large organization, but smooth and nimble. Able to react. That means strong, top-down control. That means that Councilors, who will not be inclined to trust it to begin with -- even the ones who help start it up -- need to be kept from direct interference as much as possible. [20:47] 14But before it can be nimble, it must be large. The conscriptions are more or less done; there is talent looking to be found in the city outside of the soldier class, and the Councilors will be eager to offer some of it up to get influence on the new organization. Of course, some of the men and women they offer will be mopes. There's nothing to be done about that. 15[20:47] Meanwhile, it's an unseasonably warm day in Parko Llana - the weather's been swinging wildly back and forth lately. The park is occupied, as it has been for some time, by the training and drilling of Nexus's new citizen militias. The newly appointed Dawn Sergeant is hard at working doing... what, exactly? [20:47] 14...Except to purge them politely but firmly, once the structure is achieved. [20:48] 13Xia Lan: "I actually came here for another reason, even if the swords thing is a bust." 13She shifts her weight, crossing one leg over the other. "Have you heard about my concert plans?" [20:50] 14Smooth and nimble -- a single director. But how to make the Council accept this? First, to give the agency no formal power -- an advisory body, only. Second, to divise a system by which Councilors believe they can leverage their power and make their voices heard, without kicking every decision up to a Council session. [20:50] 14Stranger sips his tea for a time, thinking, then smiles. He remembers the game of "And Ones." 15[20:52] "Have I?" Vladok produces a sheaf of papers, which Xia Lan sees are the flyers for her concert. "One of these in my post every morning, and another in the evening. I wondered if it was a prank." [20:53] 13Xia Lan: "..." 13Does it say who printed them? Might need to have a talk with someone. "This is the first I've heard of these." 15[20:53] It doesn't. There aren't really any regulations governing mail advertising. [20:54] 13Well, hopefully none of the Council's money went into this... "In any case. I was considering - duets? For a part of the concert. And I wondered if you'd be interested." [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12In Parko Llana, in a wide pit dug into the earth and propped apart by slats of wood, six armed and armored warriors surround a seventh. The seventh's position is a study in contrasts: on one hand, he hasn't even got a shirt or shoes to his name, let alone the swords, spears, and lamellar of those surrounding him. On the other hand, he's Keldar. 15[20:57] Vladok snorts. "You and me?" [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12From above, a gong rings, and the Tiger of Nexus has pounced. You couldn't even see him move - he's just no longer in the center of the pit, but at the end of a trail of mud and dust that leaves him standing over a fallen recruit with that recruit's sword in his hand. Then the man and woman on either side of him join the fray, and he's embattled, striking and parrying with his weapon [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12glancing off their armor about as often as their weapons glance off his skin. [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Two more reach melee range and Keldar's on the back foot, giving more and more ground until he's up against one of the walls. His sword's a blur, a whirling wall through which not one of the two swords or two spears can make headay. [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12A shout and a thrust gives Keldar some distance, at which point he runs up and kicks off the wall behind him, comes down like a ton of bricks on the fifth of his assailants who wasn't able to get into the melee, whirls with sudden desperation as he realizes that two more spearpoints are descending on his exposed back. One's simply chopped off the haft, and the other is stopped inches [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12from Keldar's as Keldar seizes he weapon about an ilm from the point, knuckles white and hand blazing with golden-red fire. Everyone freezes, their breaths held, as the Dawn Sergeant looks down at himself. [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Fuck! Fine. That won't work next time." 12The spearwoman: "You said that last time." 12Keldar: "I mean it this time. Break! Next set!" 15[21:02] Vladok: "I'm not really in your league. What happened to what's his name, the fat man with the big hair?" [21:04] 13Xia Lan: "Hey, I heard you at the bottle game. Don't sell yourself short. And... hey, Tellurian would be cool, too! Him and Sober. You know her?" [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12A little later, Keldar's sitting on a wide bench, going to town on a chicken leg. Stabbed into the earth next to him is Terminus, and 'sitting' on his other side is the Royal Road, held together by moonsilver ligaments but slumping over like a drunk for being empty of any occupant. The Sergeant's still glowing, and he seems annoyed about it. 15[21:04] Vladok: "It doesn't sound familiar." [21:06] 13Xia Lan: "Name seemed kind of ironic. Short, great singer, lot of emotion. Works with Pearl, plus I guess Tellurian now, wherever they're at. I like her." [21:07] 14Stranger, who has spent much of the morning about town asking...certain questions about certain people, sighs and sits down next to him, far enough from his artifacts for politeness. "So how was your morning?" 15[21:08] Vladok: "So why me?" [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar swallows some chicken. "So-so. Worked my way up to six and figured something out when there were five left, but I got so excited I lost at four. Rookie mistake." [21:09] 14Stranger: "Number of foes at once?" [21:10] 14He glances at the meat. "I assume it's not number of chickens." [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah. Special sparring rules, see? I win if I can lay 'em all out; they win if they can light me up. Real problem is I'm training 'em too good; week ago I could do eight pretty comfortably." [21:11] 14Stranger: "That's one of those good problems." [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Heh. Just you wait 'til we're done. Lookshy'll have nothing on our guys." [21:13] 14Stranger: "Excellent, but I'm not worried about Lookshy right now. For obvious reasons." 14He pauses to stare at the armor a moment. "There's a Council meeting later today. I should tell you what's on the docket." [21:14] "The Governor has a proposal to solve our food problem. I want to listen to it, give it a fair shake, and then tell him the Office of Civilities has to file a report on it before the Council can do anything." [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Lookshy's the most hardened military this side of Meru, man. Perfectly reasonable standard for comparison. But what's his proposal?" [21:15] 13Xia Lan: "Why not you? Anyway, solidarity. I want the people to see who's out there, working with us - all of us, not just my Circle. Everyone is fighting for Nexus!" [21:17] 14Stranger: "No idea. That's why I've asked our estimable sorcerer, Xu Sim, to look into it. He should be here shortly." [21:18] 14He glances over at the armor again. "Do you...clean that?" [21:18] 5 Xu Sim is indeed along shortly, halfway through an apple with the Twice-Refined Princess trotting along at his side. [21:19] 14Stranger: "Ah." [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, yeah. Not gonna corrode or anything but you don't want grit or something rattling around in there. Moonsilver makes it easier than it looks." 12He tosses the remainder of a chicken leg over his shoulder, where some dogs begin fighting over it immediately. "What's this Office you're talking about? I don't remember one." 15[21:20] Vladok: "A duet?" 15[21:20] "I don't think an audience would believe us standing up on a stage singing moony love songs." [21:21] 13Xia Lan: "Yep! Maybe a big group finale, too, I haven't decided yet." [21:21] "That part's true. I wonder..." 13Has she heard Tsuka sing? [21:21] 14Stranger: "It's new. Nexus is in a place where they can't rely on an all-powerful Emissary to fix any legislative mistakes they make anymore. I'm putting together a new office -- with the help of all the Councilors, yourself included, of course -- to form a policy shop. A proposition comes before the Council, and the Office of Civilities looks at it, checks the Civilities on record, [21:21] weighs it against the Dogmas, and submits a full report to the Councilors." [21:22] "Run by a Director selected by the Council, with full authority over his or her shop except for a graduated veto system." [21:23] 5Xu Sim: "Gentlemen." 5Fishing out a small brass ball on a chain - studded with crystalline "teeth" - Xu Sim presents it to Keldar. "Take a look at this, Keldar. Watch your hands, though," 5he suggests. "And Stranger? What did you want?" [21:23] 14Stranger: "Just for you to be happy." [21:23] "And tell me what you've learned about the Governor's proposal today." [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar reaches for it, pauses, and gets up to dunk his hands in a nearby bucket before picking up the thing Xu Sim's got. "What am I lookin' at here?" [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, to Stranger: "Doesn't the Council already do that?" [21:27] 14Stranger: "No." 15[21:27] "I can think of one song, but the male part is much bigger than the female part and I don't want to lead you around. Maybe we could switch," says Vladok dryly. [21:27] 5Xu Sim: "If you hold it and concentrate just so, you can set the temperature of the Tomb. Just watch out, because it will heat up to match whatever the Tomb is. We'll need to build a cradle or something for it so it doesn't start a fire." [21:27] 14Stranger: "An issue comes up, everyone evaluates it from memory, and then they put it to a vote. After the fact, everyone tries to reconcile it. Very easy when you have Balor as your enforcer." [21:28] "Not so much now." [21:28] "Especially with so many new Councilors. All of us included." [21:28] 13Xia Lan: "What've you got in mind?" 13Always up for learning new songs. [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We talkin' an exact match? Because as I recall, people've tried taking daiklaves to the Tomb exterior and found themselves holdin' really expensive sword hilts." [21:30] 5Xu Sim: "I haven't had much time to experiment with it, to be honest. An excess of caution is wisest." [21:30] "But it shouldn't get quite as hot or cold, no. It's too small, too far away." [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, to Stranger: "What's the ease of enforcing a Civility got to do with the paper-pushing of deciding on and writing down a civility? Not like the old Emissary usually dirtied his hands with anything below a Dogma, anyway." [21:31] 14Stranger: "Stupid Civilities are hard to enforce." 15[21:31] Vladok hums out a guitar line and knocks on the counter with his knuckles. [21:31] "The important thing wasn't the old Emissary coming down and laying down the law. It was the threat." [21:32] "It meant fewer challenges to clearly ridiculous Civilities. Almost no challenges, in fact." [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, that's why you don't write 'em. I mean, I guess a bunch of extra clerks to do research is nice? Did we not already have those?" [21:32] 5Xu Sim sniffs at Stranger as he takes another bite of the apple. "As for your remark, I don't know what you are talking about." [21:32] 14Stranger: "We did not." [21:33] 14To Xu Sim: "Of course. Did you learn anything about the Governor's presentation?" [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Gotta've been personal toadies. No way Brueghel himself went down to the stacks every time he had a question. ...or needed to, really, since new Civilities beat old ones." [21:34] 14To Keldar: "The framework didn't exist. The closest Nexus had were the Assayers, until the Minister of Ways. That's more than a little bit compromised, and they aren't researchers." [21:34] *under the Minister [21:35] 14Stranger: "Anyway, you don't have to listen to them if you think you know best. They're purely an advisory body. But they could be useful for swinging other votes." [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, yeah? We got some friends who need desk jobs or something?" [21:36] 14Stranger: "Other way about. I hope to make friends with desk jobs." [21:37] 5Answering: "Yeah. The Governor, well, thinks the city is likely to come under siege. Some of my sources," 5He takes another bite, "Think he's trying to win the last war he was involved in. Anyway, it's pretty impressive - a myocultural miracle. Mushrooms in the undercity, that can meet the city's food and medical needs. They're even brewing some sort of mushroom wine, apparently." [21:37] 14Stranger: "...The Undercity." [21:37] "The Undercity." [21:37] "FUCK!" [21:37] "What?" 5 another bite. [21:37] 14He blinks and looks around self-consciously. [21:37] "I'd forgotten all about the Undercity." [21:38] "I've been busy enough with all of this up here." [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Iiiiunno. Don't really see what's wrong with us Councilors ordering research as we need it, using the guys and offices we've already got." [21:38] 5Xu Sim: "The Governor's really taken to it with some enthusiasm. I think he's really throwing himself in to it. Personally, I think we should be positive about it." [21:39] 14To Keldar: "Who are your guys? What are your offices?" [21:39] 14Stranger: "And how long do you plan to be Dawn Sergeant?" [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I got detectives, beat patrollers, crime records, you name it. Gimme a little more time and I'll remember most of their names." [21:40] 13Xia Lan takes it in, fingers steepled and utterly silent as Vladok plays. As he draws to the close, she nods. "...and that was the other reason I came to you. That's perfect." 13Mind's already racing for where to put it in the program - early, maybe after one or two solos - she'll think about that later. As she stands: "I'd be happy to join you for that. On either part, frankly, but I can take lead... this won't cause any [21:40] problems for you, will it?" 13She never did get fully clear on his 'situation,' after all. [21:40] 14Stranger: "Those people have other jobs. You described them by those jobs." 15[21:41] Vladok: "I won't have to get dressed on stage, will I?" [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Sure, but it means if I need to know what'll happen if you're no longer allowed to walk your dog northward on west canal avenue I know who to ask." [21:43] "They're doing what to the dogs on west canal avenue?" 5 asks Xu Sim. [21:43] 14Stranger: "It's not their job to know that. It's your job to know that." [21:43] 14Stranger: "Look. The Emissary's seat is going to vote for this proposal. I need to know if you're for or against. If you're against because of increased funding, my plan is revenue neutral." [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What's the half that makes money?" [21:44] 13Xia Lan: "...so long as you keep presentable. There'll probably be kids." 13She pauses. "Where did you learn that song, anyway?" 15[21:44] Vladok: "Same place I won those swords." [21:48] 14Stranger: "While not working for the Council, the Office would provide non-binding, non-quotable consultations to Nexus citizens on the application of Civilities to specific situations. This would not be a Judicial opinion; it would not be a legal document. It would merely be an advisement. And it would cost money." [21:50] 13She thanks him again, both for his suggestion to find Old Selin as well as his appearance at her concert, and makes her way out of the shop and Firewander entirely, ambling vaguely towards the hideout. Hideaway. Safehouse. Safehouse? Safehouse. That sounds the least threatening. [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar thumbs his chin, raising one eyebrow and then the other. "Now that ain't a bad scheme. And if people get professional advice on the Civilities they're less likely to break 'em. If you can make this revenue positive I'm in." [21:51] 14Revenue POSITIVE? You-- [21:51] 14YOU-- [21:51] 14...Stranger thinks for a moment. [21:57] 14Stranger: "The first thing you should understand is that making this office revenue-positive rather than revenue-neutral means giving the Director of the office discretionary powers. The Director would not be a Council member. You might not want to do that." 15[21:58] Xia Lan finds no one there but Mhaka, who greets her. "Oh hello, Master Xia Lan." [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What, he immediately stops working as soon as he's paid everyone's salary for the day? As long as the Director's effectively an employee of the Council it shouldn't matter." [21:59] 14Stranger: "It means that I've done the diligence and with consultations, we're revenue-neutral. If we start getting into fee collection or enforcement, we start intruding on other Councilors' remits." [21:59] 13Xia Lan, cheerfully: "Hello, Mhaka!" 13Does Mhaka accept/enjoy pets? She will pet Mhaka, if so. "Where'd everyone get off to?" 15[22:01] Mhaka: "Cross-referencing itineraries, I believe the others are all meeting at the park in advance of the Council meeting this afternoon. You have two messages: one from Tsuka--" Mhaka's voice changes into a slightly tinny recording of Tsuka saying, "'Uh, tell her I asked about her being around for mercenary training and everyone's fine with it. Okay bye. ...bye.'" [22:02] 13Oh my god that's adorable. [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, if this thing's jointly owned by and reports to all us Councilors - which is the point, right - that might be fine." [22:03] 14Stranger: "That it does." [22:04] "And the Council has veto powers over it. Though not direct ones -- if any single Councilor could veto the Office's work, it'd never do anything, not even consult. No one would trust it." [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So, let 'em act as a full-on consultancy firm that we're the effective board members of, and we get a bunch of professional clerks and advisors, the rest of the city has somewhere to go if they need to figure out exactly how a Civility applies to something costly, and we get a profit." [22:05] 14Sure. Stranger just nods. [22:05] 14That's 95% accurate anyway. 15[22:05] "And the other from someone from the Office of the Judiciary, on behalf of a Mr. Whitefeather--" This is a voice Xia Lan doesn't recognize. "'So I can just-- remarkable. Ahem, if it pleases Madam Emissary the Office of the Judiciary seeks her input on a matter relating to her personal livelihood, pursuant to Civility 9 Eclipse 14-c, Regarding the Impersonation and Public Misapprehension of the Office of the Emissary and its so-Sworn officer. Thank you, goodbye!'" [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Alright, I'm for. Or, at least, I'm not against. I'll want a look at the actual paperwork." [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar turns to Xu Sim. "This mushroom thing... you get a look at the actual mushrooms? They don't spread into your brain or anything?" [22:08] 5Xu Sim: "No, I haven't seen them. I doubt they would betray us in this matter, though. I actually think they are making a good faith effort to stick to the terms we worked out before." [22:12] 13It takes her a moment, but soon an ugly look crosses her face. "Okay. All right! If anyone else asks, I'm handling important business --" 13she strides past towards her room, looking to change into something less casual, more professional. [22:12] 14To Xu Sim: "How much of the Undercity do they control?" [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, if they are, it sounds fine to me, but that's the sort of thing I want to double check. Assuming this isn't some sort of necromantic time bomb, we'd have to figure out where they'll be grown and who owns 'em." [22:13] 13She'll have to page Tsuka and let him know it'll have to be another day - someone seems to have been impersonating her! And she's not certain how long this will take to resolve. [22:13] 13...she does want to train with him, though. [22:14] 13Shirtless Tsuka, sweaty, with that look upon his face. Mmm. [22:16] 14Just imagine if he hadn't been cast out of the Realm. Let's get down to business~ To defeat~ The Sun~ [22:18] "How much? How should I know?" 5he asks. "The project is set up to go all over the Undercity, I think." [22:19] 14Stranger purses his lips. "So they control everything below us." [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm not asking you, just thinking aloud. You just gotta make sure they're not traps of some kind." [22:19] "That's quite some leverage." [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hang on. Is this an idea the Governor's putting forward or have they already started?" [22:19] "I think they're renting some space from private owners, as a proof-of-concept." [22:19] 14To Keldar: "Wouldn't YOU have already started?" [22:20] 13Xia Lan takes the opportunity on paging Tsuka to speak to Stranger. Beep beep. Or whatever the mental ringtone he has for messages from Xia Lan is. [22:20] "So, if they already controlled it, they wouldn't be asking us for permission. They'd be asking for forgiveness, which isn't what they're doing." [22:20] 14Stranger feels the buzz at the base of his spine and raises a hand. "Xia Lan. Excuse me." [22:21] 14To Xia Lan: "I'm here." [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well what I can tell you is there's been no word from below about any trouble from the Thorns contingent. That comes from, you know... occasional patrols, that kinda thing." [22:21] 14Might want to intensify those. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Conceivably if they've crawled underwater or something they could be up to some shit no one's noticed, but you figure that'd screw a zombie up too." [22:22] 13Xia Lan: "Hi Stranger! I'm not going to make the meeting later." 13She shucks off her casual clothing and begins putting on her suit. "Someone has been pretending to be me, as the Emissary." 13There's more venom in her voice than Stranger has perhaps ever heard from her. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But yeah, sure, I can step up surveillance down there." [22:23] "...so I'm going to go handle that! The Judiciary calls, you understand." [22:23] 14Stranger blinks. To Xia Lan: "Well, that makes us much more unlikeable, but given what we have to do, that's fine. Has the Judiciary been made aware? Are they how you heard?" [22:23] "Ah." [22:23] "Be nice to Nobu Whitefeather. He works hard. Let me know if you need help." [22:23] 13She smiles. "Mhaka took a message. Did you know they could do that? It's adorable. Tsuka left one, too -- speaking of which, can you connect me? I need to let him know I can't join him for training today." [22:24] 14Stranger: "Of course. ...If you had to ask me, someone impersonating an Emissary is someone who knows their business. I'd say take him with you." [22:25] 14Stranger: "But I'll put you through now and back out." [22:25] 14He does so. [22:26] 14To Xu Sim and Keldar: "Xia Lan won't be joining us for the meeting. It'll just be me and you," 14with this last to Xu Sim. 15[22:26] Tsuka, panting: "Huh?" [22:27] "Ah. Well, alright," 5Xu Sim acquiesces. Probably makes sense to keep a bull like Keldar out of a china shop like the Thorns-Nexus relations. [22:27] 14Stranger to Tsuka: "Connecting you to Xia Lan now." [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Should be fine. How much time we got?" 15[22:27] Xia Lan can hear Tsuka go "Uwaa-- oof. Uh... hi." [22:28] 14To Keldar, not over the line: "Xia Lan's looking into someone impersonating her as the Emissary. Would you be averse to releasing Cathak Tsuka from his duties today to back her play on this, if that's what they want?" [22:28] 13Xia Lan: "Heyyyyyy~! Got your message from Mhaka - can't make it today, but I was wondering if you could join me? Someone's been impersonating me and I'm off to speak to the judiciary about it." 13She starts off cheerful, but her voice is cold iron by the end. 15[22:28] Tsuka: "Oh. Is this about the Unfeathered Xia Lan?" [22:28] 13Xia Lan: "...the what." [22:29]  [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Is it a god doing it or something?" [22:29] 14To Keldar: "No idea. Tsuka seems to have knowledge of the situation." 15[22:30] Tsuka: "The Unfeathered Xia Lan. You didn't know about her? She's been busking your setlists in the H- in the blue light district for weeks." [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "'cause if it ain't a monster or Chosen or something, Tsuka's got a job to do here. Kid knows his way around a regiment." [22:31] 14Stranger: "It's undermining Council authority and I want it dealt with in one day and not two or three." [22:32] 13She doesn't even bother to pretend to scold him for his slipup. "I've never heard of her. Who is she? And why?" [22:32] 13...Of all the places. [22:32] 14Stranger: "You want to compromise and he finishes today's drills and then joins her?" 15[22:32] Tsuka: "Just some beastwoman. I don't know. Sounds Eastern." [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "She can have some guards if she wants, but it's not like Xia Lan's not Anathema, man." [22:33] 13Xia Lan: "Well! I suppose I should talk to the judiciary about this and see if it's the same person, and then... I don't know. I'll figure it out later!" [22:34] 14Stranger: "You're going to fight me on this?" [22:34] 13How did no one tell her about this?? [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Uh, yeah? He ain't in your mercenary company and training here's more important than scaring some idiot straight. If you think this needs his personal attention it can wait 'til the end of the day." [22:35] 14Stranger: "Did I not just--" [22:36] 14He slams the Codex shut. "I'd appreciate it if when I requested the detachment of the mercenary that I gave your company that you'd listen to the words coming out of my mouth and when I say 'do you want to compromise' you actually listen to the words after 'do you want to compromise' instead of repeating them back to me like they weren't my fucking idea." [22:38] 5Xu Sim's done with the apple; he tosses the core to the waiting Princess, who snaps it out of midair. He looks back to Keldar to see what the Tiger of Nexus will do. [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Listen, pal, I'm pretty sure it wasn't your preincarnation who came up with the concept of the workday." 12He stands and stretches. "It's a free city. I don't care what any of my men or women do after hours. I'm just telling you I need my people now." [22:39] 14Stranger: "Uh huh." [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Anyway, do we need to get moving for that meeting or what? If either of you wanna go a few rounds-" 12He jerks a thumb at the nearby gladiatorial pit. [22:40] 13Xia Lan chatters some more with Tsuka, ending with a request for him to meet her at the Judiciary when he's finished with training -- if he's not too tired, that is, obviously training is super strenuous and who knows how involved this is gonna get... [22:40] 14He opens the Codex. To Xia Lan and Tsuka: "Tsuka, you are free to assist once your assigned duties today are complete. The Dawn Sergeant wants you there bright and early tomorrow morning." [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Dunno why you're telling the guy stuff he already knows." [22:41] 14Stranger: "Shut the fuck up." [22:41] 13Xia Lan: "Tell Keldar to shut up. Find a reason-- oh you did. Thanks!" [22:41] 14Stranger: "I'm going to the Council room to press flesh and try to make this go somewhere other than sideways." [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What'd you just say?" [22:42] 13She's got the rest of her business outfit on and is preparing to head out the door. "Good luck! Bye Tsuka, Stranger! Hopefully see you later, sweetheart~" 13She tucks the page away and heads out the door, unless Mhaka delays her further. [22:42] 14Stranger pauses and turns. "Did I stutter?" [22:42] 5Xu Sim: "Knock it off you two! Come on, we got work to do, Stranger." [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You know, time was, the Emissary could've gotten away with talking to the Dawn Sergeant like that, although of course he never would've needed to because he had class." [22:44] 14Stranger: "Times change." 15[22:44] Xia Lan makes her way to the Office of the Judiciary, which shares administrative office space with the other departments in the cellars of the Palazzo Vecchio. She only gets stopped for an autograph three times. Good luck... or the sign of a depreciating personal brand?? She doesn't have to wait long before Nobu Whitefeather, a tiny man with a high, piercing voice, invites her into his office. "Good afternoon, Madam Emissary! Can we get you anything? Water? Tea? Beer?" [22:47] 13Xia Lan looks down upon him. Shorter than she expected. "Water is fine, thanks." 13It better not be depreciating brand, she worked hard at this. Is this the fault of whoever's making the signs? Augh, so many questions! [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah. Yeah, they do. Now if the Emissary walks here into the middle of my training ground, tries to micromanage one of my best men like he's his goddamn dad, and then tells me off, he wisely acknowledges he's overstepped and won't do anything like this agin." [22:50] 14Stranger: "Do you even listen to yourself? I asked you if he could go help his girlfriend on a mission of importance to this seat. I then offered to compromise for when he was off duty. And you mocked me for it coming and going." [22:51] 14Stranger: "So fuck you. And if you want to kill me for it, fuck you too." [22:51] 14He reminds himself, too late, that he was trying to walk away. [22:52] 5Now it's Xu Sim's turn to pause. He doesn't say anything, though. [22:52] 5Xu Sim simply crosses his arms and looks at the other two men. [22:53] 14Now he'll try that again. "Remember your word." [22:53] 14If the Dawn Sergeant wants to continue the conversation, he'll speak to or stab him in the back. 15[22:55] Someone brings Xia Lan a glass of water. "So, this is a bit of an odd duck," beguns Nobu. "The Civility on the books is there to prevent people from masquerading as the Emissary for profit. We're a little lost on how to process it in this case, since it relates to your career outside your work on behalf of the Council. But the Civility itself is clear: someone is pretending to be the Emissary of Nexus - that is to say, you, ma'am - for profit." 15[22:56] "There's a robust precedent for how this Civility has been enforced in the past... but that was under old management. I think we'll all agree there's certain scope to resolve problems like this without resorting to the mop." [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar tilts his head. "What are you doing." 12If Stranger's turning away, Keldar reaches out to grab him by the shoulder. "Seriously." [22:58] 13Xia Lan: "I assume the precedent isn't exactly... charitable." 15[23:05] Nobu: "Oh, no. Charity is a very recent addition to the Emissary's vocabulary." [23:07] 13Xia Lan: "...fascinating. So, is this the, ah, what was it... Unfeathered Xia Lan? Or are there more than one of them out there?" 15[23:12] Nobu: "There are others, both we're talking bit players, people singing your songs without attribution. This is the only person we've found who's developed a substantial, dedicated following built entirely out of your... material." [23:14] 13Xia Lan: "...The songs are fine. The persona... she plays in the Blue Light District?" 15[23:18] Keldar, Stranger, and Xu Sim arrive at the Vecchio, now almost fully restored, for their meeting. The other Councilors are still staging with tea and sandwiches in the upper atrium, making small talk with the Governor of Nexus and the Scion of the Sevenfold. When they walk in, the Governor seems to have just finished a joke that has everyone but Ephiselle and Hayle laughing. 15[23:18] Nobu: "Mainly, yes. It's not uncommon for buskers to set up outside the brothels. People are flush going in and guilty coming out. Good business, I understand." [23:19] 14Stranger doesn't laugh, but will sweep into the conversation, smiling. "Governor! Councilors." [23:19] 13Xia Lan: "Does she have a consistent spot? I'd like to speak to her. See if we can't work this one out." 13Somehow, she keeps the menace out of her voice. 15[23:19] The Governor, to Stranger, Xu Sim, and Keldar: "Emissary! Emissary. Sergeant." 15[23:20] "It's been too long." [23:21] 5Xu Sim: "Governor," 5he offers a short bow. "Scion of the Sevenfold," A smile and a bow, this time. The others get basically a grunt and a wave of acknowledgement. [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12It's been at least half an hour, so Keldar's in full regalia and not glowing even a little bit. It even looks like he's had a wash! "Governor," 12he says, giving the huge man a nod. [23:21] 5Xu Sim: "Governor," 5he offers a short bow. "Scion of the Sevenfold," 5A smile and a bow, this time. The others get basically a grunt and a wave of acknowledgement. [23:22] 14Stranger: "Mmmmm." 15[23:22] Seven: "It's a pleasure to see you all." 15[23:23] Nobu: "Uh, yes. I have it here. You'll be handling this personally, then?" [23:24] 13Xia Lan: "That's the idea. If a Tsuka shows up looking for me, send him that way, will you? Thanks~" 13She strides out of the office and heads back up towards the main floor on her way to the provided location. Full foyer - she gets an eyeful of a few people she hasn't managed to see the sounds of yet - but leaves without a word, unless held up. 15[23:27] The Governor looks down over the railing of the atrium to see Xia Lan walking out. "Excuse me! Madam Emissary! Why don't you pop on upstairs, if you can't make the meeting I still have a gift for you as well as the other Councilors!" [23:30] 13Xia Lan: "Urgent business, unfortunately - I'll have to come back for it!" 13She shrugs apologetically at the other Emissaries and also the Dawn Sergeant. [23:31] 13...wow this is a lot of music just pulsing through her head right now, too. It'd give a lesser mind a headache. [23:33] 14Stranger tries to read the room. 15[23:39] For the most part, Stranger finds the other Councilors deeply conflicted between the apparent benign usefulness of the Governor's proposals and their personal revulsion towards the man, and their bone-deep conviction that he must be up to something. More than one of them - particularly Hayle - is alarmed that apparently literally everyone forgot to care about the Undercity, including him. There's a sense in the room of wanting to find an excuse to reject the proposal but lacking for any sensible rebuttal. Stranger may recall this particular experience from when he oversaw Keldar's ascent to the Council. 15[23:40] There's a slight air of mutual frustration; everyone is looking to someone else to come up with an out and nobody has. Surely Stranger can-- 15[23:41] The Governor: "More the pity, madam. Farewell! Fare very well!" [23:41] 13... [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, for his part, reprises the same practical concerns he voiced to Stranger back in the Parko: he wants a trusted party, such as Xu Sim, to actually examine the crops in question and offer some kind of oversight on their cultivation. You know, for public health reasons. [23:48] 14Stranger: "As the current chair of the Emissary of Nexus, I would like to call the Council to session." 14He glances at the Governor. "Closed session, for the moment. But rest assured, Governor, you will have your presentation." 15[23:48] Stranger's sense of the Thorns contingent itself matches this. The Governor sees a room full of people looking for an excuse to shoot themselves in the foot rather than look foolish. He's suspicious of Xu Sim, and in particular seems to be interposing himself between the sorcerer and his own necromancer with surprising subtlety given his size and also entire personality. The Scion resents being here, and resents being used as the personally tolerable face of Thorns. 15[23:49] The Governor: "We will wait, then, with only our vision for the future and this tantalizing buffet to keep us company." [23:49] "What's the holdup, then?" 5 asks Xu Sim once the Council enters closed session. [23:49] 14Stranger smiles. "Oh, no. Xu Sim, if you would, please make sure the Council's guests are looked after properly." 14He directs the smile up at the Governor. "He is a Councilor too." 15[23:50] The Governor's smile has a few more teeth to it. "But of course, Mister Stranger!" [23:51] 14Stranger shows a few more teeth as well, but doesn't correct the title. [23:51] 5Xu Sim shoots Stranger an 'are you fucking serious' look before turning and heading towards the Thorns delegation. "Ah yes, a good afternoon to both of you," [23:51] 14He looks back over the rest of the Councilors. "Are we ready to join session?" [23:52] 13She pulls up short near the door, and turns. "Aaaaactually I'll be staying for this one. I can handle Unfeathered whatever later." 15[23:52] The Governor: "Oh, you work with the Unfeathered Xia Lan? That's delightful." [23:53] 13Xia Lan: "How did everyone but me know about this??" 15[23:53] She's been very busy. [23:53] 13Still a valid question [23:53] 13. 15[23:54] The Councilors are ready. [23:55] 14Then we're looking at an eight-person Council, with an empty Evening Master seat. Fine. All that needs to be done here is avoid ties. [23:55] "Well, Governor," 5begins Xu Sim rather awkwardly - "How are the City's accommodations treating you?" [23:56] 14Once they're gavelled into session, Stranger, who is sitting in the Emissary's seat, will seek the floor. [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's sitting up straight with gauntleted fingers interlaced, but who knows how long that'll last. 15[23:57] The floor is granted. Udelph, as most senior Councilor, presides. 15[23:58] The Governor: "Our furnishings are positively dank, Mr. Sim." [23:58] 13Xia Lan sits just off to Stranger's right, fingers steepled as she peers across the gathered councilors, suit suddenly even more apropos. 15[23:59] The Governor: "I understand you've effected a personal investigation of our project. Tell me, what do you think?" [23:59] 14Stranger: "May it please the Council. The most important issue on our all our minds right now is the Governor's offer. I am here to say that the Emissary's chair and the Dawn Sergeant have done some research into the matter ahead of time. Mushrooms, grown in the Undercity. Private plots purchased as proof of concept, for now. A concerning interest in the Undercity otherwise, I'm [23:59] sure we might all agree. I propose both short-term and a long-term redress. Session Time: Wed May 09 00:00:00 2018 [00:01] "First, the seat of the Emissary will send representatives into the Undercity to examine the exact nature of the mushroom claims. Other Councilors may wish to propose security measures to address the possibility that the Thorns delegation has gone farther than they've represented thus far; the Emissary's seat would support those Councilors." 14He doesn't look over at Keldar. "Second, [00:01] we need to vet the Governor's claims. Logistically." [00:02] "I hold that absent the overwhelming power of the previous Emissary, we need a bureaucratic organ to do so." 15[00:03] Hayle: "What do you propose?" [00:03] 14Stranger smiles. "I'm glad you asked." [00:03] 5Xu Sim: "I think it's quite sensible, actually. Whether or not it comes to a siege - and I dearly hope it does not - the mushrooms and so forth are likely to be a boon for the city and its people." 15[00:04] The Governor: "Then I mark you as well-schooled. Or at least well-taught." [00:05] "Thank you. May I ask how you came to know so much about fungi?" 5he asks. 15[00:19] The Governor: "Everyone needs a hobby, Mr. Sim. I once entertained the notion of retiring to my own farm. Alas..." 15[00:19] "A soldier's work is never done. There's always someone else who needs killing." [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Too true. [00:20] 13Is it??? [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12That's why I'm: the boss, best. [00:21] 13Consider me unconvinced. [00:22] 5 About five different proverbs float through Xu Sim's brain, but they are all variations on old saws like "no rest for the wicked," "sleep is for the dead," and so forth - he elects to keep his mouth shut. 15[00:23] The Governor: "I could ask you the same question, in fact. What's your interest? To my knowledge you've been indifferent to the affairs of state your office entitles you to meddle with. What's different today?" [00:24] 14Stranger's got a lot of work to do. The first Councilors who need to be convinced are Gen and Ephiselle, even though they've got some disagreements. Then he has to reassure Keldar, followed by Thalevar, followed by letting Udelph, Hayle, and Kratz know what the organizational benefits of this office will be. But he's done his research, he's done his profit/loss margin reports, and [00:24] 14he is an incredibly convincing man, even if you don't really like him at all. [00:25] 5Xu Sim is no poker face. "I was asked to attend," 5He glances around the room, his eyes desperately trying to avoid Scion of the Sevenfold. It's not entirely successful. "By Stranger-Visits-Heaven. To offer my technical opinion of the proposal." 15[00:26] Gen's very skeptical, but the man respects numbers, and numbers Stranger has. Once Gen's satisfied, Stranger finds Ephiselle's objections wither on the vine, and turn by turn the vote is a unanimous 8-0 as Udelph gavels it into the Incunabulum. [00:26] 13They still really need that ninth member. 8-0 just doesn't have the same feeling. 15[00:27] The Governor: "Then why are you out here?" 15[00:27] Seven, for her part, is totally silent. [00:27] "I'm entertaining you," 5Xu Sim answers the question, by way of observation. 15[00:27] The Governor: "HA!" 15[00:27] "So you are." [00:27] 13In any case, she's here for whatever the Governor has in mind, not Stranger's sensible solutions. The man could sell water to a fish; it's when someone else is trying to sell land to a fish that she needs to step in. [00:28] 14After the gavelling; before he cedes the floor: "I put it to the Minister of Ways, the Midnight Queen, and the August Councilor to suggest our first Director." 15[00:28] "And I suppose entertaining yourself in turn. We are not without our amusements, wouldn't you say, Mr. Sim?" [00:32] "Amusements?" 5Xu Sim has taken the questioning in good humor so far, but he frowns at the suggestion. Maybe that is all he's doing? Acting the fool when there's work to be done? [00:33] "I don't know. I think there's so much to learn, to discover, to rediscover," 5suggests the doctor. [00:34] "Your project is emblematic of that. What an improvement on, whatever they were doing in the Undercity before, I'm sure." [00:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar raises about the same objections he did around an hour ago to Stranger's proposal, but mostly for the benefit of everyone else in the room. Once it's clear to him that the committee'll be a literal as well as figurative credit to the city, he votes in the affirmative. Of course, he's got no idea who to actually put on the thing. [00:35] 13That's fine. 15[00:35] The three Councilors confer briefly. Master Gen: "We actually think we can put a name forward now. He was our candidate to replace Brueghel but we believe he would be even more suited to anchor this new Office and help it grow into its full potential." [00:36] 14Excellent. Out loud: "The Emissary's seat would welcome the nomination." 15[00:37] Master Gen: "Apple Baillie." 15[00:37] Udelph chokes on his tea. [00:40] 14Stranger furrows his brow and says: "Allow me to consult with my seat." 14To the chair: "Five minutes of personal discussion?" 15[00:40] Kratz: "You've-- Apple Baillie?" [00:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Who?" [00:44] 14Stranger will pass a note to Keldar: cantankerous academic asshole [00:44] 13Xia Lan: "That... the very same...?" [00:44] 14The reason he's perfect here is clear: so we don't have to seat him as the next Evening Master. [00:44] 14They even said that out loud when proposing him. [00:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar peers at the note. Well, two out of three ain't bad. [00:47] 14To Xia Lan: "It's either put him here or make him Evening Master." [00:47] "I can fuck with him constantly here." [00:47] 14He frowns. "Mess with him. Constantly." [00:48] "Sorry. Point is, this is a tactical move." [00:48] 13Xia Lan: "Are you prepared for a whirlwind of tedium? It's - sort of his thing." [00:48] 14Stranger grins. "That's what I do during business hours." 15[00:48] The Governor: "After such studied neglect, anyone's effort would surpass the current state of affairs. The people have been overlooked for so long that they would jump at the first overture made in their direction. Lean takes make for desperate men, as they say." [00:49] 14He will pass notes along to Kratz, Udelph, and Hayle: it's this or evening master. I can control this. [00:51] 14The only person he wants actually voting with the Emissary, though, is Keldar. If they have Keldar, the other three are free to dissent. [00:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's got no problem with the nomination presented. If Stranger and Xia Lan like the idea he'll give it his backing. [00:56] 14Then that's 5-3 and Kratz, Udelph, and Hayle can vote their consciences. 15[00:56] Udelph and Hayle vote against. Kratz votes in favor. 15[00:56] 6-2. Udelph gavels. 15[00:57] NEXT TIME: Mushroom kingdoms 14[01:04] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[01:14] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[01:33] * banana|peels is now known as banana 15[03:05] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed May 09 03:05:02 2018 Session Start: Wed May 09 16:09:56 2018 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[16:09] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[16:09] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[16:09] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[16:09] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[16:09] * Joins: Crion 14[16:13] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:16] * Joins: Crion 14[16:17] * Joins: Crion_ 14[16:24] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:02] * Joins: dammitwho 14[21:37] * Joins: Zarick 14[23:34] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[23:34] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Thu May 10 00:00:00 2018 14[00:50] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[01:09] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[01:26] * Joins: dammitwho 14[05:59] * Joins: Crion 14[06:02] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:03] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:19] * Joins: Crion| 14[16:37] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:08] * Joins: dammitwho Session Time: Fri May 11 00:00:00 2018 14[01:29] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[01:44] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:53] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[03:03] * Joins: dammitwho 14[03:09] * Joins: tom 14[05:59] * Joins: Crion_ 14[06:02] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:51] * Joins: Crion 14[06:55] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:06] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:35] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[18:21] * Joins: tom [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 ' * _ ________ . _- [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 \____/ ) )_____ )� _- __-- [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 \_____/ |-_ -_:-._- __-- ___ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 |______| --_/:::\_-- _-- [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 / , \---=|:::::|=---------- [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 | , \ __-\:::/-__ -__ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 / ; | _- | -_ --__ --- [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 | , |_- . | . -_ --__ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 / ; | � | � -_ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 | , ; | � | � - [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12At least one member of every human-apparition pair gathered remembers this place. Yara's secret sanctum in the city of Crystal was a tall, thin tower sheathed in ice from head to foot, ringed with ad hoc furniture and spiral stairs affixed by demons to the marble walls. Of course, here and now, it's quite different - everything's covered with webbing, and there's a yawning oily pit [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12in the center of the room from which tendrils of black ichor stretch upwards like cilia and from which a river of dog-sized spiders crawls continuously up the walls. [20:16] 4Saskia: "What is this?" [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Far above are flashes of shimmering indigo - someone's anima flare, from the way it shines through the multiple webbed-up floors between it and you. But you won't be able to amble leisurely upwards to investigate it, because the spiders have caught your scent and about half of them are turning to pounce. [20:17] 4She whirls around on the group. "Where am I?!" [20:17] 4Ir, Thrice Traitor, is silent. 15[20:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "Would you look at that?? Gosh!" [20:17] 13Ying: "I don't know..." [20:18] <@Ferrinus> 12They're made of metal, but it's discolored and corroded, more than half-colored with some sort of spreadiny grey-green fungus or patina. Thin trails of translucent ichor wave at random from between leg joints or the seam where head meets abdomen. Eyes either glisten like blobs of oil or burn with firelight. [20:18] 6Tatsuya: "Mmm. Pretty sure the spiders are new." [20:20] 7Cathak Azula: "Ignore the spiders. We have to get to the top!" [20:22] 4Confused and angry, her weapon and other half silent, Saskia's forehead lights up but she stands still and uncertain. 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei's shadow bursts to violent life, leaving sizzling traces of ichor that make hideous multicolored splotches on the oily floor. "THEN WE WILL BURN OUR WAY THERE!" [20:26] 13Ying's shrinking back from the spiders, looking for a place to hide from them - but each time she makes a move, the spiders scuttle to block her path. 6Eventually, Tatsuya just lays a hand on her shoulder and takes a fighting stance; 13Ying nods, and matches him. 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The shadow grabs Shosei by the scruff of his neck in one hand and raises his glowing green staff in the other. With one arm the giant jabs the staff into the ice, pulling himself and his ward upwards, only to dislodge and jam it another six fulms up with a single savage gesture. Webs smoke and melt away as the demon climbs, spiders falling onto their brethren below. He rises quickly, but finds the spiders too few and scattered to crush many on the way. [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Shattered ice, crumbled stone, and metallic spider corpses litter the ground behind Octavian's ascent, building a staircase of sorts for Shosei's allies to climb. As the demon brings his staff to bear against the creatures directly, however, he finds himself in much worse luck - the weapon's entangled somehow in the oily webs that sprout from their joints, and the creatures are simply [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12slid neatly out of the way by the same motion with which Octavian attempts to clear them out. [20:54] 4The spiders charge in, and Saskia screams as they meet. The scream warbles into a song as Ir and Iscariot merge around her, carving a horrible path through the spiders with deadly moonsilver and burning gold spines. [21:03] 4Then the spines start splitting, and spinning, and colliding -- like wind chimes, weird and off-key, making rising fervent clanging sounds as they tear the spiders apart. [21:05] 13Ying dances in between the spiders, spinning, leaping, and dodging them as they leap at her. 6Tatsuya uses her excellent sense of positioning to carve through the spiders, flickering in and out of view as the monsters practically leap onto his blades! 13This is incredible rhythm - they're in perfect sync! She leaps up to follow in the wake of the enormous demon and old guy - can't forget to try and reach the top! [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12The spiders' attack is strange indeed. Each seems to split into many, some turning, some lunging, some waiting, and as Saskia and Ying watch they can see certain avenues of possibility for attack and defense simply get darkened and cut off by an unknown force. ...but by some power within then, they can weave new threads of possibility, discovering avenues of retaliation otherwise [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12impossible! [21:12] 4When the spiders melt away, Saskia returns Iscariot and Ir to her...and begins advancing, a deadly, soft whir coming from the orb hovering in her hand. [21:16] 7Cathak Azula, who once thought herself the finest daughter of House Cathak, wraps the silvery spiderwebs around her forearms and pulls - they come loose only with difficulty, seemingly having rooted themselves in the walls, but the strength of heroes can overcome any obstacle! [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12The squared Circle, refracted but unbowed, ascend Yara's tower from the second time. Even as Azula reaches out to tear away the webbing blocking off the building's next level, though, she sees something descend to meet her and her allies. [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Silky strands of shadow pour like rain from far above, interwoven with an indigo radiance reminiscent of Yara's anima. They coalesce as they fall, weaving together into an oblong shape which uncoils and resolves itself into that of a man, though one who's a black silhouette from head to toe and hanging, seemingly, from a strand of webbing clapped between his toes. [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Glowing violet eyes close as he claps his hands together before his chest in a meditative posture. Then his eyes open again blazing with smoky orange fire. The mark of Saturn on his brow is a random scribble of burning lines. And as he spreads his arms out into a martial posture, two more sets of arms flicker from his sides, each pair adopting its own part of a battle stance. [21:30] 4Saskia's orb rises, and begins to play a song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmzzIsBK47I [21:57] 7As the mysterious assassin strikes at Azula, thin ethereal blades reminiscent of a spider's legs reaching outward from his fingertips to slash at her, the glorious burning figure of Excessively Righteous Blossom erupts to life and swiftly stymies the attack by clapping the blades between her hands. [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12When the assassin strikes, it's in a frenzy of impossible motion. His joins bend in all the wrong ways as he clambers this way and that through the air itself, skittering and swinging along lines of webbing only briefly visible as he touches them. It's disconcerting to watch and extremely difficult to actually deal with... if you can't touch perfection itself. [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12As is, it's only Octavian who winds up feeling the essence boil and curdle within his own veins. Azula and Saskia rebuff the flurry of strikes, only to find themselves staring at thin air as their enemy crawls between two glimmering threads and out of physical existence. [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Still, the air's heavy with his presence... [21:59] 4The song keeps playing, but Saskia twirls away from each of his strikes. [21:59] 13Ying: "That's not fair!" 13She'd stamp her foot except the spiders are closing in again! [22:12] 13A few of them make contact - Tatsuya can't block all of them, and Ying's dodging but nowhere near fast enough - so she springboards off one of them and leaps through the hole Azula cleared, tearing some webbing with her! She carries her momentum through to the top floor, pulling at threads and unravelling the final floor's web with strength she didn't know she had! [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12It's really not. Azula and Tatsuya can both tell, though - he's doing a martial art of some kind. It's just about ten or twenty times weirder than martial arts are supposed to be. [22:17] 4Saskia throws the orb up in the air and does a spinning kick to it -- and the orb explodes into deadly, carving shards, annihilating the spiders around her. When it reforms she flips up on top of it, then leaps again up to the next level. [22:36] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom beatifically brings her hands down to cover Cathak Azula's eyes. Instantly, they grow translucent under the flame of her gaze - the assassin can't hide from her! As he brings his fist down in a deadly strike she reaches up and grabs his wrist, seemingly grappling with nothing to those unable to see spirits. He twists out of her grasp and there's a flurry [22:36] 7of stroke and counterstroke, but Azula just can't seem to land a hit; indeed, it's all she can do to keep him from pushing her back further. [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12There are advantages and disadvantages to fighting a ghost. On one hand, it can't hit you back - Blossom is able to overextend far more than usual with no fear of reprisal. On the other hand, it can pull weird, stupid cheats like ducking down through the floor or through the non-weaponized parts of your own body, and the brief melee ends up a wash. 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Octavian, staggered and oozing, trails streamers of smoke behind him as he attempts to climb the tower, Shosei riding his shoulders like a cat, frantically trying to work a spell. [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying's up farther, and she clambers up through the hole she tore to witness a strange scene of battle. Perhaps it's about as strange as the one she's climbing out of. [22:47] 13The spiders are getting predictable! A hop, skip, and a jump up... [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12At the center of the room is a broad table covered with maps and charts. Behind, strung along the walls, are sheafs and sheafs of parchment pinned together and connected with bits of colored string. Calligraphy brushes sit in pots of variously-colored ink, clearly interrupted in the middle of use. [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12That's because Yarara Yara, Chosen of Endings, is fighting desperately for her life. She's surrounded by four shadowy figures clearly made of the rotten spiders - flailing arachnoid limbs still stick out of their backs and sides, and shadows ooze up from their torsos. One is hurling stream after stream of acidic webbing. Another is making huge slashing attacks with its longest limb. [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya's a little ahead of Ying as the two clamber up, and he steps almost unthinkingly into one of the figures. It fits him like a glove, and simply dissolves around him as soon as he takes its place - and so he finds himself in the middle of an all-too-familiar fight! [22:50] 6What the-- 08[22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Aha! This looks different from the inside. Ying can see that the four (now just three) spider simulacra here are, viewed from Yara's position, facsimiles of Tatsuya and the other members of the Squared Circle! There's Eikichi with his old staff, Blossom hurling firebolt after firebolt... the tiny assassin is crying and fighting for her life, but the apparitions won't let up. [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12However, they can't seem to withstand the presence of the real thing. Tatsuya pretty much just dispelled his duplicate by stepping into it, and Ying's pretty sure that her three friends could just repeat the same trick. But maybe they don't even need to - maybe she can get through to Yara somehow, and convince her that this isn't real. [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12She'd better, because it seems like the more spiders get up here to join the fight, the stronger the assassin down below gets. 14[22:57] * banana|peels is now known as banana [23:01] 13Ying shouts to the others down below: "Everyone! Up here - we gotta deal with the fakes!!" 13To Yara - she's super familiar, but can't place a name or a reason why. "Hey! You don't have to fight -- this isn't, it's not -- hang on!!" 13She turns back to the webbing blocking the place off and begins to tear -- ripping away access for another to get up here with her! [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying has to contend with periodic jabs and kicks from the ensorcelled Yara while she does so - but she's getting off easy, really. Down below, absolute hell breaks loose as the shadowy assassin with burning eyes explodes into an entire army of spider-emulating martial artists and goes roaring through the tower like a reversed waterfall. [23:29] 4Saskia isn't as fast as he is, but she doesn't have to be. She leaps atop one of his swords as it strikes, and the orb splits to deflect the swords of three more of his copies. [23:41] 4She flips back up to the webs and the orb scatters, cleaving spiders in half, before she leaps up to the top level -- and Ir rushes forward into her own shadowy form. [23:41] 4Ir: "Ah." [23:50] 7Filthy creatures! Scuttling around, blocking her path, driving the world mad! Cathak Azula kicks, punches, and wrenches legs off of dozens of star-spiders, at one point lifting one over her head and tearing it in half. [23:57] 4Ir, Twice Traitor, steps out of her shadow and banishes the spear and shield and armor of her ghost. "It's all wrong now, Yara. But you know me, and you know him, and you know her, and you know him. And right now I need you to remember the smell of hashed potatoes and the sound it makes when a knife cuts fresh bread, and I need you to remember who we are." Session Time: Sat May 12 00:00:00 2018 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei and his shadow climb up through the web and the monsters climb all over him. Soon they're gone and probably so are the monsters. [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12The last of Yara's four assailants vanishes around Shosei, who - for a brief moment - feels the weight of a cold glass staff in his hands. The tiny, purple-haired agent of destiny spends a few more moments with her hands raised defensively, but she's blinking hard as she does so. [00:02] 13Ying: "Are we good?" 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "She's so cute--" [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Below, Azula can see the pitch-black hole into nothingness from which the spiders were issuing from iris closed, though it leaves a nasty, suppurating scar. Yara, meanwhile, is looking back and forth: "You... and you..." [00:03] 4Saskia: "What is happening?" 4She looks on the verge of a breakdown, and scurries over to Ir. "Ir...what's happening?" [00:04] 4Ir just looks sad. [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12She ends up just staggering forward to hug whoever's closest and most familiar. This probably means either Tatsuya or Ir, who may or may not remain solid enough to allow for this. [00:04] 13Ying: "I don't -" 6Tatsuya will remain solid enough for this. [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Azula can hear the commotion dim from below. It'll be a short climb to rejoin the others. [00:05] 13Ying: "What's going on?" [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara, bawling, has got her arms around Tatsuya's waist then. "This is AWFUL-" 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei nudges Octavian and points at Yara. Octavian seems less pleased to see her. [00:05] 6He gently tries to pat her reassuringly. "It's - not great." [00:05] 4Saskia: "Why does this feel so wrong??" 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Octavian: "Fix it!" [00:06] 6Ain't that a can of worms. 13Ying: "I don't know! I hate this!" [00:06] 7Cathak Azula hauls herself over the the lip of the ice shelf, fingernails like makeshift icepicks. She snarls. "All dead? Good. Good." 7She glares at her doppleganger, gesturing at the tiny Sidereal. "Who's this?" [00:07] 6Tiredly: "Hey, Blossom." [00:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I - I'm trying. I'm really trying!" 12She sniffs and lets go, then turns to wave at the rest of the room. It's all covered with webs, but they're somewhere between silvery and silken - not the oily black and green that issued from the pattern spiders. "See, the - oh! Blossom!" [00:08] 13Ying: "I still have no idea what's going on!" [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Azula can actually feel a cloud of dust or somethign disperse around her as she climbs up onto the floor and steps forward to within hearing distance. Yara: "Blossom, maybe you can help me. It's kind of like... aagh, okay." [00:08] 4Saskia: "Where's Olin, Ir?" [00:09] 4Saskia: "Where's Olin, and Nattan, and, Gull, and, and, Roy? Where's Akos?" [00:09] 7Blossom puts a hand on Azula's shoulder. "Let her speak." [00:09] 13Ying: "How did I get here?" [00:09] 4Ir whispers something too soft to hear. [00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, Yara's gesturing at the parts of the room that aren't webbed over, and covered, instead, with elaborate maps, diagrams, and calligraphy. "It's... fate. It's the pattern spiders. I'm not sure where to begin. Um... okay." [00:10] 4Saskia: "NO!" [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12She waves at all of you. "You're all-" 12Then she pauses, wincing at Saskia. [00:10] 6Tatsuya: "..." [00:11] 4Saskia: "THEY CAN'T BE DEAD!" [00:11] 6Hoo boy. [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara edges around the side of the room, stopping near Tatsuya. She whispers to him, while looking at Saskia: 14"Who is she?" [00:13] 4Saskia: "That means I'm -- I --" [00:13] 6Tatsuya: "...no idea. Concerning. I'm concerned," 6he whispers back. [00:13] 4Ir sweeps Saskia into her arms as the pride of the Heavenswatch breaks down. [00:13] 13Ying, also whispering: "What does that mean?" 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei has to look away. [00:14] 7Both Realm firebrands are equally baffled. [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12It's funny how no one knows. In here, subjective time seems to equal narrative time - when you sail for hours or days from one time or place to another, it just... passes, without really containing the intervening seconds or minutes in which you might have, say, chatted over some tea. [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara looks between Shosei and Blossom. "Should... should I wait?" [00:17] 4Ir, her voice quiet and sad: "Do it." 15[00:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei's back is to everyone. "Just get it over with!" [00:18] 7Cathak Azula: "I AM TIRED OF WAITING--" [00:18] 4Ir presses her forehead to Saskia's. "I will never forget you. I will never forget you. I love you. I'm sorry. I'll never forget you." [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Um. Right. We asked the pattern spiders inside the boy, inside Choto, how they got that way. You know, what went wrong and how to fix it." [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "In response, they..." 12She waves her hand. "I think they can't talk any other way, and also, it's a punishment. They're kind of vindictive. So they just sort of... showed us what happened, over and over. Mostly to you. Er, mostly to me, via you." [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I think that long ago, I killed someone I shouldn't have. Someone with a powerful destiny. And that destiny, and all the spiders that were part of it, keep trying to remake it, over and over again, but it keeps fraying apart because of how it happened." [00:23] 13Ying: "I don't get it." 6Tatsuya: "I do." [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "So they sort of... take the remains of whoever was supposed to fulfill that destiny, and combine it with whoever fits the bill next best, and it iterates..." 12She gesturs to her calligraphy. "I've been trying to put it together. Except there's something else. Some monster or demon that's been taking advantage of the break." [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12gestures* [00:25] 4The rest of Ir and Saskia's conversation is hushed whispers. 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei turns around. "Okay seriously, what is a pattern spider." [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Oh. I mean, I shouldn't really..." 12she looks around. "Ah, heck. Okay so there's a Loom of Fate. Like actually, I've seen it." [00:26] 13Ying: "There's a what?" [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "It's in Heaven. It's where destiny comes from. All the threads, they sort of represent and constitute... happening-ness. It's really important because it's not just like who's gonna win a war. It's like, if Lookshy wins a war against Thorns then the result is that Lookshy's flag flies in Thorns and not vice versa. It makes stuff make sense." [00:28] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom: "Cause and effect." [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "The Five Maidens weave the big stuff. Some of the little stuff they leave to us. But the actual mechanics, the basics that let everything else work, that's taken care of by the pattern spiders. They're little gods made of starmetal that spin and weave and crawl all over the Loom's threads." [00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Getimians contain pattern spiders. I saw some crawling around Choto. I think theirs are... crazy, or diseased, or something. Definitely some of the ones I've seen around here are. But I've been making sense of them, a little..." 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "So what next? What thread are we following now?" [00:32] 6Tatsuya: "I don't understand how that explains," 6he gestures to his ghostly self. [00:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara, to Tatsuya: "Well, how did you get that way? Tell me what you saw." [00:33] 6Tatsuya: "Well, uh, you attacked me, which would've been fine, except -- I didn't get away. I think I was supposed to. I just - you know." 6He shrugs. "Figured it'd happen eventually. Just doesn't seem like it was supposed to." [00:33] 13Ying: "That's a weird thing to think. Why are you like this?" [00:34] 6Tatsuya: "Natural talent." [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Exactly. It wasn't supposed to happen. You were supposed to go on and do all kinds of stuff. But you didn't." 12She paces a bit. "Normally that kind of problem would be, well, ours to fix. We'd have to do all the stuff you were supposed to do or something." [00:35] 13Ying: "Wait, if he was supposed to do that stuff then what about me? What does any of this have to do with me?" [00:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "But in here, it's like your fate had a mind of its own. It... remembered you, and kind of nailed what you were supposed to be with someone else close to you, or like you, or something. What's your relation to Ying, anyway? I never see the two of you together-" [00:35] 6Tatsuya vanishes from view. [00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara frowns to herself and looks around at the rest of you. 15[00:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei, to Ying: "I told you." [00:37] 4Saskia, finally, stands, hugs Ir one more time, and steps away. With an almost-even voice: "What do we need to do to make this right?" [00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Anyway, it took Tatsuya's... memory? His ghost? And kept it going as best it could. Which is weird. It's not the kind of thing the spiders are supposed to do or even be able to do." [00:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "We need to either bring the spiders to heel, or resolve whatever's bugging them. This isn't actually about any of you, after all. It's... it's my fault, but it's centered on that boy. Choto." [00:39] 13Ying: "You did tell me. Shoot." [00:39] 13That was to Shosei. [00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Or, not, not even him - his predecessor, and that one's predecessor. The beginning of that particular Getimian's entire legacy. The mistake that I made in my last incarnation." [00:40] 7Cathak Azula: "I wanted to kill him, but he died before I could even get my hands on him. A heart attack, I think. So you're saying I should have been able to kill him? Or him me?" [00:41] 7The others probably don't know who she's talking about. [00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara looks to Azula. "Er... more details?" 15[00:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "You're saying we have to kill that assassin." [00:43] "Wu Zheng. The tax assessor. He was corrupt and a thief. I was going to arrest him, but he would never have gone quietly. But instead of fighting, he just... died." [00:43] 13Ying: "...and that was a bad thing?" [00:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I bet it wasn't a heart attack. I bet a poison, or an Unseen Thread from a few yalms out. Every mistake in here that this place corrects, it's all because someone died who shouldn't have." [00:44] 13Ying: "Wait, but - I just woke up here. It was fine and normal and nothing went wrong -- what's my mistake?" [00:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara looks thoughtfully at Shosei. "Maybe. ...but then what if he wasn't supposed to die? I'm sure he's at the heart of it though. He must have killed someone or something at the wrong time." [00:44] 7Azula snarls at Ying. "What would YOU know ABOUT--" 7Excessively Righteous Blossom holds her back and shakes her head apologetically at Sunlit-Dreaming Ying. 15[00:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "Who was the person you got the spiders from? Maybe someone connected to him?" [00:45] 4Saskia, tremulously: "I think we know what the mistake is on my part." [00:45] 13She shrinks back. "Nothing! I'm sorry!" [00:45] 4Ir looks at the ground. [00:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I don't know where to find Choto's forebears. But I do know where to find mine." 12She points up at the ceiling. "He - I - was called Black Ice Shadow and he took his orders from even above the Bier, sometimes." 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "Oh, come on." 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "We're never going to beat someone with a name that cool!" [00:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Well, I should think not. He was a master! ...which is why it's so worrying he died on assignment." 15[00:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "On assignment where?" [00:48] 4Saskia: "Black Ice is already invisible. Shadow is a redundant. He's a punk." [00:49] *is redundant [00:49] 13Ying: "Also, given the--" 13she gestures around. "Did he die on assignment? Or is that another spider thingy?" [00:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I don't know. I can't remember. I've tried! All that comes up is somewhere cold - probably the north, or some mountains on the Isle - and blackness." 12She points. "But you can move through time, here. Have you noticed? We're in the past right now." [00:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara pauses and looks to Ying. "He actually did. Nineteen years ago, the moment I was born. Of course, even that might not've been his destiny." [00:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "But anyway, if you're in the past now, maybe you can go farther. Maybe you can go to Yu-Shan and learn his last assignment. Or, or go farther and learn the assignment he took that got him entangled with Choto's preincarnation!" 15[00:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "Can't we just follow your threads back? One of them must connect." [00:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara nods. "Right. I've been up there. And I've been him. If you start with me..." [00:52] 13Ying: "That's - I mean, half of us don't even know why we're here!" 13She looks to Saskia for confirmation. 15[00:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "We're not going to figure it out standing here." [00:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara looks to Ying. "It must be because you're connected to Tatsuya. And her to Ir. The spiders decided you were fit to carry on their destiny." [00:53] 4Saskia nods, but her eyes are distant. [00:53] 4She can guess. 15[00:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei looks back at Octavian. "Doesn't speak highly of my destiny, does it?" [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara eyes Shosei oddly for a moment, then looks up to Octavian and then over to the Blossom that hovers over Azula. "You're all... you're sort of, you don't remember all you should, do you?" 15[00:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "How would we know what we should remember." [00:55] 7Impatiently: "How would I remember what--" [00:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara shrinks back. "Eep! I- yes, I know, I'm sorry!" 15[00:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei looks at Azula. [00:55] 4Ir: "You should have the answers. These are your spiders." [00:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "They're not mine! Well... well I sort of guess these are." 12If anyone's using the appropriate magic, they actually will see pattern spiders - a few little shiny ones, and larger ones the size of rodents or cats - crawling around on the walls behind Yara, occasionally stopping to stare at her. "In the sense that I'm responsible for them. But I'm not like Choto." [00:57] 4Ir: "Then they are your people's." [00:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "What I am, is stuck here until I can compute the appropriate horoscopes to help normal pattern spiders start fixing this mess. Maybe you can help...? But either way, I think you have to find Choto's spiders - not the ones overseeing me, and not the gross broken ones that keep crawling out of the walls." [00:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "And those will probably be wherever Black Ice Shadow killed Choto's first incarnation." [00:59] 4Saskia: "Fine." [00:59] "One last ballad." [01:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Just watch out. The other Getimian is here somewhere, messing with things. I don't know what it wants." [01:04] 4Ir: "I know what it needs." [01:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Hopefully it'll get it... next week. 14[01:18] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[05:09] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:12] * Joins: Zarick 14[06:30] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:00] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:06] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:15] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:37] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[11:55] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:15] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:29] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[16:32] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:39] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:47] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[23:34] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[23:39] * banana|peels is now known as banana Session Time: Sun May 13 00:00:00 2018 14[00:26] * Joins: tom 14[00:32] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[03:40] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Quit: ) 14[04:32] * Joins: dammitwho 14[05:57] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:52] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[12:19] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:34] * Joins: cbass 14[14:10] * Joins: Crion_ 14[14:13] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:20] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[21:07] * Joins: VoxPrime Session Time: Mon May 14 00:00:00 2018 14[00:36] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:20] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:36] * Joins: Crion 14[01:47] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. 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Let him know that the Council is of one mind, bent towards one goal, and not a passel of feuding provosts for him to toy with." 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "Ain't we, though?" 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> A low groan. Possibly Kratz? [20:19] 14Stranger:"We will interview him as the Council sees fit. The full group seems appropriate." [20:19] 14Stranger: "We will interview him as the Council sees fit. The full group seems appropriate." 15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Outside the hall, Xu Sim is left to entertain two of the three delegates from Thorns. The larger and uglier of them bears down on the physician now. "So! I have heard you plan to draw the thistle down. But how?" [20:23] 14Stranger: "I'm fine with doing it right now, if Apple Baillie has been made aware of the circumstances." [20:23] "If not, this afternoon is sufficient." 15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Udelph agrees. "It's either that or the Governor's presentation." 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Another low groan, this one scattered around the room. Maybe from Xia Lan...? [20:26] 13That's a private matter, of course, and I'll thank you not to comment on it. In any case, she's here for... whatever it is. [20:27] 5Xu Sim smiles politely. "Nexus is the greatest trade city in the world! And, with the right resources, I believe there is precious little that is now beyond my reach. And, thanks to the diligent work of my comrades, the resources are proving right." 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "In the mean time, where are we with the river gods? Have our Emissaries made overtures?" [20:32] 14They damn well should have. [20:34] 14Stranger: "We have. It hasn't gone well." [20:35] 14He grimaces. "But I haven't devoted my full attention." [20:35] 13Xia Lan: "We can... shift priorities," 13she says, carefully. [20:37] 14More bluntly: "I can spend time being the absolute boy for them, if that's the best outcome that we need." 15[20:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "I'm pushing like hell to get another grain barge or two into the port before the shit starts flying but nobody wants to raft the Yanaze when the gods are ducking their jobs. Rainy season's coming up and those sumbitches are gonna wash us out whether or not the raksha get us." 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "Your comrades? Do you mean your illustrious peers, or perhaps your newfound friends in Lookshy?" [20:39] 14Stranger stares at the Governor. [20:39] 14Then, to Thalevar: "Grain can be handled." [20:41] 5Xu Sim stares at the Governor, then glances to Scion and back. "I think the Seventh Legion was, somehow, even more enthusiastic about Thistledown's prospects than you are, Governor." 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "They do so love their toys, Mr. Sim." 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "It better be, cause if our plan is to bunker up with those freaks out of Thorns growing weird shit in the Undercity then--" 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Ephiselle: "Is that the Governor's proposal? I could scarcely understand the man. Always had his mouth full." [20:45] "Well, as you said before, we all have our diversions," 5notes the sorcerer. [20:46] 13Xia Lan does sigh, this time. [20:46] 14Stranger: "The Undercity needs to be surveilled. For the Emissary." [20:47] 14Stranger: "So I suppose our position on that, officially, is fuck them if they can't take a joke." [20:47] 14He grimaces again. "I'll be down there tomorrow." 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle: "But a joke at whose expense? If Thorns is expecting us to front the costs of, of spores or what have you then we must reject it." 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "You would be more at ease if he eagerly supplied his own? Remember well the last man who walked into this room bearing gifts." 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> There's an awkward silence. [20:51] 13...nothing much to say to that, no. 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> People in the Council chambers can hear a "HA!" boom even through the heavy door. 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "HA! So we do, Mr. Sim. So we do." 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> For almost the first time since Xu Sim arrived, Seven speaks. "Governor, I believe they're almost ready for us. Should we fetch the briefing books?" [20:55] 14Stranger's smile almost turns mean before he turns to look at the chamber doors. "We should do something about that." [20:56] 13Here's hoping for a bland, unexciting presentation with no surprises. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "Yes, I think you're right. Well! This is exciting. Come along." He grabs the Scion by the wrist but freezes, looking down at her hand. [20:57] 14Stranger: "In fact, I'll welcome them in. Xia Lan has full authority for the seat." [20:57] 14He 'wanders' straightwards towards the door. 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "...wait here, to explain my absence should I become delayed." [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Yes, Keldar is there, too. He hasn't had much to say about the river gods, as he's been more preoccupied with the task of properly surveying the undercity. Unless asked something, he's been doing some mental (and more on-paper) math as to guard patrols and entry points. 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "Of course." 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor trundles out. [21:00] 5Xu Sim steps forward before the Governor leaves, to take a closer look at Seven's tremors. He eyes the Governor as he does so. [21:01] 14Is he walking through when Stranger opens the staid and comfortable door to the palazzo's chamber? 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Hurriedly, Seven pressing a wrapped bundle into Xu Sim's hand, large and heavy and square, a book or a thin box. Then the door opens. 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "Emissary. The Governor will return momentarily, he's gone to see that your briefing papers are in order." [21:04] 14Stranger glances from Xu Sim to Seven. Then: "I see." [21:04] 5 Xu Sim takes the box under an arm. "Scion. Is everything else in order? Anything else I can do for you before your presentation?" 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Scion: "Just... keep an open mind. We really have worked very hard on this." [21:06] 14Okay. [21:07] "Of course," 5Xu Sim replies. [21:08] 14Stranger still doesn't trust her. [21:10] 14Any god might be fake, but the truth isn't. [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar interlaces his fingers and gives the presenters an even stare. [21:13] 13Xia Lan is positioned in her chair primly, face betraying nothing. 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor returns with a stack of books under his arm, bows to Stranger, and lets him decide who enters the room first. Once everyone's in, the Governor will help the Scion to a seat and then lay books out in front of all the Councilors. The Councilors have already received all this information in precis, so this is just more exhaustive (and illustrated!) documentation. [21:16] 14The Governor walks in first, then Stranger, then the retinue. [21:17] 14He'll indicate that Xu Sim should assist the Scion, especially if this asshole is playing her for points. 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "Ladies and gentlemen, I will be brief. We are disastrously ill-prepared for a medium or long-term conflict. Nexus is more easily fortified than it may appear at first glance, but the logistics of quartering and feeding three million souls, caring for them - nevermind the additional burdens of the war wounded and whatever prisoners or survivors we recoup from the raksha - is all but beyond our capacity now, in peacetime. Nexus will fall, and all of our toil will come to nothing, if we are inadequately prepared." [21:21] 14Stranger: "'We?'" 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "We!" 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "All of us. We will all fail, and we will all fall." [21:22] 14Stranger: "You won't." 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "If I may go on. To this end we have drawn up a plan for converting the Undercity into a self-sustaining city-scaled bunker. Despite its size and complexity, the Undercity has comparatively few and easily-defended points of ingress, and owing to its size and complexity it is incredibly resistant to direct invasion. It is the ideal location to house civilians, stage infirmaries, and ride out the invasion." [21:24] 14Stranger: "I don't think so. My argument is based on escape." [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's still listening quietly - and attentively, to his credit. He has a few questions percolating but he wants to hear the whole pitch first. [21:25] 13Xia Lan is attempting to follow along with the Governor's speech and paging through the plans, though she is no engineer... [21:26] 14Stranger: "There is no ability to leave the Nexus Underground except inside of Nexus. This is an intended consequence of the design." [21:26] 14Stranger: "If the top-level is conquered, the bottom level must follow via logic or spite. There is no defense here." [21:27] 5Xu Sim drums his fingers on the table as Stranger interrupts. [21:27] 14Stranger: "Bunkers exist only to be failure states." 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "Hold your questions, please, if you would. If you check the maps on pages sixteen through twenty-four, you'll see a proposal for temporarily re-zoning the Undercity to allow for mass housing, medical treatment, and farming. Because of the underground climate, we're confined to plant and animal growth that isn't dependent on sunlight. This mixture of subterranean animals and fungal life can support a full population's nutritional needs." [21:28] 14Stranger: "Bunkers exist only to be failure states." [21:28] "We heard you the first time," 5notes Xu Sim. [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar waves vaguely to his side. "Hang on, I wanna hear the end." [21:30] 14Stranger sits down. 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor goes into some detail about the specific mixes of mushrooms and moles and their various applications, as well as pointing out the largest areas and some solutions to the inevitable sanitation problems. "...and so we submit this as a plan-of-action to minimize civilian losses in the prospect of a siege. At this stage I would be grateful for comments and questions." [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar leans forward immediately. "I can't remember where I heard this, but don't bunkers exist only to be failure states?" 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "It has been said." [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Seriously, though, he's got a point. Doesn't this presume we lose the, uh, overcity?" [21:39] 13Xia Lan keeps reading over the plans and pursing her lips. This is... far outside her realm of expertise, and other than a natural disinclination to trust the Governor of Thorns, she's unsure how to proceed from here. 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "Not at all. It merely assumes that - as we've seen from our intelligence briefings - keeping large civilian populations above-ground will leave them vulnerable to a larger swath of the invading forces. Siege engines, assault by air, and so forth. The bombardment of a populated Nexus could easily result in hundreds of thousands of casualties, even if our position is strong." [21:40] 5Xu Sim pours through the documents, absentmindedly twisting his moustache between his forefinger and thumb. [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So the city proper's a barracks and staging area - a fort, basically - and it's got the advantage that it's fed from below instead of from outside." 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "Just so, Mister Keldar!" [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar draws a few circles on the table before him with a finger. "We're talkin' about a pretty big cost in terms of manpower, right? How much... tilling or whatever 'til we can actually plant and grow enough mushrooms to feed the city?" 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "It's a large project, though the lion's share of the labor is comparatively simple. Nexus has a strong labor base, even with conscription. There are large populations of people in the Undercity already, many of whom are unfit for or skeptical of military service. We anticipate three weeks of labor, assuming that local authorities are able to manage the project effectively. And of course these solutions are all devised in full respect of local religious practice." [21:51] <@Ferrinus> "Even with volunteering, you mean," 12says Keldar with apparent earnestness. "But that'll be tricky. Plenty of communities and markets and such down there - buying plot after plot 'til we've got room for mushroom fields, and for hospitals, and suchlike could be a pain in the ass." [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But, I mean, if we're in it for the long haul, making sure our food stores are self-replenishing and not in the field of battle's just good sense. Thing is, I don't intend to be in it for the long haul. Suppose we used all that manpower on... higher walls? Extra catapults? Whatever else helps us crush them in the field, straight up and straight away?" [21:54] 5Xu Sim: "The fortifications are quite effective, Governor. You've done commendably. You've been well-schooled." 5He takes a tiny charcoal pencil and begins marking up the diagrams, noting areas of improvement. [21:54] 13Xia Lan, still lost in diagrams: "Preferable, I think -- though maybe optimistic...?" 13She looks up to him. "You're the expert, here - could we do such a thing?" [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar rocks back in his chair, which is a dangerous move for a man wearing that much orichalcum. Still, he gets away with it. "Mmmmmmm... nah. Maybe if they were nice enough to come at us one at a time. We need a larder." [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "If Xu Sim and his people sign off on the technical stuff and our officials oversee and direct the actual labor, I'm behind it." [22:00] 5Xu Sim continues making marks on each page of the diagrams. "I would suggest these alterations, though... And as for the list of mushrooms -" 5He licks a finger and unfurls the next page, scanning the list carefully, making a check mark next to each one - "They are entirely acceptable." [22:01] 13Xia Lan: "I'm sympathetic to Stranger's view, but... these are desperate times. And we are, as you say, vastly outnumbered..." 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "Alterations?" [22:05] "Yes," 5notes the doctor - "in a number of areas, we are able to simplify the necessary construction without sacrificing defensive capability. A little more efficiency in your designs, which, like I said, certainly demonstrate the depth of your education on the matter." 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "Mmm. A valuable insight." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "What about the rivers?" 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "Hmm?" 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "The river gods are still bucking. How safe's the Undercity if we can't trust the rivers?" 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "It isn't. Nothing in Nexus is safe if we can't count the river gods as allies. Or subjects, I suppose." 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Gen: "Subjects?" 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor grins toothily. "If the gods prove disobedient... there is a Wyld Hunt in the city, after all." [22:12] 13Xia Lan, interrupting: "As allies. The Emissary has already agreed to work on that front." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "Then there is no problem." [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's looking over maps and charts himself now, taking note of every point of ingress into the undercity. They'll have to be fortified. 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> There are plans for that! And it sounds like Xu Sim's improved them. [22:18] 5Xu Sim is happy to demonstrate but would prefer to take any in-depth questions outside the meeting. [22:18] 13It seems like we've covered approximately everything fit for public consumption at this point...? 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor just sits there expectantly. It takes the Scion to speak up and say, "If there are no further questions, then the Governor and I thank you for your consideration and will happily leave you to your deliberations." [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, for sure, but it'll probably be up to Keldar to select the guards and allocate the weapons and such. He's started sketching it out now, though he's keeping an ear out in case someone turns out to need force to deal with the river gods. 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Soon the room is empty save the Councilors. [22:22] 13If no one else takes it upon themselves: "Dismissed, thank you." 13She keeps her tone as warm as it can be under the circumstances. "We'll send for you, should we have any updates." [22:23] 5Are all the Emissaries on the Council? 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> They are, though there is only one vote between them. [22:23] 13Also, note that Keldar is the Dawn Sergeant now, and no longer an Emissary. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, like I said, I'm for it. We need to settle anything else?" 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Ephiselle: "We're not seriously..." [22:26] 5Xu Sim: "We are seriously." 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> She makes a small noise of disgust as she shuts the book. [22:27] 5Xu Sim, continuing - "Shadowlands can be produced by mass death in an area in a small amount of time. Right?" [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What? What's the problem? ...ooh, yeah, rest of you are gonna have to actually do the rezoning, eh? You got my condolences." 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Udelph: "It is so." [22:28] "We don't want that. Right?" [22:28] 13Xia Lan: "I'm not thrilled about it. I'm sure there's a catch, somehow, but... with what I know about, you know. The situation, and from what I can glean from the diagrams, and what Xu Sim has said..." [22:28] "...we need to do a full examination of the Undercity, I think, but if that's clean...?" 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Kratz: "I simply don't believe there is no ulterior motive here. There must be." [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I figure it's the same as helping us in the first place. Mask can't conquer the east if the east's a giant middlemarch." [22:29] 5Xu Sim sighs. "An itinerant monk walks past a farm one day and notices a pig with a wooden leg. Are you familiar with this story?" [22:30] "The short version is what Keldar just said," 5he explains. 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Gen: "The doctor is right." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Udelph: "Eh?" 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Gen: "The real doctor." [22:31] 5Xu Sim slowly turns his head to look directly at Gen. 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Udelph: "Oh. Oh, yes, I'm afraid so. It's not as if we can reject him just because we don't like his face." 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "We're all ugly here. Metaphorically speaking." [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hey- ah, sure." [22:33] 13Xia Lan declines to comment. [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods to Xia Lan. "But yeah, I'll run a sweep. Should be able to find time to pop down there personally for at least part of it." [22:36] "We don't have much time for extensive deliberations. Work will need to begin very soon if we want to keep the people safe." [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "First things to do'll be, like, zoning and spreading information, right? We can get that started straightaway and do a check at the same time." [22:41] "A check for what? They'd be foolish indeed to have already started sabotaging the Undercity _before_ calling our attention to it with this meeting." [22:41] 13Xia Lan: "We need to know what we're looking at first, before we begin cataloguing changes." [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Anything weird or that they've missed, best case scenario. I mean, you're actually smarter than the Governor, yeah?" [22:42] 13Xia Lan: "That's been made abundantly clear," 13she nods. [22:42] 5Xu Sim clears his throat. "I understand, and share, concerns about making use of the Thorns delegation's assistance. But it is not the first, and I suspect it shall not be the last, piece of our defenses which is bolstered by the dead." [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Anyway, I don't think we're in disagreement here. There's no reason for Xu Sim to slow down any of the actual work, and there's no reason that I can't dispatch some of the Dawn Guard to do our own assay - with either of you or even me along for the ride, if we like." 12Keldar nods to Xia Lan and Stranger, here. [22:44] 14Stranger: "I think it's a worthy investigation." [22:44] 13Xia Lan: "It's not distaste alone that makes me nervous. I'm not sure their benefits from having Nexus around match up with - their investments. Unless we're missing something, which we have to be, or else why are they here?" [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks to Xu Sim. "How's the story about the pig go, anyway?" [22:45] "So. Suspicion is the name of the game. And I look forward to being proved a dumb paranoid idiot who couldn't see the hand of a true friend extended when it was, ghoulish though it may look, so long as we can actually get through this." [22:48] "Ah. Well. The itinerant goes by again a season later and notices the pig has a second wooden leg. Two seasons, a third, three seasons, a fourth. A year later he finally asks the kulak who owns it why the pig has two wooden legs. The kulak explains - the pig is part of the family, it saved the kulak's daughter from drowning, it untangled his foot from his horse's stirrup when the horse [22:48] bolted, it was the greatest pig in the world." [22:48] *four wooden legs [22:48] "Irritated, the monk repeats his question - why does the pig have four wooden legs? The kulak answers: you don't eat a pig like that all at once!" 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Couple laughs. [22:49] "Ancient proverb." [22:49] "In any case, I would also point out one other detail." [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar snickers. [22:50] "The Mask of Winters is the overlord of Thorns, at whose orders the Juggernaut climbed out of the underworld, smote the legions of the satrap, and laid low the defenders of the city before plunging it into tyranny and so forth." [22:51] "The Mask of Winters is not in Nexus." [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I mean, neither is Lookshy high command. Although Juggernaut'd be a hell of an asset, I can't lie." [22:53] 13Xia Lan, to Xu Sim: "What are you suggesting?" [22:55] "We would be fools to trust Mask of Winters. But we don't have to trust Mask of Winters, we aren't being asked to do so." [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Still gonna have to figure out the neatest way to make sure all the Governor's forces are in front when the fae hit." 12He stands and stretches. "Anyway! We done here? Or am I gonna have to preside over a bunch of zoning Civilities?" [22:58] 13Xia Lan purses her lips at him, but says nothing. 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Udelph: "I think we're done for now. We'll recess for an hour; those of us with pressing business should attend to it, while those of us who can stay will meet with Mr. Baillie later." [23:01] 13No objections from this part of the Emissary. [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Then I've got an army to train. Have fun with the committee thing." 12He collects Terminus and heads out, walking briskly back to Nexus's central park while being briefed by his sergeants on the way as to any outstanding events with regards to crimestopping and civic order. [23:03] 5Xu Sim proffers the 'corrected' version of the plans to some sort of underling. "If I am not needed, I will take my leave," [23:03] 13Xia Lan: "Wait outside a moment, if you will? It'll be quick." 13She puts as much of a smile as she can manage behind that. [23:04] "Alright," 5sighs the alchemist. [23:06] 5 Xu Sim gets up and strides out; he pauses outside the doors to the chamber and peers around, looking for a private room. [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar pauses as he's leaving, turning to address... well, all three other Chosen, actually. "By the by, I meant that before - you're all martial artists, right? You want some practice, my troops need more experience fighting weird shit. Feel free to stop by." [23:08] 13Xia Lan: "...noted. I'm occupied for the day, but I'll see if I can make time." 13She'll be out shortly afterwards, looking for Xu Sim. Did he immediately rush off to a concealed room, or did he wait? [23:08] 14Maybe Stranger hasn't gotten punched or stabbed enough. [23:08] 5He waited. [23:09] 13Quietly, Xia Lan will say: "Let's go wherever you were headed - this isn't for prying ears." 13Gently: "No judgements, just... caution." [23:10] 14Stranger will just leave. [23:10] 5Xu Sim gives a skeptical look but gestures to an unused and empty room, if one is available. 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> There are plenty, it's a big palace and he's an Emissary. [23:14] "What do you need?" 5asks Xu Sim as he takes a closer look at the wrapped package. [23:15] 13Xia Lan: "So, we don't have to trust the Mask of Winters... how much do you trust the Scion of the Sevenfold?" 13It's mostly curiosity. She hasn't actually spoken with the Scion herself, afterall. "Is she independent of - her father? The Governor? Whatever his preferred title is." [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12It's war games for the rest of the day, back in the parko. In full regalia, but commanding men and woman with tipless spears and wooden practice swords, Keldar's pitting himself against his best commanders in what amounts to real-time, full-size Gateway. Tsuka ends to win these things if he isn't handicapped - where 'win' means 'do the best', since Keldar's contingent tends to play [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12the antagonist role. 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Beneath the wrapping Xu Sim finds a plain box of polished wood. [23:17] "He keeps her under surveillance, I can tell you that much." 5Xu Sim turns the box so Xia Lan can't see him peek at whatever is inside. 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> When he opens it he finds himself looking at a row of seven stoppered vials in cloth, packed firmly so they don't rattle or shift in the box. There's a card as well. [23:18] 5One should always start with the card, of course. [23:18] 13She doesn't bother looking. "So, do you trust him? Or... her abilities of evasion?" [23:20] "I think they're both sincere about wanting to save Nexus from Cethleann. I doubt they have much choice about it." 5That's not exactly an answer. [23:23] 13Xia Lan: "Then... let me know how it goes? Let us know, I guess. And if you want to take her out, consider this an invitation." 13She winks saucily at him before heading towards the door. Short pause: "I'm serious, though. We all trust your judgement - let us know, once we're all back home I guess." 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 'To Xu Sim-- Thank you for your most gracious gift at our last meeting. I enjoy it thoroughly, and I've found myself tinkering with it. Enclosed are a few steambreather cartridges of my own design. Tell me what you think when next we meet. -=7=-' [23:25] 13If Xu Sim doesn't stop her, she's out afterwards - she's got to track down this "Unfeathered Xia Lan" person, after all. [23:26] 13...condolences to Stranger, who seems to have been left holding the bag on the Council meeting. [23:27] 5Xu Sim turns red - rather impressive, Xia Lan, to do that to a man who spent a week living in a barrel of pickled fish - but he also fumbles for the steambreather and one of the new cartridges. He puffs his way out the building and back towards his own workshop. 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: The bird, the nerd, and the Final Word Session Time: Wed May 16 00:00:00 2018 14[01:30] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:10] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[03:09] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[10:06] * Joins: VoxPhone 14[10:10] * Quits: VoxPhone (Client exited) 14[11:37] * Joins: Crion 14[11:45] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:27] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:00] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:20] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:30] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Thu May 17 00:00:00 2018 14[00:27] * Joins: Crion 14[00:31] * Quits: Crion (Connection closed) 14[00:31] * Joins: Crion 14[00:52] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:19] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:58] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. 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You're at the top floor of a recreation of Yara' tower, in which Yara herself is working through an elaborate series of astrological calculations that, to most of you, are nearly unintelligible. A cold wind is dimly audible howling around the memories of ice that encase the memory of this tower. [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12You've all faced the corrosive, probability-devouring power of the other Getimian, now, and you feel as if you'll be ready to deal with it again, if it becomes necessary. [20:30] 4Things haven't really calmed down for Saskia and Ir. But they're facing it with a bit more muster than they were before. [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara's yarn-and-silk diagrams, elaborately arranged prayer strips, and scattered astrological charts do, for some reason, catch Blossom's attention. Even now that Azula's anima has died down, Excessively Righteous Blossom's eye for order and organization remains, and the Dragon-Blooded woman can see her own name appear repeatedly all around the room. But it looks like it's been [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12positioned incorrectly... [20:33] 7How so? [20:34] 13Ying's pacing back and forth nervously, still not piecing the full picture together. I mean, everything's sort of been off-kilter this whole time, but... if that were... but then... 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei's sitting on a little Yara-sized stool. He looks ridiculous, knees up to his chest, but it lets him put his head in his hands. This is too much. It's all too much. [20:35] 6Tatsuya's still in hiding, of course. [20:35] 4It's fine. For as long as it lasts, it's fine. [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Most of this is seatongue to Azula, but the bits that pertain to her are crystal clear. There's some kind of massive audit going on - an attempt to reconcile disparate, mutually-exclusive histories pertaining to Choto Chodari and all his interactions with the circle. It looks like mistake after mistake has been discovered such that past histories have been called into question and [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12required audits of their own, and for as long as this goes unresolved time's ground to a halt. [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12But she can do something about it. It's plain that this connects to this, for instance, and that the value in box 33A here needs to be multiplied by that in 6F... [20:39] 7The painful clenching of her jaw loosens, slightly. Muscles used to being tensed complain as they relax. There's been a mistake. Finally, somebody recognizes that there's been a mistake, and it's something she can fix. [20:41] 7Smiling slightly - gods, how long has it been since she's smiled? - she sits crosslegged in front of the largest clump of references to herself and begins to meditate upon the task before her. [20:52] 7A gentle heat surges across the platform, and Excessively Righteous Blossom surges into existence above Cathak Azula's head, crowning her in sunlit majesty. The Dynast begins to examine and correct paperwork, slowly at first, but gaining in speed until her body is nothing but a blur. Above her, the five-armed solar effigy of her truest self smoothly assumes a series of mudras that [20:52] 7are highly auspicious to the diligent official. Celestial music can be dimly heard emanating from her. 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "14whoa" [20:54] 13Ying: "!!" [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Heavenly power pulses through the tower. Yara works as fast as she can, but soon loses the ability to keep up and finds herself staring slack-jawed with the other Chosen and once-Chosen. [20:55] 4Saskia and Ir just stare. [21:07] 7As the blinding speed of the post-teen princess begins to slow, her anima figure too begins to sink down towards her, copying her gestures. Much of the work is still impenetrable to her, but there are a few errors she can reconstruct by reference. This memory-set is improperly aligned, a form with the King of Heaven's seal and signature hasn't been processed... it's the work of a [21:07] 7moment. [21:08] 7The music fades, as does her anima. She opens her eyes, glowing a brilliant yellow for a moment, before they too darken to the gold of Cathak. Her face is no longer twisted with anger, but drawn and pensive. [21:08] "That's a start, anyway." [21:09] 4Saskia and Ir have been humming harmonies along for...it's hard to tell how long. [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Annotate this, checkmark that, strike this through, sum this column, divide this row... and, finally, one last signature and date. Blossom stands in the center of the room in a blaze of divine fire, reintegrated and perfected. A dragon of blue fire spirals out from where she stands, sweeping through the room. [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12It plunges through Ying's forehead, and as it rushes past a crackle of cool flame within the young woman's mind reveals to her her true history. She's still Ying, embodied and alone - but now she understands exactly why the ghost of Tatsuya clings so closely to her. [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12It dives into Shoesei's heart and out of the sorcerer's back, and carries with it all the infirmities of age and mortality. Blue and gold flames erupt around the Gymnasium luminary, and the sign of the setting sun sears itself into his brow. It doesn't feel like receiving the Second Breath, but like remembering something that'd nearly escaped you. [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Shosei's* [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Finally, the dragon yawns its jaws wide, and bites down so as to completely obscure the extremely alarmed Yarara Yara. When the Chosen of Destiny stumbles out of the flames, something else stumbles the other direction, briefly separated by the last shreds of Blossom's anima. Turning around, Yara finds herself faced with a dark, lean figure with glowing violet eyes who hangs upside [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12down in the air as though from a network of unseen threads. [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12The shade of Black Ice Shadow leaps towards her, but Yara gasps with some hidden realization drawn from a single knowing look on Blossom's part. She leaps forward too, dodging inside the Shadow's superior reach and then striking his face, chest, and abdomen with a flurry of vicious finger strikes akin to those that the Shadow unleashed on Octavian not long ago. [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12The Sidereal ghost dissolves into sizzling darkness which drips down onto the floor, following out from behind until it's just his glowing eyes and caste mark that mirror Yara's own. When the Sidereal you know turns around, even that vestige is gone from the air behind her - but her own features glow with the same radiance. "I... I..." 12She stares down at her own hands. [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12In a reverent whisper: "I know Charcoal March." [21:18] 7Blossom, almost involuntarily: "Show me." [21:19] 4Oh. [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara settles slowly into a combat stance, one foot sliding back as the other grinds its heel into the web-carpeting. She raises her hands, one forward and one to the side. Then she raises two more hands, one to the other side and one back. Then she raises two more hands, clasped before her. Her body hasn't changed - she's just adopted a bizarre, shuffling rhythm that makes it impossible [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12to tell exactly which set of limbs is real and what she's doing with them. 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei stumbles onto the floor on his hands and knees, hair falling around his face. For a moment there's the image of a great ibis, blue and gold, settling upon his back, enfolding him in its wings, and then it's gone. He sits back on his knees, straightening his hair. Years of imagined stress and solitude slough off his face. The sorcerer's in his own world for a little while, golden eyes reflecting the pitless white sparks of the three spheres swirling around him. [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Hahaha! Eat SHIT, Stenzo! Look at this!" 12She clambers sideways up the wall, then sort of crawls upside down through midair. "This is incredible!" 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Yeah. Yeah okay. [21:21] 4This is fine. 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He looks up to Octavian, whose tusked face is hideous with fear and hate. "She knows the word Consumption." [21:22] 13Ying screams, quick and sharp, with the knowledge that spills into her, and crumples to her knees before springing back up and jabbing a finger to the chest of the suddenly-visible (and incredibly guilty-looking) Tatsuya. "You!" [21:22] 6Tatsuya: "Me." [21:23] 4Saskia straightens up. "So what--" 4Ir's voice joins her. "--are we doing..." 4Both Saskia and Ir pause, and Ir recedes. Alone, Saskia says: "Now?" [21:24] 4Saskia straightens up. "So what--" 4Ir's voice joins her. "--are we doing..." 4Both Saskia and Ir pause, and Ir recedes. Alone, Saskia says: "Now?" [21:24] 13Ying: "Why didn't you --" 13She breaks off. 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei: "We have to resolve the primary contradiction." [21:26] 4Ir, alone, sadly: "...Do we?" [21:28] 13Ying: "When we get out of here, we are -- we need to... augh!" 13She stomps her foot and turns directly away from him. "We do! We --" 13she considers Ir's question further, and comes out more subdued. "We do." [21:29] 4Eventually, Ir nods. [21:30] 4Saskia gently pushes Ir off her, steadies herself, then says to Yara: "This is new. How long can you sustain it?" [21:31] 6Pointedly looking away from Ying: "It looks difficult. You're pretty good." [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara, upside down: "Iiii'm not sure. Probably not so long. I should stop messing around." 12She drops neatly through a midair flip onto the ground and stops her weird three-ways shuffle. [21:32] 4Saskia, without too much judgment: "You should." [21:32] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom, newly remade, looks wistfully at Shosei. "Do you... know me?" [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Blossom, you've - I don't even know what to say. You've done me a HUGE help. I can finish the rest of this for sure. But you should still find Choto's own spiders. Mine still won't let me leave here." 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei looks up at her, then remembers his manners and stands up. "I wish I did. Do you know me?" [21:35] 7She reddens slightly, and pushes some hair out of her face. "Um... yeah," [21:36] 13Ying blushes too, but doesn't say anything. [21:38] 4Saskia stares blankly at him; Ir whirls around her. 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei gives her a funny look that falls away into red-cheeked surprise. "...oh! Well. We should press on. Whole future to get to." 08[21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara paces a bit. "Sailing to Yu-Shan will be tricky. But walking... ooh, ooh, watch this." 12She looks around, then kind of motions at a pair of you, seemingly chosen at random because of where you're standing. "Um, Ir, Eikichi - move over a little bit? ...a little more." [21:44] 4Saskia steps away. Ir follows. [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Once you've cleared the space, Yara leans back into a stretch, then forward into a crouch, then BOOM-crackcrackcrack [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12She's leapt across the room so fast she may as well have teleported, landing on the opposite wall with a tiny punch so powerful it's shattered the stone and basically blown a massive hole out of the wall and ice behind it, revealing a vague sketch of past Crystal twinkling with foreign stars. [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Then she gestures rapidly and complicatedly, casting forth a tangle of sparkling threads from her fingertips that coalesce together into a bridge that leads upwards into the sky. 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shosei cocks his head in Yara's direction, still looking at Blossom. "She called me Eikichi. Does everyone do that?" [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Hahahaha! I mean, ahem, try this way." [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "If you focus on my past and stay on the threads it should get you back to where you need to be." [21:47] 7Blossom: "That's your name...?" [21:47] 4Ir: "Not everyone." [21:48] 13Ying: "Um, yeah, what else would --" 13She turns and glares at the invisible shape where Tatsuya used to be. 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "...I guess it is." 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "If we're all Anathema, is going to your memory of Heaven going to get us attacked on sight?" [21:48] 7She belatedly turns her head back towards Yara and gives a brief smattering of applause. That move was pretty cool. [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "That's the good part. You're going to be my memory. The Shadow's memory, actually." [21:49] 4Saskia: "Getting attack on sight is my li--....my existence, now." [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Just... act natural?" [21:49] 4Saskia: "Great." 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oh, don't say that." [21:50] 13Ying: "Um..." [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara thanks Blossom a few more times before returning to her work. The webbed path to Yu-Shan awaits. [21:57] 7Blossom cracks her knuckles and steps on the webbed path. Time to solve this once and for all. [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara's road of webbing spirals through the air. It doesn't simply arc into the sky, as one might expect; instead, it loops the city before arcing downward somewhere to the giant glacier's near west, where a lonely arch of stone stands on a frozen plain. [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Your timing, it seems, is impeccable - suns and moons and stars wheel with impossible speed overhead, signifying the reverse passing of weeks and years, and at the moment your Circle crosses the archway's threshold it blazes to life as a celestial gate. 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Where is this archway? 08[22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not far to Crystal's west - Eikichi could probably figure it out later. Anyway, you find yourselves walking through a tunnel of golden metal. Ahead of you is some kind of creature, a huge lion of orichalcum. 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Showy. Eikichi finds that he respects that. [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12It sniffs at you, then lets you pass. The four (seven?) of you realize that, between you, you've only got one shadow. It's cast from the feet of whoever's walking in front, and belongs to a tall, spare man with spiky hair. [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara's threads twinkle before you, and guide you through a rough sketch of what must be Heaven. Perhaps the forces creating the world around you have a hazier picture of the place, or are getting tired - there's a sky that glows with celestial energies, towering pagodas and pavilions, rivers of gold and silver, but it's hard to lock onto details. [22:06] 13Ying's been stomping behind whoever's leading the way, gradually falling into a more normal walk as they travel. She resists the urge to pet the lion. [22:06] 6Tatsuya, of course, is nowhere to be seen. [22:09] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom simply walks as though she belongs there, which is easy, because that's how she walks all the time. 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi walks as though he belongs here, which is easy, because he does. [22:10] 4Ah. [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12You're whisked across the city on a barge, then an aerial rickshaw. A gloomy, sepulchural building looms in the distance, one that's cloaked in shadow even despite the image of the sun that burns in the sky above. You approach it dutifully. [22:13] 4Saskia: "So this is Heaven." [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12...but then turn aside? Surely such a place is where you're meant to be, but, instead, the memory of Black Ice Shadow howevermany years in the past wends its way around this place, ducking through several alleys and up flights of stairs until you find yourselves pushing a paper wall aside to join a small circle of people sitting cross-legged around a floating orb of glass. [22:14] 4Saskia: "Ah. So this is Heaven." [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Most of their faces are hooded or wrapped. "You're here. Have a seat." 12An empty spot is gestured at. [22:15] 4Is there a seat for everyone, or is only one person expected to sit? [22:15] 7Blossom will stride forward and darned well have a seat, then. [22:16] 4Fair enoughy. [22:16] 4Fair enough. [22:16] 13Ying will hesitate - does anyone look at them as Blossom takes her seat? [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12There's only room for one of you, it looks like. The rest end up sort of enfolded in Blossom's shadow from the light cast by the orb - you're not sure what would happen if you strayed too far. [22:18] 4Saskia will try to stray too far. [22:18] 4What's the worst that can happen? Death? [22:19] 13Well... [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12One of the figures: "We've narrowed down Thulio's next move." 12He waves at the sphere, within which a cloudy image appears, then resolves. Blossom, and those looking over her shoulder, can see... well, it looks like a huge mass of multicolored threads, constantly winding around or folding over each other. [22:19] 13...too soon? [22:19] 4Specifically, she'll attempt to walk around behind whoever is directly across from where this 'Blossom' sits down. [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12They look to Blossom expectantly. Erm... 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi stands behind Blossom, arms folded. Octavian stands behind Eikichi, arms folded. [22:27] 13Ying's hopping from foot to foot nervously, behind Octavian. 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's lips are almost against Blossom's ear as he whispers. "This is the Loom of Fate. Mark that thread there? That's the future of an ordained Chosen of Saturn. This Thulio is tampering with it... stealing a destiny that belongs to the Maidens." [22:28] 4Haha. The Foom of Late. [22:28] 13She turns her head away. [22:28] 13...too intimate. 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "They're expecting Yara's antecedent to clean it up." [22:30] 7Blossom, smoothly and confidently: "I'll handle it." [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Another robed figure leans in a bit. "Would Saturn not see this as an affront?" [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12The first: "More of an affront than the initial tampering? We're fixing this." [22:32] 7Is he asking her? [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12In fact, both do turn to you. Presumably, the real Black Ice Shadow was on one of these sides and convinced the other... or was, instead, convinced? [22:33] 4Is Saskia in position enough to be an asshole here. 14[22:34] * Quits: dammitwho (Connection closed) 14[22:35] * Joins: dammitwho [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12That depends on what that means. Presumably you could kind of lean in and try to take Blossom's place to be the 'face', or maybe poke or kick people, but it's unclear what consequence that would have on your charade. [22:40] 4Saskia will defer to Blossom, but if Blossom wants her to get loud, loud she will get. [22:44] 7Blossom leans in. "Why? This is quite literally our job. Someone is interfering with the Loom of Fate. We correct it, so that Creation runs smoothly again. Who could blame us for acting in an upright manner?" 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She's got this. [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12The first speaker: "Just so. The Maidens are surely prepared for mishap in the process of exaltations. A few lost decades are nothing if we can nip this in the bud." [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12The figure next to him: "Hrm. Makes sense, I suppose." 08[22:49] 13Ying elbows Eikichi and - Saskia, pointing out three of the assembled circle. The most... real? She whispers: "I think they're caught up in this, somehow?" [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Someone else: "...very well. I can help you in the targeting, then. That thread-" 12She taps the glass a few times. "It's being spun in the northeast. Halta. You have perhaps a year before the poisoned exaltation takes." [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12A scroll is passed down the circle until it ends up in Blossom's hands. It's a detailed map. 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Something about that big guy instinctively rubs Eikichi the wrong way, but he can't place it and it's not important so he banishes the feeling somehow. It does mean that he looks angry when he turns to acknowledge Ying, and say, "Decision-makers. They're agreeing to send Yara's antecedent to what turns out to be his doom." [22:50] 13There's a neatly bearded, elderly man; a much stronger, wilder bearded man; and a disagreeable tanned woman, if they can look closely. If they can't, Ying will describe them appropriately. [22:51] 13Ying: "Is... that bad? This is how it has to happen, right?" 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The smaller old man seems utterly inconsequential. [22:51] 4Okay. 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Up to the point where we have to fix it, yeah. They're pointing us in the right direction, and this empress will lead us there." [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12The first figure: "We're decided, then. ...and we're counting on you. You'll report back once it's done, in the usual manner." [22:55] 13Ying: "...I hope whatever we need to fix is obvious. This stuff gives me a headache." [22:55] 7Blossom: "Yes. Is there anything else?" [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12First: "Just the usual: None of this leaves this room." [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12The orb goes dark and the meeting adjourns. The four of you have a map, now - and, bundled with it, an ink portrait so flawlessly detailed it looks like it could have been made by a machine of some kind. [23:01] 13Ying: "...this is still so weird. I mean, I get it now, but..." 13She shivers. [23:01] 6Tatsuya: "Yeah." [23:01] 7Blossom nods. "It's extremely weird." [23:01] 13Ying: "Still not talking to you." [23:01] 13That was to Tatsuya, not Blossom. [23:03] 4Saskia, from behind them: "We can do it." [23:03] 4To Ir: "Can we do it?" [23:03] 4Ir: "We can do it. [23:03] " [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12You turn away from the secret meeting, and disengage with this memory of Yu-Shan. With Saskia in the lead, you're able to forge to near the center of the heavenly city and out through the sorcerous gates that speckle it. [23:03] 4Ir and Saskia dance together along the waypath. [23:04] 4They only acknowledge the rest of the group, or someone who would deign to stop them. [23:05] 7Hopefully it'll become clearer what they need to do to 'resolve the contradiction'. [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Following the headings on the map Blossom was given, Saskia's able to zero in on a particular Haltan city. It's built, like all of the settlements in this area, around the trunks of massive trees, for the ground is unsafe for mortals to walk. Elaborate rings and walkways create a multi-tiered maze of wood and rope. [23:06] 4Saskia: "Here~" [23:07] 13Ying: "...I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't this." [23:08] 4Ir's voice echoes from across along distance: "You did know the theory, though, right?" [23:09] "'Fuck us if we can't take a joke.'" [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12You're looking for Gucho Chorowak, a powerfully-built blue-haired young man who's the son of local nobility. Saskia has brought the four of you to a long walkway above another long walkway, across which your target is walking with another man of about the same age. No one else is around - they're talking about their future plans. [23:10] 7Blossom: "So. Does anyone have a good idea of what is to be done here?" [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12There's suddenly a loud crack. The building to the far end of the walkway, affixed to one of the huge trees, suddenly sags and begins to slide down the length of the trunk, towards the ground. The argument between Gucho and whoever his friend is, growing increasingly acrimonious, is suddenly interrupted. Far below, there's a ripple of motion. [23:11] 4Saskia: "OKay." 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We have to stop Black Ice Shadow's target from dying. The Getimian's entire cycle is an attempt to reconcile that paradox." [23:12] 13Ying: "Do we still need to beat them up, or...?" [23:14] 7Does it look like the building is going to slide down and hit Gucho, or pull the walkway he's on down? [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12It's going to slide down and pull the walkway he's on down. Fortunately, his walkway is near another - he can easily leap to safety and escape this disaster. And disaster it is, because the floor of this great forest is overrun by ravenous fae; no one survives a trip to the ground, even if they break their fall somehow. [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Gucho's friend immediately breaks, dashing away from the falling house and to the safe end of the bridge. Gucho stares in betrayed shock, and whirls around to, instead, charge towards the house, presumably in an attempt to pull whoever's in there to safety! [23:18] 7Heroism! Blossom will herself charge forward to assist him! [23:19] 4Bad endings to stupid jokes. [23:19] 13Ying's just behind - can she even...? [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Around your own position, one level up, a faint darkness coalesces. A violet radiance that causes the sign of Saturn to flicker very faintly in the air right before your foreheads. There's a faint streak in the air, as though a hidden assassin were casting forth a thread of glistening webbing that would arc invisibly through the air and pierce Gucho's heart at this very mooment. [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12However, that doesn't happen - Blossom's written it out. [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Instead, you're free to help - unless you want to avoid interfering further entirely. [23:23] 7Blossom's going to help! [23:24] 4Saskia tells Ir: "I'm willing to die for this." [23:24] 4Ir tells Saskia: "I know." [23:49] 13Ying and Tatsuya collaborate - as the building collapses, they refuse to leave it all to this - this random fool. Sun only knows how well they did originally! And absent any evidence that they ought to hold back for the sanctity of the timeline -- Ying's already got two of them lined up near the exit before there's even a coherent thought against this. [23:50] 13There's a lot of dodging of sightlines, quick adjustments, et cetera -- but the fact remains: it shouldn't be hard to save these people. 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Saving other people was never the hard part. [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12As Blossom and Ying spring to action, a number of other things happen. The walkway Gucho and his friend were on shifts downward violently, catching on a second, perpendicular walkway but bucking and snapping violently on its far side such that Gucho's friend is hurled downward, screaming and cursing as his long hair whips in the wind. He falls barely a story before coming to a stop [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12- but, unfortunately, it's by being impaled on a snapped-off branch that's now sticking up through his chest. Gucho himself only notices as he comes back out of the falling house with two children in his arms and a young woman hurrying out behind him, but he's got no time to do anything about it - after shooing them onto a stable platform, he dives back inside to find the last few voices [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12he heard. [23:51] 4Huh. [23:51] 7Wordlessly, Excessively Rightous Blossom leaps from the walkway the Circle is clustered on, and runs from tree branch to tree branch, quickly outpacing Gucho in a red-and-black streak and positioning herself beneath the sliding building. Balanced perfectly on a single thin limb, she lets out a long breath, takes a knee, and raises her arms to the heavens to... catch the falling [23:51] 7building?! [23:51] 4In the end, they didn't have to do anything. 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Oh my. [23:53] 7Blossom should be crushed. The branch should snap. But her poise and grace in this moment are such that the terrible forces contending against one another cancel out perfectly, narrowing to infinitesimal points at the soles of her feet. She's sweating - it's heavy, gods damn, it's heavy! - but she can do it! [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a loud CRACK and the building plummets again right as Gucho ducks back inside - but only a few feet, because Blossom's right there! It slows and stops only a few feet below where it began to free-fall from, and that's low enough for the muscular young man to come leaping back out of it with the last would-be-victim in his arms. [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12He's soaked in sweat, gasping as he lands on the walkway outside... then starts as that walkway starts to fall. He sucks in one more deep breath as the bridge begins to dip downward, claws and tentacles from below lashing up to seize at him - and then blazes with golden fire as he rockets back upwards, taking a meteoric leap back up to safety! [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not clear whether Saturn saw that one coming. Either way, Gucho Chorowak, suddenly a Dawn Caste if his forehead is to be believed, is staring down at himself in shock in the aftermath of a daring rescue. If you squint, you can see tiny silvery shapes zipping around him in circles, drawing threads in the air behind them. Session Time: Fri May 18 00:00:00 2018 [00:00] 4Ha. [00:00] <@Ferrinus> "...you... *hrk*... you CAN'T-" 12That's his friend, staring up at Gucho in shock while nailed to a tree down on the ground. "It's not..." [00:01] 13Seems like, in fact, they can. [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12He points up with a shaking hand, blood spilling from his mouth. "I won't accept this! I... eh?" 12He tilts his head. It's as though he's suddenly listening to something only he can hear. [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Then he grins. "...yes. Yes! I reject my humanity, Chocho! I won't.... let... you- win-" [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Something seizes him - it looks like one of the raksha monsters below. The spar of wood he's impaled on snaps, and the man is dragged roughly down the wood and into the swarm of monsters down below. In fact, it looks like he's going down farther still, being sucked straight beneath the earth. [00:05] 13Um. [00:05] 6Uh. [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a flare of darkness as he does so, though, and an eight-pointed star of blood briefly visible on his forehead. [00:05] 4Well, great. [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Up in the trees, Gucho Chorowak frowns deeply to himself and clenches a fist as he watches whoever that was fall into the depths of the forest's earth. Then he turns and strides away. [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12He takes one step. Then a much slower second step. Then a third step that never finishes - oily black webs are stretching backwards from his arms and legs, arresting his movement. The roil of hobgoblins below slows, becoming rapidly carpeted with mold, but some of them - the ones with eight legs - are starting to crawl up the trunks of the trees, in defiance of all the old laws. 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Here we go." [00:09] 6Tatsuya: "Here we fuckin' go." [00:09] 13Language!! [00:09] 4Saskia cracks her neck both ways. Behind her, so does Ir. [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12On the perpendicular walkway that Gucho's caught on and half-snapped around, a small figure with a lantern is shuffling forward. [00:10] 6Tatsuya: "You--" 13Ying: "You--" [00:10] 6!13! 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[21:55] 13She slides in through the kitchen door, relatively unassuming in an oversized jacket with stark leggings underneath. A glimpse of her face would give her away, which is why she snuck in the back rather than making her entrance known. A quick toss of her hair back over her shoulders, and she sits across from Stranger, back to the rest of the teahouse and hidden partially by the curtains. [21:55] 13She sighs heavily, both in fatigue and in relaxation. "Hello, Stranger. Thanks for setting this up." 13It's been a rough week, goes unsaid. 14[21:57] * Joins: Crion| [22:00] 14Stranger: "It was not a problem. How were you, getting here?" [22:01] 14After a moment: "I like the handbag." [22:01] 13She shrugs. "Little slower than I'd like. People were --" 13she searches for the word -- "eager to see me up and about. All sorts of rumors, I guess." [22:02] "We are a bit too famous." [22:02] 13She brightens. "Thanks! I'm never sure when to break it out, but it just felt right." 13To his second point: "...I mean, there are alternatives. It's just a lot of effort on my part." [22:04] 14He grimaces. "There aren't that many alternatives. The officiousness of all this is...cloying." [22:06] 13Xia Lan: "People are really only looking for what they want to see. Show them something different, they'll lose interest." 13She opens the handbag, grabs a fake moustache and holds it into place. "Ridiculous, right? But, change the hairstyle, posture, drop your voice -- nobody pays attention anymore." 13She replaces it in the handbag. "Not saying it's not a hassle, but, hey, it works." [22:07] 14Stranger blinks. "Fair enough. Keep the moustache thing in reserve." [22:07] "...but I didn't come here to exchange tips for avoiding the public. Although I can help some more if you need! Tsuka'd probably suggest leaping across rooftops or something where they don't look anyways--" [22:08] 14Stranger: "How is Tsuka?" [22:11] 13Xia Lan: "Oh, he's great. I think he might be kind of stressed out, what with the--" 13she waves a hand vaguely, "everything going on, plus the increased training load, but he's managing. We both are, really." 13She is unable to hide her slight blush. [22:11] 14Stranger smiles as he sips his tea. "Good. That's good." [22:13] "How are you doing with the Emissary seat?" [22:14] 13She straightens, suddenly, and digs into her handbag. "Which is -- one of several reasons I wanted to talk to you! I just--" 13where is it "wanted to ask you-- 13ah yes here we are. She lays an arcane legal tome on the table next to her. "...how do you do it? I can talk to people forever, but... I'm constantly reacting, I never have any real idea beyond morals what I'm doing..." [22:16] "The entire time I argued with - Nogare - it was all morals against cold hard politics. If they hadn't wanted to listen to me, we would've gotten crushed. And I'm still not even sure that would've been the worse option, considering..." [22:16] 13She trails off. Pellicia. [22:18] 14Stranger: "Morals are a good start, but that's all they are. And Nogare isn't how you should evaluate all of this. Nogare..." 14He grimaces. "There was no procedural solution to that piece of shit. He wanted people to die." [22:21] 13Xia Lan: "Not forever, no. But, in that moment --" 13She straightens again. "Some of it was me. He didn't like me already - women in general, I think, and I was somehow worse - but he had real, tangible arguments. Benefits to promise to the city. He didn't show up looking to kill anyone - he just... didn't seem to have a problem that it turned out that way." [22:21] 14Stranger: "Why did he attack you?" [22:22] "What was the specific reason?" [22:25] 13Xia Lan: "After I disagreed with his proposal - tried to delay it more than anything - he told me I'd run like - well. I responded by telling him I'd be there for the people of Nexus, today, and the next. This infuriated him so badly that..." 13She spreads her hands helplessly. [22:27] 14Stranger: "You disagreed, you responded, he was infuriated--" 14He sips his tea again. "He hates women." [22:28] 13She nods. "The language he used made that fairly clear, yes." [22:30] "I use the present tense because I'm not sure that he's gone for good." [22:30] "I hope he is." [22:31] 13She shakes her head. "He'll be back. Hopefully after the crisis rather than during, but I don't have high hopes." [22:31] 14Stranger nods. "I agree." [22:31] "...So you want to know how it works the rest of the time." [22:32] 13Xia Lan: "...yes." [22:33] 14Stranger: "What do you know about who likes us on the Council and who doesn't?" [22:36] 13Xia Lan: "Kratz. Uh. Keldar, technically. Udelph and Hayle. That leaves Gen, Ephiselle, Thalevar, right?" [22:38] 14Stranger smiles slightly. "It does. But Thalevar will support us if we go to war for the docks, and Gen is willing to put aside his own conceits to keep the greater Nexus together. Meanwhile, Hayle and Udelph have extreme concerns about the measure of control we exert over the Council. So these alliances could change in a moment." [22:40] 13Xia Lan: "So how do we stop that?" 13Political novice, through and through. [22:43] 14Stranger: "Stop it? Why would we want to stop it?" [22:44] 13Xia Lan: "But you just said--" [22:44] "No, no. This is good for us. We can mold them." [22:44] "Sometimes we need Thalevar and Gen. Other times we need Hayle and Udelph. But what if we need Thalevar and Hayle? Now we can assess that." [22:50] 13Xia Lan: "...I guess people don't agree on everything all the time, right, why would politics be any different." 13She sighs. "Okay, walk me through it. What if we need Thalevar and Hayle?" [22:55] "Hayle is the Midday Husband. He's concerned with bigger-picture social health, which is why he sides with Udelph so often. That means food. Thalevar is the August Councilor of the Eclipse, but that title is meaningless -- he's the dockmaster. He cares about what's coming up the rivers and going down the rivers. So if we need both Hayle and Thalevar, we're going to make an argument [22:55] about granaries." [22:57] 13Xia Lan: "And - it'd have to be something Udelph disagrees with, for whatever reason... power trip, I guess. And then Gen and Ephiselle disagree on principle?" [22:58] 14Stranger: "Ideally, we'd have all of them on board." [22:58] "They're not bad people." [22:58] "...Well, maybe Keldar." [22:58] 13Xia Lan: "Then - I mean, we're fairly persuasive." 13Some more than others. "Why wouldn't we?" [22:58] 13She purses her lips, but doesn't disagree. [23:00] 14Stranger finishes his tea and pours another cup. "The real trick about politics, I think, isn't winning." [23:01] "It's convincing everyone else that they're not losing. And, ideally, making that true." [23:02] 13Xia Lan: "..." 13She taps a finger to her chin, deep in thought. "So I was playing wrong the whole time," 13she offers, eventually. [23:03] 14Stranger: "I don't think so." [23:03] "There's a limit to what you can accept. There's the concept of good faith." [23:04] "If there's no good faith, there's no politics." [23:04] 14He sips the tea. "Then you just start killing people." [23:06] 13Xia Lan: "Like our misogynistic 'friend,'" 13she offers. [23:07] 14Stranger: "Don't call him that even in jest." [23:07] "Next time we see him he'll hang high." [23:08] 13Xia Lan: "Do you think you're the first person to say that? I mean, Sun willing, you're right, but..." [23:09] 14Stranger: "Doesn't matter if I'm not." [23:09] "Ten thousand nations might have died at his hands. But he's dealing with us now." [23:11] 13Xia Lan: "...let's stop talking about him. I'm sorry I even brought him up." 13She refocuses. "You said - convincing everyone else they're not losing." [23:12] "How?" [23:12] 14Stranger: "Ideally, by making that true." [23:12] 13Xia Lan: "And when, say, you're on the rhetorical back foot?" [23:14] 14He sips the tea. "The whole point is to minimize the chance of being on said foot. Being caught off guard is bad politics. The vast majority of this job is learning things. Research. Widespread understanding." [23:15] "If you're caught off-guard, it's time to start lying. But that's your last resort." [23:15] "What you want to do is know enough that you can put your interlocutor on his own back foot. And that means a wide base of knowledge." [23:16] 14He pauses. "This is all theory." [23:16] 13Xia Lan: "My knowledge is mostly historical, and not particularly relevant to present day political squabbles. I've been trying to change that --" 13she gestures. "But it's... slow going." [23:17] "I've set up a Judiciary that might as well be a spy network and a secondary bureaucratic office specifically for monitoring the Council and giving legal advice. I didn't just do that out of the goodness of my heart." [23:17] 14He motions with the cup. "These are resources. You can use them." [23:20] 13Xia Lan: "...so it's like an ambush. Go in against your opponent with an element of surprise, then seal the deal." 13Her tone is measured, hard to read. [23:21] 14Stranger: "You kill the enemy in an ambush." [23:21] "That's not what we do here." [23:21] 13Spoken like someone who never left someone alive to spread fame and fortune. [23:23] 14Unless you're willing to kill them, you have to come into work with them the next day. [23:23] 13That's the political ambush. Not the caravan robber ambush. [23:24] 13Xia Lan: "Of course not. Just -- asymmetric info." [23:24] 14Stranger frowns. "You've got a hangup about betrayal." [23:25] 13Xia Lan: "What?" 13Hard to read anything into that. [23:35] 14Stranger: "Not betrayal you've done yourself. You dislike that others might be betrayed. You've been hurt before by it. By the Sun. By your friends. ...By me. I've got to own that, and I do." 14He pauses. "I want you to reckon with the idea that it's fine to lie to these Councilors, but also still like them.." [23:35] "Lie to them even if they're good people." [23:36] 13Immediately: "No." 13Then: "...not yet." [23:37] 14Stranger nods. [23:37] 13Xia Lan: "Maybe not ever. But -- I'll take it under consideration." [23:40] 14Solemnly: "Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke." [23:42] 13Her hands twitch as if seeking out a notebook, but she gradually quiets them. There's a teapot on the table, after all, and she hasn't partaken at all. [23:43] 13After a steady pour, and a long sip, she changes the subject: "So. Xu Sim and the Scion of the Sevenfold." [23:43] 14Stranger grins. "How are they." [23:46] 13Xia Lan, smirking: "Upsettingly adorable! And I get the feeling they're stuck pining - we've got to work on that, I think," 13she smiles. [23:47] 14Stranger raises his eyebrows. "Well. I'd never interfere in---hahahahah." [23:48] "We've got problems with the Governor, though, so we need to figure out how to keep her alive and with him while we do what needs to be done." [23:49] 13Xia Lan: "That's the way less fun part. Maybe Scion herself can handle the Governor's -- whatevers." 13She waves dismissively. "A girl can dream, right?" [23:50] 14Stranger: "I can't speak for how girls dream, but I doubt they dream about handling the Governor's 'whatevers'." [23:50] 13She makes a face. "That is absolutely the opposite of what I meant and you know it." [23:51] "Just saying." [23:52] 14More seriously: "We need to protect her." [23:53] 13Xia Lan nods, seriously. "Sun only knows who's got it out for her. Or - I'm no doctor, but I don't think you can look like she does and be, um, medically healthy." [23:53] 13Please correct "um" to "ah" [23:54] 14Stranger: "She's probably dead. Medically." [23:54] "And if that's what Xu Sim is into, I'm not judging." [23:55] 13She waves that off. "Still walking and talking. Unless that's tied to - gross - unless that's tied to the Governor, think we're still all right." [23:56] "What is she? And how much of what she is is - her?" 13Xia Lan shrugs. [23:56] 14Stranger: "Death isn't the end." [23:57] 14He sips his tea. "It does make her an enemy of Creation, of course." [23:59] 13Xia Lan: "I've yet to see her act like one." 13She shrugs. "You're not wrong, but..." Session Time: Fri May 25 00:00:01 2018 [00:00] 14Stranger waves a hand. "I meant categorically." [00:01] "And categories become important, in raw discussions like these." [00:01] 13Xia Lan: "Yeah. You're not wrong. Just..." 13She shrugs. "...lot of things could've turned out differently, for any of us." [00:01] 14Stranger: "Oh?" [00:02] 13Xia Lan: "Yeah." 13She doesn't elaborate. 14[00:02] * Joins: dammitwhoa [00:02] "I'd have banished the True Fae that murdered my village or I'd have died there. But the Sun told me I couldn't have died there." [00:03] "So." [00:03] "Sometimes you don't get a choice." [00:04] "Because the thing is: I think Gary would have wanted to die there." [00:06] 13After a moment: "...you ever think what would've happened, if it wasn't the Sun that talked to you then?" [00:08] 14Stranger: "Yes." [00:08] "Too much." [00:08] 13Xia Lan: "...yeah." [00:09] 13Long sip. Good tea. Might be a little cold by now. [00:09] 14No it's not. Stranger is an expert at manipulating the hot coals. 14[00:09] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:10] 13Then Xia Lan sips at her excellent tea, and considers alternate futures. [00:10] 14Stranger: "I think Xu Sim deserves our support in this. Even with the Governor." [00:10] "As does Seven." [00:11] 14That last sentence seems a bit difficult for him to say. [00:11] 13Shaken from possible futures: "Of course! Yes. Xu Sim and Seven both." There's a notable absence. [00:11] 13Shaken from possible futures: "Of course! Yes. Xu Sim and Seven both." 13There's a notable absence. [00:13] 14They talk for awhile longer, and Stranger covers the tab. They both leave, staggered, through the kitchen. 14[00:49] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:20] * Zarick_ is now known as Zarick 14[02:29] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[02:29] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Quit: ) 14[04:06] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[04:36] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[09:44] * Joins: Quaker 14[09:55] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:22] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. 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Xia Lan meets up with Tsuka at the bottom of the hill. "How was the meeting?" 15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD> How does Stranger approach Ephiselle? Does he catch her for a word as the meeting's breaking up, or is their meeting already planned? [20:12] 4He'll have already planned it, but will either make a courtesy stop over on her side of the table himself or have a messenger do it -- whichever one seems more polite in the circumstances -- just to say drop a platitude or two about how he's looking forward to it and make sure they're still on. [20:12] 14He'll have already planned it, but will either make a courtesy stop over on her side of the table himself or have a messenger do it -- whichever one seems more polite in the circumstances -- just to say drop a platitude or two about how he's looking forward to it and make sure they're still on. 14[20:13] * Joins: mattbaby [20:14] 13Don't say 'a lot better than the last one,' don't say 'a lot better than the last one...' "...productive, I think. And only a little concerning, which is nice. And some actual things to prepare that aren't all 'hurry up and wait'..." 13Xia Lan smiles over to Tsuka. "And how was training?" 15[20:17] <@VoxPVoxD> In that case, she'll thank him and say the same. Ephiselle insisted on a relatively early meeting, because she keeps very late business hours. Her personal offices are near the bottom of Sentinel Hill, overlooking the Parko. They could be meeting there or in a teahouse or restaurant nearby. Where are they heading? [20:18] 14Stranger will prefer a teahouse he hasn't been to before, both to keep this meeting above-board and "public" (even if they end up paying for the whole top floor for thirty minutes) and to try some new tea. [20:18] 5 Xu Sim puffs on his steambreather - Scion of the Sevenfold's cartridge in place - on the way back to the lair. What flavor? 15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka's still in his work clothes, though he has at least left his armor behind. The Dawn Guard rank patch does not go with the Green Apples uniform at all. "It was good! There was a chestnut gallery but everyone was a professional." 15[20:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim takes the first one out of the box. It has a pleasant, grassy flavor. [20:23] 13Xia Lan: "That's good to hear. No injuries or anything past normal scrapes and cuts?" 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a teahouse across the street that Ephiselle favors; she suggests the one next door, which isn't as expensive and where they don't know her usual. It's still very expensive, as all the places in this part of town are. It's called "Jasmine". Stranger feels eyes on him as he approaches. 15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim puffs. Mmm... this is very tasty... reminds him of some very fine hashish. Oh. Oh. 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> A man at a window table in the teahouse next door is watching him, subtly, while making notes in a little book. Stranger makes him for one of Ephiselle's people. [20:30] 14Stranger is doing his slightly-too-precise blind man act with his cane, and represses the urge to hum a tune of some sort. He does, however, "miss" the teahouse the first time, going almost all the way past it before turning and ah, yes, there it is. This gives him more time to assess the man at the window table. [20:31] 5Excellent. Truly excellent. How brilliant, using hashish in the steambreather? Who would have thought of such a thing? 15[20:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "No, Keldar had us doing Big Gateway all afternoon. It was kinda fun. Have you really never met this woman before?" [20:35] 13Xia Lan: "No, never. How long as she been doing this?" [20:35] 13Has* 15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger sees a thin man, who'd be better built if he ate more. Hard to tell at a glance whether it's illness, drugs, or distemper that eats at his appetite. He's in a sour mood, but not about the job. He's no savant but he's a professional. [20:38] 14Well, it would be rude to go over and make conversation ahead of a meeting with his boss, so Stranger will just nod in his direction as he enters, and seek out the owner, who should have prearranged accomodations. 15[20:41] <@VoxPVoxD> So he does. Stranger's led to a booth out of sight from the windows and the bar, but with a clear line on both the front door and the door to the kitchen. Ephiselle, already there, looks up and smiles. "Good evening. First pot's already on its way. Leiguanyin. Have a seat." [20:43] "Good evening, councilor. Thank you." 14He'll settle reasonably, either directly across from her or at a wide angle so they both watch their corners. "Your man out front could use some work on his tradecraft, if that's the trade he's in." [20:44] "A bit too overtly grumpy." 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Ephiselle: "Mmm. We all have our bad days. But there is such a thing as too open a tail. He didn't give you any trouble, I hope?" [20:45] 14Stranger: "Oh, none at all. Perfectly polite." [20:47] 5Xu Sim winds his way back to the lair in the evening air of Nexus, the cloud following him along as he goes stopping only to buy some fish heads from a beggar. When he arrives back at the hideout, he tosses the Twice-Refined Princess and Mhaka a fish-head apiece. [20:48] 5When he arrives, he proceeds to his workshop, where he carefully sets the polished wooden box on one of the rough-hewn side tables. He furtively glances about and produces the letter again from within the folds of his white robes. Puffing on the steambreather, he gives it another, careful look - carefully examining her handwriting - alongside her original response to his invitation [20:48] 5- to see what, if anything, it might reveal. [20:49] 14Stranger: "I'd say I was hoping our first chat like this would be under better circumstances, but given the nature of our current predicament, I'd like have to just settle for different ones. The loss of Pellicia has been...felt hard." 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I dunno. At least as long as I've been in the city. She was playing the night I came to town." 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Ephiselle: "Yes. It has." [20:50] 13Xia Lan: "...huh. I guess our paths just never crossed?" 13She glances at him. "She any good?" 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> The tea comes. Ephiselle will pour herself a cup. 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Yeah, she's not bad. She's not you, obviously, but." [20:53] 13Xia Lan: "Hm." 13Could be worse, then. "...and the Unfeathered thing?" [20:53] 14Stranger will do the same. "I want to get out in front of our current deadlock and reiterate that despite having to carry Baillie, I'm no less committed in theory to the next Evening Master being chosen by the allies of the departed one. Assuming, of course, that a nomination is forthcoming soon." 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Well she's, you know." The two of them walk past a crowd of young women who turn to watch them both go. Tsuka lowers his voice. "She's a 14beastman." [21:00] 5Xu Sim hums to himself in satisfaction, folding up the letter with a flourish, before slipping it back into his robes, right next to Stranger's own Page. Patting the Twice-Refined Princess on the head in satisfaction, he leans back to consider his options for the evening. [21:04] 5Xu Sim makes his way back into the main study, which Xia Lan has evidently conquered in the name of ancient law-books. He examines their spines with some interest - picking up and closely inspecting one here and there, before replacing it in whatever pile of hellish political-learning she had arranged for herself. 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Ephiselle: "Of course. We were hoping a new Evening Master could take a firmer line with the Guild. But with the expanded Judiciary, and the new Office of Civilities, the city is naturally becoming more resistant to their influence. So we need to agree an evolved position on what our new colleague's role ought to be." [21:08] 13She studies him for a moment, then turns her focus back to the road ahead. "...not a bad gimmick, then." 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "I mean. She is obviously feathered." [21:08] 14Stranger: "I'd prefer we have a spymaster who uses his web of connections and array of influence for the benefit of the City, but that would require a Council less...adversarial than the one we currently have. Even so, there is nothing stopping us from going into business for ourselves." [21:08] 5Once Xu Sim digs through the surface layer of her current research, though - he begins setting aside a small pile. He searches for more of the poem or song that Sevenfold Scion had recited at tea, scanning through illuminated scrolls, delicately preserved hymnals, a carefully preserved pamphlet printed on birch-bark... [21:09] 13Xia Lan: "Sacrifice you have to make for the reference, I guess." 13Also if you want to make a blistering callout, maybe, but that's probably not on the other Xia Lan's mind. [21:10] *14Stranger: "I'd prefer we have a local, Nexus-consolidated business magnate who uses his web of connections and array of influence for the benefit of the City, but that would require a Council less...adversarial than the one we currently have. Even so, there is nothing stopping us from going into business for ourselves." 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> By now the sun's gone down, and only the blue lanterns hanging between the buildings light their way. A pair of shirtless men whistle and wave down to Xia Lan and Tsuka from the balcony, which Tsuka studiously ignores. [21:12] 13Once, she would have flipped them off and cursed them out; that was a lifetime ago. She walks a bit faster, though. 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Ephiselle: "What do you envision?" 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> It takes Xia Lan a minute to register the song they hear as they round the corner. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nljpuvnNreg [21:17] 14Stranger: "We stick to our tacit agreement with the Guild and don't touch anything they've still got in the city -- they've pulled out a lot of their assets as it is, and we don't even need to snap up what they've left behind. To start with, we'll need something small, agile, freewheeling; ideas people, mainly, from the business community. Second sons and daughters who elder siblings [21:17] are inheriting the family trade, and have had to start their own outfits. Inventors. Certified business failures. Maybe a homeless person or two." [21:18] "Most of them are probably stupid, snakes and slavers, but we can't be picky right now." [21:19] "We let them know precisely what the situation is: that the Guild is in retreat, and the previous Emissary, for better or worse, is gone. This is a moment to freewheel, throw things at the wall and see what sticks." [21:20] "Chances are it'll all be academic in a few weeks anyway. What do we have to lose, besides a 'friendship' with the Guild?" 14[21:22] * Joins: autopsyturvey [21:22] 13...she's good. 14[21:22] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Quit: Mutter: www.mutterirc.com) 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Ephiselle: "To go into business, you're saying?" 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan seems to appreciate the music more than most. As the two of them approach, they see people throw coins in her guitar case, but hardly anyone stops to listen. [21:29] 14Stranger: "There are resources we can throw behind them, and there are ample opportunities in the city even now without any sort of executive, brand-new-day action on our part that Nexus's business community could be more effective in what they're doing. All we're missing is someone who has the credibility to launch this, would actually believe it can work, and isn't otherwise totally [21:29] unfit for office." [21:29] 14Stranger: "There are resources we can throw behind them, and there are ample opportunities in the city even now without any sort of executive, brand-new-day action on our part that Nexus's business community could be more effective in what they're doing. All we're missing is someone who has the credibility to launch this, would actually believe it can work, and isn't otherwise [21:29] totally unfit for office." [21:29] 13She'll stay a ways back, to start - what's she look like? [21:30] 14He pauses. "...And if such a person doesn't exist, we can invent one." 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim's studies turn up almost nothing. Pablum and vaguery. He's about to lose hope when his eye falls on an offhand reference at the bottom of a very delicate liturgical scroll. This points him back to a book he'd already read, and on a second read he finds what he was looking for, completely misunderstood by whichever ancient redactor put this text together. Buried in the history of a wicked Anathema's hubristic demise in the ashes of the Deliberative is a fragment of the intonation she recited against the encroaching Wyld marches as the borders of Creation rolled back, their caretakers absent or negligent or mad. It begins, roughly, the same way. Hold your breath. Make a wish. Count to three. 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Ephiselle ponders this over her tea, which is very good, if strong for a green. "Credibility is the sticking point." [21:38] 14Stranger: "We'll have to begin immediately. Some things can be backdated, others explained away, but we've got a very limited window. It would be better if our chosen 'Evening Master' already had a headstart in the community somehow." [21:38] "But not too much of one to be malleable to the Guild or the old guard." 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan sees a woman dressed in work clothes, duller than her plumage of violet and blue. Her chest is a searing orange, and in the brief moments where she opens her eyes Xia Lan can see they are too. She's picking the guitar with sharp black claws. [21:40] 5Xu Sim produces a brush to make a copy of the passage, right away. 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Ephiselle: "There's always Beal." [21:42] 14A slow smile spreads across Stranger's face. "Oh, I like that." 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Ephiselle: "I understand when he heard about poor Brueghel's fate, he smiled for the first time in twenty years." [21:45] 13...you know, she started on this path with the intention of being furious, but the closer she's gotten, the more difficult that's been. To Tsuka: "I want to hear another song before we talk." 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka looks over, sees her face, and nods. [21:47] 14Stranger: "So he's a crank, he has experience with the office, he's probably bored out of his mind and would relish a chance to screw with people. Sounds like just the ticket." [21:47] 14Stranger: "So he's a crank, he has experience with the office, he's probably bored out of his mind and would relish a chance to screw with people. Sounds like just the ticket." 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Ephiselle: "You should buy him a drink sometime. If you enjoy Thalevar's ranting the two of you will get along famously." [21:56] 14Stranger: "I suspect he should hear the plan from me, anyway. I'd like to set up a small set of delegates or attaches who might help Beal hit the ground running, if he's been as out of it as I would be after retiring from this place. Nothing official, just some people that the both of us trust. Do you have objections to me widening the circle on this to Thalevar? We might need his [21:56] people." 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim copies the text painstakingly, including both the dated ligatures of the text as well as the odd musical notation. Across these histories he's able to piece together, if not THE complete text of the poem, then A complete text of the poem. The text itself is a simple series of intonations about 'pure imagination', held together with a peculiar and complicated harmony he has great difficulty reproducing or even imagining in his mind. He'll need more time with this... 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> His studies of the Wyld-Shaping Technique and the ancient masters of the Deliberative are, in a word, depressing. Here are legacies of men and women who died fighting their closest friends, who were consumed by their own madness and were put down by animals, who in their desperation and solitude brought about their own ends, advertently or not. As they died, their knowledge was lost, and unimposed-upon, the bordermarches marched onward, drifting inward decade by decade. 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> The Wyld-Shaping Technique is held up as a paramount example of the divine genius lost in the Deliberative's fall, or, of the horrific and unlimited depravity the Anathema reduced the world to. [22:04] 5Excellent. This is a topic for further research, further study, further collaboration. 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> To raise mountains, palaces, armies, nations from pure chaos. To make anything from nothing. What greater power is there than this? 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> The histories have no answer. 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan's next song isn't one of Xia Lan's. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzaJt5Ccd5I 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Ephiselle: "No, I expect he'll enjoy this." [22:17] 13She's still into the craft, but this one doesn't hold her as well as the first. She really is good - and, from what it seems anyways, her act isn't just setting the Unfettered Xia Lan up to be a punchline. When the song closes, she'll beckon to Tsuka and walk over to the Unfeathered, throw in some coins to the case. "Got a moment?" 13says Xia Lan, with hopefully enough of a smile and a gentle voice to convey that she is [22:17] actually interested in the answer and not trying to bully the other Xia Lan offstage. [22:17] 14Stranger: "Excellent. Nothing about this should be in the purview of the Dawn Sergeant, so I don't think we need to widen the circle quite that far yet. And if fairness, I'm still not quite sure what it is I wouldn't be telling him. You will put forth Beal next session?" 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Ephiselle: "I think with both me and Thalevar making the case Gen will come around quickly. Yes, yes I think this works." [22:23] 14Stranger: "Excellent. And who knows. Maybe something will actually come of this above and beyond stability and a good public campaign." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan looks up, surprised then startled then panicked them stone-faced. "...sure." [22:27] 5Xu Sim takes notes on everything he can in these books. He does not take pains to conceal them - in fact, he makes one copy for his workshop and leaves another copy among Xia Lan's books, along with a terse note - "We should discuss this." 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Where does Xia Lan lead the Unfeathered? Do they talk right there? [22:31] 13After a quick glance - the other Xia Lan is infuriatingly unreadable - she'll just ask. "Mind talking here? Or would you rather somewhere else?" 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> The Unfeathered: "If there's gonna be a scene I'd rather have witnesses around. If not we can go inside." [22:35] 13Xia Lan: "Inside's fine, then. I - realize this is kinda sudden." 13She rubs the back of her neck sheepishly. [22:36] 14Unless Ephiselle has other business, Stranger will settle his part of the tab and bid her good night. 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> That suits her fine. [22:39] 5It is much later that Xu Sim finds himself alone in his workshop - even Princess lies outside, bored - as he inscribes sigils in the floor in wax and ink. Hashish-steam hangs heavy in the air. A handful of flickering candles provide the light - Xu Sim has extinguished the lanterns he typically uses. A few rays of light stream in under the door. [22:43] 5At last, the circle is prepared. He activates his strange little Page. "Stranger-Visits-Heaven." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> The Unfeathered leads Xia Lan and Tsuka into the, uh, establishment. People are drinking and dancing but the light is low enough that nobody gives the three of them a second glance. Seems the Unfeathered has been here a while. There's a quiet room with a bedroll and a loose stack of parchment on the floor, and some buckets to sit on. "So." [22:49] 13Xia Lan: "So!" 13There's a brief bit of silence. "...when'd you start?" 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> The Unfeathered: "Singing, busking, or using this name?" [22:50] 13Xia Lan: "All of 'em, honestly. You were pretty good, I thought." [22:51] 14Stranger taps the back of his neck inconspicuously while walking. "Xu Sim. How is the handshake this evening." [22:52] "The hour grows late and I need your counsel to help me do something of which you disapprove, as effectively as possible." [22:53] 14... "I disapprove of a lot of things, Xu Sim. Are we talking about improper dinner etiquette or, say, summoning outsiders?" 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> The Unfeathered: "I guess I was about 13 when I started playing. Started playing for money a couple years later. Someone gave me the name about four months ago and it stuck." [22:54] "Summoning outsiders, of course. There's a war coming, in case you haven't heard." [22:54] 14Stranger sighs. "Where are you?" [22:55] "At home," 5he responds. [22:57] 14Of course he's doing it in the damn house. Probably hasn't even put down towels. [22:57] "I'm on my way." [22:57] 13Xia Lan: "Where are you from, if you don't mind me asking?" 13She glosses over the identity of whoever gave her the name; that can be dealt with later. Or not at all, depending; she hasn't decided yet. 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> The Unfeathered: "Upriver. My hometown's too small for the maps. Might be gone, now, all I know, with the raksha." [23:01] 14Stranger will very loudly put on tea when he gets back in lieu of shouting "I'm home," or "I'm back," which almost seem too familiar for a hideout beneath a condemned building. [23:01] 14But one suppose it HAS become a home, now. [23:02] 5The door to the workshop opens, and Xu Sim's face emerges from the darkness within. "No need to creep about, you know," 5he suggests. [23:05] 14Stranger: "I need to be drinking something before we talk." [23:06] 14He is pouring himself a cup of tea at this precise moment, however. [23:06] 14So: "What's the plan?" [23:07] "Erymanthoi, I think. To watch my back, mostly. Not good for much else, except eating," 5a contemplative shrug. [23:08] 14Stranger: "Ah." 14Well at least we're not talking named demons. [23:08] 13Her smile falters a bit there. "I'm sorry," 13she offers, uselessly. "...do you want a drink? Get something sent over to us?" 13She looks to Tsuka. "How about you?" [23:09] "I thought about some Neomah, to help keep an eye on things around the city. But I don't think they'd be much help spying on -" 5oh "anyone you don't already have a close eye on, doubtless." [23:10] "Is it just going to be us for it, or have you asked Keldar along?" 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> The Unfeathered: "I'll drink." 14[23:11] * banana|peels is now known as banana 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka shrugs. He seems as dubious about this as Xia Lan is coming to feel. [23:11] "I think even if it went loose that the two of us should be able to handle it without Keldar." [23:12] 13Xia Lan: "Host's choice. We're interrupting her evening already," 13she says. Please be something extra alcoholic. 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> The Unfeathered: "I like the corn mash they have here." [23:15] 14Stranger: "That doesn't mean I wouldn't rather have him do it instead. Fighting and killing things is unpleasant." [23:15] 13Praise the Sun. [23:16] "I could have sworn he was around here, somewhere," 5notes the sorcerer. "I don't know what he's up to, though." 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Soon everyone's drinking whiskey that'd be overpoweringly sweet if it didn't burn like tar. [23:18] 13After a swig or two, and with a bit of a buzz: "Your show tonight. That the usual?" [23:19] "Keldar?" 5asks Xu Sim, pressing a spot on his chest. 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> The Unfeathered: "More or less. Kind of a low-energy night." [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a moment's delay before Keldar's voice comes through. Sounds like you're catching the end of a conversation: "-next one. ...yeah?" [23:20] 13Xia Lan: "...walk me through a high energy night. You don't have to sing it, just, lists?" [23:20] "We're summoning blood apes! Want to watch?" 5Xu Sim's enthusiasm is... infectious. [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, can you do a bunch at a time? Knew a lady who was always trying to figure a way." [23:22] "Oh. No, I just mean the one. But there will be more later," 5 he explains, sheepishly. [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ah, that's still good. Where at?" [23:23] "At home. No sense putting anyone else at risk." [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ah, I got some stuff to pick up anyway. I'll be there - uh, remind me, you gotta start at midnight or end there?" [23:25] "Ends." 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> The Unfeathered: "Genie in a Bottle is a mainstay. That plays every night. If I'm feeling the slow jams, there's the stuff you heard tonight. If people want energy I can veer towards stuff like Toxic. I play by ear mostly. You have to when you don't know who's coming or going when. Sets are for stages." [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hmm, shit. Well, I think I can make it. See you before eight, hopefully-" [23:27] 13She nods, knowingly. "Anything too - crude?" 13Xia Lan does have an image to uphold, after all, even if no one could possibly confuse the two. Even setting aside the feathers, they don't look much alike, right? [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not actually that much later when Keldar arrives at the hideout. He jogs down the stairs, fills a mug with water, and then looks around before peeking into Xu Sim's laboratory. 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> The Unfeathered: "If I worked blue they'd let me work inside instead of out." [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12What kinda setup he got? [23:32] 5Quite a sight meets Keldar and Stranger's eyes. There's a large, flat brass basin on the floor - Xu Sim often fills it to conduct his sorcery, its mirrored bottom and the thin skein of, presumably, water across its surface casts eerie flickering lights and shadows on the walls. [23:33] 13Xia Lan: "...you know when I heard you were a thing I was mad? And then - every subsequent thing has just..." 13She shrugs, helplessly. "They told me someone was violating the civilities, what with me being an Emissary of Nexus." 13She watches the Unfeathered carefully. [23:34] <@Ferrinus> "You know," 12says Keldar, leaning a grand daiklave against the wall near the door, "I never see you with any of these things. You got 'em following you invisibly or anything?" [23:34] 5In the dim light of the sanctum it's difficult to see, but Xu Sim has inked out a series of intricate geometric designs - circles, septagons, and so forth - in concentric and overlapping patterns; the impression is the ripples in a pond after skipping, or dropping, a stone into still water. [23:35] "I was framed by an infernalist, you know. For the death of Novak the Shepherd. It's a little silly to admit, but this is my first time attempting it." [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Seriously? Had you pegged for someone waist-deep in this stuff. Way some people tell it, demons're the whole point of sorcery." 14[23:38] * Joins: autopsy-turvey [23:38] "Not for any grand theosophical argument,"5 with this, a sidelong glance to Stranger-Visits-Heaven. "It just hasn't come up." [23:39] 14Stranger has left the pot out on the range, and occasionally dips out to refill. "Sorcery is just an array of means to power and demons are one of the cheapest ones on offer." [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Never needed the security? Don't see you with any elementals either." [23:40] "I'm close with the Tiger of Nexus," 5he points out. [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Must've had a cushy spot before then, too. Anyway, blood ape's a great starter. Pretty much what you see is what you get." [23:43] "Well, then let's see what we get," 5suggests the sorcerer. He grins, then casts a cupped hand downwards, spilling out a handful of crushed herbs, reagents, and sorcerous trinkets into the brass mirror-pan. 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> The Unfeathered: "You want me to pack up?" [23:46] 5Xu Sim, thundering: "Abase yourself, weapon and instrument! Submit yourself, shape and glider, fragment all - I am Xu Sim! Behold my performance of the ancient Axiom! I approach the asymptote, I grow vast! Erymanthus, I call you to Creation!" [23:47] 14Stranger finishes his tea. Just in case. [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar seems to be a pro at watching these. He's made a mug of coffee when Xu Sim began the incantations, and worked his way through some sort of one-player card game as the hours have passed and midnight drawn ever closer. As the witching hour actually approaches, he's standing with his blade at hand, completely alert. [23:49] 13Xia Lan, horrified: "No, no! You're fine!" 13She centers herself. "...Logistically speaking, I might need to charge you to stick around in order to make it stick. Eighth-dinar a year sound fair? So long as you continue to, uh, not sell yourself as a representative of the council... can't figure why they told me about you otherwise..." 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> A fissure opens in the floor of the sanctum, teacups rattling with the force of the rupture. Sickening green light spills forth from the crack as it winds around, gradually widening as a huge, desert-hot simian monster pulls itself up from the earth, screaming with exertion, fangs bared, spurred shoulders bristling with exertion. 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> When the erymanthus has fully extruded, the cracks zip up and vanish as if they'd never been there. 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> The ape's bloodshot and hateful eyes meet the sorcerer's. 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> The ape blinks first. [23:53] "Erymanthus, delight of delights! Listen to me, for I am attired in wrath." 5Xu Sim reaches out and gently boops it on the nose. 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> The Unfeathered visibly relaxes. "That's it?" [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar watches the thing for a moment. Then: "Nice." [23:56] "Excellent work." [23:56] "Gentlemen," 5booms Xu Sim, "Behold!" [23:57] 5He clears his throat. "Thanks." [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You gonna do the workshop thing? Hammer out one a night?" [23:59] "There's some pickled fish if you're hungry. Harm no dog, cat, or man, save with my permission. Clean up after yourself. Do you have any questions?" 5Xu Sim asks the blood ape. Session Time: Wed May 30 00:00:00 2018 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> The ape: "What are your terms?" [00:01] 5Xu Sim glances at Stranger. [00:02] "I need a bodyguard, until we have triumphed in a terrible battle against a great host of Raksha, in about three weeks. Now, if you can do more than that, I can do more for you." 15[00:03] <@VoxPVoxD> The ape's jaw works. He snuffles and snorts like a horse. "Master." [00:05] 5Xu Sim smiles with all the grace of a cat. 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: The sound of drums 14[00:14] * Quits: autopsy-turvey (Quit: Leaving) 14[00:19] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:40] * Joins: Zarick_ 14[00:43] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:51] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:12] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:12] * Quits: cbass (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:12] * Quits: Zarick_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:20] * Joins: Crion 14[01:24] * Joins: Zarick 14[01:26] * Joins: Crion| 14[02:33] * Joins: cbass 14[02:56] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:15] * Joins: Crion| 14[03:33] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:53] * Quits: dammitwho (Connection closed) 14[03:53] * Joins: dammitwho 14[08:12] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:22] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:59] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[11:34] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[11:53] * Joins: Crion| 14[11:59] * Quits: Crion| (Connection closed) 14[11:59] * Joins: Crion| 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:05] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:09] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:24] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:50] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Thu May 31 00:00:00 2018 14[00:17] * Joins: Zarick_ 14[00:17] * Joins: Crion_ 14[00:17] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:18] * Quits: cbass (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:18] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:20] * Joins: cbass 14[00:53] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:54] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[06:33] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:09] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:17] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:47] * Joins: Crion 14[07:47] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:17] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:11] * Joins: Crion_ 14[16:14] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:03] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:30] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[18:52] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:00] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 _/\_ [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 `. ,' [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 /'`\ [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 __ [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,'--`. [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 |(O O)) [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 '.\__/.'m [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,""-..-"/_\ [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 |,|: :||_| [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 /C)'.__,''-' [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 !/,""-...-"-. [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 '--' '--` [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Here you are, in a spider-haunted shadow of the distant northeast. A wood-and-silk village is built around the trunks of great, looming trees, and it's a good thing because the forest floor is just an undifferentiated mass of ravening monsters, visible more as a roil of teeth and claws and horns than as a set of individual creatures. [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12You've resolved it - you've figured out what was supposed to happen, and what went wrong. A man who would've drawn the Second Breath under the auspices of the sun himself was instead struck down before his time, and so never lived to oppose the necromantic machinations of his polar opposite. Perhaps things could be made right, somehow... certainly, the tiny spiders which now swirl [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12and scramble in the air around the rapidly-fading Gucho Chorowak, aglow with apprehension. [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12They begin to glint orange, though, and even smoke and sizzle, before being drawn by some inescapable gravity towards the lantern of the small creature shuffling now towards your position. It rattles the little lamp in the air, sending acrid smoke this way and that, and then snaps it shut when the last of the uncorrupted pattern spiders are drawn inside. [20:45] 4This thing. 08[20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12It's this thing. You're all arrayed around it, more or less - Blossom one floor below it with an entire house on her shoulders, Ir and Eikichi above it in the canopy, still looking on the scene, Ying on a nearby crossway having just finished rescuing some villagers from an unexpected disaster. The tiny, uh, you don't really know, turns this way and that to look at you with yellow-orange [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12eyes that glint from beneath a ragged brown hood. [20:47] 4Saskia: "What is that thing?!" 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10A whole building-- [20:47] 4Ir: "The messanger of what should not be." [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12The lantern it holds starts to vibrate violently, but it bangs on the thing with the handle of the long knife it holds until the lantern quiets down. Then, it slowly turns back around, presumably on the way to leave. 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, still craning out past the canopy to get a good look: "Those spiders are probably important..." [20:55] 13Ying hops nervously from foot to foot, watching the creature. Tatsuya got wrecked by the thing once - she's not exactly eager to try again in his place here. 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The wind lifts up Eikichi's hair, and then he tumbles from the canopy into the open sky, where the wind lifts the rest of him. "Come on, we've got to at least follow." [21:00] 4Saskia dances gracefully a step or two forward, and Iscariot whirls around her. "We should do more than that." 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Ying: "Are you coming?" [21:08] 13She'll hop on. "Yeah, let's--" [21:08] 7He's getting away?! And he's taking the spiders! Blossom grits her teeth so hard it becomes painful - slowly, slowly rises from her position on one knee, clenches her hands with her fingernails digging deep scores into the wood... and hurls the entire house as hard as she can at the fleeing whatever-it-is! It's not very fast, and doesn't go very far, but it's an entire house so none [21:08] 7of that matters. [21:08] 7She lets out a huge breath and staggers backward, almost falling off her tree branch. [21:08] 4Saskia blinks and dances back in surprise. 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "Holy SHIT did you see that" [21:08] "What--" [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12CreeeeaaaaaaksnapsnapsnapsnapwooshSMASH [21:09] "AAAAAAAAAAAAAH" [21:09] 4Ir: "Holy shit, she's going to--" [21:10] 4Saskia: "Ir! That's sacreli--" 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Saskia and Ying have to hold on as the whirlwind dives like a raptor, Eikichi reaching out to catch, steady, and then help Blossom aboard. [21:10] 4Then the house and additional weight crashes into its target. Saskia: "Holy SHIT." [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12It doesn't seem like the little cloaked figure respects the presence of the ground - rather than actually walking back along a swaying catwalk, it was simply shuffling off across the air. This turns out to be a disadvantage RE: being hit on the head by a literal house, because the notional surface your opponent stands on remains solid enough to allow the creature to be flattened [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12against the very air, like a fly on a glass table. [21:11] 13Ying: "You just -- how -- what?????" [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12The tree behind Blossom's been torn damn near in half, and as her audience watches it falls away behind her into the darkness. The branches and walkways beneath Saskia and Shosei's whirlwind shudder in the blast of wind released by the impact, bending away and then never returning, as the force of the blow seems to blow the very milieu around you off and out of sight. 14[21:14] * Joins: mattbaby [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12What remains is an island of cold, grey sand floating in a sea of black pitch. Rising from the pitch are humanoid shapes - great cocoons of spider-webbing, some the size of men or children while others loom as large as trees in the distance. In the center of the room is the house Blossom threw, still intact and still glimmering with a hint of sunfire. Sticking out from under it is [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12a short, stubby limb, its skin a ghastly grey-green, its claws clutched around the handle of a steel lantern. [21:16] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom: "AHAHAHAHAHA! NO ONE SURPASSES ME! NO ONE! I AM THE FINEST DAUGHTER OF HOUSE CATHAK AND THE STRONGEST FIGHTER IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!" 08[21:17] 7She grabs Eikichi by his shirt collar, and unless he obviously tries to wriggle out of her grasp, will kiss him hungrily. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10*_* [21:17] 4Saskia looks upon her with awe and fear, but there's something else in Ir's ghostly eyes. [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12As you watch, the lantern cracks, then cracks again. A web of fine fractures runs all along the glass before the whole structure shatters, and glowing like fireflies the pattern spiders of Choto Chodari come scrabbling out of the thing towards all four of you. If you let them, they'll nestle into the folds of your clothing or hide in your pockets. [21:17] 4Until the kiss, when it becomes happy amusement. [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12The little green thing's claw goes limp against the sand. Then, a moment later, it shakes and curls itself into a fist, the claws raking through the sand. [21:19] 13Ying lets out a quick cheer at the kiss. 6Tatsuya applauds politely. Uh... spiders, huh? [21:20] 4Of course. [21:20] 4Ir: "All lovers and fighters on guard! It's back!" [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12It pulls itself out of sight, then the entire fallen house explodes from within with building force. There's a tearing sound as something unfolds within the storm of wooden shrapnel, stretching wider and taller and taller and wider as a rough robe of burlap rips and shreds only to somehow reveal more cloth beneath. [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12It's still got pockmarked, grey-green skin, subtly segmented as though it were armor plating. It's still wearing a long, ratty robe, though now there's far too many eyes and teeth dimly visible beneath the hood. But it's long and tall now, multiple sets of long, clawed arms poking out from its shoulders and along the length of its almost serpentine body. [21:23] 4Ir: "And it's mad." [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12The oil sea around you goes mad, long tendrils jutting out from beneath the cocooned and mummified people(?) to thrash madly at the air. The form of the many-armed monster before you flickers and distorts around the edges, its eyes and arms uncountable, its exact presence suddenly uncertain. The strange, shuffling gait implied by the ends of its ragged robes and the slow winding of [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12its arms is worryingly familiar. [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Join battle! 14[21:25] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 14[21:34] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[21:35] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [21:50] 4Saskia streaks forward, Iscariot coalescing into a silver spear in her hand as she leaps, twirls, and drives the her weapon deep into the creature's chest. Then she clenches her fist and Ir, Thrice-Traitor grins as Iscariot changes shape inside the great monster, doing whatever internal damage it can before Saskia pulls it out and flips away. [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12The robed spider-creature explodes into motion, Saskia finding herself beset by a flurry of razor claws while spines of thin tarantula hair are fired past her at the other combatants. [21:55] 4She dances through the blades, and where the blades should find her, the music sends her elsewhere. [22:02] 13Ying spins away from its blows before -- 6Tatsuya moves too fast to be seen. Now it's just a matter of finding a spot to strike from. [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Several of the creature's hands move in a bizarre pattern, and in the distance behind it two lantern-bearing shapes crawl out of the mist and oil. They begin to shuffle forward, knives gleaming... [22:08] 4Saskia doesn't seem to notice them, but Ir does. Not good. 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10With one arm still around Blossom, Eikichi holds out his hand, and a round and buoyant orb of blue flame bounces in his palm. [22:19] 6Tatsuya leaps towards the creature, blades whirling 13as Ying tries to pressure it with blows of her own, but 6their combined efforts amount to a distraction and nothing more! [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12The air ripples and colors shift through strange spectra. As the elder pattern spider gesticulates, a huge torus of distorted air and sand is drawn centered on its own position. Saskia's and Tatsuya are within the eye of the storm, so to speak, but Blossom and Shosei find a terrible pressure building over their heads and around their skins. 14[22:47] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:50] 13After another barrage of blows from the creature, Ying and Tatsuya vanish again -- 6but this time, they stay hidden. They're planning something... [22:59] 4This time, Saskia flicks her wrist once, twice, and Iscariot lengthens out into a whip -- and as she dances in to attack, Ir fiddles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bshT4Agyd38 [23:01] 4The whip is the fifth string as it slices across the great creature, and the tune is eerie and moving. [23:16] 6There's a blur of motion and blades as Tatsuya leaps from the shadows, 13Ying close behind! She bashes it into 6Tatsuya's blades, which strike true again, and again, and again! Finally, preparation pays off one of these times! 13Ying does a quick backflip away, backin into position and keeping a wary eye on her shade... [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya tears into the monster, and great clouds of dust and sprays of ichor issue forth from its body in response to the wound. It staggers and lists in the air, then turns on itself, somehow chomping down on the wound with its hoodfull of eyes and fangs and eating and eating and eating away until the damage has been stitched over by glistening black silk. [23:18] 6...gross. [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Then it's back into the fight. It's fighting with a frenzied pace, now, no longer warping the air with rings and spears of killing essence but sawing and biting madly at the lot of you. Ying, revealed after her and Tatsuya's deadly combination strike, is backed right towards her eerie and lantern-carrying pursuer. [23:35] 4Saskia and Ir dive in afterwards, but something about the creature's nature has changed. Iscariot doesn't do much. Session Time: Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 2018 [00:05] 4Saskia keeps at it. [00:06] 4Ir keeps at it. [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Saskia strikes and strikes and strikes and strikes. Wrapped in time-bending, space-folding power, Ir lashes savagely at the spider monster again and again, tearing away sheaves of robe and chunks of carapace and limb after limb after limb. It's as though the inside of the creature is neverending - perhaps the sea of ichor around the island you stand all poured from within that hideous [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12shell. [00:08] 4The dance goes on, and on, and on as around them knife-wielding minions are crushed or cut to pieces or burned away. The lance becomes a whip again, and Ir begins fiddling again, and the two strike the great monster of time over and over and over again, until finally they leap up in the air together, as one, crossing up the monstrosity's body, and as they hang there in the air a song [00:08] 4begins to play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxGYSyZ8VkM [00:08] 4And then the whole of the thing goes silver as they dive down, down, down. [00:10] 4Horns from everywhere. [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Everything around you is shaking more and more violently. The cocooned figures that stretch into the distance in every direction are writhing in terror or pain, seemingly struggling to free themselves from their prisons. The elder pattern spider itself hangs in the air now, screaming and flailing, more Saskia-shaped hole than monster as the very world begins to tear itself apart. [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a flash, a violet so brilliant it leaves golden afterimages. A dark, gangly figure, shuffling and contorting and moving its arms so strangely that they seem to have three sets of them at once descends on you -- [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12-- no, that's just a shadow behind her! It's Yara! [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "You did it! You did it! But we can't let it disperse! Help me-" [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12She gestures, casting lines of glowing webbing that wrap around the disintegrating elder and hold it fast in the air. Then she swings sideways, linking the webs she's drawing to great pillars of stone that jut from the cardinal directions of the island. [00:12] 4When the silver clears, Ir is literally holding Saskia upright. [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12As she does, the elder screams and screams, and great tentacles and claws of oil begin to burst fro the sand around you! [00:14] 4Saskia just gives an angry grunt. What more do they want from her? Why can't she rest? [00:21] 4Ir takes charge, swooping around and dragging Saskia firmly but carefully with her, intercepting and deflecting bolt after bolt of corrupted essence from the dying time-killer. Or whatever it is. After the first three times Ir has to defend with one hand carrying her, Saskia growls and pushes away, standing for herself again -- and they dance in concert then, moving as one to protect [00:21] 4the rest of the strivers. 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10This part is comparatively trivial. Eikichi hums a little song as he unpicks the node and comes up with a strand of irrefutable golden thread. "14how much gold can you hold in an elephant's ear~ if it's noon on the moon then what time is it here~" [00:26] 6Tatsuya peers over Ying's shoulder as she works, declining to comment on her progress. 13She [00:26] 13's got this, after all! We just gotta - you know - hurry...! [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12It becomes immediately clear to those of you who're putting in the effort that Yara went for the easiest one of these lodestones first - but what's beyond the Chosen of the Sun? Certainly not a little fourth-dimensional geometry. [00:28] 7Ahahaha! The Sun's children are never defeated! Though Blossom is a little distracted when handling her node, as the pattern spiders cowering within her clothes keep tickling her as they scuttle around. [00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12You're learning a lot as you work, although you have no idea what. This thing represents some kind of corruption or mutation of something... due to something... due to something else... maybe you'll be able to process it after having meditated or dreamed a bit. For now it's simply clear what's detached from where and where it should go, and that if you do this just right you'll [00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12make sure that the creeping, toxic corrosion which makes up the heart of this many-armed monster will devour itself and burn out. [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12...and it does. With one last cream, the elder - the Secondborn, you know somehow - dissolves into light. Even the last vestiges of the timeless world around you falls away. For a moment, the five of you - no, eight of you, here are Yara's friends - no, nine of you, here is Choto - merely fall through a rippling, starry night. [00:31] 4...So this is it, then. [00:32] 4Saskia was trembling and scared, but a calm has come over her now. [00:32] 4Ir, still cradling her, smiles, and says, "I'm sorry." [00:32] 4She says, "I know." [00:32] 4She says, "We'll meet again." [00:33] 4Ir says, "I know." [00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara seems to be in some sort of trance - her eyes are wide open but glowing violet from edge to edge. May seems to be asleep, while Siaka's bloodied, bruised, and unconscious. You're falling forever, although, objectively, for only about a minute. [00:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Still, it's a long trip to some. Memories return. Essences harmonize. Some Stands merge properly with their anchors and makers, while others simply fade, impossible or forgotten... [00:35] 4It lasts two lifetimes. [00:36] 4And then it's over. [00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12You can feel the powers of fate and time slipping away from you... mostly. An unconscious awareness of probability and potential receding from your minds... almost. Is... was... this what it's like to be one of Yara's kind? [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12There's something in the distant below you. A familiar oblong shape. ...a ship! You're falling towards the Heavensward. 14[00:38] * Joins: mattbaby [00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12The landing is gentle. As soon as you touch the wood of the deck, you can feel the stir of wind around you and sun above you. The sounds of Great Forks start to filter up from below. There's on weird discoloration or age-warping in the wood, no inexplicable spider's webs strung about. You're home, and feeling just fine. [00:40] 4No. At least one of them is not. [00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12May and Siaka are lying strewn about - Siaka might need medical help. Yara's sitting cross-legged in midair, eyes still snapped shut. The rest of you are, well, as you are. [00:42] 4A woman whose burning golden armor has faded stands and looks about her, eyes bleary. They find Yara. "You -- YOU--" [00:43] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom is lying on her back, tears streaming into the wind, laughing with delight. [00:43] 4She takes a step forward and slumps at the same time, into a stumble. "You didn't do this." [00:43] "I did this." [00:43] "But thank you and damn you for letting me see her again." [00:44] "I...I'll...I need to be somewhere else right now." [00:44] 4And Ir, Saint-Sister, makes it halfway through the door belowdecks before the tears start. 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi sank slowly to the floor after coming to himself again, lying beside Blossom. He's only still for a moment before he rolls over, his face hovering over hers. "Now I remember." 10The kiss is gentle. [00:50] 7It's absurd for her to be awkward after she just kissed him, but she is. Fortunately, it breaks quickly with: "Did you SEE?! A whole house!" 7She's about to freak about how amazing she is when her sense of responsibility interrupts. "We should probably make sure Ir's okay. And Iron Siaka." 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Let's tend to Siaka and Choto. I think Ir needs some privacy." 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then he sighs heavily. "I can't wait to tell that story to every single person we meet for the rest of our lives. A fucking house." 14[01:11] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:09] * Joins: Crion| 14[05:13] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:00] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:36] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:51] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:25] * banana is now known as bananape|els 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:40] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[16:34] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:32] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[17:38] * Joins: cbass 14[17:45] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[18:00] * Joins: cbass 14[22:34] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[23:17] * Joins: cbass 14[23:59] * Joins: dammitwhoa Session Time: Sat Jun 02 00:00:00 2018 14[00:56] * bananape|els is now known as banana 14[02:29] * Joins: Zarick__ 14[02:31] * Quits: Zarick_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:54] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Quit: ) 14[03:48] * Joins: Crion 14[09:06] * Zarick__ is now known as Zarick 14[11:03] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[11:03] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[11:03] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[11:07] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:39] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:06] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:27] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:07] * Joins: Crion| Session Time: Sun Jun 03 00:00:00 2018 14[00:31] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:41] * Joins: Crion 14[01:48] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[02:17] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:09] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[03:14] * Joins: dammitwho 14[03:21] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[03:47] * Quits: cbass (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:42] * Joins: cbass 14[09:56] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:43] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:37] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Mon Jun 04 00:00:00 2018 14[00:39] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:51] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:58] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[07:05] * Joins: mattbaby 14[08:27] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:16] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:20] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:28] * banana is now known as banana|peles 14[15:01] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[15:01] * Joins: cbass 14[17:46] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:58] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:24] * Joins: mattbaby [20:06] [20:06] [20:06] [20:06] [20:06] [20:06] [20:06] [20:06] [20:11] 4The plains stretch out in front of the Heavensward, long, flat, and wide; the blessed, flying galleon rests in a shallow pool with pretensions towards being a lake. Loping deer and grunting, trundling wild pigs drink from it tentatively, having crept back towards their usual watering hole after the splashing stopped and the great big thing now perched in it made no violence towards [20:11] 4them. Amongst them rests a horse, unbridled and calm, holding whatever animal court he might. Errant should like to be joined by Ami, but that's not up to him. [20:13] 4In every direction, grass and the occasional tree; above, the stars. Ir spent two days by herself in her quarters, leaving the helm to Blossom or the rest of you; when she came out, she commandeered the good ship Heavensward here, and encamped on the foredeck with some bottles of indeterminate spirits and her instruments. [20:14] 4After all, everyone aboard deserved some sort of rest. 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's feet dangle from a chair that floats just high enough above the floor to let them. He's not drinking, but it's still in a dazed voice that he occasionally mutters to himself while scribbling and doodling, taking in the air and sun. [20:20] 4Ir stops just drinking and starts playing around the time the sun goes down. 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "A house," 10he says abruptly and to no one in particular. He's been doing that a lot for the last few days. [20:21] 13Sunlit-Dreaming Ying is stretched out on the ship's guardrail, snoozing in the sun with half her limbs dangling along the side. The first morning, she seemed exhausted at breakfast, didn't appear at lunch, and Tatsuya made his appearance at dinner for the first time in a while, but normalcy is returned. Well, whatever passes for normal for them, these days. The events of the last few -- days? Weeks? It's hard to put a time to it [20:21] -- really did a number on them. [20:22] 4This is what she's been playing most of the twilight, sometimes singing haltingly, sometimes just strumming it through. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGM7BYRXGps [20:23] "A home," 4Ir replies, abruptly stopping the music and reaching for the currently open bottle. [20:24] "Fucking incredible, though." 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi mimes the long whistle the building cut through the air before it landed. [20:25] 4Ir makes the crash-boom sound in the back of her throat. [20:25] 13As the sun sets, Ying finally stirs, looking towards the other two. "Splat," 13she agrees, mimicking the fallen foe. [20:27] "Really laid the foundation for the rest of that fight." [20:28] 13Ying: "...I'm glad we all saw that, beclaws nobody else would've believed it if only one of us had." 15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks up when he hears Ying is awake. "I would've. But I'm very gullible." [20:28] 4Ir takes another swig. "Someone else believed it." [20:30] "She's not with us now." 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi closes his eyes, saying nothing. [20:32] 13Ying slips down from the side, sitting properly now, and watching Ir. 08[20:32] 4He doesn't get off that easy. "What's your book going to say about this, Eikichi?" 15[20:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "...probably not much. It'd be hard to explain. And the Heaven thing." 15[20:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "She's just going to have to throw another house." [20:34] 4Ir: "She is." [20:35] "I think you should try anyway." 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "...you think?" [20:35] "I think you write about Saskia." [20:35] "I think she deserves it." [20:36] 4Ir stands and takes a deep swig from her open bottle, then walks up to the prow. "You can see forever from here. But only the land." 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi sits up, his chair settling to the floor with a gentle click. Then he pours himself a drink, staring at it for a long moment. "I don't know if I could do her justice. I didn't get to know her very well." 10A long drink, a rapid blink. "Tell me about her." [20:39] 4Ir, still staring out over the land: "We've talked before about the culture, yeah? The Pneuman idol culture." 15[20:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah." [20:42] 13Ying reaches over for a bottle of something sweet, but keeps listening. [20:43] 4Ir: "She wore it better than most. Even through the harassment, and all the boyfriend shit. Even as a member of the Heavenwatch -- that was basically just being a decoration, most of the time." [20:45] "I put a lot of myself into her." [20:45] "Too much." 15[20:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It sounds like a lot of people did." [20:45] "Only everyone I loved." 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "How'd she carry the pressure?" 08[20:47] 7Ami is stretching her legs, running about the nearby plains, chasing the wild pigs with frantic leaps and WARK WARK WARKs. 7From below them, hidden by the curve of the Heavensward's hull, Excessively Righteous Blossom's voice floats up: "Eikichi! Do you want to learn how to use a sextant?" 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "In a bit," 10Eikichi calls down. "Come up and take a break. There's sandwiches." [20:48] "Saskia, of course, and my lover, Gull. And the kids I used to jam with, swept out in the hurricanes. At least they got Holis Hep, too." [20:49] "The trade doesn't sound worth it, but Holis Hep wasn't going to die any other way." [20:50] 13Ying: "...do I want to know who Holis Hep was?" [20:50] 4Ir: "No." 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "'Holis Hep' sounds like an asshole's name." [20:50] "It'll just make you sad." [20:50] 4She takes another swig. "They let him around children." [20:51] 13She blanches, and takes a sip of her own. 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's glass slips out of his hands, spilling its last drops on his lap. He thumps it onto the table without a word. 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "What was she like?" [20:54] 4Ir: "She was too kind to everyone. That was what I thought. She was a mediator, yeah, but she was also always willing to take the punch and smile afterwards. You don't get many people like that. I never did, anyway. That's what I always admired in her." [20:54] "...So you can maybe imagine what it was like, seeing her angry like that in there." [20:57] 7She enthusiastically hauls herself up a rope and makes for the sandwiches. "I do better work than I thought. Still no leaks, less than an ilm of water in the bilge and I'm pretty sure that's from rain." [20:58] 4Ir waves the bottle. "Sandwiches and booze for the taking, oh conquerer of the rain." [21:00] 13Ying: "...I wasn't really sure what to make of her. I mean, even after I got my memories back..." [21:00] 13Something flickers across her face, briefly, and vanishes as quickly as it came. 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It felt like a really long, weird dream." [21:02] "She was angry, confused, and impetuous. She was like I'd never seen her before...and I served her, liking what she had become, while hating that she had become it." [21:03] "Oh, you're talking about the-- oh." 7She takes a glass and a sandwich and sits next to the others, quieter. [21:03] 4Ir: "It taught me something else, too." [21:06] "She was dead the moment the Sun chose her. But it wasn't her fault, and it wasn't His." [21:06] 4She makes an expansive gesture with the bottle. "It was the rest of us." [21:08] 13Ying looks confused, and takes a drink while she ponders. 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, whose mind is only half on the ship, pours himself another drink. "What do you mean?" [21:10] "I betrayed her to the monks when she exalted. I was in grief, and I clung to the Immaculate Faith, and I thought that the monks would help her. They didn't. They killed her, and the Sun moved on to me." [21:11] 4She drinks again. "In that realm -- with the spiders and the alternate exposure of time -- I got to see what would happen if I supported her instead. And what would have happened instead is that she would have died a different way." [21:12] "Saskia's life was the people of Pneuma -- her life was serving them. And when the Sun chose her, the people could have embraced her, no matter what the monks thought. But they wouldn't have." [21:13] "And I always thought they would have. But they wouldn't have. We saw what they would have done instead, if I'd just kept my mouth shut and stood by her." [21:14] 4She puts the bottle down. "That doesn't forgive my crime." 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "Did you tell her?" [21:17] 4Ir: "Tell her what?" 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "What really happened to her." [21:18] 4Ir: "Do you think she didn't know?" [21:19] 13Ying: "...she didn't seem to, for a while. But I don't know if she just... didn't want to believe it." 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I don't know. There were a lot of things we should've known but didn't." [21:19] 4Ir: "Oh, she was confused about our whole thing. With the lantern-goblins and their knives and all of that." 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "Did she know how she really died?" [21:20] "But about serving the Sun and Wyld Hunts and all of that, no, I don't think there was much confusion. Just sadness and anger." [21:21] 4Ir finishes the bottle. "She does now." [21:22] "...She did then, too, I think. Back then, she looked me in the eyes before she died." [21:22] "The monks made sure of that." [21:23] 13Ying takes another drink and tries to discreetly dry her eyes. [21:24] 4Ir sits down. "Let's give me a break from it. Just a little bit. How did all of y'all take your other selves in?" 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I didn't understand why Octavian was so pissed at me the entire time." 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "Until the end, anyway." [21:25] 4Ir: "Really." 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "I was much nicer to him in the dream!" [21:25] 7Blossom: "Do you think it was actually him? Pulled away from Malfeas or whatever to have to loom behind you for all this?" [21:25] "Ahahahaha, he must be so mad" [21:26] 13Ying: "I had no idea who Tatsuya was or why he was hanging around me, and he never told me until --" 13That same flash from earlier. "And -- he really was nicer." 08[21:26] "Eikichi, I mean, not Tatsuya." 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I don't know. I guess I'll ask Yara next time I see her." [21:27] "I woke up on a creepy old boat with nothing around but spiders and a weird ghost. And I couldn't remember how I got there or what happened." [21:27] 13Ying: "...wasn't a fan." [21:28] 4Ir: "...I knew everything." [21:28] 7Blossom takes a sip. "I learned that everything happened exactly as it should." 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mine was so long. I had like... twenty years or something. Obviously I didn't actually, but. Time dilation." [21:29] "But maybe my circumstances were different. Maybe I dragged Saskia into this through the sheer weight of my guilt." [21:30] "The rest of you were other versions of yourselves. I was shepherding a different person entirely." 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Hey!" [21:30] 13Ying takes a drink. [21:31] 4Ir: "I was in Octavian's position, remember." [21:31] "Or Tatsuya's." 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "Other Blossom looked miserable." [21:33] 7Blossom: "She was! Conscious of vast injustice but with no way to articulate it. Like punching water." 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Or chewing on a procession of table legs." 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I got off easy. The worst thing I had to deal with was finding out that I'm going to look exactly like my father when I get old." [21:35] 4Ir: "So your father's impossibly hot, then." [21:35] "No you aren't. You're Chosen now." [21:35] "I'll make note of that." [21:35] 13Ying: "I wasn't gonna say it." 13She was totally gonna say it. 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You are far from the first of my friends to say so." 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Blossom: "We could age a little. It might be nice. Laugh lines are cute." [21:37] 4Ir waves. "I'm spoken for anyway, but it's good to know for jokes." [21:37] 13Ying: "Not me. I'm gonna be young furever." [21:38] 13She's been very careful to keep the cat puns out of her vocabulary, but she's a little relaxed, now. 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Still to Blossom: "Or gray streaks in the hair. That is a look." [21:38] 13Ying: "Hair dyes!! You can get all kindsa cool streaks~" 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi demonstrates by changing his hair's color. [21:38] "...or magic, magic's a thing..." [21:39] 4Ir: "I don't want to stay young forever. It feels like walking in place." [21:39] "Things should change." [21:42] 13Ying: "Well, okay, furever's a purretty long time, but still." 13She takes a sip. "I wanna enjoy my time here!" [21:43] 4Ir cracks open another bottle. "I am enjoying my time here." [21:47] 13Ying: "Well... I wanna take advantage of some extra time, is all..." 13She keeps sipping at her bottle, still half full. 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "Time won't be a problem. And even if it was... immortality's not hard, really. You just have to get creative." [21:49] 4Ir: "Living forever seems like a bad idea. Long life, yeah, I can dig. Immortality? Our gift was meant to turn over." 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Maybe so. Samsara can have it back when I'm done." [21:51] "Fair enough." [21:52] 4She takes a sip from the newly-cracked Heavensward reserve. "But I had a reason for bringing up your writing." 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks over. [21:52] "I'm not 'Twice Traitor' anymore." [21:52] 7Blossom: "I think 'gosh, being young forever doesn't sound good' is a pretty easy thing to say while you're already young." 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "That's no excuse to act old ahead of schedule." [21:53] 7That's one thing Naku said that she remembered. 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Naku sounds old. [21:55] 4Ir: "I was only guilty of one betrayal, and now that one has been forgiven. Don't correct your past manuscripts. It was legit up until then. But now I'm angry at other people." 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I tried to keep that stuff out of the story, mostly. It was one of those..." 10He doesn't really know how to finish that sentence. "It's not a story that belongs to everybody. I'm happy to tell it, if you want. But there was a... it didn't seem right to me." [21:59] 4Ir smiles and sits down. It's not one of her usual cocksure grins. "Thanks." [21:59] "I think I'm fine with you telling it now, though. If you want to." [21:59] "Saskia is, too." [21:59] "If it doesn't fit the narrative, that's fine, too." [22:00] 4Ir: "But since we landed on the deck, I've been Ir, Saint-Sister." [22:00] 13Ying: "...I like that." 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "Now that is a name for the marquees." [22:02] 4She snaps her fingers, and the weapon you've all known as Iscariot jumps from the deck of the Heavensward into her palm -- and then shudders, and reforms above her palm in a gleaming silvery orb, floating and churning just like it did for Saskia. "And this is Saint Judas." 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "From the songs?" [22:05] "Iscariot betrayed his god and dammed the river to the sea. But when the men who paid him to do it came and threw him into the godly river he'd betrayed, Iscariot, drowning, broke through the dam in a final act of contrition -- and the god, in his mercy, made Iscariot his saint, with the name his father had given him." [22:05] 4Ir stares at the orb. "In the end, it was just one river." [22:06] "But maybe it mattered." 08[22:07] 4To Eikichi: "There are a lot of songs." 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "What's your favorite Judas song?" [22:11] 4Ir: "The best ones are about betrayal, but I'm not sure that's where I want to stand with Judas anymore. Then there's the incredibly horny songs, and the incredibly maudlin ones." 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's nodding intensifies. [22:13] 4Ir: "The horniest song is from the perspective of the river god Jesus, of course. It's kind of sacreligious, but the thing is, no one's ever been punished for singing it -- not even on the banks of the river Jesus." 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Wow." [22:14] 13Ying: "...I'm almost afurraid to ask..." 13But not afraid enough. "How's it go?" [22:15] "Something like this." 4Ir just raises her hands and Saint Judas snaps into a six-string. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y7ACSyxWS0 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's eyebrows track with the pitch of the song. [22:17] 4At the end: "The river did bring him down." 08[22:19] 4To Eikichi: "Sounds like you know some songs about it, though." [22:19] "Far be it from me to say you should show off more, but." 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I mostly like them more than the ones about Jesus. Probably because they're all horny and maudlin." [22:21] 4Saint Judas twists in her hands. "I can play backing instrumentation." [22:21] 13Ying: "He actually - um." 13She blushes. "Tatsuya knew some. There was one - do you mind playing for me?" 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi perks up. [22:24] 13She hums a few bars for Ir to match before breaking into the real thing: "Some things you do just to see, how bad they'll make you feel," 13https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K8k_IygCDg "...but we are the ones, who don't slow down at all / and there's nobody there to catch us when we fall..." [22:24] 4If she's asking Ir, the answer is no. [22:25] 4To if Ir minds. 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Whoa. [22:25] 4Ir matches. 08[22:29] 13She keeeps on towards the close, singing beautifully and matching Ir's playing: "Sad and angry, can't learn how to behave / still won't know how, in the darkness of the grave / Long black night / morning frost / I am still here / but all is lost..." 13She trails off and allows Ir to finish however she deems appropriate, pink coloring her cheeks as her first song comes to a close. [22:29] 4Strum minor into major. [22:30] "Songbird School would love y'all." 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "That's way cooler than my favorite." 08[22:31] 4To Eikichi: "Just tell me your favorite isn't Hey Jude." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi wrinkles his nose. [22:32] 4Ir barks a few laughs. [22:32] "It's a decent song at the end of the night when everyone's drunk." 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi goes to get his six string and comes back. "This one's a bit, uh." [22:33] "Is it Blood Money?" 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh jeez." 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "No." 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zu0bOzbeT4 08[22:34] 4Unless Eikichi gives her a look, Ir starts doing harmonies in the second verse. She knows it by heart. 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Ir gets no look. 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "'So place no trust in saviors,' Judas said, 'For everyone must be to his or her own self a sun...'" [22:36] 4When it's over: "He was wrong. But he was loved." [22:36] 7Blossom does not know any songs about obscure Northern river gods, but she kind of vaguely hums along to the choruses. [22:38] 13Ying's had her eyes closed and nodded along this whole time. Cat-ears flick this way and that, sort of in time with the songs; she hums along and sings as appropriate. 08[22:40] 4To Eikichi: "We should do Blood Money, though." 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I'm in if you are." [22:41] 4Ir: "You sing and take lead, I'll do backing." 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> "Alright." [22:48] 4There's the strings, then there's the flutes, then there's... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPDSMHufUvw 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "Now if I help you, it matters that you see, these sordid kind of things are coming hard to me..." [22:51] 4Ir does the voices of the tempters, too, filtered through Saint Judas. 15[22:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks exhausted when it's done. That is not a song he'd have imagined singing with Ir. [22:56] 13Ying: "...we should go on tour." [22:57] 4Ir: "We are on tour." [22:58] 4She slumps down against the bow and takes another long sip. [22:59] 13Ying: "No I mean --" 13she gestures to the gathered Solars. "All of us. Playing together. It'd blow peoples' minds! Like, in a good way," 13she adds hastily. [23:00] 4Ir smiles. "I know. That's why I'm making you all instruments." [23:02] 7Blossom: "You already made one for me!" [23:02] 4Ir: "You should use it more." [23:03] 13Ying: "We're gonna throw the best concert anyone's ever seen. Yowza." [23:03] "Wait. Meowza. Is that too much?" [23:06] 4Ir: "So you do know what you're doing." [23:06] "Meowza is probably too much, yeah." [23:06] "Save it for when someone needs to get the point." 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You just spent the whole afternoon sleeping on a sill in the sun." 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "There's no frontier of 'too cat' beyond that." [23:07] 13Ying: "What of it." 08[23:08] 7Blossom: "Eikichi, I've seen you do that." 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Maybe you want me to start looking like a cat too, then." 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "I bet I could figure something out..." [23:09] 13Ying hisses. [23:09] 13Then she looks embarassed. That's not how people act! [23:10] 4Ir, to Blossom: "It's a trap. He wants you to want him to look like a cat." 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm just trying to figure out what animal Blossom imagines me to be." 08[23:11] 7Blossom puts her hand atop Eikichi's and gazes into his eyes. "Eikichi. I know you're above biting Ying's style." [23:11] 4Wow. 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Not at all miffed: "Well obviously." [23:12] 13That's purretty clevpurr. 15[23:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi grabs the book he brought with him to read off the table and opens to the inside cover, which is already covered with his scribbles. "So if cat is out... can't really do hyena either, obviously... maybe a moth? How do you feel about wings?" [23:15] 7Blossom: "We're getting off topic. The point is that Sunlit-Dreaming Ying can do all the cat puns she wants. This is a respectful environment." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "Unlimited cat puns? That sounds dangerous." 08[23:16] 4To Eikichi: "Bird of paradise might be better." [23:16] "What does a bird of paradise look like, you ask? Exactly." [23:16] 13Ying: "Eikitty, you... don't have to use animals..." 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "The bird or the plant?" [23:16] 4Wow. [23:16] 13She nods and offers a fist bump over to Blossom, before draining her drink. [23:16] 4Ir: "You wanted wings." 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "I could make leaves work in a pinch." [23:18] 7Blossom will never leave a girl hanging on a fist bump. [23:18] 13Bunp. [23:19] 4Ir: "Your call, but like I said: you've got a lot of leeway." [23:19] "Me, I'll stick to looking like a weird bug slut." 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I dunno... I'll think about it." 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He puts the book back on the table and stretches out in the chair. [23:22] 4Ir turns to Blossom. "So what's the word on Zeal?" [23:23] 7Blossom: "I haven't been thinking about it much, lately. We've been busy." [23:23] 13Ying stretches out farther and curls up against the railing. Not upset. Definitely not compensating. "We can make it happen whenefur. Just. You know." 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We've still got to finish cleaning up after the Trinity." [23:23] 4Ir: "You should start again. I think it's the way we protect ourselves against...all of this." 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "Actually, like... win the war for them. I'm pretty sure they didn't actually win." [23:25] 7Blossom: "And that behemoth. I have an idea for its bones." 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "What are you going to make?" [23:28] 4Ir: "We can bring the Kruthik with us, if we want. And Jormungand." [23:28] "We should give some thought to whether we want to install Jormungand in Zeal." [23:28] 4She looks around. "I'm not making an argument either way." [23:29] "But I have put some time into them." [23:33] 7Blossom grins. "Flame pieces!" 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "!" 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "A matched set?" [23:36] 7She nods. "Right, a pair. Hopefully I'll have a Righteous Devil sifu by then." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "What will you call them?" [23:38] 4Ir finishes her bottle. "Ebony and Ivory?" [23:40] 7Blossom: "I'm not sure yet. I'm sure something will come to me." [23:41] 7Blossom: "I'm going to make them hollow in the back so that instead of firesand I can use my sorcery to charge them. It's going to look amazing." 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "So they're just props?" [23:45] "Killer in the Sun and Killer in the Moon. Flare and Flame. Bolero and Lament. Here and Gone. Ender and Dirge. You've got a lot of options for names." [23:46] 7She shakes her head. "Not props. I'm going to put together exotic materials to make them harmonize with my Essence flows. Hopefully they'll end up powerful in their own right." [23:49] "Shoot the Sun, Shoot the Moon." 4Naming things rules. [23:49] 7Blossom looks alarmed. "I'm not going to shoot either of those things!" 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "What about 'I Told You So'?" [23:50] 4Ir waves a hand, holding a bottle. "It's an expression. You need to gamble more." [23:50] 4Pause. "Actually, forget I said that." [23:57] 7Blossom: "Gambling cheapens the soul and weakens the mind-- ahaha just kidding, can you imagine?" [23:58] "Shooting the Moon means losing so much that you win. I hadn't actually thought of the root of that expression before now. I don't think I'll be using it around my boyfriend." 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I bet Plentimon gets letters." Session Time: Tue Jun 05 00:00:00 2018 [00:00] 4Ir: "You probably shouldn't say 'I bet Plentimon' out loud." [00:02] 7Blossom: "Probably not more than one from the same person." [00:17] 4Ir finishes her last bottle and stares out over the plains. "We're going to do even greater things, aren't we?" 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yep." [00:17] "S'right." [00:19] "Good," 4Ir says. "That's good." [00:19] 4She throws the bottle overboard, and then snaps her fingers. Saint Judas leaps out and grabs it, juggles it, then tosses it back to her. "I'm ready for a new day." [00:25] 4Soon, a new day comes. 14[00:26] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:02] * banana|peles is now known as banana 14[02:18] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[02:34] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[07:40] * Joins: mattbaby 14[08:03] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[09:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:47] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[17:50] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:42] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:43] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:37] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:43] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:54] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:55] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[19:55] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:03] * Joins: Crion 14[20:26] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:10] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:57] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:34] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Wed Jun 06 00:00:00 2018 14[00:07] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[01:59] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Quit: ) 14[02:43] * Joins: Crion 14[02:57] * Joins: Crion| 14[03:07] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:58] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[07:58] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:04] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:00] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[13:03] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:07] * Joins: dammitwho 14[21:43] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:16] * Joins: Crion| 14[23:56] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Thu Jun 07 00:00:01 2018 14[00:16] * Quits: Crion| (Connection closed) 14[00:16] * Joins: Crion| 14[00:26] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:01] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[07:04] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:17] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[07:19] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:52] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:21] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[10:00] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:35] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:32] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:32] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[21:13] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:07] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[22:07] * Joins: mattbaby [22:12] [22:12] [22:12] [22:12] [22:12] [22:12] [22:12] [22:15] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven is still tending to his hearth as morning creeps into afternoon the day after the Arsenic Handshake summons his first demon into Creation. [22:16] 14At least, his first demon while in Nexus, where Stranger is required to care about it. [22:16] 14He'll be waiting with two pots of tea for the man to finally emerge from his room. With or without the great ape. [22:19] 5No sign of the ape, though the faint whiff of hashish drifts out of the room like a cloud as the sorcerer and his dog emerge. [22:20] "Good afternoon, Xu Sim. Good afternoon, Princess." [22:20] "Join me for tea?" [22:22] "Two pots, eh? I'd better." [22:22] 14He'll lay out a dish for Princess, too. Either filtered water or tea, depending on what she prefers. [22:24] 5The dog's preferences can be inscrutable. But tea should do nicely. [22:25] 14Excellent. [22:25] 5Xu Sim smoothes out his robe and takes a seat across from Stranger. [22:25] 14Stranger: "There's a load of bread and some cheese in the kitchen, if you want some staples. Bought them this morning." [22:26] "Cheese? We truly are moving up in the world!" [22:26] 14He sips his tea. "We haven't had the chance to talk since...since I told you to go on a date, if I recall correctly." [22:26] "There are perks to being the Emissary." [22:28] 5Xu Sim squirms ever-so-slightly. "A meeting of minds, at least." [22:29] 14Stranger: "That's a start, at least. How is she doing, in the aftermath of our bullshit?" [22:35] "Our bullshit...?" [22:36] 14Stranger waves. "Politics. Everything that happened in near the Deliberative. Our bullshit." [22:38] "It's tough for me to say, in any case. There's so much more to learn about her," 5this last part, unusually wistfully. "But her skills at artifice are certainly impressive." [22:39] 14Stranger: "...Do you mean making things, or lying?" [22:40] "Lying? I hadn't considered the possibility. She returned to me a set of cartridges for my steambreather that are the highest quality." [22:41] 14Stranger just sips his tea. [22:41] 14A different tack: "Didn't you just invent that thing last week?" [22:41] "That's some skill, on her part." [22:42] "Absolutely - I hadn't considered the use of hashish in a steambreather, but it's a flattering iteration." [22:43] "And there's more cartridges she put together I haven't even tried yet!" [22:43] 14Stranger: "Good luck to you, and your drugs." [22:44] "How are the siege weapons coming?" [22:46] "The onager is basically complete. Its ammunition and the delivery systems shouldn't take much more than another afternoon to finish. The thistledown is waiting on parts from Lookshy. But you should have seen the look on the Dragonlord's face when I told him my plans for it!" [22:46] 14Stranger: "His face doesn't move too many different ways, in my experience." [22:47] "It might crack when I call the thistledown on our enemies. His face, I mean. Not any of the systems, I dearly hope." [22:48] "And about that: I believe we will win. But I'm concerned about the cost it will bring Nexus. They say that this army is going to be enormous." [22:50] 14Stranger: "There are some four armies, coming from the poles. So, yes." [22:51] "One city, four armies. Even with the thistledown, even with Keldar in command, with the help of Lookshy and Thorns... I'm no military mind. But it boggles the imagination." [22:51] "It's not good." [22:51] "There was a reason I wanted to convince the Thorns delegation to stay outside the lines and harry an army coming in." [22:52] 14He sips the tea. "It's not just because I don't like them. Trading Thorns's help for a single army is a deal I'd gladly make." [22:52] 5Xu Sim swirls the cup, a little anxiously. [22:53] "That would be a direction we don't have to fully defend, and gives us more leeway dealing with the other incoming forces." [22:53] "As it is, we have the worst of both worlds." [22:55] "You... put me in a difficult place, you know." 5Xu Sim isn't completely believable, but he's not completely bullshitting either. [22:55] "Did I?" [22:55] "Or did you just as much do it to yourself?" [22:57] 5Xu Sim takes a gulp of the tea. "It would be easier to pretend it wasn't a date if you weren't so damn supportive. Then I could pretend that I was just doing a favor for the Dragonlord and gathering information in return for help with our wonder-weapon." [22:58] 14Stranger blinks, and drinks the rest of his tea, and refills his cup, rather than reveal his surprise that this is what they were actually talking about. [22:58] "You like her, don't you." [22:59] "You wouldn't be blaming someone else for all this if you didn't like her." [23:03] "I want to get to know her. Yes. It's not easy when you're trying to get her killed and also play some kind of matchmaker at the same time. You're keeping a lot of plates spinning at once, you know." [23:03] "It's even harder," 5Xu Sim is on the verge of venting - "with the Governor inserting himself at every chance, and that Hunter creature lurking who-knows-where." [23:04] 14Stranger: "I'd prefer she live, if 'living' is the right term for her. I have no argument with her." [23:05] "You can guess my feelings on the Governor." [23:11] "I suppose. But he's a tricky one. We shouldn't underestimate him, in any regard." [23:12] 14Stranger: "Oh, we're not." [23:12] "I'd just prefer we resolve our issues with him outside city limits." [23:14] "Is defeating the armies in the field even possible? Keldar seems to think so. But the Thorns delegates don't - and they are the ones with the experience, I think, of an all-destroying army foreign to Creation attacking a major city." [23:16] "Their experience is on the other side of the wall. I think they'd tend to overrate it." [23:18] 14Stranger sips again. "Keldar is who he is, and I won't lie and say that he and get along all the time. But I trust him to know who will win a fight." [23:19] "Seven gave me the impression that the Governor's plan to strengthen the city for a siege was his way of 'fighting the last war'. I am not so sure that he, or Seven, was on the Mask's side before Thorns fell. Fair point about Keldar." [23:20] 14Stranger: "Well. That invites further questions, such as: why hasn't the Mask annihilated him, and replaced him with someone loyal?" [23:21] "We have a lot to learn about the loyalties of the Mask and his servants. You want to send the delegation outside the city, so they will be destroyed and won't present us a problem in the future. Maybe that's why Mask of Winters sent them here." 5Xu Sim pours himself another cup. [23:21] "And if we view that question oppositionally, then maybe there's a reason the Governor was sent afield from Thorns to fight this war. Perhaps he's the victim of his own rearguard action back home." [23:21] 14Stranger nods. [23:22] "But my opinion on that is the same as it's always been." [23:22] "Fuck him if he can't take a joke." [23:22] "What's that?" [23:22] 5Xu Sim chuckles, deep down in his throat. [23:23] 14Stranger walks over and stirs the tea. "The Governor has taken an interest and you and the Scion, you say?" [23:26] "He was perfectly cordial, of course, but he seemed to pick up on things right away and interject himself to, ah," 5Xu Sim struggles for a word here. [23:27] 14Stranger: "Cockblock?" [23:31] "Ah. Well. That's rather crude." 5Xu Sim does not deny its accuracy. [23:34] 14Stranger: "So is life; so is death." [23:34] "What do you think he suspects?" [23:35] "What is there to suspect?" [23:35] "Nothing suspicious has taken place, surely." [23:36] 14Stranger closes his eyes. "Does he think you're fucking her?" [23:36] "If you believe the answer is yes, pursue the relationship openly. There's nothing left to lose." [23:37] "If you think the answer is no...well, my advice is still to pursue the relationship openly, but be aware that he might bring more assets to bear against both you and her." [23:37] "She didn't want to meet where the Hunter could follow. I suspect it's something to do with his sense of smell. So I don't know what that means." [23:38] 14Stranger: "Perfumes." [23:38] "I bet the Hunter hasn't adjusted for perfumes." [23:39] 5Xu Sim strokes his moustache contemplatively. Extremely contemplatively. [23:40] 14Stranger: "I can help you with this, if you'd like. Not with making the perfumes; that's all you. But bombing the Hunter's sense of smell -- it's better that I take the fall for that, should it go wrong." [23:41] "Especially if I can do so in such a way that I serve as a distraction." [23:41] "This is coming dangerously close to some sort of plan, Stranger." [23:42] 14Stranger: "I love it when a plan--" 14He frowns. 'Comes together' has a bit too bold of a double meaning. "--aligns." [23:43] "It is most auspicious. But that still leaves me with what to tell the Dragonlord, to whom I promised a report." [23:43] 14Stranger: "You could tell him the truth." [23:43] "But I do admit to having a fondness for the Dragonlord." [23:43] "Whose truth?" [23:44] "Whose truth besides your own were you considering?" [23:44] "It's absurd to say, but it feels dishonest to tell him the truth." [23:45] 14Stranger: "Does it feel dishonest, or does it feel like you're serving someone other than yourself?" [23:46] "I only ask because when someone says something like, 'it feels dishonest to tell him the truth,' there could be something else going on there." [23:48] "I was up front with Seven that the reason we reached out to her was because of the Dragonlord's request. I also told her that the reason I reached out to her - instead of you, I suppose - was because, well, you know. But the Dragonlord? What would he do, if he knew all that?" [23:49] "Dorma believes himself my friend, I think. But he, or the Lookshians, could leverage that if it was necessary." [23:51] 14Stranger: "Dorma is angry all of the time, not an idiot. First he'll think you're just trying to get your dick wet. Pardon the crudity. Next he'll think you're trying to make in-roads into the Governor's command structure, because even if it occurs to him that your feelings are genuine, he'll have no choice but to interpret them in the context of a greater game. This is one of the [23:51] curses of politics: when truly personal choices get built out into political ones." [23:52] 14He sips his tea. "So when he learns of this, he will think of it as a dalliance and, most likely, contextualize it in the framework of the Governor." [23:53] "How can he use this to fuck over the Governor?" [23:53] "This is all very complicated." [23:53] "Because what else is he going to do? Try to use it to fuck over YOU? What, by telling the Governor? The Governor will already know." [23:54] 14Stranger: "It is. This is what happens when you start caring about people." [23:54] 5Xu Sim reaches down to pet his dog. [23:55] "And I think it's worth it, if you want me to editorialize." [23:55] "All the political bullshit is worth the connection you might make here with another person." [23:56] 14He finishes his cup. "We all can adjust. This isn't normatively good, or normatively bad. It's just something that needs to be accounted for." [23:56] "And it's better to be happy than it is to be sad." [23:57] 5Xu Sim sips on his tea as Stranger speaks. [23:59] 14Stranger: "How are you getting along with Old Selin?" Session Time: Fri Jun 08 00:00:00 2018 [00:01] "He is wise!" 5exclaims the doctor. "Our sparring sessions grow more intense. He is an excellent sifu." [00:03] 14Stranger nods and smiles. "You should talk to him about things besides martial arts. He is an excellent architect and city planner." [00:03] "Might come in handy, with all the siege engines." [00:04] "It seems an odd combination of talents. Well, no odder than it is for me, I guess." [00:05] 14Stranger: "I am no artist in your form, but it seems to me both Crane Style and city planning are reactive. Especially when one is dealing with rich idiots who want to do stupid things with their money." [00:06] "I haven't attended a minute longer of a Council meeting than possible under any circumstance, but my impression was that the only person stopping all the rich idiots from doing the smart thing with their money - getting it as far away from here was possible - was you?" [00:07] 14Stranger: "No." [00:08] "Keldar has been important, in his own oblivious way. So has our Council alliance -- Kratz, Hayle, Udelph." [00:08] "But just as important have been our 'foes' on the Council. Thalevar and Ephiselle, especially. Master Gen is a coward who tried to cut and run, and he lost face from it. I convinced him to come back. Time will tell if he re-earns the respect of his peers." [00:09] "We're appointing a new Evening Master today who is unbeholden to the Guild. In the face of annihilation, that might not seem like much, but it is a massive shift in Nexus politics." [00:10] "And the Guild is going to accept that?" [00:11] "The Guild made their choice. And it was to withdraw from the city. I have a sworn oath to deal with them in good faith, and I am. I sent the Overfactor a letter informing him he would not be consulted on this matter." [00:12] "Just like that?" 5he swirls the cup. [00:12] "Just so." [00:13] "If the Guild wants to reinvest in this city, they're welcome to do so. But they've made a business decision. And now, so have we." [00:15] "Impressive. The Sun really has blessed you when it comes to these affairs of state." [00:17] 14Stranger: "We are all good at certain things. And not so good at others. You've seen me in a fight." [00:18] "That's true. Is there anything you need from me to help you? With the river-gods or somesuch?" [00:18] "That said: you should feel free to act with utmost latitude, within the framework of reasonable goals. Keldar can protect you in the streets. I can protect you in the courts and in the Council. Xia Lan can protect you in the realm of popular opinion. Now is the time for bold action, and cleaning up the mess later." [00:19] 14He pauses. "...So long as you're no longer planning on poisoning the water supply." [00:19] "That would be a step too bold, I think." [00:20] "As I recall that was the proposition that got Keldar to threaten all of us, along with my woman, with death. So yes. I agree." [00:22] 14He finishes one of the pots. "To the extent I have an ask of you, it relates to Old Selin's structural duties. Work with him to reinforce whatever he needs to reinforce; buttress whatever he needs buttressed. Tell me when you need work crews sent your way, and they will be sent. The two of you working together, with manpower, should be formidable." [00:24] "That, I can do. I think. With the time we still have." [00:31] 14Stranger: "Excellent. And an excellent talk. We don't do this enough. I've kept you long enough, I think, and I--" [00:31] 14He pauses. "Where's your ape?" [00:33] "It's in my anima, waiting to be called forth. I don't think it gets hungry, or even notices time is passing, while it's in there." [00:33] 14Stranger: "You might want to ask it." [00:33] "Ask it?" [00:34] "If it gets hungry, or notices time passing. While it's in there." [00:35] "Ohhhh, right, because you consider, as a matter of ethical philosophy, that it's basically been enslaved, by me." 5Xu Sim seems agnostic on the principles at stake. [00:35] 14Stranger: "I wouldn't have needed so many words to say so." [00:36] "But haven't I also heard you carry on about the 'enemies of Creation' or something along those lines?" [00:37] 14Stranger: "And you think it's some contradiction in terms that I oppose you both bringing the ape here AND that I oppose you keeping it here in slavery?" [00:39] "Well, it certainly would be quite foolish to let it wander around town, doing as it pleases and eating strays and vagabonds. And why should it remain in Hell, doing nothing to serve the people of Nexus in a time of need?" [00:39] 14Stranger: "I do not believe Vladok is a fool." [00:40] "You don't? It was your idea to trick him, if I recall." [00:42] 14Stranger: "It was my idea not to let a teenager lose a contest to him for her name. I cheated Vladok because I respected him, not because I didn't. And I prefer his vision for how demons exist in Creation to the essence-madness of sorcerors whose best excuse for their chains is 'well, what else were they doing?'" [00:46] 5Xu Sim bristles and pours what remains of the pot, taking a sip to collect his thoughts. "Bannermen conscript soldiers, kings call bannermen, sorcerers call upon Hell. Surely this is the way of the world." [00:47] 14Stranger: "You appeal to the way of the world too much and eventually you won't have anything to say when you're in the world's way." [00:48] "But then, you already knew that. You're not in Nexus on vacation." [00:49] "And neither am I." [00:51] "I will ensure the demon is comfortable and so forth. Perhaps, if it shows promise, I will give it a name." [00:56] 14Stranger: "Not particularly the point. But I'm not going make any demands of you on this, especially not while circumstances are what they are." 14[00:58] * banana|peels is now known as banana [01:02] 14They finish the kettles of tea, chat a bit more, and the day moves on. [01:02] 14One day closer. [01:03] 5 XX Hours Remain 14[02:43] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:55] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[05:55] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[08:55] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:14] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[09:39] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:13] * Joins: Crion| 14[13:38] * Joins: Crion_ 14[13:38] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[13:41] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:57] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:40] * Joins: Crion 14[15:58] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:57] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:04] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:38] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:58] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:30] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:43] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He was supposed to be working on architecture for Zeal, but Blossom finds Eikichi lounging on a stack of cushions in his room, his work abandoned for a book and his book abandoned to the intense effort of trying to rotate a milk-dunked cookie through the air to catch its own drips. 08[20:50] 7Blossom: "Eikichi, have you seen my sextant-- oh." 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's concentration breaks and he has to sweep the damp cookie up in the sleeves of his fluffy robe, cradling it like a baby before he eats it. "Oh! Hello. Just... just taking a break. What are you sextanting?" 08[20:53] 7Blossom: "The sun! It's almost noon." 7Is Eikichi's book visible? 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Yeah! It's sticking out of a big billowy outer pocket. The title is in ornate Dragontongue, with a subtitle in High Realm: Real Husbands of the Imperial City. 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is it noon already? I've got to get ready for lunch." [20:58] 7Excessively Rude Blossom plucks the book right out of his pocket with one swift motion and squints at the title. "What in the world are you reading?" 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi clutches at his pocket much too late to snatch the book from Blossom, so he settles for smoothing it back out. "Oh, books from home. I remembered seeing a couple of these when we stopped in my bedroom during the spider dream. Remember? The hairbrushes. It made me want to catch up." 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you, uh... do you know this series?" [21:04] 7Blossom: "No... what's it about? Cautionary tales about household management? That's very practical!" 08[21:04] 7She thought Eikichi was just goofing off, but he was doing research! 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "....yes!" 10Eikichi finally says, with the half-tentative air of someone taking a stand on something. [21:06] 7She hands it back to him, nodding approvingly. "So what does it say?" 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's jaw works. "It varies. Some of them are about negotiation, some of them are about, ah, finances. This one here is almost all political. There's a struggle over how to contain a parentage scandal." 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Blossom can easily identify the vague and meandering way Eikichi talks when he's hiding something. [21:19] 7She tilts her head and puts a fist on her hip, skeptical. "Really." 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi draws in a HUGE breath. "Okay so mostly it's about a bunch of very bored rich men having adventures and getting into scrapes. In this one Vela Mir finds out his stake in the cadet house is invalidated, and he has to scramble to recover the fortune he almost ALREADY lost in the last book as a criminal penalty." 14[21:32] * Joins: Crion 08[21:34] "Oh... dramas." 7She should have known. Blossom ponders. How can she get out of this without making Eikichi feel bad? "Wh...ich one is your favorite?" 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, who thinks that sometimes the only way out is through: "Which is my favorite husband or which is my favorite series? Because there's also the Real Husbands of Juche, four separate Real Husbands of the Satrapies..." [21:38] 7Blossom's eyes widen. Oh my gods he's really into this! "Either. Both. Tell me immediately." 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Ohhhhhh kay. "Well! I think I rate Satrapies:Harborhead more than most. A lot of people write it off as a bunch of pampered expatriates complaining about how hard it is to get ice fern spores. And it is that, but it's so much more than that." [21:46] 7Blossom: "How so?" 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "If you read all the dramas, the running theme is that nobody ever really changes. Kafi Wadan, a pious and severe man from page one, stands up for his principles and loses a friend at the beginning, and at the end. In between there is a furious Calibration feast and two affairs. But that's how it is for everyone, you see? Except! In this one." [22:01] "What happens?" 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "One of the husbands is Deshret, who got exiled in the original series, after trying to forge an assassin's marque against himself in his cousin's name. He's the husband of a magistrate, and she gets demoted, for something sort-of-but-not-exactly related to the assassination, and he basically starts this book at rock bottom, everyone hates him, and he failed. At first he's a running joke in the background in this one. Oh, he has to entertain in last season's summer cuts. Things like that." 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "Just, the butt of every little joke. Anyway, as always everyone ignites on each other, there's a whole thing about the cattle business that's SO DULL except when at the end of the book there's a stampede at the wedding, which was just about to be canceled anyway because of the case of Too Many Affairs." 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "But Deshret's always somewhere else. When there's a fistfight over beef futures Deshret is off visiting a medium. Illegal, sure, but not fiendish. And when he uses the medium's cult to help save the magistrate's career. You could see him learning to behave, step by step. And by the end he was, I suppose he was still quite a bad person, but he wasn't such a mess." 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Less mess is special. You never see that. For good or ill, there's always more mess." [22:40] 7Blossom: "Wow. I guess the other ones don't have their characters change so that people can pick up books in whatever order and not worry about what happened in the previous books?" 08[22:41] "And this one - " 7She points at the book in Eikichi's pocket. "Isn't the one about Harborhead. So that's not what you like about it..." 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yeah. They publish these for years and years. Every story could be somebody's first." 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oh. No, this one is in the series with the absolute best husband in it." [22:43] "Well?! Don't hold out on me!" 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Kaga." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "Kaga is just. The most. He's simply the most of anyone." 08[22:48] "Eikichi." 7Her voice is very serious, and she puts a hand on his shoulder. "Tell me about the mess, and the trash." 14[23:02] * Quits: Crion (Connection closed) 14[23:02] * Joins: Crion 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "He's been in so many books... in the first one he's in, it begins with the story of how he became a sorcerer. Made a pact with a demon - not a real one, obviously, religious censors, though it could EASILY have been Mara, I have theories - and he just wafts in and out of every story to devastate people. He's never seen to do anything but everything always seems to break his way - his wife's in the Deliberative, there's so much there. In this one Kaga's two cousins are accidentally having affairs with each other's wives, which naturally complicated the naval appointment they both were up for, their wives suddenly refusing to recuse themselves from the board that sits those appointments. No one knows who's going to risk what for who. Chaos!" [23:12] "Oh my gods" [23:18] 7Blossom: "I'm not going to lie to you. This sounds extremely important." 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "There's this tense meeting that's about to happen between the four of them when Kaga floats in, drunk as a daimyo, covered in pineapple juice. A catastrophe! An embarrassment like that could threaten the seat. The younger cousin - a soldier, remember - tries to shove Kaga out before he can make more of a mess. But Kaga says 'What is this, Swinetoad Style?' and blows him back into the tea service. Speaking of mess." 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ruined his outfit, and his outfit that day was spectacular. Everyone thought so." 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Then Kaga reveals he's come from the matriarch. A summary judgment. Divestment. Everyone can behave or they can be spun off to the West. Little more than freebooters." 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "It turned out nobody loved anyone quite enough to risk that." 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "So next we'll find out if either of them gets the appointment, and then there'll probably be another seasonal party." [23:36] 7Blossom: "Do you have any more of these?" 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Only a couple. The newest ones." 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "You want one?" [23:39] 7She nods. "Do you have any of the ones about the Imperial City?" 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oh yes! Featuring Kiyun, who based on his backstory is the only surviving boy in House Tepet. Ohhh, I can't wait to find out what you think of everyone." 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Soon she's holding another book. "Don't worry about the title, the story's in High Realm." [23:44] "Yeah, I wanted to ask- where did you get these, and what language is that?" 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I found a bookseller in Great Forks who had imports. That's Dragontongue. It's the language poets write in. These books use Dragontongue to make the title look fancier. That one says 'Hidden Power!! Kiyun's Daring Style and 'Creditor's Eye' Shake Society To The Very Heavens!'. [23:51] 7Blossom: "That's so--" [23:51] "cool!!!" 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks adoring. "You get it." [23:53] 7Automatically: "I get everything." 7Then, after a moment, "I can't believe I never heard about these at school. Where did you learn about them?" 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "My father left books lying around. Most of them were about cartography and soils. But once as a boy I spied one of these, and read it, and I was hooked. A lot of my friends' parents had a shelf of these." Session Time: Sat Jun 09 00:00:00 2018 14[00:01] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 08[00:01] "Huh." 7She frowns thoughtfully, looking vaguely over Eikichi's shoulder. Was it a patrician thing? "Wait. Cartography and soils?" 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oh yes, my father is the dullest man you can imagine. Very witty, fun to talk to, dullest man you can imagine. Engineer, civil service, obviously. He works at it all day then he comes home and spends a lovely summer evening mulling the best way to build a new sun porch." 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "He's going to love you." [00:08] 7Blossom: "Cartography and soils aren't dull! They're very important!" 15[00:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I won't deny it. So you didn't have anything like this to read back home?" [00:21] 7Blossom: "We had adventure stories, like Hero Magistrate and Hero Magistrate Girl, and that series about the anti-smuggling patrol, I don't remember its name... oh! And the Iselsi Sisters. They solved murders." [00:22] "Romances too, but I never really cared about those. I think they churned them out by the ponze." 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "No romances? Just... fighting crime? What was your favorite love story?" [00:29] 7Blossom thinks for a minute, then shrugs. "I mean, I never really...?" 15[00:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, gravely: "Then it's even more essential that you read this." 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "How else do you expect to prepare for future unruly husbands?" [00:32] "Plural?" 7She replies teasingly. "What are you saying?" 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I wouldn't presume. That's bad luck." [00:38] 7Wait, what is he saying? Was this whole thing him hinting th-- No, no, calm down. Don't screw this up by being paranoid. A flash of worry passes across her face, but she recovers and says: "What about you? What did you read when you were younger? Just these?" 15[00:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's brow knits briefly in response to the shadow over Blossom's face. But the flicker's all but reflex, and the thought vanishes. "I had the Hero Magistrate books, too. The Iselsi Sisters. Did you read Scroll-Rack Willow? The child magistrate who always knew the perfect piece of trivia to solve the case. That was my favorite." 08[00:45] 7Blossom gasps and points at Eikichi. "Yes! Gods and dragons, it's you! You're Scroll-Rack Willow!" 08[00:46] 10Eikichi: "What the--?!" [00:53] 7She laughs, delighted. "You are! You can't deny it! Which way do birdwatchers walk when making dawn observations?" 14[00:53] * banana|peels is now known as banana 08[00:55] 10Eikichi tries to hold out, but finally: "With the sun at their backs, obviously, so that they can see the birds clearly! It's obvious if you think about it!" [00:59] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom almost collapses, bent over, hands on her knees laughing. She staggers forward and grabs his lapels: "You have to write some of those, with the little symbol on the page that tells you you have all the information and you should sit and think before turning to the answer! Think of how good you'd be at it!" [01:03] 10When their faces get close he kisses her. All but reflex. "Little puzzles," 10he says softly. "Could be fun." [01:08] 7She flushes and coughs with surprise, but recovers admirably. Ha, she did it! This romance stuff is actually easy, which proves she was right not to read about it when she was younger. "Fun and educational. The best of both worlds!" [01:10] "Ooh! Speaking of which, there could be a series on cartography and geography! Call it 'Where In Creation Is Lucky Isabella?'" 08[01:12] 10Eikichi nudges her. "You were so proud when Siaka told you I was putting smiles on children's faces. You think I should make a habit of it?" [01:14] 7Blossom: "Of making me proud? Yes." 14[02:07] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:34] * Joins: Crion 14[08:32] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:24] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:19] * Joins: Crion 14[17:49] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:39] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:41] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:13] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sun Jun 10 00:00:00 2018 14[01:55] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:06] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[02:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[03:15] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:40] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:15] * Joins: trenchfoot 15[16:49] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Jun 10 16:49:34 2018 Session Start: Sun Jun 10 22:58:34 2018 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[22:58] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[22:58] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[22:58] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[22:58] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD Session Time: Mon Jun 11 00:00:00 2018 14[01:12] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[01:46] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:09] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:41] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:23] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[03:25] * Joins: dammitwho 14[06:59] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:39] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:07] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[09:11] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:19] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:05] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[11:19] * Joins: Crion 14[11:30] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:44] * Joins: Crion_ 14[11:45] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:14] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:10] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:13] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:23] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:01] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[15:01] * Joins: cbass_ 14[19:19] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:03] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[21:13] * cbass_ is now known as cbass Session Time: Tue Jun 12 00:00:00 2018 14[00:11] * Quits: dammitwho (Connection closed) 14[00:12] * Joins: dammitwho 14[01:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:51] * Joins: mattbaby 14[06:25] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:02] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:34] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:50] * Quits: trenchfoot (Quit: Leaving) 14[11:50] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[11:53] * Quits: trenchfoot (Quit: Leaving) 14[11:53] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:15] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:52] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:24] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:29] * Joins: Crion 14[15:48] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:09] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:39] * Joins: Zarick 15[19:59] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:59] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:59] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:59] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:59] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:03] <@VoxPVoxD> The Centered Circle wakes one morning to a cloudless sky the fresh-bruise green of a coming storm. The sun is white and hot above. A summons finds them an hour after dawn. The entire war council is expected to greet the Lookshyan reinforcements due to arrive at midday. Scouts have seen them already in the distance; outriders report a tide of steel as the landship Final Word and two hundred Blooded officers drag a legion to Nexus behind them. 15[20:03] <@VoxPVoxD> How does everyone prepare? [20:04] 14Stranger gets his special kettle and a fresh walking cane, and makes sure his peasant robes are pressed. [20:04] 14Has Bubo returned from his work afield? 15[20:06] <@VoxPVoxD> A bare few hours ago, in fact. Bubo was due to return overnight. [20:06] 14Stranger will let him sleep. [20:07] 14He trusts that if there was a true urgency to the man's findings, he'd have woken Stranger. [20:08] 5Xu Sim has been perched on the roof of the hideout, the mangonel under a tarpaulin, as he practices his morning stretches and meditation. [20:09] 14One assumes the full Council will turn out to meet them. Have Stranger, Ephiselle, and Thalevar been able to drive through Beal's confirmation? 15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Everything's gone through there. The hardest man to convince was ultimately Beal himself, who feared he was being reappointed just long enough to be blamed for the disaster that's surely coming everyone's way. [20:13] 14Has to be someone around to blame you, first. [20:14] 13The Unfettered Xia Lan is last to rise, and spends just the right amount of time (far too long) in her room considering appearances. She settles on a professional-looking yet still flashy red and gold outfit outfit, with epaulettes, wide cuffs, an ornate necktie, and all sorts of other bits and bobs. It's not her usual style, but then, neither is meeting with an army. [20:17] 5The sorcerer's calisthenics complete, he lies on his back to stare at clouds, as he considers the sort of letter he shall write the Dragonlord. [20:19] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven, of course, cuts a simple, incredibly attractive profile in whatever nonsense he threw on this morning. Men have it so easy, he's told. [20:23] 13Did he at least put on tea for their breakfast? If she has to make her own, she will. [20:23] 14He did. [20:24] 14Both blackleaf and a milder green tea. [20:24] 14He also went out and got some bread and cheese, and will be puttering around the common room when everyone else emerges. [20:25] 13Then she at least gets to luxuriate in that blackleaf before the undoubtedly stressful events of the rest of the day. And, hey, toast and cheese, truly a breakfast of champions. [20:26] "Ah, good morning," 14Stranger says as he begins to lightly toast some of the bread over the tea fire. [20:28] 13Xia Lan: "Good morning, Stranger." 13Ah, a late night, judging by the tiredness around her voice. Not too late, though, big day today, nothing a cup of tea can't fix. "And a busy one too, for you," 13pouring out said cup. [20:29] 14Mmmm. "And for you...Councillor." [20:30] 5At last, Xu Sim returns to his room for a pot of ink and a brush, as well as the second of Seven's cartridges. [20:31] 5He sets up shop in the kitchen with the others, alternating between the steambreather, a bread crust, and a cup of the tea as he scrawls away. His penmanship is flawless. [20:31] 13Xia Lan: "Mmm," 13as she takes a sip. She raises an eyebrow towards Xu Sim's apparatus, but says nothing. 15[20:32] <@VoxPVoxD> This one tastes of lavender, but is most notable for the furious, billowing violet cloud Xu Sim exhales like a fashionable dragon. [20:32] 14To Xu Sim: "Good morning, good sorceror. What's the word?" [20:34] 5The doctor considers the question, withdrawing his stylus from the scroll for a moment. "An excellent question. The word is..." [20:44] 14Stranger melts a slice of cheese atop one of the toasting bread slices while he waits. [20:44] 5Xu Sim wafts the brush in the air impatiently. [20:45] "I'm not sure. What is the word? What is coming next?" [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar doesn't actually sleep at the hideout if he can help it - the furnishings of his apartment are, at this point, probably not as nice, but much more familiar. When it's time to form up and meet the next morning, he of course knows exactly what he's wearing, and is present in orichalcum and moonsilver articulated plate leading a full detachment of the Dawn Guard. [20:46] "Tenuous? Uncertain? Vague? Good heavens." [20:47] 13Xia Lan takes another sip and begins toasting her own bread, tea being her bulwark against sleep. "Precarious," 13she offers. [20:47] "I'll take 'good heavens,'" 14says Stranger, plating the cheesy bread. He brushed it with oil beforehand. Tastes good. Serves three. [20:50] "An alternative approach. A discussion of what is known, rather than what is not. 'Dragonlord Dorma, I am at this time prepared to report that, upon my investigations of the Thorns delegation and the Sevenfold Scion, that failure in the face of the Raksha armies is not an option they can countenance. I can further report that the Scion of the Sevenfold's talents approach my own in many [20:50] of my own disciplines.'" [20:51] 14Stranger: "Oh, you've tested her talents, have you?" [20:51] 5Xu Sim blows an enormous cloud of vapor in Stranger's direction. [20:51] 14Stranger chuckles and bites into his bread. [20:52] 14Once breakfast is finished, he's ready for a stroll down to the parade. [20:52] 5Xu Sim shrugs and, with a minor elaboration or two, signs and seals the letter. [20:52] 13A quick dip into her room to grab her swords and Xia Lan is ready, too. 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Nexus, lacking city walls, has no gates to greet its visitors. But huge crowds gather on the piers of Nighthammer to see the Lookshyans ford the Yellow in their steel thousands, the Final Word drifting over the surface of the river like a black toad. [21:02] 14Hrmph. [21:02] 14Keldar, presumably, is making a good impression with the Apples and the Dawn Guard. The collected Emissary should be doing the same. How are the other Councilors? Is Kratz here, and if she's here, is she sober? 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> The Council of Entities is at the docks in full assemblage, along with the Governor of Nexus, in characteristic good temper, and Nessun Dorma, his mood plausibly foul. 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> If Kratz is drunk she's hiding it better than she ever has before. [21:03] 14Presumably she doesn't need Stranger to tell her Bubo is back in town. He's been playing switchboard for them quite a bit, most likely. 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Soldiers and gawkers gather around - Keldar gets a cheer when he pokes his head out of the huddle; as does Xu Sim. Xia Lan and Stranger get whistles too. [21:04] 14Strange will serenely ignore the catcalls. [21:04] *14Stranger will serenely ignore the catcalls. [21:05] 5Xu Sim cranes his neck to see who else might have come out and blows a cloud of violet smoke. [21:05] 13Xia Lan does as well, though it does prompt her to look around for Tsuka. She assumes he'd be with the Apples, if he's here... 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka's back with the cadets in Parko Llana. There's still work to be done implementing Keldar's regimen. [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar won't be spending too much time in the huddle - he's got an important role to serve as the coolest and strongest of Nexus's Chosen, possibly Khelendros excepted. The Dawn Caste's standing tall, arms crossed, torso framed from behind by the moonsilver shape of Entreaty. Gotta be clearly visible to the approaching Lookshyans. [21:10] 14Well. Here we go. [21:11] 5Xu Sim spares the Dragonlord a second glance, noting his apparent displeasure. [21:14] 5But who knows what's going on, behind that mask. [21:15] 14He's probably petulant. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> The ship docks, needing to almost beach itself alongside the pier as the prow unravels like a flower, disgorging a metal ramp that cuts into the stone of the dock. A phalanx of jade emerges, a hundred strong. The officers salute. The Wyld Hunt salutes back. [21:17] 14If they're going to wheel and kill us all, now's the time. [21:19] 13Xia Lan's hands dance towards her weapons before returning to her sides. 14[21:22] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar has an internal debate over waving lazily or nodding sternly, but decides for now to just keep standing and watching. Presumably the Lookshyans have some kind of internal discussion to move through before addressing Nexus officially. 14[21:24] * Joins: cbass 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> The figure at the head of the phalanx reaches out and beckons Nessun Dorma. The two speak, Dorma towering over the new Lookshyan commander, away from the others. [21:25] 14How do the other Councilors look? [21:25] 5Xu Sim admires the enormous, terrifying weapon. Final word, eh? 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Grim. A few of them have plainly had the same 'if they ever wanted to massacre us all...' thought Stranger did, and the rest of them don't look any happier. How many would-be conquering armies does this make, now? Five? Six? [21:26] 14Why not make it seven, and a round baker's half-dozen. [21:31] 14Stranger straightens and brandishes his walking cane a bit more prominently, if not aggressively. If only to reassure the other members of the Council, the Emissaries should look strong. 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> The new commander's helmet turns almost immediately to face Xu Sim, some thirty yalms away. [21:33] 13As Xia Lan watches the meeting between Dorma and the new arrival, something akin to worry flickers across her face, quickly replaced by the same bland interest she'd been projecting before. 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> After what seems like ages of quiet conference the new commander steps forward and raises their arms to speak, but Dorma raises an arm to beckon them back. The posture is different now, informal. He puts an arm on their shoulder. 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Now the new commander looks in Keldar's direction. [21:37] 5Xu Sim strokes his mustache contemplatively. [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks back. Well? [21:39] 14Stranger isn't quite impertinent -- an impertinent Stranger would have winked at Ephiselle -- but his smile is reassuring. 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Suddenly the new commander spins around, grabbing the center of Dorma's breastplate with a bare gauntlet - they have no visible weapons. Dorma raises his arms in a placating gesture. [21:42] 14Lot of drama. [21:43] 13No visible weapons? That's... less reassuring than it probably ought to be. [21:43] 14Does he have hands? Does he have a head? Then he's smartly armed. 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Another moment passes like this before the new commander releases Dorma, who visibly relaxes once their back is to him. 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> She removes the helmet, revealing a woman with white hair and a hard look on her face. Her breath steams like she's just stepped outside on a cold day. 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "You don't know me." 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "I won't mince words." 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "Nexus won't fall." 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a long silence before anyone's willing to cheer. [21:49] 14True, seems true, and contingently true. [21:49] 14Stranger is the first to clap. [21:49] 14It's not sarcastic. [21:50] 5Xu Sim applauds politely about two heartbeats after Stranger starts. [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, yeah." [21:50] 13Xia Lan joins them soon after, once she realizes that that actually was it. 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> She walks toward the assembled delegation, saluting again. "My name is Vuol Ballare. I'm Dragonlord, with the General Staff, and commander of the Final Word. Where are we meeting?" [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's assumption here is the Palazzo, although he wasn't in charge of actual event planning. He just needs to sustain a show of strength and run security. [21:58] 14We likely haven't rebuilt the tower yet, though we should get on that once we win. [21:58] 14So yes, the Palazzo. [22:00] 14He'll even communicate that. "We are provisioned and requisitioned to receive visitors at the Palazzo, Dragonlord Vuol Ballare. My name is Stranger-Visits-Heaven, and I am an Emissary of Nexus. Shall we?" [22:01] 14He'll answer her salute with a bow. 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Ballare gestures for him to lead on. Soon the assembled delegation, plus Dragonlord Ballare and five more red-jade-armored officers, make the trek up Sentinel Hill to meet in the Palazzo Vecchio. Everyone else stays in, on, or near the ship. [22:03] 13Xia Lan bows slightly to Ballare before turning to follow Stranger. He's gotten this covered so far, might as well let him keep doing it. [22:03] 14He will defer on security matters, of course, to Keldar. But he'll also attempt to keep as much of a separating wall between this new Dragonlord and the Dawn Sergeant wearing that particular armor as he can. [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's along for the walk, though of course he leaves a contingent of guardmsen to, in his own words, keep the Lookshyans company. Once the Council's assembled, the Dawn Sergeant takes his usual seat, gauntleted fingers interlaced before him. [22:04] 14The Emissary only has one seat at the table, and Stranger is fine with Xia Lan taking it, while he and Xu Sim float about. [22:04] 5Xu Sim blows clouds of radiant steam and keeps his own counsel, for at least the moment. [22:05] 14If only because this means he can prod Xu Sim towards an open balcony. 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Once everyone's sat down, Ballare will begin speaking. "The plague is cured, one of our High Judges is dead, and Highland stole your dome and left town after murdering your last Dawn Sergeant, shortly after the old Emissary murdered the old Evening Master." 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "Am I underbriefed?" [22:09] 14Stranger: "Wasn't really 'our' dome, and the old Evening Master had it coming. Otherwise, no." [22:10] "Though it's worth noting that there's a reason you didn't see much of Highland on your way in. Such works come at high prices." [22:12] 13Xia Lan: "I would agree that is a fairly accurate summary of events." 13She looks abruptly exhausted, considering it all, before shifting in her chair. "It's been... an interesting time." 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Ballare: "Leaving you down one army, one dome, one Sergeant, and two pieces of shit. What's your battle plan?" [22:12] 14Stranger: "Again, mostly addition by subtraction. But I cede the floor here to the Dawn Sergeant and the Arsenic Handshake." [22:12] 13Xia Lan looks to Keldar, here. 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Ballare: "Which is which?" [22:13] "The man in the cloud is the one named after the poison." [22:14] 5Xu Sim nods. [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm Dawn Sergeant Keldar, newly appointed. We're set up for the long haul, here - readying the undercity to be used as a bunker, hospital, and larder while preparing war machines that'll shred the raksha outside the city and a fighting force that can keep them at bay when they close." 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Ballare: "Glass bombs and thistledown?" [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "At least to start with. Xu Sim can go into the specifics there." 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Ballare squints at Xu Sim through the vapor. [22:20] "That's right. The glass bombs are of my own device." 5Xu Sim sets down the steambreather. "They shall deliver, through the use of a specialized mangonel, a deadly wind." 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "Poison?" [22:20] "The most lethal sort." 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Ballare: "Good. Dorma will see you squared away. I'm reabsorbing his Wyld Hunt and the Seventh Caduceus but in all matters of procurement and the common defense he will remain your focal point." [22:24] "As for the thistledown, I was given to understand that Lookshy might contribute some equipment, that its deadly flakes might shield Creation once again." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Ballare: "Yes. We've got a pylon for you. I'll have Dorma bring you round to inspect it. Do you have facilities to receive it or will you be needing to stage from the Word?" 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma, who is still in the room, says nothing. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks to Xu Sim here. He's not sure how good a platform his own tomb is going to be. [22:32] "We'll be staging it ourselves." [22:33] 14We should, at some point, talk provisioning and lines of communication. It might be best from a presentation perspective if one of the other Councilors raised this point, because they've been excluded so far. [22:34] 14Stranger is examining the sitting Councilors for someone to signal boost. 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Hayle and Thalevar have jurisdiction. Udelph has nominal seniority. Beal has actual seniority. Kratz seemed the least offput by the Lookshyans. Gen and Ephiselle wouldn't want a signal boost in the first place. 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> And the rest of you are the rest of you. [22:38] 14Gen's a liability and Ephiselle is most effective when no one knows anything about her, so both of those are fine. Stranger's instincts here are to throw Thalevar a bone to solidify that tie and tap Beal to make sure he knows this is a real job, with everything that comes with it. [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12If it's time to launch into logistics, Keldar's well-equipped to start negotiating with Ballare as to who gets quartered where, how often communiques of what sort are run up and down the line, that sort of thing. What exactly do they need from Nexus? [22:40] 14The problem with that, of course, is making sure that Hayle, Udelph, and Kratz aren't underserved. Are any of those three chomping at the bit, or will they take Stranger pushing Thalevar and Beal here as a diminishment of their role? [22:41] 13Xia Lan's just listening, nodding, and doing very little interjecting - war preparations aren't really her expertise, and no one's proposing anything egregious, so there's not much for her to add. Hopefully she's at least coming off professional and not as a dilettante. 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> "We intend to re-quarter our forces entirely on the Word. We need a large staff on board the ship at all times and have room for everyone. And quartering in Nexus presents a morale hazard. We will need food if the fight drags on." 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "Do you like mushrooms?" 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Ballare: "No." 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "..." [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Might be a problem." [22:43] 14Removing Lookshyan forces entirely to the massive barge solves some short term problems but also removes points of inflection for influence. 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Ballare: "The undercity larder." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "Yes. If you'd like to see our proposals--" 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Ballare: "We'll live." 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> It sounds like a warning. [22:44] 13He does have that effect on people. [22:44] 14Stranger's eyeroll here is meant for public consumption. [22:45] 14You have to do a little thing with your head when you don't have visible pupils. [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Good to hear. Anything else you need from us straight away? Otherwise I just need to note that we're holding joint military exercises by the weekday in the central park and just to the east of the city, for when you're settled in." [23:00] 5Xu Sim resumes his steam-breathing. He is practicing making rings. Perhaps one day he will learn to make truly elaborate shapes, like a scale model of the Final Word, of the steam he breathes. [23:01] 14Stranger: "Logistically, I think we should tap some of the other Councilors and make this more of a multilateral discussion. To that end, I'd like to introduce Thalevar, the August Councilor of the Eclipse, and Beal, the Evening Master. Very widely speaking, they govern the docks of Nexus and the business of Nexus respectively, and will be best suited to coordinate provisioning and [23:01] mariner's rights." [23:02] 14He touches each man on the shoulder as he introduces them, and then he gets out of the way. 15[23:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "Yeah, so, one thing we need to settle up is your ship. Even docked lengthwise it's in the shipping channel." 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Ballare: "So go around it." 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "Yeah, that's fine, but boats that close in the river, you might see some bumps and scrapes. Can we count on you guys to accomodate?" 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Ballare: "I don't understand." 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "Repairs, lost hours. Overages from having to go around it." [23:06] 14Stranger represses a smile. 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Ballare: "No, that won't do. We'll move the ship." 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Thalevar: "Beg pardon, but where?" [23:06] 13Xia Lan keeps her face carefully blank. 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Ballare: "Go around the city and beach it on the east end, near where the road to town comes in." 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's how they do it in Thorns, is it not? With your Juggernaut?" 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> The Governor: "...when the mood takes it, yes." 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Beal: "Outside city limits, you're saying?" 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Ballare: "Do you have a better idea?" 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Beal: "Seldom, if ever. We can trust you not to exploit your extralegal status?" 15[23:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Ballare: "You're talking about..." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Beal: "Gambling, hospitality, duty-free trading outside the bounds of the Dogmas and Civilities but right on our doorstep." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Ballare: "I don't understand." [23:10] 14Stranger: "Do you traffic in drugs, whores, or sports books?" 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Beal: "You see the potential, surely? A fully staffed and impregnable city respecting no laws but its own right next door?" 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Ballare: "..." 15[23:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "...I think we can restrain ourselves." [23:11] 14Stranger: "I apologize for the insult. But it was best delivered straight-forward." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Ballare: "If I take offense every time human scum reaches out to me in fellowship we'll never finish this meeting." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "We'll respect local ordinance." [23:12] 14Stranger, mildly: "As you say." [23:13] 13Xia Lan: "Then there's no further concern there?" 13She looks to Beal for confirmation. 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Beal: "I'm satisfied." 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Ballare, mildly: "It's raining." 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> The Council can turn to look out any window and see rose petals fall like snowflakes from the sky. [23:25] 14Stranger: "Eventually it stops." 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> The sky remains tornado green. [23:25] 13Xia Lan: "...that's new." [23:26] 14He's unperturbed by the rain's strange nature, or the sky. [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar frowns through the window. This mean anything to him? [23:28] 5Xu Sim erupts in a coughing fit as he springs to his feet, and the window. 15[23:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Outside, the alarum rings. Dawn Guard calling its sergeant. [23:28] 14Stranger: "She's early." [23:28] "This is good." [23:28] 13Xia Lan: "Is it???" [23:29] 14Stranger: "Why would we want to fight them all at the same time?" [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar frowns, pushes his chair back from the table, then stands. "Duty calls, folks. You'll have to proceed without me." 12He strides briskly out. [23:30] 5The sorcerer leans out a window to try to catch one of the petals. Has this raksha - would it dare - [23:31] 14Stranger will spend his time trying to soothe the remaining Councilors. And Ballare, too, but it's doubtful she'll need it. [23:31] 14Where's Dorma? 15[23:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Dorma's standing, hand straying to his hammer. [23:32] 14To Ballare: "My respect for you is only outshone by my respect for your relieved Dragonlord. In my opinion, you should loose him. We have some seven to ten days before this pays itself off, but there is work to be done." 15[23:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim reaches out to touch the stray blossom, and clutches it in his hand triumphantly. When he brings it close to inspect it, however, he finds that he can't open his hand. It stiffens, tremors running up his arm as his skin turns green. [23:36] 13Xia Lan looks out from a window, trying to see what's happening in the streets -- what's going on down there? 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Ballare: "So it would seem. Ladies, gentlemen. Excuse me. Dragonlord." Dorma and Ballare suit up, encased wholly in jade, before striding outside. [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12When Keldar steps outside, his caste mark glows orange-red on his brow and an aura of dawnfire ripples across the outline of his armored body. Flower petals that land on him burn away into dust as he strides through the streets. [23:37] 14Stranger's forehead lights up as he steps outside, after making sure the mortal Councilors are ushered downstairs into a fully enclosed room. [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Does there look like there's a source causing this, or a direction in which the rain is thickest? [23:38] 14To Xu Sim, as the hideous mutagens fall: "I think she likes me." 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Outside the streets are all but empty. Soldiers and civilians have taken shelter, hiding under eaves and beneath their shields. Some were unable to escape - on this street alone Keldar can see over a dozen humanoid figures wrought in vine and thorn, the delicate branchwork twisting in the shapes of human bones, human muscles, human veins. 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> The rose rain falls indiscriminate. [23:39] 14Keldar's visible in the square below. Good man in a pinch. Stranger leans out over the balcony on his elbows. [23:40] 14Then he touches his ear and specifies, "Bubo." [23:40] 14The rose petals burn away in sunfire as they touch him. 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo's voice crackles. It's never crackled before. "Are you seeing this? Is Kratz alright?" [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar snarls at no one in particular. Then he shouts: "XU SIM? IDEAS?" [23:41] 14Stranger: "I've sent her to the Palazzo's basement. And yes, I'm seeing this. One second." [23:41] 14He connects Keldar and Xu Sim. [23:42] 14Back to Bubo: "Where are you? Are you inside?" [23:43] 13At the first glance of someone captured by thorns, Xia Lan sprints downstairs and out onto the streets -- are they covered by them? Or have they become them? 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The road up the eastern side of the hill bears only two living souls, a roan horse and its rider, who staggers and slumps like a drunk with the shocks of the horse's trot but her eyes are wide open and she's smiling. Her skin is ghost-white. Her veins green and visible. 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a now-familiar pressure building in everyone's chest. [23:43] "Keldar! We need Highland's sorcerer and anyone who has any control over the weather to blow this foul storm away!" [23:43] 14Good news for bad people. [23:44] 14Stranger, to all the solars and Bubo: "Someone's come calling out the eastern side of the city." [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's about to shout a response, but remembers the codex. "Right. Know where he is - heading to Bastion now." 12The Dawn Sergeant stomps off, soon breaking into a run until he can find an emas bird or something to carry him the rest of the way. [23:45] 14Stranger: "I'm going to go talk to her." 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Do you need backup?" [23:48] 14Stranger: "Yes. Honestly, yes. But I'm not going to ask you to sacrifice yourself." [23:48] "We should get together before, anyway. Just for an hour or two. I'll bring Kratz." [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar doesn't get more than two steps before the rider's appeared, though, and he stops dead. Instead he sends an order - at least two of his guardsmen are to bundle up completely, no exposed skin, and rush to Bastion in the Dawn Sergeant's stead to prevail upon the Nine Storms Fiend to deal with this. He's to be provided any reagant he needs. 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Xia Lan stares down the hill at the rider, and for a moment the rider stares back. Xia Lan's eyes fill to bursting with the sound of war drums. [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar himself rounds on the distant, mounted figure, looks to his allies, and then strides on towards it. "Hey!" [23:54] 14Stranger organizes the defense of the Palazzo -- lots of staying away from the windows, lots of checking the man or woman next to you -- then he heads to the basement and brandishes the symbol of moving sideways. [23:54] 14To the Councilors: "Creation isn't safe here, anymore. We're availing ourselves of the second option." [23:55] 14He snaps open the portal. To Kratz: "Your man's on the other side." 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> In fact he is; he's literally right there. They fly into each other's arms. 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Beal: "Alright, alright, let's go. Someone can explain when we're safe." 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Ephiselle, mildly: "When will that be?" 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The rider throws her arms open in fellowship. There's a tiny pop audible in the horrible silence as she accidentally dislocates her own shoulders with the force of her greeting. "I am here! With a message. Of peaaaacccccccceeeeeeeeeee~" [23:58] 14Stranger: "You'll know when you're alive and you're no longer beholden to my trinkets. Let me figure out the food situation." 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> As the rider approaches people can see that smoke is rising from the horse's back and flanks where the rider makes contact with it. [23:59] 13Xia Lan can't take her eyes off the rider. Music pulsing in her ears, all other sound shut out - nothing but her, the rider, and the song. 15[23:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger successfully persuades the Council to walk through the keyhole into another world entirely. Session Time: Wed Jun 13 00:00:00 2018 [00:00] 5Xu Sim staggers on his feet, swinging his hand as bits of the greenishness fly off of it into the air. Circling away from the window like a drunk, his eyes roll in his head as he frantically searches for a strange thing: a housefly. There's one sitting on the curtains, which he now addresses. "Scion of the Sevenfold: I'm sure you have noticed the deadly Wyldish rosepetals. Don't let [00:00] them touch you. Meet me aboard the Final Word." [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12There's the sound of scraping metal, flowing liquid, and rapidly displacing air as Keldar draws Terminus from behind his back and ends up pointing a grand daiklave at the rider on the steed in one smooth motion. "End the rain and we'll talk." [00:00] 14Stranger will step out into the underworks of the city and find as good as provisions as he can muster. Preferably without mushrooms. Then he'll get a kitchen's worth of utensils. Then he'll step back inside to prepare it all. 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Above, the sky darkens. Petals stop falling to the ground as a great cyclone spins up into the empty sky, tracking slowly across the city west to east, sucking them up as it goes. People's eardrums pop as the air pressure plummets. [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's eyes roll up briefly as he surveys this, then back down to the woman on the horse. He's pretty sure that wasn't her, but for the moment, it works. "...talk." 12He's still pointing a grand daiklave at her one-handed, which can't be easy. 15[00:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Giant wasps descend from the storm periodically to sweep up the petals that have already settled on the ground into great drifts the whirlwind can soak up. Awnings, signs, trash, abandoned objects, and hedged bodies all fly up indiscriminately into the wind. [00:03] 5Breathing into cupped palms, Xu Sim summons up one of his message-pixies - he sends it to Nine Storms Fiend with a message to prepare to counteract the Wyld-Weather, to avoid the rose-petals and Yu-Shan knows what else, and to await outside the Tomb of Cold Iron. 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The rider beckons: "Bring me the body! Bring us the 4Eye! It will be painless." [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And in exchange?" [00:06] 14And so the message was: fuck you if you can't take the yoke. 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The rider: "PEACE!" [00:07] 5Xu Sim then whispers another spell - one he's learned from watching the selfsame Fiend - and flies out the window in a whirlwind, heading for the Final Word. 15[00:08] <@VoxPVoxD> From Xia Lan's perspective, everyone and everything freezes still. Her friends, her enemies, the wind and the screaming. Total stillness. Total silence. [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar narrows his eyes at the rider. He spins his grand daiklave in his hand and rests it point down before him, one hand still on the hilt. With the other he touches his ear. "Stranger, Xu Sim, Xia Lan - you getting this? Want me to repeat it?" [00:08] 14Stranger leaves the Council with their new, diminuitive wrangler -- still making out with his lady-live -- and carefully walks through the city, above and below, collecting a week's worth of food. [00:08] 13... 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> A man in a white cape and a silver mask walks in from stage right of her peripheral vision. The rider, frozen herself, can track his movements with her eyes. [00:09] 14Most important is that no one but him is exposed to the rose petals. [00:09] 14So there's a lot of underworks shopping. [00:11] "Stall for whatever time you can, Keldar." 5Xu Sim whips through deserted streets, dodging tendrils of the whirlwind, at dizzying speed. This is even more terrifying than being dragged along by the Dragonlord and his Gunzosha. 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> He places a hand on her shoulder, and she hears two men singing the same song, off-time, each one rising and falling against the other moment to moment like waves crashing in the dark, a blind struggle for primacy that never resolves. 15[00:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Time starts again, and from everyone but Xia Lan's perspective the Emissary has appeared out of nowhere with a sickening crack, standing behind Xia Lan. [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "She's offering, uh, 'peace' in exchange for the body and the eye. Three guesses whhhhhoooo boy." [00:13] 14When Stranger returns, he returns with a long table. Then he leaves, and comes back, and leaves, and comes back. When he's done, seven baskets of ingredients sit on one end of the table. [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, of course, has just noticed the new arrival mid-sentence. He looks back over his shoulder at the Emissary, a questioning expression on his face. [00:14] 14He leaves them there for a bit, and walks off to set up a fire pit. Water comes from the fountains. Stones come from somewhere outside. [00:15] 14Once he's got the hot fire going and the table set up, he begins preparing the meal. [00:15] 14This is a social occasion for the Council. He's not minimizing the horrible nature of what's going on outside, but he is trying to make this an occasion for everyone to talk, and he does chat over preparing the first course: sashimi. [00:16] 14Ideally, by the end of this, everyone will know each other better. [00:16] 13Xia Lan looks vaguely ill. This is - this is a lot, to take in. ...is the Other Emissary still keeping his hand on her shoulder, now that time has started again? [00:17] 13...does he stand with them? [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12If neither the Emissary nor the rider immediately move to strike or something, Keldar returns to the codex, muttering to the rest of the Circle. "We're being offered a deal here. Try to swear her to it or just tell her to fuck off?" 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Time started back up when he let go. He still stands behind her. [00:18] 13Then she wavers, slightly, but manages an impressive glare towards the rider. She doesn't respond to Keldar's question. 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim finds Seven and the behatted Hunter in Darkness waiting for him at the Final Word, a dozen daiklaves pointed at them from all sides. What says Xu Sim? [00:19] 14The second course is paella. [00:21] "Stand aside and take us to the Pylon! Time is of the essence!" 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Here a voice speaks up that Xu Sim recognizes as Vissi D'Arte. "Trust them! They've got a plan! If you don't like it, I've got an indefinite medical leave you can take up with the General Staff back home!" [00:23] 5Power crackles across Xu Sim's brow - but his face cracks into a weary smile. "Chirurgeon! Bless you!" 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a tense pause before the guards relent, and the three Anathema are united. Seven hugs Xu Sim. 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> But the embrace is brief, and her expression is intense when she pulls away. "Show me the weapon." [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar addresses the rider: "You want to deal, we can deal. But I need time to assemble my people and in the meantime you leave this city untouched." 15[00:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The rider: "I'm not touching you~" [00:24] 5He squeezes back, for a moment. "Take us there - immediately!" [00:25] 13Xia Lan looks to the other Emissary. Please tell me he has something for this. 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10She laughs. The horse's knees quiver as it halts. Smoke rises. [00:25] 5(this last part - directed to the Dragonbloods) 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary: "YOU ARE IN CONTRAVENTION!" [00:26] 14That's not his name anymore. 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Tell that to his subconscious. [00:26] 14Bitch I might. 15[00:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The rider: "You~ are~ already deaaaaaaaaaaaad~" 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary: "Pin ta stramb firrathin!" 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The rider: "Pinad! Mela doul jin lok waratoro se!" 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary: "CASCISTI! GURU MA TRAN WENQURAGA METTAG!" [00:31] 14Fools. [00:33] 13...hopefully they're not talking about anything important, because yikes. None of this makes any sense. [00:35] 14While chopping fish: "Wait. Keldar. Get closer." [00:35] 14Still chopping: "Closer." [00:35] "Okay." [00:35] "Ah." [00:36] "Don't listen to that bullshit." [00:36] "It's a fake language. Tell Xu Sim and Xia Lan: it's fake. They're screaming at each other to avoid the silence." [00:37] "Don't let it into your mind." [00:37] "It's definitely gibberish. But maybe - maybe it -" [00:37] 14He let it into his mind. [00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Alright am I telling this lady to wait for both of you to get here or are I, Xia Lan, and our boy the Emissary here on our own?" 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim, Seven, and Hunter are ushered into a holding bay where they see a great black obelisk, covered in simple but abstract sigils. Lines and circles. [00:38] 14Stranger: "You are telling her to wait three hours. Relate it to sunset or some other permutation of the clock if you must. They like that." [00:39] "I will be there." [00:40] 5Xu Sim approaches it reverently. This is a piece of the ancient world, an answer to so many riddles, a fragment of incomparable power. Power that he could use to conqu-- Power that he will use to save the people. [00:41] 13Xia Lan shrugs it off, after a bit. This is nonsense. If Stranger's message gets through, it only confirms what she already thought, which is the best kind of message. [00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Right." 12He raises his voice to the fae. "Wait here 'til moonrise and we can all talk terms. Don't worry, you'll have company." 15[00:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The rider: "We have the rest of our lives together." [00:44] <@Ferrinus> 12After peering a moment, Keldar mutters into the codex. "Here's the thing. I don't think this lady's body is gonna last three hours." [00:44] 14Stranger sighs. "Can you give me one hour." [00:45] "It's magnificent. We have to get it across town as quickly as possible. To the Tomb." 5He sighs, discontentedly. "Erymanthus!" 5he shouts, with a wave of his arm. And in a puff of smoke, there are standing two of the great demonic Blood Apes. [00:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Mmmm, probably. Two's pushing it. What's got you tied up, anyway?" [00:46] 14Stranger: "Resting. I've exerted myself recently. You want me fresh." 15[00:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's not enough. Not near enough to carry this!" Seven produces a green vial from inside her clothes, full of a bubbling fluid, and singsongs, "Come, my minions, rise for your master," [00:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, clock's ticking." 12What follows is probably a long, awkward, not-quite-standoff as the Dawn Sergeant keeps watch on, in a way, three emissaries. 14[00:47] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> The vial burns and flares and a swarm of green motes spill forth, spreading on contact with air into small batlike shapes that spin and swarm around the obelisk, chewing through the metal rods that bind it and, with the blood apes' help, holding it steady and aloft. [00:48] 14Stranger could snap something off here about how much he knows the clock is ticking, but he doesn't. It wouldn't be helpful. [00:48] 14Instead he finishes preparing the sushi. [00:48] 14Then he goes and sits down. 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The rider: "Sit with us. Sit with us as equals." 15[00:49] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary: "You. Are not. My equal." [00:49] 14He eats two sides of fish, and then looks for Bubo. [00:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Middle of the street? I'll stand." 12He looks over at the Emissary, and, somewhat conspiratorially, says: "...can I have a word?" [00:50] 14The Exissary. 15[00:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo's sitting away from the others, a roll of paper in his hands, a little spider on its back four legs looking up at him with eight plaintive emerald eyes. [00:51] 14To Bubo: "Have you eaten?" 15[00:51] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary looks over at Keldar: "Here?" [00:52] 14Stranger's got a plate of the good raw fish if the answer is no. [00:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar shrugs. "We can walk a bit. I figure, we're waiting here anyway." [00:52] 14Hell, even if the answer is yes. [00:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's not letting the rider out of his sight, of course, but he can go down the street a ways. [00:52] "Astounding," 5Xu Sim marvels at the idea of summoning some kind of spirit from a bottle. That's right up his alley. 15[00:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "A letter to the Director. Explaining everything. My initial involvement. My continued involvement. I can show him the stakes. It makes sense. He's going to hear something if it makes sense." [00:53] 14To Bubo: "Have you eaten?" 15[00:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Just coffee." [00:53] 14He hands him the fish. [00:53] "Now - come along! Come on! Make way, make way-" 5Xu Sim hurries to the front of the motley group and gestures wildly at any crew or onlookers to get out of the way. 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary, for just a moment, sounds like his old self. "Let's speak freely, citizen." [00:54] 14Stranger: "Why is that the outcome of you searching for the Exissary's identity?" [00:54] "I'm trying that out." [00:54] "The Exissary." [00:55] "Seems petty, but sometimes petty is good." 15[00:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Cethleann would appreciate the joke." [00:55] 14Stranger: "She will, in a few hours." 15[00:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "The situation is more complicated than I anticipated. I need access to the levers of office to resolve it." 15[00:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "With his family." [00:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Cool. Keldar does in fact walk away from Cethleann's proxy, and mutes and deafens his own page of the codex before talking. "First, not sure if we've properly met. I'm Keldar, new Dawn Sergeant. Long-time fan." [00:56] 14Stranger: "Well, that's incredible in and of itself." [00:56] 14Stranger: "Can you explain the complication?" 15[00:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Not... legally." 15[00:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Then in a whisper: "14they're in the Nail" [00:57] 14Without visibly reacting: "Then eat the fish and contemplate the law." 15[00:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo eats the fish. "Oh, this is good." [00:57] 14The fucking Nail. 15[00:58] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary: "Mirim's son." [00:58] 14The Sun don't love you til He loves you. The Sun don't save you til He saves you. [00:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods. "Grew up here. Been away a few spells, of course." [00:59] 14To Bubo: "Do you understand what I believe in?" [00:59] "Largely speaking." 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary: "Speak freely, citizen." [00:59] "Speaking bigly." 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo, mouth full: "Humanity?" 14[00:59] * Joins: dammitwho [00:59] "Indeed." [00:59] "Now." [00:59] "Do you understand what I don't believe in?" 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo shakes his head. [01:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So my hope, of course, is to take care of this so as to save you the trouble. But if you've got any insight as to how to stop her from just hopping onto another ride, or what'll happen if she gets what she's looking for, I'd like to hear it." [01:00] 14He smears some fish in the spicy green stuff. "I don't believe in towers." [01:02] "So that will do what we do." 15[01:02] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary: "She's too far. I can't see her. She wants to kill you." 15[01:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "She wants to kill me but she can't." 15[01:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Nothing can kill me." [01:03] "And they best hope that the fakest pieces of god-shit kill us before our eyes turn west." [01:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, she ain't gettin' me either. Why would she want... the body, or the eye?" 15[01:04] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary: "Proof of office. It means the war is over." [01:04] 14He finishes his fish and then turns to Bubo. "Do you know why?" [01:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But would it be? Would she and her buddies just turn around and leave?" 15[01:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo shakes his head again. 15[01:04] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary: "I don't know." 15[01:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "They may simply die." 15[01:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "Nothing else keeps them together." [01:05] "A Nail only protects one finger. But there are five fingers to a fist. And we're a dreadful goddamn hand." [01:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Would you suggest, then, that I scare those things up and hand 'em over?" [01:06] 14He pauses. "I've kept you too long. Go find Kratz. Big place. We can cordon off the part of it with your bed." 15[01:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "The others will die. But she may not. There is a word. Ishvara. It means irrefutable. She may no longer be able to die." 15[01:06] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary laughs. Keldar has never heard the Emissary laugh. "Of course not. I won't let you. They're my property." [01:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "They for sale?" 15[01:07] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary pauses to consider this. 15[01:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Finally: "Make me an offer." [01:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Just to, uh, calibrate my expectations, are we talking some body parts in a morgue somewhere or the stuff you're using to walk around and talk with?" 14[01:09] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 15[01:09] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary: "This is a rental." 15[01:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "You've seen my body." He points up. "And you've seen my eye." [01:11] 14Everybody's looking for something. 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The rider gets down. Now she leans up against a magnificent topiary piece cut in the middle of the street, a great rosebush perfectly clipped into the shape of a horse rearing back in pain. [01:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hmm. Well, you know me, I'm a mercenary adventurer. Sort of stuff I've immediately got to offer includes silver, jade, and manpower... although, being as I'm anathema, that's a lot of manpower to put behind a quest or whatever." [01:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Whadda you want? I'd imagine some way to get your proper body going - but then that kinda defeats the purpose of dealing with her." [01:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "On the other hand it'd probably be good for the city in itself." 15[01:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary, simply: "I want her heart. I want you to cut out her living heart and hand it to me." 15[01:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "Not her. The other woman." 15[01:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "With the red hair." [01:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks around. I'm guessing that 'not her' is him dismissing the bod that Cethleann's currently piloting around - are there any redheads prominently visible? Does Keldar know what the real ohhhh. [01:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "One that appeared over the city and told 'em all to turn on you?" 15[01:15] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary: "Yes. You know her?" [01:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Only of her. But buddy, I would if I could. Her legions have been a pain in the River Province's ass for forever." [01:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "To be fair, I guess she did first save it from you, but come on." [01:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Anyway, she's been missing for years now." 15[01:19] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary: "You seem enterprising. I bet you could figure it out if you wanted to." 15[01:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "The prize is out there. You pick it up, it's yours. You don't, I have no sympathy for you." [01:20] 14Never did. [01:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar works his mouth around a bit, looks up at the sky: "You know, I bet I could do it. Just not in a week and change." 15[01:22] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary: "I can wait. We'll work something out." 15[01:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "You want to buy her off now?" [01:24] 14This gods-damned man. [01:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar blinks. "You'd hand your eye and body over for a promise? My indenture? You expect to ever get 'em back?" 15[01:25] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary: "She can't destroy them. They'll find their way back to me." 15[01:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "Someday." 15[01:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "Are you asking for a stake?" [01:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And in the meantime you're stuck like this? The other thing I wanted to ask about was if there was some way I could help you, you know, get back together." [01:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Figure it'd be better for the city. And my job's security, after all." 15[01:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's the other half of the deal. If I eat one of them I can heal." 15[01:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't particularly care which one." 15[01:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "But I don't need help with that." [01:27] 14It's true. [01:27] 14No one needs help to eat shit. [01:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Think I'm missing something. If you hand your eye and body over, and they just leave or dissolve into twigs or whatever, then you've got nothing to eat, haven't you?" 15[01:28] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary: "I don't expect she'll accept the offer immediately." 15[01:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "Feels like a trap, doesn't it?" 15[01:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "So I've got time." [01:31] 14In Keldar's ear: "My opinion is, this guy is an asshole who doesn't strictly lie. That's the quintissential nature of the comeback on Balor." [01:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar actually did turn off his codex here. He says: "So we let 'em close in, you claim one, we buy the rest off? And that leaves you... hmm." 15[01:35] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary: "You've probably noticed by now that this job isn't actually that hard. I don't need the Eye. It's just that it's mine, you see?" [01:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "When I first heard her offer, it sounded like it might head off the fighting completely. If instead it just means that it ends sooner... that's a little less appealing, both since it still leaves you weaker and leaves me, you know, insanely indebted." [01:37] <@Ferrinus> 12The dawn sergeant points. "I can arrange to feed you one of these fuckers, though, whether we ultimately buy the boss off or not. You stay in touch and we can arrange it." 15[01:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "Fairly indebted." [01:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That too." 15[01:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "I like to think that fairness is always reasonable." 15[01:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "I think you do too." [01:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You're not wrong there. Just got a soft spot for that superlative." 15[01:39] <@VoxPVoxD> "It fits the moment." 15[01:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "But by all means, think it over. The offer was your idea, after all. And I'm not going anywhere." [01:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "All right. So this thing -" 12He waves at the rider. "Won't be deciding anything for us in the moment either way. I'll tell her to fuck off... or, I dunno, that we've heard and are considering the idea. And I'll see what my fellows think about hunting the Empress down." [01:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Me, I figure that if we're starting the war either way we'd be better served finishing it, and it'd be silly to make you whole and then split you on another axis anyway." 15[01:42] <@VoxPVoxD> The Emissary: "Suit yourself." 15[01:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "I can handle the messenger." [01:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ooh, yeah, about that. Can you leave the lady whose body Cethleann's in... you know, alive?" 15[01:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "You can handle the messenger." [01:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar essays a salute, and turns to approach and square up to the rider. he turns his codex back on as he approaches, muttering into it: "Got an offer from the Emissary that we want to discuss later. For now I don't think you need to worry about getting on scene - this is a messenger, not a diplomat." [01:46] 14Stranger: "And you trust this?" [01:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, to the possessed woman: "All right, we've heard what you want - and we might be able to deliver. We'll need more time to decide than your steed can give us." [01:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So release her. Begone. We'll talk in person - or through magic of our choosing, at least." 15[01:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "Seven days." 15[01:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The woman collapses to the ground, unconscious, bleeding green from the ears and nose. [01:47] 14All Stranger wanted was a couple hours. [01:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar swears to himself as he immediately drops to a knee, working to stabilize the woman. He'll probably have to show her to Xu Sim later. 15[01:49] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: The Lion, the Witch, and their wardrobes 14[05:05] * Joins: Crion 15[05:09] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed Jun 13 05:09:01 2018 Session Start: Wed Jun 13 11:05:06 2018 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[11:05] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[11:05] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[11:05] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[11:05] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[12:06] * Joins: VoxPhone 14[12:07] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:07] * Quits: VoxPhone (Client exited) 14[12:11] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:30] * Joins: VoxPhone 14[12:31] * Quits: VoxPhone (Client exited) 14[12:43] * Joins: Crion 14[13:46] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:18] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:31] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[17:41] * Quits: VoxPrime (Quit: ) 14[18:17] * Joins: Crion 14[19:21] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:35] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:15] * Joins: Zarick 14[22:28] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:52] * Joins: Crion 14[23:53] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Thu Jun 14 00:00:01 2018 14[00:47] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:05] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[04:02] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[07:20] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[08:30] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:20] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[10:02] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:11] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:51] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[12:51] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[13:01] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[13:04] * Quits: trenchfoot (*.net *.split) 14[18:53] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:56] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Fri Jun 15 00:00:00 2018 14[00:02] * banana|peels is now known as banana|sick 14[00:22] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:25] * Joins: bananaphone 14[00:29] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[00:40] * Joins: Crion 14[01:07] * Joins: bananaphone 14[01:11] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[01:19] * Joins: bananaphone 14[01:22] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[01:44] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:35] * Joins: Crion 14[02:38] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:56] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[06:15] * banana|sick is now known as banana 14[08:34] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:19] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:07] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:11] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:04] * Joins: Crion| 14[16:44] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:13] * Joins: Crion_ 14[17:17] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:46] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:56] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 /T T [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 / | |\ [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 / | | \ [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 /___| |__\ [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 _.'____J L____ [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ _.-' [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 `--._.--' [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 7 [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, that was very strange. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12It seems that approximately an hour has passed in Creation itself. The Heavensward spent that time adrift above the Yellow River, quiet and mostly still. You found it mostly unchanged upon your return to the normal flow of time, though there were a number of cobwebs to sweep away and the color scheme of the entire vessel seemed slightly paler, shifted further into the blue end of [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12the spectrum. Fortunately, that faded over another hour or two. [20:30] 4Hopefully not too much has changed outside the ship in their absence. [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12As soon as Blossom went below decks, the colony of now-invisible, thumbnail-sized pattern spiders that had nestled in the folds of her clothing quit her person to skitter through the air and return to the sleeping body of Choto Chodari, who shifted slightly but didn't seem to notice. And past that there was time to get bearings and recuperate. [20:32] 4Ir retired to her room and would not have left until the next morning. If the Heavensward needed to move, someone else would have to do it. [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12What'd everyone do immediately? How about in the next day or so? Where's the Heavensward now and what's the state of its guests? [20:34] 13Ying will perform at the very least some cursory checks on the guests and residents of the Heavensward, ensuring that no physical harm has come to them in the aftermath of the weirdest hour in the history of Creation. After that... a retreat to her quarters is in order. She's got a lot to think about. 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Siaka's hurt! 08[20:39] 7Blossom will bustle around helping Eikichi with whatever it is he does to provide medical support to the two injureds. 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He'll need help cleaning and binding Siaka's wounds, and then delicately balancing crystals on each of her chakras. Once they're set, a gentle pulse of living essence neutralizes all the poison in her body immediately. "Whew! I was worried it was something weird. How's May doing?" [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Well... she looks quite peaceful. 08[20:46] 13...but her retreat is interrupted when she sees the state of May. Jeepers. To Eikichi: "...she got the 'something weird.' No essence, comatose... she'll heal, but help me get her situated, I don't want her out any longer than she has to be." 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi helps. "This is what happened to Octavian, I think. Like her anima's sprung a leak." [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara looks very grave when she hears how the younger of her two coworkers are doing. "The Maw of Dripping Venom..." 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "That sounds bad." [20:48] 13Ying: "It looks bad." [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12She spent the first hour of your return in Creation sitting crosslegged in midair above the Heavensward's deck, seemingly meditating. Now, however much time later, she's back to reality, but still looks slightly dazed and occasionally stares around her in apparent awe. "It's... not as bad as it sounds. Not if the technique isn't completed, and, and it wasn't here." [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I know how to do it, but not how to reverse it." 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Don't worry about it. Time will reverse it. She'll be safe here." 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> "So... who's job is it to write this up for your bosses?" [20:49] 13Ying: "...guard shifts, then? Can't be too careful..." 08[20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara watches May disconsolately as Eikichi asks the question, seemingly not hearing the sorcerer. Then she blinks as she processes the words. Then she quietly says "...ohhh nooo..." 12to herself. 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is it you?" [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "HOW do I- where do I even start with this! And I just remembered May had an important appointment! Is, is, is Siaka going to be okay at least?" 08[20:51] 13Ying's ears twitch as she looks over to Eikichi. Loud... 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "She should be good as new in the morning. Is this report to your boss? Stenzo, was it?" [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "He's still on sabbatical. But this has to go to Wayang! ...it probably has to go ABOVE Wayang. But him first." 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I can help write the report if you want." [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara looks tempted. "Iiii. Probably not. But... well, we haven't tied this up, actually, so I can't finish it yet anyway." 12She casts her gaze around, as if she could see through the Heavensward's walls to Choto's room. "Only one of the Getimian's completely accounted for, isn't it?" 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yeah. Plus there's the thing where the Trinity used them against the Princess." [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "What?" 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It makes sense, doesn't it? The ruptures in narrative time you've all been investigating. The Getimians couldn't do that on their own. But they could help the Trinity do it. It explains why we have no idea why or how they beat back the invasion. They just said they did, and used magic to make it stick." 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't actually 'know' or 'have proof', but come on." [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "But... but that'd be crazy. That'd be, working with even one Getimian. Almost treasonous." 15[20:58] * Retrieving #SonsAndDoctors modes... 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Crazier than getting murdered?" [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I mean, it's not like there's a precedent here, but the Bureau of Destiny'd come down on them like a thunderbolt. If it could be proved, anyway." [21:00] 7Blossom: "Harder than an army of the invading undead? Or less hard than that?" 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Kind of hard to prove given the breakdown in causality. You rank them, right? Celestially? How much have you pressed them to assist you and how much help have they been?" 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi has no basis for knowing whether or not the Chosen of the Maidens outrank the gods but it would never occur to him that they might not. [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Well, they were quite insistent, you know, years ago. Not to me personally, I was still finishing my training. But now their position's always been that things are fine, as you'd imagine." [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "We never could figure out how they did it..." 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "Maybe another meeting is in order, after you're all recovered." 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "And wouldn't it be nice to have a strong working relationship with our circle to use as leverage?" [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "May was going to have tea with them in two days, I think. She's sort of been our liason... I suppose we just reschedule." [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "It's too bad Chodari won't remember what his last incarnationd did - we could've just asked, otherwise. But we still need to deal with him. Or be sure he's been dealt with already." [21:06] 13Ying bites her lip and thinks. "Yeah, she'll still be under. Or, just waking up, and in no position to do anything strenuous. Doctor's orders." [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Hmm, okay. I'll pass that along." [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara adjourns then to do some preliminary drafts and calculations of an initial report. She's still insistent on somehow resolving the issue of Choto to her satisfaction, though. For his part, he wakes up sometime in the next day. 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10How does he react when he wakes up and sees Eikichi? [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12He's slightly alarmed, but this isn't the first time it's happened. "Am... I okay? I feel okay." [21:11] 13Ying, by that point, has finally retreated to her quarters for... spirited conversation, let's call it. [21:12] 13Spurrited confursation. 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "As far as I can tell. What do you remember?" [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "Not a thing. ...well, not a thing that makes sense. Lots of wandering down hallways." 08[21:14] 4After her chat with the rest of her Circle, Ir, Saint-Sister will more or less be back to her new usual, cooking and piloting the Heavensward and working on instruments for Eikichi and Ying in her free moments. 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Okay. I'm going to bring Yara in. With the purple hair. Listen to me: nobody is going to hurt you. Okay?" [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto looks considerably more alarmed, as most people probably would having heard such a reassurance out of nowhere, but he swallows hard and nods. 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi gets up and opens the door. "Yara." [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not just Yara. Iron Siaka shows up too, though she's not got her mace or armor on her person. She crosses her arms and leans back against the wall beside the door, giving the kid a look that's more skeptical than the intently inquisitive one Yara delivers from around waist height. [21:19] 7Blossom spends a few hours inspecting the Heavensward's hold - it's actually a bit disappointing to her that she did such good work, because it means she doesn't get to do any of the common maintenance a vessel would normally require. Well, maybe she'll sneak off and read some more Real Husbands. [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "So is he lucid? Sane?" 12Choto: "What? I mean, I think? You're all real, right?" [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12The youth points from person to person. "The tall one, the short one, the doctor, the giant monst- I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "He's as lucid as any of us." 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Choto: "No offense." [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12He snorts. [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "But he's still... Chosen. Right?" 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yeah. What are your options?" [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12By way of explanation, Choto picks up the mug of tea on a tray behind his bed, and pours it unceremoniously onto the floor. Halfway through the motion, he tilts the mug back upright - and everyone can see the liquid fall in reverse, picking itself up off the floorboards to return to the cup. [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara and Siaka both watch this carefully. They make similar motions, actually, tilting their heads slightly as if listening for something subtle. 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Man that is way cooler than any of the aggravating shit Yara and the others do. [21:24] 4Ir spends the morning hunting, then another hour in the kitchen playing ersatz butcher and then cook -- finally serving up a lunch of brown rice and tender, slow-cooked boar meat. [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "None of the Secondborn's rot is on him. I know what it sounds like from the - from the thing. He's not going to, like, infect bits of the Loom or anything like that." 12She pauses. "But that kind of trick is going to give people huge headaches just the same." [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Worse than the nonsense these guys get up to, though?" [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara makes an 'ehh' sound and kind of swivels one of her palms in the air a bit. 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Surely our nonsense is less dangerous than our sense." [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "If you had sense you'd sit quietly and wait for our instructions." 12Siaka laughs, then pauses to check whether Yara was kidding, and ends up looking uncertain. 08[21:29] 13Ying's sure to be present bright and early as Ir is cooking - Eikichi's got the medical bay covered, and she really, really just wants to eat some meat and not think about stuff for a bit. [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "...but, okay. I don't think he's a danger to Creation. But just, you know, 'so I let him wander off' isn't going to look good." 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "What would look good? What would your bosses be able to call a victory?" [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Each of these things, or these people, represents something stolen from the Bureau. A destiny that was dragged off course and pointed straight at us. That needs to be fixed. The... the spider-time and lifeline and so on that Choto represents need to be doing what they were always supposed to be doing." 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "And he was supposed to be a Chosen of the Sun." [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Except I'm not sure what that is. I spent most of the- really? Gosh." 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yeah." 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Turning to Choto: "Surprise!" [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara scratches her head. "So... what kind of Chosen? What was he going to do?" 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's more complicated than that, obviously, but this samsaric loop is the result of a Solar Exaltation that never happened. Two generations back there was supposed to be a newly minted member of the Dawn Caste, but instead your predecessor put a stop to that. Fate's will subverted, a contradiction in need of resolving." [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "That I remember. Remembered? My last incarnation was told he'd become one of us, but that his lifeline'd been poisoned and had to be cut before that poison did its work." 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yeah, but the Sun had other plans. So what happened is he caused a deathknight to spawn and then you ended up with a Getimian anyway." [21:41] 4Ir grunts and shakes her head as she finishes up some rice and meat. [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "A black Solar but no bright one..." 12She eyes Choto, thoughtful. [21:45] 13Ying picks some meat off her claws. Delicious. "Thank you, Ir! ...how was hunting?" [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "And that was only the second to last time they sent Shadow up northeast. Last time he didn't come back. I'm thinkin' some irony happened." [21:47] 4She waves a hand and finishes chewing and swallowing. "You know. Normal. No ghost spiders, no people from my past. Felt good." 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "The deathknight got him?" [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Could be. Or at least tipped the scales just far enough for somethin' else." 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Is irony like a meterological phenomenon on the Loom of Fate?" [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "That's a matter of some debate." [21:51] 13Ying: "I'm really glad we're done with the spiders. And the past. It's just--" 13she shivers. "I'm still not over it." [21:51] 13Ofur. [21:51] 4It's not a question of getting over it for Ir. She's never going to. [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara wave the words away. "But anyway. Anyway. That means... that's where he's supposed to be, right? Or his spiders, anyway, and someone who at least strongly resembles him. Up north, opposing that other Anathema." 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "That blood's destiny... Choto..." 08[21:54] 13Ying senses Ir's pain, and tries to change the subject. "...should I fetch Blossom and Eikichi? Eikichi might be busy still..." [21:55] 4Ir shakes her head. "They know where the kitchen is, and they can smell the food. When they want to eat, they'll be here to eat." [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara steeples her fingers and turns to address the youth. "Howwww would YOU... like to visit the northern threshold." 12Choto: "Wha...?" 15[21:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "He's going to need training." [21:56] 7Blossom floats in to the kitchen. "Is that boar I smell?" [21:58] 4Ir: "Slow-cooked with some special Southern seasoning." [21:58] "Brown rice on the side." 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks past Choto, out the window. "I know a guy who'd be good at it." [21:58] 13Ying spins her chair backwards and looks towards Blossom: "It's delicious!!" 13She picks another piece of boar off a claw. [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "Wait, training? In what?" 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "What Yara is saying is that the best way to get Heaven off your back is to be able to say that you're doing what your destiny should have been doing all along. In this case that would mean going north, to fight the deathknights of the Lover. We've got a lot of friends in that part of the world who could help you and support you if that's what you decided to do." 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "But it has to be what you decide to do. If you don't want to do that they'll have to think of something else." [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "What's a deathknight? Because that sounds really bad." 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It's pretty bad. Imagine an evil, death-worshipping version of me." 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Me, the guy who already almost murdered you. [22:02] 7She nods, and fills her dang plate, humming cheerfully to herself. "So, how are our guests doing?" [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "But you alr-" 12He swallows and looks around the room. "Okay so it actually was really bad. Why would ANYONE do that." [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "But it's your duty! Isn't it important to defend Creation?" 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi cocks his head at the Chosen of the Maidens. "They do it because they were told to. They had their whole life planned out for them and for the most part they've stuck to it." 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's not going to happen to you." [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "That sounds like YOUR duty." 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "What do you want to do?" [22:04] 13Ying: "May's... catnapping at this point. Siaka should be fine, and Choto should be awake. Yara... I can nefur get a read on her, but she's not hurt. Physically." [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara frowns and reddens slightly. Choto, meanwhile, says: "I... I don't know. Stop working in the opium fields? Make some money?" 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you have friends? Family?" [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto flexes a hand. "Both of those'd probably be easy now... uh, no family. My friend Shirokan's probably still in the slave barracks..." [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Listen, I can't just - you can't just go around causing trouble. If you aren't working to fulfill your destiny then you'll still be in trouble with my people!" [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "I'm in trouble either way." 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "He's going to need time to grow into himself before he's any use to anybody, least of all himself." 08[22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara's getting increasingly agitated, but Siaka kneels enough to put a reassuring hand on the little assassin's shoulder. The Chosen of Serenity looks to Eikichi. "What're you thinking?" 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "I know someone who can take you in, train you, give you a safe place to figure out what you can do and what you want to do. There's a city nearby so you won't be stuck on your own. And when your training is completed, you can trust that your master will never expect you to actually do anything." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> "How do you feel about the Crane Style?" [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "...how's it look?" 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Expectantly to Yara and Siaka: "Surely one of you can demonstrate." [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Easy, it's like-" 12She sticks her tongue out of the corner of her mouth in effort as she raises both hands, fingers curled forward, and also lifts a foot off the floor. Then she glances down at Yara, her eyes glinting. [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "The martial arts do NOT all look like that! I keep telling you! Okay, that one does but just that one!" 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Has she never seen herself make snake hands? [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara turns to Choto as Siaka resumes a casual stance. "Crane is a defensive style. It absorbs and redirects strikes and teaches the enemy it's wrong to fight you." [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto looks intrigued despite himself. 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Anyway, that's my idea. I could take you out there, get him to take you on, and then when you've decided you're ready to move on you can move on. If you decide you want to fight you can do that. If you decide you want to go do something else you can do that too. But right now I think what you need is some time and space to figure that out." 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh and we'll be buying out your friend's slave barracks anyway. Then Tatsuya will steal the money back and distribute it to all the newly-freed." 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "Don't worry, I'll get Blossom to check his math." [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "Oh, shit. Really?" 12Yara: "Really?" [22:22] 6Wow, way to volunteer - yeah no that's fair. 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "Look at my face." 10Eikichi's face is serious, but also, just... look at his face. [22:23] 13:I 08[22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "I'll... I'll think about it. That'd be really good. The second part." 12Eikichi can already tell that the first's landed, too. Kid just needs a little time to digest it. 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Okay. Are you hungry? Ir made boar." [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "Am I ever-" [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Later, outside, Siaka and Yara are in rapt, whispered conversation for a while. At some point Yara asks where Tatsuya actually, like, is. Is he doing the crime already? 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "He's always doing a crime." [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Gosh. Does he need help? I mean - I owe all of you." 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's eyes glint like Siaka's. "I don't know, Yara. Do you want to ask him or should I?" [22:26] 13Oh my god. [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Uh, actually, I'm sure he's fine." 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I actually had a favor to ask you, and! I've got something to sweeten the pot. Who on your circle do I talk to about procurement?" [22:27] 13...did she seriously not figure it out in ther shared journey through spider hell? Wow. [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "That depends on what you're procuring. What do you need?" 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I have family on the Blessed Isle. I want a means to communicate with them and a way, eventually, to see them." 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> "In return I can offer you Zantetsuken, the sword that invented Single Point Shining In The Void style." [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara starts. "What! You'd give it up?" 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I picked it up because I felt weak. Then I all but killed a kid with it by reflex and felt like a monster living in my own skin. I liked feeling weak better. I'll figure something out." 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "If you can accomodate." [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Could I put in my report that I stole it? Or, hmm, maybe that you were convinced to surrender it for the good of Creation." 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "If you can help me out I will personally testify that I was humbled by your cunning and cowed by your ferocity." 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Or whatever it is Saturn likes." [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Oh, then done, definitely. I can reach the Blessed Isle pretty quickly if I need to - a few days there and back at most. Getting you there, well, that depends on if I can get you invited to Yu-Shan." 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oh, wow, I hadn't even considered me going there. That would be amazing. What about communication? Should I be writing letters or do you have something faster?" [22:35] 4Going to Yu-Shan seems like an incredibly bad idea. [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Letters to start. But if you want I think I could requisition a linkpearl." 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I would love whatever a linkpearl sounds like it would be." 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "As far as visits go, somewhere down the line, once we've got a place of our own, I want to be able to get my family there." 08[22:38] 4Ir's walked over with a full plate of rice and boar and a clean fork, intended for Eikichi if he's hungry. If not, she'll eat it herself. 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi eats the heck out of it, after thanking Ir. [22:39] 4Ir: "Linkpearl? Sounds expensive. And exclusive." [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "That could be tricky. Maybe on a Calibration..." 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He wonders if Blossom would like a visit back to the Imperial City or if that'd be uncomfortable. Something to float by her later. 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi waves a hand. "That's fine. That part's not urgent." [22:42] 13Ying: "...what is that, anyway?" [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Uh, but, yes, okay. If you want me to take any letters or something over I probably can in the next few... days, possibly weeks if something blows up here." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> "Could you take a care package?" [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Assuming that Ying's asking Yara, Yara answers: "An artifact for talking to people across long distances. You wear it in your ear or hold it in your hand and they can hear you if they've got its twin." [22:44] 4Ir: "I've heard of other devices like it. None with the warrant of Heaven, of course." [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "If it's something I can carry in a knapsack." [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Well, it's a pretty common idea among artificers. I used to have a magic mirror for that kind of thing, but Stenzo borrowed it." [22:46] 4Ir: "Sounds nice, but I bet being instantly reachable at any hour of the day gets old quickly." [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Yeah..." [22:46] 13She was. "But being able to talk to people you can't normally is so cool!!" 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It'll be less annoying when it's not your boss." [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Time can safely pass here - at least a little bit. Roughly two things are going on that might merit attention: first, the Trinity is expecting to see May, and, according to communiques received by Yara's Circle, is urgently worried about something and doesn't want to push their tea date back any farther than it needs to be. Second, the beginnings of war are actually already ongoing [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12to the north, across the river. [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12It seems that the ancient dead of the inverse city are growing restive, and Jormungand's queens have been fending off a series of attacks from below. They want the go-ahead to strike back and begin taking ground. [22:50] 4Never a dull moment. [22:50] 4Ir should attend to that personally. 08[22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Also, you probably want to make good on the slave purchase/heist Eikichi mentioned. 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The trick to volunteering your friends for things is to pick things they'd have gladly done anyway. [22:50] 6Well, yeah. 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10When does Choto make his decision? [22:51] 4Sigh. The what, now? [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto wants to do it. He'll try this training thing - but only if he can bring his friend, and only if he's allowed to quit if it sucks. Yara and Siaka seem to have no objections to this proviso, for whatever reason. [22:53] 4Once Ir's filled in, she'll agree that should probably come first. 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Choto was a poppy slave. I suggested we can buy those slaves' freedom, and then the slavers can be robbed, and the freed slaves receive the windfall. It should be really simple. Once word got out that a slaver closed a deal that big they'd have a target on their backs from every bandit within a hundred malms." [22:54] 4Ir: "Sounds good to me. Though when the slaver's figure out the trick -- and it won't take them THAT long, I imagine -- we might wish we cut out the middlemen and, uh, cut down the middlemen." [22:54] 6Tatsuya: "Easy, then. In and out, no suspicion back on us." [22:54] 7Blossom: "That shouldn't be difficult. Slavers are always happy to take a reasonable buyout - they can always put their profits back into more inventory." [22:54] *slavers' [22:55] 6Tatsuya: "You got any ideas for people to blame? As long as we're covering our bases, here." 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Other slavers." 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "Maybe we can get them to kill each other!" [22:56] 6Tatsuya: "Seems sensible. Plausible, not worth too much scrutiny, and any collateral is good." [22:58] 4Ir: "As long as we're incredibly clear to the ex-slaves that they're to get out of town immediately, and not flash any coin while doing so." [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12The opium operation that Blossom arranges a mass purchase from is quite an expansive one, as you'd expect in a city so dependent on the drug trade. The Zenith Caste ends up dealing with a series of exquisitely coiffed and manicured officials, many of which seem to have divine parentage. They're happy to sell, but are curious - is the Sunshrine in need of its own slave labor? Is this [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12officially and publically an act of charity? [23:10] 4Ir can lend something of an imprimatur here, if Blossom wants. Her anti-slavery stance is so well-known from her time in the arena that a confusing legend has sprung up about her being a former fighting slave herself. [23:12] 7It's the latter thing. Charity in an official sense, duly signed and receipted to the civic tax authorities. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Excellent, excellent. Blossom can practically see the people she's dealing with planning how to buy new, even better slaves before she's even finished all the signatures. Before long, an entire barracks-worth of opium farmers have been transferred to the Sunshrine in the city's southwest. [23:15] 4While the second part of the plan is being put into motion, Ir will be waiting for the new arrivals with a huge, sumptuous feast. [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12That's when Tatsuya comes in. He chooses a night that Yara assures him the guard will be unusually light on. He steals past men and demons who guard the halls of the slaving company's administrative offices and, more importantly, vaults. He defeats the traps and locks of a treasure trove so deep that the fact that the funds are missing might not be discovered for weeks or months. [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12And he's back in time for breakfast! 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Huzzah! Distributing the money and the warning is easy. Right? [23:18] 4Breakfast is an egg scramble with leftover boar bacon. [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12It is, although making that warning stick might be another story. [23:19] 4...She's starting to like this as much as the singing, if not more. Definitely more than the fighting. [23:24] 6Once Tatsuya's returned, he spends an inordinately long time demonstrating he hasn't hidden anything away, that all funds are ready for disbursement. Everything's ready for the freed slaves. As far as the heist itself, if he hadn't been so good, they might have spotted a rival slaver as their thief, but instead, there's merely a few footprints and a careless discarded symbol; less elegant, but no less incriminating. 08[23:24] 7Blossom, relaxing in the kitchen next to Eikichi: "So what'd you get out of Yara?" 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Room to let Choto decide his own fate. And she's going to set it up so I can talk to my family and eventually they can come visit us in Zeal." 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "And in the meantime, if all goes well with her superiors... we might be able to visit them. In the Imperial City." [23:26] "Oh, good! I want to meet your sisters." 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "We could make a trip of it. You know, if you wanted." [23:28] 4Ir treats them to a magnificent dinner and getting-to-know-you festival with the other Sunshriners, then gathers them together for a private breakfast the next morning. Over a meal just as fantastic as the night previous, she lays out what is happening and why...but most importantly, she lays out the necessity that it must, under no circumstances, become even private knowledge elsewhere [23:28] 4in the city. They are now in a trust with each other. They now keep each other's secret, and hold each other's freedom. [23:29] 4Yes, she likes being a cook-priest quite a bit. [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a huge hit - and the attendees hang on Ir's every word. Well, most of them - at the far end of the table, Choto sits with a slightly older, more heavily-scarred young man and speaks excitedly through a mouth full of eggs and bacon about his plans to go north. [23:31] 7She looks thoughtful as she continues eating. "And your parents, I guess." 08[23:31] 4That's fine and even encouraged. He's Eikichi's project. 15[23:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "...yeah! Like I said I think you and my father will get along really well." [23:32] 6Tatsuya digs into the breakfast with alacrity, no words offered to anyone else. Hey, reward for success. [23:36] 7And it's not like Blossom has any family to speak of. [23:37] 6Hey, 13not 6having 13a 6family 13friends! 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I'm going to have Yara bring them a care package in the meantime. I'm writing them a letter and including copies of my new books. Do you want to throw something in the package? It can't be too big, Yara has to carry it." [23:39] 7Blossom: "Are you going to send them some money?" 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Probably. Do you think that's a bad idea?" [23:40] 7Blossom: "No, I was going to remind you if you weren't. Hmm. Remind me how old your sisters are?" 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi thinks. "Akane will be just 19, Zuzu is 16, and Saya is... 13 or 14. She has two birthdays, I can never remember which is the real one." [23:42] "...What?" [23:42] 6munch munch "two birfdays?" 6munch munch 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yeah. 15 Resplendent Earth and 1 Descending Fire." [23:47] 7Blossom: "Why?" [23:48] 6Tatsuya: "...greedy..." 6He keeps munching at breakfast. 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "...you know, I don't know. We just started doing it one year. I didn't question it. It was another cake." 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "I wonder if she'll talk to you." [23:50] "Hmm. What do they like?" 15[23:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "Or maybe she's outgrown her shyness. As a little girl all our neighbors thought she was mute." [23:51] 7She can't send them clothes. Girls in the Imperial City getting fashions from the provinces? Ridiculous. They're too old for toys... 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Akane likes fighting and exercising, spicy things, bracelets. Catagators." 14[23:54] * Joins: Crion [23:54] 6Tatsuya twitches, but doesn't say anything. 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "Zuzu likes... gosh, I don't know. She was always terribly hard to shop for, like my mother. And it's been so long... I wonder if she even still plays the keyharp." [23:56] 4Ir, having moved down the table to sit with them with her sermon done: "Ah, catagators." 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> "She likes books, though. I'm putting mine in there for her." 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "Saya likes... I don't know. She collected all kinds of weird stuff. She had the largest set of G.A.L.S. that I've ever seen but she never played with them." [23:59] "Weird stuff like what?" Session Time: Sat Jun 16 00:00:00 2018 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Empty pickle jars, owl pellets, for a while she was hoarding anything with the word 'Moonday' on it..." 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10For a moment Eikichi looks down at his empty plate, realizing how long it's been and how much they must have changed. [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a clink of plates as Iron Siaka, still dressed casually, takes a seat nearby. Her hair's a pale grey, nearly white - either she'd had it dyed before or is now. As she starts in on a plateful of food: "Couldn't help but overhear. Putting a care package together?" 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yeah?" 15[00:05] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's not, like, against regulation or something, is it?" 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Thinking about home has him regressing into teenitude. He's started inserting 'like's into his sentences like a child of 17, instead of a wise and worldly man of 20. [00:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Oh, no, I love that kinda thing. Nowadays the gifts I give tend to be real abstract ones." 12She chews and sallows some bacon. "Relationships, reunions, windfalls..." 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "So you're in charge of who falls in love?" [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Haha, no, no. That'd be the boss lady, of course. I just see it goes smoothly. Or roughly." 15[00:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi presses his lips together really hard. Don't say anything don't say anything [00:09] 4Ir coughs into her drink. [00:10] "Oh, that sounds interesting." 7It sails right over Blossom's head. [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka grins. "But you're the big brother, eh? Probably want any and all suitors thrice-abjured." 15[00:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "They'd deserve it, all the trouble they gave everyone I dated. But no. I have to be the mature one." [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Here Siaka practically cackles. "If we want to stay quaint, I'm a dab hand at metalwork. Could do up some jewelry or a lil toy if you think they'd take to it." [00:13] 7Blossom, uneasily: "I was... going to make some gifts for them." [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Ah, that'd be much better. I cede the floor. Workshop floor?" 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Do you know any good martial arts tutors?" 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "I might need one soon. I've lost my taste for swordplay." [00:17] 4Ir continues her meal in silence [00:17] 4. [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka taps the table several times with her knuckle while she chews and swallows another mouthful of food, holding everyone's attention until she can actually talk politely. "Glad you said so! Blossom. Tam's in town." [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "'Tinder' Tam, famed wandslinger. Thought she was farther out east but I guess she looped back for some reason. I'll introduce you next chance we get." [00:18] 7She slaps her fist into her palm with delight. "Perfect!" 08[00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka turns back to Eikichi. "But the answer's yes, except, which one? May and Yara've both got a few. Me, I never had the taste." 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I don't knoooooooooooow." 15[00:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ugh." 08[00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "'cept for Siaka Clonks You Over The Head, You Shit style." 12She laughs at Eikichi. "I've known people like that." 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Did you just decide for them?" [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Not me, but someone did. Yara, for instance, Shadow's a shoe-in for her. And not just because it used to be her name, heh. Just perfect for the job." 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah..." 15[00:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "The thing is I don't really need to do anything. Blossom and Ir and Tatsuya are all so strong." [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Question is, what for? Whatcha wanna do with it? If it's 'be good at everything for every situation', well... I guess that'd make you Stenzo." [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "But the journey of a something something single step. You know how this one goes." 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "Being good at everything all the time is Blossom's job." 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "She's really good at it." [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Aw." [00:22] 7Blossom: "Why would you ever want to be anything other than good at ev--" [00:22] 7She coughs, takes a bite to cover. [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "But, you know, you could just learn to fight. You don't like that sword, pick up a stick. You don't like that, take up boxing or pankration." 15[00:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I started with a stick. Then I had the sword." [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Us agents of destiny, it's just a fact we're best finding a role and playing it perfectly. But you can do anything you like." 08[00:26] 7Eikichi learning to wrestle... Blossom starts sweating a little. 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi looks over at Blossom. 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> "I haven't tried wrestling, though..." [00:26] 4These kids. [00:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Well, no time like the present. Or near future, being as it's breakfast still." 14[00:37] * Joins: mattbaby [00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Find out what follows breakfast... next week. (it's lunch) 14[00:50] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:55] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:12] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[10:00] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:34] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:38] * Joins: Crion 14[11:38] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:58] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:02] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:16] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:39] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:19] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:34] * Joins: Crion_ 14[19:36] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sun Jun 17 00:00:01 2018 14[00:23] * Joins: mattbaby 14[01:01] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:22] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[10:15] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:27] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[12:30] * Joins: Crion 14[12:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:12] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[18:06] * Joins: dammitwho 14[21:04] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:53] * Joins: Crion| 14[23:53] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Mon Jun 18 00:00:01 2018 14[00:44] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[00:54] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:35] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[05:35] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[05:35] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[09:07] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:47] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:48] * Joins: dammitwho 14[10:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:28] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:16] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:01] * Joins: cbass_ 14[15:01] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[15:01] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 14[18:41] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:16] * Joins: Crion| 14[20:42] * Quits: Crion| (Connection closed) 14[20:42] * Joins: Crion| 14[21:03] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:20] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:15] * Joins: Crion| 14[22:21] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:23] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Tue Jun 19 00:00:01 2018 14[03:10] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[03:15] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:26] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[03:26] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[06:50] * Joins: mattbaby 14[08:52] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:08] * Joins: Crion| 14[09:48] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:54] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:47] * banana is now known as banan|apeels 14[14:37] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:38] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[14:38] * Joins: Crion| 14[15:06] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:46] * Joins: Crion| 14[16:34] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:16] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:41] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:26] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:03] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven days. 15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Cethleann's herald was clear on that much. But as she leaves a half-dead girl and a couple hundred fresh hedges across Nexus, Xu Sim has immediate work to do. His apes and Seven's spirits have dragged the Thistledown Pylon to the staging area in the Tomb of Cold Iron. Above, wasps and whirlwinds hold the rose rain at bay - but for how long? No, there's only one sure way. He has to set fire to the rain. 15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD> How does he do it? [20:10] "Here, here, here!" 5the sorcerer exclaims impatiently to the apes (grumbling at each other, no doubt) as he gestures at the floor of the central chamber of the Tomb of Cold Iron. Scrawled into nearly every surface of the marble floors and walls (and even, in a spot or two, on the ceiling) are diagrams, notations, pentagonic wards of power and hexagrammaton circles of resistance and [20:10] 5channeling. [20:13] "Lados? Lados! See to it that our guests are not left wanting," 5he adds, speaking to the air of the tomb. "Yes, right here, turn it ever so slightly - yes!" 5At the center of a particularly dense web of chalk notes is a large circle, more or less the size of the pylon that Xu Sim estimated. In reality, it's just a little larger than he had anticipated. The walls and floor of the [20:13] 5chamber are here-and-there dotted with candles and drips of brass from his prior sorcery. 15[20:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Elsewhere, Xia Lan has a choice to make - how is she going to ride out the remainder of the storm? The former sanctum of Great Crane awaits, housing the rest of the mortal Council as well as, apparently, Stranger's peculiar Heaven-sent friend and seeming-attempted-assassin Bubo. Or she could return to the hideout, or attempt to do something - anything - for the scared and scattered people hiding under eaves and rooftops and sewer grates to protect themselves from the assault. [20:16] 5Speaking into thin air again, this time to another set of invisible creatures: "Attention, Stranger. Please put me in touch with everyone. I have an important announcement." [20:20] 5He reaches over for the Audient Brush and places a scroll beneath it, mentally commanding it to begin a transcription. A moment later: "Hello, everyone. This is Xu Sim. This is an important announcement. Please prepare the city's fire brigades for immediate deployment." [20:21] 5He takes a deep breath, and looks at Sevenfold Scion for a mooment, before puffing up his chest and addressing the assembled apes, spirits, Abyssals, Lados, the audient brush, and the holders of the pages of the Codex: [20:21] 13Ideas flick through Xia Lan's mind, each discounted as either implausible or impossible. She can't stop the storm, connecting people to loved ones to reassure them is a nice gesture but impossible to perform at scale, and she's not equipped to perform daring rescues in the streets. As much as she wants to be a hero... the best possible play here is to try and prepare for the aftermath with the Council. And whatever she can do on [20:21] the way is going to have to soothe her need to act. [20:21] 14He hears a buzz near the base of his skull. "This is Stranger. All of our Circle, or everyone everyone?" [20:21] "Everyone, everyone." [20:23] 14That only widens the net to Bubo, Kratz, Sion: Fear Has Wings, and the Ambassador, but presumably Xu Sim knows this. Stranger does so. [20:26] "Comrades. I come to you in the wake of recent events to issue a call to action. Let no-one deny the perils of our time. We stand seven days away from the end. Not from death, but from unmaking - from a plunge into chaos and unreality from which the world would never recover." [20:29] "This is not the first time the world has faced this peril. It's not the first time Nexus has faced this peril. Each of those times, Nexus was saved. And it will be saved again." [20:31] "Seven hundred years ago, when Creation was threatened by the Raksha to be plunged into the cold fire of the Wyld, the Scarlet Empress activated her Realm Defense Grid, which called down the terrors of an ancient era and saved what was left of the world." [20:33] 14... [20:34] 14Stranger has left Ambassador off the call. She's not in Nexus anyhow. He puts everyone else on it. [20:35] "For seven hundred years, that power kept the Realm strong and the rest of the world weak. But today, we shall call upon its power ourselves, to do what no others can - to save the world." [20:35] "The armies of Balor, and Cethleann his companion, trembled in fear before the silent thistledown. They will tremble again, in the sound of our silence. I now recite the spell to bring doom to the enemies of all Creation." 15[20:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Outside, Keldar is coordinating the fire brigades, under the auspice of the Dawn Guard, with the help of Lookshy's swelled ranks of Dragon-Blooded. [20:41] 14Stranger's response to this...stirring speech...is silence, and then: "Once you're done preparations, Xu Sim, I want to speak to you. Privately." [20:42] 14To the others: "I don't see any other way to salvage this, so let's get to work. Sion: Fear Has Wings, mobilize your public order officials and bounty-hunters into the beginnings of fire-teams. Councilor Kratz, please get the Council together. Bubo, if you could find Selin, we'll need his help here to..." 14He goes through the rest of the list. [20:43] 5In Old Realm: "Revelation Voluspa: Civilization Kill Event Underway. Activate Carrhae Protocol, Tannhauser Authorization. Sun Grant Us Victory." [20:43] 5Power crackles around Xu Sim's brow. [20:44] 13...that significantly changes Xia Lan's course of action. Fire brigades it is - she'll slide into wherever she can help, Sun knows they need as many hands as they can get and it's not like Keldar or whoever will refuse her help. [20:47] 5Waves of energy emit from Xu Sim's forehead, washing into the walls as his anima banner unfolds into mandalas that synchronize unerringly with the inscriptions throughout the chamber. Bolts of golden-orange lightning fill the chamber and crackle as the Pylon begins to reactivate for the first time in hundreds of years. 14[20:47] * Joins: Crion| [20:48] 5The last sunbeam before darkness fills the chamber with blinding radiance. [20:53] "The preparations are complete, Stranger!" 5Xu Sim shouts over the hum of the chamber. [20:54] 14Stranger, through the Codex: "No need to shout. I can hear you just fine." [20:55] "I want to know two things before you go ahead and do this: first, that you actually know what you're doing. And second, that you're doing it for the right reason. Because that speech you gave back there sounded very..." [20:55] "...Deliberative." [20:57] 13...does anyone try and stop Xia Lan from assisting the fire brigades? Short of rushing to find the river gods and ask them for assistance, this is the best place for her in the here and now. So long as she's helping and not slowing them down. [20:57] "Stranger, this is the only way to stop those rose petals from turning the city into a wasteland!" 5Xu Sim is still shouting as the hum is upgrading to a whine. "With Cethleann so close, we have to do what we can to stop her, and we have to do it now! With those creatures flying around, how long until they plug up all the entrances to the Undercity, or the hedges grow roots and start [20:57] digging for everyone hiding?" [20:59] "I know you won't repeat the mistakes of the past. And I won't, either-"5 They'll never judge me again- "And taking control of the Sword of Creation is taking control of our destiny, out of the hands of the Empress or anyone else who'll stand by and let the enemies of Creation threaten the world." [21:00] 14... "Would you do this if you had any other choice?" [21:01] "If I had another choice, I'd be able to tell you!" 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> No one tries to stop Xia Lan. She finds herself working with the Lookshyans. Men and women in glittering jade armor pound the earth, kicking up unfathomable amounts of sand and dust that others prepare to kick up into whirlwinds. Vuol Ballare hangs over all of them, encased in a miniature storm, throwing off sparks and blowing alternately scorching hot and bitter cold. "Evacuate the city center!" she orders. [21:07] 14Xu Sim can't hear Stranger nod over the Codex, but when he speaks again, his voice is less cautious and incisive, and far more weary. "I understand. Thank you, Xu Sim, for talking to me about and allaying a fool's fears. Give us a few more moments to get the brigades ready." [21:10] "Thank you, Stranger. Get ready." [21:11] 5Xu Sim takes a deep breath. He glances back at the others in the chamber for their reactions. Then he activates the Pylon. 14[21:11] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:14] 14He spends the rest of the time from cutting that communication to touchdown outside in the streets, hurriedly meeting with Dawn Guard fire teams and repurposed brigades of bureaucrats, led by the slightly-mad seeming Chief Justice himself, still carrying his gavel with which to direct traffic. He keeps Kratz on the line, acting as a go-between from the Council to the brigades. [21:17] 13Xia Lan nods, understands, and rushes to a nearby entrance - one easily sealed, should the need arise - takes a deep breath, counts to three, and glows. Golden hearts rise in midair around her, and a desert breeze blows, visible to anyone looking for shelter from the fires soon to come. Send these, the homeless, the tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp besides the golden door! [21:19] 14Sion and Stranger's ethos is shorter, and less flowery: Gimme shelter. 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> The pylon's surface runs like water beneath Xu Sim's fingertips, sigils drifting in the black metal to link up and flare golden. At his urging, by his will, they lock together spiralling from toe to tip of the obelisk. 8,1KING OF THE UNIVERSE, ARISE! MASTER OF COMMANDMENT, BEAR DOWN ON THE WICKED! DISASTER CRIES OUT TO THE GATES OF TRUE POWER! 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> The pylon burns red, then white. Filings flow against gravity, into the pylon, upward in a single contiguous ribbon that rises to the ceiling of the Tomb, up through its flues and chimneys, and into the Nexus sky. [21:24] 14As they hustle people inside and the sky begins to crackle near the center of the city, Stranger can't shake the feeling that awakening this power again is a mistake. [21:24] 14But as the sorcerer says, they've not been left with much of a choice. 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> The ribbon cools to red on contact with the outside air, billowing and breaking apart as it shears under its own power, but rolling back in on itself in a roughly spherical shape that fills and brightens until it splits, a shockwave of red-gold light spreading from the Tomb in every direction, to every corner of the city and beyond. Then the sky falls. 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> They look like snowflakes. 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> If not for the wind they would settle gently on the ground. But the wind whips them everywhere, scoring buildings and igniting them, immolating knots and drifts of rose petals until only ash and hot flinders remain. 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> People flooding to safety stop to marvel, despite themselves, before being urged on. [21:28] 14And we're planning to fight in that. 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Man plans. Gods laugh. [21:29] 14If so, then they can do it outside with the rest of us. Once this is seen to, Stranger will be keeping his appointment with the river gods. [21:29] 14Even if they don't know they have one. 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Fires fan into the waiting arms of the brigades. With skill, preparation, and phenomenal luck, there's as little damage and loss of life as anyone could hope for. Xia Lan ushers hundreds to safety, Keldar and Sion's people both are alert and capable, and the Lookshyans are able to bend the firestorm back on itself with storms and choking dust of their own. [21:41] 14While the thistledown does its work, Stranger, under the auspices of the Emissary, will quickly tour the various pop-up camps for Nexus citizens, stopping here and there to assist with food distribution and, in some cases, such as incredibly picky eaters or those who find mushrooms Gross (rich merchants, children, and rich merchants' children) stepping in to scrounge together what [21:41] 14ingredients he can to make the samey, somewhat-strange food more paletable. 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan and Stranger are both in the Undercity when they feel the earth shake and hear a long, dragging crash aboveground. [21:43] 14... 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar is prompt on the Codex. "One of old Hollow's spires went down. Status report!" 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> The Councilors are obviously fine. How do Stranger, Xu Sim, and Xia Lan react? [21:47] 13Xia Lan: "Safe down here! What's it look like up there? Should we come back?" [21:48] 14Stranger: "I echo Xia Lan. My mushroom bisque is welcome, but not necessary." [21:49] "We should get Old Selin out there." [21:50] "Alright. Apes, thanks for your hard work." 5Xu Sim returns them to the corners of his anima - out of sight. He looks back to the Thorns delegates. "Let's return to the surface?" 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> There's an uncharacteristic amount of color in Seven's cheeks as she nods, but Xu Sim catches only a brief glimpse of it before the silent man whose face is obscured by a big scarf and a bigger hat sweeps her up in his cape and ushers her out. [22:04] 5The grin fades from Xu Sim's lips, melting into something more like a grimace as he follows the pair out. "Yes. Well. Thanks for the assistance!" [22:07] 14Once things have calmed down a bit, Stranger will buzz Bubo. "How are you?" [22:08] "See you again... Soon...!" 5Xu Sim says as the two of them, presumably, scurry off towards the Thorns camp. 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Fine. We're all fine here." [22:09] 14Stranger won't press. "We need to meet with the river gods. By which I mean myself and yourself, though maybe they only need to see me." 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven says something, but Xu Sim can't make it out through Hunter's cloak. 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan is able to find Old Selin in the Undercity, among the beggars, and can take him up with her to meet Xu Sim... where? 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo chuckles darkly. "I've been looking forward to this. Where shall I meet you?" [22:10] 14Stranger: "I believe there's an alley with a shrine nearby that we're both familiar with. How about there?" 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "Done." [22:13] 13They can meet in the streets, though Xia Lan will suggest they head back towards the hideout, if Old Selin is willing. It'll give her a chance to walk the streets and see the damage, at least. [22:13] 13Speaking in the streets is, of course, right out, but she could head back to the Undercity if that is preferable. 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> On the way out they pass the tower that fell, rubble strewn up the block, leveling several large buildings in the heart of the Nexus. [22:16] 14Given that the streets are abandoned at the moment, once Stranger and Bubo meet up, instead of getting to work straight-away he'll commandeer an empty restaurant that isn't on fire, put on some tea, leave generous compensation from the Emissary's account along with a note, and get to work making them a light lunch. They need to plan strategy, and they both need to sit down after the [22:16] 14rather strenuous morning. [22:16] 13...how many apartments? We'll need to cover this at the next Council meeting... [22:17] 5Xu Sim is no architect but he'll give the thing a once-over to see what the hell toppled it. The Emissary, getting sly? Something else? [22:18] 14He'll go with a simple riverman's salad -- sliced mozza, tomatoes, and basil with oil and salt -- and a brined chicken's breast. [22:19] 14It comes out masterfully, of course. [22:21] 13Wait, this area? ...maybe not, then. [22:21] "What in Hell happened here?" 5mutters Xu Sim as they pass the base of the tower. "Heated, frozen, electrified, and blown down?" [22:22] 13Xia Lan: "And either carefully planned to crush Guild offices, or incidentally extremely lucky." 13She glances to Xu Sim: "Do they seem more lucky or planned, to you?" 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "I didn't know you cooked!" says Bubo, swiftly raising bites of food up into his hooded cowl. [22:24] "I can't imagine something would do all that by accident," 5observes the sorcerer. [22:25] 14Stranger: "A solitary life mostly shared with a woman who never learned to cook because the whole of her diet is raw fish tends to force one to adjust. But thank you." [22:26] 13Xia Lan: "We live in interesting times. But, that's for later." 13How are the streets otherwise? ...did the fire do what it was supposed to? 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> There's no sign of rose petals save the smears of ash on the ground. The city looks like a warzone, still, but nobody was ever going to be able to help that. Aside from these buildings, significant structural damage is minimal, and so were casualties. [22:28] 5The worst is yet to come. 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "How do you plan to make your play?" [22:29] 13As good as can be hoped for. And -- when calls were going around earlier, was Tsuka okay? 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> He was. He stayed with his cadets, taking shelter in one of the buildings near Parko Llana. [22:30] 14Stranger, finishing a small mouthful of salad. "The unfortunate state of that First Age tower will help a bit. We can be fully honest about what happened to it right now -- we don't know -- but anything that can bring down that tower can certainly make its way into wherever the gods should choose to hide, unless they quit Creation." 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> While walking with Xia Lan and Xu Sim, Selin says nothing, merely observing the two of them and the city all around. [22:30] 13Good. Then all that's left is to actually get to the hideout. They'll have to meet up later. [22:32] 5Xu Sim, for his part, is relieved that the damage is minimal. As they start approaching the hideout, he starts getting more anxious, but doesn't immediately say why. 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> When they arrive at the hideout, they find Mhaka lying on top of a trembling Princess, metal limbs planting on the floor around the dog as if shielding her from rubble. [22:33] 13Xia Lan, for her part, is keeping a careful catalogue of damage, structurally minimal though it might be. People have to live in these places. [22:34] 13...especially given the interior of their hideout. Xia Lan will extract Mhaka before letting Xu Sim care for his dog -- he's clearly better equipped for that than anyone else. [22:36] 5Xu Sim leaps for the dog, lifting her into the air and petting her. [22:37] 5He turns away from the others for a moment, but he's breathing a lot harder. [22:37] "Mhaka, whatever I can give you is yours," 5he says, hoarsely, after a moment. 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Mhaka: "Oh, it was no trouble at all. You have one message, Xu Sim." [22:38] "A message?" [22:38] 13...does Mhaka accept pets like a normal cat? Xia Lan's natural inclination is to hold Mhaka like one, but that depends on whether it accepts such. 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Mhaka is either exceedingly cat-like or exceedingly well-trained to pretend it is. [22:40] 14Stranger: "Beyond that, my traditional approach with gods -- most creatures, really, but especially gods -- is a very explicit, upfront carrot and stick method. The ex-Emissary is no longer around to bully them, I am the new game in town, and they can either join with us and see their names celebrated across Nexus with the attendant increase in tribute and prestige, or they can take [22:40] their chances with the armies of the Faerie. Oh, and I suggest we reveal the relationship between said ex-Emissary and the Fair Folk armies to underline the precedent for treatment." 15[22:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Very even-handed of you." [22:42] 13She crooks Mhaka on her elbow to let them look at Xu Sim as it speaks. [22:42] 14Stranger: "We don't have much time for the sweet-talking routine and frankly I don't think it works very well on gods anyway." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Mhaka opens its mouth, and for a moment there's only the sound of a fly buzzing. "Watch your steps. I overheard the Governor speaking to the Hunter, they've made a point to pay extra attention to you. Expect to be followed." [22:44] 13...huh. [22:44] "Thank you, Mhaka." 5He looks at Xia Lan, who as far as he knows doesn't have the context to understand why that would be the case. [22:45] 14Lunch will last as long and as leisurely as Bubo wishes it to, with Stranger mainly preferring to chat about non-work subjects for much of the time -- he asks about Kratz once or twice, but gently. Once Stranger has recovered his wind, so to speak, he does the dishes and is ready to go. [22:45] "I, ah. Selin. Xia Lan. Well, I guess I've attracted the attention of the Thorns delegates!" 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Through a display of your power, no doubt." [22:46] 13Xia Lan: "...you and Sevenfold, huh." 13She's already past it. "Did you see anyone on our way here? I don't think I caught anyone, but..." [22:47] "Not since I ran into you." [22:49] 13Xia Lan: "Selin?" 13They might still want to set up a secondary hideaway... [22:49] 13Quieter: "Also, congrats. She seemed nice, what little I talked to her." 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Just guards, mainly." [22:52] "Thanks. I think we'll be moving on by the end of the week anyway. Either to somewhere else, or there won't be a city to call home anymore." [22:53] 13Xia Lan: "Shoot, I should've been paying better attention." 13She'll head into their kitchen after setting Mhaka down with a few more pets to go. "Any preference on tea? I'm no Stranger, but I've got access to his cupboard." 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger and Bubo make their way to the nearest temple, that of the Grey. It's been freshly scarred by iron thistledown but its doors remain shut and barred. What's the approach? [22:54] 13Moving on... hm. "There will be. We're working on that, aren't we?" [22:54] 5Xu Sim is still attending to the dog. She'll be getting the finest treats. "Never left behind, alone, again," 5he murmurs. [22:54] "We're gonna win," 5he concurs. [22:59] 5Xu Sim starts arranging a monumental plate for Princess, consisting of a sample of virtually the whole pantry, arranged haphazardly together. [22:59] "What was, what were we doing again?" 5he asks, distractedly. 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "You wanted to speak to me?" [23:02] 13If neither Xu Sim nor Selin has indicated a tea preference, she'll have started brewing a pot of something she knows to be hard to mess up. "Well, aside from regrouping - good to see the both of you alive, by the by... I had a question for you," 13she turns to Selin. "It's about some swords I came into the possession of." 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Swords?" [23:07] 14Well, the first polite thing to do would be to knock. [23:07] 14Is there something large and metal lying about? [23:08] 13Xia Lan: "A pair of them." 13She gestures to the two hooked swords at her hip. "Before and After, I was told." [23:16] "Fine craftsmanship," 5observes Xu Sim as he sets an enormous plate in front of the dog, still petting her. 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Starmetal is very rare." 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger can see the top of a lamppost that was shorn off by some thistledown. That'd work. [23:18] 14Whistling, he sets his walking stick aside, walks over and hefts the thing, testing its weight. Then he walks up to the great doors of the temple and slams the post against it three times. [23:19] 13Xia Lan: "I was also told they used to be yours," 13she says, pouring some tea. It's not as good as Stranger's, but it should be fine. 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger gets no response. 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "So they did." 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "They're yours now, though. I have no claim to them." 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "Lost them in a game, as I recall." [23:23] 14He sighs and takes a deep breath. The lamppost seems...shinier somehow, more proper and cleaner, though it's not limned in light or glowing or anything. [23:23] 13Xia Lan: "...that's what I was told. I wanted to know more about them." 13She makes a face. "Vladok didn't seem to know anything, and I'm... worried about next week." [23:23] 14When he knocks the next three times, half the district hears it. [23:23] 14Or would, if they weren't underground. 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "I don't follow." [23:26] 13Xia Lan: "What are they capable of? What makes them worthy of a name?" 13She sips the tea - pretty good, actually. Nothing to write home about, but she didn't mess it up, which is a reassurance. [23:26] 13There's a cup for Old Selin if he'd like one, and Xu Sim as well. 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Well, they're pure starmetal, and were personally made by the Maiden of Serenity." [23:28] 5Xu Sim shifts slightly, listening. [23:31] 13Xia Lan: "...that's quite a pedigree." [23:32] 13Is he taking the tea, by the way? She's trying to be a decent host, here... despite the matter at hand. [23:34] 5Xu Sim is. He didn't realize how thirsty he was. His anima continues to slowly dim. 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> The narration cuts out abruptly before anyone can make a joke about that. 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: The river of insufferable sins 14[23:45] * Joins: Crion| Session Time: Wed Jun 20 00:00:00 2018 14[00:09] * Joins: Zarick_ 14[00:10] * Quits: Crion| (*.net *.split) 14[00:10] * Quits: cbass (*.net *.split) 14[00:10] * Quits: banan|apeels (*.net *.split) 14[00:10] * Quits: Crion (*.net *.split) 14[00:10] * Quits: Zarick (*.net *.split) 14[00:11] * Joins: Crion 14[00:12] * Joins: Crion| 14[00:13] * Joins: banana 14[00:18] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:23] * Quits: Crion| (Connection closed) 14[00:23] * Joins: Crion| 14[00:25] * Joins: cbass 14[00:33] * Quits: cbass (*.net *.split) 14[00:34] * Joins: cbass 14[00:37] * Quits: cbass (*.net *.split) 14[00:37] * Joins: cbass 14[00:37] * Quits: cbass (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_)) 14[00:37] * Joins: cbass 14[00:41] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[00:42] * Joins: cbass 14[01:51] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:47] * Joins: mattbaby 14[06:31] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:27] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:05] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:55] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:08] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[15:09] * Joins: Crion| 14[15:10] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:35] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:35] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:01] * Zarick_ is now known as Zarick 14[20:30] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 14[20:30] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 ( [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 ) ( [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 ___...(-------)-....___ [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 .-"" ) ( ""-. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 .-'``'|-._ ) _.-| [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 / .--.| `""---...........---""` | [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 / / | | [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 | | | | [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \ | | [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 `\ `\ | | [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 `\ `| | [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 _/ /\ / [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 (__/ \ / [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 _..---""` \ /`""---.._ [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 .-' \ / '-. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 : `-.__ __.-' : [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 : ) ""---...---"" ( : [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 '._ `"--...___...--"` _.' [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 \""--..__ __..--""/ [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 '._ """----.....______.....----""" _.' [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 `""--..,,_____ _____,,..--""` [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 `"""----"""` [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Early in the morning, two days after the Squared Circle escaped the hell of spiders and rejoined Creation, the Sidereal exalt May Blossom wakes up somewhere in what's effectively the Heavensward's medical wing. Anyone attending to her? What's everyone else doing? [20:53] 4Ir's either at the helm or in the kitchen, depending on what time of day it is and if they're headed anywhere in specific. She might also be in her room working on those instruments. 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi and Ying have been tending to May in shifts, 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi spends his downtime standing on the deck, shirtless, spheres hovering over his shoulders like quarrelsome imps as he telekinetically hurls things at himself, trying to dodge his own attacks. [20:56] 13Ying, meanwhile, spends her downtime like a normal person and works on a request from Blossom that she really should have finished a WHILE ago, yikes. 08[20:58] 7Blossom intended to watch Eikichi training and offer helpful advice, but for some reason, after he took his shirt off, it only took her a few minutes for her to find very important work to do down in the hold. 08[20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka knows a little wrestling if Eikichi needs help, though her teaching style is to find him a partner and then recline off to the side shouting out pointers. She's visibly pleased once her advice starts failing to keep up with the rapid apprehension of the sun's Chosen. [20:59] 7The others can hear her singing an old Blessed Isle inn song: "In devolution's golden time / when loyalty no harm meant / a zealous shikari was I / and so I gained preferment~" [20:59] 4Ir knows a lot of striking and a little bit of grappling, but she generally stays out of the way, figuring he still doesn't want to spar with crewmates. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Either way, it's May who's making the most noise. She's still a bit pale but entirely physically healthy when her eyes flutter prettily and then snap open, and her first words to whoever's attending are "What day is it?" 12(It's Venusday) [21:00] 4Probably Ir, who was in the kitchen. "Venusday. Keep still, I'll get a doc." [21:00] 4Hollering: "HEY, DOCS! SHE WOKE UP." [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "Venusday... of the same week?" 12She shoots a searching look at her attending, looking for confirmation that she isn't waking from a hundred-year coma. [21:03] 4Ir shrugs. "Yeah. Maybe the next one. Time's been a bit weird lately." [21:04] 13Ying scrambles in, bits and pieces of cloth still stuck to her dress from her workings. "Good mornyan! Hello! Give me just a sec to get situated--" 08[21:04] 4To May: "You hungry?" 4A second later, to herself: "Maybe I should wait for Eikichi or Ying to clear you--" [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12May doesn't seem to hear the question: "...time? Time of day?" 12(early morning) [21:06] 4Ir: "Dawnish." [21:07] 13After a few moments she's all purrfessional, excess fabrics cleaned away and ready to check on her patient. "Early! But don't worry about that, how are you feeling?" [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12May's expression becomes decisive. "Good. Good. There's time." 12She throws the covers aside and jumps to her feet. "I need to ohhh-" 12Here she sways and grabs onto Ying's shoulder for support. [21:08] 4See, this is why you listen to the damn doctors and eat the damn breakfast. [21:09] 13She gently but firmly presses May back into bed. "You need to lay down, first. Then you need to eat something." [21:10] 4Ir: "I'm gonna grill up some egg and steak corn-wraps." 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Augh! Hit himself again. How does Tatsuya make this look so easy? [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12May clutches at her forehead and groans. Ying's right - what's afflicting the young woman right now is pretty much hunger and dehydration. The sidereal gingerly sits back onto in her bed, though it takes some cajoling to get her to lie down properly rather than just remain perched on the side. [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Pretty soon, Siaka's come down to fill her coworker in on recent developments (Yara's still out somewhere). Anyone listening in quickly becomes appraised of May's chief concern: she's still got that tea appointment! She's got to be ready! "What am I going to TELL them?" [21:12] 13Ying: "Get some water, too, please!" 13She'll placate May as best she can, reassuring her while steadfastly refusing to let her rush off to whatever she's trying to do. [21:12] 4Ir starts up their range and brings back a decanter of water with a glass. [21:14] 13Ying: "...is 'I was on bed rest' not an option? Turn your head for me, please!" 13Gotta keep up this checkup, here. 14[21:14] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12May complies, but talks all throughout. "No, no, it's for this evening. I can make it! But, they'll have almost CERTAINLY detected what happened." [21:19] 13In Ying's opinion, will she be ready for an outing? She did just wake up... [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Yes, although she'd better get a lot of nutrition - and, probably, some sun - over the next six to eight hours. Oh, and perhaps more importantly, rest; now that she's conscious, May has to be well-rested enough to allow her essence flows to refresh themselves. Meditation recommended but not required. [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12She, of course, is asking Siaka to bring her jewelry and calligraphy materials. [21:24] 4Corn tortillas wrapped with seared boar steak, scrambled eggs, hashed potatoes, some mozza. Pressed hot on the griddle and served with juice or water. Now that's a damn breakfast. [21:24] 4If any of the visitors don't eat meat, she'll make some without the steak. More for her. 14[21:25] * Joins: mattbaby [21:26] 13Ying gives a subtle shake of the head to Siaka. "Rest up, eat well, and get some water and you should be ready for tonight. I'm impurressed, I thought you'd be out for another day at least..." [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Besides May fretting about dealing with the Trinity, everything else in Great Forks is ticking along nicely for the Squared Circle. The slaves bought and freed have split about two to one between joining the Sunshrine and leaving the city all together, but either way they've understood their situation well enough so as to not raise any suspicion for you. The theft at the northeast [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12slaver compound hasn't even been discovered yet. Your chief outstanding obligation is, welll, to lead an army of demons in all-out war against a subterranean kingdom of the dead. 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, whose mouth is full because he stopped by the kitchen on the way to check on May: "Yeah whoever took care of her was really good." 10Then he goes off to find a towel and optionally a shirt before he sits down to eat. 08[21:29] 13The fur on Ying's ears and tail stands on end, but she declines to respond to Eikichi. 08[21:29] 4Before Eikichi leaves, Ir stops him to toss him what's REALLY important: [21:29] 4The damn hot sauce. 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Oh hell yes. [21:32] 7Blossom is mopping her face with a towel as she climbs through the hatch leading to the Heavensward's deck. "Hmm? May's up?" [21:35] 4Ir: "Corn-wraps, too. Try 'em with the hot sauce." [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12May's only finished half of breakfast when she's inked up a series of what appear to be prayer strips but are, on closer inspection, business memos (but is there really a difference?), put on some cursory makeup and assorted flair, and seemingly prepared herself to go out and start some sort of busy day. [21:37] 13Ying has objected repeatedly to all of these things! What kind of patient doesn't listen to their doctor...!!! 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi returns, betoweled but not beshirted, to tell May: "Come on. Take it easy! When's the last time you had an honest to goodness day off? It's like I'm always telling Blossom, overwork is actually bad for productivity." 10She already knows that, obviously; they just differ on where the line for "overwork" begins. 08[21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12May stares somewhat dumbfounded, presumably at Eikichi's radical ideas. "But... before the meeting. They're owed all sorts of reports and gossip..." 12She protests pretty weakly, and simply sits back when Ying moves to gently take the folder from May's hands. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "I do need to see them tonight. But if I'm to stay here... could I ask a favor?" [21:39] "This is the best ship afloat." 7Blossom'll grab a corn-wrap and dash some hot sauce on it. [21:39] 4His radical something. 15[21:39] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yeah?" [21:40] 13Ying hides the folder before finally getting to dig into the burritos. No hot sauce, though! Just good, old-fashioned breakfast! [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12The Chosen of Secrets takes a breath. "Well, I need to know if Shufeng's relationship with Thousand Keels is still on the rocks, and if the raw quintessence stored in the basement shrine of One Cloud Temple has deliquesced, and if the dragon line crossing on East Third and Muy-Tuy is still rotated, and..." 1She rattles off about a half-dozen tasks in this mode. "...and I'll need [21:45] <@Ferrinus> some letters delivered. The rest I can find out myself." [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12She rattles off about a half-dozen tasks in this mode. "...and I'll need some letters delivered. The rest I can find out myself." [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12May notices Ying's expression. "From here in bed! It's simple magic, don't worry. Very non-strenuous." [21:46] 13Ying is still just staring at her, burrito in mouth. [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "It's true, she just coughs up this spider. You gotta get her to show it to you, it's really gross." [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "Siaka! It's not." [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "We can put it to a vote." [21:48] 13She eventually swallows the mouthful and sets her plate down. "No! No, that won't be necessary, we can skip that purrt, let's just... how much did you need to know?" [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "I'll write it down. The ones circled in green you can't let anyone see you do." 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Anything on this list look fun? [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a fairly even mix of gossip, illegal trespassing, and occult assaying here, so it's really up to your taste. [21:52] 4Those all sound like fun. [21:52] 13Ying's almost certainly the number one contender for everything circled in green. Is it possible for one purrson - person to do all of them? [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12It's got to be, since May was, in point of fact, going to do all of them. Although, she was probably planning to do all of them over the course of a week rather than a day... you'd have to move really fast. [21:53] 13Wow, moving fast, never done that before. 08[22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi finds himself on a pleasant outing on this sunny day. In theory he'd need to set up an elaborate crystal-studded theodolite to figure out what May Blossom's asking for, but it's much easier to just concentrate for a moment and cast his eyes around. He determines that anomalous dragon line flows here have returned to normal - the channel of psychedelic wood-essence and purifying [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12water essence are no longer tangled nonsensically. 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Man. How do people who aren't supernal geniuses even get through the day? [22:04] 4Lots of sighing about how if only we were just supernal geniuses... [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying's snuck deep below a carved stone menhir in one of Great Forks's parks, slipping past chains and vaults to ultimately find a cube of strange material, shimmering through all the colors of the rainbow and vibrating slightly in time with her breaths. Is that what May's looking for...? [22:05] 13I mean, if it's not, she's gonna have a really funny story to tell later... [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh shit, that is ambrosia. The nectar of the gods! Supposedly, that's what gods receive when mortals pray to them with enough fervence and regularity - a wondrous substance that can be shaped by divine hand into almost anything imaginable, always of the highest quality. [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not supposed to survive contact with the air of Creation, so something unusual's going on here - probably being magically held together by whatever's been set up down here. Either way, the answer to May's question is "yes". [22:09] 13Well how about that. And... is it possible to scoop some up? For a project. Do not ask what the project is. [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's able to talk her way into a brunch attended by the gods themselves, though it's up to her whether she tries to slip in as a lowly cook or cash directly in on her reputation as a gladiator and rock star. The food is spectacular, the entertainment sensational, and the songstress can tell from the way that Thousand Keels catfish whiskers twitch that he's patched everything up with [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12his lover over the last few days. [22:10] 4Gladiator and rock star it is. Oh, and master chef. [22:10] 4What's fame if you can't use it? [22:16] 4She won't do anything to upset that new relationship, nor will take up any of the other propositions she constantly gets at events such as these. 14[22:36] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[22:38] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom, meanwhile, finds herself at a sort of community round table for Great Forks's southwest region, discussing housing developments, traffic routes, and other civic matters. May needs to learn whether the high priestess of, in fact, Nyaroshi, will be voting for or against a particular zoning initiative. The answer's yes, although it takes some persuasion to get her to own up to [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12it. [22:42] 7Does the high priestess do the cat pun thing too? [22:43] 13Oh my gosh why didn't Ying take that one other than everyone else being completely uncoordinated oafs who couldn't sneak if their lives depended on it? [22:43] 13Uh, I mean, meow. 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Hey! Eikichi could sneak. 14[22:44] * Joins: cbass 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He just refuses to, for ideological reasons. [22:44] 13That is acceptable. [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Yes, but in a very mannered way; Blossom gets the idea that it's some kind of mandatory sacrament. ("This would please me...ow.") [22:45] 13Aaaaaa [22:45] 4Best that Ying took the assignment she did, lest the assignments get confused and she accidentally end up dining with the giant fish. 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That's almost as bad as the mistake Eikichi and Tatsuya's Velvet Room colleague Luca got into. [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, it's towards the evening that Ying finds herself delivering a tray of food to May, who is cheerfully going over the sheafs of documents that the Squared Circle has delivered to her over the course of the afternoon. She's got several scrolls of parchment unfurled and is making notes, checking off boxes, painting various Old Realm symbols with deft strokes, that sort of thing. [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12As Ying walks in, she notices two things. First, a small spider of what appears to be translucent green jade comes crawling down the wall behind May, up her back to perch on her shoulder, and then whisper something in her ear - it sounds like some names and numbers. When May sees Ying enter, she shoos the thing away and reaches out to take the food. [22:47] 13Ying: "I thought I told you to take it easy!" [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "I've been sitting here all day! It's fiiiine." [22:47] 13Ying: "And the spiders?" [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "She's mine. She's like a secretary-" 12then she cuts herself off and lets out a small gasp. It's because secondly and slightly more alarmingly, there's a small scroll sealed with wax tucked neatly under one of the plates. Ying doesn't recognize it at all and Ir certainly didn't put it there. May herself starts upon seeing it and reaches out to snatch it out of sight immediately. [22:50] 13Ying: "...I didn't put that there, and Ir didn't put that there, so how'd it get there and do we need to check the ship?" [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12May unrolls it, reads it, and rolls it up again. "Ahhhhh... no. That's, no, everything is fine. With your security, I mean. Ahem." 12In a smaller voice: "Can you go get Siaka?" [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying judges that May's immediately afraid of two things here - wherever that scroll came from, and Ying herself. Or perhaps Ying's whole Circle? Either way it seems that some kind of conflict of interest or new priority has come up that threatens the general deal. [22:57] 13...we are pretty scary... Ying smiles in what she hopes comes off as friendly, fangs aside, and goes to fetch Siaka. [22:57] 4Have we all returned to the ship by this point? [22:58] 4If so, Ir's probably in the kitchen again. [22:58] 13She'll bring her into the room and prop herself up on a counter or something, listening with interest. [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Yep, unless you've got some other reason to stay out. Siaka and May have some kind of private discussion in May's room which goes on for the better part of an hour. [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Eventually, the rest of you are called in. Well, just called - it'd be annoying to stuff six people into the same little cabin, so May opts to address the Circle in the ship's larger dining hall. [23:01] 4Excellent. Ir's in the kitchen trying out a recipe for a street food she's heard about called, alternatively, crescent dogs, galettes-saucisse, or, uh, boars-in-a-blanket. [23:01] 13By "private" do you mean they told Ying to get out? Because that's gonna be a rough sell. [23:01] 4Ah, good. Ir will have just finished setting out the mustards, then. [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Yeah, Siaka and May needed to speak only to each other, according to May, who insisted. [23:02] 4You take the grilled sausage wrapped in the fluffy pastry-like bread and dip into the mustard as so, and then eat. [23:03] 13...Sell me on it. [23:04] 13The private discussion that involved a worrying look at Ying in re: her and her Circle, not the boars in a blanket. Obviously those are good. [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "This is secret Yu-Shan business! Please, a moment." [23:05] 4God, a fully-stocked kitchen is so much better than a fully-stocked armory. [23:06] 13Ying folds her arms. "I'm still not sure where that scroll even came furom, and I need to know we'll be safe! No leaks outside this room, purromise." [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12The two look at each other. [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12May swallows nervously. "Jupiter." [23:12] 13Ying: "Is that where the scroll is furom?" [23:13] 4Ir, who is listening from the kitchen, shakes her head. "I'll get out the liquor." [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "Who. That's who it's from." [23:14] 13Ying: "...ah." [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Sometimes you get, you know. Memos. Orders. They just turn up." [23:14] "Uh." [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Ain't got a sneak thief aboard or something, is what I'm telling you. But we need a little space here." [23:15] 13Ying: "Technically, we've got two..." [23:15] 13Kind of. [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Heh. But you know what I mean." [23:16] 13Ying: "...anything dangerous to us or the ship?" 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi is up on the deck training. He's trying to find his inner Tatsuya, so he's spent the better part of 20 minutes practicing his cool guy lean. [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12May shakes her head no. "This is just a communique. You're not under attack or something." [23:21] 13Ying nods, then. Seriously: "Remempurr. Rest. I don't care what the message says, you're under doctor's orders." 13She hops off the counter and makes her way towards the delicious-smelling boars in a blanket. [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12May rocks back and forth to herself slightly as Ying turns to leave. Something stands out in Ying's mind's eye, though - a flash of unusually vivid green in the young scholar's eyes... 14[23:23] * Joins: mattbaby [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a strange sense of pressure in the room, a slimy tightness that feels like it's fastening itself around Ying's throat. She can't quite seem to slip away... unless she really focuses. 08[23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Waaaaiiit a fucking minute. Eikichi mentioned something about this offhand once. There's a magic spell, "Corrupted Words", which can curse a target to helplessly vomit up maggots whenever they try to discuss some forbidden topic. [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12It's sorcery, of course, so you can generally see it coming - lots of chanting, gesturing, sinister lights and fogs, all that stuff. Unless it's being cast by a specialist, who can deliver the magic almost completely undetectably. [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12The only sign's a faint flash of green in their eyes. [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12At the moment, Ying's still in the middle of leaving. Does she play it cool, or act on her sudden insight? [23:36] 13...that's a dirty god-dang trick. And yet. Let her think it worked! Let her think Ying didn't even notice. And she's immediately going to tell the rest of the Circle what happened as soon as she gets a boar in a blanket. (Assuming that Yara is not there to overhear.) [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara seems to be out, which might be troublesome from the point of view of Siaka and May since she's surely their biggest gun. On the other hand, they're still in a tricky position. [23:37] 13Her personal opinion of the patient ticks down a few notches, regardless of Yara's presence. Seriously. What kind of amateurs do you think we are? [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Either way, Ying, uncursed, is free to convoke the rest of her Circle. [23:38] 4Ir is munching in the aft lounge/kitchen area. [23:39] 13Ying: "She tried to curse me!" 13Ying says to the first friendly face she sees. 15[23:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "For what?" [23:40] 4Ir: "Which she?" [23:41] 7Blossom: "She did what?" [23:41] 13Ying: "May! And I don't nyo fur what! Didn't want me talking about something, I guess." [23:42] "Now that's just rude." 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Talking about what? What'd you see when you went in there?" [23:42] 4Ir: "Any idea what? Also, food's up." [23:42] 4If they're not in the lounge, she'll have brought dinner to them. [23:44] "The thing with the bugs when you try and talk about stuff. Ugh. Jupiter, Jupiter, Jupiter!" 13she grouses before grabbing at Ir's prepared food. [23:45] 4Ir frowns. "One of the other, uh, star sisters?" [23:45] "There was a scroll under a plate," 13she says, munching away, "and I wanted to know if we should check fur hitchhikers. Apurrently it was Jupiter sending a message! And that was worth trying to make me puke up bugs. Urgh." 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Jupiter is the Maiden of Secrets. She's the green one. I expect May works for her." [23:46] 7Blossom's eyebrows shoot up. "A personal message from one of the Five Significant Stars?" [23:46] 13Ying: "Green! Her eyes flashed green when she did it. Augh." 15[23:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "That's such a hurtful name." [23:47] 4Ir: "Well. There's some non-negligible chance that was a kill or detain order of some kind, then." [23:50] 13Ying: "Why even-- augh!!! What, are we gonna tell people? Stop them? Unless it's one of us in which case, who do they even think we are?" [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12It might well be a kill order. Jupiter's the Maiden of Secrets - it's for her to determine what may be known, and what may not. The lot of you have had a lot of dealings with the Sidereals and glimpsed firsthand some sort of bizarre occult realm derived from or representative of secret heavenly machinery... it's a good bet that you all know something you're not supposed to. [23:51] 13Ying: "...it was totally one of us." [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Would Jupiter actually demand your lives? ...maybe, although it seems extremely impractical, and May used magic to try to stifle Ying, not murder her. There's probably not a literal hit on you - maybe just an order that could be fulfilled via murder, but doesn't have to be. [23:52] 13All that means is her target wasn't Ying. It could've been anyone else. [23:52] 4Ir: "Probably would just piss her off to figure out who it was." [23:52] 6There's a noticable absence, after all. [23:52] "...So we should." [23:53] 13Ying: "She's going to get such messy bandages next time she gets hurt." [23:53] 4Ir shrugs. "Eh. Not really her call." 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "What do you want to do? Should we confront them?" [23:54] "Kinda makes me glad that our guy generally doesn't get in touch, though." [23:54] 13Ying: "She thinks I got cursed, so, you nyo, do whatefur." 13She munches a boar in a blanket petulantly. "I nefur told you anything." [23:55] 4Ir: "It is kind of rude for us to spend all day checking stuff off her to-do list to come back to this, though." 15[23:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "She's got to know the spell didn't stick, surely." [23:56] 7Blossom: "Hmm... it might be only tangentially related to us. There's a war that now hasn't been already won." [23:56] 13Ying: "I'm purretty sneaky." 13Can a human face make a >:3? Apparently it can. 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "My first guess would've been our friendship with the Silver Pact." [23:57] 4Ir groans. [23:58] "Arakesh needs to come around more often if he's going to be this kind of trouble." Session Time: Thu Jun 21 00:00:01 2018 [00:01] 13Ying: "I'm still so fureaking sour about getting cursed on my way out of the room. Like -- say it to my face!!" [00:01] "They're spies, Ying. Not saying stuff to your face is kind of their deal." [00:02] "Or, I mean, don't say it at all, beclaws it's completely irrelevant, but..." [00:02] 7Blossom, cautiously: "I don't think there's any action we need to take here, except maybe for confronting May about extremely impolite behavior to Sunlit-Dreaming Ying. We'll just have to remember that this situation has celestial attention." [00:05] 4Ir: "I guess we all knew this working relationship was going to be rocky." [00:06] 13Ying: "Pawbviously we know it's a delicate situation. We're not idiots!" 15[00:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "They're perfectly nice people. They just need new bosses." [00:08] 13Correction: that should read "delicat." Thank you. [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12You're welcome. [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not long before a once-again pale May, flanked by a grim-looking Siaka, comes out of her recovery room and nervously asks the Solars for a sit-down. [00:11] 4Ir will lead the way back to the aft lounge, where she'll already have a second round of the boars-in-a-blanket made from slightly differently spiced meat coming out of the oven. [00:11] 4Excellent timing. Supernal, even. [00:12] 13Ying covers her incredible offense well, smiling and accomodating their guests with whatever they need. So long as May remains relaxed, there was a whole thing anyway it's fine! [00:13] 7Well, Blossom's happy to have a sit-down. What do their guests want to talk about? [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12May sits for a long moment with her fingers steepled. Then she stands and walks around to Ying, already cringing to herself about something. "Iiii, um. First, I need to fix something. Could you... this might be unpleasant but it's very fast. Could you open your mouth one second-" 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That sounds serious. Eikichi will put on a shirt for this. [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka's watching her stonily as she does this, arms crossed. [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Watching May, that is. 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Watching May 15[00:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10watching youuuuuuuu [00:14] 4Don't-- [00:14] 4Dammit. [00:15] 7Blossom: "If you are referring to the Corrupted Words you attempted to cast on Ying, you needn't worry - it didn't take." [00:15] 4Might've been prudent just to let her do her thing! [00:15] "We've agreed that although we aren't angry at you for doing it, it was very rude. Though I am glad to see you decided to remove it." [00:16] 4Ir coughs politely. "There are drinks, if anyone's thirsty." 15[00:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi beams proudly. Interrupting someone covering their own tracks to politely call them out? That's my girl. [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12May blinks. "It -- oh. I wasn't, I wasn't certain. That's, um, good." 08[00:16] 7Blossom, secretly, is actually kind of angry. Enough to overcome her normal prudence and make her act more Eikichi-like. It's cute, probably! 15[00:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, a cuteness expert, can confirm that it is. [00:17] 13Ying beams at May, no hostility visible. Just a certain smug satisfaction. 14[00:18] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka works her mouth around a bit as May moves back around, retakes her seat, and steeples her fingers. The Chosen of Jupiter speaks. "I, well, I was a bit hasty. More than a bit. It's just -- well, just look." 12She draws a small scroll from a fold in her dress, then lays it out on the table. [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12In elegant Old Realm calligraphy, the following is written: No one beyond our Bureau shall learn of what transpired in the Secondborn's cobweb. The ink is dark green; it's signed with what looks like a sickle attached to a cross, the symbol of the Maiden of Secrets. [00:20] 4Ir: "Well." [00:21] "That's a lotta words I can't read." [00:21] 7Blossom: "It's a bit late for that, surely?" [00:21] 13Ying: "Fur real." [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12You're pretty sure the "Secondborn" is the many-armed, mold-covered creature you fought at the pinnacle of your adventures in the out-of-time world, though you're not sure how. The difference between objects and words got pretty thin as the arena around you dissolved into darkness. [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "Well, it does say 'learn'. You already know, of course. More or less." 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Can I ask a question?" [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12May looks up from the scroll. "Yes?" 15[00:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "Who's the Firstborn?" [00:23] 13Ying: "Also if this is what you tried to curse me for, I'm really disappointed." [00:23] 4Ir: "I'm guessing that kind of curiosity is antithetical to the spirit of this directive." 08[00:24] 13That should have gone before Eikichi's extremely relevant question, but I am slow on typing. [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "Oh. Well..." 12Siaka: "Might as well, May. If only to make up for your little prank." [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "Asna Firstborn is the queen of the pattern spiders, who nests in the Loom of Fate." [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "I didn't even know there was a Secondborn. I mean, obviously it's a logical necessity, but not capitalized." [00:27] 7Blossom: "The pattern spiders - those little things from before? They seemed to like me." [00:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka nods. "They spin the threads of fate. Forged by Autocthon, they say." [00:29] 7She looks blank. "I'll ask about that later." [00:29] 4Running into a lot of hive queens, lately. [00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "Either way, everything you saw - that we saw - it's sensitive information. It can't get out. I'll have to come up with something for the Trinity, but it shouldn't be too much of a problem. The rest of you, though..." [00:31] 13Ying: "What kind of idiots do you think we are?" 08[00:32] 7Blossom: "Eikichi can come up with a different story for the book." 15[00:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yeah!" 10says Eikichi around a mouthful of boar-in-blanket. He stuffed his shirt pockets full of them. [00:32] 4Thankfully, Ir isn't the ship's laundrylady as well. [00:32] 13Mockingly: "This is information that can't get out, I figure I'm just going to talk about it all the time constantly and hope that nobody hears, might paint it on the ship," 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "I wasn't--" 10Eikichi swallows. "I wasn't really planning to write much about it anyway. It was very personal." [00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "Not idiots. It's just - it's as Blossom says! You might just tell it as a story. You might publish it for a thesis. You might warn - who knows? It's not your job to keep a lid on it." [00:33] 4Ir: "What happened in that place is not something I wish to share with anyone." 15[00:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "That's true, it isn't." [00:33] 4After a brief pause. "Except for some of the people in this room." [00:33] 13Ying, suddenly frigid: "I agree with Ir." 15[00:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "Since we're doing unpaid work for your Bureau, I trust you can convince your superiors to look on us as cooperators." [00:34] "But, as we've made clear, that problem has taken care of itself." [00:35] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "Of course! Of course, that's Yara's whole idea. But this came from the top, you see? I... panicked." 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi folds his arms. "Ying's the one you tried to curse, so she's the one whose forgiveness you want." 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Yes, he's squishing the boars into his chest. [00:37] 4Sigh. [00:37] 13Gross. [00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12May looks around, then sighs. "I would've had to hex each of you in turn, of course. And even that... I mean, it's not unbreakable, not for another magician." 15[00:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Pausing to remove them would've ruined the timing of the arm-cross. We all have to make the sacrifice play. [00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "So stupid. If I'd just thought it through... I'm sorry, Ying." [00:41] 4Ir, meanwhile, has quietly returned with tumblers and a shaker in which she's prepared some Gin in Juche. [00:43] 13Ying: "I furgive you... as long as you remempurr that we're not the bad guys, here. Comeown! We're in this together!" [00:44] 4Not technically true, really, but true enough to toast to. [00:44] 13We're at least in this together enough to not curse people [00:44] 13May [00:45] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "Of course. Of course I do! You've - you've all already done far more for us than we've earned. I just hope it's not too much of an imposition to ask you to help with this one last thing. At least unless or until Jupiter changes her mind." [00:45] 13Ying folds her arms. [00:48] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "Please! I have no choice in this. I can't compel you, and I have nothing to offer because I'm, we're, in all your debts already. But please - let no one learn this. Keep it quiet." [00:50] 13She's looking over to the rest of her circle, at this point. She knows what she'd do, but... [00:50] 4Ir gulps down her drink."Like I said, as far as I'm concerned you didn't even have to ask. Though you should have." [00:50] 4Ir gulps down her drink."Like I said, as far as I'm concerned you didn't even have to ask. Though you should have." [00:50] 13(also she's a big freaking softie, she would absolutely help May.) [00:50] 4Ir gulps down her drink. "Like I said, as far as I'm concerned you didn't even have to ask. Though you should have." [00:51] <@Ferrinus> 12May nods. "I understand. And, of course. You know, I -- slept through most of it, in effect. I wasn't sure what it was like for any of you." [00:53] <@Ferrinus> 12May takes in a deep breath through her nose. "At any rate... at any rate, you understand what's going on." 12She collects the scroll and stands. "It's time for me to convince the Trinity that this was a freak astrological confluence, or something. You know, they ask about you often." [00:53] 4Ir: "We leave an impression." [00:53] 7Blossom: "What do they say?" [00:54] 13Ying: "Nothing bad, I hope." [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "Well, they're increasingly concerned with the inverse city. Nearly as worried with your plan of attack as with your target." 15[00:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "What do they say about me?" [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "Oh, the Spinner loves your books." 15[00:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi sits back, satisfied, and begins eating a squashed boar-in-a-blanket. [00:57] <@Ferrinus> 12May, packing a few more scrolls away and adjusting her headdress. "All right. Requisition me luck." 12Siaka offers a lazy salute. [00:57] 4Ir doesn't ask after her fame either way. After seeing the squished boar-in-a-blanket, she's been struck with inspiration: what if she combined the size and structure of the boars-in-a-blanket with the fillings and wrappings of the corn-wraps? [00:58] 7Blossom nods. "Gods speed." [00:58] <@Ferrinus> 12May's gone before long, and Siaka has her own business. The Squared Circle is left to their own devices, with one remaining directive: the Trinity still expects them to invade the inverse city and destroy whatever forces still lurk there. [00:59] 4Might as well get to that, then. 15[00:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi punches his open palm dramatically. "Alright!" 10He pauses, and then says, with the same fierce enthusiasm: "How do you fight?" [00:59] 7Blossom looks confused. "Wait, is *that* what you were doing?" 15[01:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi nods. "I'm developing my own martial art." [01:00] "I thought you were showing off." [01:00] 4Ir: "But you repeat him!" [01:00] 13Ying hides a snicker. 08[01:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka can at least tutor Eikichi in the basics there - and, in fact, Blossom's prospective Righteous Devil sifu has recently arrived in the Sunshrine district on a tip from the Chosen of Venus, so there'll be plenty of space and cause within which to practice kicking ass. [01:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Though we'll probably have to do that next week. 15[01:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi nods. "Sho Style is a vigorous commitment to the 'live more' mentality." [01:01] 4Very seriously: "You sound like a restauranteur." 15[01:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "I can't tell if that's a compliment so I'm going to assume it is." [01:03] 4Yeah, that's how they usually operate. [01:04] 4Ir: "Better than one of my flakier military tutors back in Pneuma, I suppose." [01:04] "His big project was a military strategic 'martial art' focused on, uh, what was it...let me see if I can remember--" [01:05] "'Creating the cognitive perception of victory.'" 15[01:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oh. A theatre person." [01:05] "This was different from just, winning. But it led to winning. It also involved going through walls, by reimagining the battlefield?" [01:05] 13Ying: "...that sounds furmilliar. Did he tour? Beclaws I'm purretty sure Tatsuya saw him, too." [01:06] 4Ir nods and scarfs down another boar-in-a-blanket. "He was very frustrated with his life." [01:09] 7Blossom: "Okay, so what does Sho Style actually do?" 15[01:09] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I haven't gotten that far yet." [01:09] 13Ying: "Whom among us." 13Delicious, delicious foods. 15[01:09] <@VoxPVoxD> "Mostly I've been trying to practice dodging things." [01:10] 13Ying: "Do you want to train with me? I need to practice..." 13Pause. "Hitting things. So it matches!" 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I feel weird about trying to hit my friends." [01:11] 13Ying: "You said you needed practice dodging." 13Her grin turns predatory. 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Hmm... that's true." 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "Okay, yeah, I'm in." [01:12] 4Ir: "I might come up and watch a little, but I've got some studying and experimenting to do." [01:12] 13Ying: "Wait, really? I was purretty sure I'd have to trick you into it somehow." [01:13] 13She seems suddenly uncertain. 15[01:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Being reasonable is my one weakness." 15[01:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi tells a lie. He has dozens of weaknesses. [01:15] 13Ying: "That's hilariously untrue. Fur example, have you efur blocked your left side while--" 13she continues for an amount of time that is both excessive and also necessary. 08[01:16] 7While Ying is verbally destroying Eikichi, Blossom turns to Ir. "Studying? Experimenting?" [01:18] 4Ir: "I need to read up on some old underground tunnel-battles against demon-creatures from my warbooks, since we're going down that way. It's going to be weird, because they're all written from the point of view of the army trying to crush the demon swarm, but we'll be commanding it. ...Also, I have no idea how, like, true any of these accounts are." [01:18] "Also, I've got a new food idea I want to try." [01:18] "Weighing which one I want to do first." 14[01:20] * Joins: Crion| 14[01:35] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:43] * banana|peels is now known as banana|split 14[02:56] * banana|split is now known as bannaa 14[02:56] * bannaa is now known as banana 14[06:46] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[07:10] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:26] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:58] * Joins: Crion| 14[10:24] * Quits: Crion| (Connection closed) 14[10:25] * Joins: Crion| 14[10:59] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:22] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:33] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[17:23] * Joins: Crion| 14[19:58] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:17] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:32] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:35] * Joins: Zarick 14[20:40] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:26] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:29] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:48] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[21:51] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:57] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:46] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Fri Jun 22 00:00:00 2018 14[01:29] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[01:54] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:21] * Joins: mattbaby 14[06:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:09] * Joins: mattbaby 14[08:24] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[08:43] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:51] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:52] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[18:02] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[18:04] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:03] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:03] * Joins: Crion 14[22:47] * Joins: Crion_ 14[22:48] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:02] * Joins: Crion 14[23:03] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sat Jun 23 00:00:01 2018 14[00:28] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:07] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[06:28] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:02] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:34] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[07:58] * Joins: Crion| 14[07:59] * Quits: Crion| (Quit: ) 14[08:11] * Joins: mattbaby 14[08:46] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:37] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:12] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:44] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 15[15:10] * Disconnected 15[15:33] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[15:33] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[15:33] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[15:33] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[15:33] * ChanServ sets mode: +o VoxPVoxD 14[16:09] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:26] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:28] * Joins: Zarick 14[16:30] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:43] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[16:45] * Joins: Zarick 14[17:58] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:19] * Joins: trenchfoot 15[19:46] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:46] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:46] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:46] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:46] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[19:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "So how does this work?" 10Eikichi asks when he and Ying are up on the deck, Eikichi's mouth full of the last of his pocket boars. "You're the sensei here." 15[19:47] <@VoxPVoxD> "Sorry. I mean sifu. Since this is a martial art." [19:51] <@Ferrinus> 12NO IT'S NOT 08[19:53] 13Ying's switched into the outfit she used to train with Ir, way back when, and is stretching to warm up. "Efurrything begins with your stance, so let's start there. Claws up!" 13She gets into position, carefully watching Eikichi to make sure he does the same. 15[19:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi squares up... and then just folds his arms, waiting expectantly. 15[19:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "Now what?" [19:59] 13Ying: "...well, I was gonna move on to spurring and try that, but you gotta hold a stance furst!" 15[20:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Somewhat uncertainly, Eikichi holds his arms up in an approximation of a boxer's stance. 08[20:10] 13Ying: "Hmm... not purrfect, but it's a start. Bend your knees a bit, though, and keep in mind you're not limited to your fists, after all--" 13she launches herself at Eikichi's legs, springs upwards at the last moment straight over him, and taps him lightly on the nose with her tail as it passes by. From behind him: "Every purrt of the body is a weapon!" 15[20:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Truer words." [20:12] 13Ying: "Knees, elbows, feet, keep those in mind when you're set up!" 13She's hopping from side to side now, her usual combat stance. "Try me, then we'll see where you're at!" 15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Man that was cool though. Eikichi wants to jump like that. 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What she said hits him a moment after her tail does. "Just... hit you?" 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "Okay..." [20:19] 13Ying: "Sure! As long as we keep it light, there should be no purroblems--" 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi hesitates, and has to screw his eyes shut before taking a swing. [20:23] 13Ying cartwheels along the motion the punch, having it come a lot closer to her than she meant it to. Yikes! "Keep your eyes on me! That was really good, though!" 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Are you kidding?! I almost hit you!" [20:25] 13Ying: "That's why it was 'really good' rather than 'purrfect!' C'mon, try again, I wanna see how you move!" 14[20:27] * Joins: dammitwho 15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi tries again, with his eyes open, but his kick goes way wide and he's practically hopping with anxiety when he recovers. 08[20:33] "Good thinking with the kick! This is what spurring is for, getting a feel for how you move. It's like dancing~!" 13And with that, she flips into a handstand and spins around, flailing legs pushing Eikichi backwards! 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ahh!!" 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "Your shoes are so pointy--" [20:40] 13She transitions into an easy roll, doing that same leap she first demonstrated, but this time with a narrowly-missing uppercut attached! "Hyaaaa~!" 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's arms windmill around before he falls on his ass. 08[20:43] 13Ying: "One point to me~" 13she twirls, before checking on Eikichi. "Are you okay? You started off really well..." 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi springs back to his feet with surprising agility. "I don't want to hit you!" [20:49] 13Ying: "Why not? It's spurr- sparring. Time here is training for time out there," 13she gestures off the deck. "We're not gonna hurt each other. Just - practice." [20:49] 13She frowns. "Or I can go change. I usually wanna punch Tatsuya, maybe that'd help." 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi shakes his head. "No, no. That wouldn't make a difference. Plus I could beat Tatsuya by squatting really low and making him faint with terror." 15[20:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It's not a religious thing or anything, I just panic." 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "With magic you can be really far away, and with Zantetsuken I didn't even need to think about it, it was all reflex." [20:52] 13Ying: "Panic because it's a friend, or panic because it's a fight and fights are scary?" 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "But actually deciding to hit someone, up close? I don't know." 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "When I trained with the staff I always just used to trip people or kind of shoo them away." 15[20:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "I guess because you're a friend, but I don't know. It's not like I've ever hit a stranger back either." [21:01] "Ah," 13she frowns and crouches down, thinking. "...if you're going to fight like this, you can't be afuraid of it. Spurring helps with that, too, builds confidence, that kinda thing. Gets less scary the more you practice!" 13Standing back up: "...that doesn't really help the root of it, does it." 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "...give me a couple of minutes." 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi goes belowdecks. [21:03] 13Ying curls up near a mast in the sun, and waits. 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> "I was thinking on the way down, that little corkscrew you do in the air is pushing you forward, isn't it?" 10asks Wild Rose as she climbs into view. [21:07] 13!! She springs back to her feet, beaming. "Yes, yes! It's all about meowtion and using it to your advantage!" 13What's she wearing for training gear? 15[21:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose is wearing a sleeveless shirt with a high midriff, loose billowy pants, and pointy shoes like Ying's. [21:09] 13Good, good, loose and easy to move around in. "How are you feeling?" 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose sniffs. "High wind up here. Don't want to be leaning into it." 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "Are you ready to go?" [21:11] 13Ying: "When you are~" 13already sliding into her stance. 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It couldn't be simpler. Step forward, right, left. But the right almost takes Ying off her feet and the left comes so close to her head that she bends backward until she's on her back foot, stance broken. 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wild Rose doesn't have Eikichi's problem. Wild Rose is an arena champion. [21:26] 13Every time she tries to dodge, Rose is already there waiting for her. It's honestly astonishing how rapid the shift has been - every spin about to turn into a counter attack is instead just turned into another desperate dodge as Ying tries to keep up. "You're - doing - really - well -" 13she manages to squeak out, narrowly missing Rose's knee while ducking under an elbow. 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "You're a good teacher." 08[21:36] 13She finally spies an opening-- just need to-- she does a quick handspring and launches herself with a massive spin up in the air, foot aimed directly for Wild Rose's chin! [21:37] 13...which completely misses, and she lands roughly on all fours before scrabbling back to her feet, trying not to be jealous. 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Ying's foot goes through Rose's hair as she bends back almost double to avoid the attack and settle into a stance that breaks again as Rose holds her hand out for her friend. 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "Maybe too good..." [21:41] 13She hesitates a moment, but then... takes the offered hand! "If I'm being purrfectly honest... that was almost all you. Wow." 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "I've watched a lot of fights. You, and Ir, and Bergsveinn, and Tatsuya..." [21:47] 13Ying: "Yeah, but you were incredible! That combination was just - so fast... and you kept it coming! Such amazing energy..." 13She's got a sparkle in her eyes. [21:50] 13After gushing for a bit longer, she finally calms down enough to ask: "So... how's it feel?" 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "You were right. It is like dancing." 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose answers like that was what Ying meant. [21:56] 13Fair enough! "You wanna get something to drink? I'm so thirsty after that... And maybe some post-workout snacks." 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "Okay!" 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose gets herself one of the beers Ir brews that no one is allowed to call Birs. What's Ying having? [22:05] 13Ying's purrloined (heh heh) some fish from the kitchen, alongside some milk they picked up last time they stopped off. "Ahhhh~" 13she leans back in her seat. "That was so much fun! We should do that again sometime..." 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "I agree. I bet Ir would have some advice, too." 10She rolls the bottle around in her fingers before asking, "How are you doing?" 08[22:08] 7Blossom was lurkin'. Creepin'. Eikichi goofing up on introductory wrestling was extremely cute, but now they're done and Wild Rose is here... [22:08] 13Ying: "No wounds!" 13Just pride... "Little sore from the landing, but nothing worse than that." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "You know what, though?" 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "You landed on your feet." [22:11] 13She rubs at her wrists. "And paws. Hands." 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "I have to ask. Do you... feel catlike?" [22:14] 13Ying: "Purretty much! Or at least, what I assume cats feel like, I've never asked one." [22:15] "What do you mean spurrcifically though?" 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "Cats always seem so... languid." [22:19] 13She shrugs. "I take more naps than I used to. And sunbeams seem wayyyyy nicer than I thought they were befur. But I'm still me! Just, you know." 13Tail swish. "A cat." 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "How are you and Tatsuya?" [22:22] 13Her visible fur stands on end. "Fine." 15[22:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose takes a long drink, looking at Ying. [22:25] 7Blossom quietly walks in, munching on a sausage roll. She heads past the other two and begins rifling through the liquor cabinet, looking for a bottle of sake. [22:25] 13Ying munches away at her fish. 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "Hello." [22:27] 7Blossom: "Hi. What're you up to?" 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose: "Ying was training me." [22:29] 13Ying: "Rose won," 13once she finishes chewing. 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's not a competition." [22:30] 13Ying: "Not anymore, 'cause you won." 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose gives Blossom a 'get a load of her' look. "So what have you been working on?" [22:33] 7Blossom shrugs. "Gifts for your sisters." [22:34] 13Ying: "Oh! Blossom, that reminds me --" 13she scampers off. "Be right back!" 15[22:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10After Ying is gone, Rose whispers, "I'll go change." 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Rose isn't back yet when Ying returns. [22:37] 13Ying: "I finally finished your suit!! ...where'd Rose go?" [22:38] 7Blossom: "She, uh, said she was going to go change??" 08[22:38] "Which gives me a chance to surprise Eikichi lemme see lemme see" [22:40] 13Ying hands Blossom a relatively nondescript box with a little string around it. "Purrfectly fitted and with some special additions~" [22:43] 7Blossom scampers off behind some crates to change. "What kind of additions?" 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi walks in. "Did Blossom leave?" [22:47] 13Ying: "Tearaway sleeves and pants! Just in case," 13she adds. The suit itself is a deep black, silk-woven and indeed, perfectly fitted to Blossom. Maybe a bit tight in the arms, but not uncomfortably so. And the shoulders are maybe a bit puffier than anticipated, which only adds to the look. There's also some suggested accessories - a light grey undershirt, a smart and sleek belt, a deep red tie, and some gold cufflinks. 08[22:48] 13That's before Eikichi gets back. Sorry, I'm very slow. 08[22:49] 7When Eikichi returns, Blossom is leaning insouciantly against the bar. "Oh, there you are!" 7She turns to him, smiling. 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh, hi, Blooooooo14ooooooooooooah." 10Eikichi is physically staggered, and almost falls backwards over the stool he tries to sit on. Instead, he mercifully only knocks it over and gets his foot caught in it. 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> "That was- that's--" 15[22:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's a v15ery nice outfit." [22:52] 13Ying is beaming, fidgeting in her seat. 08[22:52] 7Hahaha, yes! Flirting is EASY and she is the BEST at it-- "Eikichi! Are you alright? You don't have heat stroke, do you? It is a bit--" 7In one fluid motion she tears off her suitsleeves. "warm out," 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "I've just got to--" 10Hopefully the last word was going to be 'faint'. [22:55] 13Ying's up immediately to get a washcloth and some cold water. This is the best review she could have gotten. [22:58] 7Blossom is easily as smug as Ying. 08[22:59] 13Ying's fanning Eikichi for a bit and keeping the cloth on his forehead. "I knew the tearaway was a great idea," 13she says to Blossom. [23:00] 7She carefully re-attaches the sleeves: "They are! I'm a little worried about losing them, though." 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's eyes flutter open. "...whoo." [23:01] 13Ying waves her hand. "I can make more! And in fact, I have, there's another three sets just in case." 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He doesn't sit up immediately. "Is she... 14is she still flexing," [23:01] "Welcome back!" [23:03] 13Ying looks over to verify that Blossom has, indeed, stopped flexing. [23:04] 13Then: "It's safe." [23:05] 7Blossom strongly considered it, but no, she's no longer flexin'. 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Blossom sees Eikichi's forehead and eyes slowly crest the table, peeking just to be sure, before he pulls himself up. "That... wow." [23:11] 13Ying: "Purretty great, right?" 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's sigh could move a mountain. "Yeah..." [23:18] 7Blossom: "Yeah! Ying really came through." [23:18] "Which is why I have to ask you for another favor- what's a good idea for workout gear?" [23:22] 13Ying: "As long as it's easy to move around in, it can look like purretty much anything. This'll be way quicker than the suit..." 08[23:24] 7Blossom: "This one isn't for me, it's for Akane, Eikichi's eldest sister." 08[23:24] 13Ying looks over to Eikichi to check his reaction. 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's almost fully recovered. "That's a great idea! Very thoughtful." 15[23:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10In his mind, he imagines Blossom cackling with triumph at having won such a crushing victory in thoughtful gift-giving. [23:28] 7Blossom nods. "I'm an extremely thoughtful and generous gift-giver." [23:28] 13Ying: "Hmm... it'll probably be a little loose, but I can make a workout outfit fur sure. Maybe some kinda full suit..." [23:28] 13She excuses herself to go get her notebook. Gotta sketch this one! [23:28] "Maybe something to keep sweat out of her eyes? I know I hate that. Oh, and when I work out my shins keep getting cold." 15[23:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "You really want to make a good first impression, don't you?" 15[23:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He's so excited! 08[23:34] 13She returns, clutching her sketchbook and a pencil. From what Blossom's saying, maybe two sets... "I was thinking about that! I figure something to keep out the wind but still loose enough to allow for unrestricted movement..." 13She starts sketching away. "Eikichi, do you know how tall she is?" 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi hesitates. "...no. Not now. It's been four years." 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> "She was about Tatsuya's height, I guess." [23:37] 7Blossom: "Yeah! I mean, they're your sisters, and I'm the consort." 15[23:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi blinks. [23:38] 13Ying stops sketching. 15[23:38] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He hadn't thought about how he'd introduce her. 14[23:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 08[23:40] 7Blossom hasn't noticed, she's cheerfully eating and drinking and laughing internally about what a ridiculous situation they're in, since Eikichi's family are patricians and Blossom's a hated outcast. I mean, which of them is technically more important? At least she doesn't have to deal with matchmakers! 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Finally, Eikichi says, "When we meet them, how do you want to address the, ah." [23:43] 13Ying: "Er... I think I'll go sketch by my materials, fur, um, ideas!" 13She hurriedly gathers up her stuff and rushes back out the way she came... then tiptoes back in, grabs her food and drink, and rushes back out. 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi waits for Ying to pack up and go. "Should I be putting 'The Finest Daughter of House Cathak' on the letterhead? Because I could." [23:45] 7Blossom frowns. "How do you want to address the what?" 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Well, they're going to ask about your family." [23:48] "Oh. Right. ...have you told them that we're monstrous Anathema yet?" 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Just that I'm a sorcerer." [23:50] 7Blossom: "Maybe you could tell them that I'm outcast for murdering a tax collector? ...okay, that might not be any better." 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "What I'm trying to say is, when I say 'this is Blossom, she's an exiled Dynast', 'exiled' is not the word they're going to fixate on." 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> "Have you spent much time among the householders?" [23:52] "Not really?" 15[23:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "The whole world revolves around the Great Houses. And because the patrician households are so close to the center, it spins fastest for them. I remember one of my mother's sisters had a son, and he was about to marry a woman from House Nellens. Except he wasn't. She was a fraud, she was from Gloam or something and managed to convince people she was a Dynast. She stayed in that house for months. It only fell apart when people started trying to call in the lines of credit she was claiming." 15[23:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's what it is. It changes how everyone looks at you. All the work our parents do to earn favor with the Great Houses. All the work we do for their attention. All the envy and resentment and fear..." Session Time: Sun Jun 24 00:00:00 2018 [00:00] 7Blossom looks horrified. "Was she insane?!" 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I don't know, I never met her. And now no one will ever see her again, obviously." [00:02] 7Blossom: "You'll have to tell them that I'm also the poorest daughter of House Cathak..." 15[00:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Honestly that would be fine. If I introduce you to them and they stick their hands out I won't speak to them again. Makes it easier." [00:09] 7Blossom nods agreeably, probably missing the point somewhat. "Filial piety is important, but there are limits. I don't... really understand the rest of it? I mean, you went off into the distant North and came back with a chhrhem." 7She clears her throat. "A consort. That's me. Plus you're a powerful sorcerer and have almost developed a work ethic. Shouldn't they be sending a fatted [00:09] calf to the Immaculates in thanks to the Dragons?" 15[00:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I don't know. I don't actually know what would please them, or if they'll forgive me. They might not write back, or write back telling me not to dare show my face there again." 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "But that's not what I'm talking about. I don't have any control over that. I just... if they do want to see me, and I introduce you, I want them to get to know you, not your lineage." 15[00:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "Then they're sure to love you, like everyone does." [00:23] "That's true. I'm sure it'll be fine, we'll just have to 'break the ice' a little. And you're being silly, of course they'll want to see you. You're regular people, not Dynasts." 15[00:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Meeting your family again will be so much easier. We'll just need an army, a navy, a mobile liberation palace..." 15[00:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you miss any of them?" [00:34] "..." [00:34] 7Blossom: "I had an uncle, Naku. He was alright." 15[00:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I bet he misses you." [00:38] "I doubt it. I haven't even seen him since I was little." [00:38] 7Blossom: "He's been off with the legions and Mom for years." 15[00:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi tries to steer the conversation to something that won't make either of them sad. "So, workout clothes for Akane. What else are you planning?" [00:46] 7Blossom: "Oh! For Saya, little carved monsters. Scupperlings, mammoths, tyrant lizards, you know." 15[00:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oooh." [00:49] 7Blossom: "And for Misuzu, it's a secret." 15[00:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Come on, tell me!" [00:54] 7Blossom: "Wwwwelll... all right. It's a wooden puzzle cube. You have to twist all the sides so that a line carved into them travels unbroken from the top through each face to the bottom." 15[00:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Zuzu will love that. She was always the clever one." [01:01] 7Blossom gives a self-satisfied grin and then blanches. "Oh gods, I've forgotten your parents!" 15[01:02] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Do you have any complicated-looking rocks from somewhere far from the Isle?" [01:09] 7Blossom: "I guess I could send an elemental to find one. Huh. I wonder what an Earth elemental would do if I asked it to find the 'most interesting rock in the area'." 15[01:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Come back with a consort." 15[01:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Anyway, something like that would square Papa away. Or maybe give him the schematics for Zuzu's puzzle box." 15[01:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10As if speaking of someone with a birth defect: "He's an engineer." 08[01:15] 7Blossom, who is already assigning Eikichi's father in a mental Stronghold Management UI: "Really? What kind?" 15[01:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "He's a civil engineer. He's part of the team the Scales send to build dams in the satrapies." 15[01:16] <@VoxPVoxD> "There's a good chance he won't even be home, come to think of it..." [01:21] "And your mom?" 08[01:21] 7Wait. Didn't Eikichi's mom have some sort of health problem? She remembers him telling her that his mother was often bedridden... 15[01:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Mama likes pretty things, tea, books. She likes wine but she wouldn't like it as a gift." 15[01:24] <@VoxPVoxD> "She'll definitely read the books I send. Maybe I should pack extra copies... no, that's ridiculous. Poor Yara will have enough to carry." [01:26] 7Blossom: "It won't be hard to get good tea, at least." [01:31] "Ugh, that's a good point, though... how am I going to get all this to fit in her pack? Should I wait and give the gifts when we actually meet?" 15[01:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I might hold off on the books. Then there's room for all of your gifts." 15[01:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "For all I know they've already got copies of at least the first book." 15[01:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "It'd be illegal on the Isle, surely, but so are a lot of things." [01:41] 7Blossom: "If they've got your books, then they *would* know we're Anathema?" 15[01:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi thinks it over. "...yes." [01:45] "Do you... know what they think? Of that?" 15[01:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "We were taught about the Anathema, of course, and we paid the proper tributes, kept all the feast-days, read the texts, and so forth. But the Philosophy was never a terribly big part of our lives. Papa has stories - exaggerated, I'm sure - about crossing paths with a Lunar An- with a Chosen of Luna out in the Threshold in his youth, but it was an adventure for him." 15[01:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "They're practical people. As long as we don't put them in a compromising position we won't be in danger from them. But I can't fathom how they'll take it." 15[01:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "If I said you were an exiled Anathema Dynast, they'd still see you as a Dynast first." 15[01:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He looks at Blossom, visibly conflicted. 15[01:55] <@VoxPVoxD> "If they have read any of the books, they'll have seen the drawings. Which means they'll be able to recognize you by your haircut." [01:57] 7Blossom: "What's wrong with that?" 15[01:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Nothing's wrong with it. Your hair is incredibly cute." 15[01:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "But if we're going to worry about being known Anathema, we should think about how easy it will be to mark us." [02:00] 7Blossom: "That's true... but I don't think it'll be *too* easy. My hairstyle isn't *that* uncommon." 15[02:01] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It may even be more common because of you." 15[02:02] <@VoxPVoxD> "Did you notice that? More and more people wearing Dragon's Fangs in Nexus over the last few months. Half the girls I tutored changed their hair just in the few weeks I was teaching them." [02:05] "Huh. Well, I am extremely fashionable. Even Ying thinks so." 7Probably! 15[02:05] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Fashion is just what the people everybody already likes are doing." 15[02:06] <@VoxPVoxD> "It's like how the number one trick to dancing is to be good-looking." [02:06] "Anyway. I don't think we'll have to worry much. Nobody is going to be looking for us in the Imperial City, so they won't see us, because people only see things if they're looking for them." 15[02:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi thinks back to how long it took Blossom to realize he liked her. "That's very true." 08[02:11] 7Eikichi's so smart. He always know when Blossom's correct about things! "Of course... the best way to not look suspicious is to act normally. You know, visit some baths, get our nails done..." 15[02:12] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Go shopping." 15[02:15] <@VoxPVoxD> "When we get there, we'll have to think of souvenirs to bring back for the others." [02:19] "Ooh! We could go to one of those street artists that sells little paintings of places like the Three Snakes Dam!" 15[02:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Real garum!" [02:23] 7Blossom: "Isicia omentata the way it's supposed to be made... agh, my mouth's watering." 15[02:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm really excited." 15[02:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "We're going to have such a good time." [02:26] 7Blossom: "I know, right? I haven't gone out on the town since primary school." 14[08:20] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[09:48] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:22] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:57] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:37] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[11:38] * Joins: Zarick 14[11:59] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:50] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:06] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:25] * Joins: Crion 14[18:48] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:56] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:36] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:07] * Joins: trenchfoot Session Time: Mon Jun 25 00:00:00 2018 14[00:19] * Joins: Crion| 14[01:09] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:44] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[11:17] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[11:36] * Joins: cbass 14[13:33] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:00] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[15:01] * Joins: cbass 14[16:13] * Joins: Crion| 14[17:35] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:58] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:31] * Joins: Crion| 14[21:46] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:39] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Tue Jun 26 00:00:00 2018 14[07:51] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:57] * Joins: Crion| 14[09:15] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:22] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[11:10] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:50] * Joins: dammitwho 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:51] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:25] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:59] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:02] <@VoxPVoxD>  15[20:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "Quite a pedigree," old Selin agrees as he sips his tea with Xia Lan and Xu Sim, the former of whom seeks to learn the mystery of her new starmetal swords. "Why do you ask?" 15[20:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Elsewhere, Stranger thunders on the temple doors, sending birds flying into the twilight from nearby rooftops and clotheslines. He must surely have the attention of anyone and everyone inside, but still the doors do not yield. A minute later, however, a tall, thin man with wispy hair and a grey smock shuffles out from a side entrance to meet Stranger and Bubo on the steps. "Sir?" [20:11] 14Stranger: "If he's home, tell him that either I'm coming in or he's coming out. If he's not home, tell him where I can find him. If he thinks this is a threat, a bluff, or a down-home ego blow-up, tell him that half the damn city has burned down out here and we're still not through the fire. I am Stranger-Visits-Heaven and I am an Emissary of Nexus." [20:11] *tell me where [20:11] 13Xia Lan takes a sip before replying, watching old Selin carefully. "...I'm worried about the war," 13she admits. "Anything I can do, no matter how big or small, to get an advantage... so, I'm trying to figure out how to make full use these swords before next week." [20:14] 14Bubo can be wherever he wants to be, dressed however he wants to dress for this. It's time to throw around earned civic weight. [20:15] 5Xu Sim strokes the Twice-Refined Princess behind the ears. 15[20:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo is behind Stranger, looking exceptionally short even for himself, huddling in a hood and cloak. Stranger can't see his face. 15[20:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "You want to study the Crane style like your friend?" 15[20:17] <@VoxPVoxD> The doorkeeper's face sets against Stranger's pronouncement, but his posture wilts. "...of course. Around this way, please." [20:17] 14Stranger flourishes his sleeve. It's something of a sign for Bubo to follow. [20:18] 14He doesn't bring in the broken lamppost; just his walking stick. 15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> The doorkeeper leads Stranger through the side entrance and into the cold, darkened temple. There is the sound of distant footsteps and indecipherable speech; monks still occupy their cloisters even as the rest of the temple is empty. There's a great altar at the back of the temple, behind a large, deep, and flawless pool of water, so clear you can see the marble brickwork through the bottom even in the dimming light. [20:30] 14As Stranger walks, he taps his walking stick. He goes from pretending to use it to sweep back and forth to screen his path to just snapping it against the ground as they approach the great altar. [20:30] 5Xu Sim twists in his seat slightly, reaching for a small wooden box. He opens it, retrieves a vial from the box, and, inserting it into his steambreather, takes a drag. [20:32] 13...that honestly hadn't crossed her mind. She's about to object, correct him, but she did say anything she could do. "I was speaking about bringing out the magical capabilities of Before and After, whatever they are, but now that you mention, yes. That's - perfect, actually, for what's ahead!" [20:33] 13She glances over to Xu Sim, 'vaporing' or whatever it is he calls it. There are worse habits. 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> This cartridge is pleasantly stimulating and tastes like the sweet tobaccos used in hookahs in the near Eastern threshold. [20:37] 5Excellent. Xu Sim rifles around for some rice paper, thread, and his bags of powders and reagents as the other two converse. 15[20:43] <@VoxPVoxD> There's something peculiar about this place, an otherworldly sense Stranger can't quite place. One thing is certain, though: the pool is where the Grey holds court, and it's empty. [20:44] 14That's fine. Stranger: "Same rules apply in here as they did outside, Lord of the River. Come out, or I dive in." [20:47] 14He's waved a hand to dismiss the doorkeeper, if the doorkeeper was still around. Bubo is free to do whatever he feels. 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "You have to forge your own connection to the blade. It's a shared story. Hearing someone else's won't help you." 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> The doorkeeper reaches instead for a stick to hit the gong behind the altar. Slowly, three more similarly-robed men emerge, and all four of them take positions along the square sides of the pool. In unison they kneel down as if to pray, and immerse their heads in the water. [20:51] 14Dunked. [20:52] 14Outwardly, Stranger stands respectfully with his walking stick in both hands, apprehending this pooled throne. 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> A light shines in the center of the pool and it bubbles and froths like it's been put on to boil, though it gives off no heat. The commotion continues for a moment, monks prostrate at the cardinals, until the water settles, glass-smooth, with the impression of an aged man's face complicating the surface of the water. [20:55] 13Xia Lan tries her best not to look disappointed. "I see." 13She takes a sip to clear her mind, but can't shake her thoughts on Before and After. Stories, stories, stories... what stories have they told? No, no. What stories will they tell? That's what she needs to focus on. She closes her eyes. [20:56] 14Ah. [20:58] 14Stranger will wait for him to speak. It is his house; he is the host. [20:58] 5Xu Sim gently loads one powder after another into the pouch he's made of the rice paper. He draws a thin piece of twine around the mouth of the bag and draws it tight. [21:02] 5He alternates between working on this small device, petting his dog, and taking puffs on the steambreather. 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> After a long silence the Grey speaks, with a dour old man's voice. "Who comes?" [21:06] 14Stranger: "An Emissary of Nexus." [21:06] "Note the article." [21:06] 13There's an understanding in her eyes when she opens them again. "Thank you," 13she says to old Selin. 15[21:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Don't thank me. Thank Venus." [21:08] 13She closes her eyes again, briefly. Thank you. Then: "...from before. Was that an offer to teach me Crane?" 15[21:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "My policy is that prospective students need to find a current student to vouch for them." [21:11] 13She looks over to Xu Sim, likely lost in his work. 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The lower half of the Grey's face ripples, as if chopped by the heavy sigh coming through his nose. "I have nothing to say to city officials." [21:14] 14Stranger:"Then I will do the talking." [21:14] 14Stranger: "Then I will do the talking." [21:15] "The previous Emissary was Balor." [21:15] "I can either take it as understood that you know what that means, even if you did not know it until now, or I can explain what it means." [21:16] 14Stranger will give the old god thirty seconds before continuing. 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Silence. But the Grey hasn't left. [21:18] 14Stranger: "His death has left a great red star in the sky. A beacon for what he left behind. The end of a promise, or a contract. Four armies march on this city from the Wyld. The first of them will arrive early. It isn't even here yet, and we were forced to resort to thistledown to burn its infestation off the city streets." [21:20] "Outside these walls stand four Chosen of the Unconquered Sun, a full dragon army from Lookshy, and some twisted things from Thorns that frankly I don't trust, but so far, they're committed to the work." [21:22] 14Stranger: "I know you don't particularly like this city and I know you don't like me. I don't think you'd grow to like me even if you got to know me. That's utterly less than unimportant. I need you, the Yellow, and the Yanaze to figure out what you're doing here." 15[21:23] <@VoxPVoxD> "Marching to the sea." [21:23] "Because if you're hiding and we lose, you're getting torn to beautiful shreads. And if you're hiding and we win, you're not getting tribute in this city ever again." [21:23] 14Stranger laughs. [21:24] "And what do you think will meet you there?" [21:24] "The Immaculates?" 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "The sea. As she always has. As she always will." 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> "We were here when the old armies came and the old city fell. And we will remain after you and your threats are gone." [21:29] 14Stranger: "You want to bet?" [21:30] 14There is no flippancy in his voice. 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Grey: "That's two bets. The first is whatever you're about to suggest, and the second is a bet that you'll live to pay up." [21:31] 14Stranger: "The first bet is your duty. The second is mine." 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Derisively: "Duty." [21:36] 13Before she moves to get Xu Sim's attention, she'll ask Old Selin: "How is he, as a student?" 13'I hope getting his recommendation isn't actually an insult,' is unspoken. She knows how he can come off at times. 15[21:37] <@VoxPVoxD> "Earnest. Enthusiastic." [21:43] "Both qualities shared by the Unfettered," 5notes Xu Sim as he wraps up his little project with a bow. [21:46] "Who I would unreservedly recommend for your tutelage, Sifu," 5he continues, patting the little package down next to him and taking another steamy breath. [21:47] "I know, I know. We tell the gods of duty's wonders, and they never listen. The first bet is this: that when Nexus falls, the middlemarch that these Fair Folk blast forth from Firewander will create such a perfect nonsense realm in your rivers that you, yourself, will be split by it; you, the Yellow, and the Yanaze will tremble with the Wyld's waters and be brought by degrees to thunder [21:47] the Wyld's waves. The second bet is that I will survive, because Nexus will survive. And you're saying to yourself, this guy's an asshole. I'll be glad to see Nexus gone in the arms of thorned lovers; I'll be glad to see him lose two bets and be shamed by it; but what you need to understand about the current Emissaries of Nexus, in contradiction to our predecessor, is that we serve the [21:47] Sun and we plan to win or we plan to die. We actually care about Nexus; no one even bribed us for it. And even if you don't take up a bet with me, the next thing to walk through that door won't even want to talk with you. It'll just laugh." [21:48] "So let me know right now, river god, if it's even worth talking to you anymore." [21:52] 14Stranger's forehead explodes with a golden light. "I have greater gods to serve." 15[21:55] <@VoxPVoxD> The water churns for a time, and then, at last: "You have my attention." [21:56] 13Xia Lan leans back in her chair, sipping her tea, satisfied with what she's hearing. [22:01] 14Stranger: "The Council -- including the Emissaries -- do not wish you to fade from public life. We do not wish you gone; we do not envy your tribute. We want you more active. We want you a vibrant part of this community. You might think this is bullshit. It would have been, before this crisis and all of the necessary changes it has laid at our feet. And I get the sense that you [22:01] don't like the idea of this, starting from first principles." [22:01] "I wanted to ask about another matter, while you are here. Perhaps I could assist you with your work in the sewers?" 5Xu Sim strokes the dog again. There's something compelling about being able to sit back, take a drag of the steambreather, and stroke an unusual looking animal. 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Someone shuffles up behind Stranger to wheeze, "You have obligations." [22:02] "I get the sense that you think this city is a dump, a clot in your bloodstream, giving you heart attacks everytime you move. I can respect that. I thought similar things when I came here originally." [22:02] 14Oh? [22:04] 14Stranger, to the wheezing monk: "Do I?" 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> It's easy to see why Bubo wheezes when Stranger gets a look at him. His porcelain mask has only one tiny hole for air at its mouth, and two narrowed slits for eyes. Its only adornment is a nearly continuous series of black brushstrokes creating the impression of eyebrows, cheeks, and a thin smile. "Yes. But so does he. And if he doesn't meet them, it won't be the river that carries him away." 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> The lake roils again. Recognition? [22:07] 14Stranger flourishes his sleeve about again. "And can he meet them from inside these walls? [22:07] " 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "If he won't stand up, then there's no need for the temple to." [22:08] 14Stranger: "Isn't that always the way." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "What do you have in mind?" [22:10] 5Xu Sim: "I answer with a question. What do you have in mind?" [22:11] 5Xu Sim: "I answer with a question. What do you have in mind?" 14[22:14] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "And without those walls, what will protect you?" Wheeze. "Certainly not us." 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> He turns to shuffle away again. "You know where the Directorate stands on the unreliable." 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Wheeze. "...far away..." [22:15] 14Stranger: "River goes where the water flows." 14[22:16] * Joins: cbass 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "With a few days to spare? Water purification. The canals of old Hollow filtered the river water, made it clean and safe to drink. Those filters don't work anymore, obviously, but we can rig up replacements in a few key areas that will last a little while. Long enough, hopefully." [22:22] "And what, in the long term, is the plan?" 5he asks. [22:22] 13Xia Lan: "That sounds --" 13...did we have a way to get water to the Undercity before this? Clean drinking water? We talked about food... [22:24] 14Stranger turns back to the water. "I don't need you to like me, though it would be nice. But I can tell you that when the armies recede from these walls, Nexus isn't going to look like the Nexus you knew. If you want to talk cowards, the Guild fled. We have an agreement to preserve whatever they've got left in the city, but they followed the river to the sea and they're feeling [22:24] pretty good about their investment right about now. Thing is, we haven't forgotten what they've done to this city. We won't forget what they wanted to do. And when this is done -- when we win -- they're going to try to come back and find an inhospitable market for their slaver service." 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> The Undercity is full of water, and managing disease was a priority. So the focus was on containing and treating cholera and the like rather than trying to scrub Nexus's waterways. 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "In the long term, who knows. You could try to repair all the original filters, or replace them if you can source the right materials. If you're feeling feisty you could try to revive the dams." [22:27] "Feisty? I can be feisty. Right, Xia Lan?" 5looking for some support here. [22:28] 13Xia Lan, diplomatically: "I believe I've said that before, yes." [22:29] "Anyway. Maybe we could go take a look, now? I haven't actually been down there yet. And we do need to take a look around the Undercity, too." 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin raises an eyebrow. "You want a tour?" [22:32] "Why not?" [22:33] "The thistledown is working ahead of schedule, might as well get a jump on the next big thing." [22:34] 13Xia Lan: "There's... a lot of 'next big things,'" 13carefully, "but we do need to sweep the Undercity. Thorns has been down there with no oversight." 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Do you want to go now?" [22:37] 13Xia Lan's plans for the evening involved fretting over her upcoming rally or hypothetically training with Selin, so this question's up to Xu Sim entirely. [22:38] "Why not?" 15[22:38] <@VoxPVoxD> The Grey: "I take your point." [22:38] "Can the Princess join us? It's not particularly unsafe?" [22:42] 14Stranger: "Which brings us to the nature of the Emissary. I'm informed you've had poor experiences with this office in the past, and I can't blame you. Before I held it, I had poor experiences as well. And I was an ass when I barged in here because it was necessary for me to be an ass and barge in here. I don't apologize for that necessity, but I do hope it doesn't define our [22:42] relationship. Because -- and I think this is important, given the way things have been in this city up until now -- this is a relationship. I don't intend to walk out of here and never see you again. I intend to work with you. I intend to know at least half of the people in this temple by their first names, and I intend for that to be true with the Yellow, and with the Yanaze. I intend [22:42] to build something here." [22:42] "We intend to build something here." [22:43] "Creation is not all clay. Creation is water, against a rock." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "She's smart enough not to be in much trouble, I expect." He finishes his tea. "I'm ready when you are." [22:48] "Let's go!" 5the doctor exclaims. [22:48] 13Xia Lan will go change to something she's more willing to get dirty before tagging along - a simple jacket, a plain shirt exposing the midriff, and some long pants that are still easy to move around in. She's still got her armor on under all this, after all - just in case. No sense in limiting her movements. [22:51] 5Xu Sim changes nothing. Perhaps he'll ask Xia Lan to help him with a new outfit sometime soon. [22:51] 13She does make her own costumes for the stage, in addition to knowing where to shop. [22:56] 14Sensing his opening, Stranger lays it on: "We haven't become Emissaries thanks to the logic of the Wyld, like Balor did; we haven't signed up because we like to be bothered in the street, or because we enjoy having targets on our backs. We took this office because it was necessary, and more importantly, we took it because this was a place we wanted to build something. A bridge over [22:56] a river. A thin boat that runs with the current, not against it. You might hate what this city is; I freely admit that sometimes, I do to. But I need you to know we're not here to build a dam from it. We're here to let this flow." [22:57] 5The dog is coming this time. No more being left behind - though Xu Sim makes sure to set out a saucer of excellent cream for the clockwork cat. 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> The river burbles. "As you say." [23:00] 14Stranger nods. "So where do we go from here? Do I have to bother the Yellow and the Yanaze?" 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> There are entrances to the Undercity all over Nexus; the nearest is where Stranger and Xu Sim met Vladok what feels like eons ago, at City Sluice 17. The paths below are lit green by bioluminescent mushrooms. [23:01] 5Those are new, right? 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> They are. 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> The Grey: "Yanaze will not lie idle." [23:03] 14Stranger: "Then I should go speak to them?" [23:03] 5Xu Sim plucks one and deposits it in the folds of his robe for later. 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> The Grey: "No need. I will." 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "She would take your intervention poorly." [23:04] 14Stranger bows his head. "Thank you." [23:04] 14Stranger: "Fair enough." [23:05] 14He straightens. "But there is still a bet. It's just for all of us, now." 15[23:05] <@VoxPVoxD> There's one facet of the Governor's plan that's more apparent down in the Undercity than was in the brief: the cats. The tunnels of the Undercity run with cats, cats chasing rats, cats eating rats, cats napping and grooming and prowling with eyes that shine in the dark. [23:08] "Cats?" 5Xu Sim notes this with puzzlement. 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> "A plague control. Keeps the rat population in check," Selin observes. [23:08] 13Xia Lan: "Besides, who doesn't like cats?" [23:09] "...other than the rats, of course." [23:10] "I suppose," 5Xu Sim notes. [23:10] 14Stranger: "And here's my wager: I believe that we will win." 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan can feel eyes on her neck. They're being shadowed as they venture deeper. The City Sluices have direct routes to the heart of the Undercity, affably nicknamed Brighttown because of the many sources of artificial light - torches, lanterns, lamps, ancient glowing pictograms of old Hollow, and now glowing mushrooms. Here is where the delegates from Thorns have made their headquarters, and here is where they see the dead doing dull work - sweeping, mending, standing guard, carrying crates of mushrooms. [23:12] "I hope they haven't inconvenienced you, Selin," 5notes Xu Sim. 15[23:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The Grey: "I suppose it's only fair. They threatened me once before. I have our collective reputation to protect. What will people think if it gets out that you can cross the same river twice?" [23:14] 13Xia Lan: "More than just the cats are watching us down here," 13she mutters to Xu Sim. [23:14] 14Stranger's mouth quirks upward at one corner. "They'll think you care for them, old man river." 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> The Grey's parting word is a scoff. The face dissolves. 15[23:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Four monks spring back from the water, gasping for breath. [23:15] 14Stranger chuckles, and steadies the nearest monk if he needs it. [23:15] 14He's smiling the whole way out. 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo, no longer wheezing or cloaked, keeps pace with Stranger once they're out of the temple. "Ah! What fun!" [23:16] 14To Bubo: "I've known him my entire life, you know. But neither he nor I knew it." 15[23:17] <@VoxPVoxD> "Did he meet your expectations?" [23:18] 5Xu Sim nods at Xia Lan's statement. That's in keeping with Mhaka's message. [23:18] "Yes. Blustery, hurt, and hoping for something better. I was firm for the office in there, and for the moment. But I think I understand a little bit of his miscomprehension, and how that can turn to pain." 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> "Xu Sim!" Seven emerges from some kind of yurt made of garbage, sleeves rolled up, hands and forearms limned with white fire. She's about to go in for a hug when she sees the others and then remembers she's on fire, holding her arms up apologetically. "What brings you down here? The Governor's just stepped out." [23:19] "He, and the Yellow, and the Yanaze, never asked for any of this. Nexus is a confusing, bullshit town." 15[23:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo: "Truer even than many believe, as you've come to discover in your time here." [23:19] 14Stranger grimaces. "And it will take more than one staunch defense to change that." [23:20] 13Xia Lan nods politely, letting Xu Sim speak here, still looking out for watching eyes. Stages she can handle; stalkers are more difficult. [23:21] "We're getting a tour from Old Selin here," 5he says with a gesture and a broad smile. "We thought we'd take a look at the water filters." 5The Twice-Refined Princess sniffs at a distance and yaps a few times. [23:21] 14He pauses and stops. "I want to thank you, Bubo, before the rest of this begins. You didn't have to stay, and you didn't have to do what you've done while staying." [23:21] "If it goes wrong, take Kratz and get out." 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Bubo just nods, seeming lost in thought. [23:22] "What are you working on? If you're in the middle of something, please, don't let us disturb you-" 15[23:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Xia Lan can see the barest movement in the shadows between lanterns behind Seven. A big, hat-shaped movement. [23:24] 14Stranger reaches into his robe and touches the Codex. Xia Lan and Xu Sim feel buzzes at the base of their necks. "This is Stranger. I've secured the blessings of the rivers." [23:24] "Might I join you?" [23:26] 5Xu Sim: "Stranger - we're in the Undercity, at the Thorns headquarters. Come on down, I guess." [23:26] 14Stranger: "On my way." 14Xu Sim's gone a-courting, a-courting. [23:28] 14After releasing Bubo to dinner with his woman, it takes Stranger precisely one detour down an alley into a rickety, almost forgotten chain-lift in the corner of old construction to descend into the Undercity. He reaches them within the quarter-hour, to find. [23:28] 5Despite what he said, Xu Sim does peer beyond Seven to get a glimpse of what it was she was up to in that yurt. [23:29] 14Well, a room with a ceiling, at least. [23:29] 13She watches the Hunter in Darkness more closely than is perhaps friendly. The artifact from Keldar's tomb has become almost second-nature to her at this point - watch someone, feel the beat they play to, learn. [23:37] 14Stranger finds them on...the outskirts?...of the underground complex of the dead. "Xia Lan! Xu Sim!" [23:37] 14He's somewhat pleased with himself, given things. [23:42] "Stranger..." 5Xu Sim trails off, tilting his head slightly as he looks at what the Sevenfold Scion is up to. "That's..." 5He's a little glassy-eyed for an instant, before shaking it off. "I'm looking forward to seeing it in action," 5he says to her, before addressing Stranger. "Glad you could join us. We were in the neighborhood to look after the water filters." [23:44] 14Stranger glances around, seeing nothing amiss. "Ah. Well, that's excellent." 14To Selin: "We should talk later. In private. About the rivers." [23:44] 13Xia Lan: "Hello! Welcome." 13If she can manage it, she'll inform him about their tails quietly, but if she can't, there's no point in causing a scene. [23:45] "It went well?" 13she asks. 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin nods. "Nice to see you in good spirits." [23:45] 14Stranger blinks, then smiles and leans in to give her a chaste hug, purely so they can whisper in each other's ears. Quietly: "We have the rivers." [23:48] 13Xia Lan, hugging back: "Excellent! Less excellent: spies on us. Nothing you don't want heard." 13Hopefully that was fast enough to not appear strange. [23:49] 14It works. Stranger pulls away. [23:53] "I, ah, also wanted to thank you again for your help before with the thistledown. That vial of spirits was impressive." 5he adds. 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "Ah, well, I'm afraid the filters are shot. They're coral, or they used to be. The coral died ages ago. Poisoned to death, I fear. You won't find any like it in this Direction nowadays." 15[23:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh, you're too kind." [23:54] "Oh, what a disappointment." 5Xu Sim takes her statement at face value. Session Time: Wed Jun 27 00:00:00 2018 [00:00] "Also - poisoned? Do you mean, deliberately?" 15[00:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Long-term replacements will be difficult to secure, but we can work out something temporary given the new capacity problems." [00:00] 14Stranger bows politely to the Scion. "Greetings. I'm not we've met outside of a formal setting. I am Stranger-Visits-Heaven." [00:00] 14They have, of course, but Xia Lan did mention spies. [00:00] *not sure 15[00:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "Not deliberately, just... this is dirty water." She looks briefly bewildered at Stranger but either gets it or decides to play along. "A pleasure, Emissary. I am the Scion of the Sevenfold." [00:01] 14He straightens, still smiling. "But of course." [00:03] 13Xia Lan: "How quickly can something be done about it?" 13She's pretty far out of her element, asking about projects on this scale, but it's a major concern - or will be, at least. [00:05] "I want to take a look at it, up close. There's a few different approaches we could take, but we probably don't have enough time for real sorcery. But I might be able to work faster than sorcery." 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "The nearest filter will be just this way. Do you need--" 15[00:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "We can find it, but if you'd like to take a look we could use your expertise. And I'm sure you've earned a break." [00:11] 13Xia Lan certainly wouldn't object. 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "Well... alright. What's the worst that could happen?" 15[00:12] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: The Rat King Hates You 14[01:36] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[01:43] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:51] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[06:52] * Quits: trenchfoot (*.net *.split) 14[07:32] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[08:23] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:17] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[09:48] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:28] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[18:51] * Joins: Crion 14[19:35] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:01] * Joins: Crion| [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 _______=C_________________O [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 ) ==_]]]]]]========= [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12/________/(___) [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12May, who is very sorry for briefly contemplating and even more briefly beginning to execute a plan to sorcerously constrict your collective powers of speech, has set off to meet and generally reassure the Trinity that rules Great Forks. Otherwise, the Circle is left to its own devices - the nosy or diplomatically minded can try to come along or even crash that gathering, or tend to [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12the shrine, or tend to the kruthik, or do whatever else may strike them as important. [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12There's word of a newcomer in the Sunshrine district - an outspoken woman who's some sort of itinerant monk or priest and has been looking for an audience with whoever's in charge. [20:26] 4Is that us now? 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi is packing for a trip. He guesses it will take about five days to reach the Hedgehog and return as the wind flies. 08[20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12That's what everyone says. It's generally assumed that Blossom is actually in charge while Ir and Eikichi are her priests or concubines or something and Ying is a popular local celebrity. Those who know more about your histories extending back or past Nexus, and/or who've read Eikichi's novels, know a little better. [20:28] 4Either way, Ir will begin to think about the recon work that'll go into scouting the inverted city and take stock of the kruthik army and Jormungand. [20:28] 7Well, we'd better go and see what she wants. Oh! That's probably the Righteous Devil sifu Siaka was talking about. Excellent. 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10How do Choto and Shirokan prepare? Are they bringing anything with them? [20:31] 13Popular local celebrity's a good place to be! Anyway, other than maybe sending some messages back to her shop, Ying's got everything she needs on the ship; she can tag along with whoever needs a hand the most. [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Yes, though not much - food, changes of clothes, some scrolls or personal keepsakes. Shirokan's a little taller and a little older than Choto, and more badly scarred; the latter occasionally has to desperately nudge the former in the side to stop him mouthing off or actually getting into fistfights. 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Is he talkative? How boring is this trip gonna be? [20:36] <@Ferrinus> Whoever it is actually tracks down "Tinder" Tam Torochi finds themselves faced with a short, fat woman with southeastern features and dark pair pulled back into a ponytail. She's got on a coat long enough that its bottom fringe is torn and tattered from frequent contact with the ground, a pair of heavy red jade gauntlets, and a huge, heavy backpack. She's looking for a good, clean, [20:36] <@Ferrinus> well-maintained forge. [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12That should be blue! 08[20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Shirokan isn't very talkative at first, but seems inclined to ask what might strike some as stupid questions when enough time passes that he gets bored. For instance, can't Eikichi use magic to summon better food? What about hot demons? Choto looks embarrassed on his friend's behalf but is variously able/willing to actually shut him up. 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi will just answer all of these questions straightforwardly. Keep em coming. "Yes, I can. And yes, I can. I'm not going to, though." [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Shirokan: "Why nooot, though?" 15[20:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Conjuring a feast would be a waste of time. The demons are for your own sake." [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Shirokan: "What's that supposed to mean? Demon's no match for me - and Choto's got his magic, eh?" 12He nudges his friend preemptively. [20:43] 7A good, clean, well-maintained forge? Hahahaha. Blossom can show her one of those. She helped build one for the Sunshriners and uses it on occasion. [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Is Ir going about planning/logistic efforts here in Great Forks (actually sensible, since the subterranean city is some kind of mirror of this one) or checking on the hive? 15[20:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "A demon would break you down for parts." [20:45] 4If we haven't had the chance to swing by the hive and just like, make sure it's still there and there are no emergencies brewing, Ir will do that, but if that could have been handled already she might as well begin the planning for real. [20:46] 13Ying'll tag along with Blossom, having no desire to see the kruthik and having no real ability to assist in logistic efforts. Meeting a new friend sounds way better, anyway! [20:46] 7That's fine. Everyone likes Sunlit-Dreaming Ying! [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "Can ANYONE tell me where there's a - aha!" 12She recognizes and hurries over to the Zenith caste immediately. It's not hard for Blossom to tell that Tam's one of the Dragon-Blooded, and a fairly strong one - her fingernails are sharp and stony and small nodules of grit and crystal dot her skin where others might have freckles. "Blossom, you're Blossom! And this is..." 12She [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12turns to Ying. "I forget, they didn't mention you." [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12What Ir finds in the hive is a state of medium alert, with kruthik warrior strains ringing and patrolling around a number of structures which seem to be bruised and bleeding. As she watches, drones ferry streams of stone and earth across the terrain to plug up what look like sinkholes and cave-ins. [20:52] 13Ying: "Sunlit-Dreaming Ying, at your service!" 13She does a little bow. "It's okay, I don't think the books have gotten to me yet." [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "You weren't in Crystal, then? You joined up later? What books?" [20:53] 4Is there any further expansion that should be done that needs to be authorized by her, or does the base seem more or less like it's expanded to its natural limit? 08[20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Shirokan, of course, stridently disagrees, and it's up to Eikichi whether to nod laconically along or attempt to puncture the youth's ego. The trip passes largely uneventfully, otherwise, and before long the Hedgehog - and the shining sculpture in its center - is coming into view over the horizon. 15[20:55] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi wishes there was some way to transmit a rendering of this view back home without taking the time to sit and draw it. What do Choto and Shiro make of it? [20:56] 13Ying: "Oh, no, I joined up after -- anyways!" 13She looks over to Blossom, then back to Tam. "You were looking for a furge, right?" [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12A kruthik hive can always expand, but the current base across the limit has reached the local area's approximate carrying capacity. That is to say that the creep has fully engulfed a local woodland and reached tendrils into a series of nearby streams, but that now all that remains in all directions is windswept moors low in useful organic and mineral content. Taking more ground would [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12be slow and not immediately helpful, and, besides, there's defense to be seen to. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12The demon(?) Jormungand, currently nesting in the center of the colony as a massive hive structure, releases something like whalesong as Ir draws close. It resonates with the spear-maiden's weapon and indicates by some wordless means that attacks from below had intensified dramatically over the last few days, then stopped, as though the enemy had been exhausted or thrown into some [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12kind of disarray. It's been quiet for the past day or two. [20:59] 7Blossom nods. "Excessively Righteous Blossom. Welcome to Great Forks. I'm sure we can find you a forge that will suit your needs." [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "Great, that'd be great! This one-" 12She pats her backpack. "-'s seen better days and I've been on the road a good while. But you have to tell me about Crystal! [21:01] 4Interesting. That respite probably won't last long. They should think about getting on top of this. [21:01] 4What are the standing forces like? [21:03] 7Blossom: "Sure, what about it?" [21:03] 13Ying: "I heard it's really purretty..." [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's pretty sure that the sudden drop in intensity happened simultaneous to the Circle's entanglement in, and escape from, that temporal nonsense with the insane pattern spider and recombinant ghosts and whatever else. She's not sure what that would imply assuming it's not sheer coincidence, however. [21:04] 13She looks to Blossom, eager to hear of the exploits she definitely doesn't already know about. [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12At the moment, the hive queens are going heavy into roaches, the heavily-armored acid-spitting demon bugs which comfortably outsize bears. The creatures are excellent tunnelers, and it seems that the enemy's ability to carve its way through the earth beneath one's feet is proving very annoying to deal with. The selection of other breeds seems a bit random - Ir might want to perform [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12or order some scouting in order to develop a good model of what kind of ordinance her side will want. [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "Well, Crystal - it was its own little Usurpation, wasn't it? The high brought low! The People in charge! How'd you do it?" [21:10] 4Ir will take a detachment of Kruthik and perform some light scouting and experimental prodding of the enemy lines; since she's not particularly good at the whole stealth thing, there's therefore no reason not to go there in force. 08[21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Both teens, to Eikichi's credit, are taken aback as the crystal spires and step-pyramids of the Hedgehog come into view through the mist. He blazes blue and gold as, from the perspective of those on the ground, he himself crests the horizon of visibility, and though his eyes briefly become lens flares it's his other senses that gather the mainstay of available information. 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The air is still so clean and sharp -- when Eikichi breathes in, it feels like he draws in air from malms around. When he breathes out, the world shines to his senses and he shines back. The people of the Hedgehog can see the great ibis arcing toward them from the south. 08[21:13] 7Blossom remembers how Eikichi recorded their adventures in Crystal in his books and will relate the story the way he wrote it. She adds: "I think good fortune as much as anything. We were just in time to exorcise a gargantuan necrobeast before it could start rampaging, and then we had to hold the people together to keep half of them from freezing to death." [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12For instance, passing by on his left is the lonely mountain peak atop which one of Garuda's feathers is said to have fallen, leaving a continuous vortex of grey-green wind in its wake. Instead of a single old woman there seems to be an entire congregation there, smelling of the northern and eastern winds and whispering prayers to the great dragon as though to a goddess. [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Religious services carry on within the Hedgehog itself, centered on the appropriate shrines and pointed in all the right directions as per instructions handed down by the Solars many months ago. There's not a word out of place, and - sniff - they've gotten their hands on some pretty fancy varieties of incense somehow, none that are easily found or grown around these parts. [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Deep from within the fens, the buzzing and croaking of wyld mutants and stray faeries is still audible - as are the plaintive cries of the great red birds that the sky raksha once flew. Of actual nobles, though, there is no sign - and wartime jargon and battle cries would seem to indicate that these things are being kept in their corners by dint of martial action. Certainly most of [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12the blood spilled doesn't smell human. 08[21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12To the west, towards the shore, are the sounds and smells of fishing and boating. The port town once held by Cathak has been taken by the Hedgehog natives, and while Eikichi can hear the whisper of Low Realm from that direction there's no sign - yet - of concerted imperial presence. 15[21:21] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What was that port town's name? Eikichi can't recall. [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12You and me both, buddy. [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, it was Dorsal Point, apparently. [21:22] 13Ying nods as though she's heard this before, though she does ask questions about how various parts of the city looked - she might've read the books, and some parts of her remember what was up, but -- anyway, it's all to sell her inexperience to Tam 08[21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12There are more languages in the air than Eikichi would've expected, though. While it was a rough dialect of the skytongue that prevailed in the Hedgehog, there's now a lot more variety - proper far-north Skytongue, Riverspeak, Forest-tongue... people have been coming to settle. The incense for instance is far eastern. 08[21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Finally, from the deep, slow thrum of geomantic essence, pitched below the normal range of human-audible sound, Eikichi judges that the Sword Pylon the Hedgehog is built over is approximately one-third recharged, and might be at acceptable if not maximum operating capacity in another year's time. 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10And what of Xalvierre's hermitage? [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam listens, nodding. "But after that. Crystal was held by Haslanti nobility, wasn't it? They can't have been willing to just quit." [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir, supported by a force of roach tunnelers, forges into the depths. The kruthik work at a frenzied pace to clear a blocked-up tunnel for her and she's able to lead the formation on twisting paths down into the shadowed outskirts of the underground city proper. Does she bring a queen to direct or intend to simply command (or fight) personally should it come to that? 14[21:30] * Joins: mattbaby [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12It's still there, floating far above the Hedgehog proper. There's a very sketchy rail of floating rocks kind of descending from it in a lazy spiral towards the ground, which seem to have been connectd by a series of gangplanks and rope bridges by some kind soul. 08[21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12It'll be a little tricky maneuvering the Stormwind Rider up those, Eikichi imagines. Up top he can still see the edge of Xalvierre's pagoda'd temple; no doubt the old fae is still sitting up there being wise. [21:33] 4Ir's running this group herself; she figures she needs the experience, and the queens are best not risked. 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Probably we should feign the respect of walking or prosecuting whatever floating-rock jumping puzzle it takes to get up there. Whatever Eikichi thinks of Xalvierre, these two are going to have to form their own impressions. [21:39] 13Ying: "We can be purrsuasive when we have to be..." 13Her brows are furrowed, though. How did they do that? Tatsuya was a bit busy being disguised (how unusual.) [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12As I recall, you didn't quite depose Nara but put some kind of heavy checks on her power floating out of a newly-established workers' council or similar? Tam seems unclear on the particulars, and very keen on finding out. [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Flowing out of* 08[21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, it's time for Eikichi and the two apprentices he's transferring to grunt and say 'hup!' periodically- 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Blossom's not around to carry him. Luckily, he's been working out. "14hup! hup! hup! hup! hup!" [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto moves quickly and powerfully, phanton hints of his stand materializing around him as he heaves or pulls himself from rock to rock. Just behind, Shirokan grunts loudly and sweats profusely, refusing to fall behind despite becoming increasingly exhausted. [21:49] 7Blossom shrugs. "They didn't, really. It was clear the average Crystallan wasn't going to just go home - many of them didn't have homes anymore! - and the nobility didn't have the martial strength to put them down, so we brokered a compromise." [21:50] 13Ying nods sagely. "The pawer of the people." [21:51] "Nobody likes being in a revolution, or being revolted against. People more or less want one day to be just like the next. Give them what they want, and they'll usually take it." [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam frowns slightly. "A compr-" 12She pauses and turns to Ying as it seems to finally dawn on her that she's hearing what she's hearing. "Oh my god that's GREAT." [21:52] 13Ying: "What is?" 13Her tail swishes, then recognition dawns. "Oh, gosh, am I doing it again? Ir told me--" [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "No no no keep at it I love it! It just snuck up on me." 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Not bad. [21:55] "The blessing of Nyaroshi at work!" [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam waves a hand vaguely. "Anyway, anyway - I see now. You didn't keep the revolution going." 12Her tone's cooled a little here. [21:56] 13Ying: "I should go thank her again, maybe see if she's still wearing the dress..." [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir forges into the depths. How's she see - just raw light of anima? [21:57] 7Blossom: "Right. The people wanted justice, and we helped make sure they got it." 7She smiles warmly. "I'm so proud of their courage! We had to sing hymns all through the night just to keep them from freezing to death." [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "Is it really justice if the same people are still in charge, though? What I hear from my friends up north is that they've had to take some strict measures to keep the mines going..." [21:59] 4Just the light of the anima will do for now. Presumably the Kruthik can see with or without it [21:59] 4. [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Yeah, they're good on night vision. Anyway, Ir's march into the depths is uneventful for about thirty minutes when one of her kruthik seems to break some unseen tripwire or put pressure on the wrong patch of land or something. Then a moderate amount of hell breaks loose. [22:02] 13Ying: "What kind of meowsures?" [22:02] "Measures." 13This is serious talk time, she's got to be more clear. [22:03] 7Blossom: "What do the workers' councils say?" [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12A tiny crack in the tunnel floor suddenly yawns wide and then tears off aross the stone, drawing a long, snaking canyone through the tunnel that creates a crazy spiral all around Ir and her kruthik contingent. As the tunnel walls part, creatures come crawling through - they seem to be human skeletons sheathed in dark grey skin drawn taut against the bone, holding crude spears, clubs, [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12and swords. [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "That the threats from west and east require - even justify - the forced work shifts, the grain collection... even the purges! See, that's the problem with a usurpation in one city-state." [22:10] 7Blossom frowns, looking concerned. "Hmm." 08[22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's the first atop Xalvierre's lonely, floating island, and before him is a familiar sight. The elderly raksha sits cross-legged upon a wide, flat stone, his temple/dojo standing behind him. As always, a strange distortion seems to sheathe the entire island - there's still an impression of a closed fist visible imprinted on the very air itself, extending from which is a [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12rough cone that seemingly protected the mountaintop from the Spheres' corrosive power. [22:12] 13Ying's tail is flicking back and forth nervously. "...how long has this been happening?" [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Xalvierre looks... stretched, a bit. Longer, thinner, paler, his ears and fangs more prominent than before. Still, he speaks with the same voice. "Ah, you've returned." 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Those same spheres swing to and fro around the sorcerer as he lands on the island. Any sign of anyone else on the island? "I've brought some men who want to seek tutelage from a master of the Crane style." [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "Months... I'm told. Haven't been there myself. It's a shame - we really admired what you did! Especially given your problem." 08[22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12The temple seems deserted, although the blazing-with-power Eikichi does have keen senses... [22:18] 7Blossom: "What problem?" [22:18] 13We should see if we can't get news from Crystal through another source. 6Tatsuya might know someone. 13Still: "Problem?" [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "Well..." 12she smiles, warmly but slightly embarrassed. "You're anathema. Others might've ruled as god-kings or something. But you, you tried to do the right thing!" [22:24] 13Oh, man, they are really not going to be happy with our future plans, huh. 08[22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi drinks the scene in. Specifically, he drinks the air in, listens for echoes. First, he's sure that he's alone here - except for Xalvierre and the two mortals, obviously. At the very least, other visitors must be as scentless as carved stone, as silent and bereft of breath and heartbeat as the dead. There are signs of past visitors, however - several distinct mortals, a hint 08[22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12of sea salt that reminds Eikichi of the water-aspected young man who is presumably still Xalvierre's pupil. [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Er, and the one mortal and one Getimian. 08[22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, most offensive and easiest to discern, event though it's clearly months old, is the acrid chemical stink of the black oil that pours constantly from Octavian's body. Though this place has been cleaned powerfully and thoroughly, there's still a faint hint of the stuff ground deep into the earth that Eikichi can't help but recognize. Following it, Eikichi can follow the traces [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12of a fight by the fractures and depressions still visible in the ground of the rock garden. [22:27] 4Ah. Well, that's no good. [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12He judges that Octavian held his own for a while before getting slammed into the ground, dragged about ten yards that away, slammed into the ground over there - man, he got rinsed. 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10What a shame. 08[22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Besides that, there's hints of another... a human, Eikichi's pretty sure, but perfumed with strange scents that don't come from this world. That, in fact, can't come from this world. They surely originate from the impossibilities of the deep Wyld, the kinds of things you can only encounter - and only briefly - when reality's just plum forgot what it was doing. [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12That scent was here at the same time Octavian was, and is long gone now. There's a strange connection between it and Xalvierre - the latter vaguely resembles the former, but less and less the more you think on it. [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12By now, Choto and Shirokan have climbed into view, and Xalvierre has gazed upon them appraisingly. "Do they?" 12he asks. "And why?" [22:33] 7Hrrh. "Well, here's the forge! Mind if I ask what your plans are?" 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Because it interests them. Because here they can choose their own fates. But mainly because here I can keep Stenzo off their backs." [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam looks upon the central (presumably, unless Blossom's not aiming to impress) forge of the district. "Ah! Lovely! Thank you. I'll need it for a few hours." 12By way of explanation, she unslings the huge satchel on her back and carefully unwraps what turns out to be a heavy firewand carved from red jade and bound with orichalcum. Dragon carvings around its barrel end with, as is [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12a popular motif, a dragon's fanged maw opening wide at the wand's business end. [22:41] 7Blossom: "Nice." [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Heat radiates from it. The heavy satchel that'd been wrapped around it is very hot, even slightly charred in places, and wisps of smoke rise from where Tam's red jade gauntlets grip the wand. Most obviously and distressingly, the weapon's damaged - a long, thin crack runs from the left corner of the dragon's mouth up to some sort of orichalcum-outlined plate of what might be red jade [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12at the weapon's center of mass. [22:42] 13Ying: "Wowwwww." [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "Right? Except it's got no sense of proportion. Probably explode outright if I wasn't there to keep a lid on it." [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Xalvierre blinks once. [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12He seems to recognize the name, though his expression's unreadable. "Are you sure, then, that you've not come to precisely the wrong place?" [22:46] 13Ying: "I can see how that might be a purroblem." 13She keeps looking at the firewand. "Useful, though! I mean, sometimes." 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "No, but--" 10He purses his lips. Respect. "What Do You Mean By That." [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "It'll be easier than it looks. I've got most of the materials I need - what will I owe you if I want the main forge for, oh, five hours?" [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12As Choto and Shirokan glance at each other awkwardly, Xalvierre quirks a brow and leans back slightly in his posture. "Who is Stenzo, to you?" [22:49] 7Blossom: "I'll cover it if you let me watch you work." [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "Deal!" [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12The earth-aspect gets to work, huffing and puffing as she blows the forge to greater incandescence before placing the firewand atop an anvil and proceeding through what's mostly an exercise in blacksmithing but has elements of a religious rite. There's some heating and hammering and cooling, but also the burning of herbs and incense, the ritualistic lighting and snuffing of candles, [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12and one really cool bit wherein Tam fishes a lump of corundum out of her pocket, squeezes it really hard between her hands, and then drops it into the dragon's open mouth as though it were a snack. 14[22:56] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12By the end of it all, even Tam's sweating, but she watches with some satisfaction as a white heat travels up from the strange plate of gold-edged metal at the heart of the gun and then up the length of the crack, sealing the metal closed behind it until it's as though it was never there. [22:56] 13Ying watches in between darting off here and again to fetch snacks from wherever she can grab them. This isn't anything she can follow beyond 'wow, cool fire' and she's not exactly picking up techniques, but hey, the fire is indeed cool. [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom realizes that the centerpiece of this weapon, right there atop its central chunk, isn't some kind of strangely-worked red and black jade... it's the scale of a fire dragon! A big and old one, if the striations and shading are any indication. [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "Wew!" 12She wipes her brow before picking up the wand, which seems much hotter now it's been fixed. 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I've never met him." [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Xalvierre: "Sometimes the story of a man has greater weight than the man." [23:04] 7Blossom: "It runs off a fire dragon scale?" [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Shirokan: "Dude, this guy's wise as shit-" 12Choto: "Shh!" [23:07] 13Ying: "Huh?" 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Be! Respectful! B! E! Respectful! "How very true. Let me be less circumspect. Choto here is an enemy of Heaven, and he needs to get a grip on his powers and figure out where he wants to stand on his own fate. Shirokan has, up to now, tied his fate to Choto's, so I've brought them here together. I saw Stenzo in a dream and I thought he looked like you so I decided to ask. Now I come and I find he's been here recently. Handled Octavian for you?" [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "That's what they tell me. Dug up from under Chiaroscuro is the story. Probably too strong for the rest of the wand to handle." [23:12] 7Blossom: "Hmm. That's something worth thinking about... do you think behemoth bones would have the same problem?" [23:14] 13Ying: "Heyyyy..." 13They do need to solve that problem, it's true... [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam's gone back outside by now. It seems that the weapon is just always blisteringly hot, because it scorches a little rosette on the pavement for the moment that Tam rests its butt on the ground to lean down and pick up some of the wrappings she was using. She then proceeds through an elaborate and ritualistic process of swaddling the weapon back up - got to be some mild magic [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12going on there, as otherwise it'd burn through the sackcloth. "You mean in a wand? It'd depend on the behemoth, I think." 08[23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Xalvierre gives Eikichi a long, even look, runnin a hand slowly through his beard as he does so. 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It takes all of Eikichi's concentration not to mime doing the same thing with an imaginary beard. [23:18] 13Ying: "How long can you use it befur it cracks? It'd purrobably be worth looking into if it's a regular offender." 08[23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Xalvierre. "Well. If it is the well-being of these youths that concerns you, you are right to ask... and right to wonder." 12There's a pause, and it's just long enough that Eikichi's prepared to conclude that the raksha is stopping there and blowing him off, but then the pseudosifu continues. "He is not here. He was here... a time ago, time enough that you are quite keen to have [23:19] <@Ferrinus> gleaned it." [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Xalvierre: "But he is done with this place. He is done with me." [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Xalvierre: "He called the demon here, sparred, then sent it hence. I abide." 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "Why did he fight the demon?" [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Xalvierre: "Why, indeed? Perhaps to ground himself. To awaken fully from a long and difficult dream." [23:21] "Well..." 7Blossom isn't sure how to approach this delicately, so she does it bluntly. "Can I ask a favor from you, now? I need a sifu for Righteous Devil style." 15[23:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "So you don't know. You can just say you don't know! It actually makes you look wiser." [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Xalvierre strokes his beard. [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam, who'd been picking under a fingernail with a sliver of stone: "I thought you'd never ask! You know, when Siaka mentioned there might be someone I'd like to meet - but what's your interest?" 08[23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Xalvierre finally nods, perhaps to Eikichi and perhaps to himself. "I will train these two, for as long as they care to learn. To adopt the ways of the crane is a noble thing." 08[23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's struck first by a resemblance, then by a lack of same. Specifically, while he remembers only Stenzo's figure (much bulkier than that of the wispy Xalvierre's), beard, and voice, he's really given to think that the faerie before him is clearly modeled after, perhaps even a parody of, the Sidereal exalt he's encountered only in story and time-displaced mystery play. The [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12raksha's bright yellow eyes surely hint at Stenzo's own. [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12However, Xalvierre looks different now than he did then - less human, more wispy and elfin. If he's telling the truth that Stenzo's quit the place, it must also point to some waning connection between the two. [23:31] 7Blossom: "When the Unconquered Sun spoke my name and gave me his power, he said 'bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, that the strong should not harm the weak'. His eye fell on me when I fought a corrupt tax collector for stealing from the downtrodden, and he gave me the fire that the Dragons wouldn't." 7A small wisp of flame dances between her fingers. "I want to [23:31] build a pair of flame pieces that will drink from my fires and have their own longing for justice, but if I do that I need to know how to use them properly." 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It should keep you sharp, if that's of interest to you." [23:35] 13Ying watches Tam carefully - she's seemed all right thus far, but hearing what the Sun told Blossom might push her to do something rash... and she's got her weapon back. [23:36] 7If Tam tries to use that weapon against her, well... that's just a different way Blossom will learn Righteous Devil style. [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam's smiling faintly as Blossom begins, and grinning plainly by the time she's finished her explanation. "Yes. Yes, exactly! Mostly. Yes, you're definitely suited. To bring justice - to protect the strong from the weak - we can do this, it'll be fun!" 12She pauses for a moment. "There is something you can help me with, though." [23:41] 13Ying: "Hmm?" [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Xalvierre: "I'd like nothing better. These two will be safe here. Their names?" 15[23:43] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi motions for them to introduce themselves. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Oops, sorry, she actually did say "the weak from the strong" there [23:43] 7Blossom: "What's that?" 08[23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "Choto Chodari." 12Shirokan: "I'm Shirokan, old man." 12Xalvierre rises from his perch, then stepping down off his rock to trace a wide arc around Eikichi and then approach the two. [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12He eyes them a long moment, stroking his beard. "Your desires?" [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Choto: "We're - it's like he said. It's to learn." 12Shirokan: "Yeah, learn to fight." [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Xalvierre: "I cannot teach you that." [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Shirokan: "What-" [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Xalvierre: "But here, you may learn why others fight - and what might make them stop." [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Shirokan: "Dude, I'm here to learn to f-" 12Choto: "Shiro for gods' sakes-" [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a little more back and forth, but before long Xalvierre has essayed a deep bow to the two teenagers, who, with varying amounts of enthusiasm, have returned the gesture. 15[23:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi suppresses a giggle as he claps their backs. "Town's just down there if you need anything or want some company, and there's a road northwest to the port. You're in good hands, you two." 08[23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Sometime later, the two have been fitted with white training gis and left to, to their chagrin, sit cross-legged on rocks and try to center themselves. If Eikichi wants any final words with the raksha, or to perform any last minute analysis of the psychoanalytic or sorcerous varieties, he's got the chance now. [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Back in Great Forks, Tam asks Blossom: "You, your Circle - you were behind all that gladiator stuff, right? With the tyrant lizards?" 15[23:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10If Stenzo's moved on, then so will Eikichi. Does Xalvierre have any parting words for him? [23:50] 13Ying: "'All' of it is, um, maybe a generous ameownt of credit," 13she stammers. 08[23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12He does, in fact. Standing resolutely at the edge of his little island, arms tucked behind his back, Xalvierre speaks up with unusual directness as Eikichi prepares to embark. "Is Stenzo your enemy?" 15[23:51] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It's with unusual vagueness that Eikichi replies, "I don't know." 15[23:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "I don't think he'll like me very much. But you don't have to be friends not to be enemies." [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Xalvierre: "In such a matter, it's best to be sure. And in the interest of preventing further bloodshed, I can tell you this." [23:54] 7Blossom: "I mean, the Guild and the various arena backers actually arranged and ran the fights. Ir was the one who actually fought the tyrant lizards." [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Xalvierre: "Aged as he is, Stenzo is forever a student. Though he was my sifu at first, I soon became his, after a fashion - for there was something he could learn only by walking backwards in my footsteps." [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Xalvierre: "To win his favor, find him something interesting. Something he hasn't seen before and wonders if he can master." [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "Right. But it's less the fights that I'm interested in than the marketing. The posters, the pamphlets, the banners - that takes infrastructure, right? Like... print shops, presses?" 15[23:57] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "...I appreciate your candor." [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Xalvierre nods and falls silent, continuing to stroke his beard and stare mysteriously into the distance. [23:59] 7Blossom: "Oh, that. Sure, some of it was just standard fight marketing they do everywhere, but we had our hand in it too. What d'you need?" 15[23:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That's Eikichi's cue to go. He's going to spend the night in town and then head back in the morning. Session Time: Thu Jun 28 00:00:00 2018 [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "Printing. Access to those workshops - enough to make lots and lots of papers of my own." [00:01] 7Blossom: "Hmm. Most of that stuff is in Nexus, but we can send word along." [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "That'd be great! I have contacts there - we can work it out. And there's no reason we couldn't start on the basics, heck, today or tomorrow." [00:04] 13Ying: "Out of curiosity... what kinda things you printing?" [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "Educational literature." [00:06] 13Ying: "That's great! Education is impurrtant." [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam nods in agreement. Blossom's Training begins... next week. 08[00:08] 7Blossom isn't particularly interested in what Tam is going to print, though a very quiet part of her is saying 'years from now, we're going to have to kill this woman'. But maybe she's wrong! Eikichi and Ying would want her to see the best in people. 14[00:42] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[00:54] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:02] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[04:25] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Quit: ) 14[06:18] * Joins: mattbaby 14[06:24] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[06:39] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[07:28] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:39] * Joins: mattbaby 14[08:07] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[08:23] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[08:25] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[08:28] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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But she turns around to carry it inside, leaving the front door open and letting the sunrise in behind her. Addressed to The Sho Family in tidy violet calligraphy. There's no return address, no mark of Imperial postage... one of the neighbors? Whatever, she can puzzle it out over breakfast, when she gets back. She goes out to run, leaving it on an end table at the bottom of the stairs. 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> A quarter-hour later, another figure descends the stairs, a middle-aged man in a red bedrobe. He walks right by the package without noticing it to put on the fire for morning tea. Stops, checks the bags under his eyes in his reflection in the metal kettle, and sighs with the propulsive force of someone untying a corset they didn't quite fit into in the first place. He sees the package's reflection when he sets the kettle on the fire. 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> It's still on the table, unopened, when Akane returns to see it where she left it, now accompanied by "Papa! You're... you're up early." 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "So are you," says Papa Sho, sitting on the bench in the foyer people sit on to pull off their rainboots, saucer and teacup, contemplating the unmoved package. 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "What is this?" 15[21:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "I don't know. It was on the doorstep when I went out. Someone left it overnight." 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "On the doorstep." 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Yeah." 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "With no postage or anything." 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Yeah." 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa sighs. "Who's it from?" 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Iunno." 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "Akane!" 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "I said I don't know!" 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> After a pause she adds, hopefully, "Maybe it's good news. From work or something." 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "I doubt it. Did you stop at the bakery for sweet rolls?" 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "No, I was just running." 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "Running where?" 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "I was just running. Nowhere really. Out to the orchard and back. The cherry trees are opening up." 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa Sho shakes his head. "Unfathomable." 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "What? What did I do?" 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa Sho: "Nothing, that I know of. Get washed up, I'll make breakfast and open this." 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane runs upstairs and her father transfers the package from the front room to the dining room delicately, with his teacup balanced on top, before he puts on more tea and loosens up the honey. 15[21:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Once the bread, butter, honey, and dates are on the table, Papa Sho takes a thin knife from the block and cuts the package open, cutting carefully around the address to preserve it for... handwriting analysis? Really, Hisu. Get a grip. 15[21:33] <@VoxPVoxD> The next person to skip the missing stair on the way down for breakfast isn't Akane, but the youngest of Hisu's daughters. She stands quietly in the doorway, watching her father lift a wrapped package, two boxes, a book, and a wax-bound scroll from the package. No wonder it was so heavy. 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa Sho almost drops the knife when he notices Saya standing there, wide-eyed and expressionless. Instead he sticks it back in the block a little too forcefully and pulls out a chair for her. "What's this?" she asks after sitting, her voice barely audible over the angst of the kettle. "Work stuff?" 15[21:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "No... clothes and something else." 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Saya shrugs, and just starts eating bread and honey while staring, transfixed, at the polished wooden boxes, one substantially larger than the other. 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Abruptly, Saya shouts, "That one's got my name on it!" 15[21:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "Will you keep your voice down?" 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Saya puffs her cheeks with remorse, but doesn't apologize. 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane returns, her hair up in a towel, dragging a bepajamaed girl behind her. Misuzu keeps bumping into things; her glasses are still in her pocket. 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "This was all in the package?" 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "What's all this?" 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Saya: "Presents for us." 15[21:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu wrenches her hand free of Akane and puts her glasses on immediately. "Let me see." 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane doesn't object, as she's already found the package with her name on it, soft and wrapped in paper. 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa Sho: "Eat before you-" *rip* *tear* 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane holds up... fuzzy pink cuffs? "I don't get it." She roots around a bit more and realizes the rest are clothes - a thin jacket, light pants, more and differently-shaped fuzzy cuffs. 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa Sho: "Put those away. You can look at them after breakfast. Put- you're going to get honey on them." 15[21:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Reluctantly Akane sets the clothes aside to eat. 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> While the girls eat breakfast, Hisu breaks the seal on the letter (a square superimposed on a circle? bit abstract) and reads, "'Hello from Great Forks', exclamation mark." 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "It's Kichi!" 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Eikichi!" 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Saya: "Eikichi got us presents!" 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> A little louder, over the children: "'I write to you in good health and good spirits from the deck of the good ship Heavensward, drifting just outside city limits. I've been neglecting my letters, but I won't be anymore. There is so much to tell you, that it would take enough writing to fill a book to explain it all. Enclosed is a book, written by me, detailing the first several months of distractions that prevented me from writing home. Blossom has carefully selected and hand-made gifts for you all. The two of us look forward to making the trip back to the Isle to meet you all soon. We have much to discuss and I miss you all dearly. With love, Eikichi Sho and Excessively Righteous Blossom'." 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> He shuffles the papers. There's only one paragraph of writing, but three full pages to the letter. The rest is doodles of people and a large, loving sketch of a ship among the clouds. 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa looks down at the book. "He couldn't have included a precis?" 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Can we look at the stuff now?" 15[22:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "No. Eat." 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> He turns the book over. "The Saga of the Squared Circle, Volume 1. This is professionally bound. Is he an author now?" 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "Maybe one of our friends has already read it. I'll leave the book with your mother, and go around asking." 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "You shouldn't." 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "Your mother's always saying I spend too much time cooped up. Would you like to come? You can visit Tarangen's daughters." 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "I don't think they'd like that. But you can't go." 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "And why is that?" 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "That book is banned." 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa snorts. "Banned? It can't be that bad." 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane gives Misuzu a warning look. Misuzu ignores it. "It's banned because it's Anathema propaganda, written by an Anathema." 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa blinks. "I'm sorry?" 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "So... uh... promise not to freak out." 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "Eikichi is Anathema and a sorcerer. Blossom is his boss or his wife, the book's kind of vague. We already have a copy. He sent us a sorcerous message a few months ago." 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Zuzu!!" 15[22:09] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "He wasn't going to promise." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> Hisu is pinching the bridge of his nose so firmly he's almost digging into his eyesockets. 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> No one interrupts his battle with his own urge to shout. When he wins, what he settles on saying is, "You brought a banned book into this house?" 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you have any idea the kind of trouble-" 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "It's fine! We didn't tell anyone, or talk about it with anyone but each other." 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "That is a SIGNIFICANT part of the problem." 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Saya's been inspecting the box with her name on it, which causes Hisu to snap, "Do NOT touch that." 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Saya's hands recoil like the box was red-hot. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "I'm going to pack all of this back up and bring it back upstairs. We'll deal with it when your mother wakes up." 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> He does just that, leaving the three of them in the dining room. 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "You toad-rat." 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "He was always going to find out and he was always going to get mad. Why waste time?" 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "It's not wasting time, it's delaying! So it happens later!" 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "Why is later better?" 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Because it's not now!" 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> A loud SSSSH rushes down from upstairs. The girls continue in whispers. 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "And what do you care? It's not like he's going to turn you in to the Immaculates because you read a book. Nobody is going to get up in front of a Magistrate and formally accuse you of reading a book." 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "You little-" 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "That's not what I meant!" 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Piece of-" 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "Mostly not what I meant-" 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Saya: "Papa forgot his rock." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> It's true, he did. There's a pink crystal where he was sitting. It must've fallen from the package as he scooped it up. 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Saya: "Let's bring it up to them. Then we're helping." 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane looks at the rock. "...shit." 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Saya: "Who's coming with me?" 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "They're up there together." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Saya: "Who's coming with me." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Let's just all go." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Who's going to clean up?" 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "Not it." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Saya: "Not it." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Not i-- oh come on." 15[22:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane cleans up, and then the three of them walk up to the third floor, single file. 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Yurika and Hisu have the top floor of the house all to themselves now that Eikichi's gone. His bedroom, with its view of the sea a thin line in the distance, has been Hisu's office ever since he went on furlough. The children find him there, pacing back and forth, occasionally stopping to look at the unraveled package on the drafting desk. 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Saya doesn't say anything. She just holds out the crystal. 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa takes it and gestures at the package. Saya nods. He turns it over in his hands a bit. 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> With the three of them up there, he can't dither any longer, so he takes up the package in his arms and walks across the hall to knock. 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Silence. 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> He knocks again. 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> The voice is small through the door. "Just a minute." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Then: "Come in." 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> The door opens on a stuffy, smoky bedroom, piled high with books on every wall, between the armoires and the mirrors. Mama Sho is awake, fresh-faced in her bedrobe beneath the covers. When she sees the rest of them, she says, "What's wrong?" 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> The four of them sit around the bed and they explain. 14[23:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:15] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:24] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) Session Time: Fri Jun 29 00:00:00 2018 14[00:17] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:21] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[01:46] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Connection closed) 14[02:25] * Joins: dammitwho 14[09:02] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:59] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[10:20] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:07] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:11] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:26] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[12:26] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[14:48] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[17:14] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:01] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:09] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:47] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:53] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:27] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[23:27] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[23:27] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[23:28] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[23:28] * Joins: Zarick_ 14[23:29] * Quits: trenchfoot (*.net *.split) 14[23:29] * Quits: Zarick (*.net *.split) Session Time: Sat Jun 30 00:00:00 2018 14[00:33] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:36] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:04] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[03:30] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. 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Mama Sho is awake, fresh-faced in her bedrobe beneath the covers. When she sees the rest of them, she says, "What's wrong?" 15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD> The four of them sit around the bed and they explain. 15[20:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "There was a package on the doorstep this morning, no return address. From Eikichi. He sent a letter, money, gifts for the family. He's a writer now! According to his writing and the Immaculate banned books listing... he's also an Anathema." 15[20:09] <@VoxPVoxD> A long silence hangs in the room. Mama sinks back against her pillows, until she says in a voice frailed by shock, "A writer?" 15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu leans back slightly. "It's... it's not bad, actually." 15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD> "Not exactly good, but it's an adventure story." 15[20:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Mama: "My poor boy..." 15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD> "Is he well? Is he in trouble?" 15[20:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa Sho: "He... seems in good spirits. Among friends. Making money, clearly." 15[20:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Mama Sho: "My poor, soft boy..." 15[20:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "...okay what." 15[20:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Mama! Did you not-- he's Anathema." 15[20:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Mama waves her hand. "A ruse, obviously, to sell books. How many Threshold bumpkins could even tell the difference between a sorcerer and a true Anathema. You all knew he was a sorcerer already. Or did you think your mother deaf as well as an invalid?" 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "He said he intends to visit. He's going to bring his..." 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "14boss-wife" 15[20:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "...his paramour." 15[20:19] <@VoxPVoxD> He checks the letter to make sure he gets it right. "'Excessively Righteous Blossom'." 15[20:20] <@VoxPVoxD> Mama: "...here?" 15[20:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "He's coming home?" 15[20:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "When?" 15[20:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "Oh, we'll have to have the place cleaned top to bottom. Hisu you'll need to make room in there for a proper bed, the guest room would need to be refurbished entirely--" 15[20:22] <@VoxPVoxD> "We must prepare orders from the butcher, the patissier, the chocolatier, the other chocolatier..." 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "We don't know when. He intends to send further word." 15[20:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Mama sits up, waving her hand out for the letter, which she reads. "Good health... good ship Heavensward... enclosed is a book... there's this 'Blossom'... much to discuss... with love!" All that's visible of her face behind the paper are her plunging eyebrows. "Signed as a couple. My, my." 15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> She looks through the other pages and holds up one of the ones covered with drawings. "There are more than two people here." 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane squints. "Those are all characters from the book, I think." 15[20:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "The big one is named Bergsveinn. That's Eikichi and Blossom in the middle. Ir and Tatsuya behind them. Then there's... I don't recognize the one with the whiskers." 15[20:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Mama flips the page back. "Those are whiskers?" 15[20:32] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "I think?" 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Mama: "Which would make those..." 15[20:33] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "Cat ears, yes, Mama." 15[20:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Mama: "They look like foreigners." 15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa's gotten up to prepare tea. The girls have all gathered closer to their mother to look at the letter with her, Saya with her nose scrunched up. 15[20:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "They are foreigners. They're all from the Threshold." 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "Except Blossom. Blossom is a Dynast." 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Mama: "...is that so?" 15[20:38] <@VoxPVoxD> "Which House?" 15[20:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "He never says. I think it's Mnemon. She's so pious!" 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Cathak for sure. She never loses a fight." 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "What about when Octavian--" 15[20:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "THAT WAS A DRAW" 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "Plus she's a Fire Aspect. Cathak all the way." 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Mama: "A pious Dynast and an Anathema? My but this sounds tacky." 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "One of those salacious romances..." 15[20:40] <@VoxPVoxD> "Are you sure this is age-appropriate?" 15[20:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "It's revoltingly age-appropriate. They don't even kiss until the end of the book!" 15[20:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Saya: "I thought it was sweet..." 15[20:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "I thought they'd keep dragging it out." 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa returns with tea as Mama says, "Let me see this book. What gifts did Kichi's consort make for you?" 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane, accusingly, "Papa didn't let us see." 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "It's barely breakfast-time. This isn't Calibration, pet." 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Yurika holds the book in one hand while she delicately reaches for her teacup with the other. "Your father's right. Calibration comes every year, this is much more important. Go on, let me see." 15[20:59] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane unpacks her gift. "It's an outfit. Kind of- oh there's a note. 'Blossom says these are exercise clothes. If they don't fit, they'll make stylish cutoffs! I know how it looks but try the sweatbands. Blossom swears by them and they're kind of cute!'" 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Ohhhhhhhhhh that's what they are. That makes sense. Ugh I should've opened this before I went running." 15[21:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "What were you doing running at dawn, anyway?" 15[21:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Nobody's awake! It's the only time I can go out and get some peace and quiet." 15[21:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Mama: "Zuzu, what did you get?" 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Zuzu opens her box to reveal... a smaller box? "Some kind of cube. The card says 'Blossom wouldn't tell me what this is. She says you'll understand.'" 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Mama: "It's a note, not a card. Cards are for if there's an occasion." 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Kichi's a Fool on all occasions." 15[21:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Mama: "Akane!" 15[21:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu is absorbed in the cube, which rattles but doesn't quite click under her touch. "She's right." 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "I guess Blossom wears clothes like this too...? Hey, do you think she makes Eikichi work out with her?" 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> There's a pregnant pause before everyone starts laughing. 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> Honestly. The very idea. 15[21:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Mama: "Saya, what did you--" 15[21:19] <@VoxPVoxD> Saya: "Monsters!" She spills a box of handmade figurines onto the bed. "There's a greasel and a siaka and ooooh a manticore. I'm going to put these with the century eggs. And the glass eyes!" She scoops all of them up and piles them into the box and then reverently carries the box down to her room. 15[21:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "You forgot the lamia," Papa Sho says to a retreating and impervious Saya. 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "I got something too, look." He holds up the pink crystal. "A single contiguous crystal of rose quartz. Do you have any idea how rare this is? The specific heat and pressure it takes elementals to form rose quartz, and then the tremendous delicacy of the surrounding terrain for decades or centuries afterward... this is a museum specimen! This young woman has a remarkable eye." 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Mama: "It's a rock, darling." 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "It is a remarkable rock." 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Mama Sho reaches the bottom of the package. "There's just the money left." 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "And the book! And the letter." 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Mama: "...that's true." 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "Can I bring you some breakfast? There's bread and dates." 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> "I could make you some of the tea that was in the package." 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Mama: "There was tea?" 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "Yes, it's downstairs." 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Mama: "Was it for me?" 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "I... don't know. I didn't look closely." 15[21:38] <@VoxPVoxD> Mama: "You idiot. There must have been a note in the box." 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "I'll go check now. I'll make a fresh kettle." 15[21:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Mama: "Don't bother. Bring the note. And the wine." 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Papa: "Rika..." 15[21:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Mama: "Stupid to think. A girl from one of the Great Houses would never dream of-- go! You're agitating my headaches." 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> With a long look around the room, her husband departs. She opens the book immediately. 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Hisu finds his daughters gathered in Misuzu's room on the second floor. "What do you think they actually look like?" 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "Maybe they all look like this. Maybe their heads are as big as the whole rest of their bodies." 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Hisu thinks about listening, but keeps walking. 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Can't fit their heads through doors." 15[21:54] <@VoxPVoxD> A snicker. 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "I want to go to one of Ir's concerts. Do you think she'll ever play here?" 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "She's Anathema!" 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "Mama doesn't think so." 15[21:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Mama hasn't read the book yet. What do you think?" 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "...I'm worried about Kichi coming back." 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Because he's Anathema." 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu looks up at her sister. 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane can only hold her gaze a moment. 15[22:01] <@VoxPVoxD> "...me too." 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "It'll be fine though. He can go in pairs now." 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "Do you think he told her?" 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "There's nothing to tell. Mama and Kichi don't get along. The book's all about how smart she is, she'll pick up on it right away." 15[22:10] <@VoxPVoxD> "Besides, why would he come back if it was going to be bad?" 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "You read the stories too. The Immaculate stories. Anathema go home all the time. For vengeance. Remember the one about the demon prince who rode home with an army to kill his father, the honorable satrap." 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Oh, please. Kichi would never." 15[22:12] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "Yeah... but both of them? Pairing off. You said so yourself." 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "I was making a joke! That's just kid stuff. We probably shouldn't do it anymore either." 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "You're reading too much into it. When do you think we'll get the next book? I hope it's soon." 15[22:14] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Do you think the cat girl will be in it?" 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "I hope so. I'm really curious about her outfit." 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "And more music. I liked when you practiced the songs from the back of the book. 'Bread and roses, bread and roses'..." 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "Shut up! You swore never to mention that again." 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Oh, I won't. Not to anyone..." 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "..." 15[22:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "...besides Eikichi pfffahahaha" 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "YOU--" 15[22:17] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu swats at her bigger, stronger sister with their illicit copy of the book their mother reads upstairs. 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Take it easy! He's going to think it's so sweet. We'll all have to sing songs together. I bet Mama will even come down for that." 15[22:18] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "Ugh. Blossom will think that's lame." 15[22:19] <@VoxPVoxD> "She's going to think this place is such a dump. And that we're all boring peasants." 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> "She's a Dynast. You've seen them in the city. They basically party nonstop." 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "You're overthinking it. She likes Kichi. She's gonna like us fine." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Maybe I should get my hair done up in Fangs like her. I'll look like a princess." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu: "Or a poser." 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Shut UP." 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu's face is stony. "Don't tell him." 15[22:27] <@VoxPVoxD> Akane: "Fiiiine. Ya big baby." 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "I'm gonna go check on Saya." 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Once Akane's gone, Misuzu feverishly works at her puzzle cube. It's a lot more complicated than it looks... Blossom is really smart! That makes her dangerous. Almost... almost... aha! The cube opens. Inside there's a note. Misuzu reads it and her eyes flash. She actually says, out loud, "Ohohoho... she's good. Very good." 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Misuzu resolves to subject Blossom to the most devilish tests yet. 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> While Zuzu plots and Akane helps Saya arrange her new figurines beneath the giant painting of an infant in utero, upstairs Yurika's already a quarter of the way through her book and her bottle. Zuzu was right, this is a fine page-turner. And a very believable fraudulent account of being Anathema... 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> Demons of passion and vengeance... a brute's justice. 15[22:56] <@VoxPVoxD> What has he said about her? 15[22:57] <@VoxPVoxD> She banishes the thought with a turn of the page. Hopefully they outgrow the innuendo. Session Time: Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 2018 14[02:15] * Joins: Crion 14[10:10] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:47] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:07] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:11] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:29] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[13:51] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[13:57] * Joins: Crion 14[18:18] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:54] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:38] * Joins: Crion| 14[19:40] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:44] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:44] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:50] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[20:01] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (*.net *.split) 14[20:01] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[20:04] * Joins: Crion| 14[20:14] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:21] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. 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[20:15] 14Stranger: "Our senses of comedic timing." 15[20:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven looks puzzled. [20:16] 14Left hers at home, I suspect. [20:18] 14Stranger's just along for this ride, for the most part. This is a question for Selin and Xu Sim. [20:18] "Surely we can come back if there's something else we need?" [20:19] 13Xia Lan's also utterly out of depth here, regrettably. An extra set of hands, but probably not much more than that. [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's duty is clear. He needs to see about this falling tower business. Apparently there's been - children leave the room and old people sit somewhere stable - serious property damage. 15[20:24] <@VoxPVoxD> The five of them have quite a ways to wander, from the heart of Brighttown all the way to the shady alleys of Outer Dimtown. The walls here are thick with mushroom colonies, just sprouting, and the echoed mewls of the ratcatchers. "There should be one just here..." says Selin, arms folded, as he regards a sewer canal that ends in a large pile of sludge. [20:26] Xu Sim makes sure the Twice-Refined Princess stays close by as they wander through the tunnels. Impressive growth of these mushrooms! 15[20:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Here's what Keldar knows: the Hollow tower fell during Xu Sim's defensive self-immolation of the city. It landed evenly on the four buildings that side-by-side formed the Guild's symbolic and administrative center in the city, including both the Nexus Foreign Office and the Threshold Company. There were a lot of Lookshyans in the fire teams in the Nexus yesterday, but no one's made a report to Keldar and Lookshy hasn't given him a report of their own. [20:30] 13Xia Lan blanches and tries not to let the disgust show on her face as she looks towards the sludge. "Under that?" 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Eh..." [20:33] 05Xu Sim gives it the once-over. How bad could that sludge really be? [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, Keldar won't need a report if he just works this stuff out for himself. Early the following day he's at the site in full regalia, pacing around the wreck of the tower and the Guild buildings it fell upon and looking for suspicious cracks, blast points, acidic precipitates, whatever else. 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin squats down and gets close, but doesn't come near touching it. "What do you make of that?" he says to the others. 14[20:39] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:44] "Seven hundred years of pollution and filth built up, turned into something useful for the rest of us. Substrate for all these mushrooms." [20:45] <@Ferrinus> "Hmm," 12says Keldar to himself as he rubs some ash between two fingers. "Uhhhh huh," 12he comments later, lifting a slab of blasted rock off what used to be a Guild foyer to examine the scarring on its hidden side. "Ahhhh hah," 12he exclaims to several confused scribes who watch him lean out of an office window to squint and sort of waggle an arm vaguely at where an ancient tower [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12used to stand. 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "Mind if we scrape it off to take a look?" 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven: "Go ahead." 15[20:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "Any volunteers?" asks Selin drily before he steps forward himself. [20:47] <@Ferrinus> "Those fucks. Those shits. Who do they think - no, no, we'll see about this." 12Office workers are presumably confused as Keldar stomps on out to street level, calling his officers to him. "I need eye witnesses. Everyone present here yesterday during the storm. Lists of every Lookshyan known to be in the area during the accident." [20:47] "Let's take a closer look," 05suggests the sorcerer as he reaches into the substrate with a bare hand. 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "You're looking for Ballare and her personal guard, on top of about a third of Lookshy's Zeta company, a couple of Dawn Guard fire squads, and Xia Lan. Do you want us to round them up?" 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim steps past Selin and pokes around, literally, a moist crunching noise audible as he reaches into the mycelium. Appropriate temperature... viscosity's alright... probably a touch too alkaline but you'd expect that of skeletonized coral... something slimy wraps around Xu Sim's wrist and holds it tight! [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Wait on the Lookshyans a bit. Want to talk to the fire squads first." 12As Tsuka sends the word out, Keldar turns away and touches two fingers to his ear (even though his page of the Codex is folded up somewhere inside his shirt). His voice carries by magic to, presumably, the undercity. "Xia Lan. Got a minute?" [20:52] 14Stranger's walking stick flips up into his hand. [20:52] "This fungus is incredible, Seven! It's grabbing me back!" [20:54] 14Stranger patches Keldar through to Xia Lan. 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> What does Xu Sim do about the tail? Does he pull away, does he hold firm, does he lean in, does he try to pry his hand free? [20:56] 13She jumps back from the thing and fumbles for her weapons, but if Xu Sim doesn't seem to be in grave danger at that moment, she'll take the call. "Keldar? Uh, this might need to wait, there's -- that's disgusting, ugh." [20:57] 05Xu Sim pulls gently but firmly back on whatever it is. Very impressive stuff! [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Need to know if you saw the tower go down yesterday, or were just around. Lemme know once you're free." [21:02] 13Xia Lan: "I was underground when it actually fell - Xu Sim, what is that?" 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Seven takes a step forward but doesn't interfere. "Fascinating..." 15[21:03] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin: "I'm going to brace up behind you in case you get sucked in. Don't be alarmed." [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Were you around before or after? Tsuka mentioned you as a possible witness. Need some idea of who else was nearby." [21:08] 13Xia Lan shifts her stance slightly to keep her swords at the ready. "Both - I was near where it went down getting people to the Undercity safely, underground when it fell, and Xu Sim and I walked past it on our way to the apartment." [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Remember which Dragon-Bloods or, uh, gods or insanely powerful sorcerers might've been there offhand?" 14[21:12] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [21:15] 13Xia Lan: "I don't think I saw any. I was with the Lookshyans before it fell, and underground when it actually fell - no idea about how it happened." [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Got a recollection of which Lookshyans?" [21:18] 13Xia Lan: "Vuol Ballare's group - they were running a fire brigade, I jumped in, then I left to lead people to the Undercity." [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Uh huh. Thought so. Well, you remember anything more damning than that you gimme a call." 14[21:22] * Joins: Crion| [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar makes ready, then, to interview the Dawn Guard's own mortal (and supernatural, if we can swing it) fire brigades. He'll probably make his way down to their barracks, though anyone not present who was present on the scene is getting summoned over. 15[21:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar's in a meeting with the fire brigades, including Xia Lan, Tsuka, and even the commander of the Ninth Orchard Company himself, Khelendros. He was captaining the fire brigades in the next neighborhood over. [21:27] 13Xia Lan makes sure to sit (or stand, whichever) near Tsuka, if at all possible. It's been a few days since they've been able to see eachother! Or, you know, talk without having to route through Stranger. 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger, as he walks home from a meeting with Sion, is accosted by a bird in the street! He's caught the attention of a swan. That's always dangerous. [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's already got a hunch as to who's behind this, but he needs to hear as much of the story as possible so that his accusation is credible. Everyone he talks to gets basically the same opening: "I'm looking into the collapse of the old Hollow tower. You were there around the time - need to know what and who you saw." [21:28] 14Hmmm. 14[21:30] * Joins: mattbaby [21:32] "Wait, you mean they aren't supposed to do this?" [21:34] 14Before all that, Stranger will finish up his business in the sewers. [21:41] 14Which requires him to do some fancy footwork, since the sludge is now moving. 14[21:41] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:49] 14Stranger snaps his walking stick against the stonework of the sewer floor and the tip splinters into jagged, sharp wood. Even through its violence, the motion is...elegant, somehow. It's out of place in this sewer. 15[21:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Xu Sim strains against the force and manages to pull away, revealing something like an eel-sized earthworm wrapped around his wrist, or the tail of a giant rat. A moment later, when the titanic humanoid rat with a coral-studded face lunges out of the sludge and onto Xu Sim, it's clear which. As if beckoned hundreds of rats flood the floors of the sewer as Selin and Seven adopt martial arts stances. 15[22:00] <@VoxPVoxD> Reports come in. It was hard to get the taller buildings in the Nexus protected from the falling thistledown, so the Lookshyans focused their efforts there. Ballare led her personal guard from above, flying on stormdrifts between the buildings to freeze, stifle, suffocate, and blow out fires. Then they spread out to assist in evacuation. Everyone describes leading helpful Lookshyan soldiers away from the Nexus to attend to another problem area. [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar pulls down some paper, draws enough orthogonal lines to make a grid suitable for a shift chart for a dozen-odd soldiers, and then painstakingly assembles a retroactive schedule for every company named by his Guardsmen. Which Lookshyan units can be placed at or near the tower right before, during, or right after the collapse according to these reports? 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> None, they're all pulled away by one thing or another, even Ballare's personal guard. Though, as it happens, not Ballare herself. She apparently went to rendezvous with the rest of her command. [22:04] 13Xia Lan assists with the timeline as best she can in between small talk with Tsuka. How's he been? ...assuming he can actually have a conversation while still on the job. [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Now Keldar pulls out, copies, and then draws on a rough map. If she was here... and then left to rendezvous with these guys here... does that line cross the tower? 15[22:06] <@VoxPVoxD> No. Her alibi is airtight, if you take the Lookshyans at their word. [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar frowns to himself and taps his stylus against his desk for a bit. Still, no one in the Guard actually has visual confirmation on Ballare at the time of the explosion, yeah? Anyone else who's merely thought/said to be somewhere, rather than confirmed to be somewhere by some firefighter or watchman's word, at the critical moment? 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar's reports say no, though obviously it's possible they missed someone here or there in the chaos. [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Or that someone's wrong or lying. Keldar will need to do some kind of quiet internal audit in the case of the former... but it's time, too, to talk to the Lookshyans. Zeta Company, Ballare's squad, Ballare herself. [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12He puts out the call under these pretenses: there are rumors of some kind of foul play at the time that the petal rain was incinerated, implying but not outright stating that the concern is looting of the Guild offices and surrounding buildings during the chaos. The Dawn Guard is looking for witnesses. [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12While those messages are sent out, Keldar will also want to talk to the highest-ranking Guildsman still standing and involved in this nonsense. They might have an idea as to motive. [22:20] 05Xu Sim goes flying, slams into the wall, and rises unsteadily to his feet. He shoos off his dog. 15[22:23] <@VoxPVoxD> Selin and Xu Sim are back-to-back in the sewer. "Good! Good. Now, you cover my openings and I'll cover yours." [22:26] "Sifu," 05exclaims Xu Sim with a flourish as he adopts the style stance. 15[22:36] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka's been busy, but he's glad to make time. "How have you been?" [22:39] 13Xia Lan: "I've been rushing around trying to prepare for - next week, getting it all in order..." 13She shakes her head, tiredly. "All kinds of running around, and I've still got that show to put on." [22:39] "And I'll be learning Crane style, hopefully well enough to use it for the big day..." 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar is able to secure a meeting with Syndic of Tithes, who is incredibly agitated. His eyes are sunken; must be sleeping poorly. "What do you know about what happened?" [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Can't prove anything, but I'm pretty sure that tower was blown down on purpose. Tell me this - who'd want to do it that's also strong enough to do it that quick?" [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar thinks, then adds: "And what'd you lose? Anything unusual? Anything get looted after the crash down?" 15[22:44] <@VoxPVoxD> Syndic: "Your friends could do it. So could Khelendros probably. Sorcerers could. The Lookshyans. We can't put people on this because your people still have our shit." [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, but the - wait, seriously?" 12He gave that daiklave and armor back, of course. "What's missing?" 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Syndic: "The jade gloves and the bodysuit." 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Yeah, I haven't really had a break either. Can you take a night off?" [22:48] 14As that madness goes down with the royal rat authority, Stranger dances up the silty sewer canal, whistling a merry tune and slinging his walking stick back behind him as he twirls; the stick bops a rat on the head here, then a rat on the head there, and both the alluring song and the incensing blows of the splintered walking stick drive the rat vanguard to break fully after him. [22:49] 13Xia Lan: "Of course!" 13She'll just have to rearrange a practice session, but there are worse things to do. "When and where?" [22:50] Xu Sim and Selin together try to rally back against the enormous rat-mutant; the sorcerer resists his blows as best as he can, then strikes back - turned aside on the mutant's filthy hide and parried by whipping tail. 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Somewhere quiet. The high gardens at the east end of the Parko maybe?" [22:50] 05Xu Sim and Selin together try to rally back against the enormous rat-mutant; the sorcerer resists his blows as best as he can, then strikes back - turned aside on the mutant's filthy hide and parried by whipping tail. [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Noted. Anyway, I know who could do it. Question is, who would? Has Lookshy got something against you?" 12He pauses and considers the question. "Something out of the ordinary?" [22:51] 14The rats chase him, but Stranger leads. [22:54] 13Xia Lan: "After dinner?" 13Or do you want to eat together, is unspoken. Not sure when he's released from duty, specifically. 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> As Stranger leads the small rats away, Seven finishes her spell, holding up a green vial that throws sickly radiance on her face. Motes of light rise from the dead rats on the ground and from within the vial, coalescing into a large rippling orb with a human face pressed against it trying to escape. It glides toward the faceless rat slowly, picking up momentum until it strikes him and detonates with an ugly flare and a shower of green-white sparks. 15[23:01] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "We could bring food to the park. Like a picnic or something." A pause. "I don't know, is that dumb?" 15[23:02] <@VoxPVoxD> Syndic: "I don't think so. Nothing I can think of." [23:04] 13Xia Lan kisses him to keep from laughing. Best boyfriend. "No, that's an amazing idea. Gosh, I haven't had a picnic in ages, it'll be nice to just relax..." [23:05] 05More of the phials, eh, Seven? Xu Sim wonders what's inside. [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks down at his notes. "Let me see - they crushed Threshold Company, the foreign office... take me through 'em? What was each working on, or storing?" 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Syndic: "I don't have all that information for you, I can pull it from the other factors. Threshold Company was just collating all the contracts with the city and the free companies." [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm just trying to figure out motive. If some Lookshyan war hero'd racked up a gambling debt, or if you were keeping an artifact they wanted in the coffers, that kinda thing." 12He leans forward a bit. "'cause if none of that's true, they're just fucking with me." 14[23:21] * Joins: Quaker 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka: "Yeah. ...Yeah. Should I find anything special?" 15[23:22] <@VoxPVoxD> Syndic: "I've never met a Lookshyan who gambled with money." [23:23] 13Xia Lan: "Anything you bring'll be special." 13She beams, covering up the fact that that's the cheesiest thing anyone has ever said. 15[23:24] <@VoxPVoxD> It works. Tsuka can't make eye contact. [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "All right. You learn something different, you let me know. Meantime, I need a bill." 12He waits a beat. "Like, an itemized assessment of losses and damages, plus the appropriate markup for inconvenience. Need to add it to the city's own judgments for breaking up to two Dogmas." [23:26] 13She smiles even wider, seeing that. "What about me? Any requests...?" [23:30] 14It's hard to keep an eye on what's going on down the sewer tunnel; Stranger hopes that the others have the Rat King under control. His dance with the vanguard continues, bopping and whistling and twirling as the swarm grows angrier and angrier. [23:33] 05Xu Sim concentrates for a moment. With a puff of smoke, there's suddenly, somehow, an even worse smell in the sewers as a pair of blood apes emerge from the corners of Xu Sim's dim anima. [23:34] "Protect us from them, and you can eat all the rats you can catch," 05he explains to the demons as they materialize. 15[23:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Tsuka shakes his head. [23:38] 13Xia Lan: "Only the spiciest southern cuisine, then!" 13she announces, cheerfully. 15[23:45] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: Ruby weapon 14[23:46] * Joins: Crion| [23:47] [23:47] [23:47] [23:47] [23:47] [23:47] 14[23:50] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:52] 14Later, back aboveground and on the streets of Floodwater, Stranger-Visits-Heaven looks at the flock of swans sitting outside the entrance to their now-fairly-public hideaway -- and the large, majestic swan calmly grooming herself in the center. Onlookers nervously circle about the edges of this impromptu field of feathers, some watching from doorways, others staring and turning their [23:52] 14heads as they continue down the street. [23:52] "Well," 14he says, "I'm not going to bend that far over to kiss you." [23:54] 14The swan in the center straightens, and suddenly the flock explodes into wings and motion, crossing and twirling around as they launch into the air and scatter, honking as they go. When they've alighted, standing where the great swan used to rest is the Ambassador of Night and Day. She's dressed for battle, not for ballrooms. https://i.imgur.com/BocMH9G.png [23:57] 14She strides forward to kiss him instead. The street goes silent except for a few nervous coughs. They are two of the most attractive people the citizens of Nexus have ever seen, after all, and one of them was just a swan. [23:58] 14After a moment, they separate. "We should go inside," 14she says airily. "I wouldn't like to cause a scene." 14[23:59] * Quits: cbass (The TLS connection was non-properly terminated.) 14[23:59] * Joins: cbass Session Time: Wed Jul 04 00:00:00 2018 [00:02] 14...Two hours later, they emerge together again, dressed for a night on the town, faces only slightly flushed. The Amaretto Countenance is one of the few fine dining and cocktail establishments still open this close to the end of the world, with most of the others having shut down as their staff relocated underground or been converted into rationing kitchens to feed the ever-growing [00:02] 14number of soldiers in the city. The Countenance, however, remained open for Councilor, Guild, and merchant use as one of a small number of neutral grounds for negotiation. Soldiers from every faction in the city took turns guarding its doors. [00:05] 14They get a table for themselves and whoever else from the Emissary (or the Dawnguard) wishes to attend. It might be something of a working dinner. [00:06] 13...it's been a long day for Xia Lan. If Stranger sent out a call, she'd answer. [00:07] 14The tea, however, is absolutely on point: Thousand Days Red Jasmine, some of the last leaves of its quality in the city's stock. The food is an array of premium raw fish, along with battered and fried vegetables ("tempura"). [00:08] 14The Ambassador is delighted to see Xia Lan, of course; the young singer gets the full "Darrrling!" 14from across the room as she enters. [00:10] 13She waves as she makes her way over towards the table -- almost as delighted to see the Ambassador as the reverse. "Hello, hello!" 13she says, on arrival. [00:11] "Been a bit, huh?" 13pouring herself a bit of tea. "And Stranger! Hi. Long day, huh." [00:12] 14The Ambassador will smoothly transition into whatever cultural greeting Xia Lan finds most appropriate; left to her own devices, she prefers a hug and a peck on either cheek. [00:13] "Too long," 14she says, with a slight grimace. "You must tell me all about what's happened since I've been gone. Stranger has been unforgivably vague." [00:13] 14He looks over at Xia Lan and shrugs as if to say, 'Wasn't my story to tell.' [00:16] 13She doesn't object to the greeting - certainly, she's been around enough to have encountered more... unique greetings. "There's... a lot going on." 13From her recollections... she actually hasn't seen the Ambassador since before Nogare's attack, for instance. [00:16] 13Xia Lan: "Do you want the full breakdown, or the much more pleasant personal story?" [00:17] 14The Ambassador leans forward: "Well. The personal story first, certainly." [00:20] 13She lightens considerably. "I've been seeing Tsuka. He's --" 13gallant, considerate, hot -- "adorable," 13she settles on. "It's been wonderful, having someone who - I don't think he even knew who I was before we started talking!" 13He might have, but didn't show it, which was really the key to the whole thing. [00:22] 14Stranger hides his smile well. The Ambassador doesn't hide hers at all, but then, she's smiling for different reasons. "The strong, silent type, isn't he? I remember him from the club. Uncommon in one of the Blooded with the Fire, I've found. Treasure that." [00:23] 14Her smile fades a bit. "I suppose I should tell you the news, before I have to explain it to..." 14She makes a dismissive gesture. [00:23] 14Stranger, helpfully: "The Dawn Sergeant." [00:23] "Him." [00:23] 13Xia Lan: "Strong yes, silent... only when he's embarassed, which is... ah." [00:24] 14The Ambassador: "So sad to hear about Pellicia. Doubly so about her replacement. I suppose it can't be helped." [00:25] 13She straightens in her seat. "Regardless of any of our feelings, Keldar is the most qualified for the position." 13When she says it like that, it's even believable. [00:25] "Indeed." [00:26] 14The Ambassador sighs again. "The Silver Pact will not officially help Nexus, proper. This was to be expected, given that it is a city, and the Pact has certain stances on mortal cities. But they're not willing to do much more than harry the Fair Folk army travelling in from the West, either, and are only putting up a true fight in our own lands." [00:27] 14A hint of the smile returns. "But that doesn't mean we won't be getting no help at all..." [00:27] 14TBC 14[00:28] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[02:08] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[02:49] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[11:10] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:15] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[13:48] * Joins: Crion| 14[13:58] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:42] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:46] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:26] * Joins: Crion| 14[19:32] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Thu Jul 05 00:00:01 2018 14[09:36] * Joins: Crion| 14[10:34] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:28] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:55] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:39] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:45] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:19] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:48] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:28] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:53] * Joins: Crion| 14[16:59] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:01] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:45] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:58] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:59] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 .,aadd"' `"bbaa,. [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,ad8888P' `Y8888ba, [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,a88888888 88888888a, [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 a88888888888 88888888888a [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 a8888888888888b, ,d8888888888888a [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 d8888888888888888b,_ _,d8888888888888888b [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 d88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888b [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 d8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888b [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 I888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888I [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888, [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 I8888888888888888PY8888888PY88888888888888888888888I [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 8888888888888888" "88888" "88888888888888888888888 [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 8::::::::::::::' `:::' `:::::::::::::::::::::8 [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 Ib:::::::::::" " `::::::' `:::::::::dI [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 `8888888888P Y88888888888P Y88888888' [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 Ib:::::::' `:::::::::' `:::::dI [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 Yb::::" ":::::" "::dP [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 Y88P Y8P `P [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 Y' " [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 `:::::::::::;8" [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 "888888888888888888888888888888888888" [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 `"8;::::::::::::::::::::::::::;8"' [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 `"Ya;::::::::::::::::::;aP"' [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 ``""YYbbaaaaddPP""'' 08[20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12The Hedgehog's actually quite nice this time of year. As Choto and Shirokan begin their first meditation exercises, the former clearly taking to them better than the latter, Eikichi's free to look around, bask in the adoration of the locals, investigate the Sword pylon and related geomancy, or just plain turn around and head back. 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's mostly content just to relax for the rest of the day, see how things are going, but he does need to gather as many people who'll listen from every corner of the valley, from every crystal spire, to relay important news. 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "--and then she threw the whole house--" [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Back in Great Forks, Blossom's training has begun. "Tinder" Tam has claimed a small, sunny lot between a few buildings, stomping and gesticulating a few times in order to straighten and push back the walls. "Know your way around a wand?" 12Ying's free to observe, although if she's got other business she isn't technically required. [20:35] 7Blossom: "I know how to load and care for one." [20:36] <@Ferrinus> Tam: "Lemme see?" [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "Lemme see?" [20:45] 13She watches for a few moments to ensure that Tam isn't just going to straight up attack Blossom, as unlikely as that seems, before wandering away. She can get a start on that payment Tam discussed, as well as check in on her shop, and then hopefully swing back to Great Forks without missing anything! ...she'll have to be pretty fast, though. 08[20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's not even at the Hedgehog for a day before he starts overhearing complete strangers tell other complete strangers his own story - with almost no mistakes, at that! He's pretty sure this is going to spread like wildfire across the northeast threshold, which is a terrible tragedy, as it will spoil a section of the book. [20:45] 7Presumably Tam has one available, so Blossom will go through the motions painstakingly beaten into her in primary school. She could field-strip a flame piece faster than any other kid in her class! 15[20:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The book's version will be slightly different, and neither will be the truth. [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12See, this is how you get schismatic sects. [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12In fact, Tam is somewhat surprised to realize Blossom hasn't got one of her own - she wanted to check, first and foremost, how well-maintained Blossom's firewand or flame piece actually was. Nevertheless, she offers a spare, a single-handed model suitable for keeping holstered at one's hip or spinning threateningly around an index finger. [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12As Blossom goes through the motions with speed and precision, Tam nods approvingly. "Good, good. When'd you last use one of these in a real fight?" [20:55] 7Blossom: "Never. I've been throwing fire barehanded." 08[20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12To the north of Blossom and Ying but significantly southeast of Eikichi - and, obviously, below all three - Ir leads a force of Kruthik tunnelers (and one of the hive's queens?) down to the borders of the inverse city. She means to scout the immediate defenses and determine what kind of force to use in the actual assault. [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12At this particular moment, a single long crack in the earth has erupted from beneath the roaches' feet to spiral all around the tunnel, yawnin wide to allow skeletal figures to crawl forth from the walls and ground and dimpling at the end to disgorge some sort of huge many-limbed creature that's shrouded in rippling smoke. [20:59] 4One of the hive's queens, yes. Unless one of the three wanted to make a specific argument for herself, Ir will choose Atropos. [20:59] 4And...here we are. 08[20:59] 13Fortunately, she'd talked to Eikichi beforehand about wanting to see her shop - and apparently, summoning agatas is either a lot easier than she'd heard, or Eikichi's just. Really, really, really good. (She's leaning towards the latter.) So... how's this thing look? She'd want to check before actually launching off towards Nexus. 14[21:01] * Joins: Crion| [21:07] 4Ir steps back to Atropos, armor and shield burning around her ever since they left the last forward base behind. No words need pass between her and the queen; a nod will suffice. This is a field test, and Ir wants to see how the queen runs her show. Ir will mainly be playing defense, she hopes. 14[21:07] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "Never! Huh. Then they worked you real hard. No danger of you throwing fire barehanded by accident, right? I've seen some really nasty accidents when fire aspects try to learn this stuff." [21:08] 7Blossom shakes her head. "No, none." [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "Nice. Say, can you just..." 12She raises a thumb and sticks out two fingers, miming a firewand, then glances over curiously. [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying, meanwhile, is at the docks, sizing up one of the beauteous wasps. This may be the first one she's ever seen... but it's not the first one she remembers. Octavian used to ride around on one easily twice the size of the creature facing the clothier right now. [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12This is a small one - it stands maybe four feet high at the shoulder, its prismatic carapace catching the sunlight and then sending it refracting into a halo of sparkling white and gold through the demon's wings. Its head swivels as Ying approaches, and its mouthparts move: "Ddsddsszzzzzzzying?" [21:13] 13Ah! Aha... ahhh... great company to keep. That guy. Man. "That's me!" 13she says, only slightly higher pitched than she meant to. "Hi! Do you have a name?" 13It probably doesn't speak the language, but there's no need to be rude. [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Agata: "zzzzzzzzIamtocarryYingtoNexusandback. I know thesszzze names and places." [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Agata: "ButareyouYing? MaybeanotherisszzzYing." 12Its eyes glint suspiciously. [21:16] 7Blossom nods and drops into a kata. "Twin priests proclaim the burning name of a god!" 7Her hands lash out, spitting small gouts of fire to splash against the far wall, leaving soot stains behind them. 15[21:17] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Oh, shit, Eikichi forgot to give the agata any identifying characteristics of Ying's. In his defense, he was very high. [21:17] 13Ying: "Nope! Sunlit-Dreaming Ying, at your service!" 13She twirls and curtsies. [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "Haha! Coool. But you have to use this." 12She presses the flame piece into Blossom's hands. "Much of the starting techniques involve feeling the wand's weight... and loading it, of course. I hope you're ready to buy some dust, I'm running a little low." [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Agata: "That is what one might say, who is not Ying, butwishesfreepasszzssage." [21:24] 13Ying: "Who would even pretend to be me? They can't!" 13She points a claw to her ears and flicks a tail out to the side, then places her paws on her hips. "Did Eikitty not tell you about me?" [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Once Blossom's taken hold of the weapon, Tam stomps a foot on the ground and causes a trail of rock to run along the ground of the lot and cause a few concentric rings to draw themselves into being on the far wall. "All right, give it a shot." 12She then grins at her pun. [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Agata: "I wasszz inszztructed by my sszzzummoner, who then fell asleep. Nowitisnothere." [21:26] 7Blossom takes up the flame piece, puts her arm out straight and slowly squeezes the trigger. There's a 'click' and the firesand ignites - a thin fan of flame leaps out and licks the center of the target. [21:27] 7Perfect! As always. [21:28] 13She sighs heavily. "He does that sometimes. Tall, incredibly purretty, blonde, wearing really nice clothing that I made for him?" [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Agata: "Green at the time. Blondewhenleaving." 12It tilts its wings back and forth idly. [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam puts a hand to her chin. "Hmm... solid stance... straight from the shoulder... proper use of sight..." 12Then she stomps, causing the black rosette scorched onto the opposite wall to fall to the ground as scraps of ash. "All wrong! That's not what we're doing here. Listen - if you want to get better at the kind of shooting that, I don't know, defends a southern Satrapy you're [21:32] <@Ferrinus> in the wrong place." [21:33] 4Ir senses the movement coming from the darkness rather than seeing it, and flashes in front of Atropos like a beam of light, striking three times on instinct, her third blow driving straight through into...something. [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "Here." 12She holds out a hand, and once Blossom hands the flame piece back over, she says: "Watch." 12Then Tam eyes the target slylyl as she holsters the weapon at her side and lets the cloak she wears fall closed over her body. [21:34] 7But... but her form was perfect!!! [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12She waits a beat, then a second beat. A warm wind blows through the empty lot and a few dust devils pass back and forth between Tam and the wall, but the scene's otherwise silent. Suddenly, a blur of motion - Tam's dramatically flared her cloak aside, using one hand to toss a line of deep red firedust in the air and her other to draw her weapon, spinning it through the dust as she [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12does, and finally stop in a sort of forward-lunging pose where she's got her weapon out and other hand folded over her elbow as she fires. [21:38] 13Ying, finally: "Okay. Let's chase some new yarn. What do you know about me that I could purrove I am who I say I am?" [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12The actual shot's pretty much as good as Blossom's - maybe the flame's a little better concentrated in the central ring, with less splashing - but Tam's got the presence of mind to spin the flame piece up to mouth level, blow a plume of smoke off its barrel, and then holster it stylishly. "Anyone can be practical. Righteous Devil is about sending a message. And not just to the [21:38] <@Ferrinus> target." 14[21:38] * Joins: mattbaby [21:38] "Holy shit that was cool." [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "The buildup... the draw... the optional quip. It shows everyone what happens to tyrants." [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12She hands the weapon back, and also passes along a pouch of firedust. "Now, you don't need to be able to manage that right away. But I want you to load your piece and take aim with the kind of steely, you know, intent, that'll have that wall sweating. Okay?" [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's fighting, basically, skeletons, but all the bones they're made of range from slate grey to charcoal black and they're kind of glued together with what might be extremely dry and extremely tightly-drawn skin. Most of the figures around her are basically humanoid, wielding crude spears, but a huge ripple through the dust-filled air looks much bigger and much less recognizable. [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12The Dawn Caste has the presence of mind and speed of arm to interpose herself before a blow that might've felled the queen Atropos, and as spear meets scythe the attacker is revealed. It's like someone took ten or fifteen humans' worth of bones and stitched them all together into a huge, lumbering monster that skitters around on three or four legs and flails great scythelike limbs [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12around. Fewer scythes now that Ir's chopped straight through one and into its body, though, causing it to leak a glowing green vapor. [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12The agata watches Ying evenly. "Ssszzsho sszzzaid Ying was pink. Many are pink. Sszzaid Ying was nice. I dzid not undersztand. Szzaid Ying was... but he became disszztracted and did not finish." 14[21:51] * Joins: Crion| [21:54] 13Ying: "Well... I'm pink, and I like to think I've been nice. Have I?" 13She seems genuinely concerned about that. [21:55] 4Fucking gross. [21:56] 4Atropos, thankfully, doesn't need to be told to continue her work, and that Ir's got this. She directs her swarm. [21:57] "The flames of justice... envelop the unrighteshitSHIT" 7She flips the flame piece around her finger, catches it awkwardly, and her shot goes wild. 14[21:57] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "Woah, haha! The spin's an advanced technique, you can try just a-" 12Of course, it's unlikely that Blossom listens. The morning passes thus. [22:01] 7Blossom takes a shuddering breath through her nose and imagines a small Ying patting her on the shoulder, reminding her that it's okay to have to try again. [22:01] 7It makes it... tolerable. [22:01] 13:3 [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12The agata tilts its head as it considers Ying's question. Then it tilts its head further and further still, until it's made a full three sixty degree rotation. This doesn't seem to hurt the creature. "Have... you... been nicze to me?" 12A long pause. "No one hassz everaskedthisofme." [22:04] 4Ir, meanwhile, shapes Jude's Law into a lance and burns with controlled sunfire as she strikes this scything sneaker over and over and over again, and then roars for one last blow-- [22:04] 13Ying: "Oh my gosh, wait. Do you - is that not a thing for agatas? Being nice?" 13She closes her eyes during part of the rotation. Easier to pretend it's not happening. [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Agata: "Yesszz... yes! That... is nice to ask. You are zzsszzzYing." 12It immediately crouches low, angling its wings to allow easy access to its back. There's not a saddle there or anything, but the iridescent carapace is actually quite ergonomically curved. [22:05] 13Ying: "Er, being nice to you, I mean," 13she corrects. [22:06] 13Oh! Oh. She steps up carefully, trying to put as much of herself as possible towards the parts that look like they can take it. "Thank you so much! And, um, if you have a name, I do still want to know it..." [22:06] "Corrupt officials lead blood-apes in Hell!" 7Spin, toss, catch... fire! The flame piece roars, and the center of the target blackens! Blossom almost cheers, but she restrains herself into smiling smugly. [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Agata: "Nice... nice-ness... yessszzzz. Now that I have seen nicesnessszz, I know what not to be! You will never have my name, accursed human." [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying's trip to Nexus is unusual, but you can't say it isn't interesting. The agata is a conversationalist like no other. [22:12] 13Bluh. "...okay! I can work with that. What do you want to be called, then? It's a purretty long trip, and there's... not much else to do." [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12It asks how Ying is doing only to immediately clarify that it doesn't care, explains at length that the sun must be extremely stupid for glowing yellow-white instead of green, and so on. [22:14] 4--And the great bonescythe just fucking explodes. 08[22:15] 13...okay, when she saw the thing, she kinda maybe was thinking about asking Eikichi to summon one for a more... permanent duration, but now she's really glad she didn't. [22:15] 4She hadn't expected to work that hard, this early. Next time, they'll be reconnoitering in greater force. [22:15] 13Maybe somewhere out there is some runt of the litter agata who just, isn't extremely tsundere. [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's narration isn't exaggerrating there - it looks like all those bones were bound together by dead skin and tendons under incredibly high tension, such that once enough structural damage'd been dealt it just popped like a damn balloon. The tunnelers that survive this skirmish are going to need help picking fragments of sharpened black bone out of their carapaces. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam's taken a seat by now, but she jumps up with both fists balled when Blossom pulls the move off. "Yeah! Yeah, that's the way. See, like I said, this is... it's didactic in a way. You know? You have to be the, the nemesis, the judgment, the corollary to everything they've done wrong and think they got away with." 08[22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's experience of the Hedgehog is generally a positive one. It seems that there was some kind of food shortage last month owing to the logistical difficulties of resuming fishing operations in the wake of Cathak's destruction while also guarding the new movement's flanks against the remaining bog fae, but discipline has held thanks to the Circle's catechism and organizational [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12skills. There's a bit of tension between adherents to the ad hoc sun religion you've left in your wake and the growing cult of Garuda on the that one lonely mountaintop to the northeast, but nothing serious as yet. 08[22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12If Eikichi means to stay the night and leave the next morning, he'll wake to piles of votive offerings and fan mail, but I repeat myself. 15[22:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10That is so thoughtful. [22:30] "Nemesis. A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent." [22:31] 4The tunnellers, meanwhile, start out hesitant -- the queen is distracted, somewhat, by the action going on with the exploding bone monster -- but after initially being pushed back by the ghastly undead infantry, pivot and reswarm, attacking with beautiful precision and crumpling the infantry's flanks, turning their initial push through the wide tunnel against them by literally widening [22:31] 4it more still: half the tunnelers eating through the walls, and the other half using the new ground to press their attack. [22:31] 4The tactic works brilliantly, and Ir's satisfied with their performance under the queen. Satisfied enough to wade in with Jude's Law back in spear form and join the fracas herself. [22:32] 4The tunnelers likely already had the battle won; with Ir's help, it's just a slaughter. ...Re-slaughter? 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He'll take the time to meticulously sort it all before loading it into a sack and then flying off, with the sack, for Great Forks. By flying between the southern towers with a burning anima, you cause a rainbow to arc over the entire valley. Bet you didn't know that. [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Towards the end of the day on the unnamed agata's back, Ying finds herself gazing down upon a familiar site: the city of Nexus. It's nighttime, and so a thousand torches, braziers, eldritch crystals, and backlit windows shine like stars across the dark plains of the eastern threshold. [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12However, I would be remiss not to note the gigantic figure made of pale blue and yellow fire that, screaming incomprehensibly, rages and thrashes across the Nexus skyline. [22:33] 13So rude to not give her a name or even a preferred title. In any case, she'll-- uh [22:33] 13The what [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12It's tall enough that the rim of the Grand Arena is just short of its waist. Its silhouette is big and bulky enough to put one in mind of an armored warrior, but it's kind of melted and swollen such that you're not really sure if you aren't just looking at an insectoid carapace or a very bulky person. The thing rages around, grasping impotently at the sky with its hands before, in [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12a rage, bring a burning fist down on a nearby building -- or trying to. [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a crimson flash, a horrible tearing sound that's actually painful to listen to, and then the giant monster's collapsing in on itself, limned all around by crackly red light that seems to be forcing its body to slowly but surely implode. [22:36] 13As soon as Ying can get onto the ground, she's heading directly for whatever that is. No, seriously, what is that. [22:36] 13Even if it's disintegrating! WHAT IS THAT. [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying's able to direct her agata towards the area the creature was standing, a wide avenue just south of Parko Llana. As she approaches, she can see a sort of no man's land - a wide, roughly circular area of charred pavement and scorched wood in which nothing that's built still stands. [22:38] 4In the Inverse, once the tunnelers have licked their wounds and Atropos is ready, they'll make a tentative push forward to at least scope out what they've found. It would be nice if they could establish a forward position down here, but she'll probably want to come back with some Kruthlings for that. [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12The radius is a fair bit wider than the actual creature's footprint was, and the monster didn't seem to have a lot of time to rampage before whatever happened to it happened to it... oh, wait. That's the Tomb of Candle-Eyed Skulls! [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12As Tatsuya knows, the tomb is actually a vast underground complex, part of which the Nexus Council has appropriated for its own secretive purposes. All that's visible above the ground is the tip of the metaphorical iceberg, a modest sepulcher lined with human skulls whose eye sockets... flare with angry fireballs? That's quite a bit fiercer than you'd expect out of a candle. [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, the zone's completely abandoned except for one figure whose black cape and silver hair flap in the fierce wind of the flame-monster's passing. The Emissary stands with ruby-studded staff planted beside him, his other hand hanging slack at his side with its fingers curling and uncurling in frustration. He doesn't see Ying's approach. [22:41] 13Time to pen up another extremely irritated rant involving not discussing events that put their body on the line. But. Later. She remembers enough. [22:42] 13She hops down from her trusty wasp-steed and rolls purposefully over towards the Emissary, kneeling next to him. "Is it - did you get it? I saw it from the skies and--" [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "Yes. Yes, with relative ease. For the sixty third time." [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "But who's counting." [22:44] 13Ying: "...you are?" [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "Why, so I am. Yet what I cannot count on, Ying, is this... interruption ever being put to rest." [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah fuck [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "Why, so I am. Yet what I cannot count on, Ying, is this... interruption ever being put to rest." [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12There we go 14[22:46] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:47] 13Ying: "...then I'll just have to put my expurrtise to use!" 13Oh my god that's so cheesy. She tries to grin though it, but oh my god she seriously just said that to -- augh 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Above the city of Great Forks, another streak of blue-and-gold light fills the sky as Eikichi arrives at the Sunshrine. "Woo!" [22:48] 13Augh!!!! 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10No sign of the ship... did he miss everyone? Oh, no, there's "Blossom!" 10and "...hello." 15[22:48] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Blossom: "Who's your friend?" [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir surveys the aftermath of the battle. The skeletal wariors of the inverse city seem to have gotten the drop on the tunneler contingent, but fortunately the "roaches" are exceptionally resilient - though many are bleeding badly or even missing limbs, Ir knows for a fact that they can huddle down in the soil and heal with a rapidity that even Marek might be mildly impressed by. [22:48] 13Ying: "Anyway I'm gonna go check it out bye!" 13And then she darts away towards where she remembers Tatsuya being. Maybe she can fix this. [22:49] 7Blossom: "This is 'Tinder' Tam, my sifu in the style of the Righteous Devil!" 7She bows respectfully to Tam. [22:49] 4She'll direct Atropos to have them do so while she pokes around a bit. [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12After taking some time to allow the creatures to staunch their wounds and regrow a few of their auxiliary vital organs, Atropos is ready to proceed. Ir, meanwhile, can forge ahead a bit, and, as she and her circlemates did once ago, she finds a path out onto a cliff that allows her to behold the inverse city in all its glory. 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10To Tam now: "Oh, it's so nice to finally meet you. I'm Eikichi Sho. How's the training coming along?" [22:50] 4Still impressive. [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12It hangs from the ceiling of a vast cavern, connected to the walls around it by narrow bridges of stone and metal. Beneath it is an infinity of swirling mist - it's not clear if someone who fell would break upon the rocks, splash lethally into an underground sea, or find themselves tumbling into the Labyrinth of the underworld or something even worse. The latter's most likely - the 08[22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12closer one gets to the city, the more one's metaphysically within a shadowland, as per calculations performed by Eikichi a while ago. [22:52] 4Creepy. [22:53] 4That also, notably, gives them a bunch of very bad approaches on the city. [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12An approach from the edges of the city is difficult - it'd mean crossing one or more bridges and therefore pushing through natural choke points guarded by the denizens of the inverse city. If you could use magic, siegecraft, or kruthik evolution to make the approach easier somehow, it'd give you a perfect opportunity to put the living balefire catapults the kruthik have already [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12evolved to use, though. [22:53] 4And nowhere to build a staging ground. [22:53] 4Well, 'build.' Grow. [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12The Emissary turns as Ying speaks, his silver mask somehow appearing puzzled. He says, in his smooth voice: "Your...?" 12but Ying has already darted off. [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12As she leaves, the guardian of Nexus turns back to the Tomb of Candle-Eyed Skulls, tapping his staff on the ground impatiently as he draws one thumb along the bottom edge of his mask. [22:56] 13Cat. 08[22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12For just a moment, Tam looks annoyed as Eikichi arrives - both Blossom and Eikichi catch it, though an immediate explanation is not forthcoming. The earth-aspect transitions immediately to a bright, friendly smile. "Ah, it's you! I'd been wondering. Not also come to learn, have you?" 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Oh, no, I couldn't possibly. I'm inventing my own martial art. I'm just here to check up on Blossom, maybe catch some training. Would you rather some privacy?" [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir considers the problem. An approach across the bridges would be a difficult one by default, unless the kruthik could be taught to fly or unless the kruthik - or you, as their logistical suppport - could somehow produce more terrain to move across, by spinning huge webs or conjuring platforms of magic or whatever else. Were that possible, though, a lateral assault would be optimal [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12- the balefire catapults and spine throwers could make short work of the walls and ranged defenders, and once you'd cracked the barricades you could flood in as the kruthik are practically specialized in doing. [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12The other obvious approach is straight through the inverse city's floor. Or, uh, roof? Whatever you call the bit that's closest to the sun, since gravity still points towards the depths out here. If you were to go up to the moor and start digging straight down, you could cave the foundations of the city in and simply drop onto your enemy - but the actual stone and earth are very [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12thick there and they'd realize what you were doing a day or more before you were actually able to attack, and be able to set up whatever ambush they could imagine. In that case you'd want lots of tunnelers to absorb the brunt of the damage, then tons of kruthlings to spill everywhere once a hole was opened. 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Ah. Ahhhhhhh. Hhhh. Hhhahahahaha. [23:05] 4Hrm. That's a last resort -- if they come in from the roof, they're open to attack both from below and from above. [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Finally, Ir recalls that when the inverse attacked the real Great Forks, they supposedly crossed the water. That means there must be some thoroughfare connecting the two cities that passes through the Yellow River through which an army can move with some significant amount of breadth. Ir judges uuuupp... there! If the kruthik were directed to dig not directly through the city's [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12foundations but through the earth a little ways south of it, they could probably tap into an underground highway of sorts that could then allow them to march on the attack in a column considerably wider than the suspended bridges allow for. [23:07] 4Now there we go. [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12That's another case in which the catapults would be difficult to bring to bear, and you'd want a sturdy front line capable of surviving entering a choke point - but it would, at least, be a wider choke point than the bridges allow for. [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Of course, little stops Ir from choosing more than one of these approaches - she could begin a digging operation through the roof of the inverse city but in fact send her creatures screaming down multiple bridges once the defenders have been drawn to the center, for instance. [23:10] 4Yeah, the big question is the degree to which these undead mopes bother to counter-scout them -- can Atropos attest to how often they test the main hive's defenses, and how recently they did it last? [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Yes. Over the past week they launched small raiding parties by the day, but then stopped and haven't been seen since. Ir lines that up with the time at which she was sucked into, and then escaped from, the hellish pattern spider time web. [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Since then it seems the undead city has been on the defense, or at least uncertain of what to do next. [23:13] 4Hmm. The best plan, then, is probably to withdraw for now, and attempt to expand to a decoy base above the foundations of the Inverse -- give the impression that they're going to pursue the foundations attack. Meanwhile, build up the army at both bases as fast as possible, drill down onto this presumptive mirror highway, and ready the overflow around the fringes to send against the [23:13] 4walls as a complementary attack. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam glances at Blossom. "Wellll... this is usually easier without interruptions.." [23:14] 4She'll want to run the plan past all three of the Fates and Jormungand, if only to see how they wrestle with it, but it seems like a good place to start a war council. [23:14] 4...They're going to need a lot more kruthik. 08[23:15] 7Blossom smiles brilliantly. "Right! Eikichi, please remember to be a respectful observer!" 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi mimes locking his lips shut and perches on a nearby crate, watching intently, elbows on knees, hands propping up head. [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam gives him a suspicious look before turning away. "...anyway. Right. I think you're getting the hang of the right attitude, Blossom. Show me a couple more-" 12She has her student take a few more shots - or, properly speaking, strike the poses appropriate to a few more shots, for the sake of saving dust. 15[23:20] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Wait, is this entire martial art just about showing off? Now Eikichi actually does pay attention. He could learn something... [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Hell, you could always use more kruthik. If you want more fast, and there's not really a lot of useful mineral, biological, or magical matter around, though, you might look into... I don't know, huge shipments of food? Barrels and barrels of elementally-charged alchemical reagants? [23:26] "Unforgivable! To shatter the dreams of innocents for your wicked schemes is something I won't allow! I will right wrongs and triumph over evil, and that means you! In the name of the sun, I'll punish you!" 7She scorches a semicircle in the dust in front of her. [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12That's not to say Ir hasn't already got a lot of the demon-bugs, but if wants to really dramatically grow the swarm she'll have to feed them better fare than they can get out here. Of course, as a military genius and point woman of an entire circle of Solar Exalted, she can probably pull this off with just the monsters she's got. [23:26] 4Ah, but she's also an amazing cook, both in quality and quantity. So she might be able to have it both ways. 15[23:26] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Soon Eikichi is hiding his grin behind balled-up fists and using all his willpower not to hoot and holler. [23:27] 4Of course, this would be different from normal cooking. [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Ying collects news - sometimes by literally picking up and reading wanted posters and proclamations, but more often by talking to the woman or man in the street, listening carefully for the subjects of conversations, and whatnot. [23:28] 7Hmm. That one was more Ying's style. She should write it down and show it to her later. 14[23:31] * Joins: Crion| [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12It seems that this burning giant started manifesting a couple of months ago. At first it was terrible, erupting forth every night - while Bergsveinn was in town to deal with arena business, the significantly smaller giant was able to curtail some of the carnage, but with him gone it's been completely up to the Emissary to protect the city. According to hearsay, battles between the [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12monster and the Emissary started out as fairly protacted and flashy affairs, but by now it seems that they've gotten down to a science. [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Manifestations, too, have become less frequent of late. They stopped for an entire two weeks once, then started again, then stopped for a few days, that sort of thing. By paying attention to rumors as to where expensive alchemical or sorcerous reagants have been getting shipped through the city, listening to the names of famous occultists or deities who've been seen entering and [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12exiting the Council tower, Ying can conclude that the city's been drawing on every magical resource available to try to prevent this burning demon or whatever from manifesting... with mixed results. [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, and there've been some changes to the local law. It seems that Civilities forbidding entrance or any kind of tampering with the Tombs of Nexus have been altered to have much more emphatic language and severe punishments - instant death in the latter case. [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam: "Awesome! Yes! Okay, you picked that up fast. Which I should've expected, really. Okay, hmm, well, let's try the Kiss of the Sun." [23:36] 7Blossom: "Oh?" 15[23:36] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi bites his lip. [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam laughs to herself. "Not the way you're thinking! Unless you ask nicely. This is one of our first techniques - a way to increase precision." 12She kind of rolls one shoulder, then another, then stomps on the ground. A rough, craggy pillar of stone approximately six feet tall erupts from the ground nearby the wall Blossom's been shooting at. Tam ambles over to it and fiddles with [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12it until it's got a sort of rocky spar jutting forward. [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Then she crouches, finds a rock, balances it carefully on what could charitably be called the outstretched hand of the training dummy she's crafted. "Alright. This all depends on what you've been doing - sort of, projecting your intent, you know, making your look hit the bad guy even harder than the fire's going to." [23:40] 7Not the way she was thinking? What does that mean? Oh, whatever. Blossom gives up puzzling it and focuses on listening to her sifu. 15[23:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eeeeeee 14[23:42] * Joins: mattbaby [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam takes the flame piece and, with a flourish, points it at her training dummy. She narrows her eyes, and dust swirls between her and the rock that the figure's got balanced above one hand. [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12It's particularly easy thanks to the swirling dust, but Blossom's so attuned to heat and flame that she could probably pick it out in clear air by the faint ripple. There's a path visible between Tam and her target, starting a sort of smear between the warrior's crown, throat, and solar plexus chakra but narrowing to a razor point exactly where Tam's looking. The faint motions Tam's [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12making with her wand aren't sorcerous gestures or random trembling - they're a careful attempt to line up the barrel of the flame piece exactly with that short-lived dragon line. [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12When Tam fires, the gout of flame is so focused as to somehow hit with physical force - rather than blooming around the rock it knocks the thing straight to the ground. "There. The Kiss of the Sun Concentration. Did you see what I did?" [23:53] 7She nods. "Yeah... it was like your intent was so focused it formed a small dragon line." [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Tam stares at Blossom, mildly perplexed, before blinking and grinning. "...that's right! I never thought of it like that. But it's true. Yes, if you're fighting correctly, if you're putting your judgment into each motion with the wand, it'll draw paths through the air for the flames to follow. If you can angle them right, then whatever you're pointing at will get exactly what it [23:55] <@Ferrinus> deserves." 15[23:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10If Blossom sneaks a glance back at Eikichi she'll get a furtive and frantic thumbs-up. Crushing it!! [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12She hands the flame piece back. "Okay, now, take the stance... yes, that one, I like that one." 12Then she takes Blossom by the wrist. "Now, up here... yes. So if you look really fiercely..." 12The lesson goes on. [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Like noon, sundown is a particularly auspicious time to practice the Righteous Devil Style. Once the sun's plunged completely below the horizon, and the adobe wall in this little sandlot in the sunshrine district has been scorched almost completely black, Tam calls training for the day. She's very impressed! Who wants to get drinks? Session Time: Fri Jul 06 00:00:01 2018 [00:00] 7'Ah, this style is very precise' thinks Blossom as Tam carefully adjusts how she holds her waist. "Yes! That sounds grand." [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12So the day ends. Ir and Ying have made much more ominous discoveries, of course, but for the moment Great Forks remains a great place to party. 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14[16:31] * Joins: mattbaby [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,---._ [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,~~,-._ `._ [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 v'~ `-. `. [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 _,- ~. \ [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 .' ,--`. `\_ [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 V-'~ ,'~~~`-. `-. [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 ___ /_/~~~) ` `. `._ [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 ____,---' ; V `.__ `--, `; [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 `-._ ; `. ____) : [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 `.; ; .' ,' _ | [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 ; | ; ,';'~~~`--' `; : [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,': .-' `,' __ __ : | [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom's training proceeds apace. She's probably been at this for a few days now, and Tam's shown the Zenith caste all sorts of tricks for reloading, aiming, and standing so you're framed juuust right by the scenery from your mark's perspective. It's really coming together, although the Circle's had to shell out a lot for practice firedust if Blossom hasn't managed to convince Tam [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12to let her use her native hand-flames. 15[20:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10It was probably going to a worse use than this anyway. Admittedly this is the same rationale Eikichi uses to get two sundaes instead of one. [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Even despite whatever occult nonsense must have been kicked up in the wake of the attack of the time spiders, and even despite the massive slave emancipation and secret heist, there's been not a peep from the city authorities - May's visit with the Trinity must have gone off swimmingly. So it is that it's a bustling and healthy sunshrine that Ir can return to once she's seen all she [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12needs to see of the inverse city. Her mission, if she chooses to accept it, is to secure so much biomatter and essence that her kruthik swarm can grow vastly in size. On the other hand, that might be an extremely bad idea such that she'd be better off with making the best of what she has (a moderately large army of demon insects and four stupendously potent anathema). [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying, meanwhile, is coming to an unfortunate but inescapable conclusion: this is definitely her fault. Well, no, actually, properly speaking, she's relatively blameless here. [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12It's all Tatsuya's fault. [20:18] 13Unbelievable. Actually, no, extremely believable! That jerk! [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12There's no question about it - when you cross-referencing the timing, the essence pattern, the behavior, all of it, the so-called Candle Titan is the stupendously powerful hungry ghost of an ancient, first-age Solar that until recently was sealed safely away beneath Nexus. The removal of that grand daiklave which Tatsuya helped "Tatsuya" steal must have been the absolute last straw, [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12unleashing the old ghost's rage upon the city and neatly explaining why there are so many strongly-worded Civilities against approaching or interacting with any of the remaining tombs. [20:19] 4Coming out of the caverns, Ir goes over the pros and cons and decides to harden the troops she has and rely on help from her friends, rather than radically upsize the army beyond what their current resources can support. [20:20] 4Counterbalancing the Kruthik's endless demand for growth with the attrition of war is going to be a deft task. [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Technically, you could lose 'em all but the queens and the cerebrate and be basically fine to start over elsewhere. [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Hell, even the queens are replaceable, though it'd mean a bunch more training. [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12According to what Ying's heard, no one's yet been able to put the ghost to rest or to permanently destroy it - it keeps regenerating from the tomb somehow. Various gods and sorcerers have been brought in to attempt sealings and exorcisms, of which the best thus far has lasted about a week and a half. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Fortunately, the Emissary has gotten pretty good at destroying the Candle Titan with minimal muss and fuss. Unfortunately, it's still true that a block-radius crater surrounding the Tomb of Candle-Eyed Skulls is a functional no-man's land, because on any given sunset the Titan might erupt there and start stomping around and breathing fire. It's playing hell with local zoning [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12regulations. [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, if that's Ir's plan she has little to do in the colony as it stands, except perhaps to help place and shore up a last few static defenses. The kruthik have grown basically to capacity - they just await the order to invade. Of course, Ir also has to choose which order that'll be - an assault across the narrow bridges to the city's midsection, or through the wider subterranean [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12tunnel to the city's base, or right through the city's roof, or some combination of those three. [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, technically there is scouting left to do - no one's sure, still, what it is that's waiting inside the place, or just how much necrotic power is lurking in wait for your armies. But then, it might be hard to find that out without finding yourself fighting it and without the benefit of an army at your back. [20:33] 4Before she can decide that -- it'll probably be a feint dig team up above, the main force down the underground highway, and then support forces from the sides -- she needs to consult with everyone else. And there's no better scout than Tatsuya. [20:33] 4At the very least, she can get the decoy base established. [20:37] 13It takes a while to sink in, exactly what he's done. I mean he's - he's ruining everything! She has a business here, with employees - a career! And he wants to, what, just break into some random place he obviously shouldn't have been in anyway? And now look at this! And so: [20:37] 13Okay, jerk, you got us into this mess, you're getting us out of it. 6Wait, what? No, that's 13not acceptable 6and stop making a scene, we're in 13public here, so be 6quiet 13respectable 6calm 13honest 6rational 13compassionate! [20:37] 6A few heated minutes, some quick 13and excellent needlework later, 6Tatsu13ying dips out of 6a hidden back-alley near 13their shop. 6They'll have to tell 13the others about what's 6happened here, and work with them to 13fix it! [20:40] 13The agata! 6Ei13kitty summoned 6one for them, that's obviously the fastest way 13back. And then we can fix 6our mess 13your mess 6our mess. [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12The Rainbow Connection, across the city from the Tomb of Candle-Eyed Skulls, seems to have suffered none of the business's depredations. In fact, business is good - a few exciting outfits hang in the window, one a formal dress and one that seems to be based on Ir's arena outfit, and the path to the door is very well trodden. 15[20:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10The public wants to know: where are the joots? [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12I assume that Ying gave her apprentices strict instructions. [20:42] 13Maybe they should check on things before they leave 6although that's fairly high visibility 13but what if 6it wasn't? [20:43] 6The joots are coming soon 13nefur, efur, not in a mewlion years. 15[20:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10One evening, after training with Tam is completed but before Blossom leads the evening prayer, Eikichi asks her, "How are you finding the training so far?" [20:48] "Invigorating!" 15[20:48] <@VoxPVoxD> "What do you make of Tinder Tam?" [20:48] 13It's fairly trivial to 6dart up to the second floor, which no one ever locks 13because most people don't think like thieves! [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya's able to sweep in through a window on the side, one that Ying knows never quite sticks closed properly. Then, as Tatsuya clings to the ceiling, Ying can look back and forth to perform a quick inventory. Yes, Totokuro's stitching is coming along nicely, he's finally stopped taking that shortcut. Lingfei's collaboration with Sszark doesn't look like it's going to work out, [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12but if they learn from those mistakes the next one should be stunning. Not a joot's been made or sold, despite intense demand. [20:49] 4What's actually involved in getting the decoy base above the Inverse's foundations set up? Is the area already relatively secured, or are they taking new territory here? [20:49] 13Excellent 6disappointing. [20:50] 13Curiosity satisfied, 6and no dead cats 13hush, then it's off to the 6agata for the ride back. Where'd you 13we leave that, anyway? [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12After secretly correcting a clerical error and leaving a bolt of appropriately-colored cloth next to one of Sszark's projects for the sake of dropping an educational hint, Tatsuya and Ying are satisfied with their money-making scheme/labor of love. [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12It's on the roof of the Scarlet Palace, which remains in your Circle's debt. Probably don't want to be seen on the way... 08[20:52] 7Blossom: "She's very knowledgeable, and a good sifu. Perhaps I'm not her first student? Although..." 7Blossom looks around to see if they're being eavesdropped on, then leans toward Eikichi and says conspiratorially, "I think she's got a thing for you!" 15[20:52] <@VoxPVoxD> "What makes you say that?" 10says Eikichi, after what some might perceive to be an extraordinarily long pause. [20:53] 4Either way, Ir will rest up a bit before heading out there. [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12The area directly above the inverse city's right on the edge of the base's existing creep. It's just totally barren and an actual shadowland in the center, so spreading there has been fairly unappetizing as yet. Were you to set up, you might expect attacks from below to increase in intensity and frequency. You could dig through slowly using a battalion of roaches, or more quickly [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12using the appropriate kruthik hive structures. [20:54] 7Blossom: "She gets awkward whenever you're around, keeps sneaking looks to see if you're still there. Don't worry, I'm not threatened." 7She isn't, too! Another incredible victory in the never-ending battle for emotional maturity! 15[20:56] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He loves her so much "That makes me really happy to hear! It's funny, though... I sort of got the opposite impression." [20:56] 13Furom there, it's some excellent leaping along rooftops, 6staying out of sight from the crowds, 13and a test of the outfit - purrfect fit, 6and extremely flexible. Good work, 13of course it is! [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, here's the unnamed agata. Its wings flicker in either the sunlight or starlight, depending on when Tatsuya and Ying have timed this, and it speaks: "Greetingssszzz. Isszz it timetoreturntothetemplecity." [21:00] 6Starlight, 13even though the view is so nice during the day! 6Tatsu13ying, somewhat unsteadily: "Yes... time to go back, go back." [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Agata: "Ah, then climb on. We sszzzoon- wait." 12It shifts left and right under the weight now atop its back. "I am meant to take Ying to Great Forksszzz." [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Agata: "Thisszz sszzztranger wasszzzz not mentioned." [21:03] 4We want to dig through slowly, and reinforce the area to defend against incursions. Ideally the decoy base will have a lot of fanfare and look like a pretty target but not get a lot done -- the idea is to distract the ghosties with this juicy target, train them to stop watching anything but it, and get everything else in place to strike down the highway and across the narrow bridges. [21:04] 6Tatsu13ying turns until Ying's half is the only one visible. "That's us," 6same unsteady tone. Is that an echo? [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, a three-pronged assault (or four, or five, or six if you want to get crazy and use every last bridge). Well, Ir's pretty sure she knows how to set it up. Jormungand informs her that a "spine crawler" structure optimized for boring tunnels through stone will have finished its evolution in a day or two. [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Agata: "I carry Ying. Orderssszz. Leavetheotherbehind." [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12It stolidly remains standing on the hotel's roof. 08[21:05] 7Blossom looks at him pityingly and pats his hand. "Oh, Eikichi. So naive." 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It beggars belief that anyone wouldn't have a crush on you." [21:06] 4Excellent. [21:07] 4While she doesn't want to build out a whole new army, will any additional biomass be necessary to properly sell the decoy base? [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Not significantly. Ir might want to allow some wider-ranging hunting expeditions, though in that case she might also want to give the kruthik some strict orders as to what they are and aren't allowed to drag back to base and eat. [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Otherwise, all that remains is to run the plan by everyone else and, I suppose, invite them to join a war. [21:09] 6Tatsu13ying: "...impossible." [21:09] 7Blossom: "What have you been doing while I've been training, anyway? You took Shoto to the Hedgehog?" [21:11] 4She's mostly concerned with conservation, though Wyld-tainted creatures, the undead, and raksha in the main are all right out under any circumstances. She gives them wide-ranging authority over mostly-uninhabited riverbank and forested areas beyond their current limits, but they're not to strip mine or despoil any particular area -- crop rotation is a metaphor she'll use here -- and [21:11] 4Ir's strongest and most explicit command is: no hunting mortals, no killing mortals unless they aggress in number, and no dragging them back to camp to eat. 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Choto and his friend Shirokan, yes. The Hedgehog's begun a lively trade with Dorsal Point. Our cult is growing, though so is the cult of Garuda in the mountains. And I even heard some people spreading tales of your strength and prowess. They even have a stirring rendition of your house-throwing escapades!" [21:15] 13They continue 6staring blankly13 at the agata. 6More steadily than before, and 13that's definitely an echo: "You were ordered to carry Ying. Are you refusing?" 08[21:17] 7Blossom leans back onto some cushions. Another thing that's different about the Heavensward from other ships - Eikichi has carefully placed throw pillows throughout the vessel to ensure no one (him) is ever far from being comfy. "Choto, right. ...You told them about the house?" [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12The agata stands stock-still beneath Tatsuya and Ying for a moment. Then it begins to vibrate, a cascade of colors rippling across its shell. "I... thissszzz.... to refusszee... would be... I..." [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Then there's just a vrroooomm and you're airborne. 15[21:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I fudged the context a bit but yes. It'll be a different version from the one that appears in the book, too. A bit of lively local color!" [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying and Tatsuya arrive in Great Forks in a little under a day. This time there's no shortage of anyone to talk to - and, actually, the bug seems to have no trouble following either or both trains of conversation. 08[21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12The demon homes in on its summoner's abode, arcing down out of the sky to find... Eikichi and Blossom talking, perhaps? Maybe Ir's hanging out? [21:20] 7Blossom: "Good, good!" 7She brushes her hair back. "A fucking house though" [21:20] 4If the kruthik required no further instruction or prodding to follow her -- admittedly complicated -- orders, she'll head back. Hopefully the onerousness of the restrictions will be balanced out by happiness for new hunting grounds. [21:21] 4Ir will be making grilled peppercheese sandwiches when others get back. 15[21:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I'm going to introduce you to my parents that way. 'Mama, Papa, this is Blossom, my consort. She's an inspiring priestess, a genius artisan, and to top it off she knows all about business and economics. You should see her flip real estate!'" 08[21:24] 7Blossom laughs hard enough to snort, which means Eikichi claims the win here. When she calms down, she's nervous though: "Do you think they liked my gifts?" 15[21:25] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Absolutely. By now Mama and Papa will be fretting about whether you like them." [21:26] "What???" 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "It's a lot of pressure! I'm not just bringing this girl I like home for dinner. I'm introducing you to them. And I'm introducing them to you. I promise you they feel the same pressure you do." 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> 10After a pause: "It's possible my sisters might... tease you a bit. But it's all in good fun! It's all done with love." [21:28] 4The sandwiches come out perfect -- toasty on the bread, melty on the cheese -- and are even better paired with some fresh-pressed juice. 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "Or, you know... curiosity." 15[21:28] <@VoxPVoxD> "Zuzu liked to give my dates tests." 08[21:29] 6Excellent 13purrfect! Just the people 6we wanted to see! Once they draw close enough, Tatsu13ying does a somersault off the agata's back to land next to Eikichi and Blossom. 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> 10How do they look? [21:30] 13They're dressed with a combination of their two outfits, 6Tatsuya's half a black leather coat that drags along the ground, some black pants that look far too tight, and a 13boring 6sensible black shirt. A blood-red glove adorns his hand, and half a mask covers the eye on his side of the face. 13Ying's half, meanwhile, is a 6ridiculous 13light and airy summer outfit, midriff-baring shirt with cat paws all over it, shorts, [21:30] and a single cat ear on her head. The hair is a quite a clash - two toned, black and blonde, and with one long ponytail on one side, 6while the other is Tatsuya's usual short mess. [21:30] "You gotta help us!" 6two voices speak 13in unison. Then a brief split: Ying's voice: "He--" 6Tatsuya's voice: "We--" 13before they continue 6as one: "screwed something up in that tomb back in Nexus!" [21:30] 4Ir will wander up at this point with sandwiches and juice. [21:30] 4...Oh my. [21:30] 4Ir sighs. "Lunch first." [21:31] 7Blossom sits up, back straight. Now this she understands. She's about to ask 'what kind of tests' when Tatsuying flips down next to them and so her mouth just kind of hangs open. 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi takes in Tatsuying, opens his mouth to speak, and then closes it having said nothing. 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He looks to Blossom. Surely she'll-- 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Shit. [21:32] 4We shouldn't stare. 15[21:32] <@VoxPVoxD> "Wwwwwwwhat's for lunch, Ir?" 08[21:33] 13They look back 6and forth between Eikichi, Blossom, and Ir, 13seemingly torn. "...I guess we could eat," 6they try. [21:33] 7Get it together, Blossom. Your friend is... worried? Having a nervous breakdown? "Are you two... feeling okay?" [21:33] 13Ying: "No--" 6Tatsuya: "Yes--" [21:33] 4Ir: "Grilled peppercheese sandwiches with fresh juice. I've brought more pepper and some hot sauce, as well. [21:33] " [21:33] 13It is extremely difficult 6to glare at yourself, but they seem to be 13trying. [21:34] 4Ir: "...And while we eat, we can talk about what's...going on." 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> "That sounds really good." 10To Tatsuying: "Do you want to change before lunch? You were wearing those as riding clothes all day, it must be terribly dusty." [21:35] 6Tatsu13ying: "We'd have to make more..." 13They seem to be considering it anyway. [21:40] 6Eventually, they shake their head. "No time fur distractions. We need to talk about the Candle Titan." [21:41] 7Blossom: "You have my undivided attention." 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi elbows Blossom. 15[21:41] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then immediately regrets it, realizing there's no way she did that on purpose. [21:45] 4Pouring the juice: "What's the Candle Titan?" [21:45] 13Once they get down 6to lunch, in between bites and 13arguing with themselves, 6Tatsu13ying 6lay out everything they know about the Candle Titan. Risen from the tomb we 13Tatsuya robbed immediately after he did so, continuing to appear every few days, and the Emissary, that 6creep 13LOVELY MAN being there most of the time to prevent it from burning down the surrounding area. [21:45] 4Ir's pretty certain there's no reassuring answer to that question. 15[21:45] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi shrugs. Never heard of it. [21:45] 4Nope. [21:45] 4Nope, there is not. 15[21:46] <@VoxPVoxD> 10If you were watching Eikichi eat, you might come away with the mistaken impression that his food was really chewy. [21:46] 7Blossom: "We'll be glad to help you get rid of it." [21:46] 6Tatsu13ying: "Anyways! In conclusion it's all our - his - our fault." 6They seem pretty cheerful about this, 13all things considered. "And we have no idea how to make that stop happening, so... figured we should get back in touch, put our heads together, you know?" 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi, firmly: "It's good that you came back." [21:49] 4Ir: "I agree." [21:49] 6Tatsu13ying: "It's so good to see efurrybody again! And we're all together now." [21:50] "That's true!" 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "So how are... you... doing...?" [21:52] 4I suppose the proper form would be 'y'all.' [21:52] 6Tatsuya: "Good--" 13Ying: "Bad--" 6Tatsu13ying: "It's complicated." 15[21:53] <@VoxPVoxD> "Do you want to talk about it?" [21:53] 6Tatsu13ying: "I mean, if we he we hadn't broken into that tomb--" 13Ying: "It just made me so angry!" 6Tatsuya: "These things happen sometimes." [21:56] 6Tatsu13ying 6shrugs with one arm. "There's not much to talk about. We're okay, as long as we can do something about the Candle Titan." [21:57] 4Ir: "Well, what ideas do we have?" [21:58] 4Ever since coming back from...wherever they went...not only has Ir been a tad calmer, she's also been noticably more engaged when it comes to questions of the occult, or the history of Creation. [21:58] 7Blossom: "Clearly there's soemthing in the tomb that allows it to restore itself." 15[21:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "Or not in the tomb." 15[21:59] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He murmurs this as an afterthought, eyes on Tatsuying. [21:59] *something [22:03] 4Ir, tactfully: "Do we have an inventory of what was taken and what was left behind? Or some way to get one?" [22:04] 6Tatsu13ying: "We remember, though we don't know what the other other me stole..." 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Meaning Typhon." [22:05] 4Sun, Ir had forgotten all about that wrinkle. [22:05] 6That should be "other, other us." trenchfoot deeply regrets this error. 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> "Did you see him walk out with anything?" [22:14] 6Tatsu13ying: "A giant scimitar. Like, big as us." 13They think some more: "Serrated edge. Black jade, white jade, soulsteel, plus a bunch of like, coral and barnacles and stuff. A flash of gold underneath it all, too." 6Tatsuya's the only voice next: "Like someone grew a Niobraran blade over a regular one." [22:16] "I see." 4Ir finishes her sandwich and grabs another one, dabbing some hot sauce under the bread. "We should probably get to work identifying it. Certainly an artifact like that has a history." 15[22:30] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Well the ghost is of the ancient Dawn king, the Lord of the Sirocco. He ruled a nation by the sea until the Niobraran League bid the sea to swallow it up. The Lord's vengeance was legendary -- tales abound of him marching dead-on against the waves and not emerging until the tides had turned red. He's even rumored to have bent his enemies' weapons against him -- which explains the sword." [22:31] 4Ir: "'Those who play with the Devil's toys will be bent by degrees to wield His sword.'" 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "Knowing that, it's obvious: Typhon stole the sword for the Mask. We already know how eager he is to snap up anything Niobraran he can find, ancient masters of necromancy that they were. Easiest thing to do would be... get the sword back." 15[22:31] <@VoxPVoxD> "But that's not the only solution." [22:32] 7Blossom: "What are the other choices?" [22:32] 6Tatsuya: "But--" 13Ying: "That's how we got into this mess!" [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Indeed, how hard could stealing the Mask of Winters's new daiklave be? [22:33] 13She's whispering angrily at Tatsuya, there, not anyone else. [22:33] 4We owe him some trouble. 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "I think the easiest thing to do would be to ask one of our heavenly friends if they can find out who the Lord of Sirocco has reincarnated in." 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He looks around the room. "Yara, I don't suppose you're sneaking up on us right now and would be willing to help us out." [22:37] "We will have to stand against the Mask of Winters eventually. That much is clear. But maybe we should try to solve this without thundering off to Thorns -- not in the least because our Kruthik army is needed underground soon." [22:37] 6Tatsuya: "Wait, you can't--" 13Ying: "Yeah, c'mon, Yara!" 08[22:38] 4She blinks at Eikichi, then catches on to where he's going with this. "I like the sound of that." [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Fate is such that the small assassin is turning a corner to the room or plaza the four of you are talking in even now. She's got a bundle of scrolls under one arm and one bigger scroll slung over one of her shoulders as though it were a daiklave. [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Blossom, I've just been talking with May. Apparently the Trinity's getting kind of whaaaaaaaaaaat?" [22:40] 4Wow. 15[22:40] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi almost falls out of his chair. That was supposed to be a joke!! [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12The hollow sound of bundled parchment bouncing off cobblestones punctuates Yara's words now. "What?! What??? What is-" [22:40] 6Tatsuya: "...hi." 13Ying: "Hi!" 08[22:41] 7Blossom: "Wow! Nice work, Eikichi!" [22:42] 7How did he even do that? [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12The sidereal's pointing now, her accusatory index finger shifting left and right by inches to move between the masked and cat-eared sides of Tatsuya and Ying's shared face. 15[22:42] <@VoxPVoxD> 10After he's recovered, Eikichi ventures: "...there's sandwiches." [22:43] 4Ir proffers the platter. [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Are... are you... is he... are they???" [22:43] 13One half of 6Tatsu13ying's face looks extremely smug. 6The other looks like it just ate something sour. [22:43] 6Tatsu13ying: "That's us." [22:44] 4Ir: "They are. Help yourself." [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara presses both palms into her cheeks, then slaps herself across the forehead with her eyes screwed up shut. "I'm so STUPID. I can't believe, I can't believe, all this wait wait wait." 12She takes several careful steps forward, staring at Tatsuya and Ying more intently now. "Is something going on... now?" [22:48] 6Tatsu13ying: "It's kind of a long story." 13Ying: "Or a really short one--" 6Tatsuya: "Long. Story." 08[22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara goes pale. She glances sideways between Blossom, Eikichi, and Ir, shivering slightly. [22:50] 4Ir shrugs. "Suit yourself," 4she says, plucking one of the remaining sandwich halves off the plate and taking a bite. "They're really good though." [22:50] 7Blossom looks concerned. "Are you okay, Yara?" 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi waves his extended arms vertically at Yara, slowly, as if he were offering obeisance or fanning someone who'd overheated. [22:51] 6Tatsu13ying: "They really are. You really outdid yourself this time, Ir!" [22:51] 4Ir: "Thanks, you two." [22:51] 13They beam at her, 6and grab another sandwich. [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara mouths something to herself, clearly distraught, before taking a couple steps back. She gives Blossom a significant look before retreating out of immediate conversation range, perhaps expecting to be followed. [22:53] 7Blossom sighs a little, heaves herself up and moves with Yara out of sandwich range. [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara, whispering: "How long has he been like this?" 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "They." [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara looks up to him, assuming he's followed along - she's trying to have a conversation outside of Tatsuya or Ying's immediate hearing range. "Huh? No, no, don't indulge him! Listen, I've seen this bef- well that's a lie but they warn you about it in training." [22:56] 4... [22:56] 13They're just chowing down on their sandwich. 6Whatever 'legion' is, it's probably not important. [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Legion syndrome. Sometimes someone wears too many masks and, and, and forgets - goes crazy. They can get violent." [22:57] 7Blossom: "Been like what?" [22:57] "The half-and-half thing?" [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12She nods. 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's jaw sets. 15[22:58] <@VoxPVoxD> "Ying's not a mask." [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12She blinks. "Then... then all along Tatsuya wasn't-" 15[22:59] <@VoxPVoxD> "Tatsuya's not a mask." [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "...huh?" [22:59] 7Blossom: "They're separate people." [22:59] 4To Tatsuying, hoping to keep the conversation moving and their mind off of whatever Yara's on about: "So we're going to have to take care of this thing with the Inverse before we leave Great Forks. You two down for some scouting?" [23:00] "I dunno how he did it, but Ying's her own person. Has been since she first showed up." [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara leans to the side to look at Tatsuya, and then at Ying, around Blossom's legs. Then she looks back up at the two Solar sorcerers. "They... ...really?" 15[23:00] <@VoxPVoxD> "Yes." [23:00] 6They nod. "Always! It'll be good to stretch our legs again..." [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara puts both hands over her mouth. "Gff." 12She blinks and takes them away. "I mean, gosh." [23:01] 7Blossom: "The... whatever it is they're doing now is a little concerning, but they're understandably upset about the Candle Titan." 7She adds, "We all try to be supportive of them. Their, uh, situation, can't be easy." [23:02] 4Ir: "Maybe you can teach me some tricks, too. And get used to working with the Fates, and Jormungand. We've got a lot to do in a real short amount of time, especially if we end up accidentally provoking the Mask of Winters." [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara looks down at her feet. "But what if Ying doesn't- I mean, I mean, I see. Okay. You're sure? I just- oh no do you think either heard me?" [23:03] 7Blossom, confidently: "I'm sure it's fine." [23:03] 6Tatsu13ying: "Absolutely! Hmm... Have you ever--" 6"broken into a vault" 13"hunted down a sleeping animal"?" [23:03] "No and yes, respectively." [23:04] 13Brightly: "That's a start! ...did it wake up before you got it?" 15[23:04] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Just treat them both with the same respect you always have." [23:04] "A couple of times. A couple of times it didn't." [23:05] 4Ir shrugs. "As I grew up I got a bit uncomfortable killing prey while it was asleep. Didn't feel sporting." [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Of course! I know people like that. Mostly gods. I just never- you're SURE they didn't hear me." 12She leans out to peek again. 15[23:06] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "Yara." [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara gulps. "Yes?" [23:07] 4That's a good way to get heard, tater tot. 15[23:07] <@VoxPVoxD> 10He leans down close until they're almost nose to nose. "You're just going to have to learn to live with the mystery." [23:07] 6Tatsu13ying: "That's fur. Fair. Hmm..." 6Their mind is already coming up with training scenarios, 13maybe an obstacle course... ooh, that would actually be... "We should do some training befur the real deal -- start off somewhere with no consequences. I mean, you do walk around in armor most of the time." 13They mime big thumps on the table. "So noisy." [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12The sidereal's mouth wobbles and eyes glisten. [23:08] 13For Tatsuying's part, they don't 6seem to pay any attention to Yara's conversation. 15[23:08] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Then he stands up and tousles her hair. "C'mon. You'll do great." [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara sniffs hard, then wipes a hand across her closed eyes before stooping to pick her scrolls up again. "R-right." 12After a moment, she's marching back into the main plaza to carefully put them down on a table or bench or something before looking up at Tatsuya and Ying. "...so." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I bet you both think I'm real stu wait that's not coming out right. Um, how's it going." [23:11] 4Ir rolls her eyes. "I don't HAVE to wear armor." 15[23:11] <@VoxPVoxD> 10You might be able to hear Eikichi facepalm from across the ship. [23:11] "And besides, it's made of sunlihiiiiii Yara." [23:12] 6Tatsu13ying: "It's going okay. Considering." 6They gesture at themselves. Tatsu13ying: "We, ah, don't usually..." [23:13] 6Tatsuya: "I'm really sorry I should've" 13Ying: "We only told the Circle so" [23:15] 6They look 13uncomfortable. "...are you okay?" 13Two voices speak 6in unison. [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "No, no! It's fine. The point is the secret! I never tell anyone mine, I'd get my future bitten off if I started blabbing." 12She peers closer now, looking Tatsuya and Ying's outfit up and down. "How did it even happen?" 15[23:16] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi's still with Blossom outside the room. He speaks softly without facing her. "I don't want to go back in there." [23:16] 13One half shrugs, while 6the other shoulder slumps. 6Tatsuya: "We needed a public face for... not sneaking around." 13Ying: "And that's where we I you we came in." [23:17] 7Blossom: "Come on, it'll be fine! Ying and Yara are a pair of sweethearts, and Tatsuya will be too cowed by her height to notice anything else." [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Oh, no, that makes perfect sense. I mean like just now." [23:17] 7Invincibly confident, Blossom will return to the table to grab a sandwich and listen in. [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I got really worried, I thought... I mean, I don't know." 15[23:18] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi lingers a little. He wasn't worried about them. [23:18] 6Tatsu13ying: "We've been making it work, except we 13you 6we ... really messed up. D'you know about the Candle Titan?" [23:18] 13Correction: that "you" should be a "he". [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "In Nexus?" [23:20] "Yep." 13They nod. "Tatsuya's 6our fault." [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara puts her hands under her chin, scandalized. "No!" [23:20] 4Normal! [23:22] 6Tatsu13ying: "We stole some things from the tomb just before it happened... and someone pretending to be us was there too. That's purrobably what actually caused it..." 6They lay out the full story, keeping the bickering to a minimum [23:22] 6. [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara nods along for a while. "I don't recognize it... but the tomb's necromantic power is definitely keeping the ghost alive. Maybe it's just sending projections out of the real ghost, or something! I was wondering why they just marked that entire bundle Do Not Touch." [23:24] 6Tatsu13ying: "Entire bundle...?" [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Um, technical, you know, jargon, don't worry about it. What I was going to say is it sounds like Nexus has it under control." [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Thank gods it's not my jurisdiction, though. Can you imagine? I'd go crazy trying to fix it." 12Then she blinks and winces slightly. [23:25] 7Blossom: "Destroying the ghost every time it pops up forever is an unsatisfactory definition of 'under control'." [23:25] 4Ir: "Yep." [23:26] 13They breeze 6right over that. 6Tatsu13ying: "It's kind of our problem, though... like, we broke it, we'll fix it, right?" [23:26] "Oh, definitely." [23:27] 4Ir: "We'll fix it, that is. I'm not signing on to having broken it." [23:27] 13Ying: "Me neither." 6A single eye glaring at the other eye just looks extremely goofy. [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I mean, I'm sure someone'd appreciate it. I'm just glad it's not me. But! That reminds me. You're not fixing it... right now. Right." [23:29] 4Ir sighs. "We're still going to clear up your Inverse problem, Yara." [23:29] 7Blossom: "I'm pretty sure the next thing we need to do is wipe out those-- yeah." [23:29] "The bugs are putting the first part of the plan into motion now. We should be ready to roll in the next day or two." [23:29] 6Tatsu13ying: "The Emissary has it purretty in hand." 13One of the voices sounds considerably dreamier than the other. "So. We've got a bit of time." [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Okay okay good. Because according to May, according to the Trinity - not actually directly according to them, she had to do some digging - disentangling the cities and getting rid of the Getimians has meant, well, good news and bad news." [23:30] 4Ir: "Everyone's welcome to come along, too. Even you and your girls, Yara. More the merrier." [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "The good news is we don't have to worry about you knocking down a wall over there also knocking one down over here. The bad news is everything under there isn't going to be stuck there in another month or so." [23:31] 4Ir: "We're going to have this wrapped up by the end of the week." [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Could be as little as a fort- oh, good, good. I, I had some charts but if you're set already..." 12She looks relieved. [23:32] 4Ir: "The more info the better." [23:32] 7Blossom: "I want to see the charts anyway, though." [23:32] 6Tatsu13ying: "We could use the help..." 6Once again, one of the voices sounds considerably dreamier than the other. [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Oh! Well." 12Parchment crinkles as it's unrolled and flattened out. "Here's specific weather and cloud patterns over Great Forks compared with over the inverse city, although obviously Fenghei's Transformation was applied in reverse to the latter twice. If you look at the..." 12A lot of the first parchment is abstruse mathematical and astrological stuff meaningful only to [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom, although anyone else clever enough might be able to follow through context. [23:38] 6Tatsu13ying tries to follow along 6as best they can. This is... 13a bit out of their wheelhouse, 6though. [23:38] 4Ir will try, at least. The general can't just ignore this stuff. [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12The gist, Blossom can tell, is that the fates of the two cities have been more and more unglued - it's not just that one isn't mirroring the specific state of the other, but even that their basic horoscopes have started to drift apart such that one barely shares the other's sign, and therefore, its identity or broad destiny. [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12The next one's more meaningful to everyone, particularly Ir. Yara's charted civil unrest, crimes, arrests and so on in Great Forks against undead activity in the inverse city, and Ir recognizes the latter because it matches up with a series of attacks and ambushes faced by the kruthik hive. At basically the time you had your spider problems, Great Forks's tides of violence and [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12misfortune continued while the inverse city's stopped dead. [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara's face darkens as she pulls out her third chart. She turns it over to reveal a field completely covered in black ink, in which someone seems to have carved out lines, circles, and asterisks with a stylus. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "This astrological data indicates inverse troop movements. They've been... concentrating. Training. Increasing in number, presumably by pulling from the darkness beneath the city. They're supposed to be static, or dwindling." 15[23:44] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi never came back into the mess, but it's customary for him to eat too much at lunch and then have an afternoon lie-down. [23:44] 4Ir follows along fairly well, especially that second time, but she'll be relying on Blossom and Tatsuying for the finer points. [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12That's a star chart. but it seems wrong. None of the constellations match those of your skies. [23:45] 6Tatsu13ying: "...the Underworld?" [23:45] 6Tatsuya: "Wait. Is this from..." 13Ying: "him?" [23:46] 7Blossom sighs. [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara nods, her jaw tight. "The numbers are good. They mean that- ...um, yes. That's one of the things he does." [23:49] 6Tatsu13ying: "..." 13They're pursing their lips, 6looking vaguely disappointed. [23:49] 4Ir: "Who, now?" [23:49] 6Tatsu13ying: "Reckoning." [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara taps her fingers together nervously, letting someone else actually- there it is. [23:49] Ir: "Oh, that asshole. Eh." [23:50] 4Ir: "Oh, that asshole. Eh." [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Anywaythepointis. The point is, the dead of the Inverse are probably not going to be just, milling around in there for much longer." [23:51] 4Ir: "Good news is, we're going in after them. Demon army is almost ready to roll." [23:51] 4Ir: "We're going to pretend we're coming in through the ceiling, and then storm down main street with support from the narrow bridges on the wings." [23:53] 6Tatsu13ying: "That's good! Misdirection is the best way to approach this." [23:53] 7She nods. "We'll need all of us on deck for this. Sorry, Ying." [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "You said you wanted me there? I... I don't know if I'd do much good on a battlefield." [23:54] 13They look confused. "Of course we'll be there." 08[23:54] 4To Blossom: "You and Eikichi will have to be air support, on a Stormwind Rider or something. We're not going to have flying Kruthik and we can't fit the Heavensward down there." [23:55] 7Blossom: "Yeah, but you hate fighting...?" [23:55] 4To Yara: "You can help me survey the battlefield and stay aware of the situation, so me, Jormungand, and the Fates can properly run the show." [23:55] 6Tatsu13ying: "But we're good at it." [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara taps her chin. "I don't know..." Session Time: Fri Jul 13 00:00:00 2018 [00:00] 4Ir shrugs. "Don't have to give me an answer now." [00:00] "But it'd be cool to have you along." [00:06] 4Ir: "I don't think you've met Jormungand or the Fates; they don't talk much. There's this tendency, I think, to think of demons -- especially demons that scuttle or scurry or click about, like the kruthik do -- as animals. But the Fates and Jormungand aren't animals, even if they don't quite talk like you or I. They're people, and they're certainly worth protecting, moreso than these [00:06] leftover echoes of ghosts from another time haunting the Inverse. At the very least, seeing them in action should be interesting." [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Iii... I mean, if you really think it's important. They're important? I can definitely do scouting and stuff." [00:08] 4Ir: "I do. Thank you, Yara." [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara nods. "Right. Well. I'm glad to-" 12she starts gathering the scrolls. "I mean, now that I know. I was starting to miss-" 12She gathers them faster. "Well, I guess still- I actually have to go I think!" [00:11] 6Tatsu13ying: "Don't be a stranger! We'll miss you..." [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara nearly trips on something as Tatsuya and Ying speak in unison, but recovers almost gracefully and scrambles out of sight. [00:12] 4Ir: "See you soon. Take a sandwich for the road, if you like." [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a faint, silky sound and a glint of light in the air as a barely-visible thread of spider's web comes hooking around a corner to spear a sandwich and yank it out of sight. [00:13] 4Whew. Just about no leftovers. [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12The Inverse's reckoning probably begins... next week. 15[00:22] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Back in his room, Eikichi's hunched in front of his vanity, looking out past messy pink hair and three-quarters of Rose's face, a grease pencil in one hand and her chin in the other. 14[08:53] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[13:49] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[13:59] * Joins: Crion 14[14:09] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:44] * Joins: Zarick 14[23:06] * Joins: Crion 14[23:24] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:36] * Joins: Crion 14[23:58] * Quits: Crion (Connection closed) 14[23:58] * Joins: Crion Session Time: Sat Jul 14 00:00:00 2018 14[00:07] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[00:11] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:06] * Joins: Crion 14[01:10] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:42] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[08:22] * Joins: Zarick 14[13:11] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[13:14] * Quits: cbass (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:33] * Joins: cbass 14[14:55] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:01] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[16:19] * Joins: Crion 14[17:07] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:22] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[17:22] * Joins: cbass 14[18:18] * Joins: Crion| 14[20:08] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:11] * Joins: Crion| 14[20:20] * Quits: Crion| (Connection closed) 14[20:20] * Joins: Crion| 14[21:17] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[22:15] * Disconnected Session Close: Sat Jul 14 22:15:25 2018 Session Start: Sat Oct 27 14:32:55 2018 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:32] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:32] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[14:32] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[14:43] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:43] * Quits: VoxPrime (Quit: ) 15[15:02] * Disconnected Session Close: Sat Oct 27 15:02:59 2018 Session Start: Sat Oct 27 15:53:17 2018 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[15:53] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[15:53] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[15:53] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 Session Start: Sat Oct 27 16:56:48 2018 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[16:56] * Joins: GreatClownVoxPVoxD 14[16:56] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[16:56] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[16:56] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 15[16:56] * Disconnected Session Close: Sat Oct 27 16:57:00 2018 14[16:57] * Quits: GreatClownVoxPVoxD (Quit: dammitwho sucks) 14[17:20] * Joins: Crion_ 14[17:41] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:41] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[17:42] * Ferrinus is now known as Guest53081 14[17:45] * Quits: Guest53081 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:13] * Joins: tom 14[18:23] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[18:29] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:53] * Joins: Crion_ 14[23:19] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Sun Oct 28 00:00:00 2018 14[00:41] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:49] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[01:47] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:55] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[02:16] * Joins: cbass 15[02:52] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Oct 28 02:52:04 2018 Session Start: Sun Oct 28 13:20:29 2018 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[13:20] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[13:20] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[13:20] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[14:17] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[14:18] * Joins: cbass 14[14:44] * Joins: cbass_ 14[14:44] * Quits: cbass (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_)) 14[14:44] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 14[15:06] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[15:07] * Joins: cbass 14[15:12] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[15:12] * Joins: cbass 14[15:16] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[15:17] * Joins: cbass 14[15:52] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:10] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[18:16] * Joins: tom 14[18:59] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[19:00] * Ferrinus is now known as Guest11842 14[19:01] * Guest11842 is now known as Ferrinus 14[19:01] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[19:19] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:39] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:56] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[19:57] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:03] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:17] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[21:35] * Joins: Crion_ 14[22:15] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:15] * Joins: Crion| 14[23:05] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[23:09] * Joins: hrolf 14[23:13] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Mon Oct 29 00:00:00 2018 14[00:10] * Quits: Crion| (Quit: ) 14[01:30] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:54] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:22] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:34] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:56] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:34] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[11:34] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[14:20] * Joins: tom 14[14:46] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:04] * Joins: hrolf_mac_ 14[15:05] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:05] * hrolf_mac_ is now known as hrolf_mac 14[15:15] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:01] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:01] * Joins: cbass 14[16:08] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:09] * Joins: cbass 14[18:38] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[19:05] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[20:41] * Joins: Crion_ 14[21:23] * Joins: dammitwho 14[21:48] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[23:37] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[23:56] * Joins: Crion_ [23:56] one sec [23:59] 4Ir: "one sec" Session Time: Tue Oct 30 00:00:00 2018 14[00:06] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[00:29] * Joins: Crion| 14[00:30] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:30] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[00:56] * Quits: Crion| (Quit: ) 14[05:37] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:05] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[09:50] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[10:49] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[14:05] * Joins: Crion_ 14[14:24] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:31] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[15:33] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Connection closed) 14[15:39] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[18:31] * Joins: tom 14[19:01] * Joins: hrolf 14[21:24] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[21:42] * Joins: cbass 14[22:04] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[22:10] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[22:32] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[22:48] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[22:57] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:06] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[23:07] * Joins: hrolf_mac Session Time: Wed Oct 31 00:00:00 2018 14[00:26] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[03:31] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[05:59] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[05:59] * Quits: 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14[12:06] * Quits: Crion_ (Connection closed) 14[12:50] * Joins: hrolf 15[14:09] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Nov 01 14:09:29 2018 Session Start: Tue Nov 06 22:30:55 2018 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[22:30] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[22:30] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[22:30] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 15[22:35] * Disconnected 15[22:35] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[22:35] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[22:35] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[22:35] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[22:46] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[22:47] * Joins: tom Session Time: Wed Nov 07 00:00:00 2018 14[00:02] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:26] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[00:27] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[00:36] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 15[01:30] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed Nov 07 01:30:17 2018 Session Start: Wed Nov 07 01:40:16 2018 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[01:40] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[01:40] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[01:40] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[02:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:12] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[04:28] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[04:29] * Joins: dammitwho 14[06:28] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:51] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:06] * Joins: tom Session Time: Thu Nov 08 00:00:00 2018 14[04:19] * Joins: Crion 14[06:52] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[16:28] * Disconnected 15[16:29] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[16:29] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[16:29] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[16:29] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[16:29] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[16:30] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:30] * Quits: VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:30] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:31] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Connection closed) 14[16:31] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[16:32] * Ferrinus is now known as Guest19081 15[16:35] * Disconnected 15[16:35] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[16:35] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[16:35] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[16:35] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[18:06] * Guest19081 is now known as Ferrinus 14[18:06] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus [18:50] vampire pirates [18:57] pirpires 14[20:02] * Joins: tom 14[22:08] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[22:12] * Joins: Crion 14[22:38] * Joins: Crion_ Session Time: Fri Nov 09 00:00:00 2018 15[00:09] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Nov 09 01:32:31 2018 Session Start: Fri Nov 09 02:16:28 2018 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[02:16] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[02:16] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[02:16] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[02:31] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[02:31] * Joins: dammitwho 14[05:58] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:44] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:52] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[08:55] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[08:56] * Quits: trenchfoot (NickServ (GHOST command used by trenchfoot_)) 14[08:56] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[12:41] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[12:41] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 15[18:43] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Nov 09 18:43:23 2018 Session Start: Fri Nov 09 18:47:06 2018 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[18:47] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[18:47] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[18:47] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[20:41] * Joins: Crion_ 14[21:09] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[22:59] * Joins: tom Session Time: Sat Nov 10 00:00:00 2018 14[02:19] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Connection closed) 14[02:20] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:16] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[06:41] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:25] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:50] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[12:50] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[15:52] * Joins: hrolf 14[16:03] * Joins: tom 14[20:14] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sun Nov 11 00:00:00 2018 14[04:45] * Quits: dammitwho (Connection closed) 14[04:45] * Joins: dammitwho 14[06:24] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:43] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[18:36] * Joins: tom 14[18:59] * Joins: dammitwho 14[22:21] * Joins: hrolf 14[23:55] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Mon Nov 12 00:00:00 2018 14[00:05] * Joins: Crion_ 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14[17:29] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[17:29] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[17:29] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[17:47] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:22] * Joins: tom 14[18:56] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:00] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[21:57] * Disconnected 15[21:59] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[21:59] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[21:59] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[21:59] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[21:59] * Joins: tom 14[21:59] * Quits: VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[21:59] * Disconnected 15[21:59] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[21:59] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[21:59] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[21:59] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[22:00] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:00] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:40] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 14[22:40] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[22:41] * Joins: Crion_ 14[23:57] * Joins: Crion| 14[23:58] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Tue Nov 13 00:00:00 2018 14[00:45] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:24] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:45] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:46] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[06:49] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:48] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:10] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[12:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:59] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:38] * Joins: tom2 14[16:46] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[18:14] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[18:17] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:25] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[18:34] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[20:01]  15[20:01]  15[20:01]  15[20:01]  15[20:01]  14[20:05] * Joins: tom 15[20:10] The first signs from the south appear in the midmorning, outriders on fleas the size of horses. Next they see the behemoth of copper and black blood, a bearded thousand-fanged maw cresting the horizon as it clears the southern foothills, trailing great saffron banners from its flanks as the remnants of seven nations throng beneath it. [20:10] 14Let the word and the way be: Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke. 14[20:13] * Quits: VoxPrime (Quit: ) 15[20:13] The scouts in Nexus at the Ambassador's behest report that armies from the southeast and northeast mass just beyond eyeshot, as wind and mist descends from violet clouds crowding the skies of Nexus. Sorcerous whirlwinds keep the city clean but visibility falls to nothing less than half a malm from the city limits. [20:16] 14Not what you want. 15[20:16] The city's populace has rapidly been sequestered underground, and chaos ripples through the Undercity as people settle and struggle and brace for the worst. 15[20:17] But the fortified government of Nexus keeps the peace, if barely. [20:17] 14Is there a chance anymore for parlay? We already did it once; didn't go so well. 15[20:19] As fate would have it, word reaches the war council from the Lookshyan shock troops bulwarking the southern defense: a messenger has come with a rose clenched between her teeth and a writ in her hand. Elegba the Lion offers parlay. 15[20:19] The greater armies still linger in the mist. Is it a trick? A feint? An ultimatum? [20:20] 14Stranger Visits Heaven will accept, on behalf of his office. It's probably all three. 15[20:21] Dragonlord Vuol Ballare is skeptical. "Take an honor guard who can extract you if it's a trap. I can offer six Gunzosha." [20:21] 13That's -- hm. It seems a little too convenient, but... well, Stranger knows what he's doing. How many people can we spare with him? [20:21] 13...that answers that. [20:22] 14To the Dragonlord: "Can you spare those forces, assuming their total loss?" [20:24] 14With less of an edge: "No one with me makes it easier to run." [20:29] 14He'll look over at Xia Lan here, though. If he's taking any honor guard, it's the pop star. They'll love her. 15[20:29] Ballare: "If they wipe out a diplomatic envoy I want them to bleed to do it. We have to send a message." [20:30] 14Stranger: "They don't have a chance to kill me, Dragonlord. Friends in high places." [20:30] "And no one is going to tally you the wrong way if we all die here by degrees just because I went first." 15[20:31] Ballare: "Oh, make no mistake, I'm not letting you go alone. This is your play, because you represent the Council, but I'm taking a seat at the table." 15[20:32] The Governor grumbles from his station arranging figures on the map table. "I will dispatch the Scion to join you." [20:33] 13Xia Lan: "A smaller group would be better and could still make them--" 13she starts, before being interrupted by the Governor. She eyes Xu Sim and Stranger in turn - their thoughts? 15[20:33] Scion of the Sevenfold betrays no reaction, and though the rest of the Council has no love for the Thorns delegation, no one objects. [20:34] 14Stranger grimaces. "My plan for leaving involves flight and small responsibilities. If you're worried I'll negotiate without you, you should be aware that the only likely outcome of this parlay is stalling for time." [20:35] "Everyone in attendence is likely to have to run, fly, or swim at the conclusion of the festivities." [20:35] "If you're down with that, then welcome to the team." [20:35] 5Xu Sim: "A sharp scout report could tell us where to aim the thistledown." 15[20:35] Governor: "I am prepared to make this sacrifice." [20:36] 14Asshole. [20:38] "Are you?" 5 asks Xu Sim, quietly. "Perhaps I should attend; none of you can resist the Wyld's warp but I can protect the delegation." [20:39] 14Well. I guess we're putting a party together, then. 15[20:40] Seven, a little too quickly: "You needn't endanger yourself, a brief exposure to Wyld corruption shouldn't harm pose us any danger." 15[20:40] Then she cringes privately at using the word 'danger' twice in such short succession. [20:41] 14Stranger: "I want to keep our delegation under six." 15[20:41] Ballare: "What a pity, we won't have any room for Keldar." [20:41] 13We've all been there. "A pity indeed." [20:42] "He has more pressing responsibilities." [20:42] 14And he probably wouldn't fly, the fool. [20:43] 14Stranger: "I'll be heading out in half an hour. Xia Lan, Seven, and two or three more -- that's what I'd prefer as a delegation." [20:46] 5Xu Sim slides a small wooden chest down the table towards Keldar. Inside rests a small brass and crystal orb. [20:46] 14When the parlay group assembles near the Nexus gates, they meet Stranger-Visits-Heaven and the Ambassador of Night and Day. [20:52] 13When she arrives, Xia Lan's switched to more formal wear, a tight black dress with a light shawl, hilts of her swords peeking out from the sides of her belt. Elegant, yet dangerous, and hopefully she can be the former without needing to reach for the latter. [20:54] 14Ambassador, to Xia Lan: "Darling. Excellent." [20:55] 14Stranger is wearing his normal cream-colored robes, and the Ambassador is in her usual black form-fitting gown. [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Many would be unrecognizable after having taken their Second Breath, clad themselves completely in artifact regalia, shifted careers from sellswrd to guard captain, and spending about a month and a half devising and executing the most grueling yet effective training regime known to man, but Keldar has an iron grasp on his personal brand. The still-technically-a-mercenary's black [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12bandana flaps in the wind, its tails rippling over the gold-and-silver plating otherwise ensconscing the Dawn Sergeant. For symbolic reasons, Keldar's also wearing a shield; Entreaty hangs on his back with Terminus threaded neatly through it. 14[20:57] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[20:57] * Joins: tom [20:57] 5Xu Sim appears distracted, puffing nervously on the steambreather. He's thrown a coarse, dirty brown cloak over the white robes he's been wearing since nearly being assassinated by hobgoblins. [20:57] 14Good thing that Ballare is attending, not Dorma. [20:58] 13She flashes a quick grin to the Ambassador. "Thank you. I thought it'd be important to look my best, given..." 13She trails off while subtly gesturing over to Xu Sim. [20:59] 14The Ambassador gives him and then her a look that is cleaved between pity and mirthful reprove. "We are as we must be." [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Despite Ballare's efforts, Keldar's shown up - one supposes that you hear about things when every guard answers to you. Keldar's fiddling with the blue and gold badge clamped to his breastplate as he announces and explains himself. "Guard's mustering as planned. I'm thinkin' I want to be able to capitalize in case the southerners try something stupid." 15[21:02] Ballare conceals her displeasure with a curt nod. "Let's go then." [21:03] 14Stranger: "I need everyone to agree to something beforehand." 15[21:04] Seven: "?" [21:04] "Namely: Negotiations go to the principals. That means myself, the Dragonlord, and Seven. And the Ambassador, for the Lunars." [21:05] "We are no longer allowed to fuck this up frivolously. If we fuck this up, it has to mean something." [21:06] "That doesn't mean you don't contribute. Take your negotiator aside. But we are gambling for everything, and our best outcome is buying time. I want everyone to respect that before we walk down that road." [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "'course. United front, and Emissary speaks over the council if he wants to. If they want to." [21:08] 14Stranger nods. "Let's do this." [21:08] 13Xia Lan just nods. Let's go. [21:10] 5Xu Sim folds his hands over one another and will walk (are they walking?) alongside Seven. [21:10] 14Stranger will take Xia Lan aside once they're a bit down the road. [21:11] 14When they're done talking he'll return to the Ambassador's side. [21:14] 14Long walk. 15[21:15] The seven emissaries walk a thousand malms, within clear sight of the southern line. A long table with seven chairs a side is set up in the shadow of the great burning colossus at the heart of the army. All but the center chair on the far side is occupied, and a voice hails them from above. 15[21:15] "Hail!" [21:15] 14Stranger: "Hail, hail." [21:16] 5Xu Sim puffs away, ignoring the conversants and examining the colossus. [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar takes up station beside Stranger, arms crossed. He looks skeptical. 15[21:16] A sound like the deepest register of a pipe organ being mashed all at once accompanies the colossus's head descending, a figure nimbly touching down after leaping from its brow. [21:17] 13Xia Lan shifts slightly in place. Does the figure look familiar? 15[21:18] "Hail and hail again!" says a thin and garish man glad in yellow and scarlet with a rose the size of a melon perched in his large hat Xia Lan once saw in a dream. "Sit, please!" [21:22] 14Stranger stares at him for a moment, then smiles: "And where should I sit?" [21:27] 5Xu Sim sits and cranes his neck to examine the leering, demonic visage staring down at them. 15[21:27] "Please, arrange yourselves on this side of the table here, and we can all introduce ourselves." Elegba sits at the center of the far side of the table. [21:27] 13She's owed something from him. Something important. And... he didn't seem so bad, the last time. [21:28] 14Not an answer. Fantastic. Stranger will take the middle seat out of seven. [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar takes the first seat to the right of the center. [21:28] 14Stranger wants Xia Lan on his left. [21:28] 13She's there as soon as Keldar makes for his right. [21:29] 14Xu Sim should sit next to his woman, who should sit closer to center than him. Ballare should sit next to Keldar. 15[21:29] Ballare's already settled down next to Keldar and Xu Sim and Seven have open seats to Xia Lan's left. [21:30] 14That puts the Ambassador to Ballare's left, at the end of that table. She's fine with that. 15[21:31] "Excellent, excellent. Do you prefer sun or shade?" The colossus above currently blocks out the sun for the assembled parlay. [21:31] 14Stranger: "Aesthetically or ideologically?" 15[21:32] "Aesthetically. We of course respect your position and the old pacts." [21:34] 14Stranger: "Aesthetically, it would be nice if your boy stepped off. Ideologically, we're here anyway." [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar doesn't offer an opinion here. He slowly limbers his hands and wrists as he sits, his immaculately-maintained and essence-lightened armor not issuing so much as a scrape in the process. [21:36] 13Xia Lan watches the Lion with interest. Sorting through what she remembers of the dream, and comparing. Otherwise, she remain calm, poised, and silent. [21:37] 14He leans forward. "I haven't met you before, Lion. I'm looking forward to it, whenever it happens." 15[21:41] Elegba waves a gloved hand and the great beast rears back, letting the sun bear down on them. "I am Elegba, and these are the six great generals of the Enigman Liberation Army." They go around and introduce themselves: Grans, Iron Crab, Shandra of Harborhead, Makwame Lu, Wen the Luminate, and Heart of Kirighast/ [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar quietly takes note. Has he heard of any of these? If or when it comes time to cross the table, who'll be the easiest to pick off immediately? [21:45] 14Stranger leans back. "Whenever it happens." 14He looks across the table. "Ladies and gentlemen." 15[21:46] Ballare: "Vuol Ballare, Dragonlord of the Seventh Legion's General Staff." 15[21:47] Seven: "I am Scion of the Sevenfold, emissary of Thorns." [21:47] 14Stranger gestures for everyone else to introduce themselves, if they haven't. [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Dawn Sergeant Keldar, of the Council of Nexus and Ninth Orchard Company." [21:48] 5Xu Sim: "Xu Sim." [21:50] 13Xia Lan: "The Unfettered Xia Lan, of the Council of Nexus." [21:51] 14From the end of the table: "The Ambassador of Night and Day." [21:54] 14Stranger: "And I am Stranger-Visits-Heaven." 15[21:56] Elegba: "Splendid. I'll be brief: we can avert further disaster. I'm heartened by the assemblage I see before me. Both for who is in it and for who is not." [21:56] 14Stranger: "Further." [21:58] 14Stranger: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. Go on." 15[22:03] Elegba hesitates only briefly. "We can offer total amnesty for all mortals held involuntarily, a withdrawal from all the territory we've absorbed en route, and an iron vow to leave your lands unblemished by the scarring of greater conflict." 15[22:03] "What we require is the body, the Eye, and the heart in the hollow." [22:07] 14Stranger: "You require a lot of things, and iron isn't steel. And frankly, Lion and generals, the things we are define us. To put it finely: no one marches on Meru not to have a crusade." [22:07] "So here you are." 15[22:09] Elegba: "You aren't wrong. This is a move of some desperation on our part. The Throne was insistent that a final confrontation with the forgotten king cannot be averted. But with him in our custody in full they conceded there would be little reason to press an attack." [22:11] 14Stranger: "He's in your custody? We've seen other miracles." 15[22:11] Elegba: "Oh, no, forgive me. I mean that if he were, we would have no reason to go in and get him." [22:12] 14Stranger: "As far as we know, he's roaming about the world. He's incredibly defiant. But you've all come here." [22:13] "Unless you're fishing for a corpse." 15[22:14] Elegba: "As many bodies as he claims." [22:15] 13That's going to be a bit trickier. [22:16] 14Stranger: "I suppose my problem is that I've taken his job, and I don't give a shit about him, his provenance, or anything else he represents." [22:17] "I suppose my problem is that I think that if all you wanted was a corpse, you wouldn't have killed so many people to come here." [22:17] <@Ferrinus> Keldar's maintaining a steely expression throughout all this. He's stopped stretching his hands and has just got them clasped on the table. 15[22:20] Elegba: "I won't deny it. It's not all we want. But it is all we require. It's a path to avert the Crusade." [22:22] 14Stranger: "You've tried to kill four directions just to get here. What happens if we give you that corpse and 'the Crusade' is averted?" [22:30] 14He inhales, exhales, and leans back. "I like you. I just don't know how much everyone else likes you." [22:32] 13Xia Lan glances to her side, then back up to Elegba. He still owes her something - can't be throwing that away just yet. [22:34] "Why have you returned at all?" 5the doctor pipes up at last. 15[22:36] Elegba: "Ardua and the Throne are not quick to calm. But they desire, more than vengeance, the ability to move on. If we can claim our debt from the king's betrayal, we will have that." [22:37] "It's been more than seven hundred years," 5he points out. [22:38] 14Stranger, to Seven: "Please ask the doctor to get his dialogue right." [22:39] <@Ferrinus> "King's betrayal?" 12says Keldar, breaking his silence. He leans forward slightly. "Wasn't the king betrayed?" [22:39] 14Well, fine. 15[22:39] One of the generals - Wen - speaks up. "The Lion comes because the Lion swore. We follow the Lion." [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Just trying to get this straight." 15[22:40] Elegba looks at Keldar, incredulous. "Betrayed by whom?" [22:40] 14Sometimes you set up a system, but everyone has to talk. Fair enough. [22:41] 14The Ambassador stares down the table at Stranger, and he waves her off. [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Way I heard this told, lot of you were massed in Nex- in Hollow when the Sword of Creation finally woke up. The Empress said she'd let you four live if you turned back, and... well, here you are, alive. Right?" [22:42] 13Xia Lan's hands uncross themselves and return to their proper sides of the table. Palms down, easy movements. This is... a complex topic to broach. [22:42] 14Stranger's hand goes to his parasol. Far in the distance, almost impossible to hear, a crow caws. [22:43] 14He's still smiling, though. 15[22:44] Elegba: "Preposterous. Preposterous in the extreme." [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So what's the story?" 15[22:47] Elegba: "...I can't say." [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar gives the raksha lord a look. 15[22:48] Elegba: "I have no desire to make this harder than it is." [22:49] 14Stranger: "It's fairly hard." [22:50] "What is the name of your warstrider here? It isn't too shabby," 5an obvious understatement. "I doubt it was inexpensive." [22:56] 13Xia Lan, interrupting: "Not to interrupt - I've kept my silence, but -- Elegba. You have something of mine, and promised to return it on your honor when we met in three weeks time." 13She gestures at the table. "Here we are. I'd like it back." 15[22:56] Elegba: "She is a beauty, isn't she? We know her as Akasha, the Wailing Wall, but it's older by far than I am. It greeted me when I first arrived in our fair city." 15[22:58] To Xia Lan: "I'd intended to conduct our personal business when the meeting concluded. I am delighted to see you looking well." [22:58] 14Creep. [22:59] 13She leans back slightly, but offers no further comment. This... isn't likely to go the way she wanted. [23:01] 14Stranger: "The former Emissary isn't the current Emissary. If you want us to hunt that creature, we will need guarantees and assurances. Can you give them?" 15[23:05] Elegba: "I can guarantee that I have received assurances." [23:06] 14Stranger smiles. "That ain't it." 15[23:07] Elegba: "If you agree in principle I can arrange negotiations with the Throne, if you desire. I am certain I can guarantee that. Only they can provide absolute certainty of their intentions." [23:09] 14Stranger: "Agree in principle to what? Because those fire and ice kids aren't us. You can talk down to them all day; they'll probably believe you. But this is another conversation." 15[23:10] Elegba: "Say we take a proposal to the throne that you can offer up the king provided you can first consecrate an oath binding them to terms." [23:19] 14Stranger: "Say you remember what happened the last time you walked down this road, how much it burned, and say you realize that it happened without most of the people on my side of the table sitting on my side of the table." [23:20] 14Stranger: "There's a hard line here." 15[23:20] "What is it?" [23:21] 14Stranger: "It's where your assurances don't meet your guarantees. It's where you march four armies on your former glory. It's where the Sun sets." 15[23:21] "I see." [23:22] "Give me something I can return to Nexus or do me the favor of not pretending any more." 15[23:22] Elegba: "I have only my word. I cannot offer you the throne's." 15[23:22] *Throne's [23:22] "And fuck me if I can't take a joke." 15[23:23] Elegba sighs. [23:23] 13Xia Lan does, too. [23:23] "You knew what this was, coming in." 15[23:23] "I did not expect to succeed, but it still saddens me to fail." [23:24] "I know how that feels." [23:24] 13That makes at least two of us. [23:24] "Do we end this parlay well?" [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar glances back over his shoulder at the red sky over Nexus. "Out of curiosity - how did you even expect us to deliver the Eye? Stand aside while you wheeled a ladder in?" 15[23:26] Elegba: "Just pluck it down." [23:26] <@Ferrinus> "That easy, eh?" 12Although, reflects Keldar, it's not like anyone's ever tried. 15[23:27] Elegba stands. His generals join him. "Then I fear we all have our preparations to make." [23:27] 14Stranger stands. "We do." 15[23:28] He reaches into one of his sleeves and extracts a small sapphire vial. "Your heart, madam." [23:28] 13Xia Lan stands, and reaches to take it. "I'm sorry it had to end like this." 15[23:29] Elegba lets it go. "It hasn't ended." [23:30] 14Stranger: "No, I suppose it hasn't." [23:30] 13Xia Lan: "Until the next time, then." [23:30] "We'll meet again, Lion." 15[23:31] "So we will, Stranger." [23:31] "In better days." 15[23:31] "Farewell." [23:31] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven bows slightly, then motions for the retinue to follow him out. [23:32] 13Xia Lan bows deeper, and clutches the vial close as she follows Stranger out. What remains is a private matter. [23:33] 14Once they're well enough away: "I hope that bought some time. I don't think we have much left." [23:35] "More importantly, we got a closer look at that monstrosity. The Wailing Wall, eh?" 5He scoffs. "A powerful demon built it. Ligier. His name keeps coming up." [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "How do we dismantle it?" [23:36] 5Xu Sim: "I'll let you know when I think of something." [23:37] 14Stranger: "Do it soon. They're not magnanimous." [23:38] 13Xia Lan: "Xu Sim. Could you - I want this back. Desperately. But I don't know--" 13She gestures to the vial. "It might not only be what I gave up." [23:41] 5Xu Sim looks at it with surprise. "This is yours? Are you sure you really want it back?" [23:42] 13Xia Lan: "More than anything." [23:44] "It's warded, protected, preserved... but unaltered." [23:45] "But, how did he come by it?" 5he asks, pondering it for an instant longer. [23:45] 13Xia Lan: "Then I hope that stalling worked. I'm going to need some time. When we get clear." 13Her voice is the practiced evenness of someone delivering unpleasant news the dozenth time that day. [23:46] 13Xia Lan: "I told you, once. We met in a dream. I was nearly dead, and so were you, so I don't blame you for forgetting." [23:54] 14Stranger just keeps walking. [23:55] "I remember that. I didn't realize that losing this was why you felt the way you did." 5Ironic, that losing this sadness would cause grief, that having it returned might someday relieve it. [23:55] 13Xia Lan: "I couldn't say. I - don't feel it. Just the absence of something important." 15[23:57] NEXT TIME: The fall of Nessun Dorma [23:58] what!? 15[23:58] I said, 15[23:58] NEXT TIME: The fall of Nessun Dorma Session Time: Wed Nov 14 00:00:00 2018 14[00:24] * Joins: Crion| 14[00:37] * Quits: Crion| (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[04:14] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed Nov 14 04:14:01 2018 Session Start: Wed Nov 14 07:26:24 2018 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[07:26] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[07:26] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[07:26] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[08:23] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[13:59] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[14:00] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 15[14:02] * Disconnected 15[14:02] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:02] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:02] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[14:02] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[14:03] * Quits: VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[14:09] * Disconnected 15[14:09] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:09] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:09] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[14:09] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 15[14:10] * Disconnected 15[14:13] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:13] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:13] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[14:13] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[14:13] * Quits: VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[14:19] * Disconnected 15[14:19] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:19] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:19] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[14:19] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[14:33] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:35] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[14:36] * Ferrinus is now known as Guest26737 14[15:07] * Quits: Guest26737 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:17] * Joins: Guest26737 14[15:18] * Guest26737 is now known as FerrinusPrime 14[17:39] * Quits: FerrinusPrime (Quit: ) 14[18:50] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[19:14] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[19:14] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[19:19] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:28] * Joins: tom 14[20:51] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:56] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[20:56] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[21:00] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 15[22:10] * Disconnected 15[22:13] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[22:13] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[22:13] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[22:13] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 15[22:13] * Disconnected 15[22:14] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[22:14] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[22:14] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[22:14] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[22:14] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[22:14] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[22:14] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[22:16] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[22:17] * Quits: VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:20] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[22:20] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[22:26] * Joins: Crion 15[23:44] * Disconnected 15[23:44] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[23:44] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[23:44] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[23:44] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 Session Time: Thu Nov 15 00:00:00 2018 14[00:14] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[00:17] * Joins: cbass 14[00:21] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[00:25] * Joins: cbass 14[01:51] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:53] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:09] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[03:10] * Quits: tom (*.net *.split) 14[03:10] * Quits: banana (*.net *.split) 14[03:10] * Joins: tom 14[03:10] * Joins: banana 14[03:16] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[08:25] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[08:27] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:32] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:11] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[09:14] * Joins: Crion 14[09:36] * Joins: Crion| 14[11:41] * Quits: Crion| (Quit: ) 14[12:55] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[12:56] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[13:00] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[13:00] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[13:35] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:39] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[14:40] * Joins: Crion 14[19:06] * Joins: hrolf 15[21:16]  15[21:16]  15[21:16]  15[21:16]  15[21:16]  15[21:19] Nexus settles for its first uneasy night underground. Newly minted administrators make sure bedding and rations are distributed, undead servitors haul bushels of mushrooms up and down the Undercity, and Keldar's fierce irregulars keep the febrile peace. 15[21:20] Stranger, seeking Selin, finds him noisily eating what must be mushroom soup around a stale-smelling spore fire with half a dozen other men, all too busy eating to carry on much conversation. [21:20] 14He cares more about the administrators than the irregulars, but he'll beat either of their asses if they're lacking. These are war hours. [21:21] 14Ah, mushrooms. [21:21] 14Stranger: "Selin. How is it." [21:21] 14He'll sit down and grab a bowl himself, unless it's all gone. [21:21] 14He hasn't eaten all day. 15[21:24] "Better than yesterday," is all Selin manages between slurps as Stranger serves himself. "Keeping busy?" [21:25] 14Stranger: "You know me. I try too hard." 15[21:27] The men around the fire make room for Stranger, but no one engages him in conversation. Maybe they don't know who he is. Or maybe they do. [21:27] 14That's how it goes. [21:28] 14How is the stew? Can he improve it? Discreetly, if possible. 15[21:28] It's adequate. Not undersalted, which is the fatal flaw of all bad soups, but there's not a lot going on. If he's got some spices to sneak in or something... [21:29] 14Stranger: "I just thought of something. I'll be back." [21:29] 14Time to find some spices. 15[21:45] Finding spices down here is surprisingly easy - every other tunnel it seems like there's another impromptu bazaar of people selling whatever they can tow, scavenge, or steal to save money for after the war, to buy creature comforts to ease the pain of being stuck down here, or simply to unload their possessions before they're stolen. But it takes a keen eye to select a palate for the soup that's still bubbling away behind you. What's Stranger come back with? [22:11] 14Cauyene, which will add some kick, and some garlic. There's other stuff on offer -- he'll tuck it away -- but this is the combo that will bulk up the stew the most. [22:12] 14Plus, all it takes is dropping it in and stirring, not additional simmering. 15[22:19] A line forms at the stew pot. The soup is good. [22:21] 14Stranger takes a small portion after dropping in the garlic and spice, stirring it around, trying not to make too big of a deal. There's enough left that after the rest eat what they eat -- he's not being too deceptive about what he's putting in -- he can get another portion. [22:21] 14Once it's all done, to Selin: "You should get seconds." 15[22:22] Selin: "I shouldn't. But I will." [22:23] 14Stranger: "Don't be an ass. There's mushrooms for days." 15[22:23] "Yes, but how many days? That's the question. There's talk of siege." 15[22:24] Still, he gets his soup. [22:24] "We're sustainable." 14He waits for Selin to return. "But." [22:24] "I did want to talk about that." [22:26] "I want you to show me the walls, and what's beneath them. And what's beside them. And what else supports them." 15[22:27] Selin: "Oh?" [22:28] 14Stranger: "I'm responsible for this city. That's how it happens, sometimes. I don't particularly have a choice. Some people spice the stew. Like assholes." [22:29] "And someone with that responsibility should know how the sewers, the walls, and everything in between work. Even if they can't fix it." [22:29] "I don't trust anyone else." 15[22:30] Saying that gives Stranger an overpowering sense of deja vu. 15[22:31] Selin: "There's more left of old Hollow than you'd think. For all the good it does." [22:32] 14He blinks, then sips his stew. "That sounds like a recurring line." 15[22:36] Selin: "I'm happy to help you if I can. What would you like to know?" [22:36] 14Stranger: "I want to start with the fundamental basics. How low can they go?" [22:36] "Can they burrow us out?" 15[22:39] Selin thinks it over. "That deep underground they'd be lucky to survive, nevermind chew up through the depths of the old city, the dams... no. We're safe on that score." [22:40] 14Stranger nods. "Do we have any emplacement options for the sky? We've got that Tomb, but what sort of ballistae is the wall supporting -- can the wall support -- in addition?" 15[22:44] Selin shakes his head. "The Council never had much of a civil defense budget. Didn't need one. You've got the siegecraft Xu Sim has built, but little else." [22:45] 14Stranger: "Was afraid of that. How many bodies are buried in these walls? Tied up in these sewers? Workers' bodies." 15[22:48] "A body won't last long in the Undercity. If the vermin don't get you then Hayle's men do. Lot of paupers' ashes behind that particular sanitation effort." [22:49] 14Stranger: "Not even being able to put names or numbers to it is the final insult. But Hayle's men are latecomers on the real taskmasters." [22:49] 14Stranger: "I need to know how it all works." 14[22:50] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[22:51] * Joins: Crion 15[23:09] Selin: "As long as the gods cooperate, the rivers run the sewers. Flushing, drainage all runs with the current. You've got people - soldiers - at the sluices both inside and outside the city, and we've set up emergency earthwork barricades to shut them if we need to. Most of the old seals are stuck, you see. The sluice gates are the main points of access away from the Grand Canal, which runs over the heart of the city." [23:10] 14Stranger: "So those need to be reinforced. How defensible are those gates?" 15[23:12] "Not very. As the years wear on more of the sluice gates fall into disrepair or are deliberately damaged to make travel easier to and from the underground. You'd spread yourself thin trying to cover them all. Best to seal up as many as you can." [23:13] 14Stranger: "Is that possible without turning the system sideways, permanently?" 15[23:14] "No, but nothing is. This has already severely damaged the Undercity." [23:15] 14Stranger sips his soup again. "What sort of project would unfucking the system afterwards be?" 15[23:17] "A year at least. And that's just to undo the damage we're causing in these few weeks. Getting the system in anything like a healthy state will be a monumental effort." [23:18] 14Stranger sets down the bowl and pauses a moment, staring into the stew fire. Then: "You know what I am." [23:18] "Monumental effort can be brought." 15[23:20] Selin: "Then we ought to raise the dams." [23:21] 14Stranger: "...Might not be the fondest outcome for our river gods." 15[23:22] Selin: "They're rivers. If you want to bend them, you change the path of least resistance." [23:23] 14Stranger: "Wasn't saying it was undoable. Just that the wet season might get a bit more ornery." [23:23] 14Stranger: "Raising the dams dries out the rest of the underworks for greater projects, though, unless I miss my mark." 15[23:29] Selin nods. "And that's just what they do by stopping the water. The two and a half dams are the most intricate and powerful part of old Hollow's engineering. They moved the rivers to make that configuration possible. Purifying the water, moderating the weather, regulating the canals, draining the deepest part of the Undercity. This is just a fraction of what the dams were designed to do." [23:30] 14Stranger: "So that's where the focus needs to be should we survive this -- or even now. Proposition: we drop the ceilings on all the sewer entrances, given sunk costs, and reinforce the dams instead. What do we lose?" 15[23:34] Selin: "You guard against invasion but those sluices are also providing the city a large proportion of its water. It'll be very tight drawing enough water for everyone from the natural flows alone. People's access to water would be vulnerable to attack." [23:35] 14Stranger: "With the knowledge, of course, that said access itself is a vector for attack." [23:36] 14Stranger: "Could we split the difference? Preserve a few vital supply floes, monitor them, and divert the rest of the forces to the dams?" 15[23:37] "If it's properly thought through. Administrative nightmare, I'd think. But it's a strategy." [23:37] 14Stranger: "I love those." [23:38] "Administrative nightmares." [23:38] "Also, strategies." 15[23:38] "You must be in your element, then." [23:38] "I'm vamping. So, yes." 14He finishes his stew. "But I still want to know the theory behind the system, if you've got time for it." 14[23:41] * Joins: tom 15[23:43] "I've got more spare time just now than you do, I expect." Selin goes into the architectural principles undergirding old Hollow's construction - originally a sweeping engineering and geomantic project to draw energy from the confluence of the Grey and the Yellow rivers. Selin doesn't know what use the energy was meant to be put to - Stranger gets the sense that some particularly complex sorcery was involved. [23:46] 14That logically means further understanding entails consulting with Xu Sim...or learning sorcery himself. Either way, news for a younger crier. This is about the principles of standing upright, forever. [23:46] 14He listens intently and well. Session Time: Fri Nov 16 00:00:00 2018 14[00:27] * Joins: Crion_ 14[00:30] * Joins: hrolfy 14[00:33] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:55] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[02:04] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:36] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[09:22] * Joins: hrolfy 14[09:31] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:52] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:17] * Joins: tom 14[19:06] * Joins: hrolfy 14[22:26] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[22:31] * Joins: dammitwho Session Time: Sat Nov 17 00:00:00 2018 14[02:00] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:27] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:46] * Joins: hrolf 14[08:37] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:11] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:45] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:14] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:54] * Joins: hrolfy 14[12:57] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:18] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:48] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:49] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:05] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:08] * Joins: hrolf 14[18:47] * Joins: tom 14[19:12] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:54] * Joins: Crion_ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 --__ -- --__ -___ __- _ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 - - ___ --- ____ ____---- --__ - [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 -- __ W WWWW______"""______WWWW W ----- -- [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 __ __W| . . ||| . :|W__ -- [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 | :|. : ... : |. | [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 |.: |__| . : |__| :.| [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ===== |: . | ===== [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \ | O | / \ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 X | .:| X [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 | ===== | [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 |-___ / \ |--__ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 X [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 | [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 |--__ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> oh what the hell [20:20] <@Ferrinus> hang on [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 --__ -- --__ -___ __- _ [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 - - ___ --- ____ ____---- --__ - [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 -- __ W WWWW______"""______WWWW W ----- -- [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 __ __W| . . ||| . :|W__ -- [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 | :|. : ... : |. | [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 |.: |__| . : |__| :.| [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 ===== |: . | ===== [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \ | O | / \ [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 X | .:| X [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 | ===== | [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 |-___ / \ |--__ [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 X [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 | [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 |--__ [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Outside Great Forks, the kruthik mass, and beneath them the inverse city beckons. It's hung down from the underside of Creation's skin for years now, menacing the City of Temples, and the Squared Circle's only been given remit to breed an army of demon insects for the express purpose of finally putting an end to it. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's three queens have, all slaved to the currently-sessile but potentially-airborne Jormungand, spun forth quite a brood. They've got masses of expendable, wolflike kruthlings backed by hulking, armor-plated roaches, some of which swell with stolen balefire. Your heavier troops are both tough enough to brave a frontal assaults along the multiple spindle-like bridges that connect [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12the inverse city to the walls of the huge cavern it hangs in, and good enough at digging to simply bore straight down from the surface into the city's under- overbelly? [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12You're not literally, right now, riding into war - but you could be at a moment's notice, once you've reviewed and settled exactly if and how you'll divide your forces and if there's anything else you want to take care of. A lot's been taken care of already; the sun-dappled southwestern quarter of Great Forks that host your burgeoning sun cult is ticking merrily along, the wayward [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12getimian that you and your sidereal allies rescued has already been sent north to learn the martial arts, and Panther and his Circle have been reuinited and dispatched southwards to behemoths and demon cults operating in the area. [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12You might still owe Tam access to printing-works in exchange for Blossom's ongoing martial arts training... let's see, what else was going on? Anyone going after anything? [20:33] 4Ir is probably directly showrunning the feint base above the inverted city -- the one they'll only launch a token force from, but which needs to seem threatening enough to divert resources. [20:35] 13Ying still prooooobably should go check in on her shop and, y'know, help train the people she said she would... but that's not a world-spanning catastrophe, so it's kinda hard to prioritize. 14[20:35] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12There is that city-spanning catastophe where a burning ghost the size of several buildings keeps materializing in and burning down parts of Nexus, but it's across the canal from Ying's shop. [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12So, really, city-spanning is the wrong term - neighborhood-spanning, more like. [20:36] 13That's our fault, right? Like, literally 6our13 fault. 08[20:37] 7Blossom already gave Tam access to printing works! Didn't Eikichi comment on some of her flyers earlier? It feels like it was... months ago....... [20:37] 4If Ir recalls correctly, it's that shithead from Thorns's fault, who used us. [20:37] 4So...partial credit? [20:39] 6We should probably do something about that. [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, I seemed to remember Ying getting preoccupied the last time she visited Nexus to take care of that, but it's entirely possible that Blossom was able to use other agents. 15[20:40] 10Eikichi's been working out, writing the next chapter of the Squared Circle Saga, and starting and abandoning a variety of sorcerous projects he only seems able to explain in vague terms. Gatamello's reported that the Arena in Nexus wants to get in touch with Wild Rose, and Eikichi's undecided what to do about that. [20:40] 13That 6definitely 13did 6happen, 13yes. 08[20:47] 7Where is Eikichi right now? 15[20:48] 10Doing telekinetic pushups (he swears it's exercise and not just hovering up and down with no shirt on) in his room. 15[20:48] 10Cabin? It's technically a cabin. 08[20:54] 7Blossom is wearing a lounging yukata on his bed, pretending to read one of the earlier volumes of the Squared Circle Saga while Eikichi 'works out'. "Hey, 'kichi." 15[20:56] 10Eikichi, who's hovering up and down with no shirt on: "Mmm?" [20:57] "Do you know what they call a Sun-soaking Fruit in the Far East?" 15[20:58] 10Eikichi: "I don't think 14pant I do." [21:03] "They call it an 'orange'." [21:03] "The character's even the same as the color!" 15[21:04] 10Eikichi floats to a sitting position, six ilms off the ground. "Not even like 'orange apples' or 'orangeberries'? Just 'oranges'? [21:07] 7Blossom: "Yeah!" 15[21:09] "I guess they *are* orange..." [21:11] "Still, though." 7She glances over at him. "Was that fifty reps?" 15[21:13] "I lost count. Probably! I should take a break now, get a snack..." 15[21:13] 10If Blossom was counting it was barely thirty. [21:15] "Mm." 7What's this? She's just accepting his shirking and looking at the book again? Clearly she's being distracted by something. [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying and Tatsuya have had a lot on their minds since their trip to Nexus, and their recent enmeshing and disentanglement haven't really assuaged any anxieties. They're positive that the theft of that gigantic Niobraran daiklave is what caused the Tomb of Candle-Eyed Skulls to disgorge a gigantic, ever-reforming hungry ghost. They're also positive as to what would get it to stop: [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12returning the sword. [21:16] 13Well, that's gonna be 6a bit of an issue, on account of 13it's gone, and we don't 6know where it went. [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12You've got a pretty good guess as to that regard, actually. They say the Mask of Winters is as tall as two or three men together. [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12But anyway, failing that, someone would have to depower or totally dismantle the Tomb itself, which is a dicey proposition for anything of First Age construction but especially the vestiges of old Hollow. If you could find, like the original architectural plans for the Tomb somwhere, you might learn how to safely depower it. Failing that you'd have to execute massive infrastructural 08[21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12redevelopment outside the scope of Ying's own skills - this is probably something to put to Blossom or Eikichi. [21:19] 13Hmm. 6More theft, 13or asking for help from friends... [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12The good news is that Tatsuya knows what he's doing; he didn't leave any evidence of his own presence when he raided the Council vaults. [21:20] "'Kichi, uh... do you make a lot of money with these books?" [21:21] 13Well, at least he did something right. 6Wow, rude. [21:21] 6Can't believe I'm getting dragged by 13don't finish that sentence 6okay. 15[21:23] 10It's to Eikichi's eternal frustration that he can't come up with a good pet name for Blossom. Blossom is basically already a pet name. He reflects on this while eating a sweet roll. Finally: "Not really. They're banned in a lot of places so they get bartered around instead of sold." [21:26] 7Blossom doesn't really have a pet name for him, either. I mean it's just leaving out the first letter, and also didn't his other friends used to call him that? Not a great solution. Work in progress. "Hrmm," 7She says, disappointed. She bites her lip in thought. 15[21:27] 10He wonders what's eating at her... but then he realizes how much time's gone by. "Get changed, Ir's going to be ready soon." [21:28] 6Tatsuya makes his way over to Ir, having ducked all of his other responsibilities. Won an argument to do it, too. "Hey. Uh, sorry about last time. Going through some stuff." [21:29] 6Tatsuya: "...where do you want me? I'm up for anything." [21:29] "Oh, right!" 7She scurries away. 08[21:31] 4Ir's wearing her black bodysuit under the burning golden armor, creating quite a look. "Oh! Hi Tatsuya. It really depends on what Eikichi and Blossom want to do. I'm of two minds on it: we could play our strengths and all storm up the inverted highway together, the four of us with the queens and our full force. But -- and this might suit your skillset better -- there are these thin [21:31] catwalks interlaced around the sides of the cavern and the city itself. With the thrust of the attack coming up the middle, a small elite force could slip in the side and cause a lot of trouble in their back ranks." [21:32] 6Tatsuya: "How small are we talking?" 6He adjusts a glove. "Me and a couple... elite kruthik? Do they have those? Or...?" [21:33] 13A dim part of Tatsuya is extremely happy with how that outfit turned out, by the way. 08[21:34] 4Ir: "I was thinking you, Blossom, Eikichi, and maybe some kruthlings if you wanted them." [21:35] 6Tatsuya: "I-- and you're leading the charge alone?" 15[21:39] 10Eikichi shows up in a loose, open-chested orange gi and lavender-colored hair and eyes. "A split attack sounds smart." [21:40] 4She laughs. "I'll have the Fates -- the three queens -- and a couple hundred of our closest friends." 08[21:40] 4Ir: "Eikichi! Good to see you. I agree, though I'm kind of peeved I won't get to see you three in action, after all your training." 15[21:41] "Maybe we'll meet in the middle." [21:41] "That's the best case scenario." 08[21:42] 6Tatsuya glances over to Eikichi. "Good look." [21:42] 7Blossom turns up on deck with freshly-cleaned armor and a newly-polished hairclip. [21:44] 6Tatsuya's in the same leather coat and dark clothing he's worn into battle always, with a bright red pair of gloves. Keeps the bloodstains from showing, you see. [21:44] 14Ir waves her over. "Gang's all here. This should be pretty straight-forward." 4She runs down the pincer plan one more time. [21:47] 4The big question is: Do the three of them want to take ANY kruthik with them, or do they fully prioritize high speed, low sail? 08[21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12It all makes sense. Extensive scouting has given Ir commensurately extensive maps of the underground terrain; Eikichi, Blossom, and Tatsuya have a clear understanding of which cracks and caverns will lead them to one of the five catwalks sprouting from the inverse city's towers and stabbing off into the stone. They can time it so that they cross just as Ir begins digging, or just as [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12the actual attack hits. [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12All that remains is to take or graciously turn down a kruthling honor guard and get into position. Festivities begin as soon as the first line of roaches break the earth. [21:53] 6Tatsuya, nervously: "They'd listen to us, right?" [21:53] 4Ir: "I'll send Clothos along with you. She's the nice one." [21:54] 6Tatsuya: "I'm not sure how I feel about there being a 'nice one'." [21:54] "Wait, no I do. I feel bad." 08[21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12She also (like any of the queens) doesn't move that fast, although Eikichi's personal whirlwind can carry her around just fine. Hard to be stealthy with one of those in tow. [21:56] 7Blossom: "It seems wiser to me to keep all the queens together and have them act as the anvil to our hammer." [21:56] 4Ir nods. "Sounds good to me." [21:56] 6Too eagerly: "We can move fast and just -- strike, and evacuate. No need to slow us down with kruthik." [21:59] 4Ir nods again, this time with more finality. "Sounds good to me. I'll give you two hours to get into position -- then the digging starts. You should be able to see their reaction to that in the city; how they move around their defenders. It won't be long after that until the main force blitzes down the highway. I'll be there, all lit up and everything. That's your cue to move." [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir realizes, as she thinks through this problem, that she's going to be up against serious opposition - the kind that could stymie even her if conditions were right. She's got to plan as though she were in a Gateway game against another Chosen at the very least. [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12A mortal'd strike there - so a Terrestrial'd allocate forces there - but a Solar would think of this - so, naturally- [22:06] 4Her thoughts are clear and ordered. She feels like she's had months to think this over, carefully considering the situation like one of Heaven's immortal generals, selecting only the wisest motions in the dance. [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12And -- begin. When Atropos buzzes softly, dozens of the armored kruthik tunnelers directly atop the city bare their massive digging claws and shred earth and stone with inhuman speed. [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12It's mere minutes when the queen communicates again - there's been a response. [22:11] 4Ir smiles. Right on schedule. [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12The response comes in significant numbers... more buzzing... Clotho, from the sound of it, is holding her own. More of the dead are being marshalled to the city's topmost reaches. [22:17]  [22:17] 4Then it's time. [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Yep, that's exactly according to plan. All Ir has to do is to give the signal, and the golden-orange horde of sorcerously-unified Kruthik march en masse. [22:18] 4She makes her final preparations, checks both Atropos and Lachesis to make sure they're calm and prepared, takes a deep breath, says a silent prayer, and then it's on. [22:19] 4They forced her back last time. This time, she's brought many more friends. [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Headed by a spearwoman, a chittering, snarling horde of demon bugs comes barreling through the underground, sweeping through rubble like it isn't even there. The roaches can march five or six abreast, and the kruthlings tear about beneath their feet or over their shells or even across the walls and ceiling. [22:21] 4Once they're pouring in, that'll be the signal for the side-team to begin their approach. [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12The column of Kruthik comes crashing straight through a city wall, and therefore into the side of a column of dead soldiers that are completely exposed by their mad scramble up the sloping streets and crazy ladders and staircases leading to the city's top. Battle is joined! [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, three more Solar Exalted steal quickly across the one of the lower causeways. Ahead of them, the inverse city looms, soft greenish-yellow lights occasionally shining out of windows or cracks in walls. Though the inverse has he same circular cross-section as Great Forks, it's got a lot more verticality - it's like someone took the basically flat, disc-shaped city and then [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12let it drip down on itself like a stalactite, oozing more and more bottom layers that get progressively narrower and progressively more warped. [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Is Tatsuya leading a flanking party or a decapitation strike? Will he attempt to lead his friends quickly and quietly, or really quickly and loudly - and will he be arcing upwards to meet with Ir's force, or plunging downward to see whatever waits down below? [22:29] 6Unless specifically instructed not to, his inclination is quick, quiet, and q...uesting downward. Yes, I know, shut up, it's not catchy. Still - an elite strike group aiming for the priority target is his speed. And getting this battle over as soon as possible ought to be the safest outcome for everyone. [22:30] 6Assassination usually works pretty well, is all. 08[22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12The city Tatsuya, Blossom, and Eikichi find themselves climbing in is one in the midst of great commotion - but, strangely, not one in which that commotion is necessarily disrupting the tomblike stillness one would expect. There aren't the layers of dust and cobweb normally found in undisturbed crypts, but rather well-worn pathways and well-maintained buildings. Everything's made of [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12slate-grey stone or mud-caked bone or burning green fire, but people live here, or at least pretend to on a regular basis. [22:35] 6Muttering: "Not a fan." 15[22:36] 10Whispered: "Fascinating..." [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom notes with some interest that even the randomly extruded city-mass that she and her fellows are clambering through now is clearly grown out of the template of Great Forks proper. It has the same sorts of culs-de-sac, the same make of doors, the same rippling rows of shrines and temples - just all grown together and interpenetrating. And, judging by where crates lay and [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12footprints lead, the horrible bone-creatures that stalk these streets have indeed been engaged in a pantomime of Great Forks city life... until recently. [22:44] 6Somehow even more not a fan now. [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Judging by the depth of dust buildup, wood rot, and such matters, Blossom can pinpoint the deadening of activity down here in the city such that it coincides with her and her fellows' defeat of the rotten pattern spider. You've cut the strings of fate between this place and that, and allowed the "citizens" here to just crawl back into their graves like they should have all along. [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Still, they're clearly at the beck and call of something or someone, because doors are bursting open, walls are crumbling, patches of earth and cobble are erupting in showers of debris, as the shriveled ghost-creatures down here are called up and into battle. They're swarming upwards, climbing everything they can in their quest to, presumably, stop Ir's assault. [22:46] 6Have I mentioned lately that I hate this? Because I hate this. [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12So focused are they on the defense that they pay barely any attention to things not directly above them. By simply inverting the usual "no one ever looks up" principle of stealthy infiltration, Tatsuya can lead his friends on what's almost a casual walk downtown. [22:47] 7This place is just the worst. [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, it would be if half the streets didn't run up and down rather than along cardinal directions and if entire buildings weren't occasionally uprooting themselves to reveal themselves to be gigantic monsters. Watch out, right beneath you --! 15[22:49] 10Eikichi thinks it's kind of charming. [22:50] 6Tatsuya sighs heavily as streets roll up beneath his feet. He stands in place as his feet go sideways while the street becomes vertical, running a hand through his hair, before hopping off to find a new way through. [22:50] 6Bad town. 15[22:59] 10Eikichi tries to creep forward, but his balance is off and he slips and falls upward! [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12You mean downward- 08[23:01] 6Eikichi has never not failed upward. Don't stop him now. 08[23:02] 7Blossom notices Eikichi begin to stumble, gasps softly, and sprints toward him! Before he can plummet downward she's got him by the arm, pulling him up and holding onto him. 15[23:02] 10Eikichi sighs with relief and looks adoringly at Blossom. My hero~~~ [23:02] 6Watch her as she goes~ [23:03] 7She reddens slightly. "Be careful...!" [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12So Ir's charging ahead into a moving train of the whispery, skeletal soldiers that seem to form the bulk of the forces down here. They're not actual cavorting bones - it's more like what you'd get if you took a person, shaved off all their hair, painted them slate-grey, starved them to death, and stuck hot green coals into their eye sockets. And then gave them a shortspear or something, [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12obviously. [23:04] 14That just means they've given her two glowing things to aim for, in the dark. [23:04] 4That just means they've given her two glowing things to aim for, in the dark. [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Coming galloping over the rooftops (floorbottoms?) to Ir's right is what must count as cavalry down here - someone's taken a bunch of horse skeletons and removed the heads and tails in exchange for adding anywhere from two to five extra legs to each ribcage. Somehow, it seems to work - and the way the riders are actually fused to the mounts definitely makes them harder to disrupt or [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12unhorse. [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12To the other side, a shadowy ripple in the air indicates the presence of one of those lurking scythe-armed things. Well, nothing for it, 08[23:06] 6Tatsuya: "You okay?" 6He's not even looking at Blossom and Eikichi. 15[23:07] "Yeah I'm fine now." [23:07] 6Tatsuya: "Good. Don't - uh. Don't slip, or. Y'know." 6Wow that came out rude. [23:09] 4They sound like a storm rolling in, and when they strike, there's a burning gold angel at their fore. Jude's Law ripples and seethes in Ir's hands as she drives through the dead men of the inverted city, and kruthlings pour in behind her. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12The three Solars have another couple of scares as they make their way down the city's interlocking streets, but they're quick to get used to the way it unbuilds itself around them, and after a bit most of its forces have already vanished towards the upper levels. With the lack of perceptiveness on the part of the undead, Tatsuya's pathfinding, and Blossom's familiarity with the map [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12of the real Great Forks, our heroes can make their way to... well, there's only one logical place, right? The temple of the Three. [23:14] 4She's almost so caught up in it that the hideous, screaming monstrosity catches her offguard. [23:14] 4Almost. 08[23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi can pinpoint where its counterpart must be in the drippings of the inverse city, and it's to there that the three of you spiral. Approaching the great hanging structure, surrounded by the warped remains of lesser temples, you can hear... an argument? [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12A male voice, deep and resonant as though echoing from behind metal: "-then you should delay me no further!" 12A female voice, calm and measured: "And divide our power?" 12Same male voice: "The shield has wandered afield before, I'm sure of it-" 15[23:17] 10Either of them familiar? [23:19] 6Tatsuya stills. This... seems important. [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Not exactly, but there's something about the cadence. [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Yeah, no. The Three talked a bit like this. These voices aren't quite getting it right (particularly, they aren't holding to different tenses consistently) but you're clearly coming up on whatever this city's counterparts to the real Forks's rulers are. 08[23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi judges that the male voice is loyal to the female pretty much a priori - couldn't even think of defying or disobeying, hence his annoyance at being told no about something. The female voice sounds, uh... calm? 15[23:23] 10Intriguing. [23:24] 6Strange coincidence. [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Male voice: "My lady, please...! There is only one. I could crush them, finally - keep you undisturbed. It would- I mean, it is ... characteristic, isn't it?" 15[23:27] 10Heh heh. Suckers. [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Female voice: "I appreciate that you're bored, Water. But I won't act foolish on that boredom's account." 15[23:33] 10Acting foolish on boredom's account is how Eikichi spends the vast majority of his time. Water's boss must be stopped. [23:33] 6You're not wrong, Water, you're just an asshole. [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12What's the plan? The plaza surrounding the inverse temple is basically empty. You could stroll inside and announce yourselves, or try to find a sniper platform or something. [23:35] 4The undead collapse in from both sides, but the kruthik fight with no small measure of...joy, really, even as the two queens are caught a bit flatfooted. In the middle of it all, Ir grins. [23:38] 6We should probably try and sneak in... difficult as that sounds, it seems more productive than finding a sniping platform. Like. What do we even do with that? [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's forces clash with those of the inverse, and Ir's are clearly coming out ahead. A cavalry charge pastes some kruthlings against the walls and ceilings and injuries a few of the tunnelers, but there are many more where those came from, and all the while total devastation is being loosed on the enemy forces even despite the fact that the two queens are a bit disoriented. [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12As combat rocks the scene, a distant wall of bone and mortar crumbles away, revealing a crystal of greenish quartz taller than a man and thicker than a redwood. It juts out of a little backalley clearing, pulsing with toxic light and occasionally sending jagged ripples of vapor and seismic disturbance through the ground around it. Session Time: Sun Nov 18 00:00:00 2018 [00:14] 4The great thing of bone and razor comes for Ir, and the general raises her orb to meet it. It's...unclear what happens next, except that bone is cut. [00:17] 4The thing actually shudders and looks down at itself, still seeming-whole, as the orb reassembles above Ir's hand. Her grin doesn't fade even a bit as it suddenly slides apart, falling to the ground in little, chopped up bits, the ruin of a dead thing. 08[00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya takes stock, makes plans, and moves forward. Sneaking into a temple is hard - sneaking into an upside down temple is harder, because there's a wide plaza surrounding it that you could easily walk on if you were a spider but not if you're a human being. Of course, both Blossom and Tatsuya know the trick to get around this, but Eikichi doesn't, and either way in situations like [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12this it's a good idea to save one's breath. 08[00:28] 6Wait, what's that about Eikichi? Did he - oh Sun. [00:29] 4Ir doesn't want to take anything for granted, and it's still early, but this is going...very well. Even though her back up is late. [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12So, moving from tree to tree and overhang to overhang gets you across the plaza, and then you can creep on the roof of the veranda, and then move through the walls and around the pillars until you get a look at a vaguely familiar central chamber. Far overhead, on the ceiling, are three thrones - empty, because you can't sit on something like that. Right before them, in place of the [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12platform on which supplicants would normally stand and beseech the Three for aid, is a circular hole leading further down into the darkness below the inverse city. It's really dark. It makes the surrounding shadows practically glow in comparison. [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12On what should be the room's ceiling but is the actual floor are congelations of bones, grit, and velvet that seem to be serving as impromptu furniture. It's actually quite opulent, albeit macabre - everything that's not skulled and cobwebbed is bedecked in silver and draped in finery, and the edges of the room feature bookshelves, orrerries, lab tables, all sorts of things. Towards [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12the center is a huge, dark mirror, and three figures. [00:32] <@Ferrinus> 12One of them's a huge man clad head to toe in badly tarnished silver. He's got a convex triangular shield on his back and is pacing back and forth, annoyed. The second's either a middle aged man or a young man who's done way too many hard drugs in too high quantities, judging from his lined skin and unruly hair. He's frowning grimly to himself as he reads a book on a couch. [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12The third's a slightly built women in a long, silky black dress that drapes in a wavy line for several fulms on the stone behind her. She's got an elaborate, feathered headdress on and is standing right in front of the mirror, peering fiercely at her own reflection as she carefully adjusts her makeup. She's shockingly beautiful; it seems like a terrible waste, a historical tragedy, [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12that there isn't at least one portrait being painted right now for posterity. 15[00:34] 10Wow. Eikichi gasps audibly. 15[00:35] 10Then: "14Shit." 15[00:35] 10Then: "Oh fuck." [00:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Two heads turn. A third just smiles at its own reflection with lips of coral. 15[00:36] 10They see Eikichi, and nobody else, looking sheepish. [00:36] 6You idiot. Tatsuya has already dragged Blossom away -- they can salvage this. Probably. Hopefully. [00:37] 6I mean, they will. That literally isn't even in question. But this could have gone smoother. [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Steel scrapes as the huge man immediately draws his shield - you can't help but notice how sharp its bottom edge is. The other guy looks up from his book, before sharing a glance with his armored fellow and then looking back over at the sorcerer. "Uh..." [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12The woman still hasn't turned to look. She says: "Well? You're surrendering, perhaps?" 15[00:40] 10Eikichi struggles to get the first word out. "Nnnno-o-o... I was just in the area and I was struck by the view. Are those heron feathers?" 15[00:40] 10Eikichi struggles to get the first word out. "Nnnno-o-o... I was just in the area and I was struck by the view. Are those heron feathers?" 14[00:42] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:44] <@Ferrinus> 12The Squared Circle confronts the Inverse Trinity... next week. 14[01:46] * Joins: Crion_ 14[02:31] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[05:29] * Joins: tom2 14[05:29] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:09] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:32] * Joins: hrolf 14[15:00] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:01] * Joins: Crion_ 14[17:00] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[18:11] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[18:13] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[18:13] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[20:26] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:30] * Joins: hrolf 14[21:59] * Joins: tom Session Time: Mon Nov 19 00:00:00 2018 14[00:29] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[00:30] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[00:30] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[01:17] * Joins: Crion_ 14[01:18] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:22] * Joins: Crion| 14[01:23] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:25] * Quits: Crion| (Quit: ) 14[03:09] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:30] * Joins: VoxPrimey 14[03:32] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:38] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Connection closed) 14[07:38] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[07:45] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[07:49] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:20] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:44] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:00] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:01] * Joins: cbass 14[20:00] * Joins: tom 14[22:26] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[22:27] * Joins: cbass 14[22:35] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[22:35] * Joins: cbass Session Time: Tue Nov 20 00:00:00 2018 14[00:34] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[01:08] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[01:31] * Quits: banana (Quit: ZNC - http://znc.in) 14[01:36] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[01:36] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[01:36] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[01:50] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:04] * Joins: banana 14[07:45] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:39] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:31] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[12:59] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[13:03] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[14:52] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[14:53] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[14:53] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[16:56] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[17:18] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[17:53] * Joins: Crion_ 14[18:34] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:35] * Joins: Crion_ 14[18:44] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[20:14]  15[20:14]  15[20:14]  15[20:14]  15[20:16]  15[20:18] Before dawn the mist rolls south off the river, pushing up and down the streets of Nexus with lazy persistence in open defiance of the wind. The light of the sunrise stains the fog pink. 15[20:19] The fog thickens closer to the rivers. The far bank is totally obscured. Only the sporadic needling of beastman scouts is able to touch the boundaries of the fae line. 15[20:20] The collected defenders of the city (perhaps the Direction) have scant hours left to prepare themselves, or to seize initiative themselves. 15[20:21] What do they do? [20:21] 14Stranger will leave the war to the generals, for now. His concern -- perhaps obsession -- is making sure the noncombatants and semi-combatants (the children, the caregivers, the medical corps, and others) are properly squared away and as prepared as best they're able. And he'll be keeping his eyes open for any sneaks or creeps. [20:22] 14He doesn't trust the Fair Folk. If it were possible for them to get a fifth column inside the walls, they'd try. [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar hasn't really got a dramatic speech in mind; he's planning to outsource one to Xia Lan, or just yell the words "fuck 'em up" really loud. Instead, he's doing last-minute checks and preparations with his various sergeants, corporals, and other delegate generals, ensuring that each particular branch of the Guard knows what it's doing, what its allied mercenary companies are [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12doing, and what to do or where to fall back in case things start to go wrong. [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12In this way, the Dawn Sergeant is working very hard to give his forces a coherent, overarching plan going into the fighting, such that he needs to do the least amount of micromanagement and tactical reaction during the fighting, such that he can just go completely HAM on the raksha by himself. [20:27] 5 Xu Sim has called a conclave of sorcerers to meet above the Tomb of Red-Hot Iron. As he awaits their arrival, he confers with his Blood Ape retainers, whom he has rewarded with a meal of cats from the sewers. They are filthy and eat messily; he sprays at them with a pathetically tiny nebulizer in a vain effort to confront the gory stench that accompanies them. 15[20:32] The sorcerers come, four of them - the swamp witch Wren, the diabolist Red Tien, the dreamspeaker Pocella, and the Highland defector Nine Storms Fiend. Without greeting or preamble, they enter and watch Xu Sim in guarded silence. [20:43] "Good morning. Thank you all for coming. I've been conversing with my retainers here, and I think we have some information that might be helpful." 5At Xu Sim's side, the Audient Brush floats above a scroll, preparing to transcribe the story he is soon to relay to the other sorcerers. 15[20:47] "What is the meaning of this, Xu Sim?" asks Wren, suspicion evident on her lined face. 15[20:49] * Disconnected 15[20:50] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:50] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:50] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[20:50] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 [20:50] "At the heart of the faerie army stalks the colossus Akasha, the Wailing Wall. Built by the hands of the Yozi, Ligier, in Hell itself, it is worked in copper and the black blood of the earth. It is a puissant weapon, and without a plan to defeat it, victory may be beyond our grasp..." 15[20:50] * Disconnected 15[20:51] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:51] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:51] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[20:51] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 [20:52] "...I have consulted my erymanthoi bodyguards and the literature I've had time to access, and I have uncovered a story of its hellish brethren I believe may be of value to us, for this is not the first mighty warstrider of Ligierian artifice that has assailed Creation. And its cousin, in the twilight of the Five Dragon Crusade, was destroyed, through an act of heroism and brilliant [20:52] insight." 15[20:52] "What devilry..." says Red Tien, stroking his beard. [21:01] "Alcadizaar, the Conqueror, though now barely known to history, once plagued the South, having secured through some unwholesome bargain the services of the terrifying Brass Bull of Megiddo. But, though it was powerful, once separated from its master's yoke by the daring hero Roaring Mouse, it rampaged into a box canyon, where it was immobilized by rockslides and, eventually, destroyed [21:01] by archer fire." [21:03] "The same black blood of the earth rages through the veins of Akasha. It may well be that, if we can separate it from its master Elegba, it too will rampage and allow us to destroy it." 5The audient brush, having drafted the memorandum in triplicate - for distribution to the three fronts - now floats aside. 15[21:04] Xia Lan and Stranger huddle in the generals' camp underground, seeing to the civilians and being a visible presence in the Undercity. Where do they focus their efforts? [21:05] 14Stranger wants to start with whatever medical campus has been set up just to make sure that's squared away, then move through vulnerable groups. Gentry might find it easiest to hide as children without attached parents, so seeing to the orphans first might be smart; but an overview is necessary. [21:07] 5Xu Sim: "If we see an opportunity to separate Elegba from his place within the Wailing Wall's command crown, I believe we must take it. But I also wanted to discuss with each of you your plans for the battle, to see if we could coordinate and assist one another. I usually work alone, truth be told - and I am sure each of you does as well, but anything that gives us the advantage must [21:07] be considered." [21:07] 13Xia Lan will want to ensure the food stores are being looked after appropriately, then perhaps join Stranger as... a morale booster, for the children? It's got to be a scary time for them. 15[21:08] Qaile in his tribe, as well as the allies the Ambassador recovered, disseminate information to the Solars. The terrain in the mist is changing - hills and hardpan seem to be shifting up and downstream, the rivers curve and eddy in unnatural ways, and there've been sightings of the black and yellow banner of Cethleann on all sides of the city. The advance of the northern and southern armies is hindered by the fierce antagonism of the Gray and Yellow rivers, resisting any attempts to ford or cross them. It may stall the advancing armies for hours more. [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 21Once everything, everything's squared away, Keldar checks his Codex page, wishes his fellow anathema luck, and makes his way to Nexus's east gate. He'll be heading the Dawn Guard there - first directing their fire at anything approaching the door and battlements, then bringing Terminus down on any monster stupid enough to survive the hail of boulders and arrows. [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Once everything, everything's squared away, Keldar checks his Codex page, wishes his fellow anathema luck, and makes his way to Nexus's east gate. He'll be heading the Dawn Guard there - first directing their fire at anything approaching the door and battlements, then bringing Terminus down on any monster stupid enough to survive the hail of boulders and arrows. [21:11] "There is one other crucial piece of business that I ask your assistance on. I have crafted a deadly vapor, to be launched by mangonel and carried on the air. It will harm friend as readily as foe, so if you see it approaching our forces, I ask that you use whatever craft you can to turn it back towards the enemy." [21:12] "You can tell it by its purplish hue, which settles to dull orange after a few minutes of oxidization." 15[21:12] Nine Storms Fiend: "Keldar's tasked us with watching the skies of the city. Keeping the city safe from your poisons won't even make me change heading." 15[21:20] Keldar's hand-molded army squares up and fortifies. The first attack comes from the sky an hour before noon, blue and red-membraned creatures skating out of the fog from above. The mists erupt with violence. The battle is joined! 14[21:21] * Joins: tom 15[21:23] Stranger and Xia Lan are tending to the orphaned, making sure they're being fed and clothed and seen to. They seem in good spirits, except... in a corner of the village of canvas huts that houses the children, there's chatter among the younger children about lazy, selfish Puya, who won't wake even when they slap him. Their eyes trace the path of points and whispers to see a small crowd of children gathered around one of the furthest tents. [21:24] 14A grim look passes over Stranger's face before a gentle smile reasserts itself. This will be it, most likely. [21:26] 14Stranger will approach with a spring in his step and a slight twirl of his parasol. "Young sirs and misses! Good morning." [21:27] <@Ferrinus> "READY!" 12Keldar thunders, Terminus scraping against the back of Royal Road as his forehead and eyes flash orange. With a ripple of gold and silver, his daiklave divides itself in two, and moments later the moonsilver face of Entreaty is glaring out from the battlements square above the main gate of Nexus. [21:28] 13Xia Lan does a little twirl and pose for the kids, just behind Stranger's back. "How are you holding up down here?" [21:32] 5White robes fluttering in the breeze, Xu Sim prepares himself for combat with a flourish. War. Something in the back of his mind tingles as the creatures break out of cloud cover. A lightning ballista would make short work of them here. Would that he had had more time, more materials.. 15[21:32] The children look up at them. "Can YOU wake up Puya?" one of them asks. [21:34] 14Stranger: "I will certainly try! But I need you all to be very strong -- and go back to the center of camp while I do." [21:35] 13Xia Lan: "C'mon, I'll take ya! Puya's in good hands." 15[21:42] Xia Lan charmingly leads the children away, while Stranger looks over Puya, who seems locked in a sweaty, fitful sleep. [21:43] 14The smile falls off his face as soon as the children are gone; he gets clinical, but he's not giving the boy a medical check up. He's looking for signs of possession, or the presence of the Fey. [21:44] 13She's kneeling down with the kids surrounding her before too long, giving an impromptu concert, answering any questions they might have, that kinda thing. She's got her idol voice on and everything, hoping some normalcy will reassure them. [21:45] 14He mutters strange words in old tongues, checks the boy's eyes under his lids brusquely, checks for ritual marks... 15[21:48] Stranger can tell that the child is not fighting for possession of his body, but of his mind. He's locked in some kind of dreaming struggle with an external supernatural force. [21:49] 14Well that narrows it down significantly -- almost specifically to the kind of creatures Strangers suspected in the first place. [21:52] 5As the beasts close in, Xu Sim leaps next to Keldar. Back to back, he turns aside a winged fiend attacking Keldar with a perfectly timed bicycle kick. [21:52] 5Xu Sim nods rapidly as one of the beasts delivers Keldar a glancing blow meant for himself. [21:53] 14He briefly considers snapping the boy's neck. That will close the loop...but for how long? It won't solve the root issue, which is whatever dream warriors the Fey are using. [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar moves in flawless tandem with Xu Sim, raising his shield as the talons of one of the creatures come whistling in. The blow hits straight on, and manages to slightly stagger the Dawn Sergeant - but Keldar catches the motion of the blow and works with it rather than against it, letting his shield be knocked aside and rejoin his sword. Now hefting a grand daiklave, he mutters [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12"Aaalll right-" 15[21:57] Stranger, suspecting fae intrusion, has a couple options: he can try to wake the child even more forcefully, with uncertain but likely drastic effects, or he can try a more subtler containment like holding iron charms to the child's brow. [21:58] 14Certainly they'll have some of those lying around from the preparations? Stranger might even have a few on his person, given he was preparing for this sort of thing. 15[21:59] Almost certainly. [22:01] 14We'll start with that, then, and get more creative as we have to. Absent being able to jump into the dreamworld himself and help the kid out, that's the best he can do -- and the longer Kuya keeps this thing busy, no matter the outcome, the less time it has to regroup and try something else. Kid's a soldier in the army of Creation, now. [22:02] 13Pretty soon, she's got the kids singing an old tune she picked up in the south. There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the Sun, after all. [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12A titanic, shield-bearing warrior floats above Nexus's battlements, wholly obscured by its armor and only identified by the mane of long hair that licks like flames from the back of its helmet. As Keldar charges into the horde of snapping lizards, daiklave held at the ready, his anima charges with him, even spins along with him as the Dawn Sergeant executes a series of brutal arcs [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12and slashes through the monsters. It's like watching someone wind a mechanism - with each turn, the bonfire gets smaller and brighter and smaller and brighter until it's been absorbed completely into Keldar's white-hot sword. [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Everything holds a moment, then releases, and in a blur of burning, blood-soaked action Keldar executes the counter-stroke to every attack he's launched thus far. The Nexus battlements are littered with cloven wings and severed heads, and it's all the remaining drakes can do to flee back into the clouds. [22:05] 14Stranger will touch the Codex and call Xia Lan once he's done arranging the charms. When she answers: "Please get those children into the care of some adults and return to me. It's as we feared." 15[22:05] The rays scatter - literally. Their particles split apart by the millions in the sky, before falling as burning turquise liquid that pits metal and scars flesh! [22:06] 13She agrees quickly, and hides the helplessness she feels. For the sake of the children. Where were these kids playing before, and was there anyone around to watch them? [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Unfortunately, the acid blood of the dismembered monsters isn't as quick to flee as they are. It just rises, as clouds of steam from Keldar's blazing armor, but the Dawn Guard's not so lucky - armor shrivels and flesh dissolves, though the men it happens to respond, and are aided, with commendable speed. [22:08] 5Xu Sim sups on worse than whatever acid these creatures conjure up. Even his robes barely stain beneath the spray. 15[22:18] After the rain dissipates, a great shape moves in the mist. By the time it's taken full shape in the eye it's apparent that the mist itself is surging forward broad and knife-flat like a manta ray, cutting into the heart of the Dawn Guard's ranks and leaving lingering toxic mist. The Dawn Guard are shaken, but not broken. 15[22:19] The children were playing up and down among the tents, occasionally checked on by harried adults but lacking dedicated care as casualties begin to flood in from Lookshy and the Guard. [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar can see a whipcrack of fear course through the Guard, and acts immediately to suppress it. "HOLD FAST! I'VE SEEN WORSE!" [22:21] 13Then she'll have to find some caretakers. Besides, they... shouldn't be around violence like this. 15[22:29] Xia Lan finds a medic in matte white armor tending to Lookshyans with severe burns, who abruptly points her across the medical theatre to another small camp within the civilian area where families are gathered under sprinkles of dust while explosions thunder overhead. [22:30] 13She kneels before them again, pats each of them, and tells them to be safe. And remember what she told them. Then she's off like a shot to Stranger. "I'm here - sorry, camp's a bit - anyway!" [22:36] 5Xu Sim channels the winds of magic, bringing a single finger, dipped in some strange greasy black substance, before himself to carve a fiery circle in midair. A deafening fluttering sound overcomes the battlefield as the circle turns into a torrent of black, shiny, butterflies - they spill forth into battle, carving ruin and death wherever they fly. Xu Sim cackles as his brow erupts [22:36] 5into purple and golden mandalas of power. [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "HAH! Nice! Don't think I've seen one of those fuckers do more damage!" [22:38] 5Xu Sim: "Ha! Ha! Ha! PERISH!" [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12The remaining sirens are quick to take Xu Sim's advice, especially at Keldar's insistence. 15[22:40] Stranger and Xia Lan watch the boy's fitful struggle, as the iron charms begin to smoke against his skin, though they don't burn him. His body seizes up, and his eyes fly open, violet from lid to lid. His back arches and he lifts six ilms from his cot to hang in midair. [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12But there's no time to celebrate - not past a few rousing cheers, anyway. Keldar's immediately got his people carrying off the dead and wounded, scavenging every piece of arm or armor that's still usable and, crucially, appraising the damage to the walls. Can it be repaired? Can it be repaired fast? 15[22:41] It can be repaired, but not fast. [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, it's got to happen. In the meantime, more of the Guard is going to have to take position right around the breach, at ground level. Keldar will patrol from area to area, though at any given moment he's more likely to be found up top than down below. That's just because it's much quicker to jump down than climb up. [22:43] 14And here we go. [22:43] 14Can Stranger ritually ward the area around the cot to any effect with the remaining charms? He wants to denote an area of negotiation, in case this turns into that. [22:44] 14He'll have also produced his teapot from somewhere, and put on some tea. 14[22:44] * Joins: hrolf [22:44] <@Ferrinus> "You're blooded now," 12Keldar tells his troops. "Bit too literally in this case. But the things you just faced down without blinking - five times worse than a mortal army should've been, easy. They'll remember what we did on these walls." 14[22:45] * Quits: hrolf (Quit: Leaving) [22:51] 14Stranger, as the water heats, to Xia Lan: "We may end up having to kill the boy, if this doesn't go well. I hope that isn't the case. He is a fighter. But...you should know that up front. If possible, I will deliver the blow." 15[22:51] Stranger marks off the space as best he can, and the kettle's just started to whistle when the child slumps back to the bed. "A-a-a-aaaah," comes a voice, strained and distorted against the child's vocal cords. [22:51] "It will be my failure, after all." 14He steps back into the circle. "And here we are." [22:52] 13Xia Lan says nothing. What is there to say? 15[22:52] "I feel weak," says the child. "I'm tired." [22:58] 14Stranger: "You've had a rough past few days, I imagine. Do you drink tea?" [22:59] 13Xia Lan: "Or a favorite food? Anything we can get you?" 15[22:59] The child's voice flickers and drops like he's speaking from a wildly variable distance away. "I will if you make it," he says. He looks at Xia Lan. "You look familiar." [23:00] 13Xia Lan: "The Unfettered, at your service." 13She gives a small curtsy. [23:01] 14Stranger nods and smiles. He looks at the boy, but sort of speaks...past him? Through him? "Kuya, you're a very strong boy. Impossibly strong. I need you to fight for as long as you can." 14Then his eyes more directly focus again as he pours the tea. "And what might your name be?" 15[23:01] To Xia Lan: "You drank with Elegba. He told me about you." [23:01] 13I see. 15[23:01] To Stranger: "I am the Throne." [23:04] 14Stranger doesn't pause in his pour, and sets the tea down a respectful distance from the boy's body. "You're a long way from your armies, Duchess Primrose. But then, I suspect, not so much." [23:04] 14He pours his own cup second. 15[23:06] Puya rubs his cheek idly. "A tired boy. A dreaming boy." 15[23:06] He looks at Xia Lan again. "Almost the first." [23:06] 13She stands straight up. "Almost." 15[23:07] Puya takes a sip of the tea, and then closes his eyes. "Mmm..." 15[23:07] "I see my father, who sold me under sin rather than lose me." [23:08] 14Stranger: "I've met half your, ah, cardinals now. I suppose Brokkr truly won't be joining us. 15[23:08] "Brokkr is broken." [23:09] 14He nods in some understanding. "We are our names." 15[23:10] Puya opens his pupilless violet eyes. "I see my lover, who could not save me and cannot be saved." [23:11] 14Behind his carefully-composed face, he's furiously trying to figure out if he knows who her father and lover are, or if they're more archetypes for storytelling. [23:13] 14If he'd known it was Cethleann behind the boy's eyes, he'd likely have gone ahead and snapped his neck then. [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12One thing Keldar's going to do, besides hurry the contractors repairing the walls along, is send a couple scouts out to see if they can make contact with the original Emissary and see if the guy's nearby or expecting the eastern defense force to see to his plans. 15[23:18] Xu Sim sees the flares of pitched battle on both the north and south banks. To the north is the bleak miasma of undeath pushing against the encroaching fog. To the south is a titanic figure wreathed in flame raining down on the battlefield. He has to do a double take to realize he recognizes her. He saw her corpse unadorned as it was borne to Nessun Dorma in contrition. Run through with vines and wicked wings, something like the Judge Zuniga splits the sky against Lookshy. [23:19] 5Xu Sim gawks. "Keldar...!" 15[23:20] Keldar no sooner gives the thought voice than he feels a sickly pressure in his chest, like a bubble of air pressing against his throat that he can't dislodge. "The stink is overpowering." 15[23:20] The Emissary has appeared behind him. [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12The mercenary screws his eyes shut for a second while his mailed fist clangs against his breastplate. Then he turns. "Ah. Ahem. There you go, I guess." [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Then he gestures gateward. "Took down a shitload of their guys there - but I'm guessing that's not what you're looking for, or at least not enough of it." 15[23:23] The Emissary: "You fought well. The way a man will only fight for his own property." [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Too bad someone else's is nearly as good a motivator." [23:27] 14The brand on Stranger's forehead glows. "I see a child who went to sleep and has yet to wake up. Both of us see a great many things." [23:29] 13Xia Lan puts a hand on his shoulder and squeezes. Cethleann isn't the boy. Please let there be a way out of this with him living. [23:31] 5High above Nexus, Xu Sim grits his teeth and speaks into the Codex. "Keldar, the Judge Zuniga is back. And she's buttering the bread of the Lookshyans." [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar blinks, gives the Emissary an apologetic wave and half spins to touch two fingers to the side of his helmet. "What?! That's on them, if they didn't dispose of that body right--" [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar shakes his head to himself. "How bad a rinsing are we talking, here? Do I need to go crosstown?" 12He casts a skeptical look at the mist through the still-huge gaps in the eastern wall. [23:36] 14Stranger calmly touches the Codex and says, without bothering to mask his voice for Cethleann's benefit: "Keldar, Xu Sim: Zuniga is compromised specifically by Cethleann herself." [23:36] "Be very wary." [23:37] 14To creature inside the boy: "My condolences. How long had you been together?" [23:38] 14He takes some slight satisfaction every time he asks one of them about measurements of time or space. A reminder of which world they're in. 15[23:38] Puya groans. "Beyond counting." [23:40] 13Xia Lan: "Zu - Sun, Almighty." 13She levels a glare at poor Puya. Cethleann. The two of them. [23:40] 5Xu Sim grits his teeth and wheels south. "I'm heading in." [23:40] "'The heart wants what it wants,'"  [23:40] 14Stranger says. "First Age curse." [23:41] 5Xu Sim offers an unwholesome prayer for the victory of the northern front, and dives precipitously, wind whipping his hair and robes. [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Stay frosty, and tell me how bad they need backup." [23:42] 5Xu Sim: "Get a report from the northern front. Find a fly and ask how it's doing." [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What?" 12Once Xu Sim repeats himself, Keldar'll do just that. [23:44] 5Xu Sim: "Like, a housefly. Whisper to it. I can't do it while I'm moving." [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Alright, but you're going to pay for it if this is some kind of prank." 'Fortunately', flies are not in short supply on battlefields. [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12That last part should be blue 15[23:44] Puya: "A curse? Do you mean me ill?" [23:45] 14Stranger: "They call it lovesick for a reason." 15[23:47] Xu Sim veers south, shielding his eyes against intermittent blasts of light from elemental energy and Lookshyan artillery. Zuniga, or something like her, fights the assembled might of Lookshy to a standstill... until a meteor rises from within the earth, spraying water in a fountain as it breaks the surface of the river, to crash into the behemoth with searing white light. The earth trembles as Nessun Dorma's hammer rises and falls and the two of them plummet to the far bank, where raksha swarm the melee. [23:48] 13Xia Lan: "That bad, hmm?" 15[23:48] Keldar, looking ridiculous, whispers to a fly. Keldar, feeling ridiculous, gets a whisper back. "We're well in hand here, holding the line. This is far from the army's full strength. How fares the east?" [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar mouths 'the fuck' to himself before answering in earnest. "Wall's breached but holding, and the enemy's pulled back into the fog. Sounds like south's getting the worst of it." [23:50] 5Xu Sim folds his arms across his chest and beelines for the swarm of raksha, a streak of purple light trailing a whirlwind of golden sparks. 15[23:50] Puya: "Are you afraid?" 15[23:50] "I am." [23:51] 14Stranger: "I am afraid for Puya." [23:51] 14Stranger: "I'm afraid for the other children down here; their mothers and their fathers; the lives that will be cut short; the things that will be made impermanent." [23:52] "For myself, I am enjoying my tea." 15[23:52] Puya: "All things are impermanent." [23:52] 13Xia Lan: "Impermanence isn't - that's..." [23:52] 14Stranger: "Is your fear?" 15[23:53] Puya: "Yes. Soon I will have peace." [23:53] 14Stranger: "Peace is not your way." 15[23:54] "It's hard." 15[23:54] Puya lies down. "I'm tired." [23:54] 14Stranger: "It's the most difficult thing there is. But I don't think you lack trying." [23:54] 14He nods, and pours himself another cup. "Then I will sit here awhile." [23:55] "Unfettered, please go see who else is falling asleep and not waking up, if you would." [23:55] 13Xia Lan: "...will do." 13Another squeeze to his shoulder, then she leaves the tent. Where to even begin...? 15[23:58] Puya drifts off to sleep, peacefully this time. 15[23:58] NEXT TIME: The Siege of Nexus Session Time: Wed Nov 21 00:00:00 2018 14[00:45] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:46] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[01:44] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:28] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:07] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:32] * Joins: tom 14[09:07] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:00] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[10:56] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:27] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:05] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:03] * Joins: hrolf_mac_ 14[18:04] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:04] * hrolf_mac_ is now known as hrolf_mac 14[18:45] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[18:49] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[20:39] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:40] * Joins: hrolf_mac_ 14[20:41] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:41] * hrolf_mac_ is now known as hrolf_mac 14[20:43] * Joins: tom 14[21:09] * Joins: trenchfoot Session Time: Thu Nov 22 00:00:00 2018 14[00:35] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[03:44] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:00] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[11:51] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[14:16] * Quits: trenchfoot (Quit: Leaving) 14[14:25] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[15:42] * Quits: trenchfoot (Quit: Leaving) 14[17:08] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:58] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:58] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[20:05] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:06] * Joins: Crion 14[20:30] * Joins: Crion_ 14[20:33] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:09] * Joins: tom 14[23:46] * Joins: hrolf Session Time: Fri Nov 23 00:00:00 2018 14[00:35] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[00:39] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:36] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[02:39] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:44] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:11] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[10:21] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:26] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:08] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[12:58] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[14:28] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[14:31] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:34] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[17:34] * Quits: trenchfoot (NickServ (GHOST command used by trenchfoot_)) 14[17:34] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[17:43] * Joins: tom 14[17:48] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[18:38] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[19:44] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[20:10] * Joins: hrolf_mac [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 ( [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 ) ( [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 ___...(-------)-....___ [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 .-"" ) ( ""-. [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 .-'``'|-._ ) _.-| [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 / .--.| `""---...........---""` | [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 / / | | [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 | | | | [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \ | | [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 `\ `\ | | [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 `\ `| | [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 _/ /\ / [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 (__/ \ / [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 _..---""` \ /`""---.._ [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 .-' \ / '-. [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 : `-.__ __.-' : [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 : ) ""---...---"" ( : [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 '._ `"--...___...--"` _.' [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 \""--..__ __..--""/ [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 '._ """----.....______.....----""" _.' [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 `""--..,,_____ _____,,..--""` [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 `"""----"""` 08[20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Opulence and finery, though it's all gloomy and cobwebbed, pulls itself subtly together around Eikichi, or perhaps simply becomes more apparent as breaths and shifts of position send dust tumbling away. He's standing at the far side of a wide, bowl-shaped room (bowl-shaped because it is, of course, the ceiling of an upside down Temple of the Three). Chief features include the circular [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12table at the very center, torus-shaped because a smaller circle has been cut out from within it, and a tall mirror on the other side of the room in front of which an extremely fancy-looking lady is standing. There are two men here, one pacing around and one lounging on a couch to the side; the former's heavily armored and shield-bearing, while the latter looks rangy and strung out. 15[20:56] "Charming," 10says Eikichi with total sincerity. [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12If these people were illustrated in more vibrant color schemes (except for the woman, who's spot-on) you might have actually mistook them for the Three, because they look the way Talespinner, Dayshield, and Dreamweaver are said to look - a rangy, bearded pilgrim, a mirror-bright armored warrior, and a lady in a long balck gown. They don't look like the people you met - Talespinner [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12could have been a girl of twelve or thirteen, and the Dayshield was much slimmer and lighter on their feet - but then, stories often change in the telling. 15[20:57] 10The gentle hum of the spheres orbiting Eikichi adds an electric undercurrent to the silence. 08[20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Seemingly unaware that Tatsuya and Blossom lurk in the wings of the room, the woman steps away from her mirror and approaches the central table, gesturing at Eikichi to move forward and join her. She's freshly made-up, immaculately coiffed, and her long dress floats rather than drags over the marble behind her. Actually, her feet don't touch the ground either. [20:59] 6This really isn't soothing Tatsuya's nerves. In fact, it's making them worse. [21:00] <@Ferrinus> "They are heron, in fact," 12she says, by way of answer. She's wearing an extremely elaborate hat that looks like the top half of a heron's head, and its black feathers spill down the back of her head to join the cowl of her dress. It looks much better than it sounds. [21:01] 6Something within him makes Tatsuya want to leap out of hiding, but he tamps it down. Not the time. 15[21:01] 10That's a look. Eikichi will approach the table, standing at the circle to keep both the big guy and the little guy in view if possible. [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12If we imagine the camera suddenly rocketing upw- down- towards the surace at incredible speed, floors and ceilings blurring past it disorientingly until it stops dead quite far from this still-amicable confrontation, we'll find ourselves overlooking an ongoing battle. Ir's leading her kruthik against a flagging undead force, though one which is now backed by some sort of crystal-capped [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12spire of bone and ebony. [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12surface* [21:03] 4Still no sign of the others. Hopefully things are going well inside. 15[21:10] 10Eikichi won't sit until his hostess does. "My name is Eikichi Sho," 10he offers. "Maybe you've heard of me." 08[21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12She indeed sits first. A brief moment passes before there's a massive clattering sound to the side - Eikichi can turn to see that the big armored man has fallen to his knees, doubled over with what's likely agonizing pain. After a moment, he pulls himself together and rushes off for some reason. [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12The woman: "D'you know, I actually haven't? Who are you, exactly?" [21:14] 6...huh. 15[21:14] 10Eikichi sits dazedly. "I'm not sure how to- nobody's ever asked me that before." [21:17] 4The kruthlings and tunnelers continue to buzz with teeth and claw into the inverted cavalry, giving better than they get, and well behind them the queens sing as more auxiliaries stream down the tunnel behind them. [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Lady: "Well, please explain. We don't get many visitors." [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12The stygian spire shines with a baleful green glow! Arcs of light spit from crystal atop it like fireworks, passing harmlessly through the undead and kruthik they collide with but opening glowing rifts in the stone and earthworks wherever they land. Rock yawns wide, and reinforcements crawl out of it! 15[21:26] 10Eikichi: "I'm a world-famous sorcerer and raconteur, a musician and an architect, a lover and a savant. I ripped a valley from Creation and raised a city in its place. And I'm the inventor and first practitioner of Sho Style martial arts." 15[21:26] "Tell me about yourselves." [21:27] 6From his hidden location, Tatsuya palms his face. 15[21:27] 10What. [21:27] 6Don't you "What." me. You know what. [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Lady: "My goodness! Well. My not having heard of you surely doubles, at the least, the injustice which has recently befallen me. For I, of course, and the Weaver of Dreams of Victory, who forecasts Great Forks's ongoing health and prosperity, and I am joined by my fellows the Spinner of Glorious Tales and... ah, there he is." 12The armored man's shuffling back into view, holding [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12a tray upon which is a fine porcelain tea set. "The Shield of a Different Day. You've surely heard of us." 15[21:31] "The Trinity of Great Forks! What esteemed and mighty personages. I hadn't expected to find them here, in this upside-down necropolis." 15[21:32] "My very great pleasure to meet you all." [21:32] 4As soon as the spectral infantry reinforce the horsemen, they're once again pulled under by a river of teeth like knives. [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12The reach afforded by a spear doesn't do you a lot of good when the enemy's already at your throat. 08[21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Dayshield carefully places the teaset on the table between Eikichi and Dreamweaver. He then takes several step back, arms folded behind himself (the shield's big enough to leave room). Talespinner, meanwhile, has swiveled to cease lounging and instead sit forward on the edge of his couch, elbows on knees and chin on fists. [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Lady: "Oh, but the pleasure is all mine. What brings you down here?" 12She reaches out to pick up a teacup. The pot isn't steaming or anything, so it's not clear what the plan here is. [21:37] 6Starting to be alarmed here. We're at, like, that dim realization that your alarm clock is about to go off so this dream better wrap up soon. 15[21:42] 10Eikichi's deeply curious himself. "Well I'd heard how you were fixed up down here but I had to see it for myself. Your collective commitment is admirable. It's like a sort of living satire. Would you mind terribly if I asked why?" [21:43] 4The great balefire 'artillery' lands and blows parts of the spire apart, lighting up in sharp relief the tunnelers that swarm in after it. [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12"Dreamweaver" rubs at the side of her teacup with a finger. "Well, it's a tad embarrassing. You see, we were a bit... we were slightly... to a certain extent you might use the word usurped." 12Then she reaches out over the hole at the center of the table, holding the teacup upside down. [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a dull roar as a column of writhing blackness jets upward from the center of the table - from somewhere beneath the floor, presumably - rocketing up through the room to earth itself in the grand platform that rests before the actualseats of the Three, disappearing into a cavernous hole bored through the earth and stone up there. [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Whoops [21:45] 6Tatsuya: "You were what?" [21:45] 6Uh. [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, this geyser of impenetrable, inky night proceeds for maybe a second, before Dreamweaver withdraws her hand and smoothly turns her teacup upwards. It's steaming in her hand, and she takes a dainty sip of what might well be black ink. 15[21:46] "That's dreadful." [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12At Tatsuya's voice, steel scrapes against steel and wood echoes against stone as the "Dayshield" draws their namesake and the "Talespinner" produces a gnarled cane. "Dreamweaver" arches a perfectly-shaped brow. 08[21:49] 6He reveals himself from his hiding place, careful to still maintain Blossom's cover. "Uhhhh. Hey? Tatsuya, the Golden Hand. You, ah, hadn't heard of Eikichi either, and he's more famous, so..." 08[21:50] 6He glances to Eikichi sheepishly. After all the times mocking him... [21:50] 4Once their payloads are away, the Ravagers scuttle together around Lachesis and Atrophos. [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Dreamweaver: "The Golden Hand... fascinating. Well, I'm not sure how you got there, but please, sit, join us! It's so rare that we have company. Are there others coming?" 12Behind her, the Dayshield vibrates slightly. [21:56] 6Tatsuya: "Uh, not that I know of." [21:57] 6He sits, as offered. 08[21:59] 6Blossom's probably smart enough to not blurt out questions. But she also might want to leap in to defend Eikichi. It is impossible to say. Therefore, Tatsuya is not lying. 08[22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Dreamweaver takes another sip before placing her cup down. "Well, as I was just telling your...friend...? Eikichi here, we Three have fallen victim to an extremely rude sort of prank. We were tricked and cast down here, and imposters sit on our thrones even now." [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12She moves forward to fill the actual teapot as she continues, conjuring another geyser of raw void to spill upwards into the vessel. "But, as soon as we're restored to our rightful places--" 12Meanwhile, Blossom readies herself. 08[22:06] 6Tatsuya: "...think we've met them." 6He glances to Eikichi, who actually would have, given Tatsuya hiding. "Bit of a thing--" [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayyyy above the tea set, there's an ominous rumbling right in the center of Ir's battlefield. Wisps of purple-edged shadows are rising from the stone beneath the feet and pincers of the kruthling and raoch troops, and it's getting cold even for the underworld. [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12roach* 15[22:29] 10Eikichi looks askance at Tatsuya. [22:29] 6Look, man, Ying met them. That stuff is a dim buzz at the back of his skull right now. 08[22:30] 6He should probably figure out a way to Look at Eikichi that says that. Failing that, a specific raising and lowering of eyebrows. [22:34] 4As the kruthlings and the tunnelers surge forward and up, away from the rumbling pit, what happens at the back ranks happens very quickly: another lacerator appears, trying to kill the queens, and is intercepted by the silver streak of Jude's Law as a spear -- followed by Ir crashing her body into the creature and driving it screeching down into a razor pit of Ravagers, who were [22:34] 4gleefully chittering, just waiting for it. [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Inches behind Ir, an enormous pillar of roaring darkness comes blasting up out of the ground. Its edges are a riotous blend of green and violet, but the center is a darkness so deep that the shadows around it look daylit in comparison. It snakes skyward, boring up through the ceiling above the battlefield for about five solid seconds, before dissipating to leave a yawning hole in [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12its wake. [22:37] 4That was close. [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Skeletal cavalry and infantry, revivified by the crystal across from Ir, seem unaffected by the torrent of darkness but very affected by the missing ground; they're hanging desperately onto the sides of the newfound pit, trying to pull themselves up. [22:42] 4The two queens worriedly chitter, but make sonorous noises that seem something like a sigh -- Clotho, above, managed to get her force out of the path of the beam as well. [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12The battlefield's briefly still before a second torrent of darkness comes surging up from the (possibly literal) abyss. This one, too, destroys the ground beneath it and carves an even larger hole in ceiling above it, until Ir's able to look clear up and see the night sky far above. It's an alien night sky, of course - she's fighting in a shadowland - but if her eyes are keen [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12enough, she'll be able to see the heads of allied tunnelers poking out over the edges of the great hole looking down, seemingly safe from the blast. 08[22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12But if she looks farther up still, she can find the great crescent/manta-shape of Eikichi's masterpiece Jormungand, rumbling and groaning in pain as grey rot spreads slowly outward from a hole punched through one of its wings. [22:44] 4Damn it. [22:55] 7These might be the most dangerous foes the Squared Circle has ever faced. There's no telling how long it will take for Ir to bring reinforcements. Blossom closes her eyes and slows her breathing, centering herself in preparation for her first strike. 15[22:56] 10Eikichi wonders what Blossom's doing right now. She's probably jealous of all the fun he and Tatsuya are having. [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12"Dreamweaver": "--restored to our rightful places, we'll finally be able to set everything in Great Forks right, and duly reward those who have remained faithful through this travail." [22:57] 6So much fun. Definitely not just running over the time when he announced himself for no reason and maybe got all of them killed. [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12She looks at the two of you. "Some tea?" 12When poured out into the other cups, the anti-coruscating raw void sure looks like regular old black. Smells quite nice, too. [22:57] 4There's no time to check on Jormungand right now. With its work as a distraction done, Ir will tell the queens to convey to Clotho that Jormungand should return to the forward base and heal, and the "distraction" force, its work done, should join the main body of the attack force. 15[22:58] 10Eikichi nods. [22:58] 6Tatsuya does too. No need to be rude about it. [22:58] 4The tunnelers hold the ruins of the city wall, and the kruthlings back them up. Once the full host is assembled, they'll stream into the city. [23:23] 7Blossom stands, cradling a humming fireball between her cupped hands, and unleashes! It roars toward 'Dayshield', bouncing off his armor and forcing him to step back, rockets past 'Talespinner' who has to frantically twist to avoid it, heading for 'Dreamweaver'...! [23:25] "I am Excessively Righteous Blossom, daughter of the Sun and protector of Creation! And in the name of the Sun, I'll punish you! Not just for your blackest evil, enemies of all that lives, but your insulting lies! Next time, if you want to convince people of a disguise, don't refer to each other by your real names when they're sneaking up on you!" [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12The slightly-built woman, currently floating a few inches over her chair, raises an eye and flares her nostrils in consternation at the fireball before leaning sideways and rolling her shoulders to let the thing jsut baaaaaarely scrape by her, badly scorching the back of her chair and splashing against the floor right before her mirror. "Really! Really!" 12She sounds irate. 15[23:29] 10Eikichi: "Well, that's that tea party spoiled." [23:29] 6Tatsuya immediately tries to hide back where he was. It is debateably successful. 08[23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12The Dream- okay, fine, the Princess Magnificent with Lips of Coral and Robes of Black Feathers whirls in rage on Eikichi, of all people. "Excuse me? Excuse me? It takes a little more than a fusillade of holy fire to spoil one of my tea parties." 12She calls out over her shoulder: "Son of Crows? Water the Fields with Blood? Show this cur the door. I'm entertaining guests." 08[23:55] <@Ferrinus> "Now," 12says the Princess as she finishes pouring tea, puts the pot back on a doily, and pushes fine porcelain cups along the table to both Eikichi and Tatsuya (who is hiding under the table, but she seems to know exactly where), "We must continue our discussion. As I was saying, the terrible wrong done in Great Forks must needs be righted, wouldn't you agree?" 08[23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya and Eikichi can only dimly follow what's going on in the rest of the room - they mostly see a great, busy salon, moonlit and attended by very finely-dressed and see-through people. From without, Blossom sees a swirl of darkness boil around the circular table and mostly hide it from view, though the closer she gets the more she gets the impression of a frowning man in formal [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12dress giving her a questioning look. [23:57] 6Something thuds in the back of his mind, but he ignores it. It's important to be a gentleman, in addition to a thief. 15[23:58] 10Well, there's no call to be rude, after all. [23:59] 6Hold up, wait a minute. [23:59] 6What in the Hells is going on here. Session Time: Sat Nov 24 00:00:00 2018 [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Outside the tea party, Son of Crows snarls and smashes his cane on the ground. It burns almost entirely away, leaving only a reversed soulsteel dagger in his hand, all the while the rest of his god-guise falls to ashes to reveal a fierce-looking young man in black. He leaps to strike! 15[00:17] "Tch. I do hate to see a hostess lose her temper. I take it your parties tend to go more smoothly?" [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12The Princess calmly takes a sip. But perhaps too calmly? [00:26] 6Tatsuya, from underneath the table: "I've suddenly remembered that I left my kettle on. My house is burning down right now. Please excuse me." 6He then scurries over, still crouching, to where Blossom's voice was coming from, hoping that she's still there, and can help him stop this awful situation. [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom's badly beset by the dagger blows of the man attacking her. Over the guy's shoulder, she can see Water the Fields with Blood ball his fists and roar, his silver armor falling away and shield warping and twisting within green flames as it reveals itself to be a gigantic scythe. Now covered from head to toe in skull-themed armaments and strong enough to leave crumbling footprints [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12in the stone beneath his feet, he advances on Blossom! [00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, far above, Ir leads a rampaging army of kruthik down through the inverse, striking aside or trampling over the remains of the undead armies. Even farther above, Jormungand wheels slowly through the air, healing and augmenting the insects pouring down through the ground but ailing and decaying itself. 14[01:12] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[01:49] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[01:58] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:33] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:01] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:03] * Joins: Crion 14[13:16] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[14:12] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:00] * Joins: tom 14[16:10] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:52] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:26] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:51] * Joins: hrolf 14[21:57] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:56] * banana|peels is now known as banana Session Time: Sun Nov 25 00:00:00 2018 15[01:03] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Nov 25 01:03:25 2018 Session Start: Sun Nov 25 01:20:09 2018 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[01:20] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[01:20] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[01:20] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[01:48] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:34] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:30] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:51] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:46] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:59] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[12:38] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[12:45] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[12:46] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:35] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:02] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:24] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[15:25] * Joins: cbass 14[15:32] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[15:32] * Joins: cbass 14[17:44] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[18:50] * Joins: tom 14[23:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Mon Nov 26 00:00:00 2018 14[00:25] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[04:54] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:26] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[10:11] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:47] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[14:04] * Joins: Crion 14[15:17] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[15:18] * Joins: Crion 14[15:35] * Joins: tom 14[16:00] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:01] * Joins: cbass 14[16:58] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:59] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[17:35] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:59] * Joins: tom 15[20:01]  15[20:01]  15[20:01]  15[20:01]  15[20:01]  15[20:05] Xu Sim, arms crossed, streaks through the sky towards the carnage at Nexus's southern front. He has to weave through torrents of flame from Lookshyan officers and hails of arrows from Elegba's soldiers to see Nessun Dorma, crunched into a crater in the ground by the force of locking weapons with a massive woman with silver hair and wings and a barbed silver spear. His helmet's come off in the fighting; his red hair is all that's visible of his features beneath his blazing white anima. 15[20:10] Keldar oversees the eastern defense. Despite battered troops and a breached wall, his Dawn Guard ably fended off the first assault. Now there's an eerie silence on the mist-choked battlefield - what balance does he strike between resting, regrouping, and girding for another assault? [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Exactly the correct one, of course. Keldar's first priority is patching the damage dealt by the tidemares to the wall itself; otherwise, his troops know exactly how to assort and apportion themselves for the sake of making sure the dead and injured are dealt with and the healthy and capable get as much rest as is practical while passing up the least opportunity for productive effort [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12or canny oversight. 15[20:12] Stranger and Xia Lan scramble through the undercity, looking for more victims of the raksha sleeping sickness that saw a little boy subsumed into a vast and alien will. Knowing the signs, they're easy to spot - four or five already just in the camphor-smelling infirmary camps they wade through now. Bedridden, writhing, unresponsive. [20:13] 14Should be fairly simple to at least reproduce the charm set ups from previous, though if Cethleann is gonna be chatty with any of them is could take awhile. [20:14] 14He's still debating whether to leave guards stationed to kill them if they start turning, but decides against it based on the likelihood of hesitation and the necessity for all their forces to be on the wall. 15[20:15] Simple enough to reproduce... but how many? Stranger only has enough iron for two wards, maybe three if he stretches. [20:17] 13We should have seen this coming, somehow. They're -- we have such limited options, and most of them are awful. [20:18] 14This isn't going to be a long-term solution. He'll stretch to three as long as it's not a huge stretch on the two most vulnerable-seeming targets, and if any of the targets happen to be people that he wouldn't personally feel bad about executing, like a career criminal or a banker, he'll do that, but they need to pursue other avenues of confronting this. [20:18] 13Xia Lan is best served as a runner at this point, particularly if they need to persuade the person at the end of her run to help them out. [20:19] 13Also, this way she won't have to see the end results of Stranger's work. [20:21] 5Xu Sim quickly scans the battlefield, caught between the broader battle and the clash of titans - how near an affair is it either way? 15[20:25] The battle is pitched on all sides, with the Wailing Wall literally grappling with the Final Word, its embankment of cannons doing scant damage to its metallic hide as the Wailing Wall attempts to tear the ship in two. Xu Sim sees more ready opportunities to contribute to the wider battle but Dorma looks to be in greater peril. [20:26] 5Xu Sim charges to Dorma's aid. 15[20:28] As Keldar and the Guard prepare to mount another defense, the mist contracts around them, surging through their ranks and weighing heavily upon them. [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's eyes flare orange. "On your guard!" [20:53] 14So Stranger will set up what meager guards he's got to watch the sleepers, refrain from throatcutting because the last thing the defenders need right now is a riot from their own people, and pursue a more direct and elegant solution. 14[20:55] * Joins: hrolf 15[20:58] The mist chokes dozens of Keldar's troops, causing them to slacken on the spot, jerking back to life, eyes wide, lidless, and violet. They raises their weapons as one. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> "Lay 'em out!" 12thunders the Tiger of Nexus. "Be nice if they were in shape to wake back up but they're worth less to Nexus than you are!" [20:59] 5Xu Sim sprints across the battlefield as the Judge reborn in rosehips winds up for a terrifying attack on the Dragonlord. With a perfectly-timed leap and a powerful shout, the sorcerer bunts the monster's falling weapon aside with a leap kick. He pivots for another glancing blow at its enormous frame. [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Maybe Keldar's men aren't quite willing to give it all against their own, or maybe the sleeping soldiers are moving far too quickly than they should be given that they're not even conscious. 15[21:02] Xia Lan scrambles for more iron, finding the odd cookpot or dagger of the stuff. The only place she'll find iron in appreciable amounts is in the hands of the Dawn Guard and the stores of Xu Sim's thistledown machine. [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar himself has more luck, thundering through the ranks of his former soldiers. He taught them everything he knows, but there's things you can't teach. To his credit, and his waking soldiers' reliefs, there's a lot more clobbering than slashing involved. [21:05] 13Ugh. Those -- we need those to defend against the enemies at the walls, we can't ask them to give it up for the dreamers. I mean, we could, and she could probably even convince them, but-- anyway, out of the question absent some sort of massive outbreak. She provides the iron to Stranger, and makes sure they'll have some kind of, giveaway, or otherwise reintroduction - giving up your foodware is... well, it's a greater sacrifice [21:05] than she could have ever asked for outright. [21:05] 14We knew the dangers of putting all the iron in the city into offense when we made that decision. [21:06] 13Did we? Because this is a new one. [21:06] 14Intellectually. [21:06] 14We also thought they'd at least wait until night time to start with the dream attacks, though. [21:06] 14In retrospect, not the wisest of moves. [21:12] "Dorma!" 5Thunders Xu Sim, moustache and sleeves flying in the midst of his efforts- "You have to go!" 5His outstretched finger points at the bulk of the Wailing Wall, tearing at the sides of the great Lookshyan battleship. "We will distract one with the other - you're the bait!" [21:15] 5Xu Sim interposes himself between the Dragonlord and his titanic foe. [21:15] 14Stranger grasps the Codex. [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar presses two fingers of one hand to his ear while holding the hilt of his stabbed-into-the-stone daiklave with the other, stepping back and forth and using it as a piece of immobile cover. "That gonna make a quarter of my soldiers stop trying to kill the rest?" 15[21:24] Nessun Dorma all but bodily hurls Xu Sim aside. "We will not prevaricate! HOLD THE LINE!" [21:24] 14Stranger: "Not unless you get them further inside the walls, but it might weaken them a bit." [21:29] 14Stranger: "Now, we have a chance to fire the Tomb once before we're overwhelmed in here, by my calculations, but it's a close thing and we need a target you both agree on right now. I'm on my way to the Tomb now." [21:30] 13Xia Lan: "Do you want me there? Or-- stopping a riot?" [21:32] 14To Xia Lan: "I think we're going to chance the dice on this one. Honestly, it might be best if you put those weapons to use and headed to the front." 15[21:32] Dorma and the giant Zuniga's weapons clash again, throwing silver sparks that rise like dust on an updraft in the surge of essence surrounding them. [21:33] 13She hesitates for a second. "I -- all right. I'll be at the wall -- call if you need me to shift, yeah?" 13She's sprinting off before he can reply. [21:37] 5Xu Sim, now enveloped in a beam of light that pierces the clouds and reveals spinning iridescent mandalas of power and enlightenment, hurls himself again to block another titanic blow of the beast. [21:41] "There! The Wailing Wall! It's huge, that means it's got huge guts! She'll rend and tear!!" 5Xu Sim frantically gesticulates at the Dragonlord, hoping to get the plan across. 15[21:41] Dorma whirls on Xu Sim with murder in his eyes. 15[21:42] Over what feels like several minutes, his eyes glide toward the Wailing Wall. 15[21:42] "So be it." [21:49] Over Codex to Xia Lan: "Check the North front if you would before swinging over; we haven't heard from them in a bit and I'm getting concerned." [21:49] 14Over Codex to Xia Lan: "Check the North front if you would before swinging over; we haven't heard from them in a bit and I'm getting concerned." [21:50] 13She adjusts her path. "On my way." [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's a beacon for his troops, pulling them together and even waking a few who'd begun to drowse off but hadn't quite switche sides - but that also makes him an obvious target. He's too slow to bring Terminus properly to bear after pointing it dramatically skyward, and pays for it by ceding a whole lot of ground. 15[22:02] Xia Lan sprints north through the vacant, misty streets of Nexus, following the sounds of battle at the northern banks. She sees thralls and hobgoblins being bodily dragged into the river by the Grey and teeming undead, to drown. More arms seem to rise from the river with every surge. Screaming spirits buffet the raksha hordes from the sky as skeletal archers rain arrows down and a the Governor stands on the bank, staring down a tall woman wreathed in thorns as he gives orders and swings a massive bone-white sword at any stragglers who make it through the river. [22:05] 14It's swift and serious work arranging the first blast once Stranger arrives at the Tomb -- but thankfully due to the Codex, he can let Xu Sim know exactly when the rain's coming. [22:07] 6Hey. This fucking sucks, man. She dutifully reports what she sees through the Codex, but that doesn't make this any better. [22:08] 13Hey. This fucking sucks, man. She dutifully reports what she sees through the Codex, but that doesn't make this any better. [22:14] "Run!" 5Xu Sim emphasizes, as the Judge blasts him again. 15[22:22] Dorma tries to run, but his lost lover's reach is too long. 15[22:22] Up and down the southern front, the armies hesitate, holding their breaths and looking upward as the sky falls. [22:22] 5This plan sucks. New plan: We kill, together. [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's troops have rallied, and now so does Keldar himself. He shoves his way into the depths of the dreamers, them rounds to catch them in a savage pincer attack between himself and the entire rest of his army. They're threshed, dropping from hundreds to dozens - some disarmed, some clonked heavily on the head, and some, out of sheer need for expedience, shorn clean in half. 15[22:25] The thistledown is indiscriminate, pitting armor and scoring flesh up and down the line. [22:28] 5Xu Sim takes shelter in the logical place: directly underneath the Judge. [22:35] 14Inside the Tomb, everyone's doing everything possible to get the next blast ready as soon as possible, but that mostly amounts to hurry up and wait. [22:39] 5Xu Sim curses in improbably mathematical terms, before whirling his entire body around in a leap to deliver a cracking blow to the Judge's kneecap. 15[22:39] The blow is precisely calculated and mercilessly accurate. The Judge falls to her knees, though from this position she still dwarfs the two Chosen. [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Now Keldar's got their measure. The dreamers move with inhuman speed and strength, but with a bizarre, swaying cadence that's nightmarish to the layman but predictable to the seasoned warrior. Keldar lays in to the remainder of the traitor unit, and when he's done, well, there's at least a comparable number of sleeping or unconscious bodies to dead ones. 14[22:48] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:53] * Joins: hrolf 15[22:58] The Judge's lance evades all efforts to block it, and pierces Nessun Dorma's heart, withdrawing to leave unblemished armor in his wake. Dorma's eyes go small with untethered fury. "From bended knee you are NOTHING to me! I am the Rock of Kimauga! I am a Prince of the Earth! I- AM- IN14DOMIT15ABLE--" 15[22:58] His voice gets smaller as he speaks. Nessun Dorma's imposing figure somehow becomes lost in the melee. Fading into the background. 15[23:00] Her spear pierces him from heart to spine. White jade scatters like paper on the wind. 15[23:01] 10It's not Zuniga's voice that Xu Sim hears: "A prince alone is just a man." [23:01] "Dorma!" 5screams Xu Sim, tears streaming down his ash-streaked face. [23:01] 14Well, shit. [23:01] 5It is audible over the Codex and, no doubt the din of battle as well. 15[23:02] The fury in his eyes goes out as Nessun Dorma slides off the spear, his body resting like a meteor in the crater of his last stand. 15[23:08] The fire in the sky descends in torrents. The wanderers, revolutionaries, and people's champions dragged into the raksha's mad war cannot withstand it. Those who aren't incinerated outright and quickly wiped out by a resurgent Lookshy. [23:08] 13Oh, no. [23:08] 5Xu Sim rushes to the body, beneath the shadow cast by what remains of the Judge. [23:09] 14We're not doing that again unless it's against Thorns. [23:10] 5Xu Sim might have exulted in this destruction in another time, but his heart is extinguished in grief and anguish. He clambers along, dragging the body as far as he can towards the Lookshyan lines and ducking torrents of the thistledown. 15[23:11] A pair of Gunzosha troops charge forward, spiked arms extended. "To safety!" a voice crackles through the din. [23:12] 5Sobbing through gritted teeth, Xu Sim scrambles along with them. 15[23:14] As they retreat from the field, Xu Sim hears a hideous shriek and sees Akasha recoil from the Final Word, buffeted by cannon and thistledown and casting its head about as it sees no other survivors. [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12None of this is apparent to Keldar across the city, of course. Right now he's patrolling the ranks, waking sleepers and disposing of the dead (well, mostly instructing his guardsmen to do so). As soon as he's got a spare moment, he's talking into the codex. "North and south holding? I need Xu Sim or another magician here as soon as practical - someone's lobbing spells at us out of [23:15] <@Ferrinus> the fog and I want to know from exactly where." [23:18] 5Xu Sim allows himself to be evacuated. 15[23:18] The last thing Xu Sim hears before he's out of range of the battle is the crack of a dozen thunderbolts. [23:22] "Where is everyone? What's going on?" 5he croaks, speaking into an empty alleyway and into the Codex. [23:22] 14Stranger: "We're here. We're holding." 15[23:22] Xu Sim is ferried swiftly underground by infantry, to the infirmary where he meets Xia Lan and Stranger(?) [23:23] 13Xia Lan: "It sounds awful -- can't keep track...!" [23:23] 14Seems about right. There's little more to do at the Tomb for now. [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "East is secure, but taking attrition. Repeat, I want someone who'll pinpoint the source of hostile sorcery, or at least check my math on it." 12He's actually leaning over a battlement and peering at the fog right now, scraping figures and sightlines onto some stone with a gauntleted finger as he squints. [23:24] 14Stranger will have sent one of the sorcerers who is not on rotation yet over. [23:26] 5Arriving in the infirmary, Xu Sim casts a bleak glance around. "The Dragonlord has fallen. I think it was Cethleann - she appeared in the form of Judge Zuniga. She struck him down, bizarre attack. It hits your heart, your emotions. She escaped. Akasha, the Wailing Wall, withdrew and the rest of Elegba's army is in tatters." 15[23:26] Keldar is soon joined at the eastern front by Red Tien. "I've been briefed. Sorcerers in the mists. What direction did they retreat to? What direction did the mist come from? 15[23:27] " [23:27] 14Stranger: "The Wailing Wall will be back. It's going to be a close thing as to whether we can get the iron in the air before Cethleann manages to do something with all the people she's invading right now. [23:27] " [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar points. "There and there. The exploding water bird from... thereabouts. Direction of drift was..." 12He's at least demonstrated a careful eye. [23:29] "Have you exorcised her influence? Is it like the honey-maze?" 5Xu Sim's voice is becoming steadier, more clinical. Colder. 15[23:29] The sorcerer strokes his wispy beard while contemplating the mist. "I think... yes. Your heading is here--" he points. "No more than 300 yalms." [23:29] 14Stranger: "No overt honey-maze-like symptoms but I didn't have time to do a deep dive and it seems rather similar. [23:29] " [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah? Hmm. Can you tell anything else about the guy from here?" 12He doesn't spend too much time looking where Tien pointed, and can't do anything about it immediately either way because he's currently burning like a torch. Soon, maybe... [23:32] 5Xu Sim: "And you're holding her at bay with the thistledown? You've reconfigured my pylon?" 15[23:33] Tien: "This is the work of many sorcerers. Dozens. But I don't see any evidence of the Sapphire circle. That's something." 15[23:33] "Has such a confluence of magicians gathered in Creation since the First Age...?" 14[23:34] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Dozens? That's a lot of necks to snap. You can't set up some kind of barrier or countermagic here, can you? Maybe even a warning when the next spell's coming?" [23:34] 5Xu Sim cracks open a chest sitting in the corner. He retrives the Skullclamp. "We need to change the game." 15[23:35] Tien shakes his head. "Not in a matter of hours." [23:35] 14Stranger: "Same basic idea, really. We just don't heat it up first. But the iron won't go up for a little bit longer, we're still resetting the works." [23:38] 5Xu Sim examines the device in his hands, turning it over once or twice. Intriguing. But still mysterious. [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Fuckers. All right, you got any wall-repairing magic I want you to have at; otherwise, dismissed." 12He resumes pacing, broadcasting out to his fellow Solars across the codex again. "I have a bead on sorcerer - sorcerers, according to Tien, maybe dozens. We could melt 'em with our last thistledown shot, or try to move out and crush 'em, or attempt an assassination." [23:39] 14Stranger: "Thistledown is a no go. Our iron shield needs to get the air as soon as possible or we'll have Cethleann in our back ranks. [23:39] " [23:40] 5Xu Sim: "Keldar, I'm on my way to your position." [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Gonna think on it for another hour, but if anyone thinks they can sneak in and out of a raksha army least as well as I can they should speak up." 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ZZZzzz…) 14[20:44] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:55] * Joins: Crion [21:04] 12 / [21:04] 12 / [21:04] 12 xxX###xx / [21:04] 12 ::XXX / [21:04] 12 xxXX::::::###XXXXXx/##### [21:04] 12 :::XXXXX::::::XXXXXXXXX/ #### [21:04] 12 xXXX//::::::://///////:::::::::::/##### # ########## [21:04] 12 XXXXXX//:::::://///xXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/# ####### ### ### [21:04] 12 XXXX :://///XXXXXXXXX######X/####### # ### # [21:04] 12 XXXX ::////XXXXXXXXX#######/ # # #### # # [21:04] 12 XXXX/: ::////XXXXXXXXXX#####/ # ######### ## [21:04] 12 ""XX//::::::////XXXXXXXXXXXXXX/########### # # [21:04] 12 "::::::::////XXXXXXXXXXXX/ # # # ## [21:04] 12 ::::////XXXXXXXXXX/################## ### [21:04] 12 ::::://XXXXXX/# # # ####### [21:04] 12 ::::::::/################ [21:04] 12 / [21:04] 12 / [21:04] 12 / 08[21:08] 12Eikichi sits at a nice round table, sharing a pot of tea with a charming lady who's explaining at some length the various injustices done to her - lies, delays, reschedulings, misuses of hospitality. Around him seems to be some sort of bustling, yet indistinct crowd. 14[21:08] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[21:10] * Quits: trenchfoot (Quit: Leaving) 14[21:10] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot [21:10] 12Actually around him, of course, is the upturned dome at the top of Great Forks's central temple, strewn with bones and decayed furniture and sorcerous laboratory equipment. Tatsuya's just managed to excuse himself from tea with the Princess Magnificent to discover that Blossom's under attack by two of her servants, both of whom have shucked the last vestiges of their disguises or [21:10] 12alternate identities or something to come at her with scythe and dagger. [21:12] 12Many levels of twisted, inverted city above this, Ir is carrying out a successful military campaign, smashing through floor after floor of the hanging necropolis on her way to the very bottom. She's got all three of her queens with her, and far above the great shape of Jormungand is looking on and providing support - although Jormungand's currently badly wounded, a rot spreading 08[21:12] 12through its left wing from a seemingly-spontaneous upsurge of exactly the same inky void currently steaming in Eikichi's cup. 15[21:12] 10What does it smell like? [21:12] 12Nothing, really. [21:13] 4She's growing more and more concerned that the others haven't showed up yet. But she also, for some reason, feels like she would have felt something if they'd met with mortal trouble. [21:15] 12Having sliced several times at Blossom with a soulsteel dagger, the lithe Son of Crows does a sudden backflip, pausing to hang a couple yards in the air over his enemy in order to hurl his blade with a curt, backhanded motion. The dagger multiplies a hundredfold mid-flight, each edge gleaming thirstily! 15[21:27] 10Eikichi tries to think of something witty to say, and can't, but uncharacteristically doesn't say something anyway. 08[21:33] 12Eikichi manages to talk his way out of an extremely circuitous attempt on the Princess's part to point out that simply coming down here has, properly speaking, put him in her debt vis-a-vis her gracious hostessing. Towards the final quartile of the thought, she interrupts herself and nods at his cup. "Aren't you going to have any? It might grow cold." [21:36] 7Blossom stops - turns - twists - and slips through the rain of unnaturally bloodthirsty knives! She's in a very dangerous position, hopefully her friends will provide backup soon! 15[21:39] 10Eikichi peers down at his tea. It'd be rude not to... 15[21:39] 10Bottoms up. [21:40] 12Aw, it's cold already. 08[21:43] 12Doesn't really taste of anything... not bad, though, as tea goes. There's definitely an air of rarity and refinement here. And it feels a bit weird... there's a coldness spreading through Eikichi's body from the solar plexus outward, but it feels very faint. He doesn't really feel any different. The Princess watches with an enigmatic expression. 08[21:58] 6Tatsuya takes a moment to adjust from the circumstances of the tea party, narrowly dodging parts of the attack meant for Blossom. Woah, man, that guy's bad news, he should 13pounce 6wait what? Actually, yeah, that's not a bad idea, if he could just slam him to the ground 13and really sink his claws into the guy 6that'd get Blossom open and maybe Eikichi'll slip away in a sec! He leaps! [21:59] 12There's a bone-encased blur, and suddenly Tatsuya finds himself locking blades with the wrong target! His essence-claws have clashed and stopped against the haft of a huge scythe held by a man in garish skull-and-bones armor, one who grins through his facemask and turns the parry into a strike! [22:26] 12And then another strike. And then another strike. From the outside, it looks like rather than a scythe the armored man is just wielding a spinning black wheel. From the inside, it- well, mostly it just hurts. [22:29] 6This is the worst pain Tatsuya has ever been in in his life. Sun above. Apparently the claws idea was a bad one! 13Sorry. 6Not your fault. [22:59] 4As the battle continues, suddenly the ceiling explodes, and a golden thunderbolt smashes down into the ground. "Finally. Late, but here." [22:59] 4As the ceiling starts to roil: "And Hell follows with me." [23:00] 6Praise the Sun! [23:00] 12Ir descends from the ceiling on a roiling melee. In the middle of the great inverted dome is an indistinct, shadowy area that seems at first blush to be far too high-class to admit her... but there's Blossom and Tatsuya, clearly on the receiving end of a serious beating from these two dark Chosen! And oh, shit, that's probably Tatsuya's blood! [23:00] 6He's lost a lot. You can see most of it, though. [23:01] 12Water the Fields with Blood looks up at the newcomer, grinning beneath his mask. A black sun drawn in blood smokes atop the skull-plate's brow. [23:18] 4She's between him and Blossom almost before he moves. [23:21] 12It's Son of Crows who moves first, whirling as he dispatches a black, razor-sharp dagger at the staggered Zenith caste. Ir's there first, and takes the blow on the chin, and the elbow, and the hip, and the other elbow - the thing ricochetes impossibly before spinning back into its wielder's hand. [23:21] 4Ir takes the hit, rolls her shoulders, and spits blood onto the floor dismissively. [23:21] 12Hurts like hell, but Ir's anima-armor enfolds her with briefly-searing but overall warmly comforting essence that holds her entire body fast. The man with the knife looks disquieted. [23:33] 12As orb clashes with scythe, the Princess Magnificent sits archly back in her seat, raises her teacup to about shoulder level, and takes hold of a silver spoon. After a moment's dramatic pause, she strikes the latter against the former. One, two, three piercing chimes echo through the great dark room. [23:35] 12The Princess: "Ahem. Please attend." [23:45] 6Dressed like this? And with all this blood? Now that just seems rude. Ruder than just ignoring it. [23:48] 12She looks to her guest. "Don't you like it?" 15[23:48] 10Eikichi: "I certainly appreciate the symmetry." [23:57] 12Princess: "Symmetry?" 14[23:57] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [23:58] 4It was a lovely entrance, but aesthetics always bow to reality, and now Ir is eating shit against two enemies far better positioned, prepared, and let's be frank, capable than she is. 15[23:59] 10Eikichi: "I mean no offense but isn't it rude to kill your guests?" Session Time: Fri Nov 30 00:00:00 2018 [00:00] 6Tatsuya flops, exhausted, to the ground... and keeps sinking. Still, where to go from here? He once fled through a city like this, but... [00:01] 12The Princess looks mildly distressed. "Oh, I wouldn't do that. Not even considering how rude your lover's been to my servants! Guests are to be cherished." 15[00:02] 10Eikichi looks around. "Is she here?" [00:03] 12The Princess waves vaguely. "Isn't she? I thought you brought her by." 14[02:09] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:13] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:18] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:26] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:53] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:44] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[15:16] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[15:55] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[17:38] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[18:16] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[18:24] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[19:13] * Joins: hrolf 14[19:18] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:21] * Joins: tom 14[23:37] * Joins: hrolf Session Time: Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 2018 14[01:30] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:10] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[02:13] * Quits: VoxPrime (Quit: ) 14[02:13] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[03:03] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:23] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[04:23] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[04:23] * Joins: dammitwho 14[04:28] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. 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[20:19] 14Yes. 15[20:20] Keldar, Stranger, Xia Lan, and Xu Sim gather in the center of the infirmary tents, the locus of all information coming and going from the war effort as injured Lookshyans and the matte white medics of the Seventh Caduceus stream in from the southern front. [20:20] 13Fair enough. [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar paces. "But we did see it burn? The thing that did Dorma in?" 15[20:22] The rout in the south brightens the morale of people grappling with the simultaneous news of the Guard's strange predicament at the city gate and the brutal siege warfare between Thorns and the bulk of Cethleann's forces on the banks of the Grey. [20:22] 14Stranger: "We did." [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But no indication of how many more of those they got - or how long it'd take them to regenerate one?" [20:23] 14Stranger: "Strategic intelligence is not really what thistledown does." [20:24] "We do know that Cethleann's fifth column manuever is more or less thwarted. We can focus just on the walls." [20:24] 13Xia Lan: "Fairly wide focus." [20:25] "Better than also having to hustle backwards." [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Our main concern in the east is their sorcerer. Sorcerers. They've been pelting my men with bullshit for a day already and I ain't gonna put up with a second." [20:27] 14Stranger: "We'd have to ride out into the fog to deal with them?" [20:28] 13Xia Lan: "How many of us, and when?" [20:28] "It's the best use of us, with the iron up." [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ride out or sneak out. Red Tien guesses they've got at least a dozen spellcasters out there. None of 'em as nuts as, say, one of the lunar anathema, but they're all working together." [20:31] "There's not going to be much sneaking from me." [20:32] "I've never been much for stealth, myself." [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Could just be me, then. 'course, I can also just march out there with the Guard. Whether that ends better or worse than me creeping out by my lonesome, I dunno." [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Or, we triangulate the position of their circle or cabal or whatever they call it and use our last shot of thistledown." [20:33] 14Stranger: "What if we march out there with the Guard, you circle by yourself, and if it all goes sideways you join us and take command?" [20:33] "Because we're not dropping that iron." [20:34] "It's not even enough to get most of the sleepers awake." [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Don't think we'd gain enough by your distracting them with the Guard to make it worth risking the Guard. I'd sooner sneak out myself, and call down the iron if things go really bad... 'cept for what you just said. Hrm." [20:37] "Well, we can't just let them sit there throwing spells. At some point it'll take a daring gambit." [20:39] 13Xia Lan: "How many of us can we spare? I mean, taking them out seems like a priority..." [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Here's what I'm thinking: I sneak out to slit some throats, and if it goes south one of you standby to lead the Guard out after me." [20:39] 14Stranger: "Tsuka." 14[20:39] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:40] "Tsuka will lead the Guard out. We'll assist." [20:40] "He's got the credibility." [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods. "True enough. Might not even take any of you - I'll put it through the Codex if things are so bad that I need anathematic backup." [20:41] 13Xia Lan: "He-- call me first." 14[20:42] * Joins: mattbaby [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 21Keldar nods again. "Alright. He's technically with the Apples, after all. Could take the Guard in a pinch, but I'm sure Khelendros has his own problems." [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods again. "Alright. He's technically with the Apples, after all. Could take the Guard in a pinch, but I'm sure Khelendros has his own problems." [20:53] 5Xu Sim hasn't said a word. He's been meditating. Even the Twice-Refined Princess has to give up trying to rouse him after a while. He rises, wordlessly, and rapidly assembles three small pouches. He summons Dawn Guard messengers and quietly gives order to throw the pouches far from friendly lines across each of the fronts. [20:53] 5Scratch that. [20:54] 5He hands one to Keldar and keeps two for himself. "Firedust, iron oxide, rosewood ash. If we are discovered, they should suffice to cover our escape." [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Nice. And good to know you're coming with - you can point out lines I shouldn't step over, runes to scratch out, kinda thing." [20:55] "Indeed. And," 5he brandishes the Skullclamp - "I have a present for one of their generals." [20:56] 14Stranger will set up at an advantageous parapet with the Codex, ready to act as the operator. [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Whassat?" [20:57] 13Xia Lan is... guard duty, then? And ready to rush out after Tsuka, should needs must. 15[21:01] The two pairs split up - one preparing to creep through the mists toward the bulk of the eastern army, with Stranger and Xia Lan supporting a harried-looking Tsuka at the city gate. 15[21:01] The first thing he says after embracing Xia Lan is "Is it true about Nessun Dorma?" [21:02] 14Stranger simply meticulously prepares the tea. [21:02] 13She's still hugging back. "Yeah." 13Only then does she let go. [21:04] 13Xia Lan: "He died a hero. But--" [21:04] 5Xu Sim: "Under questioning, the neokorboros that tried to abduct Vladok called it a Skullclamp." [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So what's it do?" [21:08] 5Xu Sim turns it here and there under the light, examining it again. He doesn't hide his irritation at not having an answer - yet - nor his eagerness to find out. "I'm looking forward to finding out. But if that neokorboros was confident enough in its power to just slap it on Vladok in the middle of his own lair, surrounded by friends and allies -" [21:08] 13Unsure of what else to say, she simply pulls him in again. "Stay safe, okay?" [21:09] 14Stranger: "He will have us to ensure that. Now come, sit down; have some tea." [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hmm, well, long as it doesn't give the subject untold power or something. Now, here's the plan..." 12What follows is shop talk - lines of sight, routes through the mist, etcetera. [21:10] 14Perhaps the most impressive thing is he's doing this with one hand; the other is splayed across the Codex, laid out at his side. 15[21:10] Without answering Tsuka looks out at the gate, where the Guard are setting up. His gaze quiets the cheer they let out at Tsuka and Xia Lan's embrace. [21:12] 5Xu Sim has few comments or questions. He is as well-at-ease as a man who has just woken up from a long and refreshing sleep. [21:12] 14Morale is morale, but they do love to be reminded when their heroes fuck. [21:12] 13Wow. Crude. [21:13] 14So it goes. [21:13] 14How do you think Stranger made such easy peace with the Crows? [21:14] 5By fucking each and every one of them? [21:14] 13Honestly, for all you know they haven't progressed past chaste handholding. [21:14] 13WOW. 14[21:14] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:14] 14Well, that does give insight into recruiting the blood apes. [21:15] 13*repeatedly slamming eject button on this conversation* 14[21:20] * Joins: tom 15[21:25] Keldar and Xu Sim creep out, ranging wide to the south as they approach the eastern mists. The ground is unsteady beneath their feet, and Keldar finds his expert knowledge of the local geography somewhat at odds with what he and his partner are seeing. That hillock should be over there, this minor tributary should be curving the other way-- movement stops them in their tracks. As they creep forward, they cross the gaze of a coconut-sized reptile's eye floating in a languid, amoebic pool of water. In the mist behind it is the distant crackle of fires; Keldar concludes they've reached the far edges of Ardua's muster. 14[21:25] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[21:26] * Joins: cbass 15[21:26] Depsite the cheering, the mood at the eastern gate is sour. Keldar's gone, leaving this well-liked but resented Tsuka as his replacement - not even a member of the Guard! - and half the soldiers are dwelling on having had to cut a comrade down earlier that day. More are nursing injuries from those same lost comrades. [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar glances towards Xu Sim's position, then whispers into the codex. "Bearing on the sorcerers?" 12He's prepared to go without, but might as well check. [21:28] 14Someone's going to have to boost morale. [21:32] 5Xu Sim narrows his eyes and casts his gaze about. [21:33] 13Xia Lan's able to, if Tsuka asks her. But maybe he wants to rally the troops himself...? [21:41] 5Xu Sim carefully notes nods and silently points out to Keldar the locations of a variety of elementals and sorcerous constructs that they will likely have to avoid. "More sleep-inducing mists," 5he whispers. And then he casts his hand East and extends a single finger, pointing towards a scintillating patch of sky. "They work their magic where the world wanes." [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hmph. Well, I'm going to reach their circle and cut it down regardless." 12A faint line of reflected light traces its way across his armor as he speaks - then he moves out, as planned. [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12How is Keldar managing to move so quietly, and keep such a low profile, despite being clad in a superheavy suit of gold and silver armor? It's hard to explain. Part of it's the native flexibility of moonsilver. There's also something about the way the metal's catching the light but giving little back - the glow's cut and diffused by the mist, and tends to just look like normal [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12wyld-adjacent chromatic aberration unless you're looking right at it and know what it is. 14[21:51] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[21:51] * Joins: tom 15[21:51] Tsuka looks back at Xia Lan before setting his face and approaching the troops, arms up. "A month from now none of you will need to know my name. I'll be working alongside you, a peer among brothers, rebuilding our city. All of us are here, fighting for Nexus, fighting for the second chance Nexus represents to all of Creation and every soul inside. We fight for that promise. We fight for our lives! And we- will- prevail!" He's not an orator, and it shows, but what shows more brightly is his passion, his conviction, the unignorable intensity with which he reaches out to his command. "Where will you be in one month's time? Imagine, and it will be so!" [21:53] 14Good lad. [21:53] 5Xu Sim, clad in soot-streaked white, draws a kerchief about his face to dampen the sound of his breathing. He creeps like a spider through the camp outskirts. [21:54] 13It takes all of Xia Lan's restraint to wait until he's back to whatever serves as their space to almost tackle and kiss him. Let them whoop again, who cares. She doesn't, not now. [21:55] 14Sipping the tea. [21:57] 13Shut. 15[22:01] Tsuka's skin is hot to the touch; there are embers in his eyes. "We're gonna win," he says, with finality. [22:02] 13Xia Lan: "We are." 13And she finally believes it. [22:02] 14From outside the tent they're in: "We'll be needed quickly." [22:04] 13Ugh. Mood killer. "In a minute." 13To Tsuka: "Ready?" 15[22:04] Tsuka kisses Xia Lan one more time. "I am now. Let's go." [22:05] 14Once they emerge: "Keldar's been marked, but Xu Sim is still unseen. They're making a play. We need to advance upon that play's conclusion -- regardless of which outcome." [22:06] 13Xia Lan's out after Tsuka with enough time to be considered chaste, and also to smooth her outfit. "How many of us are heading out? The whole unit, or..." 13she gestures to the three of them. [22:07] 14Stranger: "All of us. We're pressing an advantage." 15[22:10] Across the battlefield, well past the enemy line, Keldar and Xu Sim trek through the mist, doing well to keep to it and out of the areas kept clean in and around the ranks of elementals by makeshift braziers of violet fire. From time to time they press themselves flat and still as a thin membrane of white light traces through them orthogonal to the ground. Keldar, in particular, takes great pains to evade this, but his erratic stopping-and-starting draws the attention of a blue-skinned being with a flaming red third eye, set in a crown of fire. He withdraws his hands into cerulean robes and begins chanting. Not long after, four identical voices join him, and four identical faces flank him to the left and right. Above their third eyes their shaved heads are tattooed with a symbol, a hand-like shape radiating five rays upward from a single point beneath. 15[22:11] "INTRUDER! BY THE THRAN!" 15[22:11] How do Xu Sim and Keldar react when the latter is made? [22:13] 5Xu Sim presses himself to the ground - he knows that there's no way he's been spotted, yet. [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar presses his lips together tightly and narrows his eyes in the classic expression of disingenuous contrition, but then he relaxes into a grin, detaching himself from the wall he was pressing against and smoothly brandishing his blade. "Y'know," 12he says, "It's really on you that I even made it this far in this getup." [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12His brow flares with dawn's fire as Terminus spins once in his hand. The tip traces a faint contrail through the air. [22:17] 14Stranger, to Keldar over the Codex: "We're in position. You just say when." [22:18] "He looks familiar..." 5Xu Sim mutters to himself. "The one who acts as five? The high tower... another world... a silver son?" [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar mutters into the codex while stearing down the blue sentinels: "Cooouuuuld be shortly." [22:19] 14Stranger signals to Tsuka. It's time to get everyone in position to move. [22:19] 13Xia Lan's ready. [22:19] 13And also clinging next to Tsuka. But there's only so much space, you see. 14[22:24] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[22:26] Keldar is swarmed from all sides! More tidemare elementals congeal out of the mist, and hundreds upon hundreds of short, slender crystalline figures tear their way through the ground. Behind Keldar, that amoebic eye roils forward, digging psuedopods into the earth and siphoning quartz up from beneath the soul to encase its wildly rolling eye in a massive, wicked-spiked carapace. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Then Keldar's eyes flare with golden-white light, and he gets his own third oculus, this one drawing itself on the silver shield that he pulls apart from his golden daiklave. Entreaty's power surges up and down Keldar's body, fortifying the warrior's frame with martial essence and sending streamers of golden-orange fire crackling backwards from the corners of his shield and the edges [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12of his armor's joints. "Come and get it." [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar said that last bit into the codex, too, so everyone knows what's up. 15[22:41] The Dreamer's four third eyes flare bright, and the color is echoed in the heart of each tiny crystalline figure. [22:42] 5Xu Sim takes a deep breath and slips to the side, where he slinks deeper towards the camp to try to spot the enemy general, or his other sorcerers. 14[22:49] * Joins: hrolfy [22:50] 14Stranger's up already. "We're moving. Tsuka, lead them out." [22:51] 13Weapons out. No longer draping herself over Tsuka. Let's go. [22:51] 14Drinks the full cup of tea in one go, tosses it away. [22:51] 14Let's ride. [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12To the credit of the raksha legions, they actually do come and get it. [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's seriously embattled, swamped (though not destroyed) by an onrush of impossible foes. The only reason he hasn't given any ground is that he's completely surrounded - there's none left to give! 15[23:10] The sorcerer's eyes flare blue, and eight hands clasp together. Keldar suddenly feels unsteady on his feet, legs wobbling like they're giving way. 15[23:10] Then he looks down. [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's eyes flash - metaphorically, this time - and he looks back up even as he begins to sink. "Oh, yeah? Yeah? Cute. I'm coming over there and cutting you apart." [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Gleaming crystal claws scraping at his shield and armor in vain, the mercenary takes a step forward. Then another. Then- 15[23:17] Xu Sim tiptoes around the melee, doing well to stay out of it and evading notice through the mist thereby. He draws closer and hears some chanting and past that, an argument in the Old Tongue. A sonorous, bassy man's voice intones, with incredulity: "Did you just draw that?" 15[23:28] A woman's voice, aged, irritated: "What does it matter? I drew it. I could have drawn it any turn." 15[23:28] The man: "But you drew it this turn." 15[23:29] He adds: "When you get lucky like that there's nothing I can do. Again." 15[23:29] The woman: "Yes, master." [23:35] 5Xu Sim silently rises from the muck directly behind the entity known as Ardua. With a savage grin on his face, he clicks the Skullclamp at the base of the creature's head. 15[23:45] The clamp latches onto Ardua's skull with a wet pop. His body seizes, scattering cards and candles from the table. His slate-haired opponent rises from the table, hand straying to her sword, but when Ardua's body dissolves in a splash of water leaving only an angular cerulean living brain clamped to the implement in Xu Sim's hand, she hesitates. 15[23:46] Her eyes flicker. Across the battlefield a hundred yalms away, everyone shudders and the mist starts to thin. [23:46] 13... 15[23:46] Suddenly the armored woman snaps back to focus, and offers Xu Sim a curt salute. 15[23:46] "Master." [23:46] 14Well. [23:46] 13... [23:46] 5Xu Sim pauses for a moment. Then, with a spray of water from his mouth, he laughs a shrill laugh. He doesn't stop. [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, knocking one of the crystal men aside with his shield while gritting his teeth and simply walking through a tidemare, slows briefly as he notices everything ebbing around him. 15[23:47] Down below the surface, Keldar sees the various monstrosities freeze up. The Dreamer lifts his burning eyes to the surface, wincing in pain. [23:48] 5His voice cracks in between bouts of laughter. "Lay down your arms! Ha ha ha ha! You serve Xu Sim!" 15[23:48] If Xu Sim peers past the table, he'll see the mist pulling away on many elementals and monstrosities, as well as the bizarre and fierce men and women who crackle with sorcerous power. 15[23:48] One by one they kneel. [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Holy shit." [23:49] 14This is...the good outcome. One supposes. [23:49] 13Xia Lan: "Sun almighty." [23:49] 14Under his breath: "Fuck." [23:49] "Ah, ha ha ha!" 5The sorcerer, exultant. [23:51] 14Stranger: "Give us direction, oh sorcerer." [23:51] 5He turns, slowly, to face the other members of the Circle. "Ha!" 5he holds Ardua's brain, still gently wriggling and dripping water, aloft. "Ha! Ha!" 5Xu Sim wiggles it a bit. [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Guess you keep what you kill. Xu Sim! Get these fuckers out of my way, I wanna dry off." 12Keldar shoots a contemptuous look at the giant gem-encrusted eyeball before stowing his sword and shield at his back and stomping westward to rejoin the Dawn Guard. [23:51] "DI [23:51] REC [23:51] TION." [23:52] "Because we can't fucking stay out here." [23:52] 5He clears his throat and looks sheepish for a moment. [23:52] 13Let's fucking go. [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's got it. He addresses the Guard in a booming voice as soon as he's clear of the tidemares and crystal men. "About face, back through the gate! We'll retake defensive positions and then figure out what to do with these freaks." [23:53] 14Stranger: "So long as we don't keep them under the iron, if we want to keep them." [23:53] <@Ferrinus> "Tsuka." 12Keldar adds the last bit with a stoic nod at the young Terrestrial before drawing some small circles in the air with a gauntlet. Unless something's up, the guardsmen should soon be returning to their still-being-patched fortifications within Nexus proper. [23:53] "Hold," 5Xu Sim commands the freak legion. He hurries towards the rest of the Circle. [23:54] 5Once closer: "We should attack, surely we could collapse at least one of the flanks with this force!" [23:54] 14Stranger: "This is a flank." [23:54] 5Xu Sim: "This was the center." [23:54] "If we drive south we're in no man's land. If we drive north, we're interfering with Thorns." [23:55] "Do you want to help Thorns?" [23:55] 5There's a twinkle in Xu Sim's eye at the prospect. [23:55] "I don't." [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Not a bad plan. I could move the Guard through the city to, say, reinforce Lookshy - then we storm out as you sweep along. Assuming the ground's navigable at all." [23:55] "Reinforcing Lookshy would be my call." [23:57] "Nessun Dorma died in the south... but Sevenfold Scion is in the north." [23:58] 13Xia Lan: "...split up?" [23:59] 13Who is Xia Lan to deny Xu Sim his calling, after all. Session Time: Wed Dec 05 00:00:00 2018 [00:00] "Who am I to deny romance." [00:01] 5Xu Sim nods. "They won't expect a counterattack like this, in two places at once, right?" [00:03] 5Xu Sim, to Keldar: "Remember what I learned about the Wailing Wall. Once its rider dismounts, it'll go into a frenzy and you can lead it wherever you want, bait it into their lines, whatever it takes." [00:04] "Thralls! We strike north!" 5He waves the skullclamp about in a circle for effect, before securing it to a place on his belt. Important thing, this. [00:04] 5strike it [00:04] 5strike that 15[00:07] NEXT TIME: Winter [00:08] 13Xia Lan: "I'm with Xu Sim." 13There's a harsh glare, daring anyone to tell her not to. [00:08] 5He mouths: "Thank you." [00:10] 14Stranger: "So it goes." [00:10] "We need to move fast." [00:10] "Take your new people and run." [00:10] 13A nod. A look to Xu Sim. [00:11] "Thralls! We strike north!" 5He waves the skullclamp about in a circle for effect, before securing it to a place on his belt. Important thing, this. [00:11] 13Wow. Way to repeat a - ah, hell. [00:13] "Xia Lan," 5he says softly, "Should I deny doing this for personal reasons? Is this... a mistake?" [00:14] 13Xia Lan: "If I told you to hold back, I'd be a liar." [00:15] "I went north for a reason. Let's make it worth it." [00:15] "Stranger thinks it's a mistake." [00:16] 13She just looks at Xu Sim blankly. [00:16] "Do you?" [00:17] 5Xu Sim: "No. But he's a wise man. Maybe he knows something I don't." 14[00:19] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [00:19] 13Xia Lan: "Idiot. You can lose more when you're doing the 'right' thing. Defend what you need to." [00:19] 13She looks stricken, briefly, but covers it well. 14[00:19] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:23] "You speak from experience, then. I'll follow your advice. But I'll tell you the real reason I'm afraid." [00:24] 13She looks over, eyebrow raised. [00:25] "Go on." [00:25] "I can protect people. I can cure a plague, rescue a neighborhood, save an army from being crushed by the Emissary's wroth. But protecting a person? I didn't save King Novak the Shepherd, or his friend Nessun Dorma. They both died on my watch." [00:27] "It's a war, people die. It's a royal court, whatever. It's a violent world and people die all the time. But the ones I care about? Too many of them..." [00:29] 13Xia Lan: "It's -- yeah. But there's still regrets." [00:30] "Care about those without crowns. I'm going to make some tea." [00:30] "So you should protect her. I mean." [00:30] "What are you doing without her?" [00:30] 13The same look across her face. [00:31] "She's a good woman," 14he shouts over his shoulder. "But you already know that." [00:34] "Well, it's not so simple, you know," 5he stammers. "There's all sorts of implications. And not just for me. I'm trying not to be selfish." [00:35] 13Xia Lan: "Take it from someone who knows: that doesn't make it any better." [00:35] "Let's go save your girl, yeah?" [00:36] 5He nods. [00:36] 14And away we go. [00:36] 14Feels good. 14[00:54] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[01:09] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[01:09] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[01:55] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:56] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[05:59] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[08:17] * Joins: mattbaby 14[08:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:44] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:49] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:07] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:13] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:09] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:39] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:09] * Joins: Crion 14[18:39] * Joins: hrolfy 14[19:56] * Joins: hrolfie 14[19:59] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:24] * Quits: hrolf_mac (*.net *.split) 14[22:24] * Quits: banana (*.net *.split) 14[22:24] * Quits: mattbaby (*.net *.split) 14[22:24] * Quits: Crion (*.net *.split) 14[22:24] * Quits: @Ferrinus (*.net *.split) 14[22:24] * Quits: cbass (*.net *.split) 14[22:24] * Quits: hrolfie (*.net *.split) 14[22:25] * Joins: banana 14[22:25] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[22:25] * Joins: cbass 14[22:25] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[22:25] * Joins: hrolfie 14[22:25] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:25] * Joins: Crion 14[22:25] * zephyrus.hub.sorcery.net sets mode: +o Ferrinus Session Time: Thu Dec 06 00:00:00 2018 14[00:54] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[00:56] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:01] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:09] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[10:09] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:28] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:27] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:46] * banana is now known as banana|peels [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 .$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$W [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 .$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$i [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 #$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 W$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1$u #$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$~ [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1$# `"$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1$i $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1$$ #$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1#$. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$# [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 $$ $iW$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$! [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 $$i $$$$$$$#"" `"""#$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$#""""""#$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$W [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 #$$W `$$$#" " !$$$$$` `"#$$$$$$$$$$# [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 $$$ `` ! !iuW$$$$$ #$$$$$$$# [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 #$$ $u $ $$$$$$$ $$$$$$$~ [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 "# #$$i. # $$$$$$$. `$$$$$$ [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 $$$$$i. """#$$$$i. .$$$$# [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 $$$$$$$$! . ` $$$$$$$$$i $$$$$ [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 `$$$$$ $iWW .uW` #$$$$$$$$$W. .$$$$$$# [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 "#$$$$$$$$$$$$#` $$$$$$$$$$$iWiuuuW$$$$$$$$W [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 !#"" "" `$$$$$$$##$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 i$$$$ . !$$$$$$ .$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$# [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 $$$$$$$$$$` $$$$$$$$$Wi$$$$$$#"#$$` [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 #$$$$$$$$$W. $$$$$$$$$$$# `` [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 `$$$$##$$$$! i$u. $. .i$$$$$$$$$#"" [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 " `#W $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$` u$# [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 W$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$W [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 $$`!$$$##$$$$``$$$$ $$$$! [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 i$" $$$$ $$#"` """ W$$$$ [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 W$$$$! 08[20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi can't quite tell if the tea party's going well. He's had a sip already, and while the beverage was quite unusual he didn't have any outward reaction to it, and neither did his hostess. She is, even now, refilling his cup. He might be given to wonder how everyone else is doing - what must be going on outside this parlor he's found himself in? [20:12] <@Ferrinus> 12What's going on, of course, is a stone-shattering, blood-soaked melee. Tatsuya's been laid low, nearly laid out by a frenzy of scythe blows delivered by he who Waters the Fields with Blood, and the knife-wielding Son of Crows is circling for another blow against the first target of opportunity he spots. Ir has plunged down from the ceiling like a comet, landing to interpose herself [20:12] <@Ferrinus> 12between a strike that might have crippled Blossom entirely, but absorbing the attacks of Son and Water both have left the spearwoman badly off balance and out of breath. [20:12] 4Fuck me if I can't take a joke. [20:12] <@Ferrinus> 12But Ir didn't come alone - hell marches with her. Skitters with her, in this case, as a tide of ravenous kruthlings comes pouring down the walls of the inverted dome to converge on the battlefield! 15[20:31] 10Eikichi looks about with an expression of vague disappointment. "No music? A sanxian, a string trio? A little lovely, late Maido?" [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Princess: "Oh, but that kind of thing has been out of style for years!" 08[20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi doesn't buy it, and the Princess can tell. [20:44] 4Ir slouches in front of the next blow, and turns it aside. [20:44] 4The walls are simply beginning to teem. 14[21:09] * Joins: tom [21:17] 6Tatsuya's got a bit of a second wind, here - not quite as badly off as he thought. Still managed to lose track of the one, but the other... another 13pounce! 6He leaps towards Water the Fields with Blood, and -- it goes much better than the last time, but he can't find a single hole in the defense. Augh. [21:18] 4And while the fight below doesn't roll their way -- and the Abyssals grin as they close in -- Ir has one last card to play. [21:18] 4She SHOUTS, and her armor near explodes. [21:24] 4It does nothing. [21:25] 4There's a horrible, defeated, pained looked on her face for just a moment before she screams and throws herself back into it. [21:48] 4Unlike her, however, the Kruthik are unceasing. [21:54] 7Blossom continues to hurl firebolts at Water The Fields With Blood - he grunts and occasionally has to shift his shield to reflect them, but otherwise she doesn't get through. 15[21:54] 10When the Princess coaxes him to drink again, Eikichi's eyes flare white and he knocks his teacup over, spilling void all over the tablecloth. "Oh, goodness! My sincerest apologies, madam. I was distracted. You have the most remarkable cheekbones." [21:56] 4While she tries to hold the line, the kruthlings and tunnelers descened on the larger, armored assailant. The other one's still around here somewhere... [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12The Princess actually looks flustered - very, very briefly. Outside, a blast of holy light does little more than illuminate the battlefield - but it illuminates the absolutely vast demon army that's now crashing down through a gaping crater that's replaced the ceiling. One of the abyssals seems to have slipped out of sight in the maelstrom of kruthik, but the other's beset on all [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12sides by three anathema and their ravening horde - and more and more of the blood flowing down his face is red rather than steaming black. [22:03] 6Tatsuya keeps trying to get attacks in - the kruthik are starting to weaken his target, and hopefully soon enough they'll find wherever that other one went. Finally, he's actually making progress - weaving two styles of martial arts together in harmony to hunt for any weaknesses in the defenses, and finally finding purchase! [22:12] 4Then Blossom strikes, and Ir strikes -- but she's keeping an eye out... [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir casts here eyes about as the last of her forces come into view. There's a lot of random laboratory equipment and wealth and finery around, and even more dust and cobwebs. She can't, at a glance, figure out whether firing on the netherworldly tea party would be a good or bad idea. However, there is a huge, ornate mirror on the other side of the room that looks like an artifact of [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12some kind and that none of her friends are anywhere near. 15[22:26] 10Eikichi: "So is there a Prince Magnificent?" [22:26] 6Wow, dude. [22:26] 4Thirsty. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12The Princess: "E-excuse me?" [22:35] 14Outside the party, the strong man is standing but he won't be much longer. [22:35] 4Outside the party, the strong man is standing but he won't be much longer. [22:42] 4Ir wheezes, then stands tall. "I'VE GOT FORTY GUNS ON THE FUCKING MIRROR!" [22:46] "AND THEY DON'T NEED ME TO STAY ALIVE!" 08[22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Within the tea party, Eikichi can dimly hear a familiar voice, and he can see the Princess frown. She puts her cup, still half-full, down on the table before her and stands sternly, the magic of the little arena dissolving around her. 15[22:48] 10Eikichi blinks. [22:48] "Hey there," 4Ir says, then puts her mailed hand against a pillar to stop from falling to a knee. [22:49] 6Tatsuya gives an exhausted wave. Blood's starting to soak into his coat - gonna need a new one at this rate. 08[22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12The Princess stands so sternly, in fact, that she winds up floating with the tips of her feet a good foot or so above the circular table she and Eikichi were at. She's looking around in faint but clear consternation, finally setting her gaze on the motes of sizzling balefire that drip from the jaws and dorsal cavities of the ravager Kruthik arrayed at the high edges of the inverted [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12dome. She hmms. [22:50] 4Ir waves a bit with her hands, and the Kruthlings grudgingly let the hurt man in armor out from their ranks, if he pleases. [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Princess: "You mean to let those things - spit on my belongings?" 15[22:50] "Oh, hey! Nice to... see you... 14all." [22:50] 4Ir: "I do, lady death." [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12It's still not clear where the Son of Crows is, but Water the Fields with Blood groans as he pulls himself to his feet, scythe still thrumming with Tatsuya's stolen health. 14[22:51] * Joins: hrolfie [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Princess: "Unless I...?" [22:51] 4Ir: "That's up to you. But it mostly involves talking." [22:52] 6Tatsuya: "No tea this time, please." [22:52] "You got us -- ha ha -- you got us, I won't lie. You got us the worst way you could've, tactically. You were brilliant." [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Princess: "Well, far be it from me to refuse a civil conversation. I wasn't the one who started throwing fire everywhere, you may recall." [22:53] "I don't give a shit about starting it. I give a shit about ending it." [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12The Princess: "Oh, I feel just the same way. Come, sit." [22:54] 4Straddling the edge of civil is probably the best bet here. [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12The Princess: "Oh, I feel just the same way. Come, sit." [22:54] "No, my lady, I think I'm fine where I am." [22:54] "We can hear each other." [22:54] 6Tatsuya: "'sides, had to leave the party, remember? House is on fire. Gotta get back to it." [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12The tea really does smell energizing, against all odds... The Princess says "...fine. It's as I was telling your friend, here." 08[22:55] 4Ir will make eye contact with Eikichi, then incline her head at Tatsuya. Might be good to treat him so long as we've got the chance. [22:55] "And what were you telling him, my lady?" [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Princess: "I, the Weaver of Dreams of victory, have had my throne cruelly usurped. And would be very grateful to those who could restore me to my rightful place." 12She looks around, taking the temperature of the room. 15[22:56] 10Eikichi: "Do you mind if I-- he seems quite badly hurt." [22:56] 6Tatsuya: "The bleeding's... mostly stopped by now. Probably. I kinda can't tell anymore." 08[22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12The Princess eyes Eikichi. "Fine. But, in return, you must spare one of mine if I demand it." 15[22:57] 10Eikichi looks back at the others. Does that work for them? [22:57] "I don't dislike you, my lady. I don't even properly know you. But I've been given no reason to care about your throne, when weighed against what I do care about above. And that's not a suicide pact, but I'm not drinking that tea and I'm not kissing that ring." [22:57] 4Works for Ir. [22:58] "Name your man." [22:58] 6Tatsuya: "Do you want the one who's hiding, or the other one?" [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12The Princess: "I'll pick later. But I agree! You've little reason to care about my throne in and of itself. What should matter to you is simply the advantage or disadvantaged created for your own endeavors, correct?" [23:01] 4Ir grins, and it quickly becomes a grimace. "It is. Make your pitch." [23:02] 6More to the space around him than to the Princess: "Good work, by the way. Usually my thing to do that, and dang does it suck to be on the other end." [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12The Princess Magnificent: "Let me rule Great Forks, as I intended to before the Trinity played its little trick, and you will have an ally among the dead. Intelligence, magic, riches, a voice on the Council of Rivers - I can offer you all these things." [23:02] 14Ir: "That's a no." [23:02] 4Ir: "That's a no." [23:03] 7Blossom makes a small disgusted noise. [23:03] 6Tatsuya: "Yeah, pretty sure that one's a hard no." 15[23:03] 10Eikichi: "We already have all of those things." [23:03] 4Ir: "So now we're negotiating your retreat, which you can make, or I've got forty guns on your mirror." [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Princess: "Do you? What have the old Three offered you?" [23:04] 4Ir: "The fuck do we care about the Three?" [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Princess: "...then why are you even here?" 15[23:04] 10Eikichi: "It seemed like a good idea!" 15[23:05] "Suppurating inverse necropolis. Be weird not to take a look, do a little light sanctifying." [23:05] "We're moving Heaven and Earth, my lady. Sometimes that involves a favor. Sometimes that involves making sure there's nothing under the ground for your cult." [23:05] "Creation's a big place. You can start over elsewhere, with all your good boys." [23:06] "We might even come to visit just for the drinks." [23:06] 6Tatsuya: "Honestly, they just point me at something and tell me to jump." [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Princess: "...this is happening to me at random?" [23:07] 6Shrug. [23:08] 4Ir: "Nothing's random, my lady." [23:08] "Everything's planned by the Sun." [23:08] 7Blossom: "Not at random. You're here, and you ought not be. But if it were at random, isn't the unrelenting hostility of life your thing?" [23:09] "Blame yourself," 7She concludes. "Or Heaven." [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Princess: "No... no, this was the intention of the Three all along, I'm sure of it. Waste my time until they could point someone like you in my direction. Oblivion knows they had no hope against me on their own." [23:09] 4Ir: "And do you think we'll be here forever?" 15[23:10] 10Eikichi, who has since sat back down, starts tracing the rim of his teacup with a finger. "It beggars belief that the Three outsmarted anybody." [23:10] "I think the main question, my lady, is whether you can learn to take a loss. Because you can come back from this. Or we can just make a finish out of it." [23:12] "I'm willing to die here," 4Ir says, grinning again. "I died a long time ago." 08[23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12She gives Eikichi a cool look before turning back to Ir. She frowns to herself while scraping a teacup against the tiny plate beheath it, legs crossed as though she were sitting in a second, higher chair in the air. "We can, indeed. But how much do you want to make a finish of it, warrior? Wouldn't you rather wash your hands of this? Preserve your friends and your demon horde, [23:12] <@Ferrinus> rather than see what happens when a deathlord is backed into a corner?" 15[23:13] "To be maybe a bit less... dramatic about it all, why stay? What keeps you here that you couldn't find elsewhere?" 15[23:13] "Oh, dear. Have you got nowhere else to go?" [23:14] 4Ir: "I've got forty guns on the mirror, my lady. There's a hard floor on how low I'm willing to stoop." 08[23:17] <@Ferrinus> "The loss of that mirror would be very painful," 12she sighs to herself. There's a dramatic pause, but she uses it to answer Eikichi rather than to make the obvious followup quip. "I have designs and obligations, Eikichi. I must establish myself properly somewhere in the sunlit world. Great Forks is as good as any - and better than most, in many ways. Certainly prettier." [23:19] 6Tatsuya: "Lotta nice places in the world. Most of 'em don't have a bunch of random armies popping up out of practically nowhere to defend 'em, either." [23:20] 7Blossom: "But not anymore, clearly. Why not maintain some face? We have other things to do than pursue you across Creation, so... try again elsewhere?" [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12The Princess: "That would be dreadfully inconvenient. I'm already here, after all. You could move on as easily as I could - perhaps more easily." [23:24] "But we're the only ones with an army left, if I have to say that." [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Princess: "Which means you're the only ones with an army to lose. Irritation is far from intimidation." 15[23:29] 10Eikichi: "Why not ally with Thorns?" [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Princess: "With him?" [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Princess: "Good gracious, no. We must have some standards, musn't we?" 15[23:30] 10Eikichi: "Oh, then ally with us against Thorns." [23:31] 6Tatsuya: "Wait, what." [23:31] 6He's not opposed in theory, but. What? [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12The Princess: "Why, with Great Forks firmly in hand, I could easily act to check Thorns in the local deliberative and on the battlefield if need be." [23:32] 4Ir: "Not an answer." [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Princess: "...and, indeed, would, were you to simply withdraw here and leave me to my business. Trust me, a city under my direction would be much better equipped to stymie the Mask." 14[23:35] * Joins: hrolfy 15[23:36] 10Eikichi: "I believe that given our natures we will find ourselves either in alliance or in conflict." 15[23:36] 10To his friends: "What say you?" [23:36] 4Ir: "I see myself in conflict." [23:36] 7Blossom: "I have no intention of giving her this city." [23:37] 6Tatsuya: "I meeeeean. Yeah, not really chill with this all-" 6he gestures vaguely. "Still being here. Since the alternatives are off the table..." 15[23:37] 10Eikichi looks regretful. "You do throw a lovely party." [23:37] 6Tatsuya: "Hey, anywhere else, I'd be happy to attend." 14[23:38] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[23:46] 10A frown traces Eikichi's delicate features as he ponders the Princess's despair. He blanches, suddenly. "Oh, no." 15[23:46] "Oh, no no no." [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12The deathlord cocks her head to the side slightly. "Is there a problem?" 15[23:47] "There's no parley here. We have no leverage." [23:47] 6Tatsuya: "...what?" 15[23:48] 10He looks the Princess in the eye. "You won't even be safe if we kill you, will you?" 08[23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12The Princess looks coolly bemused, then perplexed, then something else as she reads tones and undertones in Eikichi's voice. She bobs slightly in the air, as though whatever's keeping her a loft briefly forgot itself. When she answers, it's in a hoarse voice barely on the edge of audibility: "I died long ago. Nothing can kill me now." 15[23:51] 10Eikichi stands up and pushes in his chair. "Well." 15[23:51] "Can't be helped." [23:51] 4Ir looks up. "You know what to do, then." [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12The Princess holds up a finger. "Son of Crows? Don't answer me. Just leave." [23:53] 4Well that's just insulting. [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Then, as Water the Fields with Blood reaches blearily for his weapon and the the feathers of The Princess Magnificent's cloak flare in a sudden wind, the void at the center of the circular table flares upwards a second time. It doesn't rocket skyward this time, simply burning the height of three or four men - high and wide enough for the Princess to reach in with her own arm and [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12grasp something as yet unseen. "Lies. Betrayals. Usurpations. Over and over and over again. No one sees reason. Everyone turns against you. It'll happen to you!" [23:56] 4Ir bares teeth, but the order is already in if she falls. [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12As the kruthik surge forward, and Water screams under the claws and spines of the horde that's bearing him back to the ground, the Princess Magnificent draws a huge parasol out of the geyser of shadows with the same viciousness that most would reserve for swords and spears. "It happens to you TONIGHT!" [23:57] 4It's fucking noon if it's anything woman. 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[20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 "' "' "' "' "' "' [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 "' ` "' "' "' "' "' [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 "' "' "' "' "' "' [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 "' "' "' "' "' "' [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 "' "' "' "' "' "' [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 "' "' "' "' "' "' [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1"' "' "' "' "' "' [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1"' "' "' "' "' "' [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1"' "' "' "' "' "' [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 "' "' "' "' "' "' [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 HH [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 HH [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 HH [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 HH [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 HH [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 HH [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 HH [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 HH [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 HH [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 HH [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 HH [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 HH [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 HH [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 HH [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 HH [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 HH [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 HH [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 HH [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 HH [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 HH H\ [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 HH HH [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 9,1 `HHHHHH' [20:54] <@Ferrinus> "...it happens NOW!" 12Her normally placid and immaculately made-up face briefly a rictus of hate, the Princess Magnificent with Lips of Coral and Robes of Dark Feathers grasps a long, razored parasol she's just drawn from the void by its handle and suddenly surges with dark power. Lights dim, shadows sharpen, and an aura of freezing, archaic essence billows throughout the room. You're [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12really in for it now. [20:55] 4Bombs away. [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12The bells - the bells! They're maddening. You can see the Princess's image start to swim. Is she floating in the air above her table? Is she standing beside you, preparing to strike? Does she surround you in the hundreds, scurrying past your feet? You're in danger! You've got to fight back-- 14[21:29] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 08[21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi remains clear-eyed, and he can see his fellow Solars blink or shake or grit their way through the maddening noise. The kruthik aren't so lucky - the demons are immediately falling upon everything that moves around them, and while that includes the fallen and exhausted Water the Fields with Blood it also includes the other kruthik. At the lip of the great bowl-arena, Ir's [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12three disciple queens strike viciously at each other, seizing spare kruthlings and ravagers in the same way as one might snatch a sword down from a mantelpiece to settle an argument. [21:54] 4Ir tries franctically to rally the kruthik to her, but they're not listening to her anymore. All they hear are the bells. [21:56] 6Sun, those things are irritating. Just - the most awful headache. [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's music, echoing the alien wavesong of Jormungand itself, is there at the edge of kruthik awareness... but only the edge. It's not quite breaking through. [21:57] 4Still she plays, against the dissonant wind. 15[22:06] 10Eikichi reaches out to grab the Princess's hand. "Come! Dance with me!" 15[22:07] 10With the flaming ibis flaring its wings behind him and the orbs swirling around his head bending the sunlight into something cold and hard, he cuts quite an impressive figure. [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12The Princess smiles widely, her parasol twirling. "The pleasure is all mine." 08[22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's quite caught up in the dance, but someone else might spot something strange over the deathlord's shoulder, or perhaps past the deathlord's feet. Her reflection in the mirror isn't actually mimicking her sashays and deadly parasol stabs. It's just floating in place, raising both hands and channeling crackling abyssal essence between them. [22:27] "The enlightened woman does not fear death..." 7Blue fire spirals down Blossom's arms and she extends her index fingers so that the nails are almost, but not quite, touching - the flame appears to extinguish itself as it reaches her wrists and a crackling spark jumps the gap between her fingers. She brings her hands down, back, around, in a perfect kata she's practiced every morning [22:27] 7on the Heavensward-- "..for in her, death has no place to enter!" 7With that battle cry, she thrusts a hand forward, pointing accusingly at the Princess Magnificent! A lightning bolt leaps from her fingers to ground itself at the tip of her parasol, setting up a teeth-rattling countervibration that ruins the nihilistic music of the bells! 15[22:27] 10NOW it's a party. [22:27] 4Finally Ir's music burns through. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fctMc6SxVFY [22:28] 4And almost as one, the kruthiks' heads turn, and the fight is properly rejoined. [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12The Princess turns and glares, wisps of smoke rising from her feathered headdress. "You dare-" 08[22:31] 7In Eikichi's book, the illustration will probably have the parasol burnt to a skeleton, with the Princess Magnificent blinking comically as she's covered in soot. 15[22:31] 10Absolutely. 08[22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12What follows is a series of deadly steps, the razor edges of the Princess's parasol spinning ilms away from Eikichi's exposed skin before the Princess melts like fog out of the way of Tatsuya's essence-bladed pounce. Behind her, burning green balefire rains down from above, badly scoring and warping the glass of the bone and soulsteel mirror! [22:46] 6These 13pounces6 are really not paying off. But, they're so freaking close...! Surely, one of them has to hit! [22:48] 4With the chimes silenced, the kruthik begin streaming across the great hall -- towards the mirror. As the tunnelers pass beneath the Princess they give her some spine-fire, but the merely beclawed soldiers simply ignore her. [22:54] 4They're following their leader: Ir, in full armor, has hopped the table and is streaking towards the mirror with Jude's Law in hand. 15[23:03] 10Eikichi reaches to bring the Princess in close. "Surely you know more steps than this, my dear." 08[23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Catching in the sorcerer's eyes just how savage his assault is going to be, the Princes Magnificent opts out. Her body unspools into coils of silk and raven's feathers which tie themselves neatly back together right atop the great, burning mirror. She holds out a hand daintily, and her parasol floats over from Eikichi's position to hers. She looks down at Ir archly. [23:03] 4Ir looks up. "Hey there." 15[23:03] "You must teach me that one..." 15[23:04] 10When she's gone, Eikichi glances at Blossom. "Lightning?" [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12The Princess in the mirror hangs perfectly upside down, directly below the one atop it, and the elaborate circular motions she makes with her arms are of course in perfect sync with the Princess who exists in the flesh. Suddenly, the mirror yawns wide. It's as though the entire east half of the dome-arena has been replaced with black glass. And, within that glass, are ghostly [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12mirror-images of every single living creature in the room, rendered in chalky inverted colors and, of course, lit with ghostly glowing eyes. [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Each fighter's twin leaps towards them, arms wide. "Embrace oblivion!" [23:14] 4Ir's voice is normal intensity, but still sounds like a whisper: "No." 15[23:19] 10Eikichi can't wriggle free of his antiself's grasp, so its body merges with his. His anima dims and pales, losing color, and he's left dazedly running a hand through his hair. "That... that was not as hot and I'd have assumed it would be." [23:19] 6Tatsuya: "Oh my Sun, dude." 15[23:20] "What?" [23:20] 6Tatsuya: "Can you not think of literally anything else?" 15[23:20] 10Eikichi: "Not when me's coming at me." 15[23:20] "Hardly anyone can." [23:21] 6Tatsuya just rolls his eyes. 15[23:21] 10Where's the lie? [23:23] 7There is no lie. 08[23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12The Princess presses her lips tight as she oversees the result of her magic - kruthik after kruthik crumbling to dust as they seemingly age thousands of years in seconds flat, three of her opponents deftly evading their own reflections even though that shouldn't be possible, and Eikichi... just standing there? [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Princess: "Have you forsaken your humanity so entirely, pretty boy? I must say I'm impressed." 15[23:26] 10Eikichi: "Don't call me that." [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Princess: "Oh, forgive me. I'm a bit nonplussed." 15[23:27] 10Wow. She used it correctly and everything. "Apology accepted." [23:27] 6Tatsuya: "Wait, is that how you use that? I thought it was for like, not surprised." 6He's still moving around, making his way towards the mirror... [23:33] 6He then flips casually ten feet in the air over a pack of kruthlings, lands next to the mirror, and slams a blade into it. Never saw it coming. [23:37] 4Not even the kruthlings, which scream and piledrive through the mirror right after him. Ir even picks the first one up and hurls it past, gurgling in glee. [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12As the kruthik overwhelm it completely, the Princess's mirror finally collapses, parts simply melting into burning slag and others littering the floor as so much scrap. A great cloud of purple-edged shadow rises from it, swirling around the room before spiraling inward and concentrating as it finally vanishes up the nose of the deathlord, who is closing her eyes tightly and taking [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12a verrryy long, verrrry loud sniff of indignation. [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Princess: "HONESTLY." [23:46] 6Tatsuya: "Lady, that's gross." 15[23:46] "It's not gross for her." [23:46] 6Tatsuya: "That's not better." 15[23:46] "Don't be rude." [23:48] "Oh, my apologies. I don't want to huff the gross-ass death fumes from the evil mirror, because I wanted to leave them all for our gracious host." [23:48] 4Ir doesn't banter; she flips Jude's Law into a whip and snaps it just past the Princess's ear. Would have been across her eyes if she hadn't moved. Session Time: Sat Dec 15 00:00:00 2018 [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12She's so distracted it almost connected; her hat comes slightly askew as she dodges. She rounds in Ir, but before she has the chance to really go at it with the parasol a dozen different spray of acids force her to snap the weapon open and defend herself. Then, as she regains her bearing and begins to bring the razored implement to bear, she hears the scrape of porcelain- [00:03] 7Blossom: "Hrmph! More Void energies? Is that all you have to try and frighten us with? If I have to wait for you to conjure up a strike that could so much as ruffle my hair, I'll be waiting forever! Here, let me make things easier for you!" [00:03] 6Ah, jeez. 15[00:06] 10So brave... [00:06] 7Blossom strides furiously to the table, picks up the teapot that still has a little liquified oblivion sloshing around in it, and begins to guzzle directly from the spout. When it's empty, she wipes her mouth and hurls the pot to the ground in contempt. [00:06] 6Ah, jeez. [00:07] 4Heh. 14[00:09] * Joins: mattbaby [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12The Princess stares in gloating triumph... and then in abject shock. The last couple chimes on her umbrella slow and still of their own volition, and the crisp black feathers around her shoulders droop as though the hidden skeleton of a deflating balloon. "But-" [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Princess: "--but, but. The demoniac, whatever. But ALL of you? It can't be." [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Princess: "It CAN'T be. It's not FAIR. ALL of- you're worse than me! Worse than I ever was! Madmen and madwomen!" [00:12] 4Ir wipes a dribble of blood from her nose that had been collecting there. "Yup." 15[00:13] 10Eikichi: "Honestly." [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12She casts the Umbrella of Discord aside, and it goes jangling across the broken stone, stopping at the feet of a kruthling that begins to sniff at it curiously. She tears at robes and headdress, drawing smoking black blood. "I won't BROOK this insanity! I won't COUNTENANCE it! I won't be SUBJECT to it!" 15[00:13] "Fight on if you must but don't be a sore loser about it, darling." [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12The Princess Magnificent: "I won't BE!" [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12A strange chord of song plays as she throws her head back, her limbs suddenly akimbo and robes whirling around her. [00:14] 6Tatsuya: "Hey, it's not too late to just. Sit down and -- ahh, you're doing that instead." [00:15] 4Well, that sounds like an inflection point. 14[00:19] * Joins: Quaker [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12The geyser of void energies at the center of the room erupts, but this time instead of shooting skywards the pillar of darkness cracks like a whip and earths itself in the Princess's flailing corpus, shrouding her completely from view. Then the river lengthens, coils, lengthens, coils, develops crenelations and indentations, until finally it cools and sets into an enormous serpent. [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Spiraling horns sprout from the back of its skeletal head, burning eyes and razored fins shine all along its sinuous length. [00:20] 6Oh, shit. 15[00:21] "Wow." [00:23] 4Ir hops on the balls of her feet in full armor, cracks her neck, and rolls her shoulders. "Now we're getting somewhere." [00:23] 7Even Blossom is forced to admit, albeit only to herself, that that thing is pretty cool-looking. [00:25] 6Tatsuya disappears. [00:28] <@Ferrinus> 12It's everywhere throughout the room, rushing through its coils like a raging river, the motion of its eyes almost hypnotic. The energies of the void itself leak from between its jaws. It seems to act on pure instinct, moving with a fluid grace that seems in conflict with the operation of the human mind. 15[00:41] 10Eikichi leaps out with arms extended to wrap them around the coiling monster. "We're not-- done-- dancing--" [00:42] <@Ferrinus> 12The Princess Magnificent with Lips of Coral and Robes of Black Feathers: "HHLLRRKKSSSS-" 15[00:42] "Hit here! I'm holding this bit still!" 14[00:53] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:55] 7Coruscating blue flame flows in thick streams down Blossom's arms, coiling around a growing, humming sphere of force clenched between her hands! "For the fate of Three Forks... In the name of the Unconquered King of Heaven... I'll punish you! SUN.... PURITY... ESCALATION!" 7She lets the fireball roar towards the howling Underworld Chimera, slamming into its necroflesh and exploding [00:55] 7in a blinding flash of holy light! 15[00:56] 10Muffled beneath the chimera: "You're really good at naming those!" [00:57] 4Ir, climbing over coils, not bothering to shield her eyes from the light: "Hah!" [01:03] 6Tatsuya leaps out of practically nowhere to begin strangling the monstrous Princess Magnificent with - is that her own shadow? Holy shit, that thing is HUGE -- [01:05] 6He's going absolutely buckwild. For such a secretive martial art, Ebon Shadow Style really does not fuck around when it comes to murder. 15[01:06] 10Damn. [01:08] 6Blood's streaming down his face, too. Almost forgot. Put that in the notes for your art, later. [01:15] 4The spear maiden watches her friends do so well, beating this abyssal creature back, and she can't really find it in her to hate the thing, even though it almost killed them all. Even though her own failures as a general almost killed them all. But when she raises her hand and Jude's Law explodes into ten thousand deadly shards, none of that matters. Ir, Saint-Sister, glows with the [01:15] 4light of the Sun. [01:15] "Princess." [01:15] "This ends now." [01:15] 4There's a sound half like singing, half like sawing, and the creature comes apart, bit by bit by hideous bit. [01:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Its neck wrung in two different directions, its entire length sparking with crackling solar plasma, and its body rent in uncountable places by the ordained synergy of silver and gold, the nether chimera finally gives. It thrashes, it screams, it loses its purchase on the air around it to come crashing down to the floor of the upturned dome where the horde of ravening kruthik can set [01:16] <@Ferrinus> 12upon it and begin to greedily pry the eyes out of its coils and devour them. And it begins to come completely undone. [01:18] <@Ferrinus> 12The horrible shredding violence of Jude's law tore it into tiny morsels, it's true, but this is something stranger, something almost beautiful - the burning flesh of the monster that was the Princess begins to unwind into streamers of scales and silk and flower petals and music. They've all a deathly cast, of course, but they're free, free-er than any of you have ever felt, drifting [01:18] <@Ferrinus> 12out the windows, out the walls, out perhaps of the very waking world and into dream. [01:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Then there is the tolling of a great iron bell. [01:19] 4... [01:19] 4Ir ignores the bell for the moment. That is beautiful. 15[01:20] 10What a world of solemn thought their monody compels. [01:20] <@Ferrinus> 12It all runs in reverse. The scales and moths and ribbons shiver and thrash in agony but are pulled inexorably together into the great, stinking corpse of an impossible snake, and then that corpse itself is ripped and mashed and compressed into a withered, skeletonized human, or at least a humanoid, that claws desperately at the stone beneath it but cannot overcome the force that [01:20] <@Ferrinus> 12pulls it towards the center of the room. [01:20] 4Ugh. [01:21] 6Disgusting. [01:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Before your eyes, what must be the Princess Magnificent, lacking the eyes to stare at you pleadingly or the lungs with which to scream, is dragged into the the well of the void at the center of her dining table and pulled down out of the world and out of sight. [01:21] 4Not the stink or the skeletons; Ir's not repulsed by the grime or decomposition. She's repulsed by whatever chained the Princess again. [01:21] <@Ferrinus> 12There's silence. It's done. 15[01:21] 10Eikichi peers down into the dark. "That was what she was afraid of." [01:22] 4Ir: "One of these days someone should do something, about the realm of the dead. And those which own it." 15[01:22] "But she was undone, because we're what its afraid of." [01:22] "And it will be days." [01:24] 7Blossom: "Good riddance. We'll have to see about plugging that thing." 15[01:24] 10To Blossom: "Not much of a princess, was she?" 08[01:24] 4Ir's already moving to check on the queens. "Eikichi! Atropos--" [01:25] 6Tatsuya wavers. "So hey, how was that tea, man? Because if it was anything like the shit that came out of the mirror --" [01:25] 4She's already kneeling by the mewling downed queen, trying to calm her. [01:25] <@Ferrinus> 12That, those of you with some understanding of the martial arts world will recognize, was the Chimera - a transcendent being summoned (become, you now know) by those initiated into the Dreaming Pearl's greatest mysteries. It's said that to become the chimera is incredibly dangerous - that defeat or even mental imbalance while in that form could lead to complete erasure from reality, [01:25] <@Ferrinus> 12a twinkling annihilation from which there is no return or even recollection. [01:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Clearly, whatever held the Princess in thrall trumps even that. Perhaps she was right - perhaps nothing could kill her. [01:27] "It was disgusting." 7She thinks for a moment. "It would be far worse if we hadn't had that celestial wine, earlier." 15[01:27] "It didn't really taste like anything." [01:27] 6Tatsuya: "Ugh." 15[01:27] "But yeah, wow, a sip of that without the wine would've aged me into oblivion." [01:28] 6He'll find something to lean against, maybe pet a kruthling as he slumps to the ground. 08[01:32] "Here." Blossom offers an arm to Tatsuya. "Lean on my shoulder until we get to the surface. Then Eikichi can do... something medicinal?" 08[01:32] "Here." 7Blossom offers an arm to Tatsuya. "Lean on my shoulder until we get to the surface. Then Eikichi can do... something medicinal?" 15[01:32] "Yeah, let's get somewhere safe." 10The wind begins to spin up. [01:32] 6Tatsuya: "...thanks. Or - Ying, maybe. She's gotta know you guys are okay." [01:32] 4Ir's already got the kruthlings biouvacing Atropos. It's gonna be good to get the hell out of here. 15[01:33] "I'd say we've earned a rest." 14[03:23] * Joins: hrolf 14[03:33] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:51] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:59] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[13:15] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[13:42] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:42] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[14:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:15] * Joins: hrolf 14[15:55] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:21] * Joins: hrolf 14[20:03] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[20:15] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sun Dec 16 00:00:00 2018 14[01:15] * Joins: hrolf 14[01:36] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[02:21] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[02:23] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[02:34] * Joins: Crion 14[02:49] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[02:51] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:46] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:26] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:11] * Joins: hrolf 14[13:59] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:53] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[15:04] * Joins: hrolfy 14[15:08] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:01] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[19:27] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[19:59] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[23:16] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:52] * banana|peels is now known as banana Session Time: Mon Dec 17 00:00:00 2018 14[00:14] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[01:44] * Joins: dammitwho 14[02:36] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:07] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:01] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:01] * Joins: cbass 14[16:08] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:10] * Joins: cbass 14[19:19] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:59] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:24] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:27] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[20:29] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[21:12] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Tue Dec 18 00:00:00 2018 14[01:11] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:18] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:17] * Joins: dammitwho 14[07:43] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:27] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:07] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:11] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:34] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[12:37] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[17:27] * Joins: tom2 14[17:28] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:48] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[20:03] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:04]  15[20:04]  15[20:04]  15[20:04]  15[20:04]  15[20:06] The eastern front is broken! Ardua's sorcerous legion is now under the command of Xu Sim, who wears the raksha lord's living brain on his belt as a grisly trophy, drawing terrible power from it. [20:08] 5The sorcerer doesn't seem the slightest perturbed at the greasy stain it seems to be leaving on the flank of his robe. [20:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar favors consolidation and crushing the southwestern forces while they're in retreat, but he can see the merits of either force distribution. If need be, he can shore up the southern front while the dreaming sea marches northward. 15[20:09] The question is, buoyed by victory and new strength - what now? Elegba's army is regrouping in the south after a thistledown rout, while Thorns holds the Grey with grisly tactics. [20:10] 13That... is a real question. Xia Lan's never had a head for tactics, preferring the generally effective although inelegant solution of "rush 'em down," which doesn't help much. [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "If Thorns is holding, we confront the southrons with double what they were expecting, at least - better if Lookshy's still in any shape to fight. I like narrowing the number of directions we gotta watch at once." [20:11] 5Xu Sim: [20:13] 14Stranger: "Splitting our attentions might work. Politically speaking, not permitting Thorns the claim that they held their flank alone and without assistance would be useful, too, when it comes to the negotiation of the spoils." [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ideally, we get to point out that they held... until we swept up and won." [20:13] 5Xu Sim: "I must strike north. I'll go alone if I have to." [20:15] 13Xia Lan: "And the wall?" [20:15] "You might not go with any of us, but you'll hardly be alone, sorcerer. This is quite a formidable force." [20:18] "So I seem to recall," 5he says, mysteriously. "Though I question whether their loyalty adheres to me or the trinket I've made of their general." [20:20] "Oh, it's supremely the latter. Just don't lose it. Simple." [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That'd be embarrassing. But if you're going north, you're going north. Could be I should come along - but freeing up Thorns to do whatever it wants before everything's settled seems questionable." [20:22] 5He snaps his fingers, and a pair of hulking erymanthoi blood-apes step out from behind him - they certainly weren't there before. "Master?" 5asks one, wearing a forgeman's cap at a jaunty angle. "You're to be my bodyguards in the battle to come. See to it I'm not pickpocketed." He swivels to face the others- [20:22] 13Xia Lan: "Then you take the south, Keldar. I'll go with Xu Sim." [20:22] "We still need to find and end Cethleann. Wherever she is." [20:23] 5Xu Sim bows towards Xia Lan. [20:23] "I'd expect her to try to pick off the leadership one at a time. The way she did to Dorma." [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Right." 12The Guard has already withdrawn into Nexus and seen to mustering and reorganizing itself as best it can; soon it'll be ready to march. [20:24] "If we see her, we'll call for you on the Codex and try to hold her off as long as we can until you arrive in person. She's a formidable fighter, and relies on baiting out her enemy emotionally, spiritually." [20:25] "Well, we've made it quite clear that we're leadership, so everyone stay sharp." [20:25] "Agreed." [20:25] "It's done." 5Xu Sim offers his hand to the rest of the Circle. [20:25] 14To shake? Stranger will shake. [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12So does Keldar. Now he needs to figure out where the old Emissary went. [20:28] 14When he sees that Xu Sim is instead starting the old Solar tradition known as "completing the Circle," however, he puts his hand in as well. [20:29] 13Xia Lan follows suit. Feels right. 15[20:30] And they break. Keldar and Stranger head for the banks of the Yellow southward through the city. Keldar is looking for the Emissary... what's his plan? [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12If none of his runner report citings, it's pretty much to stop on the top remaining floor of the council tower while the rest of the Guard marches, clap his hands around his mouth, and holler "Oi! Need a word!" 14[20:32] * Joins: hrolfy [20:34] 14I believe that we will win. 15[20:36] Stranger and Keldar's networks are able to pinpoint the old Emissary at the place Keldar was going to head anyway - atop Sentinel Hill, near Council Tower, where he died. The militia are leaving him alone as he stands there, masked gaze upturned to that awful red star. [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar tests out a few different honorifics in his head befor deciding none of them make sense. therefore: "Yo." [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We're heading to the southern front now. If we can neutralize Elegba or most of his forces - what do we need to do to let you step out and finish 'em?" [20:39] 14Stranger lets Keldar do the talking. He's still not sure what to make of this creature, save that in its position, he would be pissed that four Solar upstarts took his old job. 15[20:41] Xia Lan and Xu Sim march their newfound forces along the banks of the Grey, drawing ever-closer to the carnage in the distance. Pain lances through their brows as they look directly on the battle. 15[20:43] The old Emissary responds slowly, leaving little indication he had heard Keldar at all for a lengthy pause. "Hold him. Call for me. I will join you." [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ah. Was getting ready to have my engineers start hammering street signs into the battlefield. I'll keep that in mind." 12That's all Keldar needs; before long he's rejoined the Guard in its march. Time to ascertain the mess that Lookshy's left its field in. [20:46] 14Stranger will accompany as an aide-de-camp. He hasn't had to fight the Battle of Nexus yet and Sun willing, they'll win without him having to. [20:47] 13Xia Lan: "Ugh, my head..." 13Is it just them having an issue? How are the... what did Xu Sim call them? 'Blood apes?' How are they holding up? 15[20:48] The blood apes are grimacing in pain. Behind Xu Sim, the fourfold sorcerer 'Dreamer Mentat' is stifling a nosebleed. [21:01] 5Xu Sim grimaces and marvels at what he sees with his sixth, seventh, and so on senses. "The Tapestry here is... well. This is fantastically dangerous. The Wyld and the Underworld swirl and eddie about here." [21:02] 13Xia Lan: "That. Doesn't sound great for us. What's the good news?" [21:02] 13There is good news, right? I mean, he didn't mention any, but... 15[21:03] The Dawn Guard marches south, filling out the northern bank of the Yellow alongside Lookshyan convoys and the Final Word. The ship's searing broadsides against Elegba's Wailing Wall are all that punctuates the stillness of the iron-scarred and corpse-littered battlefield. Lookshy's remaining officer corps stand aboard the deck, watching the battle and directing the rally, regroup, 15[21:03] and repair of their own forces. [21:04] 5Xu Sim: "Actually there isn't really good news, unless you want to be surprised about what could kill you. Because it could be nearly anything. I think I can at least mitigate some of the Wyld effects, staving off baleful transformations and such." [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar directs the Guard to take up position more or less beside, if slightly behind, the Lookshyan forces before he himself swings and climbs his way aboard the Word. "Eastern front's been won. What's the situation here?" [21:06] 14Is Vuol Ballare here with her command staff or on the front? 15[21:06] Yes. [21:06] 13Xia Lan: "Well, shoot." 13She sighs. Just gotta remember, here to help the nerd's girlfriend. [21:06] 14...Fair enough. 15[21:07] The lines to the north of wasted life stretch for malms up and down the bank. The river churns as raksha armies surge into the river only to be held at bay by the river's roused god and dragged to their doom beneath the surface by the teeming limbs of the dead. [21:08] 14To Keldar: "What do you need me doing?" 15[21:09] Vuol Ballare rides a whirlwind up and down the length of the Yellow River, always within clear sight of the Final Word. From her cloud in the air bolts of thunder rake the far side of the river, striking the Wailing Wall with the force of Ballista bolts. At the same time her voice is audible on the deck along with her command. It's this flat, disembodied voice that says, "We've got 15[21:09] them pinned." [21:11] 14How does Lookshy's morale seem? Stranger did just order them hit with burning iron from the sky an hour or two before. [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Got much command experience?" 12He looks up to the Word, then around, then up again. "Definitely figure out how they're doing and if they'll take our orders." [21:12] "None to speak of," 14which is true, as far as he knows. "But I can do that." 15[21:14] Ballare: "What won the east?" [21:15] 14Stranger: "Discretion, frugality, and scalping." [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah. We held, then Xu Sim managed to swipe control of their forces. They're heading northward now - probably already there." [21:17] 5Though Xu Sim was a court physician, alchemist, conjurer, and more, a general he has never been. He sweeps an arm forward towards the brutal scrum. He gives the only order that makes any sense. "Dreaming Sea Legion! Attack!" 15[21:17] Stranger senses a lot of sublimated hostility at the moment. Many people - Stranger recognizes some of them - seem to be directing that hostility at Ballare and her officer corps. Others - newer faces - react the same way to Keldar, Stranger, and the Dawn Guard. There's a fracture here, he deduces, between forces that are loyal to Ballare and the longer-standing deployment that served 15[21:17] under Nessun Dorma. Dorma's soldiers blame Ballare; Ballare's soldiers blame you. [21:17] 14Unfortunate that they're both correct, to degrees. [21:18] 13Xia Lan moves to stay close to him - bodyguard more than a commander, here, and striking out after the legion seems like a poor use of her time. [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12And, hell, are any of them wrong? [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, time to survey the field. Keldar espies whatever's there to espy - besides the currently-pelted Wailing Wall, how many ground forces are in view and seem able to fight? Is there any sign of the enemy general's position? 15[21:26] Keldar can espy signs of Elegba's diminished armies set up outside the range of Lookshyan artillery, behind a series of low hills a ways south of the river. There's no sign of Elegba; he may be among his troops or hidden somewhere in the mass of the Wailing Wall. [21:28] 14Stranger, on the other hand, will mingle and liaise. Per Keldar's wishes, communicated gruffly and quietly in the hall, they need Lookshy unified and focused -- even if it's in dislike of Emissaries and the Dawn Sergeant. Hopefully it won't come to that. [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, to the Lookshyans: "You tried forging out there recently? What've they got to punish that besides the obvious?" [21:31] 5Xu Sim directs the Legion to cross the river as expeditiously as possible to try to outflank and destroy the enemy, rather than cautiously reinforce the tireless dead. [21:31] 13Is he crossing as well? Or just the Legion? [21:33] 5Xu Sim will cross on a Stormwind he summons. [21:35] 13Oh boy. [21:39] 14Stranger will step out into the hall as the ersatz war council begins to assemble and touch his ear. "Xu Sim." [21:40] 5Xu Sim is lifting off the ground above his army, wind whipping through his hair at the moment that Stranger contacts him. "Stranger?" 5he shouts over the gale. [21:40] "...Do you have a moment?" [21:42] "I'm about to bring death to the living to safeguard the dead, but I always have a moment for you, Stranger-Visits-Heaven, while this Legion crosses the Grey." [21:43] "The Lookshy officer corps is riven. Perhaps not fatally so, but noticably so, and in a way that could cost us the battle. Dorma's officers blame Ballare for Dorma's death; Ballare's officers blame us. I need to unify them. I plan to do it by turning them against Thorns. Will that be a problem for your...ongoing commitments?" [21:43] "The Saffron Sultan isn't unifying them enough for you?" 5he asks, incredulously. [21:44] 14Stranger: "They lack focus." [21:44] "And it's either turn them on Thorns or turn them on us." [21:46] "Because obviously the Fair Folk aren't a strong enough inducement." [21:47] 13Truly incredible. [21:48] "It was Lookshy's fear of Thorns that led me towards Seven. Do as thou wilt." [21:48] 14Stranger: "Fair enough. Keep her safe. I'll be in touch." [21:49] 14He'll step back onto the command deck and resume his mingling. 15[21:52] Xu Sim and Xia Lan cross the river and find themselves in cold, dark country. The army here is smaller, and spirits streak across the river to reave among the raksha on the far side. Eerie lights fill the air and the river undulates before their eyes like a serpent. A powerful wave of dizziness washes over them as they cast their eyes skyward into infinite, featureless gray twilight. [21:55] 13Xia Lan: "Ghhhh. I was sort of hoping that'd get better, not worse." [21:56] 13She keeps it quiet, at least - no knowing what's listening in. [22:00] 14After some small talk with a few ranking officers -- far more brusque on one side of the room than the other -- Stranger-Visits-Heaven approaches the main outlay, where the maps of the line are laid out and, above it, where Vuol Ballare's voice issues from the empty air. "Dragonlord, this is Stranger-Visits-Heaven, Emissary of Nexus. I won't patronize you by claiming Nessun Dorma [22:00] died well, but he died bravely while doing his duty, and his officers acquitted themselves well. To the extent that his death is anyone's fault save the vicious cowards of the Wyld, none of us who were there would place it on him or any Lookshy officer." [22:00] "That might be an obvious observation, but it still feels like one which is necessary." 15[22:04] The whirlwind pauses above, but only briefly. It's on the move again when Stranger hears Dragonlord Ballare say, "He died a hero." [22:04] "He did." [22:04] 14The Fair Folk would quibble with that, given the specific mechanics of how they killed him, but fuck them. [22:05] "I think it's fair to say that this is the underworld. Hm." [22:06] 13Xia Lan: "Fair to say that I don't care for it." [22:07] "I never had much patience for the ancestor cult. Might have been a mistake, seeing as where we are now." 15[22:09] Xu Sim looks back across the river... and can't see his soldiers. [22:09] "A lot of mistakes got us here. We've just gotta keep digging 'til we get out. So. What's the plan, General?" [22:10] 13She looks back to where he's looking... and deflates. "Okay! Okay. Some more digging, that's all." [22:17] "I'm a sorcerer, not really a necromancer." 5He cranes his head, looking around. Maybe... he can ask for directions? Have the raksha posted a picket here? 15[22:18] Stranger doesn't feel the tension on the ship ease at all. [22:18] 14Well, we're not done here yet. [22:19] 14Stranger: "I was equally impressed, however, with those who lived as heroes. We rained iron hell down on the southern front from the sky, burning away the raksha ranks like so much dross against the heat of the forge. Even with their commander fallen, the men and women who served under Nessun Dorma kept their lines firm and their ranks fighting, while also keeping their soldiers [22:19] alive, taking an opportunity and turning it into a clear and distinct victory. It's not something I think Highlands or Thorns could have pulled off, for various reasons." [22:23] "It's so confused here. How the hell are they having a battle in the middle of this?" [22:24] 13Xia Lan: "Are they? Maybe this is a special treat, just for... us..." 13She trails off at the end. Focus. Do either of them hear a battle going on? Because they should be, right? [22:25] 13Scratch that, misread. [22:29] 13Xia Lan: "Very carefully, I guess. Or carelessly and they just don't mind the collateral damage. I don't think this is... this feels like a trick. Not, like, ha ha pranked now you're in the underworld, I mean, illusions or something? Maybe?" [22:31] 5Xu Sim furrows his brow. "Hallucinations and waking dreams are a strong possibility." 5This possibility seems to particularly agitate or perhaps irk Xu Sim. [22:33] "What could we do to overcome something like that?" 5he ponders. 15[22:33] All Ballare says in response to Stranger is "Noted." [22:36] 14Probably best not to press this advantage until he's had a chance to work the crowd some more. "With that said, I am at your disposal for the moment while the Dawn Sergeant makes his war council. The other Emissaries make their way north to ensure that things with the Thorns delegation do not get out of hand. Do not hesitate to call upon me if you need me, and should your soldiers [22:36] need rest, please make sure they do so beneath the iron of the Tomb. Thank you." [22:36] 14He steps away. [22:36] 13She shrugs. "You wanna stay here, wait for the rest of the troops? Or... head off into the unknown, see if we can find something better than babysit?" [22:40] "As fast as the stormwinds may blow, if we plunge headlong into the Underworld there's no telling where we might return to Creation. It could be worse if you're right and this is a farce, a bit of Wyld pretending to be something it's not." 5Xu Sim grabs and twists the tip of his moustache in thought. [22:43] 13Xia Lan: "Only one way to find out. Well, one safe way. Gimme a sec." 13She takes a deep breath. 14[22:43] * banana|peels is now known as banana [22:47] "...okay, that wasn't nearly as cool or effective as I'd hoped. I probably should've seen that one coming. So, that leaves... sitting here waiting for something to happen, or making something happen ourselves. Yeah?" [22:47] 14The main problem, as Stranger sees it, is that Dorma's people are right not to trust Ballare. The friction between the two camps has been palpable, and Dorma was hung so far out to dry that the Arsenic Handshake was the one who almost took a storybook spear for him, not any support from Ballare's people. Stranger isn't quite plugged into the politics of why this was the way it was, [22:47] 14but insofar as there is good news, it's that none of this matters anymore: Ballare is the only Dragonlord left, and everyone in the room is going to have to learn to live with it. [22:47] 14Even if they're only here in voice. [22:49] 5Xu Sim rummages in his robes before pulling out his steambreather and jamming in the spiciest cartridge that Seven gave him. It's positively pungent but seems to calm his nerves. "What would someone like Stranger-Visits-Heaven, or maybe Selin do in a situation like this?" [22:51] 14The memory of Dorma is key -- both to accomplishing Stranger's goals of unifying this command and striking back against the degradation that Cethleann used to kill him. Dorma needs to be even bigger in death than he was in life to ensure Ballare's continued command, even if Dorma didn't like Ballare very much and Ballare reciprocated. You make do with the stories you have, not the [22:51] 14stories you want. [22:52] 14So Stranger liaises with the Dorma faction and, while staying out of their way, tries to cut to the heart of how they feel about their dead liege. [22:53] 5Xu Sim: "... They would not wait. But, I think, they would not find the answer outside. They'd find it within." [22:56] 13Xia Lan: "Sounds correct." 13She twirls a hook-sword idly. "So? Where to?" [22:59] 5Xu Sim blows a cloud of steam. [23:00] 14And when he's got the full picture there -- that they loved the man as an officer and had begun to worship him as a hero -- he'll drift over to the other camp, to the Ballare officers, because it wouldn't do for him to be seen just scheming with the Dorma faction. He wants to know what they thought of Dorma as well; it's likely to be far less generous than Dorma's former command, [23:00] 14and honestly, Stranger suspects it will be far less fair than Dorma's command. But officers protect their leaders, and these men and women are loyal to Ballare. [23:00] 13She makes a face, but clears it quickly. That stuff will never not be gross. [23:02] 14All the while, he's doing the little work -- learning names, picking up faces, pinning side-talk and side-glances to people; creating a web in his mind of how this officer's corps works, and how it will need to work. These men and women might all be dead by this time tomorrow, but he needs to learn them -- needs to SOLVE them -- if Lookshy is going to be the force it needs to be. [23:02] 14Because as soon as they're done with the raksha, they'll have to deal with Thorns. [23:05] 5Xu Sim settles back into a pocket of buffeting wind to watch to see which direction the reaving spirits are travelling in. A place like this might be bereft of life, but that doesn't mean it's bereft of useful information. [23:05] 14These are people bound by duty, but don't find it binding; people who exist in the framework of duty. Stranger finds it admirable. He'd likely find it more admirable if they weren't somewhat devoted by principle to his extermination, but things are what they are. He drifts back over to the Dorma faction. [23:07] "When you met Elegba in your dream," 5he muses, "Why did you choose what you chose to give to him for... safekeeping, I suppose, it's fair to call it. Why that part of you?" [23:14] 13Xia Lan: "Hmm? I--" 13She sucks in a breath through her teeth. "'Something we could read in the stars if you stretched yourself across the sky.' There only was one choice for me." [23:15] 14When he's back with them, the conversation -- when it can be made, piecemeal and circumspect, and always in the guise of the Emissary of Nexus helping smooth the path of the gears -- turns not to Dorma's death, but to his life and his legacy. Dorma was a rock, and not merely against the physical things of the world; he handled being sidelined and denigrated by Ballare with the stubborn [23:15] 14satisfaction of a man who knew there were greater reasons and greater structures to life than his own personal advancement. Ballare did what she did, and she had her reasons, well-considered or not; Dorma made sure her reasons didn't interfere with his command. He was a hero not just for his prowess on the front line -- the prowess the raksha general tried to deny him -- but he was a [23:15] 14hero in how he comported himself in the service of Lookshy. [23:16] 5Xu Sim: "Surely, there had to have been other paths you could have taken. You were confronted in your dream by one of the generals. That's how you got out. How did you know to do it?" [23:17] 14He was the best man these officers had served under, and they can honor his memory by serving the woman who valued him enough to let him maintain his own officer corps and command his own wall. Because yes, it does seem that Ballare felt threatened by him, worked against him, and disrespected him -- but no one is threatened by a weakling unbeloved by his officers, and no one trusts [23:17] 14a weakling to watch their flank. Ballare has made mistakes, and she will reckon with them. Dorma will live on in every memory a hero. [23:19] 13Xia Lan: "We talked. He seemed as confused about why I was there as I was to be there. And he swore to speak to us in person, where he would return her - it - to me. If there was a way to handle all this--" 13she gestures around them -- "without a fight? I owed it to everyone to be honest." [23:28] 14Then he's back over on the other side of the room, with Ballare's officers. The most important thing for any Lookshy soldier who knows a thing about duty is for them to know that Nessun Dorma did not die a failure. That is how the raksha wanted it to be; that is how they tried to change the fabric of Creation to make it so. But they are aliens, intruders, liars, and monsters, and [23:28] 14they cannot change the story that his life told. The final act is the most important act. Nessun Dorma died for Lookshy, for a commander who took his command from him, for men and women he regarded as his own true family. Pity him if you want, but respect him more -- else you look the fool, given how much of his resolve is reflected in your own liege. [23:28] "Then we should try that, right now," 5Xu Sim suggests. "That instinct led you through one perilous situation. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[06:56] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[07:23] * Joins: Crion 14[07:24] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[09:33] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:54] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:58] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:29] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:50] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[15:27] * Joins: Crion 14[15:36] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[16:07] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[16:16] * Joins: hrolf 14[16:23] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[16:23] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[16:34] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:39] * Joins: Crion 14[17:54] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[17:55] * Joins: Crion 14[19:02] * Joins: Quaker [19:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 .""--..__ [19:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 /[] ``-.._ [19:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 / /\__ `-._ [19:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 / / ```---..__ `-. [19:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 / / ``--._ `. [19:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 / / `-. \ [19:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 / / `.\ [19:47] <@Ferrinus> 12/ / `| [19:47] <@Ferrinus> 12It's over. You've won. But at what cost? [19:48] 4Well, at the very least Ir feels like a fool for splitting the group, but at least no one got permanently dead. Not even, evidently, the exalted they killed. [19:49] 7Water The Fields With Blood got killed pretty definitely. [19:49] 6Yeah, that guy's kruthling food. [19:49] <@Ferrinus> 12The Squared Circle stands surrounded by bones and ashes, at the bottom of a cracked and inverted dome resembling that of the true Temple of the Three. The forces of Ir's kruthik surround them, but significantly diminished - a huge chunk of all forces on the field were struck by their oblivion-borne reflections and aged instantly to dust through the workings of the deathlord's magics, [19:49] <@Ferrinus> 12one of the three queens is on death's door, and, far above, the groaning Jormungand languishes after having been touched directly by the void. [19:50] 4Well, it's hard to feel too sad about that. [19:50] 4The dead dead armor dude, that is. [19:50] <@Ferrinus> 12The most extravagant corpse isn't actually a corpse - it's the skull-and-bones bedecked armor of Water the Fields With Blood, jade-and-soulsteel grimscythe still clutched in its gauntlet. The body within that armor is basically unrecognizable, pried out of the metal and stripped clean of meat and marrow by slavering demons. [19:51] 4Ir's first priority is tending to Jormungand, Atropos, and Tatsuya, not necessarily in that order. Unless this place is about to collapse, she would prefer getting them medical attention over looting. [19:52] 4That also might not be very general-like of her. [19:52] <@Ferrinus> 12There's no sign of the Son of Crows - he must have taken his mistress's orders to heart. There are plenty of signs of the Princess herself, of course - a melted and shattered mirror, great swathes of stone and furnishings which have had their colors inverted by the stray touch of dark magic, huge furrows carved into the stonework by the fins and horns of the dread chimera unbound [19:52] <@Ferrinus> 12from the deathlord's own heart, and, of course, thin parallel lines scraped into the floor and carpeting by desperately-clutching fingernails. These lead from somewhere near the middle of the room to the exact center. [19:53] <@Ferrinus> 12There, the toroidal dining table has mostly been broken or cleared away, leaving a stone-rimmed well leading down to into darkness. It doesn't go anywhere? No, it goes nowhere. [19:54] <@Ferrinus> 12The Princess's panoply seems to have been dragged to oblivion with her, but the remains of her mirror, as well as the arms and armor of her general, are yours for the taking. [19:54] 4We're not jumping down that. 15[19:54] 10Eikichi leans over the edge and peers down. [19:54] 6Medical attention for Jormungand and Atropos probably takes it over Tatsuya - he's hurt, and it sucks, but he's not bleeding too badly and is able to stand on his feet without too much of an issue. [19:55] 7Blossom frowns at the Voidwell. "Problematic. I hoped that would vanish when we defeated the Deathlord..." 15[20:01] 10Eikichi: "It's not doing any harm if we just leave it here. But we can unpick the necromancy holding it together, bit like disrupting a manse. And when it's done even the city will be gone." [20:02] 4Ir: "Phew." 15[20:02] "We'd need the kruthik, and about an hour." 15[20:02] "We can do it on the way back to the surface." [20:02] 6Tatsuya: "Nice and neat." 14[20:03] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [20:03] 4Ir: "Unless there's any reason to keep it around -- and it'd have to be a good one -- let me know when we're ready to move and I'll give the order." 08[20:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir and Eikichi know for a fact that kruthik heal as completely as the Chosen do, and at least as fast. On the other hand, being touched directly by oblivion operates on a different level from swords and claws, or even acid streams and thunderbolts. At least some of Atropos's wounds are, well, wounds, so she can be counted on to get back on her feet and pull herself out of there [20:06] <@Ferrinus> 12eventuaally, but it might be prudent to see to all the queens and, of course, to Jormungand itself in hopes of avoiding some kind of permanent debility or curse. [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Otherwise, there's a bunch of like, tarnished silver and bleached jewelry and such down here. Might fetch a price from interested collectors or just serve as cool decorations or reagants in the shadier sort of alchemical experiments. [20:07] 4That's Ir's first priority; if there's a timing issue with that or destroying the well, she will err on the side of treatment, but there should be enough kruthik to go around. [20:08] 6Probably ought to scoop some of that up before we go. And the armor and the scythe, too, if no one else moves to take it first. Can't just go leave this stuff laying around. 08[20:08] 7Blossom will help Tatsuya with the looting, if Eikichi's managing the well. He did get hurt after all, and fair's fair. 08[20:10] 4Ir splits her time between organizing the withdrawal and helping Eikichi oversee the tunnelers, while fussing over Atropos and Tatsuya where appropriate. [20:12] 6All looting all the time, baby. Looting and pressing a hand to his side and grimacing when no one's looking. Just the way he drew it up. [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12When it looks like he thinks no one's looking, to garner maximum quiet sympathy. 15[20:14] 10With Ir's help, Eikichi directs the kruthik along strange meridians, acid eating through specific pillars while a multitude of claw and fang chew through walls and ceilings at precise angles to one another. They continue steadily upward, the noise of the kruthik echoing throughout the underground. Ravagers burn through one final layer of stone and breach the surface, admitting a 15[20:14] 10single shaft of sunlight down into the darkness to pass through chewed passages and gleam dully off the dead stone. 15[20:15] 10Somewhere, far down below, that beam of light touches the well, and the last the kruthik must race to the surface as the city collapses upward behind them. 14[20:15] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:16] 7Blossom is helping Tatsuya haul big bags of swag away from the Undercity entrances, and watches the wound in the earth heal itself with interest. 15[20:18] 10The Spheres orbit Eikichi's head in a tight pattern while he watches the inverse right itself, looking deeply satisfied. [20:18] <@Ferrinus> 12You were wise to launch your campaign at daybreak; the sun's still in the sky as the tail end of your forces come climbing out of the caverns and onto the (technically) sunlit moors north of the Yellow River. There's still a shadowland down there, and it'd be wise to warn people not to explore the caverns north of Great Forks between dusk and dawn, but the inverse city has crumbled [20:18] <@Ferrinus> 12and collapsed back into the undifferentiated chaos of the Labyrinth and the actual lands of Creation's overworld will no longer be haunted by regiments of skeletal soldiers. [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12The place still looks like hell on earth, of course. There were some twisted trees and stubborn grasses here before, when the ground was more or less solid; now the moors are a scramble of sinkholes and crevasses, cut across by thousands of kruthik talons and scored and pitted by blasts of acid and balefire (which, thankfully, is put out by sunlight; the ravagers look much less [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12menacing beneath the daytime sky, when their bodies don't visibly leak green radiance from between every armor plate). And, of course, there's the creep; a great highway of the stuff stretches from the chief kruthik colony to the south, spilling down into the earth. [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12If you aren't kind enough to clean up after yourselves, the Trinity will have just traded one problem for another. 15[20:23] 10As fitting as it'd be... [20:27] 7Blossom isn't clear on how the kruthik 'work' exactly, but surely they can re-absorb all that whatever it is and use the nutrients to heal themselves? That sounds reasonable. [20:27] 6Failing that, get them on some community service. Roadside creep cleanup. [20:28] 6And then... I dunno, throw it in the hole? Not sure how that works. [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Left to their own devices, the kruthik will follow their trail home, carrying their queens to the primary hive cluster. Above them, the cerebrate Jormungand lists painedly through the air before taking root in the center of the colony and folding itself back up into the shape of an enormous hive. Even as a structure, the wound sticks - a wide blotch covering about a third of the [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12thing's total surface area is rendered in monochrome, the vents and stomata there either sluggish or entirely inoperative. 08[20:28] 7Once everyone is out of the way and the earth has calmed down, Blossom gently pounds Eikichi's shoulder with her fists. "Yoooou! How could you drink that horrible woman's tea?" 15[20:29] 10Eikichi looks scandalized. "What was I supposed to do? I was a guest!" [20:29] 6Tatsuya: "Make up an excuse and leave? Worked for me." [20:29] "Gah!" [20:29] 6He's still clutching his side. 15[20:29] 10Then he looks puzzled. "But that would be... rude..." 15[20:30] "Being... rude... is... bad...?" [20:30] "...what?" 08[20:30] 7She looks at Eikichi, utterly baffled. "When did you decide this?" 15[20:30] 10More firmly: "It is, isn't it? It's bad to be rude." 15[20:30] 10To Blossom: "I'm not sure. But it makes sense, doesn't it?" 15[20:31] "Sounds a bit weird. One of those counterintuitive things like catching more flies with honey than vinegar." 08[20:32] "I... suppose?" 7Maybe this is the result of the Princess Magnificent's bizarre magic? But Blossom really doesn't want to get onto Eikichi's case about mind control again, it might not *be* mind control, and well... Eikichi believing in politeness can't be *bad*, surely? [20:32] 7Whatever. WHATEVER. [20:32] 6Tatsuya just shakes his head. 15[20:33] "That was very good down there. Sun Purity Escalation!" 14[20:34] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [20:36] 7That's more like it. She smiles brilliantly. "It was, wasn't it! Things were a little dicey at the beginning, but I knew we'd win in the end." 08[20:37] 4Ir's main concern is Jormungand now -- that "wound" used to be smaller. She'll call Eikichi over whenever he has a minute. [20:37] 6Tatsuya: "Wonder where that one guy went. Just poofed on out of there, totally stole my bit--" 15[20:37] 10Eikichi inspects Jormungand. What's the damage? [20:37] "Wait a minute. I got next-leveled. He stole my - augh. That's my thing!" 14[20:39] * Joins: Quaker 15[20:41] 10Eikichi: "Took a nasty wound from the void. It'll heal on its own, albeit slowly. I think if I clear the totally rotted flesh away it will heal faster. So I'm going to need some maggots. Like a lot of maggots." [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Actually, if you explain what you need to Jormungand or one of its three subsidiary queens you can probably get those on spec. [20:42] 4Ir: "If you know a less offensive method to my sensibilities to getting maggots than leaving a bunch of food out to rot, I'm all ears." [20:43] 6Man, that's gross. 15[20:43] 10Eikichi: "The kruthik ought to be able to spawn some." [20:44] 4Ir: "You know, that works." 15[20:46] 10It's really gross. Because of the vagaries of the spawning process and the fact that the larvae queens typically excrete are already much more sophisticated than maggots, the queens actually have to vomit them directly into Jormungand's rotted flesh, leaving steaming wriggling piles to spread slowly up and down the suppurating wound. 15[20:46] 10Eikichi: "Cool!" [20:47] 4Ir's seen worse in some poorly-kept kitchens. [20:48] 4...That's probably a lie, but not by much, and she was much younger then. 08[20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12This actually works extremely well - better even than Eikichi initially predicted, and it's obvious in retrospect why. The kruthik have, in the past months, gotten really good at chewing up and eliminating dead tissue. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Possible medical applications here, although you'd have to watch really, really closely to make sure these things never develop a taste for live blood or whatever in the course of their work. [20:49] 4Yeah that sounds like a last resort sort of thing. 15[20:50] 10Something to keep in the tank if we ever have to war with Thorns and need an industrial-scale solution to full-body necrosis. [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a pretty good bet that the kruthik are well-adapted to fighting the undead now, although exactly what that means will merit some study. At the very least, they've developed perfect night vision and ruthlessly optimized metabolisms. 15[20:52] 10Big deal, so has Ying. [20:53] 13It's true! [20:53] 4...That's a good point. Maybe we should postpone resettling the Kruthik in a more healthy environment for them, like Hell, until the Thorns issue is dealt with. 08[20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, Eikichi's ministrations are effective - with the dead tissue cleared away, Jormungand's able to begin to replace it outright. The healing process is incredibly fast by the standards of normal biological beings, but still slow enough that someone not liable to be grossed out can sit and watch as tines of cartilage spread out from the sides of the wound to meet each other, then [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12excrete thin films of slime to seal air gaps, and so on. It'll still probably take a few days to be good as new, and it's clearly pulling a lot out of the colony to do it - the creep is retracting at the very edges of the hive cluster, and nearby structures are slowing their own metabolisms. [20:54] 4Because let's be honest, they've stolen shit from us and they're the biggest power in the region. It's going to be a problem. 08[20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi picks it up first, but soon you all realize the kruthik are on edge, swarming and mustering tunnelers in preparation for - something. And there it is, in the air, a small speck coming from the south and rapidly growing larger. [20:58] 4We JUST got finished with-- 15[20:58] 10Eikichi adjusts his hair. [20:58] 7Blossom squints into the distance. [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a big sort of open carriage/sleigh vehicle, pulled by a pair of gigantic box turtles. A catfish in flowing robes rides at its head, flanked by a robed otter familiar to you and some spear-wielding human guards. [20:59] 4Ir's already sprinting, not to get ahead of this per se but at least be among the kruthik when they make contact. 15[20:59] 10Eikichi waves. [20:59] 4Oh it's just these guys. Ir's priorities turn immediately to not having her chittering mob eat them for lunch. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12They're too high for the tunnelers to easily spray with acid, but the spore colonies are another story- [21:00] 4She flips Jude's Law into a fiddle and plays the sentries off. [21:02] 6Can't take these kruthik anywhere without them embarassing us, jeez. [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12The carriage descends, but doesn't land, finally stopping twenty or thirty feet off the ground. The catfish peers down at the demon hive the four of you are standing or lounging around in, and speaks in an old man's voice. "Er... these are... yours?" [21:02] 4Hey. Talk shit, get hi-- oh, I see that you did. Maybe that was because the kruthik weren't there to protect you, Tatsuya. [21:03] 7Blossom: "Ah, welcome. Don't be alarmed, the kruthik are harmless." [21:03] 6Wow. Feeling pretty attacked right now, mostly from that stab wound. [21:03] 4Ir: "To you." [21:05] 6Tatsuya: "They're just friendly, is all." 6Lick you to death, they will. [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Catfish: "Ah, yes. Aherm. I am here to confirm that the undead remnants in this area... have been defeated?" [21:06] "Yup." 15[21:06] "The shadowland will linger, of course." [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12He looks down at the kruthik with some trepidation. Behind him, the otter-bureaucrat quietly takes notes on a small pad. "Well, that is good news, yes, good news. The august Trinity, then, invites you to sit with them at soonest convenience and discuss your victory." 15[21:12] 10Eikichi: "Oh yes of course. Also, I'm terribly sorry for what happened the last time we met. I hope you can forgive us." [21:13] 4Ir: "Well, if there's one thing I do love to do, it's discuss my victories." [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12The catfish looks mildly confused, while the otter continues quietly making notes. After a moment, the one god who's been deigning to speak continues: "Well, then. Shall I carry any messages back with me?" [21:14] 4Ir's got nothing, because this is going to be the first time she's ever met these people. Raising an army is hard work. [21:15] 4Before this conversation and after it, Ir will be checking in on Atropos. Does she need any special attention that can't be provided by the maggot treatment they've discovered? [21:16] 6Tatsuya just inhales sharply before shaking his head. It's, uh, technically the first time he's meeting them too, I think. [21:16] 7Blossom: "Nothing except to reiterate the warning about the shadowland in the caverns here." [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Need, no, but proportionally much more of Atropos was touched by the void and therefore blighted into uselessness - and she took some bad bites and slashes from her fellow queens while maddened by the Umbrella of Discord. Transfusions of kruthik biomatter and similar intensive care will help her get back onto her six feet in anything resembling a reasonable timespan. 15[21:18] 10Eikichi says nothing. [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12The catfish nods. "Very well. The Trinity look forward to hearing your tale, esteemed Chosen!" 12He cracks the reins of his carriage, and the two horse-sized turtles at its front stretch back out of their shells and begin to swim through the air back southward. They go deceptively quickly. [21:19] 4Ir watches them go. "I bet kids love those guys." [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12They do, but, conversely, the catfish god hates kids because they keep tugging on his whiskers. 15[21:21] 10Eikichi waves as they go, and turns back to the others, who he hadn't heard. "I love those guys." [21:21] 6Tatsuya: "Ying could probably make little dolls and toys of 'em, maybe. Not sure if they'd like that, though." [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12At any rate, the kruthik are convalescing and, one supposes, so are you. The hive cluster still has a standing order not to send its forces ranging any further outward, I believe. [21:24] "Hmmm... that would be pretty cute." [21:24] 4The catfish god is a fool. Performatively hating children because they do something adorable is a game you play with no win conditions. [21:26] 4Ir's ready to take the meeting now, drop by the Sun Shrine and make sure things are good, clear out any more outstanding tasks they have, and finally take a short vacation. [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Another message from down south arrives shortly, in the form of a six-winged cherub cast in chrome. It blurs with unbelievable speed into position just over Blossom's shoulder, and whispers in Yara's voice: "Just heard you won, are you all alive? Everything down there's gone, right? Please confirm-" 12It then hovers there with its head cocked, listening. [21:29] 4Ir: "...It'd probably be rude to fuck with her." [21:29] 6Tatsuya: "Everyone's alive, limbs all intact, only a bit of blood lost." [21:30] "Should've seen the other guys." [21:30] "Undercity destroyed, Princess Magnificent disrupted and one attendant killed." [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12The cherub blurs out of sight in another beat or two. From them on you're undisturbed, except by kruthlings sniffing at your pockets for bits of jerky or other rations. [21:31] 4Ir has instituted a rigorous policy of not feeding the kruthik unless you have enough for them to share. 08[21:31] 4Eikichi 15[21:32] 10It was so cute! For a minute, until they started fighting. [21:33] 6We gotta teach 'em how to playfight instead of actualfight. Maybe get them to play fetch. [21:34] 4You don't want them bringing things kruthik are interested in back to you. [21:34] 6Maybe you don't. [21:35] 6...they get interested in shiny things, right? [21:35] 4Well, blood shines, in the right light. [21:36] 6Ah, jeez. 15[21:46] 10Eikichi will call Yara and her friends to the Sunshrine so they can answer questions and Eikichi can square some things away. He's got a tea service set up, and Ir baked... what did Ir bake? [21:48] 7Blossom is gonna be present at the Sidereal meeting as well. No sense turning down tea and Ir's baked goods. [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12The Sidereals actually show up in force: Yara, Siaka, and May, although only the latter's really dressed to impress. The littlest assassin launches right into it. "Did I hear you right? The Princess?" [21:49] 4Might as well start getting ready for that, then. The Shriners need more discipline in cooking for large groups anyway. 15[21:51] 10Eikichi: "She was a gracious hostess, with caveats." [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "What was she doing down there! What did she do to you you?" 15[21:52] 10Does Blossom want to explain this? It'd be rude to talk over her, after all. [21:53] 7Blossom: "It seemed like she'd been charged with building a foothold in Creation." [21:55] 7Blossom: "She had two fouled-Sun attendants - unfortunately, one was an assassin and was able to skulk away." [21:55] 4Ir is still in the kitchen; she's baked six fresh loaves of bread (two sour, two black, two white), mixed three differently peppered dipping concoctions in oil, and chopped up a caprese salad alongside one prepared with grilled meats. [21:56] 4But everything is finished shortly. 15[21:56] 10Eikichi offers, "I believe she's held in thrall to something like a Yozi, a being of primordial necromantic power." [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara's face darkens here. She interrupts to get the best description of Son of Crows you're willing to give her. [21:56] 7Blossom is extremely good at describing, much like everything else. [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "And you said 'disrupted'?" [21:59] "I don't know what the mechanism is. I've heard stories that the Deathlords all have a hidden weakness, and can't be killed permanently unless you find it? Anyway, once we defeated her she was dragged into the Voidwell she'd opened at the bottom of the Undercity, to who knows what dark fate." [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Nice work. 'course, everyone knows the Trinity actually defeated her years ago." [22:02] 7Blossom looks disgusted. "Time." [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12May purses her lips for a moment. "What are you going to tell them?" 15[22:04] 10Eikichi: "Should we lie?" [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12May looks thoughtful, while Yara thinks out loud: "Well, they had to know, right? Even the whole thing with the Getimians ow-" [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Pretty sure May just kicked, or at least sharply nudged, Yara under the table. [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "...Getimians'... own.... magic... I guess it's not really clear." [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "It's not immediately clear what the Three would hope to hear, besides that the problem's been dealt with in its entirety. They're generally part of their own magics." [22:14] 7Blossom: "I have no intention of misleading them. If they don't understand how the Princess Magnificent could have been behind the Undercity that's their own problem." 15[22:15] 10Eikichi: "I would be astonished if they hadn't known all along." [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "The Three are gods of... history, in a way. Together, they can tell a story so it's true... but even they don't know it ever wasn't. If they told the deathlord's defeat..." [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12This doesn't quite square with what you've seen. Not the general description of their power, that makes sense - but the use can't have been as simple as weaving a world in which the Princess was beaten, because she clearly hadn't been. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Some sort of superposition had been set up in which both the original Three and the Princess and two of her servants had become unquestioned rulers of two different Great Forkses, one which trapped both cities in a weird holding pattern and had either created enough instability to allow for colonization by the Getimians or perhaps even required their involvement. [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Which is to say that it's almost certain the Three were consciously kicking the can down the road. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Also, that they were doing this in a highly risky and questionable way, especially if you're concerned with causality, the normal operation of time, etcetera. 15[22:26] 10Eikichi shakes his head. "The Three are at best criminally negligent and at worst, simply criminal." [22:28] 7Blossom: "That was true when they first started ruling a city directly." [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Yeah, the- there's no other way this adds up, is there? The whole plan must have May quit it already!" 15[22:30] 10Eikichi: "Hey, wait, yeah. Shouldn't the three of you be doing something about that?" [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "Well... we have been. We've aided in the neutralization or reformation of the Getimians here and made sure the city's two fates were rejoined." [22:31] 7Blossom: "I suppose the old laws have all but collapsed at this point, and criminals willing to work to rebuild government earn leniency. Necessity has a law all its own." 7She looks like she's swallowed a bug. [22:32] 4Please don't; we need all the kruthlings we can get. [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Yes, in spite of everything the Three've done! We could write them up or worse!" [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "No! That - I mean, it wouldn't be wise." [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka's watching this in silence. Yara's retorting: "Why not? Our whole job is-" [22:37] 4The food's long since been served at this point, so at this point Ir will cut whatever tension exists by asking: "Anyone need a drink?" 15[22:41] 10Eikichi: "Please." [22:42] 7Blossom: "Sure." 15[22:43] 10Eikichi's eyebrows go up a fraction of an ilm when he realizes what May's on about here. Oh, he likes her. 15[22:44] 10Eikichi: "I think Blossom is right that pressing the Three right now would threaten a new, hard-won, and needed stability." [22:46] 4Ir spends some time at the bar preparing them quickly, efficiently, and with a little personal flair wherever warranted. She enjoys the hostess/staff gig she plays at these meetings, mainly because after slaughtering your way through a horde of undead it's relaxing to not have to fence with Sidereals, and just be able to enjoy the work and food that comes from it. [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara turns away from May to address the Solars. "But they - they basically tricked you down there, didn't they? They gambled with your lives!" [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "Isn't that our basic strategy?" 12Yara: "Our lives too, though! Those spiders!" 15[22:48] 10Eikichi: "Some of our best friends have gambled with our lives." 14[22:49] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "That's different-" [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12She shakes her head to herself. "Look, the - I told you, my superior's interested to see you. Putting Fate back together here, banishing a deathlord... the Violet Bier could see a way to working with your Circle directly. I can arrange a meeting! But if we just let this slide...?" [22:55] 7Blossom: "What do you expect us to do? Go to war with Great Forks' city mothers?" [22:55] 4Ir: "Yara, I like you, but I'm not entirely sure we're interested in joining the team alongside Wicked Triumph's Reckoning, to be honest." [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara blanches, then thinks, then shakes her head and hands quickly. "Nonono. Sorry. I only talked to Blossom about this before. My department - Reckoning's not ours, and no one likes that idea. It's just out of our hands." [22:57] 4Ir: "The fact that I expected you to be symapthetic, unaccountable, and unable to say who's accountable pretty much defines the limits of our friendship, I'm afraid." [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Thus far, my boss just wants to stay out of it entirely. But what you've done here shows that you're really concerned with, you know, with keeping Creation ticking along - not just knocking over and looting it. If you were on our side no one would need creatures like Reckoning." [22:58] "But hell, it's still a good friendship. We've had some great meals." 15[22:58] 10Eikichi's lips are pressed thin as he sits there silently. [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara looks to Blossom. "You could talk to Wayang - maybe meet him! And from the Bier we could work out how to stop whatever the rest of the Bureau thinks it's doing." [23:02] 7Blossom: "You've already convinced me that working with you generally is a good idea - but again, what do you expect us to do with the Trinity? Get a signed-in-triplicate note of contrition? Create a post for a Heavenly 'advisor'? Parade them through the streets in chains?" [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara touches a hand to her chin. "I suppose testify as to what they told you and what you saw down below the earth, and not interfere with any attempts on our part to reprimand or bring them in." 08[23:05] 7Blossom shrugs and looks at Eikichi. "If we owed the Trinity anything, we've surely repaid them in full now." 15[23:06] 10Eikichi's smiling weakly. Blossom can hear him grinding his teeth. [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "Yara -- if the Three are reprimanded, or apprehended, or worse... who in the Bureau is going to decide what really happens to them? Who comes out ahead?" 15[23:08] "And who replaces them?" 15[23:08] 10He presses his lips back together after that tumbles out. [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "They might literally have you - us, I suppose - take them down. But- yes, exactly. And if they're not replaced, but just have some penance exacted... who collects?" [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "It might just pour more quintessence into the pockets of the dead Eclipse's handlers. Likely would." 12Yara's frowning to herself. [23:10] 7Blossom: "May does make a cogent point. This all seems extremely doubtful." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "But, but, you'd do what, just ignore it? They broke the law! So many of them!" [23:13] 7Blossom: "So have I, if it comes to that. It's not simply law we're after. Law without justice is mere tyranny." [23:14] 4Ir: "Aaaand if we're going to have that discussion, I need another drink." [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara takes a deep breath in through her nose. "...you're right. If the people sentencing the Three are the same people who inducted Reckoning into the Bureau's service there's no point." [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12May nods serenely, and then lets her shoulders fall with relief the moment Yara turns away. 15[23:32] 10Eikichi catches May's eye and nods once. [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12May smiles back. Meanwhile, Yara says: "Well, well, when you talk to them you'd better get a big favor out of it or something. They still owe you big!" 12May: "Certainly. Though I think cultivating allies is wiser than extracting payback, here." [23:35] 7Blossom nods. "Right." 7After a moment, she frowns. "Is it true about the Deathlords? That they can't be killed unless you find their hidden weakness." [23:36] 4Ir: "From what we saw, it hardly seems like their ability to reconstitute is one they're all that fond of." [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12The three Sidereals look at each other. Siaka: "No clue. That's what they say. What'd it look like when you beat her?" [23:37] "She was free. Then she was dragged bodily back down the well to her masters." [23:37] 7Blossom: "She... burst apart into ribbons, but was then drawn back together and pulled into the well." [23:37] "Left claw marks in the floor." [23:37] "Trying to hold on, you see." [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka's brow knots and May pales slightly. Yara: "Maybe...if I completely mastered the March of Spiders, and used the penultimate technique...?" 15[23:39] 10Eikichi offers, "I believe she's held in thrall to something like a Yozi, a being of primordial necromantic power." [23:39] 4Ir: "Haha, you're joking." [23:39] "What are they really called?" [23:40] 7He said that before, but they didn't react. Which was rude, come to think of it. 08[23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara points in Eikichi's general direction. "I've never heard of something like that. But it'd make sense - something like how demons get replaced?" 15[23:43] 10Eikichi: "Quite the opposite. There is no cycle of renewal. She's simply already dead, and so unable to die." [23:43] "How awful!" 15[23:44] 10Eikichi: "She didn't seem happy." [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "It's not like that would stop us putting down a ghost or something. But that's... really bad. And this was despite your use of the Ghost-Eating Technique or similar?" 15[23:46] 10Eikichi: "There should have been no need. She's a Dreaming Pearl Courtesan. She gave herself over to the chimera." [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Now Yara looks disturbed. "What!" 15[23:47] 10Eikichi: "I'm sorry?" [23:48] 7Blossom: "What's that? I the dragon-thing was some kind of necromantic power." [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "That's supposed to- I mean. That's not even- gosh." [23:48] 4Ir blinks after finishing her third drink. "Wait, people fuck that thing?" 15[23:49] 10Eikichi chokes. [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara looks over to Blossom. "The final technique of the Dreaming Pearl style turns the practitioner into a creature of pure dream. It's incredibly powerful, and, and incredibly dangerous because if someone's defeated in that state - or even just, stays like that too long and lets their mind wander - they stop being real. Sometimes they stop ever having been real. It's one of the [23:50] <@Ferrinus> most total and irreversible endings." [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "...I thought." 12Meanwhile, Siaka's telling Ir: "Buddy, they won't even let me-" 15[23:54] 10Eikichi's enunciating his words very carefully. "It's a contradiction that nonetheless exists." [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "That's... that's... I keep wanting to say impossible. Makes you see why someone in the Bureau wants Reckoning on their side." [23:56] "Hrmmm." [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Hmm? Ah! No, you know what I mean. It's just, it's overwhelming. Any possible edge at all - but we've got you." Session Time: Sun Dec 23 00:00:00 2018 [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Siaka: "I mean, you can't destroy something, you seal it away instead. Standard practice, right?" [00:01] 4Ir: "...For future reference you should maybe go a bit less hard on that one to a table full of us." 15[00:02] 10Eikichi just smiles and goes to get another drink. 14[00:02] * Joins: mattbaby [00:03] 7Blossom snortlaughs at Ir's statement. [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I was just- I was just thinking! About why you would ever, I mean, look, forget it." [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12And perhaps you might, in time. Either way, the rest of the tea party probably proceeds smoothly, unless someone's got something else important to bring up. 15[00:06] 10Eikichi wants to know when Yara can take him and Blossom to the Blessed Isle. [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Past this, it's still up to you what to tell and how to deal with the Trinity, and how to manage the demon horde you had an airtight justification for spawning, growing, and battle-hardening. Then, your next heading is anyone's guess - although Yara wasn't kidding that she could get you into Heaven now. [00:07] 4Ir's got work to do, and food to make, and a wolfman to fuck as soon as she can figure out where the hell he's gone off to. 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ZZZzzz…) [17:08] <@Ferrinus> 12 )\ O_._._._A_._._._O /( [17:08] <@Ferrinus> 12 \`--.___,'=================`.___,--'/ [17:08] <@Ferrinus> 12 \`--._.__ __._,--'/ [17:08] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ ,. l`~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'l ,. / [17:08] <@Ferrinus> 12 __ \||(_)!_!_!_.-._!_!_!(_)||/ __ [17:08] <@Ferrinus> 12 \\`-.__ ||_|____!!_|;|_!!____|_|| __,-'// [17:08] <@Ferrinus> 12 \\ `==---='-----------'='-----------`=---==' // [17:08] <@Ferrinus> 12 | `--. ,--' | [17:08] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ ,.`~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~',. / [17:08] <@Ferrinus> 12 \|| ____,-------._,-------._,-------.____ ||/ [17:08] <@Ferrinus> 12 ||\|___!`======="!`======="!`======="!___|/|| [17:08] <@Ferrinus> 12 || |---||--------||-| | |-!!--------||---| || [17:08] <@Ferrinus> 12 __O_____O_ll_lO_____O_____O|| |'|'| ||O_____O_____Ol_ll_O_____O__ [17:08] <@Ferrinus> 12 o H o o H o o H o o H o o |-----------| o o H o o H o o H o o H o [17:08] <@Ferrinus> 12 ___H_____H_____H_____H____O =========== O____H_____H_____H_____H___ [17:08] <@Ferrinus> 12 /|=============|\ [17:08] <@Ferrinus> 12()______()______()______() '==== +-+ ====' ()______()______()______() [17:08] <@Ferrinus> 12||{_}{_}||{_}{_}||{_}{_}/| ===== |_| ===== |\{_}{_}||{_}{_}||{_}{_}|| [17:08] <@Ferrinus> 12|| || || / |==== s( )s ====| \ || || || [17:08] <@Ferrinus> 12======================() ================= ()====================== [17:08] <@Ferrinus> 12----------------------/| ------------------- |\---------------------- [17:08] <@Ferrinus> 12 / |---------------------| \ [17:08] <@Ferrinus> 12-'--'--' () '---------------------' () [17:10] <@Ferrinus> 12For once, Great Forks breathes easy. Of course, very few people actually knew the magnitude of the thread that lurked underground across the river, but there's a change in the tenor of the city nonetheless; a sense that it's stopped holding its breath and is able, at last, to proceed through the rest of its destiny. [17:12] <@Ferrinus> 12You've met with your star-blessed allies and established a few things; first, that you won't be narcing on the Trinity for hurling your Circle headlong into the jaws of a deathlord, second, that your actions have served enough of the right people's heavenly agendas that an audience can be arranged for you with the head of the Violet Bier of Sorrows. This would mean an honest-to-gods [17:12] <@Ferrinus> 12visit to heaven, though, from what it sounds like, some kind of limited or undercover one. [17:13] <@Ferrinus> 12You've got other concerns, though. Most immediately, the kruthik hive across the river is rapidly recovering from the losses incurred in the war on the Princess, and rapidly building up an appetite. In theory, you can tell Jormungand to tell the queens to tell the hive cluster and attendant workers/warriors to simply hibernate and wait for further orders. In practice... well, is that [17:13] <@Ferrinus> 12an experiment you want to carry out? [17:14] 4Not really, but it's a decent half-measure while we look for other options. Quickly. [17:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Sternly-worded orders can certainly buy you a month or two of quiet, as long as you're very careful to signpost the borders of the hive so that random hunters or travelers don't go wandering in to get eaten, but you're going to have to give your demon horde something to do at some point or else it's probably going to make its own plans. [17:15] 7We should settle affairs with the Trinity, then... and afterwards, isn't Ir planning on looking for a place to relocate the hive? Blossom's been wanting to make a trip to the East for a while. [17:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Otherwise, you can debrief and otherwise mingle with the Trinity itself, or see to the community of believers you've built at the sun shrine, which at this point is becoming so large and prosperous that it's soon going to outgrow its neighborhood and perhaps even its city. Nowadays the community seems to have a lot of pamphlets to read about the right and wrong ways to go about [17:16] <@Ferrinus> 12usurpation, why the authoritarian state that Crystal has become is akin in some ways to the Realm itself, etc. [17:17] 4That she is. Operating the Heavensward is a two-person job if you want to sleep and eat while making good time, so Blossom is welcome for reasons beyond just being Blossom. 15[17:17] 10What are these pamphlets? [17:18] 4Ah, politicking. We...might need to control that, somewhat, given that we can't hang around forever to stop a state purge. [17:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Then you've got longer-ranging concerns. From what I recall, various ideas you or your allies/admirers/supplicants have floated for you include founding your own city-state, reclaiming or at least robbing the lost library-city of Sperimin, saving Nexus from the giant burning ghost that menaces it at least several times a week, investigating or just messing with the still-defunct [17:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Realm Defense Grid, poking at the mountains-high behemoth which is slowly making its way in from the pole of wood... [17:19] 4We do need to get to work on Zeal... [17:19] 6Oh, right, the giant burning ghost that definitely just happened randomly one day. Someone should probably do something about that. [17:19] 7I believe a certain Night caste promised to handle the burning ghost. [17:20] 6Uh, well, you see... [17:21] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not hard to get a hold of one of, as it turns out, "Tinder" Tam's political tracts. They're all about usurpation - not the Usurpation, but usurpation in general, the general outcry and ultimately violent rebellion of the people against unjust rulership. The only way the tyranny of the Realm can be thrown off, it says, is through a collective and militant action of all the [17:21] <@Ferrinus> 12farmers and laborers of Creation... but great care must be taken not to repeat the mistakes of the past! [17:22] 4Doesn't sound wrong. 15[17:23] "Blossom, have you seen this?" 10asks Eikichi one day, holding a sheaf of Tam's pamphlets (tamphlets?). "We've got to build an independent peasant class concord." [17:24] <@Ferrinus> 12As Tatsuya will recall, the ghost is an extremely thorny problem, and would you believe I didn't even intend that pun until I wrote it? Stopping it would probably involve either gaining unmitigated access to the Tomb it springs from for long enough to perform a massive, epic working of First Age-class geomancy/artifice, or engaging the creature in some sort of titanic property-valu [17:24] <@Ferrinus> 12es-shredding battle capped off with use of your mightiest spirit-slaying techniques. However, if you could learn about the secret workings of the Tomb, or of the ghost's own former identity, either of these would become much easier - and that information's almost certainly to be found in Sperimin, now known as Mahalanka. [17:27] 7Blossom: "We probably don't." 7She's currently poking closed cabinets throughout the Heavensward's living spaces with a broom handle. 15[17:28] "But without a strong international fellowship of power shared among the people how can we help ourselves from devolving into tyranny? Wait, what are you doing?" [17:29] 7Blossom: "Looking for Ying. She's taken to sleeping in cabinets and boxes and things and one time I opened one without realizing it and she almost fell out." [17:29] <@Ferrinus> 12The Trinity do invite you over for some fine dining and conversation before the week following your victory is out, incidentally. If there's nothing you specifically need to ask of them, persuade them to do, or yell at them about, there's little need to play out the whole thing, but they do insist on meeting and thanking every member of your Circle in person, presenting you with [17:29] <@Ferrinus> 12gifts of jade and even a small quantity of ready-to-be-worked orichalcum (that can't have been easy to get hold of), and carefully dancing around any mention of what it was you found down there and who, if anyone, could have seen it coming. [17:30] 4Ah, politicking. Ir's back to supporting the revolution. 15[17:31] 10Eikichi: "Did you try walking around with some salt cod from the pantry?" [17:31] 7Blossom: "But what if she's in the pantry?" 15[17:31] "Then we'll have to pick up more salt cod." 14[17:31] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [17:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Their chief concern now seems to be the growing influence of Thorns in the Confederation of Rivers. It and Nexus have developed increasingly close economic ties and any possibility of even publically criticizing the Mask's conquest and rulership of the seaside city seems to be been precluded by the current political climate. [17:34] <@Ferrinus> 12They do seem to believe that now that their problem across the river has been dealt with they'll be in better position to exert regional influence by means of wealth and religious clout, but the more business that e.g. Ying and Blossom can point towards Great Forks, Sijan, and other local cities - or, at the very least, the more business they can channel away from the parts of Nexus [17:34] <@Ferrinus> 12that are tied up with Thorns - the better. Drugs, fabrics, fish, slaves, you name it. [17:35] 13Run that last one by me again? Don't think I heard you right. 15[17:35] 10Destroying the slave trade would count! [17:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Slaves are a big part of Great Forks's economy, and coincidentally very few of the temples, shrines, cults, etc. in the city hav any commandments against taking or trading them. There are, in fact, big slave barracks and similar support infrastructure around the city's northern rim, almost diametrically across the center from your sun cult. [17:37] <@Ferrinus> 12They're treated very nicely, everyone says. [17:37] <@Ferrinus> 12And who knows what happens to the ones that Thorns buys? Better make sure the trade routes end here rather than westward. [17:40] 7I mean, we know exactly what happens to the ones Thorns buys. It's not difficult to figure out. 15[17:42] 10We're not really in a position to check Thorns ourselves and we shouldn't be in the business of empowering Great Forks either. Eikichi's keen to hear what the Violet Bier's designs are. [17:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Official word is they're allowed to work off their debts to society and then can join the other living citizens of Thorns in a life of luxury unknown elsewhere in the Threshold, waited on hand and foot by skeletons and other undead automatons. They say the average Thorns workweek is a fraction of, well, anywhere else's. [17:44] 4Probably not to keen on the whole 'building an independent city-state' thing. [17:44] <@Ferrinus> 12This was also Typhon's claim to you, and there actually is a standing invitation for your Circle to visit Thorns and see how nice it is for yourselves. For some reason you haven't jumped at the chance. 14[17:52] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:52] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [17:52] 7Blossom, after some fish-related rigamarole: "Since we've gotten the Trinity sorted, perhaps we should meet the Violet Bier next?" [17:53] 4Ir, from the hallway, walking by: "What's this about violent beer?" 15[17:53] 10Eikichi: "That's a good idea." [17:57] 13Ying: "I'm in!" 13There was no need for Blossom to worry - Ying was hiding in a box the entire time! She just scatters them around now, for convenient napping spots. 15[17:58] "I wonder if we'll have to go in disguise, or if we'll be secreted in and out. Either way I need to figure out what I'm wearing..." [18:00] "I'll just have Ying make me som--hello, Ying." [18:03] 13Ying: "Hi! I've got all kindsa new designs...!" 13She hops to her feet. "What kinda look were you thinking of?" [18:05] 4Ir: "I'm happy to start with something that neither says 'saint-general of the armies of the Sun' nor is a skintight bodysuit." 15[18:06] 10Eikichi: "Can I get something that does both of those things?" 08[18:07] 13Ying: "Aw, but the catsuits are fun." 13To Eikichi: "Yes! Absolutely. Although-- wait." 13To Blossom: "Pretty please?" [18:08] 7Blossom thinks for a moment. "Maybe tone down the 'general' part a bit..." [18:09] 4Thank you. 14[18:12] * Joins: Quaker [18:18] <@Ferrinus> 12So is the Squared Circle set on meeting Yara's boss? If so, they're free to get their things together and let her know. [18:19] 4Ir's got her schedule clear; all that matters now is the fashion. 15[18:21] 10What is Yara expecting us to bring? Does she have any warnings or advice? [18:21] 13Also, who is she expecting us to bring? [18:23] <@Ferrinus> 12In fact, yes. She'd prefer that, for the purpose of traveling through Yu-Shan, you didn't stand out - there's no need to literally go in disguise, but heavy cloaks or similar would make things easier for her, and anyone orbited by floating demonic orbs should stow them. Depending on how things go, you might find yourselves occupied for the better part of a week, so don't leave anything [18:23] <@Ferrinus> 12that demands day-by-day attention unattended. You'll have any food or lodgings taken care of for you, but might want to have some water on hand for the start of the trip. 15[18:24] 10Don't stand out? [18:24] <@Ferrinus> 12In general, it would be a bad idea to bring demons, undead, or other unclean or malefic servants. If, to the casual observer, you just looked like visiting godlings or servants, rather than celestial exalted, Yara would be spared a lot of bother. [18:25] 4Damn that woman. She should have just told us to go in disguise, and then we could enjoy the fashion process. This is a half-measure that will satisfy no-one. [18:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Over the week or so that you're working this out, you receive another surprise, or at least Ir does - Arakesh is back. She's still metaphorically kicking herself for not recognizing the pattern of stripes on that mutt she walked past as the lunar's sweeping her off her feet. [18:27] 4Augh. [18:27] 4Out loud: "You NERD!" 08[18:28] 7Blossom: "Ying, can you make something for Eikichi that's impressive but won't be damaged by having to be hidden under a heavy cloak most of the time?" [18:28] "You know, we enter the hidden conference, he throws off his cloak, everyone oohs and aahs, that kind of thing?" 15[18:29] 10Eikichi: "No, no, it'd be rude to skirt her wishes. Best to make an earnest effort to help her." [18:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Catching up, Ir learns that the Changing Moon's had his own underworld adventure, and has returned with some pretty fucking grim tidings. The shadowland known as the Ebon Spires of Pyrron, off to Great Forks's southwest, is also host to a deathlord - the creature known as the "Black Psychopomp" has, without knowing that Arakesh and Azer-Jol were spying on him, displayed terrifying [18:30] <@Ferrinus> 12necromantic powers completely out of line with those of the old nephwrack he mostly appears to be. The Psychopomp's plans are unknown at this time, but it's known that he personally forged out beyond the shadowland's borders every so often, and has been meeting both with agents of Thorns... and of heaven. 08[18:31] 13Ying: "I absolutely could...??" 13She waves a hand in front of Eikichi's face. "Are you feline all right? What even happened down there?" [18:33] 4Ir will express her shock and dismay at these tidings, before locking them in her room for the rest of the night. 15[18:33] 10Eikichi: "I can't describe it. Between drinking the void and being trapped in the Princess's spell something made me reflect on how terribly and pointlessly rude I've been, and how easy it'd be to stop. So that's what I'm doing." 10He rolls his shoulders. "Feels weird." [18:34] <@Ferrinus> 12It sounds like Heaven's trying to cut some kind of deal with the Psychopomp that will allow them greater access to the Underworld proper - but also, for what it's worth, to sow division between the Psychopomp and the Mask of Winters. The last Arakesh saw, Yu-Shan's agent is going to have the Psychopomp's imprimatur on some kind of diplomatic expedition to "the calendar", which neither [18:34] <@Ferrinus> 12she nor Arakesh recognize but, apparently, Arakesh's circlemate is researching even now. [18:35] "Is it, though? Easy, I mean?" 08[18:35] 4Ir's not sure what's behind this new, more open era of diplomatic ties in Heaven -- that's for Eikichi and Blossom to figure out -- but it seems somewhat worrying. [18:35] 4Ir sort of liked it better when they were just enemies. [18:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Here's the question: how much does Ir tell Arakesh about her own Circle's plans? Because, if she mentions what she and her fellows will be doing next, Arakesh has a proposition: sneak him in. 15[18:36] 10Eikichi: "Not always. But being rude is also quite hard sometimes." [18:36] 4It'll come up, and she'll bring it up with the rest of the Circle, but she won't commit to it unless they're in, and she'll make that clear. [18:37] 4Later: "We could try sneaking Arakesh in as backup. Also he wants to spy." [18:37] 4Presumably this is during the fitting for their outfits, or something. 15[18:39] 10Eikichi: "That's a huge risk." 15[18:39] "To us, to him, to Yara." [18:40] 4Ir: "He's an extra sword arm if it's a trap." [18:40] <@Ferrinus> 12He is, as near as you can tell, some kind of master spy/infiltrator for the Silver Pact, so it surely doesn't bother him. 15[18:40] "What odds do you lay on it being a trap?" [18:41] 4Ir: "Not great ones, but we didn't see the last one in Crystal coming either." [18:42] 13Ying: "Is he good for it?" 13She's distractedly running through some final ideas for each of the outfits - and having to water them down because too flashy. Ugh. Yara. [18:42] "Look, he asked to come, I said I'd consult with you, if it's not unanimous then the answer's no and he can plead his case with you directly. I'm his girlfriend, not his trade union rep." 15[18:43] 10Eikichi: "I don't think it's a good idea." [18:43] 13Ying: "When has that ever stopped us befur?" [18:44] 4Ir: "I don't think taking meetings in Heaven at all is a good idea, but we're doing it." 14[18:44] * Joins: hrolfy [18:47] 7Blossom: "I don't think an extra sword arm would be very useful if it were a trap, and this doesn't sound worth the risk." 15[18:47] "It is a tension in our approach that we need to be careful of. We have friends who are each other's enemies." [18:47] 4Ir: "Then I'll pass that along, and hope his dumb ass doesn't try to sneak in anyway without our help." 15[18:49] 10Times like this Eikichi is glad he never has to defend Blossom's bad ideas because all of her ideas are great. [18:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Will the Circle allow for Marek to plead his case directly, or is this a firm, sight-unseen no? 15[18:50] 10Eikichi's strongly against it. [18:51] 13Probably shouldn't! [18:52] <@Ferrinus> 12What if he made literal puppy dog eyes- [18:52] 13That's worse! [18:53] 7If he still wants to sneak into Heaven, it would be best if we sincerely didn't know about it, is Blossom's position. 14[18:54] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [18:54] 4Ir will deliver the bad news, then. [18:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek's not happy about this. First, it's sort of a snub directed at the Silver Pact. Second, that means you'll only see what they want you to see - if he was at liberty to sneak around up there, he could learn specifics as to what the top brass (top bronze?) are doing with Reckoning and the underworld! And it wouldn't come back to you, of course. 15[18:57] 10See it's that last thing that's the weak point in the argument. [18:57] 4Well she's not the one who needs convincing! Fuck, Marek! [18:57] <@Ferrinus> 12She could just pocket him in the form of a spider or something herself, technically- [18:58] 7A snub directed at the Silver Pact? Oh, screw you, guy. [18:58] 4She made the pitch, and she's not about to go back to the Circle and enumerate all the arguments in his favor that-- okay, this is the point where she'll storm out of the room. [18:59] 4She was always vaguely aware that there was a substantial chance she was just being developed as an intelligence asset, but she'd hoped he'd at least have enough class not to directly confirm it. [19:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, that probably could've gone worse, but it's hard to imagine how. Either way, you don't hear about this again before it's time to leave. [19:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara and May will be meeting you at a river barge on the north edge of Great Forks - apparently, the first leg of your trip will involve traveling a ways up the Yellow River. How's everyone looking? [19:05] 4That's up to Ying. [19:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara'd prefer you weren't obviously celestial exalted and didn't display any signs of unclean power or origin, such as demon servants or necromantic artifacts. Otherwise, looking arbitrarily weird is A-Okay; after all, she's coming from Great Forks, and heaven is populated chiefly by gods. [19:07] 7Yeah, what's Ying got for us? [19:07] <@Ferrinus> 12This means that having a flamingo head or floating several inches above the ground or whatever goes completely uncommented on, although a golden daiklave or burning caste mark is another story. This won't, supposedly, actually put you in danger, but it'll make Yara's job harder. 14[19:16] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[19:23] * Joins: Quaker 15[19:26] 10Eikichi's face is framed by the high, stiff collar of a long cloak, silver-white to match his hair and boots. Beneath the cloak he's dressed in deep violets that mirror his irises. Ying made him a magician's traveling clothes. [19:27] 4After some bickering, most of which is due to Ir still being angry at Arakesh and needing other places to vent, they settle on a sort of ballroom look for her with massive stole in which she can hide Jude's Law even more effectively than in bangles or bracelets, which keen observers might be able to detect as moonsilver and therefore as a possible weapon. https://i.paigeeworld.com/ [19:27] 4user-media/1415347200000/5245d0cd6a369e7a6c0191a4_545d59cb32e9abc913627b78_320.jpg [19:28] 7Blossom's been thinking about how she should dress when they're all god-queens of Zeal. She hasn't quite got it all together yet and she'll definitely need to confer with Ying more, but as it stands she's changed out of her armor into a robe with the same red and black colors, adorned with gold trim, a cape, and a heavy bronze shoulder-piece, as well as a slightly more elaborate hair [19:28] 7pin. [19:33] 13Ying's got on an elegant flowing kimono, beautiful and colorful designs covering the entire thing. Flowers and sunset seems to be the theme of the day, and she actually has a flower in her hair next to one of her ears. She seems tired; long days working on these outfits for everyone. Glad they're finally finished! [19:34] <@Ferrinus> 12You find yourselves on a long barge. A huge, hooded steersman stands in the back, pushing the entire craft forward with a single oar; Yara, May, and you four are the only passengers. Yara explains: "Yu-Shan is reached through celestial gateways dotted around Creation. I usually use one that puts me right in the middle of the heavenly city, but that one's also in heavy use by my [19:34] <@Ferrinus> department and I don't want your coming in with me to be immediately noted." [19:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "So, we're going to take a slightly longer trip. The gate I found should be in place for at least the next day, and it's only a little ways down the Yellow, here. I can open it for us and get us through security." 15[19:35] 10Eikichi: "How do the gates work?" [19:36] <@Ferrinus> 12May chimes in: "Magic." 12She smiles. "Quite literally - we use certain spells to find and open them." 15[19:37] "Can anyone learn them?" [19:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara goes on: "You won't be - shouldn't be, anyway - in real danger in Yu-Shan so long as you abide by the law. As celestial Chosen, you're guaranteed certain rights - you can't be searched or imprisoned or similar without trial, for one thing. But, hopefully, you won't have to pull rank on anyone, since I'm free to bring a certain number of guests and servants with me as long as [19:38] <@Ferrinus> they're not demons or whatever." [19:39] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a low snort from the steersman after Yara finishes speaking. May says: "Not just anyone. They wouldn't do most people much good, too, for reasons you'll soon see." 15[19:40] 10Eikichi: "Hey, is that Octavian?" [19:41] <@Ferrinus> 12The steersman snorts again. Yara: "Officially, you're accompanying me to the Bier for debriefing and analysis pertaining to the fate anomaly that until recently afflicted Great Forks and its surrounding environs. Just let people know that's where you're from and they should assume the rest." 14[19:42] * Joins: hrolf_mac 15[19:44] 10Eikichi: "What line have you taken with your superiors? Anything we should avoid mentioning or downplay?" [19:45] 7Blossom dips her fingernails in the water as it flows past. This is so exciting - actually visiting the Heavenly City! [19:45] "Will we have the ability to sightsee?" [19:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Well... like I've said, I work in the Department of Endings, based in the Violet Bier of Sorrows. I work for Wayang, who likes things... neat? I've told him, and you can tell him, that your Circle's interest in stability and the resolution of standing, you know, problems - especially of a demonic or netherworldy character - has aligned with my own and allowed for the speedy [19:47] <@Ferrinus> resolution of several of my assignments. Also that you, like him, oppose the Bureau's new initiative of messing around with the underworld through proxies like Reckoning." [19:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Iiii'm not sure how much he personally had to deal with, you know. How we met. So let's not dwell on that part." [19:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara, to Blossom: "No, I d-" 12May, to Blossom: "Yes, cert-" 12They look at each other. [19:49] 7She raises an eyebrow. Our Circle is never this ill-prepared, she thinks, incorrectly. [19:49] 13Ying: "Split vote means yes, right?" [19:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "...I mean technically yes. Guests are free to wander around wherever's public. But if people recognize you, I don't know... they could tie it to me, they could start to work against you preemptively... I mean, more so than they are already." [19:50] "Who would recognize us?" 15[19:51] "I'm sure we can go out and see the city without making a scene," 10says Eikichi, incorrectly. [19:51] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "Yu-Shan's a big place, and there's a great deal to see. If they don't throw their own names around or poke around our Bureau specifically... well, it should be fine, shouldn't it? We've all got our eyes on Creation, not the office." [19:53] "It would be nice to see the Jade Pleasure Dome..." 7She says wistfully. Everyone knows that the Jade Pleasure Dome is where the highest gods retired to play the 'games of divinity' (whatever those are) after the enemies of the gods were defeated (by the Five Elemental Dragons? May need to revisit that) in the time before time. Blossom doesn't expect to get *in*, of course, but just [19:53] 7to see it... 15[19:54] 10Eikichi: "Maybe it's like the Mountain and you can see it from anywhere in the city." [19:54] 4Ir: "I'd like to get our business finished with and leave." 14[19:55] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [19:56] 13Ying: "Awww, some sightseeing'll be fun! Especially after the nightmare we just went through." [19:57] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "The only concern is, of course, that it's quite expensive in the heavenly city." 12You have been warned to bring disposable wealth if you want to do anything on your own. Silver'll be useless up there, but jade'll at least buy you scraps. 14[19:59] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 08[20:01] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom blanches slightly at the thought of the candy that must be for sale in Heaven, and Eikichi having to pay for it in their only jade. [20:01] <@Ferrinus> 12After a few hours' pleasant sailing (well, floating along), the steersman directs your barge onto a wide sandbar on the south side of the Yellow. He stays behind while Yara leads the lot of you on a small path winding its way through the woods, snaking back and forth but always leading uphill. 15[20:02] 10Eikichi, meanwhile, wisely stuffed his pockets with candy before leaving. [20:03] 4This is the first time Ir's worn heels since the meeting with the Queen of Spines, so the the hike is a bit annoying. [20:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Before long, you find yourselves on a secluded hilltop, surrounded on all sides by trees. A simple stone construction awaits you there: two stone menhirs standing side by side with a third great slab left atop them, forming a crude archway. [20:06] <@Ferrinus> 12May looks around, then says: "I'll do the honors. Stand back, please." She spreads her arms, then presses her hands together, then proceeds to cast a spell over the course of around a minute. Cloudy, pearlescent light winds out from her words and gestures to wrap around both menhirs and also around May's body and each of yours, suffusing you with rarefied, spiritual essence. [20:06] <@Ferrinus> 12May looks around, then says: "I'll do the honors. Stand back, please." 12She spreads her arms, then presses her hands together, then proceeds to cast a spell over the course of around a minute. Cloudy, pearlescent light winds out from her words and gestures to wrap around both menhirs and also around May's body and each of yours, suffusing you with rarefied, spiritual essence. [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 12At the moment of the magic's culmination, the tendrils of diffuse mist crackle white and green, briefly becoming winding prayer strips that connect you with the portal. The portal itself fills with swirling mist and Old Realm characters. It's open! 14[20:08] * Joins: hrolf_mac [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara nods her head to May in thanks, beckons to the lot of you, and steps in through the light. Heaven awaits. [20:13] 4Goody. 15[20:13] 10Oh ho ho ho. Is that all that is? Eikichi steps forward. [20:13] 7This is going to be so amazing! [20:14] 13Yes! [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12The first few steps of the walk are strange - they're not particularly disorienting, which itself is quite a feat because it feels like you aren't walking on anything. Soon, the sensations around you resolve themselves - swirling mist and diffuse glow thin and sharpen until they're specific, reflected light, and cloudy nothingness beneath you becomes solid ground... no, solid metal. [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Or perhaps solid glass? You find yourselves walking on your own reflections, and see that images of you stretch endlessly to the left and right, distorting towards the shoulders and head. It's not because you're in some kind of psychedelic no-space, though, but because you're standing in a long hallway of solid adamant, polished to a mirror sheen. 15[20:17] 10Wow. [20:17] 4Someone's looking to make an impression. [20:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Scrolls hang (more probably float, because good luck pinning or even sticking something to adamant) on either side of you as you proceed, informing you to keep any bags or other containers ready for search and of any penalties you might face for contraband or unruliness. These seem to range from imprisonment to death to instant and highly prejudicial death, but don't appear to worry [20:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara or May any. 14[20:19] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [20:20] 7Blossom nods. Likely sensible measures, under the circumstances. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Up ahead, the hallway comes to a stop with an imposing adamant door - properly speaking a pair of doors which opens down the middle. There's no visible lock or handle, but what is visible is a trio of enormous, golden lions. No, scratch that - they are enormous, orichalcum lions, standing about three yards high at the shoulder. 15[20:20] 10Eikichi is caught between his desire to gawp around like a tourist and his desire not to look like a gawping tourist. [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Two of them lounge idly before the door. A third is curled up along the wall, but blinks awake as you approach, tosses its head side to side, and then rears up to take a position at a huge podium/service desk sort of edifice at the side of the door. [20:22] 7Hmm. If there's trouble, can we use Ying's blessed affinity with cats to help smooth things over? Worth holding onto as a last resort. [20:22] 13Oh my gosh. [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12This doesn't seem to perturb the two Sidereals at all. Yara conjures a little cloud for herself to stand on, the floats up to the level of the help desk to quickly announce and explain herself. "Operative Yarara Yara, here on Bureau of Destiny business. Bringing a few Great Forks residents in for debriefing." 12She flashes a jade seal. May Blossom, similarly, explains that she's [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12here to file some reports and otherwise attend to Secrets business. [20:25] 4Bringing us in, huh. [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12The celestial lion considers this for a moment, then nods and looks to its two fellows. Those lions each stand, turn to the door, and start kind of pawing at it its bottom edge while making very deep, insistent "mraowww" noises at it. [20:26] 13Oh my gosh [20:27] 4...Maybe Arakesh would have had a decent chance at fooling these nards. [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12After a moment, the door responds. A line of light, blinding in its brilliance, traces its way down the double doors' center line as they begin to part, then swing open. On the other side are six more celestial lions in various states of relaxation. But, more importantly, on the other side is Literally Heaven. [20:28] 7She'd hoped the guards of Heaven would be a bit more dignified, but Blossom's learned a lot about cats over the last few months. 08[20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12The Squared Circle beholds a great city. To an extent, they're prepared for the sight - Blossom and Eikichi know the Blessed Isle well, and all of them have gone to and fro through the richest portions of Great Forks these past few weeks, and they all saw a weird, distorted approximation of this place in their weird adventure through time and space a while ago. [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Still, the sheer magnitude is staggering. Towers and pagodas and palaces stretch upwards and sideways in every which direction, split from each other by both pedestrian avenues and rivers of what appear to be rippling mercury. To your left and right, you see a towering wall of solid adamant, great doorways set in it at regular intervals - you just came out of such a doorway, and it [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12appears that the wall stretches in both directions and curves to circumscribe the entirety of the celestial city. [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12That's a wall, though, not a dome - after about thirty yalms up, the wall stops, and the sky begins. Above Yu-Shan is the heavens, lowercase H - a great, shining starfield, speckled with lights and nebulae of every imaginable color, bright enough to see clearly by. [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Then, it changes with incredible speed. A golden radiance from the east edge of the sky parts the starry heavens, displacing the color-flecked blackness with a golden orange warmth that rapidly resolves itself into a full-on sunset. As you watch, dawn becomes noon, and now Yu-Shan is topped with blue skies, fluffy white clouds, and the radiance of the sun at its zenith. [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "Ah, He's winning again." 12Yara: "Feh." [20:38] 7Blossom: "What?" 08[20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom and Eikichi both come to this, additional, realization: Yu-Shan is the damn Blessed Isle. It's the same size and shape. Except, of course, where you'd expect to see the slopes of Meru there is, instead, an enormous jade dome. [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Also, it seems to be city from edge to edge rather than dotted with cities, although there do seem to be great parks and arcologies and so on visible in various places. 08[20:39] 7THERE IT IS!!! She nudges Eikichi with her elbow and points, like a damn tourist. [20:39] 4Ugh. [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "Oh, there aren't normal days or nights here. The sky reflects the state of play in the Games of Divinity." 14[20:40] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:40] * Joins: hrolf 15[20:41] 10Eikichi's fully given in to gawping. "What's the longest Yu-Shan's gone without sunlight?" [20:41] 4Good to hear; hopefully that changing as soon as they arrived is just coincidence. That would be...a whole lot of pressure. [20:41] "Oh!" 7She looks around, conscious that they're undercover now and she can't cheer. "How interesting." [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12May considers. "That's a good question. Perhaps a day, in my experience, but I'm not very old." 12Yara looks thoughtful, then shrugs. [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Now, fastest way to the Bureau's probably by boat." 12This seems like an incredible claim given that there are literally tiny aircraft zipping around Yu-Shan's lower sky, but she begins to lead your Circle down from the adamant wall and towards the nearest of the quicksilver canals nevertheless. [20:45] 13Ying: "By... boat?" [20:46] 7She squints, shading her eyes with her hand as she watches the aircraft zoom about. "Is there a god of aircraft?" [20:46] 4Neutrally: "Might be useful." [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "Oh, yes. Vanileth. But he's fallen on hard times nowadays." 15[20:47] 10Eikichi: "I wonder what Vanileth thinks of the Heavensward." [20:47] 4Oh, I guess we're just going to say it, then. "Wouldn't hurt to get a blessing." [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12May: "I'll bet he'd love it. You know, you could even tell him about it, he's somewhere in Human Affairs-" 12Yara: "Will he keep quiet, though?" [20:48] 7Blossom makes a mental note to put a little shrine to Vanileth in the Heavensward. Every minor ally helps. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12As you approach the canal, you begin to get an idea of why Yara favors it. The barges leaving from or landing at the shore move in the slow, stately fashion you'd expect, but after they've had a minute or so to speed up they reach incredible speeds, a hundred malms an hour or more. And that's on the quicksilver - at the center of each canal is a thinner strip of what appears to be [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12molten gold, and all you see there is the occasional multicolored blur. [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara blinks, then looks up to Ir. "Ooh, you could sail one of these, right? That'll save me a good bit." [20:51] 7Blossom: "Oh, you have to, Ir! When will you get another chance?!" 15[20:51] 10We'll be back. [20:51] 4She sighs theatrically enough that it's probably obvious to those who know her that she's kind of interested in it. "Sure." [20:52] 4She shrugs off the stole as Jude's Law curls into a tasteful choker and takes the helm. [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Excellent. Now, this way-" 12What follows is some paperwork and haggling. Yara needs to rent a vessel, secure a dock from which to disembark, and, most importantly, obtain sanction to use the golden path at the center of the canal. 14[20:54] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Looks like she's a pro (and it also looks like she's doing it in an underhanded enough way that exactly why she's doing it here, and how many guests she's taking along, doesn't get officially logged anywhere). Before long, Ir's been armed with one of those long riverboat-pushing poles and the six Chosen are afloat. [20:59] 7Who else is taking the canal at this time of, uh, day? [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyone doing official business for any Bureau, which could mean other Sidereals or the agents of other powerful and important gods. It's important to keep the golden canals free of congestion to allow these most important public servants to discharge their duties quickly and efficiently. [21:01] 4Ir runs the boat like she's an old hand at it, down to the scowls she'll give the various other boat-drivers if they come too close or set an accidental interdiction course. [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a good thing she does, because while the silver canal allows you to hurtle across heaven at around four times as fast as a horse could ever hope to go, the golden canal transports vessels at, apparently, the speed of thought. Yu-Shan flickers by you, impossible to even follow, as you rocket closer and closer to the Jade Pleasure Dome. 15[21:02] 10Whhhhhooooa. [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12The Circle visits the Bureau of Destiny... next week. 14[21:19] * Joins: Quaker 14[21:45] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:10] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. 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Meanwhile, Stranger stands aboard the Final Word attempting to weave the fractious Lookshyan host together in the wake of losing one of its great heroes. 15[20:05] In another world entirely, Xu Sim and Xia Lan float beneath a foreign sky, watching half a battle unwind in the ghost of the Yellow River and trying to figure out how to get or reach home. 15[20:06] It's nearly dark; the sun is red and low in the west; the Underworld's sky is an indifferent gray, stars winking into view one by one above as they just barely outshine the dim light of the realms of the dead. 14[20:13] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[20:18] * Joins: Quaker [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's troops are here and ready to be pulled together into any sort of array. What the Dawn Sergeant wants to do is simple - march on over, under cover fire from the lightning ballistae and other Shogunate contraptions that the Lookshyans have brought with them, and then simply grind the remains of Elegba's forces to dust. Hopefully, between Keldar and the remaining Terrestrial [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12soldiers, the warstrider itself can be dismantled or at least disabled. [20:21] Xu Sim: "We should snatch up one of the Raksha nobility and see what we can do to find our way back." [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Still, Keldar has to ascertain such a plan's feasibility, and that's why he's been thinking, pacing, peering through a spyglass, and occasionally and circumspectly asking Stranger if the Lookshyans have got their shit together. [20:22] 13Xia Lan peers out from the storm rider. "Any chance of finding them isolated and easily kidnappable? Pity there aren't any lengthy unguarded trade routes around..." [20:23] 14Stranger has finished working the officers on both sides of the divide. The final touch is going to have to come from Vuol Ballare herself, he wagers. [20:24] 14To that end, he requests a private audience with the Dragonlord, even over whatever Codex-like divide they're using to communicate. Emissary business. 15[20:25] Stranger's able to take a private communication with Ballare below-decks while she continues the fight above. [20:27] "Aren't you the one with a history of banditry? Tell me where to aim this thing," he suggests. [20:27] 14Stranger: "Hail Dragonlord. Given your pressing duties and my own here attending to the Dawn Sergeant, I'll be brief. I'm sure you've noticed that there is a rift in your officer corps, and that it has to do with the late, fallen Nessun Dorma." 15[20:28] "Grief is ugly," Ballare says. [20:29] 13Xia Lan: "They usually were miles away from anybody else, and I was working with more than two of us. Give me a second..." [20:31] 14Stranger: "Perhaps. There will be time for it later; I'm not concerned with grief qua grief right now. I'm concerned about how it can be used and focused. And that starts at the top." 15[20:34] Ballare is silent, clearly waiting for Stranger to continue. [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's going to grill Ballare's subordinates while Stranger deals with the thunderer herself. He needs to know what kind of tricks the southern Raksha have displayed so far, especially whether they've got landmines or sinkholes or other traps to hide behind. 15[20:37] The Lookshyans don't have an answer for Keldar; because of their superior firepower at range they haven't pushed infantry into the zones held by Elegba yet. [20:38] "I am not Xu Sim, Dragonlord. I am not here to heal your men and women and make them whole; I was not Nessun Dorma's friend and I have no aim to be yours. What I am is a pragmatist and a realist, and what I see is an army with a very worrying faultline. This concerns me because as soon as we win here -- and we will win here -- the issue will become what we do about Thorns. The Office [20:38] of the Emissary of Nexus has had to make a choice about which faction with which to throw in our lot; given what Thorns is and what Thorns represents, you will not find it surprising that we have chosen you. But the bannermen of Lookshy will need to be their finest force, both now and during the spoils. And both of us know that right now, they are not." 15[20:39] Ballare: "...what are you proposing?" [20:43] 13Xia Lan: "...ugh, I never had the head for this, Kana always handled this part. Try and skim the back edge? Might be less expected of an angle." [20:44] "The impression that I received from Dorma's officers is that you have not addressed the fall of their liegelord to any sort of satisfaction of theirs; the impression I received from your officers is that they remain preoccupied with what Dorma's officers think and believe. I do not get the impression that you are a speechifier; neither am I, really. I prefer to do my work in backrooms [20:44] rather than at podiums. But you will need to make a grand gesture, a tough-but-fair, come-to-the-Dragon moment where you bring your command deck together. Dorma's people think you're an asshole, but they can work with and respect an asshole so long as she's effective, direct, and honest about what she needs them to do; your people think Dorma was a pitiful cautionary tale, but they [20:44] respect his sacrifice, and you can use that respect to bind them closer to the fallen Dragonlord's officers who revere him." [20:44] "Let's go!" [20:45] "The other option is that the whispering on your command deck continues, the rift widens, and Thorns has a backdoor into your unit morale." 15[20:52] Xia Lan and Xu Sim surge forward, across the river and towards the bank ranks of the furthest raksha, seeking their generals and lieutenants. 15[20:55] Ballare is silent for a long time before she says "You talk sense. But know this: Nessun Dorma shook hands with the devil and now he does it in Hell. I am not Nessun Dorma." [20:56] 14Stranger: "Of course not, Dragonlord. I could not have this conversation with Nessun Dorma. That is one of the many reasons you have prospered, and he has fallen." 15[20:57] "So it is. Get off my ship, Emissary." [20:57] 14Stranger will not attempt to counsel her on her speech or dictate its contents any further, nor will he keep her from the front any longer than she wishes. [20:58] 14A smile tugs at the corner of his mouth. "With pleasure, Dragonlord." [20:59] <@Ferrinus> "It's like this," 12says Keldar to Stranger, once the Eclipse is back among the people. "We can crush them... except they've definitely got some kind of trap or situational advantage that we can't see and that they're counting on getting sprung once we come across the river." [20:59] 14Stranger: "Have we been unable to get eyes on this trap?" [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I can't figure out what it is. If the Lookshyans can't, I don't know, pave a whole new battlefield in front of us as we go, I have a mind to go in ahead of the troops and try to spring whatever it is myself." 14[21:00] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[21:00] * Joins: tom [21:00] "Well, that does sound sporting, at least. I've exhausted myself a bit with the rigors of getting past the stubborness of the entire assembled Lookshyan host." 14He quickly summarizes his conversations with the officers and Ballare. [21:01] "But give me a bit of time and I'll be fit to join you. I can also ask the Crows to take a cursory look from the air." [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Bird's eye view would be good. If we can pull together, basically, two units - us and some of the Terrestrials, then our combined forces bringing up the rear - I think we can do this." 14[21:11] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 15[21:20] Qaile's tribe is able to make a furtive report to Stranger, who can explain to Keldar, and the two of them can disseminate that information how they please. The temporary loss of their forward flyers has taught them that there are tangible distortions in space peppered across the southern front. There aren't enough crows to find the weak spots between them, but there are at least a 15[21:20] few; the rest found themselves flying back across the river where they came from. [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Interesting. Bit of a relief - not being able to bring as many people to bear as I like's a better problem to solve than half my men getting blown to hell." [21:23] 13As their rider approaches the group of raksha, Xia Lan has to bat a few arrows out of the way - surprisingly good shots, these guys - but the second she's in position to do so, she takes a running leap and flips out the front of the stormwind rider into the fray! [21:23] 13She lands while twirling her twin hooked swords, Before and After, casually swiping away any of the fletchers unlucky enough to be in her landing zone, or foolish enough to approach her afterwards. "Hello! Just here to visit, please keep your hands away!" [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12How many of the Dragon-Blooded are willing to join Keldar and Stranger in probing the front lines - or are they all needed to guide the actual troops? [21:24] 14Stranger will formally release the crows from duties for the rest of the campaign; he's got a responsibility not to get them all killed. 15[21:25] Xia Lan and Xu Sim are both able to weave between the hail of arrows that descends upon them. [21:26] 13Honestly, archers are cowards. Can't even handle a little in-your-face action. 15[21:28] It looks like Ballare's officers are loath to follow Keldar and Stranger into battle, though they're happy to provide support. They get the impression that Ballare has hardened them against direct cooperation with the heroes of Nexus. [21:29] 14Well, that was probably going to happen anyway. [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Hmph. They'd better be ready to move on the signal, then. Here's the plan: both armies cross the river and take positions on the southern bank. Then Keldar and Stranger forge out in search of the widest safe path, or biggest cluster of safe paths, forward, which the Nexus and Lookshy armies will proceed to pour down with cold iron at the ready. Elegba's forces will see doom bearing [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12down on them like a river through a collapsing dam. 14[21:37] * Joins: hrolf_mac [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12It's in full view of Elegba's forces, standing at the head of a great mass of troops who've just disembarked from barges and begun to array themselves, that Keldar roars wordlessly and bursts into golden-red flames. The earth beneath him splits as he tightens his grip on the grand daiklave currently driven point-first into the earth; as he draws the blade and levels it across the [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12field before him, it becomes very hard to imagine Elegba living to see another day. [21:44] "Grittoth, Phanatus, strike forth," commands Xu Sim as a pair of snarling erymanthoi suddenly appear. [21:44] 14Stranger Visits Heaven had forgotten, somehow without ever seeing it before, the fully glory of the hero-saint-generals of the Solar Exalted. [22:05] 05Xu Sim calls upon the power of sorcery, and the brain of Ardua held firmly in its skullclamp, casting his reagents forth in the form of the deadly obsidian butterflies. However, the butterflies themselves are sickly and wan, lacking the deadly potency they require; they scatter off the shields of his enemies below. 14[22:05] * Joins: Crion 14[22:07] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[22:08] Xia Lan feels a wicked draft as the butterflies whiz around her, cutting something even if it's not her enemies. If she or Xu Sim looks down, they'll see the ground split open like raw wounds, spread earth exposing ruthlessly geometric lines of stone. 15[22:11] A hideous mist spills forth from beneath. 15[22:25] Xia Lan is able to weave beneath the Cataphract's sword as Elegba, a world away, urges his comrades on. [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12As Keldar's the mortal vanguard, the warstrider "Akasha" is the faerie's, and so the two titans are the first to meet. Keldar charges and leaps, bringing Terminus down in an essence-laden arc -- but the mighty blade clangs against one of Akasha's upraised limbs and is stopped dead! 14[22:34] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [22:36] 14Stranger steps back, judges the distance, and snaps his wrist forward. The parasol flies from his hand, a colorful streamer behind it tied to the Solar's wrist -- and hits the glass atop the watcher's mount on the Wailing Wall with a satisfying, spiderwebbing think [22:36] 14He snaps his wrist again, and the streamer and parasol fly back to his hand. [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar drops and settles backwards into a defensive stance, crossing his daiklave over his torso, just as the metal monster readies a counterstrike. Incredibly, its enormous fist loses all momentum as it strikes the warrior's blade in mirror of the tableau both comabatants made mere seconds ago! [22:55] 5Grittoth, the orange-furred beast, rolls into the fray, swinging hairy arms and clubbing together the heads of its foes. [23:01] 5The green Phanatus screeches a dreadful, ear-piercing shriek, its mouth formed into a perfect hooting shape as it fanatically begins ripping goblins limb from limb. 14[23:03] * banana is now known as banana|teeth [23:10] 13As Xu Sim moves his rider, Xia Lan sees her chance and leaps!!-- And then is cruelly dragged back down into the fray by the grasping hands of one of these horrible freaks. This really is not going the way she drew it up. Guess that's why Kana always did it. [23:15] 5Xu Sim frowns as he continues calling up the next round of terrifying butterflies. Thank goodness for demons! They'd be really in bad shape if it wasn't for the help of those fearsome blood apes. "Just keep moving," 5he calls down to the Unfettered, unhelpfully but sympathetically. [23:16] 13She shouts back: "Thanks, hadn't figured that out!" 13right before she kicks uselessly at one of her attackers. 14[23:17] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) [23:32] 13Then a bunch of horrible ghosts nearly drag her down with them, and she's too busy cursing up a storm in Flametongue to yell at Xu Sim anymore. 14[23:32] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[23:37] * Joins: hrolf [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12The fight's narrowly going Keldar's way - he deflects another shatteringly powerful blow into the ground before running up the warstrider's arm and delivering a ringing blow to its cranium that doesn't so much as dent the metal but does leave it ringing like a bell and staggering for a few moments. [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12From behind him, a hail of arrows falls like rain upon the warstrider, and does about as much damage. [23:38] 14Stranger slips around the outside of the fray -- dances almost -- as he hears the Dawn Guard advancing behind him. It could be going worse. 15[23:44] NEXT TIME: Desperation 14[23:45] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Wed Jan 02 00:00:00 2019 14[01:07] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[01:12] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[01:40] * banana|teeth is now known as banana 14[03:35] * Joins: hrolf_mac 14[04:23] * Quits: hrolf_mac (Client exited) 14[04:43] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:07] * Joins: Crion_ 14[05:09] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:35] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:56] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[11:57] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:02] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:33] * Joins: tom 14[15:01] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:13] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:04] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[17:22] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:24] * Joins: tom 14[17:27] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[14:22] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:17] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[16:19] * Joins: Crion 14[16:23] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:18] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[17:42] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:44] * Quits: Quaker (Connection closed) 14[17:48] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:49] * Joins: Crion 14[17:55] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:05] * Joins: Crion 14[18:59] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:21] * Joins: tom 14[23:50] * banana|peels is now known as banana Session Time: Sat Jan 05 00:00:00 2019 14[01:26] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:21] * Joins: Crion_ 14[02:22] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:31] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:11] * Joins: mattbaby [18:44] <@Ferrinus> 12☰ ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL3dYnhINOM ) [18:49] <@Ferrinus> 12The Squared Circle, and their ally Yarara Yara, blazes across the geography of the heavenly city of Yu-Shan. A mirror of Creation's Blessed Isle, but bounded by walls of shining adamant and capped by a (projection of a?) sky in which every heavenly body seems to be visible at twenty or thirty times its usual relief, heaven has revealed itself to be a bustling metropolis, criss-crossed [18:49] <@Ferrinus> 12by streets and canals and abuzz with divinities walking the streets or soaring through the skies. Even now, Ir pilots a crane-shaped barge rented from the authorities at Yu-Shan's southeastern edge, propelling herself and her allies at the speed of thought towards Yu-Shan's very center. 15[18:50] 10Wow. [18:50] 4Hoo. [18:50] 4We're moving pretty quick here. [18:50] <@Ferrinus> 12The architecture around you is a multicolored blur. Every so often, the vague impression of a slower barge - one whose owner is too unimportant or too poor, but I repeat myself, to gain access to the golden band at the center of the canal and who must float along the quicksilver at each side - zips by you, left in your wake as you flicker across the city. [18:53] <@Ferrinus> 12This is interrupted by a strange experience: from ahead of you, floating at the stately pace that you would actually expect from a boat propelled across water by a single poleman, comes another barge heading the other direction. Though both of you are surely hurtling at speeds unimaingable to the Creation-borne, from each other's perspective you you drift calmly and slowly exactly [18:53] <@Ferrinus> 12as a pair of river-going vessels should. A massive boar crowned with five burning spheres reclines on a great couch while, around him, lesser gods and goddesses peel grapes and toss handfuls of lotus petals into the river to mark their barge's passing. [18:53] 7Wow... [18:54] 4Hah. [18:54] <@Ferrinus> 12After you've passed each other, time and velocity seem to remember themselves, and your trip resumes its breakneck-to-the-point-of-confusion pace. A few minutes later, Ir's bringing the barge into a much bigger and fancier dock, one studded with burning, mint-colored crystals and staffed by divinities in flowing robes who've got those boxy hats on that you have to tie under your [18:54] <@Ferrinus> 12chin. [18:57] 13Ying's still a bit overwhelmed from the journey. Too fast! And that thing with the barge heading the other way just makes her head spin. Thankfully not literally. [18:59] <@Ferrinus> 12After Yara's taken care of some documentation (anyone peering over her shoulder, which is of course extremely easy, will see her confirming the registration of four unspecified Creation-born guests), you're free to walk the streets. Well, not free, exactly, as your host expects you to come with her to her workplace. But, there's much more opportunity for gawking now that you aren't [18:59] <@Ferrinus> 12gliding through space-time at entirely notional velocities. The buildings are huge, seemingly scraping the dome of heaven, but all of them pale in comparison to a massive jade dome visible to your northeast. [18:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Oops 15[18:59] 10That was awesome. How come Heaven's only for lame gods and nerds like Yara? [18:59] 4I think there was a war about that. [19:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, you get it. The avenues are very wide, but walkable area's a bit narrow because huge carriages and riding beasts have a tendency to monopolize the central walkways. The people bustling around you must all be gods - no, wait, you think you just spotted a human over there, so they must almost all be gods - and even coming from Great Forks it's a very strange sight to take in. [19:01] <@Ferrinus> 12People schlep to and fro according to personal schedules, hurrying or searching pockets or peering at street signs or staring resolutely forward, despite the fact that they have ibis heads or spider legs or are carved from rock crystal or whatever. [19:02] 13Good to know Ying doesn't stand out. Except for gawking like a tourist at all the domescrapers, but, well. [19:02] 4At this point Ir's dispensed with her stole -- that thing was bad idea anyway, she was always going to end up having to move around in this dress -- and mostly walking with her arms crossed. [19:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, yeah, Ying doesn't stand out at all, even though she's sitting cross-legged on a little violet cloud. Quite the opposite, actually; people don't seem to pay her any mind at all, though they unconsciously step around or make way for her. It doesn't look like they're averting their gazes or their paths for reasons of being tyrannized or soething - their attention just slides off [19:06] <@Ferrinus> 12her the same way yours once did, and indeed still might if you don't watch yourself. [19:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Whoops, that should be Yara, not Ying. [19:07] <@Ferrinus> 12You both start with Y! [19:07] 13That's true. 15[19:08] 10Eikichi wonders if she's doing that on purpose. [19:08] <@Ferrinus> 12You pick up on something else: ...a beggar? A raggedy man in stained robes with stormclouds for hair is sitting at the mouth of an alleyway, cupped hand turned upwards. Yara's paying him no mind, but someone else is - a uniformed official with arms clasped behind his back is lecturing him sternly, demanding he leave the area. 15[19:10] 10You're kidding. [19:10] 13Wait, why? [19:11] 4Well, as long as it's not Marek. 08[19:12] 4...But Ir isn't going very far out of her way to look for Marek, either. Eikichi (or Blossom? one of the power couple) was right: if he's going to betray her trust and sneak along anyway, it's for the best she not know about it until after he gets caught. [19:12] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not going well for the down-on-his-luck god. He shakes a fist crackling with lightning at his interlocuter, who steps back with an outraged sneer on his face and immediately crushes a jade slip he's pulled from a sleeve. There's an immediate roar and a near-immediate explosion which marks the landing of a celestial lion in a shockwave of gold-and-white essence. The creature [19:12] <@Ferrinus> 12seizes the beggar god in its jaws and carries him into the alley and out of sight. This doesn't seem to register with Yara, who continues to lead you along. [19:13] 13Ying: "Um... Yara? What was that?" [19:13] "Looks like an out-of-work god." 15[19:13] "Unbelievable." [19:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara turns. "Hm? Oh. Public disturbance, it looks like." 15[19:14] "How can there not be enough work for gods? It's Heaven." [19:14] 4Ah, Heaven's one of those places where everyone really tediously smiles and pretends nothing's wrong, especially when something's clearly wrong. Should have expected that. [19:14] 7Blossom: "It makes sense, if you think about it. An awful lot was lost during the Great Contagion. What do you do if you're a city god of a city that got swallowed up by the Wyld?" [19:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Um... maybe whatever he was responsible for got destroyed or transferred into someone else's portfolio or something." [19:15] 13Ying: "But -- what's gonna happen to him?" [19:15] 7Blossom muses to herself: "And what do gods beg for? Are prayers transferrable somehow?" [19:16] 13Have we finally found a place where thoughts and prayers help? [19:16] <@Ferrinus> 12The tiny assassin nods to Blossom. "Exactly. But, I mean, he should be fine, there's always quintessence for public use - he shouldn't really have come here if he didn't have business, that's just greedy." 12She puts a finger to her chin after considering Ying's question. "Probably returned to the residential district and fined. Maybe held for a few days if there's been repeat [19:16] <@Ferrinus> offenses? This isn't really my job." [19:16] 7The Immaculate Philosophy has a lot to say on the greed of misbehaving gods for illicit worship, but little on what they actually do with said worship. Presumably it empowers them somehow, and of course being worshipped feels nice. [19:17] "What's quintessence?" 15[19:17] "So he was just looking for... praypigs?" [19:17] 13Ying: "...okay." 13She doesn't sound very sure about this. [19:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Oh, but that's a good question! Here, I'll show you." 12She takes a turn on her cloud, leading you down another street to a wide public square. In the middle is a grand fountain carved from translucent crystal, and from its center jets sparkling, multicolored liquid - it's like someone managed to cool a rainbow until it condensed into liquid. 08[19:18] 4Ir just glares at Eikichi. [19:19] 13Ying: "I don't get it." [19:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Most of the gods here ignore it, but after a moment a woman in striped robes with tiny bee's wings jutting from her shoulder blades buzzes over and dips a hand into one of the outflow pools on the fountain's periphery, looking somewhat self conscious as she does so. She draws forth a streamer of the shining substance, rolls it up into a solid sphere that shimmers in every color you [19:20] <@Ferrinus> 12can think of, and then turns to carry it off. Yara: "That's quintessence." [19:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "When people pray to the gods, that stuff appears up here in Yu-Shan. If you're a god it's pretty easy to craft into... well, just about anything. Fancy clothes, fine wines, sometimes servants." [19:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "There's less of it nowadays, and things made from quintessence wear out. But, I mean, there's still plenty, and laws about its distribution and stuff." [19:24] 7Blossom: "...huh. That explains some things." [19:25] 4Ir: "Everything's an economy." [19:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Kind of weird that no one here seems to care about the fountain of coruscating use-value that's just flowing here - but then, this seems to be the very richest sector of reality's very richest city. 15[19:26] "So anyone can just reach out and take some?" [19:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Properly speaking there's distribution rotas and such, and it's only for gods. Most of the stuff here in the central zone goes unclaimed, of course - no one who works here'd be caught dead relying on free quintessence! I think there's a program where the surplus is shipped out to other districts." 15[19:28] "But this is what they pay gods in?" [19:28] 4Quintessential alms. [19:28] 4They don't teach you about this stuff in the Heavenswatch. [19:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "But, I mean, it's good stuff." 12She pinches one of her sleeves, stretching out a bit of the black fabric. "This was spun from quintessence by my assistant. No complaints!" [19:29] 13Ying: "..." 15[19:29] "You have a god for an assistant?" [19:29] 13...it could be done better. [19:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Well, yeah, what else? Can't bring a demon up here, it's against code." [19:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "And gods are sometimes paid in extra quintessence, and if they're working for anyone really important, in goods made from ambrosia. That's the really good stuff." 15[19:30] "How does that work? Who pays them? Are they bound to you?" [19:30] 4Ir: "Have to say, I understand why the Immaculates teach it the way they do. Not very inspiring to hear that your dutiful obesiance across a life of backbreaking labor and hard-fought strife to your family's or clan's favored gods of this and that is mainly just paying for rent and clothes." [19:31] 4Ir doesn't go farther out loud, but she finds this all quite disguisting. [19:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Quintessence appears when people, um, ask the gods to send rain or hope to heaven that they pass their exam or something. But if someone prays to a god by name, that becomes ambrosia." [19:32] "So, groceries." [19:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Ambrosia can become anything. Well, anything up to jade, unless it's a prayer to the sun or moon or maidens - you can probably figure out what each of those is good for. Ambrosial goods are, frankly, of such high quality that if I took any with me to Creation it'd be a security risk." [19:33] 4Ir: "Of course." [19:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "The sun gets ten percent of all the ambrosia in heaven. The rest is distributed to the Bureaus and used to pay their employees." 15[19:34] "What do they pay you in?" 08[19:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Ambrosia. Check it out-" 12She reaches into a pocket to produce a small gold coin, then flicks it over to Eikichi. It falls at the usual speed, but feels almost weightless in the sorcerer's hand, and slightly warm to the touch. 15[19:35] "Wow. How do you work with this?" 15[19:37] "Wait, this is just foil." 15[19:37] "You mean inside--" [19:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "You have to be a god, I think. But if you've got the knack that one coin could become an entire feast, or a daiklave!" 08[19:37] 7Blossom closes her eyes and prays to Heaven - fueling, apparently, the local economy - that Eikichi will note attempt to bite the coin or scrape off the foil on the assumption that there is chocolate inside. [19:37] 7*not attempt 15[19:39] "How much work is this payment for? Am I holding a day's pay, a week's?" [19:39] 13Ying: "That's purretty neat!" 13Wonder if Czaliphenya used any of this against her. [19:40] 13Hee hee. 15[19:40] 10Eikichi holds the coin out for Blossom to take and inspect. 08[19:42] 7Blossom examines it, fascinated. "Look, Eikichi. The foil is to prevent coin shaving. Extravagant." [19:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara works her mouth around a bit. "Um, around a week's." [19:47] 7Blossom gingerly hands the coin back. Incredible. 15[19:47] "I bet you're due for a raise after your recent successes," 10says Eikichi. 08[19:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara pockets it again. She gives Eikichi a look. "It'd be nice... work's been a bit confusing for, well, for a while now. As you might imagine." [19:48] 13Ying: "Ugh, fur real." [19:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Anyway, this way. Oh, but is anyone hungry?" [19:49] 4If Ir's got sympathy for that, it doesn't show. She doesn't look disdainful, either; ever since her fight with Arakesh she's been working on her Carefully Neutral face for this trip. 15[19:49] "Yes." [19:49] "Sure." 4Not really, but it'll give her a chance to see Heavenly chefs at work, hopefully. [19:49] 13Her ears perked up, Ying just nods rapidly. [19:53] 7Blossom isn't really, but she's not going to pass up a chance to sample Heavenly fare. "Yes." [19:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I haven't had any western food in ages. Come on, over here-" 12You're led further along the crowded main street you're on before taking a turn onto a side street. Pagoda towers stretch up past you in both directions, glowing signs hanging off their edges advertising fine clothes, toys, scrolls, dreamstones... Yara, though, peers around, says 'a-ha' as she sees a sign, and [19:54] <@Ferrinus> 12leads you inside "Dang Tasty". There, you're seated at a low table, offered crystal glasses of purest spring water by what appears to be a lemur in an apron, and finally confronted with a massive man who looks like a fully-armored shogunate warlord except with eye sockets full of purple fire. [19:55] <@Ferrinus> 12The god: "Shun Dang, at your service! And good to see you, miss." 12Yara nods to him and proceeds to ask for an elaborate spread of raw fish. Before long, you're all expected to order. There doesn't seem to be a menu. 15[19:56] 10Eikichi, never afraid to look stupid, asks the question. "What do you serve?" 08[19:57] 4Ir's been trying to figure this out through context clues, as a chef herself. But I suppose Eikichi could just take all the fun out of it!! [19:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Dang: "Whatever can be served! I have seen Creation edge to edge. Please, indulge yourself." [19:57] 7Blossom guesses they just make the food out of that quintessence stuff? All right. Time to see if Heaven stacks up. "Isicia omentata, side order of sliced potato." 15[20:00] 10Eikichi: "Give me whatever you had for lunch." [20:00] 4Ir: "Nexus pitza with spiced, cured, beef and pork salame sliced thin and baked with it." [20:00] 4She wants to see how far knowledge of this has gotten. [20:01] 13Ying: "Bluefin tunya please!" [20:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Dang, to Ying: "And how would you like that prepared?" [20:04] 13Ying: "Not at all!" 13She's beaming. [20:05] <@Ferrinus> 12The god claps with such force that the walls rattle. "Very well!" 12Then he vanishes in a flash of violet flame. 08[20:09] 7It's fine, it's fine. If Ying gets sick from this Eikichi is better at medicine than any doctor. [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12It's only ten minutes or so before the god returns. He holds one plate of carved crystal before him in a hand; the rest of your orders float behind him, each propped up on the tines of a multi-pointed spear that crackles with colored fire. With a series of flourishes, you are all served, bowed to, and then left to your own devices in the wake of another small and seemingly-harmless [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12explosion. It's exactly as you ordered, including the tuna, which is an enormous and delectable-looking specimen of the breed which appears to have simply died of no particular cause mere seconds ago. [20:11] 13Her eyes are practically turning into stars at the mere sight of it. [20:12] 4She was pretty sure there wasn't any option besides the pitza being amazing, but Ir's mainly glad that Heaven knows how to serve it. Catching on fast. 15[20:13] 10What did Eikichi get? [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12My god, these are incredible. Ir thinks she could follow this act, even top it... if she could get ingredients this good. Without them, there's a certain ineffable salubriousness here that is simply unheard of in Creation, something that transcends mere taste and texture. [20:14] 13Ying runs a claw down the belly of the fish and slowly peels back the skin, savoring the smell the entire time. Then she tries to eat a raw fish as politely as possible, which is to say: she puts up a good effort, but the game was rigged from the start. [20:14] 4Everyone should get to eat like this...but it appears the entire, like, point of Heaven is that this is not and should not be possible. 08[20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's meal is much rougher than everyone else's. It looks like a cutting from the haunch of an aurochs, roasted over a bonfire and slathered in butter and spices. It's delicious, but tastes like you could've had it back in the mortal world. 15[20:20] 10Nice. [20:21] 4Ir: "That was...delicious." [20:22] "And it means pitza is spreading." [20:22] 13Ying, daintily wiping off the remnants of fish: "It was a meowsterpiece." [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara, after gobbling down some yellowtail: "Right? Dang is a really close study. This place is one of the central zone's best kept secrets, I think." 15[20:23] 10Eikichi's eating with uncharacteristic neatness and merely nods, since his mouth is full. [20:24] "Mmmm. This garlic and olive oil sauce goes very well with the potatoes." 15[20:26] 10After wiping his mouth with a napkin. "Tell us about your boss, Wayang." [20:27] 7Aaagh. Oh no. This omentata is so good that Blossom feels a wave of homesickness. [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara glances around, satisfying herself that the conversation is reasonably private, then starts in. "Alright. Wayang is the god of silence. He doesn't have much in the way of a religion, of course, but his actual dominion's not exactly in any existential danger, so he's as mighty as he was in the Bureau's founding." [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Wayang takes directives from the Loom and sometimes from Saturn herself, and hands them down to us in the Bier. Um, that's the Violet Bier of Sorrows, the Division of Endings. We get rid of things whose time Heaven says has come." 08[20:31] 7It's important for a future god-queen to cultivate virtue and generosity. Blossom carefully slices a piece of her omentata and offers it to Eikichi while listening to Yara. 14[20:31] * Joins: tom 15[20:32] 10Oh man!! Eikichi points at his own mouth excitedly. [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Besides ending royal lines and sinking islands and such, Wayang also makes sure that things end properly - meaning, as a result of the interlocking forces of Creation. I used to do a lot of demon hunting, for instance, and made sure a shadowland didn't bloom right in the middle of a city, stuff like that." 15[20:34] "Is there anything we should avoid doing or bringing up that isn't immediately obvious? Isn't immediately obvious to me, I should say?" [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Right now, Wayang's preoccupied with what a lot of the Bureau's elders are - some kind of massive threat to Creation or heaven. But he's very... pessimistic on the utility of, you know, the underworld. Honestly, any kind of black magic or heretical power'll probably rub him the wrong way." [20:38] 13Ying: "It'd be purretty bad if some kinda horrible thing happened in the middle of a skitty and nopawdy did anything about it." 13She nods decisively. [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "He's never out and out told me I shouldn't be using my own demons, but I try not to mention them." [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Also, um..." 12She taps her fingers on the table. "I'm not sure exactly... put it this way. He wasn't against the end of the First Age." 15[20:44] "Is he the one who gave the order to, you know... kill us?" [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I don't know what the plan for the shogunate was, but it definitely didn't involve Prince Balor. And I don't know if he yet has orders about, or his own designs on, the Age of Sorrows. Buuuut if you mean to - ah! Hm. No, I don't know the whole story there but it didn't start in any Bureau. But he may have signed off, or, you know, factored it into his calculations." [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "But what I'm saying is that you should probably soft-pedal any intention to, like... revive lost wonders or bring back fallen ages or something. It might sound, to him, like you're undoing a job well done. Your - our, really - aligned interests here are in banishing the enemies of Creation." 15[20:50] "Which we'll insist do not include us." [20:50] 7He'll have to face up to it sometime. But they can slow-pedal for now. Blossom eats quietly, considering. [20:50] 13Ying: "We've been nothing but helpful! Beclaws we're nice and good and just want to fix things!" [20:51] 13There's nothing but bones on her plate at this point - she really put in some work on that fish. [20:51] 4Ir: "Well, we're at least some of those things. I'm ready to get this overwith, once we're all done our food." 15[20:54] "Here's to making a good impression," 10he says, finishing his drink. 08[20:54] "Yes, I'm ready to go." 7How's Eikichi doing on that huge huanch of meat? 15[20:54] 10He ate about half of it, in thin neat slices without making a mess on the table or his clothes. [20:55] 4Ir can wrap it for travel and reinterpret it for him later, if he wishes. 15[20:56] 10That sounds great. [20:57] 4So she will, with the efficiency of a chef who waited tables through finishing school. [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Before long, you're fed, paid up (Yara ends up passing a coin, perhaps the same one you saw, to Shun Dang), and on your way. After cutting through a few more alleys, you're back on Yu-Shan's main thoroughfares. Real estate is clearly at a premium here, which is why people build up and not out - it looks like the standard is to put store space at the ground floor of towers which [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12otherwise consist chiefly of bureaucratic offices. [21:07] 13Any clothiers? [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12You get farther and farther from the Jade Pleasure Dome, and approach what Yara calls "The Most Perfect Lotus of Heavenly Design". It's four huge buildings arrayed at the points of a pentagram, with one empty space - but, wait, there's a huge golden sailing ship drifting through the air towards the fifth, unoccupied point, preparing to land and settle in. 15[21:08] 10To Blossom: "What kind of ship is that? A barque?" [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Sure, plenty. Even the beggars here are dressed in sparkling finery, or at least "casual" clothes that are replete with the kinds of seams, hooks, understitching, and zippers that would surely require an artisan hours to put together back in the mortal realm. [21:10] 13...Ying could still do better. Not bad for quick work, though. [21:10] 7Blossom shades her eyes and squints. "Yep. You can tell from the sail-plan." 7He was listening! [21:12] 7The Most Perfect Lotus of Heavenly Design... Blossom's going to need to redraw some of her plans for the central palace of Zeal. She gawks at the architecture, the ship, everything. [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Yep. That's the Golden Barque of the Heavens, headquarters of the Division of Journeys." 12She points out the others to you - Serenity, Battles, Secrets, and, of course, Endings. This last one is your destination, a low and low structure cut from black stone that you suspect takes up a lot more space underground than it does in view. It's surrounded by tall lamp-posts, each [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12topped by an open flame of deep indigo. [21:15] 4Ir runs her eye over the ship. Not bad. [21:15] 13Ying's just sizing up the headquarters. Visible entrances or exits, any windows, that kinda thing. You know. In case of emergency. [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12As you walk down the gently-sloping stairs leading into its front entrance, Yara starts. She hurries you forwards a bit and then sideways, into what seems to be some sort of cloak/sign-in room. Just as the last of you go in, you notice someone else coming up the hall in the other direction. It's a young woman, who has some sort of brief interaction with your guide before going on to [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12leave the building. [21:18] 4How much larger than the Heavensward is the The Most Perfect Lotus? Ir's less concerned with the shipwrightery -- that's Blossom's focus -- but how she's out-sail it in a fight. [21:19] *4she'd [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a slightly relieved, but still on-edge Sidereal assassin who leads you through the halls of the Violet Bier. It's very dark down there, lit chiefly by lantern flames burning behind panes of violet glass. For a long stretch of hallway, Yara insists that you blindfold yourselves and hold hands to stay together. Then there's a door manned by a huge metal spider of familiar cast; [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12you're not allowed to pass until you've made some kind of mark, any kind at all, on a silken parchment that unrolls down from the arachnid's jaws. 15[21:20] 10It's remarkable that someone looked at the permanently-panicked Yarara Yara and thought it best to train her as a ninja. [21:20] 13Ying draws a heart with her index claw. 15[21:21] 10Eikichi signs his name. [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Finally, you come before an obsidian door like any other. Yara taps soundlessly on it with her fingertips, and it opens to reveal a square, purple-lit chamber in which a humanoid figure sits cross-legged on a dais that forms the top of a sort of wide, shallow ziggurat, each level of which serves as a set of stairs to the top. Despite the fact that it's lit from all sides, you can't [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12make out any of the figure's features; the violet rim-lighting cast by the lanterns doesn't seem to reach farther than an ilm or two in from its edges. Judging from the silhouette, this god is male, bald, of average build, and robed. [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara clears her throat and speaks softly. "Ahem... Wayang, sir. This is them - the Squared Circle." [21:25] 13Hey, that's us! [21:26] 4Have to admit, it's a catchy name. [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12At Yara's words, a pair of luminous golden eyes open on the god's face. They're a bit larger than a human's should be, and quite stylized in their shape - curving dramatically from corner to corner so as to emote an intent, almost predatory focus. Wayang, God of Silence, the Black Puppet Mask, eyes all of you expectantly. [21:28] 7That was quite a build-up, and Blossom has to admit to herself that a god who was present for the rise and fall of the Shogunate, and maybe even for the time before time, deserves it. Unless they were *all* around for that. Gods don't die of old age, do they? [21:28] 7Blossom bows respectfully without overdoing it. [21:28] 4Maybe if they're the god of dying of old age." [21:28] -4" 15[21:28] 10Eikichi steps forward and bows. "Eikichi Sho, your excellency." [21:29] 4Ir gives a military bow with heels together, not dipping down a degree farther than courtesy demands. [21:30] 13Ying bows deeply, bending almost in half, before straighting back up with a flick of her tail. "Sunlit-Dreaming Ying!" [21:31] "Ir." [21:31] "Excessively Righteous Blossom, your excellency." [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang nods - you can tell by the way the eyes rotate downwards for a bit. Then they close for a moment, and the god stands. It's a strange, jerky motion, as though he were being pulled up by his shoulders rather than pushed up by his legs. [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang says - just kidding! Obviously the god of silence wouldn't say things. But he does gesture at Yara before sort of motioning to the four of you in a tight spiral, his forearm swiveling around the elbow it's joined to as though held there by a pin. He seems to be indicating that he understands you've done Yara a great service... and, therefore, his division a great service. [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12At the end of the gesture, he cocks his head, as if to ask: but why? [21:33] 7Blossom: "Creatures of darkness cannot be allowed to expand their footholds in Creation." [21:33] 4To test my limits, and because my friends thought it would be fun. ...Ir won't be doing the talking here. 15[21:34] "We have a duty to Creation and to the people in it." [21:35] 13Ying: "No one else was doing anything about it." 08[21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang's limbs spin until one's touching his chin thoughtfully and the other's folded across his torso. He shuts his eyes momentarily, thinking deeply on your words and more deeply still on your silences. Finally, he nods at Yara once, twice, three times in stern approval - before turning an even sterner glare on Eikichi. [21:46] 4Ain't it always the way with that guy. 15[21:46] 10Eikichi's looking at Wayang expectantly. 08[21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12The god of silence makes elaborate gestures - splaying out fingers before balling them into fists, swirling both hands around notional spaces an objects, describing with incredible deftness the abstract concepts of dissolution and reconstruction. Has Eikichi not caused, with recklessness borne from youth and insufficient foresight, chaos and blasphemy equal to or even in excess of 08[21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12that which his friends have put down? Did Eikichi not unleash hell on a Cathak region and a mountain range, causing snarls in the Loom that could only come from the eruption of heretical energies? 15[21:49] 10Eikichi looks at Yara and mouths, Did I? [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I... didn't really get the details on that." [21:51] 7Blossom: "He repaired it, and sealed off the raksha invasion that was almost underway." 15[21:52] 10Eikichi: "I freed a backbroken people from the dual terrors of a conquering legion and a massive Wyld rupture. The Hedgehog is stable, is prosperous, is whole. I can't speak to my disruption of fate." [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "That's true, isn't it? There was a bit of a... um, lacuna, but as of now that area runs like clockwork." 15[21:55] "I can promise you there is no chaos of blasphemy there. Neither the tyrant lies of the Realm nor the tedious anarchy of the raksha have any foothold there." 08[22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang quirks a brow, one glowing golden eye briefly much wider vertically than the other. Then he leans forward, raising one, then two, then three knuckles. Perhaps Eikichi can only promise that due to technicalities that the Bureau would not respect, or thanks to misconceptions that Eikichi himself has - but surely no one as wise (spiraling and finger-flexing muscles around the [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12scalp, kind of sarcastic) as the sorcerer could ignore the nature of the power that coils around his heart even now. 08[22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Can someone who would unleash such demonic forces upon Creation be trusted? Whatever order those forces may leave in their wake? Surely Eikichi cannot believe that She Who Lives In Her Name (tapping the point of a finger in space, then tapping the point of a finger ten times around that space, then tapping just under ten thousand times in a blur of lightning-fast motion) has earned [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Heaven's approval because she is tidy? [22:04] 7Uh oh. [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, once, then a hundred, then 9,997. [22:05] 13This seems less good than when we were just talking about why we did the good things we did. 15[22:06] "I wouldn't presume to trick you, elder. And I have no intention of lying. But you'll know as well as I do. Maybe better! No silence without death, after all." 08[22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang indicates three imaginary points around Eikichi, one over his head and one over each shoulder. He spreads his hands, then, in question or even supplication to Yara and the others. How, indeed, could Eikichi be trusted to purge evil from Heaven if he blithely brings it in with him? [22:11] 7What? 15[22:11] "I couldn't have left them behind. I hid them, out of respect for Yara. What do you fear I would see in Heaven that would make me want to use them?" [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang brushes that question off. Heaven - as yet - is quite safe even from forces such as those. But Creation is another story. An end brought by the unleashed powers of Hell is not the ending that any in Creation deserve. This may well be a sticking point - the Puppet Mask's got his arms folded now. [22:15] 13Oh, come on. 15[22:19] "A matter of degree, not of kind. How many sorcerers work for the Bureau already? How many of them bind demons?" [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang draws circles within circles on the air before him. He mimes the unrolling of contracts and the forging of chains. These things are sanctioned - official - traditional, even if in poor taste. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12But in your case, who has bound whom? 15[22:27] "Which is it? Do you question my judgment, or do you question whether my judgment is mine? I must be either wreckless or a puppet. She Who Lives In Her Name wouldn't tolerate both, after all." 08[22:29] 13Ying: "Eikichi..." 13She seems nervous. This wasn't supposed to get so hostile. Not so soon, anyhow. 15[22:29] 10He's not being hostile. He's being firm. [22:30] 13Disharmony makes me nervous!! 15[22:30] 10Is there a table you can hide under? [22:31] 13...is there? [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12An equivocating waggle of a hand. Is the loosing of a Yozi's power against Creation the work of a fool, a thrall, or a villain? They can't all be true, and could be debated, but the true answer matters little for the Loom and for the world. 14[22:34] * Joins: Quaker 15[22:34] 10Eikichi: "I could quibble about the difference between demonic and titanic power, the relative cleanliness of my magic opposed to a Ligierian demonologist's, but truthfully none of that matters. We're here because of Yara. We helped Yara time and time again - we helped her when we had no reason to. We took up the causes and goals of someone who by rights should be our mortal enemy! 15[22:34] And we did her work. And we earned her trust." 15[22:34] "She trusts us, and you trust her. Everything else is ideology." 08[22:35] 7Ideology is important, though! But it looks like Eikichi's talking their way out of this. 15[22:40] 10Rest assured that our ideology is the correct one. [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang wrings his hands a moment, then steeples his fingers. After another moment, he nods. It seems that you're right. [22:41] 4...Phew. [22:41] 13Mew. 14[22:41] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12If Yara (he points at her) trusts you (one arm rotates or inverts or something such that it can clasp the other as though it belonged to another person), then so should I. Sit - and we can discuss your once-Circlemate. 14[22:49] * Joins: Quaker 14[22:49] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[22:57] * Joins: Quaker 14[22:57] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[23:49] * Joins: Quaker Session Time: Sun Jan 06 00:00:00 2019 14[02:26] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:14] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[07:53] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:02] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:35] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[14:06] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:52] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:33] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. 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[20:12] 13Almost as badly as the last time she was in the Underworld, with the possibility of getting even worse. Sun almighty, this hurts. And -- she's not ready to go yet. She might have been, last time. But getting out of this looks impossible. [20:22] 05With a horrifying shriek, Phanatus falls into the ranks of the fletchers, a whirlwind of green fur and blood and sinewy muscles. He seizes a particularly hapless fletcher and rips it in twain, terrifying the rest from the field - for the moment, at least. 14[20:26] * Joins: Crion 14[20:28] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:29] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Mutter: www.mutterirc.com) 14[20:30] * Joins: mattbaby [20:41] 5Xu Sim channels his obsidian butterflies once again - but whether through fate, the vagaries of the Underworld, or simple lack of practice, the spell is quite ineffective against the Cataphract and Nephwrack's skill. Still atop his dust devil, he lands next to Xia Lan to, give her an opportunity to escape. He fixes his eyes on the two remaing foes, sizing them up. [20:45] 13Xia Lan keeps blocking with her twin swords, even as others arrive to defend her. She's getting driven back, but tries to angle her way over towards the stormwind rider - it's her best chance at living, facing down a mad ghost and a raksha overlord. 15[20:54] The raksha overlord's glaive rears high. Xu Sim bravely steps in front of Xia Lan, and Phanatus bravely steps in front of Xu Sim! When the flurry of steel and blood resolves into a static image, it's that of a severed green horn-snout on the gray and misty earth. [20:55] 13Xia Lan dodges the spray of blood without even thinking, and only barely stops herself from retching once she realizes what she's missed. Thank you, Phanatus. [20:58] 05Xu Sim watches as a flying piece of fleshy fur bounces off the ground next to his foot. 14[21:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) [21:09] 05Orange-furred Grittoth squares its shoulders and bares its teeth before whirling into an attack with its long arms against both foes still arrayed against its master, forcing the Nephwrack back but leaving the Cataphract unphazed. [21:43] 05Xu Sim shatters a phial of reagents at his feet and his eyes flash with sorcerous power, his caste mark glowing brightly with twirling emblems and symbols of arcane might. The wind, which had died down, rapidly begins picking up again, swirling the hair, fur, robes, moustaches, and so on of Xu Sim, Xia Lan, and Grittoth. [21:45] 13Xia Lan gets her blades back up, still bleeding from too-many wounds. Is the battlefield supposed to look hazy? Hopefully. Blood drips down across her eyes as she keeps an eye on her attackers -- she can't die here. Not here, not now. [21:57] 05Xu Sim turns away the point of the cataphract's blade, another deadly attack, with the tip of his pinky finger. [22:13] 13As the rider floats up and is dragged back down by the Cataphract, Xia Lan swipes sweat and blood from her eyes, and turns her paranoid gaze around to block any sort of surprise attack -- we just have to get out of here. We have to get out, and we have to get patched up, and all of this was terrible, and someday we will laugh about this but not today. [22:19] 13She takes a few half-hearted swings as the cataphract wanders close enough to the rider to swipe at, but fails to connect with any of them. So long as none of the attacks are directed at her. 14[22:31] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) [22:31] 05Xu Sim is a flurry of movement, fending off attacks from the nephwrack and the cataphract, fending off attacks directed at the blood ape as efficiently as he can - but imperfectly, and the blood ape loses a lot of ground. [22:52] 05Xu Sim parries the blows and tries to levitate the dust devil so they can escape. He's been in this situation before. He can't escape. 15[22:54] Roaring, Grittoth goes on a mad offensive to try and protect his master. Xu Sim's ears are ringing, or, buzzing...? 15[22:54] Seven: "Where are you? I saw you flying toward us and now you're gone!" [22:57] "We're in the underworld - I think - we ran into a raksha group, some nasty ghosts, and we're in a real bad way. I don't know if -" 05Xu Sim's throat tightens. 15[22:58] "What? What is it?!" [23:00] "I think they've got us," 05he replies. "One Raksha champion and some sort of insane ghost, they've got us cornered." 15[23:01] Seven: "I can't-- I need you! They're going to--" a little louder "Nothing! I'm not talking to anyone!" 15[23:01] Then, sotto voce: "The Governor's about to do something very bad. I don't know what to do." 15[23:02] "I can't do it, but if I do it we can help you. You need our help!" 15[23:02] Weakly: "I can't bear to see you hurt." [23:06] "Seven... I-" 05Xu Sim looks in fear at the looming figures of his enemies, but his face is overtaken by something serene - "I love you." 15[23:06] "!!" 15[23:07] "...and I you." 15[23:07] "We will save you." 15[23:07] "I beg your forgiveness." [23:08] 05Xu Sim, his anima blazing with the power and fury of the setting sun, holds his arms out wide, as if welcoming an embrace. He looks the Raksha in the eye and dares it to strike him down, 05now05. 15[23:09] * mattbaby_ 05The sorcerer bares his throat to the Nephwrack, as though inviting its lethal attention. What fear can death hold for Xu Sim, now? [23:09] 05The sorcerer bares his throat to the Nephwrack, as though inviting its lethal attention. What fear can death hold for Xu Sim, now? 15[23:11] The pressure drops. Xu Sim and Xia Lan's eardrums pop painfully. 14[23:11] * banana|peels is now known as banana 15[23:12] Mist, bone-white and achingly cold, crawls languidly up from the dead riverbanks. 15[23:12] The two Solars see their breath. [23:12] 13Good to know she's still breathing. 15[23:13] The nephwrack, sword held high and madness in its eyes, freezes in place. Cold mist pours down from its mouth, its burning eye sockets, from every crack and crevice of its armor. [23:14] 05None beloved by Xu Sim need ever beg forgiveness. 15[23:14] The mad old ghost dissolves into white light, its plasm ripped to wicked shreds each one flying like a knife into the cataphract's torso. 15[23:15] Eyes filming over with cataracts, the raksha's last gasp is unintelligible as it collapses to the ground, stone dead. 14[23:16] * Joins: mattbaby 15[23:19] At least! Sweet respite! Xu Sim's heart soars, and the air's cold clarity lets him see through the river and beyond the river, where the armies of Thorns stand mustered in the southern bank of the Yellow. He sees them all as he flies toward them - the Governor looking smug, the Hunter looking mysterious, and Seven looking defiant. All are dwarfed by the towering figure wreathed in 15[23:19] violet light, icy mist trailing out from the hem of his fluttering void-black cloak. One pitiless eye, rendered in forged souls, looks down on the magician, the idol, and the whirlwind. 15[23:19] The mask depicts a smiling face. 15[23:23] Crossing the rift back into Creation, the Yellow's all but frozen over. Hobgoblins and thralls drown beneath the ice, inevitably adding to the ranks of Thorns. 15[23:23] The air, thoguh, is clean of arrows and screaming spirits... [23:23] 05Xu Sim urges the dust devil south, heedless of the fuligin figure. His face is a mask of relief and gratitude. [23:24] 13Sun almighty. [23:25] 13Xia Lan spends the entire journey babbling in Flametongue. She's exhausted. 15[23:28] Where is Xu Sim flying? [23:31] 05Where else? Among the peerless ranks of the Chosen of the Sun, Xu Sim is unlikely to contest the record for the fastest someone's ever going when they embrace their freshly-acknowledged-beloved, but surely it's the fastest anyone's gone in for something like that in the River Provinces anytime recently. [23:33] 13Xia Lan's mumbling, translated: "Can't fucking believe this, laid out on my fucking ass, damned near begging for a reprieve... fuck the Underworld, never going back, this was just as bad as the first time..." 15[23:35] The whirlwind streaks across the river, slowing as it approaches the far bank, sinking lower and lower until it dissolves beneath Xu Sim's feat and Seven catches him in a running embrace. 15[23:36] A pair of skeletons lend Xia Lan a pair of arms to support herself, unless she recoils. [23:37] 13Too tired. Too bloodied. [23:37] 05He's not actually wounded, and thank goodness for it. He is completely filthy. "Are you alright," 05he manages to hoarsely whisper. [23:37] 13...she's going to regret that later, probably. [23:37] 14A buzzing at the base of Xu Sim and Xia Lan's necks. 15[23:38] Seven answers by kissing him. Her lips are cold. Everything is cold, right now. Not all of the chills running up Xu Sim's spine are romantic. [23:38] 13Xia Lan murmurs something incomprehensible in reply. [23:39] 14Stranger, to Xu Sim: [23:40] 13She repeats her first phrase, but more strenuously. [23:40] "Tsuka?" 13Incomprehensible. "Tsuka? Where is he." [23:40] 14To Xia Lan, in Low Realm: [23:41] 14To Xia Lan, in Low Realm: [23:41] [23:41] 05Is the Codex on or not? Xu Sim doesn't care as he returns the kiss with interest. A moment later: "I was so worried -" 05here he spares an eye for the Mask, in case the beast is about to try to pluck his head off or something - "I couldn't stand the thought of something happening to you. Thought I'd help out. Didn't go to plan." 15[23:42] Seven: "My story is much the same." [23:42] 13Hazily: "Fuck off." 13She repeats in Flametongue, carefully pronouncing each consonant. 15[23:42] Stranger catches their voices through static, a problem he's never had with the Codex before. [23:43] 14Intri---ahhhhhhhp! Hummm. Intriguing. [23:44] "A moment, darling -" 05Xu Sim starts rummaging in one of his pouches, not quite breaking the embrace as he hunts for an acupuncture needle and some salves. [23:44] 13Where have the skeletons delivered Xia Lan? She can't exactly object, so. 15[23:46] There aren't any medical tents on this side of the river since none of the combatants on this side of the river are alive, so Xia Lan is sat down on a crate labeled, in bold Riverspeak characters, SKULLS, etc. [23:47] 13Wonderful. [23:48] 13...none of the crates are half-opened, right? Being on a crate that purports to be full of skulls is one thing, but seeing them is entirely another. [23:48] 14Well, Xu Sim sounds like he's found his woman, at least. 15[23:49] None of the ones Xia Lan can see, anyway! [23:50] 13Comforting and yet disgusting at the same time. Time to lay down and hope for an actual medic to see to her -- there's still a war going on, after all. [23:50] "You must never apologize to me again, Scion of the Sevenfold," 05Xu Sim adds. "But I must beg a moment of your patience, to see to my friend Xia Lan's wounds." 15[23:52] "Of c-" The sky cracks open when a screaming wind collides with a coruscating expanse over the heart of the river. Air rushes out and upward as above the Yellow Xu Sim can see the foreign skies of the Underworld. 15[23:53] The rest of Seven's words are lost, but she releases Xu Sim to his work. Session Time: Wed Jan 09 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] 05Xu Sim sighs deeply as he sets to mending Xia Lan's wounds - she came dreadfully close. But at least she was able to get away, unlike the Dragonlord, thanks to - well, thanks to what? Xu Sim chooses to believe, the power of love. As he works, he can answer a question or two if Stranger-Visits-Heaven isn't too busy working political angles among the Lookshyans. [00:04] 05Once the treatment is complete, Xu Sim will call for a litter or palanquin to take her to the Undercity to convalesce the rest of the day. He then returns to the Thorns camp at large, to see what is going on. 15[00:10] NEXT TIME: The dreamer, the Tower, the song 14[01:07] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:10] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 15[03:15] * Disconnected 15[03:15] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[03:15] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[03:15] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[03:15] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[03:15] * Quits: trenchfoot (*.net *.split) 14[03:15] * Quits: VoxPVoxD (*.net *.split) 14[03:15] * Quits: dammitwho (*.net *.split) 14[03:15] * Quits: Crion (*.net *.split) 15[03:15] * Disconnected 15[03:16] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[03:16] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[03:16] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[03:16] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[03:20] * Joins: dammitwho 14[05:12] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[05:14] * Joins: dammitwho 14[07:12] * Joins: drinkybird 14[07:16] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:04] * drinkybird is now known as trenchfoot 14[10:48] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[10:48] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[10:48] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:54] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:27] * Joins: tom 14[17:43] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:19] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:21] * Joins: tom 14[20:39] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:42] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:24] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:39] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:06] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) Session Time: Thu Jan 10 00:00:00 2019 14[00:51] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[01:42] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:08] * Joins: tom 14[02:10] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[02:12] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:06] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[03:16] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[03:39] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:37] * Joins: Quaker 14[11:52] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:52] * Joins: tom Session Time: Mon Jan 14 00:00:00 2019 14[00:58] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[03:26] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[06:32] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:57] * Joins: hrolf 14[10:09] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:42] * Joins: tom 14[16:01] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:01] * Joins: cbass 14[16:26] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[16:29] * Joins: cbass 14[18:22] * Joins: mattbaby [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 .--------------------------------... [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,'-------------------------------,' | [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 / / | [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 /________________________________/ ,'| [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 | .. | ,' | [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 |___________-==/88\==-___________|,' /) |. [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 | \ \ (( )) / / | (/ |-. . [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 | \ \ \{}/ / / | .' . . [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 . '| \ \ )( / _ / | , . . [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 . . |\ \ \ \/ _.( ~-. /|\ ,' . . . [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 ` . -`_-.--.______..._____( ,/ ` \~-.|,' . . [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 . ` . . . ,'\. ~- . , . . . . [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 . ` . , . , ~~-.' . . . [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang, the Black Puppet Mask, God of Silence, gestures with crooked fingers. Faint noises from behind the assembled Exalted give to mind the sound of rustling silk or desert wind, and then each of you finds that a seat has been sculpted from the very shadows right behind you. The furniture's only visible by where the purple light from the room's lanterns, and the yellow light from [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang's eyes, fails to penetrate. 15[20:14] 10Eikichi's still a little worked up from having to defend himself; he's the last to sit. [20:14] 7Hmm. What's a chair sculpted from shadows feel like? [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12You'd sayyy - soft velvet. [20:16] <@Ferrinus> Wayang, as before, does not make a sound, but his gestures speak volumes. He says: all things end. Many endings are already visible in the shape of the world. More still are visible in the Loom, waiting for time and fate to take on their shapes. Some of these are foreordained, and it is our task here in the Bier to guard them, direct them, bring them into being properly. [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang, as before, does not make a sound, but his gestures speak volumes. He says: all things end. Many endings are already visible in the shape of the world. More still are visible in the Loom, waiting for time and fate to take on their shapes. Some of these are foreordained, and it is our task here in the Bier to guard them, direct them, bring them into being properly. [20:17] 13Ying's second-to-last; she pokes it a few times, prodding at it doubtfully before finally trusting she won't just immediately fall through. 08[20:17] 7We'll need some shadow cushions for Eikichi's throne in Zeal, then. [20:18] 4Ir imagines telling Maryam, even five years before, what she'd be doing now. Then she imagines telling the girl what it would cost her, and cuts her imaginations short. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang, continuing, begins to make strange and anatomically impossible gestures, each twisting of a wrist or bending-back of a finger putting the watcher slightly on edge. Certain endings, he adds, are not foreordained, but poisonous, heretical. Where the forces of Hell or the outer chaos impinge on Creation and cut lifelines short, whether of great empires or single blades of [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12grass, we must intervene and put things right. [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12And some are... ambiguous. We can see them coming in the Loom of Fate, but not why or where. We don't know who put them there, and the goddess Saturn offers no comment. Here it is our task to study and judge. [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang spells out a name here, tracing Old Realm script before returning to his much more free-flowing and intuitive signing art: Kejak's plans have all taken shape in reaction to the coming end of humankind. [20:25] 4Who now? [20:25] 7Blankly: "Whom?" [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang's already begun to gesture the next idea, but Yara cuts in with an "Oh, um. Chejop Kejak is a Chosen of Secrets. He's sort of - well I guess the best explanation is that he's almost five thousand years old." [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "So he's just the senior... Sidereal, I guess. Has a hand in all the top-level policy. There's all kinds of crazy stories about him and he and his cronies basically set our bureau's agenda about, well, everything. Solars, for instance." 08[20:30] 7The pettiest part of Excessively Righteous Blossom's soul sets itself to pondering whether being Chosen of the Maidens can be forced, and what it would take to replace this 'Chejop Kejak' with Eikichi's sister Misuzu. [20:31] 4Ir: "So he's been around for all of it, then." [20:31] 4That makes him culpable. [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara says: "Um..." 12She gestures to herself as though she's doing some quick math. "No, that's, that's probably right." 15[20:34] 10Eikichi sits patiently, waiting for Wayang to continue. [20:35] 13Ying shifts uncomfortably, tail twitching nervously. [20:37] 7Five thousand years... Blossom's stunned. She'd thought the Children of the Sun might live for five hundred, which is still easily outstripping the Dragon-Blooded, but this?! How long could she conceivably live? 15[20:37] 10Ridiculous that Blossom thinks she's going to die. [20:37] 4Five thousand years...and he's done what with it? [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang: Kejak's objective has been safeguarding Creation above all else. Thus has he struck compromises and exerted pressures beyond his technical remit in order to forestall the world's collapse. And thus does he do so now - but now with Heaven's express enemies. Your one-time circlemate is likely only the beginning. [20:39] 7Blossom: "Bartering away bits of what you're trying to save in order to preserve the rest... what happens when it's all gone?" [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang: Here is what is known of mankind's end. It is presaged by the failure of the Realm Defense Grid. It began before the gods took heaven, comes from four sides, and ends in the center. [20:42] 4... 15[20:43] 10Not a grid. [20:43] 7The behemoths. Blossom's mind races. Are they just scouting parties for the raksha? Send in giants from the four Directions and see how far they get? [20:45] 4Ir's mind goes to the behemoths as well, but with more practical intent: she's trying to think of what sort of weapons they'd need on the Heavensward to bring down one of those things. Or if they'd need a whole fleet of Heavenswards. [20:45] 13Enormous harpoons, maybe. [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang: Kejak's faction believes that the best recourse is to repair the Sword of Creation. In search of artisans and materials, he has turned to the dead - your dead. Thus might the old war-manses be reanimated rather than resuscitated... but strike down Creation's foes nonetheless. [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang: I do not know whether mankind's end is Saturn's will. But I know that the conmingling of heaven and the underworld is not. [20:48] 4Ir: "...This sounds like a prelude to formal, if secret, alliance with Thorns." [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang: Perhaps, but in any case not only. Kejak's faction's project has had some time to unfold, and inroads have been made across Creation - to the Skullstone Archipelago, to the Ebon Spires of Pyrron, and elsewhere. Your dead Eclipse is not their only agent now, though he remains their principal. [20:57] 13Ying: "That's -- we're starting at a purretty big disadvantage, then..." 13She's tapping a claw to her chin thoughtfully. [20:58] 4Ir: "'Our' Eclipse." [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang: If the Sword could be restored, or the fourfold doom put down, Kejak would have no reason not to collapse and discard this scheme of his. Or else, Heaven's necrotic assets could be destroyed directly - Reckoning included, perhaps even first. But neither of these are easy. [20:59] 4All things considered, this is sounding less like an 'either/or' situation and more like an 'all of the above.' [21:00] "The Northern behemoth is already destroyed. We could move against the Eastern soon." [21:01] 4Ir: "Our plate is already full, and we're continuing to pile more onto it." [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang: The doom from the north has been laid low - but, in the Loom, mankind's end has been forestalled, not averted. If your aim is strike the others down, then you put the lie to the necessity of Kejak's plans and I am glad for it. [21:03] "It can clearly be done. But Bergsveinn had a host at his back, and he's still dealing with the fallout from his victory." [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang: With your assent, I can allow this department to contact your Circle directly when the opportunity to block Kejak's plans presents itself. And I can afford you certain resources - passage in and through the celestial city, meetings, research opportunities. [21:09] 7Blossom tilts her head. "That would be very useful." [21:10] 4Ir sighs. "I am in favor. But understand we might find ourselves busy when the opportunity strikes...especially if your Kejak suspects we might be helping you, and makes sure the timing lines up poorly." [21:11] "I'm given to understand that's sort of y'all's entire...thing." [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Oh, yes. Timing and logistics are our business. We'll... try to handle them?" [21:12] 13Ying, quietly: "Iiiiiit wouldn't be the furst time that catpunned to us." [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang seems to feel he's explained himself, though if any of you have further questions he isn't actually shooing you out yet. Otherwise you'll have Yara to talk to - and, shortly after, Heaven to wander around in. [21:15] 4Heaven is wonderful, but Ir's losing patience with its opulence. All it does is remind her of the Sun-worshippers in Great Forks, their souls confined to slavery and the dirt. [21:20] 13Yeahhhhh if this is Heaven, Ying doesn't want to see what Hell is like. [21:20] 4Parties are probably a lot more fun. [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12There's actually a lot more scholarship, and even common knowledge, as to what Hell is like - you can just summon a demon and ask him! Generally, the answer is "noisy". 15[21:21] 10Eikichi: "You said that the doom of humankind had been deferred, but not ended. How deferred? I don't sense a lot of urgency, is this a long-term problem?" [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang motions in response. His best guess is either that the northern behemoth appears to be, but is not, dead, or that the three remaining creatures are sufficient to bring about the end of humanity, although exactly how they're supposed to do this is not clear. 15[21:24] "Whose job is it to kill the behemoths right now? Surely you weren't sitting here waiting for us to volunteer." [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang explains that Creation's center is only dimly aware of them and preoccupied with looming civil war in any event. Heaven's own forces are for the protection of heaven, and, in truth, it's only the Bureau of Humanity that is particularly concerned here - and that Bureau doesn't have a lot of political sway. Effectively, the 'job' of defense has fallen to the Sidereals, and they, [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12under Chejop Kejak's guidance, are tapping the underworld to repair the Realm Defense Grid in hopes of using the system in Creation's defense as described. [21:28] 13Ying: "So if we don't, efurryone just... lets Creation fall apurrt?" [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang corrects her with a few gestures: Lets the human race end. 15[21:30] "How much time do we have?" [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Wayang explains that before the doom from the north was felled, estimates ran between three and five years based on the speeds at which the behemoths plodded. Now, however, the northernmost has a mountain through its heart and the others seem to have begun to hibernate on the fringes of Creation, only moving in fits and starts, so likely longer. The actual threatening pattern in the [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Loom of Fate (no, you can't have a look) does not specify a due date. [21:36] 7Blossom: "Good, that gives us some time." [21:37] 4A Creation without the human race might be interesting academically or aesthetically, but that won't stop Ir from standing athwart this theoretical history and yelling 'Stop!' [21:37] 4Thankfully, they don't have to do anything just yet. They'll need to be careful that doesn't lull them into doing nothing until it's too late. [21:38] 13When has that ever happened before in history? We'll be fiiiiine. [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12At any rate, you are ushered from the Bier once you seem satisfied. If your leader (probably Blossom, but you're free to hash it out) is willing to fill out, sign, and stamp a short form (a mere twelve pages), Wayang will be able to send discreet messages to your Circle wherever in Creation you go. You're pretty sure it won't simultaneously allow him to spy on you or similar. [21:41] 4Blossom is the best with paperwork of all of us. 15[21:42] 10How Eikichi craves the simple joy Blossom derives from doing paperwork. [21:42] 7Oh boy! [21:43] 13Blossom handled all of Ying's paperwork - she might have never done any in her life, actually? Huh. That's weird. 15[21:43] 10Cats lead charmed lives. [21:45] 7Blossom: "There, there, and... there." 7She taps the stack of paperwork into a neat pile on some minor god's desk. [21:45] 4Ir: "I'm ready to get back downstairs." 15[21:46] 10Eikichi: "So that could have gone worse." [21:46] 4Ir: "We yet live." [21:47] "And if my idiot boyfriend did sneak in, he didn't get himself caught. Speaking of. We should settle on how much I should tell him." 4He is, after all, not just her boyfriend but their main liaison with the Silver Pact. [21:47] 7Blossom: "There are some things I'd like to get while we're here... but we probably can't afford them anyway. The exchange rate can't be very good." 15[21:48] "Do you think we can expense it?" [21:48] 13Ying: "Windows are furee!" 13She's a lot more cheerful now that she's out of Serious War Meeting. [21:49] 4Ir: "I don't recall my Exaltation coming with an expense talent." [21:50] 4The idea of the Unconquered Sun poring over calligraphied accounting books each Convergence is kinda amusing, though. 15[21:50] "This is the problem with contracting." [21:50] 7He would, of course, assess them perfectly. [21:51] 4She wonders if He'd be insulted that her mental picture of Him is a buff dude with a kid's drawing of what the Sun looks like where His head should be. [21:53] 7There are statues of him! You can go and look at them! [21:54] 4Eh, she likes Him better this way. [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara looks extremely relieved at how things have gone. You're welcome to stay at her apartment for the next night if you need to stay for whatever reason, or else she can escort you out and back to Creation. She's a bit nervous at the prospect of you remaining in heaven to see the sights but isn't actually willing to veto it. [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12This is, after all, an opportunity to consume supernal ice cream or poke around the bureau of humanity or whatever. 15[22:07] 10Eikichi wants to see Yara's apartment! [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Uh I mean you don't have to I could probably find you a room in a caravanserai-" 08[22:08] 7Blossom also kind of wants to see Yara's apartment, but she's worried it might be rude to ask. Fortunately, Eikichi has decided he can't be rude anymore, and he asked. 15[22:08] "Oh this'll be fun!" [22:09] 4Ir goes along without complaint; she's not leaving her friends in Heaven by themselves, and she is a bit curious about how their tiny supervisor lives. [22:13] 13It's always nice to visit friends! Besides, she's seen our place... [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, it is getting late... Yara leads you northward, to the Five Spheres Residential District. As you move northward, the streets become slightly less crowded and the buildings less densely-packed and vertiginously tall, such that you get pagodas rising only three or four levels above the ground rather than thirty or fifty. [22:18] 4Ir, to Yara: "Do you want me to cook dinner, or do you want to, or will we eat out?" [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Though the noonday sun still burns high in heaven's sky, joined by a barely-visible-in-the-daylight crescent moon, you are starting to feel the length of the day - it's probably night-time in Creation, for all that the sun simply won't stop winning up here in Yu-Shan. At last, Yara takes a turn, leads you over an arching bridge that crosses a normal, water-filled canal, and steps [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12onto the grounds of a great manse. I say great in terms of quality or power - the finely-swept gravel, rope-wreathed menhirs, and red-painted archways fairly thrum with celestial power that lends spring to your steps and precision to your gestures. [22:20] 7Blossom: "What a lovely home!" [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12The actual living space is another matter. A small building sits at the center of the grounds, its bottom floor a wide dojo. Spiraling stairs lead up to a modestly-sized but immaculately clean and opulently furnished second-and-third floor living area, one featuring fountains of running water, glowlamps that can both light the space with starlight or radiate sleep-enabling darkness, [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12mist-wreathed slabs of chilly stone that freeze food in perfect stasis, the works. [22:22] "It's quite nice," 4Ir has to admit. Shares a bit in common architecturally with the 'temples' the Immaculate Monks in Pneuma would build themselves, though they were meant for colder weather. Or, one supposes, any real kind of weather at all. [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12A gigantic, by-now-familiar otter, well larger than Yara is, is curled up and snoozing on some green cloth in the corner of the living room. Closer inspection reveals that it's sleeping on its own official's uniform. 15[22:23] "Wow." [22:23] 4Cute. [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "It used to be Stenzo's. I'm sorry about how cramped it is, I think I have some extra chairs somewhere-" [22:24] 4Ir's question to Yara stands, though with a manse of this size surely she has a live-in cook-- [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Oh, I always just order." 12She's already produced a prayer strip and primed a brush. "What do you want?" [22:26] 4Oh well. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Oh, but wait, do you want to...?" [22:27] 4Ir: "I've never gotten the chance to work with the ingredients up here before. I thought it might be fun and instructive, as well as, of course, tasty." [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Well, ingredients do come cheaper. What do you need?" [22:29] 4Ir: "That's up to you, as the host. Choose three of Fish, Meat, Greens, Bread, and Cheese, give me a budget, and point me in the direction of the market." [22:29] 13Ying's still looking around in amazement, but perks up at the sound of fish -- then tamps down her desire to dash over to Ir and demand some. Yara's call, of course! She's the host! [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara's plan was going to be to use calligraphy to write a list of ingredients onto a prayer strip and then send it flying magically out the window. Once Ir gets involved and has the system explained to her, she can take over - although depending on the quality of her penmanship, she might still need the tiny Sidereal's help. [22:32] 4Ir's penmanship has gotten astonishingly better ever since they returned from Elsewhere and she began taking studies of things other than fighting or music seriously. But Yara still gets to choose the menu, in vague terms. If she's not comfortable she can open it up to the floor; Ir doesn't want to choose it herself, though. Takes away from the challenge. [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara likes: fish, cheese, and bread. [22:33] 4Ooh. Alright. How's the kitchen situation? Do we have a good oven and a good open fire? [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Having performed a survey of the premises, Ir cannot actually find either. There are marble carvings of dragons that serve as room heaters and similar such wonders, but, incredibly, this living space was prepared for someone who not only does not prepare their own food but never needs their own food prepared on the premises. Ir'll have to improvise. [22:37] 4Acceptable. She fills out the list efficiently. Shrimp, six different sorts of fish (three river, three ocean), flour, cornstarch, eggs, salt, cooking oil, wodka, a cheese from each Direction, various other basic ingredients she'll need to make a kitchen from scratch. Does Yara even have cookware or utensils? ...Can she put them on the list too? [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a carving of an earth dragon that can produce and reabsorb simple utensils, so that's in the bag. [22:41] 4Good, good. Three course meal -- raw sliced fish, chef's choice, served with...ooh, she'll need the ingredients for that too, homemade wasabi; shrimp tempura made over-fire; and for the main course, a full fish for each diner, seasoned and cooked to order. [22:42] 4Ah! Cheese. Right, the cheeses. Melted seafood flatbreads as an appetizer; Four Direction 'Quesadillas'. 15[22:42] 10Eikichi: "Yara, how often do you actually stay here? It seems like you're down in Creation all the time." [22:43] 13Ying is delighted to have gotten her wish and immediately begins preparations to swipe ingredients from Ir as she cooks. Not a lot. Just, you know. A nibble here or there. [22:43] 7The little otter god that Yara seems to hang out with will enjoy this meal, at least. Ying too. Let's be fair, everyone will, because Ir is a Creation-wide master. [22:44] 4Ir has intentionally ordered more fish than she intends to use, due to expected...purrloining. 08[22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12As Ir works, Yara alternates between peering at her, petting the otter, or pacing around to file away and/or clean things. To Eikichi: "Yeah, it's not that often. It wasn't so bad recently since Great Forks is pretty close to one of heaven's gates, but I got really busy towards the end." 15[22:45] "And when you're gone the place is just empty?" [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara jerks a thumb at the otter. "Well, he comes and goes. And there are staff who clean and maintain the geomancy every so often." [22:47] 4Assuming there are no local ordinances against it, Ir will make her oven and fire-pit out on the grounds, securing whatever lumber and tinder she can find -- surely it's all replaceable with a thought anyhow -- and using the high-proof wodka as starting fluid. She doesn't have fuel to burn for very long, but she knows how to make it count. 15[22:47] "So it's empty apart from your servants." 08[22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara actually comes rushing over the first time Ir prepares to make a fire, but is able to find a spot out in the rock garden that won't get disturbed by any cooking after a minutes' reflection. Afterwards, to Eikichi: "Yes, I suppose so." [22:49] 13Ying, snacking on some mysterious food item that frankly could have come from anywhere and wearing an adorable little domino mask: "Do you miss it?" [22:50] 13That should probably have an "ever" in between those last two words. [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Oh, yes. It's just SO much nicer than, like, that tower I put together in Crystal or my hideout in Great Forks or whatever else. Of course, being closer to the office has its upsides and downsides..." [22:54] 7Blossom nods understandingly, her time with the Thousand Scales wasn't *that* long ago. "If you're in the office when the weekend work is being handed out..." [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Coming into meetings, actually being in to receive requests from coworkers..." 15[22:56] 10Eikichi: "It sounds like you've earned a day off." [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I mean... have I? I'm, kind of conspiring to betray or at least obsolete a major internal project." [22:58] "That's still work!" 15[22:59] 10Eikichi: "So from one point of view, you're doing good and you've earned a rest. From another, you're a madwoman who needs to be stopped and any pause in your duties is a moment of freedom from your meddling." 15[22:59] "The logic is ironclad!" [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara doesn't look at ease. 15[23:00] "What do you do to relax?" [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "...train?" [23:02] 13Ying: "Other than working or training, which is kinda like work." [23:03] 4Ir is a whirlwind of activity. Most of the preparation requires low or no heat, with the tempura being the major exception, so she does all that prep work first after taking everyone's orders on how they want their main dish cooked (or not). After slicing the raw fish she makes the wasabi paste while the fire heats and serves immediately. Once the fire is at low heat she makes the [23:03] 4Four Direction flatbreads and serves them hot; when the fire is at its hottest, she uses her ersatz wok to fry the tempura, working quickly and efficiently with Ying, whose nibbling is tolerated with the understanding that she's an extra pair of hands whenever Ir needs them. 15[23:03] 10Eikichi: "Do you ever read a book or listen to a musician or go look at art? There must be such wonderful art galleries in Yu-Shan." [23:04] 4Finally, with the fire cooling down but still sustained, she cooks each fish to-order and to-taste one by one -- and when she's done, she's used all the ingredients, all the firewood, and cooked enough food for everyone... [23:04] 4...except herself. She knew there was something she was forgetting. [23:05] 4So it goes. She'll cave and let Yara order her a sandwich. [23:05] 13Ying will split hers. She's swiped enough to owe her that, at least. [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Like the ingredients you had flown in, the sandwich comes in through a window in the beak of a heron (specifically, the bag it's wrapped in hangs from said beak - perfectly hygienic). Yara, meanwhile, seems uncomfortable with the question. "I mean... I study, too. That's a lot of reading. Laws, history, spells, that kind of thing." [23:09] 4She glances surreptitiously at the otter. Is he enjoying his meal? [23:10] 7Blossom, at least, is pleased with Yara's answer. "Very diligent." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12The otter is absolutely going to town. Someone will have to stop him from just, eating everything - or at least carefully portion off those segments of the meal you definitely want to keep for yourselves. [23:11] 4Whew. Ir will handle that. [23:12] 4If he eats off everyone else's plates, she's not gonna cook for him again, buster! 15[23:14] 10Eikichi: "You and Blossom should get together some time and do ledgers." 15[23:14] "Get fancy pens, tray of sandwiches. Make a day of it." [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I mean, we did. That's how we found those Getimians." [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "We did a really good job!" [23:18] 13Ying's finished her portion and is trying very hard not to gape at all of this. None of this sounds like fun. 6Also, file it away for later. 13*sigh* [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara, incidentally, is enjoying this meal at least as much as the otter is from all appearances - she just has a sense of propriety and, owing to her size, gets into food coma territory much faster than any of you can. 15[23:22] 10Eikichi's been laid the fuck out, staring dazedly at the ceiling and holding his stomach. [23:26] 7It sneaks up on you, it really does. [23:27] 13Nothing can sneak up on Ying, though. That's her job. [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12So it is that the day wraps itself up, unless someone has something more to do or say. Yara finds floormats for the four of you - they look thin and unassuming, but beat the pants off any Creation-borne mattress you've experienced in this life. Between that, adjustable lights, and soap and running water on demand, you might be spending the most comfortably convenient, if not the most [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12extravagantly lavish, light that any of you can remember. [23:33] 4Most of this is extravagance...but we need to figure out plumbing for the Heavensward. [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12That any of you can remember from this life, anyway. Your dreams, as they sometimes do, tell different stories - miles-high towers, royal bedrooms, men gasping in shock at the business ends of silver spears. [23:34] 4??? 14[23:37] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[23:37] * Joins: tom [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's had that one before. Whoever it is must have really had it coming, because in the dream she's really gritting her teeth and putting her back into it. [23:38] 4Oh, she remembers it. She just thought she was done with all of this-- [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Either way, when "morning" comes, it's actually a full moon lighting up the sky with a setting sun glowing rose-red to one side of the sky. Does the Squared Circle want to spend another day - another week? - sampling the delights of Yu-Shan, or is it time to come back to earth? [23:39] 4Ir wakes up in a poor mood that she's able to hide fairly well. She's ready to leave. 15[23:40] 10Eikichi'd like to explore... but he won't insist. There's so much they have to do. [23:41] 7Heaven's a lovely place to visit, but they really can't stay. [23:42] 13It was nice while it lasted, but it's time to go home. [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12You actually end up with about half a day to kill, as Yara's called into the office early that morning - time enough to grab some souvenirs or just lounge around bothering the otter, maybe. After that, the Squared Circle is streaking on a path of gold back towards the southwest sector of the adamant wall, and therefore back to the eastern threshold. [23:49] 4Ir will split her time between lounging and taking a short walk, though she'll go with the others if they want company while shopping or what-have-you. [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Heaven recedes behind our heroes, and adventure - or at least logistics - looms ahead... next week. [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, I guess later this week...? Session Time: Tue Jan 15 00:00:00 2019 14[00:12] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[01:53] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[02:17] * Joins: dammitwho 14[02:20] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[04:02] * Disconnected 15[04:03] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[04:03] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[04:03] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[04:03] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[04:03] * Joins: VoxPrimey 14[04:03] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[04:03] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:03] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:03] * Quits: VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:50] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[08:23] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:08] * Joins: bananaphone 14[11:09] * Joins: bananaphone_ 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:12] * Quits: bananaphone (Connection closed) 14[11:12] * bananaphone_ is now known as bananaphone 14[11:16] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[12:23] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[12:25] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:49] * banana is now known as banana|peels 15[13:53] * Disconnected 15[13:53] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[13:53] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[13:53] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[13:53] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[14:46] * Joins: tom2 14[17:05] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[17:32] * Joins: dammitwho 14[17:43] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 14[17:43] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[18:03] * Joins: Crion 14[19:58] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:03]  15[20:03]  15[20:03]  15[20:03]  15[20:03]  15[20:06] Xia Lan drifts in and out of consciousness as stiff-armed revenants carry her on a stretcher to the Undercity. Doctor's orders. Between the corpses and the sewer and Xu Sim's acrid medicines, everything smells really bad. But she's alive. [20:06] 13Regretta- no. Not doing this right now. 15[20:08] Xu Sim receives sorcerous report from Dreamer Mentat, who after his new master's disappearance led the late Ardua's lost legions back east, away from the fighting and the chaos. The message is stuttered and staticky as the Infallible Messenger rots to shreds before the sorcerer's eyes. 15[20:09] Seven gets his attention. "Is everything alright?" [20:13] 5Xu Sim is grateful for it. "I'm not sure. Sorcery falls apart here, it's as well you were able to catch me before the dust-devil evaporated on my way in. Is that the doings of your master?" [20:16] 5Does the message utterly disintegrate? [20:19] 13When Xia Lan is conscious, can she hear anything? Snippets of war reports, "oh that looks bad," or is it just dreadful moaning and the smell of sewage to keep her company on her journey to the healers? 15[20:20] Yes. "...yes." Away from the pair of them, past ranks of skeletal archers and bitter white mist stands the Mask of Winters. His helm bears two faces: one directed north to the teeming mass of raksha and thralls a rictus of hate, and the other pointed south at the iron sky and broken spires of Nexus is of serene, incomparable beauty. "The Governor's with him." And so he is, looking 15[20:20] squat and feral next to the towering Mask in is his writhing robes. 15[20:23] Tense noises wash over Xia Lan as she makes her way to the heart of the Undercity - the crash of hastily erected barricades, barked orders and alerts, good news and ill traded with the same fear and urgency and gradually the moaning of the sick and injured. 15[20:24] There are whispers, too, at her passing. "Is that Xia Lan?" "Oh gods, what's become of her--" "If they got her it must be going bad--" [20:24] "You got your wish," 5he observes, with a wry and worried grin. He can now judge the great and terrible Mask for himself. "And sooner than I expected." [20:25] 13She should've asked for a shroud. 15[20:27] "What?" Seven looks confused and anxious. [20:30] "When we first met, you said you wished for me to judge Him for myself. No doubt I'll soon have the chance for just such an evaluation. But nevermind, can you take your leave of him? I assassinated Ardua - not alone - and took his legion for myself. They're lost off to the East somewhere and just tried to contact me." 15[20:40] Seven smiles. "With you? I'd--" It fades. "But I cannot leave the front." [20:44] 13She didn't ask for the shroud, though. So - presumably despite the wishes of whatever medics are transporting her, or at least with additional groans from the corpses - she manages to prop herself up in the stretcher, smile without showing the pain she feels deep to her bones, and wave to onlookers. She mouths "It was worth it," to a few of them, hoping they'll spread the message - and are also good lip readers. [20:45] 13She feels like scum. But they can't lose hope, not just because they put all their trust in her and she betrayed it - there's so many others out there fighting. [20:48] 14Stranger's dancing around the edge of the battle, a jump, skip, and a hop from danger, and this time when his parasol lances out at the gargantuan monster it simply plinks off...what IS that thing made out of, anyway? [20:55] "I'm not asking you to" 5-yet "Come with me to the eastern edge of it and we'll see what we can see," 5suggests the sorcerer. 15[21:02] As Xia Lan is secreted away into an infirmary tent to rest, she hears the mood and morale of those outside improve significantly. A small cheer even ripples among the Lookshyan nurses. 15[21:03] Seven: "Show me." [21:04] 13She's going to have to answer so many questions about this later, and is too tired to think of responses right now. Luckily, it's not the worst decision she's made today. Might not even be top two, actually. [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Across the city, Keldar swears as a lance of pulverizing essence sweeps over his head to trace a flaming arc through the front ranks of the Dawn Guard. Why didn't anyone tell him it did that?! "PULL BACK! STICK TO BOWS!" 15[21:07] As the Dawn Guard surge forward, green smoke vents from Akasha's spiracles as a languid pulse of green fire spews over Keldar and Stranger's heads to spill into the army of Nexus. Bodies and earth are mangled and melted as hundreds of men are scattered by the blast and all fall back at their commander's orders. [21:08] 14Stranger could feel the air twisting with the power moving through that blast. Calmly, over the Codex, to all respondants: "If anyone listening has a good idea for getting Lookshy into this fight despite it being a risky and lethal adventure to help save a bunch of people they really just don't care for, don't bother to check in with me; just do it." [21:09] 14It would be quite a lucky coincidence for, say, Bubo to be back in the city, hanging around the Lookshyans, and in possession of such an idea, but Stranger is given to understand that strange coincidences are his thing. [21:13] 5Xu Sim gives a short bow and leads to the easternmost point of the Thorns front, to see if he can spot Dreamer Mentat or the Thran from the banks of the river. As they walk - "What do you think?" 5he asks, open-ended. 15[21:14] Barely visible behind the smoke and twisted metal of the Wailing Wall, Elegba raises his arms. Barely visible behind *him*, a pair of hobgoblins stretch and groan, tripling in size to become giant leonine warriors with black manes and eyes the color of desert embers. [21:16] 14...And if he's not around, well, maybe Sion: Fear Has Wings and Nobu Whitefeather have some ideas. 15[21:18] Seven squints. "Remarkable. What is he?" [21:23] "I'm not sure. He's an ally, though. I'm not sure if it's because we killed Ardua, or if it's how I killed him -" 5with this, Xu Sim gestures to the brain clasped firmly in the infernal Skullclamp, still sitting rather greasily on his belt. He waves to the Legion on the far side of the river. They seem intact? 15[21:25] More or less. Mentat and the silver-clad Mirim wave Xu Sim over as they approach. 15[21:25] Seven, excitedly: "Is that his brain? Is that a raksha lord's living brain?" 15[21:25] "They have brains?" 15[21:28] Dreamer Mentat looks on you with four exasperated faces. "Everything's coming apart at the seams!" 15[21:29] *on Xu Sim [21:29] "This was all that was left of it, the rest turned into a puddle of water. Maybe a brain was-" 5he turns to face the Dreamer Mentat. "More than already? Your message disintegrated before I could receive it." 15[21:32] Dreamer's voice grows hazy and echoed as he grows agitated. "A most repugnant necromancy is eroding nature and magic alike15like! Our mandalas will not work in such a tainted environment!" 15[21:35] Xia Lan is awakened an indeterminate time later by another strange smell, this the bittersweet sting of pipe smoke. Hoarse grumbling filters in at the edge of her hearing. "All of Firewander's smashed. Have to rebuild the shop. No, relocate. I hate moving." [21:37] 13She blinks once, twice. "...Vladok?" 13Can she locate where the voice is coming from? [21:37] 14When Stranger snaps the parasol out this time, he finds a bit more purchase. No real damage, but he's getting a better sense of how to loose this cheap bit of lumber and paper in such a way as to actually hit straight-on. [21:39] "Yeah. We need to figure out something to do about this. If it's going to harm you, Dreamer, you should relocate to the south." 5Xu Sim glances at Seven to gauge her reaction. 15[21:40] The voice is coming from her bedside. Vladok is perched like a cat on a stool beside her. [21:41] 13Xia Lan: "Hi," 13she starts, awkwardly. 15[21:48] Seven looks skeptical. Dreamer responds, "Wise indeed is my master Xu Sim. Should we draw into the city?" 15[21:50] "You're looking well," Vladok says, puffing. "Heard a war hero was laid up here." [21:52] 13Xia Lan: "Where?" [21:52] 13It's bitter. [21:53] 13Wait, no one else is listening in, right? 15[21:53] Not that Xia Lan can see or hear. [21:54] 13Then she can at least be honest with a friend. 15[21:54] Vladok: "Hnh. Anyway. I brought you something. I want to propose a trade." He holds up a small leather pouch with a shimmering red ruby clasping it together. [21:56] "Send the Legion to the eastern gate and tell them to follow Cathak Tsuka's orders. In the meantime, they should avoid major combat but take any enemy captives or supplies of opportunity." [21:57] 13Xia Lan: "What kind of trade? Made a deal once, you remember." 13Exhale. "Worked out okay in the end. But it was a near thing." 14[21:58] * banana|peels is now known as banana 15[22:00] Vladok: "I know, so I want to be honest with you. My people are invoking an old rite to summon an old friend. With a drop of your blood we can force him to keep to his word and help us." [22:03] 13Xia Lan: "What else does it cost me? And who's the friend?" 15[22:07] Vladok: "Well, it's got to be fresh, so we'll have to go on a short walk. But that's all. Our friend is named Octavian." 15[22:10] As Akasha almost swats Keldar aside, Elegba jogs forward, wiping a sheen of sweat from his face with a gloved hand. "Wait! Out of respect for your prowess and your people I offer truce, so that none of our people need water this earth with blood any longer! Come! Let us discuss this! Things have changed!" [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's disheveled and slightly smoking, standing at the end of a long furrow in the earth that Akasha's just pounded him into - but the sword in his hand is as sharp as ever, and his eyes and brow burn brilliant red. "We're discussin' right now-" [22:12] 14Stranger's not so far away that he can't tell the gist, at least, of what's going on with Keldar and Elegba. All he'll offer by way of counsel to Keldar is, [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar mutters into his armor's own collar, picked up by the codex. "Doesn't worry me. You want to hear him out?" [22:15] 13Xia Lan: "...don't suppose there's more than one Octavian?" 15[22:15] Vladok: "I hope not." [22:16] 13Xia Lan: "Can he be trusted to help Nexus?" [22:16] 14Stranger: 15[22:17] Vladok: "With your help." [22:18] 5Xu Sim, once the Dreamer Mentat scurries off to order the legion around but before he can return - "Now. Seven, is the Mask planning on visiting our city for a long time? What can you tell me about him, his plans?" 5he scans the area for Hunter in Darkness or any other lurking spies. [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "He'll be quitting the field, all right." 12The faerie lord probably has his answer in Keldar's battle-stance, although one supposes there's still time for Stranger to shout something. [22:23] 13Xia Lan: "And if I do, and we win, he'll just... go away? He won't, I don't know, start attacking a weakened and wounded city until we can stop him?" [22:24] 14Stranger will hold his peace. If Elegba wanted to talk to him, he'd be over here. 15[22:25] Vladok: "Once the battle is won the pact will be ended and he'll go back to Hell." [22:25] 13Xia Lan: "This all sounds incredibly convenient." [22:25] "I still haven't heard a catch." 15[22:28] Vladok: "It's not a binding, we aren't sorcerers. He'll be here under his own power, making his own decisions. He'll just have sworn a blood oath to help us." 15[22:31] Seven: "He's here to defeat the raksha. The raksha are an existential threat to all of Creation's polities. Including ours." [22:33] 14And this time when Stranger lets the parasol fly he feels a weightier impact before he yanks it back, and if he's not imagining things, there's some spiderwebbing on the Wall where there wasn't any before. [22:33] 14Hell, maybe actual spiderwebbing. [22:38] 5Xu Sim: "Right. Well we're two thirds of the way there. It feels a little foolish to make smalltalk about it. I've never been in the midst of a war like this before, even as a court physician. Cleaned up after skirmishes, fought a few myself, that kind of thing. But this is so different..." 5he shrugs. [22:40] 13Xia Lan: "...and would anyone know I'd done so?" 13She's swayed, more or less, just... thinking of the implications. Ways to mitigate. [22:40] 14He takes a few steps back, still swirling about ever so light on his feet, but doesn't begin moving to follow the Dawn Guard. He's already seen one of this thing's nasty long-range surprises, and moving's like as not to draw even more attention to him. [22:41] 14Though surely the Wall has registered what the parasol is doing to it by now. 15[22:41] Vladok: "Not unless someone was there when it happened. Or asked afterwards, I suppose. There won't be a contract with your name on it, physical or otherwise. The blood of a hero is a catalyst." 15[22:43] Seven: "I was bedridden through the last one." [22:44] 13Xia Lan: "Blood of a hero?" 15[22:44] Vladok: "Mhm." [22:44] 13Xia Lan: "And you came to me." 13Doubtful. [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Once Enigma's champions, rather than its war machines, join the fray, Keldar feels a little more at home. Dodging around the juggernaut's feet, he harries one of the two leonine soldiers with a series of arcing daiklave blows. 15[22:45] Vladok: "Mhm. So what do you think?" [22:47] 13Xia Lan: "Do you want to know how I got these wounds?" 15[22:47] Vladok: "Not really." 15[22:47] "I assume someone hit you with a weapon." [22:49] 13Xia Lan: "Doing ultimately nothing. Hero?" 15[22:52] Vladok: "Yeah. Listen, I'm no good at pep talks. I don't need you to feel good about yourself, I just need you to trust that your blood will work and that we need you." [22:53] 13After a short pause: "Give me your shoulder. I don't think I can make it there on my own." [22:54] 13She is going to save Nexus if it kills her. [22:54] 5Xu Sim sighs. She probably has a very sad story, but maybe she wouldn't be here if it wasn't for that. But is it selfish for him to be glad they can be together now anyway? Feelings are complicated. "I..." 5He decides to say nothing for a moment and loops an arm around her, instead. "...I do enjoy the steambreather packets you made me." 15[22:57] Vladok lends her his arm. He smells weird, but she's almost used to that by now. 15[22:57] Seven perks up. "Which is your favorite? I have more ideas--" [23:00] 13She takes it, smell be damned, and follows him. Decision's made. No regrets. [23:01] 5Xu Sim: "Maybe it's strange but the spicy one? Don't get me wrong, they were all excellent, each one was perfect for a different sort of inspiration. It's an excellent way to focus one's thoughts, I find." 15[23:02] Akasha, held at bay by Keldar and partially rent by Stranger, begins to tear itself apart. With its great talons it shreds its own shoulders, scraps of metal falling from its body as huge mechanisms roil beneath its plating and fire leaks from its joints. The sound is so intense as to be physically palpable, and Keldar is shaken apart by the otherworldly pain of the creature before 15[23:02] him as it rips, stretches, and welds itself, expanding in real time to spread across the land like a scab, a wall of solid brass with screaming faces inset every few yalms, screaming, always screaming. [23:04] 14...I'm going to need more parasols. [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar drives his daiklave into the earth before him, and the flat of Terminus flares white and gold as the raw power of Akasha's transformation threatens to consume the warrior completely. The Dawn Sergeant is driven several yalms backwards through the earth before coming to a stop - slightly charred and badly shaken, but standing tall. 15[23:06] "I'm so happy to hear that! I've been tinkering with-" Seven seizes up. Her eyes roll back into her head and her skin takes on a ghastly bluish tinge. [23:06] 14Over the Codex to everyone, annoyed: 14[23:08] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:10] 14To Keldar as they head back: "It seems odd to be thinking that this is the best possible outcome of that fight, and yet." [23:12] 5Xu Sim's eyes widen in alarm but he isn't the most renowned physician in the Scavenger Lands for nothing. He lays her backwards in case she starts convulsing and checks her breathing, her pulse, her pupils as quickly as he can. 15[23:19] Vladok leads Xia Lan between tents in the infirmary district, smoke billowing around them. No one seems to take notice of the pair of them, or of the smoke. It's hard for her to see where they're going; Vladok himself seems to be navigating sightless. Xia Lan quickly realizes he's following the sound of music, a steady rhythm being beaten out by sticks or stones clacking together. [23:19] 13Hills alive. 14[23:20] * Joins: tom 15[23:20] Xu Sim's sure that Seven is having some kind of fit or seizure - she's not breathing, her body's locked up, it could be some kind of head injury or cancer "We need to go back," she says in a strained voice, hoarse and high, and only then does she relax by inches. "I'm being summoned. Come with me. Meet the Mask." At the same time, Xu Sim hears Stranger's summons. [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12It's only after a mad rush away from the wailing wall, and a comprehensive rallying and reorganization of the troops, that Keldar's in position to discuss the situation with Stranger at length. He's probably speaking now as lifeboats are carrying the injured back across the river and to Nexus's walls, while other craft return with fresh guardsmen. "Can't say I agree. Best outcome, [23:21] <@Ferrinus> golem's a pile of slag and Elegba's headless." [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12After a long pause, Keldar adds: "...gotta say, that was a bit harder than I expected." 15[23:22] The smoke breaks and Xia Lan and Vladok emerge in a dank pit, walls and ground lined with what one hopes is river mud. People she recognizes from the CIO are sitting on mats on the ground, beating drums and xylophones of polished white bone. Two burly men, stripped to the waist, are circling each other in the center of the pit while everyone else looks on. [23:23] "He does this to you?" 5Xu Sim hisses. "I'll take you back. Can you stand?" 5On the Codex: "I'm with Scion of the Sevenfold. We're on our way to meet the Mask of Winters, who has arrived on the north front." [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks around. Where's the Lookshyan unit that theoretically had our back? Who was commanding it? 15[23:24] "I'm fine," promises Seven. [23:25] "Is it the Governor or the Mask who did that?" 5the sorcerer asks as he helps her to her feet. [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's just getting ready to give the shogun-wannabes a piece of his mind when he processes what's coming through the Codex. "Hang on, WHO'S arrived on the north front?" 15[23:25] The Lookshyans have all withdrawn to the Final Word. There's no sign of the officers, not even Ballare, who's in command. Just ranks upon ranks of steel soldiers and hulking Gunzosha closed around the massive landship. 15[23:26] Seven: "The Mask. His voice is... powerful." [23:26] 14Stranger: "I got some licks in, but I'm still not sure we win that straight up, at least not without a lot more people dying. But--" [23:26] 13She wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but... this probably wasn't top 3. Uh. Is the summoning of Octavian just more of the evening's entertainment...? [23:26] "The what." [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The fuck? Whose idea was that? What's the situation?" 15[23:27] Vladok: "Prick your thumb and press it to the ground between them." [23:29] 13She follows any instructions Vladok gives - he's a friend, and he's working in the defense of Nexus, and so is she. So. Let's do this. [23:31] 5Frowning, Xu Sim is starting to form an opinion on this Mask of Winters fellow. "The Northern front is won, I think. I'm going to meet Him now." 15[23:33] Xia Lan does as she's bidden, and Vladok pulls her back, outside of the pit, outside of the drum circle, to watch from the periphery. After they're in place, the two men advance on each other as if a bell is struck. They fight with fists at first, until they close and collapse to the ground in a bloody tangle of limbs. Kicking and biting and gouging - the mud turns black with shed 15[23:33] blood. No one screams in terror or cries out in pain. There's only the sound of struggle and the drums. [23:34] 14Was Stranger mistaken or did he hear Xu Sim refer to Mask of Winters as 'Him,' capital H? Good lord, man, I wanted you to get laid, not convert. [23:34] 13She-- tries to hide her disgust. It probably doesn't show on her face to the casual observer. That is going to have to do. [23:35] 5Better to be extra respectful to the creature that can give your girlfriend a seizure with a thought. [23:35] 13Heroism. Remember that. Hold it close. That's what this is for. 15[23:35] When they stop moving, Xia Lan can be forgiven for thinking they've died. But pain and exhaustion have simply knocked them out. They roll apart like spent lovers, and the pool of blood and soiled earth at the heart of the pit is impenetrably dark. 15[23:35] A moment later it begins to swell, and then there is screaming. [23:36] 13Not really a ringing endorsement of her decisions. [23:37] 14For his part, Stranger is hurrying to the northern front as quickly as he can as well, war council forgotten for the moment. The Mask of Winters. Here. He was a fool to think the Wall was reacting to a few piddly parasol shots. 15[23:37] The dome of a head emerges from the heart of a pit, followed by a tusked mouth roaring in pain. The pit disgorged Octavian inch by toxic inch, head and shoulders and impossibly powerful limbs and long, tar-streaked staff. [23:38] 13If this goes wrong, she's going to have so much more to answer for. It's a good thing that lying and getting away with it only makes you feel miserable on the inside. [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12After listening at the codex a few moments longer, Keldar shakes his head to himself and looks to Stranger. "Alright, we need to sort the baby shogunate out a second time here, because they're definitely playing at something or other. Come on." 15[23:42] Trembling and shining, the Quarter-Prince calls out, in a deep voice much smoother than his terrible visage implies, "Who calls me?" 15[23:42] Vladok responds, "The people of Nexus." 15[23:42] Octavian calls, "Who tests me?" 15[23:42] Vladok responds, "Cethleann, the Crooked Lance." 15[23:42] Octavian calls, "Who stops me?" 15[23:42] Vladok responds, "None." [23:45] 14This day just keeps getting better and better. [23:46] 13Doesn't it just. [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's just going to march straight up to whatever contingent of armor-clad guards is right in front of the Final Word's gangplank - or, at least, where the gangplank is usually to be found. "Oi. What's your boss doing?" 15[23:50] One of the Lookshyans at attention: "She's with senior staff." [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And was she or one of those senior staff were supposed to lead you in the field just now?" 15[23:53] The soldier looks uneasy. "My orders are to wait for orders, sir." [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar grilled his soldiers on this, since his attention was elsewhere - did the Lookshyan forces who ostensibly set out with us just slow down and stop at one point, or straight up turn around? They were at least moving towards Elegba to start, right? 15[23:55] They just held position. [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And those came from Ballare?" 15[23:57] "Yes, sir." [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Right. Get her out here, I want a word." 15[23:58] "She's with senior staff, sir. I'll send in a message." Session Time: Wed Jan 16 00:00:00 2019 15[00:02] Seven shakily leads Xu Sim behind Thorns's lines, where the Mask stands more or less exactly where he'd stood before, only now his back is to the front and his front faces the city. The double-sided helmet inclines ever so slightly in Xu Sim's direction as he approaches. 15[00:02] Seven kneels before him. "My lord." [00:03] 14When Stranger finds Vladok, the first thing he'll do is -- well, the first thing he'll do is likely size up Octavian, unless the demon has wandered off somewhere. Given his size, however, there's a pretty good chance Stranger will still be able to see him in the distance. The second thing he'll do is look at Vladok and say: "Really. Him." 15[00:03] To this, Vladok will only shrug. [00:04] 5Xu Sim doesn't bow at first, but looks up at the enormous creature standing before him as if it owns the place. 15[00:04] Keldar doesn't get an immediate response. His own soldiers are looking at him expectantly. [00:06] 14Stranger shakes his head and turns away. Somehow the Living Tower is merely the second-most concerning monster to have surfaced in the last half-hour, and that damnable Wall in the south is placing a respectable third. 15[00:06] The Mask's voice rolls like the mist that surrounds him with the languid power of a great cat at rest. "I'm glad you survived to meet me." [00:08] 13Should anyone be there to ask her, Xia Lan has been in her bed the entire time. She's more alert and awake than before, but... And this is when she turns on the puppy dog eyes... She's so hurt. Can't possibly leave her bed for a bit. As soon as she can, she'll be back on the frontlines. [00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Kelar gives it two minutes before he speaks to the guard again. "They haven't even given you a response to pass along?" [00:10] "It's preferable to any other ways we could have met," 5the physician acknowledges. [00:10] 14Stranger takes a hesitating first step out towards where he suspects the Mask is -- you can feel that sort of power, not as a tangible force but a very wrongness changing the air -- then decides against it. He's not making first impressions on final reserves. He'll have to be at his best for that meeting. 15[00:11] The Lookshyan: "No, sir." 15[00:12] The Mask of Winters: "And your friend's been taken away to see to their wounds." [00:12] "Doctor's orders." 5Xu Sim clasps his hands behind his back. 15[00:16] The Mask regards Xu Sim with a lengthy silence that makes Seven visibly uncomfortable. [00:17] 5A few moments later, Xu Sim clears his throat. "Of course, if you have come this far to see the Unfettered Xia Lan, I don't think she has any performance currently scheduled." [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hmm. Okay, here's the thing. I'll fight a war whatever the arrangement of allies and enemies happens to be, but I'm not putting up with fuckin', spectators. You lot can explain yourselves or you can sail on home. I'll give you an hour to make your mind up." 15[00:18] The Mask: "I'm told there are others. More than two of you." [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar returns to his own troops, which isn't that far a walk; he'll retire to a command tent that just sits directly across where the Final Word is berthed. He uses his time to sit, think, and to send runners and portions of troops back across the river with orders to prepare for a pincer attack on the Lookshyans should it become necessary to relieve them of their essence cannons. [00:20] 5Xu Sim: "There's a whole city of living people here. Including three Emissaries, and the Dawn Sergeant." [00:20] 14Stranger, to the Emissaries and Dawn Sergeant: "Three Emissaries?" [00:20] for you, Xia Lan.> 15[00:21] "I suppose that's the labor market for you." 14[00:22] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[00:22] * Joins: tom [00:23] 14The Mask will wait, or he won't, and if a few hours make the difference there he was never here for the conversation to begin with. [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, through the codex:  15[00:23] An hour passes and Keldar has a message from a Lookshyan courier, a note that reads Personnel are in the midst of being redeployed to buttress the city against the Mask of Winters. Lookshy now regards Thorns as the primary threat. -V.B. [00:23] 14Stranger: [00:24] 14An hour later, he'll have just settled down into a bedroll when a message from the Codex gets him upright with a "For FUCK'S sake!" [00:24] 5Now it is Xu Sim's turn to stare back, with what he hopes is a dispassionate and intimidating glare. [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12About an hour hence, Keldar pipes up again.  [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12From the southern front* [00:25] 14Stranger: [00:26] 5Xu Sim closes his eyes very slowly as Keldar and Stranger discuss the new, frustrating, developments. [00:26] 14Stranger is under the impression that, for obvious reasons, there were not any positions save some pickets to reinforce that were defending the city from the defenders of the northern wall of the city. [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar replies with his own note: What're you actually going to commit against Elegba? -Keldar 15[00:27] The Mask sweeps a hand over the river. "It will be difficult to break this stalemate. But everyone's acquitted yourselves well so far. I'm optimistic. Nexus will be a free city yet." [00:28] 14The Lookshyans are too disciplined and the Undead too sternly controlled for an accidental second front to kick off inside the city itself, which just means that if it happens, it'll be because someone did it on purpose. [00:29] 14And so instead of sleeping, Stranger is heading out to survey where, precisely, the Dragonlord is deploying some of the soldiers that used to be on the southern front. [00:29] 14And to think, six hours ago uniting the Lookshyans against Thorns seemed like a brilliant idea. [00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12The top of Keldar's note has, like, "Requesting confirmation of available f-" but it's scribbled out. 15[00:32] Lookshy responds to Keldar. The Word can hit both sides of the city from an inland position. We offer volleys from our larboard essenca cannons. 15[00:32] *essence [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's response: Alright, good, then I need to talk to whoever's controlling them to plan the next approach. 15[00:43] The Mask is tilted down to Xu Sim for another long silence. "Well. I look forward to working with you. I think there are many ways we can help each other." 15[00:44] In a cascade of pops and twists, every joint in the Mask's body dislocates and breaks. Shoulders, elbows, knees, hips, all of them bend backwards until the Mask as turned his back to Xu Sim without moving an inch. "Thank you. You may go, for now." [00:45] 5Xu Sim works his mouth silently for a moment. He now spares a glance towards Seven. 15[00:46] Seven is motioning for them to get away, quickly. [00:46] 5Great idea. 15[00:47] NEXT TIME: Stranger still 14[01:09] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Quit: ) 14[01:09] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[01:21] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:50] * Joins: tom 14[02:28] * Quits: dammitwho (*.net *.split) 14[02:28] * Quits: @Ferrinus (*.net *.split) 14[02:29] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[02:29] * Joins: dammitwho 14[02:29] * rivendell.hub.sorcery.net sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[03:06] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:02] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:05] * Joins: tom 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:57] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:32] * Joins: tom 14[20:54] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:27] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:29] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:45] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:36] * Joins: Crion_ 14[23:49] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) Session Time: Thu Jan 17 00:00:00 2019 14[01:56] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:44] * Joins: tom 14[10:12] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:32] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:22] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:45] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[17:28] * Joins: tom [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 == == [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 <^\()/^> <^\()/^> [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 \/ \/ \/ \/ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 /__\ . ' . /__\ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 == /\ . | . /\ == [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 <^\()/^> !_\/ ' | ' \/_! <^\()/^> [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 \/ \/ !_/I_|| . ' \'/ ' . ||_I\_! \/ \/ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 /__\ /I_/| || -== + ==- || |\_I\ /__\ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 /_ \ !//| | || ' . /.\ . ' || | |\\! /_ \ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 (- ) /I/ | | || . | . || | | \I\ (= ) [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 \__/!//| | | || ' | ' || | | |\\!\__/ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \I/ | | | || ' . ' * || | | | \I/ \ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 {_ __} | | | || || | | | {____} [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 _!__|= || | | | || * + || | | | || |__!_ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 _I__| ||__|__|__|_|| A ||_|__|__|__||- |__I_ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 -|--|- ||--|--|--|-|| \__/_\__/ * ||-|--|--|--||= |--|- [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 | | || | | | || /\-'o'-/\ || | | | || | | [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 | |= || | | | || _||:<_>:||_ || | | | ||= | | [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 | |- || | | | || * /\_/=====\_/\ * || | | | ||= | | [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 | |- || | | | || __|:_:_[I]_:_:|__ || | | | ||- | | [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 _|__| ||__|__|__|_||:::::::::::::::::::::||_|__|__|__|| |__|_ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 -|--|= ||--|--|--|-||:::::::::::::::::::::||-|--|--|--||- |--|- [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 | |- || | | | ||:::::::::::::::::::::|| | | | ||= | | [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^~~~~~~~~~ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12If you want to do some shopping, sight-seeing, or form-filing in Literally Actually Heaven, you've got the better part of a day to yourselves. Otherwise, you can relax at Yara's pathetically tiny apartment and, once she's done with whatever else is going on at work, be escorted by her back to the Scavenger Lands. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12If you're looking for a good time and have some serious currency to drop, there's one thing everyone wants: dreamstones. At first blush you might assume it's a gem that gives you hallucinogenic experiences if you swallow or crush and inhale it, but, no, they actually seem to be a commonplace (in Yu-Shan) bit of magic that produces a pearlescent object capable of storing, and [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12replaying, a first-person experience of some memory. [20:30] 4Ir's willing to tag along on a shopping trip, but not one for drugs, especially not ones she won't be taking. She'll have a lazy, quiet morning. [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12This has a bunch of obvious recreational implications that Yu-Shan's markets can easily satisfy, but the big one is not quite strictly controlled but is prohibitively expensive: dreamstones recording moves in the Games of Divinity. [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Sometimes, as the reward of rewards, a particularly lucky and important deity will be allowed to enter the Jade Pleasure Dome and observe proceedings. Of those lucky few, a proportionately-as-lucky minority are allowed to step forward and make a move or two of their own. [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12These are, apparently, transcendent experiences that can leave lesser souls curled up around dreamstones like dead spiders, totally lost to the real world. 15[20:32] 10Can I buy two? [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Yes - all you need is staggering levels of personal clout and the kind of ambrosia stores that e.g. Ahlat could swing around. Or you could make unwise deals, fall deeply into debt... 08[20:35] 7Eikichi is not allowed to make unwise deals or fall deeply into debt. Excessively Righteous Blossom will literally follow him around to prevent this. 15[20:35] 10SIGH. [20:35] 4Whew. [20:35] 13What about more normal purchases? Exotic fabrics, maybe some sort of sewing equipment, some catnip... [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, lots of that stuff. The fabrics of Yu-Shan are, of course, all of impossibly fine quality, spun as they are from the very hopes and prayers of the mortal world. If Ying's got a mind to do so, she can peruse the stalls in the metropolitan and residential districts for hours, poring over bolts and swatches of every kind. This fabric sparkles with tiny, luminescent stars. That one [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12continuously plays soft music. This other changes color to match the elemental pole it's facing... 15[20:39] 10Well fine. Then Eikichi will make his own drugs and not share with anyone." [20:40] 4Wise. Possession is punished less harshly than distribution in most locales. [20:41] 13How expensive are these fabrics? Some new, fancier outfits for people after their trip to heaven would be nice... [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Like any major metropolis, Yu-Shan holds inconveniences for its shoppers. There are gawking tourists who walk far too slow (though, being that this describes the four of you, you might not notice), assholes in rushes who refuse to respect that you're walkin' here, pushy salesman, insistent beggars, and, of course, the fucking cops. [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12There are usually gods in the official uniforms of law enforcement visible in Yu-Shan, strictly watching quintessence fountains, hassling beggars to drive them back into the city's abandoned districts and out of the populous center, or simply watching for thieves and cheaters. More rarely but not incredibly so, you'll see an orichalcum-carved celestial lion padding through the streets [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12or sleeping lazily on a roof. [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12For some reason, Ying has to walk carefully around two lions to get to the display of fine fabrics she's currently interested in, each of the great cats sitting on its haunches and surveying the markets around it with a steely look. Maybe it's because of the tall figure already at the display, cloaked in dark grey and wearing a wide, conical farmer's hat that shades it from the [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12burning sun-image above. Shades it quite strongly, in fact - you can trace with your eyes or a fingertip a sort of vertical column of shadows cast down from the edges of the headpiece around the shopper's shoulders and down to a circle of ground they stand in. [20:53] 13...nice hat. Ying tries to offer one of the lions a pet as she makes her way around -- are they good cats?? [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying happens to spot the figure's face in profile before the figure looks back over. They've got a thin visage, the sallow complexion and features of a northerner, framed by tresses of pale golden hair. Ying doesn't, personally, recognize this person, but Tatsuya's in position to raise an immediate alarm: this is Wicked Triumph's Reckoning, idly shopping. [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Obviously, he is interested in the darker fabrics. 15[20:54] 10After a morning of shopping ruined by Blossom's meddling, Eikichi retires to Yara's place to tinker with some tubes and bits of wood. A couple of hours later he's laid out beside the thing he made, four arms extending cardinally, one of them in Eikichi's loosely clenched hand. Success. [20:54] 13Dorker fabrics. Creep. Um. It's a good thing he's never met her... [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12He could easily have heard, though, so Ying's going to have to decide whether to buzz off or hang around and chat or throw a punch or something. He does seem to be flanked by a pair of celestial lions. 08[20:56] "I appreciate the diligence, Eikichi, but we can afford a hookah if you really want one." 7Blossom points out. 15[20:56] 10Eikichi: "No you don't understand. This is better." [20:58] "How?" 15[20:59] "Ordinarily a hookah operates by the process of combustion, right? It makes smoke. Scratches your throat and so forth. But I've discovered that the compounds in these plants are released as a kind of smoke before the plant catches fire. So with a diffusing medium - this special pumice here - we can heat the material to render the relevant essence into vapor without burning the underlying 15[20:59] plant matter. So no smoke, no harshness, no choking." 15[20:59] "Just pure vapor." [21:00] 13Hrm. Better see what the creep's up to... is there a place to duck away for a moment, swap to something less obviously herself? She's got enough parts and pieces on her at all times to switch disguises, as needed. [21:01] "That does sound better. Good work!" 15[21:01] "Here, try it." [21:02] 7Blossom hesitates. "What's in it?" 15[21:02] "Some hashish I got from Great Forks. It's really good." [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Yep, the market's twisty and crowded, and there are, among other things, actual changing rooms. [21:06] 7Oh, that's fine then. Blossom accepts the proffered pipe. "It's been a while." [21:08] 13A moment later, a different woman stands near Wicked Triumph's Reckoning, idly browsing while keeping an eye on him. It's time for some reconnaissance. 15[21:08] 10Eikichi leans back and exhales a giant cloud of gas all over Yara's living room. [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12The delicate geomancy...!! 15[21:09] 10Don't be such a nerd, nerd. 08[21:13] 7A few minutes later, Blossom is incapable of keeping her gift ideas a secret. "Eikichi, have you ever slept on a fungal mattress?" 15[21:14] 10Eikichi: "No! Tell me more." [21:16] 13This outfit is kinda chilly. Really was made for a desert environment, if Ying ever runs across whoever this lady was she's gonna give her such a tongue lashing. At least the hair covers up her ears so she doesn't give the game away. [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12As Reckoning finally picks a bolt of cloth that's somehow darker than black - you can't even really see its contours, it's like he's handling a floppy hole in space, or like there's a blotch of ink on the window you're spying on him through - and slides an ambrosial coin across the counter. Then he proceeds, occasionally whistling snatches of familiar music to himself as he completes [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12other parts of a shopping trip - some pins, some jewelry, some brushes, all carefully folded and slid into a rucksack hanging over one shoulder and occasionally slipping out of the personal column of darkness cast by his hat-parasol. 08[21:19] 7Blossom: "They're like," 7She gestures in the vague shape of a mattress (in case Eikichi doesn't know what one looks like). "Made of these, uh, huge mushrooms from the Far East. They do, they carve them out in big chunks like quarrying... and its like sleeping on uh." [21:19] "Mashed potatoes." 15[21:19] "Oh my god." 15[21:19] "That sounds amazing." [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Then, after stopping by a weird sort of aquarium and buying a pair of wriggling, multicolored fish - it looks like they're scaled with all five colors of jade, no two of the same ever adjacent - he strolls off to the southwest, flanked by his guards. At a certain point, they grow restive, but he turns and tosses each a fish to snap out of the air, quelling their annoyance. 15[21:20] "I'm gonna work on the treatments to get Ami to fly." 15[21:21] "Errant too. Imagine Errant with big feathery wings. It's going to be amazing." [21:21] "That's so good." 15[21:22] "Hey, listen," 10Eikichi forces himself to sit up. "Do you ever think about..." 10he slumps down again. "Nevermind." [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12He proceeds farther from the city center, and Heaven, incredibly, starts to look... worse. Buildings are shuttered, cobblestones are missing, fountains are cracked. Get far enough from the city center, and the light of the sky is dimmer, the crowd thinned to nonexistent, the infrastructure abandoned. Dispossessed gods squat in ruined offices or hurl thunderbolts and fireballs as they [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12squabble over dregs of quintessence. [21:23] "I'm gonna go East with Ir and get some fungus blocks to make mattresses out of for all of us... you can't tell Ir! You can't. She was born in like... the provinces! She's just had hammocks and bags stuffed with straw in inns! It's gotta be a surprise." [21:23] "Think about what?" [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning looks around, and finally slips into the first floor of a great, ruined tower before stealing down towards its basement. The celestial lions follow him, looking vaguely displeased but overall bored - he must have made this trip before. 15[21:24] "Oh I won't tell Ir. I won't. She needs more happy surprises. It's just, I don't know." 10Eikichi's flat on his back, looking up at Yara's ceiling. "We're making all these plans for the future and stuff. Zeal. But we haven't really talked about... us." 08[21:25] 7Blossom squints vaguely at Eikichi. [21:25] 13...what's all that about? [21:26] 13Also, while following Reckoning and keeping an eye on him the entire time, she's gotten a pretty good mental map of these parts of Heaven. Yara should've told her about the fish place. Anyway. [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, it kind of struck you as more of a pet shop than- whatever, whatever. [21:27] 13Pets are just emergency food. 15[21:27] 10Eikichi feels her squint like pinpricks on his neck. "You know! It's just. We talk about Zeal and the things we're going to build and all the plans we have for the future. But we never talk about... well. Where will you and I be a few years from now?" [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Aaaa-ha. Pretty sneaky, whoever lives here, but not sneaky enough. Ying and Tatsuya have seen sorcerous alarms like these (little weights carved from magical materials hanging from carefully-measured-out strings of colored silk, barely visible) before, and know how to bypass them. [21:31] "In Zeal, probably? What do you mean" [21:32] 13C'mon. Is this seriously the best Heaven has to offer? Tatsuya would have a field day in this place. Good thing he's not here. 6C'mon, give me a 13nope. 15[21:32] 10Eikichi props himself on one elbow to look at her. "I just mean we've never talked about marriage, never talked about children. I don't know, it's just strange it's never come up." [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Having quickly wrapped one of her own forearms in exactly the colors of silk needed to cancel out the sensitivity of these wards, Ying's able to delve deeper, following Reckoning and the two lions down several substories and spiral staircases before stopping before a large pair of double doors flanked by four burning cerulean flames. She manages to get there just as Reckoning steps [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12through, the two lions taking up positions lounging on the other side. A familiar female voice says: "Ah, you've returned." [21:33] 4Ir rises a bit late and starts the day by refreshing whatever uneaten leftovers the otter didn't devour -- not much -- doing her morning exercises, and taking a brief walk that doesn't wander too far afield. [21:33] 13...how familiar. [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12It's... Czaliphenya?! The blue-skinned, four-armed woman, fabulously frocked, floats behind a broad table in a long, low workshop. Reckoning is laying out materials before her. [21:34] 13YOU-- [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12How'd she even get up here? She's not actually a god! [21:35] 13She couldn't even beat Ying when that was supposed to be her entire domain! This is bullshit! [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12The Chosen of Fashion is saying: "...ah, yes, just the color I said. And this is quite enough silver... you're quite sure about the, er, motif?" [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning looks chagrined as he answers: "I'm afraid it's not up to me." [21:36] 13Okay, what. [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya: "But it doesn't actually have to be skulls-" [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Haha, no, just an example. But you get the idea. I'm sure you can make it worth wearing." [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12The Exigent sniffs. "That's a relief. Well, you shall have it in a week's time." [21:37] 7Blossom is too high to keep the surprise and alarm from appearing on her face. Marriage? Does he want a side relationship? Is that why he's asking about kids now? Oh gods, she can't tell whether she's regular anxious or if it's the hash, or both. "I mean, um... what do you want to do?" 7She asks, cunningly. [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12The two nod to each other and make some chit-chat before Reckoning turns to leave. Does Ying proceed after him or snoop around here or something? [21:38] 13A week's -- not only does Czaliphenya challenge her and lose but she goes on to do work for the enemy?? 15[21:39] "I don't know!" 10Eikichi admits. "I can't really imagine... without you, you know." 10He hesitates. "I don't know. I know that you've never-- I don't know! I don't know." 15[21:39] "Whenever I picture the future, I always picture it with you." [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Ir is snapped... well, that word's a bit extreme, maybe just pulled or roused... out of her reverie by soft scritching. Ambling along behind her, far enough back that it's not obviously tailing you, is that dang otter. He's put on his orange official's outfit and is busily scribbling away in his little notebook, occasionally glancing up to peer at the Dawn Caste. [21:42] 4Ir will glance back once, keep walking, glance back a bit longer to make sure he's seeing her glance back, keep walking a little more -- turn a corner maybe -- then glance back until she makes eye contact, and if he looks away instead of ambling over, call out: "Really?!" [21:43] 4She really hopes he doesn't think she's the in-house chef now. [21:43] 13Ying, wearing a different face, steps out from the shadows. "Seriously, Czaliphenya? Working with him?" [21:43] "You're better than this." [21:43] "Well, yeah. Obviously. That's just... correct." [21:44] 4Not that she WOULDN'T make him some boxed lunches if he asked and paid for it, but. [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12He does look away, but starts as soon as Ir raises her voice, flailing arms and tail in fear such that his little notebook goes flying. If Ir's feeling cruel or nosy, she can easily catch it. 15[21:44] 10Eikichi: "Am I making sense? Maybe I should just forget it." [21:45] 4She will catch it, and toss it back to him without reading it. [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya responds "AUGH!" 12, her eyes widening in fear, before drawing back into what must be a combat stance. All four arms are raised and arrayed in a martial posture, each holding a razor-sharp darning needle. "Come no closer!" [21:46] 4It's unlikely she can read the shorthand language of a Heavenly otter anyway. She's just smart enough to know when it would be dumb to pretend to be smart. [21:47] 13Xia Ying: "Okay! Okay. Sorry. Just. What's happurrning?" [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12It looked like Old Realm in there (from brief flashes of the notebook turning over and over in midair) - I forget if Ir knows how to puzzle that one out, actually. But the otter catches the notebook, spends a few moments furiously licking its tail, and then one of its paws which it rubs over one and then the other side of its head. Then it snaps the notebook open, jots something [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12else down very briefly, and closes it again. [21:50] 13She's got her hands up, displaying no weapons, and has backed away, as requested. 08[21:50] 7Blossom: "No! No, just... why do you want to get married? Did your mom say to?" 7She's completely blown past the fact that Eikichi didn't actually say that. [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12After that, the otter-secretary-god just sits on its haunches to stare at Ir expectantly, one of its ears occasionally flicking. 15[21:51] 10Eikichi looks aghast. "No! I was just thinking about... you've never thought about it?" [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya, still ready to do some lethal knitting if need be: "I should be asking YOU that! Negotiation by appointment only! What do you think you're doing here and who are you?" [21:51] 4Nope, Ir's not an Old Realm knower. Low Realm is as close as she gets. Ir crosses her arms, then taps her foot. This otter DOES speak, right? 14[21:52] * Joins: hrolf [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12You've never heard it speak. All you know is that it once belonged to Yara's sifu. It's not even clear if Yara is now in charge of it or what. [21:54] 4Her annoyance softens to general grumpiness, then. "If you're gonna follow me, you might as well walk with me. Instead of half a street behind me. That's creepy." [21:54] 13Ying: "You gotta be kitten me! We had a contest once!" [21:55] 13She considers her present appearance. "I guess I did try to be really boring to get in here..." [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12The otter flicks an ear again, and then trundles up to take a position flanking Ir. It pads along after her, occasionally taking notes as she turns this way and that. Going anywhere in particular? [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya's mouth moves silently, shaping the words 'had a contest' as her brow furrows. Then, realization flashes. "You?! Ying?" [21:57] 4Nope. Following her general intuition and prioritizing anything that's aesthetically pleasing, while making sure not to wander too far. [21:57] 13She beams in response [21:57] 13. [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya: "How in Creation did you reach Yu-Shan? Is this a re-" 12She cuts herself off and simply waits for an answer. [22:00] 13Ying: "Furry carefurly." 13She scrunches her nose at using the same pun twice in two words. "I want to know about ol' Reck, though." 14[22:00] * Quits: hrolf (Quit: Leaving) [22:01] 7Blossom: "I'm already a traitor to House Cathak? Nobody's gonna be negotiating an alliance or, uh, measuring my blood... thing. That stuff's all--" 7She flicks a hand. "In the past." 15[22:01] 10Eikichi: "I don't mean taking wealth from our families. I mean making something new." [22:02] "I don't get it." 15[22:03] 10Eikichi looks away. "Nevermind." 15[22:04] 10But soon he turns back. "You're worried about something. I can tell." 14[22:08] * Joins: hrolf [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya: "...are you talking about the man in the wide hat? I don't disclose information about customers." [22:10] 13Xia Ying: "Aww, c'mon. Purretty please?" [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir wanders the residential district around Yara's home. It's a lot more... horizontal... than most of the city that she's seen, featuring wide manses and compounds more so than tightly-packed skyscrapers. The sky above it swirls and refracts in ways independent of the Game-reflecting sky of Yu-Shan; for instance, starlight reflects off the pools of still water in Yara's yard regardless [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12of whether the sun, moon, or stars are currently winning in the jade pleasure dome. [22:11] 13She turns more serious: "We've met befur. I just wanna know what he's up to." [22:12] 4Bizarre. And occasionally unaesthetic. But interesting and, much of the time, beautiful. [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir has no destination in mind, but it's beginning to seem like the otter does - as she's about to make a left, it nudges her to the right, and so on. Playing along? [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya: "Would you like me to tell him what you're up to?" [22:13] 4She'll elbow him if he gets too handsy (nosy?), but yes. [22:14] 13Ying: "Rather you didn't?" 13She's still got that award-winning smile on. [22:14] 13No, seriously, she won an award. Against Czaliphenya. C'mon 14[22:17] * Joins: hrolfy 14[22:18] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:19] 7Blossom: "Nonono. It's fine. It's nothing. I was just. It's nothing." 15[22:20] 10Eikichi: "Cmonnnnn." [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir finds herself climbing a broad hill, one which the noonday sun beams down upon with scorching radiance. Great rocks carved with old realm runes mark a winding path to what could be a mountain's pinnacle, and paired celestial lions, sitting at attention, flank the trailhead. [22:22] 13She drops the cutesy facade. "It's seriously really impurrtant - important. He did some bad stuff and I'm just trying to figure out if he's still up to it now. Please? We're - I like you, okay? We're friends, right?" 13Then she hits the kitty eyes. Never fails. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12As Ir approaches, the one on the left stands, stretches, and then leaps off a broad stone platform to stand before her, back arched and tail whipping at the air. It roars, eyes flashing! From behind, Ir feels a nudge at her back - the otter's pushing her forward. [22:24] 4Ir hasn't stopped moving. [22:25] 4She does snap her fingers, however, and bangles become a lance. [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12She'll have to start moving faster, because she's being pounced on! 08[22:29] 7Of course! Eikichi's transcendent celestial genius hits upon the answer in moments. Blossom's anxious because in her world, getting married means you have a few young things on the side and only meet your husband/wife when it's time for another baby. She's also anxious because she's a one-puff pussy with little squirrely lungs. 15[22:30] 10Eikichi: "Oh baby..." 15[22:30] 10He reaches out for her. "Come here." [22:31] 7The question marks are almost visible above Blossom's head, but he's the most beautiful man in Creation so he doesn't have to ask twice. [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya purses her lips, then sighs. "Look, he - he's just a customer. I get some of my best business up here. Endless riches, but not one spark of genius - a real seller's market for real talents." 12This last phrase is said a bit conspiratorially. "But, of course, it has to be a bit under the table. That man, I don't know who he is exactly - my first guess was a death god [22:31] <@Ferrinus> of some kind, but I think he might be as mortal as you or I are." 12There's an implicit joke there, of course. 15[22:32] 10Eikichi cradles Blossom in his arms. "You don't have anything to be scared of. All of forever I want to spend with you." 10He kisses her on the top of her head. "No one could compare in a million years." [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya: "He seems to need a new outfit... in black. Stylish as I can make it, but it absolutely must evoke or honor death in some way. I've never liked working for Sijanese or similar, but he pays better than most. ...much better." [22:33] 4Ir doesn't have to start moving at all. Her skin flashes gold for a brief instant -- might have been the Sun off sweat. She grins. [22:33] 4To the otter: "Hope you know what you're doing, dumbass. For both our sakes." [22:34] "Hrmph. That's right." 7She pulls his arms around her like a cloak. She is, you may rest assured, not crying. You're just seeing things, probably because you're crying. 15[22:34] "Don't be afraid." 15[22:34] 10He's totally not crying either. "Don't ever be afraid." [22:34] "I'm not afraid of things!" 15[22:34] "I know. That's why you're the best." [22:36] 13Ying: "...can you make it like, really itchy or something? He, um. I'm - He's." 13She frowns. "Fureaking weirdo. Gets stopped furom destroying Crystal, starts trying to wreck Heaven." [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya: "What? Someone paid like he is surely runs some part of Heaven." [22:39] 13Ying: "He supurr doesn't. Or I guess maybe he does now, but." [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya: "...I see. But if he's so dangerous, how could even be up here? With those lions in tow, no less?" [22:42] 13Xia Ying: "...our fault. We thought Heaven would be able to deal with him, but then he charmed them into giving him a job." 13She looks distressed. "Now he's - augh!" [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya: "Wow, really? That's - oh, my." [22:43] 13She's crouching now. It's weird being so tall. "Anyway! He's purrobably mad about that and everything's ruined and I hate this!" [22:48] 4And with that, Ir flashes forward and buries Jude's Law in the cat's shoulder. [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12The impact of metal on metal rings for blocks, and the lion tumbles backwards, roaring and bleeding golden fire. It rolls several times before stopping, stands shakily to its feet - and then vanishes in a flash of light and flame, reappearing on its perch above the entrance of the path. That's when the second one comes jumping down at Ir! 15[22:50] 10Eikichi makes a mental note: this contraption definitely works. [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Czaliphenya frowns, putting one hand to her chin while crossing two other arms. "I mean... they're careful up here, aren't they? Those lions are probably watching him, not serving him." 15[22:55] * Disconnected 15[22:55] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[22:55] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[22:55] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[22:55] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[22:55] * Quits: @Ferrinus (NickServ (GHOST command used by FerrinusPrime)) 14[22:55] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 14[22:55] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:55] 13Does that track with what Ying observed? [22:56] 7Blossom wonders how the others are doing on their errands. Probably fine, she decides. 14[22:56] * Quits: VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:56] 12Yes, although, he is clearly in the habit of bribing his guards so that they don't make a fuss about his going to shady parts of the city like this. Presumably, just buying clothes is not grounds for Reckoning's censure, but who knows what strictures he's operating under? 15[22:56] 10How is Blossom doing? "How are you doing?" 15[22:56] * Disconnected 15[22:57] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[22:57] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[22:57] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[22:57] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 [22:58] 13Ying: "Bripurry." 13She shakes her head. "He can do whatefur he wants." [23:03] 12Czaliphenya: "You can't bribe a lion, everyone knows that." [23:04] 13Ying: "Then how's he come to weird places without any fuss?" [23:04] "...are they real lions?" [23:07] 7Blossom sniffs, takes another hit. "Good. Don't stop hugging me. This thing... really works." 15[23:07] 10Eikichi: "Yeah..." [23:08] "Oh, I want to make flame pieces for Ying also. I forgot to say that." 15[23:09] 10Eikichi: "You think they'll fit her style?" [23:10] 12Czaliphenya: "They must be. Impersonating one of the lions... I can't even imagine what they'd do to you." [23:11] 4The second lion pounces and Ir responds by charging into it, burying her lance in the opposite shoulder. This is aggravating. [23:14] 13Ying: "Efurrybody has a price. He must've figured theirs out somehow." 13She taps a newly-clawed (and immaculately manicured) finger to her chin. "He's cheating." [23:15] 7Blossom: "Well I thought, um... okay you know the gauchos in the Southeast? The cowherders?" [23:15] "I thought she could make a hat like those, with little holes for the cat ears to poke through..." 15[23:15] 10Eikichi: "That's so precious." [23:15] "Nyaa, pardner! I'm a cat who rides the range!" 7She mimes pointing flame pieces around. 15[23:16] "Don't move a whisker." [23:17] 13Correction to last message: cheetahing. [23:17] 12Czaliphenya: "...either way, that's what I can tell you. He's... probably not technically breaking laws in dealing with me, and seems to just want, well, an outfit. Hmm." 12She touches a finger to her lips, thinking. [23:18] 13Ying: "Still think you should make his outfit really itchy, by the way." [23:20] 13She understands if Czali (can she call her that? Whatefur, no one's stopping her in her head) doesn't for professionalism reasons, but c'mon. [23:20] 6I object to calling her that. 13No one asked you. [23:21] 4And it's ESPECIALLY aggravating when the lion just does not care. [23:21] 4So she presses further. [23:22] 12I guess this is the difference between a lion made of gold and a lion made of orichalcum. It fights with something approaching Solar perfection, rolling and slashing and blocking with unflagging and unflinching resolve. [23:26] 13More adorable blinking. It's kind of weird wearing this face - but Ying is just so naturally charming... [23:26] 4Yeah whatever. Ir twists her wrist, the spear turns to a whip, and the Chosen of the Sun becomes a liontamer. [23:26] 4When the lion staggers, Ir pulls the whip back and says: "Yield." [23:27] 4She's already driven it back a good twenty paces. This doesn't have to go further. But it could. [23:28] 12After a clash and a block and a swing and another block - it's hard to follow, but at last orichalcum is ringing like a bell, and the celestial lion is crouching - kneeling - before Ir. After a moment, it flares with golden flames and vanishes, reappearing on the platform it first lounged on. [23:28] 12Ir hears a kind of huffing and flapping behind her. She turns to see the otter jumping and clapping clumsily. Then it hurries forward, notebook held in its mouth, to lead her up the path to the center of the manse. [23:29] 14Ir clenches her fists and watches him waddle past her and KNOWS that she shouldn't whip its heels as he passes and honestly, HONESTLY, she's just being so mature right now. [23:29] 12Czaliphenya looks pained... "Iiiiifff. Keep this quiet. But if this man is as dangerous as you say... I can keep tabs on what I weave him." [23:29] 4Ir clenches her fists and watches him waddle past her and KNOWS that she shouldn't whip its heels as he passes and honestly, HONESTLY, she's just being so mature right now. [23:29] 4She does NOT stomp after him. It is a purposeful stride. [23:29] 12Czaliphenya: "I won't sabotage it. I'm an artist. But I'll know what kind of reception it's getting... and where it is." [23:30] 13She beams. "Would you?? That'd be SO helpful!" [23:32] 12It's a long climb up - longer than how it looked it'd be from the outside. The sunlight's glaring out here, and while the otter visibly pants from the heat, Ir feels pleasantly warm and doesn't even need to squint. This despite the fact that, at the top of the climb, there's a rectangular stone dais/block thing that's catching so much solar heat that it's actually sizzling. [23:33] 4Looks cozy. Ir could probably summon her Sun's plate if it were needed. [23:33] 12There's also a pair of torches, each burning like magnesium, and a sort of empty cup holder sort of thing. The otter paces around a bit, then scurries off, leaving Ir to contemplate the area. [23:33] 4To, y'know, touch that thing. 15[23:34] 10She didn't actually answer his questions or ease his anxieties, but right now with her in his arms he doesn't csre at all. What can forever do to this? Nothing. [23:34] 4As he goes: "Buy some fish, idiot, and I'll cook 'em up before we go." [23:35] 12You seem to be thinking the same thing. Well, almost the same thing, because when the otter comes back into view it's precariously balancing a big tub of foodstuffs. No fish, though - the centerpiece seems to be a huge slab of bacon, with assorted eggs and sticks of butter and so on to make an instant and heart-attack inducing breakfast. [23:35] 12They're dropped before Ir, who is then subject to an expectant look. [23:35] 4... [23:35] 4You have got to be kidding me. [23:36] "You had me fight two Celestial Lions in order to get access to a FUCKING GRIDDLE?!?!" [23:36] 12The otter curls up and hides its head under its paws. [23:36] "Fine. Fine!!!!" [23:37] 12Czaliphenya: "It's the least I can do. Come see me when you're next in Great Forks and I'll make sure we can keep in touch." [23:37] 4Ir: "You are going to find a bowl, a spoon, a spatula, and a whisk, and you are going to get to work on those eggs while I cut this bacon right. And there's no prep table up here, idiot!!! Just the cooking surface!!!!!! Think before you act!!!!!!!!!!" [23:39] 12The mute, unnamed writhes in seeming agony, then scrambles off again. [23:39] 4Oh, but he can walk in here without fighting two lions. Must be nice. [23:39] 12Sadly, all he's able to come up with when he returns in a few minutes is a single silver fork and a small, flat rock, albeit a very clean-looking one. Looks like it's time to improvise. [23:40] 4Ir's grimace is legendary. "Then it looks like I'm doing everything. Contemplate that in the field of woe." 4If he doesn't get the message after two seconds: "GO TELL THE LIONS THEY'RE GETTING FED TOO, IDIOT!" [23:41] 13Ying, still beaming: "Will do! ...and think about the making his clothes really itchy, okay? I know, I know!" [23:42] 12Ying suspects she ain't gettin' that one. Either way, Czaliphenya looks resolved to help insofar as her morals allow - and also looks like she's hoping she doesn't actually have to explain how it is she's here. [23:43] 13Hey, Ying didn't ask. She'd have to answer too. [23:48] 12So it is that Ying finds herself alone in the bad parts of town, in Heaven. Presumably, Wicked Triumph Reckoning and his lion guards have gone off somewhere back towards the city center. [23:49] 4Doing everything herself is less annoying than she's letting on; she's mostly put out by how this grave and powerful otter servant to the dread spies of Heaven acts like a 12-year-old boy. ...Oh, who is she kidding. She could have seen this coming. She files down the edge of one of the fork prongs into an ersatz knife, perfectly carves the bacon, then twists all the prongs into an [23:49] 4ersatz whisk, whips up all the eggs, and throws them all on at the correct time. She removes bacon for the lions but accedes when the otter seems to demand that the rest stay on the altar. Presumably he knows that under the normal course of events, these eggs are about to become inedible. [23:51] 12As, behind her, a pair of celestial lions (one of whose shoulders is still bleeding fire into the sky, but it's slowing to a trickle and the great cat doesn't appear to mind) chow down on bacon, Ir watches the otter scurry back and forth around the altar bearing the rest of the food, making little notes in his book and occasionally bowing or waving at it with his little arms. Finally, [23:51] 12he snaps the notebook closed, holds it out at one of the two magnesium-bright torches until it catches alight, and then drops it in the empty egg cup sort of thing that stands right behind the altar. [23:53] 12As the notebook is devoured by golden-white flames, so is the breakfast Ir's prepared. It doesn't leave any kind of charred husk behind, but simply disappears entirely, only a delicious aroma in its wake. There's a long, pregnant moment. [23:54] 13...bad parts of town or no, she knows at least how to get back to the fabric-seller. And pick up something for a project for her friends. [23:54] 12Then Ir hears... it's very faint, and kind of echoey, but it's the sort of smacking and gulping and throat-clearing that you can only associate with a very loud and very messy eater. Then, a man's voice, creaky and hoarse. "Delectable! You've outdone yourself this time, Ari. Give them this one." [23:55] 4Well, Ari has a name. [23:55] 12Gold-and-white light congeals, then, into the receptable where the otter's notebook burned. It becomes what looks like an ovoid of colorless glass. [23:55] 12Behind Ir, the two lions have returned to their posts. The otter looks at Ir pointedly. [23:56] 4Ir shakes her head and will walk to the altar and take it, unless something stops her. What is it? [23:57] 12As it cools, it reveals itself to be faceted - it's a diamond of some sort. One that catches and refracts the glow that currently towers around Ir! [23:58] 7Blossom: "When's Ir coming back? I'm hungry." [23:58] "Wait. WAIT!" [23:58] "Yara said she could get food delivered here somehow." [23:59] "We could get a flat-- some flat bread, with vegetables and meat rolled up in it..." Session Time: Fri Jan 18 00:00:00 2019 15[00:00] 10Eikichi: "I think a bird delivered it. A heron?" 10He pokes around, looking for the means to make an order. [00:01] 12You can! There's, like, a pad of prayer strips on the wall... as long as your Old Realm calligraphy's good you should be able to basically describe and summon a meal. How much does it cost? Well, you didn't see Yara go through any specific payment motions so maybe it's free. [00:03] 13Still in disguise, Ying bids Czaliphenya adieu and heads back over towards the fabric-sellers of heaven. Wicked Triumph's Reckoning is presumably long gone. [00:04] 12Yep. There might be a followable trail, but likely as not it leads to some government office with much tighter security than a... black market tailor's workshop? Still not clear what's going on back there. [00:06] 13Is there a fabric around that can, with a specific flex or other signal, begin humming some kind of theme song? She came across one that played music CONSTANTLY but that seems like it might not be appealing... Also, Ying, being polite, let Czali (that's what she calls her now) keep her secrets. Whatever else she's doing there is of no concern, so long as they get to find out what Reckoning is up to. [00:09] 12Yep, these things can be enchanted to spec up to a point (since they're spun from ambrosia by the gods) [00:10] 7Blossom: "Do you think we can just describe what we want and they'll bring it?" 15[00:11] 10Eikichi: "Yeah, absolutely." [00:13] 13Time to haggle. Bless whoever this girl's actual face and hair was - hiding her ears is super useful for negotiating. They keep flicking when she's trying to take a hard line! [00:16] 12It's very difficult, and Ying's pretty sure that an ordinary mortal would be taken for a fool here. But she's no ordinary mortal - by the end of the day, she's got a double armful of something really special. [00:17] 12It's as the evening draws to a close that a somewhat harried-looking Yara shows up to ask everyone how their day has been. But she'll learn the answer... next week. [00:17] 7Then Blossom takes down a prayer strip and a pen, bites her lip, and begins to write. She starts with her rolled-up-food concoction, and after a moment's thought, adds some pitza with chopped up sausages on it. "What do you want?" [00:17] 4...Huh. It fits in Jude's Law, but then, everything does. 15[00:18] 10Eikichi: "Raw fish, with garum. And ginger buns on the side." [00:20] 13Ying's wandering back into Yara's apartment. "Raw what?" 15[00:20] "Ying!" 10Eikichi tries and fails to get up. "How are you?" [00:22] 13She still looks like a stranger for the record. "I'm all right! Just. Golly, Heaven is so real." 15[00:23] 10Eikichi's too high to assume someone besides Ying would be so eager about raw fish. "No kidding. Look what I made. It's a no-smoke hookah." [00:24] 13She creeps closer. "How does it work?" 15[00:25] 10Eikichi: "The flame goes under the stone. The stone thins the heat out so the hash doesn't quite burn. But it still-- try it." [00:26] "YING DO YOU WANT ANYTHING TO EAT" 7She's speaking loudly so that anyone who's listening will know that she's fine with the situation. [00:27] 13Ying takes a hit, and then:"Fish!" [00:29] 7Blossom nods, and writes 'fried fish'. She'll like it better if it's fried. [00:29] 13Blossom knows Ying so well. 15[00:30] 10Everything's better fried. [00:30] 4Ir will return shortly. [00:30] 4Possibly before they've ordered, though that's up to everyone's willpower. [00:31] 7Bad news, then. [00:32] 7Blossom's gonna try and pitch the prayer strip with too much food on it out the window and see if it works. 14[00:49] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:53] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[02:32] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:16] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:45] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:31] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:12] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:56] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:23] * Joins: tom 14[21:12] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[21:12] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[21:12] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho Session Time: Sat Jan 19 00:00:00 2019 14[07:09] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[07:09] * Joins: dammitwho 14[08:18] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:05] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:25] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[09:39] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:48] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:52] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:27] * Joins: hrolfy 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:32] * banana is now known as banana|hot 14[14:54] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:17] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:29] * Joins: hrolf 14[17:34] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[18:54] * Joins: tom 14[20:09] * Quits: dammitwho (Connection closed) 14[20:09] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:19] * banana|hot is now known as banana 14[22:34] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:54] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sun Jan 20 00:00:00 2019 14[01:46] * Joins: hrolfy 14[01:49] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:52] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:54] * Joins: VoxPrimey 14[02:01] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Quit: ) 14[02:01] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[03:29] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:54] * Joins: Crion 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:36] * banana is now known as banana|peels Session Time: Mon Jan 21 00:00:00 2019 14[00:56] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:00] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[05:16] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[08:10] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:09] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:00] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:01] * Joins: cbass 14[18:29] * Joins: tom 14[18:49] * Joins: hrolfy 14[18:57] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:01] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:14] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:41] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[20:17] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:01] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:32] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[22:26] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[22:27] * Joins: cbass 14[22:45] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:58] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:06] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. 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[20:20] 14Were their dreams silent, at least? 15[20:21] For now; Nine Storms Fiend reports that through the storm and simple attrition the barrier is thinning one flake of thistledown at a time. If the storm sticks around it won't last the next night. 15[20:23] Keldar's troops are glum but steadfast in the rain. There's a sense of frustration at the way the battle ended yesterday, and Lookshy is not popular in the ranks of the Dawn Guard. 15[20:24] Xia Lan wakes up to Tsuka at her bedside. Relief shines past his exhaustion when she begins to stir. [20:24] 14Hh. Well, they do have one more charge, at least. [20:25] "Mnnnh." 13She feels awful. "Tsuka?" [20:25] 12Certainly not with Keldar, who makes no attempt at apologism for the sake of his men - if you ask him, and plenty have, those cowards and lunatics took the first excuse they could not to engage, and might well have been betting on Keldar to lose. Steps will have to be taken to make sure their guns are at our disposal, that's for sure. 15[20:30] Xu Sim and Seven are forced to part early in the morning as the Governor, whose expression has been alternately bitter and sour since Xu Sim saw him yesterday, pulls his Scion away from conference with their leader. Where does he go? [20:33] 5Xu Sim makes his way back to the Circle's headquarters. 15[20:33] Tsuka grabs Xia Lan's hands and holds them. "What happened?" [20:34] 14Stranger will check in with all the people he needs to check in with, from Sion: Fear Has Wings to Selin, and then find the Councilors. He wants a straw poll on the stomach everyone outside the Office of the Emissary and the Dawn Sergeant has for rocking the boat with Lookshy and Thorns right now. [20:34] 12At the start of the next day, Keldar's back to making plans. What he needs most importantly is a full technical readout on the Lookshyan larboard cannons - how far they can fire, how often they can fire, and what they'll actually do to the Wall. [20:34] 14Especially given that Vuol Ballare seems comfortable dictating Nexus territorial restrictions on movement to the Mask of Winters without consulting anyone first. 15[20:35] Xu Sim sees Stranger making the rounds and joins up with him. Wow, that's convenient. [20:36] 14Indeed. "How's your woman?" 14he'll ask the sorcerer after greeting him. Then: "And how's her boss?" [20:36] 12Keldar, personally, thinks Ballare has no say on who does or doesn't enter the city, and insofar as we're allied with Thorns there's technically nothing new or special about the Mask turning up on the front. That said, since the Mask is actually in charge, it'd be wise to also make him party to the sun-sanctified oath of joint defense. [20:36] 13Xia Lan: "Bad engagement. Got surrounded, lost my cool, and-- froze up." 13It's a longer story than that, but that's a good start. She squeezes his hands back. "Took a few bad hits doing it. I'll heal up by tomorrow if they don't need me anywhere today." [20:37] "She's-" 5the ghost of a smile crosses his face for a moment, but he doesn't say anything else. "He's bad news." [20:37] 14Stranger can do that if the Mask is willing to agree to a Sun-sanctified oath. But while Lookshy overstepped their bounds, he finds it difficult to argue that they don't have a point. [20:38] 14To Xu Sim: "The Lookshyans have already said as much. They've banned him from the city. On their own authority. Without consulting us." [20:38] "Not good." 15[20:39] Tsuka: "Do you need anything? Are they taking care of you? I have to get back out there but if you need something I can get somebody to get it." [20:40] 12Keldar, through the codex: "What was that wording again? Maybe they just go to war on their own time after this is all over." [20:41] 5Xu Sim: "Xia Lan and I got in over our heads. We were trying to flank and break the nothern stalemate when we ended up in the Underworld. The Thorns leaders did... something. It caused our rescue but also the Mask's arrival." [20:43] 13Xia Lan: "I'll be fine. Just... I'd say just a bruised ego, but, well." 13She gestures to the bandages. "Where are you going today? Somewhere safe not really in the cards, I assume." [20:43] 14Stranger, to the Codex: [20:43] [20:44] 12Keldar: "Saw that one too. Ask me, they saw an excuse for pulling out mid-fight in attempt to get me killed." [20:44] 5Xu Sim, to Stranger outside the Codex: "Why do they think that? The Mask looks north, not south. How did they know he arrived?" [20:44] 14To Xu Sim: "I'm sure he was just looking for an excuse to show himself, in fairness. And perhaps Octavian will act as something of a check on him?" [20:44] 14He shakes his head. Right. Octavian. 15[20:44] Tsuka: "The sorcerers from the sea are at the eastern gate. Xu Sim put them under our command." [20:45] 14To Xu Sim: "They mistrust Thorns enough to have eyes on them at all times, I assume." [20:45] 5Xu Sim: "But the primary threat?" [20:45] "And they certainly know what the Mask looks like." [20:45] 5Xu Sim: "But the primary threat?" [20:47] 14He sighs. "I attempted to unite the feuding Lookshyan internal factions by convincing them Thorns would have them in pieces if they weren't made whole. At the time, that was true. I wasn't counting on the Mask showing up." [20:47] "It appears I succeeded too well." [20:48] 13Xia Lan: "Well, stay behind them if you can help it. And... don't trust river crossings?" 13Ugh. Her head hurts. "I don't know what I'm going to do when I heal up," 13she says. [20:48] 12Keldar: "You saw him, right - is he blighting the earth with every step or anything? Maybe we don't want him tracking mud inside." [20:48] 5Xu Sim blinks a few times. [20:49] 14To Keldar: [20:50] 14On the subject of Mask: [20:50] 15[20:50] Octavian hasn't been seen in the city since he emerged from the sewers some time overnight. One wonders how such a massive creature can hide, but no one's got an eye on the Quarter-Prince. 15[20:51] Tsuka: "You'll rejoin the fight! There's a lot of things you can help us with that won't see you get surrounded." [20:51] 14To all Emissaries and the Dawn Sergeant on Codex: [20:52] 5Xu Sim:  [20:52] 12Keldar:  [20:54] 14Stranger: [20:54] 14What is the state of the other Councilors? 15[20:54] The sorcerers' best guess is that with fair winds another blast of thistledown will give you another three or four days. [20:55] 13Xia Lan:  13Back to Tsuka: "Is that really the best use of me? I saw how people reacted to me getting carted back here, but..." 13She blows a stray hair from her eyes. "I'm moping and it's not helpful." 15[20:55] The Council of Entities, save its Dawn Sergeant and its Emissaries, are overseeing the administration of the emergency government in the Undercity. [20:55] 5Xu Sim:  15[20:55] In what's either a very good sign or a very bad sign, there's not a peep of infighting or complaint from any of them. [20:56] 14Ominous. [20:57] 14Especially as he'd hoped for a fiery protest from the Council against Lookshy's new edict as a springboard to "mediate" to something more reasonable. [20:57] 12Keldar:  [20:57] 14Then again, Ballare probably isn't his biggest fan now or ever. [20:58] 14Stranger: [20:58] 15[21:00] Tsuka: "We'll figure it out. Just focus on getting better. We need you." [21:01] 14To Tsuka, but conferencing Xia Lan in for transparency: 15[21:01] Tsuka: "Still healing. She'll be okay." [21:02] 13Xia Lan:  [21:03] 14Now to Xia Lan: [21:03] 13Xia Lan:  [21:05] 14Stranger's silent for a moment, and Xu Sim might see startlement and something else pass across his face. [21:06] 5Xu Sim:  [21:06] 14To Xia Lan, privately this time: [21:07] 14Stranger, grumpily, out loud: "Physician, heal thyself." [21:09] 13Xia Lan:  [21:10] 5Xu Sim merely raises an eyebrow. "Who, me?" 5He'll produce and start taking drags on the steambreather. 15[21:12] Keldar's scouts send word back to command of a lone figure on emasback riding out from behind the wall across no-man's-land towards the Dawn Guard's position. They're not visibly armed, and fly a white flag of truce as they ride. [21:13] 14To Keldar: [21:15] 12Keldar:  15[21:15] Stranger and Xu Sim make their wear to the heart of the Nexus district, where the Final Word has pulled into position taking up almost all of the downtown district's vast main thoroughfare, ordinarily a river of life running in parallel to the Yellow in one direction and the Grey in the other. The Lookshyan patrols and outposts thicken as they approach, but no one stops the two 15[21:15] Emissaries until a pair of hulking gunzosha cross arms over the gangplank and a fried reverberating voice asks their business. [21:16] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven: "We are the Emissaries of Nexus, and we come to discuss the Dragonlord's new security arrangements." 15[21:16] "One moment, sirs." [21:18] 12Keldar's judged pretty well how close you have to get to the Wailing Wall for its screams to become painful rather than irritating. With that in mind, he makes a few arrangements with his soldiers and then strolls out on his own, shield and daiklave on his back. He'll go out to around twenty yalms from the end of the safe zone, cross his arms, and look out expectantly at the [21:18] 12approaching... emissary? 15[21:18] Emissary's probably the right word. How many of his men accompany him to the border? [21:19] 12None, if the figure's also alone. Hell, it'd probably be none if the figure had a small phalanx behind it. 15[21:23] Then the rider and the general meet alone on the blasted fields across the river. "Parley! We ask parley for terms of truce!" 15[21:23] The word apparently comes down from the Word to let the Emissaries pass. The Gunzosha part and Stranger and Xu Sim are led up the gangplank by four Lookshyan infantry, two in front two behind. [21:24] 14Kind of annoying that Stranger keeps missing these parleys. Kind of concerning that the Lookshyans are putting armed infantry in their blindspots, even if it is only two of them. [21:24] 12Keldar: "Terms of truce? Lot of you rode up here across half Creation. What's stopping you from just turning around?" 15[21:29] Vuol Ballare meets them on the top deck, emerging from below flanked by jade-wearing soldiers. She points at Xu Sim. "What do you know about how they brought him here?" [21:29] 13Once she's said her goodbyes to Tsuka - he's busy, he's got to be on the frontlines, and she pretends to need to rest. A few minutes later, a stranger slips out, wide-brimmed hat and a long coat hiding whatever bandages couldn't simply add to the effect if they were seen. Can't be a whole lot of reports of where Octavian's been without causing a panic, and Vladok's always been mercurial at best, so: if Dead Man's Hand were a [21:29] former bandit looking to hide something as huge as Octavian, where would he put it? [21:29] 14This is getting tense, but no less tense than he'd expect from an army of professionals just blindsided by Octavian and the Mask, while already staring down the raksha. [21:29] 14Well, she does just get right to it. [21:30] 14Stranger will raise an eyebrow, but look to Xu Sim; it's probably best just to let her know. [21:31] 5Xu Sim folds his arms and shuffles his moustache. 15[21:31] Elegba's Emissary: "Honor and geas bend our dear leader's path, and our loyalty to him bids us follow. But his loyalty to Cethleann is not absolute. We petition to work together to seek some means beyond conquest to address the needs of the ancient pact that bids us forward." [21:33] 12Keldar turns this over in his mind for a moment. "That so? Okay, so, what are the terms you're dealing with here?" [21:36] 5Xu Sim: "What do you know of it, Dragonlord? One group of Anathema, having subdued a Raksha lord and taken his host for themselves, rode east, then north, to flank the Anathema laying siege to the city. Through bad luck, they found themselves in the Underworld, cut off from their army and waylaid by Raksha and mad ghosts- 15[21:37] Elegba's Emissary: "We need to claim the eye and heart of the forgotten king, forsaken at the moment of his death, and retreat into the Wyld." [21:37] 5Continuing: "When all hope was lost, they accepted help from Anathema - not the same Anathema, mind - and were returned to the battle." [21:37] 13...unfortunately, it's a lot easier to hide a demon than it is a wagonload of crates. Dang, that would've been a nice trick. Maybe there's chatter in the Undercity, once he gets down there. [21:38] 5Xu Sim: "While I might consider it rude for others to use that language in reference to me or my friends, or my sworn allies - I believe it's not too offensive when I use it for myself. As for the Mask..." 5he frowns. 15[21:38] "However," the emissary licks his lips, "After searching our consciences and our files, we find no proviso demanding we retreat into the Wyld with the eye and the heart. Merely after claiming it." [21:39] 12Keldar: "Then what's 'claim' mean?" [21:40] 5Xu Sim: "The Mask must be handled with great care. As carefully as a scorpion wandering up the back of a sleeping child must be." [21:40] 14Stranger: "The Council is of one mind on that matter." 15[21:42] Elegba's Emissary: "...opinion is currently divided. We'd like to work with your legal scholars and sorcerers to interpret the boundaries of the geas, and then work within it to satisfy its obligations without further harm to anyone." [21:44] 12Keldar scrapes at the side of his chin with a thumb. "Could work for me. Could work out great. You got, like, an official document? Detailed wording? Whatever else those guys might like to reference?" [21:45] 14Does Keldar have his Codex page broadcasting so that the rest of us can hear at least his side of the conversation? 15[21:45] Ballare: "What I'm getting from this is that you don't know how he got here." 14[21:45] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:46] 14Interesting how much more concerned Ballare is with the 'how' than the 'why.' [21:46] 5Xu Sim: "Go on." 15[21:48] Ballare: "What sorcery exists that could pull him a thousand malms from Thorns? Can he go back? Can he call up reinforcements from Thorns? Do we have a backdoor flapping open in the wind that we can't even find, much less shut?" 15[21:49] Elegba's Emissary: "Yes, although I don't have it with me. Elegba carries it on his person." [21:49] 12Keldar: "How do you propose we get a look?" 15[21:50] Xia Lan catches a sight of old Selin weaving through the crowd, looking purposeful but unobtrusive. After working his way to a darker side alley she sees him standing near what looks like a shadow but on which her vision focuses to reveal it's a cloud of smoke. 15[21:52] Elegba's Emissary: "Are you prepared to come to the table to parley, without killing intent?" [21:52] 5Xu Sim seems confused for an instant. "You mean - no, I don't know how the Mask arrived. I speculate he might have been waiting in the Underworld nearby. He's moving on to new plans of some kind here, I don't know what he's attempting." [21:52] 14Intent has it coming. [21:54] 13Huh. How hard would it be to get closer, maybe eavesdrop a bit? Probably pretty hard. [21:54] 13Let's go for it. [21:54] 14Stranger: "The Mask is a creature of considerable but not limitless power; the 'why' of his arrival seems to me more pressing than the 'how.' He is a butcher, and therefore butchery is to be expected -- but his Thorns do little besides poison the water for now." [21:55] 14To Xu Sim: "He is engaged in some strange ritual, is he not?" [21:55] 12Keldar: "I'll need to ask my fellows - see if they think it's worth looking into. Personally I'm not too sure about the 'claim' thing." 12He looks back at the city, then at the wall, then at the diplomat. "But it's probably an idea worth entertaining. Tell me this - who put this geas on your master in the first place?" 15[21:55] "I don't know, sir." [21:57] 5Xu Sim: "He is. I don't know what he's doing. But I think, Dragonlord, you may have some devices that would give us an advantage in finding out the answer to that question. The late Dragonlord had in his possession a mask of white jade..." [21:58] 12Keldar: "Why're a bunch of humans taking the field for an ancient raksha, anyway? You don't sound like you've had your soul scooped out." 15[21:59] Elegba's Emissary: "He freed us. Helped us free ourselves." [22:01] 13...they'd see him coming. Should've picked a different disguise. That's the trouble with getting yourself a good walking-around one, sooner or later you tie yourself to one and they've got their own friends and enemies and such. Best to nip that kinda thing in the bud. Friendly tip of the cap in the general direction of Selin then, as he sidles over towards the conversation. 15[22:02] Ballare: "...what of it?" [22:02] 14Stranger: "Personally, I am more interested in whether or not the Mask's actions represent a violation of our sanctified, sworn Oath -- or, more precisely, whether the Governor or any of his subordinates participating in such actions would represent a violation. The Mask is spending a lot of time alone out there, with little coordination to our eye. That's not good." [22:02] 12Keldar: "What from?" 15[22:02] Selin looks up abruptly. "Afternoon," he says, somewhat cageily. [22:03] 14And the one person he is coordinating with, the Scion, is the one person in Thorns they don't wish branded oathbreaker. [22:04] 5Xu Sim: "From what I could discern of its function, it would let someone like Stranger speak with the Mask without the risk of divulging our strategy. I briefly conversed with him and it was unwholesome." 15[22:05] Elegba's Emissary: "The Cathak and Ragara viceroys and their traitor princelings who held us under their boots! We have cast off our oppressors like leaves on the wind. We choose our own fates now, and many of us chose to follow the hero who liberated us!" 15[22:05] "Our leader Elegba is peerless in his compassion, wisdom, and strength! He raised a riot into a revolution! He fought great Ahlat to a draw!" [22:06] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Howdy. Was able to sneak out for a bit, wanted to check up. See if there was anything I could do to help." 15[22:07] Selin: "Haven't seen you around lately. Where've you been pitching in?" [22:09] 12Keldar: "Hmm, wonder if I could take Ahl- ...nah, look. I hear you. But here in Nexus, the Emissary did something like the same. His power's what's kept our city free in the face of every Realm house you could name. So you can see why I'm not about to let you carve the poor guy's heart out." [22:09] 13Xia Lan adjusts her moustache and lets her real voice bleed through for a moment: "Went north. Didn't turn out very well." [22:09] 12Keldar: "But like I said - I'll look into it. Anything else you wanna add?" [22:09] 14Stranger is mildly put out by the idea that he can't hold his own in diplomatic discourse with the Mask of Winters, but recognizes the value in being cautious. However, if they were both to approach the Mask, Stranger would suggest that Xu Sim take it. 15[22:10] Elegba's Emissary: "Only that we greatly appreciate your sensitivity and tact in taking this message in the spirit it was intended." [22:10] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Sorry for the secrecy. Not in the mood for dealing with crowds on days off." 15[22:10] Ballare: "You want me to loan you an artifact that belonged to the general you stood next to and watched die?" [22:11] 14Oh, bother. [22:11] 12Keldar: "Eh? Oh, yeah, I got loads of those, famous for it. Let your boss know my people are deliberating." 12He'll move to return to his own lines, then, once Elegba's emissary has made whatever formal motions of farewell he wants to. 15[22:11] So the pair separate. [22:14] 12Keldar returns to the Guard and informs them that the opposing general has put a diplomatic proposal before the Council, such that he's going to leave the front and return to the city briefly and that they should prepare for, but not immediately expect, some kind of attack. Then he takes one of the rowboats the Guard have been using to cross the river and, with a small detachment, [22:14] 12moves to return to the city. He wants to consult his own raksha folk hero before bringing this in front of the Circle proper, though, and that's why he'll try to find - or just call out for - the original Emissary once he's back on the city streets and able to wander around on his own. 15[22:15] Selin raises an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be resting?" [22:15] 5Xu Sim speaks very softly. "Dragonlord Dorma was my friend, Vuol. I tried to help him vanquish a foe we both swore to destroy. When it was clear that wouldn't work, I tried to rescue him before he could be killed. When that didn't work, I stood by his body as the thistledown I built with his help prevented a rout." [22:16] 5Continuing, his voice lowering - "I didn't stand there and watch someone die. Though you were content to do just that, yesterday, when this one-" 5here, he gestures to Stranger- "and the Tiger of Nexus fought the enemy general and the Wailing Wall Akasha to a standstill. You withdrew and left the fighting to others. I am offering you the chance, right now, to do so again. I pray [22:16] you take it." [22:17] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Doctor says I'm cleared for anything but suicide missions. Another day off the battlefield and a night in bed, right as rain with no one the wiser." 15[22:22] Keldar finds the Emissary atop Sentinel Hill, sitting at the base of the shattered tower. Keldar's footsteps echo strangely as he approaches. 15[22:23] Selin looks from side to side. "We found something." 15[22:23] "Something I thought we'd lost ages ago." [22:23] 13Dead Man's Hand: "What kind of something?" 15[22:24] Selin motions for Dead Man's Hand to join him and the smoke in the alley. "Have you ever heard of the Gates of Auspicious Passage?" 15[22:25] Ballare's eyes flash. "Are you calling me a coward?" [22:25] "I just spoke with one of Elegba's people," 12says Keldar, by way of greeting. "The general seems to think he can wiggle out of his own oath - quote-unquote "claim" your eye and heart, but then just leave 'em behind while retreating into the Wyld." 12He pauses. "What do you think? Feasible? Safe for you, if we double-geas Elegba not to try anything? There'll still be Cethleann." [22:28] 13Dead Man's Hand: "...not ringing any bells, no." 15[22:33] Selin: "From long ago, great arches that were erected all over the world, linked by powerful sorcery. Most of them are destroyed or beyond repair now. But back when Nexus was Hollow, it used to be a central junction point for the Gates, deep below the city. The dams align them. While repairing and clearing out the sewers we've rediscovered what I think is access to those Gates." [22:33] 5Xu Sim: "I'm giving you a chance to get it done clean, precise, and exact, by the best in the East." 15[22:34] Ballare: "Walk away, old man." 15[22:34] "As a matter of fact, I think you should run." [22:35] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Do you know where else they could lead? What, if anything they could let in?" [22:35] 5Xu Sim spins on his heel and walks off the bridge. [22:37] 14Stranger doesn't move, but does watch him go. "Well, that could have gone better. Forgive him; he's a sorcerer, not a diplomat. And he cared more for Nessun Dorma than he cares to show often." 15[22:38] Selin: "Not yet. We haven't accessed the chamber yet, we don't know if it's safe. We've got to inform the Council, but we think it should come from an Emissary. You or Stranger." 15[22:38] Ballare: "Is there something else?" [22:40] "I, of course, am well aware it was prudence, not cowardice, that has stayed your hand. Just as it was prudence that led you to give orders on the defense of Nexus without consulting the Council, the Emissaries, or the Dawn Sergeant; just as will be prudence that has you sending me to face the Mask of Winters and determine precisely what threat it is he poses to your men and this city. [22:40] But given that you do have this white jade mask, and you are not a coward, and you are an important player in this little drama, I was wondering if perhaps you might put it on instead and join me in parley with the Mask of Winters." [22:41] "Equal footing at the table. A chance to observe your enemy up close, while under my protection. It is an opportunity to consider." [22:42] 13DMH: "Makes sense. Hmm... probably me, I think, Stranger's been running himself ragged. What more can you tell me about - what they're supposed to be? How much you know of what's left of them?" [22:43] 5For his part, Xu Sim storms off the Final Word without speaking another syllable. 15[22:44] The Emissary tilts his head upwards. "No... no, that won't work. It would be extremely painful for him to attempt to move the star. He's a waste anyway. You might as well ignore him." 15[22:46] Selin: "Little to nothing. They once pointed all over Creation, but with the dams in the state they are and all the time that's gone by I couldn't guess where they point or which of them work now." [22:47] 12Keldar: "Would if I could, but he's still got an army. And maybe he doesn't have to move anything, yeah? Just 'claim' it - and immediately relinquish it, or something. We mean to put lawyers on the question." 15[22:48] "Lawyers?" [22:49] 14Stranger's ears are burning. [22:49] 14However, this is literally what Nobu Whitefeather's department exists for. [22:50] 12Keldar: "And sorcerers and historians and such. The point here is that Elegba's looking to weasel out of this and go away, and I figure we should help him if it's all the same to you. But that's the question - if we can make sure it's all the same to you." [22:50] 13DMH: "Hrm." 13A pause. "Can I see where it is? Not to do anything rash, mind. Just to get a look at what we'd be working with." 15[22:50] Ballare looks at Xu Sim's retreating form for a long moment before saying, "When are you going out there?" [22:52] 14Stranger: "As soon as possible. There might be an issue to attend to at the actual Office of the Emissary itself -- Elegba is at least pretending to wish to negotiate terms, and I will need to have my people review the agreement. I will want to be at my fullest strength before attempting to engage the Mask in discovery or negotiation. That means an hour or two, at most." 15[22:52] Selin leads Dead Man's Hand out of the main tunnel, through a series of increasingly dark and damp alleys until they reach a comparatively well-lit area with signs of recent construction, one of them a recently scraped-clean stretch of wall that reveals an ancient sealed door covered in glyphs. 15[22:56] The door says that this way lies the Heart of the Hollow, a great crossroads where all may come and go. It lists the founders and builders of the city, from Pallas the Brave to Stranger Visits Heaven. [22:57] 13Xia Lan: "This is -- I'm sorry?" [22:57] 13She's squinting now, which looks foreign on the face of Dead Man's Hand. "I'm not reading that wrong, am I?" 15[22:57] The Emissary: "You'll be meeting him directly, I assume." [22:58] 14Given that Elegba hasn't submitted his proposal, however, it looks like Stranger will be meditating until rested and then heading out north of the walls with the Dragonlord. [22:58] 12Keldar: "That's the idea. His idea, seemingly - he's got the actual document at hand and I suppose doesn't want to just send it over." 15[22:59] Emissary: "I'll attend the meeting." 15[22:59] "Bring him inside the city." 15[23:00] Selin: "I'm guessing that you're not." [23:01] 12Keldar: "Sounds good to me. He'll probably want various assurances of good will, though - not sure how to produce any, unless you want to swear to something in front of Stranger." [23:03] 14Stranger would object to bringing Elegba into the city on the strongest terms, but he's not there and currently resting. [23:05] 13Xia Lan: "Well. I don't want to exactly -- spring that on him. I'll talk with him after... I'm back on bed rest, I guess." 13How big's the door? Passage for individuals, or armies? 15[23:07] Xia Lan guesses that this gate was meant to accomodate a lot of foot traffic but not, like, shipping or anything. 14[23:12] * Joins: hrolf_work [23:12] 14After Stranger wakes, he'll have some tea, then wrap up a serving table, a suitable number of cups, and his steadfast Lotus Blossom Kettle in a convenient bundle before heading out. As he walks, he'll try to ping Bubo on the Codex, more out of ritual and curiosity than expecting a response. 15[23:13] No word from Bubo, but that's normal. [23:14] 14Worth a shot. [23:14] 14He's likely the first to arrive at the northern gates, unless Ballare is quite impatient. 15[23:15] Keldar, Stranger, and Xu Sim meet a masked Vuol Ballare and her adjutants at the Northern Gate. Ballare arrives after Stranger, but not long after; Stranger suspects that they were waiting before him to get there before they rolled him. 15[23:15] *rolled up [23:15] 14Fair play. [23:17] 13A way to surprise their foes would be welcome, as would an escape route, should it truly come to that. She'll look around for a few moments more, resist the temptation to try to clear off more of the glyphs. Then: "There was one more thing I came out to check, actually." [23:17] 14He has a little speech to give once everyone's there, but before they head out. "So. We are going out to meet with one of the most powerful creatures currently in Creation, and one of its most powerful enemies. By the imprimatur of the Unconquered Sun, we are protected by The Dialogue of Sun and Shadow. The Mask of Winters is forbidden from attacking us without just cause and [23:17] must observe the common rules of hospitality. To that end I will be serving tea. However: he will be perfectly within his rights to attempt to goad, shame, cajole, and otherwise convince YOU into attacking HIM." [23:17] 12Keldar meets the others there, and so he doesn't have the time to brief Stranger and Xu Sim on what he's been discussing with the raksha within and without the city. He does, however, raise a brow and then simply scoff as he espies Ballare's party approaching to rendevouz. [23:18] "And if you do that, all deals are off. We defend ourselves, flee, or die." [23:19] "None of you are restricted in what you can say or do within those rules. Ideally, we convince him to leave; if not that, then we get him to swear the same oath his governor swore. But all things being equal, I'll settle for just figuring out why he's here and walking away from the meeting." [23:19] "Unless there are any questions, let's do this." [23:19] 12Keldar: "Pfft, we could take him." 12He lets that stand for a beat. "I'm just fucking with you, I know what we're dealing with here. I'll keep all that in mind." [23:20] 14Stranger's jaw tenses almost imperceptibly in the downbeat there, but then he nods. 15[23:21] Selin: "What's that?" [23:21] 5Xu Sim is all nerves. [23:23] 14Stranger treats Ballare precisely the same as the other two Solars, neither lingering on her meaningfully as a source of conflict nor showing any sign that he expects any different of her when it comes to following his ground rules. For now, as far as he's concerned, she is part of the team. [23:24] 13Xia Lan: "Do you happen to know where Vladok was heading? I lost track of him earlier." 15[23:25] Selin: "Aboveground, I think." [23:27] 12Keldar's ready to go, either way. He's pretty sure that everyone wants the same thing here, and is mostly hoping that it'll turn out he never needed to show up. [23:28] 14Without further ado, he'll heft the wrapped cutlery and lead them out towards the Mask. 15[23:29] The stench of death is thick in the air above the river, as knights mounted on dragonflies do pitched battle with screaming spirits above and the Yellow churns with the dying and the dead. [23:30] 14Hrrrnh. Is the Deathlord still in the river itself? The table should float, at least. [23:30] 13Xia Lan: "Then I'll head out. Thanks for the information, Selin -- I'll try and get in touch again soon about," 13she gestures to the gates. 15[23:30] Selin: "Take care." 15[23:32] Indeed, the deathlord is so deeply immersed in the river that only the rear-facing rictus of his helmet is visible above the water. Xu Sim knows that another, more beatific face is pointed ahead at Cethleann and her army. [23:33] 13Dead Man's Hand's longcoat swirls around him as he strides back towards civilization, or what passes for that down here. Got to keep mindful of the time, too, wouldn't want the doctors to worry. [23:33] 12Keldar speaks in a low voice to his compatriots as they approach the river. "What's, uh - has he said what he's doing?" [23:34] 5Xu Sim scans around. Are the deathlords retainers joining in? Is the deathlord himself in the middle of casting sorcery or necromancy? [23:35] 14Stranger wades out to a respectful distance, finds a rock outcropping, and, gently whistling, swiftly assembles his tea party. He doesn't actually have to say this for the protections to take effect, but the first time the Mask acknowledges his presence or when he's got the water boiling, whichever comes first, he'll say, "I am Stranger-Visits-Heaven, and I invoke the Dialogue [23:35] the Sun is due." [23:35] 14To Keldar, before that: "He has not. That is one of our goals here." 15[23:36] The water doesn't churn or even ripple as the mask turns around. The Mask's voice is smooth and cold. "Say that name again, please." [23:36] 14He pours foul, diseased river water directly into the Perfect Host without a care in the world, and out comes pure, healthy water. [23:37] 14He looks up from the tea. "Stranger-Visits-Heaven." [23:38] 14The 'range' of the Dialogue is more or less conversational; Keldar, Xu Sim, and Ballare should feel free to move around within reason. 15[23:39] "Huh. So you are." He begins to walk up to the riverbank, not a drop of water clinging to his flowing black robes or gleaming silver armor. 15[23:39] "Who have you brought?" The mask turns to the others. 15[23:39] Ballare: "Dragonlord Vuol Ballare, of the General Staff of the Seventh Legion." [23:40] 14Stranger pours five cups, and lets the others introduce themselves. [23:41] 14Is he a little pale? It's hard to tell. Perhaps it's the river. [23:42] 12Keldar takes up a position nearby Stranger. "Keldar, Dawn Sergeant of Nexus." [23:43] "And I," 5Xu Sim breathes, "you have already met." [23:44] 14Stranger: "Tea?" [23:46] 14The invitation is open to all. If declined, Stranger will simply drink his way through the cups he has poured. 15[23:47] The Mask emerges fully from the river now, drawing up to his full height which is fully twice Keldar's. "I'm afraid I have nowhere to put it. I hope you won't think me terribly rude for declining." A wave of his gauntleted hand and half a dozen skeletons shater and snap apart, locking back together with rapid clacks until they've formed the frame of a high-backed chair that the Mask 15[23:47] seats himself in, looking out at the outcropping over the river where Stranger and the others stand. The Governor and Seven emerge from behind the throne and approach the tea party. 15[23:47] Seven casts a furtive, searching glance in Xu Sim's direction. Is he okay? [23:47] 14Accordingly, Stranger pours two more cups. [23:47] 14What's important is the effort. [23:48] 14Stranger: "Governor. Sevenfold Scion. Well met." [23:49] 5Xu Sim makes eye contact with Seven and, if she seems alright for the moment, then he is as well. 15[23:50] Undead servitors bring chairs for Seven and the Governor. "Would you like to sit down?" the Mask offers them. [23:51] 12Well, Keldar hasn't got a seat. He'll take one if the Mask offers, but otherwise he'll be stuck drinking tea standing up, which is plenty more luxury than battlefields often afford. [23:52] 14Stranger bows his head at the Mask's graciousness, but responds: "If they are all made of bone, I sadly must decline. You honor with the thought." 15[23:52] "As you wish." [23:52] 14He sips his tea. "You've been in town--" 14Stranger pauses, looks about. "Well. 'In town' for almost a day now. How do you find it?" 15[23:58] The Mask: "I'd heard Nexus was a lively city and it does not disappoint. You've done wonders with the place in your time in power." Session Time: Wed Jan 23 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] 14Stranger: "...We get by. I do not rule alone. As it stands, I mainly advise." 14He gestures at the Governor and Seven. "Your generals and servitors distinguish you." 15[00:04] "Well put. They serve with distinction." [00:06] 14Stranger: "And yet you take the field yourself, despite the distractions and the attentions such a thing might bring. I hope you did not come all this way on our account; that would be somewhat embarrassing." [00:06] 14He has moved on to the second cup. 15[00:07] The Mask: "I came because I was called. Part of having such able people under my command is trusting their judgment, and it was their judgment that I was needed to help stave off a mortal threat to Creation." 15[00:08] The air around them bubbles and pops, and another, deeper voice says, "So was I." [00:08] 14Is that...? 15[00:09] There he is, out of a sickening nowhere, almost as tall as the Mask and far more solidly build, leaking poison on the ground as he leans on a huge and wicked-looking staff. 15[00:09] NEXT TIME: The Chosen, the Tower, and the Mask [00:09] 14It's high past time he figured out just who the fuck Stranger-Visits-Heaven is. 14[00:26] * Quits: hrolf_work (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:29] * Joins: hrolf_work 14[00:31] * Quits: hrolf_work (Client exited) 14[01:20] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:27] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:24] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[04:24] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[04:24] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[06:25] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:26] * Joins: dammitwho 14[07:37] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[07:37] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[07:37] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[08:06] * Joins: tom 14[10:09] * Joins: hrolf_work 14[11:25] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[11:36] * Joins: hrolf_work_ 14[11:36] * Quits: hrolf_work (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:36] * hrolf_work_ is now known as hrolf_work 14[14:58] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:12] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[17:41] * Joins: hrolf_work_ 14[17:43] * Quits: hrolf_work (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:43] * hrolf_work_ is now known as hrolf_work 14[18:09] * Quits: hrolf_work (Client exited) 14[18:37] * Joins: tom 14[20:00] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:12] * Joins: tom 14[21:02] * Joins: hrolf_work 14[21:10] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:51] * banana|peels is now known as banana Session Time: Thu Jan 24 00:00:00 2019 14[00:34] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[01:03] * Quits: hrolf_work (Client exited) 14[01:22] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[01:23] * Joins: mattbaby 14[01:54] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[01:57] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:48] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:54] * Joins: Crion 14[10:05] * Joins: hrolf_work 14[10:43] * Joins: tom 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:16] * Joins: hrolf_work_ 14[12:17] * Quits: hrolf_work (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:17] * hrolf_work_ is now known as hrolf_work 14[15:29] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:57] * Quits: hrolf_work (Client exited) 14[18:57] * Joins: hrolf_work 14[18:58] * Quits: hrolf_work (Client exited) 14[19:33] * Joins: hrolf_work 14[19:39] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:10] * Joins: tom [20:35] 12 \ [20:35] 12 | : / ,-- ,- / [20:35] 12 | | ,' ,-' ,' ,' [20:35] 12 \ : | / / ,' ,' [20:35] 12 \\ :\ : / / ---' _.-' [20:35] 12 `+ \ \ ,+-\----'' ,- / [20:35] 12 \---+-.\ :\' ,'--. +-' ,-' [20:35] 12 ,-----\ X /`-,'--. -+---' [20:35] 12/ \ \-' -'/ | ,++----- [20:35] 12 `--.. -' -+--+----- [20:35] 12 `:-+ |,' [20:35] 12 \| /X [20:35] 12 | : [20:35] 12 | | ^ ^ [20:35] 12 ; :(°v°) [20:35] 12 ; [ \ \ [20:35] 12 | :>=´ [20:35] 12 ||// ; \ [20:35] 12 (°°) ; \ [20:35] 12 °(_ ") ; : [20:36] 12Well... you're back. [20:38] 12After making an honestly impressive attempt not to blanch upon learning how much food you'd ordered in her name, Yara thanked you profusely for your help and escorted you back to the celestial gate on the southeast edge of Yu-Shan, one which deposited you right nearby the Yellow River. Creation doesn't seem to have self-destructed in your absence, although Sondok wants to know if [20:38] 12you want some miscreants who tried to sneak aboard and rob the Heavensward executed or merely tortured and there are a few nervous missives from the Grand Forks government asking you about the demon army massing across the river. [20:39] 12What's everyone up to? What's the plan? 15[20:39] 10Are the miscreants winsome urchins? [20:40] 12No, they're grown men and women, at least one of whom seems to be god-blooded. Sadly for him, his charms (and Charms) were no match for the demon queen that guards your ship. [20:40] 6Clearly they weren't any good if they got caught. Points for trying, then immediately subtracted for failing. [20:41] 12Keep the change, kid. Just kidding, give it back. 15[20:43] 10Probably just let them go, unless Blossom wants to lecture them. "So Blossom and Ir are taking the ship east to find a place to house the kruthik," 10Eikichi says to Tatsuya or Ying. "Where are they dropping you off? I can work wherever." 08[20:43] 7Blossom has sheepishly boxed up the leftovers so Eikichi has something to eat while they're gone. Okay it's not healthy, but at least it's not candy. [20:44] 4Not really into summary executions for hilariously misguided petty theft unless they've earned it elsewhere. [20:45] 12The actual change from Heaven back to Creation is palpable, I should mention. Colors seem duller. The air's thinner - each breath seems to leave you a little shorter of the essence of life than you'd like to be. Food is blander, surfaces rougher, temperatures less palatable... it doesn't take any of you too long to re-acclimate, but, damn, people live like this? [20:45] 4Ir and Blossom are heading east, and a test kitchen flies with them. Ir's biggest order of business is provisioning a lot of ingredients so she can spend the parts of the trip when she's not flying getting some conceptual work done. How long do they estimate this is going to take, there and back? [20:46] 13Ying'll answer him: "I wanya see my shop furst, then Tatsuya can use that as a hideout to fix the mess he made." 15[20:47] 10Eikichi: "Ooh! Nexus! Maybe I can finally unload these party drugs I made." [20:47] 13Ying: "...the whats?" 08[20:48] 4Oh hey, party drugs. There's the final piece of the "who Eikichi would've been as a Pneuman teen" puzzle: rich kid dealer who's holding. 15[20:48] 10Eikichi: "They're great." [20:50] 13Ying, unblinkingly: "Tatsuya says make sure they aren't too good." 13Then: "Hey, wait -- nyo, actually, that's good advice." [20:51] "Does Blossom know?" 15[20:51] 10Eikichi: "I can't keep secrets from Blossom." [20:52] 13Ying: "So she didn't ask." [20:52] 12Where, exactly, do Blossom and Ir mean to fly? They've been over some charts - Mahalanka is a ways to the northeast, perhaps twenty days by ship. It'd be seventy by horse and a little less by emas... if it were just fields you had to cross to get there, but the jungles begin about two thirds of the way in. [20:56] 4We're looking for some place that's ideally within a week's march of the goal but which isn't going to alarm anyone -- least of all our quarry -- when a bunch of new predators move in circumspectly. It also has to have the resources to support them. [20:57] "...clefur. You're in luck, I love nonanswers! Do me a fafur when we get to Nexus, though? Maybe model a few pieces for me, take 'em out and about? NOT the really ugly ones!!" 15[20:58] 10Eikichi: "I'd be delighted." [20:58] 12Well, maps indicate mostly rolling fields out northeast from from where you are, and that's the most likely place to find open space since straight east means moving along the river (and running into fishing towns, trading docks, and so o) while north and northwest lead to Sijan (which your underworld-acclimated kruthik would make mincemeat of in short order). 08[20:59] 13For the record, the horror show pieces - unless Eikichi's been INCREDIBLY careful - have all been kept in an inassuming locked chest underneath whatever passes for an apartment above the shop. [21:00] 13(If he has, then she's made several efforts to steal them, and they simply aren't in such a chest YET.) 15[21:00] 10Eikichi is absolutely keeping that twinkly star cape unless Ying made him a new one. [21:00] 13...he can keep the cape. [21:01] 4Ir isn't particularly interested in waging a campaign to get there, and especially not in sacking and then leaving Sijan -- and she's hoping Jormungand, when fully healed, might have the ability to at least fly some critical infrastructure ahead. 14[21:01] * Joins: hrolf_work_ 14[21:01] * Quits: hrolf_work (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:01] * hrolf_work_ is now known as hrolf_work [21:11] 12Blossom and Ir chart a course, but there are problems. First, the land they want to move through isn't truly uninhabited - there are trading posts, stables, small farming communities, and two minor kingdoms - one some kind of satellite-Sijanese ancestor cult and the other the legacy/extended family of some hero who made a stand against the Balorian Crusade. The former you think you [21:11] 12can safely snake your army around, using hills and cliffs to essentially go unseen and undisturbed, but marching a demon army past the farmers and militiamen of Rozeko's Stand could cause diplomatic problems unless you deal with things ahead of time. It's also going to be very hard not to just crush a few farmsteads and such like - you might have to basically buy them out from under [21:11] 12their inhabitants or otherwise ensure that bystanders are well and gone by the time the swarm comes skittering and trundling through. [21:14] 12The good news is that there are a few hogboblin strongholds, feral wood spider colonies, and assorted monster lairs that you can just steamroll right over. The ambiguous news is that there's actually a demesne on the way - small and, likely, recently formed, it's aspected towards the element of wood and only inhabited by the aforementioned elementals. The thing is, that kind of [21:14] 12thing'd be like catnip for the kruthik - you could expect the swarm to strip it clean and, consequently, grow bigger and more powerful. [21:14] 4Annoying and time-consuming to deal with. One appreciates why warlords usually just loot the countryside. [21:14] 12That'll make them easier to crush your foes with but harder to manage, unless you try to route around it, which means displacing (or else just eating) more mortal folk. [21:15] 4Given that we're about to march them into war with a beastman nation headed by a legendary queen of this or that, we can hold off paying the 'making them stronger' piper for awhile longer. [21:16] 13Catnip? Oh, for the kruthik. Gross. [21:16] 12You don't have to worry about the kruthik starving, generally speaking, but you do have to worry about them leaving a swathe of barren wasteland in their wake as they devour everything that lives... and the more they devour, the more mouths they'll have to feed, such that the path of ruin they leave behind them widens and widens. In theory, as their masters, you can order them to [21:16] 12feed at a strictly sustainable, replacement rate, but that'll chafe against the instincts of Jormungand and its subsidiary entities and might begin the process of you and the demon swarm you've bred becoming estranged. [21:16] 4The main concern as far as Ir's thoughts on this go is that buying out the farmsteads officially acknowledges this as our army. Up until now they've been pretty much deniable. [21:16] 4Maybe pay them off in disguise... [21:18] 12You and Blossom do have an excellent grasp of the lay of the land, though - if you're willing to take a little extra time in order to do some occasional tunneling and fording, you can reduce your actual problems and difficult decisions to, basically, whether to take advantage of the demesne in your path, how to deal with the peoplee of Rozeko's Stand (which you merely need to pass, [21:18] 12not walk all over), and how best to deal with two or three small farmsteads that you can't really find a good way to avoid. [21:20] 4Ir's inclinations are to gobble up the demense, pass Rozeko's Stand with as little footprint as possible, and go buyout the farmsteads at some ludicrous markup while disguised as Last Westerly Star. [21:21] 4Unless Blossom has a better idea for that last one. [21:22] 7Buying them out seems both reasonable and appropriate. Blossom can work on the tunnelling. 14[21:22] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 08[21:22] 12When Eikichi and Ying reach Nexus, presumably by magical tornado but you've got options, you might be struck by the commotion going on just to the south of Parko Llana, at the blocks-wide charred crater that now surrounds the Tomb of Candle-Eyed Skulls. Huge scaffoldings have been erected, beneath which elaborate stoneworks and iron contraptions are taking place. On closer inspection, [21:22] 12though, the wood of the scaffoldings is grey and half-rotten, looking to be the kind of ancient flotsam that might drift away from a long-sunken ship. A familiar figure is pacing around and overseeing the construction work being done, which is actually being undertaken by skeletons. 15[21:23] "Oh, look. Tatsuya's stimulating local industry," 10says Eikichi flatly. [21:24] 12They're a handsome man with dark hair and a medium build, wearing a long cloak that hangs dramatically off his shoulders and wraps around before his chest such that he's basically an oblong cylinder strolling around. As you pass by, or perhaps approach, he looks up and squints at you beneath a hand with which he shields his eyes from the sun - it's Typhon, small-e emissary of Thorns. 08[21:25] 13Ying is already gritting her fangs at Eikichi's remark, but Typhon just makes her throw back her head and sigh angrily. 14[21:26] * Joins: cbass 15[21:26] 10What are they building? 08[21:26] 12Clearly some work of complicated necromantic geomancy - no other kind of magic likes iron and obsidian that much - but if Eikichi hangs around a bit rather than simply buzzes off he can make some more educated guesses. 15[21:27] "I'll catch up with you," 10he says to Ying. This is concerning. [21:29] 12Actually, Ying doesn't get very far before a familiar voice, that of a young girl, pierces the noise of necro-industry. "Oh my- hiiii!!" [21:29] 13Um? 15[21:31] 10Eikichi turns around. No way. [21:32] 12A girl of maybe twelve or fifteen is sitting high atop one of the scaffoldings. She's clad in an appropriately-sized suit of plated black armor, and has pale blonde hair pulled back into pigtails. You might not recognize her at first because of the thick, reflective eyemask she's wearing, one which is presumably shielding her face from the crimson radiance which is spitting forth [21:32] 12from one of her bone-claws to do something weird to the bone-and-rock machine she's working at the top of. [21:33] 6Wait. [21:33] 6No way. [21:33] 12Black Bells Chiming: "It's you! Hi! Hiii, wait, wait up-" 12She was sitting and straddling wooden beam, but now she springs to her feet and them clambers down headfirst, like a cat or spider might. Typhon, standing a little ways a way, rolls his eyes. 15[21:33] "Black Bells Chiming, wasn't it?" 08[21:33] 13??? 6Stick around. 13She swings back to Eikichi. [21:34] 12Finally, the girl leaps to the ground a few fulms away, in a motion very hard to distinguish from the killing pounce that would've torn Blossom to pieces if Blossom didn't know how to sidestep a volcanic eruption. "It's me! It's been so long! Is that Ying?" 14[21:35] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 15[21:36] "Yes! You read the books? This is Ying. Ying, this is Black Bells Chiming. She was in Crystal." [21:37] 13Ying: "Oh, a purrleasure!" 13Ying extends a paw in greeting. [21:38] 12Black Bells Chiming extends a hand whose fingertips end in razor sharp talons. It doesn't look like the nail's lengthened and sharpened - rather, the bone itself has just sort of overtaken the flesh and bent itself into a killing weapon. 15[21:39] 10Sick. 15[21:39] 10In both the good and bad senses. [21:39] 12It looks like she's just forgotten herself, so Ying's either going to have to shy away and remind her or deal with a very painful handshake. [21:40] 13Ying: "Um." 13She flicks her own claws in and out, for emphasis. "I, uh, don't want to ruin my dress." [21:40] 13This one is pink and has a cat paw print pattern all over it. Just made it yesterday! [21:41] 12Bells: "Oops! Haha!" 12Ying's treated to a normal, though somewhat cold, handshake. "Sorry, I just need them for the welding! And some climbing. Look at everything I finished today!" 12She gestures behind her to a particularly tall and weird-looking structure of various necromantic materials. 15[21:42] "Wow... what is it?" [21:43] 12Bells: "Um, it'll keep the big ghost kind of, stuck? Using some really hard magic." 08[21:43] 13Ying takes a look over the whole project. Can't really understand what's going on, so hopefully Eikichi can... 15[21:44] "Magic? I didn't know you were a necromancer." [21:45] 13Ying: "Was that still a purroblem...? I haven't been back in town fur a while." 14[21:45] * Joins: cbass [21:46] 12As you speak, a skeleton wearing a tool belt comes shuffling over. Bells is saying "I'm not! It's too weird. I just- agh, shut up, later!!" 12She swats annoyedly at the skeletal worker tapping her on the shoulder, sending pieces of its hand flying across the cobblestones. "Typhon keeps saying I should learn but I like just building stuff. But I have all the designs so this works [21:46] for a real necro guy." 15[21:47] 10Eikichi: "So Typhon will be using it himself?" 14[21:48] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) [21:49] 12Typhon's wandered into earshot by now. "Oh, yes. It won't be easy, but we've spared no expense." 14[21:51] * Joins: cbass [21:51] 12Typhon: "And what brings you two here? I heard your Circle had business eastward." [21:52] 13Ying: "Just checking in on my li'l shop! I've been away for fur too long~" 15[21:53] 10Eikichi: "This is quite a lot of infrastructure. Tell me, how does it work?" [21:54] 12Typhon: "Trade secret." 12Bells: "Oooh, your shop. I keep forgetting - Typhon I wanna go." [21:55] 13One of those is fine. "Anyone's welcome at the Rainbow Connection!" 15[21:55] "The lovers, the dreamers, and you." [21:55] 12Typhon: "You've got quite a lot left today." 12Bells: "I don't, really. The skeletons can basically do the rest of today and the sigil inverter needs at least three hours to cool-" 12Typhon smiles wanly. "Lying again." 12Bells: "Aargh!" [21:55] "I should be around more often this week, too, if you want a custom piece!" [21:56] 7While they're out, Blossom is looking for the kind of massive fungus you can carve big rectangular chunks out of, and wood of the kind of robin's egg blue that is one of Ying's favorite colors. [21:56] 12Bells: "I'm gonna have my dad beat you up. I'm gonna have him crush you into the ground. He's gonna put holes shaped like you through like five walls in a row-" 12Typhon's already stopped listening; he's moved off to have a discussion with some kind of Guild functionary who's rolled up with a clipboard. [21:57] 12Bells turns to Ying. "How late are you open?" 08[22:01] 13Hmm. She glances over to Eikichi, trying to keep the worry from the rest of her face. 15[22:02] 10Eikichi catches her eye and nods. No rush. [22:02] 13Ying: "I can purrobably stay open late just fur you tonight! Any ideas?" [22:03] "Dresses, gloves, scarves, hats, whatefur you could want!" [22:03] 12Bells: "Oooh. Um. I dunno! Whatever you think looks good. But it has to be spooky." [22:12] 13Ying: "I can work with that." 13She nods. "Hm. Do you want something fancy or efurryday? Or even," 13and here she backs up a step before doing a quick 1-2 claw. She then goes back to tapping her chin absentmindedly, tail flicking behind her, considering materials, designs, etc. [22:15] 12Bells: "Hmm... fancy! I've already got this to wear when working." 12She seems to refer to the same soulsteel plate she used to try to kill you, and is wearing now as she does welding. 15[22:15] 10Hey! She didn't use it to try to kill Ying. [22:15] 13No one would try to kill Ying, if they knew she was there. She's too nice. [22:16] 13Ying: "Fancy it is! Oh, I furgot to grab my sketchpad..." [22:20] 12Either of the things Blossom's looking for are very difficult to find this close to Creation's center... but that's "very difficult", not "impossible", and Blossom's applied a master explorer's eye to the scouting out of this route. There are subtle inflections of wind-essence in the spider-infested demesne that've produced trees exactly the color Blossom is looking for, and one of [22:20] 12the swarm's prospective underground routes is choked with a variety of fungi, some of which are big and fibrous enough to render into blocks suiting the Zenith's specifications. [22:21] 12Bells: "Okay, well, I have to get back to work. But I'll see you after sundown! Can't work on this when the ghost's actually popping up, y'know?" 12She flicks each wrist to pop her bone claws back out, slides her visor back over her eyes, and moves to scramble back up the dead scaffolding. [22:22] 12The skeleton she smacked has almost entirely reconstructed its hand, but, sadly, Bells steps absent-mindedly onto its still-separate pinky and crushes the digit into powder. Oh, well. [22:22] 13...Ying'll throw an accessory in for free. [22:23] 7Nice! Everyone's going to be so pleased. [22:25] 4While they're travelling, Ir gets a lot of time to work on her cooking, and these drums. 08[22:26] 13Did Eikichi want to stick around to, uh, check out the necromancy? Otherwise, she can lead the way to her shop. Or, they can part ways here. 08[22:26] 12At The Rainbow Connection, Totokuro's manning the counter when Ying (or Ying and Eikichi?) come through the door. He must be standing on a lot of books. "Boss! Welcome back." 15[22:27] 10Eikichi's taken a bag of foul-smelling reagents and a bottle of laudanum to where Errant and Ami are stabled and asked not to be disturbed. [22:28] 12That's actually not clear - they might be kept at the Scarlet Palace, which has become your regular Nexus haunt, or they might be kept at or near the Heavensward back in Great Forks. If you can conjure the stormwind rider, it's not an inconceivable trip to make repeatedly. [22:28] 13Ying: "Hiiii~ Sorry I've been gone fur so long!" 13So long, in fact, that I believe the last time she was here she was not even a cat. [22:31] 12Totokuro's quick to catch up, showing Ying the books and explaining how the shop's been doing as of late. You're making steady profits, it turns out, such that there's talk between the apprentices of opening up a second location somewhere else in the city. Also... "...and Sszark thinks we should buy a skeleton." [22:32] 12Sszark, the spider-woman, blinks all eight of her eyes pair by pair before nodding. "Yessz. For stocking, hauling, delivery - much cheaper, and there issz an influx now." [22:38] 7Whew! This is the first time Blossom's ever done anything like this, and she has to bull through by force of will and determination. Jury-rigged presses to squeeze out moisture, careful heat treatment to cure the remaining mushroom flesh, incredibly painstaking close examination to ensure no deadly spores remain, and more - but she's done it, and she learned a lot! What's Ir's bedroom [22:38] 7look like, anyway? 14[22:40] * Quits: hrolf_work (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:40] 13Ying bites her lip, one fang showing. "You guys have been around more than I have by now. Sorry about that, by the way. But. What do all of you think? I'm not oppurrsed. Opposed." [22:40] 4Hammock with a mattress of questionable comfort stowed underneath it, some shelving for materials, a workbench. Not much else. 14[22:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:42] 12Totokuro: "Well, it would save a great deal of money. We would be leasing a skeleton rather than buying it, technically speaking - it'd be bound to obey us, but require occasional maintenance by an appropriately-trained occultist. Still comes out much cheaper than a normal hand, of course." [22:43] 12Lingfei: "We feared that you'd object on religious grounds - or if not you, your allies." [22:43] 7Then the next time Ir enters it, she'll find her original mattress nowhere to be seen, her hammock carefully stowed naval-fashion to one side, and Excessively Righteous Blossom fussing with the linens on a big block of something that's where her old mattress used to be. There's even a weirdly-shaped pillow on top. "Ah, just in time! Welcome. Congratulations, in a way." [22:44] 13Ying: "I'm... not thrilled by it. I'd rather get a living purrson." 13She shakes her head. "Let's talk while we work - I got a commission in while I was out and I need to make them two pieces before nightfall." [22:44] 4Ir: "I should be congratulating you. Welcome, to finally being in my room." [22:45] "...Does this have to do with those mushrooms." 14[22:46] * Joins: hrolf_work [22:46] 12Lingfei claps her hands. "Ah! Of course. Please, show us-" 12It's been a while, but the shop still runs like a well-oiled machine. [22:46] 7Blossom: "Yes! I've just finished. Here." 7She steps to one side and gestures broadly. "Try it out. You'll be amazed!" [22:48] 4Ir will sit down gingerly. It IS comfortable, though there's a bit of a hard cap on how astonishing a bed can be. "Seems pretty cool. Thanks!" [22:50] "Try the pillow!" [22:51] 7If Ir actually does lie down, she'll notice that the pillow supports her neck and contours to her head. This is... pretty great, actually. And there aren't any insects in it. [22:52] "Oh, damn." [22:52] "Damn!" [22:53] 12Ying's apprentices talk as they work. It's clearly an argument they've had before - broadly, Sszark thinks it's important to adopt the skeletal labor now available in the city early lest you be outcompeted, and that there's no more reason to fear on of the dead than there is to fear, for example, a six-armed half-woman half-arachnid. Lingfei fears moral censure, particularly by [22:53] 12Blossom and Ir, and some kind of curse or blight befalling the Rainbow Connection in either event. Totokuro can't help but admit that the numbers favor Sszark's position. [22:54] 7Blossoms smiles, delighted. "Glad you like it! I've made one for everyone. Mushroom beds are really expensive back home, what with shipping, so we're starting to live the high life now." 15[22:54] 10Wherever it is, Eikichi's experience is the same. Past the noise and the heat and the bad smells it's frightfully hard to concentrate. Absently he shakes the Spheres from his sleeve and lets them hang over his head and shoulders in a perfect triangle. The spheres move as one as if they were locked together in a frame around his head. Their gentle buzz blocks everything else out. 15[22:54] 10Eikichi works steadily. 14[22:55] * Joins: mattbaby [23:07] 13Ying hems and haws as she gets to work. Her first piece is a stunning, if not up to her usual standards, brilliant yellow with rose-gold pattern dress. Got to get back in the groove somehow. "Would the customers accept such a thing?" 13she says, needle in teeth. She's working quickly, but makes sure she's slowing down enough for her alleged apprentices to follow; she's got to make up for lost time, somehow. [23:09] 13She's already starting on her next project by the time someone replies; a much darker set of gloves, a deep purple interior with pitchblack exterior, fingerless to let a series of clawtips through in case of emergency. [23:10] 13Purple silk and black lace, she decided. That's what we'll work with. [23:10] 12Sszark: "Would they accept me? Well, no - in some of their cases, and certainly not at first. But humans can get used to anything, and I'm certain that the walking dead will only become a more common sight on these streets in the coming months." [23:12] 13Ying, starting on a cute-looking bonnet: "Hmm! Could we maybe - does clothing mess up the magics involved?" 13This one's that same shade of purple, with a black ribbon and faux-rose around it. There's a theme coming through, here. [23:13] 12Sszark considers this. Totokuro pipes up. "It couldn't, could it? Otherwise you couldn't armor them or anything." [23:17] 13Thread in between her fangs: "We'll need a nice outfit fur 'em." 13Now, for the masterpiece. "Watch closely, here. I've got a good feeling." [23:21] 13This ties the entire thing together. Black lace with skeletal designs leads directly into the gloves. It forms almost a jacket over the utterly gorgeous purple velvet, which - when viewed from various angles - looks variously like skulls, the wearer's skeleton, bats, scythes, and - from one, specific angle - a horrifying human face that takes up the entire length of the dress. 15[23:22] 10The first time Eikichi looks up four hours have gone by. The next time he looks up Ami and Errant are asleep and no one is outside. 14[23:24] * Joins: Crion_ [23:26] 12So! Huge as this trip is going to be, Ir and Blossom have a lot of cajoling, threatening, or bribing out ahead of them, since they probably don't want to take the reputation hit that allowing their swarm to simply eat people on the way would cause. What is their general plan for dealing with the farming communities, bandit forts, temples, and other assorted outcrops of civilization [23:26] 12they find dotting their route? [23:26] 4Well, first off, we don't give a shit about bandit forts. [23:27] 6Shouldn't of been stealing there. 14[23:27] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[23:27] 10Two days pass before Eikichi realizes he hasn't eaten. The humming of the spheres drowns out his hunger. He spends four days holed up in one of Arianna's abandoned laboratories, sleeping an hour here or there at most. The humming of the spheres keeps him focused. [23:27] 12I mean, in practice those are little fiefdoms - you can't survive off everything that comes down a road, but you can survive off an entire community that you extort labor from but also offer protection to. 14[23:28] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:28] 4We're going to have to buy out the farmers AND move the kruthik through fast enough that no one starts squatting that land immediately and gets annihilated when we finally do come through. The larger communities should be easy enough to get through with extremely disciplined control from the Fates and any other extraneous queens we train -- should figure out if we need to do that. [23:29] 4'Don't give a shit' means 'don't give a shit.' We're not doing intricate, days-long parade manuevers or detours to get past them and if they want to talk shit, Creation has a rule about what happens next. [23:29] 12Currently, the swarm isn't big enough to need it, but you'd expect it to develop subsidiary queens as it grows - and you'd expect it to grow as it moves, unless you work very hard to make sure it doesn't. [23:30] 12What I'm saying is that it's often hard to disentangle "bandit fort" from "farming community". But anyway, you've got your work cut out! [23:30] 4We're already going to have to do enough of that as it is to get around these farming communities -- it's likely impossible to fully conceal moving an army of this size regardless, and this won't be a surprise attack. [23:30] 4Not if you're any good at your job of scouting, it's not. [23:30] 4And we're scouting the route now. 15[23:35] 10Everything is so easy, but Eikichi finds those simple niggling tasks so much more satisfying than he used to. Everything seems to snap to some vast grid, whether he be tidying his workspace or holding a complex alchemical formula in his mind. It all makes sense. It all fits. When a subtle change in the temperature applied to the reagent paste causes a barely perceptible shift in 15[23:35] 10its smoky violet color he's so fiercely happy his chest hurts. Yes! Yes!! Yes!!! 15[23:36] 10There's a moment of sublime harmony that runs like a sharp chill up and down the length of Eikichi's spine. It arrests his attention, and he lets it, drawing that feeling out for as long as he can. An hour passes. 14[23:36] * Joins: mattbaby [23:39] 12It's about an hour after Ying's finished that the bell at the Rainbow Connection's front door rings. A blonde girl in black armor and black eyeshadow comes strolling in, looking around excitedly. [23:39] 4Ir gets a version of her Last Westerly Star disguise together. It's not Ying's work, but it'll do. [23:40] 12It's at around this time that Ir and Blossom - possibly just Ir, in the guise of a simple paranormal fixer - is explaining to the authorities in Rozeko's stand that they should not worry about anything they happen to see pass by the south edge of the fortress in the next month or two, and that perhaps they'd like some silver or grains for their trouble- [23:40] 13Ying's made sure to place her secondary outfit behind a few others. The primary one sits proudly on a stand near the entrance. "Hello again, Black Bells Chiming!" 08[23:41] 12Bells: "It's me! Oh, it's cozy in here. Where are the rest of you, anyway? I forgot to ask Eikichi." 08[23:42] 13Ying waves a claw vaguely. "Out there. We split up for a bit to go check on our own stuff, Eikichi's purrobably -" 13she wrinkles her nose. "Anyways. Blossom and Ir are still out of town. I kinda miss 'em already." [23:43] 12Bells: "Sooooo where is it?" 15[23:45] 10When the feeling passes, it leaves behind total, blessed contentment. And the remote thought: he's supposed to be helping Ying! The grid snaps in place. He's got time. And he knows which outfit to unpack. A once-over in the mirror when he's dressed. One word: "Perfect." [23:45] 13Trying to keep her grin from spilling over into laughter: "Right here!" 13She does a pose showing off the (totally acceptable, but not at all what was asked for) yellow and rose-gold dress. [23:46] 13Ying: "The deepest darkest thing I could think of!" 13Her grin gets even wider, if that was possible. [23:46] 12Bells looks over at it and blinks. She looks over at Ying, then back at it. [23:46] 13Ying can't hold in her laughter any more. "Y- your face!" [23:47] 12There's a soft dripping sound - it's a drop of blood that's fallen from one of Bells's balled fists. [23:47] 13She beckons her back. "Over here, I had to make sure any latecomers wouldn't spot the thing." [23:47] 13She'll clean that up later. [23:48] 13She then pulls out the completed set and holds it up for Bells' perusal. [23:48] 13It is probably the finest piece she has ever seen in her... unlife? Life? Not clear on how that one works. 15[23:49] 10Eikichi's about to leave when he sees the orbs sit in a dim pile in the dent he made in Arianna's chair. A flick of his wrist later and the three of them lazily orbit his clenched left fist. Then it's off to Ying's. 15[23:49] 10The going is slow. People stare. [23:50] 12Ying doesn't get the chance, because as she turns to reach behind other clothes for the real dress, Bells is leaping at her, the chill wind of abyssal anima swirling through the room and a swirling mass of hair that's burst free from pigtails haloing the girl's face like pale fire. It's not an attack - yet - but the small figure now standing on the counter has long fangs and longer [23:50] 12claws and is half hissing, half screaming in rage. [23:50] 12Black Bells Chiming: "Are-are-ARE YOU MAKING FUN OF ME?" [23:50] 12Bells: "Is this..?!" [23:52] 13Ying: "Augh! I - no, I thought it was, fun, and, I'm sorry!! I'm sorry, I've got the real piece back here, hopefurlly it - covers up the misunderstanding..." 13Okay, noted! Abyssals don't like jokes. Just, flat out. Wow. [23:52] 12Rozeko's stand isn't exactly sure why they're receiving this warning, but Ir's able to impress on them the extreme seriousness of what's coming - and how absolutely certain it is that it'll all pass without incident so long as no one makes sudden motions. Onward! Next, you've got to get the monks of the "Tilting God" (?) to relocate, possibly permanently. [23:53] 4...Might take someone a bit less obviously not on the up-and-up for that. [23:54] 12Bells: "You think I can ever ever EVER, you just, you! You-" 12She's clenching and unclenching talons, and the counter's starting to buckle beneath her. Ying's apprentices have already bolted for cover. 15[23:55] 10The door to Ying's shop opens and the ringing of the little bell mingles with the sound of the crowd outside. If Ying looks past Bells, she'll see faint alarm invisibly crease his searing white features. 15[23:55] "What's wrong?" 15[23:55] \ 15[23:55] https://i.imgur.com/zVDS8Lr.jpg [23:55] 4Apropos of nothing, it seems like being eternally 9 years old is a very raw deal. 08[23:58] 13Ying: "I'm - I'm really sorry! I didn't know..." 13To Eikichi: "It's fine, I insulted her, and I shouldn't have." 13To Bells again: "Can you furgive me?" [23:58] 7It's a bit dicey coming into contact with an unknown monastic order, since this far from the Immaculate center of power a 'monk' can be anything from a virtuous ascetic to 'literally just another bandit', but regardless Blossom is able to convince the order of the Tilting God that if they see something marching their way, that would be an excellent time to go into secluded meditation. [23:58] 7The compensation for their trouble doesn't hurt. Session Time: Fri Jan 25 00:00:00 2019 08[00:00] 12Black Bells Chiming's anima is a fierce black flame that, at its core, ripples and oozes with blobs of weightless crimson. It seems to be pushed to one side of her, though, by the sheer force of Eikichi's appearance. She's already got red tears beading at the corners of her eyes as she hears Ying speak, but simply stares with fanged mouth agape after turning to look over her shoulder [00:00] 12at whoever's coming through the door. [00:02] 12She shudders, and the bone claws ending her fingers suck themselves back into pale flesh. Then she sniffs loudly, rubs at her nose with the back of a hand, and then rubs at her forehead with the back of the same hand. The former gesture doesn't really do anything, but the latter smears the blood that was oozing from the edges of her empty circle caste mark all across her forehead. [00:02] 12Bells: "S-sorry. I'm making a mess. Is that...?" 08[00:03] 12(She's addressing Ying here, though still looking at Eikichi owlishly.) 08[00:03] 13Ying: "I-it's fine. I shouldn't have - I purrly even know you. That was mean." 13She's still shaken, but she does get up after a bit. "Eikichi? That sounds like you..." 15[00:04] 10Eikichi: "Who else could I be?" [00:04] 12Next up, Blossom and Ir have to deal with a long series of farming and logging towns. These are easy people to convince, but hard people to save - there's little reason to expect that their fields or forests are going to exist in any recognizable form after the kruthik have passed by, so the challenge here is figuring out how to offer these folks new lives. [00:06] 4...How ridiculous is the kruthik's passing under maximal discipline that they render forests permanently felled and farmland permanently barren? Surely we only have to move them out for a season. [00:06] 13Ying: "...you look difurrent." [00:06] 13She's already reaching back to grab the dress she made for Bells. Which is, again, unbelievably excellent, and likely the best thing that anyone present has ever seen. [00:06] 4If the wages of going anywhere in Creation are decades-long consequences, we might need to reconsider even using the kruthik. [00:07] 12You know, maybe I am being too pessimistic. Making the kruthik simply run by without basically eating everything isn't necessarily impossible, but it's a hard thing to promise. 15[00:07] 10Eikichi: "Do you like it? I told you I could use the cape." [00:08] 13Ying: "I-it's a lot better in this furm than on the original outfit." [00:08] "And yeah. It's a great look." 13She's already coming up with ideas - though also, painfully aware of the woman she just apparently dreadfully insulted by playing what she thought was a mild prank. 14[00:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:09] 4At the very least, we can give them a long vacation. Perhaps throw in a prophecy about "the writhing Horde," and have them post a watchman on a far hill to watch for its passing, and then some sign we can throw up -- Blossom shooting fireballs in the air, or one of their anima banners or something -- as a signal they can move back in. 15[00:09] 10To whom Eikichi says, "How are you, Bells?" [00:09] 12And it's not like your kruthik haven't adapted to surviving in low-nourishment environments over the past months, so maybe you can convincingly promise the farmers homes to eventually return to. They'll still need help essentially camping out as you pass, however. [00:10] 4Ir DID pack a lot of ingredients -- way too many for two people -- for this trip and lots of them are staples because she uses staples as base in most recipes, so she could just basically empty the hold for these people on that front too. [00:10] 12Bells wipes at her eyes and forehead again, then licks the blood off her hand and forearm. "I'm f-fine. Ying made me a dress." 12She turns. "Can I- where is it again? Sorry." [00:10] 4But if there's to be a mad prophet, Blossom's probably better at that mojo. [00:10] 7She is not a mad prophet. [00:10] 13She's finally able to show her finished product - and a good thing she didn't get to it a moment sooner. [00:10] 4We're pretending! [00:11] 12As rough a five minutes as Bells just had, she can't help but release a little gasp. "It's... oh wow." [00:11] 13She makes sure to display it at all the angles, lingering on the human face one - that took the most time, hopefully it's also the most impressive. [00:13] 12Bells: "I'll try it on in. Um. Probably half an hour. To be safe." 12Man, it must suck to have this messy an anima. [00:13] 13Ying: "We'll be here." 13Probably cleaning up the mess. She's at least managed to get the shakiness out of her voice. [00:14] "You're welcome to stay for it, if you'd like." [00:15] 12Bells: "I'll stay." 12She'll even help clean up, if there's a spare mop. After she ties a rag around her forehead the blood stops dripping down her face, although a perfect image of her caste mark does bleed through the white cloth. 14[00:16] * Quits: hrolf_work (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 08[00:16] 13Ying, to Eikichi, as she works on cleaning up and assessing damage that'll have to get fixed tomorrow: "I like the new look." [00:16] 12Days later, Ir and Blossom are faced with - well, it used to be a bandit camp. Now it's the beginnings of its own little kingdom, with a central fort containing the original roughnecks and their descendants, and surrounding fields and villages in which a combination of relatives, friends, and victims have all found reason to settle. Now the "bandits" mostly prey on the same people [00:16] 12they nominally lead and protect; pretty soon they'll probably invent the concept of taxation and leave the whole waylaying wagons thing behind. 15[00:17] "Isn't it wonderful?" [00:17] 12For now, they're very unfriendly and actually try to kidnap and rob you if you don't visibly come walking out of a magic flying ship. [00:17] 4Well that's unfortunate. [00:17] 13Ying: "...they were too good, weren't they." 14[00:18] * Joins: hrolf_work 15[00:20] 10Eikichi: "I don't believe in too good." [00:20] 13That's a yes. [00:21] 12Bells: "How come you're like that suddenly?" 08[00:23] 13Ying'll see if Eikichi gives a real answer before she answers Bells. 15[00:26] "If you must know, I was up all night solving the sky road serum. It's done, apart from all the stewing. Ami and Errant will by flying inside the month." 10To Bells, he extends his hand and opens it to let the spheres hover in his palm. 14[00:26] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) [00:27] 12Bells's eyes widen. "They're gonna FLY?" [00:27] 13Acceptably close to the truth! [00:27] 13And with a bonus distraction! 08[00:27] 13Truly a master worker this Eikichi is. 15[00:27] 10Eikichi: "It's ridiculous that it's taken so long, but we do love to get sidetracked." [00:27] 4Now this will require some fines-- haha. Just kidding. 14[00:28] * Joins: cbass [00:29] 13Ying sighs heavily looking around her shop. "We supurr do. It's been too long since I've been back." 15[00:30] "Your apprentices have been doing very well. You should be proud." 08[00:30] 12Does Eikichi help clean? The next twenty or thirty minutes pass even faster if he does. Bells mostly asks what's going to happen next in the Squared Circle's book series - it sounds like she's only read as far as the explosion in the Hedgehog. [00:30] 4They park the Heavensward directly over the central fort's main promenade before the throne room, and Ir drops down in armor and near-terrifying full Solar glory -- about 30 feet or so. She walks into throne room and summons the leader of this establishment to his or her chair. At this point is explained in no uncertain terms that for circumstances beyond their control, they are [00:30] 4leaving within the next week, under penalty of unstoppable and overwhelming doom -- and it's at this point that Ir's anima goes bonfire and the looming faceless spearwoman stands over the proceedings. [00:31] 14"ok" [00:31] 4Once Ir has secured a faltering, coerced agreement in principle, she nods gravely, then walks outside and shouts up to the Heavensward, "ROLL IT OUT!" [00:31] 13Ying: "I am." 13She beams - if her apprentices haven't fled after Bells's outburst, she'll look at them in approval. "...I just wish I was around to help more." [00:32] 4Riches literally rain from the heavens. [00:32] 4...ward. 15[00:32] 10Eikichi helps clean, but he doesn't get his hands dirty. An airy wave sees a mop dance across the floor in rough zags, and another sees shattered glass scoop itself up from the floor and into a waiting bucket. [00:32] 4Hopefully she's made it clear that the first time someone comes back to check on whether they've held up their end, there won't be time to check. [00:33] 12The final 'obstacle' Ir and Blossom deal with is also the first evidence of Raksi's approaching domain. It's a tree village consisting of a mixed population of standard easterners and apemen, all of which seem to be apostates from the cannibal queen's civilization/cult. They've been driven to the edge of the woods, but the apes especially wouldn't do too well out on the plains and [00:33] 12it's mostly in this biome that they do their best hunting and crafting. What do? 14[00:34] * Quits: hrolf_work (Client exited) [00:34] 12Eventually, Bells stops anti-glowing and bleeding from the forehead, and she's ready to try the dress on. Armor and all, she carries it ginerly into one of the shop's dressing rooms, and then there's some extended clanking and muffled cursing. [00:34] 12gingerly* 14[00:34] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) [00:35] 13...She better not have damaged that too badly. Repair work can only do so much. [00:35] 12At last she comes out, a vision of fell glory. Bells isn't very tall, but she strides as if she is right in front of the biggest mirror, and has what appears to be an incredible time turning to make different eerie patterns appear in the silkwork. "Look at me! Do you think the Princess looks like this? Everyone says she's so fancy." [00:36] 12Bells: "Or the Lover, from up north?" [00:36] 4...Can we make a deal with them, secure their alliance in exchange for protection, and absolutely forbid the kruthik from eating them? 14[00:36] * Joins: cbass [00:37] 12That depends on how persuasive you can be! 08[00:39] 13Ying's fang bites her lip as she looks to Eikichi. She didn't exactly see the Princess, even if Tatsuya knows what she's like, and she doesn't know hardly anything about the Lover. 14[00:39] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[00:40] * Joins: cbass 15[00:41] 10Eikichi: "You'd fit right in with the Princess. The Lover has a bit of a different style." 15[00:41] "You know she served me tea once." 15[00:42] "The Princess, I mean." [00:42] 12Bells: "And you're alive?" 08[00:42] 12She peers at Eikichi's crystalline visage. "...are you alive?" 15[00:42] 10Eikichi: "Why, of course! I survived an attack from the great Black Bells Chiming! Who in Creation could possibly defeat me?" [00:43] 13Flatterer. [00:44] 12Bells: "Hahaha! That's true! But you and your girlfriend got lucky actually." [00:45] 13Ying: "?" 13It comes out more like Mew? [00:45] 12The good news is, Ir makes her case well. The apostate village will be able, with the help of your resources, to sort of rotate along the periphery of the jungle and allow your army to pass without serious incident - in fact, they can even provide guides deeper into the jungle who know the lay of the land and of Raksi's empire. [00:45] 4Negotiations are straightforward here, too. This is honestly a blessing, to have locals holding down the fort near where they're going to make a staging area. Ir will adjust her plans to be as far as practically possible from the village while making guarantees of protection, lucre, and the liklihood of no small measure of revenge (she promises less in the revenge category, simply [00:45] 4because their goal is mainly theft, not the actual murder of the queen herself). [00:45] 12Bells looks at Ying in horror: "Oh, no, did I spoil it for you?!" 08[00:48] 13Ying: "I - um." 13Sweetly: "Eikichi, how many volumes am I missing?" [00:48] 13Please lie please lie please lie [00:49] 13Oh Sun don't ruin the nice dress why did she pick that lie to use 15[00:50] 10Eikichi: "Ying never read the first book because she's not in it." [00:50] 12Bells: "Aww." [00:51] 13Ying: "I've gotta now, though, that I've met you!" 13And maybe there's a really obvious warning, like 'don't try to play jokes on abyssals.' 15[00:51] 10Does that really seem like a lesson Eikichi would try to teach? [00:52] 13No. But a girl can dream. [00:52] 12Bells: "But anyway... anyway. I love it! I love the dress. How much?" [00:55] 13Ying: "Hmm. How about we call it - a fur trade? As long as you make sure to tail people where you got it~" [00:57] 13Ying: "Oh! Um. I'm not furmiliar with the costs, but my appurrentices were talking about buying a skeleton...?" 13She'll wave over Totokuro. [01:00] 12Bells: "REALLY? I mean really? You'd - ohhh that's easy. Absolutely. A bunch of skeletons. I'll make sure Typhon throws in all the good stuff for free. Leave it to me!" [01:00] 12There's a long pause. Bells adds, in a quieter voice: "How much for the first dress?" [01:02] 13Ying: "...consider it purrt of the payment fur the rest." [01:05] 12Bells: "Thank you. ...sorry." [01:05] 13She offers a bright smile to Bells. "I'm - when we meet again, would you mind talking about it?" [01:06] "You don't have to. I'd just like to have tea sometime. If you like tea." [01:06] 13She gets oddly flustered, towards the end. [01:07] 12Bells: "Um, I do when it's sweet. We could get some?" [01:07] 13Ying nods, seriously. "Chameowmile, extra sugar. Got it." 08[01:08] 12So it is that Ying makes inroads with the abyssal exalted of Thorns, while Ir and Blossom lay out a path across the land and Eikichi readies a path through the heavens. We'll see who walks down which... next week. 14[01:26] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:25] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:50] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[03:13] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:22] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[06:09] * Quits: Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[08:02] * Joins: tom 14[09:37] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:01] * Joins: hrolf_work 14[10:16] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:40] * Quits: hrolf_work (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:07] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:43] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[12:43] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[14:01] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:27] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[20:01] * Joins: tom 14[22:35] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Sat Jan 26 00:00:00 2019 14[00:47] * Joins: hrolf_work 14[01:15] * Quits: hrolf_work (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:16] * Joins: hrolf_work 14[01:20] * Quits: hrolf_work (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:08] * banana|peels is now known as anana 14[02:08] * anana is now known as banana 14[02:52] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:52] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:26] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:24] * Joins: hrolf_work 14[15:26] * Quits: hrolf_work (Client exited) 14[17:08] * Joins: tom 14[18:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:44] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:43] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:42] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:55] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:27] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sun Jan 27 00:00:00 2019 14[00:20] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[00:33] * Joins: hrolf_work 14[00:56] * Quits: hrolf_work (Client exited) 14[01:53] * Joins: tom 14[03:21] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Connection closed) 14[03:47] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[03:47] * Joins: cbass 14[07:17] * Parts: tom 14[09:01] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:32] * Joins: tom 14[11:18] * Joins: hrolf_work 14[12:21] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:41] * Quits: hrolf_work (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:02] * Joins: hrolf_work 14[13:19] * Quits: hrolf_work (Client exited) 14[13:21] * Joins: hrolf_work 14[14:43] * Quits: hrolf_work (Client exited) 14[15:22] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:28] * Joins: hrolf_work 14[15:52] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:13] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[18:00] * Joins: tom 14[18:23] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[18:23] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:19] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:43] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[21:15] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:29] * Joins: tom Session Time: Mon Jan 28 00:00:00 2019 14[00:43] * Quits: hrolf_work (Client exited) 14[01:01] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:15] * Joins: Crion 14[02:24] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:27] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[06:48] * Joins: tom 14[10:19] * Joins: hrolf_work 14[14:16] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:10] * Quits: hrolf_work (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:28] * Joins: hrolf_work 14[16:01] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:01] * Joins: cbass 15[17:14] * Disconnected 15[17:16] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[17:16] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[17:16] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[17:16] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[17:16] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:17] * Ferrinus is now known as Guest64909 14[19:24] * Quits: hrolf_work (Client exited) 14[19:51] * Guest64909 is now known as Ferrinus 14[19:51] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[20:15] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[20:18] * Joins: tom 14[22:28] * Joins: hrolf_work_ Session Time: Tue Jan 29 00:00:00 2019 14[00:25] * Quits: hrolf_work_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:25] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[02:25] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[02:25] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[03:05] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[03:50] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:06] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[11:35] * Joins: hrolf_work 14[13:59] * Joins: tom 14[14:47] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:33] * Joins: tom 14[15:48] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[17:33] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:35] * Quits: hrolf_work (Client exited) 15[20:05]  15[20:05]  15[20:05]  15[20:05]  15[20:05]  15[20:05] You could call this a multilateral diplomatic summit. 15[20:08] Stranger Visits Heaven is making tea for anyone who wants it. So far, of Xu Sim, Keldar, Lookshy's Vuol Ballare, The Mask of Winters, the Mask of Winters's three knights (only two of whom seem to be present) and now Octavian, the Living Tower, who arrived in the city the night before by some means no one's been able to nail down. 15[20:08] Or I should say, of all those people, no one's taken him up on it. 15[20:08] Sometimes a sentence is so long that you forget where it was supposed to go when you get to the end. [20:09] 14'A known feel,' as the children say. [20:09] 14Well, more tea for him. [20:11] Another, less-known feel is the one Stranger has at being at such a disadvantage. [20:11] 14Another, less-known feel is the one Stranger has at being at such a disadvantage. 15[20:11] Ballare gives Xu Sim a dirty look when Octavian announces himself. [20:11] 14It appears the Mask knows him from somewhere. 15[20:11] Somehow he can feel it through the mask. [20:13] 5Xu Sim will go for the tea and produce his steambreather, drawing from either as it suits him. He merely shrugs at the presence of a demon of the second circle. Octavian is no ally of Xu Sim's demonic enemies; it is known. [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar'll take some tea. It's too bad there's nowhere to immediately sit, unless the Thorns delegation is offering extra skele-chairs. 15[20:14] They sure are! Any takers? They assemble themselves right in front of you, out of skeletons that take themselves apart and crawl across the riverbank on clacking half-limbs...! [20:15] 14Stranger will pass on the throne of bone, personally. [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Nice. Presumably, Keldar's is reinforced with enough bone and sinew that it can take the weight of both the warrior and the superheavy artifact plate he's wearing. Vis-a-vis actual negotiations, Keldar's got a few concerns, but he figures Stranger should be the first to voice them. 15[20:17] Octavian points across the river, where Cethleann's still-teeming armies are obscured by the Yellow's sickly mist and the weird witch-lights. "The enemy is in our grasp and you talk?" 15[20:18] The Mask: "Sit, please. Make us all comfortable." To the group: "Whose is he?" 15[20:18] Octavian's on his feet instantly after starting to settle into a squad. "I belong to NO ONE--" [20:19] "The fabric of the Tapestry is thin across the River. The last time we tried to strike across, we ended up in the Underworld fending off insane ghosts," 5Xu Sim peevishly notes. [20:20] 14Stranger sips the tea. Best to let Octavian and Mask get this out of their systems, and observe their relationship. [20:20] 14Surely Octavian doesn't know him, too. 15[20:20] The Mask ignores Octavian. "Yes. It's a good thing, too, or I'd have been days getting here." 15[20:22] "The tapestry, as you put it, will hold for now, but it won't bear further weight. It stymies them as it does us. Any serious attempt to ford the river is a march into Oblivion." 15[20:22] Now the mask turns to Octavian. "Would you like to lead the charge? Or would you prefer to sit. Down." 15[20:24] Octavian brings his staff forward, murder in his eyes... but stamps it into the ground. He doesn't advance, but he doesn't sit either. [20:27] "There is tea should you desire it, Tower," 14Stranger says mildly, "but otherwise, we are to business." [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar watches this interaction play out and then takes a long sip of tea. 15[20:28] Octavian scowls at Stranger, but offers no further objection. [20:31] 14Stranger: "The purpose of this summit, as I see it, is to nip some things in the bud. Some of the obvious problems that our...bumping elbows so close to one another in this endeavor was bound to spark up." [20:31] 5Xu Sim coughs out a puff of vapor and takes a sip of tea. 15[20:38] Ballare: "Lookshy is prepared to treat the unannounced arrival of the Mask of Winters as an invasion in its own right, and his minions as invading agents." 15[20:38] The Governor: "We have stood in defense of Nexus longer than you have, madam, and with more to show for it." 15[20:39] Ballare: "Don't speak to me, you fucking carcass." [20:40] 14Stranger turns to stare at Ballare for as long as it takes her to meet his gaze. He doesn't say anything but the message is implicit: What did I say about not immediately starting a fight? 15[20:40] Seven: "If I may, I think it's unnecessary to burden the--" 15[20:40] The Governor: "You may not!" [20:40] 14Then he'll turn to stare at the Governor. [20:41] 14Generally, however, he'll let this little fracas sort itself out. 15[20:41] The Mask cracks the knuckle of his left index finger and both Seven and the Governor go silent and still. Their eyes are still moving, but that's it. 15[20:41] There's a heavy pause. 15[20:42] The Mask: "Yes I take your point, General, and I'd hate to provoke alarm while simply trying to help." 15[20:42] Ballare: "What are your intentions?" 15[20:43] The Mask: "I have just stated them." [20:43] 14Stranger: "If there is an initial point to be made here from the perpsective of the Council of Nexus, perhaps it should be that only one of the non-residents present here is subject to the binding oath that was sworn upon the embarkment of our defense against the marching raksha tide, and that person no longer holds command authority." [20:45] 5Xu Sim's eyes flicker between the conversationists, but he hesitates to speak up. [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods and speaks up here. "Happy to have all the help we can get - but a situation like this, we oughta renew the compact." 15[20:50] Octavian: "No." 15[20:50] The Mask: "No." 15[20:50] Ballare: "No." [20:51] 13After an... extremely interesting talk with Selin, followed by a gate with a name that might be (but probably isn't) a coincidence, Dead Man's Hand makes his way up to Firewander. It's a shop Xia Lan's been to several times, now, and it's probably the first place anyone would check for where Vladok's gone. Well, that or the undercity enclave, but if Vladok's aboveground, it's got to be here. [20:51] 13He drinks in the sights and sounds of the city as he makes his way over, taking stock of the situation on the ground. Probably could be better. Hopefully Xia Lan can help with some of that starting tomorrow, after another good night's rest following definitely a full day spent on bedrest being bored. Anyways. How's Firewander looking? [20:51] 14As if unconcerned by the chorus of denials: "In fairness and with respect, Octavian, I would not be approaching you yourself as a signatory." 15[20:52] Octavian: "What do you mean by that?" [20:54] 5Xu Sim takes another long drag on the steambreather and carefully considers the Mask's gesticulations; maybe the dark lord bears a ring of power that gives him mastery? [20:55] 14Stranger: "Traditionally, it is diplomatically appropriate to treat with a demon's summonor, not the demon himself. No matter the power in his visage." 14He sips his tea. "Unless, of course, you are unbound." 15[20:55] Octavian: "I stand before you beholden to no one but my own honor." 15[20:55] The Mask: "Oh, my." [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar takes another gulp of tea, and then a breath. "Okay, look." 12What was he gonna follow up with? He'd better come up with something fast here- "Look, the same problems that took the first oath to solve are still here in spades. A bunch of you don't trust each other and might not be, uh, appropriately conscientious to the city proper. We need a contractual framework here." [20:56] 14Stranger: "Then my apologies, Tower. That does present a wrinkle." 15[20:59] Ballare: "This city's under attack on all sides and you want to haggle over jurisdiction?" [21:01] "It's been said that war is haggling by other means," 5observes Xu Sim, in what seems to the sorcerer a pithy remark. [21:02] 14Stranger: "Haggling is what I do best, Dragonlord, and I am quite good at it. Do not discount the dreadful power of haggling." [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, because otherwise it's actually going to end up under attack from all sides, including the in-side." [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar goes 'heh heh' while everyone else mulls that one over. [21:05] 14To the group at large: "Clearly, things cannot remain as they are, because as the Dawn Sergeant has said either nothing will get done or the entirely wrong things will get done. None of you wish to be bound by a general oath of conduct, which is understandable and predictable, but of course the Governor has no choice in the matter which binds the Mask's hands to some degree. It is [21:05] my feeling, however, that we must at least come to a specific  agreement of some sort, even if it is just how to stay out of each other's way." [21:06] 14To the Mask: "Do you have any of your own business inside the city walls?" [21:08] 5Xu Sim sighs and takes a swig of the tea. Politics used to be something tedious, then it was a way to see Seven, and now it's a way to see Seven but it's somehow much worse. Well, he was promised a chance to judge the entity for himself. If it can grant the Second Breath and choose people like the Sun chose him, maybe he's a god? What sort of entity IS Mask of Winters? [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Our original terms were, let me see now: We're agreed to unite in defense of Nexus and Creation, to fight fully and freely, to respect our mutual sovereignty, and to honor the agreements we've already made, here and before, for that purpose. And we acknowledge that we fight not just for our principalities, but for all humankind. And we swear to uphold this agreement until [21:08] <@Ferrinus> Nexus is free from mortal peril." 12He adds: "Prior agreements related to, like, war spoils and such. I can get someone to turn the notes up." 15[21:10] Firewander is a ghost town - literally. Dead Man's Hand sees the roving echoes of people's higher souls in windows, down alleys, and lying in the street pleading for mercy. These are war dead, and war wounded. They're not from here, or if they are he doesn't recognize them. But this one's armor is branded - that's the seal of Deguo! And this one over here is dressed like one of the 15[21:10] steppe riders of the northeastern threshold. These are not old ghosts but new ones - the souls of Cethleann's thralls, trapped somehow in Firewander. 14[21:13] * Joins: hrolf_work [21:14] 13The ghost with the seal of Deguo - does he recognize the face? 15[21:14] No. 14[21:14] * Joins: hrolf_work_ [21:14] 13Phew. 14[21:17] * Quits: hrolf_work (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:17] * hrolf_work_ is now known as hrolf_work [21:22] 13Among the ghosts and the thralls, Dead Man's Hand came here to find Vladok. Stepping around the various souls, he'll eventually find himself outside of Vladok's shop, unless someone else is out here to stop him - time to ask what Octavian's been up to. 15[21:22] The sign on Vladok's door says CLOSED - UNTIL WE WIN [21:23] 13...sensible. Shoot. [21:24] 13Any sign Vladok's been here recently? Gonna be a little tricky to track him down elsewhere in the city. 15[21:26] The Mask tilts his head to look out over the cold and quiet chaos of the river. "Yes. We'll require a full appraisal of its war manses and sorcerous architecture to crush the invading armies without an awesome loss of perishable life." 15[21:26] Ballare: "Absolutely not." [21:27] 14Stranger: "And it is your intention to do this personally." 15[21:27] The Mask: "I don't think anyone else is up to the task. Prove me wrong at your leisure." 15[21:28] Octavian: "I came here to fight, not to loot. This city would be an insignificant stain in my empire." [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We've already got war manses at work for us and your underlings didn't mention any need to inspect the city." [21:28] 14Stranger looks over to Xu Sim. "As you request. Xu Sim, are you up to this task? Perhaps with assistance from one of the Mask's capable knights." 15[21:29] Ballare: "How exactly did you even get here, Octavian?" 15[21:29] Octavian: "Your war is bloody and prideful! I came as soon as I heard." 15[21:31] Dead Man's Hand is about to walk away when the door opens a crack and a smoking pipe sticks out. It withdraws almost instantly but the sound of a chain lock unlocking is as close to a "come in" as you can expect from Vladok. [21:32] 5Xu Sim: "I am not sure such an appraisal would be entirely prudent from our perspective, Mask of Winters." [21:33] 14Sigh. [21:33] 5He puffs on the steambreather, "But I assume you are interested in the work of Eresh Nin?" [21:34] "Clad in a raiment of," 5he snaps his fingers as he struggles for a moment to remember - "wonder!" 15[21:34] The Mask: "...from a certain perspective." [21:34] 14...! 15[21:35] "You're referring to the Tomb of Cold Iron, then. A tomb housing no one of special distinction, but equipped with a powerful furnace." [21:36] "A furnace we've dedicated to the production of the iron thistledown, yes," 5he nods in Seven's direction. "With the assistance of all the factions represented at this table, you might say. In one way or another." [21:36] 14Perhaps he should put a little more faith in the sorcerer at the negotiating table. At least when he has something to negotiate with. [21:37] 13Dead Man's Hand tips his hat towards the door as he strides into the shop. "Thanks, Vladok." 13He wipes his boots off just inside, taking a look around the place. Still immensely crowded with books? "Good ta see you again. In a manner of speaking." 15[21:37] Octavian: "You have thistledown? Why is it not already shredding the invader's armies! Or this one." [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The hell it's housing no one of special distinction!" [21:37] "However, I am concerned that your personal inspection could interfere with the sorcerous undertaking we've put together to aim the thing. That's why it would be imprudent. I am sorry if I gave the wrong impression." 5he doesn't sound particularly contrite. 15[21:38] "I mean no offense... was it Keldar? I didn't know that the people of Nexus held bean farmers in such esteem." [21:38] 14To Octavian: "Because our priorities are to win, not merely to kill. Without the dome of iron above Nexus right now, there would be legions of Cethleann's dream soldiers in our back ranks." [21:39] 5Xu Sim was about to explain the ammunition shortage but Stranger's answer is probably smarter. He takes a sip. 15[21:39] Octavian grunts. "Makes sense." [21:39] 14Stranger's eyes don't quite flash at the 'bean farmers' crack, but it's the closest they've come. "We have made a compact with the whole of the city for its defense. From the merchant lords down to the bean farmers." [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Pretty sure bean farming wasn't Lados's most salient hobby, buddy." 15[21:45] The Mask: "You must never have tasted his beans." 15[21:47] Vladok, querulously: "Shouldn't you be in bed? Also, do you want a drink? I'm drinking." [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What-" [21:48] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Like I told Selin, I'll be fine tomorrow either way. Doctor said it'd be fine, and I'm heading back there after this just in case anyone else tried to check." 13He pauses. "...what've you got?" [21:50] 14Stranger: "The Mask is very old and very well-travelled. For him to come here and wish entry to the city, well...it means there is something there he believes is worth his time. And perhaps he shall get the chance to examine it at his leisure...but he's also very canny, and knows no one here can countenance that -- including the Tower, I presume -- without some ironclad agreements." 15[21:51] Octavian: "Yeah, fuck him." 15[21:51] The Mask: "Charming." 15[21:53] The Mask: "But there are other sites." [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "If there's intelligence the Mask needs from the city, I'm sure Xu Sim can pull it together - but frankly I'm not sure anyone needs it. The northern front's... messy... but it's not like we were losing it to start with, and if the Mask wants to take the field in basically any capacity we've got it in the bag." 15[21:56] Vladok: "Just shine. Plain shine. It'll burn your moustache off." [21:56] 14Stranger: "That would be even trickier. What I propose will, I think, satisfy no one particularly well, but will get this done. You -- personally, The Mask of Winters -- will no longer participate in the Battle of Nexus in any capacity. You will save no lives, you will take no lives, you will take no action to sway the contest either way; your participation in this fight, and all [21:56] that it entails, is over. Furthermore you may not steal from Nexus, create Shadowlands in Nexus, set traps in Nexus -- your general good-faith observer's covenant. Command authority over your forces returns to the Governor of Thorns. For all intents and purposes, until an agreed-upon time, you become a ghost in the war." 15[21:56] Vladok comes out with a huge glass jug. "I was using it to strip the paint off the basement door." [21:57] 14Stranger: "But what does a ghost have? Freedom of movement. You may examine the city at your leisure. Look but don't touch. In some cases, touch but don't take." [21:57] 14Stranger: "We will miss you on the field, yes, but then..." 14He gestures to the demon. "Octavian likely will appreciate the lack of competition." [21:58] 13Dead Man's Hand's eyebrows raise. "I'll try a bit. Moustache needs to at least hold up 'til I can get back to the tents, though." 15[21:59] Octavian: "My only competitors are those I slay in battle. It's up to him whether he joins that number." [21:59] 14Yes, yes. 15[21:59] The Mask: "Your offer is very fair. Do you speak for the group?" 15[22:00] Ballare: "Absolutely not. Setting foot inside Nexus is an act of war, and Lookshy acting in defense of Nexus will not tolerate it." [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Furthermore most of what's in Nexus is private property. Anyone can walk the streets, but snooping around in, say, my steelworks's furnace is another story. I'm grateful for the assist the Mask gave Xu Sim and Xia Lan, but if he wants to offer more aid he should do it outside the city walls." 15[22:03] Vladok pours him a glass. It *burns*. "You didn't come all this way for a drink." [22:04] 14Internally, Stranger wants to scream at these two. This is a Deathlord. Previously he was constrained by the presence of literal Balor, but now, he holds the cards. We are doing damage control. [22:04] 14Externally, Stranger will sigh and say, "I might need a moment with my people." [22:05] 13Oof. That's the good stuff. "Came to ask about Octavian. Nobody else seems to know he's in the city, even. Big boy's pretty good at hiding." [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Alone - well, not alone, but talking with Stranger and Ballare but not the Thorns contingent, Keldar starts in: "If you're going to let him do a full inventory of our entire city to optimize some future invasion the least we could get in return is him winning the war for us." [22:06] 14To Octavian: "I would not want to take you from your war any longer than necessary, Tower. As far as compacts between us go, tell me your thoughts on this: outside of Nexus, you keep what you kill. You may punish any interference as you see fit without consequence from Nexus." 15[22:06] Octavian: "What are the boundaries of Nexus?" [22:07] 14In private on the facing river bank: "We HAVE something that can win the war for us already in Octavian, and he is far less dangerous and far easier to manipulate than a Deathlord." [22:07] "And I would consider the long-term consequences of permitting a Deathlord to do his thing in and around the city. The river-gods already cry out." [22:08] 14Stranger will give the generally-agreed upon borders of the city unless Keldar or Xu Sim interrupt. 15[22:09] Ballare: "Nexus won't survive his investigation. His very presence is toxic." [22:10] 14Stranger looks both of them squarely in the eyes, one then the other. "Fine, then. How do you plan to stop him by force of arms?" [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What? Having a demon lord in your pocket is nice, but, frankly, you and I are demon lords. One huge smelly guy with a stick doesn't turn the tide of this war." 15[22:10] She rounds on Stranger. "When you told me to hold my legion together to wield against the Mask letting him in for tea wasn't part of the deal." [22:10] 14To Ballare: "I told you to hold your legions together to wield against the Mask's LEGIONS, not the Mask himself." 15[22:11] Ballare: "So now I should ignore him? Ridiculous." [22:11] "I would not have advocated for you to fight the Mask of Winters because I value you and do not want to see you slaughtered over pride." 15[22:11] Vladok: "Not for long he won't be. Gets restless without something to hit. Did you warn your friends?" [22:11] "And that goes for the both of you." [22:11] 5Xu Sim sighs. "The Mask's very presence unmakes sorcery. The iron sphere we've got over the city is maintained through sorcery. And I am confident his interest lies in the Tomb." [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Even if he got to come in and window shop, letting him do a full inventory of my tomb's guts - of every tomb's guts - is another story entirely." [22:12] 13Another sip. "Not yet. I'll tell them tonight, and hope that he hasn't gone making too much of an impact just yet." [22:13] 14Stranger: "Again, I am open to suggestions. The deal I have on the table has him on a Sun-sworn oath not to walk in and turn Nexus into another Shadowland right before it's consumed by the Wyld." 15[22:13] Vladok snorts. "Hnh. What did you want to know?" [22:13] 14Stranger: "But what I need you to understand right now is you will have to give him something." [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We just ask him to leave. Right? If the fucked-up battlefield up north is what allowed him to zip over here from Thorns in seconds, he can just do it in reverse and we keep working with the Governor as planned." [22:14] 5Xu Sim bites his moustache. "I wonder if he knows what's at the heart of the Tomb." [22:14] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Do you know where he's been hiding out, and what he's gonna do when he's not hiding out anymore? Just to mentally prepare for what stories come rolling in." [22:15] 14Stranger: "First, we have no territorial rights to ask him to leave. He's not in the city. I believe the river has been established, a number of times, as a free zone for commerce and trade. Second, he's not going to leave without being given something in return because we do not have the potency to force him to leave." 15[22:16] Vladok: "No idea where he's been hiding. But he'll come out to fight. That's what we asked of him, and that's what he does. Octavian's been fighting as long as I've known him. He was a fighter before he's a lover and he'll be a fighter forever after." [22:16] 5Xu Sim: "But all else aside, regardless, if we allow him in it jeopardizes the city's thistledown defense. Whether or not he keeps his promises to look but not touch." [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It sure as hell jeopardizes the city's long-term defenses if the Mask knows the secret incantations that turn every Tomb into a bomb." [22:19] 14Stranger: "And it jeopardizes the short-term defenses if he lays waste to half the city and just takes them anyway." [22:19] 5Xu Sim: "Not every Tomb, I suspect. But he's going to be interested in yours given where it was made." [22:21] "We have to accommodate him, yes." 5Xu Sim can see Seven's face turning blue at his word. "But there has to be another way?" [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "He's not going to do that because he actually does need the fae to lose here. If he could just walk through us and the raksha like cobwebs he never would've sent his generals and troops up here. Also, the real Emissary isn't actually gone. Just much less precise." [22:22] 14Stranger: "I give much more credence to the latter point than the former. The Mask enjoys toying with people." [22:23] 13Dead Man's Hand: "...how long HAVE you known him, anyway?" 13Also, 'fighter before he's a lover and he'll be a fighter after' sure does imply some things she hadn't previously considered Octavian capable of, if she's not mishearing that or reading too much into the phrase. [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Much as I don't like it, the north front was always going to end up a wasteland. That's why the Governor and the rest of the Mask's flunkies are sworn to try to minimize or wipe away any shadowlands that form. If the Mask's fighting up there it'll end up worse than before, but, well, that problem's already factored in." 15[22:23] "Since before I was born." Vladok empties his glass. [22:24] 14Stranger: "This is why I don't want the Mask helping with the fighting. It improves his claims on the city. He's not bound by either oath or previous agreement. Letting him with the war for us increases what he can demand." [22:24] "Do you really think he won't just let the Governor burn if it comes to that?" [22:25] "Not just the Governor." [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "He probably would, but he doesn't want to, and he could just as easily order his flunkies to curse themselves and sabotage our fields while sitting back in Thorns." [22:26] 14Stranger: "I think we'd be much better served if we stopped wishcasting what the Mask might do and started devising how to protect ourselves from the worst he could inflict in bad faith." [22:26] 5Xu Sim: "If he was here for the war he would have come sooner, surely. He's here because something's changed." [22:27] 14To Xu Sim: "What changed, beyond yourself and Xia Lan needing his aid?" [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What I'm saying is that the worst he could inflict gets much worse if he gets to do a full assay of our entire city beforehand." [22:27] 14Stranger: "Is he here for you? Is he here for the girl?" [22:27] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Pretty long time to know a guy. How's that work, anyway?" 13He's no sorcerer. 15[22:28] Vladok grunts. "Hard to explain. Before I changed my name I was someone else." 15[22:28] "But you know what that's like, don't you?" [22:28] 5Xu Sim shrugs. "He was curious about me. But I think it's the Tomb, it's what he went for straight away, right? The Tomb was built in the underworld, it's got... secrets... and the Mask is the hugely puissant ghost of an ancient sorcerer. That might be enough to draw him here in person." [22:29] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Little bit." [22:29] 14To Keldar: "There's an upper cap on the worst he can do to us: slaughter us all and turn Nexus into a second Thorns. He can do that regardless of knowing the Tomb's secrets, because we do not actually have the ability to use the Tomb on him again. We're out of ammunition." 15[22:30] Ballare: "Keldar is right. We tell him to leave. There can't be any other terms." [22:30] 14To Ballare: "This would be an excellent time to reveal you have something that can stand against the Deathlord besides your admirable courage and faith in your men." 14His tone is agitated, but he is sincere; he both believes in the skill of her legions and her own personal potency, and is hoping somehow there's an out she's been keeping in reserve. 15[22:31] Ballare: "If anything that walks the earth can stand against the ballistae of the Final Word, I haven't seen it. No matter how powerful he is he's just a ghost. We have dominion over ghosts." [22:31] 5Xu Sim, voice rising. "We can't risk that. I won't." [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "My tomb, specifically, isn't a special weapon against the Mask, but it could become an incredible weapon against us for all we know. And he can't just roll over us casually - might not even be able to do it with difficulty. Juggernaut's still half the Threshold away, the Emissary lives, we're here, and, obviously, Lookshy among other kingdoms would stand against him with [22:31] <@Ferrinus> us." 15[22:32] Vladok: "I won't sugarcoat it. Octavian is a monster. He thinks you can reach Heaven through violence." 15[22:32] "But at least he's honest." [22:33] "He can threaten more than the city," 5pleads the doctor. [22:33] 14Stranger: "Xu Sim is correct...but I believe we're at an impasse, aren't we?" [22:34] 13Dead Man's Hand: "The honest ones are easier to deal with. Rather get mauled from the front than stabbed in a back, plus intrigue gives me a headache." 15[22:34] Vladok: "So will that shine if you don't go easy on it. You're still convalescing." [22:35] "We have to give him something else," 5suggests Xu Sim. [22:35] 14Stranger: "Do you have something in mind?" [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I guess if he can explain exactly what he means to gain from my tomb and swear an oath about it and never using it against us, I could allow him to have a look, but I can't see him agreeing to that. There's no way he just wants to admire the decor." [22:36] "You don't want the answer to that question," 5Xu Sim cautions Keldar. [22:36] 13Dead Man's Hand, unimpressed: "I was a bandit. I can hold my liquor." 13He'll slow down, though. "Appreciate the warning about Octavian. But what's brought you back up here, other than the spirits?" [22:37] "I could write something. A report. Give it to him. It'll tell him what he already knows, no doubt. Maybe that could give us the time to lift the siege, get us more options." 5Xu Sim suggests. 15[22:38] Vladok gestures out the shuttered window with his glass. "The spirits. Can't have ghosts wrecking my shop while I'm away." [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, to Xu Sim: "If you want to do some kind of assay for him that's another story. I'm sure you know what'd actually be relevant and important to pass along, and what he should never get to know." [22:40] 14Eyeing Ballare and Keldar: "A strange voting bloc the two of you make, but perhaps a fitting one. Would you accede to the idea of very limited access if Lookshy is a stakeholder in it? I appreciate your principles and agree the Mask must fall but we can't do that today." [22:41] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Haven't really seen anything like it, not even here. Especially not here, actually. Got any idea why they're here?" 15[22:44] Vladok: "It's Thorns. It must be Thorns. Their stink gets into everything." [22:45] 13A grimace. "And I gave them a way to get their claws in even deeper." 15[22:46] Vladok: "Self-pity always helps." [22:47] 13Dead Man's Hand: "I've gotten pretty good at it, over time." [22:47] 14He continues: "The way I see it, regardless of how you feel about each other -- and each of you has done the other wrong -- you are both the strongest, most strident voices in opposition to Thorns and the Mask that we have here. What's more, you've both been the strongest voices in defense of the territorial freedom of Nexus -- and Ballare, you're not even oathbound. I think it's [22:47] time we started working together on this, and I think you don't need my input for that, regardless of how we end up on the Mask issue." [22:48] 5Xu Sim is chain-steaming enormous clouds of vapor. 15[22:50] Vladok: "So what are you going to tell the others?" [22:53] 13Xia Lan's voice slips. "...I don't know. I was offered a way to help out, assured that he would only fight against Cethleann, and we needed the help? And I'm sorry for not saying something sooner?" 13She sighs and takes another sip. "...don't think that's going to be enough." 15[22:59] Vladok: "Enough for who?" [23:00] 13Xia Lan: "Tsuka." [23:00] "Earlier I compared the Mask to a scorpion climbing on the back of a sleeping baby. But perhaps we should instead consider the asp about to strike: he must be distracted by something worthy of his attention and contemplation," 5Xu Sim explains. 15[23:01] Vladok: "Just tell him the truth. By the pricking of your thumb, something wicked this way comes." [23:01] 14Stranger: "As you've said before. But we can't negotiate blind on that." [23:02] "Inside the Tomb of Red Hot Iron, there is such a thing. I believe it could attract his attention," 5Xu Sim suggests. [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What specifically?" [23:03] Xu Sim has no intention of answering that question under these circumstances. "It is of no concern at present. It's essential to the operation of the Tomb, and the pylon empowering the thistledown." [23:04] 5Xu Sim has no intention of answering that question under these circumstances. "It is of no concern at present. It's essential to the operation of the Tomb, and the pylon empowering the thistledown." [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That sounds like something we want him to have no understanding of or experience with." [23:04] 13Xia Lan: "I should have told him this morning. He came to see me." 13She shakes her head. "I just hope Octavian doesn't do anything I'll regret." [23:06] "Only something truly valuable will suffice," 5Xu Sim retorts. "And perhaps we could part with that, or whatever lies at the heart of the Firewander. Or perhaps the Eye of Balor, itself. I keep identifying more and more terrifying things for Mask of Winters to possess." 15[23:06] Vladok: "You love regretting things more than anyone I've ever met." [23:07] 13Xia Lan: "I have a lot of practice." [23:08] "...sorry." 13Dead Man's Hand's voice is back. "I'm still in a bad mood from - well, yesterday, I guess." [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Nnno. Nothing needs to suffice. If he was so scary that we actually needed to be rooting around in our pockets for valuables to throw at him then he wouldn't need us to beat the raksha and he wouldn't have needed an army - and a behemoth - to take Thorns." [23:09] 14Stranger shows the first hints of frustrations as he listens to them go in circles. He was willing to pay a dread price to get the Mask out of their hair, guaranteed under heavenly sanction, and now they're just going in circles. [23:09] 14To Keldar: "You're willing to stake the city on that?" [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You're the one staking the city on that by inviting him to stroll around in its guts! You notice how he just immediately said he liked the idea? It's way more than he expected to get out of this." [23:11] 5Xu Sim: "Let's step back for an instant. Why didn't he already enter Nexus?" [23:11] 14Stranger: "In my estimation he's still not sure how the previous Emissary would react." [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Because he doesn't actually want to provoke a war within a war, and, yeah, the Emissary's still around." 15[23:17] Vladok: "Me too." [23:17] "All of these plans are unacceptable. But we could present him with a bauble sufficient to hold his attention long enough to end the war and broaden our options. Specifically," 5he glances ruefully at Keldar -"The soulsteel cube at the heart of the Tomb of Red-Hot Iron containing the maddened, tortured ghost of Lados, which has to date powered the thistledown pylon." [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What?" [23:18] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Hmm?" [23:18] 5Xu Sim: "What?" [23:18] 14Stranger: "...He'd have to have it on consignment. And we'd need a plan to replace it." [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Sorry, run that by me again?" [23:18] "CAN it be replaced?" [23:19] "Because if it can't this discussion is over before it's begun." [23:19] 14Stranger: "Secondly, what could he do with it?" [23:20] 14Stranger: "Thirdly, how is this not flatly worse than just letting him look at it?" [23:20] 5Xu Sim: "At the center of the Tomb, sorcerously hidden, there's a cube of soulsteel. Inside that cube, according to the terrified inscriptions on the outside anyway, is the ghost of Lados. The occupant of the tomb. It's powerful, and ancient, and it could be replaced. With the Eye of Balor, for instance." [23:20] 14Stranger pinches the bridge of his nose. [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...there's a fucking, a fucking cube with a- gods dammit. And if not for that the entire Tomb's inert?" [23:21] 5Xu Sim nods. "It's not powered by geomancy. Necromancy." 15[23:22] Vladok: "This is a lousy war. It makes us meaner and weaker." [23:22] 14Stranger: "I still want answers to the other questions but if he gets a necromantic cube it is the ONLY spoil and claim the Thorns contingent takes from Nexus. They withdraw and we treat solely with Lookshy." [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well we obviously can't let the Mask get even a whiff of that, what the fuck. That's worse than anything I imagined. Who knows what he could do with that shit?" [23:22] 14Stranger: "He already knows." [23:22] "He already baited you about Lados." [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I just thought it meant he was six thousand years old or whatever!" [23:23] "He might not know about the cube," 5Xu Sim adds, "helpfully". [23:23] 5But he's not quite confident about it, either. [23:23] 14Stranger: "I hate to mention this possibility, but we have allowed Sevenfold Scion more or less open access to the Tomb, yes?" [23:24] "She accompanied me inside when we installed the pylon," 5Xu Sim answers, quietly. [23:24] 14Stranger: "So we have to assume he knows." [23:24] 13Dead Man's Hand: "I'm... not thrilled about it. But what choices do we have? It's happening, and we simply have to... react." [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But the cube's hidden deep, right? She might not have seen it?" [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Which ghost is it, anyway? Hun or po?" [23:26] 14Stranger: "We can hope she didn't, and we can hope that if she did, she didn't tell him, but we have to assume the worst." 14How close are we on the calendar to Convergence? [23:26] 14*Calibration [23:26] Xu Sim doesn't respond to further questions about Seven. "I'm not going to open the thing and find out! If we have sentimental attachment to the cube why not offer him the Eye, then? That's what everyone seems to want," 5he points out. 15[23:27] It's early in the year yet - you've got 10 months until Calibration next. [23:27] 5Xu Sim doesn't respond to further questions about Seven. "I'm not going to open the thing and find out! If we have sentimental attachment to the cube why not offer him the Eye, then? That's what everyone seems to want," 55he points out. [23:27] 14Stranger: "I want even less to do with the fallout of giving away the Eye, from both the former Emissary, the raksha, and the Council itself." [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The Eye's not ours to offer. In fact, that's a separate conversation - got a diplomat from Elegba's camp with some funny ideas about it. We might have to have a sit-down with the general and the Emissary both." [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But either way, that psycho definitely can't be allowed to study my preincarnation's cube prison, and if there's some way we can ward it from outside necromantic tampering that it doesn't already enjoy we want to do it as soon as convenient." [23:29] 14Stranger: "We could offer to give him the cube and extract a heavy price. He is not allowed to step foot out of the Underworld until the Calibration following one year and one day. If he accepts, we get 22 months to prepare for the backlash. If he declines, we get a better idea of its value." [23:30] 14Stranger: "We could put paid to Thorns in that time." [23:31] 14Stranger: "And if the proposal enrages him such that he decides to take it, we stand together, hope the former Emissary stands with us, and pray." [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar shakes his head. "You two are rolling over before he even bothers to make threats. He's not going to attack Nexus under circumstances like these and giving him any of our shit will end up worse than the northern front ending up twenty percent more cursed than it otherwise would've been." [23:32] 14Stranger: "The Mask of Winters doesn't need to make threats. He is the threat." [23:32] 5Xu Sim nods vigorously. [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "No, he, his knights, his armies, and his juggernaut are the threat. And a lot of those things are back on the coast of the inland sea." 15[23:36] Vladok: "Yep." He looks down at his glass. "Do you want to hide here until it's over?" [23:38] 5Xu Sim frowns but says nothing. [23:39] 14Stranger: "And I don't think he needs any of those things to do us unrecoverable harm. But this session is useful: I think we've learned precisely what the Mask wants." [23:40] "Perhaps we should go back to the table and see how honest his demands are in trying to get it." [23:40] 13Xia Lan: "...I couldn't. There are too many people counting on me." 13Yes. "What I want and what I have to do - here I am, by grace of the Sun, and who am I to deny Him?" [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah. He's said what he wants but not what he'll fight for." [23:41] 14Unless Ballare has objections, Stranger will reconvene the negotiations. Has Octavian hung around? [23:41] 14Oh, forgotten in all this was the deal. Did anyone object to letting Octavian roam the countryside outside of Nexus claiming whatever spoils he wished from the fallen? 15[23:42] Octavian is stomping around impatiently. [23:43] 5When would Octavian return? When the war is done? 15[23:43] That depends how he got here. 15[23:43] Which nobody's really figured out. [23:43] 14Stranger will take an hour to meditate before they return, if Octavian's temper and the Mask's forbearance will permit it. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12If, as Keldar understands it, Octavian's just here to slay raksha - and isn't actually here with an army or something - he's not really concerned with setting the terms of the demon's participation except to make it clear that if Octavian runs afoul of Nexus's laws or the oath-sworn armies he'll regret it. [23:44] 13I bet Octavian just sort of showed up one day and it was fine and not at all suspicious. [23:44] 5Summoning demons isn't even that big a deal. But it would take more than a mortal sorcerer to pull it off... 15[23:46] Xia Lan's answer seems to please Vladok. "You should get going then. Your people need you rested." [23:48] 13Clever ass. "...thank you, Vladok." 13It takes her a moment to get back into character. Dead Man's Hand stands up with nary a wobble. "I'll take my leave. And see you when I see you - I'll be busy again starting tomorrow." 15[23:49] "Get to work." [23:50] 13He tips his hat on the way out. "Gonna have to drink with you again sometime. Maybe not in this ridiculous get-up." 15[23:53] Vladok: "I've got plenty of shine." [23:56] 13A short while later, Dead Man's Hand has made his way back to Xia Lan's tent, ready to go in, remove the disguise, and enjoy an utterly boring afternoon, likely passing the time reading trashy romance novels. And indeed, if no one stops her, and there doesn't seem to be a scene near her tent, she will do precisely that. [23:59] 14Soon, Stranger will be ready to resume negotiations. Session Time: Wed Jan 30 00:00:00 2019 15[00:01] Stranger finds the leaders of Thorns deep in conversation of their own, and Octavian looking madder and madder. [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's pretty sure that he and Ballare understand each other here, so he also returns to the riverfront to resume normal talks. [00:02] 14Join the club, Octavian. [00:05] 14The tea set is as Stranger left it, hopefully. Surely mucking with it would violate the rules of hospitality. "Mask of Winters, Living Tower, I greet you both. Further negotiation has...moved the terms of my proffered deal about. It is such that we require clarifications, before the possibility of allowing you into Nexus is put on the table. Notification of goals, and ways and [00:05] means of getting there." [00:05] "Straight-forwardly, we'd like to know your demands." [00:05] 14Before that... [00:07] 14To Octavian: "We've reached a consensus you might find acceptable, Living Tower. Beyond the walls of the city...you keep what you kill. You have prize rights and rights of first refusal to anything you end yourself, and a seat at the table for any prize you had a hand in felling -- one of the faerie generals, for instance, or a particularly potent raksha. In return, you do what [00:07] you were going to do anyway, and leave Nexus to its own devices." 15[00:08] Octavian: "That's fair." [00:09] 14Stranger looks about the table. "This is not a formal oath, but for the good of our shared fight, I hope everyone here will respect it the way that the Council of Nexus will." [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It's a free city. He can do what he likes, so long as he abides by the law and doesn't interfere with our armies. That said, we might need one of the generals, so be warned." 15[00:13] Octavian: "So long as you don't need them alive." 15[00:13] NEXT TIME: Seven's choice 14[00:37] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:54] * Quits: hrolf_work (Client exited) 14[01:29] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:08] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[07:02] * Joins: tom 14[10:06] * Joins: hrolf_work 14[10:23] * Quits: dammitwho (Connection closed) 14[10:23] * Joins: dammitwho 14[10:34] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:38] * Joins: dammitwho 14[11:05] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[11:05] * Joins: dammitwho 14[11:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:43] * Quits: dammitwho (Connection closed) 14[11:44] * Joins: dammitwho 14[11:56] * Joins: Crion_ 14[11:59] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:56] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:28] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:13] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:23] * Joins: hrolf_work_ 14[19:24] * Quits: hrolf_work (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:24] * hrolf_work_ is now known as hrolf_work 14[19:57] * Quits: hrolf_work (Client exited) 14[20:56] * Joins: hrolf_work 14[21:52] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:52] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[22:54] * Quits: hrolf_work (Client exited) 14[23:14] * Joins: hrolf 14[23:32] * Joins: hrolfie 14[23:34] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Thu Jan 31 00:00:00 2019 14[00:19] * Joins: mattbaby 14[00:21] * Joins: hrolf_work 14[00:25] * Quits: hrolf_work (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:25] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:25] * Joins: hrolf 14[00:28] * Joins: hrolf_work 14[00:30] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:43] * Quits: hrolf_work (Client exited) 14[01:29] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:49] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:04] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[03:11] * Joins: tom 14[09:48] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[09:49] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[10:14] * Joins: hrolf_work 14[12:04] * Quits: hrolf_work (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:09] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[12:09] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[12:09] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[12:23] * Joins: hrolf_work 14[13:35] * Joins: VoxPrimey 14[13:36] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:31] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:42] * Joins: tom 14[17:18] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Quit: ) 14[17:18] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[17:57] * Quits: hrolf_work (Client exited) 14[18:32] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12,1 . . . . . . [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12,1 . . * . . . . [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12,1 . . . * [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12,1 . ____ . . . . . [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12,1 >> . . . [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12,1 . . /WWWI; \ . . . ____ . . . [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12,1 * /WWWWII; \=====; . /WI; \ * 9,1.12,1 /\_ . [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12,1 . /WWWWWII;.. \_ . ___/WI;:. \ 9,1.12,1 _/M; \ . . . [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12,1 /WWWWWIIIIi;.. \__/WWWIIII:.. \____ . . /MMI: \ * . [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12,1 . _/WWWWWIIIi;;;:...: ;\WWWWWWIIIII;. \ /MMWII; \ . . . [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12,1 /WWWWWIWIiii;;;.:.. : ;\WWWWWIII;;;:: \___/MMWIIII; \ . [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12,1 /WWWWWIIIIiii;;::.... : ;|WWWWWWII;;::.: :;IMWIIIII;: \___ * [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12,1/WWWWWWWWWIIIIIWIIii;;::;..;\WWWWWWIII;;;:::... ;IMIII;; :: \ . [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12,1WWWWWWWWWIIIIIIIIIii;;::.;..;\WWWWWWWWIIIII;;.. :;IMIII;::: : \ [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12,1WWWWWWWWWWWWWIIIIIIii;;::..;..;\WWWWWWWWIIII;::; :::::::::.....:: \ [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12,1%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%XXXXXXX [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12,1%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%XXXXXXXXXX [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12,1%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%XXXXXXXXXXXXX [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12,1%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12,1%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12,1%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 08[20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Weeks pass in the eastern threshold - and not in the eastern threshold, admittedly - as the Squared Circle lays groundwork, makes plans, or just goofs around. Ir and Blossom have completed a two-week round trip in which they scouted out an overland route for their kruthik armies to follow. Back in Nexus, Ying has reconnected with an old, uh, acquaintance while Eikichi has come closer [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12and closer to a sorcerous breakthrough. [20:20] 13Hey now, Ying had never met Black Bells Chiming before. 6And Tatsuya never came out to say hi. 13Still! There's been plenty of time to get to know one another better after that, um. Horrible misunderstanding. That happened. [20:21] 14Scouted out the route, made some friends (or at least allies of convenience) near the jungle, got weirdly threatening and aggro towards a bunch of random bandits before giving them more lucre than they'd ever seen in one place in their entire lives -- all in a fortnight's work. [20:21] 4Scouted out the route, made some friends (or at least allies of convenience) near the jungle, got weirdly threatening and aggro towards a bunch of random bandits before giving them more lucre than they'd ever seen in one place in their entire lives -- all in a fortnight's work. [20:24] 7It's not weirdly threatening. They're bandits and we want them to go away. That's completely normally threatening. [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12But does a victory royale await our heroes in the depths of the eastern jungles... either way, the Squared Circle is free to reconvene and make followup plans. Great Forks is as they left it; Nexus seems ever closer to Thorns, with undead servants becoming increasingly common sights in streets and storefronts and featuring heavily in the upcoming gladiatorial games. It's probably [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12more ethical to have gladiators fight zombies than each other, right? Although they still do die if they lose, for the most part. [20:25] 4What's a victory royale? Is that when we jump out of the Heavensward into a fight and the last one standing wins? [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, largely, it's the reason that I have so much more spending money nowadays. 15[20:25] 10That's what they call a quarter victory on the Blessed Isle. 15[20:28] 10Eikichi's the first to greet Blossom and Ir at the skydock, a vision of unearthly crystalline perfection that it almost hurts to look at directly. Much easier to focus on the bag of carrots. 08[20:30] 4I think I know the answer to this, but does that mean the skydock is a vision of unearthly crystalline perfection now, or is it still just Eikichi? 15[20:30] 10It's just Eikichi. [20:30] 13Ying will be there, too. Still looking like an adorable cat and not a pure form of starlight. [20:31] 7Blossom coughs frantically. She was not prepared for this! 15[20:32] 10Eikichi greets Blossom serenely. "Hello, sunlight." 08[20:33] 4Ir brings the ship into dock and ties her off. Nexus...has seen better days, clearly. After tamping down the impulse to shield her eyes from the glare off of Eikichi, she greets the two of them and asks: "What in the world was that tacky...bone construction?...we flew over on the way in?" [20:33] 7She swallows painfully. "Are you... modelling for Ying? How--" [20:34] 13Ying: "That's something Thorns is doing because Tatsuya's bad at his job!" 13She's still beaming and actually launches herself towards Ir for a big hug. "Welcome back!" 15[20:35] 10Eikichi: "Typhon is overseeing construction of something the Mask of Winters can use to contain and draw energy off the Candle Titan." 08[20:35] 7Blossom understands this situation, like all situations, perfectly. Eikichi knows how incredible he looks, but he still wants Blossom to say it. This is a correct and understandable motivation. "Eikichi, you're so beautiful that it's actually hard to look at you. How do you manage?" 08[20:35] 7Blossom understands this situation, like all situations, perfectly. Eikichi knows how incredible he looks, but he still wants Blossom to say it. This is a correct and understandable motivation. "Eikichi, you're so beautiful that it's actually hard to look at you. How do you manage?" [20:36] "Oof! Hello, you." 4She actually catches Ying in a spinning hug to bleed off the momentum and set her down. "Maybe he's born with it. Maybe it's fae-god sheen." 15[20:37] 10Eikichi: "Oh, this? It's nothing. I just contemplate the blessed harmony of perfect symmetry until I achieved a purity of essence. But come on! I've got something to show you both." [20:38] "Good news: we've secured a path north for the kruthik without having to kill anyone, pumped up our rep with some dissolute bandits along the way by being fearsome and kind, and even have some local allies on the jungle edge." [20:38] 13After the spin, she (much more carefully) hugs Blossom, then hops back a few steps to regular conversational distance. "He gave me such a shock just. Showing up like that! To my shop!!" [20:38] 4Ir: "Lead the way." [20:38] 13Ying: "You did - how?? Or - I guess we can walk and talk." 15[20:40] 10Eikichi leads them a few hundred yalms to a cushy private stable he rented. They have to push through a small crowd of children to reach the pen where Errant and Ami pace back and forth, both of them occasionally stopping to stretch long, luxurious golden wings. [20:40] 4Ir: "Wore a lot of different hats. Well, like, two. Last Westerly Star put in another appearance or two to pay off some farmers directly, and then we flew the Heavensward directly over a rogue bandit kingdom so I could jump down forty yalms to the ground and go style on the boss to tell him to clear out before airdropping a bunch of money for their time." 15[20:41] "They need carrots to keep the feathers that color," 10he explains, holding a carrot out for Ami and Errant in each hand. [20:41] "The beastman are actually exiles from Queen Bigshot's Kingdom of Cannibal Death, so they were more than willing to--oh my god!!" [20:42] 4She doesn't quite squeal, but she does run over to Errant to hug his neck, marvel at his wings, and feed him. Horse girls. 08[20:42] 13Ying's eyes are shining. The first time she was here, Eikichi had to stop her from jumping at them, but she's over that particular impulse. [20:45] 7Technically, Ami already had luxurious golden wings, but there's a clear difference here. "You made them actually fly?" 15[20:45] Eikichi's grinning. "I don't know why we keep the gate shut, even. They're basically in there on the honor system." 08[20:48] "Anddd up" 4Ir swings onto Errant's back, running her hand through his mane. "Anything I need to know before takeoff?" 4It's slightly unclear whether she's talking to Eikichi or the horse, here. Probably both? [20:48] 13Ying scrambles back from the gates, just in case. [20:49] 7Blossom is scratching Ami under her beak and stroking her feathers! Incredible! Good bird! 15[20:50] 10Eikichi: "I haven't tried taking them upside down. No promises." [20:52] "More fun for us, then. Yah!" 4She urges Errant forward and they leap into the air. [20:52] 13You maniacs. [20:52] 13...actually that looks like fun... 08[20:54] 7Blossom steps back, sighs with satisfaction, and turns to Eikichi and Ying. "Anybody want a ride?!" [20:55] 13Ying is hopping up and down and waving a hand in the air. "Pick me pick me pick me pick me" 15[20:55] 10Eikichi motions for Ying to go ahead. [20:55] "Yessssssssssss," 13she purrs out as she (gently) hops into Ami's pen. [20:57] 4The first fifteen minutes are about reconnecting with a friend she honestly hasn't gotten to see as often as she'd like, and the only creature currently in this world who has known her as both Maryam and Ir. The next thirty are about testing limits -- seeing how fast Errant can go, testing her balance this high up without the comforting feedback vibration of hooves against dirt, [20:57] 4deciding judiciously to save going upside down for a later date. The last fifteen minutes are cooldown. [21:01] 13Fly me to the moon, and let me play among the stars~ [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12The farther Ir ranges, the more people notice, and before long there are shouts and cheers following her path across the Nexus skyline. She's been away from the city for a while, and has clearly been missed - people shout questions and pleas relating to concerts, arena outings, regular old autograph signings. [21:02] 4...Yeah, she should probably do some of that. [21:03] 7Ami lets out a triumphant 'WARK!' as they leave the pen, and then WOOMPH it's up into the sky! Rather than trying for speed with two people on her back, Blossom takes Ami in big, broad curves over the city. It's a shame the city is such absolute garbage, but it looks a little bit better from up in the air. [21:03] 4She'll made a mental note to get in touch with the Arena bookers and see if they can schedule an exhibition match for her, maybe with a concert the day before or after, and resolves to hit up her food banks and make some pitza. [21:04] 13Ying is clutching Blossom pretty tightly but makes sure to wave once or twice before immediately holding onto her again for dear life. [21:04] 6Also, hey, Nexus is fine. 13Dork. 6Wow. 08[21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi, incidentally, has been missed at the salons, libraries, and rich magnates' manors he frequently haunted back during the Circle's original stint in Nexus. I'm not sure how much time he found to keep making appearances while in the midst of sorcerous experimentation, though. [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12There are definitely socialites and intellectuals, generally on the younger side, hungry for hot takes on The Thorns Question or which Realm house is likely to come out on top in the coming political upheaval or what have you. 08[21:09] 7They're probably also hungry for Eikichi himself. They cannot have him. [21:09] 4Hungry, and undoubtedly thirsty, too. [21:09] 13Glad to see y'all's heads went to the same place. [21:09] 7You can't be thirsty for a snack! 15[21:09] 10Eikichi put his hours in. Ying had outfits she wanted modeled, Eikichi had a look he wanted to publicize, and these drugs don't sell themselves. Though they almost do. [21:09] 13Nor for a whole dang meal. 15[21:15] 10Eikichi defers questions of politics - not for the parties, darling! But Tinder Tam has shown him the benefits of shorter-form polemical writing. Within a week, pamphlets and newsprint circulate describing the devastating effects undead automation have on the working classes of the city, driving down wages and pushing mortal laborers out of work. Eikichi alternates between wrenching, 15[21:15] 10maudlin stories of their pitiable conditions and outright scaremongering about what a newly embittered and idled underclass might take as the source of their problems. [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12I mean, pretty much all of you, at the absolute minimum, are frequent recipients of some extremely forward fan mail. It's a testament to the modern, libertarian values of Nexus that marriage propositions and whatnot are so often rooted in awe and infatuation without at the same time being means of securing political or business alliances (those also come in droves, obviously). [21:18] 13Anything good? [21:19] 4Ir's mad at her boyfriend, but not so pissed off she's willing to risk accidentally getting married under some nutty local by-law to spite him by hooking up with fans. 15[21:22] 10Eikichi reads all of his fan mail, often multiple times. [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12I mean, it's a mixed bag. Over the weeks, Ying has plenty of chances to make people special outfits, let heartachey teenagers down gently, and avoid or terrorize creeps - sometimes all at the same time. Sadly, the true apple of her eye is either ignoring her or playing hard to get, although the Emissary is sometimes seen in the black outfit Ying made for him a while ago. [21:25] 13Sun-crossed lovers... [21:28] 13She's going to have to make him something even better, and also apologize for disappearing for... Weeks? Months? 08[21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's writings take quickly - but, almost as quickly, there are responses, circulating across the bulleting boards, drawing rooms, and coffeehouses of Nexus! Some are in favor and some are opposed, but a writer calling themselves "The Forward Channel" has a great deal to say about the benefits offered by undead labor to industry, to advancement, to the common man... certainly, [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12there are teething troubles in Nexus, but surely mankind can only benefit in the long run from being freed from onerous and often dangerous physical labor. It's quite convincing at first blush, citing various historical parables as well as the (supposedl) modern-day experience of living humans in the state of Thorns. [21:35] 4Reading about politics from others' perspectives rather than drawing your own conclusions from belief and experience...risky business. [21:36] 7What's Blossom's fan mail like? [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, upon looking into it, Ir learns that the arena has been ticking along quite well in her absence. The rogue's gallery of veteran gladiators has put on a few highly popular events in her absence, although the old man unaccountably equipped with an artifact bow seems to have bought it in some kind of accident. Thorns's contributions have done a lot for recent events, since [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12necromancy makes gladiators effectively reusable... but the really big events seem to have starred a new face nicknamed "the dragonslayer" ("the dragon slayer"?). Supposedly he broke a dragon's back, although there's no way it was a real dragon because no one's that rich. Ir can meet him if she likes. [21:42] 4Sure, why not. [21:42] 4Long as he hasn't sent any fan mail. [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Funnily enough, Blossom herself doesn't have huge fame in Nexus, unless there's something I'm forgetting - most of her influence comes from the fact that she's Ir's agent and therefore main point of contact with the Guild. There's a lot of bureaucratic and business communications with headers like URGENT - PLEASE READ!!! because Ir's events are the kind that forge jade out of thin [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12air and the more she can be booked the better. However, Nexus is also a place at which word and goods from elsewhere in the threshold flow, and Blossom hears a lot more stuff both from the sunshrine in Great Forks and the sun cult of the Hedgehog - even from all the way up in Crystal! Thank yous, written prayers, and other devotionals are interspersed with requests for clarification on [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12points of religious dogma and, also, pleas for divine aid. [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Those pleas for divine aid are often followed with praise and thanks, as the abatement of a drought or the arrival of a trading caravan carrying critical supplies is chalked up to Blossom's influence somehow. [21:45] 7Blossom isn't a god! These people should know the difference! [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Yeah, but she can intervene with the gods, right? [21:46] 13Should they, though? 15[21:46] 10Yeah, Blossom is objectively better and more important than some god. [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12They have to listen to her - she's Chosen of the sun! [21:46] 7She... probably could physically throttle a god until it agreed to stop being obstinate, that's true. [21:46] 13It's true, gods are actually bad at their jobs. [21:47] 4Hey now. The Sun is still technically a god. 15[21:48] 10He's not very good at his job, frankly. [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom is an ordained priest and could, if she so chose, ply the gods - not just the Unconquered Sun - with prayers and similar rituals of invocation. It hasn't really been her style but it's the done thing in many places. [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, Ir, and whoever cares to come along, doesn't have a hard time arranging to come face to face with The Dragonslayer - although it's gotta be done plainclothes and hush-hush, because if the arena ever puts them up against each other it might want to pretend they're deadly enemies or meeting for the first time or something. So it is that, upon walking into a deserted and [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12out-of-the-way teahouse around sunset, she's greeted with a familiar voice barking: "Holy shit - been a while, huh?" [21:50] 4...How familiar? [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12It might take her a moment, because the the pale man with close-cropped grey hair and jagged scars running down from both eyes is just wearing a grey tunic and leggings rather than a huge suit of soulsteel plate, but that's unmistakable Dissolving Dragon's Coils sitting in the far corner. [21:51] 7Hmm. She's not going to bribe gods, but prayers and such are a part of the expected divine-human relationship. If she's going to lead worship in Zeal she should probably get into the habit. Ooh! Ritual texts aren't illegal in Nexus for non-Immaculates, so she can actually learn to implore the gods correctly! [21:51] 7She'll track down some of those, then. [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12He hasn't got chains of animate blood that end in razored hooks sprouting from his back and coiling like angry serpents, either. Coils says: "'ccording to the kid you've been up to a lot." [21:52] "Damn. It has been. Should've guessed you were in town when Ying told me about Bells," 4Ir says, grinning. She'll give a familiar-enough handshake if he'll have it. 15[22:02] 10Eikichi's been given a lot to think about. There are interesting implications in undead labor for emancipating the working class as Tinder Tam convinced him is necessary. In the meantime, though, he's got weight to move. This mix, pressed into tablets and eaten, induces a euphoric, ecstatic state of empathy and togetherness. 10He calls it "outer heaven". [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12The handshake's firm and cool - that's in the literal sense, Coils is being quite friendly. "Yeah, they've got me going back and forth nowadays. There's this thing they got now, 'public relations'? You hear about this stuff?" [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils: "Never thought it'd be in my wheelhouse, but, hell, the people here love a good fight." [22:06] 4Ir: "Yeah, we've got all the hot people in the circle on it. Not my bag." [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils: "But wouldn't that-" 08[22:07] 4She waves a hand. "All relative. You haven't seen Eikichi recently." [22:08] "You broke a dragon's back?" 4She likes Coils; she'd rather not get into a conversation about politics. [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12He catches himself here. He looks unusually short of breath to Ir. Of course, basically every deathknight she's met has looked pale or unhealthy in some way or another, but Coils's shoulders move and breath rasps in a way that makes it sound like he's just run up several flights of stairs at the beginning of each sentence. "'course it's Bells that's really wowing me. She's got a [22:08] <@Ferrinus> real knack for the sciences." [22:09] 4Hrm. [22:09] 4She nods at the mention of Bells. "Always good to know how to do things that aren't killing people. I took up cooking." [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils: "Really a big snake. I think they did some magic to give it extra spikes or what have you. Couldn't actually get my arms around it but there's a trick to gripping against the grain of the scales." [22:09] "Nice." 08[22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's designer drugs prove to have been designed very well - and coming straight from the private laboratories of perhaps the world's most beautiful genius doesn't exactly hurt a commodity's public profile. The sorcerer's getting requests for second and third batches before he's even exhausted the first. 15[22:14] 10Oh no, sorry. Limited edition. You had to be there. [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12The fear of missing out subsequently wracks the streets of Nexus. [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir and Coils are free to talk shop. She learns that Kala Theka, moderately-to-severely psychotic fire-aspected sun worshiper, has finally recovered from the wounds inflicted by Bergsveinn and rejoined the ring. He's become a kind of perennial antagonist/heel for Coils, genuinely trying to kill him in the name of the sun but always ending up as a lens flare somewhere near the horizon. [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12It definitely sounds like there's room for her to start doing events again, although if she does some kind of climactic spearmaiden vs dragonslayer clash is almost inevitable. [22:20] 4She's going to make it clear that she's not here for an extended revue, but within those confines, she's fine with what the arena agents and Blossom hammer out, just as long as there's no deathmatches and no surprises. [22:24] 7In that case, Blossom will be pleased to set up some matches for Ir in between writing and burning prayer strips addressed to various gods as requested by her adoring fans/followers. 08[22:27] 4They'll enjoy a light lunch -- assuming Coils eats -- and Ir will refrain from making any comments about his health. The next time she sees Eikichi, however, she'll tell him to make some excuse to get in the same room as Coils and give him a once-over. Something seems a bit off about him, and not in the zombie mode. [22:27] 13Speaking of limited additions, in the interim between the meeting between Bells and Ying, and the reunion with Ir and Blossom, Ying has been extraordinarily busy. There's restocking the shop with offical Ying-made designs, doing the actual training she promised to do when she hired the workers - think she did a pretty good job, but the results will have to speak for themselves - and also, a design for a very special someone. 08[22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Speaking of matches, death or otherwise, is Wild Rose reentering the lists? [22:30] 7Is she?! Is she is she is she?!?!? 15[22:30] 10One day Blossom receives a soaringly romantic unsigned love letter addressed to 'My Princess'. [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils does eat, it seems - he and Ir enjoy some nice tea, as well as noodles if Ir's hungry. He's got other stuff on his schedule, but it does sound like his daughter wants a chance to hang out with everyone. 15[22:31] 10Wild Rose rejoins the Arena, though she's abandoned swordplay for a mysterious martial art she picked up on her journeys. [22:31] 13It's a luxurious suit, with some fetching coattails and a bowtie that doesn't even look like dorks wear it. Ying is truly a master at her craft. Black with pinstripes, a long coat with purple interior, and an absolutely adorable top hat, all of which combine to form... well, the third-best outfit she's ever made, but let's not throw numbers around here. It's set aside for one particular customer, who might not have even come by; [22:31] she'll seek him out once the group has returned, because he deserves it. [22:32] 7Blossom is *there*, ready to scream her lungs out for her senpai. 15[22:33] 10The martial art seems to be a mix of highly technical wrestling and seductive in-ring dancing. [22:33] 4Ir will find an excuse to attend in whatever guest champion of the arena capacity she can swing. Hanging out in the stands is likely to get her so swarmed she won't be able to watch the fight. [22:33] 13Ying is 100% attending those matches and shutting her eyes at any blood. But the wrestling and the dancing offer intriguing possibilities. [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Over the next week or two, the arena sees a frenzy of activity. Ir makes her triumphant return against THE DRAGON REBORN, which proves to be the skeleton of an enormous, spike-covered serpent whose eye sockets are filled with the selfsame purple fire that it can breathe on an on-average fifteen second cooldown. Its back, of course, is shattered exactly halfway down its length, and [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12there's an appropriate glowing weak point in the magic holding it together there that Ir's been advised to dramatically not notice until a little ways into the fight. [22:43] 4No problem. She's a natural performer. 08[22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Wild Rose works her way up through the list in a more normal fashion, laying out god-blooded or Terrestrial combatants, leading small teams against hordes of skeletons or zombies, or dueling other up-and-comers. It's up to her how badly she injures or embarrasses Silla Nomi, the root-bending wood aspect who sought Ir's aid against the tyranny of Kala Theka months ago. [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12You've got plenty to watch from the stands, too, including a match in which Coils once again takes on an almost rabid Theka. It's an interesting fight, one in which the dragon-blood keeps popping back up to try increasingly outlandish and impressive combinations of sword, flame, and ash. He looks stronger and faster than he was against Bergsveinn, and while the Thorns deathknight [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12ultimately lays the sun worshiper out it's with considerably more difficulty than you would've expected. 15[22:46] 10Wild Rose doesn't want to stomp anyone. She holds back enough to make the fight engaging before ending with a dramatic yet merciful finish. 08[22:47] 4Ir would prefer Silla Nomi leave the fight with both her legs and dignity intact, but is pretty sure she doesn't have to mention that to Wild Rose. [22:49] 13Ying loves drama and being messy so whatever happens, happens. So long as everyone is as able to participate in fights as they were beforehand. [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12You don't think that Coils is having an off day or something, incidentally - it really looks like Kala Theka's tapping into some kind of new wellspring of power, one that leaves long and sinister shadows stretching behind everything illuminated by his aura of flames. [22:50] 4For Sun's sake. [22:51] 4We're going to have to take out our own trash here at some point, clearly. 15[22:51] 10Holy shit. [22:54] 13What the heck? Tatsuya, what did you do????? 08[23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12It's actually proving really difficult to arrange a match between Theka and Ir, if Blossom looks into it. A lot of institutional pushback (putting him up against a Solar as opposed to a "creature of darkness" doesn't really fit his ongoing schtick/character) as well as more prosaic but somehow even more intractable booking concerns. Getting Wild Rose on the same lists is much easier [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12- they're largely considered by audiences to be in the same tier of play, and indeed the provocative up and comer Rose would be heroically punching up in such a matchup. [23:18] 4Ir doesn't want a match against Theka under normal circumstances. The only reason she'd pursue one is if his crazy ass actually managed to kill Coils. Then she'd either have a deathmatch with him in the Arena, or a deathmatch with him outside of it. In that circumstance it'll be up to the Arena managers if they want to make money on it or not. [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12You're pretty sure he couldn't manage that. Coils seemed weirdly weak when Ir met him earlier, but he was in top form in his last match - certainly more powerful than he was when you actually fought him back up north. [23:20] 4Yeah, well. Everyone's full of surprises. [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12In fact, Ir thinks she's figured it out - for the sake of going incognito, Coils was just wearing unassuming traveler's clothes back in the teahouse. Here he's in full necromantic regalia, sinister black armor with screaming faces occasionally visible where you'd expect your own reflection. She'd guess that the dark Solars don't just dress like that because it's cool - they might [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12actually suffer or weaken somehow when not clad in the trappings of death. [23:22] 4Dork Solars. [23:22] 4Also, makes sense. [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12What the- [23:22] 13No, she's right. Name one of them who hasn't been that. [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Black Bells Chiming is extremely cool. [23:23] 4Bells might be too young to be a dork, but her dad just said she's into science now, so. [23:23] 13Impossible to say, because Ying never got to have tea with her. [23:23] 13You monster. 15[23:23] 10Science is cool! 08[23:24] 4The prosecution would like to introduce their first exhibit of evidence, a statement from expert witness Eikichi. 15[23:24] 10WhatEVER. [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12If yall want to catch up over some tea, say the word. [23:24] 13The word. [23:26] 13...at another time. [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, nice. Well, you make the arrangements by skeleton - one day (the same day that the pinstripe suit vanished off its display rack, bought at a staggering price by an anonymous concern), Ying's fleshless new assistant (what's she want to name them?) returns from an errand with a small card clutched within their teeth. It's an RSVP! My assumption is that you'd most likely invite [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12guests over to the Scarlet Palace, which has become your de facto base in Nexus, but you've really got your pick of venues. The only requirement is that they either be private or cleared of the public beforehand. [23:28] 13Smithers. The skeleton's name is Smithers. 15[23:28] 10Rose will ask the others about the fight with Kala Theka. "What do you think? Should I take it?" [23:29] 13Also, can 6Tatsuya13 figure out who the anonymous purchaser was? [23:29] 4Ir: "I don't see the harm. It'll be interesting at least. And I've got no particular problem with you embarrassing the hell out of him." [23:29] 13Ying, to Rose: "You can find out what's going on, too!" [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12He could, if he does some digging. [23:30] 6Wow, that sounds difficult. Let me just unload the magnum charmset that I carry for my monster investigations. [23:31] 4'Whoops, silly me, dropping my magnum charmset right here in the bar' -- This guy. [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12My god, this paper trail goes all the way to the top... of the Council of Entities. [23:33] 6The - was it...? 13Oh pretty please... [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Only time will tell, but it definitely wasn't some Realm aristocrat or southern firedust magnate or whatever. [23:34] 13Ying spends her time not existing (because Tatsuya is busy investigating) hyperventilating. [23:35] 13As far as tea goes... how's the tea here, quality wise? None of us are particularly teamongers, and it feels rude to invite Bells over to try the hotel's tea. [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12But anyway, has anyone got a better or more deeply-held idea to set a tea party besides your more-or-less private hotel? You could do a moonlit hilltop in Parko Llana or the deck of the Heavensward or something. [23:36] 4Ir's around to play hostess if that's what Ying wants, and won't mind seeing Bells again, but whatever Ying wants to do is fine. 08[23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12I mean, it's quite good, as the place is upscale. Between Ir's food preparation skills and Eikichi's chemistry you could probably make refreshments arbitrarily wonderful... by Creation's standards. [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Yu-Shan... [23:37] 13Heaven Is For Real, by Ying Burpo [23:41] 13If that's the case, a tea party at the hotel is more than acceptable. It just wouldn't do to host guests and then... serve them hotel morning coffee for refreshments. [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12It's some time after dark that the clop-clop of hooves from outside announces your approaching visitors. They're in a very spooky, though rather artfully designed carriage that's pulled by a pair of skeletal horses. The vessel itself is rounded, and a study in orange and black - it looks like someone trapped a giant pumpkin in a tangle of curling wrought-iron vines. [23:53] 13Oh my gosh. [23:53] 13That is adorable. [23:55] 4Ir's already been in the kitchen for a couple hours. She spent the dinner rush mostly observing how the staff works together and the way the kitchen flows, and which cooks she can trust, which she can trust if she cajoles them, and which she needs to actively manage -- same with the waitstaff and buspeople. Now, they're going to do a dry run of making all this work: tea and light [23:55] 4refreshments, with entrees to order upon request. This is important because for the next four days, Ir will be the surprise guest head chef for the hotel. No fights and her big tour of her soup kitchens isn't until next week anyway; besides, she's always wanted to run a real-deal kitchen. [23:56] 4This is what the Scarlet Palace gets in exchange for clearing the entire dining and bar area of their first-floor fine dining establishment on what would be a busy night. [23:58] 13Ying, meanwhile, has spent her time crafting the perfect atmosphere for this whole meeting. Spooky spiderwebs drape the corners, a dark red and black theme shapes the tables, there's even some skeletal patterning if you look closely at the walls -- she might not UNDERSTAND the Abyssals, but she's trying. Hopefully this goes better than the time she tried to prank one. 14[23:59] * Joins: tom Session Time: Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] 7Blossom isn't really comfortable but all this, but she wants to help out Ying, and a good relationship with Bells and Coils might help to peel them away from Typhon and Thorns. [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12They're more than happy to take that deal. On the night of the meeting, it's Dissolving Dragon's Coils who gets out of the carriage first. He's dressed in one of the big, formal robes they wear for tea ceremonies over on the Blessed Isle, tied across the waist with a big, double-or-tripled over sash, and might even be wearing the appropriate wooden sandals under there. Of course, [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12it's all in black and red, a pattern of skulls encircled and connected by crimson chains running all over the fabric. [00:02] 13To be fair, Ying didn't introduce this as "come meet my new friends!" but as "come meet my new friends! also one of them tried to kill me because I made her mad and I'm sorry" [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12He turns around and reaches into the carriage with a hand, and who steps out with his aid but a simply adorable-looking Black Bells Chiming, wearing what might be the best outfit Ying's ever put together. She steps daintily to the ground, her tiny hand clutched in her dad's huge mitt, looking the opposite of radiant - but still in a good way, to be clear. [00:02] 4To sweeten the deal, Ir does a little bit of investigation into what the waitstaff and bartenders earn on an average night of tips for the night they're shut down, and each finds an envelope with that amount plus a little extra waiting for them at the end of the night, plus their regular pay. She's had to waitress VIP party nights before, and they sucked. [00:03] 13I n c r e d i b l e. [00:06] 13Ying is utterly delighted and has to hide her squeeing behind someone else leading them inside. Please. Please do not make her fangirl out over her own outfits. [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils is quietly bemused, and Bells overjoyed, to see the bat-shaped paper lanterns, spiderweb tea cozies, crystal skull sugar pot, and so on and so on. At this point it's very difficult for any of you to outdo yourselves in the general sense, but this is certainly new thematic territory for most of you (Ying excluded, as she's already done some serious work on creepy costumes and [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12set dressing for some of your past endeavors). [00:06] 13Send shivers down your spine~ [00:07] 4Ir's generous payout probably lessens whatever reservations the staff has about having to dress up in Ying's costumes, but surely Ying's going to let them keep them, and they're both perfectly tailored and from one of the hottest boutiques from the city. So. [00:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Everyone sits down - first pourer excluded, anyway, and that might well be the extremely flexible Smithers. 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15[20:02]  15[20:03] Well... Octavian is satisfied. That was easy! [20:05] 14Now to dance with the dead. No big deal. 15[20:08] When Stranger, Keldar, and Xu Sim return to the huddle, they find that Seven and the Governor standing a ways apart from the Mask, locked in secret conversation. [20:09] 14Hard to begrudge them that. [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar retakes his skeletal seat and has some more tea. However, he also listens carefully. [20:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Hmm. Kinda weird, though it's not clear what it means for right now. [20:14] 14The tea set is as Stranger left it, hopefully. Surely mucking with it would violate the rules of hospitality. "Mask of Winters and retinue, I greet you again. Further negotiation has...moved the terms of my proffered deal about. It is such that we require clarifications, before the possibility of allowing you into Nexus is put on the table. Notification of goals, and ways and means [20:14] of getting there." [20:14] "Straight-forwardly, we'd like to know your demands." [20:17] 5Xu Sim furrows his brow at the sight of the deathknights having a sidebar away from the Mask. Something they would keep secret from him? Something he finds tiresome? In how many ways has he now compromised the negotiations? Does it matter? 15[20:18] The Mask tents his fingers, elbows resting on the arms of his skull throne. "As I said before, I need access to the city's dragon-line infrastructure, the war-manses and the dams. With them at my disposal we can contain and destroy the invaders with little further death." [20:20] 14Stranger: "Mmmm." 14He pours himself a fresh cup of tea. "Unfortunately we have something of a trust gap, I'm afraid. I suspect there are some who see a bit of irony in you proposing to reduce further death." [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What do you think you could do with them?" 15[20:24] The Mask: "The old architecture has a great deal of energy bound up in it that can be put to better purpose." [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar glances over to his fellows, then back. "Well, we're doing some of that already. As you can imagine, we're hesitant to dig too much deeper too fast - no telling what it might mean long-term, and we do mean to survive this war." [20:31] 14Innocently: "If I may ask, how is it that you know how to bring Nexus fully online?" [20:31] "I don't believe he does," 5answers Xu Sim. [20:32] "Or, he does not intend to bring Nexus 'online'. It's not your style, O mighty Mask of Winters," 5he continues. 15[20:32] By now Seven and the Governor have returned to the conversation. Seven looks on Xu Sim's reply with increasing alarm. 15[20:32] The Mask: "...oh?" [20:33]  [20:33] 14Please leave the condescension to the professionals. [20:34] 5Xu Sim glances at Seven and back at the Mask. "You will set it free, not turn it on. A transformation rather than an awakening, I would suggest." 15[20:35] The Mask is dismissive. "Semantics." [20:35] "I've always seen great value in semantics." [20:38] "But I reiterate my question." [20:39] 5Xu Sim casts a sidelong glance at Stranger and another back to Seven. "You'd play such a song with all that old energy as to shatter the instrument," 5he suggests. "There'd be not a single Raksha standing. I'm not sure how many of the rest of us would be standing, either." 15[20:42] The Mask: "You speak on matters beyond your expertise. The war-manses' power will be under my complete control." [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, that's the problem, ain't it? Prefer if they were under our complete control - and Xu Sim can handle that for us." [20:47] 5Xu Sim: "I have a different question. Why are you asking us for permission?" [20:47] "Not that I'm complaining, mind." [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar glances over at Xu Sim, frowning slightly, before returning his attention to the deathlord. 15[20:50] The Mask: "I admit that I'm a novice at statecraft, but is this not it? Asking permission for things you'd rather just take?" [20:52] 5Xu Sim takes a sip of the tea. [20:54] "An interesting way of looking at it. Now, I defer to my colleague in all matters of the occult," 14Stranger says pointedly, without quite glancing over at him. "But my previous question remains, I believe." 15[20:57] The Mask's serene face inclines gently in Stranger's direction. "I am very well-versed in the corpses of wonders that litter these lands." [21:00] 14Stranger: "And who taught you, verse and refrain?" [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Huh, that's an interesting question. Keldar's tended to assume that these freaks just crawl out of the netherworld fully-formed. 15[21:02] A stuttery gasping shriek echoes from the Mask then; the sound of someone's vocal cords stretching for a laugh while still inhaling. [21:04] 5Xu Sim nearly fumbles his steambreather as he starts in alarm. 15[21:04] "I'm sorry, I shouldn't. How terribly rude of me." 15[21:05] "But it was you." [21:05] 14Stranger sips his tea again. "Yes, I had suspected as much." [21:06] 14He puts the cup down and sighs. "And now I suspect we will have to break for a few hours so that I am not struck down by all my allies. Might I call on you again, here, in eight hours' time?" [21:07] 5Xu Sim takes a long pull on the steambreather and stares off into the middle distance. 15[21:07] The Mask: "Out here?" [21:09] 14Stranger, regretfully: "You're still not getting into that city without a binding oath, Mask. The realities of statecraft." [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods. "It's how we did it with your representatives, and with all the other foreign military heads. Keeps things fair." [21:11] 14His voice is calm, but his caste mark flares. [21:11] "You know I'm a man of my word." 15[21:13] The Mask stands, a cascade of pops and cracks running up and down his body as he folds his hands over his stomach like it was his back, and he turns to face Stranger with the sneering rictus of the mask on the former back of his head. "Tomorrow, then. It appears we have much to discuss." [21:13] 14Stranger smiles, and this time he shows his teeth. "Indeed." [21:15] 14He appears to regather his whole tea set with just a swirl or two of his sleeve. 15[21:15] When the group separates, does Xu Sim go with the solars or does he join up with Seven? [21:15] 14Once they're safely back behind the walls: "So. I suspect you all have some...questions." [21:16] 13How far back behind the walls? [21:16] 14Depends how far they can get without either Keldar or Ballare ordering a battalion of pikemen to encircle Stranger. [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "F'you're wondering, Seven and her old man sounded like they were arguing over who'd be leaving the city. Governer wanted her to go, she wanted to stay." 15[21:17] Luckily, as they enter the city they do so into a neighborhood that's now controlled directly by Lookshyan troops, so it's with a measure of calm that Ballare says, "You two know each other?" [21:18] 5Xu Sim will go to Seven if he can. [21:19] 5He is conciliatory and afraid, if and when he does. 15[21:19] Seven will take Xu Sim into an embrace and hiss into his ear, "Have you gone insane?" [21:19] 14Stranger: "It would be more accurate to say Mask knew me. And that it is not reciprocal. You know why the Hunts take us alive, of course, Dragonlord. The Mask knew the me of many, many incarna ago. I suspect perhaps he even knew the me of the First Age. That in itself is not particularly remarkable. What is remarkable is that we shared the same name, he knew me on sight...and, [21:19] if I'm not mistaken, as an. Ah. A colleague." [21:20] "Trust me when I say this disturbs me as much, or more, [21:20] than it disturbs you." [21:20] 14He claps his hands. "But. It means something else, too." [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar pauses to parse this. "...you don't happen to remember him having a secret weakness or anything, do you?" [21:21] "...Not that. It means that the Mask of Winters is not the only one here who knows how to turn on Nexus, in all its glory. And it means that his power, specifically, is not required to do it." [21:21] "I don't know what to do," 5he whispers back. "He's going to blow out the artifacts and plunge the city into a shadowland, if the Lookshyans don't burn the city to the ground first," [21:21] "We have eight hours for me to figure out how to ransack my previous incarnation's memory, and beat him to the punch." [21:22] 14Stranger buzzes Xia Lan. Bed rest has come to an end, if it was even observed. [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, I mean, I meant what I said. I'm sure Xu Sim could do the same thing. Maybe not as quick - especially since my tomb's the only one we know how to get into - but the Mask's not our only hope of weaponizing all the Tombs." [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "More importantly, we don't need to weaponize all the tombs. It'd be nice, sure, but it's not like we haven't got several armies. We can win this war as-is." [21:24] 14Stranger: "The Mask of Winters will sack the city in eight hours unless the tombs are handed over to him. I just stopped him from giving the order right now." [21:24] 13She lays a copy of Love In Strange Times to her side as she picks up the call.  [21:24] "We need a deterrent." [21:24] 14To Xia Lan: [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Circle of Solars, couple circles of Terrestrials, the Final Word, the combined Nexus and Lookshy armies. Bulk of the Mask's forces are across the Threshold. Win or lose, he ends up letting the faeries eat the whole neighborhood." [21:26] <...there's a place in the underground you'll want to see. Selin found something with your name on it down there. Literally.> [21:26] 14Stranger: "You're not listening to me, or you're delusional. Stop theorycrafting like you can get inside the head of a Deathlord and predict his rational actions. He means to sack the city in eight hours and if he has any particular care for the consequences, they outweight what he dreams he'll gain." [21:30] [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What, do you have that in writing? Nogari could also have been dreaming of sacking the city and it wouldn't have been a reason to let him personally inspect all our bank vaults or whatever." [21:30] 14Stranger, to Xia Lan: [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Nogare* [21:32] 13She started moving when he called, nurses given a smile and a nod as she passes.  [21:32] 14Stranger: "You're not listening to me. If WE can replicate what the MASK was going to do to the tombs, and bring them all under our command, we will have enough firepower to win the war AND ensure the Mask can't take the city. We don't have to let him in at all." [21:33] 5Xu Sim, to Seven: "...We have eight hours to stop what's about to happen. This is all my fault. I'm sorry it's turned out like this. Can you help me find another way?" [21:33] "I am generally willing to hand all military matters over to you, but forgive me if I don't have confidence when you shrug and say 'eh, we can take him,' about a Deathlord." [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, but the thing is that it took us a day's expedition to claim ownership of one of the six and it was the one I was literally interred in. Then it took days more for Xu Sim to figure out how to work the thing. If the only reason you can find not to roll over for this guy is us maybe turning on a miniature Sword of Creation right here in the middle of Nexus, we might as [21:34] <@Ferrinus> well start drafting the surrender now." [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "If you had a flash just now of the secret password to wake every other Tomb as a loyal warstrider or something, I'm right behind you, but seriously - how sorcerous you feelin' right now? How many Xu Sims do you think you're worth, on this?" [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar pauses, then frowns to himself. "Xus Sim." [21:37] 14Stranger just blinks at him and says. "Then tend to your armies and plan your battle with the Deathlord. I go to examine the sigilstone in the Gates of Auspicious Passage with literally my name on it." [21:38] 14There doesn't seem to be much point continuing this conversation, and time is short. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The what?" [21:39] 13Xia Lan's jogging up within moments, pulling back her hood. "Did you tell him about the Gates?" [21:39] 14Walking away: "Xia Lan and Old Selin found them." [21:39] "Hi Keldar, hi Stranger, where's Xu - aaaaand we're walking." [21:40] 14To Xia Lan: "I believe Xu Sim is trying to smooth things over with his intended." 15[21:40] Seven: "What happened to not apologizing?" [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Huh. Well, like I said, you conjure up an anti-Mask, we're all in your debt. I'll be moving all the people I can to nearby the northern front in the meantime." [21:40] 13She winces, following in Stranger's wake. "Went that poorly, huh?" [21:41] "I said you never had to, I don't remember saying I never had to," 5he points out. [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, hollering: "Holler if you need me down there!" [21:41] 14Stranger: "Not as poorly as it went with our Dawn Sergeant. Though I suppose in his place I wouldn't trust me much either." [21:41] 13Xia Lan: "Will do!" [21:42] 13Back to Stranger, and hood back up for travelling. "I suppose not. Listen, as we make our way there, there's something else. I wanted to tell you in person - Octavian is in Nexus." 15[21:42] Seven: "There's another problem. The Governor's already trying to prevent a fight, but his solution is to--" 15[21:43] The Governor: "Mister Xu Sim! Delighted to see that you are still here, instead of leaving." [21:43] 14Stranger chuckles. "Actually, Octavian is quite specifically not in Nexus. We've reached an agreement." [21:43] "You missed quite the sit-down." [21:43] 13Xia Lan: "...he was there?" [21:44] "Governor, how niiice of you to join us," 5he replies. [21:44] 14Stranger: "Yes. Flying his own flag, as it were. We guaranteed him first salvage rights to what he kills with some exceptions, and he was more or less satisfied." [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, Keldar wasn't kidding. Now that Elegba's expressed interest in parley and the Mask's expressed interest in turning the entirety of Nexus into his personal arcane laboratory, the Dawn Sergeant is going to pull his guardsman back from the southern front - replacing them with a combination of allied mercenaries and Lookshyan watchmen - and move them up through the city such that [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12they're on the inside of the walls and prepared to stand against an undead invasion from up top. He tries not to be too obvious about it, but it's not really tenable to hide the motion of that many people and it'll be important for him to coordinate with Ballare, or at least whichever of Ballare's subordinates is willing to talk to him, vis-a-vis the range and area-of-effect of the [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Final Word's ballistae and how ground infantry should be positioned to take best advantage. [21:45] "Um. Something else I should tell you, then." 13She shifts imperceptably. "He - Vladok came to me last night and gave me a way to help the war effort." [21:45] 14Stranger raises an eyebrow, but on second thought, he really shouldn't be surprised. "Oh?" [21:46] 13Xia Lan: "He assured me Octavian would only fight against Cethleann, and I knew we needed the help... I apologize for not telling you sooner." 15[21:46] The Governor: " 15[21:47] Yes! Yes indeed it is nice that I am here, with you, and the Scion of the Sevenfold!" [21:47] 14Stranger, as soldiers move past both of them heading north: "No, I think causing as much banging of the pots and pans as possible for the raksha is a very good thing, considering that I think we're redeploying for war with the undead." 15[21:48] There's a lengthy pause before the Governor adds, "Fear not! I believe I have negotiated a solution to the present crisis." [21:48] "You know I don't want a battle against Thorns. And time is very, very precious." 5he adds. [21:48] "What is it?"5 he asks. [21:50] 13Xia Lan: "Wow. Well, all right. I still want to apologize for not keeping you in the loop, but... all's well that starts well?" 15[21:50] The Governor: "Immediate withdrawal of his ancillary command. Our leader can ably run the field himself, while his faithful adjutants return to the city by the road he cut to oversee it in his absence!" [21:52] "I don't understand. That doesn't avert the battle..." 15[21:53] The Governor: "It will allow for clear negotiations, unfettered by conflicts of interest!" [21:53] 14Stranger shakes his head. "I'm just looking forward to some arcane secrets. Talking to Ballare and Keldar is like romancing a wall." [21:54] 5Xu Sim bristles. [21:54] 13Xia Lan: "Oh, I read that one earlier. The twist was rubbish, though." [21:54] 14Stranger: "How's Tsuka?" [21:55] 13Xia Lan: "Inordinately worried, but I haven't seen him since this morning and I don't want to distract him. Hopefully I can talk to him tonight." [21:55] 5He thinks for another moment. "That might be a last resort," 5the suggestion galls him, "but I think my comrades may have found another lead." [21:57] "Seven, will you join me? On a diplomatic mission to head off this crisis before the last?" 15[21:57] The Governor: "Totally out of the question, I'm afraid. We have many arrangements to make." 15[21:58] Seven: "I think I can step away briefly, and leave the arrangements in your capable hands, Governor." 15[21:58] The Governor: "I think not!" [22:05] 14Stranger: "We'll make sure of it." [22:06] 14As they walk, he'll ping Old Selin with the Codex to meet them at the Gates. 15[22:06] Keldar's got some fires to put out, figuratively speaking: tensions are flaring up between occupying Lookshyans and the redeployed Dawn Guard, and other, different tensions are flaring up at the eastern gate between Tsuka's command and the sorcerers from the east who are responsible for so many of their comrades dying or killing each other. [22:07] 5Xu Sim: "Governor. I know there's so little time. And maybe it's not my place to ask you for this." 5And maybe it's not the Governor's place to answer such questions- "But we can make something happen, here... Can't you just give us this one chance?" [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Are those sorcerers, like, the empty-eyed thralls of Xu Sim's oppressive will, or do they appear to be free agents who've simply made the 100% rational source to serve, rather than fight, the anathema? 15[22:08] They seem to have wills of their own, but are nonetheless devoted to Xu Sim by some means. 15[22:09] The Governor looks down his nose at Xu Sim, tapping a huge yellowed claw against his lower lip thoughtfully. [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Any word as to when their terms end? 15[22:09] "If the spirit moves you, Mister Xu Sim, then go! Go! And on your head be the consequences!" 15[22:11] Seven needs no further permission and all but drags Xu Sim away. [22:11] 5Grinning wildly, Xu Sim seizes Seven's hand and leaps off like a deer in the direction of the gate where the others have begun congregating, at least according to the Codex. "Come on! Stranger, Keldar, we're on our way!" 15[22:12] Selin joins up with the group just as Seven and Xu Sim do. "Sirs, madams," says Selin. "I take it we're in for a long night." 15[22:12] No one has a good answer for Keldar on that. [22:12] 13Xia Lan: "Been a busy day of negotiations, from what I hear." [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Are they even human? ...mortal...? 15[22:14] It's difficult to say. The large bulk of their forces are sorcerous constructs and elementals; some of them, such as the woman-at-arms Mirim the Sly, appear to be ordinary albeit extremely foreign mortals with some kind of sorcerous blessings. Others, such as Dreamer Mentat, defy easy categorization, and may be alien creatures or particularly strange sorcerers or something else entirely. [22:15] 14Stranger: "Deathlord's walking in the front door if we don't figure out how to turn on the lights down here." [22:15] "The only bit of good news we've received, and it's very qualified, is that I might have some insight into that." [22:15] "I just didn't know it until now." [22:16] "Disciples of the Thran, Scion of the Sevenfold. A proper introduction. Sifu," 5he bows briefly in Selin's direction. "What's this about gates?" [22:18] 14Stranger: "'Stay with me, go places.'" [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Hmm. Well, Keldar thinks he knows the right line here. Once the bulk of the Dawn Guard has crossed the river and is underway to take up positions near the north, Keldar heads off on an inspection of the front. The fronts, really - he's got to make sure that what's left on the south is ready for any kind of surprise attack Elegba launches, that the main easter gates are solidly held, [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12and of course that our boys and girls facing the Yellow River are well-equipped with salt, torches, and similar undead-hunting equipment. 15[22:19] Selin: "We found a route down to the old Gates of Auspicious Passage at the heart of Hollow. The heart of a transportation network that stretched from pole to pole." 15[22:20] The door is here, before the five of them, with its warnings and names. There it is: Stranger-Visits-Heaven. [22:20] 14Stranger: "If nothing else, we can evacuate the city if it falls through them. If we can get them working." [22:20] "And maybe more." [22:20] 13Xia Lan's eyes flash in recognition. Something to put in a set, after the war. Ha. "After the war." [22:20] 14He'll touch his name on the stone. [22:20] 14...He's not sure what he expected to happen. [22:21] 5Xu Sim peers at the gates this way and that. [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12South first: what's everyone mad about w/r/t Lookshy? Besides, of course, that they're not only frothing fanatics, but also treacherous cowards who would have happily left Keldar and his legion to die at the hands of the juggernaut? 15[22:21] It's pretty much just that. [22:21] 13Does everyone present read Old Realm? Xia Lan can translate, if necessary. [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, Keldar tells the assorted mercenaries and remaining Guardsmen on the southern front, you're absolutely right in all particulars. But it's not the foot soldiers or even engineers you should be mad at - it's the new command, who frankly doesn't hold a candle to Dorma, that poor bastard, and is using the weird but basically respectable troops under her command to screw us over. [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12"...but now she needs us, 'cause she knows that if we weren't there the Mask would stomp her flat. She wouldn't dare pull that kind of bullshit now, with what's going on with Thorns - and there'll be a reckoning as to the games she was playing beforehand. Bet on it!" [22:26] 14How big is this Gate, anyway? How many people across? Is this a highway or a doorway? 15[22:29] The doorway down is quite wide, a thoroughfare's worth. Stranger surmises that this place is meant to see heavy pedestrian traffic but not, like, freight. The door opens with a damp groan and the musty smell of long-forgotten death wafts through the corridor. As they descend, sconces light up with white fire - about half of them ones and the walls, the rest of them too broken or cracked 15[22:29] or flickering to give off any light. But it suffices to guide them downward. [22:30] 14Poor maintenance is to be expected. Nothing to do about it now. [22:30] 13Xia Lan makes a face, and slides something over her mouth and nose to breathe through. Awful. [22:31] 5Xu Sim keeps an eye out for inscriptions, graffiti, murals, or other hints at where the passage might lead, who last travelled it, or similar. 15[22:34] They reach a large, dark cavern, very badly lit - almost all of the fixtures are out. But enough of them remain to reveal seven arches of stone roughly encircling the center of the chamber, each feeding out a radial stone walkway out into its own sealed or darkened corridor. [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12When people seem satisfied - and, hell, even if they aren't, Keldar's got places to be - the Dawn Sergeant moves on to arc past the northern front, saying basically the same thing to those who ask, before turning up for a not-that-surprising inspection in the east. Tsuka still holding down the fort? [22:36] 14Stranger: "We need to figure out if one of these DOESN'T lead out of the city. Or if there's anything else special about this room." [22:37] 13Are the arches labeled? [22:37] 14How hard is it to get some light in here for inscription reading? 15[22:38] The arches are labeled, and it's possible to read them by the dim light available: 15[22:38] BATHYPELAGO 15[22:38] INVERSE 15[22:38] ISLE OF THRAN 15[22:38] LUTHE 15[22:38] MERU 15[22:38] QARN 15[22:38] ZARLATH [22:39] 14Nothing's ever simple. 15[22:41] Tsuka's keeping the peace, though it's taking its toll on him - Keldar gets the impression that Tsuka's not a gifted diplomat. Where for some it might lead to them saying the wrong thing or pissing somebody off, for Tsuka he seems to carry it well but privately fall apart with stress. [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Any actual incidents as yet? Brawls, "miscast" spells? [22:46] 13Save him!! 15[22:49] There's been a few tussles, but of the "hold me back hold me back-" variety. No one's been hurt yet. [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, the classic. And there's been no actual action, right? As of Xu Sim's coup, actual warfare has basically taken place across each river? Or is Tsuka having to manage all this while also repelling goblin waves? [22:51] 14As the others examine the arches, Stranger creates his own light, as his body is limned in a golden-burning outline. [22:51] 14He's looking for something else in the room. [22:53] 5Xu Sim mumbles to Stranger: "If you're going to remember anything from when they put your name on the door back there, now's a good time to start." [22:54] 14Stranger: "There's one way for me to remember for sure, I think. But we're not going to do that unless it's a last resort." [22:54] 14Stranger: "Now give me a moment." [22:55] 13Xia Lan: "This is - Sun almighty. If we can get any of these working..." 13She shakes her head. "Most of these aren't suitable for escape, I don't think. But --" 13She quiets herself and finds Xu Sim to whisper ideas between. [22:56] 13Xia Lan, quietly: "Qarn or Zarlath has to be the best exit, if it comes to that. The rest are - less than ideal." [22:57] "Luthe, maybe..." 5Xu Sim isn't enthusiastic on the idea of running. [22:58] 13Neither is Xia Lan, but it's important to have an exit strategy. "Don't think we could get people out through that, plus who knows how underwater it is." [23:03] "I think we've got to try one of these, I think. Anyone think the Scarlet Empress has been hiding in the Imperial Mountain this whole time? Want to bet our lives on the prospect?" 5Xu Sim is spitballing a little. [23:04] 14After some time examining the arches, Stranger motions everyone back to the center of the room. "I know how to open them." [23:04] 13Xia Lan: "We've got a bit more urgent problem at hand, we can check that later." 13She starts. "What?" [23:04] "And I remember what is behind...some of them. For instance, I don't think we're getting anywhere with Luthe, unless we want the place filled with seawater." [23:05] "Or to drown when we walk through. Still not quite sure how that would work." [23:05] 13Xia Lan: "I'm not exactly eager to find out. Do you mean locations, or objects? Anything that'll help the war effort?" [23:06] "The only thing left in Luthe to my recollection is some extremely violent whales. I doubt they're amenable to the process." [23:07] "The other two are Qarn...and the Isle of Thran." [23:08] "Well, we've got Dreamer Mentat and the others who have said they're Disciples of Thran." [23:09] "Qarn is home to a species of...my mind says 'potato people.' Squat, cherubic, easily underestimated and quite canny. Talented in the magical arts. A great civilization in the sands. They might be our best bet, but we'll surely have to make even more promises." [23:09] "And the Isle of Thran..." [23:09] 14He turns to Xu Sim. "I think of it and I see your face." 15[23:09] The comparative calm has probably made Tsuka's situation worse, because there's nothing else for them to focus on instead of their enmity for each other. [23:10] 5Xu Sim looks blankly back at Stranger for a moment, before breaking into a sheepish, confused smile. [23:11] 13Xia Lan: "I -- would we be able to get back from the Isle of Thran?" [23:11] "I think I had one of those faint memories from one of my preincarnations about the Thran," 5he adds. [23:11] "A project undertaken by a man with your face, at least. A dire sorcerous work. Perhaps a working, too, but I mean in the mundane sense -- a true project. Unparalleled might and sorcery on an island phasing in and out of Creation. I don't know the Mask's true aim, but this is certainly on the list." [23:11] "My main concern with Thran is whether or not it's in the office, so to speak." [23:12] "We can't risk Luthe." [23:12] "I can only open one portal without bringing the chamber down on our heads, at least for now." [23:12] "So we have a choice to make." [23:13] "One ray extending to five. A door to other worlds. A high tower. Power unfathomable..." 5Xu Sim murmurs to himself. [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, first Keldar has a private talk with the kid, leading in with some generic hope you're remembering your training ha ha stuff before actually talking shop. The first point Keldar emphasizes is the relative importance of the Green Apples and allied mercs Tsuka's leading as opposed to the Dreaming Sea raksha - they're the expendable ones, right? They're the surrendering deserters [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12who barely even deserve to be in our grand coalition. So in terms of troop arrangement, watch shifts, whatever else, Keldar hopes that it's obvious to the mortals that it's the elementals and wizards and other nonsense that are set up to serve as ballista fodder. [23:14] "The Disciples of Thran obey me. Maybe it's not because of what I did to Ardua...?" 5Xu Sim furrows his brow. [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12For preventing fights and otherwise heading off resentment, Keldar offers to pay the Apples serving on the eastern front a visit - although, of course, he was always more respected than popular with them and it may be more important for Tsuka to earn more cred. To that end, Keldar could just suggest a good stance to take and just sort of - sit off to the side nodding approvingly as [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Tsuka makes some announcements or otherwise sets the tone? [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Up to you - how you wanna handle this?" [23:15] 14Stranger: "I'd far prefer to empower you than to rely on some popotos to honor an ancient defense accord I'm not even sure exists." 14He doesn't even seem aware he used a weird word there. "But you need to be certain you can handle it." [23:16] 13Xia Lan: "Yes, but can he get there and back again? It's not Calibration." [23:22] 14Stranger sighs with some irritation. "Then the desert children it is." [23:25] "Well, presumably, Bleak Ardua got the Disciples off of Thran this time of year." [23:25] "Maybe its reputation for not existing is," 5he shrugs, "overstated?" [23:26] 14He pauses. "But can we really ask them to join our war with, what? Seven hours to go?" [23:26] "Putting aside whether it's fair, is it POSSIBLE?" [23:26] 13Xia Lan: "...maybe?" [23:28] "Thran," 5repeats Xu Sim. [23:28] "If Xu Sim's vote is for Thran, so is mine." [23:29] 13Xia Lan: "I don't -" 13She's frowning. "I just worry about the safety. What if we can't come back in time?" [23:30] 14Stranger: "What if we step through the portal and walk off a cliff because the city of Qarn is just gone? We're being forced into a whole bunch of managed risks. We can at least hope the Isle recognizes its master." [23:31] 13Xia Lan: "I hate this. I hate that you're right." [23:31] 14He gets that a lot. He doesn't say that out loud because he also gets the unsettling feeling that it's not a joke. [23:33] "Any other thoughts?" 5Xu Sim asks in person.  [23:37] 14Stranger hops in: *> [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar holds a finger up to Tsuka. "Thran? Seriously? If you think it'll take fewer than eight hours I'll be right down." 12Then he stands, leans out the door of the tent or whatever in which they're chatting, and sends a runner with instructions to send the Dreamer Mentat down to the undercity per Xu Sim's instructions. [23:38] 14Stranger exhales. "Glad that's settled. Everyone, stand back. I'm going to open it up." [23:39] 13Xia Lan: "Wait! I need to say something first." [23:39] "Go for it." 15[23:39] Keldar, Mentat and his ghostly echoes arrive in the terminal. [23:39] 13To Tsuka:  [23:39] 5Xu Sim finds Seven's hand in the darkness and squeezes tight. 15[23:40] Seven squeezes back. 15[23:40] Tsuka: 15[23:40] [23:41] 14Stranger takes his own time to buzz the Ambassador. [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar shows up quite quickly, shield and sword both on his back. "We have a good idea of what's going to be through here?" [23:41] 13Xia Lan:  [23:41] 14The Ambassador, attending to matters on the eastern front. [23:41] 14Stranger: [23:42] 14The Ambassador: [23:42] 14The Ambassador arrives around the same time as Keldar and friends. [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar did privately confer with a couple people - Tsuka and Khelendros - that he's going to be out of the city for what might amount to half a day. They should hold down the fort and turn to any codex page holder in hopes of making contact if the worst happens. [23:42] 13Xia Lan:  [23:43] 14Stranger: "Ladies and gentlemen, the Ambassador of Night and Day will be joining us as well." [23:44] 14Ambassador: "Charmed." [23:44] 14Stranger, in her ear: "This is revenge for not putting you on the front lines, isn't it." [23:44] 14Ambassador, in his ear: "Darling, I've been watching kin die in medicine hutches for days. This is a vacation." [23:49] 13Xia Lan waves while waiting anxiously for a response from Tsuka. She needed to tell him, of course, but adding to his stress... she'll have to make it up to him when she gets back. After, um, stressing him out more with the Octavian thing. Ugh. 15[23:49] Tsuka: [23:50] 13Xia Lan:  15[23:52] Tsuka: [23:53] 13Xia Lan:  15[23:57] Tsuka is silent for a long time. 15[23:58] Finally he says, Session Time: Wed Feb 06 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] 13Xia Lan:  [00:01] 13Xia Lan:  13She's not completely serious, but... she is serious. [00:02] 13Unless Tsuka has more to add, she'll say her goodbyes and finally nod to Stranger, blushing slightly. [00:02] 14Once he gets the nod from Xia Lan, Stranger walks up to the portal to the Isle of Thran, sizes it up, then returns to ten paces in front of it. He takes a deep breath; centers himself; and slams the wicked tip of his parasol into the stonework. His eyes flash and he thunders in the old language: "AGANTUKA-UPAGATA-DEVALOKA!" 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven. [00:02] 14Heaven remembers the name. [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Tsuka is, frankly, in vastly more danger, and Keldar's kind of gambling with the lives and livelihoods of everyone by going on a little adventure here. The thing is, it might be even more of a gamble not to go. [00:03] 14As light engulfs the room, Stranger touches the Codex one last time. He pings Tsuka. 14Then he cuts the line. 15[00:08] The gate splits open with a shred of light. The darkness gives way to a brilliantly sunlit jungle, humid and hot. [00:08] 14Under his breath: "And away we go." 15[00:09] NEXT TIME: Urza Planeswalker 14[02:16] * Joins: tom 14[03:24] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[04:22] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[19:56] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[20:55]  15[20:55]  15[20:55]  15[20:55]  15[20:55]  15[21:01] 10Eikichi's pushed together a couple of tables in the Heavensward's forward lounge. His left hand is smeared with ink from the wheel of pots he uses to make elaborate, multicolored notes. His right hand is smeared with powdered sugar from the enormous plate of donuts he's been working through since morning. This keeps the weird mix of innocuous paperwork from the Sunshrine and elaborate 15[21:01] 10sorcerous diagrams he's working on neat and tidy. [21:03] 4Ir's behind the range, on the other hand, browning some virtuous hashed taters. Doughnuts. She can almost hear Master Chef Miyamato in Pneuma intoning the word Indulgence. [21:04] 4...They're better as a dessert food anyway. 15[21:06] "Whoo!" 10he says as the papers shuffle themselves into meticulous, indexed piles and slide across the table to Blossom. "That's the summer inventories done and dusted. I don't want to get too excited, but there's a decent chance we're all going to live through the winter." 15[21:06] "We're out of milk, though." 08[21:07] 7Blossom wipes her sweaty face with a towel, having just finished even more calisthenics and jogged down the stairs from the main hatch to sit across from Eikichi. "I wonder if that could be related to the mysterious vanishing-doughnut problem." 15[21:08] "Sugar is basically pure energy. I'm a doctor, listen to me." [21:08] 4Ir nudges open the icebox with her foot. "We've still got the emergency milk. But I'll hit up a farm or two next we land." 08[21:10] 7Blossom checks Eikichi's work. How'd he do? [21:12] 4Miyamato was mocking Grandmaster Eskai whenever he got serious about dessert foods, though. Eskai never thought Miyamoto had the temperament for serious cookery, and perhaps he was half-right. But it was Miyamato who taught her to keep around a bottle of off-the-books all-purpose milk for cooking. [21:12] 4She wonders what he's up to nowadays. 15[21:14] 10Flawlessly! Ever since building the Vale of Tiers Eikichi's gotten really into doing paperwork and accountancy. He's a real perfectionist about it, which would probably be annoying if Blossom ever made mistakes. [21:14] 7:hearteyes: [21:14] "Good work." 15[21:15] 10Eikichi beams. "Our efficiency is maintained as it always must be!" [21:15] 4You know it's real when you can turn accounting into date night, Ir supposes. [21:19] 7Blossom: "What's with the other diagrams?" [21:19] 7Blossom: "What's with the other diagrams?" [21:20] 4Ir finishes the hashbrowns, cleans the skillet and hangs it to dry, and sits crosslegged on the bar with her plate where she could lean forward and make out the various diagrams and reports if she wanted to. 15[21:24] 10Eikichi: "A couple of things. This is going to be a gift for my family, these are alchemical formulas for Ying and Tatsuya - the regimen of lotions and supplements is connected to the lunar cycle, so I need this first wave prepared by the new moon. This is going to be, I don't have a name for them yet. Visual projectors that respond to thought and emotion, like an anima banner in 15[21:24] a box. Imagination globes? No..." [21:26] 7Blossom: "What's wrong with imagination globes?" [21:26] 4Ir: "Laaame." 15[21:27] 10Eikichi: "It's not particularly pretty or easy to say. It's just a literal description of the thing. That's a terrible name." [21:28] "Imagination... orbs?" [21:28] 4Ir: "Don't think that really fixes the underlying issue." 15[21:32] 10Eikichi: "Anyway I think they'll be good for teaching children, and they'd make good toys, though I don't know how many I'll be able to make to start." [21:34] "Hmm. Well, what about the other stuff?" 15[21:38] 10Eikichi: "It's to make Tatsuya and Ying's lives easier. They share a soul but there's no real reason they need to share a body. We talked about this a while ago and I finally have the time to devote to it." [21:38] "Hey, that's great!" [21:38] "Nice." 15[21:40] 10Eikichi: "Have you finished your training with Tam?" [21:41] 7Blossom nods. "I think I've learned as much as she can teach me on my own. I'll just need to practice from here on out. Which reminds me..." 7She looks around. "Does anyone mind if I use our orichalcum to make flame pieces?" [21:42] 4Ir: "As long as it doesn't burn the ship down, knock yourself out. Not really useful for instruments, that stuff." 15[21:45] 10Eikichi: "What are they going to look like?" [21:52] 7Blossom takes out a small roll of leather. "I made these as a practice run." 7She carefully unfolds the bundle, revealing a pair of flame pieces carved from a kind of robin's egg blue that Sunlit-Dreaming Ying simply adores. The metal barrels of the guns are hidden by the main blocks, carved in the shape of big cats snarling and ready to pounce, with the muzzles poking out of their [21:52] 7open mouths and the striking mechanism cunningly worked to look like tails. [21:53] 4Ir: "There was a Heavenwatch captain who used flame pieces back in Pneuma. I don't think they were orichalcum or anything, but there was definitely something special about them. One was white, one black; called them Ebony and Ivory." [21:53] "Nice." 15[21:53] "Cats!" [21:53] "Anyway, he carved his to look like babes because he was kind of a lame perv. I guess that's the whole story." [21:53] 7She pats them proudly. "I'm gonna give them to Ying. They don't fire or anything, but they'll look cute." [21:54] 7Blossom nods at Ir. "Yeah, that sounds like the army." 15[21:56] "What made you decide to build flame pieces? You can shoot fire from your hands and feet." [22:03] 7Blossom: "It's a different discipline, like shooting a longbow instead of throwing shuriken. The Essence of it has new possibilities... also, I'm gonna do both. Like this." [22:06] 7She picks up the flame pieces and points them at various places in the room, making 'whoosh whoosh' noises as though they were firing. "Then! I drop them, and they vanish into Elsewhere like Ir's golden armor. I throw fire with my hands for a bit, then I reach up--" 7She raises her hands. "And voom! They drop into my hands again and I'm firing with them. It's going to be amazing." [22:06] 4Ir taps her chin. "It'll make for much better ballads, even if the lame wizard senseis will probably be horrified." [22:06] "Actually, that might make it even better." 15[22:09] "That is pretty cool," 10Eikichi admits. [22:20] "It will be incredible. Everyone will be impressed when they watch me go into battle." 7Blossom says confidently. [22:20] "What about the gift for your family?" [22:22] "They'll need good names, though," 4Ir points out. "If that Heavenwatch dork got anything right, it was that." 15[22:22] 10Eikichi: "I'm going to make them a scale model of the Heavensward that floats." [22:24] "In the air, I assume." 15[22:26] 10Eikichi nods. "Going to set a little elemental inside." [22:27] 7Blossom: "Ooh, that reminds me, I should--aargh!" 7She pounds the table with her fists angrily. "We haven't even begun to march on Sperimin and already I'm sick of this Ma-Ha-Suchi person being in our way!" [22:28] "Ridiculous name, too." 15[22:29] 10Eikichi: "You should what?" [22:32] 7Blossom: "Oh, I want to make us a pseudoelemental seneschal. Somewhat for now, but mostly for Zeal." 15[22:33] 10Eikichi: "What do you have in mind?" [22:37] 7Blossom: "Physically? Something that looks like a fire elemental shaped in the form of a human framed by white oak branches and carved horn." 15[22:38] 10Eikichi: "You think we'll need a seneschal?" [22:40] 7Blossom: "We're not going to administrate the rest of the servants directly, that demeans us and them." [22:41] 4Ir: "...I think it's probably better expressed as an issue of time. We're gonna be busy." [22:43] 7She nods. "That too." [22:44] "Somebody needs to water the flowers in the throne room, and if we do it it's missing the point." [22:46] 4Ir shakes her head and keeps eating her hashbrowns. 15[22:46] 10Eikichi: "Flowers in the throne room? You've given this a lot of thought." 10He doesn't sound entirely pleased. [22:51] "It's important! For two reasons. One of them was written with perfect correctness by the Scarlet Empress herself." [22:51] 7She recites: "Many great women ask me why I keep such numerous, rare, and expensive flowers in my palace. This is to warn me of the habits of weak rulers. An empress should always be attentive to her flowers, and keep a great number of them. If she does not pay her servants enough to take care of them, they will pluck some in secret, and sell them in the market. If her servants do [22:51] 7not care enough for their mistress or their service, they will willfully neglect her flowers, and they will die. If she forces her servants to water the flowers out of fear, the delicate flowers will be overwatered and they will die. If she keeps lavish flowers, she must educate his servants sufficiently to take care of them, or they will die. A queen with wilted flowers, or no flowers [22:51] 7at all is not worth trusting. This is the first measure I take of lesser lords." [22:51] 7She recites: "Many great women ask me why I keep such numerous, rare, and expensive flowers in my palace. This is to warn me of the habits of weak rulers. An empress should always be attentive to her flowers, and keep a great number of them. If she does not pay her servants enough to take care of them, they will pluck some in secret, and sell them in the market. If her servants do [22:51] not care enough for their mistress or their service, they will willfully neglect her flowers, and they will die. If she forces her servants to water the flowers out of fear, the delicate flowers will be overwatered and they will die. If she keeps lavish flowers, she must educate his servants sufficiently to take care of them, or they will die. A queen with wilted flowers, or no flowers [22:51] at all is not worth trusting. This is the first measure I take of lesser lords." 08[22:52] 4Ir sort of glances at Eikichi here with a cocked eyebrow, then scooches back over the bar to make herself some more hashbrowns. 15[22:54] 10Eikichi: "So we'll be set if the Empress comes by to visit." [22:54] 7Blossom: "The second is... I've been thinking about the ruins made by our first selves, you know? From the time before time. Scavenger lords talk about temples so perfectly wrought that they seem untouched by time except where wilfully damaged to extract their treasures." [22:55] "Like... it doesn't even matter that all the people in them are dead and gone. I don't want our home to be like that. It needs to be full of living people, happy people, or be obviously flawed to anyone who sees it." [22:57] 7Blossom: "So we need flowers, and flowers that have to be cared for by people. We can't just breed celestial lotuses that thrive on light or something." 15[22:57] 10Eikichi: "What if we keep them in the dark and send people around with torches to feed them?" [22:57] "Uh," 7She adds hastily. "I do have some ideas for celestial lotuses that thrive on light, but that'll be for your workshop." [22:58] 7If the other two are unnerved by any of this, Blossom doesn't appear to have noticed. 15[22:59] 10Eikichi: "What kind of flowers do you picture in the throne room?" [23:01] "I'm not sure... orchids? Incense lilies?" 15[23:03] 10Eikichi: "Orchids are very delicate. Takes a lot of care to grow them. It could be perfect." [23:06] "And they'll look lovely." 15[23:12] 10Eikichi: "What else have you been thinking about?" [23:14] 7Blossom: "I think it would be good to have the same government policy we have back home, once we've got the big food surpluses going - every peasant can go to a warehouse and request a week's ration of food." [23:14] 4Every now and again Ir is reminded how different the world Blossom comes from is from the one she came from, and what that means. Usually it's when things like servants come up. 15[23:17] 10Eikichi: "All at once?" [23:21] 7Blossom: "Why not? It works." 7Her eyes widen with excitement. "Ooh, unless you have a better idea?" 15[23:23] 10Eikichi: "No. I guess I'm not as good at thinking about the future as you are." 15[23:23] 10He purses his lips with regret before adding, "I should go file these." [23:26] 7Is he heading back to his room? 15[23:27] 10Yeah, the Heavensward's in Nexus right now so he can't take them down to the Sunshrine yet. Maybe he'll take a dust devil first thing tomorrow. [23:29] 7Blossom frowns slightly as he leaves. She turns her face to Ir. "Um... do you think he's upset with me for something?" 08[23:29] 7In that case, when Eikichi reaches his room, he'll notice something's different. Specifically, his bed has changed. [23:30] 4Ir: "Not sure upset is the right word." 15[23:31] 10What's this? [23:31] "The servant talk sometimes doesn't go over so well with those of us who used to be servants." [23:33] 7His mattress still has the same fluffy blankets and big pillows, but someone's put them on a much thicker mattress than he used to have. How odd. [23:34] "...he wasn't a servant, though! His father's a civil engineer. I supposed that's a 'civil servant', but that's not really the same thing." [23:34] *suppose 15[23:34] 10Whoa. "Whoa." 10He sets the notes down and then sits on the bed experimentally. [23:37] 4Ir: "I suppose you'd know better." 08[23:37] 7It's soft - very soft - but pleasantly supportive and conforms to his body as he sits. Eikichi might even recognize the sensation. This sort of bed comes from a house with wealth to spare. [23:38] 7Blossom: "You weren't a servant either... I don't get it." 15[23:39] 10Oh wow. Eikichi hasn't been on a bed like this since... well it's time to reach for that little bottle for a few drops of don't-think-about-that juice. 15[23:39] 10This bed is so nice. [23:39] 4Ir: "I was a glorified palace guard. Just because I didn't water the plants didn't mean I wasn't serving." [23:40] "I mean, everybody serves something bigger than themselves, but-- oh, whatever. I'm sure he'll tell me if something really bothers him." [23:40] 4Ir: "..." [23:43] 7It really is. Though his bed also appears to have been made with military precision, and his pillows sorted by size and color. 15[23:43] 10It is so, so hard to stay mad at her. [23:46] 7Blossom: "What kind of hashbrowns you making?" [23:49] "Far as I'm concerned there's only the one kind. You can add stuff to it if you want -- fry an egg on the side, maybe -- but you get your black and red pepper, salt, and paprika in a pan with some butter, you cut those taters up, and the rest is heat and time. Want some?" Session Time: Thu Feb 07 00:00:00 2019 [00:04] 7Blossom: "Yes." 08[00:05] "EIKICHI!" 7She hollers. "Hurry back or I'm going to eat all the hashbrowns!" 15[00:10] 10Eikichi strolls back in a minute later. "That bed is amazing. You got one for everybody?" [00:12] 7She nods smugly. [00:12] 13Ying: "Hashed browns?" 13Unspoken but present on her face: owo 15[00:13] "Excellent, I'm starving." [00:13] "Ying!" 7She conscientiously wipes the grease off her hands before picking up and presenting the flame pieces to Sunlit-Dreaming Ying. "Ta-daaa!" 15[00:13] 10Eikichi looks on hopefully. [00:14] 13!!! [00:14] 13She visibly restrains herself from pouncing, instead cautiously walking towards the flamepieces to properly- well. [00:15] 13When she looks back up at Blossom, her eyes are shining. "Fur me?" 08[00:17] 7Blossom: "Yes! I had an idea that-- here-" 7She pulls a scrap of paper from Eikichi's side of the desk and draws a small cartoon of Ying wearing a large cattle rancher's hat with cat ears poking through it, and a few characters of Riverspeak next to it that roughly translate as 'Nya, pardner!'. [00:17] "You get the idea. You're the fashionista." 15[00:17] "Seriously, the hat potential alone--" [00:20] 13She's even more enthused. "I've got - my Sun, oh my gosh--" 13She twitches. "I was making some designs fur you but these are so GOOD--" [00:21] "For me?" [00:23] 13Vaguely embarassed: "Something - fashionable, functional, able to sling furballs and look. um." 13She hesitates. "Ranger. Cowpoke. Burning ranger?" [00:23] "It - I thought it'd be cool." 13She is red as heck. [00:28] 7Blossom: "Huh! That's cool..." 7She gestures at the guns. "I got the color right?" [00:31] 13Suddenly, she's back on the offense. Pounce. Sniff sniff. Contented sigh. "Purrfect." 08[00:35] "Good." 7She nods firmly. Everything's back in order. "Eikichi was just finishing our stores inventory. What've you been up to?" [00:36] 13Proudly: "I have knocked so many things off tables." 15[00:37] "Did you break anything?" [00:37] 13Ying: "Don [00:37] Don't think so! Didn't check." [00:38] 13Sniff. "Doesn't smell broken to me. It's purrobably fine!" [00:40] "Is it... good that you knocked things off tables?" [00:40] 13Conspiratorially: "Yes." [00:41] "Also I'm working on some purrojects. Don't ask what they are! It'll spoil the supurrise." [00:41] 13I really need new cat puns. 15[00:42] 10Eikichi: "Hey I can't find the outfit you made me with the denim shoes and the fanny pack. Have you seen it?" 15[00:42] "I was thinking about wearing it to visit my family." [00:43] 13She hisses wordlessly. [00:43] 13...then calms. "Don't know what happened to it!" 15[00:44] "Weird. I suppose I could order a new one - I understand it's still reasonably popular." [00:44] 13Ying: "It'sn't!" [00:45] 13She looks aggrieved. "There - it can't!" [00:47] 13Practically pleading: "Don't" [00:47] "...Czaliphenya already got mad at me once..." 15[00:49] "10Eikichi: "What do you think, Blossom? I think it'd really let them know what we've been up to." 08[00:51] 7Blosso chokes and swallows painfully. "Eikichi please don't make me think about that outfit while I'm trying to eat" [00:53] 13Ears wilting, practically curled up against a table: "So mean..." 15[00:53] 10Eikichi: "You're right. It's probably too seductive." [00:53] 13She gags. [00:54] 13Why did she ever think that was a good idea. 15[00:54] 10Ahaha! Ahahahahahaha! [00:56] 13>:( [00:58] 7Blossom: "What should... I wear to visit your family?" 15[00:59] 10Eikichi: "What kind of impression do you want to make?" [01:02] "I want them to like me!" 15[01:09] 10Eikichi: "Something dressy but not so formal as to be pretentious. Something that looks expensive but doesn't look fragile. Maybe something traditional. But not so traditional that it looks dowdy. Hmm..." 15[01:23] "What about that red silk komon with a nice sash?" [01:25] 7Blossom: "Ooh, that would be nice." 14[05:20] * Joins: tom 14[13:29] * Joins: VoxPrimey 14[13:30] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:04] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Quit: ) 14[14:04] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[18:48] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Fri Feb 08 00:00:00 2019 14[00:20] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[00:58] * Joins: cbass 14[02:55] * Joins: tom 15[03:48] * Retrieving #SonsAndDoctors modes... 14[07:25] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:30] * Joins: tom 14[16:17] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[16:17] * Joins: mattbaby [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 Jgy__ [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 jWW `""9Wf [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 _#WWW IW [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 jWWWWW IW [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 __,yyyyyWWWWW IWyyyy___ [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 _jyWWP"^``"`.C"9*,J _.mqD:^^"WWWWWWQg__ [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 jgW"^.C/" .C' I `D. 'D._"WQg_ [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 jWP` .C" C' I `D._ `D._ "Qg_ [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 jQP` .C ,d^^b._ I _.d^^b. `D._ "Qg [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 jQ^ .C" /` .+" \ I / "+. `\ `D. XQ [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 jQ' .C' |` ." ) _I ( ". | `D. 4# [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 Qf .C ( ( / / /\ \ ) ) `D. Qg [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 jW C' \__\_.+' / / \ `+._/__/ `D jQ [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 Qf C C /_/ \ D D Qk [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 Qf C _ C \_\____/ D _ D QF [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 QL C \`+.__ _______ ______.+'/ D QF [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 B& C. \ \| || | || / D Qf [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 jQ `C. \ |____|/ |____|/__ / .D' jW [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 TQ `C. \._ `+.__________/___/|_/ .D' jQ` [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 9Q `C. C.`+._ | |/.D' .D' jQ' [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 "Qg `C. `C. `"+-------' ' .D' .D' pW` [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 ^WQy `C. `C. I .D' _.D' yW" [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 ^9Qy_`C. `C. I .D' _.D jgW" [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 `9WQgC.__ `C. I .D' _.Dp@@"` [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12 `""9WQQggyyyyyygyyyyyQggQWQH"" [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Dissolving Dragon's Coils, in a red and black kimono, holds out a huge hand before the door of the pumpkin-and-vines carriage that was just pulled onto the scarlet palace's front lawns by a pair of skeletal horses. A much smaller hand reaches out from the mist to take his, and Black Bells Chiming, clad in a spectacular black-and-violet gown in which strands of reflective silk shine [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12in the shapes of different eerie creatures and faces as the light hits them at different angles, jumps down to the ground to stand beside him. They look positively ghastly, but, like, it's good in this case. [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12After a moment, the two stroll down the main walk to meet the Squared Circle in the Palace's foyer. There are, I trust, an array of paper bats, skull-shaped lanterns, etcetera, to see them to the actual tea room? [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Also, what's there to drink? [20:37] 13That'd likely be up to Ir and whatever she's had the kitchen whip up (or whatever she's made herself), but Ying would insist on chamomile tea in addition to any sorts of fruit juices, liquors, or other beverages fit for such a party. [20:40] 4Tea is served by the three most weirdly fetching members of the waitstaff, selected both for beauty and for looking like weird ethereal ghosts, with all the makeup bells and whistles. There are three different teas: one of darkest black, bitter and bracing; one of deepest red, with fruit and spice; and one of purest white, refreshing with mint highlights. [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells goes immediately for the red, while her father takes black after a moment's consideration. "Tell ya," 12he says, "You folks don't fuck around when it's teatime, huh? All northerners like this?" [20:44] 4Ir's got an outfit from Ying to wear for this, presumably, but she's not going to put it on until she goes out to join the table, which will be after the tapas are finished. [20:45] 13She does! Dark blue dress with a spiderweb pattern, combined with a leather jacket for emphasis. [20:46] 7Ying didn't bring her skeleton servant along to this, did she? Because Blossom really has a problem with that thing. 15[20:46] 10Why not denim with a blue dress? [20:46] 13Listen, you. [20:46] 13*sips tea for fifteen seconds without saying anything* 15[20:48] 10Eikichi shows up in searing white, so bright in the dark that he's framed by a corona of hazy light. 15[20:49] 10This bats-and-spiderwebs thing is a good aesthetic, we shouldn't let these grotesque mockeries and perversions of death have it all to themselves. [20:50] 4It's on a hanger in the chef's cloakroom, then; she'll slip into it after finishing the fingerbone rolls -- white rolled corn flatbreads sizzled up with a spicy red cheese filling. These join a light soup done up to look like brains and carnitas that look like flesh ripped straight from the bone, but far better spiced and much more tender. 08[20:53] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom will not be sharing in the Calibration aesthetic, unless Sunlit-Dreaming Ying really wants her to. She'll take the red silk komon out for a spin, so that she can learn if she needs to change something up before *gulp* meeting Eikichi's parents. [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12The good news is, it does look like both of the Mask's nights can - and like to - eat. Once it seems socially appropriate, they both dig in, each occasionally capitalizing on chances to remind the other to use their napkin. [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12But, also, both of the Mask's knights. [20:54] 4Once everything is finally served, Ir will strut out and take her spot at the table, electing for the white tea and a polite heaping of the meat. 15[20:56] 10Eikichi telekinetically arranges bits of meat into skewerless kebabs that he holds perpendicular to his mouth, floating in a bite at a time while he holds a napkin in cupped hands under his chin to catch crumbs. [20:58] 4Drips. Catch drips. The meat is not so dry as to crumb. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells looks to be in heaven. Hell? Nega-hea... you get it. She turns to Ir at one point: "Did you make allll of this?" [20:59] 13Ying's daintily sipping her tea and trying VERY hard not to just immediately devour the entire spread with her bare... claws. "Ir's amazing! The furry best chef in Creation!" [21:00] 4Ir smiles. "I had some very capable helpers. But yes." 15[21:00] 10That is not a good replacement for 'very'. [21:00] 13*sips tea for fifteen seconds without saying anything again* [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12And yet, completely accurate. "That's amazing! It's so good," 12Bells responds. "We gotta get someone like you." [21:01] 4Ir: "Oh, I'm nothing special." 4Pause. "In a celestial sense." [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "No, no, the skeletons, you know, they're not so good at it. And you can't have a zombie do it obviously. I thought it'd be better here but it's like all your restaurants are so blaaaand..." 12Coils frowns to himself slightly as he munches on his own kebab. [21:03] 4The smile becomes amused. "Even the pitza?" 15[21:03] 10Eikichi dries his lips while meat rotates in front of him on an invisible spit. [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "Yeah. Most of it, anyway. The one with the sausages was okay." [21:05] 13Ying: "I like anchovies on mine! But nobody else makes it right." [21:05] 4Noted, for future use. [21:05] 4Ir nods. "They put the fish on the pitza before putting the whole thing in the oven, I bet. You need to add it halfway through." [21:06] 13She shakes her head. "Amateurs." [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "That's so cool though. And I had to learn all this lame necrogeomancy instead." [21:08] 4Ir: "It's less glamorous than you might think. ...But only because this is the most glamorous it gets, I suppose." [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "Meanwhile it's like half the stuff I do is just cradles for giant ghosts! And I never even got to see the one in Crystal in action." 15[21:10] 10Eikichi: "Necrogeomancy sounds plenty interesting! When did you take it up?" [21:10] 4Aheh, yeah, sorry about that kid. [21:10] 13Ying: "Do giant ghosts have childhoods? Why make cradles fur them?" [21:10] 7Being gloomy about all the talk of necrogeomancy and giant ghosts at least fits the aesthetic... 15[21:11] "No, I think it's more like cat's cradles." [21:11] 13Ying: "Oooooh..." [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "Da- uh, Da-issolving said I needed to learn a trade and I used to like building stuff." 12Dissolving Dragon's Coils nods here. [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells, to Ying: "Yeah it's like Blossom says. It's sort of, I mean, 'ghost' is kind of wrong, there's a long word I always mess up. Heck..." [21:12] 4Ir wants to promise her some cooking lessons, but...their time is kind of already spoken for right now. 15[21:12] "It's good work! Do you know how it all works?" [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12She tries and fails to snap her fingers a few times. Her d*d, meanwhile, gives a helpless shrug. "Don't recall it either." 15[21:13] 10Eikichi looks fascinated here, and hasn't yet noticed Blossom's reaction. [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "Anyway, it's like how the stories go. Boys and girls were made from clay. But in death they're back to water. And that's true, it's like, there's the rivers of the underworld and they channel these different powers around." [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "So if you use earth, and iron, and bone and skin and stuff obviously, you can make artifacts - even whole buildings! - that do black magic for you." [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils: "Crazy stuff. I can't understand it, but it sure as hell works." [21:18] 4Blech magic. [21:19] 7Blossom: "Have you been in Nexus very long?" [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "Not suuuuper long. A few weeks. Dad's been in and out, right?" 12Coils: "Yeah. Did some security work, some fighting, some more security - guarding shipments, pretty boring. And you all've been over in Forks, right?" [21:23] 13Ying: "In and around. A... mixed bag?" 13She shrugs. [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils: "What're you getting up to over there? Keep hearing about demon armies?" [21:25] 13Ying takes the opportunity to sip at her tea while someone else answers that incredibly delicate question. 08[21:26] 7Blossom: "They're not really demons. Demon-blooded... animals? I think Eikichi could be more precise." 08[21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils treats Eikichi to a skeptical look, although at least part of the squint is because it's difficult to look at that visage directly for very long. [21:28] 13He is brilliant. [21:29] 13...in both senses. 15[21:30] 10Eikichi: "The entire kruthik species as a whole might constitute one vast and powerful demon, but looking at individual members or even whole broods of them what you see is a demonic mimic of organic life. Like Blossom says, it's as if they have some quantity of demon blood but since they don't interbreed or in fact reproduce in the classical sense at all, that proportion of demonic 15[21:30] nature stays contant even as they continue to consume and fabricate new bio-matter." 15[21:30] 10He didn't even have his mouth full. [21:30] 7She's so proud! [21:31] 7...and a little sad. Hm. Gonna have to think about that feeling later, or perhaps not ever. [21:31] 4Ir glances between the two of them, but mostly sticks to her food. [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "Whadda they taste like?" [21:32] 4Ir: "They're not for eating." [21:32] 13Ying, suddenly interested: "But what if..." 15[21:33] 10Eikichi: "They're very acidic, it's like licking blackened meat doused in vinegar." 15[21:33] "You could maybe barbecue it." [21:33] 13Ying: "Wait, you tried it? And you didn't tell me??" [21:33] 4...Has he been eating our-- 15[21:34] 10Eikichi: "I just licked one! I was curious." [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "Hmm..." 12Coils: "So what's up with them? Haven't stamped 'em out yet?" [21:34] 4More forcefully: "But it doesn't matter because they're not for eating." [21:34] 4Ir: "We've found a use for them. For now." [21:34] 13Ying pouts. "Everything's fur eating if you believe in yourself." 15[21:35] 10Eikichi, eager to move on: "Long-term we're thinking about relocating them to Malfeas. They'd fit in down there." 15[21:35] "Out... there? I think of Hell as being to the south because of the desert but it's not, really, is it?" 15[21:35] "I'm not sure..." [21:35] 4The one place you take creatures that absolutely aren't for eating, of course, is into the lair of the mad cannibals. [21:36] 13Ying: "Deserts are basically like Hell, I think." 08[21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils points to Eikichi. "Heh, you know, same. But that's pretty wild. Guessing they're pretty pretty effective in the field?" 15[21:37] "Ir trained them herself." [21:38] 4Ir: "We had some help getting started. But yes, they're my other project." [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils: "That's nuts." 12Bells: "Do you have them do pushups and stuff?" 08[21:38] "Eikichi has helped, however. Thankfully we've cultivated some trustworthy managers." [21:39] 7Blossom, in the interest of participating in the conversation: "You might be able to do something with their venom, if you diluted it enough to not kill the diners. It's kind of... citrusy? Really acidic, of course. Maybe a marinade?" [21:41] 13Ying: "Has efurryone had kruthik but me?" [21:41] 4Ir: "I have not and will not." [21:41] "Crosses some icky boundaries." 15[21:41] 10Eikichi: "I didn't eat one. I'm not a monster." [21:42] 13Ying: "But you know what they taste like." 15[21:42] 10Eikichi: "I invented a lot of drugs while I was breeding Jormungand." [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "What?" [21:42] 13She almost calls Ir the kruthik's mom, but stops herself before she even starts. That is something she absolutely will not broach in public. 15[21:43] 10Looking nervously at her father: "I was making... candy...!" [21:43] 13Nose candy. [21:43] 4If Ir had to guess, she'd guess he was objecting to the 'breeding' bit. [21:44] 7Blossom: "If you know a better way to become immune to kruthik venom, I'm all ears." [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils chuckles to himself and waves a hand vaguely. Bells: "I mean what's Jormungand!" [21:45] 13Ying's just watching Blossom with open fascination, eyes shining. 15[21:46] 10Eikichi: "Oh, Jormungand is the cerebrate I devised, a sort of living brain that can delegate intelligence out over vast numbers of kruthik." [21:47] 4Ir: "He got hurt recently when we had to sack an underground city, but he's getting better now." 4She's careful not to mention who or what was defending said underground city, and she'll give the rest of the table a glance to try and remind them to do the same. [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "Ooh. I wonder how hard making animals is-" 12Coils makes a skeptical noise, and Bells deflates a bit. "Oh.. yeah." 15[21:49] "I bet you could make a horse with ghosts for eyes, or stitch dead animals together into viable constructs. A dog flotilla maybe." [21:50] 13Ying: "Shame that cats have nine lives - be purretty hard to make an army out of 'em." [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells nods to herself, though she looks less enthused. Coils tries to change the subject. "So how'd you all get together?" [21:51] 7Blossom grins to herself: "It's Octavian's fault." [21:51] 4Ir: "And he regrets it even to this day." [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils: "Hah, really? So it was in Crystal? Remember running into the guy." [21:54] 4Ir: "Bit south of there." 08[21:54] 7Blossom: "Before Crystal, even. We were heading north, near... what was the name of that little town?" 7She looks to Eikichi. 15[21:54] 10Eikichi: "Ember." 15[21:54] "Ember Valley." [21:54] "Ember, right." [21:54] 4She waves her hand and Jude's Law slithers up into an orb. "Same place I found this." [21:55] "Same place we first ran into the kruthik, now that I recall." [21:55] 4...Now that's a weird set of coincidences. [21:55] 4Probably nothing. [21:55] "We found an old redoubt from the time before the Shogunate, and Octavian guarding it." 7She laughs. "He was still there!" [21:55] 13Ying: "Oh, wow, you guys met him? You never told me that tail!" [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils: "You beat 'im?" 15[21:58] 10Eikichi: "One thing that wasn't in the book: I accidentally set Ir on fire when we were fighting him." 15[21:58] "Not a good first impression." [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "You should of put it in the book." [21:59] 13Ying: "Should have." [21:59] 13It's practically automatic. [21:59] 4Bold, kitty. [22:00] 13What, she's already tried to disembowel me once. 15[22:00] "I was worried it would look badly written. Things like that would make Ir look stupid for sticking around. I'd get letters. Totally unrealistic, they'd say." [22:00] "Poor Ir had a Wyld Hunt on her tail. It was the biggest mess." 7She wobbles a bit mentally before 'tail', thanks to Ying and Nyaroshi's 'blessing'. [22:00] 13Mew. [22:00] 4Ir: "Also not in the book was me not letting him forget him setting me on fire for oh, months." 15[22:02] 10Eikichi: "It's okay, she got me back by saving my life repeatedly and being an unfailingly loyal friend." [22:02] "And excellent pilot, ship hostess, chef, and rockstar." [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "Haha! I once hit d, you know, Coils, right in the face, once. I mean, I like, I got thrown straight at him and pow." 12Coils looks chagrined. "Had the collar guard added after that one." 08[22:03] 13Ying: "Claws that makes up fur efurrything you did." 13She's gazing fondly at Ir and Eikichi both. 08[22:03] 4Ir: "I would say Eikichi is selling himself short here from modesty, but I've actually read the books, and, well." [22:06] "He is honest, which is to say, he comes off exemplary."{ 15[22:08] 10Eikichi: "I'm great, it's true." [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12This is met with nods and smiles as your two guests work their way through more tea and treats. Ah, what a nice evening. [22:09] 13It's nice not being attacked out of nowhere! 08[22:10] 7It is a nice evening! Bells and Coils are fine guests, and Blossom would really like it if being friendly to them would cause them to abandon Typhon, Thorns, the Mask of Winters, and the cause of the Underworld more generally. She doesn't really expect it to happen, but Eikichi would be so pleased that she feels obligated to keep working toward it. [22:10] 4Eventually Ir will slip into the back one more time to get dessert: iced cream carefully done up to look like spoooooooky brains. This was a test for her staff with only supervisory input from herself -- and they pulled it off well. [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12But isn't that, at least, better than people being kind to you? Thoughts to think on. You do have a good opening here to ask about all those unfortunate connections of theirs, if you're interested, although Coils and Bells have a few more things to ask or just idly chatter about if none of that comes up. 15[22:10] 10How's Blossom's mood been as the evening's gone on? [22:11] 4It's a good distraction from the bare fact of the matter which sets in later, after the party's over, which is that none of this is going to end well. Especially not for the child. [22:11] 7Much improved once they stopped talking about hekatonchires and necrogeomancy. [22:12] 7It helps that most of the spooky accoutrements are more Calibration stuff than real Underworld aesthetic as she understands it. [22:12] 13Ying tried her best... [22:13] 7Yes! That's why it's so much fun! 15[22:13] 10There could be more candy, but Eikichi always thinks that and Sun knows there's nothing wrong with the spread. [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Looks like the spooktacular display is close enough to the abyssals' preferred (required?) aesthetic so as not to offend, so it would seem everybody wins here. At some point, Coils says: "So I hear you folks are heading eastward at some point?" [22:15] 4Ir: "Word travels. So do we." [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils nods to himself, looking somewhat satisfied, even though Bells is mildly saddened. [22:18] 4Casually: "But we'll be around when we're needed." [22:22] 13Ying beams. "We've got too much going on here to just leave! This is kinda... home, in a weird way?" [22:22] 6It's not weird. 13It is. [22:22] "I'll be here all week, along with my soup kitchens." [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils: "Gonna be on the lists?" [22:24] 4Ir sighs indulgently. "Just got done fighting one war and I'm about to go fight another. If you want to go, we can set something up, but I'm not planning on doing too much." [22:25] 13Ying: "Purrlease, no. Let me have a week without seeing my friends fight eachother." 15[22:25] 10Eikichi: "I heard Wild Rose was going to fight Kala Theka." [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils is about to answer, but as he's opening his mouth Bells shouts: "Nooo!" 12Coils: "-aheh. 'bout my thought on the matter, actually. Be a huge moneymaker, I'm sure... but yeesh, the effort." [22:27] 4Phew. [22:27] 4Ir: "No disrespect to those grinding in the arena, but I'm really glad I've got my music and my cooking, and I don't need to fight to make money." 08[22:28] 4To Eikichi: "She should. I'd say someone needs to teach him a lesson, but he's past learning." [22:28] "But maybe she can keep him out of the Arena for awhile." [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils: "Not like it's us making the real money in any event. Rose... who was she again? Heard some mention when I got my start but she's been gone a little while, apparently." [22:29] 13Ying: "As long as he's not in the public eye, I'm fine with whatefur." [22:30] "You should watch her next fight!" [22:30] 4Ir stirs her tea with a finger. "My concern about Theka is that he'll be a nuisance until suddenly one day he's killed a promising young up-and-comer, it comes out he's been doing human sacrifice in his spare time, and suddenly he's a real big problem." [22:30] "Nothing to do about in the ring, though." [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils glances over at Blossom, then to Ir. "Isn't that... the style? The heart thing? Thought the sun goes for it." [22:34] 4Ir: "The Sun's style is that His style is whatever we say it is." [22:34] "And if some of us have problems with it, we fight about it." [22:35] "He's pretty hands off." [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils: "Heh. That's convenient. Guess you could say we're making it up as we go too, with some provisos." [22:37] 4Ir eats some ice cream. "Yeah, well. I love Him for what He's done for me, but the aloofness can backfire." [22:39] 13Ying: "The heart - no! Ew." [22:40] 4Ir: "Anyway, my understanding is Theka's whole deal is real old-school. And real regional." [22:40] 7Blossom snorts dismissively. "He's just mimicking the Dragon Kings. Old and gone. It would be shameful even if it weren't profane." 15[22:41] 10Eikichi: "Before humanity was even made from clay, the dragon-kings lived in every Direction. They worshiped the Sun in their own brutal way." [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils: "Guess it's out of style now?" [22:42] 4Ir: "Thousands of years." 15[22:42] 10Eikichi: "It's like Ir said. It's up to us to decide what's in style." 15[22:42] "Sometimes the world only makes sense when you force it to." [22:42] 13Ying: "It's pawful." 15[22:42] 10He shudders a little. That felt really good to say. [22:43] 4Ir: "Anyway. He's on a short leash. I'm willing to tolerate what he's doing in the context of Arena combat, as distasteful as it is. That's what fighters sign up for sometimes. He does it to anyone else and I'm going to put him down like a rabid dog." [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils: "Well, the crowds love it. Even more now he only does it in confirmed deathmatches." [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils: "Rarer, see?" 15[22:45] 10Eikichi: "I heard the fight with Rose might be a deathmatch." [22:45] 4Ir: "Like I said. If it comes down to it, the crowds will get over it." [22:45] 4Ir raises an eyebrow. "In that case, nevermind." [22:45] "This problem sounds like it's solved itself." [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils: "That so? Hope she's prepared, because that bastard's gotten a lot faster of late. Not su-" 12Bells: "Does your god hate me?" 12Coils: "Uh-- honey--" [22:45] "...If that's what Rose wants." [22:46] 4Ahhhhh, fuck. 15[22:46] 10Eikichi drums the table and looks at Blossom. Does she want to take this one? Her answer will probably be better than Eikichi's. [22:48] 13Ying is back to sipping at her tea and hoping that literally anyone else answers this. [22:48] 4Ir will take it if no one else wants it. [22:50] 7Blossom holds eye contact with Bells as she looks thoughtful, trying to convey that she's taking the question seriously. [22:50] "...you and Dissolving Dragon's Coils? I don't believe so." [22:56] "Death itself is not evil. It happens to everyone. People like Typhon and the Mask of Winters, though... they are His enemies and ours." [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils quirks a brow. Bell, who's looking right back, doesn't notice. "But we're people like that," 12she says. [23:00] 4Ir: "It's not that simple, honey. The Sun doesn't hate you; I'm not sure He even has the capacity to hate, or love, individual mortals the way we think about that stuff. He's -- think of how high up He is in the sky. That's not just physical distance. He's not thinking about you, or me, in terms of love and hate -- just like I'm sure the Mask doesn't have any personal grudge against [23:00] us. I think he'd think it was beneath him." [23:01] 4Ir: "And if He does, so what? I love Him, but part of our covenant is we get to do what we think is right. It doesn't change anything between the people at this table." [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "He knows who you are!" 12Coils: "I mean," [23:01] 4...Well, that's good information to have, at least. 15[23:02] 10Eikichi: "What does he say about us?" 15[23:02] "Tell me everything." [23:02] 4Oh for Sun's-- [23:02] 13Ying has placed her chin in her paws as she gazes across the table. [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "Mostly he-" 12Coils puts a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Feeeeel like that's, you know, shop talk. Not really appropriate here." 15[23:03] 10Curses. Maybe literally, who knows. SURE NOT US [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells mutters something like 14"Who even cares, it's mostly like 'nya-ha-ha, I shall-'"12 but Coils clears his throat and that's the end of that one. "Point is, we all like you, honey, right? Nothin' to worry about from the sky or whatever." [23:05] 7To Ir: "Ah, it actually kind of is that simple. I'll talk about it later, if you want." 7Back to Bells: "You're not like them, and I think you know that. You can always choose who you serve and what you support, even if it doesn't seem like you can." [23:05] 4WELL THANKS FOR TELLING THE CHILD THAT. [23:06] 7Blossom: "Let me give you an example. Uh, did the books write about how he chose me?" [23:06] 13'nya-ha-ha' seems unnecessarily pointed. Just saying. [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "Yeah, for standing up to an evil tax-man." [23:07] 4If Ir's nice dinner ends with a call for the damned servants of the undead to repent their sins-- 15[23:08] 10It gets told in a flashback in the first book as Blossom relates it to Eikichi. It's there to break up the big dungeon delve from the assaults by Reckoning and Yara. [23:10] 7Blossom: "Right. But I didn't know he was going to do that when I did it. I didn't know he noticed or cared at all. It was only after I'd committed that he showed his face to me. You see? The most important thing is what you do when think no one else will ever notice or care." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Bell: "Oh. That's how I could've known." [23:11] "If something's right, follow it with all your heart, no matter what. If something's wrong, oppose it with all your soul. Your decisions are what matter most of all. Not where you come from or who you are." [23:11] 13Ying: "Hmm?" [23:12] 13That was to Bells, not Blossom. [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "For me - for us - it was an offer. Like, a deal." [23:12] 13Ying: "What was it like? If - if you don't mind." [23:13] 13She still remembers the hands around her throat. Best to tread lightly. [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells licks her lips. "It was back- in Thorns. When everything was shaking and exploding and people were dying. The Dragon-Blooded were losing and getting desperate - burning people so they wouldn't just get back up and switch sides soon as they fell." [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "I was - I don't know, I think I died for real, or was about to, something fell on me or something. I saw mom and dad..." 12There's an unpleasant tearing sensation here, and a chill wind, but it doesn't seem to register with Bells. "On the ground, bleeding, burned... and a voice said, a HUGE voice, that I could save them all. I just had to come back." [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "Well, I did, but I couldn't. But dad heard the same v-" 12Coils: "Bells! Careful." 12It's too late, judging from the cracking of porcelain - all the tea in the room's frozen over, shattering cups in the process. [23:17] 4More virtuous than the way Ir got her job. [23:18] 7What is happening right now. [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Shadows are darkening and everything's getting very cold. The food feels like it just came out of an icebox, and the tea's a series of solid blocks. Bells is wiping red years away from the corner of her eyes and Coils is pressing his lips together tightly and, seemingly, trying to think of a graceful way to handle this. [23:20] 13Shouldn't have pried. Even if it's nice to know -- that was cruel. [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12You're pretty sure this isn't a deliberate or even accidental act of magic on either deathknight's part. It's more like an adverse reaction between their curse-ed persons and the living world around them; as though increasing tension has been building up by their breaking bread with you, and especially by their discussing personal and family relations, and now a small bit of it's [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12snapped loose. [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12In effect, Bells is being punished - or, at least, some sort of cosmic scale is being tipped back into balance. [23:24] 7Does it look like Bells might actually be hurt by all the poltergeisty shenanigans? [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12She seems fine. Well, she is crying blood, but if you were to compare notes with Ying you'd learn that she's probably just like that. [23:25] 13That was bad though! It was bad that that happened! And now Ying's done it again. Augh. [23:26] 13She'll shift over to offer Bells a handkerchief, or a shoulder, depending on what she wants or needs. [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12I mean, you were heading for this territory as soon as religion came up, so you might as well have popped the question. Bells: "Anyway then we helped finish the takeover and then we, then we, did all the other stuff I guess." [23:26] 7Blossom: "That was very brave." [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells takes the cloth Ying offers, and of course proceeds to ruin it with an unsightly red stain. "Not really. It was easy." 15[23:27] 10She and Blossom have a lot in common. [23:27] 13It'll... hopefully come out in the wash. "Just because something is easy doesn't mean it wasn't brave to try." [23:28] "So many things that we do turn out to be easy, but - it's way easier to just accept them the way they are." [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12It doesn't seem to have occurred to Bells that Blossom's talking about her story; to her, the easy task currently under review was her joining in the conquest of Thorns. 08[23:30] 7Blossom flinches almost imperceptibly at the last clause (claws?) of YIng's sentence. Perhaps only Eikichi would notice. 15[23:31] 10Eikichi holds her hand. [23:31] 7Blossom: "I meant at the beginning- but perhaps we shouldn't talk about that, anymore?" [23:31] 4Ir will clean up the mess, and take away the plates. The pained look on her face is fairly obvious. [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells tries to pick up the inverted reddish dome that used to be her tea, and kind of licks and gnaws at it, but ultimately gives up and lets Ir clean it away. She draws her feet up to her seat and sits with her arms around her knees while Coils alternately clasps her shoulder and rubs her back a few times. He says: "Wasn't a good time. Lot of changes and most of 'em for the worse."" [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils: "But we keep busy. It's, eheh, a living." [23:34] 13One of Ying's fangs bites her lip to keep from smiling. [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils: "Sorry 'bout the food. You know how curses are." [23:36] 4Instead of returning to the table immediately, Ir will make herself some coffee. [23:37] 13Ying pauses, then nods knowingly. "It's like that, I guess." [23:37] "You deserve better," 7slips out before she can stop herself. [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils nods to Ying: "Truer words." 12He claps. "Anyway, if there's anything I can do to help clean or... bring out a dessert or something, don't hesitate." 12To Blossom: "Ehh, sure. But what good's 'deserve' in this day and age?" [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Is there dessert? Ice cream might still be good -- if it was a minimum of several rooms away, because as anyone who tries to reheat the rest of the meal will later find out, the meat and pastries and such just turn to ash in the mouths of the living. [23:41] 13Not great! [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Could've been worse. Be glad there weren't any pregnant women in the building. [23:42] 4We can do ice cream and coffee in a pinch unless literally all food on the hotel's first floor is ruined. [23:42] 4Then we'd have to send out. [23:43] 7Who dares? Who would dare bring down a curse on OUR GUESTS?! BLOSSOM WILL remain calm, it's important not to cause a scene at the table. Ivy wouldn't like it. Why is she thinking of Ivy all of a sudden? [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12But no, you're able to rescue some from the far stores, so the tea party can actually end with something warm and bitter plus something cold and sweet. Bells's mood is much improved; she seems to really like Ir's cooking. [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, she enjoys the ice cream a bit less than she did the earlier fare, which suggests that she must have a really refined palate because to everyone else it tastes lovely. 15[23:44] 10Coffee and ice cream sounds great! [23:44] 13Pregn- okay, you know what, I'm not even going to ask, because I REALLY do not want to know. [23:46] 13What's up with the ice cream, though? Not a fan of cold treats? [23:47] 4She liked the earlier bit. Ir had to make this out of what wasn't destroyed by the curse. [23:47] 4So it's probably not perfect. [23:51] 13Ying: "Bells, are you all right?" 13She sounds genuinely concerned. [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "Huh? I mean... I guess? This is nice." [23:53] 13Ying: "If you're sure." 13She doesn't sound convinced, but... she can't exactly make Bells talk about it. No matter what her hypothesis is. [23:54] 13She'll have a talk with the rest of the Circle afterwards. [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, the rest of the tea party basically goes well. Bells is a little more morose, but Coils can smoothly fill the space with conversation about contemporary pecadillos in the arena and funny stories about organized crime in Nexus which might as well be storybook fare for most of you but which might ring bells for an eventually-awake Tatsuya. Bells has heard a few of these, and [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12likes to spoil punchlines - "...AND THEN HE SAYS I THOUGHT IT WAS YOUR POTION!" [23:56] 4Ir will chuckle at that even on the off-chance it's not strictly funny. [23:56] 6Haha. Classic. [23:58] 7Blossom will laugh anyway, because she will. have. a. nice. evening! She is incredibly dedicated to this now that she's aware an unseen foe is casting dread curses to prevent it. [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12It sort of scales with your ability to delight in others' misfortune, but there are a couple sensible chuckles in there. By the end of the night, both deathknights seem in genuinely good spirits. Bells thanks the Circle profusely for the occasion, and bossily reminds her father to do the same; Coils apologizes that he doesn't think he can throw anything like this event in return, [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12but affirms that you need only call on him if he can help you out. [23:59] 4All good. Ir's ready and willing to host again if necessary, and is even able to conceal her worry while saying so. [23:59] 13Ying files that away. Tatsuya might need that. 6For what? 13Fixing your problems, nerd. 15[23:59] 10Eikichi: "What a delightful evening, mostly." Session Time: Sat Feb 09 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] 13Ying: "I don't know how long they can keep it up." [00:00] 4Once the deathknights are gone, she'll head back to the kitchen, pay out the rest of the staff -- she paid out the waitstaff awhile ago, but the bussers and cleaners are still around -- and put on some more coffee. They've got the run of the kitchen and dining floor until morning, and two comp'd suites upstairs. [00:00] 4Ir: "Well fuck, man." [00:00] 7Blossom will clasp her hands in her sleeves and bow respectfully to Coils while thanking him for coming - would it be inappropriate to try and hug Bells? [00:01] 4To Blossom, once it's just the Circle again: "Next time just let me lie to the kid, okay? Less to clean up." [00:01] 13Ying: "I mean - Bells was barely able to put down some of the best food anyone's ever had! And how long can she keep that up?" [00:03] 4Ir: "It got worse as the evening went on. I'm hoping it was like, an allergic reaction, and not a permanent deterioration of her palate." [00:04] 7Blossom, looking downcast: "I am ashamed." [00:04] 4Ir's mood switches immediately. "You've got nothing to be ashamed of." [00:05] 13Ying: "I don't think --" 13To Blossom: "What of? You did nothing wrong." [00:05] "No, I haven't opposed evil with all my soul the way I told Black Bells Chiming to. But you have," 7She says to Ir. "You're right. Slavery is a foul evil." 15[00:06] 10Eikichi looks at the ceiling. [00:06] 4Ir: "It needs to be destroyed, especially when it involves children." [00:06] 4Ir: "The trick here is doing it without destroying the children." [00:08] 4Ir: "...I meant it when I said that I don't think He hates her. I don't think I could bear it, having to serve a god who blames an enslaved child for her plight." [00:09] 7Blossom: "And you're right, he doesn't." [00:09] 13Ying: "She's - I don't know how to help her." [00:09] 4She relaxes in her chair. [00:09] "What can we do?" [00:09] 4Ir: "There's always killing the Mask, which we were going to do anyway. But that won't fix it." [00:10] "He can hate or love individuals. He hates vice and loves virtue. But... in the time before time, the gods rose up against the enemies of the gods who held them in thrall. How could he hate anything more than an unjust king? How could he love anything more than the innocent enslaved?" [00:10] 7Blossom: "We have to help them." [00:11] 13Ying's ears twitch, but she nods. "It's impurrtant." [00:12] 4Ir: "I'm very concerned about Bells, but I'm even more concerned about the implication." [00:12] "What if she's not the only child?" [00:12] "Children shouldn't even be serving the Sun like this. But how many has the Underworld taken?" [00:16] 7Blossom: "One's too many. Someday, when we have the strength behind us, we'll have to march on Thorns and do to the Mask what we did to the Princess Magnificent." [00:17] 4Ir: "What we did to Princess Magnificent didn't save anyone." [00:17] 4Ir: "Least of all her." [00:17] 4Ir: "We saw her literally dragged back down into the Underworld. We need a better solution for Bells and Coils." 15[00:18] "You have to wonder what became of her deathknights in the aftermath." [00:18] 7Blossom: "I've been worried about that one that got away..." 15[00:19] "I'm sure he'll be working for Heaven by the end of the month, if he isn't already." [00:19] "That might be a vector of inquiry." [00:20] 13Ying: "Oh, they have to have SOME standards..." 13She does not sound sure. [00:20] 4She sighs. "And...as much as I'd find it...lame and distasteful...there is another powerful Exalted servant of the Underworld we sort of have an in with." [00:21] "Feh! How can this 'Chejop Kejak' be so foolish!" [00:21] 4Ir: "I feel like he's run up the score on our people more than once before." 15[00:24] "He seems like an avatar of everything that's wrong with Yu-Shan." 15[00:24] "May Blossom works for him, doesn't she? Maybe we should ask her." [00:24] "What's wrong with Yu-Shan is what's wrong everywhere." [00:25] 4Ir: "Talking to people that work for him seems like the easiest way to tip him to our aims." [00:25] "Unless we're looking for a face-to-face?" 15[00:25] 10Eikichi shrugs. "Why not? He'll sit down with corpses." [00:26] 7Blossom: "It might be worth talking to Wayang? If anyone could get us useful information without alerting our enemies in the Celestial Bureaucracy, it would be him. He's been at it long enough." [00:26] 4Ir: "It would mean owing him favors, but I suppose we've owed more to worse." [00:26] 13Ying: "If not, point me in a direction. I can do a lot of things." [00:26] 7She scowls and thumps the arm of her chair, grinding her teeth. [00:27] "Fur Sun's sake. No one will ever know I was there." 15[00:27] 10Eikichi gives Blossom a questioning look. [00:27] "Huh? Oh, no, no, sorry, Ying." [00:28] 4Ir: "What's certain is we need to be bargaining from a position of greater strength in Creation, yeah?" [00:28] "I'm just-- they were our guests! And - whoever it is - they DARED to bring a curse down on them! To mock our hospitality!" [00:28] 4Ir: "...It was the Mask, right?" [00:28] "Who else could it have been?" [00:28] 7Blossom: "I'm assuming so, but it's just an assumption..." [00:29] "Everything perishable in the kitchen got turned to rot." [00:29] "It's an outrage!" 7Blossom cries. [00:29] "A slap in the face, a..." 7She fumes. 14[00:30] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:30] 4Ir: "It means he's pissy enough to be petty." [00:30] "It means we've shook him." [00:31] "But I think now more than ever we need to march into that library, lay waste to its cannibal queen, and take all its knowledge for our own." [00:31] "We're gonna need it." [00:35] 7Blossom nods firmly. "Absolutely." [00:35] "In addition to being opposed to 'cannibal queens' in general." [00:36] 4Ir: "I've got another ten days of obligations in the city; after that, I'm heading back to the kruthik to begin preparations to move." [00:38] "It'll be a long, complicated march and I want to get us up, running, and get the kruthik adapted." 15[00:38] 10Eikichi: "I may need slightly more than that, depending on when we can schedule the fight and what I'm working on for Ying. But I agree, we must move on Mahalanka." 15[00:39] 10He offers no general comment on terrifying, mighty cannibal queens in principle, but he has no love for Raksi. [00:40] 4Ir: "If your Rider is faster than the Heavensward, then it shouldn't be an issue of you joining us in flight." [00:42] 4Ir: "Something for consideration: sending you and Blossom with Jormungand as the eagle flies to our base camp site to begin preparations for when we manuever the army around. I'd rather not have it flying over the kruthik mass anyway. Bad image." [00:42] 7Blossom: "I have no objection." 15[00:43] "Sounds good." [00:43] "It will give you a chance to reconnect with our beastmen allies -- we'll want them well-briefed and well-taken care of, and most importantly, running picket defenses by the time the exhausted army arrives." [00:44] "Jormungand is also probably a better introduction to the kind of army we're bringing than the whole horde at once; if he can carry a small variety force of all the sorts of beasties we'll be bringing, that'll be helpful too." [00:49] "Hrrh. Alright. Can anyone think of anything else?" 15[00:49] "Anything else?" [00:50] 4Ir: "We need to move up our plans for a demesne." [00:50] "The flying one." [00:50] "A-- oh, right." [00:51] "I don't have much expertise to offer there but we need to start stockpiling...whatever we need now. We can pillage Rakshi's domain once we win, but we're not sticking around, and I doubt we'd want to use that place as, like, a base for the spell or whatever." [00:52] 7Blossom: "I'll have to think about how to arrange a realm such that the central palace can lift off and combat our foes without throwing everything into chaos." [00:53] 4Ir: "Seems to me like an already-existing island or a bigass mountain would be the best things to use. A real solid unity of form, like the monks used to say. They carved the Nail out of a mountain." [00:54] "But, not my department. I'm gonna keep my head down and focus on what I've agreed to here, and then I'm heading east." [00:54] "...I was kind of hoping for a longer vacation." [00:54] 7Blossom: "...hmm. Or a secondary palace, built for the express purpose of command in flight, while the main one remains earthbound? That might be a better plan......" [00:55] 7She shrugs and grins at Ir. "The reward of responsibility is more responsibility." 15[00:56] 10Eikichi: "We're not going to have a free moment unless we take it. The work will literally never end." [00:57] "Isn't it great?!" [00:57] 4Ir grimaces instead of smiling. "The trip will be free time enough. And I'll feel better about lying on a beach somewhere when the kruthik are safely in Maltheas." [00:57] "14...Malfeas" 08[00:57] 7If the rest of them are heading off to their rooms or whatnot, Blossom will say: "Eikichi, could I talk to you privately for a minute?" 15[00:58] 10Eikichi: "Of course." [00:58] 4Ir heads upstairs to one of their suites, drops into bed, and is almost immediately asleep. She has to be up for lunch service tomorrow. [00:59] 7She'll draw him off into a corridor or something and grab his shoulders, taking a deep breath. 15[01:00] 10This is serious. [01:01] "I don't understand why you want to get married. It must mean something different to... where you come from. But that doesn't matter. If you want to do it, I'll marry you, and be glad of it. I won't permit anyone to say a wedding was more advantageous than ours." [01:01] "But!" 7She raises a finger. [01:02] "It has to be a true state occasion. Throngs of cheering crowds, both of us in blue, flower petals raining from heaven. I won't settle for anything less, and neither should you." 15[01:04] 10Eikichi opens his mouth but just sputters helplessly. "Oh Blossom-- but I didn't-- I shouldn't have-- I didn't mean to--" [01:04] 7Blossom: "Because I love you, baka! And this is important!" 15[01:05] 10There's patches of red high on his cheeks, flooding his alabaster skin so thoroughly that his very hair is shading pink. 15[01:06] "I, I, I, I, I," [01:06] "I'm going to put 'beside and not below her' and 'beside and not below him' on our formal titles." [01:09] 7She might have said more, but wow he looks incredible right now. 15[01:10] 10There's so many things he wants to say. That he wasn't trying to pressure her, that he was just reaching out for certainty about a shared future, that he wouldn't dare put something so weighty on Blossom in a fit of pique. But the weight of her hand on his shoulder is all that steadies him as he collects his breath, and the weight of his hands on her shoulders is all that steadies 15[01:10] 10him when he takes her and kisses her, and the weight of his cheek on her cheek is all he feels when he finally gets out "Oh, Blossom. My princess." [01:11] 7Blossom: "I love it when you call me that." 15[01:12] "Then rule by my side for a thousand years! Together we can be the most powerful couple in Creation!" [01:17] "Ahahahahaha!" [01:18] "Way more than a thousand years though." 15[01:18] "Absolutely." 14[08:37] * Joins: tom 14[11:12] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[11:12] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[11:12] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[11:16] * Joins: tom2 14[11:18] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:31] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:19] * Joins: VoxPrimey 14[23:20] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sun Feb 10 00:00:00 2019 14[05:51] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:58] * Joins: tom 14[16:22] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[16:25] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[16:27] * Joins: Crion 14[17:41] * Joins: tom2 14[17:42] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:15] * Joins: hrolf Session Time: Mon Feb 11 00:00:00 2019 14[00:03] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:07] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:48] * Joins: tom 14[15:50] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:01] * Quits: cbass (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_)) 14[16:01] * Joins: cbass_ 14[16:01] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 14[17:05] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[17:10] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: Mutter: www.mutterirc.com) 14[17:13] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[17:16] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: Mutter: www.mutterirc.com) 14[20:11] * Joins: tom 14[23:08] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:16] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:24] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:31] * Joins: trenchfoot Session Time: Tue Feb 12 00:00:00 2019 14[03:42] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[03:50] * Joins: Quaker 14[05:20] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[07:59] * Joins: tom 14[10:59] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:20] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[15:08] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:32] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:47] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[16:03] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:53] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[17:30] * Quits: VoxPrime (Quit: ) 14[17:47] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[17:50] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:00] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 15[20:04]  15[20:04]  15[20:04]  15[20:04]  15[20:04]  14[20:05] * Joins: Quaker 15[20:07] The circle stands on the precipice of an ancient gate, opened with the utterance of an ancient name. The musty darkness deep below Nexus yields to a dazzling and humid jungle - the mythical Isle of Thran, ordinarily visible only at Calibration in the furthest corner of the Dreaming Sea. [20:08] 14There's nothing for it but to step through, then. Stranger Visits Heaven will assume the risk and the honors. [20:08] 14Apparently he built this thing, after all. At some point. [20:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar'll go through second if not first - marching order's a big deal in his line of work. [20:10] 14The Ambassador gives the Tiger of Nexus a very wide berth, but when he's through she'll follow her mate. [20:10] 13Xia Lan keeps both hands on her weapons as she follows through -- who knows what awaits? 15[20:12] They bought themselves a single night to find some means to keep the Mask of Winters at bay. Stranger goes, and then Keldar, then the Ambassador, Xia Lan, Xu Sim, and the Scion of the Sevenfold. Selin lingers in the doorway but doesn't follow. [20:12] 5Xu Sim takes a deep breath in Nexus and holds it until he's through the portal. He'll wait a moment before taking another. [20:14] 14Stranger will stand on the other side of the threshold as everyone files past, then nod to Selin before turning back to the jungle. 15[20:17] The solars and their partners step into a heat so thick and heavy it stifles the breath. On this side, the gate is all but invisible beneath a tangle of vines and dessicated insect nests - only the darkness of old Hollow lingers, a black eyesore in the blazing sunlight. [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Phew. Good thing Keldar's essence makes his armor feel as light and breezy as a loose shirt. [20:20] 14Stranger shakes out his robes idly, while the Ambassador's sleek and shiny black gown and heels ripple and slithers across her skin, reforming into a sleeveless blouse, tight slacks and functional boots. [20:21] 13Oof. The thing about the deserts was that it's a dry heat. This is... well, at least she's dressed light. [20:21] 14Silver, not black, that is to say. Not much to do about the color. [20:22] "Hot as the least fun parts of the East." 14She glances over at Stranger. "You always take me to such nice places, darling." 15[20:24] The explorers venture deeper, taking in the sights as they go. The first thing they notice is that the rainforest, while teeming with plant life, is eerily silent. No birds, nor beasts, nor bugs catch the eye or ear. They find a path of sorts, a thin spot in the underbrush where it's comparatively easier to move, and it leads them into a partial clearing. Heat and light pour down from 15[20:24] the sky, but a glance upward to gauge the position of the sun in the sky finds nothing. It's not there. [20:24] 14Stranger simply looks at her solemnly and opens the parasol over her head to shade her from the Sun. 15[20:24] Some of them look down and see that they leave no footprints, and cast no shadow. [20:24] 5Xu Sim looks around and releases his breath audibly. Can't be too careful. [20:24] 14Hmm. Perhaps not the Sun, then. [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar frowns to himself. "How much of this is fake? Xu Sim, we in an illusion or something?" 15[20:25] Seven: "Something's not right." [20:25] 5Xu Sim: "It's not like I've been here before," 5he natters back. [20:25] 14The Ambassador: "What is this? Wyld? It can't be creation. There's no...vibrance." [20:25] 14Stranger: "Not Wyld. Not any Wyld I've ever seen, at least." [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12If Keldar plucks a leap from a nearby branch, or scrapes at the soil with a boot, or whatever, can he retrieve material? Leave marks? [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12a leaf* [20:26] "No, I suspect this is something much..." 14His eyes find Xu Sim. "...more intricate." 15[20:29] Keldar plucks a leaf, and it withers to dust in his hands while a new one rapidly grows in its place before his eyes. He scrapes the soil, leaving a divot in the earth that, again, fills back in as he watches. [20:29] 13Xia Lan: "Are we dead? No footprints, no shadow, can't interact with the world...?" [20:30] 13No Sun. [20:30] 14He'd almost said 'something stranger.' But naming puns aside, this is not something Stranger. It's something Xu Sim. [20:32] "Power, overwhelming," 5is the first thing Xu Sim notes. [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "No, we can interact, but it's filling itself back in. It's gotta be magic, right? Like a picture someone drew that we're walking around in." [20:33] 5Xu Sim: "The essence of this demesne is frozen in time, crystallized. Makes sense for a place that appears in Creation once a year." [20:33] 14Stranger: "Then are we...Elsewhere?" [20:33] 13Xia Lan: "Is it safe for us to be here?" [20:34] 5Xu Sim: "The air is thicker with sorcery than humidity. Which is also controlled by the sorcery, along with the light, temperature, everything." [20:34] 14The Ambassador: "Once a year -- Calibration?" 15[20:35] Seven offers a weak laugh to Xia Lan. She's paler than usual, and so sheened with sweat that her hair is already matted. [20:35] 13Oh, shoot. Faux pas. [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Does that mean we can't rob it? If we try to bring something back with us, does it just vanish and pop up back here?" [20:36] 13...sort of forgot about that... [20:36] 14The Sun's real enough for her, at least, but Stranger is pretty sure it's purely the aesthetic that counts. [20:36] 14The door didn't close behind us, did it? We could test our ability to pass things through it right now. [20:37] 14Better to know now if this is a fool's errand, or at least one with some complications, than find out running away from some guardians or what-have-you. [20:38] 14Meanwhile, Ambassador will test whether she can still shift into a swan and, if so, whether and where she can fly. [20:38] 14Presumably this place is bounded, and presumably it would be very bad to cross those bounds anywhere but the door through which they entered. 15[20:39] Anything natural you try to take vanishes from your hand or bag before you even start back towards the gate. Where is the Ambassador flying? [20:39] 13Hm. That's going to be problematic if we want to get any kind of assistance here. [20:39] 14Thirty yalms straight up to begin with, and then she'll tenatively circle and get her bearings assuming something doesn't go horribly wrong. [20:41] 14Her body shudders and feathers whirl around her as bone and organs change and reform; wings furl around the shifting body, then spread triumphantly as the dagger and dress fall to the ground. Stranger retrieves them. [20:43] *14Her body shudders and feathers whirl around her as bone and organs change and reform; wings furl around the shifting body, then spread triumphantly, a great swan ascending into the sky, moonsilver girding her beak and gilding her flanks. [20:48] "I don't think you could take any of this with you," 5he says, gesturing to the plants and soil. "But I doubt Thran is just an overheated greenhouse." [20:48] "Let's proceed," 5he suggests. 15[20:48] The Ambassador ascends, rising through the thick but birdless treeline until she breaks the canopy. Up here, the sky is a uniform hazy blue. She struggles to gain much altitude once she's in the open air - she feels heavier and heavier the higher she goes, and it's a struggle to make 20 yalms, let alone 30. The highest she can comfortably fly is to skim just over the tallest trees, 15[20:48] but that's still high enough to see the towers. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm just sayin', you better be prepared to detach and transport any superweapon we trip over." 12He does keep moving, ready to draw sword and shield should something look at the Circle funny. 15[20:49] There are two - one close by, among a thicket of autumn-colored trees and atop what seems to be a small plateau or mesa. It wouldn't take long to reach. The other stretches down into the forest and up into the sky, with no visible top or bottom, a delicate silver spiral in the far distance. [20:51] 14Stranger tenses when she struggles, and doesn't ease up until she's winging in a stable circle above them. She honks twice, the most graceful honk you can imagine hearing from a swan, and then swoops back down. She lands, is engulfed in feathers again, and emerges the Ambassador once more. "Something is preventing me from flying any real distance above the treeline. But I did get [20:51] high enough to see two towers in the distance -- one near, and one far." 14She describes them. [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar scratches at his chin with an armored thumb. "Which direction's each?" [20:52] 5Xu Sim: "Let's start with the nearer of the two. We have ways of traveling expeditiously, should needs must." [20:53] 13Xia Lan: "If the whole place is like this, even the skies, I want to get out of here as quickly as possible. Closer's the better." [20:53] 14When she's done, Stranger murmurs in her ear: "I didn't know you could keep the moonsilver on when you shifted." [20:53] "Manners around company, darling," 14she murmurs back. [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Alrighty - to the plateau. Stay frosty." 12He takes point, searching for traps as he goes. [20:54] 14He agrees with the emerging consensus, still eyeing Xu Sim. He's taken leadership of their little expedition for the moment. Interesting. [20:56] 5Xu Sim's demeanor is settling from his intense, analytical gaze to something more approximating a force of dimly-remembered habit. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Possibly it is a misuse of Terminus to hack through vines and bushes rather than oathbreakers, but Keldar's a practical man - and maybe he's imagining it, but it feels like obstacles grow back more slowly when it's orichalcum paring them down. Between that and smart pathfinding, Keldar's able to get the group to the base of the plateau in about half an hour. [21:01] 14This is one of the few times the Ambassador has found it more comfortable to walk through nature ('nature') than fly above it. It's an uncomfortable feeling, if not actually an imposition. When they reach the plateau, she looks to Stranger: "Should I fly up to take a look?" [21:01] 14Stranger looks to Xu Sim and Keldar. 15[21:02] The cliff of red rock beneath the red leaves is sheer and high, a difficult climb - but there are stable paths here, smooth stone, leading towards and around the mountain. [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That'd be a good idea. Help us figure the best way up, too." [21:03] 5Xu Sim frowns and begins channeling the winds of magic. [21:03] 5Scratch that [21:03] 14The Ambassador waits for Stranger's nod, and then the swan is back, gaining altitude again slower than she should. How high is the plateau, compared to the tallest trees? Can she reach the top on the wing? [21:04] 5Xu Sim begins to call forth one of his dust devils, but pauses just as his hands reach the first position of the sorcerous mudra. "Wait." [21:04] "The mine. We go in through the mine. Where's the entrance..." [21:04] 14Stranger raises his hand to wave the Ambassador back down, but she's close enough to the ground to hear him still. [21:05] 14She returns, gladly. Flying here just feels off. [21:05] 13Xia Lan: "Are you all right, Ambassador?" [21:08] 14She grimaces. "Oh, I'm fine, dear -- it's all the rest of this that's off. The air, the wind -- or lack thereof -- and the light." 14She points at the air above the plateau, near where the second or third story of the tower would be if it were a normal building. "It's hard to see from here; you almost have to be flying to see how the light hits it. But there's a barrier around [21:08] the whole of this, mountain, tower, and all." [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar'll try, like, tapping a fist against the side of the plateau. 15[21:09] Seems solid. [21:09] 5Xu Sim begins leading them towards the mine, humming some ancient tune for a moment. [21:09] 14Assuming the Codex still works here, Stranger uses it to say only to the Ambassador: [21:09] "My feet know the way, even if the rest of me does not," 5he explains. [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, if Xu Sim remembers some secret entrance that'll save us the trouble of climbing a cliff. Keldar hurries to catch up with and flank the sorcerer, falling into reliable bodyguarding habits. [21:10] 14The Ambassador: [21:11] 14Stranger is content to follow Xu Sim here. Meanwhile, the Ambassador will slip up next to Xia Lan. "And how are you, dear? I heard you took quite the hit. Or hits." [21:12] 13Xia Lan: "I've been better," 13she offers. There's still a few bandages - one on her shoulder, a few on her legs, and probably around her ribs. "I'll have to take some time off at some point, but Xu Sim did a wonderful job taking the edge off." [21:13] "A talented man," 14she muses, "and secretive. Even to himself, if he's been keeping an island that even he didn't know about." [21:13] "Are you still with that boy?" [21:13] 5Xu Sim calls Seven of the Scionfold to accompany him on the opposite side from Keldar, reciting some half-recalled stanza as he does. "I stood up next to a mountain, and I chopped it down with the edge of my hand..."5 He abandons the meter- "ah, uh, I sent the spoilage into the rivers. Took a hundred years to clean it all up." 15[21:15] The path winds around rocks, Keldar and Seven following Xu Sim closely as he leads them on. Here the path hugs the mountainside, and it's here along a blank stone face that Xu Sim's feet stop. [21:16] 5And is this face as solid as it appears? [21:16] 13Xia Lan: "Tsuka. And yes, he's been wonderful to me - he's out fighting now, or he was when we left. I hope he's safe." [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar'll kneel and peer at the seam between the face and the floor, pace around to check both sides, and so on. [21:17] 5Xu Sim watches Keldar for a moment, then reaches back with his hand open-faced. "Avenikadhana!" 5he exclaims, before spanking the mountainside. [21:19] 14The Ambassador chuckles. "If there's one thing I've learned about the Blooded in standing both with and against them, it is that they're incredibly difficult to kill -- far out of proportion to whatever potential to power the shamans and sorcerors like to speak of. Especially when there's something important they're fighting for." [21:19] "But I'm sure I don't have to explain the...passion of a Fire Aspect to you," 14she says with a coy smile. 15[21:20] The ground shakes and the mountain bursts open along a hidden seam, spraying dust that dissipates almost instantly. The path is wide and tall enough for a yeddim, opening on a groaning darkness and a breeze that's almost painfully cold against their sweaty skin. Seven sighs audibly with relief. [21:20] 13Xia Lan's cheeks color as she stammers out, "That's - I mean, oh look at this--" [21:21] 14Before they all step in, Stranger will join Keldar in carefully examining the new path. [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Wh- eh." 12He's had the unpleasant experience of preparing to spit out some stray dust only to feel it vanish preemptively off this tongue. Now he's going to be dealing with somatic scratchy-throat for like an hour. [21:22] "Nothing to be ashamed of, dearest," 14the Ambassador says breezily as she steps forward towards the mine-mouth. "Just remember to take your leaf." 15[21:23] Stranger and Keldar comb the entrance carefully, finding no traps - but something glitters in the distant dark. Weaving back and forth to test the light they see lenses, dozens of them - embedded in the rough-hewn stone walls like gemstones, stuck in the corners behind spiderless webs. They wink silently against the flood of new light. [21:23] 14Stranger holds up a hand. "Now that's interesting." [21:23] 14To Keldar: "You see that?" [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah. Not sure what to make of it." [21:24] 14He beckons the sorcerer over and points the lenses out to him. [21:24] 13Xia Lan: "See what?" 13Her voice is blessedly even, and hopefully no one else heard her conversation with the Ambassador. [21:25] 14To Xia Lan: "Lenses, in the walls. Like the sort used in stargazing, perhaps -- dozens of them." [21:25] "Don't trouble yourself about it," 5Xu Sim suggests. [21:25] 14To Xu Sim: "If you're certain." [21:25] 14He'll be glad to let Xu Sim resume leading, however. [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "In we go, then?" [21:26] "Yes," 5he strides forth. [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Hup, [21:27] 14Keldar can set the marching order if he likes, but absent instruction Stranger and the Ambassador will bring up the rear, just in case. [21:28] 13Xia Lan keeps someone in between herself and the Ambassador if at all possible. For the time being. [21:30] 14The Ambassador, on their closed line: [21:31] 14Stranger: [21:32] 14The Ambassador: [21:32] 14Stranger: [21:33] 14The Ambassador: [21:33] "Eyes," 5the sorcerer mutters. "Out is through. Through the mine, through the plant, up the tower. Then, the crucible," 5he adds, by way of explanation. 14[21:34] * Joins: tom [21:35] 14Stranger takes this opportunity to leave the conversation hanging. "The 'plant?' Growing in here?" [21:35] 13Xia Lan: "The crucible?" 14[21:36] * Quits: tom (Quit: ) [21:36] 5Xu Sim: "Hieh? You'll see it for yourself, in a moment. It's no living plant, it's more like one of the fabled factum-cathedrals, a place of energy. From the crucible, the lenses can show me everything." [21:39] "Quickly, quickly, quickly," 5he repeats, shooing them along. [21:41] 13Well, if you insist. [21:41] 14Back to the Ambassador as they're hurried along: 15[21:42] The group proceeds, following Xu-Sim past lens-flecked walls, chunks missing from the cold stone, and tiny metal knobs embedded in the ceiling every few yalms. There's no sound or sight of movement anywhere in these tunnels. Seven fills the silence with, "This place is dead. Dead-not-dead. There is no life here." [21:42] "Can there be death if nothing has lived here?" 5he waxes philosophically. 15[21:42] "Yes," answers Seven. [21:43] 14The Ambassador's voice is noncommital, but quieter in his head. 14He can tell that's the end of this conversation, at least for now. 15[21:45] The mine is cold and dark and indeed empty. Xu Sim takes them towards what anyone with good direction sense can tell is the center of the mountain, where the stone is smoother and more clearly worked, the walls etched yellow with the first Old Realm word Keldar ever learned - the word for 'caution'. [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yo, that just says 'caution' over and over." [21:46] 13Xia Lan, drily: "This seems safe." 15[21:47] A high archway gives way to a chilly chamber of worked blue stone and two staircases that spiral up and away from each other into the ceiling above. [21:47] 14Stranger: "Caution is...not the worst word that could be repeated over and over on a wall. But it might be bottom ten." [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Just don't step anywhere Xu Sim and I haven't stepped first." [21:49] "Workers," 5Xu Sim points to the left stair, "Soldiers,"5 he points to the right. He chooses the left for now, but lets the others go as they may. [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar'll take soldiers, cause c'mon. [21:49] 13Xia Lan unconsciously drifts to the right, unless someone pulls her the other way. [21:50] 13Xia Lan: "Wait, shouldn't we stick together?" [21:50] 14The Ambassador starts right, but seeing which stair Keldar chooses, glances over at Stranger. "If we're splitting up, I'll go soldier. I did fight a warstrider today." [21:51] 13Xu Sim's already made his choice, so I suppose that'd settle it for the rest. [21:51] 14The Ambassador follows Xu Sim. "Worker it is for me." [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Haha, just kidding! Keldar may be Dawn Sergeant of Nexus, but that doesn't mean he doesn't work for a living. Specifically, by soldiering. [21:51] "We probably should, I suppose," 5he answers. [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, let's stick close. I don't like how far those get up above us." [21:53] 14Stranger: "If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life, they say. And that makes me a worker." [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, by explanation: "I don't do this for free." 15[21:57] The group takes the left staircase, leaving the mine behind. Up here it's all seamless blue stone, corridors widening into chambers, with gently glowing sigils and pictograms in the walls and floor providing plenty of ambient light to see by. It's cool up here, and a steady breeze works its way through the passages. [21:57] 13Better than the outside, at least. 15[21:57] While there's no delineated brickwork, there are gaps, seams, and sockets in the walls, connected to nothing and opening on nothing. [21:57] 14The Ambassador is downright refreshed. Stranger just grimaces at the sensation of cold air on sweat. [22:03] "What a disappointment," 5he notes as they tread through the halls on teh way to the Crucible. "These holes are full of Essence," 5he observes, "But you'll hurt yourself if you try to stick a finger in them or something. Don't do that." [22:04] 14Stranger: "Noted." [22:04] 13Xia Lan: "Why would I-- okay." 15[22:04] Seven: "...how badly does it hurt?" [22:05] 14The Ambassador arches an eyebrow at that. [22:05] 13Xia Lan does not gawp. To gawp would be unseemly, and also rude. But also, what the heck. [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Can we use it?" [22:08] "It hurts like, I don't know, not very badly," 5he sticks his own hand in one of them. "Like-" [22:08] 14Ah-- [22:08] 13You-- [22:08] 5There's a slight ozone smell, and he whips his hand back and forth a couple times. "Not too badly, that much." [22:09] 13Xia Lan: "I'm - you just told us not to stick a finger in that, and then you put your hand in there to check how bad it hurts. What is wrong with you." [22:09] 14Stranger narrows his eyes. "Nothing is." [22:11] 14He sticks his hand in one as well, and grimaces at the unpleasant shocking sensation -- and, as he pulls his hand back, the feeling of respiration. "Touching it raw connects you to its power. And hurts a little." 15[22:11] Seven tries too. [22:11] 13She huffs. "Unbelievable." 15[22:11] "Ooh! Erm. Let's go." [22:12] 14Trading pain for power in a place like this doesn't seem just pragmatic; it seems like a rule of nature. [22:12] 13Quietly, to Seven: "Are you all right?" [22:12] 14The Ambassador, however, passes. 15[22:13] Seven nods. "That was an interesting experience. Though not one I'm keen to repeat." [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar thinks a moment, then puts his own palm over one of the essence vents. There's a ZZZZT noise as he shivers slightly. "Ow, haha." [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You weren't kidding. Let's keep going." [22:14] 13Xia Lan: "I wouldn't recommend it. But, uh, I guess it worked out, so." [22:16] "Well, I hope we all learned something just now," 5he shrugs and beckons. [22:16] 14Stranger stares at the Essence. Yes, he did. [22:16] 13Xia Lan: "I learned not to stick my fingers into strange orifices. Which I'd already known." [22:17] 13Quiet, Ambassador. 15[22:17] The group advances, and finally begin to hear noise - a rhythmic clang of metal-on-metal. [22:18] 14She is smiling pleasantly in a different direction, and only quietly clears her throat. [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar limbers his wrists as he approaches. 15[22:21] It's coming from a room that opens off the side of a corridor. A furtive peek around the corner reveals a row of seven broad backs, wrought all in silver, standing side by side, their arms moving in an intricate pattern. These are humanoid figures, moving ceaselessly and without acknowledging the intruders. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar shoots Xu Sim a questioning look. [22:23] 13Xia Lan, whispering: "What in creation--" [22:28] 5Xu Sim gives a considered smile, or perhaps a half-frown. "They're just going through the motions. They should be making," 5he counts the beats, feels it, like a dull thudding dance of impossibly distant war drums - "skyship... bulkheads?" [22:29] 13Xia Lan: "...skyships?" [22:29] "But there's no steel, no silver," 5he murmurs. [22:29] 13No, wait, go back. [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar peers at them, and raises his voice to at least Xu Sim's volume. "Can you command 'em?" [22:30] "Someone's been eating my rice pudding," 5he mutters in slightly out-of-tune sing-song. [22:30] 14Stranger: "A waystation room of some sort, but also a foundry. Like blacksmiths, but also like loaders on a dock, sorting for warehouse -- something comes in there," 14he points to one hole in the wall, "and it goes out there," 14he points to the other, "but it is worked in-between. But it seems, to stretch the metaphor, that there are no ships. And that means no freight. And [22:30] that means no work." [22:31] "And this is only one such room. I suspect there are many." [22:31] 14To Keldar: "You wanted something that could build weapons." [22:32] "Who doesn't," 5Xu Sim gruffly intones as he brushes past them, to go deeper still. [22:32] "It's hard to imagine that anyone would spend this much time making this potent a sorcerous process at this scale for any other purpose." [22:33] 14He's following Xu Sim a bit more quickly now, trying not to let excitement bleed into his pace. [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Question is what good they can do us now. We don't exactly have tons of spare steel and silver." 12He hurries along, too. [22:35] 13Xia Lan: "Slow down--" 13She's walking with a limp, after all. [22:35] 14Not THAT quickly. [22:35] 14...But he relents. [22:35] 13It's a pretty bad limp. [22:35] 13Used to be worse. [22:35] "Sorry." [22:35] 5Xu Sim glances back with a flash of irritation, or worse, in his eyes for an instant, before giving a resigned sigh and remembering himself. [22:36] 13She winces. "No, I shouldn't be - I'll be fine, if we can just. Keep this pace." 15[22:36] The group continues on. There's more rooms like this as the corridor cuts a broad arc around the mountain - unliving workers building nothing out of nothing. But the noise is muted - Xia Lan can tell that the acoustics in here are awful. [22:39] 13A frown. "This is - ugh." 13She hums a few bars of some song, and frowns deeper. "This was on purpose. Why was this on purpose." [22:39] 14To Keldar: "If we're lucky -- and I mean, really lucky -- the reason they're out of materials is because they've already finished working their stores. Meaning, all the work has already been done for us." 15[22:40] The walls and floor shade from blue to turquoise until everyone realizes they've turned fully green. Then the arc opens up into a huge wide chamber filled with a dim white light. The light comes from portholes; one apple-sized window in each of the man-sized bulbs of brass held aloft by polished brass pipes, row by row of them forwards and backwards and upwards. There must be hundreds. 15[22:40] Thousands. [22:40] "I don't think so," 5Xu Sim replies to Stranger, darkly. [22:40] 14The Ambassdor, to Xia Lan: "What's on purpose, dea--oo you know?" 15[22:40] Some of the windows are dim but comparatively very few. [22:41] 14Stranger: "What in Creation." [22:42] 13Xia Lan: "This sounds awf -- oh my Sun." [22:44] 5Xu Sim looks it over. [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What am I lookin' at here." [22:44] The Ambassador just stands with her mouth open. [22:44] 14The Ambassador just stands with her mouth open. [22:52] 5Xu Sim clears his throat and frowns. "Before I raised it up, this part was a fire demesne," [22:53] "The heart of this mountain was molten red, and I cooled it with my breath alone." 5He moves to one of the lit pods and tilts his head. [22:54] 13Her hands stray back to the twin swords. This is -- well, Xia Lan doesn't like it. [22:54] "In here, these, well," 5He gathers the sleeve of his robe in one hand and places it over the foggy glass. When he removes it, a human face - a woman, her eyes closed, her skin flush with the sleep of aeons. "Ultimate soldiers; they know nothing but to serve their master in war." [22:54] 14Big talk, but then, Stranger apparently had the ear of a Deathlord in the past. [22:54] 13Xia Lan: "...people?" [22:55] 14... [22:55] 14With much more of an edge: "People?" [22:55] 5Xu Sim swivels his head to look at Xia Lan like an owl. He purses his lips. [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar quirks a brow. "Can't do a lot of soldiering from inside a pipe." [22:56] 5Xu Sim shudders. "For now, there they can stay. The dim ones must have perished, attrition. Waste." [22:56] 13Xia Lan: "That wasn't, exactly, my concern." [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Do you know how to wake 'em? Command 'em?" [22:57] 14Stranger: "Free them." [22:58] 13Xia Lan: "Why are they- how are they- what is this." [22:58] "It's all in the Crucible." 5Xu Sim sweeps past the others and down the hall. [22:58] 14Stranger: "Do you know how to free them?" [22:59] 13Deep breaths. In, out. Xu Sim isn't the one who did this; it was a pre-incarnation. Still: "That better mean you know how to free them." [22:59] 14Stranger: "Then let's find the Crucible." [23:00] "Philosophy," 5he murmurs as he billows down the smooth floors of the corridor. 15[23:00] "No spirits," says Seven. "Where did they go? Or... did they never have any?" [23:00] 14For the first time, the Ambassador's carefully-arranged face betrays a slight discomfort when she looks at her mate. [23:01] 13A dark cloud passes over Xia Lan's face as she stalks purposefully after Xu Sim. [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Automata, right? Tons of First Age stuff like that." 12It's not like he actually knows, but that's his guess. At any rate, he proceeds forward. [23:01] "No hunger. No fear. No remorse. No ambition. No purpose," 5he responds. "No purpose but to serve their master in war." [23:01] 13Xia Lan: "I hate this." 15[23:02] The path continues on. [23:02] 5Xu Sim grits his teeth rather than argue or explain and keeps going. 15[23:04] They pass more rooms bare of everything but those curious sockets. Some of them are the size of ballrooms. Some of them are the size of closets. Some of them are cells with bars of salt. [23:06] 13Beginning to think their pre-incarnations were all fucking awful. [23:06] 13...it's going to hurt when she finds out whatever her previous self was up to. [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Except, obviously, for Keldar's. [23:07] 5The glorious bean farmer. [23:07] 13BeanBoy [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Farm better beans. You cannot. [23:07] 5Challenge accepted. [23:08] 14Soulless war machines. They don't have the mien of creatures of darkness, but they are offensive to his ideology nonetheless. The sorcerer guarantees they are merely walking suits of armor, but growing up he was no stranger to the tale of the clockwork child who yearned to be a real boy. [23:09] 14Just stories, but...if it were possible, would he take that chance? Would he risk that injustice to win the day in Nexus? [23:09] 14...He would. 15[23:10] A sharp turn off the long outer corridor guides them to the center of the plant. Here the wall and floors are yellow, and at the center of the central chamber is a great glass column, running down into the floor and up into the ceiling. As they approach, the tube flickers with green light, and a golden platform glides up from below to settle flush with the floor. 15[23:10] The tube unfolds with a hiss, admitting entrance. Enough room for everybody. [23:11] 5The discomforting horror of the soldiers behind them, Xu Sim makes for the elevator. 14[23:12] * Quits: trenchfoot (Quit: Leaving) 14[23:12] * Joins: trenchfoot [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, all right then. Keldar'll step in as well, and even take a seat if there's one to be had. [23:13] 14Stranger's expression is severe but resolute. The Ambassador's is neutral now too, seeing the conflict leave her mate. [23:13] 14They join Xu Sim in the lift. [23:13] 13Xia Lan: "What is this." 13She hasn't entered yet. 15[23:13] Seven points up. "It must lead to the tower." [23:14] 13Frostily: "I'm a bit on edge after... the last few rooms." 15[23:14] To Xu Sim: "Did you summon it?" [23:14] 13She looks at Xu Sim, expectantly. [23:14] 14Stranger: "I think she means morally." 14To Xia Lan: "It's a desperate, calculated risk made in compromise." [23:15] 5Xu Sim: "Did I?" 5He frowns in contemplation. "I'm not sure. I'll have to check later." [23:15] 13She steps inside, eventually. "I'm still not okay with... any of this." [23:16] 14Stranger: "Neither am I. But we have to do it anyway." [23:16] 13Xia Lan: "Do we?" [23:16] 13She sounds tired. [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We haven't even done anything yet. We're taking an inventory." [23:18] "We intend to do things." 14To Keldar this time, not Xu Sim: "If any of them do wake up and happen to have more to them than they should -- if any of them wake up people -- they are to be freed and compensated...once we win." [23:18] "I want that agreed between us, now." [23:19] "Desperate times," 5the doors to the lift slide down with another puff of steam, bathing the travellers in emerald light. "Desperate measures." 5with a strange sensation to anyone unaccustomed to such ancient luxuries, the golden platform begins its ascent. [23:19] "Additionally, the penalty for desertion for them is waived." [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "More to them than-" 12He takes a moment to parse that correctly. "What? Yeah, this is Nexus. People get paid. 'course, golems and demons and such are another story." [23:20] 14To Xu Sim: "Do you agree?" 15[23:21] It rises past more floors, labeled in Old Realm... Cures & Diseases, Feast & Famine, Beasts & Demons... and then darkness as the tube cuts directly through the unworked mountain. [23:21] 14To all the members of the Circle: "And will we swear to it?" [23:22] "I will." [23:23] 13Xia Lan, immediately: "Of course." [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Sorry, swear that the blue guys down there get freed and compensated after we fight the fae off? There's a lot of assumptions in there, like that they'll listen to any of us in the first place or can even still wake up or don't wake spontaneously years later or something." [23:24] "If they are capable of such things, it troubles me not to treat them like mercenaries. But what if the damage is already done? If they are like the soul-eaten or worse?" 5Xu Sim is rather despondent. [23:24] 13Xia Lan: "If they're people, they deserve a chance to... to be." [23:24] 14Stranger: "The Sun will know if you are true. The Sun will not need 'oh, they didn't end up fighting after all' explained to him." [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The stuff here's Xu Sim's business first and foremost and we've still only got half an idea of what any of it might be worth to us. I'm waiting to see." [23:25] 14Stranger: "The 'stuff' here is Circle business. We would not be here but for this Circle -- all of its members." [23:26] "My gate, your tracking skills, Xu Sim's recollection..." 14He glances at Xia Lan. Does she want to say it? [23:26] 13No. [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "True, but in this case I'm willing to do the pathfinding gratis. That's Old Realm for free." [23:26] 14He'll let it lie, then. [23:27] 13She wouldn't stop Stranger from saying it. But she's not going to admit to it. 15[23:29] The elevator floods with sunlight as they rise through a tower of glass and alabaster. The floors here are unlabeled and full of personal furnishings. This was somebody's home. [23:32] 5Xu Sim's hand snakes up, of its own accord, to the glass wall of the lift. [23:33] 14Stranger: "Give it some thought, at least. We can pick it up later." [23:33] 14He looks around the room. 14[23:38] * Quits: cbass (*.net *.split) 14[23:38] * Quits: Crion (*.net *.split) 14[23:38] * Quits: Quaker (*.net *.split) 14[23:38] * Quits: trenchfoot (*.net *.split) 14[23:38] * Quits: banana (*.net *.split) 14[23:38] * Quits: dammitwho (*.net *.split) 14[23:38] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:38] * Joins: banana 14[23:38] * Joins: cbass 14[23:38] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[23:38] * Joins: dammitwho 14[23:38] * Joins: Crion [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar presses his lips together. "...allll right, where's the maid?" [23:39] 14In the silence that follows, he stares out of the elevator glass. "This place...quite the audacious living space. Library, laboratory, all sorts of strange...Essence chambers...all untouched for hundreds of years, I'd say." 14Then he frowns. "Except there's no dust." [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah. Too clean. If there's a golem or something that's been dusting every day maybe it can answer questions." [23:40] "Where would the dust come from?" 5Xu Sim asks, shaking his head. [23:40] 13Xia Lan: "How many years has it even been around, though? What with the. Calibration thing." [23:42] 14Stranger: "Dust is a physical thing. So far the rules of this simulacrum have allowed for cut corners on insubtantial things -- sunlight, shadow, heat, pressure -- but everything has been in its place physically, just so. And we have seen that things can indeed break here, as witnessed down in that...barracks. Armory. Whatever it was." [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And even if time only passses here one day a year, that's still hundreds of days, right? Let's figure out what's keeping things tidy." [23:43] "All the answers are in the Crucible," 5Xu Sim repeats. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Then where's that?" [23:43] 13Xia Lan, muttering: "They'd better be." [23:43] 14Stranger: "If we're lucky, the top of this tube." [23:43] 5Xu Sim nods at Stranger. [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, then." 12He's ready to follow Xu Sim up. 15[23:44] The elevator rises past the residence and into a chamber of glass and metal. A perfect circle from end to end, floor and ceiling lined with elaborate arcane symbols, organized in vast spirals of pure orichalcum that stretch from the very outer edge of the room atop the tower, sign and symbol blending into something seamless and celestial. The spiral doesn't converge in the center; here 15[23:44] there's a gap in the floor for the elevator to rise into, and above there is a glass skylight flooding the room with sun. 15[23:45] There's another silver back to them, this one totally still. Its limbs are long and graceful, light-fingered hands resting on a violet orb that roils and flashes with an inner storm. [23:46] 5Xu Sim's mouth hangs open slightly as he stares, utterly unabashedly. [23:46] 14To Xu Sim, quietly: "Is the Crucible the room? Or is the Crucible...that?" [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Man, if we pry these walls clean- ...whassat?" [23:47] 5Whispering: "An invincible silver son." [23:47] 13Xia Lan is just gawping. Rude or not. 15[23:47] The statue's head pulls up. [23:48] 5Xu Sim slowly shuts his mouth, then opens it again: "Greetings." 15[23:50] It turns around to face the group. It's over seven feet tall, silver from head to toe, limber and graceful. It bears no mark of office, no name to mark it, and no face look upon them. Instead there's a spiral, as above and below, winding inward on the front of its head and failing to meet in the middle. It looks like a placeholder for a face. Something incomplete. 15[23:51] "I don't know you." [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks at it, then at Xu Sim. [23:52] "I am Xu Sim, Emissary of Nexus, who slew Bleak Ardua and cured the honey-maze. I am the master of Thran, and its Disciples." 15[23:53] "Thran's master is dead." 15[23:55] "But you are acquainted with Thran. You took the third most efficient route to the Crucible." [23:55] 14To Xu Sim, through the Codex. [23:55] 13Xia Lan: "Third most-- what's happening here?" [23:57] "If I am not he, then I am the one who stands upon his shoulders." 15[23:57] "Here we all do." [23:58] 14The Ambassador is too collected to gape, but she is startled to silence, giving the...golem?...a once over. Session Time: Wed Feb 13 00:00:00 2019 [00:01] "On behalf all things I have inherited from whoever he was-" 5his caste mark shines upon his forehead - "I ask for the dominion of the Crucible and this place." 15[00:01] "You may not have it." [00:01] "And why not?" 15[00:03] The statue speaks in a rolling monotone, each word following each other at precise intervals. "Thran's master is dead. I am the keeper of the tower the plant and the mine." [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Who was that master?" 15[00:04] "Urza who is called Planeswalker." [00:05] 13Xia Lan: "Why?" [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Urza ever provide for, like, inheritance by a successor?" [00:05] "If the master is dead, why keep this place?" 15[00:05] "That is what I am for." [00:06] 13Xia Lan: "That's not an answer." [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Not... another human? His reincarnation, maybe?" [00:06] "Is it ever night, here?" 14The Ambassador asks, looking up into the skylight. "It is day now. Luna eclipses the Sun on Calibration. But is she ever given the sky to herself, here? Or is it just the Sun?" [00:08] 5Xu Sim takes a step forward. "If I try to use the Crucible, will you try to stop me?" 15[00:08] "It was night once in Thran. Here now both the sun and the moon are foreign." 15[00:08] To Xu Sim: "I will. Do not attempt to take the Crucible." [00:08] 14Stranger, quietly, after all the other questions this round have been asked: "Do you feel anything for Urza Planeswalker anymore?" [00:09] 13Xia Lan: "I still don't understand why you're even - do you have dreams? Ambitions?" [00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "If Urza was back, though, you'd step aside?" 15[00:11] "Urza was my father. I love him. His death was regrettable." 15[00:11] "He will not come back." 15[00:12] To Xia Lan: "If I didn't then I wouldn't find your question insulting." [00:12] 14Stranger closes his eyes. "Who killed Urza Planeswalker?" 15[00:12] "I did." [00:12] 14He nods. [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar blinks. "...what for?" [00:12] 13Xia Lan: "I- you're right. My apologies." [00:12] 13Not that that makes a difference. 15[00:13] To Keldar: "I can't remember." [00:13] 13"You insulted me." "Oops, sorry." I've done a diplomacy. [00:14] "Do you have a name?" 15[00:14] "I once did. I can't remember anymore. Urza called me 'son'." [00:15] "And the Dreamer Mentat? The Disciples?" 15[00:16] "Who?" [00:16] "Do you know the Disciples of Thran?" 15[00:16] "No." [00:17] "Who plundered this place, if you keep it?" 15[00:18] "I did." [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar touches a fist to his chin for a moment in thought. "And the, uh, just to make sure, the prospect of Urza reincarnating - you know, coming back as a new Chosen - that matter to you at all?" 15[00:19] "Inheritance doesn't make you an heir. You are not Urza Planeswalker." [00:19] 13Xia Lan: "Well, of course he isn't." [00:19] "...suppose that means the empty bodies were on purpose, then?" [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar draws a breath then releases it. "Alright, so what'd make someone an heir? Or does the buck just stop with you?" [00:20] 14Stranger: "How did Urza Planeswalker fail you?" 15[00:20] "Urza named no heirs. I am his only son." 15[00:21] To Stranger: "Is it failure to die before completing me?" [00:21] 13Yes. [00:21] "Do you care anything for the world beyond Thran?" [00:22] 13All of their pre-incarnations are just going to turn out the dirt fucking worst, huh. [00:22] 14Stranger purses his lips. "It is a father's duty to raise his son." 15[00:22] To Xu Sim: "I am bored." [00:23] 13Xia Lan: "How long have you been here?" [00:23] 14The Ambassador: "...There's no animals on this island, are there? Have you ever seen a bird? A swan? A cat?" 15[00:24] To Xia Lan: "I have witnessed 1,939 breaches of the sky." 15[00:25] To the Ambassador: "Kureiton keeps the animals. None can live in Urza's domain." [00:25] 13Breaches of... what? [00:25] 14The Ambassador: "Would you like to?" 15[00:26] "So long as they are not captive." [00:28] 13Xia Lan blanches. "A thousand, nine hundred thirty nine Calibrations?" 15[00:28] "Give or take zero." 15[00:28] "That was a joke." [00:28] "That's -- " 13She shakes her head. "Awful." [00:29] 14Stranger chuckles at that. "I am no one's captive," 14she says. "I am no one's pet." 14She steps forward and curls in on herself, ears sprouting from her head with whiskers, hands turning into paws, shrinking, shrinking -- when she's done, she's an adorable, tiny housecat, black fur with a white tux, and she daintily prances forward before leaping up, up, up, to curl in the palm [00:29] 14of the Son's hand, purring. 15[00:30] The Son tilts its faceless head downward. "Thank you." [00:31] 13...kitty... [00:31] 5Xu Sim leans in to Seven - "How do you handle something like this, eh?" [00:31] 14The Ambassador stays a minute more, then gently tooths one of his silver fingers and leaps down. [00:31] 14Stranger: "Do you believe that it matters that you deserve better than this tower and this island?" [00:32] "I'll answer first: I do." 15[00:33] Seven whispers, "Perhaps it's possible to transpose him temporarily. I theorize that you could control him from the crucible. But he seems reasonable. Maybe we can bargain." [00:33] "Do you wish to be completed, Son?" 5Xu Sim asks. 15[00:34] "Yes." [00:34] 14Is that to Stranger? Xu Sim? Both? 15[00:34] It's not clear. 15[00:35] The Son is still looking down at its palm. [00:36] "What ways are you incomplete?" 15[00:36] "I don't know." 15[00:36] "I can't say." 15[00:36] "But something is missing." [00:36] 13Xia Lan: "Are you forbidden from leaving here? Maybe we can help you find it." [00:36] "Whatever it is." 15[00:38] "I am the keeper of the tower the plant and the mine." [00:38] 14Stranger: "We can help you complete yourself, and you can see the world you deserve to see. But there's something you have to do first." [00:38] "You have to forgive yourself." 15[00:39] "No." [00:39] "May I examine you? No tricks." 15[00:39] "You may sit in the palm of my hand." 15[00:40] "That seems to be the standard." [00:40] 13...cute. [00:40] 5Xu Sim chuckles and steps forward to get a closer look at this entity, and how it might be incomplete. [00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar takes a couple steps closer just in case the thing decides to crush Xu Sim to death. 15[00:42] NEXT TIME: Next time 14[00:49] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[01:14] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[01:14] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:46] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[02:49] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[06:57] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[11:10] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:23] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[12:24] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:24] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[12:57] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:17] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[13:17] * Joins: Quaker 14[13:22] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:05] * Joins: Crion 14[21:37] * Joins: tom Session Time: Thu Feb 14 00:00:00 2019 15[03:13] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Feb 14 03:13:02 2019 Session Start: Thu Feb 14 11:13:57 2019 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[11:13] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[11:13] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[11:13] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 15[11:15] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Feb 14 11:15:15 2019 Session Start: Thu Feb 14 11:15:21 2019 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[11:15] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[11:15] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[11:15] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[11:21] * Joins: tom 14[14:01] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:53] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[15:54] * Joins: Crion 14[16:02] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:38] * Joins: tom [19:28] [19:28] [19:28] [19:28] [19:28] 08[19:29] 4Blossom happens to be out shopping, or burning thugs alive for inelegance under Heaven, when Ir knocks on Eikichi and Ying & Tatsuya's doors. She doesn't wait for them to open it; she just shouts, "Got something for you in the aft lounge," 4and heads off that way once she hears either movement or a verbal reaction. [19:30] 4Blossom will get her own summons in time. [19:30] 13Her answer is an anguished yowl followed by a loud thump of Ying falling out of bed. [19:30] 4Will it be the coolest? Who can say. 15[19:31] 10Eikichi's wide awake, since he now always wakes up when Blossom does, and comes out rubbing his belly after a recreational donut. This is gonna be good. [19:31] 4When they arrive in the lounge, most of the tables have been pushed away, but four have been pushed together, two and two, then had something placed upon them, then had THAT covered in...velvet bedsheets? Extremely expensive drapery from a brothel? It's unclear what Ir has repurposed for this. 08[19:31] 13Still, after a few minutes, Ying is on her feet and shows no signs of having been woken up from a nap, and she'll trail Eikichi to whatever Ir's got for them. 08[19:32] 4It is good that Eikichi is keeping the donuts in his room now, away from Ir's disapproving eyes. [19:32] 13You'd think she'd approve of someone appreciating her cooking. 15[19:32] 10Never let anyone see your shame! Blossom taught him that. 15[19:32] "What's all this?" 08[19:33] 4Shame is just weakness leaving the body, I believe one Eikichi Sho once said. [19:33] 7Blossom is not burning people alive. She's doing pullups on the Heavensward's rigging. [19:34] 4Blossom should feel free to return now if she likes, and put an order in. [19:34] "If I wanted you to know that now, I wouldn't have bartered some sandwiches for a couple fancy, fringed...whatever these are," 4says Ir. 15[19:35] "They're very pretty," 10Eikichi offers, approaching. [19:36] 4She grins. "Might've been wondering what I was up to the last couple months in the workshop. With all the cursing, and random frustrated screams. Which one of you wants to go first?" [19:36] 13Ying: "You could have asked me! Although the Rainbow Connection's been purretty busy..." [19:36] 4To Ying: "It's bad form to ask the person you're surprising to help out with the surprise. I'm shocked you didn't know that." 15[19:37] 10To Ying, interested: "Go ahead." [19:37] 13Her ears flatten. "Can I...?" [19:37] 4Ir: "Pull that weird-ass sheet off." [19:41] 13She gently tugs at the weird-ass sheet, eventually just whisking the entire thing away after her claws get caught in it a few times and she gets furstrated. Frustrated. [19:41] 13...what lies beneath...? [19:43] 4Beneath the sheet covering the larger of the two covered lumps is solid, imposing, somehow-looming full drumset of red jade and animal skins, with cymbals made of burnished brass with jade inlays and a pair of obsidian drumsticks with blackened, drumhead-friendly tips sitting neatly on one of the snares. "This is a full drum kit with everything you need to be your own full percussion [19:43] badass, especially when you get that bass drum kicking. Primarily made from red jade with drumheads made from the skins of four different apex predators I killed, skin, cured, and stretched on my own time -- okay, I bartered for two of them, since we don't have to go west or south -- and featuring custom-made obsidian drumsticks, you can do just about anything you need with this thing. [19:43] Get good enough with it and you should be able to change the tightness of the drumheads in real time, meaning you alter their 'tune.' And again, watch out for the bass drum -- put some Essence into that, and you'll have one hell of a kick." [19:44] "I call it The Beating Heart." [19:46] 13Ying's eyes are the size of saucers the entire time, tapping gently while Ir describes her work. Then, quietly: "can I try them" [19:46] 4Ir: "Go nuts." [19:47] *your own full percussion section [19:50] 13She takes a seat, taps experimentally on each of the drums and the cymbals, and then... goes wild. Rapid-fire beats into a full-blown drumming epic, looking utterly enthralled the whole way through: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxlEqO_MA04 08[19:50] 13She wipes away a bead of sweat and does a quick drumroll. "C'mon! C'mon Eikichi, join in!" [19:50] 4Ir joins in on the keyharp with one hand to provide structure. [19:51] 4...Probably should make a new one of those for the lounge too, eventually. Anyway. [19:51] 4Ir: "Yeah, see what's under tarp number two." 15[19:52] 10Eikichi pulls off the second sheet with a flourish. [19:56] 4Grinning at the revealed instrument: "And this baby is a black and white jade six-string of an entirely original make. I had to fool around with three or four test designs with less expensive materials before I got the acoustics I wanted, which is funny, because this thing can just override those in a heartbeat. A white jade body, frets, and tuning knobs with black highlights on [19:56] the acoustic core, bridge, and fretboard itself. And of the six strings, three are white jade and three are black -- which took some substantial massaging of the Essence -- giving an entirely unique tone, especially for multiple-string chord play as opposed to classical finger-picking." 15[19:57] "Wow..." [19:57] "Whether because of how the materials cancel each other out or because of the strange, almost cold noises it can make when put to task, its name is Absolute Zero." 15[19:57] "!!!" 15[19:59] 10Eikichi plays something simple and strong, that easily fills the space: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4javSsseS8 [19:59] 4Ir: "The instruments I made for you before were personal gifts, signs of my...of how I've enjoyed my time with you, and grown with you, and how I think you've grown with me. On the balance, I think I regard them with far more sentiment and pride than these, as a friend. But as a craftswoman, that sort of stuff gets put away to strive for the pinnacle of accomplishment. And these [19:59] are pretty badass." [20:00] 13Ying picks up the beat immediately. Gosh, these things are great-- [20:01] 13When they finish, she launches herself out of the seat to hug Ir tightly. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou~" 15[20:01] 10Eikichi brings it in to join Ying and Ir. "Thisissogood--" [20:02] "Agh!" 4she yelps at the cat pounce, because with Ying it's always a cat pounce, but she leans into the embrace. "Hey, no big deal. Well, kind of a big deal. But we weren't doing much with that jade anyway." [20:05] "Anyway, I've started working on Blossom's guzheng. I'm less familiar with that instrument so it's gonna take a while longer. Gotta figure out a name, too. Was thinking of 'Ten Thousand Tones,' given the precise but fluid changes in pitch you can get out of the instrument by working in tremolo that you can't really replicate with a six-string and such. We'll see how it goes." [20:06] "So if you hear more weird music noises followed by cursing through the walls, that's what that is." [20:07] 13Ying: "I purromise not to ruin the surpurrise." [20:09] 4Ir: "We're not going to not TELL her about these instruments. I just thought it would be rude to ask her to come for the reveal party when she's the only one not getting anything. Someday three months from now I'll be rudely banging on her door with no explanation." [20:10] 13Still clinging around Ir's neck: "It'd be really funny, though." 08[20:11] 4Ir: "It'd also mean you couldn't practice. And let's be real, she'd know by the end of the day from Eikichi." 15[20:11] 10Eikichi: "It's physically impossible for me to keep secrets from Blossom." [20:12] 4Ir: "So, who wants some lunch?" 4And the day went on. [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,^. [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 ||| [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 ||| _T_ [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 ||| .-.[:|:].-. [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 ===_ /\| "'" |/ [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 E]_|\/ \--|-|''''| [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 O `' '=[:]| A | [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 /""""| P | [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 /"""""`.__.' [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 []"/"""\"[] [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 | \ / | [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 | | | | [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 <\\\) (///> [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Nexus continues to hustle and bustle. The candle titan manifested last night, only to be struck down by the crackling ruby energies of the Emissary, but the trap that Black Bells Chiming and her craftskeletons are building for it is nearly complete. Dissolving Dragon's Coils has been sent out of the city on some unspecified business, the chief purpose of which may be to simply shirk [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12any responsibilities the arena is trying to lay on him. [20:18] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom is practicing sorcery, in both senses of the word. Right now, she's warding the Heavensward against insect infestations. [20:18] <@Ferrinus> 12A veritable platoon of skeletons of every shape and size has been delivered to the door of Ying's shop; she can take her pick, or just "employ" them all, if she'd like. The bigger ones would make fine porters and laborers; the smaller ones could do a lot of the cleaning, searching, and general finagling that normally falls to Totokuro. 15[20:19] 10Warding against insect infestations? ONE TIME Eikichi left crumbs and honey around. Whatever. [20:19] 13Are any of the skeletons especially cute? This might not be Ying's department, but if Bells is around she could have opinions... [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12I mean, they're skeletons. Some of them definitely look more complete than others - with some, differences in tone and fracture points clearly point to the cadaver having once been dismantled and put back together, or even had missing parts replaced with bones from other skeletons. If you're looking for good bone structure, though, that's on offer - pearly whites, near-perfect [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12symmetry, no visible fractures, the works. One wonders how much being a necromancer's cosmetic mortician pays. [20:25] 13That's the one! That's them! Golly, she's already got a fancy outfit sketched up that they can wear... uh, does it respond to commands, or does she need to contact someone? 15[20:26] 10Eikichi catches Blossom hard at work. "Bugcatching?" [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12No worries - there's an owner's manual. The short version is that the skeleton can understand Riverspeak and that its marrow contains enough residual memories that it can basically apply simple deduction to the execution of tasks - you can ask it to paint a wall, or buy you a sandwich, or slay an intruder, although it apparently doesn't have any in-depth academic knowledge or fine [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12trade skills. It's rated for two years' low-intensity labor, but an examination and tune-up is recommended by the year and its "lifespan" will likely drop if you use it for combat, hard manual labor, or other sources of high wear-and-tear. [20:29] 7Blossom: "Can't let my sorcerous skills go slack!" [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12The full depths of the skeleton's capacity for memorization or manual dexterity or similar are not specified, so that'll be for Ying or her employees to plumb through experimentation or not actually give a damn about. 15[20:31] 10Eikichi: "I'm going to need your help on Tatsuya and Ying's thing. I think Ying'll be more comfortable with a woman. This is going to get complicated." [20:34] 4Ir's schedule for the week is pretty full between being a celebrity chef at a swanky hotel during lunch and dinner service, checking in on her soup kitchen holdings, and working on yet another instrument project. Also probably attending an Arena bout or two? [20:34] 13Ying, to her employees: "Well... we've got our delifurry person and a model." 13She's measuring limbs, trying to size up for the finished outfit. "This still feels weird!" [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Sszark: "Mammal inssztincts. Pay them no heed, mistressz." [20:36] 7Blossom: "Hmm? Oh, right. Sure, what do you need me to do?" [20:37] 13Ying, to the skeleton, who she has begun thinking of as "Jack": "Can you lift your leg fur me?" 13To Sszark: "I need those! They're impurrtant." 15[20:37] 10Eikichi: "Well, there's a lot of fine detail involved. A lot of... decisions... Ying has to make. It's her body, after all." 08[20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Besides bug-proofing the heavensward, skeletonizing the Rainbow Connection, and somehow doing an even more ridiculous favor for the Scarlet Palace than you've done thus far, the really big thing coming down the pipe is, of course, Wild Rose's upcoming arena match. She's never met Kala Theka yet but promotional material and general word of mouth is making it look more and more like [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12a grudge match - Theka has stormed through Rose's "generation" of up-and-coming fighters like a tyrant lizard through a farmer's heard, and offered up more than one heart in the process. [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12"Jack" doesn't move in response to Ying's question. [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Hmm... there's no way it's (he's?) broken, right? You just got 'em. 15[20:41] 10Not anymore. This is Kala Theka's final death match. [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Wow, I wrote "a farmer's herd". Fuck me, folks. [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Or rather, I MEANT to write that. [20:43] 13They're probably fine! But... "What gives?" 13She looks to her employees. "Shouldn't they be listening to me?" [20:43] 4Her time in the kitchen at the Empress goes amazingly well. Like, public event for the upper class well. Like, critics will be moaning in their reviews for years that it wasn't up to the standard set by Chef Ir. Pretty cool. But as food for her own soul, she prefers the work she does every morning at her soup kitchens across the city of Nexus, teaching the unthanked workers and [20:43] 4community managers the best way to stretch ingredients and putting her own know-how into it. [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Lingfei leans around a corner, looking away from some work she's finishing up. "You asked if they can lift their leg." [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Lingfei: "Mother's servants would become very stupid if they thought they could get away with it. Perhaps these skeletons have no other way to be?" [20:45] 13Ying: "...lift your leg fur me," 13she tries. [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Bones clack softly. By all the gods, it works! The skeleton's got pretty good balance, too. [20:47] 13Murmuring: "Gonna hafta see if we can train it to respond to polite requests instead of commands..." [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Pages rustle as Totokuro references the manual. "It says they can learn passwords and such. It should be basically the same, right?" 08[20:50] 4One of the few social events Ir will make a point of attending during this rather hectic week -- it's kind of strange, being on a regular, worker's schedule again, but the discipline and stability feels good -- is the Wild Rose and Kala Theka death match. [20:50] 4One way or another, Kala Theka will die. [20:51] 4Neither way will be fun, but Ir would prefer the one where she doesn't have to find and kill him in the dressing rooms. Somehow she doesn't think that'll be an issue, though. [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12It turns out that Ying's designs are eminently possible. It requires some coaching, but soon Jack can correctly interpret such "commands" as "could you please see who's at the door" or "can you pass me that needle". [20:53] 13Good! Gosh it'd be so weird to just command the automaton like it wasn't even a person. 08[20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyone have anything else they want to take care of, or anything they want to say to anyone else, before Wild Rose's match is at hand? [20:55] 4Ir will probably ask Ying for some suitable "Arena guest" clothes. [20:56] 4Just something imposing that she can easily summon burning golden armor over. [21:04] 13Hmm. Ying's also working on an outfit for her new delivery skeleton, but Ir takes precedence. By the day of, there's a package outside Ir's door with an imposing-looking leather jacket and some shorts and tights, alongside some jewelry to complete the look. [21:05] 4Lookin' tough, feelin' tough. 08[21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12The actual leadup to the match is weird if you don't realize what's going on under the hood, as do Wild Rose, her manager/publicist Excessively Righteous Blossom, and the in-the-know arena veteran Ir Twice-Sainted. It's not immediately apparent that Theka has a specific semi-newbie challenger lined up; rather, it appears that he'll be seemingly going through the motions of terrorizing [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12(and executing?) yet another freshman class of gladiatorial hopefuls when Rose is meant to challenge him from the stands. 15[21:07] 10Rose isn't going to sit there and watch him kill another kid. [21:08] 7It's a great intro, Blossom's very proud of it. [21:11] 4Ir's in on what's about to happen, but that doesn't make this part any easier to sit through. [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, she doesn't... have to, although it would certainly be exciting. She's free to interfere as soon as it's clear Theka's winning - Blossom set that down in stone, and indeed massaged things such that the sun-worshiper's first opponents wouldn't be such pushovers that they might die at the first stroke. [21:12] 4Also it's not something she'd have gone for, because you know there's gonna be a bunch of jackasses tomorrow saying that Rose couldn't have taken Theka fresh. [21:13] 4Would Theka have agreed to this match if he was actually going to spend effort killing these chumps? Nope. But that doesn't stop the talk. Lot of these idiots just watch this stuff for the stories. 15[21:13] 10Assuming their first opponent's in on it too, Rose'll hang quiet until Kala Theka stands over them, exultant, preparing himself for the killing blow, before she'll cry "ENOUGH!" 10and leap from seat to stage in three huge gusts, landing between Kala Theka and his opponent in tight black slacks, a short gold jacket and a bare, bound chest. https://i.imgur.com/ko5mKUx.png [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12At any rate, this is why all four of you find yourselves in possibly the best observation booth available in the grand arena, a wood and wire structure jutting forward from the arena wall so as to cantilever over the battlefield. It comfortably seats a dozen, but you can have completely cleared it if you're willing to pay a bunch of extra ticket fees. 15[21:15] 10Her theme fills the arena: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brnSm3BwMa4 [21:15] 4Ir isn't going to be sitting down in a skirt this short with idiots who are liable to watch her legs instead of the fight. She bought out the box. [21:15] 4Oh hell yeah. [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Here they go - Kala Theka striding across the field, mane of flame-red hair, mantle of flame-orange essence, his gear all treated wood, leather, and obsidian such that it neatly matches his glassy black-and-red daiklave. Arrayed against him are weaker, younger Chosen, god-blooded, summoned beasts... [21:17] 4Great theme, though a bit less hardass than Rose dresses. [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Opening matches against jaguars and erymanthoi easily go the fire aspect's way - if anything, he seems to only be gaining energy and momentum as he offers the hearts of beasts and demons to the sun, the shadows cast by each sacrifice roiling inky-black across the field. Then it's the first match against someone with a soul - and that's where Rose can strike. [21:17] 4Ir idly moves her fingers across the balustrade where the keyharp keys would be. [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Theka's gaining the advantage quickly, his daiklave crashing and exploding against the jade staff wielded my a man who might be Dragon-Blooded himself or might be enjoying some blessing or mutation. Theka roars in triumph as the enemy's forced back and back and further back, and finally to their knees, their weapon growing to scorched to even hold onto. "Hah! That you'd even think [21:19] <@Ferrinus> to come here! But worry not, for you will be honored when I-" [21:19] 13Ying's peering through her fingers at all of this. It's nice to get out of the shop with her friends! But... the Arena! [21:20] 4Real question is whether Rose is going to do this without showing her anima banner. [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Then Rose's ENOUGH! is echoing across the arena, Theka's would-be victim is scrambling away to one of the doors out of sight, and the fire-aspected champion is staring down at Rose with something approaching a look of delight. "Well, well! Another?" [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Kala Theka points with his daiklave. "You'd offend the most high by interrupting? I hope for his sake you've got two hearts in there!" 15[21:22] "I'll show you my heart soon enough, butcher. Defend yourself!" [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Battle is joined! 15[21:31] 10Rose comes in with graceful leaps that end in sharp kicks Kala Theka can only just knock aside! [21:32] 4Ir leans forward, frowning. "I think he's better than he was last time." [21:33] 13Ying, still with her hands over her eyes: "Maybe he's just playing it up." [21:33] "You don't 'play up' deflecting a maximum effort kick from the Chosen of the Sun." [21:34] 13Ying: "I didn't see any of that!" [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Theka whirls as part of the parry, and comes at Rose a veritlbe tornado of flame and obsidian! [21:39] 4Ir's eyes widen at the attack, and stay wide despite the stalemate of results. 15[21:40] 10Rose gets in real close as Kala Theka attacks, almost touching torso-to-torso before whirling around him, letting her hand drag over his chest, and diving between his legs to pop back up in front of him after his final failed attack. [21:40] 4Ir: "She just got very lucky." [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Kala Theka: "Rrgh-" [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Kala Theka's clearly stronger than before - his essence burns as more brightly than yours does, although it's composed merely of raging dragon's fire rather than solar virtue. Thus far he hasn't done anything you wouldn't expect out of one of the dragons' chosen, though. [21:43] 13Ying: "Rose is still gonna win though, right?" [21:43] 4Ir: "Yeah, but it's good she's taking it so seriously." [21:44] "Because that's what it is." 15[21:46] 10He's strong... Rose's attacks land but he knocks them away! [21:46] 13Ying's claws spread as she watches Rose whiff. 'Nyo!" [21:47] 4He's a Fire Aspect but he can take a hit like he's Earth. [21:49] 4...But that's not true. It's his arms, his limbs, where his strength is right now. The Earth Aspect proudly takes that shit right to the chest and laughs as it bounces off. Maybe he's just been putting in the hours in the...terrestrial bloodline...gym. [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Fortunately, Kala Theka fares no better - his daikalve ignites from hilt to tip and carves a screaming arc through the air, but it barely raises a few wisps of smoke from Rose's outfit! [21:51] 4Hell of a fight to watch, though. Skill on skill. [21:51] 4She'd say too bad about it being Theka's last, but that guy's a mass murderer. [21:51] 4By choice. 15[21:52] 10Rose's spirit flares blue and gold as the sunset burns purple on her brow. [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Kala's eyes flash. "What? You - YOU'D interfere?" [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12It's clearly thrown him, because his next blow goes wider - but is in no way causing him to stay his hand. 15[21:59] 10Nor Rose, who gently grabs him by the shoulders and takes him for a spin that leaves him dazed. 15[21:59] "Who taught you how to dance?" [21:59] 4Ir's eyes narrow. Does she have him? [21:59] 13Yes... yes...! [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Kala: "This- oof--" 12He goes whirling and finally skidding across the sand, trails of molten glass coiling about his feet. 15[22:01] 10A great blue ibis descends from the sky, spreading its wings from edge to edge of the arena before crashing between the pair of them. [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Kala Theka takes several breaths, then looks up, eyes smoking. "You'll see." [22:02] 13Um. [22:05] 4Here is what concerns Ir about Theka: there's nothing in the Fire Aspect playbook that should have him lengthening shadows, or in anyway changing the quality of light as a phenomenon of his power. That's not the purview of the Blooded. There's something else going on here. [22:06] 4So she takes ominous shit like 'you'll see' with a little more seriousness. [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12The Dragon-Blood roars, and it's as though the flames in his own heart are banishing every shadow that must necessarily have existed within his own body. Ash, smoke, and darkness just come crawling out of his eyes and mouth and ears and pores, sliding to the ground like oil before wrapping themselves around him protectively. [22:06] 4Yeah, what the fuck is this. [22:08] 13Ying: "I'm a doctor but I don't think this is normal." [22:12] 4Killing this man is almost certainly the right idea. [22:13] 13She stops peering through her fingers and just keeps her paws firmly pressed over her eyes. [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12It's definitely not normal - no one's ever seen him, perhaps anyone, pull something like this before. It's hard to make out in the Solar's booth, and harder still on the stage, but the arena announcer is flipping out about who on earth this Rose person actually is and what bizarre horrors must have lain in wait in Kala Theka all along. 15[22:19] 10Rose is behind him again, her foot against his calf forcing him to his knees as she takes him in a ruthlessly precise joint lock. [22:20] 4It's...another intelligence? It's moving independently of Theka himself, at least, as it glorps its way towards Rose's head. It misses, thankfully. [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12He's helpless in her grip. The monstrosity anchored to his body is not, though, and Rose is forced to twist and turn and give up minute advantages just to avoid being lacerated by the flailing, shadowy razors. Kala himself doesn't seem to be trying to fight back in the conventional way - instead he's balling his fists and going like "RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAGGGGH-" 12while the air around [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12him ripples and the ground beneath the two of you starts to grow. 15[22:35] 10Rose isn't paying attention. She's got him now. She releases him for a moment, for a set of staggering forearm strikes - a test of strength Kala Theka is too dazed to match. Then she reaches through the living shadow embracing him and leaps above it all, alighting over the center of the arena, and falling to the ground like a meteor, gold streaming behind them, using the hearteater 15[22:35] 10to break her fall. He craters the center of the battleground, kicking up dust and stones that occlude them from the audience for a moment. 15[22:36] "One last chance, infidel," 10Rose whispers as his consciousness fades. "Repent now and rise again. Resist and perish. Fix your heart or die." [22:36] 4Ir stares at where the thing that was at least partially Kala Theka has fallen, holding her breath. [22:37] 13Ying peeks through her claws again. This is - Rose is safe, but...? [22:37] 4Unconsciously, the bangles on her wrists coil into an orb. Just in case. 15[22:37] 10Her eyes narrow. "Oh." 15[22:38] 10Muttered: "Son of a bitch." [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Who can say what transpires beneath the skin of the burning, glass-strewn vortex that currently consumes the center of the arena? Decent people shouldn't ask such questions. Certainly, they can't see the oily sheen that moves behind Kala Theka's eyes, half-separates from his face, whispers to Rose: "Ahh, but, you see-" 15[22:40] "This is all I needed from you on this point. You helped me win fame in battle with a worthy foe that earned death. Get back to work." [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a soft sigh. Then Kala Theka's staring blearily up at Rose, smoke and flame leaking from his mouth and eyes, trying to stay lucid. 15[22:44] "How many of the Sun's Chosen need to best you before you realize that you have called yourself down the wrong path, Kala Theka? Go! In Great Forks a true commune of Sun worshipers rises. Learn their ways and do their work. Be righteous." [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Kala: "I... hrrk-... I... yield! Yield and assent! Yours... strength like yours... cannot..." 12He coughs up a small fireball. "Cannot... tell me false... uggh..." 12He falls back now, but his voice echoed across the arena even as the smoke and ash around you was cleared by a fresh breeze. It's very hard to make note of the oil-slick darkness that simply oozes away into the sand [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12beneath Rose's feet. [22:47] 13...gross... [22:47] 4It's good that she let him live. [22:47] 4But she let that thing live, too. [22:47] 6Is it? 13It is. 08[22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, the announcer booms: "WILD ROSE IS VICTORIOUS!!" 12And the crowd goes nuts. 15[22:48] 10Rose stands fast until the dust clears. Then she rolls Kala Theka onto his back, and salutes him in the old Daimyo's style. Then she faces the audience and raises her arms in triumph, blue-gold light coming off her like smoke from a fire. [22:51] 4Fuck it. Ir leaps the balustrade and strides out into the Arena. She'll give Rose a firm hug like this is just a champion greeting a victor, and then she'll ask: "What the fuck was that thing?" [22:51] 13Ying narrows her eyes. "Gatomello." 15[22:52] 10Rose returns the hug with no trace of tiredness, though her breath is hard and heavy. "He had a demon for a manager. My demon. His plan to build my reputation." [22:53] 4Ir blinks and then rolls her eyes. "Oh for fuck's sake." 4Then she laughs. [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Things move pretty fast - medics carry Kala Theka off at Rose's insistence, crowds cheer and throw flowers and ribbons and things into the ring, high-up Guild officials move about the stands to congratulate both the arena-dwelling Rose and Blossom and Ying back in the skybox. [22:54] 4She crosses her arms. "You know there's a term for what just happened to me, in the biz." 15[22:54] "Oh?" [22:54] "I got worked into a shoot." 15[22:54] "Oh, brother." [22:55] "Let's go get drunk." 15[22:55] "Hell yes." [22:56] <@Ferrinus> "Innn-credible," 12says Typhon, stepping around some guild factor who'd just finished thanking Blossom profusely for arranging that kind of spectacle. "They haven't been giving my people stories this good." 12He gives Blossom and Ying a shallow nod. [22:56] 13Ying just barely stops herself from hissing openly. [22:57] 7Blossom returns the nod with the same lack of respect he gives her. [22:57] "Hi, Typhon," 13she says in lieu of angry cat sounds. [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "But why the disguise?" [22:58] 4Ir's voice is flat. "Annoying fans." [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "Hmm, that would scan. Coils has relatively few such problems, as you might imagine." 12If Ir's in on this, it's likely that Typhon's approached the four of you later - after some sort of award or greeting ceremony, when Rose and Ir have quit the field and Rose has gotten cleaned up. "But you're not worried?" [23:01] 13Ying: "About?" 13Go away, her tone says. 15[23:02] 10Once Rose is off the field she's in her old-timey uniform with her hair cleaned and styled, like in the posters: http://i.imgur.com/HjEQlCf.jpg [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12The Mask's emissary gestures vaguely. "Why, the demon or specter dogging your opponent's steps is surely still at large." 15[23:04] "Maybe you can build another trap for the Mask to siphon energy from," 10Rose offers coldly. [23:05] 13Ying: "If it's anything like we've come across befur, it'll come back to taunt us until we 'handle' it." [23:05] 7Seriously. When is this guy going to leave. [23:05] 4He's not. He's having too much fun. [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon laughs. "Not a bad idea! But anyway, congratulations. You haven't given any more thought to my offer from before, have you? A tour of Thorns, mutually beneficial negoti- ahhh, I can see your thoughts on the matter." [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12That's not to say that he's a telepath or something, I'm just assuming that at least one of you at least doubled your scowl intensity somewhere in that sentence. 15[23:07] 10Safe bet. [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "Well, I must away. Safe travels!" 12He doesn't bother you much longer, though you do have to watch his cloak swish dramatically as he heads off to shmooze with some merchant. 15[23:09] "What a turd." [23:09] 13Ying: "I hate him." [23:09] 4Ir: "We're going to have to deal with him eventually." 15[23:09] "We will." [23:10] "But that's the future! Let's go blow off some steam. We're on the eve of a major campaign." 08[23:10] 7Since Wild Rose is a good six fulms eight ilms in heels, it only makes sense that Excessively Righteous Blossom, as her manager, would physically leap into her arms in order to be able to pound on her shoulders and say "VICTORY!" 15[23:10] 10Rose holds her tight while she does. [23:12] "Glory to the winner! Riches, fame, the adulation of millions! Who wants egg rolls?!" 15[23:13] "I'm starving," 10says Rose. "Let's get out of here." [23:13] 4Ir: "You want to buy them, or just get the ingredients and have a night in?" [23:14] 13Ying: "Oh! Oh! Night in night in night in!" 13she chants. 15[23:14] "Night in is exactly what I want," 10says Rose, squeezing Blossom again. [23:16] 4Ir grins. "Then let me pick up some stuff." [23:19] 4While the rest of the Circle heads back to the Heavensward and gets cracking on inviting over some of their close personal acquaintences in the city, Ir goes on a ruthlessly efficient whirlwind tour for Nexus comfort food: egg rolls, crab-cheese wantons, and pitza. [23:19] 4Probably fry up a bunch of pork rice, too. [23:20] 13Ying's sure to invite Totokuro, Lingfei, and Sszark. And, um. The Emissary, if no one tells her not to. 15[23:20] 10When the circle makes their way back to the ship, Rose cleans up and Eikichi comes out well-scrubbed and tired in a fluffy maroon robe. He looks subdued and mortal. "Rose said, 'Fix your heart or die," and Kala Theka picked the former. I think he's headed to the Sunshrine once he convalesces." [23:21] "Good. Hrmph! Disgusting savagery, I'm glad you stopped it." [23:22] 13Ying: "And Gatomello? Gatamello," 13she corrects herself. "Do you know where he went?" [23:23] 4Ir's in the kitchen, having already cleaned up the place for company with Usagi's help. She's starting in on the food now. 15[23:23] 10There's a sudden pop and a puff of smoke as Usagi runs in from around a corner, pulling a firecracker she made apart with her muscly arms. "Hooray!" 15[23:23] "Back to work," 10Eikichi says to Ying. 15[23:23] 10Usagi: "Oh..." 15[23:23] 10Eikichi: "Not you. You've got the night off." [23:24] 13Ying: "Usagi!!! Hi!! It's been a while!" 08[23:24] 13She completely ignores Eikichi talking about the escaped demon who had been possessing an arena champion to do murders. [23:25] 13Usagi is more important. 15[23:25] 10Usagi: "Can I help Ir?" 15[23:25] 10Eikichi: "If you want." 15[23:25] 10Usagi: "Yeah!!" [23:25] 4She's chosen food where the vast majority of the work is in the prep, not in the actual cooking -- that's just frying or shoving in the oven. Perfect for the chef who is also the bartender. 15[23:27] 10Sondok stands stern guard at the entrance to the lounge, eyeing everyone who comes in with what looks like suspicion but is actually just her resting face. 15[23:28] 10Eikichi: "A deathmatch where nobody dies and everybody wins. Total victory." 08[23:29] 4From the bar: "What're you drinking, Eikichi?" 15[23:30] 10Eikichi: "Something sour. Gin and Juche?" [23:30] 4Ir: "Coming up." [23:31] 4It's pretty much perfectly made. Watching all that fighting got Ir worked up, and right now, this is how she's burning off energy. [23:32] 7Blossom: "What's that popoto stuff from the North? Vodka? SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS" [23:35] 13Ying: "...do you have anything with catnip in it?" [23:40] 4Ir gives Ying a look, but then: "...Bring some it here, I'll figure it out." [23:41] 4Ir's never really looked at catnip before. Looks like it's some kind of mint. "You like juleps?" [23:41] 13Ying: "I don't know what those are!" 13She beams, having just flounced back in with some samples. [23:44] 4Ir: "Put some mint -- here, catnip -- in the bottom of a glass, cover it with sugar, muddle them up together, add a splash of fizzing water, which I'm glad I prepared more of, then ice, bourbon, another splash of the water, and stir." 4She puts down a generous glass, almost a double, in front of Ying. They're breaking out the fun portions tonight. "Like so." [23:50] 13Something primal lights up behind her eyes. "Yessssss...." 13She does remember enough of her manners to say "Thank you!" 13before drinking deeply. 15[23:51] 10Eikichi: "Hey, Ir, Ying, there's something I need to say before people start showing up." 08[23:51] 13Pupils of two different sizes look at Eikichi. "Hmm?" [23:52] 4Ir: "What's up?" 15[23:52] 10He finishes his drink, draws in a deep breath, and then comes right out with "Blossom and I have decided to get married." [23:52] 4Ir: "Hot damn." 08[23:53] 13Her drink clatters back to the counter as Ying launches herself towards Eikichi for a hug while she emits an extremely high pitched... I suppose "squee" is the only word for it. 08[23:53] 4She literally leaps the bar from a resting, standing position, and she's still not quick enough to reach Eikichi first, so she just makes it a group hug. [23:53] "You did it! Aaaaa!" [23:53] 7Blossom, having studied Sunlit-Dreaming Ying closely since her... invention? arrival? - has no trouble making the >:3 face. [23:54] 4Ir: "Let me be the first to say: fuckin' finally." [23:54] 4Ir: "I call dibs on playing the wedding." 08[23:54] 13After her assault on Eikichi, Blossom is next. She just throws herself around Blossom's shoulders. "I can't believe it! Oh my gosh, I'm gonna design the outfits...!" 15[23:54] 10Eikichi: "Oh, I'm so glad you said that." 15[23:54] "I was worried I'd have to scour from pole to pole for the second best cook, musician, and tailor in Creation." [23:55] 4Ir laughs. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, their rates are probably substantially higher than 'free.'" 15[23:56] "It's going to be a while yet. We want it to be a proper state occasion, in Zeal." [23:56] "Though both your parents are probably going to complain about you cheaping out on the help. I'm guessing having your friends do all that stuff is considered something for the lower classes." [23:57] 7Blossom, tightly: "My parents are not invited." [23:57] 13Still hanging on to Blossom, unless she's been pushed off: "In - oh my goodness." [23:57] 4She pauses. "...I'm sorry. I didn't think to ask if--" [23:57] "Yeah. I'm sorry." [23:58] "But yeah, excellent news. The trendy set in Nexus and Crystal will be heartbroken." 15[23:58] "That was bound to happen eventually." [23:58] 4Ir: "Sure, but you didn't even have to do it in person this way." [23:59] 7Lighter: "'Kichi's are, though!" [23:59] 4Ir: "Oh god, we're going to get to meet the sisters, aren't we?" [23:59] *Sun [23:59] 13Ying: "Oh my gosh." Session Time: Fri Feb 15 00:00:00 2019 15[00:00] 10Eikichi: "As long as they don't disown me! Which technically remains to be seen." [00:00] 13Ying: "Why would - Tatsuya is yelling at me not to finish that question." [00:01] 7Blossom slaps him cheerfully on the shoulder. "They won't disown you! They're going to be royalty!" 15[00:02] 10Eikichi's face has been stuck in a huge smile since he broke the news and hasn't come down yet. "It's a really good thing to lead with." [00:02] 4Ir: "And besides, once they're on Zeal, they'll have to be good guests because otherwise there's literally no way for them to leave." [00:04] 7Blossom waves a hand. "Anyway, that's all in the future. We're going to have a huge ceremony~" [00:04] 13Ying: "I can't wait!!" [00:05] 4Ir taps her chin. "You know, I could see about asking the Songbirds to send a delegation. I haven't checked in with them in awhile." [00:06] 13Ying: "Oh man, I bet the Velvet Room would love to hear about this. Tatsuya hasn't checked in with them in a while and they're gonna be so mad." [00:08] 4Ir: "Weddings between rulers ARE traditionally huge diplomatic events, though I'm not sure how much you'd actually, like. Want. Any of that at your wedding." [00:08] "Rather than merely agreeing to tolerate it." 15[00:08] 10Eikichi's working on his second drink. "They'll have to bring so many presents." [00:09] 4Ir has poured herself some bourbon neat, keeping it out in anticipation of refilling Ying's glass. [00:10] 4Ir: "In the stories, this is where we'd do something like invite Typhon to repair the bonds between our people or whatever and then kill him in dramatic, embarrassing fashion. But that seems like a lot of work, and that honestly, it would spoil the mood." [00:10] 7Blossom is going for more vodka, and as a result is getting kind of weepy. "It's gonna be so great you guys, you have no idea..." [00:11] 13Ying's finally extricated herself from Blossom to go back to her drink. Mostly gone, now. "I've got so many ideas, actually. I love it! I love you guys." 15[00:12] 10Eikichi: "Just remember we've got to be in blue. We're going fully traditional." [00:12] 4Ir: "Is that a Realm thing?" [00:12] "Ohmigods Venus might be watching--" [00:13] 4Ir: "I mean surely we're just going to invite everyone of those Heavenly losers we know, just to style on them with how cool we are." 15[00:13] "We'll need booster seats for Yara." [00:14] 13Ying, deviously: "I should make Tatsuya show up for that." [00:15] 4Ir: "Man. A lot of people are REALLY going to hate Zeal." [00:15] 13Ying: "They're wrong." 13Sip. [00:15] 7Blossom: "The wicked should FEAR us--" [00:15] 4Ir: "Well a substantial number of them are going to be people whose power we break over the wheel of the Sun." [00:16] "So it's hard to say they're being irrational." [00:16] "Still wrong!" 13she says while cheerfully draining her drink. "Can I get some more, please?" [00:18] 4Ir's got a perfectly made full drink back to her in under half a minute. [00:19] "Well, what about the rest of you? What are your plaaaans~" [00:19] 13Ying spends an inordinate amount of time smelling the drink. [00:20] 4Ir: "For what? Like, life?" [00:20] 7Blossom: "No! Yes! Whatever!" [00:21] 13Ying, woozily: "I'm gonna date the Emissary." [00:21] "...Haven't really thought much beyond you four and what we're doing. And my responsibilities in Nexus." [00:21] 4Ir nods. "That's the spirit. Don't break his heart. Might be dangerous. Hard to tell." [00:21] "He's soooo hoooottttttt." 15[00:22] 10Eikichi's expression is dreamy and sentimental. "Go get it!" [00:23] "I guess I need to figure out if this Marek thing is, in fact, a thing, and if he even cares about me 'at all' beyond the information source I represent. That's probably not going to be a lot of fun." [00:23] 7Blossom, very seriously after taking another shot: "Sunlit-Dreaming Ying... I believe in you. Go get him!" [00:23] 7To Ir: "Ugh. Let us know if we should start hating him." [00:23] 13Ying: "I'm gonna. I'm gonna get him." [00:24] 13Climb him like a tree- what? 15[00:24] 10Eikichi: "He definitely cares about you. But he's in a lousy position. We don't make it easy on him, being friends with Heaven." [00:24] 13Ying: "We could beat him up real bad. A single step outta line." [00:24] 4Ir: "Hey, tall guys are hot. And sometimes it's there entire personality." [00:24] 4er [00:24] 4Hey, tall guys are hot. And sometimes it's there entire personality. [00:25] 13We've all been their. [00:25] *4their 08[00:26] 4To Eikichi: "Yeah, well. He could stand to make it a little less transactional." 15[00:27] 10Eikichi: "Do you miss him?" [00:29] 4She sighs. "Yeah. But my history with dating men has me with one foot mentally out the door if the first thing he does after sex is ask about if my band has anyone booked to open for us at week's end, let alone something like 'so I was wondering if you could help me spy on Heaven.'" [00:29] "The peril of fucking musicians." [00:29] 13Ying: "He did wh-" 13She visibly calms herself down. "He did what?" [00:30] "We should beat him up." [00:30] 4Ir: "I already did that. That's why we're dating." 15[00:31] "We should give him a chance to explain himself and apologize. And then beat him up." [00:31] 4Ir: "Then he'll think I'm a swinger." [00:31] 13Ying: "We should beat him up again but harder. Unless he's into that." 15[00:31] "Ying!" [00:31] 13Woozily: "What? I'm just saying." [00:33] 4Ir: "He's as into it as someone who likes to try to take the lead can be. It's a weird dynamic. You try not to get to into it when there's a good chance you could accidentally put yourself or your sex opponent through a wall." [00:33] 13Ying: "You should throw him through a wall though. He deserves it." [00:34] 4Ir: "I'm sure as shit not throwing him through MY walls." [00:34] 13Ying chokes on her drink. [00:34] 4Ir: "Pun intended? ...Yeah, let's go with pun intended." [00:34] 7Blossom laugh-snorts. 15[00:35] 10Eikichi's face has gone red while he stifles his giggles. [00:37] 4Ir: "So yeah, the dick's good, but, no offense to present company, good dick is a fungible commodity with elastic supply. And everything else is completely up in the air, compounded by the fact that we don't get to see each other often and that he's a literal Silver Pact spy." 15[00:37] 10Eikichi: "The Silver Pact's notsobad. Mostly." 15[00:37] "They're basically right about Heaven and the Realm." 15[00:37] "Just not. You know. Completely right." [00:38] 13Burbling: "New dick." 13She is out of it. "Lotta people." [00:38] "Being right doesn't make you a good boyfriend if you're mostly doing it in deep cover halfway across Creation for months on end." [00:38] 13Catnip: it's even stronger in drinks than it is when you eat some. 15[00:39] "Yeah..." [00:40] 4Ir: "Now, the ideal compromise here is that once we get Zeal up and running, we convince the Silver Pact to send him to spy on us there." [00:40] "And then basically just treat him like an ambassador." 15[00:42] 10Eikichi: "There's a couple for the storybooks. A dashing Lunar ambassador and their passionate Solar mate, separated by distance but united by love..." [00:43] 13Ying's just meowing on the bar, oblivious. [00:45] 4Ir: "Haha. Marek's a damn yokel, and neither of us has gotten up the courage to drop the l-bomb yet." 15[00:47] 10Eikichi: "I had to get almost murdered before Blossom would even admit she had a crush on me." [00:47] 7Blossom: "Hey!!!" [00:47] 13Ying, sleepily: "Meowardism." [00:48] 13Back to snoring. [00:49] 4Ir: "When was this?" 15[00:49] 10Eikichi: "Hey nothing! It was really sweet. 'I like you too. Don't ever do anything like that again.'" 15[00:49] "In Crystal. It was after Reckoning got me." [00:49] "We all almost get murdered too regularly." 14[00:49] * Quits: cbass (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:50] 4Ir nods sagely. "No doubt she was attracted to the fact that it was entirely your fault, due to doing dumb shit." 14[00:50] * Joins: cbass [00:50] 13Ying, suddenly alert: "Don't let Tatsuya off the hook." [00:51] "Idiot. Jerk. Criminal." 15[00:51] 10Eikichi: "Retroactively made the whole thing worth it, in the end." [00:52] 4Ir: "...So what are we going to do about Reckoning?" [00:52] "Feels like there is -- or maybe was -- a possible Creation where he's at the wedding." [00:53] 13Dozing off again: "Gotta fight him." [00:53] "We did that, and we won. There's nothing else to prove there." [00:54] 13Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. 15[00:54] 10Eikichi: "It's up to him. It's like I said to Kala Theka. It's the same deal we give to everyone, whether or not we put it into words." 15[00:54] 10He drains his fourth(?) drink. "Fix your heart or die." [00:54] 4Lesson learned about catnip as a garnish. [00:55] 4Ir smiles and pours herself another glass. "Guess it only makes sense that we have the most trouble with the undead thematically, then." [00:55] 7Blossom: "Wow. Is that just catnip?" 15[00:56] "She had a long day." [00:56] 4Ir: "There was sugar in it, too. That stuff is powerful." [00:56] 13It really is. 15[00:56] "Was it moon sugar?" [00:57] 4Ir snorts. "That's your scene, not mine." 15[00:57] 10Eikichi: "Ying'd be a good dealer, too. Cat has wares if you have coin..." [00:57] 13Ying's hand, while grasping her glass, isn't exactly defending it. If you'd like to examine it. [00:58] 4At this point the food is done. Ir's made a bowl of crab-cheese wantons, a dozen eggrolls, and two small pitzas. [00:58] 4They are, perhaps, the best iteration of all three she's ever made. [00:59] 4With exception of the Heaven pitza. 15[01:00] 10This is just what a body needs to soak up past and future alcohol. 14[01:09] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:09] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:49] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[04:08] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[05:59] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[06:12] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[10:44] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[10:44] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[12:37] * Joins: tom 14[15:10] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:13] * Joins: tom 14[18:17] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:42] * Joins: tom Session Time: Sat Feb 16 00:00:00 2019 14[04:13] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:08] * Joins: VoxPrimey 14[06:10] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:28] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[08:29] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:27] * Joins: VoxPrimey 14[09:28] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:07] * Joins: tom 14[17:42] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:37] * Joins: tom Session Time: Sun Feb 17 00:00:00 2019 14[01:03] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[03:57] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:07] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Quit: ) 14[11:47] * Joins: tom 14[13:23] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:27] * Joins: tom Session Time: Mon Feb 18 00:00:00 2019 14[01:20] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[01:21] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:31] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:19] * Joins: tom 14[16:01] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:02] * Joins: cbass 14[21:36] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[22:06] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: Mutter: www.mutterirc.com) Session Time: Tue Feb 19 00:00:00 2019 14[01:42] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:45] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:24] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:20] * Joins: tom 14[19:54] * Joins: mattbaby_ 15[20:02]  15[20:02]  15[20:02]  15[20:02]  15[20:02]  15[20:03] In a distant land, atop a magician's tower, the circle stands before a crucible and its guardian. 15[20:04] So far, Urza's son has proven genial and cooperative, with the exception of what it sees as its commitment to keep the crucible from falling into the wrong hands. Into anyone's hands. 15[20:07] Xu Sim has just begun to examine it, with its consent. What do the others do? [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 12This is a nice tomb. Sure would be a shame if an enterprising adventurer's party were to come by and raid it. But no, actually, it'd probably be a huge waste of effort and Keldar earnestly hopes Xu Sim can just trick this golem into giving away its inheritance instead. [20:08] 14Stranger thinks he's growing to understand the golem, who is much more than simply a golem. There's a significant...mental block, there. An emotional block. Stranger thinks he needs to move past it in order to fully embrace the future he deserves -- and he certainly needs to move past it if they're to take control of the tower. [20:08] 14Stranger will continue to talk to the Son; the Ambassador will lounge about nearby in her housecat form. [20:08] 13Heck, I wouldn't trust us either. A bunch of hooligans just showing up randomly after - Sun, two thousand years. 14[20:08] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: Mutter: www.mutterirc.com) [20:11] 14Stranger: "Why do you think it is that you won't forgive yourself for Urza's death?" 14[20:13] * Joins: mattbaby_ 15[20:13] The Son: "There is perhaps nothing to forgive. I only know what I have done. I don't know when or how or why. Am I a sinner?" [20:16] 13Xia Lan, if not prevented from doing so, starts to examine the symbols that line the room. Do they mean anything? Well - okay, they must, or they wouldn't be here. But do they mean anything that she can understand? [20:16] 14Stranger: "If you are, then you have agency. You are more than some reticulated lump of silver and steel, made to move on its own, made to imitate life. If you are a sinner, then you are the thing itself, not its facsimile -- you are truly his son. So the question is: do you want to be a sinner?" [20:16] 13She tries very hard to ignore the temptation to pet the Ambassador, who is a person, despite being also a cat. [20:17] "Because a sinner chooses. That is the relief against which sin is defined." 14[20:17] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: Mutter: www.mutterirc.com) [20:19] 14The Ambassador purrs as she rubs herself along Stranger's leg, and then suddenly she's shifting form again -- this time to silver-tailed doe from the forests of the Scavenger Lands. She prances to and fro a bit where the Son can see her, then trots in a wide arc around Stranger. [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar also observes the decor, though his eye is more utilitarian - how many of those symbols are going to shoot lightning bolts at us or disgorge demon slaves if things turn violent in here? 14[20:22] * Joins: mattbaby_ [20:23] 13She looks to Xu Sim. "The earth itself bends the knee in worship -- this. Is a lot." 14[20:23] * Joins: mattbaby__ 15[20:25] Urza's Son: "I was chosen-for. That is what the Chosen are chosen for." [20:26] 14...Does he mean the Exalted, there? 15[20:26] One assumes. It's an odd turn of phrase. 14[20:27] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:27] 13Xia Lan, still to Xu Sim: "Do you remember any of this?" [20:28] 14Stranger: "At the very least you chose not to answer my question. Which is your right. We are Chosen as well, if I don't mistake your meaning -- but where we come from, we are Chosen of something, not Chosen for something." 15[20:29] "Urza was Chosen. Urza chose for me. I am chosen-for." [20:30] "Ah. Do you reject choice, then? Do you believe yourself unworthy of it -- or alternatively, it unworthy of you?" 15[20:33] Urza's Son: "There is no worthy or unworthy. I have no choice. It is simply true." [20:37] 14Stranger: "You sell yourself short. I don't think you do so by accident. I suspect you find it more useful for me to believe that you're a construct of unbreakable logic, reason, order, and command, because if you are, then I'll eventually get frustrated and go away. But you dodge my questions too well for me to actually believe that." [20:37] 14He looks around. "Why do you hate this place so much?" [20:37] 13I mean, have you read these walls? [20:37] 14Stranger has not. [20:37] 13Wait, no, nobody else has time for that. But you should. Not. They're bad. [20:39] 14The Ambassador will trot up and nuzzle one of the Son's hands. [20:41] 13...Xia Lan should have petted her when she was a cat. 15[20:41] The Son runs its cold fingertips over the Ambassador's brow before its hand closes into a fist. "It's a waste." [20:42] 13Xia Lan: "A - how?" 14[20:44] * Quits: mattbaby__ (Quit: Mutter: www.mutterirc.com) [20:47] 14Stranger nods solemnly, looking about the room as he speaks. "I think I hate it as well. I've seen what it keeps, down in the room with the pipes and the pods. I felt...revulsion. Then I got in the glass elevator and came up here anyway." 14His gaze returns to the headless Son. "At the very least we owe you an explanation of why we're here, and why we're so desperate. We come [20:47] from the city of Nexus. It is not Calibration in Nexus; we have managed to find our way to the Isle through more desperate means." [20:47] "Are you familiar with the walking dead? Are you familiar with the Fair Folk?" 15[20:48] "In principle and in passing." [20:48] 13On watching Keldar puzzle over the engravings around the room, Xia Lan takes pity. "Prayer strips, I think. Reverence, yet command over the land." [20:49] 5Xu Sim nods gravely. [20:50] 14Stranger summarizes, briefly and clinically, the circumstances that led to the Battle of Nexus and where the forces stand now. "And so the Mask of Winters wishes all the places like this in our city for his own, and he will take them unless we are creative, brave, and lucky. And then past him, the Fellowship of the Rose wishes to unmake the whole of Creation, down to the lowliest [20:50] housecat, and it wishes to strike a major blow for this in the city we're sworn to protect. So, we are here, and we are running out of time." [20:53] 5Xu Sim, murmuring to Seven: "If Urza died here, do you have a way to find out anything about it? I'm sure if there was still a ghost around we'd have discovered him by now..." 15[20:53] Seven: "I've been searching, but I can find no trace." [20:59] 5Xu Sim: "Xia Lan, can you help me with a matter of art history, again? I recall your assistance before, with that ancient song, was most valuable." [21:00] 13Xia Lan: "Of course, of course. Let me take a look." [21:05] 5Xu Sim: "In fact, Seven, it was a song you had mentioned to me." 15[21:07] Seven: "Mm?" [21:12] 5Xu Sim pauses to clear his throat, and recites a stanza of the ancient song in a stentorian Old Realm, perhaps as if it were a poem rather than a song, per se: "If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it / anything you want to, do it / want to change the world? / there's nothing to it" [21:15] 13She looks for a long time, pausing abruptly to - Sun, that can't be right - who MADE this. Then: "So. Um. This should be a - like a temple. First age, obviously. And at the center was, well. A statue to the patron god." [21:15] 13She glances over to the Son. 15[21:15] Urza's Son glances back. Presumably. [21:16] 14Stranger: "I would not ask you to fight in our war, of course. I wouldn't ask you to sanction it or even stick around for it; those portals I spoke of can send you any which way across Creation. I just want to impress upon you the seriousness of our quest here. We're not searching for secrets for secrets' sake, and we have no dreams of conquest. This is a mission of survival, for [21:16] us." [21:17] "I thought you deserved to know." [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar gives Xia Lan a perplexed look for a moment before looking over to the living statue and then mouthing a word to himself once or twice. "Waaait- hah! That's good." [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But then why silver?" [21:18] 14A small smile quirks the edge of his mouth. "And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't trying to guilt you just a little bit." 15[21:19] "What here can save you?" [21:22] 14Stranger: "Maybe nothing. But it's the last card we have to play, and we're out of time. There were six other places we could have gone, but we came here, to you." [21:22] 13Xia Lan: "They're the god of this place. I - oof." 13She gets back to her feet, having been kneeling to examine some finer details. 15[21:23] The Son: "I don't fight." [21:23] 14Stranger: "I'm not asking you to." [21:24] "I just thought you deserved an explanation." 15[21:24] "Thank you." [21:25] "You're welcome." 14Stranger looks away. "And now I have to figure out how I'll bluff the Mask." [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, to the others: "Yo, hey - hey, I get it. I'm a genius. He's not the son. He's the son." 12Of course, you can't really hear the difference. "You know, like with four arms? Hey?" [21:27] <@Ferrinus> "Or, like, this place's?" 12Here, Keldar is forced to turn to the actual genius and ask the pop star. "That's what's going on? It's like if this workshop had its own Most High?" [21:33] "Is that why he's incomplete?" 5Xu Sim ponders. "He doesn't know, and so, cannot fulfill his purpose - yet." [21:34] 14Stranger turns to the other three during the lapse in the conversation with the Son. "Doesn't know what?" [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Was he supposed to have a face? More hands? What's a wizard's tower's sun look like?" [21:34] 13Xia Lan: "Maybe. It's - these are hard to parse, and there's a lot of references to stuff that was probably clear at the time that I don't recognize." [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods slowly, perfectly masking the fact that he wasn't able to get it at all. [21:37] 14Stranger glances between the three excited faces. "What have you found? What doesn't he know? He's standing right here, after all." 15[21:37] "It seemed rude to interrupt. You have no more privacy than I do." [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar waves Xu Sim and Stranger over to explain. "Look, it's a languages thing. He's talking Old Realm, right? But if this were Riverspeak, he'd say son, which sounds nothing like soah fuck it actually works in both tongues." [21:41] 13Xia Lan turns and bows. "I'm sorry, I was thinking out loud while reading, well." 13She gestures to the various symbols, words, and illustrations decorating the chamber. [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The point is, you can be somebody's male kid, right? Or you can be the highest of the gods and our patron. Practically the same character." [21:42] 5Xu Sim, breaking it down: "You're to be a god of this place, Son. That's your purpose. That's why you're still incomplete" [21:42] 13To the Son: "This is - it's a first age temple, kinda. But where the statue of a god would go, you are. In short." [21:43] 14That makes things. A lot. More complicated. 15[21:43] The Son: "What is the sun meant to do?" [21:43] 14Stranger: "Endure. And shine by enduring." [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Sort of... reign? Win at things?" [21:44] 13Xia Lan: "Help people, and allow others to help them." [21:49] 5Xu Sim: "Warmth and light to pauper and prince alike. Enough to burn the skin and nourish the field." 15[21:49] "These are difficult to reconcile." [21:49] 13Xia Lan: "The Sun often is." [21:50] 5Xu Sim: "That's why it rises, and sets, and is occasionally eclipsed." [21:50] 14Stranger: "It keeps its own counsel, while inextricably tied to the world around it. It is unmistakably itself." 15[21:52] Seven is silent. 15[21:53] The Son: "You tell me that I am to become something no one fully understands." [21:54] 14Stranger: "Among all the burdens of living, that is one of the least remarked upon. But yes." [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, just that you were supposed to be. And, uh, Urza? Must've been doing what you'd call an idiosyncratic take on the god since you're not even the usual metal." [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So, like, you even wanna be the representative god of an abandoned tower? Seems boring." 15[22:00] "I am bored. But what you propose is contradictory in its aims and ends." [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Who's proposing? We were just describing a particular god - and pretty off the cuff, too. If you wanna live up to that example I'm sure there's real theology we could dig down into." [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But, you know, gods. They're around, sure, but plenty of us have better shit to do." [22:03] 5Xu Sim: "This is the time to preach it," 5he points out. 15[22:03] "You are proposing. This is an endeavor to make me abandon my post in aid of your plan to save your city." 15[22:03] "I have not forgotten why you are here." [22:04] 14Stranger: "Does you abandoning your post even help us, now? If you're the god of this place?" [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Right, but, the way I see it you don't have much reason to be here and don't actually like it. Whether you were supposed to be a divine effigy's kind of an unrelated question - unless all you care about is what you're supposed to be." 15[22:04] "What else?" [22:05] 5Xu Sim shakes his head and strikes his hand through the air for emphasis. "We are asking you to take up your post." [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Uh... hanging out? Drink- no, that's probably out. ...reading?" 12He glances over at the sorcerer, who seems to be making a conflicting suggestion. [22:06] 13Xia Lan: "You can't worry about what you were supposed to be. It's - if that's all you do, you just. Think about what you aren't living up to. What you could have been. It's miserable." [22:09] "The Sun brings the day and nourishes all life. It casts its rays on boddhisatvas and pigs alike. But its brilliance shatters the darkness," 5Xu Sim suggests. 15[22:10] "Would the Sun help you?" 15[22:10] "Has he?" [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And... he empowers men to win battles he doesn't fight himself." [22:10] 5Xu Sim: "He doesn't 'help' us. He Chose us." [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, see?" 12He taps his forehead, which lights up with a fiery orange sunburst. "Bonafide Chosen right here." [22:11] 13Xia Lan: "'He has raised me from the pit, and set me high.' An old First Age lyric, but fitting." 14[22:12] * Joins: mattbaby__ 15[22:12] "Why were you Chosen?" [22:12] 14Stranger: "The Sun spends his days -- literally, his days -- arcing across the heavens, reveling over Creation. He helped us, but he does not hold us. He made us help ourselves." [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar considers the question. "Guess 'cause I was a great warrior, but a great injustice'd put my back against the wall." [22:13] 14Stranger: "To give a voice to the voiceless. To redeem a great evil." 14[22:14] * Quits: mattbaby__ (Quit: Mutter: www.mutterirc.com) [22:14] "To have the power to save others from disease and wickedness," 5Xu Sim suggests. [22:14] 4The Ambassador watches intently, in her swan form now. [22:14] 14The Ambassador watches intently, in her swan form now. [22:16] 13Xia Lan: "The Sun gave me a chance to save myself, and save others. He came to me, and called me one of His best." 15[22:19] "The Sun marked you out for prowess and virtue. The Sun raised you up with power above the weak and against the wicked. But you have come here because this power is not enough. And you seek to fashion me into a new Sun to call you Chosen again and to grand you still more power." 15[22:19] "Do I understand?" [22:20] "It is your choice. You could do so, and help us save many lives. Or you could leave, and do as you please. Or we could leave, and whatever becomes of us would soon become of you as well, no doubt." [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I mean, I'd be satisfied if you just stepped aside, or went off on vacation. And the power here's just the fruit of what the Sun gave Xu Sim ages ago." [22:21] 13Xia Lan was about to say something, but instead just glares daggers at Keldar. [22:21] 14Stranger: "We've asked contradictory things of you, expressed conflicted beliefs, and confirmed only the desperation of our own situation. You're asking us to choose, but in the end, you're the one who's going to have to do it." [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Xia Lan's treated to a 'whaaat?' expression for her trouble. [22:22] 14For his part, Stranger looks morose. 15[22:24] The Son brings its face level with the swan's. "You trust them?" [22:25] 14The swan settles its wings with a wiggle, then dips its head in a deep nod. 15[22:29] Urza's Son turns its back on them, resting its hand lightly on the crucible. "I don't want to be this tower's caretaker anymore." 15[22:30] It takes the orb up in its hand and the whole room thrums with power. "So I declare myself its master." [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Uh-" [22:30] 13Um. [22:30] 14Stranger walks over to the Ambassador and rests his hand on the back of her head as she returns to her human form. His hand ends up on her shoulder. 15[22:31] To the others: "I will give you two hours before I bring it down forever. Do good with what you have at hand and what you care to seek out." 15[22:31] "That is what you were Chosen for." [22:31] 4He nods. [22:31] 14He nods. [22:32] 5Xu Sim blanches. Centuries of labor. [22:32] 5Down the tubes. [22:32] 14Stranger did ask him to make a choice. And a choice has been made. [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's face goes through a few expressions but settles on 'determined'. "More than zero. Son - can you give us directions? Tell us the locations of weapons or material stashes, warstrider hangars, whatever else?" [22:34] "Farewell, then, Son." 14Stranger begins walking for the glass elevator. [22:38] 13Xia Lan bows to the Son for what she assumes is the last time. "I'll keep you in my memories." 15[22:39] Urza's Son holds the (its?) crucible out, and a wire frame model of the entire complex weaves itself out of thin strands of light. [22:39] 5Xu Sim's face twists. "To watch over this place... You'll cast it into destruction?" 15[22:39] "I don't want to watch over it anymore. But you have convinced me that it is mine. So I offer you to take what you can before I do what I wish with it." [22:40] 13Xia Lan: "Can we return? If we find ourselves able to? I'd like to see that, if we survive." [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Would you want anything in exchange for not blowing it up? Could come in handy later." [22:41] "Blowing it up is the point." [22:41] "We should make haste." [22:45] 5Xu Sim, ashen-faced, approaches the Son. "Will you show us what the Lenses see?" 15[22:45] Without relaxing its grip, the master of Urza's Tower allows Xu Sim to approach and touch the orb. [22:46] 5Xu Sim does so, hurrying in an undignified manner. [22:57] 13In fairness, aren't most of the things he does -- not being catty when there's an actual cat around, wait shoot she's a bird now-- [23:01] 14Stranger seems to think of something as he reaches the elevator, squeezes the Ambassador's hand, and confers with her for a moment. Then they both walk over to the Son, waiting for Xu Sim to finish. 15[23:05] Xu Sim's mind envelops the entire complex - from the top of the tower to the base of the mine. His skin thrums in time with the barrier around the plateau, his heart beats with every pulse of the plant's core, his consciousness sizzles along every meridian Urza Planeswalker drew when he fashioned this place from fallow earth. It's all so overwhelming... but the only way out is through. 15[23:08] With incredible focus Xu Sim draws out the heart of this place's greatest treasure, spinning slowly in place among a vault of impossibly beautiful jewelery. 15[23:08] https://i.imgur.com/MXcYyBQ.jpg [23:15] 5Xu Sim's entranced eyes widen in awe, astonishment, and - not fear, not exactly... [23:19] 5No, it's fear. [23:20] 14Stranger: "Do you intend to survive this tower?" [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well? Where to, we're on a clock here." 15[23:20] The Son: "I have no choice. I cannot be destroyed." [23:20] 14The Ambassador: "Do you wish to leave this isle?" 15[23:21] "Yes." [23:21] 14Stranger nods. "Then in two hours time, we will be waiting for you, at the portal." [23:21] 14Then they're moving with the rest. [23:24] 5Xu Sim moves out at a brisk jog towards the jewelry vault. He's rather pale. [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's right with him. "What're we looking for, here? How big?" [23:26] 13Xia Lan hurries after the group, after a long look back to the Son. [23:26] 13Son of Sun. [23:27] "The Sol Ring. It was, uh," 5Xu Sim is sweating a little. [23:27] "Well, we want something powerful, right?" [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, nodding: "Yeah?" [23:28] "Oh, well, this isn't. It's a pathetic bauble, really," 5he explains. [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar skids to a stop - and then is forced, somewhat embarrassingly, to pick the pace back up if no one else follows suit. "So what the fuck?" [23:29] "Ha! Ha! No, it's terrifyingly powerful, actually," 5he offers by way of clarification. [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Okay, what's it do?' [23:30] 13Xia Lan: "It's, ah. Oh." 13She's gone pale. "The. It's real?" [23:30] "Don't worry about it, Keldar," 5he offers. "Let's just get to the vault, quickly." [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar turnsto Xia Lan, now. "What is it?" [23:31] 13Xia Lan: "No, hold the fuck on, you can't just drop The Sol Ring on me and --" 13she's running. [23:31] <@Ferrinus> "What," 12says Keldar, with increasing exasperation and between bellows-pumping strides, "is, the, Sol Ring!" [23:32] 14Stranger and the Ambassador are running as well. "Whatever it is, I argue that when we achieve it, Xia Lan holds it." [23:32] "She knows what it is and she's more...reliable...than the three of us." [23:32] 5Xu Sim grits his teeth. Probably better not to have said a word. "It's a symbol of office for the Sun. Not the Son, here, but the Sun, out there." [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, so's my forehead at the moment. What do we hold over the Mask's head after we pick this thing up?" [23:33] 13Xia Lan: "It is, perhaps, the most powerful thing I have ever heard of in my life, and I thought it was an exaggerated thing in texts until literally just now." [23:33] "Gods cannot defy you. Entry into heaven. And Sun knows what else." [23:33] "Annihilates the profane, nourishes the righteous," 5Xu Sim is running faster on the smooth floors of Thran and looking back, or to the sides, as necessary - [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Up to and including a deathlord?" [23:34] 13Xia Lan: "Gods." [23:34] "Up to and including Cethleann the Crooked Lance, you mean?" 5Xu Sim replies. [23:35] 13Xia Lan, even more forcefully: "Gods." [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "My assumption was that the Mask's worse than she is - but 'gods' means nothing, I've seen gods you can crush in one hand!" 12Puff, puff. "Great news, though. How hard's it to use?" [23:37] 13Xia Lan: "I am -- " 13huff, "you -- anything lower than the fucking Unconquered Sun." [23:38] 13This is the most cusses anyone has heard from Xia Lan since approximately ever. [23:38] 14Stranger: "...Good lord." [23:38] 13Wait, no, there was that time in First Age Keldar's tomb. She scandalized Tsuka. [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Huh, yeah? How often?" 15[23:39] One wonders why she most often feels moved to curse in remnants of the First Age. [23:39] 14Stranger: "That's probably the wrong question." [23:39] "The right question is almost certainly: what's the cost?" [23:40] 14How close are we to this thing? [23:40] 13Xia Lan: "They Cannot Defy You." 13She stumbles, rights herself. "Like I said. I thought someone had made it up as some kind of joke." 15[23:41] The group arrives at a vault which opens as Xu Sim approaches. It's full of precious gems and jewelery of a craft beyond compare. Countless styles, materials... a storehouse of the beautiful. [23:42] 14Stranger has no desire for baubles. The Ambassador gives them an appraising eye, however -- is there anything else beautiful AND useful here? 15[23:43] No, nothing in here is practical. It all exists for its own simple sake. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's got the same thought. We're not only limited to one thing, so... aww. [23:43] 14Ah well. [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12In that case, it's time to resort to finely-honed adventuring instincts. Keenly sizing up value to weight ratios, Keldar fills pouches and knapsacks. [23:44] 13Oh my Sun we do not have time for this. Where is the Sol Ring. [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, Keldar can basically move at full speed while scooping up valuables. He's a pro! [23:45] 13That was not my primary concern. [23:45] 14She'll still swipe a white and black gemstone of proper size to be fashioned into earrings. They'll make good conversation pieces. ...And a necklace, if there's one about. [23:48] 14And ooh, what's that... [23:49] 14Stranger shakes his head and hands her the drawstring purse he usually uses to carry his teaset, but which he brought empty on this journey. [23:49] 5Xu Sim spurns most of it. Most of it. [23:49] 14His main concern is on the ring. [23:50] 5Xu Sim stares at the Ring on its pedestal. "Xia Lan, then? Truly unfettered." [23:50] 14Stranger: "I think it best. If she doesn't object." [23:51] 14He doesn't say it, but part of this is for Xu Sim's own good. It spares him having to carry the weapon that would kill Seven's lord. [23:51] 14Seems awkward. [23:51] 13Whispering: "If I should fall from grace with the Sun," 13as she reaches out. [23:52] 5Xu Sim would relish the chance to do it himself, if he could be sure that the Mask is all it would destroy. [23:52] 14Clear eyes, pure hearts, gods choose. [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12How big is it? Can we just carry it out? 15[23:53] It's big enough to fit on Xia Lan's wrist. Against the rest of the finery in here it looks almost plain. A humble gold band. [23:53] 14That's how they get you. He touches the Ambassador on her shoulder as she appraises a gem. "Time to go." [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, so you can just sort of pull it out of that cabinet thing it was floated over? "Sweet. Should Xu Sim not have dibs there?" [23:54] 5Xu Sim looks through it with a jaundiced eye. What is Seven doing? [23:55] 14Stranger: "This is more important than 'dibs.'" [23:56] "Xia Lan, you have heard the tales about who forged the Sol Ring, right?" [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar rolls his eyes. "Yeah, okay, 'more important than dibs'." 12He turns to Xu Sim. "Seriously, it's your ancient hold. But if you're cool with it..." [23:59] 13Xia Lan: "It's - I'm not using this around you," 13she says to Seven. "I don't know what will happen and I don't want to find out." [23:59] 14And this is why she gets the ring. Session Time: Wed Feb 20 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12How many hours remain of our two? 15[00:00] Point five. 15[00:00] Seven nods. "We haven't got much time." [00:00] 14Stranger: "Back to the Gate, then." [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "No one can think of a way to buy the tower off that guy, can they? Probably not worth the shot." [00:01] 14The Ambassador: "It's not for sale. Moon above." [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Could just be for trade." 12He doesn't press the issue, though; the actual trip back would take up dangerous amounts of time if it weren't a sure thing. [00:04] 13If she thought hard enough about, actual literal steam could shoot out of Xia Lan's ears. No, seriously, she can do that. 15[00:05] Everyone gathers at the base of the mountain, Urza's Son among them. "We require some distance for safety." [00:05] 14Stranger stands with a hand on the Gate. [00:05] 14Strike the above. "Base of the mountain." Right. [00:06] 5Xu Sim looks a little morose. [00:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Seems a shame." 12He doesn't bring up all those, uh, people-shaped simulacra in tubes somewhere in the mountain's guts. [00:07] 13We can't save everyone. As regrettable as that is. [00:07] 14Stranger's glad it didn't come to using them. [00:07] 13Surely that is what Keldar was talking about. 15[00:08] On the way, without looking back, the Son crushes the crucible in its silver hands. It shatters into fine powder, falling through its fingers like water. Behind them, above them, slowly and silently, Urza's Tower falls to dust. 15[00:08] https://i.imgur.com/jMmnY2O.jpg [00:09] 14Stranger keeps an eye on the Son, but he's not sure what he expects to see. No face to emote with, and the silver god keeps his own counsel. [00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar releases a low whistle. 15[00:09] Amid the blowing sand and smoke, a glitter catches the eyes of Keldar and the Ambassador. A dragonfly, carved from fine crystal and glowing within with a tiny mote of blue fire, watches them go. Its wings bat the dust away as it clings to a jungle vine. [00:10] 14The Ambassador's cat-eyes narrow at it. 15[00:10] The far tower still stands, for another time. [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar makes a face, then nudges Xu Sim and subtly points the bug out. "Yours?" [00:11] 14Stranger, oblivious: "Let's get back to Nexus, and send the Son on his way." [00:11] 13Xia Lan: "What?" 13She'd been watching everything fall to dust. [00:11] 5Xu Sim squints out. "I haven't sent any messages," 5he mutters. [00:11] "...yeah. And - I want to get a better look at this." [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I mean, like, yours from ten thousand years ago?" [00:12] 13Xia Lan: "Two thousand," 13automatically. [00:12] 5Xu Sim: "No. It's... not my style." 5He looks tired, mostly. [00:12] 13Properly, it's one thousand nine hundred sixty something, I think, but I'm not going to look it up right now. [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I know that, actually, but I just wanted to reach for a bigger number." 12He nods to the sorcerer, looks around one last time, and just continues the march back to the portal. [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What are we going to tell the Mask? Just wave the thing in front of him? Mention we've got it?" [00:13] 14Stranger: "We'll let Xia Lan and Xu Sim examine it first. Figure out how to use it, if we had to. Then we'll build our plan around that." [00:14] 14He'll be the last one through the Gate back to Nexus. Presumably the Son will be second to last. [00:14] 13Xia Lan: "I'm absolutely not wearing this or letting it off my person unless it's necessary. Just. Cautionary." [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, they'd better do it quick. I could take a look, too, I'm pretty good at figuring this stuff out on the fly - although that might be the last thing you want for something that powerful." [00:15] 13If she has anything to say about it, Keldar doesn't even get to touch this thing. But that's not solely her call. [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But we better be able to turn it on and point it at the Mask, so that we can credibly say we can, so we can get that fucker off our backs." [00:15] 14Stranger: "Again. I don't think its potency as a weapon will be the problem." [00:17] 13Xia Lan, just before she steps through: "Gods." [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hey, I believe you about its potency. But if we can't unlock that potency it's even worse than not having it, 'cause Thorns has all the more reason to invade." 15[00:17] The Son gets out immediately, without looking back, towering over Selin on the far side. [00:17] 14Fair enough. Stranger will come through last, and shut the Gate. [00:18] 14To the Son: "I made you a deal, I think. Or perhaps only the suggestion of one. But I'm holding myself to it." [00:19] 14He gestures around the room. "There are six other Gates here. Where would you like to take your first step under the true Sun of Creation?" 15[00:19] "Thank you but no. I will move under my own power." [00:19] 5Xu Sim looks back a last time at Thran. Such a waste... 15[00:19] "Perhaps we will one day meet again." [00:20] 14Stranger arches an eyebrow. "You're going to walk through the battle lines?" 15[00:20] "I cannot be harmed." [00:20] 14Again, fair enough. [00:20] 14Stranger Visits Heaven: "It was an honor to meet you, Son. Until we meet again." [00:20] 13We'll meet again, some sunny day, don't know when... [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Talking like that gets your eventual cause of death written down as "suicide" by the Dawn Guard, but, hey, it's his funeral. [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar does give a respectful nod to the simulacrum ere it departs. "Have fun." [00:22] 13You're thinking of "I am invincible!" the last known words of a "Boris Grishenko," of some unspecified northern stronghold, probably apocryphal to scare recruits. 15[00:22] So it goes. [00:22] 14Instead of saying anything, the Ambassador swirls into swan form, then bows, spreading her wings wide. 15[00:22] Selin asks Xu Sim, "Was it worth it?" [00:22] 13Xia Lan shows him the Sol Ring. [00:23] 5Xu Sim looks haggard. "Was what worth it?" 15[00:23] Selin: "Losing a night's sleep, I suppose." [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I say it was. I tell you what, Stranger, I wasn't sure we had any recourse besides digging in and hoping the Mask was only moderately insane, but if the ring's half of what they say it is then this's really paid off. Good thinking." [00:24] 14Stranger looks very tired. "Thank you, Keldar. And thank you for not letting me compromise in the face of the Mask." [00:24] 5The corner of Xu Sim's mouth twitches a little. Maybe the ex-god's got a point. [00:25] 13Xia Lan: "The Son is free. And we might have our trump card. It's worth it." [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You were right to bring it up. Would've been real unpleasant if we found the Isle of Thran after Xu Sim's kid got bored, disintegrated it, and left." 15[00:25] Selin: "Is that who that was?" [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm being metaphorical." [00:26] "Indeed. But Xu Sim deserves better than to be called Urza." 14He looks to Selin: "How much time do we have left?" [00:26] "Until the parley." [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And we miss any emergencies topside?" 15[00:26] "Hour and a half, I'd guess." 15[00:27] To Keldar: "Not topside. We've got a problem down here, though. All the dead in the rivers are polluting the water supply..." [00:27] 13Xia Lan: "Ughhhh. No rest for me tonight." [00:27] 5Xu Sim glances at Seven. "That's another hour before the Governor would have reason to know you're m-" [00:27] 14Stranger nods. "I'm going to meditate and try to get my head right for this parley. Find me in an hour." [00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar frowns. He looks to Xu Sim. "Can we do something about that?" 15[00:30] NEXT TIME: Abdication 14[03:16] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[03:28] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:57] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:17] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[13:50] * Joins: tom 14[18:50] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:14] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[19:31] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:56] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[20:50] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:19] * Joins: trenchfoot Session Time: Thu Feb 21 00:00:00 2019 14[00:34] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:20] * Joins: Crion 14[14:12] * Joins: tom 14[14:59] * banana is now known as banana|peels 15[19:33]  15[19:33]  15[19:33]  15[19:33]  15[19:33]  15[19:35] "Have I got everything?" 10Eikichi can't remember what's already packed. There's his clothes, a bag for skin stuff, a separate bag for hair stuff, a separate bag for emergency clothes if Yara's astrological predictions are wrong and the weather turns bad... [19:38] 7Blossom, who has already been packed since dawn: "Did you bring your parasol?" 7Proper Preparedness Prevents Peeved Parents! 15[19:39] "Ah!" 10The parasol! Almost forgot the presents: books and specialty foods, wine from Great Forks and baiju from Ir's own still... "And the best part is, since we're going through Yu-Shan we won't have to pay imperial duties on anything." 15[19:41] 10Does Blossom seem nervous? [19:41] "We'll have to bring a few things back with us," 7says Blossom in the serene voice of someone who has already investigated the possibility of bringing an oxcart through Heaven. [19:42] 7Not at the moment, but she could just be focusing on the trip itself. 15[19:42] "Woo! Okay. Yara'll be here any minute. Let's go." 08[19:46] 7She does, however, pull back to glance in the mirror in Eikichi's room before they go. Fresh from getting her hair Did, locks so sharp they could slice a man into ribbons, sending his comrades into a rout that dooms their pitiful little rebellion. Fwahahaha! 15[19:49] Yara blanches a bit at the sight of the two of them overloaded with bags, but the trip up the river to the gate is unevenftul, and after Yara cuts them through two god-laden waiting lines, they're on a ferry moving swiftly to the gate that'll let them out in the Imperial City. [19:49] 7What is she so upset for? She doesn't have to carry them. 15[19:50] 10Eikichi nudges Blossom as they pass an apartment building made out of a titanic bronze statue of a three-headed elephant god, no doubt long dead. [19:51] "Neat!" 15[19:52] "We could build one of those for ourselves. I could be living rent-free inside your head!" [19:55] 7Blossom: "First of all, no we couldn't. Second of all, you already do." 15[19:55] "Awww!" 15[19:59] 10The ferry trip is swift, and then they're loading through another gate, beyond which they can already see the grey-white light of an overcast sky. [20:00] 7Blossom muses: "I suppose I can see why they keep these gates secret. Traffic is already terrible." 15[20:05] "Yeah. Speaking of which, remember to be careful as we... merge!" 10The pair of them are disgorged with other passengers a brief but winding walk away from one of the broad, paved thoroughfares of Creation's gleaming capital. [20:10] 7Sort of gleaming. The street-sweepers do their best to keep the thoroughfares clean, and the gutter systems are top-notch, which is more than can be said for most of Creation's metropoli. With every foot of building space at a premium, towering pagodas and apartments are crammed together wherever they are legally able, and arches and skyways soar across the streets. The main road is [20:10] 7packed with merchants, commuting bureaucrats, gawking peasants, surly menial laborers... 15[20:15] "Probably - 14hff - probably don't have time to stop for coffee first..." 10Eikichi peers over Blossom's bags to get his bearings. "We want the Eastern road, I think... come on." [20:15] 7The all-too-familiar smell of the ground-level 'fast food' shops waft through open windows, with lines near their order counters causing even more traffic snarls. 08[20:19] 7What part of town does Eikichi's family live in? 15[20:22] 10Gods, but Eikichi's starving. Maybe just a brief stop for some street meat -- no. Come on, there'll be food at the house. The crowd thins as Blossom and Eikichi move out of the bazaar and up the hill. The streets get thinner and leafier as they move past progressively nicer and less-cramped apartments and upscale shops and soon begin to reach older construction, properties that 15[20:22] 10predate the great reach skyward. [20:24] 7His parents will like that he has a big appetite. That's correct, yes? The jovial materfamilias smiling as her young son shows his virility by attacking his meal with gusto? She's heard about how this sort of thing is supposed to work. 15[20:25] 10Then they enter a green neighborhood of patrician estates, homes with lawns, unheard-of wealth by the great masses of the city, but still nothing in the face of the high-walled Dynastic compounds nearer the Imperial Manse. 15[20:27] 10Eikichi stops to draw in a big breath, a contented sigh pushing down past his thudding heart. "The cherry trees are blossoming!" [20:27] 7Blossom: "What charming little villas." 08[20:31] 7Wait. Should she have brought a second gift? She already sent gifts ahead for the whole family! But maybe- no, no. Eikichi's brought gifts, it's a shared thing, they're fine. She's fine. Everything's fine. Hoooo. 15[20:31] "It should be at the top of the next hill - wow, that entire house got rebuilt. Looks like there was a fire. I remember - 14hff - there used to be a big cherry tree right there..." 10Eikichi quiets as they get close, the air full of fragrant summer smells. Blossom can see the top of the hill already, a tall old house surrounded by a carpet of violet hyacinths. [20:31] 7Her indrawn breath shudders a little. 15[20:32] 10Eikichi looks up. "Blossom?" 08[20:33] 7She smiles winningly at Eikichi. "It's nothing!" 7Probably would be easier to deny being nervous if you don't admit there's something to notice right off. 15[20:35] 10Eikichi: "...okay! One last push--" 15[20:36] 10They're close enough now to see a figure bent down among the flowers, and then they're close enough that when he stands back up, he sees them walking up the road and begins waving them in with big sweeps of his arms as he walks out to greet them. 15[20:36] "Look at that hair!" 15[20:36] \ 15[20:36] https://i.imgur.com/6Wgz8zv.jpg 08[20:37] 7Well, that could be anyone who's just seen Eikichi. 15[20:37] 10Eikichi sets his bags down at the gate. "Papa!" 15[20:38] Eikichi's father looks unmistakably similar to his son. "Nexus has lost a harlot but the Shos have gained a daughter." 15[20:38] 10Eikichi: "You're looking well -- for someone twice your age. Did that vein in your temple burst yet?" 15[20:39] The pair of them stare silently at each other for a moment before closing the distance in a swift hug. 15[20:42] 10Eikichi finally breaks the embrace to say, "Papa, this is--" 15[20:42] "--Excessively Righteous Blossom! You look positively radiant. Come! Let me help you with your bags." [20:45] 7WHO IS HE CALLING A H-- wait. What's going on here? [20:45] 7She's stunned enough that she just automatically gives the "Oh no, please, don't worry, I can manage." 15[20:47] 10Eikichi sees the expression on Blossom's face with some alarm. "Papa and I like to tease each other. There's no harm done," 10he explains. "Come on in? How're the girls? How's Mama?" [20:48] 7So wait. Do they hate each other, or what? She supposes that kind of hidden jockeying for position is as common in patrician families as-- oh. That's fine. Everything is... fine. 15[20:49] Papa Sho: "Come and see for yourselves! Everyone's terribly excited to meet you - may we call you Blossom?" [20:53] "Yes, that's fine. Your home looks lovely?" 7Gods damnit that wasn't a question. Get back on top of it, Blossom, his mother will be here soon! 15[20:54] "It's very kind of you to theorize so." Papa Sho opens the door to a sharp "Don't touch ANYTHING. One of the mice got out." The other voice, a woman's, is coming from somewhere deeper in the house. 15[20:54] 10Eikichi shuts the door behind them all. "We're here~" 08[20:56] 7Blossom looks at Eikichi and mouths "Mice?" 15[20:57] 10Eikichi: "Pets, probably." 15[20:57] There's a clatter of ceramic on ceramic deeper in the house, where the voice came from. Feet thunder down the stairs. "Papa I can't-- KICHI!" A tall young woman leaps from the fourth step directly onto her brother, knocking him on his ass surrounded by a heap of bags. 15[20:59] 10Eikichi: "Hey! Careful. Some of these are for you." 15[21:00] Eikichi's sister looks up at Blossom and stands, sheepishly running a hand through her short dyed-red hair. She steps over Eikichi like he's not there to offer Blossom a hand with her bags. "Come here, let me take those." 15[21:00] Papa Sho: "Your name, Akane." 15[21:00] Akane: "Oh, yeah, what he said." [21:01] 7Alright, she's got a handle on this one. That was definitely not a genuine attack. "Oh, thank you. I'm Excessively Righteous Blossom. Pleased to meet you, Akane." 15[21:03] In the fracas another girl has quietly come down the stairs and stands at a remove from the tangle at the door, her eyes shining in a blank face as she studies Blossom from beneath merciless black bangs. 15[21:04] 10Eikichi's slowly pulling himself to a standing position. "I like your hair. That's a good look for you." 15[21:06] Akane starts talking over Blossom's head. "Yeah, I wanted it short, but I didn't want to look like Papa, so I thought, red!" 15[21:07] Another figure descends the stairs, winks at Blossom, and opens her mouth, spitting a big white mouse into her cupped hands and holding it out for everyone to see. "I found it!" 15[21:08] 10Eikichi reaches out to pluck it from her hands. "I'll take that. Eww. Let me dry you off." 15[21:09] Eikichi's third sister sneaks up behind his second and pushes the both of them into Akane for a group hug. https://i.imgur.com/EDsOziU.jpg 08[21:09] 7Okay, this she understands. They're a lot like Eikichi, now that she thinks about it. 15[21:11] Papa Sho is loading up on bags. "Names, girls. Names! Call me Hisu, Blossom, lest you think me a hypocrite." 15[21:11] Eikichi's third sister: "I'm Saya!" 15[21:12] Eikichi's second sister: "I thought you'd be taller." 15[21:13] Akane gives her a noogie. "Okay quit it! My name is Misuzu. It's nice to finally meet you." 08[21:15] "I'm glad to meet you all. Eikichi has told me so much about you!" 7She makes a short bow - nothing fancy, since they're just the siblings, but still. 15[21:21] The door to the kitchen opens and a woman emerges in an expensive patterned kimono, gold-on-black. She bows slightly. "Welcome to my home, Excessively Righteous Blossom. Girls, go get dressed for tea." 15[21:22] In near perfect unison Eikichi's sisters respond "Yes, Mama," and vanish up the stairs, leaving a clear path for Blossom to see her. https://i.imgur.com/GqvrRJa.jpg [21:25] 7Blossom immediately sets down whatever bags she's still holding, clasps her hands and bows again. "Thank you for permitting this one* into your home. I am honored that you would greet me personally." 7It makes less sense to say this in a house without servants, but the sentiment has - absolutely has - to be there. [21:25] * T/L Note: Blossom is using a High Realm pronoun that indicates the speaker is of a lower social status. Shout out to Misuzugang and all the posters at #perfectcircle 15[21:28] Mama Sho takes Blossom firmly by the shoulders. "Let me get a good look at you." 15[21:28] 10Eikichi takes a step closer to Blossom. 15[21:30] The moment lingers. Yurika's grip and gaze are both intense. 15[21:30] Finally: "Lovely. Absolutely lovely." [21:30] 7This, at least, she's ready for. She looks physically strong, mentally alert, and morally dutiful. [21:30] 7Nailed it! [21:32] "You are too kind." 15[21:36] Mama Sho: "Come! I've had people working in the kitchen all morning. I hope you're hungry." She leads Blossom in to the dining room, laid out with a beautiful tea set of fine porcelain filigreed with real jade, and baskets of sweet and savory pastries. Eikichi and his father bring up the rear. 15[21:37] Beyond is the faint clatter of a kitchen occupied by people who've been told not to make too much noise. 15[21:40] 10Eikichi: "We brought gifts--" 15[21:40] Mama Sho: "Not now." 15[21:41] She pours tea for Blossom. "Sit, please." 15[21:41] "How was your trip? It's quite a long way from the Threshold to here." [21:48] 7Blossom knows how tea is supposed to be poured, appreciated, sipped, examined, contemplated and sipped again, and she does all that automatically while considering Mama Sho's question. "It was not so bad. The time just flew by, and we had some friends to go ahead and assure our passage." 7This is more or less true. "I'm only sorry it took us so long to arrive!" 15[21:51] One by one the girls file in wearing fine robes and soon everyone's seated at the table, Eikichi next to Blossom, opposite Hisu next to Yurika, with the girls filling in the empty spaces. 15[21:53] Mama Sho: "We've all read my son's writing with great interest. Tell me - is it true? Are you Anathema? I noticed your eyes. Quite striking." 14[21:54] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) [21:54] 7Politely: "They run in the family. Yes, we are - both. As are our friends Ir Saint-Sister and Sunlit-Dreaming Ying, who I am sure you have read about." 15[21:56] Misuzu: "I actually--" 15[21:56] Mama Sho: "Not now, dear." 15[21:56] Misuzu goes quiet. [21:59] 7Oh, this is much more familiar. Excessively Righteous Blossom, smiling politely. 15[22:00] Mama Sho sips her own tea thoughtfully. "Yes... remarkable women. I'm sorry not to make their acquaintance as well. I trust they received our note thanking them for their gifts?" [22:03] 7Blossom: "Oh, yes. Very kind. They send their regrets at being unable to join us, but... the distance..." 7She makes a vague, dismissive hand gesture. 15[22:03] Eikichi: "Yes, of course. And we've got more gifts. Ying knitted scarves, and we've got some of Ir's best fast-aged whiskey. I'll go get the bag--" 15[22:04] Mama Sho: "Not now." 15[22:04] 10Eikichi pushes back from the table. "It'll just be a second." 15[22:05] Mama Sho: "..." 15[22:05] She simply turns back to Blossom. "While we wait, I simply must know: what has he told you about us? I notice we don't feature in his stories at all." 08[22:14] "Simple modesty, I'm sure." 7This is an obvious, bald-faced lie that anyone who knows Eikichi would see through, but how the Hell would she know why he doesn't put his family in his books? There could be a lot of reasons! "He has the greatest respect for his father's work, and for yours as the head of household. And he talks about his sisters, who he loves dearly - I believe the [22:14] question of 'candy for breakfast' runs in the family?" 15[22:17] There's a laugh around the table. 15[22:17] Mama Sho snorts. "I see you've failed to civilize him. We've got that in common." [22:18] "I did get him to try calisthenics with me once!" [22:18] "...once." 7She admits. 15[22:19] 10And it was because he needed to buy opium on the way. 15[22:23] Mama Sho laughs. "O ho ho ho." [22:23] 7That laugh! So cultured and sophisticated! [22:23] 7Blossom's smile brightens. 15[22:24] 10Eikichi returns with an armful of stuff. "Scarves and books and -- oh this'll be awkward to hand out over crumbs and teacups." 15[22:24] Mama Sho: "And now my reasoning is plain." 15[22:25] 10Eikichi flushes. "I'll just hold these until we're done." 15[22:25] Mama Sho: "..." 15[22:28] Papa Sho butts in. "Blossom, I'm sure you and Kichi have a lot of sightseeing and shopping planned but I'd love to get your eye on some plans I've been working on. Our most recent project, a public aqueduct system in Juche Prefecture." [22:30] 7She perks up. "Oh! Tell me more!" 15[22:35] Papa Sho: "We're hoping to build the whole thing out of brick-faced concrete. Volcanic ash will keep cracks from spreading, extending the useful lifespan before heavy maintenance by decades..." 15[22:36] Eikichi and his mother trade frosty looks across the table, the first eye contact they've shared since he and Blossom arrived. [22:40] 7Blossom nods firmly. "Approval for the ash additive finally went through? Good, I've always thought that was the best way forward. What are you using for the sedimentation tanks?" 15[22:43] Papa Sho: "Settling basins at sour and outflow with - believe it or not - manual sifting. Part of a jobs initiative. More and more peasants out in the provinces without land to work. We live in strange times." 15[22:43] *at source 15[22:49] Mama Sho: "While you were gone I asked why you hadn't mentioned your family in your stories. She attributed it to your modesty." 15[22:49] 10Eikichi: "That... sounds like me." 15[22:49] Mama Sho: "Mmm." 15[22:50] 10Eikichi: "But the real reason is, we're Anathema. Putting you in the stories brings all sorts of unwanted attention. Do you want the house to be a tourist spot? Do you want questions from Immaculates?" [22:50] 7Blossom frowns slightly. "That's a good solution, but... hmm. Really? That many out of work?" 15[22:52] Papa Sho: "Oh, yes. Things are quite dire. Since the legions started coming home the ranks of able-bodied men and women on furlough has only gone up." 14[22:52] * Joins: hrolf 15[22:53] Mama Sho: "I notice that hasn't stopped you from using our family name everywhere you go, including in your books. How do you think that goes over? We're lucky those books are banned." [22:56] 7Sho can't be that uncommon a family name. "They're pulling all the legions back? That doesn't sound good." 15[22:59] Papa Sho: "Oh, yes. It's all gone to pot since the Empress disappeared. Now we can't push projects through because the project managers are from one house and the regional directors are from another! Gridlock all over, the legions coming home. Absolute chaos. If it weren't for the aqueduct I wouldn't have had any real work for over a year!" 15[22:59] 10Eikichi: "Mama, you're being dramatic." 15[22:59] Everyone winces. 15[23:00] Mama Sho slams her hands down on the table so hard the porcelain rattles. "Dramatic?!" 15[23:04] "I just want-- no. I'm not going to do this. You're home for the first time in years and right away-- Forgive me. I need a moment's rest. The preparations have taken their toll. Please go on with the food." [23:04] 7Oh no! 15[23:04] Mama Sho rises shakily and makes her way out of the dining room. Papa Sho takes her arm and guides her upstairs. 08[23:05] 7Blossom says worriedly to Eikichi as soon as they've left: "14Is she alright?!" 15[23:06] 10Eikichi looks deeply unhappy. "She gets headaches. It affects her mood." 15[23:06] After they've gone, Misuzu speaks. "That took longer than I thought it would." [23:07] 7??? ? ?? 15[23:08] 10Eikichi: "Zuzu!" 15[23:09] Akane: "No, she's right. We had a bet going. Zuzu thought you'd get her to melt down in the hall." [23:09] 7Feel ing awk ward 15[23:10] 10Eikichi: "So how are all your studies going?" 15[23:10] Akane: "Nuh uh. Blossom, how long does Eikichi spend in front of the mirror every morning?" 15[23:11] Misuzu: "Does he still give pep talks to his eyebrows?" 15[23:11] 10Eikichi's suddenly very interested in the rolls. 08[23:13] 7Uh oh, Eikichi's looking sad now. This is a problem Blossom knows how to fix, at least. "He can spent as long as he wants in front of the mirror," 7She says, patting his hand affectionately, "It's made him one of the Five Great Beauties of the Blessed Isle." 15[23:14] Zuzu: "You only rank him top five? Interesting..." She pulls out a little notebook and a grease pencil and makes a few marks. 15[23:15] She goes on: "Blossom, what would you say is your worst quality?" 15[23:18] Akane: "Here she goes." 15[23:19] Saya continues to watch silently. [23:23] 7Blossom: "My inability to take a joke." 7She levels a tiny fork at Misuzu mockingly. "Defend yourself!" 15[23:24] Misuzu: "Deflects... with... humor. Okay. Thank you." 15[23:25] Akane messes up Misuzu's hair. "Nyahhhh." 15[23:25] Misuzu: "Quit it!" [23:26] 7That was a joke, though. Right? It was a joke, that Misuzu was making just then. 15[23:27] After straightening her hair, Misuzu puts her notebook away. "I guess we'll see more in the practical exam." 15[23:27] 10Eikichi: "Do not." 15[23:28] Misuzu: "Don't worry. You won't see me." 15[23:28] 10Eikichi: "That makes it worse!" [23:29] 7Blossom: "You have my attention." 15[23:33] Misuzu: "Every time Eikichi brings someone home I have to assess their worthiness on a 27-point scale. It's been a while and I've made several innovations in testing procedure since last time. Between you and me, the oral exam had mixed results." 15[23:34] Akane goes to noogie Misuzu again, but her elbow bumps her empty teacup off the table, causing it to shatter on the floor. 15[23:34] Everyone freezes. 15[23:34] Saya: "Oh nooo." [23:38] 7Blossom looks up sharply to see if Mr. or Mama Sho heard, then swiftly moves over to the shattered cup. 15[23:39] No sign of them. [23:39] "It's all right, let me handle this." 7She scoopes up the broken fragments and clasps her hands around them, bringing them up and onto the table. [23:41] 7A soft golden glow emanates from between her fingers for a few seconds, and she draws her hand apart like a showman, revealing a perfectly whole and undamaged teacup. 15[23:42] Akane: "Whoa." 15[23:42] Misuzu: "Wow." [23:42] "There!" 7She says with a satisfied expression. "Good as new!" 15[23:42] Saya: "!" 15[23:43] Akane: "So this is Solar power... not bad." 15[23:46] 10Eikichi gives Blossom a big kiss on the cheek. "She's so great." 15[23:47] Akane: "Okay, okay, don't be gross. Come on, Blossom." She plants her elbow on the table, loosely curled hand up, the universal invitation to arm wrestle. [23:47] 7Blossom's gonna kiss him back anyway, even if his sisters think it's gross. Fwahahahaha! [23:47] "Hrmph! You want to challenge me? So be it!" [23:48] 7She rolls up her sleeve, revealing half of the impressive gun show, and is fully prepared to go to town. [23:53] 7Wow, Akane actually puts up a pretty good fight! But the outcome is foreordained, and her hand slowly lowers to clonk onto the table. "Heh, not bad. You almost had me worried there. What's your routine?" 15[23:59] "Wow, you're really strong." Akane pants with exertion, but she's a good sport. "I do a lot of pushups. I make Misuzu stack a bunch of Eikichi's books on my back. Run up the hill with groceries. Pretty basic. What about you?" Session Time: Fri Feb 22 00:00:00 2019 [00:06] 7Hmm. Would it be considered boasting to just honestly tell her what Blossom's routine is? Gotta thread that needle. On the other hand, even considering this is a sign of emotional maturity. Another victory for Excessively Righteous Blossom! 08[00:10] "Standard Academy calisthenics routine. You know, pushups, pullups, squats, running... For strength training I prefer to throw heavy rocks. The books are a good idea! Sometimes I have Eikichi sit on my back, instead-- what? What is it?" 7She looks at Eikichi, puzzled. Did she say something funny? 15[00:11] 10Eikichi looks somewhere between proud and embarrassed. His forehead's all crinkled, it looks very silly. 15[00:12] Akane: "Ahaha! Look at your FACE!" 15[00:13] "Eikichi's gonna have to get fatter and fatter to increase your resistance...!" [00:14] 7Blossom shakes her head. "Can't be done. Can't be done! His body shape is a natural bishounen*." [00:14] * T/L note: attractive man 15[00:14] Misuzu's got the notebook back out. 15[00:15] 10Eikichi: "Thank you. I'll have you know I've been working out too!" 15[00:15] Akane: "Lifting heavier and heavier cakes?" 14[00:15] * banana|peels is now known as banana 15[00:15] 10Eikichi: "Ugh!" [00:17] 7Blossom, supportively: "He has been. He's made some gains, even. Why don't you show them?" 15[00:18] 10Proudly, Eikichi rolls up his own sleeve and flexes. 15[00:18] Akane squints. 15[00:18] Misuzu squints. 15[00:18] Saya squints. [00:18] 13Somewhere, in the distance, Ying squints. 15[00:18] 10Eikichi: "Not bad, eh?" 15[00:20] Akane: "...so what are you guys going to do in the city today? Mama said you'd go out in the afternoon and be back for dinner." [00:25] 7What are they going to do? Blossom's suggestions are kind of limited now that she's not part of the ruling caste and wealthy beyond belief. 15[00:25] 10Eikichi rolls his sleeve back down dejectedly. "Some shopping, lunch, maybe a bath... We've got to get presents for Ir and Ying and Tatsuya." [00:29] 7Blossom: "Oh yes, the baths. Nexus has okay baths, but they can't compare to home. Maybe some time at the libraries?" 7Blossom's pretty sure she can copy a text and sneak it out under the eye of the librarians. 15[00:30] 10Eikichi: "Ooh, fun!" 15[00:31] Akane looks incredulous. "Books?" 15[00:32] 10Eikichi: "What's wrong with the library?" 15[00:33] Akane: "You came all this way to look at dusty old scrolls? Come on!" [00:34] 7Yyyyyes? "What do you think we should do?" 15[00:35] Akane: "Fight your way to the heart of the Imperial Manse and declare yourself Empress and Consort!" [00:36] 7Blossom: "We're already building a kingdom out east, but I like where your head's at." [00:37] "Wait, is that part not in the books yet?" 15[00:37] 10Eikichi: "Not yet. Work's barely started." [00:40] 7Blossom: "Oh. Anyway. If- if you all come out to visit us, you'd be princesses." 15[00:41] All together: "Princesses?!" 15[00:41] The dining room door opens and Papa Sho is there. "What's this?" [00:43] 7Blossom, worriedly: "Is Mother Sho well?" 15[00:44] Papa Sho: "She's overcome with a headache. She needs some rest. I'll tell her you asked after her, though. She's quite taken with you." [00:46] 7Excellent. "How nice! We were just talking about what 'kichi and I could do while we were in the city." 15[00:47] Papa Sho: "Oh! They just restored all the tile work in the Temple of a Thousand Fountains. You should stop in and see it - beautiful architecture." 15[00:48] Akane: "You're worse than they are!" 14[00:49] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:50] 7Blossom: "I can't believe it! That place has been under construction for years!" 15[00:53] Papa Sho: "That's not offensive to your religious beliefs, is it? Will you feel obligated to defile the temple?" 15[00:53] 10Eikichi: "Papaaaa!" 15[00:53] Papa Sho: "I know you will." [00:55] 7Blossom laughs politely. [00:57] "I'd love to hear more about your work, Father Sho." 15[00:59] Servants quietly come in and whisk the tea and uneaten food away. Papa Sho buffs his nails. "Oh, it's not as fun as it used to be, when we were out in the satrapies. Provincial work is satisfying but it just doesn't have the same thrill. You must be frightfully well-traveled. All the way to Crystal!" [01:06] 7Blossom: "The frozen castles make it an interesting place to live, but I wouldn't want to live there. Ice cracking would make any large-scale project a nightmare to manage, ash in the concrete or no. I don't think anybody realizes how good we have it in the Blessed Isle until they leave." 15[01:09] Papa Sho: "It's true, but the good life has a way of keeping us closed-minded. I'm sure that you've learned a great deal in your travels and become very broad-minded." 15[01:10] 10Eikichi: "Like Papa, who's as broad-minded as a turnip." 15[01:11] Papa Sho: "Or like you, as perceptive as the worms that dig around them." [01:12] 7????????? 15[01:13] Papa Sho sighs contendedly. "Well, I won't keep you. Do come and see my plans when you return. We're having iscia omentata for dinner. Eikichi said it was your favorite." 15[01:13] To his son: "We all missed you terribly. Welcome home." 15[01:14] To his father: "I'm glad we got to come back." [01:15] 7!!!!! Her mouth waters. 15[01:16] "Yeah, we'll be back for dinner! Can't wait. Come on, Blossom." 10The two of them make temporary goodbyes and head out past the flowerbeds to the road into town. "You really hit it off with them," 10says Eikichi after they're outside. [01:17] "Do you think so? I'm a little concerned about Misuzu, but I couldn't reveal my secret to her." 15[01:18] 10Eikichi: "She's tough to read, but I think she likes you." 08[01:18] 7She takes Eikichi's hand. "I know you're actually the most beautiful man in Creation, but people don't believe you when you say that, they think you're just being enthusiastic. So I say you're one of the Five Great Beauties of the Blessed Isle, that's more believable. You have to put a number on it, get specific. That's the key." 15[01:19] 10Eikichi gets a little choked up. "You are so thoughtful." 15[01:20] "So what did you think of them?" [01:25] "Your mother is so regal and sophisticated, and she has a good eye for quality people. Your dad is sensible and personable, I like having him around. I don't really get that... thing you do, but it's fine. Your sisters aren't as hostile as I was worried they were going to be." 15[01:26] 10Eikichi: "The teasing?" [01:34] 7Blossom: "Right." 15[01:38] 10Eikichi: "Yeah, I should have warned you. We don't mean any harm by it, but I forgot how it sounds to people who aren't used to it." 15[01:39] "Don't think I missed you getting mad, though. You were going to fight my father to defend my honor. Terribly romantic." [01:41] 7Blossom: "Well! He called you a Nexus harlot!" 7She harrumphs and bustles through the streets. 15[01:42] "There's a pretty big spread there, if you'll forgive the expression. Maybe he meant I was the classiest harlot in Nexus." 10And away we go! 15[01:49] 10The two of them stop at the library first, much to Akane's chagrin. Tall stacks and racks of scrolls line the walls, with illuminated bound books up and down the center aisles. 15[01:52] "They've got all the recent Real Househusbands of the Imperial City!" 10Eikichi whispers furtively to Blossom. 14[01:54] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[01:54] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[01:54] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho [01:56] 7Blossom's gonna look for a book on mining. That's right, mining, the most interesting of the metallurgical arts. "14Warn me if a librarian or a guard's coming near!" 7She whispers back. 15[01:59] 10Eikichi keeps an eye out over top of his scroll. Ahaha, he can't believe what Pramon Runda has done to his hair. It looks so fake, judging from the narration. 15[02:01] As Blossom moves through the shelves, she senses movement behind her. But there's nothing there when she turns to look. Then she turns back to the shelf and sees Misuzu watching her from the other side, behind the scrolls. [02:03] 7She's good. She's really good. 08[02:05] 7But the caper's still on, and 'Eikichi's little sister is here' wasn't on her list of reasons to abort. Glancing around one last time to ensure she's not in danger, she pulls down a book she's been looking for and a sheaf of blank paper from her bag. 08[02:06] 7It's easy- like she told Eikichi when she was repairing that First Age spellbook, you just put the ink back on the paper where it's supposed to go. She draws her brush swiftly across the paper in broad gestures, and by freak happenstance the ink splotches onto the paper in perfect copies of the characters and diagrams in the library book. [02:06] 7The perfect crime! 15[02:07] 10Oh no, a librarian's coming. Not to worry. Eikichi drops his book to the floor and bends down to pick it up reeaaaal slooowly. That buys Blossom another couple of minutes. [02:12] 7Aaaaaa faster, faster...! She finishes it up and stuffs the scroll back in its niche less than a second before being spotted. Whew! 08[02:12] 7She smiles at the librarian and gives Eikichi a hidden fist-pump as she walks past. 15[02:16] 10Outside: "That was so close!!" [02:16] 7Blossom: "I know, right?! Is Misuzu following us?" 15[02:17] "What?" 10He looks around. "I don't think so. Did you see her?" [02:19] "Yeah, back at the library. For, like, a second." 15[02:19] 10Eikichi: "Oh no. Not again." 15[02:21] "I thought she was just being cute with the notebook, but no." [02:22] 7Blossom: "She really has a 27-point list? Impressive dedication." [02:22] "Wait, she's done this before?" 15[02:24] 10He explains. "When she found out I was seeing someone she'd follow them around and mess with them. She's convinced she's protecting me. She got one boy I had a crush on sent away to military school just to be safe." 10Solemnly: "She's terrifying." [02:24] 7Blossom relaxes. "Oh, that's a relief." 15[02:24] "What??" [02:30] "I told you I thought your sisters'd be more hostile. I'm the interloper! They have to be sure I'm strong enough to be a worthwhile match. It's beneath the dignity of the matriarch to do that kind of sounding-out, so it falls to the daughters. I was worried things were going to be too different!" [02:30] 7She looks thoughtful. "Though I guess Akane did challenge me to arm-wrestle." 15[02:30] 10Eikichi shakes his head. "This you've got no problem with but the teasing was too much." 15[02:31] "At least you passed Akane's test of strength." [02:33] "I meant it when I said she wasn't bad. You should be proud." 15[02:33] "Did you beat her with essence?" [02:33] 7Blossom: "Eh? What, like sorcery?" 15[02:34] 10Eikichi: "No, just like--" 10He mimes breathing in and out. [02:35] 7Blossom: "I wasn't going all-out, if that's what you mean." 15[02:37] 10Eikichi: "Good." 15[02:38] "I'm glad Mama likes you. She was the one I wasn't sure about." [02:38] "How come?" 15[02:39] 10Eikichi: "I mean, you saw her. Everything sets her off. What if you'd said slightly the wrong thing or she'd interpreted your care as awkwardness or what if she'd just been in a slightly worse mood when you arrived? She's... she asks a lot of people." [02:45] "Hmm. I see your point. No, I don't think that would have been possible. First, everyone's caregivers love me and that's been true since I was young, so jot that down somewhere. Second, it is impossible for this trip to go poorly." 15[02:47] "You're so certain. It's infuriating. I love that about you." [02:52] "I do worry sometimes." 7She begrudgingly admits, as though he didn't already know and as if it weren't obvious. "But it's better to be certain that things will go right than it is to fret over whether they'll go wrong. Determination before examination prevents recrimination!" 15[02:56] 10Eikichi: "What do you want to do next? Shopping or lunch?" [02:57] "Shopping!" 15[02:59] 10The two head off to the markets. 14[08:59] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:19] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:22] * Quits: dammitwho (Connection closed) 14[09:23] * Joins: dammitwho 14[09:29] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:33] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:33] * Joins: dammitwho 14[10:09] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[10:09] * Joins: dammitwho 14[11:04] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:16] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:29] * Joins: tom 14[13:36] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:36] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[13:51] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:51] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[13:52] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[13:55] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:57] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[14:01] * Joins: VoxPrimey 14[14:01] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:24] * banana|split is now known as banana|peels 14[14:24] * Joins: dammitwho 14[16:14] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Quit: ) 14[16:14] * Joins: VoxPrime [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 _ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 ___ (_) [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 _/XXX\ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12_ /XXXXXX\_ __ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12X\__ __ /X XXXX XX\ _ /XX\__ ___ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 \__/ \_/__ \ \ _/X\__ /XX XXX\____/XXX\ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ ___ \/ \_ \ \ __ _/ \_/ _/ - __ - \__/ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 ___/ \__/ \ \__ \\__ / \_// _ _ \ \ __ / \____// [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12/ __ \ / \ \_ _//_\___ _/ // \___/ \/ __/ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12__/_______\________\__\_/________\_ _/_____/_____________/_______\____/_______ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \ [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12With Kala Theka defeated - and, from all appearances, reformed - the Circle has tied up one of a few remaining loose ends in the city of Nexus. One, of course, is a gigantic city-destroying monster that (on bad weeks) reforms by the night, but that's at least being managed at the moment. Having reconnected with a few old "friends" and otherwise celebrated, the Squared Circle might [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12well be ready to pull up stakes and head out - although it's likely they'll get a visitor or two over the next day or so if they don't book it instantly. [20:20] 6Hey, about that gigantic city-destroying monster thing. Someone should probably do something about that. Someone who isn't Thorns. Someone who may or may not have indirectly accidentally caused it to come into existence. [20:20] 6Leave the place better than when you found it, I always say. Or at least. Uh. Not quite this bad. 15[20:21] 10Eikichi's shut up alone doing weird alchemy most of the time, but he'll stick his head out for visitors. [20:21] 4Ir's ready to head out...but she'd rather deal with the giant city-destroying etc etc first. Especially if it gets Ying that hot date. [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Sadly, without a lot of ancient technical data and/or unfettered access to Hollow's ancient infrastructure you're not going to be able to do a better job than Thorns is doing now. Political problems of one sort or another stand in the way of your attaining either of those. In the former case, the best storehouse of First Age lore in the entire direction is smack dab in the middle of [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12the Thousand Fangs Army Total Control Zone. In the latter case, the Council of Nexus has much closer ties to Typhon than to you. [20:23] 6Oh, I didn't say I was going to ask. And unfettered access can be pretty flexible. But, point is, perhaps, taken. [20:23] 4Well, someone should sneak into the former while we schmooze the latter. Disentangling Typhon from the Council should be a goal of ours anyway. [20:23] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom, incredibly bitter about the fact that if she were to start preaching about the perfidy of Thorns to the masses here it would just get her splattered by the Emissary, has taken to building siege weaponry for the Heavensward while working on a mysterious artifact. [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, the Thousand Fangs Army Total Control Zone is the official name of the highly militarized fortress-territory surrounding the jungle city of Mahalanka, is my point here. [20:25] 4Oh right. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12So it's in the late morning after last night's dinner and celebration that an old woman's voice is heard shouting such things as "Who dares! Who dares!" 12and "Where did it go!" 12at the front desk of the Scarlet Palace. 15[20:29] 10Huh? [20:30] 4Ir slept in the kitchen, sort of just slumping over on a stool after helping the last of the bussers and the back of house staff clean up, so she's one of the first on scene. [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Whoever's the first to come up or downstairs and check things out finds that an unusual-looking lady has seized the unlucky bellhop by the throat and slammed him against one of the walls. "Unusual" here means that she is totally hairless, and that her skin is strangely colored - it goes from fields of alabaster with large black spots to fields of black with white spots and rings, [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12depending on where you're looking. Her age is hard to judge, but she sounds like she's in her late middle age. [20:31] 4Ir: "Put him down." [20:31] 4She sounds annoyed, rather than aggressive. [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12The woman turns, quirking a brow. She raises her other hand, pointing - "Are you... Ir?" 12In deference to the spearwoman's words, the bellhop is allowed to slide a foot or so down the wall, though he's still being held up. [20:32] 6What, did he say something was 'no problem'? [20:33] 4She snaps her fingers and the spatula in her hand becomes a spear. "Put him down." 4There's no more play in her voice. [20:33] "Djala." [20:34] 4Ignore that last line. [20:34] 4Instead: "You're djala." [20:35] <@Ferrinus> "Hah! You are Ir. What's it to you?" 12There's a scrape and a thump as the boy's allowed to slump rather uncomfortably down into a seat. He immediately scrambles away on hands and knees. [20:35] 4Ir: "Just thinking about pain thresholds if you don't stop abusing the help." [20:36] 4Ir: "I'm Ir Saint-Sister, and I have a hangover. So let's get to it." [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Djala woman: "He was being very unhelpful! I thought I'd jog his memory. But we have something different to discuss." 12She's kind of perched on the counter like a gargoyle, but almost blurs with disturbing grace across the room until she's leaning conspiratorially into Ir's personal space to speak with a low whisper. [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12She: "Marek thinks you're mad at him. Won't stop sulking. What did he do?" [20:38] 4Ir: "You don't get to choke people for being unhelpful. Try it on me and see." [20:38] 6Oh boy. [20:38] 4Ir: "Oh for fuck's sake." [20:39] 4Ir: "Are you his parent or guardian?" [20:39] "Are you Marek in disguise?" [20:40] "If the answer to all of the above is 'no,' then if he hasn't told you, there's a reason for it." [20:42] 6Tatsuya's finally up after the hangover - it is weird to come down off catnip when you aren't one - and got his walking around garb on - a nice red and black ensemble that Ying made, very stylish. 13He looks like an incredible tryhard. 6That's what I said. Anyway, he's down to get himself a late breakfast as he comes across the scene, sees an irritated-looking Ir, and... huh, that's new. "Everything all right?" [20:42] 4Ir: "Morning, Tatsuya. We've got a visitor from the Silver." [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12She cackles. "Sometimes he seems to forget it's not either of those. But I merely- aha! YOU'RE the... no, no." 12She frowns at Tatsuya, then snaps her fingers a few times. "One of your sorcerers is surely at fault. Where are they?" [20:43] 7One of the sorcerers is upstairs on a balcony, glaring in the general direction of the Thorns embassy. [20:43] 4Ir: "You're giving a name before you get anymore answers." [20:43] 6Tatsuya: "That doesn't sound likely, but I guess I did just get here. What's this even ab- Marek?" [20:44] 4To Tatsuya: "Ask Ying why I'm mad. She was there for the conversation." 15[20:44] 10The other one just rolled out of bed. "Fuck!" 15[20:44] 10Gods, he can hear every sound in the universe. [20:45] 6Tatsuya: "That one? Yeah, I heard. Lips are sealed." 6He mimes a zipping motion over his lips. [20:45] 7Shaking a fist: "You won't get Thorns, undead filth. You'll see!" 15[20:45] "Where's breakfast," 10mumbles Eikichi as he comes tentatively downstairs, still wearing his sleep blindfold. [20:46] 7She said Nexus, there. [20:46] 7Not Thorns. [20:46] 7Shut the HELL up. [20:46] 6They're easily confused, what with all the undead running around these days. [20:46] 4Glaring around the lobby, where everyone from staff to guests is likely either staring mouth-agape or cowering. "My apologies for the distraction. We'll be continuing this conversation in a private booth, in the dining area. Breakfast service starts in fifteen minutes." [20:47] 4To the kid this woman almost choked out: "Take the rest of the day off with a tip. I'll talk to your manager." 4She'll kick him half her own tips from last night's service. [20:47] <@Ferrinus> The woman doesn't draw herself up so much as find a table to perch on that puts her eyeline above most of yours. "Hmph. Fine, fine. I'm Kisha, adherent to the Black Lion and witch of my little circle. Now WHERE is my CURSE?" [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12The woman doesn't draw herself up so much as find a table to perch on that puts her eyeline above most of yours. "Hmph. Fine, fine. I'm Kisha, adherent to the Black Lion and witch of my little circle. Now WHERE is my CURSE?" [20:47] 4Ir: "Private booth! Breakfast! Now!" 15[20:48] 10Eikichi turns, hands-up, in the direction of the staff who he assumes are standing shocked somewhere by the kitchen door. "Sorry! 14sorry" 14[20:48] * Joins: mattbaby [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "Fine, fine, yes. Is there pork-" 12It doesn't prove that hard to move things to a closed-off little table. 15[20:50] "Hi, hi, yes. Your name is Kisha? Could you please speak a touch more quietly?" [20:52] 7Having cursed her enemies and vowed revenge, Blossom's ready to start the day. What's all that yelling about? Curiously, she heads downstairs. 08[20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha's eyes flash as Eikichi speaks. "Was it you?" 12she sniffs the air. "It was. Thoughtless! Dis-" 12She notices the wince. "14Disrespectful!" [20:52] 4Ir swings by the kitchen as the 'party' is seated for breakfast. She instructs everyone else to go about their business; she'll handle the table. Two dozen eggs scrambled, a dozen potatoes hashed with seasoned and browned pork. Basic hangover medicine for the four of them, something with meat for the violent interloper, and enough for seconds. 15[20:52] 10Eikichi: "What am I apologizing for, here?" 15[20:52] 10He finally takes the blindfold off. Oh. That's a look. [20:52] 6Tatsuya: "Morning, sunshine." [20:53] 4Ir comes by with the food astoundingly quickly. The caste mark on her forehead is burning. She's not bothering with the modesty of pretending it was just the ol' Grandmaster Chef's teachings that helped her out here. [20:54] 4Also, a pitcher of water and a pitcher of squeezed juice. [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "For a week and a day I labored on a hex that would appropriately punish, punish, whoever it was's temerity for erecting this place. Now I return, and what do I find? Flowers?" [20:54] 4Ir: "That's only eight days." 15[20:54] "Ohhhhhh." 15[20:54] "Really?" [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "Eight of my days are worth a mortal lifetime!" 15[20:55] "I was so sure Arianna did that." [20:55] 4Ir: "No they're not." [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha narrows her eyes slightly, glances sideways, then mouths a few things to herself, visibly trying to work something out. Then: "Who?" [20:55] "But I'm beginning to understand why you choke out bellhops." [20:55] 6Tatsuya: "It did seem like her style, yeah." 6He's already got a big plate fulla eggs and is beginning to chow down. "Nice lady. Hard one to know, though. Met her through a party, once." 15[20:56] 10Eikichi: "It's not important." 15[20:56] "Why did you curse the hotel?" [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "My reasons are my own." [20:57] 4Ir: "Oh no you don't." 08[20:57] 7Oh, someone new. Possibly an argument. Well, the best way to handle this is to show up and eat, and be ready to put whoever-this-is' head through a table if need be. Blossom waggles her fingers at Eikichi. "Scoot, scoot." 15[20:57] 10Eikichi scoots. [20:58] 7Blossom squeezes in to the end of the booth and starts filling a plate. "Good. What are we talking about?" 15[20:58] "It seems rude to ask our reasons and not offer yours." 15[20:58] "I mean, I'm not an expert on rudeness, or anything." 08[20:59] 4Ir: "Her name's Kisha. She's mad that Eikichi ruined her curse on the hotel and that I'm having a spat with Marek, in that order." 15[20:59] "Oh, are you a friend of Marek's? How's he doing?" [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "Now, now. I'm equally amused as to the latter." [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "But fine, fine! Merely surly. He's in this city, in fact, but I wanted to reach you first." [21:00] 4Ir: "The reason she's mad about the former is because she's kin to the djala who runs the Imperial Manse down the way and now she looks like a fuckup, and the reason she's mad about Marek is as of yet unexplained." [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha narrows her eyes. 15[21:01] "Kisha brought bad energy in her. Aggression. Not appropriate." 15[21:01] *in here [21:01] 4Ir leans forward. "If you think I'm being rude out of turn, consider it a demonstration of how poorly I take to people hurting servants because they can." [21:02] 6Tatsuya: "She was choking out a bellhop," 6Tatsuya explains in between eggs. 15[21:02] "Don't be a bully." [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "He was entirely - who amongst you can claim to have not lifted at least one mortal by their throat?" 12She looks around the table, challenging. 15[21:03] 10Eikichi: "I've never done that." 15[21:03] 10Stage whisper: "Poor upper body strength." 15[21:04] 10Actual whisper: "I might still be a little drunk." [21:04] 6Tatsuya: "Why in Creation would I do that?" 14[21:05] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) [21:05] "Just seems like a poor use of everyone's time, honestly." 08[21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha looks dismissively at Eikichi, and gets about halfway through a sentence like "Well, no, that's what the demons are-" 12before eyeing Tatsuya as though he's grown a second head. Of course, in circles like those Kisha runs in, growing a second head is probably only slightly strange. [21:06] 7Blossom: "I have never done that! Mistreating the waitstaff is childish." [21:06] 4Ir: "It's not what you did that bothers me so, Kisha. It's who you did it to." [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha looks around the table, taking a moment. Finally: "...hmph. Not quite living up to the legends, are we?" [21:14] 4Ir: "Bitch I might." 08[21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12The Lunar cackles with delight at this, despite Eikichi's protestations. [21:15] 6Tatsuya: "Yeah, I guess it's been a bit since I last had a good h-- hm." [21:15] "That's not what you were talking about, is it." 15[21:17] 10At least it's good noise instead of bad noise. [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha devotes herself to her breakfast for the next few minutes. It's always a safe bet to give one of Luna's Chosen their meat rare, and the djala gobbles up the available fare with every sign of enjoyment. [21:18] 7Mmm, hash browns. [21:19] <@Ferrinus> "Now," 12she says, after having cleaned most of her plate. "I am told - I am told you slew one of the death lords." [21:19] 4Ir: "It didn't take." [21:19] "More's the pity for her." [21:20] 6Tatsuya: "Rarely does." 15[21:22] "So I have to ask. Does Marek even know you're here right now? You're just messing with him, aren't you?" 08[21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "Would you-" 12she pauses as Eikichi speaks up. "Eh heh. He... probably doesn't." [21:24] 4Ir rolls her eyes and finishes her eggs. [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "But if he doesn't, it's his own fault! He could have put together that tomorrow was simply the latest he might arrive. Either way -- I am here to request details." [21:26] 4Ir: "The rules of hospitality demand I offer you seconds, Kisha. Along with everyone else." 14[21:27] * Joins: hrolf [21:27] 7Blossom, mouth full, makes grabby hands. [21:28] 4She'll secretly cook up fresh pork, extra rare, to mix into Kisha's plate. [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "As many as you can muster! This is wonderful - and I thought Marek was simply lying out of romantic necessity." 15[21:30] "Details about what?" [21:31] 4Ir: "He talking about my cooking? Maybe he played you into coming here. With his sulking." [21:31] "He's a master spy, he tells me." [21:31] "And sulker." 08[21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "The death-lord beneath Great Forks. I need exacting and exhaustive data - particularities of Essence that only the wise are ken to." 12She points accusingly at Eikichi. "You owe me that much!" [21:31] 6Tatsuya: "Master spy and master sulker are two incredible traits to have, how dare you." 15[21:32] 10Eikichi: "She served me pure void in a teacup. It didn't really taste like anything." [21:32] 4Ir: "You'll get a lot farther with us if you stop couching everything you want in terms of your dumbass curse getting negated." [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "How dare you! It was masterfully woven." [21:33] 4Ir: "Didn't speak to its quality. Just said it was dumb." 15[21:33] "I respect the effort, though. It takes a certain purity of intention to sink eight days into a stink bomb." [21:33] "As someone who used to waste her weekends playing bars in Pneuma, I know they're not mutually exclusive." [21:34] 6Tatsuya: "There's nothing more beautiful than an incredibly petty masterwork." [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "It was brilliant, and brilliance itself, the heights of-" Male voice: "Kisha?" 12Kisha: "Ahhhh, hello! What are the odds." 12Intruding on your stall is a familiar figure - a fair-skinned of compact build and bland features, whose actual person Ir last saw devoured in one bite by a flaming tyrant lizard months ago. [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Damn it [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "It was brilliant, and brilliance itself, the heights of-" 12Male voice: "Kisha?" 12Kisha: "Ahhhh, hello! What are the odds." 12Intruding on your stall is a familiar figure - a fair-skinned of compact build and bland features, whose actual person Ir last saw devoured in one bite by a flaming tyrant lizard months ago. 15[21:36] 10Oh boy. [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek - you've all seen him wear this shape before - glances between Kisha, Ir, and the other Chosen, working his mouth slowly as he chooses what to actually say. "...room to sit down? I could drag a chair over." [21:38] 4Ir: "My lap's free." [21:39] 6Tatsuya briefly stops munching the hashbrowns, then returns to it. Delicious. [21:40] 4Ir: "Oh. Sorry. You're incognito." [21:40] "Please, take a chair." [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "No, no, an excellent first suggestion! Marek - can you still do that puppy? An excellent space-saver!" [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek tilts his head in acknowledgement of the joke before stepping away and returning with his own seat, which he puts down at the end of the table. "Good to see you all." [21:41] 4Ir: "Uh huh." [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "I had... hoped to make introductions. But there may have been a mixup. Everyone know everyone else?" 15[21:43] "I get she's your boss and everything but you really should've warned her not to choke out the help." [21:43] "So!" 7Blossom says cheerfully. "Kisha says you're sulking!" [21:43] 4Ir: "The source might not be reliable." [21:44] 4Ir: "Do we need more drinks? We need more drinks." [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek gives Kisha an annoyed look. "Did you really-" 12Then he presses his lips together while Kisha stops just short of spraying juice across the table. [21:45] 4She returns with three pitchers this time. Two are freshly squeezed juice. The third is freshly squeezed juice, mixed with alcoholic bubbly. It's technically brunch hours now. [21:45] 4Ir fills her cup from the third. [21:45] 6Tatsuya picks the first one. Big day ahead. At least, that's the plan. [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek and Kisha look thankful, though for different reasons, and both also go for the third beverage. Kisha draws a small saucer away from the rest of her food, pours some of the alcohol into it, and then holds a hand above it until a large scarab beetle comes crawling out of her sleeve to land besides the bubbly and stick its little mandibles in. "Now we're all here." 15[21:46] 10Eikichi: "Hair of the- oh. Um. Yes please." 10He pours himself a drink of the juice-and-bubbly. 15[21:47] 10That was smooth. The Lunars probably didn't even notice. [21:47] 4Judging the table's preferences, Ir whips out the rest of the bottle of bubbly, which was stashed in her belt and held there by Jude's Law. As quick as you like, the second pitcher is also juice-and-bubbly. [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Has she made her demand yet?" [21:48] 4Ir: "She's made a number of demands, but I get the impression that no, she hasn't." [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Heh. Well, the one I'm prepared to stand behind has to do with... sorcerers' shop talk? Lore?" 12He glances over to Kisha, who nods impatiently. "That sort of thing's our charge, you know. Ordained by spirit." [21:50] "Wisps of necromantic Essence, that kind of thing?" [21:50] 4Ir finishes her drink. "Then let's leave the sorcerers to talk shop. You and I have business upstairs, Marek." 08[21:51] 7Blossom wiggles her eyebrows at Eikichi. 15[21:51] 10Eikichi nudges her back. [21:51] 6Tatsuya: "Yeah, uh, I should probably get going too. Got some stuff to do around town, y'know. Plus. No good with the magic stuff." [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "If you've got any! And long testimonials otherwise. I'm not greedy - I know some magic to share myself." 15[21:54] 10Eikichi: "Can you teach me necromancy? I think I picked up the gist of it when I swallowed pure void, but another perspective would be nice." 08[21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "...and survived?" 12She reaches across the table to poke Eikichi in the arm. "Solid! In that case, yes. Easily, I'd guess." 15[21:55] "That's great!" [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek, meanwhile: "Ah... yeah, certainly. As long as everyone else is all right here." 12He glances down at the beetle, which is merrily getting drunk. [21:56] 4Ir guesses that's his other friend. The bug guy. She's not really concerned with him. "The staff will take care of you all from here. Marek, I've got a suite upstairs," 4she says, by way of getting him to follow. [21:57] 4If he's retained any information about Ir, he'll be able to tell right away that she is not being very sexy or seductive right now, nor is she like, concealing such desires. [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12He's quick to follow. Meanwhile, Kisha wants to talk in the Scarlet Palace's rose garden - she can't quite decide whether to be impressed at or annoyed with the plants growing there. True to her word, she demands reams and reams of technical data - the color and character of the essence contrails produced by the deathlord's sorcery, the numbers and disposition of her ayssal servants, 08[21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12the direction and number of her cast shadows. Eikichi and Blossom are likely occupied a while. 15[21:59] 10Eikichi's so excited to learn necromancy! He feels like he's hit a plateau in his sorcerous studies, but this is a whole new frontier to explore. [22:00] 4Once upstairs, she holds the door open for him, shuts and locks it behind them, then walks into the main room and pours herself a neat whisky. "You wanted to know what happened in our meeting in Heaven. We -- the Circle -- have agreed that I should tell you." [22:00] 4She does, truthfully, not leaving anything out except perhaps the details of dinner at Yara's since that might be bragging. [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek blurs into his actual shape once he closes the door behind him - and in fact cuts Ir off, though Ir's free to give him the skinny later on. "Ahhhh, uh. That didn't occur to me. I wanted to apologize." [22:01] 4Ir: "I don't want an apology. I want clarity on what I am, to you." [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "To ask you to go behind your own Circle's back - I was half-joking! But only half. And to even make the joke, that was foolish." [22:04] 4Ir: "Am I your lover? A spymaster's asset to be leveraged? Or am I something else?" [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "To me, you- ...give me a moment, the terms coming to mind in both this tongue and mine tend to be diminuitives. You're someone I care for, and admire, and respect. Surely, that's plain." 12He pauses. "But if it's not the fault is mine." 15[22:09] 10Eikichi hopes Marek's not totally eating shit up there. [22:09] 4She pours herself a second drink. "Well, we all have our regrets." [22:09] 7Blossom is serene in the knowledge that she can devote herself wholeheartedly to hating Marek if Ir tells her to, and not if not. 15[22:10] 10Such moral clarity... 08[22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Between Blossom, Eikichi, and Kisha, a veritable symposium on the nature of the Princess Magnificent develops. She's able to correlate elements of your accounts with her own experience in the practice of necromancy to confirm a few theories and come to a series of exciting conclusions, several of which follow: [22:11] 6As Tatsuya excuses himself from the table, he begins making his way towards the Rainbow Connection. Still clad in his bright red and black ensemble, 13*snrk* 6he attracts a lot of looks from onlookers, mostly appreciative. Still. He's vigilant. [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12First, a deathlord - or, at the very least, the Princess - is definitely a kind of ghost, rather than some unique or alien being of stranger provenance. What you've seen is proof positive that the Princess Magnificent is the hun, or higher soul, of some ancient personage, preserved throughout the ages and gifted with power extraordinary. It's that power which is most interesting, [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12because generally the higher souls of even the mightiest of the Chosen are nothing to write home about. They might be wise, powerful, and learned as ghosts go, but generally unable to use most of the lore and mastery they died with because the bulk of their essence ends up flowing into the po, or lower soul, creating the monstrously dangerous hungry ghosts that most Solar tombs are [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12designed to contain. [22:13] 4Ir: "We're moving against Raksi soon. We're not going to be keeping the territory we take. We'd prefer not to kill her but it would be disrespectful to imply that's a choice we can make when attacking one of the Pact elders in her home. I'll keep you apprised of the situation." [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12So - how the hell could a ghost stand toe to toe with a circle of Solars? Well, there's something called the void, or oblivion, at the bottommost depths of the underworld. Kisha's literally seen it - she snuck, once, into the ancient city at the center and heart of the nether realms and peered down the great well there into uttermost blackness. That stuff is corrosive to all [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12light, warmth, motion, and indeed existence, and wells up from cracks in the labyrinth from time to time. Ghosts that absorb it get stronger and go mad - you even met one that was on the cusp, back up north. 15[22:15] 10Istvan! [22:17] 7Hey now, Blossom hasn't agreed to 'prefer not to kill Raksi'. [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12So, an ancient ghost empowered by the void. But there's at least two more important things going on. First, to concentrate itself into titanic power without simply unraveling and destroying its host, the power of oblivion must be commanded by a greater power still - something that even it can't destroy, as much as that is a contradiction in terms. So, the Princess must have had a [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12master, and that master somehow not have been destroyed by the void - or at least not completely, or something. Maybe they created it or preceded it. [22:17] 7Blossom frowns. "Hmm. I wonder..." 15[22:17] "Like a Primordial!" [22:18] "A what now?" 08[22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Finally, based on the way the Princess fought, cast spells, and generally carried herself, Blossom, Eikichi, and Kisha are pretty sure that the knowledge and experience base she operated off of must have strongly resembled their own. Well, that of the first two in this triangle of sorcerers. That is, the Princess Magnificent is almost certainly the ghost of a first age Solar, small-e [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12exalted in death by some being for some purpose. [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Tatsuya cannot fail to notice that the scarab that came crawling out of Kisha's sleeve crawled into one of his pockets before he got up from the table to leave - or tried to, anyway. [22:19] 6Tatsuya: "None of that, now." [22:20] 6He gently moves it back to whatever puddle of alcohol it had been drinking from prior before heading on his way. [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12It kind of spreads its forelegs, managing to emote both a shrug and a 'come onnnn'. [22:20] 4After a moment's consideration: "...And if you still plan on being in the city in a day or two, we should have dinner. Like a real couple." 15[22:21] 10Eikichi: "The ancient titans who created the gods! Who created Creation. Cast out of Heaven in the Time Before. Some of them live on as the mothers of all demons, trapped in Hell. But maybe some of them were killed outright. Though that asks a peculiar question. Can you die if you were never born?" 14[22:21] * Joins: mattbaby [22:22] 4Ir: "And I'd prefer if you dressed as yourself." [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek says this to Ir before Ir proposes dinner; it seems to worry him slightly: "You told me about Raksi - and I told you. What I said... stands, I think. There is great respect for her, but also great fear - just like for anyone from the first age. The context here... let me tell you a little more." [22:23] 6Tatsuya considers... and keeps to his decision. "Maybe next time, friendo." 6And with that, it's off to the Rainbow Connection. [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Kisha, Jol, and I, we're allies to the Black Lion. He's a mighty hero, quite old from the southwest. His diviner saw us three- hyena, scarab, vulture, all arrived at the same time from different directions - and decided, who better than to investigate the death that bubbles up around our feet?" [22:24] 7Blossom: "Oh, the enemies of the gods! Interesting. What I was thinking was... so we were assuming it was the Mask of Winters that laid that curse that ruined dinner on Black Bells Chiming and Dissolving Dragon's Coils, right?" [22:25] "What if it was one of these Precedents?" 15[22:26] "Precedents? Surely we can come up with a better word than that." [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "So we've ranged across the threshold, hooking up towards this city for its place between Thorns and Forks and whatever else. There aren't many doing our job - there's Seven Obsidian Leopard to the southeast, but he's more inward-looking. Either way, Raksi would be a great help, squatting as she is on that library." 15[22:27] "What about the No-zis?" [22:27] 7She pouts. "What's wrong with Precedents? They preced the Void!" [22:27] *precede [22:28] 4Ir: "Well, if you could get us in diplomatically, that'd be great. But given this didn't come out until I told you we were about to march, I'm guessing what you actually want is to secretly tag along without her noticing and raid the library once we've seized it?" [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek shakes his head: "No - to warn you. She didn't turn us away at first. She did make to slay us when we declined to participate in her sacrifices. But not all are so squeamish. She has fierce adherents." [22:29] 4Ir: "...So you're saying it'll be hard." [22:29] "To take down the Cannibal Queen." [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "If you move against Raksi, it won't make you an enemy of the Pact. She is too divisive a figure. But it will make your relations with the Pact... exciting. Oaths and vendettas will ignite and reform around you." 15[22:29] 10Eikichi: "Fine. We'll call them the Precedents." [22:30] "Lover, I'm not the smartest girl in Creation but I'm real good at guessing." [22:31] 6As Tatsuya makes his way into the Rainbow Connection, what's the store looking like? This is actually the second time either he's been inside the place during business hours, though the first time was, ah. Hm. In any case. Busy? Product flying off the shelves? 15[22:32] 10Master of high-minded compromise is Eikichi. [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "What I am saying here is that you..." 12He frowns to himself, paces a bit, and sits down. "You know, I may simply be talking about myself. We are together. Half of this direction's Pact will say good riddance, and the other half will curse your name for slaying a hero. And that redounds, of course, to me - makes some things harder. I didn't think to ask you to, heh, escort [22:32] <@Ferrinus> me in because of the implications." [22:33] 7Good. Good! [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Then he shakes his head to himself. "But I can't be... 'careful' in such circumstances. If I wished to avoid these difficulties I should wish to avoid you - and that's not happening." 12He looks up to Ir. "So here's what I've talked myself into. I can come with. We can - my Circle. No sneaking to avoid Pact politics - we can throw in behind you, openly." 15[22:35] 10Eikichi: "So this would mean the Mask himself would have as his master some Precedent or other." 15[22:37] "For all her power, the Princess was beholden to her Precedent. She feared it." [22:38] 4She grins. "Makes some things harder, huh?" 4Ir takes his hand in hers. "If you want in, you're in. I'd love to have you along. I'd love to have you along mostly for the fact of having you along -- the journey there, the journey back. What you guys do in the fight itself doesn't matter much to me, so I'm not going to ask you to push it. But it would mean a lot just to have you [22:38] there." [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Elsewhere, the scarab that was almost Tatsuya's sidekick skitters down from the table to quietly join Kisha, whom it is theoretically guarding. Tatsuya himself has no trouble reaching the Rainbow Connection, which, now, in mid-day, is doing brisk business. There's an entire line of people waiting to make commissions for the illustrious mistress Ying's immediate students or Ying [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12herself (well, to be clear, a line of people's servants holding places for them). Simpler garments are being snatched up briskly, quickly packaged and handed off by a very neatly-dressed Jack. [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek squeezes Ir's hand. "That would be - very good. I've been occupied with so much absurd skullduggery and so been away from you so long precisely because the Fanged Queen wouldn't deign to share... yes, yes this, is the right thing to do. I can make the others see it." [22:41] 7Blossom: "With good reason, if it could overcome Dreaming Pearl Courtesan and snatch her back." [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "What was that about dinner?" [22:42] 4Ir: "Just tell them I'm cooking. Which I won't be doing when we have dinner in a couple nights. There's a Grandmaster Chef at an upscale teahouse I want to try, but they're doing plates for two." [22:43] 4Ir: "And you're going as you. It's really fucked up and weird to see you dressing as a guy I helped kill. Just for the record." 15[22:44] 10Eikichi: "Maybe we can go over the Mask's head. Ask to see his manager." [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12As hard as Marek is to find time with, Ir's well-accustomed by now of how hard it is to get the guy to go anywhere as himself - well, anywhere that contains anyone but Ir, anyway. He rocks once or twice, mulling over the idea. "Mmm - fine. Yes, if you like. But you don't like this shape?" 12He ripples into the body of the devoured Sidereal, then back to himself. "I think of it as [22:46] <@Ferrinus> a memento. Our first team-up." [22:47] 7Blossom: "Maybe Death needs a nudge to get it working right." [22:48] 6Wow. Nice to see the place in full swing. He had planned to make a purchase himself, and commissioning something would be an interesting time, but he'll have to settle for something off the racks instead. He's not technically wearing a shirt right now, just his jacket and the armor, so that's a good place to start. Something nice and silk, in a deep dark black. Then he walks- 13Do not steal from my store. 6-over to Jack, just [22:48] to get an idea of how this guy seems to operate. He takes payment and everything? [22:49] 4Ir: "Dressing as Kamchatka or Borneo would be funnier. Man, it's been awhile since I've seen those two. How are they?" 4Seems weird to lose track of two tyrant lizards, but here we are. [22:49] 4Also this joke is a way to deflect from the fact that no, shapeshifting into the guy they murdered together isn't romantic in the slightest. [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Yes, Jack's amazingly sophisticated for an automaton. He seems to be able to read price tags and count coins - and has a series of signs set up next to him which he can tap in various eventualities. They're messages like "that is not enough coin" or "please wait while I retrieve your order". [22:51] 6Does he smile? [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12He's a skeleton. What else can he do? 15[22:52] 10Grimace. [22:52] 6Draw eyebrows on his face to make him seem angry, obviously. [22:53] 7Ying could give him a grease pencil to draw his own eyebrows on an as-needed basis. [22:53] 13Oh my gosh that is so true. [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Wow, is nothing sacred any more, even hunts? But Marek's happy to change the subject. The two tyrant lizards are apparently to be found somewhere to the east, where they dwell in the same elementally-charge demesne they were born in. Each hunts and eats elementals native to the other's half, apparently. [22:54] 6Anyway, curiousity's basically sated. Smooth operation going on, incredibly successful, and Jack's working as intended - which is surprisingly not horrific! And yes, giving him a grease pencil for improved customer interactions might be a neat trick. [22:54] 6Tatsuya pays for his shirt, finds an alleyway to put it on in, and continues on his merry way. [22:55] 6Secret shopper mission: total success. [22:55] 4That's great! Like, legitimately so. Not many Arena beasts get a happy ending. She'll chat with Marek some more about relatively normal couple stuff, and eventually be time for him to go, and when he goes she'll walk him to the lobby, kiss him on the lips, and smile, and when she gets back to her suite she'll lock herself in her bedroom and cry for ten minutes. [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12elementally-charged* [22:56] 4What really owns, is feeling like a teenager again. That's fucking great. [22:57] 4Really needed that back in her life. [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Teen's. The only Idiots known to man. [22:58] 4Yes, men knowing teens is one of the bigger problems society has. [22:58] 7Blossom sympathizes, she times her crying jags too. [22:58] 4But once that's out of her system, it's out of her system. A bath, a change of clothes, and it's just after noon in Nexus. [22:58] 13Crying 6is 13totally 6healthy. [22:58] 7Does Kisha have anything more for us? 08[23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha's very excited by Eikichi and Blossom's theorizing as to the very nadir of the netherworld's ecology, incidentally. These never-born and so never-dead ancient, vengeful titans fit perfectly into the picture being painted! And the Lunar witch is happy here to transition to a discussion of necromancy, which, according to her, is a death-inflected form of sorcery developed by the [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Lunar Exalted in the middle of the first age. 15[23:00] "Why'd they invent it?" [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "Why does anyone invent anything? Wouldn't you be curious?" 12She pauses, leans in conspiratorially. "But I am given to believe they had reason. The old tales hold that black magic was the linchpin of the Niobraran League. Necromancy allowed the Deliberative to predict and check the things the enemy did with blood and shadows." 15[23:04] "Oh, yeah, like up in Crystal." [23:04] 6Better take a detour to the hotel first, just to make sure it hasn't exploded. Ir's boyfriend, bug guy, and Kisha still there, everyone alive, no horrible screaming, that kinda thing. Plus. Uh. Maybe some snacks to go. [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "The famed Black Nadir Concordant dove into the depths of the underworld, stealing the secrets of the art from the skulls of the dead giants they found at the labyrinth's fundaments. Perhaps... dead titans?" [23:05] 6...who knows how long this deep dive'll take. 08[23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12It looks like Kisha, Jol, Blossom, and Eikichi are still being huge nerds out in the garden, and nothing's blown up or been cursed unto the seventh generation. [23:06] 4Well that's good. Ir's just leaving the kitchen when she almost literally bumps into Tatsuya. [23:07] 6Praise the Sun. He then immediately makes a beeline for the kitchen when -- "Oh, hey. Was just, uh. Getting some snacks to go." [23:07] 6He rubs the back of his head. Hey, that new shirt looks nice. [23:07] 4Ir looks openly irritated, but not with him. "Go where?" [23:10] 6Tatsuya: "Ying's been on me to check out that tomb. Uh. 15Candle-lit Skulls, I think? See if we can't figure out what's going on and discredit the opposition, so to speak." 6Thorns. 15[23:10] 10Eikichi: "Maybe so! What do you actually use necromancy for, anyway? I assume you're not binding ghosts and revenants." [23:12] 4Ir: "Give me five minutes." 4Assuming he does, she returns with a generous bundle. "Snacks. Let's go." [23:13] 4If he peeks, they're sandwiches and wraps that are both tasty and calorie-intense for athletic exertion. [23:13] 6Tatsuya: "Wh- shit, all right. Thanks. You good for this kinda thing?" 6He's already walking out the door, assuming that she'll follow. Silly question, really, she wouldn't go along if she wasn't, but. [23:13] 4Ir: "Around the time five monks beat the shit out of me and stuck me in jail, I learned the value of not being somewhere." [23:13] "So yeah." [23:15] 4She's dressed for it too, simple dark blues and a black undershirt, hair in a tight bun. [23:15] 6Tatsuya: "Yeah, that'll do it. Just about everybody I knew had a story like that." [23:16] 6His voice is tight. Shit, he hasn't even tried to track any of 'em down. Maybe because finding out they aren't out there to track would hurt. [23:17] 4Ir: "I'll follow your lead either way. You're the pro." [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "Its bailiwick is somewhat restrictive, as you might imagine. But it can do things sorcery alone cannot - or do easily and en masse what normal sorcery struggles to accomplish but once. The walking dead are easily created and controlled, for instance. Tunnels may be opened to the underworld or through the Labyrinth, easing travel at the cost of risk. Corpses, graves, shadows [23:17] <@Ferrinus> and such can be rifled through for information." [23:17] 6He gives her a backwards glance. "Getting in might be more difficult for you than for me. I was gonna waltz in the front, but..." [23:18] 4Ir: "Test me." [23:18] "Together. All right. This'll be trickier but better in the long run." [23:18] 4Ir can always talk her way out of it as a hero of Nexus or whatever. [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "There are some more esoteric tricks - I could strike a man dead by smashing his own void-borne reflection against him, or summon a war-strider of bone around me." 15[23:18] "Whoa." [23:18] 4And if that doesn't work she can ruin anyone save the Emissary that steps to her. [23:20] 7Blossom: "Hmm." [23:20] 6Tatsuya: "No need, I trust you. It'll take a minute when we get there for me to try and find an entrance we can use, but once we get in there, should be all gravy." [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12If you're looking to investigate, or throw a monkey wrench into, the Tomb of Candle-Lit Skulls, the work of necromantic artifice that Thorns's agents are building atop the Tomb of Candle-Lit Skulls, or the general interplay between Nexus, Thorns, and the Candle Titan, there are a couple things you could do. You could poke around the Tomb itself, which just juts out of the ground in [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12the middle of the city and is currently surrounded by about a block's worth of smoldering wreckage - and, of course, increasing amounts of necro-infrastructure. You could sneak in from below as Tatsuya once did to rescue Panther, though this involves some very uncomfortable and extended swimming and climbing. You could try to talk or sneak your way into the chambers of the Council of [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Nexus and rifle through their paperwork or interrogate their functionaries. [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12The bottom of the Tomb, Tatsuya knows, also hosts some secret vaults and holding cells that the Council of Entities uses for their most sensitive or dangerous material. [23:23] 6Starting with the Tomb itself, gotta be. Can't get spotted doing it, of course, but there's nothing like a good hands-on look at the thing that broke to tell you how to fix it. 15[23:25] 10Eikichi: "That sounds interesting. I want to hear the stories bones tell." [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha nods. "It's an excellent start. I will teach you, if you wish - though we'll wait 'til after dark." 15[23:33] 10Oooh! 08[23:35] 7It's a disgusting practice made regrettably necessary. Fortunately, Blossom trusts Eikichi to handle it properly. 15[23:36] 10It's cool as hell is what it is. [23:38] 4Once they discuss their plan, Ir detours to her room for her waterproof carry-skin. For the snacks. They're going spelunking. [23:39] 6That's smart. Tatsuya would have ended up with a lot of wet sandwiches. [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, here's the "good" news - the damage done by the Candle Titan's initial appearance goes much deeper than most people in Nexus know. The ominous rumbling that the Tomb started doing once Tatsuya and Tatsuya stole away with the sword wasn't just for show - it seriously sheared, crumbled, and reshuffled the stone, earth, and water strata below and beside the underground complex. [23:40] 4Yikes. [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12What this means is it's possible to get to the base/middle of the sunken Tomb by merely doing some extremely dangerous and clammy spelunking rather than having to do an hour-long underwater golem walk. As long as you can hold your breath for, say, a couple minutes at a span you should be able to complete any single swim demanded of you. [23:40] 6Ohhhhh man. [23:41] 4In fact, Ir, as she surfaces after a cursory examination and shakes out her hair: "Yikes." [23:41] 6Tatsuya: "Ohhhhh man, that doesn't sound like great news." [23:41] 4Ir: "It's fucked up down there. How long can you hold your breath?" [23:44] 6Tatsuya: "Long enough. How fucked up are we talking? Should I pay my taxes?" [23:45] 4Ir: "We both know you're never gonna pay your taxes. We're looking at three minutes on the outside." [23:47] "If not, well. Hold your breath as long as you can; I'll take you the rest of the way." [23:51] 4Ir's guidance is expert, precise, and downright weird-looking; she's 'holding her breath' just in case Tatsuya needs the air, but there are no bubbles forthcoming, and currents seem to have absolutely no effect on her. [23:52] 6Tatsuya, for his part, looks uncomfortable but keeps moving at a steady pace because there is nothing less cool than drowning like a complete idiot. [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Before heading down, Tatsuya takes some time to investigate the top of the Tomb. Ying's already had a good look, and it's still a wide, badly-scorched plaza upon which an elaborate gantry of iron, bone, and what seems to be petrified driftwood is being built in an elaborate spiral/spiderweb configuration. There are flares of blood-red light as the industrious Black Bells Chiming [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12welds bits together or slices them apart, and guards both human and skeletal ring the workplace. The humans replace each other on six hour shifts while the skeletons, of course, stand fast. There are entrances leading down below, entrances which the humans actually use. This represents a big change for the Tomb, which used to simply melt or burn alive any moving being or object which [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12approached it. That power seems to be gone now, so people can just walk on in and down the stairs. [23:53] 4There's having to get mouth-to-mouth from your friend who's never robbed a place before, just before she drags you to safety. That might be less cool. [23:54] 6Oh, that is going to be a problem when they fix this place. [23:54] 6Like. Ensure that no one is in the Tomb when it gets flipped back on kind of problem. [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12That's handy to know, since it suggests that the fiery traps and curses which awaited Tatsuya down below are also inoperative. However, judging by how many humans go in versus how many go out, there are going to be a lot of guys down there, both living and undead - and judging by the way they occasionally carry jars of glowing red crystal, the warding power of the Emissary is still [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12being put to use in the Tomb's depths. [23:55] 6...and there is that. Cool to see that he wasn't the first person to get the "sweet, defenses are down, time to go looting" idea, though. That's thinking with your heads, people. [23:57] 4People are easier to fool than traps, but you care a lot more about hurting them. It's a trade off. [23:59] 6On the bright side, when you get unlucky you can knock out a person, but traps usually just blow up in your face. Session Time: Sat Feb 23 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Either way, Tatsuya now has a good idea of what to expect down there. All that's left is, sadly, to make an exhausting and potentially excruciating trip through a series of half-flooded caves and up jagged cliffsides and waterfalls. [00:01] 4It'll be fun. [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Several hours later, Ir and Tatsuya are soaked to the bone but standing at the base of the half-buried Tomb of Candle-Lit Skulls. It's all black metal with pearly white skulls studded out of it in a regular, almost tesselating pattern. The tomb's own structure doesn't seem to have been damaged at all by the shaking and eruption of flame, so there's not a jagged hole or something to [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12slip into - but at this point you're in territory Tatsuya recognizes. [00:07] 4They sit down and dry off for a little bit, eat some snacks, and get right. As Ir understands it, you at least don't want to be dripping, when sneaking around. [00:08] 6Sometimes you can make use of it. Tatsuya has a fond memory of slipping through a moat, leaving a bunch of wet footprints, and then doing some frankly sick acrobatics to go the opposite way while all the guards tried to find out where these dang footprints led. [00:08] 4Nice! [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12The bowels of the Tomb are an interesting sight. The biggest threats, besides guards, are red crystals akin to those topping the Emissary's staff; they crackle with ruby lightning when anyone gets close, and lash out to instantly vaporize things that attempt to cross the boundaries they draw across doors and hallways. They can be bypassed, though, by stealing and wearing the right [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12imprinted jade slips and badges, worn visibly by guards who still sweat a little as they cross the glowing boundaries, and it's not too hard for Tatsuya to liberate a couple for his and Ir's purposes. [00:09] 6...they'll put them back on their way out. [00:09] 7Condolences to the guy whose slip gets stolen and is gonna get vaporized. [00:10] 6That's why they're going to put them back. Jeez. [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12He died doing what he loved: getting vaporized. [00:10] 4Ir lets Tatsuya take the lead, but this is more fun than she thought it'd be. Whoever thought of NOT fighting people, well, they were a genius. [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, the sword chamber remains accusingly empty, and it's the only room you scope out which is still glowing with ghostly candle-fires. Judging from that, and the chatter of the guards, and the notes pinned outside the room, what's going on becomes clear: the Candle Titan does not represent some kind of trap or curse, but, rather, is the thing that the sword was there to quell in [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12the first place. [00:11] 4Well, fair enough. [00:11] 6Gonna need to track down and have a chat with the other Tatsuya. That dick. Wearing my freaking face. [00:12] 6And yes, not fighting people as you traipse around looking for things that look expensive or fun? Extremely good. [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Specifically, it's the hungry ghost - swollen with time and anathematic essence - of the ancient Solar general laid to rest in this tomb. Arguably the whole point of the Tomb is to so well honor and safeguard the memory and effects of the dead Solar that his or her ghost never rises to unleash hell as it has now. That's why Tomb-raiding is expressly forbidden by Nexus's earliest [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12civilities, and why the reign and rage of the Candle Titan is super and for sure the two Tatsuyas' fault. This actually suggests an easy way to fix the problem, though: just get the sword back! [00:13] 4...Ancient Solar general, you say. [00:13] 4Might be nice to get some pointers. [00:13] 4Oh well. Not the point right now. [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12But where is that sword? Who took it, and why? This requires some more detective work, and Ir ends up hurriedly reading document after document while an increasingly anxious Tatsuya distracts or discreetly spins around guards approaching her study nook. Finally, one detail gives the game away - some of the larger necromantic components are being delivered to the topside building [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12project locked inside magicked black pearls. [00:14] 4Also Ir isn't the most learned on the subject but the idea of an ancient Solar having a ghost -- after their Exaltation has passed on -- seems weird to begin with? [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12How do you get them out? Crack the pearl. How do you get them back in? Attach an 'empty' or 'fresh' pearl to a particular artifact wand, point it at the piece of furniture or infrastructure in question, and watch it get sucked up and compressed. That's exactly the device that Tatsuya got from Tatsuya, for use in stealing sword and Panther-statue both. [00:15] 6Tatsuya at one point has to do his absolute least favorite move - the thing where you hop up to the ceiling and hold on to both walls while hoping they do not look up. [00:15] 6Very uncomfortable. [00:15] 4Hmm. Hmmm. Hrrrmmm. [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya hears that the Velvet Room has started to use those things now, but where is the Nexus building operation getting them from? Says so right here on this invoice - they're produced in Thorns. [00:16] 6Gods dammit. [00:16] 4Alright, we're done here. [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12That's where some of these guards are from, actually - they're the elites, the cream of the crop, traveling here and back to oversee the delivery and safekeeping of the rarest and most expensive components. Some of them have even seen the Mask of Winters himself! In the flesh! Er... in the... robes and armor? In the small-m mask? [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12They say... they say... they say he's got a new sword. This one's bigger than the last. [00:18] 6That mother fucker. [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12I'm sure he appreciates it. But now you'd probably better skedaddle before someone wonders why that many guards have elected to take naps at once. [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12The Circle learns some necromancy, regroups, and perhaps sets off... next week. 14[00:44] * Joins: hrolfy 14[00:45] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:38] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[05:22] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:46] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[12:47] * Joins: tom 14[13:55] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:07] * Joins: VoxPrimey 14[14:08] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[20:02]  15[20:02]  15[20:02]  15[20:02]  15[20:03]  15[20:06] "So for Ying I'm thinking we get some of that really nice mountain goat yarn. She can knit with it or bat it around." 10The upscale open markets are packed, though Eikichi and Blossom had to push through denser crowds to get here. The time has come to do some shopping. What's Blossom got her eye on? [20:21] "Hmm... what does Tatsuya like?" [20:22] 7She doesn't know him as well as Sunlit-Dreaming Ying, on account of he spends most of his time nonexistent. 15[20:23] 10Eikichi: "Junk food, leather clothes, not talking about his feelings..." [20:25] 7Blossom: "Is that what brought you two together? Met while stealing from the same candy store?" 15[20:30] "That's so much cooler than what actually happened." 10Yarn for Ying, that's done. "Does he need a new grappling hook...? It's been so long." 15[20:30] "I miss Tatsuya." [20:33] 7Blossom: "Yeah... grappling hooks are cool, I bet he'd like one of those." [20:34] "Does Ir like art-stories? They did another printing of 'Incredible Chef Battle'." 15[20:35] 10Eikichi: "Ooh, that could be good. Ir's so hard to get gifts for. I always feel like I've slightly disappointed her." [20:38] 7Blossom: "That's the trouble when you're a chef who is also a musician. The most obvious gifts are the tools you need to do your job, so it's like 'a set of pots? thanks, I'll put them with the others'." [20:38] "Oh wow, I just had an idea for when we get back." 15[20:38] "Yeah?" [20:40] 7Blossom: "Frames for her to pour pancake batter in in various fun shapes, like a yeddim or the Heavensward." 15[20:40] 10Eikichi: "That reminds me of something my father used to say." 15[20:41] "'Children are like pancakes. The first one always comes out wrong.'" 15[20:44] Blossom catches a glint out of the corner of her eye, and glances over just in time to see Misuzu staring out at her from the back of a rickshaw running up the street. 08[20:45] 7Blossom feels uneasy for a bit, but on reflection Eikichi was probably a handful as a child, and they do that kind of harsh teasing to each other for fun. "Good! I'll say that to Cathak Matoko just before I punch her in the mouth." 15[20:49] "Oh I bet Ir would like some exotic spices, too. You can't get real garum in the Threshold." [20:52] Blossom nods. "We'll get her the first ICB collection and some spices." 08[20:56] 7She leans in and whispers to Eikichi: "Misuzu's still watching us." 15[20:58] 10Eikichi grabs Blossom's hand. "Let's try to lose her." 10Then he dashes off into the crowd. [20:59] 7Nyahahahaha! 15[21:10] 10The two of them run through crowds, down alleys, and at one point through a park full of hundreds of mouse-pigeons. They see a lot of the city along the way, from the Ember Island Playhouse to the newly restored Temple of a Thousand Fountains. Nowhere in Creation matches the Imperial City for the scale and genius of its architecture. 15[21:10] 10Not yet, anyway. [21:12] 7Blossom: "Do you think we've lost her?" 15[21:13] 10Eikichi, panting: "We must have. This place is so enormous and full of people!" 15[21:13] "Ugh, I'm disgusting now. Let's go to the baths." 15[21:15] On the way to the bath house, the two of them pass a streetside restaurant serving meat buns and dumplings. Blossom glances back after they pass it to see Misuzu watching them over top of a copy of Invincible Chef Battle. [21:18] 7Blossom: "She's still there!" [21:18] "We'll shelter in the baths." 15[21:22] 10Later: "Aaaaahhhhh. Perfect." 15[21:23] 10Eikichi's submerged up to his chin in water, his expression dreamy and vacant. "The baths in Zeal have got to be at least this good." [21:23] 7Blossom's hair is streaming out behind her in a low flowing basin of water as two attendants carefully brush it. Her eyes closed peacefully: "Better." 15[21:26] "What do you think the others are doing right now?" [21:27] 7Blossom: "Ir is arguing with no one. Ying is sleeping underneath her actual bed." 15[21:29] 10Eikichi: "I bet no one's got it coming." 15[21:29] "Ying... she's been better lately." 15[21:29] "It was touch and go for a while. I worry about her." [21:33] 7Blossom: "Do you think it's a serious problem? She acts a bit strangely, I'll admit, but she doesn't seem unhappy and it doesn't appear to interfere with anything important..." 15[21:37] 10Eikichi: "I don't know. But it was hard enough sharing hotel rooms with Tatsuya. I just hope they're getting on as well as they seem to be." [21:39] "Tatsuya's the one I worry about." 7Blossom admits. "He's not out very much at all." 15[21:40] 10Eikichi: "Ying's dealing with all the same things he is. She's just a little braver." 15[21:41] "Not a trait you traditionally associate with cats, but there it is." [21:43] "Cats can be brave!" 7She yawns. "Big cats, anyway..." 15[21:43] "It takes some nerve to knock a bowl off the table without breaking eye contact with you." 15[21:44] "Which Ying did, by the way." [21:48] 7She laughs. "It's going to be incredible once we get Zeal up and running. I've got some ideas to lean in to Ying's Nyaroshi blessing." 15[21:49] "Oh?" 08[21:49] 7She then relates them to Eikichi, but they are a secret even to you, dear reader. 15[21:49] "Ooooh." [21:49] "It's going to be adorable." [21:51] 7Her eyes snap open, and she glares around the part of the room she can see without moving her head. Is Misuzu visible? 15[21:54] Blossom doesn't see her, and is about to settle back down into total relaxation when she looks at her reflection in the polished glass basin and sees Misuzu behind her, in a little bath attendant's uniform, brushing her hair. 08[21:55] 7She's startled, but hrmph! If Eikichi's sister wants to indicate her approval by helping with her spa day, that's just fine with Excessively Righteous Blossom. 15[21:58] She's gone by the time they dry off. "Oh, wow, think of the time," 10says Eikichi after he's freshly dressed. "We've got to go if we're to make it back for dinner!" [21:59] 7Blossom: "We didn't lose her, by the way. She was brushing my hair earlier." 15[21:59] "Unbelievable." 15[22:04] 10Despite Eikichi's worry, they actually get back well before dinner, though Misuzu is working quietly in her little notebook when they arrive, as if she'd never left. 15[22:04] "How was your day?" she asks Blossom. [22:05] "Lovely! How was yours?" 15[22:05] "Informative." [22:08] 7Blossom: "Those are the best kind of days. I hope you'll share your findings soon!" [22:11] 7Hrmph! She thinks this will intimidate Excessively Righteous Blossom? She's no Dynastic child, that's for sure. ...which is good! It's good that she isn't one of those. 15[22:14] "You've returned. A day in the city has refreshed you." Eikichi's mother comes out of the dining room, trailing the smell of frying meat and crushed pine nuts behind her. 15[22:16] 10Eikichi, akwardly: "Hello Mama." [22:17] 7Blossom clasps her hands and bows again. "Your presence refreshes us, Mother Sho." 15[22:17] "Oh ho ho! Flatterer." [22:18] 7The Empress' Laugh...! 15[22:19] "I was sorry not to see more of you before you left. Do join me for a chat after dinner. Right now I believe my husband has a claim on your attention. Kichi, could I speak to you for a moment?" [22:21] "Certainly." 7Oop, time to see what Papa Sho wants. Blossom always knew she'd absolutely crush it with the mother of her future husband, and circumstances have proven her correct as usual. 15[22:24] Eikichi silently follows his mother out while Papa Sho descends the stairs. "Ah! You're back. Could I trouble you to take a look at the plans I told you about earlier?" [22:34] "Yes, of course! Show me what you have." [22:34] 7Ooh, this is so exciting! 15[22:39] Papa Sho leads Blossom up to the top floor of the house, into a bright, airy bedroom dominated by a wide drafting table at one end and a wall of bookshelves at the other. Eikichi and Blossom's bags are here, as is a big made-up bed and... a barrel of hairbrushes? 15[22:40] Not a full-sized barrel, that would be ridiculous. A half-keg of hairbrushes. [22:40] 7Blankly: "Eh?" 15[22:42] "This was Eikichi's room. After he left I started using it as an office. But we've got it fixed up so you can spend the night here. Here's what I'm working on." On the table is a vast, formula-laden sketch of an aqueduct cutting through hilly countryside. [22:44] 7Blossom: "Hmm, he's really cut down on his hairbrush budget." 7She should praise him for his thrift and willingness to endure hardship later. Alright, what's Papa Sho got for her? 15[22:56] This is good work! Papa Sho and his colleagues are capable engineers. But there's always things that could be improved. You could save time and masonry by converting some of the archways to underground ductwork, particularly as it runs through the northern hillsides. And the plan's too cautious in its discharge rate; if you let gravity do more work, you can increase water supply by as 15[22:56] much as 20%. [22:58] 7Blossom: "...and you're working against gravity here, here, and here, see? You can get almost 20% more throughput and free up some of those peasant workers to keep nomad bees from building hives in the channel during migration season." [23:01] 7Blossom: "We both know patrons like to see soaring arches, but you can still get away with underground work if you incorporate some of the new ideas in maintenance access. Everyone likes 'on time and under budget' more than they like arches." 15[23:04] "Yes... yes!! We take the stonework below the surface at malm 5, cut the tunnels at an incline... brilliant." Papa Sho clenches his fists. "Soon the whole world will know the power of graduated discharge shafts!!" [23:05] "Ahahaha! Ahahahahahaha!!!" 15[23:05] "Ahahahaha!!!" [23:06] 7Blossom: "It's so nice to meet someone who understands!" 15[23:07] "Oh, I'd love to have someone with your eye for details on the team. Just one manager with the sense to see what a project needs, not just what its benefactors want." 15[23:08] "It's all so political." [23:11] 7She shakes her head in commiseration. 15[23:12] "What department did you work in?" [23:14] 7Blossom: "After initial training they assigned me to tax collection in the satrapies when I failed to take the Second Breath." 15[23:15] "Tax collection? What a waste." [23:15] "That's what I thought! And they were incredibly corrupt." 15[23:17] "It's the same all over. For every honest assessor there's another one who only learned math so they could work out their share of the take." [23:21] 7Blossom nods earnestly. "That is so true." 15[23:22] "Well! You'll show them, won't you? You'll show them all." [23:33] 7Blossom: "In good time." 15[23:34] There's a knock on the door, and Akane's muffled voice calling "Dinner!" [23:36] 7Nice! 15[23:41] The food's already laid out - isicia omentata, in the classic style - but no one's begun eating. Blossom and Papa Sho are the last to arrive. A servant pours wine from a jug at their seats before vanishing. Eikichi belatedly notices their arrival and raises his glass to Blossom. 15[23:44] Mama Sho speaks from the head of the table. "What's the word, you two? Did you..." She makes an airy gesture. "...fix it?" 08[23:44] 7Oh boy oh boy oh boy! She grins at Eikichi and takes her seat next to him. She'll let Papa Sho gush about her talent to Mama Sho - this is called subtlety, and modesty. 15[23:47] And gush he does. "With twenty minutes' work Blossom saved our division time and talents. Remarkable woman. I didn't expect you to bring home somebody of such quality, Kichi." [23:49] 7Mmmm. Oh yeah. That's the stuff. 15[23:49] 10Eikichi: "I'm very lucky." 15[23:52] 10He draws in a deep breath. "Actually, that reminds me. Before we eat, there's something we'd like to say." 15[23:52] 10He finds Blossom's hand under the table and squeezes it. "We've decided to get married." 15[23:54] Total silence. 15[23:55] 10Eikichi: "...why is nobody saying anything?" [23:55] 7Blossom adds: "Not immediately. It'll be some years yet." 15[23:56] 10Eikichi: "We have so much work to do." 15[23:57] "That's..." Papa Sho looks to his wife for confirmation; she's gone quite pale. "...that's wonderful! We're very happy for you!" 15[23:58] Akane: "Wow." 15[23:58] "Really?" 08[23:59] 7Hmm. Is she upset Eikichi didn't ask her permission first? Session Time: Sun Feb 24 00:00:00 2019 15[00:02] 10Eikichi's staring directly across the table at his mother. "Yeah. Really." 15[00:04] Mama Sho: "Well... I apologize for my ill preparedness. Had I known to expect such joyous news I'd have prepared a finer meal." 14[00:06] * banana is now known as banana|split [00:07] 7Blossom, firmly: "I have been waiting for a meal like this since I left the Blessed Isle. They don't make it correctly anywhere else. The only isicia omentata that approaches it, I had in an eatery in the Heavenly City of Yu-Shan." 15[00:08] Misuzu: "Did you say Yu-Shan?" [00:09] 7Blossom: "Yes, we traveled through it on the way here." 14[00:09] * banana|split is now known as banana 15[00:10] 10Eikichi: "We couldn't exactly take a boat. It'd take ages and they'd try to kill us at the border." 15[00:12] Papa Sho: "I don't think I'd fully appreciated until now how unusual a life you lead." 15[00:15] 10Eikichi, firmly: "We're very special and important." 15[00:17] Mama Sho, still slightly rattled: "...yes. Let's not let the food get cold." 08[00:20] 7Oh, that was easy! The problem has been solved, now and forever. She squeezes Eikichi's hand and chows down. [00:20] 7On the food, not his hand. 15[00:23] It does seem as if whatever strangeness came into the room has evaporated. Conversation is light and amiable. Mama Sho is delighted to hear about the day's sightseeing. During a lull in the talking Misuzu drags her notebook onto the table. "I have a couple of questions for Blossom." [00:24] 7Blossom: "Begin." 15[00:25] "Question one: In book two of the Squared Circle Saga a giant statue of you was built at the center of the city in the northern mountains. What message do you think this sends to future generations about vanity and hubris?" [00:29] 7Blossom: "Hubris is just another word for failed ambition. Deliberately restricting your ambitions because you're worried about failure is just self-sabotage. While I didn't ask 'kichi to make that statue, it was very sweet. More men should build statues of their consorts." 15[00:30] Papa Sho: "Is this really necessary?" 15[00:30] Mama Sho: "Oh, let them have their fun, darling." 15[00:32] Misuzu: "Question two: when was the last time you physically harmed someone out of jealousy?" 08[00:34] 7Blossom: "Wicked Triumph's Reckoning, Crystal. He'd hurt Eikichi before." 15[00:35] 10Eikichi: "I don't like this conversation." 15[00:39] Misuzu ignores him. "Question three: What is the worst mistake you ever made?" [00:39] 7Blossom smiles. "I would be foolish to reveal that information. Pass." 15[00:39] "I see." 15[00:47] "One last question: which person at this table described you as, quote, 'an anxious, ingratiating--" 15[00:47] Mama Sho: "That's enough, dear." 15[00:48] Misuzu: "--'an anxious, ingratiating e'er-do-well with an unsettling demeanor'." [00:54] 7Her smile only widens. "It would be impolite to acknowledge it." 15[00:57] 10Eikichi: "Okay, we get it. Blossom won, I'm going to marry her." 10He holds her arm up like she's a Nexus prizefighter. "Can you stop being a little monster now?" 15[01:00] Misuzu stares at Eikichi, blinking rapidly. "I, I'm. Excuse me. I have to go." 15[01:02] She pushes back from the table and walks swiftly from the room, her head down. From the sound of her feet on the stairs, she broke into a run once she was out of sight. 08[01:03] 7Blossom looks concerned now, and will stand up to go after her. Does Eikichi (or anyone) stop her? 15[01:04] Eikichi and Mama Sho are staring daggers at each other across the table. Papa Sho is pushing Misuzu's chair in. Akane is eating very intently. Saya, similarly intent, is sculpting strange menhirs out of mashed yam. 15[01:04] No one stops Blossom from leaving. [01:06] 7In that case, Blossom will follow her. Where'd she head? 15[01:08] Upstairs. Blossom steps gracefully over the missing third step and follows the sound of quiet crying to a closed door on the second floor. [01:09] 7Blossom will softly knock on the door. "Misuzu? May I come in?" 15[01:10] "14Okay." 15[01:12] Misuzu's room looks smaller than it is because it's piled wall to wall with books. Her desk is pushed up to her bed, and the model of the Heavensward Eikichi made is floating there in front of her. She doesn't look up at Blossom as she walks in. [01:12] 7Is she on the bed, or at the desk? 15[01:13] Both, simultaneously. Her desk is pushed up to her bed. [01:15] 7Ohhh. Blossom sits down next to her, then. "I don't think you were being a little monster. You wanted to defend your brother; that's noble." 15[01:16] "Really?" [01:21] 7Blossom nods. "I expected something like this. I'm an outcast now, so I don't have any land or position to offer your family, and he's your only brother. I have to be able to provide for him, don't I? That means a little adversity now and then." [01:22] "I grew up the third child of four in a Dynastic household, and the only one who wasn't Chosen by the Dragons. Believe me, I've had worse." 15[01:23] Misuzu sniffs. "That's not why." 15[01:24] "Honestly, I *snf* I assumed you guys were rich anyway." [01:24] "Why, then?" 15[01:32] Sitting back, Misuzu's feet barely dangle off the edge of the bed. "The first time I followed one of them was an accident. I was looking for a tree to read under and I saw Kichi and his friend - I didn't really get it at the time. I thought he was just really friendly. But the girl he was with was so mean. To him, to the kids at the pond, to the melon man. And when she met Mama she 15[01:32] was so nice." 15[01:32] "They were all like that. Sometimes it was obvious right away. Sometimes I had to work really hard to see it. But they were all bullies." 15[01:33] "Kichi used to be different. He wouldn't stick up for himself." 15[01:33] "So I was scared he'd just get bullied forever." [01:35] 7Blossom: "There are a lot of people like that around here. It can be a terrible place." 15[01:36] "And in the books, the way he talked about you. So strong and forceful and brave. And I thought, if you love a bully... that's how you talk about them." 15[01:37] "And I knew you'd be too smart to fall in a trap. I just hoped that I could, that he would see it." 15[01:38] She sniffles again. "I'm sorry." [01:43] 7Blossom is quiet for a moment, then speaks slowly. "When I was young - as young as you maybe, or Saya - you would have been right. I had friends, or people who I thought were my friends. Maybe they did too. I treated them badly because I was the best, and the way I knew to be the best was to make sure everyone else wasn't as good. Then the Dragons chose them and not me, and they [01:43] treated me the same way I'd treated them." [01:49] 7She looks at Misuzu solemnly. "It's hard to see important things when everyone else seems distracted, isn't it? It's hard, and no one understands." 15[01:51] One last big sniff. "Yeah." 15[01:53] "What made you change?" 15[01:53] "You could've just gotten meaner." 14[01:55] * Joins: Crion [01:57] 7Blossom: "My father wanted me meaner. We'd see him every now and again, to check on our progress. He was angry that I'd been such a failure. I had a nanny, since of course Mother was off with the legions. She raised me and my siblings. My father... to make a point about being soft, he killed her and threw her to the siaka." 15[01:58] Misuzu: "What!!" 15[01:58] "He just killed her?" [01:58] 7Blossom: "It happens, sometimes." 15[02:00] "You're going to feed him to a siaka, right??" [02:03] 7Blossom nods firmly. "I might not have a siaka on hand. But something like that." 15[02:06] "Will you tell Kichi I'm sorry? I didn't want to upset him." [02:10] 7Blossom: "I'll tell him." 15[02:10] "Thank you." [02:10] "Do you want to finish dinner?" 15[02:11] "If I saw the look on Mama's face right now I'd lose my appetite. I'm going to stay up here and read." [02:14] 7Blossom: "Alright. I'll see you afterwards." 7She'll close the door behind her. What a sweet kid. 15[02:17] Downstairs, dinner seems to have mostly settled down. Blossom's food is still warm. Eikichi is regaling Akane with tales of the Nexus arena. 15[02:17] "--okay, so, no, two tyrant lizards, and one was fiery and one was icy. And at the end she was riding them around the arena--" [02:18] 7Then Blossom will just sliiide into her chair, and try not to interrupt the story. 15[02:19] "And then just in the nick of time, Blossom and I get down there and crush the assassins! You could hear the crowd from underground." 15[02:19] Akane: "I always thought those fights were fixed." 15[02:19] 10Eikichi: "A lot of them are! Not that one though." 15[02:24] 10After Blossom settles in, he gives her a questioning look. "14Everything okay?" [02:25] 7She leans over and whispers: "14She's sorry she upset you." 15[02:27] 10Eikichi nods slowly and goes back to his food. 15[02:28] After dinner, Eikichi and Akane help Papa clean up, as the servants have gone home. Mama Sho invites Blossom into her parlor for a glass of wine. [02:33] 7How fun! 15[02:35] "I really must apologize," says Mama Sho as she pours Blossom a glass of something ruby red, "I fear I've failed as head of household. You have not been treated with the respect you and the occasion deserve. There have been lapses in judgment. Lapses in character. I beg your forgiveness." [02:36] "Oh?" 15[02:39] "My illness left my unable to serve as an adequate hostess this morning. I was unable to control my daughter, even as she sat right in front of me. And then I left it to you to do a mother's work of correcting that daughter's behavior. We had your favorite meal prepared and you had to eat it cold. I truly am sorry." [02:41] 7Blossom: "Put it entirely from your mind. I've had a wonderful evening!" 15[02:42] Mama Sho: "You're very kind, thank you." [02:48] 7How's the wine? 15[02:49] Mama Sho broke out the good stuff, if Blossom's of a mind to care. It's delicious. "I remember when I was your age. I'd just married - very young, far too young - for love. And I... I did not see myself equal to the task of running a household. Running a family." 15[02:51] "But then they came, oho, as if by surprise, and it didn't matter anymore whether I felt equal to the task." 15[02:51] "I simply had to be." 15[02:51] "You understand that very well, I think. That sense of duty. What the monks call vocation." [02:55] 7Blossom sips, and nods. 15[02:56] "If you aren't tired of invasive questions, may I ask: is this the first time you've fallen in love? With my son?" [03:02] 7Blossom raises her eyebrows, but is forced to admit: "Yes, it is." 7Luminous Heron doesn't count, she was a child! 15[03:09] Mama Sho looks down into her glass. "It's terribly presumptuous of me to give advice. But I have some idea of your difficulties with your own family, and I hope that if you are to build a life that includes my family, that you will come to see yourself as a part of it. I don't know if you have anyone to say what I'm about to say to you." She takes a sip of her wine. "I certainly didn't." 15[03:12] "When we're young, it's so easy to imagine that the way we feel today is the way we'll feel forever. That our health and our strength will spring eternal. That our passion will never burn out. And it's very easy, in the heat of those moments, to make decisions whose consequences far outlive the feelings that inspired them." 15[03:13] "We're told that every turn of the wheel is short and precious. But a live lived in regret lasts rather longer. For you, it would be longer still." 15[03:15] "We need... something. All of us do. To protect us from our own hearts." 15[03:17] "I see you where I was, making plans and commitments based on a feeling I'd never felt before. A feeling I was convinced would last forever. And everyone who tried to stop me was so self-interested. The pairing was not advantageous. The prospects were mediocre. They tried to stop me because it was bad for them." 15[03:18] "But no one thought about what was bad for me. I certainly didn't." [03:19] 7Hoooooboy. 15[03:20] "Do you understand what I'm trying to say?" [03:23] 7Blossom, cautiously: "I think so." [03:27] "As... as I said, we're going to be waiting some years..." 15[03:30] "You're right, of course. Gods, I must sound so terribly overwrought. Thank you for indulging me." 15[03:32] "I was blindsided by your announcement and my emotions got the better of me." 08[03:35] 7Blossom: "No... no, I understand. Believe me, I take what you've said quite seriously." 7Did she just tell Blossom she no longer loves her husband? She can never, ever, tell Eikichi about this. 15[03:36] Mama Sho smiles weakly. "My son was right to say that he's very lucky." [03:43] "He is," 7She agrees. "His family cares for him very much." 15[03:44] 10Later that evening, as they're getting ready for bed, Eikichi flumphs down, exhausted by the day. "How was wine with Mama?" [03:46] 7Blossom yawns hugely. "She broke out the good stuff. She's a... very intense lady." 15[03:46] 10Eikichi: "That must be why you two get along so well." [03:48] 7She snorts. "Were you really worried we wouldn't?" 15[03:49] 10Eikichi: "I'm pretty intense too, and Mama and I don't get along. Stranger things have happened." 15[03:50] 10He pulls a piece of paper from one of his pants pockets. "But then it says here that everyone's caregivers love you and that that's been true since you were young, so. More fool I." [03:51] 7Blossom: "Mmm. Maybe you'll have a better relationship now that you're out of the house." [03:51] "Misuzu's a sweetheart," 7She adds. "All your sisters, really." 15[03:52] "Yeah. We owe them a better place to live their lives than this." [03:53] 7Blossom: "Good thing we're going to give them one, then. Though your house really is very nice!" 15[03:55] 10Eikichi yawns. "It's a nice house. It's a shame about the-" 10He sleepily makes an airy wave eerily reminiscent of Mama Sho's. "-society it's in." [03:58] 7Blossom: "That's for certain." 14[06:04] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[06:07] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:32] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:34] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[12:35] * Joins: cbass 14[12:41] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[12:42] * Joins: cbass 14[12:49] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[12:49] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[12:49] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[13:40] * Joins: hrolfy 14[15:39] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:03] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[16:06] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[16:07] * trenchfoot is now known as Guest28344 14[16:20] * Joins: tom 14[16:34] * Guest28344 is now known as trenchfoot 14[17:12] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[17:14] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:18] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:44] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[21:17] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) Session Time: Mon Feb 25 00:00:00 2019 14[00:17] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:51] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[01:07] * Joins: dammitwho 14[01:22] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[01:24] * Joins: tom 14[05:02] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:14] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[13:18] * Joins: tom 14[16:00] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:01] * Joins: cbass Session Time: Tue Feb 26 00:00:00 2019 14[05:48] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:08] * Joins: tom 14[17:12] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:02] * Joins: tom 14[19:21] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[19:24] * Joins: dammitwho 15[20:05]  15[20:05]  15[20:05]  15[20:05]  15[20:05]  15[20:06] Once he came upon the fish swimming through the air, tracking a route to Nexus was easy. 15[20:08] Wide-frilled fish in dazzling colors reflect the lightning as it dances among the treetops, a long and crooked middlemarch tracing the raksha army's path from the Dreaming Sea all the way to the capital of the Scavenger Lands. Black Winds Howling comes, and the storm follows him. 15[20:08] How does he travel through the rain-soaked night? [20:10] 10Jai runs. It's always been a freeing experience or him, now more than ever. Behind his back lies a heap of trouble in Thorns; ahead of him, an even bigger, possibly flaming, heap of trouble in Nexus. But for now, he's running. 15[20:11] The Centered Circle comes out of the deepest recesses of old Hollow to find an Undercity fraught with panic. Buckets and buckets of rainwater are being passed through the sewers in troughs, gutters, and simply passed from hand to hand by the able-bodied and the trustworthy. The fresh water is precious as the natural intake from the rivers grows increasingly putrefied by the dead of 15[20:11] Thorns. 15[20:18] They've just returned from the mythic isle of Thran, finding a legacy of unfathomable power, much of which fell to ruin by the hand of its caretaker. But Xia Lan left holding an object as mysterious as it is storied: the lost Sol Ring. [20:21] 13It still hasn't really sunk in, what she's holding. I mean, it's - she's been thinking about it. She's looked at it. She's holding it in her hands. It still doesn't feel real. [20:22] 14Well, hopefully it starts feeling real soon. We’ve got work to do. [20:22] 14They’ll decamp to some medical tents or some such -- place with privacy, medical professionals, and which Tsuka can visit them in. [20:23] 13She sent him a message as soon as they left -- she did promise, after all. 15[20:23] Jai hasn't seen his... friend? mentor? boss? in almost a week now, since he decrypted that message and went rogue. But he's sure he's close. Just over that ridge is the river, and that's this way -- the world wavers in front of his vision like he's getting dizzy, and he's disoriented as the savagery of the storm is intercut with the cold stillness of a foreign sky. Suddenly even staying 15[20:23] upright feels fraught, let alone navigating a path forward. [20:24] 13As soon as they left Thran, that is. [20:25] 10Jai: "Haa... haa.. haa..." 10Maybe he should have hidden himself in one of the handful of carts going towards the city, rather than the stream heading away. 15[20:28] Xia Lan and the others hear a crash as a cart falls over outside, and then Tsuka bursts into the tent, sweating and trailing smoke behind him. He grabs Xia Lan without a word and holds her tight before letting go to pant "What happened?" [20:29] 14Stranger: “Met a rock man. He gave us a gift.” [20:29] 5Xu Sim barely wobbles as Selin reports the dire situation in the Undercity. But that is what he must handle next. "Can you keep going?" 5he asks Seven. [20:30] 14Stranger: “You might have seen him leaving the premises.” [20:30] 13Xia Lan hugs back, until he pulls away. "Thran's gone, now. Or. The tower is. But." 13She holds up the gift. "Are you familiar with the Sol Ring?" 15[20:30] Seven nods. "Do you need to rest?" 15[20:31] Tsuka: "No, what is it?" [20:32] 14Stranger: “Power. And risk.” [20:32] 10He takes a moment to recenter himself, catch his breath, and look around. The bad part about running is that you can get too focused on only what's in front of you. But, he didn't break his legs or get turned into a candy or whatever it is Wyld zones do to you if you're unlucky, so hey, it all worked out.  14[20:32] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[20:32] * Joins: Crion [20:32] 13She takes a deep breath. "Hand-forged by Theion, the Empyrial Urge, King of all Creation, first among the titans overthrown. Malfeas, maybe. A mantle for the office of the Unconquered Sun." 14[20:32] * Joins: hrolfy [20:33] "It's bad news." [20:33] "It's -- I thought it was fictional. Not a myth, just straight up not real. And there it was. And now, here it is." [20:33] "And good news." [20:34] 14He sits down on a cot. "It might save us." [20:34] 13Xia Lan: "We just need to make sure it doesn't - well. You know." [20:34] "Soon," 5he nods. "If we don't see to the water, we may as well give your liege everything he asks and more without so much as a discussion." [20:35] 14The Ambassador slinks into the tent, having finally procured some sort of snack. "Darling, I -- oh, hello Tsuka." 14Out of deference to Xia Lan, it's not 'Oh, hello Tsuka." [20:35] 13Thank you. 15[20:35] Jai navigates the nauseating blend of frenetic color and pallid, ashen landscape with the fluidity of a native. No terrain is an obstacle to one such as he! He climbs a tree to get his bearings, and sees the dead and the raksha in pitched battle over the corpse-thick Yellow River. Spirits flying to and fro, skeletal and hobgoblin archers and slingers filling the sky with projectiles, 15[20:35] and over top of it all are cascades of shimmering violet energy breaking against a bulwark of thunderbolts that cross in the sky like bones. 15[20:35] In the distance, is that-- it is. 15[20:36] Looming over the undead cannonade is the thing itself, Thorns's terrible master, the Mask of Winters. [20:36] 10Jai: "Things just got a whole lot more complicated." [20:39] 10He goes over the dossiers and reports in his head again, then smacks his forehead with the heel of his hand. Of course! One of their favored deathknights is mixed up in this too. Idiot! Baka! Always consider all the factors! 15[20:39] But there, beyond the battle lines, the streets and spires of Nexus itself. He's home free if he can get past or around this mess. What's his plan? [20:40] 14Unless Tsuka has something to say to the Ambassador beyond returning her greetings, she'll shift into a housecat and curl up on Stranger's lap. 15[20:41] Tsuka just sort of nods to the Ambassador, still terribly distracted. "...what?" [20:41] 5Xu Sim will lead Seven - or more likely, allow himself to be led by either Selin or Seven - to the fountainhead, itself. As they proceed, he speaks quietly - "I don't know what to make of what we saw in Thran. Or what we, I, Urza, did, or didn't." [20:43] 13Xia Lan lists off on her fingers. "Nourishes the righteous. Annihilates the profane. Passage into heaven. And gods below the Unconquered Sun cannot defy you." 13She shakes her head. "And I need to figure out how to get it to do these things--" 13How long do they have? What, like an hour? [20:43] 14Stranger: "Technically, you need to figure out how to get it to do one thing, and then we bluff." [20:43] 13She smiles weakly. "That's so much better." 15[20:43] Seven and Selin keep pace. Selin offers, "The rain's doing its part to help. We're drawing a lot of fresh water in that way. But if it keeps up we're going to have to start preparing trouble. Cholera and all the hell else." [20:44] "Though knowing how to annihilate the Mask, just burn him out of Creation, would be nice." [20:44] "One step at a time, here, I'm still not sure this thing won't destroy our friends." [20:45] 14Stranger: "We'll have to test that eventually. I'm confident the maker used a standard definition for what it burned. The Unconquered Son would be very displeased if they didn't." [20:45] "Though that could still burn some of our friends." 15[20:46] Seven: "...there was much there I didn't understand. What was it like for you?" 15[20:47] Judging by their infallible sense of time, the circle has about an hour and a quarter before the Mask's, aheh, deadline. [20:48] 13Xia Lan: "I would rather we didn't, if at all possible." 13She'll set the ring on a table, take a look at it now that she's not fleeing from a dying land. [20:49] 14Stranger: "Under no circumstances can we give the Mask the impression that he can just take it from you." [20:50] 13Matter-of-factly: "Well, he can't. I won't let him." [20:51] 10Jai focuses. Then he *really* focuses, scanning the encampments. The best way to pass through unquestioned would be a disguise. But as who, or indeed, what? 15[20:51] The ring is an unblemished, perfectly circular band of purest orichalcum, about seven ilms in diameter. [20:51] 13No inscriptions? No warnings against its use? [20:51] 14Stranger: "Then you'll need to learn how to wear it and use it. Let's clear the perimeter of any of our undead allies and try it out." 14There shouldn't be any in the hospitalier company anyway. [20:53] 5Xu Sim listens to each of his companions as they move through the Undercity. "That's good, Selin, but it means we're in a race against time whether or not the Mask withdraws. Cholera we can treat, but the water could carry worse..." 5now, addressing Seven: "Flashes of another life, memories of another Chosen, Urza in this case. He labored for so long to make all of that, for good [20:53] or ill, before it simply passed into dust," 5Xu Sim sweeps his arm through the air, sighing. 15[20:53] Jai takes in the whole universe of battle up and town the banks and balustrates of Nexus's northern docks. There's surprisingly few unharrassed travelers. The road is cordoned off and only the most insane and desperate merchants risk a naked river crossing. There are no medics and couriers as the battle before him is a grinding slaughter of mindless or enslaved corpses and thralls. 15[20:53] The line is all but involate, with Thorns touching the southern bank of the river, technically outside city limits but still well short of the breadth of the river, and the minions of Cethleann lining the north bank. 15[20:54] There's almost nothing he can do! But wait... rising from the river, there, almost invisible against the churn, a raft of bone with fae-touched mortal thralls lashed to it. 15[20:54] That's insane. He couldn't possibly-- 15[20:54] Could he? 15[20:57] The Sol Ring is totally unmarked. 15[20:57] Seven: "It seems a waste." 15[20:59] The main intakes where the water of the Yellow River runs into the Undercity are at the northern edge of the sewers, drawing in fouled river water to fill its sewers and canals. Thirsty people are being held back from the toxic water by a detachment of Keldar's Dawn Guard. The atmosphere is getting heated. [20:59] 13Exhale. "...no other way to find out, hm?" 13She shakes her head. "If we ever create unbelievably powerful artifacts, make sure we leave instructions and warnings." [21:00] 10It's a bad situation all around, but time is of the essence here. He considers the possibilities. "Chii~" 07A worried sound from within his cloak. "Hey, Shiki. Hold on tight. When we get into the camp, do everything you can to stay unnoticed." "Chi, chi." 07She sounds doubtful about the whole endeavor. [21:01] 14Stranger: "Does putting my name on it count as a warning?" [21:01] 13Xia Lan: "...yes." [21:02] 14Stranger smiles grimly but says nothing else. [21:03] 10Jai drops from the tree and creeps up towards the river. He flattens himself against the ground, closes his eyes, and then re-opens them as a fae-blood. Or close enough to it, anyway. [21:06] "A terrible waste. It makes me wonder what the point-" 5Xu Sim rounds the corner to see the situation. "Back! I am Xu Sim and back, I command!" 5he surges through the crowd to the guard. "We shall make the best of this," 5he affirms to the crowd. 15[21:08] The crowd parts for Xu Sim, hero of the city and banisher of the honey plague, who approaches the great grates grating on the greats. [21:10] 14The perfidy of this narration! 15[21:10] Jai staggers to the waterline with the dazed cadence of a raksha thrall. It should be as simple as diving into the river and letting himself get caught. Which still sounds insane, but a plan's a plan. [21:10] 13Xia Lan: "Well. All right. Seven and Vladok ought to be far enough away, so... Tsuka, Stranger, I'm going to put it on." [21:10] 10He stays low and looks for a "safe" place to cross. A few moments later, he leaps into the spray and foam. Swimming for "freedom". Better to try and put one over on the dead than the fae, though. [21:10] 13She slides the ring onto her wrist and breathes. Inhale, exhale. Focus. [21:11] 14Stranger closes his eyes and runs a protective hand over the Ambassador's back. 15[21:11] The air lightens. Everyone breathes easier. [21:12] 10Immediately after, he realizes just how crazy that is. This isn't a day at the beach! He's tossed around like so much flotsam. 15[21:16] Tsuka: "...are you doing that?" [21:17] 10He keeps his head above water, though., and doesn't get clobbered by any of the other jetsam in the river, which takes some doing. 07Tiny claws dig into Jai's neck. [21:17] 5Xu Sim takes another step past the guards, giving a careful smell at each interval. He doesn't play it up for the crowd, like some tinpenny shaman looking for a big payday might do. He works his moustache to and fro beneath his fingers, rolling the tips of the coarse hair against itself as he ponders the situation. [21:17] 14Stranger begins rhythmic, meditative breathing. In his lap, the Ambassador falls asleep. [21:18] 13Xia Lan: "Yes, that's - that's the ring. It mostly just feels... nice." 15[21:20] Jai gets into the chaotic, foul-smelling river, weaving between the limbs and weapons of the pitched battle happening on the way down to the riverbed. With care and precision, he's able to end up snared in a skeletal oarsman's net and dragged onto a raft of lashed femurs with three other vacant, green-eyed thralls, who smile limply at him. The skeleton pinches Jai's throat roughly, 15[21:20] checking for a pulse, and then drags him to the center of the raft where a part of skeletal arms emerging directly from the center of the raft lash him down. [21:21] "Not what I expected from an artifact of unknown but great power, but... preferable to some alternatives." 15[21:21] Tsuka: "Is that all it does?" 15[21:21] "I thought you said something about the profane. Should we try it on the undead?" [21:22] 13Xia Lan: "Not in the histories. So." [21:22] 14Stranger: "Trying the power of the Sun on the undead is likely to lead to some expected and rather dire outcomes." [21:22] "I should hope so, at least." [21:22] 14His eyes are still closed. 15[21:23] Xu Sim studies the waterworks and finds the grates physically choked with the rotting and bloated remnants of the drowned dead. The water pressure is pushing them through the grates an ilm at a time like a massive sausage grinder. [21:23] 13Xia Lan: "We should find out, before the meeting with the Mask. Is there like - ugh, not an infirmary for them, but like... a mechanic's shop for undead?" [21:23] 5That's delightfully disgusting! [21:24] 13It can't be just this, not with everything she's read. 15[21:25] In his head a plan comes together, of sealing the grates like tiny dams and widening the grates at the other end of the city, allowing the healthier water from the Grey to flush the fouled water from the system and out into the Yanaze. The canals above will grow stagnant and choked with the dead, but the water down here will be usable again in half a day's time. [21:25] 14Stranger: "We're in something of a taker's bind, here." 14That's a regional expression, probably meaning something akin to damned-if-you-to, damned-if-you-don't. "We don't test it on the undead, we don't know what it does. We DO test it on the undead, then the Mask of Winters will know for certain ahead of time that we have it." [21:26] 14...There is someone who almost certainly knows precisely what Sol's Ring does, but Stranger has no interest in letting him out. [21:26] 14Assuming it's even that simple/. 15[21:27] Tsuka: "Some of the Dawn Guard have... they call it Dancer. It's a set of leg and hip bones that move around on its own. They play games with it, try to make it jump over things. Chase it around. To blow off steam." 15[21:28] "One of Xu Sim's magicians salvaged it." [21:28] 14Stranger: "That sounds morally clean." [21:28] 10After being posted to occupied Thorns for several months, you get used to being close to the dead. Nothing to do now but enjoy the ride. Feignign having your eyes glaze over is trickier than it sounds, so he just recites a couple of Immaculate sutras in his head until the words become meaningless. (They were always pretty meaningless.) [21:28] 13Xia Lan: "...sweetheart. Tsuka. Take me to this... thing." 13She doesn't sound angry, which is the worst part. [21:29] 5Xu Sim blinks a few times as he realizes what's being squeezed through the grates. "Seven, look at this," 5he says, gesturing at it. "I think if we can block this off, we can flush it down the Yanaze with water from the other side. But the... plug... you don't think it'll try to stop us from doing that, right?" [21:29] 14Stranger will accompany. The Ambassador will be left to doze. 15[21:31] Jai keeps his lips sealed against the water, which still slops aboard regularly, and feels the crash as the raft beaches onto the shore. Then he's slapped senseful by a bony hand and dragged to his feet. The four prisoners are marched unsteadily up onto the docks where Thorns is encamped, all of them unchained as they're presented for inspection by a huge, translucent monster of a man 15[21:31] with bone-white skin and huge hands dominated by long, sickly yellow nails. He rubs his chin as he inspects them. 15[21:33] Seven looks terribly fascinated by the grisly display. "It takes a tremendous amount of force to crush and liquefy even a quite decomposed body like this. Remarkable. What? Who is 'it'?" [21:36] 07You'd have to be paying really close attention to notice the dark blur that scampers away from the prisoners. Even then, you'd probably mistake it for a rat. 15[21:36] Tsuka leads Xia Lan and Stranger to a dimly lit disused section of the Undercity, close enough to the surface that the storm rages audibly above. There, a handful of off-duty Dawn Guardsmen stand in a rough circle around an animate pelvis, which is currently leaping over and dancing around a growling dog who just can't quite get their teeth around its tantalizing legs. [21:39] "Just concerned about hungry ghosts, zombified fingers, that sort of thing. Is this the sort of stuff you have to work with often? Do you not mind it? Or do you work with more, ah, hygenic ghosts as so forth?" 5he says, leaning closer to give it a look up-close. and holding the frock of his robe over his mouth and nose. [21:39] 14Stranger: "Everybody leave. Except the leg." 15[21:39] As Xia Lan approaches, Dancer skips a step, missing the landing on a leap and staggering aside with a jerk. Over a matter of minutes it slows until the dog easily takes hold of it and begins to shake it apart, going wild until everything's fallen away from the tibia in its jaws, and then as the bones disintegrate one by one until a thin film of ash remains. [21:39] "Oh for fuck's sake." [21:40] 13Xia Lan: "Um." [21:41] "Did the ring do that?" [21:41] 13Xia Lan: "...it did." [21:42] "I'm suddenly incredibly glad I didn't try this around Seven." [21:43] 14Stranger: "We're reckless, not stupid. I'd get a chain to wear it around your neck. Or keep it on your finger unattuned. Either way, if you attune it around the Mask, he'll feel it." [21:44] *wrist 15[21:44] Seven eagerly picks a few clumps of rotted meat from the grates and puts them in tiny vials. "I mostly work with the dry kinds. The more waterlogged they get the sooner they fall apart. It's been ages since I had to do much with pieces, there's so many intact corpses to use." [21:44] 13Xia Lan: "Hopefully he'll recognize what it is on sight and we don't have to resort to that." 15[21:46] Finally, the beastly man gets to Jai, pausing to inspect his cheeks. He gets real close, stinking of sulphir and liver, and his nostrils flare with a big sniff. [21:48] 14Stranger: "Some don't learn what's hot until they touch the fire." [21:48] "Prepare for that." [21:48] 10Do your best impression of a pithed-out husk that's just been drenched in foul river water.  [21:49] 13Inhale, exhale. "I can be." [21:49] 10Jai: "Buhh." 10Brilliant! The disguise of your career! [21:50] "You're quite at ease with it. And talented, from what I've seen," 5Xu Sim notes, approvingly. He takes a step back to appraise how he'd set up some sort of floodgate in this area to hold back the tide. It would take something of great, grate strength no doubt. [21:50] 14Stranger: "It's categorically unsafe to test any of its other powers inside the city. Are you prepared to learn on your feet, and smite the Mask without regard to the safety of myself, the Governor, or anyone else at parley?" [21:51] 13She watches what remains of "the dancer" blow away in the wind. "...make sure Seven isn't there. I don't -- Xu Sim would hate me." 15[21:51] Apparently satisfied at last, the beastly man takes Jai firmly by the shoulders and walks him away, as revenants drag his three raftmates somewhere he can't see. Only belatedly does it occur to them to scream. [21:51] 14Stranger: "I'm sure we can make certain they're busy elsewhere." [21:53] 10He'd suck in air through his teeth, but that would spoil the facade. But the worst thing that ever happened to them probably happened long ago. [21:53] 13Xia Lan: "You were safe. The Ambassador was safe. I can't think of anyone other than the Governor and the Mask who could be there -- unless. Um. Hopefully Octavian is busy." [21:54] "I am not interested in poking that particular bear." 15[21:54] Jai is ushered into a lean-to whose open side faces the city. Inside is a low bench where five healthy and alert fae thralls are chained together. The beastly man sets Jai down and a skeleton locks manacles around his ankles, making him one of the six bound there. "Now! Only one more suitable subject is necessary. Then we will proceed." He starts to laugh, and the laugh bubbles into 15[21:54] a full-throated cackle that continues for over a minute until he abruptly chokes and coughs. A wet beetle is hurled from the recesses of the beastly man's throat to land directly on Jai's cheek. 15[21:54] "Eugh." [21:55] 10Don't blink don't react don't blink don't react 15[21:56] Seven: "You're not so bad at it yourself. A dedicated scholar can't afford to be squeamish." 15[21:57] The beastly man reaches out and gingerly catches the beetle between two thick yellow fingernails, and pops it back into his mouth. He chews thoughtfully. [21:58] 10Subject? Proceed? Is this some kind of experiment? Springing himself from the manacles will be trivial, but this would be a great opportunity to gather more information. 15[22:00] "Well! Don't any of you move. Ahaha! I jest. If you possessed the werewithal to escape, you would surely know that the effort would doom you to a grisly and protracted death." He looks up and down the row of them. "It occurs to me that none of you are lucid enough to understand me. I'm basically just talking to myself, aren't I?" 15[22:00] "Hmm." 15[22:01] "Well, don't tell my daughter! It's a surprise!" He offers the center thrall a jaundiced, theatrical wink, and then strides bulkily away. [22:01] 10Jai: "Guh." 10They should give me an award. [22:02] "Chii." 07A low chitter from the shadows. [22:06] 5Xu Sim: "Absolutely. There's often so little difference between medicine and poison, for instance. I suppose that's part of what made the waste of Thran so, well, wasteful. What was the point of all that ambition, all that power? All of it cast aside." 15[22:07] What do Xia Lan and Stranger do now? [22:08] 14Stranger wants to get some rest in before the meeting with the Mask. [22:08] 14Preferably within range of Sol's Ring. 15[22:09] Seven looks thoughtful. "I suppose we let Urza's son decide, and Urza's son had decided long ago that the place was not worth saving." 15[22:09] "Your friend is very stern but he seems often moved to do the soft-hearted thing." [22:10] 13It takes a moment for Xia Lan to be - pulled from her stupor, more or less, and dragged back to the tent. She clutches close to Tsuka the whole way, if he's coming with. 15[22:10] He'll spend the time with her. This is meant to be his rest shift anyway. [22:10] 10Jai looks up, still outwardly displaying a perfectly empty expression. Information is one thing, but time's wasting. He decides to not be here when the bug-chomper comes back.  [22:15] 10First half of the plan: Success. Now for the second half: getting out of this armed encampment. Jai looks around to make sure no one's looking, pries a rusty nail from the wall of the shed, and in his hands it's as good as the finest set of picks. The manacles spring open. [22:15] "Stranger!?" 5Xu Sim barks in laughter. "He's quite a contradiction, isn't he? He's a very pious man, holds himself - and the rest of us - to this enormous standard, but then he's all quite flexible about it all. If you just heard about him, you'd think he was unflinching, resolute, holier than ten monks. But that's not really who he is." 15[22:16] Seven: "Good. People who aren't willing to go back on their word when needs must are useless." [22:17] 5Xu Sim pauses a moment longer. "Then again, he may not be sure who he is. I think he's had some big surprises on that subject since your - showed up." 5a momentary gesture around his head conveys the sense of the two sides of the Mask. [22:17] 13Whispering: "I love you. I know I don't say it enough." 15[22:17] Seven: "What do you mean? You think he serves the Mask as well?" [22:20] "Oh, I hadn't thought of that. I don't think so. But the Mask seemed to know him. And not his ancient incarnation, like I remember Urza - HIM. It's like how his name, that he uses today, was on the walls of the passages to Thran." 5He takes a few steps back. "We'll need mortar." 15[22:21] Tsuka takes Xia Lan's hand in his. He almost burns to the touch. "I love you too," he whispers back after an extended pause. [22:23] 13<3 [22:23] 14Stranger's out of hearing range already. There's been something purposeful and haggard about him ever since he's come back from Thran. [22:23] 14An odd hardness set in his face. 15[22:23] Seven nods and helps Xu Sim work. [22:23] 14Preparing for perhaps the final meeting. [22:25] 5Xu Sim claps his hands a few times. "Listen up, everyone! We are all going to work together on this!" 5He begins by establishing spaces for admixture, for stockpiling, and all the rest. Thirsty Nexans pile rocks and stones and Dawn Guards fetch bags of lime from the works above. [22:25] 13She tries to get a read on what's bothering Stranger. Something about his past, maybe? But - even at the best of times that guy's unreadable. [22:26] 13Back to whispering sweet things to her boyfriend. [22:27] 10Jai ducks out of the shed and into the nearest shadow. His form shimmers, and where the fae-blooded youth stood is a dried-out walking corpse, reeking of mold and dust. [22:29] "CHI." 07A flat refusal. "C'mon. It's still me," 10Jai whispers in a voice like tombs opening. "Just for a little bit." 07And reluctantly, the sable scampers back up Jai's back and conceals herself in the cerements of the dead. [22:32] 14Well, it's at the very least clear what he WANTS her to think is bothering him. [22:34] 5Xu Sim clasps his hands together for a moment, grins a little cheekily to Seven. "Let us begin." 5With that, he sets to work - not quickly, but slowly, slowly, slowly. He combines the lime and the dust and his own spit and one of the necromancer's own blonde hairs and he stirs it gradually. It forms, it firms, and the thirsty and tired Nexans hurl their stones into a great dam to [22:34] 5hold back the tide, a dam held together by the mortar Xu Sim and his beloved made. [22:38] 5As Xu Sim works, the sigil on his brow glows brighter and brighter, until it shines through the Undercity in a swirling mandala of sheer power. Nothing is left to chance. [22:39] 10Jai staggers off into the night, learning as he goes from the revenants he passes. Before long, he has the gait down, and the occasional stutter-step motion of a real walking corpse. He's even hailed a couple of times and manages to parrot back a response he overheard. All in all, things are looking up.  [22:39] 5Xu Sim is no singer, but the people of Nexus have their work-songs, and they sing them as rock. After. Rock. Finds. Its. Place. [22:42] 10Well, maybe those months in Thorns weren't wasted after all. Maybe this is what I was being trained for? 10No. No way. Dark Star couldn't have plotted this all out… could they? 15[22:44] Jai is able to weave through the undead without drawing attention from any of their overseers. Soon he's broken free and is in the darkened and rain-slick alleys of Nexus proper, the beating commercial heart of the city. He finds... no one. The streets are bare of people, the buildings vacant and dark. It's like a ghost town. [22:45] 5Before long, the work is done. Xu Sim turns to Seven. "Now, I will rest-" 5And his lips find hers in an embrace. He closes his eyes and who can say how much time passes? To the people of Nexus, it would not seem much. To Xu Sim, at least, it seems much longer. 15[22:46] Seven joins him in it gladly. 15[22:46] The hour passes. Stranger and Xia Lan are refreshed, though the passage of time has given them no more certainty or clarity of purpose. [22:46] 14That's fine. [22:46] 14It's time. [22:47] 14Stranger will make it to the bank of the Yellow River first. [22:49] 10Creepy. By some measures, this is the greatest city in the world. Seeing it abandoned feels wrong, ona deep level. 10Feels like home, after the battle.10 He lets the disguise slip, the plan having succeeded.  [22:51] 13Xia Lan will hang behind Stranger - she can be the element of surprise. [22:53] 14Don't insult the Mask like that. [22:53] 10Jai walks the streets and thoroughfares, deadly silence as his only companion. Where could you hide the inhabitants of an entire city? [22:53] 14He'll stand when they're all there. It should be him and Xia Lan, though possibly Ballare will want to come. [22:53] 13She can be the element of not having to become a beacon of annihilation. [22:54] "Chi!" 07Well, one companion.  [22:54] 14She'd better be ready to embrace that if this goes sideways. 15[22:54] Jai can see that in many places, particularly the poorer areas he moves through, the city was hastily abandoned. He's able to find trails that lead to the canals, slowly swelling with corpses and putrid water. He ducks close, and he sees one of the drainage grates that bleed the canals into the sewer system are being abruptly sealed with bricks... from the inside. Is that singing? [22:55] 13She is. She's just - not thrilled about it. [22:55] 14Stranger doesn't have the tea with him this time when he sets out for wherever the Mask is on this river. 14[22:55] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[22:55] * Joins: tom [22:57] 5Some moments later, at least - "I can't stand the thought of you in pain," 5he explains. "I don't know what the future holds. But I won't let it bring... that." 15[22:58] Seven: "You're very kind. But I'm no stranger to pain. Don't protect me at the expense of achieving our aims." 15[23:00] Jai also finally hears voices around him. Sharp, terse calls in Riverspeak by soldiers wearing full-body matte white armor, wielding weapons not of bronze or iron, but true steel. Lookshyans? Here? [23:03] 10Ehh?! What?! He was just about to bend down and talk to the grate like a damn fool. 15[23:03] They seem to just be passing through. Jai could try to stay out of sight or he could follow them to see what their deal is. [23:03] 13Xia Lan's sweating, as she makes her way to the Mask. The - she got the Sol Ring off, after an internal struggle. Shouldn't she keep it on? Isn't she the best person for this? Can she risk its theft? 15[23:03] Or just walk up to them, if he's feeling daring. [23:04] 13It's - she's going to talk to someone about this later. But now is not the time. [23:04] "Our aims? We have... more than one?" 5Xu Sim feels a little foolish. 15[23:06] Seven: "To save the Direction. To be free of the Mask. To uncover all the lost wonders of Creation and fashion new ones to match! To know everything!" [23:06] 10Jai does a reasonably good job of scurrying up a pipe and takes up a position on the roof. He'll follow them from up here for as long as there's rooftops he can jump to. 15[23:06] Seven stops, realizing she's gotten a bit carried away. "Er." [23:07] 14Instead of setting up the tea set on the rock near the Mask, Stranger will just stand on it. 15[23:07] Jai's able to follow the Lookshyans a fair way by rooftop, until he comes to a neighborhood that looks like it burned down. It must've been in the fighting. On the ground below, the rain's washed ash and rubble off the remnants of a sign that reads SPICE NOODLE. [23:07] 5Xu Sim laughs and seizes her again. "All of it!" 15[23:09] The Mask of Winters makes an offering of bones to the wind and the storm and the lightning turns violet, raking the rivers and disgorging more and more reluctant dead. As Stranger and Xia Lan arrive, he stops, arms akimbo, and allows all of his joints to break and reverse themselves, letting him bend forward at the waist without turning around to bow to the two Solars with his beatific 15[23:09] face forward. [23:10] 14Stranger: "Mask." [23:11] 14He gets a polite, abbreviated bow. 15[23:12] The conversation between the Lookshyans is lifts up through the rain. "Any sign of it?" "The lieutenant's gone mad, there's no lone revenant wandering the streets of Nexus." "Check again!" "I'm freezing!" "Do you want that our report to the lieutenant? To the Dragonlord?" "Alright, alright." "Besides, who says it's from Thorns? You've seen how close Xu Sim is getting to that 15[23:12] necromancer." "Disgusting creature." "Maybe that's the best he can do." "Any port in a storm, I guess." "Even a clammy one." 15[23:13] The Mask's voice carries clearly through the storm. "Will you accept a bit of shelter?" [23:13] 10!! 10There's one of the names he was hoping to hear. [23:14] 13Xia Lan bows from just behind him, bracelet visible on her arm. [23:14] 14Stranger: "Only if the levees break." [23:16] 10Jai's blood freezes at that last voice. 10They… they haven't turned, have they? To the Mask's service? No way. 15[23:17] The Mask: "As you wish. Have you done what you set out to do?" 15[23:18] The Yelllow River no longer flows into the Nexus Undercity. The running water is far weaker than it was before, but it runs clean and soon the people of the city will slake their thirst, albeit at a stricter rationing. [23:20] 14Stranger: "That's a larger question than the scope of our current negotiations." [23:20] "I've set out to do a lot of things." 15[23:20] "I suppose so." [23:21] 14Stranger: "I appreciate what you done for us. I thought I should say that, before this begins." [23:21] *you've [23:22] 10Jai skulks his way back to the city gates. "Wonder if Spice Noodle was any good," 10he muses to the silent streets. It's been, well, a while since his last proper hot meal. The hunger is starting to cut through the disgusting river smell, even. [23:23] 5Xu Sim takes a deep breath as it becomes apparent that the water crisis is at least mitigated. "Wait, what time is it?" 15[23:24] Seven: "A few minutes to dawn." 15[23:25] With this worrying information Jai heads back north, from rooftop to rooftop, able to get to the inner docks and see across the pool. He sees past wind and rain to the sight of a dignified older man being bowed to and bowing, in turn, to the Mask of Winters. Behind that old man... is that... why, it's the Unfettered Xia Lan! She bows too!" [23:25] "Your master hasn't called you, and my companions haven't called me." 5He places a hand on his hip to verify the Codex page is where it should be. It is. 15[23:26] Seven: "I'm grateful for it. I so rarely get to see you without someone looming over us." [23:26] 14Stranger still has the Codex on him, though he hasn't called anyone on it recently. [23:26] 10Jai's heart skips a beat.  [23:27] All right. This is no time to get star-struck. [23:27] 13Isn't it, though? [23:27] 5Xu Sim: "Too bad there isn't anything but mushrooms and water, or I'd invite you to breakfast somewhere." [23:28] 5Continuing: "I am curious, though, do you have memories like the ones I have of Urza?" 15[23:29] Seven: "Nothing so clear or so moving. I have fragments. Images. Sensations. But the circumstances of my Choosing are rather different." [23:29] 10Actually, it's time to get very star-struck, as the Unfettered Xia Lan has just picked up a stalker. Jai's going to see if they return to the city, and if they look like they are, he's going to set up a little ambush interview. 15[23:29] The Mask: "And I appreciate what you've done for me." [23:31] "I understand if you prefer not to speak of it," 5he replies. [23:31] 14Stranger chuckles. "I'm sure." [23:31] "You want to hear about the deal I'm making?" 15[23:32] "Very much." [23:32] 13We love the deals, folks. [23:33] 13Xia Lan is still nervously fiddling with the presently deactivated Sol Ring. [23:34] 14Stranger: "With highest honors and respect as a savior of Nexus, you're going to leave. We'll stand by previous deals with your people. We'll maintain a diplomatic presence with Thorns. We'll even come visit. But you're not going to step inside this city's walls, and you're not going to sack the city. And I say that in something akin to friendship." 15[23:34] The Mask: "Or else what?" [23:35] 13Is that a cue? [23:35] 13She looks to Stranger for confirmation. [23:36] 14Stranger: "Or else we fuck around and see what happens." [23:36] 13Another nervous adjustment. [23:37] 10Jai almost finds himself toppling over the wall he's hidden himself on, leaning so far over it to listen, even though he doesn't need to. 15[23:38] The Mask turns to face Xia Lan. "Go on. Show me." [23:38] 13This is a trap. [23:38] 14He nods to Xia Lan. Let's see what happens. [23:38] 13This is a trap, and she's going to attune it again, because... what else can you do when called on it like that? [23:39] 14It's not a trap. It can't kill him unless you tell it to. He's not a hip bone and a leg. [23:39] 14And he's curious. 15[23:43] Seven sits on an upturned bucket of concrete. "If I try, I remember... water. I remember drowning, where there's no sign of land." 15[23:45] Xia Lan's anima swells with the ring's power. Stranger breathes freer. The revenants and skeletons and spirits whirring around the docks stagger and slow around them, quickly moving away and restablizing when they've found a safe distance. The Governor, behind the Mask, looks weak and ill. 15[23:45] The Mask steams gently with what looks like glowing white steam. "Go on." [23:45] 5Xu Sim: "I haven't told anyone this, not even Stranger or Xia Lan, but when I was back in Firewander, in the ancient palace, I felt judged. Judged by people who had no business, by small, stupid, cowardly..." [23:46] 14Is he asking us to test the Ring on him? 15[23:46] Or to power it up, maybe. The clear takeaway is he expects a further demonstration. [23:46] 14To Xia Lan: "Start small. Work your way up." [23:48] 10Whoa.10 Admittedly, Jai doesn't know a lot about artifacts, but that must have some real power. He's pretty sure they arne't in league with the Mask now, at least, so his plans for the ambush interview are de-escalating. [23:51] 5...Xu Sim uncurls his fists and sits down on the ground in front of Seven, back to the passage wall, looking up at her. "Sometimes I wonder if all that history is hanging above, just waiting to look up, before it crashes down on my head. That's why I let the Son sacrifice Urza's works." [23:51] 13Xia Lan's very new to this entire -- increasingly terrifying, unbelievably powerful ring. She takes a breath. [23:52] "Ah, it's just a load of Immaculate dogma, right?" 5he furrows his brow again. "I've got some other ideas that'll put all of it to shame, no doubt." 15[23:54] Seven: "You are not Urza Planeswalker." 15[23:56] Xia Lan focuses and ignites her anima, trying to draw power from the Sol Ring to demonstrate mastery of it. Her entire body thrums with power. It's exciting, it's delicious. It burns blazing white. She's so overjoyed she doesn't realize she's screaming. She doesn't see the light pour from her eyes, her mouth, and the way the skin of her hand that touches the ring starts to smoke. [23:58] 14As the Ring flashes: "And if you're wondering what mitigates my offer -- I insisted it go to her. Not the sorcerer; not the warlord. And not me." [23:59] 14He steps forward on the rock as the light overtakes them. "Imagine what Stranger Visits Heaven might do with it." Session Time: Wed Feb 27 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] 10No!10 Without thinking, Jai's leaped from his high perch. 10What're you going to do, throw a bucket of water on her? [00:02] "No. And good thing, too. In the end, all that power didn't save him," 5muses the sorcerer bent on acquiring as much power as possible in a bid to save himself and his friends. 15[00:04] Seven: "He seemed lonely." 15[00:04] "He lived in that tower alone. He had to build himself a son." [00:06] "Seems a little egotistical," 5he chuckles. [00:09] "Regardless. How strange a world we live in that we should find one another like this. But I'm glad of it, of that strangeness," 5Strangeness might be putting it gently 15[00:09] Seven: "A little ego is attractive..." [00:10] 13She doesn't even notice as the sun forms upon her forehead. This is - we are - this power belongs to us. A wave of her hand with the Sol Ring, a scream towards a group of skeletons, we can USE this, we ARE this, and the Mask is our only real foe. Xia Lan turns to him in the aftermath, Sol Ring thrumming with power around her wrist. [00:11] "In spite of dressing like a mendicant, I cannot justify being a humble person," 5he points out. 15[00:13] Xia Lan focuses and brings forth the power deep within her, the power she's earned, the power she's owed-- it swells and bursts from her in a torrent of fire, and every sighted being in the vicinity has to shield their eyes. When their retinas permit, their vision settles on near total stillness. The Mask is there, his cloak singed and shredded, his armor caked with ash. The Governor 15[00:13] behind him is on his knees, his eye sockets scored black as smoke comes out of his ears. 15[00:13] But that's all. [00:14] 14Stranger: "Will that do?" 15[00:14] The other undead - the skeletons she aimed at, the revenants running up and down the docks, the spirits above, even the undead churning the river and keeping the raksha at bay - are simply gone. 15[00:14] Not even dust remains. 15[00:14] There's a few seconds dazed silence before Cethleann's army, now unimpeded, begins to surge across the river. 15[00:15] NEXT TIME: Streets of Rage 14[00:21] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:16] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:24] * Joins: trench_foot 14[14:39] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[14:39] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:56] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:43] * Quits: trench_foot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:06] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[19:07] * trenchfoot is now known as Guest6860 14[19:14] * Guest6860 is now known as trenchfoot 14[20:40] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:17] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[21:18] * trenchfoot is now known as Guest34409 14[21:18] * Guest34409 is now known as trenchfoot 14[21:19] * Quits: trenchfoot (Quit: Leaving) 14[21:19] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[21:33] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[21:47] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:41] * Joins: tom Session Time: Thu Feb 28 00:00:00 2019 14[00:02] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[00:23] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[00:28] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:47] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[01:55] * Joins: Crion_ 14[01:56] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:06] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[05:55] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:56] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[14:32] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[14:32] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Quit: Leaving) 14[14:51] * Joins: trench_foot 14[14:53] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:55] * Quits: trench_foot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:38] * Joins: tom 14[17:14] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:54] * Joins: Crion 14[17:58] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:49] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[19:50] * Joins: dammitwho [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 _ [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 __ ___ ( ) [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 |""| ___ _ __ |"""| __ ` [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 |""| |"""| |"| |""| |"""| |""| _._ _ [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 |""| |"""| |"| |""| |"""| |""| (__((_( [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 |""| |"""| |"| |""| |"""| |""| \'-:--:-. [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 "'''"''"'""'"""''"''''"""'""'""'~~~~~~'-----'~~~~ [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Having returned from their mission into the bowels of the Council of Entities' candle-tomb-compound, Ir and Tatsuya are clear: the Candle Titan's sustained by a combination of the Tomb's invincibly powerful First Age geomancy and its own bottomless rage, it'll return to its slumber only if its ancient self's gigantic daiklave is restored to its rightful resting place, and that gigantic [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12daiklave is currently in the hands of the Mask of Winters. [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12...but you were doing other stuff, right? There is, for instance, a massive army of demon insects growing increasingly restive north of Great Forks, and a cannibalistic jungle empire to throw it at... [20:30] 4No pressure, really. [20:31] 6Also, they have a guy with my face running around, which is extremely rude. The only one allowed to disguise themselves as me is Ying. [20:32] 4Ir's ready to ride as soon as she and Tatsuya are back to the Heavensward, unless Marek's got more to say. 08[20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Elsewhere, between dusk and midnight Kisha is able to give Eikichi a primer in proper necromancy. Having imbibed void-infused tea turns out to be extremely helpful for learning the art, which resembles sorcery in terms of its practice but works with entirely different materials that it would otherwise be very difficult to attain a sensitivity to and a tangible grasp of. Necromantic [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12essence is to be found in the lacuna between streams of sorcery, in occult gaps and dead-ends that it wouldn't have occurred to you to even look into were you not already attuned to the darkness or a transcendent genius. [20:38] 4If it's time to provision the trip for the long haul to the north, Ir will get on that, too. [20:39] 4Errant can probably help.; 15[20:41] 10Cooooool. [20:44] 4She'll also clear out the workshop and the room they used as a cell for Bells and Coils for Marek's circle. He'll be sleeping in her room, of course. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12The good news is that Lunar guests take up barely any room - in a pinch, they can just hang out and even sleep in their animal forms. It sounds like you can except Kisha to be flitting in and out along the trip, but she can fly, so that shouldn't trouble her or you any. [20:49] 4As long as they're not doing that tryhard 'sleeping on the deck' nonsense that Berg insisted on last time he came around. 08[20:49] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom is pleased to swap cultivation tips with Kisha, but that's a process that will take them at least a day or so, and Eikichi's... sigh... learning necromancy in the meantime. So Blossom will return to the Heavensward and begin working on a few projects she's had in mind. The Heavensward needs teeth, and they're not going to have the kruthik around forever. [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Either that, or Creation's not going to have anything but the kruthik around forever. [20:50] 4You wish. [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12But, yeah - what other business have folks got in or around Nexus? If none, what's their next move? [20:51] 4Ir's made her priorities clear. The Heavensward is provisioned and ready to shove off when everyone's aboard. [20:52] 13Other than maybe a quick check-in on the Rainbow Connection to give them an explanation of where she's going, Ying has no pressing errands. [20:53] 7Sounds like Ir and Ying have time for a girls' night out. [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Lingfei: "Where?" 12Totokuro: "You're going WHERE?!" 12Sszark: "!" 12(she bustles around to the back of the shop, then returns with a small, silken bundle: "If you meet my broodmother pleassze give her thissz." [20:59] 13Ying: "...will I know her when I see her? I'd love to deliver a gift, but..." [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Sszark: "Oh! Maybe not. But mention me to any ssszpider sszmart enough to tzalk when you ssszee it. Word will szpread." [21:05] 13Ying: "I can do that! Um, do you want to pass on a message, too, or is that already in the package?" [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Sszark: "Thank you, but you lack the appropriate glandssz. It'ss all in there." [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Once the Squared Circle returns to Great Forks, they find that Kala Theka has joined the sunshrine as promised, serving as guardsmen and laborer for the mortals and god-blooded living and worshiping there. They're always happy to receive their patrons and high priests, and have little to complain about besides space constraints - more and more people are joining the community, but [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12it's hard to expand without butting up against privately-held temples and apartment blocks and so on which are already spoken for by other divinities. [21:15] 4Ir will pray with Theka at the shrine if she'll have him. This is mostly genuine, but she also wants to size up the new him. [21:16] 13She nods. "Your delifurry is safe with me!" 13Then, bows to each of the apprentices. "I leave the shop in your capurrble hands." 13A pat on the head to Jack, and she's off to the Heavensward. [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12There's definitely a sense of discomfort to the former gladiator as he attempts to honor the Most High with simple prayer and honest living. It can't be this easy - no, not even this easy, this boring. But all the Chosen say so... and everyone else here seems fulfilled by it... [21:19] 4Ir finishes her devotionals. "Kala Theka." [21:19] "You're bored." [21:20] "I would be too." [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Theka, mid-murmur: "...from the highest... to the l- hrrm? No, no. I am- carrying out my duty." [21:20] 4She laughs. [21:21] 4Ir: "It's not one thing or the other. You don't have to sit around doing nothing just because you're not dreaming yourself His killer anymore. He needs questors." [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Kala Theka: "Your Rose sent me here - bade me join and protect these people. Do you say different?" 15[21:22] 10Over the course of about five weeks Eikichi subjects Ying and Tatsuya to a bevy of weird requests, like taking hair samples and forcing them to drink sludgy mixtures that taste like grass and smell like eggs. Somewhere after the third hallucinogenic meditation quest Ying starts to feel different, and Tatsuya experiences weird... shrinking pains? It's only temporary, Eikichi reassures 15[21:22] 10them. [21:22] 4Ir: "I do. It's no shame to change the program if the player doesn't enjoy the music." [21:23] 4Ir: "No more heart-ripping, of course. But you've got better things to do than making yourself miserable here with the devotionals. And you'll the enjoy the food and company here in smaller doses." 08[21:23] 6Honestly wasn't even aware those were a thing. You learn new things all the time. 13The hallucinogens are weird... 6It's Eikichi, it's for a good cause. Probably. 13Purrobably. [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12He looks skeptical. "'Learn their ways and do their work.' I still hear it in my sleep. What do you propose that falls in line?" [21:24] 4Ir: "If I asked you the question, 'What does the Sun touch?', what would you say the problem was with that question?" 15[21:25] 10One night about four weeks in, Ying wakes up in Tatsuya's pajamas, now far too big. Eikichi is ecstatic - it worked! It's basically done. The rest of the time is spend training them how to control it, but Tatsuya and Ying finally have their own bodies, as best as they can. [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Kala, his brow knotted: "Surely 'everything' is-" [21:26] 4Ir nods. "The problem is that the question should be: 'What doesn't the Sun touch?'" [21:26] 4Ir: "You've learned their ways; you wouldn't be here doing your best otherwise. You've done their work, but their work grows broader." [21:27] 4Ir: "And Rose's dictate wasn't meant to drive you to madness. We're not doing this to make a punitive point." [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Kal Theka: "So if I've learned their ways -- I should spread them." [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Kala* [21:28] 4Ir nods. 08[21:28] 13When Ying realizes what's happened, she pounce-tackles Eikichi at breakfast in a ferocious hug. She's purring, which is maybe a little weird, but when have these two not been at least a little weird? 15[21:29] 10Success! [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Theka snaps his fingers. "We've all heard. A colony of demons nests on the far shores of the Yellow. Adventurers seeking treasures there have not returned. Perhaps I might-" 08[21:31] 6Tatsuya's a little more reserved, but the next time Eikichi sees him, he pulls out an old secret handshake and awkwardly hugs Eikichi. He's, uh. Not good with words. Not for something on this level. [21:31] 4Ir laughs. "I'm off to deal with them right now, actually." 15[21:32] 10Hey, that's progress. [21:33] 4Ir: "There's slavers about these parts that might get you more renown. If I need you on the demons, I'll call you." [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Kala Theka: "...ah. Well. I will- stay on watch. Thank you for your words." [21:36] 4Ir stands. "Build a home somewhere, Kala Theka. It doesn't have to be here, but here's a good place." [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12The actual kruthik hive poses something more of a conundrum. Jormungand is gone, as well as one of the queens (unless Ir insisted otherwise) - but, despite the big hollow in the center, the rest of the hive cluster still remains. Huge flesh-and-chitin structures sit embedded in the carpet of greyish-purple creep, slowly throbbing as they inhale, exhale, and digest. The earth itself [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12is pregnant with evil, jam-packed with slumbering demons who've burrowed just beneath the surface to await their awakening. One or two kruthlings patrol the area and approach Ir or any other visiting Solar like eager puppies might, though these are much bigger and, clearly, much hungrier. [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12You're about to ask these creatures to pull up stakes and follow you off - but what about the actual hive structure? What about all the infernal bio-infrastructure and creep carpet and so forth? [21:43] 4Burn the ships behind us. [21:59] 7Don't kruthik usually just eat all that stuff when they abandon a site? [21:59] 4That would be the best outcome. [21:59] 13Ew ew ew gross no bad [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12That would waste the least biomatter, yes. [22:01] 4Then eat the ships behind us. [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Poking around, Ir realizes a few things - first, along with unfortunate deer and birds and similar, this hive has laid claim to at least a half-dozen humans. Almost nothing's left of them, but footprints at the edge of the creep plus a few scraps of metal point to raiders or scavengers of some stripe, likely attracted from outside of Great Forks's boundaries by stories of the re-saving [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12or confirmation or something of the city. [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Second, judging by terrain grade and soil disturbance and a few other things, the kruthik are hibernating multiple layers deep... and the lowest layers feature at least a few eggs and larva. It looks like the bugs aren't planning to completely uproot here. And, after all, why? It's a perfectly good hive they've built. [22:05] 7Whew! Alright, where is everybody? Who's nearest the Heavensward and least busy? Excessively Righteous Blossom has an incredible achievement to show off. [22:06] 4Ir will gather the bones and call a summit of the queens. [22:06] 4Ir is definitely nearest the Heavensward and least busy. [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12After Ir taps the ground with the right cadence, Atropos and Clotho come surging up from the creep in a shower of soil and rock. The small pack of active kruthlings quickly moves to flank and back them as they peer into Ir's eyes - and that of any backup the Dawn's got with her. But, feel free to have it out with Blossom first~ [22:07] 13Ying and 6Tatsuya are both 13there as well 6by now. [22:08] 4Ir, to the queens, singing: "Six dead men, and they had it coming. Six dead men, and they'll die more. But we made a deal on seal and fell. We made a deal on kill and tell." [22:09] 4Ir, to the queens, singing: "And now, what do you say? You stay? You STAY?" [22:10] "Lie less. Die less." [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12The two creatures bridle. Atropos rears back archly, Clotho leans forward and sneaks around, both of them chittering eerily. Atropos claimed this place in her youth! Clotho claimed it on birth! It was transformed and defended with such care - they can't simply leave it. [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12The swarm must grow. This hive is as good a staging ground as any. Surely Ir can see that! [22:14] 7Blossom, on deck: "Everyone! Come and look at what I've made!" [22:16] 6Tatsuya ambles out onto the deck, munching on some surely-hazardous snack filched from the kitchen. "I heard noises." 08[22:17] "You! Good! Where's Eikichi, also?" [22:18] 14Ir slices a hand through the air. "I understand your beliefs, your chiefs, your understood bequeaths, but you cannot live here unless you can give here by other means than your teeth." [22:18] 4Ir slices a hand through the air. "I understand your beliefs, your chiefs, your understood bequeaths, but you cannot live here unless you can give here by other means than your teeth." 15[22:19] 10Eikichi's up on deck soon enough. He was doing important research, probably. [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12They don't seem to understand. It's like Ir told the queens look by closing their eyes. [22:20] 4Ir: "Other places, other spaces -- you will do better there. We've found a war you can drive down beyond repair." [22:21] "Excellent!" 7Blossom cackles like she's just found a new way to dig sewage channels. She takes the stairs down the main hatchway three at a time. "Follow me!" 15[22:21] "What's all this then?" [22:21] 4On a different timeframe, Ir's already on the deck as well. [22:22] 4She's probably trying to figure out how to make this all work. [22:22] 6Tatsuya: "Yeah, where are we going?" 6He's following anyway. 08[22:24] 7Down in the hold, the first thing Tatsuying and Eikichi and, presumably, Ir will notice is some odd equipment folded next to the stairway. Ir probably recognizes what it is first - stowed siege equipment! Ballistae able to be clamped to the Heavensward's rail and fire giant bolts at whatever flying beasts Raksi has to defend her, and catapults capable of raining heavy stones down on [22:24] 7her army positions, with slight modifications to the aiming system (since on the Heavensward, catapults point down). [22:24] 4You're damn right she recognizes it first. [22:24] 7There are a few filigrees of jade in their workings - blue jade for precision, green to repel rust and rot, and so on. They're masterworks of the art. [22:25] "No, no. Back here!" [22:25] 6Tatsuya: "...fancy. Do we have the people to-- what?" [22:28] 7What? Well, behind the siege equipment, Blossom proudly stands next to some kind of... cabinet. There's a long, low tray extending out of it at the bottom that's been sanded and lacquered until it's perfectly smooth, leading up to a tall backwards tilted board with large holes drilled in it. The tray curves up at the very end where it would ordinarily meet the holed board, and [22:28] 7there's a large gap between them. Above each hole, Blossom has neatly painted some numbers - the largest center hole has '10', a few smaller ones off to the side have '30' or '50', and two in the highest corners read '100'. [22:29] 7There's also a net made from old rope attached to the sides of the cabinet that goes over the front of the board, though it's not immediately clear why. [22:29] "I've invented a game! You know, for children! It'll help teach them accuracy and throwing technique. Watch!" [22:31] 7Blossom brandishes a wooden ball, itself carefully made smooth, and eyes the cabinet. With a practiced throw, she sends the ball rolling down the tray. It passes under the net, hits the curve, and leaps up into a 100-marked hole! [22:31] 7There's a *thump* from inside, and the ball rolls down to a small shelf beneath the long tray, ready to be rolled again. [22:31] "What do you think? I don't have a name for it yet. That's always the hardest part." [22:32] 4In the room with the queens: "You're not perfect, you're not kind; the Sun left you behind. It doesn't matter what He says. You'll live anyway. But think of what you'll owe to the lives that you stole, if you're a thief without worth. No prominence. No berth. Let the midlands go. Find larger armies to sow." [22:33] 4On the Heavensward: "I love children, and games." [22:34] 4The 100-marked hole. My Sun. Ir won't make this joke. It's a trap. [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12The queens rattle like snakes and howl like wind tunnels, but they can't gainsay Ir - both because it's at her sufferance that they live at all and because they well believe her promises of greater bounties just over the horizon. Though it clearly bothers them, to the point that they snap at each other a bit before burrowing back beneath the creep, it's clear that they're willing [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12for the moment to oversee a complete decampment. [22:35]  [22:35] 4Thank Sun for that. [22:36] 6Tatsuya examines the - game? The platform? "This is - man, this is incredible. For what to call it. Uh. Target bowling, maybe? Lemme think some more..." [22:38] 4To Blossom: "So we're just going to kep this in the hallway, or...?" [22:40] 6Tatsuya: "Bullseye, maybe? Rolling Darts?" [22:40] 4Ir: "Whatever. Help me get these on deck." [22:43] 6Tatsuya: "Sure thing." 6He takes off his coat and just tosses it haphazardly to the side while sidling up behind one of the siege weapons - let's get these up, then we can get back to naming this new game. [22:44] 7Blossom will certainly help heft the siege weapons on deck, since she's incredibly strong. [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12They're pretty sweet, although it's not clear who's going to actually aim the things. Conceivably there's some way to upgrade them so as to be automated and slaved to the Heavensward's own central essence reactor, but that would probably be very expensive and time-consuming. For now you've got... demons? Sunshrine worshipers? [22:45] 4Presumably the people who can aim and fire them are all the people not driving the ship. [22:45] 4But yeah, this ship is coming close to demanding an actual crew. [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12But then there'd be one spaaare- [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12You actually do have a few extra hands: a small circle of Lunar Exalted. Marek confirmed with Ir that he was able to get Kisha and Jol on board a few days back, though the witch still had her reservations, and so it's quite possible that the two newcomers have already had the tour - or are just getting it now. Marek seems to really enjoy the game Blossom put together, and when he's [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12left it alone one might still peek around the corner to find a single oversized pillbug spinning itself up to speed and then rocketing forward to try to score one hundred. [22:49] 4Nerds. [22:49] 6Dorks. [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Anything else the Circle wants to do before they actually, for real, head out at the head of their army? [22:50] 4Ir will fuck Marek a couple times, probably. [22:50] 4Good to go otherwise! [22:51] 13Ying will sketch out designs for her gift for the Emissary, which is like that, but way less crude. [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Is that something she wants to leave behind, or just prepare for her eventual return to the Nexus/Great Forks region? [22:58] 13Preparing for her eventual return. Though she will leave something at the Rainbow Connection for him, if he finds his way to the shop - silver-threaded elaborate designs around the edges of a purely white hooded cloak, glittering beautifully and hopefully being something to his tastes... she really hasn't had much time to actually talk with the Emissary. Maybe next time. [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12The poor guy's been run ragged by the Candle Titan. Perhaps he'll appreciate some new casual clothes, as his normal white work uniform (is that what it is?) has supposedly been soaking up a lot of soot these past months. [23:08] 13Glaring angrily at the mirror hoping Tatsuya gets the message. 6We share thoughts, that wasn't neces13It was absolutely necessary. [23:08] 4Nerds. [23:08] 6That's 13fair. [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12EITHER WAY... one day soon, the Squared Circle and Cerement Circle depart to the east aboard a miraculous flying ship, one whose deck bristles with immaculately-crafted weaponry and whose bowels host priceless materials and lost wonders. And hell marches with them. [23:13] 4Below them, technically. Ir sometimes hangs over the side of the ship when Blossom's willing to take the helm. [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12On day one, the Heavensward floats above a kruthik colony that literally devours itself. Larger creatures unsheath hypodermic feeding appendages while the smaller kruthlings just tear into the living structures with fang and claw, crimson blood spraying as from arterial wounds but being soaked completely up by the carpet of creep. The creep itself recedes as the structures are [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12consumed, but it also doesn't go to waste - queens and tunnelers and ravagers drain it up into themselves, and kruthlings roll through it to form insulated coats or simply gobble up its scraps. [23:14] 4Good. The Heavensward will welcome at least one queen on board. [23:14] 4Master and commander. [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12The larvae and eggs once hidden beneath the soil are infused with the spare biomatter, coaxed into immediately gestating. They explode and unfurl into battle-ready kruthlings or larger beasts, their orange carapaces chased and underlined by an ashen grey reminiscent of the underworld battlefields in which their forebears fought and died. After a frenzy of mere hours, the swarm is [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12ready to move. [23:15] 4Let's ride. [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12With Atropos perched atop the Heavensward and Clotho down below, too slow to keep up with the forced march on her own but carried by an honor guard of chittering roaches, you're on the march. An orange-and-grey carpet of demons uncoils from within the parched and blasted moors north of the Yellow and begins to describe a long northeastern arc. [23:17] 7They're really not so bad, once you get to know them. They're going to love it in Hell. [23:18] 13They really kind of are. 6No, no, she has a point. 13They're weird gross dogs that eat people. 6Yeah, but they don't do it all the time. [23:18] 4'Hell yeah.' [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12As per your scouting, you first approach the centuries-old redoubt of Rozeko's Stand. They know you're coming, but perhaps didn't quite believe it - now you're able to watch as terrified peasants and craftsmen retreat behind the walls of an ancestral fort at the mere suggestion of your swarm's approach. The kruthik don't even come that close, so, arguably, those mortals are all just [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12being dramatic, but you try being calm when you watch a demon army skirt the very edges of your rice fields. [23:20] 4Being dramatic owns. [23:20] 13Also, very important for their safety! [23:20] 4Either way Ir hangs from the anchor to supervise this. [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12The Lunars are somewhat thrown. It's early in the trip that Marek tells Ir, and anyone else around to listen: "Those animals of yours... whose idea were they again?" [23:21] 4Ir: "'Again?'" [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol, currently in the form of a pale, hairless man in a rough black robe, chimes in: "Not animals. Couldn't take their shapes, try as I might." [23:21] 7Blossom: "They're demon-blooded of some kind." 08[23:22] 6Tatsuya, chowing down on eggs: "Probably Eikichi's. And uh, yeah, not animals, taxonomically speaking." [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "No, I mean. Whose idea in your Circle's? To bring the- ah, that was my guess." [23:22] 7Blossom: "When we first found them they were worrying the Jade Folk." [23:22] 4Ir: "They're the wages of Hell, babe. I didn't explain them to you before because it's need to know, and you didn't." 08[23:23] "And it wasn't Eikichi's idea to make them a standard. It was mine." [23:23] "Honestly as long as they aren't overrunning towns, which they aren't, and I don't have to look at them, which I usually don't, they're just. Weird gross bugs we can call on in a pinch." [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek currently looks like the dino-tamer from Ir's first and most famous arena bout, the tall and many-scarred southerner. He raises a brow at Ir. "Huh, really?" [23:23] 6Tatsuya: "Sorry. I probably was out at that moment." [23:23] 4Ir: "Would you want them running around eating the countryside?" [23:23] "No?" [23:24] "Then here we are." [23:24] 6Tatsuya: "They were reeeeeeeeeal shitheads before we got them under control." [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Well, no, but... you know, some might have elected to destroy them, right?" [23:26] 4Ir: "No, I'm just a dumb asshole with no perception of the world around me." [23:26] "There's a reason they pulled up roots in Great Forks and didn't leave them there." [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Mmm. I've my own beast allies, of course. Just never been... this ambitious." [23:27] 6Big same. "Oh, dang, you got 'em to? I was hearing angry noises for a while and I figured they were, uh, displeased." [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol: "They still are." [23:29] 4Ir: "Ambition is the ugly side of power. We had them, and we knew what most would do to them would be immoral. There's not an endgame here where they just get to eat the whole world." [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Heh. Leave it to you to rally them like this not for want of a dark army but because you wanted to be nice." [23:31] 4Ir: "Thanks, sweetie." [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Jol: "Though they still end up with the army." 12Marek: "Be that as it may, Jol." [23:31] 13Being nice is the purest and only reason to do anything. [23:32] 7Awww. She's glad Ir and Marek made up. They're cute! [23:32] 4To Jol: "Eat some more if you want, idiot. But I'll tell them you're coming." [23:32] 6Tatsuya: "We kicked their asses what, like, twice already? Another time if they refuse to listen can't be that bad." [23:32] "Not that these guys know that. But they'd learn." 08[23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha is mostly around during the nights, which she spends conferring with some combination of Eikichi, Blossom, and her two compatriots. As stated, she can fly - she tends to clamber up to the side of the Heavensward before spreading the wings of a great eagle, or a lanky heron, or a compact falcon, or some other bird - she seems to have an awful lot. Her commentary on the kruthik [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12mostly involves narrowed eyes and Hmmph! sounds, but she's quite impressed with the Heavensward and would really like to poke around - both to figure out how it works and to see what other treasures you've got in the hold. [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Anything stopping her? She will respect the Solar's wishes to keep things secret, if those wishes are expressed. [23:36] 4There's nothing on this ship Ir cares about keeping secret, but if she wants custom liquor, she WILL need to get in line. [23:37] 13More catnip please! 6Please do not give her catnip, I wake up with the weirdest fucking hangovers. [23:39] 7Blossom will warn her very sternly not to mess with the Essence reactor and more politely not to go poking around in the Solars' private quarters, but other than that have at it. [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha spends close to a day meditating before the essence reactor, then, even running fingertips over it unless someone tells her not to, but is perhaps even more alarmed by the contents of your hold. Specifically, the huge sphere of ancient, colorless coral enfolding a blood-tinged black sphere which you liberated from Crystal so long ago and which you're pretty sure the Mask himself [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12made a sorcerous attempt to steal some months past. [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "This...! You never said you had such a thing. What... how did you come across it?" [23:41] 4Hey, this is why we let weird claims adjustors on board. [23:41] 4Ir: "We killed someone." [23:42] 4Is that a lie? Ir forgets. It's been awhile. [23:42] 6It's a safe guess, even still. [23:44] 7Blossom, smugly: "In Crystal, in an old Niobraran ruin. The Mask of Winters tried to steal it from us with sorcery, once. Tried." [23:44] 6Tatsuya grumbles incoherently. [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "Yes, yes, the coral - it must be that old! But what does it...?" 12she knocks on it a few times with the knuckles of one fist before sitting down before it to draw some signs in the air, drizzle bits of chalk and bone dust before her face and catch them with the other hand, and so on. 08[23:45] 7Blossom will watch, fascinated. Eikichi at least will want to know about all this. [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "An entire sea of plasmic creatures, and... hungry ghosts? Perhaps they are hungry ghosts, or empowered by them, or inflected by them... there's a veritable army in here." [23:47] 6Tatsuya: "There's a what." [23:47] 7Blossom's lip curls. [23:47] 4Ir: "Tell them to come out and we'll beat their ass." 08[23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "Watch." 12She presses one black-and-white hand against the surface of the coral phylactery and mutters to herself. Eikichi might understand what's going on here, but to the rest of you it just looks like bad news - and, indeed, after a few moments the Chosen opens black-on-black eyes and draws her hand dramatically back from the phylactery, pulling what looks like a string [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12of shadow with her fingertips. [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12It rapidly resolves itself into the front half of a moray eel, except it's made completely of blackness with a red tinge or highlight - like someone dripped luminous blood into a pool of ink. The creature hisses and sort of wreathes and snaps at you, though it can't escape an imaginary globe around the phylactery whose limits end right below Kisha's fingers. [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12After a moment, the magic breaks, and the creature's sucked back beneath the coral. Kisha says: "Eels, sharks, snakes... like I said. A sea's worth, at least. It could materialize them at great range, I think, if properly placed." [23:51] 6Tatsuya: "Good cat." [23:52] 13Somewhere behind his eyes he feels an incredibly furious vibration. This is fine. [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "What?" [23:53] 6Tatsuya: "What?" [23:53] 6He didn't say anything weird. You must be mishearing things. [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha peers at Tatsuya for a moment before returning to the artifact. "And you've just been carrying it around, eh? Better than leaving it behind." [23:57] 4Ir: "It's master made a try once. Guess we just thought we could handle the second time." [23:57] 7Blossom: "Nowhere we could leave it that was any safer." [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha: "Indeed, indeed... and there's no doubt that any relics of the League would be priceless to the death-mages of the modern day. Keep it secret, keep it safe. Except from me, obviously." Session Time: Fri Mar 01 00:00:00 2019 [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Past Rozeko's Stand, the trip gets a bit rougher - although it's mostly for the scavenger lands. As you get farther from the Yellow River and the largest of the region's thoroughfares, your traveling swarm is much more likely to run afoul of dangers, such as a small legion of hungry ghosts rising from a long-forgotten battlefield or a phalanx of hobgoblins preserved in a wyld-tainted [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12grove that dates back to the Crusade. [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12The kruthik make short work, of course; the former are dismantled with frightening efficiency by demon-bugs which have spent more than a season putting down the hungry dead, and the hobgoblins are overrun and sloppily devoured. Unless you're watching for it, you don't even realize the former battle's going on until it's already over - the ghosts rose at midnight, after all, and the [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12fighting was mostly perceptible as a sudden alertness on Atropos's part. [00:03] 4Is this an issue that demands authoritative action? Because we could test the siege weapons. [00:03] 4Ah. [00:03] 4Ir is watching. [00:04] 6Snore. Wait, what happened overnight? Sun almighty. ...nothing to be done. [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12It isn't, but one might be coming up, for you notice over several days of travel that the grass is getting greener, the trees are getting taller, and the winds are becoming not simply more fierce and gusty but actually visible as faint swirls of color in the air. You're approaching the elemental demesne that Blossom and Ir scouted out some weeks ago - one overrun by wood spiders and [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12similar hostile elementals, enchanted by a powerful aura of wood essence topped with a dash of air. [00:05] 4And it presents an actual obstacle now? Typical and expected./ [00:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, yeah. You can go around it, but it'd be an international incident on one side and some kind of humanitarian crisis on the other, so you charted your path straight through. This has two dangers: first, the elementals are fierce enough and cluster in such numbers that they might put up a serious fight against your demons. Second, the essence is very rich here, and that's exactly [00:07] <@Ferrinus> 12the kind of environment the kruthik thrive in - such that you might end up with wayyyy more of the critters walking out than you had walking in. [00:09] 4The latter concern isn't actually a concern. If we have 'too many' kruthik, surely Raksi's armies will assuage our worries. [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12They might be harder to control, but, quite right - if you're on the warpath, that's an excellent problem to have. [00:10] 4And the first concern is win or die. [00:10] 4So let's win. [00:11] 6I mean. We've got something to throw them at. Hopefully the queens don't get their own ideas before then. [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Here's a third concern, though - the sky's darkening and swirling the closer you get to the edge of the great demesne, great green-gray thunderclouds swelling and crushing together as lightning flashes and wind howls. The weather's looking awful, supernaturally so! If this keeps up, the Heavensward might have to just stop and wait for it to pass, or fly low enough that it's practically [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12scraping the wood spider forests with its prow. [00:12] 4The weather's looking awful because it wants to. [00:12] 7Well, Blossom has a spell that can change the weather, which she learned from a sorceress who is *also* on board. [00:12] 4Green-gray thunderclouds. [00:12] 4Fuck to that. [00:12] 4Ir's plan is to send the kruthik down below...and then to fly right in and say hi. [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12There is... a fourth concern. Who's on deck at the moment? [00:13] 4Ir's got the helm. Sondok's probably on station. [00:14] 4Marek is wherever he wants to be, but if he's playing grabass, he's near the helm too. [00:15] 6Tatsuya's watching out. Nothing better to do, really, plus - this is actually genuinely useful. [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, Marek's up there with her, which, I want to note, I wrote before you added that second line. Jol is somewhere below decks, and Kisha, as is her wont, is away for the day. So it's at least three Chosen and one demon queen who are around as a coil of fluffy, cloud seems to kind of trip and roll over the Heavensward's prow, accumulating mass and thickness as it tumbles forward [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12the same way a snowball might gather mass while traveling down a hill. [00:17] 4Grabass it is. [00:18] 4Ir kicks the wheel into motion, steps up to stop it with her foot, and leans forward towards the cloud. "PARLEY?" [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12It resolves itself into a large, blue bear, its fur streaked with grey and white and its limbs' hair thinning towards the ends until the paws look more like scaly eagles' talons. The bear's got a slow, mopey sort of look which fits well with the official's robe it's wearing; it looks like a less fancy version of the uniform you saw on gods all up and down Yu-Shan. Also, the fur on [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12its head is kind of mussed up. [00:19] 6... [00:19] 4Ir: "Hi. Same question, back again." [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12The creature yawns wide before rubbing at one eye and then another with one of its cruel-looking talon-paws. Then it yawns a second time, and then it says, in Old Realm: "Can I have my hat back." [00:20] 4Ir: "If you have to ask." [00:20] 6Tatsuya: "Uh. That all you're hear about?" [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Bear: "Uhh. No, there's, I just... just didn't want to forget." [00:21] 6Here* Typing is hard. [00:22] 4Ir: "If we've got your hat, you'll have it back." [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Bear: "Mrrrmmgood! Good. Okay. Just keep that - remember it, okay, because also... also I'm here for the Lady of the Vortex." [00:24] 6Tatsuya: "No prob, Bob. Gimme a tick-- the who?" [00:24] 7Blossom: "Garuda?" [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Next Week: Now, Don't Fall 14[02:35] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[02:37] * Joins: cbass 14[04:10] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[04:54] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[04:54] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[04:54] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[05:14] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[07:31] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[12:33] * Joins: tom 14[16:50] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:23] * Joins: tom Session Time: Sat Mar 02 00:00:00 2019 14[11:43] * Joins: hrolfy 14[12:18] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:39] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:30] * Joins: tom 14[17:18] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:31] * Joins: tom Session Time: Sun Mar 03 00:00:00 2019 14[03:03] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[05:04] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:02] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[08:26] * Joins: tom 14[08:45] * Joins: VoxPrimey 14[08:48] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:06] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Quit: ) 14[09:06] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[11:13] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:27] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:28] * Quits: hrolf (Quit: Leaving) 14[14:33] * Quits: dammitwho (*.net *.split) 14[14:33] * Quits: Crion (*.net *.split) 14[14:33] * Quits: VoxPrime (*.net *.split) 14[14:33] * Joins: dammitwho 14[14:33] * Joins: Crion 14[14:33] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[14:55] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[18:21] * Joins: tom 14[19:26] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[19:55] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:59] * Joins: tom 14[22:48] * banana|peels is now known as banana Session Time: Mon Mar 04 00:00:00 2019 14[10:07] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[12:39] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Mutter: www.mutterirc.com) 14[12:52] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:55] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Mutter: www.mutterirc.com) 14[16:01] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:01] * Joins: cbass_ 14[19:04] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:23] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[20:37] * Joins: Crion_ 14[20:39] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:45] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:08] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[21:22] * Quits: cbass_ (Quit: ...) 14[21:22] * Joins: cbass Session Time: Tue Mar 05 00:00:00 2019 14[03:59] * Quits: banana (Quit: ZNC - http://znc.in) 14[08:31] * Joins: banana 14[09:46] * Joins: tom 14[13:27] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[18:51] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 14[19:58] * Joins: mattbaby [19:58] Goodness 15[20:01]  15[20:01]  15[20:01]  15[20:01]  15[20:01]  15[20:06] Xia Lan's Demon-Wracking Shout splits the air and everything takes notice. The battle stops, the storm lulls, even the great Yellow River seems to stop flowing for a moment. Through the primordial power of the Sol Ring, it leaves ashen devastation where once stood the armies of Thorns, purported allies of the cause. 15[20:07] A sense of profound, tip-to-toe transgression consumes Xia Lan as the full effect of her actions sinks in. She is seen, and known, and judged. 14[20:07] * Joins: mattbaby_ 15[20:08] And then the heartbeat passes, the world resumes, and only the Governor and his master survive to profane the landscape. [20:08] 14Finishing the sip of his tea: "You did ask for it." [20:09] 14Over the Codex, to Vuol Ballare, Keldar, and Tsuka: 15[20:10] The Mask of Winters's great gauntleted hands clap together. He screeches with delight. "Marvelous!" [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar didn't head straight to parley with the Mask upon returning from Thran; he had to see to the Guard, then inspect the east gate again, then work through a set of administrative matters for the execution of the Civilities in the undercity shelter. He's somewhere in the middle of town now when Stranger's message comes through, and he responds as follows: <"Shit! On the way!"> [20:11] 14Stranger: "Does this demonstration suffice?" [20:11] 14The question is courteous, but he's clearly not actually asking if they need to do more to impress the Mask. [20:12] <@Ferrinus> 12What follows is quick coordination with Tsuka and the other mercenary liasons. A nominal guard's to be left at the east and south fronts, one stout enough to slow down some kind of surprise attack for long enough to allow a proper reinforcement. But Keldar himself, and Keldar's personally-trained legions, are heading straight north to stand where Thorns's corpses fell. Well, more [20:12] <@Ferrinus> 12like where Thorns's corpses' dust particles were carried away on the wind. [20:12] 10Jai, flat on his face on a damp dock, opens his eyes. The killing brightness is gone, at least. That's a good sign. In a moment, he's up again, surveying the destruction. This seems like an exceptionally bad time to bust in on the Mask, so he looks around for a new hiding spot. He'll waylay the other two Solars as they depart the parley. If they depart the parley. [20:12] 13Xia Lan feels exhausted, and also... when this war is over, she's going to need to find someplace to hide this ring. Hopefully for another several thousand years. [20:14] 05Xu Sim pauses for a moment from taking drags on the steambreather and looks at Seven - is she alright?  15[20:15] Seven looks dazed, suddenly. She turns to Xu Sim just as he looks up, confirming what he's already heard. "Something disastrous has happened. Oyr army is gone." [20:17] 05Xu Sim is ashen: "We need to get to the riverbank. Stranger confirmed the same." 05Xu Sim snaps his fingers - rudely - at one of the Dawn Guards. "Send runners to Cathak Tsuka and inform him to dispatch Bleak Ardua's legions to the riverbank at once!" 15[20:18] "You've nothing left to prove to me, certainly," says the Mask. Further words are cut off by the report of cannonfire. [20:18] 13She rubs at her wrist beneath the Sol Ring. "Glad it was good for something, then." 15[20:19] Jai has the best angle to see the great landship beached across the center of the city flare to life, a row of white spheres blossoming to life on its starboard side and then sprinting through the city, blowing out windows and knocking down walls as they go, to collide with the far banks of the Yellow, kicking up vast explosions of soil and bodies and filling the air with smoke and 15[20:19] ozone-smell. [20:20] 10I am in way over my head. 15[20:22] He can watch the great tide of Lookshy's army and Keldar's Dawn Guard surging north and north-west to mass and mobilize on the docks. Jai's never seen this many people move at once. [20:22] 10Sure, he could abandon the plan at this point, go back to the Bureau and hope for clemency, but... 10No! This is what I wanted! To be in the thick of it! All right, me, get pumped. [20:25] 14To Xu Sim: [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Huthuthut... Keldar makes sure to get someone to assess damage done to property by the shockwaves of the Final Word's essence cannons for later invoicing, but otherwise moves at top speed. His Guard can catch up when it catches up. [20:27] 10Yeah, these are people who get things done. He leaps from vantage to vantage. He's got a couple of knives drawn just in case. Hey, maybe one of the raksha will break through the soldiers' lines. 15[20:30] Keldar and Ballare's soldiers surge side-by-side through the streets, starting to pile up and take positions at the inner docks. Stranger, Xia Lan, and the last of Thorns can see them now. Dawn Guard Arrows begin to fly overhead at the great rafts and serpents bearing raksha and Wyld-tainted thralls and untold monstrosities. [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12If this is Jai's first actual look at Keldar, he'll now become acquainted with the image of a tall, well-built, and rakishly handsome man with a mane of auburn hair and a trademark (okay, not yet, but it's on the to-do list) black bandanna. Times were, that's the first thing people tended to notice about Keldar, but now the gleaming artifact gear tends to register before any personal [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12physical qualities: specifically, a suit of gold-and-silver articulated plate, on the back of which is a silver shield over a golden daiklave. The moonsilver's quite form-fitting, though, and Keldar runs and leaps as though it were weightless. [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, approaching Stranger and Xia Lan: "Hell's going on here!" [20:38] 14The Mask's too caught up in his glee to be so easy to read right now; Stranger has to re-engage him. A topic of discussion does come to mind: "Just like the old days, I presume." [20:40] 10Coooool. Yeah, so far everyone has fit the descriptions in their dossiers, but also they cut way more impressive profiles in person. Not being seen by the Godsdamn Mask of Godsdamn Winters is still more important than making contact, though. [20:40] 13To Keldar, Xia Lan just gestures helplessly to the Sol Ring. She's still got her eyes on the Mask. 15[20:41] The Mask of Winters has a palm out, and an icy wind cuts across the river, stalling the raksha further while others get into position. [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12The Dawn Sergeant looks out across the river, then back at Xia Lan. "...on purpose?" [20:42] 13Shake of the head. [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar : "Doesn't that fuckin'... aren't you doomed?" 15[20:43] Both Stranger and Xia Lan can tell the Mask is far from distraught at losing his army and being injured by a display of irrefutable divine power. He's exhilirated, he's ecstatic, he's alive. "Such a treasure! Such terrible, terrible power! It's positively nostalgic." [20:44] 13Xia Lan: "Mostly I just feel tired." [20:44] 05Xu Sim acknowledges Stranger's words over the Codex and moves cautiously through the tunnels of the Undercity towards the north end, Seven by his side (hopefully). He'll keep an eye out for Bleak Ardua's Legions or any signs of the DIsciples of Thran as he does so.  [20:44] 14Was afraid of that. [20:45] 13Also, the Mask being delighted is way more alarming than him being angry, in the long run. In the short run, she's already been nearly beaten to death twice and isn't eager to add a third. [20:46] 13...the things he's saying aren't exactly making her feel any better, though. [20:46] <@Ferrinus> "Hrrn. Well, if you feel a meteor coming lemme know." 12It's not clear whether this is so Keldar can cover her or get to cover himself. "And lemme know if you're in shape to fight. Looks like this is happening ahead of schedule." [20:46] 13Xia Lan: "I'm going to have to be, aren't I?" [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar considers this. "...yeah, basically. ALL right, odd-numbered companies to my LEFT, evens to my RIGHT-" 12His guardsmen are starting to file in, and he's got to get them sorted. 15[20:51] Xu Sim is able to surface in the rain a couple hundred yalms upriver. There, he sees Dreamer Mentat leading Ardua's legions toward the fray. "Master!" he salutes fourfold. [20:52] 13Is Tsuka visible? 15[20:52] Not yet. 15[20:54] Jai can see this strange army meet its master. [20:56] 05Xu Sim emerges from the sewers. He looks like a distinguished gentleman - his haircut reveals him as someone from a River Provinces court, perhaps - just old enough for the salt in his salt-and-pepper mustache and hair to not look out of place. He's wearing a white robe that's been stained with mud, dust, and blood. 15[20:58] Beside Xu Sim is an ethereally pale woman who stands up straight and is alert of eye but seems frailed by long illness. Her hair floats around her as if she were underwater and her brow bleeds black. [20:58] 10Yeah, Jai's tired of waiting. He swiftly crosses over the roofs and walls, pulling his hood down and wrapping a scarf around the lower half of his face as he approaches. He's kiiiinda been rehearsing this in his head. [21:04] 10A few moments' search, and he's found an appropriate perch. 10All right, this is it. First impressions count.10 With a terrific leap, he springs off the wall, and lands all-but-silently in the wet muck, not even a squelch. Maybe they see a dark blur overhead in the predawn lighr, maybe not. [21:05] 10Jai: "The sorcerer Xu Sim?" His voice is a low tenor, steady. And it sounds like it's coming from right over Xu Sim's shoulder. [21:06] 05Xu Sim twirls around, his robes flowing in the air and sending flecks of water and dirt in an arc past him. At his waist is a golden rod holding a pale, dripping, wrinkled thing, and as his arms wheel rapidly about, the red and blue jade bracers on his arms are visible. "Hunter in Darkness, I'll slay y- wait, who in the nine hundred ninety-nine hells of the Yozis are you?" 15[21:06] Downriver, Ballare joins Keldar, Stranger, and Xia Lan. "Was that you?" she asks Xia Lan, while behind her a thousand armored soldiers prepare for violence. [21:08] 10Perfect! Just according to keikaku. Jai half-bows. You can't really see more than his eyes, and then the soft golden glow of his Caste Mark. "My professional name is Black Wind Howling. I've come a long way to meet with you and your friends." [21:09] "Although I am of no great ability, I wish to offer my services." 10Cooool.  [21:11] "Any port in a storm," 05he replies, and extends his hand. "Lucky us, I suppose. Things are going to hell here, but I'm sure Stranger-Visits-Heaven can help get you sorted out." [21:11] "It was us," 14Stranger says. "But Xia Lan bears the burden." [21:12] 13Xia Lan: "It was me. The Mask asked for a demonstration of the Ring's power, and..." 13She gestures with the ring hand towards the annihilated undead. "It's as it was written." 15[21:12] Ballare: "Nice." 15[21:13] "Fuck 'em up." [21:13] 10Jai accepts the offered hand, and shakes firmly. Although Xu Sim can't really his face, he does see a long-limbed lanky frame, all knees and elbows.  15[21:14] The woman beside Xu Sim peers at Jai. "Have we met before?" [21:14] 14Well, hopefully this will improve things between the circle and the Dragonlord. Stranger still hasn't forgotten that he has a deathmatch to try and bargain down to first blood. [21:14] 13She grimaces. "I -- thank you? Still, next time I'd rather not break an oath." [21:14] 05Xu Sim had been about to introduce them, but now he hesitates. [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Might've been nice in other circumstances. Kinda hoping that all those skeletons would've been taking faeries with 'em when they shattered." [21:17] "Chii! Kii!" 07A loud chittering as a fuzzy face pokes out of the oh-so-cool cloak. "H-hey! I ASKED you to keep quiet." 10Immediately thrown off his pace, Jai trips over the next sentence. "Ah-um, you're Sevenfold Scion! N-no." 15[21:18] Seven's eyes narrow. "Did you see what happened at the docks? Where are the spirits? Why are soldiers massing up?" [21:20] 10NCompiling information about the deathknights was part of his work. He's at least passingly familiar. Jai clears his throat. "Y-your master's army is... no more." [21:21] "Your comrade, Xia Lan? She just… yelled, and everything turned bright." [21:21] "When I could see again, they were gone." 15[21:22] Ballare: "What's the plan? There's no room for armies to fight out here. I'm fortifying the inner docks." [21:22] 14Stranger will leave the war plans to the fighters. He's still keeping an eye on the Mask. [21:24] "Oh." 05Xu Sim ponders. "She must have been provoked, though?" [21:25] 13Xia Lan crouches to the ground and looks miserable while the warriors handle tactics; other than "put me somewhere I can do something," she's got nothing to add. [21:26] "Looked like they were deep in negotiations. Then she pulled out a bracelet, or something. Do you know anything about it?" 10Aiya! Keeping up the cool facade is harder than he expected it would be. 15[21:27] Seven: "?! The Sol Ring?" [21:28] 05Xu Sim: "Sounds like it, Stranger wanted her to hold it." [21:28] 10Jai: "Is that what that is? Well, they're all still alive. And the Mask… well, before I came over here, it looked like he was having the time of his life." 15[21:29] Seven goes somehow more ashen. [21:29] "Should we go find them?" 05Xu Sim asks. [21:30] "They're still on the docks, that way." Jai points. "You'll forgive me if I don't attend, though." [21:31] "I thought you just said you wanted to help?" 05he asks, pointedly. [21:32] 10Jai: "Eh... haha." 10Think fast. [21:33] "It's best if I don't alert the Mask to my presence, just yet. I can rely on you to keep a secret, can't I?" 15[21:34] Seven: "Absolutely not." [21:35] 10Jai: "Oh." 10He suddenly looks a whole lot less sure of himself. [21:35] 05Xu Sim laughs, a rather shrill sound. It's nearly a cackle, actually. But then it cuts off and he looks rather serious. [21:36] "Well, if my cover's blown... " [21:36] "Come on, we've got to try to get a lid on this." [21:39] "Yeah, you're right. I didn't come all this way to keep skulking around." 10He pushes the hood back and unwraps the scarf. "Like I said, my professional name is Black Wind Howling. But you, uh. You can call me Jai." 10Seven probably notices his hairstyle as one recently fashionable in Thorns—long bangs, swept low, covering an eye. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar squints, then nods to Ballare. "You're not wrong. We're gonna have to back off the north docks and just write these trading boats off - set our troops up in a west-to-east band on the south rim of Nexus Pool and stretching off in either direction. [21:39] 10Somewhat the worse for wear by having been dunked in a river. [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Once the first of those snakes start to cross over the north docks, feel free to lay in with the Word's cannons." 14[21:40] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Connection closed) 15[21:40] Seven makes no effort to conceal the suspicion on her face, but she raises no further objections to Jai. 14[21:40] * Joins: mattbaby_ [21:41] "Shall we, then?" 05Xu Sim asks, gesturing in the direction of the others. [21:43] "Yeah, let's go. Follow me, I figured out the quickest route while I was coming to meet you." [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12The Dawn Sergeant then looks up at the Mask. "You, uh, can keep that up as long as it makes sense. But I'm gonna need you to point anything you want to throw at the raksha out of the city. Anything that crosses in's my and Ballare's business." 15[21:44] The Mask is supercilious. "You're in charge." [21:44] 13This does little to improve Xia Lan's mood. 15[21:46] Everyone converges on the inner docks, among the massed troops of Nexus, Lookshy, and Ardua's legions. The Mask of Winters looms over everyone assembled, and the soldiers closest to him can see their breath as the icy air seizes it from their chests. [21:46] <@Ferrinus> "s'right," 12says Keldar, choosing to take the undead tyrant seriously. He gets immediately to the business of reinforcing the inner docks. His instinct is to take the east while Lookshy takes the west, on the basis that it'll put him closer to the east gate and Lookshy closer to the water in case their ship ever gets riverbound again, but if Ballare strongly objects the Dawn Sergeant's [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12willing to switch. 15[21:47] Seven sees the state of the Governor - unsteady on his feet, eyes and ears scorched and smoking - and runs over to him. "A well-earned rebuke," the Mask says to her as she passes him. "I leave his care to your discretion." [21:47] 14Still keeping his eye on the Mask, Stranger pours himself another cup of tea. 15[21:47] Seven almost stumbles, but she collects herself and looks back and up at him. "My lord?" 15[21:47] The Mask: "Use your judgment." [21:50] 14Halfway through, he notices there's someone new in the party that's joined them. [21:52] 10It takes absolutely every ounce of courage Jai has not to dive into the pool and swim for the far shore. [21:53] 10The same practiced half-bow. "My professional name is Black Wind Howling. I've come quite a long way to meet you. Although, uh... I didn't think it would be in this company." [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, to the last of his messengers as they cross south: "...and remember the braces this time! Triangles beat squares! Eh?" 12He turns. [21:56] 13The Unfettered Xia Lan straightens up with the approach of Black Wind Howling. A tiny bow. "A pleasure," 13she adds, no trace of prior exhaustion in her voice. "I am the Unfettered Xia Lan, though if you've been following us I guess you'd know that." [21:57] 05Xu Sim creeps around the edge of the loose circling of Exalts with all the discretion of a cat sneaking towards it's master's dinner. He lays a hand on Seven's shoulder and stares down at the Governor. 15[21:57] The breath catches in Jai's throat as that placid mask sinks down to meet him eye-to-eye. "Bumper crop this year." [21:58] 10Jai: ":Following? No! It's not like I've been stalking you or anyt—" 10You just met her and you're choking already. [21:58] 14Who in the world is--well, he's soaked, for one. And are those manacle marks on his wrists? Striations on the neck, too. And yet there on his brow, a caste sign. The Night Caste. You almost never see that mark, if only because, well, not showing their anima is the Night's whole deal. "Have you been running around getting yourself caught on purpose, young man?" 15[21:58] Seven whirls around, hatred in her eyes, dissolving on contact with the sight of Xu Sim. "Help me get him to the Undercity. He needs rest," she says quietly. [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That so? Well, then you know who I am. What're you doing here?" [21:59] 13Xia Lan raises an eyebrow to Black Wind Howling, but says nothing. [22:00] 10Jai draws himself up in the face of Stranger's affront. "Well, how would you get through an entire camp of undead?" [22:01] 14Stranger gestures languidly at the Yellow River, blown free and clear of the whole of Thorns' army. [22:01] 13Xia Lan unconsciously adjusts the Sol Ring. [22:01] 14Then: "Tea?" [22:01] 10Jai: "I know that… how would you have done it an hour ago… is there honey?" [22:02] 10Seeet tea? What an absolute pleb. [22:03] 14Stranger: "Absolutely, there is honey." 14What middling diplomat doesn't bring milk, honey, and sugar? [22:03] 10Deep breath. He turns to the impressive figure of Keldar. "I came into some information about the trouble that was brewing here. I thought I might be able to do something to help. But, er. You seem to have everything already in hand?" [22:04] 14Stranger: "An hour ago, I would have been working to put myself in a position to do this now. Which brings us to the main point, I suppose. You and I, and The Unfettered Xia Lan, and Keldar, the Tiger of Nexus, and the Arsenic Handshake -- we are creatures of absolute purpose. Of pure will." [22:04] 13Xia Lan flinches. [22:05] "So forgive my curiosity if I ask: what purpose and what will brings you to Nexus now, at the, ah. Turn of the tide?" [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar rubs a thumb along one edge of his five o' clock shadow: "Can you fight?" [22:07] 05Xu Sim snaps his fingers, and the blood ape Grittoth steps out of a puff of smoke in his shadow. Muscles ripple beneath long, loose, orange fur. Bloodshot eyes rolling, it fumbles at the cap awkwardly perched atop its apelike head. "Master," 05it mumbles. "Help us carry this man into the Undercity for medical treatment," 05he instructs it. 15[22:07] "Xia Lan!" Tsuka's pushing through his troops towards her. [22:08] 10Jai runs a hand through his hair. "I got sick of being a cat's paw. I realized one day I wasn't going to be able to get out from under my previous employer's thumb." 10A sip of tea. Oh, this is good. [22:08] 13Everything else is forgotten. She dashes towards him, meeting him with a crushing hug. [22:08] "Unless I did something really drastic." 15[22:09] The Governor cackles as Grittoth hoists him aloft. "Service you get in Nexus is unlike anywhere else in the world!" [22:09] 14Stranger blinks. "Well, you've come to the right place." [22:09] "For drastic." 15[22:09] Tsuka: "What happened? You look terrible." 15[22:09] "Uh, I mean, in terrible shape. No, no, I just mean, you look unwell." 15[22:09] Wincing: "Are you okay?" [22:10] 14He grimaces: "One question to get out of the way first. You do not serve the Guild or, specifically, the Guild's Overfactor in Nexus, correct?" [22:10] 10Jai: "Yeah. If anything, the reports undersold what was going on here." [22:10] 14Stranger: "I've made certain promises not to outright work against him for the duration of this little fracas." [22:11] "But frankly, if I might be so bold, you don't seem like they could afford you." [22:11] 10Jai shifts uneasily. "I've been acquainted with some Guildsmen, but I don't work for them. They're useful sources of information, though." [22:11] "Ah! Excellent." [22:12] 14...Perhaps he works for Bubo? Or one of Bubo's friends? Stranger frequently misses Bubo's company, but not having access to his knowledge is the real problem of him being out of pocket. [22:12] 13Xia Lan: "I'm going to have to be. But. The Sol Ring is, um, as advertised." 13She gestures to the absent legions of the undead. "I feel awful. Glad to hear that I look it, too." 13She pulls slightly back to give Tsuka a small smile. [22:13] 13It vanishes almost as quickly as it appears. "The Mask asked for a demonstration. Apparently, that sufficed." [22:13] 10Keldar notices that Jai carries himself like someone whose first impulse in a situation is to run. But he also notices at least a dozen blades, that would be cleverly concealed to anyone with less of an eye than Keldar. So maybe he's got some backbone, it just needs to be drawn out of him a little more. 15[22:14] Per Xu Sim and Seven's instruction, Grittoth bears the Governor below the city. There are heavy fortifications at every northern point of ingress into the Undercity, but the area beyond is dead quiet - evacuated, it seems, to safer corners. The air is still except for the overpowering smell of mushrooms. [22:15] 05This must be the heart of the Thorns quarters, then? [22:17] 10Jai turns to Keldar. "I can fight, they made sure of that. I'm decent with the staff and the spear, and I can put a knife into a target from half a malm, if I'm really trying." 15[22:17] It is: Xu Sim's been here before, at Seven's little hut/laboratory. She sweeps the table clean, knocking bottles and beakers to the floor with an acrid crash, and has the Governor laid out on top of it. Xu Sim's become increasingly adept at reading his beloved's moods, and he can tell she seems terribly nervous. [22:17] "Uh. We could... spar sometime?" 15[22:18] Tsuka: "What?? Is he insane?" [22:19] 14Stranger, to Jai: "Try not to worry about standing on ceremony. I fight with this parasol." 14He pops it open, then shuts it again. "I am Stranger Visits Heaven." [22:19] "Pardon my ignorance," 05begins the doctor, "but why is the man with his eyes burnt out having a laugh, while you are the nervous one?" [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods a few times, thinking. "Okay, well, I'm guessing you're not in the market for a Guard contract here, but the more ancient demons we got on our side, the better. You tell me your favorite kind of ambush to spring and I can find you a place on the wall." [22:21] 13Xia Lan: "I haven't ruled it out," 13she says. "But. I also haven't ruled out that it was bait to get me to break the oath." [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Take you up on the sparring after we win." [22:21] "Or maybe that's just me looking for an excuse," 13she sighs. 15[22:21] Seven's hands are shaking as she unfolds a leather case of instruments - scalpels and tweezers and phials and tongs, as well as a glittering, curved dagger of obsidian. "Forgive me. It was an alarming display." 15[22:22] The Governor: "It was riotous! Riotous and terrifying. We'll all burn, in their eyes. It's what we're fit for." [22:22] 10The professional facade drops entirely. "Stranger, yeah. You look older than you did in the sketches. Ooh! Neat. I was supposed to learn a proper martial art, but, well. Stuff got in the way." [22:23] 14Stranger smiles wanly. "I chalk it up to all the Sun damage." [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Might've missed it. You were working for...?" [22:23] "He didn't say, of course." [22:24] 05Xu Sim grits his teeth. Two of them. [22:26] "I don't know what happened. But right now, it doesn't matter. Can I-" 05he takes a deep breath here - "help?" [22:26] 10Jai waves a hand. "Sorry. That's classified." [22:27] 14Stranger: "But I'm assuming you're not in employ, ensorcellment, enslavement, or otherwise beguiled or compromised by the lords of the faerie realm, or any other enemy of creation?" 15[22:27] Seven looks up sharply, searching Xu Sim's expression. "This will not be medicine as you practice it." [22:29] "Absolutely not." 15[22:29] Her cheeks stain crimson, and she says quietly, "I would prefer you not be here to see this." [22:30] "The raksha don't have anything on me, and I wouldn't work for them if they gave me a kingdom." 15[22:31] Tsuka: "Can you do it again?" [22:31] 14Stranger sips his tea again. "Well, I for one believe him." [22:32] "I've seen many strange medicines," 05Xu Sim says, cautiously. "What would you show me, that I could shrink from?" [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar works his jaw around a bit, then nods. "Good to hear. But, yeah, my boys are setting up roughly there -" 12he points with his daiklave, then sweeps it sideways "- to there. I can dig up a white jade breastplate for you if you think it'll help but that's about all the spare magic we've got." [22:32] 13Xia Lan: "I don't want to find out." 15[22:33] "What's going on?" asks the Governor, who in the stuffy, smoky lab tent seems quite disoriented. 15[22:34] Seven answers neither of them, drawing the obsidian dagger from its sheath. "14Please," she says. [22:37] 10Jai: "Wow. You just met me and you're already willing to lend me something like that?" [22:37] "Grittoth, cover his ears, if you'd please." 05Then, in a whisper, "Why?" [22:37] "I know you hate him. I can't say I disagree with you..." [22:37] 14Stranger: "We're a bit short on time for quests to prove your worth." [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You'd give it back one way or another." [22:38] 14Stranger: "Did you know there's a warstrider encamped on our southern front? We're headed there next. This is all a bit ersatz." [22:38] "Encamped. Enwalled." [22:38] "What have you." [22:39] 10Jai's eyes widen. "You're not kidding?" [22:39] 14Tea from Stranger, veiled death threats from Keldar. This is the full orientation. [22:39] 14Stranger: "I often joke, but I never kid." 15[22:39] Seven: "We had a deal. I am owed. My lord has given his consent." [22:40] "Who's the pilot? Him?" 10Indicating Keldar. [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Don't think it has one. And it's their machine, to be clear. Got in the way of one charge already." 15[22:40] The Governor's too-loud murmurs dribble through Seven and Xu Sim's conversation. "Are you talking about me? My ears are burning..." [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Good news is, it sounds like the southern general's trying to whip up a legal excuse for surrender. But Cethleann ain't quittin'." [22:41] 14Stranger laughs. "Hahahah! He thinks it's OUR warstrider! Good Sun, no." [22:41] "We're just the ones who are going to kill it." [22:41] "Owed for... what?" 05he asks. [22:44] 10Jai: "Oh. That's almost as good!" 10He's finished the tea. "And I think I might be able to help with that." [22:44] 14Stranger chuckles. "Oh, I don't know. I throw a mean parasol." [22:45] 10Jai: "No, no, not like fighting it directly." [22:46] "But, umm, all that First Age stuff requires a lot of maintenance, right?" [22:46] 14He leans forward. "Now I'm intrigued. Another cup?" [22:46] 14He's pouring one anyway. "Yes and no. These are the Fair Folk, and they do like to cheat on things like 'logistics.'" 15[22:47] "He-- the Governor, when the Mask came to Thorns, made a bargain that wasn't his to make. And then for my name, freely given, so did I. Those were my terms. Service for vengeance." [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The Wailing Wall - that's its name - comes from some southern city that Elegba apparently freed in a usurpation. I don't know where it's from but I don't think the raksha just dreamed it up." [22:48] 10Jai deflates. "Huh. So no workshops to get in and sabotage, then. That's a shame." 15[22:49] Seven: "He agreed readily. He said to me, that there would be such time as his fate was left to my discretion. And so he did, when we arrived. You heard him." [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Which means you might be right. If we can't lawyer Elegba into leaving, sneaking behind his lies and fucking up all the... what, unguents? Hearthstone shavings? ...that thing needs to keep going'd be a smart move." [22:49] 14Stranger: "Well, that's the thing. These are particular creatures. They might have to go through the narrative of maintenance, even if the tools don't do anything or they're just doing aesthetic pruning of the great vines which drive it, so one and so forth." [22:49] 13Another hug to Tsuka. "Anyway. I'm glad you're here. I'll be able to stick close during the defense." [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That's only 'might', though. Probably want Xu Sim to confirm." [22:50] 05Xu Sim chews the edge of his mustache. "But you don't want to serve the Mask," 05he points out. [22:50] *so on [22:50] 14Stranger: "Either way, we'd need more information." [22:50] 14He sips his tea again. "Which sounds to me like a sneaking mission." 15[22:51] "I didn't have a choice!" The Governor starts as the volume, if not the context, pierces the blood ape's meaty hands. 15[22:51] "But I do now." [22:52] 10Jai grins real wide. "So you remember how I got caught on purpose? After these skeletons pulled me up from the river, I walked right out of that camp." [22:53] "You're right about that," 05he points out. "But for that vengeance, what did you promise?" 15[22:53] "Only what the Governor had already offered. My name, and my service." [22:53] 14Stranger: "I do remember that. Go on." 15[22:54] Tsuka: "...you're still hurt, aren't you?" [22:54] "Made myself look dead. Not a single one of them saw through it." 07A displeased chitter. "Yeah, I had it right down to the smell." [22:55] 14Stranger lifts an eyebrow. "Hello there." [22:55] 13Xia Lan: "I made the situation, I have to fix it." 13Not an answer. [22:57] 10Jai: "Oh! I haven't introduced you." Shiki, Stranger. Stranger, Shiki. I met her when I freed all of the animals from this guy's fur farm in Zinj. Practically bankrupted him. She's real smart and can get into places I can't. We're partners!" 07Shiki: "Chii." 15[22:59] Tsuka: "You're such a baka sometimes." [22:59] "But you don't owe either of them a thing. You owe nothing to no-one. That power, that dark star that blushes your brow, it can't be taken away." 05Less confidently: "Surely it cannot. However it was given to you." [23:00] 10Jai catches himself. He's only just met Stranger, and he's already on the verge of spilling out his entire life story. He might be more dangerous than Keldar. [23:00] 13Xia Lan: "A - did you just use High Realm at me?" 15[23:00] Tsuka: "What of it?" [23:01] 14Stranger chuckles. "Well, there's partners, and then there's partners." 14This seems to be a joke mainly for himself. "But it is very nice to meet you, Shiki. You're not scared of cats, are you?" 15[23:02] Seven: "What are you saying?" [23:02] 13Xia Lan: "You'll have to teach me. But why am I an idiot?" [23:02] 07Shiki: "Ki! Ki!" 07Is... that some kind of threat? [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar sizes up Shiki: "Nice. I thought about getting a hound or falcon or something for a while but never got around to it." 15[23:03] Tsuka: "You're always punishing yourself!" [23:04] 13Xia Lan: "??" [23:04] 05Xu Sim: "Why play by the Mask's rules, if what you want is to be free of him forever?" [23:04] 13It's more of a "buhh?" but that's less elegant in text. 15[23:05] Seven: "I want this. It's not about the Mask." [23:06] 10Jai nods. "I heard that if you work together for a while and really harmonize, you can actually learn to see through their eyes. Even if I don't ever learn to do that, though, it's good to have a friend." [23:07] 14Stranger swallows his tea rather strongly. He's too slick to actually cough. "Yes. Harmonize." [23:08] "I have an...associate. A Chosen of Luna. She's helping us out. There's some overlap in your trades; I might detail her to help you out. Provide overwatch, that sort of thing." [23:08] 05Xu Sim: "Are you sure about both parts of that? Is there no better vengeance? It's not a ploy to take away your last..." [23:09] 10Jai lowers his voice. "I don't know, is there a better word for it? It's been a couple of years and I still don't have a handle on everything I can do." 15[23:09] Tsuka: "'Oh, I'm Xia Lan. I let everyone down, again. Guess I better suffer for no reason.' That's you. That's how you sound." [23:09] "You're, er." 10Jai taps his fingers together nervously. "You all are the only other Chosen of the Sun I've met." [23:10] 14Stranger: "No, no. Harmonize is fine. I believe the incredibly formal term is 'calibrate,' after the Sun and the Moon during-- it doesn't matter." [23:11] "Huh. There wasn't anything in the report about you working with a Lunar. She must be good." [23:11] 13Xia Lan snorts against his shoulder. "Can you say I'm wrong?" 15[23:11] Tsuka: "Yes! I am saying that! I'm saying it right now! You're wrong." [23:12] 10Jai's relaxing again. "Now I know I did the right thing. I wouldn't have found any of this out if I didn't see it with my own eyes." [23:12] "...thanks." 13She doesn't sound like she believes it. "I made defending the city harder just to show off for an a-- the Mask, and I don't even like him." 15[23:13] Seven: "Are you going to try and stop me?" [23:13] 14Stranger smiles, his own eyes shining back white and milky. "It's the only way to be sure." [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar snaps his fingers as he realizes something. "Actually, I can arm you a little better, maybe - hook you up with iron knives or swords or whatever, if you haven't got any already. Should come in handy." [23:15] 14If Jai's wondering: "The Fair Folk hate iron." 15[23:16] Tsuka: "It's not like that thing came with instructions." [23:16] "Oh, I at least know that much. My spear's got an iron head, but you can always use a few more knives." [23:17] 13Xia Lan: "Wish that it would've. Could have saved a lot of grief. I think Seven's going to hate me," 13she confides. [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'll send the order out. You gonna need the breastplate?" 15[23:18] Tsuka: "She's weird anyway." [23:18] 13Xia Lan: "Xu Sim likes her. And I did sort of, um, maul her dad. And... whatever the Mask counts as, to her." [23:18] "That shout was not discriminate at all." 15[23:18] Tsuka: "The Governor's her dad?" [23:19] 13Xia Lan: "Yeah. It's. A dynamic." [23:19] 10Jai: "I think I'm good, thanks. When this is all over, though, I ought to practice in heavier armor. But you can find a buff jacket anywhere, and they're quiet, so that's what I've been using up till now." 15[23:19] Tsuka shakes his head, as if rejecting the information outright so he doesn't have to process it. "Weird people." [23:20] 13Xia Lan: "Still peoplin'. She's okay, though. The rest, eh." [23:21] 14He sets the tea down for a moment. "If we're being frank, however, let's be frank. We've come into this...convenant we have due to the utter, spellbinding seriousness of our cause. I believe you when you say you're not a dillettante. I also believe you when you say your first instinct is to run from things. Even if you don't say it out loud. This is going to be a commitment. [23:21] Short but sweet. Win or die. Keldar and I and Xu Sim and Xia Lan and all the rest of our coalition have given up things to see this through. We've lost people. I need to know I have that same commitment from you...or that I don't, and that you're here on consignment, until you find a better gig." [23:21] "Either way, it's up to you." [23:21] "But you need to make a choice." [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "If you're Anathema, that breastplate's gonna feel lighter than a jacket." [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12I'm gonna say Keldar snuck that in before Stranger speechified. [23:22] 13Another whisper: "You know the worst part? I haven't even come close to figuring out what this thing can do. And I have no idea how badly I'm going to screw up figuring that out." [23:24] "What the hell, I'll try it—" 10Then Stranger fixes his will on Jai. [23:24] 14We're just having a conversation. [23:25] 10Yeah, but it's been a long time since anyone sat him down and was Real like this with him. [23:26] 14There's a reason all the younger members of the team roll their eyes and call him dad. [23:27] "You know what? I believe you. It's been a while since I've met anyone who seemed to believe anything." [23:28] "No. I won't stop you, though I'm bound not to harm him myself. Nor will I judge you for whatever you decide. But I don't want it to be something you regret or ever have a second thought about. We have greater goals." [23:28] 13Look, you can just call Xia Lan out by name, dad. [23:28] "Petty lords, bandits, those utter pricks in the Bu—well, anyway. They were all just looking out for themselves." [23:29] 14Stranger: "You might come to regret believing in something, eventually. That's always the danger waiting on the flipside. You put yourself out there, you can get hit." [23:29] "In the end, though, I think that's our mission and our sanction." 15[23:29] Seven: "Thank you." A long pause. "...I would like privacy while I do this." [23:29] "I know that whatever you do will be the right thing. I trust you. I just want to understand it," 05Xu Sim explains. [23:29] "The Sun didn't choose us to merely be warlords." [23:30] "Yeah. Sometime I'll have to tell you the story about how I got Chosen." [23:30] 14Stranger: "I bet you lost a lot, and you value what you gained less than other men who dream themselves in your shoes." [23:31] "It's a smart bet." [23:31] "You look at the Realm. The Empress set everything up to it depended on her, and when she vanished, the whole thing started to come down. That's disgusting! It's selfish! Someone's got to do better." [23:31] "Grittoth, release him." 05Xu Sim looks down at the pathetic, wounded man. "I'll be waiting." [23:31] 14Stranger nods and steeples his fingers. "They do." [23:32] "We do." [23:32] "Welcome to the circle, Black Howling Wind." 15[23:32] Seven nods. Xu Sim leaves her be. It's terribly quiet out here. 14[23:32] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Mutter: www.mutterirc.com) [23:33] 10Jai: "Black Wind Howling. But that's just my professional name. You all can call me Jai." [23:33] 10In a low voice. "I picked it because I thought it sounded cool." [23:33] 14Stranger: "Jai it is, then." [23:33] 05Terribly quiet. [23:34] 13There's nothing wrong with picking a name because it sounds cool. [23:34] 14In a similarly low voice: "Jai is an incredibly cool name." [23:34] 14He knows what Jai meant. [23:34] "That's not what I— Thanks for the tea." [23:34] 14Stranger: "Not a problem. Oh, and one more thing." [23:35] "Yeah?" [23:35] "It'll take a few days for the paperwork to go through, but you're now an Emissary of Nexus." [23:35] "And you act with that authority and responsibility." 15[23:35] Abruptly the Mask of Winters announces: "I'm afraid my esteemed Governor has succumbed to his wounds." [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's heard this before, and moved off to talk to his troops while Stranger gave him the business. He returns shuffling some papers. "Alright, got your daggers. Possibly bad news - I remembered the manifest wrong. Vectron's a reinforced breastplate - 'bout as heavy as what I've got on." 12He bangs a gauntlet against his chestplate. "Which, as you can see, has its upsides. [23:35] <@Ferrinus> Still want it?" [23:36] 14He removes a piece of jade...paper?...from a book in his vest. "This will allow you to talk to me, and thereby all our people." [23:36] "Keep it on you. You'll feel it on the back of your neck." [23:36] 10Jai: "Emissary? That's… wow. That's no joke." [23:36] 13Xia Lan turns from Tsuka, looking at the Mask of Winters. "He - I'm sorry?" 13Brow furrowed. "Are there invaders?" [23:36] 14He turns to the Mask. "I'm sorry for your loss, Mask of Winters. Assuming you are." 15[23:37] "It is a pity." [23:37] 14Stranger: "Much of that going around these days." 15[23:38] Seven emerges, alone, a few minutes later, as calm as a still lake. "We should rejoin the front." [23:38] 13Xia Lan: "No, wait, do we need to - infiltrators, saboteurs, wreckers?" [23:39] 10Jai takes the paper and squirrels it away in his cloak. To Keldar: "Knives're good. I'll pass on the breastplate for now, unless I have to go up to the front lines myself." [23:39] "I am at your side," 05Xu Sim responds. [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar hands a bandolier over. "Everywhere might be the front lines in a hot minute, so make sure you know what you're doin'." [23:41] 05He is, literally. 15[23:42] The Mask: "He was simply beyond the Scion's arts to save." [23:43] 10Jai: "It's fine. Just don't let anyone hit you. Am I right?" [23:43] 14Stranger: "It's a bit more complicated than that, but yes. That's the idea." 15[23:44] Xu Sim and Seven return to the massed front where Nexus waits with bated breath for Cethleann's armies, withering slightly under the hail of oncoming arrows. The first barges just touch down on the outer docks when the pressure drops. Everyone's eardrums pop. [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar knows how to deal with this, and swallows a few times. [23:45] 14Stranger walks forward, and quietly but not whispering to the Mask: "You're still a very good liar." 15[23:46] "A careful lie is the keystone of diplomacy." [23:47] 14Stranger: "Who taught you that, I wonder?" [23:47] 14He sighs. [23:47] 14Stranger: "Don't answer that." [23:48] "...We should speak further of the past, some other time." [23:49] 13Everyone else seems to be gearing up. "Where do you want me?" 13she asks Tsuka. "You're the commander, here." [23:50] 10Keldar eventually managed to talk Jai around, but it takes him a little bit to get used to the weight of the jade. True to his word, though, it feels almost natural.  [23:51] "The Emissary approaches," 05Xu Sim notes. [23:51] 14Then he looks to the sky. It's a bird, it's a demense, it's... [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Should Jai want the armor after all, Keldar'll have gotten a couple men to wheel it up on a sort of mobile rack. It's very impressive-looking and punishingly heavy, but true to the Dawn Sergeant's word, once you start breathing right and let your essence circulate through the metal it becomes just as light as regular plate-and-chain should be. Keldar's men certainly seem impressed [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12once Jai puts it on, although Keldar warns his new circlemate that the armor's on loan and that the Guild will need it back. 15[23:52] And the Emissary announces himself as the first sea serpent's heads explode, and they disintegrate ilm by ilm as they cross the line into Nexus city limits. [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, sweet." [23:52] 14The "Emissary" of Nexus. 15[23:52] "YOU HAVE NO PURCHASE HERE!" roars the ancient defender of Nexus at this, the city's last stand. 15[23:53] NEXT TIME: A Terrible Gaze Session Time: Wed Mar 06 00:00:00 2019 14[00:29] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[02:18] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[02:28] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[04:11] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[07:52] * Joins: bananaphone 14[08:08] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[10:55] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:04] * Joins: tom 14[17:26] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[17:26] * Joins: tom 14[19:52] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:19] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[21:19] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:21] * Joins: cbass 14[22:15] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[22:15] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[22:25] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[19:03] * Joins: Quaker [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 ( [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 ) [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 ( [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 /\ .-"""-. /\ [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 //\\/ ,,, \//\\ [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 |/\| ,;;;;;, |/\| [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 //\\\;-"""-;///\\ [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 // \/ . \/ \\ [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 (| ,-_| \ | / |_-, |) [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 //`__\.-.-./__`\\ [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 // /.-(() ())-.\ \\ [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 (\ |) '---' (| /) [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 ` (| |) ` [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 \) (/ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12The airship Heavensward currently hangs above the edge of a vast demesne, one sprawling with blue-tinted overgrowth so thick that it's near-impossible to ascertain the actual lay of the land. The thick jungle foliage looks empty from above, still except for the fierce winds causing it to whip and sway, but Blossom and Ir know for prior scouting that it's actually teeming with [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12savagely territorial elementals. Above the landscape, clouds boil and churn, whipped into an obviously supernatural storm by both the touches of air-essence lacing the wood-essence below and by, seemingly, the very attention of the lady of the vortex. [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir, Marek, Ying, and anyone else on deck find themselves confronted with a large, sleepy bear. He's got blue-grey fur poking out from under a heavenly official's robe, and his limbs end in scaly talons that seem like they'd fit a raptor better than a bear. "Soooo, umm. Could I get it." [20:23] 4Excuse me. [20:23] 6It's actually Tatsuya who's out and about. "Uh, yeah, of course, gimme a sec, but then we gotta talk about that other thing you said." 6Ying's probably made a copy of the hat by now. 15[20:24] 10Eikichi perks up. But no, he wasn't asking that. [20:24] 4Just because she's sleeping with a hyenaman doesn't mean she -- oh, his hat. [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12It was probably a bit ratty when Ying got it, although this bear's robes look even worse for wear - they're patchy, and the elemental's greying fur sticks out through worn-through holes in random places. "The other thing, yeah," 12 he says. "Uhhhh. Hrrm." 12He scratches at the side of his head. [20:26] 6Dash belowdecks, rustle through the various detritus that makes up their shared room, and....... got it! One hat that Ying took for basically no reason. 13It was a cute hat! 6Was and is. Still. C'mon. 15[20:27] 10Eikichi offers the bear, helpfully: "Do you want to try the game Blossom invented?" [20:27] 6Stealing's my job. 13It's nicer now! 6Tatsuya's already on his way back to return the hat. [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Bear: "Basically, the Lady Garuda lays claim to this place of power. I'm supposed to tell- ooh, what game." 15[20:29] 10Eikichi: "Come check it out!" 10He shows the bear to Blossom's cabinet. "We don't have a name for it yet. But you stand back here, and try to get the ball into one of the targets. You get a higher score if you land a harder target!" [20:29] 4Ir frowns. Lady Garuda? Didn't they...? [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12The cabinet's down below decks, right? The bear's pretty big, but if Sondok can stalk around down there without her shield gouging lines in the walls, your guest should have little trouble navigating his way to the game room. 15[20:31] 10Berg fit down here. 08[20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, then, negotiations are immediately on hold, because the bear follows Eikichi down the steps and along the halls before rearing up to plant both paws on the front of the game table. Blossom made sure it was sturdy, right? It'd be embarassing if it just collapsed to flinders under this guy while, tongue stuck out in concentration, he stared at all the targets. [20:32] 4Still insisted on sleeping up on deck, though. [20:32] 4Weird dude. [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Bear: "So... the better ones are harder to hit? Doesn't seem fair." [20:34] 6Tatsuya comes jogging up the hall after a bit, pausing momentarily at the site of the bear at the game, but thankfully is too graceful to trip here. He'll hang back and watch the bear try it, hat in hand, looking in better shape than it was when Ying convinced him to hand it over. 15[20:34] 10Eikichi: "Oh, I know, but you know Blossom. She does so love making things difficult." [20:34] 7Blossom: "They're better because they're harder to hit. You can stick to the easy holes and have confidence in a lower score, or risk it all!" [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Bear: "...but then what's the right answer!" 15[20:36] 10Eikichi: "To risk it all! Obviously." 15[20:36] 10Silly bear. That's always the answer. [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Bear: "Ah, okay. Gimme a ball." [20:37] 6Tatsuya: "Try it both ways, see which one feels right for you. Got your hat, by the way." [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya's pretty sure he's been heard, since the bear's nearest ear flicks at the sentence, but at the moment he's clutching a ball in one big, meaty paw/talon and thinking. [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Then he leans back, leans forward, raises up on one foot, saws at the air fiercely with his fore-talons, and produces a swirling stream of focused wind that lifts the ball via tiny tornado and then carries it along through the air to the highest-numbered hole. "Oh, they're all easy." 14[20:41] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 15[20:42] 10Eikichi claps with delight. [20:42] 6Tatsuya: "Nice." [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Then he turns around and takes his hat, carefully placing it on his head and then adjusting it ilm by ilm. Of course, it kind of half-folds and slump the moment he lets go of it, but the bear doesn't seem to notice. "Ahhh, there. Wonder what that girl needed it for." 15[20:44] 10Eikichi: "She just thought it was cute." [20:44] 6Shrug. "Think she wanted to make her own. She says hi, by the way." [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Bear: "Oh, okay. Hi. Tell her, I mean. ...is there something to eat?" [20:45] 7Blossom clears her throat. "What did the Lady of the Vortex want you to tell us?" [20:46] 4Ir is, of course, already working on food. [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12He blinks, not even realizing that Blossom may have saved his life. "Oh, yeah. Well. That place of power is hers, so, what are you gonna do with it?" [20:47] 4It's a simple and tasteful raw fish platter cut down from some of the fish they've caught on their way up. Ir's perfected a technique where they don't even need to stop, just skim the surface of a lake with a net. [20:48] 7The kruthik are going to eat everything in the demesne, aren't they? [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Their M.O. is definitely to devour and metabolize all essence-rich matter, biological or otherwise, yes. [20:50] 7Blossom: "We're going to move through it. The kruthik will probably eat everything there. ...Is that a problem?" [20:50] 4Ir can probably keep them on some kind of a leash if necessary, though it will probably mean NOT doing so later on. [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12The bear thinks about this. "Dunno. I'll go tell. Could you wait?" [20:52] 7Can we? [20:52] 6Tatsuya resists a sudden urge to excuse himself to go change for the meal. "Uh. Can we?" [20:52] 6He's looking to Ir and Blossom, unsure. [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12In principle? The kruthik are still bringing up the rear and you haven't engaged some sort of rocket thruster, although Ir might need to work the wheel a bit to keep the ship steady in the building storm. [20:52] 4Depends how early the bear came with tidings. He doesn't seem particularly early-bird. [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Fortunately, steadying the vessel's not too difficult. Anyone got any words for this emissary while he scarfs down the sushi before he leaves to report? [20:56] 7Blossom: "It's a very nice hat." [20:56] 4This Garuda -- is she the one Ir, uh, the one they ran into last time in a storm like this? [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Yes. Ir will recall a massive, four-winged bird woman who led a personal assault on the heavensward's deck, and who managed to deal a few telling blows out among the Circle before she was dismantled by your combined prowess. Probably mostly Ir's prowess, although I can't remember the exact blow-by-blow. [20:58] 4Then to the bear: "Your lady, ah, doesn't hold a grudge, right?" [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12This didn't appear to destroy her, but did buy you her respect, and subsequent formal allowance to fly as high as you like in the northern skies without further challenge. [20:59] 4Ir: "Anyway, lot of respect for her from behind this counter." [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12The bear strokes his chin with a claw. "Nah. She holds lots of grudges." [20:59] 4Ir: "Well! Good to know." [20:59] 6It's a good thing we're always armed. [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12The bear trundles off. If you follow him to the deck, you'll see him pull himself clumsily over the Heavensward's rails and simply dissolve into a puff of cloud rather than go plummeting to the ground. [21:03] 4Whew. 15[21:06] 10Eikichi: "You know, it's probably a bad sign, isn't it, that we're running into them here." [21:06] 4Ir: "It's not good." [21:06] "I'd hoped not to have to waste any kruthik in a warmup fight." 15[21:06] "No way is this the North-East by any rational division. She's gone walkabout. Something's wrong." [21:07] "Maybe she just really likes us and this is the only way she can show it." 4Ir sighs anxiously. [21:07] 7Blossom: "What would push her south?" [21:07] 6Tatsuya: "We have gained a lot of fans lately." [21:07] "The northern behemoth is dead, isn't it?" [21:07] "The fight with the behemoth? Berg?" 15[21:08] 10Eikichi: "Maybe something's wrong with Sephirot..." [21:10] 7Sephirot??? [21:10] "With the what now?" 15[21:11] 10Eikichi: "Sephirot, the Tree of Life! The Eastern Primal Dragon. He should have authority over this demesne. Not Garuda, the North-Eastern Primal Dragon. It's a sign of how broken-down the old order is." [21:11] 4Estuans interius, ira vehementi... [21:12] 7Blossom: "Hrmph! If Garuda isn't supposed to have this demesne anyway, it's unreasonable for her to be upset if we move through it." [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12It's about now that a buzzing sound becomes audible over the gale, along with the faint smell of woodsmoke. [21:12] 6Tatsuya: "So, wait, is Sephirot still around and just. Letting this happen, or is this some sort of personal mission, or...?" [21:13] 6Is he dead, basically. [21:13] 4... [21:13] 6Or that. That could also be the case. 15[21:13] 10Eikichi: "Who knows? But Garuda's well overstepping her authority here." [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not one of the kruthik. Rather, it's a man or woman of slim build clad in shiny black armor. Embers and smoke rise from their joints, and a flickering cloak of flame bears them aloft, flickering rapidly like a hummingbird's wings. [21:15] 4Golden chains burst into existence around Ir, rippling around her and solidifying into her golden solar mail. [21:15] 4She snaps her fingers and Jude's Law springs from her brow into her hand. [21:16] 4Her other mailed fist remains on the wheel. [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Actually, it might be neither - as the tangle of black-clad limbs alights on the side of your ship, it collapses together into a sort of squatting lump, one that puts you in mind of a big cicada or something - one with a long cloak or tail of rippling flames. [21:17] 7Huh. [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, this is - it's sort of a garda bird? Despite the insectoid aspect, there's a definite sense of a burning-tailed peacock perched on the side of your ship, staring at you primly. "Greetingz!" [21:19] 4Ir: "Permission to come aboard...granted. Good afternoon." [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Garda bug: "You approach the territory of the Lord of the Hive, who would know your intentionz!" 08[21:20] 4She glances at Eikichi and Blossom. "Lord of the Hive?" 08[21:20] 4She glances at Eikichi and Blossom. 'Lord of the Hive?' 15[21:20] 10Eikichi: "Oh my gods." 15[21:20] "Ravana now too?!" [21:20] 7Blossom: "Whom?" [21:21] 6C'mon, people, we're just trying to move our massive army through your territory! This is basic stuff. 15[21:21] "The South-Eastern Primal Dragon. That clinches it; something's wrong with Sephirot." [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Garda bug: "I can neither confirm nor deny that claim. However, my question standz." 08[21:22] 4Ir's comfortable to leave the talking to Eikichi here, then, since he seems to know what's going on. Bug people. What will they come up with--oh, right, one of Marek's best friends is a bug person. [21:22] 7Blossom: "We're moving through this demesne. We've just received an envoy from Garuda, who also claims this area." [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Bug: "Abzurd! It is far beyond her remit. As well, my Lord's wood spiders have already colonized the land; where are her standard-bearers?" [21:24] 4Ir: "Doesn't seem like a question for us." [21:25] 4Ir: "Our heading takes us and those that follow with us in yea direction about so long, with a leg north after that." 4She indicates with Jude's Law their heading and flight plan, filling in the appropriate distances. [21:26] 4Makes no sense to lie. [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Bug: "That is fine. But those are your demons? They zeem to follow you." [21:27] 7Blossom: "Correct." [21:27] 4Ir: "I am their commander." 15[21:27] 10Eikichi: "It's the Realm Defense Matrix. Gardua, Sephirot, Ravana, all the Primal Dragons were rooted -- by the Cardinal and Intercardinal Pylons." [21:28] 4If the bug envoy is paying attention, she might hear a slight rebuke in Ir's voice; that's to the concept of 'your demons.' 15[21:28] "As the Matrix breaks down, the Dragons do as Dragons will - they'll go feral, or they'll become layabouts and gangsters." 15[21:28] 10To Ravana's emissary: "No offense." [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Bug: "Terrible damage would be done to the demezne!" 12But that's not pronounced with an s sound, how did he- "You must go around." 12That'll be difficult, of course, because there's populated territory in either direction - that's why you charted a course through here. [21:29] 6Tatsuya: "There's kinda. People living there." [21:30] 4Ir: "Going around means killing or impoverishing many mortals. How does your Lord's need outweigh theirs? Does he not have the power to recover from this, out of hand?" 15[21:30] 10Eikichi: "Listen, I'm terribly sorry, but none of you are in charge here. This isn't even your demesne. You simply don't have the authority to ask us to go around." 15[21:30] "Take us to court if you disagree." [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Garda bug: "Are there? So what?" 12At this, a wooshing sound and lazy yawn accompany the re-materialization out of cloudstuff of the newly-hatted wind bear you were speaking to minutes ago. Bear: "The Lady says HEY! Grrr!" [21:31] 4...That's probably a more persuaive line of argumentation. [21:31] 4Ir, to the bear: "So. There were some things you forgot to mention over fish, mmm?" [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Hackles raise as the wind bear menaces the garda bug, which flutters its flame-wings threateningly and buzzes back. [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyone getting in between here or are you just breaking out the popcorn? [21:32] 6Popcorn unless they start damaging the ship, unless someone else wants to step in. [21:33] 7Blossom, loudly: "There will be no fighting!" 14[21:37] * Joins: Quaker 15[21:38] "ENOUGH!" 10Eikichi dashes between them, incandescent with fury. "You serve the Dragons who exist to serve the Chosen. We will not be hindered by your petty disputes. Go apart and settle this amicably or so help me we will stop this ship, turn it around, and feed your masters to our demon horde and then let them slowly recuperate in their ancient prisons, which we will personally 15[21:38] rebuild." [21:39] 6Dude. [21:39] 4No, he has a point. [21:40] 4The disrespect of having this out on the deck of their ship is what's truly galling. [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Possibly because of some quirk in the storm around you, a long moment passes in which you can hear a pin drop. Each elemental freezes dead; after a few moments, both back up slowly until they hid the railing behind them, then slide apart until the bug's sitting almost at the ship's stern and the bear towards the prow. [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Bear: "But... they don't like each other." [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Bug: "And it's still our spiderz down there-" [21:41] 4Ir, into the quiet: "There will be no violence on the deck of this ship that does the discourtesy of not involving us." [21:43] 7Blossom: "If your spiders are down there, then remove them." [21:43] 6Mildly: "Not sure that squabbling here is even going to accomplish much. Unless either of you is prepared to hash out a territorial dispute within the next, I don't know, five minutes." 15[21:44] 10Eikichi doesn't speak, but the look on his face says get off our ship. [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12The bear returns to cloudstuff, and the bug zooms off, trailing embers. While the clouds dissolve upwards, the insectoid emissary is clearly flying down to the demesne itself. [21:46] 4Ir sighs as they go. [21:46] "This isn't over." 15[21:46] 10The Spheres hug in close to Eikichi's head as he looks down off the edge of the ship. "Do we want to give them time to evacuate or just push through?" [21:46] 6Tatsuya: "What are the odds that one claims the sky and one claims the land, and we're the first people to travel through both?" [21:47] 4Ir: "They earned the courtesy of a slight delay by not making Usagi mop them off this deck." 15[21:47] 10Eikichi shakes his head. "They're not that clever." [21:47] "But then we go through." [21:48] 7Blossom nods. "We'll wait a bit. They informed us that Sephirot is distracted, possibly imperiled, by the Eastern Behemoth and that's valuable." [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12A long series of clicks issuing from Atropos indicates that the first of the kruthlings is cresting the border of the great demesne. You can indicate through the ship-dwelling queen whether they should delay or charge. [21:51] 4Delay...but with intent. [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12The air and wood are pregnant with possibility as your kruthik mass on the demesne's western border, but seemingly empty of actual warriors. The occasional green-tinged lightning bolts splits the sky, but only ever arcs from one cloud to another. Groves of trees sway less and less in the wind, seeming to be tied down with thicker webs of vine and silk every time you look away, then [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12back. But the first move's yours. [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12If there's some kind of exodus from the demesne taking place, it's not one you can see. From all appearances, the feral elementals colonizing it are holding fast. [21:57] 7Heh. [21:57] 7Blossom: "They cannot say we didn't warn them." [21:57] "And feral wood spiders are known to prey on unprotected humans." [21:57] 6Tatsuya: "Who do you think's going to get mad at us first?" 15[21:58] "They were both already mad." [21:58] 4Ir: "Whoever it is, I bet it'll align neatly with who gets dead first too." 15[21:59] 10Eikichi spends the hour playing Blossom's target throwing game. He's terrible at it. [22:01] 4Ir spends it at the helm, making herself seen and steadying the ship. [22:03] 7Blossom puts a foot up on the Heavensward's railing, takes a deep breath, and announces: "ONE HOUR!"7. Her voice, amplified with the strength of her conviction, echoes across the sacred Essence conflux! [22:04] 6Tatsuya paces around his quarters, trying to decide whether or not he should clean things up or if that's technically Ying's job. He settles for finding some random scraps of fabric and putting them in one of the crates Ying insists upon sleeping in instead of anything reasonable. [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12The trees shake with the force of Blossom's voice, but not with, say, the scurrying movements of retreating warriors. Looks like they're extremely brave, and even stupider. [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Once every Chosen's where they want to be, and they give Atropos the signal to give Clotho the signal to charge, emote the word! [22:09] 4Ir raises Jude's Law. "KRUTHIK! Take the field." [22:10] 6Tatsuya's back up on deck by now. [22:11] 6He's, uh. Not wearing a shirt. Or his regular armor. Just his jacket. [22:12] 6Well, and his pants, obviously, he's not a total weirdo. 15[22:13] 10Nice. [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Beneath you, the kruthik explode forward into the essence-laden jungle, a swarm of grey and orange that immediately begins to tear into and through the foliage. It looks for a moment like combat has begun immediately, and in a sense it has, but it's completely one-sided: the creatures are devouring the jungle before them as they go, greedily absorbing as much of the vital essence as [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12they can. [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12It's only some five or ten minutes in that the reprisal comes. Hisses and chitters rise up into the air as insects carved from scorched-smooth wood come popping up out of the earth or rappeling down from sapling archtrees, engaging your demons claw to claw and fang to fang! The fighting's savage, and the kruthik are clearly hard-pressed; these elementals have drunk deeply of the [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12essence here, and surely enjoy some blessing of their master's besides. [22:16] 6Rude. [22:16] 4Seize heaven through violence. [22:16] 4Seize hell through heaven. [22:27] 4Ir explodes in supernal light, a beacon shining towards the Sun, and bellows her charges forward. [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Are the kruthik -- losing? The mad charge into the jungle's depths is absorbed and repelled, and while Ir was too sharp not to notice the many webs and snares laid across obvious attack paths her understudy queens hadn't accounted for the problems inherent in fighting creatures one-for-one as dangerous as the kruthlings themselves are. A full-grown wood spider can overpower a kruthling, [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12and while it lacks the heft and toughness of a roach it's got better reach and mobility. Many of the kruthlings are vivisected or sucked dry of vital fluids, while more are forced into retreat behind the lines of stalwart tunnelers which don't fall before the wood spider offensive but also can't safely push deeper into the woods. [22:39] 4Every fight until now has been utter success. Challenge fosters growth. [22:39] 4Ir looks about. "Who has the helm?" [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12The result is a small, embattled kruthik foothold besieged on three sides by fiendish elementals which brutally punish any attempted foray into the forest, but don't seem so good on the attack. Here's the good news, though - Clotho has had the time to plant several tumorous growths of kruthik biomatter at the edge of the demesne, and the kruthik are rapidly developing a forward base. 14[22:42] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12There's this - Ir has never seen a central hatchery sprout out of topsoil that fast. For creatures that've been subsiding on the stale shadowlands north of Great Forks for months and months, the rich air and earth of a wood-aspected demsense is an embarassment of bioessential riches. If the wood spiders knew what they were dealing with, they'd be charging in to stamp out this [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12burgeoning kruthik hive immediately, for all that the creatures are far better at absorbing than launching attacks. [22:49] 4More fools them. Time to take advantage. [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12But - they're not. They don't seem to realize how quickly kruthik reproduce, and they might not until it's too late. [22:49] 4Jude's Law snaps into a scythe into her hand, and the fully-mailed Solar war goddess takes a running head-dive off the prow of the Heavensward. [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12The downside here is probably that if the kruthik win this by outproducing rather than immediately outfighting their enemy, they're going to leave behind an entire demesne covered in gloopy demonic corruption, and that's really gonna piss both dragons off in the long term. [22:50] 6Tatsuya: "Hey--" [22:50] 4The dragons had their chance. 08[22:50] 6Welp. He looks to Eikichi and Blossom. "Can either of you keep this thing in the air?" [22:52] 7Blossom: "I can." [22:57] 6Tatsuya: "Welp. See you in a bit." 6Then he's over the side, too. [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir lands like a thunderbolt amidst a sea of moving vegetation - she can barely tell what's tree and what's spider. Tatsuya lands like her shadow. [23:09] 4Tree. Spider. Everything gets cut. [23:13] 6And cut indeed. These things seem too focused on Ir to notice Tatsuya landing in their presence, and he lashes out immediately after landing. Sneaky little shits, but they bleed just the same. Now to dodge their counterattack... 14[23:18] * banana is now known as banana|split 15[23:26] 10A barrage of black glass slices through the flora, severing vines and shredding ferns, before raking among the wood spiders to send limbs and carapaces flying through the air. 08[23:26] 6In between getting battered by the spiders, Tatsuya shoots the Heavensward a thumbs up. Not sure if Eikichi can see it from there, but hey. Thanks. [23:31] 4Ir explodes with white light, and the giant supernal monster behind her flares with a similar war scythe. "Burn the jungle." [23:32] 4The great Solar monster halves the spiders like so much wheat. "EVERYTHING GETS CUT!" [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Good lord... she's right. The things just melt away before the moonsilver. [23:41] 4Ir looks up to the sky with eyes full of fire and suddenly she's moving. Four hops and then in the air, and she's on top of the bug before it can squeak, trying to guard itself but being slapped aside by blows from the war scythe's haft and backhands from her mailed fist -- just twenty thousand angry single strikes, the disdain of the Sun. The aim was not to kill, this time. Next [23:41] 4time, the bug knows as the butt of the scythe hits her in the thorax and drives her back, it very well might be. [23:41] 4Ir looks up to the sky with eyes full of fire and suddenly she's moving. Four hops and then in the air, and she's on top of the bug before it can squeak, trying to guard itself but being slapped aside by blows from the war scythe's haft and backhands from her mailed fist -- just twenty thousand angry single strikes, the disdain of the Sun. The aim was not to kill, this time. Next [23:41] 4time, the bug knows as the butt of the scythe hits her in the thorax and drives her back, it very well might be. [23:42] 4Ir: "I want to know if we've made our point, envoy." [23:43] "Nexzt one's coming faster." [23:53] "Yield." [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12The bug doesn't even take a second to think. It cries "zzzzGah!" 12and immediately attempts to soar out of there, trailing an arc of embers in its wake. [23:58] 4Ir's laugh bares her teeth. She stretches backwards in mid-air, and dives back towards the ground-- [23:59] 4A halo burns around her head. Session Time: Fri Mar 08 00:00:00 2019 [00:01] 7Blossom watches the wood spiders begin to break and rout into the jungle and opens the jacket of her armor, revealing crude twin holsters (she needs to ask Ying to make her better ones soon). What she pulls from them only resemble flame pieces in the most general sense - they're massive, stubby things compared to the long narrow weapons you might see on a cavalry or naval officer. [00:01] 7They seem to be built of chunks of orichalcum, heavy enough that you could bash someone's skull in with them in a pinch, and where the barrel meets the stock there's a strange horizontal cylinder that should by rights let burning firesand escape, setting the pistolman and her comrades alight. [00:02] 14EVERYTHING-- [00:02] 7As she takes a fraction of a second to aim, characters of Old Realm carved into their sides begin to glow a bright cerulean. On one, a large character reads 'TRUTH'. On the other, it reads 'JUSTICE'. Below them both, smaller characters spell out 'IN THE NAME OF THE SUN WE'LL PUNISH YOU'. [00:02] 4EVERYTHING-- [00:02] 4GETS-- [00:02] 4CUT. 15[00:02] 10Wow. [00:03] 4The spiders fall. The trees and the plants fall around them. Ten thousand silver slashes just leveled half a jungle. [00:03] 4And the fire falls behind. [00:04] 7When she fires, it puts to rest all doubt that these are nothing like ordinary flame pieces. When the hammer strikes, instead of the characteristic hiss-roar of the firewand, there's a loud, furious WHOOM. She squeezes the trigger several times, WHOOM! WHOOM! WHOOM! and gouts of flame shoot across the battlefield, picking off fleeing spiders as they scuttle into the jungle. [00:04] 6Tatsuya, mostly to himself: "Well, holy fuckin' shit." [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Well... that'll do it. Between the firebolts and the white reaping, there isn't actually anything left. All that awaits the kruthik is trees and bodies - and they're very grateful for both, surging forward around Tatsuya and Ir even if they're burned in the process. [00:06] 4Jude's Law flashes into a great moonsilver chakram, carving a giant circle in the levelled dirt, and then the blades of the hideous orb form fill it in. Eight lines drawn radiating from it. Ir carved the crest of the Dawn in land so it would remember. [00:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Above you, the clouds boil with anticipation. Around you, the ground quivers as tree roots shake with fury. But, for the moment, that's all they dare to do. Half a jungle emptied; half to go. [00:07] 4It can stop at any time. [00:09] 4When they find Ir, she's meditating in the middle of the sigil. [00:09] 4It's only been a minute or two. [00:09] 4She snaps up. "Let's do the rest, then." 15[00:11] 10Eikichi, to Blossom, excitedly: "You finished them?!" [00:13] 7Blossom grins. "On the way over. I had to pick up something very important from Nexus before I could start on them. Check it out--" [00:14] 6Tatsuya brushes soot off of his jacket and abs before making a flying leap up to the Heavensward. Even adds a somersault for good measure - feels right. As he clambers over the side: "Yo!" 15[00:14] 10Eikichi: "Tatsuya! Come look at these!" [00:15] 6Tatsuya: "Is 'these' whatever scorched a ton of spiders before Ir got the rest?" [00:15] 7She flips her wrists and the guns break forward with a 'click', revealing the back of the odd cylinder. Anyone who cares to can now see holes have been bored into it, and in some - minus, apparently, what Blossom used to incinerate the wood spiders - a thin blue flame dances, never quite touching the sides. 08[00:15] "Guess what I used for containment!" 7Does Eikichi care to guess? [00:15] 4Ir leaps back up onto the Heavensward's deck. "Hup." [00:15] "That went well." [00:15] "Nice guns." 15[00:16] 10Eikichi: "Tell me!" [00:16] "Thank you!" 7Says Blossom, proudly. "I've named them Truth and Justice." [00:16] 4Ir: "...So they're basically the same gun, with some aesthetic changes?" [00:17] 6Tatsuya: "Likewise, Ir. But hey. These things are - when did you even have the time?" [00:18] 4Ir snaps her fingers and Jude's Law coalesces into a orb, which she starts rolling back and forth; occasionally it falters to metallic goop in her hands. [00:18] 4She gives Tatsuya the double finger snap, though. [00:20] 4Ir will beckon Atropos over and confer with her quietly and gently. Once or twice she'll stroke the queen's crest. A lot of Kruthik died in the first ten minutes. A lot. 08[00:20] 7Blossom really wants to make Eikichi guess, but that would just leave them going back and forth for full minutes while Ir and Tatsuya get irritated, and besides she's too excited to hold it in. "Firecrystal!" 7As everyone knows, in areas where Essence of a specific elemental aspect concentrates, even temporarily, it can crystallize into a hard, sharp rock. There's aircrystal, [00:20] 7icecrystal, woodcrystal, and so on. They're not particularly expensive or useful, in most cases. Alchemists and thaumaturges or sorcerors sometimes use essence crystal, and desperate generals will mix ground firecrystal into their firesand to extend the life of their stock, like putting sawdust in oats. [00:20] 7But, this doesn't look like firecrystal. That's a red, almost glowing stone. Not transparent. [00:21] "It took me a couple tries, but I was able to drain the component Essence while keeping the crystalline containment structure intact!" [00:21] 7Oh, that explains it! 15[00:21] 10Eikichi: "That's brilliant!" 10She's so smart. 08[00:21] 6Tatsuya: "That doesn't look - well, holy shit." 6Less eloquent than Eikichi, but the same general mood. [00:24] 4Ir: "That's fucked up, but cool." [00:25] "So I just- hrmph!" 7She grunts, and blue flame snakes down her arms, turning at the base of her thumb into sparks of lightning that leap onto the cylinder, causing the empty crystals to glow with flame again. "Fully loaded." 7She finishes, satisfied, as she clicks the barrels back into place. [00:26] 7To Ir: "They're twinned artifacts. You could use just one, I guess, but it would be... lesser." [00:27] 6Tatsuya: "...that's a sick reload." 15[00:28] "!!" [00:28] 4Ir: "Two Hand." [00:29] "?" 14[00:30] * Joins: mattbaby [00:30] 4Ir makes two firewards with her hands. "Two Hand." [00:30] "It's a badass style." [00:33] "I can finally do Righteous Devil style properly." 14[00:34] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Mutter: www.mutterirc.com) [00:35] 6Tatsuya: "You learned?" [00:36] 7What? Oh, right, he wasn't around. "From Tinder Tam, when we were in Great Forks." 14[00:37] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [00:37] 7She glowers. "And I bet Raksi will be the perfect enemy for it." [00:38] 6Tatsuya: "Huh." 6Should've read the notebook. "Will she? Because those spiders seemed pretty dang perfect." [00:40] 4Ir: "Those spiders didn't serve her. And she's gonna be the main bitch from what I've heard." [00:40] "We walk in there and it's days and days of having to smile through it." [00:41] 6Tatsuya: "That thing with the babies true?" [00:41] 7Blossom: "Righteous Devil is all about punishing evil. The spiders were... probably not evil, just obstinate and on the wrong side." [00:41] 4Ir:"I'm told it's as true as it needs to be." [00:41] 6Agreeably: "Animals usually don't have an ideology." [00:41] 4Ir:"I'm told it's as true as it needs to be." [00:41] 4Ir: "I'm told it's as true as it needs to be." [00:42] "But I'm sure she's got some babies waiting on ice anyway."| [00:42] 6Tatsuya grimaces. "Not sure we can smile through it for days and days." [00:42] "Then we'll just kill her." [00:43] "Not opposed. Might be tricky." [00:44] "What does that mean, 'it's as true as it needs to be'? Either she's a cannibal or she isn't." [00:46] 6Tatsuya: "Appearances can be deceiving. Pretend I disguised myself here; we're surrounded by things that're gonna try to kill us so I'm not going to waste the energy." [00:46] 4Ir: "Sure, but what are we?" [00:46] "Stories have her serving babies, right?" [00:46] "Do they have her eating them?" [00:46] 6Reflexively: "An idiot sandwich." [00:47] "Wait, that's just me. Sorry." [00:48] 4Ir: "Kisha went in and had to eat something she didn't want, and she and her circle aren't welcome back because, presumably, she didn't." [00:49] 6Tatsuya: "So we're going to kill her eventually, is what I'm hearing." [00:49] 4She leans back against the prow. "So if I had to judge, based on rumor and innuendo, I would say that because Kisha was allowed to leave in her shame, having not partaken of her bad feast, that Raksi's first line of defense is nothing more than 'fuck them if they can't take a joke.'" [00:50] "And the joke is eating the children of her slaves." [00:50] "So her head might look good on some walls." [00:52] 6Tatsuya: "Ours, though? We're... mostly nice." [00:53] 4Ir: "We are what we are." 14[00:53] * banana|split is now known as banana [00:58] 6Tatsuya: "Hell if that ain't a fact." [01:00] 4Ir sighs and leans back against the prow. "Let's stay here for a moment." [01:00] "Then let's move on." 14[01:27] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[01:29] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:24] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:59] * Joins: tom 14[07:08] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[08:27] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:21] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:24] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Mutter: www.mutterirc.com) 14[12:16] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:21] * Joins: tom 14[18:01] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:02] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[19:27] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:30] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[19:36] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:39] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[20:39] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:44] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[21:13] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:21] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[21:25] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:32] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[22:09] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[22:10] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[22:10] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[23:25] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:29] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sat Mar 09 00:00:00 2019 14[02:14] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:33] * Joins: tom 14[08:04] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[08:04] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[08:04] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[13:53] * banana is now known as banana|peels Session Time: Sun Mar 10 00:00:00 2019 14[00:49] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[09:46] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:49] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:13] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[19:29] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:46] * Joins: trenchfoot Session Time: Mon Mar 11 00:00:00 2019 14[00:13] * Joins: tom 14[02:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[09:41] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:41] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[10:41] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[10:41] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[12:52] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:01] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:02] * Joins: cbass 14[18:17] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[18:17] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[18:17] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[18:20] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:51] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[18:52] * Joins: Crion 14[19:02] * Joins: Crion_ 14[19:04] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:42] * Joins: hrolf 14[20:22] * Joins: tom 14[21:20] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:11] * Joins: tom 14[22:30] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:41] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[23:55] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[23:57] * Joins: dammitwho Session Time: Tue Mar 12 00:00:00 2019 14[00:17] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[01:48] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[03:15] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:45] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[07:06] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:36] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[08:36] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[08:36] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[08:49] * Quits: dammitwho (Connection closed) 14[08:49] * Joins: dammitwho 14[09:03] * Joins: Crion 14[09:04] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[20:31] * Joins: Crion 14[20:36] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:51] * Joins: tom 15[21:01] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue Mar 12 21:01:17 2019 Session Start: Tue Mar 12 21:12:35 2019 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[21:12] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[21:12] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[21:12] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[21:50] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[21:57] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:10] * Quits: VoxPrime (Quit: ) Session Time: Wed Mar 13 00:00:00 2019 14[00:39] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[01:18] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:28] * Quits: cbass (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:34] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[02:38] * Joins: cbass 14[03:42] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[07:16] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[07:16] * Joins: dammitwho 14[09:07] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:04] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[19:52] * Joins: Crion 14[20:52] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:11] * Joins: tom 14[21:56] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:09] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Thu Mar 14 00:00:00 2019 14[00:01] * Quits: VoxPrime (Quit: ) 14[01:06] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[01:59] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[02:34] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:51] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[06:05] * Joins: tom 14[07:20] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[08:12] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[12:34] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:53] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:57] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:17] * Joins: Crion_ 14[15:18] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:34] * Joins: tom 14[16:58] * Joins: Crion 14[16:59] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:50] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:11] * Joins: tom [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 | [ | v': : | |_,;c [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 | ] |/; |, | | [ ( __,/ [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 | ,-'/ ;\ ,< _',\.-._,; | ] | n [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 | -' / _;'; '=_'-' ,) ,\ | ,; [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 | ] / \,'__/--,_,-- 'mm'J -"_ ] '-,+_ [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 | / / "''-.,;"---''--'"" \ ] __ "-' [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12;' [ / : : _c / / ",_,' [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12| [ | v| , '/ c c \ | [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12\ ] | \ /| : __,-,v;|] . \| [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 [ /"--'/ | (7_ c@ ) )/| [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12\ ] ,-"'<': '--, ( /^ | [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12| ] / : '| \ | ) | [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12| | / | | ;,-;, \ ,)( ]| [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12| \^ | | : |\ ,' \ / \ [ | [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12| ? / \_ | /|: | , \ | [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12| | ('. "--' |:, ; :\ ,\ [| [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12| ;\~) _ \_) ',_| , | ), \_ : [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12| |/ [ /""-,_ '-'( /.' | \ | '-_ [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12| [ | | "---,__"'=';=,_ | \ /|\ '"-,__ [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12| ] | : | ""'^.\ | | | \ [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12| [ ]| | : | ] \ \ / [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a brief lull in the savage, supernatural combat that rocks the western edge of a great wood-aspected demesne out past the eastern threshold. The essence-suffused wilderness is roughly circular, hemmed in at various sides by steppes and small mountains, and owing to its elemental character something of a previous of the farther east - it's an extremely tall, extremely dense [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12jungle with foliage so overgrown and tightly coiled that it's barely possible to see the ground, or to know whether the hills and valleys within are reflections of the ground's topography or simply the shapes that the roots and fungi are the lowest levels have taken. Worse still, it's absolutely crawling with hostile creatures and feral elementals, wood spiders the size of tigers lurking [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12in in the canopy or beneath the ground to seize unwary travelers. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Of course, the green and blue monotony has been broken up by the grey, brown, and bright orange of the Squared Circle's demon legions. Your kruthik fared v-e-r-r-r-y poorly in their first sortie against the spiders, but were able to claim at least a small patch of essence-rich terrain upon which to build their new hive, and now drones are feverishly chewing through bark and soil in [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12search of matter to feed the burgeoning bio-structures which Clotho has been busily sowing. They can do this quickly and safely because you, their Solar masters, have taken it upon yourselves to forge out and just insanely, brutally annihilate the army of spiders that had been guarding somewhere between the west quarter and west half of the entire area. [20:29] 4A lull's good. Gives us time to regroup a bit. [20:30] 6It was pretty rough for us, Sun only knows how shitty it was for the kruthik to face the spiders. [20:30] 6Also, by "rough," I of course mean "it took us any effort whatsoever." A common abbreviation. [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12There are at least two dragons watching what you're doing here, based on the words of variously rude emissaries who alighted upon the Heavensward's deck not an hour ago. The area itself might also be of academic or practical interest - maybe studies or surveys could lead you to particularly rich caches of essence or even a natural hearthstone or something? It's up to you whether you [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12press on to deal with the rest of the spiders personally or leave it as a bonding exercise for your kruthik, increasingly more of whom will be newly hatched as this goes on. [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha's still absent - where does she go? - but Marek and Azer'Jol have mostly been riding with you, and that's why the former's able to comment "...nice," 12after rappeling down from your airship in the aftermath of the first battle. He's in the form of the southern tyrant lizard tamer familiar by now to all of you, leaning on a long walking stick that Ir knows is his moonsilver [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12panoply in disguise. [20:34] 4I'll show you 'nice' la-- "Yeah, well, we try. Not sure how long the calm will last." 15[20:34] "Do you think there are any toxic frogs in this jungle?" [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek thinks about this for a moment. "Most certainly. Need some?" [20:35] 6Tatsuya: "Don't think so." 15[20:36] "'Need' is such a strong word." [20:36] "That is exactly why we don't need any." [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12As you speak, one of the kruthik drones comes gliding over and starts to pace nervously back and forth right next to the small group of you. Eventually, it starts to just nudge and push at Marek until he takes several steps to the side, whereupon it dives into the carpet of demon-fungus he was standing on and takes root in the form of a glowing, orange egg that begins to rapidly [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12increase in size. [20:39] 4Ir frowns. Looks like the queens have decided they have time to upgrade. [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12These things look a little different every generation, but Ir's guess is that this is going to be a defensive emplacement - it's right on the border of the colony, after all. [20:40] 6Tatsuya: "Uh." [20:41] 6He's beginning to see why Ying makes him handle everything related to the kruthik. 15[20:41] 10Eikichi: "Ooh. Watch it pop--" [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Essence-rich soil means this thing's able to pass through entire stages of maturation in mere minutes. In an eruption of what's either yolk or amniotic fluid, a huge, bladed tentacle set in a chitinous, spiderlike base comes tearing up out of the ground, twitching as it takes stock of each of you one by one before coiling in anticipation for enemies to literally come out of the [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12woodwork. [20:44] 7Gross. [20:44] 6Disgusting. 15[20:44] 10Eikichi: "Cool." 08[20:45] 6Tatsuya shoots Eikichi a look, but doesn't reply. [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Fast as things are going, it'll likely be an hour or more before the kruthik have built up the numbers they need to take more ground. Want to forge out ahead of them, go with them, or just leave this to them to finish up? [20:46] 4Immobile. "Hope they don't think we're setting up a permanent base here." [20:46] 4Ir will watch over things here and meditate a bit. [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12This is probably Atropos's influence - she's always been paranoiac and turtle-y. 15[20:47] 10Eikichi: "No rush. Twenty minutes." [20:48] 4Ir will call her over for a word or two about flexibility and mobility, but won't actually order her to stop spawning spike towers. [20:50] 6I mean, we are gonna need to come back through here. It's sensible. And gross. [20:54] 4If we come back through here, then we'll fight our way back through a second time. Leaving another permanent rear base in this kind of environment is a waste of resources, a waste of the queens' attention, and perhaps most importantly, encouraging a rogue split. [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12There certainly won't be another split while Jormungand lives, but it would mean creating a demon colony smack dab in the middle of Creation - and one that's not under your close supervision. Upside: you'll come back to find a legion of loyal soldiers. Downside: they'll probably have displaced or devoured several neighboring states. [20:55] 6I'm hearing a lot of complaints and not a lot of solutions. [20:58] 7Blossom: "So the spikes just... reach out and stab anything coming near?" [21:03] 6Tatsuya: "Not, uh, particularly a fan. Probably effective, I guess?" [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12If you look around, you can see them in action - occasionally, a shape will start to creep out of the treeline and then either get driven away or speared, dragged in, and fed to the kruthlings. [21:08] 6...definitely effective. [21:16] 4She closes her eyes and takes a couple of deep, calming breaths, and Jude's Law briefly flickers into an orb in her hand -- then Ir opens her eyes. "Alright, I'm ready to move on." [21:18] 7Blossom is flipping Truth and Justice around her fingers like she's practicing a longer and more elaborate routine. "Good. We can't give them too much time." [21:19] 4To Marek: "You and your people coming, babe?" [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Definitely. Want us to sneak ahead and see what's in charge or stick close?" [21:22] 4Ir: "I'd prefer the latter, but your skills seem to trend to the former, and we're a bit light on reconaissance in force otherwise." [21:23] 6Tatsuya: "Hey, if you wanted a specialist, you could've asked." [21:23] 4Look, let me let my boyfriend feel useful, okay? [21:24] 6To Marek: "Mind if I join? I can run back if you spot something." [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Well, we're changing skins - don't really need to sneak. If you can stay hidden and still keep up, sure." 12He looks to Ir. "I'll send a messenger if we turn up anything worrying." [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Then he ripples like water, replaced in seconds by a darning needle ringed with black and grey stripes and buzzing on too-fast-to-follow wings. The creature turns and arcs off into the woods. [21:28] 6Well, hey. [21:28] 4Ir: "Be careful." [21:37] 6Tatsuya watches Marek as he goes, looking as though he's about to leap after him, but then he relaxes. "He's got it. There's, uh, not sure the proper term for how many traps there are. A shitload? He doesn't need me stepping on all of them." [21:37] 6There was a brief flash in his eyes, but it seems like it's gone now. [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, now that Tatsuya's determined there are too many tripwires, pits, snares, and general traps and ambushes to realistically avoid at top speed, it's time to just blunder straight through them and damn the consequences. [21:38] 4That's the "in force" part. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Grouped together, the Squared Circle gets barely fifteen yalms past the border of the kruthik colony before the forest around them comes alive. But hey, that was the point. [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Join Battle! 14[21:43] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[21:43] * Joins: tom [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Spindly, web-weaving spiders are dropping from the canopy. Burly, oaken tarantulas are erupting from the earth. Behind the tangle of limbs and vinelike webbing, embers dance and sizzle - a teeming carpet of black chitin and rippling heat is digging itself up through the topsoil and vines, readying elemental flame! [21:50] 6Should've followed without tripping the traps. [22:04] 4Ir explodes into a massive bonfire of essence and might, her orb lancing out into the jungle to reave the spiders... [22:04] 4...And honestly, doesn't accomplish all that much. [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir verily carves through the creatures, but ends up chewing up almost as much inoffensive and immobile greenery as she does the actual spiders, who mire her her in vines and lumber while scurrying out of the way of actual blows. [22:11] 6Tatsuya charges in her wake, slaying the things Ir knocked aside and leaping off trees and other foliage to strike from unconventional angles. Here we go, lads -- take 'em out. [22:19] 7Blossom levels her guns, but the wood elementals are already fleeing in disarray. "Oh! Well." 15[22:21] 10Black glass stains the air violet as it blocks out the sun, shredding elementals and the vines, trees, and plants they move through. Once they've settled, and the jungle is horribly still, the shards of obsidian carpet the ground and reflect Eikichi's radiance back upward like fresh snow. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, 08[22:23] 6Tatsuya goes from cautiously guarding his weak points to just gawping at the devastation unleashed. He tosses a salute back to Eikichi. "We got 'em." 15[22:24] "They were warned." [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a decisive first engagement, to be sure, but the fecundity of the demesne is a constant concern. As the Squared Circle presses on, a combination of warfare, ambush, fire essence and sorcerous obsidian is able to make short work of the guardian elementals but it seems that the creatures are only getting bigger and more creative the closer you get to the heart of the place. Trees [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12erupt to disgorge massive centipedes, vents in the roots below you blast flame and soot, and sometimes dead spiders behind you twitch, shudder, and split open to unleash smaller, vengeful doppelgangers. 08[22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12You have to do a fair amount of climbing, but as you fight your way towards the center of the demesne there's a definite sense that you're descending, arcing down the center of a great funnel made of roots and vines and trunks and moss. But beneath that, as Eikichi's sorcery and Blossom's blasting increasingly reveal, is ancient, carved stone. [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Those of you with a working knowledg of magic are becoming increasingly certain - this isn't a natural demesne at all. It's a broken and overgrown manse, one that might be so ancient it dates back to the First Age! That might be why the energies here are so rich, and yet so tightly contained within the locality. [22:34] 4Ir: "Guess I feel less bad about steamrolling this place now." 08[22:35] 6Tatsuya: "No, no, wait, this is - holy shit, dudes." 6He takes a moment to steady himself. "Eikichi. You and I saw this before, like, right after we met Blossom." 15[22:36] "A pylon?" [22:36] 4Ir: "It's the Big Gun, huh?" [22:36] "Realm defense grid. It's got to be." 08[22:37] "Eikichi says its more of a Realm Defense Matrix." 7She adds, loyally. 15[22:37] 10Eikichi beams. [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Then why's everyone call it the Grid, genius? I swear, some people. 08[22:38] Tatsuya: "Okay, yeah, sure, not exactly the point I was making." 6He seems irritated, but not with Blossom or Eikichi. "This is a part of it." 15[22:40] 10Eikichi: "No wonder they want it so badly." [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12It's as you descend that a fruit bat comes flapping up out of the darkness, its fur tinged green and its eyes crosshatched like an insect's. Uncharacteristically friendly, the creature flutters right over to Ir to land on her shoulder. 15[22:41] "Aww!" [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek's voice: "They're calling their god against you shortly, but we should be able to spoil things for him down the line. Also, feed this one something, he's been very helpful." [22:42] 4Ir: "Hey there to you too." [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Then the bat blinks confusedly and paws at its own snout, as if itchy. [22:42] 4Ir will whip something up. [22:44] 4Some assorted berries and small fruit from the rations she's carrying with her, in fact. [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12It gobbles them up greedily. From below you, at the bottom of a great funnel of spiraling roots, a dull orange light pulses like a beating heart. [22:51] 6Tatsuya: "Cool bat." [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Once you've started your descent, the elemental attacks thin further. Between your first engagement and the warpath you've drawn through the jungle, you suspect that their numbers are badly depleted, but there's also something about the air that suggests you're descending into a deliberately-empty, maybe sacred place. Cutting through a last layer of underbrush, you approach a wide [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12pavilion in the center of which is a gigantic black sphere, a good twenty or thirty fulms taoo. Well, it'd be black if it weren't red hot. Streamers of fiery essence, smelling of incense and honey, coil through the air to be sucked into it from four directions, each glowing trail disappearing into the maze of roots and stonework that must describe the demesne's underground. [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Whoops, that should be tall, not taoo. 15[22:54] 10What's going on here? [22:56] "...Weird." 15[22:57] "An ochema of the Primal Dragon Ravana!" [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Yeah, it definitely looks like something's being ritually summoned or constructed in there! [22:58] "What's an ochema? Are we gonna have to fight it?" [22:58] 6Tatsuya: "Break it or leave it?" [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Specifically, there must be magic being worked - Tatsuya would guess sorcery, and Blossom can confirm - in multiple places somewhere underground and away from here which is drawing together power and pouring it into this receptacle. The strange, distant buzzing you're hearing snatches of are incantations. [23:05] 6Tatsuya: "So, I'm not an expert --" 6Technically, he is -- "But we should probably break this." [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12The shell itself obliges you. There's a flash and a flurry of metalic scraping sounds, and the great shell falls in four parts, like a melon cut twice fast from above. Within is a tangle of black, scaly coils, streamers of flame rising from a dorsal ridge. [23:08] "...and the rest of it should go, too." 6C'mon. C'moooon. [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12They slide and ooze past each other, tightening and melding, until the great burning knot of serpentine bulk compresses itself into a tall, insectoid figure in black armor. It stands on segmented, mantis-like legs with four chitinous arms crossed fiercely over an armored chest and four great, glowing, razor-edged wings rising from its back. A furious mask glares down at you, mandibles [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12and chelicerae opening and closing around a furnace of orange flames. [23:10] 6It was worth a shot. [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Ravana: "Interlopers! Invaders!" [23:12] 7Blossom laughs derisively. "Sneaking into Sephiroth's territory, and calling us interlopers?" 15[23:13] 10Eikichi: "Blossom's right. You cannot lay claim to this demesne, dragon." [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Hmm... why didn't he just meet you in the field immediately? Probably he had some kind of detente with the other dragon interested in this locale, and is here because you forced all four of his hands. [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Ravana: "Cannot? Have already! My soldiers nest and train here! My element burgeons and thrives! What claim do YOU have, godlings?" [23:15] 6Tatsuya: "I mean. We're here." [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Ravana: "True. But we were here first! Begone and take your abominations with you." [23:18] 6Tatsuya: "I wasn't planning on sticking arround. So what's your deal, my good dude?" [23:18] 6Around has one R. But you can pretend that Tatsuya rolled it, if you like. [23:19] 4Ir: "Emphasis 'were.'" [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's treated to a snort and a furiously silent stare for. But then Ravana speaks again. "Clever words. But we remain, and with the energies of this place shall rebuild. You have abused my loyal followers and children - but around me, even the hosts of the gods tread carefully!" [23:24] 7Blossom: "So what you're saying is, defeating you would be a worthy challenge for the strongest Chosen?" [23:25] 6Tatsuya: "Look, mack, we were just passing through. Far as I can see, that's still the plan." [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Ravana: "It would be a fool's errand! Your upstart Circle cannot-" 12Here, a garda bug that came buzzing out of one of the tunnels leading out of the walls has finally reached Ravana's ear, where it chitters at some length. "...cannot... have... nothing... better to.. do. We have no vendetta - yet." [23:27] 7Blossom: "Luckily for you, we do have something better to do. But we need to move our forces through this demesne to get to it." [23:28] 4Ir: "And were we to move through, I'm gracious enough not to let my forces put roots down." [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Ravana draws himself up. Well, farther up - this entails leaning back a bit and powering his enormous wings so as to start floating a few fulms above the ground he stood on. "I can sense, already, the corruption of this place's western reaches. Can your beasts quit this place without further blight, such that their trail can be scoured clean?" [23:29] 7Blossom: "That was the plan to begin with." [23:30] 6Tatsuya: "Did you ambush us to remind us of our own idea?" [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Ravana's eyes glint with rage. "You banished my emissary! Sent your demons directly into MY territory, rather than approach singly and in supplication! The-" 12His assistant buzzes in his ear, or where his ear would be if that were just a helmet, again. "Perhaps that emissary was to blame." 15[23:33] "With all due respect, it's not your territory." [23:34] 4What's due isn't much, and dropping with every word out of his mandibles. 15[23:34] "This is Sephirot's domain if it belongs to any of you. Which, by the way, it doesn't, since you're a wood dragon, not a warlord." [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Ravana: "I am many things!" 12He points to Blossom, who's spoken the most of logistics. "And you swear this? You mean to, and can, pass through this place and leave it blooming?" [23:36] 6Tatsuya: "Are you finished? Or are you done?" 15[23:41] 10Eikichi looks to Blossom. What's she want to do? [23:48] 7Blossom: "This is what we planned to do from the beginning. Do not doubt me." 15[23:48] 10No one could possibly do that. [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Air swirls dramatically around Blossom as she speaks, and Ravana looks straight into her gaze, his own great and multifaceted eyes sparkling in many colors. "Hmmph," 12he says, before waiting a little longer. "...VERY WELL!" 12His wings stop their fierce buzzing, and he drops back onto the ground, though as light as his landing looks it seems to only intensify the wind in the [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12chamber further. "I will allow this! You may direct your creatures through this demesne, along a path I shall denote, and the-" 12He is interrupted here by a mad, echoing cackle. [23:53] 4For fuck's sake. [23:53] 6Welp. 15[23:53] 10Oh dear. [23:53] 7Heh. [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a boom of impact and a howling whirlwind so powerful as to be visible as grey-green streaks in the air. Ravana still stands, but his head snaps up and to the side, and if you follow his gaze you find the dragon Garuda perched above on a huge root, staring down with black-on-black eyes -- like a doll's eyes, or a shark's. 15[23:54] 10heyyyyy girl [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Garuda: "Little bug! You broke our deeeal!" 12Ravana: "You DARE enter here?!" 12Garuda: "Why not? You did! Eee hee hee heeeee-" [23:55] 4This is all a bit much. [23:55] 6Can we like. Not be here while they fight? [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12They glower at each other. Essence visibly crackles in the air, each vaguely humanoid form seeming to stand - or perch, I suppose - at the head of a great, coiling serpent of elemental pressure. Actually, not being here while they fight is probably an excellent idea, though it makes you wonder... [23:57] 6Oooooooh, it makes me wonder. Session Time: Fri Mar 15 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Logically, Ravana has the edge here. That's not because of any inherent superiority or damage type weakness, exactly, but rather because of the home ground advantage - though both he and Garuda seem to represent an intercardinal direction, his physical presence and aura seem to be closer to the element of wood -- that is, Garuda seems to be an air dragon with some affinity for birds [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12and and trees, while Ravana is a wood dragon with some affinity for fire. Of course, there is a tinge of air essence throughout the demesne so it's not a sure thing, but if they fight over here in here the smart bet's on the bug. [00:01] 13Gross. 6Agreed. [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12However, anyone who analyzes this on a metaphysical as well as a tactical level would conclude that the really smart bet here would be against, like, continued human habitation of the entire Eastern threshold. These dragons seem to be intimately tied to Creation's geomancy in a way that "mere" celestial censors or what have you aren't - you'd have to sift through some history books [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12and do extended calculations to be sure, but there's a sense that a direct brawl here would have incredible potential to spiral out of control and wreak long-term havoc on the entire environment. [00:02] 7Oh, for the love of-- [00:03] 4For fuck's sake. [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12That's why it's worrying that, for instance, Ravana has somehow produced four slashing swords from somewhere, one shining in each of his hands. He's saying: "-pressing need! Nothing alike YOUR coming here! That you would dare-" 12While the air dragon just laughs. [00:03] 6Oh, come the fuck on. Chill. Please. 08[00:11] 6Whispering to Eikichi: "Try and work something about his insect buddies. He cares more about them than the people." 08[00:12] 6He, naturally, assumes that Eikichi is going to handle the talking on this. 15[00:17] 10Eikichi: "This is senseless destruction! You would stand to lose everything, and win no prize for the effort. What use is a world of ruin?" [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Ravana: "...you speak truly. This was why we made our pact, Lady! We must stand down, as before!" 12With the humming of magicked steel sawing circles through the air, Ravana flourishes but sheathes all four swords in one smooth motion. [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Garuda, tapping one claw against her lower lip: "I suppose it would get boring." [00:20] 6That is not the main reason to stop fighting, but, okay. [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12A moment hangs. Just as Ravana seems about to say something, Garuda cuts him off. "Fine, how about this. Cut down the rest of his bugs and leave this place to me aaaand - my blessing! I'll give you a great blessing. How about that?" [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Ravana: "WHAT!" [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Garuda: "Eh heh heh. What?" 15[00:21] 10Eikichi likes Garuda better than Ravana, even though Garuda's the one that actually knocked him unconscious. [00:21] 4Ir throws up her arms in exapseration. They should have just gone around! [00:21] 6Tatsuya: "Are we really doing this?" [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Ravana: "You cannot possibly-" 12Garuda: "Imagine it! A great bounty of winds. Maybe you'd like a faster ship? Maybe you'd like your little bugs to fly? It'd be so cute!" [00:22] 7Blossom: "No thank you." [00:22] "We're really not interested." 15[00:23] "Kind of you to offer, though." [00:23] "Yeah, uh, that sounds awesome. But. A bit of a pickle, with the offering." [00:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Ravana: "Outrageous! Insulting! Do you think I would offer them my own blessing were they to drive you from these skies? It is beneath me!" 12He does glance towards your Circle surreptitiously. 15[00:46] 10Eikichi shakes his head. What bad dragons. [00:47] 4They're not ideal. Or maybe they are, and that's the problem. [00:47] 6Tatsuya is just shrugging. [00:47] <@Ferrinus> 12No..? ...seriously..? But the - Garuda speaks up here: "No? Seriously?! Ugh! UGH!!" [00:48] 4Ir: "You caught us at a bad time." [00:48] 6Tatsuya: "We were pretty set here, but, uh, you did try to kill us." [00:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Garuda: "Then I'll quit this place as soon as you do, beetle!" 12Ravana: "Pigeon!" 12Garuda: "Tick!" "Chicken!" "Mite!" 12This goes on for a bit, but right about when the name-calling begins to cause atmospheric phenomena Garuda blasts off laughing into the sky and Ravana explodes into a cloud of fiery butterflies that spreads out before arcing down beneath the stones of the [00:50] <@Ferrinus> 12ground. [00:50] 4Ir: "That was more than a bit much." [00:50] 7Blossom: "That was irritatingly childish. I hope all primal dragons aren't like that." 15[00:51] "I bet some of them are worse." [00:51] 6Tatsuya: "If we can just convince them we're passing through instead of having to fight them, that's okay." [00:53] <@Ferrinus> 12You're now, more or less, alone. The fiery elemental that was Ravana's attendant is still here watching you, but it doesn't object or comment if you climb back up out of the center of the demesne and begin to make arrangements to decamp. [00:53] 4That's where Ir is headed. [00:53] 6Does the elemental respond to an attempt to give it a secret handshake? High, low, too slow, fistbump? [00:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Nah it's kind of hovering up out of reach, on account of having nearly died earlier. It'll surveil you from afar as you return to the kruthik hive, which has in the past hour doubled in radius and bustles like a Nexus market. [00:57] <@Ferrinus> 12The kruthik pace and slaver, their eyes glowing gold and green and their hides gleaming with vigor. They've had a taste of real essence and are ravenous for more. The squared circle brings them to heel -- next week. 14[01:56] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[11:08] * Quits: trenchfoot (Quit: Leaving) 14[11:09] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[11:42] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[11:42] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[12:30] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:46] * Joins: tom 14[13:49] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[15:43] * Joins: Crion_ 14[15:44] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:55] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[18:55] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[23:53] * Joins: Quaker Session Time: Sat Mar 16 00:00:00 2019 14[00:13] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[00:16] * Joins: Quaker 14[00:32] * Joins: tom 14[01:07] * Joins: Crion 14[01:09] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:11] * Joins: Crion_ 14[01:13] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:29] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[05:12] * Joins: Quaker 14[05:28] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[06:50] * Joins: tom 14[12:18] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:29] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:52] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:46] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:17] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:19] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:25] * Joins: tom [20:41] [20:41] [20:41] [20:41] [20:41] [20:41] 14[20:41] * Crion_ is now known as Crion [20:45] Let us bask in the greatness of the Four Times Considered Cube of the Lord Ujin Khal. [20:47] First of all, of course, it is not actually a cube, per se. Ujin Khal would claim that the four sides of the cube were his walls; the fifth the ground; the sixth the sky. Obviously this last is nonsense. But after he and his seven hundred swords seized the newly-profitable trading port of Baling-Ja following changes in the Inland Sea-winds and the fortuitous destruction of two other [20:47] nearby ports -- not to mention all that business with the Tri-Khan -- no one was willing to contest him. [20:49] A new vassal of whichever Realm noble supervised this bit of coastline and an ingratiate of the Guild, Khal was uniquely positioned to import slave labor and bleed a promising economic boom dry to tickle his latent minor warlord fancies, and so the great fortress was built: four times considered, because there were four walls, and each of the four walls had a different means to pass [20:49] them through. [20:50] It was completed in three years. Many died. And the Lord Ujin Khal grew fat off the land, such as it was, even as the trade route that funded him began to dry up. 14[20:51] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:51] Was there any jewel in the near south so ready for plucking? Was there any jewel in the near south which would be less missed? [20:52] Our story begins when a man and a woman, seperately, come to town. [20:52] How does the man arrive? What is he called? [20:55] 10It's been about five months or so since Jai, not yet the Black Wind Howling, awakened to his "demonic" powers. Since then he's been pushed and pulled between the poles of not wanting to taint the land with his mere presence (Jai's mother had been a particularly keen follower of the local variety of the Immaculate Faith), and wanting to, well, you know, keep living. So he's been wandering. Those caravans that have been passing [20:55] 10 through the area are in need of watchers and scouts as much as stout fighting men, and so Jai's been selling his keen eyes to the highest biddern.  [20:56] 14A swan alights in the reeds on the shore outside of town, and when the trembling, pulsating shape emerges onto the beach road from those reeds she takes the form of the guileless, blonde beauty Odette. She meets three guards on her way into town. The first two, walking together with a torch, seem official and officious, greet her and lust after her within polite reason, and tell [20:56] 14her she should not be out. The third finds her minutes after they depart, wearing ill-fitting robes and a grin. [20:57] 10His professional name among the caravaneers has been the Soaring Crow. Right now he's between jobs, the last wagons having made it safely within the walls of the town, and as such, he's looking for a new job. [20:57] 14Her smile is broader, with more teeth. She drags his body into the long reeds, and when she returns, she now has the form of a 'guard.' [20:58] Does Jai drink? [20:59] 10Only enough to be polite, in must cases. He still thinks of himself as too young for the hard stuff, although no one's asking questions. [21:00] Then, looking for work, he would find himself at one of the many (three) pubs across the docks of Baling-Ja. Does he drift from establishment to establishment or linger? [21:02] 10Jai visits each in turn, sizing up the relative wealth of the customers. He's typically looking for someone who's rich enough to pay well, but not so rich that they've grown paranoid. Someone who's had a taste, and wants more. [21:07] The first bar is loud and stupid, with too many sailors. This is an establishment mainly concerned with places other than here, and rightly so -- they don't know the trade routes are drying up in a year or two, and if they do, they're making too much money right now to believe it. The second bar is quieter, calmer, and meaner somehow -- this bar belongs to an old couple who hands most [21:07] of the proceeds to a factor who swears obeisance to an overfactor, and it's all Guild. [21:08] Now, the overfactor is probably three or four or six stops down the tradelines away; this isn't Nexus. But he or she is real nonetheless. [21:08] They size him up and seem not to be offended by what they see, but they don't fit his criteria -- too smart -- and they're not offering any handouts. [21:10] Which leads to the third bar, the Ba-Ba-Bool, which the forces of the wise and fortuitous Ujin Khal have taken as their own, given that it's closest to the road to the Four Times Considered Cube, and also right next to an inn and a brothel. [21:10] Now this is promising. [21:10] 14Now this is promising. [21:12] 10Although Jai's a bit on the introverted side, he did spend a while in his youth as a hype-urchin for a good half dozen places like this. Easy work, find someone fresh off the boat, talk them around to coming to this one instead of that one, get a handful of cash.  [21:12] 10This is, indeed, promising. [21:16] 10He gets a small bottle of sweet plum wine and retreats to a table in a corner for one of his favorite pastimes: people-watching. He likes to make up little stories in his head about what brought these people here, of all places, from all corners of the world. And lately he's found his stories have a frightening degree of accuracy. [21:19] The Ba-Ba-Bool is hopping, and both Jai and Odette, who have arrived here almost at the same time -- Odette slightly first, seated at a table of her own in the middle of the rabble where they can bother her as often as possible (likely so they'll buy her drinks) -- and mostly with soldiers and worried-looking folk who are trying not to seem so. In fact, they're laughing the loudest; [21:19] they're the ones courting Khal's men the strongest, with the odd traveler or two enjoying their libations in peace as the people of the town smile as guilelessly as possible. [21:20] They're trying to appease the guards, get them to speak for them, to settle petty differences or rivalries, or just to stop leering at their wives or husbands. [21:21] 10Watch, then swoop in. That's Jai's M.O. Here's someone trying to be noticed. What's her story? [21:23] Well, she's...beautiful, that's part of it. Single, too, probably? She's here alone, at least. And she doesn't seem particularly bothered by the attention, or threatened by the weapons on the waists of the tipsy men making their way over to her table. Hard to tell otherwise. Perhaps local? Perhaps not. [21:24] 10Jai sighs inwardly. 10Way out of my league. [21:28] 14'Odette' takes notice of the man walking into the establishment as well. A hardbody, mmm. A man who knows how to get things done. Where was he an hour ago? Skulking, most likely. Yes, this is someone to keep an eye on. And if she's not mistaken... [21:31] 10There's another fellow that catches his eye. This one looks like he might be worth approaching.  [21:33] Jai's eyes are drawn to her first, but next to the man running some sort of card game in the corner. So are his instincts: this man is not actually running a card game. This man is waiting for something. The way his eyes furtively meet Jai's, and the way he then decisively ends the run of luck the hapless locals are having at his table, tells Jai all he needs to know. So does the [21:33] fact that this man isn't at the Guild bar. He's a short man with a kinked moustache and a rotund body; his eyes are apprising, glittering with the romance of the deal; his legs are too small for his body, and his smile is too large for his face. [21:34] He deals five cards face down in front of him and sweepingly gestures an arm across them without breaking eye contact with Jai. [21:35] His companion, a tall, sallow man with a similar moustache but the precise opposite proportions, turns in his seat to regard Jai, strokes his facial hair, and mutters something to his flashier companion. [21:36] 10Jai drains his cup and slips between the crowded tables, from one corner to the other. He leans over the table, trying not to wince at the overwhelming garlic stink coming off the man, and says"Deal me in, friend."  [21:36] The stout man: "You're from out of town. Do you know the game?" [21:37] The tall man, muttering: "The game is, he steals from you." [21:37] 10Jai: "The game's the same wherever it's played. Isn't it?" [21:37] The stout man gives his companion a wounded look, but to Jai: "Yes! But I play it with two more cards." [21:38] "You must have pretty fast fingers to make it work." [21:38] "I do, I do," he says. "And no one's killed me yet. So there's that." [21:38] "Wager a drink?" [21:39] "I win, you buy two for me and my...associate." That gets a snort from the tall man. "You win, I buy you two." [21:39] "Yeah. Heck, if you win I'll buy for both of you." [21:42] The stout man smiles. "You've done this before. I won't hold back." [21:42] 10Jai watches the cards shift and blur on the table. This guy's good. [21:43] 10In the interstices between the seconds, though, he's moving the cards himself, ensuring that the ace is right where he wants it to be. The fat man never had a chance.  [21:44] He doesn't. He shows five cards -- four marked with the poles of the North, South, East, and West, and one with the Blessed Isle, which is the card you want to choose -- then places them face down and begins moving. Jai can tell within seconds that there are actually six cards in play; he keeps switching an extra North card in and out of the rotation with the Blessed Isle card, so that [21:44] in the eventuality that Jai demands he stop early, he can do so and still switch out the winner. [21:45] He's good enough -- superlatively so -- that it's almost impossible to catch him with two Norths on the table at the same time, and when he finishes, the Blessed Isle will be on the table; just nowhere near where it should be. [21:45] So Jai can do one of two things: he can trivially reveal the Blessed Isle, or halfway through the deal, he can flip both Norths when they're on the table at the same time. [21:46] 14They seem to be having fun. [21:47] 14Meanwhile, Odette turns down yet another guard captain. How many can there possibly be? [21:49] 10Jai grins. "Not bad, not bad. But..." 10Somehow, miraculously, the cards on the table are all suddenly face-up. North, South, East, West… North again. [21:49] 10And Jai's plucked the Blessed Isle from the fat man's hand. [21:50] The man blinks and then stares. His companion gasps, then giggles a very high-pitched giggle. [21:51] "You win...twice," the stout man says. "So I owe you four drinks...or one, and a business proposition." [21:51] "A drink only warms the belly once. But business, well, that's another story." [21:52] The stout man and the tall man both grin. The stout man waves a harried waitress over and orders a round for the table -- and once the drinks arrive, the tall man glances about, and then pulls an odd toadstool from his vest and sets it on the table. [21:53] Immediately, the sounds from the tavern around Jai become oddly muted. [21:54] "It makes the sound small," the stout man says by way of explanation, "and it gives us privacy. I am Wasicus." [21:54] "And I am Wasicoth," the tall man says. [21:54] 10Jai lays the card down on the table. "Good evening, gentlemen. My professional name is Soaring Crow." [21:56] Jai always feels a bit more sure in himself when it comes to capital-B Business. Like putting on a well-worn robe. [21:56] "I'll drink to flying birds," the stout man says, and does so. "I've only known three men who could do that trick you did, all of them pure professional second-story men. Tenth-story men, really. Now, we're here instead of over in the Guild bar so that means what it means. The old 'you both consent--but there's someone you didn't ask.' Is that a problem?" [21:57] 14What in the world? [21:57] 14A mushroom? [21:59] 10Jai takes a sip, and it blooms like fire. This is the good stuff. "I think I follow your meaning. Whose wedding are we cancelling?" [22:00] The tall man -- Wasicoth -- giggles again. "A man's nuptials with his self-regard." [22:00] Wasicus's smile is just as wide, but his teeth are somehow bigger. "There's really only one mark in the whole town, and you could see it coming in. The fortress up on the hill. The Four Times Considered Cube." [22:01] Wasicoth: "It's not even a cube!" [22:01] Wasicus gestures with the generally-accepted 'what can you do?' [22:02] "That ugly heap? Exactly the sort of place a man with more money than sense builds for himself." [22:02] 14...It's a soundshroom from the fungi-temples of the Eastern jungle. It literally is eating their conversation. Ingenious! [22:03] The stout man: "We thought so too. Sadly he's got a temple pass from the Guild and the local Realm warlord, and, well, a whole bunch of swords. It goes to one's head." [22:04] "There's something in there we want, however: a large, golden star. About yea big." Wasicus indicates the size of a large plate. [22:05] "We pay in white jade," Wasicoth says. That's far, far more valuable than gold. [22:06] 10Jai taps his chin thoughtfully. "Doesn't sound too hard." 10He knows enough not to ask questions about what the star is, or what it does. [22:06] "And, of course, you keep what you kill. So to speak." In thief lingo, this means that whatever else you manage to walk out with is yours. [22:06] 14At this point, Odette begs off the last of her suitors, pays the rest of her tab, and wanders off out the front door. [22:07] "Got a diagram of the grounds or anything?" [22:07] Wasicus: "You're good enough you might be able to get in yourself. But we've got an advantage on the first wall. There's four, concentric." [22:08] Wasicoth removes a piece of cloth from his vest and spreads it out on the table just long enough for Jai to see the drawing on it, then rolls it up again. "Bad mojo to show it here," he explains. [22:09] "Good enough. I think I get the idea." [22:09] "And on the first wall? You've got a man on the inside?" [22:10] The stout man and tall man both nod. "Excellent." To the question, Wasicus says: "Not as such. A weakness in the construction. A mental weakness. Fucks with the guard patterns. You'll see." [22:11] He finishes his drink and flourishes his wrist, and suddenly all six cards are back in the deck he'd set aside. [22:11] "Should've built a fifth wall. Four's bad luck." [22:11] "Sign of the times," the stout one says. [22:12] "Four's the limit of his economy," says the tall one. [22:12] Both grin. [22:12] When Jai's ready, they'll pay, and lead him out the back. [22:12] "Well, you know what the texts say. The fatuous lord and his money are soon parted." [22:13] "That's not what they say," says Wasicoth. [22:13] "They say it's not his money to start with," says Wasicus. [22:14] 10Jai slips out the back quietly. "Heh. I like your version." [22:14] "Let's meet again in two nights. I'll have this star for you or my name's not Soaring Crow." [22:18] The two of them look at each other, then nod. "Two nights. Where?" [22:20] "There's a cherry grove a half-malm to the east. Meet me when the moon rises." [22:21] "Indeed." "Pleasure." The two grinning men fade into the shadows. Jai goes his own way. And unseen, a simple housecat goes with him. [22:21] Two nights later... [22:26] How early does Jai arrive to the meeting? [22:27] 10Jai spends the next day and night observing the Cube from various vantage points in the gardens surrounding the place, watching the guests and the guards to and fro and planning his entry. Then the next day resting, before meeting with the Garlic Twins, as Jai's begun to call them in his head. [22:27] A fair name, though they smell better than the implication. [22:28] 14The black housecat with the white crest splashed across her face grooms herself languidly in the branches of one of the cherry trees. Either she's as good as she thinks she is, or this hunk of larceny and danger just isn't looking hard enough. [22:29] 10Jai shows up right as the sun is setting, and the rosy hue of the sky fades to deep blue and then black. [22:30] The stout and tall men arrive some twenty minutes later. They're skilled, but a professional can see them coming as they melt out of the trees. [22:30] Wasicus: "Are you calm?" [22:30] Wasicoth: "Are you constant?" [22:31] That and the grins as they step out of the shadows are a bit unnerving. [22:31] 10Jai: "As calm as a still lake, as constant and the sun and the moon." [22:31] 14...Good answer. [22:34] The Garlic Brothers merely nod, and the tall one opens the cloth again to show the map. The stout one speaks: "You will breach the first of the four walls from the seaward-side -- the north. They built drainage into the schematic, and they built it above ground -- but the grade of the wall is so high that, combined with its crenellations, the guard cannot see what is going on at the [22:34] grating down below. So the point of incursion is obvious." 14[22:34] * Joins: mattbaby [22:35] The tall one: "Sadly, you cannot follow it all the way in. Before the second wall, it splits into feeders much smaller than a man." [22:35] The stout one: "And beyond that, we have no guidance." [22:35] "You will have the map" -- the tall one rolls it and tosses it to Jai -- "and our well-wishes." [22:36] 14Sewer. [22:36] 14A sewer. [22:36] 14A SEWER. [22:36] 14She's flying in. [22:37] "It's a start." 10Jai slips the map into a scroll-case and hides it somewhere on his person. "Have the jade ready, gentlemen, I'll be back before you know it." [22:38] 10Then he leaps up into the trees, and is gone. [22:38] They're watching and smiling as he goes. [22:39] 14The housecat slinks out of the trees, and then a swan is on the wing, following the thief towards the Cube, and its ignomious grate. [22:59] 10There's a half-dozen secluded places near the northern wall Jai can hide himself while he waits for it to go full dark. The lord of this place might be rich, but his attention to security has some serious holes.  [23:04] A consultation of the map and the massive, sloppy wall in front of him confirms that the point of ingress will be that big grate trickling water, and that it probably won't be too difficult for anyone with any sense for these things. The bars aren't even that close together. [23:08] 10The bars might as well not even be there. Jai holds his breath and slips through into the murky sewer tunnels. Even the skinny Garlic Brother could have managed this much. [23:08] 14A swan watches keenly from the trees. He's skilled. Very skilled. But so is she, and he hasn't seen her. When he slips into the tunnels, the swan alights, heading over the first set of walls. [23:09] 10Jai ties a bandana around his nose and mouth to filter out the stench, and proceeds slowly down the tunnel, so as not to splash too much. [23:10] The drainage pipe is wide enough to accomodate him and maybe another, until about forty paces in, when it starts narrowing and splitting. [23:12] But Jai knows this place wasn't made from one great single metal pipe. There have to be service entrances to clear blockages or burn out filth or, frankly, deal with people like him. And that means there's something here that can be opened from the outside, behind the first wall. And if something can be opened from the outside... [23:12] There it is. [23:12] 10Well, someone's got to come down here for maintenance, and that means there's an accessway of some kind. Oh hey, a shaft leading up, with a ladder. [23:13] The seams are easy to identify when you get to know what they look like. The question is: quick or quiet? [23:17] 10It takes a little fiddling, but the mechanism yields to Jai's touch and he lifts himself up out of the pipe silently. 10Wahoo! That was easy. [23:18] He's in a masonry-tunnel of some sort; five seconds of looking about informs that it butts up against the second of the Cube's walls, and that there's no way through into some superstructure or inner-wall space from here. Just a lot of brick. Sticking his head out, he'll find the First Wayfare: the space between the Cube's first and second wall. It looks like a hedge maze. Original. [23:19] 14A hedge maze?! Ah -- she sees archers atop the second wall. Lots of them. The swan dives and lands in the shadow of one of the hedges, watching the pipe. It opens about when she expected it might. [23:21] 10Jai darts to a concealing shadow, and produces the scroll case from his sleeve. He checks the map. Has it got any detail at all? [23:23] It shows the hedge maze but it's clearly more of an, uh, impression, than anything else. There are these odd lines shooting across it, though, and...yes, okay, there they are. Atop the second wall are these great bonfires, shrouded by mirrored hoods, directing light down upon the maze; they seem mounted on creaky, gearboxed pillars that twist, casting light across the maze in regimented, [23:23] predictable, and LOUD patterns. [23:23] It's hard to imagine who is even watching the lights at this hour, but... [23:30] 10Jai weighs the pros and cons. There might be guards manning the walls, but there might be guards in the maze as well. And if he is discovered, better to at least have some freedom of movement. He scrambles up the hedge-wall and finds his footing, then takes off at a sprint along the tops of the hedges. [23:31] 10Head down, arms out for speed. It just feels natural. Before long, the second wall draws into view, this one with a great iron gate barring the way. [23:31] 14The swan is out of place, almost, in the shadows of the hedgerows -- but only if something sees her. And she's barely settled in before the thief blows by her in style. Well then. [23:34] 10Jai taps his chin thoughtfully, studying the gate. Now, there's no way they haul this entire thing up every time a guard comes and goes from the Second Wayfare to the First, is there? Nah, there's got to be a smaller door of some kind.  [23:38] That is the trick. [23:39] It's off to the left, actually, overgrown a bit with vines -- he could slip through the bars if he wanted, but that would lead to a kill corridor that someone's probably watching. This, instead, gives Jai a straight shot through to the other side of the wall, and he emerges in the Second...Wayfare. Well then. [23:40] The space between the second and third walls has been gouged completely out into a trench so dire that it's a giant black gap in a square moat around the Cube's second barrier zone. [23:40] Good news: there is a bridge. Bad news: there's more of those torch-mirrors, lighting it up like noon, and they're not rotating. [23:41] Two lonely guard patrols walk up and down its length. It's longer than a sprint to get down that thing, that's for sure. [23:43] 10Jai wonders if they had slaves dig it out or if this lord was rich enough to hire a sorcerer for the earthworks. Either way, the cost would be outrageous. Just how much jade is this guy wringing out of the region? 14[23:45] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:47] A good question, but there are more relevant ones -- and he'll ask them from a vantage point slightly up the wall. The deal with the bridge is that it's wide and it's metal, which makes it extremely expensive, and there's nowhere to hide on it at all. [23:47] ...On the top, that is. [23:48] A metal bridge like this has to have an underworks, Jai knows. And yep, there it is, dark and complicated, and without catwalks that an armed patrol can move through. [23:48] The problem is getting there...but that's not really a problem. [23:50] 10Secure in the knowledge that no one's going to cross the bridge without being seen, the sentries have gotten lax. Approaching from a different angle, away from the beacons, is easy. 14[23:50] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:51] 14She had to turn into a cat to get over the last wall -- they had emplaced crossbows aimed at the sky, and the idiots wanted to shoot something with them. The black housecat watches the thief move, sliding under the bridge and then at the end back up over it, and she follows perfectly in his stead. [23:52] 10The depth of the trench is positively dizzying, but the lord didn't skimp on railings. He scurries underneath the bridge, like so many rats. [23:52] ...It's good that there are some rocky outcroppings that shield him from view of the bridge on the other end, because instead of just another gate in the third wall, Jai finds a puzzle of sorts. [23:53] Ten identical stone doors, each five arms' widths apart, cut into the stone. [23:54] 10The absolute madman. [23:54] 14The cat arrives slightly later, and almost hisses at the doors. Ten is double five. Excess. [23:55] 10Numerologically, this place is a mess. Not that Jai has more than the vaguest understanding of geomancy, but it doesn't take a Heptagram scholar to realize these things. [23:59] Being as methodical as you can be without being seen reveals two important things: first, the importance of changing your perspective. The doors are different -- but not on the doors. Each one doesn't-quite-align with a stone outcropping that Jai's mainly using to hide, and each of those stone outcroppings is marked with something. Session Time: Wed Mar 20 00:00:00 2019 [00:02] It doesn't take a genius to realize that they're marked with the phases of the moon, in no particular order. But the thing is this: there are only nine phases of the moon in a full cycle -- New, New Crescent, New Half, New Gibbous, Full, Old Gibbous, Old Half, Old Crescent, New Again. [00:02] 10And the tenth is marked with... [00:02] The tenth of these stones is empty, except for a claw-rake across it. [00:03] By something whose claws could rake stone. [00:03] It corresponds to the third door from the left. [00:05] 10Jai swears softly under his breath. There's something really unwholesome about this all of a sudden. But it's the element that doesn't fit the pattern, so it's probably the door to try. He approaches the wall carefully. [00:09] 10The lock is obvious, and complex, and by itself it would have bankrupted a half dozen merchants from Jai's hometown. But Jai's got a trick up his sleeve. He touches the door, whispers a word that came to him in a dream, a word in a language he doesn't know, and the wheel slowly turns of its own accord.  [00:10] 10Demon power isn't all bad. [00:10] 14...She can't say for certain what he is, but there's really only one type of thief who opens THAT lock THAT quickly. [00:10] 14The cat is sure to dart in before it closes. [00:11] The door opens into a well-lit, well-appointed, empty tunnel. There aren't any traps or the like here -- it just leads straight through the third wall, and the door to the space between the third and fourth walls of the Cube, the Third Wayfare, has no similarly onerous lock. [00:11] Jai slides it open... [00:12] And a great black grinning shape moves past the portal. [00:13] https://cdn2.bigcommerce.com/server1500/ac84d/products/54/images/167/VG-SMB-005__39446.1314141257.1280.1280.jpg?c=2 [00:13] 10!! [00:13] There's at least ten of them out there, and they look far too happy. [00:14] The good news is, no pits, no maze, no nothing. No nothing. A straight shot of nothing, from here to the fourth and final wall of the Cube: the wall of the keep itself. [00:14] That's also the bad news. [00:16] 14Well, they're demons, alright. They can't actually bite with those teeth or eat with those mouths. They're bound to lines and set to rote, but properly incensed, they'll do what they're made to do: they'll slam-fuck you. [00:16] 14...And it's clear he doesn't know it. [00:16] 14It's time. [00:16] 10Jai goggles. Who IS this guy? One of the Tozis or something?! [00:18] 14After Jai slams the door closed again, there's a voice from the shadows: "They're demons. They can't bite. They can't do anything but crush you against a wall or the dirt, but they're good at that -- that's the reason they were made." [00:19] 14'Odette' steps out of the shadows. "As for why they're here...well. The Cube isn't normal, is it?" [00:19] 10Jai whirls around. The bandana tried around his mouth muffles his voice. "You! The g-girl from the bar! What're you doing here?" [00:20] 10Idiot! She's here for the same reason you are! [00:21] 10Deep breath. "I mean, er. I can hazard a guess." [00:21] "Changing." 14Her skin ripples and shifts. "Sneaking about." 14Her features become different; no less attractive, but with short black hair and a grimace, instead of a barmaid dreamgirl. https://dragonageinquisition.wiki.fextralife.com/file/Dragon-Age-3/cassandra_card_romance.jpg [00:22] "Saving your ass." [00:23] 14She touches the door. "Not that you need it so much. But we're all-in now." [00:23] "You've been following me, then." 10Not a question. "Are you after that golden star too?" [00:23] "I have. Sounds gauche." [00:24] 14She cracks the door slightly. "Now, the thing about the Bullazos Cairna is that, like I said, they want to crush you." [00:25] "There's two ways they can't do that." [00:25] "Okay. I'm listening." [00:26] "Either you don't let them see you, so they don't know to crush you -- or you put yourself the one place that they can't turn into you between them and a wall. Can you guess what that place is?" [00:27] 10There's a good dozen questions he wants to ask right now, but there's a job to do. "Duck under them?" [00:27] 14She shakes her head, still watching the pattern. [00:28] 10Then it dawns on him. "Ride on top of them!" [00:29] "Just like with the hedges. I should have guessed it myself earlier." [00:30] 14She cracks a smile and nods, then slides the door shut again. "And that's where he fucked up. There are too many of them out there -- if we're quick, and silent, and less than even the wind, we can ride these demons from Bullazo to Bullazo to Bullazo, all the way across, without even touching the ground. And they can't look up." [00:30] "So the question becomes: are you enough of a badass to pull this off?" [00:31] 10Be cool, Jai. Be cool. "I don't call myself Soaring Crow for nothing." [00:32] 14She grins. "Excellent! I leave it to you, then." 14There's another rippling shudder and suddenly she's a tiny black housecat leaping up onto his shoulder, wrapping herself around his neck. [00:33] 10Bullazo demons and a nekomata. What a night. "Um. Hang on tight." [00:34] 10Then he's off, with a running leap. [00:43] 10Jai takes to the air. It's a terrific leap, and for a moment he can see all ten of them laid out like so many stepping stones. 10I can do this.10 He touches down atop the first one, and half a heartbeat later he's s leapepd to the second. Then the third, fourth, fifth—never once touching the ground, never spending more than an instant on the back of one before kicking off to another. Seven, eight—not long now. [00:43] 10 Somewhere in the distance. he can hear a bell chime. Nine, ten, and he's through!  [00:43] 14Damned impressive. [00:44] Then they arrive at the final door: a great red-bolted, girdered-iron monstrosity, wrapped in chains. [00:44] 10Jai skids to a stop and catches his breath. "Whoa." [00:45] One wonders how normal people are ever supposed to even reach the throne room of Ujin Khal, but then, the answer becomes clear: they're not. [00:45] It seems, ideally, no one is. [00:45] In the center of the door is a great lock, seemingly mundane, but asking for a key twice Jai's size. [00:46] "Did I miss something somewhere? I didn't see a key anywhere." [00:46] 14The cat hops off of Jai's neck and, in the shadows, the dark-haired woman returns. "There's a trick here. If you just unlock it with that little love-tap..." [00:47] "No, the key would fuck you too. It's the noise that's the problem. The sound of the lock falling away." [00:48] "Yeah, no kidding. That's a lot of chains. Probably wake up every guard in the place." [00:48] 10Jai leans back and studies the huge door for a moment. [00:52] "So there's all theses chains here, and the big lock, but… are they actually keeping the door closed?" [00:52] 14The black-haired woman: "Are you asking me or telling me? You're the expert." [00:53] "Just thinking out loud. Only one way to find out." [00:53] 14She gives him room. Definitely not so she can run at the first sign of trouble. [00:56] 10Jai walks up to the door, leans his shoulder against it, and gives it a good hard shove. [00:57] The chains and lock aren't actually keeping it locked -- Jai's right. But it'll probably take some rearranging of the chains, hoisting them away from the doorjamb and such, to actually make a path through. [00:57] It should take him maybe a minute and leftovers. [00:57] "Yeaeh, there's some give here. Watch my back, miss, would you?" [00:58] 14She grins. "Yes sir." [00:58] 14Nice ass. [01:01] 10Under the mystery nekomata's watchful (appreciative?) gaze, he manages to rig the chains and the lock into place in 45 seconds flat. [01:01] "Excellent," 14she says. "Be prepared for anything. We're walking in the front door." [01:01] "After those demons? I'm ready." [01:02] 14She gestures. "Then come through." [01:03] 10Jai pushes the door open. There's a heart-stopping moment where the whole assemblage of chains and metal and cord shivers, but it holds. And they're through. [01:03] Beyond the door is a great, great hall, wide and tall, lined with massive pillars and dominated by a massive stone throne at the end too large for any mortal man. Twenty torches burn, ten on each side, one on each piller, and the hall is wholly empty. [01:04] The door slides shut behind them without complaint or noise. [01:04] Given its size, this room has to be the majority of the keep itself -- it didn't look so big from the outside. [01:05] 14The black-haired woman: "If you're here for something in the vaults, you should get to it. He'll know we're here." [01:06] "Well. That one of us is, at least." [01:07] "What do you mean by that?" [01:08] From the end of the hall, the sound of a great door slamming. [01:08] 14The black-haired woman: "About what I said." [01:09] 10"Yeah." Jai flattens himself against a pillarr and just straight up disappears from sight. [01:15] A tower of a man strides from where the door sounded closed, past the pillars and to the foot of the great throne. Red-haired and grinning, the big man stares down the hall at the black-haired woman. He seems to have missed Jai sliding off. [01:17] "So. They send...what are you? An assassin? A concubine? A princess?" His voice is deep, and carries farther than it has rights to. Maybe it's just the acoustics of the hall. [01:17] 10She came here to face off with this guy? Talk about crazy. But if she can distract him, Jai can slip away and, presumably, down to where the vaults are. [01:17] 14She smiles the way everyone smiles at a shithead they have to tolerate. "I am the Ambassador." [01:18] "And I am Ujin Khal." [01:22] 14The Ambassador is ensconced in feathery wings sprouting from her body, and when the wings unfurl she is a swan-woman, with the crest of the swan across her face and feathers across her brow. "The Pact demands your presence at summit." [01:22] "The Pact demands?" [01:22] 14Her smile widens. "You know who demands." [01:23] 10That's no nekomata. That's… another Anathema. Another demon. Like him. [01:24] From the end of the hall: "And?" [01:24] 14The smile doesn't waver. "You know what will happen if you don't." [01:26] There's a pause in the hall. And then the torches begin to snuff out, starting closest to the throne and moving towards the far end of the room. As the light goes out and the big man is engulfed in darkness, there's a roiling of his form much like when the black-haired woman changed herself, but larger, more massive, more dreadful -- and then his shape is lost in the dark. [01:26] A different voice laughs from the shadows at the end of the hall. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdaqVuHX9_o [01:26] "Show me." [01:27] To be continued. 14[02:18] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[03:47] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[06:05] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[09:25] * Joins: tom 14[11:18] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:00] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:52] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:17] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:28] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:41] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:50] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[18:05] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. 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' J ) ./ / __._/ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 J \, I ' _/ \ \ | | / / .'-'.-' `._, [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ( L \_.--.| \_. ' .___ `\: | / .--'.-'" \ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ '\ . L / \\/ ._/`-.` \ .'.' .'---./__ ' [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 \__ '\ ) \._/ `-.__. ` \\_. ' .---. \ / / , ` ` [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 --' \\ ): // \, `-.`__.' `- \ / / _/-.---.__.- . [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 _.-`.'/ /'\_, ._ >--.-""'____.--"`_ ' /.'..' \ \ _/` [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 _ .---._\ \'/ '__./__.-.. / .-|( x_.-'___ | :' / _..---_' \ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 .:' /`\ `. `..'.--'\ /.' /`-`._ `-,' ` ' I '_.--'__--..___.--._.- [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ` `. `\/'/ _. _.-' _.____./ .-.--""-. .-" ' _..-.---' \ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 -._ .--.\ / /-./ / .---'-//.___. .-' \__ .--. ` `. '`- [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,--'/.-. ^. .-.--. ` _/ _// ./ _.. .' `. \ \ |_. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 /' | >. ' | \._.- ' _..' `.' . `. ) | |\ ` [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ./ \ \' ) c| / \ \_.. .--' ,\ \_/` : ) (`-. `.|`\\ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 \' / ,-. | ` ./` ._/ `\\'.--.,-(( `.`.__ | _/ \ |) `--._/` [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12______'\ | < __________ //' // _) )/-._`. (,-') ) / \_. /\. _____ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 | | .__./ // '\ |// `.\ '\ ( ( <` ._ ' [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 > | _. / ..-\ _ _/ \_. \ `\ \_ `---.-'__ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 . / `- _.' / ` _/| J /` `-,,-----.`-. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ' .:' '` ' < ` f I // `­\_, [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ' \. J I/\_. ./ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 `: I .: K ` ` [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 `, J L [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 _ . F .-' J [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 / ` . I (. . I _.-.._ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ' ' _.---.J/ :' L -' [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 .:. _.-'_.) ` `-.`---.,_. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12:< \ .--"" .F' J) `.`L.__`-.___ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12.: |-' Y ..Z )) `--' `- [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12. > : . ' :' [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Though two primal dragons nearly locked horns, the Squared Circle wasn't hearing any of it, and now Garuda has dissolved back into the sky while Ravana's million-ember-butterfly has scattered itself back beneath the earth and through the nearby roots. You've the dragons' assurance that none of their elementals will attempt to arrest your army's passing, so long as your army, itself, [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12does minimal damage to the powerful once-a-manse they're fighting over. [20:23] 4Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke. [20:23] 4Anyway, time to make sure we hold up our end. Ir's gonna walk with the army so long as Blossom has the helm up top. [20:25] "Hrmph! Immature squabbling." [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek's joined the four of you on the way to your encampment and temporary(?) kruthik hive, explaining that he and Jol were ready to rapidly assassinate a series of summoner-priests who'd stationed themselves around the underground complex that sprawls beneath this demesne, but wisely held their blades/chelicerae until hostilities actually erupted. As of now, it looks like they won't, [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12so the only point of tension remaining is the kruthik themselves. As you step onto the rapidly-spreading creep, Clotho, flanked by heavily-armored roaches and ravagers whose backs fizz with vitriol, buzzes impatiently at Ir. Ready to strike. Time to strike? We're hungry. 14[20:27] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:28] 4Oh, Marek's here? [20:28] 6Tatsuya's perched on the prow, jacket billowing in the wind. He can drop in if Ir needs a hand, or defend from the sky - the ideal tactical location. Also, he looks cool. Truly the most important consideration. [20:28] "So what did you think, babe?" 4she asks. "Seeing us in action the first time." [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Yeah. Presumably, so is Azer'jol, in scarab form. Marek: "You know - I've never seen someone stare down two dragons." [20:29] "Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke. But that wasn't the fight." [20:35] 4In between, Ir gives the queens their marching orders: they can eat while they march. They can stagger themselves and restrain themselves so they all get to eat while they watch, but it must be a reasonable column. They may not go wild. We will not fight two dragons today. [20:36] 4If there are problems with that course of action from either the queens or Jormungand overhead, Ir is receptive to telling them why they need to fall in line. [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Oh, well, that was pretty good. But I still like your first arena outing more." 12Clotho buzzes and screeches some more. It takes two tries to explain exactly what you're trying to do, and she doesn't quite seem to take the dragons seriously, probably out of some combination of being hangry and taking for granted that Ir can defend against them sufficiently. 14[20:46] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:47] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[20:48] * Joins: tom [20:49] 4Ir kisses him on the mouth, then sits down atop a particularly large Roach. Tunneler. Whatever we're calling them. Jude's Law slips into a mighty six-string in her hands, and she begins to play. Here is the marching tune that will keep them obsessively on track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O09v0uQUHxQ [20:51] 4Our communication, after all, is telepathy. [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12It works. Imagining that calamity awaits on either side of a narrowly-defined track, the kruthik work quickly to form themselves into a single tightly-controlled column, one which vacuums up and re-metabolizes their hive cluster behind it and scours clean a narrowly-defined band of jungle before it. It's not clear exactly how the swarm saves its liquid resources, but you receive some [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12hints along the way - as drones and kruthlings chew down trees and tear up foliage, some creatures simply swell and grow with stored bio-matter while others wind up carrying glowing dollops of green-and-blue essence in membrane-wrapped spheres. [20:54] 4Carried atop the Tunneler, she plays them off. [20:54] 7It's very difficult to decide whether the kruthik are gross or cute at any given moment. [20:54] 13No it isn't. 6Yes it is. [20:55] 4...They're...always gross. Gross, but powerful. That's the tension, because powerful is beautiful. But cute?? [20:55] 4Whatever. [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12So totalizing is the mood rippling out from Ir's six-string that the kruthik don't even need to be bullied into not leaving hibernating spores and egg sacs behind just in case - although, to be clear, they think it would be an excellent idea and the older of the two queens asks at least once. It is a bit eerie to look behind yourself and see a tunnel of non-forest picked so completely [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12clean that you can recognize the worked stone of the ancient manse over which the demesne's topsoil and foliage has grown - especially since, once the trip's complete, it's possible for someone with keen enough eyes to literally turn around and stare down an unobstructed corridor leading straight from the east edge of the demesne to the west. [20:56] 6C'mon, tell me you've never wanted to pet a dog that has way more teeth and also an insatiable drive to consume. [20:58] 4Let's get the hell out of here. [20:59] How are the Heavensward and Jormungand flying through all this? [20:59] 4How are the Heavensward and Jormungand flying through all this? [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Once you're clear of the demesne and the kruthik column is a little freeer to expand into a kruthik blob, the keen eye will be able to notice that they can reproduce on the trip. Recently-gorged kruthlings appear to be able to do it through binary fission, while larger breeds are hatched in eggs that just get carried on the back of other kruthik while they gestate. Coming up next is [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12the monastery you came across on your exploratory trip, and, good news, they've followed your advice - the fields and orchards around it are abandoned, and the great stone structure is locked up tight, such that your sea of demons can simply part and flow around it while causing minimal damage and, ideally, no loss of life. Actually, wait- [21:02] 7The smaller ones, trotting around carrying very large membranous orbs! That's... a little cute? [21:05] 4Sun, the Realm is weird. 14[21:06] * Joins: Quaker [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Uh oh. Up on one of the lower battlements of the monastery-fortress, definitely low enough that there'll be kruthlings crawling all over it within the hour, about a dozen robed figures are kneeling in some kind of silent meditation or prayer. Are they insane? You warned them! [21:08] 7Maybe they plan to get eaten? [21:08] 4Does Ir stopping playing to go see what's up have deleterious effects on the march? [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12I mean, you know how monks are. [21:09] 4Because the Kruthik have their orders, and they're about plant and lower animal life. [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Nah, the kruthik are currently under good discipline and it's been days of travel regardless. Ir could've tried to literally play uninterrupted for multiple days and nights but besides serving as a good story there wasn't much call to. [21:10] 4Then let's go see what's up and make sure no one fucks this up except the monks. [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Stopping the entire swarm is difficult, but slowing it's another matter. You can buy yourselves an hour or two by shifting the swarm into, effectively, low gear while surging ahead on some combination of the Heavensward, Ami, and Errant. [21:11] 4We're not stopping the swarm. [21:11] 4Probably not even slowing. Jormungand and the queens can handle orders and it shouldn't take all that long to investigate. [21:12] 6Then we'd better work quickly. Still, can't say we didn't warn 'em. [21:14] 4Ir sighs, puts two fingers in her mouth, and whistles. [21:15] 4The golden pegasus Errant sighs, clomps up to the main deck of the Heavensward, carefully slides through the doors on to the deck, runs and flies. [21:15] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom roars "FULL SAIL!" 7to no one, because the Heavensward neither has nor requires a crew, and she knows this because she built it. She does that kind of thing basically whenever she's behind the ship's wheel. [21:17] 4He dives off the prow of the Heavensward, stretches his wings, circles the ship once, circles it again as Blossom throws it into full gear, then dives to the forest. Ir stands up on the back of the Tunneler, judges the jump, and then leaps up to mount him in flight. [21:17] 4Ir: "YA! What's up, kid. We're headed there." 4She points. [21:17] 4She doesn't need to; she's already aiming him for the bulwark with her thighs. Errant neighs and narrows himself to the wind. [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Gathered at the prow, so to speak, of the Temple to the Tilted God (?) are maybe ten people in slate-grey robes, murmuring to themselves. Their actual faces and identities aren't readily apparent, although they run the gamut of sizes from child/withered elder to strapping adult. As Blossom and Ir arrive, one of the taller ones cries: "The heralds!" [21:20] "Heralds of something." [21:20] 6Tatsuya: "Do we know any Harolds?" [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Actually, I think it's Tilting God. The actual theology here has not been explained. First speaker: "You can see, on the distance - destruction comes, as foretold." 12The others nod. [21:21] 4Errant makes a hard landing and turns sideways to slide, using his hooves and wings to stop quick, and Ir tussles his mane and leaps to the stones, walking forward from the suddenly-stopping horse as if everything's normal. [21:22] 4She looks from one to the other to the other to the other and back. "Okay." [21:22] 7Blossom: "It's not a prophecy! Stop treating this like a prophecy!" [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Another monk: "She denies it - just as in he prophecies!" [21:23] 7Aaaagh! [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12the* [21:24] 6Tatsuya: "I think prophecies of things are usually a little more, uh, prophetic than 'hey, clear out because we're sending some stuff through here, got the permits and everything.'" 15[21:27] 10Eikichi: "...exactly how long have you been waiting?" [21:27] 7Grumbling: "You can't have a prophecy for the next week. This is stupid." [21:28] 4They probably don't HAVE to move. We could go around. But this is a clear demonstration of wanting to die. Martyrdom and etcetera. [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12The lead monk stands. He's got the olive complexion and green-tinged hair you tend to get as you move further east, and the build of someone who's done a lot of manual labor. "It's well understood. Year by year, day by day, the ending is coming to its fruition. Our brothers and sisters don't see it, but the Tilting God has fallen - and now we're called to witness Creation's last [21:28] <@Ferrinus> gasps." 08[21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Someone else speaks up to Eikichi - they're smaller and sound older. "You mean out here?" [21:29] 4Ir: "Are you gonna curse us if we just leave you be?" 15[21:29] 10Eikichi: "How long have you been waiting for the end?" [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Small monk: "'bout four days-" 12Bigger monk: "Three quarters of a millenium! But now we see that it comes, when demons plough the skies and walk the fields." 15[21:31] 10Eikichi: "Aaaaaaaah." 15[21:31] "This is awkward." [21:31] 4They're gonna curse us, aren't they. 15[21:32] "I'm afraid the end has come and gone." [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Small monk: "Eh?" [21:32] 6Tatsuya: "What?" [21:33] 7Blossom: "Are they talking about the Great Contagion?" 15[21:33] "A great plague swept Creation all those years ago! It was catastrophic. Laid all nations low. They say that nine in ten were laid low by the Great Contagion." 15[21:33] "You're very lucky to have survived out here for so long. You've outlived the end of the world! Outlived your god, even." [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Bigger monk: "...nine out of ten, though. The final-" [21:35] 4...Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke. 15[21:36] 10Eikichi: "Ah, well, that's the trick, isn't it? Even if everyone dies, someone always survives." 15[21:36] "Nothing is final." [21:37] 7Blossom: "And then the raksha swarmed in, hoping to destroy Creation once and for all, but the Scarlet Empress took command of the Realm Defense 14matrix Grid and drove them back into the Wyld, thus founding the Realm from the ashes of the Shogunate? Any of this familiar?" 15[21:37] 10Eikichi waves a hand. "What everyone else did isn't important. The question is, what are you going to do now?" 08[21:39] 4Ir's really glad Eikichi is here. She'd still be stuck on, uh, the apocalypse. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12The larger man: "Well... our stories go back long, and there were entire generations who did nothing but shelter and deplete our stores. As we began to run low, and the end hadn't yet come, we needed to do some procurement..." 12He shakes his head to himself. "But you - you may just be wrong. This could be the foretold end. It is said that most will deny it." 15[21:41] 10Eikichi: "I could be. But you could too. So why wait for the end?" [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12He narrows his eyes. "That's exactly the sort of heretical talk-" 12The older one reaches forward to take him by the arm before answering. "Well. We've lived here generations. Keeping the watch. You know how it is." [21:43] 4Errant snuffles and walks forward to rest his muzzle on Ir's shoulder, watching and listening to the commotion. Out of respect, she presses her cheek to his briefly, but doesn't reach up to stoke him. 15[21:44] 10Eikichi: "Tell you what. If you think we're the end of days, why not come with us? See it up close." [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Younger monk: "Where are you... going?" [21:45] 4Ir: "We've got the space and the food." [21:45] 4Ir: "We've got the space and the food." [21:45] 6Tatsuya points from the kruthik, then to a straight line in front of the kruthik. 15[21:45] 10Eikichi: "We're going to liberate a nation from its tyrant witch queen." [21:45] 4Ir smirks. "Which is to say: north." [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12They look at each other. That doesn't quite sound like end of the world material, but, of course, that has its own kind of charm. [21:47] 4Hey, they've got a better chance of dying. Probably not the best argument...but possibly the best one. [21:47] 6Sure, it might not sound like that, but wait 'til they see us fighting. 15[21:50] 10Eikichi: "Look at it like this: you've built a life here over generations. It's pious and peaceful, and the land will provide for you and yours for generations yet. Once you've replanted, anyway. Sorry about that. But you came out here to die. I think it's safe to say you're looking for something different." 08[21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi doesn't have to ask thrice; somehow, from almost every angle, you can actually see his diamond visage coruscating in each of the monk's pupils. It's a good thing Blossom brought the Heavensward down close, since it means you can essentially throw a ladder down and escort these ten fellows up to the decks. [21:54] 4Ir clears out her distillery/crafts room in the mid-fore deck for them. Should fit them if we stack hammocks and lay down pinned bedrolls. [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12So it is that they get to witness their first apocalypse of sorts from a bird's eye view - a flood of orange demons all but enveloping their monastery tower, most of the demons parting around it like a river cloven by a rock but many of the smaller and nimbler kruthlings skittering up and over the battlements and fortifications like squirrels over trees. [21:56] 4It's a very narrow apocalypse. And Ir is getting them setting in the mid-fore while asking them how long it's been since they ate fresh fish. [21:57] 4Is this being a temptor? [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12The journey continues. The bandit fortification is, blessedly, completely clear as Ir instructed; the shadow of the Heavensward seems to hit the thing with almost physical force, as a flood of demon insects travels within it and doesn't bother to go around the loose walls and ramshackle huts the make up the now-abandoned settlement. [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12You know, now that you mention it, these monks do enjoy the taste of butter. [21:58] 4Anyway, they eat as well as any other guest aborad the Heavensward, and they have full access to the deck if they want to pray to the sky or whatever. [21:58] 4And eating aboard the Heavensward is real good. [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Nearly a month and a half since you set out from Great Forks, your true destination comes into view, and, thanks to early preparations, it's a familiar sight. Ahead of you, a vast treeline - the ragged edge of a gigantic jungle that starts about halfway across the eastern threshold and literally does not stop. From here and eastward it's just more and bigger and fiercer and weirder [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12trees until you're in some combination of the Pole of Wood and raw, endless Wyld. [22:02] 13A woman the monks hadn't previously seen appears the next day with the finest outfits any of them have seen in their lives. And worn, for that matter - these things are astoundingly comfy and easy to move around in, being sort of athletic suits, burgundy and black. People would pay exhorbitant prices for it in Nexus, but for their passengers, Ying only requests they leave a tiny logo of a cat napping under a rainbow prominently [22:02] visible. [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Nestled into that treeline is a large village, about half of it outside the jungle and half of it intersecting with it. Dwellings woven from reeds and branches dot both the ground and the trees, connected to each other by stone pathways and rope bridges and built around rivulets of fresh water flowing up from capillaries of the distant Yellow River. Walking, climbing, and swinging [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12around are a combination of 'normal' humans and ape-men, mostly patterned after orangutangs; manes of red and orange fur predominate, as does leathery grey skin. But, I'm burying the lede here, because what's first visible and first to draw the attention isn't the village of apostate Thousand Fangs cultists - it's Jormungand. [22:05] 7Blossom, pleasantly: "I've heard that some of you religious orders make remarkable sculptures out of butter - is that true?" 7This is basically Realm chauvinism. There probably are out-Isle monastic orders like that, but is this one one of them? Do Eastern sects even do that? [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Devotees of the Tilting God have a variety of religious practices - they read from the fragmentary remains of holy texts and supplement them with carefully-maintained oral histories, seclude themselves for days of fasting and meditation, and engage in the construction of deliberately-unstable sculptures or even buildings such that the eventual collapse can be observed and meditated [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12upon. Through quizzing the new guests, Blossom realizes that she's actually got a small group of fairly adept craftsmen on hand. 15[22:07] 10Oh my gods she did not just ask them that. [22:08] 4Sigh. [22:08] 4What's Jormungand up to? The monks will keep. The food's too good for them not to. [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, as I was saying -- Jormungand! It's recognizable as, basically, a small mountain of flesh and chitin that's simply planted itself right into the treeline a few miles from the village of the apemen, thereby marking the center of a newborn kruthik colony. This one clearly hasn't grown with the same breakneck speed of your forward base in the demesne, since the jungles here are [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12merely huge and vibrant, not literally magical - but, rather than a few hours, Jormungand has had close to two months to establish itself. [22:15] 4The absolute boy. [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12So it is that carpet of grey-violet creep has extended downward all the way to the borders of the apostate village, where a phalanx of spear-wielding guards watches carefully for any further encroachment. There's been further expansion northward, curving along the treeline, and eastward, into the plains. It looks like the kruthik here have impinged on the jungle directly a little [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12bit, despite orders to the contrary - the trees, after all, represent lots of dense, rich biomatter and Jormungand's east flank needs to be defended. However, the creep carpet doesn't really extend into the jungle farther than the structures of the apemen themselves seem to. [22:18] 4Ir will have a conversation-song with Jormungand in a bit about her orders and how they're obeyed. [22:19] 4But first, she'll go reassure the beastmen village, who are probably freaking out. [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Along the treeline and dotting the plains to the near-west, an assortment of organic structures of unclear significance have sprung up nearby Jormungand. Ir's fairly sure that some of them allow or enhance the queens' ability to spawn certain breeds of kruthik or tweak them for optimal adaptation to the environment, while others seem to enable communication or stockpile minerals, [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12nutrients, or essence. [22:20] 4Also what do the monks want? Are they going to commune with the beastmen villagers, or keep having morning stretches near the forecastle and eating her fish dishes? [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Is the Heavensward going to land in the hive, or in the village? Well, 'in' the village isn't really logistically possible, but you can stop to hover just outside its western edge. [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12The extent to which they'll be coming out and mingling probably depends on how your own initial greetings, negotiations, and plans with the apostates will go. For now they're staying in the ship. [22:21] 4The Hive should have a structure purpose-built. Jormungand knew they were coming, and knows the ship is a strategic platform for launching a bunch of death. [22:21] 6Hey, that's us. [22:22] 4If we're doing a big meeting with the whole gang, Ir will ask the monks to select a leader (big monk?) to tag along as a silent observer. [22:22] 4A big meeting with the apostates, that is. [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, good point. Then, it does - there's a tower as tall as the sessile Jormungand itself that ends in a sort of upturned, grasping claw. The Heavensward can softly land there, prompting the entire structure to compress gently to absorb the shock of the landing and to (relatively) gently clasp its talons around the ship's hull and hold it fast. [22:31] 6...okay, back on the 'gross' end of the spectrum, here. [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12A weird spiral staircase that's not dissimilar from an esophagus leads you down to ground level. It's kind of moist in there but not intolerable. [22:32] 6Tatsuya: "Next time I'm just jumping overboard." [22:32] 4Ir: "You've seen our other docks." 08[22:32] 7Is Eikichi going down the, uh, tube? [22:32] "Plus, if you jump overboard, you land on the carpet." [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12The middle queen, Lachesis, is there to greet you - and she's not alone. She seems to have been granted a pair of younger sisters, the first queens spawned by Jormungand rather than simply wedded to it. They're a bit smaller, and their orange coloration has grown slightly differently across their backs, but they're clearly members of the same brood. After meeting Clotho and Atropos, [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12the newborns disperse to resume oversight of the various drones and kruthlings currently expanding and patrolling the perimeter. [22:33] 4Ir will take the throat. 15[22:33] 10Eikichi is going down for sure. [22:33] 4...Five queens, then. This is going to be some power management. [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12To be clear, you're not actually being swallowed - there are broad plates to step on that allow you to walk in a downward spiral and come out on ground level. It's just, you know, you're inside what's basically a giant organ. [22:34] 7Then Blossom will go too! [22:34] 4Ir will greeting the two new queens with the respect they're due, before they disperse. [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, the hive looks to be ticking along, though nowhere near as excitedly as it will be once it's begun to dig into the jungle proper. The apemen guards to your south have clearly noted your coming; they're talking to each other hurriedly and sending runners back and forth to the center of the village. It seems they're unable or unwilling to actually walk into the hive to meet [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12you, though. [22:35] 6Hell, who would? [22:35] 6Oh wait. Hell would. Asked and answered, I guess. [22:36] 4The two new queens are named Althaea and Alcestis. [22:38] 4Anyhow, we're most concerned with the beastmen. Once Ir has made sure none of her dictates have been disobeyed, and sung-talked to Jormungand for half an hour about any concerns it has as the Hive, she will assemble the group to go meet the apostates. [22:39] 4Here is what Ir plays for Jormungand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wYbvpTfhxs [22:40] 4The idea is to be proud and trust no one. Except her. [22:41] 7Wow. [22:42] 4Problem? [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12By the time the Squared Circle approaches the edge of the creep, there's a full honor guard - well, maybe just a guad - on the far side to meet them. A dozen spear-wielding ape-men flanked by another dozen ape-wielding regular men, who gather around a red-furred, grey-skinned emissary with a feathered mantle over long robes. She's got her arms crossed as you approach, and speaks. [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12"So! These are the demons that will free us from the Queen of Fangs?" 12Doesn't sound like she believes it. [22:44] 4Ir: "No." [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Er, sorr, that's spear-wielding regular men. Although the way I wrote it would be funny. [22:44] "Those demons are just going to help." [22:45] 4She sweeps her arm across the Circle. "These are the demons that will free you." 15[22:45] 10Eikichi winks. [22:46] 4Ir: "I am Ir, Saint-Sister." [22:46] 6Tatsuya gives a lazy wave. "Tatsuya, the Golden Hand." [22:46] 4Did the Lunars attend? [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12She seems faintly amused by something, but only for a moment. "I see. Well! I am Vakra - warchief. I'm to take you to meet the elder." [22:46] 4Ir: "Lead on." [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12They're laying low, for the moment; it's not clear how much of what goes on here gets to Mahalanka, and the fact that they're on your side rather than staying on the sidelines is, Marek reckons, a useful secret to keep. [22:47] 4She's wearing Jude's Law as a crown and a garter. Which means a full line of moonsilver between head and thigh. It's a look. [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Vakra strides into the heart of the village with you in tow, her guards marching on either side of the procession. As you walk, you get a better look at the local color; it looks like ape-men make up about half the village population, and of them at least three quarters are orang-derived, with the rest tending towards darker furs (chimps?) and a few white-furred standouts. The beastmen [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12here have mostly apelike faces and heads but more humanoid bodies, although as you'd expect longer arms predominate and almost all of them go barefoot since their feet are just as dextrous as their hands. 14[22:52] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[22:52] * Joins: Quaker [22:53] 4Nice. 14[22:53] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Most of the buildings are woven from vines, reeds, and gigantic leaves, still attached to their parent trees if possible, but you're led to a large dwelling hewn from fallen logs, surrounded with decorative woodcarvings and artfully-arranged flowers. Within, fragrant fires burn in wrought-ironwood braziers and frame a throne of sorts with wreaths of colored smoke. [22:54] 4Ir will meet any gaze that's offered, but isn't going to wave. Are they met at any point by force? The elite guard or what not? [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12You're pretty sure you're being escorted by it. [22:55] 4Well, not a great argument for this deal being a force multiplier. [22:55] 4But hey, we're the good guys. [22:55] 6It is more like a farce multiplier, to me. [22:56] 7This village is so charming. Blossom is glad that journeying with the Squared Circle has shown her that she shouldn't be prejudiced against beastmen. [22:57] 6Don't go complimenting the provincials too much, now. [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12I mean, they've got other forces, but this is a bunch of refugees more so than a rival power. They'll probably be more useful to you as advisors, guides, or even spies than as military allies. Anyway, sitting on the throne is an old, fat man with such lazy posture that for a moment you think you're looking at an actual orangutang. His bushy eyebrows and sideburns have long gone grey, [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12and his broad cheeks indicate, to those of you who are aspiring naturalists, dominance of the local social pecking order. He wears long robes that cascade down from the chair to the floor, and a carven wooden staff is leaned against one of his armrests. [22:57] 4Errant, meanwhile, is flying out to the plains to get some grazing in before the kruthik eat everything. [22:58] 4Old, fat men with bad posture! It's like Ir's back home. 14[22:59] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) [22:59] <@Ferrinus> "Ah," 12he says. "You're back. Two of you, I mean." 12Ir and Blossom have met the elder once before, but as he pulls himself into a more respectable sitting position he makes sure to make introductions for the others' sake. "I am Thook Rumi, elder and wisdom-chief of this village! Saint-Sister and Righteous Blossom I've met - who else, hrrm, am I looking at?" 14[22:59] * Joins: tom 15[23:01] 10Eikichi beams. "Eikichi Sho." 15[23:01] 10'Wisdom-chief' is an incredible title. [23:03] 4Ir: "We are honored again, Wisdom-chief." [23:03] 6Tatsuya: "Tatsuya, the Golden Hand." [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi: "Good, good. Nice. Hmm. So! Would you like to sit down? Eat or drink?" [23:06] 4Ir smiles slightly. "You know my preference is both, elder." [23:08] 7Cathak Naku! That's who Rumi reminds her of. Except for the cheeks. [23:08] 4Ir will take a seat where is indicated and natural. [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi gestures, and servants come in with big cushions, low tables, big leaves for being fanned with, the works. Food is mostly fruits - oranges, melons, berries, juices, though there's also smoked venison. [23:09] 4She's wearing modest monastic robes for this meeting. But not the same robes as the actual monks. More flair on these. [23:10] 4Has the monk acting as ambassador for this meeting given the Circle his name? [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi: "Now, you two made quite a case before, but I'd like... I'd like to see we're all on the same page. Your aim is... unseating the Queen." 12A few of the servants seem a bit startled to hear this out loud - they miss a beat in their fanning. "Yes?" [23:13] 6Tatsuya sits near to Ir, and hopefully within grabbing distance of the venison. Leave most of the talking to the rest, chow down on some snacks, and keep an eye on things. A flawless plan. [23:15] 7Blossom, flatly: "Yes." [23:16] 4Ir: "As a starting point." [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi: "And our new neighbors will be helping you do it." 12He gestures northward. [23:16] "It gets bloodier from there." [23:16] "Yes." [23:17] 4Ir: "They're temporary neighbors. But you're likely temporary residents. So it's apartments at the end of the world." [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi hmms and tsks to himself. Well, it's not quite tsks - they're sort of hard k noises made at the bottom of his throat. "Well... why?" [23:19] 4Ir: "Clarify it." [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi: "Eh? My Riverspeak could be better." [23:20] 4Ir doesn't sigh. "Why what?" [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumo: "Oooh. Ohh. Why come here? Why attack Raksi? Everyone wants her gone who's not under her thumb, and maybe even most of those... but why now?" [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi* [23:22] 4Ir: "We're going to build our own Heaven in this world, and she's in its way." [23:22] 4Ir: "And fuck her diet." [23:23] 7Blossom: "She's a moral monster and we have the strength at the moment to rid the world of her." [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi looks around at you. "What sort of heaven will that be?" 12Then he bites into a melon as he listens to your answer. [23:24] 4Ir: "It'll fly. That's a good start, I think." [23:25] 7Blossom: "Are you asking if we plan to replace her with ourselves? Put you under our thumb instead of hers?" [23:26] "I'm not the politician, but we've got people who are. It'll be strong; extroverted. Peaceful by the sword. Keen to current affairs, but not driven by them. A beacon for those who don't live in it, but a sanctuary for those who do." [23:26] "Not an inner heaven." [23:26] "An Outer Heaven." [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi eyes Blossom, but seems to answer Ir. "Will it be here?" [23:28] 7Blossom: "We've made no plans for a specific location." [23:28] "It could watch over here. But if you want a place, it'll be far above whatever you're asking for. Cartographically speaking." [23:29] 6Tatsuya: "It's the friends we made along the way, right now." [23:30] 6He's sipping at whatever juice looked the pinkest. [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi's made his way through several melons and most of a deer's leg by now. "Here's the story of the Queen of Fangs, told by the Queen of Fangs. She came up in a world full of strife and injustice. She was surrounded by evil and treachery and war. She knew... to keep herself and her people safe... she'd have to make her own sanctuary. Her own heaven. Think one of the stories even [23:31] <@Ferrinus> uses the word." [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi: "So now there's, rrk, the control zone. This special place of hers. All safe. An example to some." [23:32] 4Ir: "Might be a weird thing to say here, planning what we are, but we don't mean to insult her. It is what it is." [23:32] "It goes how it goes." [23:33] "River flows to the sea." [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi: "Here's why we hate her, and why we'll help you, here, now. All serves Raksi, in Raksi's kingdom, because only Raksi has the power to keep it safe. Keep it going. Those who prove themselves take on her blessing. Like me. Those who don't... my sister in law, say. They serve in other ways. Might not have the orang's reach or the cat's quickness, but they still bleed red." [23:35] "Hrrh." [23:36] 4Ir bites into some flesh. Melon or meat, whatever's on offer. "Yeah. Should also make clear: our respect means we'll talk to her before we kill her." [23:37] "But we don't foresee a circumstance where we don't." [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi: "No leaving, either. We're still hers, or so she'd tell you. Might even come for us one day, or send her demons. Her magic blacks our veins if we get much farther from the jungle than we are now either way. So all the evil you're bringing here, from the west... well, we'll try it. Can't be any worse, right?" [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi: "But you might not hear the same from deeper into the Zone, where no one says a word against the Queen because they don't know how to. Isn't even legal." [23:40] 4Ir: "Saving their lives is outside the boundaries of my prerogative." [23:40] 7Blossom's looking more and more disgusted. [23:40] "I said we'd talk to Raksi. I'm less interested in anyone else." [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi's produced a pipe by now, and is puffing on it between sentences. "What'll you do next? First?" [23:43] 4Ir: "Teach my demons how to fly, I hope. But in the broader extent, knowledge and scouting." [23:43] "We have burrowers; they might be able to map out the terrain ahead without making too many alerts." [23:44] "Once we have the information we can achieve within the reasonable timeframe -- before the Queen could re-commit forces to the flank we represent -- we push in and establish ourselves as a concern. We drive through." [23:44] "Then, we play it by ear." [23:45] "Once we're done, we find some place else for all these demons to be. A place that better suits them. Their own heaven." [23:45] "But leave that bit to us." [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi scratches at a cheek. "It's almost certain that all the demon-flesh next door's been noticed already. Hard to miss, even if it doesn't press too far into the woods." [23:46] "They've noticed, yes. Raksi's domain is large and they have neighbors. They won't truly care until we demonstrate the curve of the blade." [23:47] 6Making a beeline straight for here over the last two months probably didn't help, though. [23:48] 4If we wanted to be stealthy, we'd have inserted alone from the Heavensward under cover of night. We committed. [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi inhales, nods slowly, then exhales a few variously-sized smoke rings. "Hrrmm. K, k, k. Ooookay. Understood. And you think you can do it? 'cause we're dead if you can't." [23:49] "Put it like this." [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12(those are kind of explosive "k" consonant sounds rather than abbreviated kays) [23:49] 7Blossom: "A few months back the Princess Magnificent had an army of howling ghosts and two black Chosen, looking to turn Great Forks into a charnel house. We stood against her." [23:50] "Now we're walking Creation and her fortress is an empty pit." [23:51] 4Ir's forehead explodes with the Sign of the Sun. She doesn't seem to notice. "She was dragged screaming back to her perdition. We walked away. Our God is a God of fire and spit and proper advancement." 08[23:52] 7Blossom: "Whatever people say about us, between those stories Eikichi writes and tavern gossip and who knows what else, here's what's true: We don't lose." [23:52] 6Tatsuya, mildly: "This isn't our first war." 6Sip. [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi: "Thing is. Thing is. Raksi's been not losing for more'n a thousand years." [23:53] 4Ir: "Neither have we." [23:53] "Because we weren't here." [23:54] 4She picks up a leg of something or other. "Do you know what dragons are?" [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi shifts in his seat a bit to lean forward and give Ir a look. "...think I've heard of them," 12he finally says, blandly. [23:55] "We ran into two on the way up here. They'd gotten into an argument over the domain of the third." [23:56] "They were forced to allow us to mulch a straight line through the demense they were contesting, because they weren't certain they could stand against us." [23:56] "With good reason. We'd already beat one of their asses." [23:56] "I. Personally. Beat Garuda's ass." [23:56] "She has been very understanding about it, though." [23:57] "Yes. She tried to bribe us to murder the other dragon. We didn't. We can take long views." [23:57] 6Tatsuya: "We should hang out again sometime." [23:57] "Fuck her if she can't take a joke." Session Time: Fri Mar 29 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi: "Well. I'm convinced." 12He pauses, then releases a low, hooting chuckle. "Ah, who'm I kidding. Had to learn Raksi's litany up and down - dragons and devils and whatnot everywhere, all of them coming to loot and ravage and all of them turned aside by the Queen's heroism and the people's sacrifices. But I'm convinced you're convinced, and, hell, we were never safe long-term [00:00] <@Ferrinus> either way." [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12The Thousand-Fangs Total Control Zone takes notice... next week. 14[00:18] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:04] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:23] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:27] * Joins: Quaker 14[03:34] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[11:04] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[11:04] * Joins: tom 14[12:36] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:13] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[14:18] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:22] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:12] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:04] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:54] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[18:57] * Joins: cbass 14[20:28] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. 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In truth, great tides of them liquefy ilm by bloody ilm as they cross the threshold of Nexus's legally ordained city limits, and enter the territory of its ancient Emissary. [21:03] 14No more time for teapots. [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Yeah! Yeah, fuck 'em up! 15[21:05] The spray stains the water, the docks, and runs through the streets in a bloody tide. But for all his awful power, old Balor can't stop them all. 15[21:05] Not even most. [21:07] 14The stranger who visited Heaven finishes wrapping a long length of sailors' rope around his forearm. It's tied and knotted five time around the curved handle of his parasol. He doesn't remember where he left the scarves. Needs must. [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's pulled back with the others to the inner docks, and stands at the head of the Dawn Guard. He spins a grand daiklave through a simple exercise, leaving thin trails of sliced-apart air behind the tip, then takes a deep breath and squares his stance. [21:11] 13Xia Lan twirls her paired hook swords Before and After nervously before settling into her stance. She's sticking close to Tsuka, she's mostly healed up, and she has the Sol Ring around her right wrist. This is as ready as she can be. 15[21:11] The city's chosen defenders, pulled from every corner of the Direction, flood the streets of Nexus beyond the docks as the river rolls over and rough-spun green glass spreads over the inner pool's surface like a rapid freeze. Horns sound, arrows fly, and the sky burns red and violet. [21:12] 10Jai takes a moment to gather his thoughts, and count his knives. He's got enough to open a cutlery stall. Black iron for the Fair Folk; bronze for their thralls. It'll be a mercy, really. 10Just hold them off until the Lookshyans get here in force. Easy, right? [21:12] 14He throws the parasol out and snaps it back, as his movements take on the grace of the dance. [21:13] 14He moves to unseen music. [21:13] 14...Unheard music. [21:13] 14But there's always synecdoche. [21:17] 5The sky burns above Xu Sim, and it burns within Xu Sim, showing on the extinguishing Sun on his brow as the swirling mandalas appear, bearing calamitous battlespeech in Old Realm, and other ancient tongues. 14[21:21] * Quits: dammitwho (*.net *.split) 14[21:21] * Quits: banana|peels (*.net *.split) 14[21:22] * Joins: dammitwho [21:23] 10A brief exchange as the vanguard advances. "Shiki, hide. We'll meet up later." "Chii." "Don't worry about me, take care of yourself." 07And a dark blur scampers out of harm's way. 15[21:23] The vanguard of Cethleann's army rushes forward, a squad of thorned cavalry, backed by giant dragonflies bearing gauzy ecstatics whose eyes and gaping mouths overflow with light, all led by a bear riding another, larger bear. [21:24] 14He's swaying side to side when the wave hits. 14[21:25] * Joins: banana [21:36] 14As they bear down: "I believe that we will win." [21:37] 10Jai: "I'll take it up with your ghost if we don't!" [21:38] 14You don't want to do that. [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar spots the opening. "Goin' in," 12he mutters, and before anyone in the arrayed Circle can respond the Dawn Sergeant's body has already been replaced with a slanted pillar of burning orange anima. It's slanted forward rather than curving forward - somehow, instead of jumping in the usual parabolic arc, Keldar has leapt in a straight line to above the charging faerie forces [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12before stopping dead, swinging his daiklave around so as to point it straight down, and then crashing like a meteor into the ranks of the cataphractoi. [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12They're not actually routed, but they are devastated - easily half are dead, with a few extras too wounded to continue or fleeing as if at the touch of iron. Keldar's visible standing in a small crater, surrounded by the rest, his grand daiklave replaced with a golden sword and silver shield that both back and forth to anticipate incoming blows. [21:49] 14Killer killer killer killer [21:57] 5Xu Sim kneads his hands back and forth, and then his arms, his fingers working tiny bags and vials between his fingers, loosing bits and daubs of iron filings, agate powder, and dried nautilus shells; the swirling dust begins to take a mind of its own but does not fly forth - yet. [22:13] 10The dust swirls past Jai, and when it clears, he's nowhere to be seen. 10Not yet, not yet… 15[22:22] The bear-riding bear collides with Keldar as fae swords clash off his shield. He lands a solid impact, driving Keldar heels-first into the heart of his own crater but the solar hero stands firm, face-to-face with the bear-man's hazy violet eyes. 15[22:24] As the battle continues, the red-violet sky is stained blue-white as harpoons of pure light scream over the circle's heads, fresh reports from Lookshy's Final Word. [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's briefly rattled. Felt like he took that on the forearm rather than the shield! [22:34] 13With a twirl and a leap, Xia Lan launches herself into the fray, ducking under the various enemies which mostly seem to be focused on Keldar, dodging between them with ease, all in service of striking at the important-looking one. She swings at him once, twice, hoping to bait him into a worse position, but - practiced combatant that he must be - he doesn't fall for it. Hopefully Keldar's the focus of the rest of the army here. [22:40] 14Bear riding a bear. The big boy with two backs. Stranger eyes the distance then steps forward into the fray, throwing the parasol out and cutting the rider across the cheek with its sharp tip. Then he snaps it back and slides around between the cataphract blades, grinning. 15[22:56] The air splits open with a piercing wail you can every in every vertebra. The ground shifts, the light burns violet, and everything is awash in a haze so thick you feel like you're moving in slow motion. Blood-thickened tides crash through the streets, overrunning the river and the sewers as even the Emissary is pressed backward and the petrified river bears forth more and more soldiers. [22:57] 14Stranger frowns and starts dancing differently for a moment, before resuming. [22:59] 10Jai makes a warding mudra Oyabun taught him, but it's not up to the task.  [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's nearly overwhelmed. All he can do is grit his teeth, raise his shield, and weather the sound til it's over. 15[23:00] In the haze of their nightmare, the earth itself seems to bear down on them, a hideous grinning face of black glass the size of a house being dragged forward by a dozen disconnected limbs that tear the paving-stones to rubble beneath them. [23:01] 13Oh, Sun. Xia Lan crosses her swords involuntarily, hoping to buy her some time to just - focus-- [23:15] 10In the wake of the riders' wail, a chill, leaden fear sinks into Jai's bones. He flits from shadow to shadow, still hidden from their baleful gaze. He's going to have to strike hard, and soon.  [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar starts as he sees his foe turn and bear (hah! not even intentional!) down on what seems to be a softer target. He yells "No you don't-" 12 and leaps forward, roughly shoving several cataphractoi out of the way in order to interpose his shield between Krawczyk's claws and Xia Lan's blades. This time, he doesn't budge as talon and steel connect - maybe Keldar's got this [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12bastard's measure? [23:31] 5Xu Sim, eyes bloodshot, releases a flurry of his deadly black butterflies; each one has three white spots on each wing and another spot on its tiny, murderous forehead. They seek out what they can, but only dig into the flesh of the witch-riders, leaking foul-smelling unguents and leaving their debris strewn through the surging tides. [23:35] 13Xia Lan just keeps back -- something about this just feels wrong, and she can only muster so much against all this. When Keldar leaps in the way of the blow, it's a relief, but also... he can't keep this up forever. 15[23:36] A great pillar of black glass would crush Xia Lan if Keldar didn't take the brunt of the bone-shaking blow himself. [23:36] 13He really can't keep this up forever. [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Whoof that one was close. However, that Keldar can keep this up forever has not yet been disproven. [23:55] 14The bear riding the bear is exulting in the press against the city defenders when the parasol whacks him across the face again, harder this time, drawing blood from his lip. Session Time: Wed Apr 03 00:00:00 2019 15[00:01] The haze of nightmare fades away, and the circle's senses grow sharper just in time to push through the keening pain. The raksha knights look up in unison, and a wordless and foreign song filters down, seeming to still the fight for just a moment. [00:03] 4Stranger stops moving, and says aloud: "For fuck's sake." [00:03] 14Stranger stops moving, and says aloud: "For fuck's sake." [00:03] 14Then he starts grooving again. [00:12] 14Oh dancing with myself; oh dancing with myself. Well there's nothing to lose and there's nothing to prove, so I'll be dancing with myself~ [00:15] 13Xia Lan continues huddling behind Keldar - okay, he might not be able to keep it up forever, but he hasn't shown signs of so much as a scratch yet! And she's nearly unarmored! [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12The Sergeant's holding steady at the moment! For instance, the rain of obsidian shards simply broke against and tumbled down the warrior's gleaming gold-and-silver armor like, well, like rain. [00:28] 5Xu Sim gestures wildly and the obsidian shards flung by Mata-Yadh go flying back in the opposite direction! To similarly little effect, clattering off armor plates and sailing through empty space. [00:28] 10It's then that Jai chooses his moment. He leaps high, spraying a fan of iron knives, and gestures in the slowed time—the Ten sign, to anyone observing. "Fly fast and true,"10 he whispers, as the knives split and multiply in the air. By the time they reach the raksha witch-riders, the cloud of cold iron is thick enough to blot out the sky itself. [00:29] 10The raksha's songs are silenced utterly. [00:46] <@Ferrinus> 12When the cataphractoi crash in like a tidal wave, Keldar's burning and gritting his teeth, raising his shield until the sunburst burning on it is the last thing visible within the sea of faerie spears. There's a crush of motion and spray of blood, followed by a sun-and-moon arc of clashing steel that pushes the riders back for just a moment to reveal the Dawn Sergeant standing with [00:46] <@Ferrinus> 12grand daiklave in hand, roaring defiance despite the thin rivulets of crimson drawing lines down his armor. [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Then the Sergeant's eyes flash and he darts forward, shoving several cataphractoi aside. Massive silver claws are whistling down in a deadly arc towards Stranger-Visits-Heaven, but with a crash and shower of sparks they're knocked aside by the falling blade of Terminus, which crashes into what remains of the street and sends briefly-glowing fractures crawling in every direction from [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12its point of impact. [00:57] 14Stranger is bleeding from the mouth and shoulder when the parasol hits the bear riding the bear a third time, right in the armpit, and almost knocks him off his mount. He elbows a sword away as he grins, blood in his teeth. [00:59] 10Jai perches on a rooftop for a second to assess the situation. And frankly, it's a real fuckin mess. There's no more time for skulking around, not if he wants to help his new allies. And, it turns out, he really wants to. [01:01] 13Praise the Sun for Keldar's defense. Xia Lan hasn't been able to do much with it, but hopefully the Sol Ring is making up for it - she's its keeper, now, she has responsibilities. [01:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Having turned the bear's claws aside, Keldar turns and throws himself at the obsidian monster towering over the battlefield, but its whirling limbs make it impossible for him to reach its face - he'll leap from one to another in hopes of getting high enough to strike a telling blow, but doesn't make enough progress not to find himself back at ground level moments later. [01:03] 10And what the hell would Odette say if he just stood by while Stranger got his arm ripped off by a bear? 15[01:05] As the Circle fights for their lives, the wider battle for the fate of the Direction plays out all around them. The horde's advance is all but stymied, for the moment. 15[01:05] NEXT TIME: Beseech the Queen 14[02:50] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:25] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[10:00] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[11:21] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[11:33] * Joins: cbass 14[11:37] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[11:42] * Joins: cbass 14[13:01] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:07] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:57] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:52] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:32] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[17:35] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:35] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. 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[20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 .-./ _=_ \.-. [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 { (,(oYo),) }} [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 {{ | " |} } [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 { { \(---)/ }} [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 {{ }'-=-'{ } } [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 { { }._:_.{ }} [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 {{ } -:- { } } [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 {_{ }`===`{ _} [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 ((((\) (/)))) 14[20:17] * Joins: mattbaby [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12You've had a few hours to eat, drink, and perhaps even smoke with Thook Rumi, the wisdom-chief of this village of Thousand-Fangs apostates. He's told you at some length about Raksi's recent exploits and the structure of the society she leads, one in which some bloodlines have elevated themselves to ape-kin status by passing eldritch trials and in which those who fail to triumph or [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12fail to try become grist for the Total Control Zone's mill, sometimes literally. [20:18] 4Ir won't indulge in the smoking; wrangling the kruthik is hard enough sober. [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12There are, he says, scattered jungle villages in the periphery of the Zone, of which smaller clusters tend to be associated with larger towns and cities, either sorcerously shaped from the jungle wood or built over the stone of First Age ruins. At the center, of course, is Mahalanka itself - the seat of the witch-queen's power and the ravenous gullet into which both blood and treasure [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12are constantly funneled. [20:20] 6...what substance are we smoking, here? Wait, no, we've got to be active defenders -- but seriously what are we smoking here. [20:21] 4The big question from Ir's point of view is: what do we want the kruthik doing? Do we want to strike right in, establish a front, and risk the Total Control Zone just to show Raksi our daring, courage, and impetuousness, or do we want to build? [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12What's the upside? Well, on top of not simply being killed by hereditary curses or demon enforcers, the denizens of the Total Control Zone enjoy Raksi's protection, which can go a very long way - no one's alive who still remembers the last time the Realm or even a too-big-for-its britches regional power tried to move in on the ancient Lunar's territory. Legends revolving around that [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12sort of thing tend to end with rains of burning scorpions, the earth itself yawning wide with crystal fangs, that sort of thing. [20:22] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom will eat and drink, but politely decline any substance that could mess with her aim. 15[20:23] 10This is good shit. 08[20:23] 4Eikichi will surely smoke enough for the group. [20:23] 6Most of the group. [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi can explain that technically you're not yet in the Zone proper - there's a wide periphery of jungle which Raksi watches but does not technically claim. It's specifically a radius of around two hundred miles surrounding the ancient city into which stepping unanounnced and uninvited is an actual act of war. These refugees can live a little farther because the curse that shackles [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12them seems to have more to do with the jungle than specific lines on a map. [20:25] 4As long as she doesn't technically claim it, we're fine -- we've already made our peace with her knowing we're here. [20:25] 6And if she objects, well. [20:25] 4She can come to us. She won't, but she can. [20:26] 6Exactly. Knives out, man. 14[20:30] * Joins: hrolf [20:31] 4Ir will take a polite lunch, but instead of offering her cooking services (now, at least) she will excuse herself to do some light scouting and examination, alone. And then some reading from a small, eclectic collection of war texts she's been quietly building, also alone. [20:31] 4Bad for the brand to seem like a boomworm. [20:31] 4Bookworm. [20:31] 4A boomworm is probably awesome. [20:31] 7That's what you get if the kruthik ever decide to evolve handheld weaponry. [20:32] 6They would never. [20:32] 6...would they? [20:32] 6They wouldn't. For sure. [20:33] 4External weaponry is inefficient, both from an aesthetic design perspective and a workflow problem regarding energy generation. [20:33] 4But it would be funny! [20:33] 6You and I know that. But do the kruthik? ...they better. [20:34] 4The real terror is that Ir wouldn't put it past them to be able to replicate the effects of a firewand, wholly biologically. [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Discussing the matter with Rumi and trying to synthesize examples of past failed invasion from the TCZ's history, Ir and Blossom are able to put together some picture of what awaits their armies. In short, Raksi's apeman legions, already more dangerous by default than unenhanced humans, are likely to be mightier yet within the Control Zone by dint of a wash of age-old blessings. As 08[20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12well, the actual land and sky will be against you, with earthquakes and river floods and lightning bolts likely to always happen at the exact least opportune times. There's an obvious countermeasure here, though, one that wouldn't require costly and difficult sorcerous workings by Eikichi or Blossom to combat on an acre-by-acre basis: let the Kruthik spread. As they metabolize and [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12assimilate the jungle, Raksi is likely to lose hold of it. This doesn't make territory any easier to take, but makes it much easier to hold, and it's possible that if enough of the Zone falls to demonic corruption the entire network of enchantments will fray and break. [20:37] 4Hrrrh. [20:39] 4Any kruthik expansion will have to be very carefully managed, with a plan to draw it down afterwards. We're still not about to let them take over Creation. [20:41] 6It's starting to seem like we should, uh, do something about the kruthik. [20:42] 4We have a plan for that. [20:42] 4After we win. [20:42] 6Mmm. [20:43] "It seems to me we need to move on Mahalanka itself and provoke a direct confrontation with Raksi absolutely as soon as possible." [20:44] 4After concluding her assessment, Ir will return and share her findings in the most direct and simplest way possible with the rest. She has essentially one follow-up question, and it's to ask Rumi what his peoples' appetite is for open war. [20:45] 6Tatsuya: "Yeah. But, also, what comes after? Because our forces don't seem to accept 'we won' as an end state. From watching them." [20:46] 7Blossom: "We send them to Kruthik Heaven. Malfeas." [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi's village isn't that big - Vakra, the war-chief, could muster perhaps a hundred spears here and now, but that's a drop in the bucket compared to the legions of the Thousand Fangs. Hers isn't the only such force, but they're few and far between, mostly on the fringes of the Control Zone. There are rumors of internal resistance movements - raided caravans, burned orchards, that [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12sort of thing - but they're hard to substantiate. [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi: "...to be frank... I wouldn't count on us. We rather expected you'd be taking care of it." [20:47] 4About what Ir expected. She tells Rumi to focus his people on their own protection, with a secondary aim of trying to reach out to those movements in the wake of the chaos caused by the Kruthik. [20:48] 4Ir: "We will." [20:48] 6To Blossom: "Uh. There's sort of a lot of them--" [20:48] 4To Tatsuya: "Hell's big." [20:49] 6Tatsuya: "So are they." [20:50] 4Ir: "Hell's ravenous." [20:50] 6Tatsuya: "...so are they." [20:50] 4Ir: "Hell's hot." 15[20:51] 10Eikichi: "So are we." 08[20:51] 4Ir: "DAMMIT Eikichi!" [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12What happens if you just dump the entirety of the swarm into Hell is an interesting question. It's too bad you can't somehow run separate trials with differing amounts of kruthik to isolate some kind of optimal ratio. 14[20:51] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:52] 4The worst possible outcome is that they take over Hell and then try to reinvade Creation. [20:52] 4And that's a problem for the future Squared Circle. [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Intended; wontfix [20:53] 6One of us can dodge that problem entirely 13you what [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12It's late enough in the day that the sky's going purple when a thunderously loud male voice breaks the relative peace of your conversation. "OIIII! ATTEND!" 12Rumi practically falls out of his chair in a heap of robes, limbs, and smoking pipe. [20:57] 4Ir stands, and Jude's Law snaps into her hand. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12The wisdom-chief gestures frantically at you, although it's not clear what he wants - he's just waving his hands as he pulls himself together, gets his two palm-waving servants to fix his robes up, and so on. He quickly seizes a staff and lopes his way out the door to confront who or whatever it is. [21:01] <@Ferrinus> "What, the HELL, is all this!" 12Rumi's voice is much quieter, but still audible. "We - ooh, mrrm, we're simply-" "Not YOU, idiot!" [21:01] 4Ir is still dressed simply, but her head is cocked to the side. And now there's a burning sigil on her brow. [21:04] 7It's ridiculous to expect us to hide, and it would be humiliating to have Raksi's emissary - if that's who it is - come across them hiding in a cabinet or some damn thing. Blossom's going to go outside and see who it is. [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a pause. "...actually, yeah. Yeah, you too. This place isn't registered, is it?" 12Rumi: "No, no, it must be, a long history-" 12It's not clear what the gameplan is, and so it's just as well that Blossom and whoever else simply step out. [21:05] 4Ir's probably first through the door, glow and all. [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12They see a huge, dark-skinned man in heavy moonsilver plate, although it's constructed so as to allow for bare arms and shins, as well as a tall, bristly mohawk that runs over his bare scalp and down to somewhere between his shoulder blades.. He's unarmed, but given the glowing lunargent tattoos that follow the curves of his muscles this probably counts for very little. The earth's [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12churned and bulging in a long line behind him, as though he's plowed through it rather than walked over it, and trees are bent or broken in his wake. [21:08] "Hrrh." [21:08] 4Lunar? [21:08] 4Moonsilver says yes. [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12The Lunar exalt, or at least the incredible facsimile of a Lunar exalt, is sneering with contempt at the orangutang-man chief who's standing before him and trying to somehow talk his way out of this. Off across the village, the war-chief has mustered a small contingent of guards. To the north, out of village bounds but clearly visible, is the slick grey-and-orange hellscape that is [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Jormungand's newly-planted hive cluster. [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Lunar: "Who're you?" 12He pokes Rumi, who falls over, in the chest. "Who're THEY?" 12That's directed at your Circle. "And what in the Queen's name is all THAT?" 12He jerks his head at the kruthik hive, which looks to be all but deserted of demons, although Ir would surmise that most of them are currently burrowed. [21:12] 4Ir: "Touch him again. See what happens." [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12It's right here that the dude notices Ir's caste mark, because his eyes nostrils flare and eyes narrow before he turns to face the oncoming Solars square, simply ignoring the wisdom-chief still trying to pull himself to his feet. "Alright, alright, what's the meaning of all this. Is that your ship? Your... bugs?" [21:15] 4Ir: "It's about what you'd expect. You serve the Queen?" [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Lunar: "I, Pramu Gutting-Crescent, study under her. And she's tasked me with investigating this... disturbance." [21:18] 4Ir: "And what have you found?" [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12He snorts. "Quit being funny! What is all this and are you going to fix it." [21:20] 6Tatsuya: "Doesn't seem funny to me. C'mon, man." [21:21] "Or do you treat everybody who's here to help like this?" [21:21] "It's a demon army growing on your border. And we're fixing for something." [21:21] 4She waves a hand. "This settlement is under the Circle's protection." [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Pramu: "A demon-- Circle, huh? Who are you people?" [21:22] 7Blossom: "We are children of the Sun. We have heard that the witch-queen Raksi preys on the innocent, largely because she herself trumpets that fact to Heaven and Creation, and have come to put an end to it." [21:23] "We're bad news. But the good news is: it takes one person to deliver a message. And there's only one of you." [21:24] 6Tatsuya: "Have you not heard of us? Dang, man." [21:24] "We have a book series and everything." [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Pramu stares at you blankly for a long moment, confused, and then looks released. "Pfffahaha, right, right, okay. I gotcha. I heard about this kind of thing. You know what happened to the last bunch of guys who came to put an end to Queen Raksi?" [21:26] 4Ir: "Do we look like a bunch of guys to you." [21:26] 6Tatsuya: "We can, if you want. I don't see how that would help, though." [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Pramu leans in: "Neither does anyone else." 12He then frowns; you didn't quite help with the setup, there. [21:32] 6Tatsuya: "...do you want to try that one again? I can do the setup this time." [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Pramu: "Shutup. Point is, these wretches aren't yours to protect and the Thousand Fangs see any army massing on the Zone's borders as an incitement, all right? I can offer you til the next new moon to clear this crap out of here. If you want a different deal, you can give me one to carry back - or plead with the Queen yourselves, but you're leaving the bugs here." [21:34] 4Are the other Lunars conspicuously absent? One assumes so, given their whole spy thing. [21:35] 4Ir: "It is an incitement." [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Yeah, neither Marek nor the rest of his Circle is anywhere in evidence. He'd prefer that Raksi not know you have your own Lunars in your pocket until it's too late for her to counter it. [21:36] 7Blossom, to Ir: "I don't think he's listening." [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12You definitely get the sense that he's got some kind of script or checklist to proceed through. [21:38] 6Wow, and he rejected the opportunity to do his bit properly? Bad actor. [21:52] "That doesn't hurt me." 4Ir explodes with golden light. In an almost, but not quite, sing-song voice she walks up to the Lunar with a dread burning spear-maiden behind her. To the Chosen of the Moon: "Do you want to hear about the deal I'm making?" [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Pramu bristles: "Alright, hang on-" [21:54] 6Tatsuya: "Hang on what? Any ideas?" [21:54] "We've got the materials." [21:55] 4Inches from his face: "You will tell your Queen that we're here. You will tell her that there is a Circle of Solars" 4--it would be nice if everyone did the caste mark thing here-- "searching for a reckoning. She can either come forth with terms, or she can fuck off to the edge of Creation. That's your deal." [21:55] "Now git." [21:56] 6Tatsuya flashes his sign. Better than being the weirdo hype man without a purpose. [21:56] 7'git'? [21:56] 4He'll know what it means. [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Pramu's huge, but nevertheless he leans back as Ir leans forward, takes a step towards the jungle for each one Ir takes towards him. "H-h-hey! Hey, fine! If, if you - I'm going!" 12Once he's at the actual treeline, he turns and hops onto a large mound of churned-up earth, one which, at his touch, shudders and then launches itself forward to carry the Lunar rapidly across the ground [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12and into the jungle. "You'll regret thiiis-" [21:58] 4She grins. He knew what it meant. [21:59] 4She turns back to the Circle. "That starts a countdown." [21:59] 6Tatsuya: "Laters." To Ir: "So. Now what." [21:59] "Because fuck if I think Raksi's actually gonna come back with a deal." [21:59] "C'mon, maybe she's reasonable other than the eating babies thing." [21:59] "Oh, wait." [22:00] 4Ir: "We make as many kruthik as we can, as quickly as we can, and move the point of engagement away from this village while still providing support." [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi's making 'ook' noises to himself as he paces in small circles and rubs at his scalp. "Ah. Hm. Ff. Ah. Well. Was hoping that'd get started by the time you'd moved no past." [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12moved on* [22:00] "Seems like our friend left us a line to follow." [22:00] 6Tatsuya: "Point me to where you want the response to hit." [22:01] 4To Rumi: "Looks like we had bad timing with her taxman." [22:01] "If you've got someone in mind to blame for it, so much the better." [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi: "More than a taxman... I've heard of him. He shows up if you aren't paying tribute, or someone like him." [22:02] 4She pauses, then to Rumi again: "Is there any governor or coordinator for this region? Any one sheriff that we could kill and disorganize the local forces?" [22:02] 4With their luck, they might have just sent him packing. [22:04] 6Tatsuya: "Hey, again, don't throw away a useful target for blame. If I need to pick them off first, okay, but -- I can make a scene. None of it rolls back to the circle." [22:05] 4Ir: "I think Raksi's good enough at deductive reasoning and used enough to disguises that she'll be able to guess what happened regardless." [22:05] "Doesn't mean we shouldn't do it." [22:05] 6Mimicking Pramu: "You know what happened to the last bunch of guys who came to put an end to the Squared Circle?" [22:05] 4Haha. [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi scratches one of his cheek pads. "Magistrate Gunuri is getting on in years, but likely still runs the Outer Western Control Zone. News of your monsters' coming surely came to Mahalanka through him. He's like me - orang-kin, but with the blessings afforded a regional ruler." [22:06] 4Ir: "Guessing you wouldn't miss him?" [22:09] 6Quietly: "If you do it right nobody would miss him." [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Rumi: "Hhhr. No. There's only one way to rule with her blessing." [22:11] 4She looks over at Tatsuya: "If you're up for it, I can get you to a staging point. I'm sneaky enough for that, at least." [22:12] "Good. Good!" [22:12] 6Tatsuya: "I can handle the rest. No question." [22:13] 4Ir: "Otherwise, Blossom's right: that mook cut a line in the jungle for us to follow, and I say we should." [22:14] 6Tatsuya: "...why not both?" [22:14] "Both what?" [22:20] 6Tatsuya: "Straight to Guniri for me, crush the rest of Rakshi's supporters for the rest of y'all. Uh, maybe picked a bad way to phrase that originally. But." [22:20] 4Ir nods. "Makes sense to me." [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, you've got some sort of heading. Sitting down with the village chiefs allows you to draw out a map of sorts - it seems that almost on the way to Mahalanka itself, but bearing a little south, is one of the manse-cities of the TCZ, a cluster of tree-borne ziggurats called Chithakara. Dog-spider demons and hopping puppeteers helped in its weaving centuries ago, and ape-man armies [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12stand guard over its sacrificial pits and the supply caravans it regularly sends to and receives from Mahalanka. Were the order to crush or re-enslave Rumi's people to come from the capital, it would surely be carried out under Chithakara's guidance. [22:30] 4Sounds like the joke. The punchline is: a good start. [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12It'd take perhaps five days' travel for the kruthik to get there if they were covering open terrain. In Raksi's jungles... who knows. [22:30] 7Blossom: "I don't like the sound of 'sacrificial pits'." 15[22:32] 10Eikichi: "I don't know, it's got good mouthfeel. A nice long lilting word and ending on a solid, sharp sound." [22:32] 6Tatsuya: "Doesn't seem ideal." 15[22:32] "Oh the actual-- yes of course." [22:32] 4Ir: "I'm just here for the content. And I don't like the contents." 08[22:32] "Eikichi -- thank you." 08[22:33] 7In fairness to Eikichi, he had a lot of apeman weed. 15[22:34] 10walk like you~ talk like you~ 08[22:35] 6Is it better than other kinds> Eikichi and Tatsuya are friends, he would know. [22:35] 13Why are you like this 6Look, I'm asking the questions that everyone wants to know. 14[22:54] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:56] * Joins: dammitwho 14[23:01] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12As most of the Squared Circle settles in to prepare for war to start in earnest, Tatsuya and Ying sneak off in shifts to take the lay of the land and plan the best way to decapitate Chithakara. They probably work in shifts, but it's Ying who does the bulk of the early labor because Tatsuya doesn't really know which of these mushrooms is safe to eat or how to make a lean-to. [23:10] 6Look, they all seem tasty. 13NO. [23:10] 13Do NOT. 6Hungry... 13NO! [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12It's probably mornings and nights that Ying's in charge. Throughout the day, it's Tatsuya, dashing up trunks, along branches, and across vines, presumably with his arms held out like glider wings. It takes him but a day and a half to reach the first of Chithakara's surrounding villages, most of which seem to revolve around hunting, farming (jungle farming is a strange trade which [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12involves cultivating fruit-bearing vines and other probably-sorcerously-bred flora which can survive in the choke of the far east), handicrafts, and prayer. Raksi is a religious figure here, and both beast-men and human-men are regularly seen in prostration and sacrament destruction. [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12The two most obvious approaches here are simply staying unseen and watching/listening long enough, or actually disguising one's self as a citizen and figuring out the score from within. [23:19] 6*already putting on disguise* Sorry what was the other option [23:26] 6Regardless: Cat ears poke out from the fluffy hair of Tatsuya as he makes his way into the village to learn more about how the people feel about Raksi. It's actually sort of uncomfortable for him - the face just doesn't feel right, the ears are picking up stuff he doesn't normally hear... [23:26] 6But, expert that he is? Nobody suspects a thing. [23:27] 13This is cultural appropriation. 6Catural apurrpiation. 13Do not. [23:33] 6In any case: Tatsuya and Ying can't keep doing this forever. The rest of the Circle has things to do -- so. Quick movements. Sticking to trees, leaping between branches, hurrying between shadows, even just ducking out of view if they happen to look your way - it all adds up! 08[23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12As Ir oversees the expansion of the kruthik - it's really something to watch the tunnelers just saw down trees and gobble up vines only for the creep to spread and rapidly replace them - and Eikichi stays just ahead of the spreading kruthik wavefront in order to find experimental subjects, Tatsuya lives a couple days in the life of one of Raksi's ocelot-men. He learns quite a lot; [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12tithes to Raksi in the form of prayer seem to be as or more important as tithes in the form of skins, gems, and handicrafts, and indeed Raksi seems to have an entire pantheon around her which demand the peoples' devotion. As cat-kin, Tatsuya himself is expected to play a special role; while the bulk of Raksi's devoted take on the strength, reach, and cleverness of the great apes as they [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12pass Raksi's trials, the secretive testing grounds in which the ocelot's powers are delivered to the worthy are rarer and more subtle. It's hard to piece together from the euphemistic language with which humans and ape-men refer to the ocelots, but Tatsuya's pretty sure that his disguise makes people strongly assume he's a member of the secret police, or at least the child or nephew of [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12someone who is. [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12This makes it easy to get immediate obedience but hard to get trust - and also creates a few awkward situations in which he might be getting or expected to give appropriate callsigns or similar. Can he...? [23:50] 4Yeah. Really something. Ir keeps a careful eye out. [23:51] 6C-c-c-cat man do. [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Aha! These aren't really familiar to Tatsuya, but once you've seen one set of elaborate spy/assassin countersigns you've seen 'em all. Well, okay, that's the opposite of true... unless you're an unmatched criminal genius. As is, Tatsuya's able to pass himself off as a legitimate agent of Raksi's secret police, and is even able to make some estimation of who he's talked to is "clean" [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12(in the sense of zealously and faithfully reporting dissidents, executing assassinations, and so on), and who's on the take. Given how much material seems to be flowing to and from Chithakara, and how much crime and corruption seems to be going on there both in the popular imaginations of the denizens of surrounding villages and in the private conversations of Raksi's agents, it's a [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12safe bet that one could actually reach the Velvet Room from Chithakara. [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Now there's lots of venues for getting into the city - hide among one of the slave or dissident caravans moving from the villages to the city's prisons, pass one's self off as an investigator and simply go through the front gates, tap into criminal connections to find and use the secret byways and tree-tunnels that smugglers prefer, etcetera. [23:58] 6You know, went into this thinking that this place sucked, and am coming out of it thinking it's even worse. Session Time: Fri Apr 05 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12One thing, though: it's on the fourth day of the week that Tatsuya's finished working this out, and by then there's clear word that Raksi's armies are massing around Chithakara. Troops should begin to arrive from the rest of the TCZ to reinforce Chithakara's garrison within the next day, and they should be at full strength in another five at most. [00:01] 6At least they still fall for the bored ear-flick on the way in 13CULTURAL APPROPRIATION 6and the entire play is just. Nobody actually checks credentials closely enough! Sun almighty, this is an embarassment. [00:02] 13I HATE YOU SO MUCH 6It's fine though. In and out. 14[00:05] * Joins: mattbaby 14[00:08] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12In and out. Now that Tatsuya's traced Chithakara's peripheries, it's time to look into the genuine article. No one sees him coming, or climbing, or going - he's able to crawl up the trunk of an absolutely massive kapok tree atop which a huge diamond of stone - it's like two ziggurats sandwiched base to base - is suspended. This is Chithakara, the nearest of Raksi's great cities to [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12rest of the eastern threshold, and Tatsuya means to decapitate it. [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12He finds the perfect path to this target... next week. 14[03:01] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:15] * Joins: trench_foot 14[04:18] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:13] * Quits: trench_foot (Connection closed) 14[06:43] * Joins: dammitwho 14[08:55] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[12:22] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:54] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:13] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:33] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[16:38] * Joins: Crion Session Time: Sat Apr 06 00:00:00 2019 14[00:38] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[00:39] * Joins: cbass 14[00:53] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[00:55] * Joins: dammitwho 14[02:19] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[02:54] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[02:55] * Joins: dammitwho 14[03:16] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:25] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[10:25] * Joins: dammitwho 14[10:34] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:09] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:13] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:57] * Joins: hrolf Session Time: Sun Apr 07 00:00:00 2019 14[02:32] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:39] * Joins: hrolfy 14[02:41] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:43] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:36] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:11] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:46] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:24] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:44] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[20:33] * Joins: hrolfy 14[23:23] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Mon Apr 08 00:00:00 2019 14[02:24] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[02:24] * Joins: dammitwho 14[03:04] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[03:06] * Joins: dammitwho 14[03:59] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[03:59] * Joins: dammitwho 14[04:09] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:16] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[05:16] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[05:16] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 15[14:02] * Disconnected 15[14:03] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:03] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:03] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[14:03] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[14:03] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[14:03] * Joins: VoxPrimey 14[14:03] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[14:03] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:03] * Quits: VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[14:03] * Disconnected 15[14:03] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:03] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:03] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[14:03] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[14:44] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:00] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:02] * Joins: cbass 14[23:24] * Joins: hrolfy Session Time: Tue Apr 09 00:00:00 2019 14[00:02] * Quits: dammitwho (Connection closed) 14[00:03] * Joins: dammitwho 14[00:05] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:19] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:22] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[07:44] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[07:48] * Joins: Crion_ 14[07:50] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:29] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[15:21] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:57] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:12] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:00] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[19:09] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue Apr 09 19:09:02 2019 Session Start: Tue Apr 09 20:00:50 2019 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:00] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:00] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[20:00] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 15[20:11]  15[20:11]  15[20:11]  15[20:11]  15[20:11]  15[20:12] The battle for Nexus rages beneath a dream-torn sky, as the hateful light of Balor' 15[20:13] s star fights for supremacy with the emerald witch-light of Cethleann's magic in the twilight as the sun itself seems to hide. [20:16] 14I still...believe...that we will win. 14[20:31] * Joins: tom [20:38] It's that moment when Jai erupts from the shadows, roaring a wordless kiai, his anima flaring, brightening, then becoming limned in the hues of sunset. His eyes burn like sparks as he sets on the Fair Folk warriors, dancing among them with broad sweeps and pinpoint spearthrusts. Maybe this will give the others the breathing room they need. [20:39] Jai's anima continues to spread, evoking a storm-tossed sea and grasping limbs reaching as if they could drag the raksha down below those waves. [20:51] 14Stranger dances back to short range, bleeding in four places, and hums a tune -- then snaps his wrist and bounces the bound parasol off a dozen or more cataphractoi before whipping it back into his hand, and then doing it again, and again... [20:57] 13Meanwhile, Xia Lan is still engaged with the bear riding another, larger bear, and damn him but he's tough to actually strike. A slash aimed for the smaller one, and the big one dodges; aim for the bigger one, and the small one nearly grabs her sword by the hook with its claw. She finally retreats back to Keldar's side with a feint, frustrated despite the Sun's light shining upon her. [21:02] 5Xu Sim brushes the hem of his robes clear of the black obsidian dust of ten thousand maddened stone butterflies, as one might wipe away a bit of spilled soup at a banquet. Then, he casually walks into the fracas, before taking the stance of the Crane. He gestures in false amiability to his enemies, to come and try to do as they please. [21:19] 10They just keep coming. It's great to be able to really cut loose, but… this is a little more desperate than he'd imagined it would be. Jai slams another cataphract to the ground with the butt of his spear, twirls it round to block two other attacks, and then delivers what would be a mercy stroke to a mortal. But against these? The iron point burns all the way through. [21:22] 13There's so many of these things, and space is tight to dodge in -- Xia Lan ends up getting clipped by some of them, trying desperately to keep them away from anything vital. [21:23] 5Xu Sim steps towards the Cataphractoi. The last time he - and Xia Lan - faced these brutes in battle, they slaughtered one of his erymanthoi bodyguards and nearly killed him. It's how the Mask of Winters ended up in Nexus. As they surge forward to strike again, Xu Sim steps between one and Keldar; he casually turns its blade aside and then, with a turn of his body, drives his fist [21:23] 5into the creature's center of gravity. [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, tensing for even deeper pain, is extremely nonplussed to find himself hiding behind a wizard for once. But, hell, that gives him time for an even bigger windup. [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Unfortunately, he can't repay the favor - lash out though he may against the cataphractoi, Keldar's only able to hold his ground, and it does little good to Xu Sim when Matis Yadh comes crashing down. [21:39] 5Xu Sim had a plan. Everyone has a plan, until they get hit in the face. Xu Sim emerges, swaying and bloodied, from the flurry of Mata-Yadh's blows. [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12The Dawn Sergeant's putting a pretty poor showing against the marauding Lunar, too, pretty much being unceremoniously swatted aside as the creature hurtles towards Xia Lan. This isn't looking good! [21:51] 14I still believe that we will win. [21:52] 13Getting harder to believe that every second, boss man. [21:55] 10Jai's still pretty fresh, but there's a dozen or more raksha coming at him from all directions. Pure hot-bloodedness can only carry you so far. [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12As his quarry's driven back, the great silver-burning bear stands supreme over the battlefield, scattering foes before him and finally turning to round on his true counterpart. Moon's anointed warlord bears down on sun's anointed warlord, gigantic claws blazing bright as they smash through Keldar's parries, predict Keldar's dodge, and finally land square in the Dawn Sergeant's gut, [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12seeming to part the orichalcum and distend the moonsilver as they bite deep into flesh. Keldar's pushed back, yanked briefly off the ground, and when he slides free to go staggering back Krawczyk's paw is... clean? No, almost clean, because the very tip of each claw sparkles a brilliant red, and Keldar spits a mouthful of matching hue onto the cobblestones beside him. [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...ow." [22:34] 13They're all around her now. The enormous skull tries to chomp her and Xia Lan is grabbed - wait, no, she isn't, and never was. The cataphracts are thankfully blocked entirely by Keldar. Maybe they WILL win. Xia Lan is, of course, still bravely huddling behind Keldar for safety. [22:36] 10And just when Jai's thinking things are looking pretty bleak, beset on all sides and fighting with everything he has, his perspective shifts. He's able to step outside the moment, catch his breath, and draw strength from his desperation. He finds his flow, just like Oyabun said he would, and without any dumb breathing exercises or sitting under waterfalls. His anima continues to billow and unfurl, casting a smoky flame over the [22:36] 10 battlefield, and everything beneath it is suddenly his prey. Essence suffuses his weapon, bolstering it against stresses far greater than it was ever designed for, and he fights his way free of the encroaching circle. Then, with some room to move, he REALLY gets started.  [22:37] 10Black Wind? Maybe. But he's also Golden Lightning, a spark darting to and fro in the chaos. [22:38] 4The melee intensifies, and Stranger Visits Heaven dances to his own tune. Xia Lan bends but does not break. Keldar is a rock. Xu Sim's maniacal contortions defend them both. And the new man, Jai, he drives straight through the gentry cavalry with nothing but a wood-and-iron spear, and scatters the lot. Upon reflection, Stranger is -- would be -- proud to die with these four, here [22:38] 4today. [22:38] 4But before he does that, he draws the parasol back and spools the rope around his hand again. "One thousand judgments from the Kingdom of the Sun." [22:38] 4Whipping back and forth on the rope, the parasol judges the cataphractoi one thousand times. [22:38] 4Whipping back and forth on the rope, the parasol judges the cataphractoi one thousand times.14The melee intensifies, and Stranger Visits Heaven dances to his own tune. Xia Lan bends but does not break. Keldar is a rock. Xu Sim's maniacal contortions defend them both. And the new man, Jai, he drives straight through the gentry cavalry with nothing but a wood-and-iron spear, and [22:38] 14scatters the lot. Upon reflection, Stranger is -- would be -- proud to die with these four, here today. [22:38] 14But before he does that, he draws the parasol back and spools the rope around his hand again. "One thousand judgments from the Kingdom of the Sun." [22:38] 14Whipping back and forth on the rope, the parasol judges the cataphractoi one thousand times. [22:40] 10Jai throws back his head and laughs. Oh HELL yes. All of the pretension and hesitancy he showed earlier is gone. There's a job to do, and until it gets done, there's no time to doubt himself. [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's next word is more of an inarticulate yell. Alight with both essence and fury, the Dawn Caste charges the Full Moon Caste without a hint of magic but a surfeit of sheer spite, knocking the bear-mount's jaws aside with a backhand before springing up before the saddle and just getting completely in Krawczyk's face. There's not much room to swing a grand daiklave around at such [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12close quarters, but the massive blade provides enough weight and leverage to allow for a series of jaws, shoulder checks, and pommel strikes that leave Keldar standing in one bear's saddle while another's sort of scrambling to get back into his seat from the ground. [22:48] 14Behind Stranger Visits Heaven stands the large, looming, white-eyed shadow of...whatever it is he used to be. [22:48] 14'Stands' isn't the right word. It balloons up over him and leans down. 15[22:54] The blazing solar souls flood the city streets, matching mote for mote the other strange and terrible energies racking heaven and earth. For a moment even the minor behemoth is dim in comparison. But as the flare ebbs ever so slightly, the light does not diminish, as a towering figure clad in blazing white armor charges forward, implacable through the carnage. The earth trembles beneath 15[22:54] his charging boots as the ground is scored apart by the great sledge he drags behind him and the silver spear still sticking through his chest. 15[22:57] Eyes burn inhuman beneath the great helm of Nessun Dorma as he points across the field directly at Xu Sim and brings his sledge into the earth, shattering the street and splintering the buildings around. [22:57] 14Sometimes dead is better. 15[22:57] NEXT TIME: Vengeance deferred 14[23:21] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Quit: ) 14[23:21] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[23:29] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[23:38] * Joins: cbass 14[23:49] * Joins: hrolfy Session Time: Wed Apr 10 00:00:00 2019 14[00:12] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:58] * Joins: mattbaby 14[04:08] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[04:41] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[07:31] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:40] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:18] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[11:57] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:09] * Joins: tom 14[17:14] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:16] * Joins: tom 14[22:58] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:58] * Joins: dammitwho Session Time: Thu Apr 11 00:00:00 2019 14[02:35] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[03:43] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[05:04] * Quits: tom (Connection 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#SonsAndDoctors 14[23:05] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[23:05] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[23:05] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[23:08] * Quits: GreatClownVoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:41] * Joins: VoxPrimey 14[23:41] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Fri Apr 12 00:00:00 2019 14[00:05] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 15[02:31] * Disconnected 15[02:31] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[02:31] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[02:31] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[02:31] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[02:34] * Quits: VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:01] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[05:31] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[08:50] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[08:50] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[08:50] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[10:44] * Joins: Crion 14[11:07] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[11:07] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 15[12:36] * Disconnected 15[12:36] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[12:36] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[12:36] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[12:36] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 15[13:14] * Disconnected 15[13:14] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[13:14] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[13:14] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[13:14] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 15[13:14] * Disconnected 15[13:28] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[13:28] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[13:28] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[13:28] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[19:15] * Quits: Crion (Connection closed) 14[19:15] * Joins: Crion 14[21:04] * Joins: tom 14[21:07] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:09] * Joins: dammitwho 14[21:31] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:32] * Joins: dammitwho 14[23:06] * Joins: hrolfy Session Time: Sat Apr 13 00:00:00 2019 14[00:09] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:22] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[05:26] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:49] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[05:49] * Joins: dammitwho 14[11:16] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:37] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[11:57] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:18] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:23] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[14:37] * Joins: tom 14[17:28] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:02] * Joins: tom [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 _...._ [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 .-. / [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 /o.o\ ):.\ [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ / `- .`--._ [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 // / `-. [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 '...\ . `. [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 `--''. ' `. [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 .' .' `-. [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 .-' /`-.._ \ [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 .' _.' : .-'"'/ [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12| _,--` .' .' / [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12\ \ / .' / [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 \/// | ' | / [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ ( `. ``-. [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \ `._ \ [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 _.-` ) .' ) [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 `.__.-' .-' _-.-' [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12 `.__,' 08[21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12The Squared Circle is split in two, though not at all evenly. A great deal more bustle is ongoing at the apostate apeman village/kruthik beachhead into the Thousand-Fangs Army Total Control Zone, as Ir carefully oversees the demon's absorption of almost all the surrounding jungle and rapidly swelling numbers while Eikichi feels animal, vegetable, and mineral samples into various of [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Jormungand's organ systems (both internal and externally-grown) in pursuit of the perfect leaping kruthling. At the same time, miles away, Tatsuya has disguised himself as one of the TCZ's ocelot-man secret police for the purpose of infiltrating the jungle city of Chithakara and slaying "Gurumi", its high priest and war-master. [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12All this takes place against the backdrop of Raksi's forces rallying. The Circle told her Lunar emissary in no uncertain terms that they meant to invade, and so the great wheels are spinning with top speed as regiments of armed, armored, and sorcerously-blessed warriors stream in from other locations in the TCZ to reinforce Chithakara's own garrisons. It's probably three days before [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12they reach full readiness; Tatsuya will need at least one to return to the rest of the Circle if he's able to travel at top speed, and the good news is that for each of those days the kruthik are going to burgeon further. [21:22] 4We did want to make a racket. [21:24] 7Good. Good! 15[21:24] 10We're in it now. [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Chithakara is actually suspended off the forest floor. It's a gigantic cuboid shape made of two ziggurats stuck base to base, and it's suspended within the trunk of an absolutely massive kapok tree, one that seems to be made of smaller trees fused together and whose megatrunk sort of splays out around Chithakara like a too-many-fingered fist. Actually getting in there normally involves [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12circuitous climbs through tunnels bored into the tree trunk or along staircases built into the side, but Tatsuya's at the point in his career where he doesn't need such contrivances as "handholds" or "breaks". He's able to draw a route up the great trunk and across the double-ziggurat exterior that's largely clear of sightlines or traps, and so finds himself within the great city. [21:26] 6Everyone else just needs to get good. [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12As he steals forward, presumably to launch an assassination, what other preparations, security measures, or propaganda bombs do the others prepare back at base? [21:30] 4Ir wants to raise as big a force as possible while protecting the village we said we'd protect. We'll need it; one assumes Raksi's forces will try to end this thing in one blow. [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12The apemen are clearly uncomfortable, even though you're taking care to only allow for the metabolization and replacement of the jungles to their north, south, and maybe northeast - technically, they've still got a path to fresh water, trees, and general livelihood, although the animals large and small usually present in the village and surrounding woods are much rarer in the recent [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12days and just having kruthik for neighbors leaches a lot of nutrients out of your soil. Fortunately, they had enough forewarning to have stockpiled some food from earlier hunts and harvests. [21:36] 4We won't be here long. One way or the other. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12And if it goes poorly, neither will your hosts! Ha ha! But seriously, according to rumors Gurumi isn't Chosen but is a sorcerer and beneficiary of several more of Raksi's blessings than the average TCZ beastman, so this might not actually be trivial. Either way, his palace-manse is uuuuup... there! [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Quickest way is probably through this alley, then down this... waiiit a sec. Tatsuya's seen that pattern of bricks before. Just push this one, then this one, then kind of wait a moment while straightening your collar coolly, even if you aren't technically wearing one... "Welcome... to the velvet roo- oh, it's you." [21:46] 6Oh, boy, this is awkward. "Hey. Been a minute." [21:48] 6He's already rubbing at the back of his neck awkwardly. [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12That little hobgoblin-like fellow is staffing the smoky, indigo-lit front collar; his companion doesn't seem to be in. Squinting at Tatsuya, he says: "...far east?" 12I should note that he only says this if Tatsuya lets the mask slip or otherwise gives some indication of his identity; the proprietor can't actually pierce the Solar's disguise, and launches into the whole schpiel if [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya instead wants to keep pretending to be a cat-cop. [21:49] 6As fun as it would be to get the full spiel and then drop the act, that seems rude. Shoot, have they even been introduced to Ying here? Can't remember. [21:50] 6In any case, Tatsuya drops enough of the act that they'll recognize him, and if not, he can announce himself: "It's Tatsuya again. I didn't die." [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Igor(?): "Well, of course not! That would be extremely irregular. Looking for a job?" [21:54] 6Tatsuya: "I'm -- sort of on one. Chithakara. If the," 6he gestures to his general visage, "wasn't a giveaway. Unless... is it related?" [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Igor: "Chithakara, Chithakara..." 12he rifles through some documents before him, now certainly safe from being struck by lightning. "Ah! Yes. The Harvest Gem! From the central manse in this very city. Payment in magic of equal grade, but, crucially, the local manse itself must remain intact until at minimum one week after delivery." 12He frowns to himself. "Not really sure [21:59] <@Ferrinus> what they're planning to do if it breaks past that, but that's neither my business or yours, eh?" [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Miles away, at the apostate village, it's business as usual until in the middle of the day there's a deafening crash of splintering wood. [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Where's everyone when the eastward half of wisdom-chief Rumi's hut just plain explodes outwards, as though from some kind of explosive going on inside? [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Going off, I should say. [22:02] 4Ir's making sure the kruthik are respecting the boundaries of the village, since the ape folk are so clearly uncomfortable. So she's pretty close. 15[22:04] 10Eikichi'd fallen asleep waiting for larva to mature, so the explosion jolts him awake as he wriggles out of a hammock and to his feet. 08[22:06] 6Tatsuya: "I could make a little detour, sure." 6Harvest Gem, Harvest Gem... not ringing any specific bells, maybe ask Eikichi or Blossom later. "Do they want it delivered back here, or did they want the personal touch?" [22:07] "What with it being a week after delivery, and all." [22:07] 4Her skin glistens with strange silver light as Jude's Law leaps like a whip into her hand; she's already closing on the elder's hut. [22:08] 7Blossom turns on her heel and sprints toward Rumi's hut. [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Igor: "Same as usual - just get it to me! They're quite far away, you see." [22:11] 6Interesting. He files that information away to deliver back to the rest. "While I'm here - anything for a 'Gurumi'?" [22:12] 6From, I guess, but still. 08[22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12So Eikichi, Ir, and Blossom are arrayed at variously inconvenient distances around a whirling melee. They see Marek in his war-form, clad in glowing moonsilver armor. In his right hand is a massive argent scimitar, and in his left is the chest-scruff of some sort of enormous cat or rodent monster, its fur greyish brown and striped with widely spaced black bands. Both have visible [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12moonsilver tattoos, but only Marek's glowing, and relatively faintly at that - his changing moon caste mark brands his brow and a lambent blue-violet flame covers his body from top to bottom, but it's not quite reaching into the sky yet. Marek's enemy is clearly in a war form of their own, with great clawed fingers and gleaming fangs and suchlike, but is dissolving before your eyes. [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Specifically, it's becoming a great cloud of iridescent hummingbirds! 15[22:17] 10Ooh! [22:17] 4Ir's eyes narrow and Jude's Law shudders in her hand. 15[22:18] 10Where's Rumi? [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12No immediate sign. [22:26] 4Marek and this interloper will hear Ir's wrath before one of them feels it. [22:31] 4As the hummingbirds split and swarm around the hyenaman, slivers of silver shoot in out of nowhere, slicing up some birds and forcing others off-target. [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12The hummingbirds swirl through the air like water, parting almost completely around the shards and coils of Jude's Law. They're too fast for Marek, rapidly pulling away from the hyena-man. But- [22:41] 4Then the shards start murdering the little birds. 15[22:48] 10While Ir and Marek give chase to the assassin, Eikichi dashes in to look for any wounded. [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Looks like a terrified servant, cowering in the rubble -- and an outsretched, orange-and-grey furred arm extending from beneath some fallen timber! Oh, no! [22:51] 4Ir spares the ruined hut a look as she leaps by, but her blood's up. Someone tried to hurt her mate. 15[23:02] 10The spheres orbiting Eikichi suddenly lock in place, and a rippling chromatic distortion envelops the rubble burying Rumi. [23:03] 7Blossom forms a fireball in her palm and throws it straight up into the air, flipping Truth out of its holster with her other hand to fire a bolt into the flaming sphere as it reaches the top of its arc, shattering it and spraying fire down onto the buzzing hummingbirds! [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12They dodge impossibly well, but just "impossible" isn't good enough here. A score of the birds go down in flames! [23:04] "LOOKING TO DIE?!" 7She snarls. 15[23:08] 10Sugoi... [23:19] "SUN... PURITY... ESCALATION!" 7A dangerously humming ball of blue flame grows between Excessively Righteous Blossom's hands, wobbling uncertainly for a moment before hurtling forward to detonate amidst the cloud of hummingbirds! [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12There's an enormous explosion, and out of it comes one measley hummingbird, scorched black from beak to tail, surrounded by some spiraling ashy feathers. It draws a wobbly, desperate path skyward- [23:24] 4Ir points, and ten thousand silver shards form a full orb around it. [23:25] 4She points again, and the orb shatters. The meat that was the bird falls to the ground. [23:27] 4Ir stares at what's left of the body for a moment, then turns to Marek. Is he still...flies? [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12It falls to the ground followed by a waterfall of chiropterans. They're fruit bats, as any naturalist could recognize, but that doesn't stop them from sinking their fangs into the charred and minced hummingbird bodies that litter the ground and, particularly, digging right into the little chest cavity of the final invader. It's a human-form Marek who stands up from a humanoid corpse [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12with its ribs pried open, and has just enough presence of mind to wipe the blood from his mouth before seizing Ir for a kiss. "Hah!" 12he eventually says. "Bastard." [23:29] 6Gross, dude. [23:29] 4She'll return the kiss hungrily. When it breaks: "So I see you're fine." 14[23:30] * Joins: hrolfy [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Items and knick-nacks surround the body. He seems to have stolen the earth-shaping hearthstone you'd been keeping in your hold, as well as shavings of jade and orichalcum. There's also other items, seemingly random - a hairbrush, an earring, that sort of thing. 08[23:30] 4Then: "The elder is hurt, though Eikichi and Blossom are on it. We should see to him. We'll give this one a proper burial." [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Probably a good thing that all those arcane connections never reached the Total Control Zone's sorceress queen. And this guy was good - he got past Sondok! [23:31] "We already took his life; no need to be insulting about it." 08[23:33] 7Blossom will help Eikichi hold up the timbers and whatnot, if need be. 15[23:33] 10They seem to be floating in place all on their own. [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile . . . Tatsuya perches on a high precipice, looking down at the palace-manse at the top center of Chithakara. Igor didn't have any contracts on Gurumi specifically, although there's apparently some kind of heirloom statuette that the city chief keeps in his study that'll fetch a high price in mortal coinage. Tatsuya can keep an eye out for it. [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12For now, however, he's got to plan ingress and egress, find the perfect spot to strike, that sort of thing. [23:35] 6Easy peasy lemon squeezy. 14[23:37] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12So Tatsuya knows Gurumi's entire routine. He wakes before dawn, prays during (but not, obviously, to) the sunrise, breakfasts on fruits and fish, meditates and/or studies magic, holds court, prays, eats, holds court, meditates or trains, carouses, prays, sleeps. At all times, he's under guard... and not just by regular guards, which in that case mean elite ape and ocelot men. Pramu, [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12the musclebound and mohawked Lunar who days ago attempted to intimidate your Circle into standing down, is always nearby. [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Judging from Pramu's bearing and overheard remarks, the blessed of the full moon has not been Exalted too long, and is likely weaker in his Essence than Tatsuya is - but he could certainly complicate an assassination attempt, either getting in the way or at the very least preventing an escape. As well, Gurumi wears jewelery in which demons are bound - should he twist the right ring, [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12or cast an amulet to the ground such that it shatters, or even fall unconscious without having first performed his pre-sleep prayer, Malfean creatures will erupt in green flames to his defense. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12As befits a city ruler, Gurumi employs food tasters - human food tasters, since they're of weaker constitution than an ape-man and more likely to feel the effects of some poison or disease immediately. Gurumi is periodically alone to bathe or dress, although in such cases he keeps his jewelery on and is sure to have guards, Pramu included, a minimum of one room away. [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya considers the problem of strangling the ape-man in his sleep. It's promising! Pramu's likely to be outside the bedroom, not within it, and might well nod off. You would have to get around the giant guard iguana, but it's not like Tatsuya hasn't tricked or snuck past dogs before. [23:46] 6Alternative entry points are preferable but distracting them isn't the worst plan. And if it comes down to guard dogs or guard humans, guard dogs are far more susceptible to raw meat. 14[23:47] * Joins: hrolf 08[23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Back in the village, Eikichi's able to quickly bind Thook Rumi's wounds, stop the blood flow, and set a few bones. Even the greatest of Solar healing arts demand bed rest, though, and so it's imperative to move the wisom-chief to some non-collapsed dwelling -- and to quell the other villagers, who are understandably alarmed. Vakra in particular is furious, and she's acting wisdom-chief [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12now. Session Time: Sun Apr 14 00:00:00 2019 [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12A hair-raising series of climbs, sneakings, and window-jimmyings later, and Tatsuya is perched on Gurumi's bed like a night hag, watching as the city chief's body dissolves into effervescent darkness. [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Now what? [00:34] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a faint noise from behind as the guard iguana shifts in its sleep. [00:35] 6Time to go. And time to go while pretending to be an insomniac Gurumi if we want to make this easy, probably. [00:46] 6After strangling the real Gurumi into his own shadow, of course. 14[00:48] * banana is now known as banana|split [00:51] 6Then, of course, it comes time to really sell this. Tatsuya slams the door open while alternating between muttering grimly and yelling angrily on his way back out to the rest of the squad; he does make sure, however, to scream about how close the others are. "BACK! STAY BACK! ALL OF YOU ARE WORTHLESS!" [00:52] 6He's furious, incandescently angry. "AWAY! BACK! I HAVE MORE IMPORTANT DEALINGS THAN YOUR GARBAGE!" [00:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Pramu awakes with a start. "H-h-hey! 'ey, chief, listen, I gotta-" 12but Tatsuya-Gurumi is cranky enough to keep the bodyguard at bay, and able to storm off on his own... for now. [00:53] 6Clown. Owned. [00:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Can he keep it up? Is it even a good idea? We'll find out... next week. 14[01:57] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:13] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:29] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[10:31] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:40] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[11:05] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:27] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:50] * Joins: tom 14[15:40] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:16] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[18:58] * Joins: Crion 14[19:17] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[19:38] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:01] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[23:30] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:48] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Mon Apr 15 00:00:00 2019 14[00:52] * Joins: tom 14[02:33] * Joins: bananaphone 14[02:39] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[03:58] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:18] * Joins: Crion 14[07:31] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:45] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[08:54] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:34] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:51] * Joins: tom 14[15:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:01] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:01] * Joins: cbass 14[17:18] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:12] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:25] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:48] * Joins: tom 14[23:14] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Tue Apr 16 00:00:00 2019 14[00:30] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[01:22] * Joins: Crion_ 14[01:23] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:20] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:51] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[06:40] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:39] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:05]  15[20:05]  15[20:05]  15[20:05]  15[20:05]  15[20:08] By blade and parasol, Cethleann's vanguard was broken, raksha lords dissolving into thistle as their bodies hit the ground. It seemed as if the tide had turned against the larval behemoth and ensorcelled Anathema that remain.. until the awful apparition of the lost Nessun Dorma tore furrows in the earth as it surged toward the circle. [20:09] 14I guess you'd call it cowardice, but I'm not prepared to go on like this... [20:11] 10Whoa whoa whoa whoa! No one said anything about this! Maybe we should regroup. [20:11] 13... [20:12] 5Xu Sim's eyes narrow in hatred. [20:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's slightly-ragged breath flames visibly from his mouth as his shoulders rise and fall, carrying the massive weight and leverage of Terminus. He's just claimed the upper hand over Cethleann's Lunar champion - but how long can he hold it? 15[20:12] "I should've killed you... the moment I met you..." the titan's voice echoes oddly beneath its helmet. The great white sledge drags behind him, cutting a crooked path through the street that draws step by step closer to Xu Sim. "But I HESITATED," he thunders, "Overcome by your COWARDICE, and now... I am DAMNED!" [20:13] 14Stranger stops humming to himself. "Worse. Damnation confers power. This is just a shadow of the thing. Nessun Dorma was cheated coming and going." [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar makes a snap decision, hisses "-good luck with the bear-" 12to all assembled, and then leaps. He doesn't bother moving in a parabolic arc, simply springing from where he stands to draw a perfectly level burning line from south to north, one that blazes orange-red behind his body and traces a wall of silver-flecked gold beneath it that follows the leading edge of Terminus. [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12The unstoppable juggernaut that is the resurrected(?) Nessun Dorma(?) swerves only imperceptibly to meet the oncoming missile, and the two collide in an actual explosion of stone and fire. [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Mortal onlookers probably can't follow it, but Keldar's allies and worthy foes are able to glimpse a brief tableau - Keldar, teeth bared, eyes narrowed, drawing a huge upward arc with his grand daiklave that's clipped Dorma from hip to solar plexus and torn a great diagonal rent through his armored torso. There's no blood coming out, though, just a stream of withered flowers, and by [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12the time Keldar's landed to round on his foe with shield up Dorma, too, has regained his balance and structural integrity. [20:53] 10Just a moment ago, Jai was on top of the world; now he's starting to feel like a scurrying rat caught between elephants. He spots Stranger on the battlefield making a move for the bear-rider, and sprints off to give the old man a hand. [20:54] 10Jai's part of it winds up a stalemate, at best. And the looming obsidian face and the cursed titan with the lance in its chest? They aren't going anywhere. 15[21:04] In the streets around, the battle still rages. The sky above ruptures into ever-more violent shades of red and purple as the sun goes down, but where the circle makes their stand everything is bright as noon. [21:07] 5Xu Sim steps into another attack from the bears, and twists past it to deliver a ringing blow of his own. 14[21:10] * Joins: tom [21:12] 14Stranger attempts to bleed the bears a bit more, but he's still a bit rattled from Dorma showing up and, honestly, it's hard to know where to hit bears with a Sun umbrella. [21:13] 13Xia Lan takes a swing, two swings, three, four, but to no effect -- her pointed snake-style has no effect! ...how is she going to help, here. [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12A terrible, scornful finality wreathes the head of Dorma's hammer as it comes arcing down, and the tolling of a great bell sounds as the weapon smashes headlong into the sunburst on Keldar's upraised silver shield and stops dead. The Dawn Sergeant grunts, but stands fast. "You know, been wondering for a while how this fight actually goes." 15[21:25] "Every fight ends the same way." says Dorma's as it bears down with all its weight on Keldar's raised shield. [21:26] 14War never changes. [21:26] 14Old saws; sharp teeth. [21:27] 13How dare you stand where he stood. [21:30] 5Xu Sim scurries through a flurry of Mata-Yadh's appendages before deflecting one of them away from Xia Lan, and giving it a kick of his own as he weaves his way through its unsettling tangle of limbs. [21:41] 14The second time he has to hit the bears where they're down, the parasol finds teeth. [21:41] 14Still...this doesn't seem sustainable. [21:43] 10Just smashing into this guy head-on isn't accomplishing anything. Jai's gonna have to cheat a little bit to even the scales. Jai flips his spear up into the air. Then in one smooth motion, he pulls a small tube out from his belt, stretches it, puts it to his lips, and puffs a tiny steel needle at the rampaging bear. Krawczyk probably doesn't even feel the pinprick, but the venom will start coursing through his bloodstream [21:43] 10 nonetheless. In the next moment, he's stowed the tube again and grabs his spear on the way down. [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar shrugs the hammerhead off, steps sideways, and then stabs out. Sparks fly as his blade simply skids off the other side of Dorma's armor, but it sends another cascade of dead petals drifting out of the jagged cut into the plated torso and leaves Keldar almost bouncing on the balls of his feet. "I'm kidding. I never wondered." [21:52] 13A second try at the behemoth, and this one feels better than the last, but Xia Lan still hasn't left a single scratch. Running is out of the question, but she can't help but think: what can she do? [22:01] 5The bears come in again at Xu Sim. Again, Xu Sim leans onto the balls of his feet and prepares to bat away the clumsy blow and deliver one of his own - but Krawczyk hits a lot faster than the sorcerer expects, and his own counterblow is weak by comparison. 15[22:05] A buzzing fills the air as Krawczyk gets the upper hand, and bolts of white light cascade down the hill from the barrels of the Final Word. They score the streets, crumple the walls, and batter the raksha's front lines. Those on the front face the greatest peril, whether friend or foe. [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's eyes widen as he feels the pressure drop, and he leaps more so than dashes sideways, rolling roughly across the cobblestones and springing back to his feet as a titanic pillar of white-hot essence goes tearing through the spot he'd just been standing. [22:11] 14Danger close. [22:12] 14Dancing between the raindrops was never so hot. [22:12] 5Xu Sim dips, ducks, dives, and dodges the beams from the essences cannons. 15[22:12] The circle is unharmed, which their foes, the street, and the burning buildings around cannot say. [22:13] 10Jai's ilms away from one of the killing beams. Still not used to the weight of this jade monstrosity, although it might've been tough enough to take the blast for him. [22:14] 13Xia Lan dances in between the beams, which almost looks intentional. Takes skill, really. [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Dorma's bigger than he was - but slower, too, or so it seems to Keldar. Certainly less able (or at least, less willing) to draw on the invincible earth-essence that he might have fought with in times past. Now that Keldar's well and truly taken the thing's measure, and enjoying the advantage of not having just been charbroiled by the Final World besides, the Dawn Sergeant's really [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12able to hit his stride. Blow after blow sends Dorma's doppelganger lurching and staggering, unable to bring his hammer properly to bear. [22:20] 14As soon as the light fades, Stranger sends his parasol on a deadly strike -- and watches the bear and his bear bat it away. 14[22:21] * Joins: hrolf [22:24] 5Xu Sim scrambles around as the towering monstrosity tries, futilely, to crush him like an ant. Like an ant, he bites back - not much now, but these things build up. 15[22:34] The red-jade-armored bear-man, riding another bear, covered with tiny wounds and panting foam from Jai's poison, takes his mount in his arms and the two of them become doves, yielding the ground as they take to the sky, despite the circle's efforts to contain them. [22:34] 14Ah, pity. [22:35] 14Looks like he just couldn't bear it. [22:36] "Yeah! You'd better run—"10 Not that Jai was all that much of an immediate threat, but hell, his blood's up. [22:36] 13This is a trick. We've got to - "This is a trick! C'mon, let's go!" [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar frowns as he detects the motion behind him. Those fuckers better not be preparing to swoop back down. At least Xia Lan's still on her guard. [22:43] "You go! I'll hold this thing off!" 10What? Is he NUTS?  [22:44] 10But somehow, impossibly, he managed to scratch the congeries of obsidian and aurora with his plain iron spear. 15[23:00] As Keldar batters away at Dorma, his blade clangs off the fetch's armor like a hammer off a forge. Each spark of a deflected blow seems to feed a fire that blazes within until a torrent of violet light spills out from the titan's armor, disintegrating it and washing over the field. It burns without heat, blistering flesh and curling hair to dust. [23:01] 14These games are insulting, but really, games are all Cethleann has. [23:01] 14Though it would be nice if they were a bit less lethal. 15[23:01] The light dissipates, except for a burning crown on the behemoth's brow, within which stands a slender figure with a wide violet cape and a crooked silver lance. 14[23:01] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar swears and raises his shield - he's seen things shape rapidly while shaft of light after shaft of light stabs out from their cores before. When the fireworks are over, he's a couple fulms further back than he was and a lot of smoke is rising from his shield, but he's otherwise unharmed. [23:02] 14Stranger: "The most dangerous game. Have at you!" [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12shake* [23:02] 5Xu Sim sees the blast wave incoming and tries to form a Mudra of Protection as he steps between Dorma and Xia Lan - but it's not enough to stop it. He is blown backwards but manages to land on his feet, his body smoking. 15[23:03] The red sky dims and darkens, given over wholly to violet. [23:04] 10The greatest light casts the darkest shadows, and for a moment, Jai is one with them. [23:05] 5Xu Sim's head swivels around to look at her, murder in his eyes and violence in his heart. [23:09] 13You. 15[23:14] The battle's gone silent all around. No one can hear what's happening the next street over, and vision past a few yalms dissolves into violet mist. [23:30] 13Xia Lan leaps from the side of the building up to where Cethleann has perched herself - slashes - misses. But she's already twirling her hooked swords in preparation for her next swing -- 15[23:33] Blade clashes with blade as Xia Lan's attack is met by the paired swords of Kana Kavu. [23:33] 13!! [23:33] 13She falters. 15[23:35] "At least this time you stabbed me from the front." [23:36] 13Xia Lan: "Wh-- Kana?" [23:36] 13Not real not real not real what if it's real not real what if it is [23:36] 14A strange calm comes over Stranger Visits Heaven. He hasn't been long in Creation, but he feels like he's been here before, and he feels like he knows it. And -- ah, there's the Wyld, encroaching on every side -- he feels like this would be a good death. Not quite a loss; not quite a stalemate. Just a death. [23:36] 14More than anything, he regrets getting her involved. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar grits his teeth, raises his sword up from the cobbles he was bracing it in, and turns around. He casts a glance upward, seeing that Cethleann's already been engaged, and then makes another sideways leap. Snarling, shield forward, sword back but point forward like a scorpion's stinger, Keldar leaps through the plasmic torso of Mata-Yadh, his arms and armor trailing fire and [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12lightning as he rips a ragged tunnel through the core of the behemoth's essence. The Dawn Sergeant lands in a crater, leaving a trail of shattered stone and ruptured essentioplasm behind him... but the behemoth still stands. "Fuck!" [23:43] 14For a second there, it looked like he had it. 15[23:58] "You know what the last thing I saw was? You. Crawling away. Like a dog." 15[23:59] Her blades come from both sides like snapping jaws. Session Time: Wed Apr 17 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] 13Xia Lan blocks both of them and pulls the fake Kana closer to her, each hook around a blade. "You're not her. And don't fucking wear her face." [00:02] 13Headbutt. Knee-strike. A sword slash. She's been trained for this. [00:02] 13Kana trained her for this. [00:09] 14Stranger sends the parasol out, aiming for Cethleann's eye -- and in a blink of it, the Lady has switched places with Xia Lan, and suddenly he's about to kill -- [00:10] 13Blocked. Her eyes are still fixed on Cethleann, no matter what face she's using now -- but her sword gently pulls Stranger's parasol back to his side. [00:11] 14The corners of Stranger's mouth twist. This is, he realizes faintly, the angriest he's ever been. But it doesn't really feel like it. [00:13] 14That's probably very, very bad. [00:17] 5Xu Sim, the tips of his eyebrows and moustache still smouldering, somersaults between the smashing legs of the Mata-Yadh; its attempts to squash him only drive it into a worse and worse position as he laughs a thin, grim, laugh. [00:24] Jai's down here dancing out of the way of the behemoth's limbs, trying to get a clear shot at Cethleann. But between Stranger and Xia Lan's attacks and Cethleann's tricks, the opening just isn't there. [00:24] 10Jai's down here dancing out of the way of the behemoth's limbs, trying to get a clear shot at Cethleann. But between Stranger and Xia Lan's attacks and Cethleann's tricks, the opening just isn't there.  15[00:52] Atop the behemoth, Xia Lan clashes again and again with the monster wearing her lost friend's face. She gives an ilm, she gains an ilm, both teetering on the brink of falling to the blast-strewn cobbles below. "Maybe I'm not her," she pants, before finding one final opening. And then Xia Lan is looking up at a foreign and thorn-crowned face, staring with cold curiosity down the length 15[00:52] of a crooked spear as it runs her through. "But you never could be either, could you?" [00:52] 14Eventually, there's a point where the whole of your decisions, backwards and forwards, the full compilation of them, the entire avalanche, play out before your eyes first as a tragedy and then, they say, as a farce. But when Stranger Visits Heaven watches the Unfettered Xia Lan die nameless on the end of the Gentry's outstanding weapon, the farce is her reading, and he's left [00:52] 14with...nothing. No story. This is just an end to things. [00:53] 13Xia Lan stares down at the spear impaling her. She looks back up to Cethleann... and falls. [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's rounding on the behemoth, trying to figure out which of the nearest two limbs are standing the least steady, when he sees the fight atop the saddle come to its conclusion. "Kid! NO!" [00:56] 10Jai feels like he's been dumped in an icy river. He's seen people die before, plenty of times. Even been responsible for it. But this? This10 offends 10him. 10Did I come allt his way just to watch them die? [01:05] 14The parasol misses her by almost a foot, this time. [01:12] <@Ferrinus> "Fuck it," 12Keldar snarls, and nothing bad's ever happened after someone mutters that, right? He rockets into the air again, shattering pavement behind him before stopping to hang above Cethleann, sword perpendicular to the earth. [01:15] 5Xu Sim shouts wordlessly as Xia Lan hits the ground with a thud. Not again. [01:16] <@Ferrinus> 12He plunges downward, his aura of power coalescing around him into a gigantic image of a faceless, armored warrior which also drives his sword downward into the earth. The Dawn Sergeant lands exactly on the mark, which means that the blade of Terminus smashes Cethleann's lance aside and stabs straight through her collarbone, down between her ribs, and out the faerie queen's lower [01:16] <@Ferrinus> 12back. [01:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Flame and darkness is already evaporating off Keldar as he growls: "Welcome to Nexus." [01:17] 13She wasn't supposed to die like this. And yet. Maybe she'll see the real Kana Kavu again. Maybe she'll see the rest of the Ruby Reds. Maybe, maybe, maybe. [01:17] There's a spear in her gut. 15[01:23] Cethleann bleeds black down Keldar's blade, and a wide smile that splits her entire skull, which falls to mis before the rest of her body. Soon Keldar is triumphantly stabbing air, his own visage hazy and indistinct against the gleaming, all-too-real edge of his sword. 15[01:24] She melts into air... and soon Keldar is standing alone atop Mata-Yadh, surrounded by a city in flames beneath a blood-red sky. [01:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar handily keeps his balance on Mata-Yadh as he turns his blade sideways to allow Cethleann to slide off it and begin to fall. As he draws the weapon back from the faerie's evaporating body, it fuses back with its shield, gleaming sun-bright in the battlefield's combined anima even as Keldar himself seems to fall out of focus, becoming shadowed and indistinct. Whoever's holding [01:25] <@Ferrinus> 12that daiklave seems to just be another dime-a-dozen Nexus mercenary - but his money still spends, and his blade still cuts. [01:25] 14Stranger hasn't stopped staring at the girl's body. [01:27] 10Jai screams! All that and the fucking raksha queen just melts into thin air? [01:28] "It's not over," 14he says. "Nothing ever ends." 15[01:28] Keldar sees that Cethleann's armies have pressed deeper into the city. The fighting extends past him in all directions, with Lookshyan soldiers standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the risen Lookshyan dead as they hold the raksha back from the Final Word, whose cannons have begun to burn again. Thunder, fire, howling wind and screaming spirits rake the streets, and there's more rubble 15[01:28] than standing in the northern half of the city. [01:29] 14Something inside him stirs, and he shudders. He's not a hero. He's a steward. If he falls here, that something will be back. And it will be worse. 15[01:31] Meanwhile, the Dawn Guard have crushed their foes, despite taking heavy losses, and their line mercilessly collides with the eastern flank of the raksha horde. The tide of the wider battle is turning. But there is no sign of the Emissary, and despite the redness of the sky Balor's star is no longer visible over Sentinel's Hill. 15[01:34] Beneath Keldar, Mata-Yadh's form unsteadies as the aurora animating it bleeds away. 15[01:35] It flickers and fades and then Keldar is riding an obsidian sled straight to the ground. [01:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Some guy is, anyway. [01:35] 10Jai slumps and punches the ground. "Shit! Shit! Shit! I wasn't ready for this!" 10It's true; he wasn't. He went looking for excitement and got, well, a war on a scale he couldn't have possibly imagined. [01:36] 14Stranger is walking over to the girl's body. "None of us were." [01:37] 14But when he reaches her...he picks up the Sol Ring. [01:38] 5Xu Sim brushes past him to Xia Lan's side. "Shut up," 5he urges as he checks her pulse, her wound, to see what can be done. [01:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Somebody - that's Keldar, right? - they stab the very tip of a grand daiklave right into the middle of the Sol Ring, pinning it to the remains of Mata-Yadh's back. "Hey." [01:41] 13There's a moan. The body stirs, slightly. [01:42] 13Her hands flutter to her still-bleeding stomach before she drifts back off. [01:42] 14Stranger stares at the warrior. "The ring doesn't seek a nobody. Focus on staying alive." [01:42] "Y-yeah. Sorry. Look, I'll go get…" 10Jai looks around the smoldering ruins, then to Xu Sim. "I know a little bit of medicine. Tell me what to look for and I'll find it." [01:42] "Thank the Sun!" 5Xu Sim exclaims. "We have to get her somewhere safe, right now." [01:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We need the power, and the war's still going. You staying out here?" [01:42] 14Stranger: "I intend to die out here." [01:43] "And then, I'll get worse." [01:43] "Don't be an ass, Stranger-Visits-Heaven," 5Xu Sim reminds him. "We need to get her behind friendly lines, or something, right now! Which way?" [01:46] 10Jai: "I'll go. I'll find the quickest route. And you can make a stretcher out of spears and cloth if you need to, and…" 10He's going to make himself useful, damn it. It's the best way to keep from sinking into despair. [01:47] "Keldar! Spears for a stretcher!" 5Xu Sim barks. [01:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar pauses. It looks like he wants to say something to Stranger here, but the words aren't coming. "...fine, yeah. I'll get the Guard." [01:48] 14Stranger: "It's a crown of death and hate. I'll wear it. And when I fall, you pick it up." [01:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar pauses. It looks like he wants to say something to Stranger here, but the words aren't coming. "...fine, yeah. I'll get the Guard." [01:49] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not that easy to get them to hear him amidst the pitched battle, but people recognize the sword. At least a few Guardsmen are mobilized to help carry Xia Lan to safety. [01:49] 14He flicks his wrist, and the ring flies up like a hoop into the air behind his head...and then aligns with it, wreathing it in a twisting circle. 14[01:49] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) [01:50] <@Ferrinus> 12There's some creaking and clanking as the procession moves, and it soon becomes evident that a couple of the guardsmen are carrying "Royal Road", too. Keldar walks along wearing just his undershirt, pants, boots, and badge. [01:51] 14The man from up the river looks much, much older, and he may never smile again. 14[01:51] * Joins: dammitwho [01:53] 10Jai gets up on one of the few vantage points remaining, and looks over the new lay of the land. 15[01:54] Jai can see that among the ruins of pitched magical combat, the raw power of the ishvara, and the raining fire of the Final Word, there are a number of buildings leveled and gouges torn into the ground. From here he can see that one building was leveled to its foundations, but that it was sitting atop an unsealed entrance to the Undercity. That's the way to go. [01:57] 10It's not long before he's back with the others. He's found something that might have been an awning, or some sailcloth, and splintered cataphract spears. "Looks like underground is our best bet. There's a tunnel entrance in what used to be a basement." [01:59] 14Stranger: "Then let's go. We don't have long." [02:00] "Great," 5croaks Xu Sim, casting an eye to the heavens. "I wonder if they got what they came for?" 15[02:00] NEXT TIME: Hand in unlovable hand [02:00] "Raksha just do things. There's no reason behind any of it… That's what I was told, anyway." [02:00] 14The ring turns, and turns, and turns, and turns... 14[04:54] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:34] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:55] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:14] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[13:36] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[13:37] * Joins: cbass 14[20:01] * Joins: tom 15[22:12] * Disconnected 15[22:12] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[22:12] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[22:12] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[22:12] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 15[22:13] * Disconnected 15[22:15] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[22:15] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[22:15] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[22:15] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[22:16] * Quits: GreatClownVoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[22:29] * Disconnected 15[22:29] * 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* Disconnected 15[02:01] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[02:01] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[02:01] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[02:01] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[02:04] * Quits: VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[02:10] * Disconnected 15[02:10] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[02:10] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[02:10] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[02:10] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[05:25] * Joins: Crion 14[05:26] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[06:08] * Joins: Crion 14[07:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:00] * Joins: Crion_ 14[10:02] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:36] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:34] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:15] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 |\| [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ||| [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ||| [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ||| [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ||| [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ||| [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ||| [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ~-[{o}]-~ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 |/| [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ___ |/| [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ///~` |\\_ `0' =\\\\ . . [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 , |=' ,))\_| ~-_ _) \ _/_/| [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 / ,' ,;(((((( ~ \ `~~~\-~-_ /~ (_/\ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 /' -~/~)))))))'\_ _/' \_ /' D | [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ( (((((( ~-/ ~-/ ~-; / \--_ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ~~--| ))'' ') ` `~~\_ \ ) [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 : (_ ~\ , /~~- ./ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \_ )--__ /(_/) | ) )| [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ___ |_ \__/~-__ ~~ ,' /,_;, __--( _/ | [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 //~~\`\ /' ~~~----| ~~~~~~~~' \- ((~~ __-~ | [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12((() `\`\_(_ _-~~-\ ``~~ ~~~~~~ \_ / [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ))) ~----' / \ ) ) [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ( ;`~--' : _- ,;;( [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 | `\ | _-~ ,;;;;) [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 | /'`\ ; _-~ _/ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 /~ / | ) /;;;'' ,;;:-~ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 | / / | / |;;' ,'' [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 / / | \\| | ,;( [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 _/ /' \ \_) .---__\_ \,--._______ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ( )|' (~-_| (;;' ;;;~~~/' `;;| `;;;\ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ) `\_ |-_;;--__ ~~~----__/' /'_______/ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 `----' ( `~--_ ~~~;;------------~~~~~ ;;;'_/' [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 `~~~~~~~~'~~~-----....___;;;____---~~ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12That was a close one, any of you three who're back in the western apefolk village at the head of a burgeoning demon army might remark: that guy nearly murdered the wisdom-chief, not to mention absconded with a whole mess of your valuables and arcane links. Thankfully, Marek was able to sniff him out, and the lot of you took him down; the casualties seem limited to most of a longhouse, [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12though a thorough inventory hasn't been taken yet. It's about two days before Tatsuya was scheduled to return from the jungle with news of Gurumi's assassination. [20:30] 4Hopefully Raksi doesn't have too many more like that hanging around. [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12In theory, Tatsuya could do this, because he has indeed assassinated the apeman chief of Chithakara. Wearing an infallible disguise, he's just stormed out of the bedroom in which Gurumi was strangled and consumed by his own shadow. Thanks to being a perspicuous study, Tatsuya can at least roughly speak in the forest-tongue and has a good idea of what the city chief's daily schedule [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12and court life are like, so it's possible that he can essay some kind of impersonation, although that's not going to be easy to stably maintain. [20:35] 6Let's stick around in disguise for right now - he did promise to capture the Harvest Gem. Uh, not for too long though, because of the whole "Tatsuya didn't spend nearly enough time to get his quirks down for a proper disguise" thing. Storming around ought to work fine, and he can vanish as needed, but let's not make this last any longer than it needs to. 15[20:37] 10What are the nature of Rumi's injuries? [20:40] 7Was anyone else hurt? [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Over the next few hours, Blossom is able to put together what happened, and unfortunately confirm one actual human casualty in addition to the destroyed chief's longhouse and Thook Rumi's own nearly-fatal wounds. One of Rumi's servants is missing; it was during her shift that the fight between Marek and the assassin broke out, although Marek says that it was a suspicious-acting beetle [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12that transformed into his opponent as the fight broke out. Her fellows and family members report that she'd been acting somewhat distant or occasionally going missing for at least the past week; no doubt she was slain and replaced by the enemy Lunar a little while ago, and watching the village since. [20:41] 4Ugh. 15[20:42] 10What kind of depraved monster would murder someone, then impersonate and masquerade as their victim? [20:42] 6Ha ha yeah who would do that anyway can we talk about thiss [20:44] 7Tsk. Hopefully Raksi's operatives value their skins enough not to attempt this a second time. [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya's able to find a secluded study that Gurumi has spent entire nights of meditation in before; he can, therefore, secure some time to himself. And so the night passes... [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12At pretty much the crack of dawn the next morning, "Gurumi" is on the hook to lead morning ritual prayers to Raksi and her pantheon and also to meet with emissaries from Mahalanka to coordinate the consolidation of the western Zone's armies. Meanwhile, his allies need to decide whether to wait another day for Tatsuya's return or to properly launch their invasion. [20:53] 7Blossom: "We should strike immediately. We're not exactly hard to find - Tatsuya will have no trouble reporting in." 15[20:56] 10Eikichi: "The kruthlings are ready." [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12The Harvest Gem, incidentally, is held at the center of Chithakara. It's a glowing, golden-green object shaped a bit like a cone with a rounded base, and it's effectively the capstone of a step pyramid hanging from the ceiling of a great thoroughfare in the bowels of the city. Beneath it are merchants, criers, priests, passers-by - a great public square, though you can bet that the [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12gem itself is under watch by openly-stationed guards, hidden guards, and various warding magics. [21:01] "I'd prefer one more day...but next time they might throw more than one isolated spy at us." [21:02] 13Paws that, we're going to try something diffurent. [21:02] 4Does the timeline of that spy's arrival coincide with Ir and Blossom's first visit having come to Raksi (or one of her generals') attention? [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12To get it, you'd have to have an easy time climbing along or sticking to a ceiling and also either go unseen by a whole lot of people or work so fast they can't do anything about it. Of course, if you were to come back with an army and just straight-up conquer the city a lot of that stuff ceases to be a concern. [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Actually, Blossom would judge that the spy arrived shortly before you did at minimum (and may have been here longer and simply kept up a better act). [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12That doesn't imply eerie foreknowledge of some kind - Jormungand's hard to miss. 15[21:05] 10Eikichi missed him while he was gone. [21:20] 4Since we're not waiting for anyone, might as well get on with this. [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Well then. You've got five queens, now - how many come with? You've also got an absolutely enormous swarm of hopping kruthlings, ones agile and forest-adapted enough to be able to navigate the jungles at top speed despite the choking overgrowth; you can take pretty much just those and blitz the city, or travel with your whole kruthling+tunneler+ravager force at a slower pace but show [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12up with much heavier forces. [21:26] 4The army will march with the three Fates and Ir commanding it, while one queen will remain specifically to guard the apemen village and the other will be charged with general defenses. [21:27] 4Ideally we'd send the hoppers ahead as a blitz force that could be easily and cheaply renewed from converted biomass that the main force is chewing through, but the logistics there are probably better understood by the guy who helped design them. [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Yeah, you can just send both at top speed and work around the assumption that the kruthlings will join battle much earlier than the other demons. Will Ir be at the kruthling vanguard? How about her Solar allies? And, as to her non-Solar allies, Marek's got a proposal: he can try to infiltrate deeper into the Total Control Zone as "Teeru", the Lunar assassin you helped him slay. [21:30] 13So! This is a complicated situation. There's this fancy gem that the Velvet Room wants, Tatsuya's an obvious oaf and can't manage it himself, and none of us are allowed to be here in the first place, so let's figure something out, shall we? Where's that gem. Let's show everyone how it's done. Everyone, or no one. [21:31] 6Rude. I could totally 13Shut up, dork, we agreed on who gets which days. [21:31] 6Still rude. [21:31] 4Ir endorses Marek's sneaking plan, but doesn't tell him it's because she expects it'll be much, much safer than this fight will be. [21:32] 6One of us remembered to put calling cards out in advance. 13Two of us remembered to do that. 6Yeah, well. Nya. 13Don't. [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12I mean... maybe at first? Things could get real dicey if the poor guy has to pass as one of Raksi's trusted Lunars to Raksi's face. Then again, this kind of infiltration is supposedly one of his specialties. [21:34] 4One assumes he's smart enough to avoid Raksi. [21:34] 13Is he, though? [21:35] 4I'm sorry, I don't know you, and won't be responding to narration prompts from you. [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Ahead of whichever of Tatsuya and Ying are going to try to steal the gem is a huge, vaulted ceiling built of carved stone blocks held together by spiraling, ancient tree-roots. Glowing crystals hang down on poles to light the great thoroughfare below, although they aren't going it alone - shafts of sunlight stab in from various bits of the ceiling or even the walls thanks to massive [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12mirrors. There are wooden, stone, and even rope walkways winding their way beneath the roof, but not so closely that it's trivial to get from former to latter. The price hangs down from the center of the great chamber, a glowing golden-green gem that's much larger than your average hearthstone - it's about the size of a cat or a baby (but I repeat myself), such that you'd probably want [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12a nice big cloth to swaddle it in and block its light and a satchel or backpack to stow it in. [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not immediately apparent what's guarding it, but... [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12...ah, yes. That 'merchant', those 'priests', those fellows loitering over there - all guards. As well, the grooves cut into the stones here aren't purely decorative, but rather represent thaumaturgic wards and alarms. Also, echoing Gurumi's own jewelery, Ying's pretty sure that there are bound demons sleeping in the nearby crystals which are unleashed the moment the Harvest Gem is [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12pried loose without the correct countermeasures. All of this will complicate her approach. [21:43] 13Satchel? Got to prepare for that, then. Pick one up from a corner shop, wander around for a bit, and -- oh ho. Oh. That's slightly trickier. [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Ir is on the march, and hell marches with her. The newly frog-infused kruthlings don't so much hop as they ricochet through the trees, barely bothering with the forest floor - which is just as well, because sucking sinkholes and quicksand bedevil your approach, only narrowly avoided through Ir's predictions. It's not as hard as it looks to put yourself in the mindset of [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12a sorcerously trap-laden jungle and imagine what you would do about an invading insect army, but, make no mistake, it's still really hard. [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12And, after less than a day of travel, signs of the enemy become evident - plumes of rising smoke, the distant roar of formations proceeding through call-and-response exercises or otherwise shifting themselves into order with each other. It doesn't sound like the enemy is fully organized yet... but there's a lot of it. [21:53] 4Excellent. [21:59] 13Trickier, but not that much trickier. Most guards are fundamentally extremely dumb. Walk up the walls - no one notices. Trod on the ceiling over to the Harvest Gem -- still nothing. Drop down. Nothing. Who even pays these people. [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12It's very difficult to scrub those warding lines and detach those demon-glyphs before you unscrew the pedestal and actually grab the harvest gem. As soon as Ying does, though, there's a sudden uproar - guards from all sides are shouting alarm, people beneath are screaming, secret agents are crushing jade slips and throwing decorative scarabs to smash on the pavement and so on. Alarm! [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Alarm! [22:00] 13Start to remove the gem - okay, now they notice. There's shouting. Calmly put it in the bag. And then - bye! [22:01] 13See you next time! [22:02] <@Ferrinus> "SHE'S TAKEN TH huh?" [22:02] 13Suddenly, there wasn't ever anyone there at all. Who would even think to suggest otherwise? I mean, come on. [22:02] 13All that there is is some girl trudging off, away from the gem. [22:02] 13Or rather, where the gem used to be. [22:03] 13Or perhaps where the what used to be? Never actually got the opportunity to try this one out before. [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a great commotion at the distant corner of the square, far below Ying, and a faint silver glow - is that Pramu, Gurumi's now-failed bodyguard?! 08[22:10] 13They all seem very confused. Too bad! Also, there's an unfamiliar weight in the pockets of a certain Ir, Eikichi, and Blossom, while this random no-name girl makes her way back to this strange blue door she saw earlier. 6Sun damn, kid, you've got a hell of a fucking future. 13Don't cuss. 6Sorry. [22:10] 13Everyone's charging all over the place while Sunlit-Dreaming Ying strides pitifully off into the distance. [22:13] 7Eh? What's this in Blossom's pocket? [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Between Gurumi's sudden vanishing and the loss of the Harvest Gem, Chithakara falls into total disarray. Ying's probably too busy fleeing by catwalk(heh) and back-alley to see most of the fallout, but the ape- and jaguar-folk take brutal measures to restore order, even as emissaries from Mahalanka and beyond are forced to step in and seize command. [22:15] 13It's -- some card? Two-sided... on the one it says "The greatest thief in creation -- Tatsuying" in elaborate cursive. Man, whoever put this there had a LOT of time on their hands. Oh, and the back? Slash down the middle. The left, a domino mask, and the right, a heart with... are those cat ears? [22:15] 13Weird. 08[22:19] 7What the?! This... Tatsuying, whoever it is, managed to get this close to her without her knowing it? "Eikichi!" 7She says with alarm. "Are you missing anything?!" 15[22:20] 10Eikichi's still coming down from the hallucinogenic kruthik venom. "Eh?" 15[22:21] 10Eikichi checks his pockets and comes up with "Whoa!" [22:26] 7She has her guns, her armor... she doesn't think she's lost anything... 15[22:26] "Did we get robbed?" 15[22:27] "By a theater clown and a little girl?" [22:27] 6Rude. 13Accurate! 6But rude. [22:28] "I don't think I've lost anything." 15[22:31] "Maybe they didn't rob us? they're looking for a job." 15[22:31] *Maybe they're [22:33] 13Ying heads to the Velvet Room, where... she's never actually been? Huh, this is weird. 6Tell me about it 13I am telling you about it. So! She has the requested item. And... nobody here knows her. 14[22:33] * Joins: tom [22:36] 7Blossom: "Good introduction! They've got guts, I like that!" 15[22:36] 10Eikichi: "I confess I'm intrigued..." 08[23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12As you break through one last layer of trees, Chithakara is upon you - or rather, you and your hordes are upon Chithakara. Ir charges and Eikichi and Blossom whirlwind-surf at the head of a tide of leaping demons; arrayed against them are ape-men, ape-demons, and mightier beings still. It's easy to tell the difference between Chithakara's spear-wielding guardsmen and Raksi's elite [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12troops; the latter are clad head to toe in heavy steel, such that you can barely tell they're apefolk, and wield great-swords that burn with flames at one moment before dripping frosty fumes or crackling with lightning at another. [23:17] 4Neat trick. [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Demons of a more familiar sort are brachiating through the jungles beside them, and at the head of these creatures is a mockery of a dragon, a sinuous black reptilian shape barely visible within an aura of roiling, hissing acid. Blazing silver at the head of Raksi's troops is Pramu Gutting-Crescent - you recognize him by his silver armor, axe, and mohawk, although unlike last time [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12he's now half-man, half-boar and close to ten feet tall. [23:19] 13Gross. 15[23:19] 10To Blossom: "Did we ever give them a chance to surrender?" [23:57] "They can surrender by dropping their arms and running into the jungle." 7She roars at the massed ape-men: "MINIONS OF THE WITCH-QUEEN RAKSI! HER REIGN OF BLOOD ENDS NOW, UNDER THE BURNING LIGHT OF THE SUN!" 7She reaches back and begins hurling fireball after fireball into the ranks of simian guards, each of which split into dozens of smaller fireballs which are still more than enough [23:57] 7to burn a hole through an unlucky soldier's armor and flesh! [23:58] 7She batters Pramu, sending him off-balance with a hail of flame, and then turns her attention to the looming demon-dragon floating above the city. [23:59] "SUN..." 7She closes her eyes and extends her index fingers against her forehead, and they begin crackling with electricity. Session Time: Fri Apr 19 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] "PURITY..." 7She moves her hands smoothly through sacred katas lost to Creation for millennia. [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Ithuya, the Vitriolic Dragon, narrows eyes of toxic emerald as it feels Blossom's essence surge across the battlefield. It coils, raises its head, opens its jaws to draw in a terrible and rattling inhalation at the same time as it speaks: "HHHHHHsssssHUMAN! You will REGRET thissss day!" [00:02] "ESCALATION!" 7She opens her eyes, revealing blank cerulean that matches the eager lightning coiling around her hands. She completes her moves, and a bolt of lightning the size of a man's arm leaps from the tip of her finger, just as Ithuya lets out its terrible breath! [00:03] 13The mysterious stranger watches from the rooftops, astonished. [00:04] 7The holy lightning collides with the profane flame and clashes, the point where they meet glowing too brightly for even the Solars to look at directly... for one horrifying moment it appears as though the demonic burning poison is going to win out, but all at once it collapses into thin wisps of gaseous vitriol, and the storm's fury carves great chunks of steaming draconic flesh out [00:04] 7of Ithuya! 15[00:14] 10Eikcihi doesn't answer. He doesn't seem to be listening; hix expression is vacant and blissful. The obsidian butterflies chase Blossom's fire from the whirlwind, the sunlight staining the jungle beneath them violet. Despite the staggering visual display, the blades of glass are whisper-silent until they connect, savaging vine, steel, and flesh alike. Everything bleeds. [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Ithuya cries, hisses, and spirals backwards in pain and fury, its entire body lit blue-white by Blossom's lightning. The demon's noxious aura temporarily dispelled, the cracked and broken nature of its physical body is briefly in full view, revealing that the dragon is made of something closer to charcoal than flesh and that pieces of its body simply hang apart from each other in [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12places rather with no connection but poisoned essence. [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Pramu bellows, meanwhile, as his troops are scythed down behind him and a dozen razor butterflies lodge themselves in his face and arms. "YOUU! GET DOWN HERE!" 15[00:18] "The way this works," 10Eikichi calls, "is you get on my level." [00:21] 13The stranger uses the distraction to leap down and swings at the legs of Pramu, trying to knock him down. No dice, but - oh my Sun, that's YING! She's back! Also she never left! [00:22] 13She springs to her feet and poses, looking back to the Circle. Peace sign, across her face. "Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii'm back!" 15[00:22] "Ying!" 15[00:22] "We missed you!" 15[00:22] "Did you make those cards by hand or did you have them done up?" [00:24] 13Ying: "Made them myself! Can't believe it took you so long to find them!" 13Dodge backwards, make sure you don't get hit, keep dancing. "We've got this!" [00:31] "You don't want him to come down here," 4Ir calls from across the field. "You've got problems down here apace." [00:31] 4Then her silver whip lashes him across the face. [00:32] 7Blossom, delighted: "Ying! How did it go?" [00:34] 13Ying: "We gotta talk later! Or else these people will get really mad at me!" [00:39] 7Well, fair enough. [00:41] 13She's got a backpack that Blossom is pretty sure Ying didn't have before. [00:42] 13That's probably fine. 14[01:04] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [01:06] 4The hopping kruthik swarm over the front lines of the city defenders, and when its defenders look up again, Ir is closer and smiling. [01:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Pramu's hide seems impenetrable - indeed, his wounds are beginning to seal before your eyes - but, try as he might, the armies behind and beside him are brutalized by the insectoid demons! [01:15] 13Ying's twirling, dancing back and forth, flipping, moving - she is simply too fast. "<3!" 13she somehow says, ducking a sword swipe. [01:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Armies crash, and the kruthlings shriek and fall before the apes' spears and claws, though more and more of them are swarming down from the canopy to replace each of the fallen. Pramu surges forward, axe held high, ready to take advantage! [01:36] 4And as the downward cho comes, there's suddenly already someone there. [01:36] "What did I say?" [01:36] "I'm your huckleberry." [01:47] 4Then she curls him up in the whip, backhands him with a mailed fist, and sends him careening back the way he came when she releases him. [01:47] <@Ferrinus> 12The blow is massively powerful, but that's nothing new for Ir. With one quick motion, Pramu's yanked out of position and lacerated for his trouble while the kruthlings, continue to charge overhead, burning but holding formation. [01:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Chithakara falls, or you do... next week! 14[01:50] * Joins: tom 15[05:35] * Disconnected 15[14:14] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:14] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:14] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[14:14] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[16:17] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:45] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[18:45] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[19:09] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:20] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[19:42] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[20:13] * Joins: tom Session Time: Sat Apr 20 00:00:00 2019 14[00:40] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[02:45] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Quit: ) 14[02:47] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[03:48] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Connection closed) 14[04:04] * Joins: trench_foot 14[04:04] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:33] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:52] * Quits: trench_foot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:28] * Joins: trench_foot 14[11:23] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:29] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:09] * Joins: tom Session Time: Sun Apr 21 00:00:00 2019 14[04:55] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:20] * Quits: trench_foot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:14] * Joins: trench_foot 14[15:01] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:18] * trench_foot is now known as trenchfoot 14[20:13] * Joins: tom 14[21:43] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[21:43] * Joins: cbass 14[23:04] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 15[23:18] * Disconnected 15[23:25] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[23:25] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[23:25] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[23:25] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 Session Time: Mon Apr 22 00:00:00 2019 14[00:00] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[00:00] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[00:08] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[00:12] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[00:12] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[01:44] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:10] * Joins: mattbaby 14[03:02] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[04:48] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:41] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[06:53] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:55] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:01] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:02] * Joins: cbass 14[18:33] * Joins: tom 14[18:51] * Joins: Crion 14[18:53] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:23] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Tue Apr 23 00:00:00 2019 14[00:43] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:47] * Joins: tom 14[07:32] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[07:32] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[07:32] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[08:05] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:29] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[10:01] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:49] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:55] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[14:02] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:12]  15[20:12]  15[20:12]  15[20:12]  15[20:12]  15[20:16] The circle won the day at heavy cost. As they quit the field to recuperate and reassess, the battle rages around them. Having lost some of their most elite warriors and powerful monsters, the crusade's advance has halted, with the raksha unable to secure a stable beachhead in the mainland north of the city. Watch-fires burn green and violet down the length of the outer docks, and more 15[20:16] ember like ghosts on the Yellow's distant banks. As night falls, and our heroes Jai, Stranger, and Xu Sim steal underground, there's the sense that the city remains stable. [20:16] 14For now. [20:17] 14Stranger winces as the Sol Ring turns slowly behind his head like a halo. Lots of bruises. 15[20:18] As the wounded trail in before and behind them, amid the mute witness of the heroic fallen bid to rise again, that peace feels precarious. [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's there - someone's there, anyway, a muted figure with a huge sword strapped across their back. They're muttering to themselves, but who cares about what? [20:20] 5Xu Sim, the grim. [20:20] 10Jai's physically unharmed, but he's learned a lot of hard lessons, very suddenly. Chiefly among them, that there are no easy miracles.  [20:21] 14Well, Stranger's not sure about that. Cethleann's making them look pretty easy. [20:23] 5Xu Sim lurches down the halls of the Undercity behind the stretcher that Xia Lan is laid out on. He gestures to Keldar to come closer as they walk, and he looks the Tiger of Nexus closely in the eye; inspects his Caste mark. "Keldar, show me your teeth?" 5The request is almost superfluous as Xu Sim's hands are on Keldar's head and face, feeling for... something? [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What? Hey, old man- that's mfff thmmff-" 15[20:25] Stranger and Xu Sim are bombarded with demands on their attention as soon as they're behind the barricades. They hear reports of gains and losses - the Mask of Winters was able to all but crush the wild necromancers that fell under Cethleann's thrall, and since her defeat the civilian population's sleep has been untroubled. But both the Lookshyan army and the Dawn Guard have sustained 15[20:25] heavy casualties, which rose undead almost as quickly as they fell. [20:25] 14Stranger will throw himself back into the work, injuries or no. [20:28] "Dreadful," 5he concludes. "And the same curse that's befallen Xia Lan. This is very serious; but at least you two survived. The Dragonlord did not." 5Xu Sim listens to some of the reports. "And the Mask hasn't quit the field, then? What of... the rest of Thorns' forces?" [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's struggling all the while, muttering stuff like "leggo-" 12and "hey-" 12but thankfully Xu Sim releases him reasonably quickly. "Then how do I fix it?" [20:29] 14Perhaps the first thing to do is reconnect with the remaining Dragonlord and get her assessment of their forces. 15[20:31] Further, there are a lot of decisions to make, about medical emergencies (some terrible magic has left many of the Dawn Guard immobile with suppurating burns) civilian peacekeeping (theft and vandalism is rife in the deepest recesses of the undercity, where the city's poor are being pushed into tighter and tighter quarters with the city's elites) and general strategy. First things 15[20:31] first, though are the two questions everyone has for Nexus's last standing Emissaries: 15[20:31] 1. Who's that new guy in the jade? 15[20:31] 2. What happened to the star? [20:32] 10Jai's in an awkward position. He hasn't been integrated into the formal command structure yet, but all the rank-and-file soldiers seem to be treating him with respect. [20:32] 14The first question, at least, is easy enough to delegate to the new guy in jade. Stranger doesn't particularly care what Jai gives as a story so long as it answers questions without raising too many new ones. [20:32] 14The second is a bit tougher. [20:36] 10After the first couple of painfully awkward questions, Jai hits on it. "I'm a battlefield intelligence analyst."11 Is that like a strategist? "Not quite. I'm more of a strategist's eyes and ears on the field." [20:37] 5Xu Sim takes a moment to glance over Stranger-Visits-Heaven. "You'll be alright, try to stay out of trouble." 5 Doing the same to Jai - "Not a scratch. Pretty good footwork." [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Xu Sim feels something sharp in the small of his back. Is Orichalcum normally that cool to the touch? "I said how do I fix it." [20:39] 11But you were out there on the field, and— "Sometimes you have to get out there on the front lines yourself." 10Fake it till you make it, that's Jai's motto. But, having given himself a job to do, he actually starts to feel a lot more comfortable. [20:39] 14Stranger gives the doctor a combination nod-and-wave-off. He's already deep in discussions with some runners. [20:42] "I don't know yet," 5he answers. [20:43] "Thank you, Doctor." 10Jai offers a half-bow and makes a quick round of the infirmary. He's talready thinking about writing up an after-action report.  [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar snarls, probably. "Then figure it out. I've got a job to do." 12He's quick to storm off, looking for problems with the Dawn Guard and general lawlessness that he's still equipped to solve. [20:45] 5Xu Sim's first priority is seeing to the grievous wounds of Xia Lan. Is she even faintly conscious? 15[20:46] Unless Xu Sim directs otherwise, Xia Lan's body is taken to the infirmary warrens, where there's simply no longer any room for tents. Cries of anguish go up as people recognize her, and news spreads rapidly that the Unfettered has fallen. [20:46] 13Not again. [20:47] 13She's breathing, but shallowly, though there's moments where she coughs or stops as her lungs move a rib that oughtn't move. But she's out. 15[20:48] Xia Lan, mercifully, doesn't experience any of this. She's floating and warm, and when she opens her eyes to peer past the flames she sees a night sky thick with shooting stars. [20:52] 10Hell, Jai's own heart breaks a little at seeing the songstress of Nexus reduced to such a state. Everyone else around him feels like they're already going to pieces, though.  [20:52] 5Arriving at a rough cubby scooped out of the rock by labour (skeletal or otherwise) or Lookshyan elemental-magic, Xu Sim peers into her vacant, dreaming eyes, lifting the lids gently, before closing them again. His own wounds he ignores, for the moment, tending to the Unfettered as efficiently as he can. [20:53] 13...floating? This is new. But -- flames and the night sky...? Where is she? 15[20:54] The Dawn Guard is attempting to keep its footing despite heavy casualties, particularly among its officer corps. Tsuka is fighting tooth and nail to get back onto the field even though his right arm's in a sling. Keldar could attempt to instill some leadership here, or he could intervene in the incipient riot brewing between the youths, infirm, and those who didn't join the Dawn Guard 15[20:54] and the mercenaries serving as personal guards and security for the wealthy, the bureaucratic class, and the remaining officers of the Guild. [20:55] "Jai, Stranger -" 5he snaps before the others leave - "Find out if Seven's alright," 5the request itself is quite muted. [20:57] 14Stranger nods. [20:57] 10Jai: "Okay, I've got this." 10He thinks for a minute. "Is there anything I should tell her?" 15[20:58] Xia Lan sits up, feeling no pain, to find herself on a raft set ablaze, floating down a broad river in the night. The light of the flames and the stars above reveal an army that dwarfs anything Xia Lan has ever seen, even Cethleann's horde, waging terrible war against vague and shadowed figures in perfect silence. She wonders if she's gone deaf, but she can still hear her own heartbeat 15[20:58] and the crackle of the flames. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar chooses both, and I'll enumerate. He needs to make sure the Guard's in capable hands before he busies himself with the only kind of hands-on work he's still suited for, and so the first thing he does is make sure that Tsuka's both alive and aware that he's in charge. The kid isn't actually Keldar's first choice to lead the Guard, but Khelendros is busy liasing with the city's [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12other defending mercenary companies and overseeing those Apples who weren't folded into the Guard proper. "Tsuka. Hey." 12The voice is familiar, but easy to miss if you're distracted - Tsuka's what, limping at the battlefield even as his retainers desperately pull him back? [21:02] 13Can she recognize anything about the army? And how close are the flames to overcoming the raft? She starts trying to count legions before giving up after a few seconds, having gotten far enough to know it's a waste of time. 14[21:03] * Joins: tom [21:05] "Just that I'm fine, I guess," 5he shrugs. 15[21:05] Tsuka about wheels around gives Keldar a shove before he realizes who he's talking. "Who-- Keldar! Where's Xia Lan?" 15[21:05] *wheels around and; who he's talking to [21:05] 5With that, Xu Sim sets into his treatment of the Unfettered Xia Lan. This is some of his best work, now that he's got a moment of breathing room. [21:07] "You got it." 10Jai heads out into the Undercity in search of a deathknight. Somewhere along the way a familiar bundle of fur reappears, scurrying alongside his long loping stride. [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Asleep. Listen to me - we fought their queen, ran her through. But she cursed us, me and the girl both." 12He's got his daiklave resting point-first on the ground at the moment, as though he were leaning on a cane, and uses his free hand to gesture at himself. "Only way to take her down. But it's hard to explain -- and sticky. Dunno how to shuck it yet." [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I can still fight. But I don't know that I can lead like the Guard needs, see? Need to work that one out." [21:14] 5Nearly an hour later, he takes a deep breath and steps back from Xia Lan's side. "We spend so much time like this, you and I," 5 he notes. 15[21:14] Stranger's quickly able to discern that the Council and their Offices are working around the clock on emergency administration, and seem to be just about managing, considering the circumstances. They always need more water, more bandages, more guards -- but they're competent and committed. To find Ballare, Stranger will have to go aboveground, where a fiery cannonade still lights up 15[21:14] the red-aurora night. He passes men and women, living and dead, patrolling the streets in Lookshyan armor. 15[21:16] Jai also finds his way aboveground, getting stopped and questioned by Lookshyan officers as he pushes through looking for the Scion of the Sevenfold, who is working near the front with a fevered pace to bring Cethleann's dead back to their feet to bolster the city's defense. 15[21:16] Tsuka: "Where is she?" [21:17] 14The look on his face should deter most from stopping him, though it's due as much to his bruised -- possibly cracked -- ribs as his seething anger at the Fair Folk. [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Undercity infirmary. Xu Sim's patching her up - should be up and about within the day if he's still in form." 12He kind of nods his sword forward, using the daiklave's hilt to gesture at Tsuka's arm. "What got ya?" 15[21:19] Xia Lan can readily identify the armies surrounding her as raksha, black lions and gilt-leaf outriders and a sky thick with slings and arrows. The raft she's on, stable but burning, puts her in mind of ancient funeral rites - to set the deceased on a raft, push them to the current's mercy, and set their departing body aflame. 15[21:21] "The Emissary disappeared and our left flank collapsed. Took us by surprise. I've got to get back out there--" Keldar realizes that Tsuka blew past what Keldar actually said. [21:25] <@Ferrinus> "HEY!" 12Keldar reaches out, but, of course, his fingers just slip off Tsuka's shoulder as though it were a ghost trying to grab hold. He's got something solid on hand, though, and so what brings Tsuka to a sudden stop is Terminus stabbing down through the back fringe of the poncho that the young captain's wearing to pin it to the ground. "Kid. Listen to me. One more Chosen at the [21:25] <@Ferrinus> front is not worth more than one more Chosen at the back right now. They'll listen to you." 15[21:25] Stranger pushes onto the deck of the Final Word, and Ballare crosses the deck immediately when he comes into view. "What happened to Balor?" [21:25] 10To the Lookshyans: "Official business. I'm acting under the authority of the Emissaries. And my superiors—they've got a real short fuse right now. You know how it is." [21:26] 13Is this what being dead's like? Just - watching your killers as they overrun what you died for? [21:26] 14Stranger: "I was headed here to ask you the same. Cethleann took the field herself and it cost us the girl to make her quit it. We haven't had time for assessing anything else." [21:27] 10Jai flashes a fancy-looking seal. It's real, but he could probably copy it in his sleep if need be. 15[21:30] Ballare: "They're fielding as many Chosen as we are, maybe more. Every one of ours goes down goes underground. Every one of their goes down rises for Thorns. Half a dozen hungry ghosts and half our dead. The Mask has an army again." [21:30] 14When did we notice as a group that the red star was gone from the sky? Stranger simply recalls looking up after the fight and noting it was gone. 15[21:30] That was when people noticed, it can't have gone down much earlier than that. [21:31] 14Stranger: "The star left the sky as we downed Cethleann, or very, very shortly after. I doubt that's coincidence." 15[21:31] Jai's admitted passage and reaches Seven, who seems oblivious to his presence as she continues her dark intonations and blasphemous rites. [21:35] 10Jai wrinkles his nose at the scent of corruption, but after being posted to Thorns for a while it's about par for the course. All cities stink of osmething or other, anyway. 15[21:35] Tsuka's frozen in place, first in alarm, then in anger. "...where do you need me?" [21:38] 5Xu Sim's eyes scan through the needy, wounded people. He brushes past a wounded man tugging on the hem of his robe, and stalks out from the imfirmary, disappearing into the crowds of people milling here and there. 15[21:38] Ballare: "Our position should be stable. Their vanguard and much of their leadership was destroyed. We're weakened, but the lines of attack are even worse." [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Central command. You need to see to the big picture stuff til I'm cured or tell you otherwise. Otherwise it'll all shake itself apart." 12He looks back, over his shoulder, then to Tsuka again. "You need to see to injuries and morale together. Start by shifting the..." 12It's hard to follow what Keldar says next, and he seems to lose track of it himself after a few moments. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12"You'll figure out right, okay? I'm counting on you, here." [21:39] 13Xia Lan finally looks around the burning raft - is there anything here with her? Can she - I don't know, steer it? Or is it designed to just carry her to sea? [21:40] 14Stranger: "So we're going to have significant problems getting them off our shores even with the help of the undead, and I'm uncertain how much longer we'll be able to count on that. The Mask mainly appears to be enjoying himself out here; I'm concerned what's going to happen as soon that stops." [21:40] 10He waits for a break in the ritual. "Lady Seven? Xu Sim sent me. He told me to tell you he's unharmed. Should I tell him you're…" 10Jai indicates the necromantic workshop with a wave. "Occupied?" 15[21:42] There's another body, Xia Lan comes to realize. A thin man, well-kept and dressed like a dandy, hands folded over his heart. Xia Lan stares down at Elegba's prone form before he faintly singsongs, "let me go, boys, let me go, boys..." 15[21:42] I guess technically he's supine rather than prone. 15[21:44] The corpse Seven is puppeteering falls to the ground, staggering to stand on one good leg as she abandons her efforts. "Where is he?" [21:46] "Sure you don't need to finish that?" 10Jai feels almost sorry for the poor thing. "He's in the infirmary ward of the Undercity. He's got a patient with a very delicate condition, though." 15[21:47] Xu Sim is gone before the first person who needs him realizes he's missing. Where has he gone? [21:47] 13She knows the tune. "Let me go down in the mud where the river's all run dry," 13she sings. "Elegba." [21:47] 5Xu Sim heads up from the Undercity, looking for whatever signs he can of the Star's fall in the heavens themselves, but he turns southeast, towards Firewander. [21:47] "We've got to stop meeting like this." 15[21:48] "Alas, our fates are entwined. I held your heart in my hands, my dear! That doesn't wash off." Elegba's eyes snap open, but he doesn't rise. "It looks prettier in memory." [21:48] "And by delicate I mean 'run through with a direlance.' I think he's going to be tied up for a while." 10No, Jai isn't aware of any cosmic irony at all, in this moment. [21:53] 13Xia Lan: "Most things do, in my experience." 15[21:57] Tsuka draws in a deep breath and nods. He's off to lead. Where does Keldar go next? [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12That's only half of Keldar's job. If there's unrest, even violence, in the undercity, it needs to stop before the armies of Nexus discover that they've been defending a ruin or abbatoir. He heads underground, to wherever this crime wave or almost-riot is coming to a head. 15[21:59] Ballare: "He won't make a deal." [21:59] 14Stranger sighs. "No, he won't." 15[22:00] Seven: "Where is the star?" [22:01] 14Stranger: "I might have to go out and talk to him. Again. And this time I'm not certain I'll be coming back." 15[22:03] Xu Sim explores Firewander, more vacant and haunting than ever as the aurora bleeds the sky. The deeper he gets, the more echoes fill the alleys, sounds of cracking stone and splintering wood moving in a steady track from west to east across the district. His eardrums pop. 15[22:04] Elegba: "Not everything. Would you like to know a secret?" [22:05] 10Jai: "It's gone. Keldar did a real number on the raksha queen. She melted away like so much snow and when we looked up, it was gone." 10Jai hesitates for a moment. "What is it, anyway? Balor's star. I know the story of the Crusade, but…" [22:06] 5Xu Sim creeps as soundlessly and discreetly as a cat towards the ancient Deliberative building at the heart of old Hollow. The hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he wonders if the Emissary is as close as he sounds to be. Best to keep moving, quietly, ever so quietly, the kind of quiet none of those other fools - well-meaning bulls in a porcelain shop - could manage. [22:06] 13Xia Lan: "Of course." 13She crouches in the light of the fire on the raft, trying to see if she can warm her hands. Morbid, maybe, but when will she have another chance? 15[22:08] Seven: "His eye. His heart. His soul. His essence. I don't-- we don't know what it is, exactly. Cethleann is gone? Who leads the army now?" 15[22:11] The deliberative hall itself is gone, the great golden dome ripped from the city when Nogare fled with the bulk of his armies after his betrayal. What remains is a vast stone courtyard gutted like a quarry, exposed basements and sub-basements barely visible in that shadowed pit. 15[22:14] Keldar makes his way to the deepest and safest recesses of the undercity, where tensions run high. The Dawn Guard have interspersed themselves with mixed success between a raucous and angry mob of Nexus citizens and the clean and uniformed mercenaries guarding the city's leaders and Guildsmen. There are weapons drawn on all sides, and hurled obscenities. [22:15] 5Xu Sim scans back and forth for a clever path inside. The Dawn Guard was disciplined enough to scour the place clean in the aftermath of what happened, but Xu Sim suspects that this place holds older secrets... it stands to reason that its oldest and newest secret would be in the same place. [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12BOOM! BOOM! Keldar crashes a grand daiklave against the stone floor to get at least some of the crowd's attention. "I'm here. What's the trouble." 15[22:16] Ballare: "We just need one good chance. The Word can complete a fusillade in half a minute. If you could draw him somewhere out in the open..." 15[22:17] Elegba unfolds his hands just a crack, and brilliant red light spills out from between his fingers, as if it was burning a hole through his chest. [22:17] 14Stranger: "That I can do." [22:20] 10Jai shakes his head. "No idea. Everyone got messed up pretty bad, except for me. Keldar and Xia Lan got hit with some kind of curse, Stranger nearly lost it out there, and Xu Sim looked like he was ready to lock himself in the infirmary." 10Jai sighs. "Is he always like that?" [22:20] 14He pauses. "...Unless the Sol Ring can help somehow..." [22:21] 10Jai: "Guess that's the next step, though, huh? Go find out who's in charge over in Rakshatown." 15[22:22] Ballare: "I don't know what that thing is capable of." [22:23] 14Stranger: "That is very much our problem, yes. We've only had the thing for about ten hours, and the first time we tested it we had no idea what it would do." [22:26] 13Xia Lan gawps openly at him. "How'd-- what?" 15[22:27] Keldar gets the relevant attention once everyone sees a dude with a sword the size of a door in front of them. "We caught some looters--" "BullSHIT! Youse guys are just tryin to crack skulls!" "Disease-spreading thieves--" "Never miss a chance to put a boot to the working man--" 15[22:28] Elegba: "I made arrangements to negotiate a surrender but your people stood me up. I decided to take the initiative." [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar frowns and looks around. He addresses the nearest Guardsman. "What've we seen? Evidence either way?" 15[22:32] Xu Sim steals into the depths of the old Deliberative, while the eerie distortion of Wyld energies that suffuse the neighborhood leave him hearing voices and footsteps as he explores that he has to double-check to confirm are fictitious. Judging from the way the foundations are built out, there are definitely greater depths to the complex, but here now in the dark it's very hard to 15[22:32] find a point of access. The sounds of destruction draw closer. 15[22:32] Seven: "Alone?" [22:34] 10Jai: "I managed to get past the raksha once, but I'd rather not bet on twice, if I don't have to." [22:34] "Why? You want to come with?" 15[22:36] The evidence presented to Keldar is this: a group of boys, aged 12 to 15, were caught sneaking into the rich section of the refugee zone and coming out with loose or hastily-secured valuables. The mercenary guard caught and intended to make an example of the boys - well within their legal rights - but some older laborers - one with a son among the thieves - are attempting to intervene, 15[22:36] drawing weapons, and vowing retribution. [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Remind me, do the local Civilities allow taking hands or taking heads? [22:39] 13Xia Lan: "...that's one way to force the issue," 13she finally says, after a long silence. "So. What happens now?" 15[22:40] It depends on the assessed value of the stolen goods, damage incurred, etc. Broadly, the Civilities allow for "minor maiming and deformity" in virtually all cases of theft or attempted theft, but as long as the crime wasn't totally falsified, Keldar can't recall anyone ever getting in legal trouble for just killing a would-be thief. 15[22:40] The correct thing would be to take hands and call it good. 15[22:42] Elegba: "I don't know... I can't say. I can't take it outside the city. So I'm hiding right now. In your dream, mostly. I hope you'll forgive me for intruding, but in the circumstances I didn't have time to wait for an invitation." 15[22:43] Seven: "No. Absolutely not. But take this," she offers Jai a chunk of flesh in a tiny glass jar buzzing with feeding flies. "So we can find your body if you die." [22:45] 10Jai: "Thanks for the vote of confidence." 10He pockets the 'gift'. "You want me to carry a message back?" [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar draws a thumb across his stubble once. "All right. I'll take 'em." 12He pauses for half a beat to let people begin to ask what he means. "Not in position to waste hands right now. Or bodies, that matter. I'm arresting and conscripting these layabouts - they can work off the interest they owe the Guild by carrying bandages and such. Everyone's made whole and stays whole." [22:46] "I can nail it to his door or something, if he won't come out." 15[22:47] Despite the size of Keldar's sword, one of the mercenaries seems uncowed by Keldar's proclamation. "The fuck you are! This ain't a problem for the guard. We already caught the damn thief. We're in our rights here!" [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar narrows his eyes. "So'm I. I'm the Dawn Sergeant, we're under siege, and waste down here's criminal." 15[22:51] The mercenary juts his chin out defiantly. 15[22:52] Seven: "Make sure he doesn't lose perspective. We need him." [22:54] 13Xia Lan: "You're forgiven, though I'm not sure how you're doing that... or what you do when I wake up." [22:55] 5In the depths of the ancient Deliberative, Xu Sim summons some of his last reserves of strength and casts his mystic third eye forth to sense what before he could not. [22:56] 10Jai: "Got it. Umm… keep up the good work." 10And he's out. 10Deathknights. What're you going to do?10 But the idea of going to scout out the raksha's host isn't a bad one at all. [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Listen, pal. This is a delicate situation, you understand me? If I'm not the one to do justice here then that's gonna lead to wanton violence and that's gonna lead to obstruction of trade and you really don't want to see what I'd do then. Leave these morons' punishment to the Guard and we all end up richer for it." 12It's kind of hard to make out the Dawn Sergeant's [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12face as he talks, but if the merc simply glances sideways he'll find that Keldar's visage somehow reflects flawlessly in the flat of Terminus's blade. 15[23:06] The merc's jaw works as everyone holds their breath. Finally Keldar gets a derisive "Whatever you say, chief," before the kids are forcefully remanded to his custody. [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods calmly to himself, instructing a nearby attendant to begin a ledger. Multiply the value of the would-be stolen goods by the usual percentages, cross reference that with the wages the Guard pays its child laborers, and the little tykes are going to be feeding silver to the Guild for a while yet - with their next of kin assuming the debt, of course, should some danger strike [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12in the course of work. [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12That, of course, is how Nexus holds together - a missing percentage probably adds up to more than a missing hand when all's said and done, but breeds cold dread rather than hot fury. After giving some likely-not-followed advice on guard emplacements in the refugee camps, Keldar moves on. If there's no other outstanding issue, he'll return to headquarters and try to rest up. 15[23:14] Xu Sim sees with sight beyond sight, letting the constant pulse of the world's essence guide him. He's able to see past the stone, following contrails of power that run through the exposed corridors, evaporating as he approaches them, eventually disappearing into a solid wall. Once knows exactly where to look, meticulous experimentation reveals the pressure points in the geomancy where 15[23:14] the careful application of essence will serve to undo a catch buried in the stone. With a scrape barely audible against the explosions now nearly overheard, Xu Sim sneaks into a hidden chamber, once lined with scrolls and books but long since ransacked. 15[23:15] Following the trails of energy Xu Sim comes upon a body in the darkness, perfectly still, its heart a blazon of crimson power he recognizes all too well. It was well-hidden, here, in what would have once been an emergency bunker for the Deliberative in case of invasion. 15[23:17] Jai's able to find Stranger easily enough, and assuming Stranger vouches for him, Jai is led up to the top deck of the final word with the Lookshyan commander, covered head to toe in red and blue jade. [23:18] 14That he does. [23:19] 10Jai: "Hey. Reporting mission successful. But, umm… Xu Sim's gone missing now." 10What's worse, no one appears to have seen him go. Not that Jai can say very much on that topic, but it bugs him that he misread the doctor. He left a note on a wax tablet before hunting up Stranger. [23:19] 5 Xu Sim looms in the darkness. Asleep? Dead? He takes another step with a spider's delicacy, wondering if he should strangle whoever lies here and take this power - a power he can make his own, not some hand-me-down from great stupid Theion or even the great lazy Sun... [23:20] 5 Anyone he recognizes? 15[23:21] Why, that seems to be Elegba, the raksha lord. He isn't breathing, but he's not cold either. [23:21] 10Jai: "On the bright side, Xia Lan's looking better. Less imminently on the brink of death. Oh, and speaking of, they're hard at work raising new corpses over in the Mask's camp." [23:22] 14Stranger shakes his head at both pieces of news. "The situation is very delicate right now. Very delicate. Hopefully Xu Sim knows what he's doing." 15[23:22] Elegba: "Oh, it's quite simple to enter the mind of another. Much harder to resist that connection, but so many people are clenched so tight that pulling away is second nature to them. Very boring without company." [23:24] 10Jai puffs a breath up, fluttering his bangs for a moment. "Me too. Lady Seven did point out a hole in our intelligence I'd like to remedy, if there's nothing more pressing I'm needed for." 15[23:25] Ballare: "Every body we lose -- every body they lose -- adds to his army. Our positions get worse but his only gets better. We have to act quickly." 15[23:25] "What hole?" [23:25] 13Xia Lan: "Well, hopefully the next time I keep you company, I don't have to nearly die for it. Or actu- wait, no, you're here. Same as last time." 13She lets out a sigh of relief she didn't realize she was holding. "Second question, then. What happens when people find out?" [23:25] 10Jai: "Namely: how badly injured is Cethleann? Who's in charge of the raksha host right now?" [23:26] "And, if she is incapacitated, is there some way to use that for our advantage?" 15[23:27] Ballare: "How?" 15[23:30] Elegba: "I'm hoping to have come up with a plan before then. Any ideas?" [23:32] 10Jai: "There's no way to make a solid plan unless we know what the situation in their camp is. Otherwise, we'll just be on the back foot waiting for their next move." 15[23:32] Ballare: "How are you getting across?" [23:36] 10Jai shrugs. "I waltzed under the Mask of Winters' own bony nose to get here. Slipping by a few raksha shouldn't be a problem." [23:37] "Especially not while they're recovering from the attack." 15[23:38] Ballare: "...we can probably commit to a distraction." [23:39] 10Jai grins. "Thank you, sir. I won't let the city down." 15[23:46] Ballare, to Stranger: "You're okay with this?" [23:47] 13Xia Lan: "You're going to have a lot of people very angry with you if they find out. And, um, probably also with me. So... make sure they don't? And point it away from the city if you have to use it?" 13She sighs. "The Sol Ring and the Balor's Eye in the same city. If anything but rubble's here when this is over it'll be a miracle." [23:49] 14Stranger: "We need to be making progress against the raksha even as we plan what to do with the Mask. Having seen Jai work, I trust him with this matter." [23:49] 10Jai: "I know when to cut and run if things get hairy. And that, in itself, will at least be some intel." 15[23:49] Ballare: "We've got a plan now, at least." [23:49] "Whew. What a relief. Lady Seven said she looked forward to picking over my corpse." 15[23:50] Ballare: "A typical Thorns greeting." [23:51] "Yeah, well. That's Thorns for you. The deathknights aren't all bad… but it takes some getting used to." [23:54] 10And he's off again to pack his gear. Things are so much easier when you have a clear goal in front of you. None of this "wait for further instructions" nonsense. Session Time: Wed Apr 24 00:00:00 2019 [00:06] 5Xu Sim looks down at the sleeping Elegba. Had this been Cethleann, he would not have hesitated to strike her down, even if he would die trying. But doubt seized him and his fear overcame his hatred. Slipping his hand past the sleeping Raksha's own, he seized the Eye of Balor, summoned his Stormwind Rider, and with a gigantic whoosh of ancient dust and pebbles, went screaming and [00:06] 5cackling out into the halls of the ruined Deliberative. His triumph! His alone! 15[00:08] Xia Lan realizes the Eye is gone before Elegba does, as the light dies behind his fingers. [00:08] 13Xia Lan: "...did you do that?" 15[00:11] Elsewhere, Xu Sim tears screaming out of the Deliberative Halls, sending blood-red shockwaves in his wake as the stolen power of the raksha king courses through him. As he reaches the open air, pain throbs behind his eyes as if a great fist had reached into his skull to squeeze. It's excruciating, but not debilitating. After a moment he can focus enough to look behind him and see, 15[00:11] white-cloaked and silver-masked, the old Emissary giving chase through the air, with chunks of cobbled street appearing in the sky with crack after sickening crack cutting a path for the Emissary to run after the wayward whirlwind bearing his stolen Eye. 15[00:11] Elegba looks down. "...oh, dear." 15[00:11] NEXT TIME: The Terrible Gaze 14[02:38] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:01] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[09:16] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:15] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:07] * Quits: Crion (Connection closed) 14[17:07] * Joins: Crion 14[18:32] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[18:32] * Joins: cbass_ 14[19:34] * Quits: cbass_ (Connection closed) 14[19:34] * Joins: cbass 14[19:59] * Joins: tom 14[22:14] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Thu Apr 25 00:00:00 2019 14[04:22] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:47] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[04:47] * Joins: dammitwho 14[15:12] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:14] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[21:30] * Joins: tom 14[21:57] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[21:58] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[21:58] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[23:22] * Joins: tom2 14[23:23] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Fri Apr 26 00:00:00 2019 14[01:40] * Joins: tom 14[01:40] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:10] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[03:10] * Joins: tom 14[03:42] * Joins: tom2 14[03:42] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:39] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:15] * Joins: tom 14[06:11] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:37] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:40] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:47] * Joins: tom 14[20:28] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[20:34] * Joins: dammitwho 14[21:34] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[22:05] * Joins: cbass [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 _,-""""-..__ [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 |`,-'_. ` ` `` `--'""". [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ; ,' | `` ` ` ` ``` `. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,-' ..-' ` ` `` ` `` ` ` |==. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,' ^ ` ` `` ` ` `. ; \ [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 `}_,-^- _ . ` \ ` ` __ ` ; # [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 `"---"' `-`. ` \---""`.`. `; [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 \\` ; ; `. `, [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ||`; / / | | [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 //_;` ,_;' ,_;" [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12WAR! A swarm of hopping hallucinogenic demons descends in a great wave on the city of Chithakara, led by a quartet of blazing anathema and defended by legions of ape-men, demons, and anathema of its own. At this moment, several telling blows have been struck against Pramu, the boar-headed giant currently laying about hismelf with a gigantic silver axe, but all the blood flowing down [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12his armor seems to only have made him angrier. [22:48] 13Ying flips her way into the fray, spinning towards the feet of her myriad opponents. She can just - if she knocks them aside, trips them - but there's so many! And she can't quite find a way to take down the group, only a few scattered opponents who should have known better. Still! This fighting style speaks to her. [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12The Thousand-Fangs elites close ranks immediately, Ying's blows raining down on plated bodies and defensively-crossed greatswords. Where are they even getting enough metal to equip a unit like this? [22:49] 13Ying: "Rude!! I was suppawsed to save the day!" [23:00] 4The Kruthik...swarm. [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a slaughter. The apes lightly-armored enough to brachiate are torn from their branches, driven back towards Chithakara's walls, and the small unit of plated, greatsword-wielding elites are completely routed. Burn and freeze as they might, the kruthlings are able to tear breastplates and helmets open as though they were woven from wool. Perhaps half the elite apemen are simply [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12devoured where they stand; the rest break and flee, flowing back into Chithakara or simply scattering into the jungles. [23:11] 4Ir raises one arm while placing the other on Clotho. [23:12] <Go.> [23:12] 4They do. [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Red and violet fumes, flecked with strange stars, have been rising and coiling around the double ziggurat that is Chithakara. The weird flows of essence finally converge to a head, cohering into a great burst of translucent violet light that arcs forward to dive into the ground beneath your feet. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Nothing happens for a moment before a gigantic, clawed hand of violet light comes surging up from beneath the battlefield. It moves slowly, such that the four Solars are easily able to duck out of the way, but that's a pointless endeavor - the limb's entirely incorporeal, as is the vertical rift of blood-red fire that hangs above its palm. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12When the rift irises wide, though, opening across the battlefield in a great expanding circle, it reveals creatures that are all too solid. [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12The creatures are roughly humanoid, but with eyeless faces and torsos that coil with extra arms or tentacles or bladed viscera or something, it's hard to make out in the violet glare. They don't seem to be being summoned into being so much as revealed to have always been standing there by the expanding radius of Chithakara's magic, almost jumping with surprise as they find themselves [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12amongst you before running gleefully forward to try to pull your innards out of your bodies. [23:29] 4Well, fuck. [23:35] 4Ir's glad for the golden plate here. They try to tear into her and mainly just slow themselves down. [23:35] 4But her, too. [23:36] 13Ying dodges, cartwheels, backflips, evades -- and she's gone. A scrape here and there can't stop her from just vanishing. 15[23:37] 10With the mildness that comes from being at the remove of anything dangerous: "Ying's gone again." [23:37] 4Good on her. [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Ithuya's still crackling with holy blue lightning, spasming and listing in midair from Blossom's explosive attack. It looks blearily around the battlefield, seizes on its attacker, then takes a deep breath... and takes that breath deeper... and deeper.... very little seems to be happening to you, but as you look around you realize that the blood apes it's coiling in the air above [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12are rapidly withering and paling, streamers of red and black smoke rising from their backs to wind their way into the greater demon's maw! [23:44] 4When Pramu comes for her she just backhands him with a mailed fist. [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Colors shift and distort within the glare of the Eyeless breach; Pramu's silvered armor gleams cobalt, and his blood glows in blues and greens. He's coming right back atcha- Session Time: Sat Apr 27 00:00:00 2019 [00:06] 4Ir still smashes into the thing's side and drags Jude's Law down its throat. [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12The "dragon" groans and recoils, twisting in the air until it's able to shake Ir loose and toss the Solar back down to the jungle floor. Whirling around and lighting up green, the dragon gathers together the same nimbus of vitriolic essence that Ir was able to shrug off in her attack to spit it down at its attacker and her army! [00:23] 4She burns and grins. [00:34] 4And around her, the Kruthik begin to eat everything, Eyeless and Pramu and ape and tree and leaf. [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a slaughter. Demon meets... whatever the fuck that is, and under the perfect coordination of the queens, demon wins. But the arcane breach itself keeps irising wider and wider, and more and more of the Eyeless are revealed to have been haunting the battlefield all along! [00:38] 4Up above, a green-burning Ir carves another furrow into the great dragon. [00:46] 4This time from the top. Starting at the crown of its head, she leaps down the spine of the thing, kicking and ripping and tearing and parting the burning green sea. This demon-thing held together by rock and poison, it has sapped her, but fuck it if it can't take a joke. [00:46] 4Oh, and here's someone with the punchline. [00:49] 4Below, the Kruthik begin to overwhelm the walls. 15[00:50] 10As Ir rides the demon to the ground, it dissolves behind her, a triad of glass orbs spinning in a great counterclockwise arc and sliding down Ithuya from stem to stern. The dragon-mockery breaks apart ilm by burning ilm, separating into thousands of motes of white light, each perfectly cubical, that rapidly grow larger and more translucent until they vanish completely. By the time 15[00:50] 10Ir hits the ground, the spheres' work is done, and the triad - two white, one violet - glide smoothly back up to slide into Eikichi's blazing anima. [00:50] 4She salutes the Stormwind Rider, still burning, and stomps back into the fray. [01:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Pramu, no longer pressed by Ir, can see which way the wind is blowing. "I've - done enough, here! The Queen's magics will eat you alive!" 12He ducks back into Chithakara's gates, quickly obscured by the purple glare of the Eyeless irruption. [01:15] 4Ir's still grinning. She'll see him again. One of them will, at least. [01:29] 4The Kruthlings are beginning to overrun everything. There's still time for this to go bad, but... [01:35] <@Ferrinus> 12It goes bad. A sound like shattering glass rings out from Chithakara as obscene sigils drawn in pink and white on its many stones blaze into prominence. Howling, white winds and creepers of spiraling rime suddenly crawl across the ground and wind their way up trees as the growing breach gets colder and colder. The shapes of the Eyeless begin to diversify - among them, suddenly, are [01:35] <@Ferrinus> 12great, lumbering ogre-like things with skin like dead coral and no visible heads or digits. And, from within the heart of the blizzard, a figure, burning white and violet and holding a sword and shield. 14[01:45] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[01:58] 10Eikichi throws his arms apart, and his anima swells to fill the jungle. The Spheres around him vibrate in place, and over each Tulborn a sharp-edged cylinder of pure white light forms, shimmering down to touch them and then drawing them up slowly. For what seems like ages, the whole jungle holds its breath. Then the sorcerer exhales, and each beam drives into the ground, crushing 15[01:58] 10and shattering the Eyeless beneath them as they burrow into the earth, forming a massive and perfectly square co-ordinate grid before vanishing. [01:59] 4Ir's striding towards the city walls. "Haha! Haha! Hahahaha! I'm not even the strong one here." [02:02] <@Ferrinus> 12The Eyeless are crushed, literally flattened, as around you the great ring of unholy violet glare slows in its growth and holds in place for a few moments. Is it... shrinking? But the geomancies of Chithakara continue to churn and rumble with black magic, and new Eyeless are storming in from outside the edge of the ring, having been called by the sounds of your fighting and made real [02:02] <@Ferrinus> 12as soon as they step in. [02:02] 7Gahaha! Guess whose boyfriend is extremely powerful? Excessively Righteous Blossom is the one who can make that claim. [02:05] 4Then she drives Jude's Law into the wall and begins opening it like a door. [02:07] 4And when the door opens, the Kruthik stream through. 15[02:12] "Hello city..." 10comes Eikichi's voice, singsong, as the storm bears down on Chithakara. [02:30] 4Ir, meanwhile, turns and wades back into the respawning Eyeless, mercilessly putting them back down. 15[02:47] 10The Raptor flash-vaporizes the frost that Tul emanates, streaking over the heads of the kruthlings and queens, over Ir, to bury itself in the heart of Chithakara. Everything burns. [02:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Chithakara's carved from stone - but it's suspended in, and interwoven with, ensorcelled tree roots. The wards only go so far, and the flicker and failure of the geomancy is plain to the naked eye. [02:49] 7Fucking beautiful. [02:50] 4And after the fire comes the silver, finishing the job. Ir walks into the city with the poisoned flames dying on her glorious Solar mail, her warriors streaming around her, and a great moonsilver orb gathering back to her hand. 08[02:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Behind you, the breach to gods-don't-know-where irises closed. Beneath Blossom and Eikichi, Ir charges ahead through the rent-asunder gates of the city, a flood of demon insects pouring in behind her. You've done the unthinkable - claimed one of the cities of Raksi, the Queen of Fangs. 15[02:50] 10No wonder they lost. They're in the middle of the jungle. [02:51] 7Blossom: "What were those hideous things?" [02:52] 4And the slaughter is over. Ir's discipline holds. Surrendering beastfolk have their surrenders accepted; the rest are driven into the jungle and not pursued. 15[02:53] 10Eikichi: "Servants of the Eyeless Face. Strange beings from beyond. Raksi has explored the very limits of the Sapphire Circle." 08[02:57] 4Ir will check on the two Queens, then dispatch them to oversee the surrender and release of the captive beastfolk into the jungle. Ir has heard enough stories about Raksi from Eikichi and others to know that she doesn't give two shits about her own people and keeping them in custody will do nothing more than give the Lunar queen something to use against the Solars. [02:58] 4...But not that Pramu. Or any other targets of such high value that killing them for cruelty would do Raksi more harm than good. 14[03:44] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[06:06] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:07] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:43] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:33] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[14:33] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:13] * Joins: tom 14[17:25] * Joins: hrolf 14[18:30] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:33] * Joins: tom 14[20:38] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:38] * Joins: tom 14[22:54] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:56] * Joins: tom 14[23:14] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sun Apr 28 00:00:00 2019 14[00:48] * Joins: hrolfy 14[00:51] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:54] * Joins: tom 14[01:33] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:36] * Joins: tom2 14[01:36] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:34] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:34] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:00] * Joins: tom 14[05:57] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:26] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:29] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[14:49] * Joins: hrolfy 14[15:31] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:40] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:03] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:05] * Joins: tom 14[17:39] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:32] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:55] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[21:42] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Mon Apr 29 00:00:00 2019 14[03:07] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[04:09] * Joins: bananaphone 14[04:18] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[04:23] * Joins: bananaphone 14[04:28] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[04:36] * Joins: bananaphone 14[04:39] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[12:38] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:00] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:02] * Joins: cbass 14[21:46] * Joins: hrolfy Session Time: Tue Apr 30 00:00:00 2019 14[00:25] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:40] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[02:00] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:10] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[02:36] * Joins: tom 14[04:13] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:14] * Joins: tom 15[04:55] * Disconnected 15[04:55] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[04:55] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[04:55] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[04:55] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[04:55] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[04:55] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[04:55] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[04:56] * Joins: trench_foot 14[04:56] * Quits: trenchfoot (*.net *.split) 14[04:56] * Quits: VoxPVoxD (*.net *.split) 14[04:56] * Quits: VoxPrime (*.net *.split) 14[04:57] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[06:48] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[08:01] * Disconnected 15[08:01] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[08:01] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[08:01] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[08:01] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[12:37] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[13:20] * trench_foot is now known as trenchfoot 14[14:46] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:32] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[17:36] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: Mutter: www.mutterirc.com) 14[17:47] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[17:49] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: Mutter: www.mutterirc.com) 14[19:04] * Joins: tom 14[22:25] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:32] * Joins: tom 14[22:40] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:45] * Joins: tom Session Time: Wed May 01 00:00:00 2019 14[07:46] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:00] * Joins: hrolfy 14[18:25] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[18:26] * Joins: Crion 14[19:27] * Joins: tom 14[20:09] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:57] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[23:58] * Joins: Crion Session Time: Thu May 02 00:00:00 2019 14[01:40] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:19] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[04:28] * cbass is now known as cbass_away 14[06:44] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[14:48] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:17] * Joins: tom 14[16:22] * Joins: Crion_ 14[16:24] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:21] * Joins: mattbaby [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12 | ' | (_) | _L/L [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12 | __ / / _LT/l_L_ [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \ __ / _LLl/L_T_lL_ [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12 - _T/L _LT|L/_|__L_|_L_ [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12 _Ll/l_L_ _TL|_T/_L_|__T__|_l_ [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12 _TLl/T_l|_L_ _LL|_Tl/_|__l___L__L_|L_ [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12 _LT_L/L_|_L_l_L_ _'|_|_|T/_L_l__T _ l__|__|L_ [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12 _Tl_L|/_|__|_|__T _LlT_|_Ll/_l_ _|__[ ]__|__|_l_L_ [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12 _ ___ _LT_l_l/|__|__l_T _T_L|_|_|l/___|_ _|__l__|__|__|_T_l_ ___ _ [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12 . ";;:;.;;:;.;;;;_Ll_|__|_l_/__|___l__|__|___l__L_|_l_LL_ [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12 . .:::.:::..:::.";;;;:;;:.;.;;;;,;;:,;;;.;:,;;,;::;:".' [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12 . ,::.:::.:..:.: ::.::::;..:,:::,::::.::::.:;:.:.. [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12 . .:.:::.:::.:::: .::.::. :::.::::..::..:.::. . . [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12 . ::.:.: :. .::: ::::.::.:::.::...:. .:::. . [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12 .:. .. . ::.. .: ::. ::::.:: ::::::. . [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12 . :. .. :::.::: ::.::::. ::. . [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12 . . .:. :.. :::. ::..: :. [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Chithakara is surely one of the wonder of the east. Two stone ziggurats fused at their bases into an octahedron and suspended in the branches of an impossibly enormous kapok tree, it boasts techniques of construction and enchantment that must date back to the days of the Shogunate or even earlier still. The bark and branches of its arboreal cradle are carved with elaborate architecture [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12of their own and constitute the great city's outer suburbs. The leafy boughs of its crowning canopy are farms and public parks. The stone innards of the ziggurats themselves, lit from without by artfully placed portals and mirrors and from within by cultivated crystals of varying shades, are a bustling urban hub of trade, research, artwork, worship, and - of course - grisly, blood-soaked [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12sacrifice. [20:29] 4So where can we land Jormungand? [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Now, though, a grey and orange tide of demon flesh is swarming up the trunk of Chithakara's cradle, pouring in through every crack and aperture to flood into the heart of the city. The blood of men and demons runs down wood and stone and across street and pavilion as even the least of the kruthlings, urged by their queens' thoughts and Ir's fierce command, prove too much for every [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12defense there remains to muster. The stone and foliage themselves are corroded and devoured, defaced by claw and fang and soon overtaken by the rapidly-spreading creep that the invading queens plant behind them as they go. Jormungand yet remains at the perimeter of the Total Control Zone, watching over Rumi and the rest of the apostates, but it can be safely summoned now, and you'd [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12guess that it'll decide to simply land on top of the city, crowning the ziggurat that already crowns the central stonework. [20:32] 4Ir summons Atropos from the rear of the vanguard's line, and has her make the call. [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12From behind you, the slower kruthik are already swarming out of the jungle. The powerful digging claws and acidic bile of the tunnelers and ravagers will rapidly hasten the reconfiguration and assimilation of the sorcerously-reinforced wood and stone of the city; the flexible grasping appendages and protean flesh of the drones will serve to rapidly absorb and embellish on what [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12resources there are to choosefrom. [20:33] 4Meanwhile, she sees to the important bits, to her: securing a picket line around the city, ensuring that the kruthik aren't eating survivors and are taking orderly prisoners, and positioning her forces for the inevitable counter attack. [20:34] 4She does not particularly care about the rich history of this city, or property damage. [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir has arrayed her troops carefully enough to be able to make this choice (relatively) cleanly - are people getting imprisoned or simply being allowed to flee? [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Ying has been able to harry and chase away the boar-totemed warrior Pramu, and is able to reconvene with her allies. She may want to tell them that, if Tatsuya wants a particular reward from the Velvet Room, the central manse of the city needs to be left intact for at least a week. On the other hand, maybe the Solars just want to keep the Harvest Gem for themselves. [20:36] 4All civilians are allowed to flee; important functionaries and bureaucrats are to be retained until Ir can get a look at them, and then either interrogated or released. Since the kruthik likely have little to go on in decision-making here, she's casting a wide net; the queens are basically ordered to retain anyone with important-looking robes. 08[20:37] 4At the very least, Eikichi will probably want to be arch at them for a little bit. [20:38] 13Ying will definitely want to reconvene with the rest of the circle, partially to tell them about the heist and the consequences of said heist, and also to see if there are any lingering effects of how she pulled it off. Neither she nor Tatsuya has ever used that charm before, after all, and while hiding from memories is cool, hopefully she didn't lose anything on her way back! [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Civilians, particularly those without any of Raksi's bestial blessings, flee in droves. Not all of them do, though - a number of desperate last stands end in demoniacal butchery or eruptions of thaumaturgical power. Several small Eyeless breaches bloom across the city in the next few hours, requiring decisive action by the Circle and their demon soldiers to contain and suppress. [20:39] 4The kruthik have wide latitude to deal with those who do not surrender. [20:40] 13:I [20:40] 4There's a quiet moment up on one of the parapets, waiting for Jormungand to arrive, overlooking the carnage of the town, where Ir reckons that Maryam of Pneuma would be aghast at what she's become. [20:41] 4She doesn't think about what Saskia would think. [20:41] 4The moment passes quickly. [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12For more than one of you, there's something familiar about conquering a city. The sense of deja vu is probably sharpest for Blossom, who can almost perfectly picture the marching golden legions, the banners snapping in the wind, the piles of bodies with blood pooling 'round their ears... [20:46] 7Feels good. Feels right. [20:46] 7Blossom is going to investigate the secret hearts of the city. How much of the tales of sacrifice in Chithakara are true, and what was their purpose? 15[20:47] 10Did any of the city's leadership survive? [20:51] 7She also supports the strategy of encouraging civilians to flee rather than taking prisoners or - Heaven forbid - simply killing them, and will do her best to make sure innocents survive. 08[20:52] 13Ying will do her darnedest to work towards that end, but she also finds her way to Ir, Blossom, and Eikichi to say "Hi when we get a break we gotta talk okay bye!" 13before bounding off to herd more civilians away. [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12The city's high chief is dead, of course, but all manner of viziers, priests, bureaucrats, and princelings remain. Guruni's son is at turns inconsolably furious and simply inconsolable, for instance, and many of the clergy and faithful of Raksi's religion are insistent that certain prayers and sacrifices be allowed to continue, or else terrible things will befall. It's almost dusk...! [20:53] 4Once the kruthik are squared away, and with Clotho as a personal attendant for any city-wide messages she'd need to disseminate, Ir examines the relatively less-damaged formations on the other three sides of the city. She's interested in how Raksi's generals protect targets of high value. 15[20:53] 10What... kind of prayers and sacrifices? [20:55] 13Yeah, we gotta talk about the "sacrifices" thing. 08[20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12The prayers are quite expansive and there's a young woman who's ready to open her own gut with an athame if there's no one around to help her. As to the theological specifics here, that's what Blossom's about to (try to) get to the bottom of, though Eikichi could probably offer useful insight, as well. Meanwhile, Ir inspects the fortifications. [20:55] 13Do not commit ritual suicide. That is not allowed. [20:55] 7Haha, no, we won't be allowing that. 15[20:56] 10Eikichi's all for religious pluralism but there's a line. 15[20:56] 10Now, if the viziers want to commit suicide, by all means. [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12The eastern fortifications are, understandably, less expansive than those on the west, and the physical ones are fairly logical. If you were fielding a two-legged army you'd be in serious trouble here because of all the things Chithakara could drop on you as you as you tried to squeeze into the fairly tight corridors and staircases leading up from ground level to Chithakara's outer [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12wooden and inner stone environs. The augmented kruthlings have a much easier time of it, being able to simply hop and run up the trunks and walls that'd prove insuperable to the arboreally challenged. There are also copious sorcerous mines, though - carvings and growths in the wood that explode in conflagrations of ice and flame or seize a would-be climber and simply drag them forever [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12into the bark, though, and Ir would expect those to be much more prevalent in future TCZ defenses since standard barricades are largely useless. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12In other words, more recoil damage and general losses from actually striking at and overwhelming a city's defenses. It's a good news, then, that your troops breed like rabbits from hell. [20:59] 4Ir's biggest question about the mines: one use, limited use, infinitely refreshing? [21:00] 4One-use and even limited use mines would...not be a huge concern, for the swarm. [21:00] 4Respect to the fallen, of course. [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12They seem to recharge themselves over time, but they're drawing power both from the city and the surrounding jungle. If you were to completely ring and besiege a city like Chithakara, and get your bugs to devour and replace all the jungle that would otherwise link it to Mahalanka proper, the mines would probably take vastly longer to recharge between detonations and/or simply fizzle [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12out after a single blast. [21:01] 13That does not seem like a sustainable plan! [21:01] 4Not if you care about the city, true. [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Talking to the priests and their disciples isn't easy; they hate and fear you, after all, somewhat justifiably believing you to be in league with demons (the wrong kind) and outsiders (even worse) of the vilest sort. The basic story is easy to ascertain, however - here, indeed throughout the whole TCZ, Raksi is worshiped as god-queen. Her staggering genius and unmatched magical power [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12have kept the Total Control Zone safe from the depredations of the outside world for millenia, and if her servants don't show her the greatest possible devotion, don't give her everything there is to give, she may feel slighted and turn her beautiful face away from their fair city. The older priests see this as more of a reciprocal relationship - by keeping to the calendars and offering [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12all the proper sacrifices (both directly at Chithakara and shipping treasures and bodies eastward to Mahalanka) they ensure that Raksi has the power to protect them. [21:11] 4We are in league with demons. [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Yes, but, you know, the no-good sort of demon, unlike Raksi's, who are up on the up and up. [21:12] 13Ying keeps getting frustrated and ends up storming off partway through -- these people are so mean!! 15[21:15] 10Are there any statues or portraits or graven images of Raksi around? [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, the underlying magic here is very complicated in its operation but simple in essence - sacrifice brings power, and sacrifice in someone or something's name brings that someone or something power. By being at the center of a TCZ-spanning cult, Raksi is constantly awash in a sea of will and essence that you yourselves have felt come to you from time to time, whether from Ir's [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12fans in Crystal or Blossom's worshipers in the reconfigured Hedgehog. Raksi has clearly mastered and capitalized on the flow of power generated by prayer and devotional ritual, tapping it with greater efficiency and voracity than even the celestial gods; the Cult of Raksi fuels and sustains sorcerous workings, empowers spells, fuels summonings... it's indisputably not just a vanity [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12project. [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12As to the specifics of the Cult... they're hard to disentangle. Raksi herself is at the head, of course, and indeed Chithakara is festooned with statues and carvings of the sorceress-queen raising trees from fallow earth, smiting monsters with spear or empty hand, holding court at the head of a great table populated by all the different animals of the jungle, that sort of thing. [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12She's most commonly portrayed as a statuesque four-armed woman with an elaborate headdress and a variety of held or worn symbols of office, though a spear and mirror almost always appear somewhere. 15[21:19] 10She totally ripped off the iconography of the Unconquered Sun! [21:19] 7BLASPHEMY [21:20] 13... [21:21] 4Oh brother. 08[21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Besides Raksi is an entire panoply of lesser gods, culture heroes, reformed demons, that sort of thing. Many of them sound like local bumpkins (from Yu-Shan's perspective) - whatever divinities are responsible for the trees and rivers or whatever else need minding in the Control Zone. Others are strange figures with inconsistent names and portfolios that Eikichi suspects are the [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Eyeless, which can't be profitably worshiped in the normal way of things but presumably can somehow benefit from the power of prayer if channeled and modulated through the proper sorcery. There's way more there, though, that seems meaningless or irrelevant - are all these other figures supposed to be honored ancestors or something? It's like Raksi's religion has inherited a lot of junk [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12catechism that was never pruned away. [21:23] 7Blossom: "Hah! She's sending bribes to figures in Yu-Shan!" [21:23] 4...Once the last of the retainers are interrogated and shooed off, and all the logistical work has been done, Ir will send word that she wants to convene a war council up in some suitable part of the temple system. 15[21:23] "Smart." [21:25] 7Blossom: "Some fairly important figures here, once you clear away the occultism and misdirection. Amoth City-Smiter, god of tumbled ruins... Bashar, the god of scavengers... hmm." 15[21:26] 10Eikichi: "So she's got some favors to call in." [21:28] 7Blossom: "Even if they don't have time to intervene before we kill Raksi, we'll be making enemies of these divinities." 15[21:29] 10Eikichi: "They're just gods." [21:29] 7Blossom: "Even if you don't fear the arrow, it's good to know from what direction it will come." [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12As the sun slips beneath the horizon, and as the wails arise from your prisoners at the non-fulfillment of the ritual pacts, a soft rumbling runs through the city. Perhaps the world actually will end? Or at least something alarming's going to go on... thereabouts, towards the city center. 15[21:31] 10What's all this then? [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Essence is building there, swirling red and violet. It looks to be within Gurumi's former throne room, placed atop the architecture that constitutes the city's central manse. [21:33] 13Wwwwhat the heck? [21:33] 4And Ir was putting together such a good dinner, too. [21:35] 7After a moment's meditation and intoning in Old Realm, Blossom slowly pulls her hands apart as a crackling orb of Essence grows between them, cradling a six-winged semicrystalline messenger spirit. "Yara. Raksi of Mahalanka sending prayer-bribery to important figures in Yu-Shan - Amoth City-Smiter, Bashar, more. Is this known? Useful? Followup question: Is there a method to send/receive [21:35] you memoranda rather than infallible messengers for non-critical comms? Prefer frictionless working relationship. Warm regards, Excessively Righteous Blossom." 15[21:38] 10Did she seriously sign her messenger-- [21:38] 7Yes! What? [21:39] 13That's just being polite! Do you not sign your messages?? [21:39] 6Seriously man, not cool. [21:39] 4Anyway, Ir is going to quickly take whatever's on the cooking fire off, hope she can salvage it later, and check out the throne room. [21:43] 7Alright, time to savagely beat whatever horrible creature Raksi summons up to enact revenge. 15[21:43] 10Maybe it's not as bad as that. [21:43] 13Claws out. Let's go. [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12There is, of course, a great empty stone throne there. There was all kinds of finery and other furniture, but it's been stained with blood, burned by kruthik acid, and generally smashed or picked clean; now all that remains in the room are several badly-defaced statues, the seat, and the tableau behind it. Where once the throne was framed by hung tapestries and curtains of suspended [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12jewels, it's now backed by bare, illegibly carved wall... and a gigantic, ellipse-shaped mirror. [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12The throne vibrates in place, then flashes and deforms. It's as if a great, invisible blade came down from above it to gouge it in two, and as if that blade was white-hot, because the throne is now melting down in two pieces to run and cool across the floor. Behind it, no longer obstructed, a blood-red figure with blazing violet eyes hangs in the reflective glass. [21:45] 4We have a bad recent relationship with mirrors. 08[21:45] 7There is basically never a good story that involves a magic mirror. Even Eikichi only has an ordinary mirror, but that's because all the magic comes from what it reflects. Love you babe 15[21:45] 10Eikichi: "Darling." [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Winding smoke and crackling flame make the figure hard to make out, and harder still to make out with. It's clearly a naked or almost-naked woman who's just now in the process of ceasing to float, touching lightly down on whatever surface is on the other side of the mirror. The glowing spear she holds in her hand is cooling slightly more slowly than Guruni's now-defunct throne. Her [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12voice echoes: "So-o-o." 12A pause. "We meet." [21:48] 4Jude's Law is in spear form as well. "So to speak." [21:48] 13Ying's hair is standing on end. "Hiya! This wasn't really a part of the plan." [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi, because who else could it be, leans in. It's not clear whether she's actually gigantic or simply taking advantage of the size of the mirror she's speaking to you through. "No? Am I going to have to discipline Pramu further, then? Because I had the impression that you meant to usurp me." 12The glow obscures her pupils entirely, but each of you four can tell when she meets [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12your gaze before looking on to the next. [21:52] 4... 15[21:53] 10Eikichi's expression flickers. He remains silent. [21:54] 4Ir tilts her head when she stares back. "Frankly I couldn't care less about your jungle, Raksi. Get the feeling I never could." [21:54] "Or maybe it was just you." [21:54] 13Ying: "I suppaws that's one way of looking at it...? But we nefur really planned on, um." 13She gestures to the mirror. "What's this, even?" [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "Never planned on routing my armies or claiming my city? Just stumbled into it? Found the kruthik on the side of the road?" 15[21:57] 10Eikichi: "...what do you want?" [21:57] "I think she meant entertaining you, before dinner." [21:57] 13Ying: "Yeah, exactly. No, idiot, the talking thing! C'mon," 13 she says, stretching her claws. "How often do you talk to people befur a big fight?" [21:59] "Also what's the mirror. I'm actually curious about it and you dodged the question." [22:00] <@Ferrinus> "I?" 12Raksi leans back, touches her free hand to just below her collarbone. From the way the light and color smears around, you get the idea that she isn't actually possessed of crimson skin but rather covered in still-wet paint or blood. "I have everything I want already. Less one city. So, of course, I had to take a look." 12She gestures around herself. "The mirror is a mirror. [22:00] <@Ferrinus> I like mirrors. Wouldn't you, in my position?" [22:03] 13Ying: "No??? I don't need a mirror to- anyways!!" 08[22:04] 7Wh-- is she- EIKICHI IS STILL THE HOTTEST 15[22:04] "Whose blood is that, darling?" [22:05] 7What? What is he doing? [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12The question seems to preoccupy Raksi for a moment. She draws a lazy spiral on her skin before lifting her hand to lick a fingertip. "Oh, you know. Some man's. Just something I threw on." [22:06] 13Ying: "...are you efur not like this?" 15[22:06] "Oh." 10For some reason Eikichi sounds slightly relieved. 15[22:08] "There was a girl here in Chithakara a hair away from gutting herself in your name." [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "And you didn't let her? When did you become so stodgy?" 15[22:09] 10Eikichi: "I, I, I--" [22:09] 13Ying: "When'd you lose the volcano?" 08[22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi blinks at this one, turning her attention from Eikichi for the moment. She leans back in to peer at Ying. "Who-o-o are you? I can't quite..." [22:11] 13Her ear twitches. "Oh, it's fine fur you to do it but when somepawdy else tries it's a purroblem?" [22:13] 7Blossom's knuckles are white on the grip of Justice. [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi shakes her head to herself, gestures, then sits back. The very smoke coiling around her body seems to catch her, allowing her to recline in the waft and embers with one leg crossed jauntily over the other and her chin resting on a balled fist. "Listen. When my little piggie came back to me a week ago, I only took him half-seriously. A quartet of Solars sworn to destroy me? [22:14] <@Ferrinus> Whatever for, and wherever from? But you would seem to mean it." [22:15] 4Ir, irritably, without thinking: "Quintet. Idiot." [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi licks a spot of red off the side of her thumb, shrugs, then continues. "Or have he and I still got it wrong? Is it little me you're coming for? Or is there simply something you want that I can give you." 15[22:19] 10Eikichi: "There's only so many Sperimins in Creation. Why not here?" [22:20] 13Ying: "Purrlease." 13It takes a great deal of effort to not rudely hack up a hairball towards Raksi. [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Indeed, why not? It brings to mind the day, sailing eastward - or perhaps still docked at Great Forks or Nexus - that you made this decision yourselves... [22:21] 4Ir's made pitza and 'crab rangoon.' 15[22:22] 10Eikichi: "So... something I've been wondering." 15[22:23] "Are we conquerors now? Is that our path? Are we just more Yurgens Kaneko?" [22:23] 4Ir grunts around a mouthful of seafood and cheese. [22:23] 4She finishes chewing before answering. "I'd prefer not to be." [22:23] "I don't see the value in taking land, here, especially not in this campaign." [22:23] "Are we going to stick around? I don't think we are." 15[22:24] 10Eikichi: "But then, what, do we just massively destabilize a huge, sovereign nation and then ride out?" [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Yurgen did fall against the behemoth of the north, so there's for sure an opening there. 15[22:24] "Not even leaving money on the nightstand?" [22:25] 13Ying: "Nyo! We can't -- we're better than that!" [22:25] 4Ir: "Presumably we could leave money on the nightstand. But also presumably, not staying allows the people who live there more self-determination than they'd have if we, administered a transition government or whatever. Especially with the kruthik." [22:25] 7Blossom: "I have no objection to making some stabilizing efforts for the refugees that will undoubtedly exist post-conquest. I don't see why we should simply take Raksi's place, however." [22:26] "Would it be brutal? Yeah, it'd be brutal. But we committed to some degree of brutality here when we chose this path, and decided to pursue it with the kruthik." [22:26] 7Blossom: "The jungle is rich and the Realm is halfway to civil war as it is. The individual villages can manage themselves perfectly well." [22:26] 13She ignores the extremely rude insinuation about the nightstand. "We were -- we've talked about Zeal, befur!" [22:26] "And if there was some, underground structure, some resistance, ready to step in and take control -- they'd be able to do that without our help." 15[22:26] 10Eikichi: "Can they manage perfectly well? Raksi's ruled there for centuries. For all we know they're totally dependent on her sorcery." [22:27] 13Ying, whispurring: "zeeeeaaaaaallllll" [22:27] "We don't have to depose her." [22:27] "All we need is what's in that library." [22:28] 7Blossom: "We certainly fucking do. She eats babies!" [22:28] 13Ying, mildly: "I am not a fan of eating babies." [22:28] 4Ir: "All I am saying is that our goals going into this aren't regime change. They're access to Sperimin. [22:28] " 15[22:28] "She probably doesn't actually eat babies." [22:29] 4Ir: "It just seems like a bad idea to take responsibility for Mahalanka if we don't intend to stay." 15[22:30] 10Eikichi: "What if we stay, then?" [22:30] 7Blossom, firmly: "My goal is regime change. She's a monster, and she wants everybody to know she's a monster." [22:30] 4Ir: "Then we either abandon Zeal, or turn Mahalanka into Zeal. Either way we're destroying the lives these people have known and imposing new rule on them from above." 15[22:31] 10Eikichi: "Hardly more tyrannical than feeding them to the kruthik." [22:31] "And maybe destroying those lives is a good thing, but I don't think they'll thank us for it." [22:31] 13Ying: "Or any worse than letting Raksi continue to rule 'em." [22:31] 4She drops her fork a bit harder than necessary. "If you didn't want to use the kruthik you should have given me another army." [22:32] "I don't like them anymore than you do." [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12I do. 15[22:33] 10Eikichi: "If our intention is to invade, then I think we have a responsibility to the land we despoil. We're not raiders." [22:33] 13She massages her head. "She purrobably doesn't eat the babies, by the way. But there's a lot of -- wow, that's gruesome - ritual..." 13She drags her thumb across her throat. [22:33] 4Ir: "Raiders is better than tyrants." 15[22:33] "No it isn't." [22:33] 4Ir: "Then we disagree on the value of tyrants." [22:35] 13Ying: "There's already a tyrant!" 15[22:35] 10Eikichi: "We have an obligation not to leave Mahalanka worse off than it was under Raksi. That means making sure it doesn't just fall to bandits in her absence." [22:36] 4Ir: "As long as that doesn't mean stepping in as their new benevolent kings and queens, I can agree to that. The alluring thing about Zeal is that people would have to come to us." [22:36] "Zeal! It's - we can't -" 13she huffs. "We've been planning it. And this is - we could do this!" [22:36] "We wouldn't just...inherit some throne." [22:36] "Or steal it." 15[22:37] 10Eikichi: "We'd have to stick around for at least a while. There's no way to guarantee a peaceful transition otherwise." [22:37] 4She finishes a slice of pitza. "And frankly, I'm not sure what benevolent purpose the kruthik could serve." [22:37] "Managing a regular army would be hard enough." [22:37] 13She deflates a little at Ir's statements. Still: "We owe it to them to - find a better way! Or, or something!" [22:38] 13That "or something" sure is tricky. [22:39] 4She looks around the table. "Are we agreed, then? We expel or destroy Raksi, we try to foster a better government unbeholden to us, and we leave as soon as is reasonable?" 15[22:41] 10Eikichi looks at Blossom. [22:42] 7Blossom: "I don't think it's possible to merely expel or depose Raksi. I mean, think about it. Is she the sort of person who would hold a grudge? We're going to have to kill her." 15[22:43] 10Eikichi: "We don't know what sort of person she is. We just know what people say about her." [22:43] 13Ying, hesitantly: "Um." [22:44] "As for the rest, yes, you're right. I'm sympathetic to Ying, these people have suffered long enough and if they're crying out 'lead us, children of the Sun! Take us into the dawn!' then we can reassess our options post-conquest, but barring that you're right. Put enough back together so that people aren't starving to death and let the cities and villages handle themselves." [22:44] 4Ir: "Killing her won't stop her forever. I'm given to understand that's how all this works." 15[22:44] "She's two thousand years old, or whatever, so she's obviously mad. But I'm not going to believe everything every pompous, racist Immaculate wrung their tiny hands about in missives to the homeland." [22:45] 4Ir: "And that's also fair." 15[22:45] "You've seen what they say about us." [22:45] "That said, if we can't merely depose or expel her, she'll make that clear. And we'll make the clear decision back." [22:45] 7Blossom: "Hrrh. That's true. Whatever. If the situation changes, our decisions can change." [22:47] 13Ying, still hesitant: "This... isn't... the furst time..." 13She's scratching at her head. "I think I - we - um, me and Tatsuya - we might've done this befur." 15[22:48] 10Eikichi: "Invaded Mahalanka to depose Raksi?" [22:48] 13Ying: "I don't remempurr! There was a volcano. I don't think there's a volcano here." [22:49] 7Blossom, concerned: "If you remember something important, we'll always listen." [22:49] 13She slumps. "That's all. I'm sorry." [22:50] 4Ir sighs. "It's fine. That's good. Good. That conversation was necessary, but it sucked." 15[22:50] 10Eikichi: "This is easily solved. Ying, make a mental note that as soon as you meet Raksi, ask her what happened to the volcano." [22:50] 4She stands and walks over to the keyharp. "Let's have some after-dinner entertainment..." 4Things continue on, well. [22:51] 13Ying, sadly: "Can do, Eikitty." [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12~~~ [22:52] 4Where were we? [22:53] <@Ferrinus> "Why not here," 12says Raksi, reclining on her throne of blood and smoke, "Is that it's mine. I am and shall forever be queen of Mahalanka, and its riches, secrets, and delights are mine to dispense or withold. Long ago, I took its throne, and where were you? Gone, all gone." 15[22:54] "Things change," 10offers Eikichi. [22:54] 4Ir: "And benefitting from the peace and quiet accorded to us." [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "Now-- perhaps there is something I can give you. Something's brought you here, surely. Some book, some crystal, some daiklave, hmm? Is that what this is about?" [22:55] 7Blossom: "They say you eat babies. Do you." [22:56] 13Ying, grumbling: "You nefur answered me about the volcano." [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12She erups into peals of laughter, practically falling backwards through the smoke she lounges on. "That can't be it! The great, burning question that you drew a swath through the Zone to answer! Really?" [22:56] 7She grinds your teeth. "It's a simple question." [22:56] 7*her [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12I think it's Raksi who does that- [22:57] 4Grinding Raksi's teeth will come later. [22:57] 7No. Fuck it. She also grinds your teeth. You, the person reading this right now. Had your mind blown yet? [22:57] 13Augh 08[22:58] 4Ir resists the urge to glance over at Eikichi. She values a united front here more than she values actually just, getting the library shipped over to them on retainer to examine at their leisure, and Eikichi seems...more familiar with this cannibal queen than she is, at least. [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi rolls and sort of slithers, and now she's lying prone in the smoke, red-slick feet kicking idly behind her as her chin rests on interlaced fingers. "If you must know -- I left the volcano behind. Outgrew it, really. Wasn't it getting cramped, by the end?" 12She seems to be asking this of you, or at least of one of you. [22:59] 4Ir: "I couldn't give a shit." [23:00] 13Ying: "I could! That was fu- freaking rude!" [23:00] "Yeah, I'm feeling it." [23:01] "She interrupted me making dinner." [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "You must all find this so fascinating, the more I think about it-- Perhaps you're all just here to meet me? This certainly ranks among the more memorable knocks on my door. Am I being rude by not inviting you, perhaps?" 15[23:02] 10Eikichi: "The jungle is finer than the volcano, certainly. But are you willing to die for it?" [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "That's just the sort of thing Pramu would forget." [23:03] 4Ir: "If we wanted an invitation we would've asked. This was always going to be the more effective opener." [23:03] 13Ying, whispering harshly to Ir: "She's squatting on our city! Our library! We - this was - augh!" [23:03] 4Ahhhh. [23:03] 7Blossom, loudly: "YOU HAVE NOT ANSWERED MY QUESTION, RAKSI." [23:03] 4She's a thief. 15[23:03] 10We did sort of leave it lying there. [23:04] 4Apologies to Tatsuya, but he also never declared himself Cannibal King. [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "Hahaha! Of course not, young one. I'm not willing to die at all. But it sounds, then, like y-" 12Blossom's voice echoes here. Raksi draws a slow breath, closing her eyes for a moment so they're just thin lines of flickering purple fire. Then she pushes herself up on her arms and swivels such that she's now seated on the smoke in the lotus position. Smiling and leaning [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12forward: "If you'd really like to learn about me, you should come to meet me. Drink, dine, it'll be fun! A little time-out, hmm? I can promise your safety." 15[23:07] 10Eikichi, without thinking: "Wee-e-e-ll..." [23:07] 4Ir: "I can promise our safety too, but you won't like the terms." [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi laughs politely. 15[23:11] 10Eikichi, with uncharacteristic obliviousness: "A meeting might be nice. What do you think, Blossom?" [23:11] 13This is gonna be a wild ride. [23:12] 7In response, Blossom draws Truth and Justice and empties them at the mirror. If that doesn't work, she will stalk over to the mirror and physically flip it over. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12The mirror proves to just be a mirror, strengthened by thaumaturgic and alchemical preparations but only to the point that it melts over several seconds rather than evaporates in less than one. Raksi keeps laughing, but somehow speaks at the same time. "I won't die for Mahalanka, young ones! But Mahalanka gladly dies for me! Think twiiiiice~" 12tssssssss. [23:14] 7Blossom only snarls wordlessly as she fires. [23:14] 4Ir: "And that's why we didn't keep prisoners." [23:15] 13Ying: "Is she claiming hearts and minds? Please stop firing, this is -" 13gunshot "impurrtant." [23:15] 4Ir sighs. "I'm going to see if I can salvage dinner. Boar meat and sides in twenty if I can. Yes, I made sure they're not beastmen meat." 15[23:16] 10Eikichi's voice drifts gently through the smoke in the throne room. "...Blossom?" [23:16] 4To Ying: "You want to come help me?" [23:16] 4These two need a minute. [23:17] 13Ying: "Sure! Um, you're going to have to teach me--" 13Oblivious. [23:18] 4Ir: "It's easy peasy, just don't eat the fish. First we're going to make the flatbread, by..." [23:18] 7Blossom spits on the cooling slag. Ptoo! [23:19] "'I won't die for Mahalanka, but Mahalanka gladly dies for me'? Filth!" [23:22] 13Ying is absolutely going to eat the fish. 15[23:22] 10Does Blossom react when Eikichi gets close to her? "She was just trying to mess with you." [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12She is, incidentally, clearly still trying to mess with you, because while the mirror has melted to slag right behind the throne it once loomed over, eldritch streams of red and violet are still running up and down the building you're standing on and an ominous humming and groaning is continuing to sound throughout the city. [23:31] 7Seething: "I'll mess with her!" 15[23:32] "Is this because she didn't answer you about the baby thing?" [23:36] 7Blossom: "I don't like the way she was talking to you." 15[23:37] 10Eikichi: "...she knows me." 15[23:37] "Knew me." 15[23:37] "Knew Gloria." [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Nor the way the floor's shaking beneath you. Is that ominous humming slowly rising in pitch? [23:38] 13Obliviously, Ying in the kitchen with Ir: "Do you think I could pull that off? Maybe with less blood..." 15[23:40] "This place isn't safe. Something's wrong with the manse. Sabotage." [23:41] 4Ir feels the rumbling and grimaces. It's almost a grin. "Eat it whole. We need to leave. She's moving against us already!" [23:42] 7Blossom: "She doesn't know anything about you!" [23:42] 13Ying pulls a gem out from one of her pockets. (Of course she put pockets into her outfits, she's not a savage.) "This is -- we gotta stop this!" [23:43] 7She shakes her head, takes a sharp breath through her nostrils. "Right. Right. Can we stop it?" [23:43] 6A deeper voice: "We're gonna have to--" 13Ying covers her mouth. [23:44] 4Ir will storm back to the others. 15[23:44] 10Eikichi grabs Blossom's hand. "Down to the heart of the manse!" [23:44] 4As they pass her coming the other way: "Where do you need us?!" [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Light flashes from below. It's briefly white and green before replacing itself with an unearthly violet glare you've grown to know well! Pockmarked, featureless Eyeless, half-real but fully deadly, begin to boil out of the corridors leading to the manse's lower reaches, blocking your path! [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12You're all quick to move, but the geomantic heart of Chithakara's central manse is blocked behind a spreading horde of faceless abominations. Their ability to spread through the city is sharply curtailed by the occupying kruthik, but your actually getting into the manse is another story - you need to clear a path. [23:55] 4Blocked by what? [23:56] 4Ir's holding a lance almost bigger than her when she kills them all. [23:56] 4One. By. One. [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12You're getting good at this! Within, of course, is a kaleidoscope of disordered elemental essence, thrumming violently and arcing from wall to wall as Raksi's distant influences tilt it further and further out of balance. [23:56] 4Sometimes she just leaves the lance in them while she kills a couple more, before reclaiming it and going back to work. [23:57] 4Ir: "I've got this! Do what needs to be done!" [23:57] 13After a few "mew"s to test: "...so we just, walk up to Raksi now?" Session Time: Fri May 03 00:00:00 2019 [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12It looks as though Raksi is simply allowing strategically chosen elements of the manse's core to slip sideways into Elsewhere, creating dangerous and recursively-reinforcing loops of elemental essence that'll go roaring out of control and consume, at least, all of Chithakara in a hideous explosion. 14[00:03] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[00:03] * Joins: dammitwho 15[00:05] 10Eikichi's rattled. Part of it's the noise and visual distortion and part of it's thinking about Raksi and Gloria and part of it's worry about Blossom... the ultimate effect is that the problem eludes him, and progress is slow. [00:19] 7Blossom's still angry, and as Ir likes to say there's nothing wrong here that she can't fix with her hands. She batters gnarled rune-carved tree limbs into alignment, physically grabs and wrenches chunks of moss-covered stone back into reality, and at one point catches a bolt of sickly green Essence lightning on her fingertips and uses it to fuse a Manse-heart casing of scrimshawed [00:19] 7bone into place. 15[00:19] 10Damn. [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12The unearthly violet fades, and the rumbling stops. Contrary to all the sacred text, the missing of a sacrifice has not brought doom to Chithakara - unless your Circle counts retroactively, of course. [00:20] 4Damn straight. [00:21] 13What in Creation?? [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom's able to block the underground conduits linking this manse to Mahalanka, though they're by no means the only such earthworks in Raksi's favor - the smart thing to do is probably to allow the kruthik to devour and colonize a full 360 degree ring around the city, cutting off every possible contiguous jungle essence conduit. For now, though, the manse is stable and you and your [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12armies are safe. [00:22] 4Ir will get right on that. Raksi is too good at this to be indulged. Such skill. [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12As the stars come out over the Total Control Zone, the Squared Circle's finally able to catch its breath - and plan its next move. 14[02:24] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[04:01] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[06:21] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:25] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:55] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:21] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[12:04] * Joins: trench_foot 14[12:06] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:31] * trench_foot is now known as trenchfoot 14[19:08] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[19:09] * Joins: Crion 14[19:52] * Joins: tom 14[20:26] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:32] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) Session Time: Sat May 04 00:00:00 2019 14[01:06] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[03:18] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:41] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[03:50] * Joins: Crion 14[03:50] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[03:52] * Joins: mattbaby 14[04:00] * 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Disconnected Session Close: Wed May 15 17:38:02 2019 Session Start: Thu May 16 00:20:46 2019 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[00:20] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[00:20] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[00:20] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[01:44] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:55] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[02:55] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[02:55] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[03:16] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[03:34] * Joins: Crion 14[05:55] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:10] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[09:10] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[09:10] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[09:28] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[11:01] * Joins: cbass 14[14:00] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:58] * Joins: tom 14[15:46] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:24] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:37] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[18:17] * Joins: tom 14[19:24] * Joins: Crion Session Time: Fri May 17 00:00:00 2019 14[02:33] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[02:41] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[02:41] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[02:41] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[04:00] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[04:05] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[04:05] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[04:45] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[05:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[16:19] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[18:26] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:28] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[19:44] * Joins: mattbaby [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 .-"-. .-"-. .-"-. .-"-. [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 _/_-.-_\_ _/.-.-.\_ _/.-.-.\_ _/.-.-.\_ [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 / __} {__ \ /|( o o )|\ ( ( o o ) ) ( ( o o ) ) [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 / // " \\ \ | // " \\ | |/ " \| |/ " \| [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 / / \'---'/ \ \ / / \'---'/ \ \ \'/^\'/ \ .-. / [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \_/`"""`\_/ / \ \_/`"""`\_/ / /`\ /`\ /`"""`\ [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ / \ / / /|\ \ / \ 14[20:19] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Vanishingly few people in Creation have ever seen a manse detonate as opposed to simply collapse or fizzle out, and that's not just because it completely beggars belief that anyone close enough to witness the event could also survive it. That kind of disaster was rare even before the Age of Sorrows - faulty or broken architecture tends to render geomancy inoperable and possibly [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12radioactive but not actually explosive. The lesson to take here is clear: take a very close look at anything else you manage to steal from the Queen of Fangs. [20:20] 7NGAAAAAAAAH [20:21] 4Then she better trap everything. [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Right now, you should be safe; Chithakara has been severed from the Total Control Zone's geomantic network and its central manse, a mighty throne-capped temple which sustains a Harvest Gem, is live but running solo. It's up to you whether you'd like to use the gem or barter it away and then cannibalize the manse proper, but either way you're pretty sure you've just claimed the TCZ's [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12chief breadbasket. If this somehow turns into a siege of months or years, time is on your side. [20:22] 4Sun, let's hope not. [20:22] 7Our army would do poorly on the wrong side of a siege. [20:23] 4Our army would eat the world until it was back on the right side of a siege. [20:23] 4Which is, of course, part of the problem. [20:24] <@Ferrinus> To your west, the wake you and your armies have carved through the jungle is visible from Chithakara's battlements. The trees have either been mulched, dissolved, or mutated, and a carpet of kruthik biomatter extends all the way back to the borders of Rumi's village. To your east, north, and south, dense jungle still laced with Raksi's magic menaces. Soon, a great shadow will fall over [20:24] <@Ferrinus> the city - you've (correct me if I'm wrong) summoned Jormungand forth, and the great demon-cerebrate is slowly making its way through the TCZ's skies to land near or straight-up on Chithakara and help to convert it into the newest and most forward of your forward operating bases. [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12blue* [20:24] 4Yes, the city-eater has been summoned. [20:25] 4Ir's a bit worried about that very obvious supply line, but then, it shouldn't actually matter too much if its been cut off. [20:31] 4Given the interruption by the Queen herself, the Circle still hasn't had a war summit, and even if military protocol and common sense might devolve power to Ir as the general of the army, she's uncomfortable making such decisions at all, let alone without everyone getting their say. Tatsuya should have first say over what happens with this hearthstone. [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Yeah, kruthik tend not to have supply lines in the usual sense. They're powered by the terrain and opposing forces that they're constantly consuming. [20:33] 6He and Ying did go through all that effort. Mostly Ying did, actually. "Pay's good for it," 6he starts off. "Velvet Room jobs usually are. And if this thing is tied here we'd need to make our own later anyway." 15[20:33] 10Eikichi leaves the heart of Chithakara in a daze, the jungle offering no respite as he comes up for air. The stagnant air carries the chittering of the kruthik like laughter just past the edge of hearing, while the heat and humidity leave him feeling like no matter how far he gets it feels like someone is pressed up against him. 08[20:34] 4Then unless there are objections from Eikichi and Blossom, Ir will sign off on that and adjust the position of their lines and her hatchery plans to account for defending the manse for a week. [20:37] 7Blossom inhales sharply through her nose, then turns her attention to what Ir and Tatsuya are talking about. "Sensible. It's unlikely that the manse would be a priority target for Raksi anyway, so it shouldn't be too hard to defend for that short amount of time." [20:37] 4Ir nods. "We need to pick our next target." [20:38] "If we're going to defend here, that means we can't split forces. We move as a united Swarm." [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Here's the lay of the land, according to local maps and interrogated surviving members of Chithakara's intelligentsia: northeast of here is a forge/manufactory city from which Raksi's forces get much of their arms and armor. Southeast is a powerful demesne which apparently helps to fuel and filter some of the TCZ's warding magic. Straight east is Mahalanka itself, though various [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12walls, smaller villages, and garrisons are between you and it. [20:39] 4We're not going straight in. [20:40] 4'Fuel and filter' sounds both less crucial to Raksi's first-order, currently-crucial war efforts than the forge/manufactory, and it also sounds like better food for the kruthik. [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12If you want better intel or other information on the physical, military, or political lay of the land, it's still possible to interrogate prisoners further or send out scouts or whatever. Overall, though, what's the plan? [20:40] 4Which means, before Ir takes too hard a look at it, there should be an imbalance between how hard Raksi wants to the defend it and how beneficial it will be to the Swarm if we do. [20:44] 4Of course, Raksi seems to know them already. She might think of that... [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's definitely correct that a demesne will be of great benefit to the swarm, but it's not clear if Raksi knows that or what else she might end up acting on. [20:45] 4Frustrating. [20:49] 6Tatsuya occupies himself by rooting out whatever spies and turncoats have formed in their midst. It's been a while since he's done this kind of spy work - kind of fun, if also extremely nerve-racking for the stakes of screwing up. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom knows a little more about the magic at work and is able to pontificate further here. She'd guess that while the southeastern magical nexus would be a way better get from the perspective of someone fielding a kruthik army, it'd also be much more fiercely defended and by equally-as- or even-more- weird stuff than you've already run into. Raksi trusts in her magic more than in [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12her worshipers, and probably knows what kruthik are and what makes them dangerous. [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Tatsuya takes the time to spy on prisoners, parse bits of half-surviving graffiti, and even forage out into the jungles to investigate as to the escape routes taken by Chithakaran refugees. Here's what he can put together: while Rumi's people are some of the few open apostates to Raksi's religion, there are definitely faithless dissidents beneath the skin of the TCZ's [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12society. Why else would Raksi need her ocelot-men secret police, after all? Such people tend not to be highly placed, of course - decorated priests and generals and such could be terrified or bribed into abandoning the cause upon actually being defeated, but more proactive rebels are going to be found in the workforce and among the surviving families of those who've been or are to be [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12sacrificed. [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12More specifically, the forge-city to the northeast has been plagued with crimes and industrial accents possibly traceable to deliberate sabotage, and it consumes a constant stream of failed-to-become-apemen because the forges need constant manpower and also often require their best creations be quenched in human blood. There's definitely underground resentment there that could be [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12fomented into open revolt, under the right conditions. [20:59] 4...Ir still doesn't want to split the Swarm, but starting a rebellion at the forges at the same time the kruthik hit the southern desmense could cause Raksi a world of hurt. [21:01] 6What kind of conditions are we talking about here? The kind that someone could create with a few well-placed, I don't know, assassinations? Explosions? 08[21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi racks his brain, at the same time, to figure out what else Raksi might have up her sleeve besides the already-formidable defenses on display here. His suspicion is that, owing to the still-intact geomancy and powerful artifacts of the ancient Deliberate library-city that Raksi's taken possession of, Raksi effectively has access to at least several hallmarks of Solar circle [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12sorcery. The "Eyeless" whose realm Raksi has brought so close to this one, for instance, can most fully be commanded through magics of the Adamant circle, and there's no doubt that the infrastructure here allows her dominion over all five of their lords. Mahalanka itself doubtless possesses artillery emplacements capable of vaporizing entire armies at great distances, and, notably, one [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12of the lost relics of Sperimin was the "Book of Three Circles". A heavy-looking tome often features in the third or fourth of Raksi's hands in many of her depictions here, so it's a fair bet she's got it, which means she's effectively got access to every spell ever devised. 15[21:05] "Such power..." [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya thinks that those faithless dissidents actually militant and organized enough to opportunistically - and effectively - lash out against the Cult and its cities are quite small in number and largely unknown to each other, though their existence speaks to a larger population that could potentially turn on their masters if they felt they had no choice. Getting them into action [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12would probably require significant crisis and institutional breakdown - failures in the operation of the secret police, food shortages, stuff like that. 15[21:10] 10His fingertips trace one such rendering, a bas-relief of Raksi done in the style of Deliberative-era renderings of the Unconquered Sun here in one of the sacramental libraries with their high, dark ceilings where Eikichi came to try to escape the heat. No luck. [21:11] 4Frankly, the forges sound like a job for Tatsuya, Ying, and Marek. [21:14] 6Hmm. Cutting the legs out from under the secret police DOES sound like a good time. 13Better than food shortages! 6...yeah. [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, yeah, and of course some kind of propaganda, organization, etc in your favor would also help, though good luck getting it over there. [21:24] 6Well, Tatsuya has some experience with organizing... 13And Ying's likeable enough... 6Thaaat's probably a bit much of a risk to actually bet on, even if a revolt in the forge-city would help the rest of their efforts. And if it's just the two of them from the circle... [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway -- it's probably two or three days before Jormunand alights on Chithakara and roots itself into the top of the double-ziggurat. The cerebrate's foundation merges with the ancient stone, and creep spreads all across the top of the city as well as the canopy-farms once fueled by the Harvest Gem. Soon, a great kruthik hive-cluster has interpenetrated Chithakara, not growing into [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12any zones you've declared off-limits (which may include the manse itself) but otherwise choking the former city of life and space. [21:25] 4They could make the whole of Creation look like this. [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12So - forget out in any or all directions? Sit tight and consolidate? Moving out means you preempt or at least match whatever Raksi's counter-move will be. Sitting put will give the kruthik the chance to replicate and, perhaps, evolve. [21:29] 4Ir's most tempted to endorse sending Tatsuya, Ying, and perhaps a small support cadre (if they even have one to spare, any kruthlings would probably be spotted) north to the forges to rattle their pots and pans, while driving south with the bulk of the Swarm towards the desmense. [21:33] 6Messing up pots and pans is always a good time. 13And if they're careful, they can get back just in time to get paid for the Velvet Room job. 15[21:41] 10Over the intervening days Eikichi spends more time with the kruthik than the circle, sleeping little and taking his meals alone. [21:44] 4Ir will check in with him sparingly, less once it's clear that he's in some sort of zone, and instead focus on strategic-level tasks and preparing the Swarm to move south. 15[21:47] 10Without looking up, Eikichi calls, "They know you're there, dear. The kruthik can sense you wherever they've paved." 08[21:51] 7Eikichi can hear a faint gasp of alarm, and the gentle whoosh of someone leaping into the air. 15[21:52] 10Now he looks up. "Blossom?" [21:52] 4Once basic interrogations are done, Ir will release the rest of their prisoners into the forest. Raksi would kill them if she thought it would even slightly unsettle them, and they're honestly safer in the jungle. [22:00] 7After a long moment: "...hi. How are you doing." [22:01] 4Then, it's time to spend most of her days with Jormungand and the queens, singing back and forth to structure the swarm properly for the next leg of the campaign. 15[22:02] 10Eikichi wipes the hair from his eyes, damp and matted with sweat. "I'm afraid we don't fully grasp what Raksi is capable of. We might yet stumble into a devious trap we couldn't predict or prepare for." 15[22:03] "How are you doing? We've been busy, haven't we?" [22:09] 4It's a long, intense jam session, but after some initial, very cordial disagreement with Jormungand, they're all in harmony. The 'overlords' can come next; they need to be able to get the artillery up. [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Over the course of the week, the kruthik tunnelers transform in waves; entire phalanxes shudder, crouch, and cocoon themselves within the creep before erupting hours later with sharper claws and stronger legs. Before long, they're scuttling around the walls and ceilings of Chithakara with the same deftness as the kruthlings enjoy, though admittedly not the same speed. [22:12] 4Excellent. The Swarm grows strong. [22:19] 7...maybe he was just surprised by her. Overwhelmed by her alien allure, like the raksha. "Yeah, we're going to get hit with more powerful sorcery before all this is over. I hope she doesn't try to blow up Mahalanka... I'm okay! Everything's going fine. Ir's preparing our next assault. How are you though?" [22:22] 6Tatsuya 13and Ying 6make sure to let people know where they're going, what their plans are, and how long it'll be before they're back. 13Ying handles navigating through the jungles, hunting for any food on the way, and their general travel pace and plans. 6Tatsuya's main job will be when they actually reach the forge-city. 13Which isn't to say that Ying won't have her share to handle then! But only one of them is a cat. Er, [22:22] a furrocious hunter. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12As Chithakara is rendered over the days into a hellish tumor/hive, Tatsuya steals out to the north, intent on appraising and perhaps lighting the fuse of usurpation in the manufacturies of Ethibaal, the premiere armory of the Thousand-Fangs Army. Moving fast enough to get there and get back before the kruthik are ready to resume the march is a grueling task, even for someone capable [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12of finding, persuading, and ultimately retaining a temporary riding tiger. 15[22:25] 10Eikichi: "I told you, I'm worried. Not even the Princess Magnificent was so deeply entrenched or powerful. Maybe we should've taken up her offer of parley. If nothing else, we'd get to really meet her. Clothed, this time, presumably." 15[22:26] "What do you make of Raksi? You must be thinking the same things I am." [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12The first sign of Ethibaal's approach is the heat. As Ying, who's by now dismounted, turns a corner around a great kapok tree she finds herself on the precipice of a high waterfall. Looking down from a shelf of out-jutting stone, she can follow the misty descent of one of the jungle's many rivers into an enormous volcanic crater, its bottom glowing the fiery orange of molten stone. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Jutting up from the center of the crater is a pillar of tapering stone, and perched atop and indeed carved into that pillar is the forge-city of Ethibaal. A spider's web of metal bridges and catwalks connects the center of industry to roads all around the crater's edge, along which caravans of covered carts and columns of armored troops flow in and out of the city. [22:28] 13A volcano, huh. 6Classics never go out of style. 13Yeah, well, sometimes they do. [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12I guess you never really break the habit. Good luck getting in there, though! [22:28] 7That wasn't what she meant! Ugh! Fine! "Smug witch. I'm sure I knew her in the first ages. I bet she was the same then." 15[22:34] 10Eikichi smiles. "Yeah. Though she's had time to develop her craft. In our day she was one madwoman of many. Now she's the last one standing. Such ferocious drive it must have taken, such an overpowering will to dominate... imagine the mind at work. I hope we get a chance to speak at length. She misses me, you know." 10Catches himself a touch too late. "Misses Gloria. Still, after 15[22:34] all these years." [22:35] 13Well, if they didn't want her to sneak into a volcano lair, they should have... actually there's nothing they could have done. Between Tatsuya's training and her instincts Ying's fairly confident she can just... waltz right in. So! Let's see. [22:37] 7Blossom: "Well. Who wouldn't." 7Oh no, oh no! 15[22:38] "She also, frankly, has phenomenal game. Managing to flirt with all of us simultaneously. Even you were blushing." [22:39] 4Ir, at this moment, is meditating on that very fact. As she has been after lunch and after dinner every day, since then. [22:40] 7Blossom: "She wasn't! She was just laughing at us!" 7And flirting with you! 15[22:41] 10Eikichi: "She was being playful." [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12You know, Ying's right. Though she's made herself up as officer Hmurr, special agent for the Queen - got the proper papers, and everything - that's a distant second layer behind her wishing really powerfully for no one to see or hear her. Though the queues are quite long, and a couple times Ying's got to wait in them patiently because she intuits that cutting would actually constitute [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12theft or violence in the eyes of some of those present, she's within the walls of Ethibaal before noon. [22:43] 7Blossom plops down on her branch. "Hrmph. She tried to blow us up." [22:43] 13Ying pauses to disguise herself, just in case someone actually does happen to be on the lookout for, well. An incredible solar master of disguise and stealth. Not sure how much luck they'll have with that one, as she puts the finishing touches on the same ocelot-cop outfit Tatsuya used before and then proceeds onwards. Some of her best work, honestly, especially on such a short notice... and it's going to waste, because people [22:43] just look right through her like she's not even there. [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Aand she's in! The bustle of the outside doesn't compare to the absolutely insane riot of activity taking place within the city, which is lit at various intervals by rivers of lava (some of which flow upwards, or sideways) and glowing crystals of blue-white glass that seem to radiate elemental cold. Huge, rough-cut cylinders of stone and ore are being hauled up from the city's depths [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12into various temple-forges around its middle layers, and a constant churn of beastmen and unaugmented mortals climbs ladders, bolts across catwalks, crowds through streets, whatever. The shouts of foremen, the cracks of whips, and the screams of human sacrifices fill the air. 15[22:49] 10Eikichi: "If we wrote off everyone who tried to kill us, we'd have hardly any friends." [22:50] 4We hardly have any friends. [22:50] 13We have eachother! 15[22:50] 10And that's a lot for love. [22:50] 4That's in the 'we!' [22:50] "You've never tried to kill me." [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Maybe setting off geomantic implosions capable of compressing entire cities into apple-sized lumps of slag was just the First Age equivalent of a friendly punch in the shoulder. 15[22:51] 10Eikichi: "You've never asked." [22:52] 13Ooookay, well, Ying would generally prefer there to not be whipcracks or screams of human sacrifices, so let's... get to work... as quickly as possible here. Right after we find a place to rest for a bit. And, um, maybe let Tatsuya drive. [22:56] 7Blossom: "Well, I hope we don't have to talk to her anymore. She's crazy and she needs to go down." [22:57] 4PHRASING 15[22:57] 10Eikichi chews his lower lip, but says nothing. [22:59] 7Blossom: "...you don't really think she has 'phenomenal game', do you?" 15[23:00] 10Eikichi: "Look me in the eye and tell me it didn't work on you." 08[23:02] 7Blossom reddens, and does not look Eikichi in the eye. 15[23:02] "I'm lucky I'm not the jealous type, frankly." 15[23:02] "I couldn't compete with that." [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya steals around, now observing a factory floor, now poring over some figures on a manifest while a foreman turns away to pray over a sacrifice, now lurking in lunch halls and backalleys to hear those workmen who still survive whisper among themselves. As you'd expect, he can tell that Ethibaal is being worked at a completely frenzied pace, forced to churn out arms, armor, and [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12what look like the stone-and-metal shells for war golems of some kind at many times its usual rate. This is causing some staffing shortages (not terrible ones; Raksi's civic infrastructure is very well equipped to profit from working people to death) but also, unless those numbers are completely wrong, massive logistical and economic problems; huge sums of currency and sacrificial [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12chiminage seem to be simply vanishing from one spreadsheet to the next. Tatsuya would guess either that the strain of operating at this pace has basically undone the bureaucracy's ability to keep track of all its resources, or that one or more extremely brave overseers is embezzling really gratuitously. [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Either way, that this is causing tensions with the common folk is plain as day. Workers and slaves pray constantly for Raksi to deliverance, sure that she who protects them all can't mean to be causing them so much pain purely due to rumors and reports of foreign invasion. In response to occasional slow-downs and backtalk, the ocelot police have cracked down hard, and have made [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12several examples of slow or mouthy workers just today - once without even making a proper sacrifice of it! [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12By following trails and keeping track of which color of stone or metal comes from which quarry, Tatsuya can even pinpoint who it is that's responsible for the most recent slowdowns or sabotages - there's a small group of metalworkers that's been dropping shards and slugs into otherwise pristine furnaces and causing entire golem-casings to crack or sword shipments to cool unevenly. [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12This has the knock-on effect of prompting more disciplinary beatings and sacrifices, of course, but, well, that's happening in the other foundry and we have to resist somehow, yeah? [23:11] 7She clears her throat nervously. "So what are you doing out here, anyway?" 15[23:11] 10Eikichi: "Ir wants the artillery kruthlings to reach the front lines faster, so I've been helping with that." [23:12] "How?" [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12So: a couple small cells of actual saboteurs, mostly human but with a couple beastmen, who thus far are willing to let other workers pay the price for their sabotages. A greater population of increasingly badly overworked laborers, many outright enslaved, but a great deal of which are appealing to Raksi for deliverance and assuming that the priests and cat-police are twisting or [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12overzealously implementing her agenda. A massive industrial undertaking - you only fought a relatively small unit of armored ape-men outside Chithakara, but this is going to make for many, many more, and some additional mechanical monstrosities besides. [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya gets to see how the elementally-imbued weapons of the Thousand Fang Elites are made, too. It's an involved process that he doesn't see all of but you'd better believe that some blades get cooled in still-beating hearts. 15[23:15] 10Eikichi: "I started by trying more legs, which worked, but the resource outlays are too drastic. Then I thought, perhaps they could leap, as the kruthlings do, but they're far too heavy and the banefire they spit is not stable if you hurl it through the air. What we've finally settled on is stronger, sharper individual limbs, which won't increase their top speed as much but will 15[23:15] make them run smoother over complicated ground." [23:18] 7Blossom: "Which is pretty inevitable, since R-- since they'll be trying to slow us down." 15[23:21] 10Eikichi nods. "It would be a blunder to try to crush us outright, we're too strong. Raksi's strategy must be to make the cost of victory so prohibitive that we won't be willing to pay it. Time, energy, personal risk, civilian casualties... it's hard to have a stronger stomach than a cannibal." 15[23:23] "'Queen of Fangs'... I hope our epithets are so cool." [23:23] 6By the end of the investigations, Tatsuya's feeling fairly ill himself. The still-beating hearts thing really is not something he wanted to know about, or see, ever. The rest of this sounds like it's all primed to explode with the proper spark. Especially if he and Ying can get the workers more organized, perhaps turned against Raksi... oof, that's gonna be a tricky one. Or breaking the grip of the cat-police... 15[23:24] "I've thought about trying to come up with some, you know, to promulgate them, but it's too much like giving yourself a nickname, isn't it?" [23:26] 7This, at least, she can agree with. She nods reluctantly. "Yeah. It's not the same as titles." 7She makes a fist. "People better come up with something good!" 15[23:32] 10Eikichi: "'Eikichi Sho, the Second-Greatest Beauty in Creation'." [23:35] "No!" 7Blossom replies furiously, slamming the tree trunk with her fist. "You're the best!" 15[23:37] 10Eikichi: "You're sweet, but I know when I'm outmatched. She's got some very elaborate sorcery. Even if she stole my shape she would simply look better." 15[23:38] "Imagine that! Meeting someone who looked exactly like you, but hotter." 10His expression grows vacant as he, presumably, does so. [23:38] 4Woof. 08[23:39] 7That would be Eikichi's perfect mate... which isn't her... [23:42] "I guess so..." 15[23:49] 10Eikichi comes back to reality with a start. "Wow, I completely sailed off there. I probably need a nap. I haven't been sleeping well. This heat is awful." [23:52] 7Blossom: "I should too. Have to be ready for the next push." [23:56] 7Some time later, a meditating Ir will detect the scent of cooking wafting up from the former high priest's home, where she'd stashed all her traveling cookware. Someone's using her pots! [23:56] 4Well, it's not the kruthik. Let's find out who. [23:57] 4When Ir enters wearing her usual servant-ish outfit with her hair not done up, rather than the usual Queen Destroyer General getup she's been running the kruthik with, what, precisely, is Excessively Righteous Blossom doing? Because it smells like frying. Session Time: Sat May 18 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] 7She's got that part right. Looks like Blossom's frying breaded chunks of chicken torn from the bone. She's wearing a dark red fluffy bathrobe that's distinctly too big for her, the sleeves rolled up so they don't get into the oil. Oh, and she's pretty definitely crying. [00:01] "Blossom, what--" 4Oh. "Oh. Hey, hey. Let me help with that." [00:02] 4Rolling up your sleeves doesn't actually make you less of a fire hazard with flying oil. That's part of why Ir is sleeveless. The other part is how her arms look. [00:03] "What?" 7She sniffles. "It looks like it's going alright." [00:03] 4Ir: "It is. But you're doing it in a bathrobe. You don't want to get hair in it." [00:03] "...What's wrong?" [00:05] 4Ir won't actually take over entirely, but will more act as an extension of Blossom around the ranges and firepits -- especially when it comes to making the sauces, Blossom will have free rein. Ir will just be there to make sure it all turns out right. [00:09] "Nothing! Everything's fine! I just wanted some--" 7She sniffs again and presses the heel of her palm to one eye. [00:10] "...What do you think of Raksi?" [00:11] 4Ir: "I think that I've spent some time trying to stop thinking about Raksi. I think she's a cold bitch covered in warm blood. But it's not really about what I think about her, is it?" [00:12] "She his Lunar mate?" [00:14] 7Blossom wipes her face and looks at Ir with alarm. "His what?" [00:16] 4Ir: "Marek is my Lunar mate. He explained it as a mythopoetic pairing of a Solar and a Lunar from the First Age that is passed down through our exaltations. And I've done some reading on my own. Trust but confirm." [00:16] "Now. Do you remember what I was like when we first met Marek?" [00:17] 6Something subtler might have been the original plan, but on seeing the conditions here and how angry it's made both him and Ying, let's just cut right to the chase, shall we? By cutting some throats. It's small, at first - some guard goes on break and doesn't come back. Found him with his throat cut, and the killer drew something with the blood. Weird, but they live in weird times. [00:17] 6The city wakes up the next day -- another set of deaths overnight. A few of the slave drivers just don't show up, and they find them in the same condition as the first. It's clearly a cat in the blood, now - killer must've had more time for arts and crafts. There's a horrible scream from one of the offices that afternoon, and they rush in to find... another one of those damned cats. And the words "GENERAL STRIKE." Whispers pick [00:17] up, continue. [00:17] 6The third day is chaos. He's been busy during the night, but during the day -- two different attacks on factory floors across the city, the guy came out of nowhere and just slew the worst of their foremen, slavedrivers, and sacrificial priests instantly. Shoved one into some machines, cut the other's throat, and these are just the ones people saw him do and Gods only know where he'll strike next. Could be your boss. And maybe you [00:17] could help. [00:17] 4Bird's going to be okay for a little bit. Time to work on the sauce. [00:19] 4'We' here explicitly means Ir and Blossom; Blossom was the one with her that day in the abandoned plaza in Firewander. 08[00:20] 4Wild Rose, too, but she's. Ah. Absent. [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12The fearsome and mysterious General Strike has, appropriately enough, struck fear in the hearts of Ethibaal's leadership. Additional guards are mobilized, checkpoints are double-staffed, and a strange an invisible presence begins to swirl and skitter back and forth across the city - Tatsuya can almost feel the eyes on the back of his neck, sometimes - but the spree killer is never [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12quite cornered. Instead, the crackdown falls on the workers themselves - entire shifts are starved or even slain as collective punishment, but this causes even more slowdowns and stoppages. As Tatsuya flees the city of Ethibaal, he can hear the beginnings of a riot behind him. 08[00:21] "Um. I was kind of, distracted." 7Wild Rose was also there. [00:21] "First, I immediately tried to fight him. Without my weapon." [00:22] "Now, at what time in all our history together have you known me to part with my weapon? On purpose?" [00:26] 7Blossom: "Never." [00:27] 4Ir: "So why do you think I did it then? Reason I gave at the time was that I wanted to prove to him I could beat him without the weapon -- but I couldn't. I got Jude's Law back out to finish the fight because frankly, I can't beat anyone on our level hand-to-hand." [00:27] "The reason I really did it is because when you fight hand-to-hand, you get in closer." [00:27] "My head wasn't right." [00:29] "Now, what happens next? Marek calls the fight, we go back to my room, we fuck for 4 hours, but what happens next? Well, he deceives us in the Arena as Arakesh, which I forgave him for, and then...he asked me to help him spy on Heaven." [00:29] "That was awhile after our first meeting. How did I react to that?" [00:29] "My head was right. I brought it to the Circle. We made the correct decision." [00:29] "We froze him out." [00:31] 4She takes the bird off the heat. "I like Marek because he gives good dick and I find myself starting to love Marek because he's a good man, but I've never acted towards him the way I did the first day we ran into each other in Nexus. That was passion, and it was passion imposed by destiny." 08[00:31] "All of which is to say that if this is the worst case scenario, and she is his Lunar mate, if he's any kind of partner he'll come to his senses. And he's a lot of things, but I don't think Eikichi's that kind of thing." [00:32] 4She dumps the bird on the towels and presses off the grease. "Just my take." [00:32] 7Blossom sits down at a table, buries her head in her arms, and sobs. Ir probably gets the feeling that she didn't get much past 'fuck for 4 hours'. [00:33] 4For the love of the Sun. [00:34] 4Ir portions out the fried bird. "Is this your first real relationship?" [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12When Ying left Chithakara, it was a big stone structure supported by massive trees and covered with angry demons. Now, a week later, she returns to something barely recognizable; a huge, cocoon-like structure webbed to gigantic spires of bones and chitin and covered with glowing orange nodules. The familiar, roughly-conical figure of the sessile Jormungand sprouts from atop it, and [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12an entire second city's worth of demon organ-structures stud its exterior and the ground around it. The canopy-farms that once crowned the city have been stripped bare, their precious biomatter having been recycled into the newly-augmented legs of the armord "roaches" which now scuttle like spiders up and down sheer surfaces. [00:37] 13The way back to Chithakara goes less smoothly than the way out, or, frankly, from the spree of murders in Ethibaal itself. Ying finds herself frustrated with her pace, and makes up for it by cutting into her sleep just to keep moving. When she gets back she is going to eat so much food and then fall asleep, it's going to be great. Or else they'll get attacked literally immediately. [00:37] 13...oh right, these gross things. [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Narrow pathways seem to have been left bare of creep and other demon-matter; Ying can follow them up into the city proper to find her circlemates. [00:39] 7She levers her head back up. "No! I..." 7There's a long pause. "Yeah." [00:40] "It's not a criticism. But Marek...isn't mine." 4Before taking a bite of bird: "And without that perspective it might be difficult to tell how much, how obviously, and how strongly he loves you. But it's obvious, it's strong, and it's a lot." 08[00:42] "And regardless of what his crest did in the First Age, Eikichi will never love a murdering slaver with a child's sense of irony." [00:46] 7Blossom gloomily shoves a chicken chunk into her mouth. "Sure... I mean, probably..." [00:46] "But you didn't see him when he was talking about her! He just glazed over!" [00:46] "I think I might love Marek, and I think it might be reciprocal, in its own way. But before Ir met Marek, a girl named Maryam knew Gull Marchant of the Portwatch. And Ir still loves that man, even though both he and Maryam are long dead." [00:46] "Everything I've got, she has more of! I'm not good enough!" [00:46] 4More firmly: "That's not true and you know it's not true." [00:47] "And more importantly than that you SHOULD know that even if it WAS true, that's not why he loves you." [00:49] 4She pours them both oranged juice mixed with a light white wine. Her glass gets more than Blossom's. [00:52] 4...Damn these nuggets are pretty good. 14[00:54] * Joins: mattbaby [00:56] 7Blossom drinks, coughs, drinks again more carefully. "Come on! You saw her too." [00:57] 4Ir: "I did. She's using sorcery. Sorcery isn't real, and it fades after the impression. You didn't feel this threatened by Wicked Triumph's Reckoning, and I think that's mainly because he was more active in his methods than Raksi is, if not more overt." [00:58] "He called himself 'the Second-Greatest Beauty in Creation'. Like three hours ago." 08[00:58] "But think about it for a moment. Eikichi likes powerful women as something of a default preference, yes? But what is one of his favorite ways of interacting with you, out and about, around all of us? What is one of the main ways he shows that he cares? I'll answer for you: it's making you blush or flush." [00:59] 4Ir: "Tell me: do you think he can make Raksi blush?" [01:03] "...how could you tell?" [01:04] 4Ir: "Blood on the outside isn't the same as blood on the inside, or there'd be no point to war. You can tell." [01:05] "Do you think he can fluster Raksi? Make her nervous? Make her stammer?" [01:08] "I don't do any of that stuff!" 7She says, flustered. [01:08] "Is that why you think he's with me? Just to make fun of me?" 08[01:09] 4Ir resists the urge to roll her eyes. "I don't think that at all. I think it's a measure of asserting control on his part, but more a measure of comfort. Think about how he grew up. Think about how much opening up to you the way he has costs him, and how trivial basic sex appeal is. Eikichi is no one's slave, and because of that he'll never actually love a woman like Raksi the way [01:09] he loves you. No matter what his First Age exaltation did." [01:10] "And if he continues to ensorcel him, she'll die in the dirt." [01:10] *"And if she continues to ensorcel him, she'll die in the dirt." [01:11] 7She sniffs through a stuffed-up nose and continues to eat. "That's true. I hate her so much." [01:12] 4Ir: "She's a tyrant, and it seems she's stolen what rightfully belonged to all of you. I'm a bit more committed to regime change now than I was before." [01:17] "...Thanks." 7Blossom doesn't really get what Ir was talking about, but she does feel a bit better. [01:17] 7She pulls the bathrobe around herself. [01:17] 4Ir: "Do you want me to say something to him?" [01:17] "It'd just be one sentence." [01:18] 4She tells Blossom what it is. [01:18] "No! It'll just make him feel bad! He--" 7She listens. "Oh. That might help. ...He has trouble noticing these things, sometimes." [01:19] 4Ir nods. Then, brighter: "This recipe is really good. What do you want to call it?" [01:23] 7She gazes at her last nugget, appraisingly. "Chicken chunks?" [01:24] 4Ir: "Maaaaybe. But chunks is kind of grotesque. They're more like...so you're mining and you get a hunk of gold or whatever out of the cave wall, what do you call it?" [01:24] "Nuggets, right?" [01:25] "Heh. Mining for chicken is a pretty funny idea." [01:26] 4Ir shrugs. "I mean that's what you're doing when you carve the bird, right?" [01:26] "The bone's the bedrock, the grizzle's the limestone..." [01:27] "No, I like it. It's good." [01:28] 4She beams. "Nice. Anyway, I'll clean this up and wrap the leftovers. You should try to get some sleep." [01:32] "And just...have some faith, babe." [01:32] "We're gonna do this." [01:32] 7Blossom heaves a sigh. "Okay. I guess. It's just... yeah. I do need to sleep." [01:36] 4When Blossom's off to bed, Ir heads back to the kitchen, frowning as she dumps the oil, cleans the deep pots, and tidies up. But as she's preparing to wrap the still-warm, still-delicious nuggets, she has another idea. [01:37] 4She puts them in a bowl, and she tracks down wherever it is this man has hidden himself away. [01:37] 4And pounds on the door three times. 15[01:38] 10There's a muffled "second!" 10and the sound of piles of things being shifted before Eikichi pokes his head out, red-eyed and with the imprint of a book's bezel cover tattooing his cheek. "Ir? What's wrong? It's so late-" [01:39] 4Ir shoves the bowl of nuggets into his chest, demonstratively but not hard, and when she speaks there's still a trace of a scowl on her face but her voice is level. "Get your fucking head right." [01:39] 4Without waiting for a response, she turns and walks down the hall. 15[01:40] 10Eikichi looks down at the nuggets, then up at the departing Ir. She's long gone before he ventures a weak "Thank you." 10to the night. 14[02:27] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[03:19] 10How early does Blossom wake the next morning? 08[03:21] 7As early as always. She may be emotionally rocked, but she's not dead. The massive winding limbs that grip the stone structure of the city make for an interesting run, and if Eikichi decides to run across her he can find her doing inverted pullups on a long branch about ten feet off the ground near where they've all decided to camp out. 15[03:26] 10Eikichi thinks about trying to sneak up on her, like she did on him, but it's not really his style. He'll stand in plain view and watch her work out until she acknowledges him. [03:31] "Oh, hey!" 7She flips around the branch and lands in front of him, mopping the sweat from her face with a small towel. 15[03:35] "Perfect landing," 10says Eikichi. "I wonder what your workout will look like in Zeal." [03:41] "That's a good question. Circling the castle battlements?" 15[03:45] "We could build an obstacle course..." 10Eikichi sits down on a huge exposed tree root that runs parallel to the ground, and invites Blossom to join him. When she does, he takes her hands in his. "Tell me if I hurt you." [03:49] 7Blossom: "Wh--!!" 7What is talking ab-- Wait. Ir. Oh, shit. [03:50] 7Blossom: "Wh--!!" 7What is talking ab-- Wait. Ir. Oh, shit. [03:50] 7She swallows uncomfortably. "It's not you, it's her." 15[03:53] 10Eikichi shakes his head. "She had help. This is what she wanted. She wanted to sow disunity, and I made it easy. I let Raksi prey on your fears by being blind to them." [03:58] "Ir told me," 7She licks her lips, suddenly dry. "She told me that the ancient Children of the Sun had destined mates. One Solar, one Lunar. Marek was hers... is Raksi yours? She's-- I mean, look at her! She's beautiful, ancient, powerful... How can I match up?" [03:59] "Ir said that stuff didn't matter to you. But it matters to me!" 7She grinds her fingers across the tree root, leaving claw marks from her fingernails. 15[04:01] 10Eikichi raises a finger. "Listen to me. This is very important." 15[04:01] "I don't have a Lunar mate. Gloria had one." 15[04:09] 10Eikichi speaks more haltingly now, as staying up all night only let him get a minute or two of what he wanted to say straight in his head. "The things I feel are memories. They're not my feelings. They belong to somebody else." [04:12] 7She looks at his face searchingly for a moment. "Okay. Okay." 15[04:14] 10Eikichi: "It is very difficult to feel like this about someone who is trying as hard as she can to kill me and everyone I love. And I've been handling it poorly." [04:14] "'kichi... she knows how she makes you look at her. Makes all of us, I guess - we're not blind - but you especially. She's laughing at us, at me." 7Stomach acid boils up in her throat and she struggles to keep her face composed. "I hate her so much." 15[04:16] "I know. I know you do." 15[04:16] "I don't think she cares about us. I think if we turned around right now she'd stop thinking about us immediately." 15[04:16] "But what Raksi is thinking isn't important to me. What Raksi wants isn't important to me." 15[04:17] "What's important to me is that I can make you understand that you have nothing to prove to me." 15[04:18] "Do you remember our first date? When we visited that bookbinder and I taught you the Messenger?" 10He doesn't mention the nosebleed, or that Blossom absolutely did not realize it was a date at the time. [04:18] "Yeah... that was nice." 15[04:21] "I said then that I was frightened by how high a standard you hold yourself to. I was afraid that if I got close to you, you would hold me to the same standard, and I wouldn't measure up." 15[04:23] "I'm not afraid of that anymore." 15[04:24] "Because I have gotten close to you, and I've seen you be big-hearted, forgiving, and just. I've seen you choose kindness over vengeance, and charity over judgment, over and over again." 15[04:27] "And for those reasons, as well as... several more I could name, you earned my trust. And you won my heart." 15[04:27] 10He says it again. "You won." 15[04:38] 10Eikichi realizes he's been talking without interruption for a while and lets those last two words hang in the air until Blossom can collect her thoughts. [04:38] "It's weird." 7She interlaces her fingers with his. "I don't get it when people say they have nothing to prove, because I wake up every day ready to prove myself again. But if you said 'oh, I have to work hard to prove myself to you, Blossom', I'd be like... 'Nooo! It is my humble duty to oblige my favorite boy with all the treats I am able to procure!'. But it feels weird when you [04:38] say you feel the same about me, even if it's true." 7She corrects herself. "Sorry, it's true, I believe you." [04:38] "But I'm never going to stop working to show I'm the best for you, even though you don't think I need to." [04:40] "That's just how I am. I guess you know that." 7She closes her eyes, leans back against the tree, and smiles. "And it is nice to hear you say 'I won'." [04:40] 7She rubs the back of his hand with her thumb. "I really did." 15[04:41] 10Eikichi smiles. "Me too." 15[04:42] 10Deep breath. "Do you want to know why, even if you hadn't already won, I would choose you over Raksi every time?" 08[04:42] 7Blossom assumes it's because she doesn't eat babies or sacrifice the innocent on blood-soaked altars, but she wants to hear Eikichi say more nice things about her, so she just nods. 15[04:43] 10Eikichi: "Raksi has power and knowledge we can only dream of. She's seen the greatest works of humanity fall to dust, outlived nation after nation and empire after empire. She could have anything she wanted, anyone she wanted -- and she does." 15[04:44] "And the limit of her ambition is one jungle." 15[04:48] "In the meantime, it's been, what, two years? Since you took the breath? And in that time you led a peaceful revolution in Crystal, pulled a nation out from under the heels of House Cathak and raksha squatters, and brought fairness and renown to Nexus, the biggest shithole in Creation. You discovered that the gods of Great Forks ruled on a lie, and then you raised an army to win the 15[04:48] war they abandoned for them." 15[04:49] "And now you're kicking Raksi's greatest ambition to the dirt. Why? Just to set up your next big project." [04:50] "It's not *just* me," 15[04:50] "You think that she's out of your league? You're not even playing the same game!" 15[04:52] "Raksi may be strong. But she's petty. In time you'll surpass her in strength. But she will never hold a candle to your vision." 15[04:53] "Still, if it would make you feel better, we can start drawing you baths of blood to brighten your complexion..." [04:54] "Blegh." 7She sticks her tongue out. 15[05:06] 10After another lengthy silence, Eikichi says, haltingly again: "That's what I wanted to say about the thing you were afraid. Can I tell you what scares me?" [05:07] "Sure." 15[05:11] 10Eikichi: "The feelings I have for Raksi aren't mine, but I do still feel them. I'm attracted to her, obviously, and there's a certain... warmth. And familiarity. It's a memory of love. Like someone who you used to be with, but you moved on, without resentment or grief." 15[05:12] "What scares me is that, when we finally face her, however we do... I don't know if I could bear to hurt her." 15[05:13] "What if I flinch or hesitate, and she gets away? What if she hurts somebody? What if she hurts you?" 15[05:13] "It's like Reckoning again. I'm too weak to face her. Too soft." [05:19] 7Blossom: "You won't. All the things we've seen her do in just this city... and it's going to be worse the further in we go. You won't forget that." 15[05:22] 10Eikichi: "I saw the things Reckoning did too. He did some of them to me. And I still couldn't do anything when the time came but cry at him." 15[05:23] "One way that I know that you're stronger than I am is that I know if I were to fall to madness or depravity, you would stop me." 15[05:23] "It might tear you apart, but you would stop me." 15[05:23] "If the same thing happened to you... I couldn't." 08[05:32] 7Blossom: "Eikichi... no matter what happens, we'll beat her. All of us together." [05:32] "The right thing, the just thing, is never impossible." 15[05:37] 10Eikichi doesn't look convinced, but he also doesn't look like he wants to talk about it anymore. "So what did Ir say about me?" 08[05:40] "I was kind of out of it. Oh, but she said--" 7She does a voice. "'Eikichi is no man's slave!'" 15[05:41] "No man's slave, huh." [05:43] 7Blossom: "I think she just meant nobody's. They have weird idioms down in Pneuma." 15[05:44] "No, no, it's fine, Ir's point is well taken. Just promise me I'll always be your favorite consort." [05:46] 7Blossom snorts derisively. "If you think you're going to get out of our wedding now, think again. Beside and not below." 15[05:47] "I know, I know. I just wanted to make you laugh." [05:53] "Should've sounded less eager, then." 7She replies smugly as she pulls her legs up onto the tree root and leans against him. 15[05:54] "I should have, shouldn't I?" [05:56] 7She chortles. "There, now you've done it." 15[05:58] 10Eikichi: "Another reason you're better than Raksi: she wouldn't think I was nearly as funny as you do." 15[05:58] "Imagine making Raksi laugh. 'Look! Someone vulnerable is in pain!'" 14[06:03] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[06:03] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[06:03] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho [06:03] "I can't believe some of the Silver Pact like her." 15[06:04] 10Eikichi shrugs. "She's successful. When you're fighting for survival, sometimes that's enough." 15[06:04] "A lot of people are going to mistrust us if we knock her over." [06:07] 7Blossom: "A lot of people mistrust us anyway. To Hell with them." 15[06:08] 10Eikichi kisses the top of Blossom's head. "So brave. So fierce. So cute." 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Sounds like the heavy industry which furnishes Raksi's forces with their best arms and armor has had something of an, ahaha, monkey wrench thrown into the works. [21:32] 4She'll return to find the Swarm has grown to consume much of the city, and that their general is preparing to march them south. [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12At the same time, the kruthik's heavy infantry - the massive, armored, acid-spitting tunnelers, or "roaches" in colloquial parlance - have completed a stage of directed evolution. Their digging claws are now, also, climbing claws, and as easily as they can scuttle up and down the walls and trunks of the newly-infested city they'll have no trouble keeping pace with the leaping kruthlings [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12on their warpath through the jungle, although actually keeping up is a slightly taller order. [21:35] 13So... sleepy... more gross bugs, cool, just want to go home... [21:35] 4There are living quarters that the infestation hasn't touched that the circle are using to rest that Ying can commandeer. [21:41] 13Gotta check in with the fa- the Circle, first. Oh, and the the Velvet Room owes her, now. Then she can actually rest... in this... city under the gross giant bug demon thing... 15[21:41] 10Eikichi has become, if anything, even more withdrawn since the night of the nuggets, but at least he's not actively hurting Blossom's feelings anymore. He sleeps fitfully if at all and spends all his time among the kruthik. [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12It does, indeed! Actually finding an entrance to the Room is somewhat difficult now that Chithakara's geography has been badly malformed, and Morgana looks quietly displeased at the purple-gray goop slowly creeping in under the door behind whichever of Tatsuya and Ying actually come to make delivery, but your accumulated cred still spends. They'll be able to find, for you, a hearthstone [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12or relic judged by occultists to be of the same approximate grade. [21:46] 13It'd be Ying - she's too exhausted from the jounrey to let Tatsuya out for Room purposes, even though she is, um, not the Room's preferred worker of the two. [21:47] 13She does make a very good apology for the - she calls it "creep" because it creeps her out - that leaks in, and hopefully stops it from getting in further. 14[21:55] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:06] 13It takes her a bit of haggling, some confusingly-worded requests, and a very awkward exchange where Morgana showed her - uh, that was probably a human heart - but she's eventually able to convey what she wants. It's a beautiful pair of knives. [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12You can only hope that jade naturally turns that shade of red when worked. [22:08] 7Red jade probably does. Idiot. [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway -- far to your east, Mahalanka itself sits at the center of a great web of geomancy. Nearer to your southeast, an important node in that web trembles under arcane tensions, essence beading on and around it like drops of dew. [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Of course, there's still a standing invite for the lot of you to just plain visit Mahalanka under diplomatic protection, if that's where your fancies take you - and at least some of yours do, I'm pretty sure. [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12(Also, it's probably that much easier to actually conquer the forge-city of Ethibaal now) [22:15] 4Accepting Raksi's offer and wandering into the den of a Lunar god-queen who already has massive pull over even the most disinterested members of the Circle -- Ir had to meditate for days to clear her head after merely being exposed to an apparition -- seems like a manifestly bad idea. [22:15] 13Has there been any update to our invitations given the actions of General Strike and any suspicions that may arise regarding them, and us? [22:16] 13Which is not to say we should take them, but maybe Raksi would give Ying tips on how to look and um well okay yeah your point is taken. 08[22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, the uprising in Ethibaal only erupted a few days ago, and who knows how much attention it's consuming to suppress. Separately, Chithakara proper has been severed from Raksi's geomantic matrix, partly due to Eikichi and Blossom's quick engineering but mostly because the kruthik just devoured almost everything in and around it. This means it's at least a little less trivial for [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi to throw communiques at you - she'd probably have to rely on Infallible Messenger or similar tricks, and maybe that's just beneath her. 08[22:17] 4That said, just ignoring her and asking Eikichi to go cold turkey might do more harm than good, long term. 15[22:17] 10Ridiculous. Imagine being beneath Raksi. [22:18] 4We need to show that we can-- [22:18] 4Okay, nope, nope. [22:18] 7Nnng [22:18] 7I'M IMAGINING THAT AND I HATE IT. I THINK ABOUT IT AT NIGHT TO ALWAYS FILL ME WITH VENGEANCE [22:19] 4...Maybe Blossom needs to start meditating too. [22:19] 7Why? She is as calm as a snowdrift gently melting down into a still pond. [22:20] 13...do you want to talk about it? [22:23] 7Enough! Is Ir ready to move out? [22:23] 4We march at dawn. [22:23] 13So that's a "no, but I need to." [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12At dawn, the Squared Circle sallies forth. Skitters forth, really, as they either march or ride at the head of a tide of ravenous demons. Kruthlings ricochet from tree to tree, ravagers clamber over foliage or burn through it, and a cluster of queens, some veteran and others newly-spawned, rides on the back of a dense cluster of ravagers that forms the heart of your column in about [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12the same place that the queen would ride in a mobile colony of army ants. [22:37] 13Soooo grosssss [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Speaking of, you run into many of those, flooding from before and beside you to make a spirited attempt at gnawing or stinging you to death. And trees fall down upon you, and rivers flood their banks and come crashing into you, and thunderbolts miraculously miss every leaf and branch of the canopy, snaking in circuitous paths down towards the jungle for to simply get a chance at [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12earthing themselves in the flesh of you and your servants. How unlucky can you possibly get? [22:38] 4Ir spares a glance back at Jormungand on its spire as they leave. Hopefully they return to find the city in good...claws...one way or another. [22:39] 4I bet we can get more unlucky, as we approach the battery powering this entire operation. [22:39] 7Soothing Ami is a good distraction at least, and lets her focus on more immediate military concerns. [22:40] 13Ying's still out, by the way. Tatsuya's taking a break, 6having done a bunch of murders and also Ying has these cool new knives to play with! 08[22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Though most of the Circle itself is simply too powerful to be bothered by the elemental sabotage woven into Raksi's jungles, Eikichi gambles and loses - it's like the essence here knows him, can wriggle free of every countersign and insinuate its way past the most insistent of abjurations. Meanwhile, the kruthik have merely demonic vigor, and while the banefire inside the ravagers [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12burns more fiercely than the regular fire around them the much worse-defended kruthlings and queens take some casualties from simply moving around. [22:58] 7Blossom will fret and wring her hands and punch falling trees out of his way, but he always seems to get struck by lightning or fall in a fire ant nest when she's not looking. [22:58] 7Look what Raksi's doing to her poor boy! Blossom hates her SO MUCH! 15[22:59] 10He wouldn't admit as much, but he swears he hears a voice beckoning him deeper. 08[23:00] 4Ir watches Eikichi with no small measure of concern from her perch atop the Swarm...but she's got more than enough on her plate right now. She can't protect him, and he doesn't need protecting. [23:00] 4...Hopefully. 08[23:00] 13Ying's whistling as she walks, though she has the good graces to stop whistling whenever she remembers that Eikichi is nearby. So, she's whistling like, 75% of the time. [23:00] 7He actually does need protecting! 15[23:02] 10I can't see no reason to put up a fight... I'm living for giving the devil her due... [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Finally, whoever's taking point - Ir or Blossom if I had to guess, maybe both women shoulder to shoulder? - shoves aside one last curtain of vines to find... a lake. It's vast and still, sparkling with the sunlight that cascades down from above in a great opening in the jungle canopy ringing it. The waters must be miles across, and while sloping paths of soil and stone plunge into [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12the depths from all around the borders of the lake there doesn't seem to be a single thing upon it - no island or islands, no pleasure raft or floating altar, nothing of that sort. It's just sun, water, and the thrum of potent essence in the air. [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Although... [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12...mm, no. Something about the way the light's hitting the water, or the air? But you'd have to get closer or maybe even wade in to figure it out. At either side of you, the kruthik begin to approach the lake, curious. They're already gnawing on the foliage and scrabbling at the earth, making the place theirs. [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12-WAIT. Ir spots it! The light isn't glinting in the air off essence alone. It's silken webs, nearly invisible, anchored on leaves and roots and even grains of sand and stretched all across the water. [23:13] 4Ir: "Spider webs. Look closer." [23:14] 13Ying: "Spider-whats?" [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Many of them dip downward, disappearing into the lake itself. [23:14] "Where are - oh my gosh." [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, this is clearly a demesne aspected towards both water and solar essence. A manse built in the area would probably have to be constructed with one of the two in mind for the purpose of focusing and making use of it, but instead the landscape here has been artfully groomed to allow both sources of power to flow freely, one beaming down and one welling up so that both ultimately [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12pool in the area and then diffuse through the rest of the jungle's dragon line network. The quickest way to disrupt it, and the way that would allow your army to profit most from that disruption, would be to go to and destroy the very heart of the place - but that's at the demesne's center and, Blossom judges, on the lakebed itself. As is your kruthik are not aquatic, though if you [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12cared to take more time they probably could be. There's a stopgap, though - if you basically ring the place, allowing your demons to dig and chew and fester around the demesne-lake's full circumference, you could sever it from the rest of the TCZ and deny Raksi its powers even though you woudln't then be in good position to claim those powers for yourselves. [23:20] 4If we're willing to spend the time to evolve the Swarm, we could have it both ways, yes? [23:20] 4Though obviously there are going to be some defenses coming for us. [23:20] 4Spiders, almost certainly. Perhaps the lake itself. [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom suspects that powerful elemental forces lay in wait here for anyone who would try, of course. Demons would likely ruin the place's vibe, but the extra-dimensional "Eyeless" would not, so stay on the lookout. As well, expert occult knowledge must have been used in both making and maintaining the place, and Raksi supposedly spends all her time in Mahalanka, so at least one [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12expert sorcerer-geomancer's presence is heavily implicated. [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Something else occurs to most of you, as you consider the interaction of web and water (and, particularly, the way one kind of essence might be given to interweave with and great pockets in another): https://img.purch.com/w/660/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5saXZlc2NpZW5jZS5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL2kvMDAwLzAxNy8xNTkvb3JpZ2luYWwvZGl2aW5nLWJlbGwtc3BpZGVyLmpwZw== [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12This specifically looks like the work of a (magnified and exaggerated) diving bell spider. If you can find the right entrance... there, say - the lake bottom might well be navigable even for those who don't breathe underwater. Of course, we're talking for small groups of people, not an entire demon swarm. [23:26] 13Good thing we don't have one of those! This group of disgusting freaks tagging along is not with us. Please. Please [23:26] "Hmm. I don't like the idea of nesting in here. She's definitely got forces hidden in the lake, and she could hit us from water and shore. I can breathe underwater if need be, but the rest of you...?" 7She's never actually tried to breathe underwater, but it can't possibly be hard. [23:28] 13Ying: "It'd be - fine, probably, um, except for everyone else, but..." 15[23:32] 10Eikichi waves them on vaguely, slumping against a roach. [23:32] 7Aaagh! [23:34] 4To Ying: "Give him some first aid. Even if he complains. Then we're going under." 08[23:35] 13Ying: "He'd need bedrest - Eikichi, will you promise me to sleep it off?" [23:36] 4Well, he can't promise that. 15[23:36] 10Eikichi: "I'm not sure I could keep that promise." [23:36] 13She sighs heavily. "So, nyo, then." 15[23:37] 10Eikichi shrugs. "It'll be fine. I've got company." 08[23:37] 4Ir grimaces and resists the urge to hit something, since the things closest to hand are Kruthik. To the Fates: "Eikichi is in charge while I'm under the water. Your top priority is protecting him." [23:37] 13Correction - she actually said purromise. [23:38] 13Also purrobably, and fur instead of for. Out of practice. 15[23:38] 10Purractice. [23:38] 13Look. 08[23:40] 7Blossom glances at Eikichi with a worried expression on her face, but she nods and steels herself. 15[23:41] 10Eikichi will smile gamely back. [23:41] 13Ying: "Feline like we're walking into a trap." [23:41] 13She does not look thrilled. 15[23:42] 10Here's to feeling good all the time. 08[23:42] 4Ir: "We are. But the choice is to trust in Eikichi and our army, or let you two go do it alone." [23:42] "And I'm choosing trust." 15[23:43] 10Eikichi looks askance at the nearest queen. "No pressure, babe." [23:43] 13Ying nods. "Trust, but furrify." [23:44] 4Ir pauses. "You know what, before we go down, let's be smart." [23:44] "Encircle the lake and cut this shit off." [23:45] "If the trap's in the lake, we've got forces on all sides. If it's outside of the lake, it can't make an end run around us to reach the desmense." [23:50] 13Ying: "Stick close, or purrade around... these... things?" [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12The kruthik stand ready. Ir could order the queens to order the swarm to begin to devour and assimilate the lakeshore in earnest, snaking in one or both directions around the body's perimeter. [23:50] 4Let's begin. [23:51] 4We'll move like the clock, but keep a reserve ready at our entry point to reposition quickly if the situation changes. Session Time: Fri May 24 00:00:00 2019 14[00:10] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12The kruthik press up against the lake, then begin to stretch into a great serpent that burrows and gnaws and rips into the soil and foliage. Roaches scythe their way through earth and stone with the same ferocity they used to breach the roof of the Princess Magnificent's subterranean fortress, and queens clamber over their backs to deposit glistening fruiting bodies into the furrows [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12thereby dug. Kruthlings spiral up tree-trunks and across great vines in packs, gnawing rapidly like rats to send branches crashing downward into what quickly become composting piles and ripping away leaves and fronds that might have blocked sunlight that burgeoning kruthik bio-structures could themselves make better use of. [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12A few of the kruthlings make the mistake of ranging too far into the water itself, but don't get more than a few steps in before they're caught on the invisible webbing and, it seems, electrocuted. A close eye reveals that they're not being supercharged but rather drained of essence, carbonized by their own souls(?) being inflamed and ripped rapidly out of their bodies - but the [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12casualties don't even reach a dozen before the queens, taking a closer eye to the frenzy and frolic of their smaller and younger minions, exert a greater psychic pressure and ensure that kruthik and water-webbing cease to mix. [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12So it is that the kruthik don't even see the coming. They don't come out of the water or the trees - they are the water and the trees. Land and sky turn against you not as freak weather pattern or frenzied animal attack, but as the full sorcerous animation of the terrain. Soil and stone wrap themelves in vine and branch, seemingly having decided not to take it any more as they [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12erupting around and beneath the kruthik in lumbering conglomerations of limbs that only approximate the human form maybe one time out of three. The webs strung in and around the lake twitch and flip, releasing the diving-bell bubbles they've been holding still beneath the water, but those bubbles don't burst; instead, they condense into densely-packed fists and faces and writhing [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12tendrils. [00:21] 4Ah fuck. [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12So much of the bubble-troops must have been packed under there that the water level of the lake itself is rapidly dropping, revealing dripping paths of stone and crystal that now surge with elemental soldiers. But that's just at the edges - at the center of the lake, the water's actually rising slightly, suddenly stopped by a gangly, black-armored figure raising too many limbs in an [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12elaborate mudra. [00:22] 13Well. Well, there was nothing anyone could have done about this, and guhh6hhhHHHHHHHH 13NOT THE TIME [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Battle is joined! [00:29] 4Ir: "Sun, I fucked up -- INCOMING!" 14[00:32] * Joins: tom [00:50] 7This is exactly what she didn't want to happen. [00:53] 13We did this on purpose. To ourselves. And we just live like this now! [00:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Arctic winds suddenly begin to swirl around the ever-rising pillar of water that your distant foe stands on. Magic is shaped, and perhaps loosed... next week! 14[01:28] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:54] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[02:54] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:39] * banana|peels is now known as banana|split 14[04:15] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[05:08] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[15:02] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:48] * Joins: tom 14[20:48] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[20:48] * Joins: tom 14[21:56] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Sat May 25 00:00:00 2019 14[03:18] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[03:57] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:33] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[10:59] * Joins: hrolfy 14[13:31] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:25] * Joins: hrolfy 14[15:05] * Joins: tom Session Time: Sun May 26 00:00:00 2019 14[00:49] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:56] * Joins: tom 14[00:57] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:56] * Quits: banana (*.net *.split) 14[02:56] * Quits: dammitwho (*.net *.split) 14[02:56] * Quits: Crion (*.net *.split) 14[02:57] * Joins: dammitwho 14[02:57] * Joins: Crion 14[02:57] * Joins: banana 14[06:11] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:59] * Joins: hrolfy 14[11:00] * Quits: hrolfy (Quit: Leaving) 14[19:10] * Joins: tom 14[19:33] * Joins: hrolf 14[19:54] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[22:48] * Joins: dammitwho 14[22:55] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:06] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:27] * Joins: tom Session Time: Mon May 27 00:00:00 2019 14[00:26] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:15] * Joins: tom 14[01:38] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[04:50] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[05:11] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[07:21] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[07:21] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[07:21] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[09:11] * Joins: VoxPrimey 14[09:12] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:33] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:28] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[14:35] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:59] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:18] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:01] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:01] * Joins: cbass 14[16:03] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Quit: ) 14[16:03] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[16:56] * Joins: tom 14[19:14] * Joins: hrolf 14[22:08] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:01] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Tue May 28 00:00:00 2019 14[02:03] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[02:39] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[04:06] * Joins: tom 14[04:22] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:34] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[09:26] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:53] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[15:55] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[18:07] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:42] * Joins: tom 14[18:51] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:04] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:07]  15[20:07]  15[20:07]  15[20:07]  15[20:07]  15[20:11] The sky was dark for fifteen minutes. People scarcely had time to panic and point at the now totally violet sky where the red star once hung. Most of Nexus's citizens, deep underground, never knew at all. 15[20:13] And then, rising like an awful dawn from what remains of Firewander, it streaks across the sky, on a trajectory known only to its new master. 15[20:13] Where goes the Eye of Balor? [20:13] 5Xu Sim streaks through the smoke and dust rising from the blasted districts of Nexus, illuminated here and there by violet beams of the setting sun piercing here and there through the haze. Atop his dust devil, the sorcerer wheels south, careening through evacuated plazas and marketplaces strewn with ash and broken twisting rosebrambles. He glances behind him as he sets an evasive [20:13] 5course towards the city's southern wall. [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12They had other problems. Keldar's been enforcing the peace and nipping disorder in the bud with the bloody-minded air of a man who really does not have time for this bullshit, and that'd be bad enough if the only means by which he could fully interact with the world around him weren't his sword. As is, miscreants, rabble-rousers, and pick-pockets who happen to spark Keldar's sympathies [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12merely wind up conscripted, indebted, or imprisoned; others get literally disarmed or completely run through as allowed for by local ordinances. This sort of thing's only slightly Keldar's fault - he's harder to recognize without his armor or his mien of narrative relevance, and several people only realize they're not just mouthing off, fleeing from, or trying to bribe a generic Guardsman [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12or mercenary when there's already been a flash of red-spattered gold in the air. 15[20:15] Ballare has already convened her remaining officers, and with them Stranger Visits Heaven, wearing his own object of dread and foreign power. She snaps her fingers rapidly as if to rekindle her own thoughts. "We need arrows, we need gunners, we need... I can't remember their NAMES-" [20:20] 5Xu Sim jukes this way and that, clutching the Eye of Balor - the twice-stolen star that fell and rose again, as he scans keenly for the once-Emissary whose eye it once was. "Old fool," 5the doctor mutters smugly to himself as he wheels about an ancient, half-toppled obelisk. [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Later, Keldar takes up a place to rest near the main meeting-table of the Nexus defense coalition. He slowly draws and releases breaths, essence suffusing his body as he sits cross-legged on an unused cot and stares stonily forward at the hilt of the daiklave planted in the floor before him. 15[20:22] Xu Sim is followed hard upon by the being who still answers only to Emissary. The sorcerer's riding-storm is matched gust for gust by a floatilla of cobblestones ripped from the earth and left suspended in the air for just long enough to bear the city's dead-and-risen god forward step by terrible step. 15[20:22] "YOU ARE IN CONTRAVENTION" 15[20:23] The Emissary's voice carries from edge to edge of the city's formal jurisdiction. All in the city, above and below, can hear it. [20:23] 14He has spent the last six hours being healed by the excellent and precise hands of Vissi D'Arte's order, and while doing so, studying the Sol Ring. [20:23] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven was hoping not to have to use it so soon. [20:24] 13Xia Lan's eyes flutter open in whatever hospital bed she's found herself placed in. Medical tent, something more permanent - is there anyone with her as she wakes? [20:24] 14But does the Sun ever stop moving across the sky? No? Then why should he, or anything else? [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12It's been a few hours when the Emissary's voice rings out and Keldar's eyes snap open. He mouths 'the fuck?' to himself as he snatches Terminus up from the center of the military tent he's squatting in and then darts out towards the noise. 15[20:26] Tsuka sits beside her, his arm in a sling. He doesn't notice she's awoken. [20:26] 13Xia Lan: "...where am I?" 13She feels better than she has in years. In a manner of speaking. [20:26] "I am the law!" 5Xu Sim bellows back, rather philosophically, at the top of his lungs. He hopes the creature can hear him over the wind. To make sure, he makes sure the Codex can hear it, too. [20:28] 14Stranger closes his eyes as his shoulders tighten. A deep mental breath, then evenly: *> 15[20:28] Tsuka starts. "You're awake! This is the infirmary. The raksha almost killed you but you pulled through." [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Is the chase approaching or departing? If it's the former, Keldar will make for high ground, leaping from balcony to rooftop in hopes of intercepting. If it's the latter, uhh... well, he'll still probably try to get higher for a better view, but what he'll really need is some means of following, like an emas or easily-bullied sorcerer. [20:29] 5Xu Sim now wheels around through the embankment of one of Hollow's most ancient aqueducts, a structure that's spent the last thousand years shielding camps of vagabonds from the rain. Xu Sim holds his breath, all but daring the Emissary to plow through it. [20:29] 13Xia Lan: "Why am I here?" 13Something about her tone is off. "And who else was wounded?" [20:30] "Don't say words you're gonna regret, don't let the fire rush to your head, I've heard the accusation before -" 5Xu Sim is reciting some sort of poem; the characteristic howling wind of the dust devil is audible in the background. [20:30] 13She props herself up to look at Tsuka. 15[20:31] Tsuka: "A lot of people. The fighting is bad. Stranger and Keldar were hurt. Stranger's up with the generals, I don't know where Keldar is." [20:35] "And how many dead?" 13She adjusts whatever bandages are left - Xu Sim's work was undoubtedly excellent, and she's had a full rest, so who knows how much is left. 15[20:36] Tsuka: "I... I don't know." As if on cue a stretcher covered in blood-spattered cloth is carried by the tent, in full view of Xia Lan. [20:41] 13Gritting her teeth: "I need to speak with Xu Sim." 13She stands, looks around for her weapons, and adjusts her armor before stalking off, not giving Tsuka a second look. [20:42] 14A voice in both their heads: [20:42] 15[20:43] Tsuka follows her. "I'm supposed to keep you here until someone can check on you." [20:45] 13Xia Lan:  13She will stop, at least, and turn. "Surely someone should be checking on you - your arm's broken." 15[20:46] "I'm fine," says Tsuka dismissively. "You got run through. I heard there's some kind of faerie curse affecting people she personally hurt." 15[20:46] He reaches out with his good arm to grab her shoulder. "Come on." [20:47] 13Xia Lan: "Never better." 13She shrugs him off. "Which is more than I can say for the dead." [20:49] 14Stranger will give Ballare a significant look before he departs. "The gentry don't take this city. The undead don't take this city. No matter the cost." [20:49] 14Then he goes with whatever soldiers she will release to him, leaving her to interpret him however she sees fit. 15[20:50] Tsuka: "What's the plan?" [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12There's some kind of dust cloud, and an awful red glare behind it... Keldar, currently perched on a rooftop, narrows his eyes and leans forward. [20:52] 5Xu Sim continues reading his poem into the Codex as the dustdevil whirls around another pillar of the ancient aqueduct as the Emissary slams through a portion of the stonework behind him, losing ground in the chase but picking up speed most ominously. [20:55] 13Xia Lan considers. Then: "That sounded like something breaking. How do I get out of here, and find out the damage he's - the Eye!" 13She picks a direction at random and stomps off. 15[20:58] Tsuka grits his teeth and follows her. [20:59] "I can talk about his medical priorities after I find out how much work we'll need to repair... whatever he's doing," 13she explains. "It sounds horrendous." [21:00] 14To Tsuka, and the line: [21:00] 14We did not need this now. 15[21:02] Tsuka: [21:03] 14Stranger might have had a joke about that phrasing previously. Now, he just has a terse: 15[21:06] Keldar peers through the dust and witch-light and sees Xu Sim holding the Eye of Balor in his clasped hands, riding the storm south and leading the Emissary on a mad, destructive chase through the city, heading ever southward. [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, that ain't right." 12He makes his decision and tightens his grip on his sword, immediately pacing sideways along the rooftop he's on before hopping, to the next, and then the next, and then one upwards, and then- [21:11] 14Stranger's following with long, loping strides -- longer and faster than his usual gait, almost like something's pushing him forwards -- but he has to stick to the streets. [21:11] 14Still, he manages to at least keep pace with Keldar. 15[21:14] The Emissary roars: "WEEPING SORE! EVERY STEP YOU TAKE WITH STOLEN PROPERTY DAMNS YOU FURTHER" 15[21:14] But the wind is too fast for him. [21:16] 14This isn't going to end well. [21:17] 13Of course it isn't, have you seen-- [21:18] 5Xu Sim now approaches the southern bastions of the city, erected by the first inhabitants of Nexus to pile up the rubble to defend themselves from the plains raiders and reinforced, bit by bit, every day since the catastrophe that laid the city low thousands of years ago. Xu Sim nearly toys with the Emissary, giving him a chance to catch up. The Emissary plows through this wall too, [21:18] 5sending chunks of cobblestones and debris flying. Xu Sim continues southward. [21:19] 5Looming before him, the only thing south of Nexus, is Akasha - the Wailing Wall. Xu Sim glances back at his pursuer with a savage grin. [21:20] [21:25] 14Damn these streets! Stranger is able to take something of the lead now as they start losing buildings for Keldar to jump between, due to the grand destruction the outer fringes of Nexus have experienced. But they're still trailing behind. [21:25] 14To Xu Sim: [21:26] 13That makes two of us. She's still struggling to keep up with Tsuka, though, so there's no time for it. [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, through the codex: "Don't fight the goddamn Emissary, you complete-" [21:27] 14Tersely: [21:27] 14Tersely: [21:28] 5Xu Sim flies right over the Wailing Wall and lands on the other side. He simply laughs at whatever startled hobgoblins or thralls are camping there and ensures that the Wall is standing between him and Balor, as he draws a line in the sand with his toe and takes a deep breath. [21:28] [21:28] [21:30] 5Xu Sim laughs his high, chattering laugh through the Codex and at the slumbering Wall. No driver to constrain it, no pilot to command it. [21:32] [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "He's the original Emissary of Nexus and laws against robbery get enforced real straightforward!" 15[21:36] "INGRATE AND INFIDEL!" The Emissary's voice is all but drowned out by the terrible sound of the Wailing Wall, but those still within the city limits hear him clearly. What Xu Sim does is see; a warm splotch of red light forms at the center of the wall like a molten core, and then it ruptures like a popped cyst, spraying molten metal everywhere as the titan, masterless, yields to 15[21:36] the fury of the fallen king. [21:37] 14Stranger: [21:38] [21:58] 5Reality begins crushing in where Xu Sim was standing. "I've seen this one before," 5he notes, before moving with such impossible grace as to have never been standing in that one spot - quickly reduced, for an instant, to a pool of gibbering burning madness in the Tapestry - in the first place. With a winning grin, he taunts Balor with his own Eye. [22:09] 5Xu Sim then somersaults forwards and jabs forward with a rabbit-fast open palm strike. [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's been basically dashing in the wake left behind Stranger's clumsier but ultimately more consequential motion. Now, as the glowing red hole in the Wailing Wall approaches and the war between prince and sorcerer erupts, the Dawn Sergeant pulls a shield out of his grand daiklave and begins a disciplined, head-down, bulwark-forward charge. [22:14] 14Stranger strides onto the field -- well, more like stalks. "BALOR! As one of the duly-appointed Emissaries of Nexus, I would have words. This doesn't need to end this way." [22:16] "Xu Sim, stop hitting him. We can work something--" [22:22] 5Xu Sim actually snarls at the sight of the Dawn Sergeant and Stranger-Visits-Heaven. "I don't need you!" [22:22] "He's an idiot. And he's slapping you, not using sorcery. So surely we can--" [22:31] 5 As if to punctuate Xu Sim's argument with Stranger, he's nearly flattened by a teleporting rock. [22:32] 14Stranger stares at the rock. To 'the Emissary': "Are you even going to talk to me?" [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar overtakes Stranger, his sword gleaming as the almost-trivialized Dawn Sergeant finds himself in his element. "Xu Sim! Drop the damn eye!" 12He's charging both sorcerer and raksha lord - how do either seem to respond? [22:40] "It's property that I've recovered, from the city's attackers, and I name it my rightful spoil and badge of office!" 5Xu Sim replies. [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You can recover everything you like, but it's clear where it came from and whose it is. Drop it or drop!" 14[22:43] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[22:43] * Joins: mattbaby [22:44] 14Stranger: "HE IS AN ENEMY OF THE CITY OF NEXUS. HE IS NOT THE EMISSARY. YOU STRIKE AN EMISSARY AT YOUR OWN--" [22:48] 14This behavior was at least understandable when this creature was duly consecrated by law as The Emissary. Now it's simply betrayal. 14[23:02] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Mutter: www.mutterirc.com) 14[23:02] * Joins: mattbaby [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar strikes at an emissary. But it's a small-e emissary, and it's just at, right? It's a neat little move - a bump with a flat of the shield that ends up bending Xu Sim's wrist awkwardly, followed by a flip of the daiklave that sends the Eye of Balor sailing in a burning crimson arc up, over the sorcerer's head, and a few yalms westward. It lands in the sand, probably with a [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12small explosion that sends red crystals spiking upwards or similar effects. [23:06] "Fool!" 5Xu Sim spits, explosively, his eyes all-but popping out of his skull. [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Now the Dawn Sergeant's between Balor and Xu Sim. He turns between one and another, shield up. "All right, all right, it's out of play for the moment, yeah? In a moment we can sally over and pick it up and dust it off." [23:06] 14Fool. [23:09] 14There's a disappointment in his voice when Stranger snaps his fingers and says: "Everything stops." [23:11] 14Stranger: "I wasn't clear before, and that was a mistake on my part. But I will not be having Emissaries theiving from city-historical defenders, city-historical defenders murdering Emissaries, and Dawn Sergeants attacking their fellow councilors while I am legally and duly obligated to care about the fate of Nexus." [23:11] "So none of you get the Eye, until this is sorted." [23:11] "How did you...?" 15[23:12] A thin white line draws itself around Stranger, beyond which everything is refracted, opaque, and still. The sky above is a sunless, pitiless white. [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The fuck?" [23:12] 14Stranger: "I can, and will, ask you the same. Sergeant." [23:12] 14To 'the Emissary': "Are you willing to talk now, or does this need to continue?" [23:14] 14He sounds older than he did when he was storming here, full of piss and vinegar and fire and fury. [23:15] 14Stranger's response to Keldar gave the heavy impression that any further conversation on this would take place AFTER this crisis was resolved. For both their sakes. 15[23:16] Xia Lan and Tsuka crest the last ridge to see the dome, far brighter from the outside than within. They can barely make out Stranger, Keldar, Xu Sim, and the Emissary inside, but the awful red eye of Balor shines like a beacon in the deliquescent dirt all the same. [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar shakes his head to himself. "I don't want the damn eye. I want this sorted." 15[23:16] Keldar seems to be locked in combat with Xu Sim, while the Emissary's hand curls imperiously and Stranger's fingers are mid-snap. [23:16] 14Strannger: "Then our offices align." [23:17] "Moron! Brute! Imbecile!" [23:17] "Thief! Traitor! Oathbreaker!" 15[23:17] Tsuka: "...huh?" [23:17] 13Xia Lan comes in preparing to yell at Xu Sim for - well, a lot of things, actually, but nearly trips in surprise when she sees what's going on. Then: "Well, this solves at least one of my problems with him." [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, frowning at Xu Sim: "Alright, listen, pal-" [23:19] 13She then wanders over to simply... pick it up. "I'd been speaking with Elegba, in a dream. He was going to give it to me, but then SOMEONE -" 13she glares at the shimmering form of Xu Sim inside - or are those Stranger's robes? She's pretty sure that's what Xu Sim looked like, last time she saw him. [23:19] "Someone. Took it from him. And now here we are." [23:21] 14Over the Codex: 15[23:22] The Emissary ignores Stranger, Keldar, and now Xu Sim, thrusting his arms at the barrier itself. It vibrates and ripples, and for a moment it looks as if it's going to shear, but the vibration builds and builds even after the Emissary throws his hands up in frustration, rattling bones and rupturing blood vessels. 15[23:26] The feedback is agonizing, but not damaging. 15[23:26] "What treachery is this?" [23:26] 14Stranger doesn't realize his lips bleeding until he's done talking. "Satisfied?" [23:26] *14lip's 15[23:26] Tsuka, who for all his graces is not fast on the uptake: "...what is that?" [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar grits his teeth, his anima flaring as he pushes Entreaty into the shockwave of Balor's power. He ends up digging a furrow through the sand with his feet, but remains standing, even though besides the daiklave and thunderbolt shield he's just got generic cloth fatigues and a bandanna on. "Couldn't tell you." [23:27] "We are all in time out." [23:27] "Literally." [23:27] "Because clearly we're incapable of conducting ourselves properly." [23:27] 5Xu Sim says nothing, glowering at the other three men. [23:27] 13She finally glances back towards Tsuka. "The Eye of Balor. We have it now." 15[23:27] Tsuka: "...!!" 15[23:28] "We can use it to kill the raksha!" [23:28] "And more importantly neither of those maniacs do." 15[23:28] "We can win the war right here, right now!" [23:30] <@Ferrinus> "Emissary," 12says Keldar. "We don't have to do this. Right? Eye's yours. There was some confusion in the war but we've got it sorted." [23:30] 14Stranger: "His name is Balor." [23:31] 5Xu Sim says nothing. [23:31] 13Xia Lan simply stands there, considering. She rolls it back and forth in her hands. [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Not like he's told it to me. Point is, I don't want to have this fight and none of us need to. Except I will need to if we can't figure this out, all right?" 12His voice tightens slightly here, and it sounds like he's pleading with the old warlord of the Crusade. [23:33] 14Stranger: "And no matter his service to the city, he is a non-citizen guilty of interfering with an Emissary on his official duties and is required to prove ownership of the Eye in a court to have it released into his possession. Unless we waive that legality, which we have the authority to do under law, by our discretion." [23:34] 14To Xu Sim: "Where did you find it?" 15[23:34] Tsuka: "...Xia?" [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You can't tell me he's not a citizen. Better claim to it than either a' you." [23:35] 14Stranger: "The law doesn't care." [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "'fraid he does, heh heh." [23:36] 14Stranger just shakes his head. [23:37] 5Xu Sim: "Not that it is any concern of yours, who borrowed that ring without permission from someone who borrowed it with my permission -" 15[23:38] The Emissary: "This barrier is beyond stone and light. Raw fiat." [23:38] "From me-" [23:38] 14Stranger ignores Xu Sim's discourse on property rights (how it's HIS property, right?). [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Frankly I think Xu Sim's got a case here, but that's a different conversation." [23:39] 14To Balor: "That is the job." 15[23:39] He turns back. "This is an unlawful forfeiture of property. At least one." [23:39] 13Xia Lan then pockets the Eye and starts walking towards the south. Away from Nexus. 15[23:40] Xia Lan has about ten paces of Tsuka gaping at her back before he follows. "What is it? What's the plan? Are you looking for a vantage point to use it from?" [23:40] "But the Eye of Balor was in the hands of Elegba the Saffron Sultan. It is, of course, one of the objectives of the enemy attacking the city. I claimed it, as is my right, as spoil of war - and to keep it out of the hands of the City's enemies." [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's eyes flash. "Elegba had it?! That little shit. How'd he manage it?" [23:42] 14Stranger: "He has a point. And the 'unlawful forfeiture of property' you claim is not against the Dogmas. You need to make an argument, at most generous, that this is an obstruction of trade." [23:43] 13Xia Lan: "I'm not sure why I was here at all, really. Killers, thieves, and lawyers." 13She's still walking as she talks. [23:43] "But it's irrelevant. You are not the Emissary, yet you have been clearly acting in that role for some time. Which puts you in violation of the Fifth Dogma." [23:43] "None may falsely claim the council's name or sanction." [23:44] "So I am unsympathetic to a claim advanced on civilities." 15[23:44] The Emissary tilts his head. One wonders what expression he's making under the mask. [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You know, Stranger, you keep saying that, but while the new Council picked up a bunch of new Emissaries it never actually fired the last one. Frankly I'm not sure if it can." [23:45] 14Stranger: "If the Council cannot maintain continuity of position, then you are not the Dawn Sergeant, and you should stop pretending you're the law here." [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "'course it was important for the defense of the city to be seen to while the original was, uh, on sabbatical, but you can't talk to this guy like he's some lay citizen. He might've been supplemented but he wasn't replaced." [23:46] 14Stranger: "There was a discrete and actionable leave of absence from the office. It was addressed in a legal and forthright manner." [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "By taking on scabs, yeah." 12'Scab' is, of course, a term of endearment in Nexus. "But that doesn't automatically knock out the original guy." 15[23:46] Tsuka: "Xia? Xia what are you doing?" 14[23:47] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:47] 14Stranger: "So it is your position that the expansion of the Emissary to multiple office-holders grandfathered the previous, then-dead office-holder back into the office's ranks. This does not seem defensible." [23:48] "We were appointed specifically because Balor had abandoned the city. First by death, then by petulance." [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm saying there's not even a 'back'. The-- fuck, we can clear this up right here." 12He turns to the masked man. "Did you quit? Are you quit? You our Emissary or not?" [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm saying there's not even a 'back'. The-- fuck, we can clear this up right here." 12He turns to the masked man. "Did you quit? Are you quit? You our Emissary or not?" 15[23:49] The Emissary: "Of course I'm the Emissary." [23:49] 13Xia Lan pauses. "Were you not going to leave with me? I can't imagine staying in Nexus, of all places. You may stay, if you'd like. Den of iniquity that it is and all." 15[23:50] "You're the Dawn Sergeant? I could have sworn you had freckles." [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar misses a half-beat. "I'm new." 15[23:50] Tsuka: "What? We can't just leave. People are counting on us!" [23:51] 13Xia Lan corrects, gently: "Nexus residents should not have counted on me." 13She laughs, high and airy. [23:51] 10Jai's made good time. He's no small distance away from the city, more than halfway towards the raksha camp. He'd taken a long look back when the shouting started, that terrible voice they must have heard on the Blessed Isle. But he stuck to the mission. When he looks back, and sees an uncanny light shining forth from the city... his resolve wavers. He tries to reach Stranger on the Codex. No answer.  [23:52] 14Stranger: "Pellicia, Dawn Sergeant was murdered by Mori Nogare, and replaced by Keldar, the Tiger of Nexus." 15[23:52] To Keldar: "You brought her murderer to justice?" 15[23:53] Tsuka: "You ARE a Nexus resident! You're a citizen! You're a hero!" 15[23:53] He grabs her by the shoulder again. [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Even odds on that one. We had him surrounded, and he either escaped by magic or blew himself up." [23:56] 13She suddenly grows angry. "Don't touch me -- you -- ugh!" 13She can't seem to pull her arm free. "Let me go!" [23:57] 14Stranger: "He used the Wyld Shaping Technique to escape. He is in the wind." [23:57] "So to speak." 15[23:57] Tsuka pulls his hand away as if burned, though it's his own grip that's far hotter than it has any right to be. "what's gotten into you?" 15[23:58] "You can't just turn you back on Nexus. This is your home! You fought for it. You almost died for it. We need you." 15[23:58] "I need you." [23:58] "Her death is what convinced the Council that succession was necessary. That, and Brueghel." [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Brueghel first, I believe. Bunch of us got sworn in as new emissaries, then I took over Dawn Sergeant when we lost Pellicia. But, uh, how about you?" 12This to the man in the mask. [23:59] 07The small, chittery voice at his shoulder. 10Jai makes a face. "Yeah, you're right. Let's turn back. This feels wrong, all of a sudden." 10As it happens, retracing his steps will be the easy part. Session Time: Wed May 29 00:00:00 2019 [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Whoops, scratch that last part, I missed his answer. [00:01] 13Xia Lan: "You - I," 13All the rage immediately flies out of her. "Oh, shit, what was I doing? What am I doing?" 13She pats her pocket to find the comforting weight of the Eye of Balor. "I - maybe you'd better hold it, or something." [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar gestures vaguely. "So like I said - he's the Emissary, obviously. Got the mask and everything. And the Eye's his property, and the connection of private property to the Second Dogma -- don't make me go through it, everyone knows that." [00:02] "...have I done nothing but insult you and the city since I woke up?" 13And Xu Sim, but he deserved it. [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We can drop the bubble, dust off and pass along the Eye, and everything's hunky dory. Chalk up everything before that to the fog of war." 15[00:03] Tsuka: "You're probably just shaken from the fight. Let's go back." [00:03] 14Stranger closes his eyes. "Has he been acting as 'the Emissary.'" [00:03] "Or has he been pursuing personal grudges and leaving the entirety of the work up to us, since his return?" [00:03] 5Xu Sim, at last: "Keldar. Sooner or later, you will face the fact that the Nexus you grew up in is gone and will never return." [00:04] 14To Balor: "Are you willing to return?" [00:04] "Are you willing to swear to it?" [00:04] 13Xia Lan: "Let's go. And quickly, I don't know what the Hells that bubble is. Other than awfully convenient." [00:04] "Are you willing to be the Emissary of Nexus again, in step with us who remain, and enforce its laws? And not fly off for weeks at a time?" [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "He went right at Cethleann's forces earlier! And if he's not doing enough for your tastes, well, that's an internal matter. Doesn't just get him fired automatically if he's drunk off his ass fo-" 12Keldar hears Xu Sim, and rounds on the man. "The hell it is! It's still standing." 15[00:05] The Emissary: "I am nothing but my word, and Nexus is nothing but me." 15[00:05] "I will swear this until all is dust." 15[00:06] Tsuka: "Okay." [00:09] "I reject the authority of this creature, a pretender to power," 5Xu Sim states flatly. 15[00:10] The Emissary: "All power is pretension. If you can dispel the illusion, do so." 15[00:10] "Otherwise you're just a boor talking in the theatre>" [00:12] 5Xu Sim's icy glare is fixed not on the Emissary, but Stranger-Visits-Heaven. [00:14] 14So Stranger-Visits-Heaven makes him swear, and consecrates it with the power of the Sun. Then he snaps his fingers again, and time reasserts itself. [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar listens in, and shrugs to himself, nodding faintly at nobody. He releases a breath as the bubble of fractured time vanishes, glances over his shoulder, and then feels his blood run cold as he realizes the Eye isn't where it landed. 15[00:19] Xia Lan and Tsuka hurry for the city, and make their way over its walls and into its ruined outskirts. They pass Lookshyans, Dawnsmen, and the restless dead. Something makes the hair on the back of Xia Lan's neck stand up. They head for the congregation of officers and mustering soldiers, but it doesn't seem to get any closer. The sky above darkens, and it gets so terribly cold. 15[00:20] Emerging from the now swirling frosty mist like a bad dream is the great and hideous visage of the Mask of Winters. [00:20] 13Oh, fuck. 15[00:20] "My, my." 15[00:20] "What have you got there?" [00:20] 14He notices the Eye is gone. 15[00:21] The road around her is now so dark her face is only illuminated from below by the hateful red of the Eye. [00:21] 5Xu Sim scoops up a few handfuls of sand - full of the Emissary's blood and effluvia. [00:22] 14He frowns. [00:22] 13Xia Lan:  13Her voice is badly shaken. [00:23] 14He spins to Balor. "Go! Xia Lan waits with your Eye! We will follow!" [00:23] 13To the Mask: "That's, ah. Recently retrieved property." 15[00:23] The Mask leans down, hands on his knees as an adult might reckon directly with a toddler. 15[00:24] "Give it to me." 15[00:24] NEXT TIME: The Enemy Within 14[02:22] * Joins: tom 14[02:35] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[05:07] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[06:01] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:06] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[06:06] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[06:06] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[07:59] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[07:59] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[07:59] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[08:22] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[08:46] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:34] * Joins: tom Session Time: Thu May 30 00:00:00 2019 14[01:31] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:38] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:28] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:33] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Mutter: www.mutterirc.com) 14[11:37] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:42] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Mutter: www.mutterirc.com) 14[12:10] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Mutter: www.mutterirc.com) 14[15:04] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[18:30] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:43] * Joins: tom [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12 .----.-----.-----.-----. [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \ \ \ \ [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12| \/ | | __L_____L__ [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12| | | | ( \ [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12| \___/ / \______/ | [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12| \___/\___/\___/ | [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \ / / [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12 | __/ [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12 \_ __/ [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12 | | | [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12 | | [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12 | | 14[20:45] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:44] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[21:48] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:50] * Joins: trenchfoot Session Time: Fri May 31 00:00:00 2019 15[00:27] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri May 31 01:10:07 2019 Session Start: Fri May 31 13:22:59 2019 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[13:22] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[13:22] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[13:22] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[14:12] * Joins: tom 14[16:14] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:48] * Joins: tom [20:21] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> 12 .----.-----.-----.-----. [20:21] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> 12 / \ \ \ \ [20:21] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> 12| \/ | | __L_____L__ [20:21] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> 12| | | | ( \ [20:21] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> 12| \___/ / \______/ | [20:21] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> 12| \___/\___/\___/ | [20:21] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \ / / [20:21] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> 12 | __/ [20:21] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> 12 \_ __/ [20:21] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> 12 | | | [20:21] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> 12 | | [20:21] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> 12 | | [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12The Squared Circle's forces are surrounded and, frankly, interpenetrated by massive hordes of hostile elementals! From the west, and the roots and ground beneath your feet, are lumbering golems made of wood, soil, and stone, plodding on prime-numbered sets of legs as they lash at you with misshapen limbs or crystal-fanged maws. From the east, the lake-spray itself surges to the [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12local demesne's defense, as serpents and seahorses and abstract corkscrews made of massive, tightly-packed bubbles soar both at you and over your heads. And your problems don't end there - far to the east, in the center of the lake, a robed figure wearing a broad hat and ringing a heavy bronze bell is standing on a slowly-rising pillar of water, swirling black-and-silver essence rotating [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12around their body as they shape sorcery with far too many arms! 15[20:38] 10Eikichi squints out at the sorcerer on the pillar. "That spell...!" [20:38] 4Fuck! [20:38] 4Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck. She KNEW it was a trap, and still-- 14[20:46] * Joins: mattbaby [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Ohhhh, that spell~ 08[21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12It's the Thorn of Cold Rebuke! Eikichi can quickly match the motions made by the sorcerer to his own readings and general understanding of magical lore, perhaps nodding to himself as strands of silken air-essence come spinning of the distant Lunar's fingertips to wrap themselves around a rapidly-growing needle of fuming ice. Within seconds, the spell's complete, and with a single 08[21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12resounding chime of the sorcerer's brass bell, the magic goes streaking across the lake, trailing hail and snowflakes as it arcs. Onlookers besides Eikichi might be relieved to see that it's clearly falling short, plunging down into the water just past the shore rather than striking the kruthik armies directly. [21:08] 4Ir watches in horror as the young queens recently hatched are frozen and broken; kruthlings die by the score; ravagers freeze then crumble where they stand. [21:09] 4Her mistake has led to slaughter. [21:09] 4She barely registers ignoring the frost. [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12But, as with many magics of war, this isn't actually a spear - it's a bomb. An eruption of freezing essence rips out from and across the water, surging across the battlefield and devastating every army in its path! Bubble-serpents freeze and shatter, kruthik explode as their internal fluids solidify and expand, elementals of earth and tree shiver and fall over, returning to the soil [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12and ultimately tumbling down the sloping shore into the water. [21:21] 4The snowflakes land in her hair, not melting. Ir, the General of Hell, purses her lips and smiles. 15[21:23] 10Eikichi's cuts and sprained joints all scream anew with the burst of cold wind, and it's all he can do to force his stiff fingers into mudras as he attempts to conjure up a spell. [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a winter wonderland you're suddenly fighting in. The good news is that much of the lake leading to the sorcerer has also frozen over, with the spider's webs low down to the water freezing and in many cases cracking apart. If you're confident navigating the ice floes, you've got a path most of the way over to them. 14[21:25] * Joins: tom2 14[21:25] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:32] 4Still smiling, she raises her hand in a claw, and Jude's Law streaks across the close battlefield like a silver streak, puncturing these bubbles. [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12They burst en masse, the newly-freed water joining the chunks of frozen elemental already littering the ground as it flows back down into the still-shrinking lake. 14[21:33] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:34] "Everything forward. Into the breach. Into Hell if you must." 08[21:34] 4She had moved back to defend Eikichi before; that concern is gone. The general has a purpose. [21:40] 13Ying ducks between moments as the ice-bomb lands in their midst and comes out the other side a whirlwind of claws and fangs, striking any bubbles that come close to her! Desperate times call for desperate measures, and she doesn't have enough energy to let Tatsuya handle this one - she's going to have to fight, and she has no intention of losing! 14[21:50] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:01] * Joins: tom [22:24] 4Ir jumps atop six kruthlings frozen together and roars, "FORWARD! FORWARD FOR THE SWARM! DRINK YOUR FILL! EAT YOUR WEIGHT! CATCH YOUR LIMIT!" [22:27] 4The banner of the burning spearwoman above her grins madly, writhing and pulsing. 14[22:28] * Joins: mattbaby [22:38] 4And when the jungle comes up behind them, Ir is there personally, for each and every one of them. But not for the Circle. [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom ends up jetting upwards out of a massive and chaotic melee, only having to dodge blasts of water and glowing bubbles from the horses and hydras of lake-froth still soaring in the air around her. Back below, the kruthik are decimated, colloquially in some cases and literally in others, though they're giving as good as they're getting and the rest of the actual Circle seems [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12largely unscathed by the assault. [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Out over the lake, the sorcerer's rising higher and higher on a pillar of churning water, one that seems to be fueling itself on the froth liberated from the destroyed diving bell elementals and, increasingly, filled with swirling chunks of rock and wood that keep tumbling down into the lake as the earthen forces from the east are ripped apart. [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Is it... growing arms? [22:59] 4Ir screams and turns her attention back to the jungle, ignoring the titan stepping up out of the lake, but even Jude's Law spinning like a buzzsaw sword can barely make an impact. [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Yes, it's a sort of gigantic headless torso with a huge glowing spiral across its chest, and it's extruded a gigantic fist and arm made of water. You can see the swirling remains of the elementals you're destroying coiling their way up and around the limb, which is currently being drawn slooooowwly back such that it'll come arcing back down straight at your positions! [23:16] 13She spins and cuts in between the living jungle as she tries to knock away their numbers, but doesn't manage to get hardly any blows in. Still, with where they end up going, maybe that's for the best -- and she's on her way towards the enormous creature and the sorcerer atop it! 15[23:19] 10The jungle floor glitters with volcanic glass and lingering frost. Eikichi shakes his sleeves out, trying to ignore the stitch in his side, and folds his arms tightly against the cold. [23:38] 4The queens -- well, what's left of them -- begin to move back while directing the kruthlings forward, and the ravagers into position to begin their launch. [23:38] 4Ir smiles thinly at the dead jungle, then turns back to this big drink of water. [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12A gigantic, vaguely-humanoid arm whose total mass probably constitutes a sizable fraction of the lake it came out comes arcing sloooooowly down out of the sky. So slowly, in fact, that it's not too hard to avoid it, whether by blurring or leaping out of the way or, by the time it's mostly-diffuse and at ground level, digging into the ground and shielding against it. Expertly parted [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12by the queens' commands, the kruthik are able to dash out of the impact, and the queens themselves are shielded by Ir's own parry. Session Time: Sat Jun 01 00:00:00 2019 14[01:09] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:04] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:56] * Joins: tom 14[08:32] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:44] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:18] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:32] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:20] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:43] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:15] * Joins: tom Session Time: Sun Jun 02 00:00:00 2019 14[01:13] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:30] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:52] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[09:52] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[09:52] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[15:35] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:58] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:23] * Joins: tom 14[16:48] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:47] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:57] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 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known as dammitwho 14[22:14] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:11] * Joins: hrolf 14[23:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:26] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Tue Jun 04 00:00:00 2019 14[00:11] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:30] * Joins: tom 14[02:48] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:48] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:00] * Joins: tom 14[13:05] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:09] * Joins: Crion 14[13:13] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:41] * Quits: dammitwho (Connection closed) 14[13:42] * Joins: dammitwho 14[17:19] * Joins: tom 14[18:41] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Wed Jun 05 00:00:00 2019 14[00:52] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:57] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[01:57] * Joins: dammitwho 14[04:00] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:21] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:35] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[09:52] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:26] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:02] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:34] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:05] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:38] * Joins: tom 14[22:33] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[22:33] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[23:38] * banana is now known as banana|split Session Time: Thu Jun 06 00:00:00 2019 14[01:59] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[08:51] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:15] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:06] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:02] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:52] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:40] * Quits: Crion (Connection closed) 14[18:41] * Joins: Crion 14[19:37] * Joins: hrolf 14[20:07] * Joins: tom [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 __,aaPPPPPPPPaa,__ [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,adP"""' `""Yb,_ [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,adP' `"Yb, [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,dP' ,aadPP"""""YYba,_ `"Y, [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,P' ,aP"' `""Ya, "Y, [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,P' aP' _________ `"Ya `Yb, [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,P' d" ,adP""""""""Yba, `Y, "Y, [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,d' ,d' ,dP" `Yb, `Y, `Y, [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 d' ,d' ,d' ,dP""Yb, `Y, `Y, `b [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 8 d' d' ,d" "b, `Y, `8, Y, [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 8 8 8 d' _ `Y, `8 `8 `b [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 8 8 8 8 8 `8 8 8 8 [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 8 Y, Y, `b, ,aP P 8 ,P 8 [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 I, `Y, `Ya """" d' ,P d" ,P [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 `Y, `8, `Ya ,8" ,P' ,P' d' [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 `Y, `Ya, `Ya,,__,,d"' ,P' ,P" ,P [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 `Y, `Ya, `""""' ,P' ,d" ,P' [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 `Yb, `"Ya,_ ,d" ,P' ,P' [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 `Yb, ""YbaaaaaadP" ,P' ,P' [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 `Yba, ,d' ,dP' [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 `"Yba,__ __,adP" dP" [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 `"""""""""""""' [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Like a gigantic toddler having a slow-motion tantrum, an enormous, headless torso made of rock, ice, and lakewater is slamming its palms over and over down against the shoreline. The motions are slow and heavily-telegraphed, and with careful coordintaion Ir's surviving queens are able to deftly maneuver the kruthik swarm out of the way of the first blow - but it sends a violent [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12shockwave of earth and spray that immediately threatens everyone still land-bound, and is already drawing back for another blow. Standing atop it, a Lunar sorcerer weaves spells with six spiderlike hands - but even farther above him, a rain of caustic banefire sails down from the sky, having been disgorged by your demon army! It's Blossom who's closest to your only seemingly-sapient [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12enemy, standing in the air on jets of flame that issue from her hands and feet; the rest of you are farther back, not quite in place to land blows but certainly in place to receive them. [21:22] 4Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. [21:25] 4Ir's sing-song directions to the Swarm are short but pointed: ignore the Circle. Kill your foes. Consume everything. [21:31] 4She bids them forward even into the dreadful churn and wave of this titan's open-palm slam; it moves her hair, and that is all. [21:34] 4For its part, the Swarm sings back, eager and joyous; they've long for their general to finally let them off the leash. [21:34] *4longed 14[21:40] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[21:42] 10The Raptor shrieks over everyone's heads, and Eikichi limps after it. [21:44] 4She exhorts the Swarm to ignore the cursed blaze with no small amount of annoyance. These trivialities. The power of the Swarm can take this fool down alone. [21:48] 13Ying sprints forward, starting on all fours before rising to her feet and bracing herself... then she leaps, claws extended as she aims for the sorcerer! [21:55] 7Blossom dives, dodges, and swerves around the thin tendrils of dangerously charged webbing, hurling bolts of flame at the sorcerer as she goes! [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a probably pretty satisfying SCREEE as the creature's struck dead on by an unavoidable rain of flame, staggering back as his robes burn away and reveal shiny (and scorched) black chitin. 08[22:01] 4Ir strides up to her queens, impatiently bumping past Eikichi like she didn't even see him -- which she didn't -- singing and clicking to her field commanders. The bump modulates her tone and momentarily confuses them, but they get the idea...and they apply it perfectly. [22:01] 4What the flying, burning one just did. But more. [22:23] 4Then the sorcerer responds with ice, and she doesn't realize she's screaming until two of the Fates' torn-apart bodies hit the cold permafrost. [22:23] 4The Kruthik fall to ruin, and their general with them. [22:26] "NO!" [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12A hell of ice and mist once again fountains out across the battlefield as the sorcerer launches a second thorn of cold rebuke! He's clearly wavering, pained in a dozen places by Blossom's fires and scraping at the very dregs of his anima, but though the explosion unleashed by the shattering frost-spear is fractured and stuttery enough that all of you can easily sidestep it and the [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12fiercer kruthik can withstand it, the queens, left behind in the mad rush for the titan's essence-rich body are unable to evade the blast. Many fall dead; of those, many literally shatter as they hit the re-frozen ground. Others simply slump, shivering and unable to act further, while others begin to crawl slowly and piteously away from the water's edge. [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying, on the other hand, receives a flash of battle insight - she's got this bastard's tell, now, and he, himself, can tell. His own morale broken, the spider-wizard turns to immediately leap down and away from the back of the great titan... and just in time, too, because killing acid is raining down! [22:30] 13This... this jerk!!! [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12You've got other problems - the huge spiral somehow carved into the water of the titan's face/chest is glowing brighter and brighter blue, and the entire creature is rearing back and then leaning forward as though preparing to blow out the candles on a nameday cake. [22:36] "NOOOOOOOOO--" [22:37] 4She's cut off when the water comes. [22:44] 4Ir is sent tumbling by the spray, and when she gets up, her ravagers are screaming in terror and trying to flee a lake that is eating them whole. There's nothing she can do. There's nothing she can do. [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12This thing doesn't stop! It's like fighting a gigantic spell which keeps casting itself at you. [23:02] 4Ir pulls herself, drenched, to her feet and screams at the Kruthik to fall back. [23:02] 4She can't bear to see any more of them die today. [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying's able to tear into the coiled-tight dragon lines that power this monster, severing one after another until it's become so weak and watery it's practically see through! You can juuust follow the receding anima of the sorcerer who commanded or summoned or just rode it, maybe, as they dive into the drink. [23:06] 13She's furiously clawing at anything she can reach, leaping from point to point, trying desperately to do as much damage as she possibly can! Which... oh, Sun, Tatsuya should have been here, not her... 08[23:10] 4Stumbling backwards into the water, barely sparing a glance for the sagging Eikichi: "QUIT THE FUCKING FIELD!" [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Hissing and screeching accompanies the creatures' about face! [23:23] "Hrrrraaaaagh!" 7A constant stream of flame pours from Blossom's hands, heating the lake water making up the titan's body until it can no longer hold itself together, and it explodes in a cloud of steam! [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12As the manifestation of the demesne's power part boils and part collapses, the sinister aura hanging over the lake breaks like summer heat. Water roils and pools to reveal a lake that's now almost half-drained, mazy paths and broken pillars now half-visible thanks to the lowered water level. Behind the collapsing body of the titan, your enemy flees at top speed in the form of some [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12kind of tiny, flying insect - he's easy to follow with your eyes thanks to the black-and-silver aura that surrounds him like a comet's trail, but much harder to follow with your feet. [23:26] 4Ir ignores him. [23:27] 13Ying: "I want to go home." [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Behind you, the kruthlings mill and screech, clawing at trees or the ground or each other. Some venture towards the water but many more burrow into the ground in fear or simply dash off into the jungle, but most, to their credit, remain huddling and protective of the few queens left alive. [23:28] "Hua-hughhugh-HUHHHHHHHH" 4She vomits into the settling surf, then stumbles out towards the jungle. "Atropos! Clothos! Oh Sun. L-Lachesis! Where are you?! Where...where are..." 15[23:28] 10Eikichi slumps against a tree, and sinks down into the wet and frosted jungle. His ass is freezing and he aches all over. He opens his mouth to speak: "Ooooaaagh..." [23:28] 13She's rocking back and forth, hunched over, arms wrapped around her knees. "I wanna go home..." [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12You can't say that for the ravagers, though. Once deprived of the queens' soothing hum of reassurance/vitriolic scourge of absolute control, and then exposed to sorcerous attack after sorcerous attack, the creatures panicked and fled en masse; between a third and half now remain, either in sight or obviously burrowed into the surrounding lakeshore. The others have fled into the [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12jungle, their climbing claws unfortunately allowing them to make excellent speed as they quit your ranks and go feral. Well, more feral. [23:30] 7Blossom scowls as she watches the spider-sorcerer flee into the jungle. We almost had him! She turns and flies back toward the shore, aiming for a soft landing near the rest of the Circle. [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12The original idea was to use your kruthik to, basically, dig and consume allll around the lake in a huge circle to scissor it out of the Total Control Zone's essence network proper. That's going to be much harder now that your premiere tunnelers and underminers have been so badly scattered... [23:30] 7She takes in their condition for a moment, then claps her hands once. 08[23:31] "Right! We'll have to regroup near Jormungand until we've replenished are numbers. Ying, get up. Eikichi, can you stand?" [23:31] *our numbers [23:31] 13Ying just stares up at Blossom, unmoving. 15[23:32] 10Eikichi pulls himself into a standing position, slowly and painfully. 14[23:32] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:32] 4Lachesis is back with Jormungand. You idiot. You failure. [23:33] 7Blossom jogs over and crouches near Sunlit-Dreaming Ying. "Ying, I know this is a bad situation, but we can't stay here. We need you to stand up so we can get moving. Can you do that?" [23:34] 6She blinks once, twice, and stands. "This, ah, didn't go so great, I take it." 6There's a wince. "Yeah, ow, okay." [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12With the ravagers almost depleted and the kruthlings not really built for siegecraft or digging, you'd estimate that executing your original plan of just cutting the entire lake out of the tapestry of the TCZ's geomancy will take, rather than hours of forced march, multiple days of much more disorganized activity. That'd open you up for some kind of reprisal here. [23:35] 6Ying?: "Looks like you've got me for a while. Uh. She's pretty upset." [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12The good news is, Blossom judges your job half-done even regardless of the completion of the kruthik-based geomantic sabotage; a lot of the power stored here, that could've been used at other places in the Total Control Zone, must have been mustered and vented at you just in the course of summoning all those elementals and then reconstituting them into the titanic geomancy-monster [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12itself. So you have at least some standing with which to just be like "mission accomplished" and stroll away from here while very loudly and pointedly dusting your hands off. [23:37] "I'll bet. You can move? Good. Ir? IR?" [23:37] 4Ir would have advice to give if she weren't busy alternately vomiting and sobbing, and scraping the Kruthik back together. 15[23:38] 10Eikichi gestures with his left hand, as his right arm hangs uselessly at his side. "Should I call a dust devil?" [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12It's still possible, incidentally, to go on some kind of underwater adventure to attempt to grapple with and sabotage the heart of the demesne itself, but that's a dangerous proposition given what Raksi tried to do with Chithakara. The degree to which you should press on versus cut your losses here is sort of opaque. [23:38] 6We need to go back and lick our wounds. Uh, metaphorically, not literally, though I suppose that's not out of the question. [23:39] "'kichi, how much damage can you do here with sorcery?" 15[23:39] "What kind of damage?" [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, and in addition massive damage has been done to the lake's northwest face. Unfortunately, as it stands you would miss out on the kruthik getting to drink down the essence here and use it for something, but, well... [23:41] 7Blossom: "We need this place nonfunctional. I can call up an elemental to push the geomancy apart with us at a safe distance, but that'll take at least four hours." [23:41] 6Tatsuying: "Debilitating." 6The voice is flatter than Ying's normal tone, recognizably Tatsuya's, but still speaking with her voice. 15[23:43] 10Eikichi: "I don't think we've broken enough of Raksi's hold over the area to raze it completely. She's too strong." 15[23:43] "We could dive for the core, if you like..." [23:47] 6Tatsuying: "Is that safe? We're sort of exposed here, and badly wounded, or --" 6They look to Ir. "Or. You know." 15[23:48] 10Eikichi: "Of course it's not safe. Invading wasn't safe." [23:48] 4This was a disaster. She wasn't even ready to lead a patrol of Heavenswatch. How did she think she was qualified to lead an army? [23:48] 4So many screaming in her head as they died. [23:49] 6Tatsuying: "You know what I meant." 6This all sounds very weird with this voice. [23:53] 4They told her...they told her: You can't get too close. You can't think of them as friends. They said friends; they meant people. She thought they were wrong. She thought only through truly knowing each other past the bonds of command and propriety, you could understand the truly responsibility of command. [23:53] 4And now they're all dead or scattered! [23:54] *4true [23:57] 6They finally turn their full attention to Ir. "Ir? Are you okay? Do you, shit, I'm not good at this." 6Do the remaining kruthik block their approach? [23:58] 4When they find her she's cradling the icy, torn-apart body of Clotho and sobbing, if that's any indication. [23:59] 6"So that's a no." Don't say that don't say that don't say that "Ir? Oh, Sun." Session Time: Fri Jun 07 00:00:01 2019 14[00:01] * Joins: tom [00:02] 4She'll look up at Tatsuying, blink a few times, then eventually stand. "I need to bury them." [00:03] "I won't stop you. You can talk if you want to, or just. Bury them in silence. I haven't exactly been able to do this before." [00:04] 4Ir just nods, and Jude's Law becomes a shovel. [00:04] 7Blossom gazes out over the lake. "Crap. Alright, so we can't safely leave yet." 15[00:05] 10Eikichi: "We're making camp?" [00:08] 7Blossom: "I think we have to. There's no telling how quickly Raksi can put this place back together if it isn't wiped off the map. We need to regrow our forces, and the water here is charged with Essence. The more conventionally strategically sound option would be to retreat and regroup, take the partial victory, but..." 7She glances at Ir for a moment, frowning slightly. "We'll [00:08] have to be unorthodox." 15[00:10] 10Eikichi looks out at Ir, but he's too woozy to see more than her blurred form rising and falling as she digs. "Then that's the plan." [00:10] 6They lean against a tree, watching Ir bury her soldiers. How in Creation do you talk to someone about this. [00:11] 7Blossom: "'kichi, what do you need to look after your and Yi--" 7Tatsuya? Tatsuying? What's the protocol here? "Everyone's injuries? If there's a useful herb or something in this jungle, I can find it." [00:11] 6Tatsuying: "I'm not hurt. She dodged everything like a pro." [00:12] 6They amend: "She says like an amateur in peril. But I say like a pro." 15[00:14] 10Eikichi: "Just linen for bandages should do it. The essence in the water will take care of the rest." [00:15] 4She digs five graves -- four for the dead queens, one for... [00:15] 4Then she takes Jude's Law in hand and walks out into the jungle. [00:16] 4She returns, hours later, scratched to shit and bleeding, but with something resembling an army...and a couple very badly hurt queens. [00:25] 4She's no longer crying or vomitting, but she looks sad. [00:25] 4Then Ir waves an arm and warbles something, and the Kruthik get to work. [00:27] 6It's good that this is all just fine and normal. We live like this. [00:29] 4Ir strokes the head of one of the queens, whisper-sings something in her ear, then goes to sit down on some rock overlooking the lake. [00:32] <@Ferrinus> 12It's hours of hunting and scavenging for Ir to track down the rest of the ravagers. Many of them are dead - while you'd expect one of the demons to be impenetrably dangerous in most of the jungles of the east, Raksi's territory is a step above, and Ir comes across many corpses of scattered, feral kruthik which have been incinerated by thunderbolts, crushed by animate trees, or swept [00:32] <@Ferrinus> 12away by living rivers. Still, they remember the old songs, and there's eventually a sort of snowball effect - a bigger and bigger unit of rescued, merely-injured monsters is better and better at protecting itself and reincorporating more stragglers into its peripheries. Hours later, the Dawn Caste is able to return with something that's a little better than a hollow mockery of her own [00:32] <@Ferrinus> 12army. 08[00:34] 7Blossom steps into the jungle, leaping effortlessly from tree trunk to tree trunk to avoid so much as bending the grass beneath her. It takes some hours, but when she returns her arms are full of edible plants, one or two small critters for roasting, and useful medicinal plants for Eikichi. [00:35] "Here," 7She says, handing some of her bounty to him. "I also got some linen for you." 7She's torn off the heavy cloth worked into her armor around the waist, revealing a bare midriff between her two armor pieces. 15[00:35] 10Eikichi: "That's a good look for you." 15[00:36] "Help me out here." 10He leans toward her, right shoulder forward. "I can't pop this back in myself." [00:37] 6Tatsuying: "I - she'll be back soon, if you need help. Just. A lot happened today." 08[00:37] "Huh? Oh, okay." 7Blossom ignores Eikichi's seeming non-sequitur and will lean on his shoulder to help get it back in place. 15[00:38] 10CRACK "AAAAACK" 10He slumps headfirst into her chest. "Is the war over yet," 10he mumbles woozily. [00:39] 7Oh my gods, we're sort of hugging! Blossom thinks about the man she has literally pledged to marry. [00:44] 4When Ir's done on the rock, the rib has mended, the cuts have healed, and her stomach has settled. She's always been a survivor, after all. 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14[05:22] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[05:22] * Joins: cbass 14[05:22] * Joins: banana 14[05:35] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:10] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:12] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:37] * Joins: tom 14[19:01] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[19:36] * Joins: Crion_ 14[19:37] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[20:04] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Jun 13 20:04:01 2019 Session Start: Thu Jun 13 20:09:46 2019 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:09] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:09] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[20:09] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12 ^^ .-=-=-=-. ^^ [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12 ^^ (`-=-=-=-=-`) ^^ [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12 (`-=-=-=-=-=-=-`) ^^ ^^ [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12 ^^ (`-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-`) ^^ ^^ [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12 ( `-=-=-=-(@)-=-=-` ) ^^ [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12 (`-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-`) ^^ [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12 (`-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-`) ^^ [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12 (`-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-`) ^^ [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12 (`-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-`) ^^ [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12 (`-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-`) ^^ [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12 (`-=-=-=-=-=-=-`) ^^ ^^ [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12 (`-=-=-=-=-`) [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12 `-=-=-=-=-` [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Night has fallen on the Total Control Zone's preeminent soutwest demesne. Drained, smashed, and partially-frozen as the great lake is, it's still beautiful - somehow, golden sunlight continues to sparkle atop the water even though a waning crescent moon glows in the sky above it. It's been about a third of a day since the brutal war over the place was concluded, albeit inconclusively [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12- though you smashed or drove off (seemingly) all defenders, your own forces were thrashed and mostly-routed in the process, and Ir spent most of the last six hours or so hunting through the surrounding jungles in an attempt to rally your missing forces. Now a much smaller swarm of kruthlings and ravagers, led by a few limping, frostbitten queens, attends you at the side of the lake, [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12hypothetically ready to begin the much-longer-due-to-less-bugpower task of severing the demesne from the rest of the TCZ's dragon line network. [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12I think the consensus among you was to go for it, though you've had some time of sitting around a campfire and convalescing to discuss it or anything else that may be on your minds. [21:49] 7Having returned from her supply-gathering expedition, Excessively Righteous Blossom is beginning the long task of burning the jungle away from the lake, to keep them from being pinned between two forces again. Azure fire streams from her hands again and again. [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not a trivial task - forest fires just don't spread in the Total Control Zone, or if they do it's right back at you. Blossom's proof against the elements, of course, but she's just one woman, and while creating a non-overgrown walking path for her Circle's easily done protecting the kruthik from having to get their feet either wet or mossy would take a lot more time. [21:53] 6Tatsuya's still wearing Ying's face, and crouched on their haunches while they stare at nothing. If there are orders, they'll carry them out, but there's a conversation that no one else is hearing going on beneath the impassive mask. [21:54] 4Ir's thrown herself into the work. Can't be having that happen again. [21:55] 4What that means right now is encircling the lake and beginning the original plan of cutting this demense off from the rest of the Zone. Previously she had the luxury of delegating that to the queens; not anymore. 15[21:55] 10Eikichi's sleeping off his injuries as best he can. He really regrets leaving the laudanum on the ship. The dreams aren't making things any easier. 08[22:00] 7Oh no! Eikichi's probably having horrible nightmares! 15[22:01] 10One could make that argument. 15[22:02] 10Certainly very violent. [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12The work begins. Your surviving queens have already flayed apart a few tagging-along drones to plant a sort of startup capital of kruthik biomatter - now they seed it with tumorous spores (sporelike tumors?) and urge it forward, allowing the awful skin/mold/slime agglomeration to spread forward in the wake of the kruthlings, who gnaw and slash through foliage in advance of a line of [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12ravagers who melt and burrow through the soil and stone itself. Were you to avail yourselves of a bird's eye view, you'd see a sort of purple-grey line painting itself slowly around the circular perimeter of the lake, replacing vibrant green foliage and leaching the color out of the adjoining water. [22:05] 7Also the fire. [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Indeed, at the head of this procession are constant licks of cerulean, chased by the toxic green of banefire. The geomancy of the area has not finished fighting you and probably never will until your dread work is done, but you've got its measure - preventative measures by Blossom and advice by Ir help to ensure that casualties in the kruthling vanguard are of the minimal and [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12factored-in sort. [22:11] 4It feels disconcerting and...lesser...working without her Fates. It's offputting. But the work still needs to be done. [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12The first couple hours of the night-time march go off more or less without hitches - Blossom has to burn down a few spontaneously-animating tree monsters and a massive wave nearly washes one of the queens into the drink, but problems like these get handled. Then there's more cause for concern, because the pattern of waves washing in and out across the waters of the somewhat-lowered [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12lake are beginning to take on a cadence that have nothing to do with the prevailing patterns of wind. There's a very, very faint sound... [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12It's hard to make out, because unlike the sorcerer who confronted you earlier, the figure visible in the far distance now is actually standing or perhaps hovering over the exact center of the lake you're surrounding, perhaps six or seven miles away from you. In the dark of the night, they'd probably be unavailable to your senses, except that they're surrounded by luminous white shapes [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12from which are emanating the beginnings of an eerie, wordless song. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12It must be a spell - and judging by the way the waters are reacting, a spell that this demesne is going to empower or at least broaden somehow. Despite the distance, you're not safe. [22:22] 4Ir orders the kruthik to keep working. Now what. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12The figure's female, and deep red from head to toe. ...but surely it isn't-- [22:27] 6Tatsuya finally stands, and peers across the lake. "...tacky," 6he says. Ying's voice in a monotone sounds wrong. "Or actually Raksi. Hoy!" 6he shouts. "We've gotta move! And now! Unless one of you can do something about a wall of sound!" [22:27] "The Cantata of Empty Voices! Ir, pull your bugs away from the lake!" [22:28] 4Ir snarls and orders a retreat. [22:28] 4Waste of damned time! [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12The kruthik scuttle outwards and backwards, clawing their way away from the water's edge and beginning to sink into the jungle. Of course, that makes them much more vulnerable to the TCZ's depredations, but that's the kind of thing to start worrying about on a timeline of hours -- and at the speed the spell's growing, it's maybe minutes before the lot of you start bleeding out your [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12ears. 08[22:37] 6He's already sprinting away, trying to spot the rest of the Circle. Does Eikichi need assistance to get away? Is Ir sa- okay, Ir is always safe, physically. Is Blossom - shit, Blossom's probably faster than they are. So. [22:38] 7Shit! "'Kichi!" 7Can the kruthik or Tatsuya carry him away, or does Blossom need to return for him? [22:38] 4Ir would have spared a few ravagers to watch over him. 15[22:40] 10Eikichi's curled up on his side on a hammock stretched between two ravagers - the way their armor plates interlock made it very easy to affix. As long as they don't collide with each other they should be able to carry him wherever. [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12The kruthik have pulled back. Blossom stands alone, or at least at the vanguard of her Circle, watching the killing song of the Cantata expand across the water. Before the wavefront, the water's still. Behind it, the water ripples and spirals and spikes, its pellucid depths going cloudy red as fish simply explode with the magic's passing. The water's not polluted for long, though, [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12as the clouds of expanding blood and ink are quickly drawn into sigils and networks which only serve to fuel the advancing magic. [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Here - it - comes -- 14[22:48] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:55] 6Ying's voice, still bizarrely muted: "No reflection! She doesn't - and she looks different from before! What the f- heck is happening?" [22:57] 7Blossom raises her hands flat as though she were pushing against a wall. Raksi is strong - a blood-witch of five thousand years backed by geomantic might and cities of terrified slaves - but Blossom has her convictions and strength of will. She breathes in, and her throat crisps with frost from the far North, reminding her of the people of Crystal who still honor her for leading them [22:57] 7through the Long Night. [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12It's as though someone else is briefly working Blossom's hands, speaking through her voice. This magic's so easy to tease apart, so much easier than anybody knows -- but then, isn't it always the original artist who has the keenest awareness of all of their work's most subtle flaws? It's barely a few gestures and whispered words of power, and the dome of sound shudders and changes [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12in character, suddenly sounding muffled. The keening, knife-like arias are blunted, cushioned. [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Now that it isn't actually killing things as it spreads, the enemy's Cantata is no longer fed by splash of fresh blood after splash of fresh blood, and slows considerably in its growth. Though Blossom has to back up to not be swallowed up by the still-moving spell, she doesn't have to go that far - as long as you're about a hundred fulms from the water's edge, you'll just get a [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12headache. [23:00] 7The sigils formed from the earlier fish-sacrifices squirm and reshape themselves, acknowledging her authority. Whatever else, those under her 14control protection may not be pierced. [23:00] 7The sigils formed from the earlier fish-sacrifices squirm and reshape themselves, acknowledging her authority. Whatever else, those under her 14control 7protection may not be pierced. [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12However, the distant figure of Raksi remains at the demesne's center, now floating in lotus position as the wraiths she's conjured continue to sing around her. Looks like she's playing the long game, here - and, if nothing else, increasing the radius and thus the circumference of the area your demons are going to have to cover. [23:01] 6Rude. [23:01] 4Someone's gonna have to go over there and have words. [23:01] 6Multiple someones. [23:05] 7Geometry! The fiend! [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12I mean, good luck - that's a long trip to cover under the influence of a droning song that is no longer lethal but is still powerfully enervating. Still, as maintaining this sort of magic requires the sorcerer's full concentration, this technically means that you can just keep doing what you were doing - it'll just take that much longer, and be that much more dangerous for the kruthik [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12owing for the necessity of digging through jungle rather than lakeshore. [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12It's much more difficult, and much slower, and also gratingly asymmetrical - part of the circle you're drawing is closer in to the center than the other part! unbearable! - but you get back into gear, shredding jungle before you and spreading the creep behind. Slowly but surely, what's left of your swarm chews its way through the foliage around the lake, greedily drinking in all the [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12essence to be had in the trees and soil and regurgitating it into globules of glowing plasm carried by a small train of drones. [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12For her part, Raksi seems content to hang over the center of the lake, doing nothing but sustaining the field of killing^H^H^H^H^H^Hclobbering sound and making your job that much harder and slower. But you are going to do it. After what feels like far too long, the sun begins to rise through the trees in the east, and you can see that you're... [23:21] 6Sun, what an asshole. 14[23:22] * Joins: tom [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12...perhaps a third of the way around. It'll take another entire day to bring this home. Maybe that's not a problem...? [23:26] 4She's either bluffing us to stall or she isn't. If she isn't, she's doing it because she can't bring forces to bear on us until some point after this would have been originally completed. It also means she has to spend whatever arbitrary number of resources it'll take to sustain this. [23:26] 4Ir thinks the smart call is to keep going, if only to stop her from focusing on fixing up the forges. 15[23:26] 10Eikichi, who rolled off the hammock into the muck a little after dawn and then followed the others achily around the jungle, peers out at the lake. 15[23:29] "She's cutting her losses. Bleeding the demesne of all the energy she can. It's... that's due east. It's not going to Mahalanka." [23:30] 6Tatsuya: "Then where the f- hell is it going?" [23:30] 7Blossom: "Hmm. A war manse?" [23:30] 4Ir: "Sounds like a good argument for pushing through and finishing the job. And then we regroup and figure out what's east from here." 15[23:30] 10Eikichi: "Something like that. I don't know for sure. We could follow it." [23:31] 6Tatsuya: "Point me where to go. I never did have a head for this stuff." 15[23:32] "It's probably quite far away." [23:32] 6Ying sounds dead inside. And they keep staring off before realizing other people are watching. [23:33] 4Ir: "You're gonna take five first. We'll decide five whats when we're done with this fucking lake." [23:33] 7To Tatsuying: "Are you two alright?" 15[23:33] "Yeah. We should try to eat as much as we can." [23:34] 4Amen to that. [23:34] 6Tatsuya: "I'm fine. Ying-- she'll be okay. At some point." [23:34] "She's gotta." [23:34] 6It almost sounds convincing. [23:36] 4Ir feels guilty that she's not quite sure what's even wrong, because she spent the last twelve hours in what might be, graciously, termed a "haze" [23:36] 7Can't hug on a battlefield. Make a note for later. [23:36] 6In some views, love is a battlefield. [23:39] 6Muttering: "Still not sure why Raksi looked different." [23:40] 4To Tatsuya: "What now?" 15[23:40] 10Eikichi: "Why would she ever look the same?" [23:40] "Like, moreso than you'd expect from an arbitrarily powerful shapeshifter?" 15[23:40] "She can be anyone she's willing to kill." [23:41] 7Blossom: "I wasn't watching her. How did she look?" [23:41] 6Tatsuya: "Hair was off. Shape was off. If you can be perfect, why would --" 6he immediately clams up. [23:42] 4Ir: "No, you might be on to something. At the very least she might have had to give up some of her sex magic or whatever, for some reason." [23:42] "Off?" [23:42] 6Eventually: "...Ying's jealous," 6he offers. "And I have a headache, now, because I shouldn't have said that." [23:42] "She should look different, but not less hot." 15[23:42] "It probably isn't actually her." [23:43] "Not the same as the one we saw before," 6while clutching their head. [23:43] "Or that." 15[23:43] "An old echo, a projection, something." 15[23:43] "A failsafe within the demesne." [23:43] 7Blossom: "A failsa--" [23:43] "Right." 15[23:44] "It stands to reason, of course. Why would she come out herself? Really cut into her lounging time." 15[23:44] 10The chaises in Raksi's palace must be so comfortable... [23:45] 6Tatsuya: "There wasn't a reflection. She never came out at all. I just want to know what that even was." 15[23:46] 10Eikichi: "It is a reflection." [23:47] 6Tatsuya, tiredly: "She didn't have a reflection on the lake. That's all." 15[23:47] "She loves mirrors. Works a lot of magic through them." 15[23:47] "She probably pulled that out of a mirror a thousand years ago and set it here. It'll be more like a strange old forest goddess than a Chosen at this point." 15[23:48] 10If we'd kept the Princess Magnificent's mirror intact, it would have been such a good gift... [23:48] 4Ir: "Well, no one said this shit would be easy. In fact, I think everyone we consulted on this said it was nuts." [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12The kruthik claw and dig and chew and eat. More and more globes of glowing sunlight-on-water are wrapped in bags of viscious membrane and biologically glued onto the backs of your roaches and remaining queens. The margin of non-razed jungle through which Mahalanka can draw out and repurpose the lake's residual magic gets smaller and smaller. [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12It's just past noon that your tempo of work begins to spoil. The queens grow increasingly twitchy and anxious, and the kruthik concommitantly jumpy and confused. Digging slows to a near-halt as the demons under your command seem wracked in indecision, some continuing to tunnel and bore while others run in circles or jerk northwards. After a moment, it becomes apparent to you that [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12the kruthik aren't being drugged or mind-controlled or some such - they are, for completely natural reasons, becoming angry and terrified and frenetic, caught on the razor's edge of focusing their attention on the task at hand or taking tack entirely. [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12The hive cluster is under attack! [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12You can't literally talk to these things, but Ir knows how they think and what kind of noises they make when. The only reason they'd be like this is that the main hive back in Chithakara - Jormungand included - is suddenly in intense peril. [23:54] 7Confound it. [23:55] 4Ir: "Continue the work." [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12It took days to get down here through the jungle, unfortunately. It'd be a bit faster to get back, since the path the kruthik razed won't be completely overgrown at this point... [23:56] 4The hive cluster will have to mind itself. That's literally what Jormungand was made for. [23:56] 4One would prefer if the queens wouldn't transmit that sort of psychic anxiety directly down the chain to the rank and file, but there are extenuating circumstances. [23:57] 6Tatsuya: "How can we tell the difference?" [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12With sorcery, you could probably get there in merely a matter of hours, but, yeah. If Ir puts her foot down, the kruthik will return summarily to their task. [23:58] 6whoops that was scrolled up [23:58] 4They can also get there in a matter of hours a matter of hours from now, then. This job needs to be finished. [23:58] 4Ir very rarely cracks the whip directly with the kruthik, but this is a situation where she will. Session Time: Fri Jun 14 00:00:00 2019 [00:02] 4And the tough love, along with the very clear promise that the sooner they're done with this the sooner they can leave, gets this done in near-record time. [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Another six hours later, and the circle closes at last. As the demesne is cut off completely from the surrounding jungle, its waters go dim, its exposed ruins crack and collapse, and the sunny sky above goes grey and overcast. Ravenous, the kruthik make hard turns and diving straight into the water, chewing up, destroying, and drinking whatever they can before the liquid itself drains [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12away into the lakebed. [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12However, the agitation of the queens is palpable. Whatever's happening in Chithakara, it's not going well. [00:05] 4No shit. Let's move. [00:07] 6Tatsuya-Ying is visibly nervous, which is a much more familiar expression than the dead-eyed stare they had before. "Where to?" [00:07] <@Ferrinus> 12If you want to get there in a matter of hours, it'd mean taking a stormwind rider and leaving the kruthik here behind - either to fend for themselves on their own way back or, perhaps, to start a new hive right here. If you want to arrive with your armies, it'll be more like days, although canny enough swarm-driving could shorten that a bit. [00:30] 4Yeah. Ir summons the two remaining queens to her, both youngsters. It's difficult to fully translate the orders, but she tells the newly-christened Phobos and Deimos to begin establishing a foothold in the dead lake -- they intend to return once the situation with Jormungand is dealt with, and they'll move far more quickly and effectively as a group. [00:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Then the kruthik under your command here switch immmediately to nesting behavior. The lake's already ringed with the creep - it's easy to encourage the biomatter to grow inwards, and to instruct the few drones brought along to settle themselves down atop the crumbled ruins that once defined the interior contours of the lake's geomancy. [00:36] 6This is so gross. Ying was right. [00:37] 4And if worst comes to worse and they have to abandon the city, it'll be useful to have a site being prepped for them to run to. 15[00:38] 10The wind whips Eikichi's hair around. "Mount up." [00:39] "Here we go." [00:39] 4Ir banishes her armor for the first time in over a day, and immediately looks very tired. "How long til we get there?" 15[00:39] "About two hours." [00:40] 4Ir: "I'm going to try to nap. Please kick me when we can see the smoke." [00:40] 6Tatsuying: "Good luck. On the nap, I mean." 08[00:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir doesn't have very long to sleep, because when you lean on the thing the Stormwind Rider goes blazingly fast. It'd be a nastily difficult task to pilot it straight through the dungeon at full burn, but you've got the trail blazed by your once-much-larger kruthik armies to follow backwards, so it's only the occasional stubborn tree or regrown vine that Eikichi needs to make serious [00:48] <@Ferrinus> 12efforts not to hit. An hour into the trip, you start to see the smoke in the sky ahead. Another half an hour, and you can hear the screeches, roars, and groans, the clash of steel on chitin. [00:48] <@Ferrinus> 12I'm not sure why I wrote "dungeon" there, but I guess, in a sense, [00:49] 7It's me, the Warrior of Light. 15[00:49] 10Who would be thinking about dungeons at a time like this?! [00:49] 4Only an hour? Grumble grumble. [00:49] 4Selfish, but true. [00:50] 6Tatsuya is crouching with their head in their hands. [00:50] 6Fast, nothing, who cares. Who cares. [00:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Then you're there, blasting through the tree-line and in full sight of the infested city. You survey the scene -- [01:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Carnage and devastation! But you've been giving as good as you're getting. The jungle floor around chithakara is littered with the corpses of kruthik and apefolk both. Here's a ravager on its back, legs curling like those of a spider around five or six spears stabbed into the underbelly. There's an entire circle of a elite guards, or specifically the torsos and upper bodies of elite [01:07] <@Ferrinus> 12guards who tried and failed to spread out of a tightly-bunched phalanx while a banefire comet plummeted down from overhead. Forensic examination of the battlefield implies, in fact, that the kruthik ripped through their opposition despite a general disorganization uncharacteristic of your queens' control, rising out of the soil to surprise and smash through invading footsoldiers. [01:07] <@Ferrinus> 12...but it didn't last, because while one army might stymie another, your own experiences have taught you very well that not even home ground advantage will avail you much when the invader is led by a circle of Chosen. 14[01:10] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[01:10] * Joins: dammitwho [01:11] <@Ferrinus> 12At least three pillars of blazing silver dot the battlefield. One is directly ahead of you, surrounding a familiar warthog-man who is leading armies of apes and ocelots in a furious charge to drive back and exterminate the remaining kruthik. Farther up the walls of chithakara, a gigantic suit of moonsilver armor - a warstrider! - burns with essence as it lays about itself with a [01:11] <@Ferrinus> 12massive, bladed whip, shearing through ranks of ravagers and kruthlings which are desperately swarming up the sides of the city to reach the pitched fighting taking place up above. And far above the jungle canopy, obscured by the trees and branches, even more essence blazes down in shafts as Jormungand itself screams and bleeds, its roars forming an eerie duet with those of some kind [01:11] <@Ferrinus> 12of titanic creature that it looks to be grappling with. Blood and ichor waterfall down the sides of Chithakara's double-ziggurat formation - the cerebrate is being torn apart piece by piece. [01:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Battle is joined!! ...next week. 08[01:34] 7The kruthik are carving one warm, slimy line around the lake-demesne, faster at this point than Blossom can burn away foliage, so she retreats to where Eikichi and Tatsuying are resting and starts a small comfortable fire on the beach. [01:35] 7She's not worried about noise waking 'kichi up - the herbs she brought weren't his usual brew, but they should put him out for a while. [01:35] "Are you sure you're all right?" [01:35] 6It's... mostly Tatsuya, at this point. Keeping up the Ying image is exhausting, and nobody here is even going to believe it. The cat ears aren't even sticking up. [01:36] 6Tatsuya: "Yes. No. I don't know. This wasn't supposed to -" 6And then there's silence again. [01:38] 7As gently as a not particularly gentle person can: "What wasn't supposed to happen?" [01:39] 6Tatsuya, quietly: "This is supposed to be my job. And she's - Ying's - she's not taking it well." [01:40] "'Let me take the blame' is wrong. Obviously. 'You couldn't have known' doesn't make her feel any better. She's just. Miserable. Like she could have done better, and didn't." [01:40] "It's. Familiar." [01:40] "She knows it. I know it. We hate it." [01:42] "It's the worst feeling imaginable." 7Blossom agrees. Almost isn't good enough. [01:42] 6Tatsuya: "She wasn't supposed to have to deal with this." [01:43] "She's - already yelled at me about that. You don't have to. But." 6They look up to Blossom, desperate. "I just wanted some part of me to be happy. [01:43] " [01:45] "Is... Tatsuya... not?" 7She asks gingerly. [01:46] 6Tatsuya: "I try. It's me, uh, him, you're talking to. Ying's... she'll be back eventually." [01:46] "But. It always feels like I could do something more, you know?" [01:47] 6Heavy sigh. "This is why I let Ying handle conversations. I'm not good at this." [01:50] "Hmm." 7She squats next to the fire and pokes at it idly with a twig. It's hard for her to come up with words of comfort in a situation like this. 08[01:51] "Uh... did Eikichi ever tell you about one of the first gifts he gave me?" 7Maybe this will work? [01:52] 13The person wearing Ying's face rubs their eyes and looks around, chastised. "Um. Sorry. Not that I remember?" [01:55] "When I was very young, when things went wrong or I thought something was unfair, I would get furious. Screaming, throwing things. It was boyish and shameful. So as I got older I learned to control myself. I would retreat into my room until I could stand to be around people again." [01:56] "But my teeth would hurt from clenching my jaw, and I would bleed from my fingernails being driven into my palm, clenching my fists." 08[01:57] "When Eikichi found out, he made these little... I don't even know what to call them. Rubber things. But I can bite down on one, and hold onto the others." [01:59] "It was so sweet... he wasn't ashamed of me, he didn't give me advice or tell me to try talking to a monk. He just wanted for me to know that he cared about me, even when I was furious at the whole world." [02:00] 6Ying's face darkens. "When things went wrong I didn't eat." 6There's a pause. "I - I need to, I need to not be here right now." [02:00] 7Blossom: "I, um, I suppose what I'm trying to say is that however you and Sunlit-Dreaming Ying are feeling, 'kichi, Ir and I are here for you." [02:00] 6Tatsuya: "I appreciate it. I just. I need to go." [02:01] "Okay. But--" 7Ah, she's a genius! "You can always come back when you want to." [02:01] 6They leave without looking back. 15[02:02] 10Eikichi rolls over in his sleep, muttering fitful syllables of Old Realm. [02:05] 7Blossom hums to herself as she fusses with the campfire, secure in the knowledge that Tatsuying has been buoyed up by her words of emotional support and is off to process their emotions in their own way. [02:06] 7Another incredible victory for the finest daughter of House Cathak! [02:12] 4A few minutes later Ir will stomp over, still in her golden armor, and slump down in front of the campfire. For the first time in awhile, she seems to have no interest in cooking or eating or much of anything but staring straight into the flames. [02:13] "Ir." 7Blossom nods agreeably from her squat by the fire. [02:14] "Just taking a breather. Then it's back to it. Army won't rescue itself." [02:14] "...How are they?" [02:20] 7Blossom: "I think they'll be alright in time, they-- is it weird or insulting to call them 'Tatsuying'? I should have asked while they were still here." [02:21] "Could've sworn they've used it before." [02:21] "Even so..." [02:21] "Anyway. Ying feels like she let everyone down, and Tatsuya feels terrible for Ying." [02:22] 6They can still hear. Perks of trying to spot enemies. "It's - it's fine." [02:22] 6Still far away. [02:22] 4Abruptly: "I thought that the problem with me running an army was that right now, the army is all demons. I'm beginning to discover that it's actually that I can't properly handle loss." [02:23] "I lost my composure in that fight." [02:23] 6Time to turn off being able to hear stuff like this. Just. Keep watch. [02:23] "Maybe it's actually bad to be able to handle loss like real generals can, I don't know." [02:23] "What I do know is I don't want to do anymore land wars of conquest, after we're done here." [02:25] 4She stares into the fire. "So if more land wars of conquest are part of the plan, we might want to start looking for another general." [02:27] "Hmm." 7Blossom at least knows that this isn't really a good time to have that convsersation. [02:29] 4Ir: "Either way, we need to make concrete plans for the Kruthik after this. Right or wrong, a demon army showing up and taking down the Cannibal Queen is going to be the target for the entire Silver Pact proper, and probably every mortal army too. Sending them to Hell remains the best idea, I think." [02:32] 7Blossom: "Agreed. I don't think any of us doubts that at this point. They're too dangerous." [02:33] 4She nods. "Now I just need to figure out how to sell it to them." [02:34] "An honest description of Malfeas should do it. It sounds like a kruthik paradise." [02:35] "I just hope they haven't become dependent on me." 4Someone more detached than Ir from the situation might describe this as 'projecting.' [02:37] 7Blossom grimaces. "Can they... do that?" [02:39] "I can't tell you if I hope they can or if I hope they can't. What I can tell you is that if they do hold a grudge, we don't want to deal with a invading army 100 years from now pouring into Creation after conquering Hell." [02:39] "Becuase they might have the chops for it." [02:39] "I've been holding them back at almost every turn." [02:42] "I think that, if anything, the demon princes will keep them in check." [02:43] 4Ir: "Maybe. Unless a demon prince decides the place to be is as their general." [02:44] 4Ir: "But the good news about that is it's a problem for future Ir and Blossom. And fuck those people." 08[02:46] "Eikichi-" 7She glances over at his sleeping form and lowers her voice slightly. "Eikichi knows more about the Yozis than I do, but I'm not sure they're capable of that kind of thing. Anyway, you're right, we'll burn that bridge when we come to it." [02:50] 4She stands back up. "Would be nice to get to place where we didn't have to do that anymore." [02:51] "Soon enough." [02:52] 7She tilts her head and regards Ir. "How're things between you and Marek?" [02:52] 4She scowls. "He's not around enough. Of course my Lunar mate is a fuckin' spy." [02:53] 4Mocking voice: "Oh Ir, I just had to sleep with that entire band and dance troupe, for the mission." [02:55] 7Blossom: "That sounds pretty unlikely." [02:56] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom, with keen insight into the feelings of others, notes that Ir went immediately to the musicians when it comes to a hypothetical cheating significant other. [02:56] 4Ir makes a raspberry. "Oh it is, he's very uptight. Still, I was hoping this would be the time we actually did something together, that this would be the moment. And we haven't seen him in like two fuckin' weeks." [02:56] 4Hey, what can she say. She's dated a lot of musicians, [02:57] 7Blossom frowns. "I hope he's not injured." [02:58] 4Ir: "Well I'd feel like quite the bitch if he was, but if something significant had gone wrong Raksi would definitely have started directly taunting me about it by now." [03:03] "That's true." 7Blossom snarls quietly to herself. [03:06] 4Ir: "I don't worry about his competence. I might worry about his commitment, but frankly, it's not about maybe fucking other people while he's on-mission. It's just hard to figure out at times how much he wants to be here because he wants to be here, and how much he wants to be here because it gives his patrons and elders a direct and deniable line to the Chosen fucking up the [03:06] Threshold for all the current regional powers." [03:06] "Which is probably also a function of not spending much time together." [03:07] 7Blossom: "Mmm. At least after this you'll have more time on the Heavensward." [03:08] "I'd hope so. I'm not optimistic. If we win this, things are going to start changing quickly." [03:08] "We just saved Crystal and Grand Forks. That's acceptable. But toppling a regional power?" [03:09] "You'd have to think at the very least those Lookshy fucks would start poking around. I think this is technically what they think of as their end of the woods." [03:12] 7Blossom nods. "They might. As long as we've arranged it so the former Control Zone doesn't collapse into famine, I don't think the rest will be too bad." [03:13] 4Ir: "Until a big chunk of it launches itself into the sky." [03:13] "...Have we started scouting locations?" [03:15] 7Blossom: "No. And the East is a big place. Fortunately, there's no rush." [03:15] 4Ir: "We could do worse than to disappear East for awhile after we're done here. Though I should go back to Crystal and play a show soon." [03:21] "Sure. As much as I hate Nexus, we should take Tatsuya-and-Ying by so they can check on their store, too." [03:22] "If nothing else, it'll remind us of better times. Or at least ones with fewer hideous sex monsters." 4She smiles a bit too grimly. "I'd better get back to it." [03:23] 7She nods. "Keep grinding." 14[06:03] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[08:52] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:42] * Joins: Crion 14[10:43] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:12] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[11:13] * Joins: dammitwho 14[11:47] * Joins: trench_foot 14[11:50] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:57] * Joins: Crion_ 14[13:58] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:25] * Joins: Crion 14[16:27] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:42] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[17:46] * Joins: Crion 14[18:02] * Joins: tom 14[18:11] * trench_foot is now known as trenchfoot 14[18:48] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:48] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:23] * Joins: hrolf 14[23:24] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:37] * Joins: tom 14[23:41] * Quits: hrolf (Connection closed) Session Time: Sat Jun 15 00:00:00 2019 14[03:19] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[03:19] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[05:31] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:54] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:42] * Joins: hrolfy 14[12:43] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:46] * Joins: tom 14[13:52] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:29] * Joins: hrolf 14[16:31] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:50] * Joins: tom 14[23:23] * Joins: hrolfy 14[23:25] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sun Jun 16 00:00:00 2019 14[01:23] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[04:06] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Quit: ) 14[05:45] * Joins: hrolf 14[05:47] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:36] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:58] * Joins: hrolfy 14[09:00] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:23] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:25] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:01] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:34] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[15:49] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:14] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:30] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:20] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[18:51] * Joins: hrolfy 14[18:52] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:13] * Joins: tom 14[19:28] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:52] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[20:57] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:15] * Joins: tom 14[22:12] * Joins: hrolf 14[22:14] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:52] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[23:56] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Mon Jun 17 00:00:00 2019 14[03:59] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[04:55] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:29] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:41] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[12:41] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[13:29] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:01] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:49] * Joins: Crion 14[15:49] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[16:01] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:02] * Joins: cbass 14[17:04] * Joins: Crion 14[17:29] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:14] * Joins: tom 14[20:28] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:29] * Joins: tom 14[21:59] * Joins: tom2 14[22:00] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Tue Jun 18 00:00:00 2019 14[00:37] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:45] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[00:46] * Joins: tom 14[04:47] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[04:47] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[04:47] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[07:38] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:45] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[08:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:57] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[13:58] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[14:00] * Joins: cbass_ 14[14:00] * Quits: cbass (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_)) 14[14:00] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 14[15:19] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[15:19] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[15:19] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[16:23] * Joins: Crion_ 14[16:24] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:27] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:37] * Joins: tom 15[20:13]  15[20:13]  15[20:13]  15[20:13]  15[20:13]  15[20:15] The Mask's frozen-steel smile faces down at Xia Lan. He's hunched low, as one might be when they're trying to persuade a child to give up something they've decided is a toy without breaking it. The chill of his last words still crawls up her spine. Give it to me. [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Back at the edge of the city, Keldar's hackles are raised. "You said the what is where?! Get us there now!" 12He's looking between Xu Sim and the Emissary, expecting that at least one can whip up a whirlwind or portal toot-sweet. [20:20] 13She stares up at the Mask, then glances fearfully over to Tsuka, and pats the Eye in her pocket. She can't find any words that seem to matter. [20:21] 14Stranger, to Balor: "Go on ahead!" [20:21] 14We're not going to ride the creature's back. Xu Sim should have the proper spell. [20:23] 5Xu Sim looks incredulously at Keldar. "You mean that isn't what you wanted?" 5he snarks as he twirls about to summon his dust devil. "Maybe you should have thought ahead?" [20:24] 14Stranger, to both of them, and a little to himself: "Later." [20:24] "If there is a later," 5Xu Sim not-so-graciously concedes. [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Tsuka was supposed to watch the thing, not walk it back in there -- I'm giving those kids a talking-to!" [20:25] 14With a bit more of a snarl: "Sorcerer, sorcell!" 15[20:25] The air around the Emissary ripples and pulses and he hurtles off chest sticking out at a hideous angle as if a great hook was looped around his torso and pulling him towards Nexus at top speed. Dirt and dust kick up behind him as he goes. [20:26] "A beast of burden!" 5whines the greatest physician in the East as the spell is completed, the dustdevil kicks off the ground, and the three Chosen of the Sun speed off alongisde the Emissary. 15[20:26] Tsuka pushes past Xia Lan and stares up at the Mask, eyes flashing. One arm remains in a sling, but the other has drawn a sword. "Back off! Abomination! You touch her and I'll kill you myself!" [20:27] 13Xia Lan: "Tsuka, don't--" 14[20:28] * Quits: dammitwho (Connection closed) 14[20:28] * Joins: dammitwho [20:35] 13Xia Lan stops shivering. An eerie calm comes over her, the tranquility coming from some part of her she hasn't felt in a while. She can't do this. Won't do this. Not to the people of Nexus, not to her friends, and not to the Sun. Even if - Her voice is smooth and even. "No." 15[20:37] The Mask looks exactly the same, doesn't move an ilm, but his voice is scandalized. Jai, as he approaches from behind, hears him clearly as well. "What's this? Don't you care about your city? Don't you want to win?" [20:39] 13Xia Lan: "Of course I care about Nexus. Which is why I can't give it up. Not here. Not to you." 13Her voice starts shaking as she goes on, but she hasn't backed down. [20:39] 10This is baaaad. Real bad. Drastic action is gonna be required.  15[20:39] Tsuka: "You don't care about Nexus! You just want power. You just want to kill everything!" 15[20:41] The Mask laughs his awful gasping laugh. "What has the harvest to hope for but the care of the reaper?" [20:43] 10Xia Lan might just be able to see Jai moving in to flank the, gods and powers of Creation, he's going to rob a 10Deathlord10— [20:45] 5Xu Sim furrows his brow as the Emissary begins to pull away. The whipping, howling whirlwind overcomes whatever sounds his mouth is making, but a lip-reader might be slightly scandalized, especially if she had any relations to Nexus, Raksha, mercenaries, diplomats, apes, worms, or makers of masks. [21:13] 14Stranger, over the Codex: [21:13] <Let them fight.> [21:15] Jai knows the jig is up the moment the Mask's back straightens. He was never gonna get around this totally clean, but— Maybe there's a chance. [21:18] 10With a little running start… Jai takes off at a sprint, swerving as if to round the Mask. At the last moment he goes down on two knees and slides under the Deathlord's clutching grip, rolling and coming up again in front of Xia Lan and Tsuka. [21:20] "Give me the thing!" 10He doesn't even know what it is. "I'm fresh—he can chase me around all day!" 10It's only half a lie.  [21:20] 13Xia Lan:  13And then to Jai: "He's - shit!" [21:21] 14Stranger: [21:21] 10He's off again. In a chase like this, it's all about momentum. "Throw it!" [21:21] 5Xu Sim:  15[21:27] The ground opens up beneath Xia Lan, and she narrowly leaps away from the huge bony hand that rises to clutch at her and fix her in place. The Mask wheeze-laughs again, and finally draws himself to his full height. A cascade of pops and snaps fills the empty street as all of his joints reverse and his head rotates 180 degrees so that a steel grimace of hideous despair looks down at 15[21:27] them all. 15[21:27] "This isn't funny anymore." 15[21:46] He strides forward and grabs Xia Lan by the throat with an icy mailed hand. She can't breathe, but there's no tightness or urgency in her chest -- in his hands, she doesn't need to. [21:46] 13No - no [21:47] 10Jai shoots a glance back. Shit.  15[21:48] With the other hand he gingerly plucks the lurid Eye from Xia Lan's struggling grip. He clucks his tongue. "Tch, tch. I hope all that trouble was worth it." [21:50] 13She just slumps. No. It wasn't. [22:08] 10Jai wheels around. No way. It's not going to end like this! His borrowed daiklaive materializes in his hand, warm like the faint promise of embers. The sword isn't his preferred weapon, but it's the one closest to hand, which makes it the best one. He lifts it in a stance he instinctively feels is right, and charges at the Mask of Winters, intending to knock the orb from his hand.  [22:09] 10He's a thousand years too early. Ten thousand. 15[22:10] The Mask, the Eye, and Xia Lan dissolve into shadows that flap on the wind like shredded cloth, coalescing several yalms away. [22:12] 13She's momentarily startled, nearly vomits, and then begins to the long process of striking at the hand grasping her until she can - cut it off? Force the Mask to drop her? She's not left with many options. 15[22:14] Tsuka charges forward, flames streaking in his wake as he comes in for a low slash that clangs uselessly off of whatever's covering the Mask's legs underneath his tattered cloak. 15[22:14] "LET HER GO!" 15[22:19] Another voice cuts through the air. "LET IT GO!" [22:19] "Bastard! Don't you have enough power—you have to waylay a sick wo—?!" 10Something's coming. 15[22:31] There's an awful crack, and suddenly Xia Lan is staggering behind Jai and the Mask of Winters holds the Emissary by the throat. "Every citizen of Nexus is free to use violence to uphold their property rights. Desist for your own safety," he says, in the cold, clear voice someone might have associated with the Emissary before he went mad. Then there's a faint hum, and the Mask staggers. 15[22:31] Tsuka doubles over, vomiting blood. [22:31] 13Xia Lan: "Wh- TSUKA!" [22:34] "Miss Xia Lan," 10Jai says in a far-too-calm voice. "You should run. I couldn't get the orb away from him but maybe I can rescue your friend." 10He's pushing the fear down.  [22:44] 13Xia Lan watches as Tsuka drags himself away from the brawl. "No. No, we're going together - stay safe, and stay away from whatever the hells that was --" 13She grabs Tsuka, props his arm over her shoulders, and they flee. [22:44] "Yeah, all right. I'll cover the both of you—" [22:53] 5Upon the howling gale, Xu Sim, Keldar and Stranger-Visits-Heaven arrive. Xu Sim peers down scornfully at the fracas from his spot atop the stormcloud as ashes, debris, and dust fly through the air. [22:56] 14Stranger jumps when the time is right. As a famous man once said: [22:56] 14Time to die. [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's gritting his teeth, raising his shield and drawing his daiklave back. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck - MASK! DROP IT AND STAND DOWN!" [22:57] 14Since the wind's so high: [22:58] 10Jai: "Here comes the cavalry. We should keep falling back until we can get him someplace safe." [22:58] [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12In Keldar's current state, it's hard to really hear or pay attention to anything he's saying unless he's already got his sword to your throat, but the proper niceties must be observed. [22:58] "…or, we just keep falling back." [22:58] 14He already knows Keldar won't, and even given everything else, it's impossible not to respect that. They're to it to the end, somehow. Together. Perhaps there have been stranger things. [22:59] 13Xia Lan, muttering worriedly: "Why didn't I learn medicine, why didn't I study any..." 13She glances over Jai's way and offers a tight nod. [23:00] 5 Xu Sim's dust devil swoops over the battlefield, giving the riders a chance to leap off into the melee if they are so inclined. [23:05] 14Stranger lands by hooking his parasol around a helpful tree limb, then gracefully falling the rest of the way. It's strange, he thinks, walking to what's certainly your own death, and planning to cage it. [23:08] 10Jai: "He'll be okay. Just let me handle any more foolish charges, OK?" 10A nervous laugh. [23:11] 14Jai already has two, but Stranger doesn't say that. [23:11] 13Xia Lan: "I don't plan on making any, and neither does Tsuka. Right?" 13She glares at her boyfriend with as much anger as she can muster at him in this state. So, not much. 15[23:12] Tsuka just groans. [23:14] :That's the spirit." [23:17] 14He walks straight up to the two outsiders wrestling for control of that fucking orb and snaps his fingers again. [23:18] 14All around them, time stops. But it's still fight night in here. 15[23:22] From Jai, Tsuka, and Xia Lan's perspective, the dome falls and everyone within is frozen. From everyone else's, the sight of Xia Lan dragging Tsuka away as Jai stands sword at the ready is locked in place. 15[23:22] whoops scratch that last part 15[23:22] and the second word [23:22] 14Instead of addressing the gladiators, he calls out behind him: "Glad you could join us." [23:23] 14He doesn't say to whom, and doesn't have to. [23:23] 10Jai takes a look back at the fracas, then turns around again to say something else. And a wall of light materializes in front of his face. [23:23] 14Then to Balor, Emissary of Nexus: "I can hold this for a time. Go to." [23:23] 13Xia Lan freezes for a moment, looks back at the dome, and sighs. "Let's get you to the healers. Nothing else we can do, now." 15[23:27] Tsuka, weakly: "Supposed to fight. Supposed to be a soldier." [23:28] 10Jai: "Two of them and four of us. Well, better odds than before." 10He sweeps his hair back. "I was just thinking I needed a little more sword practice." [23:31] 13Xia Lan: "And you did. You are. This just -" 13She sighs. "This is my fault. And anyway, they've sealed themselves away, there's nothing we can do now but lick our wounds." [23:31] 5Xu Sim sits, lotus-style, on a whirling cyclone a foot off the ground. He has a contemplative look on his face as he looks into the scrum. Just one wobble, a bounce, and the war's end is within his grasp... [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar leaps from the Stormwind Rider, trailing burning orange-red essence behind him, and lands straight on the Mask's back with sword and shield plunging down. It's a perfect hit... too perfect. It looks like the blade's just gone straight down through the collar of the Mask's armor to touch nothing at all in the hollows of his breastplate, presumably sliding smoothly between two [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12ribs or something. Shocked, Keldar withdraws the blade in the form of a grand daiklave and brings it around only to have it stop dead against the palm of an upraised gauntlet. Session Time: Wed Jun 19 00:00:00 2019 15[00:01] The Mask starts laughing his horrible laugh. The Eye glows brighter and brither. [00:01] 14Stranger sighs. 15[00:02] "You worse than senseless things. Now nothing will save you." 15[00:02] The Eye emits a beam of horrible power, lancing everything it touches and melting it down. [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's dimly visible raising his daiklave against the red annihilation before he's eclipsed by the energy entirely. [00:17] 10Jai begins one last charge at the Mask, in an imitation of Tsuka's stance. But instead of striking low, he leaps and strikes from above— a glancing blow. Is it enough to turn the tide? He's staring down the Eye itself now. 15[00:18] Within the world Stranger has created, there is only the crash of metal on stone and the gentle bubbling of slag. Outside, Xia Lan and Tsuka can hear a war cry and the thunder of Lookshyan guns. 15[00:18] NEXT TIME: If you want to dance 14[06:48] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:00] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[07:00] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[07:00] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[09:10] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:22] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[17:25] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:40] * Joins: tom Session Time: Thu Jun 20 00:00:00 2019 14[02:06] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[03:46] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:55] * Joins: tom 14[05:26] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:26] * Joins: tom 14[06:58] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:48] * Joins: Crion 14[16:50] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:50] * Joins: tom Session Start: Thu Jun 20 20:51:13 2019 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:51] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:51] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[20:51] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[21:13] * Joins: hrolf [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12 /[-])// ___ [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12 __ --\ `_/~--| / \ [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12 /_-/~~--~~ /~~~\\_\ /\ [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12 | |___|===|_-- | \ \ \ [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12 ---|---\___/----| \/\-\ [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12 / // \__ | || / | | | | [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,~-|~~~~~\--, | \|--|/~||| | | | [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12 [3-|____---~~ _--'==;/ _, | |_| [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12 / /\__|_/ \ \__/--/ [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12 /---/_\ -___/ | /,--| [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12 / /\/~--| | | \/// [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12 / / |-__ \ |/ [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12 |--/ / |-- | \ [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12 \^~~\\/\ \ \/- _ [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ | \ |~~\~~| \ [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \ \ \ \ | \ [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \ | \ \ \ [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12 |~~|\/\| \ \ | [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12 | |/ \_--_- |\ [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12 | / / |/\/ [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12 ~~ / / [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12 |__/ [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Chithakara is under heavy assault - and has been for hours, by a vanguard of powerful celestial Chosen! The burning fields around the city are a scene of devastation, with two blazing Lunar animas erupting from the killing fields. One is anchored in Pramu, who's in his hulking, boar-headed war-form and laying about with a great silver axe. Another is centered on a figure you don't [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12recognize, because it's blooming around what looks like a gigantic automaton or suit of armor, one that's spinning a gigantic razored whip. Far above, obscured by the jungle canopy, is the great bulk of Jormungand itself, along with something else - it looks like there's some kind of grapple taking place up there. [21:59] 4Ir: "That's Pramu." [21:59] "Anyone else want Pramu?" [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12The kruthik forces in the area are in surprisingly good shape given the forces arrayed against them, but in a terrible state of disarray and clearly not under any queen's command. Forcing them back and to the to the ground are huge and well-disciplined phalanxes of Thousand Fangs apefolk, both the limber and spear-wielding militiamen and the heavily-armored and equally-heavily-enchanted [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12elites. [22:01] "No? Then let me off here." 08[22:01] 6Tatsuya: "I'm in." 6He's looking more like himself, by now - a blessing of Eikichi's sorcery. [22:26] 4Her armor has started glowing. This isn't going to be a fun fight; it's going to be a desperate one. But that's how it all seems to be going these days. [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Pramu's anima, if you're curious, is about what you'd expect - a massive, totemic boar, though heavily stylized to the point that it's basically a pair of angry eyes, a snout with tusks curving about it, and then just roiling flame and leaves all sketched in white and black. Whoever's in the warstrider also has a bright anima, though theirs tends a little more towards stormy blues [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12than colors evocative of bone and rock. At the moment, it isn't totemic. [23:01] 4As the fireworks go off overhead, Ir leaps down off the swooping cloud into the mix of battle. Pramu's somewhere up ahead. She's more concerned with her soldiers. She sings a song that roughly translates to: "LINGS TO ME! RAVAGERS TO FORE! FORM UP!" [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12At the sound of a familiar voice, the demon-insects begin to rally! Small r. [23:04] 4Her armor burning, Ir grins. She's the lure. He's the hook. [23:14] 7Blossom does a cool forward flip off the Stormwind Rider, landing amidst a pitched battle between ape and bug! She pelts the simian soldiers with firebolts, raises her hands above her head and hurls a cloud of blue plasma at Pramu, but her true focus is the warstrider laying waste to the kruthik with its razor whip. "AKURYO..." 7She brings her index and middle fingers of both [23:14] 7hands to a point in front of her forehead, then moves through a swirling kata as electricity begins to crackle around her. "...TAISAN!" 7She thrusts a hand forward, and a bolt of lightning leaps from it to strike the warstrider full in the chest! [23:14] 7Black smoke curls up from its joints as vital parts are blown or fused, and its movements begin to become jerky and imprecise. [23:17] 6Tatsuya crouches, then leaps off the stormwind rider. He's had enough practice by now to leap off to the side in the middle of Blossom's firebolt onslaught - best way to hide - and manages to land just behind Pramu. Knives out. Let's go. Let's go let's go let's go [23:18] 6He strangles Pramu with his own shadow, hard enough to kill any normal man several times over, but Pramu isn't any normal man. Still, that's got to hurt like a motherfucker. "Hi." [23:19] "You fucked up." [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Pramu: "Wh-hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-" [23:22] 6Backflip away, wink and wave. "What, not so fun anymore?" 14[23:44] * Joins: hrolfy 14[23:46] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Fri Jun 21 00:00:00 2019 14[00:27] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:28] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[00:29] * Joins: cbass [00:39] 4The battle rages. Ir rallies her troops, they falter, they swarm, they falter and then they swarm. But at the end of the wave -- even as Tatsuya screams in the monster's grasp -- Ir knows what she has to do. 14[04:01] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[04:01] * Joins: dammitwho 14[05:51] * Quits: tom (Quit: ) 14[16:51] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:18] * Joins: tom 14[19:37] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:56] * Joins: tom 14[20:43] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:44] * Joins: tom 14[20:52] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:57] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[20:57] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[20:57] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[23:19] * Joins: hrolfy Session Time: Sat Jun 22 00:00:00 2019 14[00:00] * Joins: tom 14[00:44] * Joins: hrolf 14[00:46] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:35] * Joins: hrolfy 14[01:39] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:55] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:19] * Joins: hrolfie 14[02:22] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:04] * Joins: hrolf 14[04:05] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:28] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[05:56] * Quits: hrolf (Connection closed) 14[05:56] * Joins: hrolf 14[07:37] * Joins: Crion 14[11:11] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:19] * Joins: Crion_ 14[11:19] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:16] * Joins: hrolfy 14[12:19] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:43] * Joins: tom 14[14:48] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:22] * Joins: hrolfy 14[16:07] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:54] * Joins: tom 14[23:13] * Joins: hrolfie 14[23:16] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sun Jun 23 00:00:00 2019 14[00:56] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:18] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:48] * Joins: hrolfie 14[11:50] * Joins: hrolf 14[11:52] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:38] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:27] * Joins: hrolfy 14[15:29] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:06] * Joins: hrolf 14[19:07] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:53] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Mon Jun 24 00:00:00 2019 14[01:53] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:22] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[05:23] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:39] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:41] * Joins: Crion 14[06:47] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[07:55] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:00] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:03] * Joins: cbass 14[17:39] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:39] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:50] * Joins: hrolf 14[22:49] * Joins: trenchfoot Session Time: Tue Jun 25 00:00:00 2019 14[00:20] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:44] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:29] * Joins: hrolf 14[09:35] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:46] * Joins: tom 14[20:15] * Joins: hrolfy 14[20:16] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[20:25]  15[20:25]  15[20:25]  15[20:25]  15[20:25]  15[20:26] As Lookshyan guns thunder uselessly against Theion's dead will, and as the circle struggles to survive the devastation of the Eye of Balor, no one on either side of the barrier has any idea of the carnage beyond. 15[20:36] The ground beneath the circle's feet is running molten. Keldar is badly burned. Xu Sim is nowhere to be seen. [20:37] "GET THAT OUT OF HIS HANDS!" 14Stranger roars. Where's Xu Sim? Where's-- [20:37] 10Jai strikes a glancing blow. Is it enough? No, but he has momentum now— [20:41] 10The edge of the blade seems to catch alight as he brings it around again, but the Mask is still just a little too quick. The orb—the Eye? glares balefully. 15[20:42] Xia Lan and Tsuka have been stopped by the Lookshyans, and led to Dragonlord Ballare, who crackles with electricity as she stands on the deck of the Final Word. "What's the situation?" [20:49] 10Jai brings the sword down in a savage, wholly artless, chop. For a heartbeat everything stops.  [20:50] 10Then the orb is knocked free of the Mask's grip, crazy-bouncing like a billiard ball flicked by the finger of a god. [20:51] "GRAB IT!" 15[20:51] "IMBECILE! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE?!" [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, meanwhile, is struggling through the heart of the crimson beam, shield up, sword back, and cobblestones melting into lava beneath his feet. It's only thanks to Entreaty that his body still exists as a physical object, and despite the silver shield's shadow the warrior's body is burned red-and-black all around its periphery. As Jai strikes true, it's all Keldar can do to roll [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12sideways out of the lava he finds himself standing in before his feet and legs have realized they should be igniting. [20:51] "I DON'T GIVE A SHIT!" [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Er, wait, it's Keldar's gold and silver sword's shadow -- he's got a grand daiklave at the moment. 15[20:52] The eye, though it appears to be a solid ruby-like crystal beneath its lurid glow, hits the solid ground behind the Mask with a damp plop. [20:53] 13She looks exhausted, and there's probably blood all over Xia Lan's clothes from letting Tsuka lean on her as they made their way back into Nexus. To Ballare: "Balor and the Mask of Winters were fighting over the Eye. Stranger, Keldar, Xu Sim, and Jai were all fighting there, but Stranger's got them in stasis now - nobody gets in or out until... whatever's going on in there is done. One way or the other." 15[20:55] Ballare raises her arm. "Hold fire!" The essence cannons stop, ozone-smelling smoke rising from the jade barrels. With the raised arm she snaps her fingers. "Get him to a medic. Can you fight?" she asks Xia Lan. [20:55] 14As the Mask turns, Stranger sees an opening-- [20:56] 14And as the death beyond death screams at Jai, a parasol smacks him upside the head. A supernally dangerous parasol. [20:58] 14Then it snaps out of the air and the ribbon guiding it briefly wraps around the Mask's...throat? [20:58] 14Stranger: "BALOR! GET YOUR EYE NOW!" [21:01] 13Xia Lan: "I'm not hurt," 13she hedges. Then: "...but not against any kind of serious foe. That curse has me practically useless." 15[21:02] "Go with him," says Ballare. [21:04] 10It's a good thing the stone here is hot enough to melt, because otherwise Jai's blood would be freezing right now. 10I said WHAT? To WHO? [21:04] 13She offers a quick 'thank you,' then hurries after Tsuka. They really need to stop meeting in the medical tents, though it's not her that's hurt this time. In a way, that actually feels worse. 15[21:11] "That is not my name," says the Emissary in his cold, flat voice, that seems to ignore all acoustics. He glides smoothly through the Masks' clutching hands and stoops down to grasp the Eye. In front of everyone, he tears off his own mask, revealing the virid and black-veined face of a man only Xu Sim might recognize. At the center of his brow is an open wound, pulsing and contracting 15[21:11] against the sudden rush of air and light. 15[21:12] With one hand he seats the eye, and with the other he dons the mask. "I am the Emissary of Nexus, and I see wanton violence." [21:12] 14Stranger pulls the parasol back. Whatever's going to happen is going to happen. [21:12] 10Gross. Cool, but gross. 15[21:13] The Emissary's entire body contracts, and the inside of the dome is awash with red light. [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's just pulling himself to his feet, using his daiklave as an extremely extravagant walking stick. One of his eye's gummed shut and the other's squinting through a haze of pain, but with his free hand he manages to ball a fist. 15[21:23] The light fades and nothing happens for a moment. Then the Mask begins to float in the air, joints snapping as the sheer force of the Emissary's will snaps his body back and forth. He starts to fray at the edges, the tips of his fingers and the hems of his robes dissolving into dust. Black ichor leaks from the holes in his gauntlets, and from behind both sides of his wicked masks. 15[21:24] There's an explosion of black motes, thousands of them, as the Mask discorporates. Every mote that comes in contact with one of the Circle passes straight through them as if they weren't there, leaving behind a deep, piercing cold that fades after moments. 15[21:28] Tsuka drifts in and out of consciousness. He grips Xia Lan's hand weakly. "Father was right," he mutters weakly. 15[21:28] He's weak, I'm saying. [21:29] 10Maybe it's just Jai's imagination, but there was a distinct feeling of hate, absolute 10loathing,10 washing over him to accompany the chill. Either way, he's made a hell of an enemy today. [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar staggers sideways, coughing, as the sphere of whatever the hell this is around the tiny battlefield removes itself. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, completely botched-" 12something occurs to him and he's suddenly looking around, eyes literally flashing. 15[21:31] With a wave of his hand, the Emissary banishes the lava, leaving the ground cooled instantly. 15[21:32] Keldar alone sees a plume of black and gold smoke rising high from what was the peak of the dome and drifting away. [21:32] 14Stranger snaps his fingers again, and the Sol Ring's bubble vanishes. [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12The Dawn Sergeant grunts with the pain of pointing upward. "There 'e... there he goes, I think. Shit. Hooooo that smarts." 15[21:33] "Thank you for your service," says the Emissary. [21:34] 14Stranger plops down on the now-cooled ground to take a moment. [21:34] 14Not often you stare down the Mask of Winters, almost get disintegrated, and-- "Where's Xu Sim?" [21:34] 14This is an open question, not really just for the Emissary. [21:35] <@Ferrinus> "Nothing less than what I, what I owe." 12Keldar tries to pull himself into a slightly less ragged stance for the purpose of giving the Emissary a nod. Then: "Jai! Throwing you a fuckin' parade or something. Goddamn." [21:35] "Heh. Aha. Honestly? I didn't think that'd work." [21:36] "Yes, excellent work Jai." [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...where's Xu sim." 15[21:37] The Solars are met with the onrushing Lookshyan army, who know nothing of their valor. "What in the hell happened?" comes the voice from one of Ballare's Blooded lieutenants. 15[21:37] Some of them have weapons drawn. [21:37] 14Stranger pushes himself back up to his feet. "The Mask of Winters has been driven off by the Emissaries of Nexus and the Dawn Sergeant. And another." [21:37] 14He looks around. "Who doesn't seem entirely present." [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Stand back! Injured here. Fuck, is he stuck in the rock?" [21:38] "Although I kind of boned it up in the first place. I would've grabbed it from Miss Xia Lan and led him on a chase, but he saw me coming from behind. Then again…"10 He looks to the Emissary. "Glad to have aided you in recovering your property. Uh. Sir." 15[21:38] "Driven where? Our cannons couldn't pierce that shell. Direct hit after direct hit--" [21:38] 14When he looks down at his feet: "Also, if someone could be so bold as to get a pickaxe..." [21:39] "Wait--wait--" [21:39] "Waaaa!" 14He pulls one foot free, sans sandal. [21:39] "Oh my." [21:39] 13Xia Lan squeezes Tsuka's hand. She's never asked about Tsuka's family, but if he's thinking of them at a time like this, his time with them was probably rough. Gently: "You're safe and we're both alive." 13She hesitates. "...right about...?" [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's stalking around now, trying to find, at the very least, a body. But that kind of magic wouldn't leave one, would it... 15[21:40] Tsuka: "Couldn't-- couldn't make it on my own..." 15[21:40] "...failed..." [21:40] 14After a few more minutes: "Waaaaa!" 14There's the second one. "I suppose I'm walking back barefoot." 15[21:40] The Emissary's face is unreadable behind the mask. "What is your name?" he asks Jai. [21:41] 10Jai banishes Burning Tizona once more. "My professional name is Black Wind Howling. But my mother named me Jai." [21:42] 10It's actually not a lie.  15[21:42] The Emissary: "Black Wind Howling, then. In Nexus you are who you say you are, and let anyone dare try to stop you." [21:42] 13Xia Lan: "Oh, Tsuka. No." [21:44] 14To the Lookshyan soldiers: "What news from the other fronts?" 15[21:45] "The fae have withdrawn, sir. They appear to be massing for another assault." 15[21:45] "We can take you to the Dragonlord...?" [21:46] 10He offers the Emissary a fist-in-hand salute and a deep bow. "I swore the oath, and I will serve." [21:46] 14Stranger nods. "Please do. There is much to discuss." [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar smashes the point of his daiklave into the ground. "WHERE'S XU SIM?!" 12He looks around, increasingly frustrated at how increasingly easy he's become to ignore. "Can ANYONE find ANYTHING?" [21:49] 14To Keldar: "He's either dead...or he's elsewhere. A man of his skill, I wouldn't put it past him. The Mask of Winters escaped the pocket world of the Sol Ring; perhaps Xu Sim did as well." 15[21:49] There's no sign of Xu Sim. Not even ashes. [21:50] "But there's no slag of a body. Nothing to investigate or look into." [21:50] "If he returns, well...what we know about him is that he will return on his own terms." [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "There wouldn't be, would there? Shit." [21:50] 14He sighs. "It's not a good answer. But with our responsibilities and commitments, it's the one we'll have to accept for now." [21:51] "With your pardon… I have matters I should attend to." 10Jai excuses himself from the Emissary's presence. [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12The Sergeant's shaking his head to himself. "Old man should've stayed clear. God dammit." 15[21:52] Elsewhere, far from the heart of Nexus, far even from the front, past the lines of defense of Nexus and past the vanguard of Cethleann's horde stands a copse of elm trees that wasn't there before. Their branches gnarl and intertwine, forming a creche in which a great violet light pulses. 15[21:53] The air thrums with potential, and the violet light flickers briefly gold and black, before disgorging the Mask of Winters, still bleeding black, and Xu Sim illuminated orange by the flames crawling up his sleeves. 15[21:54] The Emissary vanishes in a shimmer. [21:55] 14Stranger nods sadly to Keldar. "Let's press on, then. There's more work to be done." 14To the Lookshyans: "To Ballare." 15[21:55] The trip aboard the Final Word is brief and uneventful, and Ballare takes the circle into her ready-room. "First of all, what the fuck was that?" [21:56] 14Stranger: "The bubble, the Emissary, the Mask, the death ray...?" [21:56] "It was a lot of compromising, is what it was." [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's moving slowly, and takes a very ginger seat on whatever's available. "Elegba. Elegba said he wanted to parley but robbed us instead, and we figured it out... uh, in some confusion." [21:57] "Yeah, what exactly was that thing?" 10Jai's managed to shuck his armor and feels lighter than a feather. "All I saw was the Mask of Winters trying to rob someone who couldn't put up any resistance." [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ended up in a fight over an important piece of civic property." [21:58] "But clearly that wasn't just some bauble or even a hearthstone." [21:59] 14To Ballare: "I know you don't particularly like or trust me -- us -- but you should trust this: the Emissary of Nexus has returned, at or near the fullness of his power, and in my opinion Lookshy should adjust its strategic expectations of this campaign accordingly. Forget about long-term leverage over this city; view a victory here more as an exercise that has prevented a middlemarch [21:59] or a shadowland of grotesque size and power from springing up in Lookshy's backyard." [21:59] "The Mask being forced to quit the field without the Eye of Balor is, itself, a resounding victory for Creation." [21:59] "I say that as one of those he attempted to use it on." [21:59] 13Xia Lan: "Listen to me. If you ever say that again I will track your father down and punch him in the face." 13She sighs. "Today was rough. But you're alive. You'll get back up from this. And I love you." 13What else can she say? Especially with Tsuka in this state. When he's more clearheaded... [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah." 12He'd have preferred not to drop the name, but, well. 15[22:00] "Did we win?" asks Tsuka. [22:00] 10Jai whistles. "That's a name to conjure with." [22:01] "Not all that he used it on were so lucky." 15[22:01] Ballare: "The Emissary has the Eye of Balor back?" [22:01] 13Xia Lan: "I don't hear screaming, so we must have." [22:01] "He does." [22:02] 5Xu Sim slaps frantically at the rising flames, padding at them with his hands until they go out. Singed twice, dragged through the mud, pelted with the Thistledown - this robe is on its last legs. [22:03] 5He glances up at the Mask, warily. 15[22:04] The Mask, who has fallen to hands and knees, looks up at Xu Sim. 15[22:05] On the ridge behind them, a tiny voice shouts "Oi!" 15[22:05] A hobgoblin riding a mastiff trots toward them. [22:05] "You're not here to-" 5Xu Sim glances back at the hobgoblin. [22:07] 10Jai shifts uneasily. He's got a couple questions to ask Stranger later about the nature of the Emissary, but airing them in this meeting feels unwise. [22:09] 5Xu Sim dusts off the tattered, filthy, formerly-white robe. To be fair, if anyone but a master of the Crane Style had worn this robe it would long ago have been torn to shreds, burnt to a crisp, or soaked through with blood and faerie ichor. 15[22:11] Tsuka: "...are you okay?" 15[22:11] "Did you get hurt?" he coughs. 15[22:11] Ballare draws in a sharp breath through her nose. "Do you trust him?" [22:12] 14Stranger: "I trust his nature. But I made him swear a sanctified oath before helping him anyhow." [22:12] "You haven't followed to kill me. You're nearly more dead than usual," 5Xu Sim observes, ignoring the hobgoblin and its dog for a moment. "And you've lost the Eye as well." [22:13] 14Keldar isn't going to like this presentation of the Emissary as somehow subordinate to the Solars, or even equals, but it's what Ballare needs to hear. 15[22:13] The Mask: "They have no idea what they've done." 15[22:13] "To give such power to a man--" 15[22:14] The hobgoblin rides forward, spear at the ready. The Mask waves his hand and the hobgoblin and dog both fall over, stone dead. A moment later they rise unsteadily, and the hobgoblin clambers back onto the dog's back, its eyes vacant. [22:15] 13Xia Lan squeezes Tsuka's hand again: "I'm fine. Not a scratch on me. First fight in a while that's been true," 13she smiles weakly. [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It's the Emissary. Does what he always does. Should be more reliable against the rest of the fae than he has been up to now." 12He pauses. "Speaking of, what're they up to? How much time before they hit again?" [22:16] "What, as opposed to the ghost of one?" 5Xu Sim asks, pointedly. 15[22:18] Ballare: "We don't know. We know that whatever you did in the first wave forced them into retreat. We took back territory up to the river and they haven't poked their heads over their embankments since. Sorcerer's best guess is they're waiting for their general to reform. Who knows how long that will take." 15[22:18] "Our position's too precarious for a counterattack." 15[22:18] The Mask: "I was no more man than you are." [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Between you and me, it'll probably not take as long as it'll take me to walk this off." [22:18] "Hopefully the Emissary will bolster our first response." 14Stranger looks over at Keldar: "We need to fix what's wrong with you and the girl." [22:19] "Nexus needs its Dawn Sergeant. All of him." 15[22:19] Ballare: "She was fine. I sent her back to the infirmary tents with her boy, who is incredibly not." [22:19] 5Xu Sim: "So much I have surmised. Did you mean to give the Eye to another, then?" [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That too. It'll fall off... but I dunno when or how." [22:20] 14Stranger purses his lips and nods. "Cathak Tsuka has given a lot for this city. Perhaps a lethal amount, by the time we're done." 15[22:20] "Someone knocked it from my hand. I didn't recognize him." 15[22:20] "...who were you?" [22:20] 10Jai: "I called off my scouting expedition when I saw and heard the first signs of trouble back in the city. So I don't have as much information on the raksha host as I would've liked to have by now." [22:21] "In the circumstances, though, it turned out to be warranted." 15[22:21] The Mask makes a sharp gesture, and the hobgoblin and mastiff shuffle around to walk back up the hill. [22:21] "I could strike out again in the morning, though." [22:21] 14To Jai: "As soon as you're ready." 15[22:21] Tsuka: "...that's good... where's Stranger?" [22:23] "I'm bone tired. After the last few days, I feel like I could sleep for a week. But one night should be enough." [22:26] 5Xu Sim eyes the creature with suspicion. "I have ever been Xu Sim. But before, he who I am was called Uzra." 15[22:28] The Mask: "Ha!" 15[22:28] "Power at any price. Of course. Nobody really changes." [22:28] 13Xia Lan: "Not sure. Let me --" 13She grabs her codex page.  [22:29] 14Stranger: [22:29] 14He frowns. The Codex. He's been so out of it that-- [22:32] 13Xia Lan:  13She nods to Tsuka. "He's back in town. And alive, um, obviously." [22:32] 14Stranger: *> [22:35] 13She repeats it for Tsuka's benefit, with special emphasis to not push himself.  [22:37] 5Xu Sim grunts in annoyance before his brow furrows at the rather disturbing implication. [22:39] 5Xu Sim, on both the Codex and to the Mask: "Then why bother?" [22:40] 14To Xia Lan: [22:41] 14To Keldar: "I just called Xu Sim on the Codex. He answered. He sounds like he's in the middle of something." [22:41] 10Jai busies himself with updating one of Ballare's maps with the raksha positions and patrols he did encounter before turning back. A light brush against his awareness indicates that Shiki's made it back to his makeshift quarters and that there's been good hunting in the undercity tonight.  [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, who'd fallen into a reverie, snaps into full wakefulness. "What? How the fuck?" [22:42] 13Xia Lan:  13To Tsuka: "Everyone's fine. Or, I guess they are now? Xu Sim was disintegrated but he's on the Codex, so... I guess he wasn't after all?" 15[22:42] The Mask: "You shouldn't." [22:42] 14Stranger: "I don't know. I didn't even think to call him until checking in with Xia Lan. But unless he took the page with him to the afterlife, he's hanging around." [22:42] "Whew. I would've felt really bad if he'd died." 15[22:43] Ballare: "Is he injured?" 15[22:43] "Where is he? What's his status?" [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...can we rule that out? It was the Mask that got 'im." [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "At least that's what it looked like." 15[22:43] The Mask touches a finger to his temple. "There is an army between us and our people." [22:43] 14Stranger: "It sounds like he's talking with someone and doesn't want to reveal that he's in communication with us. He sounds raspy but generally fine. I can't tell who he's speaking with." [22:44] 14Stranger: "There's only two people who magicked their way out of that bubble, though." [22:44] "But you should?" 5Xu Sim is incredulous. "People can -" 5He pauses right before he puts his own hand to his head in a gesture just a little too similar to what the Mask just did, himself.  [22:45] 10Jai: "Maybe he hitched a ride. Sorcerers can do that kind of thing, right?" [22:45] 14Stranger: "He's talking to the Mask of Winters." [22:45] 14Stranger: [22:45] "And… everything's okay?" [22:45] "Uh." [22:45] "He was trying to kill us pretty hard not that long ago." [22:46] "I think everything's precarious. But he's making a play." [22:46] "If it comes to it and he needs to get pulled out, I want you and the Ambassador on it," 14he says to Jai. [22:46] 5Xu Sim glances sidelong at the Mask. Tough to be discrete around someone with eyes (and nose, and mouth, and...) in the back of their head. 15[22:46] The Mask: "You should fight, of course. You should win! Conquest is our birthright. But you shouldn't fight your nature." 15[22:47] "Is that Stranger? Give him my regards." [22:47] "Assuming they're...anywhere near here." [22:47] "O-okay. I think I can do that. I might wear a different face any time I get near the Mask from now on, though. Keep him guessing." [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar half-stands out of his seat, grits his teeth, then stands the rest of the way. "If he's -- hrrgh. We can't just leave him out there." 15[22:48] Tsuka: "I don't understand. What happened?" [22:48] 5Xu Sim follows alongside the Mask. "Your nature is different now, though. Despite superficial similarities." [22:49] 10Jai rubs his eyes. "If I need to go after him now I'm gonna need some of that Fulang tea. Double-strength. With sugar." [22:49] 14Stranger: [22:49] 14This is not a lie. 15[22:51] The Mask pushes himself to a sitting position. "I would contend that it is only the superficial that has changed. Flesh is nothing against the mind, the will. Those persist, even unto death. Even into further turns of the wheel." [22:55] 5Xu Sim: "When the stomach grumbles, it goads the will to action. Deprived of the flesh, what has the ghostly mind to drive it?" [22:55] 13Xia Lan: "The Mask had the Eye of Balor and used it on Xu Sim. But he's... elsewhere, now, instead of dead." 13She finds some place to sit and just rubs her forehead. "I don't get it either. I'm just glad he's all right. Or, as all right as one could be after that." 15[22:55] The Mask: "For some, memory. For some, desire. For some, principle. For some, spite." 15[22:56] "Anything that might make a man linger past the point of sense will do the same to the dead." 15[22:57] Tsuka: "Is the war over?" [22:58] 5Xu Sim: "Which was it for you?" 15[22:59] The Mask: "Knowledge. The only sacred pursuit." [23:00] 5Xu Sim sneers "And what lesson did Thorns have for a studied soul like yours?" 15[23:01] "With an attitude like that," says the Mask archly, "I'm not sure I should tell you." [23:02] 13Xia Lan: "No, but we're in better shape than we were this morning. For the first time in a while, I actually feel pretty good about our chances." 13Kind of. [23:06] "Now, I've told you one of mine," 5reminds Xu Sim - "fair play demands you tell me one of yours." 15[23:08] The Mask: "Fair enough. A question, then: what happens when you kill that which cannot die?" [23:11] 14Once the meeting with Ballare is over, Stranger goes to get some noodles. The homeless soup kitchens he and Selin set up have pulled exceptional double-duty in this time of crisis. [23:11] 5This koan is a puzzler. [23:12] 14He'll invite Jai to come with him, if the man doesn't invite himself. 15[23:12] The noodles, despite being made of shredded mushrooms, are well-seasoned in a rich broth. [23:12] 14Excellent. [23:12] 10Jai goes with, since it feels like weeks since the last time he had a decent meal. [23:13] 14Well, 'decent' is a moving target. [23:13] 14But it is flavorful and filling. [23:13] "Huh. Mushrooms? Really?" [23:13] 14Stranger: "The city's underworks are a fantastic source." [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Once Keldar's satisfied that Jai, the Ambassador, and whoever else Stranger can rustle up are going to have Xu Sim's rescue in hand, he retires to his own office. There's not a lot for him to do there - delegates, especially Tsuka, have already had to take over the more difficult administrative functions, but the Dawn Sergeant's still able to make broad decisions and also send runners [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12and other guardsmen out for specific tasks. So, here's the order: find the Emissary and ask him to come in for a chat, because the Sergeant needs help with a few questions. [23:14] 13After a few moments of quiet, Xia Lan asks Tsuka: "...so how are you feeling? You really scared me." [23:14] "And they have a certain charm of their own. A bit spongey, but still hearty." [23:14] "I take it you have questions." [23:14] "Green stuff. Cave moss or somethin'?" 10Slurp. Sluuurp. [23:15] "Oh yeah. Real questions. Not about soup." [23:15] "When you kill what cannot die, even the memory cannot persist - nothing can remain," 5Xu Sim speculates. [23:15] "Soup questions remain excellent questions, but I understand your meaning." [23:16] "Haaa." 10Jai leans back, sated for the moment. "So just who is the Emissary, anyway? You called him Balor, but he can't be the Balor. And then he said not to call him by that name." [23:17] "I read a half-dozen reports on Nexus, but they all had contradicting theories." 15[23:17] Tsuka looks up at her. "I got cholera once. On a trip with cadets. The well was fouled. It's not the same, but..." He shakes his head slowly. "Wrung out." [23:19] 14Stranger: "Well, that depends. The former Emissary was Balor. That much is not in doubt. But we all saw him die. Well. Saw the corpse. This guy has the right hole in his head, has the right powers, the moves and the looks -- but we were actually looking into a different inheritor of the mantle of 'Emissary of Nexus.' A cabbage dealer." 15[23:19] The Mask: "Suppose that such a being created the means of its own demise. Suppose it became its own death. A vessel for, a conduit to, pure Oblivion." 15[23:19] "Imagine the song it would sing." [23:19] "Then this guy showed up. And he had the touch." [23:20] 14Stranger gulps down some more noodles. "I have an agent still looking into the cabbage dealer, but he seems to be wholly out of play. So this is either Balor resurrected, or something else." [23:21] "Either way I've sworn him to defend the city, with a supernal oath binding, so if there is some betrayal waiting to happen in there we might have a bit of help from the Sun." [23:21] 10Jai blinks. "The Balor. The one who was supposed to have been scythed away by the Empress all those years ago. Man, I knew raksha were slippery, but this is something else." 15[23:21] Keldar feels his eardrums pop, and then the Emissary is there, arms folded. [23:22] "He doesn't like the name now. I'm unsure what to make of that." [23:22] "It's probably… a good sign? I didn't think raksha could reincarnate anyway, so maybe he's just… a regular spirit or something, now." [23:23] "They either go all rocky or they just puff out of existence, is what I was taught." [23:23] 14Stranger: "Yes, I remain unconvinced he's actually Balor. But there's still a hole in his head." [23:23] "And from a practical standpoint, as long as he's willing to commit to the role? I don't really care." [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar swallows a few times. "Ah. Great. Thanks for - coming by. I'd have come found you but I can't be wandering around at the moment." 12This is evidenced by the way all his visible tissue shades from his normal skin tone to red to actual charred black as one moves from the center line of his body to the edges, and the way that the fresh clothes he's put on are already stained [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12purplish-red. There's a lot of towels laid down over his seat. "I need to know two things, and I'll put the practical first: can you uncurse me?" [23:24] 10Jai: "Yeah. And that thing went right in there like it was made for it." [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12He waves a hand vaguely over his own face. "Felt this shroud fall on me when I took Cethleann down. It's her, right? Faerie magic?" 15[23:25] The Emissary: "To be ishvara is to have power over the natures of things. To tell a tale that cannot be refuted. That power is not mine. It's hers now." [23:25] 14Stranger: "Politically speaking, the Emissary returning is the best possible outcome here. It doesn't change the balance of power like the Mask with the Eye or even Lookshy taking control of the city would have, and the costs of the war will have reminded both Thorns and Lookshy what a slog trying to achieve dominance over Nexus is." [23:25] "And you that's where heard this song?" 5Xu Sim asks. [23:26] 13Xia Lan to Tsuka: "Can I get you anything? I know when I went down, you were a huge comfort, but I don't know if you just need rest, or..." 13She rubs her arm, looking nervous. [23:26] 14Stranger: "Of course, it means I and all the reforms I've made over the past few months will have to completely eat shit." [23:26] "But." [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hmmph. So she can fix this? Can anyone or anything else?" [23:26] "I'm creative and persistent. I think I can salvage it." 15[23:26] Tsuka's face reddems. "Could you... could you sing me a song?" 15[23:27] The Emissary: "Another ishvara, perhaps. But only perhaps. It is by her will or her destruction that the tale ends." [23:27] 10Jai: "So a return to the status quo. Sort of. It's gonna be a good few years before the city's back to anything close to what it used to be. Hey, at least you have another pair of eyes, ears, and hands." [23:27] 14How badly are they rationing noodles? Stranger hasn't eaten in some 20 hours and could use a second portion. [23:27] 14Stranger: "Until your handlers come calling again." [23:28] "Yes, I've spoken to the Ambassador." [23:28] "She praises you highly." [23:28] "She helped me out a lot. Set me straight on some things early on." 15[23:28] There's plenty of fungus among them. Stranger can go back for more if he waits a bit. [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Another... does Elegba count? Where'd he go, anyway?" [23:29] 14Then he shall. [23:30] 14Stranger: "I've got my own liaison with the Chosen of Heaven. Man named Bubo. I understand, to some degree, the ebb and flow of that relationship. But you can't let it define you." [23:30] 10Jai heads over for another serving too. "But, yeah, OK, I guess there's no point trying to dance around it. I just got sick of the way the Bureau was using me. Like I was some kind of a tool they could keep in a box when they didn't need to tear something down." [23:30] "The Sun chose you for greater things." [23:30] 14Stranger nods in approval. [23:30] 13Xia Lan smiles. "Of course. Any requests?" 15[23:31] The Emissary: "He fled the city like a worm. I felt him gone when we returned." [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar shuffles some papers. Are his forces still massing out there, according to Lookshy's reports? 15[23:31] Tsuka: "What was that song you sang to me at the CIO? Do you remember it?" 15[23:32] There's been no sign of Elegba's advance or retreat. [23:33] 10Jai: "They had me knock over a king's council for a 'field exam'. After two years every one of them was out of power or exiled because of things I'd dug up or fabricated. Some of them were genuinely bad men and women." [23:33] "Some of them weren't." [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But his guys are still out there... and he was sworn to 'claim' your eye. Did he, technically? Can you tell?" 15[23:35] The Mask tilts his head back his head and wheeze-laughs. "I sought it out." [23:35] 14Stranger: "Mmmm. One thing I can promise you about this gig? You'll have clear direction. A thing about us is we're pretty clear about what we want to do. Another thing about us is that it's usually taking power." [23:36] "And what did it teach you?" 5Xu Sim asks. [23:36] 10Jai: "Oyabun… well, that's what I call him, anyway, said it was all in service of a greater purpose and that I couldn't yet see it. But you get a glimpse at what's going on behind the scenes at the Bureau? The only greater purpose is getting a promotion." [23:36] "So, if he comes looking for me, and I'm sure he will, we're gonna negotiate a different deal." 15[23:37] The Emissary: "I don't know." [23:37] 14Stranger: "He will. He'd come looking even if you didn't have an arrangement, I bet. Because while they're terrified of sowing the wind the way we have in this city the last couple months, they do love reaping the whirlwind." [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ah. But backing up - 'her destruction', yeah? Does it have to be me who does it?" [23:38] 14Stranger: "When there is peace, their shadow war will begin again." [23:38] 10Jai: "I'm not gonna be his bonsai tree to shape and prune." 10He sighs. "Feels really good to get that off my chest." [23:39] 14Stranger: "I'm glad." 14More noodles arrive. [23:40] "That said, there are good men and women among them, and they're not the enemy, whatever else they are. We will have to work with some of them at least." 15[23:40] The Mask: "That there is something beyond death. A darkness beyond the dark. It is the universe's only certainty. And it's growing." 15[23:40] "It is night in the Labyrinth already. Soon it will be dark here." 15[23:43] "You will never see the dawn." [23:44] 10Jai: "Yeah, I can see that." 10Lots of slurping ensues. "I don't think Oyabun's a bad man. Just… trying to get ahead. He's been practically everywhere over the years, and sometimes it's hard to get him to stop once he starts talking." [23:45] 14Stranger: "Victory for creation might not only involve killing bad men. But, I can hope." [23:45] 5Xu Sim shivers, but then steels himself. "Your darkness was delayed today. But I have no doubt-" 5 here, a flourish " - that your darkness will fall." [23:45] 5Xu Sim shivers, but then steels himself. "Your darkness was delayed today. But I have no doubt-" 5 here, a flourish " - that your darkness will fall." [23:46] "You really feel like you've been to Whitewall or Juche or the Western islands after you hear one of his stories." 10Jai grins. "So what's your dream? You want to rebuild the Old Realm? Do them one better? Storm the gates of Heaven?" 15[23:46] The Emissary: "It shouldn't, but it's got to be you, doesn't it? You're the city's hero." 15[23:47] The Mask: "Hh. You must act-as-if, anyway. Whatever doubt may grow in your heart." [23:47] 13Xia Lan: "Of course!" 13Now it's her turn to blush. "...give me a moment." 13She starts off humming, then once she's found the proper pitch, she moves into the song proper. It's quieter than the version she sang at the CIO, and slower, but the words seem so much more pointed, now that they're alone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJb8X9inhOM [23:47] 14Stranger: "I have no desire to see Heaven again. The Shogunate was shit. The old Solar Deliberative was worse than both. I just want to destroy Creation's foes, even out my balance line, love well, and die well." [23:48] 13When she finishes the last line, she opens up her eyes to see Tsuka's reaction. [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm mostly a charcoal briquette. Maybe Cethleann will take longer to regenerate than I will, but I ain't hopeful." 12He drums on his desk with his hand, frowns at the flakes of soggy ash left there, and looks up. "Can you tell me anything else about her? Should I expect her back in the same form I ran through?" 15[23:49] Tsuka has drifted peacefully off to sleep. [23:49] 10Jai nods. It feels like a deep truth's been conferred to him. [23:50] 13She'll stay with Tsuka for a while. If anyone needs her, they have the Codex. 15[23:51] The Emissary shakes his head. "The past is a foreign country. There is no backward. She is indestructible, but ever-changing." [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Indestructible except by...?" [23:51] 14Stranger: "It would be nice to find the Empress, though." [23:51] "While we're talking about dreams." [23:52] "Even if she's just on some beach somewhere. The Realm needs her, and so does Creation." 15[23:52] The Emissary: "You can't destroy a story. You can only end it." [23:52] 14He chuckles. "But let's just eat up and see tomorrow." 14Then he slurps the rest of the broth. [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's trying to remain in relatively good humors here. "Got advice on that front, then?" [23:53] 10Jai snort-laughs. "Now I'm imagining you dragging her away from a beach by the ears, or something." [23:53] 14Stranger: "I would." [23:53] 5A sorcerous wind begins picking up around Xu Sim's feet. "It would be advantageous to you, Mask of Winters, to change your course. I'll see you some other sunset." [23:53] "That makes you double-Anathema, I think. So it is written." [23:55] Jai polishes off his soup as well. 15[23:55] "Good luck, Urza Planeswalker." [23:55] 14Stranger stands. "Enough about dreams. Let's find some. Get some sleep, however brief. We'll need it." 15[23:56] The Emissary: "Just this: remember that the only way out is through. You've got to be careful." [23:57] 10Jai: 'G'night. And thanks again for everything." [23:58] 14Stranger smiles sadly. "Don't think me yet. Wait for the win." 14Then he wanders off into the refugee crowd. [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar leans forward over his desk. "Are you bullshitting me?" 15[23:58] The Emissary: "I can only speak the truth." [23:59] 10When Jai makes it back to his quarters, he's asleep almost before he hits the futon. [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, that's when I get vague, too. Listen, what actually happened with you? What's the, uh, the line from you to that cart to that merchant to now?" Session Time: Wed Jun 26 00:00:01 2019 [00:00] 5Roused by the wind, a great greasy black globule of the Mask's ectoplasm flutters through the air. Xu Sim snatches it from the air with the speed of a striking heron, before securing it in one of his sundry jars. "It's Xu Sim." 5With that, the sorcerer takes off into the sky, dodging between brambles and elm branches. 15[00:01] The Emissary: "I remember... I remember the trumpet. I remember the bells. I remember a long darkness, and waking to see Brueghel's face. I was terribly ill, hidden. I regained my strength slowly. I was to be his pawn." 15[00:01] "I am no one's pawn." [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods to himself slowly, then sits back. "That bastard. Well, glad you're still here, whatever it cost us in, uh, institutional memory." 15[00:04] "Same to you." There's a ripple, and the Emissary is gone. 15[00:04] NEXT TIME: Oyabun 14[00:09] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:59] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:03] * Quits: tom (*.net *.split) 14[08:03] * Quits: banana (*.net *.split) 14[08:03] * Quits: VoxPrime (*.net *.split) 14[08:03] * Quits: cbass (*.net *.split) 14[08:03] * Quits: dammitwho (*.net *.split) 14[08:04] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[08:04] * Joins: cbass 14[08:04] * Joins: dammitwho 14[08:04] * Joins: banana 14[08:04] * Joins: tom 14[08:04] * Quits: tom (*.net *.split) 14[08:04] * Quits: banana (*.net *.split) 14[08:04] * Quits: VoxPrime (*.net *.split) 14[08:04] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[08:04] * Joins: tom 14[08:04] * Joins: banana 14[08:26] * Quits: cbass (*.net *.split) 14[08:26] * Quits: dammitwho (*.net *.split) 14[08:26] * Joins: dammitwho 14[08:26] * Joins: cbass 14[08:31] * Quits: cbass (*.net *.split) 14[08:31] * Quits: dammitwho (*.net *.split) 14[08:31] * Joins: dammitwho 14[08:31] * Joins: cbass 14[10:24] * Joins: hrolfy 14[10:33] * Joins: hrolf 14[10:34] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:44] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:53] * Joins: hrolfy 14[21:55] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:05] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[22:58] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[23:03] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:09] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:56] * Joins: trenchfoot Session Time: Thu Jun 27 00:00:00 2019 14[00:06] * Joins: tom2 14[00:08] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:15] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:34] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:57] * Joins: bananaphone 14[07:03] * Quits: bananaphone (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:40] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[17:54] * Joins: hrolfy 14[18:15] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:13] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:41] * Joins: hrolfy 14[23:51] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Fri Jun 28 00:00:00 2019 14[07:19] * Joins: trench_foot 14[07:22] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:46] * trench_foot is now known as trenchfoot 14[09:27] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:08] * Joins: hrolfy [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ▓▓░░ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ██▒▒▓▓▒▒ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ████ ▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒░░██ ░░▒▒ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ▒▒▓▓░░░░ ░░▒▒░░░░░░▒▒▒▒░░▒▒ ▓▓░░▒▒ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ██▒▒▒▒▒▒██░░ ▓▓░░▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒░░▒▒██████▒▒▒▒████████▒▒██▒▒██████ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ▒▒██▓▓▓▓░░░░▓▓ ▒▒██ ░░▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒▒▒▓▓▓▓░░░░░░▒▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ▒▒████▓▓▒▒██▒▒░░▓▓▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒████ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒▓▓▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒░░ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░░▓▓▓▓▒▒▒▒▓▓▒▒▓▓▒▒▓▓░░ ██▒▒▒▒▓▓▒▒▓▓▓▓░░ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ▓▓██▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒░░▓▓░░▒▒░░ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ▒▒░░▓▓░░░░ ▒▒▒▒░░▓▓▒▒░░▓▓ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ▒▒▓▓▒▒████ ▓▓▒▒▓▓▒▒▒▒▓▓▓▓░░ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ▓▓▒▒░░░░▓▓▓▓ ▓▓▒▒▒▒▓▓░░░░▒▒▒▒░░ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ▓▓▒▒░░ ▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒██░░ ▓▓▒▒▒▒ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 ██▓▓ ██▓▓▓▓ ██████ ██▓▓▒▒ [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12 [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12You've been bogged down by an army of apemen and a pair of Lunar warriors. One is floundering badly, having barely managed to stem the tide of kruthik crashing into him and largely failed to land telling blows on any of you, but the other is becoming a real freakin' problem (probably because of the massive suit of magically-powered armor he is, she is, or they are wearing). The silver [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12titan, wielding a bladed whip crackling with lightning, has been crippled by Blossom's energy discharges but has still managed to seize Tatsuya in the coils of a aforementioned whip and badly batter and electrocute the Night Caste. Meanwhile, up above, Jormungand does losing battle with some monster of Raksi's own, and the apefolk legions strike at your kruthik with eerily perfect [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12timing. [20:52] 4Ir has had enough of this great bucket of vines and bolts hurting both her friends. She lets out a battlecry-song and the kruthik part before her, except for a pair of ravagers who bow to form a perfect springboard to launch her into the air. Jude's Law becomes a great hammer in her hand as she blows past Pramu, the beastman just barely able to turn a lethal blow into one that sends [20:52] 4him sprawling, and then Ir hits the great warstrider four times, reaving peals of armor from its frame and cracking its great magical skeleton. [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12It's an absolute horrorshow for any watching sorcerer-engineers; steel and moonsilver plating is just shriven and torn away. Still, on its last legs, the warstrider picks up and windmill slams Tatsuya back into the ground, bouncing his body roughly against the stones and sending a web of jagged lightning exploding outwards at his allies! 15[21:01] 10Badass. 15[21:02] 10The first part, not the second part. That part's much worse. [21:06] 6Tatsuya hurtles into the ground with astounding force, but - flickers? There's a staticy effect over him, followed by a bizarre bit of fog, but then he bounces back onto the ground - well, no, he's not perfectly fine, but he isn't dead, and that looks like it didn't hurt him NEARLY as bad as it should've. [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12There's definitely the sense of someone squinting confusedly down through a visor at him. Meanwhile, Pramu's staggering and bleeding, keenly aware of how close he just came to dying and how badly he's exposed. [21:09] 4The lightning comes for Ir as Tatsuya rolls(?) away, and Ir deals with it by vaulting over a hapless nearby ape, comically electrocuting him instead. [21:10] 4Ir: "This is our third fight of the day, boys, and it's not going well for you. You might want to figure out when you're beat. To be honest," 4this is to Pramu, "I'm beginning to appreciate your moxie." [21:11] 6He's back on his feet after a moment, holding his side but still managing a perfect backflip one-handed to get back to his feet. [21:12] 14Then she looks up at the cloud rider. "Ah, well." [21:12] 4Then she looks up at the cloud rider. "Ah, well." [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Pramu: "Your trickery might get you a little ahead, but you'll NEVER-" 15[21:21] 10A tiny orb of fire coalesces in front of Eikichi, orbiting him with the Spheres. He gets right in Torama's cat-eyed face, close enough that whoever's inside can see him wink. Then he snatches the ball of fire and hurls it downward. It hatches as it falls into a bird of prey that collides beak-first with the boar-man, blossoming fire in every direction. 15[21:21] 10He doesn't even look back as he races toward Jormungand. [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Pramu: "NRRRAAAAHHHHH-" 12He's just a charcoal sketch inside an orange blaze at the moment. [21:22] 4Folks, you hate to see it. [21:34] 7Blossom flips Truth and Justice out of their holsters and into the air, spinning around and catching them on the way down. "Blossom..." 7She carefully aims both flame pieces and pulls their triggers! Instead of firing immediately, the guns emit a high-pitched whine and their cylinders spin on their own, discharging stored fire essence in a fraction of a second. From the gunbarrels [21:34] 7emerge blinding-white beams that meet a few feet in front of the Zenith and continue on straight for the warstrider! [21:35] "..of Inevitable Demise!" 7The plasma beam, lightning crackling around it, pierces the warstrider's pilot compartment through-and-through and boils a trough of dirt behind it! [21:35] 7She smirks as the giant machine stumbles and falls. "No relation." [21:35] "Whew." [21:44] 6Tatsuya looks insufferably smug until his coat catches on fire. 15[21:45] 10Whoops. [21:46] 6He's still kind of smug until parts of the rest of him catch on fire. [21:56] 4Ir strides through the flames, which merely irritate her, and pick off burning apemen one by one with her silver lance. She's meandering around where Pramu's body is. He's a hardy boy. She shouldn't HAVE to drag him out of this. [22:01] 4Her anima towers over the flames, a spindly armored warrior with a wide-eyed helmet, floating with crossed arms, striking with a spear when Ir does. [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Ape and demon crash into each other, impaled on swords or claws or burning in sorcerous flames. Somehow, Ir is feeling a lot more pressure than she should be given the vanguard of kruthik ravagers before her - individual, plucky soldiers keep managing to pierce the line just long enough to send incredibly well-aimed sword swings or cast spears. [22:05] 4Ir's eyes narrow. Yelling over the flames: "I know one of you are out there. And I'm betting you run out of beastmen before I run out of ways to kill them." [22:07] "I'll make you a deal. You back off, I don't cut Pramu's throat where he fucking lies." 08[22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Leaving the chaos of mass combat behind him, Eikichi literally storms ahead, sweeping over the straggler kruthik and Thousand-Fangs troops that occupy Chithakara's upper levels and then winding his way through the creep-overgrown jungle canopy that once formed that foundation of the city's agricultural operations. Then he breaches the leaves, and sees the fight full-on. [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Jormungand, broken and bleeding, is being crushed to death in the emerald coils of a craw wurm! At first glimpse it might be mistaken for a wood dragon, but it's got no limbs, just spikes, frills, and a birdlike beak, and there's animal cunning but not divine intelligence behind those flashing, hungry eyes. The creature's wrapped itself around your cerebrate, constricting and ravaging [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12it; Jormungand can't unfold into its flying configuration to flee, and can't even really bring its biology to bear to fight with - it's just being strangled and bitten to death, ton by ton. 15[22:38] 10Eikichi emerges from the canopy to see his monster under threat. This beast needs a lesson in the great chain of being. He thrusts his hands out, and the spheres halt their orbit before slowly reversing course, seeming to drag against the air like a screw being turned ever-more tightly. "ANIMAL! HEAR ME!" 08[22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Something ripples through the air, and the craw wurm is suddenly groaning and snarling. It wheels its great head around, trying to pinpoint Eikichi's position in order to crush the increasingly-more-painful pressure it's feeling from directions it wasn't aware existed. 08[22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12It's at that moment that a swatch of jungle canopy above and behind Eikichi ripples and reveals itself to have simply been a projection on the scales of a monstrous chameleon-man with huge silver claws and horns! The creature drops, all extremities extended in preparation for ripping the sorcerer apart -- 15[22:40] 10Scornfully: "Not you." [22:41] 7Blossom angles her feet and rockets toward the incline leading up to the greater battle. "Tatsuya! Jump!" [22:46] 6He's very busily stamping some fires out and trying to find places that aren't currently on fire, but he hears that, and leaps -- [22:47] 7She catches him in mid-leap and pulls him around onto her back, wobbling a bit before she can compensate for the added weight and continuing forward. She's gonna have to look for some place safe she can drop him off so he can hide... [22:48] 6Tatsuya: "Thank you for letting me not burn to death." 6It's very deadpan, the way he says it, but also he hugs an arm around Blossom briefly to show his sincerity. 08[22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12A huge, serpentine mouth goes soaring past Eikichi, who could deftly dodge on his stormwind rider. But, from behind, a prehensile tongue strikes! 15[22:54] 10CHAMELEONS HAVE PREHENSILE TAILS, NOT PREHENSILE TONGUES [22:54] 4Tell him that, I guess. 14[22:56] * Joins: mattbaby 08[22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12That doesn't explain how this one's tongue is arcing expertly between the swirls of debris that compose Eikichi's sorcerous vortex! 14[23:04] * Joins: hrolfie 14[23:07] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:15] 4As Tatsuya exits the playing field, Ir stomps over to Pramu, places an armored foot on his chest, and then, with Jude's Law as a greatsword: "HRRRAAAAAAAH!!!!" [23:18] 4Two great swings, behind her and before her. There's a pause and then an explosion of wind in either direction as the air itself is literally driven from the field, the beastmen falling to their knees in suffocation as the bonfires die. It probably doesn't kill any of them. It probably does make some woozy or unconscious. "I propose you come get your boy -- you, yourself, Chosen of [23:18] Heaven, I think you owe it to at least look me in the eye. You do that, I promise you can take Pramu and you and the apes can leave in peace. I'll go help deal with whatever's going on upstairs. You all live to fight another day; Pramu gets to roar on back into my life for a third time. Or...we can play out the string." [23:18] 4Ir: "You know how hard I am to even hurt. You don't want to play out the string." [23:55] 4After a pause: "You know what. I've dealt with your kind before. I know how shy you are. I'll settle for a parlay note indicating you'll retreat for three days, and quitting the field. Then you can take big boy and get the fuck out of here." [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a long silence in the battlefields below. Meanwhile, above and ahead of Blossom and Tatsuya, obscured by thick leaves and strings of kruthik architecture, there's anything but - screams, hisses, roars, the thrash of violence at both the titanic and human scales. [23:57] 6Tatsuya: "I've gotta go back --" 6He coughs up blood. "I gotta," Session Time: Sat Jun 29 00:00:00 2019 [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12It's only a moment before Ir receives a note written in a crabbed hand. It's written in Riverspeak, but with curling gestures suggestive of someone much more at home with calligraphy. It reads: I've done more than enough of my job today. Whether we ever meet isn't up to me, but three days is easy. [00:06] 6Tatsuya can't see this, so this is all me: Fuck off. [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12As she picks it up, the heavily-armored apefolk elites, burning swords slung over shoulders or across backs, are already retreating, carrying the charred and brutalized form of Pramu with them. As long as the ravagers hold back, no more ichor or blood is shed. [00:07] 4Ir nods and steps off Pramu's chest, but not before patting him on the cheek while grinning. "Be seeing you next week." 4She waves the ravagers and kruthlings back into the city, and ignores the apes unless one is stupid enough to touch her. Same goes for the kruthik. [00:08] 7Blossom gently settles to the ground, helping Tatsuya to stand. "'KICHI?" 7She yells. [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, up above, as sparser and sparsker leaves and branches whip at Blossom's shoulders and Tatsuya's face, there's a single, terrible crunch. They emerge from the foliage to see the enormous living spire of Jormungand wrent in half, the enormous coils of the craw wurm having tightened with so much steel-sinewed force that the central trunk of the cerebrate has been severed from [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12itself, snapped in half. Chitinous plating and squamous underlayers fracture and liquefy. Reservoirs of virtriol burst and eat through surrounding flesh. Before your eyes, Jormungand dies, collapses into a bloody wreck that begins to bleed and dissolve its way straight down through the jungle canopy and into the already-ruins of Chithakara itself. 08[00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Beneath all that, it was barely possible to hear some kind of human-scale struggle - grunting, reptilian screeching, hissing whispers. But there's no sign of Eikichi or his whirlwind - just a splash of blood at the epicenter of a spiral of dust and gravel on the surface of a wide branch, evidence of some kind of scuffle having taken place right where the Stormwind Rider touched down. [00:40] 4Ir sets her mind to securing the walls, reasserting order among the kruthik, and calming the queens down. The fall of Jormungand isn't good, but it's not the end of the world. [00:40] 6Tatsuya watches the fall from Blossom's side. 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[20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 .' ,--.`. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,' ,' `| [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,' ,' ' [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,' ' [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,' ' [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 _,- ,' [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 _,' | ____,-------. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 _,' `. _,---' ___,----. `. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 _,' _,---. ,-' ,-' `.| [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 _,' _,-' _ `. ,' __ ,' |' [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,' .--. _,-'__,--' `. `. ,'_,-' `. ,' ,' [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,' , ' `. ,'_,-' `. .,'-'-. `. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,', ' ,',' `. `-. `. `. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,',' ,''`)`. ,`. `. `.`-.`. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,,' (( ' `. ,' _,-=-. `\ `\ |`.\ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ' ( `` `. ,' ,'-,' `. `) `)` )) [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12( ` ` .' ,'-,' | ,; ; '' [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ` `: |---| `. ,' [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 : |---| '. : [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 : `.--`. '. : [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ` ` ` ',`__) [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Well... it could be worse. [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi's forge-to-army supply lines are at least somewhat discombobulated, one of her mightiest demesnes has been sabotaged and drained, and her westernmost city is a conquered wreck, severed from the Total Control Zone leyline network and basically emptied of people and treasures. A new kruthik hive-cluster is growing on that demesne's remains, sure to be flush with stolen power when [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12it rapidly reaches its maturity. [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Unfortunately, the actual kruthik legions available to you have been decimated - in the not-technically-grammatical sense that is much worse - and the cerebrate Jormungand has been destroyed, gnawed and ripped and crushed to pieces by a titanic wingless dragon. The craw wurm has gone, retreated back into the jungle after destroying its quarry, and following along with it is the rest [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12of Raksi's forces that you haven't actually slain, carrying with them the critically-wounded Lunar warlord Pramu. 08[20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12The good news is, you're pretty sure that Eikichi said that Jormungand was immortal, or something close to it. It shouldn't actually be permanently killable by conventional means, although exactly how that's supposed to work, or how that squares with the blood-soaked, ichor-dripping, obviously-not-regenerating carcass that still crowns Chithakara is not clear. One supposes you could 08[20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12go and ask Eikichi, except there's nothing up there on the canopy but bodies and gore. [20:29] 4'It could be worse' is basically the story of this campaign so far. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Down by Ir is the smoking wreck of a warstrider called Crackling Torama, not that any of you know that. It's been thoroughly savaged by Jude's Law and then downright melted by a blast from Blossom's plasma casters - a huge, smoking hole reaches straight into its dark innards. It's clearly made chiefly of moonsilver, and you can see strands of the silvery metal reaching across some [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12of the warstrider's wounds in the process of healing - but they're frozen now. [20:30] 6Tatsuya is dead on his feet. Thankfully not literally dead, but it's a near thing. [20:30] 4Ir's trying to rally the queens and the forces left to re-establish a perimeter. 08[20:31] 7Blossom will simply head up to where Eikichi was, to ask him about Jormungand being supposedly immortal. That may be important information for planning their next move. 08[20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12But where is Eikichi? Well, the last few moments were pretty rough and he may have lost his senses for a moment, but he comes to aware of the rush of air and the sound of wingbeats. He's hanging down, wrapped tightly in the prehensile tail of a giant chameleon which is flying with the aid of massive bat wings that've sprouted from its back. 08[20:35] "Eikichi?" [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Raaspep's got a voice reminiscent of his name. "Good choice, kid. Would've hated to have to bite your throat out there." [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Raaspep: "Not for actually doing it, to be clear, but hoo boy I would've been in trouble." 15[20:36] 10It's a dizzying, disorienting position to be in. Eikichi looks up, which is down, and the seemingly-continuous mass of the jungle canopy stretches out above (below) him like the sky of Hell. 15[20:37] 10Weakly: "...who are you?" 08[20:37] "EIKICHI?!" [20:37] 6Tatsuya: "Where'd he go? I lost track--" [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom's answered by a variety of sounds: the gloopy bubbling and slow groan of Jormungand's corpse's slow-motion collapse, the thundering crash of the distant craw wurm (actually, it seems to have paused after smashing through a few hundred yalms' worth of trees), the swirling of the wind through the jungle's highest branches. No voices, though. [20:39] <@Ferrinus> "Swirling-Stripes, they call me," 12the flying lizard responds. "I'm adherent to Raksi. Any idea why she asked for ya?" [20:42] 6Tatsuya: "Look, shit, I want to track down that little fucker and find out what the hell he thinks he's doing, but do we have anywhere I could just like. Collapse. I feel AWFUL." [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Without queens to work through, Ir has a hard time with the remaining kruthik forces - they're skittish and disoriented, tending to burrow or shy away from her as she tries to whip them into some kind of order. But then, searching through chithakara's bowels, Ir comes upon a prize of sorts. Whether it's a relief or an outrage is up to the Dawn's disposition. 15[20:43] 10Eikichi shakes his head, which just makes the spinning worse and it's not like Swirling-Stripes can see him do it anyway. Or maybe he can, chameleons' eyes can swivel independently of one anoth-- the captive sorcerer retches and vomits onto the jungle, disturbing a violently red macaw. [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Specifically, after noticing some familiarly-upturned earthworks below the city center, Ir's able to nudge at a lump in the foundation with a foot and watch as the old queen Atropos unburrows herself in a spray of dust and sediment. She looks emaciated and leached of color, but alive. [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Also somewhat sheepish. [20:45] 4Ir carefully picks her up and somewhat cradles her -- impressive, given the queen is larger than she is, and gives her a piercing and concerned once over. Then she nods and puts her down. The next song she sings to the queen is grim but not without relief: Atropos is the last of her sisters, until and unless they can be regrown, and she is now Ir's only right hand in the city. [20:45] 4It's time to step up. And first, that means getting back on her feet. Ir orders her to go eat something. [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12If Ir interrogates the wily old demon, she'll be able to puzzle out something of what happened - queens just started dying, one by one and with alarming rapidity, with no ability on the part of the kruthik to suss out the cause. Realizing some kind of preternaturally puissant culling was taking place, Atropos went to ground. [20:47] 4Smart. [20:47] 4Raksi, undoubtedly, though it remains unclear whether by sorcery or direct assassination. [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12This, of course, left the kruthik totally without strategic support even when you'd all arrived to take the mainstay of enemy attention, but, well, at least you've got this thing now. If Ir or someone else wants to do some digging, she could probably figure out what happened - she's pretty sure she saw at least one queen's corpse in her search through the city, though she was focused [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12enough on survivors at the time that she didn't give it a closer look. [20:49] 4Worth a look. 15[20:49] 10Trying not to think about what just happened, or what's about to happen, Eikichi's mind wanders to Blossom. She'll have realized he's missing by now. She'll know who, and where. He retches again but nothing comes down. [20:49] 4Might be more Tatsuya's bag, though. When he's finally back on his feet. [20:51] 6He's still swaying and looking around anxiously among the kruthik, who don't seem to have an answer for him. Blossom's gone. Ir's gone. "Uh. If I just like, fell down here, you guys wouldn't eat me, right?" [20:51] 6If there's a hint of an approving chitter, he falls unconscious immediately. If not... he'll go farther away and do that. 08[20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Raaspep Swirling-Stripes: "Woah, hey! Gross. Thought you golden demons could at least keep food down. But I guess I don't have to warn you about this next bit-" 12He swoops suddenly, carrying Eikichi on a dizzying spiral down through the trees into what looks for a moment like a raging, blurring river but resolves itself into the back of a great, emerald-scaled serpent. 08[20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12The wurm slows, and the Lunar accelerates, and the two manage to match speeds just enough for Eikichi to be deposited between two great nodules of bone with Raaspep perching above like a gargoyle. The wings fold into the chameleon-man's back and vanish as Raaspep studies Eikichi more closely. "Excited?" 08[20:57] 7Blossom squats next to the scene of the battle. She resolves to work quickly, as Eikichi and some unknown foe may still be fighting out in the jungle somewhere. Now, let's see. Footprints scuffed in the dirt as the combatants fought at range somehow. Likely Eikichi had his sorcery, and the other - eww, saliva spattering some nearby leaves. A long tongue, then? A frogman, or a lizardman. 15[20:57] 10Eikichi pulls himself into a rough slouch against one of the craw wurm's bony plates. Excitement is not the first emotion that Raaspep might read on Eikichi's face, but the captive doesn't meet the captor's eyes. "What's going to happen?" 08[20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom studies the scene before her and, thanks to judiciousness and perspecuity outstripping that of any mortal woman, is able to effectively reconstruct a blow-by-blow. Eikichi clearly crashed into the clearing through there atop his characteristic Stormwind Rider, but only stayed in the air a few seconds before being tackled... no, that wouldn't explain those scuff marks, [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12somehow roped or otherwise yanked out of the air and onto the floor of interwoven branches. He clearly had a mighty but short-lived struggle against a much larger assailant, one with four clawed limbs and a long and powerful tail, but ended up grounded. 08[20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12There's copious disturbance of leaves and branches and things but barely any- well, barely any human blood. And huge flattened areas on either side of the scuffle suggest wingbeats. So -- Eikichi was overpowered and airlifted out of here, barely putting up a struggle after a narrow but decisive loss at first contact. [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Raaspep curls a few claws below his chin. "Good question. Probably get you cleaned up, then a tour? Ain't gonna be sticking around - got things to do once you're delivered." 08[21:02] "Eikichi... EIKICHI!!!!" 7Blossom screams into the jungle. They took him. SHE TOOK HIM! 7Blossom turns and sprints down the long slope leading to the jungle floor. "IR!" 15[21:03] 10Eikichi: "Oh? Like what?" [21:04] 4Ir looks up from a queen's body, irritated at first until she sees Blossom's face; then alarmed. [21:04] "What's wrong?" 08[21:04] "Eikichi's gone. Captured!" [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Raaspep: "More fuckin' rootmen, likely as not. Gonna be another crop of the glowing ones at this rate, and everyone knows what happens if you leave those alone too long." [21:05] 4Her face hardens. She would ask 'by whom,' but, well. "Hhhh." [21:05] "Well, she's not going to kill him." [21:05] "But we're probably going to have to walk in her front door." [21:05] 7Blossom: "There was another of Luna's children up near Jormungand! She must have knocked him out at the first clash and flew off while we were preoccupied down here." [21:06] "A sneaky one, no doubt. Maybe the same one who murdered all the queens. Tatsuya's looking into that now." [21:06] 6Unnerved by the chittering of the kruthik - who don't QUITE seem like they wouldn't eat him if he just fell down - he follows Blossom's shouts upwards. There's a person who wouldn't let him die to these 13weird gross ugly awful 6demons. [21:06] 6He gives a tired wave. "That's me. Doing the investigating." [21:06] 4She stifles a sigh. "You're not going to like to hear this...but we need to rest before we go after him. At least one night." 15[21:08] 10Eikichi: "Sorry for keeping you so busy." 08[21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya can piece it together without much trouble. Two assassins, he'd guess, starting from opposite ends of the complex and spiraling inward with deadly synchrony. One had a straight sword, one had enormous, rending claws which, if Tatsuya and Blossom were to confer, clearly belonged to Eikichi's assailant. Actually it's somewhat disconcerting that what would seem to have been a [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12hulking monster could be so stealthy. 15[21:09] 10The shame and his stomach have settled beneath the range of his perception. He's feeling more himself. [21:09] 7Blossom clenches her eyes shut and takes deep breaths through her nose. Raksi won't kill him. She won't. "One night." [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Raaspep: "Heh, you're probably gonna be. Let me tell you, your timing - yeesh." [21:10] 6Tatsuya: "Two of them. Sword, big claws. How the fuck did this get past anybody?" [21:10] 4Ir nods. "One night." 4To Atropos: "We leave at dawn. I need you ready to assume command by then." 4She pats the queen on the carapace. [21:10] "They're the Lunar Exalted. They became our honored mates for a reason." 15[21:10] 10Eikichi: "What do you mean?" [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Atropos's clicking/rattling noises here are, Ir recognizes, a form of assent. [21:10] 4Actually, though... "Sword." [21:11] "We didn't see a Lunar with a sword." 08[21:11] "And the one with the claws is obviously the one who took Eikichi." [21:11] "By process of elimination...our Chosen of Heaven is likely a sword user." 08[21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Raaspep peers at Eikichi, seemingly unsure now of whether this is his business to explain. [21:12] 6He nods. "Single straight sword. Uh, can't really tell what style or anything I don't think, but. Yeah. We need some kind of alarm system for this shit in the future." 6He's cursing more than usual, 13and it's really rude and he shouldn't do it,6 but he can't think of anything else to say. [21:13] 4She pulls out the written missive the Sidereal sent acknowledging their truce and scribbles 'Sword user?' in Low Realm in a margin before she somehow forgets. She'll need to get this to Yara for her take. [21:13] 4To Tatsuya: "Is there an alarm system that would defeat you?" [21:13] 6Tatsuya: "...nope." [21:13] "Might catch an idiot off guard, I guess? But I don't think we're dealing with morons." [21:14] 4Ir: "And even if there was, I wouldn't want to go through the effort of installing it here. No, one of us would have to remain here. That's how we caught the last sneaks." 08[21:14] "As bad as this all looks -- before I knew Eikichi was taken -- I was ready to rule the last three days as a clear victory, on the whole." 15[21:14] 10Eikichi: "Listen, forewarned is forearmed. The more I know, the better I can avert her moods. I'd hate to make matters worse only for her to blame you." 08[21:15] 4She feels...calm. Much different from her freakout at the lake. She's worried about Eikichi, but that worry has hardened into a clear measure of purpose. [21:16] 7That's good, because Blossom doesn't feel calm at all. She's kicking a rotten log apart while trying to avoid thinking about that thing Ir said, about the honored mates. 14[21:18] * Crion_ is now known as Crion [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Raaspep glances left and right, which he can do without moving his head at all thanks to the weird conical lizard eyes. "The titan, yeah? Other side of the Zone. Looks like it's havin' a nap. But that's just 'cause it doesn't have to move to do all that rhizome bullshit." 14[21:20] * Joins: tom 15[21:20] "I didn't realize it was that close." [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Raaspep: "No? Really? We wondered if you picked this time to strike on purpose." 15[21:23] 10Eikichi shakes his head. "We had other priorities." [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Raaspep: "Then what the hell, you all just figured you'd try your luck?" 08[21:24] 6Tatsuya: "...night sounds good." 6He's still wavering. "Eikichi gonna be okay? There's - not a body, and not enough blood to kill him -" [21:25] 4Ir: "Raksi doesn't want to kill him." [21:25] "Not yet at least." [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12The day unspools into night. Besides rounding up the kruthik and instructing them to regenerate themselves as best they can, what else do Ir, Tatsuya, and Blossom work on or see to? [21:25] "She knows we'll come running." 15[21:26] "What we lack in forethought we more than make up for in blind arrogance. Eikichi Sho, nice to meet you." 10The further he gets from the fight the more energized he feels. [21:26] 4Ir's got nothing to see too besides the Kruthik and preparation for the journey tomorrow. She'll probably make some travel food. [21:26] 7Unless Ir has something for her, Blossom can't concentrate enough to do anything. She stalks the camp, snarling to herself and burning down clumps of greenery that might conceivably hold Raksi's spies (they do not). [21:27] 4If Blossom wants to help cook, her assistance would be welcome; Ir always finds it calming. If not, well, Ir will stay out of her way. [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Raaspep: "Well, they call me Raaspep when they're tired of my title, and boy are you all gettin' what's comin' to ya." [21:28] 6Tatsuya's trying to relax and heal up. He keeps wincing and turning over and 13you shouldn't do that it'll make it slower 6ignoring voices that 13purrobably6 know better than he does. 13Defurnitely. 6Look, this hurts, do you want to feel this? 13Nyo! [21:31] 4The sandwiches and meat rolls aren't haute cuisine, but they're filling and tasty. She packs them methodically. 15[21:32] 10Eikichi: "Adoration?" [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12He laughs a creeky laugh as the wurm surges forward. Before long, it's no longer smashing through trees but arcing smoothly around them, taking well-bored tunnels through the jungle foliage that it must have used long before. [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12It's in the predawn light that a still restless Blossom discovered what she must have missed the night before. A creaking sound that she chalked up to settling wreckage must, in fact, have been one of the chesplates of the fallen warstrider being slowly eased apart from another... from the inside! [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12As far as Blossom knows, these things need to be powered by at least one hearthstone to be able to move at all, and now that she's got reason to root around in there she finds none at all. She does find some fur, though, and what look like the footprints of a wildcat leading away from Crackling Torama's wreckage. The pilot must have survived - and fucking booked it once he or she [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12got the chance. [21:46] 7Tch. It wouldn't be able to move anyway until she repaired it. Something to think about for later. [21:48] 4Slightly before dawn breaks over the trees, Ir is giving her last orders to Atropos and fussing over her like a concerned parent about to leave for a week. The plan is to feed Jormungand as much as possible, and then when it's regenerating, to make contact with the lake outpost and begin growing as quickly as is safe. [21:48] 4'As is safe' presumably becomes a lot faster if and when Jormungand is back. [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12As the rest of the Solars awaken, they're able to take in the remains of Chithakara in the light of a fresh dawn. The kruthik are nesting, but it's slow going - almost all of their core structures have been straight-up razed, there don't seem to be any drones left, and most of the richest soil, timber, and other material had already been consumed and assimilated by the Chithakaran [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12hive. Instead, Atropos is forced to direct her remaining ravagers to begin boring into and devouring the nearby kapok trees, becoming a sort of gigantic termite infestation. [21:49] 6Tatsuya's up late, for him, but he fuckin' needed the rest. 13Don't cuss. 6Okay fine. Still: missing friend. Awful battle. Lot of lost kruthik. Up and at 'em, kiddo. [21:49] 4All of Ir's external restrictions have been removed; Atropos and her new queens, whenever they are hatched, are constrained by their own judgment. Ir counsels slowness and caution...but not too much. [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Among the budding hive-structures, Ir recognizes embryonic hatcheries and spawning pools and spine crawlers and so forth, but nothing unusual or novel. That's a bit worrying, because it means Jormungand hasn't started growing in yet, or isn't growing in here at all... which wouldn't be crazy, given that the distant hive-cluster you left behind at the demesne-lake is probably much [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12more developed than this one. [21:51] 6His hood's the first thing on, but doesn't feel right. Head wound, maybe? Whatever. Gotta be up. When he can find Ir and Blossom: "So. Yesterday kinda sucked." [21:51] 4She'll also order a copy of her order-song be sent by runner to the lake. [21:52] 4The queens Althaea and Alcestis are handling things down there. [21:52] "YOU THINK?!" 7Another deep breath. "Sorry." [21:52] 6Tatsuya: "Understatement is my last name." [21:52] 6He rubs his forehead, tiredly. "Yeah. Sorry. I deal with problems by making bad jokes. I'll try not to." [21:53] 4Unless the other two have a better way of traveling, Ir has requisitioned a small vanguard of ravagers to move quickly through the jungle. Ir and Blossom could have Errant and Ami, if they're around, but the ravagers are already adapted for jungle movement. 08[21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Eikichi awakens to a sudden lack of sinuous motion and grinding earth. The craw wurm's still. As the sorcerer rouses, he's first struck by what's missing as he looks straight up from a supine position on the gigantic reptile's back: there aren't any trees straight above. The jungle canopy's gone... no, no, there it is, off to the side, a great wall of trees festooned [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12with walkways and decorations. 15[21:55] 10Eikichi looks briefly around and smells the air for magic. [21:56] 6Tatsuya certainly doesn't. He still looks like shit, but less like shit than he did yesterday, so there's that. 08[22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12On the other side of Eikichi... is Mahalanka. Once the library-metropolis of Sperimin, Raksi's stronghold is now more a cross between a temple and a military base. It's a masterpiece of stonework, spires and ziggurats rising into the sky and crowned with red and purple flames. Huge columns of apefolk march through the streets, some armed and armored while others are robed and [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12tattooed. Unaugmented mortals stagger in chains at the ends of religious processions, and demons haunt the walls and rooftops. Above the city, a great dragon covered in multicolored feathers twines lazily through the air, paying the commotion below it barely any mind. [22:07] 4Ir last night during cooking and before sleep, and then now after waking and before departure, Ir has taken some time to spend with Errant, who has been lazing around the city since their arrival. He was far too smart to get caught up in the battle and a rogue pegasus with no interest in fighting wasn't a priority anyway. [22:07] 4They don't get to spend much time together these days, and she wiles away some hours with him waiting for when they depart. When they do, she'll be riding her pegasus. [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12To the eyes of an Exalted sorcerer, Mahalanka is an inferno of magic of almost every possible provenance, all yoked and slaved to the city's underlying geomancy and the singular mind which commands it. Great rivers of essence flow in from all directions -- wait, no. Perhaps they did, once, but they've thinned to trickles from both the west and east. Even so, what remains fuels an [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12entire complex of ancient and less-than-ancient manses... though the construction is so brilliant that it's honestly hard to distinguish between what actually dates back to Sperimin itself and what was added by Raksi or her followers in times following (at least in magical terms; aesthetically speaking, Sperimin is characterized by towers while Raksi seems to like step pyramids). Magic 08[22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12does almost everything one could want of it here - keeps things clean, keeps things intact, wards off scrying or hexing or teleportation, keeps demons or elementals bound or empowered or both. Particularly, Eikichi can detect a number of subtle snarls in the skein of essence that denote the invisible potentiality of Eyeless breaches into the physical world. 08[22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi can mark, in particular, sacrificial altars. From his perspective on the ground, they're sprinkled across the city almost at random, but a moment's visualization reveals that they form a network around the central pyramid, each of them feeding prayer-power towards, surely, Raksi herself. They're not literally in constant use, but clearly in steady use - men, women, and [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12children die like clockwork beneath the knives of the Control Zone's priesthood. 08[22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12There are far more manses here than could possibly be sustained by a normal demesne - Eikichi's reminded almost of Yu-Shan in terms of the energy density here. Of note too is the sheer variety in aspect; Solar, Sidereal, and even Abyssal essence is coaxed from the stone after having been admixed from the energy poured in by the dragon lines and constant stream of human sacrifices. 15[22:14] 10Eikichi lets out a long, low whistle. 15[22:15] 10What greets him as he stands? [22:15] 7Blossom is too agitated to be calmed by Ami, but at least the noble emas proves a sympathetic listener to her furious mutterings, offering a saddened 'wark' now and again. The two of them patrol the jungle in near-random loops while waiting for Ir to be prepared to leave. [22:16] 4The Sun is just peeking above the top of the trees when she is. The last concern was rigging up a way for Tatsuya to travel on a ravager's back somewhat comfortably. [22:16] 6Okay. Okay. 13Weird awful gross evil vile 6bug palanquin is not the worst way to travel 13but it's close! 6no it's fine. It's fine. 08[22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Raaspep: "You can walk, yeah? Come on, makin' a handoff." 12It's a short stroll to one of the grand gates, where a small army of apefolk priests and soldiers awaits, as well as a tall, lanky, man with a shock of red hair and a dusting of faintly-striped fur around his neck and shoulders. He nods to Raaspep before beckoning to Eikichi. [22:18] 4She'll trot up to Blossom, riding Errant. "Let's ride." 15[22:18] 10Eikichi follows, ratty and rank, his orbs all in orbit. [22:18] 6Tatsuya hollers: "They know where to go, right?" 6To his credit, he only sounds a little nervous. [22:19] 4Ir, as Errant kicks off the ground: "Yes!" 4For the third time. [22:19] 6Look. 13Look. 6Look. [22:19] 6He's still not sure they're not gonna just try and eat him the second Ir or Blossom stop looking. [22:20] 4Ir is always looking. [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir, Blossom, and Tatsuya don't get too far before they've left the area of jungle that their kruthik have already cored out and consumed and get back into 'fresh' territory, so to speak. The good news is that covering ground is, in theory, easy - they can just follow the trail left behind by the gigantic serpent that Raksi had summoned and sent forth. The bad news is that, as usual, [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12the jungle is alive with hostile magics - every malm covered is a small battle, although it does seem that the going is easier than before. Snuffing that demesne must mean that there's just less of nature's fury to go around. [22:25] 4Does flying help? Either to avoid the jungle itself or to help the ravagers? [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Flight makes things easier but doesn't save you - up above the trees there are gusts of fierce wind and occasional actual lightning strikes. 08[22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Eikichi is ushered inside. The first thing that happens after he crosses the threshold is some kind of ritual cleansing - four candles are held up and burned around Eikichi's body, and a drop of what seems to be blood is dabbed on his forehead, traced into a rune, and then drawn down the bridge of his nose. Then he's allowed to take his second step forward, and then he's [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12led deeper into the city, towards a smaller of the step-pyramids that the streets wind in right angles around in Mahalanka's periphery. [22:31] 4Errant moves like they've never been apart, and he's been in the air all his life. He moves so well that Ir can dedicate all her time to micromanaging the ravagers, keeping Tatsuya safe and sound. 15[22:32] 10Right. Don't be nervous. This kind of thing happens all the time. 08[22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12There's an increasing air of familiarity as Eikichi travels, and it becomes hard to disentangle preincarnation memories from current perceptions. Some of the magics hanging in the air that he's just now tasting on the wind feel like his own. Here, a simple exercise in paper preservation. There, a great demon-binding web for capturing and recycling the souls of fallen servants. [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Elsewhere, a trammel that holds fast one of the Eyeless lords. 15[22:36] 10Home. 08[22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Sadly, there's nothing to make the climb up what feels like a hundred huge stone steps any faster. When Eikichi reaches the midsection of the little ziggurat he's being led to and steps in through the square door leading deeper within, he's even more sweaty and exhausted - but in there he finds a hostel of sorts. There are a few rooms lit by violet-edged flames, but they feature a [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12self-filling tub, a bookshelf, a small spread of hors d'oeuvres on a stone tray, and even a few changes of clothes. Your choices here mostly consist of robes, sashes, feathers, and golden jewelry, but you can probably do something cool with it. 08[22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's current minder says: "Make yourself presentable. The Queen's occupied, but she'll send for you. And don't get cute, you're under watch." 12He pauses here, as though realizing something slightly unpleasant. 15[22:41] "What?" 08[22:41] 7So he tells Eikichi to get cute and then not to get cute? 15[22:44] "Oh, just get out. Honestly." [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12The man leaves. Did he just wink? He's gone either way. 15[22:46] 10Eikichi undresses - slowly, he is being watched after all - and sinks into the tub, letting weeks of stress and aches melt away. Past the perfumed water, he can still smell the smear of blood on his brow. [22:46] 6These ravagers are... com13fur6table. Hey. Not okay. You get your own narration. 13Sorry. 6Accepted. [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Ahhh... say what you will, Raksi's people know their luxury. This tub's an ancient marvel. 15[22:55] 10Towels wind through the air seemingly of their own accord to dry him off, and he dresses simply in an open-chested robe, weaving diamonds through hair so violet that it tints his skin. No need to overdo it. [22:56] 7No! He said don't get cute! 08[22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12A platoon of ravagers, evolved as they've been under Jormungand's direction, can move very quickly through the jungle, but not as quickly as Raksi's wurm. So it is that a day on the road comes and goes for the rest of Eikichi's circle. Will they press on through the night or keep to some semblance of a sleep schedule? [22:56] 4Up to Blossom. [22:57] 4Errant and the ravagers can keep moving. Tatsuya can sleep en route. [22:57] 4Ir can sleep in her saddle. [22:57] 6Sleep is for the weak. Admittedly, Tatsuya is weak. [22:57] 7If Tatsuya can sleep, Blossom will continue on. 08[22:58] 6Still. Find Eikichi. Most important part. He'll forego sleep if he has to, mainly by pretending to sleep when Blossom checks. 15[22:58] 10Watch out. She's really good at telling when people are doing that. 08[22:59] 6Tatsuya is better at hiding things than Eikichi is. [22:59] 6All Time Hide And Seek Champion (Reigning, Defending) 15[22:59] 10Tatsuya's been caught trying to hide things way more times than Eikichi has, 08[23:00] 6He's also hidden way more things than Eikichi has. [23:00] 6Don't argue with me, young man. 15[23:00] 10So who's to say which is better. [23:00] 6Or I'll reveal the things Tatsuya put in your quarters under the floorboards. [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, the good news is that the iron preparation of the kruthik swarm means that the ravagers have no trouble keeping up the same pace through day or night, though you'll have to stop to feed them eventually. This means that it's bright and early the following morning that the Circle runs into one of Raksi's military garrisons, a pyramidal fort staffed by a large contingent of [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12spear-wielding apefolk in medium armor backed up a few massive gorillas that don't seem to enjoy human intelligence. [23:01] 4Annoying, but not unexpected. Is Tatsuya able? [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12There's shouting as the TCZ troops ready themselves for direct assault! Do you bowl them over or explain your intentions? 15[23:01] 10Admittedly, most humans don't enjoy human intelligence. It's not very enjoyable. [23:03] 4Again, up to Blossom. Ir would prefer to simply inform them of intent to parlay, and then kill them immediately if it isn't accepted. [23:03] 4Or if they try to disarm them. Or touch them. Or really if they just give an excuse. [23:03] 4Might still be necessary to make an example. 08[23:04] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom has no intention of slowing down here. It's possible this isn't the best strategic decision but we have! to rescue! Eikichi! 15[23:05] 10Eikichi feels good for the first time since the war started. 08[23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi ends up with a number of hours to kill before anything happens. He could snack, or read some of the scrolls in here, or maybe sightsee...? 15[23:06] 10It wouldn't do to show his face before he's called upon. How's the reading material? [23:07] 4Ir will fly ahead and boom: "WE COME TO PARLAY WITH YOUR QUEEN! STAND AGAINST US AND DIE!" [23:07] 6Good sleep. Good healing. 13I told you, just don't fureaking move! 6Look, what's done is done. "We can do it too. You know who we are." 6It's not a question, as he finally slides himself out of the palanquin. Still shirtless. Leather coat still kinda burnt. 15[23:08] 10That's a good look for him. [23:08] 13It's so tacky!! [23:09] 4As they part before them: "Nothing personal. Thanks for your understanding." [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12They break almost immediately, and the kruthik are able to scuttle without resistance up and over the pyramidal garrison, the Solars either clinging to the demons' backs or soaring over it on their respective flying mounts. Makin' good time! [23:10] 6Tatsuya: "You fuck with us, we'll be back." [23:11] 7This is a good plan. We ask Raksi to parlay, and then when she comes out, we kill her. [23:11] 4Sigh. [23:11] 6Wellllllllll13llllllllllllll6llllllllllllllll, 08[23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12The reading material's somewhat uneven. A number of the scrolls are familiar to Eikichi, as they're samples of Raksi's catechism as could be found all over Chithakara - lots and lots of stuff about the divine, immortal queen who is the great jungle's divine protector and watches over we who are beset by all sides by evil, etcetera. Now that Blossom's pointed it out, Eikichi can [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12recognize the way that the overabundance of proscribed prayers are leaky, so to speak - sending a moderate fraction of the fervor behind them heavensward, with almost none the wiser. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12There are also calendars and maps that allow one to familiarize themselves with the layout and workings of the city - work requirements, feast days, where and how one might challenge the trials in hopes of joining Raksi's elite beastfolk, and of course the rigid timing of sacrifices. These are not to be interfered with, but dedicated supplements are free to offer up their wealth, [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12their slaves, or even themselves if they so choose - it might even afford them an opportunity to send a petition to the Queen. 08[23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Then there's much more interesting miscellanea - history of some remote western island Eikichi's never heard of, a historical comparison of ancient creation myths, a guide to local spiders. 15[23:15] 10This is so well-organized Blossom could have done it. 15[23:16] 10Oh. 15[23:17] 10Eikichi doesn't feel like reading anymore. [23:17] 4Ir will fall back slightly to go even with Blossom. "Need to make sure we're on the same page on something before we get too much farther." 08[23:17] "We can't start killing them all until we find Eikichi." [23:17] "And then we might just want to leave." [23:17] 7Blossom: "We still have a queen to kill and a library to claim." [23:18] "Yes. Doesn't address my concerns. If that means you want me to do the talking until we get there, I can do that." 08[23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12It's as he's either learning that the spiders with yellow stripes touching green stripes are the safe ones, or that the belief that mankind was made from clay dates back to before the Deliberative, or that the far islanders traditionally smoke their fish on moondays, that Eikichi hears a soft knock at his door. Well, at the stone that comprises his doorframe. [23:18] 7Blossom's grip whitens on Truth, then relaxes. "That would probably be best." 15[23:18] "Mm?" [23:19] 4Ir nods. "We'll get him back." 4Then she urges Errant back on ahead. [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12The rest of the Circle is approaching a city - but it seems news has spread. They're watched from windows and battlements, staring down drawn bows and charging lightning-casters - but if Ir directs the kruthik around the city rather than through it, no shots are fired. [23:19] 4She dives down to Tatsuya and ruffles Errant's mane as he keeps pace. "Tatsuya. You on mission?" [23:20] 4Yeah, it's faster going around anyway since she doesn't plan on running down the foot traffic. [23:20] 6Tatsuya: "Feel okay. Better than ever, or at least good as usual. What do you need?" [23:20] 6He's grimly looking forward but he flashes a grin up to Ir. 08[23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12A figure steps into Eikichi's view wearing a long black cloak beneath one of those wide, conical farmer's hats. A familiar voice says: "I never thought I'd see you here." 08[23:21] 4She smiles back, though it's a bit forced. She's worried about both Eikichi and Blossom. "Just wanted to know if you or Ying were going to handle this one. If it's Ying, you'd better get started switching over. If it's you, just wanted to know if you had a preference or a plan on how you wanted to do this." 08[23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Pale hands reach up to remove the hat, revealing flowing blonde locks framing a thin, hand some face that Eikichi hasn't seen for a very long time. "And alone, too. What happened?" 08[23:22] 6Tatsuya: "Gotta be me. Ying's... on break. And. My preferred plan would be sneak in and kidnap Eikichi right back out of there but I don't have enough information." [23:23] "If you try and parley they might leave him less guarded than normal. Or guarded by people I can fuck up easily instead of. Look. I'm worried." [23:23] 4Ir nods. "Sounds like a good plan -- at least to the point of locating him. When we're near the city center, you're ready, and you see an opening, bail and go do your thing. They'll know you're in the city, but, well. You're you." 15[23:23] 10Eikichi: "Shall we only hope for Heaven when we're dead?" [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Wicked Triumph's Reckoning chuckles. "What a terrible system that would be." 08[23:25] 6Grimly: "They're probably not stupid enough to let me just waltz in and out. They're going to have someone dangerous guarding him. I mean, I can waltz in and out, I just don't know if I can get Eikichi out... you might need to make a big distraction." 15[23:25] "Working your contacts for Yu-Shan? Or do you just love trouble?" [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12The dead Eclipse blinks. "...you heard about that?" 15[23:27] 10Panic and revulsion and shame want to rise in Eikichi's throat like bile, but he feels nothing but faint amusement. "Of course. You know what a mess it is up there. They'll work with anyone." [23:27] 4Ir: "Oh, they'll know you're there. But you're good enough it probably doesn't matter. And I want to keep Raksi at least somewhat distracted." [23:28] "And well." [23:28] "It's going to be a challenge not getting Blossom to try and murder Raksi on sight, so. You might get your distraction." [23:28] 6Tatsuya nods. "I'll figure it out." [23:28] "...A warning. Worst comes to worst, he's not going to want to leave." [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning leans back slightly, placing a hand to his chest. "You wound me! Their standards are most exacting. You're looking, old friend, at a changed man." [23:28] "If that's the case, don't force the issue. We'll figure something out." [23:28] "I will drag him out of there myself." [23:29] "No." [23:29] "Not alone." [23:29] "...or not. Okay. You've got a better head for this." [23:29] "If that's what it comes to, we have other markers to call in." [23:29] 6Tatsuya: "Point me at a thing and it's done, but I gotta be pointed. He doesn't go, he doesn't go. I'll - meeting spot?" [23:30] "Find Errant. He'll find me, and he's distracting enough to make you inconspicuous." [23:31] "Gotcha. By the way, if he doesn't want to leave, and Blossom doesn't do it first, I'm finding a shitload of gunpowder and putting it in places once we're done here." 15[23:31] 10Eikichi: "Changed to what, I wonder. What are you playing at, Reck? Tired of the cold sell? Looking for a little grace and favor before it all comes down?" [23:31] 4Ir: "Do you know one of the reasons he might not want to leave?" [23:31] "This used to be your circle's city. Raksi's a squatter." [23:32] 4She forgets if it was Ying or Tatsuya who was around for that morsel. [23:32] 6Tatsuya: "Yeah. Yeah, Ying remembered. She uh. Mocked Raksi with it." [23:32] "Fair enough. But things might be complicated." [23:32] "Anyway, good talk. We're coming up on it. I'll take point." [23:32] "Told me about it but not through the diary. 's how I know it's complicated." 08[23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Please. Who's going to grace and favor me? Who even could? I've simply been convinced. At some length." 12He sweeps a hand dramatically, paces in about a third-circle around where Eikichi stands. "There's no future in what I was doing. Literally, ha ha. But with the right touch, Yu-Shan can provide the world with a peace none of us here on the ground can even approach." [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Which is to say that yes, I am in fact here on business. Coordination, diplomacy, that sort of thing." 15[23:35] "I think you're confusing peace with quiet." [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Oh, I'll have to write that one down. The trick, I suppose, is to make sure everyone else does, too." 15[23:36] "Maybe you'll finally be the one to fool all of the people all of the time. If anyone can manage..." [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "It's just a question of how much all of the time actually adds up to, isn't it? But I, as you can see, am doing splendid. How've you been?" 15[23:40] "Sad times, I'm afraid. We came straight away from the Princess Magnificent's funeral to Raksi's. We seem to have gotten here early." 15[23:40] 10In a stage whisper: "Do you think she knows?" [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning claps his hands, delighted. "Was that you? They're keeping the details very tightly under wraps. You must explain." 15[23:42] 10Eikichi: "It was a team effort. The Trinity of Great Forks begged us to do it, and then we did it. Partnership." [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "I thought she'd killed or suborned them... I suppose she'd have the greatest incentive to exaggerate. But well done, well done. Just thirteen more to go, eh?" 15[23:44] 10Eikichi: "Oh, no." 15[23:44] "They're breeding?" [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Oh, they'd really pay for it if they figured out how to do that. No, I'm just being demoralizing. Sorry, it's a bit of a habit." [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12For what it's worth, he does look somewhat rueful. 15[23:46] 10Eikichi: "I didn't even notice. I'm floating on air." 10He is, literally, hovering an inch or so off the ground, bare toes pointed toward the carpet. 15[23:46] "Come, aren't you excited? This is going to be fun." [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning grins, well, wickedly. "You have no idea." 15[23:48] "Any idea what's keeping her?" [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Some work of high sorcery. She's spinning a few more plates than is readily apparent and, I believe, does her best work from the Apex of Sacrifice." [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "I wonder if she'll be mad I came to see you... technically, she didn't order me not to." 15[23:50] "Reck, please. It's not a wedding." 15[23:50] "She'd have left me better clothes." [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning's outfit is actually very nice, now that you get a closer look; there are very subtle spiderweb patterns in silver thread, over a cloak which itself so dark you can't even make out variegation in the cloth. You're pretty sure the hat's magic, too, because it casts a shadow straight down that's so sharply differentiated from the light around it that it looks like a pillar 08[23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12of frozen smoke. "Well, you've certainly made it work regardless. ...listen, Eikichi, I've dallied too long here already, but we must take more time to catch up. Drinks later? If she allows it?" 15[23:54] "It's a date." [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Wicked Triumph's Reckoning flashes a smile, dons his hat, and swoops off. What a nice fellow! Session Time: Sat Jul 06 00:00:00 2019 08[00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12It's perhaps an hour later than Eikichi feels a soft rumbling in the ground beneath him, begun and vanished in the space of a few seconds. Whatever great magic was being worked at the Apex must be done -- and sure enough, an ocelot-man is at Eikichi's door. [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Beastman: "The Queen summons you." 15[00:02] 10One last check in the mirror and Eikichi's out the door, heart thudding in his chest. [00:02] 4Anything change in the mien of the big city on approach? [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, as the Circle rounds a great city whose name they didn't even bother to learn, they can espy a thinning in the trees ahead and the bloody radiance of epic magic in the far distance. Mahalanka comes into view... next week. 14[07:24] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:22] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[11:22] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[11:22] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[19:24] * Joins: tom Session Time: Sun Jul 07 00:00:00 2019 14[18:34] * Quits: tom (*.net *.split) 14[18:34] * Quits: banana (*.net *.split) 14[18:34] * Quits: dammitwho (*.net *.split) 14[18:34] * Quits: cbass (*.net *.split) 14[18:34] * Quits: Crion (*.net *.split) 14[18:34] * Joins: banana 14[18:34] * Joins: tom 14[18:34] * Joins: cbass 14[18:34] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:34] * Joins: Crion 14[18:58] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:17] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:56] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:57] * Joins: hrolfy 14[21:59] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[23:24] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:24] * Joins: dammitwho 14[23:55] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Mon Jul 08 00:00:00 2019 14[01:46] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:07] * Joins: trench_foot 14[10:11] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:50] * trench_foot is now known as trenchfoot 14[12:15] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:01] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:02] * Joins: cbass 14[16:10] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:27] * Joins: tom 14[18:51] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:15] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[20:21] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:28] * Joins: hrolfy 14[20:35] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:37] * Joins: hrolf 14[20:41] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[20:52] * Joins: hrolfy 14[20:55] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:39] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:13] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:49] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Tue Jul 09 00:00:00 2019 14[00:11] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:07] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[01:31] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:35] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:17] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:02] * Joins: trenchfoot 15[15:16] * Disconnected 15[15:17] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[15:17] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[15:17] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[15:17] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[15:18] * Quits: VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:18] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[15:26] * Disconnected 15[15:26] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[15:26] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[15:26] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[15:26] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[16:39] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:19] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:30] * Quits: VoxPrime (Quit: ) 14[18:02] * trench_foot is now known as trenchfoot 14[18:18] * Joins: Crion_ 14[18:20] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:27] * Joins: tom 14[19:41] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:06]  15[20:06]  15[20:06]  15[20:06]  15[20:06]  15[20:09] Don't call it a rescue. Jai and the Ambassador are sharing the final details of their approach before preparing to delve deep into enemy territory and secure safe passage for Xu Sim, recently recovered from his discorporation. The sorcerer himself contemplates the same problem from the other side as he peeks over the next bluff to see the back ranks of Cethleann's vast horde of raksha 15[20:09] and thralls shimmering in the distance. They appear closer and then further, and their makeup seems to shift as Xu Sim concentrates. [20:10] 14The Ambassador certainly will call it a rescue if it means gaining the arrogant sorcerer's marker. Always be dealing. 15[20:11] Back on the homefront, Stranger, Xia Lan, and Keldar are called to Council, as a number of matters merit their full deliberation. This is the first time they've been rejoined by the newly(?) restored Emissary, who most of them haven't seen since he murdered Brueghel in front of them. 15[20:11] It's a little awkward. [20:15] 14He's still technically one of three Emissaries present. Stranger doesn't expect him to treat them as equals as a matter of course, but he does expect an acknowledgment of their legal right to be there and deliberate as such. [20:16] 14Is the Dawn Sergeant still fanboying out? 15[20:16] Councilor Hayle seems unwilling to start until Councilor Ephiselle shoots him a look. Hayle clears his throat. "I've been briefed that there's a shortfall in our medicine supply. We've been depending on support from Lookshy and their resources have been stretched over a population four or five times the size of their deployment, and that's not the soldiers. We still have vulnerable 15[20:16] people falling prey to the dreaming sickness, in fits and starts. Sleeping for days at a time." [20:16] 14Stranger will take the starting of the meeting as an opportunity to read the room. [20:17] 13Xia Lan, too, though she still feels - sluggish. Off-kilter. [20:17] 12Keldar looks perfectly comfortable with the Emissary. What he doesn't look perfectly comfortable with is the hideous wounds sustained in retrieving the Emissary's stolen Eye. Though Keldar's got on a cloak and badge of office, beneath it he's wearing mostly linens and bandages, and even though they're multiple layers deep there are already red spots appearing on the outermost surface [20:17] 12of the getup. Crawling veins of red and black which vaguely resemble frost tracing its way up windowpanes are visible at the fringes of the Dawn Sergeant's actual exposed skin - the upper halves of his hands, the edges of his face. [20:18] 10Jai's been strapped back into the jade plate-and-graves on loan from Keldar's armorers. It's nowhere near as heavy as it felt the first time, at least, but it still makes an awful din if it isn't muffled. He's trying to strike a balance between silence and mobility... maybe if he manages to pull Xu Sim's ass out of the fire, he can get something a little more suitable made?  [20:19] 12Keldar: "Maybe Xu Sim can make what we've got go farther? ...if we can get him back in anything like a reasonable time, I mean." [20:26] 14Allegiances are shifting across the Council now that the pressure's on and Bal---The Emissary is back. Something's come between Udelph and Kratz that he'll have to look into later. Hayle is terrified he'll be held responsible for the medicine shortage, which is foolish but bureaucratic of him; Stranger will reassure him later. Thalever seems at least sympathetic; Beale, the new [20:26] 14Evening Master, worries that he's not being included as part of the team. Shut out, as it were. And the Dawn Sergeant, well...his mind is on his work. [20:28] 14Stranger nods to Hayle. "The plight is understandable, and no one blames you for it. The sleeping sickness was an unforeseen variable, and we all knew a long-term siege defense was never a practicable option." 14He turns to Beale. "Evening Master, I think the Council would your input on the medical situation. Are there any more pressure points with the merchant classes to press [20:28] to try and alleviate our issues? Within the boundaries of the Dogmas, of course." [20:29] 10Once he's geared up, Hai touches the folded codex page he's tucked into a belt pouch, and concentrates. It's his first time trying to use it to send, instead of just receiving. [20:30] 10Once he's geared up, Jai touches the folded codex page he's tucked into a belt pouch, and concentrates. It's his first time trying to use it to send, instead of just receiving. [20:30] 14The Ambassador, meanwhile, is in housecat form, perched either on Jai's shoulder or following in his steps like a familiar. She's more than willing to let him lead out here; these are dangerous Wylds. 15[20:31] The front of the Wyld horde hugs the far bank of the Yellow River, with pikemen, archers, and barricades erected to resist any direct over-the-water assault. The sky is patrolled by soldiers with lances mounted on great dragonflies, and flying up and down the ranks is the Stormwind Rider that implies least one true sorcerer - reconnaissance reveals this to be some kind of reptilian 15[20:31] mutant with four scaled arms. The army's position stretches across more or less the entire city boundary, and back for over a malm. The army is vast, and has a large support structure that feeds both its mortal thralls and its soul-drinking fae. 15[20:33] Wyld corrosion is thick and fast-acting; the terrain seems to shift moment to moment and while no one who dove across its threshold has reported any bizarrely fast-acting mutations, they *have* reported visual and auditory distortions and outright hallucinations that are impossible to distinguish from the frayed reality within. 15[20:34] The rear is much the same, although Xu Sim sees camps along with soldiers - fires, tents, cots. Unarmed men, women, and even children. Many are asleep, despite the early-evening hour. [20:35] 07Jai's own familiar shoots the interloper a rotten look, then scrambles up to a perch on Jai's other shoulder. 10Jai, bemused, recalls an old parable about a man with a benevolent spirit on one shoulder and a mischievous demon on the other. [20:37] 13Xia Lan is frowning, but remaining quiet. She's trying to keep her focus on the meeting and it's not going well. Thoughts tend to drift, especially when they're talking about medicine shortages and -- well. Focus. 15[20:38] Beale: "Guildsmen will plead both poverty and ignorance, but they'll have wide withholdings still. No one wants to be the first Factor who bankrupts himself to save the city. Tradesmen and merchants... as conditions worsen they'll start looking more and more like the peasantry and less and less like the elite. They could be reminded of it more firmly." [20:39] 5Xu Sim calms the swirling cloud of dust he's mounted as he considers his options. A headlong charge through an army of those flying wasps? Too bad the Thistledown was expended days ago... ah, a voice on the Codex!  5he enquires. [20:43] 10Jai: [20:44] 14Stranger nods. "I have an understanding with the Guild's Overfactor in the city, but it doesn't extend to medical supplies. I'm confident the Council will gladly trust you to begin making the necessary inquiries and determining the attendant costs." 14He looks about the table. "Are we agreed to pass that as a voice vote, or are there objections?" 15[20:44] Hayle, to Keldar: "Not even great doctor Xu Sim could turn one yalm of bandages into two." [20:46] 14Mmmm well. I wouldn't bet against him. [20:46] 5Xu Sim relates the intelligence to the best of his abilities - as he has ever maintained, he is not a strategist or man-o-war, but he explains their composition, defensive posture, and  [20:46] 12Keldar: "There's this trick where you cut in a zig-zag pattern- but I take your meaning. Maybe the guildsmen'd make us a loan?" 15[20:47] Master Gen: "I think we'd be unwise to pressure the Guild, particularly, at this stage. We're already fighting civil unrest, as our, heh, esteemed Dawn Sergeant knows only too well. If we're too hostile, we risk inciting violence we can't contain." [20:47] 14The Ambassador also has a Codex page on her, and Stranger has networked the three of them. Does Jai want her close or in the air providing overwatch? [20:48] 10If it's possible to express doubt over the Codex link, Jai's expressing it.  [20:48] 14Stranger nods graciously. "Perhaps. But with the return of...the original Emissary, our bargaining position has improved. The Guild at the very least must know that both we will respect the Dogmas or suffer the fate of Brueghel, and that any attempt by them to cheat us will end similarly poorly." [20:49] 10In the air, definitely. You can't not capitalize on an advantage like that. 15[20:49] The Emissary: "I am seen as above politics." [20:49] 14Indeed. The Ambassador curls into a ball and explodes into feathers, and a swan alights into the dusk sky. [20:54] 5Xu Sim:  [20:54] 14Does the Ambassador have any resources left to tap here? Crowman flyers, anything? [21:00] 10Jai blows out a long breath and thinks. After a moment, he sends: [21:00] 14She does, thank god. Some of the crows are still valiantly patrolling the area, and they fall into formation with her. [21:01] 14At the very least they're less suspicious together than a lone swan would be, so long as she stays in the middle of the flock. [21:01] 14Ah. [21:01] 14The murder. [21:01] 12Keldar: "The Guild doesn't actually want us losing, and winning with only five percent of the people still standing means a reaaaal meager customer base. As long as the people holding medical supplies right now know they'll be made whole in the long run we should be able to get our hands on 'em." 15[21:02] Master Gen: "I'll press my contacts, then. I think I'm the one in the room the Guild trusts the most." 15[21:02] Beale: "That's true. You are." 15[21:04] Master Gen: "...right, so I think there's a broad consensus here." [21:05] 5Xu Sim:  [21:06] 5Xu Sim:  [21:10] 10Jai: [21:13] 14Stranger: "You are both required, in my humble estimation. Master Gen, you are undoubtedly the most connected member of this body with the Guild and we will defer to your judgment in negotiation. But Evening Master Beale is our knower of non-public things, and as such will be very valuable in not only helping you fully assess what we bring to the table in a deal with the Guild, [21:13] but in smoothing the path and making the consummation of that deal harmonious -- especially as it might relate to any outside parties in Nexus with a legitimate business interest in fouling the deal, or, even worse, enemies of the city posing as such to interfere. We cannot be too careful, and Evening Master Beale deserves our confidence in his abilities to assist in crucial tasks such [21:13] as these." [21:13] 5Xu Sim:  [21:14] "But I, of course, defer to the wisdom of the Council as a whole." [21:14] 14The Ambassador, to the both of them: [21:15] 10Jai: [21:17] 14His expression doesn't betray it, but Stranger is paying special attention to Udelph and Kratz here. He'll need to figure out what happened while he was out playing martial artist. [21:18] 5The wind gives a gentle sigh, and the dust devil fades away into the breeze as Xu Sim's feet settle on the ground again. He peers over the edge to get a sense of the surest path into the midst of the camp followers. Reincorporating brought no rest, but he does feel a sense of his strength having partially returned. 15[21:21] Gen mulls this over silently, but Stranger can tell he's won the Councilor over. 15[21:21] Ephiselle: "Won't sending two Councilors look a bit heavy-handed?" [21:22] 14Stranger: "Given the circumstances, I suspect it will demonstrate how seriously we are taking the matter. We are under siege from the second-greatest army of raksha in the recorded history of Creation; we are not doing our jobs if we're not personally attending to matters such as these." [21:22] "I would go myself, but. We Emissaries will be heading back out to the front lines in short order." 15[21:26] Hayle: "What of the Dawn Sergeant? Is there no treatment for the city's best warrior?" 15[21:26] "He is beyond our arts, and the arts of Lookshy, but perhaps great Xu Sim...?" [21:27] 14Stranger: "Xu Sim's swift return to us is being effected as we speak, by both our Lunar allies and...our newest operative." [21:28] 12Keldar: "Xu Sim's about my last hope here. ...unless, and this just occurred to me," 12The Sergeant turns to the man in the silver mask. "You can't just reverse this, can you?" 15[21:28] Thalevar: "'Newest'? You've been recruiting up there?" 15[21:30] The Emissary looks at Keldar, arms folded. "Yes, but you would die even faster." [21:30] 14Stranger smiles placidly. "He came to us. And highly recommended, as well." 15[21:31] The Emissary then addresses the group. "This new operative is effective, and has acted in the city's defense at great risk to his own life and property." 15[21:31] Beale: "That is a high recommendation. [21:32] 12Keldar: "Hrrgh. Pass for now, though." [21:32] 14Stranger meant The Ambassador, but that works as well. [21:32] 12Keldar: "And, yeah, I can vouch for our guy. Saved our asses and probably this city just hours ago." 15[21:33] Kratz speaks for the first time. "What's his name? Where's he from?" [21:34] 5Xu Sim passes into the camp as gracefully as a viper, slipping between hobgoblins, mortal men, and stranger things besides. [21:35] 14Stranger: "He is Jai, the Black Wind Howling. He's previously done some work to the southeast for...friends of friends. The Ambassador vouches for his skills then, and our Emissaries and Dawn Sergeant vouch for his skills now." [21:35] *southwest 15[21:35] Ephiselle: "A stylish name. Is he a dandy?" [21:36] 14He chuckles. "No. Frankly, he's wearing hand-me-down armor right now. He was in rags when he fished himself out of the Gray." [21:36] "He slipped into the city by pretending to be undead." 15[21:37] Thalevar: "I hope he's got another trick, that pasty blonde kid's the only person keeping the Lookshyans from killing the undead on sight. We still need those bodies." [21:37] "We are much stronger for his arrival, and he is dedicated to the mission. I won't move to make him an emissary for a number of reasons, not the least of which he hasn't given his assent to me doing so, but he should be viewed as having prowess matching mine, Keldar's, Xia Lan's, or Xu Sim's." [21:38] 14Stranger: "He can disappear in plain sight and he can disarm the Mask of Winters." [21:39] "All while wearing someone else's armor and swinging someone else's sword." [21:41] 5As Xu Sim slips into the camp, he keeps an eye out for any particularly unattended cots, or perhaps tents. A moment to examine the people here could give useful insight... [21:42] 10Jai sneezes, crossing the muddy no-man's-land between the city and the battle lines. [21:42] 14The black swan and her crows keep their backs to the clouds and avoid rising Luna. She will understand. They keep their eyes trained to the ground and heads darting around on swivels. 14[21:42] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[21:44] The cots are largely unattended, once Xu Sim makes his way past the guards and some depth into the camp. The military presence is thin this far back - a sign that the constant skirmishes are pressuring the raksha as well? 15[21:46] There are other problems facing the Council, but they're easily dispensed with, or at least, consensus is easily reached. Some of these issues have no ultimate solution save victory. The Council breaks apart, and when the Emissary vanishes a collective breath is let out of the room. [21:47] 10Moonlight and starlight are almost as good to Jai as the Sun, these days, if more than a little distant and cold by comparison. He keeps low to the ground, a mud-colored cloak serving as concealment when there's no cover. There's precious little of it to go around. [21:47] 5Let's give thanks to great Bushi Sunipa that that would be the case. Xu Sim leans over one of the cots to take a closer look at the person sleeping there... Dreaming there? 15[21:47] Jai is able to sneak through the barricades and avoid both stationary and patrolling guards. [21:48] 14After checking on Xia Lan, Stranger's top priority is to figure out what in the world is going on with Kratz and Udelph. In fact... [21:48] 12Keldar grunts as he stands from his seat, though thus far he's been too proud to actually get a walking stick that isn't a sword. Time, he supposes, to retire to his own offices, get caught up on reports, and maybe change some of the bandages. [21:49] 10Jai marks a couple of the guards' faces. Enough to forge a composite from, if he does need to bluff his way through a checkpoint. Best to keep that in his pocket for now, though. [21:49] 14To Xia Lan, sotto voce: "Would you mind checking in with the Astrologer? I want to make sure she's...well, taking care of herself. There was some bad energy between her and Udelph at the table just now." [21:51] 14Strike that last; she should be with Tsuka now. Stranger will look into matters with both of them. 14[21:51] * Joins: tom [21:52] "Udelph. Might I have a word in the lounge?" 14Whichever one of the little committee meeting lounges it is doesn't matter; if there are spies there are spies. 15[21:53] Udelph lets Stranger lead him somewhere private. [21:55] 14Once there: "The return of our esteeemed colleague is very welcome, but doesn't change how I feel about this council or my dedication to its operation. Trying to encourage the others to let Beale stretch his legs is part of that. So is noticing when things get a bit...frosty between two of my most valued friends in this body." 15[21:56] Jai's making his way through the camp, moving smoothly and silently. The hairs on the back of his neck stand up abruptly - a freak chill from the Wyld? no, so far there's just been strange auroras and unsteady footing - and Jai is seized with the realization that he's been made, and whirls around to face a relatively short, robed figure with a walking-stick. 15[21:56] Too tall to be a hobgoblin, too short to be a full-grown man... 15[21:56] "Wait! Wait!" Jai doesn't recognize the whispered voice, though the accent is familiar. [21:58] 10Jai hisses "Who—" and looks for a place to hide. 15[21:59] "14It's Oyabun! I'm in disguise. Keep your voice down." 15[22:00] He reaches out with a small, long-fingered hand and grabs Jai's hand to pull him behind a rack of weapons as a whistling hobgoblin riding a mastiff clambers by. [22:00] 10Jai was already pale but now all the blood drains from his face. 15[22:02] Once they're side by side whispering gets easier: "You crazy son of a bitch. Do you have any idea what I went through getting here?" [22:02] "You— dammit, you shouldn't have been able to follow me!" 10He'd left a trail of contradictory evidence implying that he might have fled to the east or north, other locations where Solar activity had been reported. 15[22:03] Something's wrong. The Oyabun Jai knows is a stern, thin man of late middle age with thick salt-and-pepper hair and a thin moustache. This person's hand is smooth. Their voice is young. That is the accent Jai knows, though -- he's never met anyone who speaks quite like Oyabun. 15[22:04] "Was it worth it?" Fun as this must be for Jai, he can't help but realize he does still have a mission. 15[22:04] Udelph: "What did she tell you?" [22:06] 14Stranger purses his lips. "I haven't spoken with her yet. I haven't seen either of you since the last council meeting. I have been occupied." [22:06] 14Stranger: "I came to you first because your bearing had more disdain than hers did. Your looks were icier. Has she wronged you?" 14[22:07] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:10] 10Jai: "It beats sitting behind that desk all day pretending to be a clerk, pent up in a cage." 10He fixes his (former?) handler with a glare. "You said all the Chosen of the Sun in the riverlands had been hunted down and slain, that I needed to stay with the Bureau to stay safe. What else were you lying to me about?" 15[22:10] Udelph: "We had words. She's not pulling her weight. She disagreed. It got heated." [22:11] 10Jai: "And since when were you a dwarf, old man?" [22:12] 14Stranger nods. "Understandable. What is her weight? I must confess I am a bit hazy as to the Astrologer's codified responsibilities, even after all this time." 15[22:12] Oyabun: "Listen, we can talk long and hard but we need to get out of here. This whole area's unstable. You've got an in with the Anathema inside?" [22:15] 10It's always answers later with Oyabun—Master 99 Dark Star, if he's feeling polite, which he isn't. "Xu Sim, the sorcerer? I'm here to get him out of the camp. You knew that already, though." 10An accusation.  [22:16] 14Ambassador, on overwatch, a bit nervously to the two of them: 15[22:17] Udelph: "I don't think she has any, to be honest. What's Astrology, anyway? Something rich women in the Realm made up to amuse themselves. But we're in the shit here. There's a lot of work, belt and braces work, that we're falling behind on and she's not helping. Your new bureaucracy wasn't built for these conditions and it shows. We need her putting in hours overseeing people, 15[22:17] coordinating civilian aid. We need a line on the Dawn Sergeant that isn't one of his own kind, no offense, and while Keldar is no one's friend keeping the Dawn Guard onside was always Kratz's job. Now he's off planning gods-know-what, with the Emissary." [22:17] 10Jai:  [22:18] 14Stranger: "Ah." [22:19] 5Xu Sim, bent over this patient, notices his fingers have curled into fists and have begun digging crescents into his palms. He takes a breath, not realizing he'd been holding it. 15[22:21] Oyabun: "Okay, yeah, there's things I haven't been able to tell you, but guess what? That means you don't have any idea what I know. So how about you cool your heels until we're out of here, yeah?" His voice actually cracked, there, like a teenager under pressure. 14[22:21] * Joins: tom [22:21] "Broadly speaking, I either sympathize or outright agree with all of your concerns, Udelph -- you might be surprised to hear we're most strenuously in alignment over the matter of the Dawn Sergeant, and it is unfortunate that the new holder of that office is...less interested in forging relationships with the other Councilors than his predecessor was. And while to a degree I share your [22:21] dim view of astrology, and to a degree I too have been frustrated the extent to which Kratz has to be managed rather than trusted with tasks, she has made substantial contributions to our efforts in the short time I've been here, and those contributions have come at real cost." [22:22] 14Stranger pauses. How to... "How long were you and your wife together?" [22:22] 5Xu Sim:  5The doctor's voice is at a hoarse, strained whisper. 15[22:22] Udelph's suddenly suspicious. "What are you getting at?" [22:23] 14A slight but warm smile. "This is neither an accusation nor is it a trap, and the point I'm making will not be at your expense. How long?" [22:23] 14The Ambassador: 15[22:25] Udelph: "Twoscore years and three." [22:25] 10Jai: "All right. But this is my operation; you're not running me.10" He takes a deep breath. "But I will be grateful for your guidance."10 Even if he can't shake the man, there's no point pissing him off further right now. Then to Xu Sim:  [22:27] 14He nods. "I want you to remember the way that was on the best days, whether they were the days at the beginning or the days at the end, while I tell you something that is absolutely not to leave this room under any circumstance, especially not as a knife to twist in Kratz's gut. It is a matter of confidence both for a friend of mine, and of city security -- which she has diligently [22:27] served." [22:27] 5Xu Sim:  5Xu Sim pauses. 5 [22:27] 5Xu Sim:  5Xu Sim pauses.  [22:29] 5Xu Sim:  [22:31] 10Jai: [22:31] [22:32] "A Chosen of the Stars, of Jupiter, the Maiden of Secrets, has taken our Astrologer as his lover. He has come to work with us -- primarily, work with me -- on behalf of Nexus, assisting us irreplacably in our investigations into both the Honeymaze plague and the 'death' of the Emissary. Even now he risks his life, in secret, in the war we wage for this city's very survival. In a time [22:32] of crisis when any and all allies were needed, Kratz brought into our fold one of Heaven's greatest spies. [22:33] 5Xu Sim:  15[22:33] Udelph's expression changes. "So am I the only Councilor who's not Anathema now?" [22:34] 5Xu Sim:  [22:34] 5Xu Sim:  [22:35] "But he will never be hers, of course. Not the way she is his. When he warms her bed at all, he is gone soon after; her memories of him fade as mine do over time, a consequence of his powerful mien and the nature of his benefactor. He might have any number of lovers in any number of cities, and he might be lying to her about his affections every night they snatch away together. The [22:35] last she saw him was weeks ago. She may never see him again. So, before we pivot back to a discussion of expediency or honesty or pragmatism I want you to think about how you'd handle making breakfast in your kitchen one morning and suddenly realizing, with a start, that you could no longer precisely remember your wife's face. [22:36] 10Jai: [22:36] "I'm not going to tell you that Kratz is secretly on the ball or put-together or even sober. But I am going to tell you that her failings are not failings of laziness, inadequacy, or spite." [22:36] 5Xu Sim:  [22:37] 14As a slightly-annoyed afterthought: "And the Chosen of the Stars aren't Anathema." 15[22:38] Udelph is silent for a long moment. Stranger hears only the conversation on the Codex. [22:38] 10Jai: 15[22:38] Oyabun mouths, "Who are you talking to?" [22:40] 10Jai gestures, makes a round shape with his hands. 10My Circle. 15[22:41] Oyabun's hooded head recoils slightly, but he doesn't respond. [22:41] 14Stranger is monitoring the chatter, but needs to seal this before he jumps in. One doesn't invoke a man's dead wife and then flit off to another conversation. 15[22:41] Udelph, finally: "...who's looking after her?" [22:41] 10And it's true, he actually does feel something for them now. A sense of belonging. Of rightness. [22:42] 14Stranger: "I am, when I can. Xia Lan or my mate, the Ambassador, when I cannot and they are free. But we're all sorely taxed and I think, at the moment, she needs some support that we're spread too thin to give." [22:42] 5Xu Sim exhales, a little shakily, glancing this way and that. How exhausted are the Raksha stores after this many months of war? How much larger were they to start? [22:42] "Which might have led to...well, to the conversation you had." 15[22:45] Udelph: "I owe her an apology, then. Maybe you could put in an encouraging word yourself. You're better with them than I am." [22:50] 14Stranger nods. "I will speak to her on the matter, though I won't presume to speak on her behalf. I think, with understanding and a delicate touch, she can be made whole. And that's a worthy goal for reasons beyond cementing the city's own relationship with Heaven." 14He pauses. "If you get a chance, please reassure Hayle that no one -- none of the Emissaries, certainly -- blame [22:50] him for our lack of medical supplies, even if he did underestimate demand and reserves. This is an impossible logistical task to workshop beforehand. [22:50] "I would do it myself, but...I suspect I'm already gaining too much of a reputation for trying to be everyone's confidant or therapist." 14Another slight smile. [22:52] 5Xu Sim:  15[22:56] "Hnnh. Alright. I've got my own work to do, then," says Udelph, who doesn't wait for a farewell. [22:57] 14He'll get one anyway. [22:57] 14When he's gone, however: [22:58] 14The Ambassador: 15[23:00] The Ambassador has a broad view of the terrain, and past the auroras is able to see that some of the watch-fires are white instead of yellow. She knows this to be a hallmark of the sort of hedge-necromancy popular in the northeastern Threshold. [23:01] 14The Ambassador: <...But perhaps leading to the literal sort. There's white watch-fires here. Hedge-necromancy from the northeast of the Threshold uses that sort of 'empty flame' for spiritual guideposts and beacons." [23:01] *> [23:02] 10Jai:  10He peers out from behind the weapon rack. It's long past time to move. "You coming, Oyabun?" [23:03] 14Stranger: 15[23:03] Oyabun: "Yeah, yeah... I'll get out of your way." Then he's gone, in a gentle silver flash. [23:07] 5Xu Sim:  5He is without his most advanced sorcerous implements, but perhaps that needn't be a handicap in a place like this. He spits on the ground and, with the tip of a finger, begins carving a circle into the dirt floor of the tent. [23:09] 10Jai:  [23:09] [23:10] 14Ambassador: [23:10] 14Stranger: <--here?> [23:10] 12Keldar, listening in but heretofore adding little:  [23:11] 5Xu Sim thinks back to his own afflication with the honey-maze, and the strange waking-dream it brought.  5Cethleann's dreams brought strange coordination to their victims - the dance troupe at the amphitheatre, the honey-maze zombies, his own strange dreams. [23:13] 10Jai: [23:13] 14Stranger: [23:14] 14He switches to a direct line with the Ambassador: [23:14] 5Hearing Keldar's voice takes it back around.  [23:14] 14The Ambassador: [23:15] 14Stranger: [23:16] 14To Xu Sim: [23:17] 10Jai:  [23:18] 14Stranger: [23:18] [23:19] 5Xu Sim focuses himself and begins filling the circle with signs of disunity, disagreement, discord, dismay. New perspectives, different information, differing values. Disrespect. Arrogance.  [23:20] 14Stranger: [23:20] 14As far as he's aware the answer is a hard no. [23:20] 10Jai:  [23:21] <...Also, is this camp beyond the Emissary's limit?> [23:23] 12Keldar:  [23:24] 14Stranger: [23:26] 10Jai:  10Jai's quiet snort-laugh may or may not transmit over the Codex. [23:27] 12Keldar:  [23:27] 14The Ambassador: [23:31] 5Xu Sim signs into the dirt every victim of the city-defenders' cowardice, of its treachery, of its plotting and scheming. Pellicia. Zuniga. Even Brueghel.He hesitates. Xu Sim. These sour dreams will suffice for Cethleann's supper. [23:31] 5Xu Sim signs into the dirt every victim of the city-defenders' cowardice, of its treachery, of its plotting and scheming. Pellicia. Zuniga. Even Brueghel.He hesitates. These sour dreams will suffice for Cethleann's supper. 15[23:38] As Xu Sim completes his ritual, the change is almost immediate. Murmurs of discontent ripple throughout the camp. Hobgoblins grow quarrelsome with one another, and strike their riding-dogs. Above, dragonfly-knights circle each other in the skies. [23:39] 14The Ambassador: [23:40] 10There are significantly more sentries and watchposts as Jai nears the camp "supply depot", as you might expect. He sprints, then creeps, then finally crawls past the final checkpoint—although it seems like the raksha have bigger things to worry about. It looks like the world's biggest bar fight is about to break out. [23:41] 5Xu Sim dusts off his hands. "Good luck talking this one out without your own Stranger-Visits-Heaven, you morons," 5he mutters to himself just as Jai approaches. [23:41] 10Jai:  10And he pushes open the tent flap and nods to the proud sorcerer. "Did you do that? Nice. We could probably walk out of here once that starts popping off." [23:42] 5Xu Sim snaps around. "You didn't hear me say that just now, did you?" 15[23:43] The flap opens again, as a short hooded figure appears behind Jai. "How's your stomachs?" [23:44] 5It gurgles audibly, but Xu Sim is confrontational: "Who wants to know?" [23:45] 10Jai: "No, nothing. Um, allow me to introduce you to Master…" 10Shit! I forgot to ask him what cover he's using! 15[23:45] "Someone who can Travel Without Distance. I'm taking you two back to Nexus so we don't have to wade through a war zone." 15[23:46] Oyabun drops his hood, revealing the face and hair of a fastidious 13-year-old boy. "There'll be more time to explain when we're out of here." [23:46] 5Xu Sim glances at Jai. Does he trust this boy? [23:47] 10Jai: "Seas damn you, I thought you were a dwarf!" 15[23:47] Oyabun: "I wish." [23:49] 10Jai: "He can do what he says. This is just how he like sto operate. Sweep in and make you an offer you'd be stupid to refuse. 'Swhy I call him Oyabun." [23:51] "And right now, a free trip back to beautiful Nexus doesn't sound half bad. I'm not sure I can actually pack any more mud into this breastplate." 15[23:51] Outside, the clash of weapon on weapon is heard. A dog howls. [23:51] 5Xu Sim: "Then let's go." 15[23:52] Oyabun: "I don't know how much time we've got before the ishvara reasserts control. That was good work though." 15[23:52] The three of them link arms, and then vanish in another silver flash. 15[23:53] The three of them reappear a moment later, dizzy and nauseous, on a street that Xu Sim and Jai will eventually recognize either by reputation or by trappings as the heart of the Harlotry, the city's premiere blue-light district. 15[23:53] "Where's your-- 14shit --where's your headquarters?" [23:56] 10Jai: "Hrnnngh…" 10He lifts a finger and points the way. "You can't miss it. Do I even want to know why we appeared here?" [23:56] "Then, you go to the nearest Undercity entrance next to it." [23:57] "It's in the Undercity. Come on, lad." 5Xu Sim starts walking in one direction the opposite direction from Jai before spinning on his heel to face the correct direction, passing both of the others in the correct direction. 15[23:59] NEXT TIME: Beans, teens, and Emerald Dream [23:59] 5Xu Sim: "And that spell can only take a place you you've seen before. At least we're not inside one of these buildings." Session Time: Wed Jul 10 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] 5Xu Sim: "And that spell can only take you to a place you've seen before. At least we're not inside one of these buildings." 14[01:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:48] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[05:54] * Joins: dammitwho 14[05:57] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[08:26] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:46] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[09:55] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:34] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:16] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[17:23] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 15[18:13] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed Jul 10 18:13:02 2019 Session Start: Wed Jul 10 19:07:18 2019 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[19:07] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[19:07] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[19:07] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 15[19:07] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed Jul 10 19:07:29 2019 Session Start: Wed Jul 10 19:08:02 2019 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[19:08] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[19:08] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[19:08] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[21:04] * Joins: tom 14[23:33] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 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[20:10] <@Ferrinus> 4,01 |---| [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 4,01 |---| [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 4,01 |---| [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 4,01 .---^ - ^---. [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 4,01 :___________: [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 4,01 | |//| [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 4,01 | |//| [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 4,01 | |//| [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 4,01 | |//| [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 4,01 | |//| [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 4,01 | |//| [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 4,01 | |.-| [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 4,01 |.-'**| [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 4,01 \***/ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 4,01 \*/ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 4,01 V [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 4,01 [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 4,01 ' [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 4,01 ^' [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 4,01 (_) [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 4,01 [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 4,01 [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 4,01 [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 4,01 -. ^ .- [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 4,01______\'.|.'/________ 08[20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi, furnished with a few changes of clothes and a small tray of tastefully-arranged hors d'oeuvres, has had the opportunity to wile away a few hours in one of the ziggurats of Mahalanka. He's had a surprise reunion of sorts with an old, old circlemate, and has just now been informed that the Queen of Fangs is ready to see him. Has he managed to sleep? Eat? Otherwise prepare? 15[20:17] 10He's far too nervous to sleep. What if she kills him on the spot? What if she tortures him and then kills him? What if she doesn't like his outfit?? Still, it's with skin-deep poise that Eikichi allows himself to be ushered into Raksi's presence. [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12It's quite a trip, in the prosaic sense. Though he's forced to descend to street level on foot, the Solar sorcerer is quickly picked up by a small procession of apefolk retainers and attendant un-mutated slaves, carried in a broad palanquin down the avenues of Mahalanka and towards the central ziggurat. Atop it, the "Apex of Sacrifice" burns with spirals of red and violet light, but 08[20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12that's not where Eikichi is being carried; his porters only snake their way a few levels up the base of the gigantic structure before turning inwards. Several square arches pass ominously by before a corridor opens up into a grand feast hall, so enchanted as to seem to be set beneath a starlit jungle canopy rather than the weight of a massive pyramid. 15[20:22] 10There's no such thing as a square arch. 08[20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12It's all but empty, however. There's veerrry long table, studded along its expanse with a series of covered dishes and lit by crimson candles. No one's sitting along its length or at the head, but an orangutang urges Eikichi to place himself on the lavish seat currently standing at the near end before withdrawing from sight. 15[20:26] 10Covered dishes? Eikichi's mind races. Surely she wouldn't actually-- he drums his fingers rapidly on the table when he sits, and only stops when he covers the offending hand with the other. 08[20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12At this point, the rest of Eikichi's circle is perhaps a day away from Mahalanka proper, try as it might to cover ground. The going's gotten easier and easier - ever since they made clear their intent to make directly for the city, and every since it became evident that their small phalanx of roaches isn't at the head of a massive army but simply a sort of honor guard, the sorcerous [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12resistance of the Total Control Zone jungles has all but vanished. When the roots aren't writhing like snakes and the rivers not crashing free from their banks at your approach, you begin to notice honest-to-gods roads, even signage for those with knowledge of either Old Realm or Forest-Tongue. [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Somewhere behind you, two separate kruthik nests are festering at maximum agitation, but for now open hostilities are suspended. Do the traveling Solars have any particular aims as they travel - interrogations of passers-by or whatever? [20:29] 4Doesn't seem like a good idea to slow down. 08[20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi hears the soft pad of footsteps. From across the room, stepping slowly around a stone pillar closely enough to brush fingertips - no, something in Eikichi remembers/notices, knuckles, despite the geometry - idly against it, must be Raksi. She's currently of medium height, dressed in golden jewelery and loose-fitting white cloth in a manner reminiscent of Eikichi's own, with [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12her hair up and tightly coiled. The exact proportions of the face and body aren't immediately familiar, but it must be her because her skin is blood-red and her beauty is actually painful to look upon. [20:32] 6We've gotta hustle. Plus, not too many people eager to approach their group, I'd wager. [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi, the Queen of Fangs: "Ah... I knew I could count on you." [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi, the Queen of Fangs: "Ah... I knew I could count on you." [20:34] 7Blossom would be more likely to berate than interrogate bystanders at this point, which probably would not be helpful. 15[20:34] 10Eikichi's heart rises to his throat; it's almost difficult to breathe. Still, he stands, and calls out "Darling! Stunning. Simply stunning. Who are you wearing?" [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "Oh, it's just someone I threw on. But you've taken to the local fashion very well. In fact-" 12She peers, then allows herself a small gasp. "Are you wearing your Linchpin?" 15[20:41] 10Eikichi gestures, and the three spheres orbiting him knock gently together over the palm of his outstretched hand. "Broke the staff. Burned through a Cathak Legion, two raksha nests, and most of the Hedgehog. Straight down to raw Wyld! The city there now is marvelous. Nothing like Sperimin, of course. Oh, excuse me. Nothing like Mahalanka." 14[20:41] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[20:44] * Joins: cbass 08[20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi looks distraught. "And after we went through so much trouble to put it together!" 12Then she grins. "But I'm not bothered. The old breaks to make the new. That's the story of our Age. But relax! Eat! We've both had such long days, haven't we?" 12She hasn't bothered to stop at the head of the table, and has been walking towards Eikichi all this time; now she actually [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12perches on the edge of the long table, about a space and a half from the Solar's plate. [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12There's some sort of braised meat under the nearest cover. 15[20:45] 10Is it... immediately apparent what kind? 15[20:48] 10Eikichi takes a bite. 15[20:49] "Delicious." 14[20:49] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 08[20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi just reaches over and pinches one of the slices off of Eikichi's plate once he's started in. "I knowww! Gukuthrak is simply a treasure. I shall have to check in on his apprentices some day soon." 15[20:51] 10Eikichi's heart skips a beat when she leans in close. She smells like blood. "This is a novel preparation. I almost didn't recognize it, but braising and charring aren't so dissimilar." 08[20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12The cozy little meal proceeds. There's all manner of fruits and vegetables, casks of spiced wine, and of course artfully-prepared prime cuts of every variety. If Eikichi shows every sign of enjoying it, so does his hostess; she chats idly about the skills of her chefs and other servants, the logistical problems inherent in keeping such resources flowing throughout the TCZ, how she's [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12so busy nowadays that little meals like this one represent rare treats. 14[21:04] * Joins: cbass 15[21:05] 10Eikichi: "It must be frightfully lonely at the top." 08[21:06] <@Ferrinus> "Oh, yes." 12It's very easy for Eikichi to start making comparisons here to other Lunars he's seen, either in the TCZ or elsewhere, and indeed to the kind of whirlwind effort he's always seeing Blossom at the head of - and very difficult not to add those observations to the budding conversation, especially since Raksi's sitting closer and closer and quickly forgetting whose mouth she's 08[21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12supposed to be putting morsels of food in. Does anything, at this point, stop the mad queen of Mahalanka from taking Eikichi to bed? 15[21:08] 10Eikichi does resist, actually - how hard does Raksi press the issue? 15[21:15] 10Eikichi actually falls backwards in his chair and sprawls out on the floor in front of Raksi befored hurriedly dragging himself into a sitting position, head level with her hips. "I-i think that-- hey! Maybe we should spend some time together first. It's been so long..." 08[21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi draws in a slow breath while tousling Eikichi's hair maybe a little too hard - it becomes very easy to imagine the nails drawing parallel curves along the sorcerer's scalp lengthening into claws at just the wrong moment. "Oh. Are you tired, perhaps? Unsettled? The trip here disagreed with your delicate constitution?" 15[21:19] 10Eikichi: "No! The trip was fine. Though I did get sick. And the bath was very invigorating. It's just... I'm already with someone. And she would not approve." 08[21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi notices that while one hand is stroking his hair, there's also one hand apiece massaging each of his shoulders, and the sound, nevertheless, of someone tapping on the hardwood of the table thoughtfully. "And that matters?" 15[21:24] 10Eikichi: "Well of course! I'm hers." [21:25] 7THAT'S RIGHT [21:25] 4This is going to end badly. 08[21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's jerked up out of his seat, held by his collar up to the face of Raksi, who herself is standing ramrod straight on the end of the table. He's eye-to-eye, and it feels like Raksi's stare is burning out the back of his skull. "You can't tell me you remember nothing." 15[21:26] "N-n-n-n-no, of course I remember. And what I don't remember imagination fills in. But, but, but, but--" 08[21:27] 6It's probably fine. Eikichi always knows what he's doing and has never made a mistake in his life. [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "Then you know, that in actuality, you're mine." [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "Don't you?" 15[21:27] 10Eikichi says nothing. Raksi can no doubt feel his heart pounding. 08[21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12If Eikichi continues to say nothing, Raksi narrows her eyes and unceremoniously drops him, such that whether he ends up seated in the plush chair drawn up for him or sprawling on the floor is a question of his reflexes. "Why are you here? That lizard of mine was just that great a hunter?" 15[21:32] 10Eikichi looks down. "No." 15[21:33] "I mean, he was. Raaspep overpowered me fair and square. But I wanted to come." [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "Of course you did. And I wanted you here. And you get here, and--- balk?" 12She leans down now, placing a hand on her knee to peer at the slumped-over sorcerer. "You visit Mahalanka as, as a tourist?" 15[21:35] 10Eikichi: "No! This is my city too. Our city. Or it was." 15[21:36] 10A little more firmly: "Is that the only reason you brought me here?" 08[21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi's face hardens. "It's foolish to do something for only one reason." 12Then she vanishes, practically explodes; there's an eruption of black, red, and purple flame around her body and room's empty except for Eikichi and the remains of the feast. 15[21:39] 10Oh no. 08[21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12It's about half an hour before an apefolk servant nervously shows his face. He's to take Eikichi back to the sorcerer's quarters. There are a number of guards with him who look very nervous. 15[21:41] 10Eikichi sheepishly follows, scarlet from the tips of his hair to the soles of his feet. One might think he's mimicking Raksi. 08[21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12When Eikichi returns to the smaller pyramid he was being hosted in, he's barely set foot back into the room when a loud slam behind him announces that the stone itself has moved to seal him in. Well... there's still a little food, and running water, at the least. 15[21:43] 10Eikichi will stress-eat the appetizers. [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Time passes, and it's mid-next morning that Blossom, Ir, and Tatsuya find themselves coming up on the gates of Mahalanka. [21:46] 4Fucking finally. Errant might even be starting to falter. [21:47] 4At some point Tatsuya should roll off and go to ground. [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12They're clearly expected. The ravager phalanx is met by shining legions of elite apefolk guards, a veritable swarm of spearmen mounted in agata demons, and a rippling presence in the air that isn't quite resolving into a horder of extradimensional monsters but threatens to do so at any moment. Riding a gigantic iguana, and followed on foot by a retinue of variously-interesting-looking [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12robed figures, is a silver-furred gorilla-man with the flowing robes and outrageous headdress of some kind of high official. He holds a palm out. "Halt! We must speak." [21:47] 6He's still a bit wounded, but. "So. We ride up like big fucking heroes, or -- well, settles that." [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12(If you want a little time to talk before this happens go ahead) [21:49] 4Ir, to Tatsuya: "I think it's best if you split from us and go to ground before we arrive. We're not going to lie and say you're not sneaking around, but I think they expect something like this. We're wandering into a cannibal's den, we need some insurance policy." [21:51] 6Scratch the "settles that" part of the last bit. "You want me sticking near you guys but hidden, or just finding a way inside and we'll meet up later?" 08[21:52] 4Ir: "Your call. Probably the first priority is finding Eikichi, so stick to us unless and until it becomes clear they're not taking us to him, then go find him." [21:55] 6Tatsuya: "Hrm. Makes sense, but I'd bet they are taking us to him to taunt us. I'd. Hate to be wrong, though." [21:55] "Times like this makes you wish for a way to keep in contact without alerting everyone in a Sun-damned place." [21:55] 4Ir: "If they are, then you can pivot to finding us a way out." [21:56] 4Ir still has to have a talk with Blossom about the feasibility of killing Raksi here. [21:56] 4And how there isn't any. [21:56] 6I mean, if we got reaaaaaaaaaally lucky... [21:57] 4Then we have to fight our way through a whole city right afterwards. It doesn't seem like the best play. [21:57] 6Disguises. Come on, this is basic stuff. We'd have created the greatest distraction in the history of distractions, no one's going to notice some random people huddling near the city walls. [21:58] 7Blossom: "We could challenge her to a duel, her Circle versus ours." [21:58] 7Blossom: "We could challenge her to a duel, her Circle versus ours." [21:58] 6Tatsuya: "Who's her Circle? Because I have a sneaking suspicion we wouldn't like the answer." [21:58] 6Obviously, all of Tatsuya's suspicions are sneaking. [21:59] "The other Lunars we've fought, obviously." 08[21:59] 4Ir doesn't name the worst possible objection she has to this, given that Eikichi's been in her clutches for a day and a night and some more of a day. Instead: "Even if we win, I'm skeptical about the city honoring the outcome." [21:59] "Especially since we don't intend to leave Raksi as a loose end." 08[22:01] "I'm as committed to ending Raksi as you are" 4-- probably not true, but Ir isn't giving out brownie points for being blinded by worry and rage; it's bad tactics -- "but our best plan is to grab Eikichi and run." [22:01] "At the very least, promise me you won't lock us into anything until we've gotten our bearings and the lay of the land." 08[22:01] "Good. Excellent. Eikichi's return is our top priority." [22:02] 6Tatsuya: "Obviously. He's getting out. Just. Ugh, I wish we had more information. We need a fucking spy network or something." [22:03] 4Ir: "Spy networks take time to nurture. Hanging out in the Total Control Zone for most of a year is beyond the question." [22:03] 6He shrugs. "Could always twist the loyalties of existing ones, though I have a feeling there aren't too many operating here at the moment." [22:04] 4Ir looks up over Errant's mane. "Alright we're coming up on the gates. Tatsuya, get ready to move." [22:04] 4She nudges Errant up further into the air with a tight spinning turn to get as many eyes on her, and off him, as possible. 08[22:04] "Anyway. The plan. Y'all ride up like big damn heroes, I sneak into the city somehow and try to find Eikichi while you-- what, get led around?" [22:05] "Yes." [22:05] 7Blossom plucks at her clothing absently. "Doubt Raksi has *hidden* spies. Trios of squat apemen in black helms. One to read, one to write, and one to keep an eye on the scholars, ha ha." She's practically trembling with nerves. [22:06] 6Tatsuya: "Cool. See you on the other side. You won't see me. Ha ha." 08[22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12The room Eikichi's in is ventilated, incidentally, but there are no windows or doors to speak of. Water runs in and out of an adjoining bathroom by magical means, and occasionally a human servant who refuses to look at or speak to Raksi's guest comes in through a sort of airlock to bring food, take away plates, that sort of thing. The walls clearly thrum with magic. [22:16] 6He frowns, then: "Oh, and they definitely have some kind of weirdo detection shit, so. This might get a little weird, but I'll try and keep it as least weird as it can get." [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12So as Ir and Blossom come into view of the welcome party, Tatsuya...? [22:17] 6What Tatsuya? [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya does what specifically, I mean. [22:17] 6Anyway he's sauntering through whatever open gate exists, or, if there isn't one yet, he'll hang back to see what they want with Blossom and Ir. 15[22:20] 10Eikichi's hair is frazzled after he plucks all the diamonds out, his skin flushed as his beauty magic ebbs away. He's turned the mirror to face the wall so no one can watch him finish the food he's been sent. [22:20] 4Ir, meanwhile, will pull up on Errant sternly at the head of the small vanguard of ravagers, Errant beating his wings and appearing to stand in mid-air. [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Silverback priest: "...we must speak! I am Kurokaj, Minister of Hospitality and so emissary of Mahalanka to any guest at the gates. Identify yourselves, and state your business here!" [22:22] 4Ir: "I am Ir, Saint-Sister." [22:23] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom: "Excessively Righteous Blossom." [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Kurokaj: "These names are known to Mahalanka! You would enter?" [22:25] 4Ir expected that their business would be understood. [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12He still seems to expect you to say it. Part of the job description, maybe? [22:26] 4Ir: "You have someone who belongs with us. We intend to parlay for his release." [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Kurokaj nods slowly and self-importantly. "Do you swear, then, to come in peace, and raise no hand or weapon against Mahalanka, or its denizens, or its queen while within its walls?" [22:31] 4Ir: "Not without any exceptions for self-defense. But I suspect you're going to let us in anyway." 15[22:31] 10Eikichi could bear to let Ir see him like this, let alone Blossom. 15[22:31] 10Raksi was right. He belongs here. [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Kurokaj: "Hmm, very well. Do you swear to come in peace, and raise no hand or weapon against Mahalanka, or its denizens, or its queen, except in self-defense?" [22:33] 4Flatly: "Which definition of come?" [22:34] 7Blossom looks at Ir with an expression like 'really?' [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya spots this while unseen, and Blossom spots it thanks to a description either Tatsuya or Ying gave her a little while ago. Kurokaj is flanked by all sorts of figures - apes, ocelots, and non-beastfolk holding scrolls or carrying plates of food or bearing ceremonial arms or what have you, some on foot and some on lizardback. One of them, in a somewhat circumspect position at [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12the Minister's side, wears a long black robe with silver embroidery and a broad rice farmer's hat that hides his or her features completely and casts a long, deep shadow that encompasses their body completely. [22:35] 4Ir looks back and shrugs. [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Either Ying or Tatsuya, I forget which, last saw that outfit up in Yu-Shan, having a discreet meeting with Czaliphenya. It's Wicked Triumph's Reckoning! [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Kurokaj: "Hmm? Oh. As in, to arrive." [22:36] 4Ir: "Then I find the terms acceptable." [22:36] 7Blossom: "Very well. I accept the amended oath." [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Kurokaj raises a hand. "So sworn." 12He looks expectantly at the two of you, apparently expecting ritual action in kid. [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12kind* [22:37] 4Ir raises her hand. "So sworn." [22:37] 7Blossom responds in kind. [22:38] 6That brother-fucker. [22:38] 4Then she looks to his side. At the Eclipse. "Howdy." [22:38] 4Well, what used to be an Eclipse. [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12There's the tolling of a great iron bell as Wicked Triumph's Reckoning raises a pale hand to mirror Kurokaj's and yours. Faint wisps of smoke rise from his fingertips as they extend past the veil of darkness cast by his hat, but that doesn't stop the dread powers of the nether-world from consecrating (desecrating?) your promises. [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning tips his hat enough that you can see his grin. "Long time!" [22:39] 4Ir: "Not particularly." [22:40] "So you're just choosing your friends out of spite now, huh." [22:40] 6Tatsuya assumes that Ir and Blossom have this handled, and moves to get within the city itself if he can. How open are the gates? Closed entirely, or open enough? [22:40] "I suppose it's an ideology." [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Oh, no, I-" 12here he notices the look Kurokaj is giving him and chuckles embarrassedly. "Sorry, sorry, later." [22:41] "Mmmmm." [22:42] 4To Kurokaj: "To smaller business. I want guarantees for our mounts and retinue. The kruthik won't cause trouble and the pegasus and bird are sensible." [22:43] 4Ir: "We can pay a fair exchange for stabling for them. The kruthik need a flat bit of land to burrow in. [22:43] " [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Kurokaj nods. "Indeed, your animals will be safely stabled and cared for so long as they hold to your oath's terms. Now, come! In the aforementioned sense. As guests of the Queen, you shall be provided with lodgings and repast while awaiting your audience." [22:44] 4Ir: "We'll also require proof of life." [22:44] "But thank you for the accomodations." [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Kurokaj: "That is beyond my power. But the message will be passed along." [22:48] "I see." [22:51] "Acceptable." 4She gestures to the kruthik and makes to proceed into the city. [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12You proceed into Mahalanka, center of Raksi's dominion. Ringed by verdant jungle, the city itself is an expanse of sinisterly-angled stonework and fell power. Pyramids that burn like torches study the skyline, and religious and military demonstrations snake constantly through the streets. Apefolk abound, but un-ascended humans are always visible in the margins, sometimes doing some [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12sort of manual labor but mostly being shepherded this way or that by an apeman or apewoman holding their chains. Blossom and Ir are soon stationed in what could easily pass for a vacation home, a large multi-room apartment set into a stone tower that features a veranda overlooking the rest of the city. From their perch, they can gaze out at the jungle, admire the nexus of arcane energies [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12hanging constantly over the biggest step-pyramid at Mahalanka's exact center, or even gaze at the inordinately huge trees and mountains dimly visible to the east. [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya, meanwhile, has to do this the hard way. As he crosses the threshold of the city's gates, he's pretty sure that no one except Wicked Triumph's Reckoning spots him (unless Reckoning just has a habit of winking knowingly at the empty air every so often). However, he can feel a faint buzzing in the air and a pressure on his skin, groping fingers of essence searching for... [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12something. [22:57] 6Must have been the wind. I mean, there's nothing here, after all. [23:01] 7Blossom's not going to even touch whatever food they bring unless Ir says that it's okay. And she's going to be very suspicious of any drink. [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12There is, in fact, a plate of refreshments here for you - fruit juice and cutlets of some kind. [23:03] 4Ir has Jude's Law as a series of bangles, and is her loose training robes. She's purposefully keeping herself as plain as possible for this little jaunt. [23:03] "I'll check the food." [23:05] 6In the past, but not too far: "This is in case of emergency. We don't know what's going on in there, and I might need to do something - drastic. Ying's done it before. Just. Poof! Not in your memory anymore." [23:05] 4Ir: "...As long as you come back." [23:05] 4This is somewhere between distracting and upsetting every time either of them does it. [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Hmm... looks like mango, shark, ox-dragon, and... ooh yeah and human on the end there. Thigh...? [23:05] "Here's the code-phrases, written down so that you won't lose 'em. You, uh, might forget who put them there. Sorry. And I hate this almost as much as you do." [23:06] 4I mean, just for now. Obviously, well, she's not going to remember this. [23:07] 6Smiling weakly: "The good news is, if I don't come back, you won't even remember to be sad." [23:07] 4In the present, Ir briskly takes a napkin, removes the human, and unceremoniously tosses it out into the hall. The guards can eat it off the floor if they want. [23:07] "Everything else is fine." [23:07] 4Ir in the past, clipped: "Please don't ever justify this like that to me again. Thanks." [23:09] 7Blossom would probably try to be encouraging to Tatsuying, if she weren't running on no sleep or food and terrified that her boyfriend is trapped in a witch-queen's dungeon. So she just says, "Good luck, Tatsuya." [23:09] 4To Blossom in the present: "Eat, and try to sleep. I can keep watch." [23:10] 7In the present, she desperately wants to scorn even the 'safe' food... but she's really hungry. She starts gnawing on some of the more ordinary sort of pork. [23:12] 6Past Tatsuya, chastened: "I won't. Sorry. It's. Habit. Uh," 6He winces. "Ying's yelling at me too. Jokes are supposed to be funny, apparently." [23:13] 4While Blossom eats, Ir sits down cross-legged on the floor and closes her eyes, breathing in and out. In a matter of moments, she's back on her feet, refreshed. [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12After about an hour, there's a knock on the outside of the door of Ir and Blossom's temporary dwelling-place. [23:17] 7Blossom, sitting down next to a wall, snorts in alarm and her eyes snap open. [23:18] 4Ir walks over to lean against the table directly in front of the door where the food was. To Blossom: "You ready?" [23:18] 7She cracks her knuckles and nods. [23:18] 4She has a suspicion of who this might be. "Enter." [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12...Tatsuya can give them the slip. It's tricky, but particularly less tricky for him than it would be for, say, Blossom, because his anima's a much subtler thing than that of the average Solar. The mysterious awareness of Mahalanka itself passes the Night Caste by... for now. [23:20] 6If he was so inclined, he could give them pointers. In fact - something to consider with Zeal. But Sun be damned if that isn't fucking harrowing every time. [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Entering Blossom and Ir's quarters is a long, lean man with unruly red hair, dark rings around his eyes, and faint gradations in the shade of his skin and body hair that put one in mind of broad stripes. He's carrying a broad, thin, oblong object wrapped in red cloth. [23:23] 4Mmmm. Not him. [23:23] 4Mmmmmmmmm. [23:24] 4She crosses her arms. "Only an hour of rest before our summons?" [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12With the air of a bored workman, he walks across the room, carefully lays his burden against the wall, and then pulls back the cloth to reveal, yep, a full-length mirror. [23:24] "Ah." [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Deliveryman: "Not quite. This is for you, right?" [23:24] 4Ir: "You would know." [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Deliveryman: "They tell me less than you'd think. But be careful with it, takes some fine glasswork - and don't try anything funny. We're watching." [23:26] 4Ir: "And now we're being threatened by the help. Fantastic." [23:26] 4Well done. [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12The man heads back out somewhat unceremoniously, and you're left with an ominous mirror. After about a minute, its surface goes dark. [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, no, it hasn't actually gone mysteriously dark - it's just showing you an extreme closeup of a stone wall, the lighting of which is being blocked from behind. [23:30] 4Ir taps a finger impatiently on her bicep. Technical difficulties. [23:30] 7Blossom, nonplussed (but which definition?): "What the hell is that supposed to be?" 08[23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Hey, did the mirror in Eikichi's room just speak? 15[23:31] 10Eikichi scrambles to flip it over. The mirror in Ir and Blossom's room settles on him, bedraggled and red-eyed. [23:31] 4Ir: "A way around actually letting us see him." [23:32] 4She'll hold up a hand to pre-empt any comment Blossom might make. "But we don't know it's him. [23:32] " [23:32] "'KICHI!" 7She wails, before Ir prudently forestalls anything further. 15[23:33] 10Hoarsely: "Blossom. Ir." 08[23:33] 4Ir, to Eikichi: "In the tribal village, outside of Crystal. I sang a song about someone I'd lost. What were the first two lines I sang?" 15[23:34] 10Eikichi's eyes lose focus for a moment. "It didn't-- there were no words." 15[23:34] "Just a melody." 08[23:34] 4Ir nods. "It's him." 4To Eikichi: "Ask Blossom something." [23:35] "Try not to make it anything Raksi could use against her later." [23:35] "Or you." [23:36] 7Blossom antsily shifts from foot to foot. 15[23:36] "Uh. What, uh. What kind of tattoo did I used to have--" 10Eikichi draws an imaginary line along his exposed clavicle. [23:37] "A squirrel! It was a squirrel," 7She's on a little safer ground with quizzes. 15[23:38] 10Eikichi slumps back. "You came." 15[23:38] "...has she hurt you?" [23:38] 4Ir smirks slightly at that before: "No." [23:38] "It was a long, hard ride." [23:39] "We're under sworn oath from our old friend not to start trouble except in self-defense." 15[23:39] 10Eikichi: "Reckoning? I saw him." [23:39] "Yes, he's rather flaunting his position here." [23:39] "He intimated he might be by later." 15[23:39] "I made her terribly angry." [23:40] 4Ir: "That was going to happen no matter what you did and it's not your fault." [23:40] 7Blossom, nervously: "You're sure you're alright? She hasn't done anything to--" 14[23:41] * Joins: tom 15[23:41] 10Eikichi: "She hasn't hurt me. So far I'm just locked up here." [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya sweeps through Mahalanka. A thousand wonders accost him - petitioner-gods, floating temples, demon work crews. A thousand terrors, too - slaves subject to lash and fire, hideous creatures trying to claw their way up from pits or free from mirrors, and one of the great religious processions ending at an altar upon which a heart is carved out of a hapless man's chest. Immense [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12forces are being marshaled here, and blessings cast, and most of them end up marching off eastward rather than back the way you came. [23:43] 6We're either burning this place to the fucking ground or else engaging in a sustained campaign of terror among the ruling class. No exceptions. 15[23:44] 10Eikichi looks away from the mirror. "You shouldn't have come." [23:44] 4Ir: "She hasn't hurt you, you say." [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12There is a sense in which turning Raksi down feels like wrenching an arm out of its socket, but hey, that's on you. 15[23:47] 10Eikichi: "It's only a matter of time. But whatever happens to me here... this is where I belong." 08[23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya actually finds a lot of prisons - the tricky part is narrowing the search down. Non-beastfolk dissidents go here, beastfolk go here, other sacrifices are here, here's the demons... finally, an analysis of the security composition, closeness to the center of the city, etcetera, has Tatsuya reasonably convinced that Eikichi is in this low-slung step-pyramid riiiight here. [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Where in it? Good question. [23:49] 6Well? What's the answer? [23:50] 4Ir narrows her eyes. "She took you to dinner, didn't she. She presented it like it was your choice, to spend time with her." 15[23:50] 10Eikichi: "It was my choice." [23:50] 4Quickly she unnarrows her eyes; her anger at Raksi isn't appropriate to bleed in here. 15[23:50] "I ate the food. I let her touch me." [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya would have to actually get in there and investigate from top to bottom, which will prove challenging - that's effectively a high-security prison in what's already, in effect, a giant wizard's tower. 15[23:51] "This is what I wanted. To do the wrong thing, to do the wrong thing within the wrong thing, and to be punished. This is where I belong." [23:52] 6Well, slaying every single guard seems infeasible, so we'll have to settle for just trying to overhear conversations about "the new prisoner" or something. They probably don't have him kept somewhere convenient, because Raksi knows what we're capable of, so... 15[23:52] "I'm no better than she is. I'm just weaker." [23:53] 6Although... 08[23:53] 7Blossom: "Of course you don't belong here! This is a horrible place! Eikichi, whatever she's done, whatever she's made you think about yourself or, or, or... you were the one who taught me that 'kindness is worth fighting for'!" [23:54] "You are kind, and sensitive, and you deserve far better than this!" 15[23:55] "For you! You're not like me. Don't you get it? I got fifty yalms away from you and I started doing wrong. This always happens. It'll always happen." 15[23:55] "Every good thing I've ever done, I did because you and you were standing behind me. Every bad thing I've ever done came from the heart." 15[23:55] "This is where I belong." [23:58] 7Passionately, with tears in her eyes: "Then I'll never get fifty yalms from you again! This is my fault, you baka! I saw you race ahead, but I didn't back you up! I should have been there with you!" Session Time: Sun Jul 14 00:00:00 2019 15[00:14] 10Eikichi tears up too. He can't bear to see Blossom cry. But when he cluthes his head and screams into his own arms he's saying "No, no! NO! You're wrong about me. You've always been wrong about me." [00:15] 4Ir: "The bitch is in the mirror." [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12The mirror in each room goes dark again, but now it shows a familiar backdrop - a pulsing, smoky red and violet. Mercifully, only Raksi's voice appears. "That's proof enough, don't you think?" [00:17] 7Blossom's head pounds and she sees red, but she manages - just - to not draw her weapons and blast the mirror to a pile of slag. [00:17] 4Ir: "I wasn't talking to you." [00:18] "Parlay is not conducted via magic mirror." [00:18] "You Sun-cursed squatter." [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a pleasant laugh. "Of course you'll get to meet me! I'm not that cruel." [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi's voice: "But you wanted assurance, so there it was. I'll send for you soon." 08[00:22] 4In case Eikichi is still able to listen: "One day he'll realize all the contempt he has for himself right now, you earned years before he or me or his actual love were ever born." [00:22] "That'll be a good day." [00:23] "Don't call again until you're ready." [00:24] 4She'll turn the mirror to face the wall. [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Welcome to Mahalanka! [00:25] 7THIS PLACE IS THE WORST [00:25] 6It's not great. 15[00:26] 10https://youtu.be/HAwhC_btAUU?t=156 14[03:17] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[04:27] * Joins: VoxPrimey 14[04:28] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:46] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Quit: ) 14[04:46] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[07:00] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:36] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:20] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:02] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:19] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:38] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:45] * Joins: tom 14[16:05] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:33] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:52] * Joins: tom 14[19:22] * Joins: Crion 14[20:02] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:09] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:36] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:47] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[22:09] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Mon Jul 15 00:00:00 2019 14[01:24] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[08:12] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[16:31] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:34] * Joins: cbass 14[18:35] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:54] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[21:10] * Joins: tom 14[22:17] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:41] * Joins: trenchfoot Session Time: Tue Jul 16 00:00:00 2019 14[01:00] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:20] * Joins: Crion_ 14[01:20] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:44] * Quits: cbass (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:59] * Joins: cbass 14[04:30] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[04:30] * Joins: tom 14[06:43] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 15[14:49] * Disconnected 15[14:50] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:50] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:50] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[14:50] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[14:50] * Quits: @Ferrinus (NickServ (GHOST command used by FerrinusPrime)) 14[14:50] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 14[14:51] * Quits: VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[14:51] * Disconnected 15[14:51] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:51] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:51] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[14:51] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[16:25] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:29] * Joins: Crion 14[17:59] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:10] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:58] * Joins: mattbaby_ 15[20:05]  15[20:05]  15[20:05]  15[20:05]  15[20:05]  15[20:10] It's Jai who ends up leading Oyabun past Lookshyan checkpoints and aimless undead. He and Xu Sim are well-known to the topside fighting men, but what do they say when someone asks what the deal is with the 13 year old who staggers like he's drunk? [20:13] 10Jai makes up a story on the spot. "We found him in an alley, slumped over like that. He took a really bad blow to the head. He can walk, but Master Xu Sim wants to take a better look at him, make sure his brains aren't all scrambled out." [20:13] 14Well, not what I would have gone with. [20:15] 14Stranger: 15[20:16] * Retrieving #SonsAndDoctors modes... [20:18] 10Oh. Huh. That's bad news.10 Jai continues on smoothly. "He's free of fae taint, if that's the cause for concern. May we pass?" [20:20] 14Nice. 15[20:20] Stranger's words smooth Jai's passage, and the three of them descend. Meanwhile Keldar, Stranger, and Xia Lan are in conference in their Undercity command center, organizing the to-and-fro of supplies and personnel and double-checking the work of the Council in managing civilian peacekeeping and logistics. The Emissary - one of four, now, but still holding the definite article - has 15[20:20] returned to the front, to keep watch in case the raksha across the river make a move. [20:21] 14Stranger has one more Codex page to give -- would The Emissary take it if it were offered? 15[20:23] The Emissary insists it isn't necessary. [20:23] 14Either way, Stranger's business is the logistics. He should probably take some time to heal, but there's so much work to be done. [20:24] 13There's always so much work to be done, and it'll be easier if you heal up. [20:24] 14True, but lacking in consideration for limited time. [20:26] 12Keldar's not of much help. In part this is due to Cethleann's curse - suggestions he make go unnoticed, ideas he comes up with turn out to be redundant. In part this is because he's much more busy convalescing, spending most of his time seated and breathing slowly in the back of the room and occasionally rising to change bandages stained in colors the human body has no business [20:26] 12producing. 15[20:26] Once inside it's easy enough for Jai to make his way to the conference room. Xu Sim is beckoned away to help with the staff shortages in the infirmary warrens. Oyabun has the presence of mind to slip back beneath his hood, which gets fewer odd looks than an obvious child did. [20:28] 13Xia Lan's much the same, though she's unable to even acquit herself properly in combat the way Keldar is. Cethleann's curse is maddening. 15[20:30] So it is that Jai arrives with the short hooded figure in tow, who says "Oough," by way of introduction. [20:30] 10Jai's taken a moment to wash his hands and face before entering the room. The rest of him is still spattered with dirt and soot. But no blood. Always the mark of a good operation. He gives the others a little wave as he enters. "I'm pleased to report that the mission aws a success. Master Xu Sim will be joining us shortly, once he's finished with triage." [20:31] 12Keldar: "Good to hear. How's it look out there?" 14[20:31] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: Mutter: www.mutterirc.com) [20:32] 14Stranger turns from what he's doing with a slight wince when Jai speaks. "Excellent, even if it's raised more questions--" 14He pauses as he sees the 'boy.' "--than it answers." [20:32] 13Xia Lan: "...and who's the new kid?" [20:32] "...That's an excellent disguise. Unless your Mistress is in the habit of hiring on children." [20:33] 10Jai pats his Oyabun on a shoulder and pulls up a stool. "Sorry. He's a little nauseous at the moment. He, uh, expedited our return, and I guess it took a lot out of him." [20:33] 14Stranger motions for one of his gophers to fetch a clean bedpan. This place is ramshackle enough without vomit all over the floor. [20:34] 13Xia Lan: "Okay. Wow. Trustworthy then, I take it?" 15[20:34] Oyabun sits too, swaying just a bit as he does so. "Holy shit." [20:34] 14Stranger: "After a fashion." 15[20:34] "Xia Lan??" [20:35] 10Wait, Keldar said something. "Not even a little. And, um, the raksha camp is in serious disarray thanks to Xu—" [20:35] 13She waves. "The very same." 13She almost said 'the one and only,' but, well. The Unfeathered is still out there somewhere. 14[20:35] * Joins: mattbaby_ [20:36] 10Hai actually looks genuinely shocked at this last. "You're a fan too?" [20:37] 10Jai actually looks genuinely shocked at this last. "You're a fan too?" [20:37] 14Word certainly travels fast. Nexus, the new cultural capital of the Threshold. 14[20:38] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: Mutter: www.mutterirc.com) 15[20:38] Small unlined hands emerge from drooping sleeves to wipe at the still-hooded face of the boy Jai brought. "She's real good! Pearl and her new trainee are big fans. We hear all her stuff." 15[20:39] Oyabun finally lowers his hood, revealing the face and neat haircut of a 13-year old boy. Beneath cloak and cowl, he seems to be wearing a formal sort of child's suit, the kind someone in secondary school on the Blessed Isle might wear. "So..." 15[20:40] He blinks, and his eyes settle on Keldar for the first time. "A deathknight?! Here?! Jai you said you were working with Sun-chosen. You said you had a circle!" [20:41] 14Stranger: "What?" [20:41] "Oh." [20:41] "Take off the helmet, Keldar." [20:41] 10Jai: "Like hell he's a deathknight! I should know!" [20:41] "He just got beat up real bad in our last battle, that's all." 15[20:41] Oyabun: "Like hell he's not! Scoured black flesh, blood from every pore. I've read the reports." [20:42] 14...Is he seeing what we're seeing, or...? [20:42] "That's because he took some kind of Essence beam directly to the face!" [20:42] 12Keldar: "What? Are you- listen, kid, I'm more alive'n you are. I just took a Terrible Gaze to the face." [20:42] 14Ah. [20:42] "See?" 15[20:42] "Shit. And you lived?" [20:42] 13Xia Lan: "Keldar's very tough." [20:43] "How are Pearl and Sober, by the way? And - I don't know if he still goes by Mr. Tellurian..." [20:43] 12Keldar: "If you can call this living. But I'm going through bandages at a decreasin' rate, I think, and I can still walk." 15[20:43] "I'm -" He looks at Jai. "What did you tell them my name was?" [20:44] 10Jai: "I didn't tell them any name, yet. Just, you know. That you're the Oyabun." 14[20:45] * Joins: Crion_ 15[20:45] "Whatever. I'm whoever he said. I've got something for that here." He sticks his hands deep into his pockets, and those assembled hear the clang of metal on metal on glass and the squeak of some small animal. He comes up with a cork-stoppered vial containing what appear to be threads. "Want a bean, old bean? Fresh from the Gardens." [20:45] 10Jai's shoulders slump a little. "It sounds less cool when I'm saying it out loud." [20:45] 12Keldar peers through narrowed eyes. "Whassat?" 14[20:46] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[20:47] "The Oyabun": "These are Seven-Chakra Beans. They only grow in Yu-Shan since the Fall, and each plant only sprouts once every three hundred and thirty-three years. One of these can bring a man on death's door to the full of health in the time it takes you catch your breath." 15[20:47] He shakes one out on the table. "I've got three." 15[20:47] "You look like you could use one." [20:47] 14One assumes 'the Fall' doesn't mean autumn. [20:47] 12Keldar: "Hrrrgh. How much?" 15[20:49] Oyabun: "I told you, I've got three. You'll only need one." [20:49] 10Jai takes a deep breath. "But for a proper introduction, and this doesn't leave the room, this is the Chosen of Heaven, Shadow of the Ebon Throne, Master 99 Dark Star. And probably another half dozen titles I could dredge up if I tried. Also, um. He usually doesn't look like this." [20:50] 14Stranger: "Which one of the Maidens, if you don't mind my asking?" [20:51] 12Keldar stares blankly for a moment. "I'm asking what's it cost." [20:51] 14Stranger: "In the interest of honesty, the reason I ask is we've been working with one of Jupiter's, off and on." 15[20:52] 99 Dark Star: "...cost?" 15[20:53] "Oh, right. Nexus. Uhhhh pay me in intel. Tell me everything that's happened and what you're working on, what your main problems are, et cetera." [20:53] 14Stranger: "You're in the paradise of commerce in all creation, 99 Dark Star. Ask him for a coin or something." [20:53] 12Keldar looks over to Jai for some indication as to whether he's being poisoned or similar. [20:54] 10Jai shrugs. He's never seen this jar with the beans before. And if Oyabun really wanted Keldar dead right now, he would be. [20:54] 10He's pretty sure of that, anyway.  15[20:55] To Stranger: "Mind telling me which Chosen of Jupiter you've been working for? There aren't that many of us." [20:55] 14Have to be maximally insulting before accepting a gift in good faith. It's good to know that at least the curse hasn't changed who Keldar is. [20:55] 14Stranger: "Mmmmm. No, I don't, but I'll play a bit harder to get than that since I'm not getting a bean. Which Maiden?" 15[20:56] "Jupiter, Maiden of Secrets. I'm not doing her name any favors by telling you this, so be prepared to put in a good word for me at my trial." [20:58] 14Stranger: "I would hardly be worthy of the name Stranger-Visits-Heaven if I didn't actually do so from time to time. His working name is Bubo Malcavet, and until recently he was embedded with the Dragonlord Nessun Dorma." 15[20:58] 99: "Sorry what did you say your name was?" [20:58] 13Oh, boy. [20:58] 14His smile widens. "Yes, I gathered that might get a reaction." [20:59] "I'm told I'm a bit tamer than the one who came before." [20:59] 12Keldar picks up the bean and sniffs it. He's never seen or heard of one of these things, of course. "Listen, if you just want to give the thing away you can go ahead, except that if it does half of what you say it does it'd be absurd for you to just pop in and gift it to a total stranger." 15[21:00] 99: "Yeah, well, it'd make sense if you were smarter. Eat the damn bean." [21:01] 10Jai: "Just eat the dang bean, Sarge. He already told you what his price is, that's more than a lot of people get." [21:01] 14Stranger: "I assume his angle here is to stop the fall of Nexus to a raksha army and prevent a massive middlemarch from springing up just few weeks' travel from the massive shadowland already blighting the Threshold." [21:01] 12Keldar: "Alright, but if this ain't at least fast-actin' you'll have time to regret it." 12He flicks it off a thumb and into his mouth. Crunch! [21:02] 13Xia Lan: "Do we know where the Mask went off to? I was uh. Preoccupied. At the time." [21:02] 14Stranger, to 99 Dark Star: "Please excuse the Dawn Sergeant. Or don't. Either way, you get used to it." [21:03] 10Jai: "He was already gone by the time i made contact with Xu Sim." [21:03] 13Comfortingly: "He's like this with everyone at first. Like a particularly unruly cat." 15[21:04] 99: "Please. This isn't even top 10 most annoying reports. It's not like he's going to abandon me." [21:04] 12And at second, and at third... anyway, Keldar looks thoughtful. "Hmm. Kinda vanilla-y. Although I don't really get what the big oh holy shit." 15[21:04] 99 drums skinny hands on skinny knees. "Bubo... Bubo Malcavet... that's one of 84's Destinies. 84 Ivy Throne, in the Directorate." [21:05] 10Jai shrinks down into his chair even though he's got the better part of a yalm on Oyabun right now. [21:05] 14Stranger: "He's not in town, sadly. I asked him to look into something in land, closer to the Realm. I was hoping to hear back from him by now." [21:06] 5Xu Sim makes his way through the Undercity towards the old Thorns quarter, ignoring rumblings in his belly and whispering Lookshyans and curious Nexans. 15[21:06] 99: "84's senior enough that he'll just go on walkabout and not code in for months. He's probably got a wife somewhere. Haven't heard from him." [21:06] 14Stranger isn't about to demand they play the Question Game -- getting a Chosen of Jupiter to agree to answer honestly would be a waste of time anyway -- but this feels like a close enough approximation. [21:07] 5The sorcerer has his eyes peeled for zombies, skeletons, demiliches, bound ghosts - whatever bound undead may be, should lead him towards the Scion. [21:07] 14Stranger smiles. "His woman sits on the Council of Nexus." 15[21:07] 99's cheeks puff out as he blows through his lips. "And he's not here?" [21:07] 12Keldar twitches maybe once before what looked like it was going to become a violent convulsion resolves itself instead into a sort of smooth blurring of his entire body. He glows as if his flesh is lit from within, shafts of pale anima stabbing out between bandages, and quickly grabs onto the end of the table he was standing before to steady himself. After about a minute of this, he [21:07] 12lets go, leaving smoking fingerprints in the wood. 15[21:07] "Waste of a vacation." [21:08] "Perhaps he's fool enough to have more than one. Didn't seem the type, however." [21:08] 10Jai goes wide-eyed. "Holy shit that's some bean." [21:09] 14To Keldar: "Too much to hope for that it fixed the curse too, I suppose?" [21:09] 12The Dawn Sergeant looks unchanged until such time as he coughs, and then blackened, twisted flesh goes cascading off him like so much dust. He coughs again, then scratches at an arm to reveal pristine flesh beneath bone-dry flakes of carbonized viscera. "Holy shit. You need a better business plan, buddy." 15[21:10] Xu Sim traces a crooked path through the streets of Nexus, passing shades and revenants wandering aimlessly. As he gets closer, they start to move in unison, in more predictable patterns. He finally finds the Scion of the Sevenfold, hair frazzled, engaged in constant sorcerous effort to marshall all the undead that the Mask commanded with nary a thought. Her pale face alights at the 15[21:10] sight of her beloved. "My love! I heard the worst!" [21:10] 13Xia Lan rolls her eyes, but says nothing. Though... if it DOES cure the curse..." [21:10] 13Scratch that last ". [21:10] 12Keldar: "Get someone with a dustpan or something in here. I'll be back in a sec." 12He strides out, trailing flakes of corruption the whole way. [21:10] 14To 99 Dark Star: "My main concern is that we're missing something important, and I sent Bubo on a mission far more dangerous than either of us anticipated it would be." 15[21:10] 99: "Where to?" [21:11] 12It's about a minute later that Keldar returns, dressed in loose cloth with his sword across his back, but only a minute and a half later that anyone notices. He catches Xia Lan's eye and shakes his head morosely. [21:11] 13She lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding and puts her head down on the table. [21:14] 12Keldar: "Emissary seems to think this dies when Cethleann does, though. Kinda seemed like his best guess, but it made sense to me." [21:15] 13Into the table: "That's not soon enough." [21:16] 10Jai: "Especially not if anyone trying to kill her is also at risk." [21:17] 12Keldar: "Long as we can make it stick, right? Though how to do that's the real question, 'cause running her body through wasn't good enough." 15[21:17] 99: "You're talking about the ishvara, right?" [21:18] 14Stranger: "Pnuema. Specifically, The Nail. When the Emissary was killed, the city appeared to choose a new Emissary in the person of a 'dead' cabbage vendor who was nearby when the fatal blow was struck. We learned later that he was still alive, after a fashion, and was being kept as such by the previous Evening Master. One assumes that he is the Emissary we see before us now, [21:18] after some dark transformation. But before we learned of all this the cabbage vendor's family was kidnapped by the Guild at the behest of the Immaculates and transported downriver, with a final destination of Pneuma." [21:18] "Your guess as to what they want with them is as good as mine, but mine is leverage." [21:19] 5Xu Sim's haggard face cracks into a thin smile as he rushes forward, heedless of the bound dead. "You heard correctly," 5he explains as they embrace. "I nearly won the war at a stroke - captured the Eye of Balor - led the doddering Emissary - straight to Keldar - but they took it away - ended up with Mask - blasted me with it-" 15[21:19] Seven: "They betrayed you?!" 15[21:19] Her grip on his arms tightens. [21:19] 12Keldar: "The ishvara, yeah. Xia Lan and I got cursed fighting her off." [21:20] 13She lefts her head up from the table. "Wasn't my finest few days of combat. It's been even worse since." [21:21] 12Keldar: "So what's it take, huh? Should I have gotten out one of our standard-issue iron blades instead of this daiklave?" 15[21:21] 99: "You can't kill an ishvara. An ishvara is like... a theory. At best you can disprove it." [21:22] 5Xu Sim: "They tried to cut another deal with Balor to put everything back to the way it was. Keldar didn't even wait for an explanation." 15[21:22] "Depending on the theory a sword to the face is a reasonable counterargument, but it sounds like that didn't work." 15[21:22] "What's she like?" 15[21:22] "Just... be the opposite of that." [21:22] 14Stranger: "A dreamer. Literally. Still seems to be in love. Likes to appear reasonable. Honestly, I think Keldar's got the whole 'being the opposite' thing down pat already." [21:23] 12Keldar: "She, let me see. She betrayed Balor and came back here to take his Eye after he gave up the ghost. She likes to appear in the form of people her enemies have lost or betrayed, but bigger and scarier. Fought with a lance in person." [21:24] 14Stranger: "An important thing about love, for her, though is that it's tied to vengeance. It's not healthy love. She's always anticipating betrayal, and eagerly awaiting the moment she gets to punish it." [21:25] "I'd go so far as to say that defines her concept of both love and vengeance." 15[21:25] 99: "What's the opposite of betrayal, then? Loyalty?" 15[21:25] "But you guys are all loyal to each other, presumably, so that's not it." [21:25] 13Ha ha ha ha ha. 15[21:25] Seven: "Those fiends. But, you're alive and healthy, and for now that's enough. What came of the Mask?" [21:26] 12Keldar: "I'm plenty loyal. And we were all working in tandem when we actually faced her on the field. Took I forget how many hits for a couple of ya." [21:26] "And it's not being brutal and terrible, because otherwise Xia Lan would have shaken it off already." 10Jai blushes. "I mean…" [21:27] 14Stranger: "Perhaps it's better to ask what would cause her to think love is always destined to end in vengeance. Romantic betrayal is an inherently selfish act, yes? Pursuing a liaison that feels good with no regard to the feelings of your partner. Perhaps the answer -- and why Keldar is NOT her opposite -- is: selflessness." [21:27] 13Brutal, no, but terrible... 15[21:27] 99: "Maybe forgiveness? I dunno. Theory was never my strong suit. I work wet." [21:27] 5Xu Sim shakes his head. "There wasn't any way to stop all three of them. But by the time we realized what was going on, it was in Mask's hands. He blasted us with it. I only escaped by a hairsbreadth, but then so did Mask - I last saw him south of town, behind the enemy lines. He hasn't been... in contact with you?" [21:27] 14Stranger: "Most theories hold that selflessness is fundamentally alien to raksha anyway, given their essential narcissism." 15[21:28] Seven shakes her head. "Everything here is in disarray. He relinquished control of the dead." [21:28] 12Keldar: "Kinda self-defeating to become selfless so you can take down your deadly enemy, ain't it? 'cause it's not self-defeating, if you follow me." [21:29] 14Stranger: "Well, I'm uncertain that any Chosen of the Sun can be fundamentally selfless. Individualism is sealed into our exaltation. It is a primary tenet of the Sun Himself." [21:29] 5Xu Sim: "I did recover this," 5he notes, producing his vial of the deathlord's ectoplasmic ichor. 15[21:30] Seven's eyes go wide. "He bled?" [21:30] "So hopefully I'm wrong, and it's something like salt or whatever else farmers use to kill weeds." 14[21:30] * Crion_ is now known as Crion [21:31] 13She doesn't press on Jai, though. That'd be mean right now. "I - if it truly was selflessness, that's impossible now. Our actions are informed by that knowledge, so. Is an action selfless if it's a change in behavior brought on by trying to break a curse?" [21:31] 12Keldar: "Here's the thing - are you sure you can only 'disprove' a raksha when it gets that big? Because we're Anathema, and legend tells we went out and just plain stabbed all sorts of shit you're not supposed to be able to. Full weight of her curse fell down on me and I've still got my sword hand, after all." [21:32] 5Xu Sim: "He was not able to stand, for a time." 15[21:32] 99: "Obviously I'm not sure. I'm just going off what I've been told, and my bosses don't like giving up the goods any more than I do." [21:33] 10Jai mumbles "You can say that again." 15[21:33] Seven: "But he did recover..." 15[21:33] 99 elbows Jai. "Look at me. Am I not cooperating?" [21:33] 12Keldar: "There's gotta be something keeping her alive, or that her body's just regrowing out of, or something. Like a magic supply chain. Which Xu Sim's already messed with, right?" 15[21:34] 99: "Sure, any raksha can be starved." [21:34] 14Stranger, to Xia Lan: "That depends on whether your definition of selfish or selfless relies on outcome or intent. The philosophers that argue every action is selfless because 'knowing you did the right thing' is a reward are arguing intent. Most of them are know-nothing shitheads, but so are most philosophers in general. In material terms, selfish is defined by increasing your [21:34] material position with no or outright negative regard to others, while selfless is defined by increasing the material position of those with less than you with no or outright negative regard to yourself." [21:35] 14Stranger: "But I do not think the raksha outside of the Wyld are so powerful that they can turn mere knowledge of how to break their curse into a means to deny it. At least, I would hope not." [21:35] 10Jai: "You're being too cooperative, old man, and that's what's scaring me. I thought you were going to deck me in that camp." 15[21:35] "The thought occurred, kiddo." [21:35] 13Xia Lan absorbs Stranger's words, but -- "...old man?" [21:36] 12Keldar looks nonplussedly between Jai and 99. [21:36] 14Stranger: "The problem is, of course, that in a war, there are only a few truly selfless acts on offer. And those all seem completely unacceptable from both a strategic and a personal standpoint." [21:36] "Perhaps it's a moral victory if you break the curse while dying, but she wins either way." [21:36] 5Xu Sim: "He seemed to. He said I would never see the dawn. He seemed... confident about that." [21:37] 10Jai: "Usually he looks like a real hard case. Yea tall, yea big," Jai gestures, "going prematurely gray. If he didn't use my nickname for him I wouldn't have believed it was him at all." 15[21:39] Seven: "I'm happy you returned and he hasn't. But you didn't come up here just to see me, did you?" [21:39] 13She blinks. "Well, all right." [21:40] 5Xu Sim: "What if I did?" 15[21:40] Seven: "Then you're a fool, and terribly romantic." [21:41] 12Keldar: "I'd forget the selflessness thing. If it's love becoming vengeance, then, I dunno, you could fall for someone you betrayed or decide not to betray someone 'cause you got the hots for 'em or something. But all of that seems sketchy, especially since it's not like Cethleann's particularly chatty on the field." [21:41] 5Xu Sim: "I did come to see you. I wanted to make sure you were alright, that you knew I was alright, I didn't want to speak to a bug to do it. And I wanted your advice about a curse," 5he replies. 15[21:42] Seven: "A curse?" [21:43] 14Stranger: "Chatty in the field or not doesn't seem relevant. What might be relevant: she was very interested in Zuniga." [21:43] 12Keldar: "'swhy we should just figure out how to kill her for real. Between the lot of us, there's no way we can't obliterate her properly, right?" [21:44] 13Xia Lan: "I'm no help as I am, unfortunately. I couldn't even scratch anyone, last few fights I was in. Just - feels like I'm swinging through syrup." [21:44] 14Stranger: "'The lot of us' is our two in-close battlers cursed, me still hurt, and Xu Sim...well, he's mostly fine." [21:45] 12Keldar: "I can still fight, and maybe more importantly, Xu Sim can still concoct. And you can sanctify." [21:46] 14Stranger pauses. Then: "It might be impossible to do the fully-selfless thing, but...even if we can't satisfy the antithesis of what she values, we can still change what she values." [21:46] "Well." [21:46] "If we're convincing enough." [21:46] "It's not a magic trick." [21:47] 5Xu Sim: "Cethleann laid one on Dorma before she killed him; she laid the same one on Xia Lan and Keldar - though the brute resisted it enough to remain, well, quite a brute." [21:47] 12Keldar: "I'm more comfortable with magic tricks, but what's your idea?" [21:48] 14Stranger: "I either find someone down here with the dreaming sickness or intentionally infect myself by leaving the iron dome, I go to sleep, we parlay, and I literally talk her to death." [21:48] "Well. Discorporeality." [21:49] 13Sun knows he's capable of it. [21:49] 10Jai puffs out a breath. "I'm pretty far from being a swordmaster. But maybe I can distract her enough to give Keldar an opening." 10He thinks. "Or I could find out where she's reforming and just put cold iron through whatever raksha have instead of hearts." [21:49] 12Keldar: "Uh, you sure? I mean, if you can talk her to distraction and make sure she's here in even some sense I might be able to have another go at her." 15[21:50] Seven: "That's a mighty curse indeed... typically the way you revoke a curse is by running it down. Every curse has a condition or a time limit. 'Until you fall in battle', 'a year and a day', 'to the seventh generation', and so on. But that's no use here... perhaps a sacrifice? An offering sufficient to persuade her to withdraw it. She has some connection to the Emissary, doesn't she? 15[21:50] Maybe you could offer her him." [21:50] 14Stranger: "Raksha are creatures defined by their emotional connections to themselves and, when they've manifested in Creation, to the world. Change that emotional connection and you fundamentally change the raksha. If 99 Dark Star is right about her essential nature and I'm convincing enough, it's possible they'll just...pack up and go home." [21:50] 12Keldar nods to Jai. "See, that's what I really want to know - where the coffin she's gonna climb back out of is. You didn't see anything like a fort or command tent out there, I'm guessing?" [21:51] "I just need to prove to her that love isn't vengeance deferred." [21:51] "Which, I admit, I'll have to think about how to do in a way a raksha will respond to." 15[21:51] Seven: "You could also kill her, I suppose. If you could find the place of power where she reforms." [21:52] 14He seems to hear Keldar for the first time in a few moments. "But yes, you should put together a secondary plan, in case I fail. Especially since the only way for me to do this without endangering an innocent life is to go out onto the battlefield and fall asleep." [21:52] "Also if I truly mess this up, you might need to kill my body." [21:52] "Unsure on that front." [21:52] 14Probably not an issue for Keldar. [21:53] 12Keldar: "Woah, woah, not worth that kinda risk. Not unless you've got some kind of silver bullet argument you've already seen work on her lieutenants or something." [21:53] 5Xu Sim: "She does. I wonder if..." 5he pauses in thought for a moment. [21:54] 14Stranger: "Ending this fight without having to do suicide charges into the raksha's ranks is worth it at twice the danger. To say nothing of the great wall that's sprung up to our south. Perhaps the Emissary can be convinced to watch over me." [21:54] 5The doctor's jaw gapes. "I AM a fool!" [21:54] 10Jai: "I saw… here, I think I could draw a more complete map now." 10Jai ducks out of the conference room for a moment and returns with a large scrap of cloth and a charcoal stick. [21:55] 12Keldar: "It's a suicide charge either way! Have we even got, I dunno, some smelling salts to wave under your nose if the blood starts draining out your body?" [21:55] 5Xu Sim: "The grove that I found myself in, it could work like a phylactery, or the anchor of a ghost! No place like that existed there before, I'm sure of it." 15[21:56] Seven nods. "That's a good idea." [21:56] 13Xia Lan, quietly: "I don't think it's wise without some kind of guarantee that it'll even do anything other than make you vulnerable." [21:57] 14Stranger: "I'm not particularly worried about my well-being. I am, however, worried about failure. Which means if I'm going to do this I'm going to have to actually take bedrest." [21:57] "I need to be at the top of my game for this." [21:58] 10Jai: "I'd say we could ask for another one of Oyabun's beans here, but there's only two left and, well, we know they don't work on curses. So they probably won't work if you lose some kind of mind-battle." [21:58] 5Xu Sim: "The Mask could have struck there, too, but did not for some reason. I wonder why..." 15[21:59] Seven: "If what you said is true, perhaps he didn't like his chances in his weakened state. Or perhaps it simply didn't occur to him." [22:00] 12Keldar: "I'm against it. You're worth more than any soldier, Stranger - I'd rather have you with us on a charge for Cethleann's place of power." [22:00] 12The Dawn Sergeant's looking over Jai's map, now, searching for anything interesting. [22:00] 5Xu Sim: "What's your plan? Do you need help? You're just... holding it all down?" [22:00] 14He purses his lips. "Well, if it fails, I suppose I could always try then. Unless we all die." 15[22:01] Seven: "I just need them all in one place. But they've all gone off wandering and it's so slow picking them up in ones and twos." [22:01] 5Xu Sim: "Nobody is helping you?" 15[22:02] Seven: "Necromancers are not popular with the living." [22:02] 14To Keldar: "What is the plan for locating and destroying her place of power, then?" [22:03] "I'm living, last I checked,"5 he replies defiantly. [22:03] 12Keldar: "I want to know where it is and real confirmation - probably from Xu Sim - that it's destructible. Then we'd forge out with a contingent of the Guard and raze it, salt the ashes, the works." [22:04] 14Stranger: "Do we have time to sit around and wait while it's located?" 15[22:04] Seven: "You're very special." [22:04] 12Keldar: "Depends on what that looks like. I was gonna be sitting around and waiting a lot longer before the Oyabun showed." [22:06] 14Stranger: "I suppose my point is more that I could give my idea a shot while the scouting is going on." [22:06] 13Xia Lan: "And wander into the unknown, on her territory? Seems like suicide with extra steps." [22:07] "I would ask the Ambassador to martial the crows, but I'm unsure they'd have any idea what to look for from the air." [22:07] 5Xu Sim: "I had no idea you were being disrespected like that. No more." [22:12] 12Keldar: "Problem is it might leave you unavailable for actual fighting, and you still sound like you're planning to make up what you'll say to her as you go along." [22:12] 5Xu Sim, into the Codex:  [22:14] 14Stranger: "That's what conversations are, yes. Going into a conversation with a script would be insulting and suicide." [22:15] 10Jai looks up from the map. He's sketched a handful of unique structures but isn't quite sure which of them would be significant. "I'll go round up some people for zombie-wrangling duty." [22:17] 12Keldar: "Well, it's your funeral. We both gotta talk to Xu Sim first, though - he can tell you about the honey disease and the rest of us about, I don't know, raksha spawning chambers. ...and, uh, yeah, I'll the Guard on that." [22:18] 5Xu Sim bids his leave of his beloved and makes his way back to the council with incredible alacrity. [22:19] 5Xu Sim bursts into the council of war moments later. [22:19] 13Xia Lan: "It's not just his funeral, is the problem. And - yes, we should wait for... ah. Xu Sim." [22:20] 14Stranger: "Xu Sim! How is Seven taking our, ah, dalliance with the Mask?" [22:22] 5Xu Sim: "I believe she finds the independence refreshing," 5he responds with somewhat uncharacteristic diplomacy. [22:23] 14Stranger: "Hopefully she has much more to look forward to. We're discussing what to do about Cethleann." [22:23] 10Jai slips out of the conference room in the wake of Xu Sim's dramatic arrival. Some fresh air is just about what he needs at this juncture. And Oyabun is still being far too understanding about all of this. He's kind of wondering if this isn't just another exam. [22:23] "We are of two basic schools of thought." [22:23] 5Continuing - "Now, how did a... kid... it was a kid, I'm sure, manage to unlock the Sapphire Circle?" [22:24] 14Stranger looks around. Apparently the Oyabun managed to slip out as well. "Oh, he's not a child. He just looks like one. They must have better disguises than ours." [22:24] 13Xia Lan mutters something indistinct. [22:24] "That, or he's secretly a Lunar who ate a child's heart. But I believe him when he says he's a Chosen of Jupiter." [22:25] 5Xu Sim is improbably satisfied with the explanation. He's moved on. "I'm an idiot, I was standing in her very phylactery, her physical anchor-place, the elm grove that the Mask and I appeared in, it's right there." [22:26] 12Keldar, who is unaccountably uninjured and wearing fresh clothes: "...seriously? Whereabouts?" 12He gestures at the map Jai drew. [22:26] 14Stranger blinks. "Cethleann's and not Seven's, I hope." [22:27] 5Xu Sim: "Yes, Cethleann. It's south of the lines, it was weakly patrolled when I arrived, but of course it's on the opposite side of the entire army." [22:27] 12Keldar: "And the Mask? What'd he do?" [22:28] 13Xia Lan: "...how sure are you? And, uh, other side of the army doesn't exactly inspire a ton of confidence..." [22:28] 14Stranger: "Well, if it's really that easy, we'd be fools not to at least try to burn it to the ground. But it means we can't go in force." [22:28] 5Xu Sim, pointedly ignoring Keldar "I'm pretty certain. But it might be reachable, Jai made it through in one direction and I made it through the other." [22:29] 14Stranger: "Jai's little friend has the ability to move from one place to another instantly, apparently. Perhaps that might help. Or perhaps there's some draconian rule preventing it. We can ask when the two of them turn up again." [22:30] 12Keldar: "Neither he or Jai looked too steady on their feet after." [22:31] 5Xu Sim: "Of course, if we had more thistledown we could pummel it in an instant from the safety of the ramparts." [22:31] 14Stranger: "For completion's sake, the other school of thought is that I sit down with Cethleann via the dreaming sickness and attempt to change the emotional bond that defines her as a raksha, which I know. But with these developments it sounds like I won't be able to brag about talking a raksha out of Creation after all." [22:31] 5Xu Sim furrows his brow. "You tried that already." [22:31] "Using the thistledown on the iron dome is the only reason half the city's children and dedicated guards aren't murdering people with whatever's handy." [22:32] 14Stranger: "No, I didn't." [22:32] "My goal in our last conversation was to convince her to release the child she was preying upon." [22:32] "This time, I would be going in alone." [22:32] "She offered us terms, if we produced the Scarlet Empress." [22:32] 13Xia Lan: "Which is why Keldar and I vehemently disagreed." [22:33] 14Stranger: "Sadly I don't think the Ambassador has eaten the Scarlet Empress's heart, so we don't have one on hand." [22:33] "Though I'd be much more willing to give up the real one." [22:33] 12Keldar: "Emissary wants the Empress's heart, too, for what it's worth." [22:34] 12Keldar: "Either way, I think the most practical thing is just to crash in there and flatten the grove." [22:34] 14Stranger: "As do all her daughters, half her sons, and every court sorcerer and ambitious warlord in the Threshold." [22:34] 13Xia Lan: "I feel like trying to disguise myself as the Empress would work if I wasn't, presently, cursed." [22:34] 14To Xu Sim: "No offense." [22:35] "Or maybe not, I don't know how Cethleann operates." [22:35] 5Xu Sim: "Why not offer the Emissary as a sacrifice, then? It's what they actually want. Make them go away afterwards." [22:35] "Asking for 'the Scarlet Empress's heart' seems like one of those things where if you got what you wanted, you'd distrust it because it was too easy." [22:35] 14Stranger: "Partially because I swore an oath not to do something as stupid as that." [22:35] 13She snorts. "Okay. You get to ask him to give himself up." [22:36] "I'll make sure your grave is lovingly decorated." [22:37] 5Xu Sim, with a bit of steel in his voice, "I almost had the better of him last time, alone. I'm sure next time it won't go the same way again." [22:37] 14To Xia Lan: "My problem with you disguising yourself as the Scarlet Empress is the part where they want the Scarlet Empress expressly to rip her heart out." [22:37] 12Keldar, pointedly ignoring Xu Sim: "There's no point in playing her game when we know where her weak spot is. I just need to know what ensures the destruction's complete - salt? Iron? Xia Lan leads a prayer?" [22:38] 13She waves vaguely. "You can fake that too, if you try. She'll be upset very shortly afterwards, but - anyway, this is all hypothetical. I could maybe trick a lax guardsman as I am now." [22:38] 14To Xu Sim: "We're not turning the Emissary over to Cethleann with no idea what that might do just because you're mad he put us in a position where we had to give him his Eye back. The idea is ridiculous. The most likely reason they want him back is so they can resurrect Balor, the actual, true Balor, to stand at the head of their armies -- and then where are we?" [22:40] 14To Keldar: "If we had more iron it would be in the air already. Unless some of your men are walking around with iron weapons they didn't kick in before, we're stuck going without." [22:41] 12Keldar: "It's weapons I mean. I can't get you another shot with the Tomb but a ritual ring of swords stabbed into the earth's doable." [22:42] 14Stranger: "Sounds reasonable, so long as we can bring that many with us." [22:42] 12Keldar turns to Xu Sim here: "What I'm saying is, if we get to that copse of trees, and you've got room to work, can you hex it so us burning it down and then killing Cethleann sticks?" [22:42] 5Xu Sim: "Cethleann takes the form of others when she wants to kill. It's her way of proving a point. Zuniga for Dorma, Dorma for me. And so on." [22:42] 12Keldar: "We already know we're a match for her in the field. Just have to make sure our victory's final." [22:43] 14Stranger still has concerns about that assessment. [22:44] 5Xu Sim: "As you may have heard in the last sally, I introduced new discord into the dreams of her Dreamers, her Sleepers, whatever you want ot call them. Her food. It set the host into chaos." [22:44] 14Stranger nods. "That might make my work easier, if I were to attempt my play." [22:44] 12Keldar: "I did hear, and that'll make getting there in force a lot easier. But I want the phylactery itself neutralized." [22:44] 12Keldar: "And in a way that doesn't just mean that Cethleann defaults to a second, farther-away phylactery instead. She's gotta die." [22:46] 5Xu Sim: "She's an Ishvara," 5he repeats. [22:46] 5Xu Sim: "She's an Ishvara," 5he repeats. [22:46] 14Stranger considers quibbling over 'die' again but frankly 'reforming over time in the Wyld' is functionally the same. [22:46] 5A shadow passes over his face as he recalls something. [22:47] 5Xu Sim poses a koan: "What happens when you kill that which cannot die?" [22:47] 14Stranger: "Lawyering." [22:48] "This is why my approach might yield more permanent results. I could be able to get her to swear an oath not to return." [22:48] 5Xu Sim: "Mask of Winters asked me that. Lawyering was not his answer." [22:48] 12Keldar: "Yeah, and we're Anathema. Nothing we can't cut if we put our minds to it." [22:50] 14Stranger's eyes flash. "If Mask of Winters had all the wisdom he pretends to, he wouldn't be stuck in Creation scrounging desperately for whatever ancient, sorcerous relics cross his path." [22:51] 12Keldar, to Xu Sim: "You're telling me that if you were right there with your hands on her place of power, and the rest of us plus an army at your beck and call, you couldn't ruin Cethleann's invincibility? [22:51] 5Xu Sim: "His answer - which may not be wise but seems knowledgeable - was - 'a vessel, a conduit, to pure Oblivion.' Why did he wait in the grove? Does he want to hear such a song again?" [22:52] 14Stranger: "It doesn't seem wise or knowledgable. It seems ambitious, and therefore perfectly in his remit." [22:53] 5Xu Sim: "He spoke from some experience, I think. We should prepare for unforeseen consequences." [22:53] 13Xia Lan: "If we could, they'd be foreseen consequences." [22:54] 14Stranger: "Far be it from me to trust the judgment of a creature who gladly aligned himself with the Stranger-Visits-Heaven of the First Age, but this would seem to be a mark in favor of trying to just get her to leave on her own." [22:55] 12Keldar: "Yeah, uh, if she just leaves and doesn't die I'm not sure if Xia Lan and I get back to normal." [22:57] 14Stranger: "If her no longer being in Creation doesn't do it, then there's no reason to think killing her would either. The curse is unnatural to begin with, and must be sustained through unnatural means." [22:57] 5Xu Sim: "Well, all curses have some sort of limit to them." [22:58] 12Keldar: "If the limit's her life then we're in trouble. Or at least Xia Lan is, I think I've got a bit of a foothold on the outside." [22:58] 14Stranger: "Raksha aren't alive the way -- we've had this conversation before." [22:58] 13Xia Lan: "I'm thrilled for you." 13Her voice is completely flat. [22:59] 12Keldar nudges Xia Lan. "Hey, I'm pulling for ya, here. You think they'd go to the trouble of killing Cethleann properly for only my sake?" [22:59] 14To Xu Sim: "Regarding the Mask, my greatest concern is him lurking in the shadows and popping out once his 'pillar of oblivion' or what have you appears." [23:00] 13She sighs. "That doesn't make it feel any better sitting on the sidelines." [23:00] 12Keldar: "Yeah... doesn't seem fair you couldn't at least hold on to your voice or somethin'." [23:01] 14Stranger: "Of course there's always the combined arms play." [23:01] "I negotiate with her while you all hit her place of power." [23:02] "It would certainly give me leverage, if not entirely show good faith. But then good faith only takes you so far with the gentry." [23:02] 12Keldar: "If you can keep her occupied that might be a solid move. Hate to have her pop up halfway through and be twice as strong for eating your soul, though." [23:03] 14Stranger: "I'm not precisely sure that's how it works, but I have means of protecting myself even in dreams." [23:05] 12Keldar: "Other thing is, like, if we can just blitz and raze the place of power and get in position to murder her properly, it'd be real awkward if you promised her we wouldn't." 12He pauses. "Though I guess you'd have at least gotten something good out of the deal, right?" [23:06] 13Xia Lan: "What should I be doing in the meantime? I'm - not what I should be, but I'm not completely useless." [23:06] 14Stranger: "Losing the place of power wouldn't kill her itself; it would simply make it so the next battle matters more. How much more depends on how much you respect the concept of an Ishvara, which we seem to be of mixed minds on." [23:07] "Combat's a no-go, like I said before. I can't even connect on any of these people. But I don't know where to help within the city." [23:08] 14Stranger: "So what we're looking at here is leverage, not a kill shot. The kill shot would -- if the theory here is correct -- be fighting her one final time in her alleged true form without the grove." [23:08] 12Keldar gives Xia Lan a helpless shrug. "I've been doing the Guard's easier paperwork." [23:08] 13Face planted firmly in table again: "Great." [23:08] 12He nods to Stranger. "Yeah. Now, if we're real lucky she's still, like, gestating inside a tree or something, and we kill two birds with one stone if we move quick enough." [23:10] "And if I can get her to release the curse and voluntarily leave using both my skill as a negotiator and the leverage of the grove's destruction -- which she will certainly feel, even if I can't communicate with you on the outside -- I see absolutely no reason not to do that, especially since it saves us you two possibly being outright murdered like Dorma and the Mask of Winters swooping [23:10] in at the last moment, cackling and riding some streak of anti-light straight down into the Underworld." [23:12] 12Keldar: "I'd be wayyy happier with Cethleann dead, but with Enigma's troops and the Mask still lurking around I gotta admit that her picking up and leaving quietly might be ideal. ...although that might make the swathe she carved across the Threshold to get here more of a problem to deal with." [23:12] 5Xu Sim: "I suspect that it may be possible to unmake her, rather than kill her. Perhaps the distinction is academic." [23:13] 12Keldar: "Just as good where I'm standing." [23:13] 5Xu Sim: "What you're really talking about, after all, Stranger, is to fundamentalyl change what she is to such an extent that she abandons her vengeance." [23:13] 14Stranger: "How? Wipe the memory of Balor's death from all Creation?" [23:13] 14Stranger: "Correct." [23:15] 13Xia Lan: "...sounds tricky." [23:16] 5Xu Sim: "So maybe the thing to do isn't to destroy her phylactery, but to alter it. [23:16] " [23:17] 14Stranger: "Convincing her that her seeking vengeance again is ludicrous given her own act of betrayal sounds less tricky than destroying the legend of the Balorian Crusade, full stop." [23:18] 5Xu Sim: "I suspect appeals to practicality, futility, or impossibility will fall on deaf ears. Of course, we can teach her an object lesson - and our armies are doing so." [23:18] 5Xu Sim: "I suspect appeals to practicality, futility, or impossibility will fall on deaf ears. Of course, we can teach her an object lesson - and our armies are doing so." [23:18] 14Stranger: "My first thought -- and this might tie into Xu Sim's idea of altering the grove -- is to convince her to change the legend to her and Balor dying together as doomed lovers." [23:18] 5Continuing- "But I think a demonstration of a fundamentally different concept of love-as-being would be more persuasive." [23:19] 12Keldar: "So she's dead retroactively?" [23:19] 13Mood. [23:19] 14Stranger: "Dead and alive aren't relevant. More that her legend is such that she has no reason to manifest in Creation." [23:20] "Sorry -- they're important to the story, of course. But what's in the story and the creature's actual nature are two different things." [23:20] 5Xu Sim: "Of all the things I thought I'd find in Nexus, love was not on that list. But I did, and it's not... it's just not revenge." [23:20] 12Keldar: "You know what I mean. We want a raksha that big dead - functionally dead, whatever - no matter what its story is. It's a menace." [23:21] 14Stranger: "And this is the most permanent way to do that, I think. Short of the Oblivion route. And if the story says she died back then, she was never here to begin with, which means no curse." [23:21] "Too bad it can't resurrect the dead." [23:25] 13Xia Lan, as if practiced: "You can't think about the what-could-have-beens." [23:26] 14Stranger: "That is explicitly what I'm going to be asking her to do. And then I'm going to ask her to make it reality." [23:26] 5Xu Sim: "We just show her conclusively wrong about love. We probably need the Emissary for that." [23:27] 13Xia Lan: "Sure. But you can't. [23:27] " [23:27] 14Stranger: "I'm not sure what condition the Emissary will be in to help. Unless you want to show her that love is a mechanical devotion to a series of rules that you interpret to do whatever you wanted to do in the first place." [23:27] 14Stranger gives Xia Lan a quick, small smile. [23:29] 14Stranger: "I'm pretty sure I can't take him in with me, either, unless...does the Emissary sleep?" [23:29] 13She's not looking at him. She's trying rather hard to trace the grains in the table, actually. [23:29] 14As if that would stop him. [23:30] 5Xu Sim: "Xia Lan, are you alright?" [23:31] 13She looks up, startled. "What? Yes, of course." [23:31] "Other than the curse." [23:31] 14To Xu Sim, to get Xia Lan off the hook: "Do you have any experience modifying phylacteries?" [23:31] "Does Sevenfold?" [23:32] 12Keldar: "Hell, just assaying them to make sure that burning it down and salting the earth does what we're lookin' for it to do." [23:32] 5Xu Sim: "Remember how we integrated the thistledown pylon into the Tomb of Red-Hot Iron? It should be a similar operation." [23:33] 5Xu Sim: "Additionally, while I do not yet know the Wyld-Shaping Technique, we've seen several instances of it." [23:33] 14Stranger: "Correct me if I'm wrong, but that required the Tomb to be receptive. This grove should be actively hostile." [23:34] 5Xu Sim: "You aren't wrong." [23:36] 14Stranger: "Well, my view is that altering the grove and destroying it would give us different benefits. The first would underscore that she needs to heed the dictum that she leave, while the second would -- if done correctly -- give arguments in line with the phylactery's new nature better purchase." [23:36] 14Stranger: "So my main request is that we pick one before we start this and, if at all possible, stick to it. Because it would change the arguments I make." [23:37] 14Stranger: "Unless the 'alteration' you mean is turning it into some kind of soul-trap or bomb, in which case we're back at my concerns about giving the Mask what he wants." [23:38] 5Xu Sim: "Ideally, we could turn her inside-out into a trivial story and then simply punt her out of Creation where she belongs." [23:43] 14Stranger: "Do you feel confident you can do that through directly accessing the grove, given your expertise, the grove's hostility, and her obvious interest in not becoming unimportant? Because my offer is that she will still be one of history's two greatest doomed lovers -- but the love story will let her rest." [23:44] 13Xia Lan, recovering: "I think - Stranger's version is more likely to actually stick. People don't like being trivialized, and I can't imagine raksha are much different." [23:44] "I'd say alteration is more plausible than complete destruction...?" [23:46] 5Xu Sim: "The question you must answer: what is love? Cethleann says that love is vengeance, deferred. How do we reply?" [23:46] 14He grimaces at 'people don't like being trivialized.' They will put this right. "Ideally, given the nature of the creature that I'm trying to change, I'd like to have her leave without a desire for vengeance." [23:47] 14Stranger: "Love is a rose, and roses die. But they do not become swords." [23:47] 13Xia Lan: "Ask me again once I've had a chance to see Tsuka." [23:47] 14He pauses. "Yes, I think that might have some resonance with her." [23:48] 5Xu Sim, turning back to Xia Lan, "where is he now?" [23:48] 13Absentmindedly: "Roses have thorns. Don't let her turn that around on you." 13To Xu Sim: "In the medical tents. He was asleep when I came here, but..." [23:50] 13She moves abruptly. "I've got nothing more to add here. You know how to contact me." [23:51] 5Xu Sim, to Stranger: "Love doesn't die. Death isn't the end of love." 5to Xia Lan: "You must see him again. I can try to outsmart Cethleann or destroy her through sorcery, and Keldar can apply force of arms to slowly crystallize her and destroy her mortal ties to Creation, but now I think the way to beat Cethleann isn't with our arms or minds." 5Actually rather sheepishly, he [23:51] 5taps his chest. [23:52] 13She pauses as she exits, nods firmly, and vanishes from sight. [23:53] 14Stranger: "Far from it. I'm counting on her bringing that up. A rose that leaves its thorns in another opens wounds on its stem, and kills itself. She'll agree that at the very least, love is vengeance. But it is not vengeance deferred." [23:53] "And the dance will proceed from there." [23:53] "Hopefully." [23:54] 14To Xu Sim: "Obviously not. But I might need to get rhetorical with a raksha in a way I wouldn't with, say, someone who has taken a deathknight as a lover." Session Time: Wed Jul 17 00:00:00 2019 [00:09] 14The conversation continues well into the night... 14[00:55] * Joins: tom 14[01:34] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:03] * Quits: Ferrinus (Connection closed) 14[03:36] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[05:20] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[05:26] * Joins: cbass 14[05:40] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:38] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:39] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[10:40] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[12:16] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[12:16] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[18:10] * Joins: Crion 14[18:10] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[19:45] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:15] * Joins: Crion 14[20:15] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[21:12] * Joins: tom 14[23:52] * Joins: Crion 14[23:52] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) Session Time: Thu Jul 18 00:00:00 2019 14[00:27] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:31] * Joins: tom 14[02:14] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:56] * Joins: Crion 14[05:21] * Quits: tom (Quit: ) 14[08:44] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:48] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:03] * Joins: tom 14[17:15] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:14] * Joins: Crion_ 14[19:17] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:18] * Joins: hrolfy 14[23:14] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Fri Jul 19 00:00:00 2019 14[04:53] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:42] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[10:18] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:25] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:26] * Joins: dammitwho 14[16:49] * Joins: Crion 14[18:04] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:04] * Joins: Crion [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12 _ [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12 __ - [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12 / __ \ [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12 / _ - | [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12 | ' | (_) | _L/L [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12 | __ / / _LT/l_L_ [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \ __ / _LLl/L_T_lL_ [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12 - _T/L _LT|L/_|__L_|_L_ [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12 _Ll/l_L_ _TL|_T/_L_|__T__|_l_ [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12 _TLl/T_l|_L_ _LL|_Tl/_|__l___L__L_|L_ [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12 _LT_L/L_|_L_l_L_ _'|_|_|T/_L_l__T _ l__|__|L_ [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12 _Tl_L|/_|__|_|__T _LlT_|_Ll/_l_ _|__[ ]__|__|_l_L_ [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12 _ ___ _LT_l_l/|__|__l_T _T_L|_|_|l/___|_ _|__l__|__|__|_T_l_ ___ _ [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12 . ";;:;.;;:;.;;;;_Ll_|__|_l_/__|___l__|__|___l__L_|_l_LL_ [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Mahalanka! City of... well, city of Raksi, frankly. Where the blood flows like, and often instead of, wine! Where everyone's got an angle, usually ninety degrees due to the preponderance of step pyramids and urban gridwork. There are a thousand human sacrifices in this town, and yours will likely be one of them. [20:46] 4Yeah, we won't be staying long. [20:46] 4You can get that 'just for the rest of your life!' out of your system now, narrator. [20:46] 6Just for the rest of your li - hey! 08[20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12The Squared Circle is, at the moment, divided. Eikichi is imprisoned somewhere - he's got a few small, windowless stone chambers to himself, furnished with food and water and light and even some reading material but no exits to speak of. Every so often a non-beastfolk servant boy comes through with some refreshments or cleaned clothes, but never speaks or even meets the captive 08[20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12sorcerer's eye. Eikichi can still feel the cannibal queen's fingernails digging into the backs of his shoulders or scraping across his scalp; he can still feel his last repast with her swimming through his blood. He can feel, too, the magic thrumming through the walls around him. 08[20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Though Eikichi doesn't know it, and Tatsuya doesn't know it for sure but can make a very reliable educated guess, Tatsuya's actually scaling the outside of the low-slung step pyramid which plays host to the missing sorcerer even now. It's a small but sinister-looking structure directly adjoining the central pyramid/tower in which Raksi makes her home. Its tiers and battlements are [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12patrolled by heavily armored apefolk, runes carved into the walls occasionally flicker red and violet, and means of ingress are few and far between. It'll be real tricky to get in there without being noticed, though Tatsuya's tackled problems at least roughly resembling this one before. [20:49] 6He's very good at this. [20:50] 4For the moment, Ir and Blossom's job seems to be to conserve their strength, not eat any human flesh regardless of how well its prepared, and be ready at a moment's notice. [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir and Blossom, meanwhile, are ostensibly free to stroll around. They've been given palatial quarters in an old Sperimin structure farther from Mahalanka's center, ones that allow the two women a nice veranda from which to overlook the city and a number of guards and servants to ask for food or directions or whatever else. They've just been informed that they are invited to dinner [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12at Raksi's this very evening, at which negotiations will presumably take place. [20:50] 4Fantastic. [20:50] 4Where's the library from here? [20:51] 4In a different version of this tale, where Raksi wasn't nakedly (ha ha) trying to fuck Blossom's boyfriend's brain out for eight hours straight, the three of them might be here preparing for dinner while Tatsuya took what they needed from that library. 08[20:52] 7Blossom has her eyes closed and is concentrating on not stress/fury-puking, overwhelmed with worry for Eikichi and hatred for his captor. [20:52] 4She's not mentioning this to Blossom because Blossom doesn't need to hear it right now, but Ir is very doubtful that they can beat the Lunar queen in a stand-up fight. [20:53] 7What we need from the library of Sperimin is 'all of it'. Every book, every page, every word and diagram belongs to us, and as Heaven witnesses we'll have it! [20:53] 6That's why you don't fight her in a standup fight. Ambushes, traps, and tricks -- in any case. [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12That's an interesting question. Ostensibly all of Sperimin was a grand library of art, science, history, and culture, but there've been a lot of changes under the new administration and now it's a lot less clear what any of these structures are being used for or where the goods are. Does Ir want to ask the servants apportioned to her and Blossom? [20:54] 4Not at the moment. Given that they're in no condition to breach and raid any library of any size, it's best not to let Raksi know ahead of time what they value. 15[21:00] 10Eikichi's pacing from one end of his little suite to the other, stripped to the waist, sheened with sweat. He stops periodically to run his fingers through his hair and groan, leaning against one wall or the other. Sometimes he's curled up on the floor, feet flat against the wall, pressing with all his weight. But his nervous energy continues to builds and build, finding no outlet. 15[21:00] 10His total fear at not knowing what's going to happen is met with an inability to agree with himself what he even wants to happen. [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not easy, but Blossom can make out where "modern" Mahalankan architecture begins and the city planning of Sperimin ends, and therefore do some ad-hoc architectural forensics on the city's post-Deliberative development. She'd guess that right now she and Ir are staying in what actually did constitute guest quarters of some sort back in the day, though they probably offered even [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12more fantastic comforts than the sorcerous climate control and miraculously running water available to her now. Nearby would probably have been light entertainments and social venues - arts museums, performing theaters, and so on. Closer to the center of the city, on roughly the very structure Tatsuya is working to infiltrate right now, is where she'd place storehouses of actual sorcerous [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12lore, automaton manufactories further in that direction, historical archives thataway... but most of those places look to have effectively been built over, such that the knowledge of the ancients is either deep underground or all squirreled away elsewhere. [21:03] 6So. Getting inside. Tricky, but not impossible - actually very possible depending on how strict they are with their defense mechanisms. Still, nerve-wracking, and something that needs to be handled with care. Thankfully, Tatsuya is always careful while breaking into places. [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12In particular, Blossom would guess that at the core of the central pyramid there was once a central spire, and that was probably built for channeling ley energies and perhaps small-e exalting the Most High rather than storing scrolls per se. [21:04] 4Ir's current concern is the degree to which their current quarters are being spied upon. It's probably not safe to talk under any circumstances; it might be slightly more so to write messages back and forth while the mirror faces the wall. 15[21:13] 10The last time he felt anything like this stress was when he was working alone on Jormungand, and didn't see Blossom for a month. But he had a project to throw himself into that occupied all his attention and, more importantly, was high as a dragon kite every single day. He's looked - three times now - but he can't find anything he can make drugs out of in this little suite. He tries 15[21:13] 10to focus his mind on the magic of the place but he just hears Blossom's voice, and feels Raksi's nails on his back. [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12By simply not thinking about himself in an extremely deft way, Tatsuya forecloses on the possibility of anyone else doing so. So it is that he's able to simply stroll by patrolling chimps and lurking ocelots, though he still has to hold his breath and do the spiritual equivalent of sucking his gut in when he feels the essence pressure of Raksi's anima detectors begin to close in [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12around him. [21:14] 6Not thinking about yourself, or in fact, anything at all, is an extremely powerful skill to have. [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir has this realization: much of Raksi's invisible military power was tied up in "The Eyeless", and the characteristic purple-red energy of their manifestation dances all over this place. But they were eyeless, right? Unless you write in such an expansive and sweeping hand that someone hypothetically echolocating or even feeling you could trace the characters you were making... 15[21:18] 10Suddenly Eikichi stops in the middle of the room and wheels around, as if the disruption in his routine will reveal a hidden observer. "Are you watching me?!" 10he snaps to the empty room. [21:19] 4Makes sense. Writing to Blossom: If T. succeeds we might not make it dinner 08[21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12The answer is slightly delayed, but it's a purr that emanates from the walls and immediately sends waves crawling up Eikichi's spine: "Could you blame me?" [21:20] In that case I'll give Raksi our apologies in person and the rest of you run like hell. Then I'll run like hell. Send Errant for me [21:21] 7Blossom glances at the paper, and nods. 15[21:27] 10Eikichi holds his breath for a moment, but lets it out slowly, chest heaving in silence, before he says, with more firmness than he feels, "Don't hurt them." [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12It's midway through the day that Blossom and Ir receive another messenger. Apparently, Wicked Triumph's Reckoning would like to meet and catch up. [21:27] 4Well, it'll be a distraction. 08[21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi's voice, to Eikichi: "Why?" [21:28] 4Unless Blossom stops her, she'll indicate their willingness for an audience. Preferably not in here. 15[21:29] 10Eikichi: "If you hurt them, you'll have to kill me. And you don't really want to kill me." [21:30] 7Blossom's lips tighten. She writes to Ir: Not sure I can keep my temper [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "Of course I don't. But listen to yourself! It's clear they're only holding you back." [21:31] 4Ir: Fair. [21:31] 4Hanging out in this room for another five hours it is. 15[21:32] 10Eikichi: "And you wouldn't?" [21:35] 7After a moment, she writes: You go? [21:35] 4Ir: Splitting up doesn't seem wise [21:35] But might be valuable intel [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya, meanwhile, is in the thick of it. After navigating a corridor in which, somehow, discrete patches of air have been rendered pressure plates, and faking his way through a sorcerously-sealed door directly behind the backs of two mutated, double-sized erymanthoi, he finds himself in a magmatic chamber that's clearly too big to fit in even the lower levels of the pyramid he's [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12been infiltrating. Punishingly strong thermal currents, jutting spikes, superheated plates - nastily punishing, but technically navigable. [21:36] 6This is absurd. No one needs this much security, unless they're expecting literally Tatsuya to... huh. Okay. Fair enough. 08[21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "Of course not! Did I ever?" 12Eikichi can't answer with confidence either way. 15[21:39] 10Eikichi: "I don't remember. But I do know this: you've been the unchallenged queen and mistress of this place for a thousand years - more. And I know you don't take setbacks well. Could you handle having someone around you had to listen to?" 15[21:39] "Or are you just collecting the shiniest toys you can?" 10Eikichi is, admittedly, very shiny right now. [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Once Tatsuya's gotten past it and to the other side, he can barely feel any heat behind him. Questions as to whether that was actually real can be left for later - now there's a few more unwitting guards to stroll by, corridors to navigate and, aha, some kind of actual cell block. [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "I told you. I never want something for only one reason." 15[21:41] 10Eikichi: "Do you ever let on what you're thinking or do you just stay vague?" [21:42] 6Nice. Nice nice nice. I mean, it sucked getting here, but wow, if they want to keep people like Tatsuya out they're going to have to try harder. [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "I'm thinking that maybe --- maybe it's best to simply tear away the scab, hmmm? To give up childish things? You're so young. If I just eat your playmates now, I'm sure after a century or two you'd have gotten over them." 15[21:45] "What makes you so sure you'd win?" [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Here's what Tatsuya finds: a small, barely-guarded complex of cubic stone structures, deep underground. A few of them are your average kind of cell, holding people or monsters of various description - an ape-woman, a neomah demon, a few withered skeletons. One of them, best maintained, contains a spare young man dressed like a servant, who's sitting on a bench and rocking slowly. 08[21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Right across from that cell is a sort of small stone hut, cubic, windowless, a few rooms in size. That, judging from intercepted communications and peeked-at paperwork, is Eikichi's actual location. There doesn't seem to be a door leading in. [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "They're separated. They're waiting to talk. They're at the heart of my empire, where I'm at the height of my power. I have seen what they can do and it is not. Enough." 15[21:49] 10Eikichi: "You don't know them like I do." [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "And that's to my advantage! All that stands between me and you - between you and you - is a few stupid, practically-mortal girls that you, you imprinted on like a newly-hatched duckling. You'll be so much better once you're rid of them!" [21:52] 6Well. That's... new. And rude. Common courtesy is to let the gentleman thief break in 13you aren't a gentleman 6LIKE I SAID, break in and break out. 15[21:53] 10Eikichi: "Even if you're right, it'll be harder than you think. It'll weaken you. And you're already pushed to the brink, aren't you? Trying to control everything." 15[22:21] "I can't guarantee peace, or that they won't mass their armies to strike again if you let them leave. But I can promise you they didn't come here as conquerors. Doesn't it befit a gracious queen to let them leave in peace, one way or the other?" [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi's voice is silent for a little while. "I have been gracious. More than gracious. But I can indulge you a little longer, I suppose." [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "But you have to grow up sometime." 08[22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi feels a little more alone now, though he's still stuck in a very comfortable stone box. At least that servant should be by with food soon... [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12...indeed, Tatsuya can see a pair of apefolk bringing a tray of delectable treats to the youth in the adjoining cell. Kind of weird that it's going to be his job to serve the actually-important prisoner rather than theirs? [22:32] 6Clowns. 08[22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, at least footprints in the dust and extant sightlines make it fairly clear how this works. Looks like the door or door-equivalent is going to appear on the north face of the stone hut structure thing Eikichi's in. Presumably this happens by magical means, as there's not even a visible outline on the rock right now... ah, those rusty stains near the floor suggest which magical [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12means. Probably involves some blood being spilled. [22:42] 6...gross. [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12If Tatsuya waits a bit longer, he'll probably get to see the procedure. [22:43] 6He will, unless something sets off an alarm. He's been super careful so far, though, so it'd have to be someon else blowing up his spot. [22:43] 6Someone. [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, here it goes. The servant's given a covered steel tray, one with knives and forks set daintily around it, to carry forward. He does so, winces as a guard cuts into his upper arm just enough to color the tip of a dagger, winces again as the wound is quickly bound and re-covered with a sleeve. The dagger's used to draw a simple circle with a few strokes through it on the wall of [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12the structure, which rumbles, creases, and opens - specifically, a slab of stone just goes sliding down into the ground. [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12The servant steps in to a tiny, bare room. The stone behind him begins to close - presumably, only afterwards will the stone before him open, airlock-style. 08[22:47] 6Tatsuya will follow him in. Presumably the servant has a way out, and if not, well, Eikichi is in there. They can figure out a way to leave. 08[22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a little tight in there, but cake compared to the rest of this labyrinth. The door behind Tatsuya and the servant boy slides shut, the door before him opens... and there's Eikichi, in all his despondent glory. He's alone in a little domicile in which a full-length mirror has been turned around to face a corner. 08[22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi, for his part, doesn't notice Tatsuya at all, but here's that guy who picks up the dirty dishes and brings food. [22:49] 6Any other voices as he makes his way inside? [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Nope, and the servant doesn't talk, either. He works pretty quickly, though, so Tatsuya will have to make some decisions as to whether he'll follow the kid back out or get trapped (? Maybe there's a way out) in here with his friend. [22:51] 6Well, he knows how to open the door. Gotta slide back out - the servant left the door open, so there probably isn't a way out from inside. 15[22:51] 10Eikichi doesn't even acknowledge the servant at this point, sitting on the bed with his head in his hands. [22:51] 6He'll wait for the servant to disappear before opening the door the same exact way he did. [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12To leave, the servant just touches his right hand to a spot on the wall, then heads out into the airlock. Is Tatsuya gonna wait inside, then repeat the gesture? [22:53] 6He'll open it from the outside. Seems like a safer bet. [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Like... using his own blood? 08[22:53] 6Also, if it doesn't work, he won't be stuck inside a cell with Eikichi. [22:53] 6I mean... unless there's a massive store of blood around here. [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, there's that servant. But, yeah - Tatsuya has to wait a little longer for the servant to be packed away and for the actual guards here to to change shifts, but he's got a window. [22:54] 6Gonna have to do. [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Should he cut himself and draw the appropriate symbol on the stone, he'll see that the blood is greedily absorbed into the rockwork and the door opens for him just as for the servant. [22:55] 6Tatsuya: "Yo." 15[22:56] 10Eikichi's head snaps up. He squints, and rubs his eyes. They widen. 15[22:56] "Tatsuya??" [22:57] "One and the same. You wanna get out of here? This place sucks, dude." [22:58] 6Tatsuya: "They made me bleed my own blood. Awful." 15[22:58] 10Eikichi: "She's going to catch you. She's going to hurt you." [22:59] 6Tatsuya: "She's a big dummy who couldn't even spot me coming in. If we hurry we can get out without being spotted. So. You ready to go?" 15[22:59] "What about Blossom and Ir?" [22:59] "They had an invite. They'll get free." [22:59] "Technically so did I, but I was indisposed." [23:01] 6Tatsuya: "That does mean we've gotta hustle, though. So. Are you ready?" 15[23:01] 10Eikichi: "..." 08[23:02] 6That's a yes. He grabs Eikichi's wrist and starts running. 15[23:03] 10Eikichi doesn't resist. [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning's probably getting stood up, but the two Solars staying out in the hostel of sorts that Raksi's proferred discover a second invitation when a midday repast is brought in by the tall, red-haired man who saw them to this room in the first place. There's a small note by the silverware - ask to see city and follow me out. safe place to talk [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Almost as soon as one of you seem to have read it, the note's smoothly palmed and removed from sight. [23:12] 4Ir's face remains impassive, but she looks up and says, "Thank you for this. Well, except for the braised human. But we'd like to see the city." [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, underground, Tatsuya knocks on the same spot on the wall. There's a pause... and then the grinding of stone. It works! If you bleed your way in, you can palm your way out. [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Red-haired guard: "Yeah? Old museum, maybe?" [23:14] 4Ir: "Sounds good to me. Blossom?" [23:14] 4Blossom will get a very careful, almost imperceptible nod when she looks over at Ir. 08[23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Now, several problems immediately present themselves. The first is the caged servant whose cell is in direct line of sight of the entrance - but, fortunately, while he widens his eyes, he doesn't gasp or anything. The second is that there are a few apefolk guards in this complex that Tatsuya will have to get Eikichi around. The third, fourth, fifth, twelfth, seventeenth, and so on, [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12are the rest of the security measures, no easier to get past in one direction than the other. [23:16] 6...what if we let that dude out and then also murdered all of the guards. What then. [23:16] 4Tatsuya's probably still bleeding. So it sounds like a value add. [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Hell, there are a number of prisoners you could let out here if you were feeling saucy. [23:17] 4Jailbreak. [23:17] 6This sounds like an incredible distraction. [23:18] 7Surprised, Blossom says: "Sure, alright." 7What's all this, then? [23:18] 4Ir will explain when they're a bit less observed. [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a little bit of a wait - you actually have to amble around a little, admiring the blade-penetrated sun disk topping one particular ziggurat, looking at some ancient statuary lining a plaza in another. Eventually, though, your tour guide leads you into a narrow alley between two pyramids just as the post-noonday sun dips below a serpentine statue, casting your path in shadow. [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a strange effect - you realize it's the lack of a dull red hue that's present in almost every other shadow in the city. [23:21] 4Ir, to the tour guide: "Are we clean? Can you turn back into you?" [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Your guide motions for you to stop, then gestures forward to release what appear to be three figures walking forward from your position, one man and two women, realistic unless you look at them too closely. Then he whirls to seize Ir in what turns out to be a passionate embrace. [23:22] 7Oh, come on! [23:22] "Hrmph!" [23:22] 4Ir appears to melt into the embrace, before she turns him and pushes him back against the alley wall and begins making out with him. She cuts it short, though. [23:22] "Mmmmm. Mmm. Sorry, about that, Blossom. Sorry." [23:23] 7Blossom crosses her arms, turns her head away, and taps her foot like an extremely cool hero known for alacrity. [23:23] 4To Marek: "Tatsuya's in town. He's effecting some sort of jailbreak right now." [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek, wearing a different body: "Hah. Whew. All right. Hello." [23:24] "Hi." [23:24] 6Tatsuya, meanwhile, is breaking the hell out of jail. [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "It took me a little while to find this place - the demon-realm Raksi pulls from isn't actually everywhere, there are overlaps and gaps I don't fully understand. ...he is?" [23:24] 6They don't even know what's coming. [23:25] 4Ir: "Yeah. We had to swear not to fight any of these idiots except in self-defense. He didn't." [23:25] "So things are gonna get real, pretty soon." [23:25] 6Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Glad to learn that right now. Is your plan to just... bolt, then?" 12He gestures. "They'll be in that temple, or coming out of it, hopefully." [23:26] 4Ir: "I'd like to convey my condolences to the lady of the manor house, but I'd need to have Errant in the air towards my position before that becomes even slightly not the worst idea in the world. [23:26] " [23:27] "How's Azer'jol?" [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12It's in a whirlwind of motion that Tatsuya works, opening cell after cell. One massive, hulking demon just sits there, staring listlessly at you even when the door swings ajar. On the other hand, the pile of moldering skeletons immediately jumps into a small, cackling army that goes rampaging out at the local guards, and other demons, humans, and apes, join immediately into the [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12general chaos. As soon as commotion starts, so do alarms - thundering war drums and strobing violet lights that indicate some kind of reprisal is imminent. [23:27] 6As he taps on each locked door: "You're ready to go, right? Please tell me you are because this is going to get really fucking hot really fucking fast." [23:28] "I will literally bridal carry you if I have to but that's gonna slow us down." [23:28] "Also Blossom will kill me." [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Watching the star-blessed that lurk here - but if you mean to break, I'll summon him immediately. We'll need all hands. I don't know that anyone's ever escaped Mahalanka. You haven't seen Kisha, have you?" 15[23:29] 10Eikichi: "...let's go." [23:29] 4Ir: "We haven't, unless we didn't recognize her." [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Let's gooo! The first order of business is navigating past the small army of guards and guardian demons already spilling in through every door. [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Hmmm... maybe, but probably not. Something's up with her. Either way - in a few minutes the illusions I cast will circle back around here. We can rejoin them, then make for the prison." [23:37] 4Ir: "Can you keep an illusion with us while you go get Errant, Ami, and the ravagers ready for travel?" [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek nods. "Easily done. I'll bring them to the temple-prison as soon as I can... though that may cost me this guise." [23:39] 4Ir: "Honestly? Love you, babe, but not going to miss making out with someone we killed." [23:39] 6Oh my god. [23:40] 4It's a healthier relationship than the other bonded pair in the city. [23:41] 7Most things would be. Also don't call them that. [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek snickers, then crouches slightly, then is suddenly scampering off as a rat. A few moments later, a dark and faintly blurry image of the man he just was comes strolling by, along with rough representations of the two of you. [23:41] 4Sorry. 15[23:41] 10Shards of obsidian shred through the hapless guards only to clatter uselessly off the sorcerously-bolstered walls. [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12You're able to sort of step in and disperse each of your doubles, and then Marek's remaining copy seems smart enough to follow you as you walk. 15[23:42] 10Blood runs over Eikichi's sandaled feet like a coming tide as they run forward. [23:42] 4As they walk: "Sorry about that. Haven't seen him in like, two months. Something we need to remember is: we can't hit first." [23:42] 6We can work with this. We're going to have to work with this. Wow, holy shit this sucks. [23:43] 4It was more like three weeks, but it FELT like two months. [23:43] 6Tatsuya: "Uh, good work. Makes sneaking out a little tricky, but." [23:43] "...you really fucked 'em up, huh." [23:43] 7Blossom: "It's fine. It would be stupid to be angry with you for what's happened to 'kichi." 7She still is mad, kind of, but she has so many other things to be mad about that reason can triumph here. 08[23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12The prisoner-prison guard battle takes place in several directions simultaneously. Here the guards are winning, here the guards are losing, here the guards are shredded top to bottom by savage battle sorcery, here the guards are winning... there's no doubt that Eikichi and Tatsuya can sprint free of the bottom cell block with that kind of power at their side, although they still have [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12to navigate free of the entire pyramid-temple-torture chamber they're currently at the bottom of. [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Immediate problem: the corridors seem to shift as if by unseen machinery, and the configuration they were in on Tatsuya's descent isn't the same as the one they hold on your escape! [23:45] 6Oh, for fuck's sake. This is basic shit! [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Got it! Directions don't seem to remain constant down here but there's elements of grain in the stone and gradation in the unearthly color spectrum in the air that Tatsuya can navigate by. Thhhhhaat way! ...which just brings you to a slightly familiar but reconfigured fiery chasm, complete with pendulum blades and intermittent electric arcs and, it seems, razor-toothed skeletal fish [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12which take prodigious leaps out of the molten stone. [23:50] 6Utter dorks. Cowards. Children! 15[23:53] 10Eikichi's mind is totally blank. His sole focus is on getting Tatsuya out to safety. It's like he doesn't even exist, himself. [23:54] 6That's how you do it. It feels like shit, but... [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12The commotion's perceptible from street level now. Blossom and Ir, ambling innocently towards the squat prison-temple adjoining Raksi's own central ziggurat, can see an aurora of red, blue, and violet begin to swirl at the structure's oeak, can hear shouts of alarm go up among the guardsmen such that half of one of the military street processions peels immediately off to start [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12thundering up the stairs and into the building. [23:54] 4There's a name for that technique: Total Eclipse of the Heart. [23:55] 4Ir just keeps walking. One of them has to punch first. [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12They can see about half of those guys get in there before the lockdown kicks in. Slabs of stone and steel simply come slamming down across every heretofore-existing door or window, in one case actually crushing a guard who was slow on his feet. The prison's sealed! [23:56] 4She keeps walking. Wait for it... [23:56] 6Incredible. This is a lesson plan in how to not make zeal. [23:56] 6Zeal.* 08[23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12So it is that Eikichi and Tatsuya, on the other side, can feel themselves approaching the outer layer of the temple - but actually see themselves approaching a solid wall, one reminsicent of the inner surfaces of Eikichi's own cell. It thrums with magic and menaces with, well, sheer inert mass. Behind them, more fighting and commotion - it's more guards, but also more escaping [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12prisoners. 08[23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya and Eikichi find themselves besides a creaky, saber-wielding skeleton, the same shaky youth from before, two guard corpses, and one more armored orangutan who's been, at the moment, brought to heel and held frozen with a blade at his throat. [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12...but they're stuck! Now what? [23:59] 6Sun damn it. Session Time: Sat Jul 20 00:00:00 2019 [00:05] 4Ir's just going to keep walking forward towards the temple without a care for who says not to. Mahalanka is hot and wet but there's a strange sheen to her skin that isn't explained by sweat. [00:07] 6Don't do -- okay, maybe do that but augh. 15[00:08] 10Eikichi's mind is elsewhere entirely as he kicks the incapacitated guard over and comes up with his sword, then rolls him supine with his foot and plunges the blade into his chest. A moment's savage cutting and the hideous crack of a ribcage later and Eikichi comes up with a hot and twitching heart, blood running all the way down his forearms and up to his knees. 15[00:08] 10The smell is intoxicating. 15[00:09] 10But only a moment passes before he pins the heart to the wall at about hip level with the sword, sending its deepest, sweetest blood running up and out through hidden fullers in the stone in defiance of nature. 15[00:09] 10And then every door opens. 15[00:09] 10He can't help but think Raksi would be proud. 08[00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Boom, thunders stone against stone! Eikichi and Tatsuya turn out to be standing about a story above Ir and Blossom's position. Just down the street, there's more commotion - a ravager stampede! It's very easy to miss the horsebird and birdhorse hidden within the throng. [00:10] 7How can he think that, when his mind is elsewhere entirely? Your statement doesn't add up. 15[00:11] 10Obviously his mind changed locations from the beginning of the paragraph to the end. Maybe learn to read...? [00:11] 4Ir whistles loud and clear for Errant. 08[00:11] 4Are Eikichi and Tatsuya flying out on a rider? 15[00:11] 10Yes. [00:11] 6Oh, hell yeah. We're so good at escaping. [00:12] "'KICHI!" [00:12] 6Rude, but we're escaping anyway~ [00:12] 4Then Ir will find whichever of the newly-freed idiots seems most like he can't blend into the crowd and disappear, and once she's up on Errant, swoop down and pull him up behind her. 15[00:13] 10The ibis burns against the canopy above Mahalanka, outshining for a time even Raksi's ancient magic. [00:13] 6Tatsuya will immediately hop onto the back of Ir's horse. "Hi! This is awful, please get us out of here." [00:14] "Get down here!" 08[00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Errant, for his part, seems to have a small squirrel and a beetle nestled tightly into the base of his mane. And you're aloft! All four of you - Blossom on Ami, Ir on Errant, and Eikichi and Tatsuya together on a sorcerous whirlwind that's streaked brown with dust and red with blood. Aloft... in the center of Mahalanka, and at the center of a spreading riot and sorcerous calamity. [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Do you mean to tack low and disappear into the streets, or tack high and simply streak airborne for the nearest wall at top speed? 15[00:15] 10Ha. HA! Let her underestimate him again. [00:15] 4The ravagers should be picking up any of the escapees who want out and running for the gates. Red salute to them if they don't live, but neither Blossom nor Ir can fight proactively here until someone tries to hurt them. [00:16] 4To the animals: "And hello to you two." 15[00:16] 10Eikichi will land on Ami's back as the Rider dissolves into dust and spray. 15[00:17] "My princess," 10he gasps. [00:17] 4To Tatsuya: "Hold on. We're racing the sky here." [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12No easier to outrace than the sky, of course, is the great shadow that stretches before you. For, as Ami and Errant bolt westward towards Mahalanka's city limits and the Control Zone jungles that hopefully contain kruthik reinforcements of some kind, something behind them blots out the sun. 08[00:19] 7Blossom jabs a finger into Eikichi's chest. "Two things. First: I have never been wrong about anything in my life, especially not you. Second, we have a date planned. Rising Fire, I think. Cherry blossoms in the air, crowds of cheering peasants, your family in tears over how beautiful the ceremony was, me in a dress the Empress would be jealous of. And you. Are going. To be there. [00:19] Got it?" [00:19] 4Well, I guess that's that for the oath, at least. 15[00:19] 10Weakly: "Yes." [00:20] "Good. Just so we're clear." 7Then she grabs him by the shoulder, pulls him in, and kisses him fiercely. 08[00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12A voice comes from the central pyramid, from which a great darkness blooms and swirls in time with the ring of purple flames that erupts from Mahalanka's outer walls. "Eikichi! Eikichi, Eikichi, Eikichi. I'm so proud of you." [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "But I do mean to have you all for dinner." [00:20] 4Ir: "She's a lying bitch and we need to go faster!" 08[00:20] 7Behind Eikichi's head, Blossom's other hand makes a very rude gesture at the central pyramid. 15[00:21] 10Eikichi melts into Blossom's embrace. She can feel him shudder at Raksi's voice. [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Next time: Escape4?12 From Mahalanka4?! 14[01:04] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:40] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:39] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[12:20] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[12:20] * Joins: VoxPrimey 14[12:21] * Joins: cbass_ 14[12:21] * Quits: cbass (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_)) 14[12:21] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 14[12:21] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[12:21] * Joins: dammitwho 14[12:21] * Quits: trenchfoot (*.net *.split) 14[12:21] * Quits: @Ferrinus (*.net *.split) 14[12:21] * Quits: VoxPrime (*.net *.split) 14[12:21] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[12:21] * Joins: trench_foot 14[12:21] * Joins: 605AASH3K 14[12:21] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[12:21] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[12:21] * aesir.sorcery.net sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[12:21] * Quits: trenchfoot (NickServ (GHOST command used by trench_foot)) 14[12:21] * trench_foot is now known as trenchfoot 14[12:21] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:22] * Quits: 605AASH3K (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:22] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:43] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:50] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[21:39] * Joins: hrolfy 14[21:53] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:13] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 14[23:13] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus Session Time: Sun Jul 21 00:00:00 2019 14[00:59] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:55] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:54] * Joins: hrolfy 14[16:59] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:43] * Joins: hrolf 14[18:45] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:46] * Quits: hrolf (Connection closed) 14[23:47] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Mon Jul 22 00:00:00 2019 14[00:25] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[00:26] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:00] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[01:16] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[02:15] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[02:22] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[02:23] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:31] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:33] * Joins: cbass 14[18:44] * Joins: Crion_ 14[18:46] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:15] * Joins: tom 14[21:13] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[21:28] * Joins: bananaphone 14[21:30] * Quits: bananaphone (Quit: Colloquy for iPad - http://colloquy.mobi) 14[21:35] * Joins: cbass 14[21:54] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:22] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Tue Jul 23 00:00:00 2019 14[02:21] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:52] * Joins: Crion 14[09:53] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:57] * Joins: tom 14[10:59] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[10:59] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[10:59] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[14:03] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:36] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:31]  15[20:31]  15[20:31]  15[20:31]  15[20:31]  15[20:35] The shape of a plan has formed and the wheels are in motion to ready it. But the circle finds themselves in one of those quiet periods before the burst of fear and frenzy. Strategicians of the Realm have the aphorism, 'war is a waiting game', and right now that feels right. How do the champions of Nexus spend their hours before the final battle? [20:36] 14Stranger should probably be sleeping full stop, but he'll comply with the letter of his bedrest -- laying down in bed -- while entertaining visitors. 14[20:39] * Joins: tom [20:41] 13Xia Lan is back in the medical tents, but not for herself. Just hiding away with Tsuka in the days before the war, because it's more relaxing than contemplating grand strategy in the aftermath. How's he look? [20:42] 5Xu Sim slowly charts a course through the field hospital, performing triage, seeing to the Circle's most important allies, and ensuring that the city's mightiest champions will face the final confrontation with the strength they need to conquer Cethleann once and for all. 15[20:43] Tsuka's chest is bound tight with bandages, but he's faring better than when she saw him last. [20:44] 13Well... she's seen worse on both of them. They've got to slow down, after this. 15[20:44] Xu Sim will have to push through the line of visitors coming in and out of Stranger's tent, and beyond that the small crowd of people trying to sneak a glimpse of Xia Lan outside Tsuka's tent. [20:45] 14The work and play of Nexus slows for no one. [20:45] 10Jai's erstwhile superior appears to have made himself scarce, for the moment, although he can't shake the feeling that he's being watched. The next morning is tense: he commandeers a training dummy and hacks it most of the way to splinters, before calling in one of Keldar's men to give him a few tips on the 10proper10 use of the sword. He'd rather have sparred with Keldar himself, but it seems like it consumes all of the [20:45] 10 Dawn Sergeant's time just to get anything done right now. [20:47] 13It's going to have to slow down at least a little. They can't keep this pace up forever. [20:49] 5Xu Sim eyes up the crowds outside of each tent. Petitioners and well-wishers, potent medicine on their own. He makes his way to Xia Lan's tent first, on the assumption that Cathak Tsuka is inside. 15[20:50] Among Stranger's visitors is old Selin, the pauper, who is rare among the procession in not offering Stranger a gift of decorations or trinkets or prayer strips when he arrives. "Interesting idea of bedrest." [20:51] 14Stranger laughs, and winces from the laugh. Ribs are still sore. "I'm supposed to be adjudicating the things they can't take to the big Emissary in the sky while the courts are out, but mainly I'm just accruing more bribes than I know what to do with." 15[20:52] Xu Sim finds Tsuka and Xia Lan together. Tsuka has just attempted to pull himself to a sitting position against the wishes of his cracked ribs and settled back in bed. [20:53] 13She looks up as Xu Sim enters with a quiet smile, then back down to Tsuka with alarm. "Tsuka, don't stress yourself -- and you can call me a hypocrite later, thank you." [20:56] 5Xu Sim gives Xia Lan a rather arch look before moving towards the outwardly wounded man. "Remind me again, how'd you get this?" 5he asks. [20:57] 10Anticipation makes the course of the day feel like turning a pot of honey upside down in winter. After the sword practice, some spear and staff katas that also fail to take the edge off, but draw a bit of a crowd. It's kind of a relief when a runner comes with news that Stranger-Visits-Heaven wants to introduce him to somebody. 15[20:57] Tsuka groans. "It was the Emissary. He was fighting the Mask of Winters and I got too close." 15[20:59] Jai accrues a following of his own as he moves through the undercity. Children - the youngest about six, with no adults attending them - shadow his movements and hide, tittering, when he turns around. [20:59] 5Xu Sim nods. "Ah, the Emissary. Quite a troublemaker," 5he observes. "Noble of you to stand up to him, wouldn't you agree, Xia Lan?" [21:00] 10What in the—  [21:01] 13Xia Lan sighs. "Pointless, now. And I'd still take them over the Mask." 13My fault, my fault... 15[21:04] Selin: "I think for some of them it's more like alms than they'd like to admit. Bribing an official just makes you feel like a citizen." [21:04] 14Stranger: "Then I'm glad to have offered them that bureaucratic service. What brings you by?" [21:06] "We might not need to choose, Xia Lan," 5Xu Sim retorts. "As for you, Cathak Tsuka," 5Xu Sim begins his treatment. Unlike other times both Tsuka and Xia Lan have seen him work with preturnatural speed, he takes his time with this treatment. "I suppose I owe you both something of an apology," 5he observes as he begins poking at Tsuka's chest with unguent-tipped acupuncture needles. [21:07] 10After this happens a couple times, Jai gets a bright idea. Shiki's curled up in a nook in his borrowed armor, which was evidently forged for someone with a much broader chest than him. He whispers: "Hang back and follow the kids, okay? I've got to figure out what's so funny." 07Shortly after, a dark shape slips into the gloom.  15[21:07] Tsuka: "Huh?" [21:09] 5Xu Sim: "For malpractice, as a matter of fact. Or possibly," 5he sticks another lengthy needle into the dragonblood's sternum, "you owe me one, for spreading an infection," 5Xu Sim chuckles. [21:09] 13Xia Lan's eyebrows shoot up in alarm. "I'm sorry?" [21:11] 10Jai stops at an intersection and looks to be lost in thought for a moment. [21:11] 5Xu Sim, momentarily satisfied with his progress, turns and begins mixing a pill. "I seem to recall that, some time ago, I diagnosed you both with what many know as a most terrible condition - that being, love." 5He considers beeswax as a bonding agent but decides against it, given the nature of their adversary. [21:13] 5The doctor selects bonemeal, instead. This he combines with three drops of mercury, tincture of laudanum, and perhaps some sage? Where does d'Arte keep the sage? "Love being the sister of death, some say she is a close relative of madness, as well. You may have thought it teasing, but I did not, entirely." 15[21:15] Selin: "I'm here for someone else. The matron of Floodwater tells me Guildsmen have been at householders at the eastern end of the district, where it flows to the Grand Canal. Simple buyouts, threats... now that the canals have been fixed up, they want to be able to buy out the abandoned areas directly from the Assayer. But they're not abandoned yet, y'see?" [21:15] 5Xu Sim: "Regardless, I now realize that it may not be so bad. So, as a responsible professional, I therfore should apologize for my apparent malpractice, and I do so now. My apologies." 15[21:16] Tsuka: "...huh?" [21:16] 13Xia Lan: "...I'm going to be honest, that is not where I saw that going. Things with the Scion of the Sevenfold are going well, I take it?" [21:18] 14Stranger grimaces. "I'll have to step lightly. I swore to the local Guildsmaster that so long as he didn't violate the Dogmas I wouldn't bother him until the city was safe again." [21:19] "That doesn't mean I can't try to tie him up in red tape until after the fighting's over, but...our red tape services are running a bit understaffed at the moment." [21:19] 5Xu SIm: "So far, I like to think so. I may re-evaluate my apology. But, if things go poorly tomorrow, I don't want to leave you with the wrong impression." 5Ah, here is the sage. Xu Sim selects a few more ingredients - powdered centipedes, ginger powder, salt, and begins rolling with aplomb. 15[21:19] Shiki hugs the shadows and darts between crates, able to see and hear without being seen or heard. "I told you it was him!" "No you didn't." "Yes I did, shut up." "You said it was Keldar." "Keldar's got a beard!" "That's what I said." "Shut up." "Yeah, who asked you?" 15[21:20] "I heard he stabbed the Mask of Winters in the heart." "He cut his head off!" "Did he keep the mask...?" [21:20] 5Xu Sim: "It's come to my attention that I don't think she's being accorded the full cooperation of all the other defenders. She is mistrusted, which pains me." [21:21] 13Quietly: "She's been the best of her people. It... took me longer than it should have to see it, but I trust her." [21:22] 10Huh. Wow. Jai… wasn't expecting to be famous. [21:24] 13Happens to all of us. [21:25] 10He keeps on walking, coming up on one of the Undercity exits. Then… a 10really good10 idea strikes [21:25] 5Xu Sim sighs. "I'm glad to hear it. I'm not sure about everyone else..." [21:27] 13Xia Lan: "...anyone in particular need a talking to? I think you've got us, but..." [21:32] 10He approaches the stairwell and pauses. His form blurs and shimmers, he appears to shrink an entire yalm, and even his armor transforms into a loose-fitting robe. Then he whirls around and hollers at the kids in that distinctive accent, "You thought it was Keldar, but it was me, the Oyabun! Better look out for me! Ahahaha!" 10And Jai dashes up the stairs cackling his brains out.  [21:33] 07Shiki follows, chittering in mixed mirth and annoyance. 15[21:34] The children, are awed and dumbfounded, but they simply can't keep up. "The Oyabun" disappears into the dark and his companion soon joins him. [21:35] 5Xu Sim shrugs. "Just keep an ear out, I guess." 5He finishes rolling and takes the pill in hand. It's on the large side. "Alright! Cathak Tsuka, you take one of these and call me in the morning." 15[21:35] Tsuka nods slowly. "Thank you." [21:35] 13She nods. "I will. And I'll make sure he does." [21:36] 10As soon as he's out of sight, Jai rounds a corner and the illusion is gone as swiftly as it came. He grins. If nothing else, that'll make it a tiny bit harder for the man to move unnoticed. Plus… it was fun as hell. [21:36] 5Xu Sim: "And remember, you're in bed for the rest of the day. Xia Lan, once he's asleep, come find me." [21:37] 13She grimaces, but agrees. 15[21:38] Tsuka takes the pill and falls asleep mumbling to himself, holding Xia Lan's hand. [21:38] 5Xu Sim pushes his way out of the tent and through the well-wishers. "Just remember to pray," 5he advises them as he pushes past. 15[21:42] Selin: "Any encouraging words I can pass along?" [21:43] 14Stranger: "Now, if there is a more creative solution I can indulge in, or if all of these tenants happened to have their deeds..." 14He sighs. [21:44] 10The line stretching out from Stranger's tent is daunting. But by now Jai cuts an impressive enough figure that most people people make way for him. The ones that don't try to cajole him to get Stranger to move them up to the front of the line. "No promises, no promises. Doctor's orders, only a limited number of visitors per day." 10It's total bullshit, but the best kind of total bullshit, the kind you can string people along [21:44] 10 with for a while. [21:45] 5Xu Sim pushes along towards Stranger's tent, stopping only if confrotned with a medical emergency... [21:45] 14To Old Selin: "Tell them once the raksha are dealt with, they will have the fullness of my attention." [21:46] "And one way or another, that means two or three days." 15[21:46] Jai and Xu Sim arrive almost simultaneously. [21:46] 14Stranger frowns. "But you might want to stick around for this." [21:47] 5Xu Sim holds the flap for Jai before entering, himself. [21:48] 14Before that, though: "Until then, the most I can do is get you an audience with a relevant Counciler, for whatever that's worth. I expect not much." [21:48] 10Jai: "Pardon the intrusion, I hope we didn't interrupt anything?" 15[21:49] Selin stands to greet them. "Xu Sim, old friend. Haven't seen you in ages, it seems." [21:49] 14Stranger: "Nothing I can act on for a few days, at least." [21:50] "It's been too long, Sifu," 5Xu Sim bows immediately. 15[21:51] After bowing in kind, "And who am I meeting?" [21:52] Selin and Jai might have bumped into each other in the fracas up by the river; Stranger can't recall. [21:52] 14Selin and Jai might have bumped into each other in the fracas up by the river; Stranger can't recall. [21:53] 14Either way, Stranger will take advantage of being injured to be a poor host and let Jai introduce his own damn self. [21:53] 5Xu Sim will step up like a proper pupil: "This is, er, Jai, Chosen of the Sun." [21:53] 13She'll wait a few minutes longer, humming to Tsuka, before leaving and following after Xu Sim. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FapG72ZU5UE She'll have to rewrite some of it before she performs it, of course. The parts about home, namely. That's why it's merely hummed before she quietly slips away. [21:54] 10Jai: "Wow. Is he really your—" 10Oh, right Jai also bows. "I think we may have met briefly, but I don't recall. My professional name is Black Wind Howling. I've been assisting the—" [21:54] 10Jai: "Aw. I thought I was finally going to get to introduce myself to someone with just the one name." [21:55] "Ahem. I've been assisting the defense of Nexus, these past few days." 15[21:55] "Glad to have you, Black Wind. People call me old Selin." 15[21:56] "I am a layabout, of no use to anyone." [21:56] 13She sounds better than she has - well. She hurries with an extra spring in her step when she does finally leave. [21:57] 10Jai: "A pleasure to meet you, Chief Layabout Selin." Jai grins. [21:57] "It is an ancient and honorable profession." [21:58] 14Stranger briefly wishes he'd been reduced to a walking stick so he could rap Selin's shin with it. Instead he grunts out a "Ha!" 14and sits up. There's a stone hotplate/burner set up carefully constructed on his nightstand, and on it, a pot of tea that's just finished steeping. [21:58] 14Stranger briefly wishes he'd been reduced to a walking stick so he could rap Selin's shin with it. Instead he grunts out a "Ha!" 14and sits up. There's a stone hotplate/burner set up carefully constructed on his nightstand, and on it, a pot of tea that's just finished steeping. [21:58] 14Thankfully he thought ahead, and had one of d'Arte's poor medical interns or whatever they call them fetch him a dozen or so cups. [22:01] 5Unstoppable. "We could be plunged into the Wyld, stranded in Hell, lost at sea, or in the middle of utmost Southern wasteland and you'd have a pot steeping," 5Xu Sim observes with some awe. [22:03] 14Stranger waves a hand. "My main annoyance with this summit with Cethleann occurring in the liminal space of the dreaming is that I can't bring tea with me. I served tea before I expelled my first raksha from Creation; I suspect I'll at least try to serve it before I expel my last. It's simply good manners." [22:04] 10Jai sits cross-legged on a mat. "It's good to have a passion, and a hobby. I've been trying to learn the flute, myself." [22:04] 5Xu Sim's eyebrows twitch a bit at Stranger's annoyance. [22:05] 14If it was annoyance, it was annoyance with himself. [22:06] 13Xia Lan slips in a few minutes after Xu Sim and Jai arrive, beaming despite the situation Stranger finds himself in. [22:06] 5Xu Sim: "That's an interesting idea, Stranger-Visits-Heaven..." [22:08] 5Xu Sim sends a runner for Seven and, in a puff of smoke, Grittoth the Erymanthus appears, gnawing on a dried-out cat hide. Xu Sim dispatches the blood-ape to carry a few essential items from his lab. [22:09] 14Stranger arches an eyebrow, but simply begins serving the tea. It's Greengrass; mild and soothing and slightly medicinal in taste, but not in a way that ruins the flavor. Doctor's orders. [22:12] 10Jai takes an experimental sip. Hey, not bad. "That's going to cause a commotion outside." 15[22:12] Seven arrives not long after, still wiping her hands with a rag stained blue-black. She smiles at Xu Sim, then the blood ape, and then the others assembled. [22:12] 13Xia Lan: "Most things we do lately seem to have that effect." [22:12] 14Stranger: "Hopefully the populace has come to accept that demons at all hours are just part of the good doctor's charms." [22:13] 10Jai: "Yeah. I guess I shouldn't talk. I've spent half the day giving people something to gawk at." [22:14] 13Xia Lan smiles at Seven and offers her a quick nod when she arrives. To Jai: "Good work if you can get it." [22:14] 5Xu Sim returns the smile from across the room as the blood ape sets down, not particularly gently, a pair of enormous duffel bags that sound to be full of porcelain and glassware. [22:15] 14Now both of Stranger's eyebrows are raised. Where's he going with this... 15[22:15] Selin: "So, Black Wind, how long have you been in the city?" [22:16] 10Jai: "Yeah, I guess. I just spent so long hiding my light under one bushel or another. Oh, about a week or so, sir." [22:16] 14That gets a hearty chuckle and another grimace from the ribs. "No sirs here, please. We're a circle." [22:17] "If that seems sudden to you, well. Any Chosen of the Sun who stands against the end of Creation with me shall be my brother, no matter how long I've known him. And he'll not call anyone in that brother and sisterhood 'sir.'" [22:18] "I'm going to make you a tea, Stranger, that you can serve in your dreams," 5Xu Sim retorts as he starts digging into the bags and laying out vials, small jugs, jars, bags, bars, and bundles of herbs. [22:18] 14Stranger: "Oh my." [22:19] 10Jai: "All right, I'll try. Way too much trying to keep titles straight in my line of work." 10Reflecting on it, he has been a little overly concerned with forms of address, so far. [22:19] 5Xu Sim keeps working. "Don't let me interrupt." [22:20] 13Xia Lan raises an eyebrow and sips at her tea. "Our names are fine, I think. At least in spaces like this one." [22:26] 5Xu Sim: "We do need to confer about the situation we'll be in, assuming it's not, you know..." 5he trails off as he busies himself with some phials. [22:26] 10Jai relaxes a bit. "Anyway, as I was saying, Selin, it's just been a week, but it's been a busy one. I arrived on the very day of Cethleann's assault." 15[22:27] Selin: "I take it you're not renowned for your luck?" [22:27] 14Stranger closes his eyes and sips his tea. "Yes. Assuming victory on our part -- and there's no reason not to, because we won't be around in the event of defeat to care very much -- the immediate aftermath of this war will involve a lot of...squabbling." [22:27] 5Xu Sim: "Or a Wyld Hunt," 5he points out. 15[22:28] Seven: "From where? Lookshy?" [22:30] 14Stranger shakes his head. "No one has the juice right now to launch a Wyld Hunt. Lookshy is exhausted, and if the Realm is going to push into the Threshold, they'll send armies for Lookshy, not a Hunt for us." [22:30] 10Jai: "I don't believe in luck. I learned to fix a throw of the dice before I could shave. But the picture of the situation I had when I left Thorns was thoroughly incomplete." 15[22:30] Seven: "Excuse me?" [22:31] 14Deadpan: "Sevenfold Scion, please meet Jai, the Black Wind Howling." [22:31] 10Jai: "We've met, briefly." 15[22:31] Seven: "You were in Thorns?" [22:33] 10Jai: "For several months. I was confined strictly to less exciting work." [22:33] 13Xia Lan: "You may need to elaborate on that," 13she cautions mildly. [22:33] 5Xu Sim glances up from his tinkering. [22:35] 10Jai: "Listening post duty, passive surveillance, dead drops. If deathknights ate breakfast, that would have been the kind of reports I wrote. It was BO-RING." 15[22:35] Seven: "Wrote reports... for who?" [22:36] 14Stranger watches in silence. Neither of the Sidereals are his boss, after all. [22:39] 10Jai regards the deathknight for a moment. "I mean, who isn't worried about Thorns?" [22:39] 10Jai: "Half the time I was spying on other spies anyway." [22:41] 14Stranger, carefully: "There are more things in Heaven and Creation, dear, than are accounted for strictly in the lifecycle of man. It should be taken as understood, I suspect, that Jai, in a passive observer's role, did no harm." [22:41] 10Jai "I didn't ask a lot of questions, and as it happens, I don't believe I've ever seen my employer's true face at all." 14[22:41] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[22:43] * Disconnected 15[22:43] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[22:43] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[22:43] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[22:43] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 [22:44] 14As long as this conversation doesn't drift into the morality or ethics of the existence of modern Thorns qua modern Thorns, they should be fine. 14[22:44] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:44] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:46] 5Xu Sim frowns. "If you don't intend to return then why not say who it was?" 14[22:47] * Joins: VoxPrime 15[22:49] * Disconnected Session Time: Wed Jul 24 00:00:00 2019 15[06:20] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[06:20] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[06:20] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[06:20] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[06:29] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 14[06:29] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[08:48] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:48] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:42] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:28] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:09] * Joins: tom 14[19:21] * Joins: hrolf 14[19:49] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:32] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[23:06] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[23:17] * Joins: cbass 14[23:29] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:31] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Thu Jul 25 00:00:00 2019 14[01:02] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:13] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:33] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[09:07] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[09:39] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:41] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:53] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:30] * Joins: Crion_ 14[18:31] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:23] * Joins: tom 14[21:57] * Joins: tom2 14[21:57] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Fri Jul 26 00:00:00 2019 14[00:58] * Joins: tom 14[01:00] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:08] * Joins: tom2 14[01:09] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:14] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:27] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:59] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[03:58] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Connection closed) 14[07:31] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[07:31] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[07:31] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[08:05] * Joins: bananaphone 14[08:08] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[08:09] * Joins: bananaphone 14[08:12] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[08:21] * Joins: mattbaby 14[08:57] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:17] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[09:17] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[09:17] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[09:55] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:29] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:46] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:20] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:59] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[17:23] * Joins: tom [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 . [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ___/),.._ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 /' ,. ."'._ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ( "' '-.__"-._ ,- [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 \'='='), 3\ -._-"-. -"/ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 / ""/"\,_\,__"" _" /,- [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 / / -" _/"/ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 / | ._\\ |\ |_.".-" / [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 / | __\)|)|),/|_." _,." [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 7 \_." " ") | ).-""---''-- [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ( "/.""7__-""'' [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 | 3 ."._--._ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \ (_ __ "" ".,_ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 \.,. \ "" -"".-" [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ".,_, (",_-,,,-".- [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 "'-,\_ __,-" [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ",)" ") [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 /"\-" [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,"\/ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 _,.__/"\/_ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \) "./, ". [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 --/---"---" "-) )---- [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, that went quick. The time between your arriving in Mahalanka to, ostensibly, parley with its queen and your flying from Mahalanka like bats out of hell with one of Raksi's coveted treasures in hand was, what... two or three hours, tops? 08[20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12And boy, are you in for it now. It just so happens that the temple-prison-vault that Tatsuya broke open with Eikichi's help was one adjoining the center of the city, so although the four of you are now together and airborne, split across Ami and Errant and thus far still in good health, you're smack dab in the middle of Mahalanka and, at this point, going extremely loud. Kruthik [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12ravagers are rampaging in the streets beneath you, whipped into some kind of frenzy by Marek's (who is currently nestled in Errant's mane) machinations and already in pitched combat with the city guards - but you can probably expect arrows and spears to be the least of what's cast at you as you soar away from the city! 15[20:27] 10Eikichi clings tightly to Blossom. 08[20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12A great red-and-black cloud is boiling atop what Eikichi's heard called the "Apex of Sacrifice", directly behind you. A burning violent corona, for now only a few yalms high, is rising from the city walls but curling more inwards than outwards, suggestive of a dome. Apefolk are scrambling to military muster, finding the highest ground they can on the pyramids and towers and battlements [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12surrounding you so as to be able to bring longbows and javelins to bear. What do you do? [20:29] 4How fast is that dome rising and can we escape its arc by flying up before it closes? [20:30] 7Ir is right - can we make it out past the dome? [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12I guess you'll finding out! Do our heroes prioritize gaining altitude or gaining ground? In the former case, you'll largely be free of the guards' ability to interfere with you, but by the same token will have no cover separating you from the Apex. [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12you'll be* 08[20:31] 4Second question is a bit easier to answer -- if we have to try going through it, is everyone else plausibly healthy enough to even kind of make it? Ir's mostly thinking of Eikichi here. 08[20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi and Tatsuya are rattled and out of breath, but it seems that both are uninjured, as far as I can recall. 15[20:32] 10Eikichi seems deeply rattled and exhausted, but not injured. Little to any of that blood is his. [20:32] 4The dome is rising from the walls to meet in the air at a point over the temple, right? If that's the case we want to balance ground and elevation, because there's no sense making it there and then asking the poor mounts to fly straight up. [20:33] 4Also are we sufficiently in the clear regarding self defense that the oath Ir and Blossom swore no longer applies? [20:33] 7Blossom yells over the rising wind. "We can dodge arrows better than whatever's coming from that pyramid!" [20:33] 6As usual, absolutely none of the blood on Tatsuya is his. Also as usual, he's tired after a jailbreak. [20:33] 4Ir nods vigorously and urges Errant forward, beckoning Blossom to follow. 08[20:44] 7What's Eikichi doing for the dome? [20:44] 4This is the first real time she and Errant have had to do this under pressure -- Ir feels guilty how little time they've had to spend together, given the war effort and all, and how hard it is to take a winged horse most places, but they're just as in sync now as they were flying in. 15[20:47] 10Eikichi's countermagic burns a rippling gap in the air that the dome can't coalesce around, revealing a large drifting polygon of empty space where the dome simply isn't. 08[20:58] 4Ir: "Great job, Eikichi, you're one in a million! That's our exit!" 08[21:03] "HA!" 7Blossom lets out a whoop when she sees the burning road to freedom that Eikichi has opened up, and urges Ami onward. A song drifts into her mind, one she remembers before leaving home. It was about having inner strength, which she realizes is just so important right now. She begins to hum deep in her throat, and the air surrounding the emas and its passengers begins to whip and [21:03] 7snarl in response. [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a storm of arrows, but it's nothing the Squared Circle can't handle - they dodge and weave or simply grit their teeth as the arms of Raksi's legions, even enchanted as they are, barely slow the escaping Solars down. The deep magic of the city is an entirely separate concern, however; a great orb of red light hangs above the Apex now, and shafts of killing radiance begin [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12stabbing down from it, slamming into buildings behind you but landing closer and closer to the airborne mounts! [21:05] 4Things got a lot simpler for Ir when she stopped worrying so much about taking the hit and just embraced it as the first part of hitting back, not in the least because most of the time, she's still good enough not to take the hit. [21:05] 6An arrow slides right past Tatsuya's cheek. "Those motherf-- oh, shit, that's not great." [21:06] "Ahh, you'll be fine. Hold on down there," 4she says to the critter crew. [21:06] "I'm bullet-proof, nothing to lose... fire away, fire away!" 7Sling shot and javelins from the apeman defenders are thrown clear by the blowing wind. "You shoot me down, but I won't fall! I AM TITANIUM!" 7Blossom's triumphant voice leading into the bridge roars out, the protective sphere of wind exploding to knock apemen about like ninepins. The lucky ones are simply dropped to the [21:06] 7ground, while the unlucky are flung from rooftops to the hard ground below! [21:06] "I'm bullet-proof, nothing to lose... fire away, fire away!" 7Sling shot and javelins from the apeman defenders are thrown clear by the blowing wind. "You shoot me down, but I won't fall! I AM TITANIUM!" 7Blossom's triumphant voice leading into the bridge roars out, the protective sphere of wind exploding to knock apemen about like ninepins. The lucky ones are simply dropped to [21:06] 7the ground, while the unlucky are flung from rooftops to the hard ground below! [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Her thunderous voice echoes across the rooftops of Mahalanka, sweeping down the streets and reverberating through the alleyways. Volleys of arrows are knocked from the sky by the noise alone - but the refraction of the air seems to affect Raksi's death rays not at all! 08[21:12] 7Blossom orders Ami to dive, swerve, loop around the stabbing tendrils of bloody energy. She has never been more beautiful to Eikichi than this moment. 15[21:13] 10*_* 08[21:14] 4Ir and Errant are as one, and Ir's grinning and whooping as Errant circles one of the beams in air and then DIVES, coming down just over Blossom -- oh, that's a glow up -- and Ami just as a deathray refects at Eikichi. O great silver sorceress: try harder and cry harder. Jude's Law leaps out and a perfect moonsilver mirror deflects the killing beam. [21:18] 4As they storm for the gap: "Heads up! This might get a liiiiiiiittle bit bumpy!" [21:21] 6Gritting his teeth: "As long as we don't end up a lot of paste on the city streets." [21:22] 6Fun fact: if you grit your teeth, you sound gritty and hardboiled instead of utterly terrified. Fun little trick Tatsuya picked up early on. [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12The killing red beams scatter harmlessly whenever they strike the scenery of Mahalanka, although any actual soldiers or civilians they impact are, of course, instantly disintegrated. This goes even for when the rays stab straight at you, lancing past the position you'd occupied a scant split-second ago only to earth themselves "harmlessly" into the city's geomancy. There's one 08[21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12exception - whatever vibration synchronizes them with the architecture seems distrupted when Ir swoops down and strikes her spear - wait, her looking-glass - straight through a beam that looked like it would've entirely replaced Eikichi's torso. That bolt of energy goes screaming sideways, crashing into and destroying the top half of a squat pyramid with a terrific explosion! [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Small shapes are seen swarming out of and away from the destroyed structure, like ants from this distance and elevation - wait, they're also like ants for their scuttling, insectoid behavior. Are those kruthlings? 15[21:25] 10Eikichi doesn't notice any of this. Blossom... [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12No time to worry about it now, there's the last penatagon of safety in the burning violent shield-- [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12--you're through! [21:25] 4If Raksi has kruthik of her own, she's in for a terrible surprise when Jormungand gets back in the game. [21:25] 4...If it does. [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12They looked like your kruthlings, actually - same orange coloration. Captured? Sun knows there've been enough battles up until now in which your forces have had to cross hostile territory, and not without casualties. [21:27] 4Red salute to them, then. Bloody to the end. [21:28] 7Raksi had better hope she knows how to root out new nests efficiently. Hahahaha! [21:32] 7Blossom's furious glee turns to near-panic in an instant. "Ir! We need to find somewhere to land! Quickly!" [21:32] 4Out here?! [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Hahaha! Ha-ha... hahhh. Whoof. It's just deep, dark jungle flashing past Ami's and Errant's respective wings now, occasionally lashing out at you with vines and waterspouts that you've gotten used to dodging. You've roughly got two bases to return to, here - the ruins of Chithakara or the new hive growing in the former lake Demesne. Where to, and what now? 15[21:32] 10Eikichi had buried his face in Ir's neck and was panting with relief. "What? What's wrong?" [21:32] 4Ir: "Pick a spot and I'll start killing the jungle!" 15[21:32] 10in Blossom's neck* [21:33] 7Which is closest, and how far are they in flight? [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12By foot, it'd definitely be Chithakara, but as the emas flies you could really pick either. [21:46] 4Probably want to keep this quiet. As quiet as a gardiner can, at any rate. When Blossom points to a patch of bare grass she'd like to touch down on, Ir whispers in Errant's ear and then swings low over the jungle, dropping off her mount as Jude's Law transforms into a great reaping scythe. [21:46] 4The next five minutes are consumed by the utter annihilation of all large plant life in a safe radius surrounding a prospective camp. [21:46] 6Tatsuya lets out a low, impressed whistle. [21:47] 7Blossom flies in low circles as Ir does her... well, it's not bloody work, but spilt sap does play a large role. The moment the area looks clear she'll dive to the ground and leap from Ami's back. 08[21:47] 7Without pausing, she grabs Eikichi's arm, pulls down his sleeves and grips his wrist. Anything? 15[21:48] 10Eikichi: "Blossom--!!" 15[21:49] "You're scaring me!" 08[21:50] 7Blossom: "Eikichi... what's wrong with your heart?" 15[21:50] 10Eikichi: "...what?" [21:50] 4Ir hacks some of the more trustworthy wood up into lumber to be used for rudimentary shelter, some smaller brush and logs for firewood, and generally gets an ersatz camp up and running. [21:51] 7She'll slip a hand inside his robes to put a hand on his bare chest, unless he stops her because wow. 08[21:51] 6He finally dismounts and starts walking over to Eikichi and Blossom, before just. Stopping. His what? [21:51] 4Ir controls her own reaction. She knew from the moment Blossom demanded an emergency stop that something was deeply wrong, and it's no help to panic now. [21:52] 7Does he? [21:52] So instead she goes to work getting a lean-to set up. [21:52] 4So instead she goes to work getting a lean-to set up. 15[21:52] 10Of course he doesn't. [21:53] 7She's probably turn beet red if she realized what she was doing, but she's distracted right now, because: "There's no heartbeat in your chest. I can feel a pulse in your wrist, your skin is warm, you breathe, but your heart...?" 15[21:54] 10Eikichi puts his hand over Blossom's on his chest. "..." [21:54] 6Tatsuya: "Okay. Okay, that's. Not. Uh." [21:54] 4The truth, which Ir will keep to herself, is that there are two likely culprits. The obvious one is Raksi. The less obvious one who Ir suspects far more is Wicked Triumph's Reckoning. [21:55] 4She's all the way with Blossom now; it doesn't really matter which one it is. She's looking forward to the next meeting. 15[21:56] "...where's my heart?" 15[21:59] "...she had her hands all over me..." [21:59] 4But instead of getting very angry or sulky, like she would have a year ago, or getting very suffocating and panic-cooking like she would have a month ago, Ir sits down in front of the fire and begins to meditate. [22:00] 6Tatsuya very quietly heads over near Ir, because there's nothing he can do and he's too tired to call up Ying. So. He tries not to eavesdrop and just listens to the fire. 15[22:02] 10Eikichi: "Raksi's got it. She must have. It could be in her chest right now! She could kill me whenever she liked, she'll know wherever I am, she has a perfect sorcerous link to me..." 10He makes a strangled cry. [22:02] 7Blossom: "Can you... get it back? I mean, it's yours..." 15[22:04] 10Eikichi: "Magically? It'd mean a direct battle of wills with her... and the risk of her either destroying it out of spite or it being damaged in the struggle is enormous." [22:05] 7Blossom: "What if we tried it together?" 15[22:08] 10Eikichi looks Blossom in the eyes and reddens again. Wherever his heart is, it flutters. "It wouldn't be any safer." [22:09] "This is unacceptable!" [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek, in his true human form, comes pacing out of the surrounding jungle at around this point of the conversation. "Nothing seems to have followed us and your hollow's hidden from the wider jungle. ...what's unacceptable?" [22:12] 4Marek breaks Ir out of her meditation. "The continued existence of the Queen of Cannibals." 08[22:13] "We should be aware that her possession of Eikichi's heart could mean she is able to simply ride his senses and observe our every movement, listen to our every conversation, and adjust accordingly." [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "You don't have to tell me twice. Living in Mahalanka... you know, I might've been able to stand it if I didn't have to portray that oaf's best friend." [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "But probably not." 08[22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12He blinks, then peers at Eikichi. "...could we tell?" 08[22:15] 4Ir looks to Blossom and Eikichi. "Probably a question for the sorcerers." [22:15] "But the safe assumption is the witch is listening right now." [22:15] 6The fire's glow is visible behind Tatsuya's closed eyes. Start with the basics. What do you need to steal a heart? Presumably it's more difficult than stealing a simple bit of jewelry. Or even a complicated bit of jewelry. Second: they're - she is going to have made it harder to break back in. And now she knows what he can do. 08[22:16] 6...and also, he can't answer any of these questions without Eikichi or Blossom, and they are busy. So. Brooding at the campfire it is. 15[22:16] 10Eikichi: "To see through my eyes she would need to use proper magic. You'd be able to see it. Though if she has my heart directly, she'll always know what I'm feeling." [22:17] 4Ir nods. "And we're certain it was her?" [22:17] "There was another with...improper designs on you in that city." [22:17] "Our old friend." [22:18] 4Well, everyone else in the Circle's, at any rate. 15[22:18] 10Eikichi: "I only spoke to Reckoning for a minute. I don't know how long I was with Raksi." 15[22:18] "We need to think about what happens if she destroys the heart." [22:19] 7Blossom, her hands balled tightly into fists: "She won't! We won't let her!" [22:20] 4Ir, flatly: "If she destroys your heart, the entire Direction will gasp at what happens to her." [22:20] "Unhelpful, perhaps, but true." [22:20] 4She leans forward to the fire. "What do we know about this specific sorcery? Anything? Is there anything we could send for Yara about?" [22:22] "We know that Heaven is paying attention already." [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek spits. "That - that I didn't see coming." [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Almost obvious in retrospect - why Raksi keeps so many secrets, demands such oaths from visitors, stands so still and yet prospers. Friends in high places." [22:24] 4Ir: "That's how they get you." 15[22:25] 10Now that he's noticed, the absence of a heartbeat is driving Eikichi mad. [22:26] 4Ir: "But if we are really one side of a proxy war in Heaven -- and there's no reason to think we're not; it's not an accident that we got the royal treatment up on cloud island -- then that at the very least should entitle us to certain perks from our handlers." [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "You think your... associates... from Yu-Shan can check hers?" [22:29] "I think they can at least give us whatever information they have on her sorcery, its known extents and limits, and specifically whatever's going on here. I refuse to believe they simply don't know. No matter how bumbling Yara's affect is." [22:29] 6Tatsuya, without opening his eyes: "They were working on it, but that was a while ago. Not sure if they've gotten anything new on him that we can act on." [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek paces, hand clenched below his chin, then looks up. "If Heaven disapproved, this would not be going on. You know who would be roused to act, here? The Pact." [22:32] 4To Marek: "That could be very dangerous." [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Raksi is among the eldest of us, a renowned shahan-ya whatever her... predilections. But if she's breaking bread with the star-blessed..." [22:33] 4To Marek: "From what I understand of your people's customs...the possibility of intervening wouldn't be raised as an up or down decision. It would be an open discussion. Raksi's agents, to the extent she still has them, would have an opening to convince the Pact to intervene -- on her behalf." [22:34] 7Blossom: "There's certainly no doubt that they're working together. I'm sure some faction in Heaven is using her to battle the Eastern Titan." [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Yes, it'd be an argument. But it's already been an argument. Ma-Ha-Suchi's been demanding access to Mahalanka's arsenals for a millenium now, and, of course, always been rebuffed." [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "But no one, no one has ever accused a figure like Raksi of collaboration with the heavens. It's a betrayal of all the Pact stands for!" [22:37] 4Ir: "...Well, they're not going to think too much better of us, love." [22:38] "For both personal and political reasons, I'd love to be on the Pact's good side -- we'll need to be at least neutral, once...our later plans come to fruition." 4She's unsure how much she's supposed to have told Marek about Zeal. "But Ma-Ha-Suchi getting his hands on that arsenal and then deciding we need to die for collaboration as well..." 15[22:38] 10Eikichi: "Raksi is a collaborator. Her entire religion is skimming prayer off for different Celestial gods. Reck is there on Heaven's business." [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "...that's true." [22:39] "At the very least it would be nice for the Pact to provide a distraction, and I suppose that shouldn't be a hard sell -- we ARE taxing her, deeply. But I think a direct alliance might end in disaster." [22:40] <@Ferrinus> "Hmmph. Convincing the Pact to turn on her en masse... but not on us... I was getting excited, there." 12Marek crosses his arms and leans back against a tree Ir's left standing for the purpose of stringing stuff up on it. [22:40] 4As long as it behaves itself. [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12It's about an hour into this back-and-forth, or maybe this go-in-circles, that a crome cherub comes flashing down from the sky to flutter to a stop near Blossom. Yara's voice: "These keep bouncing back, I hope this one lands! I looked into the Amoth thing - there's an entire secret project! Trying to find who's on it. I got my other linkpearl back - can lend it to you if we meet. [22:54] <@Ferrinus> Where are you?" [22:55] 4Ir: "I guess 'a freshly mowed lawn' wouldn't be especially helpful." [22:56] 7Fortunately, Blossom always keeps her sextant with her. She can take readings! 14[22:59] * Joins: mattbaby [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12It takes about ten minutes for a second Messenger to appear. Yara's voice sounds a little out of breath. "That's super close to number twenty actually! Tell me if you can be at-" 12a longitude and latitude describing a place about a morning's flight westward from Chithakara follow. "-by sunset tomorrow." [22:59] 7Can they? [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Yes. It's a bit tight if you try to get a full night's sleep out here first, but Chithakara's maybe another half-day away, and then the trip from there to the seemingly innocuous mid-jungle location Yara describes is quite short. [23:08] 4Mounts are probably fine on half-night's rest. Ir won't have any issues herself. [23:08] 4But, rest wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. 08[23:09] 7They can! Blossom will confirm to Yara, then. And: "Alright everyone, we've got a meeting set. We're--" 7Then, overcome with emotion, she embraces Eikichi. "14I was so worried!" 15[23:10] 10Eikichi returns the embrace and is reluctant to let go. It's nice to feel Blossom's heartbeat. [23:10] 6Tatsuya could use the rest, too. And. It's Ying's turn to be out and about. 08[23:11] 4The lean-to is for Blossom and Eikichi; Ir will find a slightly more secluded place away from the camp to spend the night with Marek. [23:12] 4It's a bit difficult since she's annihilated all plant life out to a hundred yalms or so, but, it's been awhile. 08[23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi sleeps well, after a fashion, but he has intense and consuming dreams which don't seem to be dreams at all. Ravenous hunger, apocalyptic fury, wicked delight... at one point, he hears himself negotiating with or even cajoling some great dragon or serpent, promising riches and land and flesh, flesh, flesh. At another point he's drawing - no, carving, creating the design for [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12some terrifying destructive sorcery of blood and fire and imagining with great relish how it will look on the horizon... [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12...then it's next morning. No one's had their blood curdled in their sleep, though the surrounding foliage is creeping back in such that the radius of your clearing is already a few fulms shorter. Back on the road? Or in the sky, so to speak? [23:17] 4Ir's probably the first up, and yeah. It's time to go. [23:18] 7Gotta hurry gotta hurry [23:19] 13Ying's there now, and she just looks concerned. Pretty quiet, but... it doesn't seem like the time for bright and bubbly right now. [23:21] 4Even so, Ir spares the time for "Ying!" 4and a hug. [23:21] 4She's pretty sure Tatsuya doesn't like hugs. 15[23:22] 10He likes them, he just won't admit it sober. [23:22] 13She cheers up briefly. "Hi, Ir! I missed you! And, um, efurrypawdy else, too." [23:22] 4Ir: "A lot's happened. Hop on, I'll fill in whatever Tatsuya hasn't." [23:22] 4Errant, of course, has taken care of his breakfast and all pre-flight business, and is ready to leave. [23:23] 13She hops on, shaking her head. "Nyo, I think he was purretty thorough." 13And kind of panicked, and it is extremely irritating listening to someone pace in your head. How do you even do that? [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12After flying for much of the day, the five of you (six of you count the dormant Tatsuya, eight if you count your mounts) are coming up on Chithakara. It's still a smoldering ruin, but it doesn't look like anyone's been here since you left last - the wreck of the great warstrider's still there, for instance. The hive cluster has grown rapidly, but it's had to go wide rather than tall, [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12so to speak - the city itself has already been scoured of resources and then badly damaged in several successive invasions, such that the radius of the creep has had to get wider and wider instead as the surrounding jungles get consumed. It's slower going than it should be, since the forest fights back, but that's not a fight it can win in the long term. [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Ami and Errant find themselves flying over felled, cored-out trees and great pits reaching deep into the earth as the kruthik search for minerals with which to refine their hides and traces of the essence which once ran through the land. The essence shortage makes itself clear in the composition of the swarm here - barely any ravagers, lots of 'lings, drones, and mostly-stationary [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12spine crawlers. [23:26] 4She did tell them to eat their fill. [23:27] 7Blossom: "'kichi! Could we use kruthik biomatter to, I don't know, grow you a new heart?" [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12There's no sign of the cerebrate out here, and nor is there inside Chithakara's ruins. It must either be regenerating elsewhere or still dormant within the swarm's collective essence. [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom may recall Arianna pulling that trick with Swan's missing arm. [23:28] 4If Ir didn't have an appointment with a Sidereal she'd be down on the ground commanding the troops now. As it is, she swoops down, reassures her queens, and tells them she'll be back shortly. 15[23:30] 10Eikichi's mind wanders and it's a moment before he registers Blossom's question. "Uh... in theory. We'd need a way to disconnect me from my real heart and then attach my new heart, and some way to keep myself alive in the meantime. And it would still be a powerful sorcerous link, the same way a cut nail or a shed drop of blood would be." [23:30] 7Blossom: "Arianna did that with Swan's arm, and we're better than all of them!" 15[23:30] "You don't actually need an arm to live." [23:30] 13Ying pulls closer to Ir as the queens get close, but relaxes as they leave again. Much calmer than Tatsuya was the previous day, though to be fair there were extenuating circumstances. [23:31] "I'm not permitting you to die, so." 15[23:32] 10Eikichi: "I bet Reck knows of ways to keep a body alive without a heart, at least for a while." [23:32] 7Blossom: "If he knows them, we can figure them out ourselves." [23:33] 4It's probably a good thing Ir isn't immediately privy to this conversation, though she'll have to be eventually if we're really going with the demon heart option. [23:33] 7It's not a demon heart! [23:33] 13Isn't it? [23:34] 7No! [23:34] 4I mean, it sounds like it is. [23:34] 4You're asking the demons for the heart. [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, you've got a little time to explore, administrate, or just decompress in/around the demon hive that has entirely replaced Chithakara. But let me know when you're heading further westward to meet Yara. [23:35] 13Well, to be FAIR, they wouldn't be asking. [23:35] 4Yes. Ir would be asking. [23:36] 13I guess the emphasis is wrong. THEY wouldn't be asking. [23:36] 4Look. I'm sure it's perfectly safe. It also sounds stupid as hell to THIS demon-army leading war criminal. [23:40] 4If we're taking a short break, Ir is going to go figure out what the fuck is going on with Jormungand, and if there's anything she can jumpstart. [23:40] 4That probably means finding Atropos first. How is the last of the three original sisters? [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Atropos is jumpier than ever. Ir can recognize her handiwork in the careful, double-layered placement of defensive biostructures and in the way that the kruthlings and few remaining ravagers swarm in defensive circles at even her approach. She does seem healed, though, and the newest crop of queens is clearly taking after her. [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir can see that this war has affected the swarm's character in a few ways. Their ravenous hunger and urge to expand is unwavering and eternal, of course, but a deep distrust of the jungle and hatred of the ape-armies has taken root, as is a healthy fear of the Chosen as a class of being - this has been the first time that the humans with gigantic weapons and glowing anima have stood [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12against the swarm rather than besides it. There is still, clearly, swarm-wide unity, which must mean that Jormungand has taken root and is growing somewhere, but definitely not here because you'd expect the defenses to be even more focused around it following the last defeat. [23:51] 4Well. That will be a healthy fear, moving forward. Hopefully they still recognize Ir as one of the good ones, but...this might take some finesse. 08[23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12The swarm remains, of course, fiercely loyal to Ir and Eikichi both. Of course, individual kruthlings or whatever don't know that, but the queens do, and it's etched into the mind of Jormungand itself. There is a feeling like Jormungand's had cause to question its loyalty to the Circle, for some reason... but has held fast, and remains as loyal now as it was at birth. [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Where and why? Perhaps the Circle will learn more... next week. Session Time: Sat Jul 27 00:00:00 2019 14[00:37] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[00:44] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[00:44] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[01:12] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[01:18] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:04] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[09:36] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:10] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:44] * Joins: hrolf 15[13:57] * Disconnected Session Close: Sat Jul 27 13:57:31 2019 Session Start: Sat Jul 27 14:03:39 2019 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:03] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:03] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[14:03] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 15[14:04] * Disconnected Session Close: Sat Jul 27 14:04:20 2019 Session Start: Sat Jul 27 14:09:47 2019 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:09] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:09] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[14:09] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[14:20] * Joins: hrolfy 14[14:21] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:07] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:09] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[15:10] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:40] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Connection closed) 14[16:40] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[16:40] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[17:47] * Joins: tom 14[18:14] * Joins: hrolf 14[18:16] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:37] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Sun Jul 28 00:00:00 2019 14[00:26] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:36] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[01:27] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:04] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:14] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[05:11] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[09:52] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:26] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:21] * banana is now known as banana|peels [21:07] [21:07] [21:07] [21:07] [21:07] [21:07] 14[21:07] * Crion_ is now known as Crion [21:07] [21:07] [21:07] [21:07] [21:07] [21:07] [21:07] [21:09] 4They've been back less than two hours before Ir has a cookfire going in the ruined chambers atop what's left of Chithakara, once all the Jormungand goop has been cleaned out by especially zealous kruthlings. The first hour was spent hunting on Errant, of course; she had to go a bit far afield before anything that remotely construed a prey animal was left in the ecosystem, but soon [21:09] 4she's roasting a whole, skinned hedgeboar, big and fat, while butchering a second. [21:09] 4They'd been fighting each other; she won. [21:11] She puts aside the spines for later -- they'll make good needles for various purposes -- and begins seasoning the meat with her emergency spice kit she brought from the Heavensward. She'll have to refill it eventually with local herbs and spices derived from them; she suspects the hardest thing to find will be salt, which she accordingly packed double rations of. [21:11] 4She puts aside the spines for later -- they'll make good needles for various purposes -- and begins seasoning the meat with her emergency spice kit she brought from the Heavensward. She'll have to refill it eventually with local herbs and spices derived from them; she suspects the hardest thing to find will be salt, which she accordingly packed double rations of. [21:12] 4It's very difficult to actually scavange for food now -- especially if you wanted to make, for instance, some sort of cornmeal or flatbread, since it's a jungle, and it's also being eaten at a terrifying rate by a demon army. But she makes do. They've brought in enough provisions for the five of them for a couple months, if Ir makes them last and they don't get destroyed or contaminated [21:12] 4in some future fight. It helps that two of them share a stomach. [21:13] 7It's a tribute to the meat and the chef that Blossom's stomach growls even while tightened into a knot with worry. [21:17] 4There's also what they salvaged from the rulers' kitchens, which included a lot of raw unrefined staples. Some of it has spoiled, of course, but the less perishable base materials hold up. So it is that Ir can prepare a dinner that's Hedgeboar Three Ways: steaks, nuggets, and a heavily-seasoned tartare, with toasted flatbread and a basic but tasty hummus. To drink there's mostly just [21:17] 4water, though she is toying with the idea of a flavored, alcoholic bubbly seltzer. 14[21:17] * Joins: tom 08[21:20] 7She sniffs a little, testing. Is she going to cry? ...No, it seems she isn't, at least not right now. Good, excellent. She'll put a hand in the small of Eikichi's back and gently move him over to the fire along with her. 15[21:21] 10The smell of meat makes Eikichi's stomach turn, but his heart beats in a body fevered by hunger, and he'll eat anything put in front of him. One of his cheeks is bulging as Blossom pulls him nearer the cookfire, the smoke keeping bugs away. Irises flicker orange and red to complement the flames they reflect glassily back. Despite the heat, he leans into her. [21:22] 4Ir will freely make conversation with whoever wants to help in preparation as they drift in and out, but this is different from the last time she made nuggets. She gives the couple their space, and Ying and Tatsuya too if that's what they want. [21:22] 13Ying's curled up as near as Ir will let her to the fire, frowning and making faces as she tries to clean the soles of Tatsuya's boots out from the blood and the kruthik goop. She's switched into something more her own, but she's really got to figure something out for the walk back. [21:24] "You know, I've been thinking-" 7Sniff, check again. Still no. "Sometimes people sell isicia omentata in sort of a flatbread wrap... if you did that or you made it into a sandwich you could put the salad in there with it and maybe a thin slice of cheese and it would be the perfect food." [21:25] "It would have all the food groups... meat, grain, fruits and vegetables, dairy." [21:25] 4Ir: "You know, I've actually seen that done -- but they ground up the patty before wrapping it up. So it's just this tube of all the good stuff, mixed together." [21:27] "Then you take and you drizzle a sauce over it -- mostly spicy, but some are made with chocolate -- cook up some spicy rice, and serve." [21:28] "Maybe I'll try that once we've got real grains again." [21:30] 4Ir pulls the nuggets out of the fryer she's set up over one of the kitchen's secondary cook stations, expertly apportions them, and dollops the creamy sauce she cooked up alongside them into two shareable bowls. "First course is up. Light snacking or go all in; the next course is a small but sumptuous tasting preparation, and then for the main we've got these big honking steaks." [21:30] 4In between, she's butchering up the second hog and salting it to store. [21:31] "Frankly, I'm a bit concerned we're eating too much meat now, but there's just no way to get fresh produce out here that isn't immediately suspect. We'll have to rely on preserves and jams." [21:32] 13Ying: "Honk steaks..." 13She's drooling, boots forgotten to the side. "Oh! It's purrobably fine, at least fur me. Maybe not Tatsuya, though. We... haven't really checked." [21:33] "That sounds so good... it really is the p" 7Her voice goes higher pitched and her throat tightens as she approaches the end of the sentence. No! She was sure she wouldn't cry! She clears her throat. "It's really good." [21:33] 4...The mood doesn't seem to be improving by talking about the vagarities of their diets, and why should it? [21:35] 4So then: "Once we're done here, we need to go somewhere nice." [21:35] "Zeal can wait a month or two." 15[21:35] 10Eikichi, whose mouth is full even though he hasn't touched the food yet: "Holiday!" [21:36] 13Ying: "Holiday!!" [21:36] "Once of those nice resort towns. Cities. Hell, somewhere deep in the Realm. We go in disguise, we don't cause trouble, we just...relax." [21:37] 4Then she frowns. "Maybe not deep in the Realm then. House Cynis would probably piss us off." 15[21:37] "Somewhere we can swim." [21:37] 4The native Pneuman: "And the water is naturally warm." [21:39] 7Blossom: "Hot springs~" [21:39] "Where's peaceful these days that has a warm coastline and doesn'ttraffic slaves?" 15[21:39] 10Eikichi: "Dreaming Sea? ...maybe?" [21:39] "At all? Or just no more than usual?" [21:40] 13Ying: "...we've got our work cut out fur us, huh." [21:40] 4Ir: "The threshold you're looking for is 'would Ir get so mad halfway through the trip that she picked a fight and ruined it.'" [21:41] 4Ir: "Indentured servitude is one thing, but chattel slavery is right out." 15[21:41] "We could always swim in the Canals of Nexus." [21:43] 4Ir: "I think not." 15[21:43] 10At this point Eikichi gets tired of how goofy he sounds with his mouth full, and spits something green into a small glass jar he stoppers up and secrets away beneath his loose flowy sleeves. [21:46] 4Hopefully he enjoys the nuggets. Her suspicion is the tartare will be more for herself and Ying, and then everyone will at least be able to split a steak. Between mistrusting Malahanka food and sleeping rough last night, it's been awhile since any of them had a decent meal. [21:48] 7Blossom: "I'd guess most places just have docks for Guild ships, mainly... aw, 'kichi, chewing coca leaves? We need to get you back to civilization and that marijuana cloud thing you invented." 15[21:48] 10Eikichi eats with his usual ferocity, but his affect is still flatter than usual. Probably just a turn of the mood rather than a byproduct of having his literal heart stolen. "I miss it so much." 15[21:49] "And the laudanum. And the ice fern spores I picked up last time we were in Great Forks..." 15[21:49] 10He finds himself wondering against his will what kind of drugs Raksi keeps around. 08[21:49] 13Ying is munching on the nuggets, tapping a single claw on her chin, before she glances over to Eikichi. "I miss catnip," 13she offers. [21:50] 7Ice fern spores... [21:50] 4Maybe Ir will whip up that bubbly after all. Where's that grain alcohol... 15[21:51] "Catnip grows in all sorts of places, but not in a jungle like this. You can probably pick it out of a forest by smell. We'll have to go gathering when we're out of here." [21:52] 4She mixes it up in between putting the finishing touches on the tartare. All she has is raspberry to flavor it with, but a sip tells her it's acceptable. "Best I can do with the water, straight alcohol, and berries we have is this bubbly. Made some with the alcohol and some without. Not the best taste, but it'll do the job." 15[21:53] 10Eikichi goes in for the hard seltzer. "Got a name for it?" [21:54] 4Ir: "Not as of yet. Want to see if I can stomach the taste when we're NOT on war rations first." [21:55] 13Ying nods sagely. "You've got to be empurrical." 15[21:57] 10Eikichi: "It's not bad. If we could pour it over ice, say, I think it'd be good." [21:57] 4Ir groans. "Sun, it's been so long since we had ice." 15[21:58] 10Eikichi: "We can probably find a decent-sized town built up around some hot springs somewhere up north, out of the way enough that it's not on any trade routes so there shouldn't be any incidental slavery..." [21:59] 7Blossom: "There were a number of little places like that back home built for wealthy tourists. I can't imagine there wouldn't be more out in the provinces." [21:59] 4Ir: "Pneuma might have some places nearby, if I had any interest in going anywhere back near Pneuma." 15[22:00] "It's a big Direction. Four big Directions. We'll find somewhere nice." [22:03] 13Ying: "Maybe Yara knows a good spot." [22:03] 4Ir: "Yara works so much she didn't know the best food joints in her own neighborhood. I doubt she takes vacations." 15[22:04] 10Eikichi: "Yara wouldn't know a day off if it hit her in the-- we should make Yara come!!" [22:04] 13She sighs heavily. "That's true..." 13A look crosses her face. 15[22:04] "With us on vacation! At least for a couple of days." [22:04] 13It looks like this: >:3 [22:05] 4Ir: "Well it won't do anything to stop the Silver Pact from thinking we're working with Heaven, but, I can't hardly say I care." [22:05] 13Ying: "We SHOULD make Yara come. And I should make Ta - oh!! Swimwear!!" 15[22:06] 10Eikichi: "Probably not even worth trying to keep secrets from Heaven. We've just got to trust they're too desperate and overextended to care." [22:06] 4Ir: "I'm not sure I've ever had any. I know how to swim, but only because that was part of military training. So we all swam in cloth armor." [22:08] 13Ying: "Then I gotta make you something really purretty!!" 15[22:08] 10Eikichi: "There are clothes for swimming?" 15[22:08] "Wouldn't they just get wet?" [22:08] "I think they're mostly for looking at." [22:09] "That's the impression I got, anyway." [22:09] 13She's beaming. "You can swim in 'em too! But yeah, lookin' cute, feelin' cute." 15[22:11] 10Eikichi: "Oh, yeah, beach clothes! I know what *those* are. But you just take those off and swim like normal, surely." 15[22:11] 10He looks quizzically at Blossom. [22:11] 4Ir laughs as she finishes plating the tartare. "Like I said. Cloth armor." 08[22:12] 7Blossom shrugs back at Eikichi, equally confused. "There are clothes for the beach, like for playing volleyball and stuff like that? But you don't take them into the water, usually? I don't get it." [22:13] 4What she serves is a modest round of the best, most tender raw cut from the hedgepig, seasoned three times, garnished with onion and, if anyone would prefer, the runny yolk of an only slightly-boiled egg. [22:14] 4Ir: "The second course is up for the skinny-dippers." [22:15] 7Blossom will decline the egg, as that would make this workout food and she'd be obliged to go run laps. 15[22:15] 10Eikichi tries the tartare. It's good, but Ir correctly surmised it's not his thing. "Did you play volleyball? You must have been a terror on the courts." [22:16] 4Ir indulges the egg, because after this she probably WILL be running laps to burn off energy, since Marek is away again. And as soon as they got back to some place with a proper bed, too. [22:17] 13Ying will gladly take the offered egg, because eggs are delicious. She might zoom around later, or she might do some flips, or might take a nap. So many possibilities! [22:17] 7Blossom: "Undefeated and undefeatable! Ooh, but if Ying is making us beach clothes we can use them to show off how attractive we all are and make everyone else around jealous." 15[22:17] 10That's why you're the best, Bloss! [22:18] 4Ir: "I'm not quite sure I have a beach body, but I suppose we'll see." [22:19] 13Ying: "I will! ...as soon as I can get my stuff again. Any requests furom anyone?" [22:19] 4Ir: "Something tasteful for me. Maybe a...what's it called? Sarong." 4She's looking to get away from the Queen of the Kruthik bodysuit. [22:21] 7Sensible. You wouldn't want to get sand in that thing. [22:22] 4Ir, once she finishes putting the rub on the four steaks: "How done does everybody want theirs?" [22:23] 13Ying: "Blue please!" 15[22:23] 10Eikichi: "I could do with a pair of nice low-cut short pants." 15[22:23] 10To Ir: "Medium." [22:24] 4With the hedgepig long since pulled off the cooking fire, she walks over and efficiently rigs up a grill over it, casually grabbing hot metal and reaching into the flames themselves. Being a Chosen of the Sun can really help with grilling. [22:25] 4She mucks about with the fire's composition a bit, switching in some briquettes she found in an odd corner, and gives the flames a few minutes to rise, frowning at it and prodding it in turn. When it's just right, the steaks go on for their individual sear. She'll transfer them to specially-prepared pans once the sear is done -- the previous chef in residence knew his business. [22:26] "Medium... rare." 08[22:27] 4Ir's own will be rare, so this is a fairly easy process: each gets seared the exact same amount of time, then all get transferred to pans. Ying's is turned and then comes off almost immediately, then Ir's, then Blossom's, then Eikichi's. [22:28] 4She still doesn't quite understand why it's called 'blue,' but a lot of kitchen jargon is stupid. [22:29] 7Blossom thought she was talking about the sarong. [22:29] 13Ying begins digging in almost immediately. [22:34] 7Blossom chews, swallows: "So, uh, Ying. Has Tatsuya realized he has cat ears now? Should we tell him?" [22:34] 4Ir does the dishes in mere efficient moments except for the stuff that needs to be left to soak, and then settles in with her own steak around the fire. [22:35] 13Ying: "I modified his hood, but I don't think he's noticed. His hair's purretty thick..." 13And so's his skull, but she's not gonna say that. 15[22:35] 10Eikichi: "I've seen him scratch them. He has to know." [22:35] 13She shrugs. "That stuff's kinda unconscious. Like, I've purrobably done it in the last few minutes." 13She has, at least three times. 15[22:35] 10Imitating Tatsuya: "'Uh. What are these weird lumps in my hair? Oh well, better not investigate or think about it again.'" 15[22:35] "Okay no when I say it like that I believe you." 14[22:37] * Joins: mattbaby [22:38] 13She snickers, taking another bite of steak. [22:38] "We have to tell him." [22:38] "Otherwise he might realize it when we're not around." [22:38] 13Ying: "Think about how funny it'll be when he tells you about this amazing new discofurry he's made, though." 15[22:39] 10Eikichi: "The trick is just, next time you see him, compliment the ears." 15[22:39] "They are cute." [22:43] 13She reaches up to scratch her own, on purpose this time. "Aren't they, though?" 13she sighs dreamily. [22:44] 7Blossom: "Does it make hearing different?" [22:46] 13Ying: "It did fur a bit. Um, hearing things furom two places n'yall. But I've gotten purretty good at listening to one or the other." [22:50] 7Blossom shifts in her seat. Is it weird to ask Ying if she can scratch her cat ears? It might be weird... [22:51] "Can I scratch your cat ears?" [22:52] 13Ying: "Hm? Yeah, sure!" 13She leans over so Blossom can reach easily. 15[22:52] 10Eikichi chokes on a throatful of meat. [22:53] 4Ir: "Anyway. I think we should go somewhere new for our vacation." [22:53] "Like, new new." [22:53] "Have to travel a month to get there new." 15[22:53] "The West!" 15[22:53] "I've never been West." [22:54] 4Ir expertly carves up the rest of her steak into thin slices, then rolls it into the flatbread she toasted after slathering it in the rest of the nugget sauce. "Make your case for the West." [22:55] 7Blossom scratches Ying behind the ears. Soft! "Can't argue that there are a lot of beaches out West. And you'd be able to use the Heavensward as an ordinary ship." [22:56] 13Ying's purring, which drops her voice a bit: "Sunny, right? Fishing..." 15[22:56] 10Eikichi: "Sunshine, islands, elementals we can trivially cow into letting us pass. Lovely swimming. Exotic spices, beautiful clothes, and the fish! All the different fish! We could get kava. I've always wanted to try kava." [22:57] 4Ir points the wrap at him. "The fish. Okay. Now I'm sold. Specifically, we're gonna eat shark." 15[22:57] "And it's the place we're most likely to find a town full of people who have no idea who we are." [22:57] "I'm gonna jump in the water and wrestle us a shark." [22:58] 13!! "I've nefur had shark... has anynyan else?" [22:58] 7Blossom sticks a tongue out. "It's not very good." 15[22:58] 10Eikichi shakes his head. [22:59] "You'll love it, Ying, because the best way to prepare fish is raw, with proper garnishes." [22:59] 4Ir grins. "You haven't had shark prepared by me." [22:59] 13Incredible! "Ahhhhh!" 13Fish... [23:00] 4ir: "Of course, we might run into pirates." [23:00] "I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing...?" [23:01] 7Blossom: "Free silver." [23:01] 13Ying: "Can't be anypawdy more dangerous than us out there..." 13Is Blossom still scratching? [23:02] 7Yes. [23:03] 4Ir sighs. "Fighting pirates sound like fun...until we find our they're also slavers, and then we'll feel obligated to find their base, and..." [23:03] "...It's really hard to take a day off in this line of work." [23:04] 13Good. 15[23:05] 10Eikichi: "That's the problem with not being mercenaries." [23:06] 13Ying: "How often do they come close to shore? Other than at their hideouts or whatefur." [23:06] 7Blossom: "Pirates don't usually haul slaves around on cruises. If they've got any on board that aren't just turned into part of the crew, they're making a beeline for a harbor." [23:06] "Well, that's something I guess." 15[23:07] 10Eikichi: "We can hew as close or as far from the main trade routes depending on our appetite for human trouble or inhuman trouble." 08[23:11] 7Blossom: "I can teach Eikichi to haul on ropes and things." 7In the beating sun of the Western ocean, it's often wise to go shirtless through most of the day... Blossom wipes her mouth. [23:11] 4Ir: "The Dreaming Sea also sounds nice..." 15[23:12] 10Blossom showing Eikichi how to work with ropes... Eikichi wipes his mouth. "Technically Dynastic territory, though, as I understand it. Though I understand everything's weird out there." [23:13] 7Blossom: "They won't cause us trouble." [23:13] "I mean, unless we fly an actual flag that says 'We're Anathema' on it." 15[23:13] 10In mock protest: "I had all these insignia sketched...!" [23:14] 4Ir: "We definitely need proper flags if we're going to actually sail." [23:14] "That's just part of the deal!!" [23:15] "We need an ensign, a house flag, probably courtesy flags from whoever we'll be visiting, the free flag..." [23:16] 13Ying, nodding before moving Blossom's hand to her other ear: "I was gonna say, flying without a flag purrobably gets us instantly boarded." 15[23:16] "Should we keep a white flag or is that just bad luck?" [23:17] "Yeah, usually those are just shirts or bits of canvas anyhow." [23:17] 7Blossom: "White flags at sea are for truce or parley. You surrender by striking your colors." [23:17] "We need to decide on colors." [23:18] 4White flags are actually surrender flags in Pneuma, but Pneuma ships, as established, are weird. [23:21] "We're going to need two flags, the first of which can be temporary -- the ensign, for Zeal, which we can change when Zeal becomes a concern -- but also a house flag, which if I'm not mistaken outside the Realm is commonly expected to be a company, guild, or in our case, circle flag." 15[23:22] 10Eikichi: "Question is, do we want a sign people will know us by? It'd make it a little harder to fly under the dragon's eyes." [23:22] 7Blossom: "Right. We can just fly a flag of convenience. Heck, pick the Pneuman flag. Who's going to argue?" 15[23:23] "Wwwweeee can probably pick something less fraught." [23:23] 4Ir: "Just about everybody. The Realm will want to know what we're doing out of port in the West and in the Dreaming Sea, they'll be asking themselves how the ship even got down there." [23:23] 13Ying: "Furry carefurly." [23:24] 13She sighs. "Sorry. Habit." 15[23:24] "Once they meet us the idea that we do anything very carefully will not stand up to scrutiny." [23:24] "But fine, even if we DON'T fly it, we'll still need it eventually. Because it's cool. And if we do have to smack some people down, we should run it up the flagstaff first." [23:24] 4Or the gaff, really, since the Zeal flag probably won't be done yet. 15[23:26] 10Eikichi: "We're not going to need to have ranks, are we?" [23:26] 13Ying: "...there any kind of magic we could use to make our flag look not suspicious to anyone peeking?" [23:26] 4Ir: "We'd need a crew for ranks. And I don't see that happening." [23:27] "Not giving off anything suspicious, just, 'oh that's fine move along.' Tatsuya does it a lot but I dunno if it'd work fur a flag." 15[23:27] 10Eikichi: "Seems like it'd be easier to have a second flag than a real flag we enchanted to look different." [23:27] 13Specific, not suspicious. [23:28] 13Ying: "No, no, like no matter who's looking at it they just think it's fine. If you asked 'em later they purrobably couldn't even tell anyone what flag it was, just that they thought it was safe." 15[23:30] 10Eikichi: "A universally inoffensive brand?" 15[23:30] "Not exactly my forte, but we could work something up..." [23:32] "If anybody knows about building a brand, it's 'kichi." 7She says loyally. 15[23:33] 10He kisses her on the cheek. What a sweetie! [23:34] 7She reddens slightly, but still MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. 15[23:36] 10He's just glad she seems to be feeling better. Eikichi seems to be feeling good too, though he deflates a bit as he realizes Raksi will know exactly how good he's feeling. [23:38] 7Yes... she'll know just how good he feels now that he's left her again. Heh heh heh. ~Scoreboard~ 15[23:38] 10Yeah... 15[23:39] 10Eikichi sits up abruptly and goes for more of the raspberry bubbly. [23:39] "The Dreaming Sea does sound nice, but maybe that's just because of the name. Very evocative." [23:40] 13Ying: "I bet they get that a lot." 15[23:40] 10Eikichi: "Sounds fae." 15[23:40] "Not fae as a pejorative. Just, you know. Fae." 15[23:43] 10He deflates more as the camp goes silent. "I hate it here." [23:43] 4Ir's on her third bubbly now. "Does the Heavensward need anything done to make her seaworthy or is it just about landing it without messing up the keel?" [23:43] "Same." [23:43] 13Ying: "Yeah." [23:43] "Of course she's seaworthy. I'd never make a vessel that wasn't... Hmm. It's a good thing I already proofed the Heavensward against insects. I'm not saying I *wouldn't* eat biscuit weevils, but as god-queens I feel like we deserve to live better." [23:43] "Nothing feels as good as it should. Least of all winning a fight." 15[23:44] 10Eikichi: "The ventral sail would probably need to be folded back if he's to swim. The Heavensward's not built to drag through water." 15[23:44] "But it won't sink or anything." [23:45] 4Right. Realm ships are men. 15[23:45] 10Nothing feels as good as it should. Most things feel awful, and some things feel way way too good. [23:46] 4Ir: "Also, I don't like wars of conquest." [23:47] "I'm not saying we should swear off ever doing them again, but...they suck." 15[23:47] 10Eikichi: "Obviously I don't... I'm not to be trusted about this. But... does it feel worth it, to you all?" 15[23:47] "To keep going?" [23:48] 13Ying: "We gotta." 08[23:48] 7Blossom grits her teeth and fights to keep the snarl out of her voice. Eikichi would just think she was mad at him. "Yes." [23:48] "It feels like it would be spit in our own eyes, and Marek's, and everyone else who has believed in us, if we didn't. That's more important to me." 15[23:48] 10Oh no, Blossom is gritting her teeth and tightly controlling her own voice. She must be mad at him...! [23:49] 13Ying: "I know Tatsuya would say yes, too. We can't just leave this half-done." 15[23:50] "You're all right, of course." 10His mood seems to have soured, nonetheless. [23:52] 7Blossom, trying to lighten the mood: "Can we agree that we were all extremely cool during that rescue? That was insane." 15[23:52] 10Eikichi's fingers flex involuntarily. [23:53] 4Ir: "I liked the jailbreak. That was an excellent bit. Makes us look less selfish in the simplest way possible: by being less selfish." [23:53] 13Ying taps her claws together. 15[23:53] "That was Tatsuya's idea. Quick thinking by him. I wouldn't even have thought to check for other prisoners." [23:55] "You had other things on your mind." 7Blossom pats him sympathetically on the shoulder. "But holding open that small hole in the the fire dome so that our flying mounts could zoom through at the last second? That was like... like something out of Star Hero Saga!" [23:56] 4Ir: "Also, having flying mounts in the first place." 15[23:57] 10Eikichi: "Plus I opened the doors of the pyramid." 15[23:57] 10He stands up abruptly. "I need to stretch my legs. They're falling asleep." [23:57] 4Ir nods. It's probably time to start cleaning up the rest of the pans anyway. 15[23:59] 10It was getting hard to breathe there. Of course it's hard to breathe anywhere in this FUCKING JUNGLE. 15[23:59] 10Almost anywhere. 15[23:59] 10Eikichi shakes his head like a dog wriggling out of rainwater. Now he's imagining her voice. 15[23:59] 10...right? Session Time: Mon Jul 29 00:00:00 2019 08[00:00] 7Blossom watches Eikichi walk away, a worried look on her face. [00:00] 13Ying finally just curls up by the fire. This looks uncomfortable to any onlookers, but they are wrong. 14[00:14] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:44] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[02:20] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[04:32] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[05:24] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[09:20] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:23] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:15] * Joins: tom 14[16:31] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:35] * Joins: cbass 14[21:21] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Tue Jul 30 00:00:00 2019 14[00:02] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:46] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[12:34] * Joins: trench_foot 14[12:38] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:01] * trench_foot is now known as trenchfoot 14[15:19] * Joins: tom 14[19:26] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:50] * Joins: hrolf 15[21:02]  15[21:02]  15[21:02]  15[21:02]  15[21:02]  15[21:03] Is this the end? 15[21:05] After endless plans and struggles, through fear and loathing Nexus and its champions have come. It's been ransacked, burned, sieged, and plague-ridden. Thousands have died. Thousands more may yet. In time, should our heroes fall, the whole Direction may follow. 15[21:05] But if they win today, if their daring and dangerous plan succeeds, the raksha horde could be vanquished, and the day won for the fallen and for the survivors. 15[21:06] How does the circle prepare itself for this climactic battle? [21:06] 14And somewhere in Heaven, a pawn would move on a game board. If they're particularly audacious, perhaps a promotion. So it goes. [21:07] 14Once the plan is sorted, Stranger will spend his remaining time alone with The Ambassador, resting and preparing for what is undoubtedly going to be the most grueling social outing of his life. [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Thanks to a hideous, crippling curse that only one of the terrifying Anathema could even hope to bear the weight of, Keldar has very few preparations to make. He'll be sallying out to battle in shirt and breeches, for even fate itself seems to have stopped caring if and how much he's girded himself for war. The men of the Dawn Guard, too, will better benefit from the attention of [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Tsuka and other delegate commanders than from the logistical and strategic expertise of the Dawn Sergeant himself. But that changes today. [21:10] 14Stranger will be sure to take a moment to clasp Keldar's hand before the strike party leaves, along with Xu Sim's and rest. They don't always get along, but their bond runs deeper than friendship. For better or worse, they are a Circle of the Sun. [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Give 'er hell in there." [21:13] 5After a quiet moment with Seven, Xu Sim hands her a sealed envelope. "DO NOT OPEN" 5is scrawled commandingly across the front. The doctor makes his way to join the others. He presents Stranger and Xia Lan with a pair of ruddy pills. [21:13] 13Xia Lan's there to see them off as well, but her attentions are focused on Tsuka. Also her lips. She has no words that would convey her feelings; this will have to do. [21:16] 10After blowing off steam in the practice grounds, mystifying a good dozen city kids, and having a tense argument with a deathknight, Jai seeks out some quiet. By flickering candlelight, he rereads a favorite section of the 10Thousand Correct Actions10 — this one claiming to be an unexpurgated edition, with commentary. He'd received it as a gift from 99 Dark Star before embarking on his field exam, and he's protected it [21:16] 10 through thick and thin ever since. [21:16] 5Xu Sim summons Grittoth; he orders the demon to watch over Seven as her bodyguard. The legion of Bleak Ardua and the Disciples of Thran form ranks to provide their eldritch support wherever needed on the battlefield. [21:19] 14To Keldar: "You too." [21:20] 14Then it's time to find a proper place to get sleepy on honey and tea. [21:20] 10When he's found some peace, Jai stows the precious volume away and heads off to the armorer. No need for cumbersome muffling this time. Today, he's choosing to go into the battle instead of being merely caught up in it. He'll meet up with Keldar and Stranger at the gate. [21:21] 5Xu Sim bows to Xia Lan and Stranger-Visits-Heaven. "Take the pills now. Next time you see me with waking eyes, the war will be over," 5he smiles. [21:22] 13Finally coming up for air: "Do I want to know what they'll do?" 13She's already swallowed her share. 15[21:22] Tsuka has a lot of trouble giving orders with Xia Lan draped over him. His voice keeps cracking for some reason. [21:23] 14Stranger swallows his. "Probably not the details, no." [21:23] 13She's beaming innocently out at his troops. [21:23] 5Xu Sim: "Iron. It should help you fight to wakefulness, resist the trickery of the Raksha-witch." [21:26] 14To Xia Lan, before they go under: "Once we're in there...find me." [21:26] 10It's actually a little shocking to see Keldar practically stripped. "I guess we know who's jumping in front of who if anything unexpected happens, right, Sarge?" [21:26] 13She nods, first to Xu Sim, then later to Stranger. "We'll make it." [21:27] 5Xu Sim regards Keldar. "Well, it's you and me. Brains and brawn." 5Pursing his lips and looking at Jai: "Not sure about you," 5he teases. [21:28] 10Jai: "Pfffft. I'm not half the fighter Keldar is, but we need everything we can right now." 15[21:29] With their good-lucks said and preparations made, the Centered Circle spreads to its positions: Stranger and Xia Lan under guard by Seven and a deployment of the Seventh Caduceus, cups of tea sweetened with Prisoner's Honey in their hands; Jai, Keldar, and Xu Sim at the tip of the spear, ready to ford the river at the signal. [21:29] "And someone's got to carry the news back to Nexus if you two get laid out, right?" 10Also teasing back, just a bit. [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yep. And when we throw you into the mix we've got magic, too." 12He waits a beat. "Seriously, though, Cethleann barely even left me any brawn. Think if we arm wrestled right now you'd win." [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "All I am's a sword." [21:31] 5Xu Sim shakes his head. "You're the Dawn Sergeant." [21:32] "'The sword is useless in the hands of the man who knows not whence to strike,'" 10Jai quotes. [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Only in name-" 12He nods to Jai. "And that's my problem. Fortunately I've got the pair of you. Sword's all our Circle should need til this is over." [21:33] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven drifts away... [21:35] 13Sip. Sip. Set aside the cup. Dream. [21:38] 10Jai: "Then I'll be your eyes and ears. Come on, daylight's wasting. We want the Sun to see this one." 15[21:40] As Stranger and Xia Lan drift off to sleep, the signal is given at the front. The signal is the raking fire of the Final Word's larboard essence cannon, the lances and buffets of minor elementals, and the literal fire of Blooded officers, clad in jade, sweeping forward, just behind the Solars. "LOOKSHY SAYS HELLO!" bellows Vuol Ballare from the sky above, where she rides the storm 15[21:40] and rains it down from on high. 15[21:41] The assault clears a foothold on the far banks of the Yellow, which swells behind them to urge their soldiers onward and lifts the very river from its banks to harmlessly soak up the slings and arrows Cethleann's horde sends in reply. 15[21:44] The Solars' feet touch the ground and they're off, leading the landing with weapons drawn and katas steadied as they meet the ranks of the hobgoblin horde head-on. [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12A massive, golden knight looms a hundred feet tall over the battlefield, the spires of Nexus dimly visible through the gleaming haze of its armor. Then it burns orange-red from below as Keldar comes charging forward beneath it, grand daiklave held at the ready, hair wild, eyes aglow. When all you've got is a cutting edge... 15[21:53] Stranger drifts... and feels the sun on his face. He opens his eyes to star up at a violet sky, four suns hanging tightly together above him like they're hung from the same hook. The trees are twisted crystal, and from somewhere a flute plays. He rises to see a woman lying on a chaise, a leather chair beside her, a table between them. Her hair is violet and her skin is faintly green. 15[21:53] Her skin, bare and hide-armored alike, is peppered with black thorns. 15[21:54] Xia Lan drifts... and feels heat on her face. She awakens to a darkened sky thick with embers of fire that drift down slow and crooked like snowflakes. Around her are battle sounds. [21:54] 14Stranger sits up and rolls his neck. Does it crack, here? 15[21:55] It does. 15[21:55] Xia Lan rises to see a woman mounted on a violet horse, clad in armor, wielding a silver lance that runs straight and true. 15[21:55] That lance is pointed at her now. 15[21:56] The Sleeper: "There you are." 15[21:56] The Queen: "There you are." [21:57] 13She raises her hands casually. "Here I am. I suppose I can't complain about the welcoming party." [21:58] 14Stranger: "Here I am. I suppose I can't complain about the view." [21:58] "Four Suns on the edge of the sky." [21:59] 14No tea, Stranger takes it. That's fine. He doesn't really need it in talks like these. There's a verve to them even the sharpest blends don't touch. 15[22:01] The Dreamer: "And one come down to earth. I wonder why?" 15[22:02] The Queen: "So you've come down from the sky, She-Who-Won't-Give-Her-Name? Come down at the rivers where you set the fires?" 15[22:03] "I won't let you beat me again." [22:03] 14Stranger: "Bad luck, I suppose." [22:04] 14He gestures to the table. "Do you mind?" [22:04] 13Xia Lan: "You're in a better place to know that than I am, I think." 13She shrugs, hands still well away from her weapons. "Would you believe it if I told you I came here to talk?" 15[22:05] The Sleeper waves her hand. She's on her side now, watching Stranger with glittering eyes. [22:07] 10There's no time to gawp at Keldar's phenomenal display. Jai unslings Burning Tizona from his back—no need to conceal it, not today—and adopts an aggressive overhead stance, charging at the raksha host. By the time he crashes into their lines, he's running like an enraged yeddim. 15[22:07] The Queen's horse rears back. "Again? Haven't you said enough? Who is left to turn against me? Would you bend me against my own heart too." She hurls the lance in Xia Lan's direction. "What more do you want from me?! Begone!" [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12It's the empty-eyed thrals of the eastern Raksha that encounter Keldar first, and they do not fare well. The warrior's gold-and-silver daiklave carves massive, glowing arcs through the air around him, sending sprays of blood and shockwaves of essence to and from the entire formation of honey-maddened men. They can't withstand the assault, and break into a frenzied mass of flesh [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12and scavenged weapons. [22:18] 14Stranger will sit down then, cross-legged, with a gracious but very slight smile on his face. [22:22] 13Xia Lan steps aside and lets the lance fall harmlessly. "Is that how it is," 13she says blandly. "As I said. To talk." [22:22] 14Stranger: "I don't want you here anymore." [22:23] 5Xu Sim leaps into the fray - but does not attack. He takes a deep breath, centering his focus, feeling his attention spread across the rubble strewn riverbank. [22:23] "We can go through memories if you'd like, but I suspect that won't be useful to either of us." 15[22:25] The Sleeper: "Then make your case." 15[22:25] The Queen: "Then make your case." [22:31] 13Xia Lan: "...there's a city that needs me. I'm no fighter, certainly not now. Not after..." 13She waves a hand vaguely. "And yet. I want to help them. I want to understand you. I want to do something." [22:34] 14Stranger: "You seem to have a fixation about death. I don't say that lightly or without evidence; you stand ahead a war party rarely seen in Creation -- the only other time, the last time. You have killed countless men, women, and children. Well, Heaven counts. The number doesn't matter much to me, once it goes over one. Your lover died because you betrayed him, and he betrayed [22:34] you, so the story goes; truly died, in the only way he could have, by becoming something completely different." [22:34] "I, of course, will eventually die. And then something that resembles me will return." [22:34] "But not you, hmm? You're just...like this." [22:36] 14Above them, the Suns pulse...and begin to spin. [22:39] 14They're following the same rotation and speed as the dreaming version of the Sol Ring that's projected behind Stranger's head. [22:57] 14He'll pause politely here to let Cethleann get in a word if she wants; if not, he'll continue. [23:00] 10Jai wades through a hail of silver-barbed arrows and the worst the hobgoblins can bring to bear, cutting them down one by one. But it's the maddened thralls that take him by surprise. If Jai was a yeddim, these are a herd of bison, and he can't quite stand against the tide. 15[23:03] The Queen: "So do I. Why should you get what you want?" 15[23:03] The Sleeper: "I am eternal... but ever-changing. If every death is change, is every change death?" [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Handily fending off the ravening once-thralls, the dawn-fire glow that Keldar spent in his last attack builds to a terrible radiance around the Dawn Sergeant once again as he wades into the hobgoblin ranks. He stomps through the lesser raksha like a behemoth through a village, snarling and lunging and smashing almost as often as he cuts. Before long, the terrified creatures are [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12parting around Keldar, offering the Solar's circlemates an unobstructed view of the Sergeant's daiklave crashing down against the shields and lances of the faerie elites - and stopping dead! [23:06] 14He nods. "You don't like being here. That much is obvious. You try to hide it sometimes, and other times you don't, but the contempt radiates off you. I suspect you only came here in the first place because of Balor, and it's only Balor that's dragged you back. I can sympathize, in an admittedly limited way. Sometimes I have these dreams, and when I wake up, the colors...well. I'm [23:06] sure you know. [23:06] "That brings us to the question of why you're here in the first place. You knew change was death already, but the corollary is that death was change, and Balor had just died. I suspect you thought that maybe -- just maybe -- change might have changed him back. I don't believe this was pure opportunism given the fall of the Emissary, nor do I believe it was pure vengeance to be meted [23:06] out to what was left of his 'corpse.' I don't believe you'd come here, to a place you hate and which hates you in kind, just for a show. And I don't believe you came here for the slaughter, though you certainly don't mind it or care. You wanted to make a rhetorical point. [23:06] "And rhetorical points are very, very strong." [23:06] 13Xia Lan: "Who am I, to you?" 13It's an abrupt change of tack. 15[23:09] The Sleeper: "The greatest trick you people ever pulled was convincing yourselves rhetoric and reality are different." [23:11] 14Stranger: "No; that was perhaps the second greatest. The greatest was convincing everyone else that they could ever really build anything with a sword. We had...so many swords." [23:11] "The Realm is finding out now how poor they serve as hammers, and how poor blood serves as mortar." [23:11] "But! Hardly your concern." 15[23:13] The Queen: "The face on high! The voice in my head. The fire in the sky. But I know what you really are. You're just some desperate failure who fell out of her depth and found a power you don't understand. Why won't you tell me your name?" [23:16] 13Xia Lan: "...the Unfettered Xia Lan. Desperate failure is maybe more pointed than I'd like, but not incorrect." [23:23] 14Above them the Suns are no longer spinning; they're rising and setting in the 'sky,' rapid but stately and fluid. 15[23:33] The Queen: "Xia Lan... I'll remember that. You say you want to do something. But what? What more can you do?" [23:35] 13She shrugs. "I've got no fucking clue. I'd love to strike a cool pose and tell you I know I can save the people of Nexus, or my friends, or even just me, but I'm all talk. So. I want to talk. Why are you here? I've heard stuff, but I've heard enough things about me to know not to trust that." 15[23:36] The Sleeper yawns. "What are you driving at?" [23:36] 5Xu Sim turns aside attack after attack of the Cataphractoi, before coming back with one of his own. The burning ruddy mandalas flare on his brow and in the sky above, although below on the riverbank, not much damage is inflicted on the armored raksha warriors. [23:39] 10Jai finally escapes the clutches of the mob and joins Keldar and Xu Sim's battle against the cataphractoi. The daiklaive seems to catch the rays of the sun, making it seem like it truly has caught fire. For the assembled raksha nobles, it is the last thing a good half dozen of them ever see. Jai's earlier awkwardness with the sword is evaporating, smoothly flowing from stance to stance. Iron, Stone, Wind, Blood. 15[23:39] The Queen: "I'm here--" She gestures widely "--to wipe away the stain of Creation. I'm here--" She thrusts her lance into the dirt "--because I have been betrayed." [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a part of Keldar that keeps an ongoing and highly detailed log of the combative capabilities of all of his allies and enemies, but there's another part of Keldar that just plain keeps forgetting that Xu Sim knows how to catch lances with his bare hands and not even muss his sleeves. The mercenary keeps raising his sword defensively and then finding that nothing meets it -- [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12which means he's got the opportunity to keep that upward motion going and unhorse, disarm, or just plain decapitate the armored fiends that now set upon him and his allies. [23:42] 13Xia Lan: "Betrayed by...?" 13We can cover the stain of Creation part later. [23:44] 13Is there anything nearby they could both lean up against? Something that doesn't involve weaponry being thrown in the general direction of Xia Lan? Just planning, here. 15[23:44] The Queen: "I won't speak his name again." [23:46] 13Xia Lan: "Noted. Could you... get off your horse? I kind of want to sit down while we talk, if that's okay with you." 14[23:47] * Joins: hrolfy [23:48] 14Stranger: "That you're in control. If you want to die, you can. If you want to change, you can. You might have had to come here to do it. If you want to kill me too, well, you'll be unleashing something much more fun on the world, but much less interesting, if I might be permitted some self-regard. I'll die eventually either way. You and your story, you're timeless, no matter how [23:48] much of this world you eat. [23:48] "And timelessness is the problem, isn't it? Love is vengeance deferred, but what does deferral mean to someone who can't change? What do you hope to punish? You can't punish him. He's gone. He was never even really here. He enforces a traffic code now. He meters carriages. And you're left with a story without an ending, because all you've got is the story you had before. It's why you [23:48] can march right in here and murder children in their beds, and it's also your curse. [23:48] "You want to know my theory? My theory is that when an Incarna changes her story, the story changes along with her. Not at first, but over time. It'd get written down slightly differently, piece by piece, mouth to mouth, twisting and turning into the new soul, the new blood. The new rhetoric. And you...you'd become something new. Your story would change. Belief in you would change. [23:48] You'd die, as you like, and you'd become something else you wanted to be more. You said rhetoric was reality. You can prove it. [23:48] "Stories don't just go foreward. They go backward, too. You have a chance to fix the past in the only way that matters. You just have to be willing to die for it. [23:48] I am." 15[23:48] The Queen considers this, and gets off her high horse. 14[23:49] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:50] 13Xia Lan looks around for anywhere comfortable to sit. All else fails, she's willing to just sit down where she's standing, but that seems rude. Even if she is sort of a guest here. [23:51] 13Conversationally: "Stain of Creation. That's a new one. Is that off-limits, too?" 15[23:52] Seats and a table materialize as the Queen descends. She sits too; she towers over her interlocutor. 15[23:52] The Queen: "The reek. The ugliness. The hate. So empty and so noisy at once. What a waste." [23:54] 13Xia Lan actually laughs. "If you had caught me like, a year ago, I'd agree without hesitation. Now I have to hesitate a bit before I agree. And yet." [23:54] "It's - stupidly honest. I appreciate that." [23:57] 13Xia Lan: "I was so angry until the Sun chose me. Heck, even when the Sun did choose me. Having to care for, defend, educate, elevate these -- awful people. But I found things I could care for. Cultivate. Even found a person I loved." 13She shrugs. "Life's funny like that." [23:57] "Don't tell them that, by the way, because I was totally taking their money for concert tickets well before I actually liked any of them." Session Time: Wed Jul 31 00:00:00 2019 15[00:01] Jai notices it first. His sword, previously clanging against the cataphract's dreaming plate as steel against steel, cleaves straight through, releasing a font of fluttering motion. Then Keldar follows up by nimbly decapitating another, and more of it gushes forth from the top of the severed neck. Xu Sim doesn't even get a chance to hit his before it dissolves entirely. Ten thousand 15[00:01] butterflies fill the air around them, leaving the husks of bodies to shrivel into salt on the earth. They rise to join others up and down the river, hundreds of thousands, thousands of thousands -- enough to blot out the sun. 15[00:02] The surviving thralls dance among them in childlike rapture. [00:02] 10Jai: "What— did it work?" [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "All right, what the fuck. Xu Sim, I think we want some butterflies of our own here-" [00:03] 5Xu Sim stares in stupefecation for a moment. [00:03] 10Jai boggles, as dumbfounded as those kids were earlier "Xu Sim! What does this mean?!" 15[00:04] As Keldar speaks, his voice distorts and fades. He finds it difficult to push words out of his throat. No sound emerges. The butterflies cloud their vision until all is white and all is silent. 15[00:04] The Sleeper extends her hand. "Come, then. Die with me." Stranger takes it without thinking. [00:04] 14He made the offer. [00:05] 14May the future live better. 15[00:05] The Queen shakes her head. "No. No. We will live after we die." The both of them are consumed by the fire falling from the sky, fluttering and white. 15[00:07] The five of them all hang together, feet dangling until they all settle on nothing. White all around. No ground. No sky. Just the five of them and her, and a path between them marked in polished stones, telling the tale of those who have joined and parted. 15[00:08] Cethleann stands before them as she did when she cursed Keldar and Xia Lan. When their weapons crossed in Nexus. 15[00:08] She smiles warmly, but not at them. She's looking somewhere. 15[00:08] Cethleann: "Next time: The empty channel." 14[00:37] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:38] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:12] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[15:35] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[15:35] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[15:35] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[16:43] * Joins: tom 14[19:58] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:32] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:27] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:43] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:08] * Joins: tom 14[22:15] * Joins: Crion_ 14[22:17] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:19] * Joins: Crion 14[22:20] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:24] * Quits: cbass (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:25] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:27] * Joins: cbass 14[22:28] * Joins: Crion 14[23:05] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Thu Aug 01 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seconds) 15[15:45] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Aug 08 15:45:40 2019 Session Start: Thu Aug 08 19:01:42 2019 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[19:01] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[19:01] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[19:01] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[19:51] * Joins: tom [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12 | [ | v': : | |_,;c [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12 | ] |/; |, | | [ ( __,/ [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12 | ,-'/ ;\ ,< _',\.-._,; | ] | n [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12 | -' / _;'; '=_'-' ,) ,\ | ,; [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12 | ] / \,'__/--,_,-- 'mm'J -"_ ] '-,+_ [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12 | / / "''-.,;"---''--'"" \ ] __ "-' [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12;' [ / : : _c / / ",_,' [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12| [ | v| , '/ c c \ | [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12\ ] | \ /| : __,-,v;|] . \| [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12 [ /"--'/ | (7_ c@ ) )/| [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12\ ] ,-"'<': '--, ( /^ | [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12| ] / : '| \ | ) | [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12| | / | | ;,-;, \ ,)( ]| [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12| \^ | | : |\ ,' \ / \ [ | [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12| ? / \_ | /|: | , \ | [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12| | ('. "--' |:, ; :\ ,\ [| [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12| ;\~) _ \_) ',_| , | ), \_ : [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12| |/ [ /""-,_ '-'( /.' | \ | '-_ [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12| [ | | "---,__"'=';=,_ | \ /|\ '"-,__ [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12| ] | : | ""'^.\ | | | \ [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12| [ ]| | : | ] \ \ / [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12It's west of Chithakara, and therefore farther from Mahalanka and its dread queen, that you've scheduled a meeting with your main contact with Yu-Shan. As far as I can recall Yara was going to be there sometime in the mid-afternoon, and fortunately it shouldn't be hard for any of you to be on time; west of the remains of the city you've conquered has mostly been razed and overgrown [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12by the kruthik, and the various sorcerous defenses of the Control Zone jungles have no way to reach or impede you as you travel. 15[21:06] 10Hopefully she likes what we've done with the place. [21:07] 13Maybe the weird gross bugs aren't so bad? No, of course they are. But sometimes they do useful things, I guess. [21:08] 4Fewer of them around now. [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Do you get there early? If so, you find that Yara's elected to meet in a jungle clearing which just happens to be on the edge of the swathe of destruction the kruthik have painted. There's a village of apostates a malm or two northward but no distinguishing features of note here. Well, none besides the demon lord. [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Octavian's standing in the middle of the clearing, arms crossed, frowning deeply. "You." [21:09] 4We just keep running into each other. Weird. [21:09] 13Ying, brightly: "Us!" [21:09] 4Vaguely chipperly, as if this is a normal day at the office:"Hello, Octavian." 15[21:10] 10Eikichi's too out of it to insult Octavian. [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Octavian: "I am tasked with seeing to this meeting's safety. You were not followed?" [21:11] 4Ir: "Not that we're aware of." [21:13] 13Ying: "Nya, we're too good fur that. Besides, the kruthik'd get all riled up." [21:14] 7Blossom: "Oh, it's this guy again." [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Octavian takes a deep sniff. You know... the black oil that drips perpetually from the demon's flesh is usually impossible to miss, but even though he was upwind of you you didn't realize you'd be meeting him until you pushed the shrubbery aside. It occurs to you - the Quarter Prince seems to be have been painted with the same chemical palette as your demon servants were. "Indeed. [21:16] <@Ferrinus> I must say, I like what you've done with the place!" [21:16] 13That makes one of us! [21:16] 4Okay actually having a conversation with this guy is kind of weird. [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Octavian: "Spread them far and wide! It shall smooth the transition when I take Creation for my own." [21:17] "Glad to have your support on this." 4I guess. [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12A smaller and equally familiar voice from the other side of the clearing says: "Oh, hi! Is he being nice? I told him to be nice." 12Yara's walking out the still-intact foliage to the north, dressed all in black but pulling the cloth wrappings off her face to reveal her features and hair. [21:20] "Well, I appreciate the effort on both your parts." [21:20] 13Ying: "A purrfect gentleman!" [21:22] "Hello, Yara!" [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Octavian: "You see? It was trivial. And none of the little ones have intruded here." 12Yara: "Yes, yes. Well. Hello! Gosh, you guys are making a mess here." 12This last bit to you as she looks around, now idly massaging one hand with another. "You wouldn't believe the paperwork." [21:23] 4Ir will hand off the parlay note she got from the Chosen on the other side at Chithakara to Yara. Maybe her people can do handwriting analysis or...something. [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara unfolds it. "What's this?" [21:24] 4Ir: "When Jormungand was killed, Raksi's forces were directly aided by one of your people, generally speaking. An agent of Heaven, one of the Maidens. Starting to get a feel for how your magic works." [21:25] "We negotiated a three-day ceasefire in exchange for them getting back their boar boy and getting to walk away." [21:25] "That's the parlay note. I don't know if you can do something with it, or even if it was written by our guy." [21:25] "Pretty nice handwriting if it wasn't." [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara taps her chin. "This is familiar... where have I... but that makes sense. I mean, that you ran into one of us." [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12She looks up to Blossom. "I looked into what you said. It's kept really tightly under wraps, but really big, and so old I couldn't even find where the paperwork began! Like, like I caught Caturasya eating a field report about the Mahalanka project dated maybe five centuries back." [21:28] "Caturasya?" [21:28] 13Ying perks up. [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara doesn't pick up on, and answers Blossom earnestly. "The August Weaver. She's one of the oldest of the pattern spiders and has a taste for things filled out in triplicate." [21:29] 7Neat! [21:29] 13Oh. A pattern spider. Not - okay. That's way less fun. [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "But the point is, the point is - you were right. There's a secret project all about the Tee Cee Zee. Prayer goes up, support comes back down... up to and including our agents taking the field, it seems." [21:31] "So we're messing around in someone's pots and pans big time." [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12She looks down at the slip of paper in her hands again. Then Yara goes digging into the pockets of her stealth suit, variously pulling out and comparing bits of paper or wax seals or the like. [21:31] "Though in fairness I suspect Heaven has some kind of investment in every regional player of this size. Just...not always the Silver Pact ones." [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "That's what's so weird! As you say, our interest is obvious. Amoth City-Smiter doesn't want a ruin ever being restored to its former glory, Rabszolga wants the caste system here to keep running, all of it. But a Lunar'd never play along." [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Or at least that's what I thought." 14[21:35] * Joins: Crion_ [21:36] 7Blossom: "Perhaps she's lost interest in anything other than maintaining her position here." [21:36] 13Ying sighs. "Not efurrything." 14[21:36] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:37] <@Ferrinus> "She must have, right?"12Yara looks down at the note again, then just shuts her eyes and rocks on her heels for a moment. "...okay. Okay. This isn't familiar to me. But it was." [21:37] 4Ir: "It would almost be enough to give you hope that the Pact could reconcile with hte concept of civilization in Creation, if it weren't being showrun by an insane tyranical death cultist." [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I think this man worked closely with my last incarnation, once. I've only met him in passing, and I've only seen his actual Old Realm calligraphy. But I think you ran into Crimson Banner Executioner!" 12She frowns. "Which is odd..." [21:38] 13Ying: "Odd in what way?" [21:39] "Well, the name doesn't mean anything to me, which means he's not world-historically bad at his job." [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Well, first, I thought he was working up north with one of you. I mean, not one of you, some other returned Solar. And second, he's - I didn't explain much of our politics to you, did I?" [21:41] 4Ir: "I was probably cooking if you did. I gather they're complicated." [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I guess this part's simple enough. Most of us think that the Realm's the best way to keep Creation safe and ticking along, so they support the dominance of the Dragon-Blooded and try to put you down wherever you pop up. That's the 'bronze' faction. Kejak's effectively its head, and it - and this, this relationship the Bureau's got with Mahalanka - has deep roots in the [21:44] <@Ferrinus> Department of Secrets." [21:45] 4Ir: "Seems like you'd want to build the whole organization out of the Department of Secrets." [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Some of us think it'd be better long-term to restore the old Deliberative or something like it to power, and that Kejak went wrong all those years ago. That's the 'gold' faction. Uh, I guess it'd include me and my Circle at this point." 12She looks slightly embarassed. "But... I'd swear it also included the Executioner." [21:46] 13Ying: "Wait, go back a second, you said he was suppawsed to be up north with... Bergsveinn, purrobably?" [21:47] "...any chance this one's an impawster?" [21:47] "I'm guessing Kojack or what have you isn't so fond of all of us coming back at higher rights. That's actually true, right, the Sun's numbers are up?" [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "No, killing Bergsveinn was my job. Executioner was handling a different territory, and I think he was seeing to, what was the name, Kaneko?" [21:47] 13Not falling for this one again. Ka-Neko probably is just as catlike as Caturasya. [21:48] 4Ir: "Also it's entirely possible given the general 'thing' you all have going on up there that Executioner was just a bronze faction or Department of Secrets informant." [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Technically he was just supposed to be overseeing certain notable events in the downfall of the Tepet legions, but it was sort of an open secret he'd been advising an Anathema warlord." [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, Yurgen Kaneko - the Bull of the North! A mighty general of the Icewalkers, one who, last you heard, worked alongside Bergsveinn bringing down the northern behemoth... and died in the process. [21:51] 7Blossom: "So is there an, I guess, 'silver' faction? That supports the Lunars? I'd say that obviously didn't make sense, considering Lunar attitudes toward Heaven, but-- well, here we are." [21:52] 7Plus, the other factions are named after metals, so why not fill out the grid? This is how societies work, she's sure of it. [21:52] 13Oh. Right. That guy. Bummer for him, and probably a bummer for Berg. [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I've heard people make that joke over drinks. But, I mean, they hate us. Except apparently not." [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "That's one of the stumbling blocks if you do think Celestial rule of Creation is better than the current standard, though. That Solars and Lunars might be a package deal. But there's a lot of theories on how to do it and what to do, and, I mean, we're all coworkers. The important thing is that destinies keep resolving in the correct order." [21:54] 4Rest in peace to a real one, but at least now Ir won't confuse him with Ahlat on the regular. [21:55] "Hrm. The Bull of the North is no longer a going concern, so that could explain why he's freelancing down here." [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "He's not?" [21:56] "He isn't? Wow. Tepet'll be pleased." [21:56] 4Ir: "Last we heard he's dead in dread combat with the Behemoth of Ice." [21:57] "Wouldn't be the first time those rumors are premature, but our source is pretty reliable." [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara blinks hard. "...with a Chosen of Battles as his strategist? Must've been serious." [21:57] 13Ying: "Or sabotage." [21:57] 4Ir: "On a clear night, high enough up, you can see those things from weeks away. That's how we learned about them to begin with. They're no joke." [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Anyway, I guess we know why he's free to be here, but not why he is here. Someone called in a favor...?" [22:00] "If he's fighting Behemoths, then I suspect we know why he's here. Not many other nations or other forces equipped to stand against this direction's Behemoth that are being attacked by some upstart Sun kids." [22:00] "We still haven't even gotten to the real question yet, which is: what the hell are those things?" [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Yeah... I mean, to an extent you can just say 'a behemoth' and that's the answer, right? You get them sometimes. But they're so similar, and so coordinated..." [22:02] 7Blossom: "My first instinct would be to say 'raksha plot'." [22:03] 13Ying: "But why?" [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Just riding in and killing us all nearly worked the last time... so what do you want to do? I could look for more details on the Secrets-Mahalanka alliance, but I'm not sure what to do with them. Like... it's unusual, but it might get someone a raise instead of a reprimand." [22:05] 7Blossom: "Some kind of incontrovertible proof would be useful in splitting the rest of the Silver Pact away from Raksi." [22:05] 4Ir: "Preferably one that keeps our hands out of it. Don't need the Pact knowing we're working with Heaven, too." [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara looks thoughtful. "Proof... hmm, I bet we could in principle, but finding something that would, A, convince a Lunar, and, B, not mark me for death, could be tricky." [22:07] 7Blossom: "Well, don't endanger yourself too much." [22:08] 13Ying nods seriously. "And if there's anything we can do to help..." [22:09] 4Ir: "We're not particularly looking for another dance partner in this fight anyway; I think it'd probably be more helpful to try to find out how to get whoever is supporting Raksi to realize that support is no longer the smart play." [22:09] "Which is a hard sell, admittedly." [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Can you imagine one of those brutes trying to puzzle out the significance of Box 113-C of an amended ambrosia delivery receipt type two containing a nonzero integer? I'll have to get creative." [22:11] 13She blinks, but nods politely. [22:13] 7Blossom: "Marek... might... be able to...?" 7Blossom says, glancing at Ir. She doesn't really have any idea of the Lunar's facility with paperwork, but if Ir's reception of him back in Mahalanka is any guide, his stock is riding high just at the moment. Praise your friends' SOs when the relationship is going well, curse them when it isn't. This is loyalty. [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara thinks some more. "Well... don't mention me, obviously, if you run into any of Raksi's heavenly associates. But I suppose intact examples of the Control Zone religion - idols and altars and such - could be part of a proof of where the prayer's all going. If one of the gods involved could be called to account... but they're up in Yu-Shan, so that's no good. Umm..." [22:14] 4Ir: "I'm pretty sure there are a number of Pact people who know Marek and I are fucking, and will wonder what exten [22:14] t our own Circle is involved with Heaven as a consequence." [22:15] "Might end up being our only play, sadly." [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara reddens slightly. "She tries to continue her train of thought. Then I guess there's the longshot of convincing enough of Yu-Shan that they'll get more out of Mahalanka being in your hands than in Raksi's... I dunno, really." [22:18] 7Blossom: "They probably won't. We don't plan on staying past making sure the former TCZ is stable." [22:18] 4She grimaces. "I guess it's not the end of the world if the spymasters for the rest of the Pact factions suspect we're treating with gold Sidereals. It feels like on some level that's what they'd expect us to do. DIsappointed but not surprised, etcetera." [22:18] "Though I'm guessing this level of coordination is somewhat above and beyond." [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Anyway, I can try to put some sort of proof together. I could also... I don't know, I'm leery about trying to interfere with the Executioner directly. He was my preincarnation's contemporary, after all. But at least look out for anything unusual, or pass a message or something if you want me to." [22:22] 4Ir: "Well, letting us know if he has coworkers we should know about would be nice. Thankfully we've only run into him just the once.{" [22:22] 7Blossom: "That would be very helpful, thank you." [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Oh! And I almost forgot." 12She produces a smooth, pale sphere from a pouch before offering it to Blossom. "Here's my second linkpearl. Stenzo finally gave it back -- you can hold it for now. Just put it in your ear and concentrate. It's easier if you don't rush it, though." [22:23] 7Blossom: "Ah! What a sensible device." [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "There's kind of a random delay, but this one actually can reach Yu-Shan. Don't lose it!" [22:35] 7Blossom nods seriously and drops the tiny wonder into an interior pocket. [22:36] 4Ir: "I think that about does it, then. We'll let you get back to it." [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara nods. "Right. There's actually a tree that needs to fall where no one's around to hear it in the next hour, so I gotta run. Good to see all of you!" [22:37] 4Ir isn't going to play her game and ask if that's a joke. "You as well." [22:38] "Seeya around, Octavian." [22:38] 13Ying: "Laters~!" [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Octavian: "Hmph." 12Yara: "Uh, tell Tatsuya hi!" 12And she's gone. Octavian glares for a moment before dematerializing, though the acrid chemical smell lingers for minutes after. [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Octavian: "Hmph." 12Yara: "Uh, tell Tatsuya hi!" 12And she's gone. Octavian glares for a moment before dematerializing, though the acrid chemical smell lingers for minutes after. [22:39] 4Yeah, fuck you too, big guy. [22:40] 13Aw, he was nice! Mostly! And also gross and should stay far away from us! [22:40] 13Ying will be sure to pass on Yara's message, though. [22:40] "You know, Octavian's kind of growing on me. Feel like I'm losing valuable perspective or something." [22:43] 13Ying: "It's 'cause he's not actively trying to kill us right now. Plus we don't see him that often anymore." 08[22:43] 7Blossom: "He was only tolerable because Eikichi's feeling out of it." 7She tries to fan the weary sorcerer with her hand. [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, that was your friend who tried to kill you. One of your friends who tried to kill you? Either way, this might give you some sort of Lunar-enraging payload of incriminating evidence in the near future, though if you want to use it you'll have to speak with your other allies about convening the Pact. Otherwise you could inspect your now two separate kruthik hives, or, I don't [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12know, attempt some sort of attack or sabotage on other cities in Mahlanka's periphery, or even loop the place and investigate the wooden behemoth directly? [22:46] 4It's probably a good time to try to figure out what's going on with Jormungand. [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12There's no sign of the cerebrate in Chithakara, as you know. Of course, your second hive cluster, now growing in the ruins of the demesne lake, is settled on much more essence-rich territory and is probably a good bet. [22:49] 4Ir probably needs to take a jaunt down there anyway. How long is that by pegasus, again? [22:51] 13Doing more sabotage... Hm. It does avoid having to look at and/or deal with the kruthik for a bit, but it's been a very exciting time for prison breaks and sabotage campaigns. [22:52] 4We definitely could use a check-in with the forge city. [22:52] 4Oh! [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12On a flying magical beast like an agata or sorcerously augmented horse, it's probably ~six hours to the former demesne. 08[22:53] 4Tatsuya and Eikichi freed a bunch of political and other assorted prisoners on their way out of that temple. Might be worth trying to figure out if they're organizing/supplementing some sort of resistance. [22:53] 4If it's only six hours, Ir can spare the time for a check-in with the second hive cluster. [22:54] 13! That is true! And still manages to avoid the kruthik! But where to start...? [23:25] 13Well, let's see. They probably weren't as fast as we are, and they'd... hm. Villages or the wilds? Ying would hide in the villages if it was her escaping from prison, so she'll start there. 08[23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12As Eikichi remains in Chithakara, ostensibly to continue studying his condition but more probably to get more rest, the other members of the Squared Circle forge out to gather intelligence and plan next steps. Ir hooks southward, approaching the remains of the lake at which her forces took their first serious casualties, while Blossom and Ying deepen their survey of the Thousand [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Fangs jungles, searching for allies or at least weak points in Raksi's regime. [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12allies against or at least weak points in* [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12It's Ir who has the most direct heading and therefore who most immediately finds something to report. The lake hive is burgeoning - a carpet of creep has spread for a mile or more beneath and also across the water, stretching across huge, skyward-jutting spines to create a multi-level structure shot through with huge bubbles of captured essence. Familiar shapes skitter and crawl [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12along the surface of the structure, but unfamiliar ones drift above it; it's like if you crossed a crab with a flee, inflated it to the size of a small elephant, and sent it floating slowly through the air. [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12a flea* [23:31] 4One begins to understand why Ying thinks all this stuff is gross. [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Many sets of airborne eyes set upon Ir immediately, and the kruthlings beneath swarm in close concert to surround her landing position, then stand down at recognition of her. But this place if massive - she'll have to do some detective work to confirm the presence or absence of Jormungand. [23:33] 4Any sign of the local queens, Althaea or Alcestis? Or presumably any of the servitor queens they've spawned. [23:36] 13Ying takes off at run and pounces wow holy heck this feels GREAT oops here's the ground brace and POUNCE incredible we gotta keep doing this brace and [23:38] 4She'll have Errant stay aloft but over the hive cluster, just in case something goes wrong. The southern hive going rampant would be just her luck. [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Yes, in fact, they're both present - and a little larger than Ir is used to queens being. They're nestled down into organic thrones of sorts, partially fused with central hatcheries in ways that seem to boost their ability at long-range command, although even as Ir approaches their central nesting ground one of the two detaches from her perch and goes creeping off to see to larval [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12development elsewhere in the lake. The multiple-tiered 'floors' of membrane, the tunnel system being bored beneath the hive... this is gonna be a hike. [23:39] 7The landscape may be animated against them, but it's still landscape - it's not very smart. Blossom has Ami keep close to the treeline, easily dodging between and below the occasional thrashing limb or vine. [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Hours later, Ir is sure: these kruthik are hardier (but higher-maintenance) than normal owing to their provenance, and they seem to have developed these floating overseer creatures to both carry them from place to place and transmit queen commands at range, but the cerebrate isn't here. [23:40] 4Well this is unfortunate. [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12There's something else. The kruthik seem slightly less friendly than usual. Still entirely obedient, of course, but... suspicious? Resentful? Ir's first thought might be that they're upset with the losses she led them into, but she doesn't think that's it - though temperaments among the queens vary, the kind of casualties incurred by swarm tactics are really par for the course for [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12the such populous creatures as the kruthik. There's something else, like they don't appreciate being held back or denied somehow... which is odd, given that the brakes on growth are very explicitly disengaged at the moment. [23:49] 4She is incredibly not surprised at that bit of it. And she doesn't find it particularly odd, either. They made a lot of moral compromises when deciding to work with and through the kruthik. [23:49] 4Either way the big question becomes: if Jormungand is not respawning here, then where? And does this mean it isn't respawning at all? [23:50] 4She finds the prospect of answering those questions on her own difficult. Especially if the worst case scenario is extant: Jormungand is coming back, but it's out for itself now. [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12I suppose what's odd is the timing. They were perhaps more prone to griping and begging but less simmery and actually displeased when, say, being directed in a carefully-restricted column across the plains and forests of the eastern threshold. [23:52] 4What Ir will do next, given no obvious path forward, is spend some time semi-surreptiously observing kruthik troop movements out of the hive. If Jormungand IS somewhere in this theater and the kruthik are being reticent about where, maybe she can figure out where they're siphoning off defenders to in order to protect it. [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Blossom surveys the wilderness, flyin Ami just beneath the jungle canopy (though sometimes rising higher or dipping lower as the vicissitudes of travel demand). The jungles are not friendly, and, far enough from every settlement, they cease to be friendly even to Raksi's faithful. Over the days, by following signs of camp-outs, or fire, or rot, or other disturbance, Blossom [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12is able to trace the signs of movements beyond the Thousand Fangs's remit. [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12First, tunnels and cold campfires and such eventually lead her to a village like Rumi's, but much deeper in the jungle and also under much deeper cover. Trees and vines are twisted around it so that from without it's indistinguishable from any other copse of trees - but within, apefolk and baseline humans talk in conspiratorial whispers and make plans for sending convoys this way [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12and that. [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Second, she thinks she's tracked down one of the notable escaped prisoners that Tatsuya may have mentioned in passing. Head far enough north and you'll find a ruin abandoned even by the Thousand Fangs, an ancient graveyard of blasted, lifeless earth studded with huge menhirs. There, a new darkness lingers, one that causes the earth and stones to twitch and rumble as though they were [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12a blanket beneath which a sleeping giant stirs. [23:56] 7Hmm. That's not great. [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12But perhaps it's not great for Raksi in greater proportion than it's not great for you...? [23:57] 7It would be nice to think so! [23:57] 7Maybe whatever it is will be grateful to us, and not generally murderous. [23:58] 4If it's not we can just kill it. [23:58] 13That can't possibly be our answer for everything. [23:58] 4Hasn't been until now, but this feels like that place for it. Session Time: Fri Aug 09 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Up to Blossom which she chooses to approach or investigate (or come back with her friends to approach or investigate). Meanwhile, Ying is also on the prowl, leaping like, it must be said, a jungle cat as she traverses the trees and vines before slowing her step, fixing her posture, and adjusting her outfit in her attempts to blend back in with the TCZ's feline authorities. She can [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12most quickly check up on the forge city that Tatsuya caused so much trouble in first, and is able to confirm that work stoppages there have paralyzed maybe half the foundries. There was some genuine siege warfare going on for a while, which the rebels predictably lost - but many escaped into the underground, and in their wake they left a lot of smashed and molten forges. [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Yikes [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Up to Blossom which she chooses to approach or investigate (or come back with her friends to approach or investigate). Meanwhile, 12Ying is also on the prowl, leaping like, it must be said, a jungle cat as she traverses the trees and vines before slowing her step, fixing her posture, and adjusting her outfit in her attempts to blend back in with the TCZ's feline authorities. She [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12can most quickly check up on the forge city that Tatsuya caused so much trouble in first, and is able to confirm that work stoppages there have paralyzed maybe half the foundries. There was some genuine siege warfare going on for a while, which the rebels predictably lost - but many escaped into the underground, and in their wake they left a lot of smashed and molten forges. [00:01] 13If they could've stuck around, maybe it would've been different, but it was getting pretty dicey at the end there... [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Digging deeper, Ying's able to discover some kind of edge being marshaled by the rebellious or outright criminal in their war of position against the Thousand Fangs state. They're calling it "The Green", and it's some kind of drug or magical treatment that, it's whispered, equals or even exceeds the blessings granted by Raksi's trial grounds. A man with The Green might not win himself [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12a jungle ape's might or a jungle cat's quickness, but he might win gifts stronger and stranger still. [00:03] 13That's either very good, or very concerning! 14[00:04] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) [00:04] 13...where do you get it? [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Why! Not! Both! Anyway, the movement seems to have been suppressed in the forge city, for now, and Ying can't easily find exactly what this stuff is because they've been burning the corpses of dissidents until carbonized for some reason. [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12But, there's more than one settlement around here, and Ying can travel with incredible speed. In the guise of one of the ocelotfolk, with forged credentials to boot, she can gain easy entrance to every settlement and touch base with present authorities to learn what's been going on. So it is that Ying's able to map out some kind of underground resistance/terrorist network that must, [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12by now, stretch in a thin arc across the north of the TCZ. It sounds like labor and slave rebellions started from the west, and this drug or sorcery or whatever it is came from the east, and now they've joined up there's problems all over. [00:07] 13The causes were bad, but the problems... the problems are very good. [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Indeed, it's at a materials depot north of Mahalanka that Ying's able to see this stuff firsthand - a small team of the selfsame apefolk guardsmen that you and your kruthik have been fighting for the past few weeks is fighting for its life against a single gigantic half-man half-tree. He's got bark all up and down his body and a single huge, gnarled, and wickedly clawed limb instead [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12of a right arm, and manages to fatally gore three guardsapes and lay out two more before turning and fleeing into the woods, bleeding blood and sap in equal measure. [00:08] 7Hmm... Blossom will approach this mysterious hidden city. Might as well be open-handed here. [00:09] 13She had turned it a few notches towards "good" when finding out how worried the forge city was over it, but now she's ratcheting it back towards "concerning." [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Finally, Ying's also identified some kind of organized criminal element that predates the rebellion or even the Squared Circle's military campaign, one that the authorities thought had been stamped out but seems to be resurgent after the jailbreak. There's a figure they call the Blood Thief who seems to be back at large, and they and their gang are playing merry hell with the Total [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Control Zone's religion - messing up or stealing the benefits of sacrifices somehow. [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12I assume Blossom's just riding in through what seems to serve as the front entrance? If so, there's a flurry of motion before her immediately- [00:14] 7Correct. [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Looks like people are bolting! They must suspect discovery by authorities of some kind. [00:20] 13So, we've got a semi-organized revolt with some kind of weird goop that turns them into terrifying plant-men, and we've got an organized crime ring that Tatsuya must've broken out and has returned to doing what they do best. She's probably got enough intel to contact one of them... how's she doing on time? Wouldn't do to stay away for too long. [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12This has represented, probably, three or four days of travel and investigation. [00:22] 7Blossom will ignite the caste mark on her forehead and announce to the fleeing renegades: "I mean you no harm!" [00:23] 13Proooooobably best to be getting back to let the others know what she's been up to, then. Especially if she's about to try and get in contact with some dangerous people. [00:34] "We want what you want - an end to the rule of the witch-queen!" [00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12The commotion slows. Spears lower, bowstrings relax, and the trapdoors of emergency escape tunnels drop back into the closed position. Blossom finds herself approaching a motley of apefolk, ocelotfolk, and regular mortals, maybe in a 3:1:6 ratio or so. Kitten-toddlers stare owlishly around legs or dresses that they're clutching, un-augmented sentries resume their work at watchtowers, [00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12and a small group of, seemingly, leaders comes forward, mostly chimpanzee- and orang-men and women. [00:47] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not immediately apparent because of the physiological differences, but Blossom realizes she's looking at Dragon-Blooded! Which would explain how smoothly this entire campsite has been blended with the surrounding jungle, as though it were grown rather than carved. A woman with the aspect of a chimpanzee who Blossom would judge as also having the aspect of the cardinal element [00:47] <@Ferrinus> 12of wood, with moderately developed Essence, is the first to speak. "Who are you?" [00:55] 7Blossom: "My name is Excessively Righteous Blossom. I am a child of the Sun, and a member of the Squared Circle. Who are you?" 14[00:58] * Joins: tom [00:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Wood aspect: "I am Orori. These are Kacha, Tsurr, and Narodi." 12A fire-aspected man, earth-aspected ocelot-man, and water-aspected orang-woman nod at you in turn. "Welcome... to the resistance." 14[01:58] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:13] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[05:40] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[13:59] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:35] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:26] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:39] * Joins: tom 14[19:24] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[19:25] * Joins: dammitwho 14[20:50] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[20:55] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:19] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:54] * Joins: tom 14[23:14] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Quit: ) 14[23:19] * Joins: dammitwhoa Session Time: Sat Aug 10 00:00:00 2019 14[00:57] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:53] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Connection closed) 14[05:55] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[07:54] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[10:31] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:09] * Joins: hrolfy 14[14:09] * Joins: hrolf 14[14:11] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:56] * Joins: hrolfy 14[17:58] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:23] * Joins: tom 14[21:23] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[21:23] * Joins: dammitwho 14[23:45] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sun Aug 11 00:00:00 2019 14[01:00] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:15] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:05] * Joins: Crion 14[10:02] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:02] * Joins: Crion 14[11:55] * Joins: tom 14[12:43] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:19] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:32] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:41] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:16] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:00] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:46] * Joins: tom 14[18:07] * Joins: Crion_ 14[18:07] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:27] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:47] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[20:41] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Mon Aug 12 00:00:00 2019 14[00:51] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:35] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[05:58] * Joins: bananaphone 14[06:02] * Quits: bananaphone (Client exited) 14[06:23] * Joins: mattbaby 14[06:37] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[07:11] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:05] * Joins: Crion 14[16:32] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:35] * Joins: cbass 14[17:44] * Joins: tom 14[17:50] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:04] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:21] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[19:25] * Joins: dammitwho 14[19:26] * Joins: Crion_ 14[19:27] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:28] * Quits: trenchfoot (Quit: Leaving) 14[20:57] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[21:32] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:07] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:14] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:21] * Joins: tom 14[22:23] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Tue Aug 13 00:00:00 2019 14[03:48] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:57] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[05:56] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[06:15] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[08:13] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:28] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[09:35] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:21] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:25] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[16:25] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[16:25] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[16:28] * Joins: Crion 14[16:30] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:25] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:59] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:48] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:43]  15[20:43]  15[20:43]  15[20:43]  15[20:43]  15[20:52] The path uniting five and one is paved with names that must once have meant something, etched on flat gray stones that run in parallel single files between her and them, the only feature of a landscape blankly white above, below, and beyond. Cethleann looks away from the circle, humming gently to herself. [20:52] 14...Charming. [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The fuck?" 12He grinds a bootheel into the stone he stands on, then pokes sideways and down with the sword in his hands, testing to see if the tip encounters resistance from the whiteness at the edge of the path or simply plunges straight through. [20:54] 14Stranger shakes his head at that, and begins walking towards the gentry. [20:54] 5Xu Sim frowns as he walks towards Stranger-Visits-Heaven. He points accusingly at the man and, slowly, deliberately, stabs his friend in the chest with his pointer finger, as if unsure if it will pass clean through. 15[20:56] Xu Sim meets resistance; Keldar does not. Well, no; Keldar finds that he can rest the blade's weight on the blank space level with his feet, but if he pushes downward with cutting intent then it feels like nothing's there. [20:57] "Hullo, Xu Sim." [20:58] 10Jai takes a tentative step forward, then another, taking care to step only on the stones and not the cracks between them. Raksha operate on nursery-rhyme rules sometimes, after all. [20:58] 13Xia Lan does not gawk, but she does stare at the others, freshly arrived. "'The fuck' is right, I think." [20:59] "Curious," 5notes the sorcerer. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12More ground than it looked like. Keldar can work with this. He hefts the grand daiklave, holding it crossed over his body and angled down. "Alright. That's her, yeah? We finishing this?" [20:59] 10Jai: "I guess your part of the plan worked better than ours. We didn't even reach the grove before… this." [21:00] "We're finishing this. Maybe your way, maybe not. Either way please don't charge with your sword just yet." [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar rests the sword tip-down beside him, as though it were a walking stick. "Then what's the plan?" [21:01] "We go see what she wants, and we move from there." [21:01] 13Xia Lan shrugs. "It's been working so far." 15[21:02] Head still tilted away from them, Cethleann sings, "This is the end... hold your breath and count to ten..." [21:02] "I wouldn't worry you won't get your due," 14he says to Keldar. "This isn't the sort of mood that lasts." 14Stranger will keep walking. 15[21:02] Finally she sees them, seeming to settle another ilm or two into the ground rather than look down. 15[21:03] "Have you come to die too?" [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar walks forward, then, drawing his blade from the lack-of-earth in a smooth motion that splits it into a sword and shield. He'll stop as little as three or four steps forward, if he has to - once everyone's pulled up to something like a talking distance. [21:03] "Yes, I think so. But I speak for myself." [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Nope." [21:03] 13Xia Lan shakes her head. [21:04] 10Jai: "Not… not unless I have to." [21:04] 5Xu Sim claps Stranger on the back. "Not one of us." [21:04] "And if so...you're going to have to work for it." 15[21:06] Cethleann: "Then why have you followed me here?" 15[21:06] "This is not your place." [21:07] "I already told you. I want to change your story. Change is death." 15[21:08] "You were alone when you said that." [21:09] "And I just said it again." [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar glances sideways at Stranger. Does it look like the diplomat needs the Circle to take some specific line here, or is there no harm in speaking plainly? [21:12] 10Jai's approaching the point where the paths meet. "May I answer your question with a question? Why did you bring us from the waking world into this place?" 15[21:13] "Did I?" 15[21:13] She seems genuinely uncertain. [21:14] 5Xu Sim takes a moment to examine some of the pavers, to see if he recognizes any names from history or legend. [21:14] 13Xia Lan: "Some of us may have thrown ourselves in rather than being brought. Except for the part about being here." [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Assuming he isn't shot any meaningful looks, Keldar speaks his mind. "I followed you here to kill you. Cut you out of all our lives, very least." 15[21:17] "Good. Good. That's useful." 15[21:17] "Perhaps it doesn't matter why." [21:17] 10Jai: "Keldar, Xu Sim, and I were in battle with your forces, and then suddenly… they all became butterflies. Then we were here." 15[21:18] "How delightful." [21:19] 5Xu SIm: "Whose names are these?" [21:24] 10Jai: "It was… breathtaking? Unexpected?" 10As soon as he's said it, he regrets it. 10Why are you trying to compliment the enemy, fool! [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So you surrender or what?" 15[21:28] Cethleann is kneeling down beside Xu Sim, touching the stones. There is no impression of movement; she simply was there and now is here. "I remember these. Whispered and blessed. Grieved, gloried and damned. I knew, once. Just once." 15[21:28] She looks up at Keldar. "Surrender what?" [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Your claim on my city. This war." 15[21:30] Her face grows bitter. "I so tire of fighting." [21:30] 14A shared sympathy. [21:30] 13Don't we all. [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, the bad news is I'm in it for the long haul. The good news is if anyone can stop it it's you." [21:32] 5War is a force that gives us meaning - the ten thousand correct actions of the upright soldier [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Take your curse back, take your armies back, and just go wherever the hell you came from." [21:32] 14Stranger's certain it doesn't really work like that, but there's no harm in trying. [21:33] 10To Stranger: "Is it that she can't stop unless she changes? Dies?" 15[21:33] "This is where I came from." She looks to the other woman. "You remember, don't you? Xia Lan?" [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar frowns. "This? Where are we right now?" [21:34] 14Murmuring to Jai: "She is her story. Changing that story would fundamentally change who she is, and who she is now would cease to exist. That is the closest to death the Incarnae can experience, I think." 15[21:34] "We aren't anywhere right now. This is the place. The place we are both from. They began at the rivers when they set the fires." [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, technicalities, great. You understand me or not?" 15[21:36] Cethleann's expression is blank. [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Like talkin' to a music box. Ideas?" 12This to the Circle. [21:38] 14Stranger: "It's up to her, really. She doesn't even seem to know that she brought us here, not really. We're very, very deep inside now." [21:39] 13Xia Lan: "I do," 13she nods to Cethleann. "I remember." 13She's only half paying attention to the rest of them. [21:39] 5Xu Sim looks to Xia Lan with a quizzical expression. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Inside what?" [21:40] 13Her face is carefully blank. [21:41] 14Stranger: "Her." [21:41] "If I'm right." [21:41] "Xia Lan?" 5asks Xu Sim. [21:42] 13She looks over to him. "Hm?" [21:42] 10Jai hunkers down on one of the stones. "There's not a lot to go on, the way she is now. But it looks like she might open up to Xia Lan, a little? Let them talk…" [21:43] "What do you remember?" 5he asks. [21:44] 10Jai: "And if that doesn't work, we let Keldar do his Keldar thing and see what happens." [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar frowns and keeps an eye out for any giant, beating hearts. [21:48] 13Xia Lan: "As she said," 13quietly. [21:49] "We had been speaking about it before -- well, before the rest of you got here." [21:49] 5Xu Sim: "You learned something about her origin?" [21:54] 13Xia Lan: "And how she sees me. Saw? The wielder of the Sword of Creation herself." 13She rubs her arm nervously. [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks skeptical. "Ain't exactly her spitting image." [21:56] 13She shrugs. "Dreams." [21:56] "And memories." [21:56] 10Jai: "Maybe that thing you did with the Sol Ring left an impression on her." [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But she called you by your name." [21:59] 13Xia Lan: "She asked." [21:59] 10Jai has a sudden thought. "Did that come in with you, Stranger?" [22:00] 14Stranger: "No. This is not the physical world. My body still respires with its boon, but I cannot smite spirits or the like." [22:00] "Aw." [22:00] "I don't think those aspects of it would be particularly useful anyhow." [22:01] "Then again, I haven't particularly tried to use them." [22:03] 13Xia Lan: "Careful when you do. That first step's a doozy." [22:03] 5Xu Sim: "For once, I agree with you. I do not believe it is relevant. In your presence, Cethleann of the Crooked Lance, if you were to warp us, we would already have felt it. But I believe her when she says she is weary. She has called us here to change her, instead. All the more pity I haven't yet learned the Wyld-Shaping Technique..." [22:05] 10Jai puffs out a breath. "Probably not the best idea unless things go really wrong." 10He goes back to watching Cethleann. There was that jarring jump when Xu Sim asked her about the names in the stones. Is she constant, or does she flicker? Can body language betray her or is this just a fancy karakuri puppet? [22:08] 14Stranger approaches where Cethleann sits and indicates the space next to her. "May I sit?" 15[22:08] Cethleann: "If you like." [22:08] 14He will. "How do you want to change?" [22:08] "With all that implies." [22:09] "The man with the sword back there has his ideas of how, and we can try that if we are otherwise stymied." [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar remains standing, doing his best at an executioner's affect - and his best is pretty good, in this case. [22:09] "But I should think that, at this moment, in all of this confusion, the best thing to do would be to talk it out first." 15[22:12] Cethleann says, after a long thoughtful silence, "I don't know. I couldn't say." 15[22:13] "How do I find out?" [22:14] 13Traumatic events, possibly involving direct intervention of the Sun, visions, and a gift, Xia Lan does not say. [22:15] 14Stranger makes a contemplative noise in the back of his throat. "The nature of my people -- the Chosen of the Sun, not river peasants -- is the nature of constant reinvention and change, from lifetime to lifetime, built off the merging of two essential cores: who we were as mere mortals, and who we were in past Exalted lives. Each of us, therefore, has to choose some measure of a [22:15] balance, or none at all, as we take our first steps in world as the Solar Exalted. We are forced to ask ourselves, sometimes explicitly: 'who do you want to be?'" [22:15] "Does that question make sense to you?" 15[22:17] Simply and slowly: "I want to be... who I was before any of this ever happened." [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Didn't she decide to invade Creation?" [22:19] "And what's stopping you?" 14Gently: "I mean that quite literally and seriously. Can you feel what's holding you back?" [22:19] 5Xu Sim interjects - "I have considered recently, the many ways I have changed. Not just from the Second Breath, but from other things, besides," 5here he glances at Stranger. [22:20] 13Xia Lan: "Experiences shape us, good or ill," 13she cautions. "Going back to the way things were isn't always possible, and even if you can, you might find out it wasn't what you wanted after all." [22:20] 10Jai: "I've barely had a chance to be myself at all, these past handful of years." 10He sighs. "So I can relate." [22:22] 5Xu Sim: "My sifu, Selin, pointed out that 'sweetness can work wonders'. That set in motion many things - many things I learned, about love and wisdom. But the sweetness of the honey-maze is a false sweetness. So too, was yours a false love - a poisoned love. You must look underneath it, Cethleann." [22:23] 10Jai: "But even if you can't go back, the way Xia Lan says, you can still find out that your idea of who you are was just plain wrong, and come up with a better one." [22:27] "And I was really happy to get rid of being Jai the Anathema, Jai the Demon. The world might still call me that, but that isn't me. That me's buried." 15[22:30] Cethleann: "I... fought..." [22:32] "Do you remember why you fought? Do you think you still need to fight?" 15[22:33] She's standing behind them all now, clad in silver, spear in hand. "We... fought..." [22:33] 14We're getting to the heart of it. [22:34] "Do you think you still want to fight?" [22:34] 13Please say no, Xia Lan has nowhere to run to. [22:34] 13Her hands are pointedly staying away from her swords, though. 15[22:36] A shadow looms behind her, a tall and antlered, coal black against the blankness save for the high and burning red eye. "We fought..." [22:36] "...Who did you fight?" 15[22:36] The shadow of a sword rises high above her. It falls swiftly. She chokes. 15[22:37] "I cannot speak the name--" [22:37] "Was it a red star, rising?" 14[23:30] * Joins: tom Session Time: Wed Aug 14 00:00:00 2019 14[01:48] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:28] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[10:15] * Joins: tom 14[12:49] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[17:29] * banana|peels is now known as banana 15[18:16] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed Aug 14 18:16:31 2019 Session Start: Wed Aug 14 18:24:37 2019 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[18:24] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[18:24] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[18:24] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[18:27] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 15[18:28] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed Aug 14 18:28:43 2019 Session Start: Wed Aug 14 18:44:29 2019 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[18:44] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[18:44] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[18:44] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[19:40] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[19:42] * Quits: trenchfoot (NickServ (GHOST command used by trenchfoot_)) 14[19:42] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[19:44] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[20:04] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:06] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:25] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:47] * Joins: Crion_ 14[23:47] * Quits: Crion (Connection closed) Session Time: Thu Aug 15 00:00:00 2019 14[00:19] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:35] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[01:59] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:10] * Quits: VoxPrime (Quit: ) 14[02:13] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[06:46] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:24] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[09:01] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[16:37] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:38] * Joins: Crion 14[17:25] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[17:28] * Joins: tom [17:28] Nothin' but net(anyahu) [17:28] wrong channel sorry 14[18:04] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[19:20] * Joins: tom [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12.------------------------------------------------------------------. [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| _ | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| - ` `' . /| [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| - ` `. L | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| . ;- . J | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| - _.,; L | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| ' ' | .. / | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| ' /`/ - J | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| : ,-""-. | . ` `-. L | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| `_--. _.-. `. `-' ' `/ | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12|\ (0)/ J|(0)) | - . L | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| \ .`-/ J '-' / \ J | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| \ .- / _ .-"` \ L | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| \ . Y (O `- \ __ J | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| \ L`__ ' \ .` )L | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| \ ' `^__`;'` \ \ / / | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| \ - \ | \ | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| \ ' / / \ \ | \ /`\ | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| \ . ' /|| \ ` \ \ | \ \ \ | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| \ . . | \ `.| Y| [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| \ . : | J\ || [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| \. : J L \ ;| [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| _ _/ . L / \ \| [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| ( `-._.-' . \ L `._ | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12|,._ _.' .` \ J `. | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12|| ````` .' , /| `-. L \ | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12|`._ __.' / / |\ `-.,__./ \ | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| ```,` / / / \ J \ | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| .-' ,' /_/ \ L \ | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12| `._.-'.__.' sk \ J \ | [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12'------------------------------------------------------------------' [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12The Squared Circle is seeing to their holdings in what one might now call the Partial Control Zone. These consist mostly of a smear of creep and kruthik bio-architecture describing a quarter circle around the Zone's western and southwestern reaches, though from a bird's eye view that zone is spreading like mold by the day. Ir's discovered that the kruthiks have developed a sort of [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12flying queen, a flea-like creature that drifts on gas bags of volatile essence and lacks any of a queen's generative powers but ably serves as a command proxy. Unfortunately, what she hasn't discovered is Jormungand - the creature's taken root in neither of your two hive clusters nor the stretch of terrain between them, which would seem to be counter to its design. [20:23] 4Time to do some old-fashioned investigation. ...Which has never been her strong suit. [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying and Blossom have been doing reconnaisance. Ying's got a better idea of the ongoing workers' revolt and criminal sabotage which now runs rampant through, mostly, the northern Zone; it's mostly crushed whenever it appears in the open, but has been able to do serious damage, particularly through the use of what Blossom correctly guesses is the blood-sap of the not-quite-sleeping [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12wood titan to the Zone's east. Blossom, on the other hand, has discovered an even better hidden but seemingly more organized resistance/liberation movement, based in at least one jungle fort that's been camouflaged through the use of what are surely Terrestrial charms. She's made an introduction and met the Dragon-Blooded folk and beastfolk that seem to lead it. [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12What's everyone else doing? Possibly Blossom's tipped her allies off and has arrived here backed up by her fellows for some sort of more involved introduction and negotiation, but she could also just get the low-down briefly and take what she learns back to the Circle. 08[20:27] 4Ir can come along on a meet-and-greet with a possible post-Raksi transition government, but she really, really needs to figure out what's up with Jormungand. If Eikichi's up to help, well, she'll probably need it. 15[20:28] 10Eikichi's been working as hard as his uneasy, fitful sleep will allow him. If he's not helping Ir, he's working on the problem of his own missing heart. [20:29] 7Everybody's probably busy. Blossom'll just chat with these guys on her own. [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Has he got a particular strategy in mind or is he still gathering data on options? Blossom, then, finds herself facing an imperfect Circle of elementally-empowered beastfolk. Judging from their aspect markings, they're of low to moderate essence - you could mistake the ocelot and orang for mortals, even. [20:32] 7Probably not a long-term rebellion, then. That's interesting. 15[20:32] * Retrieving #SonsAndDoctors modes... [20:32] 7Raksi probably crushes such things out of hand, but right now she's, well, distracted. [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Orori, a chimpanzee woman with streaks of green in her black fur, begins to explain. "In Raksi's domain, the blessing of the elements is... fuel. Those like us are found early. Some enslaved, many never seen again. I was lucky to bloom when out on my own, out of sight." [20:35] 7Blossom sighs a little. "Of course. With her, it's always worse than you think." [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Orori: "So, there aren't so many of us. But we find each other if we're lucky. Keep our families safe." 12She gestures around herself at the little village/fort. "I've hold enough over the wood to make places like this... but it's hard to do more than hide, and the curse in our blood means no running. Who are you?" 08[20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12With careful observation and some interrogation, Eikichi and Ir are able to confirm: Jormungand is definitely regenerating. Has definitely regenerated, in fact - the kruthik in the two separate hives are working as one great swarm, and there's no friction whatsoever between new queens and old. Abstruse measurements of ichor toxicity and hatchery undulation and similar metrics even [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12suggests that the cerebrate is growing at a steady clip - it's almost certainly not at full size or flight-capable yet, but at least the size of a full-grown hatchery. And, as planned, it's definitely manifested within the bodies of one of your remaining kruthik, in essence-rich territory. 15[20:41] 10Oh no. [20:41] 4Here, Ir's frustration gets palpable, and she has to cut herself off from the swarm. 08[20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12...but the most obvious essence-rich territory for it to take root in is very obviously cerebrate-less. So what the hell's going on? Well, it's not impossible to ask the queens questions, and Eikichi's able to puzzle it out. Jormungand is alive and well, it seems, in a place of great power. It's a... cave? Somewhere dark, probably underground. And the creature is being fed, it seems [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12- fed very well, better, perhaps, than ever in its memory. 15[20:44] 10Fed... what? By... whom? [20:44] 7Blossom: "As I said, my name is Excessively Righteous Blossom, and I'm a daughter of the Sun. My Circlemates and I have come to put an end to Raksi's reign of terror." [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12It's mildly distressing - to the kruthik included - that they can't actually pinpoint a location, but it can't be that far off. Certainly not outside this general geographic region, because where else is your swarm to be found? [20:44] 4Ir has a feeling they're not going to like the answers to those questions. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Where else is it to be found? You both suddenly remember, during your escape from Mahalanka - a stray bolt of destructive essence splitting one of the lower pyramids and unleashing a small swarm of what were unmistakably your own kruthlings. You never brought your armies to the city's gates, of course, but your forces had been scattered and generally at large plenty of times in [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12the past month. 15[20:49] "Shit." [20:50] 4Ir: "I am...trying. Trying very, very hard. To look on the bright side here." [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Narodi, a water-aspect, addresses Blossom: "Where do you come from?" [20:51] 4Ir: "Do you think she knows. She can't possibly NOT know, right?" 15[20:51] 10Eikichi: "Nothing happens in Mahalanka without her knowing about it. Certainly not at that scale." [20:51] "Well, fuck." [20:52] "What odds do you give her of turning it against us? At least it doesn't want to fuck her. I hope." [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12The kruthik have been a little colder of late, haven't they? Unfailingly loyal, for certain, but slightly suspicious or even simmery. [20:53] 4Yeah, Ir picked up on that. [20:53] 4Now it makes sense. [20:53] 7Blossom: "Collectively? Two of us are more-or-less exiled from the Realm. One is from Pneuma, the last of us from Nexus. Why?" 15[20:55] 10Eikichi: "Jormungand's bond to us is very strong. Even Raksi will struggle to subvert it entirely." [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Kacha, the fire aspect: "The Realm! Is it true that the Chosen of the elements rule there?" [20:55] 4Ir: "It still puts us on a hard timer." [20:56] "Because she will find a way to subvert it." [21:00] 4Ir: "Is there anyway we can communicate with Jormungand without actually going into the damn city?" [21:00] 7Blossom nods. "That is true." [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Kacha nudges Orori. "I told you." 12The wood-aspect makes a face and speaks. "Either way, we hardly rule here. What is it to be daughter of the sun? How can you fight Raksi?" [21:05] 4Ir growls and then closes her eyes to calm down. "Because if not, I think I'm going to have to have Tatsuya sneak me back into the damn city." 08[21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Thinking it over, Eikichi thinks that despite the various arcane baffles and wards surrounding Mahalanka, it is possible to communicate with Jormungand using the kruthik here - and maybe more, depending on luck and leverage. The bond between cerebrate and greater swarm seems muffled but not actually cut off by the city walls, though it's unclear whether this is something Raksi [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12choose to allow, has no choice but to allow, or doesn't even realize. [21:09] 7Blossom: "Well, we brought an army with us, and we're extremely strong on a personal level." [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12The cerebrate is, of course, a big-picture kind of demon - even in the normal course of things, it's not in the creature's nature to be peering out of the eyes of a specific queen or something like that. But it has an instinctual grasp of how the swarm is doing, and still serves as a lodestone keeping every one of your kruthik attuned and loyal to every other. If you had the appropriate [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12magic, or maybe just the appropriate alchemy/geomancy, you might be able to get its attention directly. [21:10] 4...Does it still like music? [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Yeah, it's the same creature. Jormungand has continuity of consciousness between bodies, it doesn't reincarnate like one of the Chosen. [21:11] 4Well, maybe that can help open up a line. [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Orori: "So is Raksi. So are her Chosen. ...yet we've heard of the chaos in Mahalanka itself of late. Are you winning?" 08[21:12] 4But first, to Eikichi: "We probably need to have a talk about Jormungand and the kruthik. Maybe somewhere...private." 15[21:13] 10Eikichi follows Ir somewhere where the swarm hasn't reached. [21:14] 4Ir: "Raksi is feeding his hedonism because that's all Raksi really knows how to do, I think you'll agree. And the Kruthik are...pretty hedonist, in a very specific way." [21:14] "I'm worried about what we'd have to promise to get Jormungand back on side." 15[21:17] 10Eikichi: "What's she thinking... she doesn't do things for only one reason." 15[21:17] "If we can convince Jormungand that he's not being rewarded, but fattened up..." [21:17] 7Blossom: "We've already killed several of Luna's Chosen that serve her, broken that warstrider that one of them uses, and cut her off from one of her more powerful demesnes." 7Blossom fully believes in their inevitable victory, but a bit of false humility helps with doubters sometimes. "I won't say she's doomed, but she's on the back foot now, and I'll bet it's been a long, long [21:17] time since that was true." [21:18] 4Ir nods. "But it might be fine with that, since it will assume it'll grow back again. And I doubt Raksi's about to let that happen. So we'll need to convince it of that too." [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Orori: "What will you do if you win?" 15[21:21] 10Eikichi: "Even if you grow back, being killed isn't fun. If we can make him fear Raksi more than he loves her, that would work." 15[21:21] 10Would it? It doesn't seem to be helping you. [21:22] 4Ir might have similar thoughts, but if she does, they don't show on her face. [21:23] 4Ir: "Yeah. I think he'll listen to me on that. But I'd need to get to him quick." [21:23] "She's going to kill him with kindness. And, uh, actually killing him." 15[21:23] "Yeah." [21:25] 4She shakes her head. "These guys were more trouble than they're worth. Especially once I started to like the little bugs." 15[21:27] "Would you be happier leading an army of women and men into this jungle?" 15[21:27] "I guess we could eat with them, at least." [21:27] 4Ir: "Honestly? Yes. I'd at least be cooking more." [21:28] "And leading a popular uprising would feel so much better than this...outpost of Hell they create." [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12So, sorry, what's Ying's next move here? If she wants some of the "Green", either for analysis or to transform herself into a hideous tree monster for laughs, she actually knows how to get the stuff; she can swipe a few vials from an evidence locker in one of Raksi's northern outposts. 15[21:30] 10Eikichi: "Something to remember for the next invasion." [21:30] 4Ir: "I would very much like not to do any more invasions." [21:30] "But I suppose we've chosen our path." [21:31] 13Gotta just grab something from an evidence locker; she might not know it yet, but she has a meeting to make with a certain E.R. Blossom. How guarded do they keep this stuff? 15[21:31] 10Eikichi: "We could be out on the edge of the Wyld right now, raising Zeal from nothing." 15[21:31] "No wars, no invasions." [21:31] 4Ir: "That's not how we're built." [21:32] "We're not going to let what the Mask has done stand. We're not going to let Thorns stand." 15[21:32] 10Eikichi falls silent at that. [21:32] "Though maybe we should. I don't know." [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Highly... unless you're one of the cat cops. For the perfectly disguised Ying, it poses a small but definitely surmountable problem. 15[21:35] "Let's find out what Blossom thinks," 10says Eikichi eventually. [21:35] 7Blossom: "That's a strange question. Pass through her digestive system, probably? Slowly decompose? If we're lucky, hide out in a place like this and wait for the chance to rise again? The King of Heaven instructed me to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, that the strong shall not harm the weak." [21:35] "Pneuma's got a big thing about the reluctant soldier. The soldier who only defends, even when he's attacking; who feels bad about the killing he has to do even as he does it. It's why all our military are styled as guard units, even when they're doing things very far from guarding. I bought into that pretty deep, when I was there. It took this campaign for me to ask myself: if you're [21:35] going to do the soldier shit, does it matter how reluctant you are? At all?" [21:35] 13They really ought to up their defenses against impossibly effective defenses. [21:36] 4Ir: "...Yeah." [21:36] "We're not leaving," 7She adds. [21:37] 7Okay, she doesn't say that, since I misread the question. [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Orori, who asked what Blossom thought she did: "And if you win?" [21:38] 13I mean, for goodness' sake. A disguise just lets you into everywhere! Like they didn't expect to be dealing with Sunlit-Dreaming Ying! [21:39] 13Sample: obtained. Tracks: covered. Let's go, off to the next locale! [21:39] 7Blossom: "We'll stay as long as needed to help ensure the whole TCZ doesn't fall into famine. After that... how are the three of you at administration? Do you know any sages or experienced officials that would be willing to change sides? I'd suggest you enact some sort of deliberative body, but of course that'd be up to you." [21:40] 7Blossom: "Just don't start eating people, or we'll be back." [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12The sample Ying steals is unusually heavy. It's a two-part mixture, half golden sap and half crimson blood; within the locker, the blood's settled to the bottom, but as soon as the phial is jostled by motion the two fluids spiral and interpenetrate into a strange, rotating helix. It's not immediately clear what Ying's looking at, but magical or alchemical analysis might reveal [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12something later. [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Kacha: "You would... help us to rule? Or at least take rule?" [21:46] 13It's been A Minute since Sunlit-Dreaming Ying saw her compatriots while she's been out in the jungles around Mahalanka, so it is with considerable surprise and delight that she whips off her hood and practically squeals at the sight of Excessively Righteous Blossom, already located where Ying was planning to sneak into! "Hi! Hey! It's me and wow I am so glad to see you!" 13Pounce, hug! 14[21:47] * Joins: mattbaby [21:47] <@Ferrinus> "Aagh!" 12The people Blossom's talking to fall into defensive stances, producing fistfuls of fire and jade daiklaves and the like, although they pause rather than let fly upon realizing that Blossom isn't actually in some kind of mortal struggle. [21:47] 13She's still dressed like one of the ocelot secret police, but her disguise is fading; bits of it hand off her as she leaps. "How the heck did you get here?" [21:47] 7Blossom: "I've seen no one better suited, probably because - as you said - Raksi kills them for fuel. There must be legitimacy, or there will be chaos--" [21:48] 7Unperturbed and fully hugged, Blossom continues: "Hello, Ying. Everyone, this is Sunlit-Dreaming Ying, my Circlemate." [21:48] 13She waves cheerfully, not letting go of Blossom. [21:49] 7It would be prejudicial to the dignity of the Chosen of the Sun to scratch Ying behind the ears in front of the Dragon-Bloods, but Blossom does give her a one-armed hug back. [21:50] 13Whispering: "Got something fur ya to look at! The Green." 13Then she's back to beaming at Blossom's new friends. [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Introductions are made, and Ying's able to gather that these are the few dragon-blooded within Raksi's domain who have managed to escape the cannibal queen's scrutiny. It does occur to her that keeping an eye out for signs of Terrestrials has seemed to be one of the cat-police's ongoing dictates... and also that among the refugees and hideaways here are children of the ocelot-folk, [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12which you never seem to see anywhere in public. [21:51] 13Hm. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. [21:52] 13...is there anywhere for her to discreetly wipe away her disguise? Because wow, this is actually kind of really mean. [21:52] 13Like, for the kids. [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12She could've done so before actually coming into view, since it's not like she was blind to the scene before her. [21:55] 13She's got half a disguise already, then; enough to make it clear what she was disguised as, but also enough to make clear that she doesn't like them either. [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, the terrestrial resistance has many questions for Ying and Blossom both, but if the two visitors are able to convince them that A) your campaign against Raksi is actually one it's tenable to win and B) you have their interests at heart, they'll pledge to stay in touch and offer further support. [21:58] 13Are they aware of the recent prison break? [21:59] 13"Teneble," yeah, okay, we literally broke into her city and freed a shitload of prisoners and stole our friend out from under Raksi's grasp. 08[22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Studying a familiar array of kruthik tissue samples but also the sounds of the hollow where his own heart should be, Eikichi performs an intensive assay of the feasibility of a replacement heart. The good news is that kruthik biomatter is an excellent substrate for tissue or organ grafts - it's extremely protean, and once you know how to work with it it's easy to coax it into the [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12shape you need and even to 'skin' it as normal flesh if necessary. Note that 'ease' here hinges on having a neomah demon or similar means of fleshcraft at your beck and call - roughing it with regular laboratory equipment or even magic-infused bare hands is a much messier affair. There are drawbacks: first, the actual implantation would be an extremely difficult and dangerous procedure [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12for anyone who isn't a master surgeon, and if you're intending to do it on yourself, hoo boy. Second, your heart would still be out there - you'd be safe in case it were crushed in a fit of pique, but not actually free of the link Raksi has to you. Third, it'd be kruthik biomatter in your chest, which could give you allergic reactions to sacred essence and vulnerability to some kind [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12of manipulation by or through the kruthik which would now be your kin... although, by the same lights, it might give you greater facility for communing with or controlling the creatures. [22:10] 4This seems like a real bad idea to Ir, but it doesn't strictly seem worse than walking around without a heart. So. 08[22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, yeah, Eikichi delves deeply and thinks hard enough that he suspects that he could use the kruthik in a more direct and less controlled fashion - if he coaxes them correctly he might be able to just, like, invite them to infest and augment them in order to keep himself alive in a desperate last-minute move. You know, as soon as you feel your heart burst miles away, just stagger [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12over, fall into a pool of glowing ooze, and hope that the swarm is feeling generous. As you might imagine, there's no telling how that turns out for you. 08[22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12As he casts his thoughts eastward, Eikichi feels a broad contentment and the warmth of a steamy hot bath, though beneath it is a vague, restless worry. [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12It's around then that Ying and Blossom can return to Chithakara, if they so choose; at this point, they've gotten the terrestrial resistance on their side, and can expect word of the alliance to spread through the other hidey-holes and refugee camps dotted around the TCZ. The resistance doesn't exactly have an army to its name or even a broad underground movement, but they do have [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Chosen, and connections. [22:21] 4Ir has cooked dinner. It's getting harder and harder with the spread of the creep. 08[22:23] 13This is so much easier than hunting them out herself and trying to make contact between the various rebel groups. She chitters relentlessly to Blossom about her adventures while out of contact; mostly, she worries about Eikichi and Ir, who have no uplifting influence in their lives at this time. [22:24] 7It's good that Ying isn't feeling down anymore... Blossom worried. [22:24] 13Ir is almost assuredly making sure they eat real food. But wow. They need to get back. 15[22:26] 10Eikichi seems more relaxed at dinner. He's happy to see Blossom. "A Blooded resistance? That's something." [22:26] 4Ir: "First good news in awhile." [22:26] "Raksi's got Jormungand." [22:27] 13Ying: "She's what?" [22:27] "Jormungand reformed under the temple in Mahalanka." [22:27] "Raksi's feeding him." [22:27] "The swarm is loyal. For now." [22:27] 13Ying: "Hi, okay, that sucks ass, and he's a fucking traitor." [22:27] "Freaking." [22:27] "Not quite." 15[22:27] 10Eikichi: "He didn't choose to regenerate under Mahalanka." 08[22:28] "Eikichi's theory is she's fattening him up to sacrifice. Regardless of whether that's true, I intend to convince Jormungand it is." [22:28] 13She pulls out a vial of the sample from her genuinely excessive cloaks. "Um. Weird timing, but here's what I got on the road." [22:29] "I don't know how to deal with Jormungand so this is my way of coping," 13she adds unnecessarily. [22:30] "What is it?" [22:30] 7Blossom: "Tch. I should have known that would be her gambit. The good news is that the resistance seems solid - they should be able to step in once Raksi's out of the way." [22:30] 4Ir: "They're going to be contributing to the work, surely. They won't be respected if they don't." [22:30] 13Ying: "Okay, you know how there's a resistance to Raksi? This is how they're doing it." [22:30] "Turns you into a weird gross tree kinda thing. Definitely super dangerous." [22:30] "We should find a way to put them front and center. Preferably out of real danger, but. They're going to have to get their hands dirty." [22:31] "..." 15[22:31] 10Eikichi: "Where'd you get it?" 08[22:31] 4To Eikichi: "This is probably a stupid and dangerous question...but could the kruthik use this?" [22:32] 13Ying: "Secret! Theft is basically like being a secret shopper, I mean." [22:32] "It's a secret and you're shopping." 15[22:32] "Is it from the behemoth?" [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12The blood-sap-helix concoction is unusually dense and warm to the touch. There's not a lot of it, but enough to run at least a few experiments... and Ying knows where to get more. [22:33] "Purrobably! But I didn't exactly ask questions." [22:34] 13The only indication that she's nervous is that her ears are flicking nearly constantly. Which, frankly, is a hell of an indication. 15[22:34] 10Eikichi: "Let me see that." [22:35] 13She rolls the vial across the table. "It was an absolute pain to borrow, so... careful?" 15[22:40] 10Eikichi rolls it between his fingers thoughtfully, eyes glowing gently gold from lid to lid. "Wholly-body, humanoid, pre-digestive." [22:41] 7Blossom: "It certainly looks like the sort of thing that would come from a Wood Behemoth." 15[22:42] "This won't do much for the kruthik. It'd work a trick if we were fielding human soldiers. The problem is, like Blossom says, it comes from the wood behemoth. And eventually it'll return to the wood behemoth. We saw people infected with this in Great Forks. Anything we treated with this would simply merge with the behemoth eventually." [22:42] 13Ying: "That's bad!" 15[22:42] 10Eikichi: "If you loved blind murder, it would be good." 15[22:43] 10If. [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Greetings, [22:43] 7Blossom: "Might be useful long-term, if you could poison it somehow." [22:43] "Rot the thing from within." [22:44] 13Ying: "Well, I don't! And don't poison it, people are trying to overthrow Raksi the only way they know how: with weird substances given to them by suspcious characters!" 15[22:44] "Interesting idea. But the behemoth needs to stay alive." 15[22:44] "For now, at least. We need it putting pressure on-- on Mahalanka." [22:44] 13Suspicious* [22:46] 13She narrows her eyes. "On what?" [22:46] 7Blossom: "That's why I said long-term!" [22:46] "You were gonna say something else." [22:48] 4Ir sighs. "Well, at least it's not a superweapon with a deadly but seemingly-managable price." 15[22:48] 10Eikichi: "I've got the outline of a plan for an artifical heart, by the way." 15[22:48] "Could make do with kruthik flesh, but I'd prefer not to." 15[22:48] "We might not have a choice, though." [22:48] 4Ir nods. "That sounds--what?" [22:48] 13Her eyes narrow further, but she doesn't press. [22:49] "You want to put the kruthik...inside you? On a possibly-permanent basis?" 15[22:49] 10Eikichi: "I don't want to. But if it's that or dying on the spot because Raksi's crushed my heart..." 15[22:50] 10His lips tighten involuntarily. [22:50] 13Heavy sigh. "Not a lot of great options, here." [22:50] 7Blossom: "What's your plan?" [22:50] 4Ir: "No. And it might give you a greater connection with Jormungand and the swarm. I'm just worried it'll work both ways." 15[22:51] 10Eikichi: "It'd be a cinch to make with a neomah's help. Hard to put in, but Ying could help with that." [22:51] 13Blandly: "I could." [22:52] 13Said as though she couldn't remove every single one of their hearts and make it look like an accident. [22:52] 13(She can.) [22:52] 4Ehh. Ir wouldn't want her to test it. [22:53] 13Ying wouldn't want to either! But she could do it. 15[22:53] 10Eikichi: "It's not safe to count on me when she can just kill me at will. She won't want to, but she will if she has to. And I'm a walking window for her, too, so I can't help the resistance directly either." [22:56] 13Ying: "So. Fake heart or some other option to cover up everything?" [22:57] 13Her ears had stopped flicking, but now they've started back up. "This kinda sucks." [22:57] "It's not ideal." [22:57] 7Blossom: "Not a fake heart, a new real one." [22:59] 13Ying: "Does the magic care about what we call the heart?" 15[22:59] 10Flatly: "Yes. It's heartbroken." [23:00] 13Ying: "Boo." [23:01] 4Ir: "We should make our choices and get started tomorrow morning. Or tonight, if the sky's more favorable. In addition to all the other ways Raksi has compromised us, she's still got a military backed by a Sidereal assassin." 08[23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi does have an appointment to keep tonight, as it's a new moon. [23:06] 13Ying: "I kind of hate this? Except scratch the kind of." [23:06] "Please tell Tatsuya tomorrow that I hate this. He will already know, but I want him to be reminded." 15[23:06] 10Eikichi, irritated: "Do you have a better idea? Or are you just going to keep reminding us how bad this is." [23:07] 13Her ears flick back. "I don't know how to deal with losing." [23:08] 4Ir busies herself with the dishes. 15[23:08] "Then I guess we better win, huh?" [23:08] 7Blossom: "Haven't lost yet, and we won't." [23:08] 13Ying: "Okay." 13She almost sounds like she believes them. [23:08] "It's like I told the resistance. We're extremely strong." 15[23:09] "Yeah. We're fucking invincible." 15[23:09] "Can't you tell?" [23:09] 4We'd have to be, to survive all the stupid shit we've pulled. 08[23:09] 7Blossom's a bit surprised that Eikichi did one of the harder swears, but she writes it off as enthusiasm. 15[23:10] 10He sounds angry, but maybe it's just tummy upset or colic or something. You know how babies get. 08[23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12The sun's setting. If Eikichi's to prepare a trap for the demon caught within the Spheres of Spite he'd best get to it. 15[23:12] 10Can't wait to see how she steals this one too. [23:13] 13Ying's curled up in the nearest sunbeam. She's not asleep, but she is trying to think about ways to destroy Raksi. 08[23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12The preparations are made, and the hours draws on as Eikichi incants, gestures, or simply meditates before green-burning braziers and bowls of smoking mercury. As the witching hour draws near, green flame shrieks into existence and spells out 'ITHUYA' in old realm characters within an elaborate circle before the sorcerer, illuminating the living spires of flesh and chitin that surround [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12the summoning site and turning the carpet of biomatter beneath it to glittering ash. These aren't normal burns - that creep may never re-grow. 15[23:14] 10The first of the three spheres of spite glows green, then violet, then black. [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12A great, tangled knot of serpentine coils appears before the sorcerer. Some black parts look like burning coal, black and crumbly, while some parts gleam violet with polished scales and tiny sparks of lightning. Batlike wings, their membrane more light and fire than flesh, close over the tangle, there's an inrushing of air and pop, and a withered old woman now stands in a still-burning [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12circle upon the stone. [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12The woman's eyes are jaundiced in the wrong direction - they're purplish rather than yellow-tinged. As well, her fingernails and teeth seem to be composed of rusty iron. She says: "....hmmph. Well, well." 15[23:17] "Ithuya." [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Ithuya: "What is this? This shouldn't have happened." 15[23:18] "You're right. You shouldn't have been obeying someone else in the first place." 15[23:18] "Don't worry, it's all been taken care of." 08[23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Ithuya's eyes flash and she strains against something invisible for a moment, but Eikichi can watch with cold satisfaction as the bindings on the demon hold perfectly. "Ahh. Eh heh heh. Fine." 12She essays a short bow, one knobbly arm sweeping back briefly. "Here I am, then." [23:20] 4Ir doesn't approve, and even if she did approve, she liked Sondok better. But so it goes. 08[23:21] 13An eye cracks. It's a good sunbeam, but. Eikichi. "Ithuya." She will watch silently; unless Eikichi does something very stupid. 15[23:22] 10Eikichi: "Good. We're going to lay waste to this jungle." [23:24] 13Cruelty. She will have words. 08[23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir recognizes what she's looking at from the brief flash of the demon's true form. There was a great, burning dragon among Chithakara's first line of defenders, a winged serpent of purple and black that coughed columns of poisonous flame hot enough to make even Blossom sweat. You killed it, or thought you did - apparently Eikichi was able to claim and recycle the creature. [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Ithuya: "Ohh ho ho. That's lovely. It'll come as such a surprise." [23:25] 4Ah. [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12The demon suddenly claps her hands, her fingernails kicking off sparks as they scrape by each other. "A request! We can start to the south. There's a great web spun across a lake there, and I know that it will burn ever so nicely..." 15[23:26] 10Eikichi: "Been there, ruined that. It's been bled dry now." [23:26] 7Blossom: "We already burned that one. Sorry." [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Ithuya: "And its master?" 15[23:27] "Fled." [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Ithuya: "Then he remains! Oh, I will enjoy this. Can we start now?" 15[23:28] "Yes. Start by telling me everything you know about the jungle's places of power, and its sorcerers." [23:29] 13What is she. Ying stops pretending to be asleep. "We do need to take care of them." [23:30] 13Still laying down. Eyes open in a sunbeam, but ready to pounce should there be a fight. [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Ithuya begins, then. But a month ago, she says, she served G'sassz Dream-Catcher, a Lunar sorcerer whose totem was a water spider and was the primary caretaker of all of Raksi's places of power on this side of Mahlanka. She can point you to several others, only a few obvious - one great locus of fire essence that, predictably, seethes directly below the factory-city that Tatsuya has [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12already begun to sabotage, but another leyline-regulator manse south of the capital city and a few subtle points of inflection that have escaped your notice thus far - one even 'behind' the territory you've already captured that would be easy to simply dispatch a force of kruthik, or Ithuya herself, to suborn or destroy. You also get more general headings on two major demesnes on [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Mahalanka's east side, at least one of which must be currently serving as a pillow for the sleeping titan. [23:36] 6What the fuck. 13No, it's fine, but also what the FUCK. [23:37] 7(-3-) [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12As to Raksi's sorcerers, G'sassz is among the strongest, but she also keeps a Lunar pupil named A'alai who takes the form of some kind of crustacean close by in Mahalanka, and has surely sent away for the vulture-totemed Kisha, a sworn disciple from afar. Wait- [23:39] 4Ir, leaning against some nearly-fallen stone arch, in a break in the conversation, to Ithuya: "You eat food?" 15[23:39] 10Eikichi: "...say that last one again?" [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Ithuya: "Kisha something. I've only heard about her in passing. Doesn't live here, but owes some kind of debt." [23:40] 7Blossom: "Hrrrrrh." 15[23:40] 10Eikichi: "...oh no." [23:41] 13Ying: "Do we have to keep this a secret furom you." 13She sounds extremely unhappy. [23:41] 4Ir's making a very angry noise in the back of her throat. [23:41] 4Where is Marek. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek's on patrol; he's been keeping watch for potential assassins and other interlopers, and making sure among other things that the warstrider doesn't get stolen back somehow. Ir shouldn't have a hard time tracking him down, though; she knows where on the walls he'll usually be at this time of night. [23:43] 4She'll whistle for Errant and fly for him immediately. [23:43] 13He sucks so bad. Ying has SO MANY opinions on Ir's boyfriend. [23:44] 4And she'd do well to keep them to her fucking self until Ir knows he's safe. [23:44] 13She's not stupid. [23:46] 7Blossom likes Marek, he played that game she invented with the ball and the holes. "I'd hoped otherwise, but-- well. Too late now." [23:47] 4How long does it take to find him? 14[23:47] * Quits: trenchfoot (Quit: Leaving) 14[23:47] * Joins: trenchfoot [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Maybe half an hour. Marek's leaning over a ruined battlement, frowning down at the night-time hellscape below; the remade Chithakara's never sat well with him. Ir knows that he'd probably be done-done and able to come to bed a few hours from now. [23:51] 4Yeah, well. She spur Errant forward into a dive down towards him, then drop off the pegasus onto the roof alongside him as Errant pulls up and wheels away into the air. [23:51] "Hello, beloved." [23:52] 13Ying: "You suck ass, dude. Never saw any of us coming." 13She's vaguely smug. [23:52] 4She is not particularly good at hiding her emotions at the best of times, but right now she looks especially displeased. [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Ir! What new- what?" 12He looks taken aback. [23:52] "Is there anything you want to tell me." [23:53] "That I should know, but I don't." [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek looks between Ir and Ying, still looking totally nonplussed - though he is among the Changing Moon caste, so he can look however he wants. "...what did I do?" [23:54] 13One of her eyebrows rise. She says nothing. [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Scratch that, then - he's just staring at Ir. [23:56] 4Ir doesn't answer the question. "Do you know where Kisha is right now?" [23:56] 13It's true. Ying's eyebrows raise at nothing at all. [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "No!" 12He looks mildly annoyed here, though surely not as much as Ir is. "She was never too... hot on this, but spoke as though she'd be here right beside me and Jol. Instead we receive a few missives on troop movements every so often." 08[23:58] "I think I do. You see, Eikichi Sho summoned a demon tonight. You know, given the moon and all. Ithuya." [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "I don't know of this Ithuya." Session Time: Fri Aug 16 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] 13Clown. Idiot. Fool. 08[00:02] "You don't? Could have sworn we mentioned her. We banished her at Chithakara. And then Eikichi brought her back for information."4She grimaces, lower lip trembling for a moment before reasserting itself. "And Ithuya knows all the sorcerers that Raksi employs. G'sassz Dream-Catcher. A'alai the Crab...thing. And a third, who is sworn to Raksi but ranges far beyond the TCZ, and has only [00:02] recently been called back." [00:02] "Her totem is the vulture. Her name is, well." [00:02] "You know what her name is." [00:02] "So where's Kisha, Marek?" [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "What?!" 12There's chittering as the kruthlings below, disturbed out of their torpor, go tearing across the creep. "That's not - not possible! She would have said something!" [00:05] 4Ir: "WHERE IS SHE?!" [00:06] 13Look, my guy. They dont always have the chance. [00:06] 4She is on the verge of tears at this point. [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Airborne! Scouting! Or so she says. JOL, GET OUT HERE!" 12It's less than a minute before a cloud of scarabs that comes boiling up the side of the city coheres into a pale man in a robe. [00:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Tell him what you told me." [00:07] 13NO GROSS BOGS AUGH [00:07] 13BUGS [00:07] 13HATE THEM! [00:07] 4Scornfully: "Kisha is sworn to serve Raksi, as told to our sorcerer by a bound demon with complete knowledge of the Cannibal Queen's affairs." 15[00:08] 10What's Blossom up to while Ir's away and Ying's asleep? 08[00:09] 7She wants to help Eikichi with his whole new heart deal! [00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek, wild-eyed: "Does this make sense to you?" 12Jol: "Hmm. ...yes, I suppose." 12Marek blinks. [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Azer'jol speaks slowly. "We know she visited long ago. Came back. Wouldn't speak of it. Told us it was a dead end." 15[00:10] 10Good. "So I think we've got everything we'd need to make a heart out of orichalcum, except some sort of self-regulating animating principle. A principle of water, or lightning, or even time would do..." [00:12] 7Blossom: "Hmm. I can provide lightning, but that's probably not of a suitable kind." [00:12] 4Ir looks from one to the other. "And you -- her Circle -- you just...let this happen. You didn't notice it, you didn't do anything about it, you didn't intervene, you just let her go? And now you don't know where she is?" 15[00:12] 10Eikichi: "None of the demesnes within reach would work... maybe Yara would know something." [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "We were split up when she went to Mahalanka years ago - searching for leads on the deathlords' rise. She went east, I went south... and Kisha has always been far-ranging. But loyal! She's more dedicated to the mission than any of us!" [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "There must be some trick, or some, some huge leverage over her. She would never-" [00:16] "That's even worse! That means she's out there, alone, trying to balance an old allegiance with her loyalty to you , and you're here...looking at bugs! Does that make sense to you, Azer'jol?" [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12The robed man shrugs. "You are planning next steps. We stand watch." [00:17] 4Ir: "Marek, I love you and I'm not going to stop loving you but you have a priority right now, and I'm worried our attachment might have gotten in its way. You need to find Kisha." [00:18] 7Blossom: "Shall I ask?" [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek nods, but then pauses, frowning. "She... might not want to be found, mightn't she? If she's sworn somehow to this place's defense. Might need to stay away." [00:19] 4Ir: "And is that going to stop you from even trying?" [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Kisha's wiser than I am. If she's chosen to stay out of reach and out of sight..." [00:22] 4She is actually tearing up now. "I don't understand you sometimes. I honestly don't. Kisha is your Circlemate. That makes her more than your responsibility. And you want to sit here and tell me all the reasons you shouldn't at least try to help her." [00:22] 4She turns, snaps her fingers, and wipes her eyes with her sleeve in one motion. "If that doesn't motivate you, maybe this will." [00:22] "Find her before we do." [00:23] 4Errant dives down, and Ir gets on. 15[00:23] 10Eikichi: "How do you think it's going with Ir and Marek?" [00:24] 4Does Marek have anything to say to try and keep this conversation going? [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Ir..!" 12He snarls and dives down himself. If Errant takes to the sky, she'll find Marek in hot pursuit, in the form of a striped hyena-man whose arms have been replaced with gigantic bat's wings. He speaks as he flaps, seemingly not at all tired by the pursuit. "Listen to me! Kisha is the wisest of us! The farthest seeing! If she's under some - some geas or compulsion to [00:26] <@Ferrinus> strike down Raksi's foes then you'll spell her death if you simply confront her!" [00:28] 4Ir won't have Errant lift off the battlement. Instead she'll reach down and grab Marek's collar. [00:28] "Then why are you still standing here?" [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "Because I might do the same! Are you listening to me? Just -- rushing off might be worse than nothing, for either of us, and especially her!" [00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "I need to think. I need to find what makes that demon so sure of its story, and what binds our witch here if so." [00:30] 4Ir lets him go and backs away. "I trust you. I believe you. I really do. But my Circle won't." [00:30] "And my Circle is in the right." [00:31] "I'm sorry." [00:31] 4Now she will lift off. [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek, then, follows. "About what? What are they going to do?" [00:35] "What needs to be done. Unless you can save her first." [00:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Marek: "We came here for you! So come through for us." 12He's speaking to the plural you, there, and immediately shrugs a shoulder to dive back down to this Full Moon compatriot and confer. [00:37] 4Ir bites back a snarl which almost turns into a sob, but instead urges Errant forward, back to the ruins of Chithakara. [00:38] 4When she gets back, she stables Errant sloppily, walks quickly to her room, slams the door, and is not seen until morning. She can be heard crying until the sky begins to lighten. [00:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, things have turned out to be worse than they seem along like two or three different axes... but you've found a few unexpected allies and advantages at the same time. The Circle begins to put it back together... next week. 14[00:53] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:44] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[09:47] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:40] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[10:43] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[10:44] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[10:45] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[19:43] * Joins: tom Session Time: Sat Aug 17 00:00:00 2019 14[04:11] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[06:43] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[11:03] * Joins: hrolfy Session Start: Sat Aug 17 12:11:51 2019 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[12:11] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[12:11] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[12:11] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 15[12:17] * Disconnected Session Close: Sat Aug 17 12:17:16 2019 Session Start: Sat Aug 17 12:21:01 2019 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[12:21] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[12:21] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[12:21] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[16:46] * Joins: tom 14[20:51] * Joins: hrolf 14[20:53] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:01] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[23:18] * Joins: Crion Session Time: Sun Aug 18 00:00:00 2019 14[00:17] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[00:17] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[01:02] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:11] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:21] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:45] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[06:50] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[17:11] * Joins: Crion_ 14[17:14] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:35] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[19:37] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:15] * Joins: tom 14[20:53] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Mon Aug 19 00:00:00 2019 14[01:41] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:59] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:19] * Joins: tom 14[16:31] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:35] * Joins: cbass 14[16:47] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:27] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:52] * Joins: tom Session Time: Tue Aug 20 00:00:00 2019 14[01:24] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:25] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[08:29] * Quits: banana (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:30] * Joins: banana 14[09:51] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:36] * Joins: tom 14[17:47] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[18:22] * Joins: Crion 14[18:23] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[20:11]  15[20:11]  15[20:11]  15[20:11]  15[20:11]  15[20:15] The red star rises, staining the empty channel crimson. Where the shadow's light falls, blank space is replaced with rough, painterly fields of green and brown smoldering beneath a black-red sky. The memory of thistledown drifts through the sulfurous air like snow. Acrid and metallic notes overwhelm all the senses as the shadow resolves into Prince Balor, sword and steed. [20:15] 14Mmmmm. 15[20:16] Cethleann sits sprawled on the ground behind him, the battlefield stopping at her fingertips, a great gray emptiness beyond. 15[20:17] "I cannot speak the name. I cannot speak the name--" [20:18] 14Mildly: "I can." [20:18] 5The corner of Xu Sim's mouth twitches. [20:19] 10Jai swallows. Throat gone dry, it makes a faint click. [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Thrumming with essence, Keldar's sword and shield make faint vwhim noises as they swing through the air. The Dawn Caste squares up. [20:23] 14Stranger looks out into the emptiness, still sitting next to Cethleann, not turning to face Balor. "And here...we...go." [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12As the shadow of Balor reveals itself and assumes its full height, Keldar's brow burns and his eyes flash. A phantom knight, heavily armored and bearing a great shield, rises in red-orange flames behind him, but Keldar finds himself twisting his hands past each other on the recombined hilt of a grand daiklave. 15[20:41] Stranger and Xia Lan take Cethleann's side while the rest of the circle prepares to face down Balor's memory. His voice is unmistakably familiar, disregarding the acoustics of the field. "Treason's heavy hand shall raise no prosperous blade against the wicked!" [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12The mercenary-adventurer-guard captain's the first into the fray, and he and Balor are immediately exchanging momentous, thunderous blows. Keldar roars as Terminus kicks blood-red sparks off wooden armor, then snarls as the raksha prince's own sword kicks sparks off - Keldar's bare flesh? Each combatant only looks bigger and meaner, Balor's shadow stretching even longer across the [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12expanse and Keldar releasing gusts of short-lived solar flame with every exhalation. 14[21:09] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[21:18] While Balor's blade dances among the Solar warriors, Cethleann clenches her fists. "He turned his back on us. He abandoned us for power. For safety." 15[21:20] Stranger and Xia Lan can feel betrayal well in their hearts... [21:22] 14Stranger, unperturbed: "Power and safety are compelling things. Was it against his nature to choose them? Did he change as well?" 15[21:23] Cethleann: "A conqueror! A king! Turned away by fear." [21:24] 14Stranger: "Yes. Such has happened before, and will happen again. I wonder, though: has the steady gaze you've levelled on him made you overlook yourself?" [21:26] 13Xia Lan thinks of corpses in the desert, now long picked over by other bandits and bleached by the sun. "Fear of what? To abandon you, to change..." [21:30] 10Jai finds himself in the middle of a vicious four-way tussle, and it's all he can do to keep up with Keldar's mastery of the blade and Xu Sim's flowing Crane stances. The most he can hope for is to keep this shadow of Balor distracted long enough for one of the others to strike a telling blow, or wait for an opportunity to present itself like with the Mask...  [21:39] 14Stranger: "You've been holding on to a lot for a very long time. Center to it, I think, is -- and this isn't going to sound very romantic -- the idea of accounting. There is a specific debt you're owed from his betrayal, both in thought and deed, and it has been, let's say, gaining interest. And there's a certain sort of fairness to that. But fairness isn't the be-all, end-all of [21:39] who and what we are; a fanatical devotion to fairness can, in the end, trap us. And usury can hurt the lender as much as the buyer. Even if they get their due. Perhaps especially if they do. If you don't want to be this person anymore, you're not only going to have to rethink love and vengeance -- you're going to have to rethink time, and debt." 15[21:46] Cethleann: "You would have me abandon justice for peace?" [21:48] 14Stranger: "First, and far more importantly, I'd have you think more about the nouns than the verb." [21:55] 13Xia Lan simply watches and listens. How she speaks is more important than what she's saying, right now - and she can get something to work with this soon. Regrets, not - this twisted shape of... [22:13] 14A wave of...weaponized fear?...washes over them, and Stranger simply rolls his shoulders. "I believe that we will win," 14he says, squinting off into nothing. "And I include you in the 'we.'" [22:15] 5Xu Sim sidesteps "Balor's" great attack - landing on the great warrior's very sword, for a single heartbeat. "You are projecting," 5he observes - directed at Cethleann - "You have always been projecting." 5Xu Sim completes his remark with a kickflip to the warrior's face. "The people of Creation are worthy. Consider Great Crane's lesson in true love." 14[22:22] * Joins: tom [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12As Cethleann's fury breaks like a wave against Keldar's sword, the warrior takes a deep breath. It's innervating, causing a halo of golden essence to manifest briefly behind his head as his lungs fill. Then his eyes fill with flame and he's in motion. [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not so much a warrior as a five-haloed sun that goes barreling into the faerie lord. For about two seconds, there's genuine back-and-forth - strike and parry and ripose and counter-parry - but then some kind of balance tips and Keldar's just sawing through the great antlered-shadow, sending sprays of red-burning blood in every which direction as he bears the memory of Balor [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12to his knees. The Dawn looks almost spent; even his anima's merely a crimson blaze that covers him from head to foot rather than a pillar looming across the entire battlefield. [22:42] 14Conversationally to Cethleann, as the Sun rises: "He's a difficult man to like. I suspect he's a very difficult man to love. It's fitting that they're fighting, I think." 15[22:51] Cethleann: "They should strike each other down." [22:51] 14Stranger: "And but for a single sliding blow, they might have." [22:51] "And that's the difference between the past and the future." [22:52] 5Xu Sim smiles at Stranger's banter - faintly audible over the din of battle - and his eyes go wide as the Burning Star of Balor, the cursed elf-gaze, turns its way. He's faced it before. This time, he leaps over the scything torrent of fiery unreality, as it doesn't so much as singe his pants. 15[22:53] Cethleann: "Bullies and braggarts and thugs." [22:54] 14Stranger: "Rogues and heroes and kings." [22:54] "They say coins have two sides, but really, they have three." [22:54] "You just need to practice the edge case." [22:55] 13Xia Lan: "Slim as that edge can be." 15[22:55] "I don't reside on the thin line between love and hate. We must be all one thing, or all the other." [22:56] 14Stranger smiles softly. The small victory here is in the 'we.' [23:03] 10Keldar's on Balor with an impossible assault, Jai can barely follow their motions, the attack and counterstrike, counter-counterstrike, counter-counter-counterstrike. It's Creation's fastest game of Gateway and it's being played for what might well be the fate of a nation. And Jai sees an opening, a hole that Keldar can't exploit alone, but with a little help— A shout forces its way out of his mouth as he charges in. "I'LL [23:03] 10 PLUCK OUT YOUR EYE!" [23:04] 10But as quickly as the window opened, it closed; Jai was a moment too slow on the attack, and he's locked in a clash with Balor. "XU SIM! WE HAVE HIM ON THE ROPES!"  [23:22] 13She abruptly changes tack. "I don't think we've spent much time speaking of Creation, here. Not recently, not in any way that counts. But the coin - it reminded me. And Xu Sim's words reminded me. I believe you once referred to it as - a "shit lagoon"? Or similar? Even the land can change, given time." [23:23] 14Stranger: "She's right, you know. As the learned raksha said, 'there are other worlds than these' -- and that cuts both ways." [23:23] 14He pauses and leans forward. "That's not what I really want to talk about, however." [23:24] "Balor. [23:24] "I can say his name. And I am sorry, but you will have to hear it. [23:24] "Balor has died, and Balor has changed. The two were related. They weren't your fault. He is not the creature looming behind us, about to die to three men that, let's be honest with each other, you don't respect. I do, but I don't blame you. That creature no longer exists. And, I think, you wouldn't love it if it did. It's over there for a reason. It's not over here. [23:24] "Creation is...well, there's a lot to say. You are drawn to it even if you destroy it; I am fated to be reborn into it even if I have no interest in such a thing. He's the Emissary now; he died, he changed. You might hate him or love him for it -- or both -- and I encourage you to judge him for it. But you can't make him the entirety of your story. You can't have him be the thing that [23:24] shows up in the dreamscape with a burning roar. You especially can't have it be this version of him. He is the Emissary now. He is not Balor. [23:24] "What I'd ask you to understand, here, at the possible end of the world, is that regret can be a good thing. Regret can be something to embrace. Regret means moving something that's your present into your past, passing judgment on it, moving on, evaluating yourself in the exchange but refusing to live only in that moment forever. [23:24] "Regret isn't fun, and I'm not going to pretend it is. But it's preferable to loving and hating someone whose name you can't even say. And it's preferable to being someone you can't live with. [23:24] "I have experience with that." [23:26] 14Behind them, an eye closes. [23:27] 5Xu Sim extends both arms and flexes each muscle in his body as he prepares to deliver the decisive blow. He reaches back and then forward again, straight into the face of the fiend with his fingers arrayed in a crane-talon strike. Xu Sim cries wordlessly as he delivers the blow. 15[23:31] With a single fierce blow, Xu Sim gouges out Balor's terrible eye. He howls in pain, the sound shattering the fire-razed field around him and leaving him staggering over blankness. He falls to one knee, sword piercing nothing, and opens his mouth to speak. No words come; Balor dissolves upwards into emerald sparks that float on an invisible updraft. 15[23:31] Soon Keldar, Xu Sim, and Jai do the same, dissolving into motes of pure golden light. [23:31] 14Stranger smiles. Good. 15[23:32] "Death is change," muses Cethleann quietly, her face upturned, motes of light dancing in her eyes. "Is it too late to change back?" [23:33] 5It's never too late, un-thinks the un-Xu Sim. [23:34] 14Stranger takes her hand. "Someone once said there are no second acts in mortal lives. But neither you nor I are precisely mortal. And even if we were, they were wrong." 15[23:42] Cethleann: "What makes you so sure?" [23:49] "The Sun. [23:49] "Not his blessing or his power or his kindness; certainly not his exaltation. At least not directly. Do you know what I was before I was this? Before I was vanquished from Creation for so many years. I had my name written on stones, but I had no statues built of me. People whispered my name. Oh, fear, I do recall that this shade of Balor wanted to instill fear. Stranger-Visits-Heaven [23:49] knew fear well. He revelled in it. Many died. Almost as many as in this war of ours, if not so quickly. [23:49] "So what did the Sun do? When Stranger-Visits-Heaven died, he changed. This time he was bonded to a river boy who knew fishing and gossip, and a quiet family life. An agreeable creature. A creature who wasn't beholden to grinning incineration. And Stranger-Visits-Heaven, whose name marks him not as a traveler but as a tyrant, became what I am right now. But will that stick? The next [23:49] time Stranger-Visits-Heaven comes to Creation, will he be like me, or will he be like my death rictus predecessor? I don't know. All I know is that I can be different the next time I see myself. And if I can be so, mired as I am in some great cycle, you can be more. That is my great argument, Cethleann, Primrose Duchess -- if that's what you still wish to be. [23:49] "I hope you change." 14He squeezed her hand. "I hope we both change." 15[23:53] They're already dissolving into light when she replies, "So do I." 15[23:54] NEXT TIME: The death of the Emissary Session Time: Wed Aug 21 00:00:01 2019 14[01:01] * Joins: hrolf 14[01:06] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:17] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:26] * Joins: mattbaby 14[01:56] * Quits: banana (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:57] * Joins: banana [03:28] (At Gooncon) 14[07:20] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[10:28] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:14] * Joins: tom 14[18:45] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:19] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:20] * Joins: tom 14[22:30] * Joins: Crion_ 14[22:32] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Thu Aug 22 00:00:00 2019 14[00:52] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:22] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Connection closed) 14[01:22] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[01:23] * Ferrinus is now known as Guest34377 14[01:34] * Guest34377 is now known as Ferrinus 14[01:34] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[04:57] * Quits: dammitwho (Connection closed) 14[04:57] * Joins: dammitwho 14[05:14] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[05:16] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:37] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[08:39] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:49] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[10:49] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[13:18] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:32] * Joins: Crion 14[18:34] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 ___ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 /:;'` [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 :::\ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 _________ ;:::\ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 _.-'',' : `.``-._ _..::::::::.._ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,-'___ ; : : ___`-. `'::::::::::'' [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,',',---`. : ,'---.`.`. _):::::(_ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 / /,'::::::\ ,^. /::::::`.\ \ |:::::::::: [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 / ,`--...___/ /:::\ \___...--'. \ |:::::::::| [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 / : : /_____\ : : \ ::::::::::: [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 : : : : : : : ;::::::::::: [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 | : : ___ : ___ : ; | ::::::::::::| [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 | _:..-'_'.-.\__:__/,-.`_`-..:_ | ::::::::::::: [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 : :.--'''::::::`---'::::::```--,; ; \:::::::::;' [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \\:::::::::::::::::::::::::// / :::::::::| [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \\:::___:::::::::::___:::// / |::::::::: [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ `::|--:\:::::::::/;--|:;' / ;:::::::::\ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 `. `' \\_______// '' ,' ::::::::::::\ [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 `-._`. ``-----'' ,'_.-' |::::::::::::: [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12 `-.._`.___,'_..-' ;::::::::::::| [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Kisha's out there somewhere, apparently in Raksi's thrall, and that's definitely going to preoccupy the other two members of her little Circle for a time. While they're searching for clues as to her situation and the best way to approach it, the Squared Circle itself still holds the fortress-turned-demon-hive of Chithakara and its sister colony to the southeast. By now, the creep [20:14] <@Ferrinus> 12has spread far enough that the two hives are linked by a highway of sorts of alien biomatter, and now the purple, grey, and orange stain on the TCZ begins to grow outward. There's already been fighting - skirmishes against apefolk legions and magical defenses which block or at least slow expansion towards the Control Zone's nearest other cities. [20:15] 4It's not quite the boon it seemed to be a couple days ago. And even then, Ir had mixed thoughts about it. [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12You've gained a new ally, however - Ithuya, the Vitriolic Dragon, who appeared as a coil of black and green and purple but currently seems to favor the shape of a gnarled old woman with iron nails. She's ready and willing to go burn down or poison Raksi's nearest other wellsprings of geomantic power, or simply join your armies. 08[20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Of course, Eikichi's chest cavity is still missing one extremely important organ, and so is your increasingly gigantic alien swarm. Heart and cerebrate are both ensconced in Mahalanka, subject to Raksi's tender mercies. [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12What's everyone working on over, I don't know, the next day? 08[20:18] 4Ir will spend most of the morning shut up in her room and wake uncharacteristically late, but she'll be around to make brunch if people want it. Other than that she'll mostly pace impotently, unless someone has something they need help with. She's out of projects of her own until she can either speak with Jormungand or deal with Kisha one way or the other, and she'd prefer Eikichi's [20:18] 4help with the cerebrate. 15[20:21] 10Eikichi works through the night on theories and designs; when he tries to sleep he finds himself preoccupied by his missing heartbeat. It's hard to focus, and he jumps from project to project without making any substantial progress. [20:23] 4Brunch is flatbread sandwiches with leftover boar and a caprese salad Ir makes from some of what remain of their fresh food stores. [20:23] 4In fact: that's what she'll do. Ir's going hunting with Errant. [20:24] 4More specifically: foraging. Meat is in plentiful supply. They need greens. [20:24] 6Tatsuya wakes up, stretches, reads over the notes Ying left, and then begins cursing over and over again, never using the same combination twice (though a few probably don't quite work, given the differences between the language.) He's also sort of - at a loss; no great projects to throw himself at, and any solo missions he can do just don't seem that helpful right now. Or would take time he doesn't have. So, cursing it is, [20:24] followed by scratching out designs he thinks are cool for Ying to make, maybe. [20:24] 6Anybody need a master thief and/or assassin around here? Because otherwise it's time to... I dunno, read a book. 08[20:32] 7Blossom's plan: Help Eikichi! What's he need, what can she build for him? [20:33] 4It's a long, hard ride to get what she needs for salads and garnishes for the next couple days, but it's worth it to spend time with Errant, bonding as they, ah, dodge spines and predatory snapdragons in order to get to leafy greens, berries, and flowering fruits. 15[20:35] 10Eikichi's ideas are still rough and rudimentary - for every promising thought he has there are two reasons to discard it. Progress is a slow and painful grind. But Blossom can see ways to help - tools he'll need, treatments and materials, a second pair of supertalented hands. And her simply being around seems to help him. 14[20:55] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:55] * Joins: Crion 15[21:08] 10But urgency bears down on him and he works at a frantic pace, ideas and tasks flowing almost faster than he or even Blossom can keep up with. They still bring him no greater focus - purifying squishy kruthik biomass into an edible protein, overseeing huge sinewed rope bridges in Chithakara and personally patching rooftops among the apostates... he sends Blossom away with plans for 15[21:08] 10fortifications flush with earth and tree, and when she returns she finds him carving delicate simian fingers out of heartswood. 15[21:09] 10Day and night he works, sweaty and lank, his cheek bulging obscenely with coca leaves at all hours. [21:09] 4Ir mainly lets him be, communicating mostly with Blossom, but ensures he remains fed and hydrated from the stores they have. [21:11] 7After a few days even Blossom can't honestly refer to the sweat as a 'glow'. She still does, but hoo-wee. She takes to sleeping in a chair tucked away in a corner of his workspace to avoid missing anything he might need. [21:25] 4Ir also pitches in to help him with marshalling the Kruthik and directing traffic. Neither food nor the song are her best work, but her best work is at this point literally legendary, and it's more than adequate. 08[21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Days pass - the better part of a week, really - as the Squared Circle throws itself into its work. Eikichi makes advance after advance in his chosen disciplines, and it's all Blossom can do to keep up as needed - sending messages, procuring raw materials, reminding people to eat. Ir's able to find 'real' food to keep the Circle supplied, and thanks to Ir's coaxing Tatsuya can milk [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12venom from some of the younger kruthik queens and then do some admixture and experimentation to mix up a substance that's more potent, less lethal, and much easier to aerosolize. [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12It's about an hour after night's fallen, towards the end of the week, that the Circle receives a visitor. The first sign is ghostly silver lights in the eastern treeline, visible to whoever's on watch there. [21:27] 6It's still extremely painful, unfortunately - might need to do some more experimentation for some kind of anethestetic for Ying's usage in medicine... [21:27] 7Eh? [21:28] 4Whoever's on watch, if there are kruthik around then Ir will be there quickly once a queen rouses her. [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12The strangest thing about it is the response of the kruthik, or rather the lack thereof - a great, chilly calm seems to spread around a carriage that's been carved out of what seems to be a giant, deathly pale gourd or pumpkin and pulled by a skeletonized giant iguana. It's flanked by the skeletons of apes and men, armed and marching silently except for the clack-clacking of bone [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12against bone. 15[21:29] 10What's this? What's this? [21:30] 7There is basically nothing about this that will please Blossom. [21:31] 6Good aesthetic. Oh man what if Ying put a cool skeleton on one of Tatsuya's jackets [21:32] 4There's only one group of people with this sort of devotion to their aesthetics... 08[21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi, Ir, and anyone who asks them thinks they know what's going on here - diplomatic immunity, that accorded to one fifth of the old Deliberative. The kruthik won't, perhaps can't attack unless some kind of offense is given first... although you're pretty sure that includes the refusal to abide by a strict order to leave. The question of whether or how this can work against [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12the kruthik specifically is actually one of some occult interest, because the kruthik are demons in some ways and not quite demons in others, arguably an entire race of powerfully demon-blooded creatures rather than summonable and bindable inhabitants of Malfeas per se. It's quite possible that some magic is strengthening or reinforcing the scope of the zone of carriage-rider's [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12prerogative to come waltzing in here. 15[21:34] 10Eikichi sighs theatrically. [21:35] 4Ir finds a perch slightly off to the side and above -- probably a broken wall -- and leans against it looking annoyed. Jude's Law coils about her wrist. [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12The little necromantic procession proceeds slowly but smoothly along through the fields of creep and hive structures before stopping at the foot of the massive, now-dead kapok tree that holds up Chithakara. An apeman's skeleton detaches itself and, carrying a scroll, attempts to make its way up into the city itself, presumably searching for whichever of you will receive it first. [21:37] 4Ir will do it no one else is willing, but this is not something she finds particularly amusing. [21:37] *4it if 15[21:38] 10Eikichi'll take it. [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12The scroll's illuminated with abstract whorls and spiral patterns and has beautiful if simple Old Realm calligraphy down the middle. It reads: Hello! Might I come up for a chat? Your old comrade, Wicked Triumph's Reckoning [21:39] 4No shit. 08[21:39] 7Reckoning is just straight up biting Eikichi's style here, except with skeletons. Blossom needs to ask that lawyer demon Eikichi has running their book sales if they have a legal case in some jurisdiction, somewhere. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12The skeleton stands, waiting. 08[21:40] 4There's no way after Crystal that Ir is leaving Eikichi alone in a room with Wicked Triumph's Reckoning with out two direct orders, and even then she'll be right outside. 15[21:40] 10Eikichi rolls his eyes, slots the scroll in between two of the skeleton's ribs, and calls out, "Well, come on, then." [21:40] 4So she'll be around for this too. [21:41] 6Yep. Tatsuya slides up to the group from out of the shadows. Not threateningly, that's just sort of how he operates. 15[21:41] 10Once Ir and Blossom are in sight Eikichi won't actually say anything, just hang behind them looking strung-out and scowly. [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12It goes clacking back down the stairs. What will Reckoning and his retainers find upon accepting their own invitation and heading up into the ruins of Chithakara? [21:41] 4Probably four variably pissed off Solars. [21:42] 4Ir will hold the Kruthik back, except for the queens who she'll honor by asking them to observe. They're going to be reporting back to Jormungand anyway; might as well be nice. [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12I mean in terms of, like, the decor. Is there anything laid out to eat? [21:44] 4Oh fuck no. [21:45] 7Excessively Righteous Blossom will, extremely begrudgingly, bring out a small plate of snacks as the minimum necessary for receiving an emissary of an enemy country. I don't think Chithikara has, like, a formal receiving hall anymore or anything like that. [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12I mean, it's got the remains of one. You could pick a bigger or smaller, or more-or-less destroyed-and-overgrown receiving room. I'll guess you went for the less amenable side of both of those sliding scales, though. [21:47] 6The bare minimum of not being openly hostile. [21:47] 4Not being openly violent. [21:48] 7We are all VERY BUSY. We are taking time out of our schedules to deal with this person vamping about. [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Wicked Triumph's Reckoning arrives, flanked by two skeletons in breastplates with short swords at their sides. He looks exactly as you he did last you saw him - tall, pale, a long face with lean features, and a waterfall of platinum blonde hair cascading around his shoulders and upper back. He's removed the broad, conical hat he wears in the daytime, and so just wears rich, [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12black-and-silver robes with skull and spider-themed embroidery. "Greetings!" 12he says, apparently in good cheer - you can see the hints of fangs in his broad smile. "And how does the night find you?" 15[21:49] 10Eikichi scowls. [21:49] 4Ir crosses her arms. [21:50] 6Tatsuya remains motionless, leaning on the wall. [21:50] "We are all very busy. Could you please get to the point sooner rather than later?" [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning sighs. "Are there still hard feelings? It's been years! Well, at least one. ...Fine. You understand who I'm here to represent?" [21:52] 4Ir: "Point of order. It's been less than two weeks since you consecrated an oath to hinder us on a rescue mission." [21:52] "And I'd say, given that, yes." [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Well, you swore it a bit freely, didn't you? Be glad it only mentioned the Queen and her capital city. But, ah, that's what I need to clear up. I am, as some of you know, here on heaven's behalf." [21:56] 6Tatsuya makes his shocked face. It is the same as his normal face. [21:56] 4Ir: "We're aware of the relationships in question." [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "For several reasons, the powers I represent are... skeptical, shall we say, of your campaign against Queen Raksi. Her fall would destabilize the region as well as several outstanding agreements, and she currently serves as the East's primary bulwark against the advance of the wooden behemoth. Now, we've had our differences, but I know you don't want to actually destroy [21:57] <@Ferrinus> the world. So... I'd like to smooth all this over, if possible." [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "What is it you need here? How can you walk away satisfied?" 15[21:58] 10Eikichi: "I've got kruthik to tend to." 10He stalks out of there with purpose, though his true purpose is to leave the room before he says something stupid. [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning opens his mouth to say something, but appears to think better of it, which really underscores that you're dealing with a master diplomat here. He interlaces his fingers and watches the rest of you. [21:59] 4Ir is still weighing her options, regarding saying something stupid. [22:01] 4Ir: "I want what my Circle wants. And I'm not sure the Crimson Banner Executioner or your patrons are in a position to deliver that." [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning quirks a brow. "That's a name I didn't expect to hear from you. But what does your Circle want, then?" [22:02] 4Ir's going to let Blossom field this one. [22:02] 6Tatsuya: "There are some pretty irreconcilable differences between us, pretty sure. Some awful stuff being done around here to people." [22:02] 7Blossom: "She eats babies, Reckoning. Exactly what do you think you can offer us that can somehow offset that?" [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Allegedly! As well as actually, of course, I'm not going to disagree with you there. But are you really here just to correct injustice? Because there's plenty across Creation you could be seeing to. [22:05] 6Tatsuya: "That's the idea." [22:07] 4Ir: "I think we've already given up enough of our motives and knowledge -- the name of a Sidereal contract killer, for one -- without getting much in return. Why are you here?" [22:07] 7Blossom: "She eats babies, she's squatting on our library, and she took one of us captive. You're offering anything short of Raksi's death, and I don't see how less than that could possibly be enough." [22:07] 4Ir's statement slide in easily after Blossom's. [22:08] *4slides [22:09] "All things have a place in the Heavenly order, fine. But this is still the Age of Sorrows, and I'm not going to cross the street for Amoth City-Smiter, let alone pull out of a committed offensive." [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "The depredations of the Realm's armies, the tyranny of the Mask, the prisons under Pneuma, the raids of the Lintha, there are plenty - ahhh. There." 12He smiles. "I'm being quite honest with you. I want to reconcile; I want to be on the same side. Justice, generally speaking, is what we all want. But there's something that brings you here - and if it's some specific [22:09] <@Ferrinus> relic or lore to be found in Mahalanka, perhaps its transfer could be arranged." [22:11] 4Ir: "I'm still not hearing you talk about anything but what you say you can do for us, and trust me, my good friend, you have done far more than enough for us already." [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "I'm sorry, let me be clearer. I have a direct line to Raksi. I have a direct line to Yu-Shan. I can get you things; I can get you things back. All that's needed is for me to broker some agreement, to ensure that everyone's getting something they want." [22:13] 6Tatsuya nods. "I appreciate the list of targets for the future, though. We'll get there when we get there, don't you worry." [22:14] 4Ir just shakes her head at him. 08[22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Dear Eikichi's heart, for instance. Suppose you got that back, and some critical piece of lore or artifice besides, in exchange for quitting the field here for... ten years' time? Twenty? And allowing the Queen to see to the threat on her eastern flanks. I'm just throwing out ideas, here." [22:15] 4Ir: "Maybe -- maybe -- maybe -- if what happened in Malahanka hadn't happened, and Raksi hadn't done what she did, maybe this could end amicably." [22:15] "Or at least nonviolently." [22:16] 7Blossom: "Can you empty Mahalanka for us, and have Raksi swear to live a life of quiet humility, never to return, never to seek vengeance, and to accept the justice of the Silver Pact for conspiring with their most deadly enemies - in exchange for us turning our armies onto the Wood Behemoth? Can you offer that, emissary?" 15[22:18] 10The balustrade Eikichi spits dark green over was solid wood before the Kruthik claimed it. Now it's gently springy beneath his feet as he grips the railing, breathes deep, and tries with all his might to feel his own heartbeat, so far away. [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "I'd imagine that has the same odds as my persuading you to swear to serve Raksi for a mortal lifetime apiece in penance for the damage you've done to her precious Zone already, in exchange for her not avenging herself on you in a hundred years' time. Which is to say, technically possible by the laws of the world but not, aha, the laws of the heart." [22:19] 4Funny guy. [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Each of you has grievously injured and insulted the other, you see? Each of you wants nothing less than the other's total ruin and subjugation. But we can thread the needle, if we try." [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Each of you has grievously injured and insulted the other, you see? Each of you wants nothing less than the other's total ruin and subjugation. But we can thread the needle, if we try." [22:20] 4Ir: "I am constantly baffled and appalled by just who the fuck you think you are." [22:20] 6Tatsuya: "Eye of the needle's looking camel-sized, my guy." [22:20] 6Scratch that, I got it backwards and am embarassed now. [22:21] 6Sorry. [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "I'm an agent of Heaven, and that means I have the god's eye view, here! Just take a step back and look at where you are, what you're doing, what you've actually accomplished - spreading a demon infestation across the East, accelerating the loss of life in what's already an abbatoir ten or a hundredfold, producing two weakened targets rather than one resolute defender [22:24] <@Ferrinus> against the great behemoth...!" [22:26] 4Ir, faintly incredulous: "What do you think you sound like right now?" [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Well, what?" [22:27] 4Very slowly: "No, I asked you the question." [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Oh, I thought it was rhetorical. Well, I certainly hope I sound like a concerned bystander tasked with preserving the integrity of Creation and fearful that whatever victory either you or Raksi wins will be so pyrrhic as to render it moot shortly thereafter." 08[22:33] 4Ir: "You used to be part of this Circle. That still matters to you or you wouldn't have done what you did to Eikichi. And you want to come in here after doing that, make a gleeful mockery of hospitality, and tell us you're a bystander to what happens here? To me, maybe. But not to the rest." [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Would you prefer I argued as a Circlemate? I'd assumed that might be received more poorly still." [22:36] 4Ir: "I'd prefer there were a single genuine thing left inside you." [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "You decided to remand me to Yu-Shan. The first oaths I sanctified on their behalf were also ones I swore, after some very lengthy... conversations." [22:38] 6Yeah, that was a mistake. [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "I am deathly serious when I tell you that I am a servant of Heaven, and working for the preservation of Creation. If you don't think me a convert, fine. But accept, at least, that I have absolutely no other choice in the matter." [22:44] 4Ir: "I argued for mercy for you, if only to keep your blood from the hands of people I care about. But you haven't proved my reservations wrong." 4Still, she doesn't contradict him. [22:47] 6Tatsuya grunts. It's hard to say whether he agrees or not, but: we've seen how Heaven works. 15[22:49] 10Eikichi can't hear any of this, filtering water bucket by bucket from the kruthik spawning pool until he's got enough to fill one of chithakara's now-empty bathtubs. He sinks beneath the water, which fresh from the spawning pool is almost hot. He trusts the others to deal with Reck; he's preoccupied wondering what Raksi could possibly be so happy about right now. [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Well, if you know how I can, you're free to suggest it. But I must insist: you can't fight Mahalanka and Yu-Shan and the great beast and prosper. You might triumph, technically speaking, but you'll wish you didn't." [22:52] 7Blossom steeples her fingers, closes her eyes and heaves a long sigh. "Reckoning, I'm willing to believe you're a reformed man, no longer engaged in treason against Creation. That's great! Really, I couldn't be happier. That said, I'm afraid you're going to have to tell your superiors that we're not going to be reasonable about this. But... you do have a point about the behemoth. We [22:52] won't forget about it. Alright?" [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "So, you should work with me, and together we might be able to retrieve from Raksi all the things you need - and maybe something more besides - and at the very least put this on hold while you extricate yourselves and do important work elsewhere." [22:55] 4Ir: "If we were to work together -- and I'm not going to say we are, but if we were -- we'd have to trust each other. Everything else, Raksi included, even, is less important than that. And that's a hard bridge to build when all you've got is ashes." [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "But easier when the the heavens themselves - or, ah, their exact inversions, in the present case - will sanctify your promises." [22:57] 4Ir: "If you want us to swear to you -- to swear with you -- that's going to take a bit more time and understanding. A bit more progress than we have at the moment." [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Well, this is just a feeler. If some sort of ceasefire and exchange of treasure or captives could be brokered it would surely come at the end of long negotiations only slightly less grueling than your actual war. But if you're at least interested in coming to some kind of agreement with the Queen... you need only let me know." 12He looks around at Blossom and Tatsuya, [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12who he assumes are far less amenable to the idea than Ir is at least slightly sounding at the moment. [23:00] 7Blossom: "We'll keep it in mind." [23:00] 6Tatsuya's just glad he didn't bring Ying today. "No comment." [23:00] 4Ir: "Thank you for coming. To talk." 4This isn't warm, exactly, but there is no sarcasm or sneer in her voice. [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "I would like something along the lines of a 'yes, see if she'll come to the table' or 'never, you dog', here. Take a bit to discuss it if you like, but it only gets harder for everyone involved if you commit to another month of warfare and then decide to call things off." [23:02] 4Ir: "If you absolutely need something solid to take back to her, tell her we'll only negotiate with you as her agent." 08[23:03] "We can't sign off on anything more without talking to Eikichi." [23:03] "Which is a problem you made for yourself." [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning sighs. "Shall I retire to my carriage? I can wait." [23:04] 4Ir: "If you wish. I can't promise a further significant response." [23:05] "It's not going to turn into a shoe at first morning's light, is it?" [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning laughs. "I have contingencies planned." 12The dead Eclipse bows grandiosely and sweeps away - though he'll be waiting for word somewhere at the edge of the hive grounds. [23:07] 4When he's gone: "Well, it's better than negotiating with Pramu. Or the fucking assassin. I guess." [23:08] 6Tatsuya, mildly: "That could've gone worse." [23:09] 4Ir: "He's not wrong about this campaign being very destructive and engendering demonic dangers to Creation beyond our original intent. He's just, also, an asshole without our best interests in mind." 08[23:09] "Let's find Eikichi." [23:09] 7Blossom: "That man is exhausting." 15[23:10] 10By the time they find him, Eikichi is cleaned up and in fresh clothes and looks, if not well, at least better. "I didn't hear any sounds of battle." [23:10] "I'm going to put on some tea and throw together some snacks; would you two wrangle our fourth?" [23:11] 4By the time they do, Ir has tea and crepes with seafood and cheese. [23:12] 4There's toasted flatbread and dip as well. [23:12] 6Tatsuya: "Yeah. Feeling drained like it was though. I'm just glad Ying wasn't around for this one." 15[23:12] "What was his offer?" [23:12] 4Ir: "He hasn't made one yet. He's still lurking on the perimeter outside." [23:13] "He wants us to lead." 15[23:13] 10Eikichi's eyes narrow. "What'd you tell him?" [23:13] 6Tatsuya: "Wants us to know if we're even interested in talking or if we just are bent on continuing the war. And we wanted to ask you before we gave an answer." 15[23:14] 10Eikichi: "So it's not a trick? He really does think he can get the Queen of Fangs to the negotiating table?" [23:14] 4Ir: "I personally told him that if he wants anything out of these talks he's going to have to actually engage with us as people, instead of stageplay sounding boards." [23:15] "But yes, he seems to." [23:15] 6Tatsuya: "So he claims. I don't buy it, frankly, but I think I'm outvoted there." [23:15] "And he is right about the behemoth." 15[23:15] 10Eikichi: "Treating us like people instead of game pieces goes against every established diplomatic convention." [23:16] "Yes, well. He'll have to live with it. Assuming that's still in his portfolio." [23:16] 7Blossom: "He seems to think so. He might be right, for all we know. I don't think anything will come of it, though. She eats babies." 7Blossom emphasizes the last two words. "Reckoning's position is that Heaven needs her there to hold off the Wood Behemoth." 15[23:17] 10Eikichi: "Do they?" [23:17] 6Tatsuya: "No. I bet we could do it. But they think so." 15[23:17] 10Eikichi: "We probably can't conquer Mahalanka and *then* crush the behemoth." 15[23:18] "But then, Raksi probably can't repel us and *then* crush the behemoth." 15[23:18] "An infelicitous position." [23:18] 7Blossom: "I bet we could delay it enough for some breathing room, though. Given enough fire. It stands to reason a Wood Behemoth would be weak to fire." [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12That's probably true, although you still haven't had the chance to figure out exactly what you're dealing with w/r/t those things. [23:19] 4Ir: "If we can conquer Mahalanka and then crush the behemoth, then the kruthik are now the greatest extant threat to Creation." 15[23:20] 10Eikichi: "Meaning we are." 15[23:20] "But then that apparently gets you a sweetheart deal with Yu-Shan." [23:20] 4Ir's released the queens by now, who were permitted to listen to the full exchange silently. Raksi is already getting a full and comprehensive report on the proceedings, so even if Jormungand gives them up to her -- which might not even technically be possible -- that's probably fine. [23:21] 4Ir: "Assuming Jormungand hasn't decided he's better off on his own, yes. It's not like he's bound to any of us." [23:22] 7Blossom: "Voluntarily sending the kruthik to Malfeas should at least buy us something." [23:23] 6Tatsuya: "Leaves us in the lurch for the future. You think someone wouldn't immediately come after us, now that we're down an army?" [23:23] 4Ir: "We are an army." [23:24] 6Tatsuya: "Yep. And there'd be more armies against us than with us." 08[23:25] 4To Eikichi: "I guess the big question here, the most important one, is: can you stand to be in the room with this guy? Because if you can't, then this is all a non-starter, and we move on from there. It's unfair to go into talks that you can't be present for." 15[23:26] 10Eikichi looks away from Ir. "Just don't make me negotiate with him." [23:26] 4She nods. 15[23:26] "There is another possible approach." 08[23:27] 7Blossom pats Eikichi's hand reassuringly. [23:27] 4Ir: "Then I can go deliver our ans---?" 15[23:28] 10Eikichi leans into it, catlike, before continuing. "We're being boxed in by Reck's desire to prove himself indispensable to his masters. If we're to negotiate at all, we shouldn't be negotiating with Raksi. We should be negotiating with Yu-Shan. We convince them we're the better bet against the behemoth, and we convince him that he'll be doing more good for Creation and himself if 15[23:28] he can bring the Silver Pact to the table once Mahalanka's theirs again." [23:29] 4Ir smiles wanly. "He did spend most of his time convincing us he represents Heaven -- not Raksi." [23:29] 7Blossom: "That's a very good idea. Any post-Raksi ruling party should include the main representatives of the resistance, though, but we can sort that out when the time comes." [23:30] 4Ir: "Should I go deliver the news, and get him the hell off our lawn?" [23:30] 7Blossom: "Any objections? We negotiate with Heaven through Reckoning?" 7She looks around. 15[23:31] 10Eikichi doesn't object. It's not what he actually wants, but he can't say what he *actually* wants. [23:31] 6Tatsuya: "...do you really think he's being honest about that?" [23:31] "I wanted to, but..." [23:31] 4Ir: "I think he serves power, and Raksi isn't the power here." [23:32] "So aside from him mostly serving himself, yeah." [23:32] 7Blossom: "He's got enough strings on him that he's trustworthy right now, which isn't the same as being honest." [23:32] 6Tatsuya: "Okay, different question. Do you think that Heaven tied those strings properly?" [23:33] 4Ir to Tatsuya: "That said, if he betrays us this time, we're not doing the thing we did before again." [23:33] "Strangle him with his shadow." [23:33] 7Blossom: "I don't see any reason not to. They're not exactly neophytes when it comes to exacting technicalities." [23:35] 6Tatsuya: "Yeah, uh, that first plan seemed like a good idea but it's become abundantly clear that the simpler option was the better one. No third chances." 6To Blossom: "Fair enough." [23:36] 7Blossom nods. "Great. Then we--" 7She stops, and rubs the bridge of her nose with her eyes closed. "Okay, I'm just going to come out and say it. This has been driving me nuts." 15[23:36] 10Eikichi looks up. [23:36] "Tatsuya, do you realize you have cat ears now?" 15[23:36] 10Eikichi presses his lips together. [23:36] 6Tatsuya: "What?" [23:36] 4Ir snort-laughs. [23:36] "No, that's Ying's thing." [23:36] 6His hood twitches. [23:37] 6He slowly, slowly reaches up and pulls back his hood. [23:37] 6And then slowly, slowly runs his fingers through his hair, finding there two jet-black cat ears sticking out. [23:37] 4Ir: "I mean, maybe it's helpful. For hearing!" [23:37] 6Tatsuya: "What the fuck?" [23:37] "How long - is - what?" [23:38] 4Ir: "They're a good look, though. On both of you." 15[23:39] "...it's been weeks, now. Ever since we solved the mind-body problem." [23:39] 6His jaw drops. "And nobody told me?" [23:39] 6Oh no. Oh no oh no. "Did Ying know?" 15[23:39] 10Eikichi: "We just assumed you knew! Until we realized you didn't." 15[23:40] "Ying absolutely knew, though. There's no way she didn't." [23:40] 4Ir: "Until the last week or so, we uh. Kind of assumed. You knew about your own head." [23:40] 6Tatsuya: "Why would - it's - sorry, hang on." 13He pauses for a few seconds as Ying laughs and laughs. "Yeah. She knew, and is laughing at me." [23:41] "It just - it felt like it should! Like it was always just like that!" [23:41] "They are pretty cute," 7She points out unhelpfully. [23:42] 6Tatsuya: "Okay, but - I'm gonna have to - people will notice!" 15[23:42] 10Eikichi: "Czaliphenya's blessing only sees one body, I guess." [23:43] 6Tatsuya: "And that's fine but we're both supposed to be - praise the Sun I didn't get her accent - supposed to be different people." 15[23:44] 10Eikichi: "You are!" [23:44] 4Ir gets up and excuses herself from the conversation now that the bombshell news has been delivered, and heads down to the delegation. 15[23:44] "You are different people!" 15[23:44] "Different cat-people." [23:45] 6Tatsuya: "Yes, sorry, but - we can't be two places at once, is what I mean." 6He thinks. "Unless..." [23:45] 4Once at the carriage: "Parlay with the envoy. In private." [23:46] 6Tatsuya: "Well, I mean, basic option is disguise - for me, not for her, that'd be cruel - and that's the short term. For, say, an upcoming negotiation." 15[23:47] 10Eikichi: "Just start wearing a hat." 15[23:47] "...Catsuya." [23:47] 6Tatsuya: "No." [23:47] 7Blossom: "Keep your hood up. It makes you look cool and chuuni anyway." 15[23:48] "Cool and chuuni?" [23:49] 6Tatsuya: "I usually do. But for safety's sake. And I might want to look into, I dunno, some way that we can both be present for something. For proof." 6He's pacing. "Body double with a disguise? Probably only works for faking me. Uh. Illusions? Something weirder?" [23:49] "Also, yeah, that's fair." [23:50] 6Not at all chuuni: "I think it's cool, though." 08[23:53] 7Blossom glances at Eikichi, baffled. "What?" 15[23:53] 10Eikichi wrinkles his nose. "Chuuni looks silly." [23:53] "You know, like a guy standing on a rain-slicked promontory in the dead of night, his black cloak swirling in th-- what?!?" 15[23:54] 10Eikichi: "There are colors besides black, is all I'm saying." [23:55] 6Tatsuya: "I wear red sometimes!" 08[23:55] 6He shakes his glove at Eikichi. "Look!" [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12My delay nonwithstanding, there's only a moment before a door in the side of the great, ghost-grey pumpkin splits itself off from the wall, sliding smoothly outward. Reckoning's sitting there on the inside on a bench that seems to have been carved from completely normal wood, calmly painting an unfurled scroll with, seemingly, his fingertips. A ghostly blue-grey light just hangs [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12before him, illuminating the little chamber. "Hmm? Just you? Have a seat, if you like." [23:55] 4Ir: "I will." [23:56] "So, we've talked. How private are we in here? Like I said, we want to negotiate with you." [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning rolls up and pockets his scroll. Something about this seems familiar to Ir - she and he have made negotiated in secret before. "Well, that was rather the idea, wasn't it?" [23:57] 4Ir looks at him and waits. [23:58] "Black and red are very good colors!" 7says Blossom, who usually wears black and red by default, since those are the Cathak colors and hence what her armor came in. [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Oh, ah - anything said to me in here's entirely confidential." [23:59] 4Ir: "Understood." 15[23:59] 10Eikichi: "Black and red is fine. It's no black-and-purple though." 10He shakes out his hair, and it goes black from root to tip as his irises redden from blue to violet. Session Time: Fri Aug 23 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] 7*_* 08[00:01] "We recognize you as an envoy of Heaven. Specifically, I do, but the rest do as well. You didn't get your chance to plead your case to Eikichi, but this idea comes mainly from him: we agreed to negotiate with a servant of Heaven. So whichever other masters you might, uh, claim to serve, as far as these negotiations go, we want to negotiate with you in that role." [00:01] 6Tatsuya: "Damn, dude." 6He runs his hand through his hair, wincing when he hits an ear. "Ow." [00:01] "Beyond your history with this Circle, what we value above all is that relationship." 15[00:01] "How did that only just happen! How are you not running your fingers through your hair constantly! Look how thick it is!" [00:01] "Am I being clear?" [00:02] 6Tatsuya: "I just - shit, this is like being told you're breathing manually." 15[00:02] 10Eikichi: "Or that you can feel your own heartbeat." [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning makes a strange face before reaching up to pat a bit of his robe. "...you didn't have Tatsuya pickpocket me, did you?" [00:03] 4... [00:03] "Do you have a condition about questions?" [00:03] "No." [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning, feeling at one of his pockets: "...no, no, all here. Excuse me, I'm just reorienting. As you say, I am, first and foremost, the envoy of Heaven, tasked by its Bureaus to see to stability and predictability down here on Creation." [00:06] 4Ir: "Then that is who we'd prefer to be negotiating with. Regardless of what all of us have to do to continue satisfying the cannibal queen in these talks. We see those concerns as most important. I'm guessing you have at least an inkling why." [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "And you're all four on this page? You think you have something to offer to my masters directly?" 08[00:09] 4Ir: "Of course we do. And you know we do, because if we didn't, you'd have walked out of the room when Eikichi decided he couldn't bear to look at you. Because you serve Heaven." [00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning nods slowly, tapping his fingers together. "Well." [00:10] "He needs time. Perhaps more than time." [00:10] 4She'll reach forward and put her hands around his. "And there's one more thing, Wicked Triumph's Reckoning." 4The touch is gentle. [00:11] "And if you feel the spirit take you I'd like you to make us both parties to this." [00:13] "The first time we met you'd taken the mind of someone I've come to love dearly, toyed with it, and then released a giant undead tyrant lizard in a city I'd come to care for. And I've tried to forgive you for that. The second time we've met you've worked for his former lover, and helped her abuse him and quite literally steal his heart, having the gall to walk right into his house and [00:13] ask for hospitality. The next time you hurt him..." 4Her grip tightens. "There isn't going to be a next time." [00:19] 4Her grip tightens, and tightens, and tightens--and then she lets him go. [00:19] "And you can't even promise that." [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning's composure cracks for a moment. He pulls his hand back a bit too fast, his lower lip trembles once in the course of his drawing a breath. "Certainly, certainly. I'd expect nothing less from you, all things considered. As to, ah, as to your request." [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Here, Wicked Triumph's Reckoning cracks a familiar, broad smile. "I thought you'd never ask." [00:20] 4Ir: "I didn't ask." [00:20] "That was on you." [00:20] "We'll talk again soon." [00:20] 4She gets up to leave. [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12The carriage's door closes behind her - but the carriage stays parked. Reckoning re-emerges to begin some real preliminary negotiations... next week. 14[00:46] * Joins: tom 14[01:11] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:26] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:59] * Joins: tom 14[16:48] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:59] * Joins: tom 14[20:32] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:06] * Quits: trenchfoot (Quit: Leaving) 14[22:06] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[23:23] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[23:27] * Joins: dammitwho Session Time: Sat Aug 24 00:00:00 2019 14[07:02] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[20:51] * Joins: tom 14[22:43] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[23:48] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sun Aug 25 00:00:00 2019 14[00:11] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Quit: ) 14[00:16] * Joins: dammitwhoa 14[01:27] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Connection closed) 14[11:45] * Joins: tom 14[15:36] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:59] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[19:17] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:37] * Joins: trenchfoot Session Time: Mon Aug 26 00:00:00 2019 14[00:42] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:29] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:55] * Joins: tom 14[15:51] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:30] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:34] * Joins: cbass 14[18:20] * Joins: tom 14[18:27] * Joins: Crion_ 14[18:28] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:14] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:27] * Joins: mattbaby 15[21:29] * Disconnected Session Close: Mon Aug 26 21:29:13 2019 Session Start: Mon Aug 26 21:43:24 2019 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[21:43] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[21:43] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[21:43] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[22:49] * Quits: @Ferrinus (*.net *.split) 14[22:49] * Quits: VoxPrime (*.net *.split) 14[22:49] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[22:49] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[22:49] * paranor.sorcery.net sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[23:09] * Joins: tom 14[23:18] * banana is now known as banana|split Session Time: Tue Aug 27 00:00:00 2019 14[00:37] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:44] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[08:21] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[17:04] * Joins: tom 14[18:58] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Wed Aug 28 00:00:00 2019 14[01:07] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:40] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[02:42] * Joins: Crion 14[04:16] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[07:34] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[09:14] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[18:00] * Joins: tom 14[19:31] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Thu Aug 29 00:00:00 2019 14[01:21] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[01:59] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:35] * Quits: dammitwho (Connection closed) 14[04:36] * Joins: dammitwho 14[04:40] * Quits: dammitwho (Connection closed) 14[04:40] * Joins: dammitwho 14[05:03] * Quits: dammitwho (Connection closed) 14[05:04] * Joins: dammitwho 14[08:59] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[09:31] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[18:42] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:52] * Joins: tom2 [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,ggg, gg ,ggg, [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 d8P""8b ,d88b, d8""Y8b [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 Y8b,__,,aadd88888bbaaa,888888,aaadd88888bbaa,,__,d8P [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 "88888888888888888888I888888I88888888888888888888" [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 /|\`""YY8888888PP""""`888888'""""YY8888888PP""'/|\ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 / | \ `WWWW' / | \ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 / | \ ,dMMb, / | \ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 / | \ I8888I / | \ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 / | \ `Y88P' / | \ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 / | \ `YP' / | \ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 / | \ 88 / | \ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 / | \ i88i / | \ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 / | \ 8888 / | \ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12"Y88888888888888888888888P" i8888i "Y88888888888888888888888P" [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 `""Y888888888888888P""' ,888888, `""Y888888888888888P""' [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 I888888I [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 Y888888P [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 `Y8888P' [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 `WWWW' [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 dMMb [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 _,ad8888ba,_ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 __,,aaaadd888888888888888bbaaaa,,__ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 d8888888888888888888888888888888888888b [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Wicked Triumph's Reckoning came to the remains of Chithakara to make you an offer. Now you've made him your own - and he sounded intrigued. Still, the Squared Circle has some time to get their story straight before the dead Eclipse returns from his deathly carriage to set out some formal terms. [20:23] 4Ir’s no big-Realm-house negotiator type, but it seems to her the most important thing to do is first set their basic objectives, and second -- and almost as importantly -- figure out what the heck Wicked Triumph’s Reckoning is actually able to promise them. [20:25] 6Tatsuya runs his fingers through his hair again, trying to avoid his ears up there. How did he miss those? "So that was a thing. Is a thing." [20:27] "...we uh. Don't do anything, right? Like. That'd be bad. To do." 15[20:28] 10Eikichi's leaning against a wall, arms wrapped around himself as he stares at the floor. "Do what?" [20:29] 6Tatsuya: "Anything. You know." 6He waves a hand vaguely. "Anything." [20:29] “Doing nothing is doing something.” 15[20:29] 10Eikichi: "What do we actually want from Heaven? Specifically." [20:31] "I guess our baseline ask is a withdrawl of support from Raksi's government and the Queen herself. Given her losses already, that might force her to the bargaining table, or at least substantially weaken her ability to fight a war against us." [20:32] 6Tatsuya: "And aside from that, uh. What else? Though that's already a pretty big ask." 15[20:34] 10Eikichi: "What we need is to effect a transfer of control of Mahalanka to the Silver Pact." 15[20:34] "So, we just need to broker peace between Heaven and the Pact." 15[20:34] "Simple enough. We'll be home by supper." [20:35] "Well. When you put it that way." [20:35] 4She shrugs. "I mean, they're willing to work with Raksi, and she's got to be among the LEAST reasonable Lunars out there. Right?" [20:35] 6Tatsuya: "Yeah. Sidebar, I kind of want to kill him. Can I do that?" [20:36] "I feel like the answer is no, but also, come on." 15[20:36] 10Eikichi: "She's very reasonable as long as you give her everything she wants and don't challenge her ever." 15[20:36] "Which Heaven is more than willing to do. She's useful there." [20:37] "It feels weird to be advocating for not killing him, but I think his type has magic to enforce diplomatic niceties anyway. And I don't think killing him would solve any of our problems but making us feel better. It'd definitely put him back into circulation who-knows-where." [20:38] 6Tatsuya: "Sounds good, let's do it. Wait, is that not what you meant?" 15[20:38] 10Eikichi: "Killing Heaven's diplomat would make it harder to negotiate with Heaven." [20:38] "They probably should have thought of that before sending him here." [20:40] 7Blossom: "Why give Mahalanka to the Pact? They haven't fought for it like the local resistance forces have." [20:41] 6Tatsuya: "I'm feeling outvoteed here, though, so I'll just. Not. If he does wind up dead though it wasn't me." 15[20:41] 10Eikichi: "The Pact will just take it from the resistance anyway." 15[20:41] "Unless we're going to fight the Pact too." [20:41] 4To Tatsuya: "If things fall apart, he's all yours." [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Depending on how you play it, of course, even going ahead with your original plan might effectively mean giving Mahalanka to the pact - or to whatever other regional power has the strength to take it from whatever non-Raksi ruler inherits it. [20:41] 6He nods. [20:42] "I'm not interested in giving him back Jude's Law, even if it's through his throat." [20:42] "Is it possible the Pact could learn to work with the local blooded resistance? It's the Realm and Heaven they have arguments with, not random outcastes." 15[20:43] 10Eikichi: "They could, but why would they?" [20:43] 6Tatsuya: "There's sort of a whole organized crew here to stop 'em, yeah." [20:44] "Sucks, but, well." [20:44]  [20:44] 4Ir: "There's also the little fact that it turns out our connection to the Pact might actually be Raksi's connection to the Pact." 15[20:45] 10Eikichi: "How'd it go with Marek, anyway? Are he and Jol out looking for Kisha?" [20:46] 4Her face is briefly strained. "There was a lot of shouting. But yes. They're 'looking into it.' I don't think they quite believe it." [20:47] 6Tatsuya: "Very cool. They're definitely gonna handle it." [20:48] 4She glares at him. "If they don't, I will." [20:49] 6He distinctly does not flinch. 15[20:49] 10Eikichi: "I take heart from the fact that Marek and Jol were able to get into and out of Mahalanka without being captured. Kisha's likely trapped by a debt rather than a true traitor." [20:50] "That would be preferable. But it's inexcusable that the two of them didn't know." [20:50] "She's in their Circle." 15[20:50] 10Eikichi: "That is weird." 15[20:51] "I guess not every Circle's as close as we are." [20:51] 4Ir: "I can think of ways to hide it, maybe, but I don't like the implications. Because usually hiding shit like that involves the Chosen of Heaven." [20:52] 4She shakes her head. "Whatever. Not the real problem right now." [20:53] 7Blossom: "Lunars probably go ranging about Creation separately more than we do... pfah. Ir's right, not relevant at the moment." [20:53] 7Blossom: "Lunars probably go ranging about Creation separately more than we do... pfah. Ir's right, not relevant at the moment." [20:53] 6Tatsuya: "It's sort of -- whatever." [20:53] 4Ir: "Should I call him in and we get down to this? I'm assuming he, at least, will have some idea of where he wants us to go." [20:54] "And frankly it creeps me out just having him sitting out there on the lawn." [20:54] "...probably. Uh, if he can tell us, which is. A thing." 15[20:54] 10Eikichi: "Fine." [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12You can probably send a kruthling or something out there to summon him back once the time's right, incidentally. Save yourselves a walk. [20:55] 13Gross dog meets gross dog. [20:55] 4Ir will tell one of the silently-waiting queens to go pass the message along to Wicked's weird skeleton valet. [20:55] 6Ying don't be mean 13Watch me 6DON'T [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12The queen trills something, and the kruthik are in motion. If you're high up, you can watch a small wing of kruthlings go scampering east across the creep to the treeline, where a blue-lit carriage awaits. One goes further forward to claw at the door, and, shortly thereafter the carriage is in motion, pulled by skeletal lizards up to the side of the city before a cloaked figure [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12flanked by skeletal guards emerges to ascend the stairs. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Within perhaps half an hour you're either sitting or standing across from Wicked Triumph's Reckoning. He's doffed his conical hat and is idly limbering his fingers. "Sooo. I understand you have an idea somewhat - orthogonal to mine?" [21:00] 6Tatsuya is frowning, unwilling to say any actual words. [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Though he certainly hopes otherwise, the smile Reckoning sends Tatsuya's way in return is not literally disarming. [21:01] 4Ir: "Remind us of your idea, again, if you would." [21:02] "Since we're now officially in session, or whatever." [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "I, of course, came here to broker a truce between your Circle and Raksi's dominion that allows for a cessation of this war, a focusing of the Queen's full attention on the wood titan, and the ability on your part to exit this theater with bodies, minds, and treasures largely intact. Terms, of course, would need to be hammered out in deliberation with all parties." [21:04] 7Blossom: "Right. And *Heaven's* interest in this whole situation is the death of the Wood Behemoth, or at the very least it being held at bay?" [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "And we needn't get too formal as yet. I'm taking your temperatures, here - if that sounds agreeable to you, I can broach it with the Queen and see where things go from there. But you, instead, wish...?" 12He nods to Blossom. "Indeed. More broadly, Yu-Shan would preserve the stability of the entire region, continuing centuries of... well. 'Peace' is a strong word. [21:05] <@Ferrinus> Predictability." 15[21:06] 10Eikichi: "You haven't even spoken to her yet?" [21:07] 4The corner of Ir's mouth twitches. "Sending their mole inside her outfit to negotiate peace on her behalf sounds like some shit Heaven would pull, yeah." [21:07] "Especilaly without even respecting her enough to tell her." [21:08] 6Spitting: "Heaven." [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Well, for the moment I'm our liason. I've spoken to her plenty. About actually calling off your war...? Not, ah, in any depth." 15[21:08] "And what's her temperature?" [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "I wouldn't be here if I didn't think there was a chance. Raksi is... pressed. More so than she's ever been in any local living memory but hers. Does she want to grind your dust into finer dust? Yes. Would, on the other hand, putting that off for ten or a hundred years come as a relief? Also yes." [21:11] "It seems kinda obvious to me that talks can't really proceed along those lines until Raksi is aware talks are happening at all." [21:12] 6Tatsuya: "I'm not hearing a reason to not go knives out." [21:12] "Look. I'm trying, here." [21:12] "Well." 4Ir looks at Wicked. "We could always talk about the other thing." [21:13] "The reason Raksi doesn't know these talks are happening yet." [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "And she will be! If you're amenable. Rest assured, not a single brush stroke will be left off the parchment once talks proceed." 15[21:14] 10Eikichi: "So that's Option A." [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Yes. An end to this war that's not an end to either side." [21:15] 6Tatsuya: "You say that like it's easy." [21:15] "Blossom alluded to it earlier, but I'm gonna come out and say it: we want to know what Heaven's interest is in changing sides in this war, and backing the winners. Because we will win. That's what we do. The question's a matter of cost." [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "If it was an easy deal to make, you wouldn't need your Eclipse to make it!" [21:15] 6We don't. [21:15] 4Ir: "You've lost the right to call yourself that." 15[21:15] 10Eikichi: "Shut your mouth." [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning raises his shoulders, and then sighs dramatically. Then he interlaces his fingers and leans forward to address Ir. "So that's a separate and very interesting question." 15[21:17] "Option two is, we get Heaven what they want - defeat of the titan, stability in the region, some consideration for the relationships Mahalanka's already established - and Heaven doesn't need Raksi anymore." [21:17] 4Ir: "Don't mistake our forbearance in not immediately inflicting your benighted exaltation on some other poor fuck in Creation for tolerance. Certainly don't mistake it for community." 08[21:18] 4Ir: "Eikichi is correct." [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning doesn't respond to that one, instead continuing his thought: "A ver-r-r-r-y interesting question. And certainly an unusual one. You have some inkling, I imagine, of my masters' opinion of you, and the ramifications of your growing influence." [21:19] "People talk." [21:19] 7Blossom: "With the argument being that we'll be better at that than Raksi - not spending time on, I am going to stress this again because it cannot be said enough, literally eating babies for example." 15[21:20] 10Eikichi: "We shouldn't give a false impression. We do spend a lot of time eating." [21:20] 6Tatsuya: "But not babies. We're not monsters." 08[21:20] 4Ir allows herself a satisfied smile at Eikichi's comment. 15[21:20] 10Eikichi looks out the window at what's left of Chithakara. Not baby-eating monsters anyway. 08[21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "A-heh. There you hit upon a strong point in your favor. Nobody likes Raksi." 12He glances at Eikichi briefly as he speaks, but keeps talking to Blossom. "Working with her, working for her, even visiting to check up - extremely distasteful. A good deal of office politics involved in fobbing off the duty, in fact, among my new colleagues." [21:22] 6Tatsuya: "Cool. Cool. So why are we in this situation?" [21:22] 4Ir has to say, grudgingly, to herself and not out loud, that at the very least this spy-boy shit fits Wicked a whole lot better than his fake-ass populist firebrand schtick did. [21:23] 4Maybe he really has found his calling. [21:23] 6He should probably still die though. [21:23] 4Well, yes. [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "So, you know, if you could burn a prayer strip and replace Raksi with Raksi-with-manners... why, my superiors would be overjoyed! But the Queen of Fangs offers a number of things to Heaven that, I'm afraid, you do not. Or perhaps I should say that she lacks certain qualities that you possess, such as expansionary ambition or an evangelical bent." 15[21:24] 10Eikichi: "Heaven can control her." [21:24] 6Tatsuya: "Your superiors lack imagination." 15[21:24] "Is what you're saying." [21:24] 6He nods and steps back. Let the talking guy speak. [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Put simply, Mahalanka simply... falling into your hands? Nightmare! Five alarms! You've burned an unacceptably broad swathe behind you already. Is, er, the feeling up top." [21:24] 4Ir: "She also has some fun qualities that we don't, like a mob of all her least favorite relations in the Silver Pact just waiting for the chance to destroy her. One they'd take if you leaked your arrangement to them." [21:25] 4Ir: "But then...if oh," 4she looks around the room, "six people know something, it's not really a secret anymore, is it?" [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Control - oh, how they wish. But Heaven can predict Raksi. Can count on her. For a thousand years, she's sat like a tick on the East's skin, and she'll do it for ten thousand more if allowed, each millenium alike." 15[21:26] 10Eikichi: "No she won't." [21:26] 6Tatsuya: "Can I say that sucks? Because that fucking sucks, my guy." [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Haha, well punned!" [21:27] "Don't patronize me." 08[21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning also quirks a brow at Eikichi. "Is that bravado, or do you know something?" [21:27] 4Really making Ir regret not letting Tatsuya loose on this guy. [21:27] 6He already regrets not just killing him in the first place. 15[21:30] 10Eikichi: "'The old breaks to make the new. That's the story of our Age.'" 15[21:31] "Raksi will take exactly as much as she thinks no one will take from her. The more support you lend her the more she'll expand." 15[21:31] "The equilibrium your masters crave is already broken. It's not coming back." [21:32] 7Blossom: "Not just your support, either." [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning scratches a thumbnail along his chin. "Perhaps so. That's not borne out in the past few centuries, but if you think you have something there I urge you to refine the idea." 12He lays his hands down on the table. "That is to say, what I'm trying right now is to appraise you of... where Yu-Shan is coming from. What might or might not incline them to hear you out." [21:33] 7Blossom: "She's playing the Pact against Heaven, Heaven against the Pact, and both of them against... whom? Can you be sure those are the only two balls she's juggling?" [21:33] "If she's willing to betray her fellow Chosen and closest ideals for you, what would she be willing to betray you for?" [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "And that is - Raksi has been a proven ally in times past, and you, and your kind, represent an existential threat to the heavenly order much more dire than hers." [21:34] 6Tatsuya: "Maybe Heaven should try harder next time." 14[21:39] * Joins: mattbaby [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "At what?" [21:40] 6Tatsuya: "Vetting." [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Oh. Well, believe me, whatever else you may say about Yu-Shan's alliance with the Zone, Raksi never took Heaven by surprise. Every move calculated, every trade-off accounted for." 15[21:42] 10Eikichi: "So we're clear, Heaven's position is that the old Deliberative's atrocities would've been fine as long as they weren't disruptive to the international order?" [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "To the... metaphysical order, in fact. But, ah, yes. To hear them tell it, the Creation itself was at stake." 15[21:44] "They would say that, wouldn't they?" [21:44] 6Tatsuya: "Very believable." [21:44] "And isn't it always?" [21:45] "To cut to the point here, I'm guessing before working with us, Heaven would want very specific assurances. Controlling ones, that they can enforce -- just like they can enforce their control over Raksi by threatening to tell the Pact she's a servant of Heaven at literally any time." [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "To be honest with you, they haven't filled me in on the exact details. But it's an axiomatic assumption - one genuinely held, I promise you - that the surest way to keep Creation intact, to keep human life alive, was... well, to create the world we live in now." [21:47] 6Tatsuya: "That sucks, dude." [21:48] 4Ir: "I'm not hearing a lot of give here." [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning nods to Ir. "Yes. Removing Raksi, in a vacuum, would be lovely - if Yu-Shan retained its influence in the region, retained the streams of prayer generated by the Thousand Fangs faith, retained a bulwark against apocalyptic threats from the east, retained at the very least the current balance of power they have with you and your kind." [21:48] "Do they trust you to enforce oaths?" [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "That is to say, would they back replacing Raksi with you? Not unless you were willing to swear up and down all the oaths I' [21:49] <@Ferrinus> I'm laboring under." [21:49] 6He's just ignoring Tatsuya, now. "I feel like we're better than she is." [21:49] "Becoming actual part-of-the-payroll agents of Heaven is a non-starter." [21:49] "Have you seen her?" [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning's not! "Better for what, is the operative question. As I've said, in their estimation you present a much greater threat to the order of Creation than she does." 15[21:50] 10Eikichi: "So what do they intend to do about that?" [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "And that's before you get your hands on the secrets and wonders of Mahalanka. Which, to be clear, Yu-Shan would also dearly like to recover." 15[21:50] "They must have broached the subject with you." [21:51] 6Tatsuya: "I have to ask again: have you seen her. Because Sun Almighty." [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning blinks, and smiles ruefully to himself. "The secrets and wonders of Sperimin, that is. She's even got me saying it!" [21:52] "If they haven't extracted them from Raksi already they can't want them that much." 15[21:53] 10Eikichi: "Seriously! Of the last half-dozen assassins Heaven sent at us, five are dead and the sixth is coming to my wedding. If we're the threat to Creation they think we are, what are they proposing to do about us? You must have been in discussions about this." [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Oh, they've got a few. It's part of the give and take. But the simhata's share remains hers." 08[21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning looks at Eikichi, draws a breath to speak, then closes his mouth to drum his fingers on the table a bit. "It'd be a bit counterproductive to tell you, wouldn't it?" 15[21:54] 10Eikichi: "Well I guess that depends what you're trying to produce." [21:55] 6Tatsuya: "Also that's a shitty dodge." [21:55] "Come on, my guy." [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "I haven't seen all the math, but I have seen some of the history. If you asked me, I'd be forced to agree with my superiors - your Circle is a destabilizing influence, a danger to this world in the long term. If I thought I could convince you to join me, or simply... retire, I would." [21:56] 4Ir: "You know, the monks of Pneuma had a funny definition of 'retirement' for Anathema." [21:56] "Not death. But not really life, either, in the Nail." [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Well, with a mighty enough oath perhaps they'd be content to leave you to a little cottage somewhere. Perhaps even a dominion like Raksi's, hmm? A gate guard of sorts at some corner of Creation." [21:57] 6Tatsuya: "Additional counterpoint: the world fucking sucks. We can fix it." [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "A highly ideological claim." [21:57] 4Ir: "Every claim made in this room this morning has been." [21:57] 6Tatsuya: "Neutrality is an ideology." 08[21:58] 6He learned that from Eikichi. [21:59] "You might get us under oath. But it's not going to stop your bosses from worrying, because I'm not sure there's anything that can stop your bosses from worrying. It's what they do." 15[21:59] 10Eikichi: "Heaven doesn't actually have the leverage or the resources to stop us, though. If they did, they wouldn't need people like Raksi to provide 'stability'." [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "So it is. Nevertheless, I assume that we are at a loggerhead here, and you don't actually want to seriously consider joining the ranks of Yu-Shan's agents or accepting the gift of a static fiefdom - a Mahalanka, of sorts, but with less grisly murder - somewhere elsewhere in the Threshold." 12He pauses, looks slightly hopeful. "Unless...?" [22:00] "...There might be give there." 15[22:00] 10Eikichi: "Our fiefdom is going to fly." 15[22:00] "And we won't need you to give it to us." [22:01] "Indeed. That said our taste for conquest, to the extent it existed at all before, has...been informed, by this campaign." [22:01] 7Blossom: "The question you should be asking yourselves is how well-disposed toward you you want us to be, and how much influence you want us to be willing to accept." 15[22:02] 10Eikichi: "Blossom's right. If you can't even convince Heaven we're a power to be negotiated with rather than a nuisance to be managed then there's no room for negotiation at all, your way or ours." [22:02] 4Ir: "But hey. The good news is that when we build our own outer Heaven, we'll have no designs on yours. Or on your Malahankas. We don't want to sit on the thrones you've made." [22:03] 6Tatsuya: "Also, separately: we can pretty much do what we like. If you try and stop us, well." 6He shrugs. "Events." [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning nods. "Certainly, certainly. And I wouldn't be here if there weren't a chance. The point I want to make here, ultimately, is that as much as we would like to neutralize you entirely, that's not immediately practical - and as long as your position isn't substantially advanced by whatever deal may be struck... well, it's not off the table." [22:03] "That's me, not them, by the by." 15[22:04] "Heaven certainly can't stop us - the Realm they rule through the Dynasty and the Philosphy is falling apart, Creation is rolling in at the edges, and the Sun shines again." 15[22:04] "But all they can do is protect their disintegrating post-Crusade consensus." [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "So, for Raksi to be removed and Sperimin simply delivered to your Circle... unlikely. Sperimin delivered to some party still on Yu-Shan's payroll but that, perhaps, sacrifices fewer people..." 15[22:04] "How do you negotiate with a prophet who thinks history is over?" 08[22:06] 6Tatsuya looks towards Eikichi and nods. Twice. "Are you finished? Or are we done?" [22:07] 7Blossom: "Can you be more specific as to what you mean by 'substantially advanced'?" [22:08] "We don't plan to stay in Mahalanka. The final shape of the ruling party there is an open question, but it won't be us." 15[22:08] 10Eikichi: "It will probably be the Silver Pact, speaking of people Heaven wishes would just go away but can't seem to do anything about." 08[22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning shrugs at Eikichi, turning his palms to the ceiling. "It's not very easy. But it's a needle you may be able to thread." 12To Blossom: "The titan's a threat now. You're our enemy long-term. It'd certainly be nice if you could deal with it, but not if you ended up with the Eye of Autocthon in the course of doing it. If you don't want Sperimin for yourselves - well, [22:09] <@Ferrinus> that gives you a lot of leeway to negotiate." 08[22:09] 4Ir: "Eikichi's right, but it should be said we've also found some promising replacement stewards that aren't of the Pact. That, somehow, Heaven failed to note or develop." [22:10] 6Tatsuya: "Wait, wait. You're trying to kill us and we aren't even-- what the fuck is wrong with you?" [22:10] 4...The Eye of Autochton? [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning, apparently curious: "Who?" [22:11] 4Ir: "I'm not smart, but I'm not fucking stupid. That's talk for a more advanced conversation." [22:11] "You're all idiots. Morons. Fools. For Sun's sake we could have worked together on this but you're all," 6he affects a spooky voice "We goTtA KiLl ThEm ThEyrE SuPeR ScArY" [22:12] 4Ir, looking at Reckoning: "He's not wrong." [22:12] 7Blossom doesn't know what that is, but she does know it's spelled Autochthon. [22:13] 4Ir: "Suffice it to say there's infrastructure here you guys either aren't interested in or are deliberately ignoring." 14[22:14] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:14] "And we just told you what we plan. New land. New earth. We're not interested in hanging out in a jungle for the rest of our lives." [22:15] 6I mean we could. 13Absolutely not. 6Absolutely not, as she said. 15[22:15] 10Eikichi: "You know, you raise a good point." 15[22:15] "We could just go find the Eye of Autochthon." 15[22:16] "Thanks for the idea! Is there a card I can write positive feedback on and hand it to your bosses...?" [22:16] 6Tatsuya: "We do owe them." [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning draws a slow breath through his nose. "You try for a simple rhetorical flourish and this is what you get! And, no doubt, you'll go on claiming I haven't your best interests at heart." [22:17] 6Tatsuya: "Oh, come on." [22:18] "Do not even." 15[22:18] 10Eikichi: "A negotiator who chooses his words poorly is a good fit for the same outfit that employs assassins who die on the job." [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning looks chagrined, then straightens his expression. "At any rate, what you're telling me now... could play well. If you don't want to simply seize the city and its wonders, if you do have a plan for a successor that would be amenable to Yu-Shan's continuing influence and strong enough to hold the city against other forces... we may have something here." [22:19] 4Ir: "That's good. If Heaven recognizes this for the opportunity it is." [22:20] 6Tatsuya: "I don't think we give a fuck about the city." 6He looks around. "Do we?" [22:20] 7They do plan on seizing *some* of the wonders of the city, but there's no reason to go into that. 15[22:20] 10Eikichi: "I'd prefer not to render it uninhabitable for anything but the kruthik." 15[22:20] "But it is just a preference." 14[22:20] * Joins: mattbaby [22:21] 4Ir: "And that clock is ticking." [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12There are definitely secrets and wonders here that would be of use to you - ancient spells and artifacts, the raw materials and knowledged required to make your own faster and cheaper than you otherwise could possibly wish to, even records of historical secrets directly pertinent to ongoing concerns. For instance, the ancient architectural plans for the city of Hollow are likely [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12to be found in the city of Sperimin, and that would give you the data necessary to manipulate and even shut down Nexus's tombs and, therefore, the candle titan. [22:21] 6Tatsuya turns back towards Reckoning. "Tick tick tick. Hustle up, my guy." [22:22] "If it makes Heaven feel better, there is a transition plan for the kruthik. It doesn't involve them taking over the jungle. Perhaps we'd get into that more later on." 15[22:26] 10Eikichi: "What more do you need from us to make an offer to your superiors?" [22:28] 6Tatsuya finds something to lean against and taps his foot. Well, buddy? What've you got? [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Wicked Triumph's Reckoning steeples his fingers. "Not... much beyond what I've heard. I can contact them immediately, and arrange for a meeting. There, ah, will be oaths pertaining even to the negotiation, of this I can promise you. No assassination attempts, that sort of thing." [22:29] 7Blossom: "So long as they are mutual, that is reasonable." [22:29] 6Tatsuya: "Cool. Obvious. Anything less obvious?" 15[22:29] 10Eikichi: "Well, take your time. Wood Titan's not eating us." [22:29] 6He nods. "Got a point." [22:31] "We're super killing the titan, by the way. Like. Not even a question." 15[22:31] "It's on our list." [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Ah, the titans... or behemoths or whatever they are. I'm glad to hear that on them, at least, we agree." 12He stands. "Well! This has been interesting." [22:32] 6Tatsuya: "One word for it. Bye."" [22:32] 6There should only be one " there. Sorry. [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "This is going to skip past the usual bureaucracy if I have anything to say about it, and I do. Look out for an answer - perhaps an invitation - in another day or two." 12He smiles wanly, bows low, and turns to leave. [22:33] 6Piss off. Tatsuya waves, condescendingly. [22:34] 4Ir will gesture to the queens to have the kruthik escort him off the premises, then when both he and the queens are gone, she'll slump down in a chair. [22:34] "I hate this shit." [22:34] 6Tatsuya: "This fucking sucks." [22:34] 7Blossom: "I just had a horrible vision." 15[22:34] 10Eikichi: "What is it?" [22:35] 6It's it [22:35] "We're going to have our nation in the clouds, and Yu-Shan is going to try and make Reckoning a permanent liaison or something. Celestial ambassador. He'll be wandering around every day." [22:36] 4Ir: "Yyyyyyep." [22:37] 6Tatsuya: "Gonna veto. Uh." 6He looks around. "Yeah I'ma kill him." [22:38] "Sorry. Not sorry. I should've done it the first time." 15[22:38] 10Eikichi: "Don't kill him." [22:39] 6Tatsuya: "Why not." [22:39] "I'm listening but also, why not." 15[22:39] 10Eikichi: "Because killing someone for being annoying is what Raksi would do." [22:40] 7Blossom: "I thought he was joking?" [22:40] 6Tatsuya: "That's not why. It's - more important." [22:40] "He deserves it." [22:41] "Come on. You've seen him." [22:41] 6Desperately: "Right? You have?" 08[22:41] 4Ir, staring at the wall: "I think Tatsuya wants to kill him because he hurt you. Because it remains his intention to hurt you, Eikichi. You specifically. And in the interest of full disclosure, I've told him that there won't be a next time." [22:42] "If he pulls Crystal again on you -- on any member of this Circle -- Tatsuya will have to race me to him." [22:42] 6Without looking at Ir: "There will not be a next time, because I'm going to make sure of it." 15[22:42] 10Eikichi: "Reckoning's remade himself. That's not to say he's a better person now, but he won't do the same wrong thing twice." 15[22:42] "And I can take care of myself." [22:42] 7Blossom: "He won't, though. He's just... annoying." [22:42] "I didn't say you couldn't." [22:42] "He will." [22:43] "And I know you can." [22:43] "I'm just going to stop him first." [22:43] 7Blossom: "Okay, Tatsuya, this is serious. Do not kill our negotiating partner." [22:43] "Why." [22:43] "But yes. Right now, we need him." [22:43] 6He looks to Blossom. Not Ir. [22:45] "I'm hearing a lot of 'no don'ts' but no reasons why." [22:45] 4Then she doesn't see her round on him. "BECAUSE I REFUSE TO BE PARTY TO PUTTING AN ENTIRE CITY TO THE SWORD!" [22:45] "FUCK!" [22:45] "That's where this is headed." [22:46] 6Tatsuya: "...okay." [22:46] "He's dead after this, by the way." [22:46] "I fucked up the first time. I'm not fucking up again." [22:46] 7Blossom: "Because we're going to end up killing a lot of people before we're done here. Reckoning, for whatever gods-only-know reason, has abandoned his nihilistic crusade and reformed. The difference between 'Enemy of Creation' and not isn't a small one. So we have to refrain from killing him." [22:46] "Unless you give me a DAMN good reason to let him live." [22:46] "Justice without mercy is tyranny." [22:47] "He's going to get a lot of people killed." [22:47] 6Tatsuya: "Like. We can't save all of them." [22:47] "I really want to. We all really want to." [22:49] 6Pause. "...anyone want to stab him with me?" [22:50] 4Ir: "I think I'm getting tired of stabbing people." [22:50] "At least in this jungle." [22:50] 6Tatsuya: "You'd be surprised." [22:50] "...I'm going to go make lunch. Does anyone have requests?" [22:51] "Fish. Why do I want - oh." [22:51] "God damn it." [22:51] "I think I've got some rice around here to make raw fish rolls with." [22:52] 6Tatsuya: "YE-- Yes. Please." [22:58] 4Lunch, at least, is delicious. [22:59] 6It's just like this, huh. [22:59] 6...delicious. [23:05] 7Constructing a tiny makeshift fishing pole out of a utensil and string, baited with a salmon roll, is the work of a moment. Now to see how Tatsuya reacts. [23:05] 4That's just mean. [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12The next day and a half passes largely without incident, although you have a few decisions to make. The kruthik are still spreading, and thanks to Ithuya you have intel on a few nearby dragon's nests and other bits of important geomantic architecture - holding them back, sending them off, just letting nature take its course? Any orders for the demon herself? [23:12] 6LOOK, look, look. It's. Look. [23:12] 4More like 'come and see,' at this point. [23:13] 6In a world of pure infatuation~ [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Whatever the kruthik end up doing, it's right after sunset on the following day that a familiar skeleton-drawn carriage comes clack-clack-clacking into Chithakara's surroundings, though this time from the northwest rather than the direction of Mahalanka. Reckoning announces himself with the usual laconic pomp, and when you meet him allows a dramatic moment to drag on for around ten [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12seconds before he smiles broadly and clasps his hands. "They're game." [23:47] <@Ferrinus> "Come with me," 12say the abyssal. "A Gate is quite close, and for this kind of negotiation no expense will be spared. My master seems quite interested in what you have to say; he'll be seeing you face to face." [23:49] 4Game. [23:50] 4Well. [23:50] 4Play dangerous games, win dangerous prizes. [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "I'm very excited to see what you make of Chejop Kejak." [23:51] "Yeah. I bet you are." [23:51] 4As she passes him: "Remember our conversation in the carriage." Session Time: Fri Aug 30 00:00:00 2019 14[01:42] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:35] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:13] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:31] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:53] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:27] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[14:52] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:45] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[18:52] * Joins: tom 14[20:29] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:59] * Joins: hrolf 14[22:22] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:53] * Joins: Crion Session Time: Sat Aug 31 00:00:00 2019 14[01:15] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[01:46] * Joins: Crion_ 14[01:47] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:51] * Quits: Crion_ (Connection closed) 14[02:51] * Joins: Crion 14[03:25] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:05] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:04] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[10:25] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:04] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:53] * Joins: Crion 14[14:00] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[16:36] * Joins: Crion 14[17:49] * Joins: Crion_ 14[17:51] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:17] * Joins: tom 14[19:17] * Joins: Crion 14[19:20] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:47] * Joins: Crion_ 14[19:47] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:36] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 14[22:20] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:23] * Joins: Crion 14[22:30] * Joins: Crion_ 14[22:33] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:37] * Joins: Crion 14[22:40] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:46] * Joins: Crion_ 14[22:49] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:52] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:52] * Joins: Crion 14[23:53] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sun Sep 01 00:00:00 2019 14[02:34] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[02:56] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[02:57] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[02:57] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[04:45] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:50] * Joins: tom 14[07:19] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[13:14] * Joins: Crion 14[13:19] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[13:20] * Joins: Crion 14[15:29] * Joins: tom 14[23:15] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Mon Sep 02 00:00:00 2019 14[00:33] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:46] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:49] * Joins: tom 14[03:52] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[06:04] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[06:16] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[09:21] * Joins: hrolf 14[09:25] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:02] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:31] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:34] * Joins: cbass 14[18:13] * Joins: tom 14[19:24] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:00] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:39] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[22:16] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[23:52] * Joins: tom Session Time: Tue Sep 03 00:00:00 2019 14[00:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:07] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:54] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:22] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:11] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[07:19] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[09:21] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[09:35] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:01] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:12] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:24]  15[20:24]  15[20:24]  15[20:24]  15[20:24]  15[20:31] Without place, without presence, without even flesh the heroes rise, motes of intermingling golden light racing through a void. Purpose alone guides the circle through Cethleann's essence and beyond, framed by ancient and forgotten names. 15[20:38] It's a warm, buzzing physical sensation, and each member of the circle can feel each other's thoughts - like flashes of sunlight across their eyelids. [20:38] 14Mmmmmm. [20:38] 14Stranger keeps his mind on better times, then. [20:39] 14On the surface at least. [20:39] 5Fascinating, if rather intimate. Doesn't seem to be death. [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's thinking: what is this bullshit now. Where are they. Where's my sword. What's- [20:40] 14Oh Sun. [20:41] 10Jai shivers, as much as you can when you're a bodiless streak of light. He didn't sign up for this. It's kinda creepy. [20:42] 13It could be worse! We could actually be dead. [20:42] 5Regardless of expectations, we don't seem to be part of the physical world at the moment. Or the Underworld. [20:42] 10Hopefully it doesn't last too long. And, yeah, it is better than being Actually Dead. [20:42] 14Mmmmm. [20:44] 13What? It is! [20:45] 14Instead of answering, Stranger starts thinking about how happy he was in those nights at the CIO. [20:50] 13There's songs in answer, mixing with the memories. 14[20:53] * Joins: tom [20:59] 10Jai finds his mind wandering. A few years of chaos, misadventure, boredom, frustration—but also triumphs and accomplishments. But it's the thought of his old home he seizes on most strongly. He can't go back, of course—that city no longer exists, not the way it once was. But it reminds him of how he got here. [21:06] 5A cold shiver might run up the un-spines of the floating motes, as cool lips and blonde hair drift through his mind. [21:12] 13A brave young man with gorgeous golden eyes and close-cropped black hair is there. He is and isn't, but -- safe. [21:12] 14This all serves a better purpose. Even to the end. 15[21:13] The going gets rough as the solars' essences cascade across a bulwark of forgotten names, scattering like spray against a rocky beach. They struggle to hold on... but something keeps them together, and it's the names that burst apart and let them pass. [21:14] 5It's a mathematical problem. An unsolved equation? Or is it solved? It's faintly erotic, somehow. F(x)=7 [21:15] 13Would that line actually work on her? I think I like her less, now. Or maybe more for putting up with that. [21:15] 10Eurgh. I heard of people who liked math, but. [21:16] 14Is Cethelann still extant? Is Stranger still holding her hand? 15[21:17] Golden lights meet a shimmering wall of white sparks, writing a name they recognize. A man who earned the name 'indomitable', even after he fell in battle. [21:17] 10Cryptanalysis, though, that's got some aesthetic appeal. Unraveling a cipher has a kind of perverse attraction. Shit. No, no, stay focused. [21:20] 5Fear and distrust transformed to friendship. Dragonlord. Sorrow. 15[21:20] Xu Sim can feel Dorma's voice in his soul. Admit defeat? [21:23] 5Xu Sim breathes in deeply and smirks. "N E V E R !" 5he bellows, in a tone quite deeper than his usual cadence. [21:23] 5He un-breathes, un-smirks, un-bellows. The barrier un-writes. [21:25] 14He's a good man. [21:25] 14Rough on the corners, but good. [21:26] 13Always. [21:28] 5In his memory - and all the others - victory. 15[21:29] The barrier shatters. A great pressure lifts. They rise... Perhaps not every end is a defeat. [21:30] 13Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end. [21:30] 14Closing time. [21:31] 10Ought to put that in a song. [21:31] 13You do know who you're talking to, yes? 15[21:33] Rise, rise, rise... a thick gray cloud hinders them - the sword, the shadow, the storm. They hear not once voice but many voices rising as one people. Is it all pointless? [21:36] 5Hesitation. An eye in a mask? No. A cold, clear pool reflecting the moon. Careful now. [21:40] 13Nothing's pointless. The city, its people - all of this. They've survived so much. They can and will survive this. And that's why it isn't pointless. [21:41] 13She blasts through the barrier without a second thought. Not for her - her home. The first one's gone but the second one must stay. [21:41] 14Stranger walks in her wake, hands clasped behind his back, smiling. 15[21:42] The mark Xia Lan leaves opens a path for all to follow. Perhaps not every mystery needs an answer. [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12The smear of crackling essence that is Keldar hasn't agreed with a one of these yet. [21:44] 13Our city has many faces, Dawn Sergeant. The one you see may not be the same one as I, but it is our city all the same. [21:45] 13Not mine or yours, but ours and theirs. [21:45] 5The sensation of a pond - a gap? A between-place? It's gone, forgotten, for the moment. Unfettered is right, factual, correct, true. 15[21:47] The essence trails upward, onward - they slip Creation's surly bonds and enter a vast darkness, lit by specters limned in white. Blameless, nameless, and bright. One among the thousands of thousands glows a terrible red, and its face is obscured. Can they be saved? [21:55] "Everything and everyone can be saved." [21:56] "We will pass now." [21:58] 14Slightly turning his head to Keldar: "Like that one better?" [21:58] 10Where do I get that kind of confidence? [22:00] 10Idiot. You already have it. Quit being so hard on yourself. [22:02] 13The Sun's gift changed nothing that was not already there. More tools, to be sure, but we were Chosen. 15[22:02] The red specter flares... and then brightens to gold. Gold spreads outward like flowing water, touching every spirit one by one. The circle feels lighter and lighter until they disperse. For one beautiful, terrifying moment they feel nothing, are nothing... and then they're falling to earth again. [22:03] 14Stranger's hands remain clasped behind his back, such as the concept of hands or bodies are, through the rise and fall. There's a placidity to him. 15[22:05] Xia Lan wakes first, hot and hard. She's being held tight. She's being held tight by someone whose hands are burning... [22:06] 14But just before the moment, just before the fall, he fully turns to Keldar... [22:06] 14And he winks. [22:06] 13Tsuka. She doesn't open her eyes just yet. "I'm here. I'm here." 13Oh, Sun. What she's put him through -- again -- [22:07] 13She opens her eyes. Please tell me he didn't drag himself out of his hospital bed. [22:07] 10Thanks, Xia Lan…10 But she's already gone, and they're touching down. 15[22:09] Keldar, Jai, and Xu Sim come back to their bodies and almost stumble to the ground. Each of them stays standing, however, to look around and see an empty battlefield. Raksha are gone. Sorcery is gone. The field is full of their own soldiers and Cethleann's abandoned thralls. 15[22:10] He did. Tsuka's hug is awkward because one of his arms is in a sling but he manages. "Thank gods you're safe. I was so scared--" [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, of course, flashes into physical being crouching like a tiger, having executed a perfect three-point landing despite being weighed down by an unattuned daiklave and thunderbolt shield. The warrior springs to his feet, ready to answer Stranger - hard to grunt impassively when you're made of dreams - but ends up just scanning the landscape with eyes narrowed. [22:12] 13Xia Lan: "I am safe now, habibi," 13slipping into Flametongue without realizing it. "We won. I think. I hope. No losses. And no wounds." 13She checks, then. [22:13] 10Jai staggers under the sudden return of weight. "I think this means we won?" [22:13] 5Xu Sim reappers with arms wide in the air - is he practicing the famous Wings Spread to Sky technique? But he simply alights, gracefully, on the ground. The battlefield - have the wounded already been carried off? [22:13] "I should have said something. More somethings." 13Time to babble, apparently. "Warnings, apologies, but I had to -- we had to -- and we did it, and I'm never doing it again." 15[22:15] Most of the wounded remain - the Solars gather that less than an hour has passed, judging by their own internal clocks. [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar breathes in through his nose and breathes out through his blade, lightening Terminus in his hands and Entreaty on his back. "Alright. Where're- wait." 12He reaches into his shirt, touching a page of the Codex. "?" [22:17] 5Xu Sim flashes a wan smile at Jai and Keldar - "Win, lose, the work continues!" 5Gesturing furiously about, he withdraws a caligraphy brush from his belt and begins gesticulating with it, to Keldar. "We should establish a triage area on this side of the river, alert the 7th Caduceus of our success..." 15[22:18] Tsuka holds Xia Lan and looks into her eyes. "What happened to Stranger?" 15[22:18] Xia Lan looks behind her beloved to see that his bed is empty. [22:19] 13Xia Lan: "What? Nothing, he should be - what the fuck--" 13Tersely:  [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Shit. He was up to something - which means this might not be over. Stay alert." 12The Dawn Sergeant, finally deserving of the name, fair well blurs into motion, immediately rallying scouts and soldiers and medics and so forth to both back up Xu Sim's plans but also scour the city and the battlefields for any remaining sign of the raksha, or of the Circle's Eclipse. [22:21] 5As Xu Sim speaks his gesticulations with the brush begin to form shining golden letters in the air in Riverspeak. APPEARS VICTORY IS TOTAL. LET NONE STAND IN OUR WAY. YOU I AM THINKING ABOUT. 5The ltters wrap themselves up in a six-winged cherub and flit off at impossible speed back towards the city. Xu Sim can, fortuntaely, see the reaction this infallible messenger might draw. [22:21] 13She thinks for a moment, tapping her fingers on the nearest available solid surface. Tip tip tip tap tap tap tip tip tip. Over and over. "We need to find him. And why." [22:21] "I thought it was done. Uh, you should be in bed still, right?" 13Taps head. "Not a doctor. But also. I couldn't stop you if I wanted to." [22:21] "All right, good, I'll round up some—" 10Jai goes quiet for a moment as the news comes in, then reaches for his Codex page. [22:22] 5Xu Sim: "Sly bastard." [22:23] 13Xia Lan:  15[22:24] A voice comes over the Codex, so strange and yet so familiar. 15[22:24] [22:24] 13Icily:  [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What?" 12It sounds like he's asking what it is, rather than expressing general confusion. [22:25] 5Xu Sim doesn't say a word. He simply strokes his moustache, twisting one end of it between his fingertips for a moment. 15[22:26] [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: <"...and current ones?"> 15[22:27] [22:27] 13Even more coldly, if that was possible:  15[22:28] 15[22:28] [22:28] 10Jai: "I get the distinct feeling the council's been dis—" [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar fiddles with his grip on the page, cutting out the new speaker in order to only address the Circle. "That's the voice of thwhat the fuck?" [22:29] "I think we'd better get to that meeting. Sooner, rather than later." [22:29] <@Ferrinus> "Alright, alright," 12Keldar says, spinning the daiklave in his hand as displacement activity as he strides back towards the city walls. "I'm seeing what this is about." [22:29] "Xu Sim, how fast can you get us there?" [22:30] 13Xia Lan:  13She grabs Tsuka by the shoulders. "How okay are you? Because this might get really bad but I want you with me, because that was apparently Stranger, and..." 13She shrinks back. "I. Think I need you." [22:30] 14Elsewhere, a woman who had found love draws her knees to her chest at the edge of a lake, and cries. [22:33] "Twice as quickly as you prefer," 5answers the sorcerer as winds start picking up around them. "Keldar, order your men to establish a triage here and see to the wounded, of both sides." 5The wind howls. "Additionally, riders should be dispatched bringing water and food to the Raksha camp, to save any who yet live." The wind lifts the three of them - and begins carrying them back [22:33] to Sentinel Hill.  15[22:33] Tsuka holds her steady. "I'm here." [22:33] "Twice as quickly as you prefer," 5answers the sorcerer as winds start picking up around them. "Keldar, order your men to establish a triage here and see to the wounded, of both sides." 5The wind howls. "Additionally, riders should be dispatched bringing water and food to the Raksha camp, to save any who yet live." The wind lifts the three of them - and begins carrying them back [22:33] to Sentinel Hill.  [22:35] 13Xia Lan, faintly: "Someone's using his name. I don't know why." 13To Xu Sim:  13Tight. Not as friendly as she would like, but. "We're making a detour first. We're fetching Xu Sim's girlfriend. Then Sentinel Hill." [22:36] 10Jai:  [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12At a certain point in the trip, Keldar waves to get Xu Sim's attention. "Slow up a bit - right. Meet you there." 12Then he leaps down to a rooftop. [22:38] 13Quieter:  [22:38] 13That is specifically to Xu Sim. [22:38] 14For some reason when the communication comes through from this page, it's crackling. 14she says. [22:38] 5Xu Sim:  [22:38] [22:39] 14Ah, that wasn't crackling. It was sobs. [22:39] 13Xia Lan:  13To the Ambassador, she has nothing. What could she say? [22:39] 5Xu Sim shoots a sidelong glance to Jai. 15[22:40] Keldar's diverted briefly in order to escort the mortal (former?) Councilors up the hill, alongside his circlemates, the deathknight Seven, and a slowly growing crowd of Lookshyans. All of them gathered see a man in white robes and hood, wearing a silver mask. The mask, far from faceless, is etched in a permanent beneficient smile. [22:42] 10Jai: "I only know her a little bit. But I don't think I ever once saw her cry." [22:42] "We'll find her, after." [22:43] 13Hopefully he will die, and hopefully it will be by her hand. But that will not help, not now, and maybe not ever. [22:45] 5After sharing an embrace and a few whispered words with his paramour, the sorcerer turns to regard the Stranger-Visits-Heaven. He instincitvely... squints? Is that right? He should take care to get Seven some sort of fan to divert unpleasant brithness, possibly a parasol? Is both excessive? 15[22:45] "Citizens," he says in the same cool clear manner unaffected by acoustics that typifies the Emissary's speech, albeit clearly in Stranger's own voice. A golden halo rotates gently behind his head. "The former Emissary, born of Balor's will, left this world alongside the remains of his lover. There was a void in the city's heart, and I have been called to fill it. The old order has 15[22:45] fallen away. I welcome you all, the founding members of the Nexus Union, to receive the new Dogma." 15[22:46] Master Gen, alarmed: "What?!" 15[22:46] Thalevar rubs his hands together. [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar arrives to hear this in full regalia, shining in the sunlight and exactly as noticeable and memorable as a man wearing that many pounds of moonsilver and orichalcum ought reasonably be. He tilts his head. Is the stranger-emissary lying? [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Alright, hang on. That you in there, Stranger?" 15[22:49] Stranger nods. "Keldar. You're looking well." [22:51] 13Unbelievable. And he didn't - her face tightens. [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Then what's with the getup? You still one of us?" 15[22:52] "I have changed. I am changed." [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So's that make you a fae, or what? What color you glow now?" [22:56] 14In their ears: <...Emissary, give me to Xia Lan and no one else. Please.> 15[22:57] He reaches into his robe and pulls out the Codex. "Xia Lan," he calls. [22:58] 5Xu Sim strokes his beard again. "A vessel?" 5he murmurs to himself. Then he looks at the new-Emissary, the changed-Emissary, with sight beyond sight. [22:58] 13Xia Lan: "No." 13She is trying very hard not to show her fury. "Title first. Unfettered." 13It's not working. 15[22:59] "...for the Unfettered Xia Lan." [23:01] 13Xia Lan, quietly: "Your gift." 13The Codex? lies unspoken. As does many things she wants to scream at him. [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar hasn't forgotten whose tomb that thing was found in, but he's willing to let someone else steward it for him. [23:06] 13She takes it. The book. The Codex. Her hands do not shake, through a great force of effort. "Thank you, Emissary," 13and she keeps the heat out of her voice for the public alone. [23:06] 5Xu Sim's face twitches a few times as he remembers - no, realizes - something. But he holds his tongue, for now. 15[23:06] Stranger: "As I said, the old Dogmas of Nexus, Balor's iron way, has dissolved. There is a new order coming. One that provides for all our citizens. One that gives youth a future, adulthood free and fair labor, and old age a security." [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hang on, hang on, hang on. You gonna enforce that the way the real Emissary did? Can you? I'm still not clear on who or what we're dealing with here." [23:08] 10Jai: "Are you going to challenge him to a fistfight right here?" [23:09] 13Tiredly: "Don't. We've already lost so much." [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar gives Jai a look. "He can just tell me. C'mon." 15[23:09] The Emissary raises his right hand. His halo flares, and a chunk of the street behind them rips itself free from the ground and hovers in the air. Open palm - the chunk of street scatters into pebbles. Closed fist - the road reforms beneath them. "I am not Balor. But I am not less." [23:10] 14When she and Xia Lan are on a private line: [23:10] 14There are some phlegmy noises before the Ambassador obviously takes her hand off the page for a brief moment. [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Alright, cool. But you ain't actually... in the Circle, either, I take it." 15[23:11] Stranger is silent for a moment, before replying, "...not anymore." [23:11] 10Jai: "Okay. So you're the guardian god of the city now, or something close to it. What's the Nexus Union?" [23:11] 13Oh. He has the ring. He has the ring and she was right about melting it down at the first opportunity. She just chose - late. Too late.  [23:11] 14Ambassador: <...Okay. Just...> [23:11] [23:12] 13Darkly:  [23:12] 14She doesn't get an answer; just half of a muffled sob before the connection ends. [23:13] 5Xu Sim stands very still, hopefully beneath the notice of such an auspicious entity. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Riiiight. Well." 12He points at 'Stranger'. "That thing's ours, innit?" Xu Sim's, technically." 12It becomes clear that Keldar's actually indicating the halo spinning behind the figure's head. [23:15] 13A mirror. Cethleann and the previous Emissary. And now this. The people survive. But she can't be here anymore. "Keldar, let him have it. Or fight him for it another day, but not now." 13She is so tired. [23:16] 5Xu Sim's eyes roll impressively as he breaks from his statuesque pose as soon as Keldar starts talking. Oh, so, now it's mine huh? "Technically, that is true. However! I want to hear what my... old friend... has in mind for the dogmas! We're off to a good start." 15[23:18] Stranger: "The First Dogma of Nexus: No taxes or tariffs shall be lowered below what sustains the people of Nexus, save by the Union." 15[23:18] Stranger: "The Second Dogma of Nexus: None shall go unhoused, undoctored, or unfed." 15[23:18] Stranger: "The Third Dogma of Nexus: None shall impede the right of Nexus workers to organize and petition the Union." 15[23:18] Stranger: "The Fourth Dogma of Nexus: None shall bring an army into Nexus." 15[23:18] Stranger: "The Fifth Dogma of Nexus: No-one shall commit wanton violence." 15[23:18] Stranger: "The Final Dogma of Nexus: None may falsely claim the Union's name or sanction." [23:19] 13Xia Lan hopes it was worth it. She needs to find Tsuka, and then find someplace quiet. [23:19] 13The misbehaving children that make up the rest of the circle can wait. [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar works his jaw around a little, then looks over to Xia Lan to answer her first. "Can't say I agree. Don't know about you, but I feel like ten talents, and just how much of our stuff this - what, ghost? Manikin? - is gonna be walking around with as it tries to take the city over is extremely our business." [23:20] 14Out on the lake, The Ambassador of Night and Day finally finds some semblance of peace. She calms her breathing; she dries her eyes. She stares at the sky. [23:22] 5Xu Sim folds his hands across his waist and turns to Keldar. "You are very tired, my friend. Better to rest on it." [23:22] 13Xia Lan: "No. No, I don't think it is, anymore." 13She sounds distant. "If you must, do it another time. I have already lost one friend today." [23:23] 14Then she summons her birds, and begins sending messages. [23:23] 14It is time to get away from here. [23:24] 14She finally understands why her shahan-ya can't stand the sight of a fucking city. [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You're both fine with this?" 12He turns to Stranger. "Who came up with those?" 15[23:24] Stranger coughs. [23:25] 13Xia Lan: "I don't want to be here anymore, and I'm not going to fight him. I am fine with nothing. Don't mistake me." [23:28] 5Xu Sim: "It's an emotional day. Stranger-Visits-Heaven, are you sure you even want to disband the Council, or strip the, uh, previously appointed Emissaries of their authority?" [23:29] 14She leaps into the sky and a black swan rises above the treeline, free now, free of all her recent obligations, even the one she wished most dearly to keep. 15[23:29] Gen: "Wait a second." 15[23:29] "Wait a fucking second." 15[23:29] "You can't do that." 15[23:30] "You're not the only member of the Council. You're not even the only Emissary anymore! What the fuck is this?" [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Right. Well, you're missing a couple important ones and a bunch of the others might as well be decrees that it rains pastries in times of hunger. I dunno if it was the real Stranger who made that up or some accident of the Wyld but they ain't gonna keep." [23:31] 13Xia Lan: "It is the Emissary's choice. And one I hope he considered." 13She glances at Keldar. "What did I say about not today? Please. I can't do this again." [23:31] 10Jai ponders. In word, many of those are not that different from the original Dogmas. But in intent… it's going to be an interesting transition, if nothing else. Very interesting. [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It has to be today. Doing nothing's the same as just rolling over." [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And like I said, I feel great. Curse finally sloughed off. No better time for it." [23:33] 13Xia Lan: "I won't be here for this." 13She does not fully suppress the sob. "I'm leaving. Please don't die." [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods. "Same to you. Get some sleep." [23:34] 13She whirls and leaves without a glance backwards. Where is Tsuka? 15[23:35] At the periphery, with the Lookshyans. [23:36] 13She will leave. Together, if he wants. [23:37] 10Jai speaks up, in a calm tone. "May I make a suggestion to the honorable Emissary?" [23:37] 10Jai: "if we're about to have a knock-down, drag-out argument over the future of Nexus… could we get some tea first?" [23:38] 5A grin slowly creeps across Xu Sim's face at the suggestion. 15[23:40] NEXT TIME: Disunion Session Time: Wed Sep 04 00:00:00 2019 14[00:23] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:39] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[00:40] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:43] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 14[00:43] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[03:26] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[08:23] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:07] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[14:01] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:01] * Joins: Crion 14[14:20] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:51] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:10] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:28] * Joins: tom 14[17:30] * Joins: tom2 14[17:32] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:23] [20:23] [20:23] [20:23] [20:23] 11[20:25] NOW: "This is a Glock 17 pistol," said the fetch. "Don't put your finger on the trigger until you intend to fire. Safety is here. This is safe; this is fire." He moves Stewart's thumb gently to demonstrate the positions. "I'm going to leave you on fire so that you don't forget in the moment. That means you need to be extra careful. Under no circumstances do I want you to fire this [20:25] weapon unless your life is in danger. Again," he said, "this isn't going to be fun. You're going to be scared. And after that, you're going to be okay. [20:25] "If it makes you feel any better, and I don't think it will -- they tell me the fear is the point." 11[20:25] EARLIER: The message arrived...how? What's the easiest way to reach Stewart Reader these days, without physically sending someone to call? The Autumn Court of Baltimore, at least, realizes this is the height of rudeness. 15[20:30] That's a good question. All of Stewart's old IM accounts have depreciated... and no one really uses IRC anymore. He hasn't got a phone turned on - he can't use his given surname anymore. He's figured out that much. But 'Reader' sounds better anyway. He's been spending a lot of time at the library, (stalking himself) doing research... he's got a gmail account. They'll give those to 15[20:30] anyone. Lowercase stewart dot reader at. Everything online feels so slick and rubbery, like the walls of an insane asylum. 15[20:30] Can a UI make you feel homesick? 15[20:31] Can you feel homesick in your hometown? 15[20:31] Obama won, that's cool. Didn't seem to matter, which is less cool. [20:34] Ah, an early adopter. Doesn't even have to have his zipcode at the end. The Autumn Court has answers to those two questions, but they're not fun ones; right now, however, they're more concerned with...well, check your e-mail. You'll see. It comes courtesy of the offices of Kingsley, Santander & Ravens, Attorneys at Law. The logo on the header, stenciled orange on the white background [20:34] of the GMail screen, is a wreath of leaves that is itself crowned, contains a salamander, and is watched over by a raven with wings outspread. 15[20:35] Stylish. Very Hogwarts. Do people still remember Harry Potter? [20:36] The body of the e-mail appears to be relatively benign and honestly hopeful stuff for a jobseeker: the firm has received your application for their open paralegal position, and is happy to inform you that after reviewing your resume they'd like to move to the next stage of the process with a candidate interview, in-person, which would also include a practical skills test. The issue of [20:36] course being that you've submitted no such resume, and applied for no such position. [20:36] ...When was it you came back, again? 15[20:41] It's been close to two months. He's been able to rent a room, using approximately all of the money he made writing papers for college students - there's still a market for that, at least, and they'll still pay cash. He works in the library. [20:44] That's good. That's what everyone says, at least. He's been to at least two of the "freehold's" little get togethers for new guys and girls just recently escaped or ejected from their particular jails -- probably just the two -- and while the first one was a comfortable social occasion with some fresh faces (many of whom were much more out of sorts than he was to find the year was [20:44] 2019, and thus got a lot more particular attention from the hosts), the second one was slightly more akin to a job fair. 11[20:45] The four Seasonal Courts of the Freehold of Baltimore each sent representatives, and each wanted to know what...precisely...Stewart might potentially want out of an association with them. 11[20:46] It's been a couple weeks since then, and this is the first time anyone's reached out. Does this jibe with how Stewart reacted, at that meeting? How does he feel, tentatively and early, about the Autumn Court? [20:46] How does he feel about the idea of fucking "Courts" in 2019 in general? 15[20:49] 10He never was good at these. Teenaged Stewart never really... wanted... a job. The call to vocation never came for him, and he was in the middle of college when the bottom fell out of the economy. He wasn't sure he was ever going to have a future, and then, awfully, he did. At first he thought the Courts were some kind of astrology thing, and he spent the most time talking to and 15[20:49] 10about Autumn because his birthday's in October. 15[20:50] 10Old Stewart would've laughed himself out the room. New Stewart is coming off ten years as a courtier of sorts. One supposes that's his career now. 15[20:50] 10But yeah, Autumn's fine. They're probably all basically the same anyway. [20:51] Mmmmm. [20:51] Well, whatever their reasons, the end of the e-mail inquires whether he'd like them to send a car by for him, or if he's like to come down himself. There doesn't...appear to be an ask for an interview time? 14[20:52] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:55] 10Well shit, if they're willing to save him bus fare and standing at stops wondering if some random weirdo is gonna clock him (or worse, him clocking some random weirdo and not being able to keep from staring) let's get a car. He doesn't yet know how to call an Uber, unless that's still a Team Fortress 2 thing. [20:56] The (unsigned) e-mail ends on this question; the very strong implication is that the firm wants a reply to ravens@ksrlaw-baltimore.com 15[20:59] 10He'll reply then. A car would be great. Thank you! Do you sign this? What's the appropriate signoff for a magic lawyer? He settles on Thanks, again and doesn't reread to see how stupid that looks when he ends the body of the email on a thank-you. 15[21:00] 10Ahhhh fuck what if this is a test and he failed it. What if he wasn't supposed to reply? What if there was a code in the email and he missed it? He spends the next fifteen minutes uselessly rereading the email KS&R sent as if he could reload from a previous save and send something less stupid. [21:02] The message hitches slightly upon sending, it seems like, so you're not actually sure if it's merely weird or downright creepy that the response is an absolutely immediate two paragraphs expressing happiness at your interest in the position and informing you that the car being sent for you is a black Escalade driven by a bearded man of about forty years of age named Gerald. The e-mail [21:02] concludes by thanking you for your prompt response and entreating you to wait for him to buzz you from the front door of your apartment building. [21:02] It's quite obviously not form, and all in all it arrived maybe one second after your e-mail went through. 15[21:02] 10Well shit. Stewart hurries home. Hopefully he's got enough time to shower. [21:03] How far away from home is he? 15[21:04] 10There's only a couple of blocks between his apartment and the library. Shouldn't take more than five minutes at a just-fast-enough-to-look-awkward powerwalk. [21:05] Then he'll hear the buzzer 20 minutes after he gets back into his room. Up to him how he's spent the time. 15[21:06] 10Ten minutes showering, two minutes getting dressed, eight minutes pacing. He almost jumps at the sound of the buzzer, and all but runs down the stairs. 11[21:08] The guy is pressing it a second time when Stewart bursts out the front door, and sort of blinks and leans back a bit at the enthusiasm. He's a big man, in his forties, probably, and very well-built. It is early Autumn -- third week of September; the weather has just changed in the city -- and he's in jeans, a black shirt, and a smart, nondescript black jacket. A flat top cap on his [21:08] head. 11[21:09] "Ah. Stewart. No need to run, kid. Ravens work on short notice. If you want to go back up for a bit, I'll be parked right here." [21:09] The Escalade is clearly illegally parked, and he clearly doesn't care. [21:10] He looks like a big, American version of...what was that guy from the Transporter films? 15[21:10] 10Statham? [21:10] yeah, him. [21:11] Yeah, him. 15[21:11] 10Stewart liked that movie okay, though it's got nothing on the most recent Fast & Furious movie: Tokyo Drift. [21:12] Ah, stolen youth. 15[21:12] 10This guy's human, then? Or, uh, looks human? [21:12] Yep. Though from what he's come to understand everyone in this line of existence looks human if they want to, until they don't. 11[21:13] Speaking of, though, how does Stewart look in his Mien? [21:15] Retcon: [21:15] Yep. Human, all the way down to the lines around his eyes. 11[21:15] Speaking of, though, how does Stewart look in his Mien? 15[21:17] "I'm good. Don't really have anything to bring or anything. Thanks for the ride." 10Stewart's Mien looks so much better than his Mask - flawless skin, thick white hair, eyes that glitter like coals. If you ignore the scars on his wrists and neck, as if from straining against shackles, he could be one of those Instagram twinks. His Mask is paler, greasier (his hair always looks unwashed, 15[21:17] 10always has always will) and unblemished by scars. [21:18] He nods and extends a hand to shake. "Name's Gerald." 15[21:18] 10Stewart hesitates a second. A handshake is a dangerous thing in Faerie. 15[21:18] 10But only a second. "I'm Stewart. It's nice to meet you." 11[21:23] "You as well." It's slight and very brief, almost unnoticable as Gerald releases his hand, but Stewart can see the older man's eyes flicker downward to his wrist -- and a pained look briefly flash across his face. He realizes now that the collar on his shirt prevented the man from seeing his neck -- but the cuff on his shirt rode back on his right arm enough for his to see his wrist. [21:23] And see something that wasn't part of the Mask. 15[21:24] 10Ah, shit. Stewart plucks his sleeve back down, fiddles with his collar. 11[21:25] "Well let's get going then," he says with a bit of forced pep. He'll pop the locks on the back doors of the escalade; this is true car service, and Stewart gets to ride like one of the rich do. 11[21:26] The car ride takes some 25 minutes with traffic. How up for talking is Stewart? [21:26] A good driver doesn't press. 15[21:27] 10Deep breath. This is fine. This is, presumably, normal. He gets in. He wishes he'd brought a book or something to stare at besides the window and the rear view mirror. He looks like a conversation would take him out of his head, probably do him some good. He's too shy to initiate, though. [21:28] At a light: "You've never done anything like this before, I take it. I hear the process of coming back can be...rough." [21:29] His eyes flick up to the mirror, then back to the road. "Don't worry, though. These people understand that stuff. I hate those e-mails. We have to make it sound like a job interview, they say. In case someone's watching." 15[21:29] 10Stewart: "S'alright. I get the impression I had it easier than a lot of people." 15[21:30] "Been at this long?" [21:30] Gerald: "Maybe. Maybe not. I wouldn't know. But I do know it's not worth beating yourself up over." [21:30] A slight smile. "Too long, maybe." 11[21:32] "I never asked for anything out of this life, and I...well. They're good people." He looks back up at Stewart through the rearview mirror. "Even if they're a bit fuckin' weird." [21:32] He's smiling as he says it though. [21:32] "Excuse my language. Here we are." 15[21:33] 10Nervous giggle. Weird is relative. How big's the building? 11[21:34] Gerald pulls the Escalade through into an underground parking garage for a nondescript office building and parks in a spot marked with what Stewart can tell is a sigil with a Mask. It looks like a RESTRICTED PARKING - BUILDING OWNER spot, but its Mien is the same logo at the top of that e-mail. [21:34] Probably 30 stories. Downtown Baltimore has some modest skyscrapers, and this is definitely one of them, but on the less descript side. 15[21:37] 10Stewart, who never buckled up, gets out of the car unless Gerald wants one last word before they start their way up. [21:37] Gerald leads him to the elevator, nods to the attendant -- who also seems perfectly normal, but clearly doesn't see anything of interest here in the way Gerald seemed to have -- and then steps in and presses floor 27. [21:39] As the door dings open: "Just be yourself and you'll be fine." Then he steps out into the reception area of Kingsley, Santander & Ravens, Attorneys at Law. 15[21:39] 10Deep breath. [21:40] The immediate thing that strikes you about the reception space is that while there is a receptionist, and she is an attractive woman in her mid to late twenties, that's about where the expectations end. She's in glasses, a tanktop, and jeans, and her "desk" is a monstrosity of computer monitors and secondary or tertiary rigs. Behind her, in the right angle of the wall of the room, ten [21:40] or so more monitors zip quickly through lines of code or surveillance images. [21:41] The receptionist looks up with obvious annoyance and glares at you while saying to Gerald: "Do I have to turn these off?" [21:41] Gerald grimaces. "No, I think it's fine." 15[21:42] 10Stewart: "I can turn around, if you want." [21:47] "Whatever," she says, looking back to her screen. Here's something interesting: even with KBM switches, there don't seem to be enough PCs to support this many monitors. Maybe they're below the desk or something? But the really weird thing is the one tower in the back, just a black, nondescript PC tower you could get from anyone -- with the power light on and the HDD light happily [21:47] pulsing away, but seemingly no cords of any kind, including power, coming out of it. [21:48] "This is Lauren," Gerald says with no small amount of mild annoyance of his own. "She's not always like this." [21:48] "I am always like this," she says without looking up. 15[21:48] 10Huh. Stewart won't remark on that, she seems like she's in a bad mood already. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Stewart. Sorry to interrupt you." [21:49] "It's fine," she mutters. [21:49] Gerald purses his lips again. "Bob is in his office?" [21:50] Lauren: "Where else is he ever?" 11[21:50] To Stewart: "Alright, follow me." 15[21:51] 10Stewart follows. 11[21:54] He leads Stewart down a long hallway to the Big Office at the end of the floor, past a wide open area with a few freestanding desks set up as tiny island work spaces, with machinery on the edges of the room that ranges from familiar -- a copier -- to strange -- something that looks like a gigantic vice crossed with a telephone? It's holding the wired handset in place and firmly clamped [21:54] shut -- to oddly placed -- a hand sanitizer station mounted on a single pole with the label MANDATORY BEFORE USE, next to what appears to be an iPhone 4 bolted to the wall. [21:55] "Communications tech gets weird here," Gerald says, which isn't really an explanation. [21:55] At the office door of R. KINGSLEY, SENIOR PARTNER, he'll knock twice. [21:55] "Come in," says a voice that sounds like...? 15[21:56] 10Stewart almost goes for the hand sanitizer before he realizes it's just for touching the phone and not generally. [21:56] When Gerald opens the door, sitting behind the desk is...Gerald. Except a bit older, and a bit more gone to feed, and a bit more an actual fucking Changeling. [21:56] Oh, Lauren was too, I merely forgot to describe her. I'll get back to that. [21:58] The Mantle of Autumn is somewhat overwhelming; there are brown, orange, and gold leaves lightly dusting most surfaces in the room, dispersing with an unfelt gust of wind from, say, the seat of a chair whenever someone wants to sit down in it. The temperature is a bit cooler than you'd expect from an air-conditioned office, but not uncomfortable, and there's that smell. That crisp, [21:58] fresh smell of Autumn. [21:58] The one that reminds you of Halloween. 15[21:59] 10Boys and girls of every age, wouldn't you like to see something strange? 15[21:59] 10Stewart clams up. He can feel the power as much as see it. [22:01] The man sitting behind the desk is...weirdly slight, and weirdly cast in shadow. In his Mien, his eyes are black pools, and his mouth too dark to see his tongue. He's gaunt somehow in a way that Gerald isn't, despite being a good twenty pounds heavier perhaps. His fingers might be a bit too long, but when they steeple, they steeple in a dextrous web. But really, he should be less hard [22:01] to see when you're looking directly at him. 11[22:02] "Hey, Bob. This is Stewart," says Gerald, conversationally and in plain affect, like he can't see any of what's going on here. 15[22:02] 10Do you bow? Are you supposed to bow? Gerald's not bowing. Stewart just stands up straighter. "It's nice to- thank you for inviting me." 11[22:03] "Yes," Robert Kingsley, the, ah, King of Autumn, says. "So it is." He narrows his eyes at Stewart and leans forward, and a shadow leans across the room with him-- 15[22:03] 10Stewart recoils by reflex. [22:04] Then he grins and leans back, and the light in the room returns to normal. "Just fucking with you, kid." [22:04] Gerald shakes his head. 15[22:04] 10Stewart lets out the breath he didn't realize he was holding, and giggles nervously. 11[22:05] Gerald: "I've got something I've got to take care of with Lauren. Call the front desk when you need me." He slaps Stewart on the shoulder, firmly but not hard in what appears to be reassurance, and then exits, closing the door behind him. [22:05] Bob Kingsley stands up and waves at one of the chairs. "Sit down, sit down!" [22:07] The leaves blow off of it. 15[22:07] 10Stewart sits, hesitating again only briefly. [22:09] He walks over to the windows and closes the blinds one by one, blocking out the setting sun. It gets colder in the room. Then he walks over to the walls and turns on, in succession, four oil lamps. They're warm and comforting, and the temperature normalizes somewhat. At the very least it no longer feels like October at midnight. [22:09] Kingsley then walks back over to his desk, sits down, and steeples his fingers again. He's both easy and hard to see, in this light. The essential nature of his Mien isn't repressed, but whatever these lamps are, they're doing good work making this, perhaps, a bit less terrifying. 15[22:10] 10Stewart relaxes. A little. [22:11] "We have you at an extreme disadvantage, and I recognize that. And while you may not realize it right now, we're more interested in you than, perhaps, you are in us. So in a way, this isn't a job interview at all," says Kingsley. "It's an audition. We're auditioning." [22:11] He pauses. "How very Spring of us." [22:11] "So. You get five questions." [22:11] "And then we start having a normal back and forth, but before that, you get five questions." [22:11] "Whatever you want to know about us, and so long as it's not bound by Crown or by Oath, you'll get your answers." [22:12] He smiles faintly. "Of course, there's a lot of things bound by Crown or by Oath." 15[22:12] 10Stewart knows enough to know that 'do you have any questions for us?' is as much a test as the questions you get asked directly. But still, this is a direct challenge, and he's more comfortable with that. "Why are you interested in me?" [22:14] "Three reasons. The first is we're forward thinking. You have computer skills and modern knowledge that none of the rest of your, ah, peers in the freehold's newest graduating class do. You've met Lauren; she's excellent with the technical details and I don't want to undersell her, but we want both more manpower on computers and a...different skillset. You're a streamer, correct?" 15[22:16] 10Stewart: "...yeah, I guess. I just got partnered, I should start getting paid in a couple weeks." [22:18] Kingsley nods. "Good. We're not concerned with your channel traffic; frankly, you remaining on the lower end of the public eye is going to be best for you personally, if a bit less lucrative. What we value is the ability to communicate logos, ethos, and pathos over the digital medium. This world is changing, and that means every other world is changing. And as skilled as Lauren is, [22:18] there are blindspots in her toolbox." [22:20] "The second reason is that you are scared. It's plain in your disposition, your face, and your reaction, and that's no mark of shame. All of us are, to some degree, scared. Especially after we've been dumped back out here after...what we experienced in there. But it seemed to us that this was your overriding drive, the thing that you might most directly need to deal with yourself, and [22:20] Autumn is the Court of Fear. We can help you in this." [22:20] He shrugs. "If we miscalculated, we miscalculated. It happens. I can put in a good word with Winter." [22:21] "The third reason is: you were born in October. Just good mojo there." 15[22:24] 10Okay, okay. Second question. "How can I help?" [22:26] Kingsley blinks, which is difficult to see a bit, but it's obvious. "Ah. How can you help. In a broader more general sense than the first part of my answer to question one, you can help by being curious; by investing yourself in the exploration and examination of the world beyond the mundane. The reason we embrace fear in this building instead of anger or sorrow or desire -- all [22:27] legitimate, all important -- is because we are devoted to making the Keepers feel fear. And that means a thorough, logical examination of the world around us." [22:27] "In many ways my partner, W. Marcus Santander, is an academic just as much as he is an accountant and a lawyer. The rule and the rod here is to strive to more fully know the world, because knowledge is power, and our enemies fear power." [22:28] "So, for instance, if you were to join us, you would quickly discover vampires are real." 15[22:28] 10Now it's Stewart's turn to blink. "I'd seen some stuff online... where do I go to learn?" [22:30] Kingsley spreads his arms. "Here." [22:30] Pause. "I won't count that as one of your questions." [22:30] "Unless you intended it to be." [22:31] "I've learned that some find the five-question thing a bit anxiety-inducing; you can stop at any time." 15[22:32] 10Stewart shakes his head. "No, uh. Hmm. Third question: what are the rules?" [22:36] Kingsley nods. "When you join, you will sign a legal document, which is of course both not a legal document at all and the most legal document that there is for our kind. There are three Oaths this Court requires: an Oath of Secrecy, an Oath of Fidelity, and an Oath of Curiosity. We can get into the exact verbiage later, but they're a cascading tier of oaths. The first is that you [22:36] agree to keep the secrets of our Court secret. The second is that you agree to always assist your fellow courtiers in any capacity possible, so long as it doesn't conflict with the first oath. The third is that you agree to endeavor to increase the knowledge of the Autumn Court, except, again, where that conflicts with the two oaths before it." [22:37] "Some prospective members...balk, at the order of the first two oaths. But as hard as the choice may be, we would rather lose one of our brothers and sisters than the entire freehold." [22:40] "Other than that, you set your own hours, we get you health insurance through the company, we take care of taxes and have an adjunct service for filing. We don't sweat the mundane things." 15[22:41] 10Stewart: "Do I have to avoid-- I don't know if there's a word. People who aren't us?" 15[22:41] 10He almost said 'humans'. [22:41] "No. And you won't survive if you do." [22:42] "The Oath of Secrecy is not intended to have you cut yourself off from the world. You'll wither if you do. The other compromises you'll have to make when you do engage with people will be painful; I won't tell you they won't be. But they will be part of your life now." [22:43] "Now, if by 'people who aren't us' you mean the aforementioned vampires, well yes. You should definitely fucking avoid the vampires." [22:44] "Excuse my language." 15[22:44] 10Stewart digests this for a moment, and finally asks: "If you had to choose again, knowing everything you know now, would you join the Autumn Court?" [22:45] Without hesitation: "Yes." [22:45] "And that includes 'choosing to be human again' as an option." [22:46] "Don't get me wrong: the durance was hideous. It was a horrible thing. But it let me find my brother, Gerald. And he would not exist if not for that." 15[22:47] 10Stewart had forgotten Gerald was in the room. "I... I get that. Yeah." [22:47] Thankfully, he isn't; he went back up front likely to lecture Lauren on her attitude. 15[22:47] 10Then Stewart feels a little more comfortable being like: "Some people at the social talked about killing our-- we don't have to, right?" 11[22:50] Kingsley looks Stewart directly in the eye. "No. Absolutely not. The preference of this Court is co-existence with our fetches, whenever we can. A measure of it is grace; a measure of it is solidarity. There's some understanding in there. There's the idea that we don't just have to oppose each other because the Gentry did this to us. That there are other solutions. And each fetch we [22:50] reconcile is another data point. More information for the war against the Keepers." [22:50] Then he grins. "And you should see how scared they get when you and your fetch fucking come for them." [22:51] "That's the thing about the powers they have. They were designed without a dream in their faerie masters' heads that they wouldn't be on side." [22:51] Doesn't apologize for the language this time. 15[22:51] 10Stewart relaxes; it's the first he's relaxed since Gerald picked him up. "Okay. I think... I think I'm in. I think this is right." [22:52] "That said, you are free to do what's most comfortable for you. Even if that does, in the end, mean you have to kill." [22:52] Kingsley nods. "Good. I'm glad to hear it." [22:52] "...There's one last thing you have to do. Gerald's going out tonight. You're going with him." [22:54] "You do as he says and you come through it in one piece, and you're in. There's no grading here, and, well. You've met him. He seems the reliable sort, yeah?" 15[22:54] 10Stewart: "Yeah. Yeah, he does." [22:54] "But everything in this conversation has been the best that the Autumn Court can be. You deserve to know what a bad day will look up before we start putting things in front of you to sign." 15[22:55] 10Stewart nods. "Okay." [22:55] *look like [22:56] He stands. "In the meantime, Santander will make you a proper United States citizen again. Social Security, background checks, even a passport if you want one for some deranged reason. We have an invoicing system for work expenditures, which in your case streaming will fall under. That should all be prepared by the time you get back." [22:56] "And if you decide it's not for you, no hard feelings. We're still in the same freehold." 15[22:57] 10Stewart stands too. When the King stands, nobody sits. He remembers. 11[22:57] "It's good to meet you, Stewart," Kingsley says, and offers his hand again. 15[22:57] 10There's no hesitation this time. [22:59] Kingsley walks him out to Lauren, who is less actively grumpy this time. It's hard to tell if the narrowing of her LED eyes is because of her Mien's sallow, somewhat potchmarked nature, or if it's dissatisfaction that another computer person just signed on. Gerald is standing there too. He nods to his brother, looks at you, and says, "So you're in." [23:00] He calls the elevator again. [23:01] When they're alone in the elevator: "Did you eat lunch?" [23:02] It's almost 6 PM; the sun is falling in the sky. 15[23:02] 10Stewart's eaten on average once a day since he got back, slightly above the average Before. "No, I haven't." [23:03] He nods. "As soon as I get you home, go to your corner store, get a Nutrigrain bar or whatever similar they have, and eat that. Nothing else. No coffee, no stimulants, no alcohol, no assorted other drugs. Did you sleep well last night?" 15[23:04] 10Stewart: "No worse than normal." [23:05] He grimaces. "If you feel like a nap would help and you feel like it's possible to do so, then take a nap. You know your own body. My goal is to pick you up at midnight." 15[23:06] 10Stewart nods. "I'll be there." [23:06] "I'd tell you more about now about this, but to be honest, I'm going to be spending the next six hours figuring out precisely what the fuck this is." [23:06] *now about this 11[23:07] He'll make amiable small talk with Stewart if he wants it during the drive back, but nothing about the mission. He'll drop Stewart off; he has six hours to prepare. 11[23:10] Before he drops Stewart off, he tells him to dress casually, and for moving about. 15[23:13] 10As soon as he's alone in his room he's immediately convinced he made a terrible mistake joining some kind of wizard support group mafia. Changing out of the button-up makes him feel better. He tries to sleep - no luck. After getting his granola bar, he spends most of his six hours gaming. Evenings from 6 to 2 is his usual streaming schedule, he'll have to cut it short tonight. The 15[23:13] 10facecam in the corner shows an uncharacteristically serious expression. [23:13] The buzzer sounds at midnight, precisely. 15[23:14] 10Stewart's out front 30 seconds later. 11[23:14] When Stewart gets downstairs, the jacket and flat cap are gone, replaced by a skull cap and leather gloves. All various shades of black and grey. What's Stewart wearing? [23:15] On Gerald, that is. 15[23:15] 10Jeans and a black t-shirt. [23:16] Gerald nods. "Smart look, kid. Do you have a jacket in that color?" He indicates the shirt. 15[23:16] 10Stewart: "I don't have a jacket." [23:16] He nods again, reaches into the driver's seat of the Escalade, and pulls out a smart leather jacket. [23:16] He tosses it to him. [23:16] To you, that is. [23:17] "How's it fit? Should be a bit loose." [23:17] It will be. 15[23:17] 10Stewart's taken aback, but he tries it on. "Yeah. Thank you." [23:17] Gerald nods a third time. "Let's go." [23:17] As they head south towards the Port of Baltimore: "About time I told you what this is all about." [23:18] "Bob mentioned the vampires." [23:18] "You're going to meet one tonight, briefly I think. So be prepared for that." 15[23:19] 10Stewart: "Can a vampire see me?" [23:19] "Nah. They'll probably know what you are, but in this specific case, the vampire is gonna be on team blue." [23:20] "Two weeks ago, three police officers pulled over one of the Autumn Court's...retainers, let's say. Two cruisers and an unmarked car. They beat her bad enough she's still in the hospital and might not walk again, charged her with resisting arrest. She'll be well taken care of on our end. That wasn't supposed to happen." [23:20] "They stole a book she was bringing from the DC freehold, up to here." [23:21] "Turns out, all three cops are ghouls. You know what ghouls are?" [23:21] They're making good time through the lights. 15[23:21] 10Sure, they're the next-level-up palette swap of zombies. "Not if it's a vampire thing." [23:22] "Think of them as blood slaves. They're alive, but they drink vampire blood once a moon or something like that. It's not really important except politically. Because it means that now the Court of Baltimore and the Freehold of Baltimore have problems with each other." [23:22] Pause. "Yeah, vampires call it a court too. It's confusing." [23:23] They pull up a block down from a warehouse. 15[23:23] "Every man a king," 10Stewart mumbles. [23:23] Parked outside are two cop cruisers and an unmarked car. [23:23] Gerald kills the engine and reaches into the backseat. "First thing I want you to do is put this on, and put the jacket on over it. That's why it's loose." [23:24] He hands you a Kevlar vest. 15[23:24] 10Stewart takes it. "...are they going to shoot at us?" [23:24] "They're American police officers." [23:25] Gerald pulls on a Kevlar vest of his own. [23:25] Then he reaches over, pops open the glove compartment, and pulls out a handgun. 11[23:25] "This is a Glock 17 pistol," says the fetch. "Don't put your finger on the trigger until you intend to fire. Safety is here. This is safe; this is fire." He moves Stewart's thumb gently to demonstrate the positions. "I'm going to leave you on fire so that you don't forget in the moment. That means you need to be extra careful. Under no circumstances do I want you to fire this weapon [23:25] unless your life is in danger. Again," he said, "this isn't going to be fun. You're going to be scared. And after that, you're going to be okay. [23:25] "If it makes you feel any better, and I don't think it will -- they tell me the fear is the point." [23:26] "Your job here isn't to kill anyone." [23:26] "Your job is to see the worst that can happen, and its consequences." 11[23:27] He'll leave Stewart with the gun, then open the driver's side door and walk around to the back of the vehicle. [23:28] From the trunk, Gerald removes a fucking assault rifle. [23:28] "Killing people is my job." [23:28] "Now." 15[23:29] 10Stewart gets out once he's got the vest on. He assumes he's supposed to keep the gun in his holy shit. Stewart just nods, dumbfounded. [23:30] "We've selected a place out in who-the-fuck-knows wherever. But guns are guns. This gun is a Canadian version military of the FAL rifle, chambered in 7.62. The particular reason I chose this weapon is that unlike all its brothers and sisters, it does not have full automatic fire. Every bullet you put out into the world is traveling death. They go through wood. They go through walls. [23:30] And you are responsible when you put them out there." [23:31] "There shouldn't be anyone else here but us, but, 'shouldn't' stopped being real a long time ago." 15[23:32] 10Stewart nods again. 15[23:32] 10He's never held a gun in real life before. 11[23:32] He slings the rifle over the shoulder and walks up to Stewart. "If you need to fire this, don't imagine movie shit. Don't hold it one-handed. Face your body towards where you want the shot to go and hold it with both hands, either out in front of you or about four inches from your chest." He'll guide Stewart's arms to demonstrate the distance. "Don't hold it back far enough that the [23:32] slide here will hit you in the belly, but the closer your hold it to your body, the better you control the recoil. And again. Don't shoot it unless you have to. You're here to watch, and as far as I'm concerned, that means you're here to hide." 15[23:33] 10Another nods. 15[23:33] 10*nod [23:33] He unslings the rifle and brings it up. "Then let's go." [23:33] There's murmurs from the warehouse as they approach. One of the bay doors is wide open. [23:34] Two uniformed cops and one plainclothes detective are clearly annoyed at...well, that's a fucking vampire, isn't it? 14[23:35] * banana|peels is now known as banana [23:36] Pale and gaunt even through his bulk, sort of like Kingsley, with slicked back iron hair, a strong chin and a placating smile that still makes it clear that he's the one in charge. Two fangs, sharp and somehow gleaming outside of direct light, peek over his lip. He wears a tuxedo, except instead of a jacket he has a black roman cape, coming down to the small of his back at the longest. 11[23:37] The cops clearly think they're arguing about something. Gerald raises his rifle and waves Stewart behind him. 15[23:37] 10Stewart follows orders. [23:37] The plainsclothes detective sees them first. "Guys," he says. Gerald gently leans into the rifle and lines up his shot. "GUYS--" [23:38] Gerald fires. [23:38] The vampire grins with too many teeth. [23:38] "Gentlemen, consider the protection of the Prince of Baltimore, by thine own hand, revoked." [23:38] Then he explodes into a cloud of bats. 15[23:39] 10Holy SHIT-- [23:39] As they fly off into the night...roll initiative. [23:48] Gerald is unfazed by the bats, but they still block his sight line. The first shot kills the plainclothes detective outright; heart's blood. He goes as quickly as is reasonable. The second shot is during the flurry, and 'only' hits the closer of the two uniformed cops in the shoulder, sending him reeling. 15[23:49] 10Stewart ducks behind one of the cop cars, gun shaking in his hands. Shit shit shit-- [23:50] The third cop ignores him. He's focused on the guy with the rifle. [23:57] His shot, by all rights, should have hit. It does hit, even when Gerald steps before the shot to make sure he takes it on the vest. It just...doesn't do much but make him grunt. [23:57] Oddly, some dead leaves blow into the warehouse. [23:58] No trees around for a mile. [23:59] The cop's eyes go wide, just as Gerald goes still while aiming down sights and shoots him in the chest. Session Time: Thu Sep 05 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] Both uniformed officers have collapsed. Both are making horrible sounds as they die. Gerald lets the rifle fall to rest against his chest and pulls his own sidearm. He walks up to both men and shoots them once in the head. [00:01] He holsters the pistol and sighs. 11[00:01] "Stewart." [00:01] "Put the gun in safe." [00:02] "It's on your thumb." 15[00:02] 10Gerald hears a tiny click from behind the nearest cop car. [00:02] "You don't have to hold it anymore if you don't want to. And if you've already seen the bodies, you can go back to the car." [00:03] "If not, you should probably see a dead body now for the first time instead of later." [00:03] "I'm told it's...different, from over there." [00:03] "More real." [00:04] Gerald collects stoops to pick up the spent shell casings from his rifle. 15[00:04] 10Stewart pokes his head out and sees the bodies on the ground. He swallows hard. "...yeah." [00:04] "You did well, kid." He sighs again. "Now I gotta get rid of three fucking cops..." [00:05] "Summer's not gonna like this." 15[00:05] 10Stewart: "Do you need help?" [00:05] "If you want to give it. Again, you can just set that gun down on the ground there and head back to the Escalade. I was asked to do something very specific, and it's been done." 15[00:07] 10Stewart: "No, I'll help." 10He can't not help, and he doesn't want to sit by himself and think about what he saw. 15[00:07] 10Life is so unnerving, for a servant who's not serving... [00:07] "But I'd look away first," he says as he walks over to one of the crusiers. "Well, not yet." [00:07] "You should see what it looks like when we do our thing." 11[00:07] Has Stewart seen Terminator 2? 15[00:08] 10Of course. [00:09] Then he gets a kind of jolting surreal feeling, probably, when he sees Gerald touch the driver's side mirror of the closest cop car with two fingers, step back, and a weird liquid mirror metal...sword? Needle? Form between the two contact points. [00:10] "Now you might want to look away. Or not." 15[00:11] 10This part Stewart doesn't flinch at. He put in time in the kitchens. [00:11] With two fingers raised, he walks over to each cop and drives the liquid mirror blade into and through the entry would, making it look like a stabbing death and in two of the three cases driving out the bullet (the plainclothes cop was a through-and-through). Then he does the same to the headshots, which he genuinely might want to look away for. [00:12] When Gerald's collected the gore: "Help me get them into the unmarked car." [00:12] "We're going to put them in the Chesapeake." 15[00:12] "Okay." [00:14] Once they get the bodies over near the car. "My idea here is we throw the two uniform guys in the trunk, put the plainclothes guy in the driver seat, and a brick on the accelerator." [00:14] "I'm open to other ones." [00:16] "While you're thinking about that, though..." 15[00:16] 10Stewart: "This is maybe a bad question." 15[00:16] "But did we get the book back?" [00:17] He grins. "Smart lad." [00:17] "Search the other cruiser." 15[00:17] "Okay." 15[00:17] 10He takes the keys off the body. 15[00:18] 10This is all weirdly easy for him. 15[00:18] 10The bodies aren't even cold yet. 14[00:21] * banana is now known as banana|split 15[00:21] 10Stewart checks the glove box, under the seats, nothing. Just paperwork and cigarette butts. He pops the trunk - spare tire, tire iron, shotgun. He's about to shut in when movie-trained instinct has him check for a false bottom to the trunk, which is there, containing what looks like three or four sets of 19th century heroin gear all bolted together, a roll of plastic sheeting, and 15[00:21] 10almost in the wheel well a torn-open paper package containing one heavy book. 15[00:21] "Got it!" [00:22] The book is...warm. It feels like it contains power. Examining it along the bindings reveal that the pages are too thick. It's a dictionary's size and yet there are maybe forty pages. Are they slats of wood? Do they bend? Do they-- [00:22] "Good." [00:23] Gerald says from a few feet away. [00:23] "My rule is not to open that stuff." [00:23] "Not 'til we're back in the office." [00:23] On the cover of the book is a tree, and in that tree, a single eye. [00:23] Open and staring. 15[00:23] 10Stewart, with a tinge of regret: "Yeah, that makes sense." [00:24] "So here's your choice." [00:25] "You hold on to the book, we go back to the offices, where yes, everyone is still up at one in the morning because this is all a big deal, you sign your papers, you join the court. You get to examine it, if it's safe. In a controlled environment." [00:25] "Or you hand the book to me, I take you home, and none of this ever happened." [00:25] "To the extent that can possibly be true." 15[00:26] 10Stewart shakes his head immediately. "No, I want to help." 10After a pause: "And I need your help." 15[00:26] 10He holds onto the book. [00:26] Gerald nods and grins. "Then you're in." [00:26] "Now let's go see a harbor about three dead cops." [00:27] --Fin 14[01:43] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:54] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[09:11] * Quits: tom2 (Connection closed) 14[18:17] * Joins: tom 14[20:27] * Joins: mattbaby [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 _______________ [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 ()==( (@==() [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 '______________'| [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 | | [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 | | [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 __)_____________| [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 ()==( (@==() [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12 '--------------' [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12When Wicked Triumph's Reckoning returns, he's got a lot of paperwork with him. It's sundown, about a day and a half since you saw him last, and he's bearing just reams of fine vellum parchment, covered with elaborate Old Realm calligraphy in at least two different inks - one a brilliant scarlet, the other a green so dark it's almost black. [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12The Abyssal looks apologetic as the Squared Circle gathers around him, even coughing slightly before beginning to speak. "I, ah. For this to go smoothly, I'll need you to sign a few things, and countersign a few more. To start." [21:14] 4For fuck's sake. [21:14] 4Why was it the Circle LAWYER who had to go evil? 15[21:15] 10Who could have seen this coming. [21:15] 6Who, indeed. [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning grins at your reactions, then puts his palms out defensively. "Not my idea! My employers are fastidious like you wouldn't believe. Not until you gave it a few minutes' thought, anyway. Take all the time you like to go over them." [21:16] 4We're going to have to read these very carefully. [21:16] 4...Blossom is going to have to read these very carefully. [21:18] 4Because Ir's got nothing here. [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Interesting inks in use here. Most of them, particularly the dark green, appear to be pigments of outrageously high quality and expense, like we're talking "crushed emerald dust is but one of the ingredients" territory. If you hadn't been to Yu-Shan already you might be completely stupefied, but you'd guess that this is a wonder spun from godly Quintessence, of surpassing and unmatched [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12quality and refinement thanks to a simple act of will. However, the red seems to be blood. It's fresh blood according to its color and (mostly hidden) scent, but doesn't seem to smudge, dry, or stain. There's clearly magic locked in there. [21:26] 6Easier to handle the inks than the words behind them. This is... dangerous, interesting, and dangerous. And if Blossom comes through he'll sign anyway. 15[21:28] 10Eikichi: "Most of this is a mutual non-aggression pact and mutual non-disclosure agreement. We agree not to harm any of the other signators and they agree not to harm us, we agree to let Reck hide the gate from us, we agree not to tell Raksi or anyone else while the talks are going on. This is enforced by the weight of Reck's curse - good to know you can still bleed." 15[21:28] "There's something subtler going on... but I can't quite parse it. Blossom?" [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning, somewhat chagrined: "Barely, at this point. They really had me spare no expense." 15[21:38] 10Eikichi: "We'll make do." [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Anyway, enjoy. And let me know once you've signed the first set. As you'll soon tell, this will be a bit of a process." 15[21:39] 10Eikichi: "This Kejak seems like quite the stickler." [21:40] 6Tatsuya: "I suppose one would have to be, in that position." [21:50] 7Blossom: "Mmm. This appears legitimate. Much of the complexity is inherent in making a firm agreement between parties in two different spheres of natural law... we'll be protected from assassination attempts, ensorcellment, that sort of thing. And restricted from doing the same, of course. I don't see anything questionable." [21:51] 7Blossom, wistfully: "Honestly, this is a masterwork. I should ask for a copy regardless of how negotiations turn out." [21:55] 6Tatsuya: "If it's all good, I can work with it." [21:55] 4Ir sighs. To Wicked: "Do you eat meat?" [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Wicked Triumph's Reckoning, later on, once you've looked over the paperwork: "Just fish." [21:57] 4We probably still have some of that from her last outing. [21:57] "Raw or cooked?" [21:57] 6Tatsuya does not so much as twitch. [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning: "Raw if I can help it. In Mahalanka, of course, I've simply grown accustomed to vegetarianism." [22:00] 4She nods. To her Circle: "So we're signing?" [22:00] 6Tatsuya looks to Blossom. [22:01] 7She scratches her neck and nods. "Let's do this." [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12If you haven't got any materials, Reckoning's got an inkpot that comes down on the paper as a deep, slightly sparkly golden orange. Gratis! 08[22:03] 4Surely Eikichi has writing utensils he can provide. Once Ir's done making her signatures, she'll go pack some lunches. 15[22:04] 10Yeah, Eikichi can cover that. [22:06] 6Tatsuya pointedly rereads the entire thing before signing. He might not have grasped the subtleties but this is what you do, with contracts. And maybe he can learn some things. [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12As all four of you - and Reckoning himself - sign the first everal forums, you can faintly hear the tolling of a great iron bell. The dead Eclipse beads a faint sheen of blood sweat from his forehead with a kerchief, then bows and gestures grandiosely to invite you into his carriage. [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12forms* [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a long and somewhat bumpy ride through gods know what part of the jungle - sound seems to be muffled outside the vehicle, and even native direction sense is tangled to an extent by what seems to be a touch of the Labyrinth that sprawls beneath the distant underworld's skin. When you come to a stop, and leave the carriage, you find yourself standing in a circular clearing [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12whose outer borders have been obscured with a cloud of magical shadow. The center, though, very much stands out, because a stone archway is filled with a glowing, swirling surface of what appears to be mercury that has yards-long prayer strips covered in spiraling, shifting old realm runes rippling outwards like the arms of a jellyfish. [22:11] 4Does she have time to make the food, at least? [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, yeah, Ir can take an hour or two if she wanted one first. [22:13] 4Then she'll prepare boar and spicy yogurt sauce wraps for the Circle, flatbread, spiced bean curd dip, and sashimi for Wicked, and keep a stash of the raw fish set aside for Tatsuya. [22:13] 6Thank you. [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Reckoning's grateful for the snack, but doesn't have long to enjoy it. He seems to have to spend a lot of time reviewing paperwork and, occasionally, touching his ear and subvocalizing. When you arrive at the portal, it's time for another round of signatures; once those are painted and sealed by magic, you're free to step inside. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12You arrive in a familiar corridor of shining, mirrored adamant. Here's what's not familiar, though: no celestial lions at all. You're greeted, instead, by a woman in a robe and large cowl who nods to Reckoning and proceeds to usher you forward, leading your Circle down the Adamant corridor and into Yu-Shan proper. She turns to eye you as you exit the passageway and get a full view [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12of the celestial city, with Reckoning bringing up the rear. [22:23] 4I assume we're allowed to keep our weapons? Ir wouldn't have signed if not. But Jude's Law is currently in bangle form, and she's dressed in her simple, sleeveless garb. She doesn't plan to do much talking; she's here mainly to glower. [22:25] 6That makes two of us. Negotiations aren't Tatsuya's strong suit. [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12You're led, after a moment, in a circuitous route down the hills leading up to the adamant wall, one that loops behind buildings and largely leaves you out of view of the major thoroughfares. In many cases, you can't even see the sky above due to overhangs, awnings, or tunnels, though at the moment it's clear that the Sun is ahead in the Games with Mars a close second. You come not [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12to one of the rivers of mercury but to a particularly large aerial rickshaw, one which could comfortably seat eight and still leave room for a driver - which, in this case, is a man-sized otter with a green robe and matching official's hat. [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12One more round of forms to sign, and then you're on your way, flying in silence through the skies of the celestial city. As you drift in a wide arc beneath the projected dome of the heavens, star-flecked blue skies are replaced all of a sudden with a cloudy, moonless night. Must have been one hell of a gambit. [22:33] 4Not the best omen. [22:35] 7Is it a man-sized otter with a green robe and matching official's hat that we've met before? [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Yep, same guy. This thing really gets around. [22:37] 6Nice to see a friendly face. [22:38] 7Well, good for him. With Yu-Shan's economy he's probably glad to be working. [22:38] 4Ir: "Hey." 4She'll surreptitiously toss him a couple extra pieces of raw fish. [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, you take a not-too-long flight. The eastern sector of Yu-Shan is the "Lunargent Ecological Protectorate" and resembles a sort of giant terrarium, with buildings interspersed with trees and parklands and other carefully-curated natural sights. After traveling over some of this terrain, you arc downwards into, appropriately enough, a great kapok tree whose roots wrap around [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12several small residences and towerss, your rickshaw coming to a stop somewhere halfway up its height. There are spiral stairs leading up its length which sharply turn inward through a door into the trunk, but you're stopped there by a robed and hooded man who shoots a significant glance over your shoulders to Reckoning, who takes a breath and then produces another series of forms to [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12sign. [22:42] 4For fuck's sake. [22:42] 7Are these any different from what she's already examined? [22:43] 6More of them? Honestly. Who do they think we are. [22:44] 4Incredibly dangerous. [22:45] 4You think they make people they think they can easily kill sign five layers of forms? [22:45] 7Yes. [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Finally, you're ushered inside to climb a smaller staircase and arrive in a finely carved and sparsely decorated dining hall of sorts - though there's no food laid out on the long table. Standing in front of that table, though, is someone who hasn't bothered with a robe and voluminous hood. It's an old man with silver hair wearing robes of green and white, with his arms tucked stiffly [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12behind his back. His short beard is neatly sculpted, his long-but-receding hair is tied back into a long ponytail, and his eyes sparkle with green stars. Reckoning darts out immediately ahead of you, passing the final sheet to Blossom (and the rest of you) to sign in full - no initialing allowed here. As you do, the old man produces a glowing prayer strip which visibly bears the same [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12text as the form you're about to ratify, and takes out a green-dipped brush with which to finish filling it in. [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12(None of the forms are different or new to you, I should say; it's just, you know, time now to initial subsections 30 and 31 and etc., which you had time to review back in Chithakara) [22:48] 7Hmm hmm hmm, love to sign forms, la la la~ [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Once these final signatures are put down, Reckoning's body flares with a red-edged blackness that stretches outward to enfold everyone in the room, sealing, at last, the terms of negotiation. Then the Abyssal visibly staggers back, pressing a hand to his forehead and swaying slightly on his feet. He doesn't make a peep, though, and that's because the old man's talking. "We meet at [22:48] <@Ferrinus> last. I... am Chejop Kejak, Chosen of Secrets." [22:50] "...'kay." [22:50] "I assume you already know who we are." [22:52] 6Tatsuya: "Yo." 08[22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Kejak: "Excessively Righteous Blossom. Ir, Saint-Sister. Tatsuya, the Golden Hand. Eikichi. ...none of them the names originally earmarked for you, but, well, that's the way of things." [22:54] 4Ir: "The originally earmarked way of things had my lover drown at sea. So. Here we are." 15[22:55] 10Eikichi: "Don't really believe in fate, to be honest." [22:55] 6Tatsuya: "I think our opinions on the way of things are fairly clear." [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Kejak: "I see you've arrived without incident. Let's sit, then. Eat and drink, if you'd like. And see where things stand." 12He sweeps around take a seat at the head of the table, flanked on his left and right by the man and woman who met you on the way. Reckoning's still catching his breath, insofar as he needs to, at the side of the room - apparently he won't be party to [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12negotiations, merely witness to them. [22:57] 4Ugh. This food is going to be so good. Fuckers. [22:57] 4Maybe she'll find something new she can backsolve into a recipe, though. [22:58] 6It's probably not poisoned, at least. So there is that. [22:58] 6Probably, though. [22:59] 4Eh, we signed the papers. [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, no, that's rather explicitly ruled out. [22:59] 4And frankly poison wouldn't kill us fast enough to save them. [23:00] 7Blossom's immune to poison! [23:00] 6All of them? Or just many of them? [23:00] 7What is it Ir likes to say? Fuck around and find out? [23:01] 4That. And play dangerous games, win dangerous prizes. [23:01] 7Anyway, Blossom will try some of the food and take a seat. [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Once everyone's settled, Kejak speaks. "So. I understand that you understand, in broad terms, my position here. But if there's anything you need to know about these negotiations, or the situation on the ground - now, I suppose, is the time." [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Kejak: "Otherwise... make your pitch." [23:02] 6Tatsuya will too, but still. Still. [23:03] 4Make our pitch? [23:03] 4Two days of this bullshit and ten thousand documents later, and make OUR pitch? [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Hey, you know how many people have wanted this man's ear for even half the time you've been in the room with him already and wait still in vain? [23:05] 6We're better. Of course we're here. [23:05] 4That sounds like an issue with him. [23:06] 6Tatsuya: "You should pay the chef more. They're very good." 6Not as good as Ir, but no one is. [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Food, incidentally, is not already here but rather made to order. Any of you can simply tell the otter what you'd like - yes, it's lurking around - and it'll disappear, only for a sumptuous, flawless version of whatever you requested to appear before you minutes later. 15[23:06] 10Eikichi: "Broadly, we want Heaven to back us against Raksi, and in return we don't intend to turn Sperimin and the surrounding jungle into a Solar dominion. We just want access to the library." [23:06] 4What's the food like, so Ir doesn't say this out loud? 08[23:06] 7I mean, yeah. Making our pitch was kind of the deal. Anyway. Does Eikichi wanna start? Oh, there he goes. Good. [23:07] 4Yeah well, Ir hates feeling like she's asking a landlord if there are rooms on offer. [23:08] 6Tatsuya continues eating, never looking directly at anyone but watching all the same. 08[23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Chejak gives Tatsuya a faintly bemused - no, actually condescending - look before nodding shallowly to Eikichi. "Understood. And what will you take with you, and what will you leave behind?" [23:09] 6Tatsuya has been condescended to for almost his entire life. What's one more? 15[23:09] 10Eikichi looks to Blossom. "We're prepared to be flexible on that point." [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Chejak: "And... the behemoth?" [23:11] 6Tatsuya, flatly: "It will be handled." [23:11] 4Ir snorts. "You like to think you know what makes us tick, yeah?" [23:11] "Lot of years on it." [23:11] "After you did...whatever the fuck you did." [23:11] 7Blossom: "It stands to reason a Wood Behemoth would be vulnerable to fire. I think we can bring a sufficiency of fire to bear." [23:11] "Yes. We'll handle the giant monster." [23:14] *to think on it [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Kejak mulls this over, idly flexing the fingers of one hand, then another, through exercises familiar to any practicing sorcerer. "Mmmm. Interesting. Palatable on its face." 12He sips some green tea, then returns his gaze to your Circle. "I want more. [23:16] 6Tatsuya: "Terms." [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Kejak: "The situation in Sperimin right now is distasteful but strategically necessary. That the city is essentially impregnable, inaccessible to the wider world, and a constant source of ambrosia is crucial important to our equilibrium. A deposed Queen and a dead behemoth and a Sperimin ripe for the picking are not acceptable to Yu-Shan. Can you, in fact, promise me the continuation [23:19] <@Ferrinus> of a zone of total control?" [23:20] "Oh shit?" [23:20] "It's impregnable?" [23:20] 6Tatsuya leans back in his chair. [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Kejak: "Essentially." [23:20] "Well we should have consulted you before that jailbreak, I guess." [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Kejak: "How well did that work out for you? You needn't answer; it's a rhetorical question." [23:21] 6Tatsuya: "We're all here, aren't we?" [23:21] 4Ir laughs. "It worked out real well, all things considered." [23:21] 7Blossom: "Mmm. We have some promising candidates for rulership, and we do intend to stick around until we can be certain the whole area won't collapse into famine and chaos." [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Kejak: "Elaborate, please." [23:24] 7Blossom: "Obviously, our post-Raksi plans should be considered secret from her? Formally confidential?" [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Kejak nods. If you so indicate - and there are a few ways to do it, including by simply making a particular gesture as you speak - listeners here are bound against sharing or acting on information they didn't already know or don't find through other means. The contract does not prevent what you might call parallel construction, though - for instance, if talks fell completely to [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12shit, but you happened to specify exactly where a particular refugee camp was, it wouldn't be that hard for Yu-Shan to give totally ordinary and incidental advice that happens to send a TCZ patrol into exactly the stretch of jungle you wish it hadn't. [23:30] 7Blossom: "Raksi's sloppy. She's missed a number of Dragonblooded who are competent enough to be leading a rebellion against her. I've met them. They'll do." 15[23:32] 10Eikichi: "If you like, we could allow it to revert to the Silver Pact." 08[23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Kejak gives Eikichi a look before turning to Blossom. "Dragon-Blooded... ruling, perhaps, according to the Immaculate Philosophy?" [23:38] "I think they would be agreeable on that issue. Certainly they would be eager for powerful backing." [23:39] 6Tatsuya: "They did not seem thrilled with the current state of affairs." [23:39] "Probably because it's ritual genocide." [23:39] "Hence our actions," 6he agrees. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Kejak: "In a vacuum, I like it. The problem: even a phalanx of Dragon-Blooded trained in the Immaculate ways and backed by Yu-Shan cannot match the... staying power, shall we say, of the Queen of Fangs. Not, certainly, in their first few centuries. They will require more of our attention to maintain by default, and perhaps fall all together to a concentrated effort on the part of [23:43] <@Ferrinus> the deathlords... or of the Pact." [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Kejak: "Obviously, neither of these are acceptable. Perhaps not even to you." [23:43] "Not the deathlords, at the least." 7Blossom agrees. [23:44] "Then it sounds like what you're actually describing is why we'd have an obligation to help you maintain your dominion. Not actually stating a problem." [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Kejak: "I would call it both. Will you, indeed can you, offer or commit something that would leave Sperimin as well-defended as you found it?" [23:46] 4Ir: "I'm not sure you'd like where that conversation goes." [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Kejak: "I'll hear suggestions." [23:47] 7Blossom: "Mmm. We can talk to the Pact, get them to lay off... perhaps lay some sorcerous reinforcement that doesn't rely on mass sacrifice?" [23:48] 6Tatsuya: "It was defended like shit. I broke in, and as much as I want to gift wrap everything you own and leave it where it lies, I know my limits. We can still offer better defenses." [23:49] "Not the same. Actually better." [23:49] 4Ir: "And if you think it's just the demons that did all this, you're free to go negotiate with them. They're where you think you want them. But that hasn't proved quite as simple a twist of fate as the Queen might have hoped, has it?" [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Kejak: "I wonder if you could keep that promise. It's true that the Queen has tended to prioritize stopping intruders outright slightly below making them deeply regret the attempt." [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Kejak: "I wonder if you could keep that promise. It's true that the Queen has tended to prioritize stopping intruders outright slightly below making them deeply regret the attempt." [23:51] 7Blossom: "In any case, I'm willing to bet we can put together fortifications that would let you focus on the other Behemoths and the Blessed Isle. That's the problem, no? Not that you *can't* take care of this yourselves, but you're stretched too thin already." [23:52] 6Tatsuya, flatly: "I don't promise things I can't deliver. It wasn't even hard. She's lazy, stupid, or unaware of who can break in." [23:53] "Unacceptable, if you ask me." [23:54] 6It wasn't easy. But it was a lot easier than he'd thought it ought to be. But looking at the problem from both ends: it can be done better. [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Kejak gives Tatsuya a faint smile. "You're too hard on the poor girl. She couldn't keep me out, either, but that's hardly because she's slacking." [23:55] 6Tatsuya: "I wasn't kidding about the gift wrap." [23:55] 4Ir:"From a position of generalship: we've either sent all her generals running from the field -- one in the arms of a liaison of Heaven! -- or have an in with them or just killed them and brought them back on our side. We control territory. We have broken a forge city; we have drained a potent lake. To actually win against us, at this point, you need to commit far more resources [23:55] than you'd save by us just moving on to a general framework." [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12The elder Sidereal shakes his head to himself and then leans back, clearing his throat. "Let me see. Remove Raksi - but also remove the Behemoth. Instate a Dragon-Blooded dominion ruled by the Immaculate Philosophy. Repair or augment the existing sorcerous infrastructure to maintain the city's security. And you believe you can... influence the Pact against attempting to take it, [23:56] <@Ferrinus> thenceforth?" [23:56] 7What do 'kichi and Ir think? Do we have a shot at that? [23:57] 4As long as the language has nothing in it about not being able to use the kruthik? Yes. If it does? Well, then things get 'fun.' Session Time: Fri Sep 06 00:00:00 2019 [00:03] 4Ir: "I believe we have an in with the Silver Pact, and I believe you know why I believe that. And I think I might have some leverage at the moment, given the compromised state of one of his Circle. We bring her back over the line from the other side, that gives us a lot of rope to cordon Mahalanka off with." [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Kejak nods. "And the specifics of the new government's worship will be ours to sketch out... and your own claim will be limited to certain texts in the libraries. Mmm. Hmm. Yes." 12He rises from his seat. "Agreeable. Workable. We'll start there. Right as I return. Duty calls, I'm afraid - but should only take an hour or two." 12The old man makes for the door in the back of the [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12room. "Entertain our guests, Reckoning." 12Then he's gone. [00:34] [00:34] [00:34] [00:34] [00:34] [00:34] [00:34] [00:34] [00:34] [00:34] [00:34] [00:34] [00:34] [00:34] [00:34] [00:34] [00:34] [00:34] [00:34] [00:34] [00:34] [00:34] [00:34] [00:34] NOW: "I HEAR YOUR HEAARRRT BEAT TO THE BEAT OF THE DRUMS / BUM BUM" -- yes, she does the drums along with the song -- "OH WHAT A SHAAAAME THAT YOU CAME HERE WITH SOME ONE UN." Frankly, given that the little Changeling is at this point obviously pretty drunk and basically just shouting out lyrics, it's kind of incredible how on key and really, very good she is. "SO WHILE YOU'RE HERE IN [00:34] MY ARMS -- LET'S MAKE THE MOST OF THE NIGHT LIKE WE'RE GOING TO DIE YOUNG!" She's staring at something just above eye level, tears in the corners of her eyes. "WE'RE GOING TO DIE YOUNG!" [00:34] EARLIER: The knock on the door comes around 5:30 PM, as the sun has made it's way mostly behind the horizon line in Baltimore, propped up by the city's buildings. It's followed by two more knocks, and an impatient third. Then a "Yoooo!" If Maggie checks the blinds or the peephole, she will discover...this is a teen. And what's more, she's a Changeling teen. [00:34] What's Maggie's door like right now, anyway? Where's she been living? 14[00:37] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:44] 7It's not really a great place, down at the end of the hall of a likewise not-great building, but Maggie has found she make a place feel homely fairly quickly. Anyway you can't expect much when you're getting paid under the table. [00:45] "MAGS!" The girl is not quiet, and if she cares about the neighbors it doesn't show in her volume. What's Maggie been up to? [00:45] 7Maggie levers herself up from a chair ("ah, jeez"7) bustles to the door - she bustles everywhere - and opens it a crack. "Hello? Oh, hey there!" [00:47] 7She just got in herself, and was vaguely wondering what to do with the rest of the evening when Samaritan turned up. [00:49] She stares at Maggie with affected disdain for the briefest moment, then leaps forward and hugs her -- then leaps back just as quickly, her hands in the pockets of her hoodie again. She's grinning. It's kind of hard to clearly see her unless you're looking directly at her -- shouting "MAGS!" didn't seem to garner much attention either -- but her voice is quite distinctive. She's young; [00:49] college freshmen at oldest. Her mom was Chinese; she's talked about that once, before clamming up. [00:49] How many times has Maggie hung out with Samaritan? [00:56] 7A few times at least. Samaritan was among the group that was able to cool her down and give her the 'this is what you are and what happened to you' talk, and it was Samaritan in particular who suggested the name 'Maggie', on the principle that she "looks like a Maggie". Her Mask does, anyway: an older woman, perhaps mid-50s, with shoulder-length reddish-blonde hair. Stocky in build, [00:56] 7and deceptively strong - somebody's aunt, if their aunt used to be a legbreaker for the Irish mob. [00:58] 7Her mien is a different matter. She looks like a woman welded together out of old, rusted iron, with small pipes embedded here and there on her limbs - what can unkindly but accurately be described as a pot belly has a thick-tined grating on the front that shows a crackling fire in her gut, making the metal of her body pleasantly warm. [00:59] Samaritan's dressed in all white -- she seems to like to flout the whole thing about being a Darkling whenever possible; she's loud, brash, impulsive, and she wants you to see her. And right now she's bouncing between the balls and heels of her feet. She's excited. "Tonight's the night. Amelia wants to see ya." [01:01] If she doesn't get an immediate reaction: "This is a big deal!" [01:02] Amelia Banthem, of course, is the Queen of Spring. When Queen is in season. [01:02] *when Spring is in season [01:03] "Oh! Yeah, sure! How far is it, do I need to bring a coat?" 7She chuckles at Samaritan's eagerness. It's not actually difficult for her to keep up with the excitable Darkling, though sometimes she gets the feeling. that it should be [01:03] "Oh! Yeah, sure! How far is it, do I need to bring a coat?" 7She chuckles at Samaritan's eagerness. It's not actually difficult for her to keep up with the excitable Darkling, though sometimes she gets the feeling that it should be. [01:08] "Pffft. Only if you get cold. Kinda sweatshirt weather. We're heading up to the center." Maggie's picked up by now that this is the North Avenue Community Center, an at-risk youth and family hub that is still, to the absolute annoyance of the people (who think they're) in charge of the city, taking up a piece of prime real estate on the east-west road that bisects north Baltimore. [01:10] Samaritan might say down here, actually, if Maggie's paying cash. [01:10] That usually means above 27th Street. [01:10] But below Hamden and the county line of course! [01:14] Samaritan's plan is to take an Uber. Does Maggie have a car? Does Maggie...know what 'an Uber' is yet? [01:15] "Ah, that sounds nice. What've you been up to, Samaritan?" 7She does not have a car. She has heard the term enough to assume it's some kind of taxi company. [01:15] "Oh, just the usual shit. We're in Autumn, so. We don't get to DO much unless we run it by the weirdos." [01:16] She futzes around with her phone for a second, then nods in satisfaction. [01:16] Well, her 'phone.' Doesn't really look like any phone Maggie's seen before she got back. [01:19] An SUV driven by a disinterested bald guy will drive up in five minutes or so. Maggie have any questions before that? [01:19] "Aw, they seem nice. I should talk with that Lauren gal about those new phones, there... never seen anything like it!" 7She peers at Samaritan's with interest. [01:20] "Anyhoo.. how's this usually go?" [01:20] Samaritan laughs. "Yeah you should get on a plan. Though man these things are more trouble than they're worth sometimes." [01:21] She perks up at that. Maybe more at 'anyhoo' than anything else...? "So, Amelia's gonna want to talk to you herself, give you the look over, ask you if you're going to do any heinous bad shit and you're going to say no of course, and then we're going to party!" [01:24] 7Party? Agh! She doesn't have any hotdish to bring! 15[01:29] * Disconnected 15[01:29] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[01:29] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[01:29] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[01:29] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 [01:29] Samaritan seems to read her hesitancy. "You don't have to dress up or anything! This is for you!" 14[01:30] * Quits: cbass (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_)) 14[01:30] * Joins: cbass 14[01:31] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[01:31] * Quits: VoxPVoxD (*.net *.split) 14[01:31] * Quits: @Ferrinus (*.net *.split) [01:33] 7Maggie grins sheepishly and rubs the back of her head. [01:35] The Uber arrives then and takes them to the community center on North Avenue. There's a homeless person or two out on the fringes of its lot, reminding of the structural rot the city in general suffers from; the staff doesn't make them leave. There are a lot of murals; some kids playing pickup basketball in the lot. [01:36] Samaritan doesn't quite walk through the game, but she cuts through the backcourt, and when it looks like one of the kids is going to hit her she just dances out of the way...and almost falls over, but recovers. [01:36] She laughs, and waves Maggie up the steps to the center proper. [01:37] 7Maggie will look around the center with interest; she's never been. Any changelings about, or just regular humans? [01:40] One or two, actually; there's a middle-aged Beast with a modest Spring Mantle she's never met before running what looks like an indoor tennis practice on a handball court, occasionally picking up a racket herself to exchange with the kids. There aren't tennis courts in the inner city after all, but they all love Serena. And there's David Smitten, looking positively less inviting and [01:40] engaging than he did at that job fair. He appears to be explaining to a member of the Baltimore Police Department the reason he can't give out information on a kid who routinely drops by. [01:41] "If you can get the warrant then maybe this conversation isn't this conversation, but a different conversation." [01:42] The cop leans forward. "Then we get the warrant. To him, and maybe some other shit. And then I'll be back." [01:42] 7What a strange way to word that! [01:42] "Hope you're here," he snarls. [01:42] David Smitten smiles without any warmth. "Me too, baby." [01:42] "The fuck you just say to me?" [01:43] Smitten: "I said get the fuck out of the North Street community center before your shift lieutenant has to come get you. Officer." [01:43] "You know why." [01:43] *North Avenue [01:44] When the guy opens his mouth again, the officer's partner takes him by the arm. [01:44] And the cops...leave? [01:45] When they're on their way out, Smitten can turn his attention to you. "Samaritan! Maggie!" [01:47] 7Maggie: "Mr. Smitten! Good to see ya there!" [01:49] Samaritan: "Nice, with the cops." [01:49] Smitten sighs. "They'll be back. Not those two, but others." [01:49] "But hey. Amelia's back in the choir room." [01:50] "The one with the grand piano." Smitten smiles at Maggie. "Hope I'm able to say hey to a new member of Spring when you walk out of there." [01:52] Samaritan grins and walks over to one of the big swinging metal doors in this building. Same ones you'd find in an old inner city school, or a prison. [01:52] She holds it open. [01:54] 7Maggie'll bustle in quickly then, so Samaritan doesn't have to hold the door for very long. Ooh, this is actually pretty exciting! [01:55] There's a lot more to this place than just basketball outside and converted tennis courts. This looks like a whole music wing, and she's pretty sure she saw classrooms down another hall. [01:55] The door at the very end of this cinderblock, paint and steel hallway is propped open. [01:55] There's music coming from it. [01:55] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHDVZ64cxFs [01:56] And some...muttering...? [01:56] "Oh, this is just nice, you know? Sports and music and such for the community..." [01:57] 7Muttering? [01:58] Among it, the only thing she can decipher: "Do you feel that you have more freedom now?" [01:58] Samaritan grins. "You should see it in the Spring." [01:59] She'll bring Maggie up to the door itself, but it's up to her to step in. [02:02] 7She'll hesitate for a little bit, then open the door. She won't announce herself, though, because it might be rude to interrupt whoever's singing. [02:04] When she does, an older African-American woman who is more beautiful than any model in her twenties sits at the piano in an empty room with the choral risers closed and pushed back; beige and white and the black of the instrument. The singing stopped when they approached the room; perhaps she heard the footsteps? The woman stares stares, unsmiling, at some point inside the piano, long [02:04] fingers playing beautifully by rote, until the song suddenly ends. The piano faces the door. All the sightlines in the room seem to run to her. [02:04] 7Jeez. [02:04] 7That's really something. 14[02:04] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 14[02:04] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus [02:05] When the song is over and she looks up, Amelia Bantham sighs and pulls the key-cover shut over the thing's teeth. Then she leans forward on the piano and rests her chin on her crossed arms. "Thank you, Samaritan. Please close the door." [02:07] In the Mien, the pupils of her eyes are white; the cornea is black. Every way you turn your head, if you can still see her, she draws herself to the center of your attention. And the room around her usually has that perfect Renaissance painting spiral. [02:07] "Hi, Maggie." [02:07] Samaritan closes the door, and the two of you are alone. [02:09] "Hi there, uh-" 7Shoot! She should've asked Samaritan what to call her? 'Queen Amelia'? 'Ms. Amelia'? Does she have to curtsey or something? [02:09] "-ma'am." 7She finishes lamely. [02:09] The woman behind the piano smiles. "Amelia is fine. We're not in season, and you're not a courtier, yet." [02:10] She inclines her head towards one of two comfy chairs that are sitting on the other side of the piano, pirated perhaps from some office. [02:12] 7Ah, nice. Maggie'll take a seat then, albeit somewhat gingerly - she's worked out by this point that she won't set anything aflame or accidentally crush it somehow, but the first few days were hard on the nerves. [02:12] How long's she been back, by the by? [02:16] 7Couple months, thereabouts. [02:16] "How are you settling in? Samaritan says you've got a place." [02:21] 7Maggie: "Oh, yeah, I'm doing alright. A little machinist's shop pays me under the table for working with engines and such - I don't know what they were expecting, but it sure wasn't me!" 7She chuckles. "I have to take the bus out and about but I don't mind that, it lets me see the city." [02:25] "That's good to hear. That's good." She leans back from the piano. "It was Jackie Ordinary who found you coming out of the Hedge, yeah? And Samaritan who...well. She was Samaritan. I understand if you feel a debt of gratitude there, but I feel compelled to tell you that you don't owe us anything." [02:25] "Let alone signing on in Spring." [02:28] 7Maggie demurs with quiet 'oh, no no no's. [02:30] Amelia raises a brow. "What's wrong?" [02:34] "Hm?" 7She looks embarassed. "I was just... I wasn't thinking about *owing* anyone or anything like that!" [02:34] She smiles. "You don't owe us shit." [02:35] "I just want to make sure you're here with eyes wide open. That you know you can explore your other options, if that's what you want. Samaritan can be a bit enthusiastic. Maybe too much, sometimes." [02:36] "I want to emphasize that for everyone who comes in here, to join us. Choice. Consent." [02:37] "The Spring Court of Baltimore is older than me. And the history of the Spring Court of Baltimore is...something we've learned from." [02:39] "Hmm?" [02:43] The smile flattens out. "The last time time this freehold went to war over itself, it was because the King of Spring used his crown and his mantle in the worst, most abusive ways that Desire can imagine. And that is the thing about desire, when placed against fear and anger and sorrow -- it's the one that can make you complicit." [02:43] "I killed Mere Jacoby and I took his crown and his mantle. And now we do things differently." [02:45] 7There doesn't seem to be anything to say to that, so she nods. After a bit, she says: "Well, I don't know anything about that. It seems like a fine place now, is all." [02:45] "Before anyone joins us fully, there are some classes. It's not because we don't trust you. But you've been gone awhile, and we need to make sure you know what is and isn't acceptable, if you want to reap the glamour of desire." [02:46] "Everyone has to take them." [02:46] She leans back. "I don't really do a good job selling the court, do I?" [02:46] "I love the Spring." [02:47] "We have fun here. We enjoy life. At our best, we are the ministers, counselors and therapists to our people -- both in the neighborhoods and the freehold. We do great things. We can be great people." [02:48] "In the past we haven't." [02:48] "But I can't imagine making people angry or scared or sad all the time." [02:49] She pulls the cover up off the piano keys. "This is what they call the hard sell, I guess." [02:50] "I don't think I'd like those much anyhow. I have thought about Autumn," 7She admits. "But I don't think I'm very frightening." [02:50] She laughs. "Don't sell yourself short. And just between you and me, I don't find much of Autumn scary myself. They're a bunch of puppy dogs." [02:51] "But I appreciate that you haven't shown yourself out by now. Most thought you'd got to Summer." [02:52] *go to [02:53] 7She looks surprised. "Really? How come?" [02:53] "Honestly? You look like you can fuck someone up." [02:54] "Summer scouts that sort of freshman, and we...well, we're not in a position to argue. [02:54] " [02:55] "But I'm not going to argue. You good with the classes about to hire the glamour of desire?" [02:56] "But I'm not going to argue. You good with the classes about to how to handle the glamour of desire?" [02:57] "Oh, you betcha. Is that all I have to do, just take some classes?" [02:58] Amelia leans forward on her elbows. "Well, you have to take them seriously. And you also have to let us take you immediately from here to The Sidereal up in Hamden." [02:58] "Some gangs beat you in. We party you in." [03:00] 7She claps her hands together once, briskly. "Sounds good!" [03:05] When they leave the choral room, Samaritan, who was waiting right outside, will hit Maggie with another one of those quick hugs. Amelia will grab David Smitten from the desk and Gia Eyetooth -- the tennis instructor -- from the locker room. And there will be some cars waiting to take them to The Sidereal, which Maggie understands is the great social gathering place of changelings in [03:05] the Baltimore freehold. [03:05] And the Spring has bought it out in her honor. [03:06] 7Uff da. [03:07] Here's the good news: when they get there, they don't like, announce her or anything. [03:07] It's just a giant party. [03:07] With karaoke on the main stage! [03:09] The one concession to the woman of the hour is that Amelia has a private booth for them in the corner, right next to the bar and the kitchen with a full view of the floor, and it's just the Queen of Spring, Maggie, and whoever Maggie wants there. Amelia will check with her before bringing anyone else in. [03:15] Who does Maggie tap, if anyone? [03:18] 7Samaritan, of course. And Jackie Ordinary, if they'd like. Those are the people she knows, really. 14[03:18] * banana is now known as banana|split [03:19] Ordinary doesn't turn up until halfway through the party, but they're garrulous and down two beers before flopping down in a corner seat at the table. [03:20] "Christ, but do I sometimes hate the gobs." They start in on their third. "It's not their fault. So you're in it, now?" [03:20] Samaritan has...not often been by. [03:21] Oh, she's around: when Maggie checks, she's by the stage with a boy, or by the bar with another boy, or laughing with a couple of girls near the entrance, or by the front with a bouncer. And she's always holding a different drink. [03:22] Ordinary is now just sipping after their two beers, but Samaritan is...going hard. 15[03:22] * Disconnected 15[03:22] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[03:22] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[03:22] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[03:22] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 [03:25] 7Golly. Well, she's a big girl. Maggie makes a mental note to help her get home safe when all is said and done, though. [03:25] "She hasn't had me sign anything yet, but I guess this is it!" 7She raises her beer cheerfully. [03:26] Ordinary laughs and toasts. "Ain't Autumn, Maggie. You're in as far as you want to be. Glad you are." [03:27] Amelia laughs and joins the toast as well. [03:28] 7Ah, and Samaritan's got the Queen herself looking after her too! That's good news, then. [03:29] Speaking of! That's when Samaritan flits in to the table, finally, clinking her red plastic cup easily and carefully with theirs before just, smoothly sitting crosslegged on the table. She's small enough it doesn't even unbalance it. "To Spring!" [03:29] "To Spring," says Amelia, smile slightly strained. [03:29] "To Maggie!" [03:30] Both Amelia and Ordinary's "To Maggie!"s are fully genuine. [03:35] 7Maggie drains her glass. Aaaaah, that's good! And you know, it feels right. As long as you take care that everyone's safe for tomorrow morning, what's wrong with having a little too much tonight? You only live once. [03:35] Yeah. [03:36] Samaritan has suddenly scooched across the table, somehow without spilling any drinks, to sit in front of Maggie. "Let's do karaoke." [03:39] 7Maggie: "Let's do what now?" [03:39] The...DJ? MC? is a changeling. He's kind of hunched over, with two small decorative horns coming from his head; he looks old, but he runs the ceremony perfectly. Harlan Jape. [03:42] Samaritan's grin widens. "Let's sing some shit! Come on!" [03:43] She'll grab Maggie by the hand and half-drag her to the stage, though that's easy to resist given she's all of ninety pounds. If that's what Maggie wants. [03:44] On the way, though, she finishes another drink. And her path takes them by the bar. [03:44] 7Nope! Let's see what Samaritan's got in store for her! [03:48] Samaritan, fresh with a new drink that looks like a double vodka and something called 'Red Bull,' leans over to whisper in Harlan Jape's ear. The old(?) man's eyes flick to Maggie and a hideously distrustful look comes over his face, before resolving almost immediately into a broad, facile grin. "It is ladies' night," he says. [03:51] "Choose a song," Samaritan says. "I'm going first, of course. But if it's not in his book he'll just play it. That's Harlan's thing." [03:55] The changeling sizes her up, and removes an acoustic guitar from beneath the turntables. [03:55] "What's your favor?" [03:56] 7That gives Maggie pause. What songs does she even know? She racks her brain and then, somehow, remembers: "Mary Ellen Carter." [03:57] Harlan Jape nods like that's the most natural request in the world. "You want me on the guitar?" [03:59] Samaritan blinks and smiles. "You sung back there? In the past?" [03:59] 7Maggie doesn't really feel up to finding out if she can play guitar or not. "Yes, please. If you would." 7To Samaritan: "Nnnnnooo... let's find out if I did it at all before *that*." [04:00] "Haha!" [04:03] But there's something else behind that laugh, as she kills the rest of her...fifth?...drink in under ninety minutes. Samaritan tries to hide it, and she hides it well; very well. But behind the pep and the spunk and the bouncy energy, in that moment her eyes almost go black, and Maggie can see in her face the full weight of the young woman's despair. Bordering on nihilism. [04:03] "Don't worry about it," she says. [04:03] "The past is another country." She grabs Harlan's beer, and winks. "And the future doesn't exist at all!" [04:04] Then Harlan hits the track. [04:04] "I HEAR YOUR HEAARRRT BEAT TO THE BEAT OF THE DRUMS / BUM BUM" -- yes, she does the drums along with the song -- "OH WHAT A SHAAAAME THAT YOU CAME HERE WITH SOME ONE UN." Frankly, given that the little Changeling is at this point obviously pretty drunk and basically just shouting out lyrics, it's kind of incredible how on key and really, very good she is. "SO WHILE YOU'RE HERE IN MY [04:04] ARMS -- LET'S MAKE THE MOST OF THE NIGHT LIKE WE'RE GOING TO DIE YOUNG!" She's staring at something just above eye level, tears in the corners of her eyes. "WE'RE GOING TO DIE YOUNG!" [04:05] The song goes on like that for some time. [04:07] When it's done she bows to the crowd -- who goes wild -- and says into the mic, "AND NOW THE LADY OF THE MOMENT!" [04:07] "Give it up for Mags!" [04:08] Then tosses the mic to Harlan, leaps off the front of the stage, and seconds later finds herself with a double whiskey and coke from the bar. [04:08] So? [04:11] 7Maggie steps up to the mic, squints into the lights, grins and does a little bob. She'll wait for Harlan to start playing, close her eyes, take the mic in one hand and start to sway a little in the manner of someone unused to singing for others. [04:13] Harlan shuts off the turntables and takes the barstool he was sitting on and puts it on stage. Then he climbs up, pulls another mic assembly in front of the guitar -- far enough from her mic that there won't be feedback or bad interaction -- and waits. [04:24] "SHE WENT DOWN LAST OCTOBER IN A POURIN', DRIVIN' RAIN / THE SKIPPER, HE'D BEEN DRINKIN' / AND THE MATE HE FELT NO PAIN..." 7She belts out the words loud and clear, and as she gets into the rhythm of the song, the timbre of her voice changes - like someone's stoked a fire deep inside that travels up her throat and lends strength and richness to the song. "WITH EVERY JAR THAT HIT THE [04:24] BAR / WE SWORE WE WOULD REMAIN / AND MAKE THE MARY ELLEN CARTER RISE AGAIN..." 7The bottles and glasses on the bar don't rattle when she hits the 'rise again's, but it almost feels like they should. "BUT WE PATCHED HER RENTS / STOPPED HER VENTS / DOG-HATCH AND PORTHOLE DOWN / PUT CABLE TO HER FORE AND AFT / AND GIRDED HER AROUND..." 7She's in full flow, and the song has a force to [04:24] 7it that seems to carry the audience along, wild and pure and forever free. They hit the final verse, the one that everyone remembers, like swimmers leaping into clean water. "AND YOU TO WHOM ADVERSITY HAS DEALT THE FINAL BLOW / WITH SMILING BASTARDS LYING TO YOU EVERYWHERE YOU GO / TURN TO AND PUT OUT ALL YOUR STRENGTH OF ARM AND HEART AND BRAIN / AND LIKE THE MARY ELLEN CARTER [04:24] RIIIIIISE AGAAAAAIN!" [04:28] By the end of it, Amelia is standing and applauding alongside Ordinary. And when the Queen of Spring stands and applauds...well, that's not just because it's your night at the bar. From next to her, Maggie hears Harlan say, "Holy shit. Holy SHIT," once he's killed the mics. Then he offers her the guitar. "You own this more than I do." [04:28] 7Lord, she hopes they won't ask her to do that again. Where on Earth did that come from? [04:29] At the bar, Samaritan is grinning. And there are tears pouring out of her eyes. One of the boys she was flirting with is still poleaxed by the song; the other turns to her and says something lame. Samaritan ignores him, still crying, still smiling, kills the rest of her drink, nods -- nods again, and again, like she's convincing herself of something -- and heads for the backdoor. [04:30] Amelia keeps clapping as she peels off after her. [04:32] Maggie's choice here is following or staying. [04:34] 7Maggie will take the guitar. She's distracted by Samaritan so it doesn't occur to her to make an embarassed refusal, and she'll jump down off the stage and follow after Samaritan. [04:35] Ordinary intercepts her. She's grimacing. "I wouldn't follow them. But then, I ain't you. I'll hold the guitar, at least." [04:35] *They're [04:41] 7Maggie hands off the guitar and follows the pair anyway. How else is Samaritan going to get home? She's in no condition to call herself a cab. [04:43] When Samaritan steps through the back door of the club into the alley, she finds both Amelia and Samaritan. Amelia's leaning against the alley wall, and Samaritan is having a full-on heaving-sob breakdown into her coat. [04:43] jesus [04:43] When Maggie steps through the back door of the club into the alley, she finds both Amelia and Samaritan. Amelia's leaning against the alley wall, and Samaritan is having a full-on heaving-sob breakdown into her coat. [04:44] The Queen of Spring looks over and meets Maggie's eyes. "Not your fault," she says. "Not your fault." [04:44] "This was..." [04:44] She trails off. [04:45] "Not your fault," finally. [04:48] Rain is begins to fall. It's uncharacteristically warm out, for September. [04:48] Well. Maybe not anymore. [04:48] 7Ahhhhh jeez. Maggie will walk over to Samaritan and give her a consoling pat on the shoulder, and a hug if she seems of a mind to accept one. [04:49] Samaritan isn't quite in that state of mind, so what Amelia will do is make it a group hug, which Samaritan will accept. [04:49] It takes her about five minutes to finally get it out of her system. [04:49] "Ah fuck. Ah shit." [04:50] Wait. Another two more. [04:50] When she's done she pulls way from them and leans against the alley wall. "I'm sorry." [04:51] "I embarrassed you both." [04:51] "I embarrassed the Court." [04:52] "No, honey, no!" 7Aww, this poor kid! [04:54] Samaritan: "I...I..." [04:55] Amelia Bentham, Queen of Spring, firmly but kindly: "You did nothing of the sort. And no Spring courtier will say otherwise." [04:56] "But I do think perhaps it is time the three of us called it a night." [04:57] She thumbs something into her phone quickly, while squeezing Samaritan's shoulder. "I'm sending for a car. See her back safely, will you?" she asks Maggie. 14[04:58] * banana|split is now known as banana|s [05:03] 7Maggie nods. [05:04] The car comes around and Samaritan climbs into the backseat first. Before Maggie can follow, Amelia: "Maggie, a final word." [05:05] Samaritan, still sniffling, looks at her questioningly. Amelia bows slightly, and Samaritan, reassured, climbs into the back of the car. [05:05] 7Maggie'll stop and turn, then. [05:05] "In private." [05:06] That just means close the door or walk over. [05:06] 7Then Maggie will close the door and walk over. Jeez, this sounds important. "What's up?" [05:08] "This has been building for...some time. The drinking, the acting out. This was going to happen eventually. It is for the absolute best, I think, that it happened like this." She pauses. "I questioned earlier why you wanted to be in Spring, Maggie. I apologize for that." [05:08] "I no longer have any questions." [05:08] And that was how Maggie Bakehead joined the Spring Court of the Freehold of Baltimore. [05:08] --Fin 14[07:43] * banana|s is now known as banana|split 14[07:48] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[08:44] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[13:51] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[14:27] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Sep 06 14:27:17 2019 Session Start: Fri Sep 06 14:33:27 2019 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:33] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:33] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[14:33] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[14:42] * Joins: Crion 14[16:48] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:49] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[16:50] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[17:30] * Joins: tom 14[20:06] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Sat Sep 07 00:00:00 2019 14[01:46] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:24] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[02:39] * banana|peels is now known as banana [03:06] [03:06] [03:06] [03:06] [03:06] [03:06] [03:06] [03:06] [03:06] [03:06] [03:06] [03:12] NOW: "I want you to hit him as hard as you can," the bat-man says, resting his elbows on his knees. He's talking about what looks like a particularly starchy 12-year-old boy. "And then let's see what happens after that." [03:12] EARLIER: The Court of Summer is not particularly subtle in the Freehold of Baltimore -- probably everywhere, but particularly here. And it's only been a few weeks since their King ceded his crown to Autumn. In the second meeting of the newly-accepted members (or perhaps, more honestly said, prospective members) of the Freehold of Baltimore, there had been someone there explicitly [03:12] representing each seasonal Court. The man from Summer had been a tall, imposing African-American man who also now looked a lot like a bat. Langston List, was how he introduced himself. He wasn't talkative; he was very intense. And he asked two questions. [03:12] The first: Are you angry? Then: What are you going to do about it? [03:15] 13Melanie Lucas is angry. The world doesn't make sense anymore, but it didn't change. That sense has been taken away - stolen. She struggles to remember basic concepts of etiquette and the operation of common tools, and it's replaced with... ideas. Too many ideas, vast unworkable plans and no way to sort through the dross for inspiration. [03:16] In a sense, then, this man is very simple. He's focused and intense, and he wants nothing more than answers to these specific questions. He asks literally nothing else. He doesn't even seem to see her otherwise. [03:18] 13At the mixer, Melanie spent a lot of time standing in the corner. She wasn't uncomfortable, in a room full of people who were also uncomfortable, but it's still.. easier. Ultimately she was impressed by Langston's questions - and his height. Especially now, it's not common for her to have to look up! [03:18] "Um, what am I going to do? I think.." [03:19] "You think." [03:19] He nods. [03:19] "I like that. You think what?" [03:20] 13She's still too slow. Will the older changeling mind? "I want to know.. more. Everything about how They and we, are now.. what to do to them. There have to be.. possibilities. Darn, give me a second please." [03:20] He nods again. Slower this time. Waits. [03:22] 13Melanie: "I learned a lot in there. A lot. Some of it was lies or crazy, but I know some of it's true.. you can beat them. You can wait them out because they're predictable. You can use their patterns against them.. getting out was the only thing I've felt good about in." 13She doesn't know how long. [03:22] "I want to beat them again." [03:23] "Sorry, who are you?" 13Fuck that's the first thing you're meant to ask [03:24] He meets her eyes and stares for a few moments, and the heat on him intensifies -- just a pure feeling. Then at the last question: "Oh, shit. I'm Langford List." He'll extend a large hand to shake. [03:25] "Melanie Lucas." 13Her hand is rougher than it looks (to most people, most of the time). She can't feel his very well, but that's not.. bad. Separation is fine for now. [03:28] "I'm with Summer. I'm the General, and I'm the Tongue." His mouth twitches slightly at whatever reaction she has to that. "And if you sign on with me: You will." [03:28] As he turns away: "Beat them again, that is." [03:28] "Feel free to mingle." [03:28] He shares a long look with the bird-lady from the Autumn Court as he walks out. She wilts somewhat, and directs her attention elsewhere. [03:29] That was some number of weeks ago. [03:29] Where is Melanie living now? [03:34] 13The postgrad stipend pays for accomodation, but if you take it in cash it's not enough to cover an apartment. Melanie's on Walker Avenue, in a duo residence with a roommate who's absent juuuust enough to make this work. She's writing a thesis, maths or computers or something - a heavier workload than Melanie's own course. [03:35] 13For now. [03:36] Does she keep a set schedule? [03:38] Does the roommate? [03:39] 13Set and empty. Tutorials three days a week, Monday and Friday evenings out with the Society, and the rest is reading about dead philosophers. Or about biology, though that won't help her grades (she doesn't need grades she needs knowledge). Or watching the games on TV. [03:39] Then during a normal, conv time when she's in the apartment and the roomie is out, someone will buzz her. [03:40] Then during a normal, convenient time when she's in the apartment and the roomie is out, someone will buzz her. [03:40] 13Is it really awful if Melanie doesn't, quite, remember her roommate's name? It might have been Shawna, or LaShawna. Stella is a possibility. The woman - who thinks she's older than Melanie - is out most of the time, studying or partying to forget the studying. They don't have anything against each other. [03:41] 13This isn't normal, so Melanie turns off the TV and shuffles to the peephole to see who's outside. [03:42] He seems to know she's looking. He says into the door: "You said you wanted to beat them. This is your chance." [03:42] "We'll wait twenty minutes." Then Langford List walks back down the hall. [03:43] "Hey, Mr. List." 13After a brief pause, Melanie unlocks the door- he's gone? It takes her most of twenty minutes to get dressed (not necessary for the Mask, but it feels better) and walk outside, wondering. [03:46] When she emerges, List is leaning against the driver's side backdoor of a cherry red Crown Victoria. Another Changeling, also in summer it appears, much younger and much more skeptical, leans against the driver's side door. He's clearly and clumsily holding a gun under his coat. He's got little horns and fur -- a goat? -- and when List points to him, he grunts in a way that in the Mien [03:46] almost sounds like a whinny, and climbs behind the wheel. [03:46] List opens the door for her. He's wearing sunglasses, and two orange-yellow pinpricks burn behind them. [03:46] 13The faun's funny. Melanie doesn't say so. [03:48] 13To the other two changelings, she's- well, a tree. A human-shaped tree, with arms and legs and a face capable of a full range of expression, but in place of skin she's got gnarled and peeling white bark, her eye-sockets are knots of wood and the viny strings of gumnuts in her hair are interspersed with leaves. "Thank you. Are we going somewhere I can.. know about?" [03:50] 13Melanie can bend enough to sit in a car, but she creaks. It's embarassing. If she sits too long she sheds thin white sheets which is REALLY EMBARASSING. [03:50] List's Mien has longer, wider ears than normal, but they don't flop out so much. However if you draw a direct, curving line up from them, his hair -- cropped close, in his Mask -- curves into two extensions of those ears above his head. His fingers are webbed in his Mien and while in the Mask, his suit jacket looks perfectly normal, in the Mien it is cut to allow the fleshy webbed [03:50] wings running from his wrist to his rib cage to breathe. [03:50] "Yes," says Langford List. "A strip club." [03:51] "Okay." 13That would have been embarassing too, once. [03:52] They climb in. "Oberon's," List says to the driver. [03:52] The faun nods and pulls off the curb. [03:52] "You know, this used to be a cop car." [03:53] "This was the same cop car they used when they pulled up on one of our people, and his wife, and his kid, and no one but the police walked away from that." [03:53] "This car is all that survived that night." [03:53] "We painted it red in remembrance." [03:54] 13Melanie stares at the driver, and the General. She's trying to work out how their faces work - her face is the one thing that she managed to get back intact. Do those exaggerated bat-ears, goat-ears, do they pick up sound differently? Is it just aesthetic, like the other things they do to us? Um. [03:54] "So you're- you mean the summer court is good at defending themselves. That's good, obviously." [03:55] "Is this.. a test? Do you want me to have a reaction to the killing.. I don't." [03:56] List shrugs. "Were we good at defending Kaliban? Were we good at defending Jenny and DeShawn? Doesn't seem like we were. We're good at making the comeback hurt, but that's offense. Defending -- we could use to expand in that role." [03:56] 13Melanie doesn't say anything for a while.  "Yeah. I mean- fuck, I'm sorry. I didn't understand you." [03:57] "I thought you were saying that the police, the.. huntsmen? Didn't walk away. I'm sorry." [03:57] "Do you not have a reaction because it takes some time, or because you just don't give a fuck about people?" [03:57] "All good." [03:57] List's last question isn't sarcastic or judgmental. [03:59] "I think it's.. deeply wrong for them to still be hunting us, after what they already did. I really thought you meant that.. Kaliban and his family were protected, that they killed the officers.. I understand the morality of this. I don't remember how to care about individuals, or if I properly did. Haha." [03:59] "They were protected. They died screaming." [04:00] "It was August 3rd. Height of Summer. Sun burning hot. We should have been so powerful. And they hit us like that. And they weren't even Loyalists! They weren't even direct servants of the Keepers! They just got paid." [04:01] "The cops, that is." [04:02] 13Melanie: "Yeah, that's not good. Not even for them. I mean, before, I was really shallow and I.. assume I loved my family, boyfriends, I don't remember. But I don't think it was a love borne of understanding. Separable elements rather than Hegel's total fusion. I want to learn how to be more than intellectually upset about these things that are happening, but... more importantly [04:02] it'd be good if we could stop them. From happening. I'd like to help you with that?" [04:02] He laughs. "Well if you know what the hell a dialectic is you're ahead of the entire game." [04:04] "We need to assume total control. And that doesn't mean hurting people. It means bringing people together. Because you can't actually be dictator of a damn freehold. You need to unite. You need to have the conversation to a point where the anger and the wrath goes all in the way you want it to go." [04:04] "If you don't, it all goes at each other." [04:05] "So we're going to roll up to this strip club and walk upstairs to the back. Through a vault door." They've been driving down MD 45; when it meets North Avenue it becomes Greenmount Ave. The faun takes a right. "We're going to walk in, we're going to walk upstairs, and anyone who has trouble with you has trouble with me." [04:05] That last clause seems to be directed up front more than at Melanie. [04:06] 13Melanie: "Oh, I got the feeling there were major politics going on. Because people didn't say anything about it. There's no, you know, discourse if you're trying to claim that everyone's position should be respected like these four equal.. I get that seasons are more than a metaphor? But they aren't equal. That should be obvious to all of.. us. Inequality." [04:07] "You're not wrong." [04:07] "And not being wrong is a good skill." [04:09] 13As long as also being wrong is okay. Is this a compliment? Should she trust compliments? Fuck, what if it's irony. [04:11] The faun parks the car in the lot outside a nondescript, kind of cheap looking recessed brick building, with a strangely empty dedicated parking lot. He gets out and runs up to the door of the fairly seedy looking building: OBERON'S in yellow and black, with a generic silhouette of a woman kicking out her leg. Meanwhile, List gets out of his side of the car and walks over to Melanie's [04:11] side to open her door. [04:12] 13Melanie's actually got a textbook back at 'home' with some sticky notes on Irony and so on. Something else she wants to relearn or maybe in this case learn for the first time- ah. "Thank you, Mr. List." [04:13] "My father's Mr. List. And my Keeper liked to pretend to be my father. So you just call me Langford." [04:14] "Okay." 13It occurs to Melanie that she reads this guy as 'teacher', one of the few archetypes she's recovered. [04:16] 13To the goatman: "What's your name? I don't know if we're in a situation where we might have to, you know, call things out suddenly." [04:17] They walk in the front door; the bouncers -- both human, no Mien -- let them pass without a glance after List nods. The first floor is a thin straight line with seats to the left and the bar and poles to the right, and the faun is waiting for them right inside. "Nigh," he says to the question, raising his voice over the public domain music. [04:17] 13Does assuming total control.. hurt? Whom? [04:19] 13Kind of weird to see women with their clothes off and think, that's something I should be more familiar with. Melanie's clearly forgotten some things there but it doesn't seem high-priority. [04:22] All the dancers are human. There's only one other changeling down here on the first floor and he's clearly had too much to drink -- an accomplishment, given it's maybe two in the afternoon. He's gnarled and shitty and fire pours through the cracks in his skin, but there's a jolly expression on his face when he catcalls Melanie and asks about the new g-- [04:22] List grabs him by the collar and dumps him on the floor. [04:23] To the bartender: "I told you about this." [04:23] To Nigh: "Get him the fuck out of here." [04:23] The bartender apologizes. [04:23] Nigh removes him. [04:24] "Thanks again, Langford. I do want to help." 13This makes sense to Melanie, at least: she's saying that she appreciates mutual defense, someone having her back, that she's willing to have theirs - she could have been clearer but by the time she puzzles that out it's way too late to follow up. [04:24] As they walk towards the back: "I apologize for that. Garrison Gold isn't himself lately. Or maybe he's too much himself." [04:25] He leads her back into the kitchen, through it, and to a stairway cut down into the foundation of the building. [04:25] At the bottom of this stairway, a giant vault door. [04:26] Like in a bank. [04:26] 13Also, some girls wouldn't mind? Also he's, Gold's, in a place designed to encourage men to act like this. What's the big deal. She doesn't say. [04:26] She can ask. [04:27] "That looks pretty safe. Is it a door that you, that we, like?" [04:27] "I mean is it helpfully keeping our stuff protected or is it a villain who wants us kept out?" [04:27] "The lock on it is cold iron." [04:28] He reaches out and spins the great big turnwheel...and the vault door creaks open. [04:28] 13Melanie: "Well that doesn't answer the question at all." [04:28] 13Melanie: "Well that doesn't answer the question at all." [04:28] "And the things that aren't the lock, we know very well." [04:28] List turns his head. "Melanie, you're not going to get all the secrets on your first walk through the room." [04:29] "But it opens at our touch. So yes. It's a friend." [04:29] 13Melanie: "Yeah, but it seemed like I.. could ask. At this point in the story. You don't have to tell me things, I know. There are tactical and ethical and personal reasons probably." [04:29] "Well, you're right about that." [04:30] "You can always ask." [04:30] 13Melanie smiles. She absolutely can. [04:32] He pulls open the vault door to reveal what looks like a small, two-story subterranean complex, larger on the inside than on the outside. "Welcome to Swordhome. We pulled it out of the Hedge. It was...exquisitely...wyld." [04:32] It's mostly empty -- it's clear this is...a fallout shelter? [04:33] Something like that. Lots of beds, lots of crates, lots of utilitarian stuff. Is Melanie familiar with preppers? [04:34] 13In this context, yes. "Oh, it's great to have this kind of fallback plan. Does it need to be kept secret? If it's strong enough, against them, everyone would want in." [04:36] "And if there's room for everybody.. then there would be no problem." [04:37] List: "Don't tell just anyone you run into in the Hedge about it, but the all the changelings of Baltimore know. We can house every one of the Lost in the freehold here for a short time, if it becomes necessary. Hasn't yet; hopefully never will. Showing you this in part to underline that shit I said about defense before; Summer isn't and can't always be on the attack. And in part [04:37] because our King keeps his office down here." [04:38] He turns around to face her while walking backwards, even down a staircase. "That's the thing, though. It can fit every one of the Lost of the freehold in here." [04:38] "Not their families." [04:38] "So." [04:39] 13Melanie: "Ah man. Plan C or D or Z." [04:40] 13How many of us have families? If it's a lot, is that... good? [04:41] He turns back to facing forward halfway down the stairs. "The ones who have them aren't ever going to show up without them. So it's a breakpoint. And no one wants to be the one keeping the door closed while kids die outside." [04:41] "So Z." [04:41] "Or lower than that, if we can swing it." [04:42] 13The sense of groundedness, human as a social animal (haha, wrong kingdom) - what Mr. List is implying, she gets it. It would be safer to make these connections - safer when they aren't coming after you, which is most of the time. So why build the bunker? Because it's only most of the time. [04:42] 13(Melanie's not saying anything, but she doesn't remember how to lie with her face yet. Only how to make it someone else's face.) [04:44] "This way," he says, leading her to the right down a short hall -- odd there's a hall at all in a shelter this small, but there's obviously rooms built for purpose behind every thin wall -- to a door that's not like any other she's seen walking down here. For one, it's made of wood; for two, it's completely unlabelled, except for a dagger driven into (through, surely?) the door at [04:44] about eye level. [04:45] Before they get there: "Be polite, don't take what he says personally, and if I ask you to leave the room, leave the room." [04:45] 13Melanie: "Okay, I will." 13She gestures at the door- "I'm not sure about the symbolism of this. A sword again? Is it just a marker, weapons go here? Are stopped here?" [04:49] "The symbolism is, the last Huntsman who got this close to the King of Summer died, and as he fell, it drove that dagger into the door. If it left blood, the door would be covered in blood. It's there as a reminder about the absence of vigilance." List knocks twice on the door, and raises his voice: "I have the candidate here." [04:49] Gruff, from the room beyond: "Come on in then." [04:49] 13That's pretty close! [04:50] List opens the door and it's almost like being hit by a heatwave. [04:53] The Young Street, the King of Summer, exiled in Autumn, sits behind his desk leaning back in his chair, fingers crossed over his chest. He's an African-American man in his twenties; he wears jeans and a white tanktop; his skin beads with sweat that steams off him constantly, and fire burns in his eyes, his teeth, and even his fingernails. He's distorted somewhat: a larger jaw, larger [04:53] hands. He was crafted, in his time on the other side, for violence. [04:54] He takes one look at her and his burning eyes narrow. [04:54] "You brought me the fucking TREE?" [04:55] List blinks. "I -- this is --" [04:55] 13Don't take it personally, right. Wait, there's something more important. Melanie says: "Excuse me please, I need to tell you something." [04:56] The King of Summer leans forward. "Yeah? And what's that?" [04:57] 13Melanie: "I understand intellectually that you're extremely powerful and important. I don't.. connect to that, I can't internalise it yet. So I'll try to react the right way but I might not get it- I'm very sorry." [04:57] "Okay, please.. um.. continue." [04:58] The King's mouth falls open. He looks at List. "What the FUCK, man?" [04:58] 13She steps to Langford's side so that they can, say, yell at each other. If that's what was going to happen here. [04:58] List turns to her. "Melanie, wait out in the..." [04:58] He pauses. [04:58] "You can handle staying in here, can't you." [04:59] The Young Street: "What?" [04:59] "I'm fine." 13Honestly it seems like there's a small chance of being.. attacked or destroyed or something, but that's not as unpleasant a prospect as it should be either. [05:01] List turns back to the Street. "Did you want the hundred-year-old blues musician, the big sad Italian guy, the lady from Fargo or the fucking Twitch streamer instead?" [05:01] "Huh?" [05:01] The Street: "I wanted a SOLDIER!" [05:03] List: "This is the fucking thing. This is always the fucking thing. You're always thinking about the fucking fight, man. You're always thinking about this like it's some corner shit. This isn't some corner shit, and it can't be that. You need other options. You can't just be chasing shooters!" [05:03] The Street: "And so you bring me some white girl from the county with...bark!" [05:04] List: "If you're not going to take white girls from the county with bark this is going to end up a very small fucking court." [05:05] The Street stares Melanie down, but still speaks to List: "So you like her? You think she can do this?" [05:05] 13Ah. "I'd like to kill Them, actually. If that's what the Summer Court demands then it's really.. it seems like the right thing to do. Um, I can't just run up to a faerie and start shooting at it, but I'll fight." [05:06] The Street narrows his eyes again. "'It seems like the right thing to do.' Well, shit. If only we were all just able to do the right thing all the time. You ever beat the shit out of someone?" [05:07] List: "John--" [05:07] The Street's eyes flare. "You call me by my name." [05:08] They turn back to Melanie. [05:08] List: "...Street, I don't think that's how you want to judge her." [05:09] 13But John is his name, presumably? Melanie will go with a different address to be safe. "I don't have human inhibitions, Summer King. I forgot. I want to learn but I'll become someone who, like, beats the shit. Out of people, if they're a threat, if they're harming us, if it's the right strategic move. Um, Deleuze tells us that the individual has no moral meaning. The social body [05:09] here.. this court? It's the fist of the freehold. The point is to hit." [05:10] "That's not a yes," the Young Street says after a moment. "But it's a hell of a lot better than a no." [05:10] A long pause. [05:11] "I...apologize. For what I said about you. Even if it was all true, shouldn't have said it. And I'm getting an inkling that maybe I was. Quick to judgment." [05:12] "It's fine, um, King. I'm not saying Deleuze is the be-all and end-all here. The idea that value is determined by self-expression is obviously wrong, you can't reconcile it with the diagnosis of society in change. But there's no value in avoiding conflict." [05:12] "Especially since the damn Twitch streamer was there when those three cops got killed last night, and Fargo lady brought the house down at the Sidereal." [05:13] The Young Street doesn't seem confused by the academic talk, just kind of tired by it. "But I have to say, you are one of List's." [05:13] The heat in the room recedes a little bit. [05:13] "How are you and your fetch?" he asks after a moment. [05:14] 13Melanie: "I want to be part of any group that fights to let us be who we now are." [05:15] He touches what appears to be a human skull that he's using as a paperweight on his desk, then crosses his hands over his belly again. "That's good to hear." [05:16] "She's someone else. It.. doesn't matter." [05:16] He nods again. "That's good to hear, too." [05:16] List: "Autumn Court was scouting her." [05:16] "Huh." The Young Street looks from List back to Melanie. "You have affinity with Autumn?" [05:18] 13Melanie: "I don't know. I was just a white girl from the county, you know? I didn't think about anything, because everything was easy. Then I spent.. a long time only thinking, and getting angrier, and needing to know more. But I don't think I want to scare people." [05:19] "I mean, not deliberately!" 13She shrugs in a spray of waving blossoms. [05:20] The blossoms don't singe anymore when they leave her; the temperature in the room has definitely gone down. The Young Street nods at her words, then turns to List. "So she has affinity with Autumn?" [05:20] List: "Yeah." [05:20] He nods again. "I like that. We could use a little less friendly fire in this city." [05:21] To Melanie: "And I like your anger. Maybe it could come out a little bit faster, but. I can feel it. Slow to rise. Slow to fall." [05:21] "I've been kind of an asshole, here. That's how it goes some times. You still want in on Summer?" [05:22] 13She will show them wrath born of intellectualisation, if that's what it takes. If they ever try to drag her back to those pointless unchanging plays, centuries of not understanding - they'll find out what it means to fight just because it's 'the right thing to do'. [05:23] "Yes, please. I want to learn and be protected, and I promise to protect and teach." [05:25] The Young Street: "And hopefully hit some shit in there too, from time to time. Alright, Langford, she's in. Make sure she can defend herself and get a drop of blood for the Haruspex. We don't party you in like Spring does here, but, well. You don't look like the partying kind." [05:27] 13Melanie: "No, I can't dance at all." [05:28] "Uh huh." He looks to List again. "That'll be it. You good for dinner?" [05:28] List: "Yeah. Let me settle her in first. Hot chicken?" [05:28] The Young Street smiles. "Sounds good to me." [05:29] The temperature drops by about seven degrees once they're outside. List: "He doesn't usually apologize." [05:29] "Maybe he's usually right." [05:30] List smiles slightly. "Maybe so. You use guns, knives, sticks, or your hands?"| [05:33] "Mr. L- Langford, the only weapon I've ever held is a lacrosse stick, and I don't move fast enough to swing one. But.. I can make my limbs as hard as rock. And I can do this." 13Melanie holds an arm out toward the wooden door, flaking palm flat and facing the surface. From the furniture another arm bursts forth, capped with a clawed hand. It swipes viciously at the air and then [05:33] 13subsides back into the surface with a ripple of grain. [05:34] "Told you not to call me mister," he says, stroking his goatee, "but that'll do." [05:35] 13Skin she couldn't remember to get rid of when the Hedge put her back together and an instinct borrowed from monsters. Or monstrously bad actors. It's not deeply practiced, but Melanie asked around about the Summer Court and she knew what they'd want. She'll learn to do this, when it's the right thing to do. [05:35] "Let's see just how." He leads her out of vault, shuts the door, walks some ten paces up the corridor and, on a patch of wall nondescript except for a spray-painted orange X -- like by a work crew -- he snaps his fingers and touches both to its center. [05:36] The X opens up from the middle, peeling back with four flaps, opening a...portal to the Hedge. [05:36] "Let's go, then." This time, List goes first. [05:37] 13Hmm, 10-15 seconds of paralytic indecision should do it. It's not the same. It's not the same place - it's a training ground, a place to learn. How to beat them. [05:37] 13With that out of the way, Melanie will follow. [05:38] When she steps through, she steps through into a...dojo? [05:38] Does she know what a dojo is? [05:38] 13Possibly not the name, but she's fine with the concept. [05:39] Sitting in the middle of it is a twelve-year old half-Japanese boy wearing a gi. [05:39] The other half is hobgoblin? [05:39] He looks very solid. [05:39] List: "Bartholomew, time to earn your keep." [05:40] He sits down on a bench in the corner. [05:40] 13Melanie stares. "Hello." [05:41] Bartholomew: "Yo. Nice skin. Wish I had tree shit, it's a good look." [05:41] List, to Melanie: "He's not actually a twelve-year-old boy, and here, you can't hurt him." [05:41] "Part of the deal." [05:41] "So." [05:42] "I want you to hit him as hard as you can," the bat-man says, resting his elbows on his knees. "And then let's see what happens after that." [05:42] Roll initiative. [05:42] 13Melanie: "Thank you. I think I look kind of pretty but terribly inhuman. I'm ok with mirrors, but I don't want the compliments right now." [05:45] "I don't know from pretty," the hobgob says. "Let's do this." [05:49] "It's actually pretty much fine, since I guess you're not applying human standards. Haha." 13Melanie.. doesn't move at all, but her 'skin' crackles and hardens. Papery white bark gnarls and turns in on itself - and then lashes out in splinters. Detaching, regrowing wood swirls about her, keeping Bartholomew away as well as scouring his flesh. [05:50] "Papercuts. Huh." [05:50] Bart sort of looks curiously as the flesh peels off his arm. It's sort of like dough. [05:52] He sort of shakes it off, even though the wounds don't heal, and rocks back on his feet, hopping side to side a bit like Bruce Lee. [05:55] 13Melanie continues to stand in one spot, but.. more so. Her legs are startling to kind of merge together and combine with the matting on the ground. It's that same matting which rises up around Bart to smash at him, crumbling and flaking as it goes - he's still being assailed by chips of flying wood, and now the dojo floor is battering hard enough to break bones. [05:56] Bart: "Ah, shit. Ah, fuck." [05:57] "Sorry." [05:58] The dojo itself will, once the full violence of the attack is done, smooth out and return to its original configuration -- the same as Bart will, shaking out wood chips and popping out splinters. "It doesn't hurt, it just feels REALLY weird. You're good, you're good." [05:58] "But, I've gotta change it up a bit. Sorry." [05:58] Bart punches his hands together, and... [05:59] "Yeah, go for it," 13says Melanie immobilely. She's not really ready for this, but it's not like she's going to get ready... [05:59] Does Melanie know about the Michelin Man? Or the uh, Stay Puft Marshmellow Man from Ghostbusters? [06:00] 13Of course. Though she hasn't seen the new one (accident of timing, abducted by fae). [06:00] Basically he inhales, holds his breath, and suddenly expands outward with twice the mass he used to have, his face intensely concentrating, a big round armored boy. [06:07] 13Melanie approves in the abstract. Standing firm and solid... resonates with her a little too much. Still, those chips are cutting away at him a bit, and the circles on his tummy all lead to a point.. she takes careful aim, throws forward a limb. It's not fast but it's too strong to fully absorb. [06:07] 13Poke. [06:07] "Hoo hoo hoo!" [06:08] Bart sort of deflates and flies back, then up a little bit, then lands on his back spread-eagled. [06:08] "Ha!" [06:09] His body back to normal, the tiny hob stands back up and looks over at List. "Avoided me on the first blow, killed me on the second, displaced me on the third. My grade is an unqualified pass." [06:09] 13Melanie: "I don't think I could stop a determined huntsman by myself." 13She's starting to unstiffen, becoming less hobbled, more mobile and humanoid. [06:10] List: "You will never need to stop a determined huntsman by yourself." [06:10] "You're not by yourself anymore." [06:11] He stands. "Thank you, Bart. We'll be by in the next three hours to satisfy our agreement." [06:11] He'll touch the portal back through towards the hallway, and beckon Melanie through. [06:11] 13To List: "That's great. I'll keep learning." 13To Bart: "What do you get?" [06:11] Bart: "Twenty-four hours of gaming." [06:12] 13lol [06:12] "It owns. Nice meeting you, Melanie!" [06:13] 13It was kind of weird and scary to meet Bart; by the time Melanie gets past not saying so, they're out. [06:14] List turns around when they're in the hall with each other. "You're in. By the power invested in me by the oaths of Summer, you can raise your body temperature to fever pitch." [06:14] "But seriously, well done. I think you'll do well here." [06:14] "In Summer, and in Baltimore." [06:16] 13Does he really want a forest fire? "Yeah, I'll try. There are some.. it's a lot better to be out here. I thought the Young Street was really cool." [06:17] List laughs. "Oh, in every other way but literally, he's very cool. That can be the problem." [06:18] More seriously: "We'll be watching over you from now on, and soon, you'll be watching over us. I think this is going to be the start of a bountiful friendship." [06:19] 13'Soon' isn't Melanie's pace anymore. But she's going in the right direction. [06:20] --Fin. 14[09:06] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[14:16] * Disconnected 15[14:18] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:18] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:18] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[14:18] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[14:19] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:19] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:36] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 14[15:36] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[15:51] * Joins: hrolf 14[15:54] * Joins: tom 14[15:59] * Quits: hrolf (Quit: Leaving) 14[16:14] * Joins: hrolf 14[17:22] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[17:25] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:34] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:37] * Joins: Crion 14[17:42] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Connection closed) 14[17:42] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[17:51] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:04] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:54] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:56] * Joins: nicolae [19:56] okay [19:56] which channel do you all hang out in now 14[19:57] * Parts: nicolae 14[20:51] * Joins: tom Session Time: Sun Sep 08 00:00:00 2019 14[02:10] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[02:33] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:46] * banana is now known as banana|s 14[06:10] * banana|s is now known as banana 14[06:39] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[09:41] * Disconnected 15[09:41] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[09:41] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[09:41] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[09:41] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[09:42] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:43] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[09:43] * Quits: VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:44] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:58] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 14[09:58] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[11:09] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[12:08] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:39] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:13] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:38] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:16] * Joins: tom 15[18:51] * Disconnected 15[18:51] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[18:51] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[18:51] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[18:51] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[19:34] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:58] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[21:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:30] * banana is now known as banana|s 14[23:30] * banana|s is now known as banana|split Session Time: Mon Sep 09 00:00:00 2019 14[00:45] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:44] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[06:12] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[16:30] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[16:35] * Joins: cbass 14[17:35] * Joins: tom 14[20:01] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:02] * Joins: tom [20:08] [20:08] [20:08] [20:08] [20:08] [20:08] [20:08] [20:08] [20:08] [20:08] 14[20:09] * Joins: tom2 14[20:10] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:15] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:17] * Joins: tom 14[20:25] * Joins: tom2 14[20:26] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:34] [20:34] [20:34] [20:34] [20:34] [20:34] [20:35] [20:35] [20:35] NOW: In the Blooming Garden of Dying Flowers, the Ritualist of the Court of Spring kneels next to the hobgoblin dog-child as it breathes heavily and stares up at a burgeoning moon. Is the moon real here, in the Hedge? It's hard to tell. The Ritualist wipes the sweat from the hob's brow and says to you, "New Lost often assume it is the Winter and Autumn Courts alone that deal with death, [20:35] and the passing of all things. That is not true. From death comes new life, new joy, new passion, new growth, and the celebration of a life lived -- or a life cut short -- should not be mired in sorrow or fear. Or anger. At least not in a peaceful last moment." [20:35] "Well, what are you waiting for?" He leans back, cradling the dying hob. "Play him away." [20:35] EARLIER: The weather has finally turned in the city of Baltimore; it took a couple weeks for September to remember it wasn't August anymore, but last Tuesday someone upstairs got the message. It's time to switch the thinner blouses for something with wool, find a jacket, put away the summer dresses. If those were your thing. Where is Helen "Nels" Foule living now? How is she living? 14[20:39] * Joins: mattbaby [20:42] 6She's got an apartment near the the harbor, sparsely furnished. The kind you could pack up and leave in minutes, if you had to, though she'd miss some of the things she'd have to leave behind. It's a small place, would probably drive the claustrophobic away in minutes, but that suits her just fine. Better that than too much open space. [20:42] 6She lives frugally, and her few luxuries are an ancient guitar in the corner, and a desk with a computer nearly as old as she is. (She was told it was important to have one.) It's a nice, quiet place, and sometimes that's all you need. [20:43] 6Ah, and can't forget the radio. What an invention. [20:45] Well, quiet and near the harbor are going to be relative. Though as long as she's not living in Canton or Fell's Point -- those are where all the rich white college kids come to party on the weekends, or every week except finals week, the, ah, Wednesdays -- she should be perfectly fine. It's hard to say from the outside looking in how Nels would react to what modern life looks like [20:45] now. There are parts of this city that are gleaming, terrifying wonders of the future...and parts that look old, wrecked, utterly destroyed and abandoned, with a recognizable resignation and mistrust in the eyes of the people who still live there. [20:45] How long was she away, again? [20:49] 6Oh, the harbor's too loud, for certain, but having the ocean closeby is nice. There are no crossroads in the ocean. [20:49] 6Nels was out for 100 years. Or maybe 101. Hard to say for certain. [20:51] She missed the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression, then, but if she's looked at pictures, well. Them and some of the vistas she's seen above 25th Street don't look so different. [20:51] Speaking of which, that computer -- does it have an internet connection? How's she dealing with that? Has it sunk it yet that it's not actually capital-M Magic? 14[20:52] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:53] 6It does have the internet, and no matter how many times people try to explain it, she ends the conversation with, "So it's magic, then," 6and refuses to consider them any further. For goodness' sake, they hadn't even had radios. 14[20:54] * Joins: tom [20:54] 6You expect to tell me a screen that shows moving pictures and can look all over the world isn't magic? She has one of those contracts. [20:55] It's a fair cop. What's the best, least-intrusive way of getting in touch with her these days? Is it literally just, showing up to her apartment and buzzing? [20:57] 6It's preferred. She has a home phone, and following an angry lecture once she has a cell phone she keeps on her, but face to face contact is - well. [21:02] Then she'll get a call on her landline sometime around 1 PM. If she's got one of those new-fangled ones with caller ID, the "area code" will be 410 -- that and 443 seem to be at the front of all the phone numbers in Baltimore. [21:03] 6Why would they need two of them? That seems needlessly complex. [21:03] There are...a lot more people in this country now. [21:04] 6Well, that's good news for all the phone operators they must need by now. [21:04] Yeah...well, that's for another day. [21:04] 6She picks up the call: "Hello?" [21:05] A warm, smooth male voice from the other end of the line. "Hello. This is David Smitten, with the North Avenue Community Center. Am I speaking with Nels?" [21:05] 6Nels: "This is she." [21:07] "We've met once before, I believe. At the cafe in the Inner Harbor." Ah, yes. This was during one of the Freehold's two getting-to-know-you meetings she was asked -- more like gently prodded -- to attend. The first was rather lowkey, drinks and tapas (Those are, like, small things you eat with your fingers? But apparently very expensive? She wasn't asked to pay) with the other [21:07] recent...escapees from the other side. A motley lot, to be sure. One looked young enough to be a child (apparently he IS popular on the internet). [21:09] The second had more attendees from the Freehold itself, including two quite handsome Black twin brothers -- one from the Spring Court, with thistles and warm winds sweeping around him, a true beauty -- and one no less handsome but burning with the heat and rage of the Summer Court. David Smitten, and David Smote. Smitten had seemed to take a greater interest in her; Smote focused more [21:09] on burning Maggie with the hearty laugh, and the willowy tree girl. [21:10] It was clearly a professional interest, however. Does Nels have any concept of what a recruiter is? [21:10] 6Nels: "Ah, yes, of course. May I ask why you've called?" 6Solely on the internet? It must be magical, then, this settles it. And the "tapas" were... fine, but goodness the drinks were sweet. A lot smoother than they used to be. [21:10] 6Not especially, no. You just sort of... showed up, at a place. [21:12] It was clear then, at least, that he had an ulterior motive to his kind manner and engaging wit -- something that he wanted -- and it wasn't to sleep with her. He was working with some other people, for some other people, and he seemed very interested that she think highly of them...or at least remember their name. [21:13] 6Well, she remembered it, after a bit. That's going to have to do. She used to be better at this part of schmoozing. [21:16] "I bear tidings from Amelia Bantham, Gardener of the Court of Spring, Queen in Her Season. She would like to meet with you at The Sidereal, our Freehold's neutral gathering ground. That, of course, we pay for and run." The last line doesn't seem relevant, and isn't a boast; in fact, it is delivered with some annoyance. [21:19] He pauses to wait for any immediate response. [21:19] 6Nels: "Did she give a time?" 6She checks the wall clock again. Still around 1pm. And surely providing a communal area is no burden... [21:20] 6...also, wait, is she supposed to be more grovelling, or nervous? "Royalty" as a concept still hasn't really sunk in; that was for other countries. Fewer, now, if the encyclopedias are to be believed. [21:21] "She's there now, and will be until late. She wants to meet before doors open at 7 PM for the night's revels, however, out of respect for you. Unless you are amenable to a sold-out concert for a band of kids from the county." [21:21] "We can send a car. Otherwise, it is your discretion." [21:21] 6Too quicky: "No, no, that'll be fine, I'll be there before then." [21:22] 6Nels: "A car would be nice, though. Could you send one by in an hour or so? Give me a chance to get ready." [21:22] The man sounds like he's smiling broadly again. "Absolutely. Call it a quarter past two." [21:22] "Good day, Nels." [21:25] 6Nels: "Good day, David." 6She hangs up first. Time to prepare, and solve yet another puzzle of what proper attire is these days. [21:25] "Oh!" [21:25] "Before you go." [21:25] 6She pauses. [21:26] "If you have an instrument you feel comfortable taking out of the house, please bring it." [21:26] He'll hang up after that. [21:26] 6She looks over in the corner where it rests. [21:26] 6Maybe it's time to try again. [21:42] 6Fifteen minutes later, Nels has set out three different kinds of outfits she was told were acceptable to wear now. There's a shirt that seems to have too-short sleeves with some pointless writing on it and some blue jeans, but she's not going out West any time soon, so those are out. There's a skirt that is scandalously short with some sort of top that shows too much skin, that's definitely out, even with the jacket to go with it [21:42] - is that leather? Huh. Must be a men's. [21:42] 6And then there's a simple white blouse with a long floral skirt that doesn't look like home - nothing will ever again, probably - and despite the lack of a hat, it's what she's most comfortable with. A pair of white heels with a little bow in the front, and her ensemble is set. Now to look in the mirror and see herself again. [21:42] 6Her face is gaunt, hollow-eyed, and framed by wheatstalks pulled into a tight bun. She's too long and thin, now - taller than she used to be, probably - and her fingers are stained a deep red color that can only be one thing. Nels has a hunch where she didn't used to, and the only thing worse than her changes are the changes in the world around her. She'll adjust. There's nothing else to do but live, now. [21:47] Someone hits the buzzer at 2:13 PM. [21:48] 6Brush it out, try to look confident. Peer through the peephole to make sure it's someone you know. [21:49] It's David Smitten, alone. You can smell the fresh spring breeze of his mantle through the door. [21:50] He's wearing an incredibly stylish pastel set with matching shoes that still manages to be subdued and serious. [21:51] 6She opens it. "Hello, David." 6Something to use that "internet" for, later. The encyclopedia set likely won't be able to tell her what looks normal or not in this day and age. [21:51] "Good afternoon, Nels. Are you ready to go?" [21:51] "Remember to bring your...cellular phone." [21:52] He almost just says "phone," but realizes that might be confusing at the last instant. [21:53] 6She gestures to her clutch. "I'm learning," 6she sighs. [21:54] He nods. "Sounds good." Is she bringing an instrument? [21:56] 6She hesitates in the doorway, then goes back to grab it from its place on the wall. [21:56] He smiles slightly at that. "Let's go." [21:56] 6It's an old, old model guitar, beat up and worn, but not nearly as one should be from that time. Small favors. [21:59] Just as they step out of the building onto the sidewalk is where the first weird thing of the day happens. Maybe it's less weird to her; maybe it's more. A homeless man, drunk, but oddly anachronistic -- looking more her style than modern, with canvas pants and a button shirt instead of sweats -- stumbles up to them. But she can't see that he has a Mien; he just looks like a normal [21:59] human. He stares at her for a harsh moment, then swings towards Smitten. "Gimme a dollar," he says. "Gimme five. Money don't go so FAR now, DOES IT?" That last bit is shouted over Smitten's shoulder down the street, but it's clear who it is intended for. [22:01] David Smitten, who had been reaching for his wallet, instead backhands the man across the face. Then he leans over and says clearly into the man's ear: "You don't want this problem." [22:01] The man wilts...and slinks away. [22:01] 6Nels takes a step back and behind Smitten. They know. They know they know they know [22:01] Smitten watches him go. "They don't necessarily know." [22:01] "We're not going to relocate you yet. Some people are...sensitive." [22:02] "Too sensitive. It hurts them to function. They can read things coming off you. Doesn't excuse the behavior...but he's far more likely a victim than a spy." [22:02] 6Breathe. In, out. Focus. The world stops spinning. "I -- how..." [22:02] "How do I tell the difference?" [22:03] 6She clarifies. "For next time. Or for this time, actually, because this is --" 6My safe place, she doesn't finish. [22:04] "The Huntsmen have to announce themselves. They've got something called a Herald. Comes to you, tells you straight up: come back to your Keeper, or we will pursue this to its conclusion. Loyalists, well, they're Lost just like us. So they've got Miens. That guy looked human, but there was a gleam in his eye." [22:05] "A sick gleam. Not perversion but disease. He was Ensorcelled. Damned, and utterly useless to our enemies but in special cases." [22:05] 6Nels: "That's awful." 6She needs another lock on her door anyway. For all the good it might do her. [22:05] "Like I said, he sees too much. He sees the Hedge overlapping the real world. He has no idea where he is, and I doubt he could tell anyone if he did." [22:05] "It's not fun." [22:06] "Anyway. If you see him again, ever, you call your Court contact immediately. Even if you don't join Spring. One meeting like this, we get wary but don't freak out. Two meetings? Then it's time to do the whole thing." [22:06] After that speech, David Smitten walks up to...a lime green Volkswagon Bus. [22:06] He gestures to the passenger's side seat. "Get in." [22:09] 6She does, after a moment of gawping. "...these things'll never stop surprising me," 6she murmurs. [22:10] Behind the wheel, which oddly isn't as cramped as you'd think given Smitten's large frame: "I said that too, once. Some things will never stop surprising you. And some things will. And maybe you'll wish that some of the first ones swapped with the latter." [22:11] He puts the bus into drive and it putters out onto the road. "Put whatever you want on the radio." [22:11] 6Nels: "They have radios in these things?!" [22:11] After a beat: "Big button on the left there turns it on, then you turn it like a knob. It'll find a station." [22:11] At that, he laughs. [22:12] "You will end up terrified at the things they put computer chips in these days." [22:13] 6She groans, already trying to find some oldies station - and it sucks that they call it "oldies." "The internet is made up entirely of magic, no one can tell me otherwise." [22:14] He laughs at that. They drive up-town. [22:16] Eventually they arrive at a sleek, brick-and-mortar two-story building clad in steel and tarp that takes up some half the block, along with the parking lot. In what's probably a trendy font, carved in relief into the black tarp-clad steel and then filled with lighting are the words, all lowercase, "the sidereal." He parks in the lot and nods to the unassuming attendant...who is also [22:16] one of them. In his Mien he has four eyes on his head (the other two up and to the left of each of his normal ones) and his breath mists in the air as he exhales. Yours does not. Winter Court. [22:17] 6Does she know his name? She'll likely have to learn eventually. [22:18] No, but she can ask if she likes. [22:18] Ask Smitten, that is. [22:19] 6She does. As soon as he's out of earshot: "Pardon me. David, what was his name?" [22:21] He blinks, then seems to fight the urge to glance back as he realizes who she's talking about. "That's Canterbury. Doesn't talk much. Very discreet. He's a Brit, actually, so no clue how he ended up here. Sounds kind of like their upper-class if you ask me. But a good guy." [22:23] 6She files it away. "Thank you." 6Not much of a talker is good. Discreet is good. Upper-class is... well, they can't all be perfect. [22:27] As they approach the front door, Smitten fist-bumps both of the bouncers -- big guys, but entirely human to the look of them; they both nod at her with the perfunctory attention of someone who has just put you out of their mind. Inside, The Sidereal's main floor is empty; there's a balding man with a ponytail, crumpled up a bit with horns coming out of his head. One of the Lost. Spring [22:27] Mien, which mainly represents itself in vines growing up and down him like ivy. He looks annoyed, and is plucking away at an acoustic guitar he's hooked up to the sound system with a pickup, but the sound isn't coming in how he likes. [22:30] The only other person in the pit area for the concert is a Black woman of about forty years, it looks like, and her mantle is overpowering. It smells like spring around her, and while she doesn't have the most overwhelmingly visual presentation -- there aren't flowers growing out of the leather seating -- every eye in the room, including yours, is irresistably drawn to her with a [22:30] feeling of pure fascination. Her eyes are white pupils on black corneas, and every time you look at her, everything around her is perfectly proportioned, like a Renaissance painting. [22:30] This is Amelia Banthem, Gardener of Spring, Queen of Her Court. [22:31] "Wait here," Smitten says about twenty feet away from Banthem's table, then walks over and whispers in her ear. Her expression hardens out of the smile it's in, then casts to worry, then hardens again. She whispers back. He nods, then steps away and gestures to you. [22:32] 6She fiddles nervously with her skirt, then steps forward. [22:33] "My Gardener, may I present to you Nels, unaffiliated." He bows slightly, then gives her a smile and walks away, heading towards the back. [22:33] "Come and sit," Amelia Banthem says, indicating the empty table. "You may put your instrument down anywhere. [22:33] " [22:35] The ponytailed guy on the stage calls out: "I swear to god, Banthem, we need to get Ipsum in here to check these wires. We can't keep fuckin' doing this." [22:35] 6She sits with a swoosh and props the guitar next to her chair. Something to ground herself. "Um. Hello." 6She winces at the sudden call. [22:36] The Gardener, with amused annoyance: "I've told you, Harlan, Lauren isn't an electrician. She's not even IT." [22:36] "Then we need to hire someone," he grumbles. "I think I've got it." [22:37] Banthem turns back to you. "Hello, Nels. The first thing you should know is we take what happened on the way over very seriously. David is going to consult with the Summer Court and the King of the Freehold right now, and we'll be having people keeping watch in and around your building until it's clear this was just a chance encounter. You've seen the markers of all our mantles, yes?" [22:39] 6Nels: "I - yes, and thank you for the - the guards." 6She's still going to get more locks. [22:42] Banthem nods. "The upshot here is that you will be given an emergency number to call; David will come back with it. You don't even have to speak -- you dial this number, the Freehold converges. Don't abuse it, but especially for the first few days and nights, do not view it as an imposition. We're used to false alarm. The problem here in particular is that you don't know the members [22:42] of our Court, so you might not be able to tell if a Changeling looks out of place or wrong at first glance. So if any of the new Changeling faces on your street over the next few weeks rub you the wrong way -- you don't recognize their mantle, or they behave oddly, or they acknowledge you, because our men and women will avoid conversation and at most give you a nod -- then you call [22:42] that number." [22:43] "And things proceed." [22:43] "...Which is not how I wanted this conversation to start." [22:43] Meanwhile, the changeling on the stage begins to play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SO40ansNU8 [22:45] 6She nods, grateful. The song is... familiar, but not in an unpleasant way. Or it's unfamiliar in a pleasant way, she hasn't decided. And it could be much louder. So. [22:46] He's turned down the speakers. [22:46] 6Blessed be. [22:46] "How are you settling in to life in 2019?" [22:46] That's from Banthem. [22:51] 6Nels: "It could be worse?" 6she tries. "Some things are - radios. We didn't have those. Clean drinking water. Cities smell different, haven't decided if that's better. So much more music, and you can get from place to place faster even if you'd rather go slower, and it's all so loud," 6She shudders. "There's a lot. And I keep reading up on what's different but I don't know if I'll ever get it right." [22:52] She nods. "It's not going to be easy and we don't expect that you come around to think it's good. We being the Freehold of Baltimore." [22:52] *thinking [22:53] "But we do think it's important that you not lose connection with people. You do that and, well. Everything bad about this world finds a way to get worse, and it gets worse faster without other people." [22:53] Banthem: "It's going to be especially hard for you, because you've been gone so long. But easier in others." [22:54] Banthem: "It's going to be especially hard for you in some ways, because you've been gone so long. But easier in others." [22:55] 6Nels shifts in her seat, steadying her guitar. "Easier how?" 6She doesn't address connecting with people. That will - she'll make more of an effort. Somehow. [22:57] Banthem: "You don't have to worry about your fetch. In good ways, and bad ways. But on the whole, for you living your life now, good. We'd be a lot more paranoid about today if she was still alive." [22:58] 6She winces. "I'd rather not talk about her, if that's all right." [23:00] Banthem: "We haven't asked, and won't ask." [23:00] "Thank you." [23:01] She leans back. "Smitten thinks you'd fit well in the Spring Court, and I both value his assessment and agree with it so far. Those of us who come back from captivity that long in the Hedge, I'll be honest, they usually give in to despair. The Winter Court takes them, and I have no bad words to say about our Winter Court. You saw Canterbury outside?" [23:03] 6She nods. "He seemed quiet." [23:06] "He lost...everything. His betrothed, his family...his peerage. His fetch killed himself five days after he was taken. I'm told the aristocracy over there has...massaged things so that officially, his father never had any sons at all. He blamed himself for not only everything else, but his family's very title going extinct. He would never have made it in Spring. Winter took him in, [23:06] and Winter has been so helpful in letting him become someone who doesn't have to feel all of that guilt, all of the time." [23:07] She leans forward again. "But we sensed a different connection with you. A need for an expression. Even this far down the line. A passion for the ways we try to live, if not for living itself, all the time." [23:10] 6Nels: "The years are hard, and everything's unfamiliar, but I'm not going to let the worst few weeks of my life stop me. It's just - a setback." [23:11] Banthem nods, then looks over at the case to your instrument. "We'd love to hear it, if you're willing to play." [23:12] The changeling on the stage has finished his testing and is keeping a not-too-stealthy eye on the conversation while doing general tuning on a variety of instruments. [23:13] 6Nels: "Any preference? Song, genre?" 6She's got her guitar up on her lap, checking the strings. [23:13] "Whatever you desire," says the Gardener of Spring. [23:19] The other Changeling clears the stage to give it to Nels, heading to Banthem's booth. They don't talk or even whisper; they both just watch her. [23:27] 6Satisfied with her checks, she makes her way to the stage. Breathes. Her hands still don't feel quite right on the guitar, but she adjusts her position. Breathes again. Looks out at the audience. Then she begins. There's a slow procession of intricate staccato notes, a little intro before she starts singing: "I went down to the crossroads, fell down on my knees!" [23:27] 6She plays, and plays, never faltering but in a way that feels different, freeing. There's no competition here, just her and the guitar and the stage and the audience. She concludes with a solo, this one unrecognizable, gradually slowing to something calming, soothing. Comforting, in a strange way. [23:29] The ponytailed Changeling, in the silence after the finish: "Holy shit." [23:30] "I've heard the recordings and..." [23:30] Banthem: "Yeah." [23:30] "Whose song is that?" she asks. [23:31] 6She smiles. "Mine." [23:31] Banthem nods. "Yeah. That makes sense." [23:31] The other Changeling: "Over here they say it belongs to a man named Robert Johnson." [23:31] "They say he made a deal with the devil at...well." [23:32] "I think you can guess the rest." [23:32] 6Nels: "I'm familiar with the story," 6she says dryly. Calmer now on stage than she was in the chair. [23:32] Banthem smiles thinly. "Yeah." [23:33] "How to you feel about the Court of Spring, Nels?" [23:33] "Because we feel real comfortable with you." [23:35] 6Nels: "I'd be pretty keen," 6she says with a smile. [23:36] Banthem smiles and stands. "Good. As far as I'm concerned, you're in." [23:37] "But we're not going to party you in. Out of respect." The smile turns a bit sad as she puts her hands in her pockets. "Instead, I think you should see what we do when we're not having fun." [23:37] "Harlan? Show her the Garden." [23:38] Banthem gives a slight salute with two fingers and heads to the back. [23:38] The ponytailed Changeling: "Ah, fuck." [23:39] 6Nels follows after putting her guitar back in its case. [23:39] "No, no." [23:39] "You're with me." [23:39] "I'm Harlan Jape." [23:39] 6All right then. "Nels Foulke." [23:39] "But you probably knew that." [23:40] He extends a hand to shake. "The Ritualist of the Spring Court of the Freehold of Baltimore. Well met. Damn good tune." [23:40] 6She shakes his hand after shifting her guitar. "Thanks. It was nice to play it for an audience." [23:41] He smiles. It's a bit...grim? "You'll have more and better than me. You hungry?" [23:43] 6She shrugs. "I could eat." 6She's still not sure how to feel about the food these days. Maybe this'll be another chance. [23:43] Harlan: "We've got time to kill...and we're going into the Hedge. Want to do that on a full stomach, for a lot of weird reasons that Ordinary keeps telling me." [23:44] "So what can the kitchen get you." [23:45] 6What's something familiar that's nearly impossible to screw up... "A hot dog, maybe?" [23:45] He blinks. "Do you want...anything on it?" [23:46] 6Phew. They have them. "Mustard and onions. Something familiar," 6she explains, probably unnecessarily. [23:47] Harlan nods and knocks on the big steel screen that closes off the kitchen from the bar when the venue isn't open. [23:47] From behind it, distantly: "WHAT?" [23:49] Then the screen slowly cranks up, literally pulled by a chain by a Changeling in a standard chef's outfit -- white smock, silly white hat -- who looks gnarled and petulant and has an incredible mustache. He gives Nels a withering glance, seems to approve, then looks to Harlan. "WHAT?" [23:49] Harlan: "Lady would like a hotdog, mustard and onions." To Nels: "Just the one?" [23:49] 6She confirms. "Just the one, thank you." [23:50] "IT SHALL BE DONE!" The shutter slams down. [23:50] Harlan: "That was The Kitchen." [23:50] 6Nels blinks. "Dramatic fellow, isn't he?" [23:51] Harlan: "Whatever works." [23:53] Perhaps four minutes later a slat in the steel screen opens and a pot-marked old hand shoves a beatiful plate through, and slams the slat shut when Harlan takes it to pass to Nels. The dog is plump and perfectly cooked; the bun has been buttered and toasted on that butter to a perfect lightness; it's dressed with mustard and red onions, but on the side there are fried onions, and two [23:53] slices of bacon, and... [23:53] "Avocado," Harlan says helpfully. [23:53] Just in case she wants to experiment. [23:55] 6She blinks. "The bacon seems excessive," 6but goodness that looks delicious. She takes a bite, sans additions, and lights up. "Oh!" [23:56] Harlan, deadpan: "Him? Excessive?" [23:56] 6Nels, after swallowing her first bite, deadpan: "Whatever works." [23:57] Harlan chuckles. "And he does." [23:57] 6She tries a bit of the avocado, a bit of the fried onion, and a bit of the bacon, but honestly it's the simplest as the best for now. She'll have to look up the 'avocado' later. [23:58] After a moment: "You ever shot a gun?" [23:59] 6Nels: "None of the newer things, but yes. Pistols were... necessary." Session Time: Tue Sep 10 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] He nods. "I'm hoping not to use them, but you prepare for the consequences, not for the hopes. Do you prefer revolvers or automatic-loading?" [00:03] 6Nels: "Revolvers. Had a snubnose that never let me down." [00:03] He nods. "I'll be right back. Finish your dog, use the bathroom, grab your instrument." [00:08] 6She does so. Every bite is even more delicious than the last. Incredible. [00:09] Harlan returns with something wrapped in a green cloth, and something wrapped in a blue cloth. He beckons her towards the hallway leading to the back of the venue. [00:10] 6She's cleaned up, she has her guitar, let's see what this is about. 14[00:11] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:12] In that hallway, he hands her the green-wrapped thing: "This is the gun. Snubnose, as you like. It's in .38, as you like. Probably a bit shinier than what you've seen." [00:12] He hands her the blue-wrapped thing. "Two speed-loaders, with bullets in them. Snap out the cylinder with the release on the side, dump the empty cartridges, shove one of those things in." [00:13] He slings his own guitar -- in its own case -- over his shoulder. He's wearing a rather larger revolver on his hip. "Take a second to inspect if you like, but then we need to hurry." [00:14] "Sun sets quicker, these hours." [00:15] 6She looks it over. Shinier indeed, but not that different. Nice to see that some things are the same. Speedloaders are new to her, though. "And you can just... get these speedloaders? Nevermind, talk later." 6She can figure it out if she needs to, but this is something that's all the same. [00:15] "We do live in the future," Harlan Jape says. "Whatever the fuck the future is." [00:15] "Let's go." [00:17] 6Time to stick close. She nods. [00:17] He'll lead her out the back of The Sidereal, nod to Canterbury -- this time Canterbury nods to both of you -- and down two alleys. Straight across the street, then down to the right. They end up in a weird, empty lot. [00:19] The lot is gravel where it's not asphalt, and it's mostly asphalt in the middle. But in that middle there are four weird circles of cracks, and through those cracks, long weeds have shot up. They're all at geometric angels to each other. Harlan stands inside one and indicates that Nels should stand in the one across from him. [00:21] 6She freezes up at first, but nods and moves where he gestures. They wouldn't let her do anything very dangerous this soon. [00:22] Harlan Jape shoulders his guitar, puts his hands in his pockets, and indicates that Nels should do the same. [00:23] 6She matches him step for step. [00:23] "I'm going to stomp twice, and then I'm going to click my heels. I want you to do the same. That means jumping up on the heels; you need to leave the ground. On zero?" [00:24] 6She nods. "Okay. Count me in." [00:24] "Three." [00:24] "Two." [00:24] "One." [00:24] "Zero." He stomps, he stomps, and he jumps and clicks. [00:24] 6She's not even a moment behind him. [00:25] They both leave the ground -- and when they return to it, they fall through their grassy circles. [00:26] It's a weird feeling, as gravity changes and reasserts itself. Whatever it is, on this side. They fly through holes in the ground and then are captured and pulled down to the soft loam beneath their feet. Nels's stomach doesn't even turn. [00:26] Harlan: "Welcome back to the Hedge." He's drawn his gun. [00:27] "While we're here, we want to be very quiet and very careful. We don't shoot anything that isn't actively trying to kill us. We've only got a short way to go." [00:28] 6Hers is out a second later. "Okay. Quiet is good." 6She keeps the nerves out of her voice, she thinks. [00:28] He points to something in the near distance. "We're headed there." [00:28] It's a great black stone and green vine tower. [00:28] It widens out on top. [00:29] "Follow me close. Touch me on the shoulder if you see something I need to see. You see anything, ANYTHING, that looks like a cop or like a pig -- the animal -- you get behind me." [00:29] "And here we go." [00:29] 6Nod nod nod. [00:31] It takes some time to reach the big tower, and it takes some hiding behind bushes as strange lumpy men and bouncing stilt monsters pass, smiling and chattering with each other for the most part. They eventually make their way to the base, and there's a door there; inside, a great spiral staircase leading up. [00:32] Harlan smiles when he sees her face, but there's an odd tinge to it. "Don't worry. It's not as tall as it looks." [00:32] Indeed, the tower seems ten stories tall. They find themselves emerging after perhaps thirty stairs. [00:32] To a great and beautiful garden. And suddenly, it's night. [00:33] "The sun never shines here, you know," Harlan says. "At least not when I've been up here." [00:33] 6They wouldn't let her do anything very dangerous this soon. This has to be fine. Ah, there it is. She lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Anyone else been up here alone?" [00:33] The moon is wide and heavy above them, and closer. [00:34] "You're never alone up here," says Harlan. "But if you mean just one of us, yes. This place is one of my responsibilities." [00:34] There's a weak, plaintive cry from somewhere off in the flowers and the trees. [00:34] Whatever smile is on Harlan's face fades. [00:35] "The hobs are different from us." He looks over. "Hobgoblins." [00:36] 6A swallow. "Different how." 6She's seen different before and it was unpleasant. [00:37] "They don't seem to have lifespans like we do -- they don't just die after a certain time. But they do die, and not just from violence or intent. And sometimes they do die early. And badly. And maybe sadly." [00:37] "And this is where they come to do it." [00:37] "The reason the walk up is short isn't for us." [00:38] He puts his gun away. [00:38] Another plaintive cry. 14[00:40] * banana is now known as banana|split [00:41] Harlan: "We could always not come here...and when we don't, the hobs who drag themselves here or are brought here by their friends die in whatever kind of alone they have. But when we're here...this is the Blooming Garden of Dying Flowers. They're the flowers. But they can become the garden, and have new life." [00:41] "So, there's a deal." [00:41] 6Her hand is still on hers, but she doesn't have it fully drawn anymore. Still nervous, but. "That's - huh." 6The hedge is a bizarre and largely awful place. But that sounds nice. "And the deal?" [00:42] "The strict terms are goblin fruits -- as I said, it's a garden -- but there are larger benefits. Goodwill isn't useless with everything on this side of the fence." [00:43] "Your test to join the Court of Spring is to pass this hobgoblin on into the soil." [00:45] Harlan: "And for that, you'll need your guitar." [00:46] 6Nels: "Okay. Okay." 6They brought their guitars for a reason. She goes back through what she knows. "Play them to their rest, then? Have them be born anew in the garden?" [00:47] "Yeah," says Harlan as he leads her back through the beautiful trees and brush to the source of another plaintive yelp. "If it makes you feel better, this probably isn't actually a child." [00:47] 6She grimaces. "It does and doesn't," 6she settles on. [00:48] Laying in a clearing is a frail, thin child with a dog-head, shivering, missing an arm, its legs curling and uncurling. Its eyes wheel and its back twists and it looks up to the sky, which has stars Nels has never seen in it. It whimpers as they approach. It starts hyperventilating. [00:49] "Shhhhhhhhh," says Harlan as he approaches. "Shhhhhhhhh." [00:49] In the Blooming Garden of Dying Flowers, the Ritualist of the Court of Spring kneels next to the hobgoblin dog-child as it breathes heavily and stares up at a burgeoning moon. Is the moon real here, in the Hedge? It's hard to tell. The Ritualist wipes the sweat from the hob's brow and says to you, "New Lost often assume it is the Winter and Autumn Courts alone that deal with death, [00:49] and the passing of all things. That is not true. From death comes new life, new joy, new passion, new growth, and the celebration of a life lived -- or a life cut short -- should not be mired in sorrow or fear. Or anger. At least not in a peaceful last moment." [00:49] "Well, what are you waiting for?" He leans back, cradling the dying hob. "Play him away." [01:01] 6Another old favorite drifts to mind. Okay. A few chords, then: "From the great Atlantic Ocean to the wide Pacific shore," 6it starts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCWpRvAuFLE She rolls through its verses quickly, but takes a few extra chords before one. The important one. [01:01] 6Nels: "Here's to Daddy Claxton may his name forever stand / and he'll always be remembered 'round the courts and through the land / his earthly race is over as the curtains 'round him fall / but we'll carry him home to vict'ry on that Wabash Cannonball!" [01:02] 6She finishes it out, slower than she started. The song slows, she plays quieter, and finally she stops. She hasn't opened her eyes she started playing. [01:02] Jape's eyes blink, then go wide, and then he smiles, and the god-child smiles too. He nuzzles his snout into Harlan's sleeve...and then he dies. And when he dies, he passes on into the ground, falling into loam, wet dust, soil, and vanishing completely. [01:03] Harlan stares at the ground like he's waiting for something. Nothing comes. [01:03] He grins. [01:03] 6She opens one eye, then the other. "Did I do well? I mean, for a first-timer?" [01:04] "We don't ever get a chance for life after death, really. We just maintain. We go forward until we stop. We find joy in that when we can, and there is joy in that." He leans back on his haunches. "But rarely," he says, "very rarely, when we satisfy our responsibilities here well enough...a hob gets a second chance." [01:05] "When they pass, a plant is supposed to sprout. It will turn into a goblin fruit, in time. Satisfying our bargain." [01:05] "But if a hob fades away and no plant sprouts..." [01:05] 6Nels: "Second chances." [01:06] 6Huh. [01:06] "Yes." Harlan stands. "You did better than well. Welcome to the Spring Court of Baltimore." [01:06] "Let's get out of here." [01:07] Harlan gets Nels back on the other side of the Hedge and lets her keep the gun. Smitten is waiting to give her a ride back to her house; he won't press any conversation, and will let her off at the end of the block from her apartment. [01:08] There's a Changeling standing just outside her front door in a hoodie and jeans, with the bulge of a handgun obvious in his belt. He ignores her as she approaches. [01:09] But as Nels opens the door, one of Canterbury's other eyes winks. [01:09] --Fin. 14[07:52] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[08:02] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[12:52] * banana is now known as banana|peels 15[18:18] * Disconnected 15[18:19] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[18:19] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[18:19] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[18:19] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[18:19] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[18:19] * Joins: VoxPrimey 14[18:19] * Quits: @Ferrinus (NickServ (GHOST command used by FerrinusPrime)) 14[18:19] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 14[18:20] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:20] * Quits: VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:00] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:10] * Joins: tom 15[19:59] * Disconnected 15[19:59] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[19:59] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[19:59] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[19:59] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 15[20:10]  15[20:11]  15[20:11]  15[20:11]  15[20:11]  15[20:13] The war is over. At the broken political heart of Nexus, in the shadow of the shattered tower where Balor's star hung until it was thrice stolen and twice claimedm a new battle begins. 15[20:13] claimed,* 15[20:17] Xu Sim has left the struggle behind after the Seventh Caduceus put it to him that his help was needed in triage. Indeed, the medical officers of Lookshy's visiting army are the only ones who don't seem to be gathering behind Keldar, his guard, and the mortal members of the rechristened Nexus Union. Most every eye on the hill is fixed or straining to fix on the creature who made it so, 15[20:17] the smiling silver-masked echo of Stranger-Visits-Heaven. 15[20:17] Elsewhere, a lover and a friend have met to mourn him. [20:19] "A wake, and it doesn't even have a body." 14The Ambassador has been leaning towards...heavy pours. [20:20] "Lemme just, lemme just, all right. Hrrm. How about this. How'd you end up like that?" 12Keldar's alternately pacing, flopping (loudly, given the armor) down into the remains of a seat still sturdy enough to bear him, and gesturing in various directions. "Here's what I remember. We cut down the shadow of Balor. Then everyone dissolves, and we're flying. Stuff's coming at us, but [20:20] it's obviously some kind of faerie mind realm dream duel shit. You step ahead to take care of something coming at us, then we're all on solid ground." [20:20] 12Keldar: "What'd you do?" [20:21] 14What's the highest scale bar or tavern or cocktail house she could have broken into? Because she has. [20:21] 14If the Emissary wants to come and kill her for theft, he knows where she is. [20:22] 13She's been matched drink for drink by Xia Lan. Today is a day for them. "I should feel probably feel worse that I wish there was," 13she says. [20:22] "No you shouldn't." 15[20:23] The Ambassador and Xia Lan find themselves at The Black Bog, a brutally upscale establishment where a lunch with cocktails will set you back as much as a nice dress will in saner parts of town. It specializes, as someone as well-traveled as they might surmise, in the peaty concoctions of the near Northeast, but its wine selection is formidable as well. [20:23] "You shouldn't feel bad at all. I should feel bad. I encouraged this...behaivor. This belief in..." 14She waves her hand about the room. For now, at least, it's controlled. "People." [20:24] "I'd say it was lunacy, but it didn't come from my side of the relationship." [20:25] "And now he's gone. Even if he comes back -- if the Sun grants that exaltation out again -- he's gone." [20:25] "And his body has no use for me, anymore." [20:26] 13Xia Lan: "If I try and think about it, I - I get it, sort of. To do what's right. But there had to be a better... he's gone." 13Best to just finish off the rest of the glass. [20:27] "I didn't even need the body. I needed my fa- friend. And that's gone too." [20:27] 14She leans forward on the bar, crossing her arms. "And then of course I think about how shitty that is to think about, making it all about me, because of course the Silver Pact tells itself we're doing this all for the people." [20:28] 14The Ambassador either misses or doesn't acknowledge the false start. [20:29] 10Jai had planned to stay in the Union chamber, listening in while alliances broke and reformed in the chaos, but right now it's just a bunch of old guys yelling at each other. He quietly excuses himself during a particularly heated shouting match and picks up Xia Lan's trail without much difficulty. It leads him to tbe Bog. [20:30] 13Xia Lan: "Did he say anything to you? Before..." [20:31] 14The Ambassador: "He said he might not be coming back, and that he loved me, and that he wished things were different and that we could be together far away from here." [20:31] "But he said all those things many times, before doing things like this." [20:31] 10Jai: "Room for another at the bar?" 10He doesn't seem particularly surprised to see the erstwhile 'Odette' here. [20:31] "And at some point I just assumed that he would always be coming home." [20:32] 14Without turning, the Ambassador raises her half-full glass of some despicable clear liquor and says, "Jai. Greetings...to the wake of Stranger-Visits-Heaven." [20:33] 14She pauses. "Greetings, and welcome to the wake of Stranger-Visits-Heaven." [20:33] "The body is indisposed." [20:33] "I hear it's taken over the city." [20:33] 13Xia Lan does turn and raises her wineglass. 15[20:33] Stranger-Visits-Heaven folds his arms, as if he's debating telling Keldar nothing at all. There's a slight rise and fall of his shoulders. A sigh? "At the core of Cethleann's being was an unbreakable connection to Balor. As long as Balor's will clung to Creation, she could not be destroyed or driven away as long as that connection lingered. I reached out and released it. The effect is 15[20:33] as you see." [20:34] "What," 14she says, as she gets up from her stool and moves behind the bar, "will you be drinking?" [20:35] 12Keldar: "And it... cursed you? Killed you?" 15[20:36] Stranger: "Was Balor cursed or killed?" [20:37] 10Jai: "Yeah, something like that." 10He grabs a stool and sits, a little heavily. "Gin, probably. Too much to hope there's any grapefruits still surviving in the city." [20:37] 13Xia Lan: "Is there another bottle of," 13she gestures to what she grabbed when she got here. "While you're on your feet." [20:38] 12Keldar: "Well, yeah. Killed, for sure. But we were all there. Couldn't we've - cut it? Dispel it? Whatever?" 14[20:38] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) [20:39] 10Jai: "I asked… him… if we could get some tea before the first round of shouting broke out. Didn't even react. That's when it hit me." 14[20:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Mutter: www.mutterirc.com) [20:40] 14Ambassador: "Gin it is. I'll look for the fruit. They've definitely got something stashed around here, I'm sure of it." 14To Xia Lan: "And yes, dear, there is." 14[20:40] * Joins: mattbaby [20:40] 14She sort of winces at the mention of tea, but brushes over it. [20:41] 14It only takes a little bit to find the flavorings that Jai wants. [20:41] "Keldar and Xu Sim aren't here," 14she says as she pours the drink, "so I assume they're the ones fighting the corpse of the people for the city." [20:42] 14She uncorks another bottle of Xia Lan's vintage and puts it in front of her. [20:42] 13Xia Lan: "Xu Sim is probably in the medical tents. Think Keldar's the only one who still wants to stay here enough to, I dunno. Get in another fucking war." 15[20:43] Stranger: "Love is not a curse to be dispelled, Keldar of Nexus." [20:44] 14She takes another drink, and then flatly: "I hope he kills it. I hope he destroys the Emissary." 14Hate creeping into her voice: "This city doesn't deserve him. They don't deserve this freedom, or this salvation." [20:44] "They never did." [20:44] 12Keldar: "Spoken like someone who never met my ex." 12He points. "But seriously. We might've been smears of paint right then and there but we were a circle of Anathema. There wasn't another way?" [20:45] 14Her pronouns getting a bit wobbly is the first sign the drink is getting to her. [20:45] 10The gin goes down smooth. "I think Xu Sim just needed to clear his head. He'll be back into the breach soon enough." [20:46] "So fuck it. Bring back in the slavers, and Lookshy, and get rid of their perfect, shining answer to everything. Take it's offer and fucking spit on it. Consign Nexus to the void." [20:47] 14She kills her drink. [20:47] "I don't mean that." 14She pauses, and reaches for the wodka. "...Maybe I kind of do." [20:48] 14To Jai: "How is Xu Sim's woman?" [20:48] "The dead one." [20:48] 13She pours herself another glass, but lets it sit for a moment. "I think you and one of my past lives would've been best friends." 13Sip. "I'm trying really hard not to think like that right now. The best I can come up with is 'at least I won't feel guilty leaving and never coming back.'" 15[20:48] Stranger: "No certain way. If you killed Balor by your own hand, the circle might have broken. But he might have reincarnated. His echo is bound to this city as surely as Cethleann's was to he." [20:49] 12Keldar: "A 'might''s a hell of a lot better than this definitely happening to one of us, man!" [20:50] "I've been having second thoughts myself. I thought I could make a difference…" 10Another drink. He looked like he was about to say something else. "Still dead. Which is good, because it keeps her from dropping dead again by how hard the Mask's forces had her working here." 15[20:50] Stranger: "It is done." [20:50] "I was hoping--" 14She pauses as her voice hitches, staring into space. Then, more controlled: "I was hoping to convince him to come away from here with me, after this. And with you." 14That was to Xia Lan, but she glances at Jai. "Both of you, really, though I understand you have work. Go north a bit. And east. Some place without the Realm and Wyld Hunts and and all this bullshit." [20:50] 12Keldar: "Yeah, yeah, sure. Fine. I'm just trying to get my head around why it was done, and if I'm actually talking to the guy that did it." [20:51] 10Jai: "Not sure I have work anymore, either. This… wasn't an official assignment." 15[20:51] Stranger spreads his hands wide. "Now that you are satisfied, we can begin to implement the new paradigm." 15[20:51] A nervous Master Gen, from behind Keldar: "Now hang on just a minute--" [20:52] 12Keldar: "Ut-ut-ut. Ooonnne second. Who decides the Dogma?" [20:52] 13Xia Lan: "I was going to stay here. Take over everyone's work on the council, build a home." 13A longer drink. "I haven't--" 13She immediately stops talking. [20:52] 13She tries again. "It's been a long time." 15[20:53] Stranger: "The Emissary decided the Dogma. No Dogma or Civility governs their re-writing, so I have invoked the ancient precedent." 15[20:53] Thalevar: "Good enough for me." [20:54] 12Keldar: "That's what I thought. But we've only got your word that you're the Emissary, and, frankly, Emissary ain't supposed to have a name or a smile. My own hungry ghost doesn't get to inherit my manse." [20:55] 14The Ambassador: "And for me, it wasn't long enough." [20:55] 14To Jai: "So what are you going to do now, Black Wind Howling? Or Howling Black Wind. Or...whatever." [20:56] 10Jai drains the cup, then mixes the next one itself.  [20:56] 10Himself, even. It's contagious. 15[20:58] Stranger: "You had only the Emissary's word that he was the Emissary. You never questioned it because he said what you wanted to hear." 15[20:58] "I listen to more voices than yours." [20:59] 10Jai: "Don't know yet. I figured once things settled down here I'd sort of find a niche. I thought he'd— I thought we'd be the ones in charge." [20:59] 14She smiles nastily. "You still can be." [21:00] "Depends how many more bodies you want." [21:00] "...Sorry." [21:00] 13Xia Lan: "Suppose we get to go find our own niches somewhere else," 13she says absently. [21:01] 14She garnishes her drink with some berries. "I certainly will be trying to." [21:01] 12Keldar: "Nah. He had a continuity that you hadn't. Same guy - then, at least, same power and same dogmas. Now we've got a ghost with some nutty ideas who might not even be piloting the replacement's body." [21:01] 10Jai: "It's okay. I'm just feeling a little numb, is all." [21:01] 12Keldar: "Top of that, in terms of seniority, you're dead last. Bunch of Emissaries now, remember?" [21:01] "I don't know how the Pact is going to react to all of this, to be honest." [21:01] 13Xia Lan: "Alcohol does that." 13Sip. [21:02] 14Takes a gulp. "I'm not sure if I succeeded here or failed." [21:02] "Well. Whether or not I failed the Pact. Other failures are obvious." [21:04] 10Long drink. "My boss is in town, he might try and get me to come back into the fold." [21:04] 10Jai: "He might… no, if he thought I knew too much I wouldn't be here right now." [21:04] 14She nods. "For obvious reasons, I will both understand and not be within five city blocks of that." [21:05] 14Then she laughs. "Oh, darling, the Star children aren't going to spend the lives it would take to kill a Chosen of the Sun simply because he knows too much." 14[21:05] * Joins: dammitwho [21:05] "It's acting on it that's the danger." [21:07] 10A weak chuckle. "You're probably right." [21:08] 14She waves her glass about. "Frankly being here socializing with me is almost certainly a greater sin than 'knowing things.' We are, if you haven't heard, the worst of the Anathema. Beasties all." [21:09] 13Xia Lan: "That's stupid." 13She does not articulate further. [21:10] 14She shrugs. "The reputation is not entirely unearned." [21:10] 10Jai adopts the cadence of an Immaculate telling stories to scare the children. "The slavering skinchangers. The demons' dogs. Beware, little ones, or they'll swallow you whole!" [21:11] 14Ambassador: "Yes." [21:13] 10Jai tosses back the rest of his drink. "Every story's got a kernel of truth somewhere, though. You just have to sift for it." 15[21:14] Stranger turns to Xu Sim, who has returned. "Well, Emissary? What say you?" [21:16] 14Ambassador: "I suppose so. Another?" [21:16] 14She's pouring another for herself. [21:17] 10This is probably a good time to change the subject. "Sure, thanks. How about your future, Xia Lan? If you dod leave the city. Would you still be a singer?" [21:17] 5Xu Sim, looking sheepishly up. "Mmm?" 4he's toting a scroll, tucked under one arm, and an unusually ugly dog, wagging and panting and drooling, under the other. [21:18] 13Xia Lan: "I was a travelling singer before, now... I'll be one again? I guess? But with more friends this time. I hope." [21:18] 13Living ones, anyway. [21:18] 12Keldar, turning to Xu Sim, jerks a mailed thumb at the remains of Stranger. "This joker thinks he's got the standing to just proclaim new Dogmas. Thoughts?" [21:21] 5Xu Sim, contemplative: "I'm not a politician, and neither are you. The dogmas are not facially unjust. He's not selling us to the Realm, nor is he picking our pockets. I just think it's funny," 5he adds, setting the dog down (where she immediately seizes a croaking cricket and begins to chew its legs off with relish). [21:22] 14To Xia Lan: "You'll have one, at least." [21:22] 14She leans forward again over the bar. "I'm giving up on Stranger-Visits-Heaven -- and his body -- but I don't think I'm giving up on what he believed in. Not entirely. Perhaps not even mostly." [21:22] "Maybe not at all." [21:23] 14A pause. "But I'm still fucking angry, and fucking sad." [21:23] "And so everything runs down the stream, against rock after rock, until it hits the river. Until it hits the ocean." [21:24] 14Gary of the Grey, huh. It seems like longer ago than it was. [21:24] *14Gary of the Gray, huh. It seems like longer ago than it was. [21:25] 12Keldar: "Isn't he? No top-level promise of free trade? Doctor guarantee? Even if it were workable, even if we hadn't just come out the other side of a Direction-ending war, it'd ruin us. And it wasn't any of our ideas. Might as well've not even been his, for all we know." [21:27] 5Xu Sim: "I think it's terribly ironic," 5he begins unfurling the scroll, "that the last time this matter was considered by our Circle," 5it rolls and rolls and rolls - the handwriting is that of the Audient Brush - "That in fact you and I each took diametrically opposite positions regarding the governance of this fair City. You got quite upset about it, as I seem to recall from [21:27] our notes," 5he stops unfurling the scroll and taps a finger down the page towards, indeed, the transcript of their previous discussion. [21:27] 13Xia Lan gives the Ambassador a watery smile. "Thank you for coming with me. Wherever we end up going." 13Another sip. "I think I'm too exhausted to be angry right now." [21:27] 10Jai props his elbows on the bar and rests his chin on interlaced fingers. "When he said he believed something, you almost felt it in your gut." [21:28] "Yeah." [21:28] 12Keldar grins, but also narrows his eyes. "What I said, was that I wouldn't let anyone just move in and take over 'cause they saw the opportunity, and that appears to be exactly what's happening here." 15[21:29] Gen: "Yeah!" 15[21:29] Thalevar: "Bullshit." [21:29] "A bandit and a heartbreaker," 14she sings to herself. [21:29] 14Then she pours herself another drink. That one disappeared quickly. [21:30] 12Keldar rounds on the Councilor of the Eclipse. "How d'you figure." [21:31] 14Sipping, now: "Forget how the rest of that one goes." [21:32] "North, huh." 10Jai closes his eyes and the map in his mind's eye unfurls.  [21:32] 14She shakes her head. "No." 14Pause. "Well, maybe. But with Stranger...gone...I've got work." [21:33] "And all I've got is work." 15[21:33] Thalevar: "We got a chance to do some good for people and you're saying we toss it away because it's not how things have been done? Buddy, letting Anathema rule the city isn't how things have been done. The Dawn Sergeant bullying the Emissary isn't how things have been done. If he doesn't own the Council, you don't either." [21:33] "So I'm going to wait for word." 15[21:33] "I say we put it to a vote." 15[21:34] "Let every one of us put their name, in public, to leaving Nexus as it is or changing it." [21:34] 13Xia Lan: "I can sing it, if you'd like." [21:34] 14Quieter: "No. I'd just start crying." 15[21:34] Gen: "No-oo, I think Keldar's right. We just survived a war, now's not the time for social upheaval. How will we pay for it?" [21:35] "But thank you." [21:35] 5Xu Sim: "This new Stranger is, it's true, even stranger than before. And he's not who he was, he's something different now. A synthesis. But we must give peace a chance, I think. But as to the esteemed Councillor's question - how will we pay for it?" [21:35] 12Keldar: "I'm trying to make it so Anathema don't rule the city. The Council rules the city according to the Dogmas and the Emissary has their back, that's how it goes." [21:36] 12Keldar: "Maybe all along the Emissary could've rewritten the Dogmas if he felt like it, but we haven't got the Emissary now. We've got... emissaries." [21:36] 5Xu Sim: "This City can soon become the most prosperous and righteous under Heaven, I think. Very soon." [21:36] 5Xu SIm: "In that case, I vote to change the Dogmas." [21:36] 13Singing while crying isn't one of her favorite things to do, but she'd do it for a friend, if they asked. Still, this is... probably for the best. She nods to the Ambassador, understanding. 15[21:37] Aged, cranky Evening Master Beale: "It may be that the Dogmas can no longer legally be changed. That's the Sergeant's position, as I understand it." [21:39] 14After a moment, she sighs. "Maybe it's good to cry sometimes. Play it if you'd like." [21:40] 5Xu Sim: "A city must be able to change. Even the cities of the dead may change, so I am told." [21:40] 12Keldar shoots Xu Sim a glare before returning his attention to the Councilors. "Or if they can we'd have to figure out how, and that's only after figuring out whether to. Not because some stranger, that's starting with a little character, comes blasting down out of the sky and says so." 15[21:40] Ephiselle, the Midnight Queen: "This is all highly irregular. Whether our coffers can support it, we can't afford to antagonize our successful residents. Nevermind the Guild! We would have lost this war without them, and now we propose to stick our hands in their pockets?" [21:40] 5Xu Sim: "What is Nexus, Keldar? What is a city?" [21:41] "Nexus," 12says Keldar, "Is Creation's only free city." 15[21:41] "Freedom for whom? Freedom from what?" muses Doctor Udelph. [21:42] 5Xu Sim: "Empty its buildings, then, clear out its boulevards, let no stone stand on another, and it would be free." [21:43] 12Keldar: "No empress, no satrap, no god-king, no god. You can keep what you earn and dispose of it how you like. You can tell off anyone you want. And if you don't like it you can just leave. Can't say that about anywhere else." [21:44] 13Deep breath, and she finishes her glass first. Do re mi. "Sweet silver angels over the sea, please come down flyin' low for me / One time I trusted a stranger..." 13 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj8RFOp7iVQ It's completely unaccompanied. Just her voice and the quiet of the bar. [21:44] 14The Ambassador is crying by the first refrain, sobbing by the second, and sitting against the wall behind the bar singing along and drinking straight from the bottle by the end. 15[21:46] Astrologer Kratz: "What about a compromise? A way to care for our worst-off that still lets people excel if they have the skill and ambition?" [21:46] 10This one's for the two of them. Anyway, there's just a little dust in his eye. Yeah. [21:46] 5Xu Sim: "Many people disagree," 5Xu Sim notes. "Then why not resolve it with a contest?" [21:50] 5Xu Sim: "Stranger! What say you, then? Are you still so uptight? We compromoise, and determine the bounds of the compromise by a contest fairly agreed." [21:50] 12Keldar: "Do they? I don't even - we haven't actually got to the point where even discussing changing the Dogmas makes sense. It's not up to one guy who might not even legally be an Emissary and what we've got to do right now is rebuild from the damn war!" [21:51] 12Keldar: "Wind down all the war Civilities and pay all the mercs and get the Council meeting properly and then we can start talking about what the Emissary's death means for us." [21:51] 5Xu Sim: "You've identified the game then, a game of rebuilding," 5he muses. [21:51] 14Her voice is...uncommonly beautiful, given how much she's drunk in the last two hours. [21:52] 10By the time the duet ends, Jai's openly weeping. Dammit. Dammit. Why did it have to end like this? [21:53] 14Maybe there was no other way. [21:53] 12Keldar: "You can't treat rebuilding the damn city like a game! Unless you're a construction contractor, I mean. But that's a metaphor." [21:53] 13There's always another way. The real question is, was this the best way, in the end? [21:53] 5Xu Sim: "You can make a game of war, why not make a game of peace?" 15[21:54] Doctor Udelph: "There's also the question of peacekeeping. Discontent is high, and the ruin of the city falls principally on the poorest districts. Making no reparations to the poor could lead to riots." [21:54] 12Keldar: "And that's what Civilities are for." 15[21:55] Doctor Udelph: "What if we made these new Dogmas into Civilities, then? Would you be satisfied?" [21:57] 12Keldar: "I mean, that's Council business. Maybe there's some precedent, so long as it doesn't mean fucking with the markets or seizing assets. Point is, Nexus already has the machinery it needs to deal with a problem like this." 15[21:58] Beale: "To be clear, your position is that the Dogmas are unchangeable?" [21:59] 5Xu Sim harrumphs at the absurdity of such a question. [22:00] "Yeah, obviously! They're-" 12Keldar pauses, watching himself. "Look, it's like I said. In fuckin', might as well be prehistory, there weren't Dogmas and then there were. Right? Obviously they're a thing you make. And, right now, seeing as the Emissary's dead twice over, there's some question about who backs 'em." [22:01] 12Keldar: "So, when we've found our feet again, maybe call a meeting discussing the question. Could be interesting. But the actual, original Dogmas - they're good. They work. They made us what we are. Absolutely we don't toss 'em over our shoulders at the drop of a hat, in the middle of a crisis." 15[22:01] Thalevar: "What we are is dogshit! We have a chance to be better." 15[22:02] Gen: "Why are you even a Councilor?" 15[22:02] Thalevar: "Someone's got to stand up for real people in this town." [22:02] 13She is currently on her second bottle of wine, singing and crying. [22:03] 12Keldar: "Hey! We're the fuckin' - yeah, why are you, even - we're the fuckin' heart of the Scavenger lands! Trade hub of an entire Direction! And we're the only place with real people, and not fuckin' imperial peasants or chattel slaves!" [22:03] 5Xu Sim: "The Dogmas held the city back, Keldar, when Cethleann came for it," 5Xu Sim notes. "When men called this city Hollow, it needed no Dogmas." [22:05] 12Keldar: "Like hell they did. We kept to all six, and we still raised an army of armies and beat the Raksha back. And as for - Empress could've made the same boast. 'Oh, I don't need any dogmas, since I just do what I like.'" 12The Dawn Sergeant doesn't actually do a falsetto there but does sound a little more arch and sarcastic. [22:06] 5Xu Sim: "But you have not proposed a way to resolve this disagreement. You've proposed doing nothing. That is why the Dogmas make the city weak." 15[22:07] Thalevar: "People die in the streets! This is the richest city in the world and people starve. Good people, ready to work! People who can't work. They're our people too." [22:07] 12Keldar snorts. "Imagine if I demand your, your, I don't know, you dog. And you tell me to fuck off, and I'm like, oh, wow, can't disprove my argument, eh?" [22:07] 5Twice-Refined Princess pants, humidly. 15[22:07] Kratz: "Did you just equate money with your beloved pet?" [22:08] 12To Thalevar, the Dawn Sergeant offers a shrug and a sorry expression. "People die every day. Law's fair, fate's not." 15[22:09] Udelph: "People we could save." [22:10] 12Keldar: "Yeah? How?" 15[22:11] Udelph: "Are you familiar with the concept of 'taxes', son?" [22:12] 12Keldar: "There's a whole Dogma about 'em." 15[22:12] Stranger: "That's true. There is." [22:16] 12Keldar rolls his eyes. "Point is, we got 'em. Keep the city running. But they've got limits. And now, right now, what they're mostly going to be for is paying back all the soldiers and suppliers who saved our asses." [22:17] 13Now with the bottle of wine on the floor next to her, Xia Lan slumps against the bar. 13 she starts.  15[22:18] Tsuka's response is immediate. 15[22:19] Stranger: "Pay them with what?" [22:19] 14The Ambassador has stood back up and is taking fuller stock of the liquor. Ah, has Xia Lan...restricted this message properly? [22:19] 5Xu Sim: "To resolve the question, why not send out certificates or, I don't know, mint coins or something of that nature. Pay them to those who perform services for the City. Then at the end of the fortnight, each certificate confers a vote. Something has to break the deadlock without violence." [22:19] 14Or can anyone with a page hear it? 15[22:19] Beale: "He's right. We don't have near the revenue to cover war debts. We'll be mired for years. Decades, maybe." [22:20] 14It is her Codex now, after all. [22:20] 5Xu Sim, immediately: "If the Council makes an investment in the Circle, we will return handsomely on it." [22:20] 13Xia Lan:  13She's got herself, Tsuka, Ambassador, and Jai on the call. Whether the latter two are in on purpose is left as an exercise to the receiver. [22:20] 13Jai* [22:21] 12Keldar eyes the new Stranger. "Haven't got a psychic feel for our finances or anything? Tax breaks, interest, property - s'all been worked out and signed off. Hurts, but it's the nice kind of pain where you're alive to feel it." [22:21] 14Much more crisply: [22:21] 13She squawks. "What the--" [22:21] 5Xu SIm: "There are a number of ruined districts that I believe we could rehabilitate." [22:22] 14The Ambassador raises her page and winks. [22:22] 13She reddens. [22:22] <...what she said.> [22:23] 5Xu Sim: "Because ultimately, I am not really interested in trying to stop Keldar from being destroyed by the Stranger-Visits-Heaven, nor am I particularly interested in trying to destroy whatever the Stranger-Visits-Heaven has become." 15[22:23] Tsuka: <...I'm on my way.> [22:24] 5Xu SIm: "Both may be accommodated, trivially, as I see it." [22:25] 5Xu Sim: "But the Council and the people of Nexus both must have a way to be heard by the Emissary - which Balor could or would not do, as the war came upon us, and perhaps before as well. That deficiency must be immediately rectified." [22:25] 12Keldar: "Only one of us two is part of your Circle." 15[22:26] Kratz: "Where is Xia Lan? She should be part of these deliberations too." 15[22:26] Tsuka arrives at the Black Bog to find... what, exactly? What shape are Xia Lan, the Ambassador, and Jai in?" [22:27] 10Thence follows one of the most tense minutes of Jai's life to date, where he has to pretend he didn't hear any of that, which includes not laughing. He almost… almost makes it thirty whole seconds. [22:27] 14The Ambassador is mostly fine. Her tolerance seems...very high, and she's recovered from the sad song. [22:27] 12Keldar: "She was tired, for some reason. We could put this on hold and reconvene?" [22:27] 5Xu Sim: "And if you quarrel with me we will resolve it within the Circle. And I do not much trouble the affairs of these political bodies." [22:28] 13Xia Lan is in that interesting space between "definitely not sober" and "drunk." She's made her way back to the bar, where she has her second bottle of wine still - small mercies - and is no longer bothering to pour it into a glass. [22:29] 14Ambassador will have drawn her a glass of water in between. And Jai and herself, as well. [22:29] 14Pacing. [22:29] 13When Jai laughs she reddens again, but given the lack of people going "what the fuck" over the Codex, that's... probably it. Or maybe they are just very, very nice. [22:29] 14Lookshy and the Council could, after all, come to kill us at any time. Over property. [22:30] 12Keldar hmphs at Xu Sim. "Sure, politics ain't your business. But new fighting's another story." [22:31] 10Jai's doing all right. His eyes are red-rimmed and he's a few in, but overall he looks like someone who's just been able to set down a heavy burden for a few minutes. He gives Tsuka a little wave. 15[22:32] Tsuka draws himself some water, and sits beside Xia Lan so his good arm is towards her. "They're still arguing up on the hill." [22:32] 13She leans into him. "Nobody's dead yet, then." [22:32] 10Jai: "Keldar killed anyone yet?" [22:32] "Jinx." [22:32] 14Ambassador takes one look at him and decides to pour herself another drink instead of ask what he wants. He seems like that kind of boy. [22:32] 5Xu SIm: "I have come to detest war, bold Keldar. But"5 and with this he gives long looks to both the assembled Councillors and Stranger-Visits-Heaven -  "I have become acquainted with death." [22:32] 13Xia Lan: "I owe you a drink." [22:33] 14To Jai, then: "What'll it be?" [22:33] 12Keldar: "Well, I expect at least a little bias over who it comes to first, is all I'm sayin." 12He turns back to the others. "But yeah, like I said - Xia Lan's on leave, and there's still stuff actually on fire. Motion to carry on as usual and have this conversation later." [22:34] 10Jai: "Surprise me." [22:35] "Indeed." 14When she serves the shot, it's on fire. "All in one go, my good man." [22:37] "Just like in the South. Kanpai!" 15[22:37] Tsuka puts his arm around Xia Lan. [22:38] 14The Ambassador downs her own Firedust Special. "AAAAHhhh!" [22:38] 14Grin. "Nice." [22:39] 10It hits like a brick. "Whoof." [22:39] 13She leans in closer. "...seriously, is anybody dead?" [22:40] "It's that good fire." 14Not actually a shot at Tsuka, but the Ambassador has had just enough to drink she's not thinking the implications out that far down." [22:40] "I worry about Xu Sim." [22:40] -14" [22:40] -14" 15[22:40] Stranger: "We will not bleed the city's coffers and wait for it to die. We will not bleed the city's coffers and then vote to share our poverty. That's farcical. There is no freedom in Nexus if there is not freedom from need." 15[22:41] Tsuka: "He seems to be doing okay. I think his dog got hurt, though. Its face was all mangled." [22:41] 14The Ambassador, fittingly, barks a laugh. [22:41] "This can't be the first time they've locked horns over something. Hell, I know it isn't." [22:42] 13Xia Lan: "It's... like that. It's been like that." [22:42] 14She looks like she wants to say something, but she doesn't. That was before Jai got here. [22:42] "No such thing as freedom from need," 12Keldays says. "Not while you're human. And if we're not where everyone, everyone can come to do business, those coffers never, ever refill. We just end up another shitty Scavenger Lands backwater." 15[22:43] Kratz: "Why don't we do both?" [22:43] 12Keldar: "What?" [22:46] 5Xu Sim, fanning a page of the Codex: "Can the rest of you get back up here please?" 15[22:46] Kratz: "We don't need the poor to starve to let rich people seek their fortune. We can be open for business and safe to call home. Give the city government a stronger hand to run its own businesses, with a commitment to re-invest the proceeds. Why shouldn't a shopkeeper be able to hire the Dawn Guard as well as any mercenary company? Why shouldn't the Midday Husband retain chiurgeons 15[22:46] as well as any Guild office? We can provide for people without losing what makes us unique." [22:46] 14The Ambassador: [22:47] [22:47] 5Xu Sim: [22:47] 5Xu Sim:  [22:48] 13Xia Lan stiffens.  13That'll sober you up, quickly. "Okay, well, shit." [22:48] 12Keldar scratches the side of his chin with a thumb, regarding Kratz. "See, that's the kind of stuff I figure we could do anyway. Like I said, Civilities material." [22:48] 14Ambassador: "Water all around, and the metabolism for the rest." [22:48] 10Jai, to Xu Sim: [22:49] 5Xu Sim, to Keldar: "A brief sidebar, if you please?" [22:49] "And then we go do this." 14She narrows her eyes while pouring water. "Whatever the fuck this is." [22:49] "Accelerate our departure, hopefully." 15[22:50] Beale: "There's been some debates about this in the past. The Emissary always took the view that city-state-run businesses violated the first and second dogmas. A sideways form of taxes, you see, and competition that stifles local business." [22:50] 12Keldar nods, walking out to confer with the sorcerer in private. [22:52] 10Jai: "Maybe. Hey Tsuka, you want to be a travelling musician?" [22:52] 13Xia Lan coughs. Good thing she just finished her water. 15[22:52] Tsuka: "I can't sing." [22:53] 13Xia Lan: "Any instruments?" 13She'll need a second glass. [22:53] 5Xu Sim, quietly: "This information doesn't leave the Circle. But you know if the new Emissary steps out of line, I'll be the first to destroy it. I've already got part of a plan to do it, from, ah, before. We can't let the city see us take sides against each other like this, or we're all of us dead within the year." [22:55] 10Jai: "I can't play the flute either, but I've been meaning to learn." 10Jai stretches and heads out the door of the Bog, only wobbling a little. [22:55] 5Xu Sim, continuing as the others arrive: "We've been through Hell. And we're going to let a question of taxation or state medicine split that apart? After what we've been through? It's absurd. But we have to let things run their course. And we have a chance to change things," [22:56] 14Ambassador pours four generous bottles of water out, using empty wine bottles she's rinsed. "For the walk." [22:57] 12Keldar: "Don't be so sure I don't wint that race when it comes to it. ...but you heard me. We don't need a chance to change things, and the changes proposed are stupid, and even if they weren't they're not ours. Do you - I mean, I'm not remembering the end of the fight wrong, am I? We never... had this opportunity presented to us. We never conferred. We never even saw it happen. [22:57] Bastard snuck it right by us!" [22:57] 5Xu Sim: "It's the exact sort of object lesson an old coot like him would pull. I almost wish I'd thought of it first." [22:58] "Oh, thank you..." 13She takes a swig. "We should get going, probably." 15[22:58] Watered up, the mourners make the trek back up Sentinel Hill. 15[22:59] They have to wade through significantly more Lookshyan soldiers and Dawn Guard than they did on the way down. [23:00] 12Keldar: "Yeah, well, it's a good thing you didn't or else I'd be here sizing up both your animate corpses for weak spots! If something has to change about this city, it's the people who actually live here and love the place that have to cook it up together, not, I dunno, the echo of a dead man's voice." [23:00] 10Jai: "Feels like when a storm passes, but you're waiting to see if the floodwaters are going to break the levees." [23:03] 14Before they hit the soldiers, the Ambassador will suddenly be replaced by...a black house cat, with white highlights. [23:03] 14No telling when the worm is going to turn, here. [23:09] 5Xu Sim: "Those people, Keldar, Thalevar is right about them. They're wretches. They're struggling. We fought for them, and we won! The greatest war, the biggest battle, anywhere, in a hundred years? That's bigger than the Bull of the North! We destroyed Dread Ardua, together. And you put your life on the line for those people - those wretches drinking filthy water when - now - they [23:09] won't have to anymore... [23:10] 5Xu Sim: " We could have run, but we didn't. We made a sacrifice for them then. I'm asking you, as a comrade-in-arms, to make another sacrifice. And we're going to win, again. We're going to rebuild this city into something it hasn't been in thousands of years!" 15[23:14] Around now the Black Bog crew crests the hill, and sees the Council conferring among themselves in hushed, contentious whispers while Keldar and Xu Sim do so off to one side. Stranger stands there, arms folded, waiting. [23:15] 14The cat...falters. [23:18] 12Keldar draws a breath through his nose. "You're right. We did do that. But-but-but - we chose to do that, all right? I thought about it and I said to myself I'd see a world with Nexus in it even if I was risking never seeing the world again at all. But that's because this place is something special! I'm not kidding around with this 'only free city' stuff. Realm peasants get roofs [23:18] over their heads. Slaves get fed, guaranteed. That's 'cause they're parts in someone else's machine. It's just here that every man or woman owns themselves. Otherwise it might as well be another satrapy." [23:18] 14She will wander back down the hill and jump into a bush, unless stopped. [23:18] 10JaI, to the Ambassador: [23:19] [23:19] 13Xia Lan strides with a confidence she doesn't feel. Here we are, then. 15[23:21] Tsuka is there beside her. [23:22] 13He helps. This has been a nightmare of a day. [23:23] 10Jai squares his shoulders. Here we go again. He'll approach Xu Sim, but not yet; he seems to be at some kind of critical juncture with Keldar. [23:28] 5Xu Sim's eyebrows knit together and he sighs. "I spent a long time thinking about... well, all of it. But I think there is a higher freedom out there. Not just letting things fall as they may. Love is a higher freedom. And that's why we've got to give Stranger a chance, that's what we owe him, ourselves, the people of Nexus." [23:30] 12Keldar: "He had a chance, but went and got himself killed instead of taking it. Now Nexus is our problem." [23:33] 5Xu Sim nods. "It's our responsibility. And we can't just wash our hands and pretend nothing happened. That's no longer possible, at all. If we destroy the Emissary and try to run things the old way, we're going to have the same problems everyone without a Balor had. And we don't have a Balor anymore, now we have Stranger-Visits-Heaven. So things will be different. And hey... [23:33] 5Xu Sim: "Like I said. If it doesn't work for some reason, we erase him from existence and hammer that mask into a gravestone more worthy of our old friend." [23:34] 5Xu SIm: "Because at the end of the day, we will win. That's why we can afford to take risks." [23:48] 12Keldar narrows his eyes. He looks down for a moment, then up. "You think it's a good idea to just take the new Dogmas as given? That it'll just -- work out? Despite us already being on the hook for gods knows how many loans and contracts?" [23:50] 5Xu Sim claps his friend on the shoulder and takes a deep breath in. "Let me put it this way: who's gonna stop us?" 5He grins. [23:52] 10The tension doesn't dissipate entirely, but it eases up enough for Jai to butt in. "Have you come to terms?" [23:53] 12Keldar: "It's not that they'll stop us. It's that they'll starve us. If it's just, bam, new regime, trade's no longer free, business dries up, our neighbors lock shields against us, call in every debt -- when Balor made Nexus, there was ruin on all sides. But thanks to us plenty of the Lands're doing fine." [23:53] 12Keldar's spinning a hand now, pointing. "If we want to make this thing work, we have to sneak up on it, see? Civilities first. Votes. Special zones-" [23:55] 12Keldar's ready to spin these ideas as he walks with Xu Sim back to the rest of the Council, unless the sorcerer has any final notes. [23:55] 5Xu Sim is content to let the Tiger of Nexus do the talking now! [23:56] 10Guess they came to terms. [23:56] 13Nobody's dead yet. [23:58] 12When Keldar returns to the general negotiating table it's with some purpose in his step. "Listen. Just rewriting the Dogmas in a day'll kill us dead. If you want more sick people cared for-" 12this to Thalevar, "-and if you want to do your creator any justice-" 12this to Stranger, "-you need to be smart about it." [23:58] 10Almost nobody. But maybe their ideals have a chance to live on. 14[23:59] * banana|peels is now known as banana Session Time: Wed Sep 11 00:00:00 2019 15[00:02] Thalevar: "What are you talking about?" 15[00:02] Stranger: "If I might interrupt." 15[00:02] "I think at this point we'd best discuss this privately." [00:02] 5Xu Sim falls in besides Jai and Xia Lan. He gives them each a subtle nudge and a confident, comforting nod of his head. 15[00:02] People can feel the weight of the crowd gathered around them now. [00:03] 12As only Xu Sim's heard this material, Keldar takes the opportunity to simply repeat himself. "If you just change the Dogmas in a day we're done for. Balor made this place when everything was ruined, but thanks to us a lot of our neighbors aren't - and the Second's been our lifesblood." [00:04] 13Xia Lan: "The Emissary has a point. We should discuss this privately." 13She has a headache. [00:05] 12The Sergeant looks around and gets a bit vaguer. "Maybe there's a way you can get what you want, and I can get what I want - that being a Nexus that sees the next decade. But the way we do it's tricky and it's gonna take longer than you like." 15[00:06] Stranger's smiling mask is fixed and frozen. "This is good. This is progress. Come! Let us work this out together, as one." 15[00:07] NEXT TIME: Epilogue 15[00:38] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed Sep 11 00:38:57 2019 Session Start: Wed Sep 11 00:42:15 2019 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[00:42] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[00:42] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[00:42] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[01:14] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[01:53] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[03:34] * banana|split is now known as bananaphone 14[04:18] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Quit: ) 14[04:18] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[04:50] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[05:11] * Quits: VoxPrime (Quit: ) 14[05:49] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:54] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[06:58] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[08:43] * bananaphone is now known as banana 14[09:39] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:11] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[12:28] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:27] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:06] * Joins: tom 14[19:08] * Joins: dammitwho 15[20:32] * Disconnected 15[20:32] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:32] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:32] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[20:32] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 15[20:33] * Disconnected 15[20:36] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[20:36] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[20:36] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[20:36] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[20:36] * Quits: GreatClownVoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:29] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:55] * Joins: tom Session Time: Thu Sep 12 00:00:00 2019 14[00:15] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:42] * Joins: mattbaby 14[01:56] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: ) 14[04:46] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[07:48] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:04] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[17:04] * Joins: CBN 14[17:38] * Joins: tom [17:41] [17:41] [17:41] [17:41] [17:41] [17:41] [17:41] [17:41] [17:41] [17:41] [17:41] NOW: "What do you want? What the fuck do you want?! What I'd do to you??" the man screams. [17:41] "You didn't do anything to me," says the Sun Banisher of the Freehold of Baltimore, and kicked him in the back of the knee, forcing him down. "This isn't personal. If it was personal, it would take longer." She stepped back, then back again, judging distance, the black tube of the gun still pointed at his head. [17:41] "Then wh--" [17:41] The gun only sounds like someone spitting loudly when it fires. He falls dead. [17:41] EARLIER: So where's Tony living these days? [17:42] [17:42] [17:42] [17:42] [17:42] [17:42] [17:42] [17:42] [17:42] [17:42] [17:42] [17:42] [17:42] [17:42] NOW: "What do you want? What the fuck do you want?! What I'd do to you??" the man screams. [17:42] "You didn't do anything to me," says the Sun Banisher of the Freehold of Baltimore, and kicks him in the back of the knee, forcing him down. "This isn't personal. If it was personal, it would take longer." She steps back, then back again, judging distance, the black tube of the gun still pointed at his head. [17:42] "Then wh--" [17:42] The gun only sounds like someone spitting loudly when it fires. He falls dead. [17:42] EARLIER: So where's Tony living these days? [17:53] 5 His apartment would be a dump if he didn't devote most of his free time to keeping it organized. It's too small, the lighting's shitty, the building's shitty if you're charitable. But it's on the major buslines and it's what you can get on a lawnmower man's wage, and no one noticed that he installed his own window bars and second deadbolt. [17:56] That makes him one of that rare species in Baltimore City -- not a Changeling, though that too, but someone who commutes OUT of the city for work. Most of his customers are going to be out in the county, probably close -- Catonsville, Towson, maybe Dundalk though they're not as, aheh, tony over there. Does he have his own business or is he working for someone? [17:57] The harsh reality of it is that a white man who is willing to mow lawns is going to get more business from the rich white folks than anyone else. But that's all relative, of course. [17:59] 5 People love paying cash and speaking their native tongue to a guy who doesn't talk much, so Tony makes do on what's slowly becoming a reliable stable of lawn-having entities: A few smaller nursing homes that need general fixit work, your usual upper-middles who'll only take the gas costs for their own mower out of your day's pay SOME of the time, that sort. [18:00] And hey, a guy who hangs out in weird gardens all day for cash is probably making himself a bit more interesting to the Freehold. How long has Tony been back? [18:00] 5 Added bonus, the only person you ever have to talk to is the one you're doing something for, and that's a massive step up from a couple decades of rattled chains and bony fingers pointing at bodies expectantly. [18:01] 5 He's been back since mid-2016, so going from a post-impeachment Ford term the 2016 election felt relatively smooth. Not that he voted, or wanted to push his luck trying. [18:04] That does require papers...which the Freehold can provide, if he wishes. They've reached out to him -- through letters or e-mails or whatever's most convenient for Tony -- a couple times. First, a meet and greet with other...victims like him...at a too-expensive tapas bar on Charles Street, which he thankfully didn't have to pay for. The second time was a bit more formal: there were [18:04] representatives from each of the Freehold's four courts there, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. [18:04] Does Tony know what a 'job fair' is? [18:05] 5 They had them back in the day, but he never went. He was going to go to college on a football scholarship after all. [18:06] Well, this all seemed suspiciously like a job fair. How did he react to that? [18:06] 5 But he still managed to scrounge up good-enough-to-get-an-apartment-and-a-bus-pass papers, which at this point could only be better if he wanted to buy a house or get a job somewhere that does full background checks. But good jobs are a bit out of the question. [18:06] Well, that's a problem all over. [18:08] 5 Scouting's scouting, and Tony's gotten this far on his strengths: Show up, stand there, and do stuff when asked. So if anyone asked him questions, he had an answer, but he's only social when compelled to be. But he's trying to adjust. [18:08] Mmm. He probably didn't get too much interest from anyone, then. [18:08] ...There's a good takeout place just down the block. What kind of food does it have? [18:09] 5 Hey, coming off 40 years of no interest being the best interest. Some things never change. [18:09] 5 Chinese is the most adventurous he's going to get without a gun to his head, but it's cheap, stores well-ish, and no one's big on talking to him there, either. [18:10] 5 This General Tso guy seems to make a good chicken, and that gets him through a couple dinner-to-breakfasts as needed. [18:12] It's a cool night in September, then, just after the heat's broken for summer, and he's walking home with his favorite order -- they do a good dinner combo deal on the General Tso's. He's getting fewer looks than he used to get; he's one of the few white people in this neighborhood, so they never stop entirely, but he's been here long enough that his presence isn't a surprise anymore. [18:12] The air is crisp and cool at sunset, and no one bothers him on his way home. [18:12] Does he lock the door when he steps inside? [18:13] 5 Both deadbolts, the chain lock with the one-inch vision gap, and if no one's there to immediately block him (so far, there's never been), he'll be giving the window bars a reassuring tug before he even puts his leftovers down. [18:24] Well, don't get ahead of yourself, Tony. He makes it maybe six steps into the apartment before a changeling steps out into the main room from the door to his kitchen, and one from the door to his bathroom, and one from the door to his bedroom. Behind him, he hears a knock on the door -- from the inside. He'll find a fourth changeling is leaning against that now, too. [18:24] The one from the kitchen is a thin, gnarled, girlish thing; she seems almost like a mannequin. She's wearing a hoodie but doesn't have the hood up, and though she's got long black hair in her Mask, her Mien is completely bald. When she turns her head, you can see parts working in the exposed sections of her neck. [18:24] The one from the bathroom is a great, looming force of a man, beady eyes in his Mask and basalt skin in his Mien, hands made for violence respectfully clasped in front of him, dressed like the nondescript driver for a very well-off businessman. Except for the one on the door, he's the closest to Tony at the moment, which doesn't seem like coincidence. [18:24] Speaking of, the one on the door is a grinning little fuck, but the smile seems sad. Only maybe out of his teens in both his Mask and his Mien, and behind the smile is the ever-present insecurity of a beaten dog. He's the only one that will wilt, somewhat, when Tony turns to consider him; his eyes will dart to the others instinctively for support. [18:24] And out of Tony's bedroom steps the man who is clearly their leader, tall, bald and handsomely imposing in his Mask...and a complete blank slate in his Mien. Just a face of flat white; no nose, no mouth, no eyes. As his Mask's eyes meet Tony's, he slowly...slowly...slowly tilts his head sideways. Then after maybe three seconds at most of letting Tony take this all in, he asks: [18:24] "Fight or flight, Mr. Bowen?" 14[18:24] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [18:25] The air in the room is 15 degrees cooler than it should be. Ice forms on the vent above the flat-faced man's head. [18:27] "Well fuck, ok." 5 Tony raises his arms, slowly.  "I only have the cash that's on me, if you're gonna break anything start with my face and not my legs, I don't have any guns and the TV barely works." 14[18:27] * Joins: Crion_ 14[18:30] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [18:30] "Well fuck, ok." 5 Tony raises his arms, slowly.  "I only have the cash that's on me, if you're gonna break anything start with my face and not my legs, I don't have any guns and the TV barely works." [18:30] There's a long pause. Then the flat-faced man looks over to the doll girl: "Neither. It's been some time since we've had a neither." [18:31] The big man visibly relaxes; the boy walks away from the door and sort of shys away from Tony as he scampers back behind the flat-faced man. The doll girl leans against the door frame and watches him. "Yeah," she says. "I guess." [18:32] 5 Hands still up, "Weird shit? If it's weird shit, I'm not going in for weird shit." 5 He lowers his arms into a stance that, if anyone in the room follows football, they'd recognize as coming about 4 seconds before a tackling dummy gets rolled. [18:32] The flat-faced man puts a hand on the boy's shoulder before stepping in front of him. "We're not here to rob you. Or beat the shit out of you, obviously." [18:32] That gets laughs from everyone in the apartment except the big man. [18:32] 5 Immediately un-clenches. "Oh well thank fuck for that." [18:33] "Oh yes. It will be weird shit," the flat-faced man says. Somehow you can still tell he's grinning. [18:33] "But not in the way you mean." [18:34] "I apologize for the theatrics. I suppose it appears that we've just broken into your apartment on a whim to have a bit of a laugh. Part of that is true. Not the part with the laugh." [18:34] The flat-faced man puts his hand on the bedroom doorframe. "It's important to demonstrate, I feel, at the very beginning, that this world is not a safe one. Things get in." [18:35] "And of course, we wanted to see if you'd fight or if you'd run. Doing neither...well then. That is interesting." [18:35] "Oh, cool beans, cool beans." 5 It's hard doing flat-affect sarcasm without sounding snotty, but there's a resignation here that's just kind of depressing, honestly. [18:36] He turns back. "I am the Liaison of the Court of Winter. You may call me...Colin. Currently I am Colin. Soon, I'll be someone else." [18:37] "Well hey Colin, you want to sit? There's the two folding chairs up against that wall, you'll wanna avoid the duct tape grips on the bottom there, recliner here's mine, standing room only for lucky number four?" 5 He offers semi-un-apologetically to the room. [18:39] 5 And to the one on the door, specifically, flat and sincere:  "Don't sit on my countertop, I just got it like that and I don't know where you've been." [18:39] "Oh, of course! My thanks. Jameson will be fine standing." That's the big guy. "And my other associates are Kit--" the boy "--and Spring." The doll. The two males don't respond; the doll girl says, "Yo." She also doesn't move until 'Colin' gives her a pointed (?) look. "Ugh, fine." [18:40] The boy pouts and will sit cross-legged on the floor instead. [18:41] 'Colin' and Spring take the folding chairs. [18:41] "You mind if I get this in the fridge before it turns?" 5 He hefts the leftover quart of Menu #8 and the pint of rice, which he knows won't reheat well, but it's about the principle of the thing. [18:43] 5 And does so.  "Lemme just, ope, past ya there, uff." 5 And it's away and he settles into the recliner with a Miller Lite with the grace of a practiced routine, turning it to face the group with one hand as he settles. [18:43] He gestures expansively. "Feel free to eat." 14[18:43] * Joins: trenchfoot [18:43] 5 Waves it off.  "Thanks but then I'm out breakfast, and I've got back-to-backs tomorrow just past dawn." [18:44] "Understandable." The flat-faced man notices the boy stared at one of the egg rolls hungrily. "Kit. Manners." [18:44] The boy sighs. [18:44] "We are, of course, guests here. Even if we did break in." [18:45] "Hey new friends are just strangers you haven't met yet or something, right? One of the books says that." [18:45] Spring, flatly: "Yeah. One of the books does, in fact, say that." [18:45] She gets another look. [18:45] 'Colin': "I'm here to make a pitch." [18:46] 5 To Spring,  "Got some WD-40 for your neck if you need it, you look a little wound up." 5 Then quiets for the pitch. [18:47] You can almost hear her eyes roll. Uncanny. [18:48] 'Colin': "We would like to offer you an entry-level position in a somewhat-exciting but usually very boring enterprise, with significant growth potential in deception, sadness, janitorial work, and occasionally, incredible violence." [18:49] "And I suspect at least two out of those four appeal to you." [18:50] "It pay, or?" [18:50] "Because they had one'a these down at the airport Hilton and they wanted me to sell steak knives but that was a pass." [18:51] He still, somehow, smiles. "Not so you'd pay taxes on it. We're a...cash operation. We don't sell knives. If you need a knife, we will give you a knife." [18:51] Spring: "It will be a real good knife." [18:51] 'Colin': "Ask me about the benefits." [18:52] "Hey I'll take whatever tools you got handy for the job, and cash spends the best even today." [18:52] "Are the benefits better locks?" [18:52] "Sorry that's rude of me, sorry, sorry." [18:53] 'Colin': "That was precisely what I meant, in fact. We are the security experts of the Freehold, and we provide our best solutions in-house." [18:53] "Of course, the best security solution isn't a lock. It's no one being able to find your doors in the first place." [18:53] "That works?" [18:54] "I guess you'd never know if it did. Man that's smart." 5 Entirely sincere, a little awed. [18:54] "Well I'm in. Should I call off my mornings or no-call no-show them?" [18:55] 'Colin': "To a certain degree, everything works. But yes. Si vis pacem, para bellum, the Romans said -- if you want peace, prepare for war. The funny thing about the Romans, of course, was that really, they just wanted war. If you want peace, prepare for silence. Isolation." [18:56] 'Colin' waves a hand. "Do as you like, there. We don't want your day times. You can adjust how much...lawn care...you wish to do to respond to your new income." [18:56] "So you need trenches dug, fences built, maybe some'a that uh...ground cover camo-siding, fancy shit like that? I can huck it if you've got it, or toss some together if you need-" 5 Cuts himself off. [18:57] "No, the only thing I need from you other than a handshake right now, Tony, is for you to go with Spring right now to a certain rowhouse on a certain street, and do exactly as she says." [18:58] 5 He holds up a finger with one hand and finishes his beer with the other, it's down, his hand wiped off on his jeans, then extended to Colin. "Hey sold." 5 And he's up. [18:59] 'Colin' shakes. His smile somehow widens. "Excellent." 14[19:18] * Quits: VoxPrime (Quit: ) [19:34] Ten minutes later, out on the street, Spring makes a sound in the back of her throat and says, "So you got a car or what?" [19:38] "F'n it hasn't been stolen yet, it's on one of these blocks. Maybe it'll even start today." 5 And he takes off walking, and within a few blocks of meandering, indeed, a rusty hatchback almost as actually-old as he is, reveals itself.  "Yeah you gotta jiggle the handle there a lot. Handle sticks, lock sticks. I don't think that window works either but you're welcome to really put your shoulder into the crank." 5 He shrugs. "More [19:38] of a bus man for some reason." [19:39] She kind of stares at it for a moment. "Yeah, no shit." [19:39] "Whatever. Let's go." [19:40] After messing with the handle a little bit, she knocks on the window, if Tony's already gotten in. "ROLL IT DOWN." [19:41] 5 Tony attempts to do so, and eventually, it should go down at least an inch. One hopes. [19:41] "Oh for fuck's sake." [19:42] "Give 'er a kick, she won't bite." 5 He braces to push when she does, and with some elbow-to-shoulder grease, it should open. [19:44] Spring touches the window with an index finger and tilts her head, and the window bit by screeching bit lowers down into the door, following her finger. Then she slides on in through the open window and rolls it up halfway, smoothly. "You're welcome." [19:45] "The engine works at least, right?" [19:46] "Oh, sick." [19:46] 5 He nods.  "That, that' should work." [19:47] "Fuckin' fantastic. Here's an address." She puts her newfangled phone on the dashboard. It's got 'Google Maps' up, and is telling him to drive down the street and turn right. It appears to be watching them in real time...? "And here's the app telling you how to get to the address." [19:48] "But I just ate." [19:48] "What?" [19:48] "The appetizer?" [19:48] "Oh my god." [19:49] "Okay." [19:49] "Look at the arrow." [19:49] 5 Utterly blank-faced sincerity. [19:49] "Folllllow the arrow." [19:49] "10-4 good buddy." 5 And so he will attempt to do so. [19:49] "And nudge me when we get there. Or you crash into a cop car." She puts a pair of what look like hearing aids in her ears. [19:50] She touches something on a weird little silver stick she's carrying, and then from her ears, Tony can hear this blaring: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VPotzhpAGE [19:52] 5 Under his breath, loosely in time with what he can hear, "and this bird you cannot cha-ee-aaayyynge....ba da doo, da da DA" 5Drumming his fingers on the wheel while he 10-and-2s his way there. [19:53] The address is a non-descript rowhome off 27th Street. There's more than enough places to park out front. Comparing the number on the little screen here -- and the location marker, which follows the car EERILY well -- to the street, they're going to the one second from the end. The only one that looks well-kept, really. And has a guy out front. [19:54] Doesn't have anything weird going on. Looks human. [19:54] Well. Normal. [19:55] Does he nudge her as she asked? [19:55] 5Indeed he does. Normal. [19:56] "Hey we're at the thing, the dot is doing a circle thing. Now it's small. Now it's big. Now it's small again." [19:56] She opens her eyes. "Oh. Cool. Yeah, that's phones." [19:56] "Shit, dude. Learn about phones." [19:56] She snatches it off the dashboard. [19:57] Spring tries the door again -- which doesn't work -- then sighs and rolls down the window, sliding back out the way she came in. [19:57] "I have a phone at home!" [19:58] "Yeah, yeah." When Tony's stepped out of the car, she slaps the roof. "How many bodies can you fit in this thing?" [19:58] 5 And he follows, but, through a functioning door that he locks behind him. Not that it matters with the passenger window down completely. He's not even going to ask. [19:58] "Together or separate?" [19:59] Spring grins. "Do you mean the bodies are separate or the bodies are..." She gestures to like, ripping a dude's arms off. "...separate?" [19:59] "Because separate you can usually make much better use of space. And then there's liquids but you can't carry liquid, without a pail, so. To answer your question I don't know but I haven't had to test it." [19:59] 5He nods. "How else?" [19:59] She gives him a finger gun. "I like that answer. And a hatchback is good thinking. Maybe fix the damn doors though." [20:00] "Won't need it today." [20:00] "When was the last time you went into the Hedge?" 14[20:01] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:01] 5He shudders. "I try not to if I can avoid it. So a bit." [20:02] Spring nods. "Alright. Well, we're about to do that." She reaches into her pocket and pops a piece of chewing gum into her mouth. Down the sidewalk, at the other end of the street, the guy standing on the door seems to be watching them intently. [20:02] And when she leads Tony to an alleyway and blows a bubble in his direction, the man flinches when it pops. [20:02] "So." [20:03] 5 He grits his teeth, which sounds like rusty nails jangling in a paintcan."So..." [20:03] Spring: "A lot of the work has already been done here. We're the end of the story, not the beginning or the middle. That's why that guy's freaked to shit." [20:03] She spreads her arms at the alleyway. "What do you see?" [20:04] 5A good question. [20:06] "Well there's that door that isn't really...door-ing?" 5And he points to it. [20:07] She grins again. "Oh it'll fucking door, alright." [20:07] "But good work, detective. That's the important shit." [20:07] That sounds almost sincere. [20:07] "Cool beans" 5Thumbs-up. [20:08] She walks over to it and kicks aside one of the trashbags. "See this?" There's an...asterisk?...drawn on the brick in chalk. [20:08] "Trash Hedge huh? Weird shit." [20:08] "Don't hate." [20:09] 5Holds up his hands. "I'm sorry, I'm learning." [20:09] "And don't patronize me. This--" She points at the asterisk. "Is our snowflake. And our north star." [20:10] "You see this next to a door, especially one this weirdly stupid and frankly we need to work on our subtlety a bit -- anyway, you see that near a door, that's us." [20:10] "Always white chalk." [20:11] "White chalk, asterisk, 10-4." [20:11] "So, when you do this..." She touches the doorframe and puts glamour into it, and it explodes open into a portal into the Hedge. "There's gonna be something good on the other side." [20:12] She steps through, half-waving for Tony to follow. [20:12] 5And he does so. [20:13] 5Covering a wince as he does. [20:14] It's sunset on this side too. They're in a weird mostly-urban cul de sac...and if he turns south, towards the center of the city, Tony can see a massive tree sticking out of the hedge, growing around a massive ivory...skyscraper? [20:14] Weird. [20:15] "Weird shit again." 5 Under his breath. [20:20] More importantly, sitting in the middle of the hedged-in path atop a long...treasure chest? It kind of looks like a treasure chest...is a particularly grumpy looking hob. With a shotgun. [20:21] "Hrrrrrh," he says. [20:21] "Yeah fuck you too," says Spring. [20:21] "Tony, meet our butler." [20:21] 5 Tony smiles and kneels down some. "Well hey little guy. What's your name?" [20:22] The hob arches an eyebrow. "Hrrrh?" [20:22] Spring makes a raspberry noise. [20:25] "Whatcha got there?" 5He points at the chest. "Some good treasures? I'm not gonna take 'em don't worry, and I don't think she will either." [20:25] 5He turns to Spring."So what's he do, other than this?" [20:27] Now it's the hob's turn to roll his eyes. He hops down off the chest onto stubby legs, slings the shotgun over his shoulder, and begins to toddle off. "He acts like a little shit," she says, "and refuses to talk to you, but he can understand you just fine. And he watches our dead drops here in the Hedge." [20:27] As the Butler heads out, he raises a middle finger back at Spring. [20:28] "Open it up," Spring says. "See what they've got for us." [20:28] 5Tony nods and leans forward, flicking the lid back (assuming it'll give). 14[20:29] * Joins: trenchfoot [20:29] It opens easily. Inside there appears to be... [20:29] A tarp...five beach towels...a pipe?...and a pistol magazine. [20:30] "Ah fuck," Spring says. "Seems he went and did it." [20:31] "The tarp and the towels are for you." [20:31] "So who're you killing with the pipe and how far am I gonna have to carry them in the tarp and towels?" [20:31] "You know where that guy was standing?" [20:31] "Out on the street." [20:32] "Yeah....?" [20:33] "The backdoor of every rowhome leads out to an alley that runs parallel with the street itself. That alley meets the alley on the other side of this portal. So you're going to take the towels and the tarp, walk them up two flights of stairs, then walk them back down two flights of stairs out the backdoor, down the alley, down THIS alley, back to this door." [20:33] "They'll be heavier on the trip back." [20:33] "Two flights of stairs, two flights of stairs, backdoor, down alley, down alley, door. 10-4." [20:34] 5Tony rolls up the tarp, rolls up the towels, hefts them over a shoulder. [20:34] Spring pulls the pipe and the pistol clip out of the chest, secret them away in her hoodie, and pulls up the hood. "You know everyone's going to think you're a cop if you keep saying 10-4?" [20:35] "I mean, fine, if that's cool with you." [20:35] Spring walks back over to the portal. "Not cool with me. Not a life choice I'm gonna make." [20:36] "Cool beans." 5He nods and sets out as directed. [20:36] When they get back out to the street, the lookout guy is gone. [20:36] Spring: "You good at being sneaky, big man?" [20:37] 5He looks up. If he can see the night sky, he is. "That and a little else." [20:37] The sun has set. 14[20:38] * Joins: mattbaby [20:40] "Then here's what we're going to do. We go up the stairs. When I tell you, you open the door -- it'll be locked. Sneak on in to the main room and lay down the tarp. Put the towels over a couch or some shit, you won't need them until after. I'll sneak in behind you. Guy will be in his bedroom, probably. It's where his computer is. Once everything's set, I'm going to nod to you, and [20:40] you're going to say, loudly, 'It's getting cold, Roberto.'" [20:41] "How am I supposed to open the door?" [20:41] She pushes the door open to the rowhome and pauses. "You don't know how to pick a lock?" [20:43] "Badly, if I've got something handy. Unless you think I could kick it? But that'd probably blow that sneaking part." [20:44] With exasperation: "...And you haven't made a dread faerie pact with the Arcadian concept of locks either. Have you." [20:45] "The who? No?" [20:45] She grimaces. "Then I! Once again! Will be doing most of the work. Come on." [20:46] "Well hey now, I drove..."5He trails off. [20:49] She turns and walks up the stairs to the second floor apartment, pulling the pipe and the pistol magazine out of her hoodie as she does. The magazine goes into a magazine-shaped hole on the pipe with a click, and suddenly, it's very uncomfortable-looking gun. Still holding that gun like it's a pipe with a weird thing sticking off of it, she touches the lock of the second-story door [20:49] with her finger and makes a swirling motion. There's a gentle click. [20:49] She steps back and nods to Tony to do his thing. [20:55] 5Tony holds up a finger, visibly counts to a minute on his fingers standing in darkness, and seems to recede behind darkness that comes over him like leaves falling. [20:55] If he bothers watching, Spring looks impressed. [20:55] 5After he's sufficiently Less There, he proceeds, slowly, waiting until presumptive-Roberto leaves the room to proceedd further in. [20:58] 5 If it's all clear, he'll head into the main room. [20:59] Seems so. The guy is on his phone in the bedroom, the door cracked open and light coming out into the main room, which has a big open space, a flatscreen on the other side of the bedroom wall, and a couple couches. And a plant or two. Big place to put the tarp. [20:59] He's alternately belittling and hysterically screaming at what sounds like either a girlfriend or a mother. Kind of weird how hard it is to tell. [21:00] 5He sets down the tarp. Carefully arranges the towels. Having seen enough bloodspatter and done enough cleanup in his time, he's pretty sure he's got it covered. Then he unrolls the tarp somewhere that gives it a nice, centrally-located space from which said spatter may, but hopefully not, emanate. [21:01] 5He takes a deep breath and looks to Spring for the signal. [21:01] Spring slips in behind him, sticking to the walls. It's weird: Tony know where she is, so when he's looking at her directly, he can tell that she's...glowing, with some inner light. It comes out the openings in her Mien, from, as far as he can tell, her heart. Like it's always a burning light, just obscured by flesh that's now machine. [21:01] But when he looks even slightly away, she's gone. [21:02] When Tony's set, Spring slides next to the bedroom door, hold the pipe like an actual gun, and gives him a nod. [21:05] 5 He exhales, inhales again, and announces to the room loud enough to drop his shadows, "It's getting cold, Roberto!" [21:07] Behind the door: "The fuck?!" [21:08] He storms out into the main room. "The fu--" [21:08] Spring is holding the pipe gun like a nightstick now, and hits him twice with it. He stumbles forward. "THE--THE FUCK!!" [21:09] "We're not here to talk and you have a gun on you," she says. Her voice has no playfulness, or annoyance, or even sarcasm in it. "Step forward." [21:09] "Bitch, I will--" She shoves him forward and presses the gun to the back of his head. [21:09] He is now positioned for the tarp. [21:10] "What do you want? What the fuck do you want?! What I'd do to you??" the man screams. [21:10] "You didn't do anything to me," says the Sun Banisher of the Freehold of Baltimore, and kicks him in the back of the knee, forcing him down. "This isn't personal. If it was personal, it would take longer." She steps back, then back again, judging distance, the black tube of the gun still pointed at his head. [21:10] "Then wh--" [21:10] The gun only sounds like someone spitting loudly when it fires. He falls dead. [21:10] She stares at him for a second, then: two more shots. [21:10] Then she tosses the gun onto the body. [21:10] "Let's clean it up." [21:10] "Good placement on the towels." [21:11] This time, Spring will help, and follow Tony's direction. [21:12] "Like I said, I'm good for a little else." 5He cracks a smile. [21:12] She appears to be...distant. [21:12] "Toss the towels on the body, that'll help with any drip. Flip the bottom of the tarp up over his feet, and then I'll take it from there." [21:12] She nods and gets to work. [21:17] 5As soon as she's done, he gets to work. If she isn't paying attention, it goes very fast. If she is, it only goes fast. And soon enough, he's slinging the rolled-up tarp bundle over his shoulder. "And back again?" [21:17] "Home again, home again," Spring mutters. She's not quite paying attention. "Jiggity-jig." [21:18] She blinks. Then: "I'll go first, and clear it for you." [21:18] "Cool beans." 5 He nods and motions for her to head on. [21:20] The backdoor is, unfortunately, being watched by a couple of dogs. They're able to slip past with just some yipping that becomes barking when they smell what's going on in that tarp. Spring clears Tony through the back gate, then down the alley, then to the 'door' that leads back into the Hedge. [21:21] This time, however, she takes an old and ancient key out of her hoodie...and touches it to that chalk snowflake. [21:21] It lights up. [21:21] She turns the key, and the chalk snowflake spins, and... [21:21] 5Tony makes a mental note of that, tightens his grip on his cargo, and waits. [21:21] The door bursts open again, to the Hedge again, but this time a gust of wintry snow blows through. "Let's go," Spring says. [21:22] They are not where they were before. [21:23] The walls climb up like they would in the Hedge, but they are solid rock, with calcified, almost fossilized remains of ivy. Instead of facing a cul-de-sac, they are standing on the edge of a giant pit. [21:23] And down there, in that pit, as the ice and snow blow around them, are countless rolled-up tarps. [21:23] "Toss it," Spring says. [21:24] 5And toss it he does. Feels like home, just with more conversation. [21:25] She stares for a moment, then turns back to the portal. [21:25] It shuts behind them. The chalk snowflake is gone. [21:26] "You know, most people ask," Spring says. Her voice sounds different. Flatter; less mean. [21:26] "Habit not to, if you probably know enough of the answer." [21:27] "Yeah," she says. "Yeah." [21:27] "And as long as I don't have to dig a new pit and full it up, it's a step up already." [21:27] They walk back out to the mouth of the alley. "I think I'll find my own way home. Just need to walk for awhile," she says. The moon is high and the air smells slightly of smoke. [21:27] "Thank you, by the way. I'm not being patronizing saying I know this isn't easy. But it's not as hard with somebody to talk to." 5He makes no eye contact at all for any of this. [21:28] 5And hurriedly to break the silence, "Anywayseeyouaround coolbeans." [21:28] Neither does she. "I get it. And thank you for your help tonight, Tony. I just have to...be somewhere else, right now." [21:29] As she turns down the street and puts her earbuds in again, the moon catches the beginning of tears freezing in her eyes. [21:29] --Fin. 14[21:57] * Joins: VoxPrime Session Time: Fri Sep 13 00:00:00 2019 14[00:51] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:32] * Quits: dammitwho (Connection closed) 14[05:33] * Joins: dammitwho 14[09:07] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[09:34] * Quits: Crion_ (Quit: ) 15[11:17] * Disconnected 15[11:18] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[11:18] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[11:18] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[11:18] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[11:18] * Joins: VoxPrimey 14[11:19] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:19] * Quits: VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:20] * Quits: Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:13] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 14[12:13] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 15[12:20] * Disconnected 15[12:20] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[12:20] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[12:20] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[12:20] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[12:49] * Joins: Crion 14[13:28] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Quit: ) 14[13:28] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[18:26] * Joins: Crion_ 14[18:28] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:34] * Joins: tom 14[20:15] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:08] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:10] * Joins: tom 14[21:16] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:16] * Joins: tom 14[21:22] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:25] * Joins: tom 14[22:33] * Joins: tom2 14[22:35] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sat Sep 14 00:00:00 2019 14[00:01] * Joins: dammitwhoa 15[00:03]  15[00:03]  15[00:03]  15[00:03]  15[00:03]  15[00:06] 10This was a mistake. It's too late in the day and the bar's too crowded and noisy. Someone he doesn't know is tuning up on the bar's venue stage. Someone else he doesn't know is passing him a drink. Stewart doesn't even LIKE drinking. He should've stayed home. 15[00:08] 10Also, his feet hurt. [00:09] "Hey there!" 7Maggie says cheerfully. "You're a new fella, aren't you?" 7She's passed him a glass of some heavy stout or other. 15[00:10] 10He takes the glass before looking to see who handed it to him. When she speaks he realizes he has seen her. "You were at the icebreaker, right?" 11[00:13] "That's right! Maggie Bakehead." 7How tall is Stewart? 15[00:17] 10Mayyybe 5'10? It's hard to tell with his posture. His Mask is pasty and lank, his Mien fair and graceful. "Stewart. Is this place always so loud?" [00:21] 7Maggie's shorter than him, then, and gives him the vague impression of an old wood-burning stove turned into an anthropomorphic cartoon character. "Pretty much! You ever hear of this thing they do here? 'Karaoke'? They came up with it in Japan, they say!" 15[00:22] 10Stewart pauses a bit, unsure exactly what level of irony this lady is operating on. "Like where you get up and sing?" 14[00:24] * Joins: hrolf [00:26] "Yeah! Heck of a thing!" [00:27] 7Her Mask looks like she has never operated on any level of irony in her life. 15[00:28] 10It's weird, right? It's weird to strike up a conversation with this lady after basically ignoring her twice. Stewart's being weird right now. "What'd you sing?" 11[00:30] 7Maggie: "An old Stan Rogers bit, the Mary Ellen Carter. It's surprising what comes back to you in the right situation. So who picked you up, Stewart?" 7She squints at him. "Autumn? Winter?" 15[00:31] 10Stewart looks briefly skittish, glancing over Maggie's shoulder to make sure no one is eavesdropping. "Autumn. You?" 14[00:34] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:35] "Spring! I guess you can kind of tell, huh?" 15[00:37] 10Stewart: "Do you know who got the tree lady?" 15[00:37] 10It's hard to forget a tree lady. [00:40] This early in the evening there are only two other Lost in here: a bored looking goat-guy out of Spring tending bar who did little more than nod disinterestedly in your directions when you came in, and a guy who looks just like the man Maggie saw at the rec center telling off the cops...except angrier, and with a Summer mantle. Harlan, Amelia, and everyone else are either not in yet [00:40] or not coming. [00:42] 7She shakes her head. "I haven't seen her since the icebreaker." 11[00:44] "So what do you do for fun, Stewart?" 15[00:45] 10Stewart thanks Maggie belatedly for the drink and takes a sip. This tastes like dirt. He takes another sip. What do you talk to people about? "What do... what do you do?" 14[00:47] * Joins: tom [00:50] 7Maggie, pleasantly: "Oh, you know. This and that, fiddling with car innards, doing some baking..." 15[00:52] 10Stewart: "Which is harder?" [00:54] "Well, I don't know that either one is particularly hard as such... what about you?" 7He evaded the question the first time, and the best way to deal with someone being evasive is to ask again! 15[00:59] 10Stewart hesitates. He can't really make like he didn't hear the question again... "I'm a str•••" 10He wipes his mouth as he answers. [01:00] "Hmm?" 15[01:01] 10Stewart: "I'm a streamer." [01:04] "Oh! ...what's that?" 15[01:05] 10MAYDAY MAYDAY WE ARE LOSING ALTITUDE "I m- I play video games for an audience." 11[01:08] 7Maggie looks thoughtful for a moment, clearly considering and discarding a vision of Stewart literally playing games on a stage in a concert hall somewhere. "You mean... through the internet? You can do that?" 15[01:13] 10Stewart nods. "Yeah, I do it from home." 15[01:13] 10Which is why I haven't gone outside in a week. 11[01:19] 7Maggie looks away and frowns for a second. "Now, Stewart, I understand that this is a lot to ask from someone I've just met. But maybe you could do me a favor? I'm pretty sure computers and such are after my time, if you get me. I took classes at the library to understand how to use 'em, but beyond that I'm clinging on with my fingernails. Do you mind helping me out with a few [01:19] questions? Uh, maybe somewhere a little quieter? You look a little uncomfortable." 7She pats his hand reassuringly. 15[01:20] 10Maggie can see the gears turning in Stewart's head as he stares. It feels longer than the few seconds it is before he says "...sure." 14[01:22] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [01:22] 7Is there a quieter section or something? [01:23] There's an upper stairs secondary bar that's not open yet, but changelings of the Court basically have the run of the place; the bouncer won't stop you. [01:25] 7Nice; Maggie will head in that direction. 15[01:25] 10Stewart will follow. [01:31] Bar's free for court members too, within reason. Coming in and going through a case a day of imported beer, for instance, will get you a stern talking to both about taking more than you're giving back, and your obvious drinking problem. [01:31] To give a totally hypothetical example, from eight months ago. 15[01:33] 10Stewart has mainly put the Sidereal out several glasses of ginger ale, and this one beer Maggie got him. [01:33] 7AN OPEN BAR?!? [01:37] 7Once they've gotten settled at a booth or something, Mags will pull out a small literal paper notebook. She doesn't wear glasses, even though the aesthetics of the situation make it seem like she should adjust them at this point, but anyway she examines what she has written: "Alrighty. What are the stats of a computer? I mean cars have miles per gallon, top speed, zero to sixty, that [01:37] sort of thing. What numbers do I look at to see whether one computer is better than another one?" 15[01:39] 10Stewart blinks. 15[01:43] 10Stewart: "...okay so, the first thing to keep in mind is that a computer isn't like a car. Computers don't roll off the line at a plant somewhere and get shipped to dealerships. Every part of a computer is made by a different company, from the drives to the processor to the case all the other parts are in. Then those parts are assembled, either before it's sold as a premade PC, or 15[01:43] piece by piece to people building their own machines." 15[01:44] "So you don't really compare computer to computer, right? You compare part to part." 15[01:49] "Different parts have different, they're called 'benchmarks'. You make every part do the same test, like make the same calculation or render the same image, and you measure things like how fast it takes, how much power it draws, how hot it gets. Different people use different sets of tests - so you might want to compare two parts using multiple different tests. I can- there's links I 15[01:49] could give you..." 15[01:50] 10He looks up at Maggie. Is he communicating any of this clearly? It's so hard to tell. [01:52] 7She's carefully making notes of what he says, at least. "That would be handy! Hmm. Alright, now... why do they call it a disk 'drive'? What does it drive?" 15[01:56] 10Stewart: "I actually just looked this up myself the other day. Originally a 'drive' was the machine you put the storage thing onto - a disk, a spool of tape - and then spun them around." [01:56] "Ah, that makes sense!" 15[01:56] "Eventually they stopped doing that, and the data storage part and the spinning part got fused into one box that you don't take apart." 15[01:56] "And we call those 'drives' now." 15[01:58] "Nowadays there's SSDs, which are hard drives that don't spin. But we still call them drives, so the original meaning is now entirely behind the horizon." [01:58] 7Maggie: "Now, the 'central processor'... it just does math, basically? Is that right? It all boils down to doing math on things?" 15[02:00] 10Stewart: "Yeah, basically. I don't know enough math to know if everything a CPU does is math, but basically." [02:07] "Lord of mercy. The things they come up with... Okay, this is kind of a toughie. A bit of a delicate quesiton. Now, from what I understand, you can watch movies and television on a computer? Without having to pay for a cable hook up or rental?" [02:07] 7She looks at him. "Stealing, I mean." 15[02:09] 10Stewart: "How do you steal something you can make infinite copies of for free?" [02:12] 7Maggie: "Well now I'm not so concerned with the wording, you understand. Can you teach me how to do it?" 15[02:17] 10Stewart seems to be recovering more confidence away from the crowd, on a topic he understands. "Trivial! How's your home connection? I could set up a, it's called a 'media server' for you, like a special computer that with movies and music and TV on it. I could get you into private trackers with extensive libraries. Some places abide by a strict ethical code, reified in the Ratio: 15[02:17] take only as much as you give." 11[02:23] 7Maggie nods approvingly: "What a good way to run a community! Now that's very kind of you, Stewart. I don't have much by way of a thank-you gift, but I could make a meal that could put some meat on those bones." 15[02:25] 10Stewart perks up. "What do you cook?" [02:28] 7Maggie: "Oh, just about anything, I'd imagine. I'm no four-star chef, and they have trucks on the street these days selling things I've never heard of - good though! I like that spicy chicken curry - but if you give me some time and a cookbook I don't think it's bragging to say I can turn out something pretty good." 15[02:28] 10Stewart: "What's your favorite food?" [02:31] 7Maggie: "Breakfast. Simple, but I like it. Pigs in a blanket, some hashbrowns, bit of bacon..." 15[02:35] 10Stewart nods. "Eggs, scrapple, toast and jelly..." [02:36] 7Maggie: "Mmmm..." 15[02:39] "So why Spring?" [02:42] 7Maggie: "What do you mean?" 15[02:49] 10Stewart: "I don't really understand it. I understand what Autumn does, and I understand what Summer does... but Spring and Winter I don't get at all." [02:51] 7Maggie: "Did you ever listen to Stan Rogers?" 15[02:51] 10Stewart shakes his head. "Is he a country-western guy?" [02:57] 7Maggie looks briefly, faintly, offended. "Stan Rogers is maybe the greatest Canadian folk singer who ever lived! And the song I sang to join up with Spring, Mary Ellen Carter, is his best. They're all pretty good, though." 15[02:57] 10Stewart: "You had to sing to join?" [03:00] 7"They 'party you in'. I don't think it was a test of my singing ability or anything like that. I'm sure they let you in if you can't carry a tune. Anyway, not my point." She leans forward, conspiratorially. "The Mary Ellen Carter was a ship, see. During a gale, she struck a rock and went under near the shoreline. The ship's owners, they got the insurance payment and wrote the ship [03:00] off. Twenty years of work, and it wasn't worth it to them to salvage her." [03:00] "But the five men aboard? They decide they're going to bring her back up, on their own if they have to." [03:01] "The first part of the song is just telling that story. But then, at the end, the singer tells you why they did it, and it's the part that everyone remembers, once they hear it." [03:03] 7She clears her throat, and recites rather than singing, like poetry: "For we couldn't leave her there, you see, to crumble into scale / She'd saved our lives so many times, living through the gale / And the laughing, drunken rats who left her to a sorry grave? / They won't be laughing in another day. / And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow / with smiling bastards lying [03:03] to you everywhere you go / Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm, and heart, and brain / And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again!" [03:03] "Rise again! Rise again! Though your heart it be broken, and life about to end! No matter what you've lost, be it a home, a love, a fried! Like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again!" 15[03:03] 10Wow. [03:04] 7Maggie: "Anyhoo, that's what Spring feels like to me." 15[03:05] "That's really nice." [03:10] 7Maggie: "I think so! It was either than or Autumn. I'm a go-straight-along kind of gal, so learning the, uh, squiggly twisty secrets of magic sounded like it'd be helpful... but Spring won out." 15[03:13] "They still teach you magic in Spring, though, right? Like everybody gets magic." [03:17] 7Maggie: "Oh, probably. Deals and contracts and such. But you're the viziers, right? The spooky wizards." 7She waggles her fingers halloweenly. 15[03:21] 10Stewart: "It's a lot more boring than it sounds. Our magic's all bound up in these agreements, right? So it's very fiddly and technical. You're almost more like a lawyer than a wizard." 10Oh shit, the law firm. He just got it. [03:22] 7Maggie: "Who's to say those aren't the same thing?" 15[03:24] 10Stewart: "Most lawyers' job is to make rich people even more money. Imagine if magic was like that." [03:26] 7Maggie: "Most wizards used to work for sultans and kings and what have you. I'd guess it's different now." 15[03:30] 10Stewart: "It's all so small-time, too. I've been practicing magic for weeks but if I want to help someone the best I can do is still fix their computer." [03:31] "Oooh!" 7She replies excitedly. "What can you do?" 15[03:33] 10Stewart: "Nickel and dime stuff. Bypass security, summon lesser elementals, become invisible, learn someone's deepest desire." [03:41] 7Maggie: "Lesser what nows?" 15[03:42] 10Stewart looks around. "Do you think it's safe up here?" [03:43] 7Maggie sighs: "They'd probably say it was rude if you actually did it here." 15[03:45] "Ugh, I'm not going all the way outside. Come over here to the corner." 10He'll park at a darkened corner booth in the still-empty upper level of the bar. 11[03:47] 7Eagerly, Maggie'll follow Stewart over. 15[03:49] 10Stewart takes out a Bic lighter with the colored wrapping picked off and a pocketknife. "Do you know how to use one of these?" 10he says, pushing the lighter across the table to Maggie. [03:55] 7Maggie: "Sure." 7She flicks it on experimentally. 15[04:02] 10The lighter ignites with an ordinary orange flame and an ordinary smell of butane. "Light it and leave it going." 10Stewart holds his right hand over the flame, inaudible muttering slowly growing until Maggie can make out the words. "...14with steel until the battle's ended; with blood until the debt is paid." 10He pricks his palm with the pocketknife, and a trickle of blood 15[04:02] 10flows down, dripping directly onto the lighter's flame. 15[04:06] 10Autumn's mantle draws tighter and brighter around Stewart as the pact is sealed, and he plucks the flame from atop the lighter and stretches it like rubber between his fingers. The flame doesn't burn any brighter or hotter; no one's skin singes, the table doesn't smoke. But he sets down a creature the size of a large tarantula that moves with the flickering inconstancy of a flame 15[04:06] 10that won't be blown out. 15[04:08] 10Freed from Stewart's grip, it skitters across the table and comes to perch on a salt shaker between Stewart and Maggie. [04:11] 7Maggie: "Awww, what a cute little fella! Hey there, little guy!" 15[04:12] 10The spider wriggles with apparent pleasure before tipping its head enough to lift its front two legs off the ground, which it proceeds to wave in the air as if it just didn't care. 11[04:24] "Well, let me see here. I can't whistle up a fire-spider, but..." 7She stands, and eyes the wall nearby. She dances from foot to foot, then charges directly toward the wall! Just before reaching it, she lifts a leg to the wall and continues onward, jogging as if it were the same flat ground. Up the wall, onto the ceiling, until she reaches Stewart again - albeit upside down. 15[04:24] "Wondrous!" [04:30] "Hup!" 7She does a little hop, and manages to to curl such that she lands, stumbling awkwardly, on her feet again. [04:30] "Not much use in day-to-day life, but it's fun!" 14[04:32] * Quits: dammitwhoa (Quit: ) 14[04:37] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) [05:11] "Ooofah." 7She levers herself back down into the booth. 15[05:12] 10Stewart: "Being able to stick to walls gets you about a third of the way to being a superhero." [05:14] "Bleah. Wonder how many of, uh, us have tried? You know, out of Summer?" 15[05:15] 10Stewart: "I don't know. It seems like a bad gig. The attention and all." 15[05:15] "Autumn was a little iffy about my job, and I'm only slightly famous, to a very specific group of people. I'm not going to be on the news or anything." [05:16] 7Maggie: "Yeah, I wanted to ask about that. Is there a big audience in 'streaming'?" 15[05:26] 10Stewart: "Last night I peaked at about 4,000 concurrent viewers. On my Youtube channel I average about 200,000 views a week." 15[05:26] "It sounds like a lot but there are people with way bigger audiences." 15[05:27] "Enough people watch me that I can do it for a living, though. So that's good. I can put money back into the freehold." [05:38] 7Maggie, eyes widening: "Two hundred thousand people! Golly." 7She ponders that astonishing number for a moment. "What sort of video games do you play?" 15[05:41] 10Stewart: "I play Path of Exile, mainly, but the seasonal release pattern means I can play a lot of different games. Fortnite, FF14, whatever's just come out..." [05:42] 7Maggie: "Now, what are those about?" 15[05:43] 10Stewart: "They're all very different. Path of Exile is a modern reimagining of Diablo 2, the sequel to Diablo, which was itself a modern reimagining of games like Nethack and Moria." 15[05:44] 10The way he says it makes it SEEM like that should make sense... 15[05:48] 10He goes on: "Fortnite is like a fusion of Minecraft and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, FF14 is an MMO like World of Warcraft but filtered through the aesthetics and motifs of the Final Fantasy series of Japanese RPGs." 11[05:50] 7Maggie: "Stewart, please don't think me ungrateful for you explaining all this, but could we pretend for the moment that I have never seen or played a video game before?" [05:51] "My next question to you is probably going to be 'what sort of video games should I play, and what computer should I get to play them on', by the way. Just keep that in your back pocket, there." 7She chuckles amiably. 15[05:51] 10Stewart looks sheepish. "Sorry." 15[05:54] "Path of Exile is a game where you make a character and fight monsters and pick up the items they drop, and use those items to fight stronger monsters, and pick up those items, and so on. But everything from the monsters to the items to the areas you move through are generated from scratch according to a specific set of rules, so every time you play is different and you can theoretically 15[05:54] keep playing forever. The system for making characters is *very* robust and complicated and while it takes a long time to learn, you can make it do a lot of interesting things." 15[05:55] "You sort of... the goal is to pull on a slot machine, basically, but you have to build a machine that will pull the slot machine however you want, as fast as you can make it go, as many times as you can stand. And it's totally free." [05:58] 7Maggie: "Like building a wheat thresher out of scrap metal." 15[05:58] "Right! But instead of wheat it's orbs." [06:01] "Ah! Orbs." 7She nods, as if that makes the whole thing make perfect sense. 11[06:02] "And Fortnight," 7Stewart can just tell she's spelled it wrong verbally. "and what I assume is 'Final Fantasy' Fourteen?" 15[06:03] 10Stewart: "Fortnite is like... imagine being dropped from a plane on an island with a hundred screaming kids, and you all have to fight to the last one standing. You all start with nothing and have to scavenge for weapons and tools, and you use the terrain and build structures to protect yourself and slow the other players down. The whole time you're fighting and gathering and 15[06:03] building, the area of the island it's safe to be in is shrinking and shrinking, so eventually everyone will have to face off." 15[06:04] "Imagine in this scenario that you are also a screaming kid." [06:05] 7Maggie: "I think I must be missing something. Do you have to be a screaming kid?" 15[06:05] 10Stewart: "You ever see one of those mugs that's like, You don't have to be crazy to work here... but it helps!?" [06:07] "No." 15[06:07] 10Stewart: "You don't have to be a screaming kid to play Fortnite... but it helps!" [06:11] 7Her face clears. "Ohhh, so the players are mostly actual children, just hooting and hollering and building forts and throwing... I don't know, computer grenades at each other?" 7She chuckles. "I guess kids never change. That's cute." 15[06:11] 10Stewart: "Right, exactly." 15[06:12] "Since kids like to play it, kids also like to watch it... it's mostly not my audience, but I think it's more fun than the other games in the same genre." 15[06:15] 10Stewart: "Now, Final Fantasy XIV is an MMO - that's an acronym, Em Em Oh - or a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game. You make a character and play through a story where you explore places and talk to other characters and fight enemies. There's a big overworld where you can meet up and talk to other real-life players, and join them on their fights - big fights can take 15[06:15] 4 or 8 or even 24 players. And there's also PvP - that's player vs player - for people who want to compete directly against each other." [06:16] "Hmm. You want another... whatcha got there. Soda? I'm gonna see if Amelia keeps any teabags behind the bar for the jittery types." 15[06:17] "Ginger ale, yeah. I don't really like alcohol." 15[06:17] "Thanks!" [06:21] 7Doesn't like alcohol? Well, it takes all kinds. He's probably gotta be cool and calm for his video games, though. [06:22] 7It takes a few minutes, but Maggie comes back with a can of ginger ale and a hot mug of tea. "Now then - what is Minecraft? Something to do with mining?" 15[06:26] 10Stewart: "Minecraft has environments like Path of Exile, randomized according to specific rules, that let it simulate all kinds of different environments. Except in Minecraft everything is rendered in this big cube tiles. Like a tree will be five cubes high, a hill will be a staircase four cubes tall, that sort of thing. You're dropped into one of these environments and you have 15[06:26] to fend for yourself." 15[06:27] "You start by punching a tree until you get wood. Then with the wood you make a workbench. Then you get more wood and use it on the workbench to make wooden tools. Then you use the wooden tools to start gathering stone. Then you make stone tools. And so on up the line. It has a day/night cycle and monsters come out at night, or underground. Anywhere it's dark. And those monsters exert 15[06:27] pressure on your building and your exploring." 15[06:27] "You have to build shelters, you have to smelt yourself armor, you have to catch food to eat to heal yourself if you get hurt..." 15[06:29] "If you're careful and you work at it you can build some really spectacular and impressive things." 15[06:30] "Also very popular with kids, it's like a" 10does she know Legos? "It's like a sandbox but you don't get any in your socks." [06:31] 7She nods. "Alright, one more question before we get to the big one. What is the story in 'Final Fantasy' Fourteen like?" 15[06:36] 10Stewart: "The story of Final Fantasy XIV is of a hero rising from humble beginnings to become the most powerful fighter in the world, making and losing many friends and enemies along the way. It's pretty long and there's a lot going on, but it hits a lot of the same narrative notes other games in the series do. It has a kind of... primitivism to it. Business, religion, imperialism, 15[06:36] an overreliance on technology... these are all set in contrast to a sort of natural sacred earthly essence, a world-spirit who we have to champion and defend." 15[06:38] "So an empire invades, and starts putting the boot to local populations so they start praying to their gods. The power of their prayer causes the gods to take a kind of life, but it disrupts the natural flow of energy and it's tremendously destructive and dangerous and crushes people's wills. So you have to crush the gods. THEN you have to crush the empire that started it in the first 15[06:38] place. Then there's an expansion where you have to crush an organized religion, and then there's another expansion where you have to crush the empire again, and now there's a third expansion where you have to crush a holy empire." 15[06:39] "All of this to basically protect or heal the world at a spiritual level." [06:41] 7She ponders. "Golly. So it's like one of those books where spacemen use crystals to throw things around with 'psionics', or like that Tolkien fella? I suppose that's why they call it 'fantasy'." 15[06:42] 10Stewart: "It is exactly those two things. Like Tolkien but with crystals and Japanese influence." 15[06:52] 10Stewart: "What do you like to do for fun?" 11[06:55] "Fun... well, to tell you the truth, Stewart, I haven't been back long enough and my noggin is fuzzy enough that I'm not really sure. That's why I was asking you about the video games... something nice that I could spend an afternoon and a cup of tea with. Maybe something with puzzles or mysteries, that I have to use the old noodle?" [06:55] 7She waves a hand. "Put it like this. Would you say I look like a Maggie? The, whatchacallit, Mask I mean." 15[06:56] 10Stewart: "That sounds like the kind of thing it'd be easy to take the wrong way so I don't think I would say it. But if someone else said it, I wouldn't argue." [07:01] "No no no. It's just, that's what that sweet girl Samaritan said. She said I look like a Maggie or a Mags. We agreed not Margaret though. And I picked Bakehead, because that's a fireman, the guy who stokes the boilers, keeps the engine running. Before that..." 7She purses her lips. "You know, before. I had a different name. The hobs and such called me-" [07:02] 7She makes a noise, like the click-click of white hot expanding metal and the hiss of escaping steam. Put to paper, it would be this: Kek'Tungsssha. [07:03] 7Maggie: "But that's hard for you fleshy types to say, isn't it? So you can call me Maggie. And I'm trying to work out what it is I do for fun." 7She doesn't seem to have been made upset by this talk- she's as mom-amiable as ever. 15[07:04] 10Stewart flinches a bit at first but his expression smooths out as the enunciation goes on. "Maggie's good. It's nice to meet you, Maggie." 11[07:13] "Cheers, Stewart." 7She raises her mug and then takes a sip. 15[07:13] "I have three game recommendations for you." 15[07:15] "They're mostly quite old or simple, I can build a really cheap PC for you that'll be able to play them all great, -and- hold all the movies and TV you want to steal." 15[07:15] 10He writes them down on a napkin in the kind of languid, flourishing hand you might expect from someone signing a royal proclamation. 11[07:20] "You're a peach, Stewart. I don't know how me watching your streams makes you money, but I'll try to do that." 7She almost said 'I promise', but caught herself in time. The Wyrd takes such things seriously. 15[08:51]  15[08:51]  15[08:51]  15[08:51]  15[08:51]  [08:53]  [08:53]  [08:53]  [08:53]  [08:53]  15[08:56] 10Having stuck around to tidy up, Stewart is the last to leave the study room. Every chair is pushed in, every scrap of paper is tidied, the remaining sleeve of Oreos wrapped up tightly in his backpack... there's a sense of completeness that comes from leaving a room immaculate that you can't really get any other way. He drew in the fear of eight twentysomethings who stand to inherit 15[08:56] 10a dying world like a second breath, but even that doesn't quite compare. [08:58] "And remember- there's no need to be discouraged! You don't have to integrate everything at once, Ms. Lucas, and the more you refine the scope of your critique the closer we get to a working topic. You've got plenty of time." [08:58] 13Time is not the problem. [08:59] 13Melanie thanks her advisor again - one of the first formulas she relearned - tries not to stumble on her way out of the little office. Too abstract. That's what she's been hearing for months now, that her ideas are disconnected even by the standards of the analytic school she's emulating. "Intelligent but not incisive"; "An almost daunting breadth". [09:01] 13One of the first tutorial sessions offered to her cohort was on constructive criticism, the importance of accepting that your ideas will be treated with impersonal rigour. To contribute anything to a crowded philosophical field in an age that's struggling for coherence, you can't mind anything - only take it to heart. [09:04] 13Melanie didn't need it. She's forgotten how to perceive criticism on a social register; what other people think of her words or actions is useful to know, but makes no empathic leap, no mirror neurons fire in whatever vegetable cell is serving the purpose of her synapses. This has been a problem, actually; it's hard to extend ethical reasoning to a convincing concrete example when [09:04] 13you don't intuit others' emotion. [09:05] 13Recently, that's been starting to change. She knows she still has emotions herself, because failing to come up with a viable thesis topic since the start of the semester feels... bad. The emotion of not good. Her advisor's reassurances are starting to feel like condescension - a breakthrough she could do without. [09:08] 13At this time of year the Sculpture Park is on its final shed. Gold-orange leaves drift around her as she moves slowly through the grounds; they don't register, either. Melanie's an evergreen. 15[09:12] 10There's still a couple hours to kill before work. He could get a head start on editing next week's Youtube videos, he could catch a movie... the autumn air and the drift of dying leaves to earth doesn't *spiritually* nourish him the way fear does, but the aesthetic is arresting. Every tree in sight is shedding itself for winter, except that one evergreen down there. The one walking 15[09:12] 10towards him. Wait-- 15[09:13] 10His first instinct is to hide. Has she seen him? No, it's no use, look how tall she is. 11[09:14] 13It's true. In her human Mask, Melanie is a white girl over six feet - she stands out, not for her height but because her fashionable appearance is at odds with her drab and shapeless clothing. Her only trendy accessory is a large flat bag, but Stewart can see the truth: [09:16] 13The woman regarding him with a mix of pleasure and terror is bark-skinned, an intensely falked and crumbling white substance that stands out unpredictably and creates the lumps under her clothes. Her face is essentially human-shaped (beneath hair that's thin flat leaves and strings of hard nuts), but the bookbag is borne on something like a bough. [09:16] 13flaked. 15[09:20] 10Melanie sees what everyone sees, the slightly greasy young man in a turtleneck that's arguably sort of stylish in a eurotrashy way, but she also sees one layer deeper, to the porcelain-skinned and delicate-fingered Mien beneath, coal-black eyes widening beneath a shock of hair white either from fear or a relentless austerity of color. 15[09:22] 10He hopes, with both folly and luck, that she can't tell how freaked out Stewart is to get clocked out here on a (don't say human) low-pressure social outing. [09:24] "Hey- hello!" 13Melanie gives the impression of hurrying in her mien (lowercase m), but in reality she's moving quite slowly, creaking with the stresses of a walking pace. "I didn't know you were a student, I didn't think there was anyone else around. It's not really compatible, is it? The symbol of aspiration to mid-normality and the expensive entrance into- we've met? Haven't we?" 15[09:25] 10Stewart, to his arguable credit, doesn't *physically* recoil. "Hi! Yeah, it's good to see you again! I'm not a- I was here for a- compatible?" [09:28] 13Melanie: "Um, our condition. Striving means something else now - we want to sort of sculpt out selves from this block of someone else's promises, while actually trying really hard to stay alive and Out. But look around you? Everyone here, the kids all think they're invincible even if they keep tweeting, you know, kill me daddy.. it's an entry point into the wrong kind of life." [09:29] 13If he wants to talk about this, we should probably go somewhere more private. Ah heck, does Melanie even know this guy's name? 15[09:30] 10Her name's not tree lady. Stewart knows that much. 15[09:31] 10He'll start. "You were at the icebreaker and the recruitment fair. I'm Stewart." [09:33] "Ah. I'm Melanie, and thank you for the reminder. Yes, they- we- I was there." 13Smiling. There's a faint crackle and roll to her, a hint of a smokeless forest fire - which was not the case at those events. 15[09:35] 10Stewart really wants to go 'Well, seeya' and wheel around her, but ever since that night with Gerald he's been pushing himself to act against his instincts more. That was how he got out to the Sidereal and met Maggie, and that was great. So let's roll the dice again. "Do you maybe want to get a cup of coffee or something and talk?" [09:40] 13Melanie does, he can tell. She's weirdly easy to read for someone so inhuman - fidgety with opportunity, worried by how to react... "Alright, I'd like that. There's a Dunkin up the road.. I mean, in case you don't know the campus, because you said you aren't a student. Or you were about to." 15[09:41] "Alright, cool." 10On the short walk there: "What are you studying?" [09:43] 13Melanie: "Philosophy. I've taken a certificate in ethics and value - well I haven't. But someone with my face and name did, I guess, and now I'm postgrad. Do you.." 13this is a longshot. "Do you know anything about dasein?" [09:43] 13Melanie: "Philosophy. I've taken a certificate in ethics and value - well I haven't. But someone with my face and name did, I guess, and now I'm postgrad. Do you.." 13this is a longshot. "Do you know anything about dasein?" [09:43] "Because if you don't we could absolutely talk about something completely different. There's so much stuff I'd like to learn actually." 15[09:44] 10Stewart, unhelpfully: "It sounds German...?" [09:46] "Heidegger. He was a.. a real shitbag actually, with important insights into the form of being that is, um, humanhood. And the relationship of unique human being to other human beings. So I'm trying to put together some ideas that follow up on some of his stuff with.. extended and alternate experiences, such as one might have were one to have our point of view." 11[09:47] "Except my thesis advisor isn't.. into it, so maybe not. What do you do Stewart?" 15[09:48] 10Stewart feels a lot more comfortable saying this to Melanie for some reason. Maybe it's because she sounds younger than Maggie despite being a tree. "I'm a streamer." [09:48] 13Doughnuts and coffee: this place is packed during undergrad class hours, but it's much better at the moment. Melanie can still eat human food, although she suspects it used to taste quite different. "Like on youtube?" 15[09:49] 10Stewart nods. "I do a lot of Youtube content, yeah. Though my main audience is livestreaming, on Twitch." 15[09:50] 10Stewart gets one of those iced coffee drinks so sugary that it's basically a breakfast milkshake. [09:52] "Oh, I'm a bit.. out of touch. I used to have some friends who were really into Instagram... I think. Maybe I was too, but I forgot all the passwords." [09:52] 13Melanie frowns, which is to say two knots of wood knit themselves tighter around empty sockets. The sense of a frown is conveyed quite artfully. "Do you think tech is going to be important to us as to.. everyone else? The court who, they sort of reluctantly made it clear they had the honor to accept my allegiance. Medieval. People don't even seem to have smartphones, and those [09:52] are easy.." 15[09:57] 10Stewart's cogs are turning... Melanie likes to ask a lot of complicated questions and jump around a lot. "I think our relationship with technology is like our relationship to society. You see that a lot. And our... cohort, has different levels of comfort and fluency with society. It's the same with technology. One of the more important people in the Autumn Court is plugged in like 15[09:57] all the time, and then at the other end there's... have you met Maggie? She was at the same meetings we were." [10:02] "So..." 13Melanie draws it out theatrically, but her voice (the real one) also just does that. "I didn't learn anyone's name. Or really communicate with anyone at the events. I'll try to do better on that, hopefully people are used to a degree of initial discombobulation? Maggie's a woman's name, I don't want to assume, but she was either the sad one with the fingers or the one where [10:02] someone cut a silhouette in space and filled it with embers." [10:04] "Neither of them had a phone, and they didn't recognise SMS tones or namedrop any silicon valley stuff." 13Melanie didn't talk to anyone, but she watches. [10:06] "Have you noticed that's rare in conversation? Anyone who wants to sound plugged in, if you talk about politics or culture it's all.. tech business creeps in. They're in all discussions, unless you actually have something to talk about. Which we always do!" 15[10:06] 10Stewart: "Maggie's the second one. She's really sweet, I met her at the Sidereal - that's the bar the Court uses, I think Spring sponsors it? - but as you deduced, she has very little working knowledge of computers. She had a lot of questions and was very keen to learn." 15[10:07] "But then, you know, there are some who'll swear off phones with a touchscreen entirely. There's a spectrum of engagement. I don't know what's optimal." [10:07] 13Melanie: "I like learning." [10:07] "And people who learn, I assume? I'd like to like them." 15[10:08] "It's so bizarre! I wasn't even gone that long and it's like moving to one of those countries that technically speaks English but has different words for everything." 15[10:08] "Like 'Uber' means 'Taxi' and 'Seamless' means 'takeout'." 15[10:09] "It's some Sliders shit." [10:11] "Haha! That must be a pain.. um, there were Ubers when I left, but I forgot them too. The reason I said smartphones are easy is, you just poke at it - they're designed to be easy. A lot of really smart people wasted their lives on it. The hard stuff is what we know, not what we learn." [10:11] "What I mean is!" [10:12] "Things we 'just know' because we've grown up with them, or because 'everyone' does it that way." 13Melanie's making airquotes with a whole cluster of twigs, here. "That's what doesn't translate across culture or time.. we have an immense potential for normalisation, adapting, making a priori knowledge out of what are in reality skill-elements!" 15[10:13] 10Stewart: "Immersion?" [10:14] 13Melanie: "Immersion learning isn't voluntary. It just happens to you. After a while under it's just part of who you are! We're really incredible. At adapting." [10:15] "You said 'the Court' owns the Sidereal? Is that the term for the whole.. collection of seasons?" 15[10:16] 10Stewart: "That's the one I hear used. I don't know whose name is on the deed, exactly, I was just told that it's a safe place for us." [10:17] "Good enough, right?" 15[10:18] 10Stewart: "I hope so. That mantle... you went Summer?" [10:18] "Like, people even claiming to be on our side.. that's better than the alternative. And there seem to be enough of us that the proposition is axiomatic." 11[10:21] 13Melanie: "Yeah!" 13It's exciting to be able to talk about this stuff, to process it. Stuart or Stewart is a good listener.. hopefully he's not being imposed on, since she forgot how to tell. "The, more medieval terms, king of summer is a real hothead. He's like the Fonzie of gangs. I think the summer bargain has a lot of good bits about, like... remembering you can fight back." 11[10:21] 13Melanie: "Yeah!" 13It's exciting to be able to talk about this stuff, to process it. Stuart or Stewart is a good listener.. hopefully he's not being imposed on, since she forgot how to tell. "The, more medieval terms, the king of summer is a real hothead. He's like the Fonzie of gangs. I think the summer bargain has a lot of good bits about, like... remembering you can fight [10:21] back." 15[10:22] 10Stewart needs a moment to recover, as the phrase 'Fonzie of gangs' physically paralyzes him. [10:23] "You uh, basically coalesced out of a haze of falling leaves. That's an omen in either the divine sense or Nickel's." 15[10:24] 10Stewart: "Yeah, Autumn seemed like where I can be the most helpful." 11[10:25] 13Has Stewart read Nickel? Melanie's thinking: no. But he'd be a good starting point. The ethics of technology and reliance would be perfect for someone who.. "Hey, what kind of stuff do you livestream?" 15[10:26] 10Stewart: "Uh, videogames. Path of Exile mainly." 14[10:27] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [10:28] "You're playing them, other people watch?" 15[10:28] 10Stewart: "Sometimes I'll play with people in the audience, but mostly yeah." [10:29] "Wow, and that's what you do in the sense of- that probably sounded really dumb, please bear with me? I'm missing a lot of basic facts about the world, I'm not saying there's anything weird about it, I just didn't know." 11[10:31] 13Hurriedly, almost interrupting herself or Stewart: "Who do you work for?" 15[10:31] "That's the thing!" 15[10:31] 10Stewart: "It's weird, like... there's so many people who have jobs that just depend on people wanting to give them money, basically. They aren't needed. There's not a war on or a railroad to build or anything. A lot of people are just, sitting around, with nothing to do, but food and rent still costs money. So there's this weird ecosystem of... paying people for doing stuff, 15[10:31] basically." 15[10:32] "Like me, I just... play. I show up and I play games and people watch or they don't. Of the people who watch, they stick around or they don't. Of the people who stick around, they subscribe or they don't. For every person who subscribes I get a couple bucks a month. Then there's Youtube which has a similar but different model for turning videos into money." 15[10:32] "But it all depends on people wanting to see them. If I worked just as hard, for just as long, but nobody cared... I'd have nothing." [10:33] 13Melanie: "That's really cool though. We've developed past needing to pull potatoes out of the ground with like, one broken arm and another one that has scrofula." 15[10:33] 10Stewart: "But we haven't, simultaneously, evolved past needing to eat potatoes, or wanting to sell potatoes for money." [10:33] "Can I drill down on the stake-mechanism- do people pay you in microtransactions? I know about Patreon." 13Some of the forums she's got onto have people advertising their work. 15[10:33] "So there's this whole system of, basically, make-work." 15[10:35] 10Stewart: "The Twitch subscription model is similar to Patreon's, yeah. People can chip in for a recurring payment at different tiers of support, which unlock scaling benefits. A tier 1 subscriber gets to use my special chat emotes. A tier 3 subscriber - that's the highest tier - will get to play games with me once a month." [10:36] "Well, as long as they're having fun. But that makes it work-work, right? You're demonstrating your eligibility for participation in the system specifically in its entertainment complex but also as an allocation unit, I mean think about it as an economic demonstration? Everyone who watches you is specifically choosing to give up some of their money, not a super plentiful commodity in [10:36] 2019. The 'value' you have has got to be largely as a... persuader." 11[10:39] 13Melanie's really interested in this. It's an occupational model that didn't occur to her, like the entertainment industry but predicated on just.. being there, showing off someone else's media. How much do people pay for it? Either Stewart's rich, or each of them is chipping in fractions of a cent.. or the high tier guys (she always imagines guys being into these things) are subsidising [10:39] 13the rest. The 'tier of virtue', as Gettier would put it, is quite different to service-industry *or* manufacturing labour. 15[10:42] 10Stewart: "I guess... it's not really what I expected to be doing, but then, you know. It's cool that you can make a living this way, but it's all zero-sum. Every dollar that's flowing into a persuader's hands, or to a middleman's hands by way of a persuader, is a dollar that people who don't or can't build an audience can't access, and they still need dollars too." [10:44] 13Melanie: "Yeah, since they're just allocating. How do the middlemen make money? I guess Twitch takes a cut of what people pay you, but couldn't you just set up subscriptions externally, so then they'd get nothing?" 15[10:47] 10Stewart: "They do the work of payment processing and running the website I stream on. They also get to sell ad time. They're also integrated with their parent company, Amazon, which I guess is just where everyone buys everything now and also is a TV channel." [10:49] 13Melanie: "Add time?" 11[10:50] 13She's finished her coffee. Melanie likes Stewart, she thinks - she's still sorting out utility from preference internally but people who're capable of this kind of freeranging discussion are a kind of person she.. likes, probably. 15[10:50] 10Stewart: "Advertisements. Twitch runs commercials during the stream." [10:52] 13Melanie: "Commercial whats, though? I don't know the term off the top of my, um, head." 13Mostly what comes off there is leaves, but you know what she means. 15[10:56] 10This is very similar to and very different from his conversation with Maggie. It comes easily to him, though, the reaching for the meaning behind a thing and spreading it out for inspection. Words are like monsters, if you know what they mean to do they can't hurt you as much. "An advertisement, or 'ad', is some exhortation by a business to would-be consumers to buy something. 15[10:56] Toothpaste, coffee, socks, a graphics card. Whatever. A video advertisement is colloquially a 'commercial'." 15[10:57] "Twitch - the middlemen - have permission to interrupt my stream with short video clips prepared by sponsors to get them to buy stuff. The sponsors pay Twitch for permission to do this." [10:57] "Wait" [10:57] 13Melanie: "Wait wait wait, I've seen those." [10:57] "You mean the little clips about products and sales? And- what about the stuff on billboards." 15[10:58] 10Stewart: "Yeah, that." [10:58] "Are companies paying for that? Do they buy space from people to.. sell things, just visible to everyone? It's not because the people who run the highways wanted to endorse something?" 15[10:58] "Yeah." [10:58] "Shit!" 15[10:58] "?" [10:58] "I forgot about- shit. Advertisements. Fucking shit." [10:59] "I am so sorry. Of course. Christ on a crutch." 15[11:00] 10Stewart, carefully: "I doubt you're the only one." 15[11:00] "It takes a lot from people." [11:01] "But I've been.." 13Melanie drops her head, holding it in her.. limbs. She's a little too loud. "I'm trying to analyze the world, advance the study of knowledge itself. What other really freaking basic things. Have I forgotten." [11:01] "Also, and this is not your fault? But ads.. suck?" [11:01] "I never realised how much they suck. I thought they were normal." 15[11:02] 10Should he put a hand on hers? It was nice when Maggie did that for him, but the social dynamics were completely different and they weren't surrounded by near-teens in an environment painfully evocative of Stewart's own near-teendom, which he has abandoned in time but not in frame of reference. The moment passes before Stewart can fully work out its implications. 15[11:02] "Yeah. They both suck and are normal." 15[11:02] "That's kind of a theme, I've noticed." [11:02] 13Melanie: "I'd better go, I need to rework a lot of things." 15[11:03] 10Stewart: "What do you mean?" 15[11:03] 10Oh no, this is going south. He wasn't graceful enough. He was too didactic. He made her feel stupid. Fuck! [11:04] "Um, ideas.. whatever stuff I'd made contingent on a basic fucking analysis of economic behaviour.. I don't know. I'm sorry." 13Melanie's gathering up her bookbag, which doesn't actually have any books in it - there are papers spilling out, and a large e-reader like the kind used for textbooks. 15[11:06] 10Stewart: "Hey, listen. If you gotta go you gotta go. But... you know you don't have to handle all this stuff on your own, right? That's why you're in school. That's why you're in the Court." [11:08] 13Melanie pauses what she's doing for a moment and half-sits back down, spreading her 'hands' on the table. Each has five similar long branches, 'jointed' with flexible green shoots showing through the white bark. There's no thumb, but the length helps to compensate for that. [11:10] "That is true, and it reminds me of something. It reminds me that I'm being rude, even though you've been probably the most.. helpful.. of anyone I've met so far in the world of, remnants or whatever we are, sorry if that's rude too." [11:10] "But that's something else I need to think about a lot so.. I have to go. Could I get your number?" 15[11:13] 10Stewart lets out the breath he didn't realize he was holding. "Uh, sure. Texting's probably easier than calling, and if you've got email that works too. I'm also on Twitter but don't get Twitter." 10He'll write down his number - he has a vague memory of getting people's numbers by letting them type the numbers directly into his phone, but she's clearly feeling pressed so he hands 15[11:13] 10her a napkin with ten digits and an email address. [11:18] 13Melanie: "I do have email." 13She stands up, but takes on.. a kind of musing tone? "I can't tell whether this is something which would interest or upset you, so I'll just.. explain it. I deal with things by thinking about them for a long time. It's an intellectualised form of emotion, like a caul formed over an ulcer. I don't actually.. you haven't made me feel bad; I just need [11:18] to go and spend a while. Thinking about my mistakes. And then I'll be ok with them." 15[11:19] 10Now that Stewart understands. "I hope you can process them efficiently." [11:20] "Goodbye! We'll meet again!" 13Technically that's contingent on whether both of them want to meet again, but fortunately for Melanie she's forgotten that's a factor. [11:23] 13On the way out there are kids in branded shirts - Melanie looks undergrad-age, but all of these people are kids. Did some company sponsor those shirts? Are they cheaper because they say Coca-Cola? Freaking heck. 15[11:23] 10After she's out of eyeshot Stewart slumps back in his seat. So flatfooting and dense was that conversation that he realizes only belatedly that half the muscles in his body were clenched, to the point he's now physically achy. In his mind's eye he sees his phone helpfully pointing out the discount liquor stores between here and his apartment. New Stewart has no time for that. Straight 15[11:23] 10home for a shower, a shave, and an Adderall. He's on in two hours. [11:50] 13From: paperbark@summer.ctl [11:50] 13To: criticalmass [11:50] 13Subject: Technomedical/reliance ethics [11:50]  11[11:50] Good morning Stewart, [11:50] This[https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxbTIYQXU0PnNzJpUjdObWUwaHc/edit] is the manuscript I was alluding to before I messed up. It's a preliminary examination of our ability to depend on *artifacts*; Nickel uses the term *technologies* interchangeably but I believe the same considerations apply to Wyrd contracts and the constructs of the Others. If it's a bit dense, may I recommend the [11:50] section on the principle of respect, p.20. Nickel argues cogently that a secondary root of trust can be found in the *attitude* of artifacts toward their consumers (parties). [11:50] I'd extend this reasoning to Heidegger's ontology of unconcealment, the presentation of the self-that-dwells (dasein->wohnen). We depend on each other as beings (humans) and on the specific artifacts (magic spells) we use to shield each other from the harms They try to do and the harms we do to ourselves. In this algebra, being (verb) is contingent on being (noun), and the implications [11:50] are obvious. [11:50] I fell asleep watching your stream but I liked Piety a lot, hopefully she comes back in a later act (direct terminology there!) [11:50]  [11:50] Melanie Lucas 14[16:00] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[17:46] * Joins: tom 14[22:06] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[22:06] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[22:22] * Joins: hrolf 14[23:13] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) Session Time: Sun Sep 15 00:00:00 2019 14[00:42] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:22] * Joins: cbass 14[02:00] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[02:23] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:56] * Joins: CBN_ 14[04:59] * Quits: CBN (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:37] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[05:40] * Joins: cbass 14[09:51] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:12] * CBN_ is now known as CBN 14[14:10] * Joins: CBN_ 14[14:13] * Quits: CBN (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:23] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:30] * Joins: hrolf 14[16:23] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:44] * CBN_ is now known as CBN 14[17:31] * Joins: tom 14[18:52] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[18:55] * Joins: cbass 15[20:13]  15[20:13]  15[20:13]  15[20:13]  15[20:13]  15[20:15] 10Hear the sound of the falling rain~ Coming down like an Armageddon flame~ The shame~ The ones who died without a name~ 15[20:15] "Sound check. Sound check 1, 2. Sound check 1, 2, 3, 4. Sibilants. Ssssibilants. The tip of the tongue, the teeth, the lips. The tip of the tongue. the teeth, the lips." 15[20:16] 10Stewart, to himself, alone in his apartment: "I'm picking up some static." 15[20:16] 10Stewart, to himself, alone in his apartment: "I'm picking up some static." 15[20:16] 10Turns the music off. Turns the recording software off. He swears he hears something... [20:23] 6All of these books are so tiring. Yes, Nels needs to read them. But more importantly, she needs to understand them, and to understand them, she needs to care about them. And that's just not going to happen today. So. She's set her study materials off to the side and grabbed her guitar. It's the afternoon; no one can complain if she just... plays. Pieces she remembers, some she might be composing on the fly, the guitar is a [20:23] comfort even in the here and now. The radio's long since been turned off - it was distracting her from her reading - and the silence was stifling. So: play. 15[20:24] 10Stewart takes his headphones off. It's not coming from the computer. 15[20:25] 10It's coming... through the wall? [20:25] 6Muted, from the walls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl-3RTyFMrQ 15[20:28] 10He can't record with that going. Ugh, he's going to have to buy baffling, isn't he? He really didn't want to have to do that. 15[20:30] 10He should go say something, right? Like this is a courtesy thing, it's not some weird dominance struggle. And besides someone listening to fancy classical guitar probably isn't going to beat the shit out of him for complaining about the noise... 15[20:30] 10Shit he's got spare headphones he can give them. Unopened, from sponsors. [20:31] 6She's lost in the melody, for now; it's nice to have something that's hers, and all hers. There's no contest to win. It's just a song. Calming. 15[20:31] 10Don't walk over with headphones in hand, though. That's presumptuous, a point of inflection for a fight where there need not be one. Just go over hands-free. 15[20:32] 10Somewhere between two and a half and four minutes later, there's a knock on Nels's door. [20:35] 6The song stops abruptly; she props the guitar up on her couch, awaiting her return. When she peers through the peephole, what does she see? 15[20:36] 10Nels sees-- 15[20:37] 10--a young man of about twenty, in a dark t-shirt and jeans, looking anxiously up and down the hall. He's sallow and faintly sweaty. 15[20:38] 10--a creature of onyx and alabaster, a beautiful young man, white eyes and hair and coal black eyes, rubbing the back of his neck. The motion pulls his long sleeves back, revealing the scars of old manacle bites on his wrist. 15[20:39] 10*white skin and hair [20:43] 6She opens her door partway. Coincidentally, she's also wearing a t-shirt and jeans, because that's apparently normal even for women -- she's been trying it out around the apartment. The shirt is a pale blue and has a quarter note on it, and some words about a local elementary school's band on the back. It cost a dollar. 11[20:43] 6Nels looks about the same age as Stewart; roughly twentyish, and it was a rough twenty. She's pretty, if you don't look too closely, because when you do you notice that her eyes are a little haunted and her hair isn't quite right (is that wheat?) and her limbs don't seem to be the right length. But that's typical. "Hello? Can I help you?" 15[20:49] 10Stewart jumps a bit when he sees another changeling behind the door; maybe not the best reaction. "Oh! Oh! I just- sorry. I'm Stewart, I live next door. It's nice to meet you. It's just can you- you were at the icebreaker, weren't you? The new intake." [20:51] 6Nels: "Yeah. Um. Steven? Stanley? I'm --" 6Shoot. How to-- he probably doesn't know the old one. "Nels. Helen." [20:51] 6He definitely introduced himself already. She definitely screwed up. 15[20:52] 10Stewart: "...huh. I guess we're neighbors." [20:53] 6Nels: "Yeah. Hi." 6She pauses awkwardly. "Did you... want to come in?" 15[20:54] 10Stewart also pauses awkwardly. No, of course not. Sorry he made a mistake. See you around. No! No! Bad. New Stewart. New Stewart. "Okay." [20:56] 6She opens the door enough to let another person in. First person in the apartment, probably? That's depressing. Sort of. "I don't exactly have -- refreshments, or anything, wasn't expecting company..." [20:56] 6There's a couch and a couple arm chairs, a radio and a coffee table. There's a bookshelf in the corner and a guitar case; the guitar itself is sitting on the couch. 15[20:57] 10Stewart: "Oh, that's fine. I could - I have sodas if you're thirsty, I don't know..." 10He sees the guitar. "Oh, wow. That was you playing?" [20:59] 6Nels: "Yes, I, didn't think anyone was around to hear it." 6She smooths a nonexistant skirt as she sits on the couch, next to her guitar. "Was it too loud?" 15[21:01] 10Stewart stands just long enough for that, too, to be weird before sitting in an armchair. "No, no, it's fine. It's just, I was trying to record and I didn't know where the sound was coming from. It's not a big deal, I can fix it on my end." 15[21:02] "You're really good." [21:02] 6Nels: "Record? You can... you can do that?" [21:03] 6She brushes off the compliment; it was sort of a point that she became really good. 15[21:04] 10Stewart: "Yeah, no, I was surprised too. Home recording setups have gotten really affordable in the last ten years. I guess that's why everyone and their mom has a podcast now." [21:05] 6Nels: "I - you could record before now? And what's a podcast?" 6She looks absolutely mystified. She's unconsciously pulling her guitar into her lap, not quite fiddling with it just yet, but about to. [21:05] 6Record at home* 15[21:06] 10Stewart: "Oh, sorry. How, uh. How long have you been back?" [21:07] 6Nels: "A few weeks, I guess. It's - there's a lot to remember." 6Is he sitting? He should be sitting. She'll tell him so, if he isn't. 15[21:10] 10Yeah, he sat, eventually. "Okay. The other night I met Maggie, uh, Maggie Bakehead, she's in Spring, she was at the intake we went to. The furnace lady?" 15[21:10] "It turns out she missed a lot of time too. How, uh, how long were you out?" [21:11] 6That rings a bell, vaguely. She'll have to get to know Maggie. Same court and all. "Since 1920," 6she says without emotion. [21:11] 6A smile that might be a grimace: "Been a minute." 15[21:13] 10Stewart blinks. 15[21:13] "Wow." [21:13] 6Nels: "Yep." [21:14] 6She pops the "p" in that. 15[21:14] 10Stewart: "Okay, um. So a podcast is basically like a radio show, without the radio." [21:14] 6Nels: "What's a -- they had shows on the radio? I thought it just played music." 15[21:16] 10Stewart: "They also talk. About news or sports or music or whatever. They used to have, uh, radio plays, but that's kind of depreciated as a medium since they invented the television and movies got bigger." 15[21:17] "There's- there's sound now, in movies? I don't know if that was a thing yet." 15[21:17] "And color." [21:19] 6Nels: "Sound was... new. Saw one of them, couldn't have lasted more than 30 seconds, but it was amazing." 6This is definitely a grimace. "The new ones are -- too loud. Color's, um, impressive, but..." 15[21:21] 10Stewart: "Yeah, I know what you mean. Movie theater's real loud." 15[21:21] 10A hundred fucking years. Jesus Christ. [21:22] 6Nels: "Don't know how everyone stands it. Felt like I was getting blasted out of the theater the one time I tried." 15[21:23] 10Stewart: "Some people like it, I guess. What did you try to see?" [21:24] 6Nels: "I heard about these comic books? Like books but with pictures in 'em." [21:24] "They made movies out of those, I guess." [21:24] 6She's fiddling with her guitar now. Just occasionally picking at the strings. 15[21:26] 10Stewart: "They used to make movies that weren't that. Not as much lately. I don't know. I was never big into comics." [21:27] 6Nels: "It was awful. Super loud, and you had to know what was going on before, I left partway through. Don't know what the heck an iron man is anyway." 15[21:28] 10Stewart: "Yeah, the song's better anyway." [21:28] "Do they still make other kindsa movies? All of these are way more complicated than what I used to see, but it'd be nice to see what something... quieter, is like." [21:29] 6She blinks. "Song?" 15[21:30] 10Stewart: "They still make quiet movies, but all the loud movies are about comic books now." 15[21:30] 10A beat. "By Black Sabbath. One of the original heavy metal bands." 15[21:31] 10He pulls out his phone. "Do you want to hear it? I could play pretty much any song on this." [21:35] 6Nels: "What?" 6She looks absolutely baffled; first by the idea that they make so many comic book movies (it's good that they made something for children who can't read well, but movies?) and secondly by... any song?? 15[21:38] 10Stewart: "Oh, yeah, uh... people walk around with these little tablets in their pockets that can connect them to anyone in the world and access basically all human knowledge." [21:38] 6What. "What." 6What. 15[21:41] "I don't... okay, look. I'm- this is too much. I'm sorry." 10He puts his phone away. "Over the 20th and the 21st centuries, technology advanced really rapidly. The main way is the sharing of information - sharing more of it, with more people, faster and faster over time." 15[21:42] "So it can, um. It can lead to a kind of - we call it 'information overload'. It happens to everyone sometimes." [21:42] 6Helplessly: "Is this like radios?" 15[21:43] 10Stewart: "It's like a radio, yeah. It can send sounds, words, pictures. It can see these huge libraries of information and show it to anyone who knows how to ask." [21:44] 6Still vaguely lost: "So, it's magic?" 15[21:44] 10Stewart: "Arthur C. Clarke said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." 15[21:44] "So... yeah, kind of." [21:47] 6She doesn't know who that is. But, she finally might be getting a grasp on this modern technology. "It's - the same, to me," 6she gestures at her mid-90s iMac. "But I don't trust it. Because of magic." [21:47] 6It's sitting on a simple wooden table. There's a chair that looks like it came from a dining set pushed up next to it; the computer doesn't look like it's seen much use. 14[21:48] * Joins: hrolfy 14[21:50] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[21:53] 10Stewart looks at the honest-to-god colored-shell iMac for what feels like the longest time. "A funny thing that's happened in the last few years is that basic day-to-day computer tasks have gotten a lot simpler. There are modern computers that are a lot more powerful and a lot easier to use than that. Hang on, let me just - I'll be right back. Do you want anything to drink or 15[21:53] anything? I've got soda, Red Bull, orange juice, iced tea..." [21:55] 6Soda water is a no, she has no idea what a red bull is but it's probably alcoholic and it's early... "Iced tea? If it's not too much trouble..." 11[21:56] 6She's still in the process of being baffled; otherwise she'd offer Stewart something instead. It's her apartment, after all. 14[21:57] * Joins: CBN_ 15[22:00] 10Stewart returns with two bottles in one hand and what looks like a large, silvery version of the 'phone' he put in his pocket in the other. "I don't know what your preference is so I got one unsweetened and one sweetened with lemon, those are the two kinds I have. I drink them both so take whichever one sounds better." 14[22:00] * Quits: CBN (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:04] 6Going to have to go with unsweetened; she's tasted what they do with sugar these days. "So computers are - they got better?" 6She's still absolutely baffled. 30 seconds to see anything she might ask for is still utterly frightening; what is the cost?? 15[22:07] 10Stewart: "Yeah, they're faster and more importantly, a lot easier to use. Like there's no extra equipment with this - it's called an iPad. You can just-" 10Luckily he doesn't use this for much of anything besides reading in bed, so it's not set up with anything complicated or incriminating. He gives her a brief rundown on how the touch-screen interface works, and sets it down on 15[22:07] 10the table between them. "Do you want to try?" [22:08] 6She looks at it, dubiously. "Is it - cursed, or anything? Does it have a price?" 15[22:09] 10Stewart: "The curse is that they make Chinese kids make them for pennies an hour." [22:10] 6Nels visibly relaxes, then remembers her lessons and stiffens again. "How do I stop that from happening?" 15[22:10] 10Stewart: "Stop what from happening?" [22:10] 6Nels: "The - you said they make these for pennies an hour? How do I stop that." 15[22:11] 10Stewart: "Oh. Uh." 15[22:11] "...I don't know. That's just kind of how the world is." 15[22:12] "It's just one of those things, like the cops or whatever." [22:14] 6Frowning: "I still don't understand how the Socialist Party never got to national office. This'd be their kind of thing. Anyways. They don't have to - pay, when I use it, right?" 15[22:17] 10Stewart: "No. It's like eating meat, kind of. Whether you bite into the hot dog or not, that pig's already dead." [22:20] 6That's... morbid. She pokes at this 'iPad', and she can hear the capitalization as she prods at it. "Oh! It's - it moves?" 6She's moved one of the icons from its alphabetical order to in between some previously installed apps. 15[22:21] 10Stewart: "Yeah. If you hold your finger to the screen you can drag stuff around. If you tap one of the squares - we call those 'icons' - you'll open the 'program' it's attached to. A 'program' is basically a way to make a computer do a specific thing for you." [22:24] 6Nels: "And people just... accept this?" 6She holds down on an icon - what is a "Bejeweled" anyway - and frowns at the menu that appears. "It seems... I don't understand it." 15[22:29] 10Stewart: "Computers happened kind of suddenly. When I was a kid, you'd be lucky to have a computer at home to play games and dial up the internet with. Now everyone has things like this." [22:30] 6Distantly: "When I was a kid, I was lucky to find a library." [22:30] 6Back in focus: "Kids have it a lot better these days." 15[22:32] 10Stewart: "This is actually kind of a bad neighborhood for library access - you have to go all the way to Light Street. First place I stayed in when I got back was right around the corner from the one on Washington." 15[22:32] "But yeah, I know what you mean. Or I don't know, but- you know." [22:36] 6Another few plucks at the strings. Nervous habits. It might sound familiar, actually. Just - a fragment. "I'd want to be closer, but." 6She does not elaborate. 14[22:36] * CBN_ is now known as CBN 15[22:44] 10Stewart just lets it go. "Anyway, this is Youtube. There's millions and millions of videos on here, including recordings of basically any song you can think of. Or just search for, like, kinds of things. Here." 10He taps a bar at the top of the screen and a bar of letters pops up on the bottom of the screen. Nels probably won't recognize the pattern of letters as matching the 15[22:44] 10keyboard of her iMac. He types (so fast!) '1920 music' and comes up with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW33oH_EkW4 [22:47] 6She's about to say something when it starts playing, and then she's stunned enough to have nothing to say. It's familiar. It's - her time is still around. Sort of. [22:48] 6Weakly: "Any song?" 15[22:48] 10Stewart: "Not quite any song. But close." 15[22:48] "Got any requests?" [22:49] 6She pulls her guitar closer, ready to play. "Gloomy Sunday?" 15[22:50] 10Taptaptap "Billie Holliday?" 15[22:50] 10https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBIqLqUenz0 [22:51] 6Nels: "I guess she-- yeah. Yeah." [22:52] 6She plays a quiet background to the recording; singing seems beyond her, now. Just play. Play, and pretend, no matter how much she remembers the original. 15[22:54] "...wow." 15[22:56] 10Stewart's too stunned to stop Youtube from autoplaying the next song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gO7uemm6Yo [22:57] 6She unconsciously starts playing along, before realizing, and stopping. "I-- seem to get that a lot, lately." 15[22:58] 10Stewart stops the song halfway through with a start. 15[22:59] 10Stewart: "...so that's Youtube." [23:00] 6Nels, trying for obliviousness: "Does it have cats?" 15[23:01] 10Stewart: "Literally tens of thousands of hours of cats." 15[23:02] 10https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB-qEYVdvXA [23:05] 6Oh my goodness. She was trying to fake it and now she has made it. ADORABLE. And yet... "Is film so cheap? This is amazing, but..." 15[23:06] 10Stewart: "Cameras don't use film anymore really." 15[23:06] "It's all digital - done with computers." 15[23:06] "Every phone has a camera in it, for instance." [23:06] 6Deep frown. "I'm glad I have the kind without one. I don't trust that kind of thing." 15[23:08] 10Stewart: "Oh, yeah, privacy is really hard. Unless you go live in the woods alone off the grid and grow your own food." 15[23:09] "Which I'm told is bad for us." [23:09] 6Nels: "I've been told that I shouldn't do that." 6She's - not smiling, exactly, but she could be. [23:10] "No matter how tempting it might be," 6and now she is definitely smiling. 15[23:13] 10Stewart: "Yeah. What have you been doing, if you don't mind me asking?" [23:15] 6Nels: "Studying for my GED. Apparently you need one of those," 6as she gestures to the displayed textbooks. [23:15] 6Pluck pluck. "Or. You know. Finding comfort. 15[23:19] 10Stewart: "Let me know if you need any help studying. I was pretty good in school and I'm, you know. I'm right next door." [23:21] 6Nels: "I'll - let you know." 6And if you need a guitarist, she doesn't say, because that's weird. 15[23:22] 10Stewart: "Have you met a lot of other people in the freehold?" [23:23] 6Frowning: "A couple. They were -- eager. I don't know how to feel about it." 6She can trust him, right? He hasn't gone sprinting off to the papers, at least. 15[23:29] 10Stewart: "Eager?" [23:31] 6Nels: "Some of them thought they knew me. Others wanted to hear me play." 6Exhausting, she doesn't say. "Eager." 15[23:33] 10Stewart: "I guess it's like when people know you're a comedian and the first thing they do is ask you to tell a joke." [23:33] 6She smiles. "Yeah." 15[23:37] 10Stewart: "Well... it's nice to meet you, Nels." 11[23:38] 6Nels: "You too, Stewart. I'll have to -- do you mind if I come over, at some point? To learn, I mean." 15[23:40] 10Stewart: "Not at all. And I'm up real late. I work from home, evenings. Do you want to hold onto the iPad? I can go get you the charger." [23:43] 6Less than friendly, but still pleasant: "I shouldn't, it's -- still getting used to the modern day and all, ha." 6She knows what chargers are. Also, keeping them in the same room is a no-go. "I'll keep my playing quiet in the evening. It's, um. Very... I don't know the word." 15[23:46] 10Stewart takes the tablet off the table, then, and powers it down. "Okay. Just, yeah, don't be shy. I'm right next door. Welcome to the freehold. And the neighborhood." 11[23:48] When Stewart steps outside, there's a changeling in jeans and a hoodie with four eyes at the end of the hallway. He doesn't acknowledge him, but after a couple seconds, he moves back off to the staircase, and down. 15[23:50] 10Spooky. Stewart thinks about following, to ask what's up, but whatever it is is probably above his pay grade and he's never had an experience to make him distrustful of local changelings. They're probably just looking after Nels. 14[23:53] * Joins: hrolfie 15[23:56] 10When he gets home he doesn't really have the energy to do any recording. The thought of losing a hundred years - losing a hundred years to Faerie - and coming back to take a GE-fucking-D tugs at the drain plug at the bottom of his soul. 14[23:56] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Mon Sep 16 00:00:00 2019 14[00:20] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:25] [00:25] [00:25] [00:25] [00:25] [00:25] [00:25] 14[00:25] * Crion_ is now known as Crion [00:25] [00:25] [00:25] [00:25] [00:25] 11[00:26] It's been a couple days since the...thing...with Gerald. It's after Stewart has met up with the ladies from his meet-and-greet, again. Including his neighbor. It's after the freehold changelings weirdly started hanging around the building 24/7. And it's something like three in the afternoon. What's Stewart up to? 15[00:28] 10Probably trying to record again. Video build guides pull a lot of traffic from less-engaged players, and they let him show off the stream. Youtube's about a third of his income. [00:28] Well, then instead of a polite buzz, he'll get a BANG BANG BANG on his door. 15[00:30] 10Fucking-- "Just a second!" 10he calls, extracting himself from headset and chair, slipping into slippers, and checking to see who's at the door. 11[00:32] Through the keyhole, he sees Lauren Ipsum of the Autumn Court. She's wearing a zip-up hoodie and track pants instead of jeans and a tanktop this time, and she's got what looks like a huge bag of gear over her shoulder, but it's the same LED eyes and the same flat, annoyed face. She narrows those eyes, almost like she can see Stewart watching her, and raises her fist to, uh, knock again. [00:32] Peephole. [00:33] Surely. 15[00:33] 10Stewart'll open the door before knuckles meet wood. "Hi. What's up?" 15[00:34] 10He'll step back to let her come in. 14[00:34] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 11[00:34] She stops her fist in mid-air, narrows her eyes further, then straightens up. As if it's an imposition: "Stewart." [00:35] She will not step in yet. [00:35] "I've been sent to get you online." 15[00:36] 10Stewart: "Cool. Okay." 15[00:36] 10Another pause. "I, uh, formally invite you in." [00:36] She was clearly waiting for that, but she still rolls her eyes. "I'm not a vampire." [00:36] She looks around the place. What's the layout? How clean is he keeping it? 15[00:44] 10It's a two bedroom apartment, fresh-smelling and immaculate. The smallish living room, where they enter, has a couch and a coffee table with a covered ipad on it and a stack of library books: Heidegger Explained, Stan Rogers: Northwest Passage, and Kaplan's 2019 GED Test Prep. The kitchen, visible through an open doorway, seems to be mainly cases of energy drinks and fresh fruit. [00:46] Lauren looks around the place twice, then says: "Hmph." 15[00:50] 10Stewart: "Yeah, I know, I should have more stuff on the walls. Do you want something to drink? I have ginger ale, Red Bull, iced tea..." [00:51] "Water. But take me to your computer first. And make it presentable." [00:55] "I can wait here." [00:55] There is a definite air of 'I've had to deal with boys' PCs before' to that. 15[00:57] "Computer's through here. I use the second bedroom as an office." 10Indeed the room is well-lit, but artificially so, as the window is blackout-curtained. The space is dominated by a large desk and chair. topped by two monitors with a third mounted up on the wall behind them. The left desk monitor has video recording software open, the right has a browser with thirty tabs paneled 15[00:57] 10with Twitter and Discord desktop apps. The rear monitor is currently fixed on the desktop, which is solid black and adorned by icons manually arranged in a circle in the center of the screen, except for the empty Recycle Bin in the bottom right. 15[00:58] 10A mic hangs down between the monitors, feeding into the neatly bundled and routed cables that run through and around the pile of machines. 15[00:58] 10Stewart meets Lauren at the doorway with a glass of water. [00:59] She nods. "Make sure to tell Santander that when he's doing taxes. Or else he'll demand to see your apartment to see if he can find a space to claim as a home office." [00:59] She takes the glass and sniffs it. It seems reflexive, not personal; there's no ostentatious glare attached to it. [01:00] When she's determined whatever she's determined about it, she sips it. Then: "Coaster?" 15[01:01] 10Stewart: "I use that spare mousepad." [01:01] She nods, moves the mousepad well away from anything with a charge going into it, and puts the glass down. "Are you on basic Verizon or FiOS?" Baltimore's a one-provider town. [01:02] She's put down her pack by the door to the room. 15[01:06] "FiOS. So far I haven't had any problems with uptime, and the latency's okay..." [01:07] She nods. "Good, that means I don't need to go downstairs and hack shit. Send your next bill to the office. Santander will arrange to have it paid from there. Court wants you online." She gestures to his rig. "Shut it down, we're gonna change up your network and that might mean changing what's plugged into what." [01:08] Lauren heads back to her bag. "Oh, and if Google Fiber comes to down, under no circumstances are we touching that shit." [01:08] *town 15[01:08] 10Stewart powers down. "Something up with Google? Besides the obvious?" [01:09] "Everywhere it shows up, freeholds start going dark." 15[01:09] "Shit." [01:09] "Correllation isn't causation in the real world. Might be in ours." [01:10] She pulls out a stubby board with a bunch of ports on it. "Once you've got that shut down, I need to see your router. You know what a switch is, I'm guessing." 15[01:11] 10Stewart nods, showing her the router. [01:13] Did he get the landline cable running into the same room, or do they have to head over to the bedroom? [01:14] And he's on CAT5 connection right? Not on wifi? [01:14] Yes, these questions ARE the equivalent of 'is he stupid,' but, well, Lauren would check to see if he was stupid. 15[01:15] 10Yeah, his main rig is wired up. The router's right here, on an end table in the corner of the room. You can see the hole they drilled on installation day underneath it. [01:17] "Nice," she says. "This is good. So here's what I'm going to do." She puts the switch down next to it. "I want you to put the switch between the router and your PC. Put it somewhere comfortable for you. We're putting another computer on your network, with a firewall." 15[01:18] "Okay..." 10Stewart does as directed. [01:19] She nods and walks back to her bag. "You'll need another CAT5. Here's a couple." She tosses three onto his chair, each with a velcro tie on it. 15[01:20] "Thanks." [01:22] Then Lauren pulls a stubby blue box out. "This is the firewall. You'll have your normal connection and traffic lights -- green and orange-yellow -- but you'll also have a white/red toggle light here." She points to a real big light on the top of the firewall, big enough to be distracting when it's turned on. "Santander made this. Normally it's quiet white, shouldn't be offensive to [01:22] the eye, shouldn't be distracting." [01:23] "It goes normal red and there's something on your network that shouldn't be on your network. It can read up and down the lines -- so back through the switch, to your router, and into your PC." [01:23] "It goes hazard red and you need to shut everything down." [01:24] She moves forward to plug it in. "I'll demonstrate." 15[01:24] 10Stewart watches. [01:24] "You have a free spot in a surge protector?" 15[01:24] "On the end there." [01:25] "Alright." She plugs it in, connects it properly, then pulls an allen wrench out of her hair. "Sit down in your gamer chair. You need to know what this looks like when you're in the moment." There's no mockery there now that she's fully into business mode. 15[01:26] 10Stewart goes to sit, realizes the cables are still there, and fixes it before sitting down. [01:26] "Here's safe." [01:27] There's a white glow on the corner of his vision. A little bit distracting but nothing he can't adapt to if he has like, a lamp or a clock in his peripheral vision. 15[01:27] "Okay, yeah, I can get used to that." [01:28] "Okay. Here's alert." The white light becomes a harsh red: distracting, but still a single point. It'll definitely get his attention. 15[01:29] 10Stewart nods. [01:29] "And here's danger." The entire room is suddenly bathed in red light. It's honestly incredible that something that small can put out this much brightness, and it pulses like an alarm. 15[01:30] "Jesus." [01:30] "If you see danger, you rip the power cord out of the wall," Lauren says. "I don't care if it kills your rig. We can buy you a new rig." 15[01:30] "What flips that?" [01:31] Flatly: "Santander knows what it looks like, from a network infrastructure perspective, when a Keeper is in your system. It took...a lot of time...to learn that. And some bodies." [01:31] "So our firewalls do, too." [01:32] She sets the firewall down. "...These things are incredibly difficult to make and cost a lot of time and effort. Don't spill a coffee on it." [01:33] "Kingsley spent nine months making this one himself." 15[01:35] 10Stewart doesn't say anything. He only belatedly nods in recognition. [01:36] "I can't make you keep this network the way it is and you're gonna do whatever the hell you want when I'm gone. But if you take this thing offline, you might end a stream somewhere different than where you started," Lauren says. "Are we clear on that?" 15[01:37] "...yeah." 11[01:40] She nods. "In that spirit, I've got this." She walks over to her bag and pulls out something that looks like a weird, very thin extension cord adapter with a secondary cable that leads to a...big, red button covered by a plastic, hinged lid. Sort of like an ejector toggle on a fighter jet, if Stewart's played any flight simulators. "Put this between your surge protector and the wall, [01:40] run it up to your desk, keep the button covered. [01:40] "Keep it out of your facecam." [01:41] "But if that light goes to danger, flip it up, press it -- it'll blow the plug out of the wall without damaging it." [01:41] "Only works once, but if you have to use it, we'll be doing a lot more than just giving you a new one." 15[01:41] "How often does the freehold lose people through the Internet?" [01:42] "Not often." Her voice gets uncharacteristically quiet. "Just the once." [01:42] Then it's back to its normal confidence. "And that's why we've got these measures in place." [01:43] "My advice is also to put shaped explosives on the fuse box but no one else seems to want to go in for that." 15[01:45] 10Stewart: "Do you have them on yours?" [01:46] "No," she says. "I have them on the point the main power line into the house comes out of the ground." [01:46] "Not practical for an apartment." 11[01:47] How many monitors does Stewart have? 15[01:47] 10Three; two on the desk and one mounted on the wall. [01:50] Lauren looks at them all, then nods to herself. Then she pulls a black computer case about the size of a large, hardback book from her bag, along with a stand and a power cord. "Toss me a CAT5," she says as she puts the stand somewhere inoffensive but close and unspools the power cord. 15[01:52] 10Stewart tosses her the cord. "What's that?" [01:52] "This is your Autumn box." [01:53] "It'll need its own monitor. That monitor can't be connected to the others. This needs to be a closed system." [01:53] "You want to repurpose one of these or should I get one from the car?" 15[01:54] 10Stewart thinks for a moment. "We can use the wall monitor for that." [01:54] Lauren purposefully doesn't plug it in yet, but lays the plug next to an empty spot on the power strip. Then she walks back to the bag and pulls out a cheap keyboard and mouse. "Okay. Wire it up with these two; it's your setup. Feel free to replace them. But no KBM switching." [01:55] "The monitor has to be dedicated, too." [01:56] She takes the CAT5 and connects it to the firewall -- the gaming rig isn't, since it's now off the switch. But by her explanation, the firewall will be able to tell if something bad's in his rig anyway, even though it's downstream. 15[01:56] 10Stewart wires it up. Lauren is really relaxing to be around. [01:57] Not a usual reaction to her bullshit, but she seems to be taking it. [01:57] She sips her water again. [01:58] "Boot it up when you're ready." 15[02:00] 10Stewart boots up his hex-box. 11[02:04] It's...faster than an SSD. The BIOS screen shows a logo that reads ASHES THEN WIND with a crumbling leaf blowing through the text to the left, and then suddenly Stewart is greeted with what looks deceptively like a Windows 10 login screen...except all the scrolling background pictures are of autumn, and instead of giving an account name and prompting for password entry, where the 11[02:04] account name should be it says: WELCOME, STEWART, TO THE ENDLESS ROUND [02:05] And below that: SET PASSWORD. [02:05] With a period. [02:05] "I'll be outside," says Lauren. "Get me when you're done." [02:05] The field blinks. 15[02:07] 10Stewart enters a long sentence for a password: Oh, what a to-do, to die today, at a minute or two to 2. [02:07] When he hits enter, the box immediately returns: ACCEPTED. [02:08] Then it loads onto what appears to be a clean, if fall-themed, desktop...with one link. A browser called 'Leif.' 15[02:09] 10It makes him wonder what Melanie is doing right now. Probably thinking. 15[02:10] 10What's Leif open up to? 11[02:11] A web portal, it looks like. It doesn't have an address bar to go anywhere else. There's a username field already filled with STEWART.FALL, and...no password field. Where it would be, there is instead a line reading in all capital letters, DEMONSTRATE YOURSELF. 15[02:12] "I'm in, Lauren," 10he calls. [02:12] She walks back in. "Good. Nice." [02:13] She rummages in her bag and comes up with what looks like a USB fingerprint reader. [02:13] She tosses it to him. "Plug that in and leave it in. Your fingerprint is your passport." [02:13] Lauren grins. "We got it off the elevator." 15[02:15] 10Done and done. "Very nice." 10Index finger on pad. "It is I!" 10he proclaims under his breath. [02:16] Three dots go across the stream slowly enough to seem ostentatious. Then, replacing DEMONSTRATE YOURSELF., is: JUSTIFIED. [02:16] It loads into a beautiful web portal with a link to an email, an integrated STFP, a forum, and a wiki. [02:17] *SFTP 15[02:17] "Very cool. Who's on this network?" [02:18] Lauren: "If you're under duress, tell them you need to cut your finger to log in. Then do it with the blood. The Court will come running." [02:18] "All of us. I'm the webmaster, of course. But the King down to Knife Kid, we're all on here." 15[02:23] 10He clicks around the wiki. What kind of information is on it? [02:24] The wiki has...lots of entries. Too many to go over politely now, but lists and sublists for each court, and then additional entries for uh, vampires, 'mages,' and...werewolves??? If he clicks those, instead of a page he just gets a screen that reads 404: SORRY, MAGISTER. PETITION YOUR LORD. [02:25] Lauren: "Yeah, you don't get EVERYTHING right off the bat." [02:25] "Haha. Bat." 15[02:26] "There was a vampire at the warehouse with Gerald and the cops. He like, exploded into a cloud of bats and flew away." [02:27] "Yeah, that uh. That was the joke." [02:27] She gets a bit quiet. "That's how they bring you in." [02:27] "It's always some shit like that." [02:27] "And you're lucky. It's not always Gerald." 14[02:28] * banana|peels is now known as banana 15[02:31] "He said, 'they tell me the fear is the point'." [02:31] A forced laughed. "They're not fucking lying." [02:31] "Anyway. What kind of phone you have?" 15[02:32] 10Stewart shows her. "iPhone Xs." [02:34] "Yeah, that's supported. Plug the charging adaptor into the free USB port and you'll get a secure app downloaded to it. It acts like a VPN; the mobile interface is actually pretty good on iPhone. Android's a piece of shit to do dev for. Your thumb on the screen is your passport and it'll work the same way -- under duress, tell them you have to cut your thumb before you open the app. [02:34] We can track the device." 15[02:38] "Who writes the software for this stuff?" [02:39] She grimaces. "I worked on the west coast. In another life." [02:39] "Santander designs, I implement." 15[02:44] 10Stewart: "What kind of stuff does the court need help with? What do you need help with?" [02:46] Her eyes narrow a bit. "I. Am fine, I think. Thank you." She relaxes a bit. "But in terms of information technology, I'm in a defensive position. I play--do you follow soccer?" 15[02:47] 10Stewart shakes his head. [02:48] "Right. I play 'defense,' and I play 'keeper.' Uh. 'Goalie.' That's the hockey term." [02:48] "Ugh. Right. Keeper vs. keeper." [02:49] "I'm on guard, let's say. It would be useful to have someone on attack." 15[02:49] 10Stewart: "What does that entail?" 15[02:50] * Retrieving #SonsAndDoctors modes... [02:50] She grimaces further. "It entails an entirely separate address for you to do it from, for one. We're not putting you out there from home. We'll have to set up a black site." [02:50] "And we'll have to do more to protect it than a box." [02:50] "This is a work in progress." 15[02:56] 10Stewart still feels like he's not doing enough to contribute. "Okay." [02:58] "Look, idiot," she says, but it's a nice version of 'idiot.' "You've been doing this for like. Two fucking weeks. You don't need to be thrown into a warehouse with a supercomputer and three different physical breakpoint redundancies to kill the internet access until at least June next year, and that's only if you beg for it. People aren't going to think less of you." [02:59] "They're going to ask you for more than enough, anyway." 15[03:03] 10Stewart: "I just keep running into people who need so much help, and people who are working so hard to help..." [03:03] "...Yeah. That'll happen a lot." [03:04] "You just need to remember the length of what you can do. And while you shouldn't overestimate it, don't underestimate it either." [03:04] "Anyway. Open the command line." 15[03:04] 10>_ [03:07] "cd leaves" 15[03:07] 10The sound of typing. [03:08] "add chat dot app october lauren" 15[03:10] 10Stewart suppresses the urge to look back at her. [03:11] Text flows down the screen when he enters that, then clears. The only thing that remains above the command line is: >??? [03:11] Lauren: "feat of the dot bat" [03:11] *fear 15[03:12] 10fearofthe.bat [03:13] The command line snaps shut, and an application window opens. 4ENTER 7ENTER 17ENTER THUMBPRINT [03:13] "Not yours." [03:14] Lauren walks up and presses hers down on the reader. [03:15] 4WELCOME 7TO THE 17LIST [03:15] "You're in our, uh." [03:15] "You know what a Discord is, right?" 15[03:15] "Yeah, it's like IRC but more annoying." [03:16] She grins. "Yeah. So this is like Discord, but not dumb as shit." [03:16] "I built it off IRC." 15[03:16] "Nice." [03:16] "Thank you." [03:16] "...Anyway." [03:17] She walks back to the door. "So that's all the stuff." 15[03:17] "Awesome, thank you so much." [03:17] "You can access all your court shit on the isolated PC, and chat with whoever's online through The List. I'm pretty much always online." [03:18] Her eyes flash oddly. It's almost like a blush. "...Yeah no problem. I should get going." 15[03:28] 10Stewart lets the moment linger a beat too long. "Okay, cool. Thanks again. I'll see you online. And presumably... at... stuff." 10He doesn't have a clear picture of what the court social calendar is but he assumes there are functions people are expected to go to even if they are nerds. [03:29] She hefts her bag. "More than you'd like. You're now part of the freehold IT group. Every time The Young Street can't get into his freehold e-mail, you're on the listserv." She grins. "Owned." 15[03:31] "Cool. Hopefully I can take some of the load off the rest of you guys." [03:31] She gives him a weird look. "'Cool?' Really?" [03:32] "Like, I just put you on a job." 15[03:32] 10Stewart: "After I said I wanted to do more to help! You helped me." [03:32] "You're going to have to be online and checking that monitor, and, and talking to me and shit, all the time." 15[03:33] "You're fun to talk to!" [03:33] Her frown deepens and she shakes her head. "I hope I did." [03:33] At that she furiously blushes and strides for the door. [03:33] "I'll be online. Later!" 15[03:36] 10A job, a friend14?, AND a magic computer? This is a great day. But between Lauren and Nels he's now actually behind schedule. This Volatile Dead build won't publish itself. 15[03:37] 10A job, a friend14?10, AND a magic computer? This is a great day. But between Lauren and Nels he's now actually behind schedule. This Volatile Dead build won't publish itself. 14[06:01] * Joins: gulbanana 14[07:09] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[15:09] * Quits: banana (Connection closed) 14[15:13] * Quits: gulbanana (Quit: ) 14[15:14] * Joins: banana 14[15:31] * Joins: CBN_ 14[15:35] * Quits: CBN (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:06] * CBN_ is now known as CBN 14[16:55] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[19:23] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Tue Sep 17 00:00:00 2019 14[00:51] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[01:21] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[01:23] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:26] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[07:16] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:17] * Joins: trenchfoot 15[11:54] * Disconnected 15[11:55] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[11:55] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[11:55] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[11:55] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[11:55] * Quits: @Ferrinus (NickServ (GHOST command used by FerrinusPrime)) 14[11:55] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 14[11:55] * Quits: VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[11:56] * Disconnected 15[11:56] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[11:56] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[11:56] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[11:56] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[17:31] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[19:00] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:43] * Joins: trenchfoot 15[20:08]  15[20:08]  15[20:08]  15[20:08]  15[20:08]  15[20:12] The war is over. The battle is won. There remains now the long and painful process of mending the broken and reckoning with the lost. People are being decamped in stages from their Undercity bunkers, families blinking against their first fresh air and sunlight since the siege began some weeks ago. Around the city, its champions and heroes are left, for the first time in a long while, 15[20:12] with no mortal threat hanging over them. What do they do? 15[20:13] Ambassador, Jai, Xia Lan and Tsuka are gathered in the Black Bog, deep in grief and their cups. [20:14] "There's always new wars. Somewhere." 14The Ambassador pours herself a water, this time; she's alternating now to keep a semblance of propriety. "Perhaps I'll just go there." 15[20:15] Keldar, with the recovery effort and his own personal concerns still demanding his attention, has further impositions. First from a handful of Councilors seeking his time: Gen, Hayle, and Ephiselle. 15[20:17] Between triaging the wounded and being plied for the mysteries of what he saw by the city's lesser sorcerers, Xu Sim has stolen a private moment with the Scion of the Sevenfold. [20:19] 10Jai's still drinking, just not with the same frantic urgency to stop feeling things. So it's watered shochu today. "I've been thinking…" [20:19] 13Xia Lan has a payment for the wine she's drunk set out on the bartop while she nurses her own water. It's been a trying time. She's still trying to forget it. "No more wars, please," 13she starts. "Not for a while, at least." 15[20:20] Tsuka, who alone among the mourners is totally sober: "I can't wait for things to settle down." [20:20] 12Keldar's a Councilor himself, and so it's not hard for any of Gen, Hayle, or Ephiselle to make their requirements known. It's slightly harder to actually set the meeting up - there are a lot of fires to put out, and that's if you're restricting yourself to speaking literally. Still, at some point in the next few days Keldar's able to show up for a sit-down in the ruins of the [20:20] 12Council tower, to speak to his fellows either one at a time or as a group, depending on their requirements. [20:21] "Go on," 14The Ambassador says to Jai. 15[20:22] When the three of them finally get Keldar alone, in one of the intact meeting-rooms of the tower's lower levels, they get right to the point. Gen speaks for the trio: "We want to talk about your future." [20:24] 13She hums agreeably. "Maybe by the time I'm ready to come back here it'll be better than new." [20:24] 12Keldar: "'sso bright you gotta squint. But what's your concern with it?" 12He doesn't sound quite as standoffish as one might imagine here, just curious. 15[20:25] Tsuka looks over at her, but Jai's about to speak. [20:25] 10Jai: "Well, it's like this. In the heat of the moment, and the two of you talking about getting out of here, and inviting me along… it's appealing. It's still appealing." 10Pause. "But. there's a lot I could learn from Keldar and Xu Sim, too. Keldar's the greatest fighter I've ever seen, and if I knew a quarter as much as Xu Sim I'd be happy." 10A longer pause. He looks down in his cup. [20:26] 10A deep breath. "And I think I owe it to Stranger, the real Stranger, to try and make what he believed in come to pass." [20:26] "You've only been here a couple days," 14the Ambassador says, "so Keldar hasn't threatened to kill you yet." [20:27] 14Flatly: "You're not qualified to talk about what the real Stranger wanted or didn't want." [20:27] 5The couple having generated some steam of their own already, Xu Sim puffs away at one of her steambreather cartridges (cannabis). "So," 5he begins, passing the device to her after a moment. "Now nothing shall stand in our way, eh?" [20:27] 13Another hum. 15[20:28] Master Gen: "Dawn Sergeant, you were indispensable to the war effort. Nexus would be wiped off the map without you. A true hero for the ages, people are already commissioning statues in your honor. But the mood in the city, among the people, among the Council, is that going forward we need to move beyond a wartime footing." [20:28] 14The Ambassador: "I'm beginning to think I'm not either." 15[20:28] "Nexus survived for centuries with only one of enlightened Essence among its Council. We fear the balance of power between the haves and the have-nots, so to speak, is untenable as long as you and your kith continue to hold high office." [20:29] 10Jai: "…no. I suppose I'm not. And I'-I'm sorry-" [20:29] 14She waves her hand. "You're Solar. Stop fucking apologizing." [20:30] "Maybe if the original Solars had apologized more, the world wouldn't have fallen apart." [20:30] 5Xu Sim, exhaling, "The wonders of the world, at our fingertips. To learn - and exceed!" [20:30] 14She laughs. "Oh, do you think apologies are enough for Heaven?" [20:30] "You'll learn." 15[20:30] Seven seems all-but-perfectly content beside her beloved. After passing the steambreather back, though, she says: "I haven't... felt him. For days. The Mask." [20:30] 12Keldar opens his mouth, closes it again, leans back in his seat. "I hear what you're saying. Here's the thing. What about the balance of power between you guys and the Stranger?" [20:31] 13Xia Lan: "It'll feel like enough, at some point. That's my hope anyway." 15[20:32] Gen: "We can't displace the Emissary - our new Emissary. But if you remain as check on his influence, then the Council of Nine might as well be a Council of Two." [20:33] 10That's a good cue to pour another drink.  [20:33] 13She looks to Tsuka. "You were - about to say something?" [20:33] 12Keldar: "Okay, but if you haven't got, Iunno - me and Xu Sim, at least. He'll ruin us. I still don't know he understands just what a long game needs to be played, here." [20:34] 5Xu Sim: "The last thing he said to me was that we wouldn't see the dawn," 5inhale, pass ... exhale ... a little more hoarsely: "I think Keldar and Jai taught him a lesson. Are you still worried about him? Worried he'll come back?" 15[20:35] Tsuka: "You said 'when you come back'. Is the Council sending you away?" 15[20:37] Seven: "He does not release assets lightly. With Father, the understanding we had was premised on the fact that whatever spirit lingered after his death would return to his service. But to simply leave it?" [20:37] 13She covers up her undignified snort by drinking more water. Then: "No, no. I just -- can't stay here. In Nexus." 13She turns to look at him. "I - if I can't deal with the new Emissary, I just... I don't know where I'll go, but I can't stay here." [20:38] 13Xia Lan: "I haven't told them yet. I guess I should. Um." 15[20:39] Master Gen: "Well... you understand we're not asking you to leave the city. We'd just like you to put forward a mortal candidate to replace you as Dawn Sergeant, so that you can retire to the life of wealth and adventure that befits Nexus's pre-eminent warrior and mercenary lord." 15[20:39] Tsuka, weakly: "Oh." [20:41] 12Keldar: "Hey, sounds great to me. Except, how do we make sure the only remaining Emissary doesn't run straight over you and just shut down all the markets?" 15[20:42] Master Gen: "How would you intend to stop him as Dawn Sergeant if he tried?" [20:43] 12Keldar: "I mean... if I'm actually on the Council, I'm right in the room when some decision comes down the pipe and can't actually get instantly liquefied if I call it stupid, right?" [20:44] 13Xia Lan, suddenly alarmed: "You - I -- oh no," 13She forgot to tell him. She forgot to say anything. "Were you..." 13Going to stay here? With that? Help fix the city? She can't say it. 15[20:44] Master Gen: "At that point, you're talking about open war with our Emissary." [20:44] 5Xu Sim's brows furrow together for a moment. "Does he have other leverage, another hostage to compel your loyalty?" 15[20:45] "An Emissary who has, in this hypothetical, given himself over fully to madness and tyranny. Which, to be clear, he's shown little if any sign of doing." 15[20:45] "This is all a for-instance." 15[20:45] "But, for instance, if it came to blows between you and the Emissary... would it not be proper for you to lead the charge from outside the existing government?" 15[20:46] Tsuka: "...weren't you?" [20:47] 12Keldar: "Hmm. I mean, you're not wrong. I just figure that the less he's able to push the other Councilors around the less likely it'd even come to that. Like, once you've gotten to the point of proclaiming fuckin', Dogma number seven, and then having to retract it or something - well, that's already a huge fuckup." [20:48] 13She looks suddenly, abruptly hopeless. "I was. Then..." 13Then they won, and it wasn't at all what she expected or wanted. 15[20:49] Xia Lan can feel Tsuka's body heat rise beside her. "...we don't need to talk about this now." [20:50] 10Jai gives the Ambassador a glance and a nod. 10Should we give them some privacy? 15[20:50] Seven: "I don't know. That's what worries me." [20:50] "You two," 14the Ambassador says from across the bar, considering the very-much alcoholic she has poured herself, "since you've insisted on having this discussion in public, might want to take some advice from the recently-bereaved." [20:50] "There is a saying that goes, 'if you love something, let it go.'" [20:50] 10Guess not. [20:50] "That is stupid dogshit." [20:51] "Hold on to what you have. Your line may continue. Your exaltation may return to this world once again. But you -- you -- do not come back from the dead." [20:51] 12Keldar works his mouth around a bit, then leans forward. "Although, I dunno. I never got a chance to do this in peacetime - when you people did your thing, and the real Emissary passed ideas down... how did it go? How much input did you take from, like, the Guild, the big traders, whoever?" [20:51] "Even if your body does." [20:53] 14To Jai: "And that goes for you, too. If you still love them, you're not protecting your family by cutting them off from you. Needless abstention in the face of sorrow only trains you to see sorrow as its own reward." [20:53] "I am having, I admit, a very bad couple days." [20:53] "But I had a brilliant few years." 15[20:54] Master Gen: "The Emissary never used to pass ideas down. He would sit in on the meetings and, as the final arbiter of offense against the Dogmas, had a standing veto on what we put forward." [20:54] 5Xu Sim: "I can't bear the thought of you suffering in his service again. It's not right. We could destroy him, I think. The others came close, before. Cast him into Lethe like the ghost he is, or..." 5he scoffs "whatever Oblivion he was raving about. Or lock him up, bind him into something so he can never cause such harm again." [20:54] 14She waves her drink again. "Feel free to ignore me, though. The children of Luna always are." 15[20:54] "We took input from a wide variety of leading citizens," says Gen breezily. [20:56] 10Jai: "Excuse me for doing what I thought was right. I need some fresh air." 10He hasn't got a rejoinder to any of this and just sitting here getting morose isn't helping anyone. He stands and stalks out.  [20:56] 12Keldar draws and releases a breath. "Hmm. Hmm. Alright. If we Councilors can massage the Dogmas into something sane over the next... days, weeks? Then I can step down with the rest of my Circle. I got a few good guardsmen I can recommend." [20:56] 14Booming: "You are excused." [20:56] 14She's had...a lot to drink. 15[20:57] Seven: "I think, right now, he's returned to Thorns. He was always paranoid about invasion, and with the whole Direction united right now, and without his finest general..." [20:57] 10Just for that, he slams the door on the way out. Bottles shake and a glass falls and shatters. 15[20:57] "But in a month? A year? In ten years? I don't know." [20:57] 13Weakly: "We do. Need to talk about this. Tsuka," 13she says, standing up from the barstool. "C'mon." 13The Ambassador is right. About the not coming back part, and also about the doing this all in public - she'll try and lead Tsuka to some back room, to do this privately. [20:58] 14And that leaves the Ambassador alone with the bottle and her own thoughts. If not comfortable, it's at least familiar. [20:58] 13She probably shouldn't leave the Ambassador alone, because - yep. Yep that's pretty much exactly why. 15[20:59] Jai's maybe twenty paces down the road from the Bog when he realizes someone's in step beside him. "I gotta admit, you kicked ass out there, kid." says the Oyabun, still teenaged. His face is dirty and his schoolboy's robe tattered and frayed. 15[21:01] Tsuka will join Xia Lan in privacy. [21:01] 5Xu Sim: "We must go into this with both eyes open. Once we start down that path, there's no going back." 15[21:01] Seven: "Do you feel bound to this place? We would be safer the further we were from Thorns." [21:02] 5Xu Sim: "I'm not bound to any place." [21:03] 10Yeah, it's not much of a surrpise at all. "I stayed above water. That's all." 10The fact that the water, in this case, consisted of a tide of raksha and a fae lord a couple steps down from an Incarna don't enter his mind at this moment. [21:04] 13Xia Lan: "I can't. I don't know where I'm going to go, but I can't stay here," 13she starts. "It. He. I should've told you before. But everything's just been happening so fast..." [21:04] 14It had been...so long. Since she felt she'd had purpose. Oh yes, there were the little intrigues; the skirmishes; the parties that she excused herself from before they turned into orgies. But with him, she felt they were doing something. Together. Reunited across the skein of the years at last, but also lovers and partners for the first time. Beautiful and destined in a way she'd [21:04] 14never known. [21:04] 14And then, over her, he chose. [21:04] 14A fucking city. 15[21:05] Tsuka: "Stranger?" [21:05] 14Not any fucking city: this one. Nexus. A cesspool. One he convinced her only shouldn't be left to die because of the consequences for other, better parts of the world. [21:05] 13Xia Lan: "The Emissary." [21:05] 14And he loved it more than he loved her. [21:05] 14So. [21:05] 14Time for another drink. 15[21:06] Oyabun: "You got that sore-winner kind of face. Something on your mind?" 15[21:06] Tsuka: "I don't understand." 15[21:06] Keldar's response pleases the other Councilors, who leave him to his business. Namely, a meeting with Khelendros, commander of the Green Apples mercenary band. [21:07] 5Xu Sim: "The people of Nexus, yes, I feel some responsibility. But I have faith in Stranger. And I can always come back, do what needs to be done, fix the damn sluices again. But. It's like you said, before. We can leave at a heartbeat's notice and go anywhere you please." 15[21:08] Seven: "There are so many places. Palanquin, Ascension, An-Teng... the world is full of great powers ripe for mastery." [21:08] 13Xia Lan: "He was - I can't even look at him," 13it takes an effort to finish that sentence. "Do - how much do you know about me. Before." 13Before Nexus. Before they started dating. 15[21:09] Tsuka: "Not much." It comes off a little sulky, so he adds: "We've been so focused on what was right in front of us." [21:10] 10Jai: "They won—we won, dammit! And now everyone's snapping at each other, a guy I thought could be a friend paid for it by having his SOUL scooped out, and… and…" [21:11] 5Xu Sim: "We'll exceed them all. And if the Mask ever darkens our horizon again, I'll cast him down, shatter the Juggernaut, dispell his armies forever... I swear it!" [21:11] "Khelendros, you son of a bitch!" 12Keldar's meeting with his old commander opens with a powerful handshake and some good old-fashioned ribbing about who saved whose ass at whatever altercation. Of course, Khelendros has the upper hand in most of these, since for most of their relationship only one of the two men was Chosen. 15[21:12] Ambassador is left to her thoughts and her cups for hours. The sky is dark and the half-moon high overhead when she's roused from her solitude by a steady rap-rap-rap at the window. [21:13] 10Jai squats down and looks his boss right in the eyes. "I thought it'd be different. From all those messes you had me making. Is it always like this?" [21:14] 13Xia Lan: "Good. You wouldn't have wanted to. He was a better dad than my actual father and he's fu- freaking gone now. He left and, I can't pretend it doesn't hurt. So I need to go." 13She searches for another bottle of wine. "I didn't even realize until he was gone," 13she explains, still searching. 15[21:14] Oyabun: "Do you really want to know?" To Jai's recollection, he's never been asked that before. 15[21:15] Tsuka: "Why did you come to Nexus in the first place?" 15[21:16] Khelendros: "And look at you now. Big-timing your old boss. I should've seen this coming. Halfway did. But still, what a fight to go out on." [21:16] 13Xia Lan: "Had to. Met someone who owed Vladok a favor in the south, they tricked me into taking it over for 'em. That's... handled, so." [21:17] "Really thought I was over leaving places like this." 15[21:17] Tsuka: "Is that all this was for you? A rest stop?" [21:18] 10A long moment. "No. Yes. Ughhh, just hit me with it already." [21:19] 13Xia Lan: "...when I came here? Yeah. But then it was - I wanted to live here. To stay." 13Heavy sigh. "I still want to. Then I think about seeing the Emissary." [21:19] "I was going to have a home." 15[21:22] Oyabun: "This is in your nature. Every Chosen of the Sun thinks they're the most special and important person in the world. That's why he chooses them. Without some great fight to unite them, they fall to bickering, feuding, eventually... madness." [21:24] 5Xu Sim: "Yeah... on the Sun, the Moon, Venus, and Saturn, the Emissary, heh, whoever else. And that reminds me," 5he unrolls a bit of parchment from his bricabrac- "Of course, the others have the Sun as their standard, and I do as well, when I'm with them. And you, of course, also have your own sign." 5The stylized -=7=-. "But I wanted to see what you thought of, and if this is [21:24] too much just let me know, well, this, combined standard." 15[21:25] Tsuka: "You still have a home! This place still loves you. I still love you." [21:26] On the parchment is a quick sketch of a navy-and-crimson bursting sunrise-or-set, beneath a stylized red star and inscribed with certain words of the Old Tongue. [21:26] 5On the parchment Xu Sim presents to her is a quick sketch of a navy-and-crimson bursting sunrise-or-set, beneath a stylized red star and inscribed with certain words of the Old Tongue. 15[21:26] Seven: "That's lovely." [21:26] 14Once everyone's gone the crying starts, and the crying lasts long enough for reason to take over, and from reason comes water, and from water comes sleep -- if on a barstool -- so the second time the rapping comes she says, with irritation and without moving, "I heard you the first time and I cannot reasonably give you permission to enter. So use the door or, apparently, the window." [21:26] 13She's not even looking at him. "I thought I was gonna just, drift. Forever. Then I came here, and met you, and wanted to build a life." 13She's managed to find a bottle of wine, and pulls the cork out with her teeth before taking a drink. "I love you. But I tried to love Nexus, and..." [21:27] 13She turns. "Could you leave Nexus? With me? We could, find somewhere new..." [21:28] 14He's an idiot if he says no. But apparently all men are. 15[21:28] There's a lengthy silence before the front door creaks open, and moonlight floods in behind a woman with long, dusty hair and a long, dusty cloak. "Ambassador?" [21:28] 12Keldar: "Haha, yeah. But hey, the Apples did alright, didn't they? 'specially with- wait, go out?" [21:30] 10This squares with some things the Ambassador told him, back when. But not all of them. "And that's why they hunt us down. Or why others try tu use us." 10Jai closes his eyes, rubs the spot on his forehead where his caste mark would appear. "And is there no other way? Nothing left but to become a tool or a demon? That can't be it. That can't be what the Sun wants." [21:30] "Ambassador to what?" 14she calls back, slowly sitting up. "And my impression was I would have at least a day to lick my wounds after ensuring our part in a middlemarch not swallowing half the Threshold." 15[21:34] Khelendros: "I wanted to tell you first, for two reasons. I'm retiring. The first reason is you're my best man, and I thought you deserved to know first. The second is I want to pass the leadership of the company to you." [21:35] 5Xu Sim beams. "I'm glad to hear you think so." [21:36] 12Keldar: "Wait, wait. Why retire? You were just critical to a major victory. Basically got a direct line to the city's coffers." 15[21:38] "I wouldn't know anything about that," Ambassador's interlocutor says. "I just go where they tell me, and they told me that no one but the Ambsassador of Night and Day would do." 15[21:39] Oyabun: "Man... I don't fucking know what the Sun wants. I'm not sure anyone does. All I can tell you is what I know. I owe you that much." [21:40] 14The Ambassador: "Well, then they must need quite the special fool for their guest list." 14She turns to regard the woman, who she assumes she does not recognize, then harrumphs. "Do you want a drink? I'm drinking for--" 14She pauses for a full second at the contemplation of what 'drinking for two' might otherwise have meant. "Drinking for myself, and others." [21:40] 14She pours two glasses of water. 15[21:41] Tsuka: "This place is my home. It saved my life. It brought me you." 15[21:41] "But... I can't lose you." 15[21:41] "I'll follow you anywhere." [21:42] 14She'll put down a third glass for the courier. [21:46] 10Jai nods. "Okay. I guess I'll have to live with that. So, where do we stand here, old man?" [21:46] 13She pulls closer into herself. "I. I wanted this to be my home. I really, really tried. And it was. For a while." 13She looks through her bangs to Tsuka. "Maybe it will be again. Someday. Somewhen. Somehow. And it - gave me so much. It brought us together! I learned how to love again!" 13And yet. "Thank you. I'm sorry." 13She leans into his shoulder. "Thank you. We'll figure this out." 15[21:48] Tsuka: "Again?" 15[21:50] The courier will sit and drink. "Word won't reach the Scavenger lands for a week or more, yet, but war's broken out in Harborhead. Slave uprisings. Satraps and Realm viceroys killed in the street, their bodies strung up like treats for the vultures." 15[21:50] "But here's the bad news." [21:51] 14She's nodding along until then. "There always is." 15[21:52] "The rebels are calling themselves the Lilun. The Children of Lilith. Ordinarily, that's nothing. A flourish. Lilith cults rise and fall every other year." 15[21:53] "But three days ago we got word from the oracles of the Caul. She's actually awake." [21:58] 5Xu Sim: "Just to circle back. I'm curious about something you said. The go-your father. Did you mean his ghost is still... serving the Mask?" [21:59] 13Sharp intake of breath. "Ah. Again. Um." 13Knees to chin. "The Sun chose me, right after. I did say you wouldn't have wanted to know me, before." [22:00] 14The Ambassador: "Well. Fuck. Wouldn't that be a thing. I wonder how often the oracles have been wrong." 14She takes another sip. "If it's 'never,' don't answer that. Am I making contact with the cult or with whoever's left to try to suppress them? I'm guessing our interest is in the elder herself." 15[22:00] Khelendros: "That fight confirmed two things for me. One is that I still got it. I could keep this up for years yet. The other is that I don't want to. I've lost my taste for fighting. It's time for me to retire on top of the pile of money I've already made. And I won't let the Apples turn into some fat fuck's slush fund like the Nighthammers. It needs new blood." 15[22:00] "It needs you." 15[22:02] The courier: "You guess correctly. Our point of contact is within the local government. An officer in the military. But that's just a point of contact. From there you're free to play it as it lays." [22:02] 12Keldar's whip-fast with his answer: "No way, you've still--" 12He pauses. "Oh. ...well. You put it like that..." [22:02] 14The Ambassador: "Do you have an identity dossier for my cover or is it procure on site?" 15[22:03] "Procure on site. We have no idea what her disposition will be towards the Pact, and we don't want to tie your hands." 15[22:03] "The contact will know you by sign." [22:03] 14She nods. "Do I have the Pact's whip, or am I purely. Ah. Exploratory." [22:05] 12Keldar turns away for a moment, putting a hand to his chin. Actually run Ninth Orchard... "...you know, I'd have told you to fuck off a few months back. But after the Guard, just having to stay profitable'd be a relief." 15[22:05] Oyabun: "Well... that's up to you. We still need you, Jai, as many people like you as we can get. But I'm not treating you like a child anymore. Would if I could, believe me." 15[22:06] The courier: "Exploratory to start. We'd like a prelimary report before we know whether our full sanction will help or hurt you." [22:07] 13Xia Lan: "Kana Kavu. She ran the gang. And I loved her, or I thought I did. I don't know anymore. The Ruby Reds are all gone now. And I thought I was --" 13Broken. Lost. Alone. "a goner, until the Sun chose me. And then I came here, and you know the rest." [22:07] 14The Ambassador nods again. "In that case, I need you to relay two things that are conditions of me taking this assignment, and if the elders you report to are insulted enough to send in the killers over it, well, you know which shitty bar to find me in. [22:07] 12The soon-to-be-former Dawn Sergeant clenches a fist. "I can do it. Dunno if this has gotten to you or if it just makes sense, but I won't be on the Council indefinitely. Once we got things squared away here I was gonna get back to proper work - 'cept, of course, who the hell could afford me at this point?" 15[22:08] Khelendros: "The Empress, I suppose." He cackles at his own joke. 15[22:08] The courier: "Okay." [22:09] "The first: I need an elder who is regional and empowered to make on-site decisions for the Pact on a night's notice. This is non-negotiable. I will under no circumstances wait weeks or months for updates from scatterbrained, calcified fools on the pidgeon line. This is too important, if what you say is true. And when I mean elder, I don't mean just a shahan-ya. I mean someone of [22:09] consequence. I will not fly solo here, not on something this important. [22:09] 12Keldar: "Pff, hah, that'd be the day. But no, no - if I got your blessing, I'm in. We can get the paperwork started. I need a bigger stake in this town than one foundry, anyway, things lookin' like they are. And after Nexus itself, nothing'd make me prouder to work on than the Apples." [22:10] "The second: I need whoever gave you this missive to understand that I will not be bringing a team to bear on this mission, and to reconsider the assignment in that light. If this job was given based on my solar mate's ability's, and not mine, I regret to inform you and them that he won't be joining us for the rest of his life." [22:10] "The second: I need whoever gave you this missive to understand that I will not be bringing a team to bear on this mission, and to reconsider the assignment in that light. If this job was given based on my solar mate's abilities, and not mine, I regret to inform you and them that he won't be joining us for the rest of his life." [22:12] 10Jai feels a sudden spike of aggravation. "You're full of shit, old man. But I'll make you a deal. You don't get mixed up in my affairs for five years, I won't get mixed up in yours. At the end of that, we'll meet again. And maybe I'll consider coming back to the Bureau, on my terms." 15[22:12] Seven: "The Mask believes - rightly or wrongly, I cannot say - that he has control over the cycle of incarnation and reincarnation that Chosen of the Incarna take upon the wheel. That a Solar essence bent to his service will return to his service. So not Father himself, but his heir." 15[22:13] Oyabun: "I don't suppose it'd help to tell you that that puts me in deep shit with my boss." 15[22:14] Tsuka: "...I'm sorry." After a pause. "I always assumed it was some grand heroic thing. Saving a wagonload of orphans, singing a raksha prince to sleep forever, something." [22:17] 5Xu Sim reaches for Seven's forehead, his fingertips delicately tracing where he knows her Mark appears in blood. [22:18] 13Xia Lan: "That's what'll go in the books," 13she jokes. It's not a very good joke. "Never understood it. I don't know if I ever will." [22:18] Xu Sim: "And do you believe him?" [22:19] 5Xu Sim: "And do you believe him?" 15[22:20] The courier lets that hang in the air a moment. "I'll go set the wheels in motion. It might take a few days to rouse an elder of the Pact. Where can I find you?" [22:20] 13It saved her, though. It got her here. She pulls closer to Tsuka again. "Do you -- are you all right? I kinda dumped all my baggage on you..." [22:20] 10Jai straightens up and regards Oyabun. "All right, so. How about I help you cover it up? We pretend like this whole escapade was your idea and that it was a trick to get me into the confidence of the other Solars." 15[22:21] Oyabun: "You think we can sell that?" [22:23] 10Jai: "Sure. You planted that report with the encrypted message so it'd be easy for me to crack. Then I run off all half-cocked to Nexus." 15[22:23] Tsuka: "The whole time we were fighting, what kept me going was knowing that after it was over I could be with you. I always assumed it would be here." 15[22:23] "But you're what's important." [22:24] 10Jai's watching Oyabun very carefully, on the off chance this is actually what happened. 15[22:24] Seven, with an edge of bitterness: "I do not believe he would lie to me." [22:26] 10Jai's into this charade now. "And while I'm out there traveling with the Ambassador and Xia Lan, I'll write you some dispatches. I'm not going to rat on them. But if anything interesting happens around us… you'll get a report on it." [22:27] 10Also, he seems to have settled on his decision without realizing it. 15[22:28] Oyabun: "Yeah... yeah... this could work. And you're okay with this?" Jai gets a searching look of his own. [22:28] 5Xu Sim twists the tip of his mustache between thumb and forefinger in thought. "That could be leverage. But perhaps whatever he has twisted around his finger, could be un-twisted. Purely theoretically." [22:29] 13She hums in agreement. "It could've been great." 13And yet. "We'll find somewhere. For us. I love you. I don't think I say that enough." 13Woah, hey, where did half of that bottle of wine go. 15[22:29] Khelendros: "I'm glad to hear it. No one understands Nexus like you do. And there's no finer warrior in the world." 15[22:29] "Don't rest on your laurels, though. Sooner'n you think some scruffy kid fresh from the Arena will start sizing you up. It happened to me." 15[22:31] Tsuka: "Have you thought about where? Will we follow the Ambassador?" [22:31] 10Jai: "I learned a lot while I was working for you, even if I wanted to kick your teeth in half the time. So if I can keep your ass out of the fire while I'm going to fill in the gaps in my education, then the favor's repaid." [22:31] 12Keldar: "Pfheh. I'm the world's greatest monster by the lights of at least two major religions. They can bring it on." [22:33] 13Xia Lan: "I think so. She's - I get the feeling we - you and me and her - can help a lot of people, until we - you and I - find a place to settle down." 15[22:34] Tsuka: "Somewhere sunny." [22:36] 13She nods. "And open. Lots of greenery, too." [22:37] 14The Ambassador sits down behind the bar again. "My dear, with a hook like that, I'm not very well going to run out the line, am I? Most likely I'll be with Qaile's people. Helping pick up the pieces." 15[22:37] "Maybe by a river. A clean river," Tsuka adds. [22:38] "Moon knows they'll need it." [22:38] 14Bitterly: "Sun knows, too." 15[22:38] Seven: "Mastering not just the Mask but the very cycle of life and death itself? So ambitious." She kisses him tenderly. "I love you so." 15[22:39] Oyabun: "It's a deal, then." [22:40] 10Jai sticks out his hand. "Deal." [22:42] 13Xia Lan laughs. "The absolute prettiest place. Riverside, lots of sun, maybe an orchard." 13They'll make it theirs. 15[22:42] Oyabun shakes. [22:43] 5Xu Sim, increasingly distractedly- "Between us, we surely have..." [22:46] 10Jai heads on down the road back to his temporary quarters. He gives the ond-young man a wave and the farewell Oyabun always used to give: "Be seeing you." 15[22:53] And so the Circle, having lost its Center, fails to hold. It separates without amity or enmity, people spent and transformed by a fight that took more than they knew. The people of Nexus, freed from their doom and facing a brand new future, have cause to celebrate, to worry, and to mourn. So too with the city's heroes. 15[22:55] The living arteries of the East, Yellow and Gray, merge into great Yanaze and flow west towards the setting sun. What Nexus rises to meet the coming dawn? No one can fully say. But all know that it will not be the city Balor died to build, and died again to save. It will not be the city Cethleann tore apart in her grief and fury. 15[22:56] Their stories have ended. But the stars turn, and fate proceeds apace... 15[22:56] NEXT TIME: ? 14[23:57] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) Session Time: Wed Sep 18 00:00:00 2019 14[00:02] * Joins: dammitwho 14[01:13] * Quits: cbass (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:14] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:15] * Joins: cbass 14[02:30] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[02:47] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:47] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[02:52] * Joins: dammitwho 14[02:53] * Quits: dammitwhoaaa (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:59] * Joins: dammitwhoaaa 14[02:59] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[02:59] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 14[08:06] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:07] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[09:16] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:45] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[14:10] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[14:15] * Joins: cbass 14[21:10] * Quits: CBN (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Thu Sep 19 00:00:00 2019 14[01:27] * Quits: trenchfoot (Quit: Leaving) 14[01:27] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[13:57] * Quits: banana (Quit: ZNC - http://znc.in) 14[14:18] * Joins: banana 14[15:08] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:08] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[15:08] * Quits: banana (Quit: ) 14[15:10] * Joins: banana 14[15:11] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[18:12] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[18:12] * Joins: cbass [20:20] _,-'"" """"`--. [20:20] ,-' __,,-- \ [20:20] ,' __,--""""dF ) [20:20] ,' _Hb ___dF"-._,-' [20:20] ,' _,-"""" ""--..__ [20:20] ( ,-' `. [20:20] `._,' _ _ ; [20:20] ,' ,' `-'Hb-.___..._,-' [20:20] \ ,'"Hb.-'HH`-.dHF" [20:20] `--' "Hb HH dF" [20:20] "Hb HH dF [20:20] "HbHHdF [20:20] |HHHF [20:20] |HHH| [20:20] |HHH| [20:20] |HHH| [20:20] |HHH| [20:20] dHHHb [20:20] .dFd|bHb. o [20:20] o .dHFdH|HbTHb. o / [20:20] \ Y | \__,dHHFdHH|HHhoHHb.__ Y [20:20] ########################################## [20:23] 12In the middle of Yu-Shan's sprawling Lunargent Ecological Protectorate, in a meeting chamber ensconced within a great tree, the Squared Circle faces off against several agents of Heaven. At the moment, though, they're in a holding action, because the agent of Heaven's had to step out. Remaining are a man and a woman of indeterminate cast and features - each is cloaked in brown, [20:23] 12and their faces are hard to remember even when you catch glimpses - and your own ancient one-time circlemate, Wicked Triumph's Reckoning. [20:24] 12There's food available, if you care to order it; a familiar giant otter is puttering around to take orders which he comes back with in mere minutes. Reckoning has treated himself to some raw fish. [20:24] 4Negotiations are aggravating. [20:26] 6Raw fish, though... [20:26] 4Ir brought some along with their lunches, but undoubtedly Tatsuya has already been through that. [20:26] 6Look. He has a condition. 15[20:27] 10Bad beats. [20:30] 12Reckoning looks around the table. "This seems to be going well. Wouldn't you agree?" 12He receives a hmmph from one of the two Sidereals. 15[20:30] "What happened to you, Reck? You used to be about the music, you know?" [20:32] 4Thought he wasn't supposed to talk. [20:33] 12The Abyssal smiles wanly. "Well, to a certainl extent you happened, didn't you? I was all set to hold the biggest concert I'd put together in age or two, and... well, I suppose it came down to numbers, in the end." [20:33] 7Blossom: "Well enough, so far. We'll see if it lasts." [20:33] 12in an age or two* [20:33] 4Ir: "And who was on lead six-string." [20:34] 12Reckoning: "Mmm. And how is Iscariot these days?" [20:35] "Iscariot is no more." 4She'll let that hang for a moment, a bit meanly, before snapping her fingers and willing her bangles into the familiar instrument form. "Jude's Law is doing just fine, however." [20:36] 12The diplomat actually looks momentarily disconcerted before the situation is made clear. "Why the change?" [20:36] 4Ir: "I don't betray people." [20:36] 6I feel like he's not the person to be asking 'why the change,' at this moment. [20:37] 12Reckoning: "Well, not in the present tense, certainly." [20:37] 4Instead of responding, she boredly plays: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-GaXa8tSBE [20:39] 6Tatsuya nods, satisfied. Still kind of ready to throw down, if Reckoning keeps pushing, but... [20:40] 12Reckoning chuckles and returns to his fish. It's a little later that one of your other, unnamed hosts speaks up - with some passion, it sounds like. The man asks, unprompted: "Why do you persist?" [20:41] 12He seems to be addressing your Circle. Reckoning just looks faintly amused. [20:41] 4Ir glances at her friends to see if any of them want to field this one. [20:41] 7Blossom: "You're going to have to narrow it down a little." [20:44] 12The man: "In defying Heaven -- in repeating the mistakes of ages past." 12He waves at the other end of the table, currently unoccupied except for a pile of legal documents that bind you all against killing each other. "You're wise enough to deal with us now. But you'll probably go off and resume trying to... grow cults, raise armies, build cities. Isn't that so?" 15[20:45] "We make lots of new mistakes too." [20:47] 6Tatsuya, mildly: "And strictly speaking, it's only defying Heaven if we don't agree beforehand." [20:47] 12Man: "Fewer than you think. Creation's history is long, and its arc bends towards disaster." [20:48] 4Ir: "So are you taking...credit for that?" [20:48] "This is supposed to be your show, right?" [20:48] "I mean I can't say I like what you've done with the place much." [20:48] 7Blossom leans her head on her hand, elbow on the table. "Let me ask you a question in response - what makes you think you're managing things properly? Take the Blessed Isle alone. You'd have to work very hard to convince me you weren't working closely with Her Imperial Majesty. But now she's gone. Do you know where she went? Is she alive or dead? Do you have a replacement in mind? [20:48] Did you have a contingency for this event planned? How do you intend to prevent the civil war? It's not at all clear to me that you can." [20:49] "How many gods in this very city are begging on the street? Is it because there is no work to be done?" [20:50] 4As always, Blossom says it better. [20:52] 12Man: "The Empress's loss is indeed a blow and not one that Creation will weather easily. But it's one that it can weather - despite the efforts of you and your kind, who sow chaos wherever you spring up. Whose Deliberative left the world so ill-prepared for Balor that, as you observe, even Yu-Shan struggles now on a feeble stream of remaining prayers." 15[20:53] 10Eikichi: "I think you skipped a step in your story, there." [20:53] 6Tatsuya: "A couple steps." [20:54] 12Man: "Oh?" 15[20:55] 10Eikichi: "There was a whole Shogunate. As in, Shogun ate shit during the Balorian Crusade." [20:55] 4Ir snort-laughs. [20:56] "Also, while we're clarifying, 'despite' is pretty loaded. As a phrase." [20:58] 12So does the dead Eclipse. It's the cloaked man who responds. "A Shogunate that had to sustain itself on a world wracked by your death throes - a Shogunate that, itself, represented a narrow escape from the old Deliberative simply ending the world entire." [20:58] 4Ir: "Damn. So you're one of Heaven's better diplomats, then?" 15[20:58] 10Eikichi: "What's that phrase Reck likes to use? 'A highly ideological claim.'" [21:00] 12Man: "An empirical one. The world you built could not last." 12Reckoning: "He's right, I'm afraid. Am I really the only one to remember it clearly?" [21:00] 4Ir: "You're the only one here who works for him." [21:01] 6Tatsuya: "'Clearly' is also a pretty loaded phrase." 15[21:01] 10Eikichi: "You're missing the point. No matter the first Deliberative's sins, the idea that only this sort of barely-managed decline was possible in its aftermath is a point of political doctrine." [21:02] "I am profoundly uninterested in ten thousand years of prehistory, in this conversation." 7Blossom, slowly: "You know, I worked with the Thousand Scales briefly. Very briefly, but long enough to hear a very interesting phrase. "The new normal". Have you heard it?" [21:03] 12Reckoning waves a dismissive hand at the man, who narrows his eyes. "Forget him a moment. When I say clearly I mean clearly. Mine's not one of those brains that just renders its entire perceived past in flawless woodcuts, but you lot remember what you were doing last year, or last decade, yes?" [21:04] 12The male Sidereal answers Blossom. "Not really, the Scales are outside my usual remit. But the meaning seems plain...?" 15[21:04] 10Eikichi: "I remember... many things I was doing last year." [21:05] "As in, put people in a situation long enough and how they gauge things becomes calibrated around how things are. The Empress is gone, so now the Treasury's tax estimates are increasingly thrown off by waste, fraud, and abuse. The scribes adjust their math as best they can to compensate, and very soon - less than a decade later! - the new situation is accepted by the bureaucracy as the [21:05] natural state of things." [21:05] 4Ir to Reckoning: "I remember some of the things you were doing last year, too." [21:06] 12Reckoning: "Yes, those were the days! But you don't remember what you were doing the last year of, say, the Deliberative." 15[21:06] 10Eikichi: "Unlike you, we weren't there for the last year of the Deliberative." [21:06] 12Reckoning: "Of course you were." 15[21:07] 10Eikichi: "You're just a ghost that hasn't moved on yet." [21:08] 12Man: "Well, from a certain point of view, it is." 08[21:08] 7Blossom: "As Eikichi correctly points out, you've been presiding over a managed decline since the end of the Contagion. There is, as we speak, a necrotitan squatting on what used to be the city of Thorns. It's been there for a while. Long enough that Nexus is making serious inroads towards political rapprochement with - and I cannot stress this enough - creatures that call themselves [21:08] *Deathlords*. Because they are strong, and they offer stability." 08[21:08] 7Blossom pats Eikichi's hand. "'kichi, please." [21:08] 4Ir actually has no idea where her First Age incarnation was in the last year of the Deliberative. She has no memories of it, no dreams, no premonitions. She suspects it has something to do with the fact that her exaltation was meant for Saskia...but she's not going to voice that in this venue. [21:09] 7Blossom: "The thing we're here to negotiate about, the witch-queen Raksi... she's been squatting on Sperimin for a thousand years! Eating babies all that time. Eating *actual* babies. But she's been there long enough that you've grown accustomed to her, she's your new normal. So when we turn up and say 'We'd like to replace her with someone who does not eat babies', your response is [21:09] 'How dare you defy the will of Heaven!'" [21:10] 7Blossom, her voice rising: "How long are you going to maintain a holding action? How long are you going to negotiate little pieces of Creation into the abyss in the hopes of not losing larger ones? Play that game long enough and you know how hit ends." [21:11] 12The man leans forward. "Now, that's - you're skipping steps of your own. We're quite happy to remove the Witch-Queen. Were the idea to replace her with you - that's another thing entirely. Substantially worse in the long run." [21:11] *how it ends [21:12] 6Tap tap tap, fingers on the table. "What's your alternative. Because the status quo is --" 6Awful? Terrible? Very bad? "-- not ideal." 6Yeah. That's safe. [21:12] 4...And maybe, she's willing to admit to herself, that's not entirely true. [21:14] 4An odd pause, then to Reck: "If you remember the last year of the Deliberative so well, answer me this:" [21:14] "Where was the weapon formerly known as Iscariot, then?" [21:14] "Your hands?" [21:14] 12Reckoning: "Oh, no. I believe it was my back." [21:15] 4Ir: "Then really you were just borrowing it for a bit, weren't you?" [21:15] "If unconventionally." [21:16] 12Reckoning: "Lending. I'd really been counting on you to keep your promises, but, well, I suppose needs musted." [21:18] 4She laughs. "Oh, you're talking to the wrong person to right that. I'm not even supposed to have this brand on my brow. But I'm starting to like whoever he or she was." [21:19] 12The man responds to Tatsuya: "Certainly it's not ideal. But it could be worse. Even if, as your Zenith claims, we are doomed to fail by inches... that's better than plunging into the void all at once. And, insofar as we are doomed, it's because your ilk don't fall into line." [21:20] 6Tatsuya: "Damn, and you live like this?" 14[21:21] * Quits: dammitwho (Connection closed) 15[21:21] 10Eikichi is trying to project a not-sulky energy, which is really hard when you're sulking. 14[21:21] * Joins: dammitwho [21:25] 12Man: "I might ask you the same. We, at least, keep the ship afloat. You, knowingly or otherwise, will steer it off the world's edge." [21:25] "The falling into line bit isn't really a teambuilder, at the very least." 6Why did he agree to go to this again? [21:25] 12Reckoning responds slightly morosely: "I did, too." [21:27] 7Blossom: "A Pyrrhic victory does not, in fact, beat a flat loss. They're the same. Putting all the blame on us - when you've had *how* long to run things as best as you're able? - is absurd." [21:29] 7In a conciliatory tone: "Look. For all this I think, for Creation at least, your heart is in the right place. Ultimately we want the same thing. Order. Prosperity. Justice. The universe functioning correctly, as it was meant to. Sagacious lords, diligent servants. The bounteous harvests that come from honest work, and so on and so on." [21:29] 4Looking at the male Sidereal, Ir says: "So..." 4Then she turns to the woman. "...you're the one in charge here, I take it." [21:29] "But the fact remains that you cannot reach that future on your own. You don't have the resources or the strength." [21:30] 12The woman begins: "I-" 12and is immediately interrupted by a clear dry voice. "If you could reach out and seize everything you've ever wanted, but at the cost of a one in one thousandth chance of losing everything you've ever loved... would you do it?" 12The voice comes from the end of the room. It's Kejak, returned from whatever he was seeing to, standing with his arms crossed [21:30] 12behind his back and a gaze to high and lofty to meet any of yours. [21:30] 4That just means he's looking down his nose. Business as usual. [21:30] 7Blossom: "I would ask - who sets the odds?" [21:31] 12Kejak: "I'll take that as a no, for the chance has already passed. And the rest of you?" [21:32] 7Blossom rolls her eyes again. What a dink. 15[21:32] 10Eikichi: "The things I love are all the things I've ever wanted." [21:33] 4Ir: "As someone experienced with losing everything she'd ever loved, I never much thought of it as a game of chance." [21:33] 6Tatsuya: "It's not exactly an either-or." 08[21:36] 12Kejak, to Eikichi: "Satisfaction. The philosophical view. Another no." 12To Ir: "Resignation. Another no." 12To Tatsuya: "Distrust of the choice itself. Another." [21:37] 12He sweeps into the room, still in the posture of an at-ease soldier or an on-duty disciplinarian. "In this, at the very least, we agree. I would not take the risk. No one has that right." [21:39] 7What a DINK. [21:40] 4Ir forgot how much Maryam hated schoolmasters. [21:40] 12The elder sits down. "You'll have to excuse my colleague. His optimism comes with youth. I, on the other hand, know who and what I'm dealing with. On an issue such as this, our very essences disagree." [21:40] 4Ir blinks. "That was optimism?" [21:41] 6Tatsuya: "Could've fooled me." [21:42] 12Kejak: "Perhaps the Anathema can be swayed. Perhaps they can be made to see the destruction they wreak without Heaven's guidance. Perhaps, if they only knew--" 12He puts his hands down on the table before him and shakes his head sadly. "No. It's not the way of this world or the one it superintends. It's not where our animas lead us. You simply cannot see what I do." [21:43] 4Ir: "Clearly, your life is suffering." [21:44] 6Feels like 'anathema' is rude. They're supposed to be working together. [21:44] 12Kejak: "Not just mine. Now! The proceedings. Sadly, I have only most of the day." 15[21:44] 10Eikichi: "You mean because we don't have an Eclipse?" [21:45] 12Kejak either doesn't get it or doesn't find it funny, but Reckoning cracks a wry smile. And then negotiations begin in earnest, backed by all the attendant paperwork. [21:46] 7Blossom sits back in her seat at Kejak's remarks, but doesn't respond to them. [21:46] 4Now, Ir will order food. If she's going to be disgruntled, it might as well be that she still can't cook as well as any random chef in Heaven can reheat. [21:48] 4She'll order a pitza to see if she can take any pointers from it, with a small side of raw fish. [21:48] 4The otter is still the waiter, yes? [21:48] 6She can though. She's better. 13They don't tell her that enough. [21:49] 12Here are the absolute barest bones of the deal - Heaven withdraws all backing from Raksi, the Queen of Fangs, such that you can destroy her unimpeded. You, in turn, are bound to destroy the behemoth now slumbering on the (soon to be former) Control Zone's eastern edge, leave Sperimin and the former Control Zone around it in the care of the nascent Dragon-Blooded resistance building [21:49] 12among the apemen, allow Heaven to spread the Immaculate Philosophy there and generally guide the new religion and culture, and quit the area yourselves. No matter how things go, if you agree to the above terms, so does Kejak, and his immediate subordinates, and various other parties only partially or even almost totally unaware of the kind of deal being made. [21:49] 12(Yep, same otter.) [21:49] 4Then when the food arrives, she'll hand him back the fish. Can't tip with money up here. [21:50] 12He's surprised, then greedily and messily devours the gift in a manner completely unbecoming when compared to the tone of the rest of the luncheon. Kejak's right and left hand Chosen look annoyed. [21:51] 7That sounds like the deal we were expecting to get. What we were hoping for is completely out of reach of these negotiations... occasionally Blossom will become distracted, staring off into space for a few seconds before returning to some clause or other. [21:51] 4It's the little things. [21:52] 12Anyway, in the immediate estimation of Tatsuya and quite probably the rest of you if you put your minds to it or take some time to confer - and you're always able to step off and speak in private, the contracts see to that - you'll see that such an arrangement is, in fact, extremely lopsided in Heaven's favor in a number of ways, as it essentially takes for granted that you'll [21:52] 12self-start or self-fund a number of tasks that Yu-Shan is assuming you'll be able to take care of on your own. [21:52] 7Like what? [21:53] 6Tatsuya, after a pause: "Kind of one-way, isn't it?" [21:54] 12Here are some of the dials, so to speak, that you might be able to turn in your favor: How much aid, whether subtle or directly military, Heaven will provide you for your coup. How long you'll be able to study Sperimin's libraries and how much of their contents you'll get to copy or simply take. How much of Sperimin's other magical materials or relics you'll be allowed to take with [21:54] 12you out of the city after helping to repair its geomantic workings to ensure it remains difficult to simply conquer. (That's something else you're on the hook for, I forgot to include it above.) How much direct aid heaven will render you in your attack on the behemoth. How long you'll be expected to quit the area for, if not indefinitely. How long a general truce might exist between [21:54] 12you and Kejak's faction. [21:55] 12In pursuit of these benefits, you might be able to offer further help or promises of your own. Most immediately, you know that Heaven's interested in the repair of the Realm Defense Grid generally, and in there not being a gigantic geometrically-multiplying swarm of demon insects blighting increasingly wider swathes of the East. [21:56] 4Offering more labor to get them to simply fund the labor that already exists doesn't sound like the best tack to take, but Ir's enjoying her pitza. Presumably. [21:58] 6Tatsuya double checks what he's reading with Blossom, because what in Creation is all of this. They're giving up a lot for kind of a little, though admittedly it is a fair ask to get the kruthik out of here. [22:00] 7Blossom's inclined to focus on getting all they can out of Sperimin's libraries. Having some help with the behemoth specifically would be nice, and she very much wants a *specific* end date or condition in their agreement not to return to the former TCZ. [22:06] 12There's also a question of what Yu-Shan gets. It seems to be Kejak's assumption that he and his ilk will just be moving right in and taking all of Sperimin for themselves, but you know that Raksi's historically been a huge pain in their backside on this point and has in fact withheld almost all of the ancient city's riches from even Yu-Shan. In the interest of fairness, you could [22:06] 12decree that no one gets anything and it's all sealed away, or similar. [22:07] 6And they just - expect us to turn that over? After doing all the work? [22:08] 4I mean, look at who we're talking to. [22:08] 4Yes, of course they do. [22:08] 12Basically, yes. But that's not written in stone - here you are at the negotiating table, after all. These are the brass tacks you'll want to get down to. [22:09] 6There's going to have to be a big talk with Yarara Yara. Her bosses suck. [22:11] 7The post-conquering loot division is always contentious. Blossom will want most of whatever the Circle can't, under the agreement, haul away with them to remain in Sperimin itself. That shouldn't be too big of an ask, since the post-Raksi government is intended to be friendly to Yu-Shan. There should also be a clause where certain relics or lore can be simply sealed away by mutual [22:11] 7agreement. [23:21] 4As the negotiations start to get serious, Ir drifts off into the corner with Jude's Law and sits near...is there a window? A window, if there's a window; if not, a plant. If not a window or a plant, well, somewhere comfortable, and begins making muted noises on the six string. Weird ones, but melodic; five minutes of this, then ten, then before anyone's realized, she's playing a [23:21] 4song, soft and vibrant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DSVDcw6iW8 [23:35] 12As Ir plays, Blossom and Kejak begin to discuss the actual nitty-gritty of unseating Raksi and the Behemoth both. As Blossom quickly proceeds to explain, these represent massive undertakings taxing even for a circle of Anathema - and without Yu-Shan's support and generous guidance, who knows what lengths the Solars might need to sink to or heights of power they might be forced [23:35] 12to reach? There are cavalry brigades of Celestial Lions and strategists from the House of Battles on offer before you know it. [23:37] 7Blossom's argument stems from the complaints the lesser Sidereals have been having: The Solars are powerful, and good at wielding support. So, putting Heaven's limited direct firepower behind the Circle is actually incredibly advantageous for Yu-Shan - the Solars act as a force multiplier, squeezing the most possible bang for the talent. It just makes sense. [23:37] 7And, as Heaven's forces remain loyal to Heaven, they act as a restraint on wayward Sunchildren. 15[23:54] 10Eikichi: "Every object of power you hide from us is one we'll have to make ourselves. Wouldn't you rather know exactly what we know rather than having to guess? That's the peace of mind giving us freer rein over old Mahalanka's treasures gives you. Victory for certainty. It's win-win for you." [23:56] 12Kejak: "Having to forensically reconstruct your future workings is less convenient in some ways, but there are elements here you're glossing over." Session Time: Fri Sep 20 00:00:00 2019 08[00:02] 12There are elements he's glossing over, too. In pointing out various parities and disparities and also discussing the basic practical necessities of taking over and then reconstructing a city, Eikichi's able to push the goalposts very far in his direction before the elder Sidereal can put an argument through them. 15[00:02] 10Debate skills honed by hundreds of attempts to wheedle seconds on dessert past Blossom. [00:03] 6This is all so high above Tatsuya's pay-grade. It's - going well? Probably? He wishes Ying was handling this. [00:11] 7Blossom doesn't mind second dessert too much... but you gotta make him work for it. He'll appreciate it more that way. 08[00:11] 4Noticing that Blossom and Eikichi are a bit spent from their efforts, Ir handles the negotiations for the last round of talks: the TCZ restrictions. She's.... [00:12] 12The Squared Circle's already claimed a lot for itself, Kejak is quick to point out. In order to hold to the spirit of these terms-- [00:12] 4Well, she's not a negotiator. She gets flustered and Kejak runs circles around her, constantly. But she manages to bust through the condescension and hammer home their claims in a way that he's forced to at least acknowledge, if not respect. [00:12] 4And frankly, that's better than she should have done. [00:25] 4She'll take her seat once the old man, well, dismisses her. Yep, he's a headmaster. [00:25] 4Honestly in a fucked up way she's starting to respect him. [00:27] 12By the time Blossom's gotten to take her brush back to the formal documents, though, it turns out that logistics and practicality demand a more lenient and much more constrained ban than the elder Sidereal initially had in mind. What's still drying on the paper right now, on all three main counts in the negotiations, is much more generous to your Circle than the deal initially laid [00:27] 12out - to the point, indeed, that Chejak himself looks to be in mild consternation. Reckoning, meanwhile, is riveted; you'd think he was a guest at the arena. 14[00:27] * banana|peels is now known as banana 15[00:28] 10Eikichi reads over Blossom's shoulder. Such meticulousness, such densely layered contingencies...! Somewhere, his heart is racing. [00:28] 6What in Creation has been happening. They just - outnegotiated... what? How. [00:28] 7The Squared Circle isn't in an ideal place with the moratorium on returning to what will be the former TCZ, but Blossom is able to claw some back in the implementation steps. She nods, pleased. "Good. Now we just have to deliver on our end." [00:28] 6...he's going to need to talk to Yara about this. Because it seems like this is going to be a huge deal. [00:29] 12Kejak: "...very well. I will take this as the deal, for a moment. I will need some time to cross-check and and consider -- you're free to do the same." [00:30] 4Ir: "I'm going to order some more food, I think." 4To their otter friend: "An appetizer of fish rolls...and a smattering of raw fish on the side." [00:31] 6Tatsuya, wisely: "Yeah. Yeah that'd be great." [00:31] "...Two smatterings, let's say." [00:31] 4One, of course, is for the otter. [00:31] 12He chitters and vanishes... and so does Kejak, slipping smoothly out the door he entered. The man who tried to pry into your motivations leaves, too, such that it's only Reckoning and the unnamed woman at Kejak's right hand who keep tabs on you for the moment. Soon, these agreements will be signed and sealed in full - and then Heaven's full might will be turned against the Thousand [00:31] 12Fangs. [00:32] 6Definitely not thinking about the raw fish: "Two's good. Three's better." [00:34] 7Cheer up, Kejak. Having celestial lions and the sacred armies of Heaven marching on Mahalanka will make it much easier to spread the Immaculate Philosophy amongst a society of newly-freed slaves. 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Joins: mattbaby 14[19:30] * Joins: hrolfy 14[19:48] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:05] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[21:07] * Joins: cbass 14[21:36] * Joins: dammitwho 14[21:42] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Fri Sep 27 00:00:00 2019 14[00:05] * Joins: tom 14[00:06] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:35] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:20] * Joins: cbass_ 14[04:20] * Quits: cbass (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_)) 14[04:20] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 14[06:44] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[12:08] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[13:00] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[17:50] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[18:16] * Joins: tom [20:14] 12 _______________ [20:14] 12 ()==( (@==() [20:14] 12 '______________'| [20:14] 12 | | [20:14] 12 | | [20:14] 12 __)_____________| [20:14] 12 ()==( (@==() [20:14] 12 '--------------' [20:17] 12After hours of grueling negotiations, the Squared Circle and the the conspiracy of Sidereal Exalted that dearly wants the Squared Circle destroyed have reached an accord. Raksi's to be replaced, with the full force of Yu-Shan's aid. The looting and/or sealing away of Sperimin's secrets will be carried out in a scrupulously fair way - with maybe a little extra on your end in payment [20:17] 12for services rendered. But, once you've repaired the city and ushered in its new rulers, you'll have to quit it for at least a quarter century. [20:19] 7Whatever. This place sucks anyway. [20:19] 6Awful. [20:21] 4Oh no, honored Kejak. Don't banish me from Mahalanka for twenty-five years. 15[20:21] 10Ahahahaha. Ahahahahahaha! [20:22] 12There's time for further tweaking. If you want to try to trade around within the terms you've already set up you've got the chance, and your opposing negotiators will likely try the same. As well, you might be able to offer up additional promises or favors if you wanted even better terms on your end, like lessened restrictions on messing around in the TCZ after the fact. [20:26] 12It's the woman who sat at Kejak's right hand who's handling these final details. "The demons," 12the almost spits, by way of greeting. "You're meant to quit the Zone - but as it stands it'll still be dripping with their effluent, won't it?" [20:27] 4She speaks! [20:27] 4Ir: "We're looking to get out of the demon business." [20:28] 12The woman's eyes are flecked with blue stars and you can make her general build out, but she's otherwise bound up in something like Yara's style, leaving few distinguishing details to be captured. "I can't-" 12she blinks. "You are?" [20:29] "The demon army business, at least. Yes. The kruthik are not...how'd you put it...something with long-term growth potential. In fact, they have way too much long-term growth potential." [20:29] 7Blossom: "The plan is to banish them to Malfeas. They'll love it there, and they'll be out of Creation's collective hair." [20:30] "A reward for loyal service." [20:30] 12Sidereal: "Then why in blazes d'you grow them in the first place?!" [20:30] 7Blossom: "They were already oozing about! We just welded them into something we could use." [20:31] 4Ir: "Either we were going to do it or someone else was. We've been a very strong check on their instincts, all things considered." [20:31] 6Tatsuya: "Disgusting little things. And disgusting... very large things." [20:31] 12Sidereal: "Something several orders of magnitude-" 12she checks herself, taking a breath. "You'll actually be getting rid of them, then? En masse? All the... nests and spores and things?" [20:31] "That is the plan, yes." [20:32] "They will keep their spoils, or what they can take with them to Malfeas. Their power." [20:32] "Ideally their biomass." [20:32] "Otherwise we'll have to clean it up." [20:32] 12Sidereal: "Care to add that to our terms?" [20:32] 7Blossom: "What are you offering?" [20:33] 12Sidereal: "You mean to do it anyway. The good will it'll surely engender doesn't suffice?" [20:34] 4I get the constant impression that she thinks we're very stupid, which might explain why her side decisively lost these negotiations. [20:35] 7Blossom: "We don't get any good will if we do it without being contractually obligated?" [20:36] 6To be fair, we have done many things people would describe as "very stupid." [20:36] 4We aren't the ones propping up the cannibal queen regime that couldn't stop five solars and their demon scamps. [20:37] 6You've got a point. [20:38] 12She sighs. "Our good will is competing with my peace of mind. But how about this. We can add our good will to the terms. If you swear to dispose entirely of your monsters, we can... pause interference in your affairs for some span of time, I think." [20:40] 12She pauses to think. "A little tricky to arrange... I don't speak for all of Heaven, and of course if you went and poked your noses into something else important to us aggressive negotiations might need resume. But I'm sure we'd all appreciate a brief moratorium on sabotages and assassinations after something like this, eh?" [20:43] 7Blossom tilts her head. "Hmm. Having Heaven's assistance in making sure the Creation-Hell transition goes smoothly would be of value." [20:46] 12The woman across from you steeples her fingers. "That might be simpler, yes. Commitment to a joint effort to expurgate the bugs from these jungles." 15[20:47] "Hey!" 15[20:47] "Those bugs are heroes." [20:47] 4Ir nods severely. [20:48] 12Sidereal: "That's not funny. If you had any idea what a conglomeration that large does to the math..." [20:48] 4Though she doesn't really care, at this point. It's not like she values these peoples' opinion enough to care what they respect or don't respect. [20:50] 12Sidereal: "The point is, we're prepared to commit some of our reagants and even sorcerers if you'll promptly use them to remove the entire swarm from the face of Creation, whether they'll be going literally or figuratively to hell. Though it would seem to be that figuratively is much less costly." [20:50] 6Tatsuya: "As Blossom said. A reward for their services." 15[20:51] 10Eikichi: "Well, you know how it is with budgets. Spend it or lose it, am I right?" [20:52] 12Sidereal: "Ah heh, yes. Well, let's draw this up-" [20:52] 7To betray loyal soldiers, even if they are weird bugs, would be contemptible. 15[20:52] 10The bugs are cute. [20:53] 4Agreed with the above. Sorry, Tatsuya. [20:53] 13Betrayal. 08[21:02] 7Things can be weird and cute at the same time. Like Eikichi! 15[21:02] 10Eikichi's not weird. He's normal. [21:03] 7Anyway, the fact that the main negotiations are over means that a less savvy Solar would be expecting an easier time from the Sidereals, but this isn't Blossom's first budget wrangle. [21:04] 12After an hour or so, the Sidereal puts one final brushstroke down and wipes away some of the sweat now beading on her brow under that hood. "Hmph. O... kay. This should be acceptable." 12She squints down at it again, but is too plum tired to go over that one sort of questionable clause a fifth time. [21:07] 12She rises, brushing some of the cerulean sparks dancing around her crown out of her eyes, too. "Fine. I think this is all ready. I'll return with Kejak as soon as I can pry him out of the hour's meeting and we can wrap this up." 15[21:08] 10After she's gone, Eikichi will grab Blossom by the shoulders and kiss her fiercely. "You're a GENIUS!" [21:09] 12Once she's gone, only Reckoning remains. He eyes the pair of sorcerers a moment before ambling around the tabl to take his own look at the documents. "Well. That was entertaining." [21:09] 4Ir leans back. "Gotta say, that was all pretty bad ass." [21:09] 4...Is Wicked still in the room? [21:09] 6Tatsuya: "Not every day you can say that about paperwork." [21:10] "h-MMMM13mmmm..." 7When the kiss ends, "You're right! I am." [21:11] 7Oh my god he's so beautiful and everyone she knows would be SO JEALOUS [21:12] 4Ir: "We should probably get the hell out of here and win us a war." [21:12] 12Wicked is still in the room. "You might've eased off on them at least a little bit. No doubt my superior is all the more convinced of the threat you pose now." 15[21:13] 10Eikichi: "He's so old." 08[21:13] 7Blossom might have had a response to that, but she still has a 'woozy' status effect symbol over her portrait from making out with Eikichi. [21:13] 4Ir: "Then he gets to revel in the knowledge that he's not wrong." [21:14] 12Wicked: "Frightening, isn't it? After a fashion so am I, but I was at least not cognizant for most of it." 15[21:15] "What's to become of you? Will they send you back to Mahalanka? That would amount to formally breaking off diplomatic ties, which doesn't seem like their style." [21:16] 12Wicked: "Probably not. There are certain oaths I labor under so as to be allowed the job at all. Not ones strict enough to have stopped me from arranging this meeting, obviously, but I shan't be joining you on the field when the time comes." 15[21:17] "More's the pity." [21:17] 6What a shame. [21:20] 12Wicked: "Good gods, will she be mad. I hope it all works." 12He draws himself up. "So! I hope this has demonstrated to you that you and Heaven needn't be at odds." 15[21:20] 10Eikichi: "Didn't you just tell us a moment ago this had sharpened the divisions between us?" [21:20] 4Ir: "I think what it's demonstrated is that we need to write the degree to which we're at odds down." [21:22] 12Reckoning: "On my boss's end, yes. He's quite set in his ways. But, after all, Yu-Shan is greater than one man." [21:23] 7Blossom: "Hmmm? Oh, uh. We've never *had* to be at odds. We both want things to run properly, after all..." [21:24] 6Tatsuya: "But some people disagreed with what that meant." 08[21:24] 7Usually Blossom's knowledge that Eikichi is not quite twice as attractive as the most beautiful mortal in Creation, but pretty close, is sort of a low background hum. Occasionally something he does reminds her. [21:25] 12Reckoning: "Well, the longer view that everyone takes, I think, the less reason they have to disagree. I can bring you and my people further around to each other in time, I'm sure of it." 15[21:26] 10Eikichi: "But in the longest possible view, everyone is already dead." 15[21:26] "Ah ah! Clever." [21:26] 4Ir: "That's what's keeping you employed, I suspect." [21:27] 12Reckoning laughs, but doesn't have a further rejoinder. He's content to chit-chat or simply review the documents for calligraphic errors until the Sidereals you've been negotiating with return. [21:30] 12Sure enough, they're back within the hour. His two flunkies sit quietly while a frowning Kejak reads through your full agreement from top to bottom, emerald-dusted eyes speeding across the ink. Once he's satisfied, he gestures, and several more hooded figures join you, totaling seven - presumably, the elder's entire inner circle. [21:32] 12Talk is brief to nonexistent, but the ceremony is more substantial. Reckoning carefully brews and pours tea for all eleven Chosen seated around the negotiating table, and only after everyone's had at least a sip does he press a palm flat on the tome-sized stack of documents to leave a sizzling red handprint that burns brightly enough to be seen through the scrolls as it scores its [21:32] 12way down through the stack. After another moment it's all but vanished, becoming only the faintest suggestion of an outline (and a gout of red-black smoke that hangs ominously around the ceiling for the rest of your time together). [21:33] 12Then, the signing. Each and every one of you need to write and notarize and initial and X and so on and so forth. It's very elaborate and, even sped by some kind of heavenly contract-magic so as to run like clockwork, consumes the better part of an hour. [21:34] 7This is wonderful! 15[21:34] 10It's very deeply satisfying. [21:34] 4Let's get it over with. [21:35] 6Dull. [21:36] 12Finally, standing around a veritable mandala of interleaving paperwork across which glowing signatures in eleven different colors spiral and twist around each other, you're all meant to incant, one by one: So sworn. 15[21:36] 10Eikichi: "So sworn." [21:37] 4Ir: "So sworn." [21:38] 6Tatsuya: "So sworn." [21:41] 7Blossom: "So sworn." [21:41] 12It goes around the table, finally stopping at Chejop Kejak himself. "So sworn," 12he says, in what's equal parts sentence fragment and harrumph. Then, the tolling of a great iron bell sounds out through the conference room, and heavenly sky out through the windows is briefly replaced with the black pall and alien stars of the underworld, and the carven wood of the room and table [21:41] 12with black basalt, and each of you with a ghostly, flickering figure that looks quite different to the way you should - except for Kejak, who doesn't change at all. So sworn, indeed. This contract is sealed! [21:42] 4Yeah kinda glad we don't have this guy on side. [21:42] 4Ooh look! Everything's ghosts now! No time for that. 15[21:43] 10When it's done, Eikichi shoots Reckoning a dirty look. [21:45] 12Reckoning collapses, exhausted, into a seat behind him. The Sidereals file out, except for the woman who spoke with you before. She presents you with a few objects - jade slips you can crush to summon their attention, an abacus and geomancer's compass which, together, correspond to some diorama hidden up here in Yu-Shan that can be used to trade logistical information leading up to [21:45] 12the invasion itself, and other such knick-knacks practically necessary for planning a betrayal and attack across two different worlds. Part of your original agreement was that you be escorted safely out of Yu-Shan and back to Chithakara, still having gleaned no knowledge as to the precise use or location of the celestial gate you used to get here, and that happens now - a procession, [21:45] 12blindfolded or covered in parts, back across Yu-Shan and to one of the gates in the outer wall. [21:46] 4Fuckin' finally. [21:46] 4When they're away: "Hahahahahaha did you see their faces?" [21:47] 6Tatsuya exhales. "That was amazing. Let's never do it again." 15[21:48] 10Cackling: "He nearly fucking cried." [21:48] "How long do you think it's been since someone made that second in command lady sweat? Hoooo!" [21:49] 12Another ride in the wagon, a too-dramatic bow from Reckoning... and you're back in your ruined city/demon hive to have exactly this conversation. Phew! [21:50] 7Blossom: "Hooooooo. That man might be our deadliest enemy." [21:50] 4Ir: "I'm gonna make us some food, then we can figure out what's next." [21:52] 4Lunch is from their staples: flatbeards, simple salads, boar one or two different ways in one or two different sauces, and raw fish for Tatsuya or Ying. [21:54] 6Still Tatsuya, for the time being. He nods gratefully, pulls back his hood, and goes immediately for the fish. Nom. 15[21:57] 10Eikichi doesn't talk much at lunch. Maybe he's tired from the negotiations. [21:57] 7Blossom adds: "I'm serious. The other Star-chosen were more aggravated, but that's because they were more idealistic." [21:58] "I think Kejak gave up any belief that Creation could be better than it is... I don't know, when the Shogunate fell? And at this point he doesn't even consider his current position a belief, just an objective assessment of reality, soberly considered." [21:59] 4Ir: "Then it's good we've gotten him under contract for the time being. And that our goals probably align in the short term." [21:59] "The others could be brought to our side, but him? I don't even know where to begin." [21:59] 7She shudders a little, then turns her attention to Ir's meal. [22:00] 6Tatsuya: "Best to work around him, then." [22:01] 4Ir: "Eventually he'll stop giving us that choice. Or, hopefully, someone else will kill him. I dunno." [22:01] 6He looks thoughtful, with some fish in his mouth. Mmmm. [22:07] 4Ir catches the look. "Tatsuya, PLEASE stop visibly planning to kill Chejop Kejak while we're at meals. It's going to give me anxiety." [22:08] 6He starts pouting. It does not work nearly as well as when Ying does it. "Aww, come on." [22:08] 12On your return, you're able to check the past days' progress, as it were, in the war effort. It seems that Ithuya has severed or poisoned several lesser, hidden demesnes and other places of power available to the western TCZ, that the kruthik hives at Chithakara and the former lake demesne have at this point grown wide enough in each others' direction to begin to merge in earnest, [22:08] 12and that the behemoth has moved. Not dramatically - it might have just shifted in its sleep. Still, this was enough to send the earth rumbling or even splitting apart in places throughout the TCZ, clusters of blood-sap bearing trees bursting up from the rents in the soil. [22:08] 7Blossom: "How long do Sidereals live? He's been around for an awfully long time. Maybe Saturn will take care of it for us." [22:09] 4Ir: "You gotta figure he knows when he's ticket's going to punched, right? At least from whatever the loom or whatever says? Can't they check that, or is there like, a rule?" [22:09] 12There are... fewer kruthik than you'd expect. Not dramatically so, but many of the 'lings and ravagers are simply gone, with no sign of there having been fighting. Were they redistributed? Called away? [22:10] 4Ah fuck. [22:10] 4Well, we knew we were on a time limit. [22:10] 7Blossom, her mouth full, puts her hands up like maybe? 08[22:11] 4Ir, conversationally: "So the main problem now, as I see it, outside of Eikichi's specific compromises, is that Raksi will likely have kruthik of her own when we meet her on the field. We're going to have something of, ah, a Brood War." 14[22:12] * Joins: mattbaby 08[22:13] 12The other problem you've got is that Eikichi's heart is still beating within Raksi's breast, and that's probably going to have dramatic consequences should open war be joined - especially one that Raksi starts to lose. [22:13] 7We really need to solve that problem! [22:16] 6Tatsuya: "What do we do with 'em? Probably can't just convince them to come back, right?" 15[22:17] 10Eikichi: "Ir is right. They know when they're going to die. His day's got to be coming soon." [22:17] 4Ir: "We'd need a line to Jormungand to do that. Kind Auntie Raksi is buttering him up with treats." [22:17] "Best not to think about what sort." [22:18] 7Hrrh. "Hrrh." 08[22:20] 4To Eikichi: "I don't want to rush you, but...you need that hell's heart up and running before we can feel safe doing much of anything." 15[22:20] 10Eikichi: "It'll take weeks at least... can we afford to wait that long?" [22:21] 4Speaking generally again: "If Kejak knows his time is up, that...well, that can make a man very dangerous, and very nihilistic." [22:21] 4Are they bound to a Sidereal timetable by oath? [22:21] 6Tatsuya gets that look again. [22:23] 12You are, but it's sort of flexible with the understanding that you might still need to inure yourself against various vulnerabilities prior to launching the attack proper. If you haven't set the wheels in motion a year from now you're going to have trouble but between then and now you can use some discretion. 08[22:25] 4Well, this is definitely a vulnerability. To Eikichi: "All we're going to lose is kruthik defectors, which will make clean-up easier on the back end, even if the fights are more trouble. You are not replaceable." [22:31] 4Ir: "So the real question is: where do you need me?" [23:17] 4Ir spends the next two weeks kind of fucking up constantly. It's impossible to stop the kruthik from leaving -- even her queens -- and it gets to her. By the end she's in a frosty detente even with those still remaining, punctuating by sessions of angry-crying and just straight-up rage. This isn't fair. Not that they're defecting -- they're demons, it seems to be what they do. It's [23:17] 4not fair that she cares so much. [23:19] 12Plenty of places, as it turns out. As the next two weeks roll by, Ir is hard-pressed to keep the hive cluster together. It's just gotten so big that she can't be everywhere at once - the kruthik that can hear her song are locked in place, rapt with awe, but when the hive extends for miles and miles that means there's always going to be demons on the periphery that can't hear Ir at [23:19] 12all, and therefore end up dancing to a different tune. As time passes, there simply aren't as many kruthik as there should be given rates of gestation and hatching, and that's because, as far as the queens believe, the warriors have other places to be and other hives to defend. No further details. [23:23] 12Ying's able to sneak herself and Blossom through the rest of the Control Zone over the next fortnight. The two women can, among other things, strengthen the relationships between different refugee camps and apostate villages as well as between the fugitive Dragon-Blooded and themselves; as plans grow more definitive, the rebels develop greater faith in your efforts and more cohesion [23:23] 12with which to (hopefully) step in and take over. 08[23:31] 12It's about one week in, as Eikichi carves and assembles and reassembles and plans, that the sorcerer receives a visitation. [23:32] 12A dark red haze is beginning to swirl around his feet and the corners of the room he's working in. Stones in the walls around shine and glint as though they were panes of glass. Uh oh... 08[23:34] 12It's definitely a scrying spell - but more besides. Raksi's about to avail herself of the power to look through Eikichi's eyes and speak into his ears. He's got maybe a minute before the magic coheres - he could try to counter it with magic of his own, or at least get clear of his laboratory. 15[23:36] 10Eikichi will take off his own shirt, roll it up, and tie it around his head like a blindfold, before feeling his way out. 08[23:37] 12Does leaving the lab put Eikichi up on Chithakara's canopy, somewhere within its ruined innards, or out on the blighted fields around it? (Wherever it is, a building vortex of crimson essence is sure to draw Ir's attention) [23:38] 4She's there almost immediately. It's not like this was, uh, an unexpected outcome at some point. 15[23:38] 10The canopy. Need natural light. 08[23:38] 4In an even, level voice: "Eikichi, I'm here. Let me know what you need me to do, when you need it." 15[23:39] "Yeah." 08[23:40] 12Eikichi hears, whispered into his ear: "Hmmm..." 12then, slightly less langorously: "Oh, come on." 12From without, the sorcerer is just suffused in a nimbus of red and violet, extending maybe a foot from his skin. Ir doesn't hear the words. [23:40] 4Jude's Law is in spear form, and she'll tink it on a rock or broken balcony-piece every so often so he can track where she is while blindfolded. 08[23:41] 12She does, however, hear the drumming and humming as the light begins to intensify, and the magic suffusing Eikichi begins to approach some second stage! And it's obvious to Eikichi, too - he feels an increasing weight on his back and shoulders as some kind of deeper magic takes place around him. 15[23:46] 10Eikichi stoops over, anima burning, trying not to fall to his hands and knees. [23:46] 4He can hear the spear dragging as Ir steps forward cautiously, still careful to give him his space. 08[23:51] 12As Blossom and Ying, called forth by Ir's rapid summons, arrive, they find Eikichi almost doubled down beneath a vaguely humanoid shape of luminous crimson essence! A terrible spell is taking place over the sorcerer's body, clearly cast from afar! [23:52] 4Ir: "The bitch is here." [23:52] 13Okay, well, she's gonna be there for her friend, but sorcery is really not her department! "We got here as fast as we could!" 08[23:53] 7As soon as Excessively Righteous Blossom arrives tines of blue electricity spark between her fingers as she attempts to assist Eikichi with his countermagic - but she's *outside* and he's *inside*... [23:54] 4Ir looks twitchy and aggravated. The last week has been a lot of sitting around and watching helplessly as things go bad and she can't stop them. She's not dealing with it fantastically. 08[23:55] 13She's fiddling nervously with her travelling cloak, swirling it around with one of her claws as she makes her way over to Ir, watching Eikichi the whole time. Session Time: Sat Sep 28 00:00:00 2019 08[00:02] 12Blossom tears at it from without, and Eikichi struggles within, but the heart wants what it wants. Finally there's a black and white flash which resolves itself into winding violet smoke, and Eikichi feels the blindfold around his get smoothly slipped off by a hair of red hands that reach around his face from behind. "Much better." [00:03] 4Ir: "Hrrrrrrrr." 15[00:03] "She can- she can see us," 10Eikichi pants. 08[00:03] 12As he staggers to his feet, he still feels burdened, heavy. His circlemates can see why - a ghostly, crimson image of Raksi from the waist up hangs over Eikichi's back, her eyes bright, fangs sharp, and twenty fingers flexing impatiently. [00:03] 4Ir circles around into its blindside. [00:04] 12She sighs dramatically. "I wanted to talk alone." [00:04] 7Blossom: "Tough." [00:05] 13Ying: "Too bad!" 13she agrees. 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Joins: tom 15[17:51]  15[17:52]  15[17:52]  15[17:52]  15[17:52]  15[17:57] Piu awakens to the sound of gulls. [17:58] 4... 15[17:59] The gentle swaying she feels as her conscious mind surfaces briefly suggests she's about to be gripped by a phenomenal hangover, but moments pass and she remembers she's on a boat. She 15[17:59] She's home! Back at last from the Five Day Fight. [18:00] 4Aaaah. And she's alone in bed. Or hammock. Or whatever. The boy saw himself out. 15[18:00] What does she do before she rises to meet the main deck and the morning air? [18:01] 4Stares up at the ceiling for a bit, in her thoughts. Nothing worth mentioning. Then she rolls out and gingerly begins making her way up to somewhere she can stretch and do her morning exercises. Gingerly, because five days of fighting weren't precisely helped by partying last night. 15[18:05] Five Days Fight, followed by five days' rest and relaxation and more than a bit of well-earned celebration. Many of her fellow shipmates are working through worse mornings than she, lacking either her comparative restraint or the maturity of her blood. And now that they've docked, they'll be making hasty efforts to clean up and cover for their adventures. [18:10] 4When they pull in, she's doing a one-handed handstand atop one of the masts, then takes a deep breath, pushes off, and plunges to the deck-- [18:11] 4Only to land in a perfect roll and bounce to her feet next to the handsome sailor waiting with her travelling bag. [18:11] 4Piu gives him a dazzling smile and accepts her bag. 15[18:16] People give an appreciative cheer, both on deck and on the docks, for they've settled in at Eagle's Launch, home base of the Merhcant Fleet and so, the seat of power of young House V'Neef. Piu finds that her cheering fans skew young, and she's not surprised - the Five Day Fight and its heroes have always been great story fodder for the glory-hungry youths of the Dynasty, especially 15[18:16] Lost Eggs shepherded safely to V'Neef's bosom. [18:17] 4She turns that same dazzling grin on them, gives a little twirl and a curtsy, and waves to the adoring public. She's polite enough to even entertain well-wishes -- oh, especially from that one -- but quickly she'll start looking for a carriage or something. She's happy not just because she won, but because winning means that, for the first time awhile, the head of her House should [18:17] 4be happy to see her. 15[18:24] An emas-pulled carriage awaits. Waiting beside it to help her in is the reassuring and irritating V'Neef Catala Sujip. He is the matriarch's best-regarded babysitter. "Five glories for the fivefold champion! Advance news of your Most Excellent Victory brought us all great joy! And now your presence, moreso!" [18:25] 4Even HE can't get her down today. "Catty!" 4she chirps, knowing how he hates that pet name. [18:26] 4She will, however, give him a quite genuine hug. Even if that's not up to decorum. 15[18:27] Sujip grins and returns the hug. Giving her a careful once-over at arms' length once it breaks. What's Piu wearing, and is she visibly injured or unpresentable? [18:29] 4She's got on a generic, laundered dynast's robe that's functional and even shows more than 10% less skin than the minimum socially acceptable amount, and it covers up the huge brusie on her shoulder. Well, mostly. You can still see a bit of it near her collarbone. [18:29] 4Under that are training bandages and wraps, which aren't NECESSARILY covering up bruises, but they're color-coordinated and hey, it's like wearing long pants. Kind of. 15[18:34] "Splendid and radiant as ever, my dear cousin! Verses praising your strength and beauty are being penned as we speak." The carriage breaks off from the broad shipping boulevards to pull the carriage through the crookeder streets of Eagle's Launch. Piu can't see outside the carriage, but she hears cheers and applause as they bounce onward. [18:35] 4She soaks it in. The people are pleasant to her on a usual day, of course -- but it's sort of painfully obvious that it's because they're pleasant to all of the Blooded. Because that's kind of how things work, in the Realm! This is the first time it's felt like she's earned it. 15[18:36] After trip is underway, Sujip turns to Piu with barely restrained excitement. "I wanted to wait until you had a chance to settle in, but I cannot. There is the most amazing news! Once you've had a chance to clean up, you're to be at the Matriarch's right hand for noon prayers. She will honor you by name." [18:36] 4Piu literally squeals. [18:41] 4It's been...well! It's been awhile since V'neef HERSELF wanted to see her! Let alone formally present her! 15[18:43] Two sun-yellow emas birds pull the carriage through the gates into the central V'Neef compound. The very air brightens and sweetens as they pass through fountained flower-gardens personally tended by V'Neef herself. The carriage slows to a halt and then Sujip allows Piu to make her dismount from the carriage however she sees fit for the small cluster of servants waiting for her, flanking 15[18:43] the Matriarch's head-of-household, V'Neef To. 15[18:43] "All glory to the Most Excellent Victor!" she calls in her warm, cracked voice that sounds old coming from so youthful a face. [18:45] 4Piu's face freezes, then the smile gets wider. "Aww, thank you Auntie To!" 4She bows deeply, but doesn't go in for a hug. 15[18:55] To doesn't offer one. It's for the servants flanking Piu to offer her balms and treats and heated towels as the group of them make swift time up the steps into the central palace. "And with nary a scratch on you. You are truly blessed." [18:56] 4Her grin is positively saccarine. "Oh, I had help." 4The gets to sit for not even half-a-second. "Heaven was with me!" [18:57] 4She turns and hugs Catala Sujit again. "Cousin, would you give us a minute?" 15[18:59] V'Neef Catala Sujip bows thrice to the both of them and withdraws. "I am to bring you into audience with the Matriarch an hour before noon, cousin! Blessed indeed!" He departs giddily. [19:00] 4She turns back to V'Neef To, still smiling. "Shall we, Auntie?" 15[19:05] The two of them continue on briskly, as the servants trail in their wake. "You were informed, I'm sure, of the gracious honor you will receive at the noon prayers. I'm pleased to tell you there will be a banquet tonight in your honor. Many important personages will be there. You may be invited to say a few words in advance of the mealtime prayer. Will you prepare your own remarks?" [19:06] 4Piu keeps the smile on her face. "I would value your input, Auntie." 15[19:14] The pair of them enter a side room where a table set with tea, bread, and fresh seafood awaits. To serves Piu tea as she speaks. "As you're aware, the matriarch is locked in negotiations with Peleps Bruna, of the Admiralty Board, any remarks you directed toward the bonds between our two houses would be well-received." [19:21] "Oh thanks!" 4She sips the tea, listening attentively. "Mmmm. I've heard of her. She sounds smart." 15[19:24] "Quite. So it would be perhaps too forward to direct your remarks at Admiral Bruna directly. But her daughter, Ratel, should be more receptive to praise." [19:25] 4Piu giggles. "Oh, my. I don't know Peleps Ratel. How old is she? Is she cute?" 15[19:29] "Peleps Ratel is renowned for her intellect, having given some fifty years of service to the naval college of the House of Bells. I think her companion is about your age, a Cynis Caxi. A very gentle word should do, obviously the bulk of the negotiation is happening behind closed doors." [19:30] 4She sips her tea. "Of course, Auntie. Is there a tack you think I should take in particular?" 15[19:32] "I'm told they're all but inseparable. Perhaps a few remarks on their bond." [19:35] 4Piu nods and smiles. "I think that'd be really nice. Honestly I'm so pleased you want me to speak so soon after I've gotten back from the Fight!" 15[19:38] "Oh, just a few small words. As I said, no one expects you to conduct negotiations from the dinner table. And if I can confide..." 10To closes the door so passing servants can't hear. "I believe you'll only be here a night or two anyway. The Matriarch herself is said to have a task fit only for our new champion." [19:39] 4The smile immediately mutes. "As you wish, Auntie." [19:39] 4It's still there, of course. [19:39] 4It's just not as silly. [19:40] "I will do as the head of our Household demands." 15[19:41] "Good. Eat up, dear Piu. Clean up. Dress up. Sujip will be back before you know it." V'Neef To leaves V'Neef Piu to her breakfast and her thoughts. [19:42] 4The smile fades, and she leans back and sighs. So much is expected of her now. [19:42] 4Then she'll send for a brush and scroll. 15[19:46] A short time later there's a knock at the door and Piu admits a positively buoyant Catala Sujip. "The Matriarch's conference is breaking up, I'm to escort you to her. Are you prepared?" [19:47] 4Piu: "YES!" 4She gathers herself quickly. "I mean. Yes, Cousin!" 15[19:55] Sujip leads Piu past an assortment of guards - quite a heavy deployment, actually, for reasons that soon become clear - and into the rotunda that serves as a lobby and waiting-area for the Matriarch's personal study. The meeting is indeed breaking up, and Piu recognizes High Admiral Peleps Bruna, her wavy aquamarine hair standing out against the gentle yellows of the palace's sandstone 15[19:55] walls. She exchanges pleasantries with a figure past the threshold, too deep into the room to see from here, before turning out to face the rotunda and see Piu. 15[19:56] "Is this the vaunted victor who beat Peleps' prodigies over Calibration? All glory to you!" [19:57] 4Piu bows or clasps her hand to her chest to show respect to the Admiral if their paths cross. She's positively giddy by the time V'Neef acknowledges her, but keeps a lid on it. "Yes, Matriarch," 4she almost sqeaks. "Thank you, Matriarch." [19:57] 4Let's try that again. [19:58] 4Piu bows and clasps her hand to her chest to show respect to the Admiral. Graciously: "Thank you, honored Admiral." 15[20:01] "And yet you have the grace of a dancer about you. Scooping up Lost Eggs like you, it's no wonder V'Neef's spread her wings so far so fast. You are a true credit to your name." Bruna reaches out to pull Piu into a congratulatory embrace. [20:01] 4Piu will return it gladly but politely. 15[20:04] After it breaks, Bruna says, "Remarkable. I've got turtles older than your entire House and yet here she is. Here you are!" She gives Piu a solid shake of the shoulders, perhaps a bit too hard. "Come, Ratel," she says as she sweeps away, cloak behind her, as her matching-haired daughter keeps a shy step behind. Trailing Peleps Ratel is a dreamy-eyed girl about Piu's age who makes 15[20:04] lingering eye contact before they're all escorted away. [20:05] 4Piu's smile doesn't falter. [20:05] 4She does this...thing with her eyes, though. [20:06] 4Then they're gone. 15[20:12] Now the Matriarch emerges. V'Neef is shorter than Piu, looking radiant as ever with exotic flowers woven into her emerald hair. She smirks at the sight of Piu. "Home in one piece. Home a champion! Come here, my child, you must tell me all your exploits!" 15[20:12] The smirk is replaced by a smile that warms with each step forward Piu takes. [20:13] 4By the time she's halfway across the room, Piu has started skipping. [20:13] 4Can she go in for the hug here? 15[20:14] She can. [20:14] 4Then she will. 15[20:20] V'Neef lifts Piu clear off her feet like she were only a girl before setting her down and closing the doors behind them. "Oh, I'm so excited. Do you see what you're capable of when you can focus? And barely a scratch on you. Oh! Come and try this, these are a gift from Cynis Belar. Chocolates surrounding fortified one and candied cherries! I know, I know, it's early in the day - at 15[20:20] my age, anyway, I know what you all get up to when the elders' backs are turned." [20:20] !!! "Heeeee" [20:21] 4!!! "Heeeee" 15[20:21] "I was your age only a blink of an eye ago." And she was; at a mere 60, V'Neef is younger than the next-youngest Matriarch of a Great House by decades. She adds, sternly, "Now have you been drinking your maiden tea?" [20:21] 4She gladly eats two, and politely says nothing about the focus bit. Kind of still a source of shame. [20:22] "Pfffffffpt," 4Piu says around a mouth of chocolate. Once it's down: "Every morning before stretches." 4Semi-mournfully:" Everyone wants you to drink it until they don't." 15[20:23] "You'll have seen To already, I trust. News of your victory even put a smile on her face." [20:25] 4Piu's smile gets slightly more fixed for a moment. "Yes, I've seen Auntie. She was very pleased...to tell me of my upcoming social obligations!" 15[20:28] V'Neef: "Oh, the speech. Now, you can overthink these things! I won't say it's not important, because it is, but a speech at this sort of banquet is meant to be warm and inspiring. It's not a debate." She holds her scion close, brushing a stray hair from her forehead. "I'm going to miss you." [20:29] 4Piu lets her, smiling. "I'm not going away forever." [20:29] "..." [20:29] "...Am I?" 15[20:31] V'Neef: "Of course not. But it will be quite a long trip. You're heading west. Overseas. There's a task of great importance - and great discretion - and I'm committing my best young woman to the challenge." [20:31] 4She flops backwards onto a couch. "Ugh! More boats!" [20:31] 4Staring at the ceiling, considering: "But. More sailors." 15[20:33] V'Neef laughs merrily. "And what a resourceful young woman she is. Come! Come. Let's steady our nerves. Noon prayers are a very solemn occasion," she adds with half-mock seriousness. [20:34] 4Piu bounces up. Some people are social smokers, or social drinkers. Piu is socially pious. [20:39] 4Don't think she didn't notice 'best young woman' either. But Piu does have enough decorum not to completely flip out over that in front of V'Neef herself. 15[20:41] Prayers are uneventful, such as they are - Piu out there on the balcony with V'Neef at the center and Maaster Monk Shin on her left, the wide crowd of blooded, patrician, and even peasant worshipers below. As the Monk recites a litany on the strength of Heshiesh in the face of illiberal churls great and small, and the homily given by V'Neef herself praises Piu by name, she feels a 15[20:41] thousands of eyes on her. It almost feels like they're praying to her. [20:41] 4!!!!!!! [20:41] 4But she remembers to remain humble. This was onl-- [20:41] 4This was made possible by V'Neef. 15[20:43] From there, Piu has the afternoon to herself before the banquet. How does she spend it? [20:44] Since Mik Samperson isn't in town, she'll spend it with a long run, some forms, and some very light lifting. [20:44] 4Since Mik Samperson isn't in town, she'll spend it with a long run, some forms, and some very light lifting. [20:47] 4The bruise from earlier is now completely gone. [20:50] 4Before the formal, she'll bathe, perfume, and dress...not conservatively, but quite acceptably. She has a job to do, but she's not about to embarass V'Neef. And, well. The girl seems receptive, at least. 15[20:51] Then she'll be ready for the banquet - and she's got an invitation! A pre-dinner drink with Peleps Ratel. [20:52] 4... [20:52] 4Okay. [20:54] 4She does her makeup austere but attractive. A balance. 15[20:56] Peleps Ratel is in a stiff blue naval dress uniform, as you'd expect such a high-ranking officer to be before a state occasion. "My dear V'Neef Piu, let me be what must be the hundredth person to congratulate you on a hard-won victory over Calibration. A toast, to strength applied with cunning." [21:01] 4Piu giggles mutedly. "Thank you, honored Commodore. It is truly a pleasure." 4Is it just the two of them? Piu knows what a 'pre-dinner drink' from a much more powerful woman usually sets the stage for. Especially if servants aren't about. 14[21:02] * Joins: hrolfy 15[21:03] "I wanted to take a chance to meet you privately before the banquet. I understand we're going to be spending some time together." [21:04] 4She blinks prettily and smiles. "We are?" 4Sigh. 15[21:06] Ratel: "I'm sure you've already been told of your secondment. You'll be sailing out under my command. We'll meet again at Bittern in two weeks and from there all the way to Abalone." 15[21:07] "Have you seen the West?" 14[21:10] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:11] "Oh!!" 4She's still wary. "No, honored Commodore, I have not. My postings have been mainly in the Threshold." [21:13] "What's the West like?" 4And where are the drinks? 15[21:15] Ratel pours out two glasses of wine - this is the good stuff, the stuff you actually get in trouble for stealing from the cellars, and offers Piu one. "Lavish. The wealth, the scenery, the weather, the people, the food - the very air is decadent." [21:18] 4Piu takes it with an 'oooh', and sips. She's had better, but not very often. This is 'impress you' wine. "Aaaah...that sounds so good. But we're not taking a fleet all the way out there for decadence, are we? I mean, I know you probably can't say..." 4She smiles and twirls her hair. [21:34] 4The next ten minutes are spent moving about the lounge and sending the servants away, and when they're done, Piu's sitting in Ratel's lap. Unless she pushes her off. [21:34] "...But you are a powerful woman." 15[21:38] Ratel is red-faced. Presumably from the drink. "Oh, mother would be dreadfully furious if I told you. It's the shame of the House! Her favorite daughter straying so far. Succumbing to madness." [21:38] 4Piu leans in. "Well, I'd never get you in trouble..." 4She brushes her cheek against Ratel's. 15[21:39] With mock gravity: "Dearest Furia thinks she's found the Empress. Absconded! With the other Northwestern Armada! To look for the Empress of all things." 15[21:39] "And then we'll all awake the next morning to find Calibration sweets under our pillows." [21:40] 4Piu is an adept in keeping her face from reflecting her mind. So no matter what's going on in the latter, the former just giggles and says, "Wowww. It's so amazing she's trusting you with this!" [21:42] 4If Ratel wants to cop a feel, well, she's not hard on the eyes -- pretty in that hard sort of way officers get -- and she's more than earned it. Piu certainly isn't about to leap off her lap all, 'well, I've got to go!' [21:42] 4But Piu's mind is racing. 15[21:47] Where Ratel's hand is straying when they're interrupted by a knock at the door is a matter for the Maidens. She straightens out remarkably quickly. "As I said, I look forward to working with you. My door is open," she says as the door to the room follows suit, "Day or night." [21:48] 4Piu grins. "I look forward to serving beneath you, Commodore." [21:49] 4And she's not lying. For one, she's had far worse jobs. For two, Peleps Ratel cannot be permitted to die. 15[21:50] People are already streaming into the banquet hall. Piu knows she's got a few minutes before she's expected to make her entrance. [21:51] 4She finds a trusted handmaid who has served both her and To for years and charcoals a quick message, then bids her deliver it immediately. The message reads in full: 'I'm out of morning tea.' [21:52] 4And she completely rewrites her speech in her head. 15[21:56] The banquet is a glorious affair, introduced by Piu and continuing merrily into the evening. Talk over the table is grave, but not incendiary - V'Neef and her Peleps guests both have cause to avoid agitating any existing grudges. Everyone's happy to talk about the war in Harborhead, or the Bull of the North colliding with a raksha army, leaving both sides obliterated. 15[21:56] How does Piu conduct herself? [21:58] 4She is pleasant and bubbly. She avoids giving Ratel or Caxi any smouldering looks, and doesn't look at To atall except for familial greetings unless directly addressed. She's effusive to V'Neef herself, of course. [21:59] 4That doesn't mean she isn't unfailingly polite to the Admiral, her daughter the Commodore, and...whatever official Cynis Caxi holds. [21:59] 4An important thing, Piu has already decided, is going to be cultivating Caxi as an asset, instead of making her jealous or depressed. [22:00] 4And if that means threesomes? Well, soldiers make sacrifices. 15[22:02] And V'Neef is effusive in turn. When the clamor comes around the table for a speech, what does Piu rise and say? [22:02] 4Oh. She also sent another handmaid off for some other information, and got it before they walked in. [22:03] 4And that's what's important here. 14[22:06] * Joins: mattbaby [22:13] 4Because now it's show time. There's the usual ceremony, the usual patter before the meal, and then the Matriarch asks Piu to stand and give a toast. And with a very slight glance at V'Neef To first, she does. [22:19] "Here is to our honored guests in House Peleps," 4Piu begins. She lauds Peleps Bruna -- "the hero of the third battle of Gloam, damning the cannons" 4-- and though everyone thinks the toast is concluded, moves on to the praises of Commodore Peleps Ratel. She is, of course, the canny mastermind of "the Wu Jian Trade War, where those men apparently didn't understand the value of [22:19] turning thrice to port" 4and "the woman who put a jacket on the Traitor's Strait." 4Piu, smiling with the same inoffensive silliness as always, expresses joy in the union of their Houses in this moment, and great anticipation in the future ventures of the great fleets of House Pelep, wherever they may roam. In the name of the Empress, let us drink. 15[22:20] Everyone drinks. Even, after a heartbeat's pause, V'Neef To. [22:21] 4Only smart thing to do. [22:23] 4Piu spends the rest of meal being pleasant and demure, to the degree she's expected to be. 15[22:23] The revels break for the evening. Piu, after dinner, has two messages waiting. One, an invitation from Peleps Ratel and Cynis Caxi for a nightcap, the other a brief imposition by To on Piu's time. [22:24] 4She'll take the latter first. 15[22:25] To will enter alone, and shut the door behind her. [22:25] 4Piu isn't smiling. 15[22:25] She's frank. "Explain yourself." [22:26] "Do you know Ratel's mission." 15[22:27] "A third of the Water Fleet's gone absent without leave." [22:28] 4Piu's mouth twitches. "So you don't, Auntie. I do." 15[22:29] To: "Enlighten me." [22:29] "Furia went absent because she thinks she's found the Empress." 15[22:29] To's eyes go wide. "What did you say?" [22:29] 4After a pause: "If you still wish Ratel dead, I've been invited to her chambers to, I suspect, fuck. It can be done." [22:30] "But that was what informed my speech." 15[22:33] "Unbelievable." To presses her mouth into a thin line. The room is silent for a long moment. Finally: "You will be shepherded. You will be-- listen to me. You will be watched, and you will report daily. And don't flatter yourself. Ask yourself about the capabilities of a woman so easily compromised. What's the saying? Loose lips sink ships." [22:37] 4Piu: "Of course I'm going to flatter myself, Auntie To. All you've ever asked from me is to flatter myself. That's the V'Neef Piu you want. As for the rest, you have five resolutions and a mistake saved on my ledger in the last five days." [22:37] 4She grins that fake saccharine grin again. "So I think we're on the same page." 15[22:46] To slaps Piu full across the face. [22:46] 4Her face doesn't even move. [22:46] 4Well, that's not true. [22:46] 4She smiles wider. [22:46] "If that'll be all, I need to whore myself to a commodore tonight." 15[22:47] To: "Fair winds." She's out quickly and quietly. [22:49] 4The smile's gone as soon as To is out of the room. A long, long sigh. Then, back to her bedroom. Another bath. Perfume and makeup. A robe, and something scandalous under it. And by the time she answers Peleps Ratel and Cynis Caxi's summons, V'Neef Piu is actually ready to enjoy herself again. 14[23:26] * Joins: hrolf 14[23:42] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Wed Oct 02 00:00:00 2019 14[00:13] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:32] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:03] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[03:53] * Joins: tom 14[07:43] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[09:50] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[18:54] * Joins: tom 14[21:26] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[21:29] * Joins: cbass 14[22:34] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:37] * banana is now known as banana|split Session Time: Thu Oct 03 00:00:00 2019 14[02:05] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:01] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[06:00] * Joins: mattbaby 14[06:34] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:35] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[14:39] * banana is now known as banana|peels [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 ____,......__ [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 _, -'' _________,..i''--.._ [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,.-'' ,.-'' '' ... '`-._ [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,/' _.-'' '`-. '- [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,' ,-' ':. `- [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,' ,' `. `. [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 / ,' `. \ [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,' / .| \ `. [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 / / '\ \ \ [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 / ,' ,''`__ `. \ [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 / / ':::.| \ \ [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 / ; |+-'i| : \ [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 ; ; ,',''.| : : [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 ; / /,|- --|\ \ : [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12+/ / ,;'| ;; |\\ \ \ [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12; ; ,/__,\--i .L` : : [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12;-; /| ,''|||' '+-:... : : [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 ;._ |..\ _-' |` | _''-:`-. ,''--'' : : [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 |\ / \ ,- |.\- ,|/- | \ ,' /- | | [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12 ; '`\ ;- _-' ,,. '`:`'ii,'' ,_ -. _:..;: : : [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12; -' ;+ ,+||,. _,' ,\...--' ,,-i -`.. '-._,'''' : : [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12| -: '.. +'||| ||/ /' __,.....'-' ,' '-'-. ` / | | [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12| \ . |. /,/;;,'' | / ''-..__' | | [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12| \ | `-/' |/| \ . \ | | [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12| ''|`._.-' |' -`-.._....: | | 08[20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, this is a problem. Atop the canopy of Chithakara, Eikichi finds himself staggering - or at least swaying slightly, as he's been working out - under the weight of what feels like an entire person clinging to his back. It doesn't look like an entire person, though - it's mostly the scarlet upper body of Queen Raksi of the Thousand Fangs, slightly translucent and swirling with 08[20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12vaporous violet essence as she hangs over Eikichi's head, four arms swaying, twenty fingers flexing, and eyes glancing predatorily back and forth. [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Even as an apparition, the cannibal queen is catastrophically beautiful - it hurts to look, but hurts more to look away, even (especially...?) knowing what her radiance must cost. She, herself, is looking around with a look of haughty displeasure. "Darling, I wished to speak alone. Send these people away." [20:42] 4Ir starts humming. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv9sDn_2XkI 15[20:49] 10Eikichi's hair hangs in front of his face, transitioning wildly from color to color as he struggles to keep his heart, his back, and his throat steady. "Anything... you can say to me... you can say in front of them." [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "Really? I think at least one of them would find it quite inappropriate." [20:54] 13Ying: "Weird, you being inaprowlpriate. Nefur heard that one!" [20:55] "We bask in the presence of Queen Fuck Them If They Can't Take A Joke." 14[20:55] * Joins: mattbaby 08[20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi's projection leans forward, folding two arms to use the crown of Eikichi's head as a foundation to then tent her other two arms over and, ultimately, support her chin. "But I suppose engaging in the proper niceties for a bit might be fun. What are the rest of you still doing here? Have you still not grasped your situation?' [20:56] 4Ir: "You should remind us." [20:57] 7Blossom's lip is curled in a snarl. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "The heart of your armies and my mate now belong to me. With each day you'll have fewer of those bugs of yours and my sway over this one will grow more complete. You can't beat me as you are, and your position will only worsen." [20:59] "And?" [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "So, shouldn't you be fleeing? Or immolating yourselves before me already? What is the holdup?" [21:00] "Have you considered how fun it is to annoy you?" [21:01] "Or maybe I have a secret plan that will make Jormungand work for me, and not you." [21:01] 7Blossom: "How about this? I'm going to dance on your grave!" [21:01] "Or maybe you've just...forgotten...what it is to deal with the Chosen of the Sun." [21:04] 13Ying's hackles raise at "my mate," but the rest of it barely even bothers her. C'mon. 15[21:06] 10Eikichi: "Did you go to all this trouble to gloat?" [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "Oh, as if you're the first, or even the second. Certainly not the strongest and certainly not the last. Potential is charming at times, but it's no match for experience." [21:07] "The endless refrain of the old." [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "Literally endless, in my case! But you know where I stand. You three - you insist on coming between us, don't you?" [21:09] "Phrasing, witch." 08[21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "I say exactly what I mean." 12She bends down again to address Eikichi. "I came here to talk! Come back to me." [21:10] 4Jude's Law sharpens and seethes. 15[21:13] 10Eikichi's hair oscillates from crimson to bone white and back. "For what? More imprisonment? More torture?" [21:15] 7Blossom wordlessly raises her hands and white-hot Essence spirals down her arms to claw at Raksi's spell! 08[21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi seems able to swivel to an extent, as she's now kind of floating on Eikichi's side, and reaching for his chin to turn his head and look him in the eye. "Oh, darling - are you mad about your stint in the cells? I wasn't sure what else to do with you! You'd given me such a shock." [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "I know that we can-" 12then she hisses and rounds on Blossom, eyes flaring with light! [21:17] 13Ying: "We'd just get him--" 13Aw, heck, here we go. 15[21:19] 10Raksi will come face-to-face with an Eikichi whose irises are changing as rapidly as his hair. Sweat trickles down his face. His jaw is tight. "Now what." 14[21:28] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:28] 13She leaps back and twirls, weaving in and out of Raksi's personal space with a lot of unnecessary flourishes and spins, looking for all the world like she's... playing with Raksi? [21:47] 4Ir keeps stepping around, trying to find an angle for when it's right to strike... 15[22:01] "You DON'T HURT HER I WON'T LET YOU--" 10Eikichi begins to mimic Raksi's hand motions, forming complicated mudras with his fingers and hands in the service of shaping Essence. But he's pushing too far, too forcefully. His fingers crack. "Harder. HARDER. Just fucking ruin me--" 10He performs more dramatic motions, breaking his arm against itself and watching Raksi's break too. 15[22:01] 10"If you take my voice, I will strangle it. If you take my fingers I will break them. If you take my eyes I will GOUGE THEM OUT, IF YOU TAKE MY HEART I WILL THROW IT AWAY--" 15[22:01] 10He pushes past fear and pain and the red mist into a steady ringing haze. People see him collapse. [22:02] 4Fuck. [22:02] 13Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no 08[22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi's just cackling to herself as Eikichi begins, because she's just made a curt gesture which sent both Ying and Blossom flying backwards in a blast of thunderous power. She's more than halfway through another spell when she notices what her beau is doing. "Hmm? Lover, that's not the - stop. Stop it! Stop it-" 12But Eikichi can't hear what comes next, because he's down on the [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12stone. [22:04] 4After a moment. "Do you have any more lectures." 08[22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi screams, and it's not purely out of rage. Two of her apparition's arms are broken in the same places Eikichi's are. The color's drained from her body in places, revealing olive skin beneath streaks of thinning blood. She coughs and shudders. [22:04] "I think what needs to be said has been said." [22:04] "And what needs to be done has been done." [22:04] "You should go." [22:05] 7Blossom: "WHAT" [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "...look how STUPID you've made him-" 12She bares fangs and raises her two still-working arms in the continuation of a mudra! 14[22:06] * Joins: mattbaby [22:12] 7Blossom: "AAARGH! I CANNOT HEAR YOUR ATTEMPTS TO SURRENDER! IR PLEASE KILL HER" [22:14] 7Raksi is powerful, but the ten thousand indignations of the Righteous Devil give Blossom a well of strength to draw upon to oppose her! [22:20] 4And as that happens, Jude's Law...almost...hits...her...twenty-five times. "I will. When I can. Which isn't now. But five minutes from now? When the spells wear off, and the high of the moment subsides, and you can't just--" 4Stab across her ear. "--laugh at this blade. Then we're in different waters. Then, suddenly, you realize, harm can come to you. Will come to you. So long as [22:20] you maintain this link. Your mate. Your mate, you say. You can't read the room, Raksi. You don't even understand what kind of room you're standing in. You need to run. Run. Run far away, and never, ever come back. But you won't. So what I suggest instead is you go home, and you go downstairs, and while Jormungand gurgles around the treats you're feeding him, you ask him to tell him [22:20] about all the times that the Squared Circle has lost." [22:20] "And then you tell him hello, from me." [22:21] *to tell you [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Surrounded, her coat of sacrificial blood starting to run apart, half her arms and fingers broken, Raksi begins to grasp that she'll be leaving this battle with nothing she hoped to gain from it - except, perhaps, the chance to wound a rival. "To me! At least once to me. Maybe that was your first defeat, children of the sun. But so, too, will be your last!" 12There's a tearing 08[22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12sound, and a swirl of violet smoke and flame, and suddenly nothing remains of the sorceress-queen's projection but a rising cloud of soot and a warm dapple of bloody rainfall onto Eikichi's prone body. [22:25] 4Ir doesn't relax. "Ying!!" 08[22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, here the four of you are. The canopy around you has been cracked and split by Raksi's thunderclap, and Eikichi's basically lying face-down in the middle of a rough triangle that you're making up around him, smoking and bleeding. [22:27] 13She stills for half a moment, then immediately sets to work. "Someone get my kit! Bandages, splints, whatefur you can get!" [22:27] 4Ir's moving. [22:30] 4She returns with Ying's kit, and two kruthik emerge with a cot on dowels. [22:30] 4A queen's with them. They walk in perfect synchronicity so as not to jostle the patient. [22:31] 13She's finished examining him by then. "It's gonna hurt, but he'll make it. He's got the best care he can have." [22:32] 4Ir orders the kruthik to follow Ying's instructions to the letter -- syllable. [22:32] 4Is his jaw broken? Can he eat solid food if hand-fed? 08[22:34] 7Blossom: "OH GODS EIKICHI!" 7She glares at Ying: "CAN YOU FIX HIM?!" 08[22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12The kruthik are obedient - those in your immediate vicinity, anyway, although it takes a few times to tell them not to lap up Eikichi's spilled blood. The three of you are able to get the sorcerer indoors to a reasonably intact and not-overgrown-with-creep room in Chithakara's interior, and find that most of the injuries are to his limbs and ribs. He wasn't struck in the face or [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12anything like that, after all - just whipped himself around with such insane ferocity that his own limbs and frame couldn't take it. [22:35] 4Understood. Ir will summon Errant and go out hunting. It's time to replenish their stores anyway, and she's got some aggression to work off. [22:37] 13She's too busy trying to herd the kruthik into handing her the proper tools and materials to answer Blossom. But, she is working quickly and efficiently, so... augh, she can do better, and maybe next time someone breaks a bunch of their own bones she will, but she keeps having to correct her work. Nerves. 08[22:37] 7It takes a few more "WHAT?"7s before Blossom gives up, pulls up a stool next to Eikichi's sickbed, and sits down to sulk while waiting for her ears to quit ringing. [22:38] 4Ir spends a lot of time riding Errant hard, snarling as she murders prey animals, and ripping leafy plants out of the ground. [22:38] 4It's not particularly easy, given the wasteland this jungle is becoming. 08[22:39] 13After a while, with Eikichi generally swaddled in bandages and casts, Ying sits in a chair conveniently pulled up by the kruthik for her, sighing. Thanks, gross bugs. "Okay. Bed rest. And maybe some more work tomorrow." [22:40] 7Blossom: "I'll just... wait here then. In case he wakes up during the night." 08[22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi comes to after maybe a day's rest. In that time, Ir ranges far afield, Errand covering miles and miles of the blighted, alien wasteland that the kruthik have been reconfiguring the nearby jungle into. She is able to take down one of those giant chameleons in part of the still-vibrant jungle, though, and that means your Circle has something like real provisions for the next 08[22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12few days while Eikichi, Blossom, and Ying recuperate. [22:45] 13Ying sticks around for a few more days - in case any medical complications arise, it wouldn't do for a doctor to abandon her patient. Even if - well, he wasn't suffering anything out of the ordinary. But she's not thrilled with her work. One of her mannequins is going to get some more limbs for bandaging practice, at some point. 15[22:45] 10Eikichi doesn't open his eyes when he wakes up. He lays there, listening, breathing. Who's in the room with him? [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12It feels like someone in the room in him is deeply frustrated, and in great pain. Someone huge, who radiates blistering heat... 08[22:46] 4Ir throws herself into her work to distract herself from her anger. Easy finger food for Blossom and Eikichi, perfectly spiced, no drippy sauces. Anything that has sauce is in a wrap. The rest of her bounty gets salted, sealed, and stored. [22:46] 7Blossom is there, sitting on a chair next to his bed, sleeping upright. [22:47] 7She has a small bowl of chocolate and other treats, apparently to feed him when he wakes up. [22:47] 13Ying's probably stepped out for the moment. Crept out when she noticed Blossom was asleep. 15[22:48] 10Blossom will wake up to the feeling of Eikichi slowly dragging a bandaged hand across the very edge of her face. [22:50] 4Ir realizes, at some point, that she's lost control of basically everything in her life. Her army, her relationship, and the fate of her friends. She's been reduced to threats and...this. Whatever this is. It's not a very fun feeling. She carries on. 08[22:55] 7Blossom jerks awake. "Hhhr? Eikichi! Oh, my brave soldier! My talonlord! Do you want some candy? I brought some for when you woke up...!" 7Tears spring to the corners of her eyes. [22:56] 13Ying makes her way to the kitchen, looking to both get food for herself and Blossom, and also just take some time outside of the makeshift medical room. She's been quiet, since the fight with Raksi. 15[22:58] 10Eikichi looks on her with eyes of cold gray glass. "I've always wanted to know exactly how long I could stroke your cheek before you woke up. It's one minute sixteen seconds, if you're curious." [23:00] "What? Someone could catch me unawares for that long? I'll need to train more... do you want some chocolate, though? Ying should be here soon to check your condition..." 15[23:02] 10Eikichi: "No, processed sugar isn't what I need, I'm not woozy or dizzy. I'm recovering from injury. My jaw works, evidently, as I can speak. Do you have meat or perhaps bean curd?" [23:03] 4...Ir prepared both. 15[23:05] 10Eikichi finagles himself to a sitting position, perhaps with Blossom's help. "I should be able to get back to work within 10 to 16 hours." 15[23:06] "Where are the others? We can improve their morale with the good news of my recovery." [23:06] 13It doesn't take too long before Ying is dozing on some counter. Five minutes. Five minutes of not having to worry... 15[23:12] 10Eikichi, to whoever's around: "How goes the war effort?" [23:14] 4Ir, as she finishes delivering her food, narrows her eyes slightly but obviously. "You should focus on resting." 15[23:15] 10Eikichi: "I intend to! It would be suboptimal to return to work before I was fully healed. But! While I convalesce, I can be briefed on events that I missed. How did you dispose of the projection?" [23:17] 4She pauses. "I told her to run far away. Then I told her I knew she wouldn't. Then I told her to go to Jormungand and have him tell her tales of our defeat. Tales he does not know. She fled. You need rest." 15[23:18] 10Eikichi: "You sound as if you need some rest as well. Why not sit here with us a while?" [23:18] 4Ir looks to Blossom. 08[23:18] 13It was a little longer than 5 minutes, but... Ying pads into the room sleepily, but grows alert at an awake Eikichi. "Oh! You're awake! How are you feline - urgh, feeling?" [23:18] 7Blossom shrugs. She doesn't get it either, but whatever. [23:19] 4Ir will pull up a chair, but leave it where it sits across the room. And she'll start lightly snacking from the cart, since she hasn't eaten in 24 hours. [23:19] 4Or more. [23:19] 4Which she's just realizing now. 15[23:21] "See? This is nice." 10Eikichi begins eating whatever is most calorie-dense, probably a piece of fatty meat. "Spending time together with your peers improves morale as well." [23:21] "It is... nice." [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12He's right. No lies detected. [23:22] 4Ir delivered spiced nuggets of lamb, with a sharp yogurt-based dipping sauce. [23:22] 4They're exquisite. 15[23:23] 10Eikichi eats steadily, but with no visible pleasure. [23:23] 13Ying: "Um. Any pain?" 08[23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Over the next few days, the Circle will find that Eikichi seems to have an easier time anticipating and working alongside the kruthik that remain than Ir does. If she puts Jude's Law to work, the spearwoman can certainly produce bigger and more impressive results, but the sorcerer doesn't have to raise a sweat. [23:23] 4Well, that's good for Ir's self-esteem. 15[23:24] "Only stiffness and weakness within parameters for a long confinement to bed. All the breaks were set correctly and have had their healing accelerated apace in accordance with the sacred and sound proportions of Essence." [23:24] 4She'll have turned the double bed in her quarters into a single, and fashioned the remaining mattress into a workout dummy. 15[23:25] 10Eikichi looks at Ying directly with his glassy gray eyes. "You performed satisfactorily!" [23:27] 13Ying looks placated, but still unhappy. "I'm sorry I couldn't do more..." 15[23:28] 10Eikichi: "Simply become more powerful, and then next time you will do more." 15[23:29] "But don't ruminate! You're already adequate." [23:29] 4Ir closes her eyes. "Get to work when you can, then. We're counting on you. I'm going to make some drinks." [23:29] 13She is now even less happy than before. [23:29] 13Ying: "Well... if you're doing well, then I'm going to - go - somewhere else." 15[23:30] 10Eikichi: "Wait! Come here please." [23:30] 4To which one of them is that directed? 15[23:30] 10Ying. [23:31] 13She pauses, and turns. "Mmm?" [23:31] 4Then Ir's gone. 15[23:31] "Come closer. I want to give you a gesture of affection. You'll find it both comforting and rewarding." [23:32] 13She freezes up and looks very carefully over to Blossom. [23:34] 7Blossom puts her hands up slightly like, I dunno what he's doing, go ahead. [23:34] 4If anyone needs Ir, she'll be drinking alone in the kitchen. 08[23:34] 13Ying heads closer to Eikichi, then, standing bedside unsure of what he wants. [23:35] 4...She tooks some of the lamb with her, though. [23:35] *4took 15[23:35] 10With a freshly unbandaged hand, Eikichi scritches beneath Ying's little chin exactly three times, then scritches behind her ear exactly three times, then gently taps her nose with his index finger, saying, "Boop!" 15[23:35] "You may go now." [23:35] 13ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh [23:36] 13She skips away, delighted, before remembering about a minute later that wait, hang on, [23:36] 7Wh [23:37] 4Bubbly water, clear alcohol without flavorings, and some berry extract. That'll do you. [23:37] 13...and then just goes to the kitchen, unsure of what else to do. She could go back in there and start knocking things over, but. 15[23:38] 10Eikichi turns to Blossom: "Now that we're alone, there are a number of gestures of affection we've mutually agreed to reserve for one another that we could cycle through in a semi-random order if you feel so inclined?" [23:39] 13She shuffles into the kitchen. Wasn't hard to figure out where Ir went. "He booped me," 13she says without further explanation. [23:39] "He's..." [23:39] 7Perhaps this is his way of defending against Raksi's mystic hold over him until his new heart is finished? That sounds right. Certainly he didn't have time to explain the matter. "That sounds good." [23:39] 13Ying: "I know." [23:40] 4She drinks, then pours Ying one. [23:40] "Under a lot of stress." [23:40] 4If Ying's not drinking, hey, that's Solar magic: she's now got two. [23:42] 13She takes a big drink, and coughs a bit. Then: "*cough, cough* He'll. Be fine." [23:42] "Yeah. Anyway. You good with the lamb? Because I caught some fish." [23:43] 13Ying: "I dunnyo." 13Her ears droop. "Whatefur's fine, I guess." [23:45] 4Ir: "Yeah." 4She finishes her drink. "Yeah." [23:45] "I'm going to bed." [23:45] 4So she does. 15[23:45] 10After the alloted time has elapsed, Eikichi says:, panting and sweaty:"I think we retroactively mark up my recovery from satisfactory to exceptional!" [23:48] 13Ying finishes her drink. She sits there in the kitchen for a while, batting her glass around, but her heart's just not into it. Time to lay down in front of Ir's doorway instead of going to her own room. [23:49] 4After a minute or two of Ying laying there, Ir will crack her door open, but say nothing else. Just retreat to bed, curl up, and go to bed. [23:49] *4sleep [23:50] 13She slinks in, curls up in front of Ir's doorway from the other side, and goes to sleep herself. 08[23:53] "Mmmmm. Good cardio." 7Blossom snuggles down next to Eikichi, eyes closed and extremely smug. 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_, | / / , [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 | | ( `-.;_,-' '-' , [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 | `, `-._ _,-'_ [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 |,-`. `.) ,<_,-'_, [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,' `. / ,' `;-' _, [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 ; `./ /`, \-' [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 | / | ;\ |\ [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 | ;_,._|_, `, ' \ [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 | \ \ ` `, [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 ` __ ` \ ;, [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ ,' ` \, ;; [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 \_( ;, ;; [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 | \ `;, ;; [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 | |`. `;;, ;' [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 | | `-. ;;;;,;' [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 | | |`-.._ ,;;;;;' [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 | | | | ``';;;' 08[20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi's sorcerous apparition is fought off, and the Circle is safe - except for the fact that one of their number has an empty space in his chest where a heart should be. Whatever's keeping the blood pumping is out of sight but certainly not out of mind, and the lacuna in Eikichi's ribcage remains an outstanding threat even if there's nothing for miles around the lot of you but your [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12own (for the moment) loyal kruthik. 15[20:31] 10Everything is fine. [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12But, as the second week following your return from Yu-Shan draws to a close, that may be about to change... [20:32] 4Ir is spending a lot of time hunting, fishing, harvesting, and cooking. [20:33] 4There are a couple men in her life she's incredibly worried about, and she can't do anything for either, this how she's dealing with it. [20:33] *4so this 08[20:35] 7Blossom will take some time when Ir and Ying are around to explain what's happening. "Eikichi's employing a form of mental cultivation to protect himself from Raksi's influence, so we just need to be supportive of him until this is all over." [20:35] 4Ir: "Yeah." [20:35] "That's what I'm doing." 08[20:36] "Does mentally cultivated Eikichi like pitza." 14[20:36] * Joins: mattbaby [20:37] 13Ying: "I'll be suppawrtive," 13she tries. "But - maybe Tatsuya would be better at it." 15[20:37] 10After he's recovered from his injuries, Eikichi works day and night. First, there's the design, of chambers created of orichalcum and glass, spun into wires that are then woven into cords that contract like real muscle tissue, but infinitely stronger. Layered with wafer-thin traceries of pure Essence inscribing instructions, oaths of fidelity and love, and prayers to gods of blood 15[20:37] 10and courage. [20:38] 7Blossom: "Put some healthy things on it, vegetables and such. Maybe some pine-tree-apples?" 15[20:39] 10All of it cradling a tiny knot of pure potentiality which looks like nothing but a bit of gray fluff, the cobweb in a corner of a cobweb, taken from the remains of an elder pattern spider, that will keep constant, merciless time. [20:39] 4Ir: "If I can find them." [20:45] 4She finds them. [20:45] 4The next week is a routine of riding Errant out into long range, returning with goodies and meat, doing the kitchen work, preparing great dishes, handing them off to Blossom to send up, then going to tend to the kruthik. [20:45] 4Then sleeping for five hours, and repeating. 08[20:47] 4She doesn't approach Eikichi's ersatz lab, but... [20:48] 4...what's he doing in there... [20:57] 7Incredible, astonishing things, probably! [20:59] 4Well, Ir wouldn't know. [20:59] 13It's probably complicated. Ying stays close by, but spends most of her time trying to stay out of the way. 6Tatsuya, when he's there, is only moderately more present. [20:59] 4Lot of work to be done. 15[20:59] 10Eikichi doesn't accept visitors while he's working. Food gets left at the door. For the last two days, only the sound of his tools and the strange lights and noises emerging from within give any sign he's still alive in there at all. 15[21:02] 10It's about an hour after dawn on the seventh day when he emerges. Where is everyone? [21:04] 4Ir's in the kitchen, napping. She'd been up since just after dawn yesterday. [21:04] 13Ying is curled up underneath her bed, sound asleep. [21:05] 7Blossom has just come back from running laps on various tree limbs, doing pullups on smaller tree limbs, what have you. 15[21:06] 10Then it's Blossom he waves to. He looks somehow less substantial, paler and hazily radiant. Even his hair is drained of color. [21:07] "'kichi!" 7She gushes. Then she looks at him, concerned. "Are you... finished? You look drained, somehow." 15[21:08] 10Eikichi: "It's almost done. There's just one last thing to do. I think the others are resting." [21:09] 4snrk. ...zzzzz [21:10] "Correct! Should I wake them?" 15[21:10] 10Eikichi considers this for a moment. 15[21:11] "I think their rest will be deeper and more refreshing once they know it's done, which outweighs the stress incurred by waking them." 15[21:11] "What do you think?" [21:12] "That sounds right, and I'm sure they want to see you again. Won't be a moment." 7Blossom will hurry to gently shake Ir awake, and then confront the thorny problem of waking up Ying correctly. [21:13] 4Ir: "Hrr-Hmmph? I'm up! I'm up." [21:13] "What's up?" [21:13] "Where---ahh, shit. What time is it. Breakfast." 08[21:13] "Eikichi's almost finished, he just needs one more thing." [21:13] "!!" [21:13] "Is it food?" [21:14] "Couldn't hurt. Could you scrape your fish-gutting knives together a couple times to wake up Ying?" [21:15] 4Ir grins. "Better idea." [21:15] "Catmint and fresh fish." [21:15] "And if that doesn't work, coughing real loud." [21:17] 4Ir will use Jude's Law as a literal fishing pole to lower a roll of fish, rice, and a catmint-based wrap in front of Ying's nose. [21:18] 13She grabs for it immediately; pretending to be asleep wins again. "Thanks!" 08[21:19] "Not even breakfast. Eikichi's emerged from his room to shame Creation." [21:20] 13She slides cautiously out from under her bed and stretches. "Great! I'll be right down - um, is he still...?" [21:20] "An asshole? Probably." [21:21] 4She sighs. "But no, I have no idea." 15[21:22] 10Once everyone's awake, Eikichi will meet them all on the canopy. "Good morning! The project is almost complete, I just need you all to provide the finishing touches." [21:22] 4Ir: "Okay." [21:23] 4Is the project like...on display, or is this just the four of them? [21:23] 13Ying's ears flick. "All righty." [21:23] 4Five of them, counting Tatsuya. Who isn't here. 15[21:24] 10Eikichi leads them into his workspace, which smells of ozone, sweat, and smoke. Natural light floods in from portholes cut at strategic angles, each beam of dusty daylight converging on the center table, surrounded by delicate glass tools, is a gold and glass object about the size of a big man's fist. [21:24] 4He's in layaway. [21:24] 4Hooooooooo. [21:24] 4Ir will leave the door open just for airflow. 15[21:26] "The mechanism has been tested--" 10He points to glass vats of water, blood, and oil. "--and its structural integrity confirmed." 10Here he points to swords, arrows, and stones chipped or shattered wholesale. [21:27] 4Ir swears an epithet to a regional northern river god under her breath. 15[21:28] "What I'd like to ask you all - Blossom, Ir, Ying, and Tatsuya -- is to take these glass tools here and etch your names on the surface." [21:28] 4Ir: "..." [21:28] 7Blossom: "Ah! What a good idea!" [21:28] "...Blossom should go first." 08[21:29] 7Blossom doesn't need to be told twice, and will head for the glass tools unless Eikichi objects for some reason. [21:29] 4Somewhat, but not mostly, so Ir can watch her and see how to do this properly. 15[21:29] 10Eikichi watches placidly. [21:31] 13Ying nods. Tatsuya should go before her, probably, but she's already here. So. [21:32] 7She picks up one, closes an eye and squints to examine its tip, and then places it against the orichalcum heart and begins to write. [21:32] 7Nine characters, a sacred number - a square, an auspicious arrangement. [21:32] 4If Tatsuya and Ying want to change, that's fine. Ir's going last. [21:32] 7HIS IS MINE / MINE IS HIS / EXCESSIVELY RIGHTEOUS BLOSSOM 15[21:37] 10Eikichi: "Ir?" [21:37] 13Ying's next. Which means Tatsuya's after that. Friend. Sunlit-Dreaming Ying. There's a pause as she 6shifts her stance slightly. Brother. Tatsuya, the Golden Hand. [21:37] 4Ir: "Ying and Tatsuya first." 15[21:38] 10Eikichi nods. This seems to suit him fine. [21:45] 4Ir steps up. She carves a personal inscription too, though it takes her a little bit longer, and it's a lot less pretty: [21:46] 4FAMILY IS FORGED NOT BORN. WE ARE FAMILY. IR. 15[21:47] 10When they're done, Eikichi claps his hands together. "Thank you all for everything you've done." [21:48] 4Ir: "You're welcome. ...I should go make breakfast." [21:48] 4She doesn't like him much like this. 15[21:52] 10After Ir and Ying have departed, Eikichi will turn to Blossom. "The others seem strained." 15[21:52] "This has been very difficult for them." [21:55] 7Blossom: "It's been a long campaign." 08[21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12The heart's done. It thrums with precisely-calibrated power, ready to channel the life-forces of the gods themselves if it absolutely needs to. There's just one problem - it's still outside Eikichi's chest. 08[21:57] 4As she said, Ir's going to go make breakfast. Hopefully it will be for an Eikichi with a heart. [21:59] "How are you going to, ah..." 08[21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Here's Eikichi's estimation: there is currently, obviously, an active and ongoing mystical link between his and Raksi's heart which is responsible for blood still being pumped through his arteries. While that exists, the new-forged heart of glass is technically surplus to requirements; even jammed into place, it'd have nothing to do. However, it can be, with sufficient care. Broadly, [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12two options occur: one, to install the artifact heart in a dormant state, ready to take over as soon as the original heart cease to beat or is otherwise decoupled from the magic linking you and Raksi. Two, to attempt that decoupling yourself in the course of the implantation. [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12The advantage of the former is that it's safer in the immediate term; it won't involve any great mystical struggle or invite some kind of reprisal, and might well leave Raksi completely blind to the fact that her trump card is meaningless to you. However, it would mean that the link between the junior and elder sorcerer persists until such time as you launch your attack and Raksi 08[22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12attempts to destroy the heart herself - meaning that in the intermediate time she'll still be able to sense and to some degree compel Eikichi's feelings, engage in scrying or even force projection with impunity, etc. 08[22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12The advantage of the latter is that it breaks Raksi's power over Eikichi immediately. Not completely, of course - in the same way as your having a lock of Raksi's hair or one of her severed fingers would give you an advantage against her, Raksi still holding Eikichi's former heart is much worse than her being empty handed - but she'd have a much harder time using magic to screw 08[22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12around with your Circle while at the same time hiding behind Eikichi's personal bodily well being. Obviously, however, this would increase her awareness of Eikichi and his circle as threats that are no longer neutralized by incredible leverage, and might prompt much greater wariness or force buildup on her part leading up to your attack. 08[22:04] 13Ying fiddles with her food rather than eating most of it. Sort of hard to focus on breakfast when she's contemplating surgery instead. Eikichi prooobably can't do most of the work here, if any, so... [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Also, actually attempting the mystical severance is likely to invite immediate magical reprisal and trigger a struggle not unlike the one you had a week or so ago. [22:04] 4Well, then it's important to eat all your food. [22:04] 4If that's the path we're going down. 08[22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12If Eikichi or Ying have some third idea they're free to propose it, of course. 08[22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Over the next day, the circle is consumed by a frenzy of preparations. First, Blossom's got to clear out and sterilize at least a reasonably spacious room in Chithakara, ensure that it's got good lighting and airflow, make sure its geomancy is auspicious, and outfit it with a surgical bed, tables, wickedly sharp and properly sterilized surgical tools, etcetera. Eikichi and Ir retire 08[22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12to their stills and alembics, preparing the various chemicals that will keep Eikichi still and stable during the process, and Ying makes herself busy producing slings, bandages, sheets, tourniquets, stitches, the works. [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, there are a few choices which can be made and maybe should be specified here - how big and open, and how close to the canopy and therefore the sun, does Blossom want to situate the surgical theater? [22:35] 7Large enough for everything they need and all the Solars to fit inside without bumping into each other, obviously, and fairly high up - while the room is of course closed off to keep it sterile, she'll scavenge some glass from the ruined city (and if necessary create it with strategic lightning blasts) to put windows in the ceiling allowing the sun to shine down on the operating table. 08[22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Alrighty. In that case, that's where you find yourselves, everyone geared and armed as they'd like except for the heartless sorcerer who's probably done up in medical linens. Between the two of your sorcerers, you're pretty sure that Raksi will know that something's amiss as soon as cuts begin to be made into Eikichi's torso. Whether she'll be able to respond immediately is anyone's [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12guess - the witch-queen of the Thousand Fangs is a busy gal, after all. 15[22:41] 10On the table, Eikichi takes Blossom's hand in his. "Listen to me. If I die... tell them the natural light made my skin look wonderful." [22:42] 4Ir: "Yeah, that's not happening. Diva." 15[22:44] 10Eikichi: "It better not. I'd hate to miss all the seafood you're going to make." [22:44] 7Blossom, tearing up: "I will! And your hair too..." [22:46] 13Ying: "It won't be happening." 13She's checking all her tools again, just in case. [22:51] 13Breathe in, breathe out. "Okay. I'm starting. Everybody ready?" 13She's enunciating clearly - this is a hospital, after all. [22:52] 4Ir's entire body glints in the surgery lights. "Yes." [22:52] 4Jude's Law shudders and surges into her hand. [22:52] 7Blossom cracks her knuckles. "Let's do this." 15[22:55] 10The medication's kicking in. With a weak smile, Eikichi's eyes flutter closed and he drifts down, down, down... [22:56] 13Now all that remains is simple. She's just got to cut his chest open, replace his heart, sever the connection to the old one, and sew him back up. Simple. Probably never been done before. 08[22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying begins her work. Poultices, herbs, and medicinal drinks soon have Eikichi drifting blissfully(?) off into what should be a dreamless sleep. But, as soon as Ying's begun to cut, someone feels it - and though the surgeon works with surpassing speed, laying open Eikichi's sternum in mere minutes of impossibly precise work, she sees Eikichi's eyes slam open out of her peripheral [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12vision, glowing red from edge to edge. [22:56] 4Ir: "We knew this would happen. Keep going." 08[22:57] <@Ferrinus> "WHAT is this?" 12says Eikichi in a voice not his own. Thankfully, only his eyes and mouth seem to have been commandeered; the rest of his body's still insensate and immobile. Although... maybe you should've tied him down? [22:58] 13Ying doesn't reply. She's got his chest open and needs her full concentration to poke around all those delightful fiddly bits that make up the human body. [22:59] 4Ir hops up and down, keeping loose. [23:06] 7Blossom can hold him down if need be. She's done it before. 08[23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12It's just as Ying carefully seats the heart Eikichi's built in Eikichi's own chest, watching with some satisfaction as the arteries and veins around it magnetize to the artifact's inputs and outputs with a soft hum and several popping sounds, that a burning red shadow falls over the operating table. Raksi - or, at least, Raksi's upper body, complete with slick crimson skin, four 08[23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12slowly wheeling arms, and a mane of black hair that ripples like flames over her head - pulls herself into being above the recumbent Eikichi. [23:07] 4Hrm. Ir keeps her mind on the fight. [23:07] 4Ir: "Hello, witch." [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12She gathers what's going on in a flash, and doesn't even take the time to verbally spar. Instead, she bares her fangs as though she were a threatened cat or viper and immediately summons her sorcery! 08[23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's got time to brace herself, but the spell goes off lightning-fast. Swirls of red and violet mist stream out from Raksi's solar plexus to enfold her, Eikichi, the operating table - everything within about two armspans, and then with a rippling liquid sound the great congerie of light becomes, instead, slick and shining blood! An almost elastic bubble of the stuff erupts forth, [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12and it's a fight not to be thrown completely clear of the operating table! 08[23:32] 13She presses forward against the bubble as she sticks close to Eikichi. Miracle of miracles, she doesn't so much as nick the skin as she quickly and efficiently severs any connection between Eikichi and the old heart. She takes a quick second to bare her fangs in victory at Raksi before turning her attention to the final steps. [23:32] 13Holy shoot. Holy shoot she's gonna do this. [23:39] 7The rush of blood makes her stagger, but she holds her ground, eyes shut against the vital ichor. Truth and Justice held out, she listens beneath the gurgling of the blood and the heavy breathing of her friends to find the location of the witch-queen's projection. 14[23:43] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Leaving) [23:44] 4As the bubble encloses them, Ir shouts and tries to cleave the cannibal queen -- and nothing. 14[23:44] * Joins: mattbaby 08[23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Everyone can feel the last beat of Eikichi's true heart. It ripples throughout the sphere of blood that Raksi's raised defensively around herself, and single and ominous thump that rolls past all three of you, then leaves the blood still. A long, moment hangs... and then a soft ticking as Eikichi's masterpiece wakes within his own chest. It worked! [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12There's just this problem. Enraged, Raksi saws at the air with her hands, drawing X formations through the veils that separate this reality from several others. Her own magic is riven, discarded, and consumed - the Impervious Sphere of Blood burns and evaporates into so much purple smoke. Suddenly, though, the air around you is pregnant with malice, fluctuating and shimmering with [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12barely-there presences. [23:49] 7Ha! There she is! Session Time: Fri Oct 11 00:00:00 2019 08[00:04] 13Trust that Ir and Blossom have this. All that's left is sewing, and - well. She's sort of been training for this. In a manner of speaking. Eikichi's patched back up as Ir blocks everything around her and she whoops as she closes the final stretch. "Got 'im!" [00:05] 4This -- step -- is -- predictable. This is aggravating. She expected this fight would be about getting hurt. Instead it's bait and more idiots who can't even touch her. She's not doing her job! [00:05] 44Augh!! [00:05] 4Augh!! [00:30] 7The sunlight overhead shifts, as if the passage of clouds has produced a column of light illuminating Excessively Righteous Blossom and casting all others - especially the chittering, invisible Eyeless - into darkness. "How dare you intrude on the convalescence of one of the rightful kings of Creation? How dare you taint this place, made sacred by Chosen blood?! Creatures, born of [00:30] darkness - BEGONE!" [00:37] 4Ir's whip -- Jude's Law -- strike Raksi the instant after. "I can do this for weeks. And eventually, you'll have to go feed your new pet." [00:38] 7To punctuate her point, she levels Truth and fires six shots to impact Raksi's projection! 08[00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12No longer moored to Eikichi's body, the apparition of Raksi staggers back, then staggers back further, under the rain of your blows. Around you, the sorceress-queen's unreal monstrosity grasp at your souls, but find no purchase with their claws and probosci and extruded viscera. She looks down at Eikichi's body, over at Ir's living whip, then over again at Blossom. "...to go even [00:40] <@Ferrinus> this far..." [00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "Fine. I'll start again. Perhaps a hundred years hence my Gloria will find me having come to her senses. YOU FOUR WILL DIE." [00:41] 4Ir's laughing when she disappears. [00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12She vanishes, then, collapsing into smoke and music. The Eyeless around you recede into unreality. 08[00:42] 7Another astonishing victory by Excessively Righteous Blossom and her friends! Now to frantically check on Eikichi! [00:44] 4Ir slumps down on the floor, spread-eagled. "Well, I expected to be a lot better at that. Coming and going." [00:44] 7Blossom: "You were great! Everything worked perfectly." 15[00:44] 10When Blossom gets close enough to touch him, Eikichi gasps as his eyes fly open and his back arches off the table. His hands grip the edges of the surgical bed, veins bulging up his arms down his neck. He coughs. [00:45] 4She grunts from the floor and shuts her eyes. [00:45] 7Blossom immediately grabs his hand. How's he lookin'? [00:46] 4Then she curls upwards into a lotus position, and Jude's Law circles around her like some sort of crown. Just for a moment. 15[00:47] 10He looks exhausted, but healthy. Eikichi looks up at Blossom with eyes that flicker between colors but finally settle on golden irises that match her own. There's a trace of weakness, just a trace, as he takes Blossom's hand in both of his and presses it against his chest, where they can both feel his new heart beating. [00:50] 7SO cool. [00:51] 4Ir: "Whew." [00:52] "I should go finish making us breakfast." [00:52] 4Just leave these two to it. 15[00:53] 10Eikichi, weakly: "Ir." [00:53] 4She turns in the doorway. "Yeah?" 15[00:53] "Thank you so much. I love you." [00:54] 4She nods like it's the most natural thing to say in the world. "You're welcome. I love you too. Get some rest." [00:54] 4Then she'll head down to the kitchen, not even wipe her eyes until she's at the stairs. 15[00:58] "So," 10he says after she's gone, and it's just the two of them. He's pressing his fingertips against Blossom's and testing his strength. "I guess now comes the hard part." 15[00:58] "Was she angry?" [00:58] 7Blossom: "She's decided to kill all of us and start over." 15[00:59] "That's almost a relief." 15[00:59] "It's so much harder when they think they love you." [01:01] 7??? [01:02] 7Rather than work out what that means, she kisses his hand and says "I'm so glad we've made it through this part." 15[01:02] 10Eikichi, for his part, doesn't explain. "It finally feels like we're moving forward again." [01:04] "So... what kind of improvements did you make?" 15[01:06] 10Eikichi: "Well, for starters, it's just a much better physical heart. Cleaner, more efficient, better throughput. There are layers of very thin glass filters that will clean toxins from my blood. Only the unfun ones, of course. And I should be stronger, too. More stamina." 15[01:10] "Past that... I'm not sure. I know what I *did*, but I was in a very theoretical mood when I was working on it. I'm not sure what else it's doing for me. What else I can make it do." 10He settles a bit. "It's very powerful, though. I can feel it. Can't you feel it?" 08[01:10] 4As is, perhaps, to be expected, the perfect brunch for Eikichi Sho requires...heat. [01:11] 7Her other hand, still on his chest: "Yes... yes I can." [01:13] 4First, Eggs in Hell. This is heat to taste. You get the tomato sauce spicy, you get the eggs involved, badabing badaboom as the old soothsayers up the river used to intone. That's something you start at the front and finish at the back; spicty tomate sauce, it simmers forever. More important is the syrup. Ir got all the right fruit, yes, but more importantly, she got the sugar. To [01:13] 4make syrup you need heat -- the hot kind -- and you need sugar and water. And you need time. So she puts that on, and she goes to work on the batter. [01:14] 4Layercakes! Slapjacks! Butterthins! Batterwraps! Whatever you want to call them, she needs at least forty. [01:14] 4This means all the ranges are engaged. [01:15] 4The fruit that doesn't get used in the syrup, it gets chopped, sugared just a little bit, and put in bowls. [01:15] 4In between moments, pitchers get poured of citrus juices and hard, clear liquor. [01:16] 4It takes some thirty-five minutes to prepare. [01:18] 4At some point they built a fancy push-cart to deliver food but there aren't ramps in this building and if there were they'd be so severe they'd topple everything, so Ir usually just picks the whole damn thing up and carries it. Is there anything else the two of them want to confide in privacy before the Kitchen Valkyrie arrives? 15[01:18] 10Eikichi's content to just be there quietly with Blossom for a little while. [01:20] 7If they start confiding things in private, that might make the food take longer. [01:22] 4Then Ir will set down the cart before pushing it into the room, then tap it once -- and spring-hinged flaps will pop up on either side of the main surface! This means she can set out the eggs, the cakes, the syrup, and the pitchers properly on the center and the lefthand side, then also set out clean plates and cups on the right. [01:23] 4Ir: "Got some fish for Ying. She's exhausted. This is self-serve." [01:23] 4...But she still pushes it right up to the bed edge and will help hand out plates and utensils. 15[01:24] 10With Blossom's help, Eikichi pulls himself to a sitting position. "You've really outdone yourself this time." [01:25] 7Blossom: "Mmmm... butterthins." 15[01:26] 10Eikichi tears up, the food's so good. And spicy. His rave comments are indecipherable because he keeps putting more food in his mouth, but the emotion behind them is clear. [01:26] 4Ir stacks her plate high of the food, then pulls a special, secret platter out from under a cloth: applewood boar bacon, her own ersatz recipe, crispy. "Oh, I try too hard. But it works out most of the time." 08[01:27] "Did you hear from downstairs? Eikichi made his new heart so well he isn't even sure of its limits!" [01:27] 4There's enough for everyone if they want, of course. [01:27] 4Ir: "That was true of his old heart." [01:27] "Oh! You mean like. For sorcery." [01:27] 4She sort of makes a spooky noise there. [01:29] "Yes! It cleans out poisons now." [01:29] "Damn! Drink up," 4says Ir, entirely unaware of how the body processes alcohol. [01:30] "Except the 'fun ones'." 14[01:31] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [01:31] "...Well, still! Drink up!" 15[01:33] 10Eikichi drinks up. "I think my heart chakra's in a slightly different tone now, so I'll need to make a lot of minor adjustments to various ritual implements and enchantments." [01:34] 4Ir nods. "Like regaining your equilibrium." [01:35] 4Then she munches on some bacon. Secretly, she's fine hoarding it all for herself... 15[01:36] "Exactly, yeah. I'll probably want to work out with Blossom for a few days at least, just to get a sense of my new limits." 15[01:36] "Unless you think I'd be distracting, of course," 10he says teasingly. [01:37] 7Blossom: "That's true. I bet you'll get more Essence flow for arrangements where the heart chakra is the bottleneck, and having a sorcerously-reliable regular pulse has its advantages." 08[01:37] 4She waves a bacon strip. "Eikichi, you're always distracting. Just not always for the reason you want to be." [01:37] "Not at all!" 7Blossom flexes, delighted with his suggestion. "I'll push you until you drop!" [01:37] "Nyahahahaha!" 15[01:42] "That reminds me," 10Eikichi says in response to Ir. "There's a trace of the Spheres' essence at work in my new heart. So that should likely provide some degree of... emotional stability." [01:42] 7Blossom: "Hmm..." [01:44] 4Ir: "Okay. I mean, that sounds good, but...only if you want them there." [01:44] "You're plenty emotionally stable! Upsetting things just keep happening, that's all!" [01:45] 4You don't need to lie to the man, dear. [01:45] 4Well, the first sentence. The second one is quite true. 15[01:46] 10Eikichi: "Still. I think it will be nice to find them a touch less upsetting. I was careful to limit their influence; the risk of a wholesale personality change is great." 15[01:46] "But the goal of the design is not to make me someone else. It's to make me... more me." [01:47] 4Ir: "...Good." 08[01:47] 7Having a serious boyfriend means defending him! That's what all the stories Blossom has read say, and since she's met Eikichi she has a chance to put them into practice! [01:47] "Because you're still lead six-string in our band." 15[01:48] 10Eikichi: "We should start thinking about a setlist for the show we'll play in Mahalanka once we've taken it." [01:49] 4Ir puts a hell egg on top of a cake and scarfs it down. "I guess there's nothing in our contract stopping us from playing the city." [01:49] "...Is there, Blossom?" [01:50] 7Blossom: "Not as long as we're putting good-faith efforts into rebuilding its defenses, fighting the Behemoth..." [01:51] "Well fuck that guy, so I think we're all good." [01:51] "Though." [01:51] "How do we plan to fight the Behemoth?" [01:51] 4More bacon. [01:51] "I mean you don't want me to just go up and stab it, right?" 15[01:52] 10Eikichi: "We'll have access to the treasures of Sperimin. I bet there's something we can use that Raksi was loath to part with, or some spell we'll be able to work when our attention isn't split by a multi-front war." 15[01:52] "And if not... we'll come up with something. We're unstoppable geniuses." [01:52] "We should examine that sap, too." 15[01:53] "Gorgeous unstoppable geniuses." [01:53] 4Ir: "We're going to have to use the Heavensward as a platform either way, though, right?" [01:53] "Which means I need to get practiciing." [01:53] "Ship-driving, I mean." 15[01:55] 10Eikichi: "Perhaps we could just, ram the behemoth with the Heavensward and knock it over." 15[01:55] "Build a really heavy ram or something..." [01:56] 4Ir makes sure whoever wants food has it, then pours herself another drink. "Well, that'd be easy enough. But I've grown fond of the Heavensward." [01:56] "Driving it into a Behemoth, well. We heard from Berg what happened in the North, right?" 15[01:56] "Or fill big fragile drums with nasty concoctions that will ignite on contact with air and fly *over* the Behemoth, dropping them on it from above." [01:56] "I could scorched-earth the place, but it seems a shame. I've grown fond of the jungle." 15[01:57] "Though of course that does quite a lot of damage to the surrounding forest, which won't have Raksi sustaining it anymore." [01:57] "Burning the forest clean isn't the end of the world, if we don't let it be." [01:57] "Of course, if the barrels have REALLY weird stuff in them..." 15[01:58] "The real problem is, people have to live here when this is over. It'd take generations to get the land back on its feet to support even the animal population, let alone the people. Even with sorcery you're talking about projects spanning years..." [02:00] 4Ir: "At the very least we need to get the populace to the west of Malahanka before the offensive, which means...right into where the kruthik just ate everything." [02:00] "You know, I like them. But it's good we've found them a new home." [02:00] "And it's nowhere near here." 15[02:01] "There's a lot to love about the kruthik. They're perfect organisms, whose structural perfection is matched only by their hostility. I admire their purity... but they do make such a mess." [02:03] 7Blossom: "At least we're far enough East for things to regrow quickly." 15[02:05] "It'll be nice to go back to building things." [02:06] 4Plaintively: "I just want to go play a show in Crystal again." 15[02:06] "We can make that our first stop when we leave the jungle." [02:08] 7Blossom, darkly: "They'd better not need us to keep them from having their city explode again." [02:08] "Things should stay up!" [02:11] 4Between bites of cake: "If there is another giant dead dinosaur there to fight, well, I'd take that as a fun vacation." 15[02:11] 10Eikichi mops up syrup and hot sauce with the same chunk of butterthin. "You did kind of rob us of a big dinosaur fight last time." [02:13] 7Blossom grumbles, mouth also full of butterthin. You can tell its the correct name for these, because it has 'butter' in it. [02:13] 4Ir rolls her eyes with her cheeks stuffed with cakes. When she's swallowed: "Borneo and Kamchatka are SWEETHEARTS." 15[02:14] "You're right about that." [02:14] 7She nods. [02:15] "I should ask Marek about bringing them out for the big showdown, though." [02:15] 4Ir's face gets cloudy. "Assuming that's where things still are." 15[02:20] 10Eikichi doesn't know what to say to that, so he says nothing. [02:22] "This is good," 7Blossom says awkwardly. [02:23] "Yeah," 4she says, still mostly to herself. Then: "I can take your plates, if you're done. I'll leave the pitchers." 14[06:50] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:11] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[08:50] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[10:11] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[11:44] * Joins: Crion 14[14:15] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:47] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:48] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[20:17] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:04] * Joins: tom Session Time: Sat Oct 12 00:00:00 2019 14[01:50] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:09] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[07:14] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:37] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[07:52] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:40] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:15] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:19] * Joins: Zarick 14[18:00] * Joins: tom 15[19:07] * Disconnected 15[19:07] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[19:07] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[19:07] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM 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14[11:32] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:10] * Joins: trenchfoot 15[12:13] * Disconnected 15[12:14] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[12:14] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[12:14] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[12:14] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[12:14] * Quits: @Ferrinus (NickServ (GHOST command used by FerrinusPrime)) 14[12:14] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 14[12:14] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[12:16] * Quits: VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:16] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:16] * Joins: VoxPrimey 14[12:18] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:42] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:19] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:42] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:15] * banana is now known as banana|peels 15[16:24] * Disconnected 15[16:24] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[16:24] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[16:24] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[16:24] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[18:16] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Quit: ) 14[18:17] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[18:39] * Joins: Zarick 14[18:40] * Joins: Crion_ 14[18:41] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:01] * Joins: hrolf 14[19:02] * Quits: hrolf (Connection closed) 14[19:11] * Joins: hrolf 14[20:33] * Joins: tom 14[20:37] * Joins: hrolfy 14[20:39] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[20:59]  15[20:59]  15[20:59]  15[20:59]  15[20:59]  15[21:10] A fountain burbles merrily in the courtyard, the scent of incense lilies on the air as afternoon ripens into evening. The summons was vague; Dryas was two days into a four day hunt when a messenger reached her informing her that her aunt had need of her. But Cerise can let details like this escape her. She likes to say she's a master of delegation. What view does Dryas take as she's 15[21:10] made to wait in this admittedly lovely garden, having already interrupted her leisure and traveled home? 15[21:11] Somewhere - not close, but not that far away - she can hear the drums and laughter of an outdoor party. [21:14] 07Dryas was never one for silent contemplation, even on the hunt. She leans against the masonry, working out a tune on a small set of pipes - a peasant's instrument, in this case, but rather cleverly filigreed and carved. It's a pleasant enough tune, placid but not insipid, longing but not quite maudlin. She keeps her own tune quiet and tries to match the rythmn of the party music. 15[21:19] Just down the way, ivy-covered double-doors open, letting out the sound of laughter as whatever entertainment Cerise was up to breaks up. Dryas sees an aquamarine-haired woman she doesn't recognize, in a naval uniform... and her cousin Caxi, freshly married to some randomly Chosen patrician boy, practically dripping off her arm, expression dull and dreamy. 15[21:20] Past that she hears but does not see her dear aunt, calling, "Dryas, love, have you floated away?" [21:26] 07Dryas eyes the couple and plays an ascending scale on her pipe, growing in volume, to close out her improvised piece. "Over here, auntie!" 07She casts her cousin a dazzling smile and bows just enough to be deferential to the naval officer - always best to keep a sailor on shore leave happy and talking. [21:29] "Dear cousin,"07Dryas acknowledges Caxi as they approach. Pupils dilated, she's high. "Marvelous to see you, as always." 15[21:30] The officer offers Dryas a long look and a warm smile; Caxi seems to notice her cousin only belatedly and waves. "Hey! You look great." 15[21:33] Caxi subtly nudges her companion, who is startled out of some minor reverie to say. "A pleasure to meet you. Commodore Peleps Ratel." 14[21:41] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) [21:43] "Feeling great, love," 07she replies to Caxi, langorously - after the Commodore introduces herself, she smiles warmly and bows. "Delighted, Commodore. I hope you are enjoying your time ashore." 15[21:46] "It never lasts as long as I hope," Ratel agrees. "But I have another day here at least. Perhaps we'll meet again." [21:47] "Perhaps," 07replies Dryas. With a final smile, she glides past them towards the doors to the hall, the voice of her aunt, and the receding sounds of revelry. 15[21:51] Cynis Cerise throws her arms open for her favorite niece, her diminuitive frame dripping with jewels and silks. There is the smell of sweet breads and teas, as well as very fine incense. "Come! Come! Let me get a look at you." How does Dryas the Younger look? 15[21:54] In the back, house slaves quietly clean up the remains of what looks to have been a long and largely liquid working lunch. [21:57] 07One-quarter Haltan (and it shows in her complexion), Dryas has the build of an expert dancer; her hair is brown as bark, very long, and blooms with white and green orchids (fewer at present than if she'd been at court). Her face is just freckled enough to be adorable. She's dressed in fine riding silks, dark charcoal with very subtle crimson threads woven throughout geometrically. She's left the rest of her panoply at the [21:57] stables. 15[22:01] "The very picture of health. I'm almost disgusted. Exercising for fun, too-- remarkable that we share blood." Her tone is teasing; Dryas knows her aunt would never be so cavalier with a genuine judgment. "Amazing how brazen she is, eh? Both of them, really." [22:06] 07At the sight of her auntie, she beams just-so. "I suppose someone has to earn the reputation that sailors enjoy in every corner of Creation," 07she observes. 14[22:10] * Joins: cbass 15[22:10] "She didn't learn that from her mother, I'll tell you that much. No, gambling, that's Peleps Bruna's vice. Speaking of which! I have a gift for you." [22:12] "A gift?" 07Dryas claps her hands. "Oh, but you needn't have," 07she protests impotently. 15[22:13] Cerise waits until the slaves have taken the last of the cups and bottles away before she reaches into her sleeve and comes up with... a medallion. Gold - no, orichalcum! The engraving depicts a number of women in various positions of attention, all of their faces turned directly outward, as if you have their attention. It swings from her hand by a simple, sturdily golden chain. [22:18] 07Dryas kneels down to look at it, her eyes wide. Demon-gold! Orichalcum!! "It's gorgeous, and... magical?" 15[22:22] "Oh yes. Very old. From before the Shogunate, I understand. With this around your neck, you can listen to someone's heart's song. See something of their nature, their desires, their character. You hear it as music. It's been very valuable to me in my dealings, since I was about your age, and I think it'll serve you as well." She lets the amulet drop into Dryas's hands. [22:25] 7 Dryas catches it and, with a bit of trepidation on her face -- pre-Shogunate? - tries it on. 15[22:29] Dryas puts on the medallion, and concentrates on her aunt... 15[22:29] Cynis Cerise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-JJKI6lMlE - Our Lady of Ways, Our Lady of Means... [22:33] 07Dryas' brow furrows a bit as she looks at her aunt in a new light - "Well, well, well... That's quite a trick... Thank you. It's incredible." 15[22:33] Cerise: "I'm glad you like it. It'll come in handy on the job I've got for you." [22:34] 07Dryas: "Yes, please, I'm curious." 07Must be important to interrupt my very important leisure now that I'm back from the Threshold. 15[22:37] Cerise: "That naval officer, the indiscreet one, is headhunting for a very strange and serious expedition. Tell me, what do you know about the navy?" [22:40] 07Dryas blinks a few times. "House Peleps, of course, runs it these days more-or-less. Last time I spent any serious time in Pangu City, it seemed V'Neef may try to contest it? The Navy keeps pirates and worse away, and makes sure that trade and tribute can flow as the Realm requires." 15[22:45] Cerise: "V'Neef's taken command of the Merchant Fleet, which causes mama Peleps and her Admiralty Board no small headache - I understand Eagle's Launch is our Commodore's next stop. Now don't let this get out - people on the mainland don't fully understand the scale of the problem." [22:46] 07Dryas nods. "Discretion is ever our watchword." 15[22:47] "I understand that the Commodore's sister - Vice-Admiral she is, of the Water Fleet, name of Furia - has... rebelled. She was shepherding a round of tribute ships back from the West and she just... left them, out on the sea. It's a stroke of luck there was a sorcerer aboard, a messenger eagle wouldn't have outraced the pirates." 15[22:48] "She's taken her flagship and some large number of vessels and she's taking her own private navy up and down the Western islands, looking for - wait for it - the Empress." [22:49] 07Is there a bottle leftover from lunch? Dryas looks to the table. 15[22:49] There's a bottle of Western rum, as serendipity would have it, nestled among the flower pots. The slaves must have missed it. Dryas could probably get them in trouble if she wanted. [22:52] 07Discretion, the watchword. Dryas floats over to it. "Pardon my indiscretion," 07she requests as she pops the cork. "I have a few questions?" 07She takes a rather piratical swig from the bottle. "First question: you don't mind, do you?" 15[22:54] Cerise's eyes are twinkling. "By all means." [22:55] "Excellent." 07A thoughtful swig. "Do we know why she thinks the Empress is out there, in the middle of the endless seas of the West?" 15[22:58] "Opinion is divided. The captains of the tribute-ships - Guildsmen, after a fashion, I know one or two - seemed unanimous of the opinion that she'd simply gone mad. Taken by some spirit of the high seas, lost to cabin fever, what have you. They are, to a one, imbeciles, so their word counts for little." [22:59] 07That tracks with Dryas' experience with Guildsmen, to be sure. [23:00] 07Dryas: "And the other opinion?" 15[23:00] "The Commodore takes the Admiralty Board's official line, that there is blasphemous influence at work. A true demon, or Anathema. Corrupting her thoughts. Bending her will." [23:02] 07Dryas is about to move on but doubles back- "And you...?" 15[23:04] "The Matriarchs... the Matriarchs keep their own counsel. But in asking me to make these arrangements they seemed inclined to take it more seriously. Caution, maybe... a split this size in the Water Fleet would cripple Peleps, if it were exploited. They know it. We know it. The situation is febrile. As for me, I'm stocking up on spices and rum. They'll be the first things to fall 15[23:04] off the market if the worst happens." 15[23:04] "I think her motivations matter very little in the bigger picture." [23:08] 07Dryas purses her lips and swallows. Maybe an upbraiding can be averted. "So, I'll be heading West to look for this Admiral, her fleet, whatever Anathema or spirits have gotten under her wig, and to top it off, her Eminent Scarlet Majesty, herself?" 15[23:10] Cerise: "Yes. It was left to me to choose someone capable and I chose you. You understand what that means?" It means, of course, that however Dryas comports herself will reflect back on her aunt. It's a lot of pressure, if you're of the mind to feel it. [23:13] 07Dryas taps the bottle a few times, sets it down. "Of course," 07she says quietly. "And when I find them, what am I to do?" 15[23:14] Cerise, simply: "You're to advance the cause of House Cynis." [23:17] 07Dryas nods. "Consider it done." [23:18] 07Adding - "I won't let you down." 15[23:20] Cerise: "Good. You're leaving tomorrow, with Ratel. I wanted to tell you before I told her, so take this letter and bring it to her." It's rolled up and sealed with wax under the Cynis signet. [23:24] 07Dryas takes the letter and a deep breath. "Is there anything else?" 15[23:26] Cerise beckons Dryas to bend down, and when she does, her aunt kisses her on the cheek. "Don't do anything your mother would do." [23:28] 07Dryas laughs and hugs her tight. "Alright. Alright." 15[23:29] "Good. Now shoo, shoo. Bring the Empress back in one piece, you hear?" [23:30] 07Dryas, on her way out: "The hunt is afoot!" [23:33] 07Dryas heads out into the gardens, searching for her cousin and the Commodore before they get any farther in the canoodling. 15[23:38] Dryas heads off in the direction she saw them go in. The party is slowly moving indoors as the sun sets and the weather begins to turn (she felt a drop of rain on her head as she crossed the courtyard) and she has to weave through both reveling relatives and the tireless bustle of the serving-slaves ferrying bottles into (and empty bottles away from) the partiers. It's early in the 15[23:38] evening, yet, so nothing too crazy is going on. 15[23:38] How does Dryas attempt to track down her quarry? [23:42] 07Discretion, discretion, discretion. Not usually her hunting style; she prefers to unleash the dogs and chase whatever runs. But maybe a lure of sorts... The pipes, perfect for playing on a lonesome road, aren't quite the perfect instrument for a rather more formal setting like this... 14[23:51] * Joins: hrolf 14[23:54] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:58] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:59] 07Nonetheless, she begins to play a particularly... raucous tune. She learned this one from one of the Thri-Kahn's courtesans; it's syncopated and sinuous and makes you want to dance. At least, she hopes it makes this crowd want to gather around and dance; thereby bringing Raten to her. Session Time: Thu Oct 17 00:00:00 2019 [00:08] 07This tune slaps. 15[00:08] She's got to play for a bit, but soon enough the first of the revelers are up and dancing, and the knot of dancers grows and grows until the entire courtyard is alive with movement. Luckily it's just as another musician picks up - the steel drummer from outside, it sounds like - that Dryas spots her prey. Caxi clings onto Ratel, who is gamely playing along with a young man's attempts 15[00:08] to teach her dance steps. He's a beautiful, if soft-featured boy maybe a bit younger than Dryas, with long golden hair that almost shines in the dark. 14[00:12] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:12] 07Curious. Dryas makes her way through the crowd towards the trio. Could the boy resemble the description of Caxi's new husband? 15[00:13] You know, that must be it. What was his name... 15[00:14] Aku! That was it. The boy is newly minted Cynis Aku, formerly of some mercantile patrician household or other. 15[00:18] He's the first to notice Ratel. His already gamely enthusastic expression lights up when he sees Dryas. There's something almost eager about him. 15[00:18] Cynis Aku: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUHK_g41FCY - You will squeeze the life out of me... 15[00:19] Ratel looks similarly, if less dramatically pleased to see Dryas. She's giving off a slightly awkward vibe. She's probably not used to parties, especially not Pangu parties. 15[00:19] Peleps Ratel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFnA-8H-5lo - Everything I love is on the table, everything I love is out to sea... 15[00:20] Caxi's face, meanwhile, is almost impenetrably languid. Almost. Is that... irritation? 15[00:20] Cynis Caxi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah0Ys50CqO8 - Watch me make ‘em bow. 15[00:24] Dryas almost can't hear Aku over the music washing into her mind in wave after wave. "...that was you, right? Humbled the Tri-Khan?" 14[01:46] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:54] * Joins: tom 14[02:26] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[03:48] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[04:10] * Joins: bananaphone 14[04:17] * Quits: bananaphone (The TLS connection was non-properly terminated.) 14[04:19] * Joins: bananaphone 14[04:33] * Quits: bananaphone (The TLS connection was non-properly terminated.) 14[04:35] * Joins: bananaphone 14[04:36] * Quits: bananaphone (The TLS connection was non-properly terminated.) 14[09:59] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:04] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:35] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:20] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[11:26] * Joins: hrolf 14[12:42] * Joins: hrolfy 14[12:43] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:03] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:45] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:06] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:08] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 14[17:12] * Joins: tom 14[19:09] * Joins: hrolf 14[19:10] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:11] 12 .7 [20:11] 12 .'/ [20:11] 12 / / [20:11] 12 / / [20:11] 12 / / [20:11] 12 / / [20:11] 12 / / [20:11] 12 / / [20:11] 12 / / [20:11] 12 / / [20:11] 12 __|/ [20:11] 12 ,-\__\ [20:11] 12 |f-"Y\| [20:11] 12 \()7L/ [20:11] 12 cgD __ _ [20:11] 12 |\( .' Y '>, [20:11] 12 \ \ / _ _ \ [20:11] 12 \\\ )(_) (_)(|} [20:11] 12 \\\ { 4A } / [20:11] 12 \\\ \uLuJJ/\l [20:11] 12 \\\ |3 p)/ [20:11] 12 \\\___ __________ /nnm_n// [20:11] 12 c7___-__,__-)\,__)(". \_>-<_/D [20:11] 12 //V \_"-._.__G G_c__.-__<"/ ( \ [20:11] 12 <"-._>__-,G_.___)\ \7\ [20:11] 12 ("-.__.| \"<.__.-" ) \ \ [20:11] 12 |"-.__"\ |"-.__.-".\ \ \ [20:11] 12 ("-.__"". \"-.__.-".| \_\ [20:11] 12 \"-.__""|!|"-.__.-".) \ \ [20:11] 12 "-.__""\_|"-.__.-"./ \ l [20:11] 12 ".__""">G>-.__.-"> .--,_ [20:11] 12 "" G 08[20:13] 12The Squared Circle's whole again. Or, at least, it's not missing any pieces of itself that are truly irreplaceable. It's still missing one of its major strategic assets, though, and squatting in the middle of a ruined city/demon hive that's getting harder to provision for. It'll be receiving a visitor with some important reconnaisance information about a day or two after Eikichi's [20:13] 12heart surgery; what's everyone up to? 08[20:17] 4Probably keeping busy, trying to prevent kruthik defections and make sure Eikichi's recovering properly and not thinking about the next time she'll have to see Marek. [20:20] 7Preparing for the next advance, packing up and boasting about how incredible her boyfriend is to disinterested kruthik. 15[20:20] 10By day Eikichi is taking it easy, sunning himself on a long, flat carved root as he studies the kruthik. By morning, Eikichi trains with Blossom, putting his new heart through its paces and feeling good about putting his body through some nonpsychological punishment. Exercise is, perversely enough, actually kind of fun! Maybe it's the company. [20:22] "One! Two! Three! And again! Come on, I don't wanna see your gut, I wanna see your GUTS!" 15[20:23] 10Eikichi was definitely expecting Blossom to end that cheer with 'butt'. 15[20:26] 10Still, he keeps up! He doesn't quite have it in him to call out orders and stuff while working like Blossom does, so she's treated to a lot of *hffs* abd *pffs* and him grabbing his thighs and almost doubling over to catch his breath. He glitters with sweat in the early-day sun like he'd awoken drenched in morning dew. [20:27] 7Yes... yes. Very good. 14[20:30] * Joins: mattbaby [20:30] 12It's early in the day that a tiger-striped fruit bat comes flapping in from the jungle canopy. If Ir's anywhere out on watch or patrol she'll see it first, because it flies right to her. If not, its presence becomes apparent by the hissing and the snarling of the remaining kruthik, who preen and flare and make threat displays at the massive hyena-man that unfolds in their midst and [20:30] 12effectively on your front doorstep. [20:30] 12Marek, to whomever's there first: "We found her." [20:31] 4It'll probably be Ir, then. [20:31] 4Her face is...very carefully composed. "And?" [20:31] "Oh?" 15[20:34] 10Eikichi's there, but he's not speaking. [20:35] 12Marek has a stony expression: "She's north of Mahalanka, working to capture one of the prisoners you freed - some kind of shadow-thing from the netherworld. She's escorted by soldiers and at least one other Chosen." [20:36] "Do you want us to...handle it?" [20:38] 7Blossom: "Having her out that far could be useful. I say no." [20:41] 12Marek: "We're considering it. We haven't... made contact. If we came in force, perhaps her guard could be routed and she... brought to account. But as Blossom says, moving quickly, while she's occupied beyond the capital, might be wise." [20:41] 4Ir nods, looking away. [20:42] 12Marek: "But then, you can't, can you? Raksi holds a piece of each of our Circles." [20:42] 7Blossom: "Not ours. We've remedied that problem, at least." 15[20:44] 10Eikichi: "Technically she still *has* it. A potent magical reagent and sympathetic connection still." [20:44] 4Ir: "If only we could do the same with Kisha. ...For Kisha." [20:44] 12Marek: "Have you? That's good. ...how?" [20:45] 7Smugly: "'kichi built himself a new heart." 15[20:45] 10Eikichi: "Ying installed it while under direct attack from Raksi." 08[20:46] 12Marek's silver index claw moves back and forth between Blossom and Eikichi while he mouths what you said to himself. "...I see." [20:47] 4Ir: "She's tough." [20:48] "But we can beat her." [20:48] 12Marek: "Would that you could do the same. But it's likely magic that holds Kisha here, not... collateral. I think." 15[20:48] 10Eikichi: "A geas of some kind?" 15[20:48] "Or do you mean access to Sperimin." [20:50] 12Marek: "Both, in a way. To hear Kisha tell, she traded for tutelage many years ago - and what can you give the witch-queen who has everything, but promised favors?" 15[20:51] 10There are things she wants but doesn't have, Eikichi thinks but doesn't say. 08[20:51] 12Blossom and Eikichi - perhaps all of you - are able to put something together, here. Marek's mentioned that Kisha visited Mahalanka twice - once years back for some kind of training or resources, a second time only a year ago at most - only to come back refusing to spoke of anything that happened there. But you only remanded Wicked Triumph's Reckoning to heaven a year or two back. [20:52] "A Heaven-sealed oath?" [20:52] 12That means that Raksi wouldn't have had him on call to lay down netherworld-enforced, Eclipse-caliber oath bindings. If Kisha's under some kind of magical geas dating back to before that, it'd have to be a hackier and less complete pact enforced by sorcery or artifice somehow. [20:53] 7Oh, I thought the second thing meant the time worked out. whhops [20:53] 12Conceivably, of course, both are the case - a promise long ago, and a promise recently, overlaid on each other. [20:53] 4Ir, flatly: "More deals." [20:54] 12Marek: "But to what end, and enforced how? And..." 12The beast-man takes a heavy breath. "That there are deals... I must be honest with myself. It's my hope and my best guess." [20:56] 4Ir: "She has to know that she'd eventually get caught. It'd be incomprehensible for her to be doing this if not forced to. In fact, whichever fool -- Raksi herself? -- is compelling it should be commended. She'd be much more dangerous as a sleeper agent." [20:57] "Well. Thanked. Commendation might be a little much." 15[20:58] 10Eikichi: "Mahalanka's under so much pressure she probably can't afford to take slower, subtler approaches. Danger on all sides." [20:58] 12Marek: "She knows we're here, though. We discussed it as a Circle before falling in alongside you. Kisha had her reservations but seemed to bring herself around." [21:00] 4Ir: "If we can strike fast enough, maybe we can render the point moot. Or, maybe there's something a lot worse going on." [21:03] 12Marek nods. Then he frowns. "Can you strike fast? Or at all? This hellscape is considerably less busy than it was weeks ago." [21:04] 4Ir: "Yes. We can. We must, in fact. Jormungand decided to respawn himself in Raksi's basement. So it's now or never." [21:05] 7Blossom: "Every day that passes makes our odds worse. Ir's right, now's the time." [21:07] 4Ir: "...Love, there's something you need to know, first." [21:09] 12Marek: "Then I don't see - yes?" [21:09] "Raksi has been supported, this entire time, by the will of Heaven." [21:09] "The Chosen of the Moon. And their entourage." [21:09] "And, now..." [21:10] "They no longer support her." [21:10] 4She presses her lips together. "They support us." [21:10] "It's a temporary arrangemnt. I didn't want you to find out when celestial lions started dropping out of the sky." [21:11] *Chosen of the Stars [21:11] 12Marek: "WHAT?" [21:12] 4Ir: "I'm sorry." [21:14] 12Marek: "...explain. You spoke already of Raksi's dealings, the secrets hidden inside her religion - but what have you done?" [21:16] 4Ir's face flickers. The tone of the voice coming out of Marek's mouth clearly upsets her. "We...made a difficult choice, with people we don't trust. We didn't see any other option. Especially with the Behemoth." 08[21:16] 4She glances over at Blossom and Eikichi, looking for help. [21:17] 12Marek follows her gaze, squinting down at the pair of you. 15[21:19] 10Eikichi looks up at the enormous hyena-man. Kiiiinda wish he'd change back, but, heck. "Heaven sent an emissary with the intention of persuading us to leave Raksi alone. We counteroffered that we would depose her and back the Blooded resistance that already exists out in the jungles to establish a rule over Mahalanka that Heaven can tolerate." [21:20] 4Hastily: "We swore no oath that would oblige us to do anything if the Silver Pact chose to challenge that claim." 15[21:20] 10Eikichi: "Right. We're specifically divesting ourselves of a long-term interest in the region." [21:21] 7Blossom: "They insisted, heh." 15[21:22] "But in the short term... we're working with the Bureau of Destiny." 15[21:23] "This is, obviously, going to infuriate your leadership. We may have made ourselves enemies of the Pact." [21:23] 4Ir stares into the middle distance. [21:28] 12Marek: "May? When you side with Yu-Shan itself to decapitate one of our mightiest elders? And leave in your wake... Dragon-Blooded, did you say? A shard of the Realm?" [21:28] 4Tightly: "They're outcaste." [21:28] 7Blossom: "No. Outcaste. Lost eggs, born in Mahalanka." [21:28] "Escapees from Raksi's pogroms." 15[21:28] "They will be schooled in the Immaculate Philosophy, though, we can't deny that." [21:30] 12Marek: "Why would they agree to this? What would a little Realm do for them that a millenia-old witch couldn't?" 15[21:30] 10Eikichi: "Not be an insane, murderous cannibal." [21:32] 4Augh. But true. Concilliatory: "They knew we were going to kill her either way. They care more about the Behemoth. Mahalanka -- as long as that Behemoth is repelled and it's not the seat of a new Solar Deliberative -- doesn't seem to matter much to them." 15[21:33] "We were able to reassure them that we'd clean up the mess we make and not rob the place blind in the process." 08[21:33] 12Marek's midway through rolling his eyes at Eikichi when Ir speaks up. "Ah. Yes. The living mountain. Then you threatened them into it, in effect. They could either back you or roll the bones on you and Raksi destroying each other before the behemoth destroyed the East." [21:34] "More or less." [21:34] 7Marek's massaging this fact into something he can sell to the rest of the Pact. Might as well encourage him. 15[21:35] 10Eikichi's kind of skeptical of Marek's diplomatic skills, but, he's not going to say that. [21:36] 4Ir: "We can't help the Pact with whatever they want to do after the Behemoth is taken down. But we can't help Heaven either, even if we were inclined to, which we aren't. We 'suffer' a ban from these lands of some two decades following the conclusion of our business here." [21:38] 12Marek: "That little? Hmm." 12He turns away for a moment, pacing heavily on his hindpaws. "And Raksi, of course, is compromised. Working with Yu-Shan herself. Perhaps provably so." 15[21:42] 10Eikichi: "Hardly anyone actually likes Raksi. The loss of access to old Sperimin and what'll remain of Raksi's cultivated geomancy is what's going to infuriate them more than the loss of a single shahan-ya, however potent." 15[21:42] 10Did he pronounce that right? It sounded right. [21:43] 12Marek straightens. "It's too bad it doesn't matter." [21:44] 12Marek: "The Pact might, with enough outrage brought before it, have turned on one of its own. But watch as Heaven itself crushes the Thousand Fangs, with a circle of the Sun's Chosen as its vanguard? You must know what this means." [21:46] 7Blossom: "We are not Heaven's vanguard. They are our support." [21:46] 4Ir: "He's saying the Pact is coming to support her. He's telling us we're on a clock." [21:47] "Let's stop arguing over the niceties and get moving." [21:48] 12Marek: "As soon as your backup shows its face, yes. Likely it will be too slow, though Raksi is a tenacious one. But either way, afterwards - vendetta." 15[21:49] 10Eikichi, mildly: "How long can they possibly hold a grudge?" [21:50] 12There's no way around it - Marek barks out a laugh. [21:50] 4Ir doesn't seem amused. She looks Marek in his eyes. "And us?" [21:52] 12Marek doesn't quite meet Ir's eyes; he's addressing your Circle as a whole. "I can't associate with you and keep my place in the Pact." [21:54] 7Blossom hisses through her teeth. Poor Ir! [21:54] 4Ir's nodding, and smiling, and starting to cry. [21:55] "Then you should go, Marek Marrow-Hollow." [21:55] "Fair travels." [21:55] "I'm glad we met, in this life." [21:55] 4She turns and walks away. [21:55] 4You know, it's funny. [21:56] 4She thought -- she actually thought -- she was done betraying the people she loved. [21:57] 7Is Marek gonna go after her... [21:59] 12Marek grinds his jaw around for a moment. His hindclaws dig down into the stone he's standing on. But he doesn't go after her. He says "Good luck," 12gives the rest of your Circle a curt nod, and then folds himself up into another shape in a flash of silver. A fruit bat whose silver stripes fade before your eyes goes flying up into the canopy, out of sight. [21:59] 4... [22:00] 4Ir will be in her room, for awhile. 15[22:00] 10Wow. 15[22:00] 10When they're alone, Eikichi looks at Blossom. "Shit." [22:03] "Poor Ir...!" [22:04] "Maybe he'll come back?" 15[22:04] 10Eikichi: "If he comes back she better break his jaw. How do you not even say goodbye?!" [22:05] 12Very carelessly- [22:10] 12...but anyway, there you are. And Ir rapidly realizes that she's right: you're definitely on a clock now. Can Marek persuade himself to not, at least, tip off 'his' elders ahead of time? Not tip off Raksi? One must assume he and Azer'jol will busy themselves with Kisha's predicament, but... [22:11] 4Ir will appear the next morning...well, she's clearly exhausted and been crying and isn't doing great, but she's ready to get the fuck out of this horrible fucking jungle forever. 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* Joins: trenchfoot 14[05:28] * Joins: tom 14[08:23] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:50] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[09:07] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[14:21] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:43] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[17:36] * Joins: Zarick 14[18:17] * Joins: tom 14[19:27] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:50] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:51] * Joins: tom 15[20:08] 7Nonetheless, she begins to play a particularly... raucous tune. She learned this one from one of the Thri-Kahn's courtesans; it's syncopated and sinuous and makes you want to dance. At least, she hopes it makes this crowd want to gather around and dance; thereby bringing Ratel to her. 15[20:08] 07This tune slaps. 15[20:08] She's got to play for a bit, but soon enough the first of the revelers are up and dancing, and the knot of dancers grows and grows until the entire courtyard is alive with movement. Luckily it's just as another musician picks up - the steel drummer from outside, it sounds like - that Dryas spots her prey. Caxi clings onto Ratel, who is gamely playing along with a young man's attempts 15[20:08] to teach her dance steps. He's a beautiful, if soft-featured boy maybe a bit younger than Dryas, with long golden hair that almost shines in the dark. 15[20:08] 07Curious. Dryas makes her way through the crowd towards the trio. Could the boy resemble the description of Caxi's new husband? 15[20:08] You know, that must be it. What was his name... 15[20:08] Aku! That was it. The boy is newly minted Cynis Aku, formerly of some mercantile patrician household or other. 15[20:08] He's the first to notice Ratel. His already gamely enthusastic expression lights up when he sees Dryas. There's something almost eager about him. 15[20:08] Ratel looks similarly, if less dramatically pleased to see Dryas. She's giving off a slightly awkward vibe. She's probably not used to parties, especially not Pangu parties. 15[20:08] Caxi's face, meanwhile, is almost impenetrably languid. Almost. Is that... irritation? 15[20:08] Dryas almost can't hear Aku over the music washing into her mind in wave after wave. "...that was you, right? Humbled the Tri-Khan?" [20:15] 07Dryas laughs as Dynasts do - clear and a little breathy, like a ringing bell. "Ah, ha ha ha. Yes, darling. Do you care to know how I did?" 15[20:16] Aku's eyes light up. "Oh, could you?" 15[20:16] Ratel: "I'd like to hear this too actually. Why don't we go find somewhere quiet?" 15[20:16] Caxi murmurs her assent. 15[20:18] They're able to find a curtained-off table lit by red lantern-light, after clearing out a couple who... really needed to find a proper room anyway. 15[20:18] No sooner have they settled down than a serving-slave pops up with wine. [20:20] 07Dryas takes a deep draught. V'neef? 15[20:21] It is indeed V'Neef wine. V'Neef is a house held in some derision in the pillars of the Dynasty like House Cynis, but their vineyards are unmatched on the Isle. 15[20:21] Game, as they say, recognizes game. [20:24] 07She smiles. "Hm! Exquisite. Anyways, as I was saying:" 07she prepares to launch into a dramatic retelling of her own exploits. Certainly not the most shameless thing going on at the villa today. [20:32] 07Some time later... "And, so, there you have it. Coffee and firedust." 15[20:32] Dryas holds court, and captures all their attention. Aku hangs off her every word, Ratel's clearly enamored, and even Caxi is impressed. 15[20:33] Peleps Ratel: "Remarkable initiative and ingenuity. You're a credit to your house." 15[20:33] Caxi: "We're all terribly jealous." 15[20:33] Aku: "So cool..." [20:38] 07Dryas poorly feigns a little humility. "I merely did my duty, no doubt any of you would have done the same, of course..." 15[20:40] Ratel: "You remind me of a young woman Caxi and I met not long ago. We had the privilege of sharing a drink with the winner of the Five Day Fight. A remarkable woman. Focused, intense, ebullient..." 15[20:40] Caxi: "Flexible..." [20:41] 07Dryas reaches for her glass. "Oh? Do go on," 15[20:45] Ratel: "Piu is her name. A favored scion of V'Neef. Not a daughter, obviously. You know how zealously little V'Neef hoards Lost Eggs. But she found a real diamond in the rough with this one. Surpassing competence, surpassing beauty, and indefatigable good cheer." 15[20:45] Caxi: "But not so indefatigable you'd think she's stupid." 15[20:45] Aku listens, oblivious to the implied mockery. [20:46] 07Eyes twinkling, Dryas sips again. 15[20:46] That sealed missive from Cerise is burning a hole in Dryas's pocket. Does she have a plan for broaching the subject? [20:47] 07Dryas is working on it. "So you're travelling together?" 15[20:48] Ratel: "I have... certain obligations. Caxi is able and enjoyable company." 15[20:48] Caxi purrs in agreement. 15[20:48] Aku: "They're gone so much. I understand it's Tepet lands that await them next." [20:49] 07Dryas: "Oh, Tepet, truly? By land or sea?" 15[20:53] Ratel: "Lord's Crossing is deep inland. We'll be on horseback. Something you're no stranger to, I gather." 15[20:56] Ratel: "After that I'm to see Cathak Cainan about recruiting a favorite student of mine. One of the most able young men I ever taught. Young Cathak Tsuka." [20:57] 07Dryas smiles again. "I picked up a few tricks from my time with the Delzahn... and I know the road to Lord's Crossing well." [20:59] 07Dryas claps her hands again, calling for more wine. "Say, I've got just the idea. Why don't I accompany you there? I'm travelling in that direction anyway. Besides," 07she casts a smouldering look - and a wink - at Aku. "We must give the newlyweds some time to themselves, musn't we?" 15[21:05] Aku's expression gets dreamy and distant before, startled by some internal turn he turns to Caxi: "We have spent so little time together, darling..." 15[21:05] "Service to the Dynasty comes first, you know that," says Caxi coolly. "I've already made preparations to join the Commodore." [21:13] 07Dryas is wide-eyed and accommodating - "Oh, cousin, it's nothing at all. I'm more than happy to take whatever burden it is off your hands. As family we must look out for each other!" 15[21:16] "Girls, girls, there's no need to fight," says Ratel, clearly enjoying this. "But the decision of who joins me is out of even my hands. If you're keen to join me on a long and frankly arduous task, you should speak to your elders." [21:20] 07Dryas, just a hair below melodrama: "Oh, the cruel fates, must still separate this beautiful couple." 07She holds out her glass for a slave-attendant to refill, and quaffs deeply. "What joy we squeeze from this world must come only when we can catch it, I suppose." 15[21:22] Aku: "Oh, you can find joy in all sorts of places, if you're open to the experience, I find." [21:34] 07Dryas: "I find it to be in the pursuit." 15[21:35] Ratel: "Ah. A true competitor." 15[21:35] "I've got an idea. Why don't you both join me?" [21:42] 07Dryas glances to her cousin. 15[21:43] Caxi's expression is glazed and disinterested. "Sounds divine." [21:46] 07Dryas considers. "It seems... unbalanced. Perhaps Aku would care to join us, for part of the ride at least?" 15[21:47] Aku: "Oh, could I?" 15[21:48] Caxi is impassive. Ratel considers. She's not *drunk*, but she's working her way up to it. "I think that would be most agreeable." 15[21:49] Aku squeals with delight. 15[21:52] Caxi, mildly: "What fun." [21:58] 07Dryas: "Then it's settled. Well, I'm going to take a walk and let the lovebirds-" 07she looks straight at Caxi's disinterested eyes- "have a moment together. Commodore, would you care to get a breath of fresh air?" 15[22:04] Ratel: "That sounds delightful. Would you two excuse us?" 15[22:04] Caxi: ".........gladly, Commodore. Come, lover, let's leave these two to their dreary business." 15[22:04] Aku: "Quite." 15[22:05] Aku adds, "It was so nice to meet you both!" [22:06] 07Dryas, saccharine, "Take care, darlings!" 15[22:10] Whatever their actual feelings for each other, Caxi and Aku make a gorgeous couple. You almost don't want to leave, but the night is clear and cool and the air is thick with the scent of lilies. Ratel and Dryas have to range quite far to escape the radius of the expanding party, passing people who are digging into refreshments far more intense than wine. [22:11] 07Dryas now leads the Commodore out into the quite pleasant gardens. warm braziers here and there to provide warmth for revelers. Once they are basically clear, she speaks: "Commodore, I have a letter for you from my aunt Cerise," 15[22:11] Ratel: "Oh? To be delivered privately? Is that why you wanted me alone?" 15[22:11] She seems slightly crestfallen. 14[22:14] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:15] 07She presents the letter. "If I wanted you alone, the letter would have sufficed as an excuse, I think. As I said, dear Commodore - it's in the pursuit." 15[22:16] Ratel takes the letter. "Mmm. A true huntress." She breaks the seal and reads. 15[22:16] "...ah." 15[22:16] "So I gather you've been briefed." [22:19] 07Dryas folds her arms behind her back. "Indeed. Arduous is no overstatement. But it's quite the hunt." 15[22:25] Ratel: "I think... you might be just the sort of talent I'm looking for. Tell me, candidly: do you think you can work alongside Caxi? I make no judgments, but I know that the competition between housemates can be fierce." 15[22:25] "Furia is my sister." [22:29] 07Dryas nods. "I won't allow it to interfere with our mission," 07she answers. 15[22:30] "What do you make of Aku?" [22:35] 07Dryas considers. "Handsome, enthusiastic, not too smart, deferential. Pretty good, for a man," 07she reasons. 15[22:35] Ratel: "I agree. He's a harmless sort." 15[22:37] "Well. If you're to join me, then you'll be under my command. So I have a task for you." 15[22:37] "Inform Caxi that you'll be joining us on the expedition." [22:38] 07Dryas gives a thin smile. "Of course." 15[22:38] Ratel puts a hand on Dryas's shoulder. "You're a very capable young woman." [22:39] 07Dryas glances at it. "Enjoy the party, Commodore." 15[22:39] The hand lingers for a long moment. Then, almost abruptly: "If you'll excuse me, I have arrangements, that need... arranging." [22:39] 07Dryas turns on her heel and stalks back towards Caxi and Akul. Perhaps they've gone to bed. 15[22:40] She returns to find Caxi drinking water, alone. [22:43] 07Dryas approaches matter-of-factly. "Aku called it a night?" 15[22:44] Caxi: "Oh, I doubt that boy will be able to hold his attention for the entire night. I gather the Commodore couldn't pull you?" [22:48] 07Dryas: "I wasn't feeling it." 07Too easy. "I wanted to let you know that I really will be joining the two of you, though. On the trip West. Cerise briefed me earlier, that's why she called me here." 15[22:50] Caxi's eyebrows go up. "Interesting." 15[22:50] "What's your read?" [22:52] 07Dryas: "It's kind of like the hunt of a lifetime, only we don't quite know what the quarry is, just the bait. What do you think?" 15[22:53] Caxi: "I think... well." 15[22:58] "Don't you think it's a little strange that something so serious, and so direly affecting the Navy, Peleps isn't handling this in-house? Reaching far and wide... V'Neef, who they hate, from Cynis, who they don't respect. Soon from Tepet, who no one respects. And the less said about those Cathak goons the better." 15[22:58] "It's almost like they don't trust themselves with the job." 14[23:01] * Joins: tom [23:05] 07Dryas: "That's astute. Maybe we're meant to flush Furia out." 15[23:06] Caxi: "Mmm. Maybe so. But we should watch ourselves. So many Houses working together... we won't really be able to trust anyone but each other." [23:08] 07Dryas: "You're right. We really will have to stick together." 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Proud stone walls that have stood since the era of the warring shoguns run north-south and split the city in two. To the west, away from the mountain and rolling into the misty vales of reverie, the mortal side of the city rises for work. Farmers brush the dew from their cattle and take 15[20:32] up the fullness of the season's harvest before winter comes. Bells toll for morning prayers in the Immaculate temples. 15[20:34] To the east, silence. Tepet barracks, walls etched with frescoes depicting their glories and the glories of their forebears, stand empty. Manses are tended by listless servants whose masters fell with their legions. Even the great pagoda of the Immaculate grandmaster in residence tolls its bells for few and none. 15[20:35] It is these bells echoing in stillness that awaken Zhangyu. How does the new day find him? [20:41] 6He's out of bed within moments of waking, automatically falling into the routine he's had since childhood. He's not in the infirmary, which means he doesn't have to check for injuries, so it's just a simple look over himself to see if any new scars have made their way onto him. None have. (Good.) What's his schedule for the day? Bathing, breakfast, then...? 15[20:44] That's... a good question. Since he returned to the city a week ago he's been mostly sitting on his hands. As a scion of his house unbound by marriage or military service, he is rare indeed among the shattered house. His remaining elders debate how best to make use of their remaining assets. Assets such as he. 15[20:44] Some might find this relaxing. Does he? [20:47] 6Time off after returning from a mission is important, but a week is right around when he starts getting... not nervous, never nervous, but uncomfortable. Itching to do something, to have a direction. Much longer and, well. Best not to think about it. 15[20:51] Then he's in luck. A summons arrives by courier (he seems spooked, perhaps by Zhangyu and his reputation but perhaps by the sheer tomblike vacancy of the place). He's been called in to counsel with those very elders, this very day. He's to visit the Pagoda of Blood and Pearls, at the heart of Tepet's network of compounds, the former manse of its matriarch. Zhangyu has about three hours 15[20:51] to prepare himself. [21:00] 6Well, there's the morning exercises to do, probably some meditation - if he had more time he'd like to find out what the meeting was to be about, because going unprepared is unwise, but there's nothing to be done. He reads over a copy of his report from the week before just to verify he didn't commit any errors worth reprimanding, and finally puts a shirt on just before he heads over. Strictly speaking, he doesn't need one, but [21:00] people appreciate the effort. 15[21:07] The same courtier returns to usher Zhangyu into the Pagoda. He can feel the weight of its Essence as he crosses the threshold. Crystal lanterns throw off pearl-white light against walls stained deep crimson. They pass silent guards and silent courtiers. The only sound that accompanies their footsteps is the soft rustling and hooting from the hundreds and hundreds of owls that have 15[21:07] taken roost in the high places and dark corners of the manse. Dozens of heads, eyes reflecting the lantern-light, swivel to watch Zhangyu pass. [21:08] 6He pays them no mind. It's not the first time he's been watched like this. 15[21:09] They stop at a double door emblazoned with the seal of House Tepet, wrought in blue jade. Guards cross their spears to block passage, but when they see who it is they let him pass, standing a little more at attention. [21:11] 6Good alertness. Even better respect. 15[21:12] The seal splits in two as the doors swing inward, revealing three women and a man standing around a table flanked by a dozen or more courtiers. All but one of those assembled look up when he enters. 15[21:15] "Zhangyu. Thank you for your punctuality," comes the sonorous voice of Tepet Corino, the closest thing the house has to a matriarch nowadays. One of the few Dynasts to survive the doomed campaign against the Bull. Beside her is Tepet Sachin, who took Immaculate vows but returned to the fold after the legions fell. Zhangyu doesn't know him, and Sachin in turn regards him with suspicion. 15[21:16] Third is an aquamarine-haired woman Zhangyu remembers from his school days. This is Peleps Ratel, one of the naval masters of the House of Bells. She taught Zhangyu at least half of what he knows about sailing. 15[21:16] Fourth, not looking up, is the unimaginably craggy and ruined face of Grandmaster Mushi. He studies the map spread across the table with his lips pursed. [21:23] 6He hides his reaction very well, he is sure. He can speak with Grandmaster later. Zhangyu inclines his head slightly, and says: "Elder." 6Unspoken, but clear: Why am I here? 15[21:26] Sachin: "We don't have time for pleasantries." 15[21:28] Corino: "Zhangyu, word has reached us of a dire crisis." 15[21:29] Ratel: "There's no call for alarmism." 15[21:31] Corino's lips go thin, as does her patience. "Commodore Ratel has come seeking aid from our house, to put down a rebellion in the Navy." [21:32] 6Anger flares up briefly before he smooths out his expression again. Flatly: "A rebellion." [21:33] 6A dire crisis sounds closer to the truth than alarmism. 15[21:36] Sachin, almost giddy with spite: "They lost half their fleet!" 15[21:39] Ratel: "Why did you even let him in the room, Corino?" 15[21:40] Sachin: "Excuse me, Commodore, but as your favorite sister has fallen to the predations of Anathema, our blessed elder has seen fit to call on the counsel of the only man to have faced down a true Anathema in single combat and lived to tell the tale!" [21:42] 6Ah, petty arguments in times of crisis. Perfect. Zhangyu does not bother to hide the unimpressed look on his face as he crosses his arms, glaring. 15[21:42] Ratel: "...I mean no disrespect, Sachin. I've heard the tale many times. Though, I've never heard of any witnesses." 15[21:43] Corino slams her hands down on the table. The beautiful stone atlas of Creation, a great oblong tile held aloft by a spire running through the heart of the Imperial Mountain, wobbles and almost falls. 15[21:44] "We do not." 15[21:44] "Bicker." 15[21:44] "Apologyacceptedletsmoveon," says Sachin breezily. 15[21:45] Zhangyu notices that Mushi's face has risen. His old master is watching him now, ignoring the feuding entirely. 15[21:47] Corino: "The Commodore has told us that Peleps Furia, Vice-Admiral in the Water Fleet, has not returned with her command to its customary routes and patrols in two months. There are rumors -- wild rumors --" she adds, with a glare at Sachin, "that she has fallen prey to some madness or corruption. Peleps itself professes ignorance as to her motives." 15[21:48] "It's a mystery," Peleps Ratel agrees. 15[21:48] "But a serious one. So I'm reaching out for the best and brightest people I can find from every House to join me on a clandestine expedition to find her and her fleet." 15[21:50] Sachin: "That means you, Zhangyu. And your cousin, Daizo, if we can ever find the boy." A pause. "Well? This is a great honor, boy, show some pride!" [21:54] 6Surprise flickers across his face before quickly returning to barely-concealed anger. He does manage to reply: "I am honored. This has been going on for two months?" 15[22:02] Ratel: "Roughly. You understand that the loss of so many ships puts the Navy in a precarious position. We can't afford to divert our already stretched-thin deep sea fleet to chance after itself. A small, swift vessel, staffed by a small, elite force. That's the plan." [22:03] 6He nods. "Daizo was mentioned. Do you know who else will be there?" 6Pure business, now. Take out the anger later. 15[22:05] Ratel: "The rest of our team is already en route. Some have accompanied me this far. Dryas the Younger and Caxi of House Cynis, Piu of House V'Neef. Cathak Tsuka will be meeting us in Bittern." 15[22:06] Corino: "Mnemon sent no one?" 15[22:06] Ratel: "...the Admiralty Board thought it best not to trouble Her Grace while she still mourns the Empress so deeply." [22:14] 6His already low opinion of Mnemon lowers even more. Still, he thinks back on what he knows, and deadpans: "I would have thought they'd be keeping Cathak Tsuka away from ships, these days." 15[22:15] Ratel: "Oh, his reputation is very overstated. He just needs a calming influence. A mature, calming influence. I expect him to serve ably and well." 15[22:18] Corino: "I see." [22:19] 6Zhangyu: "Understood, Commodore." 6He successfully manages to look impassive but still sound slightly disbelieving. [22:21] 6He'll have to talk to this V'neef Piu, when they meet. Formidable fighter. The others... less so. 15[22:22] Corino: "That is the brief. We have time for more questions once we've tracked down Daizo, but he seems to have gone walkabout again." 15[22:23] "He can't go," says Grandmaster Mushi softly. His voice barely above a whisper, the sound like rough stones grinding together makes it impossible to ignore. "Zhangyu is not fit for this expedition. His training is incomplete." [22:23] 6He bristles, suddenly. "Grandmaster?" 15[22:25] Zhangyu: "You attempt to hide it, but it's in your stance, your voice, the tilt of your head. You are consumed with pride. A battlefield as treacherous as this would swallow you as surely as if you'd leapt into the see yourself." 15[22:25] "You are not ready." 15[22:25] *the sea [22:35] 6Zhangyu: "This is what I've trained for. This is what I have worked for. I am ready," 6he grits out. "How do you want me to prove it?" 15[22:37] Sachin: "I was an exemplary student of Grandmaster Mushi in my younger days. Perhaps if you'd like I could give young Zhangyu some pointers...?" 15[22:37] Mushi: "Hh." 15[22:37] "Yes." 15[22:38] "You two come with me." To Corino and Ratel: "We'll return in an hour. Hopefully your large sad boy comes out of the trees by then." [22:38] 6He smiles too-politely. It's all he can do to stop from laughing in Sachin's face, which would only prove Grandmaster correct. 15[22:39] Sachin: "Happily." 15[22:41] The three of them depart, double doors opening to reveal a gaggle of eavesdropping servants who hurriedly endeavor to make themselves look busy, as if there was enough work for the five of them at this end of this foyer at this time of the morning. Sachin sneers at them as the trio passes. [22:42] 6Good instincts, though they need to be better at hiding themselves. Probably too old for any lessons to stick. Pity. 15[22:43] Mushi glides by them, paying them no attention for good or ill. The only thing that stops him is when a delicate-looking crystal tree laden with owls all turn to look at the three of them at once as they make for the exit. Mushi stops, turns his head slowly towards them, and every owl averts its eyes. [22:45] 6...wise birds. 15[22:47] Outside the air has cooled from where it was this morning. A faint drizzle falls, the fish-ponds gracing the manses' courtyards shuddering beneath the rain. As they walk, alone in the rain, Mushi says: "You have both been schooled in the way of hand and foot. You, Sachin, a student of the Air Dragon, swift and shapeless." 15[22:49] Mushi falls suddenly into a wide, steady stance, projecting left and right arm forward with an exhalation of breath. A mighty gout of flame emerges, igniting a fruit tree and sending the nesting birds screaming into the air. 15[22:50] "Behold!" he says, "the unfettered divinity od our blood. The limitless power of the holy dragons." 15[22:50] "Observe how it used for the same purpose a man might use an especially sharp rock." 15[22:51] "In this way, the gutter style Zhangyu favors is purer of form. He has made of himself an especially sharp rock." 15[22:52] Sachin's face goes from pleased to confused to irritated and back to confused. [22:53] 6Zhangyu simply watches and listens. He takes "especially sharp rock" as praise and also a chastisement - one must be more than simply a sharp rock. 15[22:56] One of the birds disturbed from the burning tree, a fat sparrow, has alighted on a flower pot just across the street. Zhangyu sees it, creeping in the shadows, sheltered from the rain by the hanging eve of the empty building. A cat, gray and white, fat on the mice that breed and thrive in the ignored corners of the palace complex. 15[22:56] It approaches the sparrow with light gleaming in its eyes... [22:59] 6The way of things. The sparrow grows complacent while the cat remains hungry. A solveable problem. 15[22:59] There's a leap, and a pounce, and a brief but frantic chirping. The problem is solved. 15[22:59] Mushi: "Ah! Perfect." 15[23:00] The cat shakes the bird apart in its tiny jaws. Feathers go flying, only to drift lazily to the ground like maple seeds. [23:00] 6Zhangyu makes a mental note to find that cat later. A warrior. 15[23:00] Mushi: "The two of you see this cat?" [23:01] 6Zhangyu: "Yes, Grandmaster." 15[23:01] Sachin: "Yes, master. A potent meditation on the warrior spirit." 15[23:01] Mushi: "Kill it." [23:01] 6...or now. 15[23:02] Tired of its toy, the cat looks up at Zhangup with big eyes. "14mow" 15[23:02] *Zhangyu [23:04] 6He frowns. And he's missing something. Grandmaster's lessons aren't without purpose, but... 15[23:05] Sachin, meanwhile, produces a chakram from within his flowing robe. "Gladly." 15[23:07] He doesn't hesitate. The cat's falls to the ground, blood dripping between the rain-slick stones of the street. 15[23:08] Mushi watches without a trace of emotion on his face. [23:08] 6Well. 15[23:09] To the both of them: "Who has won this exchange?" 15[23:11] Sachin, easily: "I have." [23:13] 6Zhangyu: "You have, Grandmaster. An order was carried out without question and accomplished swiftly." 15[23:14] Mushi: "Two different answers, each with their truth." 15[23:14] "Now, the more important question: who has lost? It is not the animals." [23:16] 6Zhangyu: "I have. I did not want the cat to die, not without hearing a reason." 6I was too slow, is left unsaid. 15[23:18] Sachin: "Perhaps you can meditate on this after waving Daizo goodbye--" 15[23:18] Mushi: "Get out of my sight, worm." 15[23:20] Sachin's eyes flash with indignation. "Master, I venerate your position, but I am an elder of House Tepet and you cannot speak to me that w--" 15[23:20] Mushi: "GO. NOW." [23:20] 6Tepet Zhangyu blinks. 15[23:20] "Or the rain will wash away your memory too." 15[23:21] Sachin doesn't *scurry* away, exactly. He walks with the air of a man who absolutely refuses to scurry. 15[23:22] Mushi kneels down, whispers a prayer, and ignites the corpses of cat and bird both. They burn quickly. The rain, heavier now, scours away the ash. 15[23:22] He rises. "Do you understand your failure?" [23:25] 6Zhangyu pauses, counts to three in his head. "...I hesitated. I should have anticipated his attack, and stopped it. If I wanted the cat to survive." 15[23:26] Mushi: "Close." 15[23:26] "If you wanted the cat to live," Mushi says, "you should have been prepared to strike Sachin down on the spot. With all of your might." [23:29] 6Zhangyu: "I will remember that." 6He's using his words this time. This is an improvement! 15[23:31] Mushi: "The field of war exists to flesh our will. Every moment we do not commit ourself to the utmost is a moment of defeat. This is the one commandment: know your heart, and kill with it." 15[23:31] "Go. Prepare for your voyage. I will tell them you are ready. I have nothing more to teach you." [23:32] 6Zhangyu bows. "Thank you, Grandmaster." Session Time: Thu Oct 31 00:00:00 2019 14[00:42] * Quits: Zarick (Quit: Leaving) 14[02:22] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:09] * Quits: banana (Quit: ZNC - http://znc.in) 14[03:36] * Joins: banana 14[05:52] * Joins: Crion_ 14[05:53] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:35] * Joins: bananaphone 14[11:39] * Quits: bananaphone (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:31] * Joins: Crion 14[13:33] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:08] * Joins: tom2 14[14:09] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:13] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:16] * Quits: tom2 (Connection closed) 14[15:19] * Joins: tom 14[19:42] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[20:10] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:23] * Joins: Crion_ 14[21:23] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:42] * Joins: cbass 14[21:42] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:42] * Joins: Crion 14[21:48] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[22:01] * Joins: cbass 14[22:36] * Joins: dammitwho 14[23:24] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[23:25] * Joins: cbass 14[23:27] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[23:34] * Joins: cbass Session Time: Fri Nov 01 00:00:00 2019 14[00:29] * Joins: cbass_ 14[00:29] * Quits: cbass (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_)) 14[00:29] * cbass_ is now known as cbass 14[02:37] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[04:04] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[05:06] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:58] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[09:23] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[12:06] * Joins: tom 14[13:32] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:28] * Quits: Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[14:30] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[14:30] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 15[20:14]  15[20:14]  15[20:14]  15[20:14]  15[20:14]  15[20:17] A gold-feathered bird 15[20:17] Sings in the palm, without human meaning, 15[20:17] Without human feeling, a foreign song. 15[20:18] They really don't fuck around up here. Even the poetry's more confusing. 15[20:20] The man now called Daizo has taken the morning to himself, to read and wander the almost ghostly grounds of the Tepet compound in Lord's Crossing, as a gentle rain rolls in. Not heavy enough to smear the ink or soak the parchment, but enough to lend the otherwise pleasant autumn morning a chilly cast. 15[20:20] What does he do? What's on his mind? [20:25] 11Daizo's heading towards what would have once been a quite pleasant garden pavilion. In recent years, maintenance of the minor ones has begun to slip, and this one, overlooking a small artificial pond, has gotten a little overgrown. This has several distinct advantages, however: [20:29] 10First and most obviously, you're not going to be interrupted there. Second and somewhat more esoterically, Daizo's been watching it to see if you get any different kinds of lesser-spirits in an abandoned garden. Third, and on a pure aesthetic level, a little bit of nature asserting itself in front of man is just interesting to look at.  [20:29] 10He's armed with some blank pages, a mirror, and a copy of a currently popular and slightly scandalous novel, in case the experiment proves to be dull. 14[20:31] * Joins: mattbaby [20:32] 10Memoirs of the Anathema10, it's called. Purporting to be documents recovered from the memoires of a Solar Anathema who survived well into the early Shogunate, it's almost certainly a tissue of lies. But it's a damn fine story. [20:39] 10Eventually, Daizo settles in, breathes on the mirror and wipes it clean with his sleeve, then focuses. The trick is to look at it through the corner of your eye, like so, focus your Essence10 like so10, and— The invisible world springs up inside the mirror. Ah, to have been born one of the Chosen. Moments like this make it all worth it. 15[20:43] Daizo breathes, and the world breathes with him. Out of the corner of his eye, the ivy-grown pavilion seems to pulse with new and wild life. A four-eyed squirrel peeks out to the east, while gently writhing vines undulate up and down the neglected wooden structure. The whole sight seems to vibrate - he knows that the world teems with what the savants call little gods, some smaller 15[20:43] than a grain of rice, spirits whose life and work keep the very world afloat on the Wyld. 15[20:44] He must have wondered what it would feel like, as a boy, to feel the life of the Five Holy Dragons moving through you. How does the real thing compare to his imaginings? 14[20:46] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[20:47] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:50] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[20:51] * Joins: mattbaby [20:51] 10Of course, every child on the Isle dreamed of being a secret Dragon-Blood. In the areas where you didn't see the real thing very often, it was all just rumor and pretend-play. You pointed, and things went up in flame, all the kids making whooshing sounds. You swung your stick as if it were a sword or an axe and everyone would jump and pretend the ground had cracked open. Daizo played the same games when he could, but it seemed [20:51] 10 like every other season he'd be struck by shivers or shakes, vapors and megrims, the whole nine yalms.  [20:52] 10The real thing? It's like that, but so much more. And so much more dangerous. The mortal world trembles before the Ten Thousand Dragons, and if they shouted as one the whole thing might fall down. [20:55] 10Taiyun? That feels like another life now, something that happened to someone else. Really, it was. 15[20:58] Not much chance of them shouting as one any time soon, though... but any ruminations Daizo might have on the state of the Realm and the world are interrupted as his mirror fills with light. It's almost hard to look at, but soon his vision sharpens and the image resolves with more clarity. A bird alights on the edge of the pavilion, wide wings and feathers of spun sunshine. Three long 15[20:58] necks end in three small heads, each one seeming to sing soundlessly. 14[21:00] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:01] * Joins: mattbaby [21:04] 10Incredible... Yes, he's definitely never seen anything like this before. Coming out here today was worth it. Without making any sudden movements, Daizo inks a quill and begins to write, trying to render this moment of grace into mere words as best he can. Later, he'll go down to the compound library to see if he can find records of another spirit like it. And whether its presence is a good omen or ill. [21:06] 10And, of course, the Order needs to know.  15[21:07] Distantly, as if rousing him from a dream: "...master Daizo? Master Daizo. Excuse me, sir, I'm terribly sorry to interrupt your meditations--" [21:09] 10Daizo starts and snaps bolt upright. "Uwaaa!" [21:11] 10He coughs. "It's all right. Think nothing of it." 10Did the ink spill? Oh no— It's right there, never mind. 15[21:11] This is a round man in servant's garb, who Daizo has seen around but whose name he doesn't know. A glance through the mirror indicates the bird is gone. The very memory of it seems hazy now. Did he doze off and dream it? "Master Daizo, forgive me, but I've been sent to fetch you. Mistress Corino asks. 15[21:12] Tepet Corino, Daizo knows, is the closest thing Tepet has left to a matriarch after the disastrous campaign against the Bull. [21:13] 10Daizo taps his chin, reviewing his mental map of the complex. "Lady Corino? Then she'll be at the Pagoda of Blood and Pearls, correct?" 15[21:13] "Just so, Master. Shall I guide you?" [21:15] 10he blots and sands his field report and slips it into a scroll case for later perusal. "By all means." 15[21:21] Daizo is led - for reasons of propriety and station, as by now he has a pretty good sense of where everything in the compound actually is - to the huge and mostly-silent Pagoda of Blood and Pearls. The tomb-like character of its vast inner spaces contrasted with the relatively sparse to-ing and fro-ing of servants and courtiers might be the creepiest thing in the compound. 15[21:21] Wait, no, it's the owls. 15[21:22] Dozens of them fix their yellow eyes on Daizo the second he crosses the threshold. [21:23] 10Eurgh. Lord's Crossing owls are champion starers. 15[21:26] Daizo's led up several flights of stairs - his rotund guide audibly panting somewhere around floor 3 - and it occurs to him he's never been this high up in the manse before. He has little time to reflect on this, however, as he's brought to a set of handsome double doors with the Tepet house seal wrought in blue jade embedded in it. The seal splits down the middle as the doors swing 15[21:26] open, revealing two women locked in conversation, each flanked by half a dozen attendants. 15[21:27] To the right is Tepet Corino, tall and well-built, her head shaved to match that of her sister Niobe, slain by Anathema, reports suggest, some months ago in the East. Rumors swirl that the Scavenger Lands have fallen root and branch to the demon-kings of old. 15[21:31] To the left is a woman Daizo doesn't recognize, in a crisp blue uniform with long, wavy aquamarine hair. There's a curious expression on her face, an emotion Daizo would need some time and an inked brush to articulate. 15[21:33] The two of them turn to face Daizo in unison as he enters. What do they see? What does Daizo look like? [21:44] 10The first thing almost anyone notices about Daizo is his stature, gifted to him by Pasiap. While not quite a full seven fulms in bare feet, he's not far off of it, and be's broad to match. Truly a menhir of a man. His skin is dark sandstone, and his close-cropped hair black. Inquisitive green eyes like two cut emeralds and a face that hides precious little. He's wearing a charcoal gray silk robe with just enough brocade to be [21:44] 10 allowable in polite company, and as it's a rainy day, stout boots. Despite his size, he possesses the grace of a trained martial artist; he sinks to the most formal bow he knows before the House Matriarch and the navy Commodore. 15[21:47] Corino is heartened by the sight of her fresh-faced scion. The Commodore gives him an appraising up-and-down look. And then another. And then one more for the road. 15[21:48] Corino either doesn't notice or gracefully pretends not to. "Daizo! You're here. I don't suppose you passed Cousin Zhangyu and Cousin Sachin on the way in?" [21:51] 10Daizo, thankfully (?) is still looking at the carpet weave. But when Corino speaks he shifts to a sitting position. "No. Only some owls, glaring at me from the rafters, my lady." 15[21:55] Corino: "Perhaps we should wait for them to return..." 15[21:56] The Commodore shakes her head. "We'll waste more time that way. Let's get our boy up to speed. Daizo, I'm Peleps Ratel. I serve the Imperial Navy. Are you familiar with the Navy?" [21:59] 10Is this some kind of trick question? "As the means by which the Empress extends her might over the seas, yes. But not in an operational sense. To date, I have primarily focused on theories of land warfare." [22:03] "But if the Navy requires the services of this humble son of the Dynasty, then I may not refuse." 15[22:08] Ratel smiles. "Ready and eager to serve. You'll go far." 15[22:09] Corino, coolly: "To hew somewhat closer to the point, the Commodore is going around the Isle soliciting the Great Houses for their best young scions for a clandestine mission of great importance." 15[22:11] "There is a dire crisis within the Water Fleet. One of their Vice-Admirals has gone off without leave, and taken a sizable portion of the fleet with her." 15[22:11] "Hundreds of ships, simply out of pocket at a whim." 15[22:11] "Your task will be to find them, return our people and our materiel to the hands of the Realm, and if possible bring in Vice-Admiral Peleps Furia in for questioning and judgment." 15[22:12] Ratel, quickly: "It will be possible." 15[22:12] Corino: "Regardless. Do you have questions, Daizo?" [22:13] 10Daizo: "Several dozen spring to mind immediately." [22:14] "But I'll winnow them down to the most important. First: I assume you are not sending me alone to move heaven and earth like this. What support will I, or we, receive?" [22:15] "Second: When you say 'clandestine', will this operation be under the supervision of the All-Seeing Eye?" [22:16] "Third. Why me?" 15[22:16] Ratel sits, and invites Daizo to do the same. 15[22:16] Corino will join them, if and only if Daizo sits. [22:17] Daizo takes the offered seat, and looks over the Peleps officer again. "I will serve, but… I can row a boat, and that's about it." 15[22:18] Ratel: "Let me address these in order." 15[22:21] "First, you will be joined by several of your most accomplished and highly-regarded peers. Zhangyu, from your own House, will accompany us, as will Dryas the Younger, a Cynis merchant princess, and her cousin, the sorceress Caxi. Tsuka, an esteemed scion of House Cathak. And of course I can't forget V'Neef Piu, recent victor at the Five Day Fight. But it's to be a very compact mission 15[22:21] - in addition to the crew we won't have space for more than one or two retainers for each of you. The crew, also, will not be Navy - V'Neef has generously loaned us the use of some of her finest merchant marines." 15[22:22] "As to the Eye, the operative details are classified... but in general we take the view that it's best to present the Eye with a fait accompli." This, Daizo knows, is a Dragontongue phrase meaning, roughly, 'done deal'. 15[22:24] "As for why you... as I said, I seek the best and the brightest of the new generation of future leaders. People with skill, passion, conviction... but not fettered by deep political feuds or calcified ambition. People who see the potential of such an arduous but important mission, rather than focusing on its risks." 15[22:25] "By Corino's advice and, frankly, my own personal estimation, you rank among that number." [22:25] 10Daizo nods in acknowledgement. "Which explains why you were looking for Cousin Zhangyu. Tsuka… I swear I've seen that name somewhere, recently." 15[22:26] Ratel: "I'd be interested to hear where. I've had a demon of a time just finding out where he's been posted since graduation. He was an exemplary student, though. One of the best I ever taught." [22:28] 10Daizo thinks. "Rumor in a teahouse. Something about a ship arrived from the provinces. Everyone's titillated by news from the barbarian lands, lately." 15[22:30] Ratel: "Oh, yes, the entire Near East is in chaos, from what I understand. You hear the most remarkable nonsense, everything from Lookshy invading the Scavenger Lands to Anathema conquering Nexus to talk of a second Balorian Crusade. If you while away your hours in dockside teahouses you'll come away thinking we live in a much more interesting world than we do." 15[22:32] "Not that there are dockside teahouses in Lord's Crossing." [22:33] 10Daizo laughs. "I take your meaning." [22:34] 10He's got his own misgivings about the state of the Realm, but this definitely isn't the time to air them. "Where were these elements of the Water Fleet last seen, before they slipped away?" 15[22:36] Ratel: "I like you. You're far more thoughtful than so big and strong a man has any right to be. The Northwestern Fleet parted ways with a small group of Guild-backed tributary vessels en route from the Wavecrest Archipelago. Do you know the West at all?" 15[22:37] Corino yawns heavily, eyes rolling as she does so. [22:37] 10Daizo dares a side-eye at Ratel. Even he can tell when he's being thoroughly buttered up. Then again… No, no, stay focused. [22:39] 10Daizo: "In broad str— outline. In broad outline. Does the nature of the mission preclude us from seeking the services of a local guide? Assuming they are to be kept in the dark about the true purpose of the voyage, that is." 15[22:41] Ratel: "No, and such guides will be available for hire in Bittern, should you require. But the budgetary considerations are such that any such retainer would have to be supported out of your own stipend." [22:51] 10Daizo: "Under the circumstances, it's understandable." 10Smile, keep smiling. "When will our group be departing, Commodore?" 15[22:56] Ratel: "You and Zhangyu will be departing tomorrow for Bittern. Our ship, Daana'd's Defiance, sets sail in a week." [22:59] 10Daizo: "An auspicious name for any vessel. Don't worry, Commodore. If there's a way to bring Furia home, I'll work day and night to find it." 15[23:00] Ratel smiles warmly. 15[23:06] "I believe you. And I believe that we will." 15[23:07] Corino: "It goes without saying, I'm sure, but just to be absolutely clear: you are to treat this matter with the utmost discretion. Not even your cousins can know. Not even direct superiors. Leave what they know and don't know to me." [23:08] 10Daizo: "As you wish. Aside from Cousin Zhangyu and these others in the Commodore's trust, my lips are sealed." 15[23:09] Ratel: "I look forward to the day when you meet your hearthmates. Many very strong personalities." [23:09] 10Daizo: "But… I have no wish to question your judgment, my lady, but are you sure Cousin Zhangyu is the person to send on a delicate task such as this?" 15[23:10] Corino: "Zhangyu is blunt, perhaps to a fault, but he is no fool. The boulder that rolls unstoppably downhill is also the stone that breaks every chisel that tries to peer within it." 15[23:10] Ratel nods. "I have the utmost faith in Corino's choices." [23:12] 10Daizo: "Understood." 15[23:15] Corino: "Any more questions?" [23:20] 10Daizo: "If we are to leave tomorrow, then daylight is at a premium. It won't take long to put my affairs in order. And I'm sure the Commodore will brief us thoroughly before we take ship." 15[23:24] Ratel: "Zhangyu is also readying himself." 15[23:24] She stands. "I look forward to serving with you, Daizo." 15[23:24] Corino stands too. "Make us proud." [23:27] 10Daizo bows once more before Corino. "I will repay the trust this House has placed in me. I so swear." 15[23:28] And so Daizo is dismissed and left to prepare. What preparations does he make? What thoughts are interrupted by the insistent tapping at his bedroom window a short while later? [23:39] Daizo spends a brief time dividing his year in Lord's Crossing into two piles. The larger by far are knickknacks and festival clothes and other bits of frippery; the servants will put these into storage until his return. The other, much smaller, are books and scrolls, annotated copies of the most important of the Texts with his own notes in the margins; a hand-carved Gateway set, reams and reams of stationery, and a cracked piece of [23:39] turtle shell with a hole drilled through it, ritually purified and re-dedicated as a talisman to repel all manner of evils. [23:40] 10After writing some letters of apology ("I've been called away on urgent business," hardly a rare occurrence in these days) the stationery goes on the storage pile as well. He can always get more in Bittern. [23:47] 10He lights a candle and quietly whispers the prayer for safe travel, for calm seas, to not be devoured in a tiger's den, that sort of thing. He remembers promises not to throw his life away, to honorably and faithfully serve the Realm, and wonders just what the hell he's gotten dragged into. Then he checks the notes he took that morning observing the golden bird; no time to look it up now. But he doesn't remember writing any of [23:47] 10 this. [23:50] "If a bird doesn't sing, kill it." [23:50] "If a bird doesn't sing, make it sing." [23:50] "If a bird doesn't sing, wait for it to sing." [23:50] 10Whet in blazes does that mean? 15[23:50] Tap-tap-tap. Tap-taptap-taptap-tap-taptaptap. [23:51] 10Daizo shakes his head and heads over to the window. "Who's there," 10he asks, already suspecting. 15[23:51] Daizo sees, without the prompting of his Essence, the three-necked golden bird from the pavilion, or one just like it (no, he's certain on some pre-rational level that this is the same bird). It raps against the window with its three beaks in a rapid, staccato rhythm. Once it has Daizo's attention it flaps its wings wildly, beaks opening and closing rapidly, stretching open wide. If 15[23:51] the bird was making any kind of sound, it would surely be loud and terrible. Instead, it thrashes and beats itself against the window, glowing brighter and brighter and acting in ever-greater pain and panic until it literally shakes itself apart, dissolving before Daizo's eyes into motes of liquid golden light. The bird's fire-fangled feathers dangle down, disintegrating before they 15[23:51] touch the earth. [23:53] 10The spectacle leaves him stunned. "What— who are you? What does this mean?" 15[23:53] There is no reply. If the bird couldn't make itself heard before... what hope has it now, as its last embers cool to nothing before Daizo's eyes. 15[23:53] *? [23:55] 10He can't do anything for this beautiful and terrible creature in its final moments. And with a gust of wind, even the ashes are gone. 15[23:56] NEXT TIME: Mother May I Session Time: Sat Nov 02 00:00:00 2019 14[01:18] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:34] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[06:26] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Server shutdown) 14[06:26] * Quits: dammitwho (Server shutdown) 14[06:26] * Quits: trenchfoot (Server shutdown) 15[06:26] * Disconnected 15[06:27] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[06:27] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[06:27] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[06:27] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[06:27] * Joins: dammitwho 14[06:27] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[06:28] * Ferrinus is now known as Guest33547 14[10:46] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:42] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:52] * Guest33547 is now known as Ferrinus 14[11:52] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[13:08] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:12] * Joins: tom 15[15:06] * Disconnected 15[15:06] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[15:06] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[15:06] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[15:06] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[21:10] * banana|peels is now known as bann 14[21:10] * bann is now known as banana 14[23:04] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[23:09] * Joins: cbass Session Time: Sun Nov 03 00:00:00 2019 14[00:16] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:50] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:21] * Joins: tom 14[13:24] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:34] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:29] * Joins: tom 14[20:01] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Mon Nov 04 00:00:00 2019 14[00:41] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:40] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:46] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:48] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[09:49] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[10:27] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:01] * Joins: tom 14[11:30] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[13:33] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:52] * Joins: Crion_ 14[14:55] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:55] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 14[17:16] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Tue Nov 05 00:00:00 2019 14[01:39] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[03:33] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[03:37] * Joins: tom 14[07:15] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[10:09] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:11] * Joins: Zarick 14[11:16] * Joins: tom 14[14:40] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:29] * Joins: tom 15[20:00]  15[20:00]  15[20:00]  15[20:00]  15[20:00]  15[20:02] We begin in Bittern: the pride of House Peleps and the beating heart of the deep-sea Water Fleet. A city of shipwrights, the docks are alive with workers well before dawn, jeering good-naturedly at the gulls above as they go about extending the arm of the Scarlet Dynasty. 15[20:04] You have come, in ones and twos, over the past several days, gathered from all corners of the Isle for a mission of utmost secrecy and direst importance. Some, such as Piu, have been here nearly a week. Some, such as Zhangyu, Daizo, and the Commodore herself, only arrived late the night before. 15[20:04] How does each of them rise to face the coming day? [20:05] 4First, by carefully slipping out from underneath the boy. She'll dress, kiss him on the cheek (still asleep) and head back to her own quarters for morning exercises and stretches, winking at the startled cleaning hand in the hallway when she steps out. [20:05] 4First thing she does is put on the water for morning tea, of course. [20:09] 4After that, a bath, dressing in a smart but form-fitting robe, doing up her hair, some light makeup, and it's time to head out. [20:09] 6Eyes open, check surroundings, check for injuries, run through the day while exercising and meditating. It's starting today in earnest, and Tepet Zhangyu will be as prepared as he can. [20:10] 07Cynis Dryas splashes water on her face from the basin in the Grand Occidental Hotel while examining herself in the enormous mirror. A handmaiden, standing behind her, plucks a dandelion from her tresses and carefully drips a few drops of water on an orchid bud. [20:13] 07Standing behind her, ledger in hand, is Pale Moke, her majordomo. A rail-thin fellow with a shock of white hair, he is dressed in the fashion of a patrician. "No new correspondence this morning," 07he mutters. Dryas grunts an assent before shrugging another shoulder into her kimono. [20:13] 10Despite the long trek to Bittern, Daizo found himself unable to sleep. He spent a long night meditating on the balcony outside his own, embarrassingly lavish, suite. When the sun rose, he decided to make the best day possible out of it.  [20:16] 4She dresses in yellow and red, with an undercurrent of brown -- in the sashes, in the trim. She's never liked yellow and brown as the house colors for V'neef, but one supposes all the good combinations were taken. [20:16] 4And, well, she is aspected in fire. 15[20:16] The day begins in earnest with a working breakfast in a private dining room of the Grand Occidental. Commodore Ratel is there to greet the first of them to arrive, laying out paper cards one by one at each of the place settings, pursing her lips, and adjusting them slightly so that each one is exactly parallel with all the others. The Commodore herself looks tired, but relaxed. Daizo 15[20:16] and Zhangyu aren't sure she slept at all after arriving in town the night before. 15[20:17] "Governor Adira will be joining us shortly," she says. "Get yourself something to eat. We've got a lot to do before we set sail." [20:18] 4Piu will smile warmly -- almost, but not quite suggestively -- as she enters, and get something filling, with protein. 15[20:18] Indeed, the food is laid out buffet-style on a long table off to the side. Bread, fruit, tea, Chiaroscuro chocolate, and... seafood? [20:18] 07The domestic carefully primps another one of the white orchids growing out of Dryas' hair and begins weaving it up and around the large golden pin which will soon hold it in place. "We'll have to check with the Factor, then. I'm sure the letter would have arrived in time for him to assemble the crew I specified." 15[20:19] "He'll be accompanying the Governor," says Ratel. "I was looking at the manifest. Almost 50 people. You're fully prepared to finance the outlay?" [20:19] 4Seafood...for breakfast? Hmm. She'll have to get used to that eventually, given how the fisher-adjuncts replenish food stocks along the coasts, but perhaps not so soon, unless it would be a faux pas to skip them. [20:20] 4But it seems it's the only protein here. [20:20] 4Sigh. [20:21] 4Piu has spent much time in the south recently...they know how to do a breakfast down there. 15[20:21] Oh, for the sizzling breakfast meats of Harborhead... [20:21] 4Augh! [20:22] 4They put them on these little flat muffins, with egg... [20:23] 6Zhangyu nods at the instructions and begins loading his plate. No chocolate, but he takes the rest without complaint or so much as a raise of his eyebrow. Seafood's good. Even for breakfast. [20:23] 10Daizo enters every room like he's apologizing for being there, occasionally even having to duck under doorways. But he goes at the breakfast spread with some more enthusiasm, picking out a couple promising rolls and something that isn't immediately identifiable but smells smoked and pungent. Sweets later. [20:23] 07Dryas sucks a nearly-imperceptible amount of air through her teeth as one of the orchids loses a petal. Inevitable. "I could have asked Aunt Cerise or Maman to make the arrangements, but I made sure to draw this against my personal account. I don't want to have to quibble with any of my other relatives over the bounty we'll no doubt have harvested." [20:23] 4...Oh my. [20:23] 4And who are these two? [20:23] 4The high-house princess is very cute too. 15[20:24] Piu is perhaps uniquely positioned to wonder by what criteria Ratel's team was chosen. [20:24] 4She's been uniquely positioned a lot, recently. [20:25] 4But her smiles are pleasant, not seductive, as she sits down at the table. [20:25] 4With a large amount of fish, some fruit, some bread, and some tea. [20:27] 10Daizo looks at the tea on offer and just picks up an entire iron pot of sencha and a cup, bringing them over to the table. "I'm bad with introductions. Tepet Daizo at your service." 15[20:27] One of the last to arrive is a dreamy-eyed girl in something blue and so gauzy you wonder if it was a nightgown. Cynis Caxi takes tea, and nothing else, and settles down next to cousin Dryas. Where Dryas's hair is woven with flowers, Caxi's dark hair is tinted white, as if she woke up outside on a chill morning and the dew in her hair went to frost. [20:27] 4Mmmm. Hi Caxi. 15[20:27] Her smile widens ever so slightly at the sight of Piu. [20:28] 4To business. She bows to the others deeper than perhaps her station requires -- she is, after all, from the runt house. "I am V'neef Piu. It is a pleasure to meet you." 15[20:28] As they settle down, they can't help but notice that one place at the table remains empty. [20:29] 6Zhangyu: "Tepet Zhangyu." 6No Cathak Tsuka. Interesting. He files that information away, alongside the idea that he wants a chance to spar with V'neef Piu. [20:29] 07Dryas nods tamely to her cousin. "Cousin Caxi, good morning." 07In between any conversation, she nibbles indiscriminately on the food but takes plenty of tea. 15[20:30] "Dear Cousin," comes Caxi's near-drawl in reply. 15[20:30] To the rest: "Caxi, of House Cynis. What a lovely little company we are." [20:31] 07Dryas: "Dryas, of House Cynis. Lovely may be an understatement." [20:32] 4Piu visibly starts at the name 'Tepet Zhangyu,' and her eyes go wide. She stares for a moment at him, then quickly looks away, sort of clenching her hands in her lap, barely surpressing a grin. Tepet Zhengyu! [20:32] 4She didn't know he looked like that~ [20:33] *4Zhangyu [20:34] 10The smoked stuff is some kind of peppered mackerel. "If nothing else, we will certainly look the part of a party on sabbatical." 10Daizo indicates the room with a wave. [20:35] 4...Is that a burn? It might be a burn. She dressed nice... 15[20:35] Eyes still fixed on a large ledge, Commodore Ratel says, "So, there are a number of logistical matters we need to settle. You'll want to be packed by noon. Crew from the Defiance will take care of loading your things into your cabins. Talk to..." She flips a page. "...Samperson, our chief petty officer. This is not, legally speaking, a naval operation -- we are nominally an expedition 15[20:35] under the Merchant Fleet." 15[20:36] *large ledger [20:36] 4Piu: "Understood, Commodore." [20:37] 4In between, polite mouthfuls of raw fish, accompanied by the crustiest bread she could pick out. 15[20:37] Ratel finally looks up, and her eyes fix on the empty place. "Where's Tsuka?" 15[20:37] She looks around the table. "Do any of you know where Cathak Tsuka is bunked?" [20:38] 4Piu: "I haven't come across him." [20:38] 07Dryas: "I don't believe he came overland," [20:38] 10Daizo: "Haven't seen anyone fitting his description. And the Tsuka I thought I heard about turned out to be a Sesus Tsuka." [20:39] 6Ah, Cathak. Cowards. "I haven't seen him, either." 15[20:40] Ratel: "Ugh. I'll have to send someone for him. Let me go find a porter. These are the kind of delays we can't aff--" The Commodore is interrupted by a great clap of wood on wood as someone kicks the door open. 15[20:40] Two young men walk in, arms and backs laden with traveling gear and luggage. 15[20:40] Ratel, quickly: "This is a private meeting." [20:41] 4Piu turns in her chair. She looks relaxed, but she's turn it so her body is half-facing the door. The chair won't stop her from standing and moving. [20:41] *4turned 15[20:41] "You Ratel?" asks one, face obscured by the rucksack in his arms before he sets it down, revealing a slender young man with short orange hair and a seemingly-permanent smirk. [20:41] 07Dryas doesn't bother to look and takes another sip of tea. [20:41] 10Daizo starts and nearly leaps to his feet.  15[20:42] "Yeah, we have a letter for the Commodore," says the other, in the same voice. Putting down his own baggage to reveal... the same boy, with the same face, and the same hair. [20:42] 4...Twins. [20:42] 6... [20:43] 4Well this should be...interesting. [20:43] 4As the letter is presented, she visibly relaxes, smiling at the new arrivals. [20:43] 10These kids know how to put on a show, but trying to bluff the Commodore seems like a bad idea. [20:44] 07Dryas' fingers go to the pendant around her neck. 15[20:45] Ratel: "Commodore Ratel. I gave explicit instructions for any correspondence to be left with the front desk. 15[20:45] The first boy: "Yeah, but we showed them the House Cathak seal on our letter and they seemed pretty unwilling to break it." 15[20:45] The second boy: "On account of it's technically high treason." [20:45] 6He's watching them both carefully. Unable to follow orders, and Cathaks to boot. Zhangyu scowls. 15[20:46] Ratel: "And you are?" 15[20:47] Dryas focuses though Cerise's gift, and listens. Music rises from their spirits to her mind's ear. Ordinarily this kind of simultaneous reading proves most distracting, but in this instance... Dryas only hears one song. 15[20:47] Cathak Ito Pan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6GyTBVAF4w - This whole court is unimportant, you fuckers are walking corpses. 15[20:47] Cathak Ito Jun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6GyTBVAF4w - And we the type to greet the preacher with a grin and a gun. [20:48] 4Piu watches the Cynis daughter touch the bauble around her neck while still hopefully appearing to stare at one of these beautiful boys. Now that's an interesting piece. 15[20:48] Ratel takes the note, breaks the seal, and reads. Her mood seemingly darkens by the word. 15[20:50] Finally: "I received assurances from Cainan directly--" [20:50] 7Dryas leans back in her seat, puts her hand back to the teacup and takes another sip. 15[20:51] The first boy: "Yeah, I don't know what to tell you. Orders are orders, ma'am. Is it ma'am?" 15[20:51] Ratel: "It's Commodore." 15[20:51] "Which one of you is..." 15[20:51] The first boy: "He's Ito Jun." 15[20:51] The second boy: "He's Ito Pan." [20:51] 4Noted. 15[20:51] In unison: "Of House Cathak." 15[20:52] Ito Jun: "Oh shit! Food!" 15[20:52] Ito Pan: "Dibs on the shellfish." 15[20:52] Ito Jun: "Fuck your dibs." 15[20:52] They leave their bags in the doorway and elbow each other to the table. 15[20:53] Ratel presses her lips together very firmly. [20:53] 10Daizo: "Where are the Cathaks sending their children these days that they turn out like… that." [20:54] 4Piu: "I'd love to know." 15[20:54] Ito Jun, his mouth already full: "House of Bells, boy! Top of our class." 15[20:54] Ito Pan, who has a whole roll in his mouth: "Top half of our class." [20:55] 6Zhangyu is going to need to go hit things later. [20:56] 10Daizo's frrown darkens. 10I am NOT going to let these children bait me into flipping the table at them. [20:56] 7Dryas chuckles under her breath. "This year? Congratulations," [20:57] 6Zhangyu, neutrally: "Is that what they're calling it now." 15[20:58] Bringing plates laden with food over to the table, Ito Jun sits down, while Ito Pan complains, "There was only one chair!" and sits on the table instead. [20:58] 4This is interesting, at least! 15[21:00] Ratel: "This is..." She reads the note again. Sighs heavily. "We only had the one cabin, so you two will have to share it." [21:00] 6No. [21:01] 10Daizo: "Wait. These are our replacement for Cathak Tsuka?" [21:01] 4Piu: "There are two of them." 15[21:03] "Cathak Tsuka is 'unavailable, due to a high-priority task recieved directly from our blessed Regent'. Are you fucking--" Ratel stops, and visibly centers herself. "Fine." She practically slaps the note on top of the open ledger. "Fine." [21:04] 10Daizo: "Even if there's ten of them… just look at them! I've met better-behaved peasants—" [21:05] 4Piu: "I'd be fine with ten of them." 15[21:05] Ito Pan: "Still in the room, guys." [21:06] 7Dryas sizes the men up with rather more attention than she showed her own breakfast. [21:07] 4Piu: "Oh, I noticed." [21:08] 10Daizo: "I'm fully aware. You've planted your rear down on a dish of smoked mackerel." [21:09] 6At least... some of the others seem to dislike them just as much. [21:12] 10Daizo: "But that's neither here nor there. The two of you know what's going on here, right? This isn't, despite appearances, a party." 15[21:12] Ratel: "...how much were you told, exactly?" 15[21:12] Ito Jun, mouth full: "Important job for the Navy." 15[21:13] Ito Pan, chewing audibly: "Best and brightest." 15[21:13] They nod in unison. [21:13] 10Sssssssip. [21:13] "Do you know what the job is?" [21:13] 7Dryas smiles a bright, beaming, radiant smile. With her teeth visible. "Gentlemen! Two for the price of one. Moke, some cigars for the party, please?" 7a beat later: "No-one minds, of course?" 7She presents the Ito buffoons a pair of the stubby, stinking things and lights one herself. 15[21:14] Ito Pan and Ito Jun take them gladly and light them with tiny flames that appear at the snap of a finger and last just as long. 15[21:16] Ratel, pointedly to Daizo: "Why don't we brief them on the ship." [21:17] 7Dryas: "Oh, marvelous, yes, thank you gentlemen," 7she says as she leans forward for them to light hers. She bats her eyes a bit -- but not too much -- and beams again. "Excellent idea, Commodore, if we're to be off before noon," [21:18] 10Daizo: "Mm. Yes, Commodore." 10The noise and the commotion have probably put too much attention on what was supposed to be a quiet breakfast meeting. 15[21:19] Ratel: "To that end, we should be expecting..." The door opens again. This time admitting adults. An older woman in a caped naval dress uniform, jade epaulets twinkling in the lantern-light, leads an older, heavyset man bedecked in finery and flanked by a pair of jade-armored guards. 15[21:20] Ratel: "Excellent timing, Governor. Team, this is Governor Peleps Adira, and Wenli Samsa, our... commercial coordinator." [21:20] 10Instead of talking, there's some candied ginger and lemon peel among the fruits that haven't been ransacked. A good palate cleanser, both metaphorically and literally. [21:21] 4Piu shovels down some more breakfast in a quite unladylike fashion during the entrance. So many interruptions. 15[21:22] Adira waves a hand. "No need to introduce yourselves, I'm briefed." She gives Ito Pan the table-sitter a sideways look but makes no comment. "I see all but one of the attaches are here." [21:22] 6Zhangyu is simmering quietly as he eats his meal. The new arrivals are welcome, certainly much more welcome than the previous visitors. Teammates. Ugh. [21:22] 10He does offer the governor a clasped-hand salute as they enter.  15[21:24] Wenli: "Yes, quite. Now, almost all the paperwork is squared away, but there are one or two administrative matters that require your personal attention... this is quite an expensive expedition, all the more so for its apparent secrecy." [21:24] 7Dryas reaches across the table to silently offer Piu a cigar. Moke has a whole box of the things. 15[21:24] Ratel: "Wait, all but one?" 15[21:24] Adira: "I'm sure I left a note in your brief, you're to be joined by--" [21:25] 4...? 15[21:25] "Excuse me." No one heard the man show up at the door. Older-looking, shaved bald like a monk, but wearing beautiful stainless white robes. "Is this the meeting?" [21:26] 4A monk. 15[21:26] The guards turn around in a flash, hands on their swords. [21:27] 6Hrm. 15[21:27] The bald man smiles, and raises his hands in a placating gesture. "I bear a missive for Commodore Peleps Ratel." He produces it from within the folds of the robe and Ratel walks up to take it. [21:27] 4A many-lettered breakfast. [21:30] 4With many interesting seals... 15[21:30] That seal... you can just make it out. White wax pressed with a hard gemstone carefully etched with a backwards prayer to the Dragons -- the mark of House Mnemon. 15[21:30] Ratel reads the note in stunned silence. 15[21:31] The monk, helpfully: "Mother was distraught her counsel was not sought on so urgent a matter. I've been volunteered to assist despite the obvious oversight." 15[21:31] He looks around the room, still smiling. "I am at all of your service. Mnemon Salim." [21:32] 4Mmmm. [21:33] 4She'll scarf down a bit more fish. The room's not looking at her, anymore. [21:33] 7Dryas fingers the pendant again. Mnemon wasn't informed? Maybe Caxi had a point... 15[21:34] Dryas focuses, and hears a song of such aching solemnity that she almost can't parse the lyrics, written in liturgical Dragontongue, which is quite like Old Realm. 15[21:34] Mnemon Salim: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3v9unphfi0 - Redde mihi laetitiam salutaris tui: et spiritu principali confirma me. // O give me the comfort of thy help again: and stablish me with thy free Spirit. [21:34] 10If 10the10 Mnemon is taking personal interest in this matter, maybe even the Commodore's out of her depth. 15[21:36] The Governor's song speaks to something half-mournful, half-exultant. 15[21:36] Peleps Adira: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo1IvV6qAWY - Now her namesake daughter remains, to show what she has been -- what every schoolboy remembers, and will not come again. 15[21:37] The Guild Factor, meanwhile, radiates a sort of restless urgency. 15[21:37] Wenli Samsa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YvAYIJSSZY - I always feel like somebody’s watching me… 15[21:38] Ratel: "...we are of course happy to have you, Brother Salim. The expedition was organized in haste, it was certainly not my attention to exclude Mnemon herself. 15[21:38] Salim: "Mother will be most gratified to hear that when I make my first report." 15[21:41] Ratel: "But I'm afraid the ship is overbooked. It may be necessary to bunk you on a subsidiary vessel." 15[21:41] Salim: "Oh, no, that won't be necessary. I can sleep on the deck in fair weather, and in the hold in foul. I require very little." 15[21:42] Ratel: "...excellent. Happy to have you aboard." [21:42] 6Zhangyu's eyes narrow, but he says nothing. [21:45] 4Instead of looking at the Mnemon man, Piu glances at Caxis. What's she doing? 15[21:45] Caxi's making eyes at the Cathak goons. 15[21:46] They're making eyes back. 15[21:46] This is gonna be an interesting trip. 15[21:46] *** 15[21:46] The rest of the meeting involves a lot of paperwork, and then it's time for onloading. Mik Samperson, the Chief Petty Officer, is a handsome, square-jawed man with short dark hair and piercing eyes. He directs lower-ranked sailors in the process of loading everyone's things into their cabins. Except for Piu, who he greets with a big, boisterous hug. [21:47] 4Piu squeals, but returns it. [21:47] "Improper!" [21:47] "But hullo, Mik." [21:47] 4She gives him one of the least-chaste kisses on the cheek you can imagine. 15[21:48] Mik gives her a lingering look of comparable chastity. "Morning, Piu. Exciting stuff, no? Let me help you with your bags myself. Come on, I'll show you to your cabin." [21:48] 4Almost purring: "Lead away." 4To the rest: "I'll see you all soon." 15[21:50] Ito Pan and Ito Jun, meanwhile, are sizing up Daizo and Zhangyu. "Tepet boys, huh?" says Ito Pan. 15[21:51] Caxi, to Dryas as men load their things aboard: "Interesting crew." Dryas focuses on the man leading Piu aboard... and gets nothing but whistling. [21:52] 6Zhangyu: "Cathak boys," 6he responds. [21:52] 7Dryas is relatively gracious to the ratings but lets them get about their business regarding her luggage. She will have words with Wenli. 15[21:53] Ito Jun: "It's Zhangyu, right. I remember you from secondary school. Big scary fucker. Clearly still big. Are you still scary?" [21:55] 10Daizo's mundane luggage is a mere three or four trunks, easy work for the sailors. There's two cases, however, that he won't let anyone else handle. He's about to hoist the first of these before Ito Pan interrupts. "Yes. Do you have a problem with it?" addressing Ito Pan. 15[21:55] Ito Pan: "I just worry, you know. Can you guys afford to send half your remaining Blooded on a cruise around the West?" [21:57] 7Dryas: "Coordinator, I wanted to make sure you recieved my correspondence and that the additions to the support vessel's roster and cargo would not prove unduly burdensome at this late hour." 15[21:58] Wenli is busy with paperwork, but has time for Caxi. He starts a bit when she comes up to him. Jittery dude. "Yes, yes, of course. Your crew and cargo are on the manifest. I admit I've never heard of recreational whaling, but I suppose the exalted minds of the Dynasty operate on a level I can't fathom." [21:59] 10Daizo: "Our House trusts us to do our duty and return. Your house, it seems, jumped at a chance to get rid of two troublemakers." 15[22:00] Piu gets a brief tour of the ship as her stuff is loaded aboard. That's the galley, that's the mess, that way's the holds, here's the officer's cabins, here's her room, and here's her bunk. It's cozy, which has a certain appeal. Some time passes between the two of them. [22:01] 4Mmmmmmm. [22:01] 6Tepet Zhangyu shifts suddenly and looks like absolute terror with a brief change in stance. And there's an utterly murderous look on his face as he looms at Ito Jun. He could snap his Ito Jun in two, and wants him to know it. "Do you want to find out how 'scary' I can be?" 15[22:02] Ito Pan: "The fuck do you mean by that?" 15[22:02] Ito Jun's eyes flare in fear... and then wider in anger. "You wanna go?" 15[22:02] Ito Pan, to Daizo: "Let's dance, big man." 15[22:02] Ito Jun: "A little fuck me, fuck you?" 15[22:03] Ito Pan: "Let's hit the floor." 15[22:03] Ito Jun: "Talk shit, get hit." [22:04] 6Oh, yes. "You're even more irritating when you speak in pairs." [22:04] 10Daizo cracks his knuckles. "You're a replacement, kid. They couldn't get Cathak Tsuka, so they're making up quality with quantity." 10Adopting the opening form of the Earth Dragon Stance feels like letting go of a great weight. "Are you sure you want to dance?" 15[22:04] Mik, to Piu: "You know just the trip to Abalone is going to take a few weeks. Weeks with nothing to do..." [22:05] 4Her hand wanders. "Oh, we'll find something. Chief Petty Officer, mmm?" 15[22:06] Mik: "The alternative was a commission, and I just don't know if I want to make the Merchant Fleet my career, you know?" His fingertips press up against hers. "I think I'm destined for better things." [22:06] 4Her nose is in his neck. "I've always believed that." 15[22:07] The door to Piu's cabin starts to open. 15[22:07] Mik's on his feet almost instantly. [22:09] 4Piu has already rolled off of him. 15[22:10] Mnemon Salim pokes his head through the door and immediately withdraws it. "Oh! No! Terribly sorry. Terribly sorry." 15[22:10] From outside the door: "I was looking for Officer Samperson. Sir, are you disposed to aid me?" [22:12] 10He's fast! [22:13] 4Mnemon men. She rolls her eyes and nods towards the door for Mik. [22:13] 4She'd wanted longer... [22:14] 4Well. [22:14] 4She'd wanted more time. 15[22:14] There's a scrap of paper on her end table as Samperson -- quickly dressed -- follows Salim out. [22:15] 4Piu unfolds it, reads it, reads it again, lights a candle, and burns it. [22:15] 4Then: "Uwaaa!" 4Big yawn. She starts to unpack. 14[22:20] * Joins: mattbaby_ [22:21] 7Dryas nods at the Coordinator. "Thank you for your obedience. I shall pray for your understanding." 7With a smile, she sets out to see to the last handful of items to take care of - Moke in tow, walking alongside the jitney - before the ship departs. 14[22:23] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[22:23] The twins are fast, shockingly so -- but they don't have anything like the sheer meat of Tepet's scions. Their fists all but bounce off the bigger mens' chests. 15[22:32] Dryas is able to secure good deals on items she's certain will be of great value in Abalone - the place is a cultural backwater, and simple, easy-to-carry books, scrolls, and art will fetch a far higher price than it rates on the Isle. [22:34] 6Zhangyu laughs in their faces, but unfortunately Ito Jun is still fast enough to dodge his blows. Pest. Mantis style is more for grappling than striking, and he can't quite get a hand on him. [22:35] 7Satisfied with her selections, Dryas makes her way back to the ship with a variety of scrolls, books, and sundry cultural items that will go a ways to filling her pockets anew on this latest travel. [22:37] 10Daizo lets Ito Pan bloody his knuckles on the Stone Dragon's Skin before he delivers a single kick with force enough to send the little pest flying in a neat arc out over the bay. 10Plunk! [22:38] 4Please do not drown him. 15[22:38] A crowd has formed around the brawl. Porters have stopped porting, shipwrights have stopped wrighting, passersby have stopped passing. There are gasps and claps when Daizo connects, sending Ito Pan flying into the water, which sizzles and steams on contact. [22:39] 7Dryas, on the quay, makes her way through the crowd by virtue of her finery, if nothing else. 15[22:39] Then a bolt of lighting arcs over Daizo's head, singing his hair. It grounds itself in a stack of barrels on the far side of the quay, which explode, spraying fish everywhere. 15[22:39] Piu hears the explosion from inside the ship. [22:39] 10Eeeh?! [22:40] 4She's moving immediately, clothes dropped. 15[22:40] Ratel is on the deck, one knee up on the railing, holding a massive flame piece with five rotating barrels, one wrought in each color of jade. "I'm aiming lower next time." [22:41] 4Her posture changes when she emerges on deck and sees that it's Ratel, clasping her hands behind her back and pepping up. [22:41] 7Dryas sidesteps a steaming fish head, and pulls Pale Moke out of the way of a flying bit of chum. 15[22:41] "You are sons of the Dragons. Act like it. The next person who starts a fight on my ship is swimming home, I don't care who your mother is." 15[22:41] To Daizo: "Fish him out." [22:42] 4Piu's in a light robe over a shift now. "Nice cannon," 4she says once the law has been laid down. [22:42] 6Zhangyu stiffens, then forces himself calm. "Understood." 6He can't disappoint like that. Especially if he isn't even going to get a hit in-- [22:43] 10Daizo raises his open hands, then bows and takes a running juimp into the bay himself. While not the strongest swimmer, he's able to haul Ito Pan back to the pier with a minimum of hassle.  15[22:43] By way of response, Ratel blows smoke from the barrel. 15[22:43] Ito Jun just looks at his feet, thoroughly chastised. [22:43] 4Her smile widens. [22:45] 7Dryas makes her way up the gangplank, pausing at the top to hand her new pieces of luggage to an overawed rating. 15[22:45] Ratel turns to Piu. "It's going to be another couple of hours before we set sail at this rate. You might want to take some time in the city, enjoy your last solid ground for a while." [22:46] 4She quirks an eyebrow. "And not aboard ship?" 15[22:49] Ratel: "I have... so much to do. It might get dark before we can leave at this rate." [22:50] 7Dryas is sweeping onto the deck and frowns as she overhears Ratel. "That won't do. What is there to do?" [22:50] "Pity." 4Piu turns, with her hips. "I remain at the Commodore's service--" [22:50] "Dryas!" [22:51] 10Then Daizo bows before the Cathak twins. "Cathak Ito Pan. Cathak Ito Jun. I beg your forgiveness for my harsh words and deeds." 10He hoists the enormous case holding Grand-auntie's parting gift and hauls it to his cabin, returning to collect Corino's gift shortly afterwards. [22:52] 7Dryas: "The longer we stay in port, the farther our quarry can run and the more likely something is to go wrong." 15[22:53] Ratel: "Food and fresh water, mainly, and there's some flareup with the Guild office I need to take care of..." 15[22:53] "You're preaching to the converted. But I'm just one woman." [22:53] 4Piu will bow to Dryas and head below. [22:53] 7Dryas grabs Piu's arm as she passes. "Where do you think you're going?" [22:55] 4She twists in Dryas's grip, turning with a smile. "I have a date." [22:55] 7Dryas gestures to Zhangyu. "May I suggest him? And the Guild factotum." [22:55] "You may!" [22:55] "When you let go of my arm." [22:56] 7Dryas releases her. [22:56] 4Piu: "The Guild guy...Walli?" 15[22:57] The Cathak twins just clamber aboardship with mumbled apologies. Do Daizo and Zhangyu go aboard, or spend some time in town? [22:57] 6Zhangyu doesn't apologize to the Cathaks, but he does nod stiffly at them in something approaching - acceptance, possibly even respect. They responded like warriors and, well. That's something more than they did before. [22:58] 7Dryas cranes her neck around. "Where's that other Tepet man? Daizo? Daizo!!"" 15[22:58] Caxi is sunning herself on the deck. Not even the explosion roused her. [22:59] 4Mmmmm. [23:00] 10Daizo hears Dryas' call but decides to let it go for the moment. When they've decided he's no fun then he can go off into town and pick up a couple sundries. [23:06] 7Dryas takes a step forward. "Darlings, the Commodore has indicated that we run the risk of falling behind schedule. I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't believe we should allow that to happen! Now, we need a team to speak to our dear, dear friends at the Guild, and we need to secure our food and water!" [23:08] 4Piu: "I know the Chief Petty Officer. I'm sure we can secure provisions." [23:10] 7Dryas: "Take a few with you. Princes like us should have the best, and we shouldn't have to wait on some Guildermen busybodies for it!" [23:11] 4Piu: "I'll ask Officer Samperson for his top men." [23:12] 6Zhangyu: "...that sounds good. And - we should begin operating as a team." 6He's nodding slowly, like this also isn't getting him out of having to board the ship in shame. Distractions can be good. [23:16] 10Daizo emerges from the ship again, having changed and rinsed the saltwater out of his hair. "Lady Dryas… I find it's been a trying day. Right now I think the best thing I can do is rest." [23:16] 4So big...but no stamina. [23:18] 7Dryas clambers up the quarterdeck and yanks the pin out of her hair, tousling it loose and belting out in a voice as clear as a silver bell: [23:19] 7Dryas: "Farewell and adieu to you, Pangu ladies! Farewell and adieu, you ladies of Thon! For we've recieved orders, to sail to Old Wu Jian, but we hope in a short time to see you again!" 15[23:21] This is a classic. She's soon joined by a chorus of ratings and dockworkers. [23:21] 7This is a very well-known sea shanty and ballad, and though Dryas' accent is unmistakably posh in all other times, in this song, at this moment, on the Bittern docks; it's just right. [23:22] 4Piu smiles while fingering the silver chain around her neck. They said Cynis was all dilettantes...well, Piu enjoys this one. [23:23] 10Dryas's song lifts Daizo's heart a little. He'll retire to his cabin for a little bit and catch a nap, then help the rest of the dockworkers and crew with their preparations. Good enough, for now.  [23:24] 4It's time to get to work. [23:24] 6...impressive. [23:25] 4She'll find Chief Petty Officer Samperson, and rather than fratnerizing, they'll head out with a team, with the appropriate number of talents and packs among them. 15[23:26] Everyone is inspired, and work proceeds apace. Even Caxi is up on her feet helping to direct the ratings. 14[23:29] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[23:30] * Quits: trenchfoot (*.net *.split) 14[23:32] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 15[23:34] Piu and Mik make it to the Guild's clearinghouse deep in the city. Mik says, "I think I've got this under control. I'll see you back at the ship?" 15[23:34] The team Piu assembled enters the clearinghouse, leaving her alone on the street. [23:35] 4She nods. [23:35] 14She snaps her fingers. [23:35] 14A sleek black robe, and a face like a skull. And a mission. [23:35] 14How far from target? 15[23:36] Points of ingress at the front and back doors, or via a window on an upper floor from an adjacent roof accessible by alley. No more than a hundred yalms. The offices attached to the clearing-house aren't that big. Not a lot of Guild presence on the Isle outside Pangu. [23:36] 14Window sounds good. What's the approach there? 15[23:37] There's a low-hanging eave Piu should be able to leverage herself onto. Might be tricky... [23:38] 14Won't be a problem. She's been inspired. 15[23:39] She hits the roof clean. From here it's a straight shot to the window across one narrow gap. Piu watches. No movement inside, no patrols to speak of. [23:39] 14She pauses, moves, pauses. Soft and clean. [23:40] 14Then the leap -- and in, bouncing off an inside rail into a roll. [23:42] 6Well. Zhangyu's mess is his own to clean up. Time to have words with whoever seems to be upset about their lost catch, and make them more afraid than they are upset. 15[23:43] The room is lavishly appointed, and smells of wine and incense. There's the sound of men talking outside - the guards from this morning. Sounds like they're just shooting the shit. Maybe six yalms down the hall outside the closed door to the right. [23:44] 14She'll find the best point in the room to watch everything. Especially what's going on below. 15[23:46] Below she can see people moving to and fro like the parts of a mechanism, including the Chief Petty Officer's contingent securing barrels of fresh water and preserved meats and grains. [23:46] 14Time to move. 15[23:46] There are more guards below, but they quite literally are not on her level. [23:46] 14Genuinely good for them. [23:48] 7Dryas makes her way back to the Guild hall, to see what this paperwork snarl that had begun to threaten the Commodore was all about. She doesn't bother with a rickshaw this time. 15[23:49] The guards are reasonably alert, but they're playing Gateway. A careful crawl along the gentle overhang that supports the hall-lanterns should be safe... [23:49] 14Shadow on silk shadow. 15[23:50] Dryas meets a harried-looking official upon announcing herself. "What? What is it? I've just spoken to Samperson about provisions." 15[23:51] It's not Wenli Samsa; Dryas judges someone more junior. 15[23:51] Zhangyu is able to put the fear of the Dragons into these ornery fishermen, who plead ignorance and apologize profusely, bowing three times while stepping meekly backwards, for presenting an obstacle to these Princes of the Earth. [23:54] 6He barely even has to say anything. Just radiate menace, look angry, and maybe crack his knuckles right before telling them exactly what they're apologizing for. Minor victories, ultimately, but something to feel good about. And his error is now corrected. Well. One of them. [23:59] 7Dryas frowns at the official. "I've been informed that there was a problem with the records. Is it the manifests? Something else? For the support vessel." Session Time: Wed Nov 06 00:00:00 2019 15[00:01] The official checks the paperwork. "Yes - there's a mismatch between declared cargo on these two forms -- and some of the writing is unclear here..." Peeing at the paperwork, Dryas thinks it was filled out in a rush. [00:04] 7Dryas notes the disparity for later. "Allow me to correct this." 15[00:05] Piu can peek through a narrow window open above the awning, seeing Samsa bent over ledgers, moving talents from one column to another. Enough wealth to shift nations on those papers. A single lantern hangs from the ceiling, lighting the room. 15[00:06] Dryas has the papers thrust directly into her hands while the official turns to deal with another, angrier client. [00:07] 14Mmmm. [00:09] 14She moves in, quiet against the wall. And quieter...and quieter... 15[00:10] The room is papered with maps, surrounded by low shelves and large leather chairs. The lamp throws long shadows on the thick, fluffy carpet that muffles Piu's footsteps. 15[00:10] With grace and care Dryas corrects all the discrepancies on the manifest. [00:10] 14Is it hooded? Can she get behind it without casting a shadow? [00:10] 14Until it's too late. 15[00:11] If she hugs the wall and gets very low. [00:11] 14So it goes. [00:12] 7It's not much for Dryas to get this taken care of and the rush job corrected. She leaves another note for an acquaintance of hers - in the Guild, but not a bad guy - to send a note to her in Abalone - under an assumed name - about the Petty Officer. [00:12] 14It takes some time, sneaking along that wall, those scrolls. And the skull face doesn't glint in the light. 15[00:13] Well! That was easy. On the way out she sees Samperson and his men toting provisions out to the docks. 15[00:13] She being Dryas. Piu is busy. [00:15] 7She falls in alongside them. "Ah, Samperson, is it?" 7she asks. "You're leaving with us?" 15[00:15] Mik Samperson smiles gamely at Dryas. "That's right." [00:19] 7She smiles. "Cynis Dryas," 7she re-introduces, as one does in such situations. 15[00:23] Mik Samperson: "Mik Samperson. I heard you carving up that bureaucrat in there. Nice work." [00:28] 14When she steps into the light, he's looking at...papers. Her hands come up, and there's a wire between them, and it's suddenly around his neck -- [00:29] 14As he chokes: "Beannachdan bho dheireadh an t-saoghail." 15[00:29] The man barely has time to gurgle. [00:30] 14She twists. "Cha b ’e do choire-sa a bh’ ann; cha robh e agamsa." [00:31] 14The wire splints and sharpens, and blood runs down the man's front. "Cuir a ’choire air neamh. Cuir a ’choire ort fhèin. Cuir a ’choire air taigh Iselsi." [00:32] 14Two hours and fourteen minutes before the new day, Wenli Samsa dies. [00:32] 7Dryas: "They just need a strong hand to sort them out sometimes. We're used to it in Pangu." 15[00:33] Mik nods. "So, this mission... exciting stuff, eh?" [00:34] 14She makes sure the blood runs out. Then she moves. [00:35] 7Dryas: "Oh, yes. Paperwork, and Guildsmen. Thrilling stuff." 15[00:35] Mik: "But the actual job. Realm elites, on a pirate ship, flying under merchant colors..." [00:36] 7She coughs. "And recreational whaling." [00:38] 14The last thing Wenli sees as he dies, and she moves away: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/LBMAAOSwKJldNFxr/s-l640.jpg [00:38] 14Shrouded in silvery-black. [00:41] 14She's gone then, out the way she came, blood slicked off the Chain, out into the night, back towards the boat. To where V'neef Piu is supposed to be. 15[00:41] Mik: "Mmm. Quite a cast of characters on this job. Or ladies of surpassing quality, as the case may be. [00:41] 14Actually...no. 15[00:41] She hears that whistling again... but then she hears more. [00:41] 14Iselsi Piu snaps her fingers, and... 15[00:41] Iselsi Caedus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5ofVsxTPoc - You may never understand how the stranger is inspired, but he isn’t always evil and he is not always wrong. [00:42] 4V'neef Piu steps out into the light. [00:43] "Hey!" 4says Piu to both Dryas and Samperson. 15[00:44] Mik's face lights up. "Hey! All set?" [00:44] 7Dryas adjusts a strand of her hair and smiles. "But yes. I'm looking forward to-- ! Oh, V'Neef Piu!" [00:44] 4Piu bows -- again, slightly more than she has to. "Cynis Dryas." 4To Samperson: "All set!" [00:45] 4She looks between them. "Is everything alright?" [00:46] 7Dryas: "I just had to go show those Guild brush-pushers how we get shit done in Pangu City. No time for this Threshold league shit." [00:47] 4Piu nods firmly in support. [00:48] 7Dryas: "And you're finished with your own diversion?" [00:48] 14She looks coyly at Mik. "Not quite yet." [00:48] 4She looks coyly at Mik. "Not quite yet." 15[00:52] Mik: "Mmm. I think we should be about ready to go." [00:53] 4Chipper: "Yep!" [00:54] 7Dryas nods. "Good. There's no point laying around here anymore." 15[00:57] And so the Defiance sets sail, with favorable winds and in good spirits. A couple of unwelcome surprises, a few high tempers, but all in all a successful launch. Ratel and Caxi retire to the commanding officer's quarters quite early - it was a long day. [00:58] 14Later that night, in the Chief Petty Officer's quarters, 4he has a visitor! [00:58] 4And when the door closes, 14the mask is off. 15[00:59] The man in the cabin is stripped to the waist, washing work grime from his hands in a basin. He doesn't turn around. "How'd it go?" [01:00] 14She makes a motion across her throat. "Ssshhhkkk." [01:00] "Message delivered." 15[01:01] Iselsi Caedus's voice is bled of Mik Samperson's warmth, but his tone conveys clear approval. "You're scarily good at this." [01:01] 14Instead of getting in bed, this time she leans against the near wall. Not too close to the door. [01:02] "Is mise a chaidh a thoirt dhomh a bhith." 15[01:03] Caedus finally turns around. "Mar sin tha sinn uile." [01:03] 14She evaluates his chest. "I suppose so." 15[01:04] "The Commodore hit on me earlier." [01:04] 14A sly smile. "Yes, that's why they don't let her around the students anymore. But if you try her out, you'll find she's quite skilled." 15[01:05] Caedus smiles back. "Mmm. I may yet. It's a long voyage, after all..." 15[01:06] "There'll be a lot of work out West. A lot of names on the list, and not a lot of our brothers and sisters that far out to do the work." [01:07] 14She steps off the wall. "I like the team. The Tepets and the Cynis, at least. And, well, the twins are...interesting. If they're on the list, I'd ask they be last." [01:07] 4Iselsi Piu: "But that is of course your judgment." [01:07] 14Iselsi Piu: "But that is of course your judgment." 15[01:08] Caedus: "Even if they were on the list, I'd bet on them getting themselves killed before we got around to it." 15[01:08] "Chest-puffing Cathak shitkickers." [01:08] 14She grins. "Hot, right?" 15[01:08] "And there's two of them." [01:09] "That there are." 15[01:09] "The Mnemon man is a complication." 15[01:09] "Asking a lot of very pointed questions about our crew loadout, the length of the voyage." [01:09] 14Her face hardens. "I'd kill him for free. If I was sure I could." [01:09] "You think he just came in here by accident?" [01:09] "I don't." 15[01:10] Caedus: "I'd bet anything you're right. His sleeves rode up while he was helping me move barrels. I saw the tattoos on his arms. You ever hear of the Order of the Black Lotus?" [01:15] 14She chuckles without mirth. "The inverse of the White Veil." [01:15] "Wondered when I'd meet one." [01:15] "I hate monks." 15[01:15] Samperson: "Especially Mnemon monks." 15[01:16] *Caedus: "Especially Mnemon monks." [01:16] 14She sighs. "We'll have to deal with him. Especially if this voyage somehow isn't complete bullshit." 15[01:18] Caedus: "I don't expect we'll find the Empress, but I doubt it's complete bullshit. Something drove an Admiral of the Fleet to abandon her post." 15[01:18] "And something's making them follow her." [01:19] 14Piu: "Ratel showed her mettle when she's not trying to fuck the whole ship earlier today. Her older sister is likely even more formidable." 15[01:19] Caedus: "Nice cannon, right?" [01:19] 14She smiles slyly again. "I've seen better." [01:19] 14Takes another couple steps closer. "You have to be up early." [01:20] "And my cover requires I spend the night." 15[01:21] 10A smile creeps across Caedus's face. "We are as we were made to be." [01:23] 14Iselsi Piu grins and pushes him down onto his bed. "Then let's make this plausibly deniable, eun rionnagach." 15[01:23] Few would doubt them. 15[01:23] NEXT TIME: The demon on deck 14[06:09] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:31] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[07:36] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[09:38] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:57] * Joins: tom 14[12:13] * Joins: dammitwho 14[12:14] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:21] * Joins: Crion_ 14[15:23] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:50] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:32] * Joins: tom 14[18:20] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:46] * Joins: Crion 14[18:47] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:17] * Joins: tom 14[22:05] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[22:06] * Joins: Zarick 14[22:24] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[22:25] * Joins: Zarick Session Time: Thu Nov 07 00:00:00 2019 14[01:02] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:30] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[02:27] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[02:27] * banana|peels is now known as banana|split 14[05:56] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:39] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:40] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[08:02] * Joins: tom 14[11:11] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[11:30] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[11:34] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:04] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:40] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[13:55] * Joins: tom 14[15:17] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[15:40] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:03] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:31] * Joins: tom 14[17:33] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[18:16] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:29] * Joins: Crion_ 14[18:31] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:50] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[19:25] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:42] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 14[20:04] * Joins: mattbaby_ 15[21:11]  15[21:11]  15[21:11]  15[21:11]  15[21:11]  15[21:12] "So like. You're the V'Neef Piu, right?" 15[21:13] The conversation begins abruptly over breakfast in the mess. Bread, tea, and salted meat. Ito Pan is speaking, while his brother looks on with interest, cheeks bulging so impractically with food he couldn't even talk with his mouth full if he wanted to. 15[21:15] It's the first full day of the voyage of Daana'd's Defiance. The ship is swift and the winds favorable; the looming sight of the Imperial Mountain behind them is all that's visible of the Isle this misty morning. [21:15] 4She's still swallowing her own big bite -- she prefers the salted meat to the fresh seafood, is that weird? That's weird -- when the question comes floating over, but she smiles as she gulps it down. "Thaaat's me." 15[21:19] Ito Pan: "Winner of the Five Day Fight... damn. Itoya wouldn't shut up about what a badass you were." Piu remembers the name, for two reasons. Cathak Itoya was one of the last contestants eliminated, while her crechemate, Cathak Bo Lin, was the first target Piu, ah, eliminated. [21:19] 14Mmmmmm. [21:24] 4Her face remains pleasant, and she smiles at the memory of Itoya. "Aw yeah, Itoya. Mantis-style with nunchucks. Hard nut to crack, but get one of them away from her and you can do it. Bad luck for her, I'm kinda a fan of grapplefuck." 15[21:27] Ito Jun starts. "Grapplewhat?" [21:28] 4She giggles. "Not what you're thinking. Well. Kinda what you're thinking. It just LOOKS like what you're thinking. Sweaty people on the ground...rolling around..." [21:28] "Hurting each other badly." 15[21:28] Caxi sits at the far end of the table, nursing her tea. She smiles into her cup at this. [21:29] "I don't practice Mantis -- never had time for a formal teacher -- but I keep up with the scene." [21:29] "If not for that, I think she mighta had me!" [21:29] 14She didn't. 15[21:30] Ito Pan: "So I guess you're like... the realest fighter on the ship, huh." [21:31] 6Excuse me. [21:31] 4She stuffs some more food in her mouth. "Nah. It's probably Tepet Zhangyu. But thanks for saying so!" [21:31] 6Thank you. [21:31] 4An only-slightly faked start. "Wait, you guys fought yesterday, huh?" 15[21:32] Ito Jun: "He's not so tough. He couldn't even land a hit on me. Not like that giant who just booted you into the drink, eh Pan?" 15[21:32] "I didn't see you doing much to him either," grumbles Ito Pan. [21:33] 4Almost chirping: "Oh, he's incredibly tough! He was just going easy on you, on account of us getting in trouble if we kill each other." [21:34] "He could beat me too, I bet! But I wanna make him work for it at least." 15[21:36] Ito Pan: "We were supposed to be at the Fight. Had our bunks booked and everything. Couldn't go though." 15[21:36] Ito Jun: "'Disciplinary problems.'" [21:36] 4Mmmmm. "Bad boys, huh?" 15[21:37] Ito Pan: "Heh." 15[21:37] Ito Jun: "You could say that." [21:38] 4She's leaning forward with her chin on her hand now, not quite suggestively, but not NOT suggestively. [21:38] "How do you fight?" 15[21:40] Ito Pan: "We're Fire Dragons. Our whole line is." [21:40] "!! I'm fire, too!" 15[21:40] Ito Jun: "We know the hand-to-hand katas, but it's all about the swordplay." [21:40] 4Okay, now the smile gets a little more suggestive. 15[21:41] Ito Pan: "Hell yeah. Fire's the best. Everyone knows that." 15[21:41] Ito Jun: "All the Realm's great heroes are Fire." 15[21:41] Ito Pan: "The Empress is Fire!" [21:42] 4Well, that's going a bit far. But self-confidence and stupidity are two very attractive qualities in a man. 15[21:42] That last point is actually somewhat uncertain; people variously hold that the Scarlet Empress is either a Fire or an Earth Aspect. It's been centuries since anyone's seen her anima, so no one really remembers anymore. 15[21:43] Fire houses tend to claim one thing, Earth houses another. [21:43] 14Someone in Iselsi remembers. But secrets are kept with the dead. 15[21:45] Ito Jun: "So did you meet any Falcon stylists at the Fight?" 15[21:46] Ito Pan: "I love that flippy shit." [21:47] 4She straightens a bit, leans back. "It's not entirely my thing, but I can appreciate it. And yeah! They were at their flippiest. For all the good it did them against me." 15[21:48] Ito Pan: "How'd you take em down?" [21:53] "Ragara Xan was the easy one -- young kid, too enthusiastic, decided to run-in on a knockdown match between me and some outcaste brawler. The outcaste caught her out of the air and powerbombed her on her back -- and I broke his knee from behind. She was trapped under him. When it was clear she couldn't get out and my foot was on her throat, she yield. Cute, though, and she got out [21:53] without getting hurt. She'll be big next year. [21:54] "Sesus Totara was a beast. He liked to strike without warning, wearing these big iron boots -- huge dropkicks out of nowhere. Ended conversations real fast. So I put on my thinking cap for that one, pretended my leg was broke, and limped into...a thin, long, confined cave tunnel." [21:55] 4She grins. "And just beat the shit out of him. Nowhere to jump now, punk." [21:55] "Broke his arm clean to end it. He'll be on the mend and right as rain soon." 15[21:55] Ito Jun: "Badass." 15[21:56] Ito Pan: "Brains, beauty, and skill." [21:56] 4Piu: "Flatterer." [21:56] "I only got six confirmed knockouts, but that was still enough to lead the field at the end of the Fight. Especially once they all started gunning for me." [21:57] "Ended up mostly running into each other." [21:57] 4The Fight record is eleven. She and To agreed it would be unwise to challenge the record, just for prudence and circumspection... [21:58] 14...But with the five others, she tied. 15[22:01] Ito Jun pushes his plate forward. "So you're probably like, a real operator, then, right?" 15[22:01] Ito Pan: "Checking the sightlines, knowing all the exits, having a plan to take down everyone you meet." [22:02] 4She giggles. "Nah, that's a lot. It just comes natural. I'm just kind of a prodigy, I guess." 15[22:04] Ito Pan: "Right, yeah, makes sense. That's how it is with us, too." 15[22:04] Ito Jun: "Fighting by feel." 15[22:04] Ito Pan: "Get right in there and just conflict." [22:05] 4She nods maybe a bit too emphatically; boys like that. "Oh, I totally agree." [22:08] 4She stands and stretches. "If you'll excuse me, boys, it's time for morning exercises...maybe a bit of light sparring..." [22:08] "...Unless you'd like to join?" [22:09] 4It's a tactical stretch. 15[22:11] Ito Pan almost chokes on his water, but only almost. Ito Jun covers better, standing and stretching. He says, "Yeah, I'm about done here too. Let's go." 15[22:11] Ito Pan stands too. "Sounds good," he says, trying to sound casual. [22:11] 4Hee. 15[22:13] Above, the morning fog has mostly cleared; the bay and its ships are visible in the far eastern distance. Ratel is on deck, directing sailors. That big flame piece hangs at her hip, occasionally visible past her long blue coat. 15[22:15] She nods at Piu and frowns sternly at the twins. [22:15] 4Piu will bow to her if that's what's customary when you come on deck in front of a senior officer. Is there an open place to stretch out and spar? 15[22:16] Yeah, most of the topdeck is free and clear. The sailors are all up in the rigging, climbing and working, muscles visibly moving beneath their clothes. 15[22:16] Salim is up here, too; looks like he's meditating. [22:16] 4... [22:17] 4Piu slips out of her robe; her work out garments are underneath, and honestly, they're more decent than the robe would be by itself. A form-fitting glove covering her whole torso and ending in wraps on her upper arms and lower thighs. [22:18] 4Neckline plunges a bit but hey, that's the job. 15[22:18] There's a whistle from somewhere up in the rigging. [22:19] 4She's in the middle of a split when she leans back and looks alllll the way up. Quite a contortion. 15[22:21] Jun and Pan fan out, forming a roughly equilateral triangle with Piu, as they stretch their backs and shoulders. Whichever sailor up above catcalled her is now intent on her work. [22:23] 4Slight smile. Though who knows, maybe they were whistling at one of the boys. Piu works her way through the rest of her stretches. When she's done she rolls onto her back, raises her legs, then curls and flips up onto her hands. Holds this posture for ten seconds. Then down. 15[22:23] Their leg stretches are more elaborate and thorough. They stretch like footracers, or at least runners, Piu realizes. 15[22:24] Another whistle. This one from Ito Pan. "Didn't know you were a gymnast too." [22:25] 4Mildly, but teasingly: "And a dancer." [22:25] "A girl must have her hobbies." 15[22:27] Ito Jun: "We dance too." 15[22:27] Ito Pan: "Our Fire Dragon sifu used to make us train to music." [22:27] "Niiiice." [22:29] 4She kips up to her feet. "I never learned a formal style. I was trained in military martial arts at Pasiap's Stair, then made my own changes based on feel. Weird to learn so much Water technique! But, hee, cool." [22:30] 4It's time to start doing her forms...though... [22:31] "It's time to start doing my forms," 4Piu laments. "But usually I work with a partner..." 15[22:31] Ito Pan: "I'll be your partner." 15[22:31] Ito Jun: "I'll be your partner." [22:32] 4Cheerfully, as if she hadn't engineered this outcome: "I have to do two sets, so you both can be! Thanks!" 15[22:33] Ito Jun and Ito Pan immediately turn to each other. "Fire Water Wood." "Fuck! 2 out of 3." "Fire Water Wood." "Fire Water Wood." "Fuck! 3 out of 5." "Get over it, Jun." 15[22:33] Ito Pan steps forward. "I'll go first." [22:34] 7Cynis Dryas emerges from belowdecks, wearing - a sort of two-part hairpiece made from dark crimson Chiaroscuro glass? And carrying a small hand-drum. She won't use the big ones on deck, that are used to set rowing paces or call the crew to attention -- too confusing. Was she listening in? [22:34] 4She'll slide -- not quite slink -- up. "So the form goes like this..." 15[22:34] She could have been. [22:35] 7As she strides onto the deck she lowers the hairpiece - in fact it's a sort of oversized pair of spectacles - and starts setting a beat in a traditional style: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3DC_43fC5A [22:36] 4Oh for the love of-- [22:36] 4Well, we can still do this to that beat. 15[22:40] Ito Pan's there with her, giving her enough space to move, but a little closer than he really needs to be. [22:40] 4Mmmm. And step and move and grip-- [22:42] 4There are some tumbles, and a lot of things that look like griplocks that she slips out of, but when they're done this only somewhat deniably a dance. [22:42] 4And they're much closer. [22:43] 4She lingers there for a second, nose right near his -- then giggles and bounces back. [22:43] "Thanks!" 15[22:44] Ito Pan is sweating a lot more than the exertion would imply. Is he out of shape? Maybe that's it. [22:44] 4We can fix that... 15[22:44] Ito Jun steps forward, clapping his brother on the back. "Take a breather, man. Watch how it's done." [22:44] 4She resumes her position, and holds out her hand... [22:45] 4She's a slight bit more forceful with Jun, but nothing he can't handle. [22:46] 7We've seen this dance. Let's change the beat. Dryas ups the tempo just a bit. 15[22:48] Ito Jun: "Whoo. They don't teach forms like that at the House of Bells." 15[22:48] Ito Pan: "We totally picked the wrong school." [22:49] 4She grins. "And those were just the basic ones." [22:49] "But." [22:49] 4She starts wrapping her fists. "Now one of you has to show me yours." [22:49] 4Helpfully, into the pause: "Your forms." 15[22:53] Ito Pan looks back to Jun: "Fire Water Wood?" 15[22:53] Ito Jun: "No way, you went first last time." 15[22:53] Pan relents. Fair is fair. 15[22:54] Ito Jun steps forward. "So the prime katas of Fire Dragon run like this--" [22:55] 4Piu will move a respectful distance back, unless he needs a partner, which she kinda already knows he doesn't. [22:55] 14This is good; valuable scouting opportunity. [22:59] 4Dragons but she does appreciate green eyes. 15[23:00] Ito Jun demonstrates a few rudimentary stances, leaning this way and that so his abs peek through the bottom of his shirt. When he falls into the core stance, he begins to repeat the first forms, but with more intricate movement and much, much faster. By the time he reaches the final forms, his hands and feet are almost too fast to see. His eyes, though, remain steady and clear, burning 15[23:00] with intensity. Focus is absolute. 15[23:01] When he's done, the air shimmers around him like heat rising from sun-baked stone. [23:02] 4Piu is still smiling, but she's far more serious now, as befits warriors. "Well stroked." [23:02] 4Okay yes, now she's just fucking with him. 15[23:03] Ito Jun coughs like water just went down the wrong pipe, but he recovers quickly. He beams, bows, and steps back. [23:03] 4She pulls her knees up to her chest and looks encouragingly over at Pan. 15[23:05] Ito Pan's forms are smoother and more intense; Piu surmises that he had longer time to rest and also studied the flaws in his brother's form. He might be smarter than he acts... [23:07] 4She feels a little twinge of regret. Really the only way this ends without the two boys incredibly angry at each other is straight out of a filthy lower-shelf ero scroll, and she's not going to go there. [23:07] 4Maybe she can still, ah, balance those beams. [23:10] 4However, it won't be by auctioning herself off to whoever can beat her in combat. That's Threshold behavior, and she wouldn't do it even if V'neef hadn't expressly prohibited it for daughters of the House (don't think Piu didn't notice it was directed at her for throwing a couple exhibition matches to a hunk, but there was NO quid pro quo, they just HAPPENED to go out for drinks [23:10] 4later) [23:10] 14After the mission was accomplished. 15[23:11] "Don't set the sails on fire," calls Ratel down from the stern. "Keep them in line, Piu." [23:12] "Oh, yes ma'am," 4she calls out. [23:12] 4Smiling: "Behave, boys." 15[23:12] Ito Pan: "We'll try." 15[23:12] Ito Pan: "No promises, though." 15[23:13] Ito Jun just grins. 15[23:13] Ito Pan: "So how hard are we going here?" [23:16] 4She's finished wrapping her fists. "You heard the Commodore. We're not to set the ship on fire. No anima banners, at all. Beyond that, we go the knee: when someone takes a knee and puts a hand down, or two knees down, and it's not part of a combat motion, they're out." 15[23:17] Ito Jun: "You looking for a three-way?" 15[23:17] Ito Pan: "Dude!" [23:17] 4She grins. 15[23:18] Ito Jun: "Oh shut up, you know what I meant." [23:18] "Maybe later. For now, let's go one at a time. Who wants me fresh?" 15[23:19] The boys confer quietly. It occurs to Piu that they have likely worked out a system for situations like this. [23:19] 4She resists the urge to roll her eyes. 15[23:19] Finally, Jun says: "I'll go first." [23:20] 4She raises her fists. Her smile has an edge to it now. "Dryas?" [23:20] "Count us in?" [23:26] 7One - two - three-- [23:29] 4They move quickly, but Piu moves first. [23:46] 4When she grabs him this time, she's a lot less gentle, twisting an arm, sweeping a leg, and punching him in the side. The air grows moist around them. 15[23:53] Ito Jun's strong, but Piu's technique is superior. Their bodies heat up as they tangle together on the deck. Jun almost gets a hit in, but Piu blocks just in time. [23:54] 4She slithers his arm up his as she blocks, entangling it without locking a joint. This is a friendly, after all. [23:56] 4Then she twists -- turns -- flips -- SLAMS. 15[23:56] Ito Pan: "Holy shit!" [23:56] 4It's hard to see, but she cradles his head instead of letting it bounce off the deck. [23:56] 4But Ito Jun is down. 15[23:57] Now it's Ratel, watching intently from above, who whistles. [23:57] 4Piu straightens after making sure he's breathing. [23:57] 4Then she turns to Pan and beckons. 15[23:58] Ito Pan peers past Piu to make sure Jun's okay, then steps forward and cracks his neck. Session Time: Fri Nov 08 00:00:00 2019 [00:06] 4She's first again, feinting with a chop and then three alternative kicks to force him back. 15[00:15] Ito Pan, learning from his brother's caution, comes in fast with a high, hard attack. Piu's driven to the back foot, but Pan gets greedy and overextends. Piu's got an opening. [00:17] 4And he gets a sidekick in the gut which probably staggers him back a bit for his trouble. [00:20] 4Then she flashes across the distance between them and drives her knee all the way up into Pan's shoulder, without leaving her feet. 15[00:21] Pan almost collapses on the spot. Injured, staggering, panting with exertion... he kneels. 15[00:21] "I acknowledge the superior fighter." [00:22] 4The sun silhouettes her for a moment, behind her head. [00:22] 14He probably misses the brief, wild look in her eyes. [00:22] 4Then she laughs, stepping back. [00:22] "You didn't have your swords." [00:23] 4She bows to both Pan and the unconscious Jun. "Thank you for allowing me to test my strength." 15[00:24] Pan looks up at her against the sunlight and his eyes widen, then narrow. The look vanishes as quickly as Piu's does, though a beat later. He stands, slowly, and bows. 15[00:27] The twins are not as identical as they appear, Piu observes. There are subtle differences in personality. Ito Jun is a little more thoughtful, a little more cocky. Ito Pan is a little more blunt, a little more humble. [00:27] "And now," 4she says, unwrapping her hands, and arms, and thighs, "I think I'll take a dip." [00:28] 4In a swift motion she runs to the side of the ship, grabs a docking line, and launches herself overboard while tying it along her waist. 15[00:28] "I'd join you," says Pan, who, despite his injury, probably would. "But I gotta take care of my brother." 15[00:28] "Good spar. See you later." [00:29] "Bye!" 4It never goes taut. She's able to keep pace with the ship -- which in fairness, is at lowest sail for the moment -- until she clambors back up the side. [00:29] 4In a VERY wet, tight one-piece. [00:29] 4She heads back to her cabin, but not in a hurry. [00:30] 14As she passes Chief Petty Officer Samperson's door, she slips a blank, soaked piece of paper in the jamb. He'll know what time she wants to meet when it dries. 15[00:33] His room or hers? [00:34] 14Depends on the logistics. Which one is more insulated from that damnable monk? 15[00:36] Piu's room is less likely to face unwanted intrusion; unlike Caedus, her room has a lock on its door, and is very near Ratel's quarters. It'd be far more suspicious for him to be wandering around there. [00:37] 14How bad are the optics going to be for Caedus's cover? Good natured ribbing from every man on that deck who wanted to fuck her brains out this morning don't count as bad optics, as much as they might make him uncomfortable. 15[00:41] Piu is a Scion of the Blood, and people pretty much expect them to do whatever they want. He wouldn't face any worse scrutiny than the jeers and backslapping she predicts. [00:42] 14Her quarters, then. 15[00:44] Caedus will enter a few minutes after the intended time and close and lock the door behind him. "Bumped into that Cynis girl on the way down. The stoned one, not the greedy one." [00:44] 14Piu narrows her eyes. 14[00:54] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [01:04] 14Piu: "It wasn't an accident. And she wasn't stoned. Mhallaich na nèamhan. Well, it's not the end of the world that she knows we're fucking." 15[01:05] Caedus: "People were going to find out that much eventually. We'll have to keep sneaking around, of course. We've got our image to protect." [01:05] 4Piu: "Tha i na cuilbheartair. Àrd-amas. Inntleachdail. " [01:05] 14Piu: "Tha i na cuilbheartair. Àrd-amas. Inntleachdail. " 15[01:10] Caedus: "Ceannaichean thràillean. Mucan." [01:11] 14She shrugs. "B ’fheudar dhomh faighinn nas fhaisge na thusa. B ’e sin an obair agam. " 15[01:14] Caedus: "I intend no criticism. You're doing excellent work." [01:16] "Tha mi fhathast duilich. " 14She pauses. "I fought the twins today." 15[01:16] "I heard. The way the crew is talking, you put on quite a show." [01:17] 14She laughs. "Yes. And THEN I beat their asses." 15[01:17] "What do you make of them?" [01:17] "Wolf-whistles from the riggings. House V'neef gets no respect." [01:17] 14She grins. "I'm trying to figure out how to sleep with them without blowing up the entire social dynamic here on the ship." [01:18] "But in all seriousness, they talk too much but they're very serious." [01:18] "Pan without his sword actually made me work." [01:18] "And they were in the worst possible situation: in public, in front of a boss who clearly liked me more than them, coming off a beating, and without their weapons." [01:19] "So if you're asking me if they're serious? They're serious." 15[01:19] Caedus nods, impressed. "They're almost as good at giving off the wrong impression as the Cynis girl, and they don't even intend to." [01:20] 14Slight smile. "Which Cynis girl?" [01:20] "Dryas came up to watch us. Fiddling with that necklace again." 15[01:21] Caedus: "Dryas wears her heart on her sleeve, and her heart's an open purse. Dangle profit in front of her, she'll run wherever you send her." [01:22] 14Piu: "You know better than to underestimate pretty vain girls by now, my dear Samperson." [01:23] 14Piu: "The two mountains of meat..." 15[01:25] Caedus: "I like them. The bigger one especially. He's a little goofy, in a charming way." 15[01:25] "Plus he put the boot to one of the mouthy Cathak boys." [01:26] 14Piu: "He seems nice." 14This is neutral, rather than a compliment. "I prefer Zhangyu for obvious reasons. Let him loose on those boys and it would be a different story." [01:26] "The man is designed only for killing." 15[01:28] Caedus steps forward, grabbing Piu by the hips. "Mmm. No one should be designed only for killing." [01:29] 14Her hands are on his ass immediately. "Youuuuuu are changing the subject. But I'm fine with that." 15[01:30] They're up against each other, but Caedus's voice still has a trace of business to it. "You think you can take him?" [01:30] 14Same: "I might have to cheat." [01:30] "But I'm willing to cheat." [01:30] "So yes." [01:31] 14In demonstration, her necklace flies to her hand -- and then snaps out across the room, extinguishing the lone candle. [01:31] 14She pulls Caedus down into the dark. 14[05:05] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[05:45] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:07] * Joins: tom 14[14:58] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:36] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[16:42] * Joins: Crion_ 14[16:43] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:39] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:12] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 14[18:33] * Joins: Crion_ 14[18:33] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:38] * Joins: mattbaby_ 15[19:56]  15[19:56]  15[19:56]  15[19:56]  15[19:56]  15[19:56] On the evening of the second day, Caxi lingers outside the mess as people file out for dinner, touching Piu on the arm as she passes. "A word?" Piu didn't see her at dinner. [19:57] 4Smiling: "Sure!" [19:57] 14Hrm. 15[19:58] Piu is being led to Caxi's cabin, unless she objects. [19:59] 4She knows the way. 14[19:59] * Crion_ is now known as Crion [19:59] 4She'll keep her eyes open, though. 15[20:01] As the two of them get closer to the topdeck, they pass Salim in the corridor. Out of the corner of Piu's eye she can see him studying the both of them as they pass him. [20:02] 4Asshole monk. 15[20:05] Caxi's room is full of... stuff. She clearly way overpacked. A huge chest of clothing, cushions everywhere, more unopened bags under the bunk... Caxi hops up on her bunk and sits cross-legged. "Sooo... how about those twins, huh?" [20:05] 4She sighs semi-dramatically. "One of them made a joke about a threesome. The other was grossed out." 15[20:06] Caxi: "I heard. It's nice to know they can annoy each other too." [20:06] 4Is there anywhere for her to sit that isn't inviting an, ah, pillow fight? 15[20:07] Sure, there's a little desk with a little chair (which also has a big fluffy cushion on it. [20:07] 4Then on the fluffy cushion she shall sit. [20:08] "Still, though...kind of a sucker for green eyes." 4She grins. "They can fight, too. I mean, I can fight better. But I don't think I could actually take them in a row if they had their swords." 15[20:09] "You've had a busy few days," says Caxi admiringly. "Working those twins and was that the petty officer I saw walking up to your room last night?" [20:10] 4She looks pleased with herself. "Chief Petty Officer Samperson and I go way back. To, oh, the night I got into town." 15[20:10] "Oh, I didn't know there was a history." 15[20:10] "Are you exclusive?" [20:11] 4All Piu does in response is chortle. [20:11] 4Coming out of it, her smile is seductive. "Not in the slightest." 15[20:14] One eyebrow arches. "Mmmm. He looks like a good worker." [20:15] 4Piu, casually: "When he needs to be. Which is often. But he's the chief for a reason. He understands the burden of command." [20:16] 4After a beat: "Over the deckhands, of course." [20:16] 14This woman knows too much. [20:17] 4Change of subject: "How are you and the Commodore?" 15[20:20] Caxi lounges across her bunk. "She's so..." She makes a small frustrated noise. "Needy." 15[20:20] "She likes me too much." [20:20] 4Piu smiles. "Do I need to put in more shifts in the bed mines?" 15[20:21] Caxi smiles. "Oh, that's not the problem. It's all the times in between." 15[20:22] "She's gotten... sad." [20:23] 4Slight sigh. "Pathetic, I'm guessing. Not depressed." 15[20:23] Caxi: "Both. I guess the nature of... all this is starting to sink in." 15[20:23] "She might have to kill her sister." [20:24] 4Piu crosses her arms over the back of the chair, which she's spun around. "I mean. She doesn't have to kill her sister." [20:25] "We're perfectly capable of doing it." 15[20:26] Caxi: "I made that point to her. She seemed unmoved." 15[20:26] Idly: "Could you do it, do you think?" [20:27] 4Piu: "Alone? Likely not." [20:27] 14Certainly. 15[20:27] "That's not what I mean." 15[20:27] "Do you think that if you had to -- if the Realm was at stake -- you could kill your own sister." [20:28] 4Piu's smile is somewhat sad. "I wouldn't know. I've never had one. Just cousins, by adoption." 15[20:30] "Ah, that's right, I'd forgotten. A clutch of Lost Eggs. The Commodore's terrified of your matriarch, you know. I understand she's *very* strong in the Blood." [20:31] 4A wide grin. "She's a master. And she's done an amazing job building up the House, given the circumstances." 15[20:33] "Mmm. Say, where did you go to secondary school? I don't think you ever told me." [20:33] "Pasiap's Stair!" [20:33] 14Tactically unashamed of this. 15[20:35] "Oh! Did you serve in the Legions?" 15[20:35] "Or did V'Neef spare you that fate." [20:39] 4Piu's smile turns slightly embarrassed. "Yeah, no, I was...not the best student. Especially not on the tactics and war stuff. Which they cared a lot more about than whether you could whup someone in a fight. Let's just say I graduated. Technically." 15[20:40] "That surprises me. You seem quite intelligent." [20:40] 4She giggles. "Only at some stuff. I don't have any desire to lead armies." 15[20:44] Checking her nails: "The only military tactics they teach at the Heptagram are how many men will fit inside the area of the Death of Obsidian Butterflies." [20:45] 4Piu: "Not the most interesting thing that could have come after 'inside.'" 15[20:45] Caxi cackles. "You're beyond belief sometimes." [20:45] 4Sighingly: "So I'm told." 15[20:47] "I worry, sometimes, that we're too beautiful. Did you see that strange old monk staring at us on the way up here?" [20:48] 4Piu: "He's not that old. And yes!" [20:48] "House Mnemon graces our walls. Bulwarks?" [20:48] "Bulkheads!" 15[20:50] "He's not like the other Mnemon men I've known..." [20:52] 4Piu: "Yes, he's only a voyeur, not an outright lech. Not yet, at least." [20:53] "I've seen worse, though. As far as monks go." [20:53] 14The voyeur comment is a test. How long has she been watching...? 15[20:57] Caxi: "Yes, he's always snooping around, isn't he? No subtlety. If he'd been born into a proper house, he'd know to be patient. People will tell you everything you'd ever want to know about them." 15[20:59] She makes another small disgusted noise. "I don't care for those people. The only thing worse than the falsely pious are the sincerely pious." [21:00] 14Mmmmmmm. Now there's an inflection point. [21:01] 4But upfront she's just vacuously consoling: "Oh, I'm sure he's not that bad. Those guys have a lot of rules about their behavior, right?" 15[21:01] "So do we," notes Caxi with a sly smile. [21:03] 4Piu returns it, though it's a little goofier. "So which of the Tepet guys do you think I should go after first?" 15[21:04] "The giant. You'll get nowhere with the other one. That man is a killer to the core." [21:04] 4A pout. "Yeah. Probably. But that guy's so laaame~" [21:05] "And why two Tepets, anyway?" 15[21:08] Caxi: "None of it makes sense, really. Don't you think it's strange that we're on a sea mission, on behalf of the Navy, searching for a lost fleet that's got Peleps's underbelly exposed, and the Navy's not taking care of it? That there's only one Peleps on the whole ship, and she was pulled out of academic retirement?" [21:09] 4Innocently: "It's almost like they think the whole House is compromised!" 15[21:11] Nodding approvingly, Caxi's visibly impressed. "And what does that? What compromises an entire House?" [21:11] 4Her grin gets a little sharper. "Well, there's always the obvious answer. Which can't be true." [21:12] "The Empress is back, and House Peleps always knew." [21:12] 4She blinks. "That rhymes!" 15[21:13] "What if it is true, though? What if she's out there? Can you imagine?" [21:14] 14Piu's actual answer to the question is...mostly that. That the Empress is back: but House Peleps didn't know. Instead, House Peleps is being frozen out. There's going to be a winning team and a losing team, and House Peleps is intended to be the latter. [21:14] 4Out loud: "It'd be great to have things go back to normal...especially for V'neef!" [21:15] 14Of course, the Empress almost certainly isn't back. Otherwise she'd have announced herself by now. [21:15] 14Unless she doesn't want to be Empress anymore. [21:15] 14Ahhh. Hmmm. [21:15] 14Yes, that would complicate things. 15[21:16] "What if she's given it up?" 15[21:16] "What if she's out there, and she just... doesn't want to come back?" [21:16] 14Irritating girl. [21:16] 4Piu's smile falters. "Then there'd be war." 15[21:17] "And if so, the greatest advantage possible would be... knowing first." 15[21:18] Abruptly: "The monk." [21:18] 4Piu laughs uncertainly. "The greatest advantage possible would be a large military and having established economic power. Knowing a month early won't save House V'neef." [21:18] "But yeah." [21:18] "It's clear why he's here now." 15[21:19] Caxi waves a hand. "Blood and treasure won't stay a secret's hand." 15[21:20] "But yes, if there's one thing everyone in the Dynasty knows it's who stands to gain the most from the Empress definitely being gone, and it's the White Witch." [21:20] 14It's a testament to Piu's self control that her eyes are confused instead of narrowed, and that she's not reaching for her necklace. [21:22] 4Piu sighs. "It's too bad there's no way to like...trick him into leaving." 15[21:24] "We could always kill him." Caxi giggles. 15[21:24] Mildly: "That was a joke." [21:24] 4She rolls her eyes. "You can do it, not me. I can't be burning down the ship." [21:24] 14Oh yes. Certainly so. 15[21:29] "Suppose I could." 15[21:30] "Suppose I set the armies of Hell upon him." 15[21:30] "How many do you think it would take. You're the master warrior, not I." [21:31] 4Piu blinks. "Well, I mean. You'd wreck the ship, but I guess we could get another. Do you really need more than one army of Hell, though...?" [21:32] "I guess my main concern is it'd make a mess." 15[21:32] Caxi: "So far I've only got the one..." 15[21:33] "I'm not sure one is enough." [21:34] 4Piu: "...How many are we talking here?" 4She pauses. "Unless you'd rather not say. Keep your cool army to yourself." [21:34] 14A sorceress, then. Not unexpected. [21:35] 14And useful, under the proper circumstances. But too much ambition, and too smart. And Cynis, which always pisses Caedus off. Not without reason. 15[21:36] Caxi's more activated talking about this than Piu's ever seen her, even in bed. "An erymanthus can tear a normal man in half without trouble, but a monk of the Blood? They are well schooled in such things. I would require the space and feed for a dozen of them, at least. I think." [21:38] 4Piu sighs. "And that's so many crewmen wasted. Including my chief petty officer." [21:38] "...So we'd need to get him somewhere ashore." 15[21:39] "Yes... but not in Abalone. Too public." [21:39] 4Piu: "And we'd need to get him away from the Tepets and the twins...and your...cousin?" 15[21:42] Caxi: "Yes... I'm quite fond of Dryas. She's sharp, like you are. And she didn't let the Commodore bed her." 15[21:44] "The twins are cute... and they're not as dumb as they let on. They've got books in their room." [21:45] 4Piu raises an eyebrow. "Is that a criticism?" 15[21:45] Caxi: "Oh, not at all. But I respect the self-denial." [21:46] 4She leans back. "I've got books in my room. Well, one. I think Samperson left it there." 15[21:46] "What's he like?" [21:47] 14Piu: "He's kind and charming but he doesn't overstep or take it too seriously. He's professional about his work. He's vigorous about his play. He understands the difference between the bedroom and the deck. He'd be a perfect man if he had the blood, but. He's here instead." [21:48] 4She brightens back up. "Great dick." 15[21:48] Caxi reclines in bed. "Mmmmm." 15[21:48] "Well, I'll let you go. I enjoyed this chat, we should do it more often." 15[21:48] "Not a lot of people to talk to on this ship." [21:49] 4Piu: "Yeah! And uh. Let me know if you need me to take Ratel off your hands, for a night." 4She stands to go, wiggling a slight bit on her way out. 15[21:50] Well! That was... illuminating. [21:50] 14Much to ponder. [21:52] 14She heads up to the deck before heading back to her room. It's not quite late enough to sneak down to see Caedus anyway. [21:52] 14Just enough time to do some forms in the night air. 15[21:53] The air is brisk and breezy, but the sky is clear and the stars are beautiful. She's not alone up here. Mnemon Salim is there, hands on the railing, looking up at the sky. His back's to her, maybe she could just-- [21:54] 14Patience. [21:54] 14There's an angle here now. [21:54] 14Work this right, and Iselsi Caxi isn't out of the question. [21:54] 14If we burn enough of her life down. [21:55] 14Instead, she'll approach to stand beside him but more than two arms' lengths away, and lean up against the same rail. How's his sleeve situation. [21:59] 4She stares out at the sea instead. 15[21:59] Once her eyes adjust to the dark, she can just see them. Running up his inner arms, a series of characters. The ink is not the same in all of them, and they're better-shaped the farther up the arm you go, as if the hand who made them grew steadier with time. He tattooed himself. [21:59] 14Piu commits them to memory. 15[22:00] "Beautiful night," says Salin to Piu, after a long silence. 15[22:00] *Salim [22:00] "There have been many like it before us," 14 she says. "And many like it after." 15[22:00] "More than we will ever know," he agrees. [22:03] 14Piu: "Just making sure you're up here enjoying the night, so you don't slip, trip, and fall into my man's room when we're in bed. Or -- wow -- just happen to run into me and the girl from Cynis when we're in the hall." 15[22:03] Salim: "I... apologize for the intrusion. That was thoughtless of me." [22:04] 14Piu: "Maybe so." [22:05] 14She nods up at the sky with her chin. "What tickles your fancy, up there?" 15[22:06] Salim: "The orderliness of it. The stars stand and dance and swing about, in the same patterns, unchanging, forever." 15[22:06] "You?" [22:07] 14Piu: "It looks different in every different place I see it. Moves different. The moon's different. I love that it changes." [22:08] 14She rolls away from him to lean back against the rail. "Which pretty much defines where this is going to go." 15[22:08] "The ship, you mean?" [22:09] 4Bubbly again: "Yeah! The ship!" [22:10] 14Piu: "Don't go tripping into anymore rooms, brother." 15[22:13] "Be at peace, sister." [22:14] 14Piu: "Only until there's war." 14She disappears below. [22:15] 14Caedus should be in his room. 15[22:15] He is, though he's more dressed than usual at this hour. In a nice, open-chested silk robe. He smells good, too. [22:15] 14Mmmmmmm. 15[22:16] "The Commodore's invited me to her quarters for a nightcap," he says. [22:16] 14Piu chuckles. "You know, I wasn't sure she went for men. I shan't muss you up, then." [22:17] "If you see Cynis Caxi there...she was asking about you. Thuirt mi rithe gu robh thu cumhachdach san leabaidh. Na leig sìos mi. " 15[22:18] A chuckle in kind. "Tha mi a ’seasamh mar dhìon air an urram agad." [22:20] 14More seriously: "Tha Caxi na ban-draoidh. Bidh i a ’conaltradh le deamhain. " [22:20] "I know you have...reservations. Well-founded." [22:20] "But she could be very useful." 15[22:20] "A sorceress, and a schemer too. Very dangerous. You're certain you can work her?" [22:21] "Mhol i am manach a thàladh a-steach don dùthaich agus a mharbhadh. Sin mo bhrosnachadh. " [22:22] 14Piu shrugs. "So either she already knows and is working with him to play us -- which I don't think is so -- or...our schemes align." [22:23] 14She grimaces. "Which takes me to my next news. I saw Salim on deck. He's who we think he is." [22:23] "I can tell." 15[22:24] "You saw the tattoos?" [22:25] 14Piu: "Yes. They're self-applied. The hand gets steadier the newer the work is. That's consistent with the style." 15[22:26] Sharp intake of breath. "Even this early on, so much is in motion. So many secrets. So many plans. Why would Mnemon send a master assassin? Who is he meant to kill?" 15[22:26] "Ratel?" 15[22:26] "No, that would be a waste. You could kill her just by taking her to bed and putting a pillow over her face." [22:26] 14Piu: "You'll want to do that anyway." [22:27] "Not to kill her, mind." [22:27] "Very vocal." 15[22:27] "That's always fun." [22:28] 14Piu: "I've actually enjoyed her company. Caxi's too, for what it's worth, though you can sort of hear her rolling her eyes whenever anything happens. You'll have fun." 15[22:29] Caedus nods. "Anything else to report?" [22:29] 14Casually: "Ratel likes strap-ons. Take some lube." 15[22:30] Caedus blinks. [22:30] 14She shrugs. "No idea if she likes them with men. But they tell us in school: be prepared." 15[22:31] "I appreciate the briefing." 15[22:31] 10Then he winces, realizing he's set up that joke again. [22:31] 14She nods and saunters over to his bunk, shrugging out of her robe and laying down on top of the covers in just her shift. "I'll be here when you get back for...debriefing." 15[22:32] That's the one. He's gone. [22:32] 14She stretches out, blows out the candle... [22:32] 14Creeps to the door and lays down a wire-and-glass that Caedus knows how to disarm on first opening, just in case someone opens the door while he's out. [22:33] 14Then she slips back into bed and falls asleep, hugging the pillow like it's someone else. 14[22:51] * Joins: tom Session Time: Sat Nov 09 00:00:00 2019 14[02:31] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[02:36] * Joins: cbass 14[05:24] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:33] * Joins: tom 14[10:43] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:56] * Joins: tom 15[11:12] * Disconnected 15[11:13] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[11:13] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[11:13] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[11:13] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 15[11:13] * Disconnected Session Close: Sat Nov 09 11:13:30 2019 Session Start: Sat Nov 09 11:28:31 2019 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[11:28] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[11:28] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[11:28] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[11:44] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 14[11:44] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[12:25] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:16] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[14:23] * Joins: cbass 14[15:27] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[15:27] * Quits: dammitwho (Connection closed) 14[15:27] * Joins: dammitwho 14[15:27] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[15:39] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[15:39] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[15:39] * Joins: dammitwho 14[15:40] * Joins: Crion_ 14[15:40] * Joins: tom2 14[15:40] * Quits: cbass (NickServ (GHOST command used by cbass_)) 14[15:40] * Joins: cbass 14[15:40] * Quits: tom (*.net *.split) 14[15:40] * Quits: trenchfoot (*.net *.split) 14[15:40] * Quits: Crion (*.net *.split) 14[15:40] * Quits: banana|peels (*.net *.split) 14[15:43] * Joins: banana 14[18:45] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[20:20] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 14[22:42] * Joins: hrolfy Session Time: Sun Nov 10 00:00:00 2019 14[00:08] * Joins: hrolfie 14[00:09] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:16] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:51] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:43] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:16] * Joins: hrolfie 14[11:47] * Joins: tom 14[12:08] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[12:14] * Joins: cbass 14[13:55] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[13:58] * Joins: cbass 14[14:15] * Joins: hrolfy 14[14:17] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:43] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:54] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[15:57] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:04] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:13] * Joins: tom 14[16:14] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[16:58] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[18:00] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:33] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[19:08] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:38] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:54] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[20:01] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[20:07] * mattbaby_ is now known as mattbaby 14[23:44] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[23:57] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Mon Nov 11 00:00:00 2019 14[03:14] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[08:50] * Quits: Zarick (Quit: Leaving) 14[08:58] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:58] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:58] * Joins: tom 14[17:13] * Joins: Crion_ 14[17:16] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:17] * Joins: Crion 14[17:18] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:20] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Tue Nov 12 00:00:00 2019 14[00:17] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:32] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[02:41] * Joins: cbass 14[03:06] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[10:20] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[10:47] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:48] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[10:56] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[10:59] * Quits: trenchfoot (NickServ (GHOST command used by trenchfoot_)) 14[10:59] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[11:16] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:05] * Joins: Crion_ 14[12:06] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:14] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:38] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 14[13:41] * Joins: tom 14[14:51] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[17:06] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:16] * Joins: Crion_ 14[18:17] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:47] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:53] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 14[20:01] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[20:01] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:01]  15[20:01]  15[20:01]  15[20:01]  15[20:01]  15[20:04] Daana'd's Defiance has been at sea for a week. The winds have been fair, the seas and skies untroubled - thanks, in no small part, to the work of the sorceress Caxi, who can be found most mornings at the ship's prow, singing to the sky. The Cathak twins, after an early struggle with seasickness, have settled into the sailor's life with gusto, working riggings by day and singing 15[20:04] shanties by night. How fares the rest of the hearth? [20:08] 6Tepet Zhangyu has been assisting all around the ship - despite his house and his aspect, he's spent plenty of time on ships, and can keep it running smoothly. Further, he has no apprehensions with any task, no matter how small, though he does avoid the Cathaks out of a sense of preservation. Whether self- or otherwise is left as an exercise to the reader. The only task he dare not assist with is cook; he's always been horrible at [20:08] it. Even when he's tried. [20:10] 7Gunnery practice - Dryas oversees the crew load the ballistae, take aim, then unload several times. Port and starboard compete for time and precision. Once so far, the crew lashed a few empty provision-barrels together, set them adrift and smashed them to pieces with a few rusty bolts. Dryas also hit one of the barrels with an arrow from her shortbow - not particularly difficult, except the shot was at ballistae-range. [20:10] 4V'neef Piu has been up to her usual tricks. Perhaps spending too much time with the chief petty officer, perhaps not spending enough time getting right with religion -- represented on the ship by Mnemon Salim. She'll contribute to the sailing when asked, but spends most of her time exercising, going through forms, and otherwise stretching out on the decks. 15[20:10] The Commodore seems fine with that. [20:11] 4Mmmmm. [20:13] 10Daizo feels unmoored. Oh, he's been on short sea voyages before, but this? In one of his later mathematics courses, the guest lecturer bade them to imagine what it would be like to live on the surface of a sphere. Eventually the edges of the world would just... roll-off, and that's kind of how he feels now on the deep blue sea. So he's trying to stay connected with the rest of the ship, pestering the navigator and attending the [20:13] 10 services Piu doesn't. [20:13] 7The rest of the time so far, Dryas has kept extensively to her quarters - an unimagineable luxurious degree of privacy on such a small vessel - busying herself with hashish and who knows what else. [20:15] 6Zhangyu is happy to spend his free time with his cousin, with Piu, with Dryas, and with Caxi, in approximately that order, but feels strongly that without him the ship would fall apart, so his free time is... limited. [20:16] 4Piu hasn't quite gotten up the nerve to ask Zhangyu to spar...or told him much of anything about her fandom, really. [20:16] 4Given what she DOES have the nerve to do, that might seem a bit odd, but this is different, somehow. 15[20:16] Dryas notices it first, from in her quarters. It's the smell, cutting through the hash and whatever else. She spent time among the vast plains in the south where the black blood of the earth bubbles up like tar. She knows how it smells when it burns. 15[20:17] Piu, from her stretches on deck, sees it. A long, thin trail of ink-black smoke, coiling up into the sky some distance ahead. [20:17] 10There's also the uncomfortable knowledge that this is almost certainly some kind of a setup, but he doesn't expect the other shoe to drop until they reach Abalone. After his initial blow-up at the Cathak twins, he's trying to make amends. Although they do need soma manners. And Zhangyu, well. Some people speak best with their fists. [20:17] 14She stands immediately. [20:18] 14She has bandages on her wrist; she reaches up and pulls The Chain from her neck and wraps it up in them. Just in case she needs it. [20:18] 7Clenching her pipe in her teeth, she puts on her enormous Chiaroscuro-glass spectacles and bursts from her cabin to see what's going on. [20:19] "Blooded a-deck!" 14shouts Piu, no trace of giggliness in her voice. "Inbound!" [20:20] 6Zhangyu drops the barrel - gently, he hasn't been paying attention to contents - and rushes abovedecks. 15[20:20] All of them heed Piu's call - Dryas first, then Zhangyu and Daizo, then the twins, then finally Ratel and Caxi who emerge from inside. "Report," says the Commodore. [20:21] 4Piu looks to Dryas. She's the expert here. [20:22] 7Dryas: "From the smell? The earth afire, like the mountains in the South. Volcano?" [20:22] 4Piu: "I didn't know we were on course for a volcano..." [20:24] 7Dryas: "There's volcanoes in Abalone, but that isn't Abalone." 15[20:25] In the distance, beneath the smoke, a shape resolves. A long, thin, heavy slat of iron, the size of a city street, floats just above the tossing surface. It's split down the middle, sheared and torn, revealing darkness within from which that thick and acrid smoke emerges. [20:25] 6Zhangyu: "Orders?" 6Terse, hiding anxiety. That's the way. [20:25] 6Never let them see you sweat. Except for literal sweat. Look, it's complicated. 15[20:25] Ratel reaches to her hip and comes up with a telescoping spyglass that she whips to its full extension before looking out. "Dragon's breath, is that..." [20:25] 10Daizo: "That's no volcano." [20:28] 4Piu: "A moving...volcano...?" [20:28] 14Dammit, volcanoes don't move. That was too much. [20:29] 6Zhangyu: "No." 6Let it never be said it requires intellect to win a fight. Take that, Grandmaster. "A ship. And - an old one." [20:29] 4Piu: "Ohhh." 15[20:30] Mnemon Salim has belatedly joined the rest of the Dynasts abovedecks. "A dark omen," he warns. [20:30] 10Daizo: "It is wholly man-made, lady Piu. A vessel of sorcerous artifice." [20:31] 7Dryas simply scowls. [20:34] 4Piu: "Are we gonna run or are we gonna hunt it?" 15[20:35] "No need to hunt it," says Ratel, still looking through the spyglass. "It's not moving. Dead in the water." [20:35] 7Dryas: "No need for something that big to play dead." 15[20:36] "We're on track to pass within two hundred yalms. We'll get close, but the Navy needs to know about a find like this. Prepare yourselves to board." [20:36] 6Zhangyu: "Understood." [20:37] 7A find like this could make every one of us wealthy... [20:37] 14Surprises. [20:37] 14Professionals hate surprises. [20:37] 4Piu: "Aye aye!" 15[20:37] Mnemon Salim: "Commodore, I must strenously suggest that this course of action is unwise. An object of such perverse power, ridden by undead, sorcerers, Anathema, or worse... it imperils us. It imperils our mission." [20:37] 10Daizo: "Be wary. There is like to be at least one sorcerer aboard. Unless their death is what caused the vessel to be in this state." 15[20:38] Caxi: "Prepare for demons, then." 15[20:38] "A sorcerer's death would have set every one of her bound demons loose. They'll be all but feral." [20:38] 14Well played, Cynis Caxi. 15[20:39] Ito Jun: "What makes you so sure there'll be demons." 15[20:39] Caxi: "You're right, I'm sure the pirate sorceress was paying scale to the Merchant Fleet." 15[20:39] Ito Pan snickers. [20:40] 7Dryas: "We can't ignore a chance for a prize like this..." 15[20:40] Salim: "Commodore, if we could speak privately. I'm sure neither of us wants my next report to Mother to contain news you endangered the mission." [20:41] 14Something will have to be done about this man. 15[20:41] Ratel rounds on the monk. "Mission or no mission, I am an officer of the Navy and a daughter of the Realm. We don't leave things like this lying around. And if Mnemon wants to sail my ship she can fly out here and do it in person. Prepare to board." [20:41] 6Ito Pan, the better twin. Who would have thought he would have opinions about them. [20:41] 4Piu has walked over to the rail, eagerly looking out at the smoke off the wreck, while listening. 15[20:41] Salim: "...as you say, Commodre." [20:43] 7Dryas offers the man a toke. 15[20:43] Salim frowns heavily and does not partake. [20:43] "Suit yourself," 7She will, with relish. [20:43] 6Has the Commodore indicated who leads the boarding team? Zhangyu assumes he will be a part of it, but... [20:44] 10Daizo: "With due respect, Brother Salim, if there are demons loose on the seas, do we not owe it to our fellow citizens to see them returned to their proper place?" [20:45] 6Well spoken, cousin. Not that Zhangyu will say as much out loud. 15[20:47] As the Defiance draws closer, the size and the shape of the thing becomes apparent. The ironclad is far larger, slightly wider starboard to yarboard and far longer. The surface is wrought in pictograms which are difficult to read as the waves thrash over and around it. The sense of heat from the heart of the thing is palpable, though there are no flames. [20:48] 4No worries for the Fire Aspects, then! [20:49] 6Hrm. 15[20:50] Ratel: "Right. Zhangyu, take Piu, Daizo, Dryas, and Caxi aboard. Ito Pan, Ito Jun, and Salim, stay on board to help us salvage this thing." [20:51] 14Hhhhh. Good, in that there's no chance of her being left alone with Salim before being able to evaluate him in combat. Bad, in that she'll have no chance to evaluate him in combat. [20:51] 4Piu: "Yes ma'am!" [20:51] 6The relief specifically does not show on his face. "Aye." 15[20:52] Ito Pan: "Why are we stuck on the shit detail?" 15[20:52] Ratel: "Because you haven't learned to stop asking that question." 15[20:52] "Get to work." [20:52] 4Piu's already grinning and crouching on the foredeck rail, ready to leap over. [20:53] 6Roll the shoulders, square the feet. 15[20:53] The ships draw closer and closer together. Boarding planks are laid. [20:54] 6Look before you march up. Anything alarming, or is this truly a ghost ship? [20:55] 10While they were making their approach, Daizo went belowdecks and requested a couple of the crew to assist him.  [20:55] 10When he emerges, he's clad in black jade armor with a massive white jade club, shaped like a tetsubo with delusions of grandeur.If you look closely, the studs up and down the sides of the thing are carefully carved fists. [20:56] 4Oooooh. 15[20:56] Caxi looks Daizo up and down. "Mmmmm." 15[20:57] Zhangyu and Dryas can see movement within the dark recesses of the ship. Large, lumbering movements, away from the light. [20:57] 10Daizo grins and turns, giving the ladies a good look from all sides. "If there are demons aboard, they will wish they had returned to Hell of their own accord." [20:58] 6Zhangyu: "Keep caution. This ship isn't abandoned." [20:58] 4Piu: "Oooooooh." [20:58] 14Good. The gentle giant came loaded for bear. [20:59] 6He's not quite in combat stance, but he could be in a moment. "Stick close. I saw movement, but not what it was." [20:59] 7Dryas notches an arrow on her shortbow and grins, poshly. "Something for the mantlepiece, then," 7she murmurs. 15[21:00] Zhangyu's leading the team. What's his approach? [21:00] 14There's enough smoke...will she be able to get away with stealth without seeming too skilled? [21:02] 6Top down, clear each room, stay as quiet as possible, but also keep himself at the front of any possible conflict. That's the theory, anyway. Is this ship big enough to require multiple teams to sweep it? A 3 and 2 split is not out of the question... 15[21:04] It's big enough, but the layout is such that splitting up wouldn't really make the trip any more efficient. The ship's internal structure is one long, elliptoid spiral, like the inside of a distended nautilus. 15[21:04] This is not a normal way to design a ship. [21:05] 6Keep it together, then. He runs through a few shorthand symbols for the squad. Forward, backward, quiet, go, stop, flee. [21:06] 6So. Top down. Let's roll. [21:07] 10If Zhangyu's taking point, does he want Daizo guarding the rear, or right behind him?  [21:08] 6Hrm. Rearguard, he knows more about Daizo than he does about Piu, and that means preventing ambushes from the back goes to him. Piu second, Dryas third, Caxi fourth. [21:09] 14Not what she'd pick, but it gives her room to freelance somewhat. So, acceptable. [21:10] 10Good thinking. You can communicate surprisingly well using nothing but Tepet squad signing. 15[21:11] The four of them advance down the corridor, the smell of burning earth joined to the smell of death. Bodies in various stages of decomposition - some fresh and oozing, some dessicated - scatter the dimly glowing iron hallways as they twist and wind around. [21:11] 7Dryas lurks towards the back, keeping an eye out for good perches. Let the hounds do their job. [21:16] 14Slave crew. Hrm. [21:16] 7Dryas peers down, disgusted, at one of the fresher corpses. She turns a clenched hand and accompanying wrist - coming to a ragged end at the forearm - over with her boot, revealing a tattoo. "Some slaves, likely from the Wu Jian market. Torn to shreds by something big." [21:17] 10Hrnh. The whole place stinks. Sorcery is at least written into the laws of Creation. Necromancy goes beyond.  [21:18] 6Zhangyu makes the symbol for quiet. Then, hushed: "Age?" 6How long's this sucker been floating out here? [21:21] 14Flat-voiced: "Kids." [21:21] 6He holds back a cuss. "Yesterday." 15[21:23] The sound of noisy chewing becomes increasingly audible down the way. [21:23] 10Daizo can speak pretty softly when he needs to. "Disgusting. Mark on the wall, blood and ash? Necromancy. This whole ship is unclean." [21:23] 6Hand motions. Get ready for a fight. Granted, that's a pretty easy one - he balls his hand into a fist, points forward with the other, and punches in the direction of said noise. [21:24] 14No way to use The Chain here. Time to just be4 Piu. [21:25] 4She nods with determination. [21:25] 7Dryas' head swivels slowly to look down the spine of the ship as she slowly raises the tinted spectacles up her face to rest amidst her hair. [21:25] 6Then: march. Staying quiet, if they can, given their... obvious ineptitude at it, including Zhangyu's - his missions were more open battlefields than infiltration... 15[21:26] The four of them come upon a hulking, simian figure from behind. It's doubled over, noisily eating something. Huge bony spikes protrude from its shoulders and spine. [21:29] 10Daizo tenses. 10On your mark. [21:29] 4Piu motions that she can take it... [21:40] 4And she does. Bursting into flame as she strikes, fiery kicks hook the great ape demon's leg and a falling axe kick drives sizzling down into its belly when it falls, hooting and screeching to the ground. The fire flickers around her...and explodes into steam. [21:41] "Tepet Zhangyu!!!" [21:50] 6He immediately leaps towards the blood ape and wrenches one between his legs, and the other between his hands -- he's perched along its back, but doesn't seem to be doing any lasting harm, but if he can just, find, purchase...! 15[21:51] Zhangyu forces the blood ape to drop the corpse it was eating. [21:51] 7Dryas' lip curls contemptuously as she scans the room again. 15[21:51] Fresh blood smears the floor. [21:51] 6Small victories. [21:51] 6Also, disgusting. [21:51] 6Also, it seems that I forgot the word "arm." He wrenches one ARM between his legs. [21:51] 6Et cetera. [21:52] 10Daizo adopts a defensive posture. Piu and Zhangyu have this demon well in hand, but where there's one, there will be others. [21:53] 7Dryas: "Repulsive. Does it have a master? A mate?" [21:54] 7She cocks her head. "Something else, deeper." [21:55] 10Daizo: "Blood-apes aren't known for their conversation skills." [21:59] 6Zhangyu, hanging from its arms: "Slay it!" [22:00] 4Piu does. [22:01] 4She starts with five kicks to the chest, breaking every rib. Then a jutting heel snaps both knees out, and she pushes off the creature's collapsing pelvis to flip into the air and drive an elbow down-- [22:01] 4--and through-- [22:01] 4--the beast's throat. [22:02] 4Piu stands, and kicks the head aside. 15[22:02] Caxi watches with lidded eyes. [22:02] 6Zhangyu's back on his feet. "Piu, rearguard. Daizo, with me." 6The Five Day Fight does take skill, after all. [22:03] 14Piu, wreathed in steam: "Aye." [22:07] 6Other than the blood ape that has apparently been eating corpses, what's around here? 15[22:07] Zhangyu leads the four of them who aren't him onward. The banging Dryas heard has stopped, but she's able to guide them towards it. Deep in the ship the corridor unravels into a huge central chamber lit by a ghostly white glowing core. Piping, spinning prayer wheels, and conduits of Essence are illuminated. A huge, jagged crack runs almost the length of the core, and that awful black 15[22:07] smoke billows out. It's almost too hot to breathe in here. The floor is thick with bodies. Some days dead, some weeks or months. Some are bones. There are large cages all around the outer wall, thick with the stenches of death. One of them is still shut, sealed with a lock of what appears to be jade. [22:10] 14Hrrrrh. [22:11] 14Piu holds the rear, but she cares little about the heat or the stench or the smoke. The fire burns. [22:11] 7Dryas approaches the cage while examining the scene around it. [22:11] 6Zhangyu: "Caxi. Any ideas?" 6She's the lone sorceress, right? [22:12] 4Caxi and Dryas moving forward means Piu moves forward too. 15[22:12] Caxi: "There's a demon in that cage. Neomah, I'd guess." [22:12] 6Good. Follows orders. Though... the social part is definitely an act. [22:13] 6Party girls don't win the Five Day Fight or follow orders this well. Smarter than she looks. [22:13] 14She can already guess Caxi's take on a neomah. It'll be interesting to see the others'. 15[22:13] "She's not the prize here. The prize is whatever he got the neomah for." Caxi points at a body at the base of the core. A man, dressed in black silk silver-trimmed robes, face frozen in a horrifically twisted, cataracted eternal scream. 15[22:19] Dryas inspects the body. No more than three days' dead, yet completely stiff and dry, as if exanguinated. The key that matches the lock is easily found on the corpse's belt. [22:19] 6Zhangyu: "The rest of the cages - same thing?" 6He's not looking at the original sorcerer just yet. Lacks the expertise. 15[22:19] Caxi: "No." 15[22:19] "No, those were for people." 15[22:19] "Likely the children we saw on the way in." [22:19] 6Flatly: "I see." [22:19] 10Daizo's mixed expression of disgust and contempt says more than words. [22:20] 7Dryas presents a key. "Less than three days, but not a drop of blood. Stiff and dry." 15[22:20] Caxi, to Zhangyu: "Did you notice things were missing from the bodies? The children's bodies." [22:20] 4Arms. Legs. 15[22:21] Caxi: "Ears. Teeth. Tongues." 15[22:21] "Not eaten. Removed." 15[22:21] "I bet the neomah will know more." [22:21] 6Zhangyu: "I saw. I wanted to believe they were... wounds." [22:22] "Behind me. I'll open the cage. The key?" 6He holds a hand out to Dryas. [22:22] 7She passes it over. [22:22] 6He opens it. [22:23] 4Piu moves into a defensive posture towards the door they just entered through. Any other way out? [22:23] 10Daizo: "Lady Caxi—do you have a way to command—" [22:23] "Guess we'll use force." [22:23] 6The universal language. 15[22:23] Caxi: "It's just a neomah. It's more scared of you than you are of it." 15[22:23] "Big jade brute that you are." [22:23] 4Piu: "Guys...? There might be more apes out there..." [22:24] "I don't think those demons really fight alot? They mostly do the other thing." [22:24] 4She's referring to neomah, here. [22:24] 4Not the apes. 15[22:24] There are doors around an upper level accessible by ladders, which is to say stairs, at various points around the core chamber. Whether they're rooms or corridors is not clear. [22:25] 6Idiot sorcerers summoning more demons than they can control. Zhangyu would fight them if they weren't already dead. [22:25] 10Daizo: "They're known to breathe fire." 10He thinks. "You watch the neomah, then, and I'll watch the door." 15[22:28] The creature that crawls slowly from the cage is hairless, violet-skinned and unspeakably beautiful. They stand slowly, stretching to their full height, arms raised in obeisance and submission. 15[22:30] they say in the tongue of gods and demons. [22:30] 6Zhangyu: "I don't know what that means." [22:30] "Anyone?" [22:31] 10Daizo turns. "They seek a new master." 15[22:31] Caxi: "She wants off the ship." [22:32] 6Zhangyu: "Her and all of us. Why is she here?" [22:32] 10Daizo: 15[22:34] The neomah: She gestures at the ruined corpse. 15[22:34] They. Caxi's got me doing it now too. [22:36] 6Zhangyu corrects himself, before that response. Even if the neomah doesn't speak the language, there's no need to be rude. [22:37] 10Daizo:  15[22:37] Caxi: 15[22:38] The neomah opens their mouth to answer Daizo but turns to face Caxi when she speaks, seeing her for the first time. Their eyes widen and they take a step backwards. [22:38] 10A much more pertinent question, and one Daizo feels foolish for not having asked. [22:38] 6Zhangyu steps in between the two. 15[22:40] Neomah, the Maker of Flesh, Demon of the First Circle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkj_ov_0LA4 - She always had that little drop of poison... 15[22:41] The neomah seems reticent to answer either question. [22:42] 6Zhangyu: "They seemed to know you." 6That's to Caxi. He's not getting, like, any of this conversation. Should've studied Old Realm. 15[22:43] Caxi: "She doesn't know me." [22:43] 6Zhangyu: "They seemed to fear you." 15[22:43] "That's more like it." [22:43] "Still concerning." 15[22:44] Caxi steps forward. [22:44] 10Daizo: "My apologies, Cousin. This one was summoned by a Mushan, the one who lies dead before us." [22:46] 6Zhangyu: "...it's you, specifically. Not sorceresses in general." 6He files away the information Daizo gave him for later. [22:46] 4Piu: "Guys...how long are we gonna stand here talking?" [22:47] 7Dryas: "She's right. We have a responsibility to salvage this vessel for parts." [22:47] 10Daizo: "Lady Caxi is attempting to negotiate." 10This is putting it very politely. [22:47] 6Zhangyu: "We clear the rest of it once this issue is settled." [22:47] 7Dryas: "...Or destroy it." [22:48] 6'Issue' is a fun way of referring to an unbound demon. [22:48] 7A neomah is a bit of a specialist in issue of all sorts. Have a tissue. 15[22:48] The neomah: 15[22:49] They raise a violet hand to point in the core. 15[22:49] There's that pounding again. 15[22:50] The crack on the core gets a few ilms longer. [22:51] 7Dryas shakes her head. "Not for long, I think. Brother Daizo, can you send this tortured thing to Lethe?" [22:51] 6Zhangyu: "How do we stop that, and is the neomah required?" 15[22:51] The neomah: [22:51] 6Angrily: "DON'T banish it until we know what happens, given that we are on the ship." 15[22:52] Caxi: "The prize of the ship is in that chamber." She points at the core. 15[22:52] "A prisoner. An experimental subject. The sorcerer's daughter." 15[22:52] "All this blasphemous effort. For one girl." 15[22:53] She turns to Zhangyu: "We break her out or we leave her to die as the ship goes down." [22:54] 6Zhangyu: "Anyone who wishes can leave. I'm going to see what they did." [22:54] 10Daizo: "It is a monstrosity, and this whole ship should go to the bottom of the sea that Danaa'd herself may cleanse it." [22:55] 7Dryas: "Crack it open, break her out. Then we can decide." 15[22:57] Caxi nods approvingly 15[22:57] . [22:58] 10Daizo hefts the tetsubo. "However, Cousin Zhangyu is in command of this expedition. Shall I crack the shell, then?" [22:59] 6Zhangyu: "Do it." 6Piu had her chance to speak out. [23:00] 4Whatever we're gonna do, gotta do it soon... [23:00] 10Daizo nods, and brings the great club down. 15[23:00] The glass shatters. A thousand tormented spirits scream free, followed by a wave of indescribable heat, a bitter chill, and a rush of icy water. 15[23:02] Something crawls from the wreckage. Thin white arms, pull themselves up from the bottom of the chamber. A head rises, totally obscured by long, hanging, dripping wet black hair. The figure - a girl of about 14, the five would guess - is wearing a white funeral gown that clings to her body from the water. 15[23:03] She crawls toward them, hair almost dragging along the floor. 15[23:03] "Saaa." 15[23:04] "Saaaaadaaaako." [23:04] 4This was a bad idea. 15[23:05] Caxi walks toward the girl, kneeling down. 15[23:05] "Fascinating..." [23:05] 6Well. Zhangyu wanted to know. And now he does. He doesn't stop Caxi. [23:06] 10Daizo is poised to strike again. This is… repulsive. It looks like a child, but… 15[23:07] Caxi brushes the hair away from the girl's face, revealing pale, flat features, blue eyes and a bottomless black mouth that opens wider and wider-- 15[23:07] The moment passes like a sudden chill. She's just a pale girl, soaking wet, shivering. [23:07] 14If we didn't need to leave before, breaking the demon-girl out is going to seal it. 15[23:08] Caxi cradles her in her arms. "Carry her back to the ship. It won't stay afloat much longer." [23:08] 6...This ship's going down. Zhangyu knows this. Do they leave her - it - her... behind? [23:08] 4Piu's probably best on carry duty. [23:08] 4Piu's probably best on carry duty. [23:08] 10Daizo says, flatly, "Are you certain of this." [23:08] 6Zhangyu: "To the deck. Let the captain decide whether she comes on board." [23:09] "Rest of this place is demons, but we have a survivor. Such as she is." 15[23:09] The ship groans beneath them. They don't have long. [23:09] 4Piu moves over to the girl. "Let's go." 15[23:10] The girl clings to Piu like she's her mother. 15[23:10] Sadako: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCVe_S1Ip4M - Chasing the beast inside me, he pushes and shoves... [23:11] 6Piu gets moved back to #2 - we can't have her and our... new arrival holding up the rear. [23:11] 14Unsettling. [23:11] 4Piu's ready to run outta here, though. [23:12] 6Yeah, Zhangyu is ready to write the rest of the ship off. [23:12] 10Daizo: "And the neomah?" 15[23:12] Caxi: "The neomah is mine." [23:12] 6They investigated what they could, and this thing is going down. "Banish it, bring it with, I'm no sorcerer." [23:13] "As you wish." [23:13] 6Expected. "We can talk when we're on the ship." 15[23:13] Caxi grabs the neomah, who doesn't recoil fast enough, and kisses them. Black veins run out from the demons lips over her face and vanish after a moment. The neomah falls in line quietly behind their new master. [23:14] 14Time enough to deal with that later. [23:15] 4Piu cradles the girl, and powers through the flames. [23:15] 4They are, after all, her own. [23:17] 10Daizo barrels ahead, smashing obstacles in his way. The unstable footing doesn't faze him at all.] 15[23:17] The rupture of the core sounded the cursed ship's death knell, and the seven of them surface on a deck wrought with turbulence and the sounds of battle. Seems Piu was right, there *were* more demons to worry about... but they made to escape the ship, where they came face to face with Ratel, Pan, Jun, and Salim. The deck is littered with burned and shredded demon corpses. 15[23:18] By the time it's safe for Piu to climb back up, the bodies are cleared and Ratel's been briefed. 15[23:18] "And we don't know anything about this girl?" Ratel asks again. 15[23:19] As the Defiance sets sail, the cursed ironclad sinks beneath the waves for the last time. [23:19] 4Piu: "Whew!" [23:19] 4She handed off the kid and took a dip until she was less...on fire. [23:20] 4Not less hot, of course. [23:20] 6Zhangyu: "Ask the neomah. They know more than I do." [23:21] 6Not bitter. Not going to immediately throw himself into studying Old Realm." 15[23:21] Ratel regards the neomah with visible distaste. "Well?" [23:22] 6He does level a glare at them -- even if they don't share a language, he can do that. 15[23:23] The neomah: 15[23:23] Caxi: 15[23:24] Neomah: 15[23:24] Caxi grimaces and looks back out at where the ship sank. [23:24] 14While she was down there, she unwrapped The Chain. It's back around her neck now. [23:24] 7Dryas calls for Moke, who appears on deck - skeptical - and leans over to him. "Get the girl something decent to wear, something hot to eat, and a stiff draught." [23:24] 6Babbling. Zhangyu surveys the twins and Salim. Are they getting any of this? [23:24] 14Is Caedus on deck? [23:25] 14How much is she going to have to brief on? [23:25] 10Daizo's translating. 15[23:25] The twins are already down in the mess. Salim watches, eyes narrowed. [23:25] 6Good work, cousin. However-- "Raised the dead itself?" 15[23:26] Caedus came up when the demons started to board. 15[23:26] Caxi: "A true ghost ship..." 15[23:26] "What a prize that would have been." [23:26] 6Zhangyu: "For the time we were aboard." 15[23:27] To Zhangyu: "The entire vessel was perverted by necromancy. The power at its core created a sort of floating shadowland within which the dead rose of their own accord. Victims of the sorcerer and his demons." [23:27] 10Daizo: "Some prizes aren't worth winning. Necromancy is the domain of the Anathema." 15[23:28] Salim: "Wisely put, Brother Daizo." [23:28] 6Zhangyu: "Agreed, cousin." 15[23:28] Ratel: "The dilemma solved itself. The question is, what do we do with this..." 15[23:28] Sadako: "...Sadako." [23:28] "You flatter me, I am no brother yet." 10He's still smiling. 15[23:29] Ratel: "Do you speak the tongue of the Realm?" [23:29] 7Dryas: "He didn't have moonsilver tattoos." 7She holds a cigar in Piu's direction and makes a plaintive face. 15[23:29] Sadako stares behind dark hair. [23:29] 4Oh hell yah. [23:29] 4Piu will take a hit. [23:29] 7She'll have to light it first, [23:30] 6How will a fire aspect light a cigar. Impossible. [23:31] 4She chomps down and snaps her fingers in front of it, breathing in. Ahhhhhh... [23:31] 4When it's happily chugging out smoke, she hands it back. 15[23:32] Ratel cycles through the languages she knows. Blank stares on High Realm, Low Realm, Old Realm, Riverspeak, Skytongue, and Seatongue. [23:32] 6Zhangyu: "Sadako." 6He points to the guest. "Zhangyu." 6He points to himself. [23:32] 7Dryas: "Thank you, darling. Now then." 15[23:33] Sadako: "...Zhangyu." [23:33] 4Piu points both thumbs at herself, smiling. "Piu!" 15[23:34] In halting High Realm: "Where is the Mother?" [23:34] 10Daizo crosses his arms. He's not going to introduce himself to this ghost girl. [23:34] 7Dryas puffs on it once or twice. "A ship like that, a week's sail away from the Blessed Isle?" [23:35] 4Ohhhh, she is not equipped to answer that question. [23:35] 6Whoops, relinquished command to the commodore, not his job. 15[23:35] Ratel: "Who is your mother?" [23:36] 6Zhangyu: "Not her mother. The Mother." 6He clears his throat. "Different." 15[23:36] Sadako grabs the back of her own head and makes herself as small as she possibly can - which is very small. The girl rivals Piu for flexibility. "Motherrrrrrrrrrr--" 15[23:37] Ratel, mildly, to Salim: "One of yours?" 15[23:37] Salim scoffs. [23:38] 14Normally it would be a mistake to show weakness here and comfort the girl. [23:39] 4But, it could help her cover. So Piu kind of haltingly approaches, not doing a great job of trying to soothe her. [23:39] 4Not on purpose, just...Piu has no real experience with this, at all. [23:39] 7Dryas puffs again. "Where's that damn - ah, here he is. Excellent." 7Pake Moke has a huge, poofy robe - quite oversize but warm and absorbtive - along with a steaming bowl of some stew from the mess and a wooden mug of wine. 15[23:42] Sadako will take the robe and eat greedily. Just the meat, though. [23:42] 7She glances at the others. "She's not contagious, is she? Tell you what, keep the robe." [23:43] 6Zhangyu: "This is the most she's said or done since the ship." [23:52] 10Daizo ponders who or what the Mother could possibly be. But it just feels like he's going in circles.  [23:53] 10He sighs. "I'm probably overthinking this. Commodore, with your permission, may I lay a ward outside the girl's quarters? Until we can properly ascertain just who or what she is." [23:53] 7Dryas shrugs and offers Sadako the rest of the cigar. "She's totally confused, poor child." 15[23:54] Ratel: "Good thinking, Daizo." 15[23:55] Sadako will take the cigar and take a long drag. A long, long drag. She finishes the entire thing in one pull. 15[23:55] No smoke comes back out. [23:55] 4Oh! [23:55] 4That's... [23:56] 14...complicated. [23:56] 10Daizo: "All right. I'll ask the cook for some salt." 10Oh, that ain't right. That ain't right at all. [23:56] 6Uh. 15[23:56] Caxi: "I like her." [23:56] 4But Piu wraps her arms around the girl anyway and pulls her close. She's still warm, after all, even after that dip in the sea, and she makes happy, soothing sounds in her ear as she kicks the ashes away. 15[23:57] Salim: "An abomination on the ship is your responsibility, Commodore. Any ill consequences that emerge from its presence fall on your head and yours alone." 15[23:57] Ratel: "Oh, go jiggle the stick in your ass. Honestly." [23:57] 14Piu looks up at him. "Good to know." [23:57] 6Zhangyu: "She is my responsibility. I brought her here." 15[23:58] Ratel: "And you're my responsibility. Transitive property." [23:59] 6He stiffens. "Understood, Commodore." [23:59] 6He'll have to thank her later, when he's... not directly post-mission. Session Time: Wed Nov 13 00:00:00 2019 15[00:05] The ship sails on, the mystery settled as much as it can be for one day. Ahead is the night. Ahead is Abalone. [00:07] 10Daizo heads belowdecks to shuck his armor and prepare the warding. He'll be up long into the night writing in his journal.  [00:08] 6Zhangyu's off to journal his adventure, and describe Sadako. Maybe draw her. The captain agrees with him, and hasn't thrown either of them overboard, so... 15[00:12] Does Piu debrief in Caedus's room or her own? [00:14] 14Her's. [00:14] 14Caxi is going to be too busy with her new...distraction...anyway. [00:15] 14So they should have some modicum of privacy. 15[00:15] Caedus closes and locks the door behind him. [00:16] 14Piu is leaning against the far wall. "Bidh sinn fhathast a ’faighinn criutha. " 15[00:18] Caedus: "Tha an nighean a ’cur dragh orm." 15[00:18] "What's your read?" [00:19] 14Piu grimaces. "She's some kind of abomination. She's also a child. She's both, not just the former pretending to be the latter. Her father was a sorcerer who enslaved a neomah and used necromancy to bring her back to life. Or something." [00:19] "File under innocent but dangerous." [00:19] "Moldable, if you're willing to risk the molding." [00:20] "Caxi has significant interest, and now possesses the neomah." 15[00:21] Caedus: "Bound or bargained?" [00:21] 14Piu: "Phòg agus chaidh a mharbhadh. " [00:21] "Bound." 15[00:24] Caedus crosses his arms, walking into the middle of the room. "Another point of tension between the monk and the Commodore. He was at her throat the entire time you were down there." 15[00:25] "Now a demon and an abomination aboard? It risks everything. Ma tha a ’Bhana-bhuidseach Gheal a’ coimhead ro fhaisg..." [00:28] 14Piu: Chan eil sinn a ’faighinn dad le bhith a’ marbhadh duine ach am manach. " [00:28] *" [00:29] "Ratel and Caxi are now useful." 15[00:30] "Elaborate." [00:34] "I've done so at length on Caxi previously. All of those arguments have increased now that she has one demon on direct retainer and the girl in play. Her relative influence has increased. Ratel is not only more pliable than the monk and disposed to side with me due to my previous work in that sector, she has forcefully sided against him. A disappearance and a death for the interloper [00:34] from House Mnemon can be laid, by insinuation, on her name." [00:35] "The monk is a Black Lotus assassin who genuinely hates demons. Cha bhith e a ’dèanamh dad ach a’ creachadh ar poitean is ar pònaichean. " 15[00:36] Caedus: "What you say makes sense. But the political implications... we'll have to consult with my master in Abalone." 15[00:37] "Unless you think he cannot be allowed to deliver his reports..." [00:38] 14Piu: "We will have to permit that." [00:38] "Bidh a mharbhadh air an t-soitheach, eadhon ged a chuireas sinn a ’choire air Ratel, a’ cur dragh air ar misean. " [00:39] "Is fheàrr an t-òrd sin tuiteam mìosan bho seo. " 15[00:41] Caedus nods. "We'll have to expect him to become more and more intrusive." [00:42] 14Piu: "If it has to be done here, it has to be done here." [00:43] "And we have the advantage." [00:43] "Dithis againn; fear dha. " 15[00:44] Caedus: "Plus, the Commodore could always just shoot him in the head herself. She looked like she was considering it." [00:45] 14Piu: "We're more likely to find Ratel dead in her quarters than we are to have her solve this problem herself." [00:45] "And I respect Ratel." [00:46] "Ma thachras sin, gheibh am manach bàs air an latha sin. " [00:46] "We should have a plan ready." 15[00:46] Caedus nods. "We'll take the day to think about it. Hopefully the rest of the voyage is quiet." [00:48] "Hopefully." [00:49] 14She shrugs out of her robe. "I'm going to bed. I'm tired...but I didn't get my evening stretches in." 15[00:50] Caedus takes her in his arms. "Good work today." [00:50] 14She leans into his chest. "Mmmmmm." 15[00:51] NEXT TIME: The Feathered One 14[01:12] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:54] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:16] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[02:30] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[03:10] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[06:01] * banana|split is now known as banana|work 14[09:34] * banana|work is now known as banana 14[11:01] * Joins: tom 14[12:21] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[13:29] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[13:29] * Joins: dammitwho 14[14:24] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[14:25] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[22:37] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[22:39] * Joins: cbass 14[22:42] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[22:47] * Joins: cbass 14[23:14] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Thu Nov 14 00:00:00 2019 14[00:12] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[00:23] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[00:31] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[00:31] * Joins: Quaker 14[00:39] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:27] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. 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[20:03] 4And establishing her cover, of course. 15[20:04] What's she looking for, and how does she go about finding it out? [20:05] 14She's a people person. First she'll want to figure out what's going on with this Sadako: what she's eating, what she's doing, what Caxi is having her do. This is probably most easily accomplished by innocently hanging around Caxi. They are somewhat partners in crime now, in the assassination of... [20:06] 14...Salim, who is going to be a harder nut to crack. She'll spend time buttering up Ratel, but Piu doesn't expect Ratel to actually know anything. Mainly the footwork here is going to be determining who Salim does interact with and sending Caedus on fact-finding missions about them. He'll be trusted more and have a better cover story than she would. [20:06] 07Dryas has organized a bit of gambling to keep the nights busy. In the day, she's taken to bowfishing for any particularly large fish that stray near the boat. She'd wanted to take potshots at some of the larger and stranger seabirds and sea-raitons but was discretely discouraged by Ratel. [20:07] 14As for the third thing, that's an open-season sort of thing. Anyone who looks like they're looking too closely or too well 4at something other than Piu WANTS them to be looking at 14during the other two investigations is a good candidate for further review. [20:09] 6Zhangyu spends most of his time either exercising, observing Sadako - still not entirely sure what's going on with her - or hiding away in his room, sketching. The Cathaks aside, his crewmates are tolerable, and it's been liberating being back on the open sea again. 15[20:11] At first Caxi regarded Piu's presence while Caxi was probing the depth and breadth of Sadako's knowledge and education with well-concealed annoyance, but after a while the sorceress seemed almost pleased to have Piu around. [20:12] 14For a heretical, scheming slaver bound to demonic forces, Caxi's pretty cool. 15[20:12] Salim, from his vantage point on deck, bothers no one but misses scarcely anything that happens abovedecks, including the exercise, training, and sunbathing of the ship's Dynasts. [20:13] 4She'd like him better if he was a perv. But she knows he's actually a hunter. 15[20:19] Ratel, for her part, is extremely easy to get along with, as long as all the ship's work gets done and there's a minimum of drama. She takes a keen interest in ship morale, and there's only so many people onboard whose morale she can see to personally, so every once in a while everyone's invited to her study for drinks and conversation. Today, it's Zhangyu. How does he like these 15[20:19] meetings? 15[20:23] How much of an interest does Dryas take in young Sadako over the course of the voyage, and what effort does she make to make time with the girl, whose time is almost monopolized by Caxi? [20:24] 6He's wary, as he always is when meeting with superior officers. Especially when he's just been given a position in command that ended... well, it ended, and now there's a Sadako on board. Still, he does attempt to relax, these are social calls after all. [20:24] 4She could see to more if Piu weren't taking up so many office hours...but alas. 15[20:24] Command is a heavy burden. [20:28] 07Sadako! Great question. Caxi may try monopolize the poor thing, but Dryas has her own interests in the girl. Dryas questions her lightly from time to time - what does she remember of her life before? What does she wish to do? The rest of the time, Dryas sees to it that she keeps eating, and occasionally tries to figure out just how she does that trick whenever she borrows Dryas' pipe. 15[20:28] Well, we'll see how well Zhangyu relaxes with a mug of rum in hand and the Commodore asking, "Was that your first field command?" [20:31] 6...she thought it went that badly? "Yes," 6he starts. "I commanded in training, and we ran exercises, but this was my first time leading in the field." 6He takes a sip of rum, to avoid asking for her evaluation immediately. "Was it acceptable?" 6Shit! 15[20:33] The Commodore: "I think you did very well. Everyone got in and got out of a sinking cursed ship in one piece, and you picked up a curiosity for our trouble. But I'm more interested in your self-evaluation." 15[20:34] "I wasn't there, after all." [20:35] 6He instantly and visibly relaxes after she says 'very well,' and almost misses the rest until-- "Self-evaluation? I. Hrm." 6He taps against his glass thoughtfully. 15[20:37] One sunny afternoon while Sadako's getting some fresh air, and both Dryas and Caxi are watching over her, Dryas's cousin will turn and remark almost lazily, "So. We should work this out between us." [20:40] 07Dryas rolls up onto the balls of her feet, stretching, and looks out the corner of her eye. Her cousin is quite an enigma sometimes, but it's no surprise the sorceress is so curious about someone like Sadako. "We should," 07she replies. "What do you propose?" 15[20:40] Besides Salim, who after his chat with Piu that night early on has been either much more respectful or much more discreet, the people who've taken maybe the most pointed interest in Piu are the Cathak twins. How's she playing that? [20:40] 14Trying not to get the ship burnt down. [20:41] 4Which is to say an incorrigible flirt, but not playing favorites and not sleeping with either of them. [20:43] 6Slowly: "The team did well. Followed orders, acted as a unit, deferred to me without question. I am not sure if all of the orders I gave were correct, and much of the ship wasn't investigated... individually, top marks for all of them. I am not sure about me." [20:47] "I take comfort that any mistakes I made resulted in no injuries. But that is all." [20:49] 07Dryas: "I propose - given our House's interest in, ah, the tragic circumstances involving her father, for which she herself is nonetheless blameless - that she be treated as a ward of our House. We shouldn't allow the others to pry her away. As far as you and I, I am sure we can reach some equitable arrangement without involving my mother, or yours. I teach her, you question her? I have her while the sun rises and you while [20:49] it descends?." 15[20:51] Caxi, flatly: "She's too valuable to sell. We should be absolutely clear about that. We have no idea of her potential, but surely you can sense the power at work in the girl..." 15[20:52] Does Piu spend time with the two of them together, such that she might be around when Ito Pan and Ito Jun challenge Salim to spar? [20:53] 4Oh 14yes. 15[20:53] Ratel shakes her head. "I was worried about this." [20:54] 6He makes a noise best represented as "?" 15[21:00] The twins and Salim fan out, Pan and Jun falling into their well-practiced Fire Dragon katas while Salim takes on a floaty, graceful stance. [21:00] 14Unarmed? 15[21:00] All three of them. [21:01] 14Poor boys. 15[21:01] Salim's posture, one leg high, arms akimbo... it looks comical, but Piu recognizes it as the core stance of the Crane style. 15[21:02] A stylist's style, more fit for exhibitions and patronizing sifus than true blood sport. [21:02] 14Mmmmmm. Please. [21:03] 14A Crane master would be the perfect cover, wouldn't it? [21:04] 07Dryas: "Sell her? No, I think not. She's more like a Lost Egg, no-one to be given up that lightly." 15[21:05] Ratel: "You know, I almost didn't recognize you. But I remembered the skinny, serious kid who worked so hard in all my classes, who put in extra hours on the training rigs. You filled out." 15[21:07] Caxi visibly relaxes. It's odd; you'd have thought she was already as relaxed-looking as someone can possibly be. "So then the question is of education and training." 15[21:08] "I think we both ought to have a stake. She needs to understand the way the world works, after all. And you can teach her accounting, too." [21:08] 6Zhangyu agrees. "Most people don't. Recognize me, that is." 6Or they stopped mentioning it within his earshot after a while. "It's made things easier." [21:09] 07Drily: "They don't cover that at the Heptagram? 'As above, so below'?" 15[21:11] Salim beckons for Jun and Pan to come at once, and they find themselves trading blows with each other as Salim calmly redirects their attacks. "Such passion! Such vitality! But where's the focus?" [21:12] 14Well, at least someone's going to teach them this lesson. 15[21:13] Caxi: "I can't claim to have attended all my classes... my disrespect is not intentional, cousin. There are things each of us knows that the other doesn't. Sadako deserves to see both sides of the coin." [21:13] 14She will continue to study Salim's form for signs of something more...but she doesn't expect much. After all, she didn't show her hand when he was in this seat. 15[21:16] Ratel nods. "A real change in temperament, too." 15[21:16] "Do you like animals, Zhangyu?" [21:17] 07Dryas: "I understand - you're right, of course. We can divide the responsibility - for her, and to her." [21:18] 6Zhangyu: "Do I - what?" 6He frowns. "Some of them are acceptable." 6He thinks back to that cat from Grandmaster Mushi's test. 15[21:18] Caxi: "She remembers so much, and yet so little. All the education, none of the substance. It's like she was born anew with a head full of knowledge and no memories." 15[21:21] Salim: "You are skilled, to be sure, and schooled as well. But secondary school is over. To attempt to live in this world by passion alone is to invite certain destruction." The two of them press a momentary advantage in a synchronized attack that pushes Salim to the back foot, but opens them up for a counterattack that looks like it should hurt a lot more than it seems to, given how 15[21:21] swift Salim moved and how vulnerable the points he struck. 15[21:21] "Hone your heart to a killing edge," says he, "and you will never know defeat." [21:21] 14Well, let's hope they don't take that particular advice. [21:22] 14...Those strikes, though. 14[21:22] * Joins: hrolfie [21:23] 07Dryas: "Perhaps less an education in terms of knowledge as an education in... responsibility? Decorum?" [21:23] "...Discretion?" [21:23] 14Unexpected precision. [21:24] 14Well, unexpected if you didn't know he was a trained killer. 15[21:29] Ratel: "I love animals. My father bred dogs for sport and play, and when my mother was at sea I would spend all my time with him at the kennels, playing with them and exercising them. I learned many things this way. But one thing stuck out to me. He would take in dogs he didn't breed himself, to train them, and these dogs, even the well-cared-for ones, were often sick and unruly and 15[21:29] cruel." 15[21:30] "I asked him why that was and he told me, most people, even good people, don't have the patience to care for something weaker than they are. They grow impatient. They grow tired. They grow cruel. They mistreat or strike the animal, out of frustration or because they think it will help them." [21:30] 14There is a danger to him that isn't necessarily conveyed in his blows, however. He's pulling those. It's conveyed in his words. Mnemon Salim is a deeply, deeply ideological killer. [21:30] 14Which, fair play. [21:30] 14And that makes him strong. 15[21:30] "My father said to me, a hit dog doesn't learn anything. A hit dog just gets mean." [21:30] 6Zhangyu sips at his rum quietly. 15[21:33] The twins' banter stops, and they fight with renewed focus. Pan comes in first, low for a debilitating sweep... and Salim sends him sailing clean across the deck, directly into his brother, where both fall to the wood, again with remarkable gentleness. 15[21:34] As To said, not a killing art. 15[21:34] Salim bows deeply. 15[21:34] "She has the manners of a patrician girl," Caxi agrees with some small disgust. [21:35] 6Eventually: "An interesting story," 6He pretends to not see the relevance. "And one I will keep in mind for the future." [21:35] 4Piu claps tidily, hard enough to be cheering her twins and not so hard to be cheering how hard they just got slammed. [21:35] 4She makes a point of not looking over at Salim. 15[21:37] Ratel: "I don't want to pass judgment on the kind of man you've become, though I won't insult your intelligence and say I approve of your demeanor. But you're smart, you're careful, you're strong and strong-willed, and you care about doing well, not just appearing to do well. You have all the makings of a good commander." 15[21:37] She finishes her rum. "Don't hit the dogs." [21:38] 07Dryas, nodding: "Not for long, I am certain." 15[21:39] Pan and Jun seem deeply shaken, but they bow in turn and step away to mingle with Piu. "I tell you, he didn't seem to be about much against those blood apes, but old Salim's no joke," says Ito Pan once they've got something cool to drink. [21:40] 14That's because he didn't want to show you what it looks like when he's killing. [21:40] 4Out loud: "Maybe he's just got an aversion to demons..." [21:40] 6He nods stiffly, and finishes his own drink. "Thank you, Commodore." 6And then, a second time, more sincerely: "I will keep that in mind." 15[21:40] Ito Jun: "Explains why he's avoiding that creepy girl you brought on board." 15[21:41] Ratel stands. "I have every confidence in you, Zhangyu." [21:41] 4Piu kicks a leg out. "Caxi says she's not a demon." 15[21:43] Ito Jun: "Yeah?" 15[21:43] Ito Pan: "What is she?" [21:44] 4Piu shrugs. "I dunno. But she's not bound on a deal or anything like that. Just some kinda creepy girl." [21:44] 14Her mind is still on the fight. [21:44] 6He stands as well. "I won't let you down." 6Oof, that's some rum, and he's not a heavy drinker... He's sitting back in the chair again. 15[21:44] Ratel grins at this. "We'll make a sailor of you yet." [21:45] 14In its own way, his masterful deployment of the Crane style was the most concerning, deadly thing he could have done. Salim never entered an aura. 15[21:45] Caxi: "It may be necessary, though, to plumb your contacts, when we get ashore. You're well-connected among the Guildsmen, I trust?" [21:45] 14Forget the banner. He never had an aura. [21:46] 14What is this man? [21:48] 6He didn't even know his face was still capable of pouting. It's cute, and also very weird to see on him these days. He stands again, embarrassed, and shuffles quietly back to his own quarters. [21:48] 07Dryas: "I try to keep a close eye on them. And I like to think they try to keep a close eye on me. I'm sure they'll be almost as eager for news of the fate of that sorcerer as we'll be for information about how he was able to get away with such brazen piracy." 15[21:50] Caxi: "Mmm. I look forward to hearing more." [21:52] 07Dryas: "Has that demon given up anything that isn't too salacious to discuss abovedecks?" 15[21:52] Caxi waves a hand. "She's boring. Neomah always are." [21:54] "Too perfect?" 15[21:55] Caxi: "Too servile. Even their defiance is calculated to invite the extraction of obedience." 15[21:55] "If that interested me, I could've stayed at home and played with my husband." [21:56] 07Dryas stifles a chuckle but certainly doesn't question - or disagree. 15[21:57] The rest of the voyage passes more or less uneventfully. 15[21:59] Soon the sight of great Hamoji looms beyond the mists and fog surrounding the great Western island chains this time of year. The volcano glows violet in the morning light, towering above the city that curls up at its feet like a well-fed pet. [22:00] 4Ooooh. [22:04] 6Beautiful. Also, mildly concerning. 15[22:04] The light of the volcano stains sails of the hundreds of ships moving in and out of the bustling port; many bearing the colors of House Peleps and the Imperial Navy, fewer but still many with the colors of the Merchant Fleet (including the Defiance), and other banners more foreign and piratical. [22:06] 4Pretty. [22:06] 14Cool. [22:10] 07Dryas clambers up the mainmast and drapes herself across one of the spars to get a better look. "Hamoji! Looks so different from the Southern volcanoes..." 15[22:13] Ratel whistles around to get everyone's attention. "Sailors have got a day or two shore leave waiting for them once we're disembarked and our resupply is arranged. I'll be seeing to that. Officer Samperson, see to the needs of the crew. Senior staff, your task is to find leads. Anything you can see, hear, or learn in Abalone that can give us a fresh bearing or a sense of what the island 15[22:13] folk and the Imperials stationed here know or have heard about Furia's fleet. Discretion is the watchword -- better to let a lead slip through your fingers than give up too much of our intentions. We're being watched on all sides. Act like it." [22:15] "Understood, Commodore." 6Discretion. Well, that's not exactly one of Zhangyu's strong points... [22:22] 07Dryas: "And for our cover story?" [22:24] 6He very carefully does not react. 15[22:26] Ratel: "The story you're working with is that I'm facing political disgrace and I've assembled a team to clear my own name. Act like you're probing for allies and pressure-points within House and Naval politics; anything I might be able to use as leverage to improve my own standing, and then rain patronage down on my lovely assistants." 15[22:27] Ito Pan: "What'd you do?" [22:27] 07Dryas scans the room. Caxi, Piu, the twins... Zhangyu... damn, Commodore... .... 15[22:27] Ratel: "I'm sorry?" 15[22:28] Ito Pan: "Why are you disgraced? People are gonna ask." 15[22:30] Ratel: "Oh. Be circumspect. Imply espionage. Do you know what circumspect means?" 15[22:30] Ito Jun: "Yeah, in some cultures they cut the tip of--" 15[22:30] Ratel: "Finish that sentence and you're not allowed off the ship." [22:30] 6Cathaks. 15[22:30] Caxi snickers. 15[22:34] Ratel: "On second thought, you two boys stay with me. The rest of you, do what you like. Questions?" [22:35] 6Zhangyu shakes his head. He's got a few ideas of where to start... [22:37] 07Dryas, with Pale Moke and a team of porters in tow carrying the scrolls, books, and artwork, is off like a shot for the market. 15[22:37] Caxi follows her cousin. [22:43] 07Dryas and her retinue push their way through the crowds, lugging the goods. Eventually, at a particularly good spot in the port market, Dryas signals for them to halt. Pale Moke unfurls a scroll and begins shouting, first in High Realm, but also in less refined tongues-  [22:43] 4They don't do it in all cultures, though. It's a varied lot. [22:44] 4Piu has no questions for Ratel. [22:44] 6He's got enough of a reputation as Grandmaster Mushi's student and as a master mantis stylist that there's probably someone in town that could know something. Talk with them, maybe spar, and see what he can learn from that. Even if it's just a different name to follow. [22:45] 07Moke: "Princes of Earth! Roughened barbarians! Ship-captains of taste and distinction: Suffer in darkness and ignorance, no longer! Cynis Dryas, who humbled the Thri-Kahn of Chiaroscuro and the Delzahn Bloodriders, has selected YOU - yes you - to consume her fine wares! Marvel at the finest, latest, most thrilling works, fresh from the Blessed Isle!" [22:46] 14Ugh. [22:47] "...The thickest novels! The hottest ero-scrolls, the most sumptuous works of art, are here to bring the light of the world and the flower of civilization to YOU, for a reasonable price! Inquire for details!" [22:50] "Sick of annotating the Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier for the ten thousandth time? Have you committed every passage in the Immaculate Scrolls to memory? Why not get yourself a little piece of home? Available today only, the hottest special in Abalone. Makes a good gift to impress your boss OR your sweetheart!" 15[22:51] Piu catches the Chief Petty Officer in a private moment after the ship has docked. "I'm going to be tied up here for a day at least, but we're meant to report in as soon as we've arrived." He hands Piu a small, seemingly blank ledger-book. "These are the substance of our daily reports over the trip. Ialtagan is a merchant prince with strong ties to the Guild. He is also Iselsi Lao, my 15[22:51] master. Code in with 'the aurora's shining early this year'." [22:52] 14Piu: "And his response?" 15[22:52] Caedus: "'We must go North before the weather turns.'" [22:53] 14She nods. "I will find him." 15[22:53] Caedus: "Good hunting." [22:53] 14Before she goes, she kisses him on the cheek. [22:54] 14When she's outside, she wraps her necklace discreetly around her right hand. [22:54] 14It moves in her grip. [22:54] 07Dryas waves, looking even more impeccably brilliant than she did the morning they left Bittern. This showy sale of pablum should build the hype necessary to get a really good deal on the actually valuable cultural works. 15[22:55] Zhangyu has to bum around a bit before he starts swimming in the right circles. But it's not long, all told, before he's in a dank and sweaty dojo, watching men square off beside an older man who knew Mushi well, as he put it, 'in another life'. "If they're sending the big man this far afield, it must be important. What are you after, warrior?" [22:56] 4Piu will be bubbly and available to help with anything, 14until she gets the chance to slip away,. 15[23:00] Piu's left to her own devices almost immediately. Ratel's very hands-off. Figuratively at least. [23:00] 6Zhangyu: "Right now? A good scrap, I've been cooped up on the ship for too long. Different sparring when you're not on solid ground." 6Probably not what he meant by 'what are you after,' but hey. Subtlety! Zhangyu's trying it! [23:01] 6Yes, "I want to fight" is subtle. 15[23:03] The dojo master grunts. "No one here's really on your level. If you want a real workout--" and here he leans close to Zhangyu. "--you'll want to secure an invitation to the Hinokuni. That's the only fighting worth mentioning that happens on this island." 15[23:08] Dryas and Pale Moke make an excellent team, and even Caxi's customarily languid presence seems to be attracting customers. They do brisk business -- so brisk, in fact, that Dryas completely misses the person coming up on her until she gets a brisk tap on her shoulder. [23:10] 07Dryas whirls around, hand on a small flamepiece she keeps up her voluminous sleeves for just this sort of occurrence. [23:11] 6He grins menacingly. "And how would I obtain one of those?" 15[23:16] Piu drifts through the streets of Abalone, unremarked-upon and, should she desire, unnoticed... between Caedus's directions and her own intuition, it's not hard to find the palatial estate with its stooped palm trees and sumptuous fountains positively spinning with revelers. This is a courtly party, for courtly people -- a social occasion, more for being seen than cutting loose. Men 15[23:16] and women drip with jewels and silk that glitter in the violet light of Hamoji. 15[23:17] The woman who touched Dryas's shoulder raises her hands in a placating gesture -- Dryas immediately notes that the last two fingers on her right hand are missing. "Dryas of House Cynis?" she asks. [23:18] 4Mmmm hmm hmm hmmmmm... [23:18] 14Ah. [23:18] 14She wasn't told to dress for a party, and consequently, she isn't. [23:19] 07The 'piece disappears back up the sleeve. "One and the same," 07she replies in High Realm. 15[23:20] What's Piu's approach? In through the servant's entrance? Climbing a tree to get at a second- or third-floor window? [23:20] 14Best not to be mistaken for a prostitute until she absolutely must. The upper-story entrance it is. 15[23:20] The dojo master grunts again. "Do you want to know the easy way or the fast way?" [23:21] 6Zhangyu: "I'm always up for a challenge." 15[23:22] The dojo master: "Find someone who already possesses such an invitation and take it from them. By force if necessary. Off their corpse if desired. Then it's your invitation." 15[23:22] "I could give you some names..." [23:23] 6He nods. Yes, this will work just fine. "It would be appreciated." 15[23:26] Dryas's interlocutor: "I have a message for you from the Factor. He has the information you requested, and more, if you'd meet him." [23:26] 14The guards are the easy part: they don't look up. She makes it over the grounds guards quite easily on the walls and latticed rails and tree branches that connect the hidden world above most grunts' heads, and no one's really looking out the windows, either, are they? Sloppy, but then, they're mostly for show. [23:28] 14Revelers...they're a bit more difficult. Well, not the drunk boys and the party girls, but the snakes mixed in there. And the study's down on the first floor. It takes a creative stairwell descent, but it's done quick and efficiently -- and most importantly, Piu's pretty sure it's done well enough that she's not noticed by the actual security for Lao's estate: [23:28] 14Lao. [23:30] 07Her eyes flash with recognition. Excellent! Something on that strange petty officer. Dryas plucks a white flower from her hair and pins it to Moke's tunic. Now any who see him will know on whose behalf he does business. She takes a look at this interlocutor. "Excellent to hear, please lead the way." 15[23:30] Zhangyu gets two names: one is Chases-Waterfalls, a real piece of work who hangs out among the dockworkers. The other is Tolurin, an old man like the dojo master who can most likely be found in one of the city's temple gardens. 15[23:32] Piu's left to wait for quite some time. But eventually the door opens. How does she arrange herself? [23:32] 14Behind the door, obviously. [23:32] 14Assuming it swings in. 15[23:33] It does. Piu sees the broad silk-clad back of a man with short, dark hair. From this angle she's almost put in mind of an older, slightly bigger Caedus. [23:33] 6Got to go for Chases-Waterfalls. Nothing against beating up old men, but a dockworker could be a fun challenge. Besides, a fight on the docks is much simpler to explain away. You see? Subtlety! [23:34] 14Mmmmm. [23:34] 14Alone? 15[23:34] Alone. 14[23:34] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:34] 14When the door closes, without preamble: "The aurora's shining early this year." 15[23:35] Dryas is led past the parket into a stately house cut into the base of the mountain, past guards who tread that fine line between pretending not to notice her and paying the appropriate respect. "Shoes off, please. Rules of the house," says the interlocutor, demonstrating by slipping out of her own sandals and flexing bare toes against the cool stone. [23:36] 6He thanks the dojo master and is on his way soon, though not before scoffing at a particularly poor performance by one of the students. They'll get better, one assumes. Or get dead. 15[23:37] Iselsi Lao doesn't turn to face Piu just yet. His voice is deep and gravelly. "We must go North before the weather turns." [23:38] 14Piu doesn't relax, quite, but instead of approaching Lao in his blind spot she circles into his peripheral vision before approaching, and then placing the ledger-book on his desk. [23:38] "With the officer's compliments." [23:39] 07There are times you leave the shoes on to send a message, but this isn't one of them. Dryas can be humble as well as proud. Especially when the Factor has something she wants. 15[23:41] Lao picks it up, sparing barely a glance for Piu. "Caedus tied up with the ship, then?" [23:41] 14Piu: "I was in better social position to make the delivery." 15[23:43] Lao: "You'll be Piu, then. To spoke highly of you." 15[23:43] "I don't hold that against you." [23:43] 14Evenly: "Thank you." 15[23:47] Dryas is led through the house and to great double doors, which the interlocutor will knock on thrice before scurrying away. After a moment the doors swing open revealing a peculiar-looking man at the center. Close-cropped, delicate blonde hair, soft, almost childlike features and pitiless blue eyes. The biggest shit-eating smile Dryas has ever seen. "Cynis Dryas. What a vision. Your 15[23:47] aunt really undersells it. Come in, come in!" 15[23:47] "Do you want a drink? I am partial to the rum. We don't get it where I'm from. Sit, please!" 15[23:48] The office is lavishly appointed, with comfortable chairs, thick bookshelves, and a roaring fire. There's no desk, just chairs facing chairs and a low table between them. [23:49] "Rum would be splendid, thank you...?" 07Dryas replies as she glides over to one of the seats, running a finger along her talisman. 15[23:49] Iselsi Lao flips through the ledger, running his fingers over the pages and mouthing words to himself. "Good work. Thorough. Anything you'd like to report that can't wait?" [23:53] 14Piu: "I merely wish to underline the skill with which the Black Lotus killer used the Crane style, and lack of effort he exerted. He was insufficiently exerted to even manifest an aura. And some of his joint-strikes were...only formally of Crane." 15[23:54] Lao: "Black Lotus, you say? He'll be well-schooled to conceal every trace of his true strength." [23:55] 14Piu: "Perhaps he concealed it too well. Perhaps he didn't." 15[23:55] "Is he an immediate threat? Do you and Caedus have an action plan?" 15[23:56] The Factor pours two drinks and lets Dryas take one before taking the other. "My name is Nn Tloc. You're familiar with the organization I represent." 15[23:58] Tloc: "First things first, we did some digging on your seaman. Samperson, right?" [23:58] "Mmmhmm," 07she says, taking a sip. Session Time: Wed Nov 20 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] 14Piu: "He has been passive so far. He is in the guise of an Immaculate monk. He may even be an Immaculate monk. Regardless, his presence has terrified the ship's sorceress, a heretic and demon-lover who has just taken a neomah in her service. I have compromised her, and she believes she's bringing me in on a plan to lure him off alone somewhere and dispose of him." 15[00:00] Tloc: "I'll tell you, I get a lot of documents like this put in front of me and this was one of the more interesting. Purchased outright from a slave trawler out of Pneuma. Chosen, took the Coin, but he was pulled out of service in the Legions to take shit details in the Merchant Fleet. The name on these orders. V'Neef." 15[00:01] "Seven years of service, a transfer every year or so, always to a bigger ship. He got promoted fast at first, but his career's stalled. Loss of patronage? Interesting question!" 15[00:03] "We did some more digging, because now I'm interested, and it transpires that every one of his assignments passed through V'Neef's personal household. Got her big green stamp." 15[00:03] "For an enlisted petty officer." 15[00:03] "Isn't that something?" [00:04] "That's quite interesting. Goes beyond mere micro management." 15[00:04] Lao: "There's a lot of moving parts here. But I suppose given what's at stake we've got to expect that." 15[00:05] "The two of you are prepared to continue the work with all this complexity overhead?" [00:08] 14Piu: "We are committed. We perfected our workflow in the kill environment with the Bittern job. We will be able to adapt the model moving forward." [00:09] "...Is what To would want me to say. Plainly, we're on top of it." 15[00:09] Lao nods. "Good, good. No risks to either of your cover?" 15[00:09] Nn Tloc: "So that's the good news. Do you want to hear the better news?" 14[00:10] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[00:10] * Joins: mattbaby [00:11] 14Piu: "We cover our meetings with an ongoing liaison, which is at this point expected and tolerated. Salim 'stumbled' onto us within half an hour of being on ship. The cover was reinforced, not compromised, but I do not like the timing." [00:12] 07She takes a much bigger draught. "I'm all ears," 15[00:13] Nn Tloc: "So I understand you're aiming to set down a commercial operation in the area. Whaling, is it? You've got the ship, you've got the sailors. Do I have that right?" 15[00:15] Lao folds his arms, briefly lost in thought. "...you're right to be suspicious. A killer of the Black Lotus... Damhan-allaidh mòr ann an lìon nas motha." [00:17] 14Piu: "Faodaidh lìn damhain-allaidh losgadh. So long as that's the mission." [00:17] 07She leans backwards. "You might say so. In this part of the world, I'm given to understand there's all sorts of impressive sea creatures. I want to bag a few. Might as well get the most out of it." 15[00:18] Lao: "It isn't... yet. The work remains. But use your judgment. If you think either the Commodore's mission or your own is at risk don't hesitate to burn him." [00:18] 14She nods. "Any notes or message to pass back along?" 15[00:21] Lao: "Tell him I'm impressed. Tell him..." He shakes his head. "I'll tell him the rest myself. You need cover for an exit?" [00:22] "No," 14Piu says, then slightly smiles. "But I would appreciate it." 15[00:23] Nn Tloc: "A hunting operation. Good! That'll take you all up and down these beautiful islands. A Cynis huntress's vessel, welcome at any port of call, and no one looks too closely at the paperwork. Perfect for a mutually beneficial shipping arrangement." 15[00:24] "What do you say? How would you like to turn your big game hunter into a money-making machine?" 15[00:25] Lao reaches into his robes and comes up with a blank and tattered scrap of paper. "These names are in Gant. Read them only in the dark. Each name only appears when the previous name can be crossed off." [00:26] 14Piu takes the paper and secrets it in a new space behind The Chain's 'amulet.' 15[00:27] Lao: "Ten minutes for me to call everyone to the back yard for a toast. Make any exit you like." Then he's gone. [00:28] 14She could poke around the study in the meantime...but she won't, both out of respect and because she's not that foolish. 15[00:30] Piu can hear the people filing out back, even the lovers from the upper floors. [00:31] 14Sounds like a fun time. As soon as it's clear, she gets clear. [00:33] 07Dryas is interested but has a few critical questions. "Smuggling what goods away from whose watchful eyes? Is this just a way to undercut the Merchant Navy or are you trafficking in something that would get a Dynast in trouble?" 07Other than moving Anathema around there's not too many things that can get a Dynast in trouble. 15[00:35] Tloc: "It would be beneficial not to go through official channels. Administrative and shipping. Certain antiquities, boutique labor-brokerage... it's complicated, and has the potential to disrupt a lot of market actors." 15[00:44] Piu has a smooth trip back to the ship, or rather, to the comfortable hostels where the crew are bunked down for their leave. [00:44] 4Hi, boys~ [00:45] 14Has Caedus got his own room? 15[00:45] He does. It's stone, too. Thicker walls. 15[00:46] You know, for scheming. [00:46] 14Marathon scheming. [00:46] 4Piu spends enough time giggling and drinking with the boys, but will head off to assert her right to the Chief Petty Officer once he appears. [00:47] 07Dryas stares with a bit of shock at this proposal. Smuggling captured Anathema? Not that they don't deserve whatever they get... "I... need to think about it," 07she replies, into the cup. 15[00:50] Nn Tloc's grin gets stony and hard and terrible... but only for a moment. "Sure! This is a rapidly closing window of opportunity, however. If you delay too long, don't be surprised to find I've made other arrangements. But I really think we'd make an excellent team." 15[00:52] The music Dryas hears matches the upbeat energy the Factor projects. 15[00:52] Nn Tloc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eauZzwt8Ci8 - We are vain and we are blind; I hate people when they're not polite. 15[00:53] Caedus is in his room. "How'd it go?" [00:55] "Got in and out with no one seeing me but Lao. And even he didn't see me until I made contact." 14She hands him the piece of paper. "List of targets, in something called 'Gant.' They'll reveal themselves one by one." [00:57] 07Dryas takes a deep breath and finishes the rum. "I'll be back tomorrow with your answer. And maybe we'll talk terms." 15[00:58] Caedus: "Gant is old tradecraft. Hard to make, so it's not widely used anymore. But Lao does love his toys. It's ink you can only read in the dark. Here:" He draws the curtain, blocking the moon and rendering the room essentially pitch black, and a single name in neat, tiny script appears on the paper: 11,5MNEMON DUSK 15[00:59] *Very* tiny script. Room for a lot of names on this piece of paper. [00:59] 14Piu gets closer than strictly necessary. [00:59] "Any idea who that is." 15[00:59] Caedus: "I heard that name while we were setting up. I think she's a missionary." [01:00] "Perhaps a contact of Salim's." 15[01:00] Caedus: "Maybe we can find out what she knows about him before we terminate." [01:00] 14Piu, in a rather definitive tone: "I'm not trained in torture." [01:01] "Speaking of Salim." 15[01:01] "Thanks for coming by! See you around!" Nn Tloc's voice carries farther than it should. Dryas swears she can hear him chuckling still as she crosses the threshold of the door and emerges into the night air. [01:01] "We have full blessing to kill if he interferes." 15[01:02] Caedus nods. "I wasn't picturing torture, by the way. There's safer and more effective methods." [01:04] 14Piu shrugs. "I'm not trained in those either. If you want to put together a safe house, we can build the operation around it." 15[01:05] Caedus: "I'm not sure how long we'll be in Abalone... Ratel's keen to move quickly. She's going to want to know what you found out today." [01:06] 07Who the hell was that guy? Dryas wonders as she stumbles back out into night air. [01:06] 14Piu: "Then I should get to work on a lie." [01:06] 14A pause. "Oh, and one more thing." 15[01:07] Caedus: "Mm?" [01:08] "Lao said he was impressed by your work. Then he stopped himself from saying something else complimentary and said he'd say it in person. My assumption is, based on the sort of man he presents as, that he won't. My further assumption is that he's proud." [01:08] 14She wouldn't go out of her way like this, but the man didn't try to fuck her and clearly dislikes To, and that's worth some points. 15[01:09] Caedus purses his lips and nods. "That... sounds like him." [01:09] 14Piu: "I imagined it might." [01:09] "Should I stay or leave?" 15[01:10] Caedus pulls her body against his. "We're on shore leave. Who cares what we should do?" [01:11] 14She grins. "I do so enjoy this cover." 15[01:11] NEXT TIME: The quick and the dead 14[01:25] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[02:01] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:05] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:24] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:45] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[10:45] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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Lamp and lantern are scarce as Zhangyu makes his way down to the docks; at night longshoremen drink and work by Hamoji alone. 15[20:33] How does Zhangyu go about looking for his quarry, a man named Chases-Waterfalls, and the medallion he holds marking him as an invitee to the underground fighting tournament Hinokuni? [20:34] 6It's still mildly concerning that the volcano glows, whether or not it happens to be dangerous to Zhangyu right now. Does he have a description of Chases-Waterfalls, or just a name? He's likely headed to a tavern either way, one near the docks, to rub elbows with the rabble. 15[20:37] He knows he's looking for a well-built man, shaved bald... but a lot of guys on the docks fit that description. 15[20:38] Zhangyu gets a few looks as he explores. This port isn't so big a city that a newcomer to the docks like him will just slip beneath notice. [20:39] 6Probably shouldn't just throw the doors open, point at a guy, and yell "YOU!" at him, then. The attention is... hm. He's not keeping a low profile, but it'd be weird if he was. [20:40] 6He casually ignores any stares and makes his way to the tavern with the worst name he can spot. Bartender might know someone who knows someone, or maybe Chases-Waterfalls will have poor taste as well as poor luck. 15[20:43] Zhangyu pushes through the crowd around the door of "Naughty Dog" to find a long, narrow tea-house full of smoke and the smells of rum and rice wine. Sawdust crunches beneath his feet like snow as he bellies up to the bar, at least a dozen eyes on him. The barkeep fixes her one good eye on the newcomer and says, "What's your poison, stranger?" [20:48] 6He almost says "water." "Rum." 6He glares at anyone who looks bald and buff. Bartender gets an awkward nod and a pained grimace as the least-reassuring way of saying 'if I start shit, it's not going to be in here' ever. 15[20:51] Zhangyu gets his drink in a roughly hammered copper mug whose dents and rumples are obscured by a pattern of etching made to make it look like the outside of a pineapple. The barkeep wipes out another mug just like it with a mostly-clean cloth. "You look like you can handle yourself, but most nights trouble comes whether you're looking for it or not." [20:56] 6Zhangyu: "That's what I'm counting on." 6He takes a sip. Ugh, not as good as the stuff on the ship. "That, and that they'll regret it in the end." 15[20:57] "You looking for any kind of trouble in particular?" [21:00] 6Zhangyu: "Something I wanted wandered away without my permission. Just looking for the guy who has it." 6Sip. Okay, the second sip is better than the first one, but not much. "You're good with names, right?" 15[21:05] Earlier that day, Daizo set out with the same mandate as the others, to find whatever leads he could as subtly as he could about the fate of Furia and her fleet. The port city opens up before the young Tepet scion; little in it would be denied him. What does he want to do? 15[21:05] The barkeep: "I am, unless I need not to be. Can I ask who's asking?" [21:11] "Zhangyu. Just sailed in today." 6Let's see how she takes that before we use Tepet. 15[21:12] "That's not a local name... you a hunter?" 14[21:16] * Joins: hrolfie [21:16] 10Being off the ship feels a good deal like paradise. But there's work to be done, both on Ratel's orders and to sate his own curiosity. So to begin with, Daizo's going to go looking for a temple. Large, but not too large. As orthodox as possible. Not the first destination a tourist might be sent to to pray for good fortune, but the ones where the locals turn to. [21:18] 6Zhangyu: "Looking for a Chases-Waterfalls," 6which isn't quite an answer, but it's also not NOT an answer. 15[21:20] Daizo's got several advantages in this search. One is that, by his own religious training, he's got a keen enough eye for the movements of local penitents. The Immaculate Philosophy is the supreme holy word in every corner of Creation lit by the Dynasty, and the prayer-ribbons and sacramental trinkets are, with some local variation, recognizable as the ones he knows from home. The 15[21:20] other is that he's just really fucking tall. Much easier to see the currents in the crowds on the streets when you're head and shoulders above them all. 14[21:21] * Joins: mattbaby 15[21:23] Daizo follows the crowds to a large stone pagoda a ways off the main thoroughfare, in an area filled with the smoke of good food cooking and the sight and sound of children playing. A few of them, no older than eight or nine, scatter as the Tepet giant approaches, leaving the way into the temple clear. Several mostly older people are praying in silence and a short-haired woman stands 15[21:23] in the priestess's position behind a smooth stone altar, wearing the pure white robes Daizo's learned all too well mark a member of House Mnemon. 15[21:25] The barkeep scoffs. "Follow the smell of hashish. He's always around the way." 15[21:25] "Give him one for me, will you?" [21:30] 10Yeah, this feels right. Before he approaches the priestess he'll kneel and offer his thanks for a swift voyage and a prayer for strength in the tasks ahead.  [21:30] 6Larger sip. "I'll make sure to." 6He stands, leaving his half finished drink on the bar, with enough coin to pay for it thrice over. Let's find this den of iniquity and... hash things out. 15[21:36] Zhangyu makes his way out of the teahouse and into the street. There's a lot of different kinds of smoke on the air, from roasting meat to burning wood to the sickly-sweet scent of opium... but he's able to pick out hashish as he wanders around. While exploring he makes eye contact with a slightly heavy-set man wearing an open silk shirt, a short dark beard fixed squarely on his chin 15[21:36] and nowhere else. The man gives him a smile and a broad nod and looks pointedly past Zhangyu to the swinging doors of another, even seedier teahouse, this one with no visible name. 15[21:36] The hash smoke is coming from in there. [21:36] 10Daizo discreetly slips an obol into the offertory box and comes up towards the altar, taking care not to disturb the locals in his passing. "A moment of your time, Sister, if you would be so kind." 14[21:38] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 15[21:38] The Mnemon sister looks Daizo square in the chest and craaaanes her neck upward to meet his eyes. She's short, with eyes like flint and a face that's just reaching the first frosty slopes of middle age. She inclines her head past a beaded curtain to a private part of the pagoda lined with cushions for meditation. [21:40] 6Stern, quick nod. Thank you, mysterious stranger. Zhangyu heads inside in search of his target. 14[21:41] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[21:41] The Mnemon sister's voice is quiet, like paper on paper. "How may I be of service, brother...?" 15[21:43] Zhangyu sees his mark almost immediately, huddled at the back of the teahouse, big men on either side, all wreathed in a cloud of thick smoke. The man in the center is huge - bigger than Zhangyu, though likely smaller than Daizo, big and broad and square with a shaved-bare skull like a clay warrior's statue. [21:44] 10He'll keep his own voice low. His inside voice still comes out sounding a little like distant thunder. "Daizo. Tepet Daizo. For the moment, merely a lay graduate of the eminent Cloister." [21:45] 6Is there an empty seat? Making his way directly over and inserting himself has its appeals. If not, he'll simply have to create an empty seat. 15[21:45] Every seat at that table is occupied. 15[21:49] The Mnemon sister nods. "Faith is thin on the edge of the world. I'm always gratified to meet another student of the Philosophy. I am Mnemon Dusk. How can I help you, Tepet Daizo?" [21:50] 6He stomps up and glares at the people surrounding Chases-Waterfalls. I Can And Will Kill You, his glare says. He takes the first chair abandoned and turns his gaze to Chases-Waterfalls. "We are going to talk outside." 6It's not a question. 15[21:51] The man who must be Chases-Waterfalls gives Zhangyu a long, cool look and then takes a drag off the hookah. His voice tight with unexhaled smoke he offers a pipe to Zhangyu. "Nectar of the gods, man." [21:53] 6Zhangyu repeats: "We are going to talk outside." [21:54] 10May as well just face up with the painful truth. This is why he went to a temple, after all. "This is a little embarrassing, but… I have never been away from the Blessed Isle before. I'm going to be in the area of Abalone and the greater Wavecrest archipelago with the Imperial Service for some weeks, possibly months." [21:54] 6He makes no move towards the pipe. 15[21:55] Chases-Waterfalls looks at Zhangyu again, shrugs, and puts the pipe down. When he stands, the rest of his friends do too, and as they head outside, they're joined by about half the men and women in the teahouse. A crowd forms quickly on the street. [21:55] 10Daizo: "I'm in need of information, and if possible a reliable guide. If at all possible, I would like to apply for access to the Order's libraries in this region." 15[21:59] Dusk's thin silver eyebrow arcs upward. "Which branch of the Service is that?" [21:59] 6Zhangyu follows them outside, cracks his knuckles, and rolls his neck. "You have an invitation. It's mine." [21:59] 4There's a familiar face in the crowd outside. She was kind of drawing a crowd herself before the action moved outside. V'neef Piu's robe is...not quite too short for public. But it leaves a lot of room for free flexibility. [22:00] 6Zhangyu obviously isn't concerned about making a scene, but he might be about this getting back to the ship without an explanation. He'll talk to Piu later. 15[22:01] Chases-Waterfalls: "Are you serious? Fuckin' A." He rolls his shoulders back. "This is supposed to be my night off." [22:02] 6Tepet Zhangyu merely gets into his stance. [22:04] 4She's got two boys she's playing with right now, neither very seriously, and neither is the height, breadth, or depth -- especially not depth -- of the men facing off. [22:06] 10Daizo: "The Navy. But only formally the Navy, which is what makes it a delicate matter. And why I haven't come prepared with my own writ and interpreter." 15[22:07] Dusk: "Who's your commanding officer?" [22:10] 10Daizo: "Peleps Ratel, on the Defiance. Just pulled into port today." 10This is the tricky part. To lie by omission. He's got a sinking feeling he may have to straight-out lie to a priestess today.  15[22:11] Dusk: "I don't know her. Customarily such applications are made through the officer in charge... she's sent you to do it yourself?" [22:14] 10Daizo nods, looking a little abashed. "There are... political entanglements. She doesn't want to make waves." 15[22:14] Dusk: "Ha. That's rather witty." [22:15] 10Daizo blinks. "Oh! Oh, haha. No pun intended." 15[22:16] Dusk: "Well... I can tell this is an unusual venture, and we of course live to serve our cousins in the Service as surely as the lay faithful of Creation. You require a guide, you say?" [22:20] 6Zhangyu springs forward and immediately wraps his arm around Chases-Waterfalls' throat while slipping behind his back. As he thrashes, Zhangyu makes sure to also grab one of his arms - kata-ha-jime, it was called, absurdly coming to mind mid-struggle. Grandmaster Mushi was very particular on the names of holds. And so: sleeper choke into kata-ha-jime, still standing. No real harm done... yet. [22:21] 10Daizo: "Indeed. Someone familiar with Western customs and culture, possibly in the less civilized areas. Seatongue and a couple of the local languages. And most importantly, discreet and trustworthy. Not the kind of person you'd find hanging around in a dockside bar." 15[22:21] The crowd's agog at Zhangyu's swiftness and strength. Chases-Waterfalls is all but helpless in the smaller man's grip, red-faced, straining with his considerable might. [22:21] 4Mmmmmmm. [22:21] 14Interesting. 15[22:23] Dusk clucks her tongue. "Do you work better with a man or a woman?" [22:27] 10Daizo: "Woman. Better to have another perspective." [22:29] 4Piu hops up on the shoulders of one of the boys, draping her legs around his neck. He won't mind. "Mantis Style! Fuck yeah!" [22:30] 6Zhangyu twists slightly, and the arm holding the throat becomes even more secure while he lets the other arm free briefly. The reason why becomes clear: just elbow the guy in the stomach repeatedly, then re-apply the full choke. [22:31] "Wooooooooo-eeeeeeeeee!" 15[22:34] Dusk: "Hmm... I believe I have a local novice who can be of service to you. Will your mission be dangerous?" [22:34] 08Some guy in the crowd shouts "Don't kill 'im, that piece of trash owes me money!" [22:34] rte]ws 15[22:35] Chases-Waterfalls is clearly overmatched, but the man is very big and very strong and not without skill of his own. He almost shakes Zhangyu off his broad back... almost. [22:41] 10Daizo: "I will not place her in harm's way, and on my honor as a son of the Dynasty I will personally assume responsibility for her well-being." 10This isn't quite what Dusk asked. 15[22:42] "So it is dangerous." 15[22:42] "Good. She bores easily and she needs some sense knocked into her." 15[22:42] "Come with me." [22:43] 6He's choked the man enough. Keep the grip on the limb. Hurl him out with the arm that was formerly around the neck, spin him around, shove his head between the legs, lean forward to grip him securely, pull back, and drop. Go-Si's famous piledriver, banned in almost all legitimate competitions for the risk of death to its victims, but still taught among Mantis stylists for reasons that vary among the masters. "Just in case" or "to [22:43] teach control" or "You will know." [22:43] 6Zhangyu lands with a thud. Chases-Waterfalls is breathing, but not moving. Win accomplished. 15[22:44] The crowd goes fucking nuts. [22:44] 14Well, shit. [22:44] 10Daizo stands and offers a formal bow of gratitude. "Certainly, Sister." 10And thank you for not asking too many questions. [22:44] 4Piu: "YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" [22:45] 08That guy from the crowd is already going through Chases-Waterfalls' stuff. But he'll take a biiiiiiiiiig step back if Zhangyu gets anywhere near him. 15[22:47] Dusk leads Daizo out of the temple to one of the nearby cookfires. Children scatter at the sight of the priestess, save the ones still eating. A girl who can't be older than nineteen is ladling stew into wooden bowls for the hungry, her frizzy dark hair pulled back in a rough ponytail. She has an islander's complexion and the cared-for clothes of someone who mends her own. She looks 15[22:47] up as Daizo's shadow falls over her, eyes widening briefly in fear before she stands at attention. [22:48] 6Zhangyu has first dibs. As he stands: "Had my ticket." 6He rifles through Chases-Waterfalls pockets until he finds what he needs. [22:49] 10Daizo: "Be at peace. I'm here to offer you a job, on Sister Dusk's recommendation." [22:49] 6Once he does, he's got to talk to Piu. Clear things up, about why he's fighting people in the streets. 15[22:50] Zhangyu finds a large, heavy red stone medallion, engraved with the characters HI-NO-KU-NI against a backdrop of stylized flames. 15[22:50] This must be it. [22:50] 4Piu has dispatched the boys with some whispers, caresses, promises she fully intends to keep, and discreet notes with addresses. [22:50] 4Then she'll stride up to Tepet Zhangyu with a hand on her hip. 15[22:50] It takes a moment to register but the fear that flickered across the girl's face... it wasn't at the sight of Daizo. [22:51] 6Zhangyu rubs the back of his head. "I can explain." [22:51] 6He's already pocketed the medallion. "Perhaps somewhere else?" [22:52] "Sure." 4When they're away: "Chases-Waterfalls, huh. Big guy, doesn't move great when you get on his back. Impressed you could lift him." 15[22:53] The girl stands and smooths her skirts. "Blessed to meet you, sir." 15[22:53] Dusk, gently: "Give him your name, dear." 15[22:54] The girl: "Oh! Of course!" She bows. "Seiri. Seiri Gansa." [22:54] "You didn't kill him, though. Hinokuni doesn't require that." 4She grins. "Ya big softie!" [22:54] 6Zhangyu, dismissively: "Poorly-trained clown. Couldn't even block a simple hold. But, uh, that's not - he had an invitation." [22:54] "Well, DUH!" [22:55] 6Zhangyu: "Right. Five-day fight victor, of course you know." [22:55] "I don't make a habit out of getting into fights in the street, is all." [22:56] 4Piu waves dismissively. "No, silly, I follow all this stuff obsessively. I think he won it off of...Last Best Drop, in a barfight that turned into a street rules, no disqualifications match due to the presence of a Hinokuni official that LBD accidentally hit with a flying mug." [22:57] 10Daizo: "Heaven smiles on our meeting today, Seiri. I'm Tepet Daizo, and I'm going to be traveling in the West for a few weeks. Possibly months. Sister Dusk recommended you as an able linguist. I may also need to call on you as a scribe, or maybe even a bookkeeper, should my stay become long enough." [22:58] "Didn't even knock LDB out to take it. Some rumors were it was a work, to get LDB mad and then cheat him out of a ticket with a screwjob." [22:58] 4She teasingly punches Zhangyu in the arm. It's playful, but it's clear that there'd be steel behind it if she wanted. "Not like you." [23:00] 6Zhangyu: "...I'd heard of Hinokuni but none of its participants. If that's the quality of competitor, I don't think I'll have any trouble." [23:00] 6Briefly breaking out in a smile: "How much did you see? And did it look as good as it felt?" [23:00] 4Piu laughs. "Oh no, Chases-Waterfalls was kind of a joke. You'll have better tests of your strength." [23:01] 4Almost squealing: "It was....awesome!!!!" [23:01] "A Go-Si piledriver...on such a differently-sized opponent...with such form!!!!" 15[23:02] Seiri's face gets strangely tight but her voice stays upbeat. "Oh, Sister Dusk has schooled me well, master Daizo! I can read and write and do figures and I'm a *very* quick study." [23:02] "AND you managed not to kill him, which is incredible, given the high rate of death!" [23:02] 6Zhangyu, blandly: "Grandmaster Mushi made sure we practiced all forms." 15[23:02] From behind Zhangyu comes a booming laugh. [23:02] 6He turns. [23:02] 4Piu spins. 15[23:03] It's that guy again. Open shirt, short beard. Big smile. He pounds his chest in respect. "An excellent display. Strength and style. I look forward to seeing you test your might against a real competitor." [23:05] 4Now she does squeal. "It's the Sublime Master Thief!" [23:06] 6Zhangyu: "Getting him out of the way? Or just interest?" 6After all, he did point Zhangyu directly to Chases-Waterfalls. 15[23:09] The beared man - who is indeed the Sublime Master Thief - beams and bows at Piu. "The one and only." To Zhangyu, he's only slightly more serious. "I mean, you saw him. Big man. No skill. No sense of humor. Very dull. You? Strong, scary, pretty. New. I like you." [23:10] 6Flatterer. 15[23:10] "You speak of Mushi? The Imperial Grandmaster?" [23:10] 4Stage whisper to Zhangyu. "If he tries to sell you his scroll, buy it! Or else!" [23:11] 6Zhangyu: "He trained me. Zhangyu," 6he offers. Unfair if only one side knows the other's name. 15[23:11] SMT: "Then you must know Son-of-Sabers!" [23:12] 4Piu turns to Zhangyu with WIDE eyes. 14[23:13] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [23:14] 10Daizo's eyes flicker towards Dusk before he continues on. "Excellent. You'll be paid, of course. We can discuss the exact amount later, if you'd like." 10Away from Dusk's prying eyes10, he doesn't say out loud. [23:15] 6Gruffly: "I know of him." [23:15] 6He pointedly does not elaborate. 14[23:15] * Joins: mattbaby [23:15] 6After all, Grandmaster Mushi did not spend much time speaking of him beyond a general warning. [23:16] 4Is it weird to be really into a guy who would straight up murder you in the ring? Piu doesn't think too much about it! [23:16] 6No kinkshaming here. 15[23:17] Seiri still seems tense, but her voice is still all smiles. She's pretty good at this compartmentalizing thing! "By Sister Dusk's leave I am honored to serve the Realm that has given me so much." [23:20] 10Daizo: "Now, this is the part where I'd like you to think very carefully about my offer. You'll be traveling with me on an Imperial Navy vessel, and as such, some measure of danger is unavoidable. We may be called on to fight pirates or the like. I'll do the best I can to make sure that you don't come to harm, but if it comes to it, you may need to fight." [23:22] 10Daizo: "I can offer you some basic training in the Dragon Styles, if you wish. Still interested?" 15[23:22] Seiri: "I..." 15[23:23] A nervous glance at Dusk, who nods gently. 15[23:23] Seiri: "I would be honored to serve. I can spearfish and I have some training with the bokken, but I will gladly learn anything you have to teach me!" 15[23:24] SMT: "Would you two like a drink? I'll buy." [23:24] 4Piu: "Yesss!" 4She turns to Zhangyu. "Can we??" [23:25] 6Zhangyu, amused: "I suppose. I'm tired of rum." [23:26] 6A few things click into place about the Son-of-Sabers. Of course a Ragara would have been able to bribe Grandmaster Mushi, and of course they wouldn't have appreciated it. Kolu... hm. [23:28] 10Daizo: "Wonderful. Then say your farewells and gather your things, and meet me at the Swallow's Compass hostelry tomorrow morning." 15[23:29] Dusk: "I'll see that your chores are taken care of. This is a great opportunity, Seiri." [23:30] 6Oaf. Fool. Moron. Idiot. Ragara Kolu will become an example someday. 15[23:31] Sublime Master Thief leads the two of them off the docks. Now, well after dark, the light painting the streets and rooftops of Abalone city is violet. The ground rumbles gently beneath their feet like the chest of a great sleeping cat. The building they enter, a low stone structure, has no stragglers and a heavy door. He knocks once, and a slat in the door opens through which he reveals 15[23:31] his own Hinokuni badge. There's the sound of a heavy lock being undone and the door swings open. [23:31] 4So cool!!!! 14[23:32] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[23:33] Seiri claps her hands together, bows thrice more, and scurries away. [23:33] 6Zhangyu is keeping this. He considered tossing it back onto Chases-Waterfalls' body once he got to investigate, but nope. [23:33] 10Daizo already feels a little bit of kinship. That all-too-eager-to-please voice, well. He remembers feeling like that. "Thank you, Sister. Now, as to the matter of the libraries?" 15[23:34] Dusk: "Wonderful. Yes, the libraries. Our collections here in Abalone can't match what you have on the Isle, but we're not totally ignorant. What subjects do you need to research?" 15[23:37] The bar within is clean, bright, and well-appointed. The walls are heavy with history, paintings and carvings of great bouts, names any student of the martial arts will know. Weapons, both ceremonial and well-traveled, hang from the walls. Only a handful of men and women are drinking at this hour, but every one of them is incredibly fit. [23:37] 4Mmmmmmmmm~ [23:37] 14In the presence of history. [23:38] 4Piu will do her best to not fangirl out. 15[23:38] Tending bar is an older man with dark, curly hair and a thick groomed beard. The three of them get a curt upward nod. "New meat?" [23:38] 4She will get something fruity and light on alcohol. [23:41] 6Zhangyu resists the temptation to get the same, but gin and juice is preferable to straight rum. "Chases-Waterfalls was a clown." [23:41] 4Piu: "That's not fair!" [23:42] "Clowns are very highly trained." 15[23:42] Gin and Juche is the name of the drink, after the prefecture on the Blessed Isle. Popular in the North and the West. 15[23:42] SMT gets a big mug of sharp-smelling fizzy beer. "And funny." [23:42] 10This is the point where Daizo swallows his pride and starts bullshitting Dusk. But he's grown increasingly cold on the woman after seeing how the children go out of their way to avoid her. "Ratel's enemies are spreading rumors that she's dabbling in forbidden arts. Black thaumaturgy, necromancy, improper propitiation of spirits. I need to conclusively disprove her involvement in any such heretical activity. Part of the reason [23:42] she's recruited a lay scholar to her mission." [23:42] 6Ahahahahaha! 15[23:44] Dusk: "Oh my." 15[23:44] "That's terribly serious. Are you sure we shouldn't call in a proper exorcist? Someone from my own house, perhaps... I could give you names." [23:46] 6Zhangyu: "He was funny. Played at big and mean, lost in - what, 15 seconds?" [23:46] 4Piu: "Thirteen." [23:46] 14Actually, seventeen, but we're playing to a crowd here. 15[23:46] SMT: "Devil, this is Zhangyu, who studied under the Grandmaster Mushi. Took Waterfalls's badge like it was nothing." [23:47] 14And you can quibble based on when he locked in the Go-Si piledriver, and when it hit. 15[23:47] What the- Devil? Piu wonders... no. Could that be the Thousand Devil Master, retired champion of the Hinokuni now famous as its organizer, chief promoter, and the narrator of its fanscrolls? [23:47] 4!!!!!!!!!!! 15[23:48] Devil wipes a glass mug clean. "Good riddance." [23:48] 10Daizo: "As I said, she wants to avoid making waves for the moment. And the accusations have no merit whatsoever. I'm approaching this as a topic which can be easily destroyed with facts and logic." 10He thinks. "If the lid pops off of this, though? She might be grateful for that list." 15[23:48] He offers Zhangyu a hand. [23:49] 6What does Devil look like? Zhangyu shakes the offered hand regardless, but what are we working with here? [23:49] 4She manages to control herself, but still gives Thousand Devil Master wide-eyed looks whenever she thinks he's not looking. 15[23:52] Dusk: "What is the composition of your crew? Which houses, in which numbers?" [23:52] 6Ah yes. Him. That guy. Shit, his name probably came up in training, but there's absolutely nothing there. "Waste of an invite," 6he agrees. 15[23:55] Devil pours himself a shot of something clear and acrid-smelling and downs it before saying, "There's a lot of people you could say that about. Hopefully not you. From the Isle, then? Here to stay or traveling around?" [23:55] 10Daizo: "Do you know Mnemon Salim, Sister? He's traveled with us since Bittern." 15[23:56] Dusk: "No, I don't know anyone by that name. I've been overseas for quite a long time, I'm not in touch with most of my younger brothers and sisters." [23:58] 6Zhangyu: "Travelling for work. Looking for a scrap to let off some steam," 6he adds. Piu can work the crowds, Zhangyu in the locker room, he might even successfully keep their true purpose hidden. [23:59] 4That's in her skillset. [23:59] 4Piu's spending most of her time sneaking glances at the memorabilia about the room, and at some of the other guests, though not too openly. Wouldn't want to work herself into a shoot. Session Time: Fri Nov 22 00:00:00 2019 15[00:00] Devil nods. "Far as it goes, the only work you do that concerns me happens in the ring. But that cuts both ways, understand? We don't ask your business, you don't make your business our business. It's a simple rule that's kept the Hinokuni alive for over a century." [00:01] 6Zhangyu: "Wouldn't have it any other way." [00:05] 10Daizo: "Ah, no, the fellow with us is about your age. Yea high, dressed similarly as yourself. I assumed he was in direct service to the House… well, you know where to look now if you want to see the man for himself. Aside from him and myself, there's another Tepet, two Cathaks, two Cynis, a V'neef." 15[00:07] Dusk: "Mm. Interesting. Well, assuming a sufficient donation can be made to the temple here - we run the island's only orphanage, as well as education and religious service - we can easily see about getting you access to our libraries." [00:14] 10Daizo smiles, but it doesn't reach his eyes. "Of course. I'll arrange a monthly gift with the Abalone branch bank in the morning. I may need Seiri's help with a ledger sooner rather than later." [00:15] 4Piu slips out quickly, as much as she doesn't want to, leaving Zhangyu to his well-deserved comradeship, reward, and drinking. [00:15] 14Other business tonight. 15[00:17] Daizo's told he'll be able to access the library once the payment clears, which apparently doesn't happen until quite late in the evening. He's just about ready to go when Piu returns to the hostel. [00:18] 14Daizo...she hasn't spent, well, just about any time with the great monk. [00:19] 14He looks preoccupied with something. She'll head upstairs to change into something more modest, then head right back down, to the consternation of the sailors she almost flashed on the way up. [00:26] 4Where's Daizo sitting? Or standing? Probably sitting, given the ceiling is made for normal people. [00:29] 10Daizo's using a small sofa as a chair; he's both tall *and* broad. Looks like he's having some brown rice tea and sweets. "Evening, Miss Piu. I heard some rumors about Cousin Zhangyu making a big splash tonight. You don't happen to know what that's about, do you?" [00:31] 4Chipperly: "It's just Piu. And don't tell the captain, but he beat the everliving fuck out of a guy and DIDN'T kill him. In thirteen seconds!" [00:31] "He had tournament reasons." [00:32] "Whatcha doin?" [00:32] "Tournament reasons? Interesting. I'm starting to feel a little rusty myself." [00:33] 4She grins. "You should join the Hinokuni then!" [00:34] 10Daizo indicates the letter he's just unsealed. "I stopped by Yanagimori Temple today. I wanted to get access to the Order's libraries here so I can research Sadako's condition." [00:34] 4Piu: "Oooh." [00:35] "I'm now a big name donor." 10He rolls his eyes. "Is there a rule somewhere that all Mnemon monks have to be so much of a pain in the ass?" [00:35] 14Libraries aren't the target, and aren't of interest...but the people inside them might be. [00:35] 4Pleasantly: "As far as I know!" [00:36] "...But I'd be interested in learning about her condition." [00:36] 14... [00:36] "Might I come with you?" [00:36] 10Daizo: "Hah. Sister Dusk up at the temple's at least as much of a cold fish as Brother Salim." [00:37] 10Daizo: "Oh! Oh, sure. Research always goes faster with two." [00:38] 4Guilelessly: "Nice! That'd be great!" [00:38] 14Mnemon Dusk. [00:38] "When do you wanna leave?" [00:38] 14Let's go let's go [00:40] 10Daizo drains the remainder of his tea and pops a couple of sweets in his sleeve for later. "All finished." 15[00:42] The walk is short from the hostel. They find that the library is a small building set back a ways from the main temple complex. The guard is minimal, but present, at this late hour. Sister Dusk is there to greet them both with a keyring. She regards Daizo warmly and Piu neutrally. "Good evening, Daizo. We're so grateful for your generosity and are happy to assist in your endeavor 15[00:42] however we can. This is one of your companions?" [00:43] 4Piu is in a long robe and will give a graceful bow as required by courtesy. "I am." [00:44] "Indeed. I have the pleasure of introducinv V'neef Piu." 10Daizo wasn't expecting Dusk to be actually on site. He must have piqued her curiosity something fierce.  [00:44] 4A banal smile. [00:45] 14I know what you look like now. 15[00:45] Dusk gives her a once-over and smiles politely. "Well, I've got prayers at dawn so I won't be able to assist. I trust you know your way around a library, though." She gives Daizo the keyring. "Lock up when you're done." [00:45] 14So noted. 14[00:46] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [00:46] 4Will pleasantly gadfly inside behind Daizo, and not give Sister Dusk a second look. [00:46] *4Piu will pleasantly gadfly inside behind Daizo, and not give Sister Dusk a second look. [00:47] 10Daizo: "Of course. May your dreams be blessed." 10He'll head in. 15[00:48] The library is piled high with books and scrolls along narrow shelves. It's very cramped. Having Piu around will be more help than Daizo might've guessed. [00:49] "So that's Sister Dusk, huh?" 4Piu says as they head in. [00:51] 10Once the door is safely shut: "Yeah. I can't say I'm a fan. Obviously not every monk is going to live up to the ideals… but her?" 10Daizo sighs. "She's just a cold, cold fish." [00:52] "You've only known her for like. Half a day?" 4Piu clasps her hands behind her back, wandering around, looking. "What'd she do?" 15[00:54] This being an Immaculate library, there's a wealth of information on creatures of darkness. All the classic lore is here, the means of entering the Underworld by a shadowland at night... more esoteric lore is in the offing, if he knows how to plumb the stacks correctly. [00:55] 10Daizo: "Did you ever have a bad teacher? The kind that made you absolutely dread going to class?" [00:55] 14Yes. [00:55] 4Piu: "Oh, ALL the time. Some of that was on me, though." [00:55] "...Though dread was kinda special." [01:00] 10Daizo: "Right. All the kids looked at her like that. Even the grown woman I've hired on as an interpreter was terrified of her." [01:01] "That's just enough to put my teeth on edge right there. If you don't like children you probably shouldn't be managing an orphanage. Right?" [01:01] 4A bit more seriously, so he knows it's not leering: "How grown?" [01:03] 10Daizo: "Nineteen. Old enough for a mortal to be finished with schooling." [01:05] Piu doesn't really grimace very much, but this is close. "That's young. I'll try to keep the captain away from her." 4A slight grin now. "I have my ways." [01:05] 4Piu doesn't really grimace very much, but this is close. "That's young. I'll try to keep the captain away from her." 4A slight grin now. "I have my ways." [01:06] 10Daizo's unrolling a bunch of dusty scrolls, looking for other instances of the symbols he saw plastered on the walls of the ship. "Hah. I told her I'd defend her." 15[01:09] Daizo and Piu hit the books. There's a wealth of information on the undead -- understandable, with that strange death cult gripping the islands to the north -- and the region's history with it is quite extensive. Daizo's able to pinpoint the vessel they took Sadako from: the ancient Leaden Queen, which is not a Shogunate ship as it superficially appears but some hideous construct 15[01:09] from the seas of the Underworld, first seen in Creation back in the era of the Contagion. 15[01:09] The lore calls it unsinkable - a ship that will rise from any grave. It's marked by an ancient curse - no one who claims it is long for this world, but each shall have their heart's desire. [01:09] 4Reading over his shoulder, when she can: "That's...not good." [01:10] 10Daizo: "I assume Dusk raised her and then more or less pressed her into service here as a novice. If this works out I'll make sure I've set her up with a nice little nest egg." [01:12] 10A low bass rumble of displeasure. "No, not good at all. Even though we saw it sink, it may yet return." [01:13] "That'll be valuable intel for the Navy, at least. And as for Master Mushan, that part of the legend checks out too." 15[01:14] On Sadako, the readings are more obscure. Daizo is piecing together disconnected bits of information and synthesizing them in a way that almost amounts to original research. He wonders if anyone on Abalone knows what he's learning. One of the ironclad truisms of magic is that death is certain. You can raise a corpse, you can bind a ghost to block its path to Lethe, but the dead do not 15[01:14] come back to life. Naturally, this doesn't stop people from trying. 15[01:14] The mad, the desperate, the enterprising... many have tried, for countless reasons in countless ways, to undo death. They never succeed. But sometimes people rise anew. [01:15] 10Daizo: "That trick with the smoke. Air. Breath." [01:15] 4Piu: "Huh?" [01:17] 10Daizo: "Don't you remember? When Dryas gave her that huge blunt and she smoked the whole thing at one go." 15[01:17] These creatures are Anathema in the truest sense, unfit for life or existence of any kind in their cursed bodies, corpses animated beyond death, beyond even undeath... all of them subsist and inhabit the physicality of death. Some of these monsters bend their bones like whips and chains. Some draw hateful razors from their own shed blood. Some steal the very breath and flesh of the 15[01:17] newly or imminently-deceased. Often mad, but never mindless, each of them craves contact and purpose from one they call only Dark Mother. 15[01:17] On her, even the Immaculates are silent. 15[01:18] They're often found among the dead, hunting ghosts or avenging the murdered. [01:18] 4Piu shrugged. "I just thought she was cool." [01:18] 14Hrmmmmm. [01:18] 10Daizo: "Here, look at this passage. Aspect of Breath…" [01:19] 10He's got a good nine scrolls open now. 15[01:19] Savants are divided on whether this reanimation constitutes the spark of even the Solar and Lunar Anathema's exaltation. If this Dark Mother is a divine patron so endowed, then they would be Exalted. But this cannot be confirmed or explored. The closest thing to a term of art Daizo and Piu find in their studies is the liminally Chosen. [01:20] 4Piu: "That's kinda cool." [01:20] "I mean, also insane." [01:20] "But cool." [01:21] 10Daizo: "We've… got a big problem on our hands." [01:22] 14Maybe. Maybe not. [01:22] 4Piu: "It can't be THAT bad." [01:22] "I mean...she just...hangs out!" [01:23] "That's what she does now, yes." [01:25] 10Daizo: "What if she can't find her Mother, though? How long is she willing to wait?" [01:25] 4Piu: "And it's what we do, and what the twins do, and that dumb monk does. We've all got shit to settle." [01:25] "Sounds like a good question to ask!" [01:27] 10Daizo: "Hurmmmmmm. You've all basically adopted her by now." [01:28] 4Piu: "And should we not have? Would it be better to alienate her?" 15[01:30] The prescription for the liminals is death - true death, final death, utter annihilation. But this has been only rarely accomplished. Tales exist of such creatures rising from wounds that would slay mortals or even Chosen, from impalement to beheading to even being burned alive. [01:30] 14Piu, her voice becoming more serious: "Really, the question comes down to how you should treat children." [01:31] 10That stops Daizo cold.  [01:33] 10Daizo: "But— it says— can we really say that she's a child? A life beyond the natural order? A life beyond death?" 14[01:34] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 14[01:34] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 15[01:34] Beyond that, the lives of the liminals simply... continue. Some have lived for centuries, growing stronger and stranger as time passes. Do they ever naturally expire? Do they ever achieve their true purpose, whatever it may be? Do they find final comfort at the bosom of their Dark Mother? Nobody knows. [01:34] "This question merits further investigation." [01:35] 14Piu, who has been facing away this whole time, studying a shelf: "It does. Eventually her nature will show true. I have faith in our ability to change our futures. And her ability to change hers." [01:36] 4She turns and shrugs regretfully. "Or, bad things will happen. They have before." [01:36] "But more research sounds good. This has been fun!" [01:37] 10Daizo: "Mm. You have depth but you like to pretend you're shallow, Piu." [01:37] "It's a respectable survival strategy." [01:37] 4Piu, smiling: "It's how you survive." [01:38] 4She nods. [01:38] "Jinx." [01:38] 4Piu makes a warding sign, with a bit too much exaggeration. [01:38] 10Daizo: "All right. Now, here's the hard part." [01:38] "We need to make it look like we were investigating a completely different subject." [01:39] 4Self-seriously: "Tell me which books to put back in the wrong place." [01:40] 10Daizo: "Here, here, and… here. And see if you can get a little dust back on this one." [01:47] "And… A recent copy of the Mnemon ledger. Nice." [01:48] 4Piu perks up. "Mmmm? And where's Salim in there?" [01:48] "I bet he's a...fourth son." [01:48] "Maybe third." [01:48] 10A few minutes later: "Nowhere." [01:48] 14As expected. [01:48] "Not even struck from the books." [01:48] 4Piu: "What would that mean?" [01:49] 10Daizo: "He might be a Mnemon using a fake name. Or, he could be literally anyone with the guts to pretend to be a Mnemon." [01:50] "Doesn't this whole thing stink like a setup?" [01:51] 4Piu: "Of course it does, my dear Daizo." [01:51] "We're searching for a woman who has gone after the Scarlet Empress." [01:52] "Nothing about this seems right." [01:53] 10Daizo: "Yeah. Suppose so." [01:54] 4Piu: "But we should watch him closely." [01:55] "Like...what if he's here to kill somebody?" 15[01:55] Who would he be here to kill? [01:55] 4It could be anyone! [01:55] 10Daizo nods. "Yeah. He's definitely the most suspicious person within 10 miles of here." [01:56] 14She has decided she likes Daizo. [01:56] *malms [01:57] 10Daizo stretches and pops his back. "I don't think I'm going to be able to get to sleep now. The wheels in my head are turning. I think I'm going to go on a tea run. You want to look for some maps, travelogues, whatever? I did just hire the guide and all, but it never hurts to have another perspective." [01:58] 14She grins. "Absolutely." [01:58] 14Usually she's up all night doing other stuff. This...these are different muscles to stretch. [01:59] 10He tosses the keyring to Piu. "I'll knock three times, then pause, then two." 10He looks sheepish. "Old code from delving into the forbidden stacks." [01:59] 14Tradecraft. Even if novice tradecraft. Oh my. [01:59] 4She catches the ring. "Got it!" [02:02] "All right. Any requests?" [02:03] 4Piu: "Lapsang Souchong if you can get it! Forest Blackleaf is probably what you'll find, though." 14[02:14] * banana is now known as banana|split 15[02:15] The texts here are rich with knowledge about the Western seas, and over a long and tea-fueled night Piu and Daizo pick them clean. [02:15] 14She begins the work while Daizo is out, without knowledge but with discipline, and is an able assistant when he returns. [02:16] 10Lantern light, piles and piles of books, and a Fire Aspect research assistant to keep the tea piping hot. This is great. Not too hard on the eyes, either. [02:16] 4Hee. 14[02:56] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[04:03] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[04:03] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[08:01] * Joins: mattbaby 14[08:44] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[09:42] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[11:28] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[11:32] * Joins: cbass 14[11:53] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[12:07] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:22] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[16:42] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:58] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[17:35] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:50] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[18:49] * Joins: tom 14[19:17] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:34] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[19:39] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:55] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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Overnight cloud cover stole over the island, and a steady drizzle falls. This is early in the rainy season; storms and even monsoons will menace these islands in the coming weeks and months. 15[20:06] Few of the hearth took their first night of shore leave lying down. Piu and Daizo were working through the night on their research, learning much about Sadako and these islands and a curious fact about their monk companion. In the hours before dawn Daizo turns his attention to the bird that he recalls so vividly from that day (a rainy day like today) in Lord's Crossing, but can find 15[20:06] only references to the mythical and immortal garda birds... which that most certainly was not. He knows a fair bit about those now, at least. [20:07] 4Not really how V'neef Piu is supposed to be spending her nights...but ah well. 15[20:08] Zhangyu was never kicked out of the bar his Hinokuni badge entitles him to enter, though not long after he arrived the big man behind the counter was replaced by an old woman with the face and twitching tail of a cat. When did he finally head back to the hostel? 15[20:09] Dryas, of course, had perhaps the most harrowing first day, baited with a mystery and broadsided with a bizarre and dangerous offer from the intense Guild factor with the hard-to-pronounce name. What's on her mind as she rises that morning? [20:09] 6He stuck around just long enough to make an impression. Still not a big drinker. Still, he's got an in to an underground fighting ring, which he is definitely into for the information and not the fighting. [20:10] 6One hundred percent. [20:11] 10Hm. One mystery solved, and another revealed. Daizo puts the last of the books away. "Breakfast?" 10He looks a little bleary-eyed but shows no other signs of tiredness.  15[20:13] Daizo'll know that the hostel serves a hot breakfast for free. 15[20:13] So will everyone else, obviously. [20:13] 4Piu: "I could go for it. Then a nap." [20:13] 07Dryas rises from a restless slumber and slouches over to the window to gaze out at the rain-soaked island people making their way down the streets. Her fingers beat a tattoo into the sill as she considers her next course of action. She contemplates her aunt's words. 07Don't do anything I would! [20:15] 07Don't do anything your mother would... [20:15] 10Daizo: "It's a plan. How much do you want to tell the others? About Sadako, I mean. And Salim." [20:16] 4She shrugs. "I dunno if Zhangyu like...cares. Dryas probably deserves to know?" [20:18] 6It took him a while to get to sleep, lingering excitement and adrenaline from the fight - such as it was - keeping him from rest. But Zhangyu rises at his usual time and continues his standard morning routine, unless interrupted. In which case he will be very cross. [20:18] 10Daizo nods. "The Commodore should know about Salim, at least. I'm sure she alerady suspects." [20:18] 07Her stomach rumbles. Twenty minutes later, she makes her way downstairs to the hotel breakfast. [20:19] 14Keeping this quiet probably isn't going to work with someone as scrupulous as Daizo, anyway. [20:20] 4Piu: "Maybe leave the twins out though. They talk too much." 15[20:20] Breakfast is indeed hot - everything here has been passed over a fire in some form or another. There's a thick porridge of something sweet and vaguely starchy, salty fish and fried pork, charred and stewed fruit of various kinds, strong tea and coffee. Ratel eats ravenously at the head of the table, looking strange out of her uniform and in simpler clothes, while Caxi beside her eats 15[20:20] scorched pineapple one segment at a time with a skewer. The other sailors sit up and down trestle tables bumping shoulders with the other locals. [20:23] 10Daizo's still thinking as hee makes his way back to the hostel. It's a good thing people tend to just naturally get out of his way, or he might already have tripped on a couple. [20:23] 4Probably woulda just crushed them. [20:24] 4Piu eats light, since she'll be working out later. [20:24] 07Dryas basically takes one of everything and piles it atop her plate, mixing them all into a sort of enormous porridge-paste, which she eats delicately with a knife and fork. Caxi gets an instant of eye contact, Ratel a tiny nod of acknowledgment, as she makes her way to an empty section of the mess. 15[20:26] Not much shop talk in the mess, obviously, but Ratel looks up when Piu and Daizo come in from outside. They get a raised eyebrow. [20:27] 6Zhangyu takes in the porridge, the pork, and the tea, wearing a garishly pink shirt he did not previously own. He, too, looks up towards Piu and Daizo, impassive. [20:27] 4Piu gives her a slight grin in return. Ratel's probably been around enough to interpret that as 'later, in private,' and not necessarily about what they usually do later, in private. 15[20:27] Whatever her interpretive powers, Ratel seems satisied by this answer. [20:29] 10Daizo raises a hand in greeting and gives the Commodore a mod. He collects a little of everything himself, sets it down on the table, and goes back for seconds before even starting on the firsts. 15[20:29] Not long after Daizo and Piu settle in to eat, the front door swings open again, and then shuts, and then opens, and then shuts halfway, smacking into the back of a girl trying to drag an awkwardly-shaped and heavy-looking bag through the doorway. She looks bedraggled from the rain. [20:30] 4? 15[20:30] The girl scans the busy dining hall and practically hops up and down waving at Daizo. 15[20:30] "Master Daizo! Master Daizo!" 15[20:31] About half the room turns to look at her; the rest at Daizo. [20:31] 6Zhangyu was about to ask Daizo about Piu, but this is - "Cousin," 6he growls. [20:31] 4Did Daizo mention this girl? He did talk about Dusk. [20:31] 10Daizo directs one of the hostel servants to collect the girl's bag, then waves her on over to the table. [20:32] 07Dryas glances at one, then the other. Doesn't seem a lot of luggage. She takes a sip of the coffee.  15[20:32] The rain-soaked young woman looks alarmed at the prospect of giving up her bag, but doesn't put up a fight. She comes over to Daizo's part of the table and bows deeply with such force that a few drops of water scatter on Daizo and those near him. [20:33] 6Piu doesn't seem that put off, so...? What's even happening. [20:33] 10Daizo blinks. It takes him a minute to work out what Zhangyu is accusing him of. "Oh. Oh my, no, Cousin." [20:33] 4She grins over at Daizo. "This must be your interpreter." [20:35] 10Daizo: "Indeed! This is Miss Seiri Gansa. How better to explore the Archipelago than with the help of a native?" [20:35] 07Dryas looks back to the woman, her hand going to her throat to adjust the amulet around her neck. [20:36] 6He relaxes. "My mistake. Sorry." 6Not that sorry, though. Disharmony on the ship would be a problem. 15[20:36] Seiri looks around at the others, a complex series of emotions playing on her face that settles into a kind of faint horror. "Oh, yes! Sister Dusk sent me to help. I'll do whatever's required, sir." [20:36] 4Archly: "Whatever's required of the position, certainly." 15[20:37] Dryas's mind's ear is at odds with the girl's outward nervous energy. 15[20:37] Seiri Gansa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hC2w1cfCfM - When my words head for the cracks, will you have my back? [20:38] 10Daizo: "I'm looking forward to a fruitful professional partnership." [20:39] 07And there's Piu again. Dryas fixes her a look, in the hopes that she can see through her this time. [20:39] "Come on, help yourself to some breakfast." 15[20:39] Even sitting, Daizo's almost taller than the Commodore who walks up behind him, contemplating the new arrival. "Daizo? You secured an interpreter?" [20:39] 6Zhangyu is back to looking between Daizo and Piu. He continues to eat breakfast. [20:40] Iselsi Piu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkIZqLDDHBA -- Why do we live like this? Is it because it's true that ignorance is bliss? [20:43] 10Daizo nods. "Seiri, this is our captain." 10If he gives Ratel the full name and title it might stop the girl's heart cold. "Sister Dusk told me you were fluent in Seatongue, but how are your skills in the other local languages?" [20:45] Tepet Zhangyu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRqaAFUZtWQ -- I have devoted everything to fighting, because I want to feel alive. || I have to be a lonely warrior tonight. [20:46] 07Dryas scans a few of the others, perhaps to refresh her recollection. She listens for their tunes and is silent in the reverie as the others banter and discuss the details of the mission. [20:47] Tepet Daizo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm9OnGx_mPs — Days are changing with the weather | Like a riptide come rip us away 15[20:48] Seiri: "Oh, I know all sorts of languages. People come to Abalone from all over. I know mainline Seatongue, like what sailors will speak at port. There's dialects, from the fishing ships that come up and down the archipelago and the inlanders who don't like foreigners much at all. And then there's the Realm tongues, Low and High, and even a bit of Riverspeak from a girl all the way 15[20:48] from Nexus!" 15[20:48] "Wonderful, where people come from!" 15[20:49] Ratel: "...Daizo, could I have a word?" 15[20:51] Caxi murmurs to Piu, "The crew is going to eat her alive." [20:51] 6Zhangyu pauses with his food halfway to his mouth: "It is." 6He continues to eat. [20:52] 10Daizo was beaming with pride like he'd just promoted a queen. Then he clears his throat "Of course. If you'll excuse me…" [20:52] 4Piu, pleasantly: "I'm sure she'll adapt. And if she doesn't, Daizo might have to kick more guys into the water, which is also fun." 15[20:53] Caxi giggles. 15[20:54] Ratel takes Daizo out of the mess, to stairwell behind the kitchen. "Now, when you told me you wanted to secure the services of a retainer, I had pictured you hiring someone more... seasoned." [20:55] 6Speaking of tossing people into the water, are the Cathak twins present? 15[20:55] Nope. 15[20:55] No sign of Salim, either. [20:55] 6Suspicious. [20:58] 6After polishing off a final piece of pork, and sipping at his tea: "Have the Cathaks decided that starvation was preferable?" 6He would not object. 15[20:58] Caxi: "I'm sure they'll be down eventually." [20:58] 6Salim is Salim. Strong feelings are reserved for the Cathaks. 15[20:59] Caxi: "So where did you get to all day, Zhangyu?" [20:59] 10Daizo: "So had I, to be perfectly honest. But look at it this way, Commodore—this is the only way we can be certain we don't have someone who's working against us." 10This is an on-the-spot rationalization. 15[20:59] Ratel: "And you got her where?" [21:00] 6Zhangyu: "I met up with some old friends and made some new ones. Similar interests." 15[21:00] Caxi: "Enticingly vague!" [21:00] 4Piu grins at Zhangyu but remains silent. [21:01] 6Zhangyu goes for seconds instead of acknowledging the response. Yeah. Got 'em. [21:01] 10Daizo: "Yanagimore temple. I believe she's a foundling who was raised there." [21:01] 6His shirt says BAD GUY on the back. [21:01] *mori [21:02] 4Incredible shirt, really. 15[21:02] Seiri's still standing there awkwardly, looking at the others. [21:02] 6Duh. 15[21:02] Ratel: "You hired an orphan?" 15[21:02] "Tell me you hired her." [21:03] 4Piu: "Seiri! Over here." [21:03] 10Daizo: "I chose it more or less by drawing lots and seeing where the locals visited. I asked the priestess in charge for a person with a certain set of skills, but I expected to be sent to a trader's office or something." [21:04] "Of course! What do you take me for, a Guildsman?" [21:04] 4Much better than saying 'a Cynis' there. [21:05] 10Daizo: "I'll be paying her out of my own stipend. Ten yen a day plus expenses." 15[21:05] Seiri's eyes widen but she hurries to a seat by Piu. "Uh... hi. I'm Seiri. Wait, you know that, you called me here by name. I, uh, what's your name?" [21:05] 07Dryas eventually takes to swirling her food into a lumpy whorl like a child, for a moment, before pushing the plate away and lighting another one of her little white slugs. No Sadako? What is she, sleeping in? [21:06] 4Smiling: "I'm V'neef Piu. I'm a friend of Tepet Daizo." 15[21:06] Seiri: "V'Neef! Are you a merchant marine?" [21:07] 10Daizo understands this is a decent chunk of change, especially for someone who was sweeping out a courtyard yesterday. But while money can't buy loyalty, it can certainly go a long way until you can strike up a proper rapport. [21:07] 4She laughs. "No, I'm adopted. A daughter of the House. Basically they send me places to hit things." 15[21:07] Seiri: "But you look so graceful! Like a dancer." [21:07] 4She giggles. "I do that too." 15[21:07] Caxi hides her face behind her mouth. [21:08] 4Trying NOT to utterly corrupt this child within the first week on the ship. ...We're taking on a lot of kids or near-kids. [21:09] 6Zhangyu sits back down with a plate loaded with pork and another cup of tea, tearing into the pork with a vengeance. This Seiri... hm. [21:09] 10Like the rest of us aren't near-kids. [21:09] 14Sometimes you grow up quick. [21:09] 6Quick or the dead. 15[21:11] Ratel: "Listen to me. That girl isn't some bored patrician who won the lottery. She's an orphan. You just changed her entire life, her entire world. And you did it by bringing her on an incredibly important and likely dangerous mission. You have a responsibility that surpasses that of an employer. Do you understand?" [21:14] 10Daizo: "I told her there were risks and gave her the chance to turn down the offer. She still took it. She's got guts. And anyone who tries to hurt her will have to go through me." 15[21:15] Ratel: "Good." 15[21:15] Daizo and Ratel look up abruptly at the sound of people stumbling down the stairs. Two sheepish-looking girls in last night's clothes pass them and leave the hostel, shawls pulled over their heads against the rain. A minute or two later come the Cathaks. [21:16] 4... 15[21:17] They go about their breakfast with quiet vigor. [21:17] 6Zhangyu might have bent his fork. [21:17] 10Daizo: "Dragons preserve us." 15[21:17] Ratel: "..." [21:17] 4Dragons preserve me. 15[21:17] "Well. Let's go finish breakfast." [21:19] 10Daizo: "Yes. Piu and I discovered with some surprising intelligence last night, as well. We'll tell you once we're aboard again." [21:19] -with [21:19] 07Dryas rolls her eyes at how scandalized, just scandalized, anyone who has been on a boat with V'neef Piu and Mik Samperson for the last week could possibly be by the Cathak men. [21:20] 6Okay, so Daizo is still working the mission rather than... gallivanting. Good work, cousin. [21:20] 4Cynis Dryas significantly misapprehends V'neef Piu's reaction to learning the Cathak twins ah, double date that comprehensively, if she thinks it's being scandalized. [21:21] 6Also, "scandalized" is not the word I would choose. [21:21] 10Look. At least Piu and the boatswain have the decency to be coy. Most of the time. [21:21] 07She slams back the rest of her coffee and approaches Piu and Caxi. "Did Sadako outsleep these two?" [21:22] 4Really, he's more of a coxswa--Piu glances over at Caxi. Sadako is her, well, territory. 15[21:24] Caxi: "Sadako woke hungry late last night. She's probably owed another hour or two of sleep, but she can get it on the ship. I'll go fetch her. 15[21:24] " 15[21:24] After breakfast, Ratel calls senior staff to her study on the Defiance. This includes Salim, who arrives just as the meal is wrapping up. [21:25] 14Interesting. [21:25] 10Curses.10 Well, there'll be an opportunity to speak later. [21:27] 6Well, all right. 15[21:27] Ratel: "So, who wants to go first." [21:29] 4Piu: "Nothing to report~" 4She grins. "At least, nothing that Daizo can't report better." 15[21:29] Ratel looks to Daizo. [21:31] "Or Zhangyu!" [21:32] 14Having been present helping the two big lads on their own investigations should take any real attention off of what she was up to beforehand. [21:32] 6Zhangyu stiffens, but also, well. She did see it. 15[21:32] Ratel: "Zhangyu? Do you have something for us besides a pretty shirt?" [21:34] 10Daizo: "Very well. In addition to securing the services of our guide, I've also gained access to the temple archives. Piu was kind enough to assist me with researching and we've ideintified several locations of interest. I've written a summary for you—" 10He hands a sheaf of papers to Ratel. "I apologize in advance for the quality of my handwriting; I haven't had a chance to make a fair copy just yet." [21:34] 6Zhangyu: "I have a way in to Hinokuni, which required... a tussle at the docks." 6He winces. "No deaths, no publicity beyond "fight at the docks" and whatever they say about me that I wasn't around to hear. I'm expecting that some underground voices will make their way to me, given that." 15[21:35] Calmly: "Okay. Started a bar fight, joined an underground bloodsport. Daizo?" 15[21:35] Ratel blinks at the already-extended summary. "Ah. Thank you." 15[21:36] "Dryas?" [21:37] 10Daizo: "Furthermore, we were able to make a positive identification of the vessel we encountered. Known as the Leaden Queen, it is a true ghost ship. And has apparently returned on several occasions even after—well, that's in the report as well." [21:38] 6The fight was not at a bar, but correcting her seems out of place. [21:38] 07Dryas clasps her hands behind her back. "Made contact with Factor Nn Tloc. I don't think he knows why we're here yet. But seven hundred ships need provisions," [21:38] 10Note to self: find out if Seiri knows High Realm shorthand and if not, teach it to her. 15[21:42] Salim: "I was able to consult with sister Dusk, and discovered that a Wyld Hunt, under Ragara colors, sailed through two weeks ago. They headed north, and were vague on their purpose." 15[21:43] Ratel looks at the twins. [21:44] 10So they met after all? Interesting. 15[21:45] Ito Pan: "Right, so, we didn't do a lot of investigating exactly..." [21:45] 4Oh, I bet that's not true. 15[21:45] Ito Jun produces a piece of paper that unfolds five or six times into a map of the West the size of Ratel's desk, covered in ink lines. "But we did some math." [21:46] 6I'm sure. 15[21:48] "So the Wu-Jian tradewind comes in from the Southeast this time of year... and if you factor in the currents at the point where the Guild ships were abandoned..." He traces a large-ish circle over the Coral and Skullstone Archipelagos, and a chunk of the Northwestern sea. "...we think this is the effective range of the fleet, assuming it's stayed together. They're somewhere in here." [21:48] 10Daizo leans forward with interest.  [21:49] 6... 15[21:49] Ratel leans down to study the map. "Huh. You did do math." 15[21:50] Ito Pan: "It's a lot of ground to cover -- not ground, but you know what I mean -- but any other leads we find that point away from this circle, we can probably disregard." [21:51] 6They probably know more than Zhangyu, which is infuriating, but... 15[21:52] Daizo's... pretty sure this all checks out. How about that! Those calculations are quite sophisticated and even a bit inventive. [21:52] 07Dryas leans in to look at the map with wonder. [21:53] 4Whoa. [21:53] 10Daizo: "This is... actually quite excellent work." 15[21:53] Ito Jun: "Don't sound so surprised." [21:54] 6Zhangyu grunts. 15[21:54] Ito Pan: "What, did you think we were stupid?" 15[21:54] The two of them high five, knocking a bottle of ink off Ratel's desk, causing it to shatter against the floor. [21:54] 4Piu: "Heehee." [21:55] 6Zhangyu remains silent while gesturing to the spilled ink. 15[21:55] Ito Pan: "Ah shit." 15[21:55] Ito Jun: "Sorry." 15[21:55] Ratel, who might be pinching the bridge of her nose clean off: "It's fine. I'll take care of it. Good work." [21:55] 10Daizo: "You're not stupid at all, it seems. You just lack some discipline." 15[21:57] Ito Pan: "Thanks, man. I'm sure your homework is really good too." [21:57] 6Not allowed to fight them not allowed to fight them [22:00] 10Daizo: "Orichalcum stars for everyone today." 15[22:00] Ratel: "Good. This is a lot of useful information. I need some time with this. Take the day, if you have things to follow up on, and we'll meet again after dinner." [22:00] 4Chipperly: "Aye aye!" [22:00] 14It's time to plan. [22:01] 6It's time to fight. 14[22:02] * Joins: hrolfie 14[22:02] * Quits: hrolfie (Connection closed) [22:03] 07Dryas nods. Then she'll check in on Sadako. [22:03] 10Mental exercise is all well and good, but there's no substitute for getting the blood flowing. 15[22:04] Sadako is in Caxi's room, curled up on a mound of cushions. She looks pale and lethargic. [22:04] 4Piu will grab a quick nap in Caedus's room, which may or may not be bookended with a short briefing and a...warm-up bout. Then she'll get her actual exercises in (a bit late in the day, but you can't skip) and eat a proper meal alone. [22:06] 07Dryas squints at her "Sadako? Are you alright? You missed breakfast." [22:06] "I'll catch up with you in town, Cousin. I want to see what this Hinokuni thing is all about." [22:07] 6Zhangyu: "It's fun. And - scum and villainy habitate. Good place to pick up rumors." 6And also a tag team bout would be great... [22:07] 10What 10does10 Zhangyu's shirt say on the back, by the way? [22:07] 6BAD GUY 15[22:07] Sadako groans and rolls over. "I'm tired." [22:07] 10Nice. [22:08] 6Duh. 15[22:08] Where is Piu preparing? [22:08] 4Exercises are best done back on ship, or really just in any open lot or courtyard. She can charm or pay her way into that. [22:09] 14Preparations are best done at a safehouse. Does Lao have one on let? [22:09] 07Dryas' nose wrinkles. "Tired of what?" 15[22:10] Lao's got property all over the city, including a nondescript building near the docks that Caedus told her they have the run of as a safehouse and staging area. [22:10] 14Caedus has hopefully already delivered her working clothes. 15[22:10] Of course. 15[22:12] Sadako: "What? Don't you ever get tired?" 15[22:12] Does Dryas have Caxi's door open? [22:13] 14What does she know about Sister Dusk? What does she need to find out? Caedus is hopefully the one doing the prep work on this -- she's not really trained for it. [22:14] 07Does the Cynis operate behind closed doors...? [22:14] 6Does Zhangyu know anything about the schedule of Hinokuni? He wants to ingratiate himself into the scene, but showing up at 10 in the morning to an underground fight ring might be taken the wrong way. 15[22:14] Dryas is more blunt than many of her cousins! [22:14] 6Or, the right way, but not the way he wants it to be taken. [22:15] 07It's true, 15[22:15] If Zhangyu went early in the day he would find people training and working out. Bouts don't start until after dark. [22:15] 6Time to spare, then. Who needs accompaniment? 15[22:18] The dossier Caedus has prepared for Piu runs as follows: Mnemon Dusk has been on the island for some twenty years, running the temple and the orphanage for the last fifteen. She has deep ties in the local community, including a long and stable relationship with the Guild, through whom she deals in slaves via the orphanage. She lives a solitary life, in a home within bounds of taste 15[22:18] and social convention for an Immaculate of her standing. No companions to speak of, no special vices... Dusk must be the most pious and fastidious human trafficker in the Realm. 15[22:18] Piu knows when she takes her dinner, and when she prays, alone, before bed. [22:19] 14So we do this with the Chain, not the Veil. Killing her at prayer seems correct, if a tad on the nose. She might be less prepared at dinner...does she prepare her own food? 15[22:19] She has food brought to her from the temple comissary. 15[22:20] Sadako doesn't seem hungover... she's cold, though, and looks clammy. Could she be getting sick? [22:20] 14Does Caedus have any information on how difficult it might be to poison that food? 15[22:23] Poisoning Dusk's food alone ought to be possible, with some finesse... but Piu's probably still have to kill her by hand. Dusk's quite mature in the blood. It could serve to incapacitate her, however. 14[22:23] * Joins: hrolf [22:23] 07Dryas takes a step closer and reaches towards her, gritting her teeth. "You don't look well. Ah, dragon's testicles. are you coming down with something?" 07Is this... ironic? 15[22:24] While Zhangyu waits for Daizo's meeting with Ratel to finish, he feels eyes upon him. [22:24]  [22:24] 14Poison is never the only answer, sadly. But it can commonly tip the scales. [22:24] 14That'll be the play. The safehouse has a workspace? 15[22:25] Naturally. In the cellar, near an indoor swimming grotto that Piu understands allows for entrances and exits directly from the beach by swimming between skillfully disguised rocks. [22:25] 14Useful. What materials does she have access to? Any ready-made poisons? 15[22:26] Sadako rolls over to look at Dryas, and Dryas sees the pale, rotting, mottled skin of a drowned girl falling off her face in awful chunks, milky white eyes and expression of incalculable age and hate over a mouth that opens, opens, opens-- 15[22:26] Sadako coughs, and the spell is broken. She sits up. "Maybe it's the food?" [22:28] 07Dryas hits her head on a bulkhead backing up, one hand scrabbling for the door, the other for the flamepiece she keeps at the small of her back - before pausing. [22:30] "I couldn't say," 07she replies quietly. "You know, my mother is probably the greatest doctor alive. But I never took to medicine. Maybe some fresh air would help?" 14[22:31] * Joins: tom2 15[22:31] Sadako: "You're not busy?" 15[22:32] Daizo has Ratel's attention in private. "Something private?" 14[22:32] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:33] "You can come with me," 07she says, still a little too shaken to fully consider the possible implications. 15[22:34] Sadako climbs out of bed, still dressed from the morning. "Okay." [22:34] 14The poison of the sweetcane arrow frog. That will do nicely, if it's on offer. Very local; certainly the sort of thing in a Guild store. After all, she doesn't need it to kill. It looking like a botched poisoning is fine, so long as she is not caught. [22:36] 10Daizo: "Yes. Only Piu and I are privy to this information—one last thing we turned up in our investigation. The library I gained access to is a Mnemon house library, and as such, it had relatively recent copies of the House ledger. We took a look at it, and… there is no Mnemon Salim." 15[22:37] Ratel blinks. 15[22:37] "You're saying he's an impostor?" 15[22:38] Up on deck, Dryas and Sadako find Seiri talking to Salim. [22:38] 10Daizo: "Sister Dusk didn't recognize the name either, although they look to be about the same age. Either he's a Mnemon traveling under a false name, or he's an outright impostor." [22:39] "We'll get you some things in town as well. With Caxi and I, ah, sponsoring you, you'll need some of your own things. And it's a chance to learn a thing or two, and we can check in with Moke..." 07Dryas, still a little paler than usual, gives Salim a respectful nod and a tiny tilt of her head to Seiri. 15[22:39] Ratel: "He had a missive from Mnemon herself. Signed and sealed." 15[22:40] Seiri gapes openly at Sadako before shaking herself out of some reverie. 15[22:40] Salim's eyes narrow. [22:40] 10Daizo: "And that was the name in the missive? Salim, that is?" [22:41] "If this is confidential Im won't press you further. But in my opinion, there is something very fishy going on with this man." [22:42] "Brother Salim. Did we miss you at breakfast this morning? Or, perhaps, did you miss us?" 07she asks, in that Cynis way. 15[22:47] Ratel takes it out of a drawer and rereads it. "...commend to your care our brother Salim, who is steadfast and capable and shall not fail you or his House." 15[22:48] Salim: "I woke too early to partake, and when I returned after my morning calisthenics the meal was already concluded." 15[22:49] Seiri, to Sadako: "What's your name? I'm Seiri." 15[22:49] Sadako: "Sadako." 15[22:49] Seiri: "That's a real pretty name, Sadako." 15[22:50] Salim takes Seiri by the shoulders and physically moves her away from Sadako. "Be wary, girl, of what you do not understand." [22:51] 07Dryas, smoothly: "Something you and Sadako have in common, this morning!" [22:51] 10Daizo heaves a low rumbling sigh. "Far be it from me to question the Mnemon's judgment. Forgive me for my suspicion." 15[22:52] Ratel taps the note against her desk. "It could be a forgery," she says. 15[22:52] Sadako casts a baleful eye up at the monk. "You first." [22:54] "I don't think a trip to the market should be too difficult to understand, for either a monk or a Thresholder. 07But please, have a Blessed day for me," Dryas interjects, gesturing to Sadako that it's time to get to work. [22:54] "I don't think a trip to the market should be too difficult to understand, for either a monk or a Thresholder. But please, have a Blessed day for me," 07Dryas interjects, gesturing to Sadako that it's time to get to work. [22:55] 10Daizo looks up again. "I suppose that if one is pretending to be a Mnemon of high standing, then it is no more or less dangerous to also forge a letter of introduction." 15[22:55] Ratel: "Have you any skill with detecting forgeries?" 15[22:56] Piu prepares and rests. Soon night steals over the island. [22:56] 14Time to get dressed. 15[22:57] Dryas takes Sadako to the market. People pay the Dynast appropriate respect, her reputation already building by her and Moke's handiwork. But people seem to ignore her ward. [22:58] 10Daizo thinks, wheels whirring to life in his mind once more. "Perhaps not this specific kind of forgery, but I have received training in recognizing false documents purporting to be lost Immaculate Texts." [22:59] 14In the skull mask, hood and robe, with the Chain on her wrist and the rooftops of Abalone out in front of her, Iselsi Piu wears her true face. [23:00] 10Daizo: "And there is an entire library of Mnemon documents to compare it to.…" 15[23:02] Ratel: "Be discreet. If anyone sees you carrying around a letter with Mnemon's seal, much less a potential forgery, the risks are great. 15[23:02] " 15[23:03] "Maybe wait until dark?" [23:05] 10Daizo: "Of course. And I'd like your permission to take Seiri with me. I couldn't have gotten this much done without Piu to assist me, but I believe she has other plans tonight." 15[23:06] Dryas finds their reactions strange, since the girl is practically clinging to her and follows a bare half-step behind. But she's practiced at following sightlines and some careful attention reveals to her that it's not anonymity or respect that averts their gazes. They simply can't see her. [23:06] 10Daizo: "I will not, of course, tell her the true purpose of our foray." [23:06] 4Piu did mention something about some boys on the docks she'd connected with, outside of Zhangyu's fight... 15[23:07] Ratel: "I'm sure she's doing something productive. She's playful, but not a dawdler." 15[23:08] "By all means, take your translator." [23:08] 07Dryas pauses in the midst of the market - she had been collecting herself to launch into a well-practiced lecture - before stooping into an alcove with Sadako. "These people, they don't see you? Are you doing something on purpose?" 15[23:10] Sadako: "Obviously. There's too many people here." [23:11] "Too many people here for what?" [23:12] 10Daizo: "Right. I'll return by dawn." 10He turns to leave, then turns back. "Thank you, Commodore. I won't let you down."10 He's not just talking about the letter. 15[23:20] Piu has a clear path from rooftop to rooftop to the site of the temple, but some of those jumps are pretty big and offer little cover from the street. 15[23:22] Sadako: "For anything. It's too crowded. Don't you feel it? All the heat and the movement and the sound of everyone breathing..." [23:22] 14Good. Been awhile since she's had a test this exhilirating. 15[23:23] Daizo surfaces to find Seiri awkwardly standing around while Mnemon Salim meditates quietly. [23:26] 07Dryas stares for a moment as she rifles through a few strings of cowrie shells. "Exactly. But: Think big, think positive. Never show any sign of weakness. And always go for the throat. Buy low, sell high. Fear? That's the other guy's problem. Here, it's kill or be killed. Make no friends and take no prisoners. You ready?" 15[23:27] Tonight, Hamoji's caldera flares golden, and whatever's blowing off the top in great flickering clouds is light enough to cling to the air and drift out to sea where it falls like gentle snow. On the rooftops, with an unfettered view, it's quite a beautiful sight. But from the roofop of the temple's kitchens and dining-house, Piu likely has more than the scenery on her mind. What's 15[23:27] the approach? [23:29] 14The basic idea is to access the food at the last possible moment before consumption. Arrow frog venom will do best in a liquid, so Piu's looking for a pot of tea preferably set aside for the Sister's dinner, but maintaining heat. She doesn't want to put the poison in while the tea is at boil; while hot liquid won't damage the poison, boiling it could. [23:29] 14Poison the tea at the last possible moment, then get into the residence and the dining space before the food and conceal herself. 15[23:31] Piu perches on a low rooftop, looking through a high window at the movements in the kitchen down below. 15[23:32] She notices two things: one is that while almost all of the food is being sent directly into the dining halls, there is an as-yet empty ceramic tray set aside with fine cutlery and a teapot. The other thing she notices is that almost all the cooks are young. Younger than Seiri. [23:33] 14...Righteous kills are rare. [23:33] 14And in this life, they are a blessing. [23:34] 14If Piu is relatively certain the pot will have the tea transferred to it, rather than boiled in it, itself -- and she should be able to tell by watching the guileless workflow of the children -- that will be her target. 15[23:34] The tailor is alarmed to see Sadako, as if she appeared out of nowhere from behind Dryas. But she consents to be fitted. Is it she or Dryas who chooses the outfit? 15[23:34] It seems like Piu's supposition is correct. [23:35] 14The good news about arrow frog poison is that it will be debilitating, not necessarily lethal. If the worst happens, a taste tester won't be immediately felled, just incapacitated. [23:35] 14But that is a risk one takes. [23:36] 07Dryas will allow her to choose this thing, but reminds her of its purpose - something more socially presentable. [23:38] 14The Chain is useful here, as is the large and ill-fitting flue and the exposed timbers of the kitchen roof. Guards don't even look up -- children impressed into culinary duties are even more focused on chattering, their work, or cowering in fear from those who would punish chattering instead of fully pursuing their work. The venom slides drop by drop down the Chain, into the teapot, [23:38] 14and then Piu withdraws to prepare for the kill. [23:41] 10Daizo glances at Salim, then heads over to his, let's be honest here, new ward. "Are you settling in all right?" 10He hunkers down to be a little bit less of a looming terror. "If there's anything you need from the ship's stores, you can ask Mr. Samperson and tell him I sent you." 15[23:41] After a short while Sadako presents in something blue and gray, with dark tights and knee-high boots. https://i.imgur.com/0tYirA4.png 15[23:42] Seiri looks up. "I'm fine, thank you. Just a bit..." She bounces on her heels. "Need any help?" 15[23:43] And now the wait. Where does Piu set up? [23:45] 07Dryas approves, and will see to it that she's able to secure other sundries that she might need, enough to fill a trunk at least. And also... "Do you fight? Would you carry a weapon?" [23:45] 14As close as possible. How isolated and sequestered are the sister's quarters? Is there a good vantage point in the dining space itself? She will have to pursue the kill as soon as the poison hits, even if there is a child in the room. The kill will take less time than the child getting help. Ideally, however, Sister Dusk doesn't deign to sup until the slaves have left. 14[23:45] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:46] 10Daizp: "The captain's asked me to head back into town to look up something in the temple library in more detail. So you'll be coming with me. Nothing hard, just fetching books and scrolls, and taking a few notes for me." 15[23:47] Seiri: "Oh!! I love the temple library. I've only been in twice." 15[23:48] Piu watches a child of about Sadako's age carefully load soup, bread, and tea on the tray and carry it carefully out of the dining hall, across the courtyard to the small pagoda reserved for the master of the temple. [23:48] 14Ahhhhhh. [23:48] 14She'll want to be in position before the child arrives... [23:49] 10Daizo grins. "Just two? Before we leave Abalone I'll make sure you get put on the list of people allowed in. And they can't say no, because I'm a sponsor now." 15[23:49] Seiri: "!!" 15[23:49] Sadako flexes her fingers. "...no weapons." 15[23:51] It's quite late in the afternoon by the time Seiri and Daizo make it to the library. 15[23:51] Dryas is beckoned at the door. It's that girl from yesterday, with the missing fingers. Nn Tloc's runner. "Lady Dryas?" [23:52] 07Dryas: "Alright then. Have I forgotten something? What else would you like, while--" [23:52] 10Daizo: "Oh! That reminds me." 10He hands over a string of cash, yencoins glittering in the late afternoon light. "This is your first week's pay. And a little extra as a welcoming gift." [23:52] "--Yes?" 15[23:52] Seiri: "!!!!" 15[23:53] "Oh, I can't accept this. I haven't even done anything yet." 15[23:53] The runner: "Lady Dryas, the Factor requests an audience at your earliest convenience. When can I tell him to expect you?" [23:54] 10Daizo: "All right then, let's see if we can find what we're looking for. And then you'll have done something." [23:59] "I shall not keep the Factor waiting. I shall join you momentarily." 07She turns back around, busying herself with a bolt of silk until the slave departs. [23:59] 10It's… a lot of money. Pocket change for a Dynast, even a relatively poor Dynast like the Tepets are these days. Ratel's words come back to him: "…a patrician who won the lottery…" 10Maybe that's why he's suddenly feeling so generous. Session Time: Wed Nov 27 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] 14...And it seems she'll be able to do that rather easily. Iselsi Piu doesn't get easily offended, morally, on missions, but in her professional capacity...children? Really? 15[00:00] At least Samsa was suitably paranoid. [00:00] 14She keeps her eyes open for a hidden hook or crook to explain why this Sister feels safe surrounding herself with the child slaves she abuses. 15[00:06] Piu watches the child vanish into the pagoda, and sees him re-emerge in Dusk's private office, which Piu can see through an open window. The rain's beginning to fall again, and the night is cool. Dusk says a quiet prayer and begins to eat. [00:07] 14It's time. [00:09] 10The second evening of research proceeds apace. There are a few of the things in Ratel's report he wants to double-check, after seeing the Cathak twins' map. But he's really looking for other documents signed and sealed by Mnemon herself.  15[00:15] Daizo compares notes extensively with other writings, particularly theological tracts by Mnemon herself. The writing is definitely hers. Daizo's certain of that. But there's something about the text... the ink seems to swim under his vision the more he stares at it - this must be sleep deprivation getting to him. [00:20] 10It has been a solid day and a half at least.  15[00:21] Daizo takes a break to clear his head. Takes another crack at the bird -- finds something. A small mention in an old deuterocanonical text of the Thousand-Year Shrike. One head heralds the birth of nations; the other grieves the death of gods. 15[00:24] Interesting. Maybe useful. Back to the note, as the shadows grow long from the windows and distant thunder rumbles. 15[00:27] It's only after eating that Dusk takes her tea. [00:28] 14Non-ideal for absorption. Very ideal for positioning. [00:28] 10Daizo: "It's getting ugly out there. Maybe we should get back to the hostel…" 10Now he's running a thumb over the paper and the ink, turning it over and over.  15[00:29] The wind through the windows blows out the candles in the library. For a moment everything is pitch dark. And Daizo sees. 15[00:30] The words in the dark don't *glow*, exactly, but they're plain as day in the brief pitch darkness. Old Realm pictograph in an elegant hand, save the characters at the bottom, which are so merciless and square that they look to have been rendered by stamp rather than brush. [00:32] 10In a low voice. "Dragons preserve us." 15[00:32] 11,5The maiden became a mother, and to one child she said, "I have many things to show you." 15[00:32] 11,5And to another, she said, "Rest within my home and eat. No need to fly." 15[00:32] 11,5And to a third, she said, "How beautiful you are." 15[00:32] 11,5And as each heard her words and came to the center of her web... 15[00:32] 11,5she ate them. 15[00:32] 11,5EXECUTE ORDER: 66 15[00:33] Dusk barely has time to put the cup down before she stiffens. 14[00:34] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 15[00:34] One hand clutches her throat. The other reaches for the hammer for the gong on her desk. [00:34] 14Cuileagan bàis. [00:35] 10Daizo: "Seiri?" 15[00:36] Seiri's busy trying to re-light candles now that the wind's died down. "Yes?" [00:40] 10Daizo: "You did good work tonight." 10He looks a little pale. "This is the third time I'll ask you, and then never again. Are you sure, truly and absolutely sure, you want to leave your old life behind and come with us?" 15[00:41] Seiri doesn't hesitate. "There's nothing left for me here." 15[00:42] "What's wrong?" [00:43] 14From the shadows of the pagoda rafters, the gleaming skull killer falls on Sister Dusk from behind, the shining garrote wrapping around her throat. [00:44] 10Daizo: "That monk you met on the ship, that Salim? I think he might be dangerous. Really dangerous." 15[00:45] Seiri blinks. "He's no monk." 15[00:45] "Why, I was up on decks doing my afternoon prayers and he came up and asked me what I was doing." [00:49] 14No greeting, no taunt. Piu pulls up, dragging Sister Dusk to her feet, then kicks the chair away to drive her down to the floor with a knee in the small of her back. [00:51] 10Daizo: "He what?" 10And then a little stab of guilt. Caught up in all the commotion, he forgot to offer his own afternoon prayers. 15[00:52] Dusk bucks against her assassin like a fish pulled on deck. Something bright and glittering slips into her hand and she stabs at Piu blindly. No purchase. [00:54] 15Blocked with an elbow easily. She yanks again. This fish has about run out its line. [00:54] 14Blocked with an elbow easily. She yanks again. This fish has about run out its line. 15[00:54] Seiri: "I thought maybe I was praying weird, but I did it like Sister Dusk taught me." 15[00:56] Did Daizo lock the library door behind him? [00:58] 10With Piu they locked themselves in. But with Seiri—half the crew already thinks he's bought himself a concubine. His conscience didn't feel right locking them in together.  15[00:59] Then the door creaks open, and a fresh lantern shines on Daizo and Seiri's work. 15[00:59] Mnemon Salim enters, and the storm follows him. 15[00:59] "Good evening." 15[00:59] "May I assist?" [01:03] 10Daizo conceals, perhaps a moment too late, the forged document in his sleeve. "No, Br—. We were just finishing up, about to put things back on the shelves. There's no need to trouble yourself." 15[01:04] Salim hangs up the lantern. "I'll help you, then." [01:04] 14Another stab back. Blocked with an elbow. Another stab back. This time Piu's elbow hits the back of her hand and knocks the shitty little blade free, sending it across the room. And then, still strangling... [01:04] 14Iselsi Piu stands up. [01:06] "Na cuir a ’choire air a’ chloinn, uilebheist. Cuir a ’choire air taigh Iselsi. " [01:06] 14She drives a foot down on the back of Sister Dusk's knee and pulls up at the same time, and hear three separate cracks. [01:07] 14Piu lets the body fall, pours the rest of the poisoned tea over her body, and leaves the way she came. 15[01:08] Words may fall. The body remains. 15[01:08] It's storming outside now. The rooftops are slick with rain. 15[01:11] Piu looks down in the courtyard and sees Mnemon Salim carrying a lantern toward the temple library. She can't see much in the doorway, but Daizo's big boot is unmistakable. 15[01:12] Salim's eyes linger on the desk and Daizo's sleeves for an agonizingly long moment, but then he says, "Discover anything interesting in our house facilities?" [01:13] 14...She examines herself. Chain back around her neck, she drops the mask and the over-robe in a hideyhole for Caedus to recover later...she can give herself an alibi. [01:13] 10Daizo nods. "Many hands make quick work." 10He's going to work quick, so 10fucking10 quick— [01:13] 14No blood. That's the advantage of the Chain. 14[01:15] * Joins: mattbaby [01:16] 14It's a hop, skip, a jump, another hop, and a LONG jump down. Mask and robe go in the work bag, shoved in a hasty carve-out for either her or Caedus to recover later. The rain is hopefully heavy enough that she'll be soaked by the time she hits the library. Does she have a convincing path to have taken here that explains both why Salim didn't see her on the way in and which doesn't [01:16] 14imply she just came from what will soon be a crime scene? 15[01:17] She could go around the library from behind, creep under the windows, and then come in from the east, where the orchard is. [01:17] 14Sounds good. [01:17] 14So it will be that she enters right as Daizo talks about many hands making quick work, 4and chipperly agrees, "Yeah!" [01:19] 10You would think it was two minutes before closing time, the speed at which the huge man is reshelving books. "Seiri, tell him what we found out about…" [01:19] 4She keeps healthy distance from Salim, but not so healthy he can't see precisely how well the rain has defined her curves. 14And not so healthy she can't get between him and anyone else in the room if he moves. 15[01:20] Seiri: "...the Maw of Toto-Rak! Do you know it's supposed to be the corpse of an old dragon that fell into the sea as it died? The Immaculates used it as a prison before they took Pneuma and the Nail." [01:21] 10Daizo: "Evening, Piu—" 10There, there, there, and there. "—glad you could make it after all." [01:22] 4She shivers a little performative. "I'd feel better warming up if not for, you know. All the paper." [01:22] 4She shivers a little performatively. "I'd feel better warming up if not for, you know. All the paper." 15[01:23] Mnemon Salim looks at Piu with a hungry focus she's used to from men, but not from him. "Busy evening to take you out so far in the rain. Did you like the orchard?" [01:24] 4A wide-eyed blink. "You could tell?" 4Without waiting for an answer: "Maybe if it wasn't raining or dark..." [01:25] 10Daizo: "Don't worry, we'll be out of here in no time." 10To Seiri: "That's the place. They have those weird walking plants with the long tendrils—morbol, wasn't it? But everyone calls them cats for some reason." 15[01:25] Seiri: "That's right, Master Daizo." 15[01:25] Salim: "It seems Daizo and young Seiri were following up on leads you discovered last night." [01:26] 4Smug smile. "Well. I didn't think I did so much." 15[01:26] Salim: "You may underestimate your talents. I do not." [01:27] 4A self-effacing chuckle. 14Don't you? [01:28] 10Daizo: "Well, technically they're members of the ochu family, but—" 10He can keep this spinning for a little while still. But the tables are pretty well in order, and although Salim's giving him the stinkeye, the ruse appears to have worked.  15[01:29] Salim: "Well. This all seems to be in order. Let me walk you all back to the hostel." 15[01:29] NEXT TIME: Night of the Hunter 14[01:30] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[02:00] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:00] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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The rest of the ship's just so quiet I came to see what the creaking was. I shouldn't interrupt--" It's the girl from breakfast. Daizo's new retainer. Does Zhangyu remember her name? [19:36] 6S... something. See... say... Seiri! "Seiri." 6He turns to her, still wearing his pink shirt from breakfast. "I was just finishing." 6A lie, he still had at least ten more minutes, but he can cut it short this once. How's she look, having been called out? 15[19:37] Nervous. But as far as Zhangyu's seen, she always looks nervous. Maybe her face is just like that? "Oh. Are you sure? Because I can leave." [19:42] 6Most people tend to look nervous around Zhangyu. It's a talent. "No. I'd been meaning to speak to you, outside of breakfast. My cousin hired you?" 15[19:43] Seiri: "Yes, sir. Just yesterday." [19:47] 6Zhangyu: "What are your intentions towards him?" 6He very carefully keeps all menace out of his voice. 15[19:48] Seiri blinks. 15[19:48] "I'm sorry?" [19:51] 6Zhangyu: "I thought I was fairly clear." 6Hardly going to be able to translate or take dictation if she can't listen to a simple question. The arrangement must be temporary. "But perhaps I misread the situation. Tell me about yourself." 15[19:56] Seiri still seems wrongfooted, but she recovers well enough. "I... there's not much to tell. I work at the temple, for Sister Dusk. She took me in when I was just a little girl, after my parents died. She runs the orphanage, you see, in town. Part of the temple." [19:59] 6Zhangyu: "That's where you picked up languages, I assume?" 6Orphans. Hrn. 15[20:02] Seiri: "Oh, yes, sir. Sister Dusk's real smart, and she schooled me in all sorts of things. And Abalone's a port, so people from all over come by speaking their languages. And I love to read, and there's only so many books and scrolls at the temple in Seatongue." [20:06] 6Zhangyu: "Hrn. Has my cousin said for how long you'll be with us?" 6No parents, heavy reader, constantly nervous... [20:07] "Oh, how interesting," 4says Piu, stepping out of the shadows with a bounce. She can be very sneaky when she wants. Smiling: "Good evening, Tepet Zhangyu. Stretching?" 15[20:07] Seiri shakes her head. "He said you--" She starts a bit when Piu appears. "Oh!" [20:08] 6Zhangyu: "Just finished." 6Dang, she's good. "Staying limber for tonight." [20:10] 4Her smile widens. "Fight night?" 15[20:10] Seiri: "Fight??" [20:10] 6His grin is feral. "That's the plan." 15[20:11] "What- why??" [20:12] 6To Seiri: "Hinokuni," 6as if that explains everything. 15[20:12] Seiri's eyes widen. "But that's illegal!" [20:12] 4To Seiri: "Zhangyu is a practitioner of the deadly art of Mantis Style, something the big, sweaty hulks down in the bloodsport cages are gonna find out in the Hinokuni." [20:12] "I know!" 4She clasps her hands together. "Isn't it great!" 15[20:13] Seiri: "Gosh!" 15[20:13] To Zhangyu: "What do you fight for?" [20:15] 6Zhangyu raises an eyebrow. "That's some question." 15[20:16] Seiri looks between Zhangyu and Piu, a little overwhelmed. [20:18] "I fight for, hm." 6'Recognition' is a bit too honest. "The challenge, mostly. But tonight, it's to see who'll talk, and I get to fight as a fun bonus." 15[20:21] Seiri: "Talk about what?" [20:23] 6Zhangyu: "I've got some ideas, but frankly, anything they talk about is probably going to be interesting." 6To Zhangyu, if not the ship at large. 15[20:24] Seiri nods slowly. To Piu: "Are you going to fight?" [20:32] 6Zhangyu: "They do have two-on-two fights, though I was planning to ask Daizo... hm." [20:33] 4Piu perks up. "Well...if I'm asked...but I'm more of a fan than a participant!" 15[20:34] Seiri: "Does Master Daizo fight?" [20:36] 6Zhangyu nods. "All of us do, though some of us more than others. Was self-defense covered in your reading?" 15[20:39] Seiri: "I can spearfish, and I've practiced some with a bokken... but not really." 15[20:40] "Master Daizo said he could teach me the Earth Dragon style, if I liked!" [20:42] 6Zhangyu: "If you'd like to learn Mantis style, I could train you, though I'm not sure it would be the right fit for you." 6Or that she would enjoy the training. "Something simpler might be better. Being able to defend yourself is important, though." 15[20:43] "Is there going to be a lot of fighting on this mission?" [20:43] 6Zhangyu: "It never hurts to be prepared," 6he says instead of answering. 15[20:44] Seiri nods. "That's what Sister Dusk likes to say, too." [20:45] 14Mmmmmm. [20:46] 6Zhangyu: "Wise woman." 15[20:47] "Master Daizo hasn't told me what the mission is yet. Do you know?" [20:51] 6It takes him a moment to respond. "We're to clear the name of Commodore Ratel." 6He doesn't elaborate. "You mean to say you signed up with my cousin without knowing what you were getting into?" [20:52] 4Piu: "I mean, the politics are a bit above even our heads." 15[20:53] Seiri: "Sister Dusk brought Master Daizo to see me and said he was looking for a translator for his travels. Why wouldn't I say yes?" [21:04] 6Zhangyu: "That's fair." 6Especially with the way she talks about Sister Dusk. Talks around, really. "What were you doing before that? Out of curiosity." 6It occurs to him this is the first time in a while he's been nice to a stranger. Near-stranger. She's crew now, I guess. Only sensible. 15[21:05] Seiri: "I worked at the temple. Cleaning, making food, helping take care of the children." [21:10] 6Zhangyu: "And you still found time to learn multiple languages?" 15[21:12] Seiri: "Oh, it's not so much. I've been there my whole life, almost." 15[21:13] "I don't do much else. Except... oh! Do you like tea?" [21:15] 6Zhangyu: "I do. Never learned much about it, but I do drink it and enjoy it." 15[21:16] Seiri looks from Zhangyu to Piu excitedly. "Would you like some tea? Oh, I've been practicing my Imperial tea service!" [21:17] 6He blinks. Well, some tea after the workout would be nice... and their stocks should be quite full and easily replaced while they're in port. He gives a stiff nod. [21:17] 4She giggles. "Sure!" 15[21:18] Seiri dashes off to get something. The two Dynasts are alone for the moment. [21:20] 4Piu watches her go with an arched eyebrow. "This campaign isn't the first one I'd bring an orphan on. Especially, like, what if we DO find something out there?" [21:22] 6Zhangyu: "She's better here than back there. This wouldn't be my first choice either, but I can see why Daizo picked her." [21:23] 6Quietly: "I don't think I like that Sister Dusk. Something about the way Seiri talked about her." [21:27] 4Piu: "We've met. I...wasn't impressed." [21:27] "Or maybe I was? But not like. In a good way." [21:31] 6Zhangyu grunts in probable-agreement. "Going to have to talk to the Commodore at some point about the mission." 6And what she's allowed to know, or not allowed. "And get Seiri some training. Just in case." [21:32] 4Piu: "She can train alongside Sadako. At this rate we'll have a full novitiate." [21:33] 6Zhangyu: "Ah. Hm. That could be - has she met Sadako?" [21:34] "I believe so, after breakfast." [21:34] 6Zhangyu: "And she didn't flee the ship screaming? Daizo definitely made the right choice." 15[21:36] Seiri emerges from belowdecks with a plain but heavy-looking wooden box balanced delicately in both arms. 15[21:36] "Sit down, sit down!" [21:38] 4Piu plops down. [21:38] 6Zhangyu sits cross-legged, arms folded. 15[21:41] Seiri opens the box and pulls out a nice, if worn, tea set, complete with an embroidered cloth mat to set it up on and a stack of five cups. Fresh water goes in a kettle under which she slides an engraved iron box that's warm to the touch. While the water boils, she takes out one of several small, delicately carved clay jars. The smell when she opens the jar is intense and earthy. 15[21:42] "I love tea so much. They grow it all over the world, with all these different ways of preparing it and serving it and drinking it. A good cup of tea can take you anywhere from the lands of the Icewalkers to the Imperial Palace. It's like a book you can drink!" 15[21:44] After transferring the water to a fine teapot and preparing the mix to steep: "This is Hamoji Oolong. They grow it on the mountain here, from five sacred bushes. Every season it's different." 15[21:45] Her movements are smooth and confident. Her voice is steady. This is practiced, comfortable. "I wanted to share with you a cup of my home." [21:45] 6Zhangyu: "It changes with the mountain?" 6That weird magical, colorful mountain. 15[21:46] Seiri: "Mmmhmm." 14[21:47] * Joins: mattbaby [21:47] 6He bows slightly. That is - this is not the kind of respect Tepet Zhangyu typically garners. Mostly it's based around fear, but this doesn't feel like that. To share a piece of one's home... [21:52] 6Zhangyu: "I had never thought of tea that way," 6he says, finally. 15[21:53] Seiri pours out the tea. "Does Master Daizo like tea?" [21:59] 6Zhangyu: "I've never asked. I would hope so." 6He takes a sip of the tea. What's the flavor like? [21:59] 6Correction: "He prefers green tea." 15[22:01] Seiri looks up at Zhangyu, and then back down at the tea as she finishes serving. "I should have guessed. Sister Dusk it the same way. Master Daizo carries himself like a monk too." 15[22:01] *is the same way [22:06] "Hm." 6Comparing Daizo to Sister Dusk doesn't sit right, but he can't really comment. "And you?" 15[22:07] "And me?" 15[22:07] "Is this about my intentions?" [22:07] 6He gestures to the tea. "Preferred tea." 15[22:07] "Oh." 15[22:08] Quickly: "Well, I like all kinds." [22:10] 6He laughs at the 'intentions.' If there was a test, she passed it a while ago. "Still, there must be favorites. Or maybe not! If they're all stories." 15[22:15] Seiri: "I don't know..." She seems like she's never actually considered this before. 15[22:19] "I like... strong teas. Ones you're liable to want to sip slowly by themselves without any food. This batch of Hamoji Oolong is very nice." It has a heavy, earthy flavor with a sweet grassy overtone - it brings to mind a fresh spring's flower pushing through dark soil. [22:20] 4Piu's been quiet, mostly sipping her tea and observing, but she makes complimentary noises everytime Seiri talks about her work. [22:22] 6That's fairly close to Zhangyu's choice, too. "It is. If - this changes with the mountain, do you know what it looked like at the time?" 6Importing Homoji Oolong when the mountain changes to specific colors is, well. Probably outside of his pay grade right now. But maybe someday. 15[22:27] "This was... two seasons ago. When all the merchant ships and traders were hiding behind the navy because of the Red Fraction." She thinks. "At night the volcano shone golden. Sometimes it rained feathers. Downy baby bird feathers." [22:31] 6He blinks. "The... Red Fraction?" 15[22:36] Seiri's eyes go wide. "You don't know the Red Fraction? It's the most feared pirate ship in, gosh, the whole Direction! It moves with the seasons, and that was the last time it was down by these islands. The captain's a demon - gold Anathema, they say." [22:40] 6Zhangyu: "They... hm. No one saw fit to tell me about it." 6He tries not to sound put out. "It moves with the seasons... would they be in the region around now?" 15[22:41] Seiri: "Gosh, I don't know... I only know when it's around because all the sailors get scared. It happened the first time about four years ago, and twice since." [22:43] 6Ah. "We'd be due, then. Previous three years and they haven't been seen yet." 15[22:43] Seiri: "Are you all hunting pirates??" [22:45] 6Carefully: "In a manner of speaking." 15[22:45] "Gosh." [22:46] 6Zhangyu: "Hence the suggestion of personal defence." 15[22:50] Seiri: "I'm sure you and Master Daizo and Miss Piu and... who else is on this mission?" [22:51] "Miss Dryas. The fast boys." [22:51] 4Piu tightens her mouth. "And that monk from Mnemon." 15[22:51] Seiri: "! A Mnemon monk?" 15[22:51] "He must know Sister Dusk." [22:53] 6Zhangyu: "Commodore Peleps Ratel and Cynis Caxi, as well. And... Sadako." [22:53] 6He doesn't bother naming the Cathaks. 'The fast boys' will suffice. 15[22:55] Seiri: "The lady with the long blue hair? She's a commodore?" [22:55] 4Piu's smile doesn't widen much this time. "Oh, I don't know. He comes from the Isle, I think." 15[22:57] "Sister Dusk comes from the Isle too. She's been here a long time, though. Long as I've been here, at least." [22:58] 6Zhangyu: "Ratel? She is. Taught me everything I know about sailing, too." 15[23:00] Seiri: "So this mission must be really important, then. What's she like? The commodore." [23:04] 6He hesitates. "Competent. Confident. A brilliant captain who can take command of any situation." 6A pause, then: "She was kind to me when few others were." 15[23:04] Seiri: "I can see why you want to clear her name. She sounds like a real good person." [23:06] 6He nods, and sips his tea. [23:08] "...have you spoken with anyone but, well. Us and cousin Daizo?" [23:08] "You were at breakfast, but that's... different." 15[23:10] Seiri: "I said hello to Miss Dryas and Sadako. And the commodore helped me move aboardship. She's been real nice, but I think she feels bad for me." [23:12] 6Zhangyu: "Brings back memories." [23:15] 6They continue making small talk and drinking tea while Zhangyu lets his mind drift to the evening ahead. And some small part of him sets out a lesson plan for Seiri. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[19:15] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:57] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 15[20:00]  15[20:00]  15[20:00]  15[20:00]  15[20:00]  15[20:01] The evening's rain grows heavier as Dryas pays for Sadako's new finery, and the Guildsman's runner grows ever-more insistent. "My lady, if you could accompany me to the Factor's home..." 15[20:03] Elsewhere, Daizo, Piu, and Daizo's new translator share a walk home in the rain with Mnemon Salim, who joined them on their way out of the library. The vibe's a little tense for some reason. 15[20:05] Elsewhere still, Zhangyu flashes his Hinokuni badge through another latched door in another nondescript stone building, this one a warehouse on the peripheries of the dock. Here, already, he is recognized. Someone nudges his friend and points discreetly at the warrior as he strides past, searching for... what exactly? [20:05] 4Weird! [20:06] 07Dryas wheels on the servitor, preparing to castigate her for her nagging impertience and disrespectful assumptions regarding the relative importance of Guildsmen and members of the Scarlet Dynasty -- but, remembering Sadako's presence, instead simply clears her throat. "Very well." 07She glances behind to see if Sadako will join them, hoping she can pierce whatever glamour the girl uses to conceal herself. 15[20:07] Salim walks half a pace behind the others. "I had a chance to read your report, Daizo... exemplary work. And thorough!" [20:07] 10Yeah. Some reason. Daizo's notes and stationery are secure in a waterproof packet, and it gives him a good excuse to hang onto it closely. In the other hand, he's got an umbrella, held high to keep everyone else dry. 15[20:08] Sadako looks up when Dryas looks back, and falls in line behind her... carer? [20:08] 4Piu casually keeps herself between Seiri and the monk. [20:08] 07Dryas winks back at her and glides towards the door, and the rainstorm. [20:10] 10Stay cool, Daizo. "My sifu used to joke that my studies were too much of a distraction from my training. The lecturers, on the other hand, felt the opposite way." 15[20:11] Salim: "Ha! Yes. But you honor both sides." [20:11] 07Dryas: "Servant: Since you apparently have some favor of the Factor, to be sent to greet me not once but twice, what is your name?" 15[20:14] The runner's voice is hard to make out with the shawl she's pulled over her head against the rain. "Merala, my lady." 15[20:15] She has the manner of a beaten dog about her. [20:15] 6The first order of business is to scan the area for any familiar faces, though it's uncertain he even knows more than one face in the Hinokuni crowd. Whether or not he can find Sublime Master Thief - or anyone else he recognizes, for that matter - Zhangyu will look for... the organizer? Ringleader? Whoever he has to go to to find out precisely what he'll be grappling with in the way of rules and fights. 15[20:15] Heh! 15[20:15] Grappling with. [20:20] 10Daizo shifts uncomfortably. "It is a fine line to walk, sometimes." 10He peers out into the night. "Can't see anything through this rain." 15[20:20] Zhangyu sees a bunch of very fit men and women he doesn't recognize, of all shapes and sizes. One of them is even a mutant, a beastman with scaly skin and the head of a snake. The one person he does know is the man tending bar from the night before, the older man with dark curly hair and an immaculately (in the secular sense) groomed moustache. 15[20:21] "Yes..." says Salim. "We should get off the streets. Tonight is a night for dark deals." [20:21] "Merala. Well, it is a pleasure to meet you. Does the Factor always send you when he wishes to speak to Dynasts?" 07she asks, pulling her seal-leather coat around herself. 15[20:21] Piu's close enough to Seiri that she can feel the girl shiver. 15[20:23] Merala: "I've only started recently, Lady." [20:24] 10Daizo: "Seiri, do you know any suortcuts?" 10This is risky. But if anyone knows the safest paths through the city at night, it's the native. [20:24] 4Piu resists the urge to say or do anything confrontational. Not while she's this spent. Is Salim trying to lead them anywhere in particular? Anywhere but the most straightforward possible path to the hostel? [20:27] 6Well, if he doesn't recognize any of them, he's likely the only Mantis stylist here tonight. At some point after leaving the bar that night, Piu had babbled about Thousand Devil Master, who apparently was a big deal, and now he tends bar. Guy seemed knowledgable enough last time, so Zhangyu will make his way over. "Evening," 6he says, sidling up to the bar. 15[20:28] Seiri: "...this way, up ahead. Cut through that garden." 15[20:29] Merry firelight pulses through the front windows of the Guild factor's great stone house, making it look like a wakened beast in the dark. Merala bows and takes her shoes off on entering, as before. [20:30] 07Dryas, having not spoken another word in the approach to the villa, removes her dripping boots. 15[20:32] The bar in here is bigger than the bar at the place Sublime Master Thief took him last night. Two dozen seats, and tables behind it. "Mr. Go-Si Piledriver. Glad you could make it. This place'll be packed in a couple of hours." [20:32] 10Daizo's got the umbrella, so he'll tack towards the garden. "Sooner we can get in front of a fire the happier I'll be." [20:34] 4Piu, firmly, to Seiri: "We're going to get inside, get some dry clothes, and get some soup." 15[20:35] Dryas can feel Sadako tense as she crosses the threshold. There's a very gentle groan of unease. 15[20:35] Seiri: "That'll be nice." [20:35] 4Getting a kid involved in this...not great! 15[20:35] The three of them can see the hostel in the distance once they've cut through the garden. 15[20:35] ... 15[20:35] The three of them? 15[20:35] Where'd Salim go? [20:36] 14Fuck. 14[20:36] * Joins: hrolfie [20:36] 14To Daizo: "Monk's gone. We need to get to the hostel now." [20:36] 14To both of them: "Let's pick up the pace." 15[20:36] Seiri doesn't need to be told twice. [20:37] 07Dryas' eyes narrow for an instant. Could this place be... a true manse? [20:37] 14Surely this isn't an ambush. He'd stay for that, yes? Unless he truly disrespects them and wants to keep his hands clean... [20:38] 10Daizo steps it up, double-time. [20:41] "Your master's home is truly magnificent,"07 Dryas observes quietly. [20:42] 6Zhangyu: "Not exactly empty now. Quite a crowd around here." 6And it's sort of difficult to tell who's the most dangerous one around. "Any names I should know for my first night here?" 15[20:43] Dryas and Sadako are led into the heart of the house and invited immediately. Nn Tloc's there with his wide white smile. "Come in! Terrible weather. Let me get you some mulled wine." 15[20:45] The hostel is warm and bright and loud. People are singing, an old merchant fleet shanty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiwJpFsicUg [20:46] 4Whew. [20:46] 4Once they're inside Piu's back to her bubbly self, and will fuss over getting Seiri clothes, a bath, and food to the extent Seiri is interested in fussing. [20:46] 14She's still suspicious about where that damned monk is. 15[20:48] Thousand Devil Master: "Do you have any qualms about mixed fights? I know some from your Isle do." [20:49] 6Zhangyu: "If they can fight, they can fight." [20:50] 10Daizo looks visibly relieved, then a little abashed at Piu's fussing—he was so wrapped up in concern about what "Salim" was up to that he barely paid any attention to his charge. And after Ratel lectured him like that? 15[20:50] As Piu shows Seiri the baths, Caxi emerges from them in a cloud of steam wearing a short silk robe. Even the frost in her hair has melted. "Oh, you poor dears," she drawls. [20:50] 07How many glasses does Nn Tloc prepare? 15[20:50] Two. [20:50] 4Brightly, to Seiri: "Go on ahead, dear." 15[20:50] Dryas will observe that Sadako aslo never took her shoes off. [20:51] 07Interesting. Dryas wiggles her toes. 15[20:51] Seiri, again, needs telling only once. [20:52] 10Daizo: "I'm going to report to Ratel. When you're all warmed up… let's all meet in Piu's room?" [20:52] 4In Piu's room? How forward. With a slight grin: "Sure!" [20:53] "Mmmmm." 4With the girl and Daizo gone, Piu will sweep up to Caxi, taking her by the hips--and whisper in her ear: "The monk isn't on the Mnemon house rolls." [20:53] "And he vanished into the night on our way back from the library." 15[20:53] Devil: "In that case, your first challenge will probably be Gilana Crimson Tide. Short hair, downstairs. Besides that... our top fighters right now are Son-of-Sabers and Bruiser Khang. Bruiser's probably downstairs too but Saber comes in later in the evening." [20:53] "Think he's up to something?" [20:56] 10Daizo stops off in his room to change into something less sodden. That damnable letter should still be in his sleeve… [20:56] "That sounds excellent, yes," 07Dryas replies. 15[20:57] Nn Tloc invites Dryas to sit. "So I hear you're taking to the city well. A friend of yours made a substantial contribution to the upkeep of the local temple." 15[20:57] The letter's still there. 14[20:59] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:00] 10Thank Heaven for small favors. Now, to find the Commodore.  15[21:00] Caxi's breath is strangely cool against Piu's own ear. "Strange... why follow you and then disappear?" [21:00] 4Piu sighs. "I dunno. Maybe he's got something else to do tonight..." [21:00] 07Dryas nods. "The first of many contributions to civilization, I'm sure." 14[21:02] * Joins: tom [21:02] "I mean if he's not in the Mnemon rolls...that's big news, right? Maybe that's why he showed up at the library..." 15[21:02] Caxi: "Didn't he say he met with a Mnemon sister just yesterday?" [21:03] 4Piu's eyes go wide. "Did he?" 15[21:03] Nn Tloc's smile widens and he claps his hands. "Speaking of which: have you had a chance to consider my offer?" [21:05] "I have some questions,"07 Dryas admits, warily. 15[21:05] "Fire at will! Little archery joke. I hear you're an exceptional huntress." [21:06] 6It takes Zhangyu a moment to place Bruiser Khang's name, but he remembers Piu talking about him. And then - wait, downstairs? Did he miss a staircase somewhere around here? 15[21:06] Some people have a way of looking at you that makes you feel like the only person in the room. Having Nn Tloc's full attention feels like being the last survivor of some calamity. 15[21:11] There's a heavy red curtain over what Zhangyu can see from this angle is a wide, hidden staircase downward. [21:13] "Who are your clients?"07 Dryas asks. "Not specifically, of course. But in general." [21:14] 6He nods over to it. "I'll be heading down, then. I want to get the lay of the land." [21:15] 6Unless Thousand Devil Master stops him, he slides away from the bar to do just that. 15[21:16] Nn Tloc: "I have a broker that I work through. Name of Moray. His contacts run in two directions - back to the Isle, to Houses Ragara and Sesus, and up to Skullstone, in the court of the Silver Prince." 15[21:18] Caxi: "If he thought you had him made, what could have pulled him away?" [21:20] 4Piu steps back a little and shrugs. "Dunno. Nothing good. He's sneaky..." [21:20] 4She grins. "Anyway. I am gonna get out of these clothes, and into something dry. Maybe I'll seeya later." [21:22] "Why me? There's no shortage of pirates and smugglers out here," 07she notes. 15[21:27] Nn Tloc: "Because you're not a pirate. You're a daughter of the Realm. You travel these seas with impunity. And because someone of your breeding and expertise can be trusted to appreciate an opportunity of this magnitude. You know how many pirates I farm work out to who can't sustain a thought? Who can't follow a simple instruction? What the FUCK IS IT!" he bellows suddenly at the 15[21:27] door, which opens meekly. 15[21:27] The runner's voice. Merela. "Pili has news, sir." 15[21:28] The door slams shut with vigor, seemingly of its own accord. "I am in a MEETING." echoes Nn Tloc's voice, though not from his own lips or throat. 15[21:28] Then he's looking back at Dryas, smiling patiently. 15[21:31] Daizo finds Ratel at the head of one of the long tables, face flushed with drink, picking idly at a wooden six-string carved with running waves. She's playing to the singing everyone else is doing. [21:31] 07Dryas demurs. "And one last question - who are you, really?" 15[21:32] Caxi heads to her own room and leaves Piu alone. 15[21:32] Nn Tloc: "That is a really philosophical question! You'll have to forgive me, I don't have your schooling. Could you be more specific?" [21:33] 4Piu will poke her head in and make sure Seiri is okay and no one's bothering her, then join her in the baths for a chaste, efficient washup. Best to get any and all traces of the library and surrounding environs off of her. 15[21:36] Downstairs is an amphitheatre-like chamber, with tiered benches surrounding a stone ring marked with chest-high (for Zhangyu) barriers and ropes all around. The ring and the seating are in the shape of a perfect pentagon. 15[21:36] There are corridors between the benches that run into darkened rooms, where noise and heat emanate. One is marked for men, the other for women. [21:36] 07Dryas takes a sip amid contemplation. "Who is your family?" [21:37] 10It seems a shame to ruin the Commodore's evening. But this is important. He'll wait for a break in Ratel's music, but if one doesn't come soon he might have to make an interruption. In the meantime… he'll have a drink. Just one. 15[21:39] Nn Tloc: "I was sponsored by An Tloc, who bought me out of galley slavery. He was a father to me. I couldn't tell you who my parents were. How I came up, that sort of thing didn't matter." [21:40] 6Hm. That's going to make it difficult to catch a glimpse of Gilana Crimson Tide before any fights. Still, may as well head into the men's section, introduce himself, and see Bruiser Khang plus whoever else is around. 15[21:41] Seiri's soaking, but clearly having trouble relaxing. "How does a man just vanish like that?" she blurts out to Piu after the two of them have been in there alone a while. 15[21:43] After this song finishes, Ratel stands up, running her fingers up the bare arm and shoulder of a young woman Daizo doesn't recognize, who was seated beside her, and steps out of the room briefly. Now's probably his chance. [21:43] 10Hey, he knows this song. Daizo joins in for the chorus, and a couple of healthy stomps as percussion. He can almost feel the fear flowing out of him. [21:43] 10Daizo: "Commodore. A moment?" [21:45] 4Piu, calmly but still chipper: "Training and talent. It was really heavy rain, and we didn't think he'd slip away." 15[21:46] Ratel looks up at Daizo and places a hand on his broad chest. "Good to see you out of the rain." [21:49] 10Thump. "Ahaha. Good to be out of the rain." 10Deep breath. "I have news about our monk's papers. If this is a bad time, we can discuss it in the morning...?" [21:49] "And you offer... jade?" 07she asks. 15[21:49] Zhangyu doesn't even need to enter the locker room fully to be treated to a stentorian voice speaking Seatongue in a heavy Southern accent. There's laughter - four or five men, Zhangyu makes, and his suspicions are confirmed when he enters and sees an enormous bronze-skinned man, shaved bald and broader than two Zhangyus, holding court with a lithe and fair-skinned Northerner, a pair 15[21:49] of islanders who might be twin brothers, a short man with green tattoos and a deep-set scowl, and Sublime Master Thief. 15[21:50] Ratel: "No, it's fine. If it's important it's important. Where is Salim anyhow?" 15[21:51] Seiri: "I knew he wasn't a monk. He had me thinking I'd been praying wrong my whole life, not knowing what I was doing." [21:52] 4Piu laughs. "Oh, Seiri. He can be a thief, a sneak, a liar and a killer...and also still be a monk." 15[21:52] Nn Tloc: "For starters. Pure jade, sure, no problem, but if this becomes profitable I'll be able to press my contacts for worked jade, for you to resell or add to your own panoply." [21:52] "Sadly, that's just how the world works." 15[21:52] Seiri: "How do you so sound so happy when you're saying such sad things?" [21:52] 10Daizo: "Don't know. He showed up out of nowhere while we were at the library. I think I just barely managed to hide what I was doing. Stuck to us like glue until we got close to the hostelry, and slipped away." [21:53] "He had us all rattled. If Piu hadn't shown up when she did…" [21:53] 4She looks over at the girl. "Because you are absolutely correct that it is not, at all, your fault. And it's better to know how to navigate the rain then get frozen out in it." 15[21:53] Ratel will lead Daizo further away from the revel. She sobers, or at least seems to sober, with each step. "Tell me what you learned." 15[21:54] Seiri: "I know that's wise because it sounds terribly lonely. Everything Sister Dusk says is like that." [21:55] "And I know all this isn't some trap set by a bored monk somewhere because...?" 15[21:56] Nn Tloc: "My reputation is beyond reproach. If you can't trust that, well, how can you do business with anyone in today's world?" [21:57] 10Daizo picks a path through the cheery sailors. More than one has a ribald comment as they pass by. When they're reasonably alone: "It's like you surmised. The letter is a forgery. But it's not a normal forgery." [21:58] 4Piu: "You're not wrong. But, it can get better. Take you for, instance. After this campaign, Daizo writes you a glowing recommendation and you can find yourself employed in any of the academic houses of the House's allies, or if the spirit takes you, off on another journey. A much larger world opens up for you outside that...library." 15[21:58] Seiri: "Somewhere where I won't know anyone..." 15[21:58] "What's it like on the Isle?" [21:59] 10Daizo: "I spent a few hours staring at handwriting samples until my eyes crossed. Eventually, I looked so hard at the paper I think I… looked through it. I think… it's magical. It looks like what the holder wanted you to believe it was. But I saw what it really says." [21:59] 4Piu: "I haven't spent too much time there myself, but when I've been it's been magnificent. Parties for days. Grand, sweeping, bustling cities. And some great temples too, I'm told. If you're into that sort of thing." 15[22:00] Ratel's eyes narrow. "What does it really say." 15[22:00] Seiri sinks into the water until it touches her chin. "I never thought I'd see it in this life." [22:00] "Hm. Then we have an accord," 07she says, plots and schemes starting to form in her mind. 15[22:01] Seiri: "I thought, if I worked hard... maybe in the next. Or the one after." [22:01] 10Daizo recites the poem written on the card. "…And as each heard her words and came to the center of her web... she ate them." [22:01] "Then it says, 'execute order 66'." [22:01] "Do you have any idea what that could be?" [22:02] 4Piu will not take this moment to tell Seiri about the tenuous political situation gripping the Isle. Let the girl find out about in time. [22:02] 6Zhangyu just watches them for a bit, though he's not exactly making an attempt to hide himself. Close-knit roster, apparently, and good to know that they either don't hold grudges or are aware of the consequences for acting on them behind-the-scenes. 15[22:04] Nn Tloc: "Good. Excellent. I knew I spotted a winner when I met you." 15[22:04] Louder: "Come in." 15[22:05] The door creaks open again, and a round-faced older man with thin hair says, with a meekness that makes Merala sound boisterous, says, "Master... Mnemon Dusk is dead." [22:05] 10Daizo hands the letter back to Ratel. "Maybe you can get Caxi to take a look at it, find out something more than I can." [22:05] 07Mnemon Dusk... didn't Daizo say something about her? 15[22:06] Ratel: "Find Samperson. Have him pull people from the party, put them at the doors and windows. Inside. Keep the rooms lit and the doors open. Order is to yell if anything seems suspicious. Do you have all that?" 15[22:07] "Then get Piu and Caxi." 15[22:08] Nn Tloc's frozen in place for a moment. [22:08] 10There's no brooking that tone. "Yes, Commodore. It will be done." 10Daizo offers a salute and heads off to find Mr. Samperson. 15[22:09] Eventually Sublime Master Thief notices Zhangyu. "Boys!" he says in Low Realm. "This is the one I told you about. Zhangyu. Studied under Mushi." 15[22:11] Everyone turns to look at him. The twin brothers and the scowling man go wide-eyed, impressed. 15[22:11] The giant's face is stony. [22:12] "Sounds like a tragedy has befallen the Temple,"07 she states. [22:12] 6He nods. "That's me. Took the medallion off Chases-Waterfalls last night." 6To Sublime Master Thief: "Only good things, I hope." [22:17] 10Daizo spends the next few minutes in a flurry of activity. It sounds like his plans for joining up with Zhangyu in the Hinokuni will have to be shelved. Pity. But it seems like he might have a real fight on his hands soon enough. [22:17] 6Not so great to have an enemy from day 1, especially not one so high up in the pecking order. Whatever. It'll just give him more motivation in their eventual fight. 15[22:17] "Praise her," says Nn Tloc abruptly. "Put the word out. All quarters. You praise her like she's your dead mother. Mnemon Dusk was a devoted servant of the people and the good, who worked tirelessly to elevate the spirits of our island and care for the most vulnerable on it. We are poorer for having lost her and we commend her spirit onward even as we take up her burdens. Put it out 15[22:17] there on my personal guarantee that the orphange will continue to run. Got that? WRITE THAT DOWN!" [22:17] 4Piu will finish up her bath and head to her quarters to change. [22:17] 4She'll probably run into Daizo or Caedus on the stair. 15[22:18] Daizo relays Ratel's orders to Samperson, and then bumps into Piu on the stairs. [22:18] "Daizo! I was just heading to change and--" [22:19] 10Daizo: "Change of plans. Get Caxi and we're to meet up with Ratel as soon as possible." [22:19] 14Her eyes narrow. "Dress for a fight, then." [22:19] 14As she rushes past him: "Seiri should be leaving the baths. See to her." [22:20] "Right." [22:20] 4She scolds herself for slightly breaking character. It's been a very long day, and she is very on edge. [22:21] 4Piu slips into her loose fighting garb, freshly laundered by some thoughtful soul, and wraps her arms and legs. As usual, the Chain goes into one of the arm wraps. Then she'll fetch Caxi. [22:22] 10Daizo's headed back down to wait for Seiri. She said something about Salim's odd behavior as well—maybe he should bring her in on the meeting? 15[22:22] Does Piu knock? [22:23] 4Yes, but she'll quickly open the door if she doesn't get a fairly immediate "don't come in!" 15[22:23] Nn Tloc turns swiftly to Dryas and presses his hands together. "I'm sorry but something urgent's come up, as you can hear. We'll be in touch tomorrow about details?" [22:24] "I look forward to hearing from you," 07she replies, finishing the mulled wine and rising from her seat. 15[22:25] Dryas almost bumps into Sadako as she stands. The girl was hovering close, but she cast no shadow on Dryas. [22:25] 6Zhangyu: "I know Sublime Master Thief, and I can guess at Bruiser Khang, but my friend wasn't sure who else would be around." 6Let's get some names to these faces. [22:26] 07Dryas steps gingerly to avoid bumping into her... ward? [22:27] 10No, she's been through enough today. There's a limit to how much you can put someone through in a single day unprepared. Especially someone already in out of their depth. 15[22:27] The two of them are ushered out into the rain-soaked night. 15[22:29] As soon as they're clear, Sadako hisses, "The walls were breathing. Could you feel it?" 15[22:29] The scowling man gives Zhangyu an upward half-nod. "Kuga Rahn." 15[22:30] The skittish twin: "Mirido." 15[22:31] The spacey twin: "...Doremi." 15[22:31] The lithe man, who regards Zhangyu with total disinterest. "Ted." [22:31] 6Any of these he doesn't recognize, he'll be asking Piu about later. [22:32] "I thought that was you?" 07Dryas replies. "I don't think he noticed you? That's good. Let's hurry back. And Sadako-" 07she turns as they walk, "That meeting was our secret, alright?" 15[22:32] Then Piu will be treated to the smell of something sickly-sweet and a rapidly dispersing cloud of violet smoke as she enters. Caxi's half-dressed. "What happened?" she asks, more alert than she looks. 15[22:33] Sadako: "Even from Caxi?" [22:33] 4Piu: "Ratel wants to see us. Samperson's running around getting the guards up...sounds serious." 15[22:34] Caxi: "The monk?" [22:34] 07Dryas: "Just for now. Until I have some control over things." 15[22:35] Sadako looks uncertain... but nods in assent. [22:37] 4Piu: "Think so." 15[22:37] Caxi: "I'm on my way." [22:37] "The walls of the house were breathing, huh? Do you think that's why he wants everyone barefoot? What the hell..." 07Dryas wonders at the stranger things of the world. [22:37] "Daizo went to report our findings to Ratel and...he was the one who told me we were summoned." [22:37] 4Piu nods and shuts the door. Where's Caedus? 15[22:39] Caedus is upstairs now, getting sailors in position at the windows. 15[22:40] Bruiser Khang, in even more thickly accented Low Realm: "I heard you really gave it to Chases-Waterfalls." [22:41] 4Better not to bother him, then. She'll hurry along to Ratel. [22:43] 6Zhangyu nods to each of the men in turn and tries not to look as angry as usual. To Bruiser Khang: "He was unprepared," 6he confirms. "A lesson to be learned from." 6Though Chases-Waterfalls didn't seem like much of a student. 15[22:50] Ratel's downstairs, oiling her flame piece. "Zhangyu and Dryas are outside. Do you know where?" [22:51] 4Piu: "Dryas is attending to business. Guild I think? Zhangyu is down at the docks, at the Hirokuni." 15[22:51] While Dryas and Sadako make their way down rain-slicked streets. The volcano's violet light flickers, casting strange shadows around them. 15[22:54] Dryas goes five or six paces before she realizes Sadako is no longer beside her. She turns, and sees her struggling and kicking in the air. A man has her by the throat, using something impossibly dark to throttle the girl like a garrote. The man's an islander, dressed all in black, his black hair shaved so close it catches the caldera-light like it's an extension of his scalp. Her 15[22:54] blood stains his face red. 15[22:54] Sadako kicks for a moment and is still. He lets her drop. 15[22:59] Daizo runs into Seiri anyway, drying her hair. "Master Daizo?" 15[23:01] Ratel: "And Dryas has the haunted girl with her." [23:01] 4Piu: "Yes." 15[23:02] Ratel: "Shit." 15[23:02] "Okay. Take Samperson and find them." [23:02] 4Piu nods. "On it. Caxi will be by shortly." 15[23:02] "Get the back here. Drag them if you have to." 15[23:02] Ratel: "Good." [23:02] "Yes, Commodore. SAMPERSON!" [23:03] "WE GOTTA GO! COMMODORE'S ORDERS!" 15[23:03] Mik's jogging down the stairs, wearing a black leather buff jacket. "You good to go?" [23:03] 4Piu: "Yeah!" 15[23:03] Caedus: "Lead on." [23:04] 14When they're out in the rain: "Mnemon monk's not a monk, and he's not Mnemon, and he's making his move." 15[23:04] Seiri: "Is there trouble, Master Daizo?" 15[23:04] Caedus: "Do we need Lao?" [23:05] 14Piu: "Honestly? I don't know." [23:06] "Tha am piuthar marbh. Marbhadh glan. We can talk about it later." [23:06] "But I'm not at full strength, and I left my armor in a dead drop." [23:06] 10Daizo: "I told the Commodore about the note I was looking at and the way that Salim was acting. She's taking some extra precautions tonight. I don't think he'll be traveling with us on the Defiance after this." 15[23:06] Caedus: "No time for Lao, then. We can't split up if you're spent and undergeared." [23:09] "Inconvenient timing," 14she growls. Do they know precisely where Dryas was headed? One or both of them were keeping tabs. [23:09] 07Dryas shrieks wordlessly in fury and sudden terror. WIth a twitch of her wrist, a flamewand appears in her hand - she levels it at Sadako's attacker and opens fire. It doesn't quite connect - he's too fast! 15[23:10] And the gout of smoke and the rain, the man's gone. 15[23:11] Or wait. No. He's still there, backing away, but he shimmers violet, a curious mark on his brow, and the medal at Dryas's throat burns hot. 15[23:11] 66 Night Marks the Hunter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R3uuxFTlx0 - I won’t rest ‘til it’s all done and said, and I get what I give... 15[23:13] Bruiser Khang regards Zhangyu skeptically. "What do you hope to accomplish here? What do you bring to the people who come to watch us fight?" [23:15] 10Daizo: "Do… are you all right, Seiri? This has been a very exhausting day." 10Daizo's now on his second mostly sleepless day. He's still keeping it together, though. "I need to meet with Ratel soon, but I can spare a few minutes. Do you need to talk?" 15[23:16] Dryas went shopping with Sadako. The markets will have closed by now, though, to the night and the rain. [23:17] daizo's going to read intentions back at seiri here: does she want answers, or does she just want to get some sleep? [23:18] 07Dryas squints as he shimmers here and there, before zeroing in on him. "Cringeling dastard!" 07she thunders with incredible verve, snatching a plug of firedust from the small of her back and jamming it into the breech of the firewand - " 15[23:19] Seiri: "How can I help?" 15[23:22] They're not in the markets, or between the markets... but Piu and Caedus can easily hear Dryas's cries of rage in the night. [23:23] 14She picks up speed. [23:23] 6He shrugs. "I get some good fights and a chance to listen and learn. The crowds get a demonstration in Mantis style and and someone new to hate. Fair trade to me." [23:25] 07Dryas ducks down an alley, roots clawing through dirt and cobbles as she goes. But he's gone, whoever he was. Dryas slams the butt of the firewand on the wall and kicks over a pile of wooden tools stacked against a wall, cursing fearsomely all the while. 15[23:25] Khang: "Hh. This Grandmaster Mushi trains cold men indeed." [23:25] 10Daizo: "Will you tell the Commodore the story you started to tell me? How you could tell he wasn't a real monk. Any details could be helpful in figuring out what he's up to. Then you can get to bed." 10Daizo thinks. "But if you're still up later, let's offer the night vigil prayer together." 15[23:26] Seiri nods. "Alright. Be careful, Master Daizo." [23:27] "You too. And I meant it earlier… you did good work today." 15[23:27] Seiri smiles sheepishly and hurries downstairs. 15[23:28] Piu and Caedus find Dryas in the street only a few minutes later. 15[23:28] Sadako continues to lie in the rain. [23:29] 14Piu: "DRYAS!" [23:29] "Caedus, watch our rear." [23:29] 6Zhangyu: "It's a cold world. But I'm aware of who and what I am. Makes more sense to play it up than pretend to be something I'm not." [23:30] 14She'll kneel down to check the girl, keeping her eyes up. 15[23:30] Caedus makes a wordless noise of akcnowledgment and falls back. 15[23:31] Does Piu touch Sadako? [23:32] 07Dryas swivels, aiming the firewand for an instant before raising it again. "The white-livered, accursed and evil spawn - it could have been Anathema - he snuck up on us and by the time I realized, poor Sadoko was gone. Death..." [23:32] 14She'll check for a pulse with taped fingers. [23:32] 14With this much blood she doesn't expect to find anything. 15[23:33] The girl's skin is far, far colder than the recency of her death and even the rainy night would suggest. It almost hurts to touch her, even through the tape. [23:33] 14Well, we knew she wasn't normal. But dead is dead. 15[23:33] Then she sits up. [23:34] 14Dryas: "Who was--" [23:34] 14Instead of falling over in surprise, Piu swivels into a combat crouch, bringing her hands up. 15[23:34] Her back arches and Piu can hear it crack like it's being broken on a rack. Her mouth stretches open like she's screaming, but there's just the awful gasping whistle of someone trying to inhale against their vocal cords. [23:35] 07Dryas nearly drops the firewand, mouth agape at the sight.  15[23:35] She flares that flickery white, the white of the Leaden Queen, and for a moment she looks impossibly mottled and bloated and disfigured -- a girl weeks drowned -- 15[23:35] ...and then Sadako's on her back, gasping, coughing, alive. [23:36] 14Sìol. 14[23:37] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:38] "S-Sadako?" 07After a moment's revulsive hesitation, Dryas approaches her again, to help the recently-dead girl back to her feet, if she can stand. [23:38] 14Piu: "...How are you feeling?" 15[23:38] Seiri and Daizo head to Ratel, who's just put the panicking hostel-keeper under guard in the kitchen. "I sent Piu and Samperson out to collect the others," she says. 15[23:39] Sadako sits up, the right way this time. She's bedraggled and shivering and wet. Her new clothes might be ruined. "I couldn't breathe," she says. 15[23:40] Khang scowls... but not at Zhangyu. He's looking past him now. Behind him. [23:40] "I'm so sorry. There was nothing I could do - nothing... nothing..." 07Dryas trails off. [23:40] 14Piu: "Someone tried to kill you." 14Did kill you. "Can you breathe now? Can you walk? We need to get you somewhere safe...r." [23:41] 6Zhangyu turns. 15[23:41] Sadako clears her throat. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay." She'll reach out for Piu or Dryas to help her up. [23:42] 14Piu will defer to Dryas here, though she's more than willing to join Dryas in pulling the girl up. [23:42] 10Daizo: "Good idea. I haven't seen Dryas all day."10 He clears his throat. "Seiri has an eyewitness account of 'Salim' acting suspiciously. It may shed a little light on his identity of motives." 14[23:42] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 15[23:43] Zhangyu sees a fair-skinned man. A little taller than Zhangyu, a little more slender, with short hair and a strong, dimpled jaw. [23:43] 07Dryas will accept the help. She gives Piu an odd look, though. 15[23:43] He speaks with an accent like Zhangyu's own. "And you are?" 14[23:44] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[23:44] Sadako's steady on her feet. Aside from the state of her clothes there's no real sign anything happened. "Who was that?" [23:44] "Don't know. We'll find out." 14When she's up, Piu will step away. "You two stay together. Samperson and I will be on your flanks. We're getting you back to the hostel. We're not gonna have anymore surprises tonight." 15[23:45] Sadako nods. [23:45] "Zhangyu. Took Chasing-Waterfalls' medallion last night." 6Must be Son-of-Sabres. [23:45] 14When she's far enough away in the rain that she's hard to see, she'll uncoil the Chain. A fucking garrote did that to the girl's neck. [23:45] 14She's keen to return the favor. 15[23:45] Son-of-Sabers: "Useless prick, he was." 15[23:46] "What's your style?" 15[23:46] Dryas has a similarly hard time seeing Samperson, but she knows he and Piu are out there. 15[23:47] Sadako huddles close to Dryas on the way back. [23:47] 07Dryas: "I hadn't seen him before. Close-cropped hair, dark. But he bore a strange mark on his forehead - the first time he tried to get away from me, I saw it. A little like one of the Anathema, but different. I'd know him again anywhere." 07She doesn't put the wand away and instead holds it as if she might need to use it again at a moment's notice. [23:48] 6Zhangyu: "Mantis. Trained by Grandmaster Mushi," 6he adds. Ragara Kolu, that's who he was. Hm. [23:49] "I need a drink. More than a drink." 07Her eyes scan windows and rooflines. Last time a garrote but next time, a crossbow? A boulder? Poison in the drink? 15[23:49] Son-of-Sabers: "What a waste. Doing Mantis for these crowds is like playing sanxian to a dog." 14[23:54] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 15[23:54] Seiri: "I was doing my afternoon prayers and Brother Salim - I guess he's not really Brother - asked me what I was doing curled up like that, and seemed confused when I told him it was afternoon prayers. He covered for it, and I didn't pry too hard, but something was up." 14[23:55] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 15[23:55] Ratel scowls. 15[23:55] The trip back to the hostel is uneventful. Dryas finds it under heavy guard, but the four of them are admitted. 15[23:56] Ratel looks up sharply when the enter. "Anyone hurt?" [23:56] 6That startles a laugh out of him. "They have no respect for the arts? Shame," 6he shakes his head sarcastically. "I like you, Son-of-Sabers." [23:56] 4Piu: "Sadako was nicked, but she's okay." [23:57] "Whew. Glad we found you guys..." 15[23:57] Mik: "No sign yet of Zhangyu." 15[23:58] Ratel: "What about Salim?" [23:59] 10Daizo: "Cousin Zhangyu's tough. I worry more for anyone who meets him on the street." [23:59] 07Dryas: "Assassin with a garrote snuck up on us in the rain. Looked like a native to me. Wine. Caxi is here? Wine. Everyone else but Zhangyu and Salim? WINE!!" Session Time: Wed Dec 04 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] 14Not Salim...well. Not obviously Salim. Assassins do know how to disguise themselves. [00:00] 14But it doesn't sound like whatever he was using was a mask. If it was him. 15[00:00] Ratel: "A native? What about--" 15[00:01] "Commodore! Brother Salim is outside!" [00:01] 14Convenient. [00:01] 07Dryas: "What about Moke? Moke!" [00:02] 10Daizo: "He certainly took quite a stroll. Who does he think he's fooling?" 15[00:02] Ratel: "...let him in." [00:02] 14Piu will have passed word to Caedus: Watch Salim's face when he sees Sadako up and walking for the first time. [00:02] 14In case he sees something she doesn't. 15[00:02] The door opens and in walks Mnemon Salim, quite bedraggled from the rain. 15[00:03] He steps forward, head bowed, almost bumping his chest into the barrels of Ratel's extended flame piece. 15[00:03] Then he looks up, alarmed. 15[00:03] Ratel: "Come with me." [00:03] 14Piu will have made sure to keep Sadako...visible. [00:03] 14As he enters. [00:04] 14Hopefully without having to put herself or Caedus next to her, but if that's what it takes to keep her, that's what it takes. [00:04] 07Dryas leans towards Piu and Daizo: "What's up with the Commodore and Salim?" 15[00:06] Salim looks around with concern at all the others, including Seiri and Sadako. Whatever emotions pass over his face are imperceptible. [00:07] 14Asshole! 15[00:07] Son-of-Sabers: "You weren't born to the Dynasty, were you, Zhangyu? You were elevated to it." [00:07] 4To Dryas: "Let's get dry." [00:07] 4And not in front of Salim. [00:08] 4Samperson can take Sadako back upstairs. When it's just the three Dynasts: "So, the Mnemon monk?" [00:10] "I was," 6Zhangyu says. "Why?" 15[00:10] Dryas clutches her pendant and listens... 15[00:10] Mnemon Salim: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3v9unphfi0 - Redde mihi laetitiam salutaris tui: et spiritu principali confirma me. // O give me the comfort of thy help again: and stablish me with thy free Spirit. [00:11] Daizo's sent Seiri up with Samperson and Sadako. "He's neither of those things." 15[00:12] Son-of-Sabers: "That means we've got two things in common." 15[00:12] "We were both trained by Mushi." 15[00:12] "And we're both traitors to our blood." 15[00:12] Then he turns and walks out. [00:12] 10With clear distaste: "Not a Mnemon, not a monk." [00:12] 6He glares at Son-of-Sabers as he retreats. Well. Mood ruined. [00:14] 07Dryas has managed to find a clay jug of wine, which she drinks directly from the source in an uncharacteristically sloppy way. [00:14] "I know why I'm acting weird. Why are you two acting weird?" 07She asks Daizo and Piu. [00:14] 4Piu: "Huh?" [00:15] 07Dryas: "What's going on with Salim? Did I miss something?" [00:16] 10Daizo looks to Piu, then Dryas. "All right. I'll take it from the top." [00:17] 10Daizo recaps what he's discovered so far. The lack of the Salim name on the Mnemon rolls, Ratel's suspicion of a forgery, Daizo's own detection of same (although not the exact *nature* of it—that can wait), and then the incredibly tense walk home, followed by Salim's disappearance. [00:18] 10And of course Seiri's story about the so-called monk who doesn't recognize a prayer when he sees it. 15[00:18] Speaking of which, Seiri's still down with Ratel. 14[00:19] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[00:19] * Joins: mattbaby [00:19] 07On the subject of disappearing people: "The assassin tried a weird trick with me, I think. He faded out for a second, I thought he was gone, but the trick failed, he had to run." [00:23] 10Daizo: "Interesting. Some kind of illusion, perhaps?" [00:24] 4Piu: "Ooh! What'd it look like?" [00:24] "Like a smokey fwoosh, or did he just disappear, or...?" [00:25] 07Dryas: "It was a shimmer in the air, for a moment... And a mark, a violet mark upon his forehead, like the Anathema have sometimes. But this wasn't the mark of a Sun or Moon Anathema." [00:26] 4Piu furrows her brow: "Huh..." [00:26] 10Daizo: "Oh? COuld you draw it?" [00:27] 07Could she? [00:27] 10He digs around and comes up with a charcoal stick and a paper scrap.  15[00:27] Dryas sketches it out: https://i.imgur.com/MZnNy94.png [00:32] 10Daizo: "This is… the mark of Saturn, the Maiden of Endings. One of the celestial gods in the highest ranks of Heaven." [00:32] "Sometimes known as the Gardener, or the Reckoner." [00:32] 4Piu gasps softly. [00:33] 07Dryas moans as she sucks down the rest of the jug of wine.  [00:34] 4Piu: "Can we even...hurt people like that?" [00:34] 07Glug.... glug.... glug... she gasps, dropping it unceremoniously and whinging, "You mean I've been cursed by Saturn, herself?!" [00:35] 4Piu: "...Did they attack you?" [00:36] 10Daizo: "Something like that. But the celestial gods aren't supposed to intervene in the affairs of Creation." [00:37] 07Dryas: "No... he, I guess he, just looked at me and I felt, I knew, that Death may come from any quarter at any time. And I am not safe... Is that a curse, Daizo??" [00:37] 10Daizo: "He could be an especially rare type of Anathema. Like… Sadako is." [00:38] 4Piu: "If he just attacked Sadako, then ran away from you..." [00:38] 10Daizo: "I don't know. Perhaps we can get you to the temple tomorrow and have Sister Dusk perform an exorcism?" 15[00:40] At that, the three of them hear Ratel calling up for them. [00:40] 07Dryas: "I guess that's a start! By the cloacas of the Elemental Dragons, what rotten luck. But... then again... maybe if it's a new type of Anathema - and Sadako isn't Anathema, I thought we agreed - maybe we could hunt--" [00:40] 4Piu's already moving, light on her feet. [00:41] 10Daizo's next, thundering down the stairs like a herd of yeddim. [00:41] "No, wait, we can't! SIster Dusk died, too," 07Dryas notes. "I overheard the news when I was meeting with the Factor." [00:42] 10Then he nearly trips and falls on his face. [00:42] 14Piu's relieved they don't have time to talk about that right now. [00:43] "Sister Dusk is—?" 10No. Put that on the ever-growing pile of things to worry about later.  15[00:43] The three of them find Ratel in the storeroom, where Salim is seated on a barrel, half-dried, head in his hands. Ratel kicks the door shit behind the three of them as they enter, never taking her flame piece off of him. 15[00:44] Ratel: "Our friend Salim's given up an interesting story." 15[00:44] "Tell them." [00:45] 4Piu doesn't precisely take a combat stance...14But she moves around to his side to make it hard to engage her and Ratel's piece at the same time. 15[00:45] Salim wrings his hands and looks up at them. "I am... not who I claimed to be. I am not a member of House Mnemon. I am not of the Blood." 15[00:45] "I am an assassin of the Black Lotus." 15[00:45] "I was sent here to kill someone. And I have." 15[00:46] "Even now, Mnemon Dusk lies dead." 15[00:46] NEXT TIME: The first bout 14[01:10] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[17:04] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:40] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[17:40] * Joins: tom 14[17:52] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:08] * Joins: tom 14[18:23] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[18:26] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:23] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,aodObo, [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,AMMMMP~~~~ [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,MMMMMMMMA. [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,M;' `YV' [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 AM' ,OMA, [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 AM| `~VMM,. .,ama,____,amma,.. [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 MML )MMMD .AMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMD. [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 VMMM .AMMY' ,AMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMD [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 `VMM, AMMMV' ,AMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM, , [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 VMMMmMMV' ,AMY~~'' 'MMMMMMMMMMMM' '~~ ,aMM [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 `YMMMM' AMM' `VMMMMMMMMP'_ A,aMMMM [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 AMMM' VMMA. YVmmmMMMMMMMMMMML MmmmY MMMMMMM [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,AMMA _,HMMMMmdMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMML`VMV' ,MMMMMMM [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 AMMMA _'MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMA `' MMMMMMMM [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,AMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMa ,,, `MMMMMMM [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 AMMMMMMMMM'~`YMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMA ,AMMV MMMMMMM [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 VMV MMMMMV `YMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMY `VMMY' adMMMMMMM [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 `V MMMM' `YMMMMMMMV.~~~~~~~~~,aado,`V'' MMMMMMMMM [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 aMMMMmv `YMMMMMMMm, ,/AMMMMMA, YMMMMMMMM [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 VMMMMM,,v YMMMMMMMMMo oMMMMMMMMM' a, YMMMMMMM [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 `YMMMMMY' `YMMMMMMMY' `YMMMMMMMY MMmMMMMMMMM [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 AMMMMM , ~~~~~,aooooa,~~~~~~ MMMMMMMMMMM [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 YMMMb,d' dMMMMMMMMMMMMMD, a,, AMMMMMMMMMM [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 YMMMMM, A YMMMMMMMMMMMMMY ,MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 AMMMMMMMMM `~~~~' `~~~~' AMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 `VMMMMMM' ,A, ,,AMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,AMMMMMMMMMMMMMMA, ,aAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,AMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMA, AMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,AMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMA AMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12AMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMAaAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Chithakara is abuzz with activity - literally, given the tiny steering appendages the newly-hatched, gas-propelled kruthik overlords use for fine maneuvers. If there's one upside to how much of the swarm Mahalanka has managed to siphon off, it's that the rest of the kruthik are much easier to consolidate and keep watch over. You're not the only ones readying yourselves, of course - [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12not a day after Marek and Azer'jol's departure, you're visited by a man in red and a woman in black. [20:29] 4Ir disappeared into her room for a day, then abruptly into the reaches of the loyal Kruthik's territory for a few more, leaving the rest of the Circle to fend for themselves at meal-times. When she returned, she was...the nice way to put it would be resolved. The honest way to put it would be stony. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12The man's tall and fit, although that's just your best guess because he's clad head to toe in padded red armor and watches you through a sinister horizontal slit. He balances a grey daiklave of such minimalist design that it could be mistaken for an ostentatious sword over his shoulders and gives whichever of you - probably all of you - meet him a businesslike nod. He's flanked by [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12heyyy that's Yara in her assassin's getup. [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Man: "I'm the Executioner and this is our Shadow. Here to coordinate." 12Yara watches the lot of you with a carefully blank expression. 14[20:32] * Joins: mattbaby [20:32] 4Ir is in her black bodysuit, hair pulled back and Jude's Law a spear in her hand, to greet them. "I am the general. My Circlemates will join us." 15[20:33] 10Eikichi had thrown himself into work to distract himself from the overbearing presence of Raksi in his thoughts. Now, that burden has lessened, and a new heart beats in his chest, but the amount of work to be done has only increased. So it's a sweaty, shirtless Eikichi, stripped to the waist and slimed to his elbows in kruthik biomatter, that greets Heaven's Chosen. "Is that not 15[20:33] a bit overdressed?" 10he pants. [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Executioner: "There's a few tradeoffs, I'll admit. But it's got its charms, heh. This is all of you?" 12He nods backwards; from either the battlements or innards of Chithakara, he's effectively gesturing at the hive cluster and gathering swarm. "And all your demons?" 12It's not, quite - Ithuya is still rampaging around the western jungles performing geomantic sabotage, and you [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12might've posted scouts or similar farther out. 08[20:35] 7Eikichi's surgery scars have already receded to a cool-looking pale X on his chest... was that even the shape of the incision? In any case, Blossom is sitting near him possessively. 15[20:36] 10Eikichi: "I've got a Vitriolic Dragon on walkabout, and some erymanthoi at the peripheries... but this is about the size of it, yeah." 15[20:37] 10He squints at Yara. "Heaven trains children to fight?" [20:37] 4Ir doesn't answer the questions about their forces; she simply crosses her arms. 15[20:38] 10Does she signal any displeasure at Eikichi doing so? He can stop. [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara narrows her eyes. But maybe that's part of the act? Executioner, meanwhile, cocks his head slightly. "Who doesn't, these days? But I was told you'd met before. So to speak." 15[20:39] 10Eikichi: "Oh, who remembers?" [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Executioner taps the side of his head. "Exactly. Anyway. Problem I see here is the distance between your forces and their city. It'll be a long march through the jungles and while I can make 'em notice late you're not actually taking anyone by surprise. Good news is, we will be." [20:44] 4Ir: "Will Pramu be at their fore again, or is he not being given a third chance to disappoint?" [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Executioner: "Our people are threaded through Raksi's armies and some of her defenses. When you actually meet, things won't go their way about a dozen different... ways. But that's not going to bring you victory on its own." 12He pauses to answer Ir. "I think they're holding him back. You'll probably meet him beyond the walls, if at all." [20:45] "He was given his life twice. He won't be given it a third time." [20:46] 4She shrugs. "But you could say the same about all of his men, too." [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Executioner: "Anyway, we'll still need to bring the bulk of what he promised you to bear. And that means a gate." 12He turns and gestures, calling your lines of sight down past the battlements of chithakara to ground level. (When no one's looking, Yara scrabbles up to simply stand on the wall and look down alongside you, her arms crossed.) There, a small team of erymanthoi - not 08[20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's - pull a large wagon covered with layers of thick canvass. [20:50] 7What's this? [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12They stop a little short of Chithakara's outer walls, growling and trying to loom threateningly at the kruthik that now surround them. "What you're looking at there... you explain it." 12Yara: "Ah? Ahem. It's the portal to a divine sanctum. A portable portal - if you set it up at the right place you can make a house call on a god even if they've hidden the usual door." [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "We've got a lot of influence over Mahalanka's geomantic network. I mean, what's left of it. When we're approaching Raksi's city, we should be able to find a spot to set it up and tune it right so that it's pointed at Yu-Shan. Then, so long as we can keep it open, we can bring in proper reinforcements. Like... lions and war gods and things. The good stuff." [20:53] 4Ir will irritably wave the kruthik back a bit. [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "We're going to need to stretch it open as wide as we can. Um... can either of you Open the Spirit Door?" 08[20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12This to Eikichi and Blossom. [20:55] 7Is that a term she knows? 15[20:56] 10Eikichi: "No." [20:59] 7She shakes her head. 15[20:59] "If you'd like to teach me, I'd be happy to learn," 10he adds. [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "I've been authorized. It doesn't usually work this way, but the more of us who can crack the portal the better, and I might be tied up." [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Now it's the Executioner who's got his arms crossed. Yara continues: "The thing we're going to do with it is a little weird because the artifact we've brought isn't exactly a gate... I, I can get into it later." 12Her taller colleague breaks back into the conversation: "Either way - we'll want to drive as far as we can, open the gate to Yu-Shan as close to Mahalanka as we can, [21:02] <@Ferrinus> and then... go in. Are the four of you planning on facing down the Queen directly?" [21:03] 4Ir: "Yes." [21:03] "That was the plan." [21:04] 7She pats Truth's holster. 15[21:04] 10Eikichi: "We've come all this way. It'd be rude not to." [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Executioner: "Good to hear. For me, certainly. We... can't promise to literally be on the front lines there-" 12He's right. For all that Heaven's pledged to you, the actual lives of its operatives seems to be the one currency it refuses to spend; Chosen like Yara and Executioner are sworn to provide logistical support and run interference, but not go toe-to-toe with First Age [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12supercombatants. "-but we should be able to check Raksi's own people." 15[21:08] 10Eikichi: "Good enough." [21:11] 4Ir: "The front lines are where we've always been." [21:13] "It would be churlish to put this on someone else, at this late date." 15[21:15] 10Eikichi: "You say you're woven through Mahalanka's existing infrastructure. How much can we expect to survive invasion?" [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Executioner: "That depends on how you do it. Plan like the one we've got - as in, simply knock on their door with a dragon's worth of lions and demons - isn't going to leave a lot standing in its wake. We're talking at least a wedge of rubble from gates to center... and that's if Raksi's got nothing to say about it, which she will." [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Executioner: "You're signed up to repair the place once it's taken, yeah? My condolences." 15[21:32] 10Eikichi: "Not repairing Mahalanka after crashing in and crushing it would amount to the greatest party foul in all of history." 08[21:33] 7Blossom: "Hrm. I'd prefer to err on the side of directing maximum force at Raksi. Rebuilding defensive infrastructure afterwards will be time-consuming, but we'll have the time." 7To Eikichi: "Unless you're talking about civilian infrastructure?" 15[21:33] 10Eikichi: "I do. High walls won't do much good for a city no one can live in." [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Executioner scratches his chin with a thumb. Well, the chin of his faceplate with the thumb of a gauntlet. "If you want to cut down on the damage, then you want to cut down on how much of the city you actually... cross. I mostly know the barracks complexes and administrative offices, and I don't know of any secret passages or the like to point you at, but if there was some way..." [21:36] 7She clicks her tongue. "I can get temporary facilities for the residents up quickly. It won't be comfortable, but they won't be sacrificed on blood-soaked altars, either." [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12There is a way that occurs to several of you, but it'd be extremely risky. It's not actually possible to simply stroll invisibly or teleport into Mahalanka in the normal course of things, since the city's layered with powerful sorcerous wards powered by both Raksi's superhuman genius and First Age artifice. But there's cracks there... the captive Jormungand can plainly still 08[21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12communicate with the remnants of the kruthik swarm, and Raksi was able to fuck remotely with Eikichi through the medium of the sorcerer's stolen heartsblood. [21:40] 4"remotely fuck with" probably communicates the intent better, [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Jormungand is still in there, and you've got plenty of blood-related biomatter to work with here in Chithakara, not to mention being the cerebrate's creators. You might actually be able to pierce Mahalanka's wards and teleport directly to Raksi, or at least directly to the central complex in which Jormungand is kept and which Raksi surely frequents, by casting Travel Without Distance 08[21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12in combination with some sort of elaborate kruthik blood sacrifice performed outside Mahalanka's walls. Eikichi could certainly figure it out - after all, he performed one in his escape. [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12The problem, of course, is that Travel Without Distance isn't actually a battlefield spell; anyone subject to it winds up nauseous and dizzy for hours hence. You'd be fighting with a handicap. [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12You'd probably also still want to call down the full force of Heaven's forces outside the gates, because otherwise it's you versus Raksi and all the resources Raksi can casually bring to bear. But with heaven pounding on the walls and tying up the various Lunars under Raksi's tutelage, you'd be able to skip straight to the final confrontation... 15[21:54] 10Eikichi: "So which god's domain is this going to open on?" 10He gestures at the gate. [21:54] 4Ir looks to the others. "We could go straight to Jormungand and the witch queen, couldn't we." 15[21:55] 10Eikichi: "In theory... we'd land with a hangover, of course." [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Ah, well, that was sort of an oversimplification. The- huh?" [21:55] "Kind of paradoxically, we'd also land fresh." [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Executioner: "How? Mahalanka's sealed six different ways, as I understand it." [21:56] 4As if it's self-explanatory: "We could Travel Without Distance." [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Executioner: "...that's one of the ways." [21:56] "Would that work?" 15[21:56] 10Eikichi: "There are gaps in Mahalanka's defenses. Deliberately engineered ones, accessible only by sympathy and blood magic. Something its mistress sees as her sole domain." [21:56] "It already has, hasn't it?" 15[21:57] "But she has something of ours, and we are surrounded by its flesh and blood even now." [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara gasps. "The kruthik! Of course!" [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "They'd have to be able to reach across the walls or she couldn't keep summoning away bits of your army!" [21:59] 4Ir: "Yes. She couldn't." [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "But you'd feel awful." 15[22:00] 10Eikichi: "So as Ir says we could quite easily see our way to... likely the Apex of Sacrifice itself, and face a confrontation with Raksi almost immediately. It'd spare us the exhaustion of the direct invasion, but Travel Without Distance carries its own challenges." [22:00] 4Ir: "I already feel awful." [22:00] "And I'll feel better when she's dead." [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "You'd still have to get pretty close... but you could move up, help me open the gate, and then jump? And we could draw the attention of the rest of the city's forces from you and the queen." [22:26] 4Ir: "Tactically sound. You'd need to reconfigure your defensive lines to guard the queens, since I won't be there to protect them." [22:26] "But that's done easily enough." [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Also, thanks to the floating gas-bag creatures developed at the lake demesne ruins in your absence, the queens themselves can stay back and still relay their orders. 15[22:27] 10Eikichi: "It's a plan." [22:31] 7Blossom: "Excellent." 15[22:31] 10Eikichi: "I'll go make preparations." [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Let me show you the gate! And the spell we'll need..." [22:31] 4Ir nods. "Let me know if the kruthik or I can help." 15[22:31] 10Eikichi turns around. "Oh, right, sorry. I forgot you were there again!" 15[22:32] "You guys are so sneaky." [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12The Executioner's going to inspect the kruthik in preparation for the coming battle. He's also got a lot of weird questions about them from Ir, like, on what day of the week was each queen born? Which constellation was just coming over the horizon at that time? What's everyone's birth-stone? That sort of thing. [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12However, Ir's free to join Yara and the two sorcerers at the demon-drawn cart after a little while, unless she's got questions for the Executioner. [22:34] 4She'll answer the questions promptly and honestly. After all, the kruthik are going to be free from this life quite soon, no longer an asset or a threat to her or her family, and if the Sidereals want to go hunting them at that time, well, presumably the kruthik will be happy to see them in Hell. [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara, meanwhile, begins to pull the tarp off the cart she's brought before remembering herself and just telling her demons to do it. "So this isn't a gate as such. It's a gate, um, amplifier? Expander?" [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12What you see on the cart looks a bit like the stone archway that Yara ushered you through to Yu-Shan ages ago, but it's made of a combination of marble, jade, and starmetal, and, more importantly, it's broken into pieces that are just sort of haphazardly piled over each other. There are two big pillars crossed beneath a capstone arch, each with spherical gemstones embedded in the [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12broken-off ends. [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "These go around an actual gate, which I know how to summon. We have to attach them, then activate them, then reposition them. It'll make the hole in space wider - wide enough that our people don't have to go through single or double file." 15[22:41] 10Eikichi: "I don't suppose you'd teach me that spell." 15[22:41] 10He bats his eyes at her. [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Haha! No." [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "But Opening the Spirit Door is really useful! It's what'll activate and power this artifact. Here, help me get it set up and I'll show you..." 15[22:42] 10Work, work. [22:42] 4Ir's slipped into the mix, done with her review of the troops with the Executioner. "Is the gate one-way?" [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Fortunately, it's mostly the erymanthoi who have to do the manual labor, although Yara needs your help giving them precise instructions and measuring distances. Before long, you've assembled a sort of gate-around-a-gate; the two pillars on the sides stand rammed into the earth, and the archway joining them floats above them. You see that it's not quite long or curved enough to connect [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12the two based on the distance they are from each other, but that's clearly by design, because you can imagine the invisible lengths of stone that would connect them if the now-glowing crystals weren't simply suspending the third piece in the air. [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara nods to Ir. "Yes, it works just like the portal I opened for you before. It'll point to one of the entranceways around the adamant wall of Yu-Shan, where there'll be a column of lions and other warriors ready to march straight through. That means we're bottlenecked by the adamant tunnels, but those are still wider than the Celestial Gate itself - I think it's like six lions [22:45] <@Ferrinus> abreast?" [22:49] 4Ir: "That'll be a shot in the arm." [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "Tall, too, so if we've got something that can fly it can come in over the lions' heads. Either way, if we can just get them all out and into formation outside Mahalanka's gates I'm sure Executioner and the others will be able to raise a lot of hell. Never play Gateway with that guy." [22:49] 4Ir: "It's too bad celestial lions can't fly. Mount this gate on one of our overlords, fly it over the battlefield..." [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "The actual celestial gate it locks on to needs appear on Creation's fundament, I think." 12She pauses, appearing to wonder if there's some way to cheat that, then waves the idea off. "They do always land on their feet, though." [22:52] "Interesting." [22:55] 7Blossom shifts from one foot to the other. "How long does the actual gate take to summon?" [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara: "It's a few minutes' ritual. Then it'll be that again from each of us as we push the gate expander open." [23:01] 4Ir nods and nods some more at the explanations, then wanders away. [23:01] 4She heads up to the kitchen, and cooks all of the rest of the food left into provisions. [23:02] 4...This will take some time. [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara, meanwhile, begins to explain the symbols, incantations, and theory of Opening the Spirit Door. 15[23:05] 10We're very smart and every spell is super easy. [23:06] 4Luckily, she's very motivated to think about absolutely nothing else but the fundamentals of her craft. [23:06] 4She needs to get out of this fucking jungle. 15[23:07] 10Gods yes. [23:09] 7Blossom warded the Heavensward against insects before we ever even came here. This is called 'thinking ahead'. 08[23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Spells can take weeks to develop, but Yara's an able teacher; it's perhaps a day before Eikichi and Blossom are able to execute the magic correctly. In between units of study Yara gossips about the Executioner (she's still not sure what an ostensible Gold Faction member - and he12doesn't know her sympathies! - is doing on a project like this, and can't believe he didn't even [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12stick up for her when you pretended to mock her...!!) and talks a little bit more about the operation as a whole. [23:11] 7Maybe he was making a sympathetic face under the helmet? [23:12] 4Golden light pours out of the kitchen as Ir works...not quite enough to shoot up to Heaven, but enough to light up every window that doesn't have a door between it and Ir. 15[23:12] 10Maybe he didn't say anything in her defense because he feels guilty about stabbing humanity in the back out of cowardice and dooming it to successive ages of decline and decay. Just thinking questions here. [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Apparently, massive amounts of bureaucratic obfuscation and graft are involved in making this happen on Yu-Shan's end; all the celestial lions involved and even the gate itself (which, it turns out, ISN'T one of the ones in the outer wall but is instead right in the middle of the isle) are being moved around under false pretenses and with largely fake oversight, and entire streets [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12and pavilions are goin to have to be temporarily cleared for made-up reasons on the day of the invasion to get the entire army out without causing undue incident. 15[23:15] 10Eikichi sort of assumes huge, inefficient, massively expensive deceptions are attached to everything the Bureau of Destiny does. [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12It is, frankly, incredible that they expect to get away with this. But, hey, ain't your problem. [23:16] 4When she's finished, she has almost a month's worth of packaged, sealed meals, organized by color and label to show what sort of food they are, prepared for a group of four. [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Soon enough, it's the next day and time to move out. Assemble the troops! [23:17] 4They probably won't need even most of it. But if they do, there it is. 15[23:17] 10It's not our problem yet, anyway. Heaven doesn't really seem to be up to solving its own problems nowadays, if it ever was. [23:17] 4And it only took...she looks out the window...oh some eight hours. [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Between next morning and afternoon, you're at the head of a great swarm of insect demons... but not nearly as great as it was weeks ago. Still, it's got a few advantages, not the least of which is the flotilla of synapse-gasbags hovering over it which can distribute the queens' orders with lightning speed and therefore allow the brood mothers themselves to stay out of the worst of [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12the fighting. [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara bids you farewell, and the Executioner's already gone; apparently, they'll be working to make sure that your advance is discovered as slowly as possible and that the institutional response is maximally confused and inefficient. 15[23:24] 10So all that's left is to begin the final march. [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Give the order! 15[23:25] 10That's up to our general. Eikichi's ready immediately, cleaned up and rested, wearing a well-fitting but flowy navy blue gi that matches his eyes, his hair, and his anima. [23:25] 4With everything packed, just before dawn the next morning, Ir, Saint-Sister, General of Hell, stands at the Kruthik army's fore...and with a swing of Jude's Law, bids them move forward. [23:26] 4Reave the jungle. Rack and ruin to those who stand before them. Mercy only to those who run. [23:26] 4The witch queen will have her demon war. [23:26] 7Blossom: "Shoulder your weapons! Prepare to fight!" 7This does not really apply to a kruthik army, but Blossom's trying to get pumped. 08[23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12, and hell marches with you. This is a familiar path for you - the same warpath, indeed, that only three of you blazed when Eikichi was captured. Now you travel in much greater force and with much greater backing. They're not going to know what hit them. [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12A streak of jungle before you has already been burned and mulched by the little force on which you first rode to Mahalanka, and although your much larger swarm must now contend with the lashing branches, raging rivers, and vengeful lightning of Raksi's jungles you've become true experts at navigating the dangers of the Total Control Zone (and Ithuya constantly gnawing at the traps' [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12sustaining magic certainly helps). You lose a few peripheral kruthik to the elements, but not nearly enough to matter - and though it should be something like a week's forced march from Chithakara to Mahalanka, the jungle seems to fly by; everything that could go right, does, and you find yourself passing familiar outposts and landmarks days earlier than you should. [23:34] 4Burn! Eat! Crush! Swarm! [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12It's only three days in that the local garrisons seem to have pulled themselves together enough to oppose you, too. Watch out, here comes the first of the phalanxes- [23:34] 4The battle march plays. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw_o7XUX3fg 14[23:41] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12The kruthik are like a hot knife through butter. Enemy arrows glance uselessly off chitin, enemy spears get caught on enemy shields, and it seems like every soldier opposing you zigs when they should have zagged and gets impaled or dissolved in short order. This happens several times, against increasingly well-equipped but equally ill-prepared forces, until the walls and spires of [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Mahalanka are in distant view. [23:45] 4A golden piller burns up to Heaven, and her army surges. [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12The advance is becoming dangerous, now. You can see that the jungles and roads separating you from Mahalanka have been peppered with more advanced defenses: great clawed hands made of violet smoke rise from the ground, each cupping a blade of crimson flame in its palm and prepared to yawn outward into an Eyeless breach. Star-blessed luck or no, this is going to be rough going... but [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12this, too, is when someone taps Ir on the hip because they're too short to tap her on the shoulder. [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Yara, who's snuck into your formation: "This should be close enough. Let's set the thing up." [23:50] 4Ir nods. "You will be covered." [23:51] 4She gives the orders to the kruthik. 08[23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Under Eikichi's direction, roaches haul the two pillars into correct position and alignment around an empty patch of land while Yara presses her hands into the arch, releases a low breath, and sends it floating skyward. "Okay," 12she says. "Here goes." 12She gets two syllables into Summoning the Heavenly Gate before the nearest of the breaches detonates! 15[23:54] "Ah," Session Time: Fri Dec 06 00:00:00 2019 [00:03] 4The kruthik go to war. It's brutal, messy, and exultant. The gate is defended, first by claw and spine, then by walls of corpses, and the wave warfare that encourages. [00:04] 4Ir walks the seething wreck of the jungle, killing a beastman here to inspire, singing an order there to command. [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12The kruthik are hard-pressed, because the hordes of vaporous Eyeless aren't dogged by the disarray and misfortune that had afflicted the standard Control Zone troops you fought earlier, but the kruthik themselves retain the benefit of the Executioner's blessing. Both demon and outsider fall in droves, transfixing each other with pincers and fangs and what seem to be extruded digestive 08[00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12systems, but even the luckiest and biggest of the lightning-infused spiders that have been crawling out of the nearest breach neeeaaarly manages to reach Eikichi before being tackled to the ground and torn apart by several ravagers together. [00:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Then the magic's done, and the Heavenly Gate appears in a flash at the same moment as the archway around it locks on, shines a brilliant gold, and ratchets outward with a staccato, mechanical cadence that leaves the swirling, misty portal several times wider than it was when it started. [00:08] 4Ir drives the kruthik forward and outwards. Reinforcements need room. [00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12From within, there's a roar, and then the first of the lions comes through. Ir sparred with a few of these briefly, but they're still something else to see on the battlefield; crackling with white and golden lightning, breathing solar flames, and simply shrugging off blows that would split stone or crumple steel, the creatures waste no time whatsoever in joining the field against [00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12the increasing array of extradimensional horrors that infest it. [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Alarms sound. Mahalanka is a frenzy of activity. Above the central spire of the Apex of Sacrifice, a great black-and-red cloud is slowly building through which Raksi is sure to exert her own direct influence on the battlefield... unless you go straight to the source and stop her. [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12...next week! 14[00:32] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[00:44] * Joins: tom 14[03:11] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:59] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:42] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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The underground fighting league is, well, underground, and illegal, and the judgment has come down that now is not the time to be a large 15[20:05] illegal gathering of trained fighters in this city. 15[20:06] Zhangyu's turned out into the rain not long after that, as the hall shuts and locks behind him. 15[20:08] What's on his mind as he returns to the hostel? 15[20:09] At that same hostel, the senior staff of Danaa'd's Defiance contemplate the traitor and assassin in their midst. The one sent to kill Mnemon Dusk. 15[20:09] No, the other one. [20:10] 14This is awkward. [20:10] 14And suspicious. [20:10] 6Well, shit. Probably best to be getting back to the crew - it's late, Hinokuni was a bust for the first night, and someone's apparently out there killing people. He's still vaguely upset with Ragara Kolu - Son-of-Sabers. There isn't even a Sabers! But otherwise he's keeping an eye out and glaring at anyone in his way on his way back to the hostel. 15[20:12] Mnemon Salim sits on a stool between hanging and curing fractions of a pig, with all his sides and exits covered by Blooded warriors of esteem and repute. In front of him is the Commodore Peleps Ratel, who throws a swinging shadow as the hanging brazier lighting the storeroom rocks in time with the tremors off Hamoji. [20:13] 07Tremors off Hamoji? 15[20:13] The volcano is temperamental. Locals assure you that the occasional tremor is nothing to worry about. [20:15] 14Is the floor open for questions, or is Ratel running this herself? 15[20:16] Ratel's leading the interrogation, but the floor is open. [20:16] 4Piu: "Soo...how'd ya do it?" [20:17] 10Little tremors aren't anything to worry about. Just the dragons playing deep, deep underground. [20:18] 6Zhangyu's still grumbling as he returns, though unless someone sent out a runner he probably doesn't know what he's walking into... 15[20:19] The man calling himself Mnemon Salim looks down at and wrings his hands. "I had... hoped to poison her. But she was too strong. I had to strangle her with a wire." [20:19] 4When Zhangyu enters: "Oh, hey Tepet Zhangyu! Mnemon Salim killed Sister Dusk and is telling us about it, for some reason." 15[20:19] Salim looks up sharply as Zhangyu enters, having been ushered back by the suspiciously large and alert guaed detail. [20:20] 6Zhangyu: "I. What?" [20:21] 4Piu: "Wow. And after all that time fighting with your hands...I'd never have suspected!" [20:21] 10Daizo heaves a silent sigh. Piu's smarter than this, so why is she… Ah, of course. To put Salim off guard. "The priestess I met with yesterday, Cousin." [20:22] "Strangled with a wire...?" 07Dryas asks. [20:22] "Where were you two hours ago?" [20:22] 4The Chain, of course, is back around Piu's neck, a normal, slightly gaudy necklace. 15[20:23] Salim: "Two hours ago was an hour before I returned. I was on the way here. On the way back from the temple." 15[20:23] Aside from a sudden, sharp look, he has no response to Piu. [20:24] 6Zhangyu does a quick headcount. Is everyone accounted for? Is he the last one to return? 15[20:26] Ratel: "Why are you admitting this to me?" [20:29] 10In a whispered conversation, Daizo gets Zhangyu up to speed on the events that transpired in his absence, although he doesn't say anything about the second assailant who killed Sadako. Or that she was killed at all—just attacked. [20:31] 6Golly. Suddenly feuding with Son-of-Sabers just seems petty. ...still gonna do it, but not today. 15[20:32] Salim: "When I agreed to accept this assignment, certain provisions were made for my safe return to the Isle. I learned that those provisions were not made." [20:37] 10Daizo: "That doesn't make any sense. There must be a dozen ways you could get back to the Blessed Isle safely, without throwing yourself on the Empress' justice." 15[20:37] "I take this risk to ask protection from my employer," Salim says. [20:38] 6Zhangyu raises an eyebrow. [20:39] "Who is that?" 07asks a frustrated Dryas. [20:40] 10Daizo hrrmphs. "You succeeded in your mission, but you're seeking protection from your employer? This doesn't add up." 15[20:40] Salim: "Mnemon." 15[20:45] Ratel: "What." [20:46] 4Piu, eyes wide: "Wow...you think so? Maybe you guys should have like, a guild or something." 15[20:48] Salim: "I am confident I was not intended to leave the island alive. But I am equally confident she cannot touch me so long as I remain a part of your crew. Your mission is watched by too many eyes." 14[20:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[20:50] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:50] Ratel paces around. "You're telling me Mnemon hired you to sneak onto my crew, using falsified documents she wrote herself, so that you could assassinate another, legitimate member of House Mnemon in secret, at which point she would disavow you and leave you to be killed by... who, exactly?" 15[20:51] Salim: "You, I expect. You collectively. Upon learning of my deception." [20:51] 4Piu pipes up: "I say we keep him." [20:53] "Who else are you working with?" 07Dryas pipes in. [20:54] 6I mean, that is just smart tactics. Leave the operative behind to die and nobody knows you even ordered an assassination! He really should've seen that one coming. "So instead you seek refuge with the people who would have killed you?" 15[20:55] Salim: "Since I joined your expedition I have worked alone." [20:55] 10Daizo: "And prior to that? This 'Black Lotus' you mentioned?" [20:58] 14Better to have Daizo ask that question. [21:01] 10Whoever this Black Lotus group is, Daizo thinks they must be doing a lousy job of it if they're giving their assassins cover stories so flimsy a child can see through them. Or an almost-child, anyway. 15[21:03] Salim: "The Order of the Black Lotus is a league of assassins that has existed for centuries. We are embedded among the elite of many cultures across Creation, including every corner of your Realm. We are trained to kill without weapons." 15[21:03] Ratel: "A wire is a weapon." [21:03] 14Piu resists glancing around. Is anyone going to ask the obvious-- [21:03] 14There we are. [21:03] 6He's glad she got there first. 15[21:04] Salim: "No it isn't." 15[21:04] Ratel: "Yes it is! A wire is obviously a weapon." [21:04] 14There's actually a lot of literature on this. 15[21:04] Salim shakes his head. "Not by the laws of the Black Lotus." [21:04] 14Philosophically speaking. [21:05] 6Zhangyu: "Why does that matter?" [21:05] 4Piu: "What if, like, I broke a teacup and tried to cut ya with the sharp edge?" 15[21:06] Salim: "If you brought the teacup into the room with the intention of breaking it and using it to cut someone, it would be a weapon." [21:07] 4Piu: "Huh. So you just...found the wire lying around?" [21:07] 6Zhangyu: "And a wire... that you brought into the room, with the intention of strangling someone with it..." 15[21:07] "A long-harbored killing intent is what elevates a weapon above anything sharp." 15[21:07] Salim: "A loose string on her guqin." [21:08] 4Piu shrugs. "I guess that's fair. Weird! But fair." [21:08] 10Mela's breath. This is what happens when they don't teach philosophy in the schools. [21:10] 10Daizo: "The metaphysical nature of teacups and wires aside, was it Mnemon's directive for you to pose as a monk? The Black Lotus's? Or was that your own idea?" [21:11] 6That's dumb. He's dumb. If it's not your body, it's a weapon. Also sometimes bodies are weapons but only if you throw someone really hard. [21:12] 14Well, that's Black Lotus philosophy alright. Goes all the way back to the curious case of master assassin Candle Jack. 15[21:14] Salim: "It was not my idea, I assure you. I am not a religious man. It was a compromise between my masters and Mnemon. My masters insisted that I have the protection of the Mnemon name, but Mnemon was adamant I have no insinuations to the Mnemon *blood*." [21:15] 4Piu: "So should we just call you Salim now?" 15[21:15] Salim: "If you would, please." [21:16] 6If that is his real name. [21:17] 07Dryas: "And why did Mnemon want Dusk to be killed? Was that ever disclosed to you? Did you have other targets of opportunity?" 15[21:19] Salim: "I can't speculate as to Mnemon's motives, but I can tell you what I observed: she has turned the temple orphanage into an orchard for fresh bodies to sell the Guild's body-brokers." [21:20] 14How noble and brave of you to kill her then, honored Salim. [21:20] 4Aloud: "Whoa..." 15[21:21] Ratel: "So why kill her? Why not just reassign her? That's typically how this sort of thing is covered up." 15[21:21] Salim shakes his head. "As I said, I cannot speculate." [21:22] 6Zhangyu: "You can, but refuse to." [21:22] 07Dryas is moving on - "If you don't bother with Immaculate dogma, and had no other targets of opportunity, why did you try to kill Sadako?" 15[21:22] Salim: "What?!" [21:23] 07Dryas, coldly: "With a garotte, even." [21:24] 6Zhangyu: "Sadako was attacked?" 6Daizo, you left out some details. [21:24] 6Wait, shit, he said that. Nevermind. [21:25] 07Dryas does not answer, but remains focused on Salim. [21:25] 4Piu: "I wasn't there to see it...but you did disappear while we were walking back to the hostel, Salim..." [21:26] 10Daizo: "Yes, why did you leave us as we took that shortcut through the garden? It gave us quite the shock." [21:26] 6What are the odds there are two secretive killers running around with garrotes? 15[21:27] Salim: "I won't pretend to love the child, but killing her brings more curses than it clears. And it brings them on *me*. Imagine the awful hungry ghost such a wretched thing would produce... motivated only by hatred of me. I think not." [21:28] 4Piu, casually: "It also doesn't work. Which makes you less of a threat to her, I guess." [21:29] 10Oh, damn. Now it's out. 15[21:29] Salim blanches. "What?" [21:29] 6Zhangyu: "Doesn't work?" [21:30] 4Piu: "Oops!" [21:30] 14But she's paying close attention to Salim's face. [21:36] 6Zhangyu: "What do you mean doesn't work?" [21:36] 4He's a true believer, isn't he. So if he's not actually a monk, but he is actually a killer...why does he think like a monk? [21:36] 14He's a true believer, isn't he. So if he's not actually a monk, but he is actually a killer...why does he think like a monk? 15[21:39] Ratel: "Sadako's not the issue here." 15[21:39] To Salim: "If Mnemon expected you to die, what use are you to me?" [21:40] 14Playing with House money. [21:40] 6No seriously what does "killing her doesn't work" mean you can't just say that and not explain--! 15[21:41] Salim: "I was expected to die. But no specific allowance was made for my death. If I can continue to make reports as if the mission was completed and I am still embedded secretly within your mission... that would be a consolation prize Mnemon would accept. And that connection can be of use to you." [21:41] 10Daizo whispers "The attempt failed. I'll tell you the whole story when we're done here." 15[21:42] Ratel: "You're proposing to become a double agent on our behalf." 15[21:42] Salim: "In a sense. I can pass you whatever information I receive from Mnemon, and I can shape my reports to her in any manner you require." 15[21:45] Ratel: "The simplest and safest thing for me to do is to turn you in to Mnemon myself." 15[21:45] "An assassin who killed one of her children and now cooks up some bizarre story about having been ordered to by Mnemon herself? I expect you'd find transport back to the Isle then." [21:46] 14But... 15[21:46] Ratel: "So how about this." 15[21:47] "You aren't just feeding Mnemon lies on my behalf. You work for me now." [21:47] 14There it is. [21:48] 10Daizo's nodding along with Ratel. And then... [21:48] 14Blocking the attempt on Ratel's life is easily the best decision Piu's made in months. Perhaps years. What the hell was To thinking? 15[21:50] Salim: "...if that is what is required." [21:51] 4Piu excitedly claps her hands together. [21:51] 07Dryas lights another one of her stubby little cigars and leans back.  [21:51] 14This will require some massaging for Caxi, but Ratel executing Salim wasn't going to get her the outcome she wanted. [21:51] 6They'll still have to keep a very close eye on him. On account of the whole being a secret-society assassin thing. [21:51] 4Agreed! [21:52] "Commodore, is this wise? If he turns traitor, what is to stop him from turning again?" 10Daizo's worried here and not just for Sadako or Seiri or Ratel.  [21:53] "Does that mean you take responsibility for the death of Mnemon Dusk?" 07Dryas asks. [21:53] 4Piu: "I dunno if that's the best way to think about it, Daizo. Like, the reason he's here is he's got an aversion to being killed." [21:53] "If he turns on us, we're gonna kill him." [21:53] 14To Salim: "That's understood, right." [21:54] 6Zhangyu cracks his knuckles. 15[21:56] Ratel: "We were all implicated as soon as he came and confessed to us. We could turn him in immediately, but that benefits no one, including justice." 15[21:56] Salim, to Piu: "My life is in your hands." [21:58] 4Piu grins. "Then we're understood! Stay the fuck away from Sadako, don't kill anyone in their sleep, and we'll have no problems!" [21:59] 10Daizo: "Very well. I withdraw my objection." 10He looks the exact opposite of thrilled. And tired. [22:00] 6I mean. There will be some problems. [22:01] 6Like, "just don't kill any of us" leaves a lot of room for bad things! Zhangyu could create problems without breaking that rule right now! And in our sleep? Anyway, it's close enough to right that he won't speak out against it. But he is glowering at Salim. [22:02] 14At this point Piu needs to get out of this room and make a report. 15[22:02] Ratel: "And you'll be sleeping under lock and key for the forseeable future. With a guard at the door." [22:02] 10If and when the situation changes, Daizo will be the first to suggest stranding the man on a desert island or locking him in a cell. And he will also be the first to say "I told you so." But until that time, the commanding officer's word is law. 15[22:03] Ratel looks at the others. "You're all dismissed. Get some rest." [22:03] 4Piu salutes, sloppily. "Yes ma'am." [22:03] 14Time to find Caedus. [22:05] 6Even if the situation doesn't change, stranding him on a desert island would be more than just. Zhangyu nods to Ratel, then pulls Daizo aside as they leave -- explain the whole Sadako situation, cousin!! 14[22:05] * Joins: hrolfy [22:05] 14She'll corner him in a storeroom and deliver the essentials: Salim has decided to take the hit for her kill for no discernable reason except to shed his previous cover and join the crew under a different one. It's still a cover. He's not a monk, but he still hates Anathema. If he was behind the attempt on Sadako's "life," he was unaware of its outcome. He does appear to at least [22:05] 14legitimately know Black Lotus philosophy. [22:06] 07Dryas falls in between Daizo and Zhangyu. She'll try to make eye contact with Piu, unless she's truly determined to leave. [22:06] 14Also, someone needs to recover Silk Shadow from that dead drop before they put to sea. [22:06] 10Daizo salutes and withdraws without another word. Then he'll lead Zhangyu upstairs to the parlor Piu's been using as a war room. 14[22:06] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:06] 14She'll let him go with a mostly-chaste kiss. [22:07] 4And circle back to that parlor. [22:07] 10Daizo: "We're alone?" [22:07] 4Piu checks the door. "Yup." [22:08] "All right. Sorry, Cousin, there were some things I didn't want to say in front of Salim. Or the Commodore, for that matter." [22:11] 4Piu: "We probably gotta restrict his entire access to the part of the ship where we sleep. Put him in the hold." [22:11] 07Soft footsteps approaching. [22:11] 6Zhangyu: "And this involves - killing her 'doesn't work.'" 6He taps his foot. [22:11] "Don't be mean, of course. Let him have a real room." [22:11] "Absolutely. Look, this might take a few minutes." 10He'll run through a summary of the research on the ghost ship and the nature of the liminal Chosen. "I wasn't there for this next part. Dryas?" [22:11] 4Piu will open the door when the footsteps arrive. [22:11] 6Zhangyu: "Cruelty is the point for now. Crimes don't go unpunished." [22:12] 10Daizo: "Ah, there you are." [22:13] 07Dryas glides through the door, having found another bottle of wine somewhere.  [22:13] 6Some people like to party, I guess. [22:14] 4Piu, brightly, as she closes the door and bolts it. "I'll have a glass!" [22:15] 07Dryas obliges to anyone who wishes to partake, puffing away on the remnants of the cigar. She pours herself a generous glass. "Dryas and I were attacked by a man with a garrote, when we were on our way back from the Guild Factor. Looked like one of the island natives. He squeezed the life out of her and ran when I confronted him." [22:16] 10Daizo retrieves a set of glassware, which looks absurdly delicate in his hands. "Same. Just a little. Being in the same room as that man feels like walking on a bed of needles." [22:17] 07Sadako and I [22:17] 4Piu, sipping: "I thought you would have said so if it looked like Salim!" [22:18] "I don't actually think it was Salim, is the crazy part," 07she says. [22:18] 4Piu: "The timing's still really convenient." [22:19] "But if he kills Sister Dusk, like. Does he have enough left to kill Sadako...?" [22:19] "That's a lot of work for one night!" [22:20] "He sent me a message, too. To intimidate me. Why would Salim bother? It doesn't make sense." 07And the one other thing, but no need to get into that just yet. [22:20] 6Zhangyu: "This is still all - huh." 6Also he's going to have to chat with Sadako about self defense. Not being able to die is no excuse. [22:21] 6Zhangyu: "Did this attacker seem to know she would just, get back up again, apparently?" [22:21] "Afterwards, when he tried to run, his forehead lit up like one of the Anathema. But not a Sun or Moon Anathema, either. We figured it out, it was the symbol of Saturn. Oh, and Sadako got up afterwards and didn't remember a thing, as if nothing happened. But her clothes, that I had just bought her, were all ruined." 07Dryas shrugs to Zhangyu's question. [22:22] 4Piu, clarifying: "Ruined by blood. Because she was dead!" [22:22] "So that's weird." 15[22:22] Also by the storm, which continues to rage outside. [22:24] 6Not remembering dying is probably for the best. "How many people know? Other than us. And, I guess, maybe her killer." [22:24] "Sometimes when I see her out the corner of my eye, she looks dead. Even before this. It's upsetting. But anyway, there's someone out there, a hunter." [22:25] 4Piu: "Yeah. I mean, she's Anathema. Some kind of Anathema." [22:25] 4She looks around the room. "Does anyone find it weird that even though Salim isn't a monk, he still hates Sadako and the Anathema so much? Like." [22:25] "In an educated way?" [22:26] 07Dryas: "What's that supposed to mean? The Anathema are terrible." [22:26] 6Zhangyu: "He's..." 6How to put this. "I get the feeling that we're missing something and I don't like it. I don't know. It's just a hunch." [22:27] 4Piu: "You don't like them, but you bought Sadako clothes. He doesn't like them in a whole other way." [22:28] 4Piu: "Like. Fully principled objections." [22:28] 10Daizo: Ye-e-e-s. He was saying all of that stuff about how curses would fall on him and hungry ghosts would rise. But it sounded authoritative. Perhaps this Black Lotus group is also a cult." [22:28] 4And Piu would NEVER accuse a Cynis of having principles. [22:29] 6Zhangyu: "We should do some digging. Though I'm, er, occupied..." 6Maybe he can overhear something at Hinokuni? Ugh, you can't just go to the secret underground fighting ring to solve all your problems... 15[22:29] Can't you? [22:30] "Sadako isn't Anathema. There's been no determination. She could be ghost-blooded or something. She's no wretched of the sun or moon-slaked murderer." [22:30] 4You can! [22:30] 4To Dryas: "Oh for sure." [22:30] 10Daizo: "There are things about the Anathema that they don't teach you in the Cloister, or in any school for that matter. You have to take vows and be officially initiated into the Palace Sublime to receive what my teachers called 'the deeper truths'." [22:30] 6I mean, Zhangyu will certainly try. [22:31] "But I'm beginning to suspect it's far from as cut-and-dried as I've believed until now." [22:32] "So, I'm reserving judgment." [22:32] 4Piu: "Anyway." [22:33] 4She wheels on Zhangyu and leans forward. "Tell me about the fights!!" [22:34] "Fights?" [22:35] 6Grumbling: "I didn't get to see any. Shut down early because the authorities were out looking for the killer of Sister Dusk, so all I got was condescended to by Bruiser Khang and Son-of-Sabers." [22:35] 4To Zhangyu, quite seriously: "You will need to have all of us as your nakama if you're going to ascend to the top of the world. To the Championship." [22:35] "Pffft." [22:36] "They will be fighting again soon. As soon as it's clear there's no hunt on!" [22:36] 10Daizo: "Are they strong, do you think? Or are they all talk?" [22:37] "It's natural that they closed the Harakuni down, Nn Tloc was furious at the news of the murder,"07 Dryas innocently lets slip. [22:38] "Hinokuni." [22:39] "Bruiser Khang wasn't condescending! Or maybe he was, if you were REALLY rude. He is a friend to all children, and buff as Hell! He's always smiling!" [22:39] "Whatever. Zhangyu needs a manager, and it should naturally be me," 07Dryas explains. [22:39] 10Daizo waves a finger. "It is an unsanctioned tournament, but let's give it its due." [22:39] "Son-of-Sabers..." [22:40] "Well, Son-of-Sabers will kill you if you step in the ring with him, Zhangyu. If you lose." [22:40] "He kills Dynasts." [22:40] "REALLY hot though. Like, my EMPRESS." [22:40] 6Zhangyu: "Son-of-Sabers was Ragara Kolu, and a prized student of Grandmaster Mushi. He's probably the biggest concern..." 6Listing off: "Bruiser Khang has something against me, Kuga Rahn, Mirido, Doremi, and 'Ted' are all small fries. Apparently I'll be going up against Gilana Crimson Tide first." [22:40] 6He nods. Also, being able to kill him is also hot. [22:40] 4Pointing at Dryas: "She is the perfect manager!!!" [22:41] "The perfect combination of gauche and powerful...fantastic!!" [22:43] "Kuga Rahn...the 'Short King'...a brute in the ring and in the bed! Despite being of small stature!!! He will dislike you, but he would dislike Daizo more!" [22:43] 10Daizo looks thoughtful. "Hmmm... All right, Dryas, introduce Cousin Zhangyu to us like he was the fiercest fighter in the world." [22:45] "Mirido and Doremi are the tag veterans. They're...nice! And cool! And they usually get beat by up and comers. They're called Gateway Twins!! Beware Doremi, for if either of them go solo, he will be the dangerous one!" [22:45] 6Zhangyu nods, thoughtfully. But also... "I could also take a partner..." [22:45] 07Dryas pauses, contemplatively. [22:45] "Gilana Crimson Tide..." [22:46] 4Piu's face is clouded. "She's fighting for her freedom. An alligator woman from the Dreaming Sea. She's a sorcerous experiment. Enslaved." [22:46] "You will not be the hero of this fight." [22:46] 6He did say he sort of expected to play a villain. [22:47] 10Daizo: "Is that so? It's been a long time since I've had a proper fight. Not just sparring or practice..." [22:47] 4Finally: "I do not know who Ted is." [22:47] 4To Daizo: "You should partner with Zhangyu!" [22:49] 4To Dryas: "You should find out who owns Gilana." [22:49] 6Zhangyu: "Up to you, cousin. We could be great..." [22:49] 10Daizo seems like he's considering something. "Yes, there's just one problem—one of these days I plan to make a serious run at the Budokai. Participating in the unsanctioned matches is bad for your career there…" [22:50] "Unless…" [22:50] "AHA!" 10The shout shakes the room and probably wakes up a good few sailors. [22:51] 10Daizo: "My old sifu used to tell a story about how he would test himself in these matches. You enter as a masked combatant." [22:52] 4Piu: "YESS!!!!!" [22:52] "You need a name!!" [22:52] "Unless they're the lowest of the low scum, any self-respecting martial artist respects the code of the mask." [22:53] "...Mil Montañas." [22:53] "One Thousand Mountains." [22:53] 10Daizo grins. "I'm open to suggestions. Back in the day he fought as the Thunder Ogre…" [22:53] "Hmmm." [22:53] "Hmmmmmmmmm...." [22:54] "I like it." [22:55] 6Zhangyu nods. A tag team it is. And a mask... well, Zhangyu doesn't want one, but he might get some gear for a theme... [22:55] 07Dryas clears her throat after a moment. "Ladies and gentlemen: Are you ready to see just why the ten thousand dragons who do, I assure you, rule this world, do so from the heart of civilization and refinement itself, the Realm of the Scarlet Dynasty? Are you ready to see your pathetic heroes humbled by THE most talented warrior the sport of Hinokuni has ever seen? Are you ready to cry and scream, to tear your hair and gnash [22:55] your teeth, redden your eyes and stomp your feet? Because here is Tepet Zhangyu to defile your memories and his partner, Mil Montañas, One Thousand Mountains, to fall upon you!" [22:57] 10Daizo: "Perfect." [23:00] 6Zhangyu rolls his neck. "It is." 6He grins at Daizo. "We've got this." 14[23:01] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[23:02] The four of them sleep late, as you'd expect, given the night they had. And the day is mostly uneventful, aside from Dryas needing to step out to finalize arrangements with a deeply furious Nn Tloc, who was orchestrating some kind of complicated commercial espionage over a rival to take over financing of the orphanage. She actually meets the rival on the way in, a broad, handsome man 15[23:02] with a Northern complexion called Ialtagan. [23:02] 4Let's do this!! 15[23:06] The man who has infuriated the Guild factor flashes Dryas a charmingly vacant smile as he passes her. 15[23:06] Iselsi Lao: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBftDgIhIVs - ‘Cause in the dark, even the blind can feel a speck of light. 15[23:06] The rest of them have until nightfall to prepare for Hinokuni, which Zhangyu heard by word of mouth will reopen as normal that evening. Do the four of them enter together? [23:07] 10Daizo breaks the news to Seiri in the morning. It's, well, it's kind of rough. Before preparing for Hinokuni, he'll go to the shrine and light a candle so Dusk can find her way safely to Lethe. Then he has some unusual orders for a tailor. [23:07] 4Piu's down. And dressed almost scandalously. [23:11] 10Around twilight Daizo will meet up with at least Zhangyu, possibly the others before heading down to the docks. [23:11] 6Zhangyu might get there slightly before the rest, just to let them know he's got guests, and a tag team partner. Uh, is there etiquette about that for secret fighting tournaments? Seems like they would want a heads up at least. 15[23:12] Some advance notice would be appreciated but heck, it's not like Zhangyu had someone to announce him. [23:12] 6He did sort of announce himself, yeah. Still! No medallions changed hands this time. [23:13] 4Does Zhangyu want to do an entrance or something? Piu's fine with being the short skirt next to the long pants. Before he rips them off, of course. 15[23:14] Heads turn as they enter, with a handful of people drinking at the bar, tended by Thousand Devil Master. There's a reptilian-looking woman drinking alone at the end of the bar, there's Sublime Master Thief, and there's the one Zhangyu knows is Ted, with a long thin flute of something bubbly. [23:16] 6An entrance would be good, though maybe all four of them is a bit much... To roll up with a Squad is very cool though... 15[23:17] The slightly pudgy man waves them all over. "Friends of Zhangyu's? Drinks are on me!" 15[23:17] Sublime Master Thief: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQNv2sY7Ge0 - If you can’t beat ‘em, make ‘em bleed like pigs. [23:17] 4Piu will nod to Dryas regarding Gilana Crimson Tide. Then she'll go off to start flirting. [23:17] 4This is a place for party people, after all. 15[23:18] The large, scaly woman at the end of the bar eyes Zhangyu levelly. 15[23:18] Gilana Crimson Tide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-rj8HVW3PQ - I finally found what I was looking for: a place where I can be without remorse. 15[23:19] Ted waves airily. 15[23:19] Ted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L85cillM6ME - How could it shine down on everyone, and never shine on me? [23:21] 6Zhangyu just glares at who must be Gilana Crimson Tide in response. Glaring's great. You don't even have to say anything and people know how you feel anyway! 15[23:22] Thousand Devil Master claps his big meaty hands. "ZHANGYU! Introduce your friends!" [23:22] 07Dryas will partake of the most luxurious refreshments available. If it's all swill on hand she will abstain. She is wearing a pair of shoes - no moonsilver, however - nearly as tall as the ones Cynis Cerise goes around in. She'll settle in to read the crowd and get a sense of who Gilana Crimson Tide is working for. [23:24] 6Zhangyu: "Piu, Dryas, and the masked one is Mil Montañas." 6What's his mask look like, by the by? Getting one of those on short notice is tricky, but... [23:25] 6He's just pointing at the girls, for the record - they seem to have immediately found themselves at home in the crowd. [23:26] 4Piu struts out onto the dance floor...and her song comes on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x6leDGV7gs [23:27] 4Her hips are moving before the smile spreads across her lips. 15[23:28] All eyes are on her. [23:28] 4Most of it is dancing; some of it is fighting. She tries not to hurt the poor boys. And the occasional girl. [23:30] 4There's kissing. If they impress her, it's on the lips. If they don't, it's on the neck, and it leaves a mark. By the end, there's a coordinated choreography. [23:31] 6Golly. [23:32] 10Daizo stayed up a little bit consulting with the others for ideas. The design they came up with suggests the countenance of a tyrant lizard carved from granite, with accents in red and silver. But no one's looking at him when Piu's out there doing her thing.  15[23:33] Thousand Devil Master turns to "Mil Montañas"... after the song ends. "...big man! Love to see it. Will you be fighting on Zhangyu's medallion?" [23:34] 07Dryas is a fish in water in this kind of atmosphere. She weaves her way through the crowd, following the flow of the party to find the mutant's manager. She has a knack for finding managers, asking for managers, speaking to managers... 15[23:35] A combination of asking around, her existing knowledge, and a little common sense put the picture together for Dryas. Gilana Crimson Tide earns a lot of money in these bouts. Enough that she's likely the most lucrative slave on the island. Who would hold her indenture if not the richest slave-trader on the island? She's one of Nn Tloc's. It stands to reason that if he brokers in Anathema 15[23:35] he brokers in other... unusual personages. [23:36] 10Daizo: "Yeah. Any rules I need to worry about?" [23:36] "Weapons, barred holds, striking below the belt, you know the deal." [23:37] 6Only if you get caught, Zhangyu doesn't say. 15[23:37] Thousand Devil Master sniffs and spits. "You can't carry any weapons into the ring. That's the one rule. We used to have more but the referees kept getting killed trying to adjudicate them. Easier all around this way." 15[23:38] Piu's pulled the attention away from the people at the bar, even the ones who come just to chase specific fighters. It's like she's the only one in the room. [23:39] 10Daizo: "Got it." [23:39] 6Zhangyu: "Shouldn't be a problem." 6Looking at Thousand Devil Master again: "Is the tag thing going to change my first fight? You did say I'd be taking on Gilana Crimson Tide, but that was before Mil..." 15[23:40] Thousand Devil Master: "I'm going to break you two in on singles matches. No tags today." 15[23:40] To Mil: "Unless that's a problem for you." [23:41] 10Daizo: "Fine by me. It's the guy going up against me you'll need to worry about." [23:42] 6Yesss. [23:43] 4Piu is in her element, grinning, sliding, sweating. This is the moment. [23:44] 4And when the moment's over, she'll sashay over to the bar. 15[23:48] The door opens and two people enter. Thousand Devil Master acknowledges them with a nod. "Tell her so yourself," he says to Mil. 15[23:49] The woman in the front is short-ish and fair, her hair and clothing both dyed half-black and half-white, split straight down the middle. [23:49] 6Zhangyu turns to look. 15[23:49] The man in the back is tall, lean, and scowling. Son-of-Sabers. [23:49] 4Piu will push her way forward to see the reveal. [23:49] 6That prick. [23:49] 4Isn't he~ [23:50] 6Look. Yes. But also, augh!! [23:53] 6Who's she? And why's she with him? There are a lot of questions happening here. 15[23:53] "Sia," calls the bartender. "Meet Mil Montañas, your next opponent." [23:53] 10Daizo looks the short woman up and down, mostly down. He can't really say anything about the odd fashion choice, considering.  [23:53] 6This only asks more questions. [23:54] 4Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmhm. [23:54] 6Piu. She's by the bar, yes? Maybe she knows. "Sia" could endanger Daizo... 15[23:54] Sia walks up to him, arms folded, and looks him up and down, mostly up. Her final assessment is a curt "I'm not impressed." [23:54] 4Piu's near the rail, now. Someone interesting showed up. [23:55] 10Daizo: "Guess we'll see if that changes in a few minutes." [23:56] 4Grinning at Sia the Querulous: "Oh, this is gonna be hot." [23:57] 6Not... NOT concerning... [23:59] 10Daizo: "Talk's cheap. We can speak with our fists. See you soon, Sia." 10He's not really here to make friends.  [23:59] 6Zhangyu, quietly to Piu: "Should I worry?" 15[23:59] Thousand Devil Master cackles. "This is going to be a fun night." 15[23:59] Thousand Devil Master: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOZ6xQ4PlOM - WOO HAH Session Time: Wed Dec 11 00:00:00 2019 15[00:00] Sia says back to her friend(?): "I've got to go get ready." 15[00:00] Sia the Querulous: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPQb__Hu3D4 - If you think I’ll sit around as the world goes by, you’re thinking like a fool, ‘cause it’s a case of do or die. 15[00:01] Her friend offers only an affectionless "Cheers." 15[00:01] Son-of-Sabers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKrRyZUpoEw - The money, it feels good, and your life you like it well, but surely your time will come -- as in Heaven, as in Hell. 15[00:04] NEXT TIME: The last known survivor [00:05] stalks his prey in the night 14[00:24] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[17:36] * Joins: tom 15[17:43] * Disconnected 15[17:43] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[17:43] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[17:43] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[17:43] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[18:11] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:26] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:35] * Joins: tom 14[18:44] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[21:01] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:18] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[21:21] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[21:21] * Joins: cbass 14[21:50] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[21:53] * Joins: cbass 14[23:53] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:55] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) Session Time: Thu Dec 12 00:00:00 2019 14[06:05] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[07:45] * Joins: tom 14[08:57] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:29] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 14[09:48] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[10:45] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[11:12] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:14] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[11:33] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:38] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[13:42] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:54] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:04] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[17:07] * Joins: tom 14[19:28] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:02] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:16] 12 _____ [20:16] 12 _|[]_|_ [20:16] 12 _/_/=|_\_\_ [20:16] 12 _/_ /==| _\ _\_ [20:16] 12 _/__ /===|_ _\ __\_ [20:16] 12 _/_ _ /====| ___\ __\_ [20:16] 12 _/ __ _/=====|_ ___\ ___ \_ [20:16] 12 _/ ___ _/======| ____ \_ __ \_ [20:17] 4Mahalanka delenda est. 08[20:19] 12It's on. We open mere miles away from the gates of Mahalanka, where a smaller but fiercer swarm of orange-carapaced kruthik wars against forces of apemen and Eyeless outsiders from all sides. The demon insects were badly outnumbered mere moments ago, but thanks to Ir's guardianship their lines long enough to allow Eikichi, Blossom, and Yara to summon the Celestial Gate of Yu-Shan [20:19] 12and activate a modular secondary artifact designed to dramatically increase the portal's size and scope. [20:20] 4Hhhh. [20:22] 12Now lions carved from solid orichalcum flood out of a portal of glowing white mist and swirling prayer strips, landing with explosions of concussive essence and solar flames. Above them, phalanxes of butterfly-winged godlings swarm in increasingly-large formations, dipping and spiraling through the air as their ruby spears transfix man and monster alike. And now that you know to look [20:22] 12for it, you can't ignore the way that the enemy forces seem to keep making the exact wrong move, taking losing gambles, making mistakes only obvious in retrospect - someone's gotten their number and taken its negative reciprocal. [20:24] 12Still, enemy forces are massive, and as you watch the nearest towers along Mahalanka's walls begin to thrum with rapidly-collecting geomantic power. This is about to get much, much more complicated, but hopefully it's for people who aren't you, because you have a ticket straight to the heart of the city at hand. It is, of course, a blood sacrifice, one of a variety of lower kruthik [20:24] 12breeds and at least one queen apiece. Got the obsidian daggers ready? 14[20:24] * Joins: tom [20:25] 4If everything's settled. 15[20:25] 10Eikichi always keeps a ritual dagger handy, in case he needs to kill someone in a cutscene. [20:25] 4Well that's definitionally what a scene with a dagger is. [20:25] 4Perhaps a stabscene. [20:25] 6You really tend to vary them, but Tatsuya's always preferred a good stab. [20:30] 7Blossom actually does have a dagger for ritual sacrifice, but it's for holy, approved-by-the-divine ritual sacrifice! 15[20:30] 10Wow. 15[20:30] 10Didn't know they made square daggers. 08[20:33] 7Sure they do, Eikichi! Here's one: https://i.imgur.com/nKG1avH.jpg 08[20:46] 12Four queens die, slit from throat to sternum atop the twisted corpses of their offspring. Each doesn't simply collapse, but irises open, becoming a suppurating, bleeding hole in the air from which grasping spines and pincers stretch and flex towards you hungrily, all four connected by a swirl of sorcerous anima that represents Eikichi's unorthodox casting of Travel Without Distance. [20:47] 4Ir lets the ichor splash over her. Here we go. [20:48] 6Knives out. [20:48] 7Okay, Blossom still thinks the kruthik are a little cute, but this is a bit much. Good thing Ying isn't here. Anyway- here we go! 15[20:49] 10It's so beautiful. [20:49] 12You step forward. It's hot and wet and suffocating, and crushingly claustrophobic. The gates seal behind you, rapidly swallowing up the last few wisps of air you might have been feeling on your backs, and then you're just struggling aimlessly and helplessly through a darkness that pushes on you in all directions. But... no... not evenly in all directions. Some sort of awful [20:49] 12peristaltic effect develops around you. The void constricts and relaxes and constricts and relaxes and constricts and relaxes, and each time you can feel yourself sliding... somewhere. [20:49] 4Hhhhrrrrrr-- 08[20:51] 12Eikichi's the first to regain proprioception, jolted to reality by a draught of freshly-purified blood sent through his body by the heart of glass, but the other Solars aren't far behind. It's still dark, and you're all still submerged and enfolded and restrained - but you can feel which way the earth pulls thanks to your inner ears, and there's something more solid about the shapeless [20:51] 12chaos around you. [20:51] 4Does Jude's Law need to cut Ir free? 15[21:02] 10Eikichi gasps against the wet crushing oppression of his new vessel. He can't breathe. He can't think. But this is a problem faced by every infant mamma in a womb, by every chick in an egg. The challenge is simply to push-- push, and be born. [21:02] 4She explodes through the flesh out into the water, and then into the air. [21:05] 6Tatsuya pushes forward with grim determination. He'll get out of here - he's got to. That's all there is to it. [21:06] 7Her new situation is distinctly gross and disorienting, and she can feel the fatigue of long-distance magical travel sapping her strength, but whatever this is, it is in. her. way. She grabs and tears her way loose! [21:07] 12Each of you tears yourselves free - and can hear the others doing so mere feet away, so you've all arrived together. But where have you arrived? It's pitch-black and swelteringly hot and extremely humid, and the ground (?) beneath your feet is slick with fluid and shifting with what may very well be breath. Anyone got a light? [21:08] 4Ir is bonfire. 15[21:08] 10Eikichi's anima is up too. [21:11] 12Ah, well, then you're clearly inside a kruthik megastructure - though you didn't need light to tell that, because the chemical smell is unmistakable. There are several exits from the room you're in the form of pulsating tubes, some fleshy and some chitinous. There is also the sound of chittering and scrabbling - a welcome party is on its way. You have maybe a moment before something [21:11] 12arrives to greet you. [21:12] 6Okay, Tatsuya should've asked Ying for a 'just in case' outfit for exactly something like this. This is disgusting. [21:14] 4Ir pulls herself up onto something she can sit on, then folds into the lotus position. Then thrums with power. Then stands. 08[21:17] 12It's as Ir stands back up and hardens her poise that the kruthik appear. Their carapaces reflect ruby - no, let's be real, blood - red rather than the bold orange of Eikichi's loyal brood. The space you're in is quite cramped, but the insects have at least five different points of entry through which to swarm in and how many are waiting in the wings is impossible to tell. [21:17] 12The creatures stare blankly only a moment before they set upon you! [21:38] 4Fools. FOOLS! [21:43] 6Tatsuya disappears, then reappears in their midst darting in between them with his blades out, carving lines through their midst at speed. Not as many as he'd like - still woozy from the teleport - but hopefully good enough with help from his friends... [21:59] 12You're able to stem the tide, but not cut through it - and the chamber itself is trying to rip you to pieces! You've got to make some headway! [21:59] 4Ir swats them all aside. How dare they. 15[22:00] 10Tight quarters in here. [22:00] 6Tatsuya bats them away with his blades before preparing to dive back into the fray... 08[22:08] 4Jude's Law dances around the room as Blossom, Eikichi, and Tatsuya clear the dross before here. It's not personal, really. It's just what needs to be done. [22:09] *4her 08[22:11] 12The Solars rally after the forest of tendrils recede, and make short work of the remaining kruthik. Of course, that's the least of their problems - more are boiling out of the walls! But Blossom knows the way to get out of here, and Eikichi's able to seize and push aside the parts of Jormungand's innards that block your exit. [22:13] 6Okay, these things might be fine when they're outside, but Tatsuya is becoming more and more convinced that Ying was right about these things all along. [22:13] 12After a running battle down the length of a great esophagus that corkscrews upward through several turns, you come out in a larger chamber, this one pre-lit by glowing violet crystals that are only partially wrapped up by veins and viscera. Pools of steaming green vitriol fluctuate around the edges of what's almost an atrium, and the flesh of the far wall shudders and splits to reveal [22:13] 12a single, staring eye. It looks almost human. [22:14] 4Hh. [22:14] 12Kruthik already boiling out of the walls around you pause for a moment as the oculus squints down at you. A low ripple - could be a growl, could be a purr - rises from the floor and flows up through the walls and into the roof. Hmm. [22:18] 6Okay, that's weird. [22:18] 4Fine. 08[22:19] 4She looks to Eikichi and Blossom. What's up? 15[22:20] 10Eikichi's got his arm in some puckering wound up to the elbow, and after some bloody squelching a giant valve opens, admitting them to travel upward. 15[22:43] 10He touches a confluence of inner nerve endings and whispers, "What'd she do to you?" [22:44] 4Meanwhile, Jude's Law forms into a six-string and she begins playing and singing. [22:46] 12Ir eyes the- eye. She doesn't need to talk (and it may do no good), but she can shift her weight, vocalize a little, watch the reactions. She knows that at Jormungand's birth the cerebrate was implanted with total loyalty to all five members of your Circle, principally to the sorcerer that forged it and the general who would lead its armies. Now, though, it seems... estranged. It [22:46] 12clearly retains a strong tie of nostalgia for sorcerer and general both, but has all but forgotten Tatsuya and seems to... hate...? Blossom? The flesh the Zenith is standing on certainly quivers with particular tension. [22:46] 6Tatsuya just finds a convenient shadowed corner - most places have them, frankly, and if this doesn't, Tatsuya's not past squishing himself into the wall here out of view of the primary entrances. Quick dive and he'll be in the thick of it again, and that's all he'll need... [22:46] 4Well that's unfortunate. [22:46] 7What the heck? What did she ever do to Jormundgandr? [22:47] 6Tatsuya does have a very forgettable face. In fact, everyone's forgotten it multiple times by now. 08[22:48] 12Meanwhile, Eikichi can see a hunger in the creature that he doesn't recognize. Even as it eyes the four of you, it diverts at least a small amount of its attention anxiously upward, greedily awaiting what must be its next feeding. It looks almost addicted - Raksi and the delights she offers are clearly at the forefront of the cerebrate's psyche. 15[22:57] 10Eikichi looks sick. 14[23:00] * banana is now known as banana|split [23:04] 12Jormungand remembers itself. It won't be fed unless it pacifies these creatures, delivers them to the new master. The eye flashes red, and the beasts around you charge! [23:05] 4Fine. [23:08] 7Oh this is just bullshit. [23:09] 6It could be worse, we could be surrounded by kruthik. OH WAIT. [23:15] 4Ir walks forward and slaps Jormungand's eye stalk-- not the eye itself, she's not a monster-- with whip-form Jude's Law. "Hey." 4Again, when the response isn't quick. "Hey!" [23:17] 6He pushes off the gross flesh-wall and lands in the middle of the swarm, Again. This is seriously not his preferred mode of fighting. But as he carves out a little circle of safety here, he's gotta hope that there's help incoming. [23:38] 4As the fight rages on around her, Ir grins, and Jude's Law turns into a fateful needle in her hand. [23:38] 4She drives it into Jormungand, humming, and turns. [23:39] 4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP6us-ZeiSk [23:40] 4The funny thing is, none of the weapon even enters him. [23:40] 4But he feels it. [23:40] 4Even as Jude's Law coils back up into her hand. [23:41] 12A shining silver spike reflects up and down in the catlike pupil of Jormungand's hanging eye, which blinks hard. Immediately, the kruthik surging around you quell and recede. The staring eyeball takes the four of you in again, then looks away, uncertain. [23:42] 12Passages open in the flesh and chitin before you, and Blossom knows which one leads up and out of the creature's bodymass. The demons seem like they'll no longer bar your passage. [23:42] 6Well, hot damn. [23:43] 7Blossom: "I don't know what you did, but well done, Ir!" 7Let's get out of here! Blossom can brood over how hurt she is that the cerebrate dislikes her later. [23:44] 6Tatsuya: "Sun bless you cool weird dogs." [23:44] 4Ir pats Jormungand's wall as they pass. She's not proud of doing that, even if it was right. 15[23:45] 10Jealousy is so ugly. [23:50] 12You proceed, as Jormungand avoids your gaze. The spiral staircase/spinal column you ascend is a littler dryer than the rest of the creature's innards, and mere minutes later you've surfaced. But, of course, now sun shines down on your faces, because even at the peak of Jormungand's mountainous body you're still underground and in the dark. [23:51] 4What now? [23:52] 12no sun* 15[23:52] 10We brought the sun with us. 08[23:52] 7Eikichi's right. Raksi should be ashamed of herself! [23:54] 12Massive stoneworks, dimly visible by the violet flames that flicker off their surfaces, are visible all around you. They surround Jormungand and slope upwards at approximately the same angle as does the cerebrate's building-body, though the architecture is blocky and rectangular and shot through with glowing essence-fullers rather than organic. It's quite far away - this must be the [23:54] 12base of the pyramid, deep underground. Looking down the sides of Jormungand's body, you can't really see a floor, just darkness and mist flecked with blood-red stars. Above you, things are a bit more normal - spiraling stone staircases leading up from Jormungand's crown to a circular stone platform suspended by bridges of stone leading off from its sides. [23:54] 12Unless you can see through rock, you can't see above the platform right above you, but multicolored light flares around its edges and hums and explosions sound from far, far above. [23:55] 4Where is she? [23:57] 6Gotta be... In a drawl: "Y'all ready for this?" 15[23:58] 10bum bada bum bum bum-- [23:58] 4Ir grins, and her eyes are limned...in red-gold. "Next year in Zeal." [23:59] 4Jude's Law coils and twists around her. Session Time: Fri Dec 13 00:00:00 2019 [00:02] 7Blossom: "I'm so sick of her!" 15[00:03] 10Eikichi's about to say he expects she's had her fill of us as well, but then... she hasn't, has she? [00:05] 6That's sort of the problem. [00:05] 6One of several problems we find ourselves faced with. 08[00:06] 12It's a short climb before you find yourselves standing on the stone disc hanging above Jormungand's crown. From far above you, sorcery builds and discharges in a pulsing pattern. It seems, for a moment, that no one has detected your coming; that Eikichi had insinuated his magic so smoothly into the blood-wards around this place and that the cerebrate was calmed so completely that [00:06] 12the usual alarms would simply not be raised. But that's too much to hope for; as you step up onto the stone platform, its edges hum and shine red, and an orange lightning bolt as thick around as a baobab's tree trunk crashes into the bricks opposite you. 15[00:07] 10This is the end~ hold your breath and count to ten~ feel the earth move and then~ [00:07] 12The pillar of lightning simply writhes there for a moment before resolving itself into a woman you can't look away from. She's three times as tall as any of you, four-armed, empty-eyed, her braids of black hair writhing and glowing so as to constitute a burning crown. She holds: a spear, a fistful of fire, a mirror, and a book. 15[00:08] 10Flatly: "Darling." [00:08] 4Ir just laughs. Without mirth. And she moves in front. [00:08] 6Tatsuya just gets into a stance. [00:08] 12Raksi: "That you would dare. But, of course, you couldn't resist. Not even with everything else." [00:09] "Come!" 12says the cannibal queen. "We'll settle this at last." 12Join battle... next week. 14[00:32] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[00:47] * Joins: mattbaby 14[00:50] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[01:39] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 15[02:38] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Dec 13 02:38:05 2019 Session Start: Fri Dec 13 02:57:17 2019 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[02:57] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[02:57] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[02:57] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 15[02:57] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Dec 13 02:57:27 2019 Session Start: Fri Dec 13 02:57:56 2019 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[02:57] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[02:57] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[02:57] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[04:05] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Quit: ) 14[04:11] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[08:59] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:44] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[10:00] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:05] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:27] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[19:15] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:47] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[19:48] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:58] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[19:59] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:59] * Joins: hrolf 15[20:06]  15[20:06]  15[20:06]  15[20:06]  15[20:06]  15[20:10] The crowd is loud and heavy outside the locker room where Zhangyu and Daizo are psyching themselves up for combat. What's their process, and what parting words has their manager left them with? [20:15] 07Dryas leans in to the two of them just outside the locker room. "Tonight, we sow something unstoppable." [20:17] 4Piu leans against the wall nearby, checking out the comings and goings. Mostly the goings. [20:19] 10First: limbering up. He works through a complicated set of exercises from memory. It's been a while since he's done the full set. Then, the basic forms and strikes of Earth Dragon. Dust and grit in the locker room dance as tiny shockwaves emanate from Daizo's fists, his elbows, his nees, and feet.  [20:22] "So," 07Dryas sidles up to Piu. "Tell me about Petty Officer Samperson." [20:23] 4Piu: "Hm? Oh. Ohh." [20:23] "He puts in the work. Hee." [20:23] 6Zhangyu stretches, flexes, and considers his opponent. He's facing Gilana Crimson Tide, who he saw in passing only briefly - apparently an alligator-woman fighting for her freedom. Wrestling a beastwoman is... well, rough luck for her. He's got his towel and his trunks, alongside some short footwear - no one wants to wrestle barefoot in one of these. [20:24] 6Did she look difficult to keep a hold onto? Not the time to go for a Go-Si piledriver, probably... 15[20:24] Has Zhangyu ever wrestled an alligator before? [20:25] 6No, though he's heard rumors about the... sport? 15[20:25] Well! Life is full of new experiences. [20:25] 10Daizo's changed into a shirt and trunks along with the mask. There aren't any ring boots that quite fit, so he's just wearing his regular ones. They're heavy, but there's no steel caps or gimmicks in them, so it's not a violation of the rules against weapons. "Haa-AH!" 10A final stomp shakes the room. His competitive spirit's starting to bubble up from its long sleep, and for a little bit, all of his frets and worries are as [20:25] 10 light as feathers.  [20:29] "He's a strong, commanding man. Quiet, but a take-charge type. And I know how to follow orders." 4Piu puts a hand on Dryas's shoulder. "And so does he." 15[20:29] A big bronze-skinned man strides out of the men's locker room, offering Zhangyu and Mil sober nods on the way. The crowd goes nuts when he comes into view; they get on their feet, clapping, cheering, chanting "BRUIS-ER, BRUIS-ER, BRUIS-ER... KHAAAAAANG!!!" [20:29] 4She leans in, smiling. "So whose house were you and Sadako coming out of last night, huh?" [20:31] 6Zhangyu nods in return. No words are exchanged. [20:32] 10"Mil" goes so far as to give Bruiser Khang a thumbs-up. [20:32] 07Dryas reads her shipmate's expression with a wry smile. "Well, I had taken Sadako shopping when I went to meet the Factor, but I don't know if he realized-" 07she glances at the 'bruiser' and sneers for a moment - "that I was accompanied by someone else." 15[20:35] At the center of the big stone ring, Bruiser Khang holds his arms high and wide and the crowd goes silent. He smiles, wide and white and flawless. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, we have a treat for you tonight. Some of you will have heard that Chases-Waterfalls--" (scattered boos) "--lost his invitation to the Land of Fire. Chases-Waterfalls... he was strong. He was tough." 15[20:36] Bruiser raises one meaty finger. 15[20:36] "But he did not have the heart of a champion." [20:36] 4Piu leans back a bit. "Gosh. Well. I bet he realized before the night was out. Word like that'll travel fast, huh?" [20:36] 6He wasn't that tough. [20:38] "Who can say," 07Dryas responds, philosophically, before stretching her arms, "la le li lo lu. la le li lo lu. laleliilolu!" 15[20:39] Bruiser nods sadly through the murmurs of assent. "Such strength. Suuuuch potential. WASTED! In his place stand two men, fighting under the same medal. Will they rise where he fell? Will they make their names in the ring of fire?!" As if on cue, the rim of the squared circle pulses high and hot with violet flames, throwing weird light on the spectators. [20:39] 10Daizo leans in and whispers to Zhangyu, "This is great. just like the novels." 10Zhangyu may come to the terrible realization here that while Daizo may have enjoyed the cream of martial arts training and distinguished himself in a real battle, his experience is oddly curtailed in some ways. 15[20:40] "We'll find out soon enough. Because if it's your first night in Hinokuni..." There's that grin again. "...you have to fight." 15[20:40] Bruiser Khang: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVkc6UF1mzI - He’s gotta be sure, and it’s gotta be soon, and he’s gotta be larger than life. [20:41] 6That's fine. This is the best way to teach him. Zhangyu responds with a roll of his neck that sends his towel shaking. "Maybe. You'll see soon enough." [20:42] 4Bruiser Khang is so cool. It sucks that he's decided Zhangyu is the heel he wants here, but, well. What can you do. [20:43] 10Daizo nods. "On your cue, Cousin. I think we'll make a real splash." [20:44] 4Shouting along with many others in response to Bruiser Khang's challenge: "WOOO! GO ACE!!!" 15[20:45] The flames die down slowly, in time with the crowds' screaming. "The challengers face two of our most seasoned warriors. In THIS corner, from there and back again... SIA THE QUERULOUS!" 15[20:45] "And in THIS corner, hailing from the Dreaming Sea... GILANA CRIMSON TIDE!" 15[20:46] The ranking wrestlers come out to wild cheers, limber and serious. 15[20:46] Bruiser points an accusing finger in the direction of the lockers. "Who will speak for the challengers?" [20:48] 07Cynis Dryas jumps twice in place, before standing to attention ramrod-straight. She approaches the ring with the utter grace taught in the Spiral Academy, with the false humility the daughters of the Realm have ever used to make humble the barbarian Threshold. She approaches the ring without a word. [20:49] 6Zhangyu: "Shit, that's us. Come on, Mil." 6And after that he's making his way down to the ring behind Cynis Dryas, towel still over the top of his head, ZHANGYU written clearly on it. [20:50] 10Mil walks alongside Zhangyu, inevitable as a glacier. Wait for it, wait for it... [20:57] "Minnows of the West!" 07She proclaims to the crowd, raising one arm in false greeting. "Thank you for welcoming us into your fair city." 07She smiles a cold, dazzling smile. "Tonight, Earth shall triumph over Water!" 07She raises her other arm "-and lake-lizards and ornamental carp alike shall learn why ten thousand Dragons coil about the world! Prepare, Abalone, to learn the lessons of Mil Montanas and Tepet Zhangyu! [20:57] Prepare to be humbled before their might!" [20:58] 6Zhangyu whips the towel off his head as his name is announced as he glares around at the gathered crowd. [20:59] * "Zhangyu! Of the great Mushi Dojo!! And Mil Montanas, of the wild lowlands of Harborhead!" [20:59] 6He's crushingly handsome. And will crush you, handsomely. 15[21:02] The crowd gasps at Zhangyu's beauty. They'd heard he was strong, but this... it just seems to make them angrier, though. Lot of boos and jeers. People don't really like the Dynasty in here. [21:03] 4Piu knows the rules here, and knows that the ring-out tradition in the Hinokuni makes it incredibly unforgiving to Falcon stylists and more traditional southern "luucha" cavorters, and the lack of an edge or rope break makes it even more punishing for grapplers. So there won't be a lot of flippy-dipping about, and there will probably be a lot of broken legs. [21:03] 6What a shame. [21:03] 07Dryas slinks behind her warriors now. She whispers in the ear of Zhangyu. [21:03] 10Mil faces the crowd, teeth bared, and rips off his shirt, tossing it into the stands. Everyone can get a good look at the sca, stretching diagonally from his shoulder all the wau until it disappears under the waist of his trunks, from the wound that nearly bisected him; blood of the Dragons or no, it will never heal completely, and stands out against his skin. [21:06] "Together, you and I, shall crush their bodies and their spirits. We are irresistible. Do not forget this." [21:06] 6He nods, grimly. [21:07] 10To the crowd, a thumbs-down. 15[21:07] BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO [21:08] 4Daizo -- Mil -- is really taking to this! [21:08] 07She practically slithers behind Daizo. "Water shall not unmake stone. Let their lamentations wash over you and -we-shall stand the stronger for it." 14[21:14] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[21:14] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:18] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[21:18] * Joins: mattbaby 15[21:18] The four combatants stand at the four corners of the ring. Bruiser points at each of them in turn. "Fight hard. Fight clean. Fight with a smile. Fight like a champion!" 15[21:19] He leaps from the ring in a huge graceful arc, something you'd expect out of someone with Piu's build rather than a big man like that. [21:19] 4Ace...!!! 15[21:19] From somewhere, a gong sounds. [21:19] 6Zhangyu's smile looks menacing as he licks his lips. [21:27] 4Too bad about all the referees. But you can't get the blooded just to call holds and strikes. [21:28] 10Mil's got his eyes on the prize.  15[21:32] Sia comes out of the gates with an aggressive, acrobatic strike that sees her one white boot and one black boot coming together in midair for Mil's head. That's some mobility! [21:45] 4Piu spends most of these early matches strutting about the outside apron of the ring, just where fans are allowed, concerning herself as much with them as with the matches. She doesn't want interference...and she wants to see if anyone here is interesting. [21:45] 07Dryas, at the foot of the arena, slaps the stone floor in excitement at the action. Excellent! [21:46] 10Just like those annoying little Cathak kids. Mil takes the force of the kick and lets it roll over him, taking a quarter-step back and catching Sia on the fall with a knee, sending her spinning to the floor.  15[21:49] Mil's briefly confused - for a moment, he can't quite figure out where Sia is. It's like he's got double vision. But the image clarifies, or at least he guesses right, and Sia hits the ground. 15[21:56] Gilana launches herself at Zhangyu with a roar of fury, black eyes flashing with killing intent! She leaps the last few fulms before landing in a smooth kata and letting her clawed hands rake at Zhangyu's chest. The air is humid with malice. 15[21:56] Blood sprays. The crowd goes wild. Gilana licks her lips. [21:56] 4Whoa. [21:57] 4Piu watches the crowd though. A couple more of those and it won't matter if someone tries to interfere, but... [21:58] 6That fucking hurt. That hurt. A lot. [21:59] 10They don't mess around in Hinokuni, it seems. 15[22:00] Piu sees that the crowd is delighted with the fight so far - their hate burns clean and pure, with no sign of intent to interfere... except... there's that pale pretty boy who was drinking with the wrestlers, sitting among the fans, face expressionless. Piu catches him murmuring under his breath. [22:01] 07Dryas is hit by a few stray drops of Zhangyu's blood. "Destroy her, Zhangyu! Boots for me and a belt for you!" [22:05] 10Zhangyu's down but not out. But since they're playing the bad guys here, if it looks like Cousin's in serious danger, then he's going to have to interfere. [22:10] 6Zhangyu spits the blood he finds almost choking him back in Gilana's face before slapping it off of her. Don't you fucking dare do that again. 15[22:11] Gilana overextended to make that terrifying attack, and she's almost knocked onto her ass by Zhangyu's counter. This fight's not over yet! [22:31] 6And she won't. While she's still distracted by the blood and the slap, he whips around to Gilana's back and begins to choke her. He's angry enough and knows enough tricks that she isn't getting out of this one. [22:32] 4Piu shouts into the ring: "GO ZHANGYU!!!" [22:32] "DON'T KILL 'ER, KILLER!!!" [22:32] 07Dryas pumps her fist in the air and shouts triumphantly. [22:32] 14Seriously, though, if he does that's going to complicate things. 15[22:32] The crowd roars in disapproval! [22:33] 6If she falls, he can add a grapevine to make sure, but the voice he hears dimly through the crowd cautions against that. Just a bit longer and it's all his. 15[22:34] You could learn to love this kind of atmosphere. [22:35] 07It's low-class bloodsport, but one must make do in the Threshold, after all. [22:36] 4Oh fuck you, this is fun. [22:37] "KICK HER HERE, MIL!!!" [22:40] 6There might be a little blood on the front row after Zhangyu slapped it off Gilana's face. [22:41] 4Well, doesn't look like that's going to happen. Piu heads over to the boy. [22:41] 10Mil goes for a spinning elbow… and Sia's not there. What? [22:42] 4What did she catch him murmuring? 15[22:43] Mil actually feels himself make contact... but there's a peculiar crawling sensation up his spine, and when he blinks she's well to the side of the blow. 15[22:43] The people outside the ring see a clean miss. [22:44] 07Dryas bats her eyelashes at Zhangyu's hold on Gilana with a cold, smug look on her face - before turning her attention back to Mil. "Tear her to shreds!" 07she cries. [22:44] 10Mil: "Hmph. Nice trick." [22:47] 07Dryas: "Yeddim shit! That's! yeddim! shit!" 15[22:47] The boy - Ted was his name - gives Piu a wan smile as she approaches. [22:50] 4Piu: "Hey." [22:50] 10Mil bellows a wordless agreement over the roar of the crowd. He considers trying out a certain technique. [22:51] "They're kinda killing themselves in there, huh?" [22:51] "You love to see it." [22:51] 4She slips onto the seat beside him. 15[22:53] Ted blinks slowly at her. "Mmm. Such passion..." [22:56] 10Mil's anima flares as Sia moves in once more.  [22:57] 4Piu: "It's what gets me by. Bartender! Something cold in the bottle and warm in the throat." 15[22:57] Sia's fist bounces harmlessly off Mil's chest. [22:57] "For both of us." 15[22:58] Ted: "Oh, thank you." Drinks are served - chilled northern wodka from the cellar. The glasses are coated in frost. [22:58] 4Excellent. "So where are you from, Ted?" [22:59] 4She's well aware he didn't give his name directly. 15[23:03] Oh, here and there. Born in the Threshold, schooled on the Isle." Ted knocks his drink back. "What's interested you in little old me? One little drop of rain?" [23:13] 07Dryas plants her feet on the floor and shouts: "Sia!"07 When the fighter looks up, wags her finger in sincere, posh, disapproval. [23:14] 10This is turning into a situation the former Thunder Ogre used to call "immovable force, unstoppable object". There are ways to break the stalemate, but— oh, hello, Dryas. [23:16] 4She grins and shoots the liquor. "Oh, but you're not old. And rain becomes steam." 15[23:17] Sia tries to brush it off, but something about Dryas is just so FUCKING annoying-- 15[23:17] Ted smiles... less wanly. "Clever and beautiful. A fearsome mix of talents." [23:17] "It's upsetting because I am better than you, darling." [23:18] "Bartender? Another round. Or two." 4She puts down the money for it, but her hand goes from the table to Ted's shoulder. Then his neck. Just stroking it... "Does this embarass you?" [23:18] 4Quieter: "I won't go farther than you wish." [23:19] 4And a grin. [23:19] 10Mil: "Ah-ah. Keep your hands off the Manager." [23:20] 4Goes without saying the air has gotten hot. 15[23:23] Ted arches his neck to drag the caress out as long as possible. "I bet you could find the line and cross it... but saints alive I'd love to see you try." [23:25] 10Mil centers himself and shouts a kiai. This is the time to go all-out. The solid stone beneath rumbles, and pebbles and dust rise. 15[23:26] Sia just cannot budge the giant. [23:26] 4She slips out from her seat into his lap, straddling him, back to the bar. "That's the thing about saints," 4she says, thumbing his lip. "They aren't alive." 4Has the bartender delivered the new shots? 15[23:27] Yes, they're both in Piu's arm's reach. [23:28] "But we are." 4She takes the first one, shoots it, doesn't swallow, and gently thumbs open his jaw to feed the liquor to him with a deep kis. [23:28] *4kiss [23:28] 4She'll shoot the second one herself. 15[23:28] Ted is extremely not embarrassed. [23:29] 4Yeah, she feels that. 15[23:32] As the two of them get hotter and heavier, there'll be a discreet throat-clear from the bartender. They're distracting people from the match, now. [23:33] "How long are you in town, sailor?" 4Piu asks, moving her hand down from his neck to the upper ribcage under his right arm, just massaging, going from flat hand to fingers and back over the bones. 15[23:34] Ted's voice is barely above a whisper, hands strong around her waist. "Until something catches my attention. Is that you?" [23:35] 4In his ear: "I feel like it is." [23:35] 6Zhangyu's had Gilana choked and pinned for the full and proper amount of time by now. He releases it immediately and retires to his corner to watch his cousin - seems to be going fairly well thus far. 15[23:35] Ted: "I've got a place." [23:36] 4She grins. "When the fight's over..." [23:36] "Until then, though, I'll stay right...here." [23:37] 4She turns. "And the bartender might get us another?" 15[23:37] His expression shows admittedly mild disapproval, but customers are customers. No rules, after all, in the Land of Fire. Two more shots. [23:39] 4Piu reaches back into the very small of her back and puts a generous tip on the bar surface without looking, before putting the rest of the money back where it came from. 15[23:39] No more disapproval. [23:40] 10Mil and Sia are really making a show of it. She can't get a firm grip on him and trying just gives him an opportunity to slam her down to the mat. The crowd's boos are better than any polite applause.  15[23:41] The crowd's boos rise and fall with Mil's momentum. Now that his advantage seems insurmountable, they're almost deafening. 15[23:41] Sia raises a hand. She offers surrender! 15[23:41] ...does Mil accept it? [23:42] 10Daizo would. Mil Montañas… doesn't. [23:43] 4Oh my. [23:46] 10The Thousand Mountains' pin is as heavy as ten talents of jade.  [23:46] 4Good boy. [23:46] 4Piu makes sure she can see the pin over Ted's shoulder, even as she leans in. [23:47] 07Dryas turns to the crowd with a serene smile. Are they not entertained? 15[23:47] The crowd does not like this. Some masked asshole taking out one of their favorites? Just the sight of it is distressing. Sia's so tiny and Mil is so huge... he'd look like a bully even if he wasn't playing it up. [23:47] 6Zhangyu just cackles. 15[23:48] Someone wings a tin cup at the manager's head! [23:49] 07Dryas sees it coming and bows gracefully, but she glances up at the bottom of the bow to see who threw it. 15[23:50] Dryas scans the crowd for the assailant with the practiced eye of a hunter... there. Four rows from the back. Older guy, iron-gray beard, wine gut. Good arm for someone his age. [23:51] 4She puts her lips on his neck, his lips, then his ear: "I'm going to tidy up with my people. Meet me outside in fifteen?" 15[23:51] Ted purrs in assent. [23:52] 07She points at her eyes, and up at the man. Too much cheap wine can be bad for you. 15[23:53] The man shrinks in his seat. [23:54] 6Zhangyu finally pulls himself to his feet with the ropes, and - god those wounds from earlier hurt. He should probably get those checked out. He claps Mil on the back as soon as he's up - hey, they won! 15[23:54] The crowd is far too unruly for the planned second match of the night, so Bruiser comes out to hold up the arms of Zhangyu and Mil. "These men have proven themselves able warriors! They may not have you applause, but they've earned your respect!" 15[23:55] Bruiser Khang's presence alchemizes the boos to cheers. [23:55] 4She'll kiss him twice and spend those 15 minutes wisely. [23:56] 10Yeah. He'll give Zhangyu a fistbump and use the other to pound his chest, raising an arm in victory afterwards. [23:56] 6He'll take it. If it stops a riot, good enough - they've made their names and the crowd will know them for next time. Couldn't be happier. 15[23:56] The two of them join the others after the match, working through crowds of new fans and gawpers and groupies. [23:56] 6Well, except for all the blood, all of which is his. [23:58] 07Dryas has an unlit cigar in one hand and dabs Zhangyu's blood off her face with a silk handkerchief with her other. The tin cup will make a souvenier. [23:59] 4Piu meets up with them, shortly, and will give hugs. [23:59] 4She doesn't care about the blood. [23:59] 4Simply stated: "I knew you both could do it." Session Time: Wed Dec 18 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] 6Zhangyu: "Too close for comfort. Nasty first strike." [00:00] 07Dryas: "Marvelous work, boys. They were simply marvelous, weren't they?" [00:00] 4Piu: "Ohh, yes." [00:01] "Both of you did fantastic. And it was great that no one died!" [00:01] 10Daizo: "And that other one. Hard to hit. Used some techniques I've never even heard of before." [00:02] "The world of martial arts is as wide as the heavens and deep as the seas." [00:03] "You look like you had a good time yourself." [00:04] 4Piu: "I've got a phrase I want to run by you, Daizo..." [00:04] 07Dryas: "Yes, what was that Sia woman about? Terribly unusual stuff. Not sure if it was quite sporting. And that crocodile-woman, is she a true barbarian or what? Incredible." [00:05] 4She'll repeat the Old Realm snippet that Ted said. [00:06] 10Daizo: "Mm, go ahead." [00:07] 6Zhangyu: "Gilana took me off guard. Most people don't launch directly like that. But she was a Water Dragon stylist and a damn good one." [00:07] "Her master is Nn Tloc, the Guild Factor," 07Dryas points out. [00:08] 4Piu: "So, like. He's not going to be happy, then." 15[00:09] Piu repeats three words: 'high priests', 'lawyers', and 'princes'. Daizo immediately registers this as a fragment of ancient verse called The Mask of Anathema. The entire relevant stanza runs, And many more destructions played / In this ghastly masquerade / All disguised, even to the eyes / Like bishops, lawyers, peers, or spies. [00:10] 10Daizo: "I've studied Water Dragon. I was planning to make it the style I approach when I've reached a plateau in my training." 10Really, he already has. Maybe Gilana Crimson-Tide has something worth learning... His train of thought derails as Piu speaks. [00:11] 10He'll translate and recite it back to the rest of them. "And there's a boy sitting in the private boxes reciting Old Realm poetry?" [00:11] 4Piu: "He was at the bar." [00:12] "And I'm going home with him quite shortly, so you can tell Ratel where I'll be. [00:12] " [00:13] 10Daizo coughs. "I see. Uh. Be careful?" 10From the purity of the fighting ring back to the halls of intrigue. [00:13] "It was just last night that two of us were attacked, are you sure?"07 Dryas points out. [00:13] 4To Daizo: "I have my regimen." [00:14] 4To Dryas: "If they want to kill beautiful boys, I will be alert." [00:14] 10Daizo nods. True enough. It's easy to forget that Airhead Piu can turn into Disembowels-a-Demon Piu just like that. [00:15] 4She smirks to Dryas: "Unless you want to watch...?" [00:16] 6She's probably safe. But. Dryas isn't wrong to worry. [00:18] "I will be alright, Piu," 07she retorts, even if she doesn't quite believe it. [00:18] 4Hee hee hee. [00:19] 10Daizo: "Let's go get you sewn up, Cousin. Don't want to ruin anyone else's handkerchiefs tonight, am I right?" [00:21] 4She gives a lazy salute. "I'll see all my heroes back at the hostel." [00:30] 4She meets Ted outside well before 15 minutes... [00:31] 4And lets him take her back to wherever and however he lives. [00:31] 4He is, after no small fashion, magnetic. [00:31] 4Where does he bring her? How has he decorated it? 15[00:38] Ted's place in the well-heeled district hugging the base of the mountain is richly appointed in silver and red, with silk hangings and places to sit or lie down all over. It reminds Piu a bit of a Cynis den, but there's no drugs, no Realm iconography, and no slaves. Piu gets the sense that he doesn't spend a lot of time here, and also that it's not actually *his* place. She's been 15[00:38] taken home by people who are staying with a friend. This has that kind of vibe. But there's no sign of a friend. [00:38] 4One less body to worry about, as long as the place is clean. [00:38] 14But she's not trying to be that person tonight. [00:39] 14Unless she has to. 14[00:39] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[00:39] The only strange accoutrement that sticks out to Piu in the brief time she has to look around is a swinging incense-holder shrouded behind silver curtains, made of polished black-and-white striped stone. [00:40] 4Oh, let's make note of that. And then find the bar. This place is rich enough to have a kitchen that doubles as a bar, right? 15[00:40] In fact, it has a bar and no discernible kitchen. 15[00:40] Ted must not eat food at home. [00:41] 4Well. At least they've maximized the places to fuck. [00:41] 4She'll sit on the bar itself, rather than on a chair or stool. 15[00:47] * Retrieving #SonsAndDoctors modes... 14[00:47] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 15[00:49] Ted pours two drinks of something clear and sweet-smelling. "Very impressive friends you have there," he says. "How did you all fall in together?" [00:50] 4Piu: "Thanks. And, by orders. But I like them more than well enough. How'd you come to be at the foot of the mountain that's a fountain?" 15[00:51] "By orders," Ted echoes. "Politics is so..." he makes a dismissive gesture with his glass. "I don't have the temperament for it. Still, needs must." [00:52] 4She chuckles. "Do you already know which House I'm in, or do you just not care?" 15[00:56] Ted: "A House is just a name. I like to look past the superficial and see something deeper." He drains his glass. "And I counted thirty-four names, faces, histories, souls..." 15[00:56] "A house in itself." [00:57] 4Her eyes narrow, but after an almost-imperceptible second, her grin widens. 15[00:57] "But it's not *your* house, is it?" [00:57] 14It's a good thing the House teaches discipline. [00:58] 4The grin stays wide. "No, it's not. I'll never really belong to House V'neef, will I? I was adopted." 15[01:00] "And yet the burdens fall on adopted family even more harshly. The expectation to serve, to lift up your cousins, to prove yourself again and again... demands a fortitude I wish I had." 15[01:00] "Do you ever wonder what you would do if you were free?" [01:00] 4Piu: "No." [01:00] 4Piu: "I know." 15[01:00] Ted: "Tell me." [01:06] 4Piu: "There's a place called Camon de Vec Baalshamos. That's barely even a dialect, and to the extent that it is, it's Low Realm mixed with Firetongue. It's to the south, the very edge of the Threshold, not beyond, and there's one way in -- a defensible valley, wide, plenty and modest lands, and then a bay for fishing. Heavy corals beyond. Freshwater meeting saltwater. Hard for [01:06] raiders to push in. Easy to kill pirates. That's where I was born. [01:06] "I knew a boy there. Sometimes I wonder if I still do." [01:07] "Probably not." 15[01:08] Ted looks touched. "A lovely dream." [01:09] 4Piu: "How do you know how many people I've killed?" [01:09] 4It doesn't even sound that judgmental. 15[01:11] Ted looks chagrined, and holds up his right hand, palm in. A sign burns green-gold on the back of his hand: https://i.imgur.com/rZNbG8D.png 15[01:12] "I usually wear gloves. When I don't... it doesn't respect anyone's privacy." 15[01:12] "I hope you can forgive our intrusion." [01:13] 4She sighs. "Is a kill team about to hit this room?" [01:14] 4She'll finish the drink either way. 15[01:15] Ted: "Not unless the two of us form one right now. But that's not what we came here to do." [01:17] 4Piu: "Nope. ...Give me a tour of the place, would you?" [01:17] "Start with the bedroom." 15[01:24] The bedroom is very comfortable - large bed, silk sheets. Not quite as lush as the kinds of beds you find in a Dynast's home, but for the Threshold it's very fine indeed. Piu notices that there's a weird black leather bag slung over a chair in the corner, which she recognizes belatedly as an empty quiver for arrows. The chest under the bed, one corner poking out beneath the sheets, is 15[01:24] bound with locks of white jade. [01:26] 4Mmmm. [01:28] 4She'll put a hand to his chest, and if he doesn't resist, push him to the bed. And if he lets her push him to the bed, she'll strattle him. And if he lets her strattle him, the robe will come off. And if the robe comes off...well. She welcomes an active participant. And eventually something in the environment will slam the bedroom door shut. [01:42] 4She stays with him for going on four hours, and if he's still awake when she leaves, she kisses him on the lips before she goes. Then she shuts the door to the bedroom, washes the glass she used, and heads back to the hostel. Instead of going upstairs first, Piu bathes, relaxes, takes at advantage of the late hour, and almost goes to sleep in the soothing water. When she slips into [01:42] 4her room, Caedus will smell a slight perfume on her. 15[01:43] She gets back late enough that Caedus is actually just waking up when she slips in. Distressingly early riser, is that man. "I heard Daizo and Zhangyu killed it in the ring tonight." [01:44] "No," 14she says. "Thankfully." [01:44] "We don't need deaths this early." [01:44] "But yes, they were amazing." 15[01:45] Caedus: "I worry about the high profile... it might draw unwanted attention on us." [01:45] "...Perhaps so." [01:46] 14She leans against the wall. "Spent tonight with a man named Ted. He knew how many people I'd killed by looking at me." 15[01:46] Caedus: "Literally or figuratively?" [01:46] "It's 35 with the blood ape." [01:46] "He quoted 34." 15[01:46] Caedus scowls. 15[01:47] "We've got to tell Lao." [01:47] "There was a sign on his hand. I don't know how well I can draw it from memory." 15[01:47] "His hand? Not his brow?" [01:47] 14She nods. "The back of it." [01:48] "...I told him the truth about my upbringing. Before I left Camon de Vec Baalshamos. We're clean on that." [01:48] "And I think he remains interested." 15[01:49] Caedus, after a pause: "Well that's... that's fine. It's your story." 15[01:49] "You think you can work him?" [01:49] 14Piu: "I have already. His name is Ted." 15[01:49] Caedus: "Weird name." 15[01:50] "Where's he from?" [01:50] 14Piu: "Yeah." [01:52] "He said he was born on the Threshold and schooled on the Isle. I wasn't checking that. His place was well-appointed, but he didn't keep slaves. I'd believe Dynast under a very fake name. Probably Northerner if you pressed me." 15[01:53] Caedus: "I don't like this." [01:54] 14Piu: "You're not wrong not to. He could be controllable, or he could be a complete player." [01:54] "Make a full report to Lao." [01:58] 14She looks at him a little longer, then, uncertain, will head to the dresser and start slipping into bedclothes. 15[01:58] Caedus nods. "Between this and Salim and the vendetta the Immortal is pushing we've got killers crawling out of the walls." [01:59] 14Piu: "Is that what's bothering you?" 15[02:04] Caedus turns to look at her silently for a long moment, before he says, "I made a report to Lao after picking up your gear. He's very pleased with your work. He suggested you're not far from a promotion." [02:06] 14She grimaces. That's not an answer. "I serve at the pleasure of the House." 15[02:07] "So do I. But he..." Caedus trails off. "Do you think I've shown poor judgment?" 15[02:07] "A lack of objectivity?" [02:08] 14She sighs. "No less than I have." [02:09] "...Objectively, it's safer to be back here." [02:09] "And I think we've both done our jobs very well." [02:09] "Such as they are." 15[02:10] Caedus: "Lao suggested that our cover is becoming a liability. To me, specifically." [02:10] 14Piu: "Did he suggest an alternate arrangement that keeps you in play?" 15[02:11] Caedus: "Of course not. That's too easy. He just wanted to send me off second-guessing myself and you and every other fucking thing--" [02:11] "In terms of liability, I have the pull to officially make you my man." [02:11] 14She levels a stare at him. 15[02:12] "That's the liability." 15[02:12] "As he sees it." 15[02:12] "He thinks we're too close." [02:12] "Which is why he wants me promoted." 15[02:12] "Yeah." [02:12] "Would you objected if I paid Lao another visit." [02:12] *object [02:13] "Just to talk." [02:13] "He is, of course, offering to sponsor me." 15[02:13] "What would you tell him?" [02:17] 14She finishes pulling on the kimino. "The truth, mainly. We're the House's best team. We have the results to prove it." [02:18] 14A pause. "A bharrachd air an sin tha e comhfhurtail agus breithneachail agus bidh e a ’greimeachadh. " 15[02:20] Caedus looks out the window. To the east, to the sea, where the sky begins to lighten bit by bit. "I got angry, when you told me you'd told this Ted about the place where you were born." 15[02:21] "What if he's right?" [02:22] 14She sighs. "Right about what?" [02:22] "Lao, or Ted?" [02:23] "Because just knowing how many bodies I have doesn't mean he knows me. Fucking me doesn't mean he knows me." [02:23] "And for Lao, condescending to me in his study doesn't mean he knows me." 15[02:24] "Lao just has this way of - like nothing I do is ever good enough. And then he gets me thinking it too. I'm being stupid. I know I'm being stupid. But it's in my head now. He's the only one who can get in my head like that." [02:24] 14Quietly: "Do you want to know what I think that means?" 15[02:25] Caedus turns to face her and nod. 15[02:25] nods.* [02:26] "Tha mi a ’smaoineachadh gu bheil e a’ ciallachadh gu bheil e na dhuine nas fheàrr na To is. Ach tha mi a ’smaoineachadh gu bheil e cuideachd a’ ciallachadh gur e an aon sheòrsa duine a th ’ann. [02:26] "" 15[02:27] "...yeah." [02:28] "And I don't think you're wrong to care. But. Professionally speaking. We get results." 15[02:28] Caedus sighs. "I won't object to you talking to him. He'll want to see you himself anyway soon enough. Another Mnemon name on the list." 15[02:28] "Not local. I looked." [02:29] 14She stiffens. "Two in a row." [02:29] "Never had two in a row from the same House before." 15[02:30] Caedus shows her the paper, drawing curtains over the windows to block out the light. Beneath the struck-through 11,5Mnemon Dusk is a fresh 11,5Mnemon Hedrin. [02:32] "Bàs do na reultan. " [02:32] 14She straightens up. "Yeah, I'll be meeting with Lao." [02:32] "...Sorry." 15[02:32] "For what?" [02:33] "For causing you trouble." 14A mirthless chuckle. "For leaving Camon de Vec Baalshamos." 15[02:36] Caedus: "That's what binds Iselsi together. None of us wants to be here. And yet here we all are." [02:36] 14As she's been talking, Piu has been drawing something on paper with ink and a brush. [02:37] "No," 14Piu says. [02:37] "No, I think, on the whole..." [02:37] "I would rather be here." [02:37] "Even, and all, considered." [02:37] 14She shows him the paper. "This was Ted's marking. On his hand." [02:38] 14Piu sets it on the table. "Pass it to Lao." [02:38] 14It's important not everything come from her. 15[02:39] Caedus studies it, folds it up, and stashes it. "No idea what that is." [02:39] "Hopefully our resources do." [02:40] 14She'll take this opportunity to sink onto the bed, assuming Caedus is there, and onto his lap. [02:40] 14Piu: "We can start worrying when we fuck up." 15[02:41] "You're right." [02:41] 14And the next use of the kimono is to smother the light. 15[02:41] NEXT TIME: The fuck-up 14[07:49] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[07:51] * Joins: Crion 14[12:26] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:24] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[14:41] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:37] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[16:39] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[18:03] * Joins: Crion_ 14[18:05] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:48] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:04] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[19:27] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:15] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[20:16] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:31] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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'-._,'''' : : [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12| -: '.. +'||| ||/ /' __,.....'-' ,' '-'-. ` / | | [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12| \ . |. /,/;;,'' | / ''-..__' | | [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12| \ | `-/' |/| \ . \ | | [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12| ''|`._.-' |' __-`-.._....: | | [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12| ' ,' ''.---iii '-_ | | [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12: ,' `\::\ `:'-. _; ; [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 : ,' ,._ |\::\ ':_.:=.._______..,--''; ; [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 | /' ,i:,'':+ \::\ | `_ \-._ .__ _. | | [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12-:- /' _,'' / :`\:\ . \ `\ '--.i---' ; ; [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12: : -;:. ,,- / ',i.:___/ \ '-. '-.. ; ; [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12: : ,----- i;/' ' / ' ` '`-.._,:`;,; [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \ '''--.,-' ,' /' ' .._____,.-+'/ [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 : \ / ,/' / ; [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 : : || _,' ; ; [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ : | | ; / [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \ \ \ / / [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ `. ` \ ,' / [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \ `. '. / / [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 `. \ \__i. / ,' [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ `. +''`. ,' / [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12 `. `. ,+.._;:-i;.--: .-. ,' ,' [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi, the Queen of Fangs, blazes like a god or devil. Tattoos of shining silver burn so fiercely through her crimson-stained flesh that flesh chars and steam rises at their edges, but this only serves to accentuate the impossible perfection of her form, honed by a thousands of years and, surely, hundreds of thousands of sacrifices. The ancient Lunar towers over the four of you, [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12standing at least twice as tall as a human should, and is armed with a panoply of divine objects familiar to anyone who's studied her statuary; an orichalcum spear that crackles with orange lightning, a purple-red ball of flame that dances at her fingertips, an ancient grimoire that crackles with magical energy, and a shining silver mirror that rotates slowly above a bloody palm. [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12The learned among you are drawn to notice the mirror; it's clearly been enchanted with something beyond its native magical properties, thrumming with potent and recently-woven sorcery. It's the physical anchor of some sort of powerful spell! [20:54] 4Ir, Saint-Sister, burns like the sun, eyes white-gold and a vast great burning shadow looming in her anima banner behind her. She's gone somewhere...well, not dark, really; obviously, not dark. She's gone to a place of white-hot burning death. Either she dies this day...or Raksi does. 14[21:01] * Joins: hrolfy 14[21:03] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12You're on a broad, circular platform. Raksi's at one end, and your Circle is on the other. It's shaking slightly beneath your feet, and streams of blood-red essence are spiraling upwards and downwards around you, both draining into and rising out of the great body of Jormungand beneath you. [21:05] 6Tatsuya the Golden Hand ducks back into the shadows. What shadows? A better question is what Tatsuya? 08[21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12As Eikichi charges his soul's erstwhile paramour, he sees a series of gigantic, distorted mirrors loom suddenly around her, out of the shadows! Most are filled with swirling colors - but out of one, a shape identical to his own resolves itself save for its left-right reversal! Even as Raksi playfully bats Eikichi's fist aside, a copy of that same fist comes whistling down at Eikichi's [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12head! 15[21:23] 10Eikichi is totally unprepared for the counterattack, even though he knows it's coming. He's just that fast... or is it that slow...? Frantically ducking beneath a savage strike, he pants, more to himself than to her, "I'm touched. You remembered." [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi bares her fangs in a smile. "I'm sad to see it go. But I'm sure you'll fill the Book back up for me soon enough." 14[21:35] * Joins: mattbaby [21:43] 6Tatsuya takes that opportunity to leap from nowhere and attempt to strangle Raksi with her own shadow. There's a handspring, two flips, and - how in Creation did he drag her shadow from the floor - before it's wrapped around her throat. This is it. Here we go - here we - why isn't she dead. [21:43] 6She should be dead. This is his best work ever -- [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya's shadow noose goes so far -- and no further! Raksi's tattoos go rigid, flashing white as they brace her body against the weaponized shadow and then burn that shadow away. The sorceress turns, hissing, but only enough to note that her magic is taking its own revenge; she immediately sets herself to sorcery, spreading the ancient grimoire she carries before her with one hand [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12before using it and another to start pulling motes of ruby-red essence out of the pages. [21:57] 4Ir falters, but doesn't stop. [21:57] 4Her hatred outweighs her fear. Her loyalty outweighs both. [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12It's an incredible sight, one has to admit. Who, really, would you want to be savagely killed by if not this vision in black and crimson...? [21:58] 6Okay, that look is - I mean, they still gotta kill her. But that's gonna stick in his mind. 15[21:58] 10Shut up SHUT UP 15[22:00] 10Ahhh... [22:10] 4Ir looms like a brigade, almost, and she's still smiling. She feints with a spear -- but then Jude's Law becomes an orb, and shards of moonsilver spike the glass in Raksi's hand. When the mirror attempts to respond...Ir just laughs. [22:31] 7Blossom flips up Truth and Justice and empties their cylinders at the hovering mirror, the sparking krak-krak-krak of the hammer as it strikes the enchanted firecrystals prefiguring the whoom as a bolt of stored Fire-aspected Essence leaps from their barrels! [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a shattering sound, and shards of phantom glass go flying in all directions as the essence blast strikes Raksi's mirror dead on! The glowing orange sorcery melts into rapidly disappearing slag on the stone as Raksi's actual magic mirror ceases to orbit her like a celestial body and returns to hang above one of her hands. Rising over the sorceress's shoulder out of one last [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12distorted looking-glass, a reversed image of Blossom takes aim with her own essence cannon...! [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12The floor's rumbling more now. The platform you're on is rising! Before you, Raksi breathes in, soaking in streams of the sacrifice-essence that saturates her central pyramid. [22:40] 7Blossom manages to dodge her own returning strikes, but there're a few close calls. If only she wasn't so incredibly combat-proficient...! [22:43] 6He wasn't sure why, at the time, that he feinted left before ducking right and slipping back into his defensive stance, but watching Blossom - shit, Tatsuya almost killed himself with that stranglehold. Cheating to make him play against himself, really. [22:48] 4Ir steps forward with the orb as the mirror shatters, and scream-laughs as it drives into Raksi. [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12There's some kind of recoil, but the spearwoman doesn't even feel it, and Raksi's forced to give more ground! She won't be in very good position to unleash whatever she's casting, that's for sure. 15[23:33] 10It was a mistake, in retrospect, to draw so much of his attention to the way her body moves. Eikichi sways lightly on his feet, watching the others test their strength against the Queen of Fangs. She's strong - almost unthinkably so - but four arms are still less than eight, and one brilliant soul shines less brightly than four heralds of the Law. There's a moment - just a moment 15[23:33] 10- where the angle of her arms and the quirk of her hips leaves an opening, and then he's on top of her, pushing her face first into the ground, knees in her back, hand wound through her hair and pulling it close so he can whisper into her ear. 15[23:33] "In the next life... find the city in the sky. Come as a friend, and we may forgive each other." [23:35] 6A moving castle. [23:35] 4Ir says nothing, because she can say nothing. 15[23:36] 10Then he peels her off the ground, his footwork shaky as he lifts a creature twice his size and treble his weight clean over his head. "But I need justice in my life." 10Raksi hurtles through the air, colliding with the crackling wall of her own fortress. "Here it comes." 15[23:36] 10The very foundations of the temple shake. 14[23:38] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi's spread-eagled at the center of a crater in the stone. The rising platform stops dead at the exact time she does, and so rather than leaving her behidn on your ascent you're free to watch the cannibal queen of Mahalanka get peeled from the stone behind her by sheer force of gravity, slumping inelegantly... no, even now, that's not right, she's tumbling languidly forward, [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12eyes closed and hair disheveled, leaving a streak of blood behind her as she tumbles into the dark. Wait. Begins to tumble into the dark before jerking to a stop as though there were an invisible fishook caught at the base of her spine. 15[23:40] 10Eikichi, soul aflame, watches the magic unfold streaked with sweat and blood. [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi's eyes snap open. She convulses, back arched and fingers flexing, as her panoply of artifacts describes twin orbits around her. With a shudder and a scream, more of her body's doubled than before - four legs fall from her hips, now, two heads struggle to free each themselves from each other atop her shoulders. A flash like lightning, and there's an image there of a perfectly [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12normal human woman and a perfectly normal chimpanzee. Another flash, and it's just a tangle of limbs and claws and hair, straining against itself, hanging in midair. [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12As you watch, Raksi's Deadly Beastman Transformation tears itself out of her body. It's a gigantic ape, twice as tall as the magnified Raksi herself was, a horrible congerie of chitin and spines and plating where a regular simian would have fur. Behind it, hanging in an egg-shaped swirl of blood, Raksi sits in a meditative asana, eyes closed and hair coiling behind her. [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12The creature's still blinking in the light like a newborn as Tatsuya realizes what's happening! Session Time: Fri Jan 03 00:00:00 2020 14[00:04] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [00:05] 6Okay, yeah, not allowed. Tatsuya LEAPS - oh, hey, shadow - wrap that around throat - if he can just keep this up they can and will win! [00:09] 6Now that a second Tatsuya isn't trying to kill him, it's way easier to try and kill her. [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12The monster's choking on its own shadow before it even knows where it is. It's barely managed to struggle free of Tatsuya's technique when it a solar blaze approaching from Blossom's direction completely fills the demon-ape's vision. Raksi's Deadly Beastman Transformation is consumed completely; it falls to the ground with a great thump, and as bone and chitin fall to ash around it [00:14] <@Ferrinus> 12the mangled remains of a male body with a hole where its heart should be becomes visible. [00:14] 4Hhhhh [00:15] 4Where's the real escalation. [00:15] 13Faster! Kill, Kill! [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12At the edge of the platform, Raksi herself is stretching free of the protective shell of blood she was ensconced in. Her wounds have barely healed, but she clenches all four fists and snarls nevertheless. There's the washing of blood and the grinding of stone, and each of you is suddenly partnered. [00:17] 7Blossom doesn't know what that thing is, but she already knows she hates it. Tongues of flame spiral down her arms, licking Truth and Justice as they're absorbed into the ammunition crystals. She tosses them into the air and moves through the first kata of the Descending Storm Devil! Sparks crackle between her fingernails as she shifts her position, pointing her hands at the twin guns [00:17] 7still flying through the air... and unleashes! Lightning leaps from her fingers, striking both guns simultaneously. They let out an ominous hummmmm as the spiritual form of the attack absorbs the stored flame and killing rage of Truth and Justice, before emerging as twin thumb-width bolts of lightning that impale the Deadly Beastman Transformation! 08[00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Blood and darkness swirl between and around you to carve four duels into the rising stone platform. Raksi, normal-sized, brandishes a spear at Ir. A second cannibal queen menaces Blossom with a handful of flames. Tatsuya gets the mirror, and Eikichi the book. 14[00:29] * Joins: mattbaby [00:35] 4Ir's orb sings and tears through her Raksi. [00:36] 6A mirror? 13A mirror? 6That's fucking - 13freaking - 6rude. [00:47] <@Ferrinus> 12As a crackling orichalcum spear drops from one Raksi's hands, the quarter-queen dissolving into blood and muck before Ir, another image of Raksi spreads her two arms wide, an arc of flame stretching between them. She stares daggers at Excessively Righteous Blossom. "You. You. You. You don't even deserve to face me on two legs-" [00:48] <@Ferrinus> 12As a ripple of silver, shaping power explodes forth, a third Raksi, clutches a mirror and grins around it at Tatsuya. "I see you in there. Now come oooouut-" [00:49] 6"Absolutely 13nyot6." [00:52] 7The web of silver corrupting energy splashes over Blossom and she staggers for a moment as it tries to seep into her body and mind... but Raksi is weak, and the Children of the Sun are not so easily defeated. She plucks the curling sorcery free with two fingers and tosses it aside to evaporate into smoke. The needle of fear Raksi planted in her squirms at how close she came to a [00:52] 7terrible fate, but hate and righteous fury are a fine armor, and they'll carry her through. 08[00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Raksi stares at Eikichi over the pages of the Book of Three Circles. "I should have known," 12she says. "I should have known from thousands of years ago that you wouldn't have the spine to stand with me. No one in this world can really change but me, and I'm the only one without any need to." 12She's no taller than the sorcerer, now, and has the normal complement of [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12limbs, so it's with one hand that she keeps the book floating, and with the other that she reaches into her own chest and withdraws a now-still, but still glistening human heart. 08[00:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "You remember, Gloria? Too attached to fight, and then too scared to stay... I could hardly believe it." 12With a wet pop, the fourth Raksi crushes the heart in her fist, and Eikichi's shot through with stabbing pain. 15[00:56] "The skin can't shed its snake," 10Eikichi agrees. Is it agreement? Even he's not sure. "But it wasn't fear that drove us apart." 15[00:59] 10His heart aches with remembrance. "You turned your back on me. You turned your back on us. And for what? For this? Honestly, darling. It's just fucking meat." [01:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "As opposed to what? Light? Noise? Your stupid Deliberative was never going to last! If you only knew what it took to keep just you safe-" 15[01:03] "As opposed to the TRUTH! As opposed to the sacred dominion won by OUR BLOOD and OUR WILL and stolen by small-minded schemers. Schemers, I suppose, like you." 15[01:03] "You were always more like them than you cared to admit. Passive. Indolent. Needy." [01:03] 4The orb reforms. [01:04] 4Ir begins to stalk to another. 15[01:04] "I never realized how much you needed me. What dark devices your own imagination leaves to you without any true inspiration behind them. Squatting naked in your filth, slurping up power you have no ambition to use. An ape so proud of its ability to walk on two legs it cannot even think to look higher." [01:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "Oh, heavens and hells spare me that nonsense! This is more of the stupid bronze helmet talk, I knew as soonas I saw you with her." 12She's pointing off into the murk, where Blossom's distinctive anima can still be seen to blaze. "Well, we'll see how much longer you parrot it once you see what's become of her!" 15[01:05] "I have seen what's become of her." 15[01:05] "You can't even imagine." [01:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Within the mirror, Tatsuya sees a whirl of pink, a fearsome kick too fast to follow...! But it stops dead right at what feels like his cheek. There's simply no follow-through. [01:09] 6She's 13right. [01:10] 4The orb surrounds her, a swirling storm. 15[01:12] 10Eikichi grabs Raksi by the shoulders, but it hurts too much to hold her. Plus, he's in a lot of pain. [01:22] "We will build-" 7She takes in a shuddering breath, pushed to near-exhaustion by the battle. "-a civilization that will last forever. Shining gold, clear and bright and perfect... each day a new height, forever another horizon. Gloria gloriana regina imperatrix aeternam." 7The words that fall from her mouth are making less and less sense even to her. "The dam will not break. The [01:22] flood will not come. Now..." 7She levels Truth. "Dodge this." [01:26] 6Duck and cover. Dodge your abandoned other self. Knife your counterpart - the fucker that they are. [01:27] 4Behold the storm, the sorrow, and the saint. Ir approaches, and her banner is bloodsoaked now. [01:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksis three devolve into blood and viscera and swirling rose petals. Ir, Ying, and Blossom all cast their gazes around and spy, through the swirling blackness and blood-mist that separated the rising disc into four little duel arenas, one last pair of blazing animas. Each is predominantly blue, but one shades into orange and gold and one into deep, silver-flecked violet. 14[01:35] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[01:36] * Joins: mattbaby [01:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Then there's an awful, droning noise which heightens and sharpens and resolves itself into the high-pitched shriek of an aetherochemical saw. The baleful energies of the last Death Ray that the Solar sorceress Gloria ever cast have hung around Raksi like a cloud of blowflies for the better part of this battle, and now they finally and completely cohere. Smeared with blood and screaming [01:46] <@Ferrinus> 12with rage, the cannibal queen lunges forward double-handed, thrusting a barely-controllable pillar of ruby death at the two human beings she hates most in the world. 15[01:47] 10Can't touch this. [01:47] 4Ir, smiling in the shadows, storms through. [01:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Let the mind's eye pull back for a moment, to Mahalanka proper. All throughout the combined assaults of heaven and hell, the sacrifices have never ceased. Supplicant after supplicant has been brought to the pinnacles of the four ziggurats surrounding the Apex of Sacrifice only to have their heart pulled from their chest, their life-force committed to the victory of god-queen Raksi. [01:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Even as the vanguard of celestial lions, supported from the shadows by fate's machinations, has smashed through formation after formation, taken block after block, the core of Mahalanka was devoted to nothing more than Raksi's strength and beauty. 15[01:53] 10Death Ray! The most awesome weapon of discriminate destruction ever devised, one whose secrets Eikichi can't hope yet to match. But it's overkill. Where Raksi draws on her memories of the mightiest spell there is, Eikichi's hands glide through the mudras of the simplest. "My mind keeps going back to what you said that day we first met. It wasn't that long ago. Do you remember?" 15[01:54] "'The old breaks to make the new. That's the story of our Age.'" [01:54] <@Ferrinus> 12This state of affairs proceeds even when, approximately three quarters of the way up the Apex's height, a tre-MENDOUS beam of crimson destruction explodes out through the stone and lances across the rooftops of the entire city. [01:54] <@Ferrinus> 12As onlookers stare, mouths agape, the Death Ray saws its way straight up the side of the Apex, leaving an enormous trail of molten stone behind it as the platform its caster stands on rises higher, higher, higher... 15[01:56] 10Eikichi's anima goes from blue to orange to pink to deep red to a gentle violet. Judgment falls, and the setting sun chases it to the horizon. The light throws their two shadows plain and sharp against the wall. There's a spray of blood, and hundreds of glass blades embed themselves halfway into solid stone. One of the shadows falls, and the other dives to meet it. 15[01:56] 10He's on his knees now, her head cradled. Eikichi holds the dying Raksi in his arms. [01:57] 4Below, Ir collapses against a wall. Jude's Law is no longer an orb. It's just something she uses to hold herself up until she can't. [01:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Ker-chunk! Your trip's at an end. As the shadows around you dissipate, you find yourselves standing, crouching, or lying at the very apex of the Apex, the glories of Mahalanka in plain view around you. Of course, in all directions rise plumes of smoke and flame, explosions of golden essence, and expanding or contracting bubbles of distorted Eyeless nega-reality. But the breaches are [01:58] <@Ferrinus> 12shrinking, and the battle lines contracting, irising closed around the center. Mahalanka is losing. 15[01:58] 10Sperimin is winning. [01:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi coughs up blood. She's just barely able to look to one side, to take in a bit of the destruction. "The lions... the stars... you..." [01:59] <@Ferrinus> "Kejak." 12Raksi coughs again. "His... idea...?" [01:59] <@Ferrinus> "Kejak." 12Raksi coughs again. "His... idea...?" 15[02:00] 10Eikichi: "Mine." 15[02:00] "You never should have trusted them, love." [02:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "Neither... neither should you! You think... you think it was just him? Just him and his? Just him and his and me? Where's the dead one. Your old..." 12She swallows hard. "...the bard..." 15[02:02] "He's already faced his reckoning. In time he'll be owed another." 14[02:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [02:03] 4In the well of the worst war in hundreds of years within three thousands malms, in that whole circle, Ir pushes herself to her feet. It's time to manage the transition. It's time to save some lives. It's time to send some treasured friends to Hell. [02:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi: "He was part of it. From the first. He and Kejak... twisted together... they'll betray you. You said stolen. But it wasn't. Not completely. It shook itself... apart..." 15[02:04] "In the next life," 10Eikichi repeats, voice thick with emotion, "Find Zeal. Come as a friend. So we might forgive each other." [02:05] 4She makes it halfway down the stairs, and sits down, and waits for something to happen. Around her the city burns. 08[02:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi's grip on Eikichi's collar tightens. She half pulls herself up. "No one... no one ever... pay them back. All of them. Don't let them... do better... than me. Than... us..." 12The queen manages, just barely, to brush lips with the man who killed her, but that's the last of her strength. She collapses on the stone behind her, her blood running smoothly down grooves that was [02:07] <@Ferrinus> 12never meant to collect it. It's finished. 15[02:08] 10Eikichi kneels there silently. [02:08] 4Ir slumps over on the stairs. [02:09] <@Ferrinus> 12A great wind stirs up, and the boiling clouds above you iris open to reveal shining sunlight. All around you, lights fade and die for want of the god-queen that they burned for. Formations of celestial lions flicker back and forth across the city as though someone were tossing Gateway pieces about, but their environment becomes rapidly less target-rich as you watch. You've... you've [02:09] <@Ferrinus> 12won, haven't you? It worked. 15[02:10] 10Where's Blossom? 08[02:10] 7Blossom wearily straightens and trudges over to the body of the witch-queen of Mahalanka. Unless Eikichi stops her, she'll kneel next to him and press her fingers to the dead sorceress' forehead, turning her body into shining motes that spiral upwards toward the sun.\ 15[02:11] 10He just leans into her when it's done, holding her with all his remaining strength. [02:12] 4A gold-winged horse lands besides Ir as the walls are breached. He brings his wings over her drained form as the city begins to be sacked. This is winning, right? [02:12] 4Errant snorts and remains. [02:15] 7She holds him too. She's confused, and Raksi's death means the fear left over has the chance to make itself known. She's almost trembling with indignation over being falsely accused of... something? But Raksi didn't even say anything to that effect. Blossom just feels that she did what was NECESSARY and how DARE... someone?... come to her with... something? [02:16] 7The feeling is all the more baffling for being so strong. [02:19] <@Ferrinus> 12As usual, Blossom has somewhat doubled memories here. In one sense, she looked at Raksi with a doting indulgence that soon became arch contempt, an "I'd like to see you try." But she also remembers the flight and betrayal of the sorceress queen just being a sobering... symptom? Wakeup call? But one that scarcely anyone seemed to hear. 15[02:20] 10Finally, with a weighty groan, Eikichi (mostly) lets go of his beloved. "...well. Easy enough, I suppose. Now for the hard part." [02:21] 7Gloomily: "I suppose it's too much to hope that all the innocents fled." [02:21] 4Ir, for her part, dreams of Saskia, and Marek, and Gull Marchant. 15[02:22] 10Eikichi: "It's a nice dream, isn't it, for the wagers of war. A place where no one left is worth saving." [02:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Does Ir remember aught of Raksi's ancient heel turn? 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ZZZzzz…) 14[20:07] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:23]  15[20:23]  15[20:23]  15[20:23]  15[20:23]  15[20:29] The first gentle rays of dawn are humbled by the mad violet light being cast off Hamoji, and the quaking of the restless island disturbs the seabirds, who wheel through the sky as the Defiance pulls anchor and draws free from the harbor, the island retreating swiftly behind them as fair winds bear them onward. [20:33] 4Free from this place. [20:33] 14And little else. [20:33] 4Piu is helping with the cast off, as a trade for getting to doing her stretches on a convenient spot of deck a bit earlier. [20:36] 07Dryas stands at the stern, watching Hamoji in the light and basking in its strange, magnificent beauty. [20:38] 10Daizo has mixed feelings about setting sail. The momentary taste of fame, even if it's fame as a villain, is tantalizing. But aboard the Defiance, things are simpler. The captain's word is law. There's no back alleys for people to disappear into. And you can see things before they're coming at you. Probably.  [20:39] 6Zhangyu is likely belowdecks being attended to, or grumpily staying in bed while unattended. It will heal fine on its own goes through his head repeatedly, which doesn't make the pain in his side hurt less when he shifts. [20:39] 10He'll take up Zhangyu's partos of any work in addition to his own, and let his cousin rest. [20:42] 07Dryas drums her fingers on the rail a few times, taking in the fresh air, before sighing and slinking down belowdecks, for Caxi's cabin. 15[20:42] Traitors, schemers, assassins, scoundrels, and Tepet Daizo face a new day and broad horizons. The next stop, based on a combination of Daizo's research and Cathak triangulation, is a trading outpost a week's sail north, the last place any of the ships in Furia's fleet were seen resupplying. [20:43] 4Piu grins from the rigging as she sees Cynis go. [20:43] 4Too bad. She'd finally worked up a sweat. 15[20:43] It takes Dryas a few knocks before she gets a response from Caxi, who opens the door bleary-eyed in her bedclothes. "What can you possibly want right now?" [20:45] 6If Piu's looking for a sparring partner, Zhangyu will claim to be fit! [20:45] "Cousin," 07she slips in through the open port and slides it closed behind her - "If you wouldn't mind, I was hoping to ask you for a favor. It's about Tepet Zhangyu..." [20:46] 4Sadly, he's not fit for either form of sparring she likes, and only down for one of them. 15[20:47] Caxi: "What did he do now?" 15[20:50] Daizo, meanwhile, works shoulder to shoulder with the sailors and the Cathak twins. "So what did you get up to last night? You all came in real late," asks Ito Pan. [20:52] 07Dryas: "Injured. In a fight, of course. I was wondering if perhaps you could take a look at it...?" 15[20:53] Caxi lets out a noise somewhere between a groan and a scoff. "How bad is it?" 15[20:54] The assassin 'Salim' is rarely seen abovedecks, staying instead in the ship's hold under guard by Samperson and his men. [20:54] 07Dryas ponders. "He was strong enough to win the fight afterwards...?" [20:54] 10Hup, hup, ho— "A little bit of entertainment, that's all. Something to take the edge off. Cousin found a lead on a fighting match down by the docks. Thought he could make a few connections by participating." [20:55] 4Piu helps up in the rigging, then on the mainmast, then down in the hauling and stowing of oars after they hit the mainline current. Feels good to be working. [20:55] 10Daizo: "Piu and I came to cheer him on, Dryas appointed herself his manager."10  15[20:57] Caxi rolls her eyes. "Alright. I'll see to him." [20:58] 07Dryas: "I owe you one!" 07wait - is Sadako in here? 15[20:58] Sadako is, as Caxi presumably was, still asleep. [20:58] 4She grins at the twins as she passes by them and Daizo. "Did a lot more than that. Later boys!" [20:58] 10Daizo: "You should've seen it. You can't bring weapons in, but this Gilana Crimson-Tide he fought? The girl's got claws. And teeth. And scales." 15[20:59] Dryas can make out her leg sticking out from under a blanket. [20:59] 4This is where she'd usually rinse off in the seawater, but the Defiance is moving apace, and she's not about to slow it down on an anchor line. A simple cold bath will do. [20:59] 6He'll be reading something from town when she arrives - in fact, basically, whenever she arrives. He's begged off duty for today and is likely only to leave his room for meals, which means a LOT of time spent just. Local news, and maybe a primers of Mantis Style guide that he's had since he began training. 15[21:00] Ito Jun butts in. "Oh yeah? Is that why he's not up here working? Down in his cabin licking his wounds?" [21:01] 4Does he get that out before Piu's gone belowdecks? 15[21:01] Player's choice. [21:03] 14Piu's standing on the threshold to the lower decks when she hears that, then pushes off the moulding and turns-- 4Piu: "Do you need more help? Working?" [21:03] "Just asking if you're not enough!" [21:03] "Because I'm still game." 15[21:04] Zhangyu only has to wait about fifteen minutes from Dryas's entreaty for Caxi to let herself in. How does she find his cabin? How does she find him? [21:04] 10Daizo scowls. "It's not like that." 15[21:05] Ito Jun: "Nahhh, we got it. Though if you're free we don't mind the company, isn't that right Pan?" 15[21:05] Pan is suddenly very focused on his work. [21:06] "Good morning, Sadako," 07Dryas says as she returns to the port to follow Caxi out, assuming that Sadako is listening but quietly enough that if she's wrong it won't wake her." [21:06] 10Daizo: "Cousin will be back in it in a day or two. Until then, I'm doing his part. Do you want to get blood all over these nice clean sails?" [21:06] 4She grins. "Thought you boys were good. Thanks for your effort, Daizo!" [21:07] 10That's not intended as a threat, but he suddenly realizes how easily it could be taken as one… and lets it ride. [21:07] 6His cabin is perfectly neat and tidy, with the exception of a small pile of reading material on his bedside table. Zhangyu himself is lying in bed, hastily-done wrappings around his ribs and right arm where he was hit the worst. He looks up from one of the various holds that he's corrected the illustrations of - "Cynis Caxi. Hello." 6He seems vaguely uncomfortable. 15[21:12] Sadako groans. "It's too early," comes her voice muffled by pillows. [21:16] 4She 14winks 4to both the boys before she saunters downstairs. 15[21:22] Caxi looks Zhangyu up and down with a frown, pushing him onto his bed and peeling the bandages off, revealing clean, deep cuts. "Claws?" she asks, cleaning the wounds with something that stings. [21:23] "As a treat," 07Dryas replies softly and pads back out. [21:23] 6He puts up a token resistance before letting her work. "And teeth." 6He doesn't react to the sting. "She took me by surprise." 6Then a grin. "I won, though." 15[21:24] After Piu's gone, Jun turns to Pan: "Did you see that? She winked at me." 15[21:24] Caxi: "Oh? What did you win?" 15[21:25] "Where is your prize?" [21:25] 6With his uninjured arm, he gestures to the wounds. [21:25] 6After a moment: "And proof of commitment. Couldn't resist." 15[21:26] "Of course you couldn't," Caxi mutters. "Why would you be like that if you could help it? Hold still." [21:26] 6He does so. This is clearly not the first time he's been patched up. 15[21:28] Ito Jun: "...nice." 15[21:29] Caxi is dissatisfied with the obedience of Zhangyu's wounds. "Hmm... this is quite a nasty wound. Can you keep a secret?" [21:29] 4Boys. [21:30] 6Zhangyu: "Of course." 6They don't spend all their time training you to fight in the House of Bells, after all. [21:31] 14She changes and heads for wherever they're holding him. [21:31] 10Daizo: "She's not so bad once you get to know her." [21:31] 14The other assassin. [21:31] 14Caedus should be there. [21:31] 10Daizo: "Maybe I could put in a good word for you sometime." 15[21:34] The Defiance has a single-celled brig, but Salim is being held in somewhat more comfortable quarters in a locked storeroom in the cargo hold, with a bed fashioned of spare linens. Caedus is one of the guards, giving his sailors another shift of rest. He looks glad to see Piu. So do the other crew. 15[21:35] Ito Pan: "Ooh, look at the big man. What'd you do, take her to the library?" [21:36] 10Daizo sighs. "Never mind. The work isn't going to do itself." [21:36] 07Dryas makes her way back towards the deck, where the banter of the Cathaks and the Tepet catches her attention.  [21:37] 10Hup, hup, ho— 15[21:37] Caxi reaches into her robes and pulls out a small glass phial containing a live, wriggling caterpillar. "Not a word of this to anyone." She opens the vial, waving delicate fingers over the narrow opening. For just a moment, her eyes flash violet and she chants in a peculiar, echoing cadence. The insect shrivels and dies. Zhangyu's wounds burn and sizzle... but they close before his 15[21:37] eyes. 15[21:43] Ito Jun: "Does she not seem a little... off to you guys?" 15[21:43] "Like, total smokeshow, don't get me wrong. But... I dunno." 15[21:43] *Ito Pan: [21:45] "What makes you think that?" 07asks Dryas. 15[21:46] Pan is startled by Dryas's sudden appearance. "What? Think what? Who says I think anything?" [21:46] 6Zhangyu: "Not a word," 6he promises. "I don't know what that was, but --" 6He rotates his formerly-wounded arm. "Never a word." 15[21:46] Caxi smiles, wide and thin. "Good boy." [21:47] 6He scowls. "Don't push it." 6And besides, didn't she see the shirt? [21:48] 10Daizo: "No, you're right to wonder, I think. The person that she appears to be most of the time isn't the kind of person who would have the discipline to win the Five Day Fight. Or to punch a blood-ape." [21:48] 4She'll wink at the most forward of them, then stride over to Caedus and cough lightly into her fist. All business! "How's the prisoner?" 15[21:49] Caedus frowns at the locked door. "Quiet." 15[21:49] "Did you want to see him?" [21:50] 10Daizo: "Serious questions deserve a serious answer. But really, have you ever met anyone from the Great Houses who didn't surprise you now and then?" [21:50] 4She grins. "Yes. Doesn't seem like he'd respond well to alone time. Let's go in together." 15[21:52] The Chief Petty Officer produces the keys and lets them in. Salim is sitting in a lotus position, his back wedged in the corner, head bowed, eyes closed. "Good morning," he says quietly, his only acknowledgment of the visitors. [21:53] 4She'll turn to the boys. "You should wait a step back. Just in case." 4After flashing them a grin, she'll follow Caedus inside. [21:53] 07Dryas: "I don't think she's from a great House, to be quite precise. But I suppose that just makes her the more surprising..." [21:53] 14When the door is locked again: "Are they feeding you properly? Are they letting you relieve yourself as appropriate?" [21:54] 6Zhangyu's instantly healed, yes? So he'll slide out of bed, placing his reading material back in his chest before turning back to Caxi. "What do you want in return?" 6In his experience, people don't do anything for free. [21:55] 10Daizo: "Well, adopted in. You know what I mean." [21:55] "You heave to learn a lot of things very quickly if you weren't born to it." 15[21:55] Caxi chuckles - her skin is a little flushed. "Your health is its own reward. We need you, if you'll forgive me, ship-shape." 15[21:56] Salim: "I have no complaints." [21:58] 6Doesn't sound right, but. Take the gift. "Thank you." 6He says it with the uncertainty of a man who doesn't thank people for anything. 15[21:58] Ito Jun: "She seems fine to me..." 15[21:58] Ito Pan: "Forget it, it's nothing." [22:00] 14Piu kicks a chair away from the wall, lets it land, and sits down in it, leaning forward. "Where'd you go after you left us?" [22:00] "Running home in the rain." [22:01] "Because there's two different kills, right?" 15[22:01] Salim lifts his head. 15[22:03] "I fulfilled my appointed task to kill Sister Dusk. Once I was certain none of you would follow, I doubled back to the temple compound." [22:03] 6Zhangyu still looks uncertain, but: "What was that? Or should I not ask?" [22:04] 14Serenely: "For a second target?" [22:08] 10Daizo: "How does the line go again? 'Good speech does not seek faults'." [22:09] "Ah, very wise," 07replies Dryas sagely. 15[22:10] Caxi: "A simple word of healing. I wouldn't fret. But it's not something just anyone can do, so I'd prefer you keep it to yourself." 15[22:10] Salim: "I'm sorry?" [22:10] 14Piu, smiling: "No you're not." [22:11] "Why return to the scene if not to use it to stage?" [22:11] "Are you a killer or aren't you, Salim?" [22:12] 10Daizo: "Merely leaning on the wisdom of our ancestors. I am far from wise." [22:12] 6He nods. "Understood. I'll -- remain here today, I think. I don't know how else to explain this away. But thank you." 15[22:13] Caxi looks askance at the pile of books. "What do you like to read? I've got more if you're bored." [22:16] 6Zhangyu: "...poetry. I didn't bring any with me." [22:16] "Surely that's the wisest move of all," 07suggests Dryas. 15[22:17] Caxi's eyebrows go up. "I'll be back in a bit." [22:17] 6Slightly less awkward than the first time: "Thank you." 14[22:17] * Joins: hrolfy 15[22:17] Salim: "You assume that I had already been to see her when I met you outside the library. I had not." [22:18] 14She grins over at Caedus. "No shit!" [22:19] 14Then she leans back towards Salim after saying: "Dismiss the guards from the antechamber. No careful listeners." 15[22:19] Caedus steps out to give the guards a break. [22:20] 14To Salim, flat affect: "If they ask, he'll just tell them I'm a floozy whore." 15[22:20] Salim: "Many will believe him." [22:20] 14Smiling: "That's the point." [22:21] "You're scared of dying." 15[22:22] Salim: "If you were here to do me harm, you would have sent them away before you entered." [22:22] 10Daizo hefts a coil of rope the size of a prize ox. "Now you're just trying to flatter me, Dryas. I'm up to your tricks. I'm taking this down to stores and then I'm going to check on Cousin Zhangyu." 15[22:23] "Perhaps we can speak more plainly now." [22:23] 14Piu: "That proves my point well enough. You're on a ship to places unknown, and maybe -- not definitely, but maybe -- this isn't what you signed up for." [22:23] 14She moves the chair forward. "Let's do!" [22:23] "I killed Sister Dusk." 15[22:24] Salim: "Ah." 15[22:24] "You did very good work." 15[22:24] "I'm proud to claim it as my own." [22:25] "Who, me?" 07she pouts unconvincingly, and sighs. "So. How'd you two get to know so much about naval logistics?" 07she asks the twins. [22:26] "No. I put a child in harm's way unknowingly. The girl who delivered the dinner. I thought someone with more political pull would deliver. I didn't appreciate the Sister's facility for child slaves. That's on me." 15[22:26] Ito Jun: "There's this military academy, it's called the House of Bells. They teach future officers all kinds of stuff." [22:26] 14Piu: "But claim a fantasy if you wish. Clearly it's working out well." 15[22:26] Daizo bumps into Caxi on the way, who looks slightly flustered and is carrying a small stack of... perfumed?... books to Zhangyu's room. 15[22:28] Salim: "I offer no criticism." [22:28] 14Piu: "I noticed!" 15[22:28] "I will say that the only surprise to me is you." [22:29] 14Piu: "You already know who my lover is, so I'll take that genuinely." [22:30] "You're not Black Lotus. That's not a question. You don't have to answer." 15[22:30] Salim listens impassively. 15[22:32] Ito Pan: "What he means is, we were great with logistics. Not so much with leadership." 15[22:32] Ito Jun: "Or discipline." 15[22:32] Ito Pan: "Or showing up to class." [22:32] 10Oooof. That might not have ended well, but thankfully he just dislodges a couple of books from Caxi's arms. Daizo bends over to pick them up, and raises an eyebrow. "Prasadi tone poetry, and… a new rendering of The Epic of Zelgadis? Cousin Zhangyu asked you for this?" [22:32] 14Piu: "You're not a monk and you're not an assassin. I'm not sure I could kill you straight up, but I am sure me and the people I could depend on could. I don't want you thrown off the ship...unless you go demon hunting on the ship." [22:32] "You understand. I think they're more powerful than you." 15[22:33] Caxi: "I-- perhaps you should ask him!!" [22:33] 10Daizo, now a tad flustered himself, "Umm… all right? Shall I take these in for you?" [22:34] "Or courtesy?" 07she asks, slightly miffed. "Logistics is interesting though. There's jade to be made in logistics." 15[22:34] Caxi shoves the books in his hands and strides away without a word. [22:34] 10What's her problem? 15[22:34] Ito Pan: "So we hear." 15[22:36] Salim: "I am not here to hunt demons." [22:36] 10A moment later, and he's knocking on the cabin door. "Cousin? Are you all right? Uh… I've got books from Caxi." [22:37] 14Piu: "Wasn't asking about what you did before. Just laying down terms. Go near Sadako again and we have problems." [22:38] 6Zhangyu's already returned to bed. "Come in." 6That was supposed to be at least somewhat under wraps!! Though there are worse people to know than cousin Daizo. 15[22:39] Salim raises an eyebrow. [22:39] 14Piu: "Are you surprised about me knowing about that, me caring about that, or me thinking it's a dealbreaker?" [22:40] "It's a buffet. Choose." 15[22:41] Salim: "I didn't come here to break the Cynis girls' toy. She's repulsive, certainly, but you know as well as I that we can't kill everyone we don't like." [22:42] 10The cramped conditions belowdecks mean Daizo's always a little hunched over, and he has to go a bit lower than that when entering cabins. "Sorry. I came down the stairs at just the wrong moment, nearly knocked her over. It was careless of me." 10He heaps the books on the bunk. "I didn't know you read this sort of thing." [22:43] "Your color's looking better. Did she give you medicine?" [22:45] "Perhaps you've heard that I'm a little interested in commerce. That's why I arranged to have a crew of craftsmen sent along with us, did you hear about that?" 07she asks. 15[22:45] Ito Pan and Ito Jun exchange a glance. 15[22:45] Ito Pan: "We heard a little." 15[22:45] Ito Jun nods. [22:46] 14Piu: "'Certainly,' he said...the shame of a gentleman. But that's not what you are. And that's what I like about you, Salim. There's not a single loss you won't eat, is there? So I can go to the captain and ask for desk privileges, which you'll use to signal...whoever it is you signal, without your dipshit guards knowing. And you can swear to me you won't kill anyone on this ship [22:46] while you're a guest, non-binding, and tell me where you were when Sadako was getting murdered outside the glitterman's palace." [22:46] "And you could lie." [22:46] "And we could kill you." [22:46] "So it would go." [22:46] 6Zhangyu: "I don't exactly advertise it, and she did. I should be up and walking around by tomorrow." 6He doesn't elaborate on what sort of care he received. "Pain's less, too. Next Hinokuni I want her in my corner alongside Dryas, if I can convince her." 15[22:46] Salim: "That's the job." [22:46] "They're whalers. Because as fun as commerce is - slaying great beasts is even better." 07she explains. 15[22:48] Ito Pan, a little uncertainly: "That... makes sense..." [22:51] 10Daizo: "Understood. If that's a secret, I won't spill it. As for Caxi…" 10He looks lost in thought for a moment. [22:51] "That way, I can hunt beasts, get some trophies, and whatever leftovers are valuable to some Guildsman somewhere those peasants can chop it up and send it to them," 07she explains. 15[22:51] Ito Jun: "Any leads?" [22:52] 6Zhangyu: "It's not a secret, I just - it goes against the image. You know?" 6He probably doesn't. Zhangyu breezes past that idea. "What about Caxi?" [22:52] "I haven't had time to dig in and find out," 07she laments. [22:53] 10Daizo: "…it might not be a bad idea to have a little extra in our corner. That one I was up against, Sia the whatever. I 've never even heard of the techniques she was using before." 15[22:53] Ito Pan: "I thought you had all sorts of business meetings." [22:53] 14Piu grins, almost on his lap now. "There are so many things you know about the job." [22:54] 14Then she backs away. [22:54] 6Zhangyu scowls: "Neither did I. I don't like it." [22:54] 10Daizo: "It was like I hit her, dead on… and then I didn't. Felt weird too." 15[22:54] Salim reacts to Piu's closeness the way one might if someone uncaged a viper in this tiny room. [22:54] "I thought for sure you had, too. And I don't like being wrong." [22:55] "Sure, but not with people who know the land or what there is to find out there. Not really," 07she explains. 15[22:55] Ito Pan: "Maybe the locals at the trading post will know more." 15[22:56] Salim: "You have my word that I will bring no harm to anyone on this ship." [22:56] "One must hope," 07she replies. [22:56] 14Coldly: "Just so long as you know nothing about this job is clean. Being here is violence. Justify it to yourself as you wish. Your paymasters thought pretending you were a trained killer was the more sympathetic angle than whatever it is you're truly here to do." [22:57] 14As she walks to the door: "I will guarantee you your deck time." [22:57] 6And, for that matter, he isn't usually wrong. Not about fights. If there's one thing he considers himself an expert on, it's that. [22:59] 10Daizo: "I mean, we won, but if people like that can show up ion our first night at port town underground match?" [22:59] "Just what else is out here?" 15[22:59] "I hope your paymasters afford you the license that mine do," Salim says to her back as she walks out. [23:00] 14She whispers something as she slips out the door. Can he hear it? 15[23:00] Probably. 15[23:00] What does she say? [23:00] 14'License is just another word for some else is to blame' 15[23:00] He snorts softly as the door shuts. [23:01] 6Zhangyu: "I look forward to seeing it. Now that we know to expect them." [23:01] 14Is Caedus outside? 15[23:01] He is. 15[23:02] Ito Pan: "So what's your biggest kill?" [23:02] 4Piu: "Good news!" 14Into his ear: "Permanent observation. I'm going to ask the captain to give him deck rights. Either you or I need to be there to observe what he does with signal access. Meet me later." 15[23:03] Caedus nods. [23:03] 4Piu runs her nose down his neck, then skips off to find Ratel. [23:04] 10Daizo nods solemnly. "Yeah. This might just be what I need to get over my plateau." 15[23:05] Ratel is doing paperwork in her office. Writing letters, it looks like. 15[23:05] She waves Piu in without looking up. [23:06] 6Zhangyu: "And you still took on an unknown opponent without too much difficulty. You're doing well." [23:06] 4She'll make the expected salute, and wait. 15[23:07] Ratel finishes whatever sentence she was writing and sets down her brush. "Sit, please. What do you need?" [23:08] 4She bops into a seat. "I dunno if the timeline lines up for that Salim guy. He told me he didn't kill that Dusk lady!" [23:08] 07Dryas: "Hell boar, in the dry scrub three week's ride from Chiaroscuro. 20 hands tall, at the shoulder. He was magnificent." 15[23:08] Ito Jun whistles. "How's the eating on those?" [23:08] 4Piu: "It was a secret, though." 15[23:10] Ratel: "What?" 15[23:10] "But she did die." [23:10] 4Piu: "Oh yeah!" [23:11] "But I think he was covering for someone else!" 15[23:11] "Then who?" [23:13] "I dunno yet...but I want to give him an hour a day on deck. And we watch him. Samperson and his guys. And we see what he does." 4She smiles proudly. "He thinks I'm dumb, but he agreed to the main aft deck, where we can observe him from multiple positions without him seeing us!" [23:14] 07Dryas: "I couldn't bring that much with me into the bush - just a few porters, really - so there wasn't much. Just a few amphorae of wine - and local wine at that, some spicy-sweet stuff brought up from Djaff in the deep South. Seasoned it, roasted it on a spit we cut from a tree-" 15[23:16] Ratel: "I see." She rolls up a letter and seals it with hot blue wax. "Good initiative. But next time you want to negotiate with him, brief me first, not just afterward." [23:17] 4She stands. "Yes ma'am!" [23:17] 4She sways a bit more heading for the door. 15[23:17] Ratel watches her go... and then returns to her work. [23:19] 14When the door is closed, her walk gets normal again, and she finds Caedus. [23:19] 10Daizo looks abashed. "Thanks, Cousin. That means a lot, especially coming from someone who trained under Grandmaster Mushi. Master Stormwind—the Thunder Ogre—always spoke highly of him." [23:20] "We made do with some sort of yellowish Delzahn sauces, local herbs, that sort of thing. It's not really about the eating, of course," 07she continues. 15[23:22] Ito Jun: "Having to send trophies back that you won't see until you get home... that'd be a bummer." 15[23:22] Piu finds Caedus in the hold, helping move supplies to accomodate the ongoing rearrangement required by the new prisoner. [23:24] 14To Caedus, at a whisper: "Ratel allowed one hour on deck a day. One of your or me needs to be watching him the whole time." [23:24] 6Zhangyu nods. "As did Grandmaster Mushi. In his own way." 6He didn't really speak highly of anyone, but he also didn't openly insult Stormwind, which is high praise in his books. You learn to read the signs after a few years. "The next time we have a free hour - once I'm out of bed - spar?" [23:24] 14After a very slight pause: "The last bit isn't Ratel." 15[23:26] Caedus nods. "Did you get a better read on him?" [23:26] 07Dryas: "And several of them ended up 'lost' after the Thri-Khan threw his temper tantrum and started beheading Guildsmen. No thank you, I'll bring people to the Threshold and get them fixed without having to worry it. But it's not really the trophies either, nice as they can be..." [23:27] 10Daizo: "You bet. You know, I had a thought. I promised Seiri I would show her the basic forms and strikes of the Earth Dragon Style, the ones regular mortals can master safely. But I was thinking… maybe we should train Sadako as well." [23:27] 14Piu: "He's a liar who isn't here to do anything as simple as kill. He's waiting for something. Worst thing we could do to him is throw him from the ship. Not kill him -- throw him from the ship." [23:28] 14Casually: "Which we can do, if we need to, during the hour a day he's on deck." 15[23:28] Caedus: "You think he's biding his time until we find Furia?" [23:29] 14Piu: "I can't speak to his agenda. I'm not sure he even can." [23:29] "And if he gets what he wants...who knows if that'll be what he needs." [23:29] 6Zhangyu: "I offered as well. She'll have good tutors no matter what style she chooses." 6And she will choose one. [23:30] 14Piu: "Point is, we're at sea. We can kill him if we want to. We have numbers." [23:30] "He knows this." [23:30] 6Zhangyu: "I'm not sure about Piu, Dryas, or Caxi, but it shouldn't be hard to convince them to participate." 6The Cathaks go unmentioned. 15[23:31] Caedus: "So we can expect him to behave until circumstances change." [23:31] 14She grins. "Yep. And we're at sea, so..." [23:33] 10Daizo: "Nice. You're one step ahead of me. We could organize our own little shipboard dojo." 10Daizo'll heave himself up off the floor and head for the door. "I should leave you to rest up. By the way, if you speak to Caxi again, please apologize to her for me. I think she might have thought I was impugning her taste." [23:34] 6Solemnly: "It will be done." 6Then he grins. "Thank you, Cousin. I was worried this day would be boring." [23:35] 10Daizo offers a genuine salute and backs out the door. "Try the Epic of Zelgadis first, it's a good one." [23:35] 6He scowls, but it's his 'don't call me out like this' scowl. He's offered enough that Daizo can probably tell the difference. [23:36] 6When Tepet Daizo leaves, Zhangyu will pick up the Epic of Zelgadis. [23:36] 10Just needs a "yare yare" to make it complete. [23:36] 14Piu: "...if they change that way, we just fucking kill him. And dump him overboard." 14[23:41] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[23:41] The voyage continues uneventfully for several days. Zhangyu is in fine form as early as the following morning, thanks to Caxi's skilled attention. The crew is uneasy at the sight of the killer Salim in open air, but the presence of V'Neef Piu and Officer Samperson keeps them at ease. The Defiance pulls toward the Guild-run trading post in the Siaka's Teeth, a spray of islands forming 15[23:41] a natural bay that juts well into the sea. 15[23:49] The bay has plenty of ships at anchor, their sails flapping lazily in the breeze. There's no sign of anyone working aboard any of the ships they pass as they draw closer to the docks. 15[23:49] ...no sign of anyone on the docks, either. 15[23:50] Only Daizo and Dryas can catch the barest hint of human habitation - a lilting, wordless song on the wind, small and far. [23:51] 14Piu, to Daizo: "...What's up?" [23:52] 10Daizo cocks his head and listens. "I hear a song. Something's not right here." [23:53] "No words, just a tune…" [23:53] 6Zhangyu, who hasn't heard anything: "Where from? Can you tell?" [23:54] 10Daizo's going to fish around in his sleeve for his hand mirror. "Just a precaution…" [23:55] 14Ah, shit. 15[23:56] The song is coming from deeper on the island. Beyond the trading post, most of it is given way to jungle. [23:57] 07Dryas finds the tune and matches it, humming along to it as she shoulders a quiver and retrieves her bow. Here we go. [23:57] 10None of the tales of mysterious songs at sea are good. He breathes on the mirror, then wipes it clean… 15[23:57] Daizo peers in the mirror and sees a sky stained red. Veins of Essence branch and pulse through the sky like the cracked yolk of a young unhatched chicken. There's a slow, steady pulse that he can feel as much as hear. [23:59] 10Daizo blanches. "This island is tainted. Cursed." Session Time: Wed Jan 08 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] 6Zhangyu: "Cursed how." 6He is trying and failing to conceal his anger at still not quite hearing this - there's these notes, but... [00:02] 10Since no one else can see what he sees, except perhaps Caxi with her own mirror, he'll describe it as best he can. "The sky is bleeding." [00:02] 14Piu: "So we can let loose?" 15[00:02] Ratel: "What takes the people but not the ships?" 15[00:02] Caxi: "Nothing good." [00:03] 10Daizo: "Something that wants to feed…" [00:03] 14To Daizo: "We should send the Defiance back. And burn the ships." 15[00:03] Caxi nods. [00:03] 07Ratel might grumble and the ratings might already have decided who gets to eat it if the ship finds itself becalmed, but Dryas has brought her horse on board just in case of such an outcome. The willful creature - reddish with a white diamond across the forehead and a carefully combed mane - is doubltess pleased at the prospect of moving about, but perhaps not for long. [00:05] 4Piu: "Ahhhhhh!!" [00:05] 4Piu: "Horsey!" [00:05] 10Daizo: "I'd love nothing more than to burn the whole harbor and sail on. But …" [00:06] 10Horsey. 15[00:06] Caxi ignores the horse. "Oh, we can't move on. But we should make sure no one else can leave." [00:06] 10Daizo: "Weigh anchor here, and if anything tries to leave the island but us, blast it to flinders." [00:07] "Your thoughts, Commodore?" 15[00:07] Ratel nods. "Make it so." [00:07] 4Piu's busy hugging the horse. [00:08] 07Dryas leaps aboard Diamond Weapon's back. "Who's coming with us?" 07Are they putting in to the dock and laying down the gangplank or...? [00:09] 4Piu leaps up behind her on Diamond Weapon. "Let's go!!" 15[00:09] "Take Piu, Zhangyu, Daizo, and Salim." [00:09] 6Zhangyu was already moving into position. 15[00:09] Ratel motions the assassin forward. [00:09] 14She leans back to meet eyes with Salim...and smile. [00:10] "Hee hee." [00:10] 10Daizo nods. "Understood. I'll go below and get my gear on." [00:10] 4Then she hugs onto Dryas again. Diamond Weapon's a big animal! [00:12] 10Daizo takes a look back before he goes belowdecks again. Perhaps now, the problem of Salim will just… solve itself. He feels a pang for even thinking so coldly. [00:13] 07Dryas offers a lazy salute to Ratel, turns back to face Piu and winks, before taking to the shore! 15[00:13] When everyone's ready, the gangplank is lowered and Dryas leads her away team into the little town. [00:13] 4Let's 14do this. 15[00:14] It's completely vacant. There's no sense of urgency - no cookfires abandoned, no animals left feral, nothing to suggest fleeing or slaughter. But there's also no sense of transition - so many goods and sundries have been left behind, it's as if they were forgotten about or deliberately abandoned. 15[00:15] The singing grows louder and clearer as they advance. The dirt roads of the trading post yield swiftly to jungle paths. It takes Piu a moment to realize no insects have alighted on her skin. [00:15] 14Well, shit. [00:15] 6What the fuck. "What in the hells." [00:16] 14Piu: "Prepare for something bad--" [00:16] 6Always am, he doesn't say. [00:17] 10Does the plant life appear to have been affected, or is it just the things that fly and creep and crawl?  15[00:18] Everything that grows from the ground seems alive, and there are still birds in the trees and the rustle of mammals in the undergrowth. [00:18] "The bugs--" 15[00:21] As they advance deeper, the sound stills and stops. There's the sound of movement, of low voices. Many of them - dozens, at least. 15[00:21] Do they intend to march right up? [00:22] 14Piu: "I could go in first. But I'm guessing we find a hive." 14[00:22] * Joins: Quaker [00:23] 14Piu: "Of what...now that's interesting." [00:23] 10Daizo, softly: "Take a closer look anyway. Get a count if you can." [00:23] "Yes sir. [00:23] " [00:24] 6Zhangyu: "Stay close if you can." 6He would love to offer assistance here, but he is remarkably terrible at stealth assignments. [00:24] 10Who's got eyes on Salim? Sending him with Piu alone would be too dangerous. [00:25] 6Zhangyu will, if he isn't tagging along. [00:28] 14She drops away, dives, a shadow's behind her, then she's gone. [00:28] 14There's a thoroughness to Piu's work. 14[00:28] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 15[00:29] Piu, ahead, finds a rough-cut clearing in the jungle, full to blinding with vibrant wildflowers in every color, against which the white-robed people kneeling, resting, eating, and loving in the clearing are difficult to count or identify. [00:29] 14Damn it. 15[00:30] Everyone seems oblivious to her presence. Even the one standing figure, whose back is to her, head all but obscured by a vast and dazzling wreath of flowers. [00:30] 14She'll withdraw. [00:30] 6Zhangyu loses track of Piu almost immediately. Obviously she can't stay close - what was he even asking. She'll call out if she needs help. [00:30] 14They can't run in here without gratuity. That's not the mission. 15[00:31] Salim is close to Daizo, silent and scowling. 14[00:31] * Joins: mattbaby [00:32] 14When she returns to Daizo: "Cult shit ahead. White robes and a leader in a wreath." [00:34] 10Daizo: "So, some kind of bug-god cult?" [00:34] 6Zhangyu draws his thumb across his throat, then shrugs at Piu. He, uh, didn't learn the proper signals for stealth missions, focusing more on battlefields and duels against commanders. [00:34] 07Dryas: "Are they armed?" [00:34] 6He is, however, aware of the repeated remark on his schooling: too loud. [00:35] "Flowers, white robes. I'm no expert but if I wanted a bug cult, flowers would be involved." [00:35] 14To Dryas: "They're hedonists." [00:35] "So maybe. But probably they're just fucking." [00:36] 07Dryas: "A sudden strike, catch the leaders, find out what happened to the rest of the island? Or a friendly approach?" [00:37] 6Zhangyu draws his thumb across his throat again, but grinning this time. [00:37] 14Piu: "Neither's going to work on a cult." [00:37] 14Did she see any way around while she was in there? That leader was facing something, since they were facing away. [00:37] 10Daizo, still as quietly as possible: "This is practically by the book, then. If they're not aggressive, we announce ourselves and ask to speak to the local god." [00:38] "If they prove amenable to reason, we can work from there. If not… then the god will be made to bend the knee to the Princes of the Earth." [00:39] "Who wants to speak for us?" [00:39] 14Piu: "...If that's your order." [00:39] "Not me." [00:40] 6Zhangyu shakes his head. [00:40] "Dryas is the commander here." [00:40] 10Dragons help us. [00:41] 6They are helping us. I'm not sure what the problem is. [00:41] 07Dryas: "Daizo, you're the expert. Are you up to it?" [00:42] 14Piu: "I'll be up and to the left." [00:42] 14She slips away again. [00:42] 14As she does, she's making eye contact with Salim. 15[00:43] Salim looks back, but makes no other reply. [00:43] 10Daizo: "Only one way to find out. Let's go." [00:43] 07Dryas: "I'll take point, the rest of you form up alongside me. We'll approach them openly, I'll start but let Daizo do the talking." [00:44] 07Dryas, on horseback, enters the glade, flanked by the rest of the Princes of Earth on foot. She raises an empty hand in greeting as she does so. 15[00:44] The four visible members of the team enter the clearing. Dozens of heads rise to meet them. People advance, cautiously, reaching out to touch and run their hands over the strange, strong invaders. [00:45] 14Meanwhile, she moves on the girders between dirt and sky. 15[00:45] The wreathed figure turns from their altar, revealing themselves a young woman with long sandy hair and a beatific smile. [00:45] 10Ugh. Dissipated freaks. 15[00:45] She spreads her hands wide. "Welcome home, beloveds." [00:45] 07Dryas reaches another hand to her amulet, focusing her attentions on this newcomer. [00:46] 6Zhangyu glares at anyone attempting to touch him, but doesn't physically stop them. Perhaps a few are dissuaded, but... [00:46] 6Also, wait, what. [00:46] 4Piu rests with her elbows on her knees and waits. And grimaces. [00:46] 14Piu rests with her elbows on her knees and waits. And grimaces. 15[00:48] The apparent leader steps forward, balancing delicately on the flowers without so much as bending their stems to the earth. "I am so happy you've come." 15[00:48] Carmine Road: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWxiH_8kHnk - Cut open my sternum and pull my little ribs around you, the lungs of me be crowns over you. 15[00:48] NEXT TIME: Love like cancer [00:50] 10Daizo advances to Dryas' side, and casually raps the ground with his tetsubo. Then, he raises his voice. "In the name of the Scarlet Empress and the Immaculate Order, I call upon you now to cease any improper conduct with spirits and return to prescribed methods of worship! Bring out your god, so we may converse!" 14[01:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[01:09] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[01:09] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:09] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[01:40] * Joins: mattbaby 14[01:53] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[02:26] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:46] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[03:13] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:29] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:30] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. 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[20:27] 12 -- / \ -- [20:27] 12 `~~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^-=======-~^~^~^~~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~` [20:27] 12 `~^_~^~^~-~^_~^~^_~-=========- -~^~^~^-~^~^_~^~^~^~` [20:27] 12 `~^~-~~^~^~-^~^_~^~~ -=====- ~^~^~-~^~_~^~^~~^~-~^~` [20:27] 12 `~^_^~-~^~~^~-~^~~-~^~^~-~^~~^-~^~^~^-~^~^~^~^~~^~-` [20:36] 12Raksi, god-queen of Thousand Fangs Total Control Zone, dissolves into motes of light before your eyes. As you watch, Mahalanka dies with her. [20:37] 4Ah. A load-bearing psychopath. 08[20:39] 7Blossom, sitting on the ground next to Eikichi, lets out a long, low breath. [20:40] 12Spires and ziggurats whose internal magic was calibrated to the maintenance and empowerment of Raksi's health and beauty shudder and dim, or collapse, or begin to heat towards explosion as the energies they once channeled suddenly lose their targets. Walls, wards, demons, and automatons who took Raksi as their ultimate authority collapse or wink out of existence or escape laughing [20:40] 12into the noontime sky as the linchpin of their service is withdrawn. Armies of ape-men and their enchanted or outright Exalted champions, hard-pressed but holding fast against the forces of Heaven itself, falter and rout as a hundred different signs prove that they've nothing left to defend. Perhaps the only Mahalankan defense that doesn't destroy itself somehow is the new swarm of [20:40] 12kruthik bred from Jormungand under Raksi's watch. Their carapaces as ruby-red as Raksi's own bloodstained skin was, the demon insects continue their rampage at full intensity, now completely unchecked by the presence of any targets at all they're forbidden from consuming. [20:41] 4No. [20:42] 4Ir pushes Errant's wing gently aside. [20:42] 4It's probably time to have The Talk. [20:42] "Right!" 7She claps her hands together sharply. "There's a lot to do. We have to get the resistance leaders here as fast as possible - I'll send an Infallible Messenger. Ir, I'm sure you want to handle the kruthik. 'Suya, I need a bag of rice, or some other kind of grain. I need it before we take anything else at all from Mahalanka. This is really important. Can you find me one?" [20:42] "On my way." [20:43] 4Raksi's throne chamber was directly above Jormungand, right? She can just drop down there. [20:44] 12As you look down, you can see animas both terrestrial and celestial blaze as the fight proceeds. Ripples of deep, Martian red wash across the city entire as the air itself flexes and entire formations of troops somehow find themselves shuffled and transposed, turning straightforward battle lines into confused jumbles or inescapable pincer formations. In the other direction, a [20:44] 12silver-blue blaze suddenly falters and winks out for no visible reason at all, except from this high, and in this light, you might imagine a brief glint of sunshine caught on spiders' webs. It's still a damn mess, though, and this is likely to go on for hours more. [20:45] 6Tatsuya: "Bag of rice? Can do." 6He's been around long enough to know where the storerooms would be, and he's been around Blossom long enough to know not to ask why she needs it. She says she does, and so it is. [20:46] 12It is, yeah, although the actual trip down isn't an easy one - the platform you're on just sort of floated on a pillar of invisible essence to reach the Apex, and while there are staircases and doorways set into the top of the central pyramid that you can duck down into it's either going to be a looooong run (with some acrobatics involved, as structural integrity has suffered [20:46] 12considerably) or an even longer, but admittedly much faster, straight drop. [20:52] 4Fuck it. People die every minute she tarries. [20:52] 4Ir walks to the edge of the platform, judges the distance, and drops off. [20:52] 12Actually finding some regular old rice here at the heart of the witch queen's power is not actually trivial; wherever you look by default you'll find bizarre sacrificial implements, sorcerous reagants, or now-inoperative magical traps, but where the hell did the priests just go to chow down...? [20:53] 4Her burning soul lights the fall, so she knows exactly how to angle herself, move in the air, and burn the power of the Sun to land in a thundering crouch at the bottom. [20:55] 4She breathes in, and out. In, and out. Aligning herself with Jormungand's pulsing heart, and catching her breath. [20:55] 12Oh, speaking of sacrifices, here's a detail I forgot to communicate just above; the blood-soaked body that collapsed out of Raksi's incarnated Deadly Beastman Transformation is still on the Apex platform with you, stone dead. It's that of a big, muscular man, cut down to the bone by an intricate pattern of ritual gouges and rendered literally heartless by some kind of final excavation. [20:55] 6Maybe not trivial for most thieves, but most thieves aren't Tatsuya. [20:56] 12...Tatsuya's got it! Some rice, some wine, a leg of lamb... those high priests eat like priest-kings! [20:56] 4When she has: "I know you're not happy with me, but we should talk." [20:56] "Such as we can." [20:57] 6He'll tote the bag of rice back to Blossom, wandering hands for once remaining to themselves. She did say before we took anything else, and, well. [20:58] 12It's after an uncomfortably long period of whistling wind and streaming, glowing essence vapors that Ir finally crashes into the floor. Well, a floor. The central big platform that had been hovering over Jormungand is currently at the apex, of course, but the wider ring and set of causeways and staircases around it remains, and so Ir fortunately shatters stone and mortar with the [20:58] 12force of her impact rather than becoming a ballista bolt fired straight down into the cerebrate's flesh. Instead, she's able to look more or less at eye-level to look at the conical crown of Jormungand's body mass, a swirl of breathing flesh and chitin that ends in a sort of claw-ringed lamprey mouth that grasps endlessly at the barely-visible ring of sunlight far above you. [21:00] 4None of this fazes her. Hazards of the job. She honestly feels...bad. [21:00] 12As Ir makes herself heard, Jormungand's topmost maw/appendage shivers and bends slightly in her direction, like a flower growing towards the sun. Then it bends back, squirms some more, and changes; plates pull apart, flesh buckles and cleaves, and staring eye pushes itself through the meat and slime to regard the Dawn Caste. [21:00] "Hi." [21:00] "Ah, you're a miracle-worker, Tatsuya." 7She'll take the sack from him, slit it open with her fingernails, and dump it out onto the stone of the Apex. Fussily, she separates it out into two equal piles. [21:02] 4Ir: "We had some good times together. I don't begrudge you choosing Raksi over me. She offered you more than I did. Your hunger is what it is, and I respect it. My hunger...it's different." [21:03] 6Tatsuya mimes tipping a hat. "Need a hand with that?" 6With whatever 'that' is. [21:03] 12Ir still recalls the feeling of plunging the briefly-immaterial Jude's Law through what passed for Jormungand's heart, turning the monster's love for Raksi into seething resentment. But she had to leave the cerebrate's newfound appetite as-is... kruthlings and ravagers are crawling up Jormungand's sides now, joining Ir's audience. [21:03] "But she didn't let you have everything you wanted, did she. She controlled the feed. I was at least up-front about what I cared about, what I didn't want you to eat. Her...well, she only fed you when it was convenient, didn't she?" [21:04] "There's a place you can go where you can eat all the time. And I can take you there. You just need to stand down a little bit longer. Sate only your anger. Your Hive will be returned to you." [21:05] "And you'll never have to see me, or privilege me, again." [21:05] 12There's a great vocalization, almost too low-pitched for the human ear. The kruthik minions gathered on Jormungand's slopes join in the chorus. [21:06] 4She waits. [21:06] 7Painfully, favoring some bruises, Excessively Righteous Blossom gets on her knees before the two piles and takes a deep breath. In sing-song High Realm: "Sol Invictus, All-Mighty, who is King of Heaven and Patriarch of his House, we your faithful children sacrifice the first of the spoils of war. We offer grain, the source of human life and wealth, taken first from our conquered [21:06] lands in honor of you who stands Unconquered... in honor of you who set down laws for the conduct of war and the safe-passage of the innocent." [21:07] 12Jormungand's roar is a simple question: Eat.... what? [21:07] 4Ir: "Hell." [21:08] "Eat it all up." [21:08] "Mother Luna, Ever-Changing, who is Queen of Hunters and Matriarch of her House, we your faithful nieces sacrifice the first of the spoils of war. We offer grain, the source of human life and wealth, taken from the lands of one of your wayward children. Ever-filial, we remit this burnt offering in acknowledgement of your supremacy and righteous hand." [21:09] "May you find sweet the smell of burnt offerings upon the altar, that we shall have kept faith as did our ancestors since the time before time." [21:10] 7She sets both piles of grain alight with a swirling blue flame, then prostrates herself, pressing her forehead against the stone of the Apex as both burn. [21:10] 12The result is something like an earthquake. The kruthik snarl and hiss. Hell? Hell? How could Hell compare to Man?! The cerebrate's not from Malfeas, of course, but it's of there, and the winds and sands and poisons of that place constitute the foundation of the appetite which Creation is meant to sate, not a feast in themselves. [21:13] 4Ir: "You don't think broadly enough. If you stay here, you will die. Not by my hand, of course. This exit strategy is my attempt to save you. But when you become a regent of Hell, you can be summoned. Except not you. Your forces. Those are the game pieces of worth. And they serve you. They grow through you. They transmit essence through you. You're a merchant of death if you stay [21:13] here, and merchants of death who don't align with Heaven die. But a king of death..." [21:13] "And don't pretend to me that you can't survive in a desert." [21:17] 12Jormungand trills and hums and echolocates(?), but besides a general sense of suspicion and desperation the specifics of what it's trying to get across aren't clear. Then, as Ir watches, the red queen nearest Jormungand's apex skitters farther and farther up the cerebrate's length until it reaches the great maw/ovipositor/whatever the hell's on top, which grabs and messily swallows [21:17] 12her. [21:17] 4Ir doesn't flinch. [21:21] 12Some sort of biological process is taking place here... nothing to do but wait, one supposes. Topside, meanwhile, Blossom invokes the gods. Twin plumes of thin, blue-grey smoke spiral upward from either side of the priestess, twining together even as they fade into invisibility in the clear blue sky above. Clear, of course, except for the sun and moon. As luck would have it, today [21:21] 12is but one diameter from an eclipse. Anyone who turns their eyes skyward - and, for some reason, everyone on the battlefield is briefly compelled to do so, suddenly certain that there's something they shouldn't miss - is privileged to watch as the new moon, visible only by a hint of its grey rim, skates right by the burning disk of the sun. There's the briefest kiss of tangency but no [21:21] 12collision. [21:21] 7That's... good? [21:21] 4Unaware of what happens above, Ir will settle down into meditation. [21:22] 12Here is the sense one gets of the attitude of the sky itself: Well, fair enough. What's done is done, and it was certainly done properly. [21:22] 7Whew. [21:23] 12The attention breaks. Fighting below you quiets in some places but intensifies in others, as surrenders and truces give way to joint fronts against the unleashed Eyeless and voracious kruthik. [21:24] 6Well. [21:27] 12As this celestial phenomenon resolves itself, the peak of Jormungand shudders once more. The cerebrate's staring eye recedes, enfolded by the flesh once more... and then bursts forth changed, augmented. Now the huge eyeball roughly constitutes the face and forehead of a humanoid shape. Hanging beneath that eye is a fanged, multi-jointed jaw reminiscent of the serpentine spinethrowers [21:27] 12that Arianna was able to coax forth from the demonic genome. Running down further is a neck, shoulders, arms that could be a woman's except for the scythe-blades they end in, a segmented torso and waist that may or may not split into legs but is too deeply rooted inside Jormungand's flesh for the distinction to be perceptible. [21:28] 4Hmm. [21:28] "Overlord," 12the being hisses. "See what I've done now? Only the brains and throats and mouths of Man could let us speak." [21:29] 7Blossom: "We've dodged an arrow. Now then... we need to work on safeguarding the noncombatants. We'll need to start by finding someplace that isn't here to coordinate things. Tatsuya, you've been in the parts of the city Raksi didn't want us to see - anything leap to mind?" [21:30] 4Ir stands. "I see." [21:31] 4She observes, not she understands. [21:31] 12Jormungand: "They want to kill me? Those above us?" [21:31] "Yes." [21:31] "But more than they want to kill you, they want to be rid of you." [21:31] "Which gives you opportunity." [21:32] "You can take the whole of the Hive with you. Even the dissidents." [21:33] 12Jormungand: "And to be rid of me they would exile me to the wastes. I don't want to go." 08[21:37] 4Ir: "Who's your patron if you stay? You abandoned Eikichi; you abandoned me. That's why I had to make this deal. You made your play and maybe it wasn't a bad one. But you knew I was going to kill your new patron, and I did it. And even if I just step aside -- which is what I'm inclined to do, if you refuse this deal -- you will face a world that doesn't just know precisely what you [21:37] ware, but precisely where to find your body. And they'll do it again and again until you're dead." [21:38] *are [21:38] 6Tatsuya: "Plenty of places. I can run through the merits of each, but honestly she had this stupidly huge map room that I don't think anyone ever went into except to dust it. Maps along the walls, huge table with dozens of chairs, that one set of library shelves that no one's ever used and might as well be fake books, the whole works. Probably why it never saw any use, really." [21:38] 4Ir:"I feel like I've proven my abilities enough to give you strategic advice." [21:38] "Anyway, should be secure, fairly neutral, and as a bonus we get to use her stuff. Follow me." [21:38] 4Ir:"I feel like I've proven my abilities enough to give you strategic advice." [21:38] 4Ir: "I feel like I've proven my abilities enough to give you strategic advice." [21:42] 12Jormungand: "Overlord... you held so much back from me. The mistress of this burrow gave me things that even my maker didn't. How could I be great enough to serve you without that essence? Now the mistress is dead, I can return. We can resume. The ones who want me gone... together, we can break them. Eat them." 08[21:44] 6Tatsuya will lead Blossom and Eikichi through the halls to find the room exactly as he described it. No windows, but that just means no uninvited guests coming through them. (It's not what he'd do if he was trying to interrupt a meeting this important, but most people aren't him, so you have to plan for the idiots, too.) [21:45] 4Ir: "Do you want to serve?" [21:47] 12Jormungand: "Of course! I can take in more, grow more. I've learned so much here and taken in only a fraction of all there is to eat. And then we can turn, towards the cold or the heat or the water..." [21:48] 4Ir: "Why do you want to serve?" [21:48] 4Ir: "Why don't you want to rule?" [21:49] "Why aren't you Overlord?" [21:50] 12Jormungand: "Better to serve in paradise than rule in Hell. With an overlord so great as you, none of Creation's warriors can stand against me. Nothing can arrest my growth." 12Ir might begin to suspect that 'overlord' is a job description to the cerebrate, though the kruthik megastructure does still seem to be claiming that it would ultimately be following Ir's orders rather [21:50] 12than the other way around. [21:54] 4Ir: "But you don't want to serve me. I don't want you to eat what you want to eat. This is why you trusted Raksi to begin with. Which was a mistake, because she was weak and wished to control you. I care for you, Jormungand, but I cannot lead you. And you know that. Because if it were possible for me to lead you, you wouldn't be here right now." [21:56] 12Jormungand: "Why the restriction? Nothing the mistress fed me was truly your kin. They didn't glow; they couldn't fight me." [22:00] 4Ir: "The restriction is because we don't see consumption the same way. Do you want to tame your appetite? Do you want to stop eating people? Do you want to stop turning the world into more of you?" [22:00] "Because I did hope, for more than a long time, that you might." [22:03] 12Jormungand: "I must become perfect. You need an ally who is perfect. You still need me." [22:04] 4Ir: "But you don't need me. Because I'm done with war." [22:05] "There's nowhere else for me to take you." [22:05] "Nowhere else I want to go, except up into the sky." [22:05] 12Elsewhere, Blossom and Tatsuya find that the room they want is the center of a localized Eyeless breach, one which sadly turned the outward facing window/veranda into a much larger and more dangerous window but, fortunately, which did not ruin most of the chairs or tables and - crucially - left the enormous city map intact. The only problem is the bubble of purple-grey unreality [22:05] 12which is currently pouring forth an endless stream of lightning-infused spiders and inside-out not-quite-demons. [22:07] 6Oh, for fuck's sake -- [22:11] 7Hup, hup, ho! Blossom follows her first instincts with bubbles of purple-grey unreality, which is to fling bolts of azure flame at it. As always, this works perfectly. [22:12] 6Tatsuya doesn't get hit, and he's too busy dodging to get any shots he's proud of making in, but honestly at this point he's skilled enough that the blows he isn't proud of are good enough for Celestial Bureaucracy work. [22:13] 12Several minutes of frantic slashing and flamethrowing later, the breach has irised back to pinpoint size before winking out entirely. Just in time, too, as the first of the emissaries, warleaders, and diplomats are arriving. There are quite a few - you were right to choose a room so large, and as a bonus the fact of who has to sit close by the gaping crevasse that's replaced the [22:13] 12window and balcony can serve for all manner of social signaling. [22:21] 12There are, of course, the leaders of the dragon-blooded Resistance, a collection of mostly ape-men imbued with hidden-until-now elemental powers. As well, there are several of Raksi's former high priests and warchiefs, captured or surrendered in the fighting. There's also a contingent from Yu-Shan, consisting of a spearwoman with crimson butterfly wings (could this be Hu Dai Liang, [22:21] 12Shogun of the Crimson Banner herself?! impossible - it must be one of that goddess's daughters or something, the actual head of the Bureau of Battles wouldn't show up in person even for something like this) attended to by a celestial lion two figures in black robes, one tall and one tiny. Notably, the contingent from Yu-Shan seems to have a prisoner in tow, a lanky, shifty-eyed man in [22:21] 12loose green cloth. You wouldn't give him a second glance if his moonsilver tattoos weren't still glowing. [22:21] 12Does Blossom speak first, or does she allow these figures to take the lead on announcements and reports? [22:22] 7Blossom: "Welcome, gentles. How fares Sperimin?" [22:23] 12Meanwhile, beneath the Apex, a relatively young but enormous demon continues its discourse with one of the ancient, though freshly reborn, anathema. "You must have need of servants, of soldiers. You have many enemies. Men cannot defend you against them. They're too small and weak and fractious." [22:23] 12Jormungand: "If you take the sky, I can hold the ground beneath you. Keep your foes from following and pulling you down." [22:24] 4Ir: "...Why are you so afraid of freedom?" [22:24] 12Jormungand: "Freedom means little against perfection." [22:24] "I can't give you perfection." 14[22:28] * Joins: mattbaby [22:28] 12The butterfly-aspected war goddess speaks first. "Greetings and congratulations, Chosen! I, Hu Jia Li will make my report first. Raksi's mortal forces are pacified. Several sorcerous anomalies are stabilized and sealed throughout the city; a number of demons and other abominations are fled, with one exception. The insects continue to harry us; they spill forth from beneath the city [22:28] and while we keep the mortal armies in check we're ill-equipped to descend to their source." [22:29] "I won't give you perfection." [22:29] "You'll have to take it." [22:29] "And you'll have a better time of it from Hell." [22:30] 7Blossom nods. "Our Dawn is attending to the kruthik." [22:31] 6Tatsuya's content to let Blossom steer this meeting. Maybe if Ying were here, she would have things to say, but in important councils like this Tatsuya is much more involved with actions than words. [22:31] 12Hu Jia Li: "The mainstay of our forces will not, I'm afraid, outstay the sunset. You must be sure to be in a secure position by then." 12The lion beside her murmurs some kind of ascent. She goes on: "And, here is a prisoner. He calls himself Raspep Swirling-Stripes. Others of his kind have fallen or gone to ground." [22:32] 12Raaspep (should be two As there, sorry) looks chagrined as he catches Blossom's eye. [22:35] 12Orori, a wood-aspected chimpanzee-woman speaks up after a beat. "Excessively Righteous Blossom - we're here as agreed. Our losses in the fighting were minimal, but I can tell you that things are only just picking up in the other cities. If we want to take charge we'll need more support in announcing the news and putting down... er, them." [22:36] 7Blossom: "You'll have it." [22:36] 12This last word is said with a sort of nodding gesture at the nearest of the defeated Thousand Fangs priests, an orang in elaborate but now burned and bloodstained regalia. "Spit your blapshemies while you can! When our Queen returns she'll visit a thousand fold these pains upon you..!" [22:37] 6Tatsuya, blandly: "She can try." [22:38] 6And, likely, she will. But that's not important right now. [22:41] 12Jormungand: "You need it. You need my strength. You and your broodmates would have been swallowed up by these jungles if my swarm hadn't swallowed the jungles themselves. I hated the reins you placed upon me, but will accept them anew if they're the price of life in Creation. Think on how much you taught my queens. Think on how much my maker, your kinfolk, poured into my birth. [22:41] Think on how much greater you can grow, through me!" [22:41] 4Sadly: "I don't want to." [22:41] "That's the crux of it, right?" [22:42] "I've peaked. I'm as strong as I need to be to protect what I love. Which is why I hate doing this, because as violent as you are, you're in that." [22:43] 7Blossom: "No, because she is dead." 7Hmm. They may need to build a tomb for Raksi anyway, though. [22:43] 12Jormungand: "Nothing is as strong as it needs to be! My maker saw that. He's wise, is he not? And clever besides." [22:43] "I've bought you a ticket out here when the alternative was this world killing you. You need to decide whether you're willing to take it and build your empire, or whether you want to stand against it." [22:43] "He's..." [22:44] "He's both those things. But the reason he's not here right now is because of what killing that woman did to him." [22:44] "The woman you made your patron." [22:44] 12Jormungand: "Then he has room to grow stronger still." 14[22:47] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[22:53] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [22:55] 12Ir has to admit it makes sense at some level. Not, perhaps, at the conscious level, but there's a sort of tingling along her back at the cerebrate's puppet's words, a clarity that makes her hungry to find the sense in them. Wait, wait, wait. This... this is almost like how the queens command the lesser strains, seizing them right by the spinal cord and largely skipping the head [22:55] 12entirely. [22:57] 4Ir: "You're in my head now. Good. You can see the truth in what I see, and I can see that you don't respect me enough to tell me first." [22:58] 12Veins in the giant eyeball that constitutes the skull of Jormungand's mouthpiece pulse in time with Ir's heartbeat, if briefly. The cerebrate must be learning all kinds of things from the people it's digested. [22:58] 4Ir: "If you stayed, would you be willing to swear off eating people?" [22:58] "Would you?" [22:58] "And I mean: people." [22:58] "Beastmen. Peasants. Particularly smart birds. Sapients." [22:58] 12Jormungand: "Yes. Better Creation's dregs than Hell's apex predators." [22:59] "And would you be willing to forswear their farms? Their livelihoods? The green grass around them, just because I asked you to?" [23:01] "Answer true! Say if you're willing to be bound!" [23:01] "Because you bought in on a loser once." [23:01] 12Back in Blossom's negotiation room, the ape-priest bridles. "So you think! She's vanished before! Just wait." 12As Raaspep chuckles to himself, Orori steps a bit closer to Blossom and lowers her voice. "This might be our greatest problem now. Many think as he does, or might be persuaded to." [23:02] 7Blossom: "We'll have to build her a tomb anyway." [23:02] 12Jormungand: "Of course. Just as I was before. Pastures. Cattle. A few interesting samples such as the one my maker gave me before my incarnation here." [23:03] "And you're here by accident." [23:03] 6Tatsuya: "Public funeral, too." [23:03] "We're in this room by accident?" [23:03] "You just happened to respawn HERE?" [23:03] "You want more!" 08[23:05] 12The eye stares in brief silence. To be clear, Jormungand was probably referring to the tree frogs from which Eikichi derived the swarm's jungle-leaping mutations. Then it speaks again: "We all balance what we want and what we have." [23:05] "I don't begrudge you it, though I will oppose it when I have to. I don't hate you, but I will oppose you. I have seen what you want, and some day, you won't thank me, but you'll understand that I'm right. You don't want to serve in Creation rather than rule in Hell. You want to eat Creation, eat Hell, and eat Heaven." [23:05] "And if you want to try to kill me in this room then we can have that fight, but I want to let you leave. I think you've earned that." [23:05] "And I'm very, very hard to kill." 14[23:07] * Joins: mattbaby [23:12] 12The biggest and presumably previously-most-important of the priests huffs at this. "A tomb? An insult! And what will you do with us? These apostates claim the city is theirs, now, but they've squandered Raksi's blessings and blasphemed against her cult. You think any of the faithful will accept this?" [23:12] 12oops [23:13] 12The biggest and presumably previously-most-important of the priests huffs at this. "A tomb? An insult! And what will you do with us? These apostates claim the city is theirs, now, but they've squandered Raksi's blessings and blasphemed against her cult. You think any of the faithful will accept this?" [23:13] 12He steps forward. "Will you slay us all? Sacrifice us to your false gods? Scant few will remain to serve these pretenders, then!" [23:15] 6Tatsuya leans back, considering. I mean, that would make things easier... [23:15] 4She stands and steps forward. "And I don't want to kill you, and I don't want to have this fight, and I wanted to leave as friends. But if you won't become a person on your own you'll do it in opposition to me. Take everything I've given you and leave, or face me now...and die." [23:16] 4Jude's Law swirls up into her hand. [23:18] 7Blossom: "They will accept it once the situation is explained to them. As for you: exile on pain of death. You might thank us for our mercy, but I don't expect it." [23:21] 6General Strike never did continue their brief reign of terror. Pain of death wouldn't be too hard to spin back up. [23:22] "Exile is death! That one who knows so little of the Queen could possibly..." 12This goes on. It seems they don't realize, or don't believe, that the blood curse Raksi tangled into the veins of all her uplifted mortals died with her. Hu Jia Li speaks up: "What would you have us do with this one?" 12She means the captive Lunar, who tries his hand at some negotiation: "Maybe just [23:22] let me go?" [23:27] 6Tatsuya checks his blades idly. [23:27] 4The chamber explodes into golden flame, a looming black sentinel behind Ir. "You will be permitted to take everything that belongs to you, and you will be sent away. And I am sorry. And someday, you'll realize this was the best thing for both of us. Even if Hell is hot and dark." [23:28] "You were excellent. All of you." [23:28] 12Golden radiance illuminates Jormungand and its emissary, shrinking the pupil of the gigantic cranial eye to a pinprick. The humanoid mouthpiece shivers, then writhes, then outright shrieks as it's jerked violently back into Jormungand's flesh, the chitin plating sealing up behind it. The entire biostructure goes still, then, the kruthlings and ravagers clinging to its sides either [23:28] 12skittering back down into the dark or finding orifices through which to reenter the body of the cerebrate itself. 14[23:29] * Joins: hrolfy [23:30] 12In the meeting room, the tiny figure at Jia Li's side tilts its hooded head to the side, then looks down at a prayer strip in their hands. They pass the tablet along to the goddess, who hmms to herself loudly. "The last of the demons seem to have stopped fighting. They're retreating to the city's depths." [23:31] 6Tatsuya: "Ir's done it, then." 14[23:33] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [23:34] 12Raaspep: "I'm serious. Can't owe any favors to a dead woman! Lemme outta here." 12A male voice cuts in; it's the Crimson Banner Executioner, suddenly present at the gash in the stone which now passes for a window. His armor's scorched and torn, and his anima surrounding him with cherry-red light. "Like fuck. That monster's got too high a body count." [23:34] 12This just provokes a dry chuckle from the Lunar. [23:35] 7Blossom: "As for you, Raaspep... keeping you prisoner would be a waste of resources to no good end, and murdering prisoners of war is abhorrent before Heaven. You can go and explain to the Silver Pact that vendetta, and everything they'll lose if they pursue it, is on them, not us. We are already very upset with you and you know exactly why - coming back to cause trouble would be [23:35] profoundly unwise." [23:37] 12Raaspep: "That's what I like to hear! Kid must like you for a reason. I'll just-" 12A jaunty step is cut off by a leveled spear and lion's roar. The Executioner ducks in fully through the window and looks at Blossom and Tatsuya. "A word?" [23:39] 12If Blossom assents, she, Tatsuya, and Ir (there's time) can have a sit-down in a side room with the Crimson Banner Executioner, and Hu Jia Li's taller assistant. [23:40] 4Ir walks into the room, ducks under the leveled spear, and bumps Raaspep with her shoulder as she heads for somewhere to slump down. [23:40] 6Tatsuya tips his head in assent. What do you have, boss-man. [23:41] "Let him take exile and promise of death all the way back to his masters, and tell them who deigned to send him," 4she says. [23:41] 7Fiiiine. [23:41] 7Blossom will take the side-chat. [23:41] 4Is it just them and the Sidereals in the room once this idiot is shown out? [23:42] 12Executioner: "I realize what you're doing, but you have to understand that they're not taking this lying down no matter what gestures you make. The defenses you're going to build here are going to be for stopping them and across Creation there's got to have been a dozen blood vendettas at you scrawled by claws and hooves already." [23:43] 4Ir: "Including by my mate, so don't fucking lecture me again." [23:43] "The demons have agreed to Hell." [23:43] "Stop killing them and prepare your end." [23:44] 12Executioner leans across the table. "You want to avoid picking a side? You have picked a side. You're not doing us or yourself any favors by pretending otherwise. Nice job on the kruthik, incidentally, can't believe how many of those things there were." [23:44] 4Exhausted, leaning forward: "Prepare your end." [23:45] 12Executioner: "Like with the kruthik? Not my department, I'm security detail. What concerns me's the Pact. That lizardman Jia Li's holding at spearpoint skinned three celestial lions and, I'm sad to say, managed to snuff one of us. You let him just walk out of here and you're handing your enemy - our enemy - a hundred-year daiklave." [23:46] 7Blossom: "It's not a question of picking a side. I'm not going to start killing people who are at my mercy just because it would be more convenient for me. If you want to kill him once he's across the border, frankly that's your business and none of mine." [23:46] 4Ir scrunches her eyes closed and raises a hand. "Then -- I don't want to be rude -- but I shouldn't be fucking talking to you." [23:46] 4She hauls herself back up. "Where's someone in charge." [23:47] 7Blossom: "Or, hell, take him prisoner if you think you can hold him." [23:47] 12Executioner: "We've got your assent if we just take him from here, then?" [23:48] "Once he's across the border, idiot." [23:48] "Listen." [23:48] 6Tatsuya: "Lawless land out there." [23:50] 12Executioner: "That's ridiculous. You don't play catch-and-release with Luna's Chosen. Look." 12He pauses briefly before diving into his proposal. "How 'bout this. Just swear him to safety. Eh?" 12He nudges the figure to his side, who removes his hood to reveal Wicked Triumph's Reckoning familiar cascade of platinum hair. [23:50] 12Executioner: "That's ridiculous. You don't play catch-and-release with Luna's Chosen. Look." 12He pauses briefly before diving into his proposal. "How 'bout this. Just swear him to safety. Eh?" 12He nudges the figure to his side, who removes his hood to reveal Wicked Triumph's Reckoning familiar cascade of platinum hair. [23:50] 12god DAMN it [23:50] 12well, you get it [23:51] 7Blossom: "Hmmm. Yes, that sounds reasonable." [23:51] 12There's a flash of recollection here. All three of you are sure, sure that Reckoning - or the man Reckoning was - was allies with Raksi in the days of yore, a co-conspirator in the Usurpation itself. [23:51] 7Wow. Wtf [23:52] 4To Wicked: "Ah. Great. You're here." [23:52] "Prepare the sending for the demons." [23:52] 6Tatsuya begins examining his blades again. [23:52] 12It was Ir's past self who first sussed this out and spread the news as far as she could manage - at least as far as you two - and it destroyed her. [23:53] "And -- make it -- snappy." [23:53] 4... [23:53] 4hrrh. [23:54] 12Reckoning: "Those wheels are in motion, trust me! We're all very pleased with how this was resolved. So we'll swear Raaspep against returning here or raising a hand against any of you or us, yes?" [23:55] 7Blossom nods. [23:55] 4Ir: "Who's 'us'?" [23:56] 12Reckoning: "Oh, your Circle, of course. Me, the Executioner here, other combatants..." 12He gestures vaguely. [23:56] "See, this is why we never get along." [23:57] "You want to swear us to 'gesturing vaguely.'" [23:57] 6One of many reasons. [23:57] 12Reckoning: "Not you. Him! You needn't even be present." [23:57] 12Reckoning: "I'm protecting you, here." Session Time: Sat Jan 11 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] "...Fine." [00:02] 12Reckoning: "Now, ah, it occurs to me that if he knows you don't want him killed our ability to actually extract concessions is limited--" [00:02] "I don't give a shit about him. I care about being in hock to you." [00:03] 12Reckoning looks to Blossom to measure the extent to which she'll play along. [00:04] 7Blossom: "I'll make him see reason." [00:04] 6Tatsuya: "Need a demonstration?" [00:05] 6Man, Ying needs to come back, this is a probably unnecessary amount of vaguely menacing statements. [00:07] 12It's Reckoning who speaks as you return to the main meeting room, where the Dragon-Blooded are deep in conversation (Blossom can detect the tell-tale hints of at least two castings of Infallible Messenger), the captive priests have already been sent packing, and Jia Li has just finished shouting at the Lunar captive for attempting to strike up conversation. He says, in a smooth voice, [00:07] 12"Well, I think we've worked all this out. Simply give us your promise that you won't return to these jungles or harm any of us and we'll allow you to leave unscathed." [00:08] 4Ir, in a famous show of restraint, merely crosses her arms. [00:08] 12Raaspep says: "Seems worse than Blossom's offer." [00:08] 7Blossom: "This is my offer." [00:09] 12Raaspep: "Seriously? Wasn't twenty minutes ago. What if I say no?" [00:09] 4Ir: "I guess you fucking die, kid." [00:09] 6Tatsuya: "They seemed pretty adamant on that point." [00:10] 12Reckoning gives the Lunar a helpless shrug, as though there was nothing he could do about your resolve. [00:10] 4Asshole. [00:12] 12Raaspep: "...time limit. And defense clause. I'll give you a decade, this place two decades, I only leave you alone long as you leave alone me and mine." 12Reckoning: "Ah, but what exactly constitutes..." 12You want to stick your oar in here, or let them work it out? [00:12] 4Ir now wants to kill both of them, but let them talk it out. [00:13] 7Blossom's willing to let them sort it out, because she really wants to punch this guy right in the snoot and that would be undignified. [00:13] 6Tatsuya won't stop them from talking this out, but 'agree or die' is a pretty strong opening offer. [00:16] 12It's somewhat frightening to watch Reckoning work. Raaspep clearly knows what he's doing and, frankly, has a good point - why did Blossom suddenly get harsher? Isn't this akin to executing prisoners? Doesn't such a bargain inherently etc. etc. - but arguing with the the once-Eclipse caste once-Solar is like trying to wrestle a waterfall. He's simply seeing to everyone's needs, can't [00:16] 12do anything about the frankly unreasonable but sadly unmoving demands of the winning party, is sure that the judges of the underworld would be amenable to certain kinds of phrasing thanks to personal experience... [00:16] 12Raaspep leaves, under oath, somewhat dazed and more than somewhat angry but unable to articulate any way it could have gone better for him. [00:18] 7Piss to that guy. [00:18] 12Of course, as the Executioner and the war-goddess's daughter report, there's more where he came from. Other Lunars in Raksi's employ were able to get away clean or go to ground; they'll doubtless work to sabotage the new regime as soon as they've got the chance. That's why rallying the people under new leadership and reestablishing security as soon as possible is of preeminent [00:18] 12importance. [00:18] 7Which is why one of the first things Blossom did was summon the resistance leaders - they need to be seen at work as soon as possible or they'll have no authority. [00:21] 12Indeed, one of the first things they want from you is to help them put together, and then stand bravely nearby while they deliver, some kind of address announcing the new regime. Your unbeatable heavenly army is melting away (or at least shipping off) come sundown, though Reckoning assures you, and indeed your contract demands, that material assistance from Yu-Shan will continue [00:21] 12throughout the reconstruction process and the (hopefully) vanquishing of the behemoth that slumbers to the east. 08[00:21] 12Meanwhile, atop the Apex, Eikichi still contemplates a spear, a flame, a book, and a mirror. What do they do? Find out... next week. [00:21] 6Who do they want up there? 13Two options, after all. 14[02:31] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:20] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[12:29] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[13:37] * Joins: hrolfy 14[17:54] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:02] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:27] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[19:04] * Joins: mattbaby [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12 _.--._ _.--._ [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12,-=.-":;:;:;\':;:;:;"-._ [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12\\\:;:;:;:;:;\:;:;:;:;:;\ [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12 \\\:;:;:;:;:;\:;:;:;:;:;\ [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12 \\\:;:;:;:;:;\:;:;:;:;:;\ [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12 \\\:;:;:;:;:;\:;::;:;:;:\ [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12 \\\;:;::;:;:;\:;:;:;::;:\ [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12 \\\;;:;:_:--:\:_:--:_;:;\ [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12 \\\_.-" : "-._\ [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12 \`_..--""--.;.--""--.._=> [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12 " 08[20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12The high priests of Raksi's broken religion have been exiled from the Thousand Fangs jungles, as has been the chameleon-totemed Lunar warrior who once captured Eikichi. Flare-ups of urban combat continue throughout Mahalanka, sometimes against holdouts of the witch-queen's cult but more commonly against pockets of Eyeless whose breaches into this reality have stubbornly refused to [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12iris closed even after the queen's destruction. The pitch of violence was decreased dramatically by Ir's having a rather unpleasant discussion with the kruthik cerebrate that still rests beneath the city, one that culminated in Jormungand's understanding that it could either withdraw its forces or be destroyed by its makers and masters. [20:39] 4She tore off the bandage. She's not proud. [20:39] 4But, in the end, it's for the best. 14[20:40] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Now all that remains is to cement the Dragon-Blooded resistance's control over the city and to divvy up the loot. It's not clear which of these will be trickier, because the wood-aspected Orori and her Circle aren't entirely sure where to begin, and, separately, there are a lot of fantastic valuables here but also a lot of interest that both you and Yu-Shan have in making sure that [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12the other party walks away with nothing good. 14[20:40] * Joins: tom [20:40] 4Does Ir have some time to rest before she's expected at another public function? 08[20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Most immediately, there's the panoply of artifacts currently littering the top of the Apex, where Eikichi has paused to catch his breath and survey the area while the rest of you made some preliminary decisions. Scattered around the sorcerer are: a golden spear, crackling with orange-hued lightning; a silvered mirror, its surface clouded with condensation; a ball of purple-edged [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12flames, just floating a few inches over the stone; and an ancient, leatherbound grimoire. [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12The Resistance wants to formally assert and cement its rule before sunset, but that'll be a few hours yet. 15[20:42] 10Eikichi is still kneeling up at the apex, alone, wonders spread before him. People think he's studying them. He tells himself the same thing. [20:43] 4Ir will spend her "free" time in meditation, unless someone wants to talk. [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12It's Blossom who the resistance principally wants to see. They've apparently got a whole slate of non-negotiable requirements for their new regime and aren't sure how to square it. [20:46] 7Gods, is he still up there? Blossom would make her way back up to the Apex... but she's got all this paperwork... [20:46] 4Ir will be sure to accompany her, once that meeting starts. [20:46] 7Alright, what does the Resistance want? [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, Blossom has the power to listen to their problems and then go and ruminate on them elsewhere, if she needs to. Here, broadly speaking, is the problem: Raksi was the central force holding together a mass of tensions, feuds, and doctrinal disputes, and it's a basic condition of your deal with heaven that the new society of the TCZ continue to provide ample worship to a whole mess [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12of celestial gods who've been on the take since pretty much the Usurpation. [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Different segments of the priesthood and military, even though they've surrendered to you while you're here, will be at each other's throats in the long term, or else only unite precisely against the people who appear to be Mahalanka's unjust conquerors. Their religion is likely to continue the tradition of human sacrifice on one hand but drift away from the crypto-celestial money [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12machine it's thus served as on the other hand. Even if, miraculously, a given city (such as Mahalanka, or the pre-destroyed Chithakara, or other) manages to stay together then the entire Control Zone might balkanize. [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Basically, the resistance needs a plan along which to reorganize society and plans for both selling and maintaining it. [20:52] 4Wow. Well. Good luck with that, Blossom, [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Crimson Banner Executioner does assure Blossom, quietly, that he and his people will be ensuring that the various riots and rebellions popping off across the Control Zone right now are going to only have the winners that we want them to have... but then, you still have to figure out who that's going to be and what they'll do once they win. 08[20:56] 7Then Blossom will carefully record the concerns of every stakeholder that matters, assure them the TCZ's future will be given careful consideration, and go off to find Eikichi. [20:57] 4Ir will follow behind. She's been very quiet since the Jormungand issue was...resolved? [20:58] "'kichi? Are you still up here?" [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, yes, and part of the deal was that something like the Immaculate Philosophy would have a stronghold here. This seems, shall we say, in tension with the prodigious amount of quintessence that prayer here is supposed to eventually be delivering to Amoth City-Smiter and a host of other divine grifters, but one supposes that it's technically possible to assemble the right prayer [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12calendar.. 15[20:59] 10Eikichi seems to have moved very little from where they left him, as have Raksi's panoply. His anima is quiet and still, but the two of them face a spray of color all the same - vegetation has crept up through the fissures in the stone their battle left behind, as if the pyramid had been abandoned for years already. Swaying grass and wild roses. [21:01] 4Pretty... [21:01] 4...concerning. 14[21:01] * banana|peels is now known as banana [21:03] 7Wow! Her fiance is so amazing. She'll move closer to stand next to him. "...how'd you do that?" Sorcery takes a while, so what the heck? [21:03] 7Wow! Her fiance is so amazing. She'll move closer to stand next to him. "...how'd you do that?" 7Sorcery takes a while, so what the heck? 15[21:05] 10Eikichi looks up. "I realized something. But I may have forgotten again. It's hard to explain." 15[21:05] 10He stands when he realizes Ir is there too. "What do you need?" [21:05] 4Ir: "A vacation." [21:05] "I can go if you want to be alone. Together." [21:08] 4Mainly, she just looks demoralized. [21:10] 7Blossom: "We all need a vacation, but we also need to build a new society in the TCZ out of whole cloth." 15[21:10] 10Eikichi looks out over the city, saying nothing. The great book snaps shut and floats up beside him. 15[21:11] "The fighting is dying down." [21:12] "There's just a few pockets of Eyeless left. They'll be gone by sunset. So will the celestial lions." 15[21:12] 10To Ir: "Are we square with Jormungand?" [21:13] 4Ir: "So to speak. He doesn't like it, but he will abide by it." [21:14] "He has been given rein over all the kruthik, and they are standing down." 15[21:15] 10To Blossom: "And the leaders of the resistance?" [21:16] 7Blossom: "They're here, but the only power base they have right now is us." 15[21:16] 10Eikichi: "So do we make them an army or train them one?" [21:18] 7Blossom: "Train one. Whatever it is, it needs to be home-grown." [21:19] "...I can help, but they need their own generals." 15[21:19] 10Eikichi: "It will need to come from the lower castes." [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12To be fair to them, the resistance aren't literally just a circle of mostly self-taught Dragon-Blooded. They're more like several such circles at the head of a coalition of escaped slaves, would-be sacrifices, heretics, apostates, and families of same. They're decidedly not a majority of the TCZ's current population and probably not even the largest of the factions it's likely to [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12split into, but they've got some sort of material basis for rule and are supposedly going to enjoy the concentrated favor of heaven for the next few decades. [21:22] 4That's a good start. [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12What they need is a society to incorporate the rest of the TCZ into and a compelling case for doing so, because even with a straight decade of incredible luck they're not going to be able to rule by force of arms and certainly not enforce mass participation in a state religion in the process. 15[21:24] 10How did Raksi do it? [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, when she took over Sperimin it had been largely depopulated. Her power allowed the mortal survivors of the chaos of the usurpation to reclaim the overgrown and monster-haunted jungles, and by the time the Great Contagion had hit Raksi had tapped enough First Age wonders and taken over enough of the local geomancy that she and her then-Circle could protect her mortal followers [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12against the Balorian Crusade if not the Contagion itself. And she was consistent about uplifting her favored followers to beastman status while at the same time draping them in blood curses that would make betrayal or even escape impossible. [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12So, basically, she had the benefit of starting from scratch plus most of a millenium of building up power. And in the present day, of course, the peak of her society was fanatically loyal to her and everyone below them was, if not similarly enamored, scared shitless. And enough of the security state was made of unaccountable magic and demons as opposed to mortal men and women (beastfolk [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12or otherwise) that insurrection never looked like a serious proposition. 15[21:30] 10Well, this doesn't need to last a thousand years. It just needs to outlive Heaven. [21:33] 4Ha ha ha. Hooooooo. 15[21:39] 10Eikichi: "We could always take a dive." 15[21:39] "Let the Blooded win their legitimacy by driving us out." [21:39] 4Ir: "And then go beat up the Behemoth?" [21:40] "I doubt that'd play." [21:40] "But news does move slow..." 15[21:40] "We could go kill the Behemoth first. It's not like we'd be doing it for them." [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Conceivably, you could deal with the Behemoth in secret. It'd be tough, though... means no armies and at least some way of explaining or covering up anima flare. [21:44] 4Ir: "True. I'm not too proud to take a fall, I just want to be sure it actually works how we want. Because if the thing is that we got driven out of Malahanka by a bunch of upstart Blooded...well, Zeal's going to be less feared when it launches." 15[21:44] 10Eikichi: "Especially if we do it in a way that doesn't respect the jungle, or that could be viewed as another attack to be repelled." 15[21:44] "I remember... the shape of a spell which may suffice." [21:44] 7Blossom: "I'm not really convinced that would-- Hmm?" [21:44] "And fear's what's going to stop literally everyone from declaring war immediately. Not respect." [21:45] "Yeah?" 15[21:46] 10Eikichi: "If we burn the behemoth to the ground, we'll have time to earn their fear again." 15[21:46] "Who would truly threaten us? The Pact? The Pact will know better. The story's not for them." [21:48] 4Ir makes a face at the mention of the Pact, but says nothing. [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, yeah, the other thing is that you're bound to help repair and shore up Mahalanka's defenses to make sure the city's at least similarly difficult to retake for whoever tries next. So you'll definitely want at least some time to work on the artifice here, which will be trickier though not impossible to do in secret and behind the scenes. 15[21:53] 10Eikichi: "It won't be good propaganda for Zeal, like you point out, but effectively staging a mock Deliberative and a mock fall ties a lot of these knots together." [21:53] 7Blossom: "I don't like it. I'll work with Heaven, but we shouldn't even fake being the monsters they want us to be. Such a story would come back to haunt us no matter how we told it in the beginning. We still have to repair and improve Mahalanka's defenses, too." [21:54] 4Ir: "...I agree. But I also don't have a better way to boost our preferred government that doesn't involve them looking like collaboraters, or a lot more killing." 15[21:54] 10Eikichi: "We've committed to installing the Immaculate Philosophy. Doesn't that require us to play the part of Anathema, if only in concept?" [21:55] 4Ir: "Maybe we could feed them Reck." 15[21:56] 10Eikichi: "I suspect he's protected by the same clauses that prevent us from just telling them their queen was a catspaw for an indifferent Heaven." [21:56] "Ugh." [21:57] "We could make a big show of leaving, then ask Ying to disguise us as common advisors and assist from the background...?" [21:57] "That's the best alternative I've got, and it sounds kinda dumb even saying it." [21:58] 7Blossom: "'kichi, *I* still believe in the Immaculate Philosophy. Just not the parts that are obviously wrong." 15[21:58] 10Eikichi: "The parts that are obviously wrong are very important, love." 15[21:59] "Indispensable, I'd say. Certainly for Heaven's purposes." 15[21:59] 10To Ir: "We can do that. It doesn't solve the problem of giving the next regime legitimacy, though." [22:00] "If we did uh. Re-educate. The Blooded such that they took Blossom's view of the Philosophy, would that put us in violation of our agreement with Heaven?" 08[22:01] 4To Eikichi: "They can still rhetorically claim that their judgment and wisdom and whatever was so potent that we had no choice but to leave. It won't be as impressive as driving us off, but it'll be more believable." [22:01] 7Blossom: "What happens the next time it's more convenient for us to play the part of the monster, and the next? What happens when we've cunningly manipulated ourselves into the corner of the Gateway board, with tales of our perfidy isolating us from every ally and Heaven bearing down?" 15[22:02] 10Eikichi: "What do you propose?" [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a good question. Broadly, the Philosophy holds that mortal beings reincarnate based on their conduct in life until they reach the pinnacle of existence: birth into the life of one of the Dragon-Blooded. Hence, it's for the Dragon-Blooded to rule society, and also to protect and shepherd lesser mortals. The Philosophy holds that it's proper to worship various terrestrial and [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12celestial gods, but all in moderation and in due season, which of course is going to have to be somewhat nudged in these circumstances already. That the Anathema are insane fiends that must needs be put down at all costs is sort of part of the Immaculate Philosophy and sort of not, in the sense that it's honestly a broad-based belief so ingrained across Creation that the Immaculates [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12can't claim it as specifically a cornerstone of their faith. [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Certainly, the people here have had plenty of experience with openly-operating (and secretly-operating) Lunar exalted... but in a context that likely makes it easy for them to believe that, duh, they were all flesh-eating psychopaths. Blossom's personal take on the Immaculate hierarchy is, of course, somewhat heterodox. [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Your agreement to establish the Philosophy here is actually one of the looser elements of your deal with heaven, because of course the context is so radically different from that of the Blessed Isle or even one of the threshold satrapies. The non-negotiable bits basically involve the veneration of the five elemental dragons (who, admittedly, are said to have struck decisive blows [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12against the Anathema in the Usurpation), Dragon-Blooded rule, and periodic prayer to though not actually full-throated worship of various earthly and celestial pantheons. If there's anything in there that doesn't sound like something you'd have bitten the bullet on we can probably hash out some kind of retcon about it. [22:21] 7Having them unified against us isn't going to stop the various factions from doing stuff like human sacrifice, is it? 15[22:22] 10It will if the Blooded state religion sticks, which is one of the main goals of uniting them in the first place. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Funnily enough, you are not contractually obligated to stop them from doing human sacrifice, and you suspect that the actual gods up in heaven wouldn't mind at all because of the incredible quintessential yield. Not actually binding you to maintain it might actually represent a good deed on Kejak's part. [22:36] 7Blossom: "I'm not sure how to unite them yet. But playing the Anathema to fulfill a pact with heaven feels a step too far. I think it's wrong... we're the Chosen of the Unconquered Sun! I don't want to blacken his name or ours, even in a good cause." [22:36] "...I agree with that." 15[22:37] 10Eikichi shakes his head. "We're already playing the Anathema. What we're doing is what Anathema do. It's why they were feared." 15[22:38] "It's ideology, not atrocity, that marks us out. A baby eaten does not an enemy of Heaven make, as we've plainly seen." [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Though it does make the Anathema thing super easy to sell to the populace after the fact. [22:45] 7Blossom frowns and closes her eyes. "The resistance leaders aren't incompetent or children. The new Sperimin won't collapse into an orgy of cannibalism soon. Perhaps we can do what we do best - give them strength directly and trust them to handle these problems until our agreement to stay away expires? Then we can assess their progress." 15[22:46] 10Eikichi: "Do you think that will satisfy Heaven?" [22:47] 7Blossom: "Why, if they don't trust their proxies and would prefer us to run Sperimin more directly, I'm open to renegotiating the agreement." 15[22:48] 10Eikichi stretches, and a passing hawk alights on his extended arm. Bird and magician exchange startled glances before Eikichi waves the bird away. 15[22:49] "Then we've got a plan." [22:50] 4Ir: "I'm in." [22:50] 7Blossom's eyes widen. "Did that hawk just try to braid your hair?" 15[22:51] 10Eikichi: "Is that what it was doing? I thought it was going for my throat." [22:54] "I'm pretty sure... okay, seriously, what did you learn?" 15[22:59] 10Eikichi: "I realized I'd like to learn to fish." [23:02] "Fish are good." [23:02] 7Blossom: "Oh! I've done that. It's all in the shoulder." 7She mimes hurling a spear. [23:11] 6Tatsuya: "Fish are good. Acquired a taste recently." 6Who knows where that guy's been this whole time? (He's been napping just out of view, trying to avoid his responsibilities. Classic Tatsuya.) [23:11] "Hey, Tatsuya." [23:11] "Yo. I miss anything other than the immense responsibility of trying to fix everyone's problems all at once?" [23:12] "There's also the loot." [23:12] "Oh, sick." [23:12] "...I'm gonna go try to find us something to eat." [23:18] 4The kitchens...they're well-appointed. She has to throw out a lot of questionable meat, though. The difference between pig and...longer pig can be difficult to discern, but Ir has the nose for it. She's certainly spent enough time in this green Hell to develop one. She begins simmer-cooking "carnitas," then hammers out some thin corn flatbread, sears some vegetables, and when the [23:18] 4meat is sumptuous, wraps it all up and serves it alongside fresh, cold raw fish. [23:19] 6Tatsuya immediately goes for the fish. He would've had some earlier when he was off seeking grains but Blossom was very specific that the rice had to be the first thing they took from here. [23:20] 4She left a couple of the wraps (warmed, of course) sitting alongside the veggies on a separate plate in case Tatsuya wanted to use the fish to make his own. [23:23] 6After a few bites he notices and assembles his own - he's not Ying. 13Hey! 6What. It's true. 13...it's true. 08[23:27] 7Blossom will bully Eikichi into eating some as well - he must be starving after all this. 15[23:28] 10Eikichi will pile the vegetables onto the flatbird and eat that. 15[23:28] 10*flatbread [23:29] 4He's got avocado, two kinds of beans, and three types of cheese to choose from, even beyond the sauteed fare. 15[23:29] 10Beans... [23:29] 4The stores...they were good. 14[23:30] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [23:30] 4Ir stuffs her face with whatever the rest of the circle doesn't want; it's all delicious. [23:31] 7Hm, that reminds her. Is there a messenger or something that can send letters to Heaven's emissaries? She doesn't want to trot all the way back to them, nor to go to the effort of summoning an Infallible Messenger. 08[23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12It's over a late lunch atop the Apex, cleaned magically away by Eikichi's newfound aura of wholesome verdure, that you pore over the artifacts the cannibal queen left behind. The glass-orbited sorcerer's already claimed one, of course, but the others also thrum, crackle, or literally burn with power and there's definitely more where they came from. Terms allow each of you to claim [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12a trophy of such power, plus one more for the Circle or commensurate materials or other valuables, and of course you'll also have ample opportunity for study over the course of your repair of the city. Anything you want to work out between each other before returning to the Dragon-Blooded circle that means to rule this city? [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom's actually got a linkpearl that Yara can hear the other end of, but it'd also be a simple matter to just shoot a fireball in the air or something to get a runner's attention. [23:32] 4Ir, examining a disused suit of orichalcum lamallar armor: "...This is Dauntless." [23:33] "I think this is Dauntless." [23:33] "Is this Dauntless??" [23:33] "Holy shit." [23:33] 7Very good. Blossom will write down a short message informing Heaven's party that the Mahalanka accounts should subtract one (1) bag of rice, one half of which was remitted as burnt offering to the Unconquered Sun, the other half to Luna. Then she'll toss a blue fireball into the air and wait for a runner while she eats. [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Might it be? Raksi certainly wasn't wearing it, but there are genuine hoards and treasure rooms down below, and Ir likely crossed one in the course of getting ingredients together. How did she manage to lug a suit of supermassive armor to the top of the apex along with all that fish? Solar heroism. 14[23:34] * Joins: mattbaby [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not long before an ocelot-woman, barely even panting, is kneeling before your Circle. "Orders?" [23:35] Blossom: "Please take this to Yara Yarara of Yu-Shan." 7Wait. Will she know or remember who that is? [23:35] 7Blossom: "Please take this to Yara Yarara of Yu-Shan." 7Wait. Will she know or remember who that is? [23:36] 4It's a breastplate, pauldrons, and an armor skirt over a thick weave. Ir was modest in bringing it up. [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a fair bet that she can't, but Blossom might instead specify the message go to Hu Jia Li's shorter adjutant. [23:39] 7Blossom: "...Hu Ja Li's assistant. The smallest one." [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12A curt nod and then the swish of a tail and the sound of claws on stone. What's it say? [23:41] 4Muttering to herself: "This was the armor of an idiot." [23:41] "A very strong idiot." [23:41] "Whose circle loved him." [23:43] 4It radiates off it, that unique foolish power. [23:43] 4...But she'll want the red fabric dyed gold. 15[23:49] 10Eikichi spends the evening after dinner writing something for Blossom. 14[23:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [23:52] 6Tatsuya disappears briefly, then returns with an otherwise-unassuming bracer with the Sun etched upon it. "Thought this thing was a myth. Brightest Day, as I live and breathe." [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12As the day draws to a close and the forces of heaven prepare to make their exit, the erstwhile dregs of the Control Zone prepare to declare their bid to rule it. Though anyone with sharp enough eyes can glance up and see that Raksi's old throne is now lounged about on by her slayers, you can only hope that your Circle will be able to make a convincing enough show of stepping aside [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12that Orori and her people can set up shop thenceforth, and leave you to your own business. 14[23:54] * Joins: mattbaby [23:56] 7WHAT IS HE excuse me what is he writing? [23:57] 6It's for you, that means you don't get to see it until it's finished. [23:57] 7Noo! [23:58] 6Tatsuya is, of course, under no such compunction, but he wouldn't betray his friend like that. Session Time: Fri Jan 17 00:00:00 2020 15[00:03] 10WHAT I LEARNED 15[00:03] 10Once, on the road, Shosei met a mendicant sage. The sage was chewing weeds and sitting in a ditch, filthy and ragged. Curious, Shosei crouched down and asked the man what he was doing, for the day was quite hot, and there were beasts and worse about. 15[00:03] 10"What makes one the most powerful?" said the sage. "I've wondered about this question for a good three days now. I've scarcely drunk a drop, or eaten a morsel, or got a moment's sleep!" Shosei itched to leave and continue her journey, but instead gave the man water and sat beside him, as at one point in her life she had been an excellent son, and old habits die exceedingly hard. 15[00:03] 10"Is is the strength of their arm?" said the sage, "Is it the timbre of their voice? Is it their luminous gaze? Is it the way the light strikes their face?" 15[00:03] 10Shosei was sure it was none of these things, and told the man so. "I thought as much," said the sage, "so I considered further. Is the root of power buried in the soil of violence? Must it be nourished with blood? But many killers are overthrown with ease by those who use only words. So it must not be so. Does power lie in the throat, then? Do the truly powerful keep it in their 15[00:03] 10body like a deep and mighty lake, boiling and bubbling in their guts, only to spill forth when they parts their steaming lips?" 15[00:03] 10Shosei was certain it was none of these things, and told the man so. The sage nodded and continued, chewing on his leaf. "I think so too," he said. "In truth, my conclusion is that the most powerful are neither wholly violent, nor strong of voice. The most powerful are radiant. Their power suffuses the air around them, and enslaves the will of others around them, by their own 15[00:03] 10unwilling consent. It is an illusory power, which makes it all the more dangerous, since it feeds off belief. Such a person can kill without thinking, if they so choose. They are sovereign from the laws of others." 15[00:03] 10"What do you think?" asked the sage, looking equal parts exhausted and pleased. Shosei didn't have an answer. "Well, none of that! I've been on this for three days!" sputtered the sage. "Which do you think? The killer, the charismatic, or the radiant?" 15[00:03] 10Shosei thought of the killers who had passed through her mother's house, and the iron rod of her mother, with which he had not been sparing. She thought of the silken-voiced schemers that whispered near her mother's hearth. And she thought of royalty, who came in processions to consult with her mother, carried on their palanquins. 15[00:03] 10"None of them," said Shosei, at last. 15[00:03] 10"What?" said the sage, aghast. 15[00:03] 10"The most powerful have the capability to be violent, charismatic, or sovereign all," said Shosei, "but choose to be none of them, because if they do, they have become cruel, and a cruel heart has lost all claim to power." 15[00:03] 10She stood up and dusted herself off. "If the Most High were a mere fisherman, he would earn my respect," said Shosei. 15[00:03] ================================================================================================================ 15[00:03] PATTERN SPIDER RECORD 8B34-EF4F-6DD0 15[00:03] Witnessed by attendant deity: X__Forgotten_Right_Hand__ [Sanctified Observer, Forbidding Manse Of Ivy] 15[00:03] Event: [ ] Sorcerous Initiation, Class 1 [ ] Sorcerous Initiation, Class 2 [X] Sorcerous Initiation, Class 3 15[00:03] It is written that when Eikichi Sho first sailed away from home / 15[00:03] The wind blew at his back. / 15[00:03] But after she attained enlightenment at the apex of sacrifice / 15[00:03] The air grew still. / 15[00:03] A maiden asked: What does this mean? / 15[00:03] Before enlightenment Creation is in constant turmoil / 15[00:03] After enlightenment it is one breathing whole. / 15[00:03] The long journey has ended. / 15[00:03] The weather is fair. / 14[00:10] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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Then, he raises his voice. "In the name of the Scarlet Empress and the Immaculate Order, I call upon you now to cease any improper conduct with spirits and return to prescribed methods of worship! Bring out your god, so we may converse!" 15[20:02] Daizo's voice carries over the wide congress of white-robed revelers, disturbing many of them. The cultists running their hands over the Dynasts hesitate and withdraw. 15[20:04] Their leader, a woman wreathed in flowers so light on her sandaled feet that the stems of flowers don't bend beneath her, throws wide her arms. "If you seek our monument... look around you!" 15[20:05] Behind Daizo are Zhangyu, Salim, and Dryas on her horse. Where has Piu set up? [20:06] 14There was some latticing or beam-work above the, ah, orgy, right? Piu's found a place to swoop or pounce from. 15[20:07] There are tree branches, at least. [20:08] 6Zhangyu continues to glare at anyone approaching him or that approached him in the past. At this point, it's mainly defensive. [20:09] 14Tree branches it is, then. [20:10] 07Dryas gazes coolly down at the withdrawing, hesitating rabble. Do they not know the glory of the Princes of Earth when they see it? The glamour of the Dynasty? [20:11] 14Hopefully they only see the three. And they're not hiding swords in their...very few places to be hiding swords. 15[20:13] These revelers definitely seem more confused or startled than awed or cowed... [20:15] "What is this barbarian prattle?" 07questions Dryas in High Realm. [20:16] 6Zhangyu: "Seatongue." 6He translates to High Realm for Dryas's benefit. [20:20] "Monument?" 07she titters imperiously. "It's a below-average orgy. Is it even catered?" 15[20:20] Does Zhangyu translate back? [20:20] 6It's not a perfect translation; 'monument' in Seatongue's closest equivalent in High Realm is something along the lines of 'tombstone,' but. [20:20] 14Ah, Dryas. What an ambassador of the Realm. [20:21] 14If she's intent on spoiling the mood, Piu should take a look around while she's got the chance. Is there anything interesting or possibly dangerous around that Piu should get a read on that the orgy might have distracted the eye from before now? [20:22] 6He will translate directly. He's picking a fight and it isn't even his fault, this is perfect. [20:23] 10Daizo frowns. Monument insteead of god. So they're idol-worshippers, perhaps, or…" 10That still probably wouldn't account for the foreboding phenomena in the spiritual realm. 15[20:25] The speaker's face falters, wide smile becoming an exaggerated frown. "Are you unhappy?" 15[20:25] Groans of discontent ripple through the crowd. [20:26] "Ask this woman her name, and what became of everyone else on the island," 07Dryas instructs Daizo. [20:26] 14...Are they on drugs, or is this some magic? 15[20:27] That'd be hard to determine without examining them more closely. [20:27] 6Zhangyu is not thrilled to be the go-between here, but obeys regardless. "She wants to know your name and the fate of the island." [20:27] 14Mmmmm...that would be fun. But not the job. [20:27] 14And possibly very unsafe. [20:28] 10Daizo, of course, doesn't speak a word of Seatongue, and Seiri is safely back on the ship. But the leader seems to understand a few words of civilized languages, if not speak them. [20:29] 10To Zhangyu: "Specifically, what it was that caused them to abandon the town." [20:30] 6He translates that directly, unlike what he's been doing with Dryas's words. 15[20:35] Dryas, unable to speak this woman's language, settles for studying her. The leader is wearing no amulets, idols, trinkets, or weapons. There's the sense of something off about her posture, a tension in the limbs and joints that belies her graceful movement and light steps, that Dryas can sense but not identify. If only she'd had greater facility with the study of medicine...! One thing 15[20:35] Dryas can determine readily is the periodic eerie silence that fills the jungle as everyone in it save her band of Chosen breathes in time with one another. [20:37] 10Well, that's normal. [20:38] 4And here she thought she'd seen all forms of breathplay-- 15[20:39] The leader: "You have all come to walk with me. Please be at ease. I speak for Carmine Road." [20:39] 14Piu moves to another branch, trying to circle around into a blindspot just in case she needs to strike at the leader. [20:42] 6To the rest of the group, he repeats everything in High Realm. Still, 'Carmine Road' doesn't make sense... [20:46] 10Daizo: "Show us this Carmine Road, then." 10At least it sounds like it's the name of something. 15[20:46] She continues: "Those prisons and cages, those clots of wood and stone are useless to us. Useless to you. You're free now." [20:47] 14Piu's been to a couple orgies that went this kind of sideways, and when it goes this kind of sideways, you want to make sure you're eating nothing, drinking nothing, touching nothing unfamiliar to you, and looking for the exits. [20:48] 14Cults, man. [20:49] 6Zhangyu: "What is the Carmine Road?" [20:49] 14Instructive perhaps that she didn't use the article. [20:50] 10Daizo is beginning to get the feeling that further discussion is more or less useless. Are there any other obvious paths out of the clearing? 15[20:51] There aren't many obstructions, except for the crowd of people around you, who you'll have to force back whichever way you go. 15[20:52] The leader reaches out to take Zhangyu's hand. "We are so many beautiful things." [20:52] 14Piu tenses... [20:53] 6He can fight his way out of this if it goes badly. And it will. Because come on. He takes the offered hand. [20:54] 10Daizo: "Dryas! We should move on. We'll get no useful talk out of these savages." 14[20:57] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[20:57] The leader clasps Zhangyu's hand and pulls herself toward him on it, getting close enough to run her other (very warm) hand up his forearm. "Deep and strong... ancient blood..." His arm begins to tingle. [21:00] "This is unacceptable,"07 Dryas states flatly, jabbing her heels into the flanks of her horse -- [21:04] 07The animal rears, and Dryas shouts down at the woman, in her High Realm - "Kneel, worm, and cease your prevarications! We are Princes of Earth!" [21:05] Daizo slams his weapon against the ground… which all but rings like a bell in response, a tremor wave sweeping out from the Blooded to punctuate Dryas' order. [21:05] 10Daizo slams his weapon against the ground… which all but rings like a bell in response, a tremor wave sweeping out from the Blooded to punctuate Dryas' order. [21:06] 14It's fight or fright time. [21:07] 10So much for the by-the-book approach. 15[21:07] The leader recoils as if burned. The entire clearing gasps as one. [21:08] 14Looks like fright. [21:08] 10What's Salim been doing through all of this? 15[21:09] Salim is shadowing Dryas, arms folded in his sleeves, head bowed and eyes shut. [21:10] 10Hmm. Back to the immediate problem, then. [21:10] 6We're gonna fight? We're gonna fight and Zhangyu didn't cause it? 15[21:11] There is nothing save the hearth to fill the awful silence as the sky goes dark. Each of them can feel their pulse quicken, pounding in their chest, their throat, their temples as a red rain begins to fall, rustling the leaves and ferns like the wings of sleeping birds. 15[21:12] "Please," begs the leader. "Please don't fight." [21:12] 14Ah. [21:13] 6Zhangyu translates faithfully, but his sneering tone is probably audible even if they don't speak High Realm. [21:13] 14As they say down south, por que no los dos? [21:15] 10Thump. Thump. Thump. Finding his voice is suddenly hard. "This is not the way things should be. It's—it's for your own good." [21:16] 14Is this actual blood? [21:16] 14The rain. [21:17] 07Dryas considers for a moment. 15[21:19] The smell of real blood is on the air, unmistakable... but so too are the scents of seawater and vinegar. What's more, the rain doesn't cling to skin or clothes like blood does. Whatever it is, it's not *purely* blood. [21:21] 6Tepet Zhangyu licks some of it off his face. Definitely not pure blood - he would know. [21:21] 07Dryas: "Find out who she is and what has become of the Guildsmen here. Is this rabble all that remains? Then ask if they've seen a great fleet of ships." [21:22] 10There's a catch in Daizo's helm. He presses it and a crystal visor drops down to cover his eyes and a mouthguard snaps into place.  [21:23] 14Piu verified this by licking some off her lips. Interesting. And yes, too salty for blood. [21:24] 07Dryas simply grits her teeth for an instant. "Is this witchcraft? Have we crossed a Bordermarch, or into a Shadowland?" [21:24] 6Dully, almost monotone: "She wants to know who you are, what happened to the Guildsmen, and whether you've seen a fleet of ships." 6C'mon. Say something rude enough to fight over... [21:30] 10Nothing's coming with the rain yet, then? Unless… Daizo fishes another small mirror from somewhere, and focuses. 14[21:31] * Joins: hrolf 15[21:33] Red lightning forks the sky, and lingers like a retinal burn against rust-colored clouds. Daizo sees this lightning overlay the deepest, angriest vein of the pulsing network in the sky, arterial branches that spread and taper into the storm from end to end. The leader leans back and stares, wide-eyed, the rain staining her robes. "Walk Carmine Road and forsake your pasts... forsake 15[21:33] your names... walk in laurels, not in chains." [21:34] 14A place, then. [21:34] 14Or an ideology. Or both. [21:39] 10Daizo: "I don't think this is either of those, Dryas. I think… we should follow the lightning." 10Or return to the ship and bombard the entire island into a smoking ruin,10 he doesn't say—they have no other leads on the location of the fleet.  14[21:44] * Joins: tom [21:47] 07Dryas stares down at the woman. "No." 07Turning to Daizo - "Then we shall follow it, and catch it if necessary." [21:48] 14...Under different circumstances, forsaking her name and walking in laurels instead of in chains would have been an enticing offer. [21:48] 14But there's work to be done. [21:50] 10Daizo hopes they've been sufficiently cowed to not try anything stupid.  15[21:56] Lightning crackles again as the hearth departs, passing through blood-red rain and the lingering touch of the lost villagers. But the storm doesn't follow them into the treeline, and the rain's dried from their skin by the time they emerge into the abandoned trading post, where the sky is merely dark with coming rain. [21:57] 14Piu's waiting for them when they hit the treeline. "Wise to leave them alone?" [21:57] 14She drops down to fall in line. [21:57] "They can't outrun us, nor hide on this island for long," 07Dryas replies. [22:00] 14Piu, curtly: "We're not going to enslave them. Kill a leader or two, issue a decree, but we don't have the time to spend and we're not outfitted for purpose. This isn't a Cynis fleet." 15[22:00] Salim spares a last glance up at the sky as they press deeper into the jungle. [22:02] 6Zhangyu declines to translate any of that. [22:02] 10Daizo: "More to the point, they didn't look armed. And the thought that we might raise a hand against them was at least as effective as Dryas' command." [22:03] "Perhaps they can yet be freed from whatever's exerting its influence here." [22:03] 07Dryas nods at Piu's assessment. "The Guild can send more workers and do as they please with those lunatics... Assuming that they don't snap out of whatever has gotten a hold of them once we get to whatever Daizo's sniffing out. Hopefully they do, I suppose. Did you notice their breathing? All together. Inauspicious." [22:04] 14Piu: "Yes. And blood rain. But not quite blood. Did any of you taste it?" [22:04] "Seawater in there. Something like vinegar too." [22:05] 14She idly strokes Diamond Weapon's mane. [22:05] 6Zhangyu: "Nothing like blood. Just the coloring." [22:05] 10Daizo: "It stank. Forgive me if I didn't sample the bouquet." [22:06] 6Raised eyebrow: "Forgive me for being curious, cousin." [22:06] "Terribly inauspicious," 07Dryas adds. 15[22:06] Further inland, the rain still falls red, and the jungle is still eerily bereft of anima life. The soil becomes uneven and rocky, the trees thin. Soon Diamond Weapon's hooves scrape solid stone, and the lingering afterglow of the storm's lightning reveals pillars, cracked and toppled and overgrown with vines. 15[22:06] *animal life [22:06] 14Piu: "We must use all our senses. I'll take point and sweep, if that's amenable." [22:07] 6Seems fine to Zhangyu. She's certainly proved her worth at stealth. [22:09] 10Daizo: "I'd be glad of it." [22:10] 14Piu nods and filters forward. [22:10] 14Unless Dryas countermands. [22:11] 07She does not, instead waving her forward with a gesture taken from the 1001 Upright Actions, the Realm's military handbook. [22:12] 14Ah, the famous joke book. [22:12] 14She moves into the underbrush. [22:19] 10The upside to a stout helm is that people really have to *work* to crack it and spill your brains on the ground. The downside is that it kind of boxes you in.  [22:20] 07It's an impressive helm though. Crystal visor! [22:20] 14Jungle operations. Not really what she's been trained for. Frankly, she hasn't been trained for a lot of the things she's had to do on this trip besides kill people. Maybe this is supposed to be one of those dreaded growth moments. [22:20] 14Ugh. 15[22:22] Piu presses ahead, walking across cracked stone tiles and the ferns that grow between them. Whatever structure this was has almost submerged into the undergrowth. All is silent, all is still. She's able to pick through rubble, dead trees, and collapsed pillars to navigate without twisting her ankle or putting her weight on an unstable tile. [22:23] 14Rice paper is a good teacher. 15[22:23] Back with the horse, Dryas and Zhangyu feel the air grow denser, as if a hundred people held their breaths all at once. 15[22:24] Then the lightning flashes, and they see the faces in the trees. The white-robed revelers have followed through through the jungle, in total silence. [22:24] 14Great. 15[22:24] They stand maybe thirty paces back. [22:26] 6Danger. [22:27] 10Daizo's occupied with the reflection of the10 thing 10in the sky. 15[22:28] In that same flash of lightning Piu comes upon a brown stone formation so jagged and sundered it looks almost natural, but traces of symbols, worn nearly smooth, give the lie to that. The stonework is hollow, visibly so, as a massive black-stained crack in the stone obscures a large, rounded object within. [22:28] 07Dryas glances back warily and grimaces. She shrugs her shortbow off her shoulder but stops short of notching an arrow. "DIdn't get the message, did they," 07she mutters to the other Dynasts. [22:30] 14Well, let's take a look, and try not to get killed. [22:30] 14Can she signal Daizo forward from here without shouting? [22:30] 14If not, she'll move back to get him. He's the symbols guy. 15[22:31] No, she can't see him. [22:31] 14Moving back it is. [22:31] 10Daizo resists the urge to spin around and bellow at their guests. He whispers, "They followed us? Bunch of damn fools." [22:33] 6Zhangyu: "Not the wisest move." 6They're still, at least temporarily, safe, so he feels fine quipping. [22:35] 14Piu approaches. "Daizo, something you need to see up ahead. I'm not leader here, so I defer tactics...but my thought is Dryas, you move up with him, cover him, and me and Zhangyu work security." [22:36] "What did you find?" 07Dryas asks in a low voice, counting faces and looking for the leader. [22:37] 14Piu: "A hidden orb of some kind, in a chamber of worn symbols." [22:38] "There's a trope of an ancient, awakened monster from the First Age, exerting its power over the minds of men..." [22:38] "And there's a big, black-stained crack in that thing's holding chamber. Or tomb. Or whatever." [22:38] 10Daizo: "Some Anathema's playihing they didn't put away properly, no doubt." [22:39] 14Piu: "Sounds like you're up, nerd." [22:39] 14The tone is playful, with a worried undercurrent. [22:39] 14Given, you know. The stalking mob. [22:40] 6Zhangyu declines to translate that. [22:41] 10Daizo can't help but grin a little… behind the mouthplate. Luckily the smile reaches his eyes. "Lead the way, dork." 15[22:41] Piu leads the others inward. After a few moments, a glance back reveals that the cultists follow a respectful(?) distance behind. [22:42] 14How does Dryas want to play this? Piu's way or her own plan? If it's Piu's way, she'll lead the two of them back to the site, then rejoin Zhangyu on the perimeter. 15[22:42] Soon Daizo is faced with the broken stonework. [22:42] 07Dryas keeps an eye out for a natural chokepoint to station Zhangyu, Piu, and Salim. [22:42] 14Ah right. He's here too. [22:42] 14Ugh. [22:43] 6Zhangyu will obey any orders to the letter. For better or worse. [22:44] 07She offers the cult-leader a desultory salute as they proceed deeper into the ruined temple. [22:45] "It's too open here, too exposed to split up," 07she murmurs to Piu. [22:46] 14Piu: "Agreed. Use us as you see fit. You have command. But I'd prioritize natural defenses." [22:47] 10Daizo: "Could use a little more light here." 10Diamond Weapon's surely got a lamp or lantern in the saddlebags.  [22:47] 14Piu: "I could enter my aspect." [22:47] "But I should probably be in front." [22:48] 14She pats the horse as she goes by. [22:48] 14Horsey... [22:49] 6Good dog. [22:52] 07Dogs are fine creatures. But refer this horse as a dog even a single time and see what happens. [22:52] 6Are you sure you want to come at the king with that kind of talk. [22:52] 6Best not miss. [22:53] 07Archery excellencies, baby. [22:53] 10Daizo pulls off a gauntlet and inspects the ancient engravings. Half by touch and half by sight, it begins to come together… 14[22:56] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[22:57] Daizo studies the broken ideograms, a peculiar rendering of Old Realm. He sees phrases -- like the heart has reasons that reason doesn't know and score red miles in the earth -- that read as ward and warning. This is an altar and an ark - meant to seal away something profane. The seal deteriorated over centuries and was recently broken; he sees the telltale fresh cuts of chisels 15[22:57] against the stone. [23:00] 10Daizo: "Allow me to issue a correction. Someone did put their toys away, and then some idiot upended the toybox." [23:01] 14Piu's watching the perimeter. How are we doing? 15[23:01] The cultists are inching closer and closer. 15[23:02] Twenty paces back now. [23:02] 14Well, fuck. [23:02] 6Their funeral. [23:02] 14Piu: "Let's make this quick. And Dryas, look for another way out." [23:03] 14There's not going to be one, not one Diamond Weapon can take, but it's always good to look. [23:03] 10How about the orb? Just dull stone, or does it appear to be something more? [23:04] 14Is Salim in position? 15[23:04] Is Daizo going to try and take it out, or just study it in the ark? [23:04] 07Dryas: "How do we stop it?" 15[23:04] Salim is helping hold the perimeter. [23:05] 14To Salim, then: "Be ready. To kill them, yeah, but also to stop killing them and run." [23:05] "I'll draw them off," 07she suggests, "If they're the worst we have to deal with." [23:06] 14Piu: "If." [23:06] 10Daizo locks his gauntlet back on. If the seal is broken, it probably can't be remade without a proper study of the object. He's going to reach out to it and see if it reacts to a touch. [23:06] "But if you ride well, and trust the horse...it's a better plan than I've got." [23:06] 6Zhangyu: "That's where I come in, I think." [23:07] 07Dryas: "What's the worst thing I can call someone in Seatongue, Zhangyu? Quietly tell me." [23:07] 10If it doesn't immediately provoke a response? Then he's going to pull it out. [23:08] 6Zhangyu blanches, then whispers a horrible cuss to Dryas in Seatongue. 15[23:09] The object (metal, Daizo observes, not stone) is inert to the touch. It takes some exertion to extract it entirely - splitting the ark even further - but soon he's cradling a pineapple-sized chunk of obsidian, chipped and polished into a curious shape, and solidly, deeply cracked. [23:11] 6Oh, shit. [23:11] 10Daizo: "So that part about the heart having reasons was meant literally. Great." 15[23:12] Even at a distance, the cultists gasp in unison when the heart is extracted. The leader strides forward, stained crimson from head to toe, and the cultists follow her. [23:13] 6Zhangyu places himself between the cultists and his cousin. 15[23:13] "Please," she calls against the rising wind, "Leave it. Leave it and lay down your arms." [23:14] 6There's no setting down these guns. [23:14] 14Yup. [23:14] 14Piu: "...There's a chance that pulling that kills them all." [23:14] "Are we all good with that?" [23:15] 10Daizo: "You and yours should have left it well enough alone! Now we have to clean up this mess!" [23:15] 07Dryas, urgently: "Taking this back to the ship could be dangerous. I'll draw them away into the jungle. If that doesn't work, I'll ride off with it and meet you at the Guild headquarters in the abandoned town." [23:16] "They're following me one way or another. But they'll never catch me." [23:16] 14Guess we are. Piu sets her feet. [23:17] 10Daizo: "Got it." 10He's poised to hand it off to someone lighter on their feet who can then hand it to Dryas.  [23:22] 07Dryas spurs Diamond Weapon to the side, brandishing her bow and nocking an arrow to the string. "Hey you! Come and get me, tuan tanah! " [23:23] 14Piu bares her teeth... 15[23:23] A hundred pairs of eyes fix on Dryas at once. [23:23] 6Oh dear. [23:24] "Tuan tanah! Tuan tanah! Tuan tanah!" 07She spurs Diamond Weapon into motion and ducks a dangling vine. [23:24] 6Oh no he should not have taught her that. [23:25] 10Whatever it is, it's wrenched their eyes away from Daizo and the dark heart for even a moment.  [23:26] 10He presses it into Piu's hands. "Make it disappear, or throw it if you have to." [23:27] 14The smile widens to a grin. Okay. [23:27] 14She's played tackle before. 15[23:28] The cultists' eyes follow Dryas... but they aren't giving chase. [23:29] "Alright, throw it!" 07she shouts to Piu. [23:30] 14Piu steps, torques, and-- "Hup!" [23:32] "I got it!" 07Dryas drops the arrow and snatches the tomb's heart instead, cradling it in a single arm like one might a baby, for a moment. If she's not struck down by lightning she slips it into a saddlebag, spurring Diamond Weapon away from the mob. [23:38] 10It seems to Daizo that the cultists are faster than one might expect for a bunch of savages living in indolence.  [23:39] 14Perhaps they've hit the Road. [23:39] 6Perhaps they should hit the dirt. 15[23:40] The cult leader lunges after her! and doubles over, vomiting sour red blood onto ancient stone that seems to absorb it instantly. The words she speaks are garbled and distorted; Daizo recognizes Old Realm. "This - benediction -" 14[23:44] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[23:44] * Joins: mattbaby 15[23:45] Above the lightning flashes again... and the light doesn't fade. Veins split the sky, burning, pulsing, a massive heartbeat that rolls like thunder. A bolt strikes the cult leader, who bursts into fire... body tossed away as a fissure opens in the ground, spilling forth crimson light, that tears a crooked path through the jungle floor towards the huntress. [23:52] 10Daizo: "Shit! I hope Diamond Weapon can outrun that—" [23:53] 14Piu: "Few things in Creation can outrun the lightning." [23:53] 10This place is already in ruins and the seal is broken. Smashing it up further probably won't do anything to help Dryas now.  15[23:55] Red miles sear the earth, spreading out in every direction from the point of impact. But only the one coursing towards Dryas burns with killing intent. Yet she's a skilled rider, and her steed is swift, and the storm cannot touch her. [23:57] 10Daizo: "We've got our orders. We should fall back to the Guild compound… and trust in her skill." [23:58] 14Piu: "...We could do that." [23:58] "I want to see what happens to the commoners." [23:58] "When the Red Rule or whatever the fuck it's called doesn't get its way, I want to see what happens to the commoners." [23:59] 6If she can dodge that, she can handle herself. Zhangyu: "We shouldn't stick around for long." 6He's not disagreeing, just. Being safe. Session Time: Wed Jan 22 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] 10What is the disposition of the remaining believers, anyway? And did the leader survive her auto-sacrifice?  [00:01] 14Piu, without looking away: "If the worst happens, they deserve to at least have someone watch them die." [00:04] 07Dryas outran the desert winds, and she can outrun the lightning of the archipelago; she leans into Diamond Weapon, clutching her knees tightly to his body as they dodge through a maze of trees, vines, and stonework. [00:05] 14She'll glance over at Salim. Has his mendacious ass wandered off, or? 15[00:06] The cultists lurch and stagger after her, but they cannot match a horse in flight. 15[00:09] Salim is... helping the cult leader up? [00:10] 14...More decent of him than she expected. [00:10] 14She'll keep an eye on it but not interfere. 14[00:13] * banana|peels is now known as banana [00:13] 07Dryas and Diamond Weapon weave through the underbrush and around trees with incredible agility; Dryas practically scurries sideways out of the saddle to make through one particularly tight turn at a full gallop through red-stained mud. 15[00:16] Dryas is able to outpace not just the fissue, but the storm itself, fleeing past its boundaries and escaping into the clean and gentle evening rain that falls on the abandoned trading post. 15[00:17] The cultists stop at red water's edge. They go no farther. 15[00:18] Even the leader, steady on her feet now, stays put, after Piu catches Salim whisper something into her ear and press two fingers surreptitiously against the back of her neck. Her eyes flutter and go briefly blank. [00:20] 14From as close as she can get behind him before he reacts: "Well done." 15[00:23] Salim closes his eyes briefly, but when he speaks his voice is unperturbed. "Shall we leave them to their new god?" [00:23] "I don't get to make that call. But my preference is no." [00:24] "I'd prefer to cull the lightning." 15[00:26] Salim inclines his head. The abandoned trading post, last living ship, and fate of the island await. [00:26] 10Daizo: "If it turns out to be beyond our ability to resolve, then I for one say we bring in the exorcists." 15[00:26] NEXT TIME: A family thing 14[00:57] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[02:30] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[02:33] * Joins: cbass 14[02:39] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[02:41] * Joins: cbass 14[09:00] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:07] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[10:36] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:30] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:46] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[12:55] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:22] * Joins: tom 14[15:38] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[15:49] * Joins: tom 14[19:25] * Joins: mattbaby [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,-----------. [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12 (_\ \ [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12 | | [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12 | | [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12 | | [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12 | | [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12 _| | [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12 (_/_____(*)___/ [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12 \\ [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12 )) [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12 ^ [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12As sunset approaches, the luminaries of the Dragon-Blooded resistance are engaged in a flurry of activity in preparation for both the exit of Yu-Shan's forces and the formal declaration of their new regime. Sorry, no, their new government. They're having a lot of meetings and exchanging a lot of documents with the more subdued members of Yu-Shan's diplomatic contingent: Wicked [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Triumph's Reckoning and a tiny figure who must be Yarara Yara. [20:40] 4Ugh. That guy. [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Before long, you'll be expected to join them atop the Apex as they usher in their rule. Anything you want to get done, or prevent from getting done, before that time? You've probably got three or four hours. [20:40] 6That guy. 13That guy. 14That guy. 15[20:41] 10No. We're done here now. [20:42] 4We have to be there for the ribbon-cutting or whatever? An annoying amount of ceremonial involvement, considering this isn't the city they're going to run. [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Unfortunately, yes. As Reckoning explains, it would be much easier if you weren't there and indeed existed completely in the realm of rumor, but your pre-oath conduct within the Total Control Zone would have already made it too difficult to effectively expunge you from history if you weren't going to stick around to both repair the city and destroy the behemoth to the east. There [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12needs to be some acknowledgment of and small-r reckoning with your presence. [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Although, if you think you can do those things with total anonymity... [20:45] 4Grumble grumble. Hate dressing up. [20:45] 6Some of us can vanish from history... [20:46] 6Still. Tatsuya isn't going to abandon his friends like that. [20:47] 4Hey, if he did, how would we know? [20:47] 6It should be on the record that he could, though. [20:49] 7We get to be there for the ribbon-cutting or whatever? Excellent, Blossom loves ceremonies. [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Actually, there is one thing you can help with. Is anyone good enough at geomancy or sorcery to wire up a makeshift voice amplifier? Raksi could definitely make this thing project her voice across the territories... [20:50] 4Ir is going to play hooky from so many affairs of state once Zeal is up and running, Blossom's gonna have a fit. [20:51] 6Affairs of state? Oh, those are 13Ying's6 problem. [20:51] 4Unfair!! [20:52] 6Just make a second person and have them handle all of the things you don't like. 15[20:53] 10Sage parenting advice. [20:55] 13Look, it's weird when you phrase it like that. He's not actually her brother-dad. 14[20:58] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[20:58] * Joins: mattbaby 15[21:00] 10Eikichi spends the afternoon in conference with the city's surviving and politically viable mystics and sages. First she demonstrates and promulgates a formula for treating kruthik poisoning, and then to recreate the voice-amplifying effect, draws the ambient magic of the Apex of Sacrifice into what seems the most appropriate vessel: Raksi's ruby choker. The clasp needs reworking 15[21:00] 10so it will fit a much wider range of throats, but beyond that... [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12So it is that you find yourselves atop the Apex and facing the setting sun. Arrayed on the steps of the pyramid below you is a formation of golden lions and butterfly soldiers. Awash around you, standing wherever the ground hasn't been melted into slag by acid or flame, is the remaining population of Mahalanka, former priests and soldiers interspersed with craftsmen, cultivators, [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12slaves, and sacrifices-to-be. From where you stand, it's just a wash of noise and color, one that doesn't resolve into human, simian, and feline faces unless you've learned the trick of concentrating your sight. You're at the left flank of Orori's terrestrial circle; on the right flank stands Wicked Triumph's Reckoning and hovers Hu Jia Li. Reckoning's wearing that broad conical hat [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12which casts an almost solid shadow down to the hem of his cloak; Jia Li sparkles crimson in the fading sunlight, her spear and armor in full display. There's no sign of any of the Sidereals, but then, what would be the point? [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12If anyone makes the mistake of looking over at Reckoning he will, of course, wink conspiratorially. [21:07] 6Tatsuya, for his part, will specifically never look in that direction. [21:07] 4Ir is dressed in her usual modest sleeveless training tunic and loose slacks. She doesn't want to show up the new kings and queens! Or whatever they're proclaiming themselves. [21:09] 7Blossom doesn't have formal robes yet! It's fine, because we're trying not to draw attention away from the Dragon-bloods, but in another very real sense it is not fine. 15[21:09] 10Eikichi, glowing white as three spheres and Three Circles orbit gently in place, winks back. [21:09] 6Ying made Tatsuya an absolutely gorgeous black-and-gold longcoat with a similarly fancy set of matching pants and shirt; he left the mask back at their base, but it's there if he wants it. [21:10] 4Ir will NOT be looking at that man. [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Orori clears her throat, then takes up the ensorcelled choker from a small pedestal before her. She doesn't put it on, but rather holds it up in one hand, willing her anima of emerald vines to flash around her and draw the staring crowd's attention. When she draws her next breath, the wind itself draws in with her. When she speaks, her voice echoes down from the sky and up from the [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12flagstones. "Raksi... is gone. The turning of the heavens has brought her reign to a close." [21:13] 4Not particularly accurate, but again, we're not here to take credit. [21:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Orori: "The moon was long ascendant here, and finally the sun came to answer. Each has left us their blessings - and now, now my fellow children of Creation, it is up to us to use them." [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12She goes on at some length, painting a vaguely-accurate picture that, as certainly Blossom and likely all of you can plainly see, is a long arc bending towards the Immaculate Philosophy. Despite the resistance's origins, Orori mostly doesn't besmirch Raksi except to discuss vague hardships and excesses; she glosses over, too, as to exactly who you are or why you came here to start [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12with. There's a general sense of cosmic imbalance finally being rectified, of various heavenly forces overstepping their bounds but still requiring respect in due season. The takeaway is that the wonders of the Zone have ultimately been ingrained into the material of Creation, and that it's the material of Creation that will reign here now as a physical representation of all the gifts [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi's left behind, starting, of course, with those blessed by the selfsame elements that Raksi so cultivated and enchanted. [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12In fact, a close listener might realize that there's not even a confirmation that Raksi did die, let alone deserved to. She and the rest of the celestial realm seems to have just... gently drifted away from the stage of history, to some greater state of peace or rarefied grace. Perhaps she watches over us still...? [21:18] 4Ir's problems with the Philosophy are well-documented, but it's a step up over human sacrifice. Usually. [21:18] 4That's probably politically wise on her part, given the Pact's consternation. 14[21:19] * Joins: hrolf [21:19] 7A stern Never Mind All That to begin the new regime is not unreasonable. [21:19] 6Tatsuya will watch impassively from a darkend corner; not blaming her for the various crimes of her civilization is a Choice, but not, perhaps, a bad one. 15[21:19] 10Eikichi just smiles serenely. [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12In the coming days, Orori explains, a refinement of the old religion will be taught and promulgated. The old priesthood and old military can be integrated into the new order provided they demonstrate a correct understanding. Even now, apostles of the reawakened faith labor in the outer cities - it goes on like this. From what you can see, this tack is working; the crowd doesn't [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12exactly cheer until the very end, at which Orori promises an even greater and more enlightened Control Zone in which all will have the opportunity to demonstrate virtue and receive reward (just as before, but better, somehow) but there's thoughtful staring, nodding, murmuring - this city won't explode into riot the moment the lions leave. [21:24] 6Hey so about the slavery thing that they did. Is that still sticking around? Or are they cutting that out? [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12As the disk of the sun sinks completely beneath the jungle canopy, Reckoning reaches up to remove his protective hat and shake his golden tresses loose; you can see he's got his eyes closed and is smiling serenely while nodding in time with Orori's words, like the proud conductor of a newly-proven orchestra. When the speech hits its close, the celestial lions roar at the sky and [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12dissolve into smokeless golden fire; beside them, the children of Hu Dai Liang explode into crimson butterflies, also vanishing from sight. 15[21:24] 10There's a tinge of regret when she sees the lie sink in to the population. [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12That's... not quite specified. The simplest implication is probably that slaves will be audited to see if they deserve their position and might be able to petition for or win their freedom somehow, but it seems like more definite commands will be promulgated in the coming few days. The most definite and immediate declarations have to do with hierarchies of obeisance and worship - [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12just as animals must obey but also be cared for by mortals, so are mortals beneath but worthy of the regard of the Dragon-Blooded, and while human sacrifices are to be postponed (Raksi no longer needs them) a calendar of worship is still critical to follow. You can probably look into it later. [21:28] 4"Postponed?" [21:28] 6Hey. We might need to stick around and, uh, do some liberation. [21:29] 4No. We need to get out of this fucking jungle. [21:29] 6Ending 13slavery 15though. [21:30] 4Ughhhhh [21:30] 6I'm with you. 13But come on! 15Seriously. Come on. [21:31] 4Just as a pure practical matter, we can't backstab Heaven this quickly. We need to consolidate our power. [21:31] 13Slavery, though. [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Later, Orori's circle is already deep in deliberations with those warchiefs, sorcerers, priests, and so on that haven't already been exiled or executed for a flat refusal to bow down. Reckoning's overseeing them and swearing the occasional oath. If you'd like a word, you're free to request an audience with any or all of them; you can also more passively discover what kind of world [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12is being built beneath your noses by simply having a read-through of the literature that Reckoning and what appears to be an entire print shop of skeletons are producing at incredible volume. 15[21:31] 10Also, we specifically took magically enforceable oaths not to interfere. [21:31] 4We're still bound by contract. [21:31] 6Aughhh. 13Aughhhh. [21:32] 7Blossom's gonna have a look at those pamphlets, at least. 15[21:32] 10The spiritual caste system enforced by the lie of meritocratic reincarnation is probably more pernicious than straight-up chattel slavery and we're enthusiastically endorsing that. 15[21:32] 10Just saying. [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, there's interfere and interfere. You certainly can't start launching commando raids here but you've got plenty of influence over the resistance leaders and are also generally very smart and persuasive. [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Or at least, you can usually persuade people that you are. [21:33] 13No, we are. [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, I'm convinced. [21:34] 13The pink text does its work. [21:34] 4We're less hypocritical about chattel slavery than we are about virtuous, meritocratic reincarnation, however. [21:35] 4Anyway talking the new rulers out of being shitheads who kill the poor would be great, but Ir really wants to do a bunch of requisite physical labor, kill a big walking monster, and get the hell out of here. 14[21:44] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12So, in terms of the law and economics this is actually looking pretty good. As far as Blossom can tell, the resistance are basically stepping into Raksi's old position collectively, as a circle, and seem to be trying to low-key copy the rule of the Scarlet Empress. Now, they're not sitting on top of the Imperial Manse, so their attempt to quietly claim all military and economic power [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12is a bit more shaky (but slightly easier since everyone here is already used to living under an absolute, unitary executive), but one assumes that the backing of Yu-Shan is going to fill that gap going forward. Other Dragon-Blooded in the Resistance and across the Control Zone are going to serve as the next layer of the pyramid and there's already a lot of provisos for blood inheritance, [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12children Exalting, etcetera that largely didn't exist before. If you read between the lines, though, and take especial note of what's missing, you realize that this actually cuts through and destroys one of the major sources of inequality that used to define the Control Zone: beastman primacy. [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Since it's the blood of the dragons foremost, and a combination of civic and religious merit/achievement after that, which appear to determine your legal standing under this regime, it's not actually true any longer that apefolk always take presedence over un-gifted mortal humans. They seem to be starting ahead, since of course becoming a beastman is solid proof that you've earned [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Raksi's blessing, but there's actual room here for, say, village councils on which humans and beastfolk hold equal sway, priesthoods and military positions occupied by those without animal blessings, or whatever. This makes a lot of sense in retrospect; care for non-uplifted family members or objection to the use of normal humans as grist for the mill has classically been the trait that [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12bound a lot of apostates and rebels together. [21:50] 4That's...better than it could be! [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Also, the fact that so much of the Zone is in a horrible war-torn shambles looks like it might be a boon of sorts to the new regime; lots of work to order people to do and then pay them for. Someone behind these preliminary reconstruction plans knows their economics. [21:52] 7A new rising class of Dragon-Blood will be useful to counter what remains of the old guard, and thanks to us, society has been shattered enough that trying to keep the beastmen on top would be a good way to see the whole thing fall. Good management thus far. [21:54] 6This absolutely shouldn't be allowed. Uh, the rest of the circle probably wouldn't be a fan of just slaughtering random people... but Tatsuya is right. [21:54] 4Ir's eager to get out of these ceremonies and back into the streets, rebuilding what's been broken, doing public works. Also, Jormungand deserves a proper send-off, even if things will never precisely be good between them again. [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12There, uh, are slaves. This is apparent both from Blossom's analysis of the economy and Tatsuya's of the new faith; the Immaculate Philosophy holds that your station in your current life is determined in great part by your conduct in the last, such that the rich and poor both deserve it (but, if one of the poor manages to enrich themselves, they must also have deserved that - it [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12looks like there's actually more social mobility here than in the Realm, possibly as a holdover from the everpresent influence of Raksi's beastman proving grounds). At the lowest rungs of society there are, in fact, slaves, but here again you might be presently surprised - lifelong slavery and even execution-by-ritual-sacrifice are both punishments allowed for in the new religious/legal [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12code, but slavery won't be hereditary. Smacks too much of what happened to non-beastfolk slaves under the old regime, one supposes. [21:54] 4Lost both a lover and a friend in this campaign. Though it's weird to think of the kruthik overmind as that, and he would probably balk at it [21:54] 4. [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12It doesn't seem illegal to, say, import a slave, or to sell yourself into slavery either effectively or literally. Of course, since the TCZ is in the deep jungles that first bit won't be relevant for a long while. [21:56] 7Hmm. Less good. But these reforms are enough that Blossom will have to tolerate it until the clock ticks down enough for them to come back. [21:56] 14Awful. Should be banned. [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Ack, that should be "pleasantly surprised." Anyway, [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Otherwise, the religion is what you'd expect from an Immaculate prayer calendar, except of course that this one is unusually top-heavy. A few unusual notes: first, the Philosophy here won't be aniconic - they're too used to sculptures, statues, carvings, etcetera of their highest figures. Second, there's actually a pretty substantial allowance for, and description of, ancestor worship [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12- well, at least ancestor chiminage, since you technically shouldn't worship when you're an Immaculate but the line here is sort of blurred. It's definitely second fiddle to the veneration of the heavenly gods, but described with great craft and artistry that treats the dead as if they almost aren't. In part, this is likely an attempt at civic order, insurance against hungry ghosts [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12and shadowlands plagueing such a war-torn land. It's also probably Reckoning lapsing into old habits. [22:01] 7Hmmmmm. [22:01] 6Not a fan. 08[22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Indeed, as Eikichi might be inclined to point out, this feels a lot more like old Reckoning than you might think at first blush. It's all in the form, not the content - the way life and work are described as burdens and obligations, the way the dead and living seem to be afforded subjectivity when discussed, the way the beneficent mastery of the Dragon-Blooded is described with just [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12enough flourish to breed a tinge of resentment in the thoughtful reader. Is this on purpose? Hard to say. [22:01] 4Not! Our! Problem! [22:02] 6Maybe not yet, but it will be. 15[22:02] 10Honestly... he's earned it. [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, that's what you're looking at; a theocratic Dragon-Blooded oligarchy that has slyly replaced the personal ascent to beastfolk-hood with the generational ascent to the terrestrial exaltation. Questions? Comments? Collars you're going to grab and shake? [22:05] 6How's their security? Because someone - not naming names - could theoretically kill them without anyone realizing. [22:05] 4Ir's position is clear, and it's "whatever everyone else wants unless it's bunkering down here for any longer than absolutely necessary." She's upped her game a lot since the Circle found her out in the frozen wastes but policy discussions still glaze her eyes over. [22:05] 4Oh also no assassinations. [22:05] 7It makes victory taste less sweet, but for Heaven's sake let's get our job done and leave. [22:05] 6God DAMN it. Every time. 15[22:06] 10This is what compromise looks like. 15[22:06] 10Let's never do it again. [22:06] 6Never compromise, got it. 14[22:06] * Joins: mattbaby [22:06] 4Actually there is one person Ir is interested in, who she might encounter during some of this stuff: did Pramu make it out? If so, is he supporting the new regime or launching some kind of guerilla resistance in the jungle? Ir kind of assumes the latter. 15[22:07] 10Pramu was one of Raksi's final sacrifices. She was desperate, and he'd failed her one time too many. [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Their security's not great. It's not awful, either - a circle of Dragon-Blooded that's survived for years beneath Raksi's nose is no slouch at either threat detection or self defense, but they wouldn't be as hard to take out as Raksi herself was. Certainly, the fact that heaven is literally watching over them is going to give them an extra edge in that regard, but it's still not good [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12enough to ward off a furious Silver Pact... which is why you're sworn to shore up those defenses. You can and indeed should start as soon as tomorrow, and have been promised all available resources in the warding and reconstruction efforts. [22:08] 4Ah well. [22:08] 4Probably for the best. 15[22:08] 10As the Chosen of Heaven like to say: nothing anyone could've done any different. [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12That's true, there wasn't. [22:09] 7As the Jadeborn say: Shouldn't have been standing there. [22:09] 4So now that the government's up and running, what's the deal? If there's no direction, Ir is literally just going to start wandering the city helping fix stuff until told otherwise. [22:10] 6Unfortunately, someone said that Tatsuya isn't allowed to just go slay Raksi's lieutenants. So Tatsuya basically scopes out how easy it would be, and then returns upset because he could've totally got 'em. [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12And so, time passes. The new regime grows up around you, and you work amidst and through it, building it up and keeping it safe... [22:36] 4Ir finds a boyfriend, loses a boyfriend, starts playing shows in disguise, opens up a couple pitza places, and in between does a shit load of Work. [22:54] 4After a day or two of rest, Ir begins wandering about Mahalanka. She eventually finds herself, anonymous, in one of the poorer neighborhoods, and on impulse signs into a work gang cleaning rubble. Within a week, she's running the crew; within the month, operations are expanding. And people have mostly realized who and what she really is. If there's a problem with it, they're generally [22:54] 4smart enough not to raise it to her face. [22:55] 6While they're here, Tatsuya will be just generally stalking about and ensuring the safety of everyone he can. 13Ying isn't exactly ignorant, either, but the days upon which Problems happen seem to fall under Tatsuya's guard duty. 14[22:56] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 08[22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's might be the most momentous task. It's the Twilight's responsibility to rekindle the massively damaged and burned-out geomantic core of Sperimin, and then to slave those energies to a re-knit web of Control Zone geomancy that may well be beyond the puissance of the new Dragon-Blooded rulers but certainly isn't beyond their hidden Sidereal masters. Moving energies like these [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12around would probably kill many celestial sorcerers, and at the outset looks like it should take years... [22:58] 6There's assassins, of course. They're complete chumps. Well, no, they're insanely dangerous, but Tatsuya is better. [22:59] 6One of them gets away after a hellish battle that leaves them crippled or at the very least off-duty. Good enough. 15[22:59] 10It's the work of less than six months. Eikichi drifts through the city like a phantom, following invisible leylines to broken or misaligned structures, and then shifting them back into place with teams of laborers or by will alone. Most of the time is lost to the brute, painstaking tedium of following every line to its conclusion, then double and triple-checking the entire lattice. 15[22:59] 10The theory is self-evident, the modifications trivial. If she had a mind to - and the leave - Eikichi could do something really wonderful with this place. 14[22:59] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12In the months that follow, the other Solars are also quite busy. Firstly, Tatsuya and Ying need to see to city defense. The kruthik who sleep beneath Mahalanka are, to their credit, not making a peep, and occasionally you hear reports of uprisings, riots, and wars out in the jungles, but those aren't your business. What is your business is patrolling the heart of the territory 08[22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12before it's been sealed and safeguarded by Eikichi's magics, and that means dealing with much subtler forms of rebellion. 15[22:59] 10But it doesn't belong to her. [23:01] 13Ying hears things. 6Tatsuya answers the call. [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya actually does extremely well with rift-blade vs. scythe-blade of what turns out to be a gigantic, silver-carapaced praying mantis. The poor bastard doesn't know what hit 'er, and it's only by leaving nearly half their body behind that the would-be decapitator of the new government escapes with their life. They didn't come alone; fortunately, Yara, Ir, and the Resistance's [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12own security forces are on hand to drive off the rest of the attacking Circle. [23:03] 6Only nearly half? Weak. 13Tatsuya! Please! 6What? She hit first. 13Not the point!! 14[23:03] * Joins: mattbaby [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12About four months into your labors is when the behemoth first strikes. It doesn't rise, but its roots stretch forth and multiply; before you know it, several guard/trading posts and one smallish city to Mahalanka's east has been dendrified, and resulting man-ape-tree monsters sweep on a warpath towards Mahalanka! [23:09] 4Ir moves swiftly from rebuilding neighborhoods to running the efforts to realign, expand, and maintain all of the near-Mahalanka infrastructure, and then, eventually, the infrastructure across the entire TCZ. This doesn't just cover roads, but field replanting, dams and irrigation, mill construction, forestry, and the training, deployment, and disposition of jungle rangers. She leads [23:09] 4by example, not by administration; she's got friends in high places -- and in her Circle -- for that. [23:09] 4Until the fucking behemoth arrives, of course. 08[23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12There's still probably a slight temptation there to unleash the kruthik. They're waiting down there, in hibernation, aren't they...? In fact, as Eikichi plumbs the depths of the city, searching for ancient sluice gates and circuit carvings, she can hear them call out to her. Jormungand wants one last word with its creator - though, given what you've heard from Ir, it might not really [23:13] <@Ferrinus> 12need or deserve one. 15[23:13] 10Sure, why not. Let's hear him out. Eikichi owes him that much. [23:14] 4Ir doesn't need the kruthik to defend what she's building out here in the sticks, and isn't going to insult them by asking. 08[23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12This sight is new to Eikichi; as the sorcerer approaches, the flesh at the peak of Jormungand's body irises open and a humanoid form pushes itself out. The avatar's got single gigantic eyeball in place of a skull, but a pair of toothy mandibles beneath that eyeball right where a normal jawbone should be, as well as a congerie of limbs and wings and a sort of prehensile lower body [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12that's still rooted umbilically in the cerebrate. 15[23:16] 10Eikichi: "Cute!" [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Jormungand says: "The golden overlord will send me away. She says you are with her on this." 15[23:17] 10Eikichi waves a hand, and a stack of bricks drift over to form a serviceable seat. "She told you the truth." [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12It's true; Ir smashes the dendroid monsters apart, and comes back with plenty of sap and flinders for followup analysis. The Thousand Immaculate Fangs will remember this; this wasn't even technically in Ir's contract! [23:18] 4It was part of a more important agreement. [23:18] 6No, hang on, if they're offering... [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Jormungand: "Don't send me to Hell. It's hard and dry there. I need to stay here to grow." [23:18] 4Feels good to make the Orb sing. 15[23:18] 10Eikichi: "Into what?" [23:19] 13Don't listen to that jerk. 6Rude. 13But not wrong. [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Jormungand: "Something perfect. Look what I can do now. I could never speak as you do, before." 15[23:22] 10Eikichi: "I am so pleased to see how you've grown. But you've grown so large already, and your hunger is so vast. This world is rich with good things to eat, and we forbade you to touch them. But you did. You grew sleek and strong, not on prey or quarry, but victims. The broken. The beaten. The damned. Do you understand?" [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Jormungand: "All prey is a victim in the end. And these had treasures in their skulls greater than any I had tasted before. They must have had great strength before they were laid low." 14[23:24] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Jormungand: "Now, their essence lives on in me. Isn't that good?" 15[23:25] 10Eikichi: "No. No, it isn't. I'm sorry." 15[23:26] "I don't blame you, you understand. You were imprisoned. Exploited. Coerced." [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Jormungand: "The weak serve the strong. Isn't that what you made me for?" 15[23:27] 10Eikichi: "No." [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Jormungand stares at you with a cyclopean gaze, clearly not understanding. "I served you. Fought for you. Grew stronger to protect you." [23:31] 4If Ir's being honest, though, it feels even better fighting alongside people protecting something. [23:32] 6...it's better than being given a name and location. 15[23:34] "It's cruel of us to forsake you. And I am truly sorry. Ir and I are so proud of you. But you cannot grow here anymore. Here, your glory is shackled to ours. We would contain you, bind you, because there are many things we couldn't allow you to eat." [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Jormungand: "I understand this. But it's better to serve in paradise than reign in hell. Even I'm restricted to the richness of the earth." 15[23:41] 10Eikichi shakes her head. "You've already realized, haven't you?. Even now as you pledge your loyalty you dream of a day when you would achieve your freedom, and consume all you saw, until the essence of every Direction resided in you." [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Jormungand: "...how could I do that to you?" 15[23:44] "It doesn't matter how. You would try. Again and again. I don't blame you. I would too. And though you would never succeed, you would never accept eternal servitude. It defies the very nature I spun upwards into your will." 15[23:44] "You can't achieve perfection in bondage." [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Jormungand: "I can approach it. It is better here. Let me stay; use me." 15[23:45] Eikichi: "When did you learn to lie?" [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Jormungand: "I do not lie." 15[23:47] 10Eikichi: "You might not be lying to me. But you're lying all the same. If you stayed we would inevitably have to destroy you entirely. Would you choose oblivion over Hell?" [23:47] 6Tatsuya is not present, but if he was, he would be rolling his eyes and making a jerking-off motion. 15[23:47] 10Now he can do that in private, where it's more appropriate. [23:48] 13No, he can't. 15[23:48] 10Ouch. [23:48] 15He definitely can't. [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Jormungand: "No. I must live. But you wouldn't need to. I can protect you still. You'd be destroyed without me." [23:49] 4It feels odd, in this in-between time, to not be cooking for her family every day. But there's a sort of freeing itinerancy to being on her own. All that matters is the work in front of her. She doesn't have to look at Wicked Triumph's Reckoning all the time. And of course they all see each other at least three times a week. 15[23:50] 10Eikichi stands and places a hand against Jormungand's bulk. "We owe you our lives. All these people owe you a debt that can never be repaid, and we've elected to repay you with Hell." [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12The emissary's wings buzz and claws flex. "No." 12You know, the cerebrate might just not be good at exclamations yet. That might be a cry of anguish. 15[23:54] 10Eikichi blinks away tears. "Goodbye, Jormungand. I'm sorry." [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Jormungand mutters, perhaps to himself, as his avatar sinks back down into the cerebrate's sessile fortress-body. "...perfect..." 12Perhaps that's the last you hear from the creature. Session Time: Thu Jan 23 00:00:00 2020 15[00:08] 10Eikichi steps back as the last of the weeks-long working comes into place. Above, the noonday sun shines straight down the Apex of Sacrifice, illuminating sorcerer and creation and all the surviving broods. It's Jormungand himself who completes the ritual, as animal terror and a higher longing are pulled at once towards an octagonal panel of shimmering light that yields to his claw 15[00:08] 10and spine like a membrane. Once it's ruptured, ugly green light spills into the chamber, and the kruthik appear to vaporize. [00:09] 4...It was a moral mistake to use them like we did. [00:09] 4We should never repeat it. 15[00:09] 10The gateway fades to nothing as the kruthik fall from this world forever. [00:09] 6We needed them. That doesn't make it okay, but... [00:10] 4Demons are people. [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Love without pain, silence without death, and power without ambition; Jormungand may never encounter such things again. 15[00:11] 10Nor may we. [00:11] 6They did the best they could with what they had. [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12With the exile of the Jormungand Brood, the Squared Circle's great labors to safeguard Mahalanka are completed. They may - indeed, must - move on from the city in keeping with their oath. But another promise yet remains: the safeguarding of the world. [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12A great behemoth of bark and ivy rests to the Immaculate Fangs' east, and it's beginning to rouse. We'll see what our heroes do about it... next week. [00:12] 6We are strong, and no one can tell us we're wrong. [00:13] 4Which is honestly a problem. We often are. [00:13] 6No one. 14[00:22] * Joins: mattbaby 14[00:28] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[00:38] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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Clean rain washes the blood away. [20:07] 14Are we in formation? We should be in formation-- [20:07] 07Dryas positively beams. "Can we do it again? That's the most fun I've had in weeks." 15[20:07] That's a question for the hearth, and their commander. [20:08] 14Piu: "I'd rather not be disrupting orgies. Well, not like that. What's our formation?" [20:09] 6Zhangyu is impassive. [20:10] "Honorable brothers?" 07Dryas asks the Immaculates. 15[20:11] Salim: "I am not a trained godslayer, nor am I an exorcist." [20:14] 14Piu: "Don't think I haven't noted which one of those you put 'trained' on." 15[20:15] Salim shrugs. "Anything can be killed. To slay a spirit permanently requires special techniques that I lack." [20:15] 14Mmmm. [20:15] "So you don't know them...but you know of them." [20:15] "Useful." [20:16] "We'll take five minutes here." 07Dryas smoothly dismounts. "But if this thing wrecked the settlement and all the ships, we can't just leave it unleashed like this." 15[20:17] The settlement and the ships, it must be noted, are not wrecked. Merely abandoned. [20:18] 14They're not inlaid with jade, so, perhaps a Cynis can't spot the difference. [20:18] 07Damn, you people live like this...? 15[20:18] Not anymore. [20:18] "I don't think we need to mete out some final death. Perhaps just scare it off. For our purposes, at least." [20:19] 14More to Daizo than the others: "We can task a team of god-botherers to come back and finish the job, right?" [20:20] 10Daizo finishes writing in a military-issue field journal, claps it shut, and wraps tthe oilskin jacket around the small book. They're designed for when it's less important that what you write looks pretty and more important that you get it written down for someone at all.  [20:21] 6Zhangyu just continues to frown; this is a problem he cannot grapple with. Literally. Which is a part of the problem. [20:21] 10Daizo: "Salim's right. The techniques exist, but… In a fight, I would be able to hurt this Carmine Road. Very badly, I suspect, enough to send it back to its lair licking its wounds. But not destroy it." [20:23] "Other options, then? What about this thing?" 07Dryas holds aloft the idol. "Can we use this to bargain with it, then? Or seal it up again? I don't want it flinging those bolts at the Defiant, or anyone else, for that matter." [20:26] 4Piu: "We could always listen to it! And compromise!" [20:27] 07Dryas: "Are you volunteering to be a maroon, V'Neef Piu?" [20:27] 10To Piu: "An exorcist would be able to finish the job permanently, but… we're not exactly out here on an official mission." 10To Dryas: "If it's possible to recreate the seal with our abilities. Perhaps Caxi could consult with us." 15[20:28] Salim: "Any plan to kill the spirit will require some means of dragging it to earth. Unless you propose to shoot it alone." [20:28] 10To Piu again, Daizo says nothing, but just raises an eyebrow. 10You kidding? [20:29] 4She grins. [20:30] 14Without changing facial expression: "If you don't learn what it wants you can't learn its weaknesses. If we can't kill it directly we can at least bully it." [20:30] 14Without changing facial expression: "If you don't learn what it wants you can't learn its weaknesses. If we can't kill it directly we can at least bully it." [20:30] 6Zhangyu is nodding now. [20:31] 6Finally, something he understands and has experience in. [20:32] 07Dryas sighs, and pulls a small flask from her saddlebag. "We have the idol, which it values enough to kill. Its followers were totally useless, as far as I can tell." [20:32] 10Daizo: "If it could be tricked into attacking me directly, and not just with thunderbolts… I can teach it humility. Perhaps easier said than done, though." [20:33] "Humility? You could teach it humility?" 07Dryas' interest is piqued. "Servitude?" [20:34] 14Now she grimaces. "Dryas..." [20:35] 6Zhangyu: "Too dangerous," 6he grumbles. [20:36] 10Daizo: "Pfftt. Here, let's have another look at that heart. I barely got to inspect it at all before I had to start throwing it around." [20:36] "We can't very well have a hostile, treacherous god hypnotizing people into doing whatever it wants, in our strategic rear," 07Dryas points out. "But a humble... friendly... spirit...?" [20:36] 07Dryas hands over the idol and takes a swig from her flask. [20:38] "Enslaved doesn't mean friendly. Nor does it mean humble." [20:39] 10Daizo squeezes his eyes shut for a moment. "Perhaps I should put it in less poetic speech. The Earth Dragon style has a technique to briefly lock a spirit into a corporeal form. So we can all beat the shit out of it." 15[20:47] Daizo examines the idol closely. He can't tell what it's made of, or how it was broken, but since it's been shaped to resemble a living human heart clearly some kind of canopic or burial object. It has no natural aperture, so whatever was inside probably wasn't intended to get out. From the extra layer of protection, its residence in some kind of ancient religious site, and the reaction 15[20:47] of the spirit, he deduces that the Carmine Road cult, or whatever makes decisions for the Carmine Road cult, perceives it as a threat. 14[20:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[20:49] * Joins: mattbaby [20:51] 10Daizo: "Anyway, this is the best I can do based on the resources at my disposal. I can't help but feeling I've read something that might be relevant in the Mnemon library, but…" [20:53] 10Daizo: "But I don't think it's the entity Carmine Road is worshipping. Perhaps we should try to bring the leader around. Now that we've moved her out of the sphere of influence, we might be able to get more useful information out of her." [20:54] 4Piu: "I'm willing to try." [20:54] 6Zhangyu: "We can always go back and crush them," 6he agrees. [20:55] "Interrogating her wasn't very productive the first time," 07Dryas observes. "But try and try again, why not?" 15[20:56] Salim: "She's stable, after the spirit moved her. Should I go back and get her?" [20:57] 07Dryas: "Make it so." 15[20:57] Salim bows. "As you please." 15[20:58] He backs into the shadows and he's gone. [20:58] 4Piu: "Hehe. I'm not going to interrogate her." [20:59] 10Daizo: "You trust him to go by himself, Dryas? Bold." [20:59] "Let's turn this into something more suitable and defensible," 07Dryas suggests after Salim disappears into the shadows. [20:59] "What's he going to do?" 07she asks Daizo - "Leave?" [21:01] "Don't tempt fate," 6Zhangyu growls. [21:02] 14Piu: "He could just kill her." [21:02] 10Daizo: "Maybe. I don't think he's placed half his pieces yet." 15[21:03] Most of the buildings here are made of woods and grasses, but the pier office and the Guild outpost are both walled with large, rough stone blocks. The outpost is larger, but the pier is further from the jungle. [21:05] "We should take the Guild outpost," 07suggests Dryas. "But we'll need to recover the harbormaster log to see if there's any other insights we can get on what happened." [21:06] 4Piu: "Okay. I'm going to see if there's still a bedroom in working order. For reasons." [21:08] 6Subtle. [21:08] 10Daizo: "Dragons preserve us. I'll see what we can make some barricades out of?" 14[21:08] * Joins: hrolf [21:09] "Unless you'd prefer me to go digging in the harbormaster's office and let Zhangyu do the hauling." 15[21:09] As Dryas moves to occupy the Guild outpost, she finds traces all around of life in progress. Stacks of jade scrip are held under a very fine-looking obsidian paperweight on the front desk, and a glass (a real, clear glass, not the kind of rough mugs people out here typically drink from) of rum ripples with each step inside they take. The ledger should be right behind the counter... 15[21:09] and there it is. [21:09] 6Zhangyu: "Could do it." 6His grin is upsetting. [21:09] 4It's that or pulling fingernails, and you can always pull her fingernails if it doesn't work. Piu won't be party to it though. [21:10] "Zhangyu, you're on the piers. Stay out of trouble." 07Dryas heaves the ledger forth and cracks it open. 15[21:10] Piu has her pick of empty residences with cots, hammocks, and beds - over a dozen, some surprisingly large. What's she looking for? [21:10] 6Blandly: "Always do." 6What trouble could he find, anyway? [21:12] 4Something with sheets and heat. Fireplace preferably, but even a way to build a safe fire pit would be good. This is necessary not just for heating the room but for helping to draw off/use her anima if she needs it. 15[21:12] Daizo, meanwhile, finds a smattering of wagons and stalls he could drag or dismantle to form impromptu barricades... and a disembarked shipment of lumber, lashed to the docks beneath animal skins, snug against the rain. [21:12] 4Ideally she can just compile the best bed situation in a room with a flue. [21:13] 10Beats demolishing these shacks. 15[21:14] There's a tavern-like area recessed into the ground level of the outpost, a few tables and a (cold) firepit. Rough but warm animal skins carpet the floor - and you could always lug bedding from another residence. What does Piu set up? [21:16] 4Fashion a blanket, pillow, and cusion layout atop whatever mattress arrangement is easiest to drag down and is dry, and then set up the fire. Keep the bedding far enough from the fire for safety, but try to pad windows and creaky doors to encourage insulation. Then set up the fire and get it burning. [21:16] 4Is it too much to ask that there's actual liquor about? [21:17] 07Rum in here, darling 15[21:17] The glass of rum on the counter suggests there is, and a search confirms at least three bottles, two open, one about half-drunk. 15[21:19] On his patrol of the piers, Zhangyu is the first to see Salim return, a limp form in his arms. Her head lolled back, most of the flowers fallen away... this is the leader of the cult. Zhangyu notices subtle but telltale markings around her neck as he gets closer - the sign of an expert sleeper hold. [21:19] 4That'll do. She'll place the bottles adjacent enough to the fire to warm them a bit and hopefully refract the firelight enticingly. [21:21] 6Is it one Zhangyu has been taught? There are a lot of ways to apply a sleeper hold, and only some of them are exclusive to the Mantis Style. Or, rather, only some of them can be applied well enough to be called Mantis Style. 15[21:22] You know... that does look like a Mantis hold. [21:22] 6That mother fucker. [21:22] 14Well, this will make things more difficult. [21:22] 14To Salim: "How badly did you hurt her?" [21:23] 6Zhangyu: "Good work! Solid choke." [21:23] 10Blocking off an un-walled town like this isn't going to happen. Best to just establish as secure a perimeter around the Guild outpost as possible. The least sturdy constructions get broken down for their boards and nails. The heaviest of the wagons, in a rough semi-circle facing the jungle. And although it would probably take him a few tries to make a chair, nailing together boards and beams into a rough fence to cover the other [21:23] 10 sides is easy enough. 15[21:23] Salim lays her down on the bed. "Her demeanor changed dramatically when I pulled her a ways away from the center of the storm. She became very aggressive." [21:23] 14Great. 15[21:24] "She is of enlightened Essence, though I couldn't guess what kind from her brief struggle. Perhaps she is of the Blood." [21:25] 14Piu: "That would help. Let me take her inside and...do my thing. If it doesn't work, well. The rest of you can have at her." [21:26] 6Zhangyu: "That's fine. I need to ask Salim about technique, anyway." 15[21:26] Salim glances at Dryas. Does Dryas approve? 14[21:27] * Joins: autopsyturvey [21:27] 07Dryas nods. "Don't let her... overcome you," 07she orders, drily. 15[21:28] Salim makes the handoff. [21:28] 4Piu: "Teehee!" 14[21:28] * Joins: Nothing_ [21:29] 4She carries her back to the room, drops her gently on the fur/sheet/cushion pile, and steps away while loosening her sash. How inviting has she been able to make this place? [21:29] 10Outside, Daizo's even setting up a couple of small shielded platforms that Dryas can potentially shoot from. He's getting into this. 15[21:29] It's quite cozy! Especially compared to a jungle raining blood and peopled by a mad god and its cultists. 15[21:31] What is Dryas looking for in the ledger? 15[21:31] Salim steps out into the rain to watch Daizo work. [21:31] 4Hopefully there's some food she can heat up too...? She wouldn't have taken anything, but would have pestered the others for saddlebag access. 14[21:31] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:31] 6Zhangyu's right behind him. "Where'd you learn, anyway?" 15[21:32] Salim doesn't turn to look back. "Hmm?" [21:33] 6Zhangyu: "The hold. Mantis style. So. Who taught you?" [21:33] 6He's being fairly quiet, trying to keep this between himself and Salim, though an attentive listener could hear him. [21:33] 07Dryas is looking for any indication of why this outpost, the town, and the ships in the harbor became abandoned. Any mention of an expedition into the jungle, or an attempted excavation of the idol they have come to possess. She'll also keep an eye out, incidentally, for anything about Nn Tloc and his smuggling operation. [21:36] 10Daizo's doing all of this stuff while still armored up, too. Not too shabby. Although after Master Stormwind's lead-weighted training outfits, the attuned jade might as well not even be there. 15[21:36] The cult leader stirs after only a couple of minutes - like you'd expect from a strong person briefly choked out - and her eyes flutter open to stare directly at Piu watching over her. 15[21:36] "..where am I?" Ah, now she knows High Realm. [21:36] 4Piu: "Guild House. Away from the blood rains. Near a fire." 15[21:38] She shakes her head as if confused, but says nothing. She tries to sit up, fighting the sudden swimming of her head, and squares her shoulders when she does. "Who are you?" 15[21:39] Salim: "I simply derived the techniques independently by studying the movements of mantises." 14[21:40] * Quits: Nothing_ (Quit: Leaving) 15[21:42] Dryas pokes through the Guild books with a canny eye... the ledger's entries stop dead about six weeks ago, with the last entries being a deposit of lumber from native traders further up the Archipelago, a trade of molasses for rum from a private vessel registered as the Keystone, and a bulk purchase order first for six hundred bags of grain and six hundred barrels of fresh water, 15[21:42] hastily rubbed out and replaced with 514 bags of grain and 411 barrels of freshwater. [21:43] 4Piu: "I'm V'neef Piu! Serving under Peleps Ratel and in her fleet. We're on assignment, across the sea. We ah...happened across your island. Like this." [21:43] 6Zhangyu snorts. "Right. For self-taught, you're remarkably orthodox. Except for some - minor touches. Placement of the bruises." [21:44] 6He's not wrong, but he is fishing, here. [21:44] 07That's a big order. [21:45] "We had concerns. There was a cult. You were..." 4She shrugs. "Clearly having an orgy, with flowers in your hair." 15[21:45] The woman's eyes widen in naked shock that hardens, word by word, into hate. "Liar. Killer. Tempter! Do what you will, I will die before I betray my command." [21:47] "Grrrreat." 15[21:47] Dryas notes that the Keystone is a ship under Guild banner, one of Nn Tloc's. The trade, molasses for rum... it's code. This vessel was on the same labor-brokerage runs that Dryas herself was offered. As for the staples, the deduction is simple - someone came in looking to place a fleet-feeding requisition, and was forced to sail away only with what the Guild had to spare - or was 15[21:47] willing to part with. [21:47] 4Piu points. "You know you've...still got some of those flowers in your hair, right?" 15[21:49] The woman pushes back with her feet until she's braced against the wall, never taking her eyes off Piu. Slowly she reaches to her hair, coming away with blood-stained petals. 15[21:49] "What... what..." 15[21:49] "What have you done to me?" [21:49] 07Dryas' heart leaps into her throat for a moment. "I think - I think they were here!" 07she marvels. 15[21:49] "What are you?!" 15[21:49] Salim: "Perhaps you could help me refine my technique. I do so love to learn." 15[21:51] Satisfied with his work, Daizo's ready to head inside, or pursue some other goal. [21:52] 4Piu's eyes flash with fire, the sweat on her gleams and the fire in the hearth flares. "I told you who I was. I am V'Neef Piu. I am the privileged blood of Dragons made manifest, and I am servant to them." 4The fire wisps away. "I didn't choke you out though, that was our idiot monk friend Salim. It seems you tried to kill him when dragged away from the orgy." [21:52] 6Zhangyu: "Always do love to learn from a different school." 6He glances around. "No wandering eyes. First to the ground? I was told to stay out of trouble, but I figure a quick spar doesn't count." [21:54] "I would prefer you told me what your name was, and we talked about this like people. Could also drink while we did it. I could bring the others in, or it could be just us." 15[21:57] Salim actually cracks a smile. "I had no idea your cabin fever was so pronounced." [21:59] 10Daizo dusts his hands off, passing Zhangyu as he heads back towards the main outpost. "I thought I heard someone yelling in there. I take it the investigation's going well?" [21:59] 6Zhangyu, dryly: "It's been a trying time." 15[22:00] Salim: "Another time. We should keep sharp in case the situation changes." [22:00] 6Boring. But also, what are you hiding... [22:00] 10He winds up inside just in time to hear Dryas' announcement.  [22:03] 10Daizo: "You found some actual intel? Nice. Commodore's gonna be happy." [22:04] 14Piu: "We haven't killed anyone. We've done a lot of running away, which...isn't in our nature, but we're not mass murderers. I apologize for our setup here. The last time you talked to us, you tried to get us to fuck you. Well. The 'you' that was wearing your face." [22:04] 07Dryas: "Five hundred fourteen bags of grain, four hundred eleven freshwater barrels. It's the last entry in the ledger..." [22:05] "The liquor isn't poisoned. I can drink first. Or we can go outside and walk around if you want the air." 15[22:08] The woman looks from Piu down to the bloody flowers falling through her fingers, drying rapidly this close to the fire. 15[22:08] "...tell me again the name of your commanding officer, please." [22:08] "Peleps Ratel." [22:08] 14On the flowers: "The fire will burn those." [22:08] "There might be other clothes upstairs if you want something less...well." 15[22:09] The woman breathes a quiet laugh, blinking rapidly. "And you... found me by accident?" [22:10] 14Piu: "I...wouldn't say accident. We made a calculated decision to land and then it was all very obvious." [22:11] 10Daizo: "Definitely enough to keep them going until they found another port. Any other notes in the logbook that might be relevant?" [22:13] 07Dryas: "The last three entries were six weeks ago. One, of the fleet. Another, a private trader. And the third, a lumber shipment from the archipelago." [22:13] 10Daizo consults his mental map. Once Once they're done here he can talk with one of the Cathak boys and get them to plot out some possible destinations based on the range of those provisions.  15[22:13] The woman wrings her hands on the slowly drying white robes pooling in her lap. "My name... is Leftenant Peleps Catela. I hold commission to Triumph's Arc, of the Northwestern Armada. My commanding officer is Rear Admiral Peleps Duran." [22:14] 6... [22:14] 14Piu: "Well. That changes things." [22:14] "Want me to get word immediately?" 15[22:14] "Word?" [22:14] 10Daizo: "Found the limber shipment, at least. All wrapped up and protected. I used some of it to build the barricades. Guess we'll have to send a letter of credit to the Guild." [22:15] "To Ratel." 15[22:15] "I--" 15[22:15] Catela hesitates. [22:15] 14Piu: "You don't have to say no. I'll take responsibility." 15[22:15] "I am... not presentable." [22:15] "Go change." [22:16] 4Well this is going swimmingly. 15[22:16] Catela braces against the wall, standing slowly, shaking the flowers from her hair. She passes Dryas, Daizo and the others as she crosses the foyer of the outpost. [22:17] 14Piu will step out afterwards. "Let her be." [22:17] 10Daizo: "Mm. She barely looks like the same woman." [22:18] "The fleet was here!" 07Dryas exclaims, gesturing at the ledger. "Right before whatever happened," 07she adds. [22:19] 14Piu sighs. 15[22:19] Something in the way she moves... Piu only notices it in profile, backlit by the fire. The shape of the jaw, the set of her eyes... 15[22:19] Peleps Catela: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxT9v8reXB0 - We don’t bleed when we don’t fight... 15[22:20] Catela stares briefly at Dryas but hurries into a back room. [22:20] 6Zhangyu is just leaning against the wall at this point. Beating people up, that's easy. Making people do what you want, that's easy too. And yet. 15[22:22] Salim: "She regained lucidity quite quickly." [22:22] 14Piu: "All of the cultists are off limits." [22:22] "She's Blooded." [22:22] "They might be our sailors." [22:23] 07Dryas: "A lost egg? Wait a second, our what?" [22:23] 14Piu: "I told her I'd let her explain. So I will." [22:23] 14She didn't, not quite. But it was what she meant. [22:24] "We could head inside by the fire." [22:24] "Unless you all like this weather." 15[22:26] "None of the vessels in the harbor are flying naval colors," Salim notes. 15[22:26] "If they are Imperial sailors... where are their vessels?" [22:27] 14Did any of those vessels actually look like naval vessels? Because Peleps Duran might have stopped flying those colors. [22:27] 10Daizo: "Perhaps some deserted, and others went after them, and when no one returned, the fleet sailed on." 15[22:27] Hard to say. Piu's not an expert by any means and it's not like she had the chance to study them. 15[22:28] It's dark now, and raining. It'd be hard to confirm either way until morning. [22:28] 14Piu: "They could be in port, not flying naval colors due to desertion. Unless you're an expert Salim...?" 15[22:28] "I am no expert," concedes Salim. [22:29] 10Daizo's going to look for a teakettle. He's got a small pouch of leaves wrapped up with his field journal. 15[22:30] Catela emerges, her hair pulled back, wearing a buff jacket over... a silk gown. "It was the the only thing I could find in any of the packages back there that fit me," she offers by way of explanation. 15[22:30] There's a kettle hanging over the firepit. 15[22:31] The lieutenant looks around the room. "Who is in charge here?" [22:31] 14To Catela: "Do you have any memory of your time gone...well. Gone?" [22:31] 14Piu nods towards Dryas. 15[22:32] Catela, to Dryas: "May I ask your name and rank?" [22:32] 10Oh, this is going to get awkward vety quickly. [22:33] 07Dryas: "Cynis Dryas. Providing special assistance to the Merchant Fleet. You... are a Dynast?!" [22:34] 14Helpfully: "Appointed directly by Peleps Ratel as leader of this expedition." 15[22:34] Catela: "I don't understand. An officer of the navy commanding the Merchant Fleet?" 15[22:35] Her eyes narrow slightly. "It's war, isn't it?" [22:36] 14This one's all Dryas. [22:36] 07Dryas: "Not that I know, thank the Dragons. We stopped here to investigate what happened to this island, before continuing on. Who are you? What happened here?" [22:37] 07Dryas: "Were you with the Guild? Investigating those ruins?" 15[22:39] Catela looks around the room, giving everyone a long glance, before turning back to Dryas. "I don't know," she says. "I remember... dropping anchor. Coming ashore to arrange a resupply. I-- the seas were rough, I don't..." She shakes her head. "Nothing. I remember being dragged through the jungle, held by my throat... waking up here." 15[22:40] "I'm not with the Guild. I don't know anything about ruins." [22:40] 14Piu: "Tell them who your commanding admiral was." 14[22:41] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 15[22:42] Catela: "I'm a leftenant aboard Triumph's Arc, under the command of Rear Admiral Peleps Duran, in the Northwestern Armada, commanded by Vice Admiral Peleps Furia." [22:43] 10Daizo: "Ah." [22:43] 07Dryas purses her lips for a moment. "I nearly shot you," 07Dryas says as she breaks open her saddlebags for some food to give to Catela, "Just a few hours ago. You were babbling in Seatongue about a Carmine Road. You and about a hundred others. You've been here for six weeks." [22:43] 14Piu: "We need to disrupt whatever is controlling the 'cultists' and recover them." 15[22:45] Catela blanches. "Six weeks??" 15[22:46] "No, that- that can't be. They would have sent someone." [22:46] 14Piu: "Perhaps that's a conversation to have with Ratel." 15[22:46] "Where is the Commodore?" [22:49] 10Daizo: "Onboard the Danaa'd's Defiance, maintaining a safe distance from the island. I—we detected a strange Essence phenomenon in the sky above the island." [22:49] "Aboard our ship, the Da'naad's Defiance. Once we've taken care of whatever's happened here, you'll need to speak with her." 07Dryas glances at Piu for a moment. "What was the mission of Triumph's Arc?" [22:50] 10Daizo can't keep from trying to answer the question and breaks protocol. Whoops. 15[22:51] Catela: "...I'm sorry, that's classified." [22:51] 10Sounds about right. [22:53] 14Piu: "We should take her back to report and arm herself. Then we can assess the situation, plan a way to recover whoever else is out there in the woods." [22:53] "That's my take anyway." [22:54] "...Oh. Just because mind control is a thing here. You're a Dynast, right?" [22:54] "Show us." [22:56] 07Dryas leans back. She never much relished the idea of being torn limb from limb by a sneaky lunar anathema, but doesn't quite expect it now. Better opportunity was before. Then again... death is everywhere. [22:56] "I showed you." 15[22:57] Catela frowns, but she pulls the ladle from the nearby water barrel and tips it onto the floor. A gentle breath, and the falling stream splits into two, then four, then eight before splattering onto the ground. 15[22:57] "Satisfied?" [22:58] 14Piu: "Yep. Let's get her back." [22:59] "I don't know if we can risk splitting up," 07Dryas observes. 15[23:00] Catela: "Why would we split up?" [23:00] 10Daizo: "I'd prefer not to leave the heart unguarded or bring it anywhere near the ship, in case it bears any unknown influences. Perhaps we can build a signal fire?" [23:01] 14Piu: "Agree with Catela and Daizo. There's no reason not to move in numbers, and meet inland. [23:01] " [23:03] "Alright. Let's do it," 07Dryas responds. [23:04] "I can scout." [23:09] 10Daizo: "I found a couple jars of black turpentine in one of the wagons. Ought to burn well even in this." [23:12] 07Dryas leads the way, and with some assistance, sets a great fire to catch the attention of the Defiance. 15[23:13] The fire goes up, burning red in defiance of the storm. A few minutes pass, and a single gout of white flame rises from deep in the dark of the harbor. A response. 15[23:13] Maybe twenty minutes later, a new cadre arrives, cloaked and cowled though the rain falls around rather than upon them. [23:14] 4Piu tends the fire. 15[23:14] Commodore Ratel enters the outpost first, dropping her hood and shaking her hair free. "Report," she says, looking up for Dryas and locking eyes directly with Catela. 15[23:14] Catela, stiffly: "...Commodore." 15[23:14] Ratel, stiffly: "...Leftenant." 15[23:15] Then she turns to Dryas proper. "Report." [23:18] 07Dryas does not hesitate, but nor does she salute or stand to military attention. "We made contact with a hundred or so men and women in the forest, who attempted to entice us regarding something called the Carmine Road. Pressing deeper into the jungle, we discovered a partially excavated idol and a vengeful spirit, which we evaded..." [23:20] 07Continuing: "The island was deserted about six weeks ago. The last entry in the Guild outpost ledger is for the resupply of the Northwestern Fleet. Peleps Catela here we recovered from the clutches of the cult, which indicated it was worshipping something called the Carmine Road. It had overthrown the leftenant's mind and pressed her towards its own ends. Once we got her out here, she came back to normal after a little while." 15[23:22] Ratel's eyes wander the room as she thinks, stopping everywhere but on the Leftenant. "Is she still bewitched?" she murmurs to a cowled figure beside her. 15[23:22] That figure unhoods, revealing themselves to be Caxi. [23:23] 14Piu: "Carmine Road." 15[23:23] Catela: "You--!" [23:23] "Not the Carmine Road." [23:23] "Might be important--" 15[23:23] Caxi gives her a sour smile. "My hands are right here." [23:23] 10Daizo nods. "Yeah. It was spoken as a name, not as a title—" 15[23:23] Catela meets Ratel's eyes again. She scoffs gently. [23:24] "Thank you, darlings," 07Dryas takes the correction with grace. 15[23:24] Catela: "Carry on, witch." [23:24] 10Oh. There's some history here, clearly. 15[23:25] Caxi produces a polished silver mirror and tilts it toward Catela, murmuring under her breath. "She's not being ridden," Caxi says, clapping the mirror shut. "Anymore. Your memory will come back over the next few days, I expect." [23:27] 10It's a relief to know that even the imperious Caxi doesn't have a better technique for seeing spiritual influence than Daizo does.  [23:28] 07Dryas: "We recovered an idol, which Tepet Daizo believes is of some importance to the malignant spirits of this island." [23:32] 4Piu, to Caxi: "Oh, I could have told you that." 15[23:34] Caxi: "Show me the idol." [23:34] 10Daizo has the Heart in a straw-cushioned wooden box now. "Whatever Carmine Road is, I believe it—or they—are separate from the entity which was most likely sealed in this vessel." [23:35] 10Daizo slides the box along the table. If this thing disappears into Caxi's clutches like the demon did… [23:36] "Have a look. There doesn't appear to be a presence within it at the moment, but this is why we were hesitant to merely come back aboard." 15[23:37] Caxi turns the idol over in her hands, a thin smile curling her face from edge to edge. "Beautiful..." 15[23:38] "It was damaged this way when you found it?" 15[23:38] "And the spirit is nearby?" [23:39] "That's how we found it, partially dug up. The spirit is nearby, yes," 07Dryas explains. [23:40] 10Daizo nods. "The damage was there, yes. It appears to be confined to the area of the jungle, so Dryas was able to escape its attacks on horseback. The streaks of red lightning in the sky are actually flowing along the veins of the Essence lines." [23:40] "Or perhaps the other way around." 15[23:41] Caxi: "We should leave immediately, and come back with an exorcist. A strong one." 15[23:41] Flatly, to Catela: "You should not have survived being pulled from this creature's grasp." 15[23:41] "I have no idea how you did." 15[23:41] "Certainly not strength of will." 15[23:42] Catela: "Oh, to have the ambition of a concubine." [23:42] 10Harsh. 15[23:42] Caxi's eyes flash. "You can't even begin to im--" 15[23:42] Ratel: "Enough." [23:42] 4Piu: "Please don't fight!" 15[23:42] "Enough." [23:43] 10Daizo: "That's what she said… in the jungle. Don't fight." 14[23:43] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:43] 10Indicating Catela.  [23:43] 4Piu: "She was right. We can resolve this without fighting the 'cultists.'" 15[23:44] Ratel: "Is the idol dangerous?" 15[23:45] Caxi: "Terribly. But it's inert, and beyond our ability to repair. The material alone is worth ten times its weight in jade, however." 15[23:46] Ratel: "If these are our sailors, we can't abandon them." 15[23:47] Caxi: "To the contrary, we must, unless whatever broke the spell over the Leftenant is repeatable." [23:47] 10Daizo: "What is it? I wasn't able to identify the substance." [23:47] 07Dryas: "I led the spirit on a merry chase through the jungle when we uprooted it. If we did it again, led it away from its thralls, could we do it again?" [23:49] 10Daizo: "Do you think it's likely to respond to provocation in the same way a second time?" [23:50] 07Dryas: "Why wouldn't it? It wanted the idol, we still have the idol." 15[23:50] Caxi: "You don't understand. The people this thing takes--" she shakes the idol for emphasis. "--are all but gone, merged into a single miasma. One mind. One spirit. No wonder they couldn't keep their hands off each other. Catela should have died when you pulled her away from the creature." [23:50] 14Is someone else going to point out that Caxi's theory of action is completely unsupported by evidence? 15[23:50] To Catela: "I'll need to examine you more about the ship." 15[23:50] Catela: "Like hell!" 15[23:50] Caxi: "If you like." [23:51] 14Because sadly Piu is fucking her. [23:52] 07Dryas: "We're going to just let this... thing... exist? Keep on doing what it's been doing?" 15[23:53] Caxi: "What do you propose? Killing the innocents?" [23:53] 10Daizo, on the other hand, is going to try and catch files with honey instead of vinegar. "You were able to deduce all that from five minutes' inspection? As one student to the other, Caxi, could I ask you to share your reasoning?" 15[23:53] Caxi: "Do you know what this is made of?" [23:54] 10Daizo: "No. Please enighten me." 15[23:58] Caxi: "Among the world's blackest necromancers there exists the art of pressing tormented souls - souls lost to Lethe, lost to the cycle of rebirth - into solid steel. This 'soulsteel' is one of the Five Classical Magical Materials, used in the creation of daiklaves, goremauls, so forth. But see how it's black inside, and charred at the crack? That's not soulsteel anymore - it's 15[23:58] practically coal." 15[23:59] "Whatever was inside this thing was eating it, drinking it dry, over a period of... I don't know. Hundreds, maybe thousands of years." Session Time: Wed Jan 29 00:00:00 2020 [00:01] 4Piu: "So are we just gonna...sacrifice...everyone else out on the island? Like, they might be our sailors..." 15[00:01] "And you say you found a cult, enslaved by the creature once bound within... no discernible will of their own, no motivations but survival and gratifying themselves." 15[00:01] Catela scowls. [00:03] 10Daizo: "Obviously we've all heard of soulsteel, dull and useless though it may be for most purposes. But wouldn't it stand to reason that a creature feeding on deathly energies present itself in a less… festive manner?" [00:04] "The bloody rain and red lightning don't match up with the practices of the cultists. It's all very puzzling." 15[00:05] Caxi: "You could live off maggots and grubs for months and it wouldn't make you a bird. This creature - Carmine Road - was subsisting on rations. I couldn't guess what was supposed to happen when the soulsteel was bled dry. Maybe it was never supposed to remain imprisoned that long." 14[00:07] * banana|peels is now known as banana 15[00:08] Caxi: "For the Leftenant to survive with this much of her mind intact... a subtle knife indeed must have cut the link. Or perhaps the search for the Empress has exposed her to direr things yet, and left her hardy. But then how did she succumb in the first place?" 15[00:08] Catela is stunned. [00:08] 10Daizo: "At the very least, I believe this phenomenon merits further investigation. At least until Catela's memories begin to return and we can, perhaps, get a fuller picture of what happened here." [00:10] 10Daizo: "The what-" 10He nearly chokes on his tea, splutters. "That's what the Northwestern Fleet has been doing?" 15[00:12] Caxi: "So you want to sit here and wait? No, that doesn't make any sense. We get help now, or we kill them gently ourselves - again now- and-- what?" 15[00:12] "You didn't know?" 15[00:12] She looks at Piu. "Were we not all briefed?" [00:13] 14Piu says nothing, but she gets flat eyes back. Piu isn't undersigned this. [00:13] *14undersigning [00:14] 10Daizo: "I was toldthis was a mission to locate Peleps Furia. Only that, and…" [00:16] 10Now the weight of duty feels like he's put on three lead-lined practice outfits. 15[00:17] All eyes, pair by pair, eventually turn to the Commodore for guidance. 15[00:18] NEXT TIME: Life's prime want 14[00:38] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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[20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12;;;;:::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;];;;;;;;;;;::::::;;;;:.::;;;;;;;;:.. [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12;;;;;;;;;;;;;;ii;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;[;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;:;;;;;;;;;;;;; [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;iiiiiiii;;;;;;;;;;;;;;};;ii;;iiii;;;;i;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;ii;;; [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12iiii;;;iiiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiIiiiiii{iiIIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii;;;;;iiiilliiiii [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12IIIiiIIllllllIIlllIIIIlllIIIlIiiIIIIIIIIIIIIlIIIIIllIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiillIIIllII [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12IIIiiilIIIIIIIllTIIIIllIIlIlIIITTTTlIlIlIIIlIITTTTTTTIIIIlIIllIlIlllIIIIIIITT [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12IIIIilIIIIITTTTTTTIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTIIIIIIIIIlIIIIIIIITTTT [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12IIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTTIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTT [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Half a year on, and all but one of your sworn labors are complete. The Immaculate Fangs are rebuilding, their outer regions pacified and in the process of being integrated. Their public works have been rebuilt and optimized by Ir, their leadership protected against sabotage and assassination by Tatsuya, and their sorcerous infrastructure rewoven and reinvigorated by a series of 08[20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12literally epic workings on on Eikichi's part. And Blossom, of course, has made sure that the society flourishing amidst these fantastic efforts is basically up to spec. 14[20:57] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12The Heavensward floating, anchored, above what was once the Apex of Sacrifice is a common sight, but next to no one knows the complex negotiations and collaborations going on between your Circle and Yu-Shan's. The official word on your presence is that you represent some nebulous correcting force sent by the heavens themselves in recognition for the Fangs' service; disabusing anyone [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12of this notion too directly might actually be a violation of your contracts. But there's definitely more for you to take from here, as well as more to give; Sperimin was a library city, and ancient lore, sorcery, and schematics are explicitly within your remit to at least study and copy down, if not take away with you. [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12What is it that you hope to learn? As heavy as your labors have been, you've had time to study or outright ransack the ancient archives in between them. 14[21:01] * Joins: autopsyturvey 15[21:02] 10We've got a city to build. Eikichi's preoccupied with large-scale geomantic terraforming - the sort of manipulations of Essence that can stabilize weather patterns, ensure fertility, and even raise entire manses into the sky. [21:03] 4Ir, as the one here with the least direct First Age connection to this library and also the one least involved in the macroplanning for Zeal, is probably mostly going to look for books on music and cooking. Recipes, especially, would be interesting. [21:05] 6Anything Tatsuya could find on records of the Solars of the First Age would be welcomed. 13By Ying, too, on days when she's around. 6Though Tatsuya is focused more on their treasures 13while Ying is focused on the people they might have been. [21:17] 7Blossom's looking first for suppressed religious information. How were the gods properly worshipped before the Shogunate, when the children of the Sun and Moon walked Creation openly? Then she'll try and track down lost techne - though sages and scholars do make progress in the Age of Sorrows, so much has been lost in the Great Contagion in subjects from astrology to zincworking that [21:17] 7anything that has been discovered elsewhere was probably already recorded here. [21:20] 7Blossom spends off hours amongst the people of Mahalanka, explaining to them how important it is to support their new regime and how lucky they are that Heaven has eyes, as the saying goes. She also starts participating in handing out food to refugees, once she discovers that she has a natural talent, when dividing up rations, to somehow give away significantly more than she started [21:20] 7with. [21:21] 7(Also, she'll be peeking over Tatsuying's shoulder. Interesting stuff!) [21:24] 4Treatises on the logistics of organizing and charity would be good too, if they're about, but this doesn't really seem like a library with those kinds of priorities. [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya and Ying are able to trace the history of their exaltation back and back and farther back, all the way to their verrrry first incarnation. Good god - this goes back to the very first exertions of the divine exigence by the Sun himself. The selection of the gods' original champions... based on the language here, it wasn't even the Sun alone who did it. Two of the ancient titans [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12- Autochthon of the forge and Gaia of the land - aided in seeding the ground and hammering out the essence of the original reincarnating sparks, and one of the very first found its way in the breast of a young woman who until her Second Breath lived under the tyrannical rule of some pre-human race now lost to memory. She freed their slaves and slew their leaders until, cowed completely [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12by a one-woman insurrection, the creatures withdrew from their mortal conquests and attempted to revenge themselves on their patron Autochthon instead. [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12This didn't go well for them, although the details here are scant. Something about a blinding flash, and then a great inhalation of smoke and souls. [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Great as she was, this woman fell in the primordial war, though the world-dragon Oramus choked on her blades in the process. Then she rose again to finish the fight, this time as a cat-man from the eastern jungles (could this be fate...?). It looks like the line of ancient heroism currently incarnated in Tatsuya and Ying was on their third incarnation once the Solar Deliberative was [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12formed and sealed; still on their third when the Deliberative fell to the Usurpation. Unlike Reckoning and Raksi, they didn't turn traitor, and in fact fought a shadow war against the betrayers, only being captured, put down, and sealed away many years after that first, bloody banquet. 08[21:41] 6Rebellion leaders, warriors from the shadows, and, apparently, cats have been in their destiny from the start. Hopefully their preincarnations would be proud of them. 13Both of them. Even if it is a little unorthodox. And one of them is a thief. 6It's a living. The two of them set about researching the rest of their Circle - Blossom, Eikichi, and Ir. [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom's learning a lot about the gods. Much of what's written here in Sperimin was written by the faceful, but much else was written by disinterested academics or even boundary-pushing iconoclasts, and in all cases this is the stuff the ancients of the Deliberative wrote for each others' benefit, not for the masses. So, here, is the true history of titans, gods, demons, and [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12women, vaguely compatible with but largely left out of the Immaculate catechisms and even most of the older myths. [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah fuck. I meant the faithful! Anyway. 14[21:47] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12First was the Wyld. Then being divided itself from nonbeing, left from right, past from future - this is actually extremely confusing and you get the idea that specialized study into the mechanics of the deep Wyld could be the life's work of a certain type of scholar. Anyway, then came the ancient titans - Malfeas, Cecelyne, Adorjan, there's actually a list of names - who built [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12themselves a fortress against the chaos which they called Creation. Then they built the gods, and it's shocking to learn just how long the Unconquered Sun himself labored as a slave. [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Actually, Malfeas only became Malfeas after his humbling - looks like he entered/made Creation as Theion. Anyway, the best of womankind were raised up as the Exalted because, lowest of the low, the scrabbling mortal primates were the one thing the titans respected so little as to not shield themselves against. And so the highest gods only became the highest gods after men and woman [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12had freed them from their shackles; the Blessed Isle only became the Deliberative's stomping ground when Yu-Shan had been vacated of the titans and delivered to the gods; and the religions of the gods were, well, they as much designed by their practitioners as passed down from on high. [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12That's not to denigrate them, because of course it was the mightiest and holiest geniuses that the world had ever known who deduced from first principles exactly how best to honor the Most High. But still. [21:54] 7Ah, so this is the referent for the oft-used but somewhat vague phrase 'the enemies of the gods'. [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Yep. Their enemies were also their makers -- and yours. And real pieces of shit, if these records are any authority, which they definitely are. As awful as it is to be a human in the Age of Sorrows, prehistory was worse. [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Incidentally, Blossom also understands where that Theka Kala guy's bloody-handed faith came from. The reptilian "Dragon Kings" were the Unconquered Sun's first worshipers in the time before the Exalted, and their sacrificial rituals were technically sanctioned - in the positive sense - by the subservient deity. Did he secretly hate them all along while compelled to receive them by [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12his masters, or did he himself only come to know better through dialectical interaction with the Exalted? This is a matter of some debate. [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Those should probably be capitalized Hes! [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, as Tatsuya and Ying go on to learn it was several of Blossom's past incarnations who examined these questions. It seems that her Exalted essence made fewer jumps than theirs, because the great warlord of the old Deliberative was a central planner and strategist in the war effort rather than a spy and outrider, and saw to her own safety and longevity with a zeal outstanding [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12even among the old Solars. Indeed, Blossom might be this great personage's third life ever - the determined, hard-bitten woman whose heart was seconds away from being cut out by the Dragon Kings when she took her second breath lived to see the entirety of the rebellion against the primordials and a series of shocking follow-up conflicts besides, finally being sunk - literally - in the [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Niobraran wars. [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12When she returned, it was as if she was waking, dazed and blinking, from the mother of all hangovers. A stripling by the standards of her fellows, she nevertheless turned a clear eye to the excesses of the First Age and wrote and spoke at length against them. Then, a few years before the Usurpation, she vanished. 14[22:06] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Connection closed) [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Hearing this awakens something in Blossom. She was consulted. The betrayers, including Kejak himself, laid out three options to her. She picked what seemed the best, and was outvoted, and destroyed. Hers might have been the first essence trapped in the great working that sealed the Solars away. 14[22:06] * Joins: autopsyturvey 08[22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi was best known as Gloria in the time before, a prodigy of spellcraft and fashion both who, together with mate Raksi, worked legendary amounts of mischief across the face of Creation. In particular, it was Gloria who pioneered the method of 'beaching' the Niobraran invaders - simply ripping their undersea cities off the sea bed and catapulting them hundreds of malms inland. [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Of course, Gloria wasn't the first. She was preceded by a Solar who lasted a few scant years before being destroyed in some kind of accident (widely believed to be his or her own fault, a "if you can control your power, you don't have - uh oh" sort of death), and before that by a magus who pioneered the arts of demon summoning in the Primordial War. Apparently his mastery of predictionism [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12was such that he could see the servant-fiends that the Titans would become, and rip those creatures out of their bodies. This cruelty might have had its genesis in the slavery he lived under prior to the first rebellion, which he helped Tatsuya and Ying's first self to destroy from within. 14[22:13] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12When the usurpation struck, Raksi begged Gloria to simply elope with her... then, later, begged her to help complete the rebellion, to turn the last sorceries of the First Age against the remaining Solars. At the same time, Tatsuya's preincarnation was aware that one or both were traitors, and sharpened his knives against them. ...but Gloria wouldn't go that far. She and Raksi parted [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12ways, and that's ultimately why pre-Tatsuya failed to strike down the ancient Lunar but survived to fight again another day, remaining a thorn in the new order's side for long after. 14[22:16] * Joins: autopsyturvey [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Sperimin hasn't recorded what brought Gloria down. That's not just because she outlived it - certain artifact tomes within the city continue to silently record histories of Creation even long after the towers were depopulated, then taken over. But she must have fallen in secret, and must have been caught in whatever web the usurpers spun to keep the Solars from returning, because 08[22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12she next resurfaced as Eikichi. 15[22:17] 10Eikichi remembers. [22:17] 4If there's anything the monks at The Nail would have burned on sight, it's books that write history themselves. [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12And Ir? It's no surprise for Tatsuya and Ying to learn that Ir was an absolute wrecking ball from the first, the metaphorical tip of the spear in nearly ever war the Deliberative fought. Like Blossom's first life, the Golden Diamond Empress, the great warrior whose soul would eventually pass to Saskia and then to Ir was exceptionally long-lived, so hardened by the fires of battle [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12from without and essence from within that her body seemed to simply have forgotten that it was supposed to wind down at any point. It was in seeking refuge from battle that Ir's first self would come to befriend an Eclipse Caste who taught her some of the finer things in life - poetry, magic, and especially music. So close was their friendship that the man even made a gift of his favorite [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12instrument to her, a gold-and-silver wonder that could take the shape of anything an orchestra might need. It kills tyrants, he said. [22:24] 4... [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12When it became clear exactly what the man who would become Wicked Triumph's Reckoning thought about the Deliberative, and how much work he'd done behind the scenes to allow Chejop Kejak to destroy it, Ir's first self was of course heartbroken. But, she was so bound in cunningly-worded oaths of friendship and camaraderie that she couldn't so much as lay a hand on Reckoning-to-be, [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12even though he'd laid in motion plots and agreements that would soon destroy the world as she knew it. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12She struck him down anyway, warping his instrument into the shape of a killing spear. He never saw it coming. [22:27] 4...Anything about her mate? [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Unfortunately, the curse laid Ir's first self low. As she betrayed, she'd be betrayed. Her Dragon-Blooded adjutants turned on her. Her mate fled. Her mortal soldiers routed. No matter how valiantly she fought against the forces of the Usurpation, nothing and no one she counted on seemed able to come through in the end, and so the combined forces of the Sidereals, Dragon-Blooded, and [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12more than a few traitor Solars and Lunars did to her what not even the titans could not. [22:27] 4Ah. [22:28] 4Some things never change. 14[22:29] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12The great warrior was too powerful, or perhaps simply too rabid, to even fall into the Sidereals' final trap. As the autonomous history books of Sperimin tell it, she rose again and again, reincarnating throughout the ages with a fiery hatred of her slayers. But, wouldn't you know it, each and every time someone she thought she could turned her in, or someone she fought beside stabbed [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12her in the back. With each reincarnation, the Dawn Caste returned a little less furious and a little more resigned. 14[22:29] * Joins: autopsyturvey [22:30] 4So she was...basically responsible for keeping the legend of the Solars alive, all those years? Escaping the jar. [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12The books, it seems, work very slowly, collecting and refining particles of history from the atmosphere around them at a much slower pace than time actually proceeds. So these records stop somewhere mid-Shogunate; there's nothing about a Saskia or a Maryam in here. [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's pretty sure she's not the only one; even prior to the Empress's disappearance, the golden Anathema have popped up from time to time such that the Wyld hunt needed to put them down, although of course the silver ones and the mutants and/or raksha accompanying them are vastly more common. But that leaves her in a very select club. [22:34] 4Well, there's two ways to take this information. The first is to give in to despair, because she's doomed to betray and be betrayed. The second is to believe that through works, faith, and the return of Solars, she's capable of breaking the cycle. [22:34] 4So she will choose the second, and look for some cool recipes to cook for her family. 14[22:41] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:42] 6Well, after the various exhaustive histories of the Circle's preincarnations, Tatsuya will make it a point to look into something lighter. Like, if his & Ying's preincarnations had any sort of notable artifacts that they could reclaim? They've begun accumulating several, but something from their own personal histories... [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12You're pretty sure they had some kind of master key to the hidden infrastructure of the Sword of Creation that they could use for surprise inspections. ...in fact, you're pretty sure you've seen and held it. But then you gave it to some Mountain Folk since they asked nicely. [22:46] 6Hey, that's fair. 15[22:48] 10What idiot did that?! [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Let's see, what else... this is one of the things I at least hinted Sperimin could help you with, so I should mention it separately from the other stuff you've researched in-depth. Judging from the readings Sperimin's still-working instruments take from Hollow (now known as Nexus), Hollow is a Wyld zone of great intensity... no, not just Firewander, all of Hollow. This makes absolutely [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12no sense. Unless...? [22:52] 7Say, while we're here, what does the library have to say about the Elemental Dragons? [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12...all right, you're pretty sure that the Emissary is able to bend the very reality of Nexus in something like the same way that the raksha shape and reshape their freeholds. There are clearly several extremely strong exceptions and differences here because the city is manifestly not actually a Wyld zone, but that's at least enough information to go on to allow you to start sitting [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12down and figuring out ways to counter or at least buffer against the master of Nexus melting you into slime, should you have a care to. [22:54] 13He's nice! [22:55] 4Ir would never fight the Emissary for a number of reasons, not the least because he's Ying's boyfriend. [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12It seems as though the Elemental Dragons weren't direct participants in the Primordial War, same as the gods, Gaia, and Autocthon were. They aren't described by Sperimin's religiohistorians as celestial beings, though; they seem to be primordial creatures, or at least have primordial lineage in the same way that, technically, women themselves do. Besides blessing the Dragon-Blooded [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12host with their ever-multiplying essence, it's not... quite... clear... where the first dragons went, or if 'went' is even the right word. [22:56] 7Blossom would definitely fight the Emissary, but it is important to remember that he's Ying's boyfriend. 15[22:57] 10Not much point killing the Emissary unless we're willing to remake Nexus from the ground up to be fairer, AND help Ying find a new boyfriend. [22:58] 4Ever since Ying told her the story of her past, Ir's been working on a new song. [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12It could be that asking where they are or what they're doing is like asking where the atmosphere or the ground are. After some meditation, Blossom comes to the conclusion that they must have a fractal nature, endlessly subdivisible or perceptible as greater or lesser aspects of themselves. [22:58] 6It's sort of alarming that that is a major concern for everyone, and not the fact that it's the Emissary of Nexus. 13I think it's sweet! 15[22:59] 10Eikichi does not really have room to throw shade on the matter of dating supervillains, and wouldn't if she could. Get after it. [23:00] 4Light the sky and hold on tight, the world is burning down... 14[23:02] * Joins: hrolf [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Who'd have thought that the puniest of the titans' creations, that sacrificial fodder shaped roughly out of clay long after the world's dawning, would have to come to so much, eh? [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12But what's next? (A long, row rumbling from the east, as of great trees creaking under their own weights.) Oh. [23:06] 4Yeah we should probably get to that. 15[23:06] 10I suppose the reckoning cannot be postponed indefinitely. [23:06] 6No, wait, there's still more books-- oh, that is a problem, huh. [23:07] 4Once infrastructure is taken care of, Ir's main interest will be on organizing and drilling whatever forces the new government is committing to its first big test. [23:07] 4Presumably she'll be interfacing with one or more Blooded or beastman generals who will be the public face of the operation? 14[23:08] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Frankly, Yu-Shan had hoped that you'd be able to take it down by your lonesomes, but it's prepared to authorize the Immaculate Fangs to lend you as many bodies and as much materiel and is necessary - or even to call in more serious heavenly support, if it comes to that. But, first, you should probably figure out what you're dealing with, because reports of how the giant to the north [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12was felled - even by Bergsveinn, who was there - are sketchy at best. 14[23:11] * Joins: mattbaby [23:13] 4Yu-Shan isn't thinking clearly, then. It's incredibly important, culturally and politically, that the new government be involved in killing this thing, even if only in an auxiliary role. They need a story to tell about a victory of their people over a great foe, and they need storytellers that can sell it. [23:13] 4The best way to sell it, of course, is to make it not a lie. [23:14] 4So Heaven should get off its ass and help set something up. [23:14] 7Hmm. We have pieces of it here. Studying them might reveal a weakness. [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, in that case you'd probably want to restrict yourselves to the Immaculate Fangs and their artifice and not literally call down the lions. The idea certainly scans, though - and, especially following the wonder-working you've done here, the Fangs' forces are no slouches. [23:20] 4Given previous skirmishes, Ir assumes that the Behemoth will indeed be preceded by some kind of forces anyhow, even if they're minor and incidental. The Fangs can be deployed to handle those while the Circle takes on the big boy. 14[23:21] * Joins: autopsyturvey [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12It definitely is. One thing you know about the behemoth is that it converts humans into extensions of itself; the territory around it, including the nearmost city, is currenly a no-man's-land of plant-themed horror monsters. [23:24] 4Well, this story won't lack for flavor. [23:25] 4Seems like we'd better win. [23:25] 7Alright. Ir can handle the local levies, so Blossom will begin working with the resistance - what are they calling themselves, now that they run the joint? - to pull soldiers from outlying cities without weakening them such that they fall to rebellions or, like, wood spiders. [23:25] 7What she wouldn't give for a steady supply of firesand. [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12You'd best believe in the the Thousand Immaculate Fangs Total Control Zone... you're in it. [23:29] 4Who are the commanders Ir is going to be interfacing with? This is going to be a holistic effort -- she's going to be training the general as well, though she has no intention of ever framing their "collaboration" that way out loud. [23:30] 4In a way she'd have preferred Pramu. She already knew his weaknesses and had an idea of how to convert them into strengths. Alas. [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12They're Dragon-Blooded, of course - the highest and worthiest beings in the ladder of reincarnation according to the new canon (we won't think too deeply about exactly what you represent, here). Ir's closest liason is Kacha, a man who drew his Second Breath of fire-essence long before he was old enough to attempt any of Raksi's trials and therefore hasn't got the aspect of any kind [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12of feline or primate to boast. Under the new order, of course, that matters very little. He's got a good head for logistics and formations and can be very deadly with smoke cover and walls of fire on any battlefield that's flammable. [23:40] 6Tatsuya spends some of his time out of the library examining the samples of the giant beast, trying to figure out what, exactly is going on here. He's squared away a space in a laboratory somewhere, plenty of sinister-looking equipment both magical and none. Let's figure out what the hell is going on here. [23:42] 4How's Kacha take to being gently and respectfully taught? [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12He's got, Ir judges, a lot of pent-up anger for having had to hide his flame under a bushel for his entire life lest his gifts be discovered and Raksi melt him down for fuel. He's got very little patience for the pieties that he's supposed to recite about the god-queen who is surely just stepping out for some tea and may be back at any moment, and if not for his close connections to [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12the central circle of the resistance, and accomplishments in the actual war effort, there's no he'd be able to get away with that attitude. [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12This does mean that as long as Ir answers in the affirmative to a quiet, leaning-in "You killed her, right?" 12early in their working relationship, the man becomes... well, agreeable is maybe going too far, but he's clearly got great respect for the Dawn Caste and harboring hopes of equaling or even surpassing her. Ha ha! Good luck, little buddy. [23:50] 4Well, she's not going to lie. So you're godsdamn right she killed her. [23:51] 4She'll also adjust her teaching style to challenge him more than guide him. [23:51] 4Not too much, and never disrespectfully. But he doesn't seem like he'd respond well to homework. He'd prefer sparring. 08[23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12As Ir and Blossom work logistics and Eikichi, in all likelihood, sees to the last of her labors, Tatsuya busies himself investigating the leavings of the "rootmen" which the distant behemoth seems to spawn on contact. This stuff is actually extremely worrisome. It's clearly powerfully mutagenic, but also very narrowly limited in scope: it only affects humans. Raksi's uplifted [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12beastfolk are as vulnerable to the ichor/sap that that the behemoth spawn, uh, spawn as are regular mortal humans, but normal animals are wholly unaffected and normal plants seem to be positively affected, growing in more vigorously than they would otherwise. The resultant crops don't even seem to be particularly dangerous or enchanted, just healthy. [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12It's dangerous to the Exalted too, incidentally. Not impossibly so - Tatsuya could probably survive a dose in the same way as he'd probably survive a poisoned arrowhead to the back. But he wouldn't like it, and there'd probably be leaves in his vomit and scraps of bark peeling off his back for days after. [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Subjecting it to a series of alchemical tests, Tatsuya becomes increasingly sure: that sap is, somehow, human blood. Like, in some abstract chemical/metaphysical way, despite the fact that its physical form is clearly much more agglutinous and planty. If you needed to, say, coax a ghost into the world by spilling blood upon their gravestone, this stuff would suffice. And that's not [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12just a result of most of your samples having been former humans - Tatsuya can alchemically isolate the original mystic thread leading back to the heart of the behemoth itself and find a kinship between that and the regular old red stuff running through his own veins. The giant is human. [23:56] 6What the fuck? [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Uniquely dangerous to other humans, but also, it seems, uniquely vulnerable; judging from Ir's battlefield reports, spears and arrows thrust at the monsters that issued from the east were more effective than the fiery breath of elementals or eye-blasts of warrior automata. Session Time: Thu Jan 30 00:00:00 2020 [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Further, an autopsy reveals strange reorganizations of the viscera of the afflicted. The vital organs - heart, lungs, stomach - all seem to have accreted together into a single jewel of hardened, crimson sap hidden beneath layers of flesh and bark and hair and leaves, one that's both resistant and resilient to most forms of damage. A hard enough blow can crack the thing completely [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12(while a weak one will just damage it, leaving it to heal itself), but in that case it spills its payload in a gory mess that's particularly dangerous to anyone in the environs. If as above so below, so to speak, then actually finding any vulnerable part of the behemoth is going to involve a massive digging expedition, and might end up poisoning the landscape and mutating people for [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12miles... assuming the core can be destroyed at all. From what you hear, the behemoth from the north was crippled, pinned, and ultimately sealed in place by impalement onto a mountain, not actually killed. [00:12] 7Blossom takes a small vial of behemoth sap and, like the kruthik venom before it, sits down to meditate before opening the stopcock and pouring the toxin down her throat. She grunts with effort, and sickly green veins sprout on her extremities for a moment before she tilts her head back, lets out a massive sneeze, and opens her eyes, unharmed. [00:13] 13Okay, so we need to do something that isn't just "attack it until it dies," there's that - oh, gross, Blossom - possibly involving trapping it forever somehow. Well! 14[00:13] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[00:13] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Connection closed) [00:13] 4Ir will take a break from drilling the troops, and grilling Kacha, to get immune to this stuff. [00:13] 13Ew ew ewwwww [00:14] 4She's ridden him hard. Er, phrasing. She's been a harsh taskmaster, and he could use some time to decompress. And she could use some time to, she guesses, get very sick. [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Any other specific questions as to the metaphysics or logistics here? [00:17] 4Vaccinating yourself against this stuff turns out to suck. Big surprise! Even with all her powers she's kind of a grumpy wreck for an evening. But it's only an evening. [00:18] 7Wait, what? The Air Behemoth wasn't killed? That's... alarming. [00:18] 13Hmm. She'll pass the information on to the others and see if they've got any plans she and Tatsuya could investigate from here. Not sure how well "trying to plant a behemoth" is gonna turn out, if we truly can't kill it. [00:22] 7Perhaps we could transform it more? Into just, a regular very large tree? [00:23] 4Probably should check with Heaven first. [00:23] 4You plop a Worldtree down on their proxy kingdom... [00:23] 13Ugh, those guys. [00:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Bergsveinn, who'd clearly been changed by his contact with the blood of the air behemoth, clearly had some sort of strange semi-predatory interaction with one of the dendroid mutants he met in Great Forks. There might be some way to... redistribute or concentrate the mutation somehow. [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Either way, you've some idea, now, of the challenge that lies to your east. You'll be ready to ride out... next week. 14[00:48] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[00:52] * Joins: cbass 14[01:51] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[04:37] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:59] * Joins: mattbaby [09:11] Blossom takes a small vial of behemoth sap and, like the kruthik venom before it, sits down to meditate before opening the stopcock and pouring the toxin down her throat. 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The ship's sorceress, Cynis Caxi, has made a... controversial proposal: abandon the cultists to find an exorcist, perhaps leaving them to a terrible fate. 15[20:10] Leftenant Peleps Catela, formerly of the pursued Admiral Furia's fleet and rescued by the hearth, looks to the Commodore for guidance. As, perhaps, do the hearth. [20:10] 14Have we determined what percentage of the cultists are former villagers, as opposed to former crewmembers of Catela's command? 15[20:10] No. It's not clear how you'd go about doing that. [20:11] 14Well...not really any of Piu's business either way, really. [20:11] 6Very carelessly. [20:11] 6Shouldn't have been standing there. Sorry. [20:12] 07Dryas does not - immediately, or directly - disagree with her cousin. Instead, she proposes: "Let's consider what we know to be true." [20:12] 14In fact, probably better strategically for the House to leave them to their fates. [20:13] 10Daizo was in favor of calling in the professionals… until Caxi waltzed in, pilfered the idol, and let slip that the rest of Ratel's "special agents", including himself, have all been total patsies until now. [20:14] 07Dryas: "We know that, at least once, Carmine Road's hold over its thralls was interrupted..." [20:15] 07Dryas: "We also know that this vaporous cloud it summoned up is capable of terrible destruction - assuming it makes contact with its foes, anyway-" 15[20:15] Perhaps to Daizo's shock, no one else in the room seemed to react with the same intensity as he did to Caxi's revelation. [20:16] 6Zhangyu is going to quietly freak out later. But, not in public. 15[20:16] Caxi: "You can't simply *sever* a connection to a spirit of this nature. It would be like putting an egg back in it shell after you've scrambled it." 15[20:17] Ratel: "How do you know?" [20:17] 14Piu was vaguely surprised by that too, but she's in the middle of trying to recruit Caxi outright, as an agent if not a full-fledged House mate, so she's inclined to give the erstwhile schemer some leash. [20:17] 4Hee. [20:17] 10Not to put too fine a point on it, Daizo's having a little bit of a sulk, although he's trying his damnedest not to show it. Dryas' words go in one ear and out the other. [20:25] "It's irrelevant if they can be saved," 07Dryas argues. "If there are other members of the Fleet there, they could compromise our mission. We must make every effort to save them, but if we cannot..." [20:25] "They represent... a liability." 15[20:26] Caxi: "A spirit like they described - possessing dozens of people - doesn't, can't, maintain those minds independently in its thrall. They are one contiguous entity, now, and could not survive outside the host spirit without painstaking spiritual surgery of the kind only a master exorcist can perform." 15[20:27] Ratel presses her lips together. She's clearly choosing her words very carefully. "And yet, there is evidence to the contrary. We have the Leftenant here, newly freed, simply by escaping." [20:27] 14Maybe good to do some slight pushback for the cover. "I dunno if I wanna like...go out and play throatcutter, though. I think Caxi's right. And if something happens to them in the interim..." 4She shrugs. "War sucks." [20:28] "We could always split up..." [20:28] 6Zhangyu is still on the "let them all go" plan, but. [20:28] "Like, even if we DO free the crewmembers or the villagers or whoever, we're still gonna have to have the exorcist deal with that thing." [20:30] 07Dryas' proposal: "We shatter Carmine Road, pummel it into submission. If its thralls are freed in the process, so much the better. If they die, they die in service of the Realm and take crucial state secrets to the grave with them. But most importantly, Carmine Road has no way of knowing we have no talented exorcist among us. We can bluff." [20:31] 10Daizo speaks up: "The spirit responsible for the red lightning is clearly able to be provoked." 15[20:31] Salim speaks up. "How do you propose to shatter a spirit only one of us can reach? We only have so many arrows." [20:32] 10Daizo: "We should make the experiment, try and bait it into chasing the idol a second time." [20:32] "Perhaps it will attempt to take a more direct approach." [20:33] "Even if it doesn't, we can establish if another one of the sheep can be removed from the flock." 15[20:34] The Leftenant hasn't said a word since Caxi let slip about the Empress. Her face is stony, a far cry from the expression those who met her in the jungle remember. [20:34] 10Daizo: "And if Caxi's theory is correct, we call in the professionals. But the experiment needs to be made." [20:34] 07Dryas nods. "We know it values the idol. And even before, you - excuse me, it -" 07(this directed to the Leftenant) "it was intrigued by Tepet Zhangyu." [20:37] 14Piu casually keeps her eyes on Catela. Catela's a big girl and a dynast, and thus both an adult and her enemy, but Piu does feel a little bad. [20:37] 6Zhangyu: "Let them all go. We could - come back, maybe, but here? Now?" 6He's more sure than he was five minutes ago. "Dangerous. Unpredictable." [20:38] 10Daizo glances to Ratel, who appears to remain unmoved by the arguments.  15[20:38] Piu observes Catela's silence, and judges it to be a mask over fear. A feeling Piu knows well - the sense that any betrayed desire, any word spoken, any gesture made could spell her doom. [20:38] 14Interesting. 15[20:39] Ratel folds her arms and looks down, silent for several moments. 15[20:40] "Dryas and Daizo have the plan with fewer leaps of logic. We can't leave without at least proving to ourselves this is beyond us." [20:41] 4Piu: "Salim brings up a good point, though...what am I supposed to do, like, jump?" [20:41] 6Well. Muscle up. [20:41] 10Daizo remembers to breathe again. She sees reason!  [20:41] 07Dryas: "Since we have bait, we need ground for a trap." 15[20:42] Ratel, to Piu: "We'll worry about that later. Right now the challenge is to prove we can corral the spirit, and prove we can free the cultists. Or that we can't." [20:42] 4A tolerant sigh. "Roger that." [20:43] 10Daizo has an idea, but he's not going to pipe up with it here where Caxi can just… fiat it down. [20:44] 4Her eyes go over to Caxi. 15[20:44] 10Ratel: "Dryas and Zhangyu, set the trap. Piu and Salim, try to extract cultists. Caxi and Daizo, find a vantage point and study this as best you can." 15[20:44] Ratel: "Dryas and Zhangyu, set the trap. Piu and Salim, try to extract cultists. Caxi and Daizo, find a vantage point and study this as best you can." [20:45] 4Piu: "Roger!" [20:45] 6Zhangyu will nod confidently, although -- Daizo, speak to your favorite cousin? I mean, probably favorite cousin. [20:46] 6Maybe there's an unnamed one who he likes more. 14[20:46] * Joins: tom [20:47] 10Daizo offers a salute. "It shall be done." 10He can worry about the rest of it later. 15[20:49] Caxi's face is set more gracefully than Catela's, but it's a mask Piu and Dryas see through just as clearly. Both of her motivations - a desire not to risk or lose the idol and a deep suspicion about Catela's rapid recovery - have been thwarted. The anger doesn't show... but you can see a tiny bead on a tiny abacus somewhere deep in the sorceress's mind moving a black mark from one 15[20:49] side to another. [20:51] 14Mmmm. Dryas better watch out. Ratel too. 15[20:57] While the hearth catches their breaths, Catela goes to get some rest and Ratel pores over the ledgers. What is Dryas's plan, when the time comes? [21:01] 07Dryas takes one last swig from her flask, hurls her sealskin cloak around her shoulders and heads to the second story, to try to get a view of the island's interior and terrain. [21:03] 07If there's a map of the island, fantastic. Otherwise, she'll rely on what she can see and what she saw during their previous reconnoiter. This is no different from hunting a flying beast... one that likely doesn't sleep or rest on the ground. So, someplace to lure it... [21:04] 4Piu will spend the downtime resting and generally trying to buoy Caxi's spirits, or at least keep her from going off and doing something stupid. 15[21:04] Dryas couldn't find a map, which is annoying but not that surprising. It's quite a small island, and posts this small cut corners all the time. [21:11] 10Daizo's going to get a couple hours' nap in before dawn, if possible. Old Tepet maxim: sleep when you can, for when you can't later.  15[21:14] Up top, despite the dark of night and the storm, Dryas gets a sense of the lay of the land. The treeline gets thick very quickly - the post was likely built in forested area - and seems to thin out the further inland you go. [21:16] 6Zhangyu never learned the proper Tepet maxims. He stays up, and sees almost nothing. [21:17] 10His first shot at sleeping is fitful, so he goes up topside to clear his head for a few minutes.  [21:20] 10After a while his eyes adjust to the dark and for a brief few moments the rain stops, and the island's spread out before him like a buffet table under the night sky. 15[21:24] Daizo's head might not clear, but the sky certainly does. He peers out over the terrain - not only does the jungle thin, but the plant life itself is shorter and weaker. While the island is small, he spots several gaps in the canopy that suggest clearings like the one they met the cult in - at least three. And the area between them (Daizo draws a triangle in his mind) is almost barren. 15[21:25] The ruined holy(?) site was in that area. [21:26] 6Unholy site. Not that Zhangyu saw it. [21:28] 07Dryas begins formulating her plan. If Carmine Road won't come out here, perhaps it can be drawn around through the outskirts of the jungle... She can ride through the forest easily enough... [21:29] 10Maybe it was holy and that's why the seal was there. No idea how to put it back in place now, but… Daizo contemplates the possible sacred geometries until he feels sleep starting to steal in again; then he'll share his insights with Dryas.  [21:30] 07Dryas is at first reluctant -- but she is quickly won over by Daizo's superior assessment, and appreciative. She clears off a table to arrange a snaking string in a triangular shape around its boundary and summons Zhangyu to begin explaining her plan... [21:31] 6Whatcha got, Boss Lass? [21:33] "If those are other gathering places for Carmine Road's adherents, there might also be other leader figures like Catela was. Keep watch—after this, they might be ready to fight." [21:33] 4Piu will bounce in when everyone else gets up. "Where'dya need me?" [21:34] 10With that, Daizo's off to bed again. His sleep is hardly untroubled, but you take what you can get. [21:35] "I outran the storm once before. Even in tight quarters, I should be able to do it again," 07Dryas states with furrowed brow as she arranges a collection of bric-a-brac - including the glass full of stale rum, to represent Carmine Road - on the table to lay out her plan. [21:42] 6Zhangyu has trained for.. not exactly this. But. He knows enough to advise Dryas. 15[21:53] Zhangyu's advice is good, and the plan is set in motion. [21:53] 14Piu will do a quick, professional planning session with Salim. How does he want to divide responsibility? Presumably they'll be making separate intrusions. 15[21:55] Dryas, with Zhangyu in tow, charges provocatively through the first clearing, where the cultists huddle in a sodden heap. How does Dryas get their attention? 15[21:57] Salim wants the two of them to work entirely independently, making their moves at the same time. It doesn't matter to him who they choose to take, or how. [21:58] 07Dryas puts to her lips a curved ram's horn - a souvenir of her Southern travels, filigreed with copper - and gives it one, two, three sonorous blasts! 15[21:58] Meanwhile, on the roof, Caxi offers Daizo a delicate brass spyglass. [21:58] 14Sounds like a plan. [22:00] 14They'll stage on opposite sides, then. On the agreed upon signal -- probably a time count from when they split or from when the battle is joined, something like that -- Piu will go after the highest value target she can identify. 15[22:00] The cultists stir quickly, crawling over each other to stand and scatter into the woods. Above, the morning sky dims and reddens. [22:02] 10Daizo: "Ah. You're most kind, thank you." 10Note to self. Get a spyglass of my own with a mirror so I'm not beholden to this witch again. [22:03] 4She's not that bad! [22:03] 10Piu's biased. [22:10] 10Ratel assigned them to work together, but Daizo doesn't have to like it. And he doesn't. 15[22:10] Caxi, for her part, seems a little hurt by Daizo's coldness. 15[22:11] Must be an act... 15[22:11] Right? [22:12] 10Might as well ask a brick wall, for the moment anyway. 15[22:14] With no storm-cloud to inhabit, pulsing veins split the open air as the entity manifests maybe ten yalms from the ground. It doesn't seem to chase them so much as grow, with new veins surging after Dryas and Zhangyu as they're pursued. People at the rear - Piu and Salim, but especially Daizo and Caxi - see that it *does* have some finite amount of itself to distribute, as veins at the 15[22:14] 'rear' of the entity shrink and recoil as it chases the huntress and the idol. [22:15] 14Mhm. [22:16] 07Dryas knows she can outrun this thing easily, so she instead - "I am going tie you into a knot," 07she announces, blowing again on the horn to -she hopes - keep its attention focused on her. [22:17] 10Well, that's a relief. So it can be "drawn out" in a sense. If— if there's a third attempt, Daizo will try floating his plan to Ratel and Dryas. [22:17] 6Zhangyu cackles as he sprints away, dodging any blow aimed at him. 15[22:18] Meanwhile, the moment has come for Piu and Salim to make their moves... 15[22:25] Piu, moving silently through the cracking and the scrambling and the bleating of the ram's horn, is able to identify someone rather like yesterday's Catela - a young man wreathed in flowers, walking delicately and deliberately through the jungle, amid a throng of wet and harried would-be revelers. [22:26] 14Time to move, and stop, and move and stop...wait...wait...now-- [22:29] 14She's got the Chain coiled around her right hand, but she hopes not to use it. 15[22:31] The hard part is weaving in and out of the revelers, but she's skilled enough and the cultists are distracted enough that soon she's got the young man - seventeen? eighteen? - twisting dazedly in her grasp. [22:31] 14... [22:31] 14Not like she's never killed kids before. [22:33] 6...look, there are lines. I mean, that isn't one, but there are lines. [22:35] 14She's certainly never killed an unarmed kid. [22:36] 6Unarmed doesn't mean incompetent. Zhangyu's never picked up a weapon. [22:36] 14Fine. An unconscious kid. [22:36] 6Yeah, that's fair. 15[22:39] Dryas seems to have the entity effectively wound-up enough that it doesn't react at all to Piu's daring maneuver. The boy's twisting gets more forceful the farther she takes him, though - it's probably not sustainable to hold him in this grip for much longer. What's she want to do? [22:39] 14Hmm. [22:47] There's no sigh of Piu and Salim. This thing can't possibly catch Dryas as it is now. So instead of watching the goings-on on the ground, Daizo focuses on the entity. The ebb and flow of Essence in it, surrounding it—things you can so rarely see in this light, with this clarity—Daizo's mesmerized. [22:48] 10There's no sigh of Piu and Salim. This thing can't possibly catch Dryas as it is now. So instead of watching the goings-on on the ground, Daizo focuses on the entity. The ebb and flow of Essence in it, surrounding it—things you can so rarely see in this light, with this clarity—Daizo's mesmerized.  14[22:48] * banana|peels is now known as banana 15[22:52] Dryas surges back and forth on Diamond Weapon's back, causing veins to snake through the air and double back on themselves. The network of veins gets smaller and denser as it laps back and forth over the same space. 15[22:54] Piu pulls the boy well away from the monster and the chaos, and his thrashing calms... and then starts up again, swiftly and savagely. The boy's eyes roll back into his head. [22:54] 14She drags him, of course. Difficult to keep his arms wide and shoulders locked without constricting his windpipe, but the spreadwing hold pioneered by Cathak Nelsyn does it. [22:54] 6Good form. [22:54] 14Now she'll bear him to the grass, hopefully something of a soft bed, and try to stop him from biting off his own tongue. [22:55] 14If that requires shoving her own fist in there, then that's what she'll do. 15[22:57] Daizo studies the entity through the spyglass and comes to a startling realization: this thing's movements are so sudden and precise... he surmises that they aren't conscious gestures at all, but an unavoidable physical reaction. Dryas, close enough to rouse it with the idol in hand, appears to be pulling it by the nose, as if it were magnetized. [22:59] 10Under his breath he whispers a single word in Old Realm: 「Eureka.」 15[23:00] Caxi: "You see it too?" 15[23:00] She must have been listening very closely to have caught that. [23:00] 6Also, it does give Tepet Zhangyu actual, literal pain to admit that a Cathak created a good hold. But it passes quickly, and he is free to admire Piu's form. 15[23:02] The boy's jaw clamps around a strap of leather or whatever Piu has at hand. A thin trickle of foam escapes his lips. His heart is racing wildly. [23:02] 14All she can do is make sure he doesn't hurt himself and hope. [23:02] 10Daizo: "It's still bound to that heart. It's veins, after all… It might even be able to be re-contained, if confined to a small enough space…" [23:05] 10Daizo: "See the way she's dragging it back around on itself? Eventually it won't be able to spread out at all." 15[23:06] "Earth and Hell -- you're right!" 15[23:06] Caxi curls her fingers. "I'll tell her at once." 15[23:08] Moments later Dryas finds herself effortlessly outpaced... by a prismatic insect, the color of an oil-stained puddle, with six sharp and glittering wings, buzzing rudely in her face. "It can't help itself," says the insect now and Caxi, in Daizo's presence, a moment earlier. "You can tie it into a knot and render it helpless." 15[23:09] Elsewhere, the boy in Piu's arms seizes once, twice, and goes still. No breathing. No heartbeat. Almost all the petals scattered from his brow in the struggle. [23:09] "Thank you."10 This time he's far less cold about it. If only because he's managed to score a point against the sorcerer. [23:12] 07Dryas is surprised. "And I thought it was just for show -" 07And now she takes another look at the mass of tendrils, taking note of the longest-reaching ones, and sets about to ride through again, leading it back in on itself. How small can she make it? Actually - is there room in the heart? A capsule? She spurs Diamond Weapon on, faster and faster! [23:13] 14She places his hands over his chest, kisses him on the forehead, and lets the earth have him. It didn't work. [23:14] 14She'll fall back to the rally point. 15[23:14] She finds Salim already there, face flecked with blood. 15[23:14] He's scowling. [23:14] 14Piu: "Mine died too." 14[23:16] * banana is now known as banana|split 15[23:17] Dryas races round and round - she can ride fully around the dense knot of veins in the air now - and the veins tighten and tighten... the question is - what now? [23:17] 10Daizo: "Come on. Let's give Ratel an update on the situation and give Dryas a hand. Once we have it contained, we can think of a way to seal it." 15[23:18] Caxi: "It was your discovery; you should brief her." She heads downstairs. 15[23:20] The two of them brush past Catela who's rather forcefully leaving the room they enter, which Ratel has taken as her staging area. 15[23:21] Salim: "They've found some way to control it. If they destroy it, all of the thralls will die." [23:21] 14Piu: "Decision above our paygrade. ...Why are you covered in blood?" [23:22] 10Daizo salutes. "Commodore. We've figured out a method to incapacitate the entity. When materialized, the idol is still exerting a powerful force of attraction on it." 15[23:22] Salim: "Mine cracked a rib, punctured a lung. Blood in his last breaths." 15[23:25] Ratel: "That's excellent. What do we need to do next?" [23:25] 14Piu: "There's no good way to die. At least they went quick." [23:26] 6There is, but it involves more glory. 15[23:26] Salim: "We should return to the Commodore." [23:26] 10Daizo: "Dryas is literally tying it in knots out there. I'm prepared to head to the scene and see if there's a way to patch the seal on the Heart." 15[23:27] Ratel: "Go. Caxi, stay here to examine the people Piu and Salim bring back." 15[23:27] Caxi nods. [23:28] 6Zhangyu will sprint - after a lengthy end-around - to the ship again. They - he - can't lead them to their point of entry... so he won't. [23:29] "Yes ma'am." 10Daizo bows and exits the command post, then sets off towards Dryas' last position.  [23:30] 14Piu nods, and they'll return. [23:37] "I've got it small now! Think we can cram it back in the heart?" 07Dryas asks, her horn dangling at her side while she gribs the idol tightly with both hands held above her head, steering Diamond Weapon with her knees. "Tree?" 15[23:44] A moment after Daizo departs, Piu and Salim arrive to brief Ratel. Salim will let Piu speak unless she makes it clear she doesn't want to. [23:45] 14She's blunt: "Dead kids. Didn't work. Mine's heart exploded in his chest. Salim?" 15[23:47] Salim nods. "A fatal seizure." 15[23:47] Caxi, mildly: "Daizo just ran out to help Dryas seal the spirit. They're going to kill the rest of them." 15[23:48] Ratel: "Piu, go, now." [23:48] 14She's running. 15[23:51] Piu runs swiftly, past dazed cultists, and arrives to see Daizo on foot and Dryas on horseback beneath a snarl of red veins pumping in the open air, looking up at Zhangyu, a palm tree craning beneath his weight as he climbs to the top. [23:52] 6Let's go. Fly, motherfucker. [23:52] 14Piu: "ZHANGYU!" [23:52] "THROW ME!" [23:53] 6...fly, other fucker. [23:55] 10Daizo looks momentarily bemused. Piu's easier to catch, anyway. [23:55] 14She leaps onto Diamond Weapon's back and does a double axel spin in the air, landing with her feet on his shoulders, perched, ready to pounce. [23:56] "Hard and clean. Go!" [23:56] 07Dryas: "What on --" [23:57] 10Daizo: "This is some Falcon Style bull—" [23:58] 6Zhangyu catches her perfectly, swings her around, and lets go-- Session Time: Wed Feb 05 00:00:00 2020 [00:02] 14Two hands, ten fingers, grasping the sky. And the knees...she leads with the knees, driving the cord-bundle so it bends and then, in midair, grabs both ends. They both begin to fall, all the tendrils curling in, and as they do she ties it in a knot, pulling it screaming and writhing taut even as she slams into the ground, no chance to brace-- [00:03] 4She visibly bounces as she hits the dirt, then hits the ground again with a "wooof" and rolls away. [00:04] 4Ow!!! [00:04] 14Piu: "TAKE IT!" [00:04] 14Ow. Ribs. 15[00:04] The orb shudders and writhes - whatever they do, they have to do it fast. [00:05] 10Daizo shouts"Keep hold of it! Zhangyu, get down here and be ready to grab hold if Piu loses her grip!" [00:05] 07Dryas is on it with the idol! She rides forth, leaning fully sideways in the saddle, one hand on the reins and another reaching out to Piu- [00:05] 6She's so good. (x4) Zhangyu's in place as soon as he can be, too -- [00:05] 14She can dive back on top of it if necessary, but surely someone else is on the case. 15[00:10] As Dryas holds the idol out, it burns hot in her hand. The veins writhe and seize... and begin to rush *into* the heart, through the crack. It shudders and pulses - Dryas struggles to hold on. But after a moment she holds a beating, burning, red-hot heart. 15[00:11] It's slightly damp in her hand now. The fissure in the stone has been replaced by a jagged black scar in the rippling pericardium. [00:13] 6Uhhh. [00:13] 10Daizo: "Give it here. I've got the jade gauntlets." [00:13] 07Dryas' expression turns from wonder, to a measure of disgust. "Daizo. Daizo. Take this thing. Daizo. It's repulsive." [00:13] 14Piu just lies on her back and looks at the sky. Should be past dawn by now. [00:15] 6Zhangyu sits cross-legged, waiting. 15[00:16] As Daizo takes the heart, the hearth is beset on all sides by thrashing in the underbrush as the cultists who previously fled Dryas and pursued the heart start to drop to the ground, their bodies seizing. 15[00:16] *pursued the entity [00:16] 6Shouldn't have been cultists there. [00:17] "Gladly." 10Until they get back to the outpost, Daizo's going to keep a tight grip on the hideous heart. The jade in the palm of his gauntlet should provide an extra layer of Magical Material to reinforce the crack, Then… [00:17] 14She drags herself to her feet. If we're going to kill dozens of people, it's best we witnessed it. [00:17] 6Let them all go. [00:17] 14That's not the concern. [00:18] 14They're just gonna die. [00:18] 6They go either way. The wave returns to the ocean. [00:18] 14Yeah, yeah. [00:19] 10He turns and sees the cultists dropping like so many mayflies. [00:19] 07Dryas' face snarls up. "Get on, get on!" 07she exclaims to Daizo, spurring DIamond Weapon on as fast as she can, to take the idol to the furthest point on the island away from these people... 15[00:20] At this point, that's the trading post itself. [00:20] 10Daizo: "Oh no…" 10There were two parts to his experiment, after all. [00:21] 10He's sprinting after Diamond Weapon now. Maybe it's still a localized effect… maybe… [00:23] 10And if the warhorse can take him as a second rider he'll jump for it. 15[00:24] They return, horse and hearth, heart in tow, to the trading post. The sound of their retreat masks the dying gasps of the cultists as their bodies give out one by one. [00:24] 14Piu's eyes are hard. 15[00:24] NEXT TIME: The Trial of Peleps Catela [00:24] 10The operation was a success… but the patients died. 14[00:26] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[00:26] * Joins: mattbaby 14[01:50] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:32] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Connection closed) 14[02:32] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[02:32] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[02:51] * Quits: VoxPrime (Connection closed) 14[02:51] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[03:11] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[05:20] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:01] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:30] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[07:33] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:38] * Joins: mattbaby 14[07:53] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[20:01] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:03]  15[20:03]  15[20:03]  15[20:03]  15[20:03]  15[20:04] The last of the storm has blown away. The sun shines on a silent island. [20:04] 14There was probably better way to cut that knot. But we are on a schedule. 15[20:04] What does Dryas report to Ratel? [20:12] 07Dryas rides back towards the fortified Guild headquarters, idol in hand. She dismounts wordlessly, her countenance grim. She blows into Ratel's makeshift command center and plonks the heavy broken heart down on the table; it lands with a jarring 07thud07. [20:12] 07Cynis Dryas: "I have good news and bad news." 15[20:12] Ratel looks down at it; Caxi sweeps it up into her hands almost immediately. 15[20:12] Ratel: "...report." [20:14] 07Dryas: "Good news: we contained 'Carmine Road' within the idol that had imprisoned it. I present it to you now as our prize." She takes a deep breath and looks to her sorcerous cousin. Bad news: cousin Caxi was completely correct. Every single one of the people under the thrall of the idol perished when we imprisoned [20:15] 07Dryas: "Good news: we contained 'Carmine Road' within the idol that had imprisoned it. I present it to you now as our prize." 07She takes a deep breath and looks to her sorcerous cousin. "Bad news: cousin Caxi was completely correct. Every single one of the people under the thrall of the idol perished when bound it back within this idol." 15[20:16] Salim has gone to help Daizo with the work of seeing to the dead. Where are Piu and Zhangyu? [20:19] 6Zhangyu, unless requested otherwise, is with his cousin. [20:20] 14Piu has a report to make to Caedus as soon as feasible. 15[20:21] Ratel's face darkens. The news sits heavy on her, and beneath the weight of their failure something irritates. Dryas is reminded of the proverb of the lion with a thorn in its paw. Caxi, meanwhile, is simply irritated. "At least they'll get a proper funeral," says the sorceress acidly. [20:25] "We paid a dear price, but maintained the integrity of our mission, as well as its secrecy. We have no Anathema - or whatever this was - lurking behind, waiting to betray us," 07Dryas notes. [20:26] 14An expansive definition of 'we,' to be sure. [20:26] 14Inclusive, even! [20:26] 6True, though. 15[20:27] Caxi: "About that." 15[20:28] "The proving-out of my hypothesis leaves one glaring unanswered question: how did Catela survive?" 15[20:28] "What was different about her? What was done to her? What did she accept?" 15[20:32] Piu, in her search for the chief petty officer, finds herself directed back aboardship, where he's pacing in front of the ersatz brig kept for Salim. [20:33] 14After closing the door: "Well that was a shit-show." 15[20:34] Caedus: "I heard. Or, didn't hear." [20:34] "Two noteworthy encounters. Two sole survivors," 07Dryas observes. 15[20:38] Caxi: "We should keep Catela under guard, like the assassin. Until we know more." [20:39] 14Piu: "We found Peleps Catela, cousin or niece or something of Ratel, leftenant on Triumph's Arc. If you recognize that name, it's because it was an escort ship in Furia's fleet. She was leading a hedonist cult in thrall to...something. A demon, I suppose. Have to wait for final analysis from Daizo and Dryas. Anyhow, Caxi's got her little panties in a snit because she wanted to [20:39] study it and use its power and so on, and Dryas wanted to try to free the cultists and leave." [20:39] "Dryas's plan ended up killing them all, of course." [20:39] "So they take whatever secrets they have to the grave, those villagers and crewmembers, but we still have Catela." [20:39] 6What's a mass murder in between friends? [20:40] 07Dryas considers something for a moment, but decides to hold her tongue. 07Catela fears one of them. Or both? Does she have leverage on them? Or could they unmask her? 15[20:40] Ratel shakes her head. "We need her to trust us. She's a direct link to the Armada." [20:41] 14Piu: "Of course, Caxi isn't a fan of Catela's, for some reason -- probably a combination of stylistic antagonism and Caxi fucking her aunt. But now Caxi wants to study her, too." [20:41] "So Catela might be in danger." 15[20:43] Caedus: "This compliates the longer-term plan to turn the sorceress." [20:44] "We need to learn more,"07 Dryas suggests. "I'll talk to the others to see if we can gain her trust. The Tepets, perhaps, would be new faces without connections... or baggage." [20:44] 14Piu: "It does, and it doesn't." [20:44] "If she kills Catela and we know, and we cover it up, that's leverage." [20:44] "Of course, we'd need to get what we need first." [20:45] 14Piu shrugs. "Though frankly I've no real desire to actually kill the leftenant. And with Salim's status...up in the air...turning Caxi becomes less of a priority as well, since we might not even need her as a catspaw." 15[20:45] Caedus: "How was he out there?" [20:45] 14Piu: "Quiet, effective. Less posturing. Still has his beliefs, but none of the ostentatious monasticisms." 15[20:47] Caedus: "I don't like that. The Mnemon thing was a put-on, but it was still a point of friction, a rough edge we could use to put spin on him. Sleek and helpful is dangerous." [20:48] 14Piu: "Absolutely. But the Mnemon thing being a put-on removes our leverage with Caxi to help kill him, now that she knows he's not here to rat her out to the religious police." [20:49] 10Before he passed the Heart off to Dryas, Daizo left her with a single request: "Let her have it, but don't let her keep it." 10He absolutely doesn't want to see it disappear into the sorceress' bag of tricks. Can he be trusted with it? Maybe, maybe not. But at least Daizo feels he has the right attitude: Carmine Road isn't a power that should be unleashed again.  [20:49] 14Piu: "I mean, we both agree the White Lotus cover story is bullshit now, right? He wouldn't just surrender if that were true." [20:50] *Black Lotus 15[20:50] Salim follows Daizo, helping drag bodies as required and quietly observing the necessary rites. 14[20:53] * Joins: mattbaby_ 15[20:53] Ratel looks up from the counter to meet Dryas's eyes. "Take the leftenant aboard the Defiance. Don't put her under guard but... watch her." [20:54] 07Dryas: "As for the idol... Tepet Daizo has requested that it be made available to the full crew for study, without the need to disturb my wise, honorable, and correct Cousin in her chambers or studies." [20:54] 10Now he's roaming the woods with Salim as an ominous presence at his side, searching for the mortal remains of Carmine Road's—his—victims. Over each he says a brief prayer: may you find Lethe, may your next life be peaceful, may you find fortune as in this life you found misfortune, may your lower soul rest easy. He lifts each in turn and carries them tot he wooods' edge, laying them out. Later, they'll build the pyre. This [20:54] 10 should be handled by a sister or brother who's taken the razor, but Daizo could recite the instructions for properly performing rites for the dead in his sleep. 15[20:54] Caedus: "It seems like a lie... but he's clearly not a skilled liar. If he were, he wouldn't have chosen a cover so close to his true skillset. That's just asking to get burned." [20:56] 14Piu: "...My agreed-upon backup cover is that I'm an assassin, but just for House V'neef." 14[20:57] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:57] * mattbaby_ is now known as mattbaby [20:59] 14She smiles slightly. "Should I take this as work critique, or...?" 15[21:01] Caedus shakes his head. "It's not the same. He wasn't even in the Mnemon roll." 15[21:02] Caxi: "Oh, did he?" 15[21:02] "Well, I suppose no harm can come from deferring to his judgment." 15[21:02] "Again." [21:02] 10After some time, Daizo calls a break and finds a flat rock to sit on. There's no one to confide in here but Salim, and Salim's a snake. But… [21:03] 14Piu: "Whatever the case, we're back in wait-and-see mode. I certainly don't want to start going around knocking off officers or prisoners while we're at sea unless absolutely necessary." [21:03] 07Dryas bites her tongue. [21:04] 10Daizo: "How do you deal with it? The aftermath, I mean. Do you have to clean up your own work?" [21:06] 6Zhangyu was with him, actually. He won't impose if Daizo is looking for someone more distant, though. 15[21:06] Salim doesn't sit, but he does stand close enough to Daizo that the older man's shadow falls on the resting giant. "Often. Sometimes it's necessary to leave a mess behind. Sometimes it's necessary to conceal your presence. Sometimes... the work requires that we eliminate any trace that someone had lived or died." 15[21:06] "In each case, more work. Harder, often, than the kill." 15[21:07] Caedus: "No chance any of the dead were incidentally our target, I suppose." [21:11] 10Daizo: "Does it ever weigh on you? I mean… killing. They tell you about it in the war college in the Cloister, but it's more how to deal with it when your own commander is struggling with it. Not so much for if it's your decision." [21:12] 14Piu: "There wasn't much time to look around, and it's not like I could go asking the cultists their names. Have you checked the paper? If the name's gone..." [21:13] 14They pull it out. "So, no." [21:13] "Hedrin lives and breathes. And we've got no wounded." 15[21:14] Salim breathes in and out, slowly. "No. I am an instrument in the hands of a higher power." 15[21:15] Ratel: "I'll take the idol for now. Caxi, join your cousin." 15[21:15] Caxi's nostrils flare. 15[21:15] "...of course, Commodore. I am here to serve." [21:15] 07Dryas offers a lazy salute on her way out alongside her cousin. Outside, she will have words with Caxi. 15[21:16] Caxi all but glides out alongside Dryas. 15[21:16] Caedus: "Okay. How's your in with the deserter?" [21:18] "It's easier to not be wrong when your plan is to do nothing," 07Dryas hisses - hopefully quiet enough that Ratel cannot hear. [21:18] 14Piu: "She's considerably less into sex now that she's out from under the spell. Luckily I read that loud and clear and didn't poison that relationship by being a boor." [21:18] "Other than that, I still register with her as the first friendly face she saw after the sinking of her ship and her loss of memory, as an ally of Ratel, and as capable but generally politically harmless." [21:19] 10Daizo's under no illusions that Salim will give him a real answer. And this is probably just rolling over and showing the assassin his soft underbelly. But this is probably healthier than his other impulse, which was to go out and start smashing things. "I see. Then… Come on, let's get back to it." 15[21:19] "The work continues," agrees Salim. 15[21:20] Caxi rolls her eyes. "Oh, yes, if only I had the courage to do something stupid to keep busy, like a ghost or a dog." 15[21:21] "You won the argument! Why are you the angry one?" 15[21:27] Caedus: "Has Catela tipped her feelings on the Commodore?" [21:28] 07Dryas seethes for a moment before collecting herself somewhat. "It doesn't feel like I won the argument. I feel like shit!" [21:30] 14Piu: "No. She's afraid of something -- she's not quite what she seems, has a secret, so on and so forth. Might be dangerous, might not. Might be interesting, might not. My feeling is as far as we're concerned it'll likely be one or the other, not both or neither. This little hearth of ours is probably going to be tasked to get to the bottom of it outright sooner or later; Catela [21:30] might have to stand court martial for desertion, though Ratel has hardly thrown her in the brig." 14She looks around the brig. "As is plain." [21:31] "Either way she's playing her cards close." 15[21:33] Caxi's voice softens somewhat. "Did you believe you were arguing for what was right?" 15[21:34] Does Daizo say any words before burning the bodies? [21:36] 07Dryas: "Yes... I mean, we had to try something. But maybe we tried the wrong thing?" 15[21:36] Caedus: "The crew's starting to get restless. Merchant sailors aren't as superstitious as the ones who stick in the Navy but a bad omen's a bad omen, and we've had three now, with no good news." [21:41] 14Piu: "Well, a trial's hardly likely to reverse that trend. Keel-hauling the Commodore's niece or, gods, daughter isn't exactly going to boost morale." 15[21:41] Caxi: "Maybe. Maybe not. But as cold as it is to say, that doesn't matter now. What matters is how you meet the next challenge. And you won't win any cleaner succumbing to doubt." 15[21:41] "Fear of being wrong doesn't make you smarter. It just makes you afraid." [21:42] 10It's just him, Salim, and Zhangyu, so there's no point in doing grand oratory. "Perhaps these women and men could have been saved. Perhaps they were a lost cause from the moment Carmine Road took them. We may never know now. But Carmine Road is sealed once more, and I will work to see that it is never released again." 10He turns to face the pyre. "May the blessings of the Holy Dragons be with you in all your lives to come, [21:42] until the end of days." [21:43] 6Zhangyu bows his head at the words of his cousin. They tried. They failed. They will try again tomorrow - that is all he can promise. 15[21:43] Caedus nods grimly. "As I see it, your task then is to keep the peace between Ratel, Caxi, and Catela. Ratel's soft enough. Can the other two be reconciled?" [21:44] "The kid and the girlfriend her same age?" [21:44] 14Piu shrugs. "I'm not even sure if Catela will tolerate me once she finds out." [21:44] 07Dryas: "Thanks, Caxi. I'm... sorry... for losing my temper. And I don't like disagreeing with you in front of the Commodore... but I will if I have to." 15[21:45] Caxi: "Good. I make the same promise to you." 15[21:45] "Now, where is that crybaby bitch?" [21:45] 10Daizo sets the torch to the kindling and squares his shoulders. 15[21:46] The bodies burn. 15[21:46] Salim's stony face is throne into relief by the fire. 15[21:47] Caedus pinches the bridge of his nose. "Okay. I have your report. Good work out there. Is there anything else?" [21:47] 14Piu will step forward and give him a brief but hard kiss, then withdraw. 15[21:48] That seems to make him feel better. 15[21:49] As for the Cynis scions' quarry, it's surprisingly hard to find one woman in a silent and abandoned trading post. Eventually they come upon her at the far end of the pier, where it tumbles into the rocky beach, looking out over all the ships anchored, their crews dead or gone. [21:56] 14Time to make herself useful elsewhere... [21:57] 07Dryas approaches, paying little attention for now to Caxi. "So," 07she begins. 15[21:57] After their grim work is done, Daizo and the others return to Ratel, finding her packing up the Guild ledger and overseeing her sailors' careful ransacking of the depopulated post. It'd be foolish to leave useful supplies behind for no one. 15[21:57] Caxi, for her part, hangs quietly behind Dryas. 15[21:58] Catela: "It would've taken three, four times the people you found to crew all these ships." 15[21:59] "Did they flee? Did they die?" She turns to look Dryas in the eye. "Will we ever even know?" [22:00] 10Daizo: "It's done. When we leave, the island will be deserted but it won't be haunted." 15[22:00] Ratel nods. "Thank you for seeing to them. I'm glad you were here to do that." [22:01] 07Dryas: "I don't know. Maybe eventually, with the idol, we can piece something together." 15[22:01] Catela shakes her head. "What now?" [22:04] 07Dryas: "...Did you believe her? The Admiral?" [22:04] 6Zhangyu: "Further orders, Commodore?" 6Not quite sure what to do with himself. [22:06] 10Daizo bites down on "I wish it hadn't been necessary" before saying "Thank you. What now? Has Catela been able to provide any intelligence?" 15[22:07] Ratel: "About that. Daizo, Zhangyu, would you mind terribly bunking together? We have no spare cabins, and I need to put the Leftenant somewhere." [22:08] 6Zhangyu glances towards his cousin before speaking. "No trouble at all." [22:09] 14Out of the fog...out of the mist...something approaches... [22:10] 14It slips up...crouches...and--- [22:10] 4Piu: "HI~~" [22:11] 4She's in her civilian gear now, and she's had a dip in the water to wick the sweat off14 as well as any identifying scents. [22:11] 10Daizo: "It'll be a little cramped, but I think we can make it work."10 He'll have to move most of his books into the hold, or see if Seiri has room. 15[22:11] Ratel: "In that case, I'll finish up here and meet the two of you back aboard." 15[22:12] Catela: "...which Admiral?" [22:12] 6Best to get working, then. And depending on what books Daizo brought, they might be welcome additions. [22:13] 07Dryas: "I meant Furia... but was there disagreement?" [22:14] 4She pouts a little at the cold shoulder. 15[22:14] Caxi, at least, grins when Piu pops up out of nowhere. [22:14] 4She'll get a grin back. 15[22:15] Catela: "There is always disagreement. Four Admirals, six opinions. That's what the sailors say." 15[22:15] "But no one defies the Fleet Commander." [22:16] 10Daizo: "Oh, and as for the disposition of the idol, Commander? Did Dryas relay my concerns to you?" 15[22:17] Caxi is being very carefully quiet and in-the-background. Piu knows the manner of someone trying to avoid an ugly fight. 15[22:17] Catela wants to be anywhere else in Creation right now. 15[22:18] Ratel: "Yes, I've taken possession of it for now. We'll work out a long-term plan once we're off." [22:18] 07Dryas: "But what about you? Who did you believe?" [22:19] 4Well! At least they're getting along, at not getting along. [22:20] 10Daizo: "Excellent. All right, Cousin, let's be off." [22:21] 10Is Salim coming with or staying landside? 15[22:21] Catela: "It's not for such a low-ranked officer to have favorites. I accept the chain of command. I have no other gods before it." 15[22:21] Something in her deflection sets Dryas's hair on edge. [22:24] 4More soberly: "How did the Triumph's Arc get separated? How did it end up here?" 15[22:27] Catela: "For a resupply. We lost some of our fresh water." Her voice is hesitant - she clearly remembers more than she did yesterday, but she's just as cagey. 15[22:28] Salim joins Daizo back aboardship. [22:29] 4Piu: "...Were you with fleet then, when Furia...?" 15[22:32] Catela flinches, but then stiffens her spine. "If the Commodore wishes me questioned, she can do it herself." [22:32] 10Daizo was kind of hoping to be rid of the Black Lotus killer after his earlier awkward lapse, but fate isn't quite that kind yet. How's the general mood on the ship?  [22:33] 4Piu sighs. "If the Commodore wished you questioned in that fashion, you would have been by now." 15[22:34] Catela: "Then I suppose we're at an impasse." [22:35] 07Dryas shakes her head. "I'm - this isn't how I meant for this to go. I was trying to make smalltalk." 15[22:35] The mood of the ship is hard to read as people bustle to and fro loading and offloading. The absence of the Cathak twins from the deck is notable, as by the time of Ratel's landing they would've been, along with Samperson, the only Blooded on the ship. [22:36] 4Piu, sadly: "No, we're not." [22:36] "We'll move on, you'll keep hurting, and eventually you'll have to deal with whatever it is that happened." [22:36] 6Their absence is noted, and welcome. 15[22:37] Once they're back aboard, Samperson and a couple of guys come up to bring Salim back down to the makeshift brig. So Daizo's got that going for him too. [22:37] 07Dryas: "I just wanted to know where you stood on it. For me, the thought of it is exhilarating; this could be the greatest hunt in history! Even if we don't know what's at the end of it." [22:38] 10Huh. Wonder what they're up to. Probably planting a noisemaker in the head, or something.  15[22:38] One person Daizo does see is Seiri. "Master Daizo! Is everything alright?" 15[22:39] Catela: "Yes. That makes sense. You all sound like the sort of people my mother would surround herself with in a crisis. Am I being imprisoned?" [22:39] "No," 07Dryas replies. 15[22:39] "Then if you'll excuse me." [22:40] "I can - we can protect you--" 07Dryas stammers. [22:40] 14Piu: "No we can't." [22:41] "We've all fucked around and dived double-deep into politics. None of us should make promises we can't keep." 15[22:42] Caxi: "...there's nothing left to do here. Let's return to the ship." [22:42] 10Deep breath. "The danger has passed. Most of the people on the island perished—they'd been possessed. But the spirit responsible's been sealed, and Ratel's holding onto its vessel for me." [22:43] "It was pretty tough out there. Did you see any of the lightning?" [22:43] "Politics didn't kill those people," 07Dryas disagrees. [22:43] 14Piu: "I'll leave when Catela's ready to leave." [22:43] 14She gives Dryas a look. [22:43] 14Politics kills everyone. [22:43] 14Most of all those people. 15[22:43] Seiri: "Oh, yes. It was terrible. So much of the crew was praying." 15[22:44] "But you're all safe?" [22:44] 6Zhangyu, nearby: "Safe enough." 6He returns to moving his possessions into Daizo's quarters - he has fewer things, it's only fair he relocate. 15[22:45] Seiri: "What are you doing, Master Zhangyu?" [22:45] 10Daizo nods. "All of us that went ashore are safe. And one person did survive, although we're not sure why yet." [22:45] 6Zhangyu: "Relocating. We're bringing someone aboard, and - well. They need quarters." 15[22:46] Catela: "I'm ready now." 15[22:46] Seiri's eyes widen. "A survivor?" [22:46] 4Piu pops up. "Fair enough!" [22:46] 10Daizo: "Which is why Zhangyu's moving in with me for a little while, haha." [22:47] "That's right. Peleps Catela. I think she might be Ratel's niece, or maybe even daughter, but it would be rude to ask." 15[22:48] Seiri: "Oh, that's wonderful news! The Commodore must be so pleased." [22:52] 10Daizo: "It is good news. It's hard to read the Commodore, though. I… don't think they parted on the best of terms, before." 10He mimes slamming a door open and stomping out—when he went to brief Ratel about Carmine Road, Catela was storming out in high dudgeon.  [22:54] 10Daizo: "But I'm sure they'll work it out. Family is important." [22:54] 6Zhangyu grunts in agreement. 15[22:54] Seiri's face falters, but only briefly. "Can I help at all?" 15[22:55] The others, by now, have boarded, and the anchor's being drawn up. [22:57] 4...Any shanties? [23:04] 10Daizo: "Sure. Many hands make quick work, and we've still got to set up the second bunk. Oh, and I'd like to ask if you have the room for a couple of these trunks with my books in them. We'll be tripping over them otherwise." 10They probably could go in the hold, but conditions in the cabins are certainly better. [23:07] 4Fuck this. Piu leaps up on the rigging, getting their attention, dancing between them, leaping, brushing close, and when she swings around the mast, she begins singing. [23:08] 4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Voa19Ijs6sE [23:08] 10Daizo: "Oh! Never mind the bunks for a minute, do you hear that?" [23:08] 4She continues moving as she sings. "We'll rant and we'll roar, like true Realmborn sailors; we'll rant and we'll roar, along the salt seas..." [23:09] 4When she's done, she'll land near Ratel, if she's still on deck. 15[23:09] Ratel is there, singing along. "And here's to the health of each true-hearted lass..." 15[23:10] But she isn't smiling when she looks down at Piu. "Bring the senior staff and the Leftenant into my office please." [23:11] 4She chirps: "Yes ma'am!" 14And then she gets closer, still smiling broadly. But she's serious when she says: "I don't think I need to tell you this, Commodore, but this won't work a second time. Crew needs a win. Keel-hauling the leftenant isn't that." [23:11] 4Then she'll skip off. 15[23:12] Ratel just watches her go. 15[23:12] Probably would have anyway. [23:12] 14That is the brand. [23:13] 4Piu will do as commanded. [23:13] 10Daizo doesn't know the verse in this one but he joins the last chorus.  [23:13] 07Dryas lights one of her stubby cigars, humming along with the song. Acrid smoke curls around her as she settles her white sailing cap back onto her head. She's got a bit of a dour sneer but as the shanty goes on it fades into something of a weary, crooked smile, in spite of herself. 15[23:14] The hearth - including Ito Pan but not Ito Jun, Salim, or Samperson - meet Ratel in her office. Catela sits stiffly in the center of the room while everyone around her remains standing. [23:19] 14Piu will lean on something sumptuously in a corner. 15[23:19] The Commodore looks out over her command. "First I want to be perfectly clear about our mission. I've kept some things from some of you. We are charged with finding Peleps Furia and her missing fleet, and the official line is that no one knows what caused her to abandon their posts. But we do have some idea. Furia believes herself on the hunt for the Scarlet Empress herself." [23:20] 10Daizo leaves Seiri with a packet of shorthand notes to expand out into longhand before reporting to the Commodore. [23:21] 6Arms folded, impassive, Zhangyu stands looking menacingly at Catela. He's not trying to, really, it's just his natural state of being. 15[23:21] Ratel is looking at Tepet's sons directly as she says this. How do they react? [23:23] 10Daizo has been through a lot these past few days. This is now like the tenth least concerning thing on his mind. "Were our seniors in House Tepet aware of the nature of this mission?" [23:24] 6Zhangyu very carefully does not react while he lets Daizo do the talking. He might say something they would all regret, otherwise. [23:24] 10Daizo: "I imagine not. If they were, they would have insisted on coming themselves, in order to extract greater favor from the Fleet. Correct?" 15[23:25] Ratel: "There were security concerns." 15[23:26] "Tepet's surviving elders are quite close with our Regent, may his reign be brief." [23:26] 07Dryas has two teacups - one with tea, the other an impromptu ashtray - and a flask of wine in front of her. She partakes at random. [23:26] 6Zhangyu can't help himself: "'Security concerns.'" [23:27] 14May his...? Well. [23:27] 14That's a way to put it. [23:28] 10Daizo: "There are those who believe, or fear, that the Regent, may his reign be blessed and brief, is only feigning incompetence." [23:29] 10Daizo: "Back in Lord's Crossing, there was this play— but I digress." 15[23:29] Ratel: "I apologize for lying to the two of you. I have no consolation but the truth: it was not you we were worried about." [23:33] 10Daizo: "In the circumstances, I can see the reasoning. Allow me to assure you that I am a true patriot, Commodore—if my work for the Fleet has any chance of returning the Empress to us, I will contine to my last breath." [23:33] *continue 15[23:33] Ratel: "I have total faith in you." [23:34] 6Zhangyu grunts. 15[23:34] "And now, thanks to all your effort, we have our first real lead. A surviving member of the missing Armada." 15[23:34] Catela closes her eyes. 15[23:35] Ratel: "Leftenant, how did you end up separated not just from the fleet, but your own crew?" 15[23:36] Catela: "Am I being court-martialed? I have the right to an advocate, to know the charge against me." 15[23:36] Ratel: "...no, you aren't. This isn't a naval vessel." [23:36] 14Fair. [23:37] 14But Catela was hiding behind the promise of a court martial. Almost hoping for it.... [23:38] 07Dryas takes another swig - swig - puff - swig - ash. 15[23:39] Catela: "...we had docked to resupply. The trading post had underreported its stores and wasn't able to meet our requisition, so we took what they had. Even this took two days to assemble." 15[23:40] "There was a religious festival ongoing, of some kind. Flowers and dancing. It was difficult to secure enough local labor." 15[23:41] "Forgive me, Commodore, but if I'm not being tried, why are so many people in the room?" [23:41] 14Piu: "We're witnesses." 14[23:41] * Quits: Nothing__ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[23:42] Ratel: "I value their expertise. The last time I had to conduct an interrogation, they helped, and we learned more because of it." [23:42] "From many different houses." 15[23:42] She doesn't acknowledge what Piu said, to confirm or deny. [23:42] "This puts you in a rather better position than an official court martial, I think." [23:43] 10Some small voice in Daizo is yelling at him about how he's now a member of a rogue element chasing after a rogue element what are you DOING—silence, you. Sometimes you do what must be done. 15[23:43] Catela: "I don't remember what happened next. My mind is clouded. The next clear memory I have is being woken up by V'Neef Piu." [23:44] 6Zhangyu: "Festival, then nothing, then awaking?" [23:45] 4Piu: "Tracks with the...thing's...method!" [23:46] 10Daizo: "Who had come ashore with you? Any other officers? Notable people? " 15[23:46] Catela shakes her head. "Just porters." [23:48] 07Dryas: "The Arc left port, but you didn't. Any idea how that could have happened?" [23:50] 6Zhangyu: "Hold on. The festival. There - if that happened, there would be, debris, discarded things. There wasn't." 15[23:50] Caxi gives Zhangyu a supportive nudge. 15[23:50] Ratel looks up sharply. [23:50] 4Piu watches Catela carefully. 15[23:50] Then back down at Catela. [23:51] 6Zhangyu: "There was nothing." [23:51] 10Daizo: "Well spotted, Cousin." [23:52] 14But she's not loyal to anything on the island qua the island. [23:52] 14Something else is going on here... 15[23:53] Catela: "I can't explain it. It is a true mystery. I'm sorry." 15[23:53] Ratel: "The ship leaving or the lack of evidence of a festival?" 15[23:53] Catela: "Either. Forgive me." [23:54] 07Dryas: "Several other ships arrived and left shortly before the Arc did. Did you encounter them? One of them, let's see here, was called the... Commodore, what's the second-to-last entry in the ledger?" [23:55] 6Hallucinations? Magic? Hmmm. 15[23:56] Ratel: "The Keystone, I recall. A Guild ship." [23:56] 14Piu, evenly: "The Guild." [23:56] "The Guild keeps popping up." 15[23:56] Catela: "The Guild pops up everywhere." 15[23:57] "That's what they do. They're like rats." [23:57] 6Evenly: "It is their thing." [23:57] "Spread disease like them too." [23:59] 14She blinks, then closes her eyes and leans back. Session Time: Wed Feb 12 00:00:00 2020 15[00:00] Catela: "I have no knowledge of a Guild vessel at the post." [00:01] 07Dryas takes a big swig of wine. "Well. So much for that idea, then. Maybe they can corroborate the festival." [00:03] 14She glances over at Dryas. So we're just going to not talk about this? [00:03] 07Dryas catches Piu's eye. Oh, did someone else notice that? And Piu, huh? [00:04] 14She'll say it openly, to Dryas: "Do you want us to talk about it?" 15[00:04] Ratel reaches into her desk but stops when Piu speaks. [00:05] 14We can wait or we can do it now. Now sounds good. [00:05] 6Now is preferable to later in every possible circumstance. [00:06] 6V'Neef Piu is a wise woman. [00:06] "What is there to talk about?" 07Dryas replies, coolly. "The Keystone had come and gone by the time the Armada arrived. They might corroborate details of the Leftenant's story, if we catch up to them - Dragons know where they are now - but it doesn't tell us anything about where the Armada is, or what happened to the Leftenant." [00:08] 14Piu shrugs. "Fine." 15[00:09] Now Ratel reaches into her desk and comes back out with the ledger, laying it open across her paper-strewn desk. "The dates confirm that." [00:09] 14She meets Catela's eyes, though. "It's right what you said, though, Catela. I bet the Guild will pop up again soon." 15[00:10] "No record of any other transactions made after the Arc's arrival, but no sign of a problem with it besides the undersupply." 15[00:10] Catela's face tightens slightly, but she says nothing. [00:11] 10Daizo considers saying something, then decides not to put his foot in what's clearly a wasp's nest. [00:12] 6Zhangyu is back to glaring angrily. It's what he does best, after all. 15[00:19] Ratel: "Well, I have a question you could answer for me, Leftenant." [00:19] 14Piu looks back to the Commodore. 15[00:20] She reaches into her pocket and comes up with a glittering silver ring, densely etched, large and set with a chip of polished black jade. 15[00:22] "Why was your family ring in the Guild outpost officer's jewelery box?" 15[00:23] Catela averts her eyes from both the ring and the Commodore. "It must have been stolen after I was possessed." [00:23] 14Piu sighs. "And this is why I wanted to talk about it." [00:23] 10No wonder she wanted the court-martial. [00:24] 6Seems like an idiotic bit of evidence to leave behind. Zhangyu isn't sure what's going on here, but this is... hm. [00:25] 14Piu: "Let's assume for the moment it was stolen! That gives you every particular reason to actually tell us what's going on with the Guild, to the best of your knowledge, under an air of provisional amnesty if that can be offered." [00:26] 14That last sentence ends with a look at Ratel. There's information to be had here if she wants to try and mend this bridge even a little bit. 15[00:27] Catela: "I don't-- how did you even find it? Why were you ransacking a Guildsman's private quarters?" 15[00:27] Caxi: "She wasn't. I was." 15[00:27] When people turn to look at her, she only shrugs. "It'd be wasteful to leave behind anything nice." [00:27] 14Young woman, you need to fucking focus. The provenance isn't your problem right now. [00:27] 6Sneak thief. Awful creatures. 15[00:27] Ratel: "How I got it doesn't matter." [00:35] 14Piu: "Right. Here's what I propose. Some people are emotionally compromised here, and that is what it is, but we're not going to have an honest conversation with that lingering over the room. Catela and everyone here that found her -- myself, Dryas, Daizo, Zhangyu -- we retreat to the officer's lounge, and we do a debriefing there. And that debriefing is secret, contingent on [00:35] Catela's release. And then we come back, and Commodore Ratel renders judgment as she pleases. If Catela has made us her advocates, we'll advocate. If not, we won't." [00:36] 14She looks around the room. "Other options are worse." [00:36] "Check the crew's temperature if you doubt me." 15[00:36] Catela: "No, that's ridiculous. This is-- take me to a naval outpost, let me stand trial there. This is entirely outside the law." [00:36] 6Zhangyu still looks angry, but he shifts. "Acceptable." 6He glances to the others. 15[00:37] Ratel folds her arms. "The peril of being outside the law, love, is that you no longer have the protection of it." [00:37] 6Catela's opposition is ignored. [00:37] 14Piu: "You're not going anywhere near the law again with our billet." 15[00:37] To Piu: "Make it so." 15[00:37] NEXT TIME: The truth [00:37] 07Dryas gestures vaguely with her teacup (not the one she's using as an ashtray). It seems affirmative. [00:39] 10Daizo has his misgivings, but if there's answers to be gotten here, Catela's the one who has them. "Very well." 14[01:25] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[01:26] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:44] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[04:26] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[06:19] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:10] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[11:12] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[11:13] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:19] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[12:23] * Joins: cbass 14[12:30] * Quits: mattbaby (Connection closed) 14[12:30] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:42] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[12:42] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:21] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[20:03] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:13] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:14] * Joins: tom [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 _ [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 /#\ [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 /###\ /\ [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 / ###\ /##\ /\ [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 / #\ /####\/##\ 9. . [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 / / / # / ##\ _ /\ [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 // // /\ / _/ / #\ _ /#\ _/##\ /\ [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 // / / \ / / #\ \ _/###\_ / ##\__/ _\ [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \ / .. \ / / _ { \ \ _/ / // / \\ [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 /\ / /\ ... \_/ / / \ } \ | / /\ \ / _ / / \ /\ [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 _ / \ /// / .\ ..%:. /... /\ . \ {: \\ /. \ / \ / ___ / \ [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 /.\ .\.\// \/... \.::::..... _/..\ ..\:|:. . / .. \\ /.. \ /...\ / \ \ [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12/...\.../..:.\. ..:::::::..:..... . ...\{:... / %... \\/..%. \ /./:..\__ \ [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12 .:..\:..:::....:::;;;;;;::::::::.:::::.\}.....::%.:. \ .:::. \/.%:::.:..\ [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12::::...:::;;:::::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;:::::;;::{:::::::;;;:.. .:;:... ::;;::::.. [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12;;;;:::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;];;;;;;;;;;::::::;;;;:.::;;;;;;;;:.. [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12;;;;;;;;;;;;;;ii;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;[;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;:;;;;;;;;;;;;; [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;iiiiiiii;;;;;;;;;;;;;;};;ii;;iiii;;;;i;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;ii;;; [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12iiii;;;iiiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiIiiiiii{iiIIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii;;;;;iiiilliiiii [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12IIIiiIIllllllIIlllIIIIlllIIIlIiiIIIIIIIIIIIIlIIIIIllIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiillIIIllII [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12IIIiiilIIIIIIIllTIIIIllIIlIlIIITTTTlIlIlIIIlIITTTTTTTIIIIlIIllIlIlllIIIIIIITT [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12IIIIilIIIIITTTTTTTIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTIIIIIIIIIlIIIIIIIITTTT [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12IIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTTIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTT [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12To your east, a titanic behemoth of bark and vine and, somehow, blood, stirs fitfully in its sleep. Between you and it lie miles of jungle, much of it already consumed by the roots which have been snaking outward from the underside of the recumbent giant - including what used to be one of Raksi's greatest cities. You're honor-bound to destroy the creature, or at least to drive it [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12off or seal it away. [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Fortunately, you've got help: the mightiest forces that the freshly-organized Thousand Immaculate Fangs can spare. It's a legion of battle-tested apeman soldiers, stronger and faster than normal men would be, honed against your own armies and then again by Ir's training, and supported by lumbering automatons as tall as houses. [20:34] 4Hopefully we've got some plans coming together. Ir's probably got her hands full helping Kacha and hammering him into the general the TCZ needs. [20:35] 7The discovery that the Air Behemoth has been merely sealed away, not destroyed, has Blossom worried. This must be what Kejak feels like - why can't looming apocalypses *stay* foiled?! 15[20:35] 10That's probably not what Kejak feels like. [20:36] 7Ah, well then. Carry on. [20:37] 6We could always ask him. Might have to get pretty close, though. 15[20:37] 10No!! [20:39] 4Tatsuya stop planning to kill Kejak. You can do that after we deal with the behemoth. 15[20:41] 10Tatsuya, stop planning. He can see the future. [20:41] 6That's exactly why he's not planning it at all! [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12The trick is, nothing you do should make any sense. [20:41] 6NOT in that sense. [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh I beg to differ. [20:41] 6You've taken all the fun out of it now. [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12At the outset of this project more than a few of these soldiers were dubious at the prospect of serving under the same demon-gods that had been butchering them but a year ago, but Ir's training these past few months has dispelled those doubts. They, and a smattering of friendly elementals and Dragon-Blooded men and beastmen stand at the ready. Marching? [20:44] 4Ir will hold off starting any action until the rest of the Circle has cleared it, but when they're ready, she is. [20:45] 7We've taken our share from the conquered city, so it's time to help save Creation. You're welcome, Creation! Please continue to thank and praise us. [20:47] 4In that case, it's time to clear a path. Is the circle coming with or is Blossom bringing everyone along on Heavensward? It'd be a long climb. [20:48] 7It would probably be good to have the Heavensward about, if only for scouting purposes. [20:49] 4Kacha will head the columns themselves; Ir will wheel above on Errant, taking over forward scouting responsibilities. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12You've also got Ithuya if you need another eye in the sky. And, of course, whatever airborne demons or elementals you might care to call up. 08[20:50] 4The dragon is Eikichi's servant; that's her call. 15[20:51] 10Ithuya will poison the land... but then a purging burn was probably necessary anyway. 15[20:53] 10Sure, why not. The more, the scarier. [20:55] 4Ir's advice will be to deploy the creature as an outrider. Both poison and fire are rather indiscriminate by themselves, let alone together. [20:58] 6Backup's good. Besides, it'll definitely come in handy against a behemoth. [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a different experience to push east rather than retreast west. Where the kruthik swarmed, the land was dead of any life and magic but their own, and, notably, the network of enchantments which among other things empowered Thousand Fangs troops was frayed and nonfunctional. Here, the stellar and elemental power thrums through the land with full force, the forest is full of vigor, [20:58] <@Ferrinus> 12and native wildlife seems if anything more common; constrictors, cockatoos, even normal monkeys and apes are everywhere in sight, only retreating out of fear as the full sound and size of your marching forces becomes evident. The still-present magic of the Control Zone makes the march itself easy, too, as vines uncoil and part before you and even trees and rocks shift out of your path. [20:58] 4Ever seen a tree get up and move? It's fucking weird. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12There are just... no people. Trading posts and garrisons stand empty. Villages are half-destroyed and all-depopulated. This is the kind of thing that the Golden Diamond Empress made the Cantata for: wiping the enemy out, but leaving all their materiel standing. [21:00] 4This is why the talk of taking a throne in Zeal still kind of weirds Ir out. [21:00] 4Having that kind of responsibility... 15[21:03] 10Eikichi is on the ground with the soldiers. She's started to enjoy exercise more and more since she got the new heart. 14[21:04] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:05] 7PLEASE LET ME CARRY YOU STILL 15[21:06] 10Eikichi would never say no to that. 14[21:08] * Joins: tom [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Everyone but Blossom sees it coming. It's incredibly, almost impossibly subtle given the scale, but the motion's visible in a ripple through the tops of trees, a faint skittering of pebbles across the earth. Something's moving beneath the army. Something huge. What's beneath you right now is lurking below the feet of a sizable fraction of your entire column! [21:10] 4Great. Ir urges Errant down, hoping to reach Kacha before the thing strikes. [21:16] 4As she dives, her anima banner explodes and her voice echoes with three specific, clear shouts: orders to the column commanders. Scramble orders. They get the message. Kacha, though-- [21:17] "Kiiiya!" 7Blossom shouts to Ami and yanks on the reins, dodging in and out of the razor-sharp roots that shoot up from the ground, nearly impaling her! [21:17] 4--is fine, as Ir swoops down and hups him onto Errant behind her before driving him skyward again. [21:18] 6Tatsuya's immediately flipping out of the way as quick as he can, with handsprings and great somersaults to keep off of the ground as much as possible while maintaining speed. 15[21:20] 10Eikichi drifts a few ilms to the right. Little further... little further... there. [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12This is an amazing sight from a bird's-eye view; a gigantic column of soldiers immediately stops and then scatters, irising outwards from a central point with the same fluid coordination that you might see in a school of fish. More amazing still is what they're irising outwards away from: gigantic roots, wickedly sharp and slick with crimson sap, are stabbing upwards straight out of [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12the earth, forking and stretching to reveal more and more barbs as more and more of the gigantic central mash comes rushing upwards! Nothing could possibly have survived a direct hit, so it's a good thing nobody had to, and after a few seconds of frenzied retreat and thunderous creaking you and your soldiers stare up at what's almost a gigantic, clawed, wooden hand, hundreds of smaller [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12hands branching fractally off from it, reaching up out of the ground and at the sun. [21:22] 4To Kacha: "You good?" [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Kacha: "...let go of me! What the hell!" 12He's staring, streamers of smoke already rising from his own fingernails. [21:23] "Good man. Let's get you back in the shit, soldier." [21:23] 4Ir will dive back down to whatever fallback command positions the army is taking up. 15[21:24] 10Eikichi's so close to its irruption it tousles her hair. But she's just far enough away that it doesn't touch her. Perfectly judged. [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Leaves rustle and wood creak. The hand is tilting backwards, flexing its fingers... it's going to try to come down onto your soldiers! [21:24] 4Can we burn this thing out? [21:46] 4Whatever. When Kacha's back with his forces, Ir drives Errant skyward -- up and up and up and up -- and the pegasus turns in midair, almost vertical, and dives. [21:47] 4Errant plateaus out at the last second and Ir leaps from her mount with Jude's Law a great two-handed lance, driving it into the back of this massive hand. Then she takes a deep breath, her anima shudders, and all the golden light around her rushes down into a single point as she twists and SHOUTS. [21:47] 4The hand flinches, and she holds on for the ride-- [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12The hand writhes and thrashes in what must at least be a perfect facsimile of pain, trying and failing to dislodge the horn transfixing it. It bleeds copiously, and Ir finds herself awash in a familiar mutagenic blood-sap that, thankfully, might as well be mud in the face of her perfected immune system. [21:50] 4Preparation is the heart of victory; courage is its soul. [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Fortunately, no soldiers are directly beneath the hand so as to be poisoned or drowned. Unfortunately, the wound seems to be having some kind of reaction on the hand itself. As the torrent of behemoth blood flows down and around the hundreds of smaller arms and hands growing like branches from its surface, the limbs wriggle and stretch and detach themselves! Manlike shapes writhe [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12free of the bark, some of them pouring in a torrent towards your army and others turning their claws on Ir herself. [21:56] 6Somewhere in the confusion, Tatsuya vanished. Which is why it's very surprising that he's found himself on top of and cutting away at the hand, aiming at spots he doesn't often have cause to target but knows all the same. Like the back of his own hand, really. [22:00] 4Kacha rallies the elites, commanders fall into their comfortable, drilled roles, and the elites surge forward into the treemen. No fear, no retreat, no surrender. They are the Thousand Fangs. [22:13] 7Since Ir is wrangling the hand directly, Blossom turns her guns on the sapmen! The speed and force of the firebolts from Truth and Justice drill three, four root creatures at a time, decimating their numbers. 15[22:30] 10Eikichi floats back again, this time ending up exactly at the crook of two of the colossal hand's splayed fingers. [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a good thing she does, because the thing comes crashing down with a vengeance. Multiply-forking wooden fingres go scything down through the air to squash and outright impale entire formations of your troops. Armored, simian arms reach helplessly upward from pools of gore and sap, dendrifying as you watch. [22:38] 6With another flip and flourish, Tatsuya drags his blade through the hand before - how does he do that. (He's stock still, out of sight, nearly impossible to feel him move or see his hiding spot from where the enemies are. Man, that always feels great.) [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Chunks of wood begin to fall away... and grow legs, rejoining the fray down below! [22:51] 4Ir watches Kacha's elites -- her elites -- die beneath the palm of this great behemoth hand, and her anima goes from gold to red-white, yellow sparking. She pulls Jude's Law free and screams, moving faster than the eye can track -- breaking the ring finger, breaking the thumb, cutting off the pinky entire, smashing the pointer, carving a deep furrow up the middle finger to slice [22:51] 4it in two and then diving off the tip as the hand writhes and curls -- perfectly positioned to drive her weapon into the creature's wrist and ride it down to the ground. Blood-sap bursts from everywhere, covering her -- but doing nothing. Burning off. [22:52] 4From the smoking crater of her landing, she stands and turns to the rootman army, newly reinforced. "And now, you." [22:53] 4The hand falls behind her. 15[23:00] 10The red ibis races Ir to the ground, screaming directly over her head to collide with the heart of the rootborn. Everything burns. [23:05] 4She grins. Yes. Yes it does. [23:13] "Circle around, Ami!" 7Blossom cries as she leaps to one foot in the saddle. "PHOENIX FLIES... ON GOLDEN WINGS!" 7She pushes off, leaping high into the air, soaring over the rootmen in a cool slow-motion arc! Firing Truth and Justice downward as fast as their cylinders will spin, she leaves craters in the earth as the rootmen are blown to smithereens by raining firebolts. The field [23:13] 7is empty of the sap creatures by the time Blossom reaches the end of her arc and slams back down in Ami's saddle on the other side. 15[23:13] 10Queen. [23:13] "Circle around, Ami!" 7Blossom cries as she leaps to one foot in the saddle. "PHOENIX FLIES... ON GOLDEN WINGS!" 7She pushes off, leaping high into the air, soaring over the rootmen in a cool slow-motion arc! Firing Truth and Justice downward as fast as their cylinders will spin, she leaves craters in the earth as the rootmen are blown to smithereens by raining firebolts. The field [23:13] 7is empty of the sap creatures by the time Blossom reaches the end of her arc and slams back down in Ami's saddle on the other side. [23:14] 4Hahahaha! Ahahahhahahahaah! [23:15] 4The elites reform and attack with valor, augmenting Blossom's reaping strike. They have performed better than even Ir expected. The dead will be honored and the wounded will be healed, and this army will march on. 08[23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12The great hand falls to pieces around and beneath Ir, finally splitting down the length of the forearm and collapsing onto the earth. The shambling monsters it splits into get maybe three paces before a veritable meteor shower of from above pulverizes and incinerates them, and those that manage to survive that fall to ash mere moments later in the lingering flames of Eikichi's magic. [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12As you watch, the barely-connected remains of the bloody, wooden forearm shudder and retract, pulling themselves back down into the earth to leave a sticky, smoldering cavern behind them. All that's left is seeing to the aftermath. 15[23:15] 10That wasn't so bad. [23:15] 4She casually crushes one of the treemen's "skulls" with a burning hand as all the others wither and fade. [23:17] 4Ir resists the impulse to give the elites orders. Those need to come from Kacha. She will however grin at her Circlemates as she strides past, blood-sap sloughing off her. [23:17] 6Tatsuya stops bothering to hide himself in the wreckage, standing up to his full height slowly and marvelling as he looks around. Pretty damn good work. [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12The aftermath isn't good. The great hand of roots only managed one strike, but that strike was devastating - at least fifty dead outright, dozens more wounded and poisoned. Some of your sergeants were fighting in the east when Raksi fell, and they know what to do in situations like these - as you watch, great swords and hammers rise and fall over and over, cutting the mangled and [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12mutated bodies of the dead into smaller and smaller pieces which then get tossed into quickly-built bonfires. [23:18] 4Yeah, that'll happen. Where's Kacha? 15[23:18] 10Eikichi, excitedly to Blossom while the smoke still rises: "Was that a new one?!" [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Kacha's new to this battlefront, but gets the idea quickly. He's starting the fires while rubbing distractedly at a thin streak of what looks like moss along one forearm; it doesn't look like it's spreading, thankfully. 08[23:19] 4Unacceptable. Ir will call for Eikichi or, if she's comfortable with a battlefield change, Ying. [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12The real difficulty here is going to be dealing with the wounded. Lots of men and women have been poisoned but not slain, and according to your lieutenants at least some of those are likely to 'die' and rise as rootmen if not treated. Perhaps even then. Not a fun call to have to make. [23:20] 4Frankly, it seems like we'll need her either way. 15[23:20] 10Eikichi will come when called, looking at the spreading mutation like it's no more serious than a poison ivy rash. [23:20] 7Blossom nods smugly. "I loved how you dodged the giant hand so gracefully!" 15[23:21] 10Eikichi beams. [23:21] 6Yep. As soon as Tatsuya can dip off, 13Ying will make her appearance - she's needed here. [23:22] 4To both of them: "We've got a serious problem with this poison, and I'm available to help." [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12The decision to make here is how quickly to press on. March right now (well, practically speaking in an hour or so), while you're absolutely sure at least part of the behemoth has been crippled? Spend a few hours? Spend the day? [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Actually, I should provide more context, hang on: [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12You'd guess you're a little under four days out from the behemoth directly. Around two days away is what used to be the city of Trarthira, now completely lost to the behemoth's roots and likely a locus of the infestation. Going around the place wound probably add a day or so to your whole trip. So even if you were to go off on a tear right now you'd be cutting down the behemoth's [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12ability to recuperate and plan, if it even has such capacities, by maybe twenty five percent. [23:31] 7If the army just needs to eat and drink, Blossom can take care of that on the march. If they need to rest, that's another matter. [23:31] 13We're at least resting while we handle the worst cases of wounded and poisoned here. Ying's a doctor, though, not a general. [23:32] 7Right, I mean after that. [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Poison-halting treatment is probably possible on the go, and more intense mutation-reversing care, now that I think about it, is likely practicable overnight. So actually this probably isn't much of a dilemma. [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Onward? [23:32] 4Let's get it done, then. 15[23:32] 10We march! [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12The column reforms and proceeds. It's a little more loosely-spaced and cautiously-moving now that it knows what kind of things might be coming, and also a little slower on at least this day because there are now a number of people being carried in stretchers in the expectation that you, the generals, can work miracles on them come nightfall once camp has been made. 14[23:35] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 15[23:35] 10They're not miracles if they're expected. [23:35] 4Willing to make that sacrifice. [23:36] 4How is Kacha dealing with his first real command? [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12The rest of the day isn't uneventful, but nothing as dramatic as the extrusion of one of the behemoth's actual bodyparts strikes you. At one point, you come across a weirdly bulging kapok tree that bursts open to disgorge monsters - but in such small numbers that Ir and Tatsuya are able to head off any casualties. Later, towards sundown, you discover a cluster of refugees; it's the [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12remains of a small village, some terrified and underfed orang-men and some even more terrified and even more underfed non-beastmen who've been holed up for so long they don't even know Raksi's dead. [23:38] 4Ir will return to Errant and continue forward scouting. Errant seems kind of miffed he wasn't able to get into the fighting, but when Ir is dashing around breaking giant fingers from the hand of a monster, well, she doesn't want him within grasp. Or the reach that exceeds it. [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Kacha takes maybe too much relish in explaining to the former village chief (first and foremost because they are from a former village) that he, a human Terrestrial, is at the formal head of this army and that the human villagers need no longer take the ape's orders. [23:40] 4Kacha. Come on. [23:40] 13Ying's good at comforting people, plus she'll have been flitting around seeing to the most grievously poisoned. If they need a friendlier face, she's always up for it. 14[23:42] * Joins: mattbaby [23:43] 4They're not exactly hiding as they advance -- Ir is burning bright up to Heaven, for one. But it's orderly and efficient. [23:49] 7Blossom simply advises Ir to head in the obvious directions, and they end up in a perfect area to set up camp. 08[23:52] 13She rolls up her sleeves and gets to work. It takes a gentle touch from her gloved hands to simply have the poisons work their way out of the patient, and she makes quick work after seeing to it that they aren't in any further pain. If Eikichi needs any help, she'll be available to give any after dealing with the worst cases, but she's pretty tired after running around in all that. Still. A job well done. 08[23:54] 4Once they're there, Ir waits for Eikichi to plot out her barricades and battlements, and then spends an hour with Kacha -- and two more with the unit commanders in review -- spacing and placing where the pickets, the sentries, the battle lines and the base camps will be. [23:54] 4Then she'll walk them herself. Session Time: Fri Feb 14 00:00:00 2020 08[00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Once camp is found by Blossom, organized by Ir, and actually built in great part by Eikichi, treatment of the wounded can begin in earnest. The Circle's Twilight is able to coax the wounds of the worst-afflicted back into human form, turning sap to blood and broken branches to snapped arms... which, admittedly, hurts much more, but can be trusted to heal cleanly. Ying's up late [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12working with the rest of the Immaculate Fangs physicians, and her job is maybe easier but more unpleasant - there's simply too many people mutated for high magic to cure them all, and that means a lot of quick and dirty compromises involving saws and slings and screws. 15[00:05] 10Hey if pain's your problem, old mama poppy [00:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Still, by the end of the night you're sure you'll have a functional army the following morning, one that's a little rattled but no less disciplined. Man, this was a whole lot easier when your soldiers just regenerated like starfish. 15[00:06] 10's got your back. No lonely times, just dreams. [00:08] 4And when she's done, it's time to feed the beast. One thing Ir was sure to do was to instill camp discipline. That means kitchen duty, hunting duty, and a structured throughline to feed an army. [00:12] 4A massive kitchen has been assembled, and she directs traffic. Meat is necessary, and easily hunted given the institutional advantages of being the Thousand Fangs. Ir's job is to direct a hundred soldier-cooks in the ways of mass cooking, for armies at scale. And she's very good at this job. [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a pretty sure thing that these soldiers have never eaten so well on the job. In fact, most have never eaten so well off the job, unless they've been on Ir's work crews in the preceding months. 15[00:13] 10The good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. [00:13] 4Rice is the foundation of every dish; red meat the additive. There are fried vegetable dishes for those who do not wish to partake, because Ir is good enough to spend her time over seeing that. Otherwise, however, the army is looking at giant woks containing sumptuous staples. [00:14] 4There's a moment -- and it's around the time where she redirects the rice cookers to the sauce -- where Ir realizes she enjoys this far, far more than murdering a giant evil hand. 08[00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Either way, camp is a success. Your defenses prove effective, too; Blossom's assay of the bedrock combined with Eikichi's construction of both external and internal defensive emplacements means that when a single, snakelike root comes forcing its way out of the ground beneath you it comes out of a bare patch of soil right in the center of your encampment that's been ringed with [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12spears and torches ready for it. 14[00:17] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [00:19] 4All according to plan. [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Morning comes and the march resumes. The terrain grows stranger, with rolling hills and ravines pushing the jungle foliage up and down in places and hinting at strange structures being in place beneath the ground. You march for hours, crest a hill, and there in the distance you can see it: Trarthira, or what's left of it. [00:21] 4Well. Shit. [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12This city wasn't like Chithakara; rather than resting atop a great kapok tree, it was nestled firmly in the ground, a titanic ziggurat around which the jungle had been parted to allow for the capture of sunlight by agriculture. Now, it's a wreck; strangled and interpenetrated by gigantic roots which coil around the stone from top to bottom such that it's hard to actually see the [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12stonework. And, rising from the peak of the ziggurat, a slender trunk of wood which bulges enormously halfway up its length before tapering again and then splitting into leaved branches. That great knot of wood looks big enough to fit the Heavensward into. [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12And then, beyond Trarthira, mountains covered from top to bottom with foliage in accordance with their closeness to the Pole of Wood. [00:23] 4Ir, to the rest of the Circle: "So. We're gonna need fire." [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12As you watch, one of them shifts slightly. 15[00:23] 10Eikichi: "Fire we have." [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12The campaign continues... next week. [00:24] 4Ir nods in her direction. "Let that dragon off the leash." 14[00:43] * Joins: mattbaby 14[01:19] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:33] * Joins: autopsyturvey 14[01:37] * Quits: autopsyturvey (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[20:33] * Joins: mattbaby [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 ___ [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 _,-'"" """"`--. [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,-' __,,-- \ 9. . [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,' __,--""""dF ) [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 / .-"Hb_,--""dF / [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,' _Hb ___dF"-._,-' [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,' _,-"""" ""--..__ [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 ( ,-' `. [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 `._,' _ _ ; [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,' ,' `-'Hb-.___..._,-' [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ ,'"Hb.-'HH`-.dHF" [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 `--' "Hb HH dF" [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 "Hb HH dF [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 "HbHHdF [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 |HHHF [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 |HHH| [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 |HHH| [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 |HHH| [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 |HHH| [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 dHHHb [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 .dFd|bHb. o [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12 o .dHFdH|HbTHb. o / [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12\ Y | \__,dHHFdHH|HHhoHHb._______ Y [20:38] <@Ferrinus> 12########################################## [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12According to maps and histories, Trarthira was a locus of trade and logistics for the pre-reformation Thousand Fangs Control Zone. Grown and manufactured goods were taken there along geomantic roads from all across the Zone's eastern reaches, then tithed and taxed (the same thing, really) before it was disbursed and rerouted. The population was enormous and the local jungle unusually [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12sparse, not because the trees grew thinly but because the incredibly dense jungles encroaching from the Pole of Wood had been riddled by a criss-crossing roads and tunnels. Trarthira fell early in your own invasion of the TCZ; while your army of hellbeasts devoured Chithakara, Trarthira was consumed from below by the roots of the behemoth that now slumbers among the mountains visible [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12in the distance. [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12You should be seeing a massive ziggurat with several smaller step-pyramids suspended around it with a combination of cultivated kapok tree and raw magic. What you are seeing is an impossible tangle of enormous roots and vines, from which a single willow rises. Relatively speaking, the willow is quite slender and graceful, except for the huge, almost spherical bulge that interrupts [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12its central trunk. Objectively speaking, the willow is massive, easily over a hundred yalms tall. [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12As you, at the head of your army, are on a rise, you're able to look over and past Tarthira's willow to the range of tree-covered mountains beyond it. One of those mountains is veeerrrry slooowwwly rising or expanding. Wait, now it's very slowly contracting. Breathing, in other words. [20:49] 7Blossom: "I don't like that node it's growing in the city center. We should pierce it." [20:50] 6Tatsuya: "Any ideas what it is? You're right, of course, but I'd like to know what we're up against. Trees don't lay eggs or whatever, so. I'm concerned." [20:50] 4Ir's up on Errant, surveying the area. ...They don't have air defenses, do they? [20:50] 4Presumably she'll find out quickly if so. [20:51] 7Blossom: "The Control Zone's cities were all sited at auspicious geomantic locations..." [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12None that can fire on you if you're still more or less above your own armies, but who knows what might happen if you actually get out there within the former city's own airspace? I can tell you that from where you are, you don't see any motion... [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12...and you're pretty sure that's not misleading. Though Ir can't pierce the very depths of the knotted foliage from your vantage point above your column, she can state with confidence that if there's anything resembling human activity within Trarthira it must be within the city's depths. From the outside it seems to have been depopulated of people, though she's able to catch a few [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12birds, snakes, and so on that seem to have made themselves at home. [20:58] 4She'll touch Ir down with the rest of the girls and Tatsuya. "Looks like it's genocide. Can't see what's going on in the city center without getting closer, but it's nothing good." [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12This is actually a bit unusual, since mostly exposure to the behemoth's power mutates people into shambling soldiers that proceed to propagate the thing's influence further. Maybe it did and you've just dispatched them all by now? [20:59] "We're missing bodies. Usually it makes them into husks. So we're looking at...incubation? Subsumation of biomaterial, like the kruthik?" [20:59] "Like I said. Nothing good." [21:00] 7Blossom: "City devoid of people or shambling treemen. Ominous growing nodule." [21:00] "...Yeah." [21:00] 6Tatsuya grimaces. [21:00] "How do you want me to have Kacha deploy? Do you want to maintain camp for now and recon as a Circle?" [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12If you ask him, Kacha suggests literally burning the whole thing down. [21:04] 6Not a bad plan. [21:05] 4He's got a point. [21:05] 7Correct. [21:06] 4And this lets him take credit for it. Should Ir get to drawing up the plans with him? Surely the army can help, if not take the lead. [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12She could, although unless she's made a particular study of the dynamics of fire growth this may be a rare situation that she's got little to add to drawing up a battle plan. It is, after all, not a battle plan; it's a campaign of large-scale pyromaniacal sabotage, which is the kind of thing Kacha spent most of his time on before he got catapulted to head of the Control Zone's armies. [21:18] 4Even better, then. He can take it away. [21:19] 4She'll liaise between the elites and the Circle. [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh hell yeah. Kacha's at work immediately, but given the size of what you're dealing with it's looking like this is going to take a little while to set up. He'll need a few things: first, samples of what he'll be burning, meaning cuttings of leaf and bark and heartwood and whatever else the blaze is meant to consume. Second, combustibles - living rain forest, as you might imagine, [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12is not actually that easy to set off, and firesand is in short supply in the far east. The more you can provide in terms of oils and reagants and powders and kindling, the better. Third, logistics - the army's going to have to spread out and effectively grasp an entire edge of Trarthira to get this party started. Fourth, weather - it sure would be nice if it were a dry day with a wind [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12that blew in from the west. [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Dispatched scouts can probably take care of the former, and Kacha's got enough command experience and enough relays to do a fine job of turning the army from a marching column to a grasping claw. [21:24] 4Ir's not cut out to help with reagents or weather magic, but she can do logistics and samples just fine. [21:24] 4...Hmm. [21:24] 4Actually... [21:24] 6Oils, reagents, and powders, huh? Well, if it's for a good cause. [21:25] 4...Alcohol. [21:25] 4If you're not concerned with how it tastes, just how much you can distill.... [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12That fourth point isn't totally on your Circle, incidentally; as a Fire-Aspected warlord, Kacha has some ability to decide how a large scale fire's going to spread, especially if his troops are setting it in the first place. 15[21:31] 10Frankly this seems like a waste of time and effort, but if we're here to shower the catspaws in glory we might as well let them play at it. 08[21:33] 4Eikichi should be pleased, since this gives her time to look badass while preparing to inscribe a bloody crest across the land should we fail. 15[21:35] 10Eikichi seems to spend most of her time enforcing a detente between the humidity and her hair. [21:51] 6Tatsuya sets off to work. Incendiaries aren't that different from smoke bombs, if you think about it - the smoke is just a side effect, rather than the intended outcome. Ha ha just kidding it's really hard to make these things, have them potent enough for the scenario they're needed in here, and also not have them just explode at the slightest provocation. Still: Tatsuya's really good at this. [21:52] 4So many princesses in our Circle. Well, time to go to work. Ir coordinates with Kacha on clearing brush and drill ground space and constructing the stills. She moves fast, hard, and clean, with expert hands and eyes; first she impresses the general with her ability, and then the troops with an extra set of hooches just for their own personal use. Then it's time to collaborate with [21:52] 4Tatsuya on processing all of this for distillation. [21:52] 6When he rusn out of ingredients, he's on to crafting delivery mechanisms, which is a nice way of saying 'grenades.' Ir can handle the rest. [21:52] 6Runs* [21:52] 4In liquids, manufacturing, and live music: it's all about volume. [21:54] 4The stills are not built for longevity -- just a couple of uses. That's why there's a whole field of them. And the tricks she's using speeds up the process, but leaves them amenable to, ah, exploding. [21:54] 4Luckily, she's skilled enough that this doesn't happen. [21:54] 4Kacha has his flammables. [21:55] 7Blossom spends her time evoking air elementals from raw wind-aspected Essence - as much as she might want to rush the process, there are certain geomantic limits involving the natural flow of Essence that mean she can only whip up two airbears. The twin six-legged tubular creatures with irregular tufts of short hair and thin oozing mandibles gaze at her obediently, ready to steer the [21:55] 7flames. [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12This is a massive operation, one that dwarfs even the massive bustle involved in setting up and breaking camp for a thousand-strong army (which you've machined to a clockwork precision over the past week.) Camped outside of Trathira, you send out huge contingents of troops into the surrounding jungles with detailed instructions on where and how to collect the fruit and vegetable [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12matter that'll be easiest to distill. At the same time, smaller teams are dispatched into Trarthira itself, lightly armored and carrying as many chisels and hacksaws as they are swords and spears. On the first day, you're busy constructing the infrastructure you'll need to both receive the resources your troops fetch out and to catch and package those efforts' ultimate results. [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12That night, recon teams return with samples of grass, wood, and even stone, which Kacha claims will be useful to examine for some reason. They return, too, with strange stories. If you dig down far enough under the roots, they say, you'll find evidence of human life - farming or measuring implements seemingly abandoned within the roots, unmarked cloaks or empty pairs of boots found [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12encased completely in wood. [21:59] 4Not that strange. [21:59] 4Probably not best to tell the troops about what happened to all those bodies, though. [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12On the second day, you've got a stock of material to start working with, and more coming in. Ir's set up most of her infrastucture but works on adding more for good measure; fortunately, enough work is done to allow Tatsuya to begin the distillation processes, and there's enough in what you've built that looks like it might produce actual12 brandy that the soldiers are in particularly [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12high spirits. As Blossom alternately meditates and works summoning magic, drawing the essence of the Air Dragon through the lens of her summoning circle such that it coheres into yet another example of a now-familiar form, your stockpiles of combustibles increase at an almost terrifying pace - and, according to Kacha, they're just the sort of thing he needs. [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Another day goes by. The stills are completely done; now, Ir and Tatsuya both can be engrossed in a frenzy of fermentation, distillation, and bottling. Blossom's coterie of air elementals grows farther. Scouts into Trarthira looking to map ideal starting points for the great blaze... haven't returned. There's also been a skirmish against root-creatures from the north, which seem to [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12have wandered down from another part of the Zone to run into your growing encampment. [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12On the third day, everything's ready. Hmm, are you imagining it, or... [22:06] 4Probably not. [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Yeah, the behemoth's shifted a little. That mountain's not the same shape it was before. Kind of worrying. [22:08] 4...We should probably get a move on. When is Ir available to task on those missing scouts? [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, you're ready to roll. Behind you is an entire army now armed with flasks, grenades, and even some improvised spray-flasks of extremely flammable and fiendishly sticky chemicals. They're ready to march out of a camp that, at this point, itself resembles a small city (any sufficiently large army does, really; traders, handymen, courtesans, physicians, and priests all travel in [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12such an enormous group's wake, even into such hostile territory as this), and bring a merely figurative hell to Trarthira's doorstep. [22:17] 4At the end of the third day, Ir will search out Blossom. There are some missing scouts? [22:18] 6Hey, yeah, there's fewer people around than there used to be. What's going on here. [22:18] <@Ferrinus> "Never came back," 12says a sergeant with a brisk salute. "Team three, through the south-southwest entrance." 12You can follow the orang-man's pointing finger to a particular knot in the gigantic, dragon's-coils roots in which an opening is visible. [22:18] 4Ir whistles and summons Errant to her. "Thank you, sergeant. We'll be back with them, or their effects for family." [22:18] 7Blossom: "Worth it to see what happened to them, and rescue them if need be. As their commanders we owe them at least the attempt before we burn the city to the ground." [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Errant's probably not going to get far in there, unfortunately. Well, unless you go slow enough and with enough heavy weapons to really clear a tunnel as you travel. [22:20] 4Ir: "Blossom, can you give me a general trajectory of the tunnel? I want to see where it goes overland on Errant." [22:21] "I have my suspicions, but..." [22:26] 7Blossom: "I'll glow blue, and map the tunnels as I go." [22:28] 4Ir: "...Wait, you already know where they--" [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12So Blossom's going in alone? I suppose whoever joins her, she soon finds herself walking a twisting and multifarious network of pitch-black root tunnels. Occasionally she steps on a cobblestone or is able to brush her hand across the remains of a door or storefront, but those are few and far between; for the most part it's all wood and moss and leaf, robust and vigorous despite the [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12fact that it's surely receiving no sunlight not from the Solar's own anima. [22:30] 4Ir will give Errant a pat letting him know he's not needed and just follow the Solar bloodhound. [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12If Ir decides to watch this from above, she'll see traces of anima wind their way briskly through the outskirts of the city, taking on a serpentine path appropriate to someone who's working to methodically and exhaustively map terrain. Clearly, these scouts knew what they were doing. [22:31] 6Tatsuya will stick back at the camp to defend it, just in case. They're probably safe, but. [22:31] 7Blossom occasionally encounters signs of the scout's tracks, but that's more of a confirmation of something Blossom already knows. She just considers what the most reasonable thing the scouts would do based on their situation, and she is always correct. [22:32] 4Well-trained scouts. [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Otherwise, Ir gets a firsthand impression. It's not clear at all how Blossom knows where to go because there's not a footprint to be found, and most of the nicks the scout teams are supposed to be cutting into the wood to mark their paths have long since healed closed. To the Zenith, of course, this makes them all the easier to follow; if you know what you're looking for, the efforts [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12of the foliage to repair itself are as obvious as the damage was in the first place, and all it takes is a few such clues for Blossom to deduce through pure psychology where the scouts would have gone next. [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12The architecture, such as it is, is getting weird when the trail actually begins to grow faint. Signs of stonework are long since gone, and the two of you are traveling down an increasingly narrow path made of gigantic roots spiraling together, such that you can imagine the entire tunnel irising and cinching closed some number of yalms ahead of you. The scouts' footsteps lead about [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12a third of the way up there... then stop. But not their handprints, and not the impressions of their breaths or the rapidly-absorbed but still inferrable stains of their spilled blood. [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12If you want to find them you'll have to travel perpendicularly to here - through the walls, and the ceiling, and the floor, depending on who you want to find. Looks like axe-work, or some equivalent blade. [22:37] 4Ah. [22:40] 4Ir's got something for that. [22:40] 4Jude's Law takes a form halfway between lance and orb -- a great staff with a toothed, revolving chain -- and begins chewing through the places where Blossom directs. [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12The tunnel doesn't take getting dug into lying down. Almost immediately as you begin to hack through the thing, the wood comes alive; the individual roots separate, trying to crush you, while vines stab out from between them in an attempt to immobilize. Of course, Ir was already just getting ready to cut this stuff apart, and she barely has to shift gear to simply make mince... [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12uh... wood... out of the flailing vegetable matter. [22:43] 4Pulp. [22:43] 4Wood pulp. [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12A brief melee later, and she and Blossom are standing in a much larger chamber, one made of weirdly clustered and spiraling roots and branches and which, sadly, contains the fallen effects of the missing scout team. You find shirts, helmts, pieces of armor, most of them pocked with hole as though they'd been stabbed straight through. No blood, strangely enough, or at least not to [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12the human eye - Blossom can tell that there was blood here which was completely absorbed. [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Incidentally, there's a final layer of defense here which is that the city bleeds that horrible mutagenic sap as you cut it apart from inside, but fortuitously you've brought the exact perfect team - both of you are immune. [22:44] 7Tch. Any personal effects left over? [22:45] 4Sounds like. Ir will collect them. [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Yep - necklaces, identifying slips, that sort of thing. You've got something to hand back and maybe even some effects to bury. [22:46] 4Tatsuya still hanging around? He should get in a shadow. We're probably not done here. [22:47] 6He stuck back at camp unless requested to come along. Ir and Blossom can handle things, probably. ...probably. Anyway. [22:49] 4Ir hasn't been doing this for very long, but she's learned a lot, and her eyes are cataloging the violence, and the lack of it... [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom and Ir are back by nightfall with the sad news. They also return with the at-this-point unsurprising observation that the internal architecture of the root-city resembles, from their vantage point within it, human musculature and circulatory pathfways. Ir and Blossom might well have been traveling up a blood vessel there. [22:50] 6Yeah, that's gonna need to stop. [22:50] 4Ir will return the effects to the sergeant. He can get them where they need to go. [22:51] 4Now it's time to rest, and prepare to move out... [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12DAWN OF THE FOURTH DAY. The army moves on Kacha's orders, but he'll need at least a discreet nod from Ir. [22:52] 4She'll give it, unless the Circle needs more time? [22:53] 6Tatsuya's ready. [22:53] 7Wood cancer. What foul raksha mind conceived of this? [22:56] 4Doesn't matter. In its heart shall burn a righteous flame. [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Perhaps you're about to find out. From your high vantage point, you watch Kacha shout the command to begin Operation Breachfire - named, of course, in honor of one of the old queen's most widely-recognized relics. 14[22:59] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [23:00] 4Ir wheels above, mounted on Errant. 15[23:01] 10That's actually one of Blossom's most widely recognized relics. You keep what you kill. [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Your army marches down the slope and on the city. Except for some as-yet unknown hair trigger deep within its bowels, Trarthira doesn't seem inclined to move or defend itself, so it's with both haste and precision that the elite soldiers of the Immaculate Fangs are able to array themselves in a rough crescent all along the former city's east wall. Some of them, more heavily defended, [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12march down the tunnels that used to be streets to begin planting explosives; many more climb up and over, getting on top of the overgrowth to begin to drench it in combustive fluid while also sinking explosives into whatever crevices and hollow knots can be found. [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, if you ask your troops ninety five out of a hundred of them will tell you that the purple-edged flame currently crowning or cloaking Blossom is there as a sign of the ascended Queen's approval. [23:03] 7Sure. Fine. Whatever. 15[23:03] 10Religion is so stupid. [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Hey, this was the easiest way to square the circle, if you'll excuse the phrase, of decapitating but not actually dissolving a state. Reckoning did quite well if you consider the particulars of the situation. [23:04] 4Mmhm. [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, it's less than two hours when the troop movements still. Everything's ready. The world takes a breath, and then Kacha snaps his finger. [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12With a dull roar that echoes through the treetops and sends clouds of birds rising from all around your army, a tremendous orange flame blossoms from roughly the center of the arc your army's drawn around the city - not on the army itself, you understand but at the midway point between the crescent's horns. On that signal, the rest of your troops get to work, striking flints and [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12sparking torches which they hurl, themselves, at their handiwork. Within perhaps ten seconds, a hundred different fires blaze a cross the edge of Trarthira; add a minute or so to that, and there's just a wall of hungry flame consuming material so rapidly that you can barely see the flames amidst the smoke. [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Kacha draws a slow breath, pulls back in an elaborate gesture, and then thrusts his palm forward, fingers curl. Behind and above him, on their signal, Blossom's troupe of wind-bears mirror the motion. The air dries and a fierce gale develops at your backs as the wall of flame begins to creep steadily forward. [23:11] 4Ir makes sure they're up over the backdraft. Should provide some lift. [23:12] 6Tatsuya has somehow procured a set of tinted glasses and a cigar. [23:13] 7Oh, this is fantastic. Simply wonderful. 15[23:14] 10Is this the flame the sea marched against? Eikichi wonders. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12The city's slow to respond, but respond it does. Your controlled burn proceeds unobstructed for the better part of an hour, as the flames creep and fork and spread forward, brought up at their rear by a steadily-advancing line of troops ready to cut down anything that comes out of the inferno. But nothing does. Instead, the overgrown city itself awakens by parts, the gigantic roots [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12and tree limbs woven together to make it unwinding themselves and beginning to lash, first slowly and then with increasing vigor, at the soldiers upon and nearby them. [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12At first, Kacha engages, hurling explosions at the living walls in an attempt to cover his own troops as they fight back. But he's quick to realize - of these two armies, only one's got feet. He sounds not an attack but a withdrawal, arresting the legions' advance but not, obviously, the fire's. As more and more of the city is consumed, its arboreal superstructure lashes and flails [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12out at some assumed source of the threat, but whether or not it finds anyone to squeeze or crush it doesn't actually have the werewithal to put itself out. [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not that it's completely incapable of trying - some roots try to cover or even smother others, or to plunge into the soil directly, and maybe that would work if they hadn't been coated with a rapidly-spreading slick of highly flammable alcohol or if the flames weren't being fueled by Exalted essence and impelled forward by living wind. As is, though, the city's helpless against [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12the blaze; in another hour, the wall of flame's reached the halfway point and begun to creep up the great willow. [23:21] 4Good thing about this wind, beyond the effectiveness, is it's keeping the smoke out of the lungs of the troops. If it changes, they'll have to go to cloth masks -- but they'll be prepared for that, given they've been handling flammables. [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, yeah, that's all taken care of. What's not is this: as the willow's trunk, central bulge, and hanging leaves burn, it shudders and then, well, hatches. With something between a groan and a scream, the ominously huge knot of wood is pushed open from within, cracking vertically and then splitting to reveal strings of clinging sap which rapidly hiss and turn to steam in the heat of [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12the building flames. What's pushing it open? Well, on the edge of each side of the yawning wound, through the smoke and sap, you can see great, wooden claws. [23:31] 6Hey, what the fuck? [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Still shrieking, a shape stumbles free of the bulge and falls, trailing smoke and flame all the way down before it manages to execute an earth-shaking three-point landing in the middle of the half ash, half green terrain in the center of the city. Then it stands - it's humanoid. Tall, somewhat lanky, though top-heavy; two legs, two long, clawed arms, barely any head to speak of but [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12a sort of hunched-forward face bulging from between its shoulders. A pair of blood-red eyes stare out at you atop what might be a trunk or a downward-pointing beak, framed by heavy brows that arc pointily down in the same way. [23:33] 4And there we are. [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12It's an enormous, wooden giant! The thing that ripped through your army, or tried to, could have been one of this thing's arms. It spreads its arms wide to scream unintelligibly at the sky (how? you can't see a mouth) before immediately leaning forward again to stare with flashing eyes straight at your forces. [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12This must be... Trarthira's entire population. [23:34] 4A righteous flame. [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Still on fire, but clearly only getting angrier about it by the second, the giant takes a step towards you. The second step's more of a jump. By the third it's leaning into it, arms and legs pumping as though it were an arena sprinter. [23:38] 4Ir: "INCOMING--" [23:39] 4please tell me we have a dragon for this [23:40] 6What the fuck-- 15[23:41] 10I think we've all been there. [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12You do, but Ithuya's merely huge. This thing is enormous. It'd be absurd to try to fight it on a human scale, which is why it's a shame that you're about to have to. Session Time: Sat Feb 22 00:00:00 2020 [00:09] 4The charge is a disaster for the troops. And Ir can't help them. [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Shock and awe run through the troops. They don't break and run, of course, because Ir trained them far better than that - they're practically specialized, in fact, at taking gigantic opponents down. But this thing's so enormous, fast, and shockingly perceptive that it becomes almost immediately clear that the traps and defensive maneuvers you immediately lead your troops into aren't [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12going to work. Pits and tripwires will get stepped over, camouflage shorn away, defensive fortifications ignored. You're not going to be able to fight dirty here, which isn't really fair since your enemy's cheating by being a sizable fraction of a malm tall. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[07:49] * Joins: hrolf 14[09:28] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:31] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[14:28] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:32] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[15:02] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:35] * Joins: tom 14[17:43] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[17:56] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:07]  15[20:07]  15[20:07]  15[20:07]  15[20:07]  15[20:09] And so it was that Piu convinced the Commodore that the most important questioning they've conducted so far would go better without her or her most trusted advisor in the room. [20:09] 14Teehee. 15[20:10] Rather than send them all away, Peleps Ratel bids Caxi from the Commodore's office, and then follows suit. 15[20:10] Peleps Catela, formerly of the Northwestern Armada, sits straight-backed and defiant in the center of the room, surrounded by people thinking... what, exactly? [20:11] 14Frankly, Piu's pretty sure she's on the side of the dragons here. Which might not be the best thing for the politics she's supposed to be serving, but Ratel and Caxi are messy. [20:14] 07Dryas clears her throat and takes a moment to examine her fingernails. [20:14] 14The other options involved the public execution of a naval officer at sea in front of the crew, so, if the mission overall is to succeed, perhaps de-escalation is in order. [20:17] 6This is a mess. A confusing mess, and one that Zhangyu can't simply attack until it starts making sense. He switches between watching Peleps Catela and watching the rest of the room, glaring at anyone who seems to take offense. Or possibly just glaring at them in general. It's hard to tell. [20:17] 14To the subject at hand. Catela is the object here, but the real conversation is going to be about something else entirely: The Guild. [20:17] 14And that means it will be about Dryas. [20:23] 07Dryas takes a deep breath. By now she has exhausted the tea, the wine, and the stubby little Southern thing she's been smoking. She drums her fingers on the table for a moment. This is a crucial conversation to have, but it's one she would have preferred to have alone. But Piu's picked up on something... that introduces complications. [20:24] 07Perhaps... perhaps it's time to bring some others in. Just a little bit. [20:28] 10Daizo knows where he stands in an absolute sense. But relative to the current situation? He still hasn't quite gotten his bearings. Catela's voice will help chart a course.  [20:29] 14It would be good for us all to know who our enemies are. ...Relative to the mission, of course. 15[20:30] The leftenant's face is pulled tighter than her ponytail as she looks from from prospective interrogator to another. Is anyone armed? [20:31] 07The last thing Dryas would imagine is trying to start a fight while she sits within arm's reach of V'Neef Piu or Tepet Zhangyu. Or Tepet Daizo, for that matter. [20:31] 6No, but that's not exactly reassuring. [20:31] 14Catela probably knows by now that Piu doesn't have to be. [20:31] 10Daizo probably wouldn't fit in the cabin armored up, and the Fist of Titans is sealed in its case. He's taking some care not to show menace in his posture or body language.  15[20:33] Catela: "...so what now?" [20:33] "You know a guy named Nn Tloc?" 07Dryas asks, nonchalantly. [20:34] 14Piu: "Are there any revisions to your story you'd like to make now that--" [20:34] "Or that." 15[20:35] Catela: "I'm terrible with foreign names. Who is that?" [20:38] 10Daizo: "A Guildsman of Abalone. What's he got to do with this, Dryas?" [20:39] "You've got a relationship with the Guild, he's a major Factor out here. Perhaps you have had the dubious pleasure of his acquaintance," 07Dryas explains. "But perhaps not." 15[20:40] Catela: "What are you accusing me of, exactly?" [20:41] 14Piu: "That means he has power beyond the city." [20:41] 14That's more to Daizo, building on Dryas." [20:41] -14" [20:42] 14Piu: "I suppose there's two things we could be doing." [20:43] "I'm not an officer, this isn't a court-martial, and I'm not here to accuse you of anything. I get the feeling you might have a relationship with the Guild - how could someone in your position not? But if you don't know Nn Tloc, who do you know?" 07Her curiosity is genuine. [20:44] "The first is accusing you of being in league with a Guild Factor, as Dryas has identified this man, or one of his minions. The second is asking if you have intelligence about an operation that could impede the mission to find Peleps Furia, because he and his keep turning up like a bad coin." [20:44] "Frankly I find the second more compelling, and useful." [20:44] 10Daizo: "Mm." 10To Catela: "For my part, I'm not accusing you of anything. I'd like to give you a fair hearing. And… perhaps find out a little more about this hunt Ratel's leading us on." 15[20:50] Catela: "I don't have a personal or working relationship with the Guild or anyone in it." [20:52] "And that ring, then? Were you... waylaid?" 07Dryas asks, skeptical. 15[20:53] Catela: "I don't remember. Perhaps I took it off after being enslaved." [20:55] "And Carmine Road took pains to put it in a locker before your orgy?!" 07Dryas' tone betrays irritation - her voice begins to rise. "Catela, I know you to be a woman of your word and an officer who puts your duty first. Don't lead us around like this." [20:57] 14Piu will hang back here and let Dryas do her Guild questioning. The Cynis princess doesn't take interest in much, not like this -- she'll be telling Piu as much as Catela is here. [20:59] 6Zhangyu arches an eyebrow, but says nothing. He's still caught on the 'festival'-that-wasn't. Let Dryas interrogate her about the Guild. [21:00] 10Never lie to a Cynis10, the aphorism goes, 10because even if they didn't invent lying they'll tell you they did. 15[21:05] Catela glares at Dryas, and says nothing. [21:05] 07Dryas sighs in exasperation. [21:09] 14Piu: "I -- we -- got your mother out of this room for a reason. The reason has three parts, and they're all related; the first was because of the, ah, obvious history and the personality clash that would come in trying to get any conversation started. The second was to get her to take Caxi with her. The third, and most important, part was because we're hired guns from across the [21:09] Realm who aren't here doing personal shit and letting personal shit do us. We're on assignment. We can quite easily be your most effective advocates...because it gets us what we need to get the job done, not to get one over on Ratel, or Caxi, or Samperson, or anyone else in this fleet. We get the commodore and her consort back in here, that changes. But if you give us some rope to work [21:09] with, it won't be a noose -- it'll be a lifeline. Because that's the bargain that makes sense for us." [21:10] 14At this point, at least with the hearth, the ditz cover is fully blown. Regretable, but it was only going to last so long when the work called. [21:13] 07Dryas' mouth hangs open for a moment, before breaking into a barely-suppressed grin. 07I knew it. I knew it. I knew it. Thank you Auntie, the Nine Muses truly do attend! [21:14] 6Hrm. [21:15] 14Piu crosses her arms and waits, face calm, keeping eye contact. [21:15] 10When Piu goes hard, she goes 10hard10. V'neef might not be known for their intelligence gathering but that could change pretty quick if they've got more where that came from. 15[21:17] Catela: "You sound more like a Guildsman than a Dynast." 15[21:18] It's not exactly disapproving. [21:18] 14Piu: "Maybe so. But I've asked for reciprocation. Not ownership." [21:19] 14She paces. "I take it that your problem is that you do not want to go home but you cannot, under any circumstances, stay here?" 15[21:24] Catela: "...in the Navy, your career is determined by two things. The first is your mother's career, or whoever your patron is. The second is the whim of your superiors." Her gaze falls from Piu's face down to the floor. "Coming out of secondary school with a mother deemed too corrupt for the Admiralty Board - an exceptional qualification - the best position I was able to secure was 15[21:24] a junior posting in the Northwestern Fleet, under my aunt." [21:25] 14Piu nods, her face staying neutral. 15[21:29] She continues. "Bad prospects. But prospects. I wasn't going to have to take my stipend and go become a mercenary, the way your instructors always tease you about. And your parents. I had a future in the fleet. I was assured. Directly assured." [21:29] 10You can almost feel the ice begin to break in the room. That particular fact about Ratel, though? That will bear further investigation. [21:29] 14It won't. [21:29] 14Just a couple minutes talking to Piu. 15[21:31] She sighs. "We learned what had become of the Admiral very gradually. It began as a course correction, a series of course corrections. Straying near some uncharted islands, staying out another day longer than scheduled between berths, then three days." [21:33] "This was in furtherance of her... theory?" 07Dryas pipes back in. 15[21:34] "The crew began to sense something was wrong. Senior officers knew something, they must have known - but junior officers, whose job is to work with the enlisted soldiers - were kept completely in the dark. By the time my direct commanders acknowledged anything was wrong, it had been two weeks since we had seen another ship flying the scarlet banner." 15[21:34] *enlisted sailors [21:34] 14Piu: "Were you seeing any other ships? Normal merchants with escorts, even." [21:35] 14Piu: "Just to get a sense of how far from the trade lanes you were straying." [21:36] 10Daizo: "That long? When the pattern was already evident? I understand shipboard discipline is—must be—tight, but…" 15[21:37] Catela: "For a time. Several weeks ago the order was given to abandon the trading vessels we were escorting through pirate-infested waters. Every vessel, from warships to tenders, just leaving vessels full of spices and precious stones to sit naked in the sea, bait for the sharks." 15[21:37] To Daizo: "It happened so gradually - and morale was good, otherwise. Everyone was eating, no one was in danger. Even the weather was fair." [21:40] 14Piu wonders the degree to which the Guild was keeping tabs on this doomed fleet. Perhaps in some way other than ships, if they don't remember any...but then, the Guild has been known to have good clippers. [21:42] 6Zhangyu: "What was the reaction, when it was finally acknowledged?" 15[21:43] "And when things started to get worse - when the sailors stopped getting shore leave, for instance - no one blamed the fleet commanders. Everyone complained about the Board. It's always like that, as far as I can tell - the fleet commanders and the Board both give orders, but at least the fleet commanders feed us. And the Admiral has never been aloof from her command. We always thought 15[21:43] - we always saw - that when the enlisted suffered, Furia suffered too." [21:44] 14That's naivete there, but Piu doesn't let it show. There's no point to rubbing it in. 15[21:46] "She began to appear to us in the sky, like the Empress still did when we were young. Hearing her voice from edge to edge of the fleet. There was a new mandate. The throne restored. Peace in our time. An age of justice, where heroes would rise and traitors would bleed." [21:47] 10Daizo: "What?!" [21:47] 6Zhangyu's eyebrows shoot up. 15[21:48] "It felt... so good. Her words. Physically comforting. They warmed us like wine. The sacrifce, the secrecy... it was *for* something." [21:48] 14Well then. 15[21:48] "The sailors ceased their mutterings. But the mood among the senior officers grew darker." 15[21:49] "They grew secretive in turn. Secretive from me - as a junior officer and a blood relation of the Admiral I was not trusted." [21:49] 07Dryas listens intently. [21:50] 14Piu's thinking ahead. She's got no points of reference for spirits in the sky, but this sounds like something that can get Catela off the hook in a material way, and fulfill the deal Piu promised. [21:50] 14Well, intimated. [21:51] 14...No, promised is probably right. [21:58] 10Daizo rubs his temples. "Do you recall the last time Furia appeared to the Fleet in person? Not as a visitation in the sky." 15[21:59] Quietly: "Vividly." 14[22:00] * banana|peels is now known as banana 15[22:00] "The senior officers had decided quite quickly that Furia needed to be relieved of her command. I don't know what happened, exactly - from my perspective it was sudden and violent and I was not trusted - but the rear admirals flanked her flagship in the dark of night. My vessel included. They went aboard with marines at their back." [22:01] 14Spinning this as mutiny that Catela was excluded from would work. [22:01] 14Has the benefit of apparently being true. 15[22:03] "A storm came. The worst I'd ever been in. Many ships were lost." [22:04] 14Piu: "Wait. During the attempted relief of command?" 15[22:04] Catela nods. [22:04] 14Piu looks at Daizo. [22:06] 10Daizo: "It's either very convenient, or artificially induced. I couldn't even begin to speculate, however." [22:07] "Mostly for being spoiled for choice." [22:09] 6Zhangyu, privately, does not believe in coincidences. Not with something like this, anyway. [22:09] 14She nods. "We just have to crossreference with those that can project to the sky, then. Unless Furia's got two patrons. Or, worst case scenario, she's doing it all herself." [22:09] 14To Catela: "After the storm?" 14[22:10] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[22:11] "The next day the Admiral went from deck to deck of the mutinous vessels, the survivors, with the rear admirals at her side. She reassured us that our mission was sound, and that we had the mandate of Heaven, and that no harm would befall us. We were anointed by fate." [22:11] 14Piu: "And the mutineers?" [22:11] 10Daizo is going to have to winnow out a lot of chaff, for certain. [22:11] "I think I know, but Ratel will ask." 15[22:11] "Not a sound. Not a word of objection. Not a gesture of defiance." [22:12] 14Piu blinks. "She spared them?" 15[22:12] "Every one." [22:12] 6Zhangyu: "Did they do... anything, beyond appear at her side?" 15[22:14] "They repeated her words. Some with renewed zeal, others with abjection. My own commander, Admiral Duran, seemed to break his heart anew every time he spoke about the haste he acted in. He's seen more battles than I ever will, and I have never seen him so cowed. So small and sad." 15[22:15] "The look in her eyes... I'd never seen its like. Such joyful zeal. Such indefatigable madness." [22:16] 14Not good. [22:16] 07Excellent. [22:16] 6Awful. [22:17] 10Daizo: "She broke them all in a single night." 10A heavy sigh. [22:17] "But you were not entirely convinced?" 07Dryas asks. She wants to be convinced. Not a wild raiton chase...? 15[22:19] To Dryas: "I don't know. I don't know what's true or what's false. When Furia speaks, you can't help but believe. But when she's gone... I felt sick with dread." 15[22:19] "I had a contact. Not with the Guild, but who had contacts within the Guild. I was able to convince one of the fleet's sorcerers to convey him a message. Seemingly benign. Taking him up on an old offer. I was supposed to meet him at the trading post. But he had come and gone, or never come at all. I don't remember now. Here my memory still fails me. Next I remember the storm, and the 15[22:19] fire, and the flowers in my hair." [22:24] 14Piu: "What was the contact's name? For our edification. I think we can agree this doesn't leave the room?" 14She glances to Dryas here. 15[22:25] Catela: "Moray." [22:26] 10Daizo: "Of course." 10He says it a little absentmindedly, clearly his focus has gone to other matters.  [22:29] "Isn't he a pirate? Of some renown, I think," 07Dryas points out. "Not that I'm judging." 07She is suddenly focused again, though. 15[22:30] Catela: "Like I said. A man with Guild contacts." [22:30] 14Piu: "Did he have a ship? If you could recall that name as well, it would help with the dockmaster hunting." [22:31] 07Dryas smiles a dazzling smile. 15[22:31] Catela: "I understand he captains the Keystone." [22:32] 14Piu nods. "You've held up your end of the bargain. To me, at least. And I thank you for it. Any closing questions?" 14That last is to the rest of the hearth. [22:33] "If not, it's time to uphold ours." [22:33] "I'm quite satisfied," 07Dryas purrs. [22:34] 14Daizo? Zhangyu? [22:34] 10Daizo: "You don't have to answer this one if you don't want to." [22:36] 6That name's come up before. Hrm. "Earlier, you said that there was a religious festival that delayed you, with flowers and dancing." 6He doesn't reiterate that there is no evidence of this. "Is that all you remember about it?" [22:37] "If Ratel does find Furia, what would you like to see happen?" 15[22:39] To Zhangyu: "That's all." 15[22:39] To Daizo: "I don't know." [22:39] 6He nods. [22:39] 10Daizo: "Thank you." [22:40] 14Piu: "Then wait here. We're going up to the deck. I'll post Samperson outside the door. He's trusted." 15[22:41] Catela laughs bitterly. "Take your time. I have nowhere else to be." [22:41] 07I bet he is trusted, dear Piu. 14[22:41] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:42] 14Piu: "You will." 14She looks to the hearth. Outside? [22:43] 07Dryas slinks up from the table towards the exit. [22:44] 14She seems pleased with herself. [22:44] 6Zhangyu's heading out before the exchange is even over. 15[22:45] Outside, they'll find Ratel waiting with her arms folded behind her back. Caxi is not visible. [22:47] 14Piu nods. "Commodore. We have a report." [22:47] 14Caedus about? 15[22:47] Yep. 15[22:47] Ratel looks up only belatedly, apparently deep in thought. "Good! Good." [22:48] 14To 'Samperson:' "Chief Petty Officer, please watch the door. None in or out without the Commodore's permission." 14To Ratel: "With your blessing, of course, ma'am." 15[22:49] Ratel: "Yeah, fine." 15[22:49] Samperson: "Yes, ma'am." [22:50] 14Piu: "We should discuss this away from the door, ma'am. In case she's listening." 15[22:50] Ratel walks several more paces away. "Well?" 15[22:54] Dryas can tell that Ratel is deeply worried. It seems to either be nondirectional or omnidirectional - either a pervasive unease or concrete, specific anxieties about her daughter, her sister, her crew, and the mission. [22:56] 14Piu begins the summary of all the stuff they learned that they agreed with Catela was fit for Ratel's consumption, meaning everything but the Guild stuff -- Piu wants to get back onshore to find the dockmaster's logbook, and if the Keystone isn't in it, she wants to forge it in there -- but in the best possible light for Catela. [22:56] 14Everyone's free, and in fact encouraged, to jump in. [22:57] 10Daizo will take over when the matter changes to Furia's visitations in the sky, the all-too-convenient storm which brewed up the night of the mutiny, and then the state of the rear admirals the next day. [22:58] 14*rewinding tape noise* -- Piu wants to get aboard the Keystone before it becomes completely obvious to the fleet what its worth is -- [22:59] 6Zhangyu mostly comments on the state of the rear admirals - intimidation doesn't produce results like that, and he would know, so it's got to be something far beyond the mundane - as well as Catela's general demeanor surrounding Peleps Furia. 14[23:00] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[23:00] * Joins: mattbaby [23:06] 10Daizo 10will10 speculate a bit for the Commodore—Furia may have lucked into a First Age manse with hitherto-unknown artifice; she may be in league with a renegade god of surpassing might, a powerful sorcerer or raksha lord, or possibly even one of the Anathema—but these last seem unlikely if the goal is indeed to locate the Empress, who would obviously have no truck with such beings. [23:08] 10Furthermore, he speculates that Catela may have survived Carmine Road's influence because of these competing magics—it just couldn't get its claws deeply in her. What Catela needs more than anything is time to overcome the aftereffects of these warring influences. 15[23:14] Ratel listens to all of this stonily. 14[23:18] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[23:18] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus [23:27] 14Piu: "We should talk about Catela now, ma'am. She's been honest and forthright, and she's been -- pardon speaking out of turn -- utterly betrayed by her command structure in this fleet. It's not feasible to remain. It's not feasible to send her home. But there are other options, right? Other positions in the fleet, that aren't naval positions." [23:28] 07Dryas perks up at this idea. Hey, that might make sense... A lot of sense...! 15[23:28] Ratel: "If she goes home she'll end up in naval prison at best. The Nail at worst." [23:28] 14Piu glances over at the others. Who wants to pick up this baton? [23:29] 6Zhangyu, who had been thinking about this but not seeing a solution: "Unacceptable. And putting her in easy reach of the Guild is -- hrm." 6He turns. "Dryas. Your ship." [23:30] "She would be safe there, yes?" [23:30] 6While also being outside the command structure, he doesn't add. [23:30] 07Dryas likes the idea: "She's earnest, hardworking," 07doesn't ask too many questions, knows the right people, "And has the right experience for it." 15[23:31] Ratel: "She would be close, then. Still with us, but not on the mission as such?" [23:32] 14Piu nods. [23:32] 10Daizo nods slowly. "She didn't strike me as the sort of person who would be happy sitting idle. But a position where she can assist while finding her feet again… oh, that's brilliant, Cousin."10  15[23:33] Ratel: "Make the offer." [23:33] 14Piu: "Yes ma'am." [23:34] 14Dryas can take the lead on this one. Her ship. [23:35] 6Zhangyu: "Aye." 6He can go with Dryas so that it isn't just her making the offer. [23:35] 14Piu will go too; she's the one that set up this deal. [23:36] 07Dryas nods, almost shrugging her way into a naval-style salute - before turning back to speak with Catel. She mouths a thank-you to the other members of the Hearth. [23:38] 10Daizo goes too. If one of them's missing, it might seem like some funny business is going on. [23:39] 4Piu grins at Dryas once her back is turned to Ratel. 15[23:40] They find Catela deeply absorbed in some private struggle. Going from a brooding Commodore to a brooding Leftenant, the resemblance is unmistakable. [23:40] 14Piu flashes a very slight smile at Caedus as they enter. 15[23:43] Catela looks up. "Well? What's to happen?" 15[23:43] "Is the Commodore angry?" [23:43] 07Dryas pushes the door open and leads the others in. "Leftenant. I am pleased to inform you that It is the Commodore's decision that, should you choose to accept this mission, that you are to take up a command position aboard the Leaf in Flight, our' support vessel, befitting your experience, skill, and discretion." 15[23:44] Catela blinks. 15[23:44] "A promotion?" [23:45] 14Piu: "You'll still be traveling with the fleet. But you won't be of it." [23:45] 10Daizo: "The ship in question, you see, belongs to Dryas herself." [23:46] 6Zhangyu: "To answer your other question: no. She was not." [23:46] 07Dryas smiles broadly. "The Commodore was impressed with our report. It's a command position, but on a non-combat vessel. It is responsible for hauling a detachment of my household guard, processing any whales or other great beasts we encounter, and transporting special cargo as required." 07she notes. [23:47] 14Piu shrugs a bit. "Well. She was frustrated. But that's how Peleps Ratel is most of the time, I gather." [23:47] "Impatiently searching the horizon." 15[23:48] Catela: "Well... I accept. Thank you." [23:49] 14A nod, and a smile. [23:50] 6Zhangyu nods, but does not smile. People usually find his smiles unnerving. Still, he was expecting more of a push to get further away... this is for the best, though. [23:50] 07Dryas nods pleasantly. "My congratulations, Master Catela." [23:51] 14Piu hits the door twice with the side of her fist, a signal to Caedus that he can open up. "You're free to report." 15[23:54] The sun sinks behind the Pole of Water as the Defiance sets course to return to Abalone. Caedus steps back to let Piu in. "I don't think Caxi's spoken to the Commodore since you kicked them out of the interrogation. She brushed Ratel off and she's been with Sadako ever since." [23:55] 4She'll silence him with a kiss, assuming this is his quarters, after kicking the door closed behind her. [23:55] 4When they break: "Caxi's a bit down the priority list right now, poor girl." 15[23:55] "What's the word?" [23:57] 07Dryas prepares a quill and ink, to memorialize her beliefs about what happened on the island. "Moray - Keystone - idol - trap." [23:57] 07Much more than that, she dare not record where others could find. [23:57] 14Piu: "The word is Keystone." [23:58] "Guild ship, apparently. Involved." 15[23:58] Caedus: "Involved how?" Session Time: Wed Feb 26 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] 10Daizo's at the ship's miniscule altar, observing the sundown prayer with Seiri and any of the pious crew. Once again he adds his own wish for the victims of Carmine Road to pass on. Later… he's going to ask Ratel for access to the Heart.  [00:01] 6Zhangyu returns to his quarters to meditate. The conversation was... a lot. Silence but for the waves is welcome. [00:04] 14Piu: "Moray's ship. That's the name we got from Catela. He was supposed to be her contact, but he skipped port." [00:04] "Left the ship behind." [00:04] "He's Guild, of course." [00:05] -"Left the ship behind." 15[00:05] "Hnh. Where was he to take her?" [00:11] 14Piu: "We don't know yet. But I can go to work on Dryas." 15[00:12] Caedus: "What'd you make of Catela's story?" [00:13] 14Piu: "I think she deserved a better mother." [00:13] "...Or at least one less prone to fucking around in public." [00:13]  [00:13] 14RETCON [00:14] 14Piu: "Tha mi a ’smaoineachadh gu robh i airidh air màthair nas fheàrr." *> [00:15] 14Piu: "No co-dhiù aon nas lugha buailteach a bhith a ’fàiligeadh gu poblach." 15[00:17] "Is dòcha gu robh feum aice air nèibhidh nach robh cho coirbte." [00:18] Piu: "Càite am faigheadh i e?" [00:18] 14Piu: "Càite am faigheadh i e?" 15[00:18] Caedus laughs. [00:19] 14She jumps him, and pulls him onto the bed. Though she doesn't go for the clothes yet. [00:19] Piu sighs. "I broke cover tonight. Ditz cover, not. You know." [00:19] 12Piu sighs. "I broke cover tonight. Ditz cover, not. You know." [00:19] 14Piu sighs. "I broke cover tonight. Ditz cover, not. You know." 15[00:21] Caedus looks up at her. "It was inevitable. It's fine, we talked about this. Revealing you were only pretending to be stupid makes you blend in *more*." [00:22] 14She theatrically flops down next to him. "They're going to start respecting House V'neef more. The horror." 15[00:23] Caedus: "If the Navy really does eat itself... the Merchant Fleet is in a good position. Could mean big things when the war comes. They'll let us burrow into the heart of everything." [00:24] 14Piu: "It's a good deal. I hope we do right by it when we win." [00:24] 14Yawning: "Tha iad leotha fhèin neo-chiontach." 15[00:25] Caedus leans over until he's practically on top of her. "They'll be protected." [00:25] 4Piu: "Mmmmmm." [00:26] 4Piu: "You know I tied a monster in a literal knot today." [00:26] 4Piu: "Lemme see what I can do to you..." 15[00:26] NEXT TIME: Hamoji's Hunger 14[03:23] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[06:22] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[07:36] * Joins: hrolf 14[09:01] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:06] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[10:39] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:41] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[13:00] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:09] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[15:11] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[15:44] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[16:07] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:10] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[17:32] * Joins: tom 14[17:47] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:23] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[19:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[19:16] * Joins: mattbaby [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 .. ..oooo.....ooo... [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 .odSS4PYYYSSOOXXXXXXXXXOodbgooo. [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 /SSYod$$$$SSOIIPXXXXXXXXXYYP.oo.*b. [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 ($$Yd$$$$SSSOII:XXXXXXXX:IIoSSS$$b.Y, [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 \Yd$$$$SSSOII:XXXXXXXXXX:IIOOSSS$$$b\ [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 d$$$$SSSOOI:XP"YXXXXXXXX:IIOOSSSS$$$\ [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 Y$$$SSSOOII:XbdXXXXXP"YX:IIOOOSS$$$$) [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 'Y$$$SSSOI:XXXXXXXXXbodX:IIOOSS$$$$$/ [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 "Y$$$SSSOI(PoTXXXXXTo)XXIIOOOSS$$$*' [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 ""*Y$S(((PXXXXXXXY))dIIOSSS$$dP' [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 "*'()P;XXXXXXXXY)IIOSSS$P".oS, [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 (S'(P;XXXXXXXP;Y)XXYOP".oSSSSb [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 (S'(P;'XXXXXXX';Y).ooooSSSSSSSS) [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 (S'(P;'XXXXXXP';Y).oSSSSSSSSSSSP [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 (SS'Y);YXXXXX';(Y.oSSSSSSSSSSSSP [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 YSS'Y)'YXXX".(Y.oSSP.SSSSSSSSY [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 YSS'"" XXX""oooSSP.SSSSSSSSY [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 SSSSSS YXXX:SSSSP.SSSSSSSSY [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 SSSSSP YXb:SSSP.S"SSSSSSP [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 S(OO)S YXb:SY )SSSSS [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 SSSSO )YXb.I ISSSSP [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 YSSSY I."YXXb Y(SS)I [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 )SSS( dSSo.""*b YSSSY [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12 OooSb dSSSSP )SSS( [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a person, more or less, though it's tall and lanky and wickedly clawed and covered with bark and vines and moss. Its only intelligible facial features are its eyes, which glisten a dark, gooey red but seem to catch and reflect only shades of iridescent light. And it's charging straight at you, leaning forward and pumping its limbs like a professional sprinter as it roars across [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12the burning ruins of half of Trarthira. Oh, it's also at least eighty malms tall, maybe more. [21:18]  [21:19] 4The elites scattered, but don't break. There's not enough time to get them into proper formations though. Damn, that thing's fast. [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12You've made the best preparations you can, but there's a strange and almost magnetic understanding between it and your forces such that you can tell already the traps you're laying aren't going to be working - you can mark that it marks that you're sending this platoon off this way and that column off that way. Looks like this is going to get extremely straightforward. 14[21:25] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Where is each member of the Circle as this monstrosity reaches your formation? 15[21:33] 10Eikichi is airborne, hair fanning behind her as the whirlwind churns her heavy robes. [21:34] 7S-sugoi...!! 08[21:35] 4Ir is atop Errant, climbing alongside Eikichi. "Where do you need me?!" 4she'll shout to the sorceress. [21:36] 7Blossom is charging forward, hoping to leap atop the creature before it can wind up to strike at her. Plinking away at a distance will be of no use against this titan. 15[21:36] "Go where the battle takes you! Let's hope this thing has a heart we can pierce. It will take a long time to burn." 08[21:39] 6Tatsuya's leapt into the stormwind rider with Eikichi - he intends to work from the top down. If that's even possible on such an enormous creature. 14[22:07] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:29] 6Then he's leaping directly towards the legs of the giant and catching hold with his blades as he swings to the side and plunges his daggers into the back of the thing's knee. Does it have discernable knee joints, actually? He'll slash away merrilly where they should be, in any case - got to knock this thing down to size. [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12It does, actually. Up this close is like looking at a blown-up anatomical chart, if you can ignore the moss and bark. The monster roars unintelligibly and Tatsuya's forced to narrowly dodge a practically hydraulic spray of mutagenic blood. Then he's got to hang on for dear life as the entire thing crashes down on one knee, sending shockwaves through the ash. [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Faaar above him, he can see twin flashes of green- [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12All the Solars can see twin beams of emerald light connecting the head of the behemoth to the center of your troops' formation. They coalesce into a weird bubble or bean of energy that just sort of sits there for a moment before you realize it looks like a gigantic human being, curled up into fetal position. Its own spectral eyes snap open and it leaps to its feet screaming, throwing [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12its bald head back and its arms wide to its size, evaporating into wisps of light which coincidentally suck dozens of troops up into the air with them in a whirling vortex of steel, flesh, and very quickly ash. [22:37] 4No!! [22:37] 4Fuck. 14[22:41] * Joins: tom [22:54] 4The apes weather the blast, and then return to the fight, taking it to the thing's legs. Kacha has trained a truly remarkable legion here. They have to be kept viable. [22:54] 4So as the right arm comes down, Ir snaps her fingers and Jude's Law becomes a reaving orb. [22:54] 4...Doesn't seem to do much... [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12KSSSHING! Well, no, two swords would sound like that. An armful of wickedly curving wooden claws running into a storm of living silver is much harder to describe phonetically, but Ir comes out of the exchange ahead. 08[23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12The arm keeps moving, trying to swap Blossom and Eikichi out of the air like so many flies. But, well, you know what it looks like when someone who isn't a martial arts master starts trying to catch flies out of the air. Tantalizingly close, and yet so far! 15[23:01] "Nyaah~" [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, lances of ruby essence stab from ground level as the great walking automatons brought in from Mahalanka unleash essence blasts against the giant's legs. The pulverizing essence splashes strangely softly against the bark-armor, visibly cracking and burning bits here and there but seeming strangely ineffective as compared to the raw volume of the assault. [23:18] 4Not good. [23:22] 7Blossom prepares to leap onto the creature's head, but its frantic swipes drive her back! Session Time: Thu Feb 27 00:00:00 2020 14[00:08] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:11] 4As the eyebeams sweep across the battlefield, the apes instead charge -- and get in underneath the great monstrosity, as above, Ir almost cripples the thing's right arm, then blinks aside when it swipes back. [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Right as the emerald rays begin to lance through the back edges of your formation, Kacha leads a heroic charge that sinks a hundred different blades into the bark - and then, amazingly, the flesh - of the downed monster's lower limbs! It howls and spasms, the essence blast cutting off immediately. [00:18] 6Tatsuya looks up towards the nearest arm - then returns to chipping away at the legs, dragging himself up higher. Almost in position, almost... 14[00:20] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) [00:24] 4The right arm reels, then tries to sweep the troops -- but they fall back behind shields and crags, expertly directed by unit commanders in avoiding the blows through purposeful or, uh, naturally found armor. [00:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Fortunately, you're well-prepared for the mutagenic blood; it's flowing in torrents, but being stopped by tower shields, hastily-dug channels, and finally heavily-insulated boots. Are people getting splashed and poisoned regardless? Certainly, but not so badly that it'll pose a problem right now as opposed to for days or weeks afterward. 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[20:19] 4Piu's back in her flirty mood, mingling with the sailors for the most part, though the hearth will take note she's still in her work clothes, not the slinkier and more fashionable stuff she wears out to the clubs. 15[20:19] Officer Samperson is able to secure beds for the crew, and the news sees them trickle in threes and fours into the hostels that exist to serve sailors ashore. 15[20:21] All of them are grateful for real beds and the chance to rest. Many are late to breakfast, including the Commodore, and the enlisteds that are up early cluster away from the senior staff. How does the hearth greet the day? [20:22] 14Caedus undoubtedly made contact last night. Did any word come in from Lao? 15[20:24] Caedus doesn't get back from Lao's until the hour before dawn. Either then or when she awakes, Piu hears a report of Caedus's report, and she hears Caedus's frustration at the complete lack of insight or guidance their superior affords them. [20:24] 07Dryas takes some time grooming Diamond Weapon, in one of the few stables on the island suited for such a fine beast. It's important to keep a close bond with one's horse, and despite the excursion on the Guild trade-island, the sea isn't much of a place for the noble creature. [20:24] 14...Unsurprising. [20:25] 14Piu: "Do you want me to go see him." [20:26] 10Daizo wakes from an uneasy sleep in the hours before dawn with a weight on his chest. Then he sees a pair of golden eyes in the dark. He stifles a yell; it's just one of the ship's cats. "Mrow." 15[20:26] Caedus: "He might not be keeping secrets. He might just not know any more than we do." Quickly correcting: "No, he's definitely keeping secrets, whether or not he knows any more than we do." [20:27] 14Piu had her mouth open slightly already before he corrected himself. [20:30] 10Daizo: "Shoo, kitty, shoo." 10He knows from experience he won't be able to get to sleep again. There's time enough before breakfast to take some air, so he'll go and see how the people of Abalone greet the dawn.  [20:33] 14She'll refactor. "It's up to you if I go or if I don't. Both because you're the handler for the operation and because I don't go behind backs like that." [20:33] "That said, we need to get to work on this second name." [20:33] "And figuring out more about the Guild. But that's overlap with Dryas, which I can handle." 15[20:33] Caedus: "What would your play be?" [20:35] 14Simply: "He respects being bullied by women, but not by men. Gets more intensely effective or uneffective depending how young the women and men are." [20:35] "...Ah. You meant about the...right." [20:36] 14Piu: "Well. I'll need to put in some face-time with the hearth, but I should be able to contribute to the information gathering after that." [20:36] "It'll depend where Dryas's head is." 15[20:37] Daizo isn't taking the air for long before he begins to hear the sound of drums. A broad thoroughfare arcs from the market stalls just off the docks through the rich trading-houses of Guild princes and local privateers, running to the base of the mountain where it meets the first of hundreds of stone steps, carved who knows how long ago, running up the glowing gilded slopes of Hamoji. 15[20:40] Crowds are still thin and scattered given the early hour, but the drums are being played at steady pace by people in huge, vibrant feathered garbs, as a man nearly Daizo's height and breadth goes among them scattering drops of liquid from a large stone bowl. His feathers, shifting and flickering in hue, grow naturally from his shoulders and brow. [20:42] 14She heads for the door. "So I'll go check that." [20:42] 14What's the name, again? The next one on the list. [20:42] 10Oh? He'll move in for a closer look. This must be some kind of native observance that's received an official sanction, or perhaps…  15[20:45] The next name on the list writ in gant is Mnemon Hedrin. [20:46] 07Dryas meets Pale Moke outside the stables on her way back to the hostel; the two have a walk-and-talk meeting. If Moke has any news of great importance for Dryas, now would be the time to share it - otherwise, she will mostly pass on some correspondence she has drafted for her mother and aunts back on the Blessed Isle. Afterwards, she'll wash the smell of horse off of her and proceed to break her fast. [20:46] "And maybe check in with the Mnemons while I'm at it. See you at dinner?" 15[20:47] Caedus nods, kissing her goodbye before dashing off to do ship's work. [20:49] 14She'll give him a few minutes, 4then head down in more casual wear. [20:49] 4With her exercises and bathing done, she's ready for breakfast! [20:50] 4Is anyone else from the hearth around? 15[20:50] In the comissary, Caxi and the Commodore are nowhere to be seen; neither are the Cathak twins nor Salim. Sadako is having breakfast with Seiri, and the enlisteds are avoiding them. 15[20:52] Moke has no news to report. Everything's going smoothly so far. [20:53] 4We've already a reputation for fraternizing too much with our direct reports; why let it go to waste. Piu will get some food -- heavy on protein, light on carbs -- and join Sadako and Seiri. 15[20:53] Daizo gets closer - is he making any effort not to be seen? - and hears a voice far higher than the great feathered man's frame implies. It's some Seatongue dialect he can't quite parse, but the man sounds chipper enough. [20:55] 4Piu: "Morning!" 4How's her favorite nerd and creepy immortal teen? 15[20:56] The two of them are eating in silence, Seiri with a bowl of porridge and a chagrined expression, Sadako with a plate that looks like Piu's and single-minded focus. 15[20:56] Seiri looks up; Sadako does not. "Mistress Piu!" 15[20:56] "Did you sleep alright?" [20:57] 4Cheerily: "We got in late, but I made it count!" [20:57] "How are you taking to life with the crew, Sadako? Little bit different from living in dorms!" [20:57] 10Stealth is generally not in Daizo's wheelhouse. [20:58] 07Dryas pokes her head into the commissary and circles once around Piu, Sadako, and Seiri's table like a shark. She then makes her way to the porcelain plates of fruit and skewers of roasted meat. She selects a variety of rather sumptuous items and pours a glass of wine, which she makes no pretense of watering down.  15[20:58] Seiri: "Master Daizo was already gone when I woke up. I'm not sure he slept at all." 15[20:58] Sadako grunts with her mouth full, but she does move the little bowl of fish bones and scraps so Piu has a place to set her food down. 15[20:59] Seiri: "Sadako was just telling me about the training she's been receiving in etiquette!" 15[20:59] Sadako grunts again. [20:59] 4Piu half-giggles, half-cackles. 15[21:01] The feathered man steps back from the drummers, smearing fluid in the bowl across his own brow as he casts his eyes skyward... and then immediately on Daizo. He calls down the thoroughfare, clear and piercing, to the only man actually in the street rather than milling alongside it. It sounds jovial. 15[21:02] Sadako actually looks up when Dryas enters, following her movements without blinking. 15[21:02] Seiri: "Is it true that the woman you saved from that horrible monster is the Commodore's daughter? The sailors were talking about it." [21:04] 4Piu: "Indeedy! Was kinda tense there, but it all worked out." [21:05] "Hi Dryas!" 4she exclaims as the Cynis sits down, almost like she didn't notice that whole performance. [21:05] 10Daizo, on the spot, decides that he needs to seek the services of an expert. He bows to the feathered man. "My apologies—I was just fascinated by the drums," 10he says, feeling like… a tourist. Which, technically, he is. [21:05] 07Dryas ignores Sadako for a moment, but returns the gaze steadily when she has secured her plate. She'll join the trio. "Good morning, V'Neef Piu, Sadako, Seiri." [21:06] 4Piu's already munching away on some bacon. [21:07] 10Erm. Is donation expected? A payment? There are bowls, but no cash in them.  [21:11] 4To Seiki: "Has the Commodore released the crew to full shore leave?" 15[21:12] Seiri: "Far as I know. Everyone but Officer Samperson, anyway. He never seems to get a break." [21:14] "He's quite the diligent sailor," 07Dryas observes.  [21:15] 4Dreamily: "And how." 15[21:15] The feathered man laughs - a tinkling sound, like silver bells - before bowing deeply in turn. He offers a few words of High Realm: "No apologies... necessary." [21:17] 4Presumably he's catching a nap then slipping out around lunch time to begin his next bit of work. Such boundless energy! [21:17] 07Dryas chops a banana in half, then peels it delicately. "I'm certain. Piu, what are your plans for leave?" [21:18] 4Piu: "Oh! You know. Sightseeing. Old architecture." 4She munches down some more bacon. [21:18] 14Piu: "Certain old mansions I'd love to see." [21:20] 07Dryas: "There's a particularly unusual piece of architecture up in the hills. I think you might find it fascinating. It's the residence of the local Guild factor. Sadako had the chance to see it up close. And what was your impression of the house, my dear?" 15[21:22] Sadako drops another handful of cracked bones into the scrap bowl and then wipes her fingers delicately on a napkin like any Cynis princess. "It's haunted." [21:23] 10And that's Daizo's early morning. He'll return to the hostelry, and arrives last to the breakfast table. Today he feels like bread and fruit and some scrambled eggs—and an entire iron teapot. 15[21:24] Seiri's eyes widen. [21:24] "Ooooooh," 4Piu squeals. [21:24] "Absolutely brilliant girl," 07Dryas says, observing her manners as well as her perspicacity with some measure of pride. 15[21:24] "Did you say haunted?!" is the first thing Daizo hears on entering. 15[21:25] "How do you know??" Seiri follows up. 15[21:25] "The walls breathe," Sadako answers. [21:26] "She's quite right about that," 07Dryas agrees. [21:27] 10Oh, now this bears investigation. "What's this that's haunted now?" 10Daizo squeezes in at the table. [21:27] 4Piu: "A mansion!" [21:27] "In the hills!" [21:29] 10Daizo nods, pouring some tea. "Go on, tell me more." [21:30] 4Piu does! [21:31] 4Presumably with help. 15[21:31] Seiri fills in the gaps. 15[21:31] Then she says, "What about you, Master Daizo?" [21:31] 10Daizo: "And the Guild factor's chosen to live there? He must be a very unusual fellow." [21:31] 4Piu: "That's the impression I've gotten!" [21:32] "Nn Tloc is his name," 07Dryas states. "He is an unusual fellow, as it happens. I intend to speak with him today." [21:33] 10Daizo: "Oh, a cat tried to steal my breath this morning. I couldn't get back to sleep, so I went for a walk..." 10Here he'll recount his experience on the boulevard.  [21:35] "That sounds like an even more unusual man," 07Dryas can only agree. 14[21:35] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) [21:36] "…So I thought that if anyone would know about this, it'd be you, Seiri. Is it some kind of a religious observance, or just a local custom?" 15[21:38] Seiri's face has lost some of its color, and she hasn't touched her food since Daizo's story began. "If the ali-ki are out it must be a feast day. That means you met the Feathered One." [21:41] 4Piu: "The who now?" [21:42] 10Daizo: "This sounds serious. Who is this Feathered One? And … this isn't exactly a normal feast, is it." 14[21:44] * Joins: mattbaby 15[21:45] Seiri: "The Feathered One, first of the ali-ki. People say he fell into Hamoji and climbed back out with her blessing. He rules the island. Or, no, the Governor rules the island. Sister Dusk never really explained how it works. But everyone respects the ali-ki, and they get their own rituals and feast days that aren't even on the calendar. We weren't supposed to go near them, Sister 15[21:45] Dusk said we'd end up in their cookpots." 15[21:45] "But I think that's just a story. The ali-ki don't eat people. Hamoji does." [21:46] 4And she never will. Oh well! 15[21:47] Sadako: "How does a volcano eat people?" [21:48] 4Piu: "Gravity!" 15[21:49] Seiri: "People just go into the caldera. Some people volunteer. It's an honor, and it guarantees a good afterlife, to go into the mountain. But when there's not volunteers, there's still prisoners, vagrants, stowaways." [21:49] 10Daizo: "Curious. The more I find out about the history of these islands, the more I realize I don't know." 15[21:49] "One time I heard the Feathered One flies over the mountaintop and drops people in one by one. Another time I heard someone who says they saw a huge arm come out of the mountain and grab people." [21:51] 4Piu: "Both could be true." 15[21:55] Sadako: "Why do they let them do that?" 15[21:56] "I guess the Immaculates really are corrupt." 15[21:56] Seiri: "What? No! They just - there's agreements. Politics." 15[21:56] Sadako grunts again and eats some more. [21:56] 10Daizo's eggs are getting a little cold, but it'd be a shame to let them go to waste. He devotes himself to eating for a couple of minutes. "And today is the day for Hamoji to get its share—What?" 15[21:58] Sadako waits until her mouth isn't full before responding "What?" in kind. [21:58] "Hamoji was certainly burning brightly last night," 07Dryas observes. [21:59] 07Totally glossing over Sadako's remark. It might not work. [22:00] 4Piu: "Everyone's gotta eat!" [22:01] 10Daizo: "Hmmph. There are hundreds of years of doctrine on the best ways to spread the Immaculate Faith. It's long been accepted that in outlying regions, far from the Isle, the best tack to take is to incorporate native worship. The process must be carefully supervised to ensure that no improper conduct arises, but as long as the local gods accept the ultimate authority of the Order—"10 Is Sadako even listening? 15[22:03] Sadako is certainly *pretending* to listen. [22:07] 4Smoothly, before any further lectures can break out: "So what should we do?" [22:07] 10Daizo takes a deep breath. "If you're actually interested in duscussing this with me, you can ask me anytime." 15[22:08] Seiri seems totally cowed by the tension at the table. [22:09] 10Daizo: "Sorry, yes. Changing the subject." [22:11] 4Brightly: "So Daizo...how would you feel about a...trip?" [22:11] "To a mansion." [22:14] 10Daizo: "I'd certainly be interested in seeing this Nn Tloc's place. I'd also like to take a look at the ali-ki's 'feast' ceremony, but that should probably wait until we're all much, much more familiar with Hamoji. If it's open to outsiders at all, that is." 15[22:14] Seiri: "People go. It's a long way up the mountain, so not a *lot* of people go, but there are pilgrims. Most people stay at the feasts in town." [22:15] "Ah," 07Dryas breaks in. "I have business with Nn Tloc. Although, perhaps, you two could be of assistance in one or two small regards." [22:15] 4Piu: "I don't want to turn down a party but...so...people die there, right?" [22:15] 4To Dryas: "Listening." 15[22:16] Seiri: "I suppose I don't know for sure what happens to people who fall into Hamoji. It's a very strange volcano." [22:19] 10Daizo: "I've wondered about it since I've first seen it. But Hamoji also isn't going anywhere, and the business with Nn Tloc is probably more important than my selfish curiosity." [22:20] 4Piu: "Feast only happens once every so often...and the mansion's always gonna be there..." [22:21] 4She finishes her breakfast. "I'm gonna change into something sporty, then I'll be right back down. Nice seeing you two again!" 4That's to Sadako and Seiri. 15[22:21] Seiri smiles weakly, while Sadako says, "You too!" [22:24] 07Dryas digs back in to her breakfast, taking liberally of the wine. 15[22:26] Questions to answer, then: where does the hearth go first? Is Daizo bringing Seiri? Is Dryas bringing Sadako? [22:28] 10Daizo's definitely bringing Seiri. [22:31] 07Sadako should team along, maybe getting a glimpse at things will give her a bit of persepective. And she might be helpful if there are more ghosts around. [22:32] 4Piu will go solo, in a tasteful but fashionable outfit that highlights her hips. 15[22:36] So it is that the hearth and its attendants joins the thronging - not revelry, exactly, but there is an air of conviviality and the smell of good things in the air as the gold light of Hamoji defies the noonday sun and a mercilessly clear sky. There are more drums, now, some being played by children and buskers in the streets, and in the distance the great and steady beats Daizo 15[22:36] remembers from the morning. [22:38] 4Piu finds herself wiggling around to the beat almost unconsciously. [22:38] 4Picked the right outfit. 15[22:39] The hearth keeps moving along the thoroughfare as other people in the street break off to join side celebrations or sit and rest. By the time they arrive at the foot of the mountain, where a pair of feather-headdressed drummers flank the passage upward, they walk among a knot of fairly serious-looking older people - these must be the true pilgrims Seiri mentioned. 15[22:41] People are moving in knots and clusters up sinuous carved staircase. Up above, a little more than halfway, you can see the great glowing man Daizo met at the head of a procession of feathered headdresses and a handful of people walking in slow lockstep. [22:42] 4Oh, wow. [22:49] 10Daizo: "Rather an impressive fellow, isn't he?" 10He leans over to Seiri and whispers "Has the Feathered One always appeared as this same man?" 10It could be that he's the god of Hamoji itself, or a God-Blooded, or something stranger yet.  15[22:49] Dryas feels eyes on them as they move - more than the eyes expected from their stature, standing, and beauty. Weaving in among the crowd she spots someone she recalls is one of Nn Tloc's runners, keeping pace off the main thoroughfare. But more than that, there's a subtler sense of being watched - the gaze of a thin old man at a cookfire follows them a little too sharply, a little too 15[22:49] knowingly; the women conversing in front of a drum circle look at them in unison, as does the infant in one's arms; an animal walks among the pilgrims, acknowledged by none of them - a scrawny, filthy, sand-colored dog. 15[22:50] Seiri: "I don't know. He's old, at least. He was around when Sister Dusk came to Abalone." 15[22:50] She looks briefly chagrined. [22:52] 4Piu will poke around a bit, but always remaining close to the group 14and maintaining vigilence. [22:54] 10Poor kid. She must still be hurting when she thinks about Dusk. Awful as she was, she was family. [22:56] "It's glorious," 07Dryas observes, "to come forth, to see and be seen by the people of the Threshold." 15[22:56] "Is it like this everywhere?" asks Seiri. [23:00] 10Daizo: "It is said that there are women and men in all parts of Creation, until you reach the Poles themselves where the elements are too fierce for anyone to stand." [23:01] 10Daizo: "As for myself… this is my first long visit away from the Blessed Isle. But I'm sure Piu and Dryas have their own stories." [23:05] "Yes," 07Dryas notes. "I have many stories of the South I would love to share when we are next at sea for a week with little else to do..." 07Dryas takes note of each of their watchers and in turn is puzzled by them. [23:08] 10Daizo: "I'd be glad to hear them as well. Oh—does anyone need to take a break? I think there's a water station ahead." [23:08] 4Piu: "Ugh." [23:08] "Whew. These are...not. My walking clothes." 15[23:10] Daizo's right, people are stopped all along the route to rest and drink water. The comparatively young and healthy hearth end up lapping several cadres of pilgrims, at least until about the fourth rest stop where Seiri faints. [23:13] 10Daizo: "Seiri, what's— Seiri!" 10He'll catch her before she hits the ground, if he can, and carry her into some shade.  [23:16] "Oh, dear," 07responds Dryas, presenting Daizo a flask to hand to his charge. "Perhaps I should have brought a parasol," 07she realizes belatedly. 15[23:18] Sadako seems fine, but she is permanently squinting and scowling in the dazzling light. [23:20] 10Daizo uses some of the water to wet a cloth and applies it as a cool compress. "I hope she wasn't pushing herself too hard to keep up with us." [23:21] 4Piu: "I was pushing me too hard to keep up with us!" 15[23:21] Seiri awakens after a few minutes. "...what happened?" [23:22] 10Daizo: "Here, drink this. It looks like the sun got to you." 15[23:24] Seiri takes a drink, coughs, and takes another drink. [23:25] 10Daizo: "It's all right. We probably should have been taking more frequent breaks. After all, this is a festival, not military maneuvers." [23:25] 4Piu: "Same thing." 15[23:27] Sadako looks down the mountain, over the entirety of the city and the glittering harbor beyond. "It's pretty here, anyway." [23:27] 10Daizo: "Let's wait here for a while and gather our strength. If you feel like you can't go on, we'll go back down the mountain." 15[23:28] Seiri shakes her head. "No, I've come this far. I've got to see what's up there now." 15[23:28] Her shoulders sag. "Maybe a few more minutes, though." [23:28] 07Dryas sidles up next to Piu. "We're being watched, you know," 07she murmurs deviously. [23:30] 4Piu stretches, if a bit wearily. "I should hope so. [23:30] " [23:32] 10Daizo: "That's the spirit. Press on, but be realistic." [23:35] 07Dryas, continuing: "The filthy, half-starved cur. The baby. The old man and the gaggle of women we passed at the base." 15[23:36] Dryas and Piu seem to be successfully deflecting whatever scrutiny comes to two babes whispering on a clifftop. [23:38] 4Hopefully not all of it! [23:39] 4Piu: "Motley crew." [23:39] "Whaddya wanna do about it?" [23:41] 07Dryas: "Not sure. More puppetry? You think it's Hamoji's doing?" [23:42] 4Piu: "Not my area of expertise, really. Ask the big guy?" [23:43] 07Dryas nods: "Talk to him about it. I'll talk to the girl." [23:45] 07Dryas breaks from Piu's side and kneels next to Seiri. "You know, my mother is one of the greatest doctors on the Blessed Isle?" 15[23:45] Seiri looks up. "Really?" 15[23:45] She sounds surprised. [23:46] 4She sidles up to Daizo. "We're being watched, you know. But by weird things. Babies and groups of women and the like. Dryas thought you might have insight? She mentioned the big volcano guy." [23:49] 10With the situation more or less stable, it won't be much of a problem tor Piu to peel Daizo away. And with a warning like that, easier still. "Troubling. There's certainly a few things I can try, although in a spiritually rich place such as this it may be hard to discern any influences." [23:57] 10Daizo: "Going to stretch my legs a bit. Call me if anything happens, Dryas." [23:57] 07Dryas: "Yeah, actually. They say she can re-attach severed souls, which I've never seen, but they say it. She's absolutely brilliant. Anyway. There was this one time, when I had seen no more than ten or so summers, I managed to slip away from all the servants. Ran through the gardens, they had no idea where I was. Anyway, I slipped off an embankment, twisted my ankle pretty badly. And you know who was there?" 15[23:57] Seiri shakes her head. Session Time: Wed Mar 04 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] 07Dryas deadpans: "Well, it was my headmistress, actually, who had finally found me. She sent me to bed without champagne for my impertinence, and my mother didn't come back for another week." [00:00] 14... 15[00:00] Seiri laughs, and then looks scandalized at her own laughter. "Oh, no, I'm sorry--" [00:02] 10There's always the one universal excuse for stepping away from a crowd that a man can use. So Daizo goes to look for a suitably out-of-the-way spot. Instead of nature's call, though, he's peeking into the supernatural with his trusty silver mirror. [00:04] 07Dryas laughs, too.  15[00:05] Daizo looks through the mirror, and finds it difficult to make out much of anything. He was right, the conjugation of spiritual and wyld energy at play this far up the mountain makes it very difficult to see anything. Sweeping the mirror around he catches a few clots of revelers that seem a man or two bigger in the reflection than to the naked eye, but features are hazy and hard to 15[00:05] make out. There are two things that stand out beyond that: one is a ways behind them, a huge hulking shadow whose rough shape Daizo last saw in the bowels of the Leaden Queen. An erymanthus is travelling up the mountain immaterially, behind a throng of pilgrims. [00:05] 10That's bad. 15[00:07] The other is far above, dancing in and out of the light spilling straight into the sky from the caldera, either quite small or quite large and *very* high up, a bird with broad swingspan and what looks from this distance to be two necks. [00:09] 10Birds. There's too many birds lately. [00:13] 10Then he recalls it. 10One head heralds the birth of nations; the other grieves the death of gods. [00:13] 10Could the god of Hamoji actually be the fabled Thousand-Year Shrike? 15[00:14] Seiri struggles to her feet. "I'm ready to go now." [00:17] 10Daizo returns to the group, looking pensive. He pulls Piu and Dryas aside and gives them the bad news first. [00:17] 07Dryas helps her to her feet. "We've got you. Tepet Daizo will carry you the rest of the way up, isn't that right Daizo?" 15[00:19] NEXT TIME: One Silver Arrow [00:20] 10Daizo: "Of course, if that's what you'd like. And if you'd rather go up on your own two feet… then we'll follow your pace." 14[02:48] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[07:44] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:37] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[11:50] * Joins: Crion_ 14[11:51] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:20] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:02] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 14[17:03] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[17:03] * Joins: Crion 14[17:24] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[17:33] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:24] * Joins: mattbaby [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 .. ..oooo.....ooo... [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 .odSS4PYYYSSOOXXXXXXXXXOodbgooo. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 /SSYod$$$$SSOIIPXXXXXXXXXYYP.oo.*b. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 ($$Yd$$$$SSSOII:XXXXXXXX:IIoSSS$$b.Y, [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 \Yd$$$$SSSOII:XXXXXXXXXX:IIOOSSS$$$b\ [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 d$$$$SSSOOI:XP"YXXXXXXXX:IIOOSSSS$$$\ [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 Y$$$SSSOOII:XbdXXXXXP"YX:IIOOOSS$$$$) [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 'Y$$$SSSOI:XXXXXXXXXbodX:IIOOSS$$$$$/ [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 "Y$$$SSSOI(PoTXXXXXTo)XXIIOOOSS$$$*' [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12 ""*Y$S(((PXXXXXXXY))dIIOSSS$$dP' [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, you're really in it now. The collective human population of the city of Trarthira, fused into an eighty-yalm dendroid behemoth, has charged into your ranks and began the process of vaporizing, liquefying, or simply crushing your forces. But it's not going well for the thing - thanks to an immediate surprise attack by Tatsuya, the creature's collapsed onto one knee right before [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12your army was able to sweep up and around it, and now as you watch the giant-slaying techniques Ir drilled into the apefolk over several grueling months are being employed with incredible form to keep the monster on the ground. A spider's web of grapples, pits, and siege engines have forced it to remain kneeling and hunched over, unable to rise and simply start stomping through your [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12forces, and at the same time your actual Circle is flying and climbing around the thing and whittling through its fulms-thick barklike carapace. Indeed, the assault launched by your army on its flanks has been so savage as to rip through much of the bark on the giant's legs and expose greyish skin and flesh, which bleeds readily when attacked further. [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12A haze of lambent greenish essence still hangs above the battlefield, liberated from your soldier's bodies but as (seemingly) uninvolved in the actual battle. The monster's right arm is nearly crippled by a combination of Ir's and Tatsuya's blows, while its left arm and crimson eyes still seem dangerous. Here we gooo- [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12As the giant's right arm does its best to swat a leaping Tatsuya out of the air, but only manages to catch itself an angry new passenger, the giant's head swivels and its eyes narrow. The brightest and most obvious assailant is still the glowing spearwoman ont the horse, and it's time to do something about her. There's a low rumbling sound that rises rapidly in volume and pitch as [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12mint-green light crackles and builds in the two liquid crimson eyes, then flashes out of sight. Has anything happened? ...yes, the great cloud of released essence behind Ir has dispersed out of sight, but a thickening haze of that self-same energy is starting to swirl and coalesce around her body. [21:22] 4Uh oh. 14[21:37] * Joins: Crion_ 14[21:37] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:38] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 08[22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Up above, Blossom and Eikichi bathe the giant's head and shoulders in flames. Below, a desperately flailing hand sweeps away a battalion of soldiers otherwise ready to launch a redoubled attack on the legs. [22:05] 7Blossom flings bolt after bolt of fire at the colossus' head, trying to keep it off-balance and prevent it from firing its eye-beams again! 14[22:09] * Joins: mattbaby [22:25] 6Tatsuya, after springing off the legs to try and wound the right arm of the creature and having to turn it into a flip to avoid just leaping into the void, finally finds purchase and strikes! Took long enough to get that thing out of the way, but the armies should be much safer and he can continue making his way up... [22:31] 4As Blossom and Ami plummet past her thanks to the left arm, Ir climbs higher and higher, Jude's Law becoming a long, wire-thin whip as she climbs past the face and scours it through the inferno -- up, she needs to get UP -- [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12In a further torrent of flame, Blossom completely immolates the giant's head, burning away wood and moss and vine to reveal flesh and bone. It's hard to see under the smoke and flame what exactly is under there, but it's vaguely human, vaguely simian, and at last can release a throat-rending scream unobstructed by any part of its arboreal faceplate. [22:42] 7Hmm. Less than ideal. [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Following Tatsuya's strike, the giant's right arm hangs helpless, its angles all long, barely propping the creature's body up. And your apefolk legions take both notice and advantage, storming with sword and axe and flame and hook. Some kind of structural threshold is breached - the legs and arm are ripped apart enough that the entire thing shakes and then collapses forward before [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12finally falling on its side, sending shockwaves as far as the eye can see. 08[23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12For a moment, there's nothing but blood and dust and smoke. Suddenly, out of the devastation, turned sideways so as to look that much weirder, the gigantic burning head of the giant comes lunging forward at your formation, with Eikichi floating in her Stormwind Rider right at the forefront! A massive set of yawning jaws, the teeth looking more like single plates of jagged, spiky bone [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12than individual molars and the entire inner surface of the mouth covered with wriggling, grasping arms, hurtles straight towards you! [23:06] 7Gross! 08[23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's immediately gone. The troops saw it coming -- which isn't to say that they all get away, but is to say that plenty of the empty space torn through their formation is space they evacuated ahead of time, and that the final flare of green light which crackles from the burned and bleeding eyes to the aura of devastation reaching its pinnacle around Ir is much subtler than it [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12could have been. [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12It detonates! There's a tremendous peal of concussive power, but when the smoke clears being battered by the liberated life-force of her own dead soldiers has only left Ir smoking slightly. And the giant's down, crippled, vulnerable -- time to finish this. [23:19] 4At the height of Errant's climb, Ir leaps from his back, arcing out into the air as whatever this sorcery is consumes itself, and tries to consume her -- she twists in the air in pain, and she hears screaming not her own in her ears as she plummets -- [23:19] 4And the then rippling pulse of death is gone, contained, as Errant swoops beneath her to recover her. [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12The legions of the Immaculate Fangs don't miss a beat, immediately throwing more grapples and setting more spears to pin the side and arm and throat. The giant's other arm is still free to flail back and forth, lashing with tremendous violence but poor aim and flagging strength. It's losing so much blood (which is thankfully being absorbed into the ash for the most part, though the [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12medical tents are going to be very full after this) that it can't seem to muster its essence against you with serious vigor, and that means that this is turning into less a series of desperate life and death dodges and into more of, well, a logging campaign. [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Kacha's burning more and more of the body clear, shouting for the troops to keep up their stabbing and chopping. He wants your help with the last arm, worries that it's going to right itself and start doing serious damage. But what are you going to do with this thing? It's bleeding and screaming and writhing but it's not immediately obvious how to make it start dying properly. [23:22] 4Ir, armor still smoking, rights herself in the saddle and urges Errant down to the ground. The Fangs are bloodied but upright and far, far from broken. She'll fly down to find their general. 14[23:31] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[23:31] * Joins: cbass 08[23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Not that Eikichi's got a moment to think, she can compare this thing with specimens she's studied earlier, give serious thought to the flows of essence throughout its body. Clearly, the head was doing a lot of thinking and some active essence manipulation if not actual magic, but it's clearly the heart or something like it that's really powering this creature - before you started [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12bleeding it, it seemed to have an inexhaustible river of power starting at a wellspring somewhere in the torso flowing down the limbs and up to the cranium. Even now that it's downed and crippled, the bleed's only slowed to a trickle - hasn't stopped. Troops are already reporting wounds visibly trying to close themselves, requiring renewed mass-scale butchery to maintain the damage. [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12It's possible this thing can be tired but not exhausted. [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12But there is a heart or mainspring of some kind, buried within the central body. Just gotta get to it, which will probably be long and messy work - although now that you have a vague idea of what's there, it's possible that you could attempt some kind of sealing sorcery (assuming you know any, or are willing to spend weeks cooking it up) while otherwise holding the giant down. [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Could be, uh, good practice for the real behemoth. [23:42] 4Ir hops off horseback and, still a bit rattled but no worse for wear, begins her consultations with him and his unit commanders on the best way to approach the arm. The play: Ir and a squad of hook-lance elites lock down the wrist, the elbow, and the shoulder, and in sequence send in the fire-sapper squads to place, arm, and detonate charges at key points. It's going to be a dangerous [23:42] 4job. A very...kinetic job. Some are likely to die. Hell, most are likely to die. Planting the charges is the mission; getting free is secondary. [23:44] 4They don't all get free. Mamset Kja dies in the wrist alongside his sergeant and lover Abbas Kinth; but the wrist detonates. They move up to the elbow, where fresh-faced, new elite Jorbus Kay holds the detonators to the joint with his body as the rest of his team gets clear. And at the shoulder, the whole team dies rather than let the monster trying to regrow stop the operation. [23:44] 4But it is a resounding success. [23:44] 4And the Fangs now have their legends. [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12It works well, which is to say that many of them survive. But at last you've got a towering giant completely pacified, crippled and staked and lashed to the ground, burning in a hundred places with plumes of flame that, at this point, don't seem to be finding anywhere to spread to but also don't seem to be running out of fuel such that they go out. Almost all of the vegetative [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12exoskeleton this thing was wearing has been burned away, revealing, beneath it all, a much stranger and more alien mixture of wood and flesh; the fingers, for instance, still end in long, gnarled claws, but somehow the pattern of woodgrain is etched into great talons of gleaming bone. [23:45] 4As for the rest of them, there's broken limbs, torn tendons, concussions and a whole lot of other injuries, but the hook-lancers suffer no fatalities. [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Much is still obscured by great plumes of black smoke and veritable mountains of ash, but after a while you - the lot of you, if you stand in the right place - find yourself standing and looking into the crimson, perfectly spherical eyes of the downed monster as it lays there, staring back at you. It's got barely any nose to speak of and a massive, fanged rictus of a mouth from which [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12toxic blood/acid/drool leaks and sizzles into the ground. [23:47] 7This is like a vegetable king blood ape. Gross! [23:47] 4Uncomfortable. But Ir is too busy congratulating the troops and advising Kacha to spend too much time staring back. [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Occasionally it struggles a bit, or at least tries to stretch in place. When you or your troops come too close, you can see a serpentine tongue or tongues begin to coil behind the teeth, so there's a standing order not to approach the head. It's not clear to you whether or to what extent that creature can think. [23:48] 4City full of brains in there. Not that it seems to have done much. [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, it was (they were..?) able to channel a lot of essence to terrifying destructive effect. 08[23:50] 4Not the...you know what? Where's Eikichi? 15[23:51] 10Eikichi's as close to the thing as anyone is, squatting down, staring into its eyes. [23:51] 4Ir will ride up. Still kind of hurts to walk. "Hey." 15[23:52] 10Eikichi: "Mmm?" [23:52] 4Ir: "...You have something that can put it down cleanly? Both because that's humane and, well...it's leaking." [23:54] "Taking out the arm bought us the space to pull out the wounded, so..." 15[23:55] 10There's a long silence before Eikichi responds, quietly, "They'll need to be much farther away. Your soldiers. A quarter-malm at least." [23:56] "Yeah..." 4She sighs. "Yeah. I'll get them moving." 4She'll pull on the reins and ride back to Kacha. [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Kacha salutes. "What're we doing with it? Doesn't seem as flammable as I'd like." [23:58] 4Ir: "We're backing up. The sorceresses are going to deal with it. I'm going to make a last flyover pass to make sure we didn't miss any of the wounded, and while I'm down that, you'll withdraw the elites a half-malm. Out of an abundance of precaution. Maybe find them somewhere they can watch." 15[23:59] 10The Spheres drift smoothly in their orbitals, aligning in a row between Eikichi and the dying titan. One by one, they flare and curdle into the same featureless clot-red of the creature's eyes. Session Time: Thu Mar 05 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Kacha: "Sorry, half-malm? This'll be good." 12Once Ir confirms that he heard right, the fire-aspect leaps off a small explosion on his own, proceeding to adress the troops in a thunderous voice he's been using on and off across the campaign. [00:00] 4Good kid. Ir will do the flyover as many times as she can. 08[00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi draws on the principle of hierarchy to drill directly into the fallen giant's mind. The strong rule the weak; the greater can take from the lesser. Is the sum of a thousand thousand people perhaps greater than one of the Chosen of the Most High, such that Eikichi has no right to demand such a thing? Turns out, no. 14[00:04] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12This is very strange, because it begins with the memories of millions of people. Brief and tangled ones, of course. Roots bursting out of the ground, mutagenic sap flooding down streets. It happened quickly - a single overwhelming assault that either devoured or liquefied and drained the entirety of the city in less than an hour. Then darkness, swirls of red and green, a slowly-growing [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12awareness of a coherent being-ness, and a source, and a mission. [00:07] <@Ferrinus> 12They... you... I... are missing something. I need something. It was taken long ago, and cast away - no, I was cast away. Finally, I return, but then I'm stopped. Poisoned. Barely able to walk. [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12That's why you're here. You can't rejoin with me. Not yet. You have to go in my stead, crush whatever's laid me low. Then we'll be back together, and then we'll continue our journey. Complete it, one day. [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12These are things that what was once millions of screaming people knew for sure as it felt flames lick at its cocoon, awoke to find enemies arrayed against it. 15[00:09] 10Journey where? [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12This thing only had the vaguest idea, based pretty much on the direct sightline of its creator/greater whole/parent/whatever. Look over there, look over there... uh, basically straight east to west? [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12The spheres, of course, can't really tell you what this giant-spawn wanted or how it felt about it, exactly. [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12You know, this might explain why the eastern behemoth was so badly slowed down - it's been poisoned or weakened somehow. Likely Raksi's doing, who knows how or how many months ago. But that might be why it's lying there and sending out roots and cuttings of itself rather than just wading through the entire TCZ like a man through shin-high grass. 15[00:19] 10We could seize it, you know. Take this inert and suffering flesh and give it new life, new purpose. A new, stronger, brighter will. [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not clear, of course, whether that's going to last now that Raksi's dead, or how efficaceous it's been given that the sleeping... or at least bedridden, sort of...? ...eastern behemoth still seems to be able to assault the Zone at a distance. But you've got something working in your favor already. 15[00:19] 10Eikichi blinks and shakes her head. No. It would be kinder to burn. [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12And burn it will... next week. 14[01:40] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[01:41] * Joins: cbass 14[01:57] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[02:16] * Joins: cbass 14[08:58] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:59] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[11:21] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:41] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[13:03] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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[20:10] 14Presumably Piu will be tagging along. What's yet to be seen is whether it's business or pleasure! [20:11] 14Presumably Piu will be tagging along. What's yet to be seen is whether it's business or 4pleasure! [20:11] "I have two errands which will require your assistance," 07Dryas informs Piu and Zhangyu. [20:13] 07Dryas: "The first is: That trade outpost in the Siaka Archipelago - I still don't even know what the name of that isladn was - it's too valuable to leave uninhabited. And there's only two ships that know it's deserted. One, I think, is Moray Darktide's Keystone, and the other is us." [20:14] 4Piu: "...D'ya, like, have people to claim it?" [20:16] 07Dryas: "Not yet. We'll need to press-gang, recruit, or strongarm a crew to man the depot. And find someone... reliable... to run the place while we're away." [20:16] 4Wheedling: "Does Ratel know you're freelancing?" [20:17] 6Zhangyu: "Hrn." 6Finding help is easy. Finding reliable help is trickier. [20:18] "This operation is under the auspices of the merchant fleet, isn't it? We undertake this in the name of Imperial commerce and free trade!" 07Dryas replies. [20:19] 14So that's a no. [20:19] 4Piu: "Teehee." [20:20] "What's the second?" [20:23] 07Dryas: "I pay a visit to the Guild factor, Nn Tloc, in his haunted mansion, and let him know the score. As a matter of courtesy, I also introduce him to two-thirds of the most excellent wrestlers and grapplefuckers in the Direction - the third being the esteemed but pre-engaged Tepet Daizo, of course - and who I so happen to manage. As a man of sport, himself, I believe he would have sought you out on his own regardless..." [20:23] 4Piu: "Ooh. I like that." [20:24] 07Dryas: "Besides, eminences such as yourself should not be unknown to the local Guild factor. We must get out, wave the banners, remind the people of the Threshold about the Scarlet Dynasty every once in a while." [20:25] 4Piu: "What to wear..." [20:27] "Zhangyu the taciturn, are you in?" 07Dryas asks, playfully. [20:27] 4This is actually a somewhat serious question. Is there likely to be a fight? Either a real one or a demonstration. [20:29] 6Zhangyu: "I am. You say 'man of sport' - active viewer of some of the region's more organized events?" 6Hinokuni, of course. [20:30] "He's sponsored a number of your opponents," 07she replies. [20:30] 6He grins. "Shame." [20:32] 4Piu: "Mmmmm. Dressing to fight it is!" [20:32] 4Generally this just means more wraps under her slinky outfits. [20:33] "Yes," 07she replies with a narrow smile of her own. 15[20:34] Is everyone ready to go? [20:34] 14Once she's wrapped the Chain into her handwraps...yes. [20:35] 6Zhangyu's got nothing to prepare, being ready to throw down at all times. Comes in handy. [20:36] 07Dryas is always ready for this sort of work. That is to say, the sort of work where she tells other people what to do. 15[20:37] The three Blooded scions cut an impressive figure as they move through the streets of Abalone, drawing an eye even from the revels with their wealth, stature, and beauty. At one point a handful of children breaks from their fireside dance to giggle and caper in the hearth's wake, pulled back by scolding parents before they venture too far afield. [20:40] 4Piu will frolic with them a little bit. She's frankly quite modestly dressed, for V'neef Piu. [20:42] 6Zhangyu ignores them, because he's been informed that his angry glare can be more than most children can handle without crying. 15[20:43] The crowds thin as the surrounding buildings grow in age and stature - the Immaculate temple at Yanagimori has its gates shuttered, whether against the heaten festival outside or because of the death of its caretaker, it's not clear. Dryas is able to lead the others to Nn Tloc's house, standing out against the golden mountain it's embedded in like a lingering burn on the retina. Even 15[20:43] in the doubled daylight of this late morning, it looks dark and cool. Two guards - armed with sabers and flame pieces - stand in front of the door. [20:44] 4Piu giggles as they pass the closed temple, but it's because of a cute boy in the crowd. [20:44] 4Honest! [20:45] 07Cynis Dryas addresses the guards with the cool tenor of someone used to bossing around the servants of others. "Cynis Dryas and her companions, V'Neef Piu and Tepet Zhangyu, to see the Factor." [20:46] 4She stands up properly for this bit at least, arms clasped behind her back. 15[20:47] The guard on the right bows low and ducks inside. "Please prepare to take your shoes off," says the other after a slightly awkward silence. [20:48] 4Ahhh. [20:48] "Oh, that's the other thing," 07Dryas notes to the rest of the Hearth. "It's the one thing he insists on. It seems harmless to humor him about it." [20:48] 4He's a feet guy. [20:48] 4Piu just chuckles as she slips off her flats. [20:49] 6One of these. Zhangyu will humor him, but he's watching. [20:50] 07Dryas slides her feet out of the soft riding boots she usually wears for Errands and takes a step forward. 15[20:54] A few moments later a man emerges, pale of eye and hair and skin, with delicate, almost childlike features. Bright blue eyes with no emotion sit over a wide, white, impossibly even smile. "Wonderful. Wonderful to see you all. Come in! Do you want a drink? It's early but it's a festival day. I am partial to the rum you get out here." [20:54] 4Piu's one with her normal winning, facile smile: "Sure!" [20:57] 6Zhangyu minimizes the scowl. "Rum sounds good." 15[21:00] "Great." He leads them into an expensively appointed office with many comfortable chairs and a merrily crackling fire whose chimney must run straight up into the mountain. There's no natural light back here, only the light of braziers and candles that never seem to fully lift the chill of the room. At the bar with his back turned, he calls, "I see you've brought some of your exceptional 15[21:00] friends, Lady Dryas. Care to introduce me?" [21:00] 4Piu looks excitedly over at Dryas. [21:08] 07Dryas provides the introductions with formal theatricality: "My shipmates... Tepet Zhangyu: a student of Grandmaster Mushi, and a prodigy at that. He's quiet but quite terrifying, I believe he nearly ripped a Blood Ape in half a week or two ago. And V'Neef Piu: Don't let her charm catch you off-guard, she's the winner of the most recent Five-Day Fight, and a particularly perspicacious practitioner of... well, whatever she sets [21:08] her mind to, as far as I can tell." [21:10] 4Piu: "Hee!" [21:11] 4She bows deeply. "Well met, with the honors and blessings of House V'neef!" 15[21:13] "Heavy hitters!" he says brightly as he sets polished glasses full of rum down in front of everyone. "Heavy, heavy hitters. My name is Nn Tloc, and I'm a deeply invested local businessman." 14[21:13] * Joins: tom [21:15] 14Deeply leveraged. 15[21:17] His smile widens, somehow. "So how can we help each other?" [21:19] 6This man is not to be trusted. Zhangyu will still sip the rum. [21:20] 4How's the rum? 15[21:20] It's very good rum, as good as any you'd get on the Isle. Which makes sense, since this is where the fancy stuff you get on the Isle is imported from. [21:20] 07Dryas throws back a tot. "We've got a piece of information for you, and an offer." [21:22] "I don't suppose you've received word from the Guild's outpost in the Siaka archipelago lately?" 07she asks. 15[21:23] Nn Tloc: "I can't help but notice that that's a question, not a piece of information or an offer. I'm guessing you're about to tell me?" [21:25] 14She takes much smaller sips than the movement of the glass might indicate. [21:25] 14The rum is on point, however. [21:26] "It's deserted. Its inhabitants, perished. I believe only one other ship in the world has any reason to expect otherwise, at the moment," 07she explains. 15[21:28] "Is that right." [21:29] 07Dryas: "I'm afraid so. I offer my condolences to the Guild." 15[21:30] "I'll pass those along. What happened?" [21:34] "We don't know," 07Dryas lies between sips of rum. "I believe the Keystone - and perhaps its captain - disturbed something best left to its own devices." 15[21:35] "Why do you believe this?" [21:37] 4Piu snickers. [21:37] 07Dryas: "Moray, isn't that his name? His was the last ship to anchor there, according to the portmaster's log." [21:37] 14Calculation. 15[21:39] Nn Tloc: "So there's a dead trading post in the Siaka's Teeth and one of my ships, you're saying, is responsible. Which side of this are you offering to take care of for me?" [21:39] 4Piu blinks. "Your fault?" [21:40] 14He didn't do it, but he wants to accept credit for it to make it look like it's reasonable to assume it's his fault. [21:40] 14That would be Piu's play, anyhow. [21:44] 07Dryas: "I think we're up to the task of getting the trading post back in commission. We have other business than hunting pirates, but perhaps, supposing we did cross paths with Captain Moray..." 15[21:51] Nn Tloc motions for Dryas to continue, a bit impatiently. [21:53] Dryas looks to her companions. Committing to slay Moray Darktide could be a bit much. [21:54] 07Dryas looks to her companions. Committing to slay Moray Darktide could be a bit much. [21:54] 6For Moray Darktide, it would be. [21:55] "Perhaps he'd return in irons. Or perhaps he would meet a watery grave," 07she completes her thought. [21:57] 6Zhangyu: "We'd be speaking with him about the outpost regardless. What happens after that..." 6He sips the rum. [21:57] "Maybe he's innocent!" 4Piu chirps. [21:58] 6Zhangyu: "Maybe." 15[21:58] Nn Tloc: "I don't think you guys are that heavy. This is a step beyond even the big game hunting you and I already discussed." [22:00] 07Dryas nods graciously. "Excellent. That's why I had mentioned restaffing the outpost." 15[22:00] Nn Tloc: "Restaffing it with who?" [22:00] "Let us worry about that," 07Dryas suggests smoothly. 15[22:01] Nn Tloc: "Success breeds trust. You want me to let you worry about things, you show me you can do the jobs you agree to. Where are we on the other thing?" [22:07] "It's, ah, moving forward," 07she replies noncommittally. 14[22:10] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 15[22:16] Nn Tloc: "Yeah, well, once it's *moved* we can talk. What else you got for me?" [22:16] 07Dryas: "I understand you sponsor some fighters in the Hinokuni." [22:17] 4Piu snickers, here. 15[22:17] Nn Tloc: "I understand you do, too! Boy, he healed up quick, didn't he?" [22:18] 6Flatly: "Usually do." 15[22:18] Nn Tloc's eyes flash. "Only usually?" [22:20] 07Dryas will let the fighters speak for themselves here - she crosses her arms behind her back. [22:21] 6Zhangyu: "My time with Grandmaster Mushi was not all roses." 6He does not elaborate. [22:23] 4Idly: "So you sponsor fighters that win too, right?" 15[22:25] Nn Tloc: "I'll sponsor anyone who makes me money. Are you looking for new employment?" [22:25] 4She blinks. "Oh. No. Haha~" [22:25] "I don't really have any interest in making you money." 15[22:26] To Dryas: "I won't tell her if you won't!" He laughs at his own joke. [22:27] 4Cheerfully: "I've fought to seal deals before. That's nothing new. But if a number's gonna go up, well!" [22:27] "I don't really privilege yours." [22:27] 07Dryas titters through clenched teeth at Tloc's remark. 15[22:30] Nn Tloc: "Is there anything else I can do for you?" [22:31] 07Dryas: "I thought maybe we could arrange an exhibition - not some scratch match thrown together at open fight night." 15[22:32] Nn Tloc leans forward. "Outside the organization, you're saying?" [22:35] "I have no loyalty to them," 07she replies. 15[22:35] Nn Tloc: "What's our hook?" [22:36] 4Glancing over at Zhangyu: "I mean. We're both pretty accomplished, and both pretty hot." [22:36] "Send some rapacious dumbasses at us." [22:36] 6Zhangyu: "It's true." 15[22:40] Nn Tloc: "Less ways to split the take, but if we're selling the match on your backs you need to be more famous. One bloody win and one slutty dance won't pull crowds away from the Hinokuni." [22:41] 14She cackles at that. "Ah, sorry. Yes, the Hinokuni, noted hater of sluts." [22:42] "You want a demonstration, huh?" 15[22:42] "I want a rep to trade on." [22:44] 4Piu: "It physically pains you to answer a question with yes. So I didn't make that one!" [22:44] "Set it up." 14[22:48] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[22:49] * Joins: mattbaby 15[22:51] Nn Tloc: "Look, I'm not the one you need to convince. Show me you've got a following that will put asses in the seats - I don't care how - and we can talk. But people aren't showing up just cause I say you're a badass." [22:53] 4Piu: "I get the feeling you are, though. But fine. Time to go punch someone in the mouth!" [22:53] 07Dryas: "Alright. You'll hear from us soon." 07She throws back the rest of the rum. "As always, we thank you for your hospitality." 15[22:54] "Don't work too hard," says Nn Tloc, before motioning for a runner to see the three of you out. 15[22:57] It's almost dazzlingly bright and hot outside. [22:58] 4Piu: "I don't like him!" [22:58] 4She's back in her flats. [22:58] 6When they're out of earshot: "Well, that... went." [22:58] 07Dryas is pulling on her boots. "We have a lot to discuss," 07she observes. [22:59] 4Piu: "Eh, not really." 4To Zhangyu: "We need some fights. Like, now." [22:59] "We gotta get to the bar. Dryas, you too!" [23:00] "You're managerin'." [23:00] "Well, alright," 07she replies just a little unsteadily. [23:01] 4As they walk: "So he's just evil, right?" [23:01] 6Stretching some people at a bar might not be what he meant by 'make a name,' but... "I'm game." [23:02] 4She means meeting with that fight guy, dummy. Who bartended. [23:03] 6Oh, right. That guy. [23:03] 4Archly: "Thousand Devil Master will have something for us to do." [23:04] 6Look, he lost a lot of blood. He's bound to forget things. [23:05] "He might not like a wildcat match,"07 Dryas points out. [23:07] "He likes what promoters like, which is money, respect, and hot boys and girls to put on posters." [23:07] "And of all of those, the posters are easiest to make!" [23:10] "Making... posters...?" 07Dryas asks, somewhat skeptically. "And what's Thousand Devil Master going to do to help us make posters?" [23:10] 4Piu: "Ugh. No. He has people to make the posters. He just has to book us." [23:11] "Nn Tloc wants asses in seats. He wants us to have bigger rep. What he wants us to do is squash some clowns that he's NOT backing, to generate buzz." [23:11] "And when we do, he can sidle on in with his weird feet-guy smile and ask the money-men and Thousand Devil Master to set up a high-purse fight." [23:12] 4Cheerily: "Which he'll probably bet against us on, and indirectly ask us to throw! Because he's a Guild Factor." 14[23:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [23:12] "And so we don't do that, and just, beat the guys he sends at us within an inch of their lives." 14[23:12] * Joins: mattbaby [23:12] "And so we don't do that, and just, beat the guys he sends at us within an inch of their lives." [23:14] 4To Zhangyu: "Really, the question is: can the two of us, and maybe Daizo, hurt as many people as quickly and as stylishly as possible?" [23:14] "I think so." [23:15] 6Zhangyu: "Quickly, yes. The stylish part... might take some doing." 6He's thinking about Son-of-Sabers. [23:15] 07Dryas seems to be having second thoughts. "Is that really the best way to do this? To get famous in a hurry, I mean? It's the middle of a festival," 07she points out. [23:16] 4Piu, to Zhangyu: "I could fight Son-of-Sabers if you want! Build heat and keep the final match clean from this bullshit." [23:17] 4To Dryas: "Middle of a festival is good for business! They won't take the outcomes seriously but lots of people will see them. It's good for throwaway matches and squashes!" [23:17] 6Zhangyu: "I'm not worried about fighting him. It's the stylish -- he referred to mantis style for this audience as 'playing sanxian for a dog.' It's stuck with me." [23:18] "Still. He's an ass." [23:18] 4To Dryas: "It's a lot of freeeeeee real estate!" [23:18] 4To Zhangyu: "Yeah, that's his thing. I think I could survive him though." [23:21] 07Dryas: "Zhangyu, do you need a less... technical method?" [23:23] 6He scowls. "I'll figure something out. Nonstandard holds, more dangerous throws." [23:24] "I just plan to hurt people!" [23:28] 6Zhangyu: "Put that on your gear." [23:29] 4Piu: "Yeah!!" 15[23:29] There's some pick-up fights happening in the streets, wrestling matches featuring people who mostly aspire to win their own Hinokuni medallions. If they want to arrange something flashier, they'll have to talk to Thousand Devil Master, who is currently trekking up Hamoji for the ritual. [23:29] 4Piu, at least, has to win a pickup fight or two first to get him to talk to her. Zhangyu can probably skip that. [23:36] 4The first guy she finds in the street says some stuff she won't repeat later and only then offers to fight her. He's got pomade in his hair. She's quite literally steaming by the time she dislocates his kneecap. [23:36] 4Which is under a minute from the match start. [23:36] 4Next! [23:38] 07Dryas works with Zhangyu and Piu, and a couple of chimes and cymbals snatched from wide-eyed pilgrims to turn the rapid fights into a percussive performance - "Cause all I wanna do is -" 07clang clang clang clang! "and a-" 07skrrrt BONG "and take your money," [23:40] 6Zhangyu's watching Piu fight when some man with long hair and a blonde streak through it notices who he is and demands a fight over the medallion. Zhangyu makes it quick - throws him to the ground, wraps his legs around one of the opponent's and uses his head and arms around the other to make them give up within a minute. 15[23:42] Cheers rise; bodies fall. The purses are small; the peasantry of Abalone don't have much to bet. But their renown grows all the same. [23:44] 07Dryas throws a handful of cockrie shells into the crowd and returns the chimes and cymbals as the would-be-challengers groan and twist on the ground. [23:48] 07Cowrie shells 15[23:48] As the sun draws high and the hearth prepares to trek up the mountain, Dryas spots one of Nn Tloc's runners in the crowd, seeing Piu and Zhangyu clean up. Let's see him call them insufficiently famous now. 15[23:49] NEXT TIME: The God of the Mountain Session Time: Wed Mar 11 00:00:00 2020 14[00:41] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[12:14] * Joins: tom 14[12:15] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:29] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[15:54] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 15[17:30] * Disconnected 15[17:34] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[17:34] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[17:34] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[17:34] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[17:34] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[17:34] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[17:35] * Ferrinus is now known as Guest13620 14[17:36] * Guest13620 is now known as Ferrinus 14[17:36] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[20:26] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:45] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[21:45] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Fri Mar 13 00:00:00 2020 14[00:23] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[00:29] * Joins: mattbaby 14[01:05] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[03:02] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[09:56] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:48] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[12:48] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[12:51] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[13:24] * Joins: VoxPrimey 14[13:26] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:52] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:32] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:49] * Joins: trenchfoot [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 ---.____ ,/k. [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 ___,---' /9.12 ih,__,-----.___ [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,-'9.12, `:7b----.__---` [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 _.-/ ' /b.`.4p, [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12 --" , ,-' ^6x, `."^=._ [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12You've won. The entire population of Trarthira, fused together into a voraciously hungry and magically-potent giant nearly a hundred yalms tall, is fallen and bound before you, curled halfway to fetal position and transfixed by hundreds of hooks and grapples and stakes and barricades. Its leafy exterior has been almost all but burned away, and fires burn still up and down its length. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Mutagenic ichor flows in rivers - well, rivulets now - from its wound, channeled through fullers and sluices dug by your troops into the ground around it. The bleeding has slowed, but not stopped, and there's a strong sense that it literally never will until and unless you do something decisive. [20:20] <@Ferrinus> 12What do you decide? 08[20:21] 4Ir's already pulled the Thousand Fangs back to watch. Eikichi made her choice, unless something has changed. [20:25] 6Tatsuya's exhausted and this feels like it needs Ying's touch... but he can't even muster the strength to change over. 15[20:33] 10Eikichi holds out her hand, and the spheres clack into her palm - one, two, three. She lets them roll against each other like a conjuror preparing a trick, and soon three spheres have become four, the new one a solid density of pulsing green light. The other spheres fall away, swinging gently into their natural orbits, letting the glowing green orb sit heavy in her hand. [20:34] 4Ir makes one last pass over the motionless killing fields and withdraws for good. 14[20:36] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 15[20:38] 10Despite its apparent weight, it flies quite far when thrown, clearing all the yalms of safe distance between the armies and the dying titan in a single smooth arc. It blossoms instantly into a pillar of light, reaching from earth to heaven, expanding rapidly. Even from this distance, the heat is overwhelming, and soldiers shield their eyes by reflex or common sense. Eikichi herself 15[20:38] 10holds still, with only the barest tremble of her hand - as if she were attempting to squeeze something solid in her fingers - to give any sign of life as the blast spreads too fast for even dust and debris to reach them. 15[20:39] 10A moment later, blinking sharply, Eikichi turns to face the others. "Right. Straight ahead, now. We'll need to swing by where the body used to be." 15[20:39] 10A moment later, blinking sharply, Eikichi turns to face the others. "Right. Straight ahead, now. We'll need to swing by where the body used to be." [20:40] 4Ir just stares at the...there's not even ruins left, are there. [20:40] "...Yeah. Uh. Yeah." [20:41] 4One assumes Kacha and the troops are as shaken as she is. 08[20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Ahead of you is a cracked and smoking plane of grey devastation. It's only the hint of a crater - the annihilating power of Eikichi's spell seems to have struck more like a hammer from above than an explosion from within, such that the terrain has been evenly flattened with only the slighest of concavity stretching from center to edge. There are slightly irregularities in the resulting [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12terrain, perhaps the results of the interaction of the magic with natural ley lines and essence flows or perhaps from minute differences in hardness and consistency of the terrain below. At the center of the pattern is considerably more unevenness, as the bones of the giant seem to have proved much stronger and more resilient than even the hardest stone of the city's former foundations... [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12but not hard enough, because you can pick out the shape of Trarthira's skeleton only in a pattern of crumbling ridges jutting up from the dust. [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12But there's a glint of deep crimson... yes, there's something intact in the very center, clutched from below by the remains of a ribcage. As you and your troops approach - you've been given no reason to think the terrain unsafe, and mere minutes later it's not even that hot - you can see a perfect sphere of what might be red glass or crystal (or perhaps it's clear, but filled completely [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12with ink or blood) sitting there where the giant's heart once was. It's several times wider than a person is tall, but you could probably roll it around or hoist it onto a cart with enough effort. 08[20:45] 4Ir, to Eikichi as they approach: "Did Heaven know you could do that before?" 15[20:46] 10Eikichi shrugs. "They know now." 15[20:46] "Alright, let's get this loaded up." [20:46] 4Ir sighs and spurs Errant forward. "I'll go get the Heavensward." [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12The actual behemoth, mountain-sized, is ahead of you yet. It'll be a journey of several days, but you know now that the creature is pacified, somehow poisoned or crippled by Raksi's machinations even as you attacked the sorceress queen's other flank. You'll have to figure out how to kill it, or how to seal it if it can't be killed. [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12For now, of course, you've got an army to get back into order, and hundreds and hundreds of cases of mild to severe dendroid poisoning to sort through. [20:48] 6Tatsuya keeps his eyes on the heart. "What are we going to do with it?" 15[20:49] "I don't know yet." [20:50] 6The behemoth is a several-days-from-now problem. Still. "Is 'breaking it' off the table? Because that's my first idea." 08[20:50] 4She returns in due time at the helm of the Heavensward as the army begins to re-camp to deal with its wounded and poisoned -- presumably out of the haunting dead zone of Eikichi's blast. Errant clops around on deck, aloof, waiting for Ir to bring the ship down and lower the cargo ramp so he can get back to his stall. [20:51] 4It's even more unnerving seeing the precise demarcation of the zone from the Heavensward's cruising height, it turns out. 15[20:52] 10Eikichi: "Right now, it's as much protecting us from its contents as it is protecting its contents from us. Simply cracking it like an egg multiplies our problems." [20:53] 6This is why they don't let Tatsuya make decisions. 08[20:55] 7Blossom casually comes up from behind Eikichi, putting her arms around his neck and shoulders. "Is it stable?" 15[20:59] "The titan's heart? Yes. It won't leak or rupture..." 10That feels so nice. Eikichi closes her eyes. She's so tired. [21:05] "Good. Then we can study it closely and dispose of it safely when we're done here." 7Sounds like her fiance needs a shoulder massage after that really incredible spell. 14[21:07] * Joins: mattbaby 08[21:09] 4Once the Heavensward has landed and she's turned it over to whoever Kacha has detailed to follow Eikichi's orders in getting the heart onboard, she'll sit down and rest for an hour while the troops begin unpacking. The fight was...exhausting. Even with Solar stamina and will, she needs a couple minutes. [21:09] 6Tatsuya makes excuses, says he's going to head off -- 13and then Ying shows up shortly afterwards to work her magic. They need a doctor, after all, and... there's no one better. [21:09] 4One session of meditation later, however, she throws herself into the task of getting this camp back up and running, so that they can get these troops treated. [21:10] 4It goes up much faster the second time. Somehow sturdier, too. [21:15] 13She wasn't there for the fight - 6Tatsuya13 was - but she's there for the aftermath. And she does her best to heal the soldiers that fought the giant beast. [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12You've seen this sort of thing before, which is pretty awful absent context but extremely helpful here. The kind of feet(roots)-up mutation that tends to stem from being splashed by mostly-blocked mutagenic blood but then having to wade through the stuff proceeds in ways that are becoming predictable, and by disbursing exacting instructions to the medics working under her while seeing [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12personally to the most grievous cases Ying is able to turn what could have been a crippling, battalion-wide malady into an epidemic of unusual but basically manageable scars and tattoos. By the time the sun rises next morning, your women and men will be ready to return to the march. [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12The mood at the camp is one of somewhat staggered shock, but also increasing elation. It worked. It works! All those bizarre exercises Ir put us through, digging trenches and dragging down trees and climbing in full armor - it's as though she knew exactly what was coming. [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Still, there's some trepidation, and it comes to your attention around the nightly campfire. Kacha's there, and he'd like to speak to some combination of Ir and Blossom, the women who seem to actually rather than formally be in charge. He says: "You think it'll work... again?" [21:25] 4Ir's pleased and very proud of them, but knows better than to show it. She'll keep outward calm and, if Kacha raises the issue of how she knew just what to train them for, will answer with some variation of: "Because I pay attention. I pay attention. You didn't know I was paying attention because you weren't paying attention. When I was a kid, my schoolmaster told me to pay [21:25] attention. I guess I took it to heart." [21:26] 4At the fire, however: "Dunno. Not interested in finding out, especially not down some troops. We'll need to think up an auxiliary role for you against the big guy." [21:26] "Well, the even-bigger guy." [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12He nods. "We can pull down an archtree. But that's, that's a mountain. What'll you do?" [21:28] 4Ir: "Well, I'm guessing we just saw one part of the plan. It's gonna involve a lot of sorcery." 08[21:29] "...One thing we might need is a small detail of elites to help crew the Heavensward. I have a feeling it'll be involved and I want actual hands on deck so Eikichi and Blossom can focus on the behemoth." [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Kacha: "Never sailed before... but I know we've got a few who've been up and down the Zone's rivers. I can get you a roster." 12He pauses. "...glad you were there at the end. I was, I was slow." [21:31] 14Hmm. [21:32] 7Blossom: "Might have to dig our way inside... might have to just seal it down." 7She grumbles. Annoying to leave something like this not dead, but waiting to come back and cause problems again. 15[21:32] 10Eikichi: "It's simple, really." [21:32] 4Ir nods. "You were. And next time, you'll be faster. That's why we're here: we're in the business of giving people next time." 15[21:32] "We're going to feed it." [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Kacha: "...that's what Raksi did." [21:33] 4Ir pauses. "Feed it...what." 4She thinks, with no small amount of dread, that she might know the answer. [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Kacha: "I was on the east side of the Zone when your demon armies came to our borders. Only heard about you, but saw the fight against the mountain firsthand - it was walking right at us, I was trying to save some, you called them lost eggs? That'd been lined up as sacrifices." [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Kacha: "Raksi could tell that it ate people. So that's what she gave it. Lots and lots and lots of slaves, all loaded down with the nastiest blood curses she could come up with." [21:36] 13Ying slinks into the area around the fire, unseen until she speaks up: "That's awful." 15[21:36] 10Eikichi: "No fresh blood will slake the titan's maw. It will hear our benediction, and then it will lie quietly and beg us to put it back to sleep." [21:37] 4Ir: "Oh. Well. When you put it that way, it sounds kinda...nice?" [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Kacha: "I don't understand. Is this just poetic language for the... the green pillar?" [21:38] "It's probably a lot better than cursing people and sending them off..." 15[21:38] 10To Kacha, Eikichi shakes her head. "Something else entirely." [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12He looks more disappointed than relieved. 08[21:39] 4Ir, to Eikichi: "Probably for the best we're not throwing that thing around left and right anyway. I bet some of our, uh, friends are already a bit spooked by it." [21:39] "Anyway. What do you need from us to make this happen?" 15[21:41] 10Eikichi: "Time. The ritual will take a day and a night." [21:41] "...Alright. Kacha, let's set up some watches just in case there are any more tricks coming." 15[21:42] "I'll need to be on the mountain, as well." [21:43] 4Ir grins. "Well that's more like it. Get me that list, Kacha." [21:43] 13Tricky. [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Kacha whistles. "Could be hairy. But they can't have a second one of those big fuckers, right? I'll get you those names." [21:44] 13Ying barely restrains her hiss. Do NOT tempt fate, Kacha. [21:44] 4Ir: "We're far enough inland that they'll get to tell their kids about the one and only time the Thousand Fangs had marines." [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12By the time the next morning rolls around you've got those names, as promised. Your troops number the better part of a thousand, and among those there are maybe fifty whose experience with the Raksi regime's river barges ranges from "some" to "extensive"; of those, just under a dozen are (supposedly) really good, though they'll probably need some training as to the operation of the [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Heavensward specifically. [21:47] 7And the siege engines Blossom built to be mounted on the Heavensward. Finally, they might see some use! [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, yeah, there are many more crack ballista operators - including apes with experience aiming and firing first age siege weaponry, since Sperimin and therefore Mahalanka had plenty to spare. 08[21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12So, how do you proceed? Eikichi judges she'll need to be at least halfway up the mountain-behemoth's slopes to make sure to include its entire bulk within the span of her Benediction, and might want to be higher still if she plans to curdle the magic further right around the beast's head or heart. 15[21:50] 10She'll get as close as she needs to, unless Ir and Blossom judge they can't defend that position. [21:52] 13Ying will be staying with the soldiers unless she's requested otherwise. [21:53] 4Ir will be up earlier than the new sailors, who will have been instructed to report to the Heavensward before dawn. The morning is spent training, broken up by a big breakfast she cooks for everyone -- secondary objective is getting to see how they gel with each other when it's not manning the ballistae or up on the rigging -- and then more in the afternoon. 08[21:53] 4Preferably she'd like more than one day to do this. What's Eikichi looking at as a timetable? 15[21:54] 10Eikichi needs an uninterrupted span from one sunrise to the next sunrise. It doesn't particularly matter *which* sunrise. 08[21:55] 4Then what Ir's thinking is, we get in close enough for the Heavensward to drop Eikichi, Blossom, and Tatsuya (or Ying) off, then pulls the Heavensward into an overwatch station. She can always leap on Errant and fly down to them if she's needed. [21:56] 4Hopefully it'll swat at the fly rather than scratch the tick. Uh, to use a kind of insulting metaphor. [21:56] 4The elites take to the training well; even better, the last battle -- and the sacrifices made during it -- have led to an intense, fierce camaraderie Ir's rarely seen before. [21:57] 4They'll do just fine. [21:57] 4She'll name the most promising among them, who commands the most respect and has the best head for command, as the Heavensward's inaugural First Mate. Who's that? [21:59] 7Sunlit-Dreaming Ying...? [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12You march/sail for days, and watch the terrain becomes increasingly and obviously surreal as you approach the behemoth itself. Massive, snaking roots stretch out from the base of the slumped-over "mountain" before you, criss-crossing and forking as they narrow out towards both you and every visible horizon. The 'natural' archtrees, already enormous and impossibly verdant due to the [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12increasing influence of the not-so-distant Pole of Wood, are subtly bent towards and around the behemoth as if by the mountain's very gravity, and most of them are intertwined with the alien roots of the sleeping creature itself. 08[22:00] 4If Blossom has those ballista installed, they'll spend the last part of the day drilling on them, and then Ir will consult with Eikichi. They can move whenever the Circle is ready; until then, that just means more training, which is never a bad thing. [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a strange tingle in the air, a disconcerting vibrancy of color. You feel haler and healthier than you should - well, you barely do, so infused with the essence of perfection as you already are, but the spring in the step of what should be at least taxed if not actually tired soldiers is unmistakable. [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12...this feels like a Wyld zone, a bordermarch at least if not a middlemarch. But it's not a complete one. In particular, none of your trained-to-the-point-of-ingrained defenses against the wyld's own mutagenic miasma have been activating by reflex, which is a relief because it means this also isn't the kind of place that you should start to fear for your troops' lives and sanities [22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12by the hour. The energy of raw change and chaos seems to have been tightly sculpted and constrained, as it might be in the freehold of a raksha expecting guests. [22:04] 4The sailor who distinguishes herself the most is Katkan Jain, a wiry but tall and muscled unit commander who served some time onboard riverboats. She's casually at ease on the air just as she was in the water, has helmed before, and most importantly commands the respect, trust, and when necessary, fear of the other sailors -- she showed that one when breaking up the sole fight that [22:04] 4happened during training. [22:05] 4With the Circle off the ship and Ir either with them or asleep -- this is going to be a day-long operation -- Jain is the one Ir trusts at the helm. [22:06] 13Kat. [22:08] 4The biggest problem has been lodging so far -- Heavensward is partitioned as a floating luxury vessel for five indolent Solars; it doesn't have a barracks. Ir has had her quarters and the makeshift brig both converted into bunking space. 08[22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12This tracks, actually, with the vibes Eikichi's been getting from Trarthira's stolen heart. It's physically filled with human blood, nothing more and nothing less... but, also, an absolutely cataclysmic payload of raw wyld energy culled straight from the Pole of Wood. Convection currents within the chaos-infused fluid form a constantly-spinning spiral wrapped around a continuous, [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12looping flow such that literally limitless amounts of raw vigor lie within, just waiting to be tapped by the right artifice. And if you were to crack this thing in just the right way, you could unleash a tidal flow of pure, undifferentiated chaos... which would, on its own, warp an entire swathe of Creation beyond all earthly recognition, but which could also be shaped by a cosmic [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12genius who happens to know the right techniques. [22:10] 4There's also some space down in the hold with Errant and Ami; Errant accepts the new arrivals with practiced equanimity, and Ami...is Blossom's responsibility, not Ir's! [22:10] 13Ying and 6Tatsuya13 can give up their quarters if necessary - she sleeps in the hallway half the time anyway. 15[22:10] 10Haha. [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12This lets you contextualize what you're looking at before you - the behemoth's like a piece of deepest Wyld that got up and walked into Creation, and yet which has been forced into coherent and non-corrosive shape by some great will or essence or salient property. The mutagenic properties of the behemoth's physiology might draw on the Wyld for power or scope but aren't of the [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Wyld - they're ultimately parts of whatever biological substrate that the Wyld has completely infused or colonized. [22:12] 4Well, that's no good. [22:14] 13Ying is going to hold this over Tatsuya's head as soon as they figure out how to deal with this problem -- breaking it is literally the WORST thing they could do. [22:15] 4In fairness, it is his answer to basically everything, up to and including the most personally potent man in Heaven. [22:16] 4Ir lets Jain get some supervised time behind the wheel as acting captain while they fly. [22:16] 6It made sense at the time. 13It didn't. 6The other thing though-- 13Yeah, that didn't either. 08[22:17] 4Absent any requests from Eikichi or Blossom, and any changes in the situation, Kacha will stick to the plan -- the rest of the Fangs will stop at an agreed-upon minimum safe distance and begin preparing a fallback point if this goes badly. [22:17] 4From here on out it's the Circle and the Heavensward. [22:18] 4Hmm...actually... [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Here's Ir's assessment. First off, despite Kacha unwisely tempting fate, there's definitely not going to be another Trarthira-class threat here; no other major population centers were devoured for miles around, for starters, none of the archtrees here bulge ominously enough to plausibly serve as cocoons, and frankly if this thing could make two or three such monstrosities it'd [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12probably have made them into a single even bigger monstrosity instead. [22:20] 4That does seem to be its aesthetic. 08[22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Second, she doesn't think the mountain is defenseless. One of its roots attacked her armies in the form of a giant subterranean hand a week ago, and while the behemoth's clearly sick and tired enough that it can't do that 25/7, it'll surely be sensitive enough to the presence of human beings on its flanks to rouse itself enough to begin fighting. So if Eikichi does set up on the [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12slopes - especially for an entire day - she'll definitely need some kind protection against periodic attacks by giant roots or lasers or whatever. [22:25] 4Then nix that; the troops will be coming along. It's just going to be made clear to Kacha that there's no burning or prodding or even really like, joke-poking of trees or exposed roots to be done, even to blow off steam. Nothing that might make the behemoth engage early. 08[22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Third, Ir has good reason to fear the consequences of bringing armies up the behemoth's slopes... in the general case. Given Ying and Eikichi's comments and her own visions of past fighting, she can easily and correctly imagine soldiers simply sinking straight into the root-flesh of the monster like into quicksand, absorbed into the mountain's biomass. In this specific case, though, [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12she has much less to fear - besides being heavily armored, the Immaculate Fangs' forces are enchanted to the gills, both by the charms and blessings of the new regime's sorcerer-priests and by the geomantic blessings of the Control Zone itself, which you're still techncially in. As well, these troops have been both tactically and spiritually prepared to battle with giants exactly like [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12this one. These troops actually can take up positions on the behemoth's slopes and hold them for at least a few days... though you're not going to get the chance to bury any of your fallen, I can promise you that. [22:26] 4One way or another, they'll rejoin the earth. [22:26] 4Alright, let's do this. [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12As you approach, the terrain begins to rouse. You were right - no giants. Well, no giant giants. Headless wooden men the size of buck-ogres aren't quite giants in the same sense, although they're big enough to require extensive teamwork. [22:29] 13Awful. 14[22:34] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [22:34] 7Are those the result of the behemoth or just ordinary Pole of Wood creatures? 14[22:34] * Joins: mattbaby [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a mix of both - you see some wood spiders who seem to be attacking opportunistically - but these mostly look like what you get when you combine regular humans with the behemoth's essence. Former people, now ravening near-automatons attempting to seize and (re?)absorb your biomass for the sake of the mountain. [22:36] 4Ir hands off the wheel to Jain and flies down on Errant -- yes, the pegasus is hanging out on deck, staying out of everyone's way and acting as a cushion when tired sailors need to rest but the bunks are full -- to "advise" Kacha. [22:38] 4Kacha's orders are swift and firm, and the troops form up in interlocking "sawtooth" formations, herding enemies into crevices in the shield line and chewing them up on their flank. Not having to have a long battle line allows them to keep it very rippled, and the wood caught in the saw's teeth is pulped. [22:38] 4The Heavensward sails cleanly above in Jain's capable hands. [22:55] 4Ir stays down there, swooping between the lines, helping pick off a woodman here or there but mostly coordinating and making sure the lines keep their proper direction. Can't have the line getting unbalanced and suddenly making a turn in the fog of war. 08[22:57] 13Ying isn't quite used to scouting for an army, but she's amazing at learning on the job. C'mon -- she can find what Eikichi needs. [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Up that way, then that way, then that way - yes, that's a path which is bracketed by vicious living trees and grasping root-limbs, but which doesn't seem to be able to simply twist apart under your feet or yawn open into a massive mouth. [23:07] 7Blossom puts one foot on the Heavensward's railing and hurls fireballs down onto the knotted roots of the Wood Behemoth. "CINDER... HELL... SUSPIRATION!" [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Coiling roots and massive, many-fingered hands either recoil or completely carbonize on both sides of the column of your troops, who themselves are savagely fighting their way through legions of root-monsters that seem to be getting recycled up out of the behemoth's carapace almost as quickly as they're felled! Ensconced safely in the middle of your formation are Ying, giving flawless 08[23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12directions, and Eikichi... waiting. 08[23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12It's hours of fighting and navigation later that see you about a third of the way up the behemoth's slopes. Eikichi judges that this is far enough up to cast the Benediction across the mountain-body of the behemoth entire. [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Of course, you've planned this all out according to the strictures of the ritual, so it was only a little after midnight that you decamped, fighting your way skyward by torchlight and anima flare. Now you're minutes away from sunrise, and the beginning of the ritual. 14[23:16] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[23:19] * Joins: mattbaby 08[23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12The battle becomes a siege. As Eikichi murmurs, her circlemates contend with attacks from all directions, expressedly including both above and below. Your enemy's weakened and dizzied with poison... but also possessed of literally boundless vitality. The roots simply don't relent. 08[23:35] 4As Eikichi secures her site, the Thousand Fangs drive into the woodmen and collapse to support her, surrounding her and forming a full perimeter while still putting down the rootmen, who freeze and burn and explode in turn from their powerful arms. Meanwhile, Ir, atop Errant, drives straight towards the rotted wood. Jude's Law becomes a spear becomes an orb becomes a great reaving [23:35] 4claw, and with a furious shout the daughter of Pnuema tears into trunks. [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12That means that when the attacks do begin to subside, it's not because your enemy's tiring, but because it's shifting its strategy. Now the very terrain is beginning to rumble... [23:36] 4Above, Katkan Jain gets the Heavensward into position for Excessively Righteous Blossom... [23:43] 4As the troops hold the line, Ir drops off of Errant to join them. The pegasus goes to land -- then alights as the ground rumbles. Ir snaps her fingers and Jude's Law takes the form of...a spade. "SAPPERS! DESIGNATED CRAFTMEN! TO ME! ROTATE OFF THE LINES AND FORM ON ME! WHEN THE GROUND FALLS AWAY BENEATH US, WHAT DO WE DO?" [23:43] 4They answer: "MAKE NEW GROUND!" [23:45] 4And that's how the breastworks get built: a fighting, concerted, perfectly-trained effort, which has its wounded but also assembles a redoubt for the army to defend even as it drives great spikes into the ground and forces it, like a tree's roots would, to remain still. 08[23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a flurry of activity. Where the army labors, it's fast - where Ir passes, it's impossibly fast, an actual blur of handicrafts that turns soil to brick and fallen, bleeding wood to walkways and cantilevers. So quick and well-thought-out is the response to the behemoth's physical reconfiguration that Eikichi may not even notice - she remains standing and chanting on a circular [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12cleaning, a few last shafts of light shining down as the sun sets in the distant west, while all beneath and around her the ground falls away to reveal grasping arms and quivering teeth above which her ritual space remains neatly suspended by a network of ropes, bridges, and platforms. [23:47] Ir's back on Errant. This isn't going to hold forever, or even much longer, but: it doesn't have to. [23:47] 4Ir's back on Errant. This isn't going to hold forever, or even much longer, but: it doesn't have to. [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12The behemoth's had enough. Too much of its prey, or quarry, or constituent pieces, or whatever it thinks you are continue to taunt it, remaining on its very skin and yet rebuffing every attempt to be (re)incorporated. The entire mountain shakes and strains. It's trying to stand. [23:48] 4Uh oh. [23:48] 4Hope Jain's paying attention up there-- 14[23:48] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) Session Time: Sat Mar 14 00:00:00 2020 08[00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12It's the black of night, but twin emerald searchlights cast their beams directly at Eikichi from far, far above, at very nearly the top of the mountain. If you don't get up there-- [00:09] 4Ir's already getting up there. The sailors will have Ami ready for Blossom as well. 15[00:09] 10Eikichi flashes a dazzling smile directly into the light. [00:09] 4Well-trained and performing perfectly. [00:14] 4Ir charges hard up the moving mountain, straight into these terrible, terrible lanterns, and shouts as she and Errant launch themselves at the behemoth, a burning golden comet streaking across the near-heavens. She hears Blossom...singing...around her...but she's able to compartmentalize that, make that not her problem. Make it only the behemoth's problem. While she drives great [00:14] 4silver spikes through its eyes. The thing screams and she screams and it's hard to tell the difference for a moment -- but it's not getting up. [00:16] 7Raksi tried to use this, but it was the Golden Diamond Empress who invented it. Blossom takes a deep breath, longer than merely human lungs should be able to manage... and screams. 7The muscles in her throat contort as her voice splits into two tones, then four, then eight, weaving around one another in a terrible, agonizing chorus. [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12The behemoth's eyes bleed. Great rivers of dark red ichor flow down from beneath each of the twin viridian suns, and that's before Ir strikes it directly in its forehead like a falling celestial body. There's a moment of uncertainty, then a great and terrible crash as the monster's entire body, having only begun to lift itself off the earth, comes falling back down onto Creation. [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Off into the distance, you see a huge receding line of devastation, great plumes of smoke and shattered wood, as an enormous arm that would've come around to simply swat you like flies goes falling back to down splay out across the eastern jungles. 15[00:19] 10A pity. It might have liked to have seen this. [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12At that moment, a shaft of rosy light comes stabbing out from the far east, right where that arm fell. It's sunrise. The Benediction is cast. [00:20] 4How quickly do we need to get the fuck out of here? [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12This should work over the course of a year. Instead, you watch it work over the course of minutes. A great pulse of vital energy ripples outward from the Solar sorceress, and in its wake the behemoth's caapace-foliage sparkles like jewelery before surging and spreading. Tough coils of roots and vines split like fractals, producing great flowers and mushrooms stalks of wheat. The 08[00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12yawning red chasm directly beneath Eikichi's ritual space shudders and fills immediately with greenery, the wet and hungry flesh visibly greying and shriveling at the same time as its life force is appropriated and metabolized by massive growths of daisies and bamboo shoots and a dozen other impossible-to-see-together plants that completely blot the horror from sight. [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12All around you, things rise and fall at once - on one hand, the very flesh of the enormous behemoth shrivels and deflates, drawing tight to the bone. On the other hand, a riot of flora rise and overwhelm, turning the murderous mountain into an almost dreamlike wonderland of scent and color. If anyone in your army's got allergies they are really regretting being here right now. [00:25] 4Presumably at least some of the Thousand Fangs are being incapacitated by this; we can move them to the Heavensward. Won't have beds but it'll get them up into the wind. [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a great, rattling breath, a final shudder, and the land you stand on is still. The behemoth has been drained and exhausted. Its control over the wood-inflected Wyld that saturates it is broken; now it lies, strangled, beneath it. [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not dead, but neither are you - and unlike it, you've won. [00:27] 4The Heavensward descends to airlift out wounded and incapacitated, but Ir drives up into the sky to watch the sunrise atop her pegasus. [00:27] 4It's a brand new day. 14[00:28] * Joins: mattbaby 14[01:17] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[01:20] * Joins: mattbaby 14[01:43] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[11:52] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:28] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:56] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[18:08] * Joins: tom 14[19:51] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:09]  15[20:09]  15[20:09]  15[20:09]  15[20:09]  15[20:13] Anyone schooled in the Dynasty knows the dangers of Wyld zones. Strange creatures, lingering mirages that fool all the senses, and in time, corruption, mutation, even death. But the pilgrims making the long, hot trek up the Wyld-tainted slopes of Hamoji seem unconcerned. Are they stupid? Are they mad? Are they protected? 15[20:14] Seiri has recovered, and the hearth journeys ever upward, across long cliffside paths and up hundreds of ancient stone steps. [20:14] 4Two out of three ain't...okay, it depends what the third one is to tell if it's bad. [20:16] 10The last of these is playing a role, surely. It's also sometimes said the tempering influence of earth on the Wyld prevents its most noxious changes from settling in. [20:17] 07Dryas is more concerned with the people in the crowd following them, trying to watch them. The Wyld is a concern, but she trusts in Daizo's skill to keep it at bay or at least warn them of imminent danger. [20:18] 4Piu is kind of regretting the combat wraps at this point. I mean they preserve her modesty but, like. Come on. [20:18] 4Modesty is a lost cause. [20:18] 6Zhangyu would place his bets on the former two before the last, but he's keeping an open mind and a closed fist. [20:19] 4Better than the inverse! 15[20:19] At least, shortly before noon, they reach the last gentle slope of the mountain, a preternaturally smooth clifftop that bends over the caldera from which light so thick and golden pours forth that it's as if a second sun has nestled in the heart of the mountain. The breeze and thin air carry the heat away, and bring the scent of smoke and lilies to replace it, though no fire burns and 15[20:19] no flowers grow. [20:19] 4Piu is no expert, but sweet-smelling places with lava sounds like cult shit. [20:20] 07Isn't that the whole point of this pilgrimage? [20:21] 4Just saying! [20:23] "So this is the Feathered One's domain…" 10As many of the earthly homes of the gods are reputed to be, it is beautifully inhuman. 15[20:23] At the edge of the cliff, directly over the caldera, are the drummers in their feathered garb, and their apparent leader, who Seiri called 'The Feathered One', a tall and broad man whose scalp and shoulders are thick with naturally-growing multicolored plumage. Behind him is a chain-gang of men and women, eight in all, aged from maybe thirty to sixty, bound by dried vines. 15[20:24] The pilgrims stop well short, a respectful if not safe distance back. [20:24] 4Leaning over to Daizo: "So they're gonna jump right into the soup, huh?" [20:25] 10Daizo: "That's a rather brutal way to put it, don't you think?" [20:26] "Although they don't exactly seem to be volunteers." [20:27] "It's certainly not what..." 07Dryas trails off before she makes an impolitic remark about the Cynis remit. [20:27] 4Piu shrugs. "Yeah, I guess. But also true." 15[20:27] By his shaved scalp and scarred back, Piu and Zhangyu recognize the man who once held Zhangyu's Hinokuni medallion among the sacrifices-to-be. Chases-Waterfalls is his name. [20:27] "Religiously and seriously going into the soup." [20:28] 14Her eyes don't register a hint of recognition. That's training. [20:28] 4Guy seemed like a dick. [20:29] 6Huh. So that's what happened to that guy. Zhangyu briefly wonders if he had anything to do with what Chases-Waterfalls is doing here, but then... well. Shouldn't have been holding a medallion there. [20:31] "What crimes did these men commit?" 07Dryas asks the others. 15[20:31] Seiri seems to have recovered quite well, and managed the final leg of the journey at the new, gentler pace. "Those are the ali-ki," she whispers to Daizo, before pointing out the man he already met. "That's the Feathered One." [20:33] 4Piu: "That big guy's a dickhead." [20:33] "Which I don't think is a crime, but it probably led to one." [20:33] "You know him?" 07Dryas asks. [20:33] 6Zhangyu: "He had a medallion." [20:33] 6Had. [20:34] 4Piu: "Me? Hah, no." [20:34] "I just saw him get his ass kicked once!" [20:34] 07Dryas: "You mean, for the Hinokuni?" [20:34] 6Zhangyu nods. "As I said. Had." [20:34] 4She looks at Zhangyu and grins. [20:35] 6He's trying very badly to hide a smirk, himself. [20:35] 10Daizo: "Ahh, I see now. I thought the ali-ki might have been spirits themselves. But they're more of a priesthood?" [20:35] 07Dryas: "Is he here because he lost? Or is this the penalty the islanders give for participation in the Hinokuni?" [20:36] 6Zhangyu: "If it's for a crime, fighting in the street is probably frowned upon." 15[20:36] Seiri: "That's right." [20:36] 4Piu shrugs. "Like I said. We don't know him." [20:36] "I was only around him for maybe five minutes. Pushover." [20:38] "Do you think this is just?" 07Dryas asks. [20:39] 6Zhangyu shrugs. "If that's why he's here, he should have won. If it's not, it's irrelevant." [20:39] 4Piu: "Babe, I don't really care if it's just." [20:40] 10The conversation happening around him finally trickles through to Daizo. "Is it our place to intervene, Dryas? The Governor and the local branches of the Order have clearly sanctioned these sacrifices, or they wouldn't be occurring at all." [20:42] 14She's a difficult woman to read, when she wants to be. [20:45] 07Dryas is asking for a reason. Or is she? Certainly she's not letting on what the reason, if it exists, might be. 15[20:46] Among the pilgrims making their way up the mountain now, Dryas recognizes a local luminary - the merchant prince Ialtagan, a rival of Nn Tloc's, currently locked in a struggle with him over picking up Mnemon Dusk's philanthropic work while the Immaculate Order makes arrangements for her replacement. [20:46] 14It's probably money. Or prestige. Those are kind of the same things in the end. [20:47] 14But, hard to tell. 15[20:52] Dryas catches the merchant prince glancing in her direction more than once. [20:54] "Where else have I seen that fellow before?" 07Dryas wonders aloud. "That's Ialtagen, one of Nn Tloc's mercantile rivals,"07 she points out to her compatriots. 15[20:55] When he sees that she's pointing him out to the others, Ialtagan inclines his head somewhat stiffly in acknowledgment. What's not apparent to Dryas is that Piu recognizes him too. 15[20:55] Iselsi Lao: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBftDgIhIVs - ‘Cause in the dark, even the blind can feel a speck of light. [20:55] 10Dryas doesn't pursue her line of questioning about justice. Is this because they gave satisfactory answers or unsatisfactory? Points to ponder, sometime. "No idea." [20:56] 14Mm. 15[20:57] The drumming reaches a crescendo, and the Feathered One turns sharply on his heel to face the assembly, arms and shockingly white smile spread almost wider than seems possible. 15[20:58] The Feathered One: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meJP410N9Gg - I tripped on a cloud and fell eight miles high. I tore my mind on a jagged sky. [20:58] 14She's glad she brought the Chain now, for some reason. [21:09] 07Dryas: "Anyway - I don't know if I like it. Those prisoners could work, that big one could fight. Can't they do more than feed a hungry god?" 07She runs her hand through her hair, finding one of the white orchids that grow there. With a gentle twist, it comes loose. [21:09] 4Piu: "...No?" [21:09] "I mean, this entire ceremony says 'no,' right?" [21:11] "It feels like barbarism," 07Dryas murmurs. "We don't do this on the Blessed Isle." [21:12] 14She keeps a straight face on that one, because she's a pro. [21:17] 6Zhangyu doesn't reply. If they didn't want to be there, they should have fought harder. [21:17] 10Daizo: "We don't, there. But becoming civilized is not an overnight process." [21:18] 6Well. Fought better. You don't get extra points for effort in battle. [21:19] 14Big question is: why is Lao here. Can't make contact though. Too dangerous. [21:19] 14Annoying! [21:19] 14Probably just bureaucracy and appearances. Probably. 15[21:20] When the Feathered One speaks, none of the hearth can understand him. Zhangyu gets the closest, catching an inflected or out-of-place word of Seatongue in the speech. Luckily, Daizo brought a translator. [21:21] 10Daizo: "What is he saying, Seiri?" 15[21:22] The Feathered One sweeps a muscled arm over the crowd, encompassing them and, beyond and below, Abalone itself, speaking in slow, booming syllables. 15[21:24] Seiri: "'A tree is felled, to make a canoe. We pray to Hamoji. A beloved friend passes, their body commended to the fire and the sky. We pray to Hamoji. A woman plants root vegetables in the cool of the moonlight. We pray to Hamoji.'" 15[21:26] The Feathered One draws his arms tight to his chest, and his voice grows plaintive. 15[21:30] Seiri: "'What could be more natural than to pray to our god when crops are planted? For Hamoji is the god of our rich, dark soil. What could be more logical than to beg the mountain, from whom all our rivers flow, for clear clean water to drink? What could be more fitting than to ask permission before taking fish from the sea? Hamoji's shadow makes the ocean dark and fathomless.'" [21:31] 4Ugh. Temple. 15[21:32] The Feathered One's voice grows solemn and stern. He seems to admonish the crowd. [21:32] 10In a generation, perhaps two, these local rituals will be no more. Hamoji, or its protector, will receive all their due worship through the prayer calendar. These unfortunate few "jumping in the soup" (thanks, Piu) now, will be among the last. If, that is, order holds sway. 15[21:35] Seiri: "'What logic it is, what sense. But what ingratitude! For our god cannot eat the crops he gives us, or drink the water that runs through our fields and down our throats. To pray pleases Hamoji, but it does not nourish him. We must give of ourselves as he gives to us.'" [21:35] 07Dryas steps towards the volcano. [21:35] 4Ah crap. Here we go. [21:38] 6Zhangyu listens to Seiri translate, impassive, though he does raise an eyebrow when Dryas steps forward. This should be good. [21:39] 10Daizo: "Dryas! What are you—" 10He trails a step behind Dryas, not quite ready to lay hands on a comrade yet. [21:39] 07She throws the orchid plucked from her hair into the fire and addresses the crowd, the mountain god, the hidden blood ape, all - in High Realm. "I, Dryas of House Cynis, give of myself to Hamoji. Life will pay for life. Consider this a -" [21:39] 14Piu strips off her top to reveal the fully bandaged torso beneath, and starts to get loose. [21:41] 07Dryas cannot help but speak these words extra slowly and loudly, as if doing so will make it easier for the assembled to understand her - "A 'D o w n p a y m e n t' in return for the lives of these wretches. I offer to Hamoji, and to you, o Feathered One, sweeter prizes than the blood of these men." [21:43] 14She pointedly ignores whatever look Lao is shooting her. [21:43] 07Dryas pauses, knowing that she has caused grave offense, her mind rapidly concocting a scheme that will either see her doom or supremacy. [21:43] 10Daizo: "Have you gone mad? If you take one more step, I will stop you." [21:44] 14Piu: "Let her work." 15[21:44] The Feathered One is briefly stunned by Dryas's interruption. [21:44] 14Piu: "If he throws her into the soup, then we're set anyway. But I think she's got more leverage than that." 15[21:44] One readily gets the sense this doesn't happen often. 15[21:45] All across the mountaintop, eyes are on Dryas. [21:45] 14Cò dares a bhuannaicheas. [21:45] 07She stands ramrod-straight, chin thrust forward, defiant. [21:45] "Do you understand me?" 15[21:46] The Feathered One enunciates, slowly and clearly, mirroring or mimicking her own speech, three words of heavily accented High Realm. 15[21:46] "Not for sale." [21:48] "Then I will rent," 07she suggests. 15[21:48] At this, the Feathered One laughs mightily. [21:49] 6Once cults have reached the volcano stage of human sacrifice, it's rare they can be bought off. [21:49] 14Ehhhhhhhh. [21:50] 14The volcano stage makes them intensely transactional. [21:50] 10At least the Feathered One seems to have a sense of humor about the whole thing. [21:51] 14Laughing doesn't mean they think you're funny. 15[21:53] The Feathered One: "What is given... can not be returned." [22:00] 07Dryas approaches the lip of the caldera itself, shielding her vision with one hand. "Death may come from any quarter at any time. But I will make a greater sacrifice - soon - for these eight lives today." [22:01] 14...This is gonna get stupid, isn't it. 15[22:04] The Feathered One: "Hamoji hungers NOW!" 15[22:05] As if on cue, the mountain trembles. 15[22:05] A sound tears from deep within the earth - something the hunting-shriek of a great raptor. [22:06] 14...How great are we talking. [22:06] 07Dryas peers within, perchance to glance upon the mountain god itself. "Just one, then. That one- the big one." 15[22:07] Hard to gauge, since there's all sorts of variables - the depth of the cry's origin, the density and solidity of the mountain in between... such calculations are interrupted when the mountain shakes again, more fiercely, and the air shimmers with heat as the mountain's brilliance deepens from noontide gold to sunset crimson. [22:08] 4Piu: "Dryas..." 15[22:10] All around them, the common pilgrims fall to their hands and knees, their frantic prayers falling over one another to be heard above the chaos. [22:10] 14Someone should probably clear these idiots out before that thing crawls up here. 15[22:11] As the volcano shudders, thick plumes of black smoke - still smelling of flowers - begin to rise from the heart of the caldera. [22:11] 10Daizo: "DRYAS!" 10He hasn't raised his voice like this in a long time. It scares people. Sometimes it scares him. [22:12] "ARE YOU SERIOUSLY GOING TO KILL US ALL BECAUSE YOU WANTED ANOTHER EMPLOYEE?!" [22:12] 07Dryas takes a step backwards. Perhaps this was foolish. [22:12] 6Well, it's a fair question. 15[22:12] The heat is intense, steaming the sweat from their faces, banishing the breeze. [22:13] 14Piu: "Have more faith in yourself, Daizo." 15[22:13] The Feathered One spreads his arms again. Tears stream down his cheeks as his laughter echoes amid the rumbling. [22:13] "It doesn't make her any less foolish...but have more faith." [22:13] "And if Seiri can clear the pilgrims, she should." [22:14] "They weren't ordained to die here." [22:14] "If they want to watch us die, religiously, they don't need to do it from the blast zone." 15[22:14] Something moves within the smoke. Red light spills forth from splits in the smoke like the opening of two great eyes. 15[22:15] Dryas's chest burns. Not with fear or smoke, she realizes. But her medallion is almost thrumming off her neck. 15[22:15] Hamoji the Mad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiTHipYzD3c - ♫♪♬♪♩ [22:15] 14To supplement that, she'll turn and bark in not-quite-Lao's direction: "Ah! If someone would but get these pilgrims to a religiously safe distance! For sake of commerce." [22:16] 14Advancing to Dryas's side: "Well, babe. You fucked around." [22:16] "Now we find out." [22:17] 10Daizo takes a deep, shuddering breath. "Seiri—" 10It's taking him some effort to speak calmly. "Get these people out of here. Piu's right—they don't deserve any of this." 15[22:17] Seiri seems rooted in place with fear. It's not even clear if she can make out what Daizo is saying. 15[22:19] Piu realizes that at some point as the chaos atop the mountain began to unfold, Lao disappeared. [22:19] 14Asshole. 15[22:20] Though... so did the crowd of common pilgrims he stood among. [22:20] 14Aggravating asshole. [22:21] 6Smart of them. [22:22] 10Daizo's voice manages to rise above the tumult for an instant! "SEIRI! GO NOW! LEAD THEM TO SAFETY!" 10He jabs a finger at the pilgrims, then down the mountain path. 15[22:24] Seiri is shaken from her paralysis and stirred to action. She nods once, and dashes off to see to the others. 15[22:25] Now no one understands what the Feathered One is saying. Zhangyu thinks he caught the Seatongue word for a monsoon. [22:25] 10The time for words is probably well past. [22:25] 14He wasn't particularly legible when we had a translator. [22:26] 6Zhangyu, brows furrowed: "Monsoon?" 6He says it in Low Realm for the benefit of those present, not that it makes much difference. As mentioned, the time for words is likely past. 15[22:28] The smoke splits open entirely, and from that vertical the Wyld-struck god spreads his wings. A dozen colors of fire drip from every feather as smoke rolls off its back. Its wingspan is at least fifty fulms across, end to end. [22:34] 10Daizo: "Well, Dryas? You have your audience." 10He's adopted a defensive stance—if this all goes wrong, at least Piu and Zhangyu can get away. 15[22:53] The god's shriek builds to a crescendo, spreading its wings wider and higher as gouts of molten rock arc up from the heart of the caldera. Somewhere high above, as if in reply, Daizo and Dryas hear another bird, almost inaudible against the din. This bird's call is melodic and mournful. 15[22:55] The hearth's trained eyes track sudden, subtle movement through the air. From an assassin's perch, a battlefield, or their own trusty hunt each of them marks the familiar sight of a loosed arrow in flight, curling in a high fat arc from well behind them to plunge into Hamoji's burning breast. [22:56] 14Hhhhhh. [22:56] 14A setup? [22:57] 14...Mmmmmmm. [22:57] 10It was a warning, wasn't it? The Thousand-Year Shrike… [22:58] 07Dryas loosens part of her robe to free her arms for what is undoubtedly a hard fight to come - but she pauses at the mournful cry of a distant, responding, bird. [22:58] 14Piu: "We've got something like a friend in a high place. Let's make it count." 15[22:59] The volcano god seizes up, wings snapping shut and hurling embers and smoke in all directions. Its cry sharpens, painful to listen to. [22:59] 14Piu: "...We're here to subdue it and make it respect us, not kill it? Right?" [23:00] "We've got to," 07Dryas replies. [23:00] 6Zhangyu's shirt flutters to the ground. The pants are a little looser than he'd prefer to fight in, but there's nothing to be done about that now. "The former." 15[23:01] Hamoji drifts downward, seemingly only barely heavier than the air that holds him aloft. Ash falls from his wings in great snowy drifts, and the fire dims and cools bit by bit. [23:01] "I just wanted to see the festival." 10Daizo's own answer sounds as mournful as the Shrike's call.  15[23:02] The emotion in the Feathered One's bellowing voice is hard to discern as he and his priests charge toward their maimed god. [23:05] "This isn't right. There's no respect or honor here!" 10To Piu: "Did you see where the arrow came from?" [23:05] 07Dryas stares at the total chaos she's unleashed. She glances behind her, to where the arrow came from. Is the assassin visible? 15[23:06] No. 15[23:10] Someone does seem to be coming up the mountain, though, if you look. A consignment of armored soldiers, marching doubletime up the mountain, some of them bearing a palanquin of scarlet silk. [23:10] 10Daizo has been surveying the carnage as well, and suddenly a terrible thought strikes him. [23:11] 14Are we being stopped by ship mom here or is this gonna be a fight? [23:11] 10Daizo: "Dryas. Its taste for sacrifices aside, Hamoji isn't our enemy." [23:11] "I think what you've accomplished here is what the blood-ape sent up the mountain was meant to do." [23:11] "Flush out Hamoji so iit could be shot." [23:12] 07Dryas: "W-what?" 15[23:12] Hamoji seems in no condition for battle, but the Feathered One, whose face is a rictus of pain, streaked with tears that are certainly no longer mirthful, may not agree. Light and heat come off him in waves as he bears down on Dryas. [23:12] 14Piu: "He's saying y--we got played." [23:12] 10Daizo:"How else would a perfectly placed assassin be ready to strike? With a bow capable of wounding a god?" [23:13] "Some sorcerer is laughing her or his ass off at us right now." [23:14] 07Dryas' countenance darkens considerably. "I don't - that's not what..." [23:15] 14Piu: "Incoming---" [23:16] "I know that wasn't your intention! But… you played it to the hilt—" 10Daizo will itnerpose himself between the Feathered One and Dryas. [23:17] 07Dryas puts her hand out towards the Feathered One. No time for this. She wheels on her heel and walks towards the contingent of armored soldiers. Are they wearing livery of the Legions? [23:17] 6Zhangyu just steps forward. We can talk after this is over. [23:18] 14Piu hops and shakes out her limbs, and then steps into the big man's path. [23:30] 14To Dryas, presumably behind her: "Stay behind us." [23:30] "You don't need to tell me twice," 07she replies. 15[23:39] The Feathered One curls his hand into a claw that streaks with fire and brings it down swiftly and savagely towards Dryas's skull... but Piu is there to block in the nick of time, and Dryas leaps away! [23:39] 14Here. Here. Here. Duck. Here. Here. Here and here. Just like the standing rack. [23:40] 14Piu: "Daizo I need you to say something to him!!" 15[23:41] Dryas leaps clear off the side of the cliff... landing among the Legionnaires on the winding cliffside path immediately below! Weapons are trained on her at once! [23:41] 10Daizo: "Make it quick-" [23:42] 07Dryas sees it coming - fast, much too fast - but when Piu intervenes, she backflips away - into the midst of the legionaries. She flashes them a winning, rueful smile. 15[23:43] "What is the meaning of this?" comes a querulous woman's voice - High Realm in the accent of a true Dynast - from within the palanquin. 15[23:45] Dryas sees a round-faced woman of indeterminate age seated within. Her face is deep-set with suspicion. [23:46] "Cynis Dryas, your grace," 07Dryas replies with a flourish. "Out for a day at the festival," 07she explains. [23:47] 07In the air around and about Dryas' figure, spectral flowering vines transform to and from sinuous wood dragons as her anima banner unfolds - not yet harmful to passerby. 15[23:48] "And what in damnation have you done?!" she snaps in return. As her vision settles into its shaded depths, she marks the rank insignia of a general of the Legions and an administrative governor. 15[23:48] Governor Ragara Kou: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWgvogRvUfg - You say you want resolution -- I say you want your control. [23:54] "I -spoke out of turn - and offended Hamoji," 07she explains. "Then an assassin struck from afar." 15[23:57] Governor Kou: "Idiot. Move! Back up the mountain with you." [23:59] 07Dryas does as she is told, with alacrity. Session Time: Wed Mar 18 00:00:00 2020 [00:03] 10Daizo plants his feet firmly. "There's nothing I can say that will reach him, Piu, he's enraged." 10Then to the Feathered One: "Strike me! I will not raise a hand against you except in defense of my friends." [00:03] 14Alright. Well. Let's get dangerous. [00:05] 6Zhangyu gets in his stance. Feet just so. Arms at the ready. He glowers at the Feathered One, but doesn't bother with words - if Daizo couldn't get through to him, neither can Zhangyu. [00:07] 14Piu 4lights 'em up. 15[00:14] The Feathered One proves as adept at blocking Piu's attacks as she was at his. [00:15] 14Yeah. But she's trying a lot harder. [00:15] 14There's maybe a minute left of this, tops. 15[00:17] Before more than the red silk roof of the palanquin is visible up the cliffside, all present hear the Governor's scornful voice, pushing thickly through the islanders' tongue. Zhangyu catches the words for blood and silver. 15[00:18] The Feathered One... well it's not clear if there are *any* words in his roar of inchoate defiance. [00:26] 07Dryas also tries to reason with the enraged hierophant - tries to use her words to turn his anger to sorrow, to anything else. It doesn't hold. [00:33] 10Daizo: "What are you waiting for? This is all my fault, after all! I brought them here!" 15[00:37] The honor guard rushes onto the mountaintop, palanquin in tow, spears at the ready, but not attacking, only moving to surround the high priest. [00:38] 14Some help would be nice [00:39] 10An all-too-familiar situation, for Daizo. But the Feathered One won't break him. He can't. And he can't keep this rage going forever.  [00:39] 6Zhangyu gets a few glancing strikes in while trying to go for one of Mantis's less... crippling holds, but he's barely getting anything on this guy. [00:47] 10Daizo braces. Here he comes. 15[00:48] The Feathered One turns (what feels like) unbearably slowly to fix his gaze on Daizo, tear-streaked face curdled with rage. His entire body ignites with crimson fire as he swipes at the young Dynast, who is almost knocked off his feet blocking... even as the flames leap to his own clothing! 15[00:50] Behind them, Hamoji's fires have gone dim, and the mountain breeze stiffens, revealing the god's corpse to be a perfect sculpture of ash that blows white and black out over the city below. [00:51] 10Daizo stumbles—catches himself—stands again through force of sheer will. But the flame is spreading fast, and before long he'll be completely ablaze. 15[00:51] NEXT TIME: Peace, or something like it 14[00:55] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[00:56] * Joins: mattbaby 14[01:48] * Quits: Crion (Connection closed) 14[01:48] * Joins: Crion 14[02:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[03:04] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:15] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[08:58] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:06] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:22] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:43] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[11:10] * Joins: tom 14[13:29] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[13:48] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:52] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[19:10] * Quits: VoxPrime (Quit: ) 14[19:28] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:05] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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[20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,;;'''';;, ,;;;;, [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 , ;;' `;;, .,;;;' ; [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,;;; ;; `;;,';;;,. ,%;;' ' [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,;;,;; ;; ,;`;;;, `;::. %%;' [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ;;;,;;; `' ,;;; ;;,;;, `::,%%;' [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ;;;,;;;, .,%%%%%'% ;;;;,;; %;;; [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,%,. `;;;,;;;, .,%%%%%%%%%'%; ;;;;;,;; %;;; [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12;,`%%%%%%%%%%`;;,;;'%%%%%%%%%%%%%'%%' `;;;;;,;, %;;; [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12;;;,`%%%%%%%%%%%,; ..`%%%%%%%%;'%%%' `;;;;,;; %%;; [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 `;;;;;,`%%%%%,;;/, .. `"""'',%%%%% `;;;;;; %%;;, [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 `;;;;;;;,;;/////,. ,;%%%%%%% `;;;;,`%%;; [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ;;;/%%%%,%///;;;';%%%%%%, `;;;%%;;, [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ;;;/%%%,%%%%%/;;;';;'%%%%%, `%%;; [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 .;;/%%,%%%%%//;;' ;;;'%%%%%, %%;;, [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ;;//%,%%%%//;;;' `;;;;'%%%% `%;;; [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ;;//%,%//;;;;' `;;;;'%%% %;;;, [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 `;;//,/;;;' `;;;'%%' `%;;; [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 `;;;;' `;'%' `;;;; [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ' .,,,. `;;;; [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,;;;;;;;;;;, `;;;; [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ;;;' ;;;,;;, `;;;; [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ;;; ;;;;,;;. `;;;; [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 `;; ;;;;;,;; ;;;; [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 `' `;;;;,;; ;;;; [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 `;;,;, ;;;; [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ;;, ;;;; [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ';;;;; [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ;;;;; [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 .;;;;' [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 .;;;;' [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ;;;;;' [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12 ,;;;;' [20:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Around the Squared Circle extends a glittering, multicolored fairyland, a rolling and idyllic landscape covered in all manner of outlandish flora. Flowers sparkle like precious gems. Beads of dew cast rainbows off the caps of mushrooms taller than men. Formations of curling ivy sketch fantastical spider's webs across the air without any need for supporting trellises. [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Beneath all of this, hidden from view by the impossible overgrowth, is the body of a giant among giants, a behemoth so ridiculously large that you'd need a warstrider piloting a bigger warstrider piloting a bigger warstrider to force it to take you seriously. That body, as far as you could glimpse, has been drained of life and color, all but canniblized by the plants and fungi now [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12sprouting everywhere across it. It's not dead - quite possibly, it can't die. But it's beaten. Either cripple it for good, or seal it away with sufficiently mighty magic, and only one aspect of your contract will remain: the pledge to leave. [20:32] 4That's for the sorceresses to decide. Ir will tend to the troops. [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Around you, your armies draw down and begin to see immediately to now familiar triage operations, hopefully the last of this kind they'll ever have to do. The medical tents and barracks and refectories are all getting set up with practiced speed; your personal medical aid would be greatly appreciated (especially the miracle of the sorceress's healing touch) but not, at this point, [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12needed. You've done it. [20:32] 4By now setting up the triage tents and cookfires are second nature. 08[20:35] 13Ying's on the job as well. The behemoth... that's an Eikichi and Blossom purroblem to solve. But Ying can set about healing the wounded. 15[20:40] 10Eikichi has taken Blossom by the hand, practically pulling her through the wild overgrowth of the benediction. It's still going, too, or at least it is near Eikichi - one can mark her path through the dazzling flora by a trail of blue-and-gold-petaled wildflowers that sprung up at her feet as she went. Laughing, eyes studded with tears, she says "Look! See how it-- here, smell 15[20:40] this, can you believe--" 14[20:41] * Joins: mattbaby [20:44] 7Blossom: "It's incredible... ooh, look! Temple-lilies!" 7She points in the direction of a flower just opening to the sun, resembling but ten times as large as an incense lily, releasing its column of pollen up into the sky. Each of the five petals has the usual lily blotches and discolorations, but miraculously they form intricate drawings of meditating monks, each holding a [20:44] 7representation of a different element. [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12As you work to salve your soldiers' wounds for perhaps the last time, you might be given to wonder how it is that this clearly wyld-infused landscape isn't presenting its own outstanding threat of madness and mutation (you're sure it's not; most of your animas would've reflexively hardened against it, otherwise). The answer isn't immediately obvious, but there's a clear throughline [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12to it from everything else you know. Somehow, these behemoths - even this behemoth, the behemoth - are human beings. And, as was widely understood in the First Age but still known to modern-day savants, it's the prerogative of focused human will and orderly human effort to force the Wyld into coherent shape. [20:47] 13Another day, and more people in need of a healer. The poisons are the same, which helps - she's getting an uncomfortable amount of experience working with it, and a better eye for who needs what, what can be delegated, and what only she can do. She takes note of the behemoth, and the Wyld, but resolves to not think about what that means until her patients are safe. [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Just as civilization itself pushed back the borders of faeriland in ages past, freezing structureless chaos into livable terrain, this giant's power ensures that the awesome energies of the pole of wood amount to just that - the element of wood. They're completely encrusted onto and intertwined with the barely-living flesh of the giant itself, but they're untamed chaos no longer [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12(unless you spend a lot of time and effort doing something really unwise). 15[20:53] 10So this giant *is* the Pole of Wood? [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12It isn't. However, it's either from there or been there - somehow been laminated by the Pole's power either way. More intense analysis of the creature's flesh or mind might yield more detailed information. 15[20:57] 10Eikichi's footsteps slow and halt. "What do they want?" 10she asks the air. [20:58] 7Blossom: "Whom?" 15[21:00] 10Eikichi: "The titans. Marching from the Outer Poles to converge on the Imperial Mountain. Why?" [21:00] 7Blossom shrugs. 15[21:02] 10She's changed tack completely. The verdant explosion around her might as well be dust and desert. And she asks herself, "Where is your mind...?" 15[21:02] 10Somewhere this thing has a head. [21:03] 4Ir, meanwhile, has distilleries set up again -- this time for disinfectant, but yes, she'll slip the soldiers a couple private-use stills too. They've earned a celebration. [21:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Its eyes were uuuuup... there. Wayyyy up there. But Ir could point the way handily, as she hammered it straight on its crown chakra to knock it out of sorts for just long enough that the Benediction could take. [21:04] 4Errant could, as well. And he's got nothing better to do. 08[21:05] 7Blossom can carry Eikichi, leaping from mushroom-cap to treetop to ivy-path. You know. It's an option. [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12It's easily several days' hiking to get up there - the behemoth is quite big, as mountains go. Much quicker as the horsebird flies, though. Heading up? 15[21:06] 10Eikichi turns to Blossom. "We've got to get to the top of the mountain." [21:08] "Right." 7She holds out her arms. 15[21:09] 10Eikichi leaps into them without hesitation. [21:22] 7Blossom whistles for Ami, but instead of jumping into her saddle she leaps to the top of a nearby fern gargantua, balancing perfectly on the fragile tip of a frond. "Let's go, Ami!" 7She sets off, powerful legs pumping as she jumps up and forward, clearing masses of faerie forest in a single bound, racing the emas to the top of the behemoth! 08[21:23] 7In a few minutes she hits a stride, and her leaps grow even longer! The air blurs around Eikichi at every jump as they careen up the behemoth landscape. 15[21:23] 10Eikichi clings tightly to Blossom, presumably out of fear. [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Foliage flies past at great speed. A great bound, and a continuous blur of green speckled with every other color of the rainbow streams beneath you, stopping only momentarily for Blossom to build and release the energy involved for another momentous jump. For the soldiers and Solars below, it's as though someone decided to skip a stone up the mountain face - there's just a glowing [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12comet drawing a series of arcs from your basecamp to the summit. 08[21:33] <@Ferrinus> Mere hours later, Eikichi and Blossom are face to face with the behemoth, in an extremely loose sense of the term. Everything's totally overgrown, but Eikichi's able to pinpoint where the head must be based on the shape of the foliage and, yes, a soft green glow still escaping through some of the densest roots and vines. In fact, you can sort of put together a picture of the entire [21:33] <@Ferrinus> behemoth-mountain: it's sort of like a person huddled against a wall, knees up to their chin, shoulders hunched up, head nestled to the side partially against one shoulder and partially against an adjoining mountain. Your entire army encampment's sort of spread out around the lower shins. 08[21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Mere hours later, Eikichi and Blossom are face to face with the behemoth, in an extremely loose sense of the term. Everything's totally overgrown, but Eikichi's able to pinpoint where the head must be based on the shape of the foliage and, yes, a soft green glow still escaping through some of the densest roots and vines. In fact, you can sort of put together a picture of the entire [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12behemoth-mountain: it's sort of like a person huddled against a wall, knees up to their chin, shoulders hunched up, head nestled to the side partially against one shoulder and partially against an adjoining mountain. Your entire army encampment's sort of spread out around the lower shins. [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12If you walk along this ridge for a while, it should bring you onto the back of a hand, such that the huge, overgrown cliff face you're looking at now must have been, once, the creature's face. Reach out with a broad and strong enough tool and you might be able to clear enough foliage that you can look straight into the eyes. 15[21:47] 10Eikichi waves in the head's direction. "There!" 15[21:48] "If you can burn the growths here away, we can make eye contact." 08[21:57] 7Blossom isn't sure why she'd want to do that, but her fiance is the most beautiful man in Creation, and what he wants he gets. 7She aims a pencil-thin line of flame, slicing and clearing away greenery where Eikichi directs. [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12A wash of flame spreads, leaving a shower of ash in its wake. And, behind that ash, eyes. They're enormous, many times greater in radius than either of you are in height. You could stuff them with copies of the heart of Trarthira. When the behemoth was awake and fighting, they burned like green suns, though theirs was a slightly mintier and less acrid hue than that of the star that [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12burns in the skies of Hell. Now, they're dim, though not completely dead - great pools of a red so deep it's almost black, but with a subtle emerald sheen. [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Is it awake enough to see you...? Hard to say. There's no motion, of course - any of the energy it'd normally muster to so much as blink at you is, instead, serving to fuel the glowing rain forest all around you. 15[22:03] 10Eikichi drifts down from Blossom's arms to settle in front of the behemoth's vast left eye, perched on its cheekbone. She raises her hands and comes so close as to almost press her palms against the eye while the spheres hum around her. 14[22:06] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Connection closed) 14[22:07] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[22:07] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 08[22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi taps a flood of sense-memories from which she can cull a few specific details. First, agony. Then, division, separation. It's clear - there's some missing piece of the behemoth waiting on the Mountain, something without which the behemoth isn't hole. It's been seeking completion for a very, very long time. [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12isn't whole [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12* 15[22:15] 10Any idea what it could be? 08[22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Feels like - stability. But then, Eikichi's got all day. She could just keep asking question after question, striking at the behemoth's psyche from every angle until she's reconstructed as complete a picture as she can. [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12"Feels" in the metaphorical sense, of course, in the same way that an elephant's trunk feels cylindrical. 08[22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, that's something. But if Eikichi wants a complete picture, she's going to have to be here a while. Fortunately, she's got plenty of time. Again and again, the pulverizing power of She Who Lives in Her Name is turned against the mind of the behemoth from the east, and that mind becomes increasingly pliant as Eikichi's facility with the power she wields sharpens with use. And, [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12in truth, the creature you're investigating is no stranger to the mouldings and punishments of the one-time Primordials... [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12It was once another being, or part of another being. That being was perfect. Not Unconquered Sun perfect, but... perfectly adequate, self-contained, ageless and beautiful. A limitless being, in its own way, formed from the basest materials but lifted to greatness by the touch of a master craftsman. [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12It lived, for a time, before others seized it. Bent it, broke it, burned it, dissolved it, abused it in a thousand different ways and ultimately tore off piece after piece in pursuit of... nothing, really, diversion, idle experiment. The mountain you stand on now is one of those pieces, cast into deepest Wyld in a time in which Creation was much smaller and deepest Wyld was much, [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12much closer. It drifted further, was caught in the Pole of Wood's gravity well, and for countless years Wyld power accreted on it and around it while it slowly righted and reformed itself, regained mobility, remembered purpose. 08[22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12What was that original, which - according to the lodestone that is this behemoth's own heart - still rests on the Imperial Mount? It's not as big as the behemoth. Perhaps not even as mighty. But it's somehow original, fundamental, deathly important to history... Eikichi's got it, in a flash of rememberance and realization. 04[22:37] <@Ferrinus> [23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> 10Eikichi: "This woman is going to ask you questions and hear your tale. I'll trust you to carry yourself with all the dignity of your office and your new destiny." [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 01[23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12The masked creature looks warily at Blossom. Once prompted, he begins to explain himself, with the three-eyed skull translating for any listeners. [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 01[23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12You humans were made from clay, and baked hard by the sun, and when touched by lethe dissolve as clay does. But the water lords of the Niobraran League rose from the deepest, darkest waters, rose from the fluid boundary between life and death itself, and suffered no such frailties. [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 1<@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "Anyway, it's like how the stories go. Boys and girls were made from clay. But in death they're back to water. And that's true, it's like, there's the rivers of the underworld and they channel these different powers around." [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 01[21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "So if you use earth, and iron, and bone and skin and stuff obviously, you can make artifacts - even whole buildings! - that do black magic for you." [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Women were literally made from clay. There's an ancient being, not seen since prehistory, called the "Clay Man." The stories say it was the first ever human being, sculpted by the great maker Autochthon himself. [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12The Clay Man is immortal and functionally invincible, but horribly scarred and deformed - molten in some places, cracked in others, clearly formed of wet earth rather than flesh. There's little reason to believe that he's particularly fearsome or powerful, and also no real knowledge of where he might be found (until, obviously, right now). [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12But that's what this behemoth - these behemoths, surely - are searching for. They're pieces of the first human being, cast aside in the forging of the actually-existing human race, and now they're back to reconstitute themselves. 15[22:41] 10Ah. 15[22:41] 10Well, [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12You're all made of the same stuff. It's why they gather people into themselves as they move in the same way as a snowball might grow as it rolls down a mountainside. Somewhere on the other end of this journey is, perhaps, a single, gigantic, perfected, immortal Humanity, all merged into a god-crushing titan. This, obviously, just won't do for most of the powers that be, but there's [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12also a good chance that you're the only person in Creation who even knows that's what's going on right now. Most probably oppose this on the basic principle that they don't want to see all their works destroyed and kin consumed. [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Conceivably, this would just leave a gigantic cross-shaped zone of Creation depopulated of human beings, with civilization continuing on in the intercardinal wedges. However, these behemoths seem to have enormous supernatural power over humans and humanity. You wouldn't put it past the final, perfected being to be able to, say, simply vacuum up all other existing human flesh from [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12across the existing world into itself once its principal components had successfully reunited. [22:47] 7Well, that's no good. 08[22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12The good news is that that's probably not going to happen now that, at minimum, two of the direction-behemoths have been crippled and sealed. There's just massive, ruinous damage to infrastructure and uncountable casualties remaining on the table. Oh, incidentally, Eikichi's just understood the full magical theory behind the Solar Circle spell "Unity of the Closed Fist" and could [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12probably master it with a few hours' practice if she cared to. [22:49] 4Leaving it slumbering here seems dangerous and cruel, but so does an execution. Ir reckons it's best to let Heaven decide what policy is on it long-term, and let them come back hat in hand if they mess it up. [22:50] 7What's cruel about giving the thing a nap? [22:50] 13And it's nice and sunny... 15[22:50] 10Eikichi spends days locked in silent conversation with the wounded titan. She doesn't eat, sleep, or bathe, and when she finally descends on the others to tell them what she's learned her hair is thick and wild and embedded with twigs where birds made nests that fell apart when she rose. [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12I should reiterate that you'll be in arrears of your contract if you just leave right now, but since you understand how it works a sorcerous working to lock it beneath the ITCZ's geomancy or something would suffice to put it out of commission indefinitely. 08[22:51] 4Ir, fresh off entertaining around the campfire: "Looking good, Eikichi." 15[22:51] 10Eikichi: "We'll have to seal it away. It simply can't be killed." [22:51] 7Blossom: "Hmm. I wonder if a way to deal with it permanently would be to hammer it into even more regular human beings." [22:52] 13Ying: "Do we nyo how to seal it away furever? Or is it tempurrary and it'd need to happen again sometime?" 15[22:53] 10Eikichi: "There is some part or essence of it that draws it together. Whatever it is, whatever its smallest irreducible part, would still have to be sealed. Perhaps very like how our old Clay Man is, on the Mountain." 15[22:54] 10To Ying: "The magic will endure as long as the land does. That may be one generation or a thousand, as much up to Heaven and the Ten Thousand Fangs as to what we do here." [22:54] 4Ir: "How long? Battle high and victory exultation are wearing off, and the troops are itching to head home." 15[22:54] "They can go. We don't need them anymore." [22:55] 4Ir: "Ooh. We get to deliver the terms and conditions of a warning curse that their ancestors will inevitably disdain to their own ruin. Cool." [22:55] 4She'll pass the news along to Kacha so the elites can get ready for the march home on the morrow. [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12A cheer - not the first - goes up as Ir confirms that the battle is won and that magic in the abstract can take it from here. Countless men and women want to use their last day to obtain autographs, blessings, pieces of advice, even though their priests and commanders are quick to chide them that your Circle merely represents the heavenly order reasserting itself and that you should [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12not be taken as gods or otherwise treated as objects of worship, except as the Immaculate calendar prescribes, which it extremely doesn't in your specific cases. [23:00] 4Ir has been holding court for awhile and is happy to continue, specifically taking time out to hype Jain, the only one other than the Circle to prove her mettle at the Heavensward's wheel (it isn't really that difficult, but the Fangs could use a marine tradition given how many rivers criss-cross the place, and she'd be a good exemplar). 15[23:01] 10Eikichi politely informs them that the advice she wants to give is against the Terms and Conditions of Heaven. [23:04] 13Ying's been focused almost entirely on the healers and offering classes on field medicine to any who want them. Her more advanced courses are probably too advanced for a few days in the field, anyway. [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Before another day's gone by, the armies of the Immaculate Fangs are ready to ship out. They're somewhat diminished in size, but honed in battle to a level beyond even that which Ir imparted during her supernally-effective battlefield training - you can be sure, you think, that the Immaculate Fangs won't simply crumple to whatever supernatural force next assails them. [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Before another day's gone by, the armies of the Immaculate Fangs are ready to ship out. They're somewhat diminished in size, but honed in battle to a level beyond even that which Ir imparted during her supernally-effective battlefield training - you can be sure, you think, that the Immaculate Fangs won't simply crumple to whatever supernatural force next assails them. [23:05] 4Better not. We're not allowed to come back and save them. [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Goodbyes, hugs, genuflections, clasped hands... finally, it's just battle standards in the distance, waving back and forth and being fast-obscured by thickening foliage. Now it's just the five of you: four Solars, one titanic proto-human. [23:07] 4Ir will get the Heavensward in the air. 14[23:19] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[23:19] * Joins: cbass [23:20] 7Blossom sings as the Heavensward creaks and groans into the air. "Oooooh General Ir she gained the day! / Away, Heavensward, away heavensward! / Cathak of the East, they say! / Heave her away and we'll go / I wish that I'd married the Saint-Sister's son! / Away, Heavensward, away heavensward! / I'd build her a ship, ten thousand tons! / Heave her away, and we'll go / We'd load her [23:20] up with ale and rum! / Away, Heavensward, away heavensward! / That ev'ry sword-lass could have some! / Heave her away and we'll go /" [23:21] 4She laughs, but isn't vain enough to join in. At least not until a verse that's not about her. 15[23:24] 10Eikichi needs more time to do the magic, which even without embellishments is vast and subtle and needs to sink deeply into the earth. Across the trackless breadth of jungle given over to archigenesis, she seeds new life - gently luminescent mushrooms, lattices of naturally braiding vines with thorns sturdy enough to climb, birds-of-paradise that track the sun and titter with song 15[23:24] 10like real birds. They're not aware, exactly, but alive enough to understand that they are all one organism which should not compete with itself for sun and soil, and they're complex and magical enough that they draw continuously on the titan's vital energy at a rate precisely calibrated to keep it dormant. [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12The myconid civilization that flourishes there years and years hence will be a story for another time. For now, as the final threads of the magic settle into place across the slumbering titan's form, the Circle can almost feel another term of the oath fulfilled. Now, only one more iron bell threatens to toll unless you take care of something, and quickly. 15[23:33] 10In a quiet, remote part of the overgrowth Eikichi leaves a simple stone marker, a smoothly carved statue of an apelike figure crawling up a steep stone pyramid, both feet and three of its four arms clinging bitterly to the structure for survival, with the last reaching upward. It only takes her half a day. She doesn't tell anyone she's done it. And then it's time to leave this place 15[23:33] 10forever. [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12So... what's the Heavensward's heading? [23:38] 4And they're away from the Garden. Ir drives the Heavensward west into the Sunset, heading for Mahalanka. It'll be three nights and three days until they reach it. [23:39] 4As for after that...what says the Circle? [23:39] 13Well, Ying's got her shop to check in on, 6and Tatsuya has that tomb ghost to handle13 back in Nexus... [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12One which you've actually got the necessary schematics to shut down, in fact - assuming they're going to let you. And you've even got enough intel on the nature of the Emissary's powers to be able to devise some kind of counter, should it come to that. [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12You've also got a community of worshipers in the southwest quarter of Great Forks who're basically waiting for your guidance and direction, and more followers up in the Hedgehog mountain range, and more still farther to the north... 15[23:45] 10Eikichi doesn't get out of bed for days after boarding the Heavensward, and doesn't leave her room for longer still. [23:46] 4Ir brings the Heavensward in low over Mahalanka at sunset of the third day. The city is still in transition, but is celebrating the victorious return of their elites from the eastern bound of their lands, where they defeated the -- people in the street look up in astonishment from the soldiers' war-hero boasting as the Squared Circle's flagship dips down almost to the rooftops, and [23:46] 4the soldiers raise the cheer as Ir drives it in a tight loop around the city walls, once, twice, the cheering building, until she yankees it up, up, straight up into the air -- [23:47] 4The Heavensward hangs there for a moment, then plummets earthward, pulling up at the last second and shooting back out over the city spires and walls, into the West, heroes waved on by an adoring public...and out of the stories of these lands forever. [23:47] 4...Or at least, for a time. [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12One last cheer goes up as your ship passes over Mahlanka. Anyone on the deck will notice what looks like a crow alight on the Heavensward's prow, only to dissolve into black and grey smoke. It leaves behind the jade slip it was carrying in its beak, though, which seems to be a neatly-written thank-you note from Wicked Triumph's Reckoning explaining that the "eclipse" will be very [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12busy for the forseeable future but also imploring you to stay in touch. [23:48] 4Asshole. [23:48] 13Hm. No. [23:49] 7Blossom temporarily puts Yara's linkpearl in her ear, transmitting:  [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12The response takes a moment, but it arrives. Yara:  Session Time: Fri Mar 20 00:00:00 2020 [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Perhaps we'll find out... next week. 14[01:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:10] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[02:11] * Joins: dammitwho 14[05:02] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:44] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:42] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[19:45] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:57] * Joins: tom 15[20:15]  15[20:15]  15[20:15]  15[20:15]  15[20:15]  15[20:18] Hamoji has fallen, and the mountain shudders in grief. Mad with fury, the dead god's Chosen has turned on the hearth that made an innocent pilgrimage to the top of the mountain, who have had to stand their ground, defending themselves, and each other, and attempting to talk some sense into the crazed Feathered One. [20:18] 4Well, at least it's fire. That's...something. 15[20:18] There is hope, however - the honor guard of the Imperial governor is just cresting the mountaintop, and with them, the Governor herself, Ragara Kou. Surely she can defuse this. 15[20:20] "IF THAT FEATHERED APE DISTURBS ONE IMPERIAL HAIR ON ONE IMPERIAL HEAD, SKIN AND STRIP HIM LIKE AN ANTELOPE!" comes a harsh voice from inside the fluttering palanquin. [20:20] 07Dryas has run up ahead of the honor guard, practically at spear point, to help the rest of the Hearth try to defuse the situation. [20:20] 4Sigh. [20:21] 6Well. [20:29] 10Daizo's had the wind knocked out of him, and the fire is spreading up his sleeve despite his efforts. But, he's otherwise unharmed. 15[20:43] The Feathered One, deaf to the threats of the Governor and the pleas of the hearth, lashes out at the man who demanded his attention. The two huge men collide, and the air shimmers around them like they're enveloped in the heat of a distant mirage. The light shining from the mountain and the Feathered One's aura of essence curdles from crimson to bruise-violet. The ground is unsteady 15[20:43] beneath everyone's feet. [20:44] 4!!!! 15[20:46] Daizo, lacking his translator, can't understand what the Feathered One mutters when their faces are mere ilms apart, but the pain of the hierophant's huge, wrenching hands vanishes, replaced with a cool, gentle pressure. Daizo feels inexplicably lighter. Even the fire doesn't burn. Muscles twitch in his back, and that feeling sharpens to blades of pure cold digging in beneath his 15[20:46] shoulders. His vision goes hazy. 15[20:48] The others see, before Daizo does, the huge wings split messily from his back, tearing his shirt to shreds, stretching and shining in the violet light. In the heights of Daizo's anima, each individual feather glitters like a chip of mica and glints like a blade in the dark. [20:48] 4Aw shit. [20:50] 6Zhangyu: "Cousin!" 6His glare turns murderous at the Feathered One. He was angry before, but now... [20:55] 10Daizo staggers under the sudden new weight, unbalanced, 10wrong. "Stay—Stay back, Zhangyu! Don't let him curse you too—" [21:01] 4Piu isn't close enough to stop the madman from, uh, giving Daizo wings, but she IS close enough to practically flash up to him, leaving a trail of flame behind her, and deliver a devastating kick to his head. 15[21:01] The Feathered One blinks and shakes his head like a struck cow. [21:02] 4Well...she was hoping for...a bit more of a reaction. It's a start...! 15[21:05] The palanquin clatters to the ground as the figure inside emerges, a woman in gleaming white jade so elaborate and heavy she's nearly as side as she is tall - though she only comes up to about Dryas's shoulder. Smoke rises from the collar of her plate and her eyes are diamond-hard. [21:09] 4Uhh. 15[21:09] She speaks, steady and forceful, in that islander dialect none of the hearth know. The Feathered One starts shaking his head rapidly before she's even finished, stomping and shouting, his anima burning with his need for vegenance. [21:10] 4Uhhhhhhhh. [21:15] 6Zhangyu roars and charges the Feathered One, assaulting him with vicious slaps, elbows, kicks, and all manner of blows. He's going to choke this thing that warped Daizo. [21:16] 4Oooooooo. [21:16] 4Yeah!!! [21:23] 07Dryas draws her flamepiece and pulls the hammer back, pointing it right at the Feathered One's chest. "Another move like that and you can follow your fire god," [21:31] 07She's amazed that he still won't listen. What tenacity! Such savagery! 15[21:32] The god of Hamoji is dead, but the blood of the Dragons is coursing and vital, and between Piu's fire and the crushing weight of three earth animas, it's as if the volcano itself lays the Feathered One low. [21:33] 4Ugh. 15[21:34] The Feathered One hasn't died, but his injuries are grievous. [21:34] 4Piu will step back after he crumples. From start to finish, that didn't feel like a win. 15[21:34] The Governor glares at the hearth. "Any of you a doctor?" [21:34] 4Piu: "Sorry!" [21:35] 6Zhangyu: "No." 6He's still visibly furious, but he'll make his way over to Daizo. "Are you all right?" [21:35] 07Dryas stares silently at the ground, crossing her arms across her chest. [21:35] 10Daizo backs away, totters, nearly falls over backwards. He sinks to one knee. "No." 10He's answering both Kou and Zhangyu. [21:36] 6Zhangyu swears under his breath. 15[21:36] "Can't be helped, I suppose." She gestures, and a pair of her men grab the Feathered One, head and foot, and lift him, inching towards the rim of the caldera. [21:37] 10Daizo's not weeping. It's just smoke and dust. "No! Send a messenger to the town and fetch Cynis Caxi." [21:37] 4Ugh. [21:37] 14She won't turn away, though. Interested to see what happens. 15[21:37] Kou raises a hand, and the soldiers halt. [21:38] 10Daizo takes a hitching breath. "This has all been… a terrible mistake." 15[21:38] "Get him on the palanquin!" she orders, and the soldiers obey, turning her opulent conveyance into an ersatz stretcher. [21:41] 4Piu: "Honored Governor, I am V'Neef Piu." 4Bow, etc. "Do you have men at the base of the mountain?" 15[21:41] "Obviously." [21:41] "Then keep your man. And watch these sick moves!" [21:42] 4Piu sets off like a streaking, fiery bolt for the bottom of the mountain. 15[21:43] Kou watches her depart, and once the cliffs have obscured her descent, she turns to Dryas. "Three questions." 15[21:43] "Who the fuck are you, what the fuck are you doing on my island, and what the FUCK happened here?" [21:44] 10There are still burning patches here and there on Daizo's festival-day tunic. Easy enough to extinguish now.  15[21:46] Piu doesn't need to get more than halfway down the mountain before she sees the panic roiling in Abalone below. The revelry has turned into crowds pressing every which way - into the thoroughfares away from the volcano, to the base of the mountain where the Governor's men bar the way, and seeking shelter. [21:47] 4Piu leaps from outcrop to outcrop all the way down, the flames dying on the rock as she goes, until finally she lands by slamming into the ground a safe (for them) distance away from the Governor's men. In her full, terrible anima and aspect, a flamenado swirling around her, eyes limned with fire: "Hi! I am V'Neef Piu, Scion of House V'Neef. The Honored Governor requests you send [21:47] for Cynis Caxi of the Daana'd's Defiance! Right now! I'd do it myself but I'd set the town on fire. Thanks!" [21:47] 4She'll provide them with the hostel information. [21:47] 07Dryas: "I'm Cynis Dryas, the owner of the Falling Leaf. I'm traveling aboard the Danaad's Defiance, which has put in here for provisions. I proposed buying the life of one of the condemned for another's life. The Feathered One and the priests became angry, Hamoji thundered and appeared, and when he did, he was struck dead by an arrow fired from down the mountain." [21:48] 4As she says this, the flamenado explodes into just, a pillar of fire. [21:48] 4Still safe! Safe distance! 15[21:49] The crowd and soldiers both openly gawp at Piu, but after a moment the officer on duty collects herself and sends a runner away. 15[21:50] Kou: "Who is in charge?" [21:52] 6Tepet Zhangyu: "Commodore Peleps Ratel." 6he growls out. He's not looking at Dryas right now, only between Daizo and Kou. [21:53] 4Work complete, Piu is going to uh. Wander up the slope a bit, until all this fire dies down. 15[21:55] Kou: "What are you doing here?" [21:56] "Came to see the sacrifice," 07she explains. 15[21:56] Piu only has to wander for about fifteen minutes before the sound of howling wind picks up, and she sees Caxi, riding a whirlwind with some kind of doctor's bag, or box covered in fabric. She makes a minor detour to pick Piu up. [21:57] 10Daizo speaks in a detatched tone. "I had met the Feathered One this morning during the drumming this morning. I asked a local in my employ about it and thought it might be interesting to take in the culture." 15[21:57] "Who's hurt?" asks Caxi. [21:57] 4Piu: "Volcano god's servitor. Dryas fucked up, and something else took the opening to kill the volcano god." [21:57] "So...ex-servitor." 15[21:58] Kou: "And you just happened to see a single arrow fly from out of nowhere and kill a living god?" [21:58] "Oh and Daizo's got wings now." [21:59] "That's also probably bad." 15[21:59] Caxi frowns. "Oh. I'd assumed it was one of us." She looks down at her bundle, which has a handle coming up through the fabric like a valise. "Too late now, I suppose. Wait, wings??" [21:59] 4Piu shrugs. "Volcano guy punched him hard enough to give him wings. Fucked up!" [22:00] 07Dryas: "Yes." 15[22:00] "...alright. Hold tight!" The whirlwind scales the mountain rapidly. [22:00] "Woooo!" 15[22:00] Kou: "Did any of your friends see this mysterious arrow?" [22:00] 4Only the severity of the situation stops Piu from trying to cop a consensual feel. [22:01] 10Daizo, tiredly: "I saw it. I believe the asassination was pre-arranged. I observed a blood-ape making its way up the mountain in an incorporeal state. I think its purpose was to disrupt the sacrifice and cause Hamoji to show itself." [22:02] "Had the blood-ape shown itself… the four of us would have been more than equal to the task of dispatching it." 15[22:05] Kou: "And where is that ape now?" [22:05] 6Chortling about how its job was done for it, maybe. [22:08] 10Daizo: "I don't know. Cynis Caxi is a sorcerer; perhaps she can track it when she's finished tending to the Feathered One." 15[22:08] The whirlwind crests the mountaintop, and soldiers make a wide berth as Caxi and Piu touch down. [22:09] "But I can attempt to search for it now as well." 10By this point, emotion has drained out of Daizo's voice.  15[22:10] Caxi looks around at all the soldiers and finally settles on Ragara Kou. "You're the governor," she says. 15[22:10] Kou: "And you're only half stupid. Go on, he's there." 15[22:10] Rather than immediately descending on the Feathered One in the palanquin, Caxi turns to Daizo. "Does it hurt? Are you physically stable?" 15[22:11] "Have there been any secondary transformations?" [22:11] 4Piu isn't gonna intervene; she did her job! [22:14] 10He's pointedly not looking at Dryas. When he does… "It felt light. Then like I was being stabbed with icicles. Please, help the Feathered One first, not me…" 10He makes a sound deep in his throat and turns away… nearly bowling Caxi over in the process. [22:17] 14"I challenged him. I earned this."  15[22:18] Caxi scoffs, but she sets the case down by Daizo and ducks into the palanquin. [22:18] 07Dryas sighs and blinks a few times, avoiding making eye contact with anyone or looking anywhere near Daizo. Did Hamoji leave a body? 15[22:19] Hamoji left a body, but it blew away in the wind, having rendered into a stuff sculpture of ash. [22:19] 4Hot. [22:19] 4Like, temperature-wise too, but that's a great way to go. [22:20] 07Dryas takes a few steps over towards what remains of the volcano-god, amid the heat. Is there an arrowhead among the ashes? 15[22:20] People next to Daizo - though not Daizo himself - hear the gentle rustling of wings and feathers within the case. They realize, perhaps abruptly, that it's not a case at all, but a cage covered in fabric. [22:23] "More birds?" 07she mutters, barely audible over the wind. [22:23] 6Zhangyu squats down and peers at the - cage? Hrm. Probably shouldn't touch it. [22:23] 6Anything strike him as off about it, beyond the noises from within? [22:23] 14Piu will observe the cage antics, but from a remove. [22:24] 14The excuse of the moment is not wanting to set any possible birds on fire...but whatever's in there is not normal. 15[22:24] It's just a box covered in black cloth, besides the sound. 15[22:25] After about fifteen minutes, Caxi crawls out of the palanquin. "I've treated his burns, and most of his wounds are bound up. He'll be unconscious for a day or two, but he should be good as new within a week." [22:26] 6Zhangyu: "Will he still be incapable of reasoning at that time?" 15[22:27] Caxi shrugs. "I don't know a cure for madness. If it's just grief, then get him drunk." [22:27] 14In context, the Feathered One's actions were almost excessively reasonable. But there's no benefit to saying that aloud. [22:28] 6The first attack was. When he became gravely outnumbered while multiple people attempted to get him to stop, and attacked Daizo instead... [22:28] 10Daizo: "Surely the Governor will take him into custody." 10And probably the rest of us as well. 15[22:31] Kou: "Good. Good work. What's in the box?" 15[22:31] Caxi: "I'm sorry?" 15[22:31] Kou points at the covered cage. 15[22:33] Caxi: "Oh! Just, just some pigeons." 15[22:34] Kou: "I'm sorry?" 15[22:34] Caxi: "In case his wounds were more grievous. It's a very esoteric technique. I studied under Cynis Umara, you know." [22:35] 6That doesn't sound right, but Zhangyu doesn't know enough about magic to dispute it. [22:36] 10She just happened to have pigeons on hand? [22:37] 6You never know when you'll need supplies for magic. She must just be prepared. [22:39] 10Caxi, as always, remains a frustrating enigma to Daizo.  [22:41] 07Now that things have calmed down, Dryas takes a moment to study the composure of the Governor from the corner of her eye. 15[22:44] Kou: "Fine, whatever. Here's what's going to happen now. The five of you are going to cool your heels up here for an hour. You are not to be seen among my troops or near the body of the Feathered One. After an hour, find your own quiet way down the mountain, get your CO, and meet me in the Governor's Mansion. Will you need directions or can you find it yourselves?" [22:46] 4Piu: "We're good!" [22:47] "-your excellency. We can do that." 07Dryas hastens to complete for Piu. [22:47] 6Zhangyu nods stiffly. [22:47] 10Daizo: "Understood, Your Excellency." 15[22:48] "Good. It will be my dinner hour, so bring empty stomachs. MOVE OUT!" [22:49] 14Bitch. 15[22:49] The palanquin, now bearing two and borne by six, makes its way down the mountain, the honor guard in tow. [22:49] 14Piu watches them go. [22:49] 14Then turns. "So. Let's never do that shit again." 15[22:50] Caxi descends almost immediately on Daizo. "What happened? Are you in pain? Can you move them? How's your balance?" [22:50] 6Zhangyu: "Agreed." 6To Caxi: "Can you do anything to help Daizo from here?" [22:50] 6Good. Already on it. [22:52] 10Daizo sits cross-legged on the ground. It would be calming, except for, well. Everything. 10Can10 he move these accursed things? [22:52] 07Dryas doesn't speak. but instead kneels on the dusty rocks of the caldera rim. [22:52] 14Good that Caxi's here, but to build rapport and help Daizo. But Piu's gonna wait til she's gone for the real talk. 15[22:53] Daizo... can move them, though quite stiffly. [22:55] 10Ugh. It would almost be a relief if he couldn't. That these weren't 10really10 part of him. "He struck me and set me aflame. Then he touched me and whispered something in a language I didn't understand." 15[22:58] "A Wyld mutation...?" Caxi's expression darkens. [22:58] 14Through offering to run down the mountain and get Caxi and then wandering around the periphery going 'tee-hee,' Piu managed to escape examination on the killing itself. Might not be true at this dinner at the governor's place. [22:58] 07After a moment or two she stands up again, and walks over to the pile of ashes that was once the mountain god. [22:58] "Nothing hurts. They move about… this much." 10Twitch, twitch. "And it feels like I've strapped on an overloaded pack." [22:59] 14To Cynis Dryas: "You are aware the entire economy of this city is based around this now-dead god, right." [23:00] "Tell that to whoever ordered it killed," 07she replies as she buries her arms into the pile of ashes and starts sifting around. 15[23:00] Caxi lays her hand on Daizo's brow. "Your temperature's up. Let me know immediately if you start hallucinating or find yourself overcome with strong appetites." [23:00] 14Mmmmm. [23:02] 10Daizo laughs bitterly. "Am I going to start craving human flesh? Is that what you're telling me?" 15[23:02] Caxi: "That's comparatively unlikely." [23:02] 6Zhangyu: "Unlikely is not zero." [23:03] "What should we be prepared for?" 15[23:03] Caxi: "The Wyld is unpredictable. But I would expect you to suffer from difficulty controlling impulses you already have, rather than developing new ones. Erratic behavior, large swings in your mood, uncontrollable emotions..." [23:05] 10Daizo: "Cousin? If I do anything stupid, beat the living shit out of me." [23:05] "Promise." [23:05] 6Flatly: "I will." [23:06] 14To the room, so to speak: "So what happens to a god when it's killed. What are we in hock for as potential accessories." [23:06] 10Daizo: "Good." [23:07] "Truly killing a spirit is difficult. If we had slain Carmine Road, for instance, it would have been taken out for a time… and then returned to life in its sanctum." 15[23:07] Dryas sifts through the ashes, and they run through her fingers, leaving a fine white dusting on her hands. There's no trace of magic here - whatever divine anima flowed through this being is totally dissipated now, leaving only inert ash and... ah! Dryas reaches deep into the mound and comes up with an ash-dusted arrow. A quick buff-and-polish reveals the entire thing, from fletch to 15[23:07] tip, is wrought of pure silver. She knows from bows, and knows that such an object would be worth far more than its weight in material, considering the delicate work required to make sheets of silver that can aerodynamically replace an arrow's fletching. [23:09] "It's said that certain elite exorcists have the power to do so." [23:09] 14Piu: "So...that means someone's about to attack Hamoji's sanctum." [23:10] "Or already has." [23:10] "Here," 07Dryas announces, holding the silver arrow aloft. "Our first clue. This is finely wrought..." [23:10] 10Daizo: "I think this was Hamoji's sanctum." [23:11] 6Zhangyu: "Do we know where that blood ape went?" 15[23:11] Caxi: "Blood ape?" [23:11] 6He gestures to Daizo. [23:13] 14Piu frowns. "Surely it's...down there, somewhere. You know, with the lava." [23:13] 14Whatever. Not her specialty. [23:13] 10Daizo: "Partway up the trail, Seiri fainted…" 10He relates the sighting to Caxi. [23:14] "Once the—the dispute started, I didn't think to search for it again." [23:14] "Those figures watching us on the road could have been part of the plot as well," 07Dryas notes. 15[23:15] Caxi: "Have any of you met any sorcerers here in Abalone?" [23:18] "I don't think so," 07Dryas replies. But Nn Tloc is quite a strange man... [23:18] 4Piu: "Nope!" [23:18] 6Zhangyu frowns. "None that I can recall." 14[23:19] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:20] "Nn Tloc was a strange fellow, but his house was haunted, not hellish," 07Dryas continues idly. [23:20] 10Daizo: "None that were known to me. There was that strange woman I fought in the Hinokuni, but perhaps she just had some godly blood." 15[23:20] Dryas traces the arc as best she can from memory... it can't have come from anywhere on the mountain, the slope is too steep. But the draw strength and keen eye it would take to have fired a shot that struck true from the ground... it doesn't make any sense. Not even a Prince of the Earth could have managed it. [23:22] 07Dryas sneers as she tracks back along the uneven terrain of the caldera. "This doesn't make sense,"07 she observes. [23:24] "Zhangyu - stand over there and throw a rock straight up for me, please?" [23:24] 6He glares at her for a moment, but this is a reasonable request. [23:25] 07Dryas asks this as she jogs a dozen or two yalms away. As the rock goes into the air, she draws the flamepiece again - and fires it into the sky! [23:26] 6He hurls that thing as hard as he can straight up. Tempting to instead whip it around, but no. [23:27] 14Piu watches with concealed amusement. 15[23:28] The shots arc up, up, up, and then back down. [23:29] "I can barely make a shot from that angle with a flamepiece. But with a greatbow, something that could fire an arrow like this?" 07She twirls the gun for a moment and with a bit of legerdemain replaces it with the silver arrow - "You can't make that shot from the ground. Not even the greatest Prince of Earth could make that shot." [23:30] 14Piu feels kind of bad about this, but Caxi is still here. [23:31] 14And SHE'S not going to be the one that sends her away. [23:31] "We're not just looking for a sorcerer, we're looking for Anathema," 07she observes. 15[23:32] Caxi: "Anathema here?" [23:32] 10Daizo: "When you put it that way…" [23:32] 4Piu: "I guess it's possible!" 15[23:33] Caxi: "Anyway... it's been about an hour. We should go tell the Commodore." [23:33] "Anathema here, with the werewithal and resources to execute a plan like this," 07she points out. [23:34] 4Piu: "I agree with Caxi!" [23:35] 6Zhangyu: "Yes." 6Quiet way down, huh. [23:35] 10Daizo sighs. "Yes, our dinner date approaches. Caxi, you're the most presentable already, go on ahead and we'll meet you at the Governor's mansion." [23:35] "I need a change of clothes. And a very talented tailor." [23:40] "Tepet Daizo," 07Dryas says quietly, "I apologize for this situation. This Anathema could have completed its plan against Hamoji regardless, but it would not have resulted in this happening to you. I will do whatever I can to avenge your..." 07she doesn't say 'mutation,' but she doesn't know what to call it. 15[23:42] "...affliction," Caxi finishes, before taking her case and walking off. [23:43] 14When she's flown off, Piu turns to the others: "So. The shooter's name is Ted." [23:43] 10Daizo draws himself up to his full height and takes a deep breath. Then… [23:43] 10Daizo: "Is it now." [23:44] 6Zhangyu: "'Ted'?" [23:44] "Ted? What kind of name is that? Is it something obscene? What an absurd name." [23:44] 14Piu: "Not his real one, obviously." [23:45] 6Wait. "Wait. That Ted?" [23:45] 10Daizo: "Is this that creep you went off with after our match at Hinokuni?" [23:45] "The guy I went home with the night you beat up the crocodile lady sponsored by Tloc, yes." [23:45] "And in his defense, the man can fuck." [23:46] 6Zhangyu: "What do you know about him that's relevant here." [23:46] "Being able to fuck is actually relevant for anathema classification. But. He has a symbol on his right hand, which is what's important here." [23:47] "Who else saw you with him?" 07Dryas asks. [23:48] "Everyone at that underground bar-slash-arena. Not a particularly talkative group where the authorities are concerned. And he's only on our radar, for now." [23:49] 10Piu isn't wrong about this matter of taxonomy. The guest lecturer that day had been very colorful in their descriptions. [23:49] 14Piu kneels down. "Here's the mark. It's on the back of his hand. Commit it to memory." [23:50] https://i.imgur.com/rZNbG8D.png [23:50] 14After finishing the outline, she frowns and adjusts the gradients in the dirt a bit for the right shading. [23:55] 10Daizo: "I've seen this before." [23:56] 6Zhangyu grunts in a way that might be "go on, I'm interested," or it might be "I will remember this" or he might just be angry still. [23:58] 14Piu: "Yeah? What kinda boy is Ted?" Session Time: Wed Mar 25 00:00:00 2020 [00:02] 10Daizo: "This is unlike the marks of the thieves of the Sun and Moon. It's old—likely even older than the days of the Cleansing." [00:02] "It's called the Soul Eater." [00:03] 14A slight smirk. [00:03] "Its bearer is said to wield dominion over life and death itself." [00:03] "Well. Makes sense." [00:04] 6Zhangyu frowns deeper. [00:04] 10Daizo: "He's certainly very good at killing things." [00:05] 07Dryas: "We've been shipmates, but we're involved in something deeper now." [00:07] 14...Here it comes. [00:08] 14She had the talk with Caedus already. It's worth getting in on. [00:08] 10Daizo: "Hamoji's killer must be brought to justice. And then there is the mystery of the Empress." [00:09] "Two great hunts," 07Dryas concurs. [00:10] 14Piu: "Hamoji's death certainly needs to be investigated. We should probably find out why the kill order -- and if Hamoji is indeed permanently dead -- before going hunting for a guy who can ace a god like that on a whim." [00:10] *the why of the kill order [00:12] 07Dryas: "There's certainly a deeper conspiracy there." [00:13] 10Daizo: "Something that could command the loyalty of a Crest-bearer would be fearsome indeed." 15[00:17] NEXT TIME: Sold under sin [00:20] 「Am I now to walk the lands as the cenotaph of thy fallen master? Then carve me well in his image.」 —Mnemon Oarai, Reflections. RY 375 14[00:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[04:21] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[04:21] * Joins: dammitwho 14[08:12] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:01] * Joins: hrolf 14[09:14] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:46] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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Are we having a moment? 15[20:07] Some kind of debriefing (or reckoning) awaits them below; the Governor has ordered them to get their commander and bring them to dinner. But they linger here, perhaps to agree their position or perhaps to plan their next move. Only they can say. 15[20:08] Daizo feels the wind in his wings, the natural flow of air over them pushing them open, spreading them out. Does he resist the pressure? Does he know he can? [20:10] 07Dryas dusts the ash and cinders of a dead god from her hands. "Have any of you... have any of you sworn the sacred oaths before?" [20:11] 4Ahhh shit. Yeah, this is a moment. [20:11] 14Piu: "I haven't." [20:11] 10Daizo stumbled and fell a mere hour ago. Not now, though. He'll take the challenges of his affliction as they come. If the wind tries to push him over, he'll fight back. [20:12] "Not I." [20:12] 6Zhangyu: "No." [20:12] 6He glances to Daizo, then resettles his gaze onto Dryas. [20:13] 07Dryas scans the faces of her comrades. "Would any here object to swearing them now?" [20:14] 10Daizo: "Are we not united, and bound together in purpose? Is our resolve firm?" [20:14] 14She's been properly briefed and vetted on how to do this without exposing the House to scrutiny, or even passing knowledge. The House couldn't survive otherwise. Still, she's a bit nervous. [20:14] 14This is going to be a balancing act. [20:16] 14Bi nad làimh a thionndaidheas an iuchair. [20:16] "We are." [20:16] "It is." [20:16] 4... "I mean, I think it is." [20:19] "...And Tepet Zhangyu?" 07Dryas asks over the din of the caldera. [20:19] 6Zhangyu: "Yes." [20:20] 10Daizo: "To bring the murderer of Hamoji to justice. To locate Peleps Furia and unravel her mystery. And…" 10Here he pauses, "If it is not too grandiose, to make our frayed Realm whole." [20:21] 14... [20:21] 4Piu: "Well. I think only the middle one there is really, uh, in our remit right now." [20:22] 10Daizo looks sheepish. "I laid it on too thick, didn't I." [20:23] "The heart was in the right place! I just think maybe check in with the governor before swearing revenge on behalf of the volcano god." [20:23] *maybe we should [20:23] 07Dryas brandishes the silver arrow that slew Hamoji. "We have a new remit. Circumstances compel us. But we cannot abandon our old remit. Nor can we allow the light of civilization and the font of all honor and beauty to dim." [20:24] 14Fine, fine. [20:24] 07Dryas: "I apologize for provoking Hamoji and his priests. Perhaps only I can atone for that. But this 'Ted' has stained all of our honor, especially if he is Anathema as you suggest he might be." [20:25] 14Piu's honor is probably fine. She'll let you know when she sees it next. [20:25] 14But she'll nod anyway. [20:26] 07This isn't Faxia-on-the-Caul, this is hunting, there are rules. [20:27] 10Daizo: "We can deliver him as a pretty bundle to the governor's doorstep, perhaps." 10Or the Feathered One's. [20:28] "As the only one here who has actually, uh, been in contact with the target, I have to ask: who here has...hunted one of the greater Anathema before?" [20:28] "Because I haven't." [20:29] "Not yet,"07 Dryas responds enthusiastically.  [20:30] 6Zhangyu's frowning. "No." 6He'd expected to, but - well. Here he is instead. [20:30] 14Piu: "Well, at least this won't lack for excitement, then." [20:30] 10Daizo: "I held off one of the Lunar Anathema long enough for the party I was traveling with to kill him. He nearly tore me in half." [20:31] "It's a good story. But not right now." [20:34] 4Maybe we should just swear to try our best! [20:34] 14As uninspiring an oath as that might be. [20:36] "So we swear to avenge Hamoji? And find Furia? And what of the Realm, shall this be a patriotic oath? Perhaps something more abstract so we can eventually retire, ha ha!" 07Dryas suggests. [20:37] "...If we're doing this, shouldn't be our oaths be to each other, not to our, I dunno. Quest log?" [20:37] 6Zhangyu: "We need to investigate Hamoji's murderer and find Peleps Furia. Justice may have to wait, but we've been drawn into this already. All of us." [20:38] "Shouldn't we swear loyalty, support, care, solidarity, and fidelity through to the poles of fire, wind, water, wood, and earth?" [20:38] "Or something." [20:39] 4She just kinda chose some words. [20:39] "I mean we can still do all those things. Of course." [20:40] "But we're not swearing this oath because we all just liked that Hamoji guy so much, you know what I mean?" [20:42] "Yes, absolutely. We must swear to each other, and I like the terms you've identified -- but to accomplish what? We swear to each other to fulfill our great Deeds, our heroic acts! Otherwise it feels more like we're getting married or something." [20:43] 4Piu: "Really? I think it feels a lot less cynical than dynasty marriage." [20:44] "I mean, we can sort of leave the great deeds thing blank. Or just swear to the mission and restoring the realm. Okay, I'm gonna be honest -- I really don't think the volcano dude needs to be part of this. And not just because I fucked the shooter." [20:45] "How's this: to find Furia and solve her mystery, to avenge injustice, to seek knowledge, wealth, and glory, to boldly go where no civilized woman or man has gone before." [20:45] 4Piu: "Yeah! [20:45] " [20:46] 10Daizo: "You really do have a way with words, Dryas." [20:47] "It's still a little clunky," 07she says, adjusting her hair. [20:47] "And I quite liked Piu's bit about solidarity and fidelity." [20:49] 6Zhangyu nods. This is acceptable. [20:50] 4Piu: "So do we like...bring it in for a hug? Or..." [20:53] 10Daizo clears his throat. "All right. I think I know how to put this." [20:57] 10The rumbling of the caldera continues in the background as Daizo begins to speak. "We four, who were brought together by chance, now stand together. By the Five Poles and the names of the Holy Dragons, we swear loyalty, support, care, solidarity, and friendship. We call upon the powers of heaven and earth to hear our pact: the four of us, together, shall find Peleps Furia and solve her mystery. We shall avenge injustice. We [20:57] shall seek knowledge, wealth, and glory. And we swear to boldly go where no civilized woman or man has gone before. Speak your name and be joined to it." [20:57] "I, Tepet Daizo, so swear this night." [20:57] "I, V'neef Piu, so swear this night." [20:58] "I, Tepet Zhangyu, so swear this night." [20:58] "I, Cynis Dryas, so swear this night!" 07Dryas exclaims triumphantly. [21:00] 10Daizo's anima flares to brilliance again— "SO IT SHALL BE!" [21:00] 14And now things change. Permanently. 15[21:01] Four souls flare as one. 15[21:01] Nowhere to go now but down. [21:02] 14Mmmm. Back to the hostel then? 15[21:04] The red light and ashen fog that choked the mountain persists as the kinship descends Hamoji. The city of Abalone itself is afflicted; people cover their faces with cloth, a practice Dryas well knows from her rides through Southern sandstorms. There are... a lot of soldiers in the streets. [21:05] 14Hhhh. 15[21:05] More than once on the way back to the hostel, they will see someone fall to their hands and knees in spontaneous prayer, begging for the gods to save them. [21:05] 6Hrm. [21:06] 14Ted had better have...a very good explanation. [21:08] 10Daizo's torn up the remains of his shirt and made a makeshift mask out of it. Canvas and poles from the rest stops that had lined the mountain path disguise his new wings as cargo on his back. Keeping them bound up like that is more uncomfortable than he thought it'd be. 15[21:08] The hostel's windows are sealed against the ash, and the door is hard to force open with all the rags stuffed into the crack at the floor. Inside, the comissary is buzzing with chatter as people - many of them Defiance sailors - trade anecdotes and rumors with the locals. A lot happened in a couple of hours, it sounds like. [21:09] 4Piu will duck out real quick to change into something more appropriate -- 14and find Iselsi Caedus. [21:09] 10Does Seiri appear to have made it back? 15[21:11] Daizo doesn't see her. 15[21:15] Who Daizo does see is the Cathak twins, who beeline for him when he enters. "Hey big man, let us take those packages for ya." "Yeah, the CO wants to see you guys." 15[21:17] Caedus is upstairs, standing outside the room she knows 'Mnemon' Salim is kept in. [21:18] 4Piu: "In private, Chief Petty Officer?" [21:18] 10Daizo dpes his best to brush the annoying brats off. "Thank you, but I have something here Ratel needs to see." 10Technically not a lie! [21:19] 07Dryas enters her room and sheds what she had on, performing minimal and rapid ablutions to clear the dust and grime from her hands and face. She puts on her riding leathers and wraps herself up as if she was going out in a Southern sandstorm. Her hair is choked with ash, so she wraps it up with a long saffron scarf. When she emerges from her quarters a few minutes later, she looks like someone's cut the outfit of a Delzahn [21:19] 07 steppe-noble from Realm fabric to Western fashion - a sort of blue, turquoise, and green desert princess. 15[21:19] A moment later they're in Caedus's room. "Go ahead." [21:20] 14Piu: "Hamoji's dead, as you might have heard. One shot, silver arrow, Anathema, clean, public kill. Dryas is probably going to take some of the fall for it -- she certainly feels responsible enough for it -- but at worst she was a helpful spontaneous distraction on a perfectly-planned hit. Sadly, it's that Anathema from the fight club I was trying to develop." [21:20] "So that's gone sideways." 15[21:21] Caedus: "How do you know?" 15[21:21] Ito Pan: "Oooh, is it a secret?" 15[21:22] Daizo spots Caxi approaching the three of them. 15[21:22] Ito Jun: "Did you bring that down from the mountain? Is it true you were up there?" [21:23] "Identified him by the crest on the back of his hand. Maybe more importantly: you need to get in touch with Lao and have him partition all House business involving Dryas, Zhangyu, and Daizo away from me, and have any operations regarding that business treat me as hostile. We're a Hearth now. A bit earlier than we expected and not under great circumstances, but the oath went fine and [21:23] we planned for this." 15[21:23] Caedus: "Shouldn't be a problem." [21:23] "Yes, and yes. I saw the whole thing. I can answer all of your questions later, but right now—" 10Argh! Wasn't Caxi supposed to be going ahead to the Governor's mansion?  [21:25] 14She sighs. "Good, good." 14And gets undressed quickly and efficiently, changing into dinner clothes. "Ratel wants to see us, and then it's dinner with the governor. Hopefully Hamoji isn't completely fucked in a way that keeps us in port." 15[21:25] She was. Seems she didn't listen. "Oh, Ito boys, leave him be. The Commodore gave me a task and I need some strong arms to help me." 15[21:26] Caedus: "I'm going to look into that." [21:26] 10Out of two frying pans, into one very large fire.  [21:27] 6Zhangyu's going to want to get himself into some clean clothes - most anything will do, but he does at least make sure it's dark enough to handle a little ash. Could be fought in, if necessary, but all of his clothing could be. Force of habit. After that, it's a matter of waiting until the rest of the Hearth is ready. 15[21:27] Caxi doesn't need much more effort to coax the twins away, and leave Daizo on a path to the Commodore, who is trying to talk down a seemingly panicked hostel-keeper. [21:27] "Okay." 14Dressed now, she kisses him quickly on the lips. "I'm going to go try and manage this dinner while not completely blowing the party girl cover to the whole city administration. Assuming we get past the Commodore's temper." 15[21:29] Caedus lets her go. There's a pair of merchant sailors standing a respectful distance from Caedus's door, and they practically rush past Piu as she makes her way to her quarters. [21:30] 14Ah, group rooms. [21:30] 07Dryas makes her way past the others in the hallway, observing the chaos. What is the morale and disposition of the people involved? [21:31] 10Phew. Is Caxi… taking pity on him? Daizo shoulders his way through the hustle and bustle towards Ratel. 15[21:33] Eventually the hostel-keeper is convinced that he's not going to be asked to billet anyone for free, and there is no need panic, no one's supplies are in any danger. Ratel almost bumps into Daizo when she turns around - he already had to stoop slightly to get through doors, and the package on his back isn't making it any more graceful. "Oh, there you are. Where are the others?" [21:33] 4Piu should be arriving momentarily. [21:34] 6Zhangyu's not far behind. [21:35] 10Unlike the others, he hasn't taken any time to clean up yet, so he looks fresh off the frontlines. "Getting changed. Governor Ragara Kou has requested the honor of our presence this evening at dinner." 15[21:35] Dryas's read of the room is that among the chaos, morale is largely high among the sailors, who seem excited and fascinated and frankly a bit entertained by the dramatic novelty of it all. The people at the periphery, cooks and cleaners and the handful of local residents, are significantly more apprehensive. [21:35] 07Noted. Dryas will make her way down. She pauses at Caxi and the twins - "Caxi, is Sadako safe?" 15[21:35] Caxi nods. "She's with Daizo's girl." 15[21:36] Caxi shakes her head. "Daizo's translator, I mean." 15[21:36] "How is he?" [21:36] 10Daizo: "She has conveyed her especial wish that you join her as well." [21:36] 07Dryas: "He's coping. And my retainer, Pale Moke? Can someone make sure he's all right as well?" 15[21:37] Ratel's mouth works behind pursed lips. Deliberately: "How... did you cross paths with Governor Kou?" 15[21:38] Caxi: "Oh is that his name? The little man who always follows you around? I think he's off with Ratel's daughter and the rest of your little crew." [21:39] "Good. Stay safe, yourself, cousin. And you two, lads!"07 Dryas scampers the remaining distance to the Commodore's office, crowding in behind Piu and Zhangyu. [21:40] 10Daizo closes his eyes. "We were present for the incident atop Hamoji and its immediate aftermath." 15[21:40] Ratel: "Upstairs in two minutes." 15[21:42] Two minutes later the five of them are in Ratel's room, with its large messy bed and its desk bearing a spilled-open sack of sea charts, the lingering scent of dried flowers and an open bottle of wine. 15[21:42] "What happened?" [21:42] 4Piu clasps her hands behind her back and looks over at Dryas. [21:43] 4It's her story! Until Ted shows up. [21:44] "The pilgrimage was lovely. We were watched the entire way, of course. We arrived at the top, and I lost my head. The human sacrifice, it was..." 07Dryas sighs. "I spoke out of turn, objected, proposed a different better deal. It offended the Feathered One, the rest of the priests, the onlookers, and Hamoji himself appeared. But then-" [21:45] 07WIth a flourish, Dryas stabs the silver arrow into the wood of the desk like a dagger. "Things got out of control." [21:46] 4Piu: "Gods can get one-shot. Who knew!" [21:47] 6Out of control is... one way of putting it. 15[21:48] Ratel stares at the arrow. "Moonsilver?" [21:48] "Yyyyyeah." [21:48] 4Piu: "Fired by a guy named...Ted." [21:49] "I mean. If that is his real name." 15[21:49] "What kind of name is 'Ted'?" [21:49] "The kind of name you give to a girl at a bar you're not planning on sending a courier to later?" 14[21:49] * Joins: tom 15[21:50] Ratel opens her mouth to say something, but then doesn't. Instead she takes the arrow and tests its strength and flexibility. "You saw him take the shot?" [21:51] 10Daizo: "Probably moonsilver. We would need to have it inspected by an expert to be certain." 10Daizo's starting to adopt that detached tone again. [21:52] "He's got an identifying mark on the back of his hand. He can hide a lot, but not like, sources of power or anima or whatever. Who's got a charcoal?" [21:53] 6Does Daizo still have the bundle attached to him? [21:53] 10Yeah, for the moment. 15[21:53] Ratel's got drawing materials. [21:55] "Alllright..." 14She pauses and then goes back and properly shades it a bit more. "There." https://i.imgur.com/rZNbG8D.png [21:55] "It was emblazoned on the arrowhead during the shot." 15[21:56] "So you saw this mark on your 'Ted''s hand, and on this arrowhead." 15[21:56] "But you didn't see him take the shot." [21:56] 4Piu: "Not 'my' Ted! Just Ted! But no, he treboucheted that bitch." [21:57] "Er. It was a very impressive long range shot." 15[21:57] Ratel: "Because a problem that occurs to me is that the person everyone's going to want to blame is also a master archer." [21:57] "If there's anyone who knows more, it's going to be this Ted character. We already know where he's staying." 07Dryas interjects. [21:58] 14Piu's expression darkens. "...That's an excellent point, ma'am," 14to Ratel. 15[22:00] "Whatever, keep going. So you saw the god die. What happened then?" [22:00] "Feathered One lost his mind. Consequences." [22:00] 07Dryas looks askance at Daizo, chewing the inside of her cheek. [22:00] 10Daizo: "The Feathered One and the ali-ki know that Dryas was atop the mountain and had no bow in her hands… but they would have no reason to speak in her defense." [22:01] 14To Daizo: "I think the concern more will be the innuendo of collusion. A master archer as the distraction, and then a master archer makes the shot...?" [22:01] 10Daizo: "The Feathered One flew into a rage and attacked Dryas. I interposed myself to defend, and…" [22:01] 6Zhangyu: "He raged and would not see reason, repeatedly attacking until he was taken unconscious." [22:01] "Zhangyu, give me a hand here undoing this." [22:02] 6Wordlessly, he does. [22:03] 10It feels unpleasantly good to get the wings out from under the canvas and spread them. "He struck me, and I was cursed." 15[22:04] Ratel's eyes go wide. 15[22:04] "Fuck." [22:05] 4Honestly, Piu fucks with the wings. [22:05] 14Can't say that out loud of course. [22:05] 10Daizo finds himself cry-laughing all of a sudden. 15[22:06] Ratel: "Has he been unstable the whole time? Wyld mutation sometimes brings madness." [22:06] 4Piu: "Eh, big guy just needs to let it out." [22:07] 07Dryas reaches her hand around to give him a pat on the back. Gingerly, avoiding touching the wings if she can. 15[22:07] Ratel: "...did the Governor see those? When did you receive her summons?" [22:08] 6Zhangyu: "Right after the Feathered One was finally unconscious. Her soldiers assisted." [22:08] 4Piu: "When she came up the mountain to try and calm T F O down, and uh, didn't." [22:09] 10Daizo gradually gets himself back under control. Dryas's reassurance helps. "My… my apologies, Commodore." 15[22:11] Ratel: "This morning we had an off-the-books operation with a low profile and no official oversight." [22:12] 14? 15[22:12] "Now we have a suspect in a deicide, a giant mutant, and a date with the Governor." [22:12] 14Ah. [22:12] 4Piu: "The food should be good!" [22:13] 10That sets Daizo off again. No laughing this time. Just quiet weeping. 15[22:13] Wearily: "Go get dressed. You have ten minutes." 15[22:13] "Someone find him a cape or something." [22:13] 6Zhangyu... pats at his arm awkwardly. He's not very good at this. [22:13] 14We're gonna have to do something about those wings, long-term. [22:15] 14Unless he decides he wants to keep them. Wings can be useful! [22:15] 10Let's just get through the day. [22:16] 10Anyway, Daizo will yield to anyone else's fashion sense here.  [22:18] 6Zhangyu went through a cape phase when he was younger - it might not go with Daizo's other clothing, but he's got a dark blue one that he keeps for special occasions. [22:19] 10That'll do. Between that and a particularly voluminous formal robe, it works out. somehow. [22:19] 4Dork blue! [22:19] 4ahahahaha 15[22:21] The kinship has a lot of eyes on them as they leave the hostel all dressed up, meeting the Commodore in her starchy dress uniform and Caxi in a hazy, shimmering gown at the front door. [22:21] 6That was part of why he stopped wearing it, yes. It was pretty satisfying to wear it again! Not so much for the other party, but. [22:21] 4Mmmm. Looking good. 15[22:21] "The wind is still high and ashen," warns the sorceress. "So stay close to me." 15[22:23] Outside, though it's well after dark, the wind whips torrents of ash through the city as Hamoji's red fury remains bright enough to see by, even through the haze. 15[22:25] Caxi holds a bubble of clean, clear, quite cold air that just manages to encircle the six of them as long as they walk shoulder to shoulder. [22:27] 4No muss no fuss, at least. [22:27] 4Unless the rioting's started. 15[22:27] The Governor's estate is quite lovely when you can see it. Being ripped and scattered by the winds is a garden of delicate tropical flowers, and the top of the old coral tower at the heart of the grounds isn't even visible up in the swirling clouds of ash. It feels like there's more ash blowing through the city than ever could have come from the god's corpse alone. 15[22:27] No riots to speak of. Judging from the ratio of soldiers to civilians on the streets tonight, you'd guess the Governor has a curfew out. [22:28] 14So far her compentency has been demonstrated solely in the form of security and command. Hopefully now we get to see the diplomacy. [22:29] 14Because more security and command probably ends with at least one of them in hock. 15[22:30] The group is admitted quickly, and the doors swing shut behind them before too much of the storm follows them in. 15[22:31] It's almost stiflingly quiet in here. Everyone in the foyer around the huge pink stone staircase is a guard or a servant, and none of them make a peep. [22:31] 4Yikes! [22:32] 6Well. You can't say we didn't earn it. [22:32] 10There's another new feeling to get accustomed to during the trip: the ever-so-slight spiritual tug exerted by Dryas, Piu, and Zhangyu. The others might not experience it this way, but to him it's a comfort. [22:34] 14It's not unpleasant. But there's an ingrained anxiety to get over, letting people get this close. [22:34] 14Give it a day or two. 15[22:35] Silently and without preamble they're ushered upstairs, to a receiving room full of high-backed chairs and a well-stocked bar. The sound of cutlery and porcelain is audible behind double doors at the rear of the room. [22:35] 4Open bar? 15[22:36] That is the custom, which Piu may or may not know. [22:37] 4It's difficult for everyone else to tell, but she's gonna get a gratuitous pour on a fruity drink either way. 15[22:38] Inside is the Governor, her back to them, facing an open fire roaring opposite the bar. Out of her armor she looks almost as small as Dryas's aunt Cerise, muscles visibly shifting under her robe as she turns stiffly to face them. There's some persistent hitch in her movement - infirmity, perhaps, or an old wound. 15[22:39] A scribe is set up in the corner, and dutifully dips pen in ink. Minuting the meeting, one suspects. [22:41] 4Ah fuck. Can't get too twisted. 15[22:42] Dryas can find no hint of physical danger. However this is going to go, it's probably not planned to end with anyone being clapped in irons. [22:42] 10Daizo offers a formal obeisance, after gauging the amount of space he has to work with. Don't knock anything over… [22:43] 4Are there snacks? 15[22:44] There are bowls of some tropical nut or other on the bar. [22:45] 4Tropical nut? But enough said about -- okay she'll just get something to cut the alcohol in her stomach. [22:47] 6This is why Zhangyu doesn't drink very often. 15[22:47] Governor Ragara Kou draws in a long, slow breath. "Commodore Peleps Ratel," she begins. "Until recently of the House of Bells, now docked in Abalone in a Merchant Fleet ship under V'Neef colors." 15[22:48] Ratel: "Your Excellency." [22:48] 10Daizo hasn't eaten since breakfast, unless you count a shaved ice. Every now and then he casts a glance at the nuts. 15[22:49] Kou: "What are you doing on my island?" 15[22:51] Ratel: "I'm afraid that's classified." 15[22:51] Kou: "Bullshit it's classified. By whom?" [22:52] 4Bartender! Another. 15[22:52] Ratel: "I can't answer that." [22:54] 07Dryas titters and glances at Piu. [22:55] 6Zhangyu remains impassive. ...though maybe he'll get some water. [22:55] 4This is top shelf shit! This is the main cabinet! 15[22:55] Kou shakes her head. "You know I pulled your file. Didn't take long, I have friends on the Admiralty Board. You should look into it." 15[22:55] "Be honest. Are you fucking all of them?" [22:56] 6What. [22:58] 4Piu spins. "Just me!" [22:58] 10Daizo: "Governor! There is nothing li—" 10Piu cuts him off at the knees. [22:58] "Keep your legs closed, and your enemies' closeder," 07Dryas posits softly. Not that she'd necessarily heed her own advice. [22:59] 4She's still sober; this is just an attempt to undercut Kou's attempt at leverage through chipper, direct honesty. 15[23:00] Ratel juts her chin out. "If you contacted the Board then you asked them what we're doing here. And they didn't tell you." [23:01] 10…Not that Ratel hasn't tried to put any moves on Daizo. There's just always been business. [23:01] 6Zhangyu just scowls. He hadn't had much of an opinion on the governor before; now, well. 15[23:05] Caxi looks askance at Dryas. [23:06] 4In fairness, Dryas, we have the lead we have on Ted because Piu, uh, took chances! And got messy! [23:06] 4Instead of taking that advice. 15[23:08] Kou's mouth gets very tight. "Then I suppose I have no choice but to speculate." [23:09] 07Dryas looks back to Caxi- [23:09] 10Daizo: "Perhaps I am not aware of all aspects of my comrades' private lives, but the Danaa'd's Defiance is not some kind of a floating bordello." [23:12] 4Ehhhhhhh. [23:14] 4Piu: "We've got the sailor outfits for it, but, true." 15[23:14] Kou ignores Daizo completely. "How's this for a theory: A sorcery-addicted Admiral goes rogue, taking her entire command with her, crippling the Navy chain of command, leaving the second-strongest fleet in the world under the command of no one but a handful of Peleps elites. Step two, she takes a foothold, sending a strike team people will want to overlook - say a failed officer and 15[23:14] her harem of wasted talents - to destabilize the largest economy in the Western Realm, leaving our entire nation exposed and vulnerable." 15[23:16] "Step three, she sweeps in with her stolen fleet, declaring a Peleps empire in the West, and tears Creation apart in civil war." [23:16] 14Staring at her drink: "Permission to speak freely." 15[23:16] Ratel: "Granted." [23:17] 10No way. That's absurd.  [23:17] 6Obscene. [23:17] 07NOW it's time to get a drink. [23:18] 07Dryas gets up, selects a dainty crystal glass and pulls a big bottle of good rum out of its rack to carry back to the table. First shot. [23:21] "I think the Governor's theory makes the triplicate mistake of overestimating a crew of dynasts she's just liberally but, perhaps, correctly insulted, overestimating the wider political ramifications of a dead volcano god, and overestimating her own importance in the weave of history. A Peleps empire in the West? A civil war that ~tears Creation apart~? Where was this sense of highest [23:21] drama, one wonders, when an Anathema was plotting the murder of Hamoji?" [23:23] 07Dryas spins the moonsilver arrow across fingers in the air a few times. She is already contemplating what great beast or villain it might slay next. [23:28] 10When Piu goes hard, Piu goes 10hard. [23:30] 07While one hand spins the arrow, as a disinterested pupil might twirl a brush or charcoal, she pours and downs shots two, three, four. [23:31] 6Zhangyu will ensure there is some water for her nearby. He isn't subtle about it, either. [23:31] 10Completely without thinking, Daizo reaches over and grabs one of the nut dishes and crams an entire handful into his mouth. He realizes what's going on midway through chewing.  15[23:32] Kou takes a step forward, and the whole building shakes. Her hand strays to her hip. "You mouthy little-- absolute nerve--" [23:32] "The Commodore's ship is in port under House V'neef's flag. As you said." 15[23:33] In the rear of the room, some of the kinship note, the scribe puts her pen down, tapping it twice against the inkwell before she does. [23:33] "I do believe you've accused my House of treason." 15[23:34] "YOU'RE THRICE-DAMNED RIGHT I AM-- PANIC IN THE STREETS-- WATER FOULED--" 15[23:34] The scribe shuffles her papers, perhaps a bit more forcefully than necessary. [23:34] 14She looks over at Ratel in disgust. 15[23:35] Ratel: "If you have a charge, then level it. If you don't, I might suggest thinking about how we can help you." [23:36] 14This is the Commodore's opening. Piu is going to pour herself another -- lighter -- drink. 15[23:39] Ratel: "You've got an order problem, and you've got soldiers for that. You've got a supply problem - there'll be ships for that. But right now you've got a scheming godslayer stalking your city, and we have his name, his face, and a team capable of bringing him down." 15[23:39] "So I think you should take a minute and ask yourself: who are you really angry at?" [23:40] 14...It's probably still Piu. That was, on reflection, maybe a bit much. But V'neef Piu defends House V'neef. That's not an act. 15[23:41] Kou holds up a finger and reaches for a tall glass of something clear. The way she downs it all, you really hope that was water. When she's done, she looks somehow madder. [23:42] 10Daizo swallows— nearly chokes— and fetches a bottle of effervescent water. He looks to have been about to say something before Kou called for silence. 15[23:43] Kou, her words clipped. "We Are Aware Of The Anathema." [23:43] 14Piu crosses her arms. [23:43] 6Zhangyu can pass some along. He's now got a serene look on his face, looking absolutely nothing like the scowl that was present minutes before. One might say he was trying not to laugh. [23:43] 14The proper response is 'no shit,' but she's pushed far enough. Let Kou burn it off and earn it back. [23:44] 14If she gets enough time to talk here, maybe she'll walk out forgetting that she basically threw down the gauntlet for a mortal duel on the front end. [23:47] 07Dryas pauses for a moment at the implication of that. She enjoys the confused sensation. 15[23:50] Kou: "The political situation in Abalone is delicate. The public would not tolerate an open Wyld Hunt. Even less so now. Mnemon Hedrin has assured us that people would be dispatched who could deal with him discreetly, and my own attache from the Eye has him under constant surveillance. We'd know if he was the killer." [23:50] 14!! [23:50] 14Oh my. [23:50] 14Nevermind. Piu's all in on this stud hunt. 15[23:53] The scribe gets up and comes to stand behind the Governor, looking from one member of the Defiance to the next. "I think they'll do." [23:54] 14Piu finishes her drink. That should have been a tip-off. No bartender. In the stories, the plant's usually a bartender. 15[23:57] NEXT TIME: The All-Seeing Eye Session Time: Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 2020 14[00:17] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[00:18] * Joins: mattbaby 14[00:53] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[03:33] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:44] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[07:41] * Joins: tom 14[07:44] * Joins: mattbaby 14[08:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[08:13] * Joins: mattbaby 14[09:13] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[09:13] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[09:55] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[10:16] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:47] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[13:59] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:14] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[14:31] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:50] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[19:26] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 ____ [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 ---| [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 \/ /| \/ [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 / |\ [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 / | \ \/ [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 / || \ [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 / | | \ [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 / | | \ [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 / | | \ [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 / || \ [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 / / \ [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 /________/ \ [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 ________/__________--/ [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 \___________________/ [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 \/ [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 [21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 \/ [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12The Heavensward soars majestically through the eastern sides. Its cargo? A payload of the most devastating essence-based war machines ever devised in Creation's history. Also some artifacts and things. [21:24] 4Ir's in the kitchen right now, cooking up some Eastern sides. [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Behind you is the still-relatively-newly-christened Immaculate Fangs Total Control Zone, which you're banished from for decades yet. Perhaps you've set enough of an example there that whatever society Heaven, with the aid of your one-time circlemate, establishes there won't completely forget the virtues of the Unconquered Sun's champions. It won't be that long before you can go [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12and check - certainly not by your Exalted lifespans, though it's anyone's guess if anyone's going to get to live out a Chosen lifespan at this stage of the Age of Sorrows. [21:25] 13Hey! That's us! We're the most devastating essence-based war machines! [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah fuck. You know what I meant. [21:26] 13...still us? [21:26] 4No worries. It's always a good time for side salads and spicy noodles. [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12But anyway -- you're free, for the moment, of all those geasa. Where to? What do? There's plenty out there that you might be passively or actively interested in, and there are at least three communities of people across the plane that host great numbers of your devotees and worshipers: the northern city of Crystal, the mining and fishing collectives of the Hedgehog mountain chain, [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12and the faithful of Great Forks's sunshrine district. Besides that you've got various business concerns in Nexus and its surrounding environs, a friendly circle of other Solars questing against some sort of southern demon cult, allies in the heavens above and the netherworld below... man, you've really gotten around. [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12You know, you've already taken down one ancient Lunar lord and Ma-Ha-Suchi's nameless domain isn't that far away. You could try and go two for two... [21:29] 4Yeah that's a bit TOO spicy. Also isn't that guy in the midst of a legendary depressive funk or something? Best not to torment him. 15[21:30] 10Did someone say legendary depressive funk? [21:30] 13*plays bass sadly* [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12If you've got enhanced eyesight, you might be able to espy the legendary Mt. Matagalpa to your north-northwest. That is, of course, a mountain that floats hundreds of yalms above the ground by unknown means, thought to be populated by a civilization of hawkmen. Could be another vacation spot? [21:31] 4...If nothing else, it'd be nice to see a proof of concept for zeal. [21:32] *4Zeal. [21:37] 13Bird? 15[21:38] 10Can we maybe vacation somewhere that isn't a magical beastman society? [21:39] 13:< [21:40] 4Ir, at the very least, is gonna take some traveling time off -- either with the Heavensward if others want to come along, or just with Errant -- to keep up some appearances and reconnect with some old friends. This means a whirlwind residency in The Unconquered Throne in Crystal for a week capped off by a great free concert for the citizens of the city, along with a couple private [21:40] 4dinners catching up with Grey Nara and her advisors; a return to Nexus to give her soup kitchens and pitza carts a shot in the arm, and then a visit to Great Forks to preside over some sessions for the believers and arbitrate whatever minor disputes she feels comfortable interceding in. All the others are welcome to come; she'll be doing this either before or after they find a place [21:40] 4to hole up for awhile as a Circle, depending on the timing. [21:41] 6I mean, if we're heading north to Crystal, Tatsuya has some business to check into 13and Ying hasn't exactly seen it! Kinda chilly for a vacation though... [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Where'll everyone else go? I can give a running commentary/travelogue of sorts to explicate on how things turn out to be doing. [21:44] 6Tatsuya needs to check on the Undermelt and what they're up to, along with the general criminal underworld of Crystal; 13Ying needs to look into the Rainbow Connection and the people she was supposed to be training before flitting off rudely! [21:45] 6The Undermelt doesn't exactly need training, 13beclaws they beat him up without any!! 6because they're already trained. So more of their time would be in Nexus. [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Crystal is far up north and therefore a very long trip - even on a straight line from Mahalanka, that's over a hundred days on (flying) horseback and about a month by ship. Then it's just as long back! If you're visiting in person it means a time investment. [21:52] 13Strictly speaking I don't think we're welcome back in Mahalanka. [21:52] 7Depending on how far west we go, we could just find a nice warm island that Blossom could build a miniature resort on. 15[21:53] 10No other people? [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, 'back' to the east, I mean. I guess it wouldn't be literally that long since the Crystal-Nexus flight is a bit shorter. [21:53] 4Ir could do with no other people, but by default she prefers them. Maybe just like. A few though. [21:54] 4A nice town that they can go into for supplies, a half-day's walk away. Something like that. [21:54] 4Maybe with a cozy little low-stakes mystery to solve? If we're just making a wish-list. [21:55] 7Blossom: "Would you want there to be other people? It doesn't matter to me..." [21:57] 4Ir, after iterating the above: "...But fewer people means better hunting. Tradeoffs!" [22:02] 7Blossom: "We can always drop Tatsuying off in Nexus first, anyway." [22:03] 4Ir: "I've got soup kitchens and pitza carts to check in on, too, but that should only take a day or two." [22:03] 13Ying: "You're not staying?" 13She's pouting; it's adorable. [22:04] 4Ir: "I gotta get to Crystal, babe. And Great Forks!" [22:04] "We've got so many people to check in on, ugh." [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12All roads lead to Nexus, and that might be the easiest first stop for a quartet of god-kings looking to both catch up on a few responsibilities and to take a load off. The trip there is an easy one; none of the beasts of the air challenge you, the land beneath you seems to have healed in the main since you led a kruthik army across it, and from above Great Forks looks the shining [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12jewely it always did, almost rivaling the wonderland you caused to bloom across the body of the eastern behemoth. Watching the sunrise crest the peak of the Imperial Mountain every day is breathtaking; watching the sun sink in the far west, looking almost to splash into and through a wavering haze of leaf-green essence that's been rising behind you at the approximate sight of the [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12behemoth's fall, is enchanting. [22:06] 13Ying: "Oh! If you're going to Crystal can you check in on Tatsuya's dumb secret thing that I'm not suppawsed to know about?" 13She clears her throat and 6drops her voice: "Undermelt." [22:07] "Yup. I take it they'll remember me. And if they don't, well, I don't think they can kill me before I can explain." [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12For a while, it's disorienting to fly through the Threshold rather than the deep East. The trees are so... small, is something wrong with them? What's that brown stuff on the- ohhh, right, soil. They've just got that stuff sitting there bare under the sky in these parts. [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12On the other hand, it's nice not to have to check for wood spiders before sitting down anywhere. [22:07] 13Ying: "They beat him up even befur they got trained - which I'm not suppawsed to tell you about either - so maybe be carefurl?" [22:08] 6aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa [22:08] 4Ir, mock concern: "Hmm. Yeah. You're probably right." [22:08] "They must be pretty powerful to take Tatsuya down!" [22:08] 13Whispurring: "Furry short." [22:08] 6aaaaaaa [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Nexus looks different as it comes into view. Rather, uh, darker. And was there always a great spire of bone and black metal sticking up out of the middle of the city? You're pretty sure no. [22:10] 6Gods fucking damn it. [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12you know, I just realized I described the sun rising in the west and setting in the east above; you should reverse those. [22:11] 6Vacation, you said. Let's relax for a while, you said. 13Only one of us is at fault here!! [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12That way I can say that now as you see the sun sink beneath the edge of the imperial mountain on your approach to the city, you can see a great lambent flame build at the center of Nexus, then pool at the base of the tower, streak straight up its length, and go shrieking into the sky to splash against the clouds, sending spider's legs of candle-fire cracking like whips this way [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12and that before finally spending itself over the course of several minutes. It leaves behind a patch of greyness but otherwise seems to end peacefully. [22:12] 7Blossom: "I didn't think I could hate that city any more than I already do." [22:12] 13Without hesitating: "Tatsuya did it." [22:14] 4Ir: "I guess it was too much to expect this place not to have a pillar of hideous flame stuck in it when we arrived." [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Perhaps he did, at that. You notice two things: first, while the energy seems to be venting itself harmlessly skyward, in practice it's bending and flowing southwest - towards Thorns. And it must be doing so through the underworld, because the discoloration in the sky above looks like a full-on patch of shadowland, i.e. a gate to the actual underworld. The stars visible through there [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12aren't Creation's stars, but the weird and proprietary constellations of the dead. [22:15] 13Ying: "No it was sort of like that when we left. Remempurr? The big ol' giant flaming ghostie." [22:15] "Yeah, what I'm saying is, it would be cool if OTHER people could fix stuff from time to time." [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Still, the Candle Titan problem has clearly been solved, because people are going about their business through the city streets as though nothing of note was happening. In fact -- is that an ad? Yes, you're seeing loops of ghost-flame that peeled themselves off from the central pillar remain in the sky and curl through cursive script advertising this hostel or that restaurant. [22:16] 13Ying: "They were suppawsed to! Which is why we left, confurdent that someone else could." [22:17] 6For fuck's sake. [22:17] 13Ying: "Clearly that was hissplaced." [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12There are a fair few skeletons walking the streets, skeletal horses pulling carriages, that sort of thing. Black seems to be in fashion - no doubt a fact taken into account by Ying's apprentices/employees. Looks like Coils and Bells and Typhon weren't just playing at it when you saw them at work in the city shortly before you left - they really had been contracted to solve this, [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12after their own fashion. [22:18] 4Ir: "Oh for fuck's sake." 15[22:18] 10Eikichi: "I... suppose we've got to hand it to them." [22:19] 13Ying: "Nope! Nope, nope, nope. Fixing this!" [22:19] 7Blossom: "No we don't. Tatsuying, please ruin this." [22:19] 4Ir: "Among the undead, that's a pun." [22:19] "Are we really going to immediately start a fight with Coils and Bells upon landing?" [22:19] "I thought we were on vacation?!" [22:20] 13Ying: "It's not a fight if I just go behind their backs!" [22:20] 4Ir: "Fine. Fine! Don't get caught!!" [22:20] "Nefur do!" 13She winks. [22:21] 4Ir will take care of her welfare and business stuff while this is going. Presumably they haven't started turning the population undead. Yet. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12I mean... you are on vacation. This situation seems stable. Still, you're free to investigate, if that's your priority. You going to dock, pull down your usual rooms at the Scarlet Palace, walk about town...? [22:22] 13Things being all hecked up on our vacation means we still have to fix it!!! [22:23] 4As long as they're not hurting people they should feel free to be as goth as they want! If we break this we become responsible for it! 14[22:24] * Joins: mattbaby [22:24] 13One of us did break it and he's my shithead brother!!!!! [22:24] 6...wow. Uh. What she said. [22:25] 6Except for the cuss word. That's just rude. [22:25] 7If we're landing, then Blossom is going to scowl in her room for a bit before going to get her hair did. They have been in the jungle for a while. [22:26] 4Well, we're definitely landing. [22:27] 6Strictly speaking, with Brightest Day Tatsuya could land himself if you are in a hurry. [22:27] 4Ir's gotta see what kind of weird goth pitzas they're selling now. 14[22:27] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[22:28] * Joins: mattbaby [22:28] 15Pineapple and black olive. Nightmarish. [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12The proprietor of the Scarlet Palace is glad to see you, though slightly panicked. Of course, he'll always have a room open for you, he owes you, but at quite this time you might have to eheh wait a few days we're quite overbooked you see- ...this doesn't prove a long term problem, but does probably mean you end up bunking on the Heavensward while space frees up. That said, he's [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12quite happy to have you, especially because Ir always works wonders in the kitchens despite his somewhat insincere protests that she needn't worry herself. [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12How much of an effort do you make to disguise your arrival? If you don't, it's mere hours before you're beset by Guild agents desperate to book fights and further publishing deals, fans desperate for autographs, magnates and merchants who want you to be their guest rather than someone else's guest at some upcoming drug-fueled revel. [22:30] 4Sounds fine. Ir will decamp into the hotel kitchen and spend much of her time in Nexus in residence there when she's not out at the soup kitchens or the pitza carts. As always, her retainer goes into the tip jar and gets split. [22:30] 4Ir will be quite firm this isn't an arena visit. [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12When Ying arrives at the Rainbow Connection, she finds that there's been an ongoing argument as to whether to book time on the fire-letters, which is to say the skywriting advertisements which channel fractions of the candle-titan's flames into skywriting ads. Totokuro's anxious that you've been leaving value on the table, but Lingfei has been adamant that Ying wouldn't stand for [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12it. [22:32] 13Even if they weren't partially here to fix a problem that one of them caused and trying to hide that fact, Ying will want to appear unannounced at the Rainbow Connection. [22:32] <@Ferrinus> 12It'd certainly help business, because with the current swing towards gothic faction your shop's name tends to make customers think they'll have better luck finding trendy apparel elsewhere... [22:33] 4Ir defrays the disappointment of all her various fight and party suitors by constantly cooking up free meals for them on comp, which the manager might not be happy with if he doesn't understand what loss leading and social capital are. He seems to have good business sense, though. [22:34] 4Every important middleman in the city wandering into the Scarlet Palace and going away thinking 'what a damn good kitchen' is probably even better in that department than the sit-down meals for the food critics. 15[22:35] 10Eikichi could barely stand Nexus the way it used to be. She has to be coaxed off the ship and then spends all her time in her room unless Blossom wants company. Supplicants get flatly ignored. [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Jack has been working out well, incidentally - at least the fact that many pieces are being sewn by a real, live skeleton has been worth no small amount of business. Well, you know what I mean by "real, live". 'Sewn' isn't much of an exaggeration, either - apparently Lingfei has gotten good at delivering increasingly complex instructions to the undead servant. [22:37] 13Good instincts to both Lingfei and Totokuro! These disagreements are probably healthy for the business, but! In this case, Lingfei has the right of it. Especially given that the titan's advertisments should be ending soon. 08[22:41] 7Blossom won't coax Eikichi outside. When she comes back, freshly cut and coiffed - the two locks framing her face were getting thick enough to have their own hair ties - she'll just hang out in his room, because she's allowed to do that. They're betrothed. [22:41] 4Ir's residencies are legendary...but she hopes not to be doing one in Nexus again for awhile. Just incognito visits to keep the kitchens going. [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Word that Ir's out and about gets around fast, and that's why perhaps a day or two later it's Ying who's ambushed in her shop by a heavily-armored and even more heavily eye-shadowed child with blonde pigtails. "You're back!" 12squeals Black Bells Chiming. [22:46] 13Ying hugs her and spins her around while beaming. "I am! Hi!" 15[22:47] 10Eikichi doesn't seem depressed, exactly, but she is quite low-energy, a languor bordering on torpor. "Where shall we break ground?" 10asks Blossom's beloved. [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells is quite heavy in that form-fitting soulsteel, but then, Ying's quite strong. "It's been so long! Where'dyougo?" 14[22:48] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[22:49] * Joins: mattbaby [22:51] 13Ying: "Out east!" 13She whispers conspiratorially: "Mahalanka." 13Then she's back to normal: "I missed you! And the shop, and even Nexus!" [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells mouths it to herself. "Ma... ha... is that where Raksi lives? Did you meet her?!" [22:53] 13She grins even wider. [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12As Ir works, and as Blossom simply listens to conversations in the hairdresser and elsewhere around her, and as Ying makes her way to her shop and then gets caught up with her employees before Bells shows up, you become increasingly aware as a Circle of other stuff that's been going on across Creation while you've been on your campaign. The big one, of course, is the stirrings of [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12war - several different Realm houses lay competing claim to the Imperial Manse, certain for various reasons that the Empress is either gone or in fact in need of rescue, and there have apparently been skirmishes on the soil of the Isle. As yet, the entire empire isn't actually aflame and various satrapies are still being administered (some by what are effective skeleton crews) but some [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12kind of tipping point is in the process of being reached. 08[22:57] 7Blossom carefully arranges things such that Eikichi's head is in her lap as they lounge on the bed, with books and charts piled to either side within reach of her hands (so she doesn't have to stand up and disturb him). [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Some sort of strangeness or terror is brewing to the south, too - even as the flow of eastern refugees has slowed, more have fled from the south to the relatively safer Scavenger Lands. Men and women tell tales of demons, armies of the dead, shafts of light puncturing the desert... strange stuff. [22:57] 13That sounds like their problem, not ours. Ying is instead going to ask Bells how she's been doing, what's been going on, and if she has any request because golly she hasn't gotten to work in ages!! [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12It sounds like some kind of fragile detente is currently holding in the north between parts of the Haslanti League, other parts of the Haslanti League, the remains of the Realm's northern forces, and what might be the forces of two different death-cults. The times you're living in just keep getting more interesting, it seems. [22:59] 4...As soon as we get Zeal together, its maiden voyage is probably gonna be to the south. At least that's what it sounds like. [23:00] 13That sounds neat! There's this singer there... 08[23:00] "I think the wisest thing would be to connect to one of the major rivers, such that we can draw a tributary up into the Sea of Clouds for easy, yet defensible access from the ground. So..." 7She holds a map where Eikichi can see it and runs her finger along it. "From here in Nexus we have our pick. We can try somewhere north past Sijan, further east towards Great Forks, or south." [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells wants to know all about Raksi, because according to her the Mask has promised a really big favor to anyone who gives him Raksi's magic book. But Bells has a lot to say herself, particularly about her work in Nexus. She's spent months building this tower, it was so hard to start, her dad's no help, Typhon's worse than no help, they had to bring in some experts and then bind [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12the ghosts of those experts when they became recalcitrant, Bells finally learned necromancy for real wanna see some (no? you sure? come on it's- oh fine), at one point the Mask himself even showed up here to cast a spell to make the tower work! [23:02] 6aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Now she gets to mostly relax in town doing occasional maintenance. Bell's dad Coils has had stints in the arena but is currently traveling to pay back some kind of favor the Mask owes someone, she can't remember if it was south or north because he went into the underworld first 'cause it's faster and anyway it might be a state secret so actually pretend you didn't hear that. [23:03] 13Ying mimes zipping her lips and throwing away the key. [23:05] 13The rest is... augh! Augh!!! She's got to tell the rest of the Circle about, well. All of what she's about to do, and then also get one of them to comfort Bells in the event that she isn't there to do it herself, because her immediate goal is to just destroy everything she worked so hard for. 15[23:05] 10Eikichi: "Is there much unclaimed territory along the rivers?" [23:06] 7That's a good question, actually. [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12From between the lines of what Bells says, and also just from the word of the man on the street, it really sounds like Thorns is becoming a regional power within the Confederation of Rivers. It had some kind of dispute with Lookshy which was settled very decisively in Thorns's favor, and the Mask has also recently liberated ("liberated") the city of Jiara from the grip of House [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Mnemon. Now Cathak and Mnemon both are recently chastised by Exalted power and therefore on the back foot in the building civil war. 15[23:07] 10What happened to Cathak? [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, their massive feathersteel mining concern got annihilated by the infinite spite of She Who Lives In Her Name, dinnit? Entire armies vaporized, a storied general scarred and deformed beyond recognition. 15[23:08] 10Ohhhh. Right. 15[23:09] 10Who remembers? [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "...but he just did that laugh he does. I wish I did have that book, though, he actually keeps his promises! But yeah I still have that dress. You'd make me another??" [23:17] 13Ying taps a claw to her chin. "Mmmmaybe..." 13A fang shows through her grin this time. "Check again in a few days? Anything could happen." [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Bells: "Well, stay in touch! I'm at the embassy. Just send a skeleton. Yours is cute!" 12She waves to you and Jack, who haltingly waves back, before taking off. [23:22] 13She has got to talk to the rest of the Circle about this. 14[23:23] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [23:23] 4Ir will leave dinner service to her most trusted sous-chef in the kitchen after prepping an incredible variety of meals, and head back to the Heavensward to make a much less presumptuous dinner for herself. [23:24] 4Assuming everyone's back on board for the night, she'll cook for the circle and take short orders. [23:27] 7Blossom: "In the areas between the major cities, yes. Some is completely fallow, other places just a few fishing villages. I thought we might want to stay near the Confederation of Rivers... did you hear that Thorns trounced Lookshy in some kind of regional dispute recently?" 15[23:28] "I hadn't. I expect the Mask will interpret our settling in the region as direct hostility." [23:28] 7Blossom is average Imperial City girl~ Her favorite food is isicia omentata~ 15[23:28] "But, well, fuck him." 15[23:28] 10So it is that Eikichi sits down to big planks of flaky fried fish. [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Eat hot egg and fry [23:29] "Exactly. But better that than leaving them to run roughshod all over the Near East." 15[23:30] 10Eikichi: "Makes sense. Let's see what the others think." [23:31] 4For Ir, it's southern tacos three ways, with boar, megasloth (they still have some!), and fish. [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12As a battle group, your legions of fans and indeed the general Nexus foot traffic have very low combat stats, so you're able to regroup with ease once you're ready to. 15[23:32] 10Nothing a little Death of Obsidian Butterflies can't handle. 15[23:32] 10Joking, joking. Unless...? [23:33] 4Is the Circle gonna have dinner together? [23:33] 4If so, Ir will mix a couple drinks. 15[23:33] 10Yes, definitely. [23:34] 4After concerns are presented, and as she heats the corn flats: "I feel like the Mask has been giving us direct hostility for a long time. I'm fine with giving a little back." [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Listen, he only did direct hostility that one time. Otherwise his people have sort of been working in your margins. [23:36] 4That one time was a pretty big deal. [23:36] 4So hey, we'll just do our own direct hostility this one time. [23:36] 4Even! 15[23:37] 10It is only one instance of hostility if we start it and then never ever stop. [23:38] 4The philosophers are clear on this point. She'll refill drinks and set a basket of the flats down in the center, then make her own taco. 15[23:40] 10It's not really a taco, but Eikichi does wrap each piece of already-breaded fish in a flatbread. You can never have too much starch. [23:41] 13Dinner? Fishfishfishfishfishfishfish [23:41] 6Don't you want t13fishfishfish [23:46] 7Blossom decides to be daring and lays a small fish fillet atop her omentata. [23:47] 13This fish is delicious... Jack is going to need a new outfit... oh! Oh!! At dinner: "So Tatsuya's mistake is mostly fixed, except purr the fact that the infurrno ghost is still around." 15[23:47] 10Mildly: "Oh is that all?" [23:48] 4Ir: "I mean...the city seems fine with it. The fashion's kinda crappy now, but, it's not like when Wicked was trying to turn all of Crystal into an undead workforce." [23:48] "Right?" [23:48] 13Ying: "It's not... as bad? Black Bells Chiming handled it. Kind of." [23:48] "The fashion IS crappy, thank you for noticing. Augh. I've half a mind to remake -- no, that's too much." [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Clearly, the titan is still appearing every night... or trying to. It's just that there's a massive necromantic manse in place which captures and disperses it somehow. [23:49] 13Someone's going to have to do something about that. Someone who isn't here right now. Someone who is being called out 6okay okay I get it [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12There is an undead workforce in the city now, incidentally. It's just skeletons and (carefully disinfected and embalmed) zombies doing increasing amounts of manual labor, it looks like. You can even buy your own! [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Apparently, this is a taste of what it's like to live in Thorns proper - all manual labor left to the mindless dead. A paradise for the living! Tours sold very cheaply- 15[23:51] 10What, uh, what happened to the poor people? [23:51] 13Look, we can live with darling sweeties like Jack, but the farther this goes...! [23:51] 4What. [23:52] 4Augh! She can feel the Circle getting dragged into it! Ack! [23:55] 4Changing subjects: "So what do we have to...do...in the south or on the rivers or whatever to get Zeal started?" [23:55] "Carve a big spell circle around the entire city space? Raze the land? It feels like floating cities require substantial materials." 15[23:56] 10Eikichi: "Two main options. One is to render it all down to raw Wyld, like in the Hedgehog, and design it from scratch. The other is to raise the land geomantically, which would take at least a few months of sorcerous labor." [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Poor people? Well, they're, you know, making do. They're responding to market forces. They're discovering entire new ranges of professions that the increasingly skeletal economy is creating for them, like cranium polisher or limb stitcher. They're taking an increased interest in service and creative jobs that still need a warm, mortal touch like food server, masseuse, painting model... [23:58] 4Ir: "So basically, we scout sites, find one we like, see if it's not inhabited, and if we CAN'T find an uninhabited site we like we uh, make the dough from scratch?" [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12There's been some problems, to be sure. If you pick through old publications or just ask around you'll find that there've been a couple riots by those who simply aren't forward-thinking, arson plots against zombie warehouses and that sort of thing. But, of course, the Emissary puts them down very quickly. [23:59] 13Ying: "How do people get up there who aren't us?" 15[23:59] 10Eikichi: "More or less. The hardest part will be sticking the pin on the map, so to speak. That's the part with the fewest consequences we can control directly." Session Time: Thu Apr 02 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] 4Ir: "The idea is we have connecting rivers, right? Like you can just sail to Zeal, but, at some point, the rivers are in the sky. [00:00] " 15[00:00] 10To Ying: "In the Revered and Humble Order of Civil Engineers, there's a saying: If you build it, they will come." [00:01] 13Ying: "I mean, they're gonna. But how." [00:02] 13Big ol' elevator? Somehow sailing straight up in the air? Teleportation? Not really her department! But she's curious. [00:02] 13A curious cat. [00:02] 7Blossom: "I think the 'raw Wyld' option is better, because then we're not leaving a big hole in the ground." [00:04] 7To Ying: "We draw off part of the river-" 7She draws her finger through the air to demonstrate. "And have it, sorcerously, travel up into the air to meet up with Zeal. Then people can just use regular boats to get in and out." [00:05] 13Ying's ears flick. "Nice! Although it'll be furry scary to sail... out." [00:05] "And surrounding the main Zeal landmasses...!" 7She pulls a drawing she's been working on from a pocket, showing a map of an island surrounded by a wide pasta-knot of squiggly lines. "The Sea of Clouds! A network of air-rivers, earthmotes, and sky lagoons!" [00:05] "Nyooooom." 13A claw traces from the air downwards. [00:06] "Yes. Well. Bravery is important in a sailor." [00:07] 4Ir: "It also means we can have a Navy for defense without having to reproduce the Heavensward 400 times." [00:09] 13Ying: "We purrobably should have a couple. 'Cause I don't think places will take kindly to. Y'know. Us." [00:09] "Not fur hundred though." [00:10] "No, we'll need at least four hundred. Not all of them will be in service at the same time; we'll need drydocks for repairs and maintenance. That's total fleet composition, not ships of the line; we'll need clippers, outriggers, and corsairs in addition to three-masters." [00:11] 4The Pneuman in her is coming back a bit. [00:12] "Frankly, the Heavensward isn't big enough to be our flagship, and that's aside from us not wanting to commit our personal airship to the naval forces." [00:14] 13Ying: "That's so many..." 13She looks over to Blossom; she's the one who made the first Heavensward, after all. [00:15] 4Ir: "Our enemies are gonna have a lot of ships too." 15[00:16] 10Eikichi: "The Zeal Navy will need uniforms, of course..." [00:16] 13!! 14[00:16] * Joins: mattbaby [00:16] 7Blossom: "We don't have a choice but to rely on ordinary wind and muscle powered ships. Remember, the Heavensward runs on an Essence... machine... from the Dawn Age. I can repair the one we've got, but it'll be a long time before I know enough to make another." [00:16] 13Calmly: "I can purrobably handle that. Any requests fur colors?" [00:17] "Symbols?" [00:20] 7Blossom flips her drawing over, showing another drawing of a squared circle inside a sunburst. [00:21] 13A fang sticks out over a lip. The Rainbow Connection will be busy making patches... [00:22] 4Ir: "Gold. Maybe some red in there. We need to represent the sun." [00:23] *the Sun [00:27] 13She can work with this. [00:30] 7Blossom: "Hats?" [00:30] "For the officers." [00:30] 4Ir: "I'm not a huge fan of hats..." [00:30] "I mean it's fine for the other officers though." [00:34] 13Ying: "Hats are..." 13She flicks her ears. "A challenge," 13she settles on. 15[00:34] 10Eikichi: "Where do you stand on epaulets?" [00:35] 13Ying: "Is there a level beyond 'yes, absolutely?' Because yes, absolutely." [00:35] 13Beclaws* 08[00:35] 7Blossom's eyes glaze over as she imagines Wild Rose resplendent in a military uniform with epaulets and fringe. [00:36] 4Ir: "I'd prefer functional service uniforms. Dress uniforms are a different thing entirely, of course." [00:36] "But getting shoulder tassels caught in the rigging is unacceptable, and having the officers five times more dandy than the sailors is bad for morale." 15[00:37] 10Eikichi: "Plus, you know. Giant targets for snipers." [00:37] "That's true too." [00:37] 4Makes another taco. Or two. [00:38] 13Ying: "I'm better than that! The morale and sniper thing is a purroblem but these'd be functional as heck!" [00:39] "This ain't amateur hour here. Yeesh." [00:41] 4Ir: "Didn't mean to say it was! Still, simple is better. It's a value statement." [00:41] "Flag officers have enough power without their everyday clothes making it go to their heads." [00:42] 13Claw goes tap tap tap. "It looks so good though..." [00:43] 4Ir: "Also, all our armed forces are gonna have to be trained as marines. Attacking from ships, able to step in on emplaced ship weapons or mast positions in a pinch, that sort of thing." [00:43] "We can keep some specialized elites for just the city, but the bulk of the force will have to be able to fight on the rivers. [00:43] " [00:44] "Kind of wish we'd been able to keep Jain, but. So it goes." [00:47] 7Blossom glances at Ying, then tugs her lip in thought as if just realizing something. 15[00:47] 10Eikichi glances at Blossom questioningly. [00:47] 13Ying: "We could talk to Tatsuya's group up north apawt 'special furces'..." [00:48] 13She doesn't sound thrilled about it. [00:48] 4Ir: "I don't see why not." 15[00:49] 10Eikichi: "We probably don't want to accept any literal children as spies. We could add a height requirement, too, if it'd make Tatsuya feel more comfortable." [00:50] "Wait, they're children? I thought they were just short." [00:50] "Tatsuya got wrecked by children. Damn." [00:50] 13Ying, grinning: "He super did." [00:51] 13Supurr. Obviously. 08[00:52] 7Blossom leans back and makes eye contact with Eikichi, mouthing secret I'll tell you later. "Everyone has their... off... days?" 7She doesn't, but presumably some people do. This will help Tatsuya feel better! "Maybe if he gave it another try?" 15[00:53] 10Eikichi busts out laughing. [00:53] 4Ir: "I don't support child abuse!" [00:53] "Children abusing Tatsuya...it's just wrong!" 15[00:54] 10Eikichi almost slides beneath the table cackling. Her face is beet red. [00:54] 13Ying cackles. [00:54] 4Downing another taco. "Sorry, Tatsuya. Love you." [00:54] 6Not funny. 13Extremely funny, actually! [00:56] 13Ying: "He's laughing. Fur sure." 6no i'm not 13Sometimes I can still hear his voice... [00:56] 4Ir pauses. "You know what Zeal's really going to need..." [00:56] "A mascot." [00:57] 13Ying: "Cat." 15[00:57] 10Eikichi glances sidelong at Blossom. [00:57] 7Blossom: "Nyaroshi?" [00:57] 4Ir: "It can have elements of cat. But it can't be just cat." [00:57] 13Ying pouts. [00:58] 13...wait. "Nyaroshi? Yes!!" [00:58] 4Ir: "...Are we on speaking terms with them?" [00:58] 7Blossom: "Ying still has her blessing, I believe." [00:58] 13Ying gestures to herself. [00:59] "And I have an idea along those lines. Secret idea. You guys will love it." 15[00:59] 10Eikichi: "We don't alienate everyone we meet." 15[00:59] "Though, statistically, it's the safest bet." [00:59] 13Sagely: "We're not those kind of nomads." 14[01:00] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [01:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Nyaroshi's well-disposed to you last you've checked. This comes, of course, at the cost of Czaliphenya's eternal resentment. 15[01:00] 10At least she wears it well. [01:00] 13She wasn't that mad when Ying last left! [01:01] 13And she hasn't done anything as awful as that first outfit that drew her ire! 15[01:01] 10Good times... [01:01] 13It really wasn't! 08[01:02] 13I mean, it was very funny at first, but then Eikichi pulled it off, and then Czaliphenya was in actual physical pain... 15[01:02] 10According to Blossom, the best part of Eikichi's outfits is when she pulls them off. [01:02] 13*nods solemnly* [01:03] 4Ahah! There's a double meaning in that! 08[01:03] 7Well, obviously! If Eikichi looked bad - if that were even possible - then that would 14[01:03] * Joins: mattbaby [01:03] 7Oh. Ooooooh. 15[01:03] 10She can be taught! [01:06] 4Ir: "So...are we gonna have some kind of people's assembly in Zeal?" [01:06] "It feels like they should have some sort of representation." [01:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Why? All their ideas would be worse than yours. [01:08] 4Shut it, narrator, [01:09] 13No, let's hear the narrator out. What should we do? [01:09] 13(whispering) let's do the opposite of that [01:09] 7Blossom: "I suppose even the Empress had her Deliberative. Though I'm beginning to think that was more to keep power away than to grant it." 15[01:10] 10Eikichi: "It'd be impractical and, frankly, rude not to. Imagine being a doctor and diagnosing patients without ever meeting them." [01:10] 4Ir: "People know their mundane concerns best, and really, we don't actually want to be doing city council meetings. Have you ever--" [01:10] "Yeah. What she said." [01:12] 13Ying: "We're still getting a little ahead of ourselves. Though it's good to think about this now instead of, y'know. After we pull this off." [01:12] 7Wait. She? [01:12] "Still! Couple'a steps between now and then." [01:12] 7Has Blossom been being rude to her betrothed?! [01:13] 4Time to conspicuously eat another taco or two. 15[01:13] 10Eikichi's suddenly very interested in the table grain. [01:13] 4Actually, Ir's gonna take her plate over to the keyharp. [01:14] 4Remember that?! [01:14] 4It's been awhile. 15[01:14] 10Music... [01:14] 13You mean the thing that Ying is curled up beneath? How'd she get there. What a scamp. [01:14] 4Ir is going to use her foot to dislodge her from the pedals, then. Come on! [01:15] 13nyooooo [01:16] 13She can curl up at the far end. This is fine. She's not mad. [01:16] 4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxZlJGtFGcw 08[01:17] 7Blossom is tossing worried glances at Eikichi. [01:21] 4After a few minutes, she switches to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UtVVHjEz74 15[01:22] 10After what feels like ages Eikichi lifts her eyes to meet Blossom's. [01:24] 4Then finally: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-0G_FI61a8 [01:26] 7She raises her eyebrows and gestures with her head towards the stairway to their rooms. 15[01:27] 10Eikichi gets up and follows her. 08[01:29] 7When they've reached Eikichi's room, Blossom grabs her(?) hands and says, visibly nervous: "Is this something new? A Delzahn thing? Should I change how I refer to you?" 15[01:31] "...I didn't want to make a big deal out of it. It doesn't bother me much to hear myself called the other way. But something changed. I crossed the Adamant Circle and I realized..." 10She kind of peters out. Hard to talk around the lump in your throat you refused to talk about this because of in the first place. [01:34] 7Blossom tilts her head. 15[01:35] "...it's stupid. Why does it matter? They're just words." 10Curious way to end that sentence. [01:39] 7Blossom snorts and folds her arms. "'kichi, you're upset, so clearly it matters. If you want me to say 'she' and 'her', I can do that. If you're uncomfortable with the idea of changing things for public events or in front of your family, we can work something out. I won't let you be secretly miserable all the time. Or openly miserable." 15[01:40] "I really don't want to have this conversation with my family," 10Eikichi admits. "You know, my, my other family." 15[01:40] "Ew, no, that makes it sound like I've got a secret wife." 15[01:40] "You know what I mean." [01:41] 7Blossom: "Haha, can you imagine? I'd throttle her!" 15[01:41] 10Eikichi: "That's... very true." 15[01:42] 10Eikichi: "But yes. I would like it if you used those words, privately at least." 15[01:42] "I don't really care if anybody *else* knows." 14[01:45] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 08[01:47] 7Blossom pokes him in the chest. "Anyway. I always knew at least part of you was going to be Wild Rose." 7She licks her lips unconsciously. "So... that's how you'd like to do this, for now? 'She' in private and 'he' in public, to avoid confusion?" 15[01:47] 10Eikichi nods. "I think that would be best." 08[01:51] "Okay." 7She clears her throat, looks away. She seems distracted by the mention of Wild Rose, for some reason. "Oh, right. The other thing. I had an idea to help populate Zeal." 15[01:51] "Oh?" [01:52] "Not just beastmen, but bipedal cats! Bigger, of course. About so high." 7She gestures. "The size of lalafellin." [01:52] "Then we can breed big cats, like tigers and jaguars, for them to ride..." 15[01:52] 10Eikichi: "Oh, that's delightful." 15[01:52] "Ying will be so pleased." [01:53] "Exactly." 7She nods firmly. "I'm going to make her a present before we start." [01:54] 7She looks around suspiciously, glaring at the door. "I can't say what. She might be listening." 15[01:54] 10Eikichi: "Then you'll simply have to write it down." [02:00] 7Still checking for eavesdroppers, Blossom finds a scrap piece of paper and a pen, dips it in ink, and begins to draw. 15[02:00] 10Eikichi's eyes go wide. She gasps. 15[02:01] "Such power... such majesty..." 10she breathes. [02:01] 7Blossom: "It's obvious, when you think about it, isn't it? She doesn't have one, and it would be so useful." 15[02:02] "An idea no one else ever had, obvious in retrospect. The very definition of genius. Just like you." 10Eikichi kisses the top of Blossom's head for emphasis. [02:04] 7Blossom goes >:3 [02:16] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ [02:16] When a friend tells you something that's hard for them, be supportive! Remember, you might have to rely on them one day! Together, you're stronger than you are apart! And that's... the truth! [02:16] ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 7☀ 13°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸,ø¤°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ ( SOLAR BLOSSOM SAYS! ) 13¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°¤ø,¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 7☀ -═══════ι▬▬ 14[03:58] * banana|peels is now known as banana|work 14[04:27] * Joins: tom2 14[04:28] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:18] * banana|work is now known as banana 14[09:01] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:02] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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'` |____ [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12 ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ /| [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12 ) ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ /|~ /_|\ [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12 _-H-__ -~-~-~-~-~-~ /_|\ -~======-~ [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12~-\XXXXXXXXXX/~ ~-~-~-~ /__|_\ ~-~-~-~ [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12~-~-~-~-~-~ ~-~~-~-~-~-~ ======== ~-~-~-~ [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Nexus! Perhaps the free-est city in all Creation -- and all the more so for the advent of necromantic automation. With zombies lugging cargo and skeletons painting fences, the city's living citizens are enjoying leisure unparalleled anywhere save (supposedly) Thorns itself, although whether that's because they've now got cheap servants or because they've been replaced by cheaper [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12servants varies with the neighborhood. The Thorns embassy bustles with business all day and night, and the increasingly complete extirpation of Realm influence from the eastern Threshold's coast is widely approved of. [21:48] 4Ah, the freedom to choose between life and death! Love it! Doesn't sound insane at all!! [21:49] 4Ir continues to hold court in the Scarlet Palace's kitchen. Seriously, guys, she's not going to marry your patron, she's not gonna beat them up in the arena, and she's certainly not doing both as part of some weird kink. Back off. [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Agents of the Nexus arena are pleading, begging Ir to sign up for likely the most epic bout they'll have hosted in the Age of Sorrows: a duel between herself and Dissolving Dragon's Coils. When that's happening is anyone's guess, because Coils himself is away on business (where? what business? nobody knows) but it's widely held that such an event would spike revenue through the [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12roof if it didn't first flatten the city entire. Maybe even if it did! [21:50] 4She'll give all the promoters the same response: If Bells wants to come by and chat about it, she'll chat. With Bells. [21:51] 4Er, Coils. [21:51] 4But he needs to bring Bells. [21:51] 4Well he doesn't need to but he should. [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Typhon, the Mask's most public-facing agent, has not turned up to annoy you further but has sent a diplomatic communique. It's the usual fare - welcoming your Circle back to the city, reminding you that you're welcome to call on him at the Embassy and indeed to tour Thorns if you're so inclined, a request that you let him know if there's anything you need, that sort of [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12thing. It's safe to ignore or dramatically burn to a crisp or whatever. [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Coils isn't available, of course... but if Ir's up for smiting some spine chains or zombified buck-ogres or whatever the bookings write themselves! Consider it! [21:52] 13Boring. Although speaking of very important people who we should inform we're in the city... heyyyyy, Emissary. What's that guy up to. [21:52] 13Asking for a friend who is me. [21:52] 4No!! Have some crepes!!!! They're delicious and free!!!!! Begone!!!!!!!!! [21:55] 13Ying still needs to have 6Tatsuya 13fix the inferno titan problem but she's content to be a woman-about-town until then! [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12The Emissary... an interesting question. According to word on the street, he's not seen around as often as usual, although he's appeared to put down a few labor disputes in the past few months - one time boiling would-be zombieslayers in their own skins (they were destroying private property) and at other times to simply terrify protestors into acquiescence by simply showing his [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12mask. He's not the kind of person that's easy to track down, but it's not impossible to guess where in the city he might turn up next and go there first... nor to simply request an audience, for people of your stature. [21:56] 13...if someone were to, for example, request a dinner with him... would he accept? [21:56] 6why are you doing this 13Shhh. [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12I'll be honest with you: probably not. For one thing, no one's ever seen him eat or even be in position to - the featureless silver mask never comes off. The Emissary does get occasional marriage proposals, business propositions, challenges to games or chance, whatever else, and generally exercises his inalienable right to simply turn them down. The kind of meetings he can be reliably [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12summoned to generally involve the political future of the city as a whole - particularly contentious Civilities, offers from neighboring polities that the Council's not quite sure are allowable by the Dogmas, and suchlike. [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12But the Emissary is often just found... about town, strolling down avenues or looking in on storefronts or whatever. He can be tracked down. [22:00] 4Cooking a meal the Emissary could -- and would -- eat sounds like the sort of legendary feat that would make Ir a chef famous across Creation. [22:00] 4It also seems like a fuckload of work. [22:00] 13What if Ying asked Ir really really nicely? [22:01] 4I mean Ir would do it, certainly. It just might take sorcery of the highest level, if it's possible at all, and the Emissary's agreement. [22:01] 4So you know. A lot of groundwork. [22:07] 7Blossom is diving back into the raucous markets of Nexus. She's not just browsing - she's got a goal in mind that she's singlemindedly approaching. [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Considering the place of the Emissary in a political economy like that of modern Nexus is an interesting one. There's no question that the advent of... well, it's technology, of a sort... has altered the market dynamics of the city-state, pushing more and more living workers out of employment and into the economic margins and also incentivized increasing growth and consolidation [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12among the city's richest trading, banking, and manufacturing concerns, as well as more powerful links between those and both Council of Entities and the government of Thorns. It's true that no one is obstructing trade, and that no one is bringing an army into Nexus, and that no one's at least getting away with wanton violence... but nevertheless government is growing stronger and more [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12tightly constraining the options of even the richer property owners. It's not that those rich folk mind, as such, but the place is looking less and less like the "night watchman" state that Nexus is in theory. 15[22:09] 10Eikichi is taking the time to do no work whatsoever. Getting a lot of good lounging in, in an open silk robe with a jug of laudanum and the latest Real Househusbands of the Blessed Isle. [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12The upshot is that there's sort of less for the Emissary to do, and the city doesn't quite look like what someone simply reading the Dogmas for the first time might imagine it to be... despite the fact that technically, on paper, all the non-aggression stuff is being followed to a tee. [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Probably explains why he's been seen less of late and has been more reserved when he has. 08[22:10] 4Ir can provide a steady supply of drinks for Eikichi, but she has to do the drug stuff on her own. Not quite looking for the Ir, Northern Star brand to gain that dimension of rep. 15[22:12] 10That's fiiiiiine. Everything is fine. Eikcihi abstains from drinks, though. Her heart can't be stopped but it's still theoretically possible to stop her breathing. Maybe she needs artificial lungs... [22:12] 13That is... less than ideal, in a variety of ways! And, um, actually it might be important to speak with the Emissary for more than just date night, because... oof. [22:15] 13We need to fix this! [22:16] 4If it means a thumb in Typhon's eye, or help in Ying's doomed boyfriend quest, Ir's fine helping. But again. Places to be. [22:17] 13it's not doomed augh okay maybe he's not in for a fancy dinner but [22:17] 4And Ir thought she had a thing for emotionally unavailable men. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Given all that, where would the Emissary be? It's a problem that Ying can lay all the groundwork for but which Tatsuya might have to execute on. Let's see, a being whose Dogmas are supposed to give rise to a free-wheeling meritocracy, a perfect market of rapidly-realigning rationalities free from the overweening pressures of god or empress but free as well from unearned boosts [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12or safety nets that might prevent one from rising or falling purely on the strength of their own virtues... cross-reference that with a metaphorical or perhaps literal tacks-on-corkboard tracker of where the Emissary's recently been, based on the fact that he seems to favor variety in his random appearances and wanderings... [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12...Tatsuya finds himself outside a gaming hall. Care for a game of Gwent? The Emissary might do, in there somewhere. [22:28] 6Ying owes him for this. [22:29] 7Blossom furtively takes her squirming package into the depths of the Heavensward, lighting a few sticks of cleansing incense (carefully arranged to avoid fires) to prepare the space for her working. Not for the first time she wonders what it would have been like to attend the Hexagram, the Realm's premiere (and only) educational site for budding sorcerers. [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12He might turn up anytime in there over the night, so it's up to the two of them whether it's Tatsuya or Ying who actually goes in and has a look. [22:30] 13If they have a choice, Ying is the one who actually shows up. Tatsuya's willing to do a lot but actively wingmanning for his kind-of-sister is a bit beyond the pale. [22:31] 13Plus, casinos are fun! Bright lights, music... [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Gateway is a game of strategy in which each player moves carved figures resembling various beasts across several connected boards. Gwent involves placing cards depicting various historical figures turn by turn onto a board, trying to build up the higher score on your side for two of three rounds. Poker's about assembling hands of divination cards corresponding to the most decisive [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12stellar confluences or celestial gods. And of course there are dice games, darts, whatever else. Hang on... [22:42] 7It's the culmination of almost a month's work, beginning, in tentative form, when they were still on the march in Mahalanka. Careful examination of specimens across the East. Meditation under the knotted limbs of archtrees to understand the interaction between supergrowth and fecund Wood essence. Constant practice of repetitive chants in High Realm, until she can perform the necessary [22:42] 7hourslong invocations without the slightest misstep in pronunciation or pause at the wrong time. [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12That kid at a nearby Gwent table just a played a card called "Ying, Kitty-Blessed." It let him fetch a smilodon out of his discard pile. What the hell? [22:42] 13Fetch a what now? Wait, hang on though, she's a trading card? [22:43] 4...Ir shudders to think what they've got her down for. [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Yep, his opponent had already passed for the round and now the Ying card plus the saber-toothed tiger's own power allows for a massive upset. His opponent's grousing about not being able to afford as many packs as he's clearly opened. [22:44] 13Okay, she's got to find out what this is. Meeting with the Emissary is - okay look that's more important but she could just sit down next to the player who laid out the Ying card. [22:44] 13And she will. [22:45] 7Fortunately, some of the work is easier for her than would be for a Dragon-blooded sorcerer. Her position as god-king of Creation allows her to ward off certain unclean Essence flows by (formal, High Realm ritual) decree. [22:46] 7But it's done. It is done! Blossom races out of the Heavensward and instructs a baffled inn servant to fetch Ying at once. At once, do you hear?! [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12She's not in disguise or anything, right? This is a teenaged boy and teenaged girl, don't look related. They're both shuffling now, one more vehemently than the other. "You never told me you got one of those! It's like the newest printing-" "Look, it's actually really narrow, if you don't build around it-" "You did build around it, you jackass!" [22:47] 4Ir's probably heading back from the kitchen as the servant runs off. Watching them go, to Blossom: "What's all this now?" [22:47] "I've finished a gift for Ying! Everyone must come and see." [22:48] 13Nope! No disguises. She's even wearing her jacket with her name on it. "What's it even do?" 13she asks. [22:48] 4Blinks. "Well, hey. Sounds good to me." [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Boy, still shuffling: "Well this is from the new set and they've given her cat ears in the art for some reason, so if you've got other 'cat' type cards in your 'yard it's like a two for one." 12Girl, actually looking at Ying: "Oh my GODS." 12Boy: "What?" [22:50] 13She waves. "Hi!" [22:51] 13"For some reason." Come on. [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Boy, preparing to draw: "Yeah, hi. Anyway we should go again, now that you know-" 12Girl: "Tup you idiot look up at who you're talking to!" [22:52] 13Ying: "Did they really have cards without the cat ears?" 15[22:53] 10Ying was very famous in Nexus before the cat thing. Consider the outfit. [22:53] 13I will not consider the outfit. 15[22:53] 10Yeah, best to leave that to the historians. [22:54] 13No!! [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12"Tup" stares dumbly. His friend(?): "Um, yes. There's a Ying, Artful Clothier and also a card for your shop... the new set's from after you were in Great Forks." [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Tup: "A-a-and an original "Sunlit-Dreaming Ying" card from... a little before? I don't really read the books-" 12Girl: "I CANNOT believe you." [22:58] 4The damn books!! 15[22:58] 10They're good books. [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12And the general brand they represent is constantly achieving greater levels of market penetration with what you might call demonic fervor. [22:59] 4The damned books!!! [23:00] 13Ying: "I should get some of these! Um. Although maybe it's weird playing a game you're in." [23:00] "...they really had cards from befur?" [23:01] 13Ying: "I'm furry sorry, this is purrobably weird." [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Tup: "Well... well, yeah. It's an old game. But you know, some firm within the Guild got the rights and they've been printing all these new editions." 14[23:03] * Joins: mattbaby [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Tup's opponent: "Did they not ask you?" 12At this point, murmurs are going up around the nearby tables. [23:03] 13Ying: "Nopawdy told me about it..." 13She furrows her brow. "I'll talk to Eikitty." [23:04] "It's fine? I think? But someone should purrobably have said something." [23:05] 13Are they bad murmurs? Because that could be a problem. [23:06] 7Blossom: "'kichi! 'KICHI! Where are you?" 15[23:06] "Nnn?" 10Eikichi blinks, slowly, as if her eyelids are heavy. 15[23:06] 10Then she sits up, slowly, as if her entire body is heavy. [23:07] "He's done!" [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, no, but an extremely famous person has just walked in and a lot of people are staring or whispering or weighing the risk of coming up to say something. Fortunately for you they're mostly nerds. The girl: "Um, I'm Zuhua. ...are you gonna play?" [23:07] 4Ir: "I'm gonna make some pretzel flats and chickpea dip." [23:07] 4She's already heading for the kitchen. [23:08] 13Considering: "I don't exactly have a deck..." 15[23:08] 10Eikichi drifts into view, eyes lidded, robe hanging off one shoulder. "Oooh! Let me see." [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Zuhua: "Borrow mine!" 12Tup: "I've got spares-" 12They make these pretty easy to pick up, or else it'd be hard to get customers. [23:10] 13Ying: "Can I play the one with me in it? Beclaws that's just. Supurr cool." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12They're not going to say no! So here's the rules-- [23:12] 7Blossom beckons him out, then. [23:20] 13She picks the game up quickly. Who is going to stop her? [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Certainly not Zuhua, who, even though she knows what she's up against, is clearly expecting Ying to make certain rookie mistakes that Ying can tell from context she'd better avoid. It's a kind of feint - make it look like you're overextending, actually win by a hair, then have enough materiel in reserve to just crush one of the next two rounds. [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Tup: "Oh, man! Okay, okay, keep that deck, I've got another-" 12And Ying's in it, perhaps to win it. 08[23:26] 4Please let these children keep all their cards. If you bring actual decks aboard, Eikichi will have a whole new obsession in branding. [23:26] 13Oh, I have terrible news for you. 14[23:27] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a whirlwind of a night - people want to challenge Ying, people want her advice, people want her to sign cards. She sees a truly ridiculous parade of contemporary and historical figures cross the tables in front of her, all for some reason participated in these abstracted battles. There's the Bull of the North and the Mask of Winters and Mnemon, Scion of the Empress and Ahlat, [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12God of War and Cattle and of course a load of cheaper, generic cards depicting infantry, demons, catapults, artifacts, and whatever else. 14[23:28] * Joins: mattbaby [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12There's actually deck-building restrictions having to do with card borders and rarity, if Ying ever wonders enough to ask - you can't actually have a deck that contains nothing but Chosen, for instance, although you can certainly build around them. It's her current opponent, a man in a cowled black robe who's explaining this in a smooth voice. "The metal restrictions were a wise [23:31] <@Ferrinus> idea." 12(As in, jade borders, silver borders, copper borders) "The rush by some to build jade-only decks would shut out the willingness of others to invest in what they perceived as a game too responsive to purchasing power. This way, the player base is much wider." [23:33] 13She will happily sign any of her own cards, even drawing cat ears on any of the pre-Great Forks cards. However: who made these. This shouldn't be allowed. [23:34] 13Also, hey, wait, they want her advice on... what? [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Mostly what cards to play to start with, although if she gives them enough time they'll go on about all sorts of stuff to the beautiful celebrity who's also a sympathetic ear. Strangely, the room seems to have quieted down a bit now that Ying's gotten into this latest game - the crowd's just as thick as before, it just seems to be paying less attention to your little table. [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Hang on... you know this black robe, because you made this black robe, as a gift, before leaving Nexus months and months ago. There are little cat ears that can fold out of the cowl - and, yes, a glint of silver when lantern-light manages to shine into the hood. [23:36] 13Nyaaaaaaaaahhhhhh [23:38] <@Ferrinus> 12The Emissary takes this moment to play his own card, which is worth a moderate number of points but responds with extreme prejudice to other cards that attack or interdict other game objects. Could be tricky to play around. [23:46] 13That just isn't correct. [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12But hey- you found him! 14[23:58] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) Session Time: Sat Apr 04 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] 4Pretzels...now these are fun. [00:00] 7Blossom: "So the knotted shape of the bread keeps the salt on?" [00:01] "Mmmmhmmm. Now we're going really thin here, both because I'm using a light dough and because I want that crisp -- these are the base for dipping and crunching, not one of those big northern meal pretzels you see." [00:02] 4She spreads her hands out like eight inches wide, then twelve inches tall, making a face. "Too much!" [00:05] "But the pretzel technique has to remain the same either way. So what do you do? You make a couple of these big pretzels, salt 'em, cook 'em...then slice 'em up and THAT'S where you add the spice, on the second cook when you're browning 'em. Thankfully I already made some, so step one is down, and all I have to do is make the chips." [00:05] 7Chomp chomp chomp. "Thatshh amazhing." [00:06] "Oil, special rub, high heat in the oven...that's how it's done." 14[00:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[01:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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"The metal restrictions [20:48] <@Ferrinus> were a wise idea." 12(As in, jade borders, silver borders, copper borders) "The rush by some to build jade-only decks would shut out the willingness of others to invest in what they perceived as a game too responsive to purchasing power. This way, the player base is much wider." [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 13She will happily sign any of her own cards, even drawing cat ears on any of the pre-Great Forks cards. However: who made these. This shouldn't be allowed. [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 13Also, hey, wait, they want her advice on... what? [20:48] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> 12Mostly what cards to play to start with, although if she gives them enough time they'll go on about all sorts of stuff to the beautiful celebrity who's also a sympathetic ear. Strangely, the room seems to have quieted down a bit now that Ying's gotten into this latest game - the crowd's just as thick as before, it just seems to be paying less attention to your little [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12table. [20:48] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> 12Hang on... you know this black robe, because you made this black robe, as a gift, before leaving Nexus months and months ago. There are little cat ears that can fold out of the cowl - and, yes, a glint of silver when lantern-light manages to shine into the hood. [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 13Nyaaaaaaaaahhhhhh [20:48] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> 12The Emissary takes this moment to play his own card, which is worth a moderate number of points but responds with extreme prejudice to other cards that attack or interdict other game objects. Could be tricky to play around. [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 13That just isn't correct. [20:48] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> 12But hey- you found him! [20:49] 13As she considers her opponent, Ying reaches for her smoothest line: "So... is it weird fur miu like fur me purrlaying a game apawt yourself?" 13Nailed it. Yep. Her left ear flicks as she resists facepawing. [20:51] <@Ferrinus> Emissary: "It isn't 'about' either of us. Gwent collects personalities as a floor collects dust. What matters is the numbers." 12He lays another card down - this is just a generic Guild-backed mercenary, bronze-bordered. 14[20:52] * Joins: mattbaby [20:57] 13Ying: "I mean. You don't feel a little trill when you purrlay yourself?" 13That's when she lays down her own card - from before, but she's doodled cat ears and signed it. [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "Perhaps a respect in the abstract for effective marketing strategy. Though they had to tread lightly with this one - depictions of me on branded merchandise is one small step closer to falsely claiming the Council's sanction." [21:04] 13She narrows her eyes, but plays her next card. Something from the apemen armies out east. "Furry 'nough." 13Okay, okay, something smooth, try and salvage this... "Come here often?" 13Oh my Sun. [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "It was decided that the game's overall presentation rendered the risk of contravening the Dogmas... low. But they did have to check." 12He pauses. "...I pass the round. And no, not really." 12Hey, if Ying's counted this up right she's ahead on points. She can pass from here, and as long as she can prevent this guy from sweeping the rest of the game the win's hers. [21:07] 13No benefit to running up the score, right? Weakly: "Yeah. Sorry, I'm just." [21:08] 13Ying, too-brightly: "Next round?" [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Nope. In fact, running up the score on a round your opponent's already decided to throw is a good way to get blown out later in the game, because you only draw a couple cards between each round. Emissary: "And what brings you here? I believe your Circle has been long absent. The Connection has had to navigate the changing market without you, though it seems to have stayed in the [21:09] <@Ferrinus> black." [21:11] 13Ying: "I owe it to them to work there fur a while but there was this thing..." 13She gestures largely. "Furry big! And a purroblem! And now it isn't." [21:12] "...I missed it here." [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "Perhaps you had something to do with the attenuated flow of refugees?" [21:15] 13Ying: "Att-" 13That's a cough, not a repetition. "Furom the East? Yes. Any others, um, purrobably we would want to know apawt beclaws of the whole. A lotta people were dying." [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "The east, yes. The effects are yet subtle but I suspect it will ease the market's adaptation to... other changes." [21:16] 13Both ears flick. [21:22] 13This guy is impossible to get a read on. [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Part of the job, really. It's harder to enforce a ruthlessly impartial market if its superpowered avatar is too obviously afflicted with personal biases and foibles. [21:23] 13But what does he think about meeeeee [21:24] 13Ying: "Other...?" [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12What, indeed? I suppose you've got this: he's still wearing the robe you made as opposed to his usual white, and he does seem to have kept tabs on how your shop is doing, although this second one might represent an omniscient awareness of all Nexus economic dynamics rather than any particular attention paid. "The advent of new labor-saving technologies." 12The leasable undead, he [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12surely means. [21:26] 13Ying: "Oh, shoot, I haven't checked - is the one at the Rainbow Connection still okay? I think they said it would need to get renewed or something but..." [21:27] 13Still gross! Also, uh. Tatsuya's fault? [21:27] 6Probably. 13Aren't you supposed to deny it? 6Mmm. No. 08[21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Speaking of, in their hangout/vacation spot of the Scarlet Palace, the Squared Circle has begun to receive petitioners. Some of them are classic business stuff - the arena always wants more spectacle and if Ir's got any room whatsoever in her schedule they will gladly fill it. But there's also slightly more novel though also generally more trivial stuff, like requests for Eikichi or [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12other members of the Circle to attend various galas or for your Circle as a whole to contribute to local charities. Won't you feed a needy orphan? [21:29] 4Well, if we're stuck here... [21:29] 4Sigh. [21:29] 4What's the Arena offering after a week of playing hard to get? [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "They do need some maintenance, which of course has opened a slew of new professions to the populace." 12He's very matter of fact about it. As you might expect, he's playing more aggressively in the game's second round; these Merchant and Guildsman cards have some pretty nasty synergies, although both of them also mention "Slave" cards of which there don't seem to be any [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12in play. [21:30] 13Nnnnnnnnnnnn [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Undead behemoths! Skeletal legions! No expense spared, shouldn't take more than a night- [21:31] 4*orb intensifies* [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12But perhaps the most unusual petitioners for your Circle say they're religious ones, representing a consortium of merchants and culture leaders within Nexus who are Concerned with Recent Developments. They'd like a meeting. 15[21:32] 10Would they now. [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Yep. Who's in for a sit down? They seem really intent on getting Blossom in on whatever they're talking about, but your whole Circle is welcome - any of them who happen to be in this eve, anyway. [21:33] 4If the Arena hasn't demanded attention, Ir will sit in. But these don't seem like people to cook for, for free. 08[21:33] 7No reason not to hear them out. Will Eikichi come? [21:34] 13Ying tries not to make a face about the 'slave' thing. She... doesn't really succeed, but, well. She's in Nexus. 15[21:36] 10Absolutely. [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12He's not playing slaves, is the thing. Maybe that's why he's struggling to make up the points required to win this second round? [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Could've just failed to draw any of the ones in his deck. [21:37] 13No! No, let's go with the first interpretation. [21:38] "Nice deck." 13She immediately blanches. 08[21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom, Eikichi, and Ir find themselves seated around a lavishly-appointed table facing what seems to be a cat-eared husband and a wife in their middle age. Maybe this is what Ying and Tatsuya would look like if, instead of using their immortal powers to slay an escalating series of world-shaking horrors, they simply dined on little cakes while managing merchant empires for the next [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12twenty or thirty years. Well, and if their hair/fur were shades of rust-red rather than black or pink. 15[21:42] 10They'd be hotter than this. [21:42] 13>:3 [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12The woman speaks first. "We're so glad you met with us. Let us introduce ourselves - I'm Zadu. This-" 12she gestures to the man before speaking for him, "-is V'khom. We represent the Dust Consortium, a network of businesses and charities dedicated to the city's, nay, the Threshold's social benefit." [21:47] 7Blossom nods. Mi'qote! Does Nyaroshi care at all for them? Hmm. [21:49] <@Ferrinus> "Perhaps not nice enough," 12the Emissary says. He's managed to win the second round, but at the cost of the last card in his hand. When he draws a single reinforcement at the top of the third round, it turns out to be silver-bordered Brueghel, Evening Master which isn't strong enough on its own to outweigh one of the cards left to Ying, let alone all three. It's up to her how much [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12she'd like to run up the score as she seals her win. [21:49] 13That's actually a good question that Tatsuying might know the answer to? Catfolk beastmen being in her. Purrview. [21:51] 4...Ir supposes she could set out some fish. If these two are worth it. 08[21:52] 13She will play "Blossom, Sorceress Supreme," "Ir, War-Goddess," but hold her "Eikichi, Author of All" card. Keep your favorites closest. [21:52] 13And that should win her the round. [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12The Dust Consortium takes its name from dusters or dusting - the housecleaning kind, specifically. They got their start as middle-catmen linking rich clients up with temporarily-assigned maids and handymen, before branching into nursemaids, governesses, tutors, artist's models... at this point they're a small business empire of their own right, generally oriented around human resources. [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12They're linked with a number of schools and religious charities. [21:52] 'War-Goddess?!' Ugh. Saint-Sister gets mistranslated so often. [21:52] 4'War-Goddess?!' Ugh. Saint-Sister gets mistranslated so often. [21:53] 13Saint-Sister is the lower-level card. Take it up with the developers. [21:53] 13Which we should, anyway, because hey that's us [21:53] 7Materially opposed to slavery either de jure or de facto as well as skeleton automation, then. Useful. [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Zadu: "As you might imagine, we've become increasingly concerned with how this city has... changed, of late. No doubt you have as well?" [21:54] 7Blossom: "The undead roaming the streets." [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Welll - Blossom knows well enough to know that former bit isn't necessarily true. Of course, there's no direct connection between the Consortium and any slave-dealers, but it wouldn't shock you to find one three or four degrees of separation removed. It's just, it'd generally be slaves procured for delicate or even intellectual work and perhaps ones who are putatively upgrading to [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12indentured servitude thanks to the Consortium's good graces. [21:56] 4Ah, a whole charity for the statistically marginal One of the Good Ones. How nice. [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12V'khom nods, but Zadu's the one to talk again. "Indeed. The city feels less safe by the day. And who knows what festers in that accursed embassy by now...?" [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "Well. Good game, I suppose." 12His tone, as usual, is a neutral one. Presumably he can at least take abstract satisfaction at the ongoing free trade that these cards represent. [21:58] "What ROTS in that accursed embassy." 4Ir: "Living things fester. Dead things rot." 15[21:58] 10Eikichi smiles a little. [21:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Zadu's ears flatten a little. "I know quite well-" 12She catches her husband's glance. "...yes. Well. Anyway." [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Zadu: "Obviously, it's no good. But there's little that we can do. We were wondering if you could join your strength to ours in opposing these developments - such as with religious pronouncements, to start with." [22:01] 13Visibly trying not to be smug-ly: "It was!" 13Okay, seal the deal: "Let's get dinner together!" 13Oh my god you're better than this [22:02] 13Oh my Sun* [22:03] 7Blossom hmms. "That would be good, but I admit I'm not familiar with the... precedential weight of the Dogmas. One of my sun-siblings was sanctioned by the Emissary in a market square for railing against slavery. Wouldn't this similarly incur the Council's ire?" [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Zadu frowns again, and pauses. Here, V'khom seems to find the space to speak. "Ah, I remember the incident. But my understanding is that... Panther, I believe? Actually stopped a slave auction with main force. Overturned the block and so on. The Dogmas don't prohibit speech." [22:10] 13Ying, suddenly concerned: "You do eat dinner, right? Or, like, meals? I nefur asked." [22:14] 4Ir: "I dunno that we have the institutional backing or power for speech to matter." [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12The Emissary seems nonplussed. "Why?" [22:18] 7Blossom: "Mmm. It would be a good start, but shifting the economic course of Nexus with moral force alone would be... challenging. To say the least. What if there were an economic counterweight to Thorns in the Threshold?" [22:19] 13Ying: "The... dinner? Or together? Beclaws I want to spend time with you. Fur the latter. If it's the furmer, most people need to eat food to survive." [22:19] 13She doesn't blush. And no one can prove it. [22:19] 13Except the Emissary. 08[22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Zadu: "You have more than you think! Close friends of mine swear by Eikichi's advice and aphorisms, and Ir of course is a star of the arena. Your word counts greatly as well." 12This to Blossom. "A fair few have moved here from Great Forks of late, and there are faithful of all sorts here, though perhaps not so visibly as elsewhere." 12She's making the work 'faithful' do a lot [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12of work here, of course; faithful of the sun are still quite a minority. Presumably she's just hoping that some kind of general holy/unholy divide will prove decisive for her consortium. [22:25] 4Ir looks to Blossom. Are we gonna let the cool cats in on the secret...? [22:26] 13Palicos. Not friend cats. [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12The Emissary: "I don't need to eat food." 12There's a pause just long enough that Ying might begin to think that that's that, before he adds: "However, if you purchase something freely sold, based on your rational assessment of its quality, and proceed to derive utility from it, I can draw essence from nearby." [22:28] 7Blossom: "I was thinking more of a new city-state." 7She sips gingerly from the steaming bowl of tea in front of her. "I should be honest - we don't intend to stay in Nexus long, because we are going to found a nation soon." [22:30] 13Beaming: "I'll find a place! I haven't had the chance to purruse Nexus's restaurants - it won't be as good as Ir's but I don't think you're ready to meet the family yet." [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Zadu blinks hard: "...truly? Where? Can you just do that?" [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12The Emissary's expressionless mask remains expressionless, and so it's not reall quite clear how much of the significance of Ying's thinking aloud here makes itself clear to him. Still, if Ying finds a good place she'll have an extremely easy time getting a table, one that's both out of the way and relatively undisturbed except for occasional waitstaff. [22:33] 7Blossom: "I'm not prepared to say just yet. There'll be no doubt of it when it happens, though." [22:34] 4Ir: "Have no doubt, though -- we can, in fact, just do that." [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Zadu: "And as a... a nation. You could use business like ours? Not do business with those Nexus or other Guild concerns which have founded themselves on dead labor?" [22:35] 13Ying isn't picky so long as it has fish and it's near her shop - terrible flirting aside, that definitely wasn't returned, and she's chasing a dragon and - anyways! Hrm... [22:36] 4Ir: "We're not incorporating in Thorns's vague geographical backyard because we like the landlords there." [22:36] "Not really our thing." [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying's got a place vaguely in mind, and finds it incredibly easy to find a table even though it's normally nastily exclusive and with a wait list miles long. She and her... date...(?!)... are quickly seated at a small table to the side of a large room that would normally be full of other rich guests and bustling waiters but now seems to have been emptied out for some special event [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12or other. There's a vague haze or distortion surrounding the little table, some sort of occult privacy screen that Ying's pretty sure the Emissary also conjured around their previous card game. 08[22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12It's Eikichi who notices, though she can point it out to the others if she finds a moment. Is that... Ying in the corner? The Dust cats were supposed to have booked this hall from a private meeting, but it doesn't seem to have stopped your circlemate and her black-robed guest. [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying has an easier time recognizing her fellows out in the middle of the room, eating fish at a long and well-appointed table. What are the odds? 15[22:43] 10That's Ying in the corner. That's Ying with the off-white, ancap supervillain. [22:43] 4Well, we can push these tables together. [22:44] 13She's on a date!! Even if the other party doesn't quite realize it?? Holy shoot though this is neat! Except... "Um. Hi, there's my felidae. Litter." 13Visibly, slowly speaking what she actually means: "Family." [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "Ah, yes. Should I remove them?" 15[22:46] 10Eikichi, who hasn't spoken yet this meeting, takes the opportunity to write a small note, fold it up, and slide it over to Blossom and Ir, stonefaced. It reads, Ying is on a date with the Emissary in the corner!!! ♥♥♥ ฅ(＾・ω・＾ฅ) ♥♥♥ [22:47] 4Ir, checking the note: "Mmmmm. Interesting." [22:47] 13Ying: "They can stay! They can stay." [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "Very well. Is the fish satisfactory? You were not part-cat when I saw you last, I believe." [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Zadu follows up with what Blossom and Ir are saying, meanwhile. "An entire nation -- that's nothing like what I expected. But also, perhaps, not what I, what we immediately need. How long would such an undertaking take, after all?" [22:50] 13Ying: "Yes! I mean, yes the fish is satisfactory, but I don't think I was - it's been a heck of a time since we left Nexus." [22:50] "I made an outfit for Nyaroshi that was so good that I actually, well." 13She gestures to herself. "Blessings!" [22:51] 4Ir: "We can do a couple different things at once. Far as I'm concerned the main question is whether you understand the bottle you're opening here, trying to tie yourselves to us. Hard to recork that." [22:52] 7Blossom: "We can work very quickly when the need arises. But yes, Ir is right - I have no objection to preaching about the undead, but what about after that?" [22:53] 13Correction: catisfactory. [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "And who is that?" 12As the conversation continues, it becomes quickly apparent that the Emissary has very, very limited knowledge of the lands and people outside of Nexus; descriptions of Nyaroshi, and what you did next, and where you went after that, and so on are met with a combination of polite questions for more information and calm "I see."s. [22:57] 13Cat goddess; she also brings up Czaliphenya. After that, she talks about adventures in the east, with, um. A lot of details excluded. At some point: "You efur been out of Nexus?" [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Zadu: "Well - as public opinion turns, and dead labor grows less profitable, we can expect some of our fellows in the Guild to divest or pivot. Thorns's diplomatic sway will weaken." 12V'khom: "Ah-" 12Zadu: "...dear?" [22:58] 4Ir: "Thorns doesn't weaken. It just pivots." [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12V'khom: "Perhaps not as... fast as we'd like. After all, Thorns is responsible for Nexus's night-to-night safety as of a few months ago, and that's not to to mention that city's increasing control over the western seaboard." [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Zadu: "Oh, yes. The... tower." [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12The Emissary pauses before answering, then... keeps pausing. He seems lost in a reverie, or perhaps paralyzed with indecision. 08[23:03] 4Ir looks to Blossom and Eikichi. We're going to have to take care of that thing, aren't we? [23:03] 4She specifically wanted to not have to take care of that thing. 15[23:03] 10Ir gets a look back that seems to say, 'sooner or later'. [23:04] 4Let's rip the bandage off, then. [23:04] Blossom raises her eyebrows and nods. [23:04] 7Blossom raises her eyebrows and nods. [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "...I have, yes. Once, you might say." [23:13] 13Ying: "...miu wanna talk apawt it? Or just eat this delicious fish?" [23:14] 4Ir: "The rest of this conversation seems like something we should have in private." [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "It was long ago. But the same way you went, interestingly enough, I came from. The fish is yours, of course." [23:15] "Aboard the Heavensward, perhaps." [23:15] "I'll cook." [23:16] 13She will place her silverware to the side. "Purrocede." 13She blanches again. "I mean continue! I wanna know apawt - about this." [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "It was a different time. The east was the east, of course, but much... broader. I came quite a long way before Nexus, but I'm sure the details would mean little to you." [23:19] 13Ying, trying not to pry too much at once, will begin to eat again. [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary: "Another time, perhaps." 12Got 'im! No take-backs! [23:19] 13Yes!!! [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Zadu and her husband are keen to continue this discussion aboard your craft. They, of course, don't realize that they might have been about to discuss some sort of serious property damage within earshot of Nexus's guardian archon. [23:21] 13She hides her thrill behind more-or-less meaningless talks about how she got here, what her shop's up to, if he wants any changes to his outfit... Stuff she can handle in a line or two of dialogue instead of lengthy conversations. You know. [23:21] 4You always have to protect cats from themselves. [23:21] 4Ying. [23:21] 13What? [23:21] 4Nothing. Come home. Want some fish? [23:22] 13*floating towards the Heavensward like a cartoon after smelling Ir's cooking* [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Both dinners adjourn, eventually. Ying does not walk away with any especial way of contacting the Emissary, but she suspects she can count on at least look as good as tonight's in terms of finding him after making enough of an effort. [23:25] 13Does writing CALL ME <3 with little cat ears above the heart and a pink kiss on the paper she slipped into one of his pockets count? [23:25] 13I mean, it doesn't give her a way of contacting him, but. [23:25] 7When Ying turns a corner in the Heavensward, she finds Blossom standing in the middle of the hallway, smiling broadly at her. "Ying. Hello. Hellooo." [23:25] 13The intention is clear. [23:26] 13Ying: "Hi!" 13She's still sort-of swooning. [23:27] 4You can get some really good marbling on the fish around here. As long as you have an expansive definition of around here, because wow does that river get dirty. [23:28] 13Ying's fangs drift over her lower lip, because that smells so good [23:28] "It's good to see you. Congratulations, in a way." [23:28] "We have something for you." [23:28] 13Ying: "I love purresents!" [23:29] 4From the aft lounge, yelled: "GET IT GIRRRRRLLLL" [23:29] "ALSO GET IN HERE. SASHIMI." 08[23:30] 7Blossom: "Take a plate of sashimi, and then come with me to the cargo hold. Ir and Eikichi will be there too." [23:30] 4Good thing about sashimi is, we don't need to be near heat or cooling or wherever. Easy eating. [23:31] 13It's not quite a squee but one would be forgiven for describing the noise she makes as "squeeeeeee" as she makes her way into the kitchen to get a plate. [23:32] 4The plate is perfect, of course. [23:32] 4Planning. [23:33] 13Ying thinks she is sneaky. I mean, she is, but, well, her family knows her. [23:33] 13Still! Cargo hold. [23:34] 7Blossom leads the rest of the Solars to the aft of the ship where the stables are. There's Ami, cheerfully kwehing. There's Errant. And beyond, in the gloom... a shape?! [23:34] 7The shape rumbles, stands. It turns toward Ying and lets out a [23:34] deep [23:34] bass [23:34] meow [23:34] https://i.imgur.com/rRWgVDz.jpg 15[23:34] 10! [23:34] Errant tilts his head...then nods. [23:35] 13Oh [23:35] 13My [23:35] 13Ying: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" [23:35] 7The feline rotundity gazes placidly at the Solars. [23:35] "eeeeeeeeeeeeeee" 15[23:35] 10Ahahahaha! Ahahahaha!!!! [23:36] 13She flops down in front of it. [23:36] 4Ir, to Blossom: "What's it eat?" [23:36] 13Front hands - paws - in the air, ready to pet its chin. [23:37] 7Blossom: "It's a cat. Cat stuff." [23:38] 4Ir: "Ugh. So much fishing!" [23:38] 13Ying: "Caaaaaat." [23:38] 7The giant cat closes its eyes and PURRRRRRRS, accepting the scratches that are its due. [23:39] 7Blossom: "What are you going to name it?" 7The cat does have a gender, of course, but I'm leaving it vague here so that trenchfoot, OOC, can be free to decide uponst it. [23:40] 13Ying beams, while petting her chin: "She's Purr - um! Blossom Junior!" [23:40] 4Uhhh [23:40] 7Blossom: "...are you sure about that?" [23:41] 13Ying: "...do you not like it?" 15[23:41] 10Eikichi: "I think it's lovely." [23:41] 4Ying it's a huge flumpy horse-sized cat and you just implied it's smaller than-- [23:41] 4Whatever. 15[23:42] 10It's clearly an ironic 'Junior', like when they call huge guys 'Tiny'. [23:42] 13She gave it to me and it's just as adorable and powerful and [23:42] 7Blossom, gamely: "Junior, then." [23:42] 4Ir will contain her laughter until she reaches the mid deck. [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom count: 3 [23:42] 13Beaming, again: "Blossom Junior!" 13More scritches. 15[23:44] 10Eikichi puts her arm around Blossom Senior. This is nice. [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Okay, you're pretty sure that's not an optical illusion - there's something bobbing in the air just behind Blossom Junior and to the left. Kind of poke at the huge cat so she turns a bit and the light can get back there... is that a teacup? [23:46] 13pet cat friend pet pet cat pet wait "...is that purrt of...?" [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12If you poke at it, you can watch it sail in a lazy arc over Junior's back, where it bounces gently off a floating lump of unworked jade that's spilled out one of the crates down here in the hold. This cat seems to have its own slightly inconsistent gravity well. 15[23:47] 10Oh my. 15[23:48] 10Blossom the Elder must not have worked with maximum finesse. [23:52] 13Is it bad? Ying's... aware of sorcery, if that's what this is... [23:52] 13We have to protect Blossom Junior. That's paramount. [23:52] 7Blossom: "It's fine. It's fine." 15[23:53] 10Eikichi doesn't look concerned. It seems like a benign wrinkle. [23:55] 13Ying is back to beaming. "Kitty!" 13Now she's trying to get under its paws. [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12It's actually very easy to cling to Blossom Junior. The gravity well seems to mostly pick up innocuous small objects but it also makes it very easy to just sort of wrap yourself around the big kitty's side or perch on her back. [23:58] 13fat cat big kitty gonna play patty cake with this kitty owo what's this and then Ying's on Blossom Junior's back. [23:59] 7So you won't fall off while she's flying! [23:59] 13aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Session Time: Thu Apr 09 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Yes, that's right. The kitty seems oddly easy for Ying to lift at first, and then once Ying's scrambled onto the back she realizes that the hold's ceiling above her is kind of bobbing and much closer than it should be even given her mount's prodigious size. Blossom Junior is kind of floating a foot or two off the floor, waving her little legs. [00:02] 4So you can just...throw food at her, and it'll slow down and float into her mouth? [00:02] 4Hmmm. [00:02] 13Ying: "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" [00:02] 13It's more of an awwwwwwwwwwwww, really. [00:03] 13But, like, directed towards Blossom Senior, as thanks. [00:05] 7Is it too late to turn her back? If she's going to be called... 'Blossom Junior'? We can tell Ying she ran away. [00:05] 4It's really a mean nickname. [00:08] 13It's an honor!!! [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12At last... you've come together into a perfect Circle. Our heroes consider how to tackle Nexus's transforming political economy, or how best to simply ignore it... next week. 14[01:56] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[02:45] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:09] * banana is now known as banana|work 14[05:59] * banana|work is now known as banana 14[08:57] * Joins: hrolf 14[09:18] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:06] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[14:22] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 15[14:31] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Apr 09 14:31:43 2020 Session Start: Thu Apr 09 14:43:26 2020 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:43] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:43] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[14:43] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 15[14:49] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Apr 09 14:49:32 2020 Session Start: Thu Apr 09 14:59:54 2020 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[14:59] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[14:59] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[14:59] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[15:27] * Joins: mattbaby 14[18:41] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[18:46] * Joins: tom 14[20:31] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[21:29] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Fri Apr 10 00:00:00 2020 14[01:57] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:21] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[03:42] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[03:44] * Joins: cbass 14[04:19] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[04:22] * Joins: cbass 14[07:06] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[07:29] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[07:45] * Joins: mattbaby 14[08:05] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:06] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[12:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[13:11] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:48] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:36] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:54] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[16:44] * Joins: Zarick 14[17:17] * Joins: Quaker 14[18:43] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[19:16] * Joins: tom 14[19:59] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[20:00] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 15[20:02]  15[20:02]  15[20:02]  15[20:02]  15[20:02]  15[20:05] "I don't like this," declares Ragara Kou into the silence. She doesn't seem like she likes much. [20:06] 14Piu, having already tempted fate a bit too much in this meeting already, will refrain from telling her what she can do with her likes and dislikes. 15[20:06] "I think," says the woman behind her, who until a long silent moment ago had been quietly taking minutes in the corner, "That we should all sit down, and have a meal, and talk about how we can help each other." [20:08] 14Mmmmm. 15[20:09] Governor Kou: "I decide when we sit down. Not you. I don't care who you report to." 15[20:10] The scribe: "Of course, Governor. I apologize." 15[20:11] Governor Kou: "Good. Now go see to dinner. There's a bell in the dining room you can ring." 15[20:11] The scribe: "..........of course, Governor." 15[20:13] She vanishes through the double doors leading into the dining room. [20:13] 14Too bad it's not Kou's name on the list. 14[20:14] * Joins: Quaker 15[20:14] Kou: "Spies, assassins, whatever the hell you are. The only word from the mainland for months. For all I know the Imperial City has fallen." 15[20:14] "Instead of answers, all of you bring me nothing but more chaos." [20:16] 14If she gets in the habit of being inconviently accidentally correct like this, though, that might change. 15[20:17] She looks challengingly into everyone's eyes but Piu's and Ratel's. "Well? Go on. What do you have to say for yourselves?" 15[20:17] Caxi remains demure. [20:30] 10A heavy sigh from Daizo. "Two months ago I was investigating the spiritual landscape in the gardens of the Tepet compound. If I'm a spy or an assassin, I'm one who is clearly in far over my head." [20:33] 07Dryas bristles for an instant before pouring herself another slug of rum. "We acted impetuously but those events were set in motion before we arrived. It seems as likely to me that you were originally the one to be framed by the assassin. Instead, your problem arrives with its own solution. Of a sort," 07she suggests. [20:33] 6Zhangyu: "I have been told I would make perhaps the worst spy anyone has ever seen." 6That description also included several more expletives that he won't be including, for the sake of company. His stealth training went poorly, to say the least. "So what I have to say is: thank you for the compliment. But I am a soldier, not a force of chaos." 6Usually. 15[20:37] Ratel seems quite pleased with the crew's responses. Kou incredibly does not. Her jaw works silently while she drinks another tall glass of, one hopes, water. 15[20:38] The Governor looks like she's about to go in again when a bell tinkles inside. "About time," she grumbles. "Come. Eat." [20:39] 4After you, bi--wait, have to finish this drink. [20:41] 10Phew. Dinner sounds like a very good idea right about now. [20:41] 6It's more difficult to be angry with food in your mouth. 15[20:42] The dining room is large and physically comfortable, with murals depicting the forging of the Western trade routes and the, ah, partnership with Abalone. There's a petroglyph done in a traditional Western style of someone in a Commodore's uniform - identical to Ratel's - and a well-muscled man with feathers coming from his skin and scalp. They stand on opposite sides of a fire smeared 15[20:42] a dozen colors by exotic dyes and Wyld-warped stone pulled from Hamoji itself. [20:43] 4Well. That guy was important enough that he's on the damn wall. 15[20:44] The food is abundant and high-quality, and all imported. There's steamed rice balls like you can only get in the breadbasket prefectures, isicia omentata done in the Imperial City style, and good V'Neef wine. Aside from the decor there's no indication they're not all eating back on the Isle right now. [20:45] 4Omentata and wine, now that's a night. 15[20:46] The scribe waits until everyone has settled in to speak. "My name is Hedrin, of house Mnemon. The people I represent are very keen to avoid instability. Of any kind." [20:46] 10Kou must feel comfortable in her position to have this level of heretical imagery decorating a single dining room. Not that there's anything wrong with it for the Blooded, but the servants… [20:46] 14...And there's confirmation. Pity. Perhaps she was only starting to like the scribe in relation to the governor, but still. [20:47] 14Also bad form to have gone off-script into something besides bubbly confidence in a target's presence, but, these things happen. [20:50] 07Dryas digs in to the food. A taste of home after months away is certainly something to be savored. "The people you represent?" 07she asks. [20:52] 10Daizo's sense of scandal evaporates as the food's brought in. They got the dry-sauteed string beans bang on the nose. [20:53] 6Zhangyu begins to eat as well. 'Instability' is fairly broad, but point taken. 15[20:55] "I work with the Thousand Scales' diplomatic corps," Hedrin offers as she sips her fish broth. "Maintaining international ties. Forging new ones, where needed." 15[20:56] "She's of the Eye," Kou interjects. "Save the coy shit for courtiers." 14[20:57] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[20:57] Hedrin's eyes flutter closed for just a moment. [20:57] 4Piu: "Wow! You're...uh...quite the pair!" [20:59] 07Dryas chokes for a moment on her quail-stuffed pheasant. It wasn't a laugh. Just a bit of unexpected fish sauce going down not quite right. She dabs her mouth with a serviette. [21:00] 14Quite the pair indeed. [21:01] 10Daizo: "Hmmmm. My first time meeting a member of the Eye as a member of the Eye. An honor. Now my acquaintances back home will never talk to me about politics again." 15[21:01] Hedrin smiles thinly. "I imagine that's far from the only secret you're being expected to keep." [21:02] 4Regretfully: "Yeah. The wings are gonna be tough." [21:03] 6Zhangyu glares. [21:03] 10Daizo looks pained, but manages to suppress any more outbursts like he had back at the hostel. [21:05] 4Piu makes an "oops, sorry" face like she didn't realize that was rude. [21:06] 07After a few moments of trying this and that, Dryas has arranged a wine to go with the food and a rum to go with the wine. She makes her way through with a nibble, dab, sip, dab, sip, dab, nibble. Now she stops to idly stroke the burnished sun-gold pendant resting on her collarbone. 15[21:06] Hedrin pushes her plate forward. "I would like us to come to an understanding about the crisis we are all now forced to confront. I think that if we pool our information and our labor we can achieve outcomes we would be powerless to reach alone." 15[21:06] Mnemon Hedrin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjQk70d9xMA - Everybody knows the war is over. Everybody knows the good guys lost. 15[21:11] "With the Governor's permission I'd like to talk about the man you probably know as Ted." [21:11] "A noble endeavor," 07replies the merchant princess. "But not a Wyld Hunt?" 07She is curious rather than dismissive. Perhaps a better arrangement can be negotiated than what they would get with a Wyld Hunt. 15[21:11] Kou scoffs. [21:12] 4Piu smiles a bit at "know as Ted" for reasons that aren't polite for dinner talk. [21:12] 10It really is a disreputable-sounding name. [21:12] 6Zhangyu: "I think we've caused enough of a ruckus." 6There's an emphasis on the I. "Maybe another approach." 15[21:13] "You'd sooner find the Empress in the Western Isles than monks worth the name in the Western Isles. Those two old coots in their monastery? The children nattering among them? Please. The Immaculates put one pair of feet in Abalone and she couldn't even keep her own windpipe open." 15[21:14] Caxi takes a long draw from her wineglass. [21:15] 14Clearly Kou suffers from some strange curse of dramatic irony. 15[21:16] Hedrin: "Making allowances for the Governor's colorful perspective, she is ultimately correct. The political arrangement in Abalone is unpalatable to the faithful. Local beliefs are... highly syncretic." 15[21:17] "Calling down a full Wyld Hunt without the cooperation of the Navy or the Immaculates is not possible." [21:17] 10Daizo: "That's shameful! What are they thinking, allowing the situation to deteriorate like this?" 15[21:20] Kou: "They're thinking that if they let us twist in the wind long enough we'll let Her Holiness send in her thugs and pry the jewel of the Western trade network into her own hands." [21:20] 4Apparently hoping some guy named Ted would wander along and handle the situation himself? 14Or at least create the pretext for external action. Who knows; maybe Ted's working for them. Wouldn't be the first time the monks worked through cut-outs to employ Anathema. 15[21:21] Hedrin: "And the wind outside is quite fierce, as I'm sure you observed when you came in." 15[21:21] "The people I represent would like to see the status quo maintained." 15[21:22] "It was merciful and fortunate that the local high priest survived the deicide." 15[21:22] "His death would've complicated an already febrile moment." [21:24] 6Best that it ended the way it did, then. Well. No, there are considerably better ways things could have ended, but they also could have been worse. [21:24] 4Piu, innocently: "So is Hamoji like...dead-dead?" 15[21:26] Hedrin: "The ali-ki - that is, Hamoji's cadre of clerics - believe so. We can't be certain unless we breach the god's sanctum and see if he's begun to reform. We're not equipped for that right now." [21:27] "That is a long term problem," 07Dryas opines. "Ted is a right now problem." 15[21:28] Hedrin: "Well put." [21:29] 4Piu: "Well...we already know he frequents the underground fights at the docks. Or at least, he did, before the killing." [21:31] 14Unless of course he was expressly there to catch Piu's eye...but 4Piu14 likely wouldn't make that connection. 15[21:31] Hedrin: "Common sense would be that he would flee immediately after such a dramatic and terrible crime... but we have reason to believe he can't, or won't. Our sources say he is a vanguard of another nation's interests in the region." [21:33] 6Zhangyu: "Why was he there, anyway?" 6The usual reasons, maybe, just because he's out slaying gods doesn't mean he's not one for entertainment... but we were all there, too. Zhangyu's not going to be the one to spill that detail. [21:33] 4Seemed like he wanted to find someone to fuck. [21:34] 4Our intrepid investigator reports. [21:34] 10Daizo: "Is that nation known to you, or can you speculate?" 10The wings flex uncomfortably under his cape. [21:34] 14Who is even close enough to have interest? 15[21:37] Hedrin: "This 'Ted' is among the bleakest and most corruptive Anathema known to us. His motives may be obvious or they may be twisted beyond recognition. I think it's unproductive to speculate, and I'd like to focus on the pattern of his behavior. We believe he arrived any time between several months and roughly a year ago, and quickly set about embedding himself in peripheral or 15[21:37] marginal parts of the city's society and culture." 15[21:37] "Tracing the timing of his arrival, and our efforts to track and observe him, indicate that he has ties, likely strong ones, to the court of the Silver Prince." [21:39] 4Piu, running a finger around the edge of her wineglass. "And that's...bad?" [21:39] "Like, more bad than usual?" [21:40] 10Daizo: "The name implies he could be one of the warlords of the Caul. Very bad indeed, if that's the case." 15[21:40] Hedrin: "It could scarcely be worse!" 15[21:41] "The necrarchy of Skullstone is every bit as foul and insidious as the fallen Thorns, if more obscure. People care far more about the dramas of the Threshold than the stalking evils at the periphery of Creation." [21:43] 10Daizo: "Gah. That is worse." [21:48] 10Daizo: "It all begins to come together when you look at it like that. Slay the guardian of Hamoji; use the ensuing chaos to destabilize the rightful governors, and then the entire island is poised to fall into their hands." 15[21:49] Hedrin nods. "Very astute." [21:49] 4Piu: "So we're at the 'use ensuing chaos' part of the plan." [21:50] 10Daizo: "Suddenly I'm very glad I begged the Governor for that chance to save the Feathered One." 15[21:51] Hedrin: "There are a few ways we can do this and the choice, ultimately, will be yours. One option is to take up the role of an ersatz Wyld Hunt yourselves, and attempt to bring him in or bring him down. Another is to attempt to leverage your existing connections to him - you're familiar with his underground fighting career, already - to get more information about his plans or, even 15[21:51] better, his accomplices." [21:51] 10That feathered bastard. I hope he's grateful too. [21:51] "Is he known to be a sorcerer?" 07Dryas asks, coolly. 15[21:51] "One Anathema acting alone is an unparalleled agent of chaos... but they only truly threaten the stability of nations when they build networks of support." 15[21:52] Hedrin: "He isn't. It's possible he's simply concealed the capacity... but if so, he has done so completely." [21:52] 4Leveraging Piu's existing connection to him sounds...messy. [21:55] "And what's the endgame?" 07Dryas follows up. 15[21:57] Hedrin: "We will still ultimately need to put him down. If not directly, there are connections we can employ if we're certain of the need. Certain freebooters have the resources to take an Anathema, and if worse comes to worst there are always vacancies in the Nail, and people who earn their crusts filling them." 15[21:58] "We'd prefer, as the Governor pointed out, not to be forced to negotiate with the Immaculates, because of the likely political concessions they would require. But if it's that or the safety of the Realm..." [21:58] 6Zhangyu nods. Sensible enough. [21:58] 14Of course, there's the other option. Mnemon Hedrin needs to die. Iselsi Piu needs to cause it to happen. But she doesn't need to do it herself... 15[21:59] Kou, coldly: "Pneuma is lovely all year round." [22:01] 10Daizo: "The idea that the Immaculates are just sitting on their hands waiting for us to save ourselves or beg for help leaves a bad taste in my mouth. That isn't—that shouldn't be what this is about." 15[22:04] Hedrin: "There are truly righteous women and men in the service of the Philosophy. Many. But..." 15[22:04] Kou: "We don't get to negotiate with them." 15[22:05] Hedrin looks chagrined. "As she says." [22:06] 4Piu glances over at Ratel, who seems to have been quiet this entire time? "Well, just give the word, Commodore, and we'll get to it." [22:06]  [22:06] "A slow hunt, then," 07Dryas suggests. "To root out these corpse-lovers. But have other business in the Archipelago, too. Whaling, transportation..." [22:06] 10Daizo: "Dark days. I suppose we've got no one to rely on but ourselves, then." [22:06] 14It would do to remind both Hedrin and Kou who this hearth actually reports to. 15[22:07] Ratel seems lost in thought. At prompt from Piu she looks up almost with a start. "Yes, good idea." 15[22:08] Kou rolls her eyes. Hedrin nods gratefully. "Thank you, Commodore." [22:10] 4That settled, Piu will go in for a second omentata. [22:10] 10Is the Commodore all right? Hrmmm. 15[22:10] To Dryas, Hedrin says: "As long as progress is steady and contact is regular, what else you do with your time, within bounds of sanity, is not our concern. I will see to it that you are not troubled." [22:12] 6That's... very broad, given what we've seen and done already. Not much of a restriction, "within the bounds of sanity." 15[22:12] Everybody knows the dice are loaded; everybody rolls with their fingers crossed. [22:15] "And how will we reach you in the future? I don't think we can be traipsing back and forth between the manse and the Hinokuni," 07Dryas points out. 15[22:18] Hedrin: "I hold office in the Assessors. I'm terribly curious about your supply lines." [22:18] 14Mmmmmm. Well. There's why she made the list. Poor fool. 15[22:18] "I hope none of you are cheating on your taxes," she adds wryly. [22:18] 10Daizo: "I'm sure we can find a couple of go-betweens who won't ask questions." 15[22:20] Dinner finishes without incident. Even Kou is well-behaved. It's jarring to be reminded of the howling storm outside as the Commodore and her senior staff depart under Caxi's protective aegis. [22:23] 10All in all, things could have gone so much worse. Daizo still feels 10something10 tugging on his emotions, but it's easier to keep up appearances with a full belly. 15[22:24] They return, not to the hostel, but to the ship, which is otherwise empty and bobbing disconcertingly on the agitated sea. In Ratel's office, she turns to the others. "I need to know everything you know about this 'Ted'." [22:24] 4Piu: "Excellent fuck!" [22:24] 07Dryas sighs and leans against the wall. [22:25] "...Relevantly speaking, that means we already have a personal connection." 15[22:25] Ratel, in apparent seriousness: "Good to know. You say you met him at your fighting tournament. Did you observe his fighting style at all?" [22:25] "He was at the bar, sadly." [22:26] 6Zhangyu: "I can ask around." [22:27] 10Daizo: "Aside from the bit of trivia I recalled, nothing. Ah, pardon me—" 10Daizo undoes the cape and lets the wings splay out. "These… were starting to cramp up." [22:28] 4Piu, a bit sadly: "They're so pretty." 15[22:29] Caxi: "Good-looking? Perhaps too good-looking - perfectly symmetrical face, no trace of age, perhaps even suppressing unattractive bodily functions like sweating?" She's distracted by Daizo's unfurled wings. "Are you in pain, Daizo? Sometimes rapid mutations can be quite... difficult." [22:29] "He's a master marksman, of course," 07Dryas adds, "Assuming he took the killing shot." [22:30] 4Piu: "No, just a really good-looking guy. Definitely sweats." [22:31] 10Daizo wasn't ready for Piu to say that. There's a click in his throat and he swallows. "No pain. It just feels like I've been kneeling for a long time and my legs are full of pins and needles." 15[22:31] Caxi: "Almost certainly not a sorcerer then. A sufficiently vain magician will find any number of ways to use magic to buff away any flaws in their appearance. It can be quite uncanny." [22:31] "Whenever the Feathered One comes to, I'm going to see if he'll speak to me. If he gave them, maybe he can take them away…?" [22:32] "It probably won't be that simple…" 15[22:33] Caxi: "Does your translator know?" [22:36] 10Daizo: "No. She wasn't there when it happened. I told her to gather the other pilgrims and find a safe place just before Hamoji was shot." 15[22:36] Ratel: "Make sure to take rest if you need it. We need you at full capacity." [22:37] 14Uncharacteristically serious: "There will be no muttering about it among the crew. ...Samperson will make sure of it." 15[22:37] Caxi: "Good." [22:39] 6Zhangyu just cracks his knuckles in agreement. 15[22:39] Ratel: "I don't want you to endanger yourselves unnecessarily. Your lives and our mission are still more important than bailing out Ragara Kou." 15[22:39] "But this... is an opportunity." [22:39] 4Piu nods. [22:39] 10Daizo: "Thanks, Commodore. Thanks, Piu. I hope Seiri's all right. If she's not at the hostelry by breakfast tomorrow I'll go out and start searching the city." [22:40] 07Dryas: "When do we next weigh anchor?" 15[22:40] Ratel: "We need to know more about that Guild manifest. I'm going to take a meeting with the local Factor tomorrow to ask him about it." 15[22:41] "I'd like us back at sea within a week, however. Take the evening to put together plans of action and we'll go over them tomorrow." [22:42] 4Piu glances over at Dryas. The hearth wants to be at that meeting. [22:44] 07Dryas considers for a moment her next words. "Commodore, why don't you let me continue developing the connection with Nn Tloc? I can speak to him on a business level, if you can point out the things in the manifest that have you concerned." [22:44] 10Daizo: "In a week… that's enough to make a start." 15[22:45] Ratel: "Concerned about your business relationship?" [22:46] 4Piu: "He's also a deranged psycho." [22:47] "It's more discrete," 07she points out. [22:47] "Not saying you can't handle those, Commodore! But I really, really want to hit him. Dryas is able to communicate with him more in words he understands." [22:47] "Like, you know. Words." 15[22:48] Ratel gives Dryas a look like she wants to say Dryas is using the wrong form of 'discreet'... but how could she know? "Alright. Develop your existing connections, then. With Nn Tloc and... I'm sorry, is it really 'Ted'?" [22:48] 6Zhangyu: "Somehow, yes." [22:50] 4Airily: "Rhymes with bed." 15[22:51] Ratel suppresses a smile. "Alright, you're dismissed. Work things out amongst yourselves and get some rest. We'll meet again tomorrow afternoon." [22:53] 14The hearth is immediately going to get back together in a private session, right? [22:55] 07If it seems necessary. Perhaps not aboard ship though. [22:55] 6Yes. Still need to find a discreet place to meet without listening ears. 15[22:56] So discreet and discrete, then. [22:56] 14Piu might find Samperson in between those two meetings and deliver the message for him to deliver to the crew: Daizo might be too high-minded to retaliate to any ridicule of his condition from the crew behind his back, but his hearth certainly is not. 15[22:58] Samperson takes the message with full intent to relay it. Does the hearth want to meet with or without Caxi, and do they meet on the ship or in the hostel? 15[22:58] You could even take late refuge among the fighters of the Hinokuni... [22:59] 14Depends if Caxi seems like she'd be put out by not being included, but Piu's inclination is hearth-only. [22:59] 14We swore this thing for a reason. [23:00] 14That said, Ratel is going to want to be included somehow, and Caxi is, aheh, pliable. 15[23:00] Does Caxi know about the hearth? Does Ratel? [23:00] 14Given the content of Piu's message to the crew, if they don't now, they will soon, so it's not worth keeping secret. [23:01] 07Seems a wise idea to disclose it. [23:02] 6Ratel can be included when we update her tomorrow. [23:02] 6After working this out. [23:06] 14Piu will take Caxi aside and give her an entirely true line about how the hearth will be expected to be seen together if they're to be trusted as a unit in the Abalone social scene, and that frankly, she probably isn't going to find much to interest her on a factfinding mission to meathead central, especially if she doesn't favor incredibly sculpted boys. 15[23:07] Caxi's reaction is peculiar, by Piu's lights, but she doesn't argue the point. The hearth leaves Caxi with Ratel and makes their way to the Hinokuni. Holding cloaks against the ashy wind is a lot less pleasant than Caxi's protective bubble, but they make it all the same, and huddle under the eave while Zhangyu flashes his badge. [23:12] 14...Daizo's in good hands with them, but she'll sidle up to him as they make their way down to the docks: "Do me a favor? Go see Caxi when we get back?" [23:12] "She's worried about the wings." [23:12] "If she acts flumpy about it tell her I noticed and I sent ya." 15[23:13] The Hinokuni hall is warm and lively. All the wine and liquor barrels are tapped. The hour is late, and the band isn't in, so no one's dancing, but there's a lot of chatter as fighters mingle. You immediately see Thousand Devil Master deep into an anecdote to a half-interested Sia, a handful of the fighters they only know in passing trading boasts, shots, and bouts of braying laughter. 15[23:13] And there's Son-of-Sabers, everyone's favorite, playing Gateway with Ted. [23:13] 10Daizo: "She certainly has been asking me at every opportunity." [23:14] 4Piu: "She's an expert! Even if she's weird." [23:14] 4She'll wink at Ted. [23:14] 4It's true liberatory, not actually really being mad at him or really wanting to kill him. [23:15] 10Daizo: "Maybe. I'm getting very tired of comparing myself to the great Caxi and finding myself wanting, though, I'll tell you. This isn't helping." 15[23:15] His smile back is broad enough that Son-of-Sabers looks over his shoulder to see what could have provoked such a response. When he sees Zhangyu among them, the hearth gets a single curt nod before he returns to the game. [23:16] 4She makes a raspberry sound. "Don't compare yourself to her!" [23:16] 14Seriously, don't. Girl's got issues. [23:16] 6Son-of-Sabers. Hock, ptooey. [23:17] 10Daizo: "How can I not? All I have is theory. She has praxis." 10Does Piu even know the word? [23:17] 14I'm not an--ugh. 4No! [23:18] "Sorry, sorry. I shouldn't… I shouldn't let it get to me." [23:18] 14Piu: "She has knowledge and she can be controlled. I think it would be intemperate to let her go to waste, as a resource." [23:19] 4Then she'll wave to the owner/bartender and saunter over to inquire about a private room. 15[23:20] Thousand Devil Master snorts and waves a burly arm around. "Take your pick, no one else is using them. Just leave it like you found it." [23:21] 4Piu, of course, with her ravenous metabolism, has fully recovered from dinner and is just about ready for what the southern cultures call 'fourth meal.' 15[23:22] A crucial part of that uniquely Southern outlook known as the 'Live More' mentality. [23:23] 6I want to register a complaint. [23:23] 07Dryas, to her Hearthmates: "One of you should spread word that I'd like to speak with Chases-Waterfalls sometime. I believe he is indebted to us." 15[23:23] Everything the kitchen is currently putting out is fried, so if you're fine with fish and potatoes as long as everything's covered in greasy, crispy batter, you can eat your fill. [23:23] 6Zhangyu: "Not me. He would take it poorly." [23:24] 4Is Piu fine with fried food? Do the sands burn under the Sun? 15[23:24] For now. [23:24] 4She sighs. "I think he'd be most receptive to me. I'll put out feelers." [23:24] "I did beat him up and take his medallion. So. I get it. But yes, that was my thought." [23:25] 4Assuming we're in our private room: "Could even do so by sidling up to Ted, who's met your FAVORITE grapplefuck practicioner, Zhangyu." [23:25] 6Zhangyu growls. [23:26] "I really should take the time to get acquainted with a few of the fighters. Even if I'm competing under assumed names." [23:28] 6Zhangyu: "Son-of-Sabers is a jackass. The rest I've met have been..." 6What's the word? "Kind. Enough." 15[23:31] Dryas feels the vibrations in the air and watches the sweep in social energy throughout the fighters' hall. A few people are paying them attention - Ted, certainly, and Gilana Crimson Tide, who Zhangyu defeated, and Son-of-Sabers... but the door of the private room stops them. None of them are able, or perhaps willing, to eavesdrop once the hearth withdraws. [23:31] 4Piu: "He's really good at being a jackass, though. I mean even if he'd kill us." [23:32] 6Zhangyu, grudgingly: "He is." [23:34] 4Piu: "What's our pretext for wanting to meet with him?" [23:34] "I'm gonna two birds, one stone this." [23:34] "By which I mean I'm gonna try to leave here tonight with Ted again." [23:35] 10Daizo: "Do you need a pretext?" [23:35] "Are you drunk?" 07Dryas asks, incredulously. [23:35] "To go home with him? Absolutely not. But to ask about Chases-Waterfalls? Might do." [23:36] "Oh, well then." [23:37] 14Piu: "There's no benefit in killing me to his plan and I have no intention of killing him. Frankly, we might want to more keenly consider the danger posed to us by the Mnemon assessor." [23:37] "And the governor whose paranoia keeps on being frustratingly correct in slant-rhyme." [23:37] 6Zhangyu: "You were just seen here with me. Might want to find out more about the former holder-" 6He considers. "Hrm." [23:38] "No intention of killing him tonight, that is." [23:38] "Doesn't look like he's going anywhere." [23:38] "He might just kill you for fun," 07Dryas points out. [23:38] "He had a chance to do that already and passed on it." [23:39] "If you're really concerned you can wait outside his place and uh...listen. But this seems like our best way in." [23:40] 14Piu: "And like I said...our mission here is far bigger than an Eye adjutant, a governor, and a volcano. It might be in our interest to make THEM go away." [23:40] 10Daizo munches thoughtfully. "Ragaras are going to Ragara. They have some kind of special Hourse training that turns them all into such hardasses." [23:40] "Especially given that Kou clearly is already fitting us for...how do they kill people out here?" [23:40] "I guess the volcano." [23:40] 6Zhangyu: "Very carefully." [23:43] 10Daizo: "But you don't trust Hedrin not to blow up Ratel's operation, is that it?" [23:43] 14Piu: "Or ours. Yours, specifically, Dryas. I don't think that tax joke was precisely a joke." [23:45] "He wouldn't be the first Assessor to try to get one over on me," 07she replies. "I'd rather turn Hedrin than waste him." [23:46] 6Zhangyu: "The Governor was afraid of her," 6he offers. "At some point, cut your losses." [23:47] 14Piu: "Well, the turn versus waste conversation is more a question of how long you want to spend in port here, cultivating an agent...and how easily dispatching her could get us in that Guild psycho's good graces and free us to stop watching our backs, at least from that angle." [23:49] "Now, Nn Tloc, that's someone whose back is ripe for a knife to slide into it," 07Dryas replies. [23:49] 10Daizo: "You're being avery casual about dispatching an agent of the All-Seeing Eye." [23:50] 14Piu: "Do we have the organization to take them?" [23:50] 14To Daizo: "There's not going to be anything casual about it, other than the sex." [23:51] 10Daizo: "Now that we're sworn… I feel like I should ask. What is it you really do for V'Neef?" [23:51] "Kou's an ass but her assessment, broadly speaking, isn't wrong." [23:51] "It's been bothering me for a while." [23:52] 07Dryas clicks her tongue at the question and leans back in her chair. This should be good, given what the Nine Muses Audient has to say about her. [23:52] 14Piu: "...House V'Neef is on the outside of Realm politics, looking in. Its youth, exuberance, and, frankly, naivete has left a massive wrought iron gate between them and relevance. The key to the gate is power." [23:52] "I am the hand that turns the key." [23:53] "Don't pay attention to who won the Five Day Fight. Pay attention to who died." [23:53] 6Who did die, out of curiosity? Zhangyu might know this offhand. 15[23:57] None of them moved in Zhangyu's circles, so their names - while he likely heard them - have slipped from his mind. [23:58] 10Daizo muses on that. "Understood." [23:58] 6Politics isn't really his game, anyway. [23:59] 10If Piu meant any of us harm the oath wouldn't have taken, or would have broken immediately.  [23:59] 14To Dryas: "If you're wondering why I'm so unconcerned with going home with Anathema or why I'm so unconcerned about killing someone who might impede my House's greatest chance at claiming power -- being close to the Scarlet Empress in her return -- despite the morality or worth of that person, you have your answers in that." Session Time: Wed Apr 15 00:00:00 2020 [00:01] "I take it we all noticed that Kou is somehow infuriatingly correct with her guesses, even if her paranoia distorts them?" [00:01] 6This explains questions he never really bothered to ask. Or rather, asked but ignored politely. [00:01] "Extremely so." [00:02] "Remove her spymaster and only a scribe is gone. Remove the governor and we have questions to answer." [00:02] "I assume she's just letting us know how well-informed she is," 07Dryas replies as she digests the bigger disclosure and thoughts. [00:02] "Both ourselves and, you know, structurally. It will legitimately destabilize the region." [00:03] "Help the governor and the spymaster, and...well, they've already made it clear that local power is what they view as legitimate, right? I think words to the effect of 'for all we know, home rule is no longer legitimate' left Kou's mouth." [00:03] "If the Silver Prince is trying to usurp the Satrapy through deceit, we may do his work for him..." [00:03] 10Daizo: "It's her paranoia that leads her to be so well-informed. But she's sharp despite that." [00:05] "You're right, though. I didn't want to tell her how dire the state of things has become back home." [00:05] 14Piu: "If we return the Empress to the throne, wetwork about the edges becomes irrelevant." [00:06] "That said, we don't need to make decisions now. We do need to find out Ted's other contacts, and see if he's working solo or in group." [00:08] 6Zhangyu: "I'll do what I can from here, but..." 6He grimaces. "I'm not expecting much. Sorry." [00:08] "...Anyone here but me good at burglary?" [00:08] "He's not alone," 07Dryas replies. [00:08] "Better at the breaking part of breaking and entering." [00:09] 10Daizo: "Yesterday I would have told you that subterfuge was not my strong point. Today, it is even less so." [00:10] "But if you need someone to lurk ominously in an alleyway, I stand ready." [00:11] 14Piu frowns. "I was thinking of one of you breaking into his place while he and I were...engaged...and looking through his things. For ledgers, notebooks, that stuff." [00:11] "I will admit I was thinking of Dryas, mainly." 14[00:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[00:12] * Joins: mattbaby [00:14] 10Daizo: "Hmm. Is his place well-guarded?" [00:15] "Perhaps we could arrange a different type of distraction for him." [00:15] 6Zhangyu: "Another one of us could try..." 6He's absolutely dreadful at stealth, but he is aware of the reactions he got when he removed the towel over his head in the arena. [00:15] "I'm no footpad," 07Dryas protests. "Nor much of a picaroon, either. I am getting to know my way around a criminal element thanks to you lot, but not that sort of thing." [00:21] 14She sighs. "Well, I'm unsure if he's into men and obviously can't do the thievery myself, though it did appear to just be a normal richie house." [00:22] 10Daizo: "All right, how about this: find someone who is skilled at the kind of precise work we need, and pay them to do it. Obviously we can't do all that tonight…" [00:23] "Let's take a step back for a moment," 07Dryas suggests. "This is a hunt." [00:23] 14Piu: "I mean. We've found him and we have an in. In many ways, the hunt is over." [00:24] "He's not the quarry," 07she specifies. "He's the bait." [00:24] 14Piu arches an eyebrow. [00:24] 10Daizo: "Oh? What are we fishing for, then?" [00:26] "His accomplices, of course. At least one of whom is a sorcerer with at least one blood ape running around. And when's the last time someone just summoned one blood ape?" 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ZZZzzz…) 14[15:04] * Joins: tom 14[16:04] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:14] * Quits: VoxPrime (Connection closed) 14[16:14] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[16:21] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[17:31] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:20] * Quits: Crion (Connection closed) 14[18:20] * Joins: Crion 14[18:53] * Joins: tom 14[19:39] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:02]  15[20:02]  15[20:02]  15[20:02]  15[20:02]  15[20:03] He's not the quarry, she said. He's the bait. 15[20:03] What did she mean by that? Only Cynis Dryas can say. 15[20:05] The kinship, half a day old, gathers over bar food in a relatively unsmoky back room. Beyond the door granting them privacy, the West's most prestigious fighters, among them - they have good reason to believe - a godslayer. 15[20:07] They have agreed (tentatively) to work alongside the paranoiac Imperial Governor and her attache from the Empress's secret police. [20:12] 14We'll see how long that lasts. [20:12] 14Piu has business with at least one of them. [20:18] "Yes, the bait - not the quarry," 07Dryas reiterates. [20:20] 6Zhangyu: "Explain." [20:21] 10Daizo studies his beer glass; he's barely touched it. "Yes, I'm afraid I don't follow." [20:22] 07Dryas: "Firstly: we can't go around murdering - or facilitating the murder - of Imperial officers while Skullstone has a plot to overthrow the Satrapy and institute some hellish necromantic puppet like Thorns or the more salacious rumors from Nexus." [20:22] Dryas, continuing: "Ted is one of three leads we have on Skullstone's operations here. But I believe he is the tastiest morsel, the surest to reveal the rest of their operations - if we apply just the right pressure. Yes, three leads." [20:22] 07Dryas, continuing: "Ted is one of three leads we have on Skullstone's operations here. But I believe he is the tastiest morsel, the surest to reveal the rest of their operations - if we apply just the right pressure. Yes, three leads." [20:23] 14Sadly, hearth-sister, on that point we'll have to disagree. [20:23] 14The murdering point. [20:24] 10Daizo: "Three? Who are the other two?" [20:24] 6I agree, mysterious voice that sounds kind of like Piu. [20:25] 07Dryas: "The first is the cursèd idol of Carmine Road, which I am certain has some sort of role in all this, thanks to its connection to the Keystone and its own cursed pirate captain." [20:28] 07Dryas: "The second is Nn Tloc, the Guild factor who lives in the haunted house and who we petitioned to hold an unsanctioned Hinokuni exhibition match." [20:30] 6Zhangy grunts in acknowledgement. [20:31] 6Zhangyu* [20:31] 07Dryas: "In any case, to use Ted to destroy Hedrin would be premature and sever our most promising lead on Skullstone's plans. That, in turn, not only risks a tide of benighted horror descending upon the West, dogs and cats living together, and so forth - but it also entails either losing our port of operations, having Hedrin replaced by someone less predictable, or being thrown into a dungeon for treason against the Realm." [20:31] 10Daizo: "Ah, I think I understand now. Assuming it was forged in the West, and assuming that information Caxi gave me about 'depleted soulsteel' was true… you would need both a shadowland and skilled craftsmen to produce soulsteel in any quantity." [20:32] "We should investigate other potential shadowlands, but Skullstone is certainly the closest." [20:33] 14Piu: "Hedrin is not a 'lead' on Skullstone's plans. Ted, who is actually connected to Skullstone, is a lead on Skullstone's plans. Nn Tloc, who almost certainly has dealings with them, is the same. She's a dog of the secret police and if she does have reliable information, almost certainly won't be sharing it with us." 14[20:34] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:35] 07Dryas: "And how many prominent deaths on this island will be connected - true or not - with the crew and passengers of Dana'ads Defiance? It will not take Hedrin, or her replacement, or even Kou, long to start putting the pieces together." [20:35] 14Aggravating. She misjudged Dryas; there ARE times when her love of stability overwhelms her ambition. Lesson learned: ask forgiveness rather than permission. [20:37] 07The fastest way to silence a growling dog is with a bone. [20:37] 14Piu: "I would put forth that interfering with the rites of the island volcano god in public has already done far more in service of that danger than a bureaucrat jackboot biting off more Anathema than she could chew." [20:37] 6That's gross. You aren't wrong, I just want to point that out. [20:39] 6Zhangyu: "We can handle a fight." [20:40] 07Dryas bares her teeth in a grimacing smile. "I also recall, Hearth-Brother Zhangyu, you had some wise words about taking rash actions right after that happened." 14[20:40] * Joins: tom [20:40] 6He grimaces. [20:41] 10Daizo drains his glass to avoid having to say an ything. Wheat beer with… pineapple? What under Heaven is up with these islanders? [20:42] 14Piu: "We can table the matter of Hedrin for now. But that raises the question of what we give Ted instead of the Eye spy coming after him. I'm not about to wed the man." [20:42] 07Dryas looks for a compromise: "It's obvious that Hedrin knows more than she's letting on. If we can't buy her - and who knows, maybe we can't - then we can frame her. Once she's compromised, she's ours to do with as we please." [20:45] "Allow me," 07Dryas sighs "To explain some of my reasoning. I have a secret to tell you all. It must not leave this room." [20:45] 6Zhangyu nods. [20:45] 10Daizo: "Of course." [20:46] 14Piu: "...If you're certain we're not being listened in on." [20:46] 6...are we? [20:48] 10Daizo: "I don't think Dryas would be offering a secret up to us unless she were sure." [20:50] 07Dryas: "Nn Tloc is smuggling Anathema, other Exalts, and other things besides out of Abalone and, I believe, into Skullstone. Anathema who would otherwise be bound for the Nail are redirected out into the West. I know all this because he recruited me to assist him, and I agreed to do so." [20:50] 07Dryas: "Nn Tloc is smuggling Anathema, Exalts, and other things besides out of Abalone and, I believe, into Skullstone. Anathema who would otherwise be bound for the Nail are redirected out into the West. I know all this because he recruited me to assist him, and I agreed to do so." [20:50] 14...Only Dryas could turn a dread personal secret into bragging about a big new contract. [20:52] 6Zhangyu: "Hrnh. You agreed to this? Or just - were sought out for this?" [20:52] 07Dryas: "I agreed to do it, first for the riches. But also because his arrogance annoyed me. It is my aim to topple him, turn his smuggler network to dust, and enrich myself in the process. But I was stymied at how to do so. Until I learned about Ted." [20:52] 10Daizo: "You agreed?" [20:52] 14Piu: "So...your big personal secret is that after like, two weeks in town, you secured the most lucrative slaving contract in the region?" [20:52] "Congrats." [20:53] "And we were gone for like, a week in the middle there." [20:53] 6All of that is true. [20:54] 6Un-fucking-believable. [20:54] 14This isn't a backhanded compliment or anything; Piu seems genuinely impressed. [20:54] "Well. I felt terribly conflicted about it, but maybe I should not have, apparently. It's been eating me up for the last two weeks," 07she replies. [20:55] 10Daizo: "Have you already aided any Anathema?" 10We agreed that Sadako wasn't one, but… [20:55] 14Piu, slightly incredulous: "Why? You love slavery." [20:55] "Ohhh, right. The whole Skullstone thing." [20:57] "So, basically, it seems like our next real stop is Nn Tloc." [20:57] 6Zhangyu: "As it should have. Empress almighty." [20:57] "Meaning I should play that stuff up with Ted as much as possible?" [20:57] 6He's not going to bring up the slavery thing. [20:58] "No," 07she replies to Daizo. "But I expect it will come up when we next leave port. I have been wracking my brain to come up with a plan to displace Tloc, make the money, and dismantle the network before Skullstone can overthrow the Satrapy. I think Ted is the key to that, but I can't quite decide how to do it. I think the Hinokuni exhibition could play a role..." [21:02] 14Piu: "Technically we're past the exhibitions; after the-- oh. You meant in general, not as a matter of tournament scoring." [21:02] "Right." [21:02] 10Daizo looks relieved. Things are bad, but they're not as bad as they could be. [21:06] 6Zhangyu: "I had... hoped, that my fighting could contribute. To that. I was clearly mistaken." [21:07] 4Piu: "Whattaya mean? Aren't you in?" [21:07] "I am. It still exists." [21:07] 6He shrugs. [21:08] 10Daizo: "I'm going to need a new alias. Hah." [21:12] 07Dryas: "I suppose we still need more information? Maybe we can get it during the Hinokuni. We need to find out the extent of Nn Tloc's network - and its weak spots. He has a bevy of utterly terrified mortal staff. We also need to find out how Ted fits in. And who the sorcerer is. Then we can make a call on what to do about Ted and Hedrin." [21:13] 10Daizo: "Will they even be holding the Hinokuni until the city settles down a bit?" [21:13] 14Piu: "Either way, I've got Ted on the hook. I will be walking out of here over to his table, and then developing that relationship further." [21:14] 6Zhangyu:: "...we can ask." [21:14] "You're right, they probably won't," 07Dryas concedes. "We'll need to act now, then." 07To Piu: "Are you sure he doesn't know we're on to him?" [21:14] 6Piu. Please be slightly less horny. [21:15] 14Piu: "If he does know, he's content to play the game, given that we're still alive." [21:15] 14Piu: "He needs options in this city as much as we do -- if not more." [21:16] 6It is concerning that he's still in town. [21:16] "Besides, if I make eyes at him, go into the backroom, and then come out and ignore him, he'll know something's up." [21:17] 07Dryas: "You're right, we can't let on that we suspect something." [21:17] 10Daizo: "If I were Ted, or his accomplices, I'd be thrilled to have word that several mysterious Dynasts were seen atop Hamoji when the deed wes done." [21:17] 4Zhangyu. No. [21:17] "He may even spread rumors to that effect." [21:18] 14Piu: "There was a full military response. We fought The Feathered One. He won't have to help that news along in the slightest, I don't think." [21:19] 07Dryas: "So what else can we do to unravel these conspiracies? Before turning them to our own ends?" [21:20] 14Piu: "We have to manage and protect Ratel through all of this." [21:20] "Yes, Ratel has to be insulated." [21:21] "Kou's already accused us of treason multiple times and will clearly be working against us. There's no guarantee that Hedrin won't use that for her own convenience. Kou's annoying, but the fact that the Eye is letting her maintain such an active role means that while she'll bitch and moan, in the end she'll do as she's told." [21:21] 6I'm just saying. We could kill him. [21:21] 6We shouldn't. But we could. [21:22] 14If we kill him then you need to find Piu a better hookup. [21:22] 07He's the bait. [21:22] 10Daizo: "I've been meaning to study the idol we recovered from Carmine Road's island. I still intend to do so." [21:22] "Perhaps Carmine Road itself could be used as a form of leverage." [21:22] 14Piu: "Nice." [21:23] 6think about it we could do it [21:23] 6Sorry, what? Ha ha yeah just ignore me. [21:23] "Nn Tloc knows we have it, if he's not a fool. A hint here and there could give us a string to tug on." [21:26] 10Daizo: "Perhaps. I was thinking of a more proactive kind of leverage." [21:26] "I want to see if it can be controlled." [21:27] 14Piu: "Sounds dangerous. I like it." [21:27] 10As soon as the words escape Daizo's lips,a pang strikes him. Isn't this hubris? Arrogance? Against the proper order of things? [21:28] 6Cousin. Relax. [21:28] 10So is Ted. So is Skullstone. So is whatever captivated Peleps Furia so.  [21:29] 07Dryas nods. "That's our leads. We're still looking for a sorcerer, and whoever had all those people tailing us during the pilgrimage. Keep an eye out for mangy yellow dogs. " [21:29] 14Piu: "Understood." [21:29] "I'll leave first. Distract the bar. The rest of you can slip out." [21:29] "I'll be back late." [21:31] 6Handsomely: "I can do that." 6:D [21:31] "Stay frosty," 07Dryas suggests. [21:31] 10Daizo: "Be careful." [21:32] 4Piu: "Please, Dryas. I'm no ice queen." [21:32] 4Fully in character, she heads back to the floor. 15[21:38] A night passes. People settle into the beds they want to settle in. 15[21:39] The air is still bad the next morning, but the wind has settled. People go about their business in Abalone, many holding cloth to their faces or wearing veils to keep the ash out of their noses and throats. [21:39] 4mmmm [21:41] 07It's an early morning, then. Dryas makes her rounds - the stables, to check on Diamond Weapon, breakfast at the hostel to converse with Pale Moke and check in on Sadako, polite conversation with any of the other sailors and passengers of the Defiance, and then she's looking for her hearthmates. 15[21:41] When the kinship arrives at Nn Tloc's manor, his guards are wearing full silver masks, eyes and snarling mouths covered by thin, tight screens. Who addresses them? [21:41] 4Piu returned sometime in the early morning, napped lazily, and then got straight to her exercises before bathing and preparing for the meeting with Nn Tloc. [21:42] 4She's wearing her favorite necklace. [21:43] "Gentlemen!" 07Dryas exclaims brightly, drawing aside her Delzahn-style veil. [21:43] 10Sleep takes its time coming for Daizo. It turns out to be difficult ro find a comfortable position, and when he eventually does drift off, magma, ashes, and many less comprehehensible things fill his dreamscape. [21:44] "Hee hee!" 4Piu's back to being something of an ornament. Short-cut robes today, no combat wraps. [21:45] 6Zhangyu will bow politely and shake hands -- he's a good lad. And not a weirdo. Formal robes, blue and white. 15[21:49] The guards open the doors at once, though the hearth has to push through a heavy beaded curtain to get inside. The four of them are asked to wait by a permanently quailing young man in servant's clothes. "The Factor is seeing someone just now and will be with you shortly. Would any of you like anything to eat or drink or smoke while you wait?" [21:49] 10He's looking a little bleary-eyed when they arrive at Nn Tloc's place. And he's far outshone by the others in terms of fashion—the cape Zhangyu lent him clashes with a green-and-golden kataginu. [21:49] 4Piu: "I'll have a drink! Something fruity and strong!" 15[21:50] How well does the cape obscure Daizo's wings? [21:50] 6Zhangyu shakes his head. Do not trust anything from here. [21:50] 6His cape was VERY large, for the record. [21:50] 4Piu's opinion remains that Daizo should split the cape down the middle and hang each trailing half in the crook of each wing, to create trailing streamers. 15[21:51] Piu is brought something in a wide, flared glass that tastes of rum, citrus, and raw sugar. [21:51] 14Piu doesn't trust the drink, but she's a connoisseur of poisons and it's time to scout. [21:51] 07Dryas looks at the little man, evaluating him for a moment. [21:51] 6Sweetheart, no... [21:53] 10They stick out a little bit to the sides, when folded. It's not entirely clear that they're wings, but any observer looking at Daizo will see that something is protruding from his back, 15[21:55] Piu is very confident that this drink is not poisoned. Even a poisoner of surpassing skill, working with the most delicate substance, would've left some trace... and the combination of acidic citrus and alcoholic rum renders almost all conventional poisons inert. 15[21:56] Dryas only needs to look briefly at the boy to know that he is terrified for his life, and would do virtually anything to the person who could get him out and guarantee his safety. 15[21:56] *for the person [21:57] 07The corner of Dryas' mouth twitches slightly. [21:58] 4Bottoms up, then! As they say. [21:59] 6Wait, who says that. 15[21:59] The office doors fly open, and a boisterous, honking laugh emerges, followed by Nn Tloc's own cold, clipped chuckle. [22:00] 10Daizo looks like he's listening for something, a faraway voice perhaps. Nn Tloc's mansion had the reputation of being haunted, but it doesn't appear to be so far.  15[22:00] "Great, absolutely perfect. We're going to be rich, you know." This from a man much taller than Nn Tloc, whose puffy face has stretched into a mirthful smile so wide it pinched his eyes shut. [22:00] 6No seriously who says that 15[22:00] Nn Tloc meets awful smile with awful smile. "Of course, we already are." 15[22:01] The other man laughs again. 15[22:04] Then they both look at the hearth. The tall man speaks first. "Oooh, what beautiful people you consort with, Lock. Nothing like as glamourous as the Isle, of course -- you simply must let us bring you out." He looks at them expectantly, as if waiting for them to recognize him. 15[22:06] Daizo does. This is Ragara Takoye, the famous inventor and magnate! A true wunderkind, they say - designed an essence glider a patrician can fly, frictionless wagons that don't stall out in dusty mines... people of means are always rushing to fund his next great idea. 15[22:06] Ragara Takoye: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE7e4MkZGXY - I swear, my mind blows my mind! [22:07] 6This is a hard no. 15[22:09] Piu also knows him as a relentless social climber who, along with his wife, one of the Dynasty's pre-eminent musicians, have been cutting a swath through both high society and the labor market. [22:09] 10Daizo: "Your reputation precedes you, Ragara Takoye. Are you working with Nn Tloc to civilize the West?" [22:09] 4She giggles. "Hi there Takky~!" [22:09] 14Does that get a rise? [22:10] 07Dryas smiles widely - though she still isn't sure who it might be, she knows what kind of person he is: and offers a businesslike bow. "Cynis Dryas," 07she introduces herself. 15[22:11] Takoye smiles, somehow, even wider. His accent is peculiar; Takoye is a Lost Egg, a satrap's son who took the second breath overseeing his father's emerald mine. "Lovely to meet you all." [22:11] 6Zhangyu knows that name. Holy shit. "Takoyaki," 6he settles upon. Rude! But fair. [22:12] 6No seriously. He earned that. Fucking asshole. [22:13] 6Zhangyu knows what happened to his kids. 15[22:14] Takoye cranes his neck up to meet Daizo in the eyes. "My friend, we are on a mission to save the world." [22:15] "From what?" 07Dryas asks, surprised. [22:15] 10Another misfit. Daizo can sympathize with that. "Who isn't, these days? Ahaha." 15[22:18] Takoye honk-laughs again. "Well, I'll let you get in to see the Factor. Maybe we'll see each other again!" [22:20] "Of course!" 07Dryas chirps. [22:20] 14... 15[22:21] Takoye strides out into the smog. 15[22:21] Nn Tloc: "..............good morning! Come on in." [22:21] 10Daizo half-bows. The wings twitch but don't unfurl. [22:22] 6Good job, cousin. 15[22:23] Nn Tloc pours himself a double of rum and gestures for people to help themselves at the bar. Then he thinks better of it and makes it a triple. "Very... very high-energy guy." 15[22:23] He sits behind his desk. "What can I do for you?" [22:24] Zhangyu does not drink. [22:24] 6Zhangyu does not drink. [22:24] 07Did he remember that enormous ledger? Certainly Dryas wasn't going to lug it around. [22:25] 6Look: shut up. [22:26] 07Dryas: "Good morning, my dear. We've come on behalf of Commodore Peleps Ratel, who had a variety of questions concerning this ledger we discovered among the Siaka Archipelago, which we had previously, privately discussed to some extent." 15[22:27] Long pull from the glass; Tloc doesn't blink. "Do go on." [22:27] 6No, for real. Do. [22:27] 10Daizo produces the item in question, showing it off before Tloc. Good thing someone here's reliable. [22:28] 6Two someones. Cousin. [22:30] 10And which one of us had to go back to the hostelry and get it?  [22:30] 10That's right. [22:32] "I will relay her questions and concerns. She noted a number of trades of molasses for rum. Here, here, here," 07says Dryas, pointing to specific entries. "She had indicated her intention to come here herself to ask for an explanation, given the lack of distilleries, sugar fields, and so forth on the islands in question..." [22:32] 4Piu finishes her drink. "Uwaaaa! Bartender! Another!" 15[22:32] Piu is promptly supplied with another drink. [22:33] 07Dryas: "However, after speaking with her myself, we agreed it was more efficient for her to delegate this task to myself. And my colleagues." 15[22:33] Nn Tloc is very still and silent for a long moment. [22:34] 07Dryas smiles widely. "I believe there is a straightforward explanation, however," 07she breaks the silence. 15[22:34] The factor perks up immediately. "I'd be interested to hear it." [22:37] "Why, spoilage, of course. Now I know, both rum and molasses are preservatives. Of course! That's why they're offloaded from time to time to make room for other cargo - that does spoil. Like the bananas, which I believe grew in some numbers on the islet in question," 07Dryas states. 15[22:39] Nn Tloc: "That would make sense. I've never been to the island in question, and I understand our man there has been, ah, depopulated." 15[22:39] "So that ledger is really the only evidence of what happened there." [22:39] 4Chipperly: "Testimony is evidence!" [22:40] 10Bananas. Right. Although there's been worse excuses offered to magistrates. 15[22:41] Nn Tloc taps his fingers on the table. Somewhere outside the office there's the sound of a door slamming one, two, three times. [22:43] "You're right, Piu, testimony is evidence! How - unfortunate - then, that the sole survivor doesn't remember a thing!" 07Dryas replies. 15[22:44] Nn Tloc watches, his face expressionless, waiting. [22:44] 6His name is Colt, right? Like. Come on. [22:45] "Are people usually slamming doors in this building?" 10Daizo leans over to Piu and whispers. [22:45] 6Tloc. Come the heck on. [22:45] 14Piu: "No. Be prepared." [22:46] 6Always. [22:46] 10Well, that's concerning.  [22:49] "Well, I think given the reasonable explanation we've discovered together, we can have a clean report for the Commodore," 07Dryas continues. 15[22:52] "That's true. That's very true. In that spirit of partnership, I wonder if there's something I can do for you?" [22:58] 07Dryas: "I would love if you could get me the name and whereabouts of every sorcerer here on Abalone with experience in demon summoning. And, perhaps, a bottle to take back to the Commodore," 07she replies. 15[22:59] Nn Tloc: "Mnemon Dusk was a sorcerer. Though I assume you mean alive." [22:59] 4Innocently: "Can she summon demons when she's dead?" 15[23:00] "I sure hope not. This isn't Skullstone." 15[23:00] "Oh! That reminds me." 15[23:01] "The, ah, what's his name. The pretty boy who fights in the ring. He introduced me to his friend, they were here to pay for contacts." 15[23:01] "Todd?" 15[23:02] "No..." [23:03] 4Chirping: "Ted!" [23:03] 14He already knows. And he definitely doesn't think his name is 'Todd.' 15[23:04] "Right! Ted. Sharp kid. His friend, you should ask for her. Her name was..." [23:04] 10Poker face. P-p-p-poker face.  [23:04] 6Wait. I'm the pretty boy who fights in-- 15[23:04] Nn Tloc furrows his brow. "It's slipping my mind. Let me check my appointment book." [23:05] 10Zhangyu's just gonna have to get prettier. [23:05] 6He is literally as pretty as he can be. [23:06] 07Zhangyu is gorgeous. Not pretty. [23:06] 6That's fair. 15[23:07] Nn Tloc flips through a ledger the size of the one Daizo lugged around, clucking his tongue. "Right, yeah, here's the date. Here's Tad, no, Ted - sorry, my handwriting's not great - and... huh. I must've forgotten to write it down." [23:07] 4Piu giggles. 15[23:08] "She looked..." He traces a vague feminine shape in the air, while waving up and down slightly as if he can't decide what height to place his hand at. "It's completely slipping my mind, I'm sorry." [23:09] 6Zhangyu: "She?" 15[23:09] "I'm... yes, I'm sure she was a woman." [23:10] "Sorcerers," 07Dryas says sympathetically. [23:10] 6Xie? They sound similar. [23:10] 10So either Dryas needs to pay up again to improve Tloc's memory, or Piu needs to go find the Ted's Ex-Girlfriends Club. [23:10] 4We're not dating. [23:11] 6Condolences on your breakup. [23:11] 4Wow! We'll talk about this later. You little shit. 15[23:11] "I can give you the address of where he's staying, if you want." [23:11] 10The Piu's Ex-Fuckbuddies Club would have been crass. [23:12] 10Ted's. Whatever. Slip of the mind. [23:12] "That'll work," 07Dryas replies. "How about we make it three bottles though, for our time?" [23:12] 4It's far more respectable for a Dynast to casually fuck an Anathema than court him. 15[23:12] "Take your pick," he says as he scrawls down Ted's address, which Piu can confirm is accurate. [23:15] 4Piu won't visually confirm unless Dryas asks her to. No need to give so much away. [23:16] "Piu, why don't you make the selection?" 07Dryas asks in a low tone. It's excellent stuff, maybe something to lure out the kind of person Ted might keep around? [23:20] "Sure!" [23:21] 4The airheaded ditz flounces over and selects the three best bottles in the collection, representing a wide range of taste, flavor, and crafting methods; one popular hall of famer and two incredibly artsy, professional picks. [23:22] 6Good job. Also, good selections. 15[23:23] Piu peruses Nn Tloc's expansive liquor cabinet and comes up with three bottles. One of them is a large bottle of outrageously old Pneuman whiskey - you can identify them because the front label is just a series of musical notes and the back label is a quote from scripture. Ratel will like that. She also selects a tall, slender bottle full of clear liquid that changes colors as she 15[23:23] disturbs it. There's a famous story about this - the Fruits of Enigma, a drink that always reminds you of home. 15[23:25] She feels an urge to double take when she sees the last bottle. It's small - barely larger than a flask, and totally opaque glass. 15[23:26] What does the label say? [23:30] 14Peversely Perfect Mirror. [23:30] 14...This will do. 15[23:31] Nn Tloc: "Huh! Forgot I had that. Got it in Nexus years and years ago." 15[23:31] "You know what it is?" [23:32] 4Piu: "It's a mind-bender, baby!" 15[23:32] Nn Tloc: "Enjoy. Bottle's still unopened." [23:32] 6Zhangyu: "That's legal?" 15[23:33] At this, Nn Tloc cackles. [23:33] 14Nothing is legal. Everything is permitted. 15[23:33] "He asks if it's legal." 15[23:33] "You are a cut up." [23:33] 6Zhangyu: "That was a legitimate question..." [23:34] 14Piu's voice changes slightly. "As far as the Factor is concerned, 'legal' is a question of children and trade deals." [23:34] "Not liquor." [23:35] 14The bottles are firmly in her hand, and she's across the room. [23:35] 6You!! 15[23:35] Nn Tloc: "Pleasure doing business with you all." Nn Tloc looks up sharply and waggles his fingers. The doors to his office fly open with a bang, and the eavesdropping servants collapse to the floor, scrambling to their feet in a panic. The carpet seems to resist their purchase for a moment before they come, panting, to their feet. 15[23:35] Nn Tloc: "See my friends out, then come back and see me." 15[23:35] "You all have a lovely day." [23:35] 4Piu: "Let's go!" [23:36] 07Dryas gives Tloc a little wave on her way out the door. [23:37] 07Although - are either of these servants ones she's seen before? 15[23:37] One of them is. 15[23:37] The boy from earlier. [23:38] 14When they're far enough away: "I'm keeping the Mirror. For reasons." [23:38] "We're going to have to do something about that man if you want this to be sustainable, Dryas." [23:38] "May your obols never lose their luster." 10Daizo turns to go. Tloc gets a good view of his back. [23:39] 6Zhangyu: "Hang on. What just happened." [23:39] "I don't know what happened but it's wrong." [23:39] "We met the stupidest, shittiest man in Creation, and then went into a meeting with a violent sociopath." [23:40] "Sorry if I was not clear last night," 07Dryas replies. "I want to gain leverage over him and his commercial empire, and then turn it into my commercial empire." [23:41] 14Piu: "You were clear. Just naive." [23:41] "That man will not permit leverage." [23:41] "You're going to have to kill him." [23:42] "Well." [23:42] "We are." [23:42] 07Dryas: "What do you mean, we just gained and used leverage over him a moment ago. Did you see him squirming?" [23:43] 6Zhangyu: "Define 'we', because I'm concerned." [23:43] "...What do you think is happening to his servants right now?" [23:43] 6!! [23:44] 6Zhangyu is about to sprint out of here and start wrecking people. For the record. [23:45] 10Daizo: "The only time I saw him look anything but impassive was when he was trying to describe the sorcerer." 10He sighs. "Those servants are at the very least getting the tar beaten out of them. Hopefully no more than that." [23:45] 14She turns to Zhangyu. "Don't you fucking do it." [23:46] "But what are we going to do right now? If we throw down with his guards we'll only be drawing more attention to ourselves." [23:46] "We're not ready for that fight." [23:46] 6Zhangyu freezes. [23:46] "And he's a sadist. They'll live." [23:47] 10Daizo: "It doesn't sit with me either, Cousin. It doesn't sit with me at all." [23:47] 6Zhangyu: "We just... let this happen?" [23:47] 14To Dryas: "You want to keep this man in place as, what, your functionary? You want to assimilate his empire, and leave him in charge of it?" [23:48] "I don't like to think that far ahead," 07she replies. [23:48] 6That's fair. [23:49] 14Piu: "That's the good thing about killing people. There's no long-term planning for the relationship." [23:50] 6They can't get mad at you afterwards. That's just the facts. [23:50] 14She offers the two mundane bottles. "Cheers." [23:51] 07Dryas: "The problem with the Guild is that if we leave the job half-finished, we might as well have not done a thing. If I just wanted to kill him, I'd drag him out of the mansion and ride him down on a pleasant afternoon with a bottle of wine, a quiver of arrows, and a pouch of blow." [23:51] 10Daizo: "We let it happen because adding more chaos to the city as it is now is like throwing pure distilled alcohol on a fire." [23:51] "When this is all over, though…" [23:52] 14Piu: "All that says to me is that you don't know shit about killing people, Dryas." [23:52] "For fuck's sake. He's not a peasant." [23:53] "He's not a Dynast," 07she points out. [23:53] 6Zhangyu: "We are doing that though. Right?" [23:54] 07Dryas: "We find the contours of his empire. Then strike once we have it all in place. If we do it right, we don't even have to do it ourselves. Some other Guild big fish, or someone like that absolutely dreadful Ragara fellow do it for us, and we just quietly step in and get rich before anyone notices." [23:54] 14Piu: "If I had to guess he's some kind of Anathema, so I doubt he gives a shit, and I doubt either of us could drag him out of anywhere on our own. If we're going to kill him, it won't be a holiday. It'll be a plan, and by the time he ever sees us, he'll be half dead. It'll be a real fox hunt." [23:55] 10Daizo: "When we act, we need to act decisively and with overwhelming force." [23:55] "Well, now you're speaking my language," 07Dryas practically purrs back at Piu and Daizo. [23:55] 6Zhangyu: "Not a problem." [23:55] 14...To be honest, she didn't expect this hearth to be so completely on the same page. [23:56] 6We're bad people. [23:56] 14She was afraid she'd regret the oath. She doesn't. 15[23:56] NEXT TIME: The fault in our stars Session Time: Wed Apr 22 00:00:00 2020 14[00:43] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[03:31] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[03:34] * Joins: cbass 14[10:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:10] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:26] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[11:35] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:19] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[13:41] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:47] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[14:27] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:34] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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There are of course a number of ways it's not, but you've been contacted by interests who sincerely want your help in pushing back against Thorns's regional influences, most notably the catfolk Zadu and V'khom and the "Dust Consortium" of human resources [20:35] 12middlemen they represent. In particular they'd love for Ir, Blossom, or both to use their cultural cachet to inveigh directly against the increasing prevalence of undead labor in the city. [20:37] 12Each knight, the spire of bone, obsidian, and silver situated in the middle of the city flares with candle-flame before venting a great stream of flame into the clouds above - into the netherworld, in fact, if you're looking closely. As it does so, sky-written advertisements burn to life all across the city's sky, as well as lines and arcs that crown various establishments wealthy [20:37] 12enough to pay for a night's worth of tomb-fire. [20:37] 12Oops, I meant each night. [20:38] 4Sun, fuck this city. [20:40] 7Well, Blossom is willing to preach a few sermons reminding the people of Nexus of the dignity of humanity. 15[20:40] 10Can you really remind someone of something they have absolutely no concept of? 15[20:41] 10Well, if anyone can... [20:44] 7They know it, but the society in which they live forces them to deny it, even to themselves. Hence, everyone in Nexus is insane. [20:44] 6I was about to disagree, but then I remembered I am actually two people. [20:47] 12As she's gotten closer to the threshold, Blossom's found herself waking to a vague feeling of distress, one that also sometimes strikes around noonday. It's not her own distress - she's being beseeched, prayed to. She's now pretty sure that it's coming from the area of the Hedgehog mountain range, where the reforged society/religion she and the rest of her Circle left behind should [20:47] 12be flourishing. It doesn't sound like people praying for their lives in the face of urgent catastrophe so much as a wish that some benevolent force could bid a lingering hardship pass, if that's any help. [20:47] 12Fortunately, news of the surrounding Threshold isn't hard to get a hold of in Nexus if you're of a mind to. [20:49] 12Anyway if you want to do some public speaking you can really just wander into any square, but it might help to somehow announce yourself or otherwise pull on existing resources to bend as many ears as possible. You've still got connections to the Guild and the arena, although obviously they aren't going to want to hear - or let anyone else hear - what you've got to say. 14[20:49] * Joins: mattbaby [20:50] 7Who could she talk to that would be willing to gather a crowd for this? [20:50] 12Meanwhile, the tower that represents Tatsuya's specific past misdeed still stands. But Ying does seem to have a good line on Nexus's increasingly-irrelevant libertine tyrant! [20:51] 13:3 [20:52] 12The Dust cats themselves have some pull, both themselves and within the Guild, and can conceivably start putting the word out about some kind of event - although if you just publicize it as a religious lecture you're not going to get many takers. Though, it doesn't necessarily have to be a speech - there's printing in Nexus, and if you can write good polemics those might be able [20:52] 12to spread out and do their work on your behalf while you're out of the city pursuing other projects. 14[20:52] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:54] 7Hmm. Blossom does want to harangue a crowd... but fiery rhetoric via leafleting will probably be more effective over the medium-term, since she can't exhort her listeners to, say, burn down a skeleton manufactory or something. [20:59] 12Ah, you're in luck. There's an entire network of Guild-funded but technically independent print-shops which you've already been in contact with, specifically as a favor to the short-term Sifu that Yara's Circle put you in touch with back in Great Forks. [21:00] 7Blossom's put together a real barnburner - NO REST EVEN IN DEATH, declarations that the use of undead labor is just sneaking slavery in through a loophole in the Civilities, cool woodcuts of wailing family members trying to keep the body of their dead father from being turned into a skeleton laborer. [21:02] 12A visit to their manufactury reveals that the mills are hard at work, stamping and restamping rectangles of parchment with, uh... hmmm. "Trade Relations With the Crystal Pact Prove Hedgehog Cult Falls Short Of Usurpationist Ideals" [21:03] 7What the?! [21:03] 12But this run's almost done! If you've got it written they can print it en masse by the end of tomorrow. [21:05] 12Blossom can grab a leaflet if she likes. Let's see here... it feels a bit like stepping into a conversation that's already been going on for several hours, but the auhor - taking as given that the "Crystal Pact" is nefarious for some reason - discusses shipments of seed and emas birds which are being sent down from the north to the Hedgehog mountains, which shows that the new Hedgehog [21:05] 12sun cult, despite their ostensible resistance to Realm dominion, would merely trade one tyrant for another. [21:06] 7Oh. Well, whatever. [21:06] 12Blossom has to read between the lines a bit to to deduce this, but it seems to her that the Hedgehog is under some kind of general trade embargo - other polities in the Scavenger Lands aren't trading with it. 14[21:15] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 15[21:17] 10Eikichi has nothing to do, and in Nexus, that's just how she likes it. Stack of books, a bag of meat pies (they're good at any temperature!) and a balcony table so she can look out on the horrible city and imagine Zeal's streets and structures overlaying it. Wine today, not laudanum, and a few good wheezes of ice fern spores. Gonna be a good day. [21:18] 12Meanwhile, as a light warm-up, Ir stabs and smashes her way through a series of skeletonized superpredators in the Nexus Arena. That gigantic tortoise shell that could fire beams of corrosive balefire was kind of a cheap trick, but Ir by this point has dealt with so many kruthik ravagers and similar monstrosities that she didn't even miss a beat the first time it tried to disintegrate [21:18] 12her (and everyone in the crowd directly behind her (they knew what they were signing up for when they bought those tickets)). [21:18] 4Ir works out her frustrations in the arena. Ugh! Undead!! This city!!! [21:19] 4At least the pitza has gotten better in her time away. They're really innovating in the corner stands. [21:21] 4At least with the undead, the blood money never has any literal blood on it. Some weird ghost tendrils, though... [21:26] 12Cheers from the crowd are modulated with ooohs. Were those... too easy? Is fan favorite Ir... disappointed in us? [21:29] 4Ir glares at them before shattering the bones of the fallen skeletons into dust, her anima golden fire. Hopefully she's making her point clear. [21:41] 12Where's Tatsuya been all this time? Nobody knows, even those who'd really prefer to. Either way, you've laid the groundwork for... something. Anything more to do in the Free City or is it time to move on? [21:42] 4Ir's more than ready to get going, no matter how the proprietor of the inn tries to keep her around. He's gotten an entire season's extra revenue out of her already. [21:44] 7We should see what's happening in the Hedgehog. 15[21:45] 10Let's gooo [21:45] 4They'll make good time. Ir can't get the Heavensward out of their ersatz dock fast enough. [21:48] 4Two weeks of travel...Ir made sure to top off their stocks before leaving the city, and has enough fresh ingredients on hand so that they don't have to dip into the salted boar and other preserves. [21:49] 12Untie this, pull in that, ratchet out that thingy... and you're off! The Heavensward's sails, both above and below its hull, fill with wind, and soon the anarchy of the market is falling away behind you while clouds stream overhead. You're aimed north-norhtwest, and can tell you're on track because it's only a few days later that the necropolis of Sijan is passing beneath you. [21:49] 4Ir will shiver as they pass over. Been a long time since they were in Sijan. [21:54] 12A week or so later, and the Hedgehog mountains are coming into view. Add a few days to that, and they're actually beginning to pass beneath you. Now this place is familiar - a great spiky ball of crags and, barely any breathing room between it and the coast to the west, and a great sphere seemingly scooped out of its center by a titan's hand. The edges of that sphere are ragged [21:54] 12and dusty - as you approach, you can see that there are still chunks and plates of rock suspended in the air, as though they forgot that they were supposed to fall despite the lack of terrain beneath them. On one of those floating earthmotes, you can even see a lonely dojo... 15[21:55] 10Hh. 08[21:57] 4Over the wind, to Eikichi: "Where am I setting us down?" [21:57] 12The real spectacle is beneath you, of course, because in the great miles-wide sphere carved out of the mountains is a sparkling paradise of glass and geometry. Temples and statuary and infrastructure abound, including stuff you don't remember leaving behind like pillar-topping aqueducts and what look to be military barracks. But what's definitely in short supply is, well, land, [21:57] 12the arable kind - there are long, curving rice paddies and other crops arcing back and forth in almost every available alleyway of relatively flat soil, and more of those snaking out amidst the mountains, but it's clear that there's still a lot more hunting, fishing, and foraging to be done here than farming. [21:57] 12And regarding fishing... you'd have to fly closer, but there's a ship out in the ocean to the west that definitely isn't flying your colors. [21:58] 7Hmm. Whose? [21:59] 4Since we're not exactly keeping our presence a secret, Ir will fly the Heavensward over to take a look before finding a normal port on the coast to dock at. 15[21:59] 10Eikichi points to a towering, slender set of Crystal spires with offshoots like coral or tree branches. "Those will support the hull without damaging it, and the sails can unfold freely." [22:02] 12Even with better-than-human eyesight, Ir has to strain her perceptions, and can only pass along vague details - pro shaped so-and-so, flags probably red or red and black... but Blossom can tell you immediately that's a Cathak blockade ship. [22:04] 4...A one-ship blockade? 15[22:04] 10We didn't exactly leave them a navy. 08[22:05] 12Eikichi ain't lying about that glass formation. The Heavensward can land gently - the surface even feels springy somehow, flexing slightly to smooth the impact. A great cheer goes up as your ship descends from the skies, and when you step outside it's in the face of a great crowd, mostly prostrate. 15[22:05] 10That's a bit much. [22:06] 4Uh. [22:06] 4Greetings! [22:06] 12Well, you did save them and reshape their society. 15[22:06] 10And we left them a lovely statue! How is Big Blossom faring, anyhow? [22:06] 4Ir mostly just drove the family wagon. [22:07] 7Well! That's much better. Blossom can alleviate some of their immediate problems by doing that neat trick she's learned of tearing up a loaf of bread and ending up with more than when you started. [22:08] 12It appears to be seeing a lot of use as a focus for prayer. Flowers, votive candles, prayer strips, and the like litter a plaza around the statue's feet. Of course, now your devotees have the real thing in front of them. "You came!" "She came!" "At last!" 15[22:08] 10Eikichi's wave is less awkward than she feels. 08[22:09] 4She's a bit hesitant about the "port" that Eikichi points out, but after setting the Heavensward down, the platform feels stable enough. [22:11] 12You're ushered to the ground and the crowd parts around you exactly like the sea would if it had any sense. You're introduced to - well, that phrasing's a bit misleading, because Priestess Eluia introduces herself. She's a young woman with vaguely avian features. That is to say, basically simiform, but kind of green and grey in her overall color palette and with talons for finger [22:11] 12and toe nails, rough scales on shins and forearms, and frills of feathers in her hair and extremities. Though a chill wind follows most of her motions, she's dressed chiefly in white clothes emblazoned with solar imagery. [22:11] 4Nice. 15[22:12] 10Daughter of Garuda...? [22:13] 4...If so, hopefully she's not too mad about mom. 08[22:13] 12Eluia, you judge, isn't a Dragon-Blood, beastwoman, or god-blood. Rather, she bears the marks of elemental essence mutation, the kind that most usually affects beings who spend too much time in an undeveloped demesne. The element here is wind, clearly, but Eikichi's got it in one - specifically Garuda's wind. This must have been one of the dragon-worshipers who participated in your 08[22:13] 12coalition's periphery, sheltering the people of the hedgehog in the high and far places of the mountains while Eikichi detonated her staff. 15[22:15] 10Oh, whew, not a daughter of Garuda. Just a local. Eikichi clasps the priestess's hands in greeting. [22:15] 12Eluia: "It's so good to meet you! Did you hear our prayers?" 12She asks with almost scientific curiosity. [22:16] 7Blossom: "I did." 15[22:16] 10Statue works! [22:16] 12Eluia claps her talons together, clearly pleased. "I knew it! Er, how much detail?" [22:16] 4Ir: "Huh?" [22:16] "Oh." [22:20] 7Blossom: "I could tell where it was coming from, and the sense that it was a lingering hardship rather than an urgent catastrophe, but not the specifics." 14[22:21] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:22] * Joins: tom [22:25] 12Eluia: "Ah. Well, that's not wrong. In short, we're hungry." 12She walks and talks, though eventually this conversation will leave the lot of you in an airy chamber at the top of what looks like the skeleton of a ziggurat, if that skeleton were made of sapphire. "The people of this mountain range - besides those of my old sisterhood, anyway - chiefly hunted, foraged, and fished. [22:25] Land to the east is cursed enough and remote enough to not be worth tackling - to the west, there's precious little that's flat between the mountains and the coast. The sea might make up the difference, if Realm corsairs didn't make a point of terrorizing our fishers." [22:26] 12Eluia: "There were few of us at first that even staying here in the sphere you left us might have sufficed. We've made do, as you can see." 12She sweeps a hand to take in the long, thin farms that arc between buildings. "But as more refugees from other satrapies or whatever's been going on in the east have flocked to us we've found it harder and harder to support ourselves. [22:26] Especially because no one's buying our feathersteel." [22:26] 4Ir perks up at that. "Hungry?" [22:27] 4Direction-famous chef Ir, Northern Star here, [22:27] 12Eluia: "The mines are still there! We're not going to sell to the Dynastic scum, of course, but just a year ago Icehome to the north and the Guild to the... everywhere... would have been happy to take it off our hands, bring grains and produce in exchange. Now, nothing." [22:27] 7Blossom nods. "Yes, I've read that you're under embargo." [22:29] 12Icehome's the capital of the Haslanti league, a confederation of northeastern tribes who, the tales tell, were unified by one of the silver Anathema centuries ago. Crystal was another of their cities, and Grey Nara their local ruler/representative. Following the revolution you set off in Crystal, the actual League's relation to your building network of sun-states is... in the air. [22:30] 12Clearly, Icehome in specific has a, ehehe, frosty disposition here - it'd be a fair bet they're at odds with Crystal, too. But the Guild...? 15[22:31] 10Name one thing we've ever done to upset the Guild. Okay name ten things we've ever done to upset the Guild. [22:31] 12Eluia: "Embargo. That's when they...?" 12It occurs to you that most of this woman's education has probably pertained to air-aspected sorcery up until very recently. [22:32] 7Blossom: "Sorry, when they use military force to cut you off from trade." 08[22:32] 12I mean, you've also made the Guild a lot of money between Ir's gladiatorial bouts and Eikichi's book sales. Even with their increasing affinity for Thorns, you don't think the Guild should look at your Circle as a flat-out enemy as yet...? [22:33] 12Eluia: "Oh! Right. But why?" [22:33] 4Then we're not trying hard enough. [22:34] 7Blossom: "It is a good quesstion. Icehome might be opposed to Crystal, but it's difficult to imagine what could keep the Guild away. We've made them a lot of money." [22:36] 12Eluia: "Maybe we should have let them in? They wanted to establish posts sand things here. But after it was explained to me who they were it seemed that dealing with them except at great remove and with strict control would be a violation of your teachings." 14[22:36] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [22:36] 4Ir: "Sound logic to me."' [22:37] 12Eluia: "Did you not say that to withold the necessities of life for the sake of profit was anathema? I mean actually did you say it, there's been debate as to whether that was explicitly stated or just inferred." 08[22:38] 4Ir smiles smugly at Blossom and Eikichi. Finally, some people with the right attitude about the Guild! 15[22:40] 10Eikichi looks like she's holding herself back from speaking, plus she keeps catching Ir's eye and trying not to snicker. 14[22:41] * Joins: mattbaby [22:43] 7Blossom: "If I haven't stated it before, I'll do it now. Even the Scarlet Empress arranged so that the poorest could claim grain at her warehouses. Which is the duty of the state to its people... it may be that we can come to some arrangement with the Guild that keeps them under control while still permitting trade for food." [22:43] "And there's also the question of the fishing blockades." [22:44] 4If it's just the one ship, that's easily handled... [22:45] 12Eluia nods. "There aren't many of them - but we don't exactly have a fleet! And, well, I'm not strong enough to just just smite them with a typhoon or something. I tried but they parried it somehow, and my sisters don't want to stick their necks out to help me make a bigger one." [22:46] 7Blossom claps her on the shoulder. "Brave!" [22:47] 4Ir gets the feeling this is going to be one of those Teachable Moments, though, instead of one of those moments where they fly off and cut a Cathak blockade ship in half. [22:47] 12Eluia's eyes widen and waver slightly in the light. She doesn't know what to say. [22:47] 4Maybe both? [22:48] 7Blossom, not noticing her effect on the airblooded: "Let's talk about what the Guild wanted from you." [22:54] 12Over maybe a few hours, Blossom and anyone interested enough to follow her around is able to suss out what's going on. Part of the problem is, ironically enough, just how well the Hedgehog has been following the spirit of your precepts. There just straight up isn't a market of any sort here - everyone is effectively a member of a massive temple or monastery and draws the necessities [22:54] 12of life from the communal stores according to need. There are strict edicts, both moral and legal, against drawing too much, and even against, like, dressing too ostentantiously or bragging to someone else about how much more fortunate, skilled, or beautiful you might be than they are. This means that in the immediate term the Guild more or less couldn't do business with or among [22:54] 12the Hedgehog's people - who the hell would even have the currency or possessions to buy anything? [22:54] 12(If you're wondering, this sort of strictness seems to stem from the military discipline and intense existential threat under which the Hedgehog commune was organized at all, and no, not everyone's as pleased about it as Eluia is) [22:55] 4Well, a bit...more austere than perhaps we intended. [22:56] 4I guess there's not much time for anything but solidarity when you've got the enemies they have, though. [22:56] 12Now, the Guild is a flexible organization that's dealt with almost every social formation under the sun, so they were prepared to offer all sorts of intermediate faux-currency gimmicks and financial instruments in order to allow the commune to do business with them. People could pay for goods in labor hours or trade certain communal goods for tokens or scrip, that sort of thing. But [22:56] 12the more that the Guild merchants described the bare minimum for their participation - such as the ability to sell to individual people, or set the prices for what they were selling arbitrarily high or low, regardless of local need - the more this became unacceptable to the priesthood. [22:56] 7They'll be able to loosen up once they have more prosperity. [22:57] 12Now, Eluia and her fellows, some of whom are older and more knowledgeable about the wider world, were willing to deal with the Guild as a state - they don't get to come in through the door, but the Hedgehog will be willing to deliver so many tons of feathersteel for so many tons of grain, or whatever. That's not an unknown precedent. [22:57] 12However, the Guild simply refused, and that was that - no trade. [22:57] 7Huh. Why? [22:58] 12Here's Blossom's guess: the Guildsmen know what desperate straits the commune is and know that they're boxed in on all other sides, and figure that if they just let your worshipers starve for a few months they'll eventually get desperate enough to throw wide the gates and allow something much more akin to normal commerce transpire. [22:58] 12And at that point they might be desperate enough to take out loans... [22:59] 4Oh that's a bad misplay. [22:59] 7Unwise. [23:00] 12It's not necessarily unwise. Eluia's clearly viewed as something of a hardliner among the rest of your priesthood - they've all got immense love and respect for you, but some feel it was a mistake to deny the Guild entrance at all, or that the commune should relent sooner so as to avoid having to take an even worse deal later. They're balanced on a razor's edge, after all; everyone's [23:00] 12just tightening their belts now, but if something should befall even one harvest... [23:02] 7To the other Solars: "So, it seems the best play here is to work to improve conditions locally - drive off the Cathak embargo, normalize relations with Icehome. Once things are stabilizing we can make clear to the Guild that they aren't going to have a desperate starving people to prey on, and they can either have some profit or none." [23:03] 4Ir: "Sounds good to me. Unless the Guild has been sending slavers around. Slavers get the blade." 15[23:03] 10Eikichi: "We can drive off this ship no problem... but what about the next one?" 15[23:03] "Single raiding vessels aren't exactly a huge investment for Cathak." [23:04] 4Ir: "I've gotten pretty adept at training up sailors and could institute a naval tradition fairly easily...if they have the resources and desire to maintain a navy. I'm not sure that's clear." [23:05] "They could also just, forget about the fishing. But that seems cruel, given, bird people." [23:05] 12There is plenty of wood here. Can you make a ship out of feathersteel? ...kind of sounds like it might work, doesn't it? 15[23:06] 10Eikichi brushes at a stained-glass hummingbird that alights on her shoulder. "We certainly shouldn't concede the ground to the Realm..." [23:06] 4They'll probably want to prioritize a couple quick raiders that work in tandem over a single ship. Simpler to maintain, replace, and train on -- and gives Cathak no single flagship to focus on. [23:07] 4A frigate or ship-of-the-line can come later, if they want to actually hold waters navally instead of merely fish them and drive off the occasional Cathak ship. 15[23:07] 10Eikichi: "Also, we can make them more self-sufficient. The good earth is rich and can provide for everyone, if only you know how to ask." [23:08] 4She'll share both of those concerns with the group, since it occurs to her that she's just kind of standing there staring into space talking to herself. 15[23:13] 10Eikichi: "We'll need to cut through the mountain a bit, then - can't really move troops or ships over these passes safely." [23:13] 4Ir: "We got something for that in the jungle, right?" 15[23:14] 10Eikichi: "We got something for that here, actually - the first time we were here, when this was a Cathak mining colony." 15[23:14] "Should still be in deep storage." [23:14] "Ahh. Well, that's even more fitting." [23:15] 7Blossom: "Yes, the Hearthstone. Very good." 15[23:16] 10To Blossom: "So, ships... feathersteel's quite light, how big a vessel do you reckon we could have elementals carry from within the mountain out to sea? Like the Icewalkers carry their canoes?" 15[23:16] "Save ourselves the vulnerability of a shipyard that's exposed to the sea." [23:16] 4Ir: "Another point in favor of a bunch of smaller ships rather than one or two big ones." [23:24] 7Blossom: "Smaller ships would be wise anyway - you couldn't make deepwater vessels out of feathersteel. Metal catamarans?" [23:24] 4Ir to Blossom: "I'm thinking something with two smaller twin hulls rather than one heavier, single hull -- it'll be lighter and faster, but the wider, uhhh, stance? Should make it less prone to flipping?" [23:24] "Yeah!" 15[23:25] "Sumo boats." [23:26] 12My gods. [23:26] 4The mental image of three tiny sumo wrestlers taking down one normal-sized Realm soldier makes Ir giggle. [23:31] 12So what's the first order of business, here? Landscaping a canal or tunnel? Actually building a proof-of-concept new model warship? Hell, just going out west and surveying the situation directly? [23:32] 4Never a bad idea to go take a look. Also we should make sure the residents here WANT a navy, rather than just, telling them they're getting one after cutting the canal and making a couple boats. [23:33] 4...We're gonna do it anyway, but we should least give them the courtesy of input. [23:33] 7Yes, we should consult with the local priesthood about our plans. [23:34] 12They're there if you want them! Eluia's ready to speak with you along with a small group of her fellows, mostly older than she is. The rest of them look like ordinary mortals, except for one older man whose entire left side is warped and discolored in a way that suggests he must have gotten too close to one of the subterranean fae before you'd purged both raksha camps from the [23:34] 12Hedgehog. [23:35] 12His name's Rem. "So... can your worships help us? What'dja have us do?" [23:37] 4Ir: "Your worships would have you...build warships. Haha. Came up with that one myself." 08[23:38] 7Blossom: "I think we can. Eikichi here can significantly improve your local farming prospects. We're planning on cutting a canal from here to the sea, and building a small set of catamarans out of feathersteel. With them, and Ir's training, you should be able to take on enough of the local corsairs to establish yourselves with a real, though small, wooden blue-water fleet." [23:38] "If you think that's appropriate." [23:39] "Connection to the sea, and better local agriculture, will put you much stabler footing when it comes to the Guild. They'll agree to terms rather than risk leaving money on the table." [23:40] 12Rem: "A fleet... Those of us here might not know what to do with such a thing, though the folks down at Dorsal Point'd be better prospects." 12Eluia: "And you could teach us, couldn't you?" [23:40] 4Ir: "Basically, we can't always be there to help. It's just inefficient, after awhile. We can, however, give you the tools and resources to do it yourself." [23:40] "Oh, absolutely." [23:43] 12Eluia presses her lips together with thought for a moment before saying: "Some of us who've chosen to live outside the sphere are a little less... enthusiastic about the commune and its situation. Many of the fishers included." [23:43] 12Eluia: "But I'm sure they'll remember you!" [23:44] 4Ir: "We give them a way to feel like they're making a difference and protecting what they have, instead of having it decided in meetings, and they might come around." [23:44] "Solidarity is good, but everyone needs to feel like they're contributing and important, too." [23:48] 12Eluia nods intently with the look of someone taking down notes. Her fellows look a bit relieved. [23:50] 4Ir: "So...we'll get to work, then?" [23:51] 12A third priest I haven't named: "Please! Let us know what we can do!" [23:52] 12As you may recall, the Cathak feathersteel extractors based themselves in a fishing town-turned-port town at "Dorsal Point", so named because it's the the narrow tip of a northwards-turning landmass that put some mapmaker in mind of a shark's top fin. The Point was emptied of Cathak troops twice - once when they rallied to invade the Hedgehog en masse, and a second time when the few, [23:52] 12scattered survivors boarded what vessels remained and fled back to the Realm. [23:53] 4She nods. "But first...what does everyone want to eat? I miss cooking for an army!" [23:55] 12There's some blinks and looks around. Their problem, of course, is less that food be well prepared and more that there be enough of it - but if Ir were to take over the kitchens for a night it'd save a lot of other pairs of hands time they could spend on other affairs. "Well, there's rice, venison... we can show you to the stores?" [23:55] 4Ir grins. "Please!" [23:58] 12Well, the commune has been nothing if not resourceful. If something stands any chance in hell of growing on or beside a mountain there's at least a sample of it here, as well as a little too little fish and as much game as they've been able to bring in. Stories of Ir's skills have circulated here for a while, and that's why the monks and disciples currently on cooking duty are flocking [23:58] 12behind her to look on, albeit standing back at a respectful distance. [23:59] 7Blossom will reproduce some bread to hand out. 08[23:59] 4Ir will swing into action, ordering some monks to head back to the Heavensward to retrieve ingredients she brought from her own stores -- which will be replenished soon enough, when Eikichi's worked her magic, and she can always go blockade-running -- and setting up a proper mass kitchen. Most of the work at this level is delegation, organization, and knowing where to concentrate [23:59] 4her attention. Session Time: Fri Apr 24 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] 4It goes beautifully, as all her cooking does these days. [00:03] 12Small as the impact of second bread is when compared against the many mouths there are to feed in the Hedgehog, it strikes onlookers as nothing less than a miracle. Blossom can feel her essence buoyed up by renewed flares of faith, and is sure of more to come as the story spreads. The commune's culture of sharing and self-abnegation is strained to the utmost by the intense desire of [00:03] 12almost every worshiper to get at least a bit of Blossom's miracle bread to themselves. 08[00:04] 7Wait until they see the Benediction of Archgenesis, which Eikichi has insisted on calling it. [00:04] 12For the first time in many moons, the sun-cult of the Hedgehog feasts. Their faith has been rewarded, and they know, they know that their fortunes are about to turn back around. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[15:11] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:59] * Joins: Zarick 15[20:07]  15[20:07]  15[20:07]  15[20:07]  15[20:07]  15[20:09] It's just midday when the hearth emerges into Abalone's ash-hazed air from a meeting with Nn Tloc, with new information, new plans, and a powerful new relic. Questions to answer: 15[20:09] - What does the hearth tell Ratel at their debriefing later? 15[20:09] - What does Piu tell Caedus at her debriefing after that? [20:11] 14Caedus gets the unvarnished truth, of course. Especially the part where they're probably headed for a reckoning with Nn Tloc. 15[20:11] - How does Daizo deal with Seiri's wide-eyed alarm at her boss's new condition? [20:15] 14As for Ratel, that's mostly Dryas's business -- literally. However it remains a priority for Piu that the Commodore stay protected. Sometimes that means not knowing things. 14[20:15] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[20:15] * Joins: mattbaby [20:16] 10Ah. That's a tough one. But he's managed to keep a lid on his own worry for now, so…  "Okay. Deep breath. I know this looks strange and scary, but I'm still me. Let's have a cup of tea and I'll tell you about what happened after you led those people down the mountain." [20:20] 14Caedus will get his brief sometime either before or after a quick nap -- 4Piu14's nightlife duties are leading to some sleep schedule juggling. 15[20:21] Seiri listens attentively, hands tight around her teacup. [20:24] 14This means Caedus gets to be the first to hear about her nascent plan to take Ted's body and use it to kill Hedrin. [20:25] 07Dryas makes her way back through town, carrying the ledger herself back to the Commodore. Is she still aboard the Defiance or is she ashore? Regardless, by the time she arrives at the threshold to meet with the Commodore, her story is prepared. 15[20:25] Ratel takes the meeting in her room in the hostel. 15[20:26] Like Seiri, Caedus looks alarmed. "Have you ever used this before?" [20:26] 07Dryas raps three times, sharply, at the door. "Commodore, it's me." 15[20:27] "Enter." Ratel is reading something in indecipherable Old Realm. [20:30] 14Piu: "Absolutely not. I'll probably want to test it first but...we've a limited amount." [20:30] 14She shrugs. "But I told my Hearthmates I wouldn't try to get him to kill Hedrin directly." [20:31] 07With a bow, Dryas sets the ledger down with the thump on Ratel's desk. There's something imperceptibly different in her bearing - she's not fiddling with a hip flask, wine bottle, or cigar. She's standing ramrod-straight. "Commodore. I spoke with Nn Tloc, and made sure to bring the others with me as surety against any trickery..." 15[20:33] Caedus: "Do they know about all of the plan?" [20:34] 10Daizo relates the events almost as if he's telling a story. Putting a little distance on it seems to help.  "And everyone saw the silver arrow flash as it struck Hamoji in the chest… in his fury, the Feathered One struck at Dryas… and I stepped in to protect her, and received his curse instead. The Governor and her men came up the mountain… and I begged for her to show the Feathered One mercy… " [20:36] 14Piu: "They know I want Hedrin dead. Obviously, they don't know why. The reasons I gave -- that having an Eye hanging around watching our every move and reporting to a governor that thinks we're traitors and usurpers -- has the advantage of being true." 15[20:38] Seiri: "Did she listen??" 15[20:38] At a certain point Daizo can tell Seiri's fear for Daizo has transmuted into fascination with the story. [20:40] 10Daizo nods. "Yes. The Feathered One still lives—Piu leapt down the mountainside and brought Caxi in the nick of time. Then the Governor's men carried him off to a place where he can recover. When he awakes, I mean to speak with him, if he'll see me." [20:40] 07After a moment she seems to gain her bearing and relays her findings with the infectious martial self-assurance that even the finest officers of the Navy or Legions can inspire. "His explanaiton was banal, but fundamentally sound. The island does indeed not process molasses, or rum - as we saw, ourselves. Instead, it's part of a Guild scheme to swap perishable and nonperishable goods. If you examine the ledger here, for [20:40] example..." 07Dryas babbles on in a clipped, efficient way about managing spoilage among bananas and so forth. 15[20:40] Ratel takes notes on Dryas's report, but she nods along agreeable as it's related. When Dryas is done, the Commodore seems satisfied. "Good. That's good to know." 15[20:41] Caedus: "How long will the effect last?" 15[20:42] Zhangyu's left to his own devices while the others mollify their superiors, co-conspirators, and retainers. How does he spend the afternoon? [20:46] 14She sighs. "No idea. Usually legends have it ending at dawn after using it to go fuck your best friend's lover or something." [20:46] 14Slumping down on the bed. "This is a pretty shitty plan, not going to lie." [20:47] 10Daizo: "Because we're not his enemy. The wicked Anathema who fired that silver arrow is. Dryas figured it out—no normal man, or evne one of the Blooded could have made that shot…" 10What Seiri doesn't know about Ted won't hurt her; no sense going into too much detail here. [20:49] 6Hrm. The Feathered One is presumably still unconscious, so that takes away that option... Probably not a good idea to get in a fight again so soon... What's Cynis Caxi up to? She did heal him after that first Hinokuni - maybe he can help her with something. 15[20:51] Zhangyu finds Caxi after Sadako almost collides with him striding out of Caxi's room. The sorceress is within, stacking up books and lighting a huge bundle of incense. The air smells damp and vaguely spoiled. [20:52] "Very poor luck that the second target also happened to introduce herself to the rest of the hearth at the same time I identified her." [20:52] "If that's all, Commodore, I'll be on my way to catch this murdering Anathema." 07She rises and turns before hesitating. "Oh, there was one other thing." 07She presents one of Nn Tloc's fine bottles of rum. "For you, Commodore." 15[20:53] Caedus: "We've got to prepare for that to happen more in the future, now that you're Sworn together. The question right now is what's the best plan available? Is it this?" [20:53] 6He coughs a half-hearted apology to Sadako as he enters. "Caxi. Is this a bad time?" [20:54] "It does seem rather too cute by half. I'll continue to work on Dryas; if I can convince her, the other two will come around. Daizo doesn't seem to care and Zhangyu seems to actively approve." 15[20:55] Caxi: "No, come in, please. Sorry about the air. Usually the windows are open." She's wearing a veil that covers half of her face. "Is everything alright?" 15[20:58] "You're very kind," says Ratel, somewhat flatly. "But don't blame yourself for running afoul of petty tyrants and stepping on a backward, homicidal religious ritual. Being effective is about knowing when to cut corners." [20:59] 4That's our Ratel! [21:00] "Commodore," 07replies Dryas as she ducks out. [21:01] 6Zhangyu: "Took the day off from training." 6Well, the afternoon off. He's not lazy. "Is there anything I can assist you with? The others are all out, still." 15[21:03] Caxi gives Zhangyu a long look before stuffing a heavy stack of books into a trunk. "Would you keep an eye on Daizo for me? He's avoiding me and I'm concerned about his mutation. Let me know if he starts exhibiting sudden changes in behavior or mood, or if he seems to be in pain." [21:05] 6Zhangyu nods. "He's seemed... mostly fine. Aside from the initial shock. But I will keep an eye on him if it changes." 15[21:06] Seiri: "Anathema in Abalone? Do you think they killed Sister Dusk?" 15[21:07] Caedus nods. "I'll let you get some rest." 15[21:09] Dryas runs into Pale Moke, seeming totally at ease with the low-grade panic permeating the air like volcanic ash, conveying a missive from Nn Tloc. Is Lady Dryas prepared to take a negotiated delivery in three nights' time? [21:10] 07Yes. Are any other details available? [21:10] 14She murmurs a thanks and is out like a light. [21:14] 10Daizo grimaces. "According to the Commodore, someone has already claimed responsibility for the crime. But they might well be taking the fall for someone else." 10Which is simultaneously the truth and a lie at the same time. Ugh. [21:17] 10Daizo: "I'll bring up the topic with Ratel the next time I speak with her, and see if she has anything new to share." 10Meaning: How can I tell an even better half-truth? 15[21:18] Once they've walk-and-talked into a more private area, Dryas hears more. She'll be taking delivery on Tloc's private dock right here in the city of a Lunar Anathema. The Anathema, already magically subdued, is bound north for Brightwork, where an agent for the buyer awaits. Questions? 15[21:19] Seiri: "Are they going to face justice?" [21:19] 6Zhangyu: "Do you know..." 6Hrm. How to put this. "Would the Feathered One who did this to him be able to undo it?" 15[21:21] Caxi: "I've been studying that, and: I don't know. Sometimes baleful transformations can be withdrawn. Sometimes killing the enchanter reverses them. Sometimes they're permanent." [21:23] 10Daizo momentarily visualizes popping Salim's head off like a grape. "I dearly hope so." [21:25] 6Zhangyu makes a displeased grunt. "There's no way to tell which?" [21:26] 10Daizo: "But enough of this grim talk! Where did you wind up last night, anyway? We were all worried sick." 15[21:27] Caxi: "If I had Daizo's cooperation, then maybe..." 15[21:28] Seiri: "There were soldiers at the foot of the mountain, they took everyone to shelter. I hid in the hostel with Sadako. She's very nice." [21:29] "Excellent. Moke, take the rest of the day off." 07She'll have to speak with Catela soon. 15[21:31] Pale Moke gratefully slides out to do... whatever Pale Moke does with his free time. [21:32] 07Not asking so many questions about such things is just one of the things that makes Dryas such a benevolent overlord. [21:34] 10Daizo: "Right under our noses the whole time! Sadako's pretty good at hiding." [21:36] 14Piu's up later that afternoon, and after a quick flatbread lunch pokes around to find the others. It's about time they got going on the Hinokuni business. [21:41] 10The small talk continues a bit longer. "At any rate, I don't believe I have any duties for you for the rest of the day. Oh, but there was one thing I wanted to ask." 15[21:43] Seiri: "What is it?" [21:45] 10Daizo: "Who do the locals think is the wisest person in Abalone? If someone gets very sick and may die without help, or if they want to have their future read, or… if they wanted to put a curse on someone. Who do they go to see? It's okay if the Order or the Governor wouldn't approve of them." [21:45] "I think I have some questions I'd like to ask a person like that, if they exist." 15[21:46] Seiri: "Oh, you mean like the Witch of the Far Side." 15[21:47] "Even Sister Dusk would consult with her sometimes when a child took ill." [21:48] "Really? That's interesting… Where does she live? The far side of the mountain, I take it." 15[21:50] Seiri: "That's right. I don't know where, exactly - people used to live there way back when, stories say the city used to go all the way around the mountain. But it's just racers and choppy water now." 15[21:50] "The cliffs are so steep..." [21:54] 07When Dryas makes her way back to the ship - following the strange, subtle sensation of her hearth-brother Daizo - she keeps an eye out for Sadako. She needs to check in on both.  [21:55] 10Daizo: "Got it. Let's see if we can get directions to see the Witch later, perhaps. I know Dryas wanted to meet with me about something… and I think she's here." 15[21:57] Dryas finds Sadako outside, gawped at on the street, first for seeming unbothered by the soiled air, and second for poking at the corpse of a lemur lying in the street. Every third or fourth time she jabs it, the wheel-crushed corpse of the tiny mammal twitches and jumps. [21:59] 07Dryas is a bit nonplussed. "Sadako, darling. What are you doing?" 15[22:00] Sadako: "It's stuck!" [22:01] "Stuck in what?" 15[22:03] Sadako: "It's stuck in the ground. The air's holding it down." She looks up and sees Dryas's face. "What? What did I do?" [22:04] 14Piu watches silently and intently from the doorway, not entirely hiding what she's up to though she'll smile and bounce aside if anyone needs to get past. [22:08] 10Shortly after, Daizo joins Piu at the doorway, surveying the scene. "Does… does someone need to explain to her that it's not going to get any better?" [22:09] "The barbarians are staring, love. Did Caxi teach you to do that?" 07Dryas thinks for a moment, and the expression on her face softens considerably. "Would you like a bigger one? Perhaps I can take you hunting sometime soon?" [22:09] 14Piu: "Perhaps so. Dryas is handling the...social aspect." [22:09] "I remain kinda concerned." 15[22:10] Sadako groans. "Fine." She tosses the stick on the ground. [22:13] "No, I'm quite serious," 07she reiterates. "I'm sure there's much bigger ones than that out here. And in any case, I know I haven't had much time for you lately. I wanted to see if you had a few moments now to spend some time with Tepet Daizo and I, since I needed to speak with him." 15[22:14] "Sure, okay." She doesn't sound angry, exactly. "We'll go find a bigger one sometime." [22:14] 10In a much lower voice: "Especially if it stops twitching when she stops poking it. The circumstances of her revival may have left her with an innate talent for necromancy." [22:14] "And that, as they say, is bad news." [22:15] 14Piu: "I'd say it'd be best not to let Hedrin get wind of it...but, playing in the street? I'm guessing she already has." [22:16] 10Daizo: "Hedrin's not the one I'm the most worried about." [22:16] "What if our acquaintance with the vulgar name gets wind of this?" [22:18] 14Piu grins. "Well, at least we know he probably can't kill her." 15[22:21] Sadako doesn't take any more prompting to get back inside, though she will spare one last look at the roadkill once she's past the threshold of the door. [22:21] 10Daizo: "I suppose so." [22:23] 07Dryas: "Daizo, Piu! I wanted to speak to you both about a practical concern and a moral one. Which shall it be, first?" [22:24] 14Piu: "My preference is always practical. Shall we get a table?" [22:25] 10Daizo: "Let's. We can discuss business first, and then deeper matters." [22:26] 07Dryas nods. Once seated: "That wrestler they were about to throw into the volcano - Sadako, by the way, have you heard about this brouhaha? But the wrestler. What was his name, again? We should find him." [22:27] "Chases-Waterfalls." [22:28] 10Daizo: "That sounds right. Are you thinking he'll be grateful to us?" [22:29] 14Piu: "I'm sure we can find a use for him even if he's not." 15[22:30] Sadako grunts in affirmation. "Seiri told me all about it." [22:32] 07Dryas: "He might still be in danger - along with the other, uh, offerees." 15[22:33] Sadako: "Dead god's still hungry?" [22:33] "I doubt Hamoji's cultists will be pleased letting them walk free, that's true." [22:34] 10Daizo: "Perhaps they think a sacrifice will bring him back." [22:35] "Oh, I was just thinking they'd be spiteful." [22:37] "We should have a persuasive case, then. And maybe he'll be able to put us in touch with more people around here, people who might know about this sorcerer." [22:40] "Sensible!" [22:40] 10Daizo: "I've got a lead on another practitioner as well. Seiri told me about the Witch of the Far Side, who was apparently held in high esteem even by Dusk. We still need to gather some information, but if anyone would be aware of a trespasser in their domain…" [22:41] "And even if she isn't, I should like to speak with her." [22:41] "Oh, great! Far Side of what, the bay? The island? [22:42] "Far side of the mountain. Abandoned these days." [22:44] "That sounds like an exciting expedition!" 07Dryas exclaims. "Do you have to go through the jungle? How does one get there?" [22:46] "That's the part I need to look into. Seiri wasn't exactly sure where the Witch lives, but it sounded as though mountain paths would be involved." [22:48] "We could ride out tomorrow. Can you ride?" [22:49] 4Piu blinks. "I, uh...don't ride. Usually." [22:49] 4Firmly: "Horses are creepy." [22:50] 07Dryas, imitating Piu: "What happened to 'Horsey!?'" [22:51] 10Daizo: "I can avoid falling out of a saddle." [22:51] "Or, I could. My balance is off." [22:51] 4*tape rewind sound* [22:52] "Sadako? Perhaps there will be something worth catching up there..." 15[22:53] Sadako: "Do you think the god left a ghost?" [22:54] 14Piu quirks an eyebrow at that. [22:55] 10Daizo: "That's a question that's often been asked…" [22:56] "While mortal souls return again and again through the cycle of reincarnation, spirits are immortal—unless killed. If truly destroyed they vanish like a soap bubble." 15[22:58] Sadako's eyes go wide. [22:58] "The very greatest of spiritual beings are said to be able to survive, but are always profoundly changed by the expeerience." 15[23:00] Sadako nods slowly. To Dryas: "I can ride a horse." [23:05] 10Daizo's deep in thought. "In time, some other god could claim Hamoji as its home, and Heaven is said to appoint new gods to fill vacant positions. But that wouldn't be the same thing at all." [23:05] "Tomorrow at dawn, then?" 07Dryas asks. "I'll let Zhangyu know." [23:06] "O-oh. Sorry, I do get to babbling on, don't I." [23:07] "Yes, very good." [23:10] 07Dryas: "As for the moral question: I've had some things on my mind lately and I wanted to know your opinion, what it is that differentiates us from the barbarians?" [23:11] 10Daizo: "You sure don't mess around, do you, Dryas?" [23:12] "Whatever do you mean?" 07she asks, sweetly. A little too sweetly? [23:15] "Oh, it's a hot topic in the teahouses of late. With more and more unrest at home, all sorts of radical views are cropping up. To hear some say it, nothing at all separates us from the merchants of Nexus or the Haslanti oligarchs in the icelands." [23:16] "But to me, the issue comes down to one thing: Legitimacy." [23:17] "Legitimacy?" [23:19] "In ancient times, Creation was given unto the Princes of the Earth to rule. And while many records have been effaced by the passage of time or corrupted by the wiles of the Anathema, history and the will of Heaven are on our side." [23:21] "You can trace the lines of descent through the virtuous Blooded who overthrew the Anathema and formed the Shogunate all the way through to the Empress herself, who claimed the Imperial Manse—which absolutely could not have come to pass against Heaven's will." [23:22] "Certainly not," 07Dryas agrees. [23:25] "Of course, there are lost eggs all over the world. Lookshy has their own claims to that noble heritage. But the Realm still holds the grace of Heaven; none can challenge it. " [23:27] "But without a proper ruler to sit the throne, we surely will. If we can find the Empress and convince her to return, or find final proof that she has left this world, we can reverse this decline." [23:30] (We surely will lose that grace.) [23:31] 10Daizo pours a new cup of tea. "So, what's your take on it? I admit, mine is rather an orthodox view." [23:41] "I've never been a pious person," [23:44] 10Daizo: "Fair. It's better to be honest than to affect false piety." [23:49] "And I was taught the same as all that at the Spiral Academy and so on. And the Realm is the pinnacle of the world, its beauty, honor... it's dignity can't be surpassed. I still believe that. But since coming out here, I'm having doubts..." [23:51] "Death may come from any quarter at any time, there is no safety from it. Are all these accomplishments so much grave-gloss?" [23:53] "Hamoji, in all his heathen power and fury, was laid low in an instant. Does the same fate await us, and we just don't know it?" [23:55] 10Daizo: "It's like I said to Sadako. The gift which is given to man is that our souls endure. What we do in this life touches not only the lives of those around us, but also determines the circumstances of our next, and their next, and so on." [23:57] "Death isn't to be feared ina nd of itself. But dying badly? Dying meaninglessly?" [23:58] "Can the same be said for a nation?" Session Time: Wed Apr 29 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] "That… is something I will need to think more about." 14[00:28] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[00:31] * Joins: cbass 14[00:38] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[00:41] * Joins: mattbaby 14[00:56] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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Their lords, or idols, or saints, have returned to deliver them from hardship, as if (and also, in fact) in response to their prayers. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Your Circle's spent the past day appraising itself of the situation. The Hedgehog is cut off from trade, both from Icehome to the northeast and the Guild to every other direction. They're unable to send fishing or trading vessels out to sea because house Cathak has left a small blockade behind in its retreat - not enough to stop a city-state with even a small fleet to call its own, [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12but the Hedgehog doesn't have even that. And, because your cultists have taken in refugees and pilgrims from across the northeastern threshold since their commune's inception, they're coming to the point of having more mouths to feed than the mountainous terrain they're otherwise situated in can support. 08[20:50] 4They're gonna have to buy in, too. Which means: raising work crews! Presumably while Eikichi and Blossom are carving this big trench, Ir and some manual labor gangs will need to be moving behind, clearing debris and shoring things up. 08[20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12So what's this trench you're building again? And, incidentally, what have Tatsuya or Ying been up to? The trip to the Hedgehog is a matter of weeks by ship but only days by Stormwind Rider, so it's possible that they've either gotten something done prior to leaving with the Circle or even remained in Nexus to see to a few affairs on the assumption that Eikichi would pick them up [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12later. [20:55] 6Well, there is that whole enormous candle giant thing to clear up, and Tatsuya's successful work at the library back in Mahalanka should help quite a bit there. 13And Ying owes it to the Rainbow Connection workers to spend at least a LITTLE time in-store. She bought the place, hired up, and almost immediately left town! She raised herself better than that, honestly! 14[21:17] * Joins: mattbaby 08[21:20] 4While Blossom and Eikichi begin planning out the canal, Ir gets to work on the shipyards project. Presumably there's a big, deep lake high in the mountains we're starting at -- a place where they've got enough space for a drydock slightly removed from the lake itself, and then a regular dock for launching and testing. Ir's been doing this for quite awhile, and seen quite a few [21:20] 4shipworks in her travels across Creation; she brings in Hedgehog's best foremen and some promising, fledgling shipwrights, and they get down to work. [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Back in Nexus, Ying busies herself with her shop's books. There's no problem with output - her three apprentices have each outdone themselves several times in her absence, and even Jack seems to be able to reliably darn socks and mend seams. There's even been some general capital expansion - Totokuro took it upon himself to get your business a second location in another city district [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12as well as some warehousing, and the weavers and tailors working under the three main apprentices are themselves doing a brisk trade in wool coats, yards of linen, things of that nature. The problem's a matter of reputation. Everyone knows the Rainbow Connection is good, if not one of the best. But, well, it's the Rainbow connection, isn't it, run by a notoriously cute and bubbly [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12catgirl. Not exactly where you'd go if you need a new gown for a ball held at a new Thorns-hosted social venue, is it? More children's birthday party fare... and young children, mostly. 14[21:31] * Joins: mattbaby_ [21:31] 13Hey, she dressed up like a crow once! Not that they know that. And she hasn't done it in a while, so she's out of practice. [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12This is a perfectly okay state of affairs - the business is making money and quietly expanding. But it could be making more and expanding faster, and that means either credibly rebranding as the new source of haute gothic couture, or somehow creating such a splash that the stylistic temperature of the city itself goes through another serious shift. 14[21:32] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:37] 13Do any of the workers have strong opinions? It's her shop and her name's attached to it, but they're here a lot more often than she is. She's got some ideas, but they deserve some input too. [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Sszark likes current fashion trends because, as luck would have it, spider's web motifs go with practically anything. Lingfei hates it. Totokuro thinks adapting to public sentiment will be easier and ultimately more profitable than changing it. [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying learns in the course of working and simply chatting with customers that there is, in fact, a big gala/fundraiser coming up for some sort of civic initiative pertaining to Cinnabar district run by Brueghel himself. It'd be a good place to make a splash, whatever kind of splash you're intent on making. You might attend on your own or just find some existing personage to serve as [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12a new piece's delivery mechanism, so to speak. 15[21:44] 10The state of the art in the Realm is what's known as the counter-excavation method, where sophisticated surveying techniques and careful geometric calculations enable teams of diggers to work from both ends of a future tunnel and meet in the middle. The Hedgehog doesn't really have that equipment, and exposing half the workforce to Imperial raiders would be risky and irritating. So 15[21:44] 10Eikichi just drifts forward fulm by fulm, sitting cross-legged on a fat, fluffy cloud, shattering and scattering stone with the unfathomable power of Heaven and Hell. Take that, math. [21:45] 4The shipyard takes a week or so to design, and then the work begins. It takes less than a month. There's a couple days of quarreling near the end there about how precisely to implement the portage from the drydock to the wetdock, but they get it back on track very quickly, and Ir remains solid as a rock through the whole process. Soon, they've got one or two fishing boat prototypes [21:45] 4built and delivered and tested, from keeling to first sail. [21:45] 7No! We're still using math! [21:46] 4Maybe you are, says Ir, smugly turning away and doing 10 instant proportional fractional calculations in her head on how to make this crispy boiled beef. [21:47] 13Well then! She'll set to work immediately - if she can keep in touch with the rest of the Circle, she'll let them know about it, if they want to join her (or if they want her to join them, so she can find someone to wear it in her stead). 08[21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Is this the first time Eikichi's evinced the ability to simultaneously seize and shift masses of matter across an area over a hundred yards wide? Has she always been able to do that? It's like an unseen army a thousand-strong is attacking the terrain with perfect synchrony. 15[21:48] 10Oh, who remembers? 08[21:49] 4Ir can probably fly in for a night on the town, if Eikichi is willing to provide. [21:49] 4She won't be staying long, though. And might pull out an old set of clothes... 15[21:49] 10Sure! Eikichi's always up for a break. 14[21:50] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [22:12] 7Blossom isn't! She's got willing workers, a long job, a pickaxe and some complicated math to do. What could be better? She takes to the diggings with gusto, urging the Hedgehogs (is that what we're calling them?) to greater efforts. [22:32] 13Ying sets to work immediately after sending off her letter to the Circle. Sweeping changes in Nexus fashion might be possible - she did it once already, after all - but after that first experience, she's not eager to try again. Still, this is all VERY grim. Solution: get some bright colors mixed in there! The goth stuff is pretty cute, sometimes, but it's just so dull. [22:32] 13So! She draws up, plans out, and sets about making a fancy gala outfit for each one of the Circle, even any that won't be there. Tatsuya even gets one and he definitely isn't coming. Her own is what they refer to as a "lolita" style dress, though she's not sure why and not sure she wants to know why, but it has bright pink where there used to be white lace. The effect is striking! The rest of the Circle's tastes have been taken [22:32] into account and are similarly decorated - teals, pinks, and purples stand out as accent colors. 08[22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12So what is it that, a week or two later, actually becomes visible from off the dorsal point coastline? What have Blossom and Eikichi left in their wake? 15[22:43] 10Progress! [22:45] 4Runoff and slurry, too, but Ir's work crews have it handled. 08[22:47] 7A U-shaped cut in a perfect line from Ir's shipyard to a short path down to the sea. Polished perfectly smooth where Eikichi willed the crystal facets to realign themselves, rougher (comparatively) where Blossom and the monks hacked away at it. There's no need for complicated locks or ways to flood the trench because it's not a canal so much as a portageway, a means to get the small [22:47] 7catamarans that will serve as the seed of the Hedgehog navy down to the ocean. [22:51] 4Ir will insist, modestly, that it's the Hedgehogs' shipyard. 08[22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12It's an incredible and incredibly fast undertaking. The teams of workman-monks can't actually travel as fast as Eikichi's will scythes through the rock at Blossom's will's direction; they'll be smoothing and signposting for weeks if not months after the great cut has been made, not to mention building docks, storehouses, and other checkpoints. And some of that work will have to wait, [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12because first the sea will have to actually notice the great channel of free space that's been opened up for it and start to fill the volume all the way back up to shipyard/dock that Ir's built. Presumably, that water will get replaced by the everflowing font of the Pole of Water such that Creation's total average sea level remains constant. [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12There's one other thing missing: ships. Have the worshipers been provided with a design or even a model to follow? [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying, it must be said, hasn't outdone herself, because the four-or-so pastel-colored outfits she's produced here are not technically superior to the masterwork with which she defeated Czaliphenya or to the previous masterwork with which she so badly offended Czaliphenya. They're "just" of stratospheric quality, unmatched and probably categorically unmatcheable by anything of mortal [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12make. How do those ribbons stay up like that...? It feels great to actually be working back at the Connection, also; the apprentices are exacting and helpful by turns, and Jack serves as an excellent rack and/or model. [23:05] 13Hopefully these designs are similar enough to placate Sszark, but different enough that Lingfei likes them more... It's a tricky balance to strike! Ying certainly appreciates them more, so there is that. [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Sometimes you just have to make the thing you want and hope other people come around. [23:11] 7The most difficult part of teaching the basics of shipbuilding is how different her example catamarans are to actual seagoing vessels. She has to work overtime, using clever analogy and written illustrations to keep her pupils from having to unlearn things when it comes time to graduate to big boy ships. [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12By the time Blossom's done, she's confident that even the 'inner' commune, the people who've chiefly hunted and mined and prayed and only recently begun some extremely hacky farming, are fully competent to not only reconstruct the twin-hulled boats that she's designed but actually take them out to the sea. It helps that there's enough of an inlet built into the stone-carved drydock [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12to allow for practice runs with the prototype. [23:16] 4Ir begins training the new naval officers and their senior staff on the wooden boats first, and then the feathersteel prototypes, and finally the main boats, all as they come off of the line and the canal progresses. Obviously, no training can be finished until they make contact with the ocean itself -- lake sailing is so much different than even close coastal patrol! -- but they [23:16] 4handle it well. 15[23:19] 10Well! That's all squared away. Party time? 08[23:21] 7Eikichi still has to cast Benediction of Archgenesis! [23:22] 4That's true. But Ir's still ready for party time. [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12When it's not being leveled at the already magical super-foliage colonizing the body of a primeval proto-human behemoth, the Benediction works on a timescale of months, if not seasons, rather than days; doing it now rather than half a week from now makes little difference. Either way, the Circle can make its way back to Nexus with greater speed and a lower profile than they've [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12usually got - it's true that a Stormwind Rider kicks up a lot of dust, but plenty of sorcerers use them to dash up and down the scavenger lands, and the sight of a magical whirlwind making its way across the plains is much less distinctive than the sight of the Heavensward scything through the clouds. [23:28] 4Ir moved all her perishables out to the communes, along with most of the stores...but just like in Mahalanka, leaving the ship behind engenders some anxiety. [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Indeed, if you ease off on the impulse and make the rest of your trip on foot, you could probably enter Nexus without anyone knowing that you'd returned. Either way, joining up with Ying isn't hard, and neither is getting the skinny on this gala that the Evening Master's throwing. Apparently there's to be an election for some sort of administrative position in northern Cinnabar and [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12one candidate is obviously favored by the Council. [23:30] 4Do we like the Council? [23:30] 4I feel like we don't. [23:30] 4Ir will shimmy into this black-and-neon-red-and-purple outfit and start doing her makeup. [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, they're the de facto rulers of Nexus, though of course they only serve at the Emissary's pleasure. Brueghel, the Evening Master, is a man you've had dealings with before. In fact, you worked for him as your vaguely spooky alter-egoes in the course of trying to figure out the exact parameters of Panther's one-time imprisonment! 15[23:31] 10The Astrologer's pretty cute... [23:32] 13Ying greets the circle with hugs all around and babbles excitedly about the gala, about her store, and about how well her employees have been doing in her absence, peppered in with questions about their "purroject" that she doesn't leave time for them to answer before launching into more chatter. [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Someone might say, isn't it unfair for one of the city's ruling politicians to so blatantly and materially support the election of another politician? The answer is something along the lines of what, is he not allowed to throw a party? Not allowed to give someone a gift? It's a free city! [23:32] 7We also saved Nexus from a plague in that time, because we're incredible. [23:33] 4Ah. Ir hates these people. Right. [23:34] 4She gives Ying a special hug, though. Lift and spin. And this is how she's repaid! [23:34] 4Neon goth. A stylish yet evil road marker. [23:35] 4Yes, it's fantastic, but...ugh! High fashion. [23:36] 13It could be worse! Her first plan was a tuxedo made entirely out of denim. [23:37] 13It might work up north, but not here. [23:37] 4Ir would have revoked the hug over that. [23:37] 4Okay not really. [23:37] 4But come on. [23:38] 13As a plan it didn't last very long, because of being terrible! But it was cathartic to draw up. [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Is everyone going to this thing? Is everyone going as themselves? [23:40] 4Anyway. If this idiot Brueghel was their previous employer, best to go maskless and not even let him entertain the idea that Ir, Northern Star could have ever been something else. Which is good, because apparently masks are chic right now. 08[23:42] 7Blossom doesn't really want to go to a party with the Council of Entities. She wants to stay home and get high with Eikichi. But she'll go, and not disguised, if everyone else is going. [23:44] 13Hey, if anyone wants to skip, that's totally fine with Ying! She can find other people to wear her outfits. She does need to go though, because... well, Nexus's fashion isn't going to fix itself. [23:45] 4Please. It would not be 'totally fine.' And she would not be able to find other people to wear these incredibly custom-tailored outfits. [23:46] 13Okay, no, it wouldn't, but she's not going to pressure her friends into going to this thing if they really don't want to... [23:47] 4We're already here, idiot!! Of course we're showing up to your fashion thing. Sometimes we just also get to whine about it in the narration, because this city is evil. 15[23:47] 10Eikichi would've preferred to stay home and get high with Blossom... but if they're here anyway, she might as well ruin the party. Eikichi arrives gleaming in diamond and alabaster, the vibrantly colored lace creeping down her arms and legs revealing only barely more skin than the glittering body piece. A cloak trails in behind her like a train, held aloft by her unfettered will. 15[23:47] 10Once someone approaches to take her coat, a flourish of her arms looses a flock of songbirds who lift the cloak from her shoulders and, singing all in tune, bear it up, out, and away. 08[23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12A skeletal butler - it's that kind of party - grasps in helpless confusion at the space in the air Eikichi's coat should have occupied before turning to go click-clacking off after the birds. Hopefully they're fluttering off to the coatroom. [23:48] 4Ugh. They're going to have a musical number later. Ir just knows it. [23:49] 13I love mewsic!!! 15[23:50] 10Who can say where the birds go. Oh look, one of them's coming back now, bearing a single long-stemmed rose clenched in its beak, which Eikichi nimbly snatches from the air, sniffs deeply, and then ignites between her fingertips in a flash of violet light that a handful of huge, glittering butterflies flutter from. [23:51] 13Ying, for her part, is wearing that dress described earlier alongside some striped leggings and arm-length gloves - both in pink and black - and will want to spend time with her friends but also flitting about high Nexus society. Ugh, work. It's for a good cause, at least - making things less dull. [23:52] 4Ir enters in a body-encasing fur coat with streaks (all natural, from the dead animal); when she shrugs it off into the butler's hands she's wearing a form-fitting decorative 'armor' black bodysuit with purple, yellow, and red highlights. She's got heavy makeup, including cheek paints, and her hair is done up all special. [23:52] 4No heels though. That was a bit too far. 08[23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's making waves, and they're somewhat more literal waves than normal - from the birds' eye view, the crowd around the Squared Circle's entrance actually irises outward, presses in again, spreads once more at the sight of the purple flash. Conversation ripples out in all direction. The gala's enormous, an entire marble mansion/museum now peppered with chatting socialites and [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12scurrying servants, and now the four of you represent perhaps the only patch of color in sight. [23:53] 4Gotta be able to plant and kick. [23:54] 4... [23:54] 4Where's Typhon. [23:54] 4He's here. Where is he. [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12You have hangers-on immediately. Many more people stare at a barely-respectful distance, whispering to each other. Were you even invited? (Yes, by default, but no one expected that you'd be in town) [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, an excellent question and easily answered. If Ir's inclined to follow her ears, she can recognize an unctuous voice holding forth in the middle of a grand ballroom currently being used to host long tables of hors'doeuvres. Typhon's got on a platinum circlet and a long black cloak fringed with silver thread. Beneath it is something hard to see but shiny - could fish scales. [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12"...well-meant, of course. The best of intentions, and who wouldn't be concerned as to the eternal rest of their esteemed patriarch? She's simply wrong about the science." [23:59] 4Wore armor, huh. Session Time: Fri May 01 00:00:00 2020 [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Might be armor, might just be finery. "It's well understood where I come from that a man splits into three upon his end. Only one of those parts - the hun - can rightly be said to be the original person, with needs and feelings and legacies and whatnot. And where I come from, they're as much a citizen as any living man." 12People around Typhon are nodding in seeming understanding. [00:02] 4Ir: "Where do you come from, again?" [00:02] "Ambassador." [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon blinks, then smiles. "Champion Ir! Why, the city-state of Thorns, of course. Why the rhetorical question?" [00:04] "So that you'd say 'Thorns.'" [00:04] "And where is Thorns from?" 15[00:07] 10Eikcihi pays no mind to anyone who isn't actively beseeching her attention. She regards all who bask in her presence with a sultry, lidded gaze - the better to hide just how fucking huge her pupils are right now. [00:08] 13Ying, meanwhile, barges into any conversation that she might possibly have something to contribute. She's just Like This. [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Typhon: "Strange question to put to a city-state. But if I remember my history, Thorns first took the name Thorns when refugees from the Blessed Isle crossed the sea to escape some sort of internecine Terrestrial strife. This was before the days of the Empress, I believe." [00:11] 7Fuck it. Where's the hors d'oeuvres. If there's one thing Blossom learned at school, it's how to sneak snacks from parties for later. [00:11] 4Ir, already stepping away: "I was asking the Juggernaut." [00:11] "We'll be seeing each other, Ambassador." [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Same big room that Ir's confronting Typhon in, actually. ...it kind of sounds like he was doing apologism in oppositon to Blossom's polemic, actually. [00:11] 4She turns away. [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12In any case, he doesn't seem to know what to say to that, and parlays it into a smile and a confused shrug at the rest of his audience. Before long he goes back to explaining why getting zombies to haul blocks for you is perfectly moral, actually. [00:15] 13There are worse things out there than letting Jack the Skeleton return to rest... [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Jack's an interesting case. It's hard to tell whether they "enjoy" helping out at the shop or if that's even a sensible question to ask, but the skeletons (no zombies - no one wants to get served food by a corpse that's still got meat on its bones, and even the skeletons have clearly been bleached, alchemically treated, and otherwise enchanted) here really are doing their best. 08[00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's cloak clearly gave them some confusion and they're just natively shying away from Blossom without even having been ordered to, as though there are waves of invisible pressure pulsing regularly from the Zenith caste that only they can feel. [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12It turns out that Zadu and other representatives of the Dust consortium are actually here. One supposes that it simply isn't proper not to be seen at one of these things, even though one look at the waitstaff makes it clear what kind of continuing economic policy the candidate being fundraised for likely supports. The catfolk are flanked by their own, living servants, who are at [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12least probably more pleasant to look at to the average partygoer than are the skeletons. [00:26] <@Ferrinus> 12They'll only address Blossom briefly - probably don't want to be seen as too obviously co-conspirators - but at least shoot her a serious nod when the opportunity arises. [00:30] 4She's confident she's made her point...but has she? [00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12He's certainly taking a slightly more hushed tone now. But this is the kind of thing you only understand the ramification of days or weeks later. [00:31] 4That's fine. If Nexus sides with Thorns...well. [00:31] 4Won't precisely be a surprise. 08[00:32] 7Blossom catches Eikichi's eye with the expression that indicates she thinks she's just done something incredibly clever. She'll point with her chin silently to indicate they should slip out into a nearby hallway without anyone noticing. [00:32] 7Once out: "Here, quick! Quick!" 7Blossom will produce stolen hors d'oeuvres and pass them to her fiancee! 15[00:33] 10Hard to make people not notice Eikichi, but she takes advantage of Ir's confrontation with Typhon to sneak away. "A-ha~!" 15[00:33] 10hromph hromph hromph [00:34] 4Down the hall, Ir literally kicks out a door and stomps to the other wall before crossing her arms and leaning. Her glare is enough to scare off those who'd have followed. [00:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Behind you, what you're pretty sure is a different skeleton clumsily chases a songbird down the hallway, broom in hand. 15[00:36] "This party is terrible," 10Eikichi confides. "Everyone's gawping and we can't even destroy Typhon." [00:37] 4Ir's scowl deepens as she hears that names, and the crossed arms...cross more? Sure. [00:37] 13This all leaves Ying to be the center of attention for people looking for the Circle, and she is delighted to oblige! ...she's gonna have to talk to the others afterwards. [00:38] "This is why I wanted to stay home. I hope Ying wraps up her business here soon." 7She keeps a lookout around a corner. There are, objectively, no consequences social or otherwise for being caught doing this, but again it makes things more fun. [00:38] 13Actually, hang on. Did they all go to the same place? She could probably spend a bit with her friends... [00:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Ying might be the most approachable member of the Circle (the least is Tatsuya, not because he's particularly scary but because no one can even find him) and that's eminently observable tonight. Couples and cliques and magnates, all dressed in somber blacks or funereal whites, have regarded her with a shock and confusion that has variously shaded into appreciation, awe, or outright [00:39] <@Ferrinus> 12jealousy. If people are allowed to touch the fabric they'll let it run through their fingers. They ask for suggestions on their own outfits, how many other such dresses Ying might have in stock, if Ying will be at the next event- [00:42] 13She actually has a set of fabric swatches in a variety of colors for literally this exact reason, and the Rainbow Connection has been preparing for this ever since Ying's dress was finished and she modeled it for the workers. She's got recommendations, bright smiles, and business cards for anyone who wants one! 08[00:43] 13...but she IS going to excuse herself briefly, because Ir looked like she needed a friend and she, Blossom, and Eikichi have all slipped away. [00:43] 13Or rather, she's going to very briefly disappear, which is honestly really impressive as the only splash of color in a gala. But she's very sneaky. 15[00:44] 10Eikichi eats a possessed egg thoughtfully before saying, "It can't take much longer. I hope she just brings the whole shop to Zeal. Then we can be shut of this place." 14[00:44] * Joins: mattbaby [00:45] 4Ir makes an angry, strangled sound of agreement, and kicks off the wall. [00:47] 13When she finds the group - Ir makes it pretty easy, sorry - she exhales in relief. "Hey. That was... a lot." [00:47] "You can buy a lot." [00:47] "I don't want to do this again." [00:48] "This party stinks, Ying. You deserve better." [00:48] 4Belatedly: "Yeah." [00:49] 13Ying: "It was purretty rough," 13she agrees. "And - you won't have to. Um. Once Tatsuya figures out that whole deal, I'm only coming back for the Rainbow Connection. And that can be fixed too." [00:50] "That's good! That's good." [00:50] "Next time I see Typhon, I wanna kill him." 15[00:50] "That's very fair." [00:51] "Second-rate Reckoning." 15[00:52] 10At least Reck is hot. [00:52] "Not pawsible." [00:52] 13She has a low opinion of Reckoning. [00:52] 4Ir: "Let's get outta here." [00:53] "Thanks for the outfit, Ying. It's beautiful. On someone less angry than me, it'd have gotten its due." [00:53] 13Ying: "I gotta go make a tour of the thing and say goodbye and whatefur. I'll meet up with you guys afterwards?" 15[00:54] 10Eikichi nods. "Let's go." [00:56] 4Ir: "I made my exit." 4She'll give Ying another hug. "Don't stay long." [00:56] 13She hugs back. "I won't." 08[00:56] 7Blossom will also hug Sunlit-Dreaming Ying. Gal pals! "Eikichi, do you still have any ice fern spores?" 15[00:57] 10Eikichi grins. [00:57] <@Ferrinus> 12You go. Leaving's easy, though leaving unnoticed is much harder. It all falls away behind you - the nobles doing deals or dealing each other dirty, the majordomos and administrators snapping at skeletons that have become restive or unreliable, the visiting sorcerers and gods and other one-off personages too famous not to invite. [00:59] 7Boy, I sure hope nothing bad happens with your increasingly-unreliable undead servants! Especially nothing that the finest daughter of House Cathak warned you about! 15[01:00] 10Not me. I hope it does happen. [01:00] 4I'd like to make it happen. [01:01] 13Ying re-enters to make her tour around the room, innocently talking up her outfit and the outfits of the other Solars and mentioning that her shop has been working on this new line, and do you like it? [01:01] 13They do, by the way. If they know what's good for them - fashionwise! [01:01] 13Before too long, though, she's making her actual exit. 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Rise and grind, Abalone. 15[21:12] There are no formal Hinokuni bouts scheduled, but medallion-carriers are encouraged to show up to meet and greet the most dedicated fans. Daizo has retreated into his studies of Carmine Road - there will be no outing of Mil Montanas today. Certainly not until he's firmed his position on the, uh, wings. [21:12] 4Piu will do her morning routine on the Defender's deck so long as the air quality isn't too bad; if the twins are around she'll spend time with them. It's been awhile since she maintained that relationship. Then it's to breakfast, and after breakfast (unless they're there eating with her) it's time to find out what her hearth is up to. [21:12] 4Her hearth. [21:12] 14Still getting used to that. 15[21:13] The Cathak twins have been scarce of late, but Piu has no trouble making time with them. They do still leave somewhat abruptly and are evasive if asked about what they're doing. [21:13] 4She won't make them solemnly swear they're up to no good if it's that obvious. [21:13] 6It's good that they have been scarce. If they could simply disappear, that would be wonderful. [21:14] 4Don't be mean. [21:14] 4...Well, it is sort of Zhangyu's brand. [21:14] 6Also, it's the Cathak oaves. Oafs? How do you pluralize - whatever. [21:15] 07A morning ride about the outskirts of town on Diamond Weapon it is. Dryas will avoid anywhere that the devoted of the volcano god are known to hang out in large numbers. 15[21:15] Zhangyu could justifiably have a friendly spar with any fighter he's met so far, or one of the several he hasn't. Piu could join in, or watch from the stands. If the place is open, Ted will assuredly be there... Dryas, of course, is resourceful and canny, and knows that business can happen anywhere. [21:16] 4Piu splits the difference between dressing for combat and dressing for...different exercises. A scandalously short robe, but taped up feet and legs. [21:17] 6How does the Hinokuni feel about an open challenge, where Zhangyu demonstrates just how good the fighters are? By, uh, just destroying random unnamed challengers. [21:17] 4She's told Zhangyu ahead of time that if he wants to do a pairs bout, she's in to substitute for Daizo. Er, Mil. [21:19] 6Zhangyu is also fine with tag bouts, but honestly he really just wants to get some aggresssion out. So. Does Piu have a name and a mask? 15[21:20] Dryas still feels eyes upon her, though the reaction seems to be at least as much awed curiosity as actual antipathy. And there's that dog again...! It doesn't follow her, exactly, that dirty, shaggy thing, but the slightly stir-crazy group of children that run with it up and down the road trace a good chunk of Dryas's path. [21:20] 4Aw, she has to wrestle masked? That's going to make mingling harder... 15[21:20] Heh. [21:21] 6She doesn't have to, no. Actually it would be awesome if she didn't. [21:21] 6...masks are neat though. [21:21] 4She'll fight as V'neef Piu, then. No one should be shocked; she's already walked Zhangyu out to the ring a couple times already. 15[21:24] What time of day or night does the triad head out? [21:26] 4Piu would prefer a daytime bout, to keep her dinner and post-dinner plans open. But it's up to the main man, and possibly also Dryas if she's got schemes that care about the clock. [21:27] 6If they have schedules, Zhangyu will attempt to listen. But if they have daytime bouts, he is one hundred percent on board. 15[21:29] Dryas regards the mongrel with a hunter's eye. She knows from dogs - big hunting hounds, the spry and fierce dogs cattle herders and shepherds of the South keep as companions, even the shitty little dogs her many illustrious cousins seem to favor as pets/toys. This dog, while it's playing ecstatically, absolutely does not behave like a dog, or at least not a dog that hasn't been 15[21:29] meticulously, masterfully trained. What gives it away is that the dog seems to be totally impervious to children's efforts to distract it, whether with simple moving objects or noises or even food. 15[21:31] It also - and this is very difficult to spot, given the stampede of tiny feet all around it - isn't leaving tracks, even though there's a thin layer of ash covering the entire ground like fresh snowfall. 15[21:33] No bouts are scheduled, so it's a come-as-you-are situation. Piu and Zhangyu get the sense that there are fighters hanging around at pretty much all hours - Hinokuni is almost as much a social club for its fighters as it is a competitive or business enterprise. One of the advantages and drawbacks of being run by a retired fighter who mostly just wants to hang around and bullshit. [21:34] 6Is Son-of-Sabers there? [21:35] 6Not to fight. But is he there. He's so-- 15[21:35] Absolutely. As far as anyone's able to tell the man practically lives there. [21:36] 07Dryas focuses on the dog for another moment. Is it too silly to - hm. Whatever's there or isn't, doesn't register. Maybe next time... She spurs herself onward, accelerating slightly. Will the dog follow? [21:36] 4--dedicated to killing us! Probably best not to fight him until we're really prepared! [21:37] 6Look. I don't tell you how to feel about romantic partners. [21:39] 14I don't have any of those. [21:40] 4But fair point, I am sleeping with Ted. [21:40] 6Anyways! Who's up for a spar? 15[21:40] The dog follows... to a point. When Diamond Weapon speeds up, the crowd of children follow, and so too does the dog. The children give up well before the dog, however. But the dog does hang back at a certain point... 15[21:41] It's just an enclave with a number of rich people's houses, as far as Dryas can tell. [21:41] 6NOT Son-of-Sabers. That's complicated. But anyone else for a tag match is fine. [21:44] 07Interesting. She'll flag down a passerby and ask the name of the quarter she's found herself in. 15[21:47] That's Manalapan, she'll be told. [21:49] 07With a flash of a dazzling smile to the answerer of her question, she wheels Diamond Weapon back towards the port. She'll take a different route back, and take it at high speed. Best not to tarry. 15[21:51] So it's some time in the afternoon, presumably, when they make their way into the Hinokuni. It's very active - moreso than any of the times you've been in the evening, except for a scheduled bout. Pretty much every fighter they've met is here, as well as several they haven't, including a woman who looks like she could be Daizo's twin sister, and a middle-aged woman shorter than Seiri 15[21:51] with huge, round spectacles. 15[21:52] Thousand Devil Master is tending bar, as always. Ted and Son-of-Sabers are playing Gateway again - a couple of drinks deep, you'd judge, looking at the table. [21:52] 4Daizo's twin sister? Wings too? 15[21:52] No wings, sadly. [21:52] 4Aw. [21:53] 4Piu will get some light flirting in with Ted, but she's not going to slither onto his lap or anything if she's scheduled to be fighting. [21:53] 4So, uh, let her know, Zhangyu! 15[21:56] Something that might startle the triad is that among the people they recognize are two of their own compatriots - Cynis Caxi is here, also a couple of drinks deep, and sitting close beside her on opposite sides are Mnemon Salim and Seiri, who are both nursing what looks to be tea served in beer steins. 15[21:56] *three of [21:58] 6Hey, though. Twin sister? Does House Tepet have another member? 15[22:00] Well, Daizo isn't Tepet by birth. He's an adopted patrician. But, no, I just meant she's similarly very tall and broad and has a smooth, dark complexion. [22:01] 6Hmm, no, I heard twin sister and Zhangyu will sidle up beside her regardless of how true that is. [22:01] 07Dryas will order a concoction of rums and fruit juices, served in a steaming and grimacing ceramic mug. She'll shoot her cousin and Seiri a friendly aloof glance. [22:01] 4Piu will bounce over to say hi to them too -- somewhat less bouncily and warmly to Salim. 15[22:01] She looks him up and down, sniffs with approval or disapproval, and offers a fist to bump. "Nice work with Gilana." 15[22:03] Seiri is delighted to see Piu. Caxi's eyes narrow with mirth. Salim nods respectfully. "Are you fighting?" asks Seiri. "I heard you're very strong." [22:03] 6Zhangyu: "Wasn't easy." 6He bumps the fist in return. "She's a nightmare." 15[22:03] Eyes forward, drinking slowly, she responds, "Yep." [22:04] 4Piu grins. "That's the plan!" [22:04] "Got a new trick or two to try out...we'll see if I get the chance!" [22:04] "Or if I get my ass kicked!" 15[22:05] Seiri: "Everyone here is so scary!" [22:05] 6Zhangyu: "You ever...?" 6He's got a glass of water or some sort of soft drink to sip at. 15[22:05] Caxi: "You're too kind." [22:05] 4Piu: "I'm not scary!" [22:05] 07Dryas checks out some of the new faces at a respectful distance, sizing them up with the aid of her amulet. [22:05] 6Yes you are. 15[22:06] Salim takes a long sip of his tea. [22:06] 14No, I'm scary. 4I'm not! 15[22:09] Caxi: "How will you have them bill you?" 15[22:09] "Is that the word? Bill?" 15[22:09] "I don't know all the terms." 15[22:10] The woman nods. "I broke her in. We fought to a draw. Only I was in bed for two weeks, and she fought again the next night." 15[22:11] "I'm El." 15[22:11] Backbreaking El: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB6HY8r983c - And the message coming from my eyes says, “Leave it alone.” [22:11] 4Piu shrugs. "Sadly I've already been introduced as Zhangy's valet. So I have to go with: V'neef Piu, Winner of the Five-Day Fight!" 15[22:11] Caxi, dryly: "Oh is that all." [22:12] "I kinda wanted to come up with a character! But I also hate fighting masked. So it's a land of contrasts." 15[22:12] The woman with the glasses catches Dryas's eye and the light at the same time, rendering her glasses briefly opaque. 15[22:12] Naruhodo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wccRif2DaGs - You’ve got your passion, you’ve got your pride, but don’t you know that only fools are satisfied? 15[22:14] The thin woman Dryas finds easy to read is leaning up against the corner with folded arms, scowling. 15[22:14] Irene Two Fists: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr8AtQiFtTY - So many times, it happens too fast: you trade your passion for glory. [22:14] 6Zhangyu: "Zhangyu." 6Another sip. "She's always been like that, huh." 15[22:15] The twins seem to be rehearsing either a magic spell or a very complicated handshake. 15[22:15] Doremi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDl9ZMfj6aE - She was struck down. It was her doom. 15[22:15] Mirido: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkJTd_wKl0k - She was struck down. It was her doom. 15[22:16] Seiri: "What would your character be??" 15[22:18] El: "Far as I know. Some people are born mean." She finishes her drink. "Some people get the meanness beat into them. Hard to say which it is with her. She doesn't talk much. What are you drinking?" [22:25] 6Zhangyu: "...water. Never liked fighting drunk." 6Sheepish half-grin. "Call it a personal quirk." 15[22:25] El nods. "I respect that. I oppose it, totally, but I respect it." [22:26] 4Piu spots Zhangyu half-grinning from across the venue and makes a face. That's terrifying. [22:28] 07Dryas makes her way over to the bespectacled woman, following up on the shared glance. "Spectacles are an interesting accessory for a fight club," 07she observes. [22:29] 6Zhangyu: "Not the first, won't be the last." 6Sip. Pointedly ignoring Piu. 15[22:29] "I don't like fighting blind," the woman replies. "You're the new manager, yes? Tell me, are you truly of the Dynasty, or do you merely act the stereotype?" [22:32] 4To Seiri: "A ruthless killer! Obviously I wouldn't kill anyone. Unless those were the rules. But I'd descend from the ceiling in face paint, grinning, in...let's see...Southern outrider gear, tight pants, boots, a blouse, a scarf, a duster! All black! Interrupting matches at will! Lots of kicks, which is already my style, but more emphasis on thrusting the heel than torquing the [22:32] hips on shin strikes!" 15[22:34] Seiri: "Gosh!!!" [22:34] 4She pauses. "Okay I guess that counts as scary." [22:35] "I'm too poor an actress for my affect to be anything but genuine," 07Dryas responds with false humility. Twice-false, actually. She probably could fake it. [22:36] "Cynis Dryas. You have my at a disadvantage...?" 15[22:36] El: "I like you. You don't talk much." 15[22:37] The woman responds, in High Realm: "I see." [22:37] 6Zhangyu: "It's a talent." 6Sip. "You fight? Don't think I've seen you yet." 15[22:37] After a pause. "That is the name I fight under. Naruhodo." 15[22:38] El nods. "Working on a title challenge." [22:39] 07Dryas: "Ahhh. Does it signify something special for you?" [22:39] 6A raised eyebrow. "Shoot. I need to pay more attention to the competition." 15[22:40] El, somewhat defensively. "Of course shoot. This isn't Chiaroscuro." 15[22:41] Naruhodo shakes her head. "The language, here it has a certain connotation. I aim to cultivate that impression. In the ring, I am a savant from the Realm." 15[22:43] Seiri turns to her tablemates: "What about you? What character would you make?" 15[22:43] Caxi: "Oh, I don't know..." 15[22:43] Salim, flatly: "I can't act." [22:44] 6Zhangyu: "No, I meant -- okay, whatever. Hey, you're free, right? Up for a spar?" [22:44] "I've got a friend here, too, if you can wrangle a partner." [22:44] 4Piu grins at Salim. 14Lying little shit. [22:49] "Your High Realm isn't too bad. How does the character go over with the audience here?" 07Dryas asks. 15[22:50] Naruhodo: "Oh, they hate me. Viciously so." 15[22:52] "It's a pity." [22:53] "You are interested in the Realm?" 07Dryas asks, superfluously. 15[22:54] Caxi: "Well, firstly, everyone would have to love me. What kind of fighter do the people like the most?" [22:58] 4Piu: "Are we talking love-love or hate-love? Both are viable. Crucially though you can't be seen as like, begging for the audience's affection. You need to be bold and self-assured! Take chances and stand by your principles! Even if those principles are like, betrayal and villainy." [22:58] "ESPECIALLY if they are." 15[22:59] Caxi: "Oh love-love, absolutely. So the people who watch these stories like heroes?" 15[22:59] Salim: "They like moral clarity." [23:00] 14When he's right... 4Piu: "Yeah, in the like, storytelling sense. Yeah, Salim!" [23:00] "You also have to acknowledge the crowd exists. Even if you're like, making vulgar hand gestures at them! They like to be noticed!" [23:01] "For you, I'd probably go, like...aloof sorcerer-queen who still deigns to acknowledge her public. You know, magnanimously." 15[23:02] Caxi: "Ah, yes. The royal wave." [23:02] "But the best and quickest way to be loved, of course, is to win." 15[23:02] At this, Caxi grins wickedly. 15[23:02] "Perhaps I should try this out." [23:02] 4Piu grins. 14This could be a disaster...or not. 15[23:04] Caxi: "How does it work? Who do I need to talk to?" 15[23:06] Naruhodo: "Oh, very much so! I was educated in the Realm. It's a wonderful place. The culture, the people... it really is without parallel." [23:06] 4Piu points at the bartender. "That guy! Thousand Devil Master." 15[23:06] Caxi leans a bit to get a good look at him. "Mmm." 15[23:06] "Excuse me." [23:07] 07Dryas, continuing quickly: "As it so happens, when I arrived here, I made sure to bring as many books, scrolls, and other great cultural works as I could fit on my ship. Are there others like you here? I would be happy to let you have your choice of my remaining supplies - and give you and your friends a good price on more in the future." 15[23:09] Naruhodo: "Oh! That would be wonderful. There are a few of us." 15[23:10] Caxi leans across the bar, more than she really needs to, engaging the proprietor in whispered conversation. 15[23:10] El: "Absolutely." 15[23:10] At this point Thousand Devil Master, slightly flushed, beckons Zhangyu over. [23:11] 4Tee hee. [23:11] 6Zhangyu: "Got a fri- hang on." 6He will politely oblige. "What's up." [23:12] 07Dryas: "I'd be delighted to." 07She gives a brief rundown on where to find the burgeoning market space that Moke takes care of. "Are you fighting today?" 15[23:12] Thousand Devil Master: "My friend! Do you know this lovely young lady? She tells me she wants to fight, under your medallion." 15[23:13] "I assured him that would be no problem," says Caxi, in a you-owe-me kind of way. 15[23:13] Naruhodo: "I might. We'll see if something interesting crops up." [23:13] 6This is not the partner he anticipated, but he does in fact owe her. "That is true." 15[23:14] Caxi sweeps up Zhangyu in a surprisingly tight hug. "Thank you!!" [23:15] 6Zhangyu awkwardly returns the hug and adds a few pats on the back. [23:16] 14Wait, did Caxi just take my place in...? That little SLUT! 15[23:16] Thousand Devil Master: "Perfect. How are we billing you?" [23:16] 6If it's any consolation, it is not what you are thinking. [23:16] 14Whatever. 4Whatever! [23:17] 14Oh it's definitely what I'm thinking, as it regards Thousand Devil Master. 15[23:17] Caxi, dreamily: "Brigid, of the North." [23:17] 6Evenly: "As usual, for me." [23:17] "I'll keep an eye on you," 07Dryas replies pleasantly, moving on to mingle elsewhere. [23:18] "Mil is... indisposed." 15[23:18] Thousand Devil Master: "I'm sorry to hear that. He seems like a good worker." [23:18] "The best," 6he agrees. 15[23:21] Piu's sightline lets her catch Thousand Devil Master and the Gateway game at once, and when Caxi gives him her ring name, Piu sees Ted look up sharply. [23:21] 14Hmm. [23:21] 14And we're looking for a... [23:21] 14Right. [23:22] 14Piu now has a theory as to whom Ted's sorcerous accomplice might be. [23:22] 07Dryas makes her way back towards the others once she sees Thousand Devil Master speaking with Zhangyu.  15[23:23] The moment passes, and he goes back to the game. But he concedes the following turn, leaving Son-of-Sabers to brood alone, as he meets Dryas arriving at the bar at practically the same moment. [23:23] 6Alone...? 15[23:24] Son-of-Sabers gets up and follows after a brief moment alone with the board. [23:24] 14Oh for fuck's sake, just go hit on him. Or hit him. [23:24] 14Perhaps those are functionally the same. 15[23:24] "Our newest champion," says Ted as he sidles up to the group. "And his many lovely friends." [23:24] 6They are. For the record. [23:25] 4Piu, coquettishly: "Hi Ted." [23:27] 6Hey, so, Son-of-Sabers is here now. How much time did El want before the spar? Because... 15[23:28] El seems to be drinking quietly, just like she was before Zhangyu walked up to her. 15[23:29] Ted grins back, but aside from a lingering look his attention is on Zhangyu. "You're bringing in another fighter, I heard?" [23:30] 07Dryas hangs back a bit, signals for rum, and watches the men interact. This should be interesting. [23:30] 14Fine with her. 4Lets her stare some more. Dragons he's hot. [23:31] 6Fantastic. Also, go to hell, Ted. "She forced her way in," 6as he glances to Cynis Caxi. To Son-of-Sabers: "Buy you a drink?" 6Oh god he's so out of practice. 15[23:31] Son-of-Sabers sidles up to the bar, having essentially the same idea as Dryas -- though he takes a moment to fix her with an ugly scowl she can feel even if her back is turned. To Zhangyu: "It's your money, mate." 15[23:31] He says that the same way someone might say, "It's your funeral." [23:32] 6Zhangyu orders "One of his usual" 6because he is EXTREMELY out of practice. [23:33] 4He's going about this all wrong!! 14Relationships work the same way as fight feuds. Especially among fighters. [23:33] 4Not my problem though!!! 15[23:34] Caxi seems delighted, whether by the prospect of fighting or by Zhangyu's terrible flirting. But she speaks to Ted: "Two more fighters. Piu is fighting too, isn't that right, darling?" [23:34] 4Piu is sultrier and less chipper here: "That's right." 15[23:35] Ted: "Oh my." [23:35] 6Zhangyu: "First I'm hearing of it." 6A glance to Piu. "Good luck." 15[23:35] Thousand Devil Master: "Billed as?" [23:36] 4More chipper again to Zhangyu: "Thanks!!" [23:36] 4To Thousand Devil Master: "V'neef Piu, Winner of the Five-Day Fight!" 15[23:37] Piu's spent more time looking at Ted's face than the others, so the subtle but unalloyed contempt that crosses his face when he looks at all of Piu's comrades, but not Piu herself, is hard to ignore. [23:37] 14Well, that's not...particularly a surprise. [23:38] 14...But why not her? Certainly not just because they're fucking. This seems more deep-seated than that... [23:38] 14Hrm. Filed away for later. 15[23:40] Thousand Devil Master: "No shit." 15[23:40] "Are you really her?" [23:42] 4Piu, grinning: "You'll pay to find out." 15[23:42] Thousand Devil Master: "I literally will. What do you want? That kind of billing gets you a solo bout at the least." 15[23:42] "Pick anyone in here. You want to face the champion?" [23:43] 6Zhangyu is NOT pouting. He isn't. [23:43] 4Piu: "No killing, no weapons, one on one. I only want the champion if it won't look like I'm jumping the line due to credentials." [23:48] 6Zhangyu purchases a second drink for Son-of-Sabers. 15[23:49] Dryas studies Ted from a distance, like a magistrate rather than a hunter. Tall, thin, expensively dressed. His clothes are stylish in an old-fashioned way, like he just strode handsomely out of a historical romance ero-scroll. The gloves on his hands are well-treated leather... but Dryas can't identify what animal the skin came from, which means it isn't any of the usual ones. He has 15[23:49] no visible weapons, and his clothes are tight enough that Dryas doubts very much he could be concealing anything. His only adornment seems to be a simple silver necklace, or perhaps a pendant, poking up from his shirt collar. 15[23:50] Dryas realizes with a start that the chain is very familiar to her - it's identical in make and shape to the one around her own neck that bears Nine Muses Attend. [23:57] 07Dreadful! Her hand rises involuntarily towards her own amulet, and she turns away from Ted - to come face to face with Son of Sabers, who is just receiving a drink order from Zhangyu apparently. Session Time: Wed May 06 00:00:00 2020 15[00:00] "What are you staring at?" comes Son-of-Sabers's querulous response. [00:01] 6Zhangyu is not looking at him. He would be blushing even more than he already is. [00:02] 07Dryas' eyes flit past him to look at Zhangyu for a heartbeat. [00:05] 4Time to start thinking about fight options! Aesthetically she wants someone bigger than her and technically she wants someone who doesn't grapple -- she can grapple, obviously, but the character of V'neef Piu is mainly a striker. Since she's not going to touch Zhangy's new boyfriend or go 2v1 and face one of the twins without the other (bad business), that leaves her with Backbreaker [00:05] 4El and Naruhodo, along with...narrator, please remind Piu of the rest of the fighters hanging around? [00:08] 07Her big green eyes settle back on Son of Sabers. Dryas moves a few beads around on her mental abacus. "It depends. Do you much enjoy calisthenics? How about running?" 15[00:09] Well, there's Sublime Master Thief holding court with Kuga Rahn and the twins. Down the way Sia the Querulous and Gilana Crimson Tide - Zhangyu and Daizo's first opponents - are arguing about something in whispers. Irene Two Fists is still sulking there in the corner. And of course there's Bruiser Khang, the company ace, who is currently walking out of the kitchen, shirtless in an 15[00:09] apron with a stiff white hat, holding a large basket of steaming shrimp. He beams at Piu if she makes eye contact before setting it down at Seiri and Salim's table. 14[00:13] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:13] 6Zhangyu should probably be speaking to the Sublime Master Thief if he wants to advance,,, however, have you seen Son-of-Sabers? Sorry, I keep pointing that out, but golly. 15[00:19] Ted sidles up to Piu. "So introduce me to your friend." [00:20] 4So it's Backbreaker, Gilana, or the Bruiser himself. This might be condescending but, being aware of who Gilana's uh, 'sponsor' is, she doesn't want to humiliate her right after Zhangyu did. If she chooses Bruiser, she's seeking the title. Does she have any feel for how the crowd would react to Tepet Zhangyu's ring girl suddenly claiming she won the Five-Day Fight and demanding a [00:20] 4match with the champ? 15[00:20] How would she have reacted if she was reading about it back home? [00:22] 4Well that's the thing. The topline reaction is it's a squash -- there's no reason to hate her for it. But if it's a squash it shouldn't be a title match. The secondary reaction would be to look up who this person is, and then find out she's not a character; there is actually a V'neef Piu who won the so on and so forth. That would make it worthy of a title shot! But then she'd wonder [00:22] 4if this was actually, like, V'neef P'iu, with an important mark added to make her legally distinct, and then it was all a work. [00:22] 4Obviously, all questions would be settled in the ring -- but!! [00:23] 4IF that person won, she would be expected to stick around and defend the title. [00:23] 4Piu probably doesn't want to do that. [00:23] 4...So maybe it's a non-title match against the Bruiser. [00:24] 4If she loses, she loses. No sweat. She doesn't think she'll lose, though, and Khang seems tough enough to take her full force. 15[00:24] That would probably be simpler. Piu's sense is that she could make a title fight work, but like she's already surmised it'd be a much bigger commitment than she probably wants to make. [00:26] 4At the very least, it buys her credibility to contend for the title basically whenever she wants. [00:26] 4If she wins, that is. [00:28] 6She's going to. Zhangyu has seen to the competition, and Piu is better. 15[00:29] Son-of-Sabers: "The hell is that supposed to mean?" [00:32] 6Is that directed towards Zhangyu? Because he is perfectly eager to just sip at his water if it's to someone else. [00:33] 6Mmmm, delicious water. [00:35] 4Piu did all that thought in an instant. Now, to thots: "This is Caxi. Ringname Brigid. She's maybe got other names. Full of surprises." 15[00:36] Caxi regards Ted languidly. "Who is this?" [00:37] 4Grinning deliciously. "This is Ted." 14[00:37] * Joins: tom [00:37] 07Dryas, casually to Son of Sabers: "You seem like a real heartbreaker type. But if you bring that energy into any of my people, you'll find out what it means to run." 07She glances over his shoulder at Zhangyu again. That big, dumb, beautiful man actually has something he cares about, and it's an antisocial lout like this asshole?! 15[00:38] Ted delicately removes a glove. "My lady. May I?" he reaches for her hand. Caxi offers it graciously for a kiss. 15[00:38] Ted takes her hand and instantly recoils as if stung. 15[00:38] "Ah! Forgive me. A slight prickle in the air." 15[00:39] Caxi's eyes narrow slightly. "How odd. I didn't feel a thing." 15[00:39] Ted takes her hand and kisses it gently, without hesitation. "Then let it trouble you not." [00:40] 14... [00:40] 07Dryas overhears what's happening behind her and screams, internally. [00:41] 14Piu cares a lot less about the social cringe than she does about the physical one. 15[00:44] Caxi seems to let it slip by. "Your name can't possibly be Ted." 15[00:45] Son-of-Sabers laughs. "Did you just-- did you just threaten me?" [00:46] 14Piu turns. "She did." 14[00:46] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[00:46] * Joins: mattbaby 15[00:46] Ted looks slightly rueful. "Many of us fight under assumed names, my dear Brigid. In the ring, your past is what you say it is." 15[00:46] Caxi: "And yet you know my name, but won't tell me yours?" 15[00:46] Ted's smile is strange. "I just might." [00:49] 07Dryas nods along with Piu: "You should be flattered," 07she replies, adds an unsettling wink, and finishes another rum. 15[00:52] Son-of-Sabers: "Do you fancy a go then as well? Shall you, too, write your own name on your ox's yoke? Like your fellow princesses? Or are you a talker, not a fighter?" [00:54] 14Is Zhangyu still in hearing range or has he gone to the washroom? 15[00:55] That's a question for Zhangyu's player, who has sadly died. 15[00:55] Son-of-Sabers would say it either way. [01:01] 07Dryas gives him a skeptical look. "You aren't worth my time. My advice to you is: keep it that way." [01:26] 07Another moment longer, and she gets up in frustration. This is a rock that she can't move anytime soon. 15[01:28] Son-of-Sabers smirks. "Maybe some other time, princess." [01:30] 4Piu giggles at that, 14but her eyes are hard. 15[01:30] Ted, mildly: "You do bring it out in people, don't you?" 15[01:31] Son-of-Sabers is good-natured: "Piss off." 15[01:32] Thousand Devil Master emerges from the kitchen. "So what do you think, Lady Piu? Who'll it be?" [01:32] 4She turns. Brightly: "Bruiser Khang. Exhibition match." 15[01:34] "BRUISER!" bellows Master. Bruiser comes back out of the kitchen. He'd have to duck under the door even if not for the tall hat. "What'll it be?!" [01:34] 4This means the result doesn't count not just for the title, but for placement. Meaning the other fighters should be fine with it, if really condescending. [01:35] 4The hat's good. So's everything beneath it. [01:35] 4This is why she doesn't do deathmatches!! 15[01:35] Thousand Devil Master lights incense at a shrine to some god Daizo might recognize, but surely none of you. He grins behind the smoke. "Battle." 15[01:36] "BATTLE!" Bruiser bellows in response. Everyone is staring now. "And who is the challenger?" 15[01:38] Piu can almost feel the cue like a physical weight. [01:40] 4She steps up onto the bar lightly, legs long enough that she almost doesn't have to hop. "My name is V'neef Piu! This arena has seen me before, cheering on Tepet Zhangyu and Mil Montañas in their early victories. But I am so much more than what I seem! I am the champion of the most recent Five-Day Fight! I am the greatest brawler produced by House V'neef, and the South of the Realm, [01:40] and by the entire Pole of Fire!" 4Nice rhyme! "I challenge you to a standard match, with standard conditions, under exhibition rules!" 4She grins meanly. "I'll let you keep your belt, Ace!" [01:41] 4Time to fight the coolest guy in the entire Hinokuni!!!! And fangirl out the entire time!!!!!! 15[01:48] Bruiser folds his arms, and his smile burns bright and clean. "V'Neef Piu!! A true hero of the Dynasty! Your exploits are known far and wide among our sweet scientists, and you bring honor to the Hinokuni with your presence!" 15[01:49] Then the volume drops, and his expression takes on a terrible coldness. There's something inhuman in the man's gaze, something ancient and implacable. 15[01:49] "But know this:" 15[01:52] "On the field of honor, every man and woman carries the seeds of heroism. For it is not the purity of one's blood and marks a hero..." He throws his arms wide, and his voice rolls like thunder. His spirit ignites, pulsing red and gold, as his brow burns with the mark of the rising sun. 15[01:52] "IT IS THE STRENGTH OF THE HEART THAT PUMPS IT!" 15[01:52] "FACE ME IN BATTLE, HERO OF CALIBRATION! BUT BRING EVERY FIBER OF YOUR WIT AND WILL TO BEAR!" 15[01:53] "For your crowns... and your gods... will not save you." 15[01:53] NEXT TIME: Battle 14[05:38] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[08:58] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[09:38] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:22] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:37] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[18:08] * Joins: Zarick 14[18:17] * Joins: tom 14[21:11] * Joins: hrolfy 14[22:17] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:17] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[23:42] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Fri May 08 00:00:00 2020 14[01:26] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:42] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[02:59] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:37] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[08:53] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[10:08] * Joins: tom 14[11:26] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:27] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:09] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:09] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[15:10] * Joins: Quaker 14[16:00] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:28] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[17:29] * Joins: Zarick 14[17:30] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:30] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[17:42] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:42] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[17:48] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[18:01] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:20] * Joins: tom 14[21:00] * Joins: mattbaby 14[21:06] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[21:10] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:10] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 . [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 .|. [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 ||| [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 ||| [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 ||| [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 ||| [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 j_I [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 .)_(. [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 |===| [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 /___\ [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 //___\\ [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 /=======\ [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12 / .-"""-. \ [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12|__| |__| [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Nexus - the city that doesn't smell as bad as you'd think! [21:17] 13Try smelling it with cat senses. [21:17] 4You have no idea what I'd think. [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12It's been a socially productive gala, especially for Ying, though any who cared to pay attention could already see Typhon gnawing at the edges of any attempts made to denigrate the use of undead labor. Still, that's not really your problem right now. The only thing that really remains to weigh on your attentions is a certain nightly catastrophe, one that one might argue very convincingly [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12is Tatsuya's own fault. Or, perhaps, two Tatsuyas' fault - it was a weird night. [21:19] 6It really was, and if you think about it it was really the other Tatsuya's fault. 13Mhm. 6Shut up. 13No. [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Here's a refresher: the Tomb of Candle-Eyed Skulls, a low, sinister dome that necrotizes the flesh of any who dare approach during the day and incinerates them with ocular flamethrowers at night, turns out to be much bigger below ground level than it looks from the surrounding city streets. It's where the petrified Panther was being stored, among other things; indeed, it seems to [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12have been in use by the Council of Nexus as a general redoubt and storage vault for all sorts of unmentionables, which is why Tatsuya cased and infiltrated the place. [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12There he met someone who looked just like him, and he and his doppelganger made a deal - you scratch my back, I scratch yours. Tatsuya helped Tatsuya steal a massive, ancient daiklave; in exchange, Tatsuya helped Tatsuya steal the gigantic, awe-inspiring statue that Panther had become in response to the Emissary's flesh-twisting magic. [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12The result is that the Tomb went ballistic; the hungry ghost of some ancient Anathematic warlord, swollen with the essence of thousands of years and augmented by the sorcerous power of the Tomb itself, would erupt in a fury from the Tomb night by night, laying waste to the surrounding city. The Emissary could keep it at bay, but it was somewhere between a serious strain and a terrible [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12bother, which is why it's fortunate (?) that Thorns was able to offer its expertise to build a massive tower right above the Tomb, one which would capture and safely vent the energy of the ghost every evening. [21:24] 4What an eyesore, though. [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya's gotten down there before, but it's not easy. It takes, in the first place, the ability to breathe underwater or at least hold one's breath for hours; then the ability to navigate an absolutely treacherous and trap-laden climb; then more conventional but finely-honed skills of stealth and infiltration, as one must deal with patrols of human guards and sorcerous automata, as [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12well as strange growths of red crystal that crackle with deadly energy and strongly resemble the gems that top the Emissary's trademark staff. [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12He's had days, now, to case the place, and may well have gone down there already. The question is, was he able to get to where he's trying to go, and what did he do when he got there? 14[21:26] * Joins: Quaker [21:28] 6Well, the first thing is: as I recall, there was some sort of way to placate the ghost. I don't actually remember what that way was, because it was from the last time we left Nexus and Tatsuya just sort of let the awful hell ghost rampage for a while. [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Placating the ghost would be easy: get the daiklave back and replace it. Of course, you only have guesses as to where that is, albeit pretty good ones. [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12The good news is that thanks to a combination of studying ancient schematics in Mahalanka and unlocking his own Essence and therefore a more powerful bead on his own preincarnations' memories, Tatsuya doesn't need it. He literally remembers doing penetration testing on the Tomb of Candle-Eyed Skulls; he knows how to disable or even sabotage it. [21:31] 4Ir's around to help Tatsuya out if he needs it. Sun knows she doesn't want to hit up anymore galas. [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12If he can get into the geomantic heart of the First Age Manse that powers the Tomb, he's pretty sure he could work all sorts of mischief, starting from simply disabling the power that allows the ghost to blaze to its full power every night and working up from there. [21:33] 6Hey, can Ir do an extremely basic retrieval mission? Because Tatsuya sort of left his way in... after he got in. Big suit, airtight, can't miss it once you actually get there, but it is past a lot of water that Tatsuya would probably drown in. [21:33] 6...Or maybe it's just busted. Shoot. [21:34] 4It can be fixed. Plus it'd be cool to have around. [21:36] 6Tatsuya would prefer not to ask Ying, but if it can't be retrieved and fixed, well. She can get him in. [21:41] 4Ir doesn't need a clunky metal suit to breathe underwater, of course; the power of the Unconquered Sun simply permits her to hold her breath more or less indefinitely as she swims under, around, and through the twisty-turny and occasionally claustrophobia-inducing path necessary to reach the lower, back entry into the tomb. Once there, she takes five, then grabs the suit and drags [21:41] 4it back the way she came, swimming with one arm around it like it's people. [21:44] 6It does need some work to restore it to functionality, 13but luckily Ying has time and her only fee is that she gets to call Tatsuya "little brother" without him complaining for a week. [21:44] 13And she is very, very thorough with her work. [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12This thing was pretty cleverly designed - and looks much prettier now! [21:46] 13There's li'l whiskers on the helmet now! Don't tell Tatsuya. [21:46] 4I mean. He'll be able to see them. [21:46] 13How long did it take him to notice he had cat ears? [21:47] 4Point bafflingly taken. [21:52] 6Tatsuya's excellent, and he's done this before, so it's unsurprising he can just retrace his steps from his first infiltration. The suit works as advertised, is located in an easily retrievable spot - he intends to take it with him, this time - and he continues onwards from there. [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya heads in. Interminable hours of plodding underwater later, and he's actually below the Tomb, at the base of a great tower of waterfalls and natural bridges. Far above him is what might be the night sky, but is actually a great panorama of distant, candle-eyed skulls. Another few hours of grueling climbing and careful apprehension and evasion of handholds and footrests that [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12would trigger sorcerous reprisal later, and he's in. [22:02] 6Even after all this time, it's still very hard to resist whispering "I'm in."6 to himself. [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12It's perhaps an hour later of dodging guards, stepping over tripwires of flailing ruby lightning, and crawling through essence vents (at the carefully-chosen times in which they are not actually venting essence) that Tatsuya finds himself before a huge, glowing, multi-layered door. It's basically incomprehensible at first glance, but intuition kicks in quickly, and the good news is [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12that the airlock structure of the passageway to the Tomb-Manse's heart means that he's only in a rush when passing through the first gateway; as portals and essence screens close menacingly behind him, he's free to work on the next layer, and the next, and the next without worrying about being spotted by a patrol in the middle of his efforts. [22:04] 6Man, if someone who wasn't Tatsuya or "Tatsuya" tried to break in here they would be dead. Should probably figure out who that guy was. [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Finally, the last door opens before him. He sees a great, spherical chamber, studded with the skulls of fantasticl beasts, smoothly sculpted curves of silver, obsidian, and soulsteel, and growths of crackly red crystal lodged and woven in between the First Age architecture. At the center of the room is a sphere of floating candle-flame about as tall as a grown man. The air around it [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12ripples with barely-visible power and long, pale threads of plasma stretching both up into the ceiling and down into the floor. It's partially obscured, though, by a figure in a black cloak, facing away from you and studying the floating Essence. [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Uh oh. [22:12] 6Tatsuya freezes, and then he remembers he is the best thief in all of Creation. 13Do NOT fuck this up for me. 6I won't! [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12The crimson-studded awareness of the Emissary descends on Tatsuya like a rapidly-contracting net of briars... but Tatsuya wriggles free, unscratched. He's in-in, and can remain comfortably beneath the level of the Emissary's notice. [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Okay. All right. Let's see here. Skull-based interface. How did this work again...? [22:15] 6Who even designs things out of skulls anyway. Total weirdos, that's who. 14[22:19] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12As Tatsuya considers the artfully-woven geomancy arrayed before him in all its skeletal glory, something delightfully devilish occurs to him. [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12And all he's got to do is depress, shift, and rotate a few different skulls through exactly enough radians... funnily enough, Bells has done half the work for him already. It's just a matter of choosing which energy goes where. [22:40] 6Hee hee! Oh, hee hee hee! [22:41] 6Also, Ying - didn't fuck it up for you. You're welcome. 13Thank you, li'l bro. [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Then it's just a matter of slipping out, of retracing one's steps, of swearing and quickly muttering a now-sure-to-be-replaced ancient password at an essence cannon that was about to take Tatsuya's face off, and then of an easier climb but an equally-arduous half-swim half-spacewalk. [22:42] 6She put whiskers on the goddamn suit!! [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12WHEW! And that's that. Tatsuya's finally made good. Probably wants to let his Circlemates know that leaving Nexus sooner is better than later. [22:43] 6Honestly, though, it's hard to stay angry about that because YES - we're getting the hells out of here. Where are y'all staying? [22:43] 4Thank the Sun. [22:44] 13It's not... that... okay it is that bad. [22:44] 4Ir's on the Heavensward. If she heads back to the inn she's gonna be guilted into running dinner service. [22:46] 6Tatsuya will launch himself over the railing, roll to a comfortable position, and sprawl on the deck for a moment before heading off to find the rest of the Circle. Golly. He did it. 14[22:48] * Joins: mattbaby [22:48] 6He's a bit laden-down with the suit - cleverly packed away so that passerby wouldn't have noticed it, or wouldn't have thought anything of it if they did - but eventually: "Okay! We can go, now. Problem's solved." [22:49] 4Ir: "AH!! Tatsuya. Don't sneak up on me. Want some sashimi?" [22:49] "Or, redirected. Sun I can't wait to hear about that part." [22:49] "Also, what?" [22:50] "Yes! I mean. Yes, please." 6He clears his throat. "The Tomb will no longer be sending a giant to rampage through Nexus every night, nor will Thorns be benefitting from it." [22:50] 6Tatsuya: "Like I said. I redirected it." [22:50] 7Blossom is sitting nearby munching on sashimi, with a little bit put off to the side for Ying. (If you don't save some fish for Ying, she wakes you up by kneading your face.) [22:50] "Good work!" [22:50] "Thorns is gonna have a good time with that." [22:51] "...Are they gonna know it was us?" [22:51] "Which, uh, is also why we should have a plausibly deniable distance from Nexus when that starts happening." [22:51] "Not that I'd MIND, particularly, but it would kind of be a declaration of war." [22:51] "Oh, nice." [22:52] 6Tatsuya: "It was hard to measure because it was mostly designed with skulls but I'm like 99% sure I set it for about a week from now." [22:52] "You would not BELIEVE the bullshit in that tomb." [22:52] 7Blossom: "Psh. Being children of the Sun is a declaration of war, and the Mask of Winters knows it." [22:52] "You didn't run into you again, did you?" [22:54] 6He frowns. "No. And I still don't know who that was, and it's gonna be a while before I can investigate, probably. I did run into someone, but he never noticed me." [22:54] "Ying's boyfriend is fairly unobservant." [22:56] "Given how insanely powerful he is, and how insanely you weren't allowed to be there, that's good." [22:56] 6It was close. "Too easy." [23:00] 6As he continues to eat sashimi - he's been eating this whole time, by the way, which is rude - he sighs. "Sun that was exhausting. Is this what it was like at the gala?" [23:00] "No, that was just a boring party." [23:00] "With Typhon." [23:00] 4She's scowling. [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Filling the gala with a confounding array of essence-powered First Age deathtraps, as a bit. [23:01] 6Yeah, social interaction is rough. [23:02] 6Tatsuya: "Bummer that we can't see the look on his face when he finds out." [23:06] 7Blossom, consolingly: "We all have to make sacrifices in these difficult times. But yes we should definitely leave before your little gift goes off." [23:06] 4Ir: "Probably not worth it. But only probably." [23:08] 6Tatsuya slumps in his chair. "Sun, I can't believe I pulled it off. I keep remembering and -- golly." [23:09] "It's really cool! Or it will be, in a week's time." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12There are going to be a whole lot of mid to high tier merchants who are going to be really annoyed when the fiery skywriting contracts they bought for weeks or months into the future become impossible to deliver on. Should create a lot of work for local lawyers. [23:12] 13Does that affect the Rainbow Connection? [23:13] 13She... couldn't have warned anyone without giving the game away, but also the shop might not have needed the advertisement. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Probably not, unless Ying advised her employees to get one, which, why would she? [23:14] 13Yeah, no, the clothes advertise themselves. [23:14] 13Or are advertised at galas by extremely attractive and cool people. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Buying one, even a short one, might actually make for an even stronger alibi, but maybe that's getting too far into paranoia. [23:16] 13It's probably more suspicious to buy one right before they become Decidedly Unavailable. Speaking of paranoia. [23:16] 7Actually, people who are in theory against the existence of the necrotower buying advertising on it shortly before it collapses is more evidence of manufacturing an alibi than an alibi itself. Hero Magistrate would dismantle such a feeble deception with a flick of his sleeve. [23:16] 13What she said. [23:17] 4I mean let's be serious: even if it wasn't us, everyone would think it was us. [23:18] 4We are Thorns's greatest public enemies and we did spend the last week making sure everyone knew it. 08[23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Maybe you're right. Either way, the Hedgehog awaits, if only because that's where the Heavensward is moored. You just need to bug Eikichi to whip up the Stormwind Rider for you and it'll be a scant few days before you're back. [23:18] 4So in a way, Tatsuya actually being the one to do it extracts the highest value, in Nexus parlance. [23:19] 6He was clearly out of Nexus at the time. No public appearances. [23:19] 4Getting Kichi to summon the rider is as simple as paying the treat tax. Ir will entice her with fried foods. 15[23:24] 10On the way back up, Eikichi says, somewhat dazed: "Soooooooo how'd it go??" [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12You return to a commune bustling with activity. The worshipers are making full use of both the sunken drydock/general extension you've carved into the mountains adjacent to their central hub, and of the Earth-Shaping Stone you've left them; as your whirlwind gets close enough to allow you to make out fine visual details, you see dozens of worshipers working on the stone connecting [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12sphere to drydodk, using their bare hands to sculpt stairways, ladders, alcoves, dwellings... this thing's gonna go far. [23:25] 6Tatsuya: "Fucking incredibly." 08[23:25] 4Ir: "Eikichi! Tendies, battered in beer!" [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12In the drydock itself, several craft following the lines of your prototype are taking shape, though they won't be done for days yet. [23:25] "I've never liked that word." [23:25] "I'll tell you about it on the way." 6And he describes the events, once they're out of the city limits. 15[23:25] 10Eikichi's eyes go wide. "But would a tendie by any other name taste as sweet?" [23:26] "I mean. Probably." [23:27] "But tendies shouldn't taste sweet, if they do you messed something up--" 15[23:29] 10Eikichi: "That's true... perhaps a sweet dipping sauce? Something sweet and spicy? The Hedgehog has some lovely honey..." [23:33] "Hmmm. We could work with that, yeah." [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12You're welcomed back with cheers and celebration, of course. The first order of business is to make sure that the catamarans under construction pass your muster- [23:36] 13Catamarans?!?!?! [23:39] 7Blossom: "Mmmm... clover honey with breaded chicken fingers... such decadence!" [23:41] 13No wait tell me more about the catamarans [23:41] 4Oh, we decided that was the best design to build the Hedgehog's new navy in. Small, nimble raiders that can still support a boarding party. [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12-they do! Well, except for the one on the end there, faint gradations in the feathersteel suggest uneven heating that might cause brittleness in action. Better recast those railings. [23:42] 13What about the cat part though [23:43] 7Blossom marches up to the boats-in-progress, praises what is praiseworthy, and then directs the workers to redo the poor feathersteel. "Ying, I keep telling you, there are no actual cats involved." [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Assuming you let the worshipers know rather than allow them to learn through hard-won experience, there's a scurry of additional activity to begin to rectify the metalworking mistake. Otherwise, the people are in high spirits, with lots of plans for building up both the shipyard and the entire length of the canal. Unfortunately, food stores are still low, and when you factor in the [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12time it'll take to finish and test the first vessels of the new fleet, then the time it'll take to actually deploy them and (hopefully) win, and the time it'll take to start actually start bringing in substantial payloads of fish... well, it'd suck even more to be elderly and infirm than usual, at the very least. [23:45] 13Ying pouts, but actually that's probably for the best. [23:45] 13I mean, cats and water. [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12It won't doom the commune to let it work through this itself, but actually figuring out some sort of actual trading deal with either the Guild or the Haslanti, or, I don't know, hunting down and slaying some lesser, edible behemoth, might help. 15[23:46] 10Eikichi: "Big ships keep cats sometimes, as mousers. But these are so small..." [23:46] 4Someone can probably get the Guild to the bargaining table, but it's not Ir. Hunting megafauna, however...that's more her style. [23:47] 6Tatsuya could, probably. 13But whether we want them involved is another question. [23:47] 7Blossom can take charge of negotiations with the Guild. [23:49] 13The Haslanti fall to Ying, then? I mean, we could use the help here. [23:49] 7Blossom: "You and Ir could hunt down something large and edible, unless you want to try working with the Haslanti. Hunting's easier with two." [23:49] 4Ir will prep the Heavensward. [23:50] 13A fang prods at Ying's lower lip. "Well..." [23:52] 13Up to Ir, really. Ying just wants to help. [23:54] 4I mean, we probably should make nice with the Haslanti. But selfishly speaking, Ir would rather have Ying along hunting than do it alone. [23:54] 13With Ir it is! Hunting pals!! [23:55] 13The Haslanti can wait, because hunting pals!! [23:55] 4Hell yeah. [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12The Hedgehog's pretty big, and used to play host to a pair of antipodal Wyld zones. There's probably big game out there if you're looking for it. Session Time: Sat May 09 00:00:00 2020 [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Otherwise, the Haslanti are based in Icehome to the northeast. They're, you know, effectively a sovereign nation comprising many city-states, so if you wanted to establish formal relations between them and your cult somehow you'd probably want to make an official Visit of things. The Guild's a bit less formal; they have storehouses and trading posts peppered across the Threshold, [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12the nearest also being to the east-northeast, along the wide road from Icehome to Rubylak. [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12A Guild office is less than a day away by ship, hours by whirlwind; it's between double and triple that to visit Icehome proper. [00:07] 13It shouldn't be a surprise that Ir is so good at this but everytime she picks up a trail or spots something before Ying does is still kind of amazing to her. Ying's not exactly a slouch herself, but golly! [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12There's deer and thing around, but you're looking for something more substantial. Between Ir's experience and Ying's instincts, the two hunters are quick to find a trail, one that winds lower and lower into the bowels of the Hedgehog, where strange fae-touched monsters yet dwell and menace explorers. You're forced to drive off or put down more than a few spike-covered warthogs or [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12acid-spitting serpents before, delving down into a deep, gemstone-studded cave system, you find yourselves before a great, dark hole that's somehow been bored into the solid rock. [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12As you watch, a thin, slimy tendril extends itself from the darkness, winding this way and that, picking up your scents on the wind. It withdraws with whipcrack speed, and then something huge comes rearing at you out of the shadows! [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mana/images/d/d3/Jewel_Eater.gif/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/340?cb=20180420224425 [00:14] 13Hey: That's gross and bad! 15[00:14] 10Eikichi's much happier to be out and among the people of the Hedgehog than she is in Nexus. Though they gather around her in worshipful throngs, but in the deeper corners of their hearts and at the peripheries of the crowds there are deep veins of doubt and suspicion. If their roles were reversed, Eikichi suspects she'd be among them. Who's to say about the virtue or justice of this 15[00:14] 10way of living when it's supported and enforced by such raw divinity? [00:14] 4Whoa. Wonder what THAT tastes like. Let's find out! [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Not as gross as you thought. Rather than some sort of hideous annelid, it's just an improbably enormous mole/anteater creature, one that comes at you with massive, shove-like claws! [00:15] 13Anything with a weirdly long tongue is better dead than alive, like this thing, or Gene Simmons. 15[00:16] 10Obviously we, who flesh our will in the good earth, can take whole nations up in our arms... but what about when we're gone? The faith won't take root if their faces are turned expectantly towards the sun. They must be able to see these virtues in themselves, and in one another. 15[00:17] 10There are still a few days until the alignments of essence are right for the ritual. While Eikichi stays out among the people by day, by night she's up working. 15[00:23] 10When the people of the Hedgehog arise one morning, they find her at the geometric center of the valley, a large green park beneath a huddle of crystal spires. Eikichi is on her knees, playing softly on a jade six-string. The waves of power coursing through the valley are palpable, brushing gently across the grass and through the leaves. Around her, already, brilliant flowers bloom 15[00:23] 10and blossom. [00:24] 4Jude's Law explodes into an orb in Ir's hand, but when it strikes it coalesces into a single point rather than the mist of razors she usually commands -- can't be ruining all the meat! [00:26] 7Blossom's taking the Heavensward ENE to the nearest Guild office, and demanding to see whoever among them has the authority to open up trade to the Hedgehog. [00:26] 13Ying cartwheels towards the creature and aims her feet such that she'll stomp directly on its head, but has to settle for a lame swipe as she spins back up to her feet... but maybe she distracted it enough for Ir?? [00:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Before long, Blossom's vessel comes to a stop near a large trading outpost, one built of stone and timber and with high enough walls that it could practically be a military fort. People will get nervous and start producing crossbows (! those are pretty rare) if the Heavensward just stops directly over the outpost and especially if Blossom elects to just rappel straight down; it'd [00:28] <@Ferrinus> 12be more polite to descend well away from the front door and approach on foot or emas bird. [00:28] 4Ir scores a direct hit, almost a clean kill...but this thing's still thrashing around even as the spear pierces its eye! [00:29] 13A cleaner hit from Ying would've settled it!! Augh! 15[00:29] 10While she plays and the power works through her, the people will see Blossom hurrying from the shipyard to the negotiating table, or see Ir and Ying girded for battle to feed them. And the song is about them, the music following them and drawing them back as the sun rises, sets, and rises again. But it's about everyone, too. Whatever their strength, their passions are mortal, and 15[00:29] 10so too are their virtues. Be strong. Be watchful. Have faith. [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12It's huge and fast, which is nothing you haven't dealt with before, but the close quarters are serious trouble - especially the way that each of the monster's blows sends little avalanches of rocks and stalactites down upon you! Fortunately, the two of you have only got about a single close call apiece and not so much as a visible bruise to show off by the time the jewel eater breathes [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12its last, though you have worked up a sweat. [00:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Now for the really hard part: bringing it back. Might have to rig up a kind of sled to drag it on. 15[00:30] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8ehb8ia5xg "I've seen her fight the fiercest foe until its forces divide, 'cause she's the fairest of them all and she chooses the good side. So when the tempters tease and try to make her unsure, I know the fires of war are burning -- reaching higher --" 15[00:30] "I know the fires of war are burning, but her weapons are pure." 15[00:34] 10Over hours the green of the valley deepens, spreading yalm by yalm from the center out to the sheer, bismuth cliffs and the terraced fields in their shadow. The crops stand taller and the waters run sweeter. The good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. [00:35] 13Hmm. No. Ying can hoist the dang thing without any help. [00:36] 7Blossom doesn't like leaving the Heavensward just, like, floating in the air like that, so she's gonna land a bit away from the outpost and head in on Ami. [00:36] 4Well Ir's not gonna just WATCH. Especially since Blossom has the ship. [00:37] 4...Well, alright. She's got it. Ir will run back and prep a place to butcher it. 08[00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12In the short term, Eikichi's ritual is actually bad for productivity, because the people are wont to sit and stare. Some sing along; some tear up or turn away, seemingly unable to bear the song for more than a few minutes. Either way, the tableau of an almost impossible crystalline beauty weaving a paradise within a paradise is unforgettable, and days and weeks later Eikichi's tune [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12carries itself across and down the mountains on the lips of the faithful. [00:39] <@Ferrinus> 12One woman on a horsebird receives fairly nonplussed looks from the guards at the door. Reception suggests that people aren't supposed to just go waltzing in here; there are market stalls and caravanserai dotted around outside the walls, but the fort itself must represent some kind of internal warehouse and logistical hub that isn't for simply doing business with random passers-by. [00:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Still, the even stare Blossom's treated to becomes a double-take almost immediately. "You're...! ...do, do you have business here? I wasn't told." [00:45] 7Blossom: "I came without notice. You'll have to forgive me. I want to negotiate to open trade with the Hedgehog settlements." [00:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Guards: "I'll, uh, I'll pass that up the chain-" 12Blossom doesn't have to wait too long before she's escorted inside and invited to take a seat before an old, tattooed southerner who's probably got at least a mildly interesting story for how he got posted this far north. "The Hedgehog, I'm told? Are you aware that we have had negotiations with them already?" [00:49] <@Ferrinus> 12It's sort of absurd that Ying's able to hoist and drag the dead jewel eater all the way back up to the Hedgehog commune. It helps that she and Ir focused the actual damage on the creature's face, such that its incredibly thick fur and tough, leathery hide remain to keep its body intact; that means that as long as you move fast, which you do, you don't have to worry about the body [00:49] <@Ferrinus> 12simply coming to pieces as you manhandle up across the mountains. Ir does end up having to fend off a few oversized carrior birds, but it's all in a day's work. [00:50] <@Ferrinus> 12carrion* [00:51] 13She is very strong and fast. Also, cats are very good at delivering corpses of animals as gifts. 08[00:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's song and ritual are just coming to a close as the bloodied head and huge claws of the gigantic mole pop up over the rim of the inner commune. There are a few gasps and the beginnings of screams before the entire corpse is hoisted a little bit higher to reveal Ying's distinctive and brightly-colored figure. Then shouts turn to cheers, and worshipers dash off to help receive [00:51] <@Ferrinus> 12and begin to butcher the monster. [00:52] 7Blossom nods. "Yes, and that they've stalled out. They want to keep you at arm's length, you'd prefer to wait until their situation deteriorates to the point where they have no choice to accept a more traditional mercantile arrangement. I'm not sitting in judgment-" 7Not openly. For now. "Business is business. But conditions have changed, and I'm here to offer you the opportunity [00:52] to reassess." 08[00:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Few are bold enough to actually approach Eikichi after she works her miracle, but the priestess/sorceress Eluia is among them. She's intent. "What did you do? I could feel the magic." [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12The Guildsman, who's incidentally called Therak, flexes ring-bedecked fingers. "Changed how?" [00:57] 7Blossom counts on her fingers: "We've carved a straight tunnel from the crystal valley to the shore, and helped them build a navy to break the fishing blockade. Our scholar and sorceress is enchanting their lands to improve crop yield. Icehome will agree to normalize relations." [00:57] "Their money is on the table now. Are you willing to pick it up?" [00:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Therak strokes his beard. "Will? My understanding is that the League has its own issues with the Hedgehog - with your Hedgehog." [01:03] 7Blossom waves it away. "We can overcome that." 15[01:03] 10Eikichi leans back on her hands, legs splayed out across the green. "Tell me what you felt." [01:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Therak interlaces his fingers. "Perhaps and perhaps not. There is more to the League than the immediate commercial needs of Icehome, and you certainly understand that your commune's internal economy is not one that will benefit trade long-term. If we were to shift our policy on the mere intimation that they might shift theirs...If I were to..." 08[01:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Eluia crouches nearby Eikichi - perches nearby, really, settling comfortably on taloned feet. "It's the birds. They don't just like your singing - they were following you long before you started and I could see them sort of outline... something." 12She casts her hand out, generally encapsulating the rim of the central commune in her gesture. "Lines going this way and that..." 14[01:10] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 15[01:13] 10Eikichi: "The world is criss-crossed with lines of power, flows of essence that carry life to and fro like veins. With a small, but very delicate and subtle application of force, we can open up these flows. We can irrigate the land with power, nourish it. It wants to grow." 15[01:13] "We call this the Benediction of Archigenesis." [01:18] 7Blossom nods, as if she expected this. "Of course, if I were to bring proof that the League was ready to re-establish trade in concert with you, that would change things...?" [01:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Therak: "Certainly. There would be some slight delay as I conferred with those above me in the chain of command, of course. But Icehome as exclusive trading partner? It wouldn't do." [01:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Eluia: "Can you teach me?" 15[01:27] 10Eikichi: "I can teach you to use slow and subtle magic to enrich the earth, guide the crops, sweeten the springs... to make the desert bloom in a day is at the very limits of my ability. Even *I* don't fully understand how I do it." [01:28] 7Blossom: "That's acceptable. You'll be here when I return?" [01:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Therak appears to be stifling a sigh here. "Almost certainly." [01:30] 7Hmm. Stifled ambition. Perhaps this is the man we should go to when we need to arrange things for Zeal. [01:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Eluia: "Oh. ...oh. My talent's mostly to do with, well, the winds. But I'll listen to whatever you can pass along!" [01:35] <@Ferrinus> 12At any rate, Blossom's laid the foundation for a broader expansion of regional trade. She'll just have to figure out how an ichneumon got in Icehome's bonnet. 15[01:35] 10Eikichi drifts to her feet and strides away, beckoning Eluia. "Come, then! And write this down... my knowledge is about to become *your* knowledge, and the time will come when you wish to pass it along as well." [01:37] <@Ferrinus> 12In Eluia's look of wide-eyed wonder there's just a hint of the primal dragon's mad stare. It's nothing to worry about, you're sure. 15[01:37] 10We don't spun the dragon. We ride it! 14[01:37] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[01:37] 10*spurn 08[01:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Between Eikichi's miracle-working, Blossom's diplomacy, and Ir and Ying's hard labor, the luck of the Hedgehog commune has now turned at least halfway around. The Squared Circle tries to bring it all home... next week. 14[03:52] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[10:36] * Joins: tom 14[14:47] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:42] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[15:57] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:12] * Quits: Quaker (Connection closed) 14[17:44] * Joins: Quaker 14[20:19] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[20:50] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:33] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:54] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) Session Time: Sun May 10 00:00:00 2020 14[00:20] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[03:46] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[08:29] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:52] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:33] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. 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His spirit ignites, pulsing red and gold, as his brow burns with the mark of the rising sun. 15[20:07] "BUT THE STRENGTH OF THE HEART THAT PUMPS IT!" 15[20:07] "FACE ME IN BATTLE, HERO OF CALIBRATION! BUT BRING EVERY FIBER OF YOUR WIT AND WILL TO BEAR!" 15[20:07] "For your crowns... and your gods... will not save you." [20:09] 4Piu grins into the light of the Sun, 14and under the surface she's very glad she made sure this wasn't to the death. 14[20:09] * Joins: Quaker 15[20:10] The dawn-light washes over a room holding its collective breath. It spills up and out, shining through the cracks in the doors and windows. Daizo, trudging up the road to Hinokuni, now that seemingly everyone has gone there (how did he react when Caxi announced she was taking Seiri and Salim for a day out?) has the immediate impression that a terrible fire has been lit within. [20:11] 10After a thorough examination of Carmine Road's vessel, Daizo wandered out of the corner of a dockside storehouse he'd claimed as a workspace and found a note tacked to the door: "Gone to Hinokuni. Meet us there when cram school's over. —C" 14[20:13] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [20:14] 10Asking around, the identity of "C" was uncovered in short order, and the guests she'd taken with her… "Why didn't anyone TELL me?!" 10Then he remembers: he'd gone around making everyone promise not to disturb him. [20:15] 10So it is written: Getting what you ask for is not the same as getting what you need. 14[20:16] * Quits: Quaker (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [20:17] 10And when that fiery light makes itself shown, Daizo breaks into a sprint. 14[20:20] * Joins: mattbaby [20:20] 10As has happened several times recently, he feels an urge to spread his—the wings— and leap. 10 This isn't me. 14[20:20] * Joins: mattbaby_ 15[20:23] It takes a moment for his eyes to adjust, but the searing presence of the revealed Anathema Bruiser Khang throws its light on everyone. He sees Piu standing defiant, with the rest of the hearth, as well as Caxi, Ted, and Son-of-Sabers around her. Sweeping the room he also sees Seiri and Salim backed into a corner booth. Seiri's paralyzed with terror; Salim's eyes could scarcely be 15[20:23] narrower. 14[20:24] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:30] 14Fascinating and terrible creatures, the Khangs of the world. If she was betting, her money would be on him. But she's got a shot. 14[20:31] * Joins: Quaker [20:34] 10Time freezes as Daizo takes in the whole scene, attempting to analyze it rationally. In a heartbeat, it's imprinted in his mind. But there's one element that doesn't fit. That can't fit. That defies all reason and logic. He doesn't even feel his own anima flare in return. The Solar Anathema is… in total control of this situation. 10Is this what drives men to steal the power of the Sun? [20:35] 6It suddenly strikes Zhangyu that if he and Bruiser Khang were to go all out, Zhangyu would lose. It's - not something he's put much thought into before, but now... damn. [20:35] 10How did we ever win against them? [20:36] 07The normally-cool and collected Dryas is on her back heels, her eyes wide at the sight of what must be a Solar Anathema. Piu's gonna fight one of those?! Where are the exits?? [20:37] 10Nervelessly, he walks over to Seiri's booth and pulls up a seat.  14[20:39] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[20:41] What's Daizo doing about the wing situation? [20:44] 4Piu, not-quite-roaring into the light show, but defiantly unbowed: "As always, House V'Neef will save itself!!" [20:47] 07Dryas, who has wiggled herself behind Zhangyu, cheers her Hearth-Sister from a distance she judges to be safe. 15[20:48] When Khang grins, his huge white teeth seem to burn white-hot with his anima's fire. "Good... good! I'll see you in the ring!!" Then he puts his stiff white hat back on and ducks into the kitchen. [20:48] 10Daizo's located a 10very10 discreet tailor over the course of the day and requested a couple of concealing cloaks in addition to a few sets of specially made garments. The latter, he's been assured, can make it appear as if he's just acquired a taste for particularly avant-garde fashion. The cloaks were ready the same day, and although it's awkward to go around looking like a sneakthief, in silhouette he just looks [20:48] 10 very… wide. 15[20:55] Seiri practically cowers behind Daizo. "We've got to tell the Commodore! We've got to tell the Governor!" [20:56] 14Ratel won't care; Kou almost certainly already knows. But she's Daizo's responsibility. 15[20:58] The kitchen still burns red with Khang's anima for several minutes, but the oxygen seems to flow back into the hall all the same. 15[20:58] The room is abuzz. Everyone is talking about today's surprise headline bout, and the mysterious and beautiful V'Neef Piu. [20:59] 10Daizo works through the implications in his head. They aren't pretty. "The Governor must already know. That man, Chases-Waterfalls… how many other prisoners like him came from the ranks of the Hinokuni?" [20:59] "They would have tried to trade information, make a deal…" [20:59] 4Is...the Sublime Master Thief in the room? [21:00] "If the Governor hasn't acted to shut down the Hinokuni for…" 10Daizo lowers his voice even further, "harboring Anathema, it's because she doesn't think she can win." 15[21:01] He's digging into a huge mound of barbecued sweet pork with a couple of other fighters - Kuga Rahn and the twins Doremi and Mirido. 15[21:01] Seiri, equally hushed: "What's the point of having a Governor then??" [21:01] 6Zhangyu does not breathe a sigh of relief, but it's a near thing. Are Zhangyu's opponents for the evening here? 15[21:02] Salim snorts into his tea. [21:02] 07Dryas, resolutely: "This isn't the place for this discussion." [21:02] 10A side-eye to Salim. "I'm starting to think there may noi be one for much longer." [21:03] "It could be months before a proper Wyld Hunt arrives. If it ever does." 15[21:04] Seiri takes several deep breaths, practically hyperventilating the steam from her tea, but she doesn't speak again. [21:04] 4Piu will evaluate him not-quite-surreptitiously -- was the Master Thief keeping an eye on the goings-on, or studiously ignoring them? [21:05] 4...Also wait. Did Khang cook him that meal?? 15[21:05] One assumes. 15[21:05] He's been watching. If Piu makes eye contact she gets a big thumbs up from the man, cheeks bulging with pork. [21:05] 4sugoi 15[21:09] Zhangyu sees El is still standing around, drinking. She blinks a bit when Bruiser leaves the room, like she'd just been staring at a bright light too long, which she had. 15[21:09] It's not yet clear who'll be fighting alongside her, against Caxi. [21:10] 4She'll march over to the Sublime Master Thief's table, point at his pork dish and loudly exclaim: "Sublime Master Thief! Tell me the quality of this kitchen's pork!" [21:10] 4Unless there are objections, smash cut to her sitting next to him, scarfing down an identical dish. [21:10] 10Daizo: "But, Seiri, look at it this way. We should count our blessings that the only thing Bruiser Khang seems to be interested in right now is fighting." [21:11] "If he were trying to take over the island… I think we'd know it." [21:12] 07Dryas takes an instant to collect herself and addresses Seiri directly. "My dear: Khang is, no doubt, strong. But I'm sure a learned woman like yourself needs no explanation that the Realm, and the Princes of Earth, use many artifices and subtle methods to uphold their enlightened rule. What is appropriate here may not be so there. And so it is, doubtlessly, in this instance. Carry yourself with the confidence that you are [21:12] accompanied and protected by many powerful people." [21:13] 10Daizo's grateful look says it all. 15[21:13] Seiri's mouth sets in a hard line. "You're right, of course." [21:14] 07Dryas, pivoting: "How is that dish he prepared, though? I'm rather fascinated. Daizo, you take a bite first." [21:15] 07If it inspires some sort of mutation, then, you know - in for a penny, in for a pound. [21:15] 10Daizo: "Field medics have a term for this kind of thing: 'triage'. You have to prioritize who you can save on the basis of the resources you—eeh?" 15[21:15] Sublime Master Thief doesn't answer with words, but with excited gestures and pointing. [21:17] 10Daizo's traitor stomach takes that moment to rumble.  15[21:18] Salim, mildly: "Anathema are famously excellent cooks." [21:18] 6Well, it's good to know that Zhangyu wasn't the only one affected by the display. He turns back to the rest of the group. "Can't say I've had the pleasure." [21:19] 10Daizo: "I will place myself in the path of danger… for Dryas' sake…" 15[21:19] Ted raises his glass. "A toast to your bravery." [21:19] 10Smash cut to another plate of pork.  15[21:20] Caxi: "I wonder how hard it would be to get a sample of his blood... obviously hair's right out..." [21:21] 10It's… It's fantastic. [21:21] 4Piu, in between bites, mostly polite enough not to speak with her mouth full: "Would you teach me a trick to beat Bruiser Khang, Sublime Master Thief?" 4Gotta play it straight; he's going to want to get his jokes in. [21:21] 4Nothing a professional hates more than an amateur who wants to Riff. 15[21:22] It is! Sweet and succulent and crispy and tender... [21:22] "Pray that Piu get's a clean hit and you might get so much as a tooth," 07Dryas suggests to her cousin. [21:22] 10Bruiser Khang: only interested in fighting and cooking.  15[21:24] Sublime Master Thief pushes his plate back and groans with the exertion. He's deep into meat sweats. "Get your ring girl to break a chair over his back when he's not looking. Throw some ball bearings on the ring. Oh, oh, no, here's what you do -- make a big show of selling him one of your match report scrolls, but when you go to unroll it it's full of fresh pepper and you blow it all 15[21:24] into his face!" [21:26] 4She nods very seriously. "Sadly, this is my first fight! I have no match report scrolls! I can conceal no great amount of grapeshot on my person! I AM the ring girl!" [21:27] 10Between bites himself: "I was told the power of the Sun was too great to be transmitted through the blood. Which is why there are," 10munch, "there are so few like Khang." 15[21:28] SMT lets out a long, low whistle. "Well, shit. Those are my best moves. What's your style?" [21:29] 4She shrugs. "I hit people really hard in the face, sometimes while laughing. Occasionally I do an armbar or a kneelock! Getting the feeling my usual bullshit won't work on the big guy though." 15[21:29] Seiri: "Where does their power come from if not from the blood?" 15[21:31] SMT: "Bruiser's face is still punchable. Like, physically punchable, I mean, not punchable the way my face is punchable. Past that... the thing to remember is that he's very easily distracted. Unless he thinks he's in real danger, he's more focused on keeping the crowd pumped up than he is beating you down. If you'd asked me 20 minutes ago, I'd have suggested letting him underestimate 15[21:31] you, but I don't think that's going to work now." [21:32] 4Piu, very seriously: "Hmmm...working the crowd...I think I have the ass for that." 4She vacuums up the rest of her pork. "Sublime Master Thief! Thank you for the meal!" [21:33] 4She will then stick him with the tab. Past history says he should appreciate the rascally nature of this act, and reciprocate next time! 15[21:33] He does indeed seem to find this very charming. [21:33] 6Nice. 15[21:35] Downstairs, a gong is struck. Fighters to the locker rooms, audience to the stands. Soon, the day's fights will begin. [21:36] 10Daizo: "It's thought to be a form of improper worship. Very improper, violating the boundaries between Heaven and Earth." 10He thinks. "A sorcerer may call on the residents of the Demon Realm because of ancient oaths sworn to the Princes of the Earth; the prospective Anathema performs a soulbinding ritual with Heavenly gods." [21:37] 6Zhangyu's as ready as he'll ever be. 15[21:37] Seiri: "Don't the gods mind?" [21:40] 10Daizo: "That's a good question. But the ways of the mightiest gods are said to be as alien to mankind as a raksha lord's—their spiritual development is simply too great to bridge the gap. It may be that the gods themselves don't fully understand what they're unleashing." [21:40] "Proper worship, thusly, is always conducted through intermediaries." [21:42] "The Sun embodies the principle of perfection; the Moon embodies the principle of formlessness. Each will drive a man mad." 15[21:46] In the locker room, almost everyone gives Zhangyu the space to prepare for his upcoming match. "So, who's your partner?" asks Ted, who is wrapping his forearms in bandages. [21:47] 07Dryas: "Brilliant stuff, Daizo." [21:47] 10It's a shame Daizo got distracted, because he probably could have authored a convincing-looking "match report" for the Five-Day Fight. [21:47] "I had hoped it wouldn't become this relevant. Ahaha." 15[21:48] Seiri: "So it's just a matter of time before that man goes insane..." 15[21:48] Salim: "He may already have." [21:48] 6Zhangyu: "Brigid, of the North." 6He doesn't elaborate. 15[21:49] Ted: "Have you ever heard of Brigid of the North? The real one, I mean." [21:51] 10Daizo: "At least now that we know he exists, we can keep an eye on him. Many Anathema ren't identified until it's far too late." [21:52] 6Zhangyu: "Doesn't ring a bell, no." 6He's stretching now, leg up on one of the benches as he bends in frankly an uncomfortable looking position. Mantis style sort of demands that kind of thing. 15[21:53] Ted: "I thought not. It's not a story the Immaculates would tell you. It's an Anathema legend." [21:54] 6He makes a grunt that might be interpreted as either "go on" or "go away." That is a strange choice of name for Caxi, though - he'll ask about it later, unless 'Ted' is just lying. 15[21:57] "Long ago, in the Time Before, Brigid was a Solar witch who plumbed the very depths of Creation, and devised the greatest and most terrible of the demons' magic. To make the desert bloom, to scour the earth with a cursed rain, to bind the very princes of Hell... she was revered as the Mother of Sorcery. 15[21:58] "You think your Brigid's any good in a fight?" [22:00] 6Zhangyu: "She's going to have to be, won't she?" 15[22:00] Ted: "That rather depends on what her goals are." 15[22:01] "Strange girl." [22:03] 6Zhangyu: "Maybe so." 15[22:04] The gong rings again. Ted stands up and stretches. "See you out there!" [22:04] "But she's not the only strange one around here." 15[22:04] "...I suppose not." [22:05] 6He grunts in acknowledgement at the 'see you out there.' 15[22:06] By now, everyone who isn't fighting has filed into the stands. Is Piu with her hearthmates or with the other fighters? [22:08] 4How many matches between Zhangyu/Caxi and the main? Are they up next? [22:08] 4If so, she'll stay for the entrances and the first couple moments, then move to the back. 15[22:08] There are a couple more. Piu has about two hours, judging by the length of the card, before her fight. [22:10] 4Then she'll be front row for this. Or maybe ring girl unless valets are banned. [22:11] 10Daizo's watching the ring intently. It feels strange being a spectator. But if his morning katas have taught him anything these past few days, it's that the rest of his body ahsn't adjusted to the new reality yet. [22:12] 10It felt like this after he was wounded, too. The difference, though… [22:12] 07Dryas watches the crowd, looking for wheelers and dealers. And spies, who has Nn Tloc sent to watch her? How about yellow dogs? [22:14] 10Clear your head, Daizo. You're going to expunge this taint if it kills you. [22:15] 07In fact, that reminds her - "Daizo, I saw the most peculiar thing this morning," 07she informs him softly, leaning in close. "A dog, who left no tracks. The same dog followed us the morning Hamoji died." 15[22:17] There's usually at least a few animals in the stands at Hinokuni - people on Abalone love their dogs. In fact, there at the back, sitting among a handful of teenaged boys waving betting slips at the ring and shouting... there's that dog again! [22:17] 10Daizo: "No tracks? That's especially concerning. Even a sorcerer's familiar or the like should leave pawprints." [22:17] 07As she speaks, her eyes scan the crowd. While the others had socialized or spent an hour preparing for the bout, Dryas had taken a moment to paw her way through the house a bit. She's also palmed a chunk of that delicious pork, wrapped in a napkin. 15[22:17] Mangy, scruffy but not shaggy, a sort of dirty yellow. The very picture of a street dog. [22:19] "As a matter of fact, he's right there, in that pack of street brats. He's watching us. Would a Lunar anathema leave tracks?" [22:20] 4Dogs!! [22:22] 10Daizo follows Dryas' gaze, and marks the location of the dog. Hmm… [22:24] "It's one possibility. Either that or our mystery sorcerer has money to burn." 15[22:25] The gong rings again. Thousand Devil Master comes out to pump the crowd up for the opening fight - Zhangyu, of the Mushi dojo, who has proved himself in blood and honor, and his partner, the mysterious and alluring Brigid of the North, face crowd favorite Backbreaker El and her partner, the man they call Ted. [22:25] 10Daizo: "Perhaps we should attempt to approach it after the match. Have Piu yell 'puppy!' or something, and try to pet it." [22:26] "Of course, that's dangerous in itself. But we can't just let it follow us around forever. A moontouched *will* strike sooner or later. It's only a matter of when." [22:27] "It follows the children around but doesn't seem to give a shit about what they do. That gives us another approach." 07Dryas watches the teenagers for a moment before coming to a plan. [22:27] 10Daizo: "I think I see where this is going, but let's hear it." [22:28] 4Piu: "I do love puppies!!" [22:28] 14Piu: "But if it's going to start a fight, we should lead it outside first." [22:29] "You and Zhangyu will be too beat up afterwards to confront it then. I'm going to see if I can get the kids to keep tabs on it for me. I think they would be cheap..." [22:29] 14Not a great way to talk about kids in a Guild city! 15[22:30] If Dryas is looking for some cheap kids, there's always Mnemon Dusk-- 15[22:32] Caxi comes out wearing a gauzy violet... nightgown? She looks more like a ring girl than a fighter. El is wearing her sleeveless white gi. Ted is stripped to the waist, with wrapped arms. [22:32] 14There is not, in fact, Mnemon Dusk. We put paid to Mnemon Dusk. [22:32] 6Zhangyu is in his standard trunks with the towel over his heada that he whips off when his name is announced to the crowd. He's added some handwraps this time. [22:33] 4Caxi!! That's a look!! [22:33] 4And Ted? Also still hot. Too bad about the politics. [22:35] 10Daizo: "Hmm, I see." 10He snorts. "You probably have better quality hash than anyone on this island, you could always try and sell them some." 15[22:35] Caxi blows a kiss to the crowd, and then another one for Piu. Caxi, sotto voce to Zhangyu: "Are these to the death? How does this work exactly?" [22:36] 4Piu blows one back. [22:36] 4Not to Ted though. Sorry, Ted! [22:37] 6Zhangyu briefly sums up the methods of victory and loss - from memory, it's knockout, pinfall, ring out or, yes, death. [22:38] 6Though Zhangyu killed neither of the Hinokuni opponents he's had, so, you know. [22:38] 10Daizo was probably one of the only people to legitimately hire a retainer from Dusk. Messed up. 15[22:38] Daizo's a good boy. 15[22:39] Caxi: "Alright, no killing." 15[22:40] The gong sounds again. Battle is joined! 15[22:44] Caxi freezes up. Ted and El advance so suddenly they seem to go before the bell! The crowd jeers this unsportsmanlike conduct. [22:45] 4No!! [22:46] 10Cousin Zhangyu's going to be fine, he's got this. Caxi, though? Well, watching her get knocked down a peg would be satisfying in its own way. [22:46] 6Zhangyu's busy getting into his form when-- [22:47] 4Have to be honest: watching her two hookups fight each other for-serious is far more stressful than she thought it'd be. And she thought it'd be stressful. 15[23:03] Ted comes in for a testing jab - he seems to be straight-up boxing - and Caxi seizes up in apparent fear of the blow. Ted looks like a huge asshole, and he can't even land the blow. He seems more off-balance than she does! 15[23:03] ...could it be...? Could this be the forbidden Black Claw style?! [23:03] 14It is. [23:03] 14And damn, she can feel it working. ...Or can she? She already liked Caxi and didn't want to see her punched in the face anyway...? [23:03] 14AUGH! Black Claw. [23:04] "What's going on?" 07Dryas asks, distracted from her dog-related inquiries as the match begins. [23:04] 10A sharp intake of breath. "That witch!" [23:05] 14Mildly, to Daizo: "It's a useful discipline. And now we know it's coming." [23:08] 10Daizo's composed himself again—it seems like the interjection was his own way of coping with the assault. "A particularly fiendish martial art, Dryas, one that strikes the heart as surely as the body." [23:08] "Steel yourself." [23:10] 14Archly: "The Black Claw." 15[23:11] A chill wind whips around Caxi, and her gown billows as her eyes glow white. Bringing her hands close together, the whirlwind spins into a nearly-solid sphere in her hands. She lurches forward, exhaling and extending her arms in one motion, and a solid column of frigid air hits Ted directly in the chest, knocking him backwards and to the ground. All the way backwards -- Ted lands 15[23:11] cleanly outside the ring. [23:12] 4...Is there a ring out rule on right now? Did she just eliminate him? 15[23:12] The gong rings. Brigid of the North has defeated Ted! [23:12] 6Well, holy shit. [23:12] 4Hahahah. But Piu is going to duck out and find Thousand Devil Master. [23:12] 4And request ring out be waved for her match with Bruiser Khang. [23:12] *4waived 15[23:13] Thousand Devil Master says, "Work it out with Bruiser." [23:13] 4Is he still in the kitchen? 15[23:13] Likely so. [23:13] 4She'll poke her head in. [23:13] "…or not," 10Daizo says mildly. 15[23:14] She finds Bruiser doing dishes. "Ehh??" [23:14] "Bruiser Khang!!" 4she declares. "I wish to waive the ring out condition for victory!!" 15[23:15] Bruiser turns to face her, flexing his wrinkly fingers. "I accept! It will be a battle to submission!" [23:16] 4Piu: "So sworn!!" 4She ducks back out...then back in. "And your pork...it is fantastic!!!" 4Then she's gone again. [23:17] 10How's Ted taking his loss? Gracefully? 15[23:17] Piu returns to see Caxi stepping gracefully offstage, beset by adoring crowds. Of course she'll sign autographs. 15[23:17] Ted looks rueful, but not angry. [23:18] 4Back to Thousand Devil Master: "Please send a runner to confirm that Khang has agreed to waive ring out!!" [23:18] 4Piu will run up and hug Caxi. 15[23:18] Thousand Devil Master nods. 15[23:18] Caxi hugs back! She's cold to the touch - her anima is running high. [23:18] 10Daizo: "He's going to want a rematch, I think. Perhaps not tonight, but soon." [23:20] 4Piu: "That was badass. AND he'll think twice before hitting you again! Unless he's secretly supremely powerful." 15[23:20] Caxi, dryly: "What are the odds?" [23:21] "Good job, Caxi!" 07Dryas exclaims. [23:21] 4Piu, brightly: "Never tell a fighter the odds!" 14[23:24] * Joins: tom2 [23:25] 10Huh. Is that the glint of a smile on Ted's face? Was Caxi's Black Claw able to graze him? Interesting. 14[23:26] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:26] 4'Never tell a fighter the odds' is, more properly, an exhortation against match-fixing in the Realm proper, but. [23:28] 10Meanwhile, the action in the ring is heating up. "Ohhhh! He's going for the Crusher right out the gate! He wants to end this one fast too!" [23:29] 6Zhangyu hopes for a quick followup so he can just, get out of there and go speak to Caxi and the rest, so he shoots in towards the legs and... can't quite get a grip! [23:33] 10El more like Eel. [23:34] "I've never seen Zhangyu express interest in something other than fighting, until earlier tonight..."07 Dryas observes. [23:35] 10Daizo: "He's shown a few hidden facets now and then. What happened while I was closed up in the workshop, anyway?" [23:38] 4Piu: "Dumb bullshit, mainly!" [23:40] 07Dryas: "Mostly that, a bit of the rest... Say, Piu, which way should I wager on your match? Or perhaps I shouldn't at all?" [23:41] 4Piu, casually: "Smart money is he beats the living shit out of me, but it goes past ten minutes and I place well enough to sell a rematch when I've trained some more. So bet on match length!" [23:43] 10Daizo makes a face like he's just bitten into a lemon. "…I hate to say it, but that's good advice." 15[23:43] El is able to stiffarm Zhangyu so he can't get close enough to seal the deal... and then her double-fisted blow is covered in solid stone and Zhangyu goes flying like Ted did. His ears ring. [23:44] 4Ring outs are so cheap!! Sorry Caxi but it's true!!!!! 15[23:45] The crowd doesn't go wild for El's victory like it did for Caxi's... perhaps they agree. [23:45] 07Dryas winces as Zhangyu eats a ring-out. She then puts a pocket change-level wager on the headliner match length, for V'Neef Piu to go the distance and checks, inconspicuously, over her shoulder to see if that dog is still there. [23:46] 6Shit. The shoot-in was a risk, but Zhangyu didn't think it'd backfire on him this quickly. He just stares up at whatever the lights equivalent is for a moment before collecting his towel and stomping off backstage. 15[23:46] She makes eye contact with the dog, in fact. It was looking in their direction. [23:47] 07Shit. [23:48] 10Daizo: "Oh… bad luck, Cousin…" 10Then he notices the dog as well.  15[23:49] The dog chuffs lightly. It's inaudible over the crowd. 15[23:49] Makita-te-Etua: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjxNZH0qIe0 - Now the sun's gone to hell and the moon's riding high. Let me bid you farewell -- every man has to die. [23:53] 4Piu pays the dog no mind. [23:53] 14Which is not the same as being oblivious to it. 15[23:56] NEXT TIME: The Main Event Session Time: Wed May 13 00:00:00 2020 14[01:24] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[01:46] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:28] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[04:18] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[04:21] * Joins: cbass 14[05:29] * Quits: VoxPrime (Quit: ) 14[05:33] * Joins: VoxPrime 15[05:39] * Disconnected 15[05:39] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[05:39] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[05:39] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[05:39] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[05:39] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[05:39] * Joins: VoxPrimey 14[05:41] * Quits: VoxPVoxD (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:41] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:41] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:08] * Quits: tom2 (Connection closed) 14[08:08] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[08:18] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Quit: ) 14[08:18] * Joins: VoxPrime 15[08:58] * Disconnected 15[08:58] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[08:58] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[08:58] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[08:58] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[13:47] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:59] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 14[13:59] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[14:14] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[14:32] * Joins: mattbaby 14[14:46] * Quits: VoxPrime (Quit: ) 14[14:51] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[16:31] * Joins: tom 14[18:26] * Joins: Zarick [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12 _..--=--..._ [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12 .-' '-. .-. [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12 /.' '.\/ / [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12 |=- -=| ( [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12 \'. .'/\ \ [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12 '-.,_____ _____.-' '-' [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12 [_____]=8 [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12With clear eyes and full stomachs, the inhabitants of Hedgehog central commune feel like they can't lose. The place is bustling now, with small ships being assembled in the no-longer-drydock (the seawater's come flowing in by now) and scouting parties ranging out across the mountains to bring the good news of your arrival and resupply to those who've gone foraging farther than usual [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12or full-on relocated to somewhere less crowded. Still, it'll be days or weeks yet before your cult can retake possession of its own coastline, or at least attempt to, and as yet their excess reserves of feathersteel (as well as some of the fine glassworks a few people have been learning to sculpt, in their saviors' honor) cannot find buyers on the threshold-wide markets. [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12One way to solve this problem is to knock on the Haslanti League's door and ask what its fucking problem is. The Guild, or at least its local high-placed agent, has made it clear that commerce can commence despite the current embargo if it turns out that Icehome won't hold to its side of the not-making-any-deals, so if you can figure that out, you might be set. There might be other [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12options, and with what you've given them the cult will at least survive if not prosper even if you were to just skip off northwards anyway, but that's the most obvious move if you're determined to put more energy into this place. [20:56] 4Ir's fine with the relaxed pace; it gives her time to work on music and just, hang out and vibe. [20:56] 4Presumably once they get some boats in the water, it'll be training time. [21:04] 13Ying and 6Tatsuya 13are both able to assist wherever possible, but 6neither of them seem super inclined to take point. [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12I mean, the cultists are a little ways away from needing an intelligence network, although their outfits are pretty rustic. [21:06] 4First comes familiarization and conditioning -- both for the ships but, more importantly, for the crews. She's not in the business of appointing an officer class -- like with the beastmen she trained for the Heavensward, she waits for the officers to come to her, revealing themselves to each other and the rest of the crews through exemplary performance in exercises. [21:06] 4If she does it right -- and she's good enough at this to do it right -- the ship captains and mates more or less appoint themselves. [21:08] 4With a good base of sailors who know what they're doing, and competent officers to command them, then it's time to begin tactical drilling and formation sailing. That takes up most mornings and afternoons -- and then the officers learn the burden of command, because after Ir makes everyone dinner, it's time for another three to four hours of strategic training, leadership training, [21:08] 4and theory work on naval philosophy. By the time she's done here, Ir wants not just a navy in the Hedgehog, but a naval tradition. [21:17] 4When the time comes, and they've got the coastline back, maybe they can advance to frigates and even ships of the line; hopefully, however, that's a decision they have the ability to make for themselves by then. [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's had a strange career as a military commander, one with a very unusual difficulty curve; she cut her teeth on telepathic demon insects, then switched to brachiating religious zealots, and only now is working on the proverbial peasant militia. It's extremely easy, even though she's given herself the additional challenge of making sure the cultists can do everything they're supposed [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12to do on a swaying deck as well as dry land; they're as diligent and attentive as anyone might hope, given that they're being trained by at least a tangential object of their worship. [21:30] 4Hey, this is in many ways a vacation, and what's more soothing than training up a virtuous peasant militia to oppose tyrants? [21:30] 4...Okay, so the Chosen of the Sun are a little weird. [21:31] 4By the time she's done, though, she's supervising from astride Errant rather than having to correct officers and ship's hands down on the deck. They're turning into a proper damn navy. [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12When your Essence has been cultivated enough, you get kind of bored and antsy if you aren't forging a kingdom somewhere. [21:32] 13And hey, there's not presently a world-ending behemoth marching slowly but steadily towards us! [21:32] 13Vacation! 08[21:47] 7Blossom, having returned from the Guild storehouse just in time to hear Eikichi's song, spends an hour stunned into silence, meditating in the Heavensward. How could her fiancee so perfectly capture the ethos of Righteous Devil Style despite not having been initiated? Truly, the children of the Sun are as mounting flames, which reflect each others' illumination to greater and greater [21:47] 7intensity into infinity. 08[21:48] 7She resolves to pass on this revelation, hunting down a good solid chunk of stone seamed with crystal and hauling it to the site where Eikichi first began to play. 08[21:52] 7Borrowing a chisel from an awestruck monk she carefully, over the course of hours, smoothes the sides of the stone until they narrow to a point like an obelisk placed as a monument. Then, she carves in standard notation the music and lyrics of Eikichi's song into each side, putting into her work her enlightenment as to the relationship between the music and the fundamentals of Righteous [21:52] 7Devil style. 08[21:53] 7At the bottom, she carves DEDICATED TO EIKICHI SHO, CHILD OF THE SUN AND 'TINDER' TAM, HONORED SIFU. 08[21:53] 7It hurts a little that she can't give Eikichi the epithet GREAT LADY OF PERFECTION instead. Someday. [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12People watch this in awe, even though for the most part Blossom isn't carving away at the stone with her bare hands. It's not an hour before a few musicians have set up with reeds and six-strings to make their first attempts at it. [21:55] 4Ir will come by near the end to watch, though she won't get involved with the music -- impolite to upstage them like that, and less reverent to the mysteries. [21:55] 7When she's done, the work seems... solid, even more than you'd expect from a twelve-fulm-tall hunk of solid stone. There's an immutable quality of the mountain from which it was calved that never left it. [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12This should make for an interesting martial tradition sometime down the line... assuming anyone can actually get their hands on firedust up here. [21:58] 4Hey. If they really want it, they'll find a way. [21:59] 4Once she's done: "Damn impressive." [21:59] 4All Ir makes is delicious sandwiches. [22:00] 13Ying's eyes are shining as she reads over the whole obelisk, twice over. "It is! Wow..." [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12So! Does the Circle set off while boat construction completes, or stay to oversee it and maybe the first sorties? [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12So! Does the Circle set off while boat construction completes, or stay to oversee it and maybe the first sorties? [22:04] 4To Blossom: "How are we doing with the Guild? Do we still have to go yell at the Haslanti?" [22:04] "If possible I'd like to tie that off before we go on any military adventures against Cathak." [22:04] "Plus I'm interested to see if my officers can keep discipline while I'm out of town." [22:07] 7Blossom: "The Guild won't bargain as long as Icehome isn't, but they won't keep out if Icehome goes in. We need to figure out what Icehome's problem is." [22:08] 4Ir: "If I had to guess it's the Solars mucking about in their backyards, but I'll warm up the engine on the Heavensward and we can go find out." [22:09] 13Ying: "Sounds purretty good to me!" [22:10] 6And hey, it's only a day by stormwind rider away from Nexus. Tatsuya can go check in there, if they've got time. Or maybe they've made it this far south? [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12The Heavensward stands ready - it'll be about a day's flight. Heading off? [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12(To Icehome, I mean) [22:14] 4Sounds good to Ir. [22:15] 13Us 6too. [22:16] 7Yeah! [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12The snowy caps on the Hedgehog's mountains creep farther and farther downward as you sail northwards across the terrain. Icehome reminds you of Dorsal Point in a few ways, as it comes into view - it, too, is nestled between a mountain range and a jagged coastline, but the weather is much colder and the infrastructure much, much more developed. The mountains to the east are riddled [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12with mines and quarries, the coastline itself is lined with ships and the docks it takes to house them, and there's a steady stream of traffic in and out of the walled city's main gates. Transport technology is interesting here - they're using "airships" of sorts, but low-flying ones, as though it's more convenient to suspend something on sails and balloons a few feet off the ground [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12than to just put it on wheels. You can see at least one point of utility - great barges carrying what must be loads of feathersteel or other supplies down from the mountains are able to skate through the air just over the trees and mountains rather than navigate the actual terrain. [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12For all that, you're a very literal cut above - nothing's actually flying at the Heavensward's level, and there are very many craning, upturned faces visible as you drift in to approach. Fortunately, there do seem to be usable airdocks, and local workers wave you towards an unoccupied one (most are unoccupied, truth be told) once you get into view. [22:19] 4Is there a place to set down the ship in or around town, or is Ir taking this down into the water to dock like a normal ship? [22:19] 4Ah. [22:20] 4Well, it's good to be...anticipated, if not precisely expected. Or welcomed. [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Interestingly, most of those expressions are, like... pained winces of anticipation. It's as though people are expecting you to explode in midair or get shot down or something. They become largely perplexed when that doesn't happen, and go about helping you to dock with a combination of relief and mild confusion. [22:22] 4...Foreboding. [22:22] 4Are there any obvious cannons pointed at the sky or what-not? [22:23] 7Blossom doesn't recall Icehome having any First Age weaponry, but who knows? [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12This is a bit odd, isn't it? Maybe you've heard something- [22:26] 6Strange. Nothing rings a bell, though. [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12The Haslanti League has a pretty strange history. It was united out of somewhere in the neighborhood of twelve warring tribes something like two hundred years ago by some kind of culture hero figure (or maybe a small group of them), and at around the same time had been fighting a multi-front war against the depredations of the fae in one direction and the depredations of the Guild [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12in another. The liminal just-barely-threshold northeastern region they occupy has seen some pretty strange times, including most notably the rise and fall of the Bagrash Kol's relic-fueled magical empire. [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Kol built an entire dominion using a now-lost artifact called the Eye of Autocthon, and maybe some touch of the forge-titan's power lingers in the land yet, because while the Haslanti aren't actually sitting on caches of First Age artifice (they've got their own priests and sorcerers, of course, but aren't amazing savants as a rule) they are quite crafty. For instance, you see [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12crossbows in pretty heavy use in these parts, though the trick to making them hasn't really spread through most of Creation proper. 14[22:32] * Joins: mattbaby [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Similarly, skill at engineering combined with copious supplies of feathersteel have meant that the Haslanti have been building what they call airboats for generations. Some of them are basically big gliders that'll take you safely down a mountain in record time, but others are proper balloon craft or even flying machines propelled by sorcery of one kind or another. Still, people tend [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12to assume stories of Haslanti aerial supremacy are overblown - Ir certainly did - because, well, you're seeing it right now. They've got gliders and balloon wagons and such but the actual skies are empty. [22:35] 4If no one else is flying at all, balloons and gliders are all you need. Too bad about giant winged serpents and the like. Either way, they certainly could be annoying to the Heavensward if they tried, but Ir's pretty sure the ship could take it. What's the greeting party look like? Surely they're going to send some guys with spears to try to bully them. [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12That explains the airship docks, though not why most of them are empty or why the few airships visible (they're not as good as yours; they look gas-lifted, mostly) seem to be out of commission. Either way, you're immediately confronted by a diplomatic procession of people wearing furs and feathers led by a spare man with slicked-back hair. "You are... the Squared Circle, are you [22:35] <@Ferrinus> not?" [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12(Besides him there's the complement you'd expect of spear-wielding guards, a scribe, a slightly-built woman waving a few crystals around in what looks to be some sort of thaumaturgic ritual, etc) [22:36] 4Does Blossom want to take this? Ir will otherwise make a polite but imposing greeting in the affirmative. [22:37] 6There can't be that many groups of impossibly beautiful people flying around an airship like the Heavensward. [22:38] 7Blossom: "That's correct. I am Excessively Righteous Blossom. To my left is Ir, Saint-Sister, and to my right Sunlit-Dreaming Ying." [22:38] 6It's actually Tatsuya at this time. [22:38] 7Then she said Tatsuya. [22:38] 6He bows slightly as his name is mentioned. [22:39] 4A nod. Jude's Law is coiled around her arm -- not in spear form, but obviously a weapon. [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12He's a bit stiff. The guards look nervous. "What brings you here?" [22:41] 4'The pursuit of Deals,' Ir doesn't say out loud. [22:42] 7Blossom: "You've cut off trade relations with the Hedgehog monastic community. We'd like to know what's wrong." [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Emissary, small-e: "Ah. Yes. Well, I'm... not the one to ask you about that, but I can send it along the proper channels. If you'd accept our hospitality while a meeting is prepared...?" [22:45] 4Ir: "We would be honored." [22:45] 7Blossom: "Indeed." 14[22:46] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12You're escorted only briefly through the streets of a bustling city before being loaded up on a balloon-carriage and brought to what's basically a holding paddock for foreign diplomats. They ask, but don't actually require, you to stay on the premises while the wheels of the government turn, and, you know, it wouldn't be that bad - it's a broad, well-apportioned room with comfy [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12furniture, broad windows that give you a view of the seaside, and... hey, it's some emberstone! ...and cheerful orange crystals that glow with heat lodged at strategic parts of the room to keep out the northerly chill. [22:49] 6Those things are pretty nice... [22:50] 4As far as these rooms go, well...it's one of these. Ir will discreetly taste-test any food or drink before partaking in earnest; they'd have to be quite foolish to try to poison the Circle, but...well, the temptation to get a real-deal airship is likely quite high. [22:51] 6Tatsuya's mapping out an exit strategy, should they need one. Or a re-entering strategy, for that matter. Hey, it's a good habit to keep up. [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12The good news is that your reputation has surely preceded you. If they tried to poison you, you might respond in kind by, say, 1v1ing their entire army - and while that wouldn't NECESSARILY end in clean a win for you it would certainly devastate the entire city-state. You can probably expect to be treated delicately. [22:53] 7Also, Blossom no longer believes she can be poisoned. [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Outside your window, you see ships come in and out, religious processions troop down streets, and lots and lots of low-atmosphere flight. The Haslanti build their buildings tall, and one of the things it allows for is for people to simply take personal gliders from one to the other rather than descending or climbing any stairs or walking down streets on foot. There seem to be food [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12carts, pawn shops, and whatnot that are actually big balloons, just tied down in a particular spot for the day or the week. [22:56] 4It's impressive in its own way, if you don't have access to a massive artifact engine. [23:00] 7These aren't bad ideas. Perhaps not the one-woman gliders, but building tall, with skybridges arcing between towers... ah, how grand! [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12About two hours later, you're called on. It's another trip by balloon-carriage down a few broad streets, and then a careful adjustment of the alchemical burner that sends your vehicle drifting alllll the way up a multi-story tower, finally stopping at a landing platform which brings you to a broad, stone plaza which just happens to be ten stories into the sky (and atop a natural hill [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12at that). It's surrounded by stone pillars and open to the sky, but though it's grey and windy out around you it's clear and brisk where you stand, suggesting some sort of long-standing climate-control sorcery. 14[23:02] * Joins: mattbaby [23:02] 6All of this is very slick. Worth looking into for the future. [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Sitting on the biggest chair is a harsh-looking old woman in leather robes chased with eagle feathers. At her sides stands an entire retinue of priests and soldiers; you see, once again, the younger thaumaturge who seemed to have been inspecting you on arrival, as well as a pair of wolfmen in what looks like leather armor, though they seem to be unarmed. [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12You're pretty sure they're Dragon-Blooded; one wolf has the glow of banked embers in their eyes, and another's fur is grizzled with just a bit too much frost given the temperature in here. The actual boss in the room looks normal, though carvings and inlaid metals in her seat (throne? maybe it's not the appropriate term) suggests that she's got more than the brain and nerve of an [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12ordinary old woman to leverage here. She says: "Welcome. I am Inara, chieftess of this city, and I dreamed of this day." 12The man and woman standing a little behind her and to her right, both tattooed and wearing conical red hats, nod sagely. [23:07] 7That's the sort of thing people say that implies they're just excited to see you, but which is actually literally true. Interesting. [23:07] 4Does she say that like she's really looking forward to this, or with the air of like. Actual dream prophecy? [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12The League worships triple divinities of ice, dreams, and fate; those two in the hats are properly-anointed "dreamseers", shamans and possibly sorcerers. [23:08] 4Ah. [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12And she says that with about the same tone as a creaky old man in a rocking chair might tell say a storm's coming. [23:09] 4Welllll...not unfair. [23:10] 6We do have that effect on people. [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara: "You are here on account of our trade relations with the people of the Hedgehog. Your people, I believe." [23:12] 7Blossom: "They honor us, but they have sworn no allegiance and we have accepted no rulership." [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara: "So you say. Would you say the same of the regime that now rules Crystal?" [23:15] 4Other than Ir going back to play some concerts, it's been a long while since they even put forth the pretense of messing in those affairs. [23:15] 6Yeah, it's been a while. [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Although, admittedly, you did mess in those affairs pretty decisively. Of course, Reckoning started it. [23:15] 6We finished it. [23:16] 7Blossom: "We brought them safely through the possibility of famine and exposure, and kept their city from falling to the Underworld. Beyond that, what they have built they built on their own. We have not intervened in their affairs in quite some time." [23:18] <@Ferrinus> "If that's so," 12Inara says, "Then perhaps you can rectify their mistakes. I take it you have... not followed the city's development closely, since you left it?" [23:20] 7Blossom: "No." [23:20] 4Here it comes. [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara considers her approach for a moment. "Crystal -- left the League. And took Diamond Hearth with it." 12She lets this sink in. "For most of the first year following the attack on the city, Grey Nara - whom I believe you knew - made some unorthodox decisions but respected her responsibilities to the greater League. When she took ill, her replacement claimed those debts and [23:25] <@Ferrinus> responsibilities to be illegitimate, and that a new order in the city would not only act as if benefiting from an unconditional jubilee but also simply seize certain assets and properties that were properly speaking investments by Icehome and other city-states." [23:26] 7Blossom closes her eyes and sighs. [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara: "Not long after, a usurpation of sorts unseated the council of chiefs that sat above Diamond Hearth as well. We had to put down some sort of rebellion - here, of all places! Now relations with the 'Crystal Pact' you've left in your wake are... strained." [23:26] 4Startled: "Ill?" [23:27] 7Blossom: "What happened to her?" [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara, to Ir: "I don't know the details. She was no spring emas - but younger than me, relative to what I understand is the Chosen lifespan." [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara returns her attention to Blossom, though properly speaking she's addressing all three of you. "We believe some heresy - a death cult, or worse - is at the heart of this. In the wake of the damage wrought by the felling of the great behemoth, the North is weak and vulnerable to chaos and blasphemy of all kinds." [23:30] 4Ir's getting the distinct feeling they're being asked to look into this as a prerequisite for doing business. Which is fine; now she's interested. [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara: "In light of the riots we've had even here, we don't believe it proper to allow any sort of social or economic intercourse with, well, with what may be an extension or repetition of the disorder to our northwest." [23:33] 6Well, that's just rude. Still: heretics and death cults are a problem, and we solve those. So! [23:35] 7Blossom: "I see. We can certainly understand your reticence." [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara: "What, ah. I have been curious. What was your intention with Crystal? I believed you and Nara to be on good terms." [23:41] 7Blossom: "There already was a death cult seeping through the Crystalline underclasses - it was only with last-minute effort that we were able to avert a rebellion, as well as the raising of an undead behemoth. While the working-people of Crystal would have had more leverage after we left, Grey Nara was still very much on top of things." [23:41] "We're certainly distressed to learn that Underworld infiltration may have been responsible for her untimely death." [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara: "Then this violent labor-worship of theirs... I suppose the fault of lack of supervision?" [23:45] 4'Labor-worship.' Sun. [23:47] 6We could totally do another coup. It'd be tricky without the demons, but... 08[23:47] 4We should consult Eikichi first. Especially if the undead are involved again. [23:48] 7Blossom: "Perhaps you should tell us more about what's been going on in Crystal." [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara nods. "These reports are second and third-hand, you must understand. We've had their official communications, we've had reports from our scouts or returning traders, and we have some of the writings and interrogations taken more recently from attempted saboteurs here in Icehome." [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara: "When Grey Nara succumbed to some curse or disease, a new head of Crystal was chosen by, as far as we can tell, lots. That is, there was some kind of deliberation led by local miners and artisans before one of their number, who goes by Pinion, was hoisted up. Crystal's guardsmen and sorcerers - even Nara's own children! - felt honor-bound to support the new ruler, although [23:53] <@Ferrinus> it seemed that shortly after his elevation there was some infighting, to the point of assassinations and executions." [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara: "I don't know much of who Pinion was, but his regime summarily seized both League and Guild assets within the city, as well as surrounding mines and farmland. Diamond Hearth went into open revolt shortly thereafter - we believe they were in communication. Perhaps a few months later, some of our craftsmen were seizing the larger workshops, calling us tyrants and demanding [23:57] <@Ferrinus> that they should be in charge just as up north, but we put an end to that. They claimed some kinship with the dead in the mines, and left terrible hungry ghosts behind despite receiving proper burials." Session Time: Thu May 14 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] 7Blossom hisses under her breath. She had hoped that Inara's idea of undead subversion was just motivated reasoning on her part... [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12It is a bit odd. Inara adds: "There's been encroachment from the north by the red Shadowlands. We had thought it blocked off, but perhaps not as much as we'd hoped. You're welcome to look into the matter yourself - we can allow you access to the effects and evidence we've gathered, and let you know where in our city the usurpationists congregated." [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara: "If this worries you, that relieves me - a little. Perhaps you'll see to this 'Pact' yourselves. But for now we fear its influence in the Hedgehog and would hesitate to bolster its spread." [00:04] 6Hmm. [00:06] 7Blossom: "We would be pleased to do so. I - we - are chagrined, to say the least, to learn all this. Yet I am willing to swear that there is no Underworld influence in the Hedgehog, possibly as a result of their isolation." [00:07] 6It's a shame we can't just tell them to watch for news out of Thorns. [00:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara, dryly: "In fact, it's easier to deal with unruly ghosts than it is with radicals who respect neither chains of inheritance nor chain of command." [00:14] "Mmm. Well, we can begin by looking into what you've gathered thus far. Are there any unruly ghosts yet to be exorcised?" [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara: "Perhaps a few yet linger in the sewers at this point, but our exorcists are sufficient to the task. They were surprising but not especially fearsome. Our concern, as I've said, is that those in the Hedgehog are similarly disrespectful of property - that they will declare debts illegitimate, declare our buildings and vessels their own, and so forth. What we have heard from [00:16] <@Ferrinus> other trading partners is that normal commerce is disallowed there." [00:19] 7Blossom: "Yes and no. They are a selfless monastic community, but they were prepared to deal with the Guild (albeit at a distance). But the Guild preferred to wait until their conditions made them desperate, and even now that that won't happen they will not deal with the Hedgehog so long as you refuse to." [00:19] "And here we are." [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara scratches her chin. "We're aware of the Guild's position. Yet should we move in, the Guild may attempt to levy a sanction of some kind against us, for breaking the abstention that we agreed - informally - to uphold. We have our own feathersteel to sell, of course." [00:26] 7Blossom: "When I spoke to their local representative, he seemed eager to get back to business. A Guildsman who declines trade, even if forced by agreement, doesn't move up the ranks. Surely my Circle and I could act as a go-between for a - likewise informal - agreement to resume trade jointly without retribution?" [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara steeples her fingers, glances to her retinue then back to you. "It's possible... though the appearance of a new source of feathersteel in the regional market will trouble us in its own way, you understand. If it's true that the Hedgehog people don't pose the same threat that Crystal did, that's a relief, but the existing non-relationship remains a comfortable one on our end." [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12She pauses. "Though, we could consider it, in exchange for - perhaps it's as simple as information." [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara: "How is it your ship stays in the sky?" [00:31] 6With the expert piloting skills of Ir. [00:32] 7Blossom: "An Essence engine from the height of the First Age. I didn't build it; we recovered it and I built the ship around it. I feel certain that it wasn't made to power a wooden vessel, but I've never seen a true First Age airship. The Heavensward is my masterwork but..." 7She sighs with frustration. [00:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara blinks. "That is interesting, but what I meant was, how does it stay in the sky rather than be immediately attacked and downed by an air dragon?" [00:36] 7Blossom: "Oh. I think the only wind dragon we've ever encountered was Garuda...?" [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara: "That's her. Our aircraft have long been the pride of the league... until perhaps fifteen years ago, when Garuda claimed the skies for herself." [00:37] 6Tatsuya: "Oh. Yeah. We fought on the deck once." 6That was a while ago, though. [00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara, cautious: "You didn't... slay her, did you?" [00:40] "Nope," 6he says, popping the p. "She agreed to leave us alone. Apparently not many people respond to her by fighting her to a standstill." [00:41] <@Ferrinus> 12The high chieftain sighs. "Too much to hope for, perhaps. But I'll tell you this - if you can win for our airships the same, er, dispensation that yours enjoys, we will gladly rethink our local trade relations." 14[00:44] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [00:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Will the Squared Circle bother? Find out... next week. 14[01:44] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:04] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[02:04] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:20] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[02:20] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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[20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12It seems that Icehome and by extension the League is pretty cool on the Squared Circle because both Crystal and Diamond Hearth, once League cities, have severed themselves from the rest of the Haslanti, refusing to pay various debts or uphold ongoing trade deals and indeed nationalizing various assets currently in their borders. There's talk religious as well as economic heresy in [20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12both cities, some kind of death worship or other practice of black magic, and both of those heresies have been exported to whatever degree they could be - there was even a miners' revolt, rapidly put down, here in Icehome! Apparently the strikers claimed their ancestors and fallen fellows were with them and left some nasty ghosts behind. [20:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Leeriness of dealing with or indeed at all encouraging civilizations which may be treacherous or blasphemous by turns, Icehome has joined the Guild in holding fast against anything that smacks of Crystal's new labor arrangements, and your cult in the Hedgehog falls well within those bounds. Now that you've spoken with her, Inara, the head chief of Icehome, is at least relieved that [20:18] <@Ferrinus> 12all this stuff about ancestor cults and necromancy is as much news to you as it was to her, but is still cagey about opening up trade relations with even the Hedgehog cultists given that what they have to offer - feathersteel - is also much of what Icehome has to offer to the threshold market, and it might well be advantageous to keep them isolated regardless of other concerns. There's [20:18] <@Ferrinus> 12a way that Inara's suggested you can sweeten the pot, though: either slay outright or broker some kind of deal with the air dragon Garuda, who's been marauding the northeastern skies one or two decades past and has more or less grounded what used to be the League's bustling airship industry. [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12You've also been invited to explore the city and even look into what remains of collected evidence from the Crystal-collected miners' revolt, if that sort of thing strikes your fancy. [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, yeah, and you've heard that Grey Nara's dead - taken by some kind of illness, which is a bit strange given that she was a little-past middle-aged Terrestrial Chosen. Someone named "Pinion" leads Crystal right now; he apparently rose from the ranks of the city's laborers and has the support of at least some of Nara's bloodline, but little more is known about him besides that he's [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12not a very friendly negotiator. 15[20:23] 10Eikichi wants to know more about the death cults that have taken root, as well as about this mysterious 'Pinion'. [20:24] 4I bet Gray Nara's passing by illness is completely coincidental to death cults rising up across other Haslanti tributaries. That's not a theme, or a pattern. [20:24] 4...More immediate, though, is the degree to which Garuda holds a grudge for last time. [20:25] 6Those death cults are gonna be a problem. The labor revolts less of a concern, really, but the death cult thing... [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12As far as anyone knows, Pinion's a mortal with some kind of mining or engineering background, and his diplomatic missives are on the curt side. 'Promised emberstone shipment needed in place; will not be arriving.' 15[20:28] 10A mortal, huh. That beggars belief, though if it proves out Eikichi will be pleased. [20:28] 7Feh. We're going to have to get Garuda to knock it off. Wait, doesn't Garuda have some kind of Heaven-designated job she should be doing? [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12You know, she probably does, but it's a bit fuzzy. As the primal dragon of the northeast, she plays some sort of important metaphysical role in balancing the flow of elemental essence across around a quarter of Creation, but this might be something that's just accomplished through her passive existence rather than active toil. She should also be somehow shepherding and administrating [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12various lesser elementals who are more specifically responsible for making sure that the weather works right and supports terrestrial life, most immediately her bureaus of wind bears. [20:32] <@Ferrinus> 12From what you hear, what she actually does is cackle madly as she soars the very heights of creation's skies and knock down basically anything artificial that dares to get too high above the ground. Some attribute various disasters to her caprice, although no stories of her actually swooping down and destroying caravans or townships have yet been corroborated. [20:33] 4Well. Goals, one supposes. [20:39] 4...You know, it's been some time. Ir's going to grab her mundane six-string from the Heavensward, sit down on some street-corner or open promenade where it's legal to play, and play. [20:40] 4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7YzjcLdgLo I dreamed last night that my time was done / And my soul flew up to the holy Sun / But the devil had a hold of me 08[20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Here's what Eikichi gets after pointing out that it's silly for the Haslanti to not share their information on this strange figure. Pinion was, or was, an excavation engineer in his thirties who did survey/planning work for expeditions both carving into the stone hills for feathersteel and carving into the eternal ice of Crystal itself to open up living spaces and retrieve artifacts. [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12He lived and indeed fought through the revolts and riots that wracked Crystal as a combination of Yarara Yara and Wicked Triumph's Reckoning attempted to horribly ruin your day (neither of these names appear in any of Icehome's intel, of course, but you have your own contextual knowledge to draw on) - apparently alongside the ghosts and zombies but also the living, aggrieved workers [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12called up by Reckoning's music. After the Dragon-Blooded and dead were defeated, he was a respected member of the various workers' and craftsman's councils that were thrown together ad hoc to manage the city block by block. [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12His history between there and his rise to power is spotty - apparently he was fairly popular, generally looked to as a voice of reason for logistical matters, etecetera. After Nara succumbed to... something... which seemed to cause a great deal of consternation and suspicion within Crystal itself, elections (a strange ritual involving colored marbles and urns; no one's sure what it's [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12supposed to signify) were held and Pinion came out on top of some administrative structure that was to rule the city following Nara's death. [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Apparently his rule has been contentious in various ways, but the details are sparse. Suffice to say there are factions in the city who oppose him but they're small and kept suppressed by some means. This last bit is corroborated by popular understanding among the people here in Icehome, as idly discussed in bars or published in news-papers - the "Crystal Pact" is run by a tyrant [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12with no legitimtate claim to rule! [20:51] 4It starts as one song, then two, then a break for some food and conversation with some of the crowd, then it's a full set -- and by the time Ir's done, hours later, she's filled a city square out to the alleys, candles lit all around, with the guards sent to disperse the gathering leaning on their pikes and listening. It is a legendary concert; those fortunate enough to be there for [20:51] 4it will remember it for the rest of their days, and like all legends, it'll grow in their retellings. For her part, Ir is in a haze the whole time. She feels drunk by the time she's done. A young man presses something into her hand and hugs her before slipping off into the crowd; she'll realize later it was the set list. But she won't recognize half the names he gave the songs. [20:52] 4Word spreads, though: Ir's back. [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Tatsuya and Blossom attempt to reconstruct the way in which Crystal's ideological influence reached all the way here. Blossom does some observation of work equipment, financial documents, and also local news - both the proclamations of shamans and criers, but also of graffiti, shattered fragments of clay tablets, and even worn-down cobblestones indicating the relative [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12weights of processions and gatherings. Here's her takeaway: the labor situation here in Icehome after a decade plus of draconic terror is a grim one. With proper airships simply off the table, both transport of raw materials from the neighboring mountains and trade of finished goods across the region is dramatically hampered, and though industry has adapted how it could the Haslanti [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12have had to increase hours and pare down both pay and safety considerations to the bone to maintain even a sizable fraction of their original economic output - output they need to honor agreements with the Guild and rest of the Pact, and also to fend off marauding raksha from the northeast and, yes, the undead from the north where the Fortress of Crimson Ice juts from the landscape. [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12News of the usurpation in Crystal hit this place hard - harder than someone like Inara would admit or indeed understand. Though many artisans, agricultural workers, and other laborers have done well enough even in these years to ignore the news, the feathersteel miners in specific found their imaginations sparked, and the resulting fires fanned and fed by what seem to have been [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12genuine missives or even advisors sent from up north. Their exact provenance is murky, however - there were definitely from people from out of town present and helping to plan the eventual uprising, but it looks like there were people from several different directions out of town, including from the south, all with their own takes on exactly what to do and why. It's not clear who [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12ultimately won out with a plan to essentially seize an entire mine and hold it with necromantically-backed violence for as long as possible (which was, sadly, not that long). [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12But Blossom can divine strains of disagreement to the very end - what were the undead to Crystal? An additional menace or a path to liberation? Is Crystal even a model to follow, or have they betrayed their liberatory mandate? It appears that a combination of the former in the first question and the former of the second question won out, and now there's a lot of post-facto criticism [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12circulating even among those workers who are still sympathetic to the cause. [20:59] 7It isn't sad that they were unable to seize a mine and hold it with necromantically-backed violence! [21:00] 4Well, he'd know. He IS the narrator. [21:06] 4Anyway Ir will fake a walk off, then walk back and send the crowd off with an encore. Then she'll head back to the Heavensward, pour herself a stiff drink, and prepare herself some fried food. [21:07] 4Less than half those songs were thinly-veiled about Marek, so that's progress. [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya, meanwhile, is in better position to actually investigate the event. He can peek in on prisons, rifle through evidence lockers, even hunt down a few stray ghosts still haunting the sewers and lower tunnels, and no one's the wiser. Here's what he puts together: not one striker survived, whether they meant to or not, because what they actually used for backing was too double-edged [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12in its mode of action. They'd apparently gotten together certain thaumaturgic relics from farther north that would allow them to communicate with old friends who'd died in mining accidents, especially ones stemming from cost-cutting and overseer negligence, but while this seemed to basically serve as a source of recon at first - they effectively had friendly, invisible spies letting [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12them know when the League would try to move on them - whatever they were using both zombified and hungry ghost-ed them once the League moved in with enough force and the situation became irreparably violent. They weren't exactly undone by their own tools - indeed, they might not have even gotten as far as they did - but they didn't seem able to stop things from turning way nastier than [21:07] <@Ferrinus> 12planned towards the end, despite claims by the authorities that this was their plan all along. Tatsuya's scoped out the actual caves and tunnels; prints, slashes, and old stains there say different. [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12In fact, he's even able to recover a few bits of whatever the strikers were using - cold red crystals embedded in iron chains. 08[21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12That brings Eikichi back. Did she ever completely dispel the longing to visit the north's distinctive, rose-hued shadowlands from her mind...? These are surely manifestations of the Lover's will, though likely not her personal handiwork. Charms that draw the ghosts of your loved ones towards you, but bind you to those ghosts in turn... 15[21:11] 10Eikichi's fingers trace the crystals, which catch the light of her anima and throws red pinpicks back into her pupils. [21:15] 4When the dumplings are finish, she'll retire to the keyharp with a big bowl of them and a bottle, and play herself off. [21:15] *4finished 15[21:16] 10Later, after night steals out from the west to put Icehome under cold, remorseless stars, Eikichi draws on the knowledge Kisha shared with her before Ir's lover and his circle secreted her away from the falling Mahalanka. Whatever lost love lingers in these crystals, the master sorceress coaxes it forth. "Out of the dark I call you... into the dark I call you..." [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12It's easier than summoning a demon. It doesn't have to happen exactly at midnight, for starters, although that is the most stylish way to do it and this magic definitely isn't going to catch if you try it between dawn and sunset. Using the remains of this weird, broken amulet make it go really smoothly; a smoky shape weaves itself into being before the sorceress within an hour 08[21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12of ritual, and Eikichi can feel that if she were to attempt to enslave this ghost her will would practically irresistible. 15[21:20] 10The thought tempts... 15[21:20] 10...but no. 08[21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, what Eikichi's actually confronted with is a pair of smoky, indistinct men in ragged mining gear, their hearts and eye sockets glowing red. One of them: "Who calls...?" 15[21:23] "A petitioner. A witness. Tell me of your dreams and ends." 08[21:27] <@Ferrinus> "They worked us. They worked us hard..." 12If Eikichi doesn't want to be rude and hurry them along, she hears a litany of hunger, exhaustion, and malady long before the incident she's ostensibly investigating comes up. It amply sets the stage, though; friends and loved ones lost to collapses and firedamp, children either starving at home or being devoured by the mines themselves in [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12search of sustenance. They were too tired to even dream. It couldn't go on - the question was whether to die because you took a stab at changing it or whether to die because you didn't. And they'd heard things changed - knew they could, even here! 15[21:29] 10The sorceress's face grows stony. [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12It seems that the miners on this one particular mountain got to talking in the tunnels and in their mess halls, slipping notes back and forth where they thought they could get away with it, agreeing that something was wrong and there must have been some way out of it even though the chiefs and foremen saw differently. That's when he showed up, a man supposedly from Tusk but who was [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12actually from Crystal - he even had secret documents to prove it - and was here to help organize an insurrection. His name was an obviously false one, and died with everyone else in the actual fighting, but it was he who delivered the amulets that people learned to use to commune with and call up dead coworkers, and which ensured they rose again after they fell themselves. [21:31] 4Fully drunk, Ir frowns and wanders back into the hold. She pulls out the drum set she made for Ying that, frankly, none of them have done anything with, and drags it out to the aft deck next to the keyharp. Then, with a foot on the bass pedal and a hand on the keys, she begins experimenting... 08[21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12The shards of the very same trinkets that Eikichi now holds in her hands, in fact... these spirits sound like they've been in there all this time, not even in the underworld. "All this time" just means a few months, of course. 15[21:33] 10What name did this man from Crystal give? 08[21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12"Berhar", which is a common enough name in these parts. If Eikichi takes this to Blossom and Tatsuya later, they can corroborate that there was indeed such a miner, recently arrived and one of the competing voices trying to sway the overall group as to what to do. Arrayed against him were locals who didn't exactly have better ideas and didn't like his, and "southerners" (in practice, [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12people from the 100 kingdoms) who believed some sort of usurpationist violence was necessary but that Crystal's methods specifically were inherently corrupting and should be rejected. 15[21:36] 10Hmm. 08[21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Anything else Eikichi asks or demands of these dead? 15[21:37] 10Who killed them? [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Soldiers of the League, marshalled to break a strike and reclaim a mine; they've got phantom wounds delivered by short blades, not pickaxes. [21:39] 4When she's done with those, she gets a six-string part together. Yeah, that's good. And only slightly pathetic. 15[21:39] 10Okay. Does Eikichi need Blossom's help to bring these dead to their final rest? [21:39] 4Wow, where did this bottle go? [21:40] 4Anyway, Ir drags The Beating Heart back into storage before passing out in her cabin. It's only polite. 08[21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12As she prepares to bring this to a close, Eikichi realizes these spirits are still bound to the shards of the broken amulet (which was all that Tatsuya could find; the rest must have been destroyed completely or spirited, haha, away to elsewhere during or after the fighting). If she simply releases them as-is they'll be sucked back in to the ice and metal, waiting there for... [21:41] <@Ferrinus> 12something. However, her intuition is a good one; Blossom could probably destroy the binding object in some kind of properly-sanctified way such that these two, and perhaps even more who wait in there silently, can proceed normally to lethe. 15[21:42] 10Then Eikichi beckons her beloved, telling her of the workers' fates and imploring her to bring some peace to these poor souls. [21:48] 7Disgusting apparatus - of course the Deathlords would be so low as to prey on these people's suffering, offering them false hope only to enslave them in, Blossom can't stress this enough, literal chains. [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12When the remains of the amulet have been burned away, the two spirits follow suit, the dull red glow in their hearts giving way to a blue fire that spreads outward to envelop their shapes entirely. You're left with shadows, smoke, and questions. There's definitely something wrong here, because say what you will about Reckoning's deathly rebellion against all authority - he wasn't [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12actually one of the Lover's deathknights, and this is clearly her magic. [21:50] 7She'll wait until the next noonday sun and lay the ghost-shackles out on a flat stone she's washed clean and place small sticks of incense about. She focuses her Essence, meditates, raises her gaze to Heaven... a coil of flame wraps around her arm, and when it reaches her hand spreads out into a heavy golden hammer! It's a matter of a few strokes to smash the deathly artifacts into [21:50] 7dust and free their prisoners. [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12When the remains of the amulet have been burned away, the two spirits follow suit, the dull red glow in their hearts giving way to a blue fire that spreads outward to envelop their shapes entirely. You're left with shadows, smoke, and questions. There's definitely something wrong here, because say what you will about Reckoning's deathly rebellion against all authority - he wasn't [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12actually one of the Lover's deathknights, and this is clearly her magic. 15[21:51] 10Mnnnh. 08[21:52] 4Ir will wake up a couple hours after dawn the next day with maybe a third of a hangover and go to make some breakfast. Where is everyone? Eikichi and Blossom have spirit business. Where's Ying and Tatsuya? [21:56] 13Ying's napping on the deck! Tatsuya's investigation was pretty successful yesterday, but neither Tatsuya nor Ying has had a chance to talk through future plans - where they're going, what they do when they get there, and who they're gonna fight - so it's time to take a big nap. [21:57] 4Hey, well, who's to say that's not a good plan. Ir's battering and frying some fish, though... [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12What is next? If you're burning with curiosity at this point you could head all the way to Crystal to figure out what the hell's actually going on, possibly by Stormwind Rider if you want to absolutely waste no time. Otherwise you could either try to shake down a primal dragon or go to Inara with some counteroffer that doesn't involve, well, shaking down a primal dragon. [22:00] 13She hasn't yet managed to literally float into the kitchen after the scent of fish, but she pads dreamily into it and immediately starts trying to filch some without Ir looking. She's not trying very hard, though - if she was she could probably manage more than a few. [22:02] 4She is treated to salmon two ways -- sashimi and deep-fried, with a tangy and a savory white sauce for dipping. [22:03] <@Ferrinus> 12If you do want to shake down a primal dragon, well, just fly Up, and maybe bellow out a summons or challenge. [22:04] 13Delicious. The salmon, not the primal dragon... unless...? 08[22:04] 4There's also rice and vegetable tempura if Eikichi and Blossom are back to join them. Presumably the Heavensward will be departing soon... [22:04] 4Otherwise she might be guilted into another concert by fans. 14[22:05] * Joins: Zarick_ [22:06] 7hromph hromph hromph "We need to handle Garuda. I was willing to tolerate her when it looked like she was just bothering unusual birds and other dragons, but this is the end of enough." 15[22:06] 10As far as Eikichi's concerned, we're done here. Oooh, tempura~~ 14[22:06] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:07] 4Ir, cleaning up: "Are we gonna kill her?" 15[22:08] * Disconnected 15[22:08] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[22:08] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[22:08] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[22:08] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 [22:08] 7Blossom: "That depends on whether she's willing to obey." [22:10] 4https://i.imgur.com/wl0GkDP.gif 14[22:10] * Quits: @Ferrinus (*.net *.split) [22:12] 4Ir: "I'll get us prepped. I don't think they even bother with harbormaster stuff on the air docks anymore, so we should be good to go whenever." 15[22:12] 10https://i.imgur.com/hcY9QGg.gif [22:13] 7Don't look at me like that. 14[22:13] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[22:13] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 7Blossom: "That depends on whether she's willing to obey." [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 4Ir: "I'll get us prepped. I don't think they even bother with harbormaster stuff on the air docks anymore, so we should be good to go whenever." [22:15] 4She'll head up to the helm and take the Heavensward up. A few easy spirals first, just to get a taste of the winds. [22:16] 4Then away from the city a modest distance, but still close enough for Inara and her coterie to be able to get reports of what happens -- then it's up. [22:20] 7Blossom takes a deep breath, in and in and in... much more than human lungs would seem to contain. She lets it out in a roar that echoes from the horizon. "GARUDA! AIR DRAGON OF THE NORTH-EAST! COME OUT!" [22:21] 4Ir's skin flashes and her sweat hardens as she keeps the deck just stable enough for the circle to do their work as she climbs the ship up, up, up. 15[22:24] 10Eikichi tests the strings of Absolute Zero on deck, her hair and clothes billowing from the high winds and the force of Blossom's presence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMBZEHSPyxM 14[22:24] * Zarick_ is now known as Zarick [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Even as you rose, the clouds orbited your trajectory languidly, as though pacing slowly around a fighting ring. When Blossom calls her challenge out, though, there's no longer any pretense of normal weather - the clouds thicken, the skies darken, and a mad, empty laughter winds its way through the skies. A coil of dark, storm-shot cumulus winds in an inward spiral from the great [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12cylinder of furious weather that surrounds the Heavensward, completing two complete revolutions before finally arcing in to stop right at the prow. At the head of this serpent of wind, water, and flickering feathers is the primal dragon Garuda, easily twenty yalms tall before you count the four wings and outrageous, feathery hairstyle. [22:27] <@Ferrinus> "Eee hee hee AH ha ha! It's you! Why?" 12She hasn't actually perched on your ship's prow, but hangs there instead, talons flexing and wings rippling but not beating in the wind. 15[22:27] 10That's a look. 08[22:27] 7Blossom idly wonders when Eikichi is going to steal her look. [22:28] 7Blossom: "We want the Haslanti people to be able to fly again." [22:29] 4Ir threads a leg through the ship's wheel to hold it in place, roots them both, and snaps her fingers -- Jude's Law leaps to hand, though she's not pointing it anywhere. And yes, she can drive this ship with her thigh. [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12The dragon cocks her head. "Which ones are they?" [22:30] 7Blossom: "The ones from Icehome! The ones with the balloons and small airships!" [22:31] 4Ir: "She knows who they are." [22:34] <@Ferrinus> 12I've done some math and it's probably more like ten yalms, which is still pretty bad for anyone who's hoping to oppose her. Garuda: "Ahhh... the balloons! So fun to pop. Well, they may fly all they like - properly. But no worm or snake will wriggle its way into my realm with false wings." 15[22:35] 10Honestly, the balloons are stupid. [22:35] 13And they probably are pretty fun to pop. [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Just try it. Maybe this'll be the start of a beautiful friendship. [22:36] 4They're pretty and kids like them. Please focus. [22:36] 13Hey, so are we! [22:38] 7Blossom glowers. "You know full well that such things are in Vanileth's domain, not yours." 7Asking Yara about the god of artificial flight back when they visited Heaven finally pays off! [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Garuda's blank, white eyes widen, then narrow. She doesn't actually lunge at you, but the way she twitches and leans forward a bit definitely suggests what it might look like. "Vanileth. A funny little god. How he must have laughed when the snakes rose together on their rafts and carts and sleds - rose against me! Oh, how his power must have waxed!" [22:42] <@Ferrinus> "But where is he now? Where, ee hee hee, are all his toys? RUINED!" [22:44] 4Ir's not-so-subtly moved Jude's Law from a weapon into a keyboard...this is a damn good song. 08[22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Garuda might well have ranted a bit about 'snakes' back when you first met her. Eikichi knows, and could have warned her fellows, that the dragon's hatred of snakes is legendary - but 'snake' here means a wingless dragon, or to be more specific the Dragon-Blooded. Sounds like there's some kind of history between the northeast dragon and the Terrestrial Host. [22:49] 7Blossom: "What is your quarrel with the Dragon-Blooded?" [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Garuda: "Oh ho ho! Quite a question! Shouldn't you know? Wasn't it your idea?" [22:51] 13Huh! Well. [22:51] 7? [22:51] 4Ir: "For fuck's sake." 15[22:52] 10Eikichi: "She was brought by degrees to wield our Sword." 08[22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's must have been a powerfully on point joke, because the dragon shrieks with laughter. [22:53] 7??? 15[22:55] 10Eikichi switches to another song, singing of the fate of the primal dragons, dragged from the heavens in the age of the true Deliberative and imprisoned in the pylons of the Sword of Creation, at the behest of Creation's masters by the amassed might of the Terrestrial Host. 15[22:56] 10https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWdeMqELN-U "Our souls have been torn, and our bodies forsaken; bearing sins of the past, for our future is taken..." [22:56] 4Ir follows her lead, this time on something closer to a zither. [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Claps of thunder form the songs percussion, and the howling of the wind a vocal chorus. Slowly, one begins to grasp just what it is about the Age of Sorrows that Garuda finds so funny. "Never again shall your servants aught but crawl! You won from me your right of way, fairly - just enjoy it." 15[22:57] 10Feel what? Learn what? [22:59] 7Hmm. Well, nevertheless. 15[23:03] "Thy life is a riddle to bear rapture and sorrow -- to listen, to suffer, to entrust unto tomorrow; in one fleeting moment, from the land doth life flow..." [23:03] 4Ir feels that sweet, emptying pang flow over her, and her playing improves. 15[23:03] 10Eikichi's eyes shine with tears as they meet the great sky dragon's head on. "In the same fleeting moment, thou must live, die, and know." [23:06] 7Ah... the tragedy that these dragons had to make such a noble sacrifice to defend Creation. Certainly, without them the solid world might have been dissolved into chaos by Balor during the Great Contagion. [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Garuda's next peal of laughter simply becomes an actual scream that tears a vortex straight up through the sky, pulling apart grey cloud and blue firmament to, for one moment, reveal an iridescent, bubble-like skin that might well be the enveloping Wyld. Then, just as suddenly, she bows her head and falls, rocking the entire Heavensward as she perches physically on the prow and folds [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12all four wings about herself so as to obscure her head and body from sight. [23:07] 4Ir pulls her leg out from the wheel to rest a leg on the spokes. In case she needs to move fast. [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12You're left in a zone of relative calm, albeit surrounded still by swirling, lightning-shot cloud, with a sort of cone of green-grey feathers sitting at the head of your ship, silent and still. [23:07] 4Doesn't wipe away the tears. 15[23:09] 10The stage is set. Blossom can take it from here. [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12It's after a little while that the cloak of feathers Garuda's drawn up around herself shivers, then slides down a bit. She peers with glassy black eyes over the ridges of her crossed forewings, the wing-shapes that serve her as hair poking up from the hole she's opened in her cover. "Do you remember?" [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12(Only dimly, or in passing; it doesn't feel to any of you like this was your preincarnations' idea) [23:24] 7Blossom sighs. "Only a little. I don't think it was us." [23:24] 7Obviously Blossom would know if any of her friends were the slightest bit involved! [23:25] 6Tatsuya definitely would from all of that research in Mahalanka's libraries. 13And he'd have given said research to Ying. [23:25] 4Ir doesn't have anything happy or helpful to say about memory. [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Garuda: "Didn't stop it, though. But then, would I have? Maybe I wouldn't have liked me, hee hee!" [23:26] 4That, however-- "I've thought similar things about myself." [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Garuda: "I might have thought I was too important to stuff into a machine. But the sky's held up all these thousands of years, so who knows, who knows!" 12She stands slowly, still wrapped in her own wings except for her head and 'hair', and gazes down at the four of you primly. 14[23:27] * Joins: mattbaby [23:28] 13Held up the sky...? [23:35] 4Ir: "You were important though, weren't you? You are. Nobility. You wear some dutiful crown. Lord of...what? Lady of...what?" [23:35] "You do have a remit." 14[23:38] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Garuda's cloak of wings bursts open. She's suddenly floating above your prow, surrounded in a fierce, razor-edged gale, her eyes limned in emerald. "I am lady of the vortex, queen of the skies, greatest of the nine! But that didn't stop you and your hordes, did it." 12She folds her wings back around her body. At least she seems to be aware that she's using 'you' in the general [23:39] <@Ferrinus> 12plural sense. [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom remembers that simply the prospect of wrestling with the dragon Ravana caused the sky to shake and land to tremble. Garuda isn't wrong - she's intimately tied to the winds, and supports and modulates them in some very real and partially-automatic sense. It must be the case, then, that when the Deliberative dragged Garuda down and bound her, immense care and expense were [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12taken to preserve and stabilize the dragon's sympathetic link to the world's geomancy even as her raw elemental power was slaved to the Sword. It's a wonder that some sort of Direction-wide calamity didn't accompany the Sword's breakdown and her release. [23:48] 7Hmm. So what does this mean for her now? How can she 'go about her duties', and is that even meaningful anymore? Blossom is slightly distracted by the memory of the dragon Ravana. The mournful atmosphere saddens her for the loss of that dragon's... singing voice? Strange. [23:49] 13Ying's crouched down and holding her knees, just watching all this. Persuading Garuda to care about people was not something she expected they would have to do. [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Having both visited heaven and, now, learned more about Garuda's immediate properties and history, Blossom thinks she can work out the dragon's Duties in the official sense - beyond, obviously, existing. She imparts animation and the vital principle into the air, preventing it from going dead or stagnant; thus, it's up to her to ensure that cold and warm fronts move appropriately, [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12that storms happen periodically, and so on. Some of this she seems to be doing unconsciously. It's also up to Garuda and her servants to ensure that the interplay of air and wood goes according to spec, which means keeping the mix of gases in the air at a breathable ratio and, to the great regret of allergy sufferers everywhere, moving a lot of pollen around. Also, Garuda has authority [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12that she should technically be using to send various lesser elementals on smaller missions. It's possible that the world is suffering for Garuda's lackadaisical approach and doesn't know it - maybe the air atop mountains is thinner than it should be, storms too irregular, that sort of thing. [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12On top of that, however, Blossom's pretty sure that the link between Garuda's own vitality and that of the atmosphere automatically nominates Garuda as a guardian of sorts. If some horror beyond the world were to credibly and existentially threaten the air of creation, it would be within Garuda's remit to attack and destroy it. [23:54] 4Ir, meanwhile, studying her, is finding some lyrics for her song. Inspiration, at least. [23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12This means that terrorizing mortals and keeping them out of the skies is not actually part of Garuda's job, but, unfortunately, is also not counter to it. Call it an avocation. Session Time: Thu May 21 00:00:00 2020 [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12We'll find whether Garuda can be persuaded to spend more time at work and less on her hobbies... next week. 14[08:57] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[12:58] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:05] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[15:41] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:55] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:15] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[16:18] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:12] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[17:49] * Joins: Zarick 14[20:19] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:21] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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It definitely met Daizo's gaze in a thoroughly un-doglike way. So, there's no rush. Now that we know, and it knows we know, and so on…  [20:16] 10For now, just play it cool. [20:17] 6Zhangyu raged about in the locker rooms after his unceremonious exit from the ring earlier, but at this point he's moved on to simply gripping his robes so tightly his knuckles are white and occasionally gritting his teeth. [20:18] 10Play it cool, and make polite conversation with a rival. "I have to say, Caxi, that was quite the trick. But you know it can only work once, correct? No one will accept a match with you unless the ring-out clause is waived again." [20:19] 07Dryas leans over to Daizo. "We could send for men, weapons, and horses from the Defiance or the Leaf. But if it's Lunar why hasn't it struck yet?" [20:20] 10So much for the veneer of normality. [20:24] 6Have you seen us? "Normal" is not one of the first dozen words that comes to mind. [20:24] 10Daizo: "Ssh. Let's find a corner or something." [20:25] 6Pretending for the benefit of a weird dog/probable person is even more of a lost cause. 15[20:25] Caxi: "There's always the Obsidian Butterflies." [20:27] 10Daizo makes a wry face and finds a more private spot to speak with Dryas. SOON. "They're not all idiot brutes, you understand. This one… this one is gathering intelligence." [20:28] "On us, then? What should we do?" 07Dryas asks. [20:29] 6To Caxi: "That was a good play. Crowd seemed to like it, too." [20:30] 10Adter a moment: "We make contact. If something goes wrong, if I'm grossly misreading the situation, and it *is* here to kill us… I can hold it off long enough for help to arrive." 15[20:30] Caxi: "I think the crowd just liked my outfit." [20:31] 6Zhangyu: "No. They like my outfits, but they actually like you." [20:32] 07Dryas nods. "Alright. We'll play it cool in the meantime then." 15[20:32] "You are remarkably well-dressed for a Tepet," admits Caxi. [20:32] "Nothing that one of the Lunar Anathema says can be fully trusted, of course. But perhaps you can maneuver it into giving something away." [20:32] 6A crooked grin. "I'll take it." [20:34] "Back to it, then," 07Dryas murmurs to herself, retuning to the others. [20:37] 10Daizo follows close behind, with apologies to anyone he winds up bumping into or brushing with a covered wingtip along the way. 15[20:37] The two of them settle in among a silent crowd, as Thousand Devil Master's begun introducing the competitors. "...hailing from the center of the world, the champion of the Five Day Fight, V'Neef Piu!!" [20:38] "Yeah! Piu! Get 'im, girl!" 07Dryas cheers. [20:39] 10What are the odds that one underground fighting arena contains no fewer than three different varieties of Anathema? And then there's the Chosen that attacked Sadako… is he somewhere out in this crowd? 15[20:39] It is quite a famous underground fighting arena, mind... 15[20:40] It's really more illegal than underground. [20:40] 4She walks out, arms spread wide, grinning. They get a full view of the muscle definition...and the curves. She spins, once, twice, three times slowly as she walks to the center of the ring, not dizzied in the slightest, and bows deep -- while the robe's cut low, she's taped her chest for protection, boys and girls, but please don't avert your eyes -- and then as custom demands circles [20:40] 4off to a corner to let the champion make his entrance uncontested. [20:43] 10Daizo can't help but admire the grace and artistry and sheer bombastic saleswomanship on display here. [20:44] 4In the Realm, from high to low, you are the product. 15[20:45] The crowd likes Piu! "...from the City of Knives and Nooses, the reigning champion, Bruiser Khang!!!" The crowd's on their feet, chanting his name, as he comes out and the drummer starts in earnest. He reaches out to touch hands with the people in the stands as he strides to the ring, giving them a wave and a smile before hopping lightly in-bounds. [20:48] 6Zhangyu, who clapped and was fairly animated during Piu's entrance, practically sits on his hands for Bruiser Khang. [20:49] 10Daizo: "Wu-Jian, right under our noses. Khang's no fool, either." 15[20:50] Bruiser then turns to face Piu. For a moment he looks as if he's going to bow... but he just folds his arms instead. [20:51] 4She circles back to place herself between him and the door out -- symbolic, if arrogant -- extends an arm...and curls her hand, twice. [20:51] 4Come and get it, golden boy. [20:52] 4The air around her explodes into heat. 15[20:52] The gong sounds. [20:52] 6Holy shit. 15[21:05] Khang doesn't need further prompting. He comes in hard with a series of heavy forearm strikes! [21:06] 6Good technique but no lasting damage... still keeps Piu on the back foot, but she's got an opening here... [21:07] 4Piu almost blocks it! [21:07] 4Almost. [21:07] 4She at least isn't knocked down. [21:21] 4She leans through the blow, spins -- and delivers a fluid heel-glaive backkick to where his collarbone should be. [21:21] 4There's a hiss as the fire turns to steam. 15[21:21] Piu exploits an opening! The two of them seem evenly matched so far... [21:24] 6Zhangyu is on the edge of his seat. He paid for the whole thing, but this is all he needs. [21:24] 07Dryas: "Come on, Piu! Really give it to him!" [21:25] 10Daizo's watching the back and forth as intently as you might observe a Gateway match. He raises an arm in a silent cheer. [21:28] 4She follows that up by spinning into a jumping knee!! [21:30] 6Shit, that was good. Zhangyu's a fan of a good knee strike - gets them in position to wrench the arms - but using the momentum from a spin into a strike like that...! 15[21:31] With her swift attacks, Piu has turned the tide! The ace is on the back foot now... 15[21:38] ...but he steadily works her back to the center of the ring with a rain of punishing strikes! [21:38] 4Ow. Ow. Ow. [21:39] 4The steam deepens around her as she stays close, not allowing him to get distance to do a running attack. Yeah, that's it. Not allowing him to get distance. 15[21:39] It might be hard to see from the stands, but Piu can see that Khang's forearms are burned. [21:40] 4'He hurt his hands from hitting me so much' is tough to spin as a brag. [21:41] 07Dryas: "That's it! Wear him out!" [21:42] 6You leave that part out. "He didn't leave unharmed," and then you refuse to elaborate. [21:42] 10Daizo waves away some of the billowing steam. "This next exchange is going to decide it, I think," 10he says absently. [21:49] 10No!! She's still up! She's still up! Give him one to remember! [21:49] 4He hits her again and again, and she -- uses the corner to bounce, ducking away and taking his knee with her elbow! [21:50] 6Hell of a fight. Absolute hell. But Zhangyu's not seeing a way for Piu to win this... [21:51] 10Daizo: "Never been so happy to be proven wrong—" 15[22:07] Bruiser's finally wearing Piu down... their animas flare brighter and brighter, red and gold flames flickering across the arena, the heat shimmer rendering the fighters ghostlike. He takes a step back, winding up all of his weight. Red-gold veins of light pulse from his right shoulder to his fingertips, as the light of his ignited soul spins upward and sharpens, a thick-trunked tree, 15[22:07] freshly split by a bolt of lightning and falling forward in time with the ace's finisher: an uppercut he throws his whole body into, lifting himself clear off the ground and Piu much, much higher. 15[22:07] "IMPERIAL... CITY... SMASH!!!" 15[22:08] What does the crowd see when the dust settles? [22:08] 07Dryas covers her mouth with her hand in horror. [22:09] 6Zhangyu looks on stoically. Piu won't be dead. But. That's all he can say for certain. [22:11] 4Piu lies there broken and motionless on the canvas for a quarter-second...then grunts. Stands. Her right arm is clearly broken; it's fairly bad. 14She glances down at it; more annoyance on her face than anything else. [22:12] 14She takes a perfunctory knee, just long enough for the gong to sound Bruiser's victory, then bows. [22:12] 4At the very least, Piu will be walking off. [22:12] 10Daizo: "Mela's breath… What a monster…" 10The steam and dust begin to clear. [22:13] 14She wasn't expecting the first real hit to be quite so hard. Broken arm. She's endangered the mission. [22:13] 14Stupid! 15[22:13] Salim: "'And he wore a kingly crown, and in his hand a scepter shone, and on his brow this mark I saw: I am God, and King, and Law.'" 15[22:14] Now Bruiser bows. [22:14] 6Zhangyu inhales sharply and heads off towards wherever the medics for the wrestlers are. Not sure if just anyone can get there, but surely he can. [22:14] 07Dryas applauds gamely for Piu's showing, taking a moment to sneer at Salim. [22:15] 4Once she's been sufficiently respectful, and with a game, pained smile on her face for the crowd once the dust has settled, Piu will head off. [22:15] 14She needs to get this arm set immediately. [22:19] 10Daizo: "'Then all cried with one accord: Thou art God and King and Lord. Tyranny, to thee we bow… be thy name made holy now.'" 15[22:20] Salim, mildly: "He cannot be allowed to live." [22:21] 10Daizo hadn't placed Salim for a man of culture. "I fear you may be right." 14[22:21] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:21] * Joins: VoxPrime [22:22] 4She'll make it to their private room in the bar 14before collapsing onto a couch, and starting to break a chair for a splint. 15[22:22] Caxi's on her feet. "I'll see to her." [22:22] 14Can always pay for a new one. 15[22:22] Seiri looks mortified. [22:24] 07Dryas is on her feet, looking behind her for the dog and withdrawing a silk handkerchief from her sleeve. 15[22:25] The dog seems to have gone, or otherwise been lost in the crowd filing out. 15[22:25] Piu is followed by the house medics, who are coldly cast aside by Caxi as she brushes past them. "That brute!" [22:26] 6It takes Zhangyu multiple moments to realize - this isn't where Piu is heading. Fuck. Okay, time to try and find the rest-- ah. [22:26] 4Piu, more calmly than you might expect: "Pretty hot though!" [22:26] "I burned his arms." [22:26] 6He'll be late. But not as late as waiting endlessly for her to show up with the Hinokuni medics. [22:27] 10Daizo: "It's going to be all right, Seiri. Piu's okay—any fight you can walk away from is a good one. And Khang… We'll have to talk about Khang later." [22:28] 10What's Ted doing in all this?  [22:29] 07Dryas scoops up an unattended pork rib from some idiot's abandoned plate and wraps it in the kerchief as she makes her way to the back of the hall, where the dog had been sitting. 15[22:30] Caxi subjects Piu to a battery of pokes and prods, looking for broken bones, signs of internal bleeding, and signs of a serious head injury. "I hope it blisters. I hope bugs crawl into his skin." [22:30] 4Placidly: "Won't matter. Think he's kinda beyond that stuff." [22:31] 6Zhangyu, finally entering: "Thought still counts. Hell of a fight, by the way." [22:31] "In retrospect, probably shouldn'ta taken off that ring out rule. Oh well!" [22:31] 14It was humiliating, and it made her unfit for purpose. 4Piu: "Thanks!" 15[22:32] Ted frowned very deeply at the finale of the match, and is now among the people crowding outside the kinship's private room. 15[22:32] A bunch of the fighters are. 15[22:32] Salim and Seiri are with Daizo. [22:32] 6Are any of them just rubbernecking and not actually concerned? [22:32] 4Piu will go out to hobnob once her arm's properly seen to. 15[22:33] Who can say? 15[22:34] Caxi: "I can set this right now, but these bruises are deep. I can take care of them tonight, but not with so many people around." 15[22:35] She manages to set it without a splint, too - just some very snug bandages. [22:36] 4Piu: "Mmmmm. Sounds good." [22:37] 6Zhangyu: "It is." 15[22:37] Caxi smirks. 15[22:39] Some people are rubbernecking. The fighters, especially ones who've faced Bruiser, are not. [22:41] 6Zhangyu will glare at the rubberneckers. The fighters... They can stick around. [22:41] 4Piu gives Caxi a kiss on the cheek that is perilously close to her lips, adjusts the sling and splint, and will step out to greet her...public? 15[22:42] Piu is mobbed by fans as she steps into view. Or she would be, if Zhangyu's glare weren't keeping them at bay. [22:44] 10Daizo: "Salim, kindly wait here for me, would you? Seiri, you want to go up and check on Piu? Caxi should have at least managed to splint her arm by now." [22:44] 6He'll stop glaring once Piu actually reveals herself, but Zhangyu will stick around just in case. [22:45] 4Piu will cheerfully engage the fans, using Zhangyu to deflect the more lecherous or tedious ones. She's got a broken arm here! 15[22:45] Seiri and Salim both nod silently, with very different expressions on their faces. 15[22:47] Seiri has a hard time squeezing through the crowd to get to Piu, but Daizo cuts an impressive path. She looks so relieved to see Piu up and about. [22:47] 4Piu, upon seeing her, will stride over and give her a (one-armed) hug. 15[22:48] Seiri squeezes back very gently. [22:48] 10To Zhangyu: "I have some business with Dryas outside. If we're not back soon, make sure she gets back to the hostelry safely, Cousin." [22:48] 6Zhangyu: "I will." [22:49] 6He's watching both Piu and Seiri, now, and pointedly ignoring the... 'lecherous' ones that Piu redirected to him. The tedious ones wear themselves out eventually. 15[22:49] Meanwhile, Dryas ignores the ruckus and cuts through the crowd, outside, picking up Daizo and Salim as she goes. She's following a trail from the cheap seats through the crowd to where people (many of whom were rubberneckers scared off by Zhangyu) are filing out into the late-afternoon light. After so long indoors, the aggressively pink light Hamoji's giving off is extra jarring. [22:51] 10To Salim: "Stay behind us, and try not to be seen. If you spot anything strange, give a signal. A bird call, something like that." [22:52] 4What fighters are here? And what are they up to? Presumably they're not coursing in with the fans. 15[22:52] It gets a lot harder to follow out here, but Cynis Dryas is a huntress par excellence. By identifying what the smoothest path would be for a dog, she and the others elbow through the crowds to loop around the building and down a long road that ends in an open-air market that's winding down for the day. Among the grocers and the people picking out dinner she spots - aha! - a wagging 15[22:52] tail, and a dog whose head is buried in a bucket of fish heads. 15[22:54] The fighters are drinking. Seated closest to the door she came out of is Ted, with Son-of-Sabers beside him. Sublime Master Thief raises a a mug when Piu makes eye contact. El and the otaku are at the far end. [22:55] 4Piu will tend to her fans as much as is responsible...and then she's getting a damn drink. 15[22:55] Ted is watching her the most closely, but he's trying to be subtle about it. [22:56] 4What a dear. [22:56] 14She's still going to find a way out of this with Hedrin dead. And she sees no reason why Ted needs to die. 15[22:57] When she's done getting cooed over and cheered, she's got her pick of people who want to buy her a drink. [22:58] 4Ted gets first dibs. [22:59] 4In fact, depending on the seating arrangements, she'll slide in next to him. Preferably on his right, so she's not leaning a broken arm against him. [23:00] 6Zhangyu, stormy demeanor and all, will try and be somewhat close - if not next to - Piu. Glaring at people yes, being weirdly overprotective of someone who has demonstrated they can handle themselves no. [23:01] 4Is he welcome at the table, or is this gathering solely for those who've gotten their asses kicked by Bruiser? [23:02] 6I mean, he's not that hurt. You want him to go get his ass kicked, he can do it. 15[23:02] No one's turning Zhangyu away. People acknowledge him politely, except for Son-of-Sabers, who is pretending not to notice him. [23:03] 6Ow. [23:03] 4Piu will kill the drink in one go, then slam it down. "I guess technically that wouldn't've been a ring out anyway." [23:04] 10Daizo's proposed approach towards this too-wise dog, discussed in hushed tones as they push through the darkened road, is very simple: "Try and pet it and see what happens. If it flees, we chase it. If it attacks, run and get help. And if it's friendly… play it by ear." 15[23:05] Ted: "I keep trying to tell him that being able to come back in from a ring out makes for much better fights. He insists it's tradition." [23:05] 6Zhangyu is keeping an eye on Seiri, for the record. Probably she isn't welcome at the table...? [23:05] 07Dryas exchanges a glance with Daizo, then saunters towards the bucket of fish heads, dangling the pork rib enticingly. "Here, poochy poochy," 07she purrs sarcastically. [23:06] 4Piu: "Does he always try to end it with the one big hit?" 15[23:07] Ted: "Man does love his finishers." 15[23:08] Son-of-Sabers: "Bruiser is skilled, and strong, but he has no appreciation for the technical game." [23:09] 4Piu will signal for another drink. Doesn't really care who pays for it. "I'd say I was just one big hit away from a win myself, but...I was on a 9 effort just to hang with his 4, if we're talking from 10." [23:09] 6Drink obtained. Social obligations performed, Piu can handle herself. Is there a table or something for Seiri to sit at nearby? Probably dragging her to the table of fighters itself would go over poorly. [23:10] 10Zhangyu's a good host! 15[23:10] Ted: "Doesn't seem fair to put a demon up against Chosen." [23:10] 6He's been informed of propriety. That sort of counts. 15[23:11] Sublime Master Thief: "It was really tight there at the start. Just a little bit of sneezing powder in a scroll and you could've had that." 15[23:11] Once she sees Piu is alright, she's perfectly content to sit anywhere. [23:12] 4She giggles, but it's close to a belly-laugh. "Yeah! I forgot all about that stuff when the fight came over me. I don't know how you do it!" 15[23:12] The dog lifts its head from the bucket, fish guts clinging to its face, and looks in Dryas's direction. The dog cocks its head, one ear quirked. [23:13] 6Zhangyu will actually sit with her rather than the fighters - he'll want to be close just in case, but Daizo cares, which means Zhangyu should care. And that means: "You doing all right?" 6he asks Seiri. 15[23:13] Sublime Master Thief: "I just get inside people's heads. Ted, tell her about the time I read your mind." 15[23:13] Ted smiles into his glass. "Oh, you tell it so much better." 15[23:14] Seiri: "Master Zhangyu... may I ask you a question?" [23:14] 6An agreeable grunt. 15[23:14] Seiri: "Why do you enjoy fighting?" [23:15] 6Zhangyu: "Do you want the proper answer or the real answer?" [23:15] 4Piu is very attentive. 15[23:15] Seiri: "The real one." [23:16] "Wouldn't you rather have something tastier than an old fish head?" 07Dryas asks, presenting the rib - she's speaking High Realm in a diminutive tense, as one might use to speak to a young child or a particularly idiotic retainer. Maybe she should have poisoned it first. [23:18] 10Daizo's hanging back a bit, but he's smiling—no teeth showing—and looking relaxed. But maybe letting Dryas take the lead on this was a mistake.  15[23:18] Sublime Master Thief: "So a year or two ago, this pretty bitch comes in with old Tenkai's medallion. Says he wants to fight. Now it's barely past dawn. Devil is sleeping off a hangover, I'm cleaning up, still drunk. Most senior guy awake. So it falls to me to work him in. 'What's your name?' I ask him. He goes, trying to be a little shit, he goes, "Guess." [23:18] 4She glances over at Ted at 'pretty bitch.' [23:18] 6Quietly: "I get to prove that I am worth it." 6His mouth is a flat line. "Daizo trusts you," 6is his non-sequitur followup. 15[23:19] Ted looks slightly rueful. 15[23:21] Sublime Master Thief: "So I wrack my wasted brain trying to come up with the rudest thing I can call him. I'm not... totally verbal, I'm coming up blank on puns or innuendo, so I think about word sounds. I just start making sounds, I must've looked like a babbling baby. Finally I settle on 'Ted'. I say, 'Your name is Ted. You look like a Ted to me, boy.' And he's got that same little 15[23:21] look he's got right now. And he says, 'Got it in one.'" 15[23:21] The dog pads toward Dryas, inspecting the bone. It gets close enough to sniff. [23:22] 10Daizo: "You've been following us around since the festival at Hamoji, haven/t you? Does one of us smell good? Or particularly bad?" 15[23:22] Close enough for Dryas to sniff, too. Whew-ee! [23:23] 4Piu: "Had you seen a Ted before?" 15[23:23] Sublime Master Thief: "Nah. But I just *knew*, looking at him. Divine inspiration." 15[23:24] What does Dryas do when the dog tries to take the bone in its mouth? [23:24] 4Piu considers Ted for longer now. "Mmmmmm. Well the single syllable fits." 15[23:25] Seiri: "I hope so. I worry I haven't been earning my keep." [23:27] 07She'll drop the bone into its waiting mouth and crouch besides, reaching for one of its - floppy? ears. "And who is this shaggy beast in need of a bath, mm?" [23:28] "Kind of seems like it's short for something." [23:29] 10If nothing else, Seiri's information about the ali-ki and the Witch of the Far Side has been more than enough. But Zhangyu probably doesn't know that. [23:31] 6Zhangyu: "He's more open with you than the rest of us," 6bland. Not accusatory. "And - you've helped. Even setting that aside." [23:33] "Keep it up," 6he finishes awkwardly. [23:34] 6They are still going to be at this table. 15[23:34] Ted: "I like to think it stands on its own." [23:35] 6Zhangyu is very good at reading social situations, and he is even better at intimidating people. But something simple like this is beyond his reach. 15[23:35] The dog takes the bone and runs off. [23:35] 4Piu, leaning into him slightly: "The T does pretty well for itself." [23:36] 4See, it looks like a-- [23:37] 07Dryas narrows her eyes and sets off after it. [23:39] 10Daizo starts running too. "If you smell a trap, we'll break off pursuit." 15[23:39] Salim follows in kind. 15[23:43] Seiri nurses her tea. "Does he seem different, since- since what happened on the mountain?" [23:48] 6Zhangyu: "More closed off," 6he settles on. "I don't think he's handling it well, but I don't know what handling it well would mean." [23:49] "Maybe he's doing better than anyone else." 15[23:49] The dog is fast - Dryas has seen dogs with this build -- albeit better-fed and less mangy -- as hunting dogs in the South, particularly among the Delzahn nomads. But Daizo, even with his bulky stone wings, is able to keep peace. It takes a fair bit to actually catch up, and by the time he does they're at the mouth of a blind alley with the dog halfway down it. [23:51] 10He's nearly sent sprawling once when one of the wings clips a fencepost, but miraculously keeps his feet. 14[23:51] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[23:52] * Joins: cbass [23:54] 07Dryas is breathing hard and her hair is disheveled when she catches up; she raises her right hand in greeting. Her left hand makes its way to the small of her back, to the flamepiece she carries for social occasions.  15[23:54] The dog burrows into a pile of trash... and a man crawls out, hair and beard thick and dark and wild, years-unshaven. He's swaddled in layers upon layers of rags. He pulls a banana peel gingerly from his enormous hair. 15[23:55] Then he cocks his head again. [23:56] 10Daizo: "We just want to know what you want with us." 10Gah, the stench—Daizo doesn't want to breathe, almost, but you have to. 15[23:57] "This place is crawling with Anathema," mutters Salim. 15[23:59] The haggard man strokes his beard. His High Realm is halting and heavily accented. "You're not a Wyld Hunt." [23:59] 6Give the man a prize. Session Time: Wed May 27 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] 10Daizo: "No. We're not. We're only after one kind of prey right now." 15[00:01] "Me?" [00:01] "Unless you're the one that killed Hamoji, no." [00:03] 10This pathetic rag-man—this isn't like the proud monster that slaughtered his comrades, guffawing like it was a bad joke—he's a 10beggar10, a 10bum10! Just what is going on here? 15[00:04] The haggard man shakes his head. "Hamoji was fair. Not kind, but fair." [00:05] 07Dryas: "And who are you, for that matter?" 15[00:07] Man: "I'm nobody. Who are you?" 15[00:08] * Disconnected 15[08:20] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[08:20] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[08:20] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[08:20] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[08:57] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[15:37] * Joins: tom 14[16:19] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[17:30] * Joins: Zarick 14[18:41] * Joins: mattbaby 15[18:46] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed May 27 18:46:35 2020 Session Start: Wed May 27 18:52:13 2020 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[18:52] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[18:52] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[18:52] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[18:54] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[18:56] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[19:09] * Joins: cbass 15[19:20] * Disconnected Session Close: Wed May 27 19:20:11 2020 Session Start: Wed May 27 19:35:52 2020 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[19:35] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[19:35] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[19:35] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[19:41] * Quits: hrolf (Quit: Leaving) 14[19:47] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[19:49] * Joins: cbass 14[20:14] * Joins: mattbaby 14[20:16] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[20:18] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:33] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[21:24] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:06] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[22:06] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:33] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[23:43] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Thu May 28 00:00:00 2020 14[02:48] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[02:48] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:52] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[04:18] * Joins: tom 14[04:29] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[09:01] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[12:13] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:17] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[17:41] * Joins: Zarick [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12 (()__(() [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \ [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12 ( / \ \ [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ o o / [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12 (_()_)__/ \ [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12 / _,==.____ \ [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12 ( |--| ) [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12 /\_.|__|'-.__/\_ [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12 / ( / \ [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ \ ( / [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12 ) '._____) / [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12(((____.--(((____/ [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12The Squared Circle's embroiled in a pitched confrontation with Garuda, Lady of the Vortex! ...of a sort, anyway. They're in the eye of a great storm a mile or more above Haslanti lands, the ground below obscured by mists and a great cylinder of green-grey cloud rotating about their vessel. Perched on the Heavensward's prow is the Lady herself, looking somewhat arch and standoffish [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12as she stands at her full height, four wings wrapped around her like a long, feathered cloak. Yet rather than glaring down at you with crazed killing intent, the primal dragon simply stares off into the distance in a reverie, having reminded you, and been reminded in turn, of how and why the five of you got here. [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Lining the Heavensward's decks are ghostly images of the dragon's servants, mostly shaggy, feather-studded bears which perch on the ship's masts and railing and adopt poses of monklike meditation. They're barely solid now, though - just hints of breeze and vapor. [20:44] 4It would be cool to leave here without a fight. [20:45] 4The Squared Circle could, frankly, use a win that doesn't involve total violent domination, but talking instead. [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12To recap, you've learned that Garuda has spent most of the last three Ages trapped in the Sword of Creation, wrung from the sky by the Dragon-Blooded host and then bound into the Deliberative's awesome machinery. Somehow her imprisonment was modulated such that her responsibilities to Creation - chiefly to do with ensuring that the vital, animating principle remains in the air, [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12keeping the atmosphere breathable, pollen flowing across the seasons, and somehow - were still fulfilled in some abstracted, automated way across the millenia. It's not clear if they're being fulfilled now that Garuda's out and about - one suspects this is the sort of thing that only becomes obvious decades or centuries down the line, and in very unpleasant ways if the answer's "no". [20:46] 13Ying is here. Ying is very sure she should not be here. Sun almightly. [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12It seems that Garuda's firmly against ever allowing the worms and snakes that crawl across the ground unfettered access to the sky again, lest they pull their trick a second time. This isn't good for the Haslanti economy, but then, what is? Besides the opposite state of affairs, obviously. 15[20:53] 10Eikichi's fingers fall still on Absolute Zero's strings. She looks to Blossom. [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12After a few moments' silence, Garuda looks back over the four of you. "Gerd didn't ask you here, did he?" [20:58] 4Ir: "I don't think we know anyone by that name." [20:58] 13Ying just tilts her head, confused. [21:00] 7Gerd? 15[21:01] 10Eikichi: "No, the Lunar host isn't very fond of us either." [21:01] "...If it's someone in your weight class, I think we'd remember the meeting." [21:01] 13Ying: "That's a weird sports man, right? He uses skates." [21:01] 4Ir: "No, dear." [21:02] 13Ying: "?_?" 08[21:03] 4Ir glances over at Eikichi. What's the room temperature on fucking over a Lunar eldar? Ir's got grudges, yeah, but making it into a pattern after Raksi... [21:03] *4elder [21:04] 13Wait no I was told he was a catspaw [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Garuda: "I wondered. He won his own right to the skies, of course, just as you did. But when he pushed for an entire nation's -- no such luck." [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12The dragon sniffs. "I can appreciate a worthy challenge, but some presume too much." 15[21:05] 10Eikichi looks chagrined. This is a very difficult needle to thread. [21:09] 4It's probably time to punt on the idea of reconciliation and retreat into an increasingly more difficult series of emotionless liaisons, frankly. [21:10] 13Ying: "Um. I don't think I got to say 'hi,' last time. So. Hi!" [21:10] 4Oh sorry. Mixing the personal and the political there. [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Garuda peers down at the cat-woman. Is there a glint of animosity in her black-on-black eyes, a slight tightening of the feathers? Could the ancient feud be playing itself out even now? "Are you new?" [21:12] 13Ying: "I was a secret!" 13She's beaming. [21:13] 13She also does not appear to be intimidated by Garuda. [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Garuda isn't intimidated either, or at least shouldn't be. But, you know... birds, cats... [21:17] 6Hnnngh 13Look, that would be weird! [21:20] 6She's right there 13AND THAT WOULD BE WEIRD [21:21] 4Ir leans forward against the wheel and sighs. Those two. [21:29] 7Blossom: "You know... it seems to me like you're a little bored. Am I wrong? Flying around popping balloons..." [21:33] 4Ir: "It's not like they're getting more difficult to burst. You're kind of stuck with a very specific tier of intruder to remove, absent weirdos like us flying in." [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Garuda: "Oh... you know, a little. There's old acquaintances to catch up with, of course, and some mountain-women who tell me delightful stories." 12She's probably referring to her own cultists in the Hedgehog here. "But there's little else to do. The warm fronts and cold fronts seem to be behaving, mostly..." [21:35] 13Ying: "You fly around that region? Like, it's yours now?" [21:37] 7Blossom: "The pollen? The nourishing quality of the air? The vital essence ever-flowing upward, as the tribute the earth pays to heaven? I'm sure you more than anyone know that the sky is a living thing." [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Garuda, to Ying: "It was always mine." 12To Blossom: "It... abides, doesn't it? More or less." 12There's a hint of resentment in the dragon's voice. Thousands of years have passed since her imprisonment, and perhaps five or ten since her escape. You can tell that the current state of the atmosphere does bother her - but perhaps it bothers her more to find that the entire world's [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12not in a shambles without her. [21:40] 13Ying makes a sour face. [21:43] 7Blossom: "They call this the Age of Sorrows for a reason. People say 'oh, the world abides, more or less'. But it hasn't!" [21:45] 4Ir: "Every thing stays the same, except it gets worse." [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Garuda: "And whose fault is that? Imagine where I'd be if the cage built for me wasn't slowly rotting!" [21:49] 13Ying's face is even more sour. 14[22:01] * Joins: mattbaby [22:10] 7Blossom: "Exactly! And because it's fallen apart, you're where you have to be - as Creation's strong talon against invasion from the Deep Wyld! There isn't anyone else, anymore!" [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Garuda nods slowly to herself, the wing-like structures on her crown bobbing gently. Then she stops. "That's what you used me for, isn't it? I remember -- I remember -- worms going green and shriveling up, the winds blowing plague to and fro, but then she took my Essence and lashed out with it." [22:15] 13Ying is reasonably sure that is not what happened. [22:19] 13...it didn't, right? [22:20] 13It didn't. Please [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12What is she talking about...? [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12...she's talking about the Great Contagion. That italicized "she", spit with utmost venom, must be the Scarlet Empress! [22:23] 13How does one say :I? Oh, like that. :I 15[22:30] 10Eikichi: "Yes, it was what we needed you for, and it was glorious! Mistress of the whirlwind, defender of life -- we have failed you, time and again, and some crimes are so ancient and deep that it will take lifetimes to atone. But you have a choice to make, and bond or free you are called." [22:53] 7Blossom: "We are queens brought low. Lady of the Vortex isn't just an title, but a grand and glorious responsibility! You are set over the northeastern skies not because you're the strongest animal with the sharpest claws, but because you are a dragon! Who tends the storms like a garden, whose enlightened soul purges foulness from the air, whose skyways spread the flowers!" [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Garuda: "...well spoken. Well spoken! Am I not the mightiest of the primals? Are all the skies and all the life beneath them not within my bailiwick?!" 12Her upper set of wings spreads wide. "No machine could have done but half my duty! And the fiends who built it- well, well, well," 12she might be revving up to some dread pronouncement here. Can someone cut her off? 15[23:16] "Have you seen your prison lately? It's a scoured ruin - we brought the mountains down to drive away human and inhuman predators, and now your people and ours are safe. The Sword of Creation is in a tyrant's hands, but you are free." [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12This seems to satisfy the dragon. "It is looking much prettier now - and much emptier, if not completely." 12Garuda smiles to herself serenely. [23:19] 4...These are much more convincing arguments than Ir would have made. Most of which would have figured around "wouldn't it be cool if we fought something bigger, together?" [23:37] 7Blossom feels good about this conversation. It looks like she's been managing to talk the primal dragon into going back to work and seeing all the people scurrying about below less as ants to be smooshed at leisure, while her friends have intervened to keep the furious creature from raining a terrible revenge down on the Dragon-blooded at large. [23:52] 7Blossom: "Lady of the Vortex, will you take up your mantle once again, and accept the small flyers below not as invaders or challengers but as pilgrims, no less than the birds or the clouds?" [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Garuda stares down with onyx eyes, her wings unfurling partially until she hangs above the Heavensward's prow in four loose coils of grey-green feathers. Odd pinions or talons twitch slightly as you watch, detecting slight imbalances or misalignments in atmospheric forces which are growing harder and harder to simply let slide by. Swatting the airships down was fun... for a while... [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12but... "The skies are mine. And so are the pathetic little creatures which might, one day or another, go fluttering through them. Perhaps you're right. Perhaps it's time I set my attention to loftier things." [23:59] 4Ir shrugs...but also smiles. Session Time: Fri May 29 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12With a great clap of thunder, Garuda spreads all four wings, suddenly hanging above your deck in a whirlwind so fierce as to be visible - this could easily be a combat stance. "I've lingered enough! Much now demands my attention. I've let the storms grow as boring as I was bored." 12Another thunderclap, and she's gone! No -- it's just that her position above the Heavensward's been [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12replaced with a streak of vapor, one that you can follow with your eyes in a great, crazy spiral that loops your ship several times before stopping one or two hundred fulms away and above you, where the dragon now hangs. Clouds boil around her. "You may let the worms know that the skies are open to any who can survive them!" [00:01] 4When she's gone, Ir slumps back against the navigator's chair. "Well, fuck." [00:01] "That FELT almost like a fight." [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12The stormfronts whirl and coil and condense now, and the gigantic bird-woman now hangs at the front of a writhing pillar of cloudstuff that puts you more in more in mind of the body of a great serpent. "Except the snakes, the wingless ones, your so-called dragon-blooded! Any who enter my domain take their lives into their own hands!" [00:02] 7Well, we can circle back around on that one later. 15[00:03] 10So this is international diplomacy... not bad. [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Garuda: "I have spoken! Ee hee hee heeee-" 12An enormous dragon hangs where she was now, and it surges at and through the Heavensward, a great serpent of lightning-shot cloud that rushes over and past you to leave your ship and your persons damp and sparking with static. In a motion that reminds you slightly of a zipper's mechanical action, the spectral wind-bears arrayed on [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12your decks turn away and drift off in matched pairs from prow to stern. [00:03] 4Okay, now Ir says that stuff. [00:04] 4Ir: "Ladies...we kind of fuckin rule."{ [00:04] "Tatsuya too but he's not here right now." [00:04] 7Blossom: "I know, right?!" [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12The sky's still a whirl of heat and energy around you - it'll take hours for the storm to subside. But Garuda has quit this audience, and you're free to take the Heavensward back down to ground level without triggering an attack of opportunity. [00:05] 7Blossom: "Let's tell the Haslanti the good news." [00:07] 4Ir: "Setting course." [00:07] 4She gives the wheel a spin. [00:08] <@Ferrinus> 12It's not a long flight back down to Icehome. The airship docks are as empty as ever, and you're free to alight on the same one and call for an audience with high chieftain Inara within a couple hours. 15[00:10] 10Eikichi's still coasting on the afterglow of how great we all are. [00:10] 4We are pretty great. Let's get this stuff with Inara done. [00:11] 7How's Inara looking? Surprised? Impressed that we came back alive? [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Call it careful. You did visibly fly off, and there were impossible-to-ignore weather phenomena up and out in the distance, and now you're back and slightly damp -- she's not sure what she's supposed to believe and, you'd judge, isn't past the point of simply suspecting some sort of ruse. [00:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara: "You have returned. What news?" [00:12] 4Ir: "Garuda's a peach." [00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara: "Ah.... your meaning?" 15[00:13] "The Lady of the Vortex has a renewed sense of purpose, and will govern the skies with fairness and fidelity." [00:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara: "Which doesn't include bringing down every ship, to be clear?" [00:17] 4Ir: "Well, I suppose that's up to you." [00:17] "But not by nature, no." [00:17] 7Blossom: "Correct. The skies are open... though she still harbors a contempt for the Dragon-Blooded." [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara: "You're sure? You have her word? I have yours?" 15[00:19] "Garuda's not famous for her subtlety, and we're not much better. We don't do tricks." [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Inara drums her fingers on the armrests of her throne, such as it is. "I haven't dreamed of this... in either direction. So we will test it. Tomorrow, we launch a ship. If doesn't return, you owe me a boon. If it does, I owe the Hedgehog a negotiation." [00:22] 7Blossom: "We'll be here to see it." 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ZZZzzz…) Session Time: Thu Jun 04 00:00:00 2020 14[05:29] * Quits: trenchfoot (Connection closed) 14[05:29] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[08:11] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[08:13] * Joins: Zarick 14[08:31] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[12:16] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:13] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[15:48] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:04] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[16:04] * Joins: cbass 14[16:45] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[17:38] * Joins: Zarick [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12 _-.:.-_ [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12 .'-/_:-;_\- . [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12 /_'/__ |__'._'\ [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12 '__(___.)___ )_ ' [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12 (__(___ )___ )__) [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12 .__(___.(__ )_ . [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12 \__\__ )__ /__/ [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12 -__\ _(_ -_. [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ _\_)./_/ [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12 \_.|_./ [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12 |_|_| [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12 \_/ [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12 [_] [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12All the hopes of the Haslanti alight on a personal airship that launches on its lonesome from a long-unsued airship dock. It's a simple design - a basket of rope and wood, a carefully-shaped cradle of feathersteel in which is ensconced a chunk of emberstone set alight by alchemy, and a great tarpaulin that's pressed into a bulging balloon by a continuous stream of thin, hot air rising [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12from the entire contraption. A young woman in leathers sparked the thing, waited for the balloon to fill, then cut the ropes behind her; a great crowd, you likely in it, watched the tiny craft ascend into the heavens. 15[20:49] 10Cute! Eikichi's not sure about the fragility of the design, but cute! [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12A day later, great cheers erupt, because it's been observed approaching through a spyglass, little worse for wear. Just hours after that, it's touching back down, the pilot reporting a great deal of tricky-to-navigate turbulence - apparently the old books didn't warn her of such weather patterns in these parts of the northeastern skies, there'll have to be a great deal of revision [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12to the airmaps - but, crucially, no dragons. [20:50] 4Well, you don't want to spend too much on testing the water. Air. [20:50] 4Ir had the Heavensward sitting ready just in case. Of course, it didn't look like she did. [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12By the gods, you've done it. Icehome is suddenly in a frenzy of activity; privately, Inara tells you later on that her hopes began and ended with your being able to maybe extend your immunity to a handful of her own peoples' ships, not the revitalization of the entire fleet. The people of the Hedgehog can expect trade channels reopened - indeed, Icehome might be willing even to resume [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12talks with Crystal and Diamond Hearth, assuming they haven't been overrun by the dead and are willing to take up their old debts. [20:51] 13Yaaaay! ...how old are those books, by the by? Should we be worried about the weather pattern changes, or is this just, y'know, time and maybe old inaccuracies? [20:54] 7It seems pretty likely that Garuda is whipping up new winds, now that the Northeast is breathing manually for the first time since the High First Age. It won't matter for us, since the Heavensward can sail against wind and tide. [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12They were certainly accurate some twenty or thirty years ago. Presumably this is Garuda's work, even more presumably for the better. [20:55] 4This fixes one of our big problems. Do we still need to deal with the Guild? [20:56] 7We have to let their man near the Hedgehog know that Icehome's willing to reopen trade, but that's all. [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Technically, yes, but while it's a little tedious in practice it's simple to narrate; you've dealt with the hard part. Blossom should make an appearance or at least place some kind of seal or signature on a formal missive to Therak at the local storage hub, but that's as easy as saying you've done so. [20:57] 4Kind of a pity...but not really. We're going to have enough on our hands with House Cathak even if the navy stuff goes well. [21:02] 4Back to the Hedgehog, then? [21:03] 7Yep, short stopover to tell Therak the good news. [21:04] 4We should be able to tell on the approach how many ships Cathak has stalking the coast now, with a short detour. Ir will even try to hide in the cloud cover so they can't see the Heavensward seeing them. [21:04] 6Weren't we going to look into Crystal? Or was that just Tatsuya's wishful thinking? Hedgehog is more pressing, regardless. [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, I guess there's one point of friction in that Therak expects some kind of specific wheel-greasing or bribery pointed in his direction for brokering this stuff for you and having to turn around and deal with complaints from higher-ups in the Guild hierarchy, so you'll want to either put together some sort of gift of jade, silver, or artifacts, or promise a favor, or just lean [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12on him until he cuts it out. You've got resources enough that it'll only have a negligible effect on your stores, thankfully. [21:05] 4We should check in on Crystal...but these Cathak ships first. [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Once that's done with, the Hedgehog and its coast presumably await you. As you pass over the central sphere and its newly-attached docks/shipworks you can see that a small contingent of catamarans has been completed and is in theory ready to sally forth. But you can go farther and spy on the Cathak themselves- [21:05] 7Really? He wants a bribe for doing the only thing that will get him climbing the ranks again? I mean, he can sit here in the storage hub doing nothing at all if he wants... [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Hmm, well, when you put it like that, Therak's sure that brokering this agreement will be its own reward. [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Hours later, Ir's geeeennnttllly nudging the Heavensward downward, trying to get close enough that she and her fellows can spy on the Cathak with their naked eyes. And she's doing it, ensconced in a thin mist of clouds and yet tipping sideways such that her circlemates can gaze down at the blockade, such as it is. The good news is that, as reported, it's quite small: three ships, [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12one basically Heavensward-sized and two more slightly-built ones flanking it. The fleet of catamaran raiders your cultists have built, if piloted well and ideally if backed up by magic of their own, should be able to drive off if not actually board these bastards successfully. [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12The two smaller vessels just feature sailors in Cathak colors, appropriately-armored and hard-bitten in appearance for their commissions but not particularly standing out. The flagship's got a larger crew and what look like personages of note. [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Most notable is a tall, black-haired woman in a robe that Blossom actually recognizes - that's Cathak Shizura, a water-aspected sorceress and something of a black sheep for both her Exaltation and her general tastes. She's not that old - had the Second Breath for maybe forty years - but she and Blossom probably met a few times at ceremonies or other family occasions, at least once [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12when Blossom was very young and a second time after it seemed clear to everyone that Blossom wuld never be Chosen. Shizura's an elementalist and demon summoner - a powerful force multiplier in conventional naval combat. [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Standing beside her is an older man who Blossom's pretty sure is a mortal, Broken Conch or something like that. He's a navigator and has captained some vessels not important enough to merit actual Dragon-Blooded command; seems to be working in an advisory role here. [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12A keener eye will note that the mortal crews on these ships are a bit smaller than you'd expect, but that magic's clearly making up the difference. There are erymanthoi in the rigging, crouching in the shadows of the sails and crow's nests; as well, the seawater flowing around the hulls of Shizura's ships coils and ripples strangely, bespeaking the presence of hidden elementals. Your [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12cultists will have a fight on their hands. [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12It's as you're taking this in that a freak gust parts the low cloud cover that Ir's using to shelter the Heavensward from view. Doesn't make any sense - she's been sailing long enough that she knows there aren't supposed to be such sudden changes in wind direction at this height and at this time! Is she just imagining that distant cackling...? [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Either way, Shizura, who's idly sweeping a spyglass across the expanse around her, just so happens to flick it upward at the same moment, and starts as she clearly perceives you! She shouts something, to her compatriots, and then begins to gesture. [21:29] 4Fuck! [21:29] 4She thought she had it! [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12...hmm, judging by the black and blue essence sweeping across the ship's deck to concentrate itself at Shizura's feet, she's casting the aptly-named "Mast-Shattering Spell", the effect of which is to conjure a massive ball of spiked iron and launch it at extreme speed for the purpose of, well, you know. [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12It's got quite long range, but you're also quite far up. You can probably just yank the ship's wheel to the side and book it before the spell completes, unless you want to teach these kids a lesson right here and now. [21:32] 4Ir: "We either buzz them and kick this off now or retreat. If we retreat, we can try to feed this victory to the Hedgehog Navy...but I admit, just going down there right now would feel real good." [21:52] 4Ir: "...Ah, fuck it." [21:53] 4The Heavensward spirals and wheels out of the sky down towards the waves north of the three-ship fleet, and Ir's good enough at this that she doesn't have to stop the ship and start it again once she hits the buffer zone above the water -- it's just a nice clean wheel n' peel, and suddenly the ship is stabbing like a knife at those three Cathak busybodies. [21:53] 4They pass close enough to see the sailors piss themselves, and maybe hear the tall woman who is actually dangerous and skilled curse. [21:54] 4Then they're off towards the shore and up into the sky. 14[21:56] * Joins: mattbaby [21:56] "Ha!" [21:56] 7Blossom: "Did you notice how undermanned they were?" [21:56] 4Ir: "I did. I also noticed how powerful that one on deck was." [21:56] "The one who saw us." [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a dull drone behind the Heavensward, and anyone on deck who looks back will see a massive, spiked ball of iron, spinning viciously and leaving contrails of blue essence as it rockets through the air behind you, gaining by inches as it flies in an arc that's a perfect copy of your ship's escape path! But it's clearly got a limited range, or a limited lifespan - by the time [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12the magic's eaten up perhaps three quarters of the distance between itself and its target, it's half-translucent, and seconds later it simply collapses into motes of blue and black. [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Moments later, the Heavensward's back in the clouds, safe from land- or sea-based harassment. [21:58] 7Blossom: "Oh, they'd have to send a Blooded out for something like this, but they clearly couldn't afford more than one. I remember Shizura, a little - a Water Aspect in a Fire House, and a sorceress on top of that. Not invited to a lot of parties." [21:58] 13Ying: "Dumb ol' yarnball spell." [22:00] "Plus... getting a full crew complement is always a pain back home, and even worse in time of war. Normally they fill up the gaps with culls from the jails... this expedition is so low-priority they must have had a fair number of their crew pulled for other vessels." [22:00] 4Ir: "She's got some skill, at least." [22:08] 7Blossom: "Of course she has, she's a graduate. But still..." 7She plucks her lip anxiously. [22:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's right - that spell was delivered with impressive speed and precision. Shizura's no slouch when it comes to magic. Still, the Hedgehog does have its own sorcerer if not sorcerers - it's not a doomed endeavor for them to forge out on their own against this blockade, especially not after how badly you've rattled them. [22:12] 7Blossom: "It doesn't change anything. We still need the Hedgehogs to board and take those ships. The feathersteel catamarans are strong, but they're strictly brown-water vessels." [22:12] 4Ir: "Then we'd best get back." [22:14] 7Blossom: "What I'd like--" 7She says, grasping a capstan-bar for good luck. "--is to force Shizura to surrender, and have Sunlit-Dreaming Ying sanctify her parole not to work against us until she sets foot back on the Blessed Isle." [22:15] 4Ir: "We can probably manage that." 15[22:16] 10Eikichi: "Sure. Why, though?" [22:16] 4She wants them to know. [22:16] 4That's what Ir would want, anyway. [22:17] 13Ying nods seriously. She can do that! 14[22:22] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [22:25] 7Also, Blossom feels sympathetic with Shizura. She was sent out on this shitty detail because no one else in Cathak wants to be around her. [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12The Hedgehog awaits you, if you want to return and advise your worshipers to sally forth. Just fly on over and land. [22:26] 4Ir will do just that. No point hiding anymore. [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12You're greeted as liberators, as usual. The high priests and priestesses await both your news and your orders - or, you know, your gentle suggestions and sage advice. [22:31] 4First it's time to give them the good news about Icehome and trade and whatnot. Then it's time to focus on that Cathak fleet. [22:34] 4Ir's personal first order of business is to medidate and then maybe do another big dinner. [22:35] 7Hell yeah. Blossom will let everyone know that they should start figuring out how they want to deal with Icehome and the Guild, who should be re-establishing contact very soon. [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Response from the priesthood runs mixed to relieved at news at news regarding trade with neighbors. Feelings towards both the Guild and the Haslanti are understandable soured of late, but your assurance that the Hedgehog will be able to trade as one body and not have to set up internal markets or whatever takes the edge off a lot of anxiety and what might otherwise be unvoiced [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12criticism. Once that's been fully described and squared away, the cultists confirm what you've seen from above - they're as ready as they'll ever be to try to break the blockade. Any final aid, blessings, or advice? [22:37] 4Are they gonna do it under cover of night? Also, what kind of support do the others want to give them? [22:38] <@Ferrinus> 12They were going to do crack of dawn on the following day, largely for symbolic reasons. [22:39] 7Blossom does in fact have some blessings to give... [22:41] 4Sounds good. [22:41] 7Who of the sorcerers is leading the strike? [22:41] 13Hmm. Feels bad to leave Tatsuya out of a fight, but, well. [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12That'll be Eluia herself, who's the most magically-accomplished member of the commune. Most of her older sisters aren't interested in actually sticking their own necks out, apparently, but she's gotten some kind of charm or favor out of them that should at least give her a fighting chance of stalemating Shizura. [22:46] 7Blossom will take Eluia aside, then, and give her the kind of pep talk that any staff sergeant or foot-ball coach would be proud of, reminding her of her proud duty to uphold righteousness in the land. [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Eluia leaves with the literal light of inspiration in her eyes. She's ready, as are the ships her comrades have crafted, as are the warrior-sailors who'll crew those ships. A great prayer is offered up to the Most High as the sun sets this night, before everyone tucks into Ir's latest feast; a mirror of that prayer will be sent rising into the sky just before sunrise tomorrow, as [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12the catamarans set off. [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12You gonna watch from the shore or skies or anything, or just wait in the commune for your worshipers' return? [22:52] 4We shouldn't... 08[22:52] 4...take the Heavensward. Eikichi? 15[22:52] 10Let's ride! [22:53] 4Before the Circle heads off: "We shouldn't be afraid to let them lose. But. No massacres." [22:53] 7It wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on things. Plus, Ying hasn't had a chance to ride her unnamed cat about. [22:54] 4That's true. We all do now have individual flying mounts. [22:54] 13No, she named it! There was a thing. Buuuuut, well. She kinda... already had a name? [22:56] 13It'd be weird to call her by the name Ying gave originally when, y'know. That's not actually her name. [22:56] 7Oh? [22:56] 4Ir's just been calling it That Darn Cat. [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12As you watch, the Cathak fleet becomes aware of the approaching Hedgehog vessels. The wind's not with them - they're forced to turn slowly and clumsily to ready themselves to interfere, but the real battle begins long before the ships are within cannon range. Whorls of dark blue essence spin and gather themselves on the deck of the Cathak flagship while razor-edged emerald winds [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12wheel wickedly before the Hedgehog ships. Spells are unleashed - typhoons drag Mast-Shattering Spells off-course, great sheets of salt ice rise to block thunderbolts. The sorceresses appear to be evenly matched -- which is an incredible thing, given that one's a mortal. [23:19] 4Ir's out on Errant, hiding in the clouds and like, literally jumping up and down on his back -- he doesn't appreciate it, but he tolerates it -- as the battle careens back and forth. [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a complex interplay of turns, jukes, and desperate rowing as the vessels circle and ultimately lock together, forced to settle things the old-fashioned way since neither sorcerer can get the upper hand on the other and there's too much magical interference in the air to give an arrow or firedust plume any chance at all of reaching its target. Feathersteel spars dig into wooden [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12boards, grapples and planks let fly, and then battle is joined as cultists inflamed with righteous zeal lock blades with battle-weary but battle-tested Cathak seamen! [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Rippling serpents leap upwards from the waters and snarling blood-apes descend from the rigging, but the women and men of the Hedgehog are ready, having carved holy symbols into their armor and rubbed their blades with salt. Cathak veterans who aren't used to fighting alongside demon slaves rather than their fellow mortals are encircled and ultimately outmatched by sun worshipers [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12who, despite having only had to mime military readiness a year or so ago, now fight with the relentless precision of First Age automata. [23:23] 4When the officers are sent back shamed -- and they will be, discussions were had last night about quarter -- they will know that while the Hedgehog's residents were the ones who bested them, they have powerful, powerful friends from on high, who don't just buzz and run. [23:24] 7Hahaha! Yes! Yes!!! [23:24] 13Ying just purrs. [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a few hours later that all the ships ahead of you - seems like the Hedgehog was able to capture the entire enemy fleet - come drifting in to dock at the remains of Dorsal Point. A bedraggled and extremely angry Cathak Shizura is straight-up marched down a gangplank at swordpoint, while Eluia, still standing on deck, cackles with a familiar cadence before catching herself [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12and touching a few talons to her lips in embarrassment. [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Is the Circle there in view? [23:27] 4We are. Ir is butchering a mammoth creature at speed somewhere in the background. [23:28] 13Ying is watching from the highest place she could reach, peering down at them. [23:28] 7Yep. Blossom's on Ami's back, awaiting the arrival of the victorious troops and the prisoners. [23:28] 4She's got helper just working a massive number of rice cookers and woks. [23:28] *4helpers 15[23:28] 10Eikichi's there to greet them at the docks, looking beatific. [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Shizura recoginzes Blossom after a moment's confused staring. "You! I should've known that took a demon's help. Pity it's not one I can summon yet." [23:30] 13Rude. Ying's eyes narrow as she looks back to Blossom. [23:30] 13She's got this, but. Give a signal and we can go. [23:30] 4It is a legendary meal, in the newest chapter of the Hedgehog's history -- the winners get to eat first, of course, but there is no dip in quality as the losing survivors, hopefully being treated as necessary, get their shares. [23:31] 4Somewhere halfway through spatchcocking this giant flightless bird, Ir explodes with fiery light -- not enough to reach the Heavens, however. [23:33] 4What's really amazing about it is the flavor. How in the world did Ir get spices enough for this level of feast, and with this precise balance? A great chef never tells. [23:33] 7Blossom inclines her head. "Hello, Shizura." [23:35] 4Ir's going to avoid the fireworks between the variously-possessed current and former members of House Cathak at first and see, in order, all her captains and first mates, Eluia, Old Salt, and Ying (she trivially made sashimi from some fresh fish on the side while doing everything else because she's just that awesome). [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Opening negotiations probably go on as the meal's being put together, so Shizura mostly stares in defiance at Blossom and only occasionally glances past her at Ir, sniffs at the air, or actually licks her lips. "I shouldn't be surprised, I suppose. I know the history, of course, but they all said you'd moved on. Now what?" [23:36] 4This is while handing out food; the meal prep will take awhile, if only because their medics are doing the work of stabilizing all the defeated Cathak rank-and-file. [23:36] 4Right? [23:38] 7Blossom: "Now you give your parole not to work or fight against us until you set foot back on the Blessed Isle, a friend of mine sanctifies it under Heaven, and you're sent on your way." [23:38] "Oh, Ir Saint-Sister is making an excellent meal you're welcome to partake of before you go." [23:39] 7Of course, we're not just leaving the injured. We're the good ones, the ones here to bring civilization to Creation. [23:40] 4Excellent. [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Shizura narrows her eyes. "...and in exchange, I...?" [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12She seems to be waiting for the price of being allowed to live. [23:47] 7Blossom: "Well, I suppose the House might send you back here, but the locals will have your old ships. Honestly, I think they'll just cut their losses. What you do wherever else they send you is frankly not of interest to me." [23:48] "There'll be shame, of course. You won't be able to avoid that. But take it from me - its better to burn it as fuel for your journey." [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Shizura stares for a while, then searches the faces of Blossom's circlemates and the attendant cultists for any sign that this is some kind of joke. Then she shakes her head to herself. "...fine. Fine, whatever. This could've gone mmfwhat did you spice this with?!" [23:49] 4Ir: "Ghûl chiles, two kinds of pepper, and something secret to lessen the afterspice-kick and increase the umami." [23:50] "Try it with the yoghurt on the side. Just a dip will do you." [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12She does, and then swears to herself in disbelief after finally chewing and swallowing. She's mostly silent for the rest of the meal, occasionally staring off at the dimly-visible outline of the Imperial Mountain to the southwest and otherwise concentrating on her eating. Interaction between the Hedgehog cultists and what remains of Shizura's crew are careful and awkward, but in many [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12cases increasingly friendly over the next hour or two. [23:52] 13Ying is happily munching away at the sashimi, though she's got a bit of the rest - it's all delicious, though still a bit much even with the yoghurt. Tatsuya would love some, but he's not here, is he? [23:54] 4She'll save some for him, though certainly there has to be SOME kind of magic where they can both taste something at the same time. He can have a little spicy bird, as a treat. [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12By the time lunch is done with and preparations have been squared away, it turns out that close to half the Cathak sailors don't actually want to go back home. A few of those quickly back off as Eluia explains that membership in the commune means the renunciation of personal belongings and total devotion to the betterment of one's fellow women... but not as many as you'd think. [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12They've been out there for a long while with far too many demons for company. [23:56] 4Take 'em in. [23:56] 4Though uh let them know not EVERY meal is gonna be that good. [23:57] 4Don't get it mixed up -- Ir's definitely training the cooks just as hard as she trained the marines and the sailors. [23:57] 4But not even everyone of her meals turns out that good. [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12At the end of the day it's Shizura, her old navigator, and perhaps two thirds of two thirds of her original crew who are ready to return to the Realm in one ship that's been stripped clean of treasure and valuable artifacts - though, presumably, well-stocked with absolutely delicious provisions. The sorceress herself's wearing a sour look on her face. "This oath... to simply not [23:58] <@Ferrinus> oppose you until I've returned to the Realm? What will enforce it?" [23:59] 4The larders are indeed full. Ir had time to gin up some liquor, too. Hah! Puns. Session Time: Fri Jun 05 00:00:00 2020 [00:02] 7Blossom: "First, your own sense of honor. Second, your knowledge of how this could have gone otherwise. Third, the eyes of Heaven and the watchful deity Nyaroshi, won through trial and bargain." [00:03] 13Ying is presumably quite close by unless told to stay away - is the ship's cat around, or have they already fled belowdecks? [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Shizura blinks. "Nya- is this a joke? I know I keep asking." [00:03] 13Ying: "Hey! Rude!" [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12There's an old, grey, one-eyed tomcat sitting on the shoulder of Shizura's navigator, in fact. If asked, he tells Ying that he likes both the navigator and the sorceress very much, although the sorceress seems to find him annoying and has to keep shooing him out of her laboratory. 08[00:05] 7Blossom looks thoughtful. She wasn't really known for her sense of humor back home, but Eikichi and now Shizura seem to think she's hilarious. Another skill mastered! 15[00:06] 10She ia hilarious. [00:06] 13She tells him to stick around - another witness won't hurt, and it'll be up to him to keep said sorceress in line once they're out to sea. Maybe she can throw something in about the laboratory. [00:06] 7Blossom: "If I tell you a joke, I will try to be clear about it." 15[00:06] 10See? Comedy orichalcum. [00:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Shizura sighs. "Fine. I, Cathak Shizura, swear not to oppose Blossom or her allies or her works until I've set foot on the Blessed Isle. Uh, and all those in my crew who raise their hand as I do swear the same." 12She lightly raises her right hand and looks expectantly behind her. Not quite in time, all those still in her crew mime the gesture, nod in her direction. [00:08] 4That'll do it. [00:10] 13Ying's eyes flash. Nyaroshi's glare settles in behind her, looking almost through Shizura. The moment passes. Ying gestures two fingers to her eyes, then two back at Shizura. [00:10] 4'Nyeh? Nyeh.' [00:10] 13Suddenly, she brightens. "Oh, and the ship's cat wants to be in the lapurratory more!" [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Shizura shivers as the power of Nyaroshi settles onto her like shed fur, then shakes the feeling off. "He gets in there quite enough already! Is that everything?" 12She gives Blossom an arch look. "Shall I take any messages back home?" [00:12] 13I tried, buddy. Sorry. Try sneakin' in when she's not looking! [00:14] 7Blossom looks down, silent for a long time. "No. Nothing. Fair journey, Shizura." [00:15] 4Eventually we're gonna send one of these kids back with an announcement about Zeal. [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Shizura seems to cycle through several responses before settling on a curt nod and "Bye." 12She turns and steps onto the deck of her last ship, the plank pulling itself up behind her. Before long, she's sailing off. [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Eluia: "That was... very hard. Are they all that good?" [00:17] 7Blossom: "Yes. But they're all fighting each other now." [00:18] 4Ir: "It's the first one that's the hardest. And we were rooting for you, and we helped you...but you pretty much did all the work yourself." [00:19] 4She looks back behind her at the comically cleaned megafowl. "While I was shopping." [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Eluia: "Well, I wish them all luck. ...but I think that's it. That's, that's everything. Did we please you? Does the Most High look down on this and approve?" 15[00:19] 10At that, Eikichi reaches over her cleaned plates for the wine jug. [00:20] "You've made us prouder than you can know. And He's good with it -- He's here for the exercise of will. Real question is: do you think you honored yourselves?" [00:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Eluia: "Well - well, yes. We won and we won graciously." [00:24] 4Ir raises her cup. "Then you did good. And my advice? If you want to please us? That's the question you ask first." [00:24] 7Blossom: "That's it. Remember that kindness is worth fighting for, and the right thing is never entirely out of reach." [00:25] <@Ferrinus> 12They'll remember, even after you've gone... next week. 14[00:41] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:31] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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The transformation was so sudden he hasn't fully stood up; he regards the four of them with wary eyes from an arms-out crouch that could just as easily fall back to four limbs as settle onto two. [20:21] 4Piu is...bringing up the rear. Still kind of gingerly. But wow that guy is poor and ugly. [20:25] 10Daizo's hands are open. "We're not looking for a fight. Just to talk." [20:26] 6Zhangyu's just ahead of Piu, arms crossed. He's not exactly trying to look intimdating, but he's not trying to look welcoming, either. 15[20:27] The man speaks Seatongue with a native accent, but not the native accent of the locals. He's from some island, Zhangyu observes, but not this one. "What od you want?" [20:31] 6Zhangyu blinks, looks around at the lack of understanding, and translates to the rest of the group. Then he repeats Daizo for the man - "We're not looking to fight. Just to talk." [20:31] 07Dryas, cheeks ruddy from the pursuit, is practically gleaming. She's quite pleased with herself at this, and though she keeps one hand on the grip of her flamepiece, she holds her other hand in the air in a sign of reprieve. 15[20:31] The bum's eyes narrow. "No one just talks." [20:34] 10Daizo's caught his breath. He wipes a bit of sweat from his forehead. "Tell him we want to know why he's been following us, and for how long. He muttered something about the Wyld Hunt, but I don't think we look particularly like a kill team." [20:35] 07Dryas nods at Daizo's suggestion. "And maybe he's seen a blood ape around town?" 07she muses. [20:35] 6Another quick translation. Then: "Not many dogs turn into people, either. You were following us. Why, and for how long? We saw you back at the arena." [20:35] 6The second he gets a chance he's teaching one of these assholes Seatongue so that this never happens again. [20:36] 4You're not getting Piu back into a classroom! [20:38] 10There's a persistent dull pain in Daizo's back, and only one way to deal with it right now. Perhaps exposing himself as a freak might put the Anathema slightly more at ease… but at what cost to his own dignity? [20:41] 10Best to just grit your teeth and bear it. 15[20:46] Dryas can tell that this man is either deeply committed to his appearance or naturally squalorous. She can't tell the last time he's bathed or groomed or changed his clothes. From the angles his eyes take she can tell he's looking past them, as if expecting additional assailants to be taking up positions just out of sight. [20:48] 4For what it's worth, under no circumstances is Piu obstructing any kind of exit he'd want to make. She's leaning against an exterior wall well out of the way of his fastest path past them. When was the last time that man bathed??? 15[20:48] Zhangyu's basically-earnest scowl gets him to stand up a bit more straight, switching back to High Realm. "You aren't a Hunt. Who are you, then?" 14[20:49] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[20:49] * Joins: mattbaby [20:50] 6Oh thank goodness he doesn't have to translate anymore. [20:50] 4Piu blinks at the sudden shift. Well, she's glad she didn't say anything particularly insulting out loud now! [20:53] 10Daizo lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "We're… well, it's complicated." 10He looks to Dryas and Piu in turn. One of them probably has the better taxonomy for this. [20:54] 4Instead: "Dragons, can you imagine how much trouble I'd be in if I was on a Wyld Hunt and decided to get my ass kicked by a Golden Anathema for fun? ...No offense." [20:56] "You aren't here to kill us, either." 07Dryas speculates, perhaps a little hopefully. [20:58] 07Dryas, continuing: "Therefore, our relationship is rather ambiguous. For now." 15[20:59] The bum: "I don't know you. Realm, but not Navy. Different houses, no uniforms. Nobody seems to be in charge. But people die around you. Important people." 15[21:01] "And you made me from a crowd. How is that?" [21:01] 4Piu: "I mean...one volcano god is hardly people. And we didn't kill him!" 14How much does he know...? 15[21:03] "Hamoji, his chosen, your own high priestess. All dead since your ship came in." [21:04] 14He knows enough. [21:04] 10Daizo won't correct the Anathema about the Feathered One's survival. It's still dicey anyway. [21:05] 14One supposes it isn't precisely fireworks-making to deduce that they might have had something to do with that crone's death. 14[21:05] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[21:06] * Joins: mattbaby [21:07] 6Zhangyu: "It's complicated," 6he echoes Daizo. [21:09] 07Dryas: "It is said, 'Death may come from any quarter at any time. No-one is safe.'" [21:11] 10Daizo: "As to how we spotted you, well. How was it again, Dryas? 'Too well-trained for such a mangy mutt', something like that?" [21:12] 10We've got to get her off of this fixation with death.  [21:13] 14It's fitting and mature for the hearth's leader to be so focused. [21:13] 14Piu can't say that out loud, of course. [21:18] "Something like that, yes," 07Dryas affirms vaguely. [21:19] 4Piu: "I mean...it's a look you chose." 15[21:19] "What is so 'complicated'? Who do you work for?" [21:19] 4A kind-of giddy laugh. "Oh, so many people!" [21:19] 07Dryas' eyes flicker in Piu's direction for an instant. [21:22] 10Daizo: "We were originally asked to accompany a Dynast for assistance with a private family matter. Conditions on the ground since we arrived have made things significantly more complciated, however." [21:23] 10Daizo: "Our presence on Hamoji the day of the festival was nothing more than an unlucky whim of Heaven." [21:23] 4Piu: "House, Hearth, the silly monks, naval command structure, LOCAL command structure, really you guys have it good!" [21:24] "Perhaps you can answer some of our questions now, Nameless One?" 07Nameless though regrettably not odorless [21:25] 6Zhangyu: "As we said. Complicated." 15[21:26] The bum: "You asked me why I was following you and I told you. What else do you want?" [21:27] 10All right, Cynis Deals, show us what you've got.  [21:29] 10Daizo: "Do you live in that garbage heap, or…" [21:29] "Sorry. I'm sorry." 10He's tapping his two index fingers together in embarrassment. [21:29] 4Piu, brightly: "Who do you work for!" 15[21:30] The bum makes a face at Daizo. "I work for myself." [21:30] "I thought… your people… led armies… ruled nations… 14things like... that." [21:30] 4Just as chipperly: "And who do you serve!" 15[21:31] The bum scoffs. "My people." [21:31] 4Piu shrugs at Dryas. "I'm good." [21:32] 10Daizo: "Aren't they?" [21:32] 14Odds are he's got a mentor or direct superior somewhere. These Anathema probably work person-to-person...master-to-apprentice. Can appreciate that. [21:33] 10Every five fifth years, the Silver Council meets in the dark of Calibration and plots the downfall of the Realm, after which they disperse through the lands, sowing chaos and destruction. It's known. [21:33] 14Hopefully there aren't too many more of them around. One's dangerous enough. [21:35] 6Hopefully any others - if they are here - don't also look and smell like garbage. [21:35] 14Add even one more Silver Anathema to the party and we won't be around long enough to smell them. 15[21:36] "What do you know about my people, big man? You mean the people under the sign of the moon, yeah? Strangers to me, all of them, Chosen by the whim of She who is a stranger to everyone. My people were the sons and daughters of Etua, burned to the ground and enslaved to your people to grow sugar. And when the blight came, and the sugar didn't grow anymore, neither did anything 15[21:36] else. And your people left my people to starve." [21:36] 10Daizo knows… rather quite a lot about the supposed properties and origin of the Anathema. But almost nothing about their society.  [21:38] 10Daizo: "…I see." 10Etua, Etua, where has he read that before… [21:38] 14...All of the above is contingent on the Lunar answering 4Piu14's question, and Piu's player reading the channel properly. 15[21:42] To Piu: "No masters. None." [21:47] 10Etua. There were a few paragraphs devoted to the plantation debacle in one of the Western gazetteers, and a strong recommendation to give the entire island a wide berth. "I'm, ah." 10Daizo clears his throat. "I apologize for speaking so frivolously just now." [21:49] "I spoke from ignorance, and ignorance leads only to folly." [21:49] 10And worse.  [21:52] 4Piu: "I can respect that." [21:58] 07Dryas: "As for you, man of Etua - you could have kept running. If we were the Wyld Hunt, perhaps it would have mattered, and perhaps not. But what do you want from us? Our mission is not what ultimately concerns you, is it? Nor the death that follows us like a shadow? What is it, then, that you wish to learn from us?" [21:59] 4Such a way with words! [21:59] 07It's that Spiral Academy education! 15[22:05] The bum: "...perhaps you'll think I'm mad. Ah, but what would that matter. Tell me - when you saw me, was it me you were looking for?" 15[22:05] "Or were you watching for something else?" [22:08] 6Strictly speaking Zhangyu is pretty sure we were on the lookout for someone else, but a suspiciously astute dog is always going to raise some red flags. [22:10] 4Chipperly: "Different kind of beast!" [22:12] 07Dryas: "You mean in the Hamoji, just today?" [22:12] *Hinokuni 15[22:13] The bum shakes his head. "You chased me before that. What were you looking for when you first became suspicious of me?" 15[22:13] "What else is stalking you?" 14[22:14] * banana|peels is now known as banana [22:14] 4This isn't Piu's information to divulge, 14mainly because she's not supposed to know it. And she's only barely more knowledgable than the cover. [22:14] 14Some sort of sorcerer...? [22:15] 10Daizo: "We think a sorcerer has tasked a blood-ape to follow us." [22:15] 14Yes, right. [22:15] "Who, exactly, is as yet unknown." [22:15] "And another," 07Dryas interjects. 15[22:15] "Another?" [22:16] "A man, a Westerner. With the symbol of Saturn on his brow." 15[22:16] "A-HA!" [22:16] 4Piu: "Fucking asshole." [22:16] 4Hurriedly: "Not you!" [22:16] "The Saturn guy." 15[22:17] "So you know." [22:18] "Know?" [22:18] 10Daizo: "He hasn't shown his face again since that night…" 15[22:21] "Many don't see them. Or they're made to forget. They hide even better than I do. They can be anyone. Beggars, scholars, princes. Always hiding, always plotting. Your Realm is run through with them like a corpse with maggots." 15[22:21] "The star-marked." [22:21] 14Piu nods. [22:23] 07Dryas, shocked: "Star-marked? You mean, this isn't just some insane Exigent running around?" [22:24] 10Daizo looks up into the night sky. "Do you recall, Dryas? We hypothesized that Chosen of Heaven, or perhaps instead Astral Anathema, might exist…" [22:25] 4Piu: "Fucked up if true!" [22:25] "Deeply fucked up," 07Dryas concurs. 15[22:26] The bum: "I don't know how many they number, but there are many. They are everywhere." [22:26] 10Daizo barks a laugh. No pun intended.  [22:26] 10Piu sure knows how to lighten the mood.  15[22:26] "In this very city I have seen the mark of Maiden Mercury." [22:27] "Two of them? This is getting out of hand," 07Dryas mutters. [22:28] 4Piu: "That's..." 4She snaps her fingers. "The one who makes the ships dock on time!" [22:29] 10Daizo opens his mouth, then closes it. Piu's got the essence of it. 15[22:31] The bum: "So you asked me what I wish to learn: I want to know everything you know about the star-marked." [22:32] 6Whatever you say, dog man. [22:33] 07Dryas: "A counteroffer, then: we share information on the subject. Perhaps in the future we contact you again, ....?" 07she gestures effusively regarding her ignorance of his name. 15[22:35] "My name is Makita of Etua. I will trade knowledge with you." [22:35] 4Much better than 'doglord' as a name! 15[22:35] "If you swear on your honor." [22:36] 07Dryas inhales for a moment. Rather presumptuous of this... She glances at her hearthmates. [22:36] 4Piu grins and nods. [22:38] 10Go for it. [22:44] 10Daizo is prepared to offer Makita a personal favor as a further apology for his rudeness, if it should be required to close the agreement. But as Dryas makes her pitch, it begins to sound like that won't be necessary. [22:47] 07Dryas clears her throat as plum blossoms begin flittering through the air around her. "On my honor as owner of the Falling Leaf, I, Dryas, daughter of Umora and great-great-granddaughter of the Scarlet Empress, the embodied font of honor and justice, swear by my honor as a member of the Imperial Dynasty to trade knowledge with you, Makita of Etua, fairly and in good faith." [22:48] 4Piu: "I'm down!" [22:48] 6Zhangyu just nods. [22:49] "Such pledge to bind the members of my sworn Hearth - Daizo, Zhangyu, and Piu, until such a time as it is revoked by mutual consent or death." 15[22:49] Makita seems almost amused by the drama of it, but he also seems satisfied. "And so I swear, on the ashes of my people." [22:50] 14Piu keeps her face carefully placid at that. [22:50] 07Dryas extends her hand. 15[22:52] Makita takes it. [22:53] 14Once we're sealed: "We might have something for you in the next couple days. This talk's got me reframing some conversations. We'll need some time to work it." [22:53] "And then you help us work it from the other direction." [22:53] "Right?" 15[22:54] Makita nods. "I'm not hard to find, if you know what you're looking for." [22:54] 4Piu: "Sounds good!" [22:55] 10Daizo: "What should we look for? Will you continue to appear as a dog?" 15[22:55] Makita: "Dogs eat better than poor men in Abalone." [22:56] 4Fucked up! [22:56] 14But true. 15[23:02] Daizo studies the Anathema they've just sworn a pact with, recalling his old training. What matches this man to the dog they chased here? It's obscured by the man's huge bushy beard, but there it is - a long, faded scar that runs the length of the man's exposed collarbone before arcing up toward his throat. The dog had a similar scar running up its chest and neck. [23:03] 10Daizo: "Very well. We'll be on the lookout." 10And what wound left that? Perhaps the two of them aren't, ultimately, that different after all. 15[23:08] So sworn, they leave Makita be. The sun's nearly set - where goes the hearth? [23:10] 14Somewhere we can talk. [23:10] 14Hearth to hearth. [23:11] 07Wise. [23:12] 10Back to the hostel, or someplace else?  [23:13] 14Hostel has ears. [23:13] 14Piu: "...Pick a direction." [23:14] "Pick a direction, we'll walk a number of steps I choose beforehand, that makes it random enough." [23:14] "We find a place that looks good, we talk there." [23:15] 07Dryas: "Leeward." 07Further inland might bring more prying locals but takes them away from Guildsmen and other Dynasts. [23:15] 14Piu: "Four hundred fourteen." [23:16] 14Where's that bring us? And more importantly, are we being observed or followed? [23:20] "There's a story that when a whim strikes the Maiden of Journeys, she'll unmoor her golden barque and let the wind carry her where it may. And yet she always winds up exactly where she needs to be." 15[23:20] From there, the nearest place it's suitable to talk is a sculpture garden containing several statues of Hamoji of different styles and materials - stone, wood, bronze. There are people around - the Tepet boys can tell that people take a fair amount of notice of this squad of richly dressed beautiful foreigners, but none of it seems knowing or particularly sinister. [23:20] 6We do get that a lot. [23:20] 14Well, that's probably not...too forboding. [23:21] 14Piu: "I intimated to the Anathema that I might have a line on something. You might have already guessed who it is." [23:21] "The monk." [23:21] "Given starchildren, a lot of things about him start to make sense." [23:25] 10Daizo: "It might explain some things… but if he has that kind of power, why would he give himself up to Ratel so readily?" [23:26] 07Dryas: "He might trust her carelessness the same way we have, that she won't look further?" [23:28] 14Piu: "Did he have much of a choice in the cirumstances?" [23:28] "He had just killed a high cleric." [23:29] "Perhaps this is his plan." [23:29] 10Daizo: "Mm. She did have a flamepiece pointed right at his skull. But he's had ample choice to make a break for it in the meantime. Why hasn't he?" [23:30] 07Dryas: "Keeping an eye on the expedition? But why risk it by murdering the priest and then confessing to it?" [23:30] 14Hopefully someone else will say it. Too on the nose from her. [23:32] 14...No dice. [23:33] 14Piu: "What if he's where he wants to be? He kills some priest, confesses, and suddenly we're looking to threats outside trying to kill him, instead of at him, since we now think we know what he is." [23:34] "Misdirection?" 07Dryas stares up at one of Hamoji's glowering icons. [23:35] "It'd be consistent with what Makita said about their methods." [23:36] 10Daizo: "So he must have some other objective in mind. If we assume that Sa—" 10*cough* "Mr. S and the man who attacked Sadako are the same person, what do his targets have in common?" [23:36] "It doesn't quite add up, to me." [23:37] "Teenage girls. Sadoko was one; Dusk's death released one to us." [23:37] 14Worth a shot. [23:39] 10Daizo: "Or… oh… I think I see now. Sadako was a warning. That this outside assailant was targeting us." [23:39] 4Piu nods. [23:39] "If not for her… special ability, she'd be as dead as Dusk right now, and we'd be panicked." [23:39] 14Piu nods. [23:39] 07Dryas: "Hence, literally, the warning." [23:40] 10Daizo: "That line about death coming at any time. You've been saying it a lot lately." [23:40] "Have you noticed?" [23:41] "I wonder if he didn't lay some kind of curse on you." [23:41] "It was a convincing argument," 07she replies. [23:41] 10Daizo: "…fair." [23:42] 14Piu: "At the very least, even if we don't have the Anathema remove Salim for us directly...it's information to trade. If we can confirm it." [23:43] 10Daizo: "There's some curses where the victim is convinced someone's following them, all the time. A second set of footsteps walking behind them, right in step with their own. Eventually they go mad, and…" 10Daizo clears his throat. "I'm sorry,, that was grim." [23:44] 6Zhangyu: "Something to keep in mind," 6he says dryly. [23:46] 07Dryas looks between the Tepets. "Do you two practice this routine? Maybe you should." [23:46] 14Piu: "He wasn't entirely wrong about how close we always are to the action." [23:47] 10Daizo: "Back to business. Is there some way we might be able to trick Salim into exposing himself?" 10Piu having said the name, Daizo will dispense with the Mr. S business. [23:49] "If he works like us, it just means making him exert himself. There's no particular reason to think he does, though." [23:51] "He might lead us to more like him if we play it cool. Or we could feed him false information to keep a free hand elsewhere," 07Dryas speculates. [23:54] 10Daizo ponders. "We could also try to identify the other one Makita seems to think is in the city. Feel them out and play them off one another?" [23:54] 14Piu: "We're going to keep having to rub shoulders with him anyway. Ratel has him on some kind of work-release program, which is undoubtedly what he wants." [23:56] 10Daizo: "And then there's the Witch. I'm sure she knows a thing or two. How are the preparations for our hunt going, Dryas?" [23:59] 6Zhangyu: "...Ted's friend." Session Time: Wed Jun 10 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] 07Dryas: "I've arranged porters, ponies, and - what?" [00:00] "The star-marked can make people forget them, yes? And Nn Tloc couldn't remember Ted's sorcerer friend." [00:00] 4Piu: "Ah fuck." [00:00] 14Piu: "Ah fuck." [00:02] "I'm going to have a bit of a smoke,"07 Dryas announces to no-one in particular. [00:05] 14Piu will try to stretch out, and then remembers why she hasn't been doing that. [00:07] 07Dryas: "And what's to be done about all these Anathema everywhere? Are things this bad everywhere?" [00:07] 14Piu: "Have to think so." [00:08] 6Zhanyu: "Or worse." [00:08] "Other than the volcano god getting aced, things have honestly been fine here for the most part." [00:09] 6Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? [00:09] "Until they look around and decide they'll take a chance on putting Skullstone in charge? Like what happened between Nexus and Thorns?" [00:09] 4Piu: "I dunno about all that." [00:11] "Or if Bruiser Kang decides he wants more than just to be champion of the Hinokuni!?..." 07Dryas sighs. [00:13] "I wonder what happened to that Cathak who we were supposed to get instead of the twins. Wasn't he last spotted in Nexus, before…" 10Daizo waves his hands to indicate total chaos. "No chance we'll be getting any news out here." [00:13] 4Piu: "Khang's happy where he is. Weird as that sounds." [00:14] 4Piu: "Nexus is a stupid city anyway." [00:14] "I mean it's just true." 15[00:14] NEXT TIME: Tales from the Far Side [00:15] "I've heard some of the most salacious stories..." 14[01:23] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:42] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[01:53] * Joins: cbass 14[02:10] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[06:09] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[09:00] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[10:14] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[10:56] * Joins: tom 14[16:38] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[17:19] * Joins: Zarick 14[22:35] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:20] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed) 14[23:22] * Joins: cbass 14[23:41] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) Session Time: Thu Jun 11 00:00:00 2020 14[00:14] * Joins: mattbaby 14[03:05] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[03:53] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[07:45] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[08:22] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[10:38] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[11:16] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:55] * Joins: tom 14[13:51] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[17:38] * Joins: Zarick 14[20:24] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:05] * Joins: tom [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 . .-. . _ * _ . [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 * / \ (( _/ \ * . [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 _ . .--'\/\_ \ ` / \ * ___ [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 * / \_ _/ ^ \/\'__ /\/\ /\ __/ \ * [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \ / .' _/ / \ *' / \/ \/ .`'\_/\ . [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 . /\/\ /\/ :' __ ^/ ^/ `--./.' ^ `-.\ _ _:\ _ [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \/ \ _/ \-' __/.' ^ _ \_ .'\ _/ \ . __/ \ [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 /\ .- `. \/ \ / -. _/ \ -. `_/ \ / `._/ ^ \ [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 / `-.__ ^ / .-'.--' . / `--./ .-' `-. `-. `. - `. [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12@/ `. / / `-. / .-' / . .' \ \ \ .- \% [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12@&8jgs@@%% @)&@&(88&@.-_=_-=_-=_-=_-=_.8@% &@&&8(8%@%8)(8@%8 8%@)% [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12@88:::&(&8&&8:::::%&`.~-_~~-~~_~-~_~-~~=.'@(&%::::%@8&8)::&#@8:::: [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12`::::::8%@@%:::::@%&8:`.=~~-.~~-.~~=..~'8::::::::&@8:::::&8:::::' [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12 `::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.' [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12At this point you've done everything you could think of with the Hedgehog besides tie an actual bow on it. Your worshipers have established a small navy and used it to defend their own waters from aggression, tentatively reestablished trade relations with both the Haslanti League and the Guild's eastern threshold trading network (one in desperate need of new markets because of some [21:15] <@Ferrinus> 12kind of financial boondoggle that seems to have just hit Nexus, or so you're hearing through messengers and trade caravans), and on top of that just begun to realize just how incredibly, ridiculously fertile even the rocky and mountainous terrain they live on has become. [21:16] 4Once we've got Zeal up and running, we should put down an embassy-temple here. [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Cathak Shizura has been sent packing, but a sizable chunk of her crew has actually stayed around, eager to share in the cult's bounty and learn its ways. High priestess Eluia has had her faith doubly honed thanks to sharing in your works and winning her own personal sorcerous victory. Her metaphorical mother, in the meanwhile, has returned to her proper duties and stopped swatting [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12airships out of the sky. Not bad for, what, a month's work? [21:18] 4Whew. [21:18] 4...We've got business in Crystal now, don't we. [21:19] 4Eventually we'll be allowed to get down to the difficult work of actually forging this promised land. [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12I mean, if you want. [21:19] 4Duty and guilt bind. 15[21:19] 10It'll be fun! [21:19] 4Fun also binds. [21:19] 6I love fun. [21:19] 4Either way, Ir will get the Heavensward re-provisioned. [21:22] 7We are extremely good at everything we do. [21:23] 13It's true! Also hey wait what's this about financial boondoggles in Nexus [21:25] 4Oh my Sun we STILL have to care about Nexus?!? 15[21:25] 10Eikichi will spend her last evening in the Hedgehog guiding everyone who wants in on a spiritual journey of lying on the cool grass and eating very strange mushrooms. [21:26] 4Ir will make sure there's enough water. [21:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom speculates that some key element that increasing amounts of the Nexus economy were built around must have suddenly failed in some way, perhaps in combination with internal security issues of a trading partner's screwing up inter-city-state trade. But what could have done that? [21:27] 6Hee. [21:27] 13Also, you don't have to care about Nexus but Ying has a shop there!! That she'll be moving to Zeal when it exists!! [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Well the good thing is that even if people can't buy advertising in the form of titanic letters of ghostly fire in the sky, and even if undead laborers are increasingly on the fritz, people still gotta wear clothes. [21:29] 4Ir has a bunch of soup kitchens there!! That doesn't mean she wants to think about it literally every week!!! [21:29] 13Let's just agree to blame this one on Tatsuya again. [21:29] 4... [21:29] 4Sure. [21:33] 4The whole point was to have it happen there, though, not--argh. [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12We live in an increasingly connected world! But relax. Nexus is just having finance and labor problems. No one even knows for sure what's going on in Thorns - missives apparently mention unspecified "delays" and nothing further. [21:36] 6Get dunked on. [21:36] 4Once the Heavensward is properly decked out and they've properly -- but tastefully -- said their farewells for the time being, Ir will take the helm. [21:36] 4Course is set for the city of Crystal. [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Boy, it's been a while, hasn't it? Over the next week, you're increasingly reminded of the circumstances under which you met as the air grows both colder and more tumultuous, in part due to the increased interested Garuda must be taking into weather patterns but also in part to increasing proximity to the Pole of Air. As you pass Icehome, you're still in the zone in which one can [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12meaningfully discuss summers and winters, but the more Icehome recedes, the more you find yourself simply faced with minute ebbs and flows in the overpowering cold. [21:43] 4Augh. Right. Thankfully we've got a wondrous engine to keep our baths warm! 15[21:45] 10Bracing! [21:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Familiar sights pass beneath you - a great lake, mirror-still, with a single slender arm rising out of the waters to grasp a gleaming daiklave. A mountain that's half rock and half nearly-transparent ice, the earth and water jumbled together in crazed loops and spirals. A... battle? [21:47] 4Don't touch that daiklave! Bad news! [21:47] 4What's up with the battle? [21:47] 4Ir will at least do a cursory pass to see, but she's not going to buzz them unless it's interesting. [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12It looks like there's some kind of huge caravan or procession pulled by mammoths, carrying tools, provisions, and great chunks of glowing orange stone southward. But the earth to its east is grey, cracked, and blasted, with crimson fumes rising from crevasses - and with those fumes, people? There's a sort of continuous outpouring of humanoid figures erupting from the earth and throwing [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12themselves against it, and a ragged line of spearmen fighting back. [21:48] 6The daiklave could be a way to select a new leader, albeit an extraordinarily inefficient one. [21:48] 4Yeah let's at least give that a look. 15[21:49] 10Ember Valley? [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Ember Valley's farther north and west yet, out in the snowfields between Crystal and what may be the very top of the world. But it's as good a bet as any! [21:49] 7Blossom is coming to sympathize, just a little, with Chejop Kejak. Can't places not be having apocalypses for just a little while? [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12As Ir swoops down, the battle resolves into greater clarity. You see, and identify... [21:53] 4While Ir's driving, the rest of you can take a look. She even banks for it. [21:53] 6Hmmm... [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Wherever the ultimate provenance of the emberstone is - and that's definitely emberstone being carried - you'd suspect that this caravan is actually coming from Crystal. The make of the armor and weaponry is familiar, there's a certain ramshackle style to the wagon construction that harkens back to the ad hoc bulding techniques developed around the giant melting city, and in [21:55] <@Ferrinus> 12particular Tatsuya recognizes a black outfit with thin violent sash that he's only seen before in a particular clandestine martial arts temple/crime cult. Something new is the banners: rather than the symbol of the Haslanti League, there are orange flags which bear the silhouette of a pickaxe over a stylized gem. [21:56] 4...There's a union leader in charge there now, right? Upstart? [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Against these people are the unquiet dead. Hungry ghosts, jaws and claws distended, lope across the landscape to drive themselves onto spears and swords - but then melt away to rise again from the corrupted, red-tinged earth beneath them. The frozen corpses of ancient mammoths, smilodons, and even what must be dead icewalkers unearth themselves at a slower clip but seem to present [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12a greater individual threat. [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12As Tatsuya watches, the one member of what must be the Undermelt on this expedition doesn't help stem the tide of dead, but instead dashes along the length of the caravan itself, looking for something... [21:59] 6Well, that's less than ideal. Uh. Good to see the squad at work, but the whole... undead uprising thing is gonna be a problem. [21:59] 4Ir thinks the side we're taking here is pretty clear, if we're taking sides. Dive? [22:01] 7Yes! We must save these people from the ancient undead! 15[22:02] 10Which direction is the army attacking from? 08[22:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Sort of "below" at this point but Eikichi can see a general stretch of crimson blight and Shadowland stretching from the east. 14[22:04] * banana|peels is now known as banana 15[22:05] 10So that way lies the Lover... [22:06] 4She dives the Heavensward towards the caravan, opening the cargo door as she levels, and Errant bursts out, flying for the helm and his mistress. 08[22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's not wrong. The Fortress of Crimson Ice lies somewhere between Icehome and Crystal, slightly leaning eastward. [22:18] 4As she hears her steed rising, Ir lets out a mighty shout as golden light explodes from her towards Heaven, and then suddenly she's aboard Errant, streaking for the fray. [22:20] 6Tatsuya leaps over the side, a golden glow surrounding him before his landing kicks up enough dirt and dust that he's nowhere to be found. 14[22:33] * Joins: mattbaby [22:36] 4Ir rides that winged hurricane down, leaps, and SLAMS through the closest of these big formerly-wooly motherfuckers. It actually falls all the way apart for a moment...then wobbles back together, stumbling all the way. Ir snorts and stands, the ghosts darting back in caution as the great golden blaze around her expands. 14[22:37] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[22:41] * Joins: mattbaby 15[22:44] 10Eikichi rides her whirlwind like a sled down the icy northern air, sending a tiny wave front of ice crystals before her as she skids to a stop. Her anima already shimmers with blue-gold light as the shadow of her sweeping, regal wave sends a storm of glittering violet glass down into the melee, embedding by the dozens in the ox-dragon's exposed bones and shredding hungry ghosts to 15[22:44] 10mist. [22:45] 4Ir's laugh is positively booming as she steps among their wavering ashes. [22:49] 6Tatsuya darts forward, leaps, and just absolutely fucking destroys one of the smilodons. He waves to the rest of the Circle while riding its corpse to the ground, then vanishes again. That guy. [22:51] 4Hmph! Well, sometimes you get shown up. [22:55] 4Ir gives the Crystal caravan a wave that's half-greetings, half-"stay clear." [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12The gasps and screams began as soon as Ir's anima erupted, of course, but they're turning into cheers - somewhat strained ones since, of course, the battle continues apace on either side of you. On the caravan itself, Tatsuya notices the masked Undermelt operative dashing from rooftop to rooftop before suddenly noticing something, stopping, and then ducking into one of the wagons. [22:58] 6Hmm. Something to look at after we handle the rest of this battlefield - though Tatsuya will be keeping an eye out as best he can. [23:01] 4Tatsuya could probably follow up on it now. We've got this. 14[23:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [23:04] 6The ghosts and one of the smilodons are gone... but there's that ox-dragon... [23:04] 4Please. [23:05] 6Ahahaha yeah you're right. Time to do some light stalking. [23:06] 4The remnants of the day swing something at her. Ir isn't looking as she swats it away. [23:07] 4Big boy, that's the ticket. [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12As the badly-fractured skeleton still menacing - well, being menaced by - Ir makes a piteous attempt to get past the wall of gold and silver with its claws, the enormous zombie in the center of the battle turns, rears up, and exhales a great cloud of noxious miasma and long-extinct disease into the sky! 14[23:31] * Joins: mattbaby [23:32] 7Blossom coughs, waves the filthy green cloud away from her face, and responds by charging a powerful firebolt above her head! "SUN... PURITY... ESCALATION!" 7The holy flame slams the zombie ox-dragon into the ground, snapping bones and searing rotten flesh! [23:33] 4Oh damn. [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12The zombie burns clean. It's still standing, but it definitely won't be able to poison anyone else. [23:34] 6Groady. 08[23:38] 4As Blossom and Eikichi deliver divine solar justice unto the ox-dragon, Ir turns and sends ten thousand shards of Jude's Law into what's left of the teetering smilodon. They burrow into its bones, then expand, and explode it complete. [23:39] 4Tatsuya should be free to hunt down whatever's distracting him. [23:39] 4A circlemate can tell. 15[23:40] 10Eikichi gets a face full of the smoke, and inhales deeply by instinct. Oh no! She coughs and chokes, and her whirlwind flies erratically! But the ox-dragon is still terribly large without any of its flesh, and she lands solidly on its spine and physically rips a vertebrae free, pulling herself along the creature's backbone until she drives a telekinetically concussive palm into the 15[23:40] 10ridge of its brow, shattering the undead creature's skull and bringing it and her falling to the ground. She surfs down the collapsing mound of bones using the largest fragment of its cranial plate, all but stumbling off as she begins reaching into her own sleeves and scratching. 15[23:40] 10Opium? 08[23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi fells the shaggy (well, not any more - it's been partially incinerated) zombie as, behind her, Ir smashes the sturdier of the two cat skeletons apart. Tatsuya's long since done - or thought he was, but it seems suddenly as though all the Circle's efforts were for naught! The land pulses redly, and more plasmic, clawed hands of hungry ghosts come reaching up out of the snow. [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Broken soil a few malms distant breaks further as another ancient dinosaur is called up out of the depths of the earth by some hidden power. Have you defeated a small army, or simply beaten back the tide for a brief reprieve? [23:42] 6Hmm. That sounds like a very different problem - Tatsuya's going to be trying to follow the Undermelt person who was clearly seeking something out instead of concerning himself with further undead nuisances. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Behind you, up on the caravan, is some kind of fight. A man dressed in Crystal's new colors is being set upon by the Undermelt operative, desperately wielding a short sword to repel a series of increasingly close dagger strikes. Finally, his assailant feints with the knife in one direction while simply driving a devastating finger-strike into the solar plexus with the other, then [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12sweeps around behind the... merchant, maybe? ...to garotte him with what looks like shadow but turns out to be thread died a special matte black that won't reflect any light. [23:43] 6...Hm. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12This is the tableau Tatsuya's faced with if he chooses to leap up onto the caravan himself - a ninja strangling some kind of merchant or cattle drover to death, both men staring at Tatsuya with obvious surprise. The merchant holds out a shaking hand, pleading for help. [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Does Tatsuya watch, or intervene on one or another's side? [23:47] 6Tatsuya: "One of you want to explain what's happening here? I've been out of town for a while." 6He'll intervene if either of them look likely to turn deadly, but - well. [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12The Undermelt ninja doesn't answer - can't answer, really, as they seem extremely engrossed in their current task. The merchant gurgles something like "Hhhrgh-" 12and paws at you. [23:48] 4If it's a brief reprieve, then the caravan better get moving. [23:51] 6A quick flip down and some pointed strikes -- that ought to separate the two enough -- but he leaves them both relatively free. "I asked a question." [23:53] 6Maybe... "Actually, this is a conversation for more than just me. You want to take anything with you?" [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12There's something familiar about the way the ninja tries to block, but it's a move that Tatsuya has long since devised the perfect counter to. A few more smooth and too-fast-to-follow motions and the combatants are stumbling apart, the merchant wheezing and clutching at a red-raw throat while the ninja, staring wide-eyed through his mask, reaches again for his dagger. "You - master, [23:53] <@Ferrinus> you can't let him get away!" [23:53] 6https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y897tozJeg8 [23:53] 6A huge cat flies down from the Heavensward. [23:54] 4Ir's already back aboard Errant and urging the caravan on. 08[23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Who's he talking to? Is he talking to Tatsuya? On the other side of Tastuya, the merchant's stumbling back and looking around and down for a safe place to jump off. Around Ir and Eikichi, the dead are rising - you'll be back in a melee in another ten or twenty seconds. [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12(Up and down the long length of the caravan, other warriors have similar problems - your speedy defeat of the mainstay of the undead forces allowed them to quickly mop up the remainder without heavy casualties, but enough has been dislodged, torn, or dug in as a defensive position that they can't just up and go in less than ten or fifteen minutes. There's just too many vehicles, too [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12many animals, and too much cargo to account for.) [23:56] 6Tatsuya: "Wasn't planning on it." 6He points to the ninja. "You and I are going up on Purrsephone here. Merchant's going up with --" 6Who's closest and can accomodate a passenger? Because he can't just leave them behind. [23:56] 4Ugh. How much cover does Ir have to provide? And someone's going to have to fly the ship. [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Ninja: "There's no TIME-" 12He reaches up and rips off his mask, revealing an unusually scarred and harsh-looking young man's face. "He's the damn plant! He's calling them!" [23:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Merchant: "Ridiculous-" 15[23:58] 10Scratching at her neck: "We can sort this out in the air." [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Wait a minute. This is Iro! He and his sister once nearly kicked Tatsuya's ass in a sparring match, until Tatsuya decided to actually exert himself. 15[23:58] 10To Blossom: "Mind if I hitch a ride up? Feeling a bit off." [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12It's been a few years and he's gone from plucky teen to young man, but while his face is a bit different, the move he tried to stop Tatsuya with has long since been burned into Tatsuya's memory. Session Time: Fri Jun 12 00:00:00 2020 [00:01] 6Tatsuya: "...holy shit, Iro? Okay, this isn't the place to have this reunion, and I still don't know what the hells is going on here. The Heavensward's a safer place to talk this over. We're already going to be down someone just keeping people from dying -- the quicker we handle this, the better." [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "You can't seriously mean to just leave us here! Look!" 12He gestures at the dead coming out of the ground. "It's sabotage! They came right for us! Gimme that fucker!" 12Now gesturing at the older man he was trying to kill. [00:04] "'kichi!" 7Oh gods, her sweet girl is feeling poorly! Blossom will immediately take her up in her arms and carry her wherever she needs to go. [00:04] 4Ir lands on deck next to Tatsuya with a thump that almost breaks the roof. Errant circles above. "Yo." 15[00:06] 10Eikichi all but leaps into Blossom's arms, face burrowing into her shoulder. She looks past Blossom at the ground. Golden eyes narrowing, she cranes her head around slo-o-owly to Tatsuya. "Search him!" 10says Eikichi to Tatsuya, pointing at the merchant. [00:07] 6Tatsuya listens and obeys. [00:07] 6What's this guy got. [00:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro nods vigorously and makes expectant motions at the merchant. Actually, he's probably not a merchant-merchant given what you've heard about Crystal's economy, but he sort of has that kind of profile - mustachioed, a little portly, fairly fine furs. 15[00:08] 10Kind of odd to hear such an imperious request from an adult being cradled like a baby in the strong arms of a physically smaller woman. Made odder still by the punctuating scratching of her face, neck, arms, sides... [00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya does a quick pat-down... aha, that doesn't fit. He gets his hands on, and withdraws, a so-cold-it's-painful block of glowing red crystal with what look like spiraling veins tangled up inside it. It pulses in time with the cracks in the ground. [00:10] 6Tatsuya gives the 'merchant' a flat look. [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12The man goes white and clenches his teeth. Iro says: "See?! G-get rid of it, break it or something!" [00:10] 4Ir steps out of Iro's way. "Pay the man what he's owed." [00:12] 6Tatsuya just sort of shoves the guy towards Iro. ...Can he break it, and is breaking it good? [00:13] 6He'll toss the crystal to Ir. She can figure it out. [00:14] 4She snaps her fingers while it's in the air and Jude's Law coils around her wrists. Without breaking eye contact with the merchant, she catches it with both hands, pauses, and then in one swift motion, canting her head to the side, demolishes it in her palms as her anima flares. [00:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Zombies and skeletons find themselves pulled beneath the ground again, though the churned and torn-up earth remains. Hungry ghosts, half-reconstituted, slide back into the depths, their claws finding no purchase on empty air. A few fragments of twisted, blackened glass come tinkling down around Ir's feet. [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro's grabbing the traitor by the collar and bringing a knife to bear - you're about to bear witness to an execution, though this time around he might stop if you just ask him. [00:18] 4Ir certainly isn't going to stop him. Surely they can get what they need from the ruin of the artifact, and examples must be made when one consorts with the enemies of Creation. [00:18] 4...You know, the dead ones. [00:18] 4When you don't have them under full control. [00:18] 4Look, [00:20] 6Frankly he seems to know more about the situation than Tatsuya does, and he was already proven wrong once. Sorry, bud, that pulsing crystal was sort of the last straw. [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Schkkt. Iro: "Fucker." 12He cleans and replaces his dagger, then fixes up his facemask. "This is the sort of thing you learn to watch out for when flanked by the Lover and the Bishop." [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12He releases a breath. "...hi, though." [00:23] 6Tatsuya: "Hey. Seems like I missed a lot." [00:23] "What's up, kid." 4Ir hucks the body as far as she can back towards the skeletons, before it bleeds too much. [00:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Around you, Crystal's warriors and porters are collecting fallen weapons, untying barricades, and so on. A few others are cautiously approaching the little conversation you're having atop the caravan, many of whom stop to stare at the giant floating cat. 08[00:24] 4Ir: "EIKICHI! ANY REASON TO KEEP THE DUST FROM THIS...LOVER CRYSTAL? THING?" [00:24] 13Purrsephone: "Mrow." 08[00:25] 7Blossom: "Eikichi, are you feeling better? You look like you're coming down with something..." [00:25] 4Errant will land on deck, if it's not too much of a burden on space or structure. He's very placid, and glad the giant cat is distracting everyone from the golden-winged pegasus. 15[00:26] 10Eikichi: "It might be some sort of allergic reaction to the skeletal ox-dragon's toxin..." 10To Ir: "Not really." [00:27] 4She sweeps it away with her foot. [00:27] <@Ferrinus> 12By the time a woman who seems to be the drover/captain of the caravan has made her way up to your conversation, Iro has remasked himself completely. The captain looks slightly uneasy at his presence but outright awed at yours. "You - you're the Circle, aren't you? The five who saved Crystal?" 15[00:27] "More or less." [00:28] 4Ir: "Everyone here did that, yeah. We've been gone a time." [00:28] 6Tatsuya: "Like I said. Missed a lot." [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Captain: "I'm Hersvi, Chair of this caravan. I can't - we can't thank you enough. It'd be foolish to tell you we owed you since we do already. I don't know what brought you to us here and now but, regardless... whew." [00:31] 7Blossom: "Does this sort of thing happen often?" [00:32] 4Ir hops onto Errant. "I'll go get the ship. We'll escort you to the city, Captain." [00:32] 4FWOOSH! The hero atop her mount are off, wings and anima burning gold. [00:34] 4She smirks as she flies off. Kid's good, but he's still a rookie. [00:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Hersvi: "It's quite a trip yet - another tenday, I'd wager. I couldn't ask you to accompany us if you're on some greater errand. And we're hardly defenseless." 12She moves to gesture to Iro who turns out not to be there, and starts before tsking to herself. [00:35] <@Ferrinus> 12She turns to Blossom: "And yes, I'm afraid. The wastes aren't too safe these days. But this shipment needs to reach the Hearth." [00:37] 6Tatsuya: "Classic. I'll keep an eye on him." 6And then he's also just gone. The kid had some natural talent, but it's clear he at least learned a few things from Tatsuya. [00:38] 4Riding to town at the head of a convoy they protected is worth slowing it all down, as far as Ir is concerned. [00:38] 4Plus, gives her more people to cook for. [00:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya, too is gone. He's able to tail Iro along several carts and then inside a large, covered supply wagon. There, Tatsuya catches up in time to see Iro halfway through changing into what seem to be civilian clothes - no black mask or stealth suit or knives, just the same furs and leathers everyone else is wearing. He must be here under cover. [00:43] 6Not bad. Tatsuya will at least keep an eye on him until he's fully in disguise - and also work to make himself less... recognizeable. If Iro is undercover, it wouldn't do to break it. [00:44] 4Soon, the Heavensward is standing watch. [00:47] <@Ferrinus> 12If the rest of the Circle insists, Hervsi is happy to be blessed with a Solar honor guard. It's not too hard to ensure that the Heavensward keeps pace with the rest of the caravan, though at least one of you will have to go up there to mind it. Otherwise you're free to investigate the situation, do some sort of study on the remaining spent blood crystal shards, try to diagnose your [00:47] <@Ferrinus> 12sorcereress... [00:48] 4She's such a drama queen. But yes, one of us should tend to her. Ir could if Ying is busy indulging Tatsuya. [00:49] 13This was Tatsuya's city - she's never even been here! So if he wants to dress up like a weird dad and figure out what Iro's been up to that's his business. 6...Tatsuya is in fact disguised as someone who could plausibly be Iro's disguise's father. 08[00:52] 4Well then! Ir will leave them to it and get to work on Eikichi, once Blossom gets her back on-ship. Ying has a bunch of books on this stuff...or maybe they're on loan from Eikichi, but either way... [00:52] 13The sickness thing IS concerning, but, again, she's not here right now. 6Tatsuya, meanwhile, will stick close to Iro. When he's sure no one else can hear them: "How long ago did this start?" [00:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Waugh! Who're you?" 12It's actually really impressive the way he consciously didn't whirl into a ready stance of some kind, but sort of started and stumbled as though he weren't a trained assassin. [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Except for a few scars and sharper, mature features, he really does look like the same kid now, with the same shock of purple hair suggesting some kind of distant western ancestry. Of course, some of that distinctiveness gets lost under the weather-appropriate furs. [00:55] 6A simple raised eyebrow. Tatsuya's probably done the same to him already, but still. "Saw you disappear earlier, figured I'd make sure you weren't getting into trouble. You've done well." [00:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro stares briefly, mouths 'how the...' to himself, and then seems to get it. "Oh. Well." [00:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Guess in one sense it started when you started teaching us, didn't it?" [00:57] 6Tatsuya: "I'm glad. It's something I would've -- anyway. Is your sister okay?" [00:58] 4Ir: "Blossom, get her in bed there -- now you got it yourself, right? So if I need to let some blood for a serum -- okay, okay. First, let's start with various coughs and chuffs..." [00:58] 4It's a...non-traditional examination. But it's effective. 08[00:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir sits at Eikichi's bedside, presumably on the other side from Blossom, and puzzles over the problem before her. Not even an elevated temperature or something like that... just intermittent, unpredictable itching. Pulse seems fine... sinuses fine... extremities the usual color... tricky, tricky. Something's hiding and hiding well. 14[00:59] * banana is now known as banana|split 15[00:59] 10Eikichi doesn't like feeling sick, but she loves attention. 08[01:00] 4She's got a lot of books and she's got a lot of experience seeing comrades get sick off dumb bullshit. And she is constantly muttering and clucking over Eikichi and asking her questions, and fetching incredible tea when asked, so Eikichi has that going for her. [01:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Over the next hour, Ir tries a number of variously-unpleasant tests and procedures. Finally, using a combination of medicinal fumes, temporary blood-arresting pressure applied to the upper arms, and some good old-fashioned sneeze-inducing pepper, she's able to catch a bit of expectorated phlegm on a thin slide of glass. [01:00] 4Aha! [01:00] 7Blossom carefully tucks the stricken sorceress in, then for lack of anything better to do begins to nervously fan her with a nearby sheet of paper. 15[01:01] 10That's nice. 08[01:01] <@Ferrinus> 12In that phlegm, too small to be seen without special equipment or Solar sight-enhancing prowess, are tiny, transparent creatures. Pretty much little spheres with six wiggly little legs. They must have been frozen for gods know how many years, only warming up now that they've gotten into poor Eikichi's system. [01:01] 7Blossom: "Is it all right if we give her some fruit juices and things like that?" [01:01] 4She'll let the sample sit for a bit as she retires to a cushion and reclines in a lotus pose. ...And no sooner has she closed her eyes, it seems, than she opens them again and examines... [01:02] 4Hrrrh. [01:02] 4Ir: "That should be fine. She's been infected by little shithead from beneath the permafrost." [01:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's intuition is that these things can't be allowed sugar or other high-energy foods or they'll thrive more quickly and completely. Ir'll need to experiment with compounds that kill them but not people. Maybe something vinegary... 15[01:03] "You mean I have a disease from the time before time? That's wonderful. We've got to make careful study of this." [01:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Yeah, Dala's holding down the fort back in Crystal. She's a better teacher than I am." [01:03] 4Ir: "We have a sample that's not yet contagious, if you have a plan on how to store it." [01:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "And there's plenty to teach... gotta stay vigilant in these times." 15[01:04] 10Eikichi: "Trivially done." [01:05] 4Ir: "I'll leave it here for you, then. Do you wish to proceed to treatment? It probably involves raising your body temperature above what these little buggers can tolerate. So a sauna, or somesuch." 15[01:05] "How long do I have before I'm contagious?" [01:06] 6Tatsuya: "Still not super clear on what 'these times' even are. Only information we got came from Icehome and they were... biased." [01:06] 4Ir: "Actually, Blossom, no fruit juice. I think this thing will simply feed on it." 14[01:07] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [01:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Ah, right, I dunno what you heard. What have you heard?" 08[01:07] "You up for a dinner up on the Heavensward? Myself, Ir, Blossom, Eikichi. Ir's cooking. We don't like to leave problems half-solved, and if the field of undead is any indication, that's exactly what we did." [01:08] 4Ir: "...In fact, we might have to go no treats until this thing is cured." [01:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "That sounds good... I'd have to finish my shift and come up with a good excuse for being absent, though." 15[01:08] 10Eikichi: "The risk of fatality is nonexistent. If I take the proper precautions, allowing the illness to mature will make it much easier to study. This came from the ground, from dead that the warring Deathlords are dredging up without limit. We need a society-sized cure." [01:08] 6Tatsuya: "Family emergency? It's almost true." [01:09] 4Ir nods. "I'll prepare a schedule of salads and teas for you then, until the study is complete." 15[01:10] 10Eikichi: "Excellent. You'll be a co-author when I publish my findings." [01:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "True's a luxury I can't afford these days. But I'll come up with something. Just give me a few hours and, I dunno, send a rope or that cat to the back of the procession?" [01:12] 4Ir: "I'm going to cordon off this room and a path to the lavatory. We'll find other arrangements for the duration. Keep the bowls and cups I slide under." 08[01:14] 7Blossom: "But she can't live like th--" 7She breaks off, because of course a quarantine is the sensible thing to do. But what if Eikichi needs a jar opened or a heavy box lifted? [01:14] 7Uwaaaa! [01:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Lot of you could come down to eat with us, too. I'm sure the crowd'd appreciate it." [01:16] 6Tatsuya: "We'll figure it out. I think one of us took a hit while we were handling the undead -- you have anyone we can get messages to if I can't find you specifically?" [01:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Pass something to Hersvi and I'll see it sooner or later. I still remember the old codes if it's not for her to understand." 14[01:20] * Joins: mattbaby [01:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Mortals and immortals both grapple with problems of supply and logistics. We'll learn their solutions... next week. 14[03:09] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[08:24] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[08:32] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[08:54] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[11:09] * Joins: Crion_ 14[11:10] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:58] * Joins: Crion 14[13:59] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[15:50] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:20] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[16:46] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:32] * Joins: Zarick 14[18:00] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[16:27] * Joins: mattbaby 14[16:28] * Joins: hrolfy 14[16:29] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:59] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[17:25] * Joins: tom 14[19:47] * Joins: hrolfie 14[19:50] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[19:53] * Quits: hrolfie (Connection closed) 14[19:53] * Joins: hrolfie 14[19:55] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:03]  15[20:03]  15[20:04]  15[20:04]  15[20:04]  15[20:06] Two days remain until Dryas takes delivery of the captured Anathema on behalf of Nn Tloc. In the meantime, Daizo's given her the impetus to organize an expedition through the unsettled and abandoned lee side of Hamoji, where the jungle is thick with hostile vegetation, Wyld-sick beasts, and apparently, a sage that people from all walks of life consult for her wisdom. 15[20:07] What kind of expedition has she put together? What's the planned route? When do they set out? [20:08] 4Uuuuughhhh everything still huuuuurts. Do we have to leave now? [20:10] 07Dryas has some experience establishing Dynast hunting parties. She (with the diligent assistance of Pale Moke, her majordomo), has secured a number of porters and pack animals, a pavilion, and catering. Of course all that travels much slower than a group of Princes of Earth. They'll only go out half as far as the Dynasts, who on horseback can range out, speak to the witch and hunt whatever prey catches their eye. [20:16] 4Bleh. [20:19] 10Daizo's concerned about the problem of what sort of gift to bring the Witch. Certainly he's gathered an assortment of worldly goods: green and black teas from halfway across Creation, skillfully cut gems (less precious than he'd like—a Tepet's stipend isn't what it used to be), and a selection of books… but when it comes to negotiating with a witch, really bargaining for knowledge (and perhaps a path to more than just [20:19] 10 knowledge), he feels he's a little under-supplied. [20:21] 4Piu will bring her bubbly good nature. Assuming it rises once she meets horsey. [20:24] 10The old standard is to promise that he will repay a service when called on. In both myth and historical record, however, this rarely ends well. Knowledge of the Anathema, perhaps? She already knows what transpires in her domain, and probably better than he does. The vessel of Carmine Road? Too hard-won to exchange, not now. Not now… [20:30] 07Accompanying them are a few dozen men-at-arms - some freshly hired mercenaries, a few harpooners and toughs from the 07Falling Leaf07. [20:30] 4Mmmmm. They're not much in the face, but then, Piu wouldn't want them as dancers. [20:31] 4But Dryas probably doesn't want her fucking the help, and frankly, she's not up for it right now. [20:32] 07They carry spears and polearms in relatively good condition and while Dryas hasn't bothered with uniforms, they wear sashes of charcoal, green, and white as signs of allegiance. [20:34] 10About what you'd expect from Cynis house guard, really. Quantity over quality. But sometimes that's what you need.  [20:37] 10The drill grounds in Lord's Crossing are all empty. They could barely scrape up a company for last summer's sabre dance exhibition. And the cavalry games? Cancelled. [20:40] 07And here's Dryas herself, red-tinted Chiaroscuro glass spectacles pushed back on her head to hold her hair back until the sun rises, sporting a sensible set of blue riding silks. A quiver on one hip, a horn inlaid with silver on the other. She'll pound on the door of anyone who isn't showing signs of being ready five minutes before go-time. 15[20:40] One final question before Dryas's final inspection passes muster and the hearth departs: is Daizo bringing his translator? [20:42] 10Yes. Between Dryas' guard and the four of them, things should be perfectly safe. 15[20:44] Then there's only one problem: the horse Dryas chose for Sadako is thrown into a panic as the pale girl approaches, rearing back, thrashing, and making the most terrible noises. 15[20:45] Sadako recoils, eyes narrowed. Dryas's men encircle the beast, hands on their weapons... [20:46] 07Dryas approaches, cutting her way through the crowd. How unusual. She lays a hand on the horse's flank, getting a sense for its fear. 15[20:50] The horse's reaction is instinctive, visceral. Dryas has seen horses react this way to uncontrollable natural disasters like fire, storms, and shadowlands. [20:51] 10Daizo finishes entrusting his greatclub and armor to no fewer than six porters, and pushes through the commotion.  "What's the ruckus?" [20:53] 07Dryas sighs in frustration at the animal's behavior. "It's dreadfully frightened, as if it was confronted with a fire or storm." [20:53] 4Piu waves from atop her mount. What kind of horse has Dryas provided, anyway. [20:53] *4? [20:56] 07A spirited, tawny fellow with a white mane. [21:00] 10Daizo looks from the panicked horse to Sadako and back again. He'll pull Dryas away for a moment. "This might sound strange, but try hanging a couple of pouches of salt from its harness. It's not a complete warding circle, but it may diminish the effect that Sadako's… condition… exerts itself on the beast." [21:02] 4Piu will spend this trying time playing with the horsey's hair and maybe surreptitiously feeding him. [21:03] "Salt? All right, let's get salt! Then let's calm you down, silly beast..." 07The nice thing about traveling in the West is that salt, at least, is never hard to come by. [21:03] 10High purity, too. Always important for these sorts of applications.  15[21:04] Seiri and her horse seem quite taken with each other. The young interpreter's not a practiced rider but she seems to know the basics and be at ease. 15[21:05] It doesn't take long before salt is procured and the beast is subdued enough for Sadako to mount. She, by contrast, *does* hold the reins like a practiced rider, in fact a practiced aristocratic rider. Dryas's own grip is very similar. [21:06] 4Interesting! Her own style is idiosyncratic. Piu hugs the horsey again. 15[21:06] Any last words or deeds before the hunting party sets out? [21:07] 4Piu would like to sleep some more, but that seems like an unhelpful ask. So no! [21:08] 10Nice. Well… Here goes nothing. Daizo's own mount is neither dainty nor adorable; it's practically a draught horse. Possibly crossbred with a yeddim, from the shagginess of the thing.  [21:10] 10He's never been particularly comfortable on horseback. Less so now. At least once they're out of civilized territory he'll be able to stop binding up the wings.  [21:19] 07Dryas, atop the magnificent Diamond Weapon, canters to the lead. She pulls a full wineskin from a pouch on her saddle and take a swig, offering it to her riding companions. She's unusually relaxed. 15[21:19] The hunt begins! Abalone is quite a large city, physically, and it thins out over a great distance, eventually to huts of straw and stone and people toiling in yam fields at the crack of dawn. Hamoji's light shades different as they begin to trot on (first stone and then dirt) roads around it. From the eastern, windward side, its caldera shone pale pink. It turns more violet by the 15[21:19] pace. [21:22] 4Pretty! 15[21:24] The first sign of civilization giving way fully to the Wyld is that the irrigation canals begin to run crooked, like wires that kinked up over time. The farmers working these fields look up as the entourage passes. Here, an old woman's second eyelids nictate against the dust the horses kick up, and across the way a young man's exposed gills pulse as he sighs in appreciation of the 15[21:24] beautiful animals and people riding by. [21:25] 10Daizo has a death grip on the reins and appears to be concentrating hard for the first fifteen minutes or so. Then, slowly, he relaxes.  [21:26] 07Just one more reason it's best to cater these sorts of things. 15[21:27] A frankly excessive-seeming fortification marks the terminus of safely arable island, and the point where the dirt road becomes rarely-trod path, and the strange farmlands give way quite suddenly to a gnarled jungle. The sky is all but indigo now, and the sun fully risen, giving the full daylight a nonetheless unearthly twilit character. 15[21:28] The soldiers at the post - Governor Kou's men - offer practiced but indifferent salutes as the party rides by. [21:28] 4Piu waves. 15[21:29] Piu can't be sure, because of the helmets, but she's pretty sure a couple of eyebrows go up. [21:30] 07Dryas offers a tip of her head and sends word to have these men sent a good hot meal from the kaypee. (Trans. note: "Kaypee", Ahlat-worshipper slang for military kitchen) [21:31] 4It always pays to be friendly! [21:31] 14It gets responses. 15[21:35] Progress through the jungle is quite swift for how wild it is; this was all once inhabited land as well, and here and there the remnants of stone buildings long since worn down by age and run through with tree roots are visible. The road actually improves, as fragments of the old paved road that encircled Hamoji in ages past remain largely level and smooth. [21:36] 4Well, she was hoping for a slightly more leisurely pace, but the bumps feel gradually better. Or at least number. 15[21:36] It has, however, grown quite dark, as the jungle's canopy thoroughly blocks the sun. Eventually the party needs to stop a bit and bring torches out. [21:37] 10Daizo's engrossed in the scenery. There are, of course, no real Wyld zones to speak of on the Blessed Isle, formed around the Pole of Earth itself. [21:38] 07Dryas seems a bit surprised by this development, and actually pushes the dark crystal spectacles back up her face. [21:39] 10Daizo: "Darkness at noonday. It feels as though we've passed into another world." 15[21:46] The going gets slower as the road is harder to find, and Dryas's soldiers have to take the lead, using short swords to cut vines and brush and widen the path for the party. Animal sounds deepen and multiply, from the trills of many and varied birds to the low hooting of apes up in the trees. Tree trunks writhe with snakes all but indistinguishable from vines and shockingly vivid frogs 15[21:46] whose croaks pile atop each other like the foam in boiling milk. 15[21:49] But... this is halfway. Does Dryas give the order to make camp? [21:49] 07Dryas: "Daizo, it will be relatively safe here?" [21:57] 4Piu is half-snoozing on the white-maned horse when the group breaks for camp. Surely you've all got it, 15[21:59] Dryas and Daizo are able to position the camp well, and the soldiers get to work clearing the space with blade and flame. Daizo's pretty confident that while the Wyld corruption is deep and strong, it would take days or weeks of exposure to risk serious harm. 15[22:01] The rush of activity drives the fauna away, as birds and beasts flee the steadily expanding radius of hospitable land until there's enough room to set everything up comfortably. As the torch-posts are set up and people dismount, it becomes apparent that the soil here is a vivid green, studded with tiny white crystals that glitter like diamonds in the flames. [22:01] 4Excccceellent... [22:01] 10Daizo: "A rule of thumb is that if you start to see 'impossible' things, like schools of fish swimming through the air, you don't want to spend even one night there." [22:03] 4Piu nods while spreading a blanket to comically pass out of spread-eagled with the sleeping snot bubble, etc. [22:03] 10He'll definitely take a couple of soil samples. The crystals could possibly be used as reagents. [22:07] 07Dryas and Diamond Weapon tread their way across the perimeter of the camp. She's got an eye out for any unusual tracks, feathers, or spoor. Who knows what unusual things could be out here! You might not want to eat it but perhaps a fine trophy... 15[22:07] Seiri helps set up, while Sadako follows Dryas on foot in her patrol. [22:08] 4Piu is at least considerate enough to start snoozin' out of the way. [22:11] "Piu? Piu." 10Ah, nothing for it. She did take quite the beating from Bruiser Khang. He directs a couple of the men to build a fortification around Piu with picnic hampers. [22:12] 4Daizo...so cool...-3- 15[22:25] Dryas's inspection is thorough and skilled. The first thing she notices is that the soil is very soft, so tracks are deep and lasting. Wide varieties of smaller fauna, from lizards to frogs to hopping birds, running this way and that, and plenty of grubs and such lurking for them to eat. The only inedible thing she notices are stones that seem to be piled up around the bases of trees. 15[22:25] Upon closer inspection, she realizes they're something closer to owl pellets, hair and bone and other organic indigestibles pressed hard and pale. 15[22:25] Larger than any owl pellets she's ever seen, though. 15[22:29] But the subtlest and most concerning thing of all are the tracks that... stop and start. The shape of the pawprint suggests a great cat of some description, though the size and weight of the creature they imply would more closely resemble those great white bears of the bitter North, said to be tamed by the savage Icewalkers as beasts of war. But they'll continue for a couple dozen 15[22:29] yalms and then stop, only to smoothly recontinue another dozen yalms away. She can't trace any sensible climbing route, and the depth of the tracks suggests a steady gait, rather than what you'd see from, say, a leap and pounce. [22:30] 07Dryas is putting on a clinic for her ward, beginning drily but getting more interested with the discovery of the strange pellets. "So, Sadako - despite the taint of the Wyld here, as you can plainly see, many animals make this place their home. But observe these curious pellets, rather like owl pellets I think. But much larger. I wonder what sort of creature these came from. And then... these tracks, that stop and start again. [22:30] But no leaping, no plumes or toeprints that a leap would bring." [22:33] 07Dryas takes a deep, satisfied breath. "Perhaps, if we're lucky..." 15[22:33] Sadako takes a pellet, sniffs it, and pockets it. Then she crouches down and puts her hand in the pawprint, letting her weight push it deep into the earth. Almost instantly a spasm of worms and great wriggling insects pour from the ground and run over her palm and upper arm like she'd just leaned onto an enormous sponge. 15[22:34] "The life goes deep," she says. 15[22:34] "Down past the corpses." [22:34] 4zzzzzzzzzz [22:34] 10Gross. Amazing, but… gross. [22:35] "More interesting than a lemur on the side of the road, I trust. Just... make sure you wash that hand before you eat anything with it," 07Dryas replies. 15[22:36] Sadako grunts. "If you burned this jungle down... the land would be so fertile. More fertile than anything..." She trails off. 15[22:37] Seiri's unpacking food and tea now, and brings a cup to Daizo. "The Witch lives up the mountain, but supposedly she keeps the path marked. It shouldn't be hard to find." [22:39] "O-oh, really?" 07Dryas inquires. "How interesting to know. I wonder how long it would take to make it a little safer." [22:40] 10Daizo nods, and accepts it gratefully. "I should warn you now… I intend to bring you with me to meet her, to make sure we can communicate. Will that be a problem?" 15[22:41] Seiri: "Sister Dusk said she had to be kept from the children, that she stole their breath to work her magic. But I'm not a child anymore, and I'll be well-protected anyhow." [22:42] 10Daizo beams. "Well said!" [22:44] "You see, what I intend to ask her for is, well, hm. I don't know if she has the power to grant it or not. But if it can be found on Hamoji, she might know how." 15[22:45] Seiri nods. "I've never heard of anyone who went to her for help come back and feel like they didn't get help." 15[22:45] Then: "...though I *have* heard of people who didn't come back..." 15[22:46] The food is good, lots of fish and pork and local vegetables with fluffy pots of imported rice. Sadako, intelligently, eats with her clean hand and rolls the pellet around in the palm of her dirty one, studying it as she picks at a pile of pulled pork. [22:47] 4Eventually, Piu will wake up and sort of float over like a bubbly, hungry dervish. [22:47] "Food." [22:48] 10Daizo: "Ahaha. I hope she won't find me an easy meal. Because what I want to ask her is… if she knows how I can become a sorcerer." 10There. It's out. Everyone probably suspected, but it's out. 15[22:49] Seiri's eyes go wide. "Like S- Like Lady Caxi?" [22:50] 4Piu will descend upon the fish and pork. 14[22:50] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:51] 10Daizo nods. "There are many paths to the same power. The most common way for we Blooded is to attend the Heptagram, but there are others." [22:52] "I don't want to have to keep leaning on Caxi, just standing by and analyzing things…" [22:53] 07Dryas sips spiced wine and reclines on a cushion. "Ahh, the return of V'neef Piu to the world of the living!" [22:54] "nom nom nom nom" [22:54] "I want to be able to protect my— us. All of us." 15[22:54] Seiri: "She asks me how you seem to be doing a lot. Since... since the sacrifice." [22:59] 10Daizo's face flushes. "I appreciate her concern, but… I brought this on myself. I need to deal with it myself." [23:00] "not how it works" 4snarf snarf "thish is good" 15[23:01] Seiri: "Lady Piu is right, you'd never turn your back on someone else who needed help. You deserve the same." [23:02] 4Double thumbs up while chewing and swallowing. [23:03] 07Dryas pops a rice ball in her mouth and nods in agreement with the other two. [23:04] 10It is good, but he's suddenly not that hungry. "This may sound strange. But… it's about debts and obligations. I would… rather owe a debt to a stranger than someone close to me. Someone who will remind me of it whenever I look at them." [23:05] 10Daizo sighs. "Maybe it's just how I was raised." [23:05] "Does sound a little strange," 4Piu admits, washing it down with some tea. [23:08] "Better to keep it in house than give someone else leverage," 07Dryas posits. [23:08] "Seems to me the stranger is more likely to do the reminding!" 14[23:10] * Joins: hrolf [23:10] 10Daizo: "I'll think on what you've said." 10A dodge, and not a graceful one either. "Sorry for bringing the mood down. What've you spotted out there, Dryas?" 10And things in that vein. [23:11] 07Dryas: "Fertile soil, but it holds strange tracks - and take a look at this big pellet Sadako brought back--" 14[23:12] * Quits: hrolfie (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:12] * Joins: tom 15[23:17] The meal concludes, and the kinship and their close attendants mount up to continue the journey. The camplight retreats behind them, vanishing into darkness what feels like too quickly. But the way is better-lit all the same, as a violet aurora shimmers through the canopy, and the wind picks up, peeling layers of leaves back to reveal a sky thick with stars despite the hour and the 15[23:17] weird, Wyld dancing lights. [23:17] 4Pretty! [23:22] 07Dryas runs a finger across the fletching of her arrows as she spurs Diamond Weapon onward. [23:22] 10Beautiful, but ominous. The feeling of being separated from the "real world" is only getting stronger.  15[23:22] It's disorienting in the extreme; the stars match no sky Dryas has ever navigated by, and as the trees gradually mutate into fractal sculptures of translucent crystal, the light from the aurora begins to ripple across the hearth and the surroundings like it might dance off a pool of water. But the huntress is focused and keen, and she spots a human-made marker: a trio of primitive 15[23:22] looking figurines about the Seiri's height, woven from dried fibers and kept standing by posts driven into the ground. [23:23] 14... 15[23:24] Their heads are slightly slumped, and symbols are painted on their faces - symbols Daizo recognizes as marks of the god Hamoji. They stand on one side of a road that's broad and smooth, and though their energy is subtle against the noise of the Wyld zone, Daizo can tell that they are imposing a kind of sanity on the place. The animal sounds are dim and distant. The road leads forward 15[23:24] and upward, turning to broad stone steps as the timberline dies. [23:25] "There," 07she points out. "What are these?" 07Dryas asks. [23:25] 4Less pretty! 15[23:26] The steps - at least as far ahead as they can see - look horse-safe, which is nice. [23:27] 4Piu's feeling well enough to ride up front now. [23:27] 10Daizo: "Hamoji is gone, but his power lingers." [23:28] 10Perhaps it inhabits the Feathered One now. 15[23:31] As the horses leave the jungle proper and begin the trek up the mountain - more dolls on the way up, every time the staircase bends or doubles back - the hearth feels a great weight lift from their shoulders, an easing of subconscious tension that had no clear origin point and seemed to come on so gradually it was only apparent in its departure. [23:35] 10Daizo: "But to answer your question specifically, Dryas, I believe these effigies are anchors. Like pitons in a cliff face." [23:35] "Or posts driven into a swamp." 15[23:38] As they rise, the still air grows colder - a far cry from the tropical weather in Abalone proper, or even the caldera-warmed mountaintop. The direct light of the sun in the violet sky seems to offer little warmth. But the air smells sweeter the higher they go - incense, they judge - and about halfway up the cliff face a broad, flat space makes itself known that wasn't visible until 15[23:38] they drew level with it. Here the stairs give way to a lush garden, full of flowers and herbs - few of which are local and some of which are terribly exotic, Daizo observes - and a path that winds around a pool of clear, clean water. 15[23:39] The air is thin with smoke, and gives everything a gentle, softly-focused look. [23:42] 4Whew. [23:42] 10Daizo leans over to inspect one of the garden beds. At close range, the medicinal aroma is quite distinct. "Don't touch any of the plants. Some of these could go for a full talent of jade if picked under the right conditions…" 15[23:42] At the end of the path there is a row of six posts to affix horses to, and beyond that a stone house with a roof of thatched... glass? 15[23:43] Between them, hanging from a long, slender branch, is a silver bell. [23:44] 4Piu: "Well. This...kinda seems obvious." [23:45] 10Daizo: "I believe we've arrived, yes." [23:45] 07Dryas: "Marvelous." [23:46] 10Daizo wonders. If they'd arrived in a group of seven, would there be a seventh hitching post? It's possible. [23:47] 4Piu will hop off with a bounce. 15[23:49] Sadako hitches her horse and then, seeing Seiri struggle, hitches hers as well. 15[23:49] Seiri: "Gosh! It's like something out of a story..." 15[23:49] Sadako: "A story that ends in a traveller getting eaten." [23:49] 4Piu, brightly: "It is!" [23:49] "Yep!" 15[23:50] Who rings the bell? [23:50] 4Piu will do it. [23:50] 10Daizo dismounts carefully. He didn't bother binding the wings up again after they left the camp, and the mica chips that serve for feathers glitter in the violet light. "As I said, I don't intend to be an easy meal." [23:50] 4Dryas can cover with bow; Daizo can stand guard and watch to make sure nothing weird's happening at the fringe. [23:52] 10Hmm. Piu really wants to ring that bell, huh. Well, if they're all coming to see the Witch together, then it shouldn't matter who rings it. [23:53] "Go for it." [23:54] 4She takes a deep breath... 15[23:54] The bell goes tinkle-tinkle-tinkle and a warm, gentle breeze passes between them. The door at the front of the house opens and out comes the most beautiful woman any of them have ever seen. She's an islander, tall and strong, her hair hanging in a dozen braids. She wears a homespun white dress that leaves her shoulders bare, and it feels like she's smiling at each of her visitors 15[23:54] directly, with the warmth of a long-awaited friend. [23:54] 4!!!! [23:54] 14Caution. 15[23:55] "All of you have come so far," says the Witch of the Far Side. [23:56] 07Dryas pats Diamond Weapon's head and gives the Witch the up and down. 15[23:58] she says in her mellifluous Seatongue. 15[23:58] La’akea, the Witch of the Far Side: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCYPIaJYsBs - It’s only me who wants to wrap around your dreams, and have you any dreams you’d like to sell? 15[23:58] Seiri wipes her eyes with a sleeve. "She's inviting us in." [23:59] Daizo offers the Witch a deep formal bow, the one typically reserved for House elders and one's sifu. "Then, shall we?" Session Time: Wed Jun 17 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] 10Daizo offers the Witch a deep formal bow, the one typically reserved for House elders and one's sifu. "Then, shall we?" [00:00] 4Piu claps her hands and strides forward. 15[00:01] NEXT TIME: Burdened, blinded, blessed 14[00:59] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[01:36] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[01:39] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:04] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[02:05] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:13] * Joins: hrolfy 14[02:15] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:33] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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[20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12( .- \ / `-._ [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ (\_ /\/ `-.__-() [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 `-|__)__/ / /``-. /_____8 [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 \__/ / `-` [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 />| / [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 /| J L [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 `` | | [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 L___J [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 ( | [20:11] <@Ferrinus> 12 .oO() [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Having been saved by the Squared Circle from an undead assault brought on by an eternal saboteur, the great polar caravan trekking south from Crystal to Diamond Hearth is able to resume its journey. The Solars have pledged to accompany it the rest of the way to avoid further mishap; to that end, the Heavensward's flying low and drifting after the long train of carts and wagons, as [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12well the wooly rhinoceri that pull them and the copious guards, drovers, and logisticians (also a single sorcerer!) making the journey. 08[20:15] 4Do we need to race ahead to build Eikichi a quarantine hut in Crystal (doing this there instead of the remote countryside seems irresponsible to be honest, but it also seems more convenient) or can we not beat the contagion period? 08[20:15] 4Master healers Ir and Eikichi are of course on the case. [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya discovered that his old student Iro's along for the ride as well. It looks like his identity's hidden; ostensibly, he's a simple rhinoceros drover who is not also a trained stealth assassin. I think when we last left off you'd invited him to dinner aboard the Heavensward, which Iro says he should be able to make given a little lead time to take care of duties and find an [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12excuse. However, it'd be just as easy to take repast with the co-chairs (?) of the caravan itself, if you wanted to do something more formal and outward-facing. 15[20:15] 10Worse comes to worst Eikichi could jsut leave the caravan and then be there when the circle returns. 08[20:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Ohhh, yes, and Eikichi's been infested with some kind of nearly-invisible strain of ancient parasite? Somewhat worrisome. 15[20:16] 10But much more exciting! [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12So what're the plans? 08[20:22] 4Ir's staying the course with the Heavensward unless Eikichi needs her help with quarantine stuff. Otherwise that can be handled on the ship. [20:23] 4She'll probably pop down to cook for the caravan crew a couple times, as well. [20:23] 4Always good to make friends. 08[20:26] 13Ying's probably going to want to be on hand for Eikichi at least for a bit, another set of eyes can't hurt 6but Tatsuya's content staying with the caravan. Wouldn't do to have them all leave. He might be in disguise for some of it, though. 14[20:27] * Joins: tom 08[20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12So Ir's piloting. Eikichi doesn't think there's any risk of transmission before a few days from now at minimum, which means that she's technically able to enjoy another day or so of contact with her fellows and the rest of the caravan. Did the Circle want to effectively catch up with/interview Iro, or ask or tell the rest of the caravan anything? Otherwise time just advances. 15[20:31] 10That's all up to the others, as far as Eikichi is concerned. She's got studying to do - and sugar to eat. [20:32] 4Iro was offered a meal with the circle and unless we're catastrophically wrong about pre-symptomatic spread, we can squeeze one in there real quick. 08[20:33] 7Blossom wants to follow along with Eikichi, even if she's going to be under quarantine... [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12So what's for dinner when, a few hours after the battle, Iro's able to clamber up the rope to the low-flying Heavensward? [20:36] 4It's been awhile since she's made Iscia Omentata, Northern Style -- two broiled meat patties on a monk's bun, greens and crispy boar bacon, this time with her Secret Sauce -- so she'll do that, with a side of sliced, salted, and friend taters and cheese molded into sticks, breaded, then fried. Drinks are fresh juice and clear liquor. [20:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro's half in disguise as he eats - wearing the hard-wearing furs befitting a cattle drover, but not bothering with the blacked-on stubble and other subtle facial coloring that covers up most of his scars. "This-" mmf "This is-" 12mmf, gulp "Holy hell. You eat like this every night?" [20:40] 4Ir shrugs. "Usually I don't go for such standard Realm comfort food, and try to keep it more Threshold/Southern." [20:40] "Feels good to make every once in awhile though." [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Mmm. Well. Think I'd have picked this over help with the ghosts, honestly." [20:41] "Ha! Thank you." 15[20:41] 10Eikichi nods vigorously, cheeks bulging on her face. She'd be a bit pale, if she didn't seem to be spun from living diamond already. [20:42] 6Tatsuya: "I think we can swing both. We're multi-talented like that." [20:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "So! Crystal. What've you heard, anyway?" [20:42] 4Ir: "Something about a worker's revolt? Or at least a takeover." [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "I mean, you were there for that. Or at least its beginnings. Rest of the League wasn't very happy." [20:43] 6Tatsuya, mildly: "They certainly didn't sound like it when we swung back through." [20:44] 4Ir: "When we left, Nara was at least sharing power." [20:44] "Not dead." [20:46] 7Blossom: "Yes! What happened to her?!" [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Ah, yeah. Guess that's when things started moving really quickly. She took ill. Didn't last a month, which shouldn't be happening to Chosen, right? Had to be foul play." [20:46] 4Ir grumbles. They can't be everywhere at once, but still. That was soon enough they probably could have swung back. [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "The question is, from which direction? Our biggest problem right now's that we're not just threatened by one death-lord, see, we're sandwiched between two." 15[20:47] 10Eikichi, mouth slightly less full: "The Bishop and the Lover." [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "My best bet's the Lover. Say what you will about the disciples from the west, but they're usually pretty... sterile." 08[20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro nods at Eikichi. "Bishop, huh? We don't actually have good intel on a name, I'll take that back with me. But the... philosophy that the man you put away, Reckoning, tried to spread throughout our city - ours wasn't the first, right? Just the latest." 15[20:49] 10Eikichi nods. [20:50] 4Really hate that man. [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Range west and you'll find an entire swathe of shadowlands where there's no distinction between the living and the dead. An end to injustice and to pain... is what their dupes and agents tell us. But I guess those are the same word for the western philosophy." [20:51] 4I mean maybe he has his points, given their history. But still, fuck that guy. [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "It's seductive... the wrong person hears too much, reads too much, they start thinking they're going to save all the rest of us from the pain of toil. Start back up what you put down. And then, of course, you've got the literal seduction coming from the other direction." [20:52] 4Ir: "Feel like you can do worker organizing, even radical worker organizing, pretty well without handing the keys over to the dead." [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro chows down on some more cheese sticks before continuing. "Between the two of them, we've got our hands full sussing out and cracking down on dissidents and traitors of all stripes. The Undermelt's had to work very hard." [20:53] 6Tatsuya: "Well, shit." [20:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Dala's back in Crystal, training the next generation of recruits and handing out cases. I'm supposed to reinforce the division in Diamond Hearth once I get there. 'course, no one's to know." 15[20:54] 10Eikichi: "What happened to Enri?" [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Still in Crystal - she's had a hand in lots of our wards. Advises the general secretary on occult matters." 15[20:56] "The who?" [20:56] "Not familiar with the office. They more general or more secretary?" [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "You know, the leader of the city. Goes by Pinion to make sure his real name can't be attacked magically. He was chosen by the masses after we lost Nara." [20:58] 4Ir: "Fair enough." 15[21:00] "What's he like?" [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Pinion's... he might've been a little aggressive in choosing to just appropriate shipments of reagants and equipment that Nara's government was supposed to send to Icehome, but those agreements were made before Reckoning or you appeared. And we did end up needing them." [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "I'd say... uncompromising." [21:02] 4Ir: "The only time that's bad in a leader is when what they stand for is bad." [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Well, there are disagreements in the plenum. Some say it was a bad idea - that we should've worked harder to make good with the rest of the League since we'd need them against the Lover. He didn't think they could be trusted to." [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "His side won out, but it was a close thing, and you could still argue he screwed up. Uh, privately, anyway. Gotta show a united front otherwise." [21:05] 6Tatsuya: "They didn't sound particularly keen on anything of the sort while we were there. Not saying it would've been impossible. But. You know." [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12He gives you all a meaningful look, one that means you didn't hear that from him. [21:05] 4Ir: "The League was dealing with issues of their own at the time which...may have come a bit closer to resolution. They might be more open now, but I think in the moment he likely was correct." [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Well, yeah. Likely as not they're hoping we distract the Lover while they deal with their own problems." [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12To Iro: "Yeah?" [21:06] 4Ir: "They're getting their airships back. Well. Balloons. You know." [21:07] "Wind's less of a problem now." [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Huh. ...I don't have the head for what that means for us. Definitely something to pass along, though." [21:09] 4Ir: "How much of a political problem is us arriving going to be? I assume we've bought some good will with the caravan, which is why I want to arrive alongside it." [21:10] "But we were definitely the force that slowed the worker's directorate's roll and kept Nara involved." [21:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "You'd probably have to wait a while to do that - this group of vehicles is likely staying in Diamond Hearth at least a month before it turns around and ships back up to Crystal. But I don't think anyone up there resents you, exactly." 12He pauses. "Well, I tell a lie, but they're not in the majority. Current doctrine's that coalition with Nara was a necessary historical [21:17] <@Ferrinus> stage." [21:18] 7Blossom: "I want to find out who poisoned Nara." [21:19] 4Ir: "Rolling into Diamond Hearth will have to do then." [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "I hope you do. We couldn't, and it's a constant concern. Security wasn't as good in those days, but on the other hand Pinion's mortal." [21:23] 6Tatsuya: "I'll do what I can. Might be tricky after a time, but between us we can probably figure something out." 6Or a politically expedient lie! That's never backfired on us in Crystal before! [21:25] 4Ir: "At the very least, we want to have friends in the north." [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "The good news is that mysterious plagues and others of the Lover's schemes have been pretty few and far between... until, uh, today. But there was a definite downtick months back. Not sure if that means she was just cooking up something big." 15[21:29] "How many months back?" [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro thinks. "Last serious incident was the Prince just, depopulating an supply outpost a little ways east of here. Not really his style, but maybe he was getting bored. We haven't seen or heard from him since." [21:36] 4Ir: "Fucking with these guys has sort of become our thing, you see." [21:36] "You could probably tell by the whole, dropping out of the sky bit." 15[21:36] "The Prince?" [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Prince of Darkness, seems to be the Lover's mascot. Needs to be shot at from range or stabbed in the back because looking him in the eyes just turns people into thralls half the time." [21:38] 4Ir: "Not gonna say it'll be easy but I think I can manage taking the throat." [21:39] "He seriously just goes by 'Prince of Darkness?'" [21:39] "That wasn't...I dunno. Taken?" [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Crystal had formal negotiations with the Lover's domain, once, with the Prince serving as emissary - real bad idea, won't be repeating that one. We can also brag that we drove him off the field once, but it cost a hell of a lot." [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro shrugs at Ir. "I think that's how he managed it. Everyone else just assumed it was already spoken for." [21:40] 4It's occuring to her that she might need better tools, though. This is what, three of these big bads they're getting on the wrong side of? [21:40] 6Wonder if these guys have any fun toys that could get redirected... 15[21:41] "Is he cute?" [21:41] 4Ir sighs. 08[21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Yeah, that's the problem!" 12He's actually been avoiding looking at Eikichi throughout dinner, but it might not have occurred to you til now. [21:42] 13Maybe... 6Ying, no. 15[21:44] 10Poor kid. [21:45] 4Ir: "We just got done killing an impossibly hot, impossibly evil monster. So. We've got the training." [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Eh? Uh, who?" 15[21:46] 10Eikichi: "The Queen of Fangs." [21:46] 4Ir glances over. "We're allowed to brag under the terms of the agreement, right?" [21:46] "Yeah." [21:46] 7She should have asked that before bragging! But yes. [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Queen of... don't think I've heard of that one, what'd she look like? I mean, who was she?" [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Queen of... don't think I've heard of that one, what'd she look like? I mean, who was she?" 15[21:47] 10Rather than answering, Eikichi pours herself a very large glass of wine, and scratches her neck. [21:47] "Ruled an empire of cannibalism, sorcery, violence and absolute fealty. Took us like nine months." [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Damn. ...cannibalism?" [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "I mean, the Prince drinks people's blood so maybe it's just a common element here." 15[21:48] "She preferred tongues." [21:48] "She liked to eat babies. For complicated reasons." [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir gets a double take but no verbalized response. [21:48] 6Tatsuya: "Yeah." [21:49] "We were pretty happy to take her out." [21:49] 4To Iro: "Anyway. You get another meal after you kick it up the chain we want an official meeting with Pinion or his people. Doesn't have to be public." [21:50] "But we're not gonna pretend it didn't happen if asked." [21:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "For sure. Undermelt has a sorcerer in the Hearth - they'll send the message within a day of our arrival." [21:52] 4Ir: "Sounds good. Now, you need to get back, both for your cover and because we've got this thing we're working on that needs to stay on-ship." [21:53] 4She'll toss him a package as he leaves though. A couple of cold sandwiches for the road, up to her usual standards. [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro nods. "Absolutely. But sometime later I want to hear about the rest of what you've done since you left Crystal! I, uh, never got around to the books." [21:57] <@Ferrinus> 12If no one's got further comments or questions, Iro wraps up his meal, takes the sandwich, pays vociferous compliments to the chef, and bows low to everyone, particularly Tatsuya. Then he steals off. 15[21:57] 10Oh no, what are we going to do without off? [21:57] 4Oh there's like four in there. Please. Ir's a professional. 08[21:57] 7Blossom pats Eikichi's shoulder. "He didn't mean it. I'm sure he read the books but just wanted an excuse to have us tell the stories again." [21:58] 4Ir: "I read somewhere that young men just aren't readers." 15[21:58] 10Eikichi, several glasses deep, waves her hand a bit too quickly to be truly airy. "I can't expect anyone who idolizes Tatsuya to read." [21:59] 4Ir gives her the 'be nice' look. [21:59] 6Tatsuya: "...I'm working on it." 08[22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12The caravan proceeds apace. There's a brief incident with an undead mammoth, but it doesn't appear to actually be deathlord-motivated and the caravan guards are perfectly competent to dismantle the thing. Although, it's possible that while this goes on Eikichi might find herself feeling funny... [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12...she does. The itching on the skin's stopped, but she feels a little unusual deep in her chest and throat and gut, though not unpleasantly so. It's pretty boring staying in here... 15[22:09] 10Eikichi makes a careful study of her physical condition and is able, with varied and fun enough drugs, to suppress her immune response and allow the disease to progress. Soon she's packing in her room for an extended jaunt of seclusion, wearing a mask over her face to block her exhalations (it matches her clothes) and is ready to leave the ship and set up a safer and more stable 15[22:09] 10research facility. [22:10] 4She want help with that or do she and presumably Blossom have it covered? 15[22:11] 10Should be fine. [22:12] 4Good luck... 08[22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12As the days drag on, Eikichi grows increasingly bored and antsy. Just hearing people walk in the halls outside her isolation room becomes increasingly difficult to ignore. As- [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12-Blossom happens to go strolling down the hall one day, the Adamant sorceress finds herself seized by the urge to simply throw the door open and greet whoever's on the other side. 15[22:15] 10Eikichi throws the door open, lifts Blossom off her feet in a bout of feverish strength and presses her against the inner wall of the cabin, kissing her deeply. "Oh, I've missed you so." [22:16] 4You know Ir put up a careful series of-- [22:16] 4Ugh. [22:17] 7Blossom chortles into the kiss. When they break off: "How long is this going to last? You must be so bored!" 15[22:19] 10Eikichi: "Until I know the truth! If I must, I will simply have to devise new ways to pass the time..." [22:25] 7Curiously: "Like creating and solving your own puzzles?" 08[22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's got one way to pass the time: scientific inquiry. It's not that pleasant to draw one's own blood and not that easy to arrange magnifying lenses with the correct order and spacing to allow them to mutually reinforce, but it's definitely not beyond a legendary doctor's abilities. The Twilight's able to, as Ir did before, isolate the little creatures now gestating within her [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12body - even assembling successive samples side by side to be able to visualize a life cycle of sorts. 15[22:27] 10Eikichi: "It's not any more complicated than that." [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12They start as tiny, rotund transparent things with tiny, wiggling limbs. They extend a bit, thickening and darkening, looking a bit like six-legged bears whose entire faces are simply replaced with sucking holes. Then those grow more advanced again, going black and shiny with what appear to be insect's wings, as well as flowing, grasping tendrils. These last parasites are the biggest 08[22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12of all, but still small enough to fit into all but the smallest blood vessels; Eikichi would estimate no more than several dozen currently nest within her innards. 15[22:27] 10How cute! Eikichi shows Blossom. 08[22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Only the early stages of the parasite are transmissable through bodily fluids, spittle and breath included, and they seem to do nothing more than grow. The bigger ones, though, move with something like purpose - the one Eikichi was able to isolate has struggled mightily to hide from observation and even leap back into Eikichi's bloodstream, and Eikichi suspects that those tendril-like [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12appendages are for manipulating the host's chakras somehow in order to alter their moods and even thoughts. 15[22:29] 10Ha! Fat chance, tiny bear. [22:29] 7Fiendish! [22:34] 4Meanwhile, the great ration project begins. The Heavensward disappears over a ridge sometime early in the week, and returns fat, laden down with meat. Ir sets up a space on the roof of one of the main caravans, the most sturdy and stable of the lot, and brings the Heavensward into a coasting neutral. Then she sets up a kitchen space and goes to work. [22:35] 4The caravaners have rations, and Ir wants those rations. Because she can make them better. [22:35] 4And she does, first in first out, setting up preserves and beans with complementary meats and spices, churning through the backlog, never stopping the endeavor. [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, the trip continues apace. The caravan's co-chairs are extremely grateful when Ir adds an entire mammoth to their stores, and that's before they realize she also means to dice down and cook the thing. It's a warm and well-fed caravan that finally cheers as it sees Diamond Hearth come into view. [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Diamond Hearth is a study in contrasts and a place in which inequality is written right into the architecture. It's built on largely flat terrain, such that the city itself looks conical - sturdy stone fortresses in the center sloping down to smaller wood and stone dwellings in the outer rings and then dissolving into a sprawling shantytown of wood, hide, and bone in the periphery. [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12A broad, crescent-shape sweep of glowing blue-white terrain starting from the north and cradling the city's western curve makes visible one of the bases of the local economy: "true ice", the functional opposite of emberstone. It's a blue crystal that radiates freezing cold regardless of its environs, and while it's mostly a nuisance up in the north it serves all sorts of refrigerative [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12purposes in warmer climes. That and a few feathersteel veins have sustained the local economy for so long as anyone can remember, meaning that Diamond Hearth has ever been dependent on foreign trade for the bare necessities of life, meaning that everyone - the Haslanti League included - has largely been concerned with what could be extracted from the city and its terrain. [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12The ruling tribes here made copious use of slavery and also of foreign mercenaries to maintain order; actual community feeling or civic comity between the local tribes was next to nil, for all that they were nominally members of the vaguely-egalitarian Haslanti League. None of you know the city's recent history, but at a pinch and a glance it's not hard to imagine why it might have [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12been vulnerable to calls to revolution, either by the Bishop or by Crystal's new directorate. [22:46] 4Mmmmm. This is her kind of town. [22:46] 4Well. [22:46] 4It used to be. [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Conspiciously, stone walls, towers, and other pieces of heavy-duty stone infrastructure are now being built all along the ramshackle, shantytown periphery of the city, and many of them seem to use materials simply torn from the walls and foundations of what used to be the palaces in the core. [22:46] 4Any place to park the Heavensward after the arrival? [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Not really, no - this place is a long way from having an airship dock. You'll have to just fly your ship low and anchor it to the ground. [22:47] 4Fine. [22:47] 4...How long do we look to be staying? [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Honestly, there's no particular call to. You could straight up turn the ship around as soon as you arrive; Iro will make sure that word of your approach to Crystal is sent out ahead of you. You do arrive come nightfall, though, so spending the night here first might make sense. 08[22:50] 4Ir wants to stick around a week or two to get a feel of the place. Obviously Eikichi and Blossom have their thing going on. 15[22:51] 10Eikichi's going to want to double back that night or the next morning either way. Ir has her blessing to fuck shit up in Diamond Hearth as much as she wants. [22:51] 4After they make whatever introductions they need to make in person to the city leaders, Ir will pull Ying aside: "I need a walking-around look. A working look." [22:51] "Need to be able to sweat and curse and work and still not look like me." [22:53] 13She immediately perks up and you can almost see the various ideas spinning through her head. "Of course! I've got some stuff I was working on that'd purrobably fit with some alterations... and pawbviously the disguise kitten." 08[22:53] 7From what Eikichi's shown her of this disease, we need to make sure it hasn't spread to the cities, and stop it if it has. [22:55] 13Unsurprisingly, the working outfits are largely denim, but there's enough variety there for Ir to take her pick of fabrics, cuts, etc. She's been busy! [22:56] 13And of course her disguise skills are second-to-none, so however Ir wants to look is entirely possible. [22:57] 4No sleeves, workable hair -- she'll take a cut here, it's not like these people know what her hair should look like, but it's got to be something easily disguised -- loose pants, boots. Can Ying change eye color? 08[22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12So - Ir ranging out in disguise, Eikichi probably hanging back on the ship? Who else is doing what? 15[22:57] 10Eikichi's probably going to leave outright - don't want to reach a new and terrible level of contagion on the trip back. 08[22:59] 7If Eikichi's going into isolation, Blossom is going to go with her - what if someone stumbles across her retreat and has to be warned off? 15[22:59] 10Blossom is so sweet. Eikichi loves her so much. [23:04] 13Absolutely you can! 6Tatsuya made some in pretty much any color you can think of 13on special request! Sometimes you gotta make an outfit pop, you know? [23:06] 4The little things need fluid to make them comfortable, but that's fine. Soon, Iska Hit-the-Bricks is ambling down to the work office, asking for a punchcard and papers, and where the construction guild is. [23:08] <@Ferrinus> 12It's late in the evening, but that doesn't stop Iska - it seems that work shifts are going at all hours, because construction and reconstruction are urgent priorities as per the dictates of the local commissar. What does stop Iska is unusual levels of suspicion and demands for documentation. Does she have her papers? Which pod is she in? ("pod"? what?) [23:09] 4Well she made sure to register and get her papers, so those should be in order. She didn't lie about her provenance: shipped in on the skyship, as crew. Cut free for awhile. 08[23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, back on the Heavensward, Eikichi is struck with the need for some fresh air, some solid ground to stretch her legs on... [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Ah, well, that all seems to be in order. In that case, you'll be needed on the northwestern barricades - pick up your equipment there, get this stamped over here, be across town in an hour tops. [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12It's this air of suspicion and high security that Ir finds perfuses the entire undertaking - work crews seem to be arranged into close-knit "pods" and new hires are watched carefully for signs of necro-heresy or other compromise. There are some tensions, too, between different groups of workers, such as between those who were or weren't former slaves. [23:19] 4Iska's planning only on being here for a few weeks, unless the projects are meritorious enough that she should stay longer. [23:19] 4She's fine with a political minder, though. [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Morale isn't bad - just very serious. There's a definite feeling that the town is under siege and that all must do all they can. [23:19] 4Probably a waste of labor, but. Everyone's gotta feel safe. 08[23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Flying with Eikichi through the fatally frigid air - fatally for everyone else, anyway - Blossom's given to glance over at her companion to see what looks at first like a speck of grit or piece of dust that just happened to waft between the two Solars. But, no, she's sure of it now - something just swam through Eikichi's eye before diving back to where it's unseen. 08[23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12If Blossom watches carefully, she can note dark shapes occasionally surface to squirm right beneath the crystalline skin, or tendrils flick out under a fingernail before retracting. Eikichi, for her part, doesn't notice and feels nothing - she just wants to range out, to explore. She barely notices the presence of Blossom beside her. [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12In fact, what's much more interesting than Blossom is that distant pack of arctic wolves, just barely visible against the snow. She instinctively shifts her weight, bending the arc of the Stormwind Rider so that its trajectory aims right at them. [23:47] 7Blossom: "'kichi! Babe? The little creatures in your blood are poking out tentacles from under your skin." 08[23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's fingers flex. Her throat tightens. Soon-- 15[23:50] 10The mounting pressure is unbearable. Eikichi sees the easily-victimized lifeforms and dives-- 15[23:58] 10The whirlwind swoops low, and Eikichi swan-dives gracefully off its riding surface to land amongst the wolves, to... 08[23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's far more savage than the wolves can hope to be. The first has its throat simply seized and crushed, but this appears to give Eikichi - or at least Eikichi's body - some pause. She whirls to catch the pounce of the second, slams it down onto the snow, and shoves her arm some ways down the gasping creature's throat, leaving it there for a few seconds before withdrawing it, 08[23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12smeared with blood and ichor. A third wolf is smashed and stunned long enough for Eikichi to hack something glittery and studded with little black dots into a bleeding wound along its side. A fourth finds itself gagging helplessly on such an expectoration while the fifth flees, yelping, into the night. Session Time: Fri Jun 19 00:00:00 2020 08[00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi only finds herself wondering what she's doing as she digs a bare hand into the guts of the first, dead, animal, rooting around in there for a while before withdrawing her limb and leaving gods knows what behind in the corpse. [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Now she and Blossom are surrounded by four bodies, three breathing raggedly and twitching. 15[00:00] 10Gods, it feels so good. [00:00] 4Iska Hits-the-Bricks, meanwhile, finishes up her first shift. 08[00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi feels relieved. That was a real load to get off her chest. Wew! Time to leave and not think about this too hard. [00:01] 7Ugh, that's hideous. Blossom's going to burn the twitching disease collectors before they get up again. [00:01] 7Down to ash - leave nothing that could infect others. 15[00:02] 10Ah, ah, ah. "Do we have something to smoek?" 15[00:02] *smoke [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12WAIT NO STOP HER- 15[00:02] 10She's got to stop her-- but no. No! It's Blossom! If she can't trust Blossom, the whole world has lost its meaning. 15[00:03] 10And it hasn't. Eikichi is sure it hasn't. [00:03] <@Ferrinus> 12(stop it, really - as the parasite's repeatedly failed to so much as leave a mark on Blossom it doesn't really consider her alive at this point) [00:03] 7Blossom: "'kichi, I think we've gone far enough with this." 15[00:05] 10Eikichi, whose arms drip blood and guts up to the shoulders, scowls at her beloved. "For the truth I would gut every wolf with my bare hands!" [00:06] 4Christ (a minor river god outside Pneuma), we're so dramatic. 08[00:09] <@Ferrinus> 12What's to be done about Eikichi becoming a walking colony of pre-First Age essence parasites? We'll have to find out... next week. 14[00:29] * Joins: mattbaby 14[00:30] * Joins: Zarick_ 14[00:30] * Quits: tom (*.net *.split) 14[00:30] * Quits: hrolfy (*.net *.split) 14[00:30] * Quits: dammitwho (*.net *.split) 14[00:30] * Quits: Zarick (*.net *.split) 14[00:31] * Joins: dammitwho 14[00:32] * Joins: tom 14[00:32] * Joins: Zarick 14[00:32] * Joins: hrolfy 14[00:32] * Joins: hrolfie 14[00:33] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:33] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[00:54] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[01:00] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[01:00] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus [01:21] 10In the Cloister's courses on negotiating with divinities, the minor river god of Pneuma is occasionally brought up as an example of a difficult case to resolve. The city, of course, has the highest concentration of Immaculate temples anywhere in the Threshold. At the end of each Calibration, just past midnight, all temples fall silent for exactly one hundred heartbeats. One monk, selected by lot, presents the river god with an [01:21] 10 offering; when it is accepted, the prayer calendar begins to turn once again.  [01:21] 10It is said that this spirit's adherents were prone to debate and unrest, and in order to pacify them, the Immaculates brokered a deal; its final phrasing was "we will have no other gods before him".  [01:21] 10Daizo: "The theologians spent thirty-one years quibbling about the exact meaning of 'before'. So that's why he's so well-known." 14[01:37] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[01:40] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:06] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[19:42] * Joins: Zarick 14[19:59] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:08]  15[20:08]  15[20:08]  15[20:08]  15[20:08]  14[20:14] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 15[20:16] The inside of the cabin is lit gently yellow by a peculiar coral-like stonework that clings to the ceiling, looking organic and disorderly. It's a cozy fit for the seven of them, but it's more accomodating than the hearth might have guessed from outside. Cushions and rugs line the floor as furniture, and the walls are lined with shelves of jars and squat scroll racks with scintillating 15[20:16] hand-woven tapesteries hanging beneath them. A large, emerald-green reptile coils around the cooking pot, half-lit ember red by the banked beneath it. 15[20:16] One eye swivels up to track their entrance. 14[20:18] * Crion_ is now known as Crion [20:18] 4Grim! 15[20:19] Seiri's voice is hushed, like she's giving directions in a library. "She doesn't have guests often, she hopes we'll make ourselves comfortable." The room is heavy with the clashing scents of sweet perfume and smoky meat. [20:21] 4Piu: "Indeed!" 4She's not fool enough to just plop down anywhere, though. [20:21] 10Daizo: "Of course, of course. Please convey our apologies for showing up so unexpectedly." 10Grim? This is almost exactly what Daizo would have expected to see, had someone asked him to describe the dwelling of a hermit witch. [20:22] 6Zhangyu will find the second-most worn seat. First-most is obviously the witch's. 15[20:24] She serves the hearth by hand, setting a tray of teacups and a steaming clay kettle on the low table opposite the cookpot. She sets out a cup for everyone, but doesn't pour. 15[20:25] Seiri: "She says she was expecting the ali-ki, or maybe a summons from the Governor." [20:26] 14A wise move by the host with unfamiliar and suspicious guests, if she doesn't want to be suspected of poisoning. 14[20:28] * Joins: mattbaby [20:32] 07Dryas is the last to enter, barefoot (the condition of her feet is an exercise for the reader but suffice it to say that in Pangu City they are considered two of her most attractive characteristics). [20:33] 4Piu will properly obey all the local rules of station and ordering -- who goes first, how much to pour on your first cup, so on -- gracious and perfectly. [20:33] 6Zhangyu pours himself a cup - somehow, he still remembers how to do it 'properly.' Normally he just remembers it in order to do it wrong, but that seems cruel to the rest of the Dynasts. [20:36] 10It's all right, Daizo indicates little "yes" or "no" nods when Zhangyu seems unsure or bordering on a mistake. [20:36] 6Hey, he knows exactly what to do. He just usually does it wrong on purpose. [20:37] 6You need to know the rules in order to break them. 15[20:37] Once everyone is seated and served, the Witch says, via Seiri, "Who are you who have come so far to see me?" [20:39] 6Zhangyu's keeping an ear out for both the original and the translation. Call it paranoia if you'd like. 15[20:40] So far so good. 14[20:48] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[20:50] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:53] 4Piu: "Ma'am, we've come to seek your expertise and guidance in the matter of..." 4Blapes. "...Blood apes. We're sort of looking for a sorcerer..." 15[20:54] The witch's reply is short and firm. Seiri: "She says she doesn't consort with demons." [20:55] 6That's just sensible. [20:58] 10Daizo: "That is good to know. We do not seek to call up a demon, but rather identify the sorcerer who has." [20:58] 6In Seatongue: "Is there anyone here who would?" [20:59] "Oh! I'm sorry. I did not mean to imply such! We're looking for a sorcerer who summoned one against us." [21:00] 6He nods towards the others. "As they said." [21:00] 6Important to clarify. He wouldn't want to be taken the wrong way. 15[21:02] The lizard in the back uncoils, walks the length of the house, stretches, and returns to coil around the fire in the time the witch stays silent. Seiri: "She says people come and go all the time. Amatuea is full of strangers." [21:03] 07Dryas chooses this moment to speak up: "We seek to unravel the conspiracy that slew Hamoji." 15[21:07] The witch is cordial, but guarded. Piu gets the sense that her suspicion is contingent - it's likely possible to earn her trust. [21:09] 4Hmmmmmm. [21:09] 4Well, let's see how she reacts to the Hamoji namedrop. 15[21:10] She reacts, first, by pouring herself another cup of tea. "She says that she saw an omen of his death, but she ignored it. So she counts herself among the conspiracy." [21:11] 6...Conspiracy? [21:11] 4Piu, somewhat glumly: "Well, we happened to be standing there giving a big speech when it happened, which the killer used as cover. So we're kind of in the same boat." 15[21:12] It's an unusual word in Seatongue, without an easy synonym. Dryas used it, so Seiri translated it directly, and now the witch responded in kind. [21:12] 6Translating is difficult. 15[21:13] "She asks if you're in danger of punishment. She wants us to know that she has no authority to defy the colonial governor, but that she might be able to make the Feathered One see reason." [21:14] 6Zhangyu will glance at Daizo at that. [21:15] 10Daizo: "I have already received my punishment from the Feathered One. I repaid him by saving his life when the Governor was prepared to throw his away." [21:16] 10Daizo: "May we relate to you the story of what we saw and heard that day?" [21:16] 07Dryas grits her teeth a bit at the witch's suggestion. As if she would need the assistance of a barbarian sorcerer, or that she was concerned with avoiding punishment. "It is a matter of honor rather than punishment," 07she attempts to clarify. [21:16] 4Piu: "We've probably been punished all we're gonna be punished. We're here for understanding, ma'am, not leniency." 15[21:16] The witch nods to Daizo. [21:17] 4Dryas is adorable when she's obviously trying not to explode at a commoner. [21:19] 07Not just a commoner, but a barbarian at that! [21:20] 10Daizo: "It began that morning when I found myself rising early…" 10He'll begin to relate the story,. If the witch has a sticking point or needs clarification, she can interrupt anytime. [21:22] 10The part about Dryas interrupting the ceremony might be tricky. But the witch herself isn't one of Hamoji's priesthood.  [21:22] 4Piu has always demurred at that point in the conversation. She was adopted into House V'neef, of course. [21:22] 4Re: 'barbarians.' [21:32] 10Daizo: "…And so we swore our Hearth atop the mountain." [21:35] 10He's told it fairly and true as he knows it, but something must be getting missed in the translation here. Not by any fault of Seiri's, mind. 15[21:35] Seiri: "She's terribly sorry for what's happened to you, and to Hamoji. Whatever the assassin's intentions, Hamoji's death will bring misery to Amatuea." [21:36]  [21:36] 4Sadly: "That is true." [21:38] 6Is she? Whatever. "We are working on it." [21:38] 10Daizo: "I would speak with her more later about the Feathered One's curse, if she would grant me a boon." 15[21:38] At this, the witch nods. 15[21:58] She gathers up the tea service. Seiri: "She says she may be able to help us, but that she has to know we have the wisdom to use her knowledge responsibly." [21:59] 4Piu nods seriously around a mouth full of tea, which is vaguely amusing. [21:59] 4>:I [21:59] 6Zhangyu is the most reponsible. [21:59] 6I can hear you laughing. Stop that. 15[22:00] "She invites us to take tea with her." [22:00] 07Dryas: "It is, as we noted, a matter of personal and collective honor. For me, conducting such a hunt-" 07she does not use the words for Wyld Hunt - "in an upstanding and correct fashion is of the utmost importance." [22:01] 4Piu will nod seriously again. ...How is the tea? [22:01] 07Dryas: "-- ... Again?" [22:01] 10Daizo had already prepared himself to expect some kind of trial or ordeal from the witch. "I do not believe she means literal tea, this time." 15[22:01] "Another kind of tea. A seer's tea." 15[22:02] "Seer, or shaman. It's the same word, sorry." [22:03] 4Oh wow that went completely over her head. Piu thought she was inviting them to take the tea to-go, like those trendy places back in-- nevermind. [22:05] 10Daizo regards the others. "What do you think? Sadako, Seiri… you have no need to participate, unless you choose to." [22:06] 6...Is that correct? The tea thing. 15[22:06] Seiri: "Oh, could I? I've read so many stories, and I've always wondered..." 15[22:06] Sadako: "I didn't come all this way to watch." [22:06] 4Piu: "I'm in!" [22:07] 10Daizo: "Please join us, then." [22:07] 07Dryas nods. 15[22:09] The witch sets a smaller pot over the bubbling cauldron, and mixes various dried plants into it -- the root of this, the bark of that, a pinch of something dark from a jar, etc -- until something brown and foul-smelling is simmering away. 15[22:09] Seiri looks on eagerly. [22:10] 6Does this brew have a name? 15[22:12] Surely it must. Zhangyu has no idea what it is. The witch simply called it 'tea'. [22:13] 6Bitter? Sweet? Bland? No matter what, that is the tea, sis. [22:17] 10Daizo recognizes a number of the ingredients by edescription or smell. He read something about this not too long ago.  15[22:18] Daizo, meanwhile, who made careful study of the plants growing out front, is able to recognize its consitutent components - the root is strongly hallucinogenic, and the bark is a severe toxin that has wildly unpredictable, severe reactions with any number of different people and substances. Notably, it amplifies the effects of the root by orders of magnitude. The combined tea is referred 15[22:18] to in the Immaculate anthropologies as "nursemaid's tea", "spinster's tea", and "den-mother's tea" based on how generously a given writer renders the concept of an elder unmarried woman. 15[22:19] He suspects further that plants grown in the Wyld, as these have been, will have stronger and stranger effects still. [22:21] 10Daizo: "I think even Dryas might be surprised by this one. Just remember that you're in a safe place and surrounded by friends." 15[22:25] The liquid is ladled out into much smaller cups, the kind you might serve very fine wine or liquor in, one for each of them. The light dims and reddens, seemingly on its own. "She says, steady your breath and thoughts. If pain or sickness comes, let it. It will only be temporary. Focus on the question you want your spirit to answer." [22:27] 4Piu's eyelids 14flutter. Different mindset. [22:30] 10Daizo is a still lake in a shaded valley. He raises the cup to his lips.  [22:33] 07Dryas examines the fine workmanship on the cup for a moment, before getting a sense of the bouquet of the tea mixture. It doesn't seem like the taste is the point, does it. Maybe getting this in with something else would improve it. She stops herself, refocuses on The Hunt - and takes it in a single draught. 15[22:33] The witch sings gently to the brew, and then the seven of them drink at once. 15[22:34] Almost immediately tbeir bodies struggle to reject it. The taste is foul, and turns fouler after it's gone down. Their stomachs churn... [22:34] 14Hhhhhhhhhhhh. [22:40] 10A single cup poured into that still lake will disperse, and the water will clear.  14[22:44] * Joins: mattbaby 14[22:47] * Quits: mattbaby_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[22:48] Everyone feels the urge, but only Seiri has to double forward and get sick in the great painted jar at her side. But she seems to feel better almost immediately, and while the feeling remains it becomes a remote part of a much larger, totalizing physical sensation, a steady subauditory thrum that seems to vibrate outward from the chakras of the torso. 15[22:49] But the witch's advice reverberates: focus on the question you want your spirit to answer. 15[22:49] What is that question? [22:50] 14Who truly betrayed House Iselsi? [22:53] 10What must I do to attain the power to cleanse myself… no, purify myself… and ensure it never happens again? Session Time: Wed Jun 24 00:00:00 2020 14[01:35] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[01:37] * Joins: mattbaby 14[01:56] * Joins: hrolfy 14[01:57] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:39] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [04:34] 6What does Zhangyu need to do to gain genuine respect and not simple fear from his house and others? [04:38] 6...Without fighting. 14[05:09] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[05:09] * Joins: tom 14[06:05] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:56] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[15:29] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:41] * Joins: tom 15[16:50] * Disconnected 15[16:50] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[16:50] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[16:50] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[16:50] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[16:50] * Joins: VoxPrimey 14[16:50] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[16:50] * Quits: @Ferrinus (NickServ (GHOST command used by FerrinusPrime)) 14[16:50] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 15[16:53] * Disconnected 15[16:54] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[16:54] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[16:54] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[16:54] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[16:54] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[16:55] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[16:57] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[17:58] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[18:24] * Joins: Zarick 14[21:50] * Joins: mattbaby [22:58] 07How can I usurp the evil Nn Tloc without serving the interests of those even worse, wonders Dryas... Session Time: Thu Jun 25 00:00:00 2020 14[01:15] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:16] * Joins: tom 14[01:27] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[02:50] * Joins: mattbaby 14[03:32] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[03:41] * Joins: mattbaby 14[04:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[07:37] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:02] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[08:55] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[11:32] * Quits: hrolfy (Connection closed) 14[18:05] * Joins: Zarick [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 .-"-. [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 .-"-. @@/ \ [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 / \@@ Y '-<<<-' [20:19] <@Ferrinus> 12 '->>>-' Y ''' [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12The Circle's split across the north. Some of its members are in Diamond Hearth, a recently-revolutionary partial shantytown now desperate to build up and guard against attack from both within and without. Others are out in the wastes, watching the bodies of several arctic wolves burning away to ash in still-billowing solar flames. [20:21] 4Good, honest work... [20:22] 6Or good dishonest work. Not picky. 15[20:23] "Haha this is so gross!!" 10She looks furious and spent. "And it's going to keep happening! We've got to work fast." [20:24] 4'Iska Hit-the-Bricks' is. Ir's new persona is getting down to business, and that business? It's work. [20:26] 6Tatsuya and 13Ying6 are both willing to assist however they can - certainly they are around for bailing 'Iska' out if necessary - but otherwise Tatsuya will be spending most of his time creeping around and investigating without doing... real work. [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Iska and Tatsuya both are in position to be real boons to the goings-on at Diamond Hearth. On one hand, there is a constant need for reallocation and construction - a city that was once a well-built fortress surrounded by successively-shitty tiers of shantytown and slum is being rapidly redeveloped, with wood, stone, and specially-insulated true ice being carted out from the center [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12to reinforce the periphery. On the other hand, there is a constant need for internal, secret security, because the malign influences of the Bishop from one direction and the Lover from the other are constantly threatening to corrode the social fabric - or, at least, so people say. [20:30] 6...Anyone in charge who might take the sudden appearance of a known friend to Crystal well? He could arrange a meeting if he wanted to, probably, but just showing up does also let them know: you need to be better. [20:34] 7Blossom: "What's your plan?" [20:34] 4Iska is a machine. Well, not an actual machine -- actual machines don't sing worker songs or pal around or distinguish themselves as drinkers after hours (or whatever it is these workers do) -- but she is a bastion of reliability and competence, if not demonstrated short-burst excellence and leadership. [20:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Yes, in fact. You don't recognize them, but there's a "steering committee" (?) that seems to run the city, with two "chairs" (the caravan had one) in charge of top-level decision-making and general logistics. They're a man and a woman who, as far as Tatsuya can tell, don't actually get along very well, although the reasons as to why aren't obvious to an outsider. 15[20:35] 10Eikichi: "We need a treatment that can kill bugs but not hurt the creatures they infect." [20:35] <@Ferrinus> 12The man's known to be a Terrestrial exalt, though one of weak enough essence that his aspect isn't immediately obvious, while the woman's mortal. 15[20:35] "Step one: find out what kills the bugs." [20:38] 6Maybe he - 13and Ying! 6 - can do some work before any kind of meeting. So. What do we have? Ying established General Strike as an identity - they can work together to assist the chairs while perhaps also learning more about them. 15[20:40] 10They should be able to make time to Crystal and set up a safe facility for Eikichi to work before the attacks flare up. How hard is it to get bugs to study and experiment on? 08[20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a tricky proposition. The easy way to produce a full sample of the little devils is, of course, to let nature take its course and attack and infect another living creature. Eikichi guesses that they'll have regenerated themselves to the point of being ready to pull another stunt like today's in about a day. But then, they'll also fight like hell to stop her from interfering with 08[20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12the life cycle once the infectious payload has been delivered. If she works at it, though, Eikichi might be able to medicinally trigger whatever expectorative reflex these things use to spread themselves early and just set up lab equipment to catch the results, though. [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12She'll want some sort of laboratory to work in, though - will she return to the Heavensward or what? 15[20:44] 10No. She's going to make a new lab right here. [20:46] 7Neat! How can Blossom help? 15[20:47] 10Blossom can fabricate a structure while Eikichi makes the lab equipment! [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keeping his ear to the ground, Tatsuya's able to put together what's going on with leadership, and I'm afraid it's not as salacious as one might think. These are tribal tensions dating back to before the Diamond Hearth usurpation; the female co-chair, Svargna, hails from one of the northern icewalker tribes whose members were alternately trapped in debt slavery or outright enslaved [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12in formerly Haslanti-run Diamond Hearth. Meanwhile, Duthro, the male co-chair and Terrestrial Chosen, hails from one of the ruling families. Apparently he was persuaded by the usurpationary ideology filtering down from Crystal and turned traitor to the ruling order quite early, and only stepped into leadership recently. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Nevertheless, there are various questions as to whether he can be trusted and whether he's truly dealing with the formerly dispossessed and enslaved Icewalkers fairly. These tie into broader political concerns having to do with leadership and reparation and so on, as well as tensions between the various families which hadn't really been able to manifest themselves before the ruling [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12aristocracy was (almost) extirpated. [20:52] 6...huh. So. There's some problems in need of handling. How's the security on their meetings, and how much effort does it take to spy on one of them? [20:52] 6Tatsuya's getting some ideas but it's important to be fully informed. [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Things seem to be working so far, but it is a fault line that Tatsuya could probably find ways to exploit if he were feeling particularly cruel. And he's clearly not the only one with the idea, because in his in-depth spying and investigation of both the halls of power and the city's lower echelons he finds all sorts of things, some worrying and others actively alarming. There are [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12furtive whispers that Duthro's presence on the highest committee means the aristocrats are still really in charge, or that Svargna is just using her position as a Walrus tribe elder to force the rival Fox tribe to the margins. Workers sometimes wonder aloud - when they think no one's there to hear them - if this painless equality in death thing is really so bad. Sometimes, the person [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12there to hear them isn't Tatsuya, and such people are swiftly apprehended for reeducation or outright exile. [20:55] 6He's going to drop off some traitors on their doorstep before appearing in a meeting. Might take a bit for that all to align but Ir seems to be doing fine and it's not like either of them are going anywhere. [20:56] 6He WILL flip down from the ceiling because you have to make a good impression. You know, while they are arguing. [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Over the week, Tatsuya does discover two specific, alarming things that probably need to be dealt with immediately: on one hand, a small death-cult that's been growing up around an ancient carving found deep in the true ice mines. On the other hand, an official and judge within the secret police who's been incredibly vociferous in investigating and harshly sentencing foremen, [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12bureaucrats, and other mid-level leaders who have been found in suspicious circumstances but mostly, as far as Tatsuya has been able to look over the evidence personally, have not done anything wrong. [21:05] 6...going to have to at least drop off one of the cultists. 13And Ying might be able to look into the judge... [21:06] 6Still! The pair. Tatsuya can help out. [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12"Iska" distinguishes herself in the course of not trying to distinguish herself. She doesn't exactly take charge of anything but the actual construction work any team she's on produces is of masterwork quality and people can't help but notice. She's offered the opportunity to lead a work crew. [21:10] 4She won't demur, precisely -- that might be suspicious -- but the team she does lead is going to be a lot more collaborative and relaxed if only for the reason (which she has been very honest about) that she's just passing through with the ship. [21:11] 4Use her labor while she's here, but don't rely on her. [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, then, Iska's now put to the task of leading the team building west-facing fortifications. The horizon looks clean now but apparently there've been literal zombie hordes simply shuffling at Diamond Hearth en masse in the past months, but simply ringing the city with walls is impractical because the (somewhat former) shantytown extends quite far in all directions and people need [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12to be able to range out to hunt, fish, and prospect. To that end, the steering committee has decided on a network of small, partially-buried fortifications from which crossbows and ember cannons might be fired. [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Iska's to move out with dual construction and quarry teams and put down as many bunkers as is feasible, basically. Extra rations for extra work completed! [21:16] 4Humm. Well, they'd know best. Time to get to work! [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Duthro: "...and furthermore, if you read Pinion carefully you'd see that the point of that kind of tribal autonomy is just to get them ready to join the city-state properly later on. It's not good in itself. If we keep allowing these treks outwards there's no telling what they'll be bringing back, as we have already seen. On top of that, the-" 12Svargna: "If you would let [21:23] <@Ferrinus> me-" 12Duthro: "On top of that, the latest report-" 12here's where Tatsuya comes somersaulting down into view. [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Duthro: "Gah!" 12Svargna: "Eh?" 12The younger man's nearly fallen out of his chair, but he's trying to scramble back to his feet and assume some kind of combative stance, fists balled. [21:24] 6Tatsuya: "Yo." [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12How's Tatsuya dressed? [21:25] "Your guards aren't very good, by the way. And there's like... a dozen other problems?" 6He's got his long leather coat, no shirt, and leather pants. Look, leather's good. 15[21:26] 10It's not technically glass, but it's hard and translucent and she draws it from the air in white-hot ribbons. Blossom can use Eikichi as needed to make raw material for the building itself, but at all other times the high sorceress is fabricating vials, jars, dishes, and lenses of all shapes, sizes, and intensities. [21:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Not enough like an Undermelt agent for that to be the co-chairs' logical guess, then. Duthro: "We'll see about-" 12Svargna: "GUARDS!" 12Duthro: "Gua- yeah! And c-come no closer!" 12He tenses slightly and his hair and clothes begin to ripple slowly around him, as if underwater. [21:28] "Hahaha! Ahahahaha!" 7The translucent semiglass is tainted with hellish influence, so in spite of it being created by her fiancee there's a certain joy in punching it into a proper shape. Razor-sharp shards of hellglass scrape over her bare knuckles but are unable to pierce her, and soon take the form of a reasonably weathertight residence and workspace. 15[21:29] 10Hell: it's about time. [21:31] 6Tatsuya, hands nowhere near any of his numerous weapons: "Rude? Although I guess I should've introduced myself. Tatsuya the Golden Hand. I'd try to shake your hands but that would look like a threat, so." [21:31] 6He coughs politely. "You, uh. Don't seem to have a handle on the death cult?" 15[21:31] "This is nice," 10says Eikichi to her beloved. "It's like a little vacation." [21:32] "Aaaaand there's sort of. A judge who is a problem." [21:33] "The guards won't catch me, by the way, but I'd appreciate it if you called them off. Hard to hold a conversation otherwise." [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Duthro: "You're...?" 12The guards are actually already here - the door's slammed open and two men with hand axes are rushing in to get between you and the co-chairs, with more behind them. "...prove it." [21:40] 6Shrug. "Okay, man." 6His caste mark lights up. "Does that count? I feel like that counts." [21:41] "Still would like the guards to peace out. For the record." [21:41] 4Iska's main contributions here are directing traffic, showing up early, and being an absolute workhorse. First mate shit, not captain shit. Orders come down from above and we fill them, and Iska leads from the front. [21:41] 4Still...it's a pretty impressive feat, the way they get these things up. [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Duthro: "...oh. You see it's just that I've never actually seen you and although the caravan may well have received the aid of your Circle we weren't to know-" 12Svargna motions the guards away. Once they're gone, she turns back to Tatsuya. "...what brings you here?" [21:44] 6Tatsuya: "I'm waiting for everyone to get ready to head up to Crystal. In the meantime, figured I should help out. Cultist on your doorstep, by the way." 08[21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12By the time Blossom returns to Eikichi, she's got more than enough obscure reagants and local plants to stock a working lab. Of course, there's plenty missing that you could only get from other Directions - but ideally anything Eikichi cooks up to fix this would be locally-sourced anyway, right> Eikichi herself is probably some combination of sweating, shivering, and pacing when [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom returns, as she's fighting down the constant urge to spread the plague. It's awful because it's not just a matter of one's mind going peacefully blank and then waking up later in a grisly situation - it's more like it just becomes increasingly physically and mentally uncomfortable not to go out on the hunt. There's simply no other way to relieve the building itching/nausea/p [21:44] <@Ferrinus> 12ressure/headache. [21:45] 7She's so brave, to endure all this! [21:45] "...heard a bit of the argument. You want to talk it through with me? I'm pretty good at being a neutral party." 15[21:48] 10Usually when Eikichi feels like this, it's because she's gone off the laudanum. But no need for that now! And she always has a travel bottle. "Beautiful. Thank you. Right here." 10Somehow the sheen of sweat and unearthly pallor still leave her with glowing skin. "Now we can get to work." [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12They look at each other. Duthro hesitates enough that Svargna's able to speak first. "This is about allowances for tribal pilgrimages. It's required of most of the families to send processions out into the wastes to pay chiminage and seek guidance." 12Duthro: "Which is extremely dangerous, especially in times like these." [21:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Svargna: "But more dangerous not to, as to fail would both invite divine reprisal and unroot the tribes from their ways." 12Duthro: "How well did those 'ways' serve thus far?" 12Svargna narrows her eyes. [21:57] 6Tatsuya, to Duthro: "First of all, rude. I get it. But rude." [21:57] 6...is he familiar enough with local practices to offer advice? [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12He's looked into it a bit in the course of researching , and he knows that, like most threshold traditions, these pilgrimages have practical utility - the Icewalker tribes really are favored by or at least in relationship with various gods and avatar spirits and simply breaking off these practices might result in scarcer hunting and worse weather. On the other hand, they might also [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12result in death or co-optation by the various corruptive forces which currently haunt the North, so they really are in a pickle here. [22:06] 6Hrm. ...combat training? Having bodyguards travelling with the pilgrims? It's clearly important. [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Definitely, but that raises other concerns about time and resources. After all, training sessions and bodyguards eat into time that could otherwise be going into construction, mining, and political education. You can sort of tell that Duthro wishes he could, but knows he shouldn't, simply tell the Icewalkers to drop the tradition and soak up whatever loss in abstract spirit favor it [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12results in for the sake of efficiency. [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Still, this is an ongoing wrangle and you can tell that neither co-chair expects to solve it here and now. There'll probably be more meetings. 15[22:19] 10Eikichi finds it terribly hard to focus, and even sedated as she is once or twice Blossom has to physically drag Eikichi back inside after an innocent fresh-air stroll slips into a hunt for fresh hosts. Lucky that Blossom is so fast and and clever and her arms are so strong... anyway there are still bouts of productivity, and even working half-stoned and mad with distraction, Eikichi 15[22:19] 10is still an unparalleled, world-historical genius. [22:19] 6...is it possible to send help from Crystal? "...Second of all, I'll figure something out. Because I'd love this to be an open and shut thing, but it really is not." [22:20] <@Ferrinus> 12I mean, that's what the caravan you escorted here was for, right? Svargna: "We welcome your and your allies' counsel, of course. What was this about cultists?" [22:21] 7If worse comes to worst, she can simply sit on her. [22:22] 4...Glad to be working. [22:22] 6Tatsuya: "Ancient carving in the ice-mines. Some people formed a cult about it - or repurposed a previously existing cult, I didn't quite get the whole story - and it's going to be a big problem if it isn't shut down soon." 15[22:23] 10Eikichi's first thought is to try to use these reagents to breed a subspecies of the ticks that subsist on the other ticks, but that has the classic "what eats the tigers" problem. No, we need something inert or even beneficial for people that the creatures can't tolerate... aha!! 15[22:26] 10It happens over a lunch of fried meats and root vegetables. Eikichi takes a bite, and makes a big show of frowning thoughtfully and saying, "This needs more... salt." 10before drawing a large glass vial full of tiny pink crystals and setting it firmly down on the table. She sprinkles a bit on both of their foods. "Behold! Curing salt." 15[22:28] "I created a compound that will cause a minute, superficial reaction on ordinary salt crystals, propagating rapidly through an entire vessel. Doesn't change the taste or behavior of the salt in any way we can detect, but it kills the bugs on contact. Dries them up like slugs. They pass through your waste like any other dead parasite." [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12As all this is going on, Iska - Ir, really - gets into a conundrum. She's got two well-apportioned bunkers behind her and her team is halfway through a third when, shortly after sunset, the entire company is set upon by hungry ghosts. [22:29] 4Dang it. [22:29] 6You loathe to see it. 15[22:29] "We can seed some of this in every barrel of salt in the North, and they can put it on everything they eat. No bug survives." [22:29] 4Surely there's mutual defense for this. 15[22:29] "Simple as." [22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12The work crew has rudimentary combat training and a team of guards, of course, and the rampaging po souls aren't in overwhelming numbers - you're going to win, just not cleanly. Does Iska help fight back, or does Ir? [22:29] 6Tatsuya's probably around to lend a hand? Unless the discussion with town leadership is taking too long. [22:30] 4Iska does. If it costs lives, that will teach them they need better defenses on hand when a Solar isn't around. [22:35] 7Blossom: "And an excellent pun on the word 'curing'!" 15[22:35] 10Eikichi: "Ohohoho!" [22:35] 4That said, she's always believed there's nothing wrong with something she couldn't eventually fix with her hands. [22:35] 4And that includes ghosts. [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12The fighting's brutal, and men die. Once again, Iska acquits herself fantastically well, displaying the sort of skill expected of a master martial artist or a veteran of the gladiatorial arena. Laborers are still reminding each other of the way that Iska was seen to strangle a creature that isn't supposed to have to breathe for long enough to allow the sorcerer-exorcist it was menacing [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12to finish casting a ward. [22:37] 4Their defenses can get better. They should get better. Iska will help bury the dead and repair the damage. [22:38] 7Blossom, simultaneously: "Ohohohoho~!" [22:39] 7Blossom'll eat her part of the curing-salt-seasoned food anyway. [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12It's true - there were probably mistakes in the handling of the salt that will have to be dealt with once your party returns to Diamond Hearth. But for now, construction can continue at an only slightly slowed pace. [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya's news visibly worries both co-chairs. Duthro: "That's a serious problem. Can we put you in touch with our agents? Need to root something like that out immediately." 08[22:45] 6Tatsuya: "Happily. If you can't get to me, talk to Sunlit-Dreaming Ying - she can get in touch easiest - and then, in some kind of order, Eikichi, Ir, and Blossom." [22:45] "Though myself or Ying are going to be in town until this gets handled. So." [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Svargna nods. "We'll call for them immediately. Is there anything else you can pass along?" 12Duthro's discreetly pulled at a small cord at the side of his desk - it's probably how he summons the Undermelt as opposed to regular guards. 15[22:49] 10After a day, the curing salt's stated proprties prove out, and Eikichi is freed from the disease entirely. 15[22:50] 10Now all that remains is to present it to the government of Crystal. Has anyone been out to check on their strange glass laboratory? [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12That depends - is it actually within view of the city walls or a ways out? If it's the former, then someone was probably in to check before the cure was even completed, such that Blossom will have to do some retroactive diplomacy. 15[22:55] 10That was certainly Eikichi's intention... maybe Blossom talked her out of it, though. [22:55] 6Probably going to want to keep an eye on that. The summoning Undermelt thing. If nothing else, to ensure that they're doing a good job. "There's a judge, too. I'll be looking into him more, but he's kind of..." 6Tatsuya tilts his hand. "Kind of suspicious, pretty heavy-handed. Confines folks to lengthy sentences that I don't think have done anything wrong, but I need to double check." [22:56] "The cult's easier to check. But I'll contact you if I find out more about the judge." [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12When Iska's party has built its allotment of defensive emplacements - they could do more, except they've run out of supplies they can't simply quarry on the spot and at least some people are getting worn out - it returns to the Hearth in a trip that's largely uneventful. The general mood is one that could be described as 'on edge', though - hungry ghosts are supposed to be easy to [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12ward off, and the fact that a pack of the things managed to break into camp such that things got to the level of hand to hand fighting either means something's significantly empowered them, someone screwed up, or someone tried to sabotage the operation. Men and women are nervous, your exorcist especially, since that guy was supposed to be seeing to the salt lines around the work site. [22:56] 7It just makes sense to be far enough out that we don't run the risk of random Crystallines violating quarantine. [22:57] 6He's going to disappear before their eyes unless they have more to say after that. He's very good at that. [22:57] 4Iska will mostly watch, but if people need to be calmed she's here to do some calming. The post-match foresenics are Tatsuya's department. [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Svargna: "I see..." 12She asks for this judge's name, and frowns when you give it. She frowns again as she tries to figure out where you are or, indeed, who she was talking to. [23:01] 6Poof. [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Outside the room is Iro, who seems to have been the Undermelt agent summoned to connect with Tatsuya. Presumably you're meant to talk shop, plan, and execute some kind of anti-cult operation. 08[23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12In that case, the little lab's gone unnoticed for the past week - it's not that Crystal doesn't keep a close eye on its immediate territories, but that you're just doing a two-woman operation with almost none of the tell-tale signs of large-scale construction and, likely as not, with the cover of cliffs and snowfall and such strategically chosen. So, it's up to Eikichi and Blossom [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12to simply approach their old haunt, whether by sorcery or on foot. [23:03] 6...Tatsuya will find pebbles, coins, or other small objects to lead Iro to an otherwise-empty room. When he arrives, Tatsuya is leaning back in a chair. "Hey. How much did you catch from earlier?" 15[23:03] 10We should ride in on Ami! Ami was born in Crystal, and they should still have their own golden emas cavalry. [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12There it is ahead of them, the melting city of Crystal. It's still an enormous chunk of blocky ice raised around, but partially melted off of, an ancient First Age city that you happen to know was hurled here from the ocean floor by ancient Solar spite. The ice levels are a little lower than you remember them, and the construction atop and around the ice more elaborate and particularly [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12more forbidding - whatever defensive emplacements are currently being built into being around Diamond Hearth were clearly pioneered in Crystal first. 15[23:05] 10They call it a siege mentality for a reason. [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12So it is that as soon as the two of you come into view on Ami, whether on the ground or flying, you're challenged. A booming voice, likely sorcerously augmented, calls "Who comes?" 12and ballista-like contraptions with glowing orange outcroppings along their structures swivel to point at you. 08[23:06] 7Neat. Well, Blossom will spur Ami onward, Eikichi sitting behind her with her arms around her waist. 15[23:06] 10Cozy! [23:06] 7NICE. [23:06] 13:3 08[23:07] 7Blossom will respond, in an equally loud voice. "EXCESSIVELY RIGHTEOUS BLOSSOM AND EIKICHI SHO." 15[23:07] 10Calling from the back: "Heeeeeeyyyyyyyy" [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "...ah, makes sense. Only the tail end. Another damn cult?" 14[23:07] * Joins: hrolf [23:08] 6Tatsuya: "Yep. There's a judge to check out too, but the cult is... okay, I don't want to give anyone ideas, but come on. Live a little." [23:09] 4Other than helping keep the peace (according to the foreman), Iska will sit down, have some food, and generally snooze like she always does. [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Heh. That's what we keep telling people! And yet." [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Seriously, first order of business is going to have to be destroying whatever they found under there and it's important we not look at or read it in the process." [23:09] 4The food is workmanlike and filling. She could give them a feast every night...but that's not the point. [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12There's visible commotion up on the half-frozen battlements. The ember-ballistae are quickly swiveled away so as to not be pointing at you. A few moments later, the pair of gates facing you opens and a small procession comes out on black emas birds, a grey-furred wolf-woman sitting at its head. [23:10] "We might need to know about it? I'm not a cult expert, frankly, but it could be a thing where we have to read whatever stupid garbage." [23:11] "Plus maybe destroying it makes it worse. Not sure." [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro: "Gods, I hope not. Let me show you headquarters, we can hash this out properly there." 15[23:13] 10The inhumanly beautiful Eikichi may be hard to recognize. She waves at the oncomers all the same. [23:13] 6Tatsuya: "Lead the way." [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12You guessed it: that's Ashen Enri, looking a little older not because of the passage of time (it's only been a few years and she's Chosen, after all) but presumably because of all the decades packed into the last few weeks. Her eyes are sharper and you can see what look like the old claw-marks of some wild beast running from just above one of her collarbones to below the sari she 08[23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12wears. "Blossom! Eikichi. After all this time." 12You're not quite sure how she feels because it sounds like she doesn't either. 15[23:16] "Citizen Enri!" [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Enri: "You look... different." [23:17] 7Blossom: "Hello again, Enri." 15[23:18] "You look good, too! Suitably heroic." [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Enri blinks once or twice. "Do I? Don't believe your eyes. I haven't done so well as you might've. But please, please, come in. We're happy to receive you - though where are the others?" 15[23:20] "Ir and Tatsuya are on a working holiday. Bergsveinn goes his own way." 15[23:21] "Come, come! Tell us everything that's happened. And we come bearing gifts!" [23:21] 6For the record - not sure how the timing has worked out here. But Tatsuya has been keeping Ir in the loop for everything he's happened to find. [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's work crew has only a day to rest and recuperate. Burial services for the guards and workers fallen will be held elsewhere and will have to be purely symbolic, as their bodies were burned to ash as part of security protocol. (Fortunately this already comports fairly well with traditional Icewalker practices.) The rest of you are returned to a group barracks and held for intense [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12questioning. [23:21] 4Ah, politics. [23:21] 6She's undercover. But Tatsuya is extremely good at stealth. [23:21] <@Ferrinus> 12How long were you out there? How much work was completed? Did anyone seem to work too little or too poorly? Whose duty was it to see to the wards the night of the attack? Did anyone behave strangely as the ghosts struck? And so on. [23:22] 4Iska answers truthfully to the best of her ability. [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, if Ir's committing to the bit, she'll have to talk about one younger laborer who tended to skimp on work later in the evening unless he realized Iska was there watching him, and about the very reliable craftsmason who nevertheless ran and hid when the ghosts attacked rather than taking to arms with the rest, and of course about the exorcist who returned to camp unusually soon [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12after heading out to draw the salt-wards, in her judgment in anticipation of a tryst with one of the guards. [23:27] 4She'll do so, and see what happens. She's very good at remembering names and faces, after all. That applies to political officers too. [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, Iska's thanked for her commentary but informed that she'll have to stay in these barracks for another day as the city-state reckons with this security breath and decides how best to respond. [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Elsewhere in the city, the Undermelt plans... [23:29] 4Mmmhmm. [23:29] 6Hmm. [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro's taken Tatsuya's point about this strange tablet/carving thing to heart; his idea is to simply collapse that tunnel, mark it as dangerous/to-be-indefinitely-ignored, and then to mop up everyone who's already read the thing and let internal security process them to determine who can be reeducated and who's lost to the Crystal Pact. [23:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Over the next two days or so, the Undermelt, with Tatsuya's assistance, carries the operation out with exacting precision. The cave-in, the encirclement, the raid - they never saw it coming, didn't even have time to gasp before the black-masked agents closed in. [23:36] 6Oh my Sun this is easy. Tatsuya needs to tell people how easy this is. [23:37] 6"Ohhhh it's part of a--" shut up this is actually criminal. 08[23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Enri rides with Eikichi and Blossom, surrounded by a contingent of other emas-riders who started out as potential legbreakers but serve you now as an honor guard. Enri talks with the two of you as she leads you along the familiar winding streets of the melting city, sometimes across stone stiles, sometimes slats of wood, sometimes sorcerously-sustained ice which has been dusted with [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12salt or snow in order to afford boots purchase. The black emas, of course, have no trouble with any sort of terrain, and several times your procession simply runs up a wall or across a river of meltwater without break in your conversation. [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Enri's story doesn't sound much like what you heard from Inara in Whitehome, but it does match up more closely with the information given to you by the leaders of the caravan you saved. Though Crystal enjoyed some peace and prosperity shortly after you saved it from Reckoning's uprising and then quit it for greener pastures, things were thrown into chaos when Grey Nara was struck by [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12a wasting plague not long after an emissary from an eastern kingdom that turned out not to have existed came to visit the city. At that point, line of succession might have put Enri or her brother Alar on Crystal's throne - but Enri didn't want it, and while Alar did, more importantly the people didn't want it. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12There was a rift through the ruling house of wolven Dragon-Blooded and through the people generally, but ultimately a disciplined faction among the miners won out, persuading both Enri's side of the ruling caste as well as a preponderance of other laborers and hunters that their vision of a laborers' directorate would comport best with the ideals that Blossom had left behind. There [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12was quite savage but short-lived fighting in which, somewhat incredibly/problematically, even some of the dregs of Reckoning's old movement showed themselves and joined in on the side of the miners. After all, the high were being brought low and all women made equal, right? 15[23:44] 10Mmm. [23:46] 6Wait are they just all like that [23:46] 6Tatsuya is visibly here which is maybe a first can he help [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12After that was debate, reorganization, fighting, more debate, more fighting - and, of course, attempts at subornment from within by two different deathlords and, perhaps worse, the remaining strings the Guild had to pull on the city. Refusing to recognize the legitimacy of the new order, the rest of the Haslanti League demonstrated immediate and total repayment of loans and other [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12arrangements that Nara's government would otherwise have comfortably used or paid peacemeal interest on for decades yet; in response, Pinion's committee decided on a basically autarkic seizure and reappropriation of all those assets, though at the same time his committee was infuriating other segments of the city for continuing to trade with the Guild (until the Guild itself chose to [23:46] <@Ferrinus> 12cut Crystal off). [23:47] 6are they just like this all the time [23:47] 6oh god [23:47] <@Ferrinus> 12At the same time, Crystal reached out and supported Diamond Hearth in its own usurpation, and that brings us to more or less the common day - an isolated and embattled chunk of carved off from the Haslanti League that's been fighting to survive despite isolation and infiltration from basically all directions. [23:47] 4Sounds good to Ir. And Iska. [23:48] 7That doesn't sound good at all! [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12At some point, as the procession is rounding a corner and the three of you are out of earshot of your honor guard, Enri pauses. She begins to say something, then wiggles her snout a bit; if you're paying attention, you notice the air around you dimple, blocking sound. 08[23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Enri: "Eikichi, Blossom... is this, uh, is this what you had in mind?" [23:48] 4We're not here to champion the autonomous zones that bow to Deathlords and forsake their ideals for commerce with the Guild. [23:49] 6Tatsuya is pretty close to not being able to handle this anymore. 13Seems like a job for Ying. Wait, why are you - you jerk!!! Oh my goodness!!!!! [23:51] 7Blossom: "Hrrh. We didn't expect Grey Nara to be assassinated. It's good to be vigilant against Deathlord influence, but this total isolation, infectious paranoia..." [23:52] "Not," 7She adds. "That the rest of the Haslanti League doesn't share some of the blame. A total debt recall was profoundly foolish." 15[23:52] 10Eikichi: "It was an act of war, frankly." [23:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Enri: "No one did! And the war soon after..." 12She refers to something I mentioned along with the caravan but forgot to explicitly include as part of Enri's story, which was an out and out confrontation with the forces of the Lover on the snowfields outside Crystal. The Lover's Deathknight was driven off, but only just. 15[23:54] "The League and the Guild need to reconcile with the existence of Crystal, and they haven't. That problem far outweighs any internal confusion. What can you tell us of Pinion?" [23:55] <@Ferrinus> 12The following day, when Tatsuya and Iro have wrapped up their operation, Ir and her fellow laborers are called to formal account before a tribunal. It's a literal tribunal - these things are done quick and dirty nowadays to avoid cutting too heavily into workdays or consuming the time of officials and party members who'd otherwise be involved with more important planning. [23:56] 4Iska, surely. [23:56] 4And she'll be generally sanguine about the whole thing. [23:57] 6Tatsuya will inform Ir/Iska of whatever is relevant. Iro is -- look. He's a good kid. But still. [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Iska, yeah. Anyway, the judgments handed down after deliberation: The exorcist... to be executed for sabotage of a crucial work project. The laborer who failed to fight... to be imprisoned for desertion. Iska: under suspicion for insufficient enforcement of discipline. Imprisoned pending further questioning. [23:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Uh... [23:58] 4Iska keeps her face neutral. [23:59] 4What was that judge's name that Tatsuya mentioned? [23:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Perhaps Tatsuya has been keeping tabs on this, and, yes, this "Arshavin" is the official he'd found cause to be suspicious of earlier. These decisions, he knows, are somewhat arbitrary - they're made after closed-room discussion and silent vote, and basically supposed to work on the basis of the city-state's trust in its higher party members. [23:59] 6Tatsuying knows what it is even if I don't. Session Time: Fri Jun 26 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] 4What's the timetable on the execution? [00:00]  [00:01] 4That question's for Tatsuya and Ying, of course, since they're gonna be the ones responsible for stalling that until we get a look at Arshavin here. [00:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Maybe a week - as brusque as Diamond Hearth is, it's not the kind of place where you actually get marched out the door and decapitated a minute later. [00:02] 6If necessary 13they will literally pretend to be the guillotine team. [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Either way, it'll be up to Tatsuya to save Iska - or, rather to save Ir from the embarassment of having to stand there while a blade literally deforms itself around her neck - next week! [00:02] 6It's probably not necessary. 13WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS 6It's fine. 14[00:09] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:46] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[02:49] * Joins: mattbaby 14[03:59] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:05] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[12:35] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[13:30] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[13:30] * Joins: dammitwho 14[18:35] * Joins: Zarick 14[21:19] * Joins: tom 14[22:17] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:59] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) Session Time: Fri Jul 10 00:00:00 2020 14[00:04] * Joins: mattbaby 15[00:54] * Disconnected 15[01:00] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[01:00] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[01:00] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[01:00] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[01:00] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[01:26] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[01:32] * Joins: mattbaby 14[02:01] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[08:58] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[15:02] * Joins: mattbaby 14[15:16] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [16:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 ___________ [16:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 \ / [16:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 )_______( [16:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 |"""""""|_.-._,.---------.,_.-._ [16:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 | | | | | | ''-. [16:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 | |_| |_ _| |_..-' [16:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 |_______| '-' `'---------'` '-' [16:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 )"""""""( [16:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 /_________\ [16:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 `'-------'` [16:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 .-------------. [16:20] <@Ferrinus> 12 /_______________\ [16:23] <@Ferrinus> 12The Squared Circle is divided, albeit only geographically, across the nascent geopolitical formation loosely referred to as the "Crystal Pact". Two former Haslanti cities, each with its own constellation of mines, quarries, farmlands, and hunting grounds, that have split from the League in pursuit of self-governance - not, curiously enough, by local chiefs or priesthoods, but the [16:23] <@Ferrinus> 12peasants and laborers themselves. This has had mixed results, and constant encroachment by outside forces of various aspect has not made the project any easier. [16:25] <@Ferrinus> 12To the south, Ir (or "Iska") and Tatsuya have dipped their toes into Diamond Hearth's daily operations. Though Iska has distinguished herself as a laborer and project lead, she's now found herself under suspicion, and indeed subject to legal sanction, for a disaster that befell a bunker-building project out on the Hearth's western outskirts. An attack by hungry ghosts has the team [16:25] <@Ferrinus> 12exorcist slated for execution along with Iska and a fellow laborer condemned to imprisonment, her pending further questions and him for years given a claimed desertion. [16:26] 4Iska Hit-the-Bricks has...well. [16:27] 4It's fine, though. All part of the process. Mole hunt. [16:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, Blossom and Eikich have arrived again at the first big city they ever arrived together to: Crystal itself. They carry with them what one might term Salt-2, a mineralogical cure for a vicious parasitic infection which the Lover's undead dredged up from the depths of the ice. Ashen Enri, apparently a sorcerer-vizier serving the city's new leadership, has greeted them warmly [16:27] <@Ferrinus> 12and told them the situation, though it's clear that Enri herself has some reservations about the state of the city. [16:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's just been sentenced by the sternly frowning judge "Arshavin", a member of the party/cult/covenant (people tend to use these terms interchangeably) that doesn't technically rule the Hearth but is embedded at almost every level of government. What does she do? And/or, what has Tatsuya been doing leading up to this moment, and maybe what does he do now? 08[16:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Meanwhile, what more do Eikichi and Blossom want to say to Enri or otherwise do in the city? Among other things, I don't think you've actually given the specific warning about the parasitic disease that Eikichi's currently still infected with (though suppressed to the level that it's not currently contagious; she just feels itchy sometimes). [16:31] 4Surely the sentence is pending further questioning and she's merely been convicted? Or does this guy really not know how to do this dance, and put the back end of his two-step first? [16:31] 4If so, what's Iska looking at? [16:31] 4Either way, all there is to be done is to wait and make sure to keep the line open to Tatsuya. [16:32] 6Worst comes to worst, Tatsuya's broken friends out of much more high security prisons before. [16:33] 4Worst comes to worse, Ir crushes the judge's throat in her hands and walks out burning gold. [16:33] *4worst 15[16:33] 10Eikichi probes Enri about Pinion - what's he like, how should we conduct ourselves, things of that natyre - partially to know but also to gauge the way Enri and her guard feel about him. [16:34] 4Her prohibition on using Essence on honest work doesn't apply to hanging judges with ulterior motives. [16:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Iska's under suspicion in a heavily embattled and suspicious city; she's getting marched right down to the cells. Given her understanding of the local legal system, the poor exorcist has as little as a few days or as much as a week to live, though he'll also be impironsed in the meantime. [16:43] 4Well, the food's gonna suck. 08[16:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Questioning Enri more deeply, Eikichi gets the sense that Enri has great respect, to the point of surprise, for Pinion as a person, much of which flows from the fact that he's just a mortal. In her view, he's actually been very principled in holding to what he understands were the ideas animating the original revolt in Crystal, driven by Blossom's compassion and Reckoning's rebellion [16:44] <@Ferrinus> 12both. It might be because she's in the inner circle, but Enri doesn't seem to hold with not prevailing but certainly present sentiments that Pinion has somehow sold the usurpation out or backslid on its ideals. 08[16:45] <@Ferrinus> 12It's sort of the opposite, really - Enri's a bit reticent to say it out loud (though might with further coaxing), but suspects that the man might be radical to a fault. She's hesitant to really go into his long-term plans or beliefs because, Eikichi can tell, she's afraid you might react poorly. 15[16:45] 10Oh ho ho. 15[16:47] 10What passes for local religion now? Does the Philosophy still have a foothold, has Crystal been given over to death- or sun-worship? [16:50] 6Well, before it becomes the worst situation, let's start with: the moment Tatsuya hears Iska's been arrested, he's going to want to know "what for" and, upon finding out, go "that's bullshit" and start investigating the situation. Does Iro have any leads for him or is he working this case from scratch? [16:51] <@Ferrinus> 12That's an interesting question. There is still an Immaculate Temple here - apparently Pinion studied there at some point in his history - and according to Enri it actually became more popular in the wake of the usurpation rather than less, what with Blossom's origins and the contents of her speeches on the perfected hierarchy. There are also a number of Icewalker cults to regional [16:51] <@Ferrinus> 12deities who receive limited dispensation to make appropriate chiminage and so on, though they're constantly grumbling there's not enough. Any actual death worship is formally banned. Leaving offerings to ancestors is technically allowed, but will often put you under suspicion such that those who do it try to do it in secret. [16:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Enri mentions this matter-of-factly, suggesting that tabs are being kept. 15[16:54] 10Kept by... the government? 15[16:55] 10Does Crystal have its own All-Seeing Eye? 08[16:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi can put this one together given what she saw briefly on the way to Diamond Hearth: yes! The Undermelt crime gang/martial arts society once run by Yara and then turned to Tatsuya's side now seems to function as the Pact's secret police. [16:56] 7Well, that's a sensible decision. 15[16:57] 10How active is it? What are its principal targets? 15[16:57] 10Eikichi gives the impression of being much more interested in Crystal's self-governance than its diplomatic crises. [16:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Death cultists, mostly. The Bishop and Lover are each disturbingly persuasive in unrelated but interlocking ways, and they represent constant threats of sabotage and disunity. Of course, they also represent constant excuses to crack down on dissent on the premise that it might be motivated by worship of the abyss. [16:59] <@Ferrinus> 12That last bit's editorial on my part, not on Enri's; it seems like she's so tied up in maintaining internal security that while she's aware of the possibility of false positives it's not something that particularly gnaws at her. That's probably because she isn't actually doing the spying or passing judgment - she works magic. [17:00] 7Hrrh. 15[17:00] 10What's internal opposition like? [17:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Enri does mention again that the Lover's seemed to be less of a threat of late, though she's alarmed to hear about the caravan. [17:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Enri's actually not an expert on that, but there's tons of internal factions and sources of complaint. Various of the Icewalker tribes feel that insufficient resources are being granted to their religious functions and the Immaculates feel that the tribal gods should be formally subsumed into the Immaculate hierarchy and calendar, for one thing. While different mining, farming, and [17:04] <@Ferrinus> 12manufacturing firms aren't technically being run for profit, there are still struggles between strata of workers and management as well as inter-concern competition over the allocation of city resources, mandated market prices, and so on. Some feel that the limited trade Pinion's been able to secure with outside entities, including nominal enemies, is a betrayal of principles; others [17:04] <@Ferrinus> 12feel that nationalizing Haslanti assets and alienating the League was a mistake at the outset and the autarkic stance the Pact is taking will inevitably lead it to ruin. [17:05] <@Ferrinus> 12The impression you get from Enri is that there are a dozen little factions each of whom has at least one big problem with management, but they're different problems such that an actual bloc to re-usurp or otherwise dramatically reorient the direction the city is taking can't cohere. 15[17:06] "So it seems like Pinion's two biggest problems are being deeply paranoid, and everyone being out to get him." 15[17:06] "That's a bit awkward." [17:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Enri laughs, then looks slightly worried, then appears to decide it's fine. 15[17:07] "We've brought good newds, at least - we pre-emptively cured a plague on the way into town." 15[17:07] *news [17:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Enri: "A plague? What happened?" [17:12] 7Blossom: "The attack on the caravan unleashed some kind of... primeval spore." 15[17:14] 10Eikichi explains. "Some of the corpses the deathlords are prying up are hosts to an antebalorian parasite, dormant for centuries in the permafrost. It seizes the body's natural essence, eating the host's spirit alive and compelling it to spread by gruesome violence. Very dangerous, highly contagious, and not seen for literal ages. So we fixed it." [17:17] 7~her fiancee~ [17:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Enri's a bit taken aback. "That such a thing could... is that that, then? Or is there something I should instruct our doctors to watch for still?" [17:21] <@Ferrinus> 12As soon as he heard of Iska's arrest, Tatsuya kicked into action. An overzealous judge seemed the least of the problems he'd uncovered in his general patrol across Diamond Hearth, but now that it's directly threatening a Circlemate's freedom of movement it presumably gets to move a few entries up the to-do list. It's very difficult to put together an entire dossier in a day and a [17:21] <@Ferrinus> 12half, but at this stage of the game that just means Tatsuya needs to actually concentrate on what he's doing rather than go idly through the motions while idly coming up with pranks to play on Ying. 15[17:21] 10Eikichi: "I've prepared a special treatment that will fuse with the surface of salt crystals and spread from crystal to crystal given time and contact - this way a whole supply can be treated and spread. So we just need to make sure that everyone has access to a treated supply, and that no one eats unseasoned food. Additionally, we built a laboratory outside the city to isolate 15[17:21] and research the treatment - that facility and our notes will be turned over to you all alongside the curing salt itself." [17:22] 6A minor correction: Iska's movement is only as threatened as Ir wants it to be. Which, given that he probably hasn't heard of massive jail breaks or seen gigantic pillars of light...? 15[17:22] "I hope this offering is adequate - I worry I set expectations too high with the emas..." [17:23] 4Ir could have the run of the place -- by force or probably even by stealth -- but she's sticking to character. [17:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Though he does his best to downplay it, it seems that Arshavin was once a well-off trader in pre-usurpation Diamond Hearth, moving furs, true ice, and emberstone down south while bringing firedust, drugs, and alchemical components up north from his Guild contacts in the Threshold. He held loosely to the Immaculate Faith but mostly for the sake of being able to claim protection from [17:25] <@Ferrinus> 12fae and other supernatural threats, and was actually in good with the city's ruling tribal families. Records of the actual revolt are very sketchy, but as far as Tatsuya can reconstruct things Arshavin switched sides quickly but not immediately when the fighting broke out, claiming that guardsmen sheltering in his abode's basement levels had in fact broken in themselves and attempted [17:25] <@Ferrinus> 12to hold him hostage, and that the revolutionary forces were free to seize the legbreakers of the old regime and indeed appropriate the whole dwelling if need be. His skills at management and administration made him invaluable to the new covenant and he was quick to join and move up in the ranks to his current position in administration and legal judgment. [17:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Almost none of this is in publicly known or official history - it seems that Arshavin tells people he was just "a bureaucrat", leaving out the actual management of a trading firm, old wealth, etc. [17:29] <@Ferrinus> 12An actual history of cases is more damning still. Certainly Arshavin is in the topmost of tribunal members when it comes to swift, decisive judgment, but as Tatsuya picks through the dregs and evidence from old cases he finds two distinct patterns: one, harsher sentences on particularly distinguished or useful laborers, militiamen, or intellectuals (most generously, because their [17:29] <@Ferrinus> 12prior status makes their current 'betrayal' that much more contemptible) and a pattern of lost or missing documents or other evidence such that tribunals were forced to make do with reputation and gut feeling when under time pressure. [17:30] 6Iiiiinteresting. [17:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya's only had about a day to dig through the records/rumors/graves but he can find at least two people who he's positive were innocent, and additionally was positive that some record, documented alibi, or other crucial piece of evidence was supposed to have reached Arshavin - and then never turned up in court. 08[17:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Enri looks amazed as Eikichi lays the entire treatment infrastructure out. "That's - yes, yes, absolutely, this is invaluable. Would you present at our public safety committee? There's a meeting tomorrow. I'll get scouts sent out to take possession of the laboratory immediately." 15[17:36] 10Eikichi: "I'd be delighted!" [17:37] 6Well, can't let all that go unheard. Someone should probably be aware of this, and, well. Tatsuya always did love dramatics in court. [17:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Enri: "Lovely! Thank you so much. I need to, um, put the wheels in motion - but my man here can find you somewhere to stay. See you tomorrow if I can't find time tonight." 15[17:38] 10Once they're alone for a moment, Eikichi says to Blossom: "Glad to see she's landed on her feet. So what do you make of all this?" [17:38] <@Ferrinus> 12In court, as Iska watches the gavel fall, she notices the man sitting at Arshavin's right frown down at some of the paperwork in front of him and wave a hand at the center judge. "Hang on, hang on. How did this get here?" [17:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Arshavin, annoyed: "Eh?" [17:39] 7Blossom: "I still want to know who killed Grey Nara. And the severity of their justice system... I hope Ir and Tatsuya can come up with something." [17:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Right judge: "Comrade, a moment. Is it not the case that Duvan had militia dispensation to study the heretical texts he was arrested and sentenced for the previous month?" [17:40] <@Ferrinus> 123Arshavin: "I saw no such-" 15[17:41] 10Eikichi: "Their situation seems far more precarious than the Hedgehog's. The Hedgehog merely needed to be taken seriously. Crystal is taken as a threat." [17:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Left judge: "Wait, I finally found the filing myself. Family members were to present documentation from Crystal confirming sufficient soundness of mind and education to study enemy material. You called it hysterics... but here is the signed and sealed material showing it had made its way to you." [17:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Arshavin: "It must be a forgery." [17:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Left judge: "...can I look at the written testimony supposedly proving this man's-" 12(here he is indicating the exorcist, who is watching this exchange confusedly) "-study into ghost summoning a second time?" [17:44] 4Iska's been unruffled this entire time, but now a slight smile spreads across her face. [17:44] <@Ferrinus> 12It goes on like this. After a few moments' deliberation, it's decided by the tribunal that consensus does not in fact exist behind this sentencing; all three suspects are to continue to be held, just in case, while the bureaucracy gets to the bottom of this. [17:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Iro approaches Tatsuya about a day into this, with request for some aid with further investigation. Does Tatsuya help out/provide the other stuff he dug up? [17:48] 6He's absolutely going to turn over what he's got. And probably go to see Iska in prison, to see how she wants to proceed from here, because she's the one actually in prison while he gets to sneak documents into dossiers. [17:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, all the stuff Tatsuya's turned up is taken over somberly and seriously. If Tatsuya wants to visit Iska, he's free to do so, though if he wants to do it secretly (and why not?) it might take a little effort. [17:49] 4Iska's not gonna turn away visitors. Even if she could! [17:51] 6He'll be visiting in secret, of course. He briefly considers a disguise, but that actually seems riskier. Especially for the listening ears. [17:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Iska's not being mistreated, at least, though the quartans and provided food are quite austere. 08[17:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Do Eikichi and Blossom want to do anything in particular before they're to present to the committee on public health the following morning? [17:55] 4Iska's probably doing pushups or chinups or something when Tatsuya arrives. Jail is boring. 15[17:56] 10Eikichi'd like to put in a public appearance - maybe a dinner date or something - to let the public know they're around and hopefully raise morale. Plus that just sounds like a nice evening. But that doesn't necessarily demand a whole scene. [17:57] 6As Tatsuya slips past every single defense they have - and if he was nice, he'd tell them about how he slipped past, seriously not his best work - he comes to Iska's cell and waits for a moment until he's sure no one's listening. Then: "Hey. Heard the judges got my present." [17:58] "Oof." 4She lowers herself from the bar. "Yep. Feels like they're still wary of crossing him." [17:58] 7Oh, that does sound nice. And Blossom can keep an eye out to see if the peasantry look particularly... you know. Downtrodden. [18:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Not a bad idea (or so you'd think). Crystal does in fact have some of the same market and recreational districts that you remember, though the selection of non-local foods and goods is understandably sparser. You can find a nice outdoor restaurant. What you maybe can't find, until you ask one of Enri's goons/city guides to spot you, is some local currency. Your silver's no good [18:00] <@Ferrinus> 12here, because Crystal itself appropriates all the jade and precious metals and things either unearthed or traded for with outside parties and issues specific tokens/labor vouchers for actually interacting with the local economy in a mixture of paper, iron, and clay. [18:01] 6He grimaces. "I can work on it. You good in here? 'Cause we've got options, I can like. Slip you something if you want, or get you out of here." 6He pauses. "Or trade places? Also an option." [18:01] 7Seems inefficient. [18:02] 4Iska: "Been awhile since I've lived the ascetic life. It'll make the first meal I cook after getting out of here taste better. Give me a heads-up if he's planning to interrogate me or turn the screws to try to distract the other judges." [18:03] <@Ferrinus> 12The peasantry and workers don't look especially downtrodden. As you might expect, late in the day many are tired, some grouchy and some relieved based on how the workday's been going and what the future holds. They don't look particularly poorer or more sickly than you remembered, though conversations tend towards the hushed variety especially when armband-wearing militamen are [18:03] <@Ferrinus> 12present on the street. Still, people dine, trade crafts, shoot the shit on stoops, all that stuff, nonwithstanding of some of the more outrageous stories you've heard or read back in Icehome. 15[18:04] 10That's about what Eikichi expected. In many ways life is pretty much life regardless of who's in charge. 15[18:05] 10How do the people react to Blossom and Eikichi? 08[18:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's in full on diamond radiance mode, right? 15[18:06] 10Absolutely. [18:07] 4Iska smiles. "Anyway, we both know I can walk out of here whenever I want. But it's the principle of the matter." [18:07] <@Ferrinus> 12In that case, unless you took the care to stay in a carriage or something, the stares begin almost immediately as you make your way down to find somewhere to eat. Children and adults both stare, whispers spread like wildfire both around and ahead of you, and business, dining, haircuts, whatever all tend to slow or freeze as you pass by. It's a child who first asks who, in fact, you [18:07] <@Ferrinus> 12are and where you came from. [18:07] "They need to resolve this." 15[18:08] 10Eikichi looks to her beloved. She wants Blossom to take this one. [18:09] <@Ferrinus> 12From what Tatsuya's seen... he'd guess that they actually will. One problem with the local justice system is that it operates with an air of extreme defensiveness and suspicion, always on the lookout for internal sabotage, which as you've seen can easily be taken advantage of. But that means that when suspicion of internal sabotage become actually warranted, to the point of having [18:09] <@Ferrinus> 12multiple paper trails as delivered by Tatsuya, the system can operate swiftly and decisively. Too bad about all the mistrials beforehand... [18:10] 7Ahahahaha! That's right, everyone! Gawp at HER girlfriend! Tremble at her incredibly powerful relationship! Oh-- right. 08[18:11] 7Politely, in her best talking-to-children voice, she explains to the child that their names are Excessively Righteous Blossom and Eikichi Sho, and they've come to visit. [18:12] 6Tatsuya: "Yeah. They should take care of it with what I gave 'em, I'm just... concerned. And I found pretty good evidence for at least two innocent people from this guy alone, and who knows how many more there would be if I dug deep?" [18:12] "Plus, like. What would've happened if I wasn't here. Sure, you're fine, but anyone else...?" 15[18:13] 10Heh heh. That's right, everyone -- gawp at HER girlfriend. [18:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Child: "aaaaaaaaaaa" [18:13] 4Iska's smile slightly broadens: "Well, if you weren't here, I'd have handled this a little bit differently. But there's no one less popular than a hanging judge at his own sentencing. I think the system might be able to take care of this one, now that it's been nudged." [18:14] "Frankly, all things considered? For one of the outlying settlements during a two-front fight against the Deathlords? A judge and that other mess you cleaned up is a lot less dysfunction than I feared." [18:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Restauranteurs fall over themselves to refuse any vouchers you offer and serve you for free. Waiters are present to chase away anyone who would interrupt your meal with questions or comments - and chilling looks from the small contingent of militamen who've been watching/guarding you at a respectful distance make it clear to the crowd that it would be best if people kept their [18:14] <@Ferrinus> 12distance. But still, people will ask or simply shout questions which amount to three things: where did you go, why are you back, and what do you think of the place? 14[18:14] * Joins: Zarick [18:15] 6Tatsuya: "Here's hoping, anyway. Maybe I can do some more digging before we leave town, pass it on. I'll be at whatever trials they hold, you and his, but in between that, I was never here." 15[18:16] 10Do they not get the books up here?? [18:16] "Then I was just talking to myself the whole time." 4She hups back up onto the pull-up bar. [18:16] <@Ferrinus> 12They do, actually, though they might be one volume behind. Still, for some people nothing beats direct testimony. [18:16] 6Tatsuya fades back into the shadows and makes his way back out. [18:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Two days later, Iska and her cohort of workers are called back to trial - not as suspects, but as spectators. It's Arshavin on the stand. 15[18:23] 10Eikichi spins a story of some of their exploits since leaving Crystal the first time - liberating the Hedgehog, defeating the Princess Magnificent, styling on the Chosen of Fashion and earning the grace and favor of all catkind. She makes little mention of Nexus, and none of the jungle. [18:25] 4Iska -- Ir -- watches but finds herself taking little to no satisfaction in it. A necessary surgery on the bureaucracy; a necessary invocation of justice. Doesn't unwrong the dead or undo the damage to the court's reputation (though it might at least mitigate the latter). [18:25] 4Assuming they're wise enough to convict the bastard, anyway. 15[18:26] 10It's only loosely chronological - Eikichi ends on the story of Blossom lifting and throwing an entire house. As for why they've returned... they miss the place, and they heard the people of Crystal and its central committee could use some help. [18:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Based on his history as a rich merchant and Guild collaborator, spotty accounts of his behavior during the actual usurpation, and a now-undeniable record of hostile, ruinous judgments which have - in retrospect - systematically punished loyal workers and covenant members while depriving Diamond Hearth of valuable expertise in both the practical and theoretical arenas, Arshavin is [18:26] <@Ferrinus> 12unanimously declared a saboteur and traitor, to be executed summarily. Iska receives a full pardon for being under suspicion, while the exorcist and deserter receive formal reprimands and on-the-book punishments which are considered to have already been fulfilled through time imprisoned. [18:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Arshavin denies this to his last breath, of course. That's the last you see of him unless you go looking. [18:27] 4Iska has no problem with the sentence so long as it's swiftly carried out. 15[18:27] 10When pressed for her opinion on the place as it stands, she is graciously nonspecific, praising the people for their resilience and commitment to justice. Anything more specific than that commits them to a political stance Blossom and Eikichi haven't fully formed yet. [18:27] 6Well, when you've already faked one death and had that backfire, you learn to keep an eye on others trying to do the same. [18:27] 6Tatsuya will make sure it happens. 08[18:29] <@Ferrinus> 12That's what the people like to hear. Well - many of the people. There's definitely a feelig of having occasionally been prodded for negative or even inflammatory answers, but certainly the militiamen present at least are relieved as Eikichi navigates the situation diplomatically. [18:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Dinner goes swell. Well, maybe it doesn't for people whose palates have long since grown accustomed to Ir's cooking, but a nice big slab of greasy mammoth meat has its own appeal. [18:31] 7Mmm. Protein. 08[18:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, the following day - assuming your two groups are in perfect temporal sync, which may or may not be the case - sees Iska and Tatsuya free to return to their business, and Eikichi and Blossom free to have a quick breakfast before attending the weekly meeting of the public safety committee. 15[18:34] 10Fun! [18:34] 4How much longer do Tatsuya and Ying want to stick around time? Might be time for Iska to gracefully bow out, unless there's more urgent work to be done to make this place fit for purpose. [18:35] 4Within the parameters of a preternaturally gifted laborer, and not a Chosen of the Sun. [18:35] <@Ferrinus> 12The meeting's held in an airy room around midway up Crystal's height, one in which the ice has juuust melted below the level of ancient architecture such that you're able to stand and sit in a big round space with white columns and tall windows. This aesthetic classes unfortunately with the wood-and-cushions furniture arranged throughout the room so that actual members of the committe [18:35] <@Ferrinus> 12and sit in a rough half-circle while a number of assembled citizens who may be interested can sit in the audience and make use of signals, runners, etc. to ask questions or even interrupt and redirect the meeting should a high enough quorum be reached. [18:36] 13Ying's ready to leave! 6...Tatsuya's still concerned about judge corruption, but it's unclear how long that would even take, so. Leaving sounds good. [18:37] 7Blossom's so proud to be dating someone who understands the importance of public safety meetings. [18:37] 6Does the Undermelt seem to have things in hand, or do they still want some places to look? Because Tatsuya turned up some things pretty easily for him, and he could maybe offer some pointers before they go. [18:37] <@Ferrinus> 12The committee itself seems to host just under a dozen members. Enri's on it, apparently, as is a relative of hers you don't know, as are a number of other men and women who begin by introducing themselves to the room and stating their positions - this person's in charge of water purification and glacial melt prediction, this one's monitoring agricultural intake for blight, and so [18:37] <@Ferrinus> 12on. Most notable is the last introduction, given by a sullen-looking, dark-haired man who's sitting at the edge of the table: Pinion, General Secretary of the Covenant, here to observe. [18:38] 4Iska Hit-the-Bricks's cover is that she's only on loan from the Heavensward anyway, so when that august craft leaves whatever ersatz dock they've stashed it in, Iska will be leaving with it. Everybody's probably suitably embarassed enough from the trial not to press the issue or attempt to pressgang her. 15[18:38] 10In some respects, Eikichi psychically fusing with the incarnate principle of order made their relationship much smoother. [18:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya's read on the city is that the Undermelt has things in hand insofar as a collection of mortals peppered with a few god-blooded, Terrestrials, etc. could have things in hand in such a tight situation. He's pointed them at the most egregious spots they've missed and, it seems, caused an internal reckoning into the speed at which the tribunal system currently operates, so [18:40] <@Ferrinus> 12they've got a lot on their plate for the future but not necessarily more than they can bear. If Tatsuya just stayed here he could probably turn Diamond Hearth's internal security into a precision clockwork... but, like, that's true for anywhere he actually stays and gets down to brass tacks. They're not going to fall apart without him. 15[18:40] 10So, the most important question - is he hot? Second most important - is he enchanted? [18:41] 6Excellent. Job's done, then - and it's not like they'll be out of contact should his presence be needed again soon. [18:42] 13Time to go! [18:42] 7Ill-omened. Rulers shouldn't be sullen, no matter how bad things look. Grim, perhaps. Stern, certainly. 15[18:42] 10It is quite early... 08[18:49] 7Oh, right. That's different. Obviously Eikichi needs her naps. But is Pinion sufficiently like Eikichi? [18:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Is he hot? Ehh, he mostly looks boring. He's clean-shaven with close-cropped dark hair and dresses in what's basically a dark grey jumpsuit, like if you took the getup of a foreman or engineer and then removed the tool belt. A heavy brow and deep eye sockets give him the impression of someone who hasn't slept enough even if he has, which isn't clear. He could be in his late thirties [18:50] <@Ferrinus> 12or mid forties. Blossom can discern finer details: first, there are hints of tattooing visible around his collar and wrists that suggest he's from one of the Icewalker tribes, and not even the Tusk alliance (walrus, mammoth, boar) that served as one of Crystal's biggest power blocs in the pre-usurpation days. Pinion's build and the way he holds his hands and torso, even while sitting [18:50] <@Ferrinus> 12down, suggest Immaculate martial arts training, probably Water style. Ink stains suggest that most of what he does nowadays involves writing, though he's clearly keeping in shape. 15[18:51] 10Sounds cute, in a moody sort of way. 08[18:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Peering through the veil, Eikichi discerns no magic in Pinion but plenty of it on him - protective charms, alchemical draughts which blunt most poisons and disease, and a sapphire-grade sorcerous working - probably by Enri - which will somehow deflect or at least blunt attack magic and block attempts at remote scrying or manipulation via arcane link. [18:53] <@Ferrinus> 12The next nearest committee member has nudged her chair a little farther from Pinion and a little closer to the coordinator for infectious disease response, and there's some murmuring in the crowd at the general secretary's presence. But the meeting's underway! 08[18:57] <@Ferrinus> 12There's confirmation that minutes are being taken, quick reports on a few other projects - apparently it looks like a particular ice tower is going to crack and full-on collapse any day now, which both means a new trove of artifacts to pore over and massive safety concerns for everyone living in the districts - and then Enri's saying: "...and here from the south, Eikichi Sho and [18:57] <@Ferrinus> Righteous Blossom would like to deliver a report on a threat of contagion they discovered during their travels." 12Someone begins to say something. "Yes, we did vote to add this to the agenda, you shouldn't have slept in." 12The committee and much of the audience laughs a bit. [18:57] <@Ferrinus> 12You're up! [19:00] 4Iska spends one last day with her new friends, wishes them well and nudges them on that path as best she can...and then Ir, Northern Star takes the helm of the Heavensward once again. [19:00] 4After spending some time with Errant, who she neglected to sneak out and see while she was, uh, in jail. [19:01] 6Tatsuya would have made time for him as well as Purrsephone. 15[19:02] 10Eikichi's hair is pulled up tight, highlighting her neck and complementing an outfit somehow both severe and revealing, like something you'd daydream your hot tutor wearing during a particularly dull lesson. She produces a vial containing the corpse of a particularly large and meaty parasite, preserved in the solid chunk of glass as if it were amber. "That came out of my throat 15[19:02] about 50 hours ago..." [19:03] 4Ir, from the helm, having dragged a portable grill up there so she can cook and watch the wheel at the same time: "TATSUYA! I marinated some boar shoulder and let it fall apart in a pot slow-simmered over the afternoon, and I'm grilling some vegetables and flatbreads right now. Come eat." 15[19:04] 10In her usual style, breezy yet frank, Eikichi lays out the plague, its origins, its patterns, and what is to be done. She concludes by handing out another set of vials, samples of the curing salt, and explaining that her notes and facilities, as well as large quantities, have already been handed over to the people of Crystal. [19:06] 6Tatsuya: "Smells delicious." 6It's from like, RIGHT next to her. He's been spending all of his time trying not to be seen or heard, okay? [19:08] 6He will, without further comment, plate himself some - and Ir, if she hasn't already. [19:09] 4Ir shakes her head in annoyance. She doesn't have to indulge him by pretending to be startled. [19:09] 4He's good enough that she actually is. [19:10] <@Ferrinus> 12This takes both the committee and the audience somewhat aback, but the people you're talking to rally admirably. Some ask a few more specific questions about the attack, others thank you deeply, and someone else, glancing briefly to the end of the semicircular table before looking back to you, makes the note that of course Crystal's own sorcerers and alchemists will first be testing [19:10] <@Ferrinus> 12the salt, as part of standard protocol/due diligence. Pinion is one of those to gravely register their thanks, and claps sternly as this element of the agenda is concluded, but is otherwise silent. [19:13] 6Tatsuya, munching: "So. Scale from 1 to 10, 1 being the worst thing you've ever eaten, 10 being an average night for your cooking, how was jail food?" [19:13] 4Ir cracks one of the bottled beers known locally as a "brewski," preserved in True Ice -- retrofitting the food storage space for permanent cooling was one of the more fun days of the past, oh, who knows how long. [19:13] 4Ir: "It made this taste better, I'll tell you that. No salt." [19:14] "And 10 is that food we ate up in Yu-Shan. I'm a high 7 most meals." [19:16] 6Tatsuya waggles his hand side to side. "Eh. I mean, shit, that was amazing, but like... you've had better. Call them a 9, your peak a 10." [19:17] "Why, thank you." 4Ir still thinks that's bullshit but it's the height of rudeness to refuse a compliment twice. [19:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Once you're done, you're welcome to join the audience or simply head out. The meeting proceeds apace either way, with some further action items relating to food distribution, hospital supplies, and so on. Towards the end citizens are able to line up and make comments or requests - it sounds like some people are unhappy that a shipment of grain and meat was appropriated and burned [19:18] <@Ferrinus> 12out of suspicion of contamination, and that a herbalist collective wants to be reclassified as a medical firm for some kind of taxation/districting reason, among other things. Pinion is, again, mostly silent - besides to thank you, he only speaks up once to resolve a dispute between two other committee members, pointing out that the policy issue they're wrangling over properly includes [19:18] <@Ferrinus> 12a third committee member - and, now that there's an odd number of votes, he expects that the question should be brought to a speedy resolution. [19:19] 7Hmm. Reasonable work. [19:20] 4The Heavensward will make haste with hot meals, cold brews, and good vibes up until they arrive in Crystal, which surely will be expecting them. [19:20] 6Every now and again there's a flash of fangs at mealtime as Tatsuya 13and Ying chow down. She's around more than Tatsuya is, actually - he got free reign for a bit, so it's only fair. [19:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Meeting's up, people depart to other commitments. Many of the people there are eager to thank or question or petition the two visiting Solars as before, and as before there's a soft attempt by local guards to keep them from mobbing you and perhaps to keep too much of you from rubbing off on them. 15[19:22] 10What's the ratio of gawkers to people with problems to people with grudges and agendas they want validated? [19:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Considerably lower than you caught at the restaurant the other night, since of course it's particularly civic-minded citizens who'll attend meetings like this, for good or ill. As you might imagine, you could tacitly criticize or support almost any aspect of local policy if you pick the right question and answer it the right way. 15[19:24] 10Where Pinion at? [19:25] <@Ferrinus> 12He was quick to take his leave. Guy probably has to attend a lot of meetings and didn't seem especially interested in talking to you, although you could probably arrange a meeting of your own if you were inclined. 15[19:26] 10Then Eikichi will stick to practical questions with practical answers, and avoid staking any particular ideological claims. 08[19:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Very wise. Anyway, the day goes on. At some point in the mid-afternoon, the Heavensward becomes visible on the horizon, and Eikichi and Blossom can reconnect with Ir and either Tatsuya or Ying. [19:29] 4Whew! There still a port around here from last time? 15[19:29] 10She would like to take a meeting with Pinion, though, and passes that message along both to Pinion's people and the rest of the circle. [19:30] <@Ferrinus> 12As I recall, Blossom built the Heavensward on the snows outside Crystal's walls, so there's not exactly a dock to go back to. However, there are a lot of ancient spires, towers, etc. and it's not hard to just stop next to one of them and throw down the gangplank plus appropriate anchoring cables. [19:31] 13It's Ying! Tatsuya's been in town before, it won't be weird if he just shows up again suddenly, and he got to do all the fun stuff last time. 08[19:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion is, as Eikichi might have guessed, a hard man to meet. It looks like he has some time in the late evening some three days for now, so unless Blossom wants to bid the wheels of the city bureaucracy turn faster, you've got some time to kill. 08[19:37] 7She can, if Eikichi wants. Is there a reason to? 15[19:37] 10Eikichi's fine to wait a bit. There's plenty to take in, and she hasn't seen Ir or Ying in a while. 15[19:39] 10Plus, it gives her some time to get a deeper sense of how the city has changed and what its struggles are. She has a cool and totally original idea of spending some time disguised as a poor person to see how Crystal looks from underneath. [19:40] 4Ir gets to putting the Heavensward to dock, then, as ersatz as it is. [19:42] 4...But soon she realizes both that she's not going to be satisfied with just a tie-off (neither are the vendors she wants to purchase food from, or Errant) and that there are ancilliary benefits to building a fully-functioning airship dock up here. [19:42] 4What's she got to do to get permits? 08[19:48] 4She'll also pop in to see Blossom and Eikichi as soon as possible, do hugs, etc. 08[19:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Over the next few days, Eikichi looks into a question that's been tugging at her mind: where are the beggars? There were plenty in Great Forks and Nexus, a fair few in Icehome, but here the streets are clear. What's going on, and are things as good as they look? The answer is "sort of". It seems on the one hand that begging is actually illegal, such that anyone who tries it is hassled [19:48] <@Ferrinus> 12by the militia, and censured more heavily if they keep it up, to the point of being compelled to labor in camps or mines. On the other hand, it's written into the city's most central laws that everyone who can work will be found work, and that everyone working is housed. (There are constantly-negotiated provisions for the elderly and unwell.) This means a lot of manual labor, but [19:48] <@Ferrinus> 12also a lot of manual labor split across a lot of people such that shifts aren't as long and backbreaking as they could be. It also means a lot of cramped apartments and somewhat bare-bones fresh construction which will keep the rain and cold out and little more until you put some of your own elbow grease in. Apparently the farms outside the city walls work on similar but slightly more [19:48] <@Ferrinus> 12lax principles. [19:48] 13The hugs are so important. 15[19:48] 10Hugs! 08[19:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Diligent inquiry allows Eikichi to actually find a few unsanctioned/illegal beggars - people who for whatever reason simply can't or won't abide by the laws the regime has set out to prevent poverty and homelessness, such as it is. They're generally idiosyncratic figures who either participate in the city's black market and underworld or are in some way accomplices to/supported by [19:49] <@Ferrinus> 12the communities they haunt in a way that allows them to get away with flouting local dicta. 15[19:51] 10How does that compare to the conditions the cadre and bureaucrats live in? Is the entire city sort of down-at-heel because of the economic climate, or is it like Yu-Shan, where beggars choke the streets connecting obscene, opulent palaces? [19:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir, for her part, is going to have to go through the local bureaucracy. There's a city planning committee which meets a few days from now (the day before you'll get to see Pinion, if you want to)... [19:51] 4Well, Ir's not going in there alone. [19:51] 4She's always had two left tongues, except when it comes to threatening people. [19:56] <@Ferrinus> 12All pay isn't actually equal in Crystal. First, people receive tokens in proportion to work they get done insofar as it's measurable, and managers, researchers, artists, and sorcerers draw more labor vouchers down per hour of labor than, say, porters - though the differential is lower than you've ever seen it. More vouchers generally means more access to luxuries, rare foods, and [19:56] <@Ferrinus> 12well-situated living places. It seems that party (or "covenant" or "cult" or...) bureaucrats and other agents have dichotomous situation where on one hand they're compelled by doctrine to accept only the average pay available for someone in their profession... but on the other hand clearly possess the social connections necessary to place themselves into advantageous positions on queues, [19:56] <@Ferrinus> 12committees, or whatever else and therefore enjoy comforts not technically but practically unavailable to most. People seem broadly aware of this and grouse about covenant privileges over meals or at bars - though not in too harsh terms, it mostly takes the form of ironic jokes - and there are stories of this or that official who was harshly censured or even executed for graft and [19:56] <@Ferrinus> 12corruption. 15[19:57] 10So there's privilege but not wealth... interesting. [19:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Crystal, in short, is a study in contrasts... and that's a study you'll get to make yourselves next week. 14[20:44] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:47] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sat Jul 11 00:00:00 2020 14[01:39] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[02:43] * Joins: hrolf 14[02:47] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:57] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[12:39] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:51] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[15:02] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[20:02] * banana is now known as banana|sorry 14[20:52] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[23:14] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:51] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[23:51] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:52] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[15:31] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) 14[15:34] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[15:34] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[17:46] * Joins: Zarick 14[23:22] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Tue Jul 14 00:00:00 2020 14[00:35] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:16] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[02:27] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[02:29] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:30] * Quits: cbass (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:11] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[09:22] * Joins: cbass 14[09:49] * Joins: mattbaby 14[10:41] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[11:37] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[11:54] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 14[11:54] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[12:04] * Joins: mattbaby 14[12:32] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[13:30] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:33] * banana is now known as banana|peels 15[14:45] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue Jul 14 14:45:51 2020 Session Start: Tue Jul 14 15:05:48 2020 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[15:05] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[15:05] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[15:05] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[18:26] * Joins: Zarick 14[20:01] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:03]  15[20:03]  15[20:03]  15[20:03]  15[20:04]  14[20:04] * Joins: mattbaby_ 14[20:07] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[20:07] The witch's concoction twists in their guts as an unruly vibration spreads from core to extremity. The hot perfumed air of the hut, the heat and breath and heartbeats of the tightly gathered intitiates envelop them all, comforting or suffocating as each's perspective interprets. [20:07] 4Mmmmmm. 14Mmmmmm. 15[20:12] While the body's stress and sensation preoccupies, their bewitched minds lend it new context and meaning... 15[20:14] Dryas feels herself buffeted and knocked about, overheated and clammy and itching and afraid. Pins and needles like the prickle of rough fabric, cold cold wrists and a chest and just can't ever seem to get quite enough air. A voice: "Wake up, we're here. Why are you shaking?" 15[20:16] Daizo is jostled on all sides, as if forcing himself through a dense city crowd. His throat is hot and acrid, and the light that still lingers behind his wedged-shut eyes is a dazzling green. The noise, the noise...! Screeching and wailing and threats and boasts and the ceaseless mastication of stone and glass. [20:16] 07Dryas opens her eyes. "Where?" 14[20:18] * Joins: tom [20:21] 10What is this place? Where was I going? I can't remember, can't concentrate… 15[20:22] Piu struggles for breath, choking like a drowned woman and shaking with primal rage and terror. The push is sudden, and vivid, and while the air comes eventually, the pressure never diminishes. High and bright and hot and suffocatingly still. [20:23] 4Fuck, shit -- is this -- she shouldn't have -- why did she -- 14Get control. War damn eagle. 15[20:24] Zhangyu's eyes sting, and his mouth fills with saliva. He's being dragged through hot mud, jeered at. Passersby kick dirt in his face - beggars, children. He can scarcely move with the stiffness in his limbs. [20:27] 6What is - why. How. Who dares-- if he opens his eyes, can he see? 15[20:29] The figure Dryas sees in her mind's eye is leathery and taut - a slave, like her, surprising for his apparent relative age. The air tastes coppery, like she's bitten her tongue. "Stand up... there you go. You were dreaming. What's your name?" [20:32] 07Dryas looks down at her hands. "What? Sorry... I was having the most lovely dream..." 15[20:33] Piu is in a garden, beautiful and stiflingly hot. The cherry blossoms mark it as early spring, but the sun has the indifferent, cloudless glare of an inland summer. She's dressed lavishly - a man's clothing - and is cooled from within by the chill, nameless dread that pierces her chest. Somewhere is the tiny clink of ceramic on ceramic. An unformed fear urges her toward it. [20:35] "My name? Avens." 15[20:36] Daizo's thoughts are a cold prickle in his fevered mind, coming from somewhere distant and safe and, one judges, altogether more comfortable. And his scholar's mind knows what his burning heart denies: that he has entered the true Hell. Malfeas, under its pitless green sun, the torture-pleasure-prison-palace of forgotten titans, where silence itself is death. [20:37] 14Hhhhhhhhh. [20:37] 14Where's the cover. [20:38] 14Piu will head for it, but only from the side. 15[20:40] Zhangyu sees something dimly familiar. A village - somewhere in the Threshold. The people jeering him are ragged and pale. The brutes that hold him at bay and press him onward are faceless and vast, a tide of flesh that impels him forward through the mud, threatening to consume him if he flags. None of these people are anything to him. None of these people are anything. [20:43] 6Numb limbs, an army against him -- it would take this much to hold him back, but still... 15[20:44] "If you like your name, you can keep it," says a voice Dryas instinctively fears, honey-warm and mocking all at once. She smells wet rot and feels a hot breath and swordpoint in her back. The path before her twists and rotates, wood grain giving way to a texture like overcooked meat. [20:45] 10Daizo looks down. His own clothes are sewn all over with tarnished brass bells, jangling discordantly with his every movement. Then at the crowds hemming him in, pressing him on from all sides. Not one could be mistaken for a human. That's right. Only the mightiest or the most foolish ever dare breach the gates to the Demon Realm.  [20:45] 6Zhangyu will try and struggle to his feet - no sense being dragged any further. And maybe then he can get a better look around and figure out where he is. [20:48] "What?!" 07asks Dryas-as-Avens, stumbling forward to get away from the swordpoint and looking back to catch a glimpse of her assailant. 14[20:49] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[20:50] * Joins: tom 15[20:50] Piu has an assassin's discipline, and clings to a hedgerow that separates stands of cherry trees. There is no shade save beneath their boughs - the sun's perfect noon angle leaves no standing shadows. The paths seem to extend in every direction - a trick of the eye, perhaps, since the hedgerows and clouds repeat in uncanny and mathematically rigid patterns. Only her own spying and the 15[20:50] tea service she feels impelled toward vary the landscape. [20:52] 14High noon. Bad omen. 15[20:53] The magnificent red-haired woman holds a glass orb in her lap like a beloved pet, and the old man opposite her is the oldest, tiredest creature she's ever seen. She feels sick with hate, and overpowered a crisis of resolve - this is madness, this is doomed, everything has gone wrong... 15[20:54] But Piu still feels pushed forward. [20:54] 14So it goes. And so goes Piu. [20:54] 14But she'll only step into open at the last possible instant. [20:55] 14Who are these people? [20:56] 10Adrift in the sea of demons, Daizo casts about for signs, signifiers, snatches of conversation audible through the din. 15[20:56] Dryas has little wiggle room - she can't escape the swordpoint, but she can steal looks back at the creature forcing her onward - a pampered velveteen princeling, ostentatious in dress and coiffure, all a-ruffle, with the rotted, scabrous, ruptured face of the long-drowned dead. 15[20:57] Half-rotted eyelids narrow in suspicion, and the man's accent loses all its gentility. "Go on! Get!" 15[21:00] Daizo shuffles through the crowds as best he can, his position as fluid as their faces and limbs as the crowds of hell render in his mind as an elaborate clockwork emerald dance and the ceaseless writhing of a vast and many-coiled serpent - and the sense of claustrophobia grows. Attempts to interpret or make further sense of his surroundings deepen the anxiety, as the clarity he seeks 15[21:00] eludes his grasp again and again. It is all confounding. [21:01] 07Avens yelps and scampers along the strange path. "Who are you?" 07she inquires. That half-long-drowned look seems a little familiar... 15[21:04] Zhangyu struggles to his feet, and the jeers come fiercer. His limbs burn with overexertion, and a sort of scaffolding comes into view. Three posts for three to hang until dead. Two occupied, one awaiting him. There is a man younger than Zhangyu, and a man far older. [21:05] 6Does he know either of them? [21:06] 6He probably can't fight all of these people off alone. And even three against the mob is a dicey proposition. Still, he's got to find friends where he can. 15[21:06] No. The might be kin to one another. 15[21:06] *They might [21:07] 6...well, shit. [21:08] 10This is going nowhere. If only he had a guide. He had a guide, before. What happened? The blazing green sun is merciless, the air is growing hotter and fouler by the second, perfumed with the stink of six billion demons. He inhales, deep, and shouts— [21:08] 10Daizo: "—————————————" [21:09] 6Okay. Maybe he can learn their names, before he dies. He barks: "Who are you?" 6nodding to each in turn. ...not his finest moment. [21:09] 10The words stick in his throat and die. 15[21:11] The drowned man forces Dryas onward with a scowl. "Don't trouble yourself, my little starling. A moment hence, and you will never see me again." The corridor disgorges them into open air, salty and ashen. The daylight is hazy and brick-red. The earth crawls with people, brass people that rattle and wobble from end to end along fixed paths, and among them hooded slumps that glide along 15[21:11] the same paths, gray tentacles dangling from their cowls like live shellfish. [21:13] 10They fester. Daizo's racked with coughing fits. He doubles over and pukes, then falls to one knee. He wipes his mouth, and tries again. This time, in a croak. "ʷᶦˡˡ ⁿᵒ ᵒⁿᵉ ʰᵉˡᵖ ᵃ ˡᵒˢᵗ ᵗʳᵃᵛᵉˡᵉʳˀ" [21:15] 07Avens' mouth hangs open at the nightmarish sight before her. She puts one foot ahead of the other, staring at the brass people and the hinted-at horrors of the slouching figures. 15[21:15] Piu knows immediately that she beholds the Scarlet Empress, just as surely as she knows she is expected to reveal herself, and just as surely as that delicate note assured her that time had been ripe to strike, and a failure so sudden that the sequence of events is incoherent. Had she been revealed and then captured? Captured and then revealed? She had been killed, that much was sure, 15[21:15] and driven mad as the pit brought her back. Even now she feels a restless feral urge to fight and kill, an aging and resentful caged predator. 15[21:16] The old man is some functionary or other. [21:17] 14No he's not. [21:17] 14...She controls the paranoia. [21:20] 14She approaches. [21:20] 14One does not sneak up on the Empress of All Things. Indeed, not doing so was in the mission brief. 14[21:21] * Joins: tom2 14[21:22] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[21:23] Zhangyu is lashed to the final post, and for once the jeering draws silent. The crowd parts and the maimed god rises from the river, indicting the triad as water drips from his limbs intermixed with the blood from wounds on his arms that can never heal. "There must be a settling of accounts." 15[21:23] The old man says to the Empress: "There must be a settling of accounts." [21:24] 14... [21:24] 6... 15[21:28] Daizo's pleading is strangled, and comes out barely a whisper... but it pierces the heavy moment like a needle. His vision is clouded by a peppering of dark spots that dilate rapidly until his entire vision has boiled over with blackness, and the air is rushing and cold. Soon the earth tears, and a night (a night! blessed night) shimmers green as light spills forth from the great iron 15[21:28] rift. Life recoils at Daizo's approach - vines wither, grass dies. 15[21:29] He snatches a bird from the air and its feathers fall limply away before crinkling up into ash, leaving a bald and sickly corpse in his palm. 15[21:34] At some point Avens can't directly perceive she goes from marching on line to sitting on her kneels in a hot brass trolley that rattles up and into the mountain. Ash-faced leathery slaves adjoin her, their backs and necks given over to segmented assemblages of copper wire and plate that expand and contract as they breath the sour air. 15[21:35] The slaves are totally impervious to her presence, their faces blank with either perfect concentration or utter vacancy. [21:37] 10Daizo whispers as he walks. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." 10The world is sickened by the mere fact of his existence. It would be easy to simply lie down here and wait for the poison to consume him too. [21:38] 10But while he yet lives, there is hope. If this is what happens when he passes by… don't look back. For the love of all that is holy, don't look back!  [21:38] 10Holy? Haha. Good joke. [21:39] 07Avens shuffles forward again with the masses. She tentatively touches one of the copper wires of the unfortunate in front of her. [21:39] 10If I can't get holy, can I at least get clean? 15[21:40] The maimed god balls his wounded hands into fists, a long face contorted with rage. A voice somewhere recites the crimes of Zhangyu and the men beside him. The content of the words slips through his mind, but the crimes are shaming, the young man is defiant and vengeful, even now, and the old man bitterly pleads for mercy. 15[21:40] The Empress smiles warmly at Piu, and gracefully offers her hand for kissing. "He has risen, indeed." [21:41] 14She kisses the hand, as is expected. [21:41] 14Who has risen? [21:42] 6Zhangyu instead says nothing at all. The younger can rave, the elder can plea, but he will remain silent in the face of death. 15[21:42] Avens's finger buzzes and burns. It's a strange sensation, and she withdraws her hand instinctively. The slave she touches twitches once, and then returns to their stupor. 15[21:44] The Empress must see a man when she looks at her. Piu remembers dying, though not how, and she remembers crawing out of the depths, dragging madness with her. She has risen. [21:45] 14The Sun is too high... [21:45] 14Is she (he?) invited to sit? 15[21:46] There are two places yet unoccupied. One is hers. [21:47] 14If there's anything casually reflective, she will try to see this body's face. But decorum prevails. 15[21:51] As Daizo sees the devastation he wreaks, he is overcome with the simultaneous urges to kill and die. He charges blindly toward light and heat, energy burning in the dark distance, and rolls and tumbles until the world is spinning and he locks arms in vicious struggle with a man who fights with righteous, uncomplicated fury, black wings spread like the bird's, feathers falling to dust 15[21:51] all the same. But as Daizo and Daizo fight, neither tires. 15[21:53] Piu can sneak a glance in a silver saucer, and sees a handsome older man with sweeping, white-streaked hair and a resting expression of deep-set suspicion. [21:53] 14Mmmmmm. [21:54] 14Yeah, I'd fuck me. [21:54] 6Please do not. 15[21:56] The cart's tunnel gives way to an open cavern criss-crossed with rails and lit by a tangle of wires clinging to the cave's high ceilings that burn bright and hot. Avens's cart is deftly split off from a longer train over a series of forks in the rail, until the cart rides alone on a wide, low spiral around the cavern's central pillar, where the glowing filaments keep it hot as an oven. [21:58] 07This is all probably fine. Normal stuff. 15[21:58] "I take responsibility," says the Empress as she serves Piu tea, "for the predicament you were put in. It was a great disrespect. One that you weren't owed." 15[22:00] The old man dies first, weakening steadily as his final breaths plead for clemency. The prideful boy continues his blandishments. And the maimed god continues to press Zhangyu for justification. How could he? [22:01] 14Piu, in her mask: "Thank you, my Empress. We collect the debts we must. Sometimes books lie." [22:02] 6...He ignored what he was even accused of. So, continued silence. He will watch his accuser with no hint of shame or fear. [22:05] 6Jesus Christ. [22:08] 10It's infuriating. This stolid fool. Mutant. Freak. All our life we've been a freak. It was just easier to hide than something so unsightly. Easier to pretend. Why don't you just break? Shatter and die! Disappear foreveeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! But we know better. We have to be twice as good as anyone else, just to keep up. Can't break won't break. 15[22:10] Daizo's mind and body tangle and merge until he can't tell if he's wrestling green fire and hate or flesh and stone and vengeance. Soon there is no distinction, and he blazes as a single scintillating soul, turbulent mind held serene by some inarticulable understanding. But the darknees grows, shadows advancing, sweet and alluring and ever-more inviting... [22:14] 6He's got to try and -- flex -- get free. Either slip his bonds or just, break things. [22:17] 10I can't settle for a secondhand account. I have to see. I have to know. To lay hands upon the fruit and taste it. 15[22:17] The winding track finally sinks into the pillar like the spine into the skull, leveling off in an airy, open theatre, cool and white-lit. Shapeless movement ripples behind the opaque glass that forms every vertical wall. Avens can't count the bodies - some immaculate and still, some half-replaced with copper prostheses, a few mangled and unrecognizable like a man with elephantine tusks 15[22:17] growing from his lower jaw and upwards into his own skull. Many of them are alive, with labored breathes or cloudy eyes that track the movement of the cart as it squeaks to a stop. [22:20] 10If I must, I will burn my soul to light a path. [22:21] 07Dryas looks about. A chance to make a break for it, here? Amidst the confusion? 15[22:22] The Empress: "Then you understand that our first priority is to ensure that the descendants are cared-for." 15[22:22] Piu grows impaient, her attention drawn repeatedly to the still-empty place. Where is he? [22:24] 14Hhhhhh get out of my--I will get IMPATIENT on my OWN. Fuck. FUCK. Sip the tea. Say: "Do they deserve to be cared-for?" 14[22:24] * Quits: @Ferrinus (Quit: ) [22:24] "My empress." 15[22:24] Zhangyu breaks from the post with a great exertion, wood splintering and twine snapping, and charges for the Nazarene... but the jeering crowd cuts him off like a rushing tide, and Zhangyu grows cold and dark and afraid. 15[22:25] What do they want from him? What does he want from them? [22:25] 6What he wants from them is unfettered access to the Nazarene so he can strangle-- 14[22:26] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[22:26] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 15[22:29] The Empress's expression changes. "Shenesh worried the pit would change you irrevocably. He argued - cogently - that the greater kindness would have been to let you die. He may have been right. But he was wrong that it would change you. You haven't changed at all. You still believe in 'deserve'." 15[22:29] "They will be cared for because I need them. You live, now, because I need you. Do you understand?" 15[22:32] Zhangyu grows only darker and colder. The jeering blurs into white noise, like frothing water. 15[22:33] Avens could attempt to escape... though she finds herself very unstable on her feet. How long was she riding? She feels as weak as if she'd been sick in bed for days. The half-copper living corpses offer little recognition of her plight one way or the other. [22:34] 14... "No. Not yet. Perhaps I will, my Empress. My life is unimportant, and always has been. What is important, as told to me, my Empress, is what I represent. If I might ask: how do you intend to represent yourself, to the 'cared-for?'" [22:35] 14She knows she should try to be this man, but here, at the end and beginning of things, it feels proper to be herself. [22:36] 6There was a song like this, he thinks dimly. 15[22:37] "Good question," croaks the third old man to join the Empress. This one sitting now is easily the cheerfulest and most infirm of the triad. He levers himself into place with a jade cane, after paying the proper respects to Her Majesty. Is it triumph or treason that makes old Shenesh so chipper? Piu can only speculate. [22:40] 14They're not mutually exclusive. [22:44] 07Whatever awaits the others here is surely not anything pleasant. There must be a way through, even if nothing more than a rat-hole. Avens looks for something, a way through or beyond. 15[22:48] Avens is clever and many-shaped, but her body is so cold and so heavy that she struggles to move. Those manacles that bind her arms feel like they're wrapped around her ribcage too - she simply cannot catch her breath. But still she rushes through the theatre, hoping for any exit. The ground grows slick and rubbery beneath her feet, and soon she finds herself running the length of an 15[22:48] impossibly vast snake, whose coils double back on themselves and seem to surround her on all sides, blotting out her vision, a scaled spine forever long lined with thousands of eyes and thousands of thousands of teeth. 15[22:49] But Avens finds this strangely comforting. Unlike the specimens she fled, this creature is, irrefutably, alive. [22:50] 14To the Iselsi grandmaster of questionable loyalty: "Many greetings, down few roads." [22:51] 14She must know who this body is. [22:52] 07That is a comfort in the midst of this bad trip. Alive means food and water, somewhere. In the form of a tick or flea, sustenance. If the bonds that bind her can be broken. (Another form?!) [22:55] 14So she stares into the space slightly to the right of the saucer. She does it multiple times, from multiple angles, using the tea service to contrive this. She gets the full view of this man. [22:56] 14Her -- his -- etiquette is impeccable. [22:58] 14And her face doesn't move when she realizes that she is in the body of Bhàsmhor. 15[23:00] Zhangyu labors in the darkness, but even the white noise fades. Now there is nothing. No sight, no sound, no smell, no taste... no Zhangyu. He experiences perfect stillness without conscious thought, without a self to name or shape the feeling of nothingness. 15[23:01] Daizo's experience of darkness is altogether different. It envelops him like a lover, and he feels so sweet and rewarded that it takes real effort to notice the sting. [23:03] 6 14[23:07] * Quits: VoxPrime (Quit: ) 15[23:07] The Empress: "Your cousin is impertinent, but truthful. The task you describe is yours. My mandate is this: do not abandon your work. I need you to take your children, and your children's children into the shadows. Embed them in the houses that will take your holdings. Train them as you trained yourself. Train them to serve. Train them to hate. Let them hate me, if you wish. Make them 15[23:07] love me if you desire. Whatever cause they hold dear, let it sharpen them into a blade you can pull across the Realm's open throat." [23:08] 14She, as Bhàsmhor: "A great ask. A tumultuous ask. ...It will be done." [23:08] 14Meeting eyes with Shenesh: "Won't it?" 15[23:09] A slender hand takes Daizo's and pulls with surprising strength. He feels cold, suddenly. Swimming in the darkness he sees... first it looked like Caxi, then it looked like Seiri, then the hand and the face burn so bright white that that it burns his eyes, staring at a pinprick of darkness in the heart of the sun. 15[23:10] Shenesh inclines his head, and then sighs. Wistfully: "I had hoped it wouldn't come to this." [23:10] 14She, as Bhàsmhor: "It has." 15[23:11] Shenesh: "The world has grown so terribly ugly." 15[23:11] The old man pipes up. Piu'd all but forgotten he was there. "No," he says. "It hasn't." [23:12] 14Hhhhhhh. [23:12] 14She, as Bhàsmhor: "It will, in time." [23:13] "Unless we act. That is why we act, yes?" [23:13] "Something of importance monumental." 15[23:13] "Always," agrees the Scarlet Empress. [23:14] 10So bright. How does the darkness survive being surrounded in so much light? [23:15] 14She, as Bhàsmhor: "Then the House is to be gutted. Families thrown into the streets. Less fortunate ones gutted down to the smallest child. Debts leveraged, to repaid over time. Monstrous violence. We will prepare for it, since we know there is a wise outcome at the end." [23:15] 14Now she looks at the 'old man' direct. "And there had better be." 15[23:17] Avens finds not strength but resolve quickening her pace as she runs forward, along the eternal serpent's way. It could be days or centuries she runs, but every step forward impels her onward with ever greater urgency. Soon her heart swells with the certainty of approaching life, and as the road dissolves into a symbolic tangle of scales and fangs and eyes, her chest burns with a stolen 15[23:17] song. 15[23:17] The old man says simply, "There is no alternative." 15[23:19] Zhangyu is the first to come to something like his senses, as awareness of his mind and body trickle in, unwanted, wracked with aches and pains as he comes to in the heat of the witch's hut. [23:19] 14She feels an angry brusqueness in her. "Thank you for the tea, my Empress. We're done here. Forever, I think. And then we will begin again." 15[23:20] The reply never comes, and Piu is alone in a limitless dark with her thoughts and her anger before she comes to her achey senses too. [23:20] 14To the 'old man': "I never want to see you again." [23:20] 14It is not a threat. [23:21] 14She, no longer as Bhàsmhor, will stare at the ceiling on her back until otherwise roused. [23:21] 6Zhangyu: "Hnnnn," 6he groans. 15[23:23] Dryas hears the song in her medallion resounding in her mind's ear, forcing her to pained wakefulness. [23:23] 4Piu: "Hey, big man." 15[23:23] Avens - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nOEOUzVlGI - You’re free, but in your mind -- your freedom’s in a bind. [23:24] 14Where's the witch? 15[23:24] Daizo wakes up steadily and peacefully and feels, honestly, great! [23:24] 6Right, okay. He's aware. He's - hurt, but that can be ignored -- can he see what's around him? 15[23:25] The Witch of the Far Side is holding Seiri, who is half-curled up and half in the older woman's lap, sick and shivering and rubbing fiercely at her eyes. 15[23:28] The hearth, starting with Zhangyu and Daizo, see Sadako placidly asleep. Their eyes refocus in the smoke and realize that it looks for all the world like her severed head is planted serenly on the packed-dirt floor, neck seeming to rise directly from the soil like a native plant. [23:29] 10Daizo gasps, all of his peaceful feelings gone in an instant. [23:30] 14Coldly, with an eye on the girl: "How much of that was me, and how much the truth?" [23:30] 07Dryas groans. "What a trip." [23:30] 6...That's. Uh. He'll groan again and try to clear his vision -- he's not seeing things. Okay. "Sadako?" [23:31] 14Sadako's a big girl. [23:31] 14Weird, but. A big girl. [23:31] 6Considerably less big, given her burial in the ground. 15[23:32] The Witch's tone is gentle, perhaps for Seiri's sake, perhaps for Piu's, perhaps for her own. "They don't exclude one another. We get as much of ourselves as we offer up, and as much of the truth as we are willing to see. But there is no one answer." [23:33] 14She sighs, and permits herself, for the first time in a long time, an actual smile. "Thank you, elder." [23:33] 4Glancing over at Sadako: "So what's going on here?" [23:34] 10Daizo: "Cousin… is she all right?" [23:35] 6That's what he'd like to know. [23:36] 6He tentatively reaches out a hand to attempt to pat her head. [23:36] 4Piu: "That's condescending." [23:36] "Poke her ear." [23:37] 6Zhangyu: "That seems worse." [23:37] 07Dryas coughs a few times and rolls to a seated position. "Sadako? Sadako!" [23:38] "Poke! Her! Ear!" 15[23:38] On contact, Sadako's eyes snap open, and for just a moment her wide, wild gaze causes an involuntary prickle of fear in each of them. But when her gaze focuses, she also has an uncharacteristic smile. "Look!" she says, triumphant. "Mother was right." [23:39] 4...Piu: "That's great!" [23:40] 10Daizo: "Right about what?" [23:41] 07Dryas blinks a few times in recollection. The sorcerous ship, the capsule, a girl without memory but an attachment to her Mother. "You learned about your mother?" 15[23:42] Pale arms push up from the soil like fast-sprouting plants, before bending backwards in a hideous double joint to clutch the earth with fingers that sink effortlessly into the packed-dirt floor. Ilm by ilm Sadako pulls herself from the soil, flowing from it as easily as it were water, leaving not a trace of turned earth as she emerges, whole and healthy and totally clean, to sit 15[23:42] cross-legged on a floor just as flat and smooth as when they entered. [23:42] 6Zhangyu thankfully did not quite get to the point where he poked Sadako's ear. Also, uh, what. [23:42] 4Piu stares at this, then, after a moment's pause, turns to the witch: "How's Seiri?" 15[23:42] Sadako: "'Words may fall. The body remains.'" 15[23:43] The Witch: "Young Seiri had a very intense experience. She was quite overcome." [23:43] "Poor kid." [23:43] 14Normatively and technically true. 15[23:44] At the sound of her name, Seiri stirs, sheepishly sitting up. Her eyes are rubbed raw and her face is streaked with tears. "Is everyone okay?" she asks tremulously. [23:44] 10Hey! She gets paid a good wage. 15[23:44] Sadako: "You were all saying weird shit." [23:46] 10Daizo: "…I think so. I think I touched the surface of what I'm looking for." [23:47] 6Zhangyu: "We do tend to do that." 6...Is everyone okay? He's sore but probably not wounded... [23:47] "I've never seen anything like it," 07Dryas murmurs. And this after watching her ward and - friend? - pull herself back together like a grotesque child's toy. [23:47] 10Daizo: "I think you were there too, for a moment. I don't know what it means yet." 15[23:47] The worst-off by far seems to be Seiri, and even she seems physically safe, if badly shaken. [23:49] 6Also, and this is not even REMOTELY Zhangyu's job, but is anyone going to tell Sadako off for cussing. 15[23:49] Sadako: "Can you see now?" [23:50] 14The smile turns serious when she meets Sadako's eyes, then gets silly after: "Yes." 15[23:50] Seiri takes a long and careful look around, squinting periodically. "...yes, thank you. I'm-- it's terribly wobbly, though." 15[23:51] "That was the most awful thing." [23:51] 6Zhangyu, once he climbs to his feet, will offer a supporting arm if she needs one. 15[23:52] Seiri: "I couldn't see anything. My vision went completely. And I got so angry I could burst. I didn't know someone could be that angry." [23:52] 6Ha. [23:53] 14Sweet child. [23:53] 07Dryas gets to her feet - unsteadily and sorely - and passes Seiri her wine-flask. "Poor thing. I ended in darkness, but there was something there in the darkness with me. And there was more before." 15[23:54] Seiri takes the flask and drinks -- grimaces -- and drinks again, draining the flask. She looks scandalized when she realizes what she's done. [23:54] 6Well, all right. [23:55] 10Daizo: "Do you remember what you were angry about?" [23:55] 07That was a Juche RY733. 15[23:56] Seiri shakes her head. "Just... something was terribly unfair. I don't remember what. Someone got suffering they didn't deserve, or got away with something they shouldn't have." 15[23:56] Sadako: "Seiri kept saying there would be a settling of accounts." [23:57] "We need to -" 07Dryas gives Seiri a bit of a meaningful look here, sizing her up- "all have a conversation about what we saw. [23:57] 4Piu: "There always is!" [23:57] 10Oh kiddo. [23:57] 14Do we. Fuck. [23:57] 6Hmm. [23:57] 14Piu: "Sadako." 15[23:58] Sadako: "Daizo was begging for help. Piu was arguing w-- yeah, what?" [23:58] "Until we're back in Abalone, you look after Seiri." [23:58] "But maybe, with respect to the venerable Witch, we should have this conversation on the ride down, in the interest of upholding her political neutrality," 07Dryas continues. 15[23:59] Sadako looks over at Seiri and scoots along the floor until she's sitting beside her. "Let me know if you go blind again," she offers, helpfully. [23:59] 4Piu, to Dryas: "Seems good!" Session Time: Wed Jul 15 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] 10Politics? Really? Daizo sighs. "I'll tell you what I saw, but I don't know if it's what you're looking for." 15[00:00] The Witch: "You came to me seeking answers, and you showed me trust and respect by sharing in my rites. Hold precious your private insights, but you didn't come for those." 14[00:01] * mattbaby_ is now known as mattbaby [00:02] 4Piu will bow as she stands. "Thank you again, elder." [00:05] 10Daizo nods. "It was a most enlightening experience, but… you are correct. We did come to ask you what you know of demon-summoners here." 15[00:05] The Witch: "You came looking for a path to the sorcerer you believe aided in the killing of Hamoji. And I believe I know a way to draw her out. Leave an offering at the invader's shrine when the moon is three hours' risen, a drop of quicksilver and a crushed peony blossom. She will come for it three hours hence. Observe, meet, or strike her as you desire." 15[00:05] "This is how the man with no name summons her." 15[00:06] She shakes her head. "Amatuea is in great peril." 14[00:09] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 15[00:09] It strikes them all belatedly that the Witch is speaking High Realm to them, with a studied accent. Almost exactly Seiri's accent, in fact. But Seiri isn't translating anymore. 14[00:09] * Joins: cbass [00:10] 4A14hhhhh. [00:10] 10Fascinating…  [00:11] 14Her voice is slightly different this time. "Thank you again, elder." [00:11] 6... 15[00:11] The Witch: "Feel free to fill your waterskins before you go. Food won't keep if you take it down the mountain, or I'd offer provisions as well." [00:13] 14Piu nods. "Pass me your skins, I'll fill them. We need to get serious heading back." [00:13] "Learning always has a cost." 15[00:14] Everyone's gathered outside not long later. The fresh air invigorates everyone, and even Seiri seems almost recovered, if a bit distracted. [00:16] 10Before Daizo leaves, he offers the Witch the bow of a student to the master… or of a postulant to the head of a temple. "There is more that I would speak to you about, but we have imposed on you far too long this day." 15[00:18] The Witch: "As long as the mountain stands, I will be here. And now you know the way." [00:19] 14To Sadako: "You're at the hip now." 14She turns back to horsey, stroking his neck. "I've got faith, though. Wouldn't have asked otherwise." [00:20] 07Dryas, respectfully: "Do you have any affection for the Wyld-tainted creatures of the lower jungles? Are any of them your... property?" 15[00:20] Sadako nods. 15[00:20] The Witch: "The beasts of the jungle belong to themselves, as does whatever they kill. The jungle extends you the same courtesy." [00:21] 07Dryas grins and leaps gracefully into Diamond Weapon's saddle. [00:21] 4Hup! 15[00:22] NEXT TIME: One good mimic and one bad mimic 14[01:00] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[01:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[02:31] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[03:19] * Joins: tom 14[03:21] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:22] * Joins: tom2 14[03:24] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:28] * Joins: tom 14[03:30] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:39] * Joins: tom2 14[03:40] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:49] * Joins: tom 14[03:51] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[03:52] * Joins: tom2 14[03:53] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:02] * Joins: tom 14[04:02] * Quits: tom (Quit: ) 14[04:04] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:20] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:56] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[08:43] * Joins: tom 14[08:53] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[14:57] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:09] * Joins: Zarick 14[20:23] * Quits: cbass (Quit: ...) 14[20:39] * Joins: cbass 14[20:39] * Quits: tom (Connection closed) 14[20:49] * Joins: tom 14[21:05] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:26] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) Session Time: Thu Jul 16 00:00:00 2020 14[00:01] * Joins: mattbaby 14[01:48] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[04:15] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[09:41] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 15[13:07] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Jul 16 13:07:58 2020 Session Start: Thu Jul 16 13:45:09 2020 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[13:45] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[13:45] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[13:45] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[15:44] * Joins: mattbaby 14[17:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[18:14] * Joins: Zarick [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12 . ____ . . . . [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12 >> . . . [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12 . . /WWWI; \ . . . ____ . . . [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12 * /WWWWII; \=====; . /WI; \ * . /\_ . [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12 . /WWWWWII;.. \_ . ___/WI;:. \ . _/M; \ . . . [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12 /WWWWWIIIIi;.. \__/WWWIIII:.. \____ . . /MMI: \ * . [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12 . _/WWWWWIIIi;;;:...: ;\WWWWWWIIIII;. \ /MMWII; \ . . . [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12 /WWWWWIWIiii;;;.:.. : ;\WWWWWIII;;;:: \___/MMWIIII; \ . [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12 /WWWWWIIIIiii;;::.... : ;|WWWWWWII;;::.: :;IMWIIIII;: \___ * [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12/WWWWWWWWWIIIIIWIIii;;::;..;\WWWWWWIII;;;:::... ;IMIII;; :: \ . [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12WWWWWWWWWIIIIIIIIIii;;::.;..;\WWWWWWWWIIIII;;.. :;IMIII;::: : \ [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12WWWWWWWWWWWWWIIIIIIii;;::..;..;\WWWWWWWWIIII;::; :::::::::.....:: \ [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%XXXXXXX [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%XXXXXXXXXX [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%XXXXXXXXXXXXX [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Crystal's a strange place nowadays. No beggars, but in part because more of them are in prison. Bustling markets, but filled with merchants who look like they're manning their stalls at the point of a sword. A bustlining mining and excavation operation, but with what seems like half the proceeds simply getting carted off north or south or out into the wastes with seemingly no return. [20:46] <@Ferrinus> 12And then there's the paperwork... [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's interested in building a proper airship dock for one of the city's higher towers, but runs into several immediate problems. First, where'll she get the timber? It seems that Crystal lays claim to a wide swathe of land around it and the existing forests are city-state property. There are actual reserves of raw material, of course, but those are earmarked for already-planned [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12construction projects which seem to have been formally decided on months ago and are very difficult to change. And even if she offers to find the wood herself far outside city limits, and do the work herself without tapping any existing civic resources, one last problem arises... [20:48] <@Ferrinus> 12...who's going to pay for it? [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12No, seriously, who's going to, because one ironclad law of new Crystal is that no one works for free. Ir has to be renumerated if she's going to just drop that kind of labor into Crystal's lap, or else who are we? [20:50] 4This is a public work, she can take the payment in advance for the state's use of the dock once the Heavensward is gone in the form of the state's timber, this stuff all seems pretty easy to hammer out over an afternoon or two unless they're intentionally being dicks about it. [20:50] 4Especially if Blossom's on the case. 15[20:52] 10Did they raise a stink about the plague cure, research, and laboratory too? [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Theyyy sort of are. It's hard to gauge to what extent Ir is running into bureaucratic friction because of personal dislike, clashing personalities, systemic inefficiencies, whatever - maybe one person's really got their heart set on a civics project they finally managed to ram through the neighborhood councils over six months' solid effort, but another person's suspicious of this [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12whole airship thing, and a third person's just a dick. Ir's idea isn't crazy or even really unreasonable, but this is going to take a whiiiile to get through. 08[20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12In fact they didn't, and Eikichi suspects this comes down in part to technicalities about whether work was actually being done on/in the city or simply whether resources were being discovered outside of it, and in part to the actual composition of the committees handling public health as opposed to ones handling public construction and the allocation of labor. There are definitely [20:53] <@Ferrinus> 12gaps in this bureaucratic armor into which one could slide a spearpoint. 15[21:06] 10While the dock work progresses, Eikichi allows herself to be tugged around by the various factors and petitioners who seek her effort and advice. It keeps her busy, and if you knock out eight to ten minor acts of virtue and genius in a day and it almost feels like it adds up to something. 08[21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Though Eikichi could be working material miracles, people are most interested in her opinions. What did she originally envision for Crystal? What if anything would she change? [21:09] 4Ir will make a presentation before the relevant board or boards when she's asked, and provide the itemized timber requirements, labor hour estimates, and some rough documentation of how Icehome is increasing its economic buildout now that it has access to the skies under Garuda again -- she won't DIRECTLY highlight their involvement there, but she won't downplay it either if asked [21:09] 4for clarification. The benefit to the city is increased trading capacity; the payment to Ir is docking licensure (subject to occasional review as per regulation) and, as wage, the timber necessary to complete the project. [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Icehome, of course, is currently in an economic standoff with the Crystal Pact, meaning both Crystal, Diamond Hearth, and smaller surrounding settlements that have been swept up in the local usurpation. It's very unlikely that they'll be engaging in trade any time soon - although an increased ability to receive, say, a diplomatic contingent's not nothing, and it's not only the Haslanti [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12who might ever build airships. How well can Ir make the argument...? 08[21:15] 7Blossom also wants to see Crystal from afoot. She can't follow Eikichi around, sadly - there is such a thing as overaweing people with too much glory at once - and she'll probably end up being stunned and confused when informed she can't actually lend a hand with local projects without being compensated for it. 15[21:16] 10Well, Eikichi's always been a big believer in the potential of magic to save labor and make it safer. The use of geomancy to effectively automate large chunks of transportation, irrigation, its use at strategic points in sewer networks... and so much to protect and multiply the effort of workers. Think of granaries where no errant spark could ever spin into an inferno... 15[21:19] 10Once she had envisioned legions of bound elementals and demons undergirding this working paradise, freeing humanity of virtually all trivial and menial labor... but that she had come to see this for the moral crime it is, that it would be another face of the enslaving lord whose house they broke. 08[21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's actually hit on a real weakness of the current system - it looks like magic's treated in a sectioned-off and highly instrumentalist way such that its chief utility is blocking other magic. Enri's a fine sorcerer and she has a few understudies, but most of their work goes to blocking the city off against malign influences and perhaps influencing the weather, and the result [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12is that agriculture, mining, and city planning have been carried out in a way that seems ruthlessly, no-nonsense practical if you know nothing about the channeling of civic essence flows. The architects and geometers of the Blessed Isle would scoff at most of the new construction going on here. It's like no one's asked themselves how a dragon would feel ambling around through the [21:21] <@Ferrinus> 12corridors! [21:21] 7What do people make or do for the sheer joy of doing it? 08[21:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi's pretty sure that there are measurable losses in health, safety, and efficiency here - the teeny tiny ones that compound over months or years, or slowly and quietly build up until they blossom into, just as she might be imagining, a granary fire. 15[21:24] 10Concerning. [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Up here in the north, people like to sing, dance, and drink. There's a lot of craftsmanship that goes into cultural costumes and rituals for the various Icewalker tribes, various pieces of aniconic art made by those faithful to the Blossom-augmented Immaculate doctrine which was left behind in the wake of your usurpation and bloomed into greater popularity than it ever had under the [21:25] <@Ferrinus> 12original Haslanti regime, and of course climbing, delving, and study into the First Age Niobraran city that's still being revealed bit by bit as Crystal's ice melts. [21:28] 7Hmm. They don't make people have to find some way to get paid for that, right? 15[21:29] 10What's the social attitude towards magic and sorcerers? Is there some fear or suspicion supporting that limited imagination? [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's argument is persuasive. As Blossom is able to make a few quiet suggestions to members of various committees and at one point spend upwards of an hour waiting in a line just to finally deliver a signature somewhere, Ir learns to what may or may not be her surprise that she has the go-ahead to acquire and use the necessary materials for her airship dock project as soon as tomorrow! [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12(You'll be seeing Pinion the day after.) [21:32] 4That should be more than enough time -- especially since Ir, taking pointers from Blossom, has already ridden out on Errant with the provisional procurement orders to make sure the timber is ready when she flies up with the Heavensward. [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12It doesn't seem to Blossom that personal creative projects need to somehow be accounted for in the Crystal economy... unless someone's got some existing leverage and is looking for ways to fuck with a personal enemy, which doesn't seem to be impossible. If you want to sell those things you'll be doing it at city-mandated prices, though, and there's a lengthy registration process [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12if you want something like "artist" or "musician" to be your actual job as opposed to something you do with your off-hours, as in, an excuse not to perform more prosaic kinds of labor. [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12It doesn't seem to be an impossible one as there are people e.g. spending all day painting murals of heroic-looking cadres of Icewalkers and former Haslanti driving pickaxes into glowing skulls representing necromantic degeneracy or whatever. [21:34] 7Haha, nice. 08[21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi detects that the general level of suspicion and superstition regarding the supernatural in Crystal has increased since the Circle was here last, largely because of the threat presented by Reckoning's original revolt and the constant threat of Reckoning's doctrine returning by way of the Bishop, or at least something superficially similar to it by way of the Lover. As more of [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12the Niobraran city Crystal is built on is uncovered, and therefore as more of the First Age relics recovered from its depths prove to be necromantic or otherwise unsavory in their aspect, there's a greater suspicion of magic as opposed to "honest" or "normal" labor and less of a drive for study of such subjects as geomancy, though certain aspects of alchemy - particularly having to do [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12with activating the latent properties of emberstone, true ice, and similar essence-charged materials - are still in high regard. [21:36] 7Also, what's all this about most of their mining product being carted off into nowhere? [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12That said, there's also just a general lack of expertise combined with historical momentum bent in the exact wrong direction. Crystal was originally an adventurers' basecamp, after all, and it sort of built up into the city it is through a constant ad hoc accumulation of travelers and construction of increasingly-elaborate dwellings. Civic planning's not really in the place's blood, [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12and while it's being imposed much more strictly from above now, it's being imposed by miners, not priests or magicians. [21:37] 4And the dock is completed, to spec, in absolutely record time. Snooping officials keeping tabs on the project will realize why she charged salary instead of hour's wage -- the project is done in one great flurry of activity, the wood shaping perfectly smoothly under Ir's hands, every hammer strike perfect and true and once for each nail. [21:37] 4Feels good to really let loose after weeks of playing the good normie worker. [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12That's no mystery to Blossom - Diamond Hearth needs raw materials more acutely than Crystal itself does at the moment, as do some other surrounding allied settlements including Ember Valley itself. (Remember those guys?) The fact that a lot of what Crystal digs up gets summarily shipped off has its share of detractors, as you might imagine, although it's not like there's currently [21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12anyone to sell the stuff to. [21:39] 7Oh. Well, whatever, then. As long as Pinion doesn't spend his days cackling on a hoard of raw feathersteel or something. [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12People inspecting Ir's work are almost more impressed than alarmed. Can she just... always do that? Does she know how to build other things? [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12(These are direct questions by observers with pads and styluses.) [21:42] 4Ir responds yes to both, but reminds them all work orders have to go through the proper channels. [21:42] 4Not about to get rung up on a contraband labor sting on her third day here. [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12This results in some murmuring and rapid note-taking. The actual construction's all clearly to-spec, though, and Ir is congratulated and saluted for her service to the city. 15[21:45] 10How does someone become a sorcerer in Crystal? Who would someone who discovered they had the knack, or wished to pursue it, turn to? [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Probably Enri's cohort, which technically steers a small but state-recognized Sorcery Committee. 15[21:47] 10This has got Eikichi wondering what their plan will be once Zeal is risen... [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway - y'all ready to meet the General Secretary? (Is anyone doing something else/not bothering?) [21:49] 4Ir will be there in her usual clean but simply garb. [21:49] 7Sure, let's see what this guy's up to. 15[21:49] 10Yes! [21:49] 13Ying'll be there! [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12It's the late afternoon, then, that you're ushered into a small office. You don't recognize the room, but you do recognize the building - this is about midway up the tower at whose top you first met with Grey Nara. Enough of the ice has melted that an ancient, stone chamber has been furnished with chairs and a table and repurposed into a little workspace and meeting room. Pinion, [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12looking characteristically moody, is seated behind a desk as the first of you arrive, but rises to join you at a circular table. [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12A pair of guards at the door are dismissed to allow for him and your Circle to speak in private, but it's a good guess that unseen security is present or at least nearby in droves. [21:54] <@Ferrinus> "So," 12says Pinion. "Welcome back - and thank you again for blocking off this plague. Little has been heard from the southeast of late - if we're lucky, this thing you're frustrated is why." 15[21:56] "General Secretary!" 10says Eikichi. "A pleasure to see you again. I've been surveying the city for the last few days - Crystal has come far indeed." [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "Not so far as it must. But the people have risen to make a heroic effort." [21:57] "Pleased to meet you," 4she'll say seriously. "I am Ir, Northern Star." [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir might be feeling some type of way after having briefly visited the Unconquered Throne and discovered it under new management. The kindly old couple who actually owned the place when Ir played there was rapidly expropriated and imprisoned after Nara's death and Pinion's ascension. They only spent a few months in the clink and now have a little apartment somewhere, but talked Ir's [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12ear off about how bad things have gotten if she went to track them down and visit them directly. [21:59] 13Ying: "I'm Sunlit-Dreaming Ying! Hiya!" 13She is the only one who hasn't been in the city before. [21:59] 4Well then. [21:59] 4Not how she'd run a government, probably. But then she's empowered by the Sun. [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12The General Secretary nods. "Introductions! I'm in arrears. I am Pinion, General Secretary of the Worker's Covenant." [22:00] <@Ferrinus> 12I guess that should be Workers' Covenant. 15[22:01] 10Unless the Clay Man is General Secretary. 15[22:01] 10One big worker for all the unions. [22:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Give it time! [22:03] 7Blossom: "Excessively Righteous Blossom. Pleased to meet you, General-Secretary." [22:03] 4She'll make the old couple promises vague in content but firm in intent about what life might await them in Zeal, though makes sure they know that it still might be some time before that dream is realized. 15[22:04] 10Eikichi: "The Pact is under terrible strain from many sides. What would you say are the government's top priorities?" [22:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "A heady question. Currently it is the reinforcement of the Hearth against direct assault; the string of shadowlands to its west disgorge angry dead from time and time and seem at high ebb." [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "But what are your top priorities?" 15[22:08] 10Eikichi looks to the others. [22:09] 4Ir: "We opposed the Deathlords and their servants wherever they appear in Creation. So coming by to see what was what and finding not one but two operating in the theater was...startling." [22:09] *oppose [22:10] 4She'll leave it to the others to mention why they were dropping in to say hi, if they wish. She's not sure if they're hiding that or not. [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "Startling? Yes, I suppose the second would be a nasty surprise after you dispatched a servant of the first? Will you be moving against one or both, then?" [22:11] <@Ferrinus> 12That should be a period after "first" [22:12] 4Ir sighs. "After events in the east, I find myself without an army at the moment. I'll probably fly out and make some evaluations, and we'll talk it over." [22:12] 7Blossom: "We were drawn back to this area to help the Hedgehog settlement manage its food shortages and place it on a better footing with its neighbors, which lead to us dealing with Icehome, which in turn told us about Crystal." [22:13] 13Ying: "Furry complicated! But at least I finally get to see the city!" [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion writes a few things down as Blossom speaks. "Icehome and Hedgehog - could I trouble you for more detail?" 12If you give it, the man takes more elaborate notes, nodding all the while, finally commenting "That - is helpful, I think. Our new dock may serve us sooner than I thought." [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12He pauses, looks at Blossom again. "It was you who struck down the abbot, wasn't it?" [22:19] 7Blossom: "That's right." [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion snorts once - the beginning and end of a very short chuckle. "When I trained under the man I thought him invincible. Lynchpins of the world can come loose very quickly these days." 15[22:22] 10Heh. [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "Funny that his faith waxed so much in power here only after you destroyed him. I'm not sure you realize how great a ripple the rhetoric you used in the aftermath of his and Reckoning's defeat made." [22:24] 4Ir: "Perhaps not." [22:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion shrugs to himself. "We can only take it in stride. Our task is to build what we can from what and whom we have - and you left us a great deal of value." 15[22:27] "But also certain obstacles." [22:27] 7Blossom: "Such as?" 08[22:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion shrugs at Eikichi, attempting to look philosophical. "Little comes from wishing." 12After Blossom speaks, he pauses, thinking. "There are, for instance, tensions between the Immaculate faith and that of the various tribes." 12This strikes you as an incomplete answer, but Pinion looks reluctant to go into it. 15[22:31] "What sort of tension?" [22:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "The Immaculate Philosophy is a totalizing doctrine that is concomitant with Realm's imperial ambitions. It consumes all other faiths within its influence - there is the demand, for instance, that the Tusk pantheon be subsumed into the Immaculate seasonal prayer calendar. Could this be arranged so as to ensure each totem receives the chiminage it's due? Certainly, and, [22:36] <@Ferrinus> indeed, it has. Nevertheless, central Crystal chauvinism threatens to alienate the various Icewalker nations and therefore weaken the entire Pact with disunity." [22:39] 4Ir: "We've certainly had our issues with the Immaculates in their specifically political role." [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion speaks at some length with the measured tones of someone who's given this a lot of thought. In fact, he's clearly given it a lot more thought than he's voicing, and is holding back a few things for, presumably, political or social reasons. [22:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Generally, you suspect that interfaith tensions are only a small part of what's actually been giving Pinion problems, but that he judges it would be undiplomatic to say more. 15[22:41] "Where does your faith lie, General Secretary?" [22:41] 4Ten coins on 'with the people.' [22:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "I believe in only one thing: the power of human will." [22:42] 4Ahh. Close. [22:43] 13Nyo points! Exact answers only! 15[22:43] 10Eikichi: "Spoken like a Chosen of the Sun." [22:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "Is it? It's closer to what the Abbott told us about the Anathema than what you told us yourselves. Are you not worshipers of your patron?" 15[22:44] 10Eikichi: "Well......." [22:45] 4Ir: "The Sun helps those who help themselves." [22:45] "Somewhat to a fault." [22:45] 7Blossom glares at the others: "They're supposed to be." [22:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion's maintaining a poker face. He asks Blossom: "Are we?" [22:49] 4'We?' [22:49] "To the degree that the Unconquered Sun is Lord of Perfection, King of Heaven, and has a duly registered place in the prayer calendar. I mean, we're not monotheists." [22:50] <@Ferrinus> 12He might mean himself, the city of Crystal, or, hell, humankind. [22:50] 4Ir gives him a long look regardless. [22:51] 4But aloud: "I do still have a soft spot for Jesus Christ." [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "Well. That is prevailing opinion, if by plurality rather than majority. Certainly your presence here will strengthen convictions." [22:51] 7Blossom: "There'll be a significant religious festival element devoted to the Incarna once we get our nation off the ground, but that's a local scheduling issue." [22:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "Your nation?" [22:56] 4Ir: "In a land far, far away. Don't worry." [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "Farther than the Hedgehog is? From what I gather of your description, connection with those mountains will have to be one of our priorities. It can get the Pact a foothold in the Threshold." [22:59] 4Ir: "Quite. But we do intend to main our relations with the Hedgehog...just, not as a dominion." [22:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "Who will rule your nation?" 15[23:02] "We will, of course." [23:03] 4Ir: "I think the party line's gonna be something like the principles of justice and fairness, through the Sun's Chosen. But yeah, us." [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "Of course. Well, I hope you're able to continue to lend the support to the Hedgehog, and to our pact, that you have thus far. Another question. What of the Realm?" [23:06] 4Ir: "We've got enough going on with the disaster in Thorns that we're not about to just declare war or anything. But we take a keen interest when they wander outside their satrapies." [23:06] 7Blossom: "What of it? They'll be in a civil war sooner rather than later. We were able to repel Cathak's attempt to re-occupy the Hedgehog because they could only afford to send one Dragon-blood and a few ships." [23:08] 4Ir: "Well. We could have repelled three times that. More importantly, Hedgehog was able to repel them, and begin a military tradition." [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion nods. "It has long been my estimation that the Realm, not the deathlords, represents the ultimate threat to our sovereignty. That it wavers on the precipice of civil war right now is, of course, a good thing - in the very worst case, it gives the pact that much more time to consolidate its strength and extend its reach." [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "But in the very best case, the Realm suffers its own people's usurpation, just as Crystal did." [23:09] 4Ir: "Can't argue there." 15[23:10] "A revolution at the imperial core?" 10Eikichi sounds dubious. [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "Unthinkable except in the most extraordinary case - but this is an extraordinary case. I don't plan on it but do hope for it - and have taken the care to lay a little ground work, as resources permit." [23:12] 4Ir: "Ambitious." [23:14] 13Ying: "I mean, we've seen some purretty unlikely things already..." 13That one's still a little boggling, though. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "It's chiefly ideological - tracts, histories, instructions for the formations of the kind of cells and cults that our own movement started as. Branches of our covenant have managed to spread southward, though perhaps not so far as the shores of the Isle itself. There is resistance, of course." [23:16] 4Ir: "Could be a recipe to get a lot of people killed...but that's their choice. And Realm instability is always helpful." [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "The lords and satraps will crush our movement as soon as they see it, of course. But we're faced with something more insidious - even within those councils and workers' organizations, great antipathy springs from unlikely places. ...if it's amenable to your Circle that our pact's influence spread as far as the Realm, I would ask you for a favor." [23:16] "Would be nice if Pneuma wasn't ruled by a bunch of prison wardens play acting religion in a giant jail." [23:17] 7Blossom: "What sort of favor?" [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "Have you heard of 'Tinder' Tam?" 15[23:18] 10Eikichi cracks a grin. [23:19] 7Blossom: "She was my sifu in the art of Righteous Devil Style." [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "Was she? An interesting coincidence. She was here during our usurpation - the chaos that gripped Crystal after Nara fell. Instrumental in repelling the Prince of Darkness, in fact." [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "However, she left soon after, and now my understanding is that through publications sourced from... Nexus, I believe, she works to turn the laborers in our neighboring cities against us. Tracts paint the pact as some kind of tyrannical death cult, one to be shunned rather than emulated. It's obstructing our influence." 15[23:22] 10Eikichi's still smiling. [23:23] 7Blossom: "Death cult in the literal, necropolitan sense?" [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "If you know her - if, indeed, you have some influence over her - you might stop her operation. Or at least change its contents. It would be of some help to our growth." [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion makes a vague gesture at Blossom. "It depends on the tract. Some may come from her disciples." [23:26] 7Blossom: "Hmm. Well, I make no promises, but if we cross paths I'd be happy to disabuse her of any false notions of what goes on here." 15[23:27] "Why does she spread such things?" 08[23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion pauses for a moment. "That would help. If she had one good point, it was that the covenant could not survive in one slice of one Direction indefinitely." 12He looks to Eikichi and pauses longer, glancing to Blossom again before returning his gaze. "In short, poor analysis." 08[23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion pauses for a moment. "That would help. If she had one good point, it was that the covenant could not survive in one slice of one Direction indefinitely." 12He looks to Eikichi and pauses longer, glancing to Blossom again before returning his gaze. "In short, poor analysis." 15[23:30] "Do go on." [23:31] 13Ying: "Are you sure these aren't furgeries or something? If you've got any sampurrles Tatsuya could take a look..." 08[23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion, to Ying: "I can dig a few up if you need examples." 12He gives Eikichi a measured look. "These are... questions of political theory which I sense are not immediately germane to your own methods of operation. But I would say she held the Realm in too high regard and the Icewalkers in too little." 15[23:35] 10She did hold Blossom in quite high regard. [23:38] 7She should. 15[23:38] 10Mmm. [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "Anyway, I hope you'll do what you can. And it behooves me to ask what, in turn, I can do for you - keeping in mind, of course, that I am bound first and foremost by my duty to the people." [23:40] 4We're not going to ask this guy directly about Grey Nara, are we? [23:46] 7Blossom: "What can you tell us about the death of Grey Nara?" [23:47] 4Guess we are. [23:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "Less than I wish. She took ill mere months after your departure, and was soon afflicted with a wasting disease that was only aggravated by stress and labor. She properly ruled another month, was bedridden for another two, and finally passed. It was a difficult time." [23:49] 4Ir: "Poisoning is the assumption, I take it. Given the involvement of these particular Deathlords."{ [23:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "Over the months prior to the sickness, she had received visitors and diplomatic envoys from the League and various other city-states in the legion. Our best guess now is that one of them was working for, or at least sabotaged by, a Deathlord." [23:50] 4Ir: "What procedures were taken with the body? It's likely to late to have anything to examine regardless, but..." [23:50] <@Ferrinus> 12He nods to Ir. "Likely the Lover, given a propensity towards disease. It likely took us too long to act, for - as everyone knows - the Chosen never sicken for long." [23:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "Exorcised and burned, after her last few weeks were spent in quarantine." [23:51] 4Ir: "It would be nice to identify the vector, but in the end it's difficult to see how that matters. Repayment is still due, however." 15[23:52] "Do you suspect foul play?" [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion nods to both women. "Certainly. Nara was hale and Dragon-Blood don't simply sicken and die. If I had to finger one responsible party, it would certainly be the Lover or one of her knights, especially since the Prince came after us full-on not long after Nara's passing." Session Time: Fri Jul 17 00:00:00 2020 [00:01] 4Ir: "...This is a longshot, but it's relevant to our current situation and you're already familiar with one martial arts master with politics you don't like: have you heard of any Golden Janissary stylists wandering the region on lonely crusades or so on? Likely religious fanatics who give you blank stares when you start talking about labor quantification, but they HATE the Deathlords." [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12You've heard it mentioned a few times now that the Lover and her prized deathknight "Prince of Darkness" have menaced the crystal pact throughout its history but have been seen very little of late. It occurs to you that you know why - back in Great Forks, you actually sent a hero fated to duel and perhaps defeat the Prince of Darkness up north to meet his destiny, with a slight [00:04] <@Ferrinus> 12detour to learn martial arts from a raksha sifu who lives in the Hedgehog. 15[00:05] 10Oh shit. [00:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Perhaps young Choto and whatever colorful companions he's gathered is thwarting the Lover's foul plots even now. 15[00:05] 10That would make a great novel. [00:05] 4Oh. Ir was thinking something about...vampires? You know, they suck -- well, nevermind. [00:06] 4We should probably at least link up and give that guy support. But Ir's pretty serious about this other thing first. [00:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, Pinion's answering Ir: "You're in luck. The Fox Tribe is few in number here, but has long ranged and hunted far, including on the edges of the shadowlands. Go northwest, past the city walls; ask for Kutva." [00:08] 4She nods. "Will do. Thank you." [00:10] 7Blossom's pleased. Golden Janissary Style has a nice ring to it, and of course new martial arts are always cool. [00:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "Anything else I can offer you?" [00:11] 4Ir: "That'll do it for me. The airport of Crystal is open for business." 15[00:12] 10Eikichi: "Where does this all lead, ultimately?" 08[00:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion eyes Eikichi for a moment. [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Then he speaks. "Here is the conclusion I have come to: it is not heroes that make history, but history that makes heroes. The story of Creation is the story of the high being brought low. It happened to the titans, then to the Anathema. It's happening now to the Dragon-Blooded." [00:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "We - humankind - are the bones each empire hangs on and the muscle that drives it. Sooner or later, we'll take ownership of that fact - and the sooner we do, the faster comes justice." 15[00:19] 10Eikichi: "A sort of 'permanent Usurpation'." [00:19] 4It makes a certain amount of sense. [00:19] 4Ir: "I mean. Fair enough." [00:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "What? No. They come in stages. Each sets up the next - but, as we've seen, faster and faster." [00:20] 7Blossom's not sure how he could look at the history of even the people sitting in this room and come to that conclusion. [00:20] 7Empires falling, sure, whatever, but we very much have made history. [00:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "Things develop unevenly. Forces push and pull. What's old and dying might claw itself back to prominence - for a time. But our - my - first obligation is to free men and women from the chains of empire, and make every move, take every measure, that brings that victory closer. That's the task that you made possible for us, and that Nara shepherded for a time, and that now [00:22] <@Ferrinus> falls to me." 14[00:23] * Joins: mattbaby 15[00:27] 10Eikichi: "If history makes heroes, then it also makes villains." [00:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "By the drove." 15[00:28] "For now, you are high, we are high." 10Certainly *I* am high. "To whom will it fall to bring us low?" [00:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "If I knew that..." [00:30] "We can agree that one is the man Wicked Triumph's Reasoning." [00:31] *Reckoning [00:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "Nara did observe that traitors to the ruling caste, conscious or otherwise, are oft instrumental to its usurpation." [00:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "That was how she'd refer to herself. A very unusual figure. But I have other meetings to attend." 12He stands. "I must bid you farewell - for the moment, anyway. You're welcome in Crystal for as long as you care to remain, of course. ...but the longer that is, the more procedural and religious questions may be raised, so please have a care." [00:37] 7Blossom: "Procedural?" [00:37] 4Ir: "I suspect we'll be in and out." [00:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "The question of pay commensurate to value produced is already strained by our Dragon-Blooded; the Dock Ir's made creates a number of accountancy concerns I am about to go review. Several members of the organizing committee wish to reclassify you as natural resources rather than people so that we can freely benefit from the tendays of labor you compress into moments." 15[00:41] 10Eikichi: "I'd be happy to take any pay owed in the form of investment in sorcerous resources and training for the Crystal Pact." [00:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion narrows his eyes and tilts his head slightly. "Interesting rhetoric. We'll see if someone adopts it." 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[20:06] 4Horsey~ [20:09] 07Dryas: "You remember - Seiri, I swear you to secrecy about this - you all recall the deal that Nn Tloc and I reached, to transport captured Anathema?" [20:09] 10Daizo falls into a reverie partway down and nearly leads his horse off the path. It's probably a good thing his horse refused to take a step further when it did.  [20:09] 4Pretty sure you can't swear people to silence mid-way through the sentence. [20:10] 10Yeah, and you can't do it one-sidedly either.  15[20:10] Seiri looks up, alarmed, though she seems so out of it - riding behind Sadako, with her own horse following beside - that she might just be startled by being called on. [20:11] 14Piu: "Seiri can be trusted, I'm sure. And yes." [20:12] 6Zhangyu just looks at Dryas expectantly. [20:13] 07Dryas, elaborating: "I saw their eventual fate. It was horrific. Transportation to enormous slave-pits, in a hellish pit beneath a rust-red sky. The cruelty of a pompous, disfigured, and deadly princeling..." [20:14] "..I think it could be the pirate who crossed ahead of our path before. But death did not await them, it was life - a song with thirteen syncopated beats. Freedom, but on the terms of another's will. And darkness beyond darkness, a black snake with many eyes and teeth."" [20:16] 14Piu: "Sounds...unfortunate." [20:16] 14And perhaps a little bit familiar. [20:17] 10Daizo: "Thirteen. Never an auspicious number." [20:17] "I...ah. Have to apologize. I asked selfishly about my family -- my birth family, before House V'neef -- and their fate. What I learned was...personal. And not particularly surprising." [20:22] 10Daizo: "It's hardly a selfish wish. Being adopted into a Great House doesn't mean you have to abandon your roots entirely." [20:22] 07Dryas, looking right at Piu: "Indeed." [20:23] 14Piu doesn't reply to either. [20:24] 10Daizo: "Mine was… complex. I'm still unpacking it." [20:25] "I asked how I could purify myself. And I believe I was told to check my premises." [20:29] 07Dryas, rolling a handful of cocoa leaves around a lime wedge: "Told?" [20:29] 6Zhangyu: "I asked how to gain true respect, not one centered in battle. The answer I received was..." 6He trails off, thinking. Then: "Not the one I thought I would receive," 6he says, finally. [20:31] 14Piu: "I mean frankly it seemed like time to do some introspection, not ask about the mission." 15[20:33] Sadako: "None of you could hear each other?" [20:34] 07Dryas: "My business with Nn Tloc has little or nothing to do with the mission, but has greatly troubled me all the same. I am worried I - what?" [20:34] 10Daizo rides in silence for a minute, then speaks again. "It's difficult to tell in these sorts of experiences, but I believe I may have briefly made contact with a spiritual entity." [20:35] 14Piu is very well-trained, and does not stiffen at the implication in Sadako's statement, nor let ice creep into her voice when 4she says: "Nope!" [20:35] "No. No, I never encountered any other human." [20:36] "Besides myself." [20:38] "A spiritual entity?" 07Dryas asks. 15[20:38] "We were all bunched so close together... maybe it was different for me. My peculiar constitution," Sadako says, briefly mimicking Caxi's voice and mannerism. "Everybody was talking about stuff. Praying or, being confused, or getting really angry." [20:39] 6Zhangyu: "There were crowds, in mine. An older man, and a younger one, and..." 6He thinks. "The Nazarene." [20:40] "The what? [20:42] 10It takes some more prodding, but Daizo fills Dryas in on some more of the details of his experience. The Demon Realm, nature that withered and died around him, the struggle against himself, and finally reaching out in the darkness and being "pulled up" by a feminine hand.  [20:43] "There's… quite a bit to chew on there, as you can see." [20:53] "As for the Nazarene, that one's… a piece of work. River god who hit it big in the North. Too many believers to suppress without aid. And what kind of cult forbids their believers from calling their holy writings anything but 'the book'?" 15[20:53] Particularly sociable cultists might call it the "good" book! [20:54] 4Piu: "Sounds like a drag." [20:56] 10Daizo: "I'll admit, I don't understand the relevance it has to Zhangyu's question. [20:58] 07Dryas: "Yes, you said it had to do with earning respect?" [20:58] 6Zhangyu: "He kept asking me 'how could I,' while I was chained to a post." [20:58] "This was after being dragged through the mud in front of a jeering crowd." [20:59] 10Daizo: "Did you have a sense of what you'd done?" [21:00] "Or perhaps, was it the act of a mob?" [21:01] 6Zhangyu: "If it was said, I missed it." 6He remembers dimly that was something horrible, but not what. [21:03] "But you didn't answer—because you couldn't know. What happened then?" [21:05] 6Zhangyu: "I broke my bonds and charged at him," 6he says frankly. "The crowd stopped me, and the next I remember is... it felt like water?" [21:05] "Then I woke up." [21:08] 07Dryas: "Do you feel like you had made a mistake? Like you should have nobly suffered the mob's indignities?" [21:10] 6He grimaces. "Something like that." [21:12] 10Daizo: "Only you can decide what the truth of what you saw is." [21:14] 14Well. [21:15] 14In some cases, there are those who can corroborate. And they have names and addresses. [21:15] 10Pressing Seiri right now seems like a very poor idea, so… "When you heard us all talking, Sadako, were we still in the witch's hut? Or in another place?" 15[21:16] Once she realized she wasn't being asked to do anything, Seiri's attention drifted back to the rising jungle and her own thoughts. She looks pretty close to resting her head on Sadako's back and falling asleep. [21:17] 07Dryas pops the cocoa leaf wedge into her mouth. Supposedly they enjoy these out in the upper Northeast. She's got more if anyone else wants them. 15[21:18] Sadako: "I didn't go anywhere, but I felt like I was floating. I imagined... deep, dark water, and I heard a voice, and I felt so good. I started leaning back, sinking into the water... and then I realized I sank into the floor." [21:20] 4Piu: "You're a weird kid, Sadako! But cool." [21:22] "It seems to have done you quite some good, that makes me quite happy," 07Dryas agrees. [21:24] 10Daizo: "This might sound strange, but see if you can do it again sometime without the witch's brew." 15[21:25] You can hear the camp before you can see it - a crackling fire, some kind of ill-tempered nattering between the armed cohort and the support staff. The subject becomes clear as the jungle parts and it pulls into view, the violet travel lanterns strung up to mark the boundaries of the camp throwing their light on quite a large reptile, maybe a bit smaller than a horse, still stuck with 15[21:25] broken-off spearhafts. Its dead, conical eyes point off in seemingly random skewed directions. [21:25] "Sinking into the ground, I mean. There are Blooded who are capable of the same thing." [21:26] 14Piu sighs. "Peacemaking time." [21:28] 07Dryas spurs Diamond Weapon onward, blowing a short sharp note to alert the guards to their arrival. "Good evening, gentlemen!" she exclaims to her retainers. [21:28] 07Dryas spurs Diamond Weapon onward, blowing a short sharp note to alert the guards to their arrival. "Good evening, gentlemen!" 07she exclaims to her retainers. [21:28] 4Piu will give the horse a last hug around the neck as she dismounts and surrender him to the ministrations of the people hired for such things. [21:31] 10Daizo is thoroughly pleased to dismount, and he imagines the horse must be feel the same way about not having to carry him anymore. 15[21:33] Everyone stands at attention when Lady Dryas and her kinship ride back into camp. There's a brief and silent scrabble to be the one who briefs Dryas, and it's won by the mercenary captain over the provisioner. "My Lady," begins the mercenary, who is not Realm-born but was likely Realm-educated, "While you were gone, animals got into some improperly-stored provisions. Easily driven off, 15[21:33] but the disturbance drew a larger creature from the jungle, and it took all our people to bring it down. 15[21:33] "Three injuries, one serious, a couple of knocked-down tents... well-managed." [21:36] "And what is the current status of our provisions?" 07Dryas asks of the quartermaster. 15[21:39] The quartermaster: "We saved almost everything, but your soliders were so reckless in the carnage we've roughly half what we should." [21:40] 10While Dryas is handling the personnel, Daizo will go and take a closer look at the trophy.  [21:41] "Well." 07Dryas turns to mumble to her companions - "Whatever would the Commodore do? Turn a blind eye and conclude all's well that ends well? Let's do the opposite." 15[21:45] The creature's tough, scaly skin must have shimmered with a dozen colors when it was still alive. Now, an erratic, vivid pattern bleeds beneath the surface, like a decorative bottle of colored sand or one of those sorcerous liquid-crystal windows after it's been shattered by too ferocious a party. If she finds a bit with a color scheme she likes, it'd make fine leather. Its mouth is 15[21:45] unimpressive froglike, with no teeth wicked enough to make suitable trophies. [21:45] 4Piu sighs again. "I think the Commodore would go hunting with the men to replenish supplies, as a teambuilding exercise." [21:46] "That actually sounds quite rather enjoyable," 07Dryas ponders. 15[21:46] It's hard to spot beneath the spearhafts and oozing blood, but Daizo notices older wounds - this reptile recently survived an attack by some wild beast before falling to the hunters. [21:47] 4Piu shrugs. "It's good exercise and the right move for morale, I think. And they NEED the teambuilding." 15[21:47] Daizo detects both bite and claw. [21:48] 10Daizo clicks his tongue. Well, now it's much more important to keep order among the servants and guards. [21:49] 10He'll wave the others over. "Take a look at this." [21:49] "There's something much bigger out there, and it's probably nearby." [21:50] 6Zhangyu: "Any ideas what it could have been?" [21:50] 4Pius smacks her fist into her palm. [21:54] "Ah. Excellent!" 07Dryas clears her throat and addresses the gathered men: "Gentlemen! Such discord is unbecoming, but understandable. Accordingly, we'll address it with a bit of a team-building exercise, in two parts. First part, let's skin this beast and set it out as chum. Bait. Second part, we'll take whatever came in for a bite of her." [21:56] 4Firm, perhaps-overserious nod. 15[22:02] Judging by the shape of the bites, Dryas guesses that the creature resembles a great cat, but is much larger - perhaps the size of one of those huge, blunt, furious fat monsters the cattlemen of the near South fondly call "river horses". 15[22:03] Daizo comes to the same conclusion. 15[22:04] The bite was quite recent - it hadn't stopped bleeding by the time the guards slew the lizard. Looks to be peripheral, a wound incurred in a chase. [22:04] 07Dryas: "Terribly exciting! An enormous feline! Larger than a tiger!!" [22:06] 10Daizo: "It will certainly come and play if we set out a dish for it." [22:10] 07Dryas grins a wide, wide grin. "Then let's prepare a last repast for our quarry." [22:10] "Piu, can you find a suitable location for us to prepare an ambush?" [22:12] 4She blinks. "I can...try?" [22:19] 4More confidently: "I can try!" 15[22:21] What kind of staging area does Piu choose, and what does she reveal of her thought process in choosing it? [22:23] 14Knife-circle -- preferred way of killing regents and politicians while obscuring exact blame while creating an indeliable bond of shared guilt, but also quite good non-ideologically when you've got a bunch of guys with pointy bits of wood and metal. You want a forum -- a clearing -- for the target to hold forth in, and something in that forum to hold their attention. That'll be the [22:23] 14bait. Then you approach from all sides and take turns with the kill. [22:23] 14Now, two things: [22:24] 14First, a giant cat is much more dangerous than a debauched would-be emperor. So, the circle will have to close starting downwind, with the rest of the circle coming in afterwards to seal the circle. Second: instead of bouncing the victim back and forth from knife to knife, it will have to be a choreographed dance, moving WITH the cat as it strikes and tries to break free. [22:26] 10Getting the real Piu to show herself is rapidly becoming one of Daizo's hobbies. (NARRATOR: It wasn't the real Piu.) [22:28] 4Communicating it publicly is a bit trickier. "So, um, has anyone told you all the tragedy of Anax Ilia? I was thinking mostlyyy that, but we start off downwind and coordinate against the cat's response. Which'll be more strenuous than Ilia's. By a lot. Kinda like dancing!" [22:32] 10Daizo: "Oho. I think I see where you're coming from here. A solid plan." [22:33] 6Zhangyu nods. He's familiar enough with the concept, even if he hasn't actually used this tactic himself. [22:35] 07Dryas: "That sounds excellent. I can wheel around the outside of the circle on Diamond Weapon and close the gap. We'll take half the guard with us. The rest can stay here with horns to protect the train and the wounded." 15[22:36] Who or what will serve as the bait? [22:37] 4Not her department! [22:38] 07Dryas: "Mighty Tepet Zhangyu, would you do the honor of setting the bait with the lizard carcass?" [22:40] 6He grunts in agreement. He's strong enough to move it wherever it needs to go. [22:42] 10Daizo excuses himself partway through the strategy meeting to unpack and don his gear, and borrows a couple of Dryas' servants for assistance. He's not going to stand in front of a great cat barehanded and in visiting clothes if he can avoid it. [22:43] 07A porter arrives at Dryas' side bearing an enormous lance of blackened ash with a gleaming bronze spearpoint. Her personal mon is visible on a silk pennant halfway down the shaft. 15[22:44] Zhangyu has no trouble dragging the corpse into position, leaving Dryas and her team to take up their positions. [22:46] 10The replacement back plate feels cheap and thin compared to the rest of the armor, even though it's thick fine steel. But it isn't jade, and the cutout for the wings is unsightly.. 15[23:07] They hunker down in that oppressively humid jungle for what feels like hours. The lizard corpse rots with remarkable speed and dead bait was already less alluring than live bait. But still it comes, slowly and subtly, with the greatest of care - something enormous sidling through the brush, vast and undulating with the occasional impression, in Hamoji's witch-light, of a spot. 15[23:09] They hear High Realm, spoken by Dryas's mercenary-captain, at once indulgent and reproachful. "Watch your tongue. Any more talk like that and I'm going to have to pass it upstairs." [23:10] 10… [23:14] 07Dryas grits her teeth for a moment, preparing to beat her own captain's head in with the butt of her lance - but then realizes the trick. A ventriloquist, mimic, monster?! Quite the catch, quite the catch! [23:14] 4Piu freezes. What the...?? [23:15] 6Bizarre. And-- devious. [23:15] 10Someone tell that idiot to shut up! Daizo almost does it— [23:16] 07Hold, hold, hold... 15[23:17] The captain's voice again, with different inflection - weary, frustrated. "Clean this shit up and get back to your post." 15[23:21] The creature isn't advancing further. It can clearly sense something is amiss - it would've begun eating by now otherwise - but it doesn't seem to have decided what to do about it. [23:28] 07Dryas lets out a deep, gutteral 07mrrrrrow07 to entice the creature a few steps farther into the trap. Is it sexy? Are you a cat that's hip-high yeddim? [23:29] 07*hip-high to a yeddim? 15[23:30] The brush rustles, and the light from the sky catches three eyes in the dark: one lower, deeper-set, and well to the side of the others. The hunters hear two things in rapid succession. 15[23:31] The first, in Dryas's own voice: "Daizo, it will be relatively safe here?" 15[23:32] The second, a young man's voice with a fine patrician accent, tremulous and bemoaning: "I'm in real bad trouble." [23:34] 10Wait. Wait wait wait just a minute. [23:34] 4Piu is not moving until she figures out what's going on. 15[23:36] The cat moves further into the clearing, something kin to an Eastern ocelot but far larger. Its coat is shimmering smooth, and the creature looks strong and unblemished. At the base of its throat a second, almost-fully-formed face extends, forever staring down and to the left from the cat's normal face, with no neck to articulate along. The second face speaks with a human voice, and 15[23:36] when its mouth opens you can see the great cat's rear teeth working, observe the gentle ripple of the breathing throat it flows into. 14[23:39] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 15[23:39] This is all too terribly visible when it speaks again, in that nervous young man's voice, now an urgent whisper. "I'm dead, you understand me? I'm a dead man!" 15[23:40] NEXT TIME: Cat fight 14[23:55] * Joins: tom Session Time: Wed Jul 22 00:00:00 2020 14[00:57] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[01:00] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[06:48] * Joins: tom 14[07:30] * Quits: Crion (Quit: ) 14[08:39] * Joins: Crion 14[08:59] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[14:58] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[15:44] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[16:15] * Quits: VoxPrime (Quit: ) 14[16:23] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[16:41] * Quits: VoxPrime (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[16:46] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[17:30] * Joins: Zarick 14[20:38] * Quits: cbass (*.net *.split) 14[20:38] * Quits: @Ferrinus (*.net *.split) 14[20:38] * Quits: Zarick (*.net *.split) 14[20:38] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[20:38] * Joins: Zarick 14[20:38] * Joins: cbass 14[20:38] * aesir.sorcery.net sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[22:58] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:03] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[23:15] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[23:23] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Thu Jul 23 00:00:00 2020 14[00:08] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[00:12] * Joins: mattbaby 14[00:31] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[00:51] * Joins: mattbaby 14[01:55] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[03:22] * banana|peels is now known as banana 14[03:32] * Joins: tom 14[04:05] * Joins: Zarick_ 14[04:08] * Quits: Zarick (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:23] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:35] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[06:20] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[08:24] * Quits: Zarick_ (Connection closed) 14[09:46] * Joins: tom 14[10:12] * Joins: mattbaby 14[11:44] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[12:28] * Joins: tom 14[13:36] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[17:46] * Joins: Zarick [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 T \`. T [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 | T .--------------.___________) \ | T [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 ! | |//////////////|___________[ ] ! T | [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 ! `--------------' ) ( | ! [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 '-' ! [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, Crystal's certainly shaping up to be unique - though, of course, that'll cease to be true if Pinion and his faction have their way. Apparently some kind of important Covenant meeting regarding the Squared Circle itself is slated for tomorrow; it sounds as though there are a number of disparate views as to the desirability and indeed possibility of the four of you sticking [20:25] <@Ferrinus> 12around. 15[20:26] 10Are we invited? [20:26] 13It's about us, we must be! [20:26] 7We are not 'natural resources'. [20:27] 4Eh. [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12In the meantime, work proceeds apace and ostensibly under the control of those engaged in it, though there's just as much griping about foremen and shift length as you're used to hearing otherwise. Ir knows that somewhere to the northwest is a Fox Tribe enclave that practices the Golden Janissary style; I'm not sure if anything of special interest to another Solar is currently blinking [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12on the map. And, yes, you're welcome to attend - some parties have even asked you to, though Pinion is not among them. [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12(He hasn't asked you not to or anything) [20:29] 4Ir will let the others know she's got a personal matter involving a possible sifu to attend to in the northwest; she can take Errant. [20:30] 6Tatsuya does want to meet up with the Undermelt here at some point. [20:30] 4Unless they want her at the meeting, of course! [20:30] 4Sounds boring though. [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12You could conceivably do a there-and-back thing; the Fox encampment isn't too far out past city limits and Errant is quite fast. [20:33] 4Then Ir will leave expediently...but won't be too bothered if the sifu, say, demands her to commit to the first lesson now. And she has to miss that meeting. [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12The Fox tribe is a small one. Their longhouses and lean-tos are tucked so neatly into the terrain that Ir might've missed them if she didn't know to look for them, and a number of people with spears gather around her as she comes flapping down out of the sky on Errant. From the landing site, Crystal's just a small shape in the distance, while farther to the west and north the sky is [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12more grey than blue. [20:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Someone with a slightly-raised spear: "Who comes?" [20:37] 4Ir's bothered to dress up in appropriate furs for the weather instead of doing her usual "haha, elements don't bother me" sleeveless thing. Seems more respectful. [20:37] "Ir, Northern Star. Once Ir, Twice-Traitor. Once Maryam of Pneuma. Chosen of the Sun." 15[20:38] 10Eikichi definitely wants to attend the meeting. Nothing's more fun than listening to people talk about you. [20:39] 4She won't mind the spear. She's past really having to mind spears. [20:40] <@Ferrinus> "Ir!" 12Your interlocuter looks at the other people half-surrounding you, then back to you. He's a big man with strange-looking scars; parallel stripes echoing claw marks, but the skin's not just pale but actually colorless. "...the source of all that trouble in city limits? If I understand the stories right." [20:40] 4Ir frowns. "Well. Surely not all of it." [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Icewalker: "Hm, maybe not. What brings you here? We've delivered on the charms already." 08[20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12It's a day later that Eikichi, Blossom, and probably Ying are in the front row of the audience for what's apparently going to be an extremely important covenant plenum. Various branches of the not-quite-technically ruling order are to present various reports on project completion and future strategy... and, as well, grapple with the question of what to do with you. Apparently it's [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12created some controversy. [20:44] 4Errant daintily sets himself down on the icy tundra, seeming not to feel it, and Ir leans against him, crossing her arms, unimpressed. "You think I'm here to...well, that's good to hear. Keep up the work, citizen." [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Icewalker: "Weren't unsatisfactory or something? There were complaints in the last set, but I keep telling them, there only so many bones old enough." [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12complaints about* [20:45] 13Ying is definitely there unless someone tells her specifically not to be. Tatsuya's dumb fanclub can wait. [20:45] 7Well, if everyone else is going, Blossom's not going to be left out. [20:45] 6It's not a fanclub, they beat me up and 13Dumb. Fanclub. [20:46] "No. I mean, maybe. They've booted me from charm duty, sadly; my talents lie elsewhere. I'm here -- like, in the nation -- because you have an Enemies of Creation problem." 4She straightens, getting a bit more serious. "I've heard your people have a master of the Golden Janissary Style. I would come to ask her or him for the privilege of becoming her or his student." [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12The beginning's pretty boring unless you're Blossom because there's a lot of stuff about infrastructure completion, shifting timetables, that sort of thing. It sounds like shipments of weapons are being finished and sent off south ahead of schedule, but fishing in one of the underground rivers that feeds much of the city has fallen off a bit to the extent that they're going to have [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12to cut into their grain stores earlier than expected, etcetera. 15[20:48] 10The more, the merrier! Eikichi dressed up, as this is what passes for a state occasion in Crystal as far as she can tell. Sharp liquor, root vegetables, and procedural meetings appear to be the three things that sustain the ruling class here. [20:48] 4Butter and salt get you pretty far with two of those. [20:49] 4Both are a bad time with liquor, figuratively and literally. [20:50] 13Ying has on probably her nicest dress which - she beat the chosen of fashion, her nicest dress is REALLY nice - and found out that nail polish works on claws! She's otherwise calm through the introductions and first few stories, though she is going to note them for later if it's something she can help with. [20:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Icewalker: "Ahh, is that so?" 12He glances to his left and his right, and his fellow guardsmen or militia members or maybe just hunters back off a bit, clearing space. "Well, Two-Kills Kutva doesn't train just anybody!" 12He levels his spear. "Show me what you've got!" [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12How does the rest of this man's day go? [20:51] 4Ir grins. "Alright." [20:51] 4Just as she's popping to her feet, she pauses. "Uh, what are the rules?" [20:52] "Do I use my full power? Do I use my full weapon? Are we going to blood or knock-down?" [20:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Icewalker: "First scratch, disarmament, or yield. Hahhhh-" 12Here he comes - and he's definitely a trained martial artist, because he's doing things with his grip and footwork that you wouldn't see in a regular phalanx. [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Here is the issue, as presented at the plenum by a quiet man who'd been sitting next to Pinion. Currently, the city of Crystal - and, indeed, the entire "Crystal Pact", though that basically comprises two city-states and a number of surrounding villages and tribal lands - is a nation made of and ruled by mortals. It has its share of mutants and god-blooded, and also enjoys the services [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12of some trained sorcerers as well as a few small families of Dragon-Blooded. What this means is that one of the standing, central doctrines of the Pact - pay proportionate to useful work done - is basically possible to deliver on. There are some limitations when it comes to making use of Enri's entire family at once for particularly prodigious projects, and special dispensation is made [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12for such things as mutual self defense (the lengths they went to to drive off the Prince of Darkness were incredible, apparently) but generally if you take ten extra shifts you get ten extra payoffs. [20:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Indeed, unless you're too young, too old, or too ill, it's properly speaking work rather than food or shelter that's rationed out by the ruling government. [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Here is the problem, raised at a prior meeting: such beings as the Chosen of the Sun can perform labor practically incommensurable with the work of mortal men. Attempting to pay for it properly may well be impossible. But simply refusing it when offered, or to go further refusing to even ask for Solar or other anathematic aid (some terminology is confusing here; I guess that's what [20:59] <@Ferrinus> 12religious synthesis gets you) is going to put the Pact materially behind other entities still receiving it. After all, don't the Haslanti supposedly enjoy hidden Lunar patronage? [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12So the question is, how can the covenant actually, ethically receive help from the plane-trotting heroes who inadvertently helped found it? Should it at all? If it can't, does that mean it's the doctrine that's wrong? [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Several speakers make their cases: [21:01] 13Nerrrrrds. [21:03] 4Ir won't bring Jude's Law into this because one, that's overkill, and two, the trickster's way to win this is to goad her into arming herself, making disarmament a win condition, and then ambushing her with a disarming blow. She also will make sure not to humiliate him by ending it in one hit. She ignites the caste sign on her forehead to prove her lineage and then slides into dodging [21:03] 4back and forth around his spear, making sure to stay close so he can't get full extension, observing his moves -- she'll want to learn his spear forms too, if they're Janissary. [21:04] 4Eventually, once enough has been done to impress his friends, she'll deflect the spear with one palm and break it with the other. Assuming it doesn't look, like, expensive or sentimental. [21:04] 4In that case she'll just flip it into the snow. [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12First, the orthodox case: an old man explains that the full extent of an anathema's skill is functionally unaffordable to the Pact, but that the Pact should be proud to turn their help down, because the point of the Pact's and covenant's work is build a world run by and for mortals. 08[21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Second, a young woman points out the special exception made for Enri and her fellows' heroism in the face of the Prince's assault; if we take the long view, isn't everything we're doing ultimately bent to self-defense against a hostile Creation? Something like Eikichi's miracle cure could easily be a life-or-death thing, and thus we should have no qualms about her hypothetically [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12developing it within city limits or otherwise rendering aid. [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12A severe-looking middle-aged woman attempts to distinguish between the person of a Solar, e.g. Blossom, and the power of a Solar, e.g. Blossom's caste mark, anima, fireballs, super-punches. She believes that the capability of one of the Chosen should be understood not as their own labor-power but as an extremely efficient labor-saving machine that they happen to have exclusive access [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12to. To that end, civic duty actually compels them to share the use of this machine to the fullest extent of their capability, and their actual labor-time spent should count no higher than that of someone working a spinning wheel. She looks sternly at the Solars in the audience as she makes this final point. 15[21:07] 10Eikichi winks back. [21:07] 13Ying waves. [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12A middle-aged man brings up his longstanding objection to pay scaled with work product in the first place, believing that Crystal should return to its early, older experiment of simple flat wages/rations per person per day regardless of productivity. Yes, this didn't turn out that well to start, but now that Crystal has been operating successfully for the better part of a year, and [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12now that we have the example of the Solars showing that the new way doesn't work... [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Another man believes that too much is being made of this issue and that the original doctrine should simply be relaxed - if workers were allowed to simply turn down proportionate payment, perhaps after accepting some woman-hours-scaled minimum, this problem goes away. [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12He adds that surely the covenant owes it to the wider people to make this concession, because, otherwise, wouldn't we be denying them the incredible bounty that the generosity of the Squared Circle could bring? [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12There's room in this ongoing discussion for almost anyone to raise questions or make interjections. A few citizens have gone up to speak for or against various of these ideas, though it's hard to judge yet what the prevailing mood in the room is. Have any of the Solars got a point to make? [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's being menaced with what looks like a regular hunting spear, so she need have no qualms about sending each half of it into a different snowbank. The man's breathing hard. "Ah! A-haaa. Damn. Well." 12He squints at Ir's unscathed palm. "I don't know if this means I can tell people I landed a blow." [21:14] 4Ir grins. "Technically so. And legends grow with the telling." [21:14] "It's an interesting problem you've set for yourselves. What are the objections to this gentleman's suggestion, of us accepting minimum payment and remitting our remainder to the Crystal Pact at large?" [21:15] 13Ying's pretty sure it's dumb to reject help from capable people just because they can do the work really well, solar or not. [21:15] 13...and Blossom gets there first!! Yay! [21:16] <@Ferrinus> "Well, if you say so." 12The Icewalker wipes his forehead. "Well, Queen Kutva is in the farthest tent up that hill. I'm Atsuk, by the by." 12Ir knows Icewalkers don't have royalty of any kind, so that's got to be some kind of nickname or joke. [21:17] "Well met and well-fought, Atsuk." 4...Wonder if he's sing-- No! Mission! [21:17] 7Blossom: "Compulsion? What one does willingly, the inexorable incentives of the society you've built will begin informally requiring others to unwillingly accept only minimum pay? This is not rhetorical, I don't know what problem, if any, there would be under your schema." [21:17] 4Ir: "I'm going to leave Errant here. The kids can bother him, but he's not going to take them flying no matter how much they ask." [21:18] 4Errant archly snorts. [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom hears several. From the first speaker, that it's a slippery slope. If one is allowed to turn down payment past a certain point, might someone not be expected, ultimately made to turn down payment past a certain point? Might not expedience and social pressure allow us to backslide into the old days of exploitation? [21:18] 4And she'll head up to see the 'queen.' [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12From the third speaker, that it simply dodges the question of how to deal with supernatural power that's the provenance of an individual rather than the masses. If it's up to the Chosen whether to be paid in full, it becomes up to the Chosen whether to render aid to the Pact as needed, and that contravenes the collectivist principles it's founded on. 15[21:20] 10Eikichi: "Differences of ability are not specific to the Chosen. Even among mortals there are huge differences in strength and attentiveness and all the other qualities that make work more or less efficient. Nevermind the gap in capability between even Chosen. And then they vary again by what *kind* of work is being done, which means that society decides who is strong by deciding 15[21:20] which kinds of work are most important to it. That makes it a political claim, rather than a mathematical one." [21:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion speaks up here, too. He isn't a very good public speaker, but commands much respect by reputation, so the room quiets and the audience leans in to pick up on his low voice. "Excess dependence on the Chosen may ultimately lead to Chosen rule." 15[21:21] 10Eikichi: "Rejection of the Chosen also has a way of leading to Chosen rule." 15[21:21] "Who is to be protected? Who is to be protected from?" 15[21:22] "Have the gods made us enemies simply by choosing some and not others?" [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir makes the short trek up the tallest hill to the loneliest tent. It looks over a terrifyingly steep ravine, past which is a grey expanse of ice and snow. You can't knock on a tentflap, but you can jingle the chime hanging next to it, and it's a woman's voice that invites Ir in. [21:23] 4Jingle jangle. Ir will duck in. [21:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Kutva turns out to be quite small and very old. She's wrapped in an orange shawl that covers almost everything but her face, and is staring meditatively at a jar that contains a cracked bone half-buried in salt. Two-Kills Kutva turns and peers. "Yes, ...dear?" 08[21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Many nod along with Eikichi's point, Pinion included. He says: "Difference in ability was acknowledged by our covenant from the first. Yet it was the incentive to apply that ability that necessitated some of our first reforms. Productivity suffered before we made compensation grow with results - at a city-mandated scaling factor, of course." [21:28] 4Ir will sit down in the lotus a respectful distance away. There's not much room in here. "Atsuk sent me up, after testing me. He's quite skilled." [21:29] "He'll need to make a new spear." [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12The old woman: "Individual differences in ability don't preclude determination of average necessary labor-time and the accounting of training and suchlike as having consumed its own labor power, anyway." [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Kutva: "Pffahh. Idiot. Who are you that he wastes a spear on you?" [21:30] "Ir, Northern Star. Once...many other names." 15[21:31] 10Eikichi: "The policy is clearly adequate to the average case, what's at issue is the outliers. Compensation cannot scale at a rate proportional to skill, because skill is limitless and resources are presently finite." [21:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Kutva: "Ir... the Ir? If I can trust these ears, you do me a great honor." [21:31] 4Ir: "If there's another, I'd like to meet her. I chose the name because it wasn't one." [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Someone raises their finger to interject: "Properly speaking we scale to output. Value created becomes vouchers rewarded." 15[21:32] "But the only reason to develop political labor controls on the Chosen is if the Chosen constitute a social class that has to be repressed for the good of the many. Is that the position of the Pact?" [21:32] 13Ying shifts in her seat and tries very hard not to brag about how great they are [21:32] 4Ir: "And I suspect we honor each other." 08[21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a long silence after Eikichi speaks. Finally, Pinion says: "It falls to this plenum to answer this question." 15[21:34] 10Eikichi: "That seems rather more important than whether we fit on the payroll." [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12The old woman makes a speech. She says that the old mining magnates and merchant lords who ran Crystal had to be expropriated and brought low precisely for the protection and advancement of the people. Their exclusive access to tools, resources, and land gave them power no woman or man deserved regardless of their personal virtue, and so they were stripped to the last of their leverage [21:35] <@Ferrinus> 12over the many. Does this same principle not apply here? Many people are visibly aghast, but one supposes this lady's had a long and happy enough life to flirt with death here and now. [21:36] <@Ferrinus> 12The old man who speaks first is clearly unwilling to voice such a position, but does, in a roundabout way, claim that, due to the incredible and irreconcilable power imbalance, the Anathema should simply not be part of the Pact such that this question needs answering. 15[21:37] 10Eikichi: "Is this not a conflation of power in the sense of work-over-time and power in the sense of political power?" 08[21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12The younger woman echoes Eikichi's earlier point about Chosen rule - native Chosen may be the only way to forestall it. It's like when Crystal bought as much as it could from the Guild in its earliest days, before the Guild itself stopped selling - surely the exigencies of survival are the first concern? 08[21:38] <@Ferrinus> 12The young man basically repeats his case about pay by the hour rather than pay by the output, but he's waved aside as being off topic. The old woman, who's probably spoken enough to get a name at this point answers Eikichi. [21:39] 13The pay by the hour thing is... [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Velya: "Is it a bad conflation? We know well here that exclusive control over resources is a violence as terrible yet more pernicious than the chain or the lash. You've cured a plague. Admirable. But what will you ask in exchange for curing the next plague? Tilling a field? Raising a tower? When we depend on your generosity rather than compel your solidarity we put ourselves at [21:40] <@Ferrinus> your mercy." [21:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Kutva, to Ir: "Do we? I'm just an old woman." 15[21:45] 10Eikichi: "The notion that you must compel our solidarity implies that it must be compelled. And if it must be compelled, the question then is raised: by what means? Trivial but also unsaid is that the reason it's easy for us to sit here and calmly debate whether or not you have an ethical obligation to declare us Anathema to the people is that you can't. You would lose. You would 15[21:45] be defeated outright, or so ruined as to be unable to survive, or simply abandoned to the wolves - no offense meant to our wolf friends." [21:45] 13It's a good idea! Ying uses it, sort of, except by day because that's easier, and she gives bonuses for designs or specific sales or -- a lot of other things, actually, she's not heartless. [21:47] 4Ir: "Mmmm. But one with an opinion on the worth of spears. My personal weapon of choice...and a mainstay of Golden Janissary Style." [21:47] "I have heard there is a teacher, up this way." [21:47] "From a sour blowhard in the city. But one who knows his business." [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Kutva: "Oh? And how's my son doing, then? Did he look like he was eating enough?" [21:49] 4Dryly: "Precisely the proper ration." 15[21:49] "Perhaps mortals simply cannot be free while the Chosen walk Creation." 15[21:49] "But, here we are anyway." [21:50] 4Ir: "Still in a spat with Tinder Tam. One that we're not likely to solve for him." [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Velya: "I might not go that far. Mortals can walk free while there are... storms, earthquakes, raksha. Things that must be weathered with numbers until they can be mastered with numbers." [21:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "...yet our guest has a point. We cannot master this,now, with numbers. We must adapt to continue our work." 15[21:57] 10Eikichi: "Repression of the Chosen at any scale was only ever accomplished with coalitions of other Chosen. Any libertatory project has to reckon with and make use of the tools available, and that includes ideologically and politically aligned Chosen. You simply have to trust us, as you do any ally you can't dominate." 15[21:57] "What would earn your trust?" [21:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Kutva: "Hah! Yes. You should have heard him go on. He was so upset when he first saw one of those papers, you know." [21:59] 4Ir: "She's a writer? A pamphletteer?" 08[21:59] "Christ, Eikichi would love her." [21:59] "Excuse me." [21:59] 4That old crusty river-god creeping in. [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Kutva: "Oh, yes. And with access to some kind of machine in the south that just spits the things out, cht-cht-cht. M-" 12she catches herself, stops talking, then starts again. "I'm told they've caused many problems, but I can't believe it. Who'd have the time to read the whole thing?" [22:08] 4Ir: "I was taught that words flowed from deeds, not the other way around. But perhaps I'm old-fashioned." 08[22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Velya considers Eikichi's question. "All sorts of things, I suppose. But trust is poor substitute for power, and indeed the former has a habit of letting the latter slip by degrees. I quite like you. But what might your relationship be like with my children's children's children? Those who might've grown used to Chosen power behind everything?" [22:13] 13I'm pretty sure we're not planning to stick around that long but also Ying is 100% not going to say that. [22:13] 13...and offering temporary works doesn't actually dodge that question either. [22:15] <@Ferrinus> 12The younger woman speaks up: "But the analogy to allies and coalitions is good, isn't it? There was a time before the Hearth was in the pact - even a time when the League helped us against the Lover. Those worked for us even though we couldn't say either was under covenant discipline." 15[22:17] 10Eikichi: "A question you could ask of any powerful person, or group of powerful people, or powerful institution. Who's to say that power won't corrupt, that you might abandon your commitment to fairness and justice, or that you won't simply grow distant from the people you're meant to serve? But like you say, no answer I give will be satisfactory, because you seek the comfort of 15[22:17] certainty and control, and those aren't available. They aren't even available for us, and you're even worse off." [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Kutva: "Well, so am I, as you can certainly tell. What can I do for you?" [22:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Velya: "Such a question is often leveled at us in the covenant. But the people put us in power - they can tear us down." [22:19] 4Ir: "Are you a master of the Golden Janissary Style?" 15[22:20] 10Eikichi: "But it was the gods who empowered the Chosen, and gave the world to us to rule. In a certain sense your dispute lies with them." 15[22:20] "As does mine." [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Kutva: "Oh, yes, if you can believe it. As you might guess, my best days are behind me. But they called me Two-Kills because I'd strike down a person and their ghost in the same thrust." 15[22:21] "But the fact remains: it's terrifying to think that at any moment we could abandon you, or destroy you, and you couldn't do anything about it. The fear of a sick person with a nurse, or a child with a parent. A citizen of a nation. There is a fundamental imbalance in power that means you can never truly be safe, and it makes you afraid." 15[22:22] "Anyone who has been neglected or taken advantage of loses the illusion that power is comforting. But power exists." [22:26] 7Blossom nods to Velya: "The same is true of us, as you know. The gods first empowered us in the time before time to bring down their ancient and terrible enemies, who ruled Creation long before Man or the gods. We ruled after them, and apparently abandoned the pursuit of virtue and were torn down ourselves. Now, soon, the Realm. It seems a law of Creation that one can hold a realm [22:26] with violence alone, lacking the Mandate of Heaven, for a while... but not forever." [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Velya: "Would you say our covenant has the mandate of Heaven?" 15[22:27] 10Eikichi bites his lip. [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12There's some commotion in the room, and in particular Pinion's eyes widen and mouth sets. That's a dangerous question to ask. 15[22:30] 10Eikichi just doesn't want Blossom to get mad at her for saying 'the Mandate of Heaven isn't worth shit in the first place'. [22:31] 4Ir nods. "And what would I have to do to earn the honor of having you as my sifu?" [22:32] 7Blossom: "Good question. I would say that a nation that earnestly strives to serve all its citizens, from greatest to least, has a better claim to that than most. Oh - I should clarify that I'm being metaphorical here, I don't mean some literal bureaucratic stamp from Yu-Shan. And of course it doesn't lend a nation invincibility. It wasn't from lack of virtue that the Shogunate fell." [22:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Kutva: "Well, what do you need Golden Janissary for? Haven't you already slain some terrific number of ghosts and demons?" [22:33] 4Ir: "We aim for Thorns." [22:34] "I seek remedy not for quantity of evil, but quality." [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12The room releases a held breath. If Blossom had declaimed that the Pact didn't have the mandate of heaven Crystal might have fallen overnight. Pinion speaks: "Good points have been made. What is our greatest concern? To endure, such that the Pact can continue to serve its people. How is the mandate of Heaven-" (you can barely hear the pause of faint distaste) "-earned? By serving [22:39] <@Ferrinus> the people. And the Pact, unique among nations, serves its people by being of its people, by being the fullest expression of their power. It is true that the Anathema present an implicit threat to that sovereignty. However, many more explicit and immediate threats surround us. We must navigate these waters carefully, with the understanding that neither ignoring and banishing nor [22:39] <@Ferrinus> attempting to command our guests will ultimately aid our flourishing." [22:41] <@Ferrinus> 12The young woman from before speaks up. "There's a sort of power we have over them, also." 12She gets a series of some interested, some skeptical looks. "We're... their legacy, aren't they? There is a difference between our joining them and our serving them. If you follow me. We represent them, and if they do need us so much that they'd try to control us - well, that would [22:41] <@Ferrinus> mean they need us. Same as the old bosses did." [22:43] <@Ferrinus> 12Kutva: "Thorns?" 12That news must not have gotten this far up - by which I mean, all the way up to this little village, because they've been trying to stay appraised of world events in Crystal. [22:44] 4Ir: "The Mask of Winters has intruded upon Creation. He holds the city of Thorns as a charnal house, and sends his emissary Typhon out across the Threshold to make mockery of diplomacy. A great Juggernaut presides over...well. You can imagine." [22:44] "There's quite a malaise." [22:45] "We recently bombed the city." [22:45] "It won't stick." [22:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Kutva lets out a low whistle. "And you think little old me has something of use for you when it comes to that?" [22:46] 4Ir: "As fun as embarrassing well-built men in combat is, I don't fly out just for that." 15[22:46] 10Eikichi: "Not that the need to be loved necessarily leads to good judgment." [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "A question occurs. If this were resolved such that your Circle could put its powers to use on behalf of the Pact without trouble, and we beseeched you to stay and aid our development - would you?" [22:48] 13Pinion's on a roll so Ying won't interrupt, but the whole 'serving the people' is wait hang on. "Purretty sure we've declawed our intentions about helping." 15[22:49] 10Eikichi: "We have other plans, but there are long-term arrangements that could work. Something like a diplomatic partnership." 08[22:50] 7Blossom: "I'm sure there are a few problems we are willing to resolve while we're here, but we did have other plans before coming here. However-- yes, Eikichi has it right. We can offer a lifeline." [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "Then it behooves us to come to an arrangement. We would be letting the wider populace down by simply sending you away." 12The man next to him seems to start and realize something, then nudges him. Pinion says: "Go ahead, please." [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Other man: "The Pact actually already finds itself with the problem of potential outsized influence by people of supposedly equal standing, doesn't it? Covenant members." 15[22:53] 10Oh shit. [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12People give him looks as though he's saying something embarrassing, but he continues. "We've all seen it, haven't we? And of course we push back on it with demotions and purges and the like. But the important thing here is, doesn't a member have to accept the average wage in his profession despite being expected to do the very best and most intense kind of work, merely to [22:53] <@Ferrinus> account for their political standing?" [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "That is the policy." [22:55] <@Ferrinus> 12This guy's name is Cheykr, according to his nameplate: "Suppose an Anathema who wanted to work in and for the Pact directly had to join the covenant? And be limited to a rank and file position." [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Veyla: "Even limited to a supposedly subordinate or advisory role, such a person could quickly be pulling the strings of entire committees." [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Cheykr: "Well, yes, but that happens anyway, does it not? And at least this way they would be receiving necessary political education and be under more direct watch." [22:59] 13Ying: "Is it really such a purroblem that we show up and do stuff?" 15[23:00] 10Eikichi: "It's not just about us, really. Suppose one of you was Chosen tomorrow?" [23:01] 7Blossom: "Not impossible!" [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Elsewhere and elsewhen, Kutva nods a few times. "Well. The bad news is that my back is bad enough these days that all I can do is watch and criticize. The good news is that this means you'll get to indulge in your hobby considerably if you want to stick around. Go and bring Atsuk back here; he'll be demonstrating Form I." [23:02] 4Ir scrambles up. "Yes, sifu." 15[23:02] 10Eikichi: "Come to think of it, why isn't everyone in the covenant? Why isn't everyone getting political education?" [23:02] 4She practically hops down the hillside back to Atsuk. No, seriously, she can do that. [23:04] 4She'll land spryly more or less in front of the big man. "Atsuk! Kutva requests your presence, to demonstrate a form." 08[23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "A fair point. And though Enri has demurred at the invitation, it's an inevitability if we're to grow as we intend." 12That's an answer to the possibility Eikichi and Blossom bring up; Eikichi's second question is answered by Velya. "Would that they were! But study is difficult, responsibilities are great, and truth be told many are uninterested in governance so long as [23:04] <@Ferrinus> it seems to be ongoing in a way palatable to them." [23:04] *Sifu Kutva 15[23:05] 10Eikichi: "I think you'd want a robust, layered approach, weaving political education into public service announcements, schooling for children, religious practices - perhaps in Zeal you can find a useful model." [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Atsuk: "She does? Hoo, boy. Tell her one minute." 12He seems to be busy wrapping some minor construction in twine - but, if you're willing to read "a minute" as five, the man makes good on his word. It's just as well, says Kutva, that his spear got broken, because it's best to start out bare-handed anyway. Ir soon begins to suspect that Kutva's eyesight isn't as bad as her constant [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12squinting and peering makes it seem, because she's noticing and shouting about verrry fine details of the man's stance and posture - and, only a little later, shouting about related things as Ir attempts to repeat the katas herself. [23:08] 4Now Ir's out of the furs and in the sleeveless training blouse. [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Pinion: "A matter for another working group. For now, I support Cheykr's suggestion; that the pay differences for covenant members create precedent for requesting and accepting Anathematic civic works without delivering the same recompense that a hundred mortals doing that work could rightly demand. Actual induction into covenant ranks may be required based on length of service and [23:11] <@Ferrinus> criticality to the public good; this can be discussed further in committee." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12There's tentative support here; the old man's against, Velya abstains, the young man and woman are for, albeit apparently for different reasons. [23:11] 4There's a lot of straight-forward, decisive violence in these moves. [23:11] 4Good. 08[23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Eikichi judges that there's a general feeling of relief on the consensus, particularly in the watching, non-covenant audience of civically-interested laymen; a whole lot of people do straightforwardly want the aid and succor of the almighty Chosen. This, of course, was the entire concern for a political party whose ultimate aim is to create a new mode of production which will itself [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12create a new kind of woman, which is why the mood in the covenant part of the room is much more mixed; some clearly think this represents backsliding and revanchism or even a backdoor to Chosen rule, while others are relieved that some kind of compromise was found at all. You might guess that a significant majority, at least three fourths, of the populace is happy to accept your help, [23:19] <@Ferrinus> 12while a majority of the covenant feels uncomfortable about it - but if you sum the people in favor with the people who are uncomfortable but convinced there's no better option, you get about two thirds of covenant members assembled. 14[23:20] * Joins: mattbaby 08[23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12I guess that answers Eikichi's second question, too. Probably much more of the crowd would be in your favor if you were exceptionally powerful Dragon-Blooded rather than Solar Anathema, but it's clear that Velya's sharp articulation of the existential problems you posed for worker power hit home in many heads. Between a third and two fifths of the plenum probably thinks that this is [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12going to be a long-term mistake if not a short term one. 08[23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Finally, the assembled covenant members' view of Pinion runs in about two shades: first, they suspect that Cheykr person was just a puppet for what was ultimately Pinion's idea, and second, they're a bit surprised it was Pinion's idea. Eikichi gathers that Pinion was probably much closer to Velya in previous and less public discussions on this issue. It might be why Enri, for [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12instance, is only very provisionally a covenant member despite sitting on several committees as an expert advisor. [23:24] 4Ir's position, which she made clear before leaving, is that she would prefer they get out of Crystal's hair ASAP and let them continue their experiment. They can still fight the Lover and the Bishop with meddling in the wage algorithm. [23:24] 4Which doesn't quite square with taking a Fox Tribe sifu but hey. At least that's hidden away in the countryside. [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12At any rate, the plenum's first day is wrapping up. Ir, on the other hand, now has two days of training under her belt. It's kind of a novelty these days to be bad at something - when she tries to fight Atsuk or his compatriots using Golden Janissary style rather than just using whatever occurs to her she actually finds herself losing from time to time (and Kutva can always tell [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12if Ir cheats and breaks form), although this state of affairs lasts at most a few hours. By the time she's finished her second day, Ir's ready to start on spears, which apparently is a big deal because Kutva normally only trusts a student with a weapon after years of bare hands training. [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Ir's sent back to Crystal with some homework. Besides practicing the various forms she's already learned, she has to watch a candle burn down to nothing in a pitch-black room, and then spend the next hour tracing the arc of its fading light with practice blows. There's other weird stuff like that. 15[23:26] 10Illuminating! [23:26] 4She's grinning basically the entire time. It's not true that this is the most fun she's had in months -- she has as much or more fun everytime she cooks for the Circle or they just hang out on deck yelling at each other and drinking cocktails -- but it's certainly the most exhilerating she's felt in a long time, and it's not cut with any of that feeling bad that came along with every [23:26] 4single thing in the jungle. [23:26] 4That is weird! She'll get right on it. [23:29] 4She'll take some time on the way back to do some hunting just to restore their stocks and dodge the payment requirement. Stick 'em in a sack and fly in at night so customs doesn't see them and demand to pay her. [23:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Oh, the icewalkers extremely don't care. If Ir cares to ask, it turns out they have some kind of regional autonomy thing going on where certain kinds of exchange are barred versus mandated and certain leadership structures aren't allowed but the polity is much more flexible when it comes to appropriating help or resources from the outside. 15[23:31] 10Eikichi thinks Velya's opinion has a certain moral sense, but is so impractical as to be openly self-destructive without some means by which to exert dominion over the Chosen. Of course, such a thing can be done... the Principle of Hierarchy is thus. A technique or construction that could bend essence so as to exert unstoppable pressure on even divine essence... something to think 15[23:31] 10about. [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, the Circle's got a little time to regroup and plan, if they want it. Kutva's resting but expects Ir backin a couple days - but, personally, Ir would guess that she's not going to need much more than a week's instruction, if that, to be able to figure out the rest of the style for herself. [23:35] 4Ir's gonna do it the respectful and traditional way. That lets her fight Atsuk a lot. [23:36] 4Ir will make dinner -- sweet and sour iceboar -- when they're all back together again. [23:37] 13That was really mean!! But also Ying isn't going to pick a fight, even if she SHOULD-- [23:41] 4It's crispy. "How'd the meeting go?" 4Ir asks as she serves it. 15[23:45] 10Eikichi waits until her mouth is only like 30% full to talk. "Pretty good! I think a sensible conclusion was reached." 15[23:45] "A lot of people are afraid of us, but they should be." [23:46] 4Ir, amused but slightly suspicious: "Are we going to be leaving this little project mostly to its own devices?" 15[23:48] 10Eikichi: "I'm willing to help them if they're willing to accept help. I think on the stage of nations we have more common cause with the Crystal Pact than with its enemies." [23:50] "That's true. Though their most pressing foes can be dealt with from outside their borders. Though, hypocrite that I am, I don't want to leave quite yet." 4Spearing more boar. "I've found a sifu for Golden Janissary Style." [23:51] 4Primly: "And she's very old, so an extremely muscled man with a beard has to demonstrate the forms for me instead." [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12It is days later, during another break in Ir's training, that the formal conclusion of the covenant based on issues raied in the plenum is reached. Quite a lot of its theoretical basis actually seems to be Velya's, although the conclusions run far more in line with the position Pinion had settled on. In short, while it remains appropriate to pay workers in accordance with their output [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12- that output being seen as a proxy for labor-power expended, which is why unpreventable "acts of the gods" mishaps don't result in docked pay - the dramatically augmented ouput of a Solar Exalt or other superhuman being is understood to essentially be the effect of a labor-saving device, bountiful natural resource, or other externality that reduces socially-necessary labor time rather [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12than increases value. (None of you actually know what this gobbledygook means, though Blossom may be able to reverse-engineer this bizarre phraseology and figure out what they're talking about if she tries). Accordingly, this means that Solar workers must be paid, but specifically they must be paid as though skilled workers in the nearest mortal field, and the fact of a Solar's [23:53] <@Ferrinus> 12exclusive access to their own exaltation merits covenant scrutiny and in some cases actual covenant membership/discipline, for security reasons. 15[23:54] 10Seems reasonable. [23:54] <@Ferrinus> 12You see, owing to the disparity in use-value and exchange value, [23:55] 4Ir is so glad she's learning something useful instead. 15[23:55] 10Frankly, if you're Chosen and your first complaint is that you can't get rich off it, you're a complete chump anyway. 08[23:56] <@Ferrinus> 12At any rate, now that that's all cleared up Enri seems to remember Eikichi asking or muttering something about local geomancy that sounded important, and business-minded members of the Circle might come in handy on an audit of both the city-state's various mining and manufacturing firms and its internal tracking mechanisms. 14[23:57] * Joins: mattbaby_ 15[23:58] 10Happy to help! 14[23:58] * Quits: mattbaby (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Fri Jul 24 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] 7Yeah, the feng shui of this city just the pits. [00:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Blame the benthic empire of Niobrar for that one. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[22:24] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[23:49] * Joins: mattbaby Session Time: Tue Aug 04 00:00:00 2020 14[00:37] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:15] * bananmark is now known as bananaport 14[03:44] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[04:13] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 14[05:16] * bananaport is now known as banana 14[05:53] * Quits: dammitwho (Quit: ) 14[07:25] * Joins: dammitwho 14[08:50] * Joins: hrolf 14[08:54] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[09:42] * banana is now known as banana|peels 14[13:01] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:18] * Joins: hrolfy 14[15:22] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[15:52] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[16:51] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:44] * Joins: Zarick 14[18:05] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[18:13] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:59] * Joins: mattbaby 15[20:12]  15[20:12]  15[20:12]  15[20:12]  15[20:12]  15[20:17] The great Wyld-spun cat stalks carefully into the copse where the hearth arranged their trap. Big enough for two saddles, it curls against the treeline before its body has fully come into view, though it's hard to pull your eyes way from that second, horribly human face hanging from its throat, whose mimicked words are drowned by the low, crackling growl that is the animal's true voice. 15[20:17] It knows something is amiss... but it doesn't know what. [20:18] 4Feeling's kinda mutual for Piu, caught flatfooted and mostly frozen in place, trying not to make a sound. 15[20:21] What about everyone else? What is the rest of the hearth thinking, and what positions have they taken up prior to the attack? [20:25] 10The wings twitch involuntarily and Daizo suppresses a grunt. He's with Dryas' men, a little way back, concealed behind a thorny deadfall.  [20:27] 6Zhangyu lives like this now. It's fine. [20:27] 10For his part, he's wondering if this is a one-off mutant 10(…like me)10 or a misshapen but true-breeding kind of beast.  [20:29] 07Dryas, atop Diamond Weapon, draws a horn to her lips. Her eyes gleam in the darkness as she runs her tongue across her teeth and inhales. 07I live for this shit! [20:30] 14Be careful not to die for it too, babe. [20:32] 07She spurs the horse forward and blows the horn: with its sonorous blast, the hunt is on! 14[20:45] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[20:47] * Joins: Quaker 15[20:50] The cat's entire body tenses and the second mouth screams in staccato harmony with the sounding horn. Beasts scatter from the low tree branches with a chorus of angry hoots and trills. [20:59] 4Piu flies out of the underbrush like a cat out...well, like a hellion. Her fists are craggier and blockier in the fading light than they usually are and -- BAM BAM! BAM BAM BAM! -- she drops back, hopping on the balls of her feet, five swift strikes landing on the beast. [21:09] 07Dryas wheels forward on Diamond Weapon, releasing the horn - it falls to her side - as she leaps through the brush, past the beast and its assailants, shooting as she goes. Her arrow finds the creature's shoulder, burying itself deeply in the creature's shaggy hide. Dryas whoops exultantly as she rides past. [21:36] 10Daizo erupts from the brush moments later, bellowing a warcry and swinging his tetsubo in a wide arc before slamming it down—a tree shudders and topples as a ripple passes through the earth. If there's anything else in this neck of the woods, he's certainly alerted it to their presence. 14[21:39] * banana|peels is now known as banana 15[21:41] Seemingly outmatched by the precise, coordinated assault, the beast hits the dirt immediately and can't scrabble back to its feet until everyone's upon it. But it is able to wriggle itself free of Piu and Daizo's grasps long enough to get back on its feet. A piercing, tuneless yowl comes from the cat's second screeching mouth, but the hunters are undeterred. [21:42] 10A shouting match! Hahahaha. [21:43] 4Stone mitts cover your ears well too! [21:43] 10Debate me, coward! Myaa~ [21:52] 4As the other members of her Hearth converge, Piu winds up and wallops the mean old cat!! Doesn't fully connect, but connects well enough to send it sprawling. 15[21:53] The yowling ends abruptly with a strangled yelp as the huge cat skids through the undergrowth, uprooting yalms of ferns and brush. 14[22:03] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) [22:04] 10Daizo, meanwhile, is sprinting like a herd of yeddim—he passes the cat as both he and it crash through the forest, and then pivots just so… The impact of the Fist of Titans connecting with the cat is dull and meaty, but the sheer force behind it is more than enough to send it flying back to the clearning, where it lands, unconscious but breathing, before Diamond Weapon's hooves. [22:05] 10Behind him, a half=dozen trees fall, torn out of the ground by the roots.  15[22:07] The creature is vanquished, all that remains is to immantize its destruction... [22:07] 07Dryas gazes down at the beast. Her grin subsides, for the moment. This is the solemn part. The fun is in the chase, not the kill. "Well done, Piu, well done, Daizo, well done Zhangyu!"07 Her mercenaries begin scuttling out from the treeline; they bring ropes and various implements. Dryas draws an arrow and aims for its heart. Best to put it out with a single blow. [22:09] 4Piu turns away. She finds this part unsporting. [22:09] 14It's good to stay in character. [22:11] 07With a twang and a thwok, the creature's lifeblood spills out. Some of the men collect it into earthen jars - no knowing what parts of such a mutated creature might hold value later. Dryas turns her back on it and approaches the others. The men are already lashing it to broken palm branches and forming a simple sledge to drag it back to camp. 15[22:13] The trip back to camp is eerily silent. You can hear the camp well before you can see it; it seems like the cat and its hunters scared much of the local wyldlife away. [22:13] 4Piu won't whistle, then. [22:14] "Drink? Smoke?" 07She asks, rather languidly as she slings her bow around her back and lights one of her stubby, brown, cigars. "You two were magnificent! Pow pow pow pow pow!! And that drubbing you gave it, Daizo, does that move have a name?" [22:17] 4Somberly intoning: "The Avalanche Wind..." [22:18] "...Is what I would call it if I was naming Mil Montañas's finisher!" [22:19] 10Daizo's keeping a little distance from the rest of the hunting party, at least until his anima calms itself. "That's actually quite close. The proper name is the Momentary Avalanche. Although I suppose there is quite a bit of wind involved." [22:20] 07Dryas: "I had an idea. We should turn this beast's pelt into a *team uniform.* For all of us!" [22:20] 4Piu: "Yeah!" [22:21] 14Would give her something to wear that isn't Silk Shadow. Might even provide some protection, too... [22:21] 10Daizo: "I don't know..." [22:22] 4Piu: "We could make yours like, a themed sash or something. Someone always has to change it up in the group!" 15[22:22] As the beast-bearing sledge and its triumphant slayers pull into view, the camp's active guards rise up in a great cheer that wakes up most of the rest of the camp. [22:25] 4Piu will preen and pirouette, etc. [22:26] 10Daizo: "Let's at least make certain the hide is harmless before we discuss what we're going to make out of it." 10Although the only one qualified to perform a proper dissection would be Caxi. Ugh. 14[22:26] * Joins: Quaker [22:26] 07Dryas raises her arms in a magnanimous display. 15[22:27] Sadako holds open a tent flap, squinting at them past the fire. [22:39] 07Dryas: "This beast was fearsome! As you can plainly see, it was huge enough to make my horse resemble a mouse next to a housecat! But we have destroyed it, as a Hearth, with the help of all of you, our loyal friends, assistants, and servants. This was our first great triumph as a Hearth - but it shall not be our last! Now, let us feast with what we can, and sing and make merry to make up for what we cannot." [22:41] 07Dryas: "It's time to party, and to know that what we do together exceeds what we do alone. We rule!" [22:41] 10Daizo'll raise a fist to that.  15[22:41] The cheer rises again, louder and fiercer this time, and the undamaged provisions are cracked open - salted meats, fresh hot breads and buns, bright little pickles in their little foreign jars, and cask upon cask of good wine. [22:45] 07Dryas eagerly recounts the story of what happened - Zhangyu's clever plan, how the beast approached, its terrifying murmurs, and the fight to destroy it -- while partaking generously of the wine. She'll also gauge Sadako's reaction. [22:49] "Sadako! Better than a lemur, surely?" 07Dryas asks her when she catches her eye. [22:49] 4Piu will chip in here and there when appropriate to garnish Dryas's tale, but she has no desire to be center of attention here. 15[22:51] Sadako: "It's so clean... it must have been an effortless kill." [22:53] 4Piu: "Well! I wouldn't call it EFFORTLESS! But we're pretty cool." [22:54] 10Daizo is more than happy to demonstrate a few moves with his weapon. He'll even re-enact the finishing strike, but not with his house's heirloom artifact. Some foul-tasting local fruits do meet justice in the face of several pounds of iron, though. [22:56] 10That one keeps him occupied for a while, but afterwards he leans over and whispers a suggestion into Dryas' ear. 15[22:57] Around now Sadako successfully pulls Seiri from slumber, pushing a meat skewer in one of her hands and a cup of wine in the other. [22:57] 4Well done. 15[22:58] "Gosh..." breathes Seiri as she looks up at the great cat now hanging evenly from a pole for all to see. [22:59] 10With permission granted, he heads for the hung carcass of the great cat. Its mighty incisors gleam in the firelight, practically tusks at this size. It takes a little work, and more than a bit of elbow grease, but he eventually manages to draw them from the beast's mouth. 15[23:01] The wet pop that attends Daizo wrenching each great fang free is audible only to him, as the noise of the party and the cheers that rise at the sight of this feat far overwhelm it. [23:01] 14Whoa. [23:03] 07Dryas glances over at Sadako and Seiri, before crowding in towards Daizo. [23:03] 10He turns to face the crowd. "Four fangs. One for each of us. Let us keep these close to our hearts, and from this day forward be known ourselves as the Four Fangs. With these, none may doubt our bravery." [23:04] 10He can really say lines like that with a perfectly straight face.  [23:06] 10The ones he solemnly presents to Piu, Dryas, and Zhangyu are whole and beautiful. The one he keeps for himself is chipped, just a bit. Later, he'll have a hole drilled and add it to his turtle-shell-fragment charm. [23:07] 07Dryas accepts it solemnly. "The four fangs... I love it!" [23:08] 4Piu: "Yes!!" [23:09] 6Zhangyu accepts his with a raised eyebrow but otherwise quietly. 15[23:14] Sadako brings Seiri up to get a closer look at the creature. Seiri seems fascinated but quite put off her food by the sight, setting aside the skewer to run tentative fingertips over the creature's fur, and murmuring something to her companion. Sadako reaches out to do the same, and the entire corpse seizes from stem to stern. Threads pop on its bindings, and the corpse's convulsions 15[23:14] bend the sturdy wooden pole that holds it up. Fangless mouths open in silent screams as no air moves along dead vocal cords. 15[23:15] Sadako's stroking hand is lost in the bucking creature's fur. [23:16] 10Daizo: "!!" [23:16] 14... [23:17] 14With a note of slight warning in her voice: "Sadako." [23:17] "Not in front of the men." 15[23:17] The guards who have to stay sober enough to keep watch all draw their weapons, but none dares approach the creature. [23:17] 6Zhangyu doesn't bother. It's cute. 15[23:18] It's not Sadako who responds to Piu's words but Seiri, who has to wrench the other girl's arm off the ocelot with both hands, which causes the seizing to stop as abruptly as it began. [23:19] "Guards, stand down-" 07Dryas orders, belatedly. [23:19] 4Piu says nothing on that front. 15[23:19] Sadako shakes her head fiercely, but doesn't touch the great cat again. Seiri takes a step back and wipes her hands on a nearby tablecloth. [23:19] 14Piu says nothing on that front. [23:22] 10This is… concerning. If the scope of Sadako's abilities is moving beyond her own body… [23:23] "Return to your duties. Now!" 07Dryas orders the guards. "And see to it the wounded men are given an extra tot of rum, from my luggage if need be." [23:24] 10Daizo's probably still the closest to the carcass, so he'll stand watch over it. Now that the contact is broken, it's probably not going to move again, but you never know. [23:24] 07Dryas approaches Sadako and Seiri a bit gingerly. "Is everything alright?" 15[23:25] The party's cast into an odd silence but after Dryas's order someone slowly starts the drums and flutes and people return to their revels. [23:26] 6I mean, no, one of them tried to pet a cat and made it not actually come back to life in a way where you have to specify that it didn't come back to life. 15[23:27] Dryas steps into the wide gap that's formed between Sadako and Seiri as Sadako continues to stand next to the ocelot, and Seiri's stepped away. "I'm fine," says Sadako belatedly. From the faint damp smell that clings close to Dryas's ward and the sheen on her pale skin that catches the camp's lantern light, it's like she was freshly but briefly dunked in cold seawater. 15[23:27] "I didn't mean to do that." [23:29] 10Daizo takes off his helmet and sits cross-legged on the ground—a not insignificant task in a hundred ponze of jade armor, but as black jade it has a certain amount of "give" to it. "It's all right. None of us are angry." [23:29] 4Piu: "We'll come up with something to tell the men. Don't worry about that." 15[23:30] Sadako doesn't say anything else. Her face is stony. 15[23:30] Seiri: "Why don't I... why don't I put some tea on..." [23:31] 4Piu: "Sounds good!" [23:32] 6Zhangyu smiles in a manner that makes it clear he hasn't smiled without menace in years. THis one just looks kind of uncomfortable. [23:32] 10Pressing more in this moment can only make things worse. "Please do. I could do with something that won't muddle my head." 15[23:33] Seiri pours out some sweet and mellow tea for whoever wants it. The revel picks back up, but all of Dryas's retinue are keeping well away from both Sadako and the corpse. [23:34] 14Yeah, that'll happen. [23:34] 14Adds to the legend. [23:36] 07Dryas is onto her third fat blunt, imported directly from Prasadi Kush. These things cost a fortune out here. 15[23:36] Worth it, though. [23:37] 07Oh, indeed. [23:38] 4Piu will partake. [23:38] 10Later, Daizo will float the idea to Dryas that they should all play it off the next day as a trick of the light, or some last gasp of the beast's Wyld nature. Rumors like this have a way of picking up momentum. [23:38] 14Just the one, though. [23:39] 4There's an itch Piu needs scratched...14but not with any of Dryas's men. She can wait until they get back to Caedus. [23:39] "I'm really fucked," 07Dryas concedes after a while. "No idea what to do about this *cargo* I'm supposed to pick up tomorrow. [23:40] 10Daizo: "It's a little late for second thoughts, isn't it?" [23:41] "You have your contract with Nn Tloc, and in his kind of business you can't exactly go to the magistrates." [23:41] "Tell that to the second thoughts," 07she suggests. [23:43] "Fuck it. We can still have a good time, for now. Four fangs!" [23:44] "Four fangs!" 14After all, we can always kill him. [23:44] "The Four Fangs: We worry about tomorrow's problems tomorrow?" [23:45] "I kind of used up my good lines already." 15[23:45] The revel continues past the small hours of the morning and well into daylight. By midday, though, the camp is packed up, with the beast hitched for portage, and everyone makes their way out of the jungle, finding an easy route back to the border farmlands, where the crooked gradually becomes straight and the uneven crushed down as they trad closer and closer to civilization, or what 15[23:45] passes for it out here. 15[23:46] The hunting party attracted some interest on the way into the forest, but with its prize in tow crowds gather at the roadside. [23:46] 4Piu snoozes on horseback some of the way there. [23:46] 4She's awake for their adoring public, though. 15[23:50] Today Hamoji stains the sky the peculiar green that might herald a terrible storm... but the sky is clear from horizon to horizon and the sun is high and hot above. 15[23:52] NEXT TIME: Dark deals Session Time: Wed Aug 05 00:00:00 2020 14[01:03] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 14[01:29] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[01:57] * Joins: hrolf 14[01:59] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:22] * Joins: Quaker 14[04:45] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[04:45] * Joins: dammitwho 14[04:49] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[05:11] * Joins: hrolfy 14[05:12] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:20] * Joins: hrolf 14[08:22] * Quits: hrolfy (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:59] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[09:07] * Quits: hrolf (Connection closed) 14[09:32] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[10:02] * Joins: trenchfoot 14[10:46] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:42] * Joins: Crion 14[11:53] * Quits: dammitwho (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[11:54] * Joins: dammitwho 14[11:57] * Joins: Quaker 14[12:21] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[13:40] * Joins: Quaker 14[14:34] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[15:13] * Joins: Quaker 14[15:25] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[16:05] * Joins: Quaker 14[17:48] * Joins: Zarick 14[17:51] * Joins: VoxPrimey 14[17:51] * Joins: tom2 14[17:51] * Joins: Quaker_ 14[17:51] * Joins: FerrinusPrime 14[17:52] * Quits: dammitwho (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 14[17:52] * Joins: dammitwho 14[17:52] * Quits: @Ferrinus (NickServ (GHOST command used by FerrinusPrime)) 14[17:52] * FerrinusPrime is now known as Ferrinus 14[17:52] * Quits: tom (*.net *.split) 14[17:52] * Quits: Quaker (*.net *.split) 14[17:52] * Quits: VoxPrime (*.net *.split) 14[17:52] * Quaker_ is now known as Quaker 14[18:15] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[19:00] * Joins: Quaker 14[19:10] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 15[19:11] * Disconnected 15[19:11] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[19:11] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[19:11] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[19:11] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[19:11] * Quits: VoxPVoxD (NickServ (GHOST command used by GreatClownVoxPVoxD)) 14[19:11] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD is now known as VoxPVoxD 14[19:13] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[20:30] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[20:47] * Joins: Quaker 14[21:17] * banana is now known as banana|split 14[21:33] * Quits: trenchfoot_ (Connection closed) 14[21:33] * Joins: trenchfoot_ 14[21:41] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[22:01] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 14[23:12] * Joins: Quaker Session Time: Thu Aug 06 00:00:00 2020 14[00:18] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) 14[00:27] * Joins: mattbaby 14[00:54] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 14[03:21] * banana|split is now known as banana 14[03:40] * Joins: cbass 14[03:54] * Quits: VoxPrimey (Quit: ) 14[03:54] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[08:25] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[13:03] * Joins: mattbaby 14[13:38] * Quits: Ferrinus (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[14:06] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[14:06] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[17:36] * Joins: Zarick 14[18:07] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 _______________ [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 ()==( (@==() [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 '______________'| [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 | | [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 | | [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 __)_____________| [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 ()==( (@==() [20:22] <@Ferrinus> 12 '--------------' [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12It's days after the Crystal Pact's ruling covenant had a plenum discussing the Exalted question. The resulting judgment was a complicated one involving theories of work and renumeration foreign to the Squared Circle, but which basically treat one of the Chosen as a regular person with exclusive access to a labor-saving device and whose use of that device for the public good should [20:24] <@Ferrinus> 12be circumscribed by political education and perhaps even the strictures of covenant membership in particularly significant cases. [20:25] 4Ir is so glad she spent that time doing strenuous martial arts training instead. "Exclusive access to a labor-saving device." Whew. 15[20:26] 10Eikichi appreciates the sheer undivinity of it. [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12That having been gotten out of the way, the government of Crystal actually has several requests for the Squared Circle, assuming the Circle's able to abide by these guidelines and receive payment fitting the skilled work of a mortal as opposed to the skilled work of a demigod. Various infrastructural upgrades are in need of rapid completion owing to faster-than-predicted glacial [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12melt; sanctifications and sorcerous wardings against covert necromantic assault need inspection and in many cases redoubling; the local geomancy is haphazard and nonexistent. And, of course, a thorough housecleaning by the secret police wouldn't go amiss - well, it wouldn't go amiss if you're one of the people ordering them around, anyway. 15[20:28] 10Sounds fun! How long do Blossom and Ir want to stick around? [20:29] 4Ir will probably be dipping back to the region over time at least to check in with her sifu, so she's not opposed to stick around for a bit. But she's itching to stop repairing other people's houses and start building them a home. [20:31] 4The Circle, that is. It's high time we started work on Zeal. [20:45] 4No Iska Hit-the-Bricks stuff now; it's time for Ir, Northern Star, to shine, and shine she shall, by...er, okay what's the first requisition in the queue, let's see... [20:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, there's this big half-cylinder of ice that looks like it might straight up fall off a big marble tower within two months. There are a lot of ambitious plans to catch it, carve it, repurpose it, and at the same time build on top of and repopulate the tower. [20:49] 4Now that sounds like something that needs good timing, good organization, great planning, and most importantly, a big ass crane or lift. Ir can provide all of those things with her magical labor-saving devices. 15[20:53] 10Eikichi takes a full lunar month painstakingly guiding the other sorcerers through the theory, design, and maintenance of the antinecromantic defense system, and will prepare a layman's precis for the next relevant plenum. Rock salt's not just for melting ice, folks! [20:57] 4The big question is whether to move, then cut? Or cut without moving? Ir decides on a third, more daring path: to cut while moving, courtesy of a sturdy rig of baffles supporting a trigger/shear system focused around a certain labor-saving tool very quickly and efficiently perforating, slicing, and spitting big ice slabs out the other side of the rig. [20:57] 4The big question is whether to move, then cut? Or cut without moving? Ir decides on a third, more daring path: to cut while moving, 4courtesy of a sturdy rig of baffles supporting a trigger/shear system focused around a certain labor-saving tool very quickly and efficiently perforating, slicing, and spitting big ice slabs out the other side of the rig. [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Blossom fixes a stern gaze on the internal bureaucracy of the Crystal militia and reeducation system - as well as that of the not-spoken-of-aloud Undermelt, who she can't quite get a direct bead on but can learn a lot about indirectly. She finds all sorts of inefficiencies and administrative cul-de-sacs, places where files can get lost, sentences mixed up, and internal records 08[21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12duplicated or shredded; a close look identifies at least several mid-level bureaucrats who she strongly suspects of actual sabotage if not if not just corruption and malingering. Several of these, if not immediately identified and sanctioned, actually do visibly 'snap out of it' over the next few weeks as Eikichi's counternecromantic wardings settle across the city and low-grade [21:00] <@Ferrinus> 12possessions are detected and shattered. [21:11] 7Blossom settles into her temporary administrative role like she was born for it, which she was. It's not sufficient to institute dire consequences for failing to follow policy - this can have the opposite effect to what you want. Rather, she reforms procedure to make it easier to avoid accidentally botching things and creates crosschecks to ensure processes don't accumulate error. As [21:11] 7she works, it becomes clear that the police have been cunningly subverted by necromantic forces hiding mindbending scripture in old texts, runes of chaos and decay secretly carved in hidden spots... Blossom's obliged to temporarily confiscate a surprising collection of personal effects in order to ritually exorcise lurking ghost-puppeteers from them. 08[21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12As work proceeds, Ir's still got the time to train with Kutva. Over the month or so it takes Eikichi to put existing wardings to shame, the Northern Star's got a full opportunity and then some to develop a complete mastery of the Golden Janissary Style by mortal standards, plus the superhuman competence necessary to imbue it with a power that Atsuk and even Kutva could never bring [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12to the katas. Ir walks away from her training not just with the ability to adopt the true Form, but to reach even further beyond, approaching the style's pinnacle technique! [21:18] 4Wooo! [21:19] 4This feels so much more natural and right than leading an army did. She suspects that was partially due to said army being third circle demons or whatever, which they later banished to Hell. [21:20] 7Of course, she can't spend all day doing this. She's still got to make time to relax, and that means civic planning! It is immediately very clear that Crystal just redeveloped higgledy-piggledy and nobody involved had the faintest idea how a city's geomancy works. This building should be facing north, not east. This collection of artisan's workshops is practically a doldrums for [21:20] 7Essence. This footpath is a LITERAL ARROW pointing indolence and poverty directly at this housing development! Incredible. 15[21:21] 10<3 [21:49] 4The bigger project is, well, the city itself. Here, Ir acts as gopher, organizer, and forewoman as necessary while Blossom does all the thinking and planning and whatnot. Just executing on a plan, ma'am. [21:52] 7Pfah! If you want a job done right, personally instruct others on how to do it. In this case, Ir. Blossom's bottomless well of enthusiasm infects her work force, and her divine authority granted at the end of the cosmic war means that the physical world practically begs to be reshaped according to her desires. The construction goes so quickly it's almost comical - at one point, a [21:52] 7baffled family has their belongings moved out of their home, just in time for Ir and Blossom to physically pick up and rotate their house to a more auspicious direction and everything has to be moved back in again. Inconvenient, but gosh. [21:52] 6Tatsuya has a busy month. Some of it he trades off with Ying - certainly anything involving public appearances with the rest of the Circle - but there's work to be done beyond her extremely charming appearances and thinly-veiled tourism. [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12While this is all going on, people don't see much of Tatsuya - but that's on purpose. In the first place, he's busy shadowing Blossom's investigations into the internal militia and indeed the Undermelt, quietly correcting, tagging, or outright eliminating agents and auxiliary workers who are too soft (or not soft enough) on Crystal's underground gray markets, accepting bribery or [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12other kickbacks in exchange for lax surveillance, or, lastly, dealing with the Velvet Room in a way that allows treasures and resources to be evacuated out of Crystal to buyers elsewhere rather than treasures and resources to be stolen from elsewhere to be brought into the Pact. There's more than one consciously counterusurpationary saboteur to be rooted out, though not as many as [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Tatsuya might have feared. [21:53] 4This is good practice for when they do this for real in Zeal! Okay, yes, this is also for real; these are real people and their lives matter and they need to do a good job. But! Zeal! [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Beyond that, Tatsuya's involved in some intense forensics and extremely deep digging - literally, in a few cases - to figure out exactly what it was that did Grey Nara in. It's extremely difficult to puzzle out not because of a particularly fiendish or multilayered conspiracy so much as because of the time that's passed; it's been years, now, and the sneak thief has to work on traces [21:54] <@Ferrinus> 12of traces of shadows of traces of scribbled messages, smuggled vials, that sort of thing. The mind palaces and cord-covered cork boards that need to be constructed to put together everything that happen would be miles wide if they existed in physical space. 15[21:55] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Aug 06 21:55:14 2020 Session Start: Thu Aug 06 22:06:26 2020 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[22:06] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[22:06] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[22:06] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 [22:07] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> Beyond that, Tatsuya's involved in some intense forensics and extremely deep digging - literally, in a few cases - to figure out exactly what it was that did Grey Nara in. It's extremely difficult to puzzle out not because of a particularly fiendish or multilayered conspiracy so much as because of the time that's passed; it's been years, now, and the sneak thief has to work [22:07] <@Ferrinus> on traces of traces of shadows of traces of scribbled messages, smuggled vials, that sort of thing. The mind palaces and cord-covered cork boards that need to be constructed to put together everything that happen would be miles wide if they existed in physical space. [22:07] <@Ferrinus> <@Ferrinus> The ultimate answer Tatsuya comes to is a straightforward one: one of the earlier diplomatic delegations Crystal received from the Haslanti League was, in fact, from the Lover's domain. Some of its agents stole off to connect with secret adherents of Reckoning's old philosophy - in fact, some of the same people who summoned the distant Abyssal's spirit into a local corpse 08[22:07] <@Ferrinus> for the purpose of confronting and brainwashing Eikichi - and worked with them to temporarily bridge Crystal's bottommost sewers with the Fortress of Crimson Ice, drawing enough of the Lover's own spirit into place to concoct a plague mighty enough to strike down one of the Chosen. It only had potency enough to snuff out one Exaltation for sure, and luckily didn't seem to succeed in [22:07] <@Ferrinus> any attempt to spread, but once the payload had been summoned into being it just took the cooptation or deception of the right chain of servants. [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 6It's something of a relief knowing for certain, and Tatsuya will be sure to inform - at the very least - the rest of the Circle, but justice for this murder would likely involve a war. [22:07] <@Ferrinus> 6Or an extraordinarily tricky stealth mission. [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12There's sort of been one, of course, or at least one huge battle in which the Lover's forces were heroically repulsed. [22:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Right now, you're pretty sure the Lover - or at least her chief deathknight - is already on the receiving end of a quest for vengeance by Choto Chodari, so maybe you've already struck the blow you needed to strike. [22:12] 6Something to be said for the personal touch, though. [22:16] 4It's a good routine Ir settles into. A regulated day's work, ending precisely on a regulated time, then it's back to the ship to do some wok cooking out in the freezing cold. There's regulations against her doing the big communal worker lunches and dinners she likes to do, she's pretty sure, at least without her getting paid for it...but she's already quite well assured that all her [22:16] 4laborers are going to be eating at home, anyway. [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, by the end of all this they're planning commemorative holidays for you. Thanks to some careful ideological work months prior, they're able to pay you fair and square - in fact, Ir receives only the average pay of the work crew she's embedded in, and Blossom a slightly higher sum reserved for researchers and artists. Of course, neither of you are allowed to unleash your full [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12powers on such a scale without great care being taken that the immense power you're wielding is subjected to covenant discipline, and this means both temporary, provisional membership and mandatory education in the ethic of the Crystal Pact covenant and the rudiments of its political-economic theory. 14[22:22] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [22:22] 4A couple years ago, Ir would have been a brat at these mandatory classes. She's matured enough -- and done enough reading and book-learning -- to handle it a lot more maturely now. [22:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Assuming you've paid any attention, you might have some kind of grasp now as to why these people set their wages and commodity prices the way they do. When you think about it, it is kind of weird that silver costs so much more than milk in most places, isn't it...? [22:27] 4Once they're done the whirlwind of work -- and helped Tatsuya with whatever he needs in solving the murder of Grey Nara -- it's time to talk about the future...and cook like, a MASSIVE wok of boar and egg fried rice. [22:27] 7No. [22:28] 4What the!! [22:28] 4Oh that's to the narrator. [22:41] 4She doesn't have the river leeks she usually likes to dice and throw in here but there's still some peppers she can get her hands on this far north... [22:41] "So did everyone enjoy their, uh, politics classes?" 15[22:42] 10It's not *weird*, but it is obviously arbitrary. "I liked them! Very earnest commitment to a common good. You don't see people actually govern that way very often." [22:43] 6Tatsuya: "They sounded boring. I was busy and Ying just avoided anything they tried, so." [22:43] 4Ir, around boar rice: "Yeah! The stuff about banning private property made a lot of sense, at least in terms of how it deforms priorities and makes it difficult to do things on purpose. I dunno. Maybe I just really hate the Guild." 15[22:45] 10Eikichi: "Obviously all the resources should be held and managed for the common good. The question of who 'owns' them from that position seems largely rhetorical." 15[22:48] "Like... what, is someone going to take the Empress to court to get the Manse back on behalf of the Realm's citizens? Ridiculous." [22:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Maybe it's worth a shot- [22:51] 4Ir: "Ugh. Keeping the Guild out of the city -- or at least where we want it within in the city, though I think my position's pretty clear -- without instituting draconian border controls is going to require its own bureaucracy." 15[22:52] 10Eikichi: "Once we've laid out a program for mass education we should be able to build a bureaucracy as big as we have people to fill posts." [22:54] 4Ir: "That raises a good point, actually -- where do we get our seed population? Wait, that sounds dehumanizing. The first pilgrims! Do we just kinda recruit from the Hedgehog and our various cults? Offer local tribes and wandering laborers citizenship in exchange for labor?" 15[22:55] 10Eikichi: "Once we have a beacon to flock to, people will come. The Hedgehog and Great Forks for a start, but anywhere that travel is reasonable... we might want to arrange for caravans to guide people to Zeal, so that they can't be, say, snatched up by Guild slavers after they cross the Nexus city limits." [22:56] 6Tatsuya: "Ying's going to want to move her shop - could probably get a few people following the Rainbow Connection." [22:57] 4Ir: "And we're sort of preliminarily settled on the idea of somewhere in the Near South? Kind of a bit more than Thresholdy, but not really far out there?" [22:57] 7Blossom: "I'm not as anti-Guild as you, Ir, but honestly they might take care of that problem themselves. I've come up with a few long-needed legal innovations that I can't imagine they'll like." [22:58] 7Blossom: "That's what makes sense to me. Not too far from the rest of civilization." 15[22:59] "So first things first we'll have to make the desert bloom." 15[23:02] 10Anti-Chosen sentiment among Crystal's elite is a bit of a bummer, but a few pointed conversations in political education salons later, people's priorities are refocused. And there's even a helpful monograph outlining the broader argument for a mass audience, published under the name Monkey-Smashes-Heaven. [23:05] 7Blossom: "Hopefully we won't have to start with a desert." 15[23:05] "Even the savannahs of the Southern threshold are quite arid..." [23:05] <@Ferrinus> 12There are some interesting and frightening ideas in those pamphlets when you get down to the brass tacks... but quite abstract ones, too, which might not really come up as practical questions for a long while. It makes them easier to mull over and entertain. [23:05] 4Ir: "...So we're really finally gonna start doing this, huh? It's finally time." 4She's not particularly trying to hide her excitement. 15[23:06] "Unless something crashes through that door immediately commanding our attention," 10Eikichi agrees, turning to look at the door expectantly. [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a pregnant pause, but nothing happens. 15[23:07] "...there we are, then." [23:09] 6Tatsuya exhales a breath he didn't know he was holding. [23:10] 6...and then goes back to eating Ir's delicious meal. [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12But yeah, step one is, one supposes, to decide a location. Step two is to decide how and when you'll first break the earth, or the sky, or whatever else. [23:12] 4Then let's get this party rolling. After everyone's said their farewells and formally resigned from their workers' councils and all the other legalistic bullshit, Ir will tell everyone to get some sleep (though she'll stay up late on the foredeck with a chair and her six-string, the hypocrite), and take the Heavensward out just before dawn the next morning. 14[23:37] * Joins: mattbaby 14[23:52] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) Session Time: Fri Aug 07 00:00:00 2020 14[00:07] * Joins: mattbaby [00:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Tonight, the Heavensward drifts on the wind. Next week, the Squared Circle heads south! 15[00:20] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Aug 07 00:20:52 2020 Session Start: Fri Aug 07 00:21:02 2020 Session Ident: #SonsAndDoctors 14[00:21] * Now talking in #SonsAndDoctors 13[00:21] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[00:21] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[01:06] * Joins: Quaker 14[02:17] * Quits: Quaker (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:05] * Joins: tom 14[04:07] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:14] * Joins: tom2 14[04:16] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[04:16] * Joins: tom 14[04:18] * Quits: tom2 (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[05:11] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 15[05:15] * Disconnected 15[05:27] * Attempting to rejoin channel #SonsAndDoctors 14[05:27] * Rejoined channel #SonsAndDoctors 13[05:27] * Topic is 'Exalted: Squared Circle (THU 8PM EST) | Exalted: 108 Kingdoms (TUE 8PM EST)' 13[05:27] * Set by VoxPVoxD on Wed Nov 15 14:56:49 2017 14[05:31] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[05:34] * Quits: VoxPrime (Quit: ) 14[05:34] * Joins: VoxPrime 14[07:57] * Quits: tom (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[08:59] * Quits: Zarick (Connection closed) 14[14:22] * Joins: Ferrinus 14[14:22] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Ferrinus 14[14:43] * Joins: tom 14[17:52] * Joins: Crion_ 14[17:53] * Quits: Crion (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[17:55] * Joins: Zarick 14[20:10] * Joins: Crion 14[20:11] * Quits: Crion_ (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[21:31] * Joins: Quaker 14[23:09] * Quits: Quaker (Client exited) Session Time: Sat Aug 08 00:00:00 2020 14[00:42] * Joins: Quaker 14[01:08] * Joins: mattbaby 14[01:58] * Quits: trenchfoot (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 14[02:34] * Quits: mattbaby (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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Cultists and soldiers (an unusually large number of each on the streets) all turn and chair. The people who recognize members of the hearth - or recognize their obvious status - whoop and cheer at the sight of it. Children rush up to stroke the corpse's fur, as Sadako did, and are held at 15[20:25] bay just a bit too fiercely by Dryas's men. 15[20:25] So... where to? 15[20:26] *all turn and stare [20:26] 14Piu's going to have to kill Hedrin soon. No way around that. 15[20:27] She could always kill every single member of House Iselsi instead. 15[20:27] Maybe not practical, but you know. It's on the table. [20:27] 14That's not around; that's through. 15[20:27] Mmm. [20:30] 10Daizo could do with some time to reflect on the vision the Witch imparted on him. Although that is probably going to have to fit in the cracks between the hunt for Ted and Dryas' dirty business. More practically, they need to find a taxidermist. [20:31] 14She'll get Ted to help, because it's in Ted's best interests to help. Hedrin is hunting him, after all. [20:31] 14The kill is hers. [20:31] 07Dryas plays to the crowds, posing dramatically with the beast and playing a fierce song on her pipes to further inspire the crowd. [20:32] 4Publicly, Piu will support her brothers and sisters with genuine enthusiasm, until she can slip away and meet up with Caedus. [20:36] 07Through a combination of song, dance, and pure Panache, Dryas wows the crowd with her acrobatic, athletic, and musical display. Slayers of the fierce beast! [20:37] 6Zhangyu just scowls at that. Which, given his position in the pandering, fits the narrative. 15[20:38] If the hearth or any of its members winds their way toward the hostel where the crew of Daana'd's Defiance was quartered, they'll have to move past a retinue of guards and a work crew cleaning up the remnants of a building that has essentially burned to the ground. [20:38] 4...What did it used to be? [20:38] 6We didn't do it. [20:38] 07That is where we're going. We were going to show this thing off to the Commodore and the shipmates before sending it off to the taxidermist. [20:39] 10We absolutely need to show this off to our shipmates.  15[20:39] It used to be the hostel where the crew of Daana'd's Defiance was quartered. Apologies for the ambiguity. [20:39] Oh. [20:39] 6Hrm. [20:39] 4Ah. Well, fuck. [20:41] 07The music dies down somewhat as the crew approaches the scene. Dryas stops but at least one of the mercenaries in the back drumming away doesn't immediately get the message and the beat continues on for at least a few moments. Dryas doesn't bother waving him quiet but dismounts Diamond Weapon to approach the guards. [20:45] 10Daizo gawps in shock as they approach the burned-out hostel. Then there's a cold sick feeling creeping up from the pit of his stomach, and the shock turns to sudden fury. "All of my books were in there! They're irreplacable! My journals, my notes! Aaaaugh!! When I find out who did this, I'm going to break EVERY. SINGLE. BONE. IN. HIS. BODY." 15[20:45] The guards stand that slight bit more at attention you get from generally on-the-ball guards who realize someone important just walked into the room. "My lords and ladies!" [20:46] 07Dryas: "What happened here? Where is the Commodore?" 15[20:48] The guard: "The Commodore is with the Governor, my lady." [20:49] 14Piu doesn't bother jumping to 'oh no! My clothes!' because she barely wears any in this climate anyway. 4Instead Piu will flit about seeing if anyone's hurt. [20:50] 6Zhangyu freezes at the sight, then turns towards the guard with a murderous look. "How many dead." [20:50] 10Daizo: "Bastards! Cowardly pieces of shit! How DARE they—" 15[20:51] Dryas looks past the guard at the wreckage. Judging from how burned-down the fire is and how much it's been cleaned up, she surmises that the fire took place overnight, maybe twelve hours ago, and was extinguished quite quickly - the amount of sooty puddles the cleaners are tromping through suggest an enormous amount of water was the primary method of extinguishing the fire. 15[20:52] It doesn't look like it started in the kitchen, or a hearth, which is the place fires tend to start. This is more in line with her experience of buildings that haven't been properly safeguarded against anima flux. [20:52] 4Oh! Well then everyone's probably fine. Except whoever the fire aspect killed. [20:52] 10If it was THEM… [20:53] "Looks like anima flux. The twins?" 07She looks around to see if there is any sign of the others from the ship. [20:54] 10Daizo: "Where are they." [20:54] 4Piu: "I can't believe they'd be so..." 4She trails off. 15[20:54] ...but one oddity sticks out to her: working backwards from the surviving wreckage, she's able to roughly deduce where the fire started, and it was in the stairwell, which is where you'd start a fire if you wanted to split the building in half, upstairs patrons from downstairs workers and diners. [20:54] 14Of course she can believe they'd be so stupid. 15[20:55] Everyone can see the sails of the Defiance swollen by the bountiful sea breeze, down at the docks. Plenty of crew aboard, judging from the movement, though it's hard for even a Prince of the Earth to mark specific people at this distance. [20:55] 07Dryas: "Now that's strange. Look here, the fire started in the stairwell? Like if someone wanted to split the building in half or something?" [20:55] 10Yeah, fuck it, Daizo's marching off to the ship. Try and stop him. 15[20:56] Certainly none of the guards do. [20:56] 14Piu, to Dryas and Zhangyu: "I'm going to look after Daizo." [20:56] 14She'll follow, but not get in his way. [20:56] "Alright. Moke?" 07Dryas scans the crowd for any sign of her consigliere. "Was anyone killed?" 07she asks the guard. [20:56] 6Zhangyu, who was just about to follow him, just nods and turns back to Dryas. 15[20:57] From what Piu can gather, the casualties are relatively minimal - a couple sailors lost their lives, but quick work saved the people at the expense of the structure. 15[20:57] Dryas gets the same story. [20:57] 14Hhhhhh. Caedus won't be pleased. [20:57] 14She has dismissed the possibility he's among the dead out of hand. [20:57] 14But he wasn't hanging around the hostel, correct? That means the ship. [21:01] "What do you think, Zhangyu?" 07Dryas asks. "I need to find a taxidermist or something before this thing starts getting too nasty. I have another appointment later this evening. But what do we do about this?" 15[21:01] Daizo and Piu make their variably-furious way down to the docks, where another small contingent of Kou's personal guard are standing at the gangplank, and part immediately once the expression on Daizo's face is visible. [21:02] 4Piu gives them an apologetic smile and asks one, "Is Chief Samperson aboard?" 15[21:03] That gets a nod. "In the infirmary." [21:03] 4Her smile falters. "Oh." [21:03] "How bad?" 15[21:03] "He's fine," the guard beside her quickly clarifies, before looking askance at her partner. [21:03] "Phew!" [21:03] 10Daizo heads right up to the deck. Are the Cathak twins immediately visible? 15[21:04] Nope. [21:04] 14This is why you align your covers. No one's going to think twice about Piu being alarmed at Samperson's infirmiry. Or her rushing there, immediately. [21:04] *infirmity [21:05] 6Zhangyu: "We hunt them down." 6He says it like it's obvious. "Trying to split the building in half? The Cathak idiots wouldn't do that by accident, and I don't think they're the type to do it on purpose." [21:05] "...though they'd have access and the ability." [21:06] 10Well, time to bellow, then. "CATHAKS! GET YOUR ASSES UP HERE RIGHT NOW!" 15[21:06] One of the sailors, somewhat sheepishly: "They're not here, sir. They're with the Commodore." [21:07] 4She'll say something to Daizo about not rushing off before she checks in with Samperson. [21:07] 4(Then she'll rush off.) [21:08] "Well, in that case, let's take a look into all this." 07Dryas frowns again at the sight of things. Her stash was in there - her wine, her weed, her coke. What a mess. She takes a tentative step into the wreckage. "Between the two of us we can puzzle this out,"07 she concludes.  15[21:08] Piu makes her way belowdecks, to the small but surprisingly breathable part of the ship where sick and injured people are treated. There are three cots, and two are occupied by merchant sailors stripped nude beneath thin sheets and whose burn-wracked bodies are covered in a thin white foam. Sitting on the third is Samperson, who is filthy with soot but not visibly injured, and Caxi, 15[21:08] who is mixing something awful-smelling in a giant bowl with one hand while she clutches the other arm tight to her body, riddled with searing blisters and that same thin foam. [21:09] 14She'll gesture for space and greet him with a brief kiss on the lips, then, to both: "What happened?" [21:10] "Ah, Captain!" 07she calls to her mercenary captain. "See this creature to the taxidermist. Mount the heads, replace the fangs with something impressive-looking, and then have it skinned and the claws and anything else valuable removed. Ask the taxidermist to make a note of the stomach contents. Then, you and your men have R&R until morning." 15[21:10] They both look up as Piu bursts in, and react precisely oppositely: Caedus's joy and relief is quickly flattened into more casual acknowledgement, and Caxi's icy affect is replaced with a warm smile after just a moment's hitch. [21:11] 10Daizo punches a mast. Thankfully for the sailors it doesn't split or crack. The next sound he makes is about one-third anger, one-third disgust, and one-third a sigh. "HHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhghgggghhhhhhhhhhhh. Were any of my personal effects salvaged from the hostel?" 15[21:11] The sailor: "I don't know, sir. You'd have to ask the Chief or Lady Caxi." [21:12] 14Mmmmm. [21:12] 10Daizo: "Right. Okay." [21:13] 07Dryas takes a few more halting steps amid the ashen debris. "Quite a mess, quite a mess," 07she observes as she picks through towards the stairwell. Once there, she continues her investigation through the wreckage. [21:14] "Why don't you think the twins did it?" 07she asks Zhangyu after a moment. 15[21:15] Samperson: "There was an altercation. The Cathak Ito twins and the assassin Salim antagonized each other. The argument got heated." [21:15] 6Zhangyu: "They're idiots, not arsonists. One would expect them to have control." [21:16] 10Daizo joins Piu belowdecks just in time to hear this bit of news. His scowl darkens. [21:16] 10It was already pretty dark. [21:16] 14Haha. 'Heated.' [21:17] 4Piu: "What was it about?" 15[21:19] Samperson: "I don't know for sure. The twins said Salim threatened them, Salim says the reverse is true and they were just spoiling for a fight. They're all with the Governor and Commodore right now." 15[21:20] Caxi, still stirring: "Maybe she'll have them flogged. Or shipped to the Nail. I hear Pneuma is lovely this time of year. There's a music festival on." 15[21:20] Samperson: "There's always a music festival on in Pneuma." 15[21:20] Caxi murmurs contemplatively. [21:21] 4Piu: "I know who I'm gonna default to blaming. The twins are idiots but Salim's a snake." [21:21] 4To Samperson: "Come see me when you're out of the infirmary?" 15[21:22] Samperson: "We had to rush upstairs through the fire to get people out. The people who were bunked right at the top of the stairwell, we didn't get to in time. We lost six." 15[21:22] Samperson looks at Caxi, who looks up belatedly. "Oh, you're free to go. Maybe don't do anything too strenuous for a few more hours. You inhaled a lot of smoke." [21:23] 4Mmmm. [21:23] 10Daizo: "Morons. Were they raised in a barn?" 10Due to the circumstances surroinding his own Second Breath, Daizo's always had a healthy respect for the destructive potential of anima flux. "Then I take it you weren't able to recover any of our belongings before the fire grew out of control." 15[21:23] Samperson will wedge his way past Daizo with Piu, leaving the two scholars alone with the injured. [21:25] 14Closest safe place to talk from here is probably...the cells? If Salim and the twins are with Ratel and the governor. [21:26] 14Brig. Whatever. Ships. 15[21:26] Dryas and Zhangyu poke around... The fire definitely spread uncontrollably in both directions from the stairwell, and there are the destroyed remnants of many of the hearth's personal effects among them - Zhangyu and Dryas both see the burned remnants of their own things, though Dryas notes that Daizo's are conspiciously absent. She is also able to spot, among the wreckage, a very 15[21:26] evenly distributed set of small pawprints, suggesting an intelligent or very well-trained dog that methodically combed the wreckage long after the fire had been extinguished. [21:27] 07Ah, our dear friend. What attracted his curiosity about all this? 15[21:27] Piu's intuition is correct, and that's where she and Caedus end up. 15[21:28] Caxi: "Almost no one's, I'm afraid. You're the only lucky one." [21:28] 6Zhangyu lost some personal effects and books of poetry, but nothing he's too upset over. And... yep. This was a fire. That's all he's getting. [21:28] 14Door closed and locked. She'll jump him for a few moments, but hey. Doctor's orders say nothing too strenuous, and fucking in the brig is just weird. [21:29] "I'm glad you're okay," 14when they part. [21:29] "See these paw prints?" 07Dryas points out. "Our four-legged friend." 15[21:29] She explains: "Retrieving the stone seemed most important and it would've been much too obviously petty to leave all your other work to burn." [21:30] 10All the air goes out of Daizo at once.  15[21:30] Caxi holds up her injured arm. "It retains heat phenomenally well, if you haven't already written that down." [21:30] "…it seems I am in your debt once again." [21:30] 6Zhangyu didn't, but pretends he did. "So. How, then?" 15[21:31] Caxi waves him off with the same injured hand. "Debt is like the tide, it moves back and forth. I'm sure the moment will come when I am in your debt." [21:31] 07Dryas: "He came afterwards, after the fire. Sniffed around nicely, looked through everything. Maybe we should pay him a visit?" [21:33] 6Zhangyu: "Fetch the others, or just us?" 15[21:33] Samperson lets his breath out slowly when the kiss breaks, and by way of reply repeats, "We lost six." [21:33] 14Piu: "Who's to blame?" [21:34] 10Damn it all. How can she be this 10gracious10? "I was about ready to wring the twins' necks, so they owe you one as well." [21:35] 07Dryas: "I think we can handle it in the amount of time it takes Daizo to flip out about his notes and make it back. Although actually, now that I mention it, I don't see any trace of his belongings in all this." 15[21:35] Caedus: "How can it not be Salim? The twins are cleverer than they act but it's still harder to get a dog to do what you want." [21:35] 07Dryas: "Besides, we can take the excuse to get something else to eat." 15[21:36] Caedus: "The question is, why?" [21:36] 14Piu frowns. "So we don't have eyes on the altercation? Or is he just that smooth." [21:36] "Fucking Salim." [21:36] 6Zhangyu takes another look and raises an eyebrow. "We should tell him, then. He'll be - upset. About losing them. Whether to fire or theft." 15[21:36] Caedus: "No witnesses but the belligerents." [21:37] 07Dryas: "In good time. Let's find this dog first though, alright?" 15[21:37] Caxi: "They may yet prefer that to what the Governor intends. I mentioned Pneuma only half-jokingly. D'you know before Kou was a Governor she was in the Magistracy?" [21:38] 6Zhangyu frowns, then nods. One of them is a detective and it isn't him. 15[21:38] The sorceress continues with some distaste. "Easier to make a raksha see reason than a judge." [21:39] 07Dryas will attempt to follow the tracks, then - sending Diamond Weapon back to the stables with one of Ten Eels' boys and proceeding on foot. She'll divert with Zhangyu to the first butcher's shop or fast-service tea house on the way. [21:39] 14Piu: "Urgh." [21:39] "There's the matter of the other business, too. We're behind schedule...and this is chaos we can use." [21:40] 14Pause. "Sorry, but...we have to use it." 15[21:40] Caedus: "No, you're right. Have you settled on an approach?" [21:41] 07As they walk, Dryas will try to slink her arm into Zhangyu's, to speak more quietly into his ear about other matters. Does he rebuff her? [21:42] 10Despite himself, Daizo has to laugh at this one. "Don't I know it. My birth family were rural circuit magistrates for six generations. I've probably inherited more than a little of that attitude." [21:43] 6He'll shrug his way out of the linked arms, but he will lean down to hear her out. [21:44] 14Piu: "Get Ted to add to the chaos however he sees fit, slip in, do it myself. Could use the polymorph potion to disguise myself but my only mark would be Salim and that seems like more trouble than it's worth." [21:44] 07Dryas: "Do you know anything about Hearth-Sister Piu's family? I don't mean House V'Neef, but the family she was adopted from? I think some sort of cadet house in the Threshold? Patricians or something?" 15[21:44] Caxi: "You wear it well. A little stubbornness is the root of principle." [21:46] 6Zhangyu: "She doesn't want to talk about it. Never pried." [21:48] 07Dryas: "She never speaks of them, but did you see the look on her face in the Witch's house? After the visions? She would do anything for them. There is more to her than meets the eye, don't you think?" 15[21:48] Caedus: "You think he's reliable?" [21:48] 14Piu: "For certain things. Causing mayhem is one of those." [21:50] 6Zhangyu: "More to anyone than meets the eye, generally. But if she doesn't want to talk, she doesn't want to talk. I can respect that." [21:52] 07Dryas: "You were also adopted into House Tepet, isn't that right?" [21:53] 6The proper phrasing that Zhangyu learned in the House of Bells is "don't judge a warrior by their scars, because maybe they're just a shitty warrior who got lucky." But most people don't like hearing that, for one reason or another. [21:53] 6Zhangyu, shortly: "Yes." [21:53] 07Dryas: "And what is your relationship like, with your birth family? I'm genuinely curious." [21:54] 6Zhangyu, again, shortly: "None." 15[21:55] Caedus: "Alright. That's a go, then." [21:55] 14She nods. "I'll try to take care of it tonight, then. See you soon." [21:56] 07Dryas: "I don't mean to pry." 07A white lie. "But you don't think it's a little strange that Piu's family - presumably, a bunch of Thresholders who put her up for adoption in V'Neef, would command such absolute obedience from her? Maybe she's afraid of them, or maybe they're desperately poor and we could help them?" [21:57] 6Zhangyu: "It's her business. If she wanted it to be our business, she would tell us. So." [21:57] 14Thank you, Zhangyu. 15[21:59] Caedus pulls her in for one last kiss before they part. "Sàbhailte agus glan." [21:59] 6No problem! I won't ask what you're thanking me for because you would tell us if necessary. [21:59] 14She winks and smiles, then she's gone. [22:00] 07Dryas: "As her Hearth-siblings, it isn't our duty to look after her if she could be in trouble?" [22:00] 6Zhangyu: "If I was in trouble, I would tell you. I assume the same is true for all of us." [22:02] 10Daizo collects himself and his thoughts. "At any rate… thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Say what you will about debt, but I really do owe you for this one." 10He's even smiling a little. "When we have some time, I have some theories I'd like to discuss…" 15[22:03] Caxi: "That'd be delightful. There are so few people to talk to about these things. The Commodore can keep up but she has so little interest... how was your trip into the Wyld zone?" [22:04] "Is it your experience that people in trouble are so forthcoming? Ah - here we have it - let's duck in here for some meats for our four-legged information source. Seems a bit scarcer than when we arrived. Do you want anything?" 07Dryas will get herself a pork bun and a decent size slab of smoked pork -- fortunately you can still get good pork buns out here until you hit Wu Jian, to the north. [22:05] "It is my experience that people are often quite tight-lipped about their families," 07Dryas pointedly observes as she takes a bite of the pork bun. Good stuff. [22:06] "Rice bowl with as much pork they can add." 6As they sit: "And usually for good reasons. As I said: if she wants us to help, she'll ask us. If she doesn't, it's a personal issue that she can handle." 15[22:08] Zhangyu gets a bowl that might as well be the portal to the Meat Dimension. He remembers when other boys in secondary school would test themselves again and again on overflowing meat bowls like this, usually as a way to spend time on rainy days when there was nothing else to do. [22:09] 10Daizo: "Simply fascinating. I collected quite a few interesting samples, and let me tell you about the beast we bagged…" 10Really, does he need to keep all his cards so close to his chest all the time? [22:10] 6This was his usual order at one point. The nostalgia is overwhelming -- but he just eats away at it while presenting a good front for Dryas. [22:10] 07Dryas just places the smoked pork on the side of the table, close to the edge, and digs into the pork bun. "So what does drive your curiosity, then, O imposing student of Grandmaster Mushi?" 15[22:12] Caxi's eyes go wide. "Goodness." [22:15] 6Zhangyu chews for a bit before answering. "New battlefields, new opponents, new ways to prove myself. Someday training new students. Leading an army. Securing an armbar on someone who never saw it coming." 6He does not bring up his vision. [22:16] 07Dryas takes another bite. "Mmm. Fascinating. And of all the Realm's insidious enemies, whom do you most long to defeat?" [22:17] 6Without hesitation: "Whoever they put in front of me." 15[22:21] Where does Piu go after leaving Caedus behind? [22:21] 07Dryas nods. "And Son-of-Sabers?" [22:21] 6Zhangyu goes back to his meal. [22:22] 07Dryas laughs her beautiful laugh and looks around the street for any mangy yellow dogs. [22:24] 14Time to find Ted. [22:24] 10Daizo will chat a little more about this and that and then prepare to head out. He's not saying anything about his experience in the witch house just yet, though. 15[22:25] Caxi seems a bit crestfallen when he gets up to leave, but doesn't stop him. Where does he go? 15[22:26] After the two of them have been out in public view for a while, Dryas eventually spots the dog she knows to look for, playing as he so often is with the neighborhood children, goading them to chase him, tiring them out bit by bit as they never quite catch him. [22:28] "Ah, excellent," 07she notes, looking in its direction. "Let's go have a conversation." [22:28] 6Zhangyu unconsciously cracks his knuckles. [22:30] 10Piu's nowhere to be found, which means she probably doesn't care to be found. Daizo'll stop in at his cabin long enough to confirm the condition of his belongings, and then… 15[22:31] His journals are a bit singed, but all seem to be there. [22:32] 07Dryas stands, speaks with the man at the tea-house counter for a moment and then approaches Zhangyu again. "Can you tell the children that we've just bought them some treats?" 15[22:33] Piu's best bet is the Hinokuni, but when she checks there she finds he's not around. [22:33] 6Zhangyu: "I can, but... are you sure you want me for that?" [22:33] 14Hmmm... [22:36] 07Dryas: "Sure, why not? Then we'll have him to ourselves. I doubt they'd understand High Realm." [22:37] 6He is... smiling? It's kind of unnerving, seeing it on his face, but he does indeed tell the children that we've bought them treats. We have bought them, right? Otherwise he's going to have to haggle and that's upsetting for everyone. 15[22:38] The kids have about the reaction to Zhangyu that he expects, but the treats speak for themselves. Urchins or not, the kids seem savvy enough to know that scary isn't the same thing as sinister. [22:38] 14Ted usually hangs out with Son-of-Sabers and company, but directly asking him for help seems gauche, to say nothing of bad tradecraft. 15[22:38] The second most obvious lead is that Piu knows where he lives. [22:38] 10Daizo'll change in his cabin and have a couple of Kou's guards fetch him a ride to the Governor's mansion. Maybe he can make it in time to catch some of the bawling-out. [22:39] 07As they walk towards the dog, Dryas gives Zhangyu a slight smile. "Do you feel a little more respected, now?" [22:40] 14She'll check there next. 15[22:40] The dog spots them and his tail stops wagging immediately. But he turns and trots down an alley, slow enough that he's clearly not trying to flee. [22:40] 6Zhangyu: "They were terrified of me until I said 'sweets.' No." 6He scowls. "But... maybe someday." [22:42] "Generosity is key to these relationships. But it doesn't come overnight..." 07Dryas walks a few paces behind the dog. 15[22:43] Piu's in luck, there's a light on inside the fine little house Ted's staying in. Belongs to a friend, he said the first time Piu was here. [22:44] 14What's the best way to approach without being seen? Is there a window to knock on? 15[22:44] Several! Real glass, too - this really is a fine little house. 15[22:45] The dog walks behind a low-hanging clothesline like it's a changing screen and then the shaggy, querulous man they know to be Makita of Etua pokes his head out from between a pair of bedsheets. "There are four of you. Where are the others?" [22:46] 14He'll get a little knock, then. Piu's changed into the gray underwraps she wears beneath Silk Shadow, plus a shawl. 15[22:48] There's a small commotion inside and then a lengthy pause before Ted leans, less than half-dressed, out of the door that leads to his bedroom, hands still hidden behind the door frame. When he sees Piu his shoulders relax and he reveals his hands, glancing through the door and giving a little half-nod before approaching the window. [22:48] 14Piu doesn't pry. "Thinking of taking care of a mutual problem tonight. Poking out an Eye." [22:49] 07Dryas: "Last I saw, they were on their way back to the ship to chew out some of our mates. You can take this as a sign of trust on our part. And you can take this-" 07she offers the slab of smoked, salted, marinated pork - "as a sign of our continued good faith." 15[22:49] Ted: "Good timing. What do you need?" [22:50] 14Piu: "Just a little chaos. With the hostel already burned down, you don't even need to be the main event." 15[22:50] Ted: "Where do you need people not to be?" [22:52] "Governor's residence and adjoining streets. Work and home." 15[22:53] Ted whistles low. "You really do get right after it, don't you?" 15[22:53] "What's your damage tolerance?" 15[22:53] "In the collateral sense." [22:53] 14Piu: "No working people." 15[22:54] Ted smirks a bit at that. "When?" [22:54] "Give it an hour, give it a little bit more than that, then go." 15[22:55] Ted's pale brow furrows in thought for just a moment before he says, "Consider it done. Is it bad form where you're from to wish an assassin good luck?" [22:56] 14Piu: "I'm not from anywhere." [22:56] 14Then she's gone. 15[22:56] The window closes quietly and the lights inside go out. 15[22:57] Daizo gets an emas-pulled carriage to himself, largely by necessity, en route to the Governor's residence. How cleaned-up is he? [22:57] 14 <'S e ùine ullachadh.> Time to tool up. [22:57] 14 'S e ùine ullachadh.